August 23, 2016

Hawaii GOP repudiates Gabbard's challenger and makes a plea for decency

Hawaii's Republican Party chairman is denouncing the GOP candidate challenging Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, calling the comments she made about the congresswoman “racially-bigoted” and “religiously-intolerant,” according to Roll Call.

Chairman Fritz Rohlfing said GOP House candidate Angela Kaaihue’s remarks about Gabbard's and former Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s religion are not representative of the Republican Party, and urged other Republicans in the state to “disavow her candidacy.” Kaaihue also criticized Gabbard's appearance.

“Her vulgar, racially-bigoted, and religiously-intolerant descriptions of Democratic Party candidates are offensive, shameful, and unacceptable in public discourse,” Rohlfing said in a statement. “I unconditionally denounce her despicable statements. I strongly urge all Hawaii Republicans to join me in disavowing her candidacy."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/292253-hawaii-gop-chairman-denounces-republican-challenging-rep-gabbard

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I'm always a little tepid with Gabbard because of her anti-gay history and continued odd beliefs about LGBT people, but on the other hand she is a fairly solid vote for equality and freedom of conscience when it comes to LGBT people. When people dislike lesbians and gays, I suppose the best we can hope from them is that they will recognize that their own religious views should not dictate the personal lives of people who do not belong to the same faith.

AND the bigger point for me is that, as a yellow dog Democrat, I would pretty much vote for anyone on the D ticket. Gabbard is one of ours, and the attacks from Kaaihue are literally insane. Good on the Hawaii chairman to recognize that Kaaihue's attacks are beyond the pale of what should be tolerated in politics.

And I hope that Gabbard is re-elected. I haven't seen data on the district, but I think she's going to be ok.

August 16, 2016

The same people who deny the concept of rape culture

are now trying to push the concept of a Muslim-only rape culture?

I'm sorry, only Muslims and Hispanic people, to be precise.

In terms of progress, it is interesting that America's racists have learned not to accuse black people of being all rapists any more. But it's sad they've turned their blanket attacks on Muslims and Hispanic people.

August 15, 2016

Narcissistic rage and narcissistic vulnerability

are two sides of narcissism. Because there is no stable interior structure, the narcissist must look outside of himself or herself for validation, and even the smallest divergence from the narcissistic ideal self-image can result in intense distress and pain for the patient.

I don't want to sound mean, but I hope that Democratic people are capable of using this weakness in Donald Trump. I would not normally recommend going for somebody's psychological disorders, but in this case I think it's justified.

August 11, 2016

I don't think the DEA should make this decision

I support legalization, and I believe that the legitimate route would be for Congress to revise the place of cannabis in federal law. I would not be comfortable with the DEA or any other agency making a decision that should be made by legislators representing the people.

Eventually, marijuana will be legalized. I live in a state with legal marijuana, and accept for a little litter around the weed shops, there appeared to be no negative consequences.

The idea of sneaking marijuana past the legal barrier by pretending it is medicine does not impress me. Marijuana should be legalized by legislators revising the statutes.

In my humble opinion.

August 4, 2016

I'm remembering the Palin Mob videos from 2008

After McCain invited in a "real American" candidate, someone who would activate the rightwing mob, there were a slew of videos showing them in their natural habitat, waiting in line and spewing weird nonsense.

The NYT video was about as bad as anything I've ever seen this week, with the Trump supporters degenerating into bizarre beer-bellied men doing their little constipated buttcheek-clenching foot-to-foot hop/dance thing, mouthing odd slogans and violent messages they've been longing their entire lives to say in public.

I dislike Trump, but I like the fact that he is pushing the Republican party so far into the sewer that they will never crawl out and taint decent society again.

July 29, 2016

TPP and orthodoxy and party loyalty

I was fairly open to the Trans-Pacific treaty because I believe that international trade works best when the nations come together and agree on standards and practices and policies. I was supportive of TPP because the Obama admin seemed to be working hard on making it a sensible agreement, but I will admit I was a little, oh, miffed by the secrecy. And when I listened to anti-TPP arguments, I often heard nothing but generic anti-capitalist talking points.

So I shrugged and continued to support the TPP, hoping that it would be a thing that the two parties could work together on. Maybe (I was being naive here) it would even be something that would bring together folks.

Then the details started coming out, and as a majority of Democrats seem to be opposed to the agreement, I have backed off on my support and from approx. May onward I've been of the opinion that the TPP should be shelved and re-negotiated in a more open forum, with a greater focus on labor rights and environmental protection.

For me, this is what it means to be a member of a party. There are things I would argue for vigorously even if I found I was in a minority, but there are other things that I trust the policy wonks to work on. My loyalty to the Democratic party means that I will work to support the ideas that the party's platform and the statement of values in the by-laws articulate. Thus, I have gone from being open to the TPP to being opposed, partly because of logical arguments, partly because of party loyalty.

I do not think that Hillary Clinton has any less of a loyalty to this party, and I do not think that she has some kind of secret agenda to seize power and then force the TPP through. What kind of paranoid thinking are people having? What kind of caricature of human behavior is even being imagined here? Yikes.

July 29, 2016

Poor whites and race

Poor whites were given a promise that as long as they remained white, they would be elevated above people of color, immigrants, even Irish people, and so poor whites developed a culture that acted as a bulwark against the non-white population.

Dismantling white supremacist culture in the US will be painful to those poor whites who cling to racism, white supremacist beliefs, etc., and there's no anodyne for that pain. I don't think the party should work extra-hard to "appeal" to racist white people, but I believe that working toward raising wages, building a strong business climate, etc., will help white people as much as anyone.

July 29, 2016

Ok, I thought I was done crying but the parents of fallen police officers....

I am on a 20m break, so I turn on the live feed and -- I'm in tears, and as the camera pans around the floor of the convention, I'm not alone.

July 28, 2016

Did anyone read Amanda Marcotte's piece about Obama's speech?

She lamented how flawed and wrong it was, as if he had just given the most mediocre speech of his career. To be fair, Marcotte notes that there are some good points to his speech, but ... I didn't get what she was talking about. And virtually every single commentator in the discussion board for that article was all like WTF?

http://www.salon.com/2016/07/28/obamas_dnc_letdown_the_president_needed_to_hit_it_out_of_the_park_but_he_surprisingly_fell_short/

(apologies if someone's already posted about this)

July 28, 2016

The party has room for Tulsi Gabbard

who is opposed to homosexuality entirely on religious grounds, but her team decided that she should stop attacking LGBT people in order to win over a larger support base. She stopped attacking LGBT people, still objects to gays and lesbians, but believes that they should be treated fairly and votes pretty much like a person who supports LGBT people would.

People in politics come from a variety of backgrounds, and from a variety of perspectives. I look at the votes to see what's what.