Naithom's Open Salon Blog

Gingrich: Romney & Eisenhower -Revisionism or Secret Message

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:05:40 -0400

Newt Gingrich, who apparently is clinging to the last seconds of his 15 minutes in order to pay those Tiffany bills, made an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball to discuss the probable Republican candidate of 2012, Mitt Romney. During the discussion, Gingrich announced, "Romney is a lot like Eisenhower."

Romney is a lot like Eisenhower?

During war-time, Eisenhower and his men went country to country defeating the Nazis.
During the war, Romney and his boys went door to door attempting to convert the French.

Eisenhower, a Republican, not only continued the New Deal policies of FDR, he expanded them and created the cabinet level Department of Health. Education and Welfare. Under Eisenhower, benefits were extended to 10 million Americans.
Mitt Romney has stated that he wants to privitize Medicare and increase the age requirement before Americans can obtain their Social Security because he refuses to ask fellow millionaires to pay their full tax bill.

Eisenhower, in his Chance for Peace speech (1953), spoke against increased military spending and referred to arms spending as stealing from the people. He stated,

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
Romney has stated that even though the US is going through the worst economic period since the Great Depression, that he would increase military spending.

Eisenhower began the desegregation of the military and forced the issue over opposition stating that "Wherever Federal Funds are expended, I do not see now any American can justify a discrimination of those funds." and went so far as to say, "There must be no second class citizens in this country." President Eisenhower also declared racial discrimination a matter of national security and started the desegregation of the public school systems across the country, as well as the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. Apparently if Mitt Romney had a chance there would be discrimination in federal funds and second class citizens based on his attitudes towards women's health care, access to contraception and his unwillingness to go on the record concerning equal pay for women and the Violence Against Women Act. He also supported Don't Ask, Don't Tell and opposes same sex marriages.

Eisenhower was a progressive Republican who didn't pander to the extremists in his party. He stated,
"If the right wing wants a fight, they are going to get it...before I end up, either this Republican Party will reflect progressivism or I won't be with them anymore."
Mitt Romney is supported heavily by those on the far right wing and the statement was made by right wing lobbyist, Grover Norquist, that, "We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us which direction to go. We know what direction to go... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it... Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States." (This was said in February 2012 when Romney was already the known front runner.)

The Republican Party has swung so far to the right that one of its' premiere leaders would be classified as a left wing liberal now.

The only means by which Mitt Romney is like Eisenhower is maybe they both liked to play golf and paint...oh, guess not.

So, it would appear that good old Newt knows bupkis about President Eisenhower and his administration and was just utilizing the persona of one of the last Republican presidents that wasn't involved in a major debacle and scandal. Unless, what Newt is actually trying to steathily warn the Tea Partiers, Dominionists and the Kochers that Mitt is more moderate than he seems and is only attempting to con the far right out of their money and then, once elected will act more as a moderate?

No, didn't think so either.

Leviticus, The Two Edged Sword

Sun, 20 May 2012 08:05:58 -0400

As is not unusual, a state legislator has seen fit to quote the Bible in order to excuse his or her personal bigotry. This time, it was Mississippi state representative Andy Gipson who decided to quote Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 13 to be precise. He stated,

"Been a lot of press on Obama's opinion on homosexual marriage.

The only opinion that matters is G-d's: see Roman's 1:26-28

and Leviticus 20:13. Any way you slice it, it is sin. Not to
mention horrific social policy."

This from a man who is, in this picture, obviously broking Leviticus 19:27 as he is clean shaken. And I have reason to suspect that that suit isn't made with just one type of cloth as is proscribed in Leviticus 19:19. Does he eat according to kosher law as demanded in Leviticus 19:26? Rise when an elder enters the room (Leviticus 19:32)?

And how does he justify his vote on Mississippi House Bill 448, given Leviticus 19:33 since the Bible doesn't care about immigration laws? In fact, the Bible goes on to say in Leviticus 19:34, "The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD, your G-d." It would appear that if he wants to follow Biblical law, none of his anti-immigrant laws would have been voted through, since the Lord didn't make a distinction between documented and undocumented. Thus, he has placed his laws above the Lord's.

But then, haven't most of the GOP in Congress and across the country that try to suggest that we should live by Biblical law shown that they don't follow Biblical guidelines since they lie and deal falsely with the public (Leviticus 19:11), cut food programs for the poor (Leviticus 19:10), cut assistance for the disabled (Leviticus 19:14) and showing favoritism to the rich (Leviticus 19:15).

It does seem that Rev. Gipson and his cronies only seem to use the Bible when they are trying to excuse doing something bad to people and never seem to remember the parts about caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan or the alien. And any way you slice that, it's a sin. Not to mention horrific social policy.

Until their legislation reflects caring for the less fortunate as much as it cares for the wealthy, I would suggest they have some work to do getting the logs out of their own eyes.

Looking Behind The Curtain

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:05:53 -0400

This poster is making it's way around the Internet and there's no doubt that it will become viral.

It's a statement from a man who is not running for president admitting that the candidate running on the Republican ticket is literally no more than a puppet. Just a stooge with "enough working digits to handle a pen". He is admitting that other individuals in the shadows will be pulling the strings.

Who is this man? Grover Norquist, a conservative lobbyist who heads the Americans for Tax Reform, the group which served as a "conduit" between felon Jack Abramoff's clients and lobbying campaigns.

Now, I can hear some of you asking, "Are we sure this quote is legit? Can this be verified?" and to you I say two things, first, "I love you! G-d bless those who question everything and research!" and second, yes, yes it is and I have C-Span to prove it. If you wish to watch the piece in it's entirity, go for it. If you want to hear the quote, skip to 20:30.

Republicans especially need to hear this and ask themselves if they are comfortable with the idea that people they didn't vote for, that they didn't vet will be making the decisions if Romney is elected. Are they comfortable with the idea of not know who is really running the country and making major decisions about the economy and going to war?

Who are the people who would be making the decisions and why aren't they not running?

We don't know whether Romney's aware that he is supposed to merely be the stooge or whether this will come as a surprise to him after the fact.
Does he only care about the title and is willing to merely be the hand to sign the bills? Or does he believe that he will be the leader and doesn't realize that he and the American public are about to have a rug pulled out from under them?

What we care about is that the American people have the right to know who's running this country and where they want to take us. We need to know if we are dealing with a leader or a puppet to others behind a curtain before we get behind our curtain to vote.

The Measure of a Man

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:05:53 -0400

My mother used to say that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat those who cannot harm them and how they deal with mistakes.

Today, Mitt Romney told us a lot about himself.

It came out that while in high school, Romney was a bully. Not just a name calling type but an actual physical assault type bullying. One incident which was verified by five different classmates, included attacking an underclassman named John Lauber. Lauber was targeted because he was presumed to be gay and had blond hair which covered one eye.

On Romney's instigation, he and four other students, including a member of the wrestling team ganged up to tackle the younger student and shear his head as he begged for mercy. Thomas Buford, the wrestler who helped restrain Lauber, stated that "It happened very quickly..." and went on to say, "What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do." Another participant, Phillip Maxwell admitted, "It was a hack job. It was vicious."

Romney, the son of a governor, was not disciplined for attacking a fellow student by the school administrators, yet later John Lauber would be expelled -- for smoking a cigarette.

John Lauber had done nothing in any way to harm Mitt Romney or his friends. His offense was merely being suspected of being gay.

Years after the fact, the incident still bothered some of the participants. Thomas Buford stated that it bothered him to this day, while David Seed actually made a point of years later apologizing to John Lauber before Lauber died in 2004.

It must also be understood that this was not an isolated incident. Romney was also involved in harrassing other gay students and even going so far as to bully a blind teacher.

So years later how did Mitt Romney evolve from his hateful, violent youth? What does he have to say about his behavior?

First, his campaign claimed that Mitt had no memory of these incidents, but when faced with the fact that multiple fellow students, including others who participated in the Lauber attack, corroberated the reports, he referred to the incident as a "prank" and said he participated in "a lot of hijinks" that "might have gone too far" and that he apologized if people were offended by it.

It's pretty apparent that none of incidents crossed Mitt Romney's mind after he and his pals got a laugh out of it. It never occurred to him that he abused, bullied and mistreated others, including the disabled, for his own amusement and that this was a character flaw that needed to be dealt with. It never crossed his mind that had he been anyone else's son, he would have been expelled for his behavior.

The apologies which we now hear come only after his campaign realized that there were too many credible witnesses. And even then he minimizes his behavior, calling it a prank, merely hijinks, and hopes that no one was offended. He stumbles in his excuses saying both that he doesn't remember the incident, yet assuring people that he even though he doesn't remember the incident that he certainly hadn't thought back then that John Lauber was gay.

Mitt Romney committed a criminal act with several other young men which was covered up by the administrators of the private school he attended because his father was a governor. And now, decades later, the older Mitt Romney does not accept the full responsibility of his behavior. He lies until he can't, minimises the scope of his behavior and basically apologizes for getting caught.

This is not the moral and responsible attitude of an adult, let alone a leader. Apparently, Mitt Romney's level of accountability never rose higher than a bully in the playground. And his stands on gays and cutting funding for disabled prove that he never recognized these groups as anything more than victims for easy attacks and cannon fodder. Minorities continue to be, for this son of privilege, just a means to an end.

When Mitt Romney graduated for Cranbrook, his father gave the commencement and reminded his son and his class that "Developing character is going to be more important than your education from now on."

It's good to know that some of the class listened and heeded Gov. Romney's words. Unfortunately, Mitt wasn't one of them.

NC's Amendment 1: I Think I Found The Problem

Thu, 3 May 2012 23:05:59 -0400

This week someone finally decided to explain to the American public exactly why Republicans are so against the idea of gay marriage.

Yes, yes, I know, they say that they want to protect traditional marriages but not once have they ever been able to document one instance where a heterosexual couple divorced because the gay couple down the street got married. That was just a smoke-screen.

This week, the wife of North Carolina state senator, Peter Brunstetter, let slip the real reason. The protection of the white race.

Yep, according to Jodi Brunstetter, "The reason my husband wrote Amendment 1 was because the Caucasian race is diminishing and we need to uh, reproduce."

So, in State Senator Brunstetter's mind, according to his wife, if gays and lesbians can't get married, they'll just stop all this gay foolishness and go make little white babies (because, of course, all gays and lesbians are Caucasian) so as to prevent the "white race" from becoming a minority. Of course, why didn't we recognize that sooner? (The sound you just heard was millions of intelligent North Carolinians doing an embarassed face palm.)

To quote Robin Williams paroding William F. Buckley, "There seems to be a certain flaw in their logic!"

Yet, one has to give the Senator and his wife props for being able, in one fail swoop to combine that much bigotry and ignorance into one Amendment. If they had mentioned the LGBT community then joining the Confederacy, they could have had a trifecta!