Oh, the stupid. It "Berns!"

Republicans Say the Darndest Things: Oh, Blessed Irony

For this Monday Quote day, I have several...

First, God told Heidi Cruz that Ted should run (a story Rafael the elder is only too happy to retell and retell and retell:

"We were on our knees for two hours seeking God's will.  At the end of that time, a word came through his wife, Heidi...  And I'll tell you, it was as if there was a cloud of the holy spirit filling that place.  Some of us were weeping, and Ted just looked up and said, 'Lord, here am I, use me.  I surrender to you, whatever you want.'  And he felt that was a green light to move forward."

Next we witnessed an entire year of Ted on the campaign trail boasting that God speaks to him, that the country is in dire need of a spiritual revival, and that his presidency will bring God back to Washington.

"(God) speaks to me.  Literally.  In my head." 

"Any president who doesn't begin every day on his knees isn't fit to be commander-in-chief of this nation."

Then last Tuesday, at CNN's Presidential Town Hall, Ted said this:

"Listen, with me, as with many people in America, my faith is an integral part of who I am.  I'm a Christian and I'm not embarrassed to say that.  I'm not going to hide that and treat it like it's something you can't admit publicly and acknowledge.  It's an important part of who you are. 

But I also think that those in politics have an obligation not to wear their faith on their sleeve. There have been far too many politicians that run around behaving like they're holier than thou.  And I'll tell you, my attitude as a voter, if some politician stands up and says 'I'm running because God told me to run,' my reaction as a voter is 'Great.  When God tells me to vote for you, we'll be on the same page.'"

what eye thynk:  No words.  None.  --  Okay, one word: Hypocrite.

Gohmert: No STEM for Women - They "were created for one thing and one thing alone." (Correction addended)

(screen shot)

Texas Representative Louie Gohmert has just established himself as public enemy number one for women by publicly opposing H.R. 4742, a new bill that would increase federal support for entrepreneurial programs for women in STEM fields--science, technology, engineering, and math...

..."This program is designed to discriminate against that young, poverty-stricken boy and to encourage that girl.  Forget the boy.  Encourage the girl."

"And, you know, that's just not the way God intended us to be treating women.  I know that everybody is today talking about equality and we've got groups that are trying to make us believe that women are equal to men.  However, that's just not the case.  God didn't make us equal.  It is ourselves, we have created this illusion of equality.  And you want to know what the most powerful evidence of that there is?  Simple biology..."

"...Women were created for one thing and one thing alone.  We are insulting the Lord by allowing women to act like men.  Women are beautiful creatures, no doubt about that.  We marry them, we look after them, we provide for them and we love them, but that does not mean they are the same as us.  It is the job of a woman to stay at home, to maintain the household, to bear children and look after them after they're born.  Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that women should be chasing after fancy titles and knowledge.  The only knowledge they need is the one we men allow them to have."

eye'm thynkin':  You'll have to excuse me if I keep this short, but my head just exploded.

Republicans.  They just can't help themselves.

Read more at Bipartisan Report
You can watch Mr. Gohmert's entire speech here.

Addendum: An apology to my readers and to Mr. Gohmert.  

I try to be as accurate as humanly possible--that being said, I am in fact, human.  When I first read this story, I also checked other sites, sites that I trust, and at two of them I found the same quotes.  I listened to Mr. Gohmert's speech, and the first paragraph is quoted accurately.  I erred and assumed the other quotes were from other sources.  And so I reported it.

Yesterday, an anonymous reader said he thought it was satire.  So I did more checking and found the quotes on one other trusted site.  I checked one more place and finally found that the last two paragraphs actually were originally written as satire--the type of excellent satire that cleaves so closely to the truth that the boundaries are blurred.  The best satire is, after all, firmly rooted in reality.

Thank you to my anonymous reader for making me look further; but, think about this, how hard was it, in light of the GOP's attitude toward women in general, to accept this as true?  I realize that by misreporting this, I may have added to the anti-woman aura that swirls around today's Republican Party; but, really, they don't need my help. It's clear enough from the one paragraph that is completely accurate that Mr. Gohmert would prefer  women  always come second.

Something to think about while you're on your way to church...

Kinda makes me wonder, do these religious freedom advocates think they're BETTER than Jesus?

Today's Idiot With a Gun - They Make 'Em Dumber in Texas

On Friday, a 7-year-old shot himself in the leg with his father's handgun.  The little boy didn't find it on a table, or hidden under a pillow.  No, this 7-year-old's father is not that careless--he's even worse.

Andrew Crittenden of San Angelo actually GAVE the gun to his son to play with.  He later told police that he thought the gun was unloaded.

And gun un-safety isn't Mr. Crittenden's only talent.  He managed to hit a 5-year-old with his pick-up truck while on the way to the hospital with his injured son.  

Both children will be fine.

eye'm thynkin':  #1  What sane person gives a 7-year-old a real gun to play with like a toy?

#2  He THOUGHT the gun was empty?  He didn't check?

Read more at The Dallas Morning News

Stories from My Political Pollution Page on Facebook

--1--

m'eye thoughts:  How, how, HOW could he and his fellow Republicans not see this coming?

"North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory's life since he passed the new (Anti-Gay) Law HB2, has been less than stellar.  The avalanche of backlash from social media and business leaders came to a head this week when the threat of boycott turned into a reality.  Here is a short list of what went down..."

Read more at Liberal America

--2--

Matt Bevin (R), a man with no experience in government, was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky in January, 2016.  Just a month later, in February, he had already made himself so unpopular that a petition to impeach him was circulating the state.  Now this.

So, how's that governor thing going so far, Matt?

Read more at WDRB

Mississippi Digs Deeper, Finds More and Better Ways to Discriminate

Methodist Chaplain Rev. Chris Donald
speaks at a protest of the anti-LGBT bill last week. 

Many states have considered bills that enable discrimination against the LGBT community, but Mississippi's proposed legislation is perhaps the most explicit in this regard.  HB 1523 spells out in storied detail all the different ways that a person should be able to mistreat people for being LGBT without consequences from the government.

The bill does not pretend to be neutral; it only protects people with anti-LGBT religious beliefs and nobody else...

...(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
(b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and
(c) Male (man) or female )woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

eye'm thynkin':  Nine months ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that same-sex marriage is a right.  Just this past week, a U.S. District Court Judge struck down Mississippi's ban against same-sex couples adopting. But the Mississippi legislature isn't going to let a little thing like judicial rulings or moral fairness stand in the way of state-sponsored discrimination.  In fact, this new bill goes into such far-reaching specifics of government sanctioned discrimination that other anti-LGBT states are going to be pea-green with envy. 

Of course, in their zeal to make sure all protections for LGBT people are eliminated, Mississippi seems to have gotten a little carried away (or maybe it was purposeful, who knows) and left loopholes large enough that will allow evangelical Christians in their state to discriminate against just about anyone.

Specifics like:  "Any person can choose not to provide treatment, counseling, or surgery related to gender transition or same-sex parenting."

So when a gay teen with suicidal thoughts seeks counseling, some right-wing nutcase can refuse to help.  How proud Mississippi must be to make sure that the opportunity to increase the number of teen suicides will now be provided by state law.

Or this: "Any person can establish 'sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming...'"  

Obviously aimed at the trans-gender community, the Mississippi legislature has technically left the door open for an employer who doesn't like women in pants to set "sex-specific standards," and to insist that all female employees wear dresses and heels. A woman who fails to comply can be fired with no legal recourse. 

Conservatives have lost the fight against same-sex marriage, so now they're falling all over themselves to be the loudest voice against transgender people.  No evidence of the existence of a problem in need of a solution is necessary, only a Bible-thumping zeal to castigate anyone who is different.  It's like the Republican voter ID thing.  They can't actually come up with any examples of a transgender person committing violence against a straight person (especially in a restroom), but they're sure it's out there somewhere and they're going to protect their women, their children and their God against it!

Read more, including a list of Mississippi's many, specific "Get Away with Discrimination Free" cards at Think Progress