Someone else who would make Santorum throw up

Barry Goldwater, whose statements 40 years ago comprise today's Ouote of the Day from the Texas Freedom Institute:

Goldwater had a different view. “Mark my word,” he said four decades ago. “If and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me.”

Ah, for those Golden Days of Yesteryear when some semblance of sanity could be found in the Republican Party.

And guess who else would have Frothy reaching for the Pepto Bismol: The Founders.

Virginia backs down

Good. And good for the activists who sounded the alarms and worked to bring about this result: Thank you!

Dan Savage's gift that keeps on giving

One of Digby's readers had a catch, and I saw a headline on a newsfeed earlier today that said: Santorum Surges. Yeah, ew. But hey, the endless stream (oh, ew) of ridicule and infamy that this internet joke has spawned is so very richly deserved.

While I'm at it, I might as well just divert all (!) my traffic today over to Digby's place. She has two more posts up that I'd like to draw your attention to:

First, this one from David Atkins, part of which includes this:

This is a man who is absolutely terrified that someone, somewhere, might be having more fun and staying truer to themselves than he is. And he's bound and determined to stop it. He desperately needs a good psychiatrist to talk through whatever repressed, latent urges he's feeling and bring them out in a more healthy way.

On a broader note, it's mind-boggling that the same people who are obsessed over what two or more people might be doing consensually and harmless in their bedrooms or at a music concert, hurting no one and enjoying themselves, are utterly unconcerned with the horrific damage done by billionaire greedheads who pollute and impoverish entire nations simply to buy a few more yachts and private jets. It's repulsive moral perversion of the highest order, and sane observers shouldn't be afraid to call it that for fear of offending their delicate sensibilities.

Something is really, really wrong with these people. Not just the politicians, but their supporters, too.

And this, from Digby herself.

So, yeah, Thank You Dan Savage!

"Religious Freedom"?

That phrase, I do not think it means what you think it does.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know. It's a crappy, stupid holiday. But I love you all! So, here's Paul to sing it for me:

If everyone, including non-believers, doesn't have "religious freedom", then none of us do.

A San Antonio judge had some choice words for rightwingers that he had to contend with during a court case addressing prayer in a local public school. My local Freethinkers group was proudly supportive of the family that sued Medina Valley ISD, and I couldn't help but admire them all. It's far too easy to throw up one's hands in despair, given the overwhelming social pressure in these small Texas towns to conform - I think one would need to be prepared to move. At my son's high school graduation last June, the level of aggressive smugness with which the Boerne ISD school superintendent delivered his official "prayer", both before AND after the ceremony, and the wild applause the crowd rewarded him with each time, were just staggering. In these circumstances, it's easy to feel hopeless.

Regarding the recent flap about birth control, and the Obama administration "compromise" - I think it remains to be seen whether or not this turns out to be a good move. I don't think any ground should be given to the American Taliban, but Amanda Marcotte seems to think they got pwned on this particular episode. We'll see - I have my doubts.

Whitney Houston, RIP

Somewhere on this blog, quite awhile back, I mentioned something about not caring all that much about Whitney Houston's work. I was an admirer of her mother, Sissy Houston (of the Sweet Inspirations), and of course of her other relative (cousin, aunt? I can't remember), the wonderful Dionne Warwick. And I prefer Dolly Parton's version of her own song, I Will Always Love You, because - to me - Whitney's version, while technically impressive, seems to lack the emotional depth that Dolly brought to that song.

OTOH, there was no denying Whitney's raw talent and powerhouse of a voice, and the news of her death yesterday made me very sad for a life cut short way too soon. I'm not a close follower of Celebrity Tabloid gossip, but I gathered that Whitney has made a number of bad choices in her life and that, apparently (certainly not the fact that she was, you know, BLACK - no certainly not!), has triggered a fresh torrent of rightwing bile the likes of which we haven't seen since, well, since Barack Obama was elected. I wish I could say that I was shocked. These are the things we need to point out when some idiot starts blathering about our "postracial" society. My ass.

Anyway, for a better tribute to this beautiful and sad young woman, go here.

UPDATE: Just for grins, I checked to see what Texas-libberscallmeracist-Fred had to say about this and you will be absolutely notstunned to discover that he is right on board with the rest of the lunatics in his tribe, with a long post about what a crack ho Whitney Houston was and how only the Liberal Media would waste print on such trash while ignoring the Real Story which is that a soldier died in Afghanistan. Seriously.

RELATED, OF COURSE: I mean, really. Is it my aging imagination, or did this crap used to be much more "under the radar"? Certainly most sentient human beings understood that racism didn't disappear after the civil rights movement of the 60's, but became less socially acceptable, less talked about in polite circles. It just seems so much more brazenly out in the open these days.

Color me skeptical

I don't know if Planned Parenthood will actually get their funding back, but I would say that this episode has been a huge PR (not to mention fundraising)bonanza for them. Thank you Komen!

Update: Ohgod, the comments to this post are hysterical. Sample:

actor212 says:
February 3, 2012 at 12:34 pm
So, is it safe to say that Komen has aborted this policy?

"They screw things up"

Wow. TexasFred, meet NevadaKent. Y'all might have been separated at birth!

Wingnuts keepin' it klassy

See here.

Ya, cuz the forced-childbirth groups don' know nuttin' bout "throwing political bombs", do they.

Oth, I am definitely getting this printed up for my office wall, just to irritate the wingut in the next cubicle over who has NRA and "Choose Life" posters plastered all over his. Ya, that's me - crying a river.

H/T Balloon Juice and see TBogg here too.

Boycott Komen

Okay, so we've just learned that the Komen Foundation is now as relevant to women's health as the term "pro-life" is to, well, actual life. Articles abound, but two really good ones are here and here, and TBogg tells you what you can do about it here.