Tannishblog

This abomination needs to be shared.

According to thinkprogress.org, the Republican led House has drafted H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. This bill is trying to redefine what constitute rape, by narrowing the legal criteria. It increases taxes on women who might use their company’s healthcare to fund an abortion, as well as her company for offering such coverage in it’s benefit package. Essentially, this is a tax increase.

By banning deductions or tax credits to pay for abortions, women would have to prove in an audit that her circumstances fell under the “rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception.” If passed, this bill would turn the IRS into Abortion Police. Very scary.

It also seeks to ban abortion funding in the District of Columbia. (Why would anyone live there, when they have less representation than the rest of America. Sorry, I digress.) This insanity has yet to run the gauntlet of the senate, and President Obama vows to veto the bill if it does.

What I don’t understand: How can these misogynists come home and face their wives? How can these same wives allow this? Religious tenets aside, has anyone reminded the GOP of the constitutional edict of “separation of Church and State?”

Empathy. It’s sadly lacking on the world’s stage. Watch Sam discuss what can happen when people and nations show none.

Studying Buddhism taught me the value of Empathy and Compassion. During my Christian upbringing, no one mentioned them. In fact, I didn’t know what Compassion meant until it was explained by a high school English teacher. How sad.

Six months is enough vacation. Time to start writing again…

What happens to a President-Flogging-End-Of-The-World_Is-Nigh kind of blog when a new administration begins? One that I helped elect?

It goes on vacation.

I’ve still been watching politics, waiting for the "A hah!" stroke of inspiration, but it hasn’t come. Unlike Cowboy politics, discourse and diplomacy takes time. Also, a reasoned approach to politics is lousy as a spectator sport. This is bad news for Mr Obama. His thoughtfulness and eloquence makes for few sound bites. Even the New York Times has trouble quoting the President in its Quote of the Day snippets.

I’ll give the Republicans one thing: They know how a little swagger and machismo can conquer the nightly news. Obama needs some of that.

Maybe he needs to open his shirt a bit for photo ops, or sometimes wear bling and a brim. Or maybe he can sign legislation in sweaty tees with a basketball tucked under one arm. Photos of him talking to heads of state with his feet on the desk would go a lot further if he wore vintage Air Jordons. Surely these tactics would propel his image as An Average Guy With Brains (as opposed to an effete intellectual, or some such.) This stuff is Sound Bite Heaven and is just as manly as clearing brush.

Then perhaps people will forget that half a year has gone by and not much has changed. Before Change You Can Believe in becomes Change You Have To Wait For.

Thanks the gods the election is finally over. Thank them further for the only correct outcome. I confess, I wasn’t sure my countrymen had the faculties to make the right choice.

For that. America, I apologize. It may take many lumps on the head, but we eventually see the light.

As for our increased Democratic congress… Get To F-ing Work! I expect results without excuses. WE delivered, now its your turn. Lets start by amassing evidence against Bush & Cheney so we can try them as war criminals as citizens - before they both flee to nations without extradition treaties with the United States.

Other that that, a huge sigh of relief. I slept real well last night….

Increasingly over the past year, lyrics from an old Elvis Costello song arise, unbidden, from my sub conscience. The concept of the End of Days is becoming more real to me.

I’m no born-again evangelist - far from it; I don’t see a Christian Rapture in our future. I can’t help feeling, though, that people inclined to such concepts may be stacking the deck toward Armageddon just so they can stand in the ashes of civilization and scream "I told you so!"

Our teetering toward disaster coincides well with the rise in power of the Christian Right in America. Indeed, it is the policies and business interests of the God-fearing that brought us fiscal insolvency of banking institutions and corporate socialism, two un-winnable wars and a bankrupt nation. I am reminded of George Warmonger Bush in 2000 telling the press he answers to a higher father than his biological sire. I think he got his deities confused. Based upon the decisions made, our Despot-in-Chief may be chatting up the wrong dude.

Being the self-proclaimed "Decider," GWB has become the fall guy for failed policy, but he’s had plenty of help. Since November 2006, when the Democrats in congress became the majority again, I have painfully witnessed the duplicity of my Party-of-Choice. As exemplified by Nancy Pelosi’s treasonous refusal to hold our government accountable for demonstrable criminal tactics, I acknowledge the hard truth: We’re Doomed.

Even our media’s Favorite Son cannot deliver redemption to our broken civilization. Not without hard sacrifices by every American can we expect our nation to repair itself. Given the willful self-delusion of most of us, the self-absorption and greed, I can’t see that happening. no-one will sacrifice they’re lifestyle, if we can continue to pretend that lifestyle is not bourn upon the backs of the poorest nations on earth. As much as I like, and will vote for, Obama, redemption is not in his power.

I can hear the distant screams of the steeds of the four horsemen. You can too if you listen…

As DailyKos notes: Its a Great Day to Be Obama. Super delegates flock to his side. Some Super Delegates are more super than others…

Even Ron Paul, that other mover and shaker of the status quo, grudgingly admits Barack is the most likely candidate to halt the Iraqi Debacle.

I have always noticed a direct correlation between the frequency of a candidate’s name being mentioned in the press and the likelihood of that candidate gaining the White House. Even as a kid, I have correctly guessed the winner in a presidential election. This time, barring a Robert Kennedy moment, Barack is our man. And I will bet anything that Hillary is betting on a Robert Kennedy moment - at this point, it’s her only chance. Such is the cynicism inherent in the Clinton mindset.

Poor girl…

I know I keep swearing off of political blog postings. But all other aspects of life become trivial in the shadow of the colossal catastrophe that is the Bush Administration. Nothing can compare with that. So. I reiterate a chart, initiated by Moveon.org that illustrates the actual changes in the lives of real Americans. Read it and weep.

And then there’s the tally of lies told to a gullible public prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq: totaled at 935. Included is a handy chart of peak falsehoods. I am constantly amazed by the hubris of our elected officials, and the compiling evidence that no one in the White House gives a damn about integrity, honesty, or - the least of all - being civil servants.

Truly astounding.

The real reason GWB went to the Middle East.

An American Intellectual speaks out.

We’re not afraid enough - now we need to worry about CyberArmageddon

Lastly for today: Maybe oil prices aren’t what we should be monititoring.

Accuse me of fear mongering. But some concerns ought to be shared.

Yesterday in Abu Dhabi, during President Bush’s  Your Next Iran Mideast Tour, he urges Allies (do we still have any?) to confront Iran "before it’s too late." He’s playing the Iran Sea Confrontation Hoax for all he’s worth, squeezing it dry. Luckily for us, his net worth is sinking rapidly. (And you thought Ronald Reagan was the only Actor-turned-President we’ve ever had.)

The article linked above also says this:

Chiding U.S. allies who have withheld civil liberties, Bush said governments will never build trust by harassing or imprisoning candidates and protesters. But his rebuke was general, and he did not single out any U.S. partner in the region for oppressive practices.

"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government," Bush said. "And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."

That’s an interesting statement. Especially so when juxtaposed with this article:

Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Demonstrators wearing orange jump suits intended to simulate prison garb were arrested inside and outside the building. “Shut it down,” protesters chanted as others kneeled on the plaza in front of the court.

They were charged with violating an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations of any kind on court grounds. Those arrested inside the building also were charged under a provision that makes it a crime to give “a harangue or oration” in the Supreme Court building.

The maximum penalty is 60 days in jail, a fine or both.

A strange and timely convergence of facts.

“A kinder, gentler nation.” Remember those words? What ever happened to that idea?

Notwithstanding the absurdity of using such a phrase as political rhetoric, I remain partial to the idea - especially these days. It’s a bitter irony the utterer of those words is also responsible for the man who, as president, is presiding over the opposite national direction. One could say that all Presidents since Eisenhower have been steering our nation in that direction. The only difference is Our Mr. Bush has a deficit of subtlety.

Being kinder and gentler has its place, even in politics. Perhaps that is why Barack Obama surfaced as the Democratic winner in Iowa yesterday. The man exudes kindness and gentility. (being the most telegenic candidate by fair amount can’t hurt, either.)

While the O-man is not my favorite, I believe he is more electable than any other. Charisma is a large part of game, and Barack’s gleaming smile and steady confidence has projected him far already. And, I believe in his rhetoric about compromise. Having worked within the Illinois congress, he’s had a fair amount of challenge working for his constituency: Illinois being a Red State with a Blue lesion growing on it’s northeast corner. Hammering out the details is old hat even for such a youthful politician.

Dennis Kucinick is not so young, and he also has that Kinder, Gentler Nation aura. He’s my pick for the Presidency, although I suspect I’ll only get to vote for him in the Primaries. America is not about to elect a man that believes in Strength Through Peace. A flash flood of wisdom is unlikely to penetrate the grass roots of Political Ideology anytime soon.

But a man can dream, can’t he?

Or for a still unlikely - yet more realistic - fantasy, let’s Have Barack pick Dennis as his running mate when he accepts the nomination at the Democratic Convention. That would be amazing! Enter the Age of Carebear Politics. That thought is so “out there” even I can’t imagine the repercussions. But leading the world from the heart must be better than leading the world from the ass.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.