Showing posts with label santorum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label santorum. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Why Does Fox News Hate the Constitution?

The so-called "culture wars" are heating up. Apparently, Republicans, Rick Santorum, and Fox News doesn't like the fact that insurance companies must now cover birth control pills. To be fair, religious institutions do not have to provide that coverage. I can see that. What I can't understand is why some politicians, especially Santorum, believe that their faith and religious beliefs trump our US Constitution. Jon Stewart says it so much better than I can:

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Jewish views on be fruitful and multiply are very different than Christian views.

In a most remarkable ending to the Mishnah of Yevamot, there is a disagreement cited between an anonymous teacher and Rabbi Yochanan ben Berukah. The anonymous teacher (whose view is accepted Jewish law) states that women are not obligated to be fruitful and multiply. In traditional Jewish law, it is a man's duty to marry and have children, whereas a woman is free to remain childless…


The whole birth control controversy is not about so-called "culture wars". It's about a group of people trying to foist their religious beliefs on everybody else. The US Constitution is a remarkable document. Let's not let Fox News, Santorum, and Republicans try to change us from a representative democracy to theocracy.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Self-hating Jew?

Someone, an anonymous person from Littleton CO, has accused me of being a self-hating Jew because I support President Obama.

There are many reasons I support President Obama. He is not out to get Israel. He is not a Muslim. His policies on Israel are about the same as past presidents. Unlike some past presidents such as George W. Bush, he did not promise to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

All presidents from President Truman to President Obama have supported Israel. Some have offered better support than others. Both Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon both Republican, withheld timely help when Israel desperately needed it. Just look at the Yom Kippur War and contrast it with President Johnson's, a Democrat, response during the 1967 war.


I cannot support any of the current Republican candidates for president. Newt Gingrich has openly advocated jailing judges he disagrees with. Mitt Romney actually thinks that a corporation is a person. Santorum seems to want to establish a theocracy and do away with our representative democracy.

All of them seem to have a singular disregard for a actual, breathing persons individual rights. All of them seem to morbidly interested in women's reproductive rights than in looking at ways to help the unemployed. Some of them openly embrace endorsements from those that say homosexuals should be killed. Most of them show a contempt for science.

Here's a good example of Republicans in action:It's an anti-bullying law but states that a person with deeply held religious convictions can make a statement for those beliefs. The bill was aimed at gay kids who were being tormented. But it would have helped other kids who were being bullied. I guess it will be okay for those with deeply held religious beliefs to call Jewish children "christ killers" or kikes.

These Republican contenders all show a tendency toward fascism.

Just look at this:


1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

From Liberty Forum


The Republicans, to me, already have the first 13 points locked in. All across the nation, Republican controlled states are attempting mass voter suppression by various laws.

No, I'm not a self-hating Jew. I'm just one who remembers where great-great-great-great grandfather came from: Tulchin. I also remember a conversation I had with my Grandfather about the US. I told him we are so lucky to be living here and would never have to worry about being prosecuted because of religion. He said it could happen here and that we must be on guard. Read the above 14 points again.