I was just watching Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC and had the pleasure of seeing the always lovely Haley Barbour. Barbour went through a list of attacks the Obama campaign is allegedly making against Mitt Romney. When he said the Obama campaign was attacking Romney for being Mormon, Mitchell had to but in and remind Barbour that they had made no anti-Mormon statements whatsoever. So, Barbour, always quick on his feet, brought up Elie Wiesel as an Obama surrogate who is anti-Mormon and wants Mormons to “stop certain practices.” Mitchell basically told Barbour that if he wants to play the surrogate game, it goes both ways. But, the bigger point is that Barbour is basically saying that opposing the posthumous baptisms of Jews, including Anne Frank, is somehow anti-Mormon. Because that is the practice that the Holocaust survivor and writer was against. Well, Haley, by that logic, and if Wiesel, and Obama, by extension, is anti-Mormon, then you, and Romney, by extension, support baptizing Anne Frank. So, please, keep speaking for Mitt!
New Laughing Liberally show this Monday!
I’ll be performing Laughing Liberally this Monday (the 30th) at the Playroom Theater! I’ll be performing again on May 14th, too. They start at 8.
151 West 46th Street, 8th Floor
between 6th & 7th Avenues
Hope to see you there!
Haley Barbour just defended baptizing Anne Frank
I was just watching Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC and had the pleasure of seeing the always lovely Haley Barbour. Barbour went through a list of attacks the Obama campaign is allegedly making against Mitt Romney. When he said the Obama campaign was attacking Romney for being Mormon, Mitchell had to but in and remind Barbour that they had made no anti-Mormon statements whatsoever. So, Barbour, always quick on his feet, brought up Elie Wiesel as an Obama surrogate who is anti-Mormon and wants Mormons to “stop certain practices.” Mitchell basically told Barbour that if he wants to play the surrogate game, it goes both ways. But, the bigger point is that Barbour is basically saying that opposing the posthumous baptisms of Jews, including Anne Frank, is somehow anti-Mormon. Because that is the practice that the Holocaust survivor and writer was against. Well, Haley, by that logic, and if Wiesel, and Obama, by extension, is anti-Mormon, then you, and Romney, by extension, support baptizing Anne Frank. So, please, keep speaking for Mitt!
Russia’s “Pussy Riot” remain in jail
In February, five members of “Pussy Riot,” Russia’s radical, feminist, punk band, enteredMoscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral stood at the altar and sang “Mother of God, Blessed Virgin, drive out Putin!” For their protest art against President Vladimir Putin, three members of the band were arrested, charged with hooliganism, which can carry a seven-year long prison sentence, and have been held in jail since March. The three women, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, say they are members of the band, but deny participating in the events at the Cathedral. On Thursday, a judge turned down a request to release the women on bail until their trial starts. He extended their detention until June 24th. Amnesty International, which has taken up the case, explains that,
Even if the three arrested women did take part in the protest, the severity of the response of the Russian authorities – the detention on the serious criminal charge of hooliganism – would not be a justifiable response to the peaceful – if, to many, offensive – expression of their political beliefs. They would therefore be prisoners of conscience….
The broader political context surrounding the anti-Putin protests at the time – and the anti-clerical, anti-Putin content of the activists’ message (themselves unpunishable) – have clearly and unlawfully been taken into account in the charges that have been brought against them.
[…]
Capital punishment: doesn’t work and takes place mostly in Texas
The Economist has mapped out all the executions that have taken place in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Not surprisingly, as Think Progress points out, “[o]ver one-third of all executions during this period took place in Texas, for a total of 481 people killed by that state. Of the remaining, non-Texas executions, the overwhelming majority are clustered in a small group of southern states.”
Funny or Die video gives Rick Santorum a taste of his own anti-choice medicine
Check out this hilarious video, Rick Santorum Aborts Presidential Campaign, in which Ashley Judd, Michelle Trachtenberg, Katy Mixon, and Eliza Coupe counsel Santorum, “If you weren’t mature enough to carry your campaign to term, you shouldn’t have engaged in the risky behavior that began it.”
Supporting marriage equality, one lick at a time
Australian marriage equality advocate, writer and blogger Adrian Fernand is trying to get to people’s hearts and minds, through their stomachs. He’s driving around Australia in an Ice Cream Truck of Love, handing out free ice cream and raising awareness about marriage equality. As he explains in this video, Fernand is making the point that
Some people like vanilla. Others might like strawberry. And some people like chocolate. What if I were to say this person isn’t allowed ice cream, simply because I don’t like chocolate. Now that wouldn’t be fair now would it? That’s why we believe everybody should have ice cream, no matter which flavor they like.
Videos from the non-violent war against the violent drug wars
Prostitutes and secret service and Latin America, oh my. This year’s Summit of the Americas was reduced to a scandal about secret service agents too dumb or too cheap to pay the money they owed the sex workers they solicited in Cartagena.
But the real story is that Latin American leaders are coming out of the woodwork and stating that the war on drugs is not working. These leaders are calling for reforms ranging from legalization, to decriminalization, to focusing of treatment instead of incarceration. And what’s shocking is that they are not just the lefty leaders who have come to power on Latin America’s so-called Pink Tide.
In addition to the left wing presidents in Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil, to name a few, some of the strongest calls for reform are coming from the right: Colombian president and former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos is wants to debate alternatives to the drug war; Mexico’s Felipe Calderon, who has launched a controversial drug war which has left nearly 50,000 dead wants the United States to consider replacing it’s draconian approach with “market alternatives.” And Guatemalan right wing former military man President Otto Perez wants to decriminalize drugs.
For his part, Obama announced that while legalizing drugs was off the table, In the plan off the table, he acknowledged that “mass incarceration” of nonviolent drug users is an “outdated” policy and said he will focus resources on prevention and recovery, admitting that “drug addiction is a disease.”
Why is Glenn Grothman so hot?
Unfortunately, there is a direct relationship between WisGANsin State Senator Glenn Grothman’s physical hotness & ideological heinousness. What’s a girl to do? Check out the photos.
Governor Walker repeals equal pay, bans abortion coverage, mandates abstinence
Wisconsin Governor (R-surprise!) Scott Walker is a true Renaissance Man of Asshatery. He must be commended for his hard work, consistency and brazen bigotry in targeting not just workers‘ rights, not just reproductive rights, but even pay equity! Thursday, Walker passed over 50 bills but announced them Friday afternoon before the holiday weekend, so they would get less attention. Among the bills was
- a bill banning abortion coverage in policies obtained through a health insurance exchange, which will be created in 2014.
- a bill requiring doctors to consult and examine a woman seeking abortion privately, away from her friends and family, and to make sure she isn’t being pressured into having an abortion.
- a bill requiring sex-ed teachers to stress abstinence as the only way to prevent STDs and pregnancy. The bill also says teachers don’t have to address contraception at all. (How nice of the bill!)
katiehalper.com 