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Friday, July 15, 2011

FEATURED QUESTION: Michele Bachmann

(This post stuck here for several days. Please scroll down for other posts)


Recently Chuck Thinks Right pointed out that GOP Presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann signed The Marriage Vow, which includes the following statement:
"Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President..."
The passage, which was on the front page of The Marriage Vow, has since been removed. Read the details HERE.


FEATURED QUESTION in two parts (Thanks, Chuck, for these questions):
(1) Is the statement untrue? (2) Is there anything in the statement that supports slavery? After all, did the statement not start with "Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families"?

74 comments:

  1. Hi AOW.
    If you ask me i think there is nothing wrong with the statement, on the contrary "a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household now" i think if it were possible to go through the numbers that the statement is correct.There is nothing in it advocating slavery it only points to the current situation of single black parents.As they say "if you want to hit a dog you will find a stick",no animals were hurt for this statement.

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  2. I don't believe that social issues are what conservatives need to be driving during this election. They only divide. Our country is on the cusp of financial ruin and the government is stripping away our constitutional freedoms at a rapid pace. Those are the issues that conservatives need to concentrate on. The federal government has no business in the marriage business. It should be a states' issue--no matter which side of the issue you are on. As a candidate, if you want to share your personal views on social issues that's fine. But do not try to cram any more laws and dictates from the federal government down our throats.

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  3. .

    "... if it were possible to go through the numbers that the statement is correct."

    Too bad you cannot find _any_ data to support your preconceived notions of life under slavery. Your ignorance on the subject does not prevent you from defending an idea you want to be true. Go for it.

    One can be sure Ms Bachman also agrees with your ignorance of the facts.
    .

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  4. I'm more interested in why big mouth Michele takes so much government money.

    Farm subsidies and her husband takes $160,000 for his clinic to teach gays to be straight. The woman is clearly a fraud but at this point the country deserves this idiot.

    Did Newt sign the marriage pledge?

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  5. Ema,
    One can be sure Ms Bachman also agrees with your ignorance of the facts.

    Did Bachman say that she actually supports that statement?

    Also, please read the post: The passage, which was on the front page of The Marriage Vow, has since been removed.

    As for the institution of slavery (an abomination, to be sure, but also not an invention of the American South), among slaveholders there were both good and evil people. Some slaveholders likely did not break up families. Of course, nobody has sorted through any records kept; we have only anecdotal accounts, as far as I know.

    Neither Uncle Tom's Cabin nor Gone with the Wind is completely accurate. Both novels had an agenda.

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  6. Ema,
    One can be sure Ms Bachman also agrees with your ignorance of the facts.

    Did Bachman say that she actually supports that statement?

    Also, please read the post: The passage, which was on the front page of The Marriage Vow, has since been removed.

    As for the institution of slavery (an abomination, to be sure, but also not an invention of the American South), among slaveholders there were both good and evil people. Some slaveholders likely did not break up families. Of course, nobody has sorted through any records kept; we have only anecdotal accounts, as far as I know.

    Neither Uncle Tom's Cabin nor Gone with the Wind is completely accurate. Both novels had an agenda.

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  7. Will,
    the current situation of single black parents

    And that situation has a lot to do with the problems in the inner city and very possibly with today's teenage flash mobs.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Freedom By The Way,
    Our country is on the cusp of financial ruin and the government is stripping away our constitutional freedoms at a rapid pace. Those are the issues that conservatives need to concentrate on. The federal government has no business in the marriage business. It should be a states' issue--no matter which side of the issue you are on.

    I agree with you.

    Yes, most of us have strong feelings about what kind of couples marriage should recognize. But, in my view (and apparently in your view also), we have bigger issues to address at the federal level.

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  9. Well, ms Nymton, perhaps 'you' could give us those statistics. If not, your own opinion is equally ignorant. actually I would say its ignorance writ large with a generous dose of political correctness.

    Ah, Nostradumbass, thank you for sharing your misogyny with us. What's a day without a dose of misogyny or anti-Semitism from the Duck.

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  10. The MSM will anything and everything to discredit our candidates. This is why I am careful in signing petitions. One never knows what is added or deleted. Let this be a lesson.

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  11. I think Bachmann explained herself and that statement clearly on O'Reilly. She said of course children were not better off during slavery.

    Debbie
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

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  12. “After careful deliberation and wise insight and input from valued colleagues we deeply respect, we agree that the statement referencing children born into slavery can be misconstrued, and such misconstruction can detract from the core message of the Marriage Vow: that ALL of us must work to strengthen and support families and marriages between one woman and one man," said Bob Vander Plaats, head of The Family Leader.

    The retraction was a mistake, since ANY statement can, much as this one, BE DELIBERATELY MISCONSTRUED.

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  13. Warren,
    Ah, Nostradumbass, thank you for sharing your misogyny with us. What's a day without a dose of misogyny or anti-Semitism from the Duck.

    And when his hand is called, he flies away.

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  14. Fly away where? Bachmann is a complete fraud, AOW , as bankrupt as the right's effort to sanitize "Southern culture".

    Given her stupidity about the founders "working tirelessly" to end slavery it makes one wonder why the right is so obsessed with the issue.

    And can you really take something seriously when it's signed by Michele Bachmann and L'il Ricky Retardo. That's what you accept as leadership, kabuki for Rollo.

    Notice that the Tea Baggers may have made a reasonable compromise on spending reductions impossible? Pitch till you win.

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  15. more on "founders 'working tirelessly' to end slavery..."

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  16. "why the right is so obsessed with the issue."... could it be because the Left is so obsessed with demonizing it???

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Read it and weep Founder haters. The Founders were working tirelessly for the abolition of slavery long before the British were forced to vacate the premises.

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  19. The Founders in action, as opposed to the gum-flapping Democrats of today.

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  20. Duck,
    Fly away where?

    Wherever you go when you are challenged.

    Let's see. Z has banned you, Mustang is on hiatus, Beak is on comment moderation and has limited time to post queued up comments.

    Your venues are getting quite limited.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Franklin did not publicly speak out against slavery until very late in his life. As a young man he owned slaves, and he carried advertisements for the sale of slaves in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. At the same time, however, he published numerous Quaker pamphlets against slavery and condemned the practice of slavery in his private correspondence.

    -----------

    Like the rest of them he was against it till it hurt business. Stop the nonsense Farmer.

    "I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back."
    Leo Tolstoy

    Yeah, the founders "worked tirelessly" right up till planting or harvest time. Lot of white bread just trying to preserve the triangle trade and the plantation agriculture economy, oh sorry, "Southern Culture"

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  22. Benjamin Franklin was part of "Southern Culture"?

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  23. And exactly who brought all the slaves to the New World? The "Southern culture" shipping industry?

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  24. Duck,
    I don't have to catch up on the next disaster awaiting the housing market. I know full well that we're headed for a "double dip."

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  25. Heading? I think we're in it. Again, more reason we should be demanding straight talk rather than this "marriage vow" nonsense.

    And as long as "Comedy Central" Babhmann is there we are only going to get coverage of her latest inane gaffe. The Tea Party has some explaining to do.

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  26. Yes, Nostradumbass, we all know how anxious you are that a Republican take the Presidency in 2012 and that you have our best interests at heart...

    NO, no, I can't go on. I'll break into laughter and be unable to finish.

    Listen you little half wit twit, we've had your number for a long time. The thought of a Conservative woman becoming President makes you fill your diaper, doesn't it!

    Now run back along to whatever socialist crap pit you crawled out of and tell your slimy buds we ran you off.

    BTW, looks like President jughead and his lawyer got their collective tit in a wringer. Financing gun buys for Mexican mafioso's is against the law even for a setting president and his attorney general.

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  27. Like the rest of them he was against it till it hurt business.

    lol! Nothing could be farther from the truth. Why are you so bitter, ducky? Are you THAT afraid of America's voters that you need to make up lies to smear real patriots like Michelle Bachman and Franklin? That's just so sad...

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  28. Four more years, Warren.

    And you can thank the Tea Party.

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  29. The folks that wrote the pledge would have done better to have mentioned that before the war of poverty, most black children were born into intact families. For that, there are reliable statistics.

    And, more importantly, the left makes a big deal of this because they want people focused on social issues, NOT Obama's failed economic policies.

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  30. Four more years, Duck, and you can kiss your retirement fund goodby!

    Then you'll get what you always wanted, a Socialist Amerika.

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  31. Thanks for the hat tip AOW.

    I see Duck still has women issues.

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  32. .

    "Did Bachman say that she actually supports that statement?"

    Yes; when she signed her name to the original. Or are you implying she had not read it?

    "Our country is on the cusp of financial ruin ..."

    No it is not; not even close. All the people's government of USA has to do is raise taxes on the rich and wealthy. Additionally the people's government can stop corporate welfare.

    Do you enjoy paying Paris Hilton's taxes for her?

    "... the government is stripping away our constitutional freedoms at a rapid pace."

    Name one Constitutional freedom the people's government has stripped away. What "freedom" or "liberty" has been lost?

    "Well, ms Nymton, perhaps 'you' could give us those statistics. If not, your own opinion is equally ignorant. actually I would say its ignorance writ large with a generous dose of political correctness."

    Which opinion did _I_ 'writ large with a generous dose of political correctness?'

    Ema Nymton

    .

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  33. Ema,
    Or are you implying she had not read it?

    I think that is the case.

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  34. Matt,
    the left makes a big deal of this because they want people focused on social issues, NOT Obama's failed economic policies

    Bingo.

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  35. Duck,
    Four more years...

    And you can thank the Tea Party.


    I'm not so sure about that. From this source, quoting Obama before he departed (stormed out from?) yesterday's debt talks:

    "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I won't yield on this."

    Whatever happens with these debt talks, Obama is far enough into his term as President for the economic disaster to be his.

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  36. Ema,
    Name one Constitutional freedom the people's government has stripped away. What "freedom" or "liberty" has been lost?

    Two examples:

    1. The right to control the terms of the sale of one's home would be one example. Think EPA regulations.

    2. Forcing an American to buy a private product (part of ObamaCare).

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  37. Duck,
    Heading? I think we're in it.

    Not so much here in the D.C. area, thanks to those fat federal salaries for government workers and politicians.

    For example, one house that I personally know of was assessed at $650,000 and just sold for $749,000. Not my house -- more is the pity!

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  38. .

    Warren,

    "Your political correctness is implicit in your post just as your implication that Michele is a racist, or will you deny that was your intent? "

    Is it safe to assume English is not your first language? Is this the reason _you_ are having so much trouble focusing on is actually expressed (and not what you think others are saying)?

    As the great FDR said: “Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”

    Do _you_ enjoy paying Paris Hilton's taxes for her?

    Ema Nymton
    ~@:o?
    .

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  39. Ema,
    You've stepped in it now.

    Warren has gone to work. He'll take care of you when he gets home.

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  40. .

    "Warren has gone to work."

    As what, an English to TeaBagger translator?

    Ema Nymton
    ~@:o?
    .

    ReplyDelete
  41. Living in MN, I know Bachmann quite well. The idea that Bachmann is somehow this big champion of limited government and the constitution and as well liberty is laughable at best. Bachmann is the establishment's answer to the angst. She is tasked with co-opting the original intent of the Tea Party which is, in reality more of a liberty movement than anything else. It is this liberty movement (this modern day tea party that has its roots in 2007 during a Ron Paul money bomb).

    But getting back to Bachmann....

    -Bachman voted for almost unlimited Presidential war powers: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/7648-houses-amash-seeks-limits-on-presidential-war-making

    -Bachmann votes against beleagured soldiers: H.R.3159 Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act of 2007

    -Bachman votes for Internet Censorship: H.R.4279 - PRO-IP Act of 2007 and H.R.4061 Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, Sponsored by John Conyers, (D-MI) http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/258311

    -Bachmann votes NO on H.R.5486 Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010:

    -Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008: Bachman voted FOR Bigger Government and new property seizing powers via S.3325 - The sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Learn more: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/stop-revised-riaa-ip-enforcement-bill-s3325

    -H.Con.Res.28 Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan (Accelerating Afghanistan withdrawal). Bachmann, no.

    -Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 - Expands the types of whistleblower disclosures protected from personnel reprisals to include disclosures without restriction as to time, place, form, motive, context, forum, or prior disclosures made to any person by an employee or applicant for employment, including a disclosure made in the ordinary course of an employee's duties, that the employee or applicant reasonably believes is a violation of any law. Backman voted no.

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  42. -H.R.4 Part D Medicare Drugs Price Negotiation: Bachman, no.

    -H.R.1404 Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act. Bachmann votes yes.

    -Ten percent across-the-board cut to the Department of Homeland Security's budget: Rokita of IN Amendment 1 to H R 2017, requires a (except for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The underlying bill reduces DHS spending only to FY 2009 levels. It failed 110-312. Bachmann voted NO!

    -Prohibit TSA from using full-body image scanners as "mandatory or primary" screening devices: Look what Bachmann and West just voted against: Amash/Chaffetz Amendment 2 to H R 207, which prohibits TSA from using full-body image scanners as "mandatory or primary" screening devices. In other words, they can be used only as an option during secondary screening. The amendment failed 123-300. No radiation liberty for Tea Partiers!http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll400.xml

    -College Student Relief Act of 2007 - phases-in cuts in the interest rate charged undergraduate student borrowers under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs, thereby reducing such rate from 6.8% in July 2006 to 3.4% in July 2011. Limits FFEL lender insurance to 95%of the unpaid balance of such loans. Bachmann voted no

    -Bachmann votes for government interference and for increased spending. SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act - Title I: Modernizing the SBIR and STTR Programs - Amends the Small Business Act to extend through FY2010 (currently scheduled to expire at the end of FY2008) the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Increases, for both the SBIR and STTR programs, the individual small business award levels from: (1) $100,000 to $300,000, for participation at a Phase One level; and (2) $750,000 to $2.2 million, for participation at a Phase Two level. Allows participating federal agencies (agencies) to exceed such award levels if such agencies notify, and provide annual reports concerning such increase to, the congressional small business committees. Bachman votes for college scholarship bills H.R.362 and H.R. 363: while America is broke borrowing from China.

    -H.R.1255 Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011: Bachmann, yes.

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  43. Ema,
    "Warren has gone to work."

    As what, an English to TeaBagger translator?


    No. He's involved in work that keeps the food coming to the market where you shop and others services on which you depend -- including your Internet access.

    Just to keep you from jumping to simplistic conclusions -- no, he's not a truck driver.

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  44. FJ,
    ...it's just a shame they don't make Teabagger to Idiot translators.

    Isn't it, though?

    ReplyDelete
  45. I think the statement is inaccurate. Slave families were often broken apart … a tragedy of the first order. However, the author attempted to illustrate that single parents head most black families. It is a problem deserving of national attention since the great northward migration of blacks in the post-bellum Era.

    We have ignored this problem for far too long, but we as a nation do not know how to fix a problem when those directly involved have no interest in breaking the bonds of economic servitude. Charlatans such as Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson could have addressed these issues in an effective way, but they opted for another path: making millions from the myth of white oppression.

    I am personally not at all surprised to see that Ducky, being a racist, thinks that everything is fine, as it is —which is why he is attempting to change the narrative. He could also be a dope and a douchebag, but that does not exclude being a racist and a dope and a douchebag concurrently. He is a multi-talented communist slime ball.

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  46. AOW! I come a bit late to the party to find you've a new troll lurking!

    I see Emma likes to use that nasty 'bagger' insult. Aren't leftists SO intellectual and well-spoken?

    Heh.

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  47. The data upon which the "pledge" was initially based...

    For example, in 1880 and 1910 about 56.3 percent of Black and 66.9 percent of White households were nuclear households, about 23.5 percent of Black and 19.7 percent of White households were extended family households, and 20.3 percent of Black and 13.4 percent of White households were fragmented or “broken” homes.11

    11. Ruggles (1994). It should be noted that the “extended family” category includes married-couple households with coresiding kin, grandchildren, etc. Thus, there were more married-couple families than those represented in the “nuclear households” category. Data from another study show that marriage rates increased among
    Blacks and decreased among Whites in Philadelphia after slavery, and were relatively similar in 1880 and
    1890; Haines (1996).

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  48. Based upon the data provided by black scholars above, the pledge statement, "Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President..." is MOST LIKELY true. Why?

    Only 30% of blacks were married in 2010, and that in 1880, over 56% of blacks were married.

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  49. Please excuse me Ema, I mistook your stupidity for ignorance.

    Your reference to FDR cleared that point right up.

    Yes FDR was a "great" man that said and did a lot of things similar to what other "great" men have said and done. For instance, FDR said: “Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” And Marx said: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need".

    Joseph Stalin rounded up his own citizens, confiscated their property and sent them to the Gulags. FDR rounded up Japanese Americans confiscated their property and sent them to concentration camps.

    Castro turned a veritable paradise into a hell hole and without a doubt FDR, given the chance would have turned America into the hell hole but the poor bastard up and died! But I'm sure President O'Jughead isgoing to give it the old college try. (In the last case, no doubt, FDR has been a guiding light to both Castro and the President.)

    Now, back to you, I see your trying to change the subject But I'm not going to let you.

    English is definitely my first language, are you suffering a touch of aphasia? I can make allowances and explain myself in a way a developmentally disabled person, or even you, can understand. I may be a little overconfident, I mean that I sure as hell wouldn't want to diagram this sentence: "Is this the reason _you_ are having so much trouble focusing on is actually expressed (and not what you think others are saying)?"

    Think of me as an English to idiot translator.

    Now apologize to me for your gratuitous insult or any other comments you make will be deleted as soon as I become aware of them.
    You see Ema, I'm an administrator of this blog.

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  50. Brooke,
    Yes, quite the party going on here.

    Typical doings for the run-up to the election: things do get heated. I noted this trend in 2007.

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  51. Warren,
    Take if from me, The Grammar Police, the sentence you cited from Ema cannot be diagrammed!

    And what kind of name is "Ema"? Shouldn't that be "Emma"?

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  52. Typo alert: "Take if" should read "Take it." Not enough coffee yet, I guess.

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  53. Maybe it didn't know how to spell Enema?

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  54. The differenc eis that anything a Republican says is immediately hearded as proof of their inadaquacy to be President. The liberals even have people following republican candidates around waiting for gaffas. Meanwhile Democrats can say and do any stupid thing and the media just turns a blind eye.

    The snetence should have read that government welfare programs have done more damage to the black family unit than slavery. Both are an abomination and a tragedy in American history.

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  55. Blogginator,
    The liberals even have people following republican candidates around waiting for gaffas.

    I need to get my post entitled "Democrats Commit Bloopers" queued up.

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  56. Yikes! I got into this conversation a bit late in the game.

    I did a little research on the group The Family Leader, and I honestly believe they only want to protect families and by protecting DOMA it can happen.

    I was quite surprised that so many Republican candidates did not sign this pledge. When so many of them have been vocal about traditional values?

    Good on Michelle and Rick Santorum.

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  57. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  58. Ema,
    Warren will be home soon.

    I'll be sure that he sees your comment.

    It takes great willpower for me not to delete you myself.

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  59. Leticia,
    Oh, you're not so late. The thread is still active.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Enema, or should I just call you squirt?

    This may come as a shock to you but this isn't your blog. You come in here with a superior attitude and pick a fight with an administrator. When you get your ass kicked you start crying about being bullied.

    Funny thing, I don't feel a damned bit sorry. Post your PayPal name and I'll send you a dime, you can call someone that cares. [sarc] I'll miss your witty rejoinders and droll sense of humor. [/sarc]

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  61. I guess I'm too right-wing for the "Tea Party" because as long as Michelle Bachmann is affiliated with a group that champions left-wingers like Ron Paul and Donald Trump, I'm having trouble imagining a scenario where it would not be absurd to consider her a serious candidate.

    I see the Tea Party as being comprised of mostly Democrat voters from the KKK wing of the Democratic Party who went full-blown disgruntled when Obama actually won the Presidency. 70% of them want no changes to Medicare whatsoever. Many of them rail against CEO pay bonuses and seek higher taxes on "the rich." Look at Paul Ryan's capitulations to try to "save Medicare" for them. This is a "conservative" movement? Not on my planet.

    If Barack Obama were white, there would be no Tea Party movement. I resisted making that assessment, but given the socialist leanings and prior Democrat Party affiliations of most Tea Party members, and the absolute goofy left-wing twits they've rallied around (Ron Paul of leftist foriegn policy, Donald Trump of leftist domestic policy...) I can't get away from that conclusion.

    Most people who claim to be conservative don't know what conservatism is. And that's sad.

    As I've said eleswhere, I don't attend Tea Party functions because socialists (national and international) make me sick to my stomach.

    I think conservatism can defeat Obama without help from disgruntled Democrats who can't accept they're getting precisely what they want from a black man.

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  62. I'm not saying the Tea Party is full of racists. My criticism is worse than that. The Tea Party is full of left-wing Democrats jacked up on populism.

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  63. Beamish,
    I see the Tea Party as being comprised of mostly Democrat voters from the KKK wing of the Democratic Party who went full-blown disgruntled when Obama actually won the Presidency.

    Not the TMPers whom I personally know. In fact, just the opposite is true for the ones whom I personally know.

    But how many do I personally know? Only a very few.

    I was interested in the TPM at first. In fact, Mr. AOW and I marched in the streets (Our very first time to do so!) in September 2009, just a few days before Mr. AOW had the brain hemorrhage. After that, neither of us have had the inclination nor the time to pursue any such activism.

    And I'll also say this: I had zero idea that Glenn Beck had promoted the TPM. When I heard so as the mob of us marchers gathered on Capitol Hill, I was stunned -- particularly by how so many people around me gushed about Glenn Beck.

    That same day, I didn't see much about Ron Paul and certainly nothing about the KKK, but I did see a John Bircher handing out literature.

    Unfortunately, Mr. AOW and I contributed loads of money to Medicare and Social Security -- not by choice, of course -- to the point that we couldn't fund our own retirement once our income dropped off due to Mr. AOW's brain surgery in 1993.

    In a few months, Mr. AOW will be forced into Medicare for the disabled. Again, we have no choice in that matter. The Medigap insurance will run at least $700/month, just for Mr. AOW, until he reaches age 65 in 2014; at that point, Medigap insurance drops to about $150/month.

    You full well know my gripes about the health-insurance industry. But if Mr. AOW and I don't have health insurance, both of will go bankrupt when the medical facilities seize everything we have for medical bills, thus forcing both of us into welfare.

    Including our employers, Mr. AOW and I have paid in well over $1 million in health-insurance premiums over the past four decades. Government and union workers, of course, have never paid in like that.
    A mess if there ever was one!

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  64. One of the many problems I have with the Tea Party is that they bill themselves as "conservative" then back Ron Paul and Donald Trump.

    It's much like saying you hate Italian food but want spaghetti every day.

    Adding Glenn Beck to mix merely affirms that the sole purpose of the Tea Party "movement" is to discredit conservatism in favor of UFO hunting neo-fascists.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Beamish,
    People aren't as much interested in ideas as they used to be. Politics has become all about sales and marketing -- and perceptions.

    For years, I've been screaming, "Educate the electorate!" Well, it seems that the electorate doesn't want to take the time to learn anything. The vast majority of voters seems to be casting their ballots based on their feelings about a particular candidate -- or based on their feelings about an incumbent or a politician who was leaving anyway (GWB).

    In fact, we voters have been forced into the position of voting against rather than for.

    In my view, the outcome of the 2012 election will hinge on something very disturbing: "Can I, the voter, cast my ballot against a black man? I mustn't be a racist!"

    Furthermore, we have become a nation of the cult of personality.

    The Information Age has warped our brains as a society -- and downgraded our thinking processes.

    As for the TPM, I believe that the vast majority (within and without) see it as conservative. Actually, the TPM operates on sound and sight bytes.

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  66. Cut back on the caffeine, Beamish.

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  67. AOW,

    Actually, the TPM operates on sound and sight bytes.

    Bingo.

    Warren,

    Cut back on the caffeine, Beamish.

    What must I drink to believe those seeking to "save" entitlement programs and fund them with increasing taxation are "conservative?" Godfather's Pizza sauce? Kool-Aid?

    ReplyDelete
  68. Beamish,
    Whom would you support as the GOP candidate for 2012?

    ReplyDelete
  69. Beamish, why don't you support a candidate and convince people its the right choice.

    I held my nose and voted for John McCain the last time, (and so did you,) but you blasted the wheels off of anyone that suggested he wasn't the right choice. Guess what, they were right and McCain was a terrible candidate. He came off as a self- serving fool, (which he was) and President jughead rolled McCain when McCain suspended his campaign to 'save us from the debt crisis', (rolling eyes.)

    So who's the "Conservative"?

    Better yet, define Conservative, cuz, because I don't know if I fit in. Do I just need to drink a big cup of STFU?

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  70. It's too bad the phrase was used in the statement as it was an obvious PR nightmare. However, the contention is basically correct - "a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President..." It would have been more accurate to say "...after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the institution of LBJ's Great Society." It's becoming more widely accepted that government welfare programs destroyed the Black family which been up til that time more stable than White families.

    It's ironic that a N. Carolina study shows Black men are half as likely to die at any given time if they're in prison than if they aren't, suggests a new study of North Carolina inmates. The reasons for that do not hold for White men.

    An interesting thing happened when I googled the the study. I requested, "black men safer in prison" and Google asked me "Do you mean - black men suffer in prison." Google bias?

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  71. AOW,

    Whom would you support as the GOP candidate for 2012?

    If I had to vote for one of the declared candidates today, at the moment, I'd be on Tim Pawlenty's wagon. I wish we could have another try at Duncan Hunter.

    Warren,

    I held my nose and voted for John McCain the last time, (and so did you,) but you blasted the wheels off of anyone that suggested he wasn't the right choice. Guess what, they were right and McCain was a terrible candidate. He came off as a self- serving fool, (which he was) and President jughead rolled McCain when McCain suspended his campaign to 'save us from the debt crisis', (rolling eyes.)

    There wasn't much nose-holding for me for McCain, I supported him over Bush in the primaries of 2000, Bush being the typical Texas governor that'll sign into law just about anything presented to him with a Republican dominated Congress was safe against what might have happened if Gore won. As far as McCain's conservatism is concerned, as I said then in 2008 his record scores him a B+, which was much better that Romney and Huckabee, and much better than Obama's F in conservatism.

    For all the invective slung at McCain, the Tea Party sure has glommed on to the VP running mate pick of a "RINO."

    ...and Ron Paul, of the trailer park Fourth Reich

    ...and Donald Trump, of limosuine liberalism

    ...and Herman Cain, of populism by the slice

    I'm not apt to mistake the Tea Party movement for a conservative movement anymore than I would mistake Helen Thomas or Cindy Sheehan for Zionists, or mistake dog shit for a porterthouse steak.

    Better yet, define Conservative, cuz, because I don't know if I fit in.

    Do you want to end social entitlement spending and programs and replace them with nothing from or controlled by the government, or are you a Communist?

    A conservative hangs his hat on reason, not ideology.

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  72. ...and when the hat no longer hangs where we put it, THAT is when we become unreasonable!

    ReplyDelete

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