Author Archives: John Wallenfeldt

Report Examines Civil Rights Enforcement During Bush Years – NYTimes.com

Not that I am surprised but it turns out that during the Reign of Bush the Justice Department was either actively told to ignore or actively thwarted from addressing civil rights abuses. Yes, that’s right, even Bush, who I probably think isn’t a racist, couldn’t help himself from the GOP mantra that racism doesn’t exist because it isn’t happening to them.

So now evidence that they truly were trying to set folks up as second- or third-class citizens.

In similar news, a Judge upheld the Voting Rights Act which protects minority groups from having their votes taken from them. The suit was filed by, you guessed it, the Republican National Committee. Sadly the judge did weaken the act somewhat, which is something we should all be on the lookout for.

Actually, I believe in karma and irony and I actually hope that the Voting Rights Act becomes weakened. You know, so maybe it becomes completely irrelevant and useless come the day that angry racist white Republicans actually need it to protect their access to the franchise. Yes, that’s a dirty evil Republican thing to say but it would serve the anti-American bastards right.

Swiss minaret ban reflects European fear of Islam | csmonitor.com

And you thought the US had cornered the market on bigotry. Turns out we are pikers compared to the Swiss. Yeah, I know, the “we don’t want war, please buy our chocolates and watches” Swiss.

They decided to ban the building of any more minarets of any new mosques in Switzerland. This isn’t some kind of parlimentarian kidnapping of democracy, this is a referendum passed by the apparently goose-stepping public itself.

Apparently, like in America, religious expression in fine for the Swiss – as long as it has a cross attached to it. I mean, I am down with religion in general these days, but more for how it is being abused by terror-loving asshats of all stripes than for the message of subservient and blinded dogma it provides. Apparently the Swiss, and all Europeans writ large apparently, are going to have a debate on their xenophobia.

Remember folks, it is YOUR job to reign in the crazy bastards using your religion to start wars, kill children, oppress others who don’t think, act, look or love like you. Whether you are responsible for al-Qaeda or Talibangelical speaking in the name of Muhammad or Jesus, stop the hatemongers in your ranks lest you be labelled as them as well.

Want to know why I don’t do to Church anymore? It is because all I see are racist hatemongers who tell me my dog is going to hell because he’s been microchipped. Fix your own house before you worry about the prayer tower going up on the house next door.

Healthcare Equals House on a Beach

Shatner gets Limbaugh to finally admit what we know all Republicans in power believe: only rich people deserve health care:

Too bad there are millions of poor idiots who can’t see they are screwing themselves by voting for fools who believe this and listening to elitist shitheels like Limbaugh all day long.

The Report Card

Remember, it could be worse. We could be under the reign of President Palin now, with Johnny Mac being poisoned, err, had “an incident” back in June or something. You think things look bleak now, life under her rule would be pure bloody anarchy.

So, read this and this with that in mind, no matter if it means you lost out on a Playboy pictorial of a heavily airbrushed moose hunter to spike her ratings during whatever scandal du jour knocked her favorable ratings down.

The success of his first year will be largely dependent on the outcome of the health care debate, but Obama may soon be able to point to his first 12 months in office and say he rescued the economy from a depression, passed the health care reform bill Americans have been waiting decades for, approved most progressive budget bill in a generation, got a Supreme Court nominee confirmed, lifted the ban on stem-cell research, passed a national service bill, passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, passed new regulations of the credit card industry, passed new regulation of the tobacco industry, achieved some key counter-terrorism successes, and helped improve the nation’s standing on the world stage.

There have been plenty of painful missed opportunities, but as first years go, this isn’t bad. Imagine what Obama’s record would be like if Republicans hadn’t gone mad and if supermajorities weren’t needed on every vote in the Senate. (Or better yet, imagine what Obama’s record would be like if he entered office in 2001, with a strong economy and massive surplus.)