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While Making Health Care Hard To Come By, Florida Lawmakers Would Provide Vaccinations For Creeping Sharia

There's No Vaccination For Crazy

No, it's not April Fools, it's just the Florida Legislature. Although many consider them to be a joke as a whole. Business as usual for our lawmakers down here defies all logic, ignores reality, and comes up with laws year after year that protect us from non-existent threats. Your tax dollars at work.

Today's example comes from Sen. Alan Hays, who imagines that Sharia creeps among us and is determined to do something about it, and bless this man's twisted little brain, he's nothing but persistent. He tried to block it last year when he barred any testimony from those in the Capitol for "Muslim Day" who were informed that they could do so only after the bill passed the Senate. The group was there to communicate with elected officials in what was meant as  "an opportunity for Muslim constituents in the state to be introduced “to the Florida political process." Well, Hays, who also feels that Hispanics have no business voting, certainly did that. Welcome to Tallahassee!

Whether banning their testimony was to prevent the creep of Sharia, or if the invitation to "communicate" with elected officials was evidence that the creep had indeed already begun, we'll never know for sure. Regardless, Hays' bill died in the end. 

Not to be deterred, Hays is back again this year to waste yet more time and money fending off the imaginary threat only he, and a few others apparently can see. And if he didn't appear nutty enough last time, Hays has an entirely new explanation for selling the bill, and it's gained him national attention this time. While the Legislature works hard to prevent many from gaining access to health care, Hays sees the creeping Sharia as a "disease," and with his latest bill, he will provide "vaccinations" against it. No health insurance required, just magical thinking:

"When you were a child, did your parents have you vaccinated against different diseases? That was a preemptive gesture on their part for which I would hope you're very thankful. And this is very similar to that. Your mom and dad would not want you to get sick from one of those dreadful diseases, and I don't want any American to be in a Florida courtroom and have their constitutional rights violated by any foreign law. That's it. It's not that complicated."

Never mind that no one is trying to implement Sharia law in a courtroom or elsewhere. In the mind of lawmakers like Hays, it could happen. Crazy fantasies have played a part in other bills as well, especially when it comes to abortion law in Florida.

So yes, it's just another day at the office for the likes of Alan Hays. Sadly for the rest of us who have to live with any laws this man might manage to pass, it's too bad there's no vaccination for creeping insanity:

 

 

Florida Senate Passes Bill For Problem That Doesn't Exist

Next Up, Bans On Wizards, Flying Monkeys, Unicorns and Leprechauns?

Hey, are you worried about creeping Sharia in Florida?

Me neither, since it's a non existent problem, but that makes no never mind to Florida Sen. Alan Hays who sponsored an anti-Sharia law bill in the Florida Senate. The bill passed Tuesday without testimony against it from a group in Tallahassee to attend "Muslim Day." Muslim speakers hoping to testify against the bill were told they couldn't do so until after the bill had been voted forward.

Before pushing bills to prevent things he just dreamed up in his own mind that weren't a threat in the first place, Hays was famous for saying that Hispanics had no business voting because he decided those Hispanics were likely in this country illegally anyway because they're, well you know, Hispanic and speak Spanish and stuff.

You have to hand it to Hays for his timing. "Muslim Day" in the Capitol is a day for Muslim constituents to communicate directly with their elected officials and a day for  "an opportunity for Muslim constituents in the state to be introduced “to the Florida political process."

While they may not have had the chance to speak, they were certainly introduced to the political process "Florida style."

Rep. Darrell Issa Holds Hearing To Ram "Freedom" Down Women's Throats

And by "freedom" he means women may be seen but not heard, and no health insurance coverage for birth control. You're welcome ladies.

Occupy Uteri

Yes, it's 2012, and yes, we're still "debating" contraception.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is holding the hearing today entitled "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"

The hearing is being held to "investigate" President Obama's new regulation on contraception.

Notice the screen shot above. What's missing?

Women.

What's also missing are any religious leader who agrees with the President's new regulation.

Here is a video of the exchange that took place on how the one-sided hearing was being conducted:

 

From Think Progress:

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

And so Cummings, along with the Democratic women on the panel, took their request to the hearing room, demanding that Issa consider the testimony of a female college student. But the California congressman insisted that the hearing should focus on the rules’ alleged infringement on “religious liberty,” not contraception coverage, and denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders against the rule. Holmes Norton said she will not return, calling Issa’s chairmanship an “autocratic regime.”

You're dismissed little lady!

Issa said he wouldn't allow the female college student to testify because she lacked "the appropriate credentials."

Issa ends this session by asking if these religious leaders think this hearing is a "sham" as some have said on the committee. The answer is basically no, but we will see the end of religion as we know it if we allow women to have health insurance coverage for birth control.

Unbelievable.

Gov. Rick Scott Feels Election Laws He Seeks To Change Are "Conducted Fairly"

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit  by the ACLU challenging Florida Republican backed election laws.

The dismissal doesn't end the case, however.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Under the federal Voting Rights Act, certain sections of the law must still be approved, or precleared [sic], by a court in Washington. The act applies to five Florida counties - Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe - because of past racial discrimination. State elections officials contend the act is unconstitutional as it applies to those counties and should be struck down.

In his order, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that no harm was being done because the law had not yet been implemented or enforced in those five counties while the Voting Rights Act preclearance process continues. Moore disagreed with the American Civil Liberties Union and others challenging the law that implementation should also be halted in Florida's 62 other counties.

The Republican-backed law's supporters say it is aimed at curbing voter fraud. Opponents, including most Democrats, say it will hurt minorities, younger voters and the elderly and also suppress voter turnout.

Naturally Gov. Rick Scott jumped at the chance to weigh in on the ruling:

"I have always been confident that our elections have been conducted fairly and meet every legal requirement," the Republican governor said. 

Really Gov. Scott?

If you've "always been confident that our elections have been conducted fairly and meet every legal requirement," then why are you, the Secretary of State, and the Republicans seeking to change the laws in the first place?

Irene Is Gone But Hurricane Bachmann Still Threatens The Country And She's Moving South (UPDATED)

The Face Of The GOP: Be Afraid

(Updated Below)

A good friend who comes from Michele Bachmann's home state once told me this in response to a question about what exactly makes Bachmann tick:

"She really believes in what she says."

That's the scary part.

Hurricane Bachmann is making her way through Florida right now and she's shown that she's not above exploiting natural disasters to claw her way back to the top in the polls since her numbers fell after winning the straw poll in Iowa. Whether she believes in what she says or not, this statement of hers over the weekend deserves some much needed attention:

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

First of all, she said this while making a campaign speech/sermon at a mega-church, and the response was laughter. Mind you, this as Hurricane Irene was still unfolding and killing people in the process. Since videos of the statement surfaced (she made it twice during separate campaign stops) some have made the claim that she was joking.

Really? She was just joking....at the same moment that people were dying in the storm? (Bachmann "Humor" Update Below)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the face of today's GOP. If you thought the Republican response to Katrina was a "joke" the next disaster will be a riot if the Republicans get back into the White House. Sadly we won't have to wait that long. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said once again, as he did for tornado and earthquake aid earlier, that Republicans won’t allow emergency aid in the wake of Hurricane Irene unless Democrats meet GOP demands: dollar-for-dollar spending cuts elsewhere. Of course that probably translates to another attempt at safety net blackmail instead of cutting oil subsidies and asking the rich to pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us.

Hilarious.

That brings me to the second point. Hurricanes and earthquakes are God's way of telling politicians to cut back on spending? Really? I could have sworn they were God's way of punishing homosexuals? What about abortions? No matter though. Apparently God multi-tasks when handing out punishment, and Michele Bachmann has all of those wayward souls covered. She and the hubby "pray away the gay" (funding provided by Medicare) and counsel women against having abortions. Never mind that when those children grow up, President Bachmann would then rob them of affordable health care while lowering their wages if they're lucky enough to find employment, as she rakes in her family farm subsidies. (Subsidies aren't "socialism" if they go to Republicans and billionaires.) Isn't that, after all, what Jesus would do?

Back to the current disaster in the making. Potential President Bachmann's stand-up tour is moving South. After charming the silly socks off parishioners in Lutz, Bachmann moved on from getting heckled in Naples over her proposal to open up the Everglades to drilling "safely" while also proposing to kill the EPA, she's heading to Miami. No doubt she'll continue to push a Marco Rubio VP slot while she's there. (Good luck with that!) Maybe she can charm them as she did in Lutz with this line:

“You’re Cuban, yay!’’ Bachmann exclaimed in response to a question about Fidel Castro from 66-year-old retiree Gabriela Menendez, who has lived in the U.S. since 1961. “You made it out, yay! We’re glad that you’re here.’’

Maybe ask another senior citizen if they're "old enough to remember Ronald Reagan?" (Go ahead, scratch your head over that one for a moment. I'll wait.)

Whatever she says, I'm sure her views on God and natural disasters will be a big hit to those who still remember Hurricane Andrew and lived to tell the tale. 

They might be surprised to hear that they suffered the brunt of too much government spending back in 1992.

They may also be surprised to hear that if another one comes their way, praying for help may do them absolutely no good if President Bachmann or the Republicans are in charge.

UPDATE:

Bachmann confirmed that her comments on hurricanes and earthquakes were indeed jokes, and has responded to criticism of her natural disaster "humor."

From The Hill:

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) said Monday that her comments that a recent earthquake and Hurricane Irene were a message from God were a joke, Reuters reported.

“Of course I was being humorous when I said that. It would be absurd to think it was anything else,” Bachmann said at an event in Miami.

“I am a person who loves humor. I have a great sense of humor.”

It's "absurd" all right.

Thanks for clearing that up "Dr. Bachmann."