Robert Lewis Dear, the asshole who shot up a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic and murdered three people, has been flapping his wretched yap again. He’s been talking about how much he admired that other asshole, Paul Hill, who murdered an abortion doctor, and he’s been saying that he was hoping to be welcomed into heaven by a swarm of grateful aborted fetuses. And of course he was influenced by those phony videos from the “Center for Medical Progress” made by sick fuck David Daleiden.
The National Abortion Federation released a report last week documenting what should come as no surprise to anyone: that anti-abortion harassment, threats, intimidation and violence have spiked dramatically since July 2015 when the Center for Medical Progress began releasing deceptively edited videos aimed at discrediting Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue donation practices.
Despite the Center for Medical Progress’ videos having been widely discredited, and the indictment of its leader, the group continues to release videos — which federal and state politicians are using to justify invasive government investigations into abortion clinics and further abortion restrictions. This one-two punch of anti-abortion activity almost guarantees that the increased violence against abortion providers NAF documented in 2015 will continue into 2016 and beyond.
Now if you want further evidence of the hypocrisy of the Republican vermin who hate Planned Parenthood, look no further than these telling laws. Samantha Bee has noticed something strange: did you know that food stamps can’t be used to purchase disposable diapers? It’s not just punishing babies (you know, those critters they don’t want aborted, and that will be greeting Robert Dear in heaven by shitting all over his shoes), but it’s also a clever way to shackle parents, especially mothers, to their homes and making it impossible for them to find jobs.
How can you be adamant that all babies must be born, yet so callous and uncaring that you deny their mothers basic supplies for hygiene? If the Republicans were actually sincere about caring for children, you’d think they be all over bills to allow poor people to use their food stamps on something as unglamorous and useful as diapers.
After all, it’s not as if they’d be using them to buy red potatoes or spaghetti sauce.
That’s the other thing: the scum of the Republican party in Wisconsin, which is fast becoming a desolate hellhole of smug selfish bastards under Scott Walker, is now trying to pass a bill to control what things poor people are allowed to buy with their food stamps. Why? I don’t know, except that being Republican means you are compelled to meddle in the lives of others to make them more miserable. It’s a kind of psychopathy, I think.
It has often been observed that the right to life ends at birth and is restored when you’re a vegetable.
this is essentially the conservative or Republican approach to population health – provide every possible treatment, no matter what it costs, to everybody who is lucky enough to have insurance. (Which means that other people — taxpayers or ratepayers — are in fact paying for it.) Of course, people who can’t afford insurance can just die in the street. But I thought human life was infinitely precious? I guess Sarah Palin’s is, anyway. On the other hand, spending money to improve air and water quality, improve children’s nutrition, provide better quality housing, or whatever the preventive measure may be that extends life and health, is Big Government, Nanny State, and deprives us of our Freedom.
If only the social commentary of people like Samantha Bee could be pounded into the heads of republicans 24 hours a day! Comics like her, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, Jessica Williams, Larry Wilmore, John Oliver, and even Stephen Colbert are imminently important in bringing attention to the bad policies of regressive politicians. Of course, they are not pioneers as they follow in the footsteps of greats like George Carlin, but comedy is a great tool to use on the humorless assholes who want to deprive everyone but their in-group of the rights we should all have.
[George Orwell, 1984]
Grateful for being aborted and thus sent straight to heaven, one presumes. But then – why would they welcome scumbag Dear?
Re: the Frank Zappa quote. That was decades ago. Today we can leave the balloons and ribbons. Today Republicans have really become nasty.
I don’t follow the logic of “people sometimes buy steak with EBT cards so now they’re not allowed to buy dried beans, frozen shrimp, or cheese with flavor.” But presumably steak is still allowed? And dried beans are cheaper than canned or frozen? Oh, but you can’t easily buy canned beans in bulk, I guess, so not being able to do that means less variety in one’s diet because the benefits don’t go as far. Now I get it.
Why, it’s as if the entire point is to punish people for using food assistance, but no, that cannot possibly be the case.
seems like a method of “culling the herd”
Now I’m reminded of an ass that showed up in a very long thread here, all in favour of restricting and controlling everything “he” paid for. He seemed to be convinced that people on foodstamps were buying lobsters and other expensive things.
re: Caine @8
Assholes like that think that they should have control over the money that they pay in taxes. We don’t get to vote on the use after the government takes possession of it. Otherwise, all social programs could fail. Of course, maybe the military would lose some funding as a lot of us think that money should be curtailed, but that is not how it works.
Such “policy” seems inspired by North Korea and George Orwell’s “1984”. The poor suffer and get less and less each year, with the powerful elite congratulating themselves on their “success and generosity”.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GA15Dg01.html
http://newfocusintl.com/north-koreans-couldnt-care-less-for-official-rations/
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For the party that complains about the nanny state, the Rethugs keep making a nanny state.
Apparently some nannies are offended that a) folks using SNAP don’t purchase lots fresh veggies, and buy lots of semi-prepared foods, and b) the folks also buy one or two “luxury” meals with their benefits.
What I see is that the nannies expect expect the the ability to shop often at stores where there is good, cheap produce, and have the time to prepare meals from scratch. And the working large fridge to store produce and leftovers.
Reality is that for most poor, the produce is bad and expensive, they shop once or twice a month due to transportation problems, and have limited storage space. If they are looking for work, that takes up time they could be cooking. They can’t do both at once. They do what they need to do.
Back when I was in graduate school, the Redhead made sure we had one luxury meal a month. The rest were basic meals.
A few months back, I was at a supermarket, and a woman offered to use her Link card to pay for my food, if I would give her cash. The other folks in line cynically thought she wanted to buy drugs with the cash. What they didn’t realize was that purchases we more privileged take for granted, like soap, shampoo, deodorant, sanitary napkins/tampons, etc., are not covered by Link cards. Diapers may have been needed, and cash was required.
We should do a better job of providing the basics to people.
The Rethug Nannies:
of course, the Rethugs know what’s best for everybody, so it is only moral for Rethugs to control everyone’s choices, except Rethugs who then complain about being able to make better choices than the nanny state.
..
typical authoritarians:
a bill to control what things poor people are allowed to buy with their food stamps
Don’t let them buy wood, ci-devant republicans – they may build tumbrils.
Why don’t you look closer to what these laws do, force the poor to buy only processed foods.
Not raw ingredients, which are frequently targeted, but only processed foods.
Just like Reagan’s target of making ketsup a food serving.
The United States of America, a nation that has entire portions whored off to lobbyists at a shot.
Or as I’ve been saying for the past 35 years, “The United States of America has the absolute best government that money can buy”, since Citizens United, it’s going out wholesale.
I’m extremely puzzled by the ban on dried beans.
The rest makes a sort of evil sense, gotta keep them poors from having “luxury” goods like spaghetti sauce so they’ll suffer more.
But dried beans?
Is it just pure racism (Mexicans eat beans, that’ll show them illegals), or is there something else?
Er, that is, racism both in the assumption (Mexicans eat a lot of beans, white people eat fewer), and in the attempt to harm Mexicans based on the faulty assumption.
Maybe we should remind them that we Sicilians also like our dried beans to make proper pasta e fagioli (usually used in the term “pasta fazool”).
See my above. Processed foods, not foods that are wholesome. Now, even components of a healthy meal are being legislated away from the poor, but processed shit food is easily obtainable. Add in food deserts in our inner cities, where supermarkets fled the abandonment of the rust belt, we’ll have the American Dream of people literally starving in our streets in no time whatsoever.
Either processed foods, or ONLY rice and beans. Dog forbid you have a varied diet, you should be happy you get to eat at all. Enjoy your white bread and peanut butter, you peons.
Then this kind of poor diet ends up making people obese- when you can only afford boxed mac and cheese, noodles, maybe a pound of high-fat hamburger you stretch for a couple meals, it shows. Then these assholes start screaming how obviously these poor people eat too much, so we need to cut their benefits.
I have not seen any where what the rational is for this that makes any sense as a way to improve the nutrition of the poor who qualify for it.
How ever if you consider how resentment is used in reactionary politics to control the issues and maintain power it makes perfect sense.
It is seldom stated out loud but underneath and always implied is “why should you suffer submitting to authority while those other people do not?”
Why should “we” support them they do not suffer like we do say the Leaders who profit from their positions pf wealth , power and privilege.
uncle frogy
Well, Uncle, that last question reminds me of a Culture ship name, ‘Hand me the gun and ask me again’, class of ship unnamed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacecraft_in_the_Culture_series
Banks had a very unique style, it’s a shame that he went back to his GCU. ;)
That WI bill was from April 2015, and although it passed 62-33 by the rabble of dolts currently embodying the state assembly, it stalled in the state senate. Not because of the deceny of anyone’s black, oily hearts, but because the grocery lobby argued that it’d be too burdensome for them to monitor everyone’s purchases.
It could still come up again, but for now, it’s dormant.
That was one bill, eric, out of many, in many states from last year. I’m sure once the election season calms down a bit, more will be in the pipeline to screw the poor and elderly.
“We don’t want a nanny state. We’ll make an Evil Stepmother State!”
@sotonohito #16:
I am puzzled by the bean ban, too. Near as I can figure is that dried beans come in large bags for fairly cheap, which means someone on food stamps could potentially stock up on a fiber/protein/folic acid source (and then use next month’s savings to buy, like, a whole soda or maybe a bag of newfangled fancy red potatoes, so best ban those, too).
Can’t keep poor people terrified of food insecurity if they figure ways around the inane rules, after all, and if you can’t keep people terrified of food insecurity, how will you punish and control them?
Religious fundamentalism has a way of making people think that doing utterly monstrous things are justified. This man killed three unarmed people in cold blood, and he thinks he’s going to be rewarded with eternal paradise. He murdered three people for killing undifferentiated clumps of stem cells or embryos that are still basically in a vegetative state. Not that the people he killed were necessarily even involved directly in abortion procedures. Doing that certainly didn’t help promote his ideology. Conservative commentators were scrambling to dissociate themselves from him, like trying to insist that he was transgender or that conservative rhetoric can’t be held responsible for what he did. For all of the assholes in comments sections who will insist that he was totally justified in what he did, most republicans have at least enough self-awareness to realize that they don’t want to be associated with this guy.
A small step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Adopting Pythagorean principles?
As far as I am concerned, such people should die in prison and be buried in unmarked graves inside of the prison facility.
After all, we don’t want a martyr to have a pilgrimage grave. At least, that’s the excuse we used for another terrorist.
Oh wait, he isn’t a terrorist, as his skin is far too pale to be a terrorist or something.
Lee, don’t get me started on gas emissions. A gaffe in dietary management here at home resulted in my consuming beans for several days in a row, while being unaccustomed to such a dietary change.
Let’s suffice it to say, the house didn’t smell like petunias. :/
Note to self: Increase bean consumption to avoid such annoying effects in the future and increase protein input.
Eating meat — especially beef — involves eating a lot more beans than just eating beans directly.
wzrd1: to solve the problem, go for a walk. Or mix some beano into your meal.
For much of my adult life issues of fair wages, equal wages, income equality and tax fairness have been used in a distorted way to control the voters.
Few are payed fairly for what they do or contribute. Most are payed too little with some not even getting a living wage (another misused buzz word ) while those at the top earn far to much for their contribution. There is no tax fairness though the rhetoric is all about tax fairness, it is divided up in the same way as with what people earn those at the lower side of the distribution paying the most while the more you benefit from the system the less you have to pay and those at the very top pay nothing at all.
All the talk and all the grandstanding on these moral issues, these religious, issues these freedom is a distraction from that reality.
Look at how much success Trump is getting from pounding on these issues with resentment.
Does Cruz have anything else?
uncle frogy
numerobis, I’ll stick with just adding beans to my diet, as I really need the protein right now and I might as well get my GI flora and fauna accustomed to the change. :)
“Why? I don’t know, except that being Republican means you are compelled to meddle in the lives of others to make them more miserable. It’s a kind of psychopathy, I think.”
I used to think it was depraved indifference. Now I understand it as outright sadism.
wzrd1: as a vegetarian, I assure you, it doesn’t get all that much better.
If you throw out the rince water (or the water from the cans) you can reduce the oligosaccharide load, but beans are high fiber — and that means high fart.
Anyway, on topic, rice and beans with a bit of onion and other fresh vegetables and a dash of oil makes a great meal, very cheap. It’s poor-people food eaten the whole world over. Throw a few herbs on top and it becomes tasty (otherwise you need to drown it in salt, which isn’t as healthy).
Having the nanny state tell poor people they can’t spend their money on poor-people food is … just what I’d expect a republican to do.
numerobis, one of our meals was rice, beans, leftover veggies and if I had some, powdered chicken stock to flavor the mess. When *really* lucky, we’d get a spare egg or two thrown in at the end.
One creates a meal as one can, when one’s funding is limited. :/
Onamission5 wrote:
I’m sure it was to placate some special interest group. Perhaps the state has a lot of bean growers, but very few who dry and package them. SNAP (food stamps) was an agricultural subsidy before it was anything else. Trying to force poor people to buy more spoilable foods to transfer more of that money back to local agriculture sadly makes sense.
How fascinating how scanning was necessary to ascertain a “cure” to diabetes, when the rest of the entire fucking planet simply uses a blood glucose test and for long term compliance measurement, hemoglobin H1C.
So, does identity theft come complimentary with that “cure”, mikey?
Country dialing code +234 seems to be Nigeria. Guess they finally ran out of princes, and I suppose this scam probably doesn’t fall afoul of the country’s local anti-fraud laws quite as clearly as the others.
I guess I should have mentioned the Nigerian country code when I mentioned identity theft. I forget my non-information security professional peerage here.
Republicans want small government as long as it’s big enough to occupy every grocery cart and uterus in the country. Because freedom!
She’s good! What can I say? I had such a good laugh, and she’s right on! No sex tonight, hunny, I’m done! Man, that was good! :)
That’s OK, raj, once you get over 50, that’s a normal thing. One or the other is either too busy or too tired or both.
Or as often, forgets what that even is… ;)
At least, that’s my lie and I’m sticking with it. Besides, I have to start buckling down and designing the new house network. It’s far easier when one plans it out in advance, rather than having a network that just happened.
So far, I have a vlan for the printers, core servers, house workstations and garage workstation (s) and cameras. Currently, I’m debating on a vlan just for my MythTV inner services (tuner, primary and secondary backend, frontends).
Plus, the ISP’s idiot router, which only wants to work on vlan 1 and hence, will have to be segregated by another router.