A Convention of Angry White Men

This is Tuesday July 19, 2016 and the big news is the fear and hate mongering of this convention.  It should be called ‘Making America Insecure Again” or perhaps “Making America even More Agitated”.  The media coverage was horrible.  I even tried CNN and their stuff didn’t appear to be live.  They just played a liberal redneck who lives near Bowling Green, Kentucky, where “We’re still racist down here; we just hide it better now”.  This convention was a convention of Angry White Men.  It may not even be fair to use the word “white” in that sentence.  Who tar a whole race like that?  Donald Trump’s wife was a body without a brain.  Her teleprompter speech did nothing to dispel the notion that she has nothing upstairs.  Maybe she should have delivered the speech in her native Slavenian.  She and Donald have a nine year old son together.  The media talked over everybody else.  I looked to KCET but first they had national news and then had something involving ice cream cones.  The Federation didn’t take at all kindly to the convention.  The newspaper editorials were flooded with raging against this farse of a convention.  Stu Baby took particular note of the Donald’s immigration policy, alias his plan t make Mexico pay for the Wall.  He’s going to conthiscate the hard earner money with the sweat of their brow that immigrants earned at minimum wage (or lower) that they set aside to send back to their relatives in Mexico.  Trump wants to intercept these funds and use it toward building The Wall.  That’s declaring a virtual state of War with the Mexican People.  I mean it’s not as if these immigrants were shipping his money back to Mexico.  But if there’s still not enough money to pay for the ten billion dollar wall, then he’s going to hike the price of visas so that people coming here legally will have a more difficult time at it.  A lot of the speakers I just heard about ticked me off.  There was some victim of “Fast and Furious” speaking.  Then there was the Duck Dynesty guy who opened the convention, Phil Robertson.  “Donald Trump will always tell you the truth as he sees it”.  Maybe he better get his eyes checked.  Then there was a relative of someone who died in Bengazi.  Then there was Julie, Julie, Julie, Giuliani.  This speech was one hysterical, over-blown collection of tired rhetoric.  He just threw every tired event of the past he could think of like blowing up the Iranian nuclear treaty- - and threw it into the speech.  This could be the first party convention where the party throwing the convention actually sees their poll numbers going down for this week!   I don’t know what they were talking about when they said it was the “Kinder, gentler side of Donald Trump”.  I went for medication at twenty to eight and even at that hour there was a line.  Then though it wasn’t yet eight o clock they were having commercials or media commentary.  I never tried to get coffee from Glen.  I saw him out on the benches earlier and he wouldn’t even let me have a butt.  Then there was that Ninja Warrior thing on KNBC.  I watched that for an hour and then made ready for bed, though I wasn’t really tired.  I guess I war bored.  Nobody made it through “the final four” obsticles, as far as I saw,  unless I was distracted at the time.  Basically it was a lost evening.  I’d like to see a complete schedule of speakers at the convention and a way you can hear and see them.  Ohio’s governor, John Kasich, refused to set foot in the convention hall, and won’t be doing so.  Also the Romneys, the Bushes, and the Mc Cains won’t be speaking or even present at this convention.  It’s not a good sign that the three last Republican nominees are disgusted by this convention.  It least I’m not the only one who was utterly repelled by this convention. 

They say the evening session of the Republican Convention is just getting underway but they’re just having the regular EWN news.  In the day session the anti Trump delegates attempted to force a vote but even though there were enough states to legally entitle them to do that, the Party leadership “twisted some arms” and got them to “voluntarily” retract their request because it would interfere with the TV schedule or something.  Maybe they'll break your kneecaps like the mafia or else they've got your wife bound and gagged somewhere ready to drop the cyanide capsules lioke the old Superman episodes.  We won’t hear about the protests outside unless someone gets beaten up or killed.  If I were the media I'd interview these protestors just to give them a little media time in the "public interest" of making their views known.  I turned on CNN at three and there was live music and they showed a street corner so I turned it back to Norman Goldman.  Ohio is an open carry state so there is a probability of some gun incident.  They’ve changed their slogan from “Make America Great Again” to “Make America Safe Again”.  Trumps wife will be speaking.  I think it’ll be the first case of a foreign born first lady since Van Buren or something.   Hillary is speaking in Cincinatti today.  Another officer in the Freddy Gray “rough ride” incident was acquitted by that same judge.  Norman reminds that that sometimes the Jimmy Buffet adage is true.  Sometimes it really is “Nobody’s fault” and if you engage in enough passing the buck you can get away with anything if you’re a police officer.  I think common sense is being bypassed here.  Clearly if it were you or me being charged with a death there would be a little thing like “assuming responsibility for what you did”.   That marine who shot those six Baton Rouge police officers was from Kansas City.  We don’t have any hard facts as to the motive.  All we know is once again the man is Black.  But I didn’t assume that before I knew for sure.  After all why couldn’t a conscientious white man decide “He was the one who needed to purge society”?  

Last night I dreamed that I went to a Sunday school class at three in the afternoon on Sunday and Patty Hayes was in this class.  At one point she and I were hanging drapes that were there as kind of a patrician to the room.  I kept making notes for things I intended to bring up in class but I kept moving them around and forgetting where I put them.  Bill took a shower before I did in the morning.  He gave me a pack of cigarettes with three short butts in it.  I got my medication from Ida.  I had Stephanie on before breakfast and she is on now.  Ron gave me a white rollie before breakfast.  Now I owe him two.  We had plain Cheerios for breakfast followed by a fried egg, toast, butter and jelly.  I got a cup of black coffee filled to the brim from Rico and then he gave me a “regular” with cream and sugar.  Extras are good.  Now it’s eight thirty and there are about six hours to go before I get paid.   This is Roger Ailes for Motel Fox and we’ll leave the right wing on for you.  Nine investigations have cleared Hillary Clinton so to bring up this death and sadness at the convention is over the top.  There was no vision for the future in this convention.  They were rooted in the past.  There was no “uplift”.  

Newt Gingrich made his last ditch effort to be chosen as Vice President by saying that people who so much as look at Islamic internet sites or those who run these sites oughta be charged with a Felony.  It's not against the law to use the word "ISIS" in an internet site.  When you talk about "extreme vetting" of people coming here from the Mideast- - I'm wondering whether they waterboard them.  But now Newt is giving his full endorsement of Mike Pence.  "We only need one pirate on the ticket".  It's a strange thing that the head of the ticket would be considered a "Pirate".    Maybe he should start saying "Arrrhrr".  

[Sunday] night they did a rerun of that “Eye on LA” segment about that Northern Buffalo indoor water park where they wanted kind of a northwest mountain cabin theme, and the Tweens and Teens have this magic wond they use to play games and open treasure troves.  I was out smoking.  America’s Funniest Home Videos wasn’t on.  They had Family Feud.  I think a Sunday evening is too valuable a time slot for “game night”.   I watched the Trump and Pence interview on Sixty Minutes with Dianne Sawyer or whoever.  Trump dominated Pence almost “giving him permission to speak” like a husband dominating a wife and speaking for her.  I learned amazingly nothing else.  I went to the med line which was quite short from Tom.  Then Sixty Minutes had a thing on Southern California wildlife including mountain lions, coyotes and bears- - and how they need to build a bridge over the Venture Freeway.  Because right now males are having sex with their own offspring- - and sometimes they even kill their mates.  Before seven I went to Glen’s room for instant coffee for three cigarettes. 

A Roster of the Mike Pence Political Horrors

If Democrats want to scare themselves silly into voting for Hillary in November, just circulate this list.  It's an almost quintesential encapsulation of Neo Conservative Values.  Hillary and Pence do have one thing in common though.  They were both duped by the "Arab Spring" and the Muslim Brotherhood.  

While in Congress, Pence belonged to the Tea Party Caucus.^[42]

During Pence's twelve years in the House, he introduced 90 bills and resolutions; none became law.^[43]

Abortion and Planned Parenthood[edit]

Pence began seeking to defund Planned Parenthood in 2007,^[44] by introducing legislation aimed at preventing any organization that provides abortion services from receiving Title X funding.^[45]

Birthright citizenship[edit]

In 2009, Pence opposed birthright citizenship (the legal principle set forth by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that all persons born on U.S. soil are citizens). He co-sponsored a bill that would have limited citizenship to children born to at least one parent who is a citizen, immigrants living permanently in the U.S. or non-citizens performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.^[46]

Economy[edit]

Pence was a co-sponsor of H.J.Res.73, a 2011 spending limit amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment would limit federal spending to "the average annual revenue collected in the three prior years, adjusted in proportion to changes in population and inflation."^[47] In regards to adopting the gold standard, Pence stated in 2011, "the time has come to have a debate over gold and the proper role it should play in our nation’s monetary affairs".^[48]

He has been a proponent of a flat federal tax rate, and opposed the TARP bank bailout of 2008.^[49]

Education[edit]

Pence voted against the No Child Left Behind Act.^[50]

Earmarks[edit]

Then-U.S. Representative Pence (third from left) standing behind then-Governor Mitch Daniels at a press conference in Martinsville, Indiana

Pence was a supporter of earmark reform. He voted against the $139.7 billion transportation-treasury spending bill in June 2006, and in favor of a series of amendments proposed that same month by Jeff Flake that would strip other members' earmarks from the federal budget.^[51] On occasion, however, Pence secured earmarks for projects in his district.^[51]

Immigration[edit]

In June 2006, Pence unveiled an immigration plan (which he described as "No Amnesty Immigration reform") that would include increased border security, followed by strict enforcement of laws against hiring illegal aliens, and a Guest worker program. This guest worker program requires potential participants to apply from their home country to government-approved job placement agencies that match workers with employers who cannot find Americans for the job.^[52] The plan received support from conservatives such as Dick Armey,^[53] but attracted criticism from other conservatives such as Phyllis Schlafly, Richard A. Viguerie, and Pat Buchanan, who viewed Pence as lending "his conservative prestige to a form of liberal amnesty."^[54][55]

In 2010, Pence voted against the DREAM Act, which would grant the undocumented children of illegal immigrants conditional non-immigrant status if they met certain requirements.^[56] In 2010, Pence stated that Arizona S.B. 1070, which at the time of passage in 2010 was the US's broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration legislation, was "a good faith to try and restore order to their communities".^[57]

Pence was rated 100% and 92% by the anti-immigration groups FAIR and USBC respectively during his tenure in Congress.^[58][59]

Foreign policy[edit]

Pence supported the Iraq War Resolution, which authorized military action against Iraq.^[60]

During the Iraq War, Pence opposed setting a public withdrawal date from Iraq. During an April 2007 visit to Baghdad, Pence and John McCain visited Shorja market, the site of a deadly attack in February 2007, that claimed the lives of 61 people. Pence and McCain described the visit as evidence that the security situation in Iraqi markets has improved.^[61]The visit to the market took place under large security including helicopters overhead, and the New York Timesreported that the visit gave a false indication of how secure the area was due to the extremely heavy security forces protecting McCain.^[62]

Pence chaired the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and was a prominent supporter of George W. Bush's Iraq War troop surge of 2007. At the time, Pence stated that "the surge is working" and defended the initial decision to invade in 2003.^[60]

Pence has opposed closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and trying the suspected terrorists in the U.S.^[63]Pence believes that "the Obama administration must overturn this wrongheaded decision".^[63] As an alternative, Pence has said that the "enemy combatants" should be tried in a military tribunal.^[63]

Pence has stated his support of Israel and its right to attack facilities in Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, has defended the actions of Israel in its use of deadly force in enforcing the blockade of Gaza, and has referred to Israel as "America's most cherished ally".^[64] He visited Israel in 2014 to express his support, and in 2016 signed into law a bill which would ban Indiana from having any commercial dealings with a company that boycotts Israel.^[65]

Two weeks prior to the NATO intervention in Libya, Pence thanked the Obama administration and Secretary of State Clinton for their efforts to isolate the Gaddafi regime.^[66][67][68] Pence expressed support for "a no-fly zone" and stated that "Qadhafi must go".^[66][67][68]

Healthcare[edit]

Pence opposed the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D).^[69]

Science[edit]

Climate change[edit]

In 2001, Pence wrote "Global warming is a myth,"^[70] saying, incorrectly, that "the earth is actually cooler today than it was about 50 years ago".^[71] In 2009 he told Chris Matthews that there was a "growing skepticism in the scientific community about global warming."^[72][73]

Embryonic stem cell research[edit]

In 2009, Pence opposed President Obama's executive order eliminating restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research. Pence stated, "I believe it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research... I believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans".^[74][75] He asserted that "scientific breakthroughs have rendered embryonic stem-cell research obsolete".^[74][75]

Theory of evolution[edit]

When asked if he believes in evolution, Pence answered "I believe with all my heart that God created the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that’s in them. How he did that I’ll ask him about some day."^[76][75]

Tobacco[edit]

In 2001, Pence wrote an op-ed arguing against additional government regulation of tobacco and the corresponding increase in the size of government and encroachment on private lives. He stated that “despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill.”^[77][78] Pence asserted, "2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer," while acknowledging that "smoking isn't good for you" and people who smoke should quit.^[77][78]

In 2009, Pence voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which allows the FDA toregulate tobacco products.^[79]

Trade deals[edit]

Pence "has been a longtime, aggressive advocate of trade deals" between the U.S. and foreign countries.^[80] Pence is a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),^[80] and during his tenure in the House, he voted for every free-trade agreement that came before him.^[81] Pence voted in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA); in favor of keeping the U.S. in the World Trade Organization; and in favor of permanent normal trade relations with China.^[81] Pence also supported bilateral free-trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea,Panama, Peru, Oman, Chile and Singapore.^[81] Pence's strong stance in favor of free trade sharply differs from the stance of his running mate Trump, who has condemned globalization and the liberalization of trade.^[80][81]

Views on homosexuality[edit]

In 2000, Pence stated "Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexual's [sic] as a discreet [sic] and insular minority entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities."^[82] He called for "an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus [sic]" and instead advocated for resources to be directed toward Conversion therapy programs.^[83][84][85]

Pence has said that homosexuals should not serve in the military, saying, "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion" and in 2010 stated that repealingDon't ask, don't tell would "have an impact on unit cohesion."^[86] Pence opposed the 2009 Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, saying that Barack Obama wanted to "advance a radical social agenda"^[87] and said that pastors "could be charged or be subject to intimidation for simply expressing a Biblical worldview on the issue of homosexual behavior."^[88]

Pence opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions.^[89] While in the House, he said that "societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family".^[90] He has advocated a constitutional same-sex marriage ban but did not champion such a proposed ban for his first year as governor.^[91]

Big Roll-out of Governor Mike Spence

Donald Trump delayed his big roll out of Mike Spence from Friday morning to Saturday morning because of the Nice, France thing.  He isn't the youngest man in the world but at least he's not as far over the hill as Newt Gingrich would have been, as far as being a presidential successor.  It's generally agreed that Spence's presence on the ticket will only exaserbate the troubles Trump is already having with women and minorities.  Spence is conservative right down the line.  He's supported all the government shut-downs.  He's anti Planned Parenthood.  He voted to cut funding.  He's anti gay because he got the Indiana legislature to pass the "Religious liberties" bill where now you can refuse to serve a customer if he so much as looks gay, apparently.  Pence is a strong advocate for the tobacco companies and has frequently made statements denying that tobacco products cause lung cancer.  Pence is also a strident anti global warming advocate.  He's a total science denier.  He's made statements in the past supporting the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.  Of course he has a son who joined the Marines.  In 2002 he made numerous statements supporting President Bush and the Iraq War.  But then again so did Hillary.  Trump and Pence shared the state mutually building each other up.  Trump regards Pence as some kind of financial genious because he cut taxes in Indiana, but cut the rate of unemployment, but still had money for infrastructure and education, and now is running a surplus.  What person in America could resist a candidate like this?  Is he going to get black people in the ghetto all jobs?  My hunch is that there is a strong bullshit factor to all of these economic statistics.  It's just a matter of pecking around a little and discovering what the catch is.  According to Norman Goldman he "did nothing in congress" and didn't sponsor any bills.  Part of it of course is that Republican's job these days is to STOP bills from passing rather than propose any real bill that would actually serve a useful legislative function.  

The coup in Turkey yesterday was always announced as an "attempted coup".  Most military coups succeed and it bears looking into why this one didn't.  It could well be the libertine origens of this coup.  This scholar guy named Gulan lives in Pennsylvania and is the one “held responsible” for the military coup in Turkey.  He was once an ally but now is viewed as suspect, even by Sec of State John Kerry.  The US has become so fundamentalist Islamic that we are siding against more libertine intellectuals who want to see a loosening of the fundamentalist grip in Turkey.  This bit about “the people” being told to liberate “their elected government” is a bunch of bullshit.  ABC network news wasn’t sure the military coup in Turkey had failed but later they said it did fail and the leader of Turkey is now going to round up all of the rebels.  The coverage of almost all the media is wrong on this.  In Egypt they had a successful military coup a few years ago which was hailed as a liberating action by the people at large.  They gathered in masses in the town square shouting their support and recording it on their cell phones.  In this case "the people" aren't really for this increasingly repressive present leader of Turkey any more than they were for the Islamic Brotherhood guy in Egypt that President Obama made the mistake of selling weapons to.  I'll never figure that out.  Washington's blog goes so far as to claim this current leader of Turkey is secretly supporting ISIS, which the military opposes.  If this is the case we might infer that Sec of State John Kerry is a secret supporter of ISIS.

The death toll in Nice, France is now up to 84 people.  This includes many children there to watch the fireworks.  But it's not just some deranged nut deciding to kill as many people as he can.  This is another terrorist attack of ISIS we can add to all the other recent attacks.  The attacker in Nice, France is said to have “radicalized very rapidly”.  He’s from Tunisia and his name is Mohamed, and to top it off ISIS has claimed responsibility for this truck-driven terrorism on Thursday night.  So Donald Trump is declaring Monday night at the Republican convention as "security" night.  So we should all prepare to be scared shitless from all the stuff Trump's henchmen are going to spew forth on Monday.  A vote for Donald Trump will be a vote for fear.  Trump will do ISIS's job for them by bring terrorism into the mainstream, if you will, of Moslem theology as though if you're Islamic then you're a terrorist, and visa versa.  I guess it was Gingrich who says that anyone who goes to an Islamic web site or any web host who runs a site that mentions ISIS ought to be arrested and charged with a felony.  It won't take much imagination to see how the entire Moslem faith could be declared against the law in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

I thought of doing another Steve Johnson scene in that Nebraska corn field in early July of 2006.  This would be where Yours Truely was transported to that corn field right after the "time machine revelations" were made known.  So I appear on the scene thinking I've just stepped into a Stephen King novel.  Of course I am among the many who depart the scene when talk turns of mass suicide.  But then I get curious and return and Steve notes, "You are the only one who came back" after everyone else is dead.  And I just say "Curiosity, I guess".  So I then learned we'd have a Kenyan for President who would be completely ineffective in nearly eight years of Presidential rule.  I told him I thought those ten years into the future were fiction and my proof is asking Steve, "Have you seen the movie, The Candidate, with Robert Redford".  I also suggested other democrats who it would be much more logical to pick beginning with Hillary, and then John Edwards, Dick Derbin, Chuck Schumer, Ted Kennedy, Barbra Boxer, or Russ Feingold.  I would also learn that (in one of two scenes left out of the movie transcript) that there was a right wing coup in this country the turn of the year 2013 and 2014 involving progressive radio call in programs such as Ed Schultz, Randy Rhodes, Thom Hartman, Stephanie Miller and all the rest of them- - even Norman Goldman.  They were all kicked off the over the air radio stations they were on and "driven underground" to the internet, and right wing show-masters such as Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck took over those same airwaves.  The other scene from the movie that needs to be edited back in is where Mittens Romney gets the revelation from looking at his father's picture that Donald Trump is no good for America but is a fraud and all the rest of that stuff Romney accused Trump of being.  And let's throw in the following joke while we're at it.  Steve Johnson asks me "Do you know why Michael Jackson loves twenty-eight year olds?" and I say "No" and Steve says "Because there are Twenty of them", and I say something like "Oh gees- - that's really Bad".