Very Familiar Headline in Oklahoma: Abortion Bills Clear Oklahoma House Committee

Where is the Common Sense in Oklahoma?  Republicans have found a new way to attack abortion with feigning concern for the Mother's life in an abortion.  How about the Mother's life if she is forced to carry a child to full term when the child is not viable which could cause physical or mental issues after a doctor recommends a pregnancy be terminated?  You have many doctors who for their own personal reasons will not perform abortions but they will refer their patient to an abortion clinic if they feel an abortion is necessary.  Now the OK legislature is going to tell women they know more than their doctor?

How much more time is going to be spent in the Oklahoma Legislature on abortion bills when Oklahoma has pressing needs to debate like fixing the State Capitol from crumbling, the infrasture that is failing across Oklahoma, or our education system so that a student in rural Oklahoma receives the same high quality education as the larger school districts.  When are legislators going to be willing to bite the bullet and consolidate some of these small school districts and quit worrying if they will get reelected as they need to do the right thing.  Instead once again abortion is front and center in the legislature in a state with some of the toughest laws against abortion on the books.

It is a waste of our tax dollars as the decision should be between the woman and her doctor not the legislature when the procedure is legal across this Country.  Guess they missed the part that abortions are dropping.  Will someone explain to me how a Party that is so dead set against abortion for any reason is also against contraceptives.  What am I missing?  Never has made any sense.

February 13, 2014

Abortion bills clear Okla. House committee 

By SEAN MURPHY

Associated Press 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two measures to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma easily cleared a House committee on Tuesday over the objection of outnumbered Democrats who argue the bills are unnecessary.

The first bill that the House Public Safety Committee approved would require abortion providers to have clinical privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their practice, while the second would restrict the use of abortion-inducing drugs. Both measures head to the full House.

The bills are among several anti-abortion measures that have been introduced this year in Oklahoma’s Republican-controlled Legislature, which has become a testing ground for some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

Rep. Mike Ritze, an osteopathic physician, said his clinical privileges bill is identical to one approved in Texas and is designed to provide a safety mechanism for women who may develop complications as the result of an abortion.

“It’s a safety issue. A person can hemorrhage to death very quickly,” said Ritze, R-Broken Arrow. “If you’re dealing with minutes to save somebody ... you better have a backup plan in place.”

Oklahoma already has a law that requires doctors to either have privileges or an agreement with a local doctor with privileges, prompting the head of Oklahoma’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to question the need for Ritze’s measure.

Read More at the McAlester News-Capital 

Is Rep Ritze (R) grandstanding hoping to run for higher office as his bill makes no sense.  Tired of these males being the judge and jury when it comes to women's health.  This state is regressing not moving forward.   There is one Republican lawmaker with Common Sense which is rare to find in Oklahoma today:

 Not every lawmaker in Oklahoma is pleased with the state’s constant quest to limit women’s access to reproductive health care, however. Last year, state Rep. Doug Cox (R) — who’s a practicing physician — admonished his fellow Republicans for waging a war on abortion and contraception. “What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?” Cox lamented in an op-ed. “What happened to the Republican Party that felt that the government has no business being in an exam room, standing between me and my patient? Where did the party go that felt some decisions in a woman’s life should be made not by legislators and government, but rather by the women, her conscience, her doctor and her God?” 

Maybe someone can explain to me why Oklahoma is emulating Texas.  Must not be Sooner fans because the last thing they would want to do is be like Texas in anything.  This is just dumb to copy a state that has been on the attack against women's rights by the white GOP male dominated State Government of Texas.  Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who is running for Texas Governor is one of the leaders of the War on Women in Texas.  Abbott is opposed by Democrat Wendy Davis who polls close to Abbot almost across the board.  Could Davis flip Texas Blue?  It could happen with the neanderthal GOP and some of their male candidates in Texas where all common sense has been thrown out the window.

Oklahoma Considers Enacting Texas-Style Abortion Restrictions 

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON FEBRUARY 12, 2014 AT 10:30 AM 

Oklahoma lawmakers are currently advancing two measures intended to restrict abortion access even further in a state that already makes it incredibly difficult to end a pregnancy. On Tuesday, a House committee approved a harsh abortion restriction that’s directly modeled after a new law in Texas that has forced dozens of clinics to close in the Lone Star State. 

One of the proposed measures would require abortion providers in Oklahoma to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their practice. Essentially, doctors would need to enter into a partnership with a local hospital, just in case one of their patients experiences serious complications from an abortion procedure and needs to be transferred there — even though the rate of complications from abortion that are serious enough to require hospitalization is estimated at just 0.5 percent. 

This type of unnecessary state law is known as the “targeted regulation of abortion providers,” or TRAP. Oklahoma actually already has an existing TRAP law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges. It just doesn’t specify that the hospitals in question must be within a 30-mile radius. 

The state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is skeptical that it’s really necessary to enact additional legislation in this area. “We’re being given a rationale that’s grounded in providing a safe atmosphere for Oklahoma’s women, but at the end of the day that’s just smoke and mirrors,” the director of Oklahoma’s ACLU, Ryan Kiesel, noted.

Read More at Think Progress

Then there is the new Ohio law.  Shocked some Oklahoma legislator didn't file a bill like that for Oklahoma.  Maybe they did and I missed it since this was enacted last year in Ohio my home state which is getting just as hard right as Oklahoma.  Never thought I would see that happen.

Ohio’s New Abortion Ban Forces Women To Continue Doomed Pregnancies Against Their Doctors’ Wishes 

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON FEBRUARY 11, 2014 AT 11:48 AM

Thanks to harsh new abortion restrictions in place in Ohio, doctors are warning that they can’t provide the best care for their patients — and sometimes, women are being forced to carry nonviable fetuses to term against the recommendations of medical professionals. 

Last year, Ohio enacted several new laws that further regulate the way that doctors are allowed to practice. Abortion doctors are now required to obtain transfer agreements with local hospitals, an unnecessary requirement that is forcing clinics out of business. And doctors are prohibited from performing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the fetus is nonviable; by 24 weeks, abortion is outlawed altogether. 

Since the new law doesn’t adequately distinguish between elective abortions and medically necessary abortions, doctors warn that it’s forcing them to withhold critical health services from their patients. Sometimes, serious fetal abnormalities aren’t evident until women are past the legal limit for termination. Thanks to Ohio’s new law, however, doctors’ hands are tied when they encounter those situations. 

Dr. Jason Melillo, an OB-GYN who does not perform elective abortions because he is religiously opposed to the procedure, told the Columbus Dispatch that he will still refer patients to abortion services if it’s medically necessary. For instance, he had a recent patient who discovered that her fetus had a fatal chromosome condition, and he recommended that she should terminate to avoid the risk of future complications. But it was too late. 

“By this point she was 27 weeks. The doctors were saying they can’t do it. There wasn’t even a medical debate about it. Everyone agreed she shouldn’t deliver but were afraid they would run afoul of this law,” Melillo explained. “What if she gets a blood clot? What if she needs a cesarean section? Now you’re putting this woman through risky medical procedures for no good reason.” 

“Nobody likes to end a pregnancy for a fetal problem. But it’s worse to leave a patient without medical care because doctors are afraid of violating the law,” he continued. 

Later abortion procedures are very rare, but they often occur in the most heartbreaking of circumstances: Wanted pregnancies that end up going terribly wrong. In states that have enacted bans on later abortions without adequate health exceptions, doctors have repeatedly warned that cutting off access to medically necessary abortions could end up forcing women to carry nonviable pregnancies to term, risking their health and their emotional well being. These type of later-term abortion bans also disproportionately harm young, low-income women.

Read More at Think Progress 

What is going on with all these abortion bills in the states?  Is this coming out of ALEC?

Kansas House approves bill to tweak state's abortion law
KMBC Kansas City‎ - 2 days ago

South Dakota Bill Could Ban Abortion as Early as Seven Weeks
RH Reality Check‎ - 1 day ago

Some of these are the same males that do not want an exception for life of the mother, incest, or rape. How can you make a woman who has been raped carry that child to full term and relive it every day -- most women could not handle it.

Anti-abortion all-stars. Federal lawmakers made news last year when an all-male House committee convened a hearing on abortion (twice). Male legislators dominate in proposing anti-abortion bills in the states, too. Of the 330 state lawmakers to sponsor such measures last year, 257—more than 75 percent—were men. Seventy-three were women. (According to the National Conference of State Legislators, about 75 percent of state lawmakers in 2013 were male.) About 1 in every 25 female legislators, and 1 in every 20 male legislators, sponsored an anti-abortion bill. The vast majority of the sponsors, 310 in all, were Republicans; 20 were Democrats.

The War on Women continues by the Republican dominated legislatures and House of Representatives.  Time to return Common Sense to this Country and throw out the social conservatives.  For a Party that wants smaller government, they sure do pass a lot of laws trying to regulate how a person handles their health or their lives. Personally don't think it is my business to tell another woman what she should do -- don't walk in their shoes and until someone does, then they have no business dictating.   Very sick and tired of the GOP and the hard right social engineering.  Will voters finally wake up to how much of our tax dollars are being wasted on the hard right's demand that only their agenda be followed.  Enough is enough -- vote them out in 2014!

Hard Right Texas GOP is Going to Turn Texas Blue After Texas House Rammed Through Abortion Bill

Texas Republican Legislators are out of control as rules do not apply to them just like their Governor, Rick Perry, who is now a huge social conservative.

Governor Perry fits the mold of someone who will do and say anything to get a second chance to run for President.   The difference being this time he is running to the hard right more then before trying to be the candidate of the Tea Party social conservatives.   The fixation of the Republican males on women's bodies and their desire to tell women what to do is so far over the top I have a hard time recognizing candidates and office holders I have known for years.  Don't want to be in the same room with them today as they pander to the lowest common denominator - Tea Party Republicans.

Until 2003, the GOP Neanderthals kept the federal employees health benefit plans from paying for contraceptives but they would spend all kinds of money for erectile dysfunction.  Some of the comments I see out of Republican males make me cringe that they have this arrogant attitude they know more than a doctor and a woman on what is best for them.  Their junk science on abortions and boy babies masturbating in the womb is indicative of a Party where enlightenment is no more as they want to go back in time.

What the Republicans in Texas are doing to women's right to choose is deplorable - there are no exceptions in the latest abortion bill that passed the House early this morning despite all the protest from pro-choice advocates.  Same Republicans after the baby is born don't want to provide food or healthcare as they want to cut both programs.  Something is really wrong in the Republican Party and there is no fix because the loons have taken over with their hard right agenda.

Despite Massive Protests, Texas GOP Rushes Through Abortion Restrictions In The Middle Of The Night 

By Tara Culp-Ressler on Jun 24, 2013 at 9:00 am 

More than 600 women’s health advocates crowded into Texas’ state capitol building on Sunday night, hoping to prevent a vote on a package of abortion restrictions before the state’s special session ends early this week. Ultimately, however, their efforts were unsuccessful. In the early hours of Monday morning, Republicans used their majority to cut off debate and give preliminary approval to Senate Bill 5, an omnibus measure that would force most of the abortion clinics in the Lone Star state to close their doors.   

SB 5 combines several abortion restrictions that failed to advance during Texas’ regular sessioninto one sweeping bill, and would ultimately leave Texas women with just five abortion clinics left in the entire state. Gov. Rick Perry (R) forced a last-minute vote on several pieces of anti-abortion legislation, including SB 5, to give them another chance. Since the current special session operates under different procedural rules, it’s more difficult for Democrats to block legislation from advancing.  

On Thursday night, nearly 800 protesters registered to testify against SB 5. Their “people’s filibuster” stretched on for 12 hours and successfully delayed the House from voting on the restrictive measure. They tried again on Sunday night, filling the capitol rotunda with protesters as Democrats continued delaying a vote for 15 hours.  

“Women are not going to tolerate the constant chipping away of their rights, we are not going to be bullied,” Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D)said on Sunday night in reference to the legislature’s attempt to push through last-minute abortion restrictions. “We are soldiers in the army of women’s rights, and while today we may be outnumbered and out gunned, our cause is just and we shall prevail.” 

Excerpt:  Read More at Think Progress 

Governor Perry and the Texas Republican House may be riding high today after passing this abortion bill, but their days are numbered.  Most of America is not hard right and never has been.  Well over 50% of Americans believe abortion should be safe and legal all the way to partial birth abortion, but that wasn't good enough for the arrogant Governor Perry who wanted to have the toughest law on the books on abortion.  Same Governor Perry who has been cutting women's healthcare benefits.  Does the moronic Governor not understand that women vote?  If he is depending on the white male conservatives to get reelected, he could be in for a shock.

GOP War Against Women Continues in Texas.  Time to start turning Red States back to Blue because conservatives have shown they want to be dictators against women as the 'my way or no way' crowd where there is no room for disagreement in their small minds.

Women need to unite as a voting block and throw out the Neanderthal conservative Republicans from office at all levels!  Vote Dem in 2014 to return sanity to the Country.

Bush Administration Responsible for No Oversight of West, Texas, or Other Fertilizer/Chemical Storage Facilities by EPA

“Perry reworked the language and helped to get it added to the spending bill in a conference committee. Under the new amendment, the DHS would have nominal authority to regulate the chemical industry but also have its hands tied where required.”

What Phillip Perry, VP Cheney's son-in-law, did was to add language the chemical industry wanted to an appropriations bill rider that moved the task of regulating and oversight of chemical plants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Another day, another group that has bought and paid for Republican members of Congress.  This time it is the chemical industry which is only being highlighted after the West, TX, fertilizer plant blew up last week while storing large amounts chemicals that should have set off red flags. EPA is no longer in charge of regulating these plants while the Texas Department of Health who had the authority seems pretty worthless as they took the owner's word with no inspections.

Seems chemical manufacturer's thought giving DHS authority for regulation and oversight with little money provided by Congress would allow them to operate as they chose without no regard to safety.  As we saw in West, Texas, the lack of oversight blew up in their face with a plant storing chemicals that were way over the limit allowed in unsafe storage units with no markings so fire department officials didn't know what was in the storage tanks.  Because of not knowing what was stored, the volunteer fire department used water instead of foam which is used to fight chemical fires.  The owner of the facility has already been sued.

This picture is from the site of the West, Texas fertilizer storage facility the night of the explosion where 10 of the 13 killed were volunteer fire fighters, one was a paramedic, and one was from Dallas search and rescue -- all first responders who died because of lack of oversight and inspections of this plant:

With Chris Hayes connecting the dots on MSNBC with this video, it shows what happened which eventually led to the West, Texas, fertilizer plant exploding.

Summary of the Chris Hayes video:

Let’s recap: The Bush administration’s own cabinet secretaries come up with a plan to regulate these chemical plants. It’s stymied by Phil Perry once. The Bush administration sides with the chemical industry when it’s brought before Congress. And then, basically in a backroom maneuver, Perry does the chemical industry’s bidding by moving the oversight of this from the EPA, which the chemical industry hates, to DHS, which the chemical industry thinks they can more easily manipulate. 

Now, fast-forward six years. The West Fertilizer company is storing more than 13-hundred times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by DHS. And it does appear now, that not only did DHS literally have no idea that the West Fertilizer company was storing ammonium nitrate. But according to Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up.

Everyone in America should watch this video which connects the dots which all lead back to the Bush Administration, Phillip Perry, and the chemical industry:

Bush and the West explosion: The untold story of deregulating chemical plants
Collier Meyerson, @youngcollier11:26 PM on 04/25/2013

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Seems the Bush Administration was in the hip pocket of chemical manufactures starting with Vice President Cheney's son-in-law, Phillip Perry, who is responsible for non-regulation of chemical plants by the EPA with his various positions in the Administration. Will someone please tell me why family of the President or Vice President is allowed to even work in the Administration. Cheney's daughter, Liz, also went to work for the State Department during the Bush years. You want to look at the main problem of the Bush Administration - look no further then the former head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney. His son-in-law along with the chemical industry and their bought and paid for puppets in Congress helped contribute to the plant in West, Texas, blowing up.  

Then there is the K-factor involved when it comes to fertilizer and chemical plants:

Koch Fertilizer, LLC

Koch Fertilizer, LLC, which is one of the world’s largest makers of nitrogen fertilizers. Koch Fertilizer owns or has interests in fertilizer plants the United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and Italy, among others. Koch Fertilizer was formed in 1988 when the Koch companies purchased the Gulf Central Pipeline and ammonia terminals connected to the pipeline. The next year, the Koch Nitrogen Company was formed in order to market ammonia. The next few years saw purchases of various ammonia facilities in Louisiana, Canada, and elsewhere, and ammonia sales agreements with firms in Australia, the U.K., and other countries. The year 2010 saw the founding of Koch Methanol, LLC, and Koch Agronomic Services, LLC. In October 2010, a plant in Venezuela was nationalized by the government. In 2011, the firm acquired the British fertilizer firm J&H Bunn Limited.

Do you think that the Koch Bros were a major player in getting Phillip Perry to insert language into a bill to move control of chemical plants from the EPA to DHS so they would have less oversight, regulation, and scrutiny?  I certainly do and would suggest they probably rallied the rest and still are too prevent any oversight and regulation to another one of their industries. IMO, the Koch Bros with their aim to destroy all oversight and regulation by the Federal Government contributed to the West, Texas, disaster along with their puppets in Congress.  Are the Koch Bros taking their quest for lack of oversight and regulation on what they own worldwide as they buy up chemical and fertilizer plants around the world?

Given that the Bush-backed bill moving oversight of big places storing fertilizer from EPA to DHS is law of the land, and Republicans in Congress aren’t going to change it, the administration has been considering recently granting the EPA the original authority that Christine Todd Whitman wanted. The chemical industry lobby hates this. So in February, 10 Republicans and one Democrat teamed-up with a bunch of chemical industry groups to fight this tooth and nail. Here’s a letter from the groups to members of Congress. It reads in part:

“We have concerns about EPA’s arbitrary application of the General Duty Clause as well as the potential for future expansion of the General Duty Clause to regulate the security of chemical facilities.”

President Obama who as a Senator in 2006 sponsored a bill to make chemical plants safer.  Sounds like it was a reasonable bill, but the Republicans in the Senate killed the bill on behalf of the chemical industry.  After all, the GOP office holders need their wealthy donors to keep filling up their campaign coffers.  If something blows up in their face due to their obstructionism on oversight and regulation of chemical plants, no worry as it is only collateral damage is the way they act today.

Following is an excerpt of what Chris Hayes, MSNBC, is saying in the video above about what happened during the Bush Administration to kill oversight of chemical plants by the EPA. No wonder Christie Todd Whitman who headed EPA along with Tom Ridge who was the first head of Homeland Security did not come back for 2nd terms. 

We pieced together this story. Here’s what happened: in the wake of 9/11, there was tremendous concern about the vulnerability of chemical plants, including plants that stored fertilizer. The EPA knew that these chemical plants posed a legitimate risk to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The vulnerability of chemical plants made headlines across the country.

Two Bush administration officials, Christine Todd Whitman, who was head of the Environmental Protection Agency at the time and Tom Ridge, who was head of Secretary of Homeland Security, came up with a plan to deal with the vulnerability. Whitman believed that the EPA was already empowered to expand her agency’s oversight of chemical plants under a section of the Clean Air Act and she and Ridge worked out a deal to do so. 

That’s until the son-in-law of former Vice President Dick Cheney walked into the room, a guy by the name Phillip Perry, who was at the time the general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget. And he made it clear that the Bush administration was not going to support granting regulatory authority over chemical security to the EPA. According to reports, Perry claimed that their proposal was tantamount to overreach, and that they would need Congress to specifically authorize it. 

So, Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Ridge figured that the obvious thing to do was to go up to the Hill, and ask Congress for the authority necessary. But as Whitman writes in her book, “It’s My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America”:

“Although both Tom and I agreed such legislation was necessary, strong congressional opposition–led by some Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee–to giving EPA even the modest additional statutory authority made it difficult to secure administration support for a meaningful bill.”

Basically, the Bush administration from above, pulled support for that bill because the chemical industry doesn’t want to be regulated by the EPA. Fast forward a few years, to 2007, and Phil Perry–again, Dick Cheney’s son-in-law–is now over at the Department of Homeland Security as the department’s general counsel. And what he manages to do, in an uncontroversial bill, in an appropriations rider, is slip in industry-friendly language into the bill that moves the task of regulating chemical plants from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Department of Homeland Security. But DHS is given none of the tools it would need to actually do that. 

Excerpt:  Read More at MSNBC 

Bottom line is that we can add another industry, chemical and fertilizer manufacturers along with the storage facility owners to list of people/groups who have bought and paid for Republicans in Congress.  Thanks to the Citizens United ruling, it has gotten much worse to the stage the Republicans in Congress work for the NRA and other groups and could care less about the rest of us.

Since the Republicans in Congress for the most part don't care about us then it is time to show them the unemployment line in November 2014 and then cut unemployment benefits for members of Congress to $1 a day!

Why did Texans vote for Tea Party Republican Senator Ted Cruz?

Have a hard time remembering a first time US Senator being a bigger media hog and arrogant then Senator Cruz of TX who took office less than a one ago.  Even the hard right Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) took awhile to get started.  Let me say that I donated to Cruz's opponent Texas Governor Lt Governor Dewhurst who seemed to have more common sense -- didn't realize how much more until the last month.  Cruz has no common sense -- zero, zip, nada.

Thought this open letter to Americans about Texas send Cruz to the Senate spoke volumes: 

Ted Cruz’s craziness is the unfunny, dangerous kindJason Stanford, @JasStanford4:33 PM on 01/30/2013 

Dear America, 

I think we might have messed up again in Texas. We thought Ted Cruz would be an educated, articulate senator with a positive vision of constitutional conservatism. But it turns out he might also be crazy, and not the Charlie Wilson “Let’s see how many Playboy bunnies fit into this hot tub!” kind of crazy. Ted Cruz’s crazy is the unfunny, dangerous kind, and we just gave him a six-year term. Sorry. 

It struck me that Texas might have let a charming sociopath loose in Washington when I read this morning about his efforts to bring assault weapons into a Senate hearing on gun safety. His aim, as it were, was to wave unloaded guns around to demonstrate how safe they are in the hands of “millions of law-abiding Americans for self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes,” he explained. Maybe using them as political props falls under “sporting.” Unfortunately for him, DC has banned assault weapons, which cancels out the “law-abiding” bit. 

Trying to bring a gun to a knife fight is one thing. Picking a fight with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel might be burning a bridge too far. Emanuel pushed the Chicago Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund to divest $1 million in investments in three gun manufacturers and asked two locally headquartered banks to stop lending money to firearms makers who oppose gun safety laws. This drove Cruz to invite the banks and gun manufacturers to do business in Texas. “Both of your companies do considerable business in the City of Chicago, and you may be understandably concerned that there are risks to refusing to comply with the demands of a politician who has earned the nickname, ‘the Godfather,’” wrote Cruz. 

And then there was his explanation for being one of three votes against confirming John Kerry as Secretary of State: “I was compelled to vote no on Senator Kerry’s nomination because of his longstanding less-than-vigorous defense of U.S. national security issues, and, in particular, his long record supporting treaties and international tribunals that have undermined U.S. sovereignty,” said Cruz in a statement. 

It’s hard not to focus on Cruz’s cheerful venality in sliming Kerry’s commitment to national security. Cruz wasn’t even born when Kerry left the U.S. Navy as a full lieutenant after having earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. And when Cruz was still in diapers, Kerry raised the stakes on patriotism by becoming the first Vietnam veteran to testify before Congress about the war, famously asking the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” 

Voters don’t require military service anymore in their politicians, but if Cruz’s statement is any indication, voters don’t require basic decency either. Cruz had a chance to serve when we were kicking Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, but he was busy excelling at debate at Princeton.
That bit about Kerry “supporting treaties and international tribunals that have undermined U.S. sovereignty” raises a different alarm. Cruz’s campaign website had a page devoted to stopping Agenda 21, a black-helicopter conspiracy theory about the United Nations abolishing “‘unsustainable’ environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads.” We should have known better. 

So why didn’t the media raise the alarm when a possible demagogue was sailing toward a U.S. Senate seat? If there’s a media bias in Texas, it’s to ignore the ridiculous as unserious and unworthy of attention. Not spotlighting the absurdity deprives Texans of the unintentional high comedy of their elected officials who remain bathed in the flattering light of undeserved dignity. (Case in point: Rick Perry. In Texas, the media portrayed him as a serious, ideologically conservative leader, but once he crossed the state line… Oops.) 

Cruz rode a Tea Party wave from 4% in the polls into the U.S. Senate. It’s possible that this was not a marriage of convenience but of common interests. We’re not all crazy in Texas—a poll out today shows that a plurality of Texans support banning assault weapons—but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Cruz could be.

A little background on Senator Cruz:

Cruz the newest Latino GOP Senator was elected in November by tea party activists and notably gathered only a smattering of Latino votes.  Tea Party activists in Texas have been prone to attempt any and all political maneuvers to thwart President Obama including their recent call for their state to secede from the Union. Cruz finds himself tied to the most extreme elements of his party and seems unwilling at this point to differ from them.

Some of Cruz's comments made me go WHAT?  

Delaware state Attorney General Beau Biden chided Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday over Cruz’s statements on gun safety legislation. 

“Senator Cruz is new to the job here,” said Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden. “Over the course of this debate he’ll get the facts. The facts are that 40 percent of weapons transfers in America are done outside of federal licensees. Forty percent. So nearly half of weapons that are sold or transferred are done, not through Dick’s Sporting Goods or your local gun shop, where I have my shotgun from.”

Cruz, a freshman senator, said on “Meet The Press” Sunday that there is no gun show loophole for weapons sales.

“Any licensed firearms dealer, who sells at a gun show, has to have a background check,” Cruz said. “What it doesn’t apply to is personal sales, one on one, and that’s true, whether it’s at a gun show or not.” In that same interview, Cruz also accused President Barack Obama of exploiting last month’s mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut “within minutes” for the sake of pandering to his political base.

Raw Story (excerpt)

Then there is this one:

WASHINGTON, DC -- 

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) Assault Weapons Ban of 2013: 

Washington politicians shouldn’t be taking advantage of recent tragedy to try to push an aggressive gun control agenda. Real assault weapons—machine guns—are already functionally illegal, and they have been since 1934. This proposal would have done nothing to prevent the terrible murders in Newtown, but it would limit the constitutional liberties of law-abiding citizens. And gun control doesn’t work – the empirical data overwhelmingly demonstrate that strict gun-control laws consistently produce more crime and more murders.

The Second Amendment exists to ensure that law-abiding Americans can protect their homes and families, and I look forward to helping lead the fight to defeat this bill and to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. 

Cruz also would have voted against the financial cliff agreement if he had been in the Senate:

During Senator Cruz’s appearance on CNN on January 3^rd he retreated to Tea Party talking points on issues surrounding the now resolved fiscal cliff debate. Additionally Cruz indicated that he would be willing to use the upcoming approval on the debt ceiling to gain political leverage.  “part of the reason we got a lousy deal is that when you have divided government, whoever owns the defaults, whoever wins if there is inaction, has the advantage. With the fiscal cliff, if there was inaction, there would be a massive tax increase. That gave President Obama an advantage. Moving forward to the debt ceiling, I think it is the mirror image” said Cruz to an openly astonished Wolf Blitzer.

Cruz, a Latino of Cuban descent (his Dad was Cuban and his Mom a US Citizen) elected with Tea Party support, opposes citizenship proposals as amnesty, but supports increased visas for high-tech and temporary workers.

Cruz's comments on immigration reform regarding bipartisan immigration reform proposal:

I appreciate the good work that senators in both parties have put into trying to fix our broken immigration system. There are some good elements in this proposal, especially increasing the resources and manpower to secure our border and also improving and streamlining legal immigration. However, I have deep concerns with the proposed path to citizenship. To allow those who came here illegally to be placed on such a path is both inconsistent with rule of law and profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who waited years, if not decades, to come to America legally.

Senator Cruz doesn't think twice of running out with his comments unlike most Freshman Senators in their first month.  I want to know why Republicans put first term Senatosr Cruz and Flake (R-AZ) on Judiciary. Those assignments used to be reserved for more senior members who understand how things work but after both Cruz and Senator Graham (R-SC) tried to bring guns to the Senate hearings on gun control which Graham knew would never be approved, grandstanding seems to be the new norm for Republicans in the Senate. 

Health of Today's GOP: On Life Support and Running out of Oxygen!

Every day that goes by, it is increasingly difficult to remain in the Republican Party which has gone so far hard right that I am not sure it will ever go back center right.  The latest talking point is that Obama is trying to destroy the GOP.  All the President has to do is sit back, eat some popcorn, and watch it happen as the GOP implodes.  More and more center right/moderate Republicans are increasingly talking about switching party registration thanks to a Republican Party which has gone hard right.

Wasn't happy with the GOP in 2008 but nothing compared to my disgust in 2012.  From inside the party with all the emails, it looks to me like the Party is nothing but an arm of the hard right Koch Brothers organization like Americans for Prosperity, ALEC, Freedom Works, and Cato Institute along with the Tea Party groups.  The GOP has become very hateful and extremely deceitful in their move hard right.  They will say or do anything for votes today in order to take over to push their extreme agenda.

Been involved on Twitter this past weekend where a conservative group sponsored by the Koch Brothers along with the Tea Party Express decided it was their responsibility to get progressives kicked off Twitter or anyone that posted against the hard right, Koch Brothers, Tea Party, GOP, etc.  As more and more progressives were getting suspended, several of us who are still Republican figured we were next.  Someone came up with an idea to protect all of our Free Speech by joining together as a group.  @UniteBlue stepped up to the plate to have us join.  Since then, I have met some of the most interesting people including a lot of former Republicans, sports fans, and people associated with the military/industrial complex.  Today I seem to have more in common with a lot of Progressives who are center left then I do the hard right GOP.

My takeaway from this weekend's experience is that some conservatives only want Free Speech when it applies to what they are saying.  In their small minds on Twitter they go after anyone who disagrees with them to get them suspended or even banned.  That 'my way or no way' mentality is seeing the light of day and a lot of Republicans are as disgusted with the hard right as the Democrats/Independents if not more so as we see what is happening to our Party and absolutely nothing we can do as leadership only listens to the wealthy donors like the Koch Brothers.

Re-electing the same RNC Chair Priebus who oversaw the debacle in 2012 says it all about the health of today's Republican Party -- it is on life support and running out of oxygen.  Anyone with half a brain knows that Preiebus is nothing more than the Koch Brothers puppet from Wisconsin who will do anything they say like pushing the ALEC plan on electoral votes to steal the 2016 election.  Already FL and VA are standing up and saying count us out.  PA, OH, MI, and WI are still moving ahead knowing full well that the Congressional seats are gerrymandered so bad that they don't truly represent the voters of the states.  ALEC has also been pushing Right to Work laws in states as well.

In Oklahoma, a Right to Work state,  union membership went up 22% in 2012 as workers are discovering the unions were the only people looking out for manufacturing and construction workers. Oklahoma has gained about 9,000 manufacturing and 3,000 construction jobs since the beginning of 2011 which could also be accounting for the rise in union membership.  My Dad always said if there were no unions, that heads of companies would not treat their workers well.  Looks like he was right.  The Koch Brothers seem to be pretty anti-worker with their push to rid the Country of unions, minimum wage laws, medicare/medicaid and social security as we know it but the GOP goes right along with them.

Koch Brothers seem to want to take over the Country and Republican leadership is falling right in line.  They have lost all common sense in the GOP as they have tracked hard right and now see their problem as the way the message is delivered not the message.  Note to GOP:  It is your agenda no matter how you dress it up!

Let me give you a few examples of today's Stupid GOP in the States:

Texas Public Schools: Still Teaching Creationism 

In Texas public schools, children learn that the Bible provides scientific proof that Earth is 6,000 years old, that the origins of racial diversity trace back to a curse placed on Noah's son, and that astronauts have discovered "a day missing in space" that corroborates biblical stories of the sun standing still. 

These are some of the findings detailed in Reading, Writing & Religion II, a new report by the Texas Freedom Network that investigates how public schools in the Lone Star State promote religious fundamentalism under the guise of offering academic courses about the Bible. The report, written by Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, found that more than half of the state's public-school Bible courses taught students to read the book from a specifically Christian theological perspective—a clear violation of rules governing the seperation of church and state.

Other states are trying to follow Texas who more bills waiting to pass but so far their efforts with nine bills have been stopped in Committee in TX, KY, FL, TN, OK, NM, and MO.  In a time of dwindling dollars they want to teach the earth is 6,000 year old crap.  Some parents refused to allow their children to go to Natural History Museums like the Ed Noble Museum of Natural History we have on the University of Oklahoma campus.  Do these people fear their children might see the truth about natural history and how old the is the earth by viewing the various time periods the earth has gone through over 4.54 billion years.  Yet this group of Creationists want us to believe the earth is only 6,000 years old?   It is a travesty to teach Creationism in the schools since the very idea comes from such a small but loud group of evangelicals. 

Texas Legislature strikes again:

Texas Legislature Wants To Reward Companies That Deny Employees Contraception 

By Annie-Rose Strasser posted from ThinkProgress Health on Jan 28, 2013 at 1:06 pm 

A bill recently introduced in the Texas state house aims to reward employers who violate Obamacare, offering subsidies to any company that uses religious objection as an excuse for denying its employees copay-free contraception. 

House Bill 649, introduced by state Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R), was apparently inspired by the controversy over craft chain store Hobby Lobby. That store sued to deny its employees contraception coverage, citing its male president’s religious objections. But since Hobby Lobby, and companies like it, will be forced to pay a fine for violating the law, Strickland wants to compensate them with tax breaks: 

The tax credit would be limited to the amount of a federal fine that the company pays or the amount of state tax the company owes.

“When a business is being stressed nearly to the point of bankruptcy by punitive federal taxes, of course the state should give them relief,” Stickland said in the news release.[...] 

“The Obama administration’s mandate and their threats to bury Hobby Lobby with $1.3 million per day in tax penalties aren’t just unconstitutional, they’re unconscionable,” he said. “It is simply appalling that any business owner should have to choose between violating their religious convictions and watching their business be strangled by the strong arm of Federal mandates and taxation.”

By offering to help compensate these companies, Strickland is accepting a drastic cut in funding to the Texas government. His plan proposes letting organizations like Hobby Lobby off the hook for state taxes up to the amount they owe in federal penalties. Since Hobby Lobby is estimated to owe a fine of $1.3 million a day (more, in a year, than it would be paying in state taxes), Hobby Lobby would get a pass on giving a single cent to the state of Texas.

You want stupid -- look no further then Texas to understand why many are predicting that because of Governor Perry and the Legislature, the state is going back to the Democrats in the next ten years.  I used to laugh at that but with some of the dumb things coming out of Austin, I beginning to agree with that analysis.  The bill on Obamacare they want to pass will most likely not pass a court test but Texas leadership opposes Obamacare so much they are willing to risk taxpayer money to get Hobby Lobby off the hook and allow them to not provide contraceptives to their employees.

It is not only Texas but in Arizona:

Arizona Bill Requires Hospitals To Screen Immigration Status Of Uninsured Patients 

Hospitals would need to check the immigration status of uninsured patients under a new bill introduced by an Arizona lawmaker. Rep. Steve Smith’s (R) H.B. 2293 would require hospital staff to “reasonably confirm” patients’ status during check-in or treatment, and immediately report those who do not have the required papers to immigration officials.
Smith claimed it is a hospital’s civic duty to check immigration status:

“I would hope if you witnessed somebody who is not lawfully present in this country taking advantage of, getting, acquiring any benefit or social service or something that they’re not entitled to, or something they’re abusing or neglected, I would hope somebody would pick up the phone and go, ‘Maricopa police, Buckeye police, I think — I’m not sure — but I think this is happening.”’

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association has already rejected the attempt to turn hospitals into another front for immigration enforcement: “When does this begin or end?” a spokesman said. “What other industry should be screening their customers for citizenship verification?”

Cannot leave out NM and their strange bill to jail the woman for getting an abortion after being raped:

New Mexico Bill Would Make Abortion After Rape A Felony 

A Republican state lawmaker in New Mexico has proposed a bill outlawing abortion in cases of rape, arguing that to conduct a termination would amount to "tampering with evidence" of a crime. 

The draft legislation proposed by Cathrynn Brown would legally require victims of rape to carry their pregnancies to term so that the baby could be used as evidence during a sexual assault trial. 

And a woman who terminated her pregnancy following an alleged rape would face being charged with a third-degree felony.

Some of you may ask where are the Oklahoma stupid bills, just wait as the legislature is not session.  I can guarantee you from what I am hearing we will be the winner again for stupid bills submitted by the hard right that will never stand up in the Courts.  Why let that stand in the way as they push bills knowing full well they never will become law as they play to their base and cost the taxpayers money defending their stupid unconstitutional bills.

Thought the Democrats were bad when they were in charge of some of the legislatures but frankly they were much better then the hard right Republicans who have been elected to the legislatures in states like mine.  I really feel for the new Speaker of the House who is a really good person who believes in fairness because he has to put up with some of the OK nutcases.  There is no other word for some of these people.  More on that this week about the Oklahoma Congressman Langford and his strange ideas now he has been elected to a 2nd term.