Beach Peanuts

Yes, There Is A Progressive, Liberal Alternative To The RNC!

 No, We're Not Going Back

If you don't consider "progressive" and "liberal" to be four letter words, think everyone should have equal rights regardless of the color of their skin, gender, sexual orientation, and religion, recognize that paying taxes is patriotism with an actual purpose, don't jump to bomb or shoot as a solution of first resort, and feel everyone's vote should count, you're not alone. It just may seem that way if you're in Tampa the next few days when the Republicans take over the Bay area. They may have a small tent, but they're loud and carry a big chip on their shoulders, so it may not seem that way this week.

Don't let it get you down, there are alternatives for like-minded liberals and progressives in town.

Progress Florida has put together an interactive guide: A Progressive’s Guide to the RNC, which contains events, links and maps to everything on the progressive's to-do list during the convention. Unlike the "members only" mentality of the Republican Party, you don't even have to be a liberal or a progressive to take part in what the guide has to offer.

Free speech. What a concept!

From the guide:

Here is the definitive guide for progressives who want to stand up for the middle class, oppose the Republican Party’s extremist agenda, and get the unscripted, behind the scenes play-by-play. Inclusion in this guide does not necessarily indicate a Progress Florida endorsed event or viewpoint, but we fully support the right of all Americans to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech. Stand up, show up, get involved, share this guide, stay safe, keep it legal, make it loud, and participate!

There are events sponsored by everyone from Rock The Vote to Planned Parenthood to Wonkette. For those who are realistic and science minded, there's even a tracking map to keep tabs on Tropical Storm, and potential Hurricane Isaac, if you're one who realizes that merely being a "hospitality state" makes you immune to disaster (Like Gov. Rick Scott) and that donning a raincoat or poncho is all the protection you need during a hurricane (Like GOP Chair Reince Priebus.)

So bookmark the guide, have fun, and be safe, but keep your eye on the weather.

This Is What An Angry And Desperate Campaign Looks Like

“This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. President Obama knows better, promised better, and America deserves better. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then try to cobble together 51 percent of the pieces. If an American president wins that way, we all lose.”

“Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America.”

- Mitt Romney on August 14, 2012, complaining of so-called "harsh rhetoric" coming from President Obama's campaign

Project much Mitt?

Perhaps he was looking in the mirror when he came up with those lines.

Mitt Romney, today in Michigan:

 

Second Storm Threatens Tampa, RNC, And Romney

GOP Triple Threat: Isaac, Paul And Romney

As Tropical Storm Isaac continues to strengthen, its impact on the RNC in Tampa is still a bit of an uncertainty, but it's not the only tempest the Republicans and Mitt Romney are concerned about.

There's a mighty wind blowing in from Texas, and this one is called Hurricane Paul.

That's Ron Paul.

By Monday, Isaac will still be south of Tampa Bay and potentially pass west of the area on Tuesday, but Paul supporters seem to be a more easily predictable threat. So much so that Mitt Romney's nomination has been moved up in the schedule out of fear of the Paulites.

Romney was originally scheduled to be nominated as per tradition just ahead of his convention speech scheduled for Thursday. Now due to the "perfect storm" of Isaac and Ron Paul, his nomination is being moved ahead to Monday.

In what's already been more than a bumpy ride of a campaign, the threat of disaster for Romney isn't over yet.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.

(Photos: National Hurricane Center, Wikipedia)

The Romney-Ryan-Akin Platform for Women

 

GOP Platform Includes Akin's No Abortion Exception The Party Decries

As Republicans from Mitt Romney to Paul Ryan to Connie Mack IV put a face on hypocrisy while pretending to be appalled at the remarks of Todd Akin, who said this about rape resulting in pregnancy:

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

Republicans agree with every word Akin said.

But to anyone who may believe that Republicans have recoiled from Akin's view, it should be crystal clear by now. Those words of disgust coming from the GOP may only be to serve as a play for something they are clearly lacking: Women voters. Or better yet: Stupid women voters.

To those voters, let me clear up the confusion for you right now, via the Tampa Bay Times:

"Human life amendment: We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize heath care which includes abortion coverage."

The paragraph above comes from the draft of the official GOP platform being written before the Republican National Convention in Tampa, to be voted on next week. There is no explicit exception for rape or incest. So while the GOP may want to appear to be running from Akin and his extreme views, they own both of them and this is the evidence.

Also from that platform: They reject affirmative action, are anti-immigration, gay marriage, reject any new taxes except for wars and "national emergencies" whatever those might be, support the Stand Your Ground gun law, support freedom from "some" religion and they're against medical research including stem cells.

Republicans seem intent on making their already small tent even tinier in the future. That would of course warrant some sort of voter suppression now, which many, including Florida's Governor Rick Scott are working hard at already, and should they win a majority, I suppose doing away with voting altogether would be the next step.

What hope could they possibly have without it?

Mack Cosponsored "Forcible Rape" Bill With Akin, Who He Now Criticizes

Warrior Against Women "Outraged and Offended" By His Own Beliefs

Unless you were under a rock this weekend, you probably heard about this comment on rape and abortions when a rape results in a pregnancy:

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

The comment was made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-eality Deficient-MO), who seems to be under the impression that when a woman is raped, a magical thinking fairy waves a magic wand over said rape victim forming a special barrier around the egg preventing fertilization. (Yes, I know what you're thinking, but no: There's no such thing as birth control, nor logic in the Todd Akin world of magical thinking either. It's all in the wand.) Akin also implies that if that fairy were having an "off" day and this didn't work, the rapist should be punished, but not the child, so no abortion under any circumstances. I guess how this isn't punishment for a child knowing that but for a violent act, it might not exist, nor for the mother who never had a say in it either way, doesn't figure into the Akin equation.

Some Republicans are now urging Akin to drop out of his race for the Senate, a race he's now in danger of losing to Democrat Claire McCaskill, claiming they are appalled by his comments. Of course, they aren't appalled by his comments, a view many of them share. They're just appalled that he actually said them out loud. What worries them is that he'll lose. They want him out so they can find another Republican candidate to save them from that defeat.

Enter another dim bulb Republican sounding the blatant alarm of hypocrisy: Connie Mack IV.

Connie Mack joins a growing list of Republicans who have condemning Rep. Todd Akin's rape comments, which may have ended Akin's U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri.

But Mack adds that the remarks are as "just as outrageous and offensive" to those by Vice President Joe Biden, who last week before a crowd filled with African Americans said Republicans seeking to deregulate Wall Street would put people back in chains.

"Like Joe Biden's comments last week, I find Todd Akin's comments made Sunday to be just as outrageous and offensive," Mack said. "Such insulting and offensive remarks from Joe Biden and Todd Akin have no place in our political discourse."

Putting aside the fact that in the ever "brilliant" mind of Mini-Mack, Democrats wanting rules not allowing banks to screw everyone over is just the same as forcing a woman to give birth to a child when she is raped in the event that Akin's rape theory shouldn't pan out, Mack himself has a bit of a hypocrisy problem in common with Akin. Actually more than that.

You see, Mack cosponsored a bill along with Akin, GOP VP candidate Paul Ryan, and a long list of Republicans back in 2011 called the Prohibiting Taxpayer Funding of Abortion bill which passed in the Republican controlled House. The bill prohibited any federal funds, including funds within the budget of the District of Columbia, from being used for the purpose of providing abortions, except in the following cases: Rape; Incest; or the life of the woman is at risk. A version of that bill contained the language "forcible rape" to parse what constituted a rape in the first place, as if there were any other kind. In other words, a "legitimate rape" as Akin used in his comments which now so offend Connie Mack and his fellow hypocrites in the GOP.

Mack appartently thinks voters are stupid and as air-headed as he is.

And that wasn't the only anti-abortion legislation he voted for in the last few years. (At least when he bothered to show up for a vote in the first place.)

Here's a list of the rest:

To Amend Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to Prohibit Abortion Coverage

Prohibiting Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Prohibiting Use of Federal Funds For Planned Parenthood

Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services

Substitute Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments

Abortion Pain Bill

Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (S 403)

Foreign Operations and Export Finance Appropriation Act

Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act  (HR 748)

Not that he didn't vote "no" on any abortion legislation. He did.

Mack voted against the Overseas Military Facilities Abortion Amendment. It would have lifted the ban on privately funded abortions at U.S. military facilities overseas. Yes, Mack made sure even women in the military were covered.

So while Mack, Paul Ryan, and their fellow Republicans may want to run from Todd Akin and his magically idiotic wing nut beliefs, they can't hide from him, nor the Congressional record.

They share the same beliefs as Akin. They're just calling him out because he gave voice to their War On Women for all to hear. The only bigger offense is he may cost them a seat in the Senate.

You're welcome ladies.

The Facts On Medicare

 

Fact Check: Romney-Ryan Plan Will End Medicare

Because the plan to end Medicare as we know it by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan is so unpopular, they're trying to confuse the issue and walk back their claims.

Romney has endorsed the Ryan budget which would end Medicare, and has said “I’m pleased to support the position of getting rid of every piece of Obamacare – including the cuts to Medicare which are used to pay for Obamacare.”

Those "cuts" he wants to get rid of don't restrict benefits in any way, but rather cut back on fraud and abuse. However, the same cuts that Ryan and Romney propose WILL cut benefits.

What the Romney-Ryan plan will do:

·         Turn Medicare into a voucher program that would leave seniors paying thousands of dollars more each year.
·         Slash funding for Medicaid so that 19 million people lose coverage – including seniors in nursing homes, low-income children, and pregnant women in need of prenatal care.
·         Cut investments in the middle-class that could cut 200,000 kids a year from Head Start and reduce Pell Grants for 10 million students.

Don't be fooled, know the facts.

 

Life On Planet Romney: The Education Edition

Hey kids, here's a quick lesson on what life is like on Planet Romney when it comes to education.

Under the Romney-Ryan budget, college aid would be cut for nearly 10 million students and the tax deduction for college tuition would be eliminated.

But don't worry, Romney has the perfect solution for you. Just borrow the money from your parents to go to college! Or better yet, just ask them for the money to start a business and skip college altogether! It's just that simple.

Of course, if your parents aren't made of money like Mitt Romney is, well I guess you're just out of luck. You see, Mitt wants another tax cut so he can keep making money off of his money, and those cuts have to come from somewhere.

Just a little lesson in math from Mitt Romney.

You're welcome.

 

What You May Not Know About This Election, And What Republicans (And Rick Scott) Are Afraid You'll Ask

Question: Why are Republicans working against the very people, and the country they are supposed to represent?

A few months ago, Robert Draper came out with a new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives." If you read it, which I did, you're familiar with his description of what happened on the night of President Obama's inauguration in 2009.

During a four hour long "invitation only" meeting with their talking points guru Frank Luntz, Republican leaders in Congress plotted how they would sabotage President Obama's time in office while undermining the U.S. Economy. Among those lawmakers present was newly picked Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, along with Newt Gingrich and these Republican lawmakers:

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R)

That meeting, along with the now famous declaration from Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that his and the Republicans goal was "to make President Obama a one term President" started the ball of obstruction rolling that continues today.

Since then, other plans have contributed to the Republican sabotage of the President and the U.S. economy and everything else, to the detriment of the American people, and to the detriment of the country.

All these factors will now come together as we approach the general election, and the GOP hopes their plan will bring them back into power.

Unfortunately, many voters are unaware of what the Republicans have been up to, and that's part of the plan. They have done all they can to give out misinformation to confuse voters in order to deliver the election to their candidate Mitt Romney, and now Paul Ryan. (And that's just the beginning.)

This pair would be worse than Bush and Cheney, a "Bush Cheney 2.0," in that most of their advisers are the same ones from the disastrous Bush Administration, and they want to go back to the same policies that got us into the mess we've been in ever since. The President has tried to get us out of the mess, and in spite of Republican obstruction, he's managed to do quite a lot. The Republicans want this to stop.

So here we are.

The video below explains the GOP plan of action in a nutshell, a nutshell which also features Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott and his voter purge, which is part of the plan.

Watch the video and then share it, because this election is more important than ever. The Republicans know this, but here's what they don't want you to know: