Defending Confederate monuments while shouting the "N" word, must be the South.

White supremacists in New Orleans right now protecting Confederate monuments & calling Black people n**gers (while being protected by cops) pic.twitter.com/G38IXkbPxP

— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) May 8, 2017

It is always a challenge to try and defend a racist symbol by being incredibly racist, but these guys seem to be pulling it off.

The Southern Redneck assures us there will be no Southern Brexit.

I love this guy.

Republicans have introduced nearly 400 anti-choice bills in 2015. But remember, there is no war on women.

Courtesy of The Nation:  

State lawmakers introduced nearly 400 such bills in 2015, 47 of which passed, according to a report released this week by the Center for Reproductive Rights. 

The new laws are concentrated in Southern states, where many abortion providers have already been forced to close. At least 20 bills were introduced in response to undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, which purport to show Planned Parenthood engaging in illegal sales of fetal tissue—claims that have not be verified by any of the numerous investigations launched since. At least a dozen states tried to defund Planned Parenthood. Others tried to ban fetal tissue research completely, or to impose costly new regulations about medical waste disposal. 

Arkansas legislators earned a dubious distinction for being most rabidly anti-abortion. The state enacted more restrictive laws than any other, including a Planned Parenthood defunding measure. Arkansas also passed a bill that forces women to wait 48 hours between an initial consultation and an abortion procedure, and requires doctors to tell patients that medication abortion can be “reversed,” an assertion that isn’t supported by scientific evidence. North Carolina and Oklahoma increased their mandatory waiting periods to a full 72 hours, joining three other states with the country’s longest forced wait between state-mandated counseling and an abortion procedure. 

Kansas and Oklahoma pioneered a new tactic for limiting the window in which abortion is legal, passing laws that criminalize doctors who perform a technique known as “D and E,” which is commonly used to end a pregnancy in the second trimester. The Center for Reproductive Rights calls it the “safest, most effective, and most commonly used” procedure in the second trimester. It’s also the only one doctors use after 14 weeks of pregnancy, and so the ban could effectively make all abortions after that point illegal. Legislators in West Virginia, where only two health clinics provide abortions, overrode the governor’s veto to criminalize abortion after 20 weeks. Wisconsin also passed a 20-week ban. 

Texas managed to put up more red tape for women seeking abortion care: an “abortion ID” law, which requires women to provide “proof of identity and age” to verify that they are not a minor. The measure “could serve as a backdoor ban on undocumented women and low-income women,” the Center for Reproductive Rights wrote, because they are more likely than others to lack the necessary identification.

A number of the legislators who introduced these bills were Tea Party members who swore to their supporters that they were not interested in social issues and instead were focused on lowering taxes and reducing the size of government.

But the truth is that these conservative Republicans are NEVER going to stop attacking a woman's right to choose, and will continue chipping away at the Roe vs Wade decision until either they manage to get repealed or until people stop electing them.

Anybody who thinks any differently has simply not been paying attention.

And as a result I am sure we will see more cases like the Tennessee woman who recently tried to perform her own abortion with a coat hanger. 

But don't worry, now she's in jail for it. Which I'm sure is exactly how the Republicans want it.

Historian and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns explains what was behind the Civil War: "They do not mention states’ rights. They mention slavery, slavery, slavery."

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

But Burns recommended that Americans read South Carolina’s Articles of Secession to get the real story on why the states went to war against each other. “[T]hey do not mention states’ rights. They mention slavery, slavery, slavery,” he pointed out. “And that we have to remember. It is much more complicated than that, but essentially the reason why we murdered each other — more than 2 percent of our population, 750,000 Americans died; that’s more than all the wars from the Revolution through Afghanistan combined — was over essentially the issue of slavery.” 

According to Burns, the racism running through the DNA of America was still present in modern day politics. 

“The main American theme, I think, is freedom,” he noted. “But we also notice that race is always there. Always there. When Thomas Jefferson says all men are created equal, he owns a couple hundred human beings and he doesn’t see the contradiction or the hypocrisy and doesn’t free anybody in his lifetime and sets in motion an American narrative that is bedeviled by a question of race.” 

“And we struggle with it. We try to ignore it. We pretend, with the election of Barack Obama, that we’re in some post-racial society,” he continued. “And what we have seen is a kind of reaction to this. The birther movement, of which Donald Trump is one of the authors of, is another politer way of saying the N word. It’s just more sophisticated and a little bit more clever. He’s ‘other,’ he’s different.” 

“What’s actually ‘other’ and different about him? It turns out it’s the same old thing. It’s the color of his skin.”

So now we have Burns joining Colonel Ty Seidule, Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point, in explaining to the mouth breathers that yes their ancestors took up arms against their own country for the sole purpose of hanging onto the right to continue owning human beings.

And that inherent racism is still a part of this country's DNA and continues to pop up here and there especially during speeches given by the living embodiments of their hatred like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.

Supreme Court decision on gay marriage is giving Southern states a chronic case of the sads. Update!

Courtesy of TPM:  

An all-Republican county commission in Missouri voted unanimously Monday to observe a full calendar year of “mourning” after the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision, a protest that will include lowering flags to mark the somber occasion. 

Flags at the Dent County Courthouse and Judicial Building will now fly at “below half-staff” on the 26th day of every month from July 2015 until July 2016, the Salem News reported, to mark the day SCOTUS handed down the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. 

Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles filed a letter into the record ahead of the vote staking his opposition to “the U.S. high court’s [sic] stamp of approval of what God speaks of as an abomination.” 

Skiles also wrote that “all who see these flags at this lowered position be reminded of this despicable Supreme Court travesty” as reason enough to approve the plan.

Aww, don't you just hate it when the highest court in the land refuses to rule on the side of your religiously inspired intolerance?

Of course you have to know that gay couples all over the state will show up to have their pictures taken with the lowered flags in July of each year and then send copies to their friends saying, "Yep still pissing off the locals with our love."

And Missouri is not the only Southern state who is a little pissy about the ruling.

A judge in Texas has decided to go ahead and marry same sex couples, but he wants it on the record that he is doing it under duress.

Courtesy of WFAA: 

Judge James DePiazza, justice of the peace for Precinct 2, has performed more than 2,000 wedding ceremonies. Before he marries any future couples, they will be required to sign an agreement that has been revised since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June. 

Prior to the landmark decision, the form congratulated couples on their upcoming wedding, and laid out guidelines on punctuality, fees, marriage license requirements, and had places for the bride and groom to sign. 

A new form posted to the court's website Thursday highlights the judge's position on same-sex marriage, saying he prefers to "NOT conduct same-sex ceremonies, but will not decline anyone who chooses to schedule with him." 

The form also removes references to congratulations and bans photography during the ceremony, but offers access to the courtroom after.

Oh what a guy! Kind of like saying "Welcome to the happiest day of your life and oh how I wish I didn't have to play any part in it."

If I were getting gay married in Texas I would TOTALLY choose this guy to perform the ceremony just so I could get one of those forms.

Update: Well it looks as if Missouri will NOT be using the flags to demonstrate their irritation at the SCOTUS decision. This from HuffPo:   

Leaders in Dent County, Missouri, are no longer planning to lower flags at the county courthouse to “mourn” the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage, thanks to an overwhelming backlash from county residents.

Damn things are happening so fast these days that you can barely get a blog post out about it before it before it is already outdated.

Well good for the citizens of Missouri!

If the whole country is moving to put racism behind them, you just know that Florida is going to go the opposite direction.

Courtesy of the Ocala Star Banner:  

An estimated 2,000 vehicles, mostly motorcycles and trucks adorned with Rebel flags, took part in a rally and ride Sunday afternoon in support of keeping a Confederate flag flying in front of the McPherson Governmental Complex in Ocala. 

The event was organized by David Stone, of Ocala, and was called the Florida Southern Pride Ride. Police officials estimated participation at a couple thousand vehicles. 

The ride started at about 1 p.m. and, as of 1:30 p.m., could be seen winding its way through Ocala. 

Participants were wearing shirts that said "heritage not hate" and talked of defending a way of life rooted in Southern traditions. 

Danny Hart, of Dunnellon, had two Confederate flags and the American flag in the back of his truck. He pointed out that the U.S. flag was flying higher and said that he had come to participate in the ride to "defend freedom." 

Another ride participant, Rick Hart, said, "It's a history thing. The flag is also a military flag. It's not a race symbol."

Yeah except that it is a race symbol. Just like the Nazi flag is a symbol of antisemitism.

Which is why groups like the KKK fly them both. 

So here we have both Alabama and South Carolina taking the Confederate battle flag off of the state Capitol grounds, and Mississippi poised to vote to change their flag entirely, yet in Florida there is a rally 2,000 strong of supporters who are just like, "Fuck it, we're racist and not afraid to let EVERYBODY know it!"

When your flag is too racist for Alabama and NASCAR, you know it's pretty damn racist.

Courtesy the HuffPo:  

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) ordered the removal of four Confederate-era flags from the grounds of the state Capitol Wednesday morning, saying it was simply "the right thing to do." 

The flags were part of a confederate memorial at the Capitol in Montgomery. Two state workers came out Wednesday morning and "with no fanfare quickly and quietly" took down the first of the four, the battle flag, according to AL.com. 

About 90 minutes later, workers came out and removed the three other Confederate flags that were part of the memorial.

I know right?

But if you think that is amazing, and it is amazing, get a load of this:  

"As we continue to mourn the tragic loss of life last week in Charleston, we join our nation's embrace of those impacted. NASCAR supports the position that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took on the Confederate Flag on Monday. As our industry works collectively to ensure that all fans are welcome at our races, NASCAR will continue our long-standing policy to disallow the use of the Confederate Flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity. While NASCAR recognizes that freedom of expression is an inherent right of all citizens, we will continue to strive for an inclusive environment at our events." 

That is an official statement from NASCAR. Freaking NASCAR!

And that is after South Carolina's Governor Haley called for the flag's removal, Wal-Mart removed them from store shelves, and Mississippi lawmakers started the process to have it taken off of their state flag.

I swear it's like black is white, and up is down.

But you know in a good way.

Mississippi Republican lawmaker proposes removing confederate battle emblem from state flag and Wal-Mart removes Confederate flags from store shelves.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

A top Mississippi lawmaker says the Confederate battle emblem is offensive and needs to be removed from the state flag. 

Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday that remembering our past is important, "but that does not mean we must let it define us."

And remember this is a top REPUBLICAN calling for this change. 

And now there is news that Wal-Mart is jumping on the bandwagon:  

Wal-Mart said Monday it is removing any items from its store shelves and website that feature the Confederate flag. In a statement, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said its goal is to not offend anyone with the products it offers. "We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the Confederate flag from our assortment — whether in our stores or on our website," the company said. "We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly — this is one of those instances."

You know it is not often that I want to be wrong about things, but I  have to admit that when I first started to cover this Confederate flag story I was skeptical that these stubborn southern folks would be willing to change.

But with Nikki Haley calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, and the two changes listed above, it looks like there is a real push by many to move past their historic racist past.

Well if I have to be wrong about something, this is exactly the kind of something that I want to be wrong about.

Ever wonder why people in the deep South seem to have a different perspective on history than those in other parts of the country? Well this textbook might help to explain that.

Courtesy of AL.com: 

The men and women of Alabama – from the Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers like me – learned Alabama history from the famous old textbook "Know Alabama." 

It should be called "No Wonder, Alabama." 

It explains a lot. Fourth graders until the '70s learned how living on a plantation was "one of the happiest ways of life." Just imagine yourself, the 1957 edition says, on your family plantation: 

"How's it coming Sam," your father asks one of the old Negroes. 

"'Fine, Marse Tom, 'jes fine. We got 'most more cotton than we can pick.' Then Sam chuckles to himself and goes back to picking as fast as he can. 

"One of the little Negro boys is called 'Jig' He got that name because he dances so well when the Negroes play their banjos.

The book goes on to describe "Jig" volunteering to be an Indian so he can play with the little white boys and allowing himself to be captured.

After which I imagine the other boys took his land and infected him with smallpox.

And yes, THAT is in an actual textbook.

Here is how the textbook deals with the Civil War, which they call the "War Between the States": 

"The Southerners had a right under the law to own slaves, and the Southern states had a right under the law to leave the United States. Many Southerners did not want to leave the Union. But when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the South felt that they had to leave the Union to keep their rights."

Those poor patriotic, hard working, southern plantation owners.  Imagine being forced to declare war on your fellow countrymen just so that you could continue keeping human beings as property, like your daddy's daddy did.

And what about the Klu Klux Klan?  

"The loyal white men of Alabama saw they could not depend on the laws or the state government to protect their families. (Does this sounds suspiciously like the Tea Party of today to anybody else?)

They knew they had to do something to bring back law and order, to get the government back in the hands of honest men who knew how to run it. "They (the Klan) held their courts in the dark forests at night; they passed sentence on the criminals and they carried out the sentence. Sometimes the sentence would be to leave the state. 

"After a while the Klan struck fear in the hearts of the "carpetbaggers" and other lawless men who had taken control of the state.... The Negroes who had been fooled by the false promises of the "carpetbaggers" decided to get themselves jobs and settle down to make an honest living. 

"Many of the Negroes in the South remained loyal to the white Southerners. Even though they had lately been freed from slavery, even though they had no education, they knew who their friends were."

Well clearly the folks in those white robes were the friends of the Negroes. That's why they kept inviting them to bonfires and allowed them to "hang around" during cross burnings.

The reporter goes on to say that in the version of this book published in 1970, Martin Luther King Jr. only received one mention and that was to inform the child that he was dead.

Damn I have to say that I found this article pretty enlightening, and not just a little disturbing.

And the real problem is that those politicians who were educated by textbooks like this and others, are working hard to make sure that the children of today leave school just as ignorant  as they were when THEY graduated.

Or as reporter John Archibald puts it:

Education is not a priority in Alabama, and it never has been. The No. 1 priority is and always has been indoctrination.

And you know that if this is what was used to teach Alabama children, that similar "educational" materials were also used to teach impressionable children in every other public school below the Dixie Line. 

Certainly explains a lot. Yes it does.

I don't usually promote videos from rednecks, but when I do it's because they are speaking out against racism.

Courtesy of Addicting Info:  

Dixon D. White, who describes himself as “a simple southern guy, who was raised in a small country town in the south,” posted a video rant on YouTube, which he titled ‘I’m a redneck and I love America.’ It’s not the video’s title that gained the attention of the internet, however; it’s the subject of White’s rant – racism. 

If you were to judge the video just from the title, you’d probably never watch it. When we think of America-loving rednecks, we’ve seen enough videos from confederate flag waving, NRA supporting, card carrying KKK members, who upload YouTube videos complaining about how poor white people, like themselves, are the real victims in racist America. But don’t judge White’s video by the title alone. 

The content is hard-hitting, and surprisingly honest. So honest, that it may even make you cry.

Well talk about not judging a book by its cover.

By the way this gentleman has quite a few provocative videos posted that are well worth your attention. 

New study finds that the KKK facilitated the move of Southern white voters from the Democratic party to the Republican party. I wish I could be more surprised by this.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The Ku Klux Klan played an active and enduring role in steering southern white voters away from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, according to a new study. 

The white supremacist group resurged to prominence in the 1960s as a reaction to the civil rights movement, and its violent extremism inflamed racial division and polarized communities for generations, according to the study published by the American Sociological Review. 

“It encouraged white voters to prioritize the defense of white supremacy when making voting decisions, upending long-standing Democratic Party allegiances,” wrote the study’s authors. 

The researchers — David Cunningham, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at Brandeis University, Rory McVeigh of the University of Notre Dame and Justin Farrell of Yale University — studied county voting records in 10 southern states where the KKK actively recruited members in the 1960s. 

Analysis of voting outcomes of five presidential elections between 1960 and 2000 showed a statistically significant increase in GOP voting compared to counties with no established KKK chapter, even after filtering out a range of other factors that could influence voting preferences. 

The study found that counties with a Klan chapter were much more likely to back those two candidates, and adjacent counties without an active KKK chapter of their own were also more likely to support Goldwater and Wallace. 

“The Klan played an active role in encouraging white southerners to prioritize white supremacy over party loyalty,” wrote the study’s authors. 

KKK leaders urged southerners to “form a voting bloc to defeat any n*gger-loving politician that runs for office,” and the group evaluated and supported candidates based on their “authentic whiteness” rather than party ties.

And we wonder why the Republican party seems so racist.

Former Republican Senator, Jim Demint, does not believe the federal government had any role in ending slavery. History books, who needs them?

Jim Demint, embracing his ignorance.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

 Jim DeMint, the former Republican senator from South Carolina, told a religious broadcaster last week that liberals were fundamentally wrong about everything – even demonstrable historical facts. 

“No liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves,” DeMint said during an appearance on Vocal Point. 

In fact, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the rebellious Confederate States of America, and Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery originally permitted by the founding document. 

These federal government policies were enacted during and after federal troops fought and won the Civil War, which began in DeMint’s home state. 

“The reason that the slaves were eventually freed was the Constitution, it was like the conscience of the American people,” DeMint told host Jerry Newcombe, of Truth In Action Ministries. “Unfortunately there were some court decisions like Dred Scott and others that defined some people as property, but the Constitution kept calling us back to ‘all men are created equal and we have inalienable rights’ in the minds of God.” 

DeMint insisted the end of slavery was the result of a grass-roots movement driven by Christians.

I believe the grass roots Christian movement was typically referred to as the Rebel Army, and it was not exactly working to so much end slavery, as to fight against anybody who wanted to take the human beings they owned away from them.

Interesting that the guy born in the state that started the Civil War is now arguing that it was unnecessary.  It's almost as if he is in denial as to what crimes were committed by his people.

As for that whole Christian grass roots movement, well there WAS one, but it was not exactly how Demint is describing it.

This from Civil War Baptists:

In the South, meanwhile, many white Baptist leaders in the pre-war years defended slavery as ordained and blessed of God. Legally established as an explicitly slaveholding nation claiming God’s favor and guidance constitutionally (contrary to the secular constitution of the United States), the Confederate States of America from the beginning officially wrapped itself in the mantle of God’s chosen nation and people. The official motto of the CSA – Deo Vindice, translated “Under God, Our Vindicator” or “With God as [our] Champion” – reinforced the nation’s Christian identity.

Revisionist history, the only kind they teach in the South.

Once Governor of the most northern state on the continent Sarah Palin wraps herself in the rebel flag and rides to defend the South. From political pundits.

If Palin could have gotten away with pandering to the Southern voters in this garb, you know she would have.

Over the weekend there was some minor controversy, fanned by certain RIght Wing blogs, concerning remarks made by Kathleen Parker on Meet the Press in response to an anti-Obamacare commercial: 

Kathleen Parker quite visibly cringed at the AFP's newest anti-Obamacare ad, not because it was full of crap and propaganda. No, she didn't like the fact that the "Obamacare sufferer" depicted had a Southern accent: 

"And by the way, I think you could find someone who doesn't have a southern accent who is confused by this act. (CHUCKLE) Because we always seem to find a character who seems a little country-fied, who can't just fathom. You know, there are plenty of smart, sophisticated people, who are equally hazy about what is really going on."

Now Parker's comments were not very well thought out since the ad that she was referring to was playing in Arkansas.  I am not sure how else she would expect them to speak if not with a thick southern accent.

However, though I am by no means a fan of her writing, I took her meaning to be, that the majority of these anti-Obama ads feature people with a southern twang and she was trying to say that there were people in the North who were concerned about the law as well.

In other words she saw this as feeding into a stereotype that she thought was unfair to those living in the South.

Sure it was clunky, and her description not terribly sensitive, but she DOES kind of have a point.

However that point was completely lost on a certain intellectually challenged Alaskan version of white trash, and she took to Facebook, so that her ghostwriter could assist her in letting the world know that she panders to the southern demographic as well:

These people are nuts, albeit entertaining nuts… Ah... this nice Sunday afternoon has been groovin' along so enjoyably, and then – BAM – I see some articles that leave no doubt about how out of touch our self-proclaimed "elite leaders" and opinion makers really are. These people are nuts! Just reading these headlines makes you ask, "Really?!" The jokes on them, though, because they've just added to the entertaining, shake-your-head/almost-feel-sorry-for-them reports that we "average" Americans use as examples of their condescension. These are the "leaders" who look at the crowd behind them and assume they're leading the parade, when really the growing crowd is chasing them out of town. So, check these out and let me know what YOU'VE found that adds to the list! 

First, here’s the video of one celebrated member of the elite D.C. chattering class suggesting that people with Southern accents aren’t “smart” or “sophisticated.” Are Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and James Carville exempt from this blanket denigration of Southern intelligence, or was this comment only directed at conservatives with Southern accents? (Poor gal, that Ms. Parker, not knowing the Southern roots of many Founding Fathers who wrote the exceptional, providential Constitution for her to enjoy today.)

Isn't is nice that she even dropped one of her "g's" in this condescending piece of moosepoop in order to show solidarity with her Southern brothers and sisters?

The second part of the Facebook post attacks the amount spent on Obama's trip to Brussels, because now that we have a black man in the White House suddenly we all need to be shocked at that kind of thing.

Saturday's "Moral March" in Raleigh, N.C. against GOP policies attracts thousands.

 Courtesy of the Washington Times:  

Following a year marked by hundreds of arrests and national publicity but few policy victories, leaders of the movement opposing the Republican agenda in North Carolina vowed Saturday to keep fighting and to speak clearly at the ballot box in 2014. 

Thousands of people angry with GOP policies approved in 2013 were energized while attending the “Moral March on Raleigh,” the largest gathering of its kind since weekly Monday protests began last spring at the Legislative Building. 

“We return to Raleigh with a renewed strength and a renewed sense of urgency,” the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP shouted to a packed crowd that extended at least three blocks along Fayetteville Street south from the old Capitol building. “This Moral March inaugurates a fresh year of grassroots empowerment, voter education, litigation and nonviolent direct action.” 

Event organizers said people from more than 30 states planned to attend the rally, a reflection of the spread of the “Moral Monday” protests to nearby Southern states. It was a diverse group of rally participants who chanted, sang and danced at the end, waving placards on topics ranging from campaign finance and education funding to gay rights and abortion rights. 

“Someone can say, ‘what can one man or one woman do?” asked Kirkland Carden, 25, a Georgia State University student who traveled with Planned Parenthood organizers to participate. “But when everybody comes here, you get waves like this.” 

These marches have been going on for the last seven years or so, but now they are growing in number, and Saturday's was the biggest thus far. 

There is a lot to like about this movement.

It is an indication that the progressives in red states are fed up and not going to take it anymore, which is good news for all of us.

It is also an indication that despite the lack of news coverage, until recently that is, they have no intention of giving up.

But my favorite thing about the movement is that they are taking back ownership of the word "moral."

No longer will those on the Right be able to claim moral superiority (Which of course they never really had.) over those of a different political persuasion.

In fact, considering the policies they have passed to oppress women, the LGBT community, and minorities, I think a strong case can be made that just the opposite is true.

Inside a "science" classroom in the Bible Belt.

The ignorance in the classroom is mind numbing.

"We didn't like evolve from anything, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, how can like an African American person evolve from a white person? We're different skin."

This last question indicates how completely this school, and this teacher, have failed the students.

Sarah Palin tweets that the storm which stranded thousands in the south was not so bad if they could be stranded near a Chick-fil-A. You know, because she's a crazy person.

The ONE time I wouldn't mind being stranded...!... http://t.co/ojEy9iSFFm

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) January 29, 2014

Now before I say anything else I do want to give mad props to the Chick-fil-A owner who handed out free sandwiches to the stranded motorists, because that really was a nice thing to do.

However if anybody, and that includes the Wasilla Wendigo, thinks that getting s free sandwich made the entire experience positive, then they are an idiot beyond compare.

Courtesy of ABC News:

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal ordered the National Guard to clear the way for school buses that were carefully delivering schoolchildren back to their homes after thousands of them were marooned overnight. All of them were "home safe and sound" by late Wednesday afternoon, Deal said. After snowfall and ice paralyzed Atlanta, some were left wondering whether the city is destined to quit functioning when bad weather strikes again. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports. 

But National Guard troops were still distributing blankets and 200 cases of military-style MREs, or meals ready to eat, to drivers along Interstate 20. 

Churches, groceries and hardware superstores opened their doors to the stranded. Neighbors took in neighbors and strangers. At least one baby was born in a car, helped by a police officer. 

Aerial pictures made the highways look like parking lots, and there was no indication of when or how the roads would be cleared. Twenty hours into the jam, one trucker, Joe Schmitz, told NBC News that drivers would probably be stuck for a second night. "There are some people who are really kind of scared," he said.

But hey, if they were near a Chick-fil-A it must have been like a party for them out in that storm, right?

What a moron!

I guess this helps to explain why she had no sympathy when villagers from Emmonak and other rural villages were freezing to death and starving back in the winter of 2009.

If only THEY would have had a Chick-fil-A close at hand.

Here's a shocker, the Duck Dynasty guys are homophobic. I know, right? Update!

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly:  

In statements that threaten the A&E reality hit’s wildly popular and uplifting brand of faith, family and hunting, the Robertson patriarch said: “Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong… Sin becomes fine. Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.” Robertson then paraphrased Corinthians from the Bible: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” 

And if that wasn’t explicit enough, the “Duck Commander” added: “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” 

The magazine suggested Robertson’s son Jep endorsed his family’s beliefs: “We’re not quite as outspoken as my dad, but I’m definitely in line. If somebody asks, I tell ’em what the Bible says.”

Well that resulted in GLAAD issuing a condemnation of the statement.

Which of course resulted in A&E forcing Phil Robertson to issue and almost apology, but not quite, like statement:

A&E released this statement from Phil Robertson addressing the controversy: “I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.” Beyond that, A&E had no comment.

Okay here's my question, concerning the potential for A&E losing viewers over this, do ANY gay people even watch Duck Dynasty? 

And here's my second question, did ANYBODY expect these hillbillies to NOT to homophobic? I mean to me it is almost like being shocked that people attending a KKK rally don't care for black people that much.

After all look who these guys hang out with.

Nuff said.

P.S. You can read the entire GQ article here.

Update:  Oops looks like somebody got suspended:

A&E broke its silence on Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson’s anti-gay comments late Wednesday. 

The cable network announced Robertson is off the hit show for the time being.

Hey if  Alec Baldwin has to be let go for comments made in a fit of anger, there is NO way these ZZ Top wannabes are going to get a free pass.

In order to hold onto the Senate Democrats need to hold onto key seats in the South, or earn even more, and that looks increasingly likely as frustration with the Tea Party builds.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast: 

After the 2008 elections, the pundits were certain: the GOP was in danger of being a rump party, one that only had power and influence in the South and a few older, whiter precincts in the Plains and mountain states. 

The cry was heard again in 2012, louder. But as 2014 approaches, a quirk of the calendar has meant that Democrats, forced to defend the majority in the U.S. Senate they have consolidated over the last several election cycles, will need to hold on to a couple of key seats in Dixie, a land where Democrats were supposed to be banished. If they hope to have any kind of cushion against losses elsewhere, Democrats may even need to steal a couple of seats now held by Republicans in the region. 

And they just might do it. 

“The Democratic Party is a lot stronger in the South than many people believe,” said Ronnie Musgrove, governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. “If Democrats start focusing on the South the way they have focused nationally, then you will start to see some big gains here.”

And just to drive that point home, we have this from Bloomberg News:  

Signs of the Republican Party rift between business and the Tea Party are showing up where Democrats most want to see them: in the campaign account of Michelle Nunn, daughter of four-term Georgia Senator Sam Nunn. 

“The vast majority of Americans say they don’t want the government to shut down, they want middle ground,” said John Wieland, founder of John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc., who together with his wife penned checks totaling $10,400 to Nunn’s Democratic U.S. Senate bid. In the 2010 midterms, the Wielands each gave $4,800 to the Republican Senate candidate. With the help of son, Vinson, left, and husband Ron, U. S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn Martin and other volunteers stuff book bags with school supplies for residents of the Georgia Industrial Children's Home on Aug. 7, 2013. Photographer: Beau Cabell/The Telegraph/AP Images 

“Michelle understands that middle ground, and that’s why we wrote the checks,” Wieland said. 

In addition to Wieland, Nunn’s donors include Jim Cox Kennedy, the chairman of Atlanta-based communications company Cox Enterprises Inc., who contributed $2,600 to her candidacy, after giving $30,800 to the Republican National Committee and $5,000 to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. 

She’s also got support from Tom Cousins, former chief executive officer of Cousins Properties Inc. (CUZ) and a developer who helped shape downtown Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s, who has given her $5,200. Cousins donated $50,800 to the RNC and $5,000 to Romney. Both Kennedy and Cousins declined to comment on their donations. 

The financial push-back by the business community against the small-government Tea Party movement extends to Virginia, where Republican businessmen are cutting checks and commercials to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the governor’s race rather than state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican Tea-Party favorite. 

In Arkansas, Democratic Senator Mark Pryor is facing U.S. Representative Tom Cotton, a House Republican who voted against opening the government and a five-year farm bill. Pryor is highlighting both votes to draw donations from the agriculture community and other boardrooms.

At this point I think I will characterize my mood as cautiously optimistic. However as much as I think the political curve is going to continue to bend toward the Democrats, I am also aware that a creature can do a hell of a lot of damage while in its death throes and. as we have already seen, the Republican party is no less dangerous.

Having said that I really DO think that 2014 is potentially a HUGE year for Democrats if we can, at least for a little while, put aside our habit of nitpicking about certain progressive causes which might just have to be put on the back burner for awhile and come together to present a united front. 

Once we have a solid majority in both houses we can then address Gitmo, drones, spying, global warming, and just about everything else we can imagine.

New study says that the reason Southern Republicans overwhelming voted against Obama is simple. They are still upset that somebody let all of their slaves go free.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

One survey of working class white voters found Obama only 4-8 points behind Romney in the majority of the country, while he polled 40 points behind Romney among Southern white working class voters. And a new study by political scientists Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell and Maya Sen suggests that there may be a simple explanation for this divide — slavery. 

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution banned slavery nearly 150 years ago, yet this study suggests that the legacy of slavery continues to drive voters in areas that once housed large numbers of slaves to vote Republican: 

"Drawing on a sample of more than 39,000 southern whites, we show that whites who currently live in counties that had high concentrations of slaves in 1860 are on average more conservative and express colder feelings towards African Americans than whites who live elsewhere in the South. That is, the larger the number of slaves in his or her county of residence in 1860, the greater the probability that a white Southerner today will identify as a Republican, express opposition to race-coded policies such as affirmative action, and express greater racial resentment towards African Americans. We show that these differences are robust to a variety of factors, including geography and mid-19th century economic conditions and political attitudes. We also show that our results strengthen when we instrument for the prevalence of slavery using local measures of the agricultural suitability to grow cotton. In fact, our findings indicate that in the counterfactual world where the South had no slaves in 1860, the political views of white Southerners today would be indistinguishable from those of similarly situated white Northerners."

The authors offer several potential explanations for how a human rights atrocity banned more than a century ago can continue to drive political attitudes today. Among them, the authors suggest that “the sudden enfranchisement of blacks was politically threatening to whites, who for centuries had enjoyed exclusive political power. In addition, the sudden emancipation of blacks substantially undermined whites’ economic power by suddenly increasing blacks’ wages and threatening the plantation economy.” These two factors, according to the author of the study, “led Southern white elites to promote localized anti-black sentiment by encouraging violence towards blacks, propagating racist norms and cultural beliefs, and, to the extent legally possible, pushing for the institutionalization of racist policies (such as Jim Crow laws). In turn, these racially hostile attitudes have persisted as each successive generation has, to some degree, inherited the attitudes and beliefs of the previous generation.”

Yeah I guess when your DNA tells you that the ni**ers are supposed to be out in the field picking your cotton, is is nigh impossible to vote for one to sit in the White House.  I beleive they refer to that type of black man as "uppity."

You know this study seems to link quite well with my post from yesterday that links the homophobic and religious nature of the conservatives to a form of tribalism.

I think that this just shows that we are still a few generations or more from completely eradicating racism in this country.  However I have hope as I have seen young children at play, and I can tell you that left to their own devices they would rarely discriminate against another based on skin, eye, or hair color, unless prompted to by trusted adults.

Rodeo clown who donned Obama mask has gained a legion of new supporters. Sadly predictable.

Courtesy of Riverfront Times:  

Tuffy Gessling, the rodeo clown who put on an Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair and delivered a performance that has sparked a national outcry, has developed a large following of online defenders from all over the country. As of last night, Gessling has added about 500 new Facebook friends on his personal page, a number that is steadily growing as his story continues to go viral. 

"Keep your head up. God's got this!" says one new fan. "Hey man I stand behind you 100% brother keep doin what you do. If I was putting on a rodeo or bullriding I'd hire you in a bit for my gigs," says another. 

"God bless you Tuffy Gessling you never disappoint. I support you 100%," says a third. "Awesome at what u do. I'll stand up for ya. Screw the government," says a fourth.

 I would like to think that most of these people who are rushing to support this guy are simply rodeo fans or people who like clowns, however to do that would be to ignore everything we have learned about a certain segment of the population since the election of Barack Obama.