Patriarchal Bingo, Wendy Davis and the Texas GOP

The Texas Senate Livestream stopped, to be replaced by a message about where to view Senate events.

I am still stunned.

I came late to the event: I arrive home from work about 15 minutes before 10. (California time) I found my twitter feed had gone mad about Texas, but that’s not a first time thing. The fact that the hashtags all mentioned a Wendy was a little odd.

So I tweet my confusion, and then pulled up everything I can on google  and blow through 5 articles on the matter before I find the live feed. I have become livid.

The monstrosity of a bill is bad enough, but by the time I am tuned in, the Senate has voted- after midnight– and apparently think they can get away with voting when they are out of session.

Wendy Davis’s filibuster was voted down by the GOP because apparently sonograms and Planned Parenthood budgets are “not germane” to the discussion and because she had help while putting on a back brace.

Let’s see…

Privileged men becoming very angry when it looks like they might not get their way: check.

Privileged men trying to shut up the woman challenging them: check.

Privileged men breaking laws in order to get their way: check.

Victim blaming (In the form of police force used against at least one protesting woman): check.

And the free middle square of this Patriarchal Bingo?

Bunch of privileged men deciding rules that apply only to women: check.

Empathy, thy name is Mitt.

Mitt Romney, to a homeless hurricane victim:

“Go home and call 211.” (The information line for health and human services)

Maybe Mitt thinks everybody has multiple homes?

Who built that?

Mitt Romney doesn’t even acknowledge the $30 million Federal bailout that keep Bain Equity from going bankrupt, or the $10 million that taxpayers had to make up for when Bain Equity wriggled out of paying it back.

John Green gracefully acknowledges that without government roads his books would have a harder time getting to the much smaller market of literate people that would exist without public education.

I would say the main differences here are that the types of work John Green does has proven benefits, unlike that of Bain Capital, and that John Green has an awareness of the world that goes beyond base self interest. Oh, and that John Green has an admirable quality that Mitt Romney lacks: human decency.

John Green says it best in the last paragraph of his post:

Over the years, I’ve encountered a few successful people who believe they did it all themselves and achieved success because they are just better than their fellow human beings. Some were bankers; some were writers; some were lawyers. Some male, some female. Some rich, some not. Some were born into privilege, some weren’t. I guess they’re a pretty diverse crowd. They only have one thing in common, really: They’re all assholes.

Republican Party Platform Prepares to Back Akin

At the same time as Representative Todd Akin (Republican-Missouri) said this–

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

-The Republican National Party prepares to reaffirm a platform which includes amending the constitution to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape or incest. From CNN, draft language for the platform:

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,” the draft platform declares. “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.”

The good news? Conservatives finally see a good side to the 14th Amendment.

Shitty politics

First, Ohio Republican Josh Mandel shorts (bets against) US Treasury bills and then publicly declares that he plans to vote for the United States to default on its debt: if the US defaulted, it would lower the value of US Treasury bills, and increase the value of his investment. Someone so shitty as to actively plan to hurt the country for personal profit has no right to represent its people.

Next, Joe Walsh spews patronizing and arguably racist shit about President Obama:

“There’s something different on the ground, and I think it’s going to overtake us all again, think it’s going to overtake the political class. I think it’s going to respectfully pick this president up and pat him on the head and say, son, son, son, Mr. President, you were never ready to be president, now go home and work for somebody and find out how the real world works.”

Anybody else think “son” was the barest change from “boy” there? (Here’s where to donate to Walsh’s opponent, if you are interested)

Finally, a fertilizer company (Scotts Miracle-Gro Company) stays true to form by donating to Romney’s campaign. And they are still smelling like roses compared to all the companies donating to political campaigns secretly.

Marriage equality supported by Democratic Party’s national platform

Over at The Hill, Daniel Strauss writes that the Democratic Party’s national platform will include support for same sex marriage and full equality of rights attendant on marriage.

My feeling is: It’s past time. Didn’t we already have this fight about consenting adults being able to marry who they love? It was called Loving v. Virginia. The decision in that case- that marriage is a basic civil right, intertwined with those of liberty and the pursuit of happiness- should  apply equally to this one, despite that fight being about racial difference and this one about sameness of sex.

When #MittHitsTheFan.

By now everyone has heard of the Olympic #Romneyshambles that ensued during the Republican-Would-Be-President’s visit. Fewer noticed his fundraiser behind closed doors on foreign soil attended by bankers from the Libor scandal.

But the events in London are only the beginning. Jerusalem is next:

Romney’s campaign had negotiated an agreement with the press which allowed the media to attend all Romney fundraisers in public venues. Romney’s campaign decided to ban the media from the Jerusalem fundraiser and then flip – flopped. Now the media is allowed during Romney’s remarks, but have to leave the room before the question and answer session with the donors.

What is Romney willing to say to rich foreign donors that he won’t say to the press?

And beyond that, what happens when he arrives in Poland?

There is no whining in politics… but there is a lot of backtracking.

On Mitt Romney failing to disclose his tax returns:

“There is no whining in politics. Stop demanding an apology, release your tax returns.” – GOP strategist John Weaver

“If you have things to hide, then maybe you’re doing things wrong. I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people.” – Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R)

Columnist George Will and strategist Matthew Dowd agree that Romney is afraid of a revelation with higher costs than the cost of secrecy.

Speaking of higher costs, is there a higher cost to discussing this? Within a day, Bentley is denying his call for the release of Romney’s tax records. Despite the extensive comments he made on the subject.

Links from Political Wire and ElectoralVote.