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Thursday, August 30, 2012

GO CRAZY, FOLKS! GO CRAZY! - (UPDATED)

When I finished watching Paul Ryan's speech at the RNC, I was really curious to see what the liberal talking heads over at MSNBC thought.  I, despite our well known "mancrush" on Paul Ryan here at the Chaos (heck, even my daughter said, "He's hot!"), tried to remain objective and see the speech as an independent voter might.  After flipping stations, I heard Lawrence O'Donnell complain that although the speech was very good and effective, it lacked much substance. With that, I smiled and got ready to head to work.

What, pray tell, caused me to smile you might ask. (No, really, ask me)  It was this.  My chief complaint about Ryan's speech was that it didn't include the type of policy depth that I like about him.  The truth is that the young VP candidate is totally in his element when the facts & figures are flying.  He's sincere, he's knowledgable, he controls the discussion with a fully logical and rational mind and temperment.  His sincere honesty, in tackling America's great fiscal problems exposes a deep and abiding love of this nation.

So I smiled.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

CALM DOWN. LET'S TRY TO TALK THIS OUT.

Here is a letter that I received from one Sandra Fluke on behalf of President Barack Obama's relection campaign.  Following it I also submit my response and following that, I will also include the entire wording of the Sanctity & Dignity of Human Life plank of the Republican Platform.

From: Sandra Fluke <info@barackobama.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:37:40 -0400
To: <samschaos@att.net>
ReplyTo: info@barackobama.com
Subject: "Legitimate rape"

Friend --

In a recent statement that was both factually inaccurate and horribly offensive, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said that victims of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to distance themselves from the remark -- but the fact is they're in lockstep with Akin on the major women's health issues of our time. Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the "Human Life Amendment" in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims. Several Romney supporters and advisers stood silently by while this vote took place, and the Los Angeles Times reports that the platform "was written at the direction of Romney's campaign."

President Obama spoke out in response to Akin's comments: "What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."

This controversy is not an accident, or a mistake, or an isolated incident. It's a reflection of a Republican Party whose policies are dangerous for women.

There is a clear choice for women in this election: Stand with President Obama.

I entered this national debate on women's rights in February, when, as a Georgetown Law student, I testified before members of Congress on the issue of contraception.

Without knowing me or my story, Rush Limbaugh called me a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show.

Many Americans stepped forward to tell me they agreed with me, and supported my right to speak out without being verbally attacked. President Obama stood with us.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand? He didn't even condemn the remark, instead saying only: "It's not the language I would have used."

Since that moment, I'm even more resolved to continue the fight to make sure every single woman -- and every man who cares about the women in his life -- knows exactly what's at stake in this election. The Republicans are frighteningly clear on these issues.

The party platform itself includes a "salute" to states that have pushed "informed consent" laws, such as those that force women seeking an abortion to first undergo an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound.

Just last year, Paul Ryan joined Todd Akin and more than 200 other Republicans in co-sponsoring legislation that would have narrowed the definition of rape, limiting which victims of rape were "legitimate" enough to receive financial assistance for access to abortion care.

Mitt Romney famously says he would "get rid of" Planned Parenthood if he had the chance. And both Romney and Ryan pledge to go back to a system where insurance companies can discriminate against women and charge us more than men for the same health insurance.

Akin's comments shouldn't be surprising. But this isn't about him -- just like it was never about me.

President Obama has told us what he's fighting for: "I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons."

Republicans, led by Romney and Ryan, have made it clear that they want to make our decisions for us.

President Obama trusts us to make our own.

It's as simple as that. Join me and stand with him today:

http://my.barackobama.com/A-Clear-Choice

Thanks,

Sandra Fluke


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Here was my response.

From: "Sam Ritter" <samschaos@att.net>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:25:49 +0000
To: <info@barackobama.com>
ReplyTo: samschaos@att.net
Subject: Re: "Legitimate rape"

Miss Fluke,

Doesn't the President's Health Care Law put more & more of our health care decisions in the hands of such men? Wouldn't it be more prudent to achieve health care reform that seeks more outright liberty & freedom rather than mandates & requirements if you seek to avoid governmental interference?

Does sex-selective abortion to achieve a greater certainty of having a male child qualify as part of the "War on Women"? Were you aware that banning such an act that is highly offensive to women is part of the Republican Platform as well as greater protections for all babies or infants once they have been born?

Are our quarrels over the unborn worth such derogatory & inflammatory words for a group that has always sought to act out of a deep & abiding love for innocent life in all its forms?

I hold no ill will for you & I hope that you will thoughtfully reconsider your words of hate.

Thank you & God bless,
Sam Ritter
Sam's Taste of Chaos
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
 
Here is the GOP Platform section.  Its always better to form an opinion from actually reading something, than just reading about it.
 
The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life
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. 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. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. We oppose the non-consensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Republican leadership has led the effort to prohibit the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion, permitted States to extend health care coverage to children before birth. We urge Congress to strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by enacting appropriate civil and criminal penalties to health care providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery where the death is intended. We call for legislation to ban sex-selective abortions – gender discrimination in its most lethal form – and to protect from abortion unborn children who are capable of feeling pain; and we applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for leading the effort to protect the lives of pain-capable unborn children in the District of Columbia. We call for a revision of federal law 42 USC 289.92 to bar the use of body parts from aborted fetuses for research. We support and applaud adult stem cell research to develop lifesaving therapies, and we oppose the killing of embryos for their stem cells. We oppose Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
We also salute the many States that have passed laws for informed consent, mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation. We seek to protect young girls from exploitation through a parental consent requirement; and we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned pregnancy. We salute those who provide them with counseling and adoption alternatives and empower them to choose life, and we take conform in the tremendous increases in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.

This is just my opinion, but I'm not sure where I see any extremism in these words. If everything we disagree about must be thought extreme, how can we ever continue our conversation?  This isn't about Todd Akin.  It's about Americans living side by side in harmony. 

So, calm down.  Let's try to talk this out.

Monday, August 20, 2012

SHOW-ME THE RECOVERY (BECAUSE WE CAN'T SEE IT)

[I'm posting this, because its always good to hear a proper Missouri "Show-me" view in Washington.]

Weekly Republican Remarks by Rep. Vicky Hartzler

Hi, I’m Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler from the great state of Missouri. Just a little bit about myself: in addition to serving on the House Agriculture Committee, my husband and I own and operate a farm near Harrisonville, where we raise cattle and grow corn, wheat, and soybeans. We also run a small business that sells and services farm equipment — we’ve got three stores and about 50 employees.

Around the country, it’s that State Fair time of year. Our fair, taking place this week in Sedalia, showcases the best of Missouri agriculture, and this year that means recognizing the perseverance of our farmers and ranchers as they face the worst drought our country has suffered in decades.

Like you, I was relieved earlier this month when the House passed a bipartisan measure helping farmers devastated by the ongoing drought. A lot was riding on this bill, but the Senate, a body controlled by the president’s party, left Washington for the month of August without even bringing it to a vote. The president has seen fit to politicize this issue, but the fact is he didn’t urge the Senate to act.

That is a true shame. Drought conditions continue to worsen, and the shaky state of the economy only amplifies our anxiety.

You’ve probably heard the president say recently that the private sector is ‘doing fine’ and that his plan ‘worked.’ If only that were true. Just take a look at the chilling report the Associated Press issued a few days ago confirming our fears, that this is the weakest economic recovery since the Great Depression. 

Unemployment has never been this high for this long after a recession. Even those who have jobs are seeing their paychecks shrink. Rising prices on everyday things from gas to groceries certainly doesn’t help matters.

Yet, hard as it is to believe, the president and his party think now is a good time to raise taxes on small businesses. Perhaps they haven’t read the independent report from accounting firm Ernst & Young, which shows this tax hike would destroy more than 700,000 jobs. Perhaps they haven’t been listening to the manufacturers and small business owners who are already canceling plans to hire and expand. Or the group of 88 economists who warn this tax hike must be stopped.

Senate Democrats haven’t acted to stop the small business tax hike scheduled for January 1st, but the House has.  Because while the president tells small business owners like me ‘you didn’t build that,’ Republicans know better and are committed to getting government out of their way.

That’s why the House has passed more than 30 jobs bills that eliminate excessive red tape, empower small businesses, and approve the Keystone XL pipeline — a critical project the president and his party continue to block.

We’ve also passed a budget that protects our economy for the long-term by fixing our tax code and preserving Medicare for today’s seniors while strengthening it for future generations. The president, on the other hand, still has no plan to save Medicare — in fact, he took hundreds of billions of dollars from it to help pay for ObamaCare — while Senate Democrats haven’t even offered a budget in more than three years.

Here in the Show Me State, we expect our leaders to offer solutions to our most pressing challenges, especially when the going gets tough. But these days, the president doesn’t even want to talk about the bad economy, let alone do anything about it. That, too, is a shame.

Focusing on jobs and acting on better solutions remains Republicans’ pledge to you.

Thanks for taking the time, and may God bless the United States of America.  

Saturday, August 11, 2012

CHOOSING PAUL RYAN.....

If there is only one thing you take from me today, I want it to be this - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you would ever, ever consider voting for me - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you would like to see America restored to her greatness and see much of the past decade erased - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
In case this is the only chance you will ever have to do so - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you hold out any hope that this nation will ever find a way to balance the budget and erase the deficit - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you are tired of seeing politicians talk, but not do - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you ever wanted to vote for someone who you knew was doing his absolute best to make America the best she can be - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you ever wanted to have a politician drop the political talk and level with you - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you think a politician should know more about his work than his staffers - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you think achieving affordable health care  for all is more important than paying for college student's contraception - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you want every man, woman and child living in these United States to have a better tomorrow - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you disagree with commentators and still believe in your heart that America has better days ahead - vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you cheered for Tony Stark (Ironman) when he stood before the Senate and, talking about something that he had built, said, "You want my property? You can't have it." - vote for PAUL RYAN.

If you believe that America is an evil place without free health care - don't vote for PAUL RYAN.
If you believe that it's so important to keep abortion-at-will, that allowing a parent to abort all girls to get a boy is fine - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you're looking for dumbed down education standards- don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you like higher taxes and even higher spending - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you want crony capitalism instead of free enterprise - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you want the President to use your tax dollars to make deals with green companies that will soon go bankrupt - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you want more sleazeball tactics that disrupt and distort the real issues - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you want higher energy costs - don't vote for PAUL RYAN.
If despite its success, you think taking work out of welfare is a good idea - don't vote for PAUL RYAN. 
If you booed when Tony Stark told the Senate they couldn't have his property, and thought to yourself, "He didn't build that!" - don't vote for PAUL RYAN.

With Mitt Romney's selection of PAUL RYAN as his running mate, the lines are drawn and the choice before us couldn't be more clear.  We must choose ROMNEY/RYAN.

1-21-2013
THE RECOVERY BEGINS