Tennessee: Theocratic Lawmakers Intend to Pass Pro Creationism Bill

You can always tell when Republicans control your state. Suddenly science takes a back seat to fanciful myths from someone's religion. Once again, Tennessee makes the national news, and not in a good way.

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Lawmaker Says Women Will Pretend To Be Raped To Get Free Abortions (Video)

Yep, Indiana State Rep. Eric Turner (R) thinks exempting rape victims from stringent anti abortion laws is a bad idea because women will pretend they have been raped in order to get free abortions. In fact, the opposite is true. Most rape victims prefer not to talk about their rapes. The crime is hugely under-reported, and with jerks like Rep. Eric Turner constructing the laws, it's not likely to get any better. See State Rep. Linda Lawson's (D) emotional and outraged response in the clip below.


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Misogynist Bill Maher Attacks Sarah Palin, Again

Bill Maher's apparent mission is to make Rush Limbaugh look good. Ugh. This time Maher spared the viewers of his show and saved this particular low-life sexist attack for his performance at the Winspear Opera House.

Misogynist Maher called Sarah Palin a “cunt,” adding that "there’s just no other word for her.” It's really hard to think of a word low enough for Maher, but we'll start with misogynist! [via]

Sign the petition to HBO at The New Agenda.

Previously - TGW: NOW & Women's Media Center Respond to Bill Maher's Latest Sexist Swipe at Sarah Palin / Sarah Palin Responds to Bill Maher

UPDATE - More condemnation of Maher: Steve Benen: RIGHT TARGETS, THE WRONG LANGUAGE.

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Jon Stewart: GE Pays No Tax! GE Is An A**hole! (Video)

Stewart: "I know the Supreme court ruled that corporations are people, but what I didn't realize is that those people are assholes." Meanwhile, pundits are shown calling for corporate tax cuts and freaking out about the "greedy, parasitic public employee unions" bankrupting the nation. And watch clueless Obama praise GE.


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Wisconsin Banana Republic: Gov. Walker Defies Court Order

The drama in Wisconsin just got a lot more intense. Once again, Governor Walker does whatever he damn well pleases.

Gov. Scott Walker's administration no longer is collecting dues on behalf of state unions and, as of Sunday, is charging employees more for their pensions and health care, even though nonpartisan legislative attorneys say the changes are not yet law.

First the union-busting Scott Walker defies the will of the people, now Scott Walker defies the Court:

As of yesterday, Walker began enforcing a law that has been blocked by a state court's restraining order. . So, as of today, what's the law in Wisconsin? According to the GOP, the union-busting measure is in effect, and according to Democrats, it's not. Some local communities in the state are enforcing the law, and some local communities are not.

Firedoglake: Wisconsin Officials Implementing Anti-Union Law, Ignoring Court Order

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RIP Feminist Trailblazer Geraldine Ferraro, 1935-2011 (Round-Up) (Video)

On July 1, 1984, the National Organization for Women threatened a convention floor fight if the Democrats did not choose a woman, and three days later a delegation of Democratic women went to Minnesota to urge Mr. Mondale to do so. Mr. Mondale made his historic call, asking Ms. Ferraro to be his running mate.


FEMINIST CHRONICLES: The 1984 National NOW Conference, in Miami Beach, FL, urged Presidential candidate Walter Mondale to select a woman as his Vice-Presidential running mate. NOW passed a resolution, authored by Eleanor Smeal, saying if a woman was not on the ticket, NOW would take the nomination to a floor fight at the Democratic convention. (06/30/84)

Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) became the first woman in American history to be chosen as the nominee for Vice President on a major party ticket after a year-long campaign by women's groups for a woman Vice Presidential candidate. From the start, the Catholic hierarchy denounced her for her pro-choice stance. (07/20/84)

Beth Reinhard @ National Journal: Because of Ferraro, Women Won: “She put the first crack’s in America’s glass ceiling,’’ said Clinton, who in 2008 eloquently described the 18 million ceiling cracks made by the voters who favored her in the Democratic primary. Generations of women can also thank Shirley Chisholm, Margaret Chase Smith, Pat Schroeder — who did indeed cry — Elizabeth Dole, Carol Moseley Braun, and Sarah Palin. Ferraro once said, “Every time a woman runs, women win.’’


The Atlantic: The Inside Story of Ferraro's 84 Debate PrepThe most famous line of the debate, of course, was Geraldine Ferraro's. . ."Let me first of all say that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy."

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"She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more. May her example of hard work and dedication to America continue to inspire all women." -- Sarah Palin

“I think Obama was terribly sexist." -- Geraldine Ferraro, 2008


YouTube: Geraldine Ferraro, Rachel Maddow, "sexism" Today Show

Back in October 1984, when her husband was running for reelection as Reagan's vice-president, [Barbara] Bush referred to Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate on the Democratic[ ticket, as "the four-million dollar -- I can't say it, but it rhymes with 'witch.'" The comment came the day after Bush and Ferraro met for their only debate.

TGW: Geraldine Ferraro, 1st Woman on US Presidential Ticket, Dies

For us, Gerry was above all a friend and companion. From the rough-and-tumble of political campaigns to the important work of international diplomacy, we were honored to have her by our side. She was a tireless voice for human rights and helped lead the American delegation to the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. -- Hillary and Bill Clinton

"We've chosen the path to equality; don't let them turn us around." -- Geraldine Ferraro

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Geraldine Ferraro, 1st Woman on US Presidential Ticket, Dies

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for Vice President on a major party, died today at age 75. Ferraro had hoped to live long enough to see the day when a woman will serve as President or even Vice President of male-dominated America, but no one lives that long. [via]




"For two centuries, candidates have run for president. Not one from a major party ever asked a woman to be his running mate -- until Walter Mondale." -- Geraldine Ferraro

"The only thing that can stop Hillary becoming the next president would be smears and dirty tricks. I've told her I'll go anywhere and speak any time to make sure that doesn't happen." -- Geraldine Ferraro

New York Times: Geraldine A. Ferraro, First Woman on Major Party Ticket, Dies at 75

HuffPo: Geraldine Ferraro Dead: First Major Female Vice Presidential Candidate Dies At 75

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Bob Herbert: 'New Leadership Urgently Needed'

Quote of the Day

So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home. Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. . New ideas and new leadership have seldom been more urgently needed.

Bob Herbert, Losing Our Way

Losing Our Way is Bob Herbert's last column for The New York Times, "after an exhilarating, nearly 18-year run." Herbert writes:

I’m off to write a book and expand my efforts on behalf of working people, the poor and others who are struggling in our society. My thanks to all the readers who have been so kind to me over the years. I can be reached going forward at bobherbert88@gmail.com.

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Sarah Palin Responds to Bill Maher

Quote of the Day

“Upon my return from an outstanding and productive trip to India and Israel, I’ve been inundated with requests to respond to petty comments made in the media the past few days, including one little fella’s comment which decent people would find degrading. I won’t bother responding to it though, because it was made by he who reminds me of an annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent; he can’t do any harm, but buzzes around annoyingly until it’s time to give him the proverbial slap.”

-- Sarah Palin

Previously: NOW & Women's Media Center Respond to Bill Maher's Latest Sexist Swipe at Sarah Palin

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Rachel Maddow: Tennessee's Union Busting GOP Working for a Bluer State, Yay! (Video)

Rachel Maddow notices Tennessee (last night's show!) and observes that the state's GOP lawmakers are making themselves hugely unpopular by trampling all over us little people. Rachel advises us to send our happily-blue thank you notes to the red scoundrels after the next election. In other words, Union Busting is the GOP's Weapon of Self Destruction.

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“The trouble with trying to do really unpopular things in politics is that they have a tendency to make the doer of those things really unpopular. You‘d think politicians would understand this since their careers are made or broken on the popular vote.” -- Rachel Maddow

TGW: Pro Union Protesters Arrested at Tennessee State Capitol

TGW: Thousands of Tennessee Teachers Rally at Capitol to Protest Union Busting Bill

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Scott Walker Advised to Stage Fake Violence by Pro Union Dems; Indiana Official Resigns

Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist Carlos Lam has resigned after his email surfaced advising Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to stage a fake assassination plot and blame it on pro union Democrats.

Wisconsin's no good Governor Scott Walker wasn't kidding when he confessed that he'd considered staging fake violence to disrupt the massive demonstrations against his union busting agenda.

The newly unemployed Republican's email read:

“If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions’ cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions.

“Currently, the media is painting the union protest as a democratic uprising and failing to mention the role of the DNC and umbrella union organizations in the protest. Employing a false flag operation would assist in undercutting any support that the media may be creating in favor of the unions. God bless, Carlos F. Lam.”


Speaking of GOP scoundrels who need to lose their jobs, it's not too late to help:

RECALL THE 8 WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN SENATORS

WaPo: Wisconsin Dems: We’ll win back the Senate

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President Obama Locked Out of White House, Really (Video)

Hey, in hard times we get our laughs anyway we can.


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Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Jackson's Friendship (Video)

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NOW & Women's Media Center Respond to Bill Maher's Latest Sexist Swipe at Sarah Palin

As I've noted many times, Bill Maher is a deeply misogynistic man. Yet, women who know better, regularly appear on his show and sit in his audience. I view this as a painful testimony to the fact that American women have come to accept deep misogyny as the normal everyday experience.

But I'm still waiting for the day when a woman tells Bill Maher what to do with his misogyny right there on his HBO show. So far, Ralph Nader and Tavis Smiley are the only ones who have cared enough to call Maher out for the sexism.

Where are the brave women?

On last week's show, Maher called Sarah Palin a dumb twat.

NOW responds:

Listen, supposedly progressive men (ok, and women, too): Cut the crap! Stop degrading women with whom you disagree and/or don't like by using female body terms or other gender-associated slurs. OK? Can you do that, please? If you think someone's an idiot or a danger to the country, feel free to say so, but try to keep their sex out of it. Sexist insults have an impact on all women.

The Women's Media Center responds:

Despite the fact that women make up half of the population, we're only 17 percent of congress. Bill Maher's misogynistic comment about Sarah Palin hurts all women, not just Palin, and not just conservative women. By insulting her gender, rather than her platform or stance on issues, he insults women as a group.

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Shades of 2008: Sexism At The Nation

Over at Historian we learn that Katha Pollitt is shocked to discover sexism alive and well at The Nation, sexism at one of the left's oldest and most revered institutions. Being a lifelong liberal, I have long respected and revered The Nation.

Thanks Robert Dreyfuss for reminding me that misogyny is everywhere. Now can you please go write for some right-wing publication? Or better yet, retire!

Katha Pollitt writes:

In a post entitled “Obama’s Women Advisers Pushed War Against Libya” (originally titled “Obama’s Women” tout court) he’s shocked-shocked-shocked that UN Ambassador Susan Rice, human-rights adviser Samantha Power and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were keen on intervening militarily in Libya. The piece is dotted with arch and sexist language—the advisers are a “troika,” a “trio” who “rode roughshod over the realists in the administration” (all men) and “pushed Obama to war.” Now it’s up to the henpecked President to “reign (sic) in his warrior women.” Interestingly, the same trope—ballbreaking women ganging up on a weak president—is all over the rightwing blogosphere.

Misogyny—it’s the last acceptable prejudice of the left.

Historian reminds us that The Nation's Katha Pollitt failed to stand and fight the horrid tsunami of misogyny from the left in what many of us remember as the worst and most intense year of misogyny in our lifetimes. Pollitt is the very same 'progressive' woman who infamously wrote that she was glad Hillary lost to Obama, "else every single day would be a festival of misogyny."

Cause if women would just stop running for office and competing for 'men's jobs' there wouldn't be any gosh darn sexism! I used to think Katha Pollitt was an admirable feminist writer, now I think she's part of the problem. Welcome to the festival of misogyny, Katha. It's called walking around with your eyes open.

[See Big Tent Dem's: A Problem With Women at The Nation.]

UPDATE: Katha Pollitt sets the record straight n the comments at Historian, provides links to her articles condemning the misogyny of 2008. Sorry, I should have reviewed the past before ranting. Still a touchy subject.

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South Dakota Gov. Signs Anti Abortion Bill Mandating Nation's Longest Waiting Period

Abortion rights groups are preparing the lawsuits as South Dakota becomes the state with the longest waiting period in the nation — three days! Women will also be forced to endure fake counseling from crackpot anti choice activists at so-called 'pregnancy help centers.'

The law will certainly make it harder for some women to get abortions, said Kathi Di Nicola, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, which runs the clinic in Sioux Falls. Women could have to drive there several times to schedule an abortion, visit a crisis pregnancy center and then get an abortion, she said.

"It would most certainly be a barrier to women who have to travel. South Dakota is a rural state," Di Nicola said. "Many women who are seeking abortion care already have to take time off work, arrange for child care."

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Sexist National Review: Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, & Samantha Power "Nagged" Obama Into Going to War

Remember the creep who wanted Hillary Rodham Clinton to iron his shirt? I think maybe his name is Mark Krikorian, the deeply sexist neanderthal who writes for the sexist National Review:

Look, I'm a sensitive New Age guy — I cook, I do laundry, I choke up at movies (well, Gladiator, anyway). But does anyone think our enemies abroad are as enlightened as we are about feminism? Steyn is right that the specific lesson they're learning is that nukes are the best insurance against invasion — but a broader one is that our commander-in-chief is an effete vacillator who is pushed around by his female subordinates. Prof. Althouse notes, "A feminist milestone: Our male President has been pulled into war by 3 women," and Senator Graham scored points with "I Thank God for Strong Women in the Obama Administration," but we're going to pay for this.

Before you send me any burning bras, the problem is not with women leaders — the enemies of the Virgin Queen and the Iron Lady can attest to that. The problem is not even with the president having strong female subordinates. Rather, Obama's pusillanimity has been hugely magnified by the contrast with the women directing his foreign policy and the fact that they nagged him to attack Libya until he gave in. Maybe it's unfair and there shouldn't be any difference from having a male secretary of state do the same thing, but there is. ("They Know Who Wears the Pants in this Country" (!) )

Via Media Matters: Sexism Is Alive And Well At National Review [via]

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Charlie Sheen's Surprise Appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live (Video)

Fox wants him. CBS wants him back. As you can see on the clip below, the woman beater is enormously popular.


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Obama: "The President Does Not Have Power Under the Constitution to Unilaterally Authorize a Military Attack"

Once again, candidate Obama sounds nothing like President Obama. Once again, we've been had. In 2007, candidate Barack Obama told the Boston Globe:

“The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. In instances of self-defense, the president would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the legislative branch.”

-- Barack Obama, 2007

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Jon Stewart: Another War? You Can't Simultaneously Fire Teachers & Tomahawk Missiles (Video)

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Republicans Want to Cut Food Stamps Because That's What They Do Best

Never mind that nearly one in five Americans are having difficulty feeding their families, Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee want to cut the Food Stamp program. [via]

This is a program that is essential to the relative health of America's large unemployed and poor population.

But hey, this is what Republicans do. Making life hard for the poor is pretty well the definition of a Republican.

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Nearly One-Third of Americans Can't Name Vice President

And 38 percent of Americans can't pass the U.S. Citizenship Test, according to NEWSWEEK. Take the test here.

When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.

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Michael Moore Rips Obama Over Libya; Says He Should Return Nobel Peace Prize

Quote of the Day

"May I suggest a 50-mile evacuation zone around Obama's Nobel Peace Prize?"

-- Michael Moore

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Woman's Anti-Asian Rant Draws Misogyny and Death Threats

Once again, racism is bad, sexism not so much:

Alexandra Wallace’s now famous rant against Asian students at UCLA has been seen more than five million times.* Countless more people have seen or read about the video in the New York Times, Gawker, the UK’s Daily Mail and elsewhere. And in all these places, the video prompted outraged commentary from readers and viewers who told Wallace about her racism—and, in the process, slung mounds of misogyny her way, too. (Not to mention posting her address and, reportedly, sending her death threats.)

Even on Colorlines.com and Jezebel.com, which targets a largely progressive female readership, many of the comments posted in response to Wallace were loaded with sexist name-calling. “I’m sure her mom also taught her to make sure you wear a tight tank top that exposes your boobs when ranting about Asian students on video,” a commenter wrote on Jezebel. On our site, the word “bimbo” thrived.


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Anti-War Protesters Arrested at White House

Funny, how the anti-war movement all but vanished when a Democrat moved into the White House:

More than 100 anti-war protesters, including the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, were arrested outside the White House on Saturday in demonstrations marking the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

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When Will Obama Stop the Inhumane Treatment of Bradley Manning?

Michael Stipe, Viggo Mortensen, Daniel Ellsberg and Others Demand Obama Investigate Degrading Treatment of Bradley Manning -- via Jane Hamsher

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Republicans Concerned About Nuclear Power Safety (Video)

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Tennessee State Senator Attacks Students; Progressive Student Alliance Responds

Universities should expel students who commit civil disobedience, according to Tennessee State Sen. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). That's exactly what many universities did back when students demonstrated for basic civil rights alongside Martin Luther King. Decades later, the universities apologized. Senator Randy McNally wants to repeat a little history.

McNally is bothered by the willingness of students to fight for workers' rights. Seven students were arrested at a demonstration for workers' civil rights at the state capitol. The students were making a statement against the Republican plan to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights.

McNally actually argued on the Senate floor that the University of Memphis should expel the students. Thankfully we have no real problems in Tennessee so the lawmaker has plenty of on the job time to waste attacking students:

Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, a Memphis State graduate, rose on the Senate floor near the end of Thursday's session and said, "I've been down here a long time and have never seen a situation like that. ... I was also dismayed to learn that six of the individuals were members of a registered student organization at the University of Memphis -- the Progressive Student Alliance -- and I would hope the university takes action. It's up to the school, but I would hope they expel them, " he said.

The Progressive Student Alliance responds:

"If Nashville politicians spent as much time listening to the demands of workers and students as they do slandering PSA in the press, our democracy would be in better shape, and we could find more productive things to be doing on a Thursday night than writing press releases."

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