Ann Coulter: 'Women Should Not Have The Right To Vote'

Source:Secular Talk & Fox News-Ann Coulter.

Source:The New Democrat

Just when think Ann Coulter can’t be any meaner, more hateful, ignorant and funnier at her own expense, she comes out in favor of repealing the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I’ve always argued that Neoconservatives, want to take America back to pre-New Deal days. But in Ann Coulter’s case, she was would take America back before the 1920s, before women had the right to vote in America. The host of whatever the hell this guy on YouTube does, who I generally see as a loudmouth asshole and jackass and if you watch him on YouTube, you would see why, actually makes a good point here. About the tax issue, that if you don’t pay taxes, you shouldn’t vote, according to Ann Coulter. Well, that would devastate the Republican Party.

If only income taxpayers and Americans who pay more in taxes than they actually receive in benefits could vote, we’re not talking about Washington, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, all big cities with large Democratic populations, who would lose their right to vote. These are all economically prosperous areas of the country. The areas that would get devastated as far as no longer being able to vote are the rural Bible Belt areas. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, rural Georgia, South Carolina, North Florida, West Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, to use as examples. Some of the poorest states and areas of the country. That couldn’t live right now without their Food Assistance and Welfare benefits. Republican legislatures and governors, could gerrymander all they want. But their people wouldn’t be able to vote, because they don’t pay income taxes.

When you just make your political arguments and statements, especially against the other party based on stereotypes and talking points and especially racial and ethnic stereotypes and you don’t bother to look at the actual data and facts, you can get yourself in a lot of political trouble and shoot your toes off. Shoot yourself in the leg when you’re just trying to put your gun back in your holster, similar to Al Bundy, if you’re familiar with Married With Children. Because you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing. Yes, women tend to vote for Democrats, but those women also tend to be well-educated and economically successful. And they vote Democratic, because they believe Democrats better represent their interests. You prevent poor Americans from voting and you devastate a big chunk of the GOP that Republicans have to have. And Ann Coulter, doesn’t seem to be smart enough to understand that.
Source:Secular Talk

Muir Maiden: Peyton Place (1957) Life is Not So Swell in Pleasantville

Source:Muir Maiden.

Source:The New Democrat

I don’t know any other movie that perfectly represents its time and is better timed and has a better plot than Peyton Place. I mean think about, think about what Peyton Place is about and when it comes out and when it takes place. In small town New England, where everyone looks the same, talks the same and acts the same, lives the same way. Or at least that is how it looks on the outside. Peyton Place, comes out in 1957, a time where mom stayed at home and dad worked. Where divorce, or single parenthood were considered sins. Where African-Americans, were considered servants of Caucasian families, especially Anglo-Saxon families. Where sex before marriage and even the talk of sex and how people being physically attracted to each other pre-marriage were considered sins.

Peyton Place and the 1940s, as well as 1950s America, perhaps especially in New England, are considered the Utopia of the Christian-Right and what I at least call the Traditional Values Coalition of America. And yet this is all just a façade. Peyton Place, is a movie where a single mother is raising her daughter. Her daughter’s father, dies early on, but she’s never actually married to him. Not only that, but this women played by the great Lana Turner, has an unplanned pregnancy with a married man. Again, adultery and especially adulterous sex, would be considered sins back then and in this community. And yet Constance MacKenzie, played by Lana, tries to come off as this better than now above it all person. Expressing the traditional values of Traditional America. Even though she’s lived a separate life where she expressed her true feelings.

Peyton Place, looks like a small town paradise in New England, on the outside. With good schools, good places to eat. Very friendly intelligent good people, things to do. And yet this is a town with a lot of the problems of a big American Northeastern or Midwestern city. Like Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, to use as examples. Where women have kids with men who are married to other women and without marrying the father of their baby and where the father doesn’t have much of a presence in their baby’s life. Where a girl, played by Hope Lange, is raped by her stepfather, played by Arthur Kennedy. And when her stepfather attacks her again, she kills him and get charged with the murder of her stepfather. Because no one believes that she was simply defending herself.

Peyton Place, is also a movie, where a women played by Lana Turner, learns to open up, socialize and even love again. From the principle of her daughter’s high school, played by Lee Phillips. Who teaches her that there’s nothing wrong with two people openly showing their affection with each other in public. Even in Peyton Place. And is also a movie where abortion, again in a movie that came out in 1957, but took place even further back in 1941, thirty years before abortion even became legal in America, where a doctor, played by Lloyd Nolan, performs the abortion on Selena Cross, played by Hope Lange. Because she was a teenager, whose stepfather is the father of her baby.

To say that Peyton Place was ahead of its time as far as the issues that it talked about, would be like saying the Empire State Building in New York, is a big tall building. This movie was a solid ten-years ahead of its time. That showed that 1950s and 1940s America, wasn’t all that pleasant and certainly not perfect after all. That they dealt with the same issues back then as Modern America deals with today. Only they weren’t as public and the attitudes about these so-called alternative activities and lifestyles, were kept in the closet and hidden. Kept outside of mainstream America. And it is a very good look inside a time that wasn’t as innocent as its been advertised.

Fox News: Franklin Graham: Christians Should Prepare For Persecution After Gay Marriage Ruling'

Source:FOX News- Todd Starnes & Reverend Franklin Graham.

Source:The New Democrat

Well in the World of Stupid! I know, that’s a huge world in America, but in this part of the World of Stupid, Reverend Franklin Graham, who otherwise might be a swell guy and represents the so-called Southern charm and hospitality very well and is a good Christian man, saying that, “Christians should prepare for persecution after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.” You don’t have to take my word for it. Fox News just showed what the good Reverend just said. And I know what you might be thinking. Fox News reports just as much news as The Onion, well maybe less. But here’s the video from Fox News showing what Reverend Graham just said. So you can see and hear for yourself.

As for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s ruling in this case. He ruled that his decision was based on the fundamental right to marry. And I would add America, that Americans 18, or over have the fundamental right to marry. It’s not government’s decision, or authority to decide who can get married in America. The fact that gay Americans are exactly that and adults, is all they need, as well as a partner that has agreed to marry them, in order to get married in America. It’s the class argument that I’ve made since I’ve blogged about this issue. That government can’t create two separate classes of Americans, with one being treated better, or worst under law than the other. And this case, the issue being marriage.

Same-sex marriage in America, along with the belief in civil liberties and privacy, as well as marijuana legalization and perhaps just after that prostitution, are just examples of where America is going. Personal freedom, is just as important to Americans as economic freedom. And our tradition of personal liberties and freedom, go hand in hand with our strong beliefs in economic freedom. Not wanting to be taxed very high and having so much power being centralized in one governmental authority. With that authority having so much responsibility for both our personal and economic well-being. And the Republican Party needs to figure this out, if they want to be competitive in the future.

AEI: James Pethokoukis: Supreme Court Upholds ObamaCare Subsidies: Where Do Republicans Go From Here?

Source:American Enterprise Institute.

Source:The New Democrat

With the U.S. Supreme Court making the right decision in ruling in favor of the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act’s health care exchanges, (at least in my view), the Republican Party, at least in Congress will now have an opportunity to do something positive when it comes to health care reform in America. They know now that repealing the law either through Congress, or through the Supreme Court, is not happening at least in this Congress and while Barack Obama is still President. At least their leadership in the House and Senate knows that. Whether their Tea Party members in and outside of Congress understand that, or not, probably not likely. But their leaders know this.

Now, Congressional Republicans will have the opportunity, even though they’ve had it all along, to work with Congressional Democrats in both chambers, to improve a law that they know is here to stay. At least until there’s another Republican President and Congress. Waiting for that as more Americans benefit from the ACA and get health insurance and can now afford it, will make repeal even more difficult. Without costing them seats in Congress. But even Democrats have problems with the law, which gives Republicans an opportunity to work with them when it comes to the medical device tax and small business’s covering their employees. As well as add things to the law the Republicans at least use to like. Like expanding health savings accounts for moderate and low-income workers. And giving low-income workers a private option when it comes to Medicaid.

The fact is, Republicans both in the House and Senate, haven’t offered a plan, other than John Boehner’s substitute to the ACA, when he was still House Minority Leader back in 2009, which only covered seven-million people according to the Congressional Budget Office, because they don’t have a plan. They prefer the old system, but perhaps don’t want to admit it. They don’t have a problem with health insurers dropping patients simply because they need health insurance, get sick, or have a pre-existing condition. They simply call that capitalism and the free market. They don’t believe taxpayers should help cover the health insurance of people who make too much money for Medicaid, but can’t afford private health insurance. Which is what the ACA subsidies are about. Which is why I at least believe they still don’t have an alternative to the ACA and probably won’t offer one anytime soon.

Heritage Foundation: Where Is Liberalism Going?

Source:Heritage Foundation.

Source:The New Democrat

I always find it entertaining to hear Neoconservatives at the Heritage Foundation and other places, who pushed for the Iraq War fifteen years ago and want the Federal Government to be able to decide who gets to marry in America and who bash the nanny state as they promote it with the War on Drugs and marijuana criminalization, talk about the big government Un-American tendencies of American liberalism. Because, it gives me the opportunity to show educated people, or at the very least people who are willing to be educated, to see how ignorant and, or dishonest other people are. And how they speak so much about something they don’t understand and how they know so much that isn’t true. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan. Someone that Heritage claims to understand.

As I’ve blogged before, what is called modern liberalism, which is what these guys are talking about, is not liberalism. They’re talking about socialism, both democratic and otherwise. And to a certain extent New Deal progressivism, which is classical progressivism. Which is much different from the New-Left of the 1960s and today. Who are Socialists and to the Left of Progressives politically. Liberalism, is about freedom for the individual. Protecting and expanding freedom, not dependence on the central state for the people’s well-being. Socialism, is about the big central state and what the state and government can do for the people. But Liberals, want to use government to empower people who need it to be able to take care of themselves. Which is what freedom is. The ability for one to have self-determination and be able to make their own personal and economic decisions. And live with the consequences of their decisions.

And these guys at Heritage and everywhere else on the Tea Party and Neo-Right, could spend the rest of their lives talking about liberalism as if they’re were talking about communism, Marxism, collectivism, or any other big statist collectivist ideology. But to paraphrase the great conservative philosopher Ron Reagan. They would only be knowing so much that isn’t so. Speaking so much about something that they know very little about. Like a mechanic, trying to give a lecture on brain surgery. Or a fish, giving a lecture about NASCAR. If you want to talk about liberalism, you first need to know what is you’re talking about. And then you need to know that liberalism is about individual rights. The right for individuals to be free.

Because of what liberalism actually is and where Americans tend to be, liberalism is in very good shape. And moving to a period where Americans still want their personal freedom and even have it expanded. Like on issues having to do with marijuana and sexuality and even sexual freedom, including prostitution, which is just behind marijuana. And they also want their privacy protected and even have strong protections for it. As the Patriot Act debate showed last month. But they also don’t want big government with both of their hands in their wallets, taxing most of their money away from them. And this is where Center-Left Democrats tend to be. Wanting to use government to expand freedom for people who don’t have it. And based on this liberalism, is in very good shape in America.

CSPAN: Blacklisted From History- Interview With Stanton Evans

Source:Brx CMS - Right-wing author Stanton Evans.

Source:The New Democrat

I’m not an expert on Stanton Evans, but what I’ve seen from him is that he basically sees Senator Joe McCarthy as the good guy during this period. The Army-McCarthy hearings of 1953-54, chaired by Senator Joe McCarthy in the Senate during the 83rd Congress. Just after Dwight Eisenhower is elected President and Congressional Republicans win back the Senate and House of Representatives. That none of the people who Chairman McCarthy and his staff investigated were innocent. That they were all Communists, or at the very least had solid information about Communists in the U.S. Government.

Were there Communists in America in the 1940s and 50s, of course. Where there Communists in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s, of course. Were there Communists who also worked in the U.S. Government, yes. Were they Russian agents working for the Soviet Union trying to dismantle the American Federal Republic and American liberal democracy, no. At least from what I’ve seen and all the so-called evidence of Russian agents working for the U.S. Government, all come from Tea Party or neoconservative Far-Right types. Who sees anyone even Republicans, who are to the left of them as soft on communism.

The so-called House Un-American Activities Committee, from the mid and late 1940 and then the Senate Army-McCarthy Committee, from 1953-54, did a lot of damage to America and a lot of Americans. Two major Congressional committees, that made Americans look bad simply because of who they associated with, or had contact with. The ultimate guilt by association, is what these two Congressional committees are responsible for. I mean, a U.S. Senator who is also Chairman of the Government Oversight Committee, Joe McCarthy, accusing one of the most distinguished lawyers and the Chief Counsel of the U.S. Army, as being a Communist and Russia agent, Joe Welch. Is just an example of how bad this committee was and the amount of damage that they did.

Heritage Foundation: David Horowitz: 'The Black Book of the American Left'

Source:Heritage Foundation.

Source:The New Democrat

Not the most disciplined presentation that I’ve seen from David Horowitz. He sort of went off in several different directions and talked about several different things. If you watch his TV interviews, he’s much more disciplined and stays on topic. I agree with Horowitz about the Far-Left and as far as what they’re essentially trying to accomplish.

That individualism, is essentially dangerous and individual freedom, should only be tolerated up to the point that the state isn’t literally making all of our decisions for us. Just the key economic and even personal decisions as well. Like what we can eat and drink, what’s good for us, what media is acceptable and how we can even communicate with each other.

That the U.S. Constitution, is outdated and is a big reason why America isn’t as progressive, as the New-Left would put it. Because it puts so many limits on what the Federal Government can do for its people. That federalism is even a bad thing. Because it means one state will be different from another and people might be able to live better than others simply because of the state that we live in. And the best way to achieve equality is to have one big unitarian central state. With most of the power in the country. There two countries that are roughly our size with governmental systems like that. China and Russia and the New-Left points to Sweden as their model for America.

But where I disagree with David Horowitz, has to do with New-Left versus the so-called Left whatever that is. We do have a New-Left in America and that is our Far-Left. And pre-1963 or so, the Far-Left in America was about as invisible as a Conservative Libertarian in San Francisco. Speaking of San Francisco, perhaps the capital of the New-Left in America and where a lot of their movement got started. Pre-1963 or so and up until Jack Kennedy was assassinated, the Left in America was JFK Liberal Democrats. People who would be called New Democrats today. Who loved the U.S. Constitution and our federalist government. But after JFK, America then got a Center-Left. Liberals, who believe in personal and economic freedom. And a New-Left, Socialists, who believe in equality over freedom.