33 Reasons I'm a Liberal (guest post)

It's not originally mine but still true for me:

1. I believe in science
2. I believe corporations are businesses, not people
3. I believe in equal rights, regardless of sexual orientation
4. I believe that 47% of Americans aren’t looking for a government handout
5. I believe in climate change, not that God has decided to use weather to “punish sin”
6. I believe we must learn from history, not repeat it
7. I believe women deserve the same rights as men
8. I believe our sexual orientation is something we’re born with, not something we choose
9. I believe immigration is what has made this country great, not what will bring it down
10. I believe freedom for all means freedom for all
11. I believe we have the right to own guns, but our Second Amendment says “well regulated” for a reason
12. I believe in a living wage
13. I believe you don’t create wealth by giving rich people more money
14. I believe welfare helps the poor, it doesn’t punish the rich
15. I believe health care is a right, not something for only those who can afford it
16. I believe a woman has the right to choose what to do with her own body
17. I believe a country is judged based on how they treat their poor, not their rich
18. I believe there needs to be an economic threshold which we don’t let Americans fall below
19. I believe we are not “entitled” to Social Security and Medicare, we paid into these programs–we earn these benefits
20. I believe while we are all born in the same country, we are not all created equal, some people do need help
21. I believe investing in education is more important than investing in bombs
22. I believe nation building here is more important than the Middle East
23. I believe rape—is rape
24. I believe demand creates jobs, not tax cuts
25. I believe in those “union thugs” like teachers, fire fighters and police officers
26. I believe we support our military by not cutting VA benefits and only sending our troops off to war when there are no other options
27. I believe we all have the right to follow whichever religion we want, or no religion at all, and our government should represent no singular set of religious beliefs
28. I believe our Constitution doesn’t only protect the rights for which I agree, that it sometimes protects rights I disagree with
29. I believe that being unemployed doesn’t mean you’re lazy, and most individuals who don’t have a job—want one
30. I believe in an United States for the people, by the people, means we protect the people–we don’t leave them to suffer if they hit hard times
31. I believe we should protect the weakest among us first, not the richest
32. I believe we shouldn’t go broke trying to live healthier and longer
33. I believe we should put people before profits

Funny thing is, too, a lot of these used to be assumed here in America--we've gotten away from them.

You wouldn't think we'd have to debate number 12, would you? Or 31. Or 33. Or...

Crazy.  In so many ways.

Link to original post:  35 Reasons Why I’m A Liberal

Quote of the day

"Only a crisis—actual or perceived––produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. . . . Our basic function is to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable." --Milton Friedman, 1962

Good news, at last, from a local state capitol

Finally, at last, some good news from a local state capital:

Science Prevails In Missouri And Alabama As Creationism Bills Die in Both States

"Science scored a major victory in Missouri and Alabama last week as multiple anti-evolution bills died in the legislatures of both states.

In Missouri, the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education decided not to vote on a pair of bills that would have made creationism an accepted science even though there is no evidence supporting it. HB 1276 would have allowed teachers “to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of the theory of biological and hypotheses of chemical evolution.” In other words, the bill would have allowed right-wing religious fanatical teachers to push their anti-evolution views. The other bill, HB 1227 would have forced “the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design,” at every level in public school and in “any introductory science course taught at any public institution of higher education.” This bill would have actually forced schools and colleges to teach creationism alongside evolution, while allowing teachers bash evolution."

I didn't know or think that this nonsense had taken a foothold in Missouri but there it is. Wow. This is painful. Thank goodness it didn't pass. Either strength and intelligence or cowardice won out.

Let's hope it was strength and intelligence.

The state has real issues and problems to deal with--like fixing I-70 from Illinois to Kansas--but they deal with this, instead.

Sick.

And lazy, too.

You'd think they'd be ashamed of themselves.

Link: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/21/creationism/

Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Darwin Day. Charles Darwin, father of evolution, was born 203 years ago today, this year. The man was brilliant, undeniably. Here's to the thinkers--the big thinkers. Links: http://www.alternet.org/visions/154098/sunday_is_darwin_day._how_will_you_celebrate_it; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_darwin

Missouri follows Kansas' (ignorant) lead

Indeed, it seems the state of Missouri wants to follow Kansas' lead down a rabbit hole, legislatively, by requiring that "intelligent design" be taught in schools. (see link below). If ever there were a misnomer and oxymoron, it is the name "intelligent design." How sad. How stupid. How ignorant. How unfortunate. Links: http://midwestdemocracyproject.org/blogs/entries/missouri-bill-would-mandate-teaching-intelligent-design/; http://ncse.com/news/2012/01/second-antievolution-bill-missouri-007097

I'm so old...

I remember when phones were only in homes and businesses.

...I remember when phones were only that--telephones.

...I remember when phones couldn't text.

Heck, I remember when there was no such thing as "texting'.

I'm so old...

I'm so old I remember when YouTube videos used to play on Facebook on the first click.

New series: "I'm so old..."

I'm so old, I remember when you used to get on a website and it was static and just sat there, and didn't keep refreshing itself.

Reasons not to be a Republican today

Though I loathe Andrew Sullivan for being the self-hating hypocrite he is--almost solely for being a gay Republican--I have to say, he finally, in 2009, woke up to what the Republican Party is in the US and has decided to leave them.

How overdue can you get?

And even then, he only did it because another, fellow blogger came out before him and beat him to it.

Though he's way overdue, as I said, for leaving this hateful, exclusive bunch of small-minded radicals, at least he had the decency to describe why he was, finally, pushing them away.

Herewith are, in his words, great reasons for not being a Republican in the United States today:

I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.

I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.

I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.

I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.

I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.

I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.

I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.

I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.

I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.

I cannot support a movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified and duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.

I cannot support a movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.

I cannot support a movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.

I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.

I cannot support a movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.

I cannot support a movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.

I cannot support a movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.

_________________________

While years, if not a decade or more overdue, I couldn't agree more.

Link:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/12/leaving-the-right.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/andrew-sullivan-im-breaki_n_378625.html