Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
The Democratic National Committee put out a video in November 2011 that pretty much shows all the flip-flops by Mitt Romney up to that point. Context has nothing to do with it. One time he says one thing then you turn around and he says something else. It makes Romney no better than a used car salesman.
On Monday August 6th, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted certified a constitutional amendment for the Nov. 6 ballot that would reform the way congressional districts are drawn after each census in Ohio. It would restore democracy in one important part of our political system by taking the redistricting out of the hands of the people it benefits – the politicians. If voters are tired of the partisanship of our current system then they should pass the amendment on election day.
What the amendment would do:
There has been a lot of ink and electrons spent about the controversy over Chick-fil-A and its CEO supporting anti-gay groups and causes. I’ve known for a couple of years that Chick-fil-A was not a friend of the LGBT community and have chosen not to spend my money at any of their stores. There has been the typical conservative backlash. My feeling is if you support LGBTs then don’t spend money that will be used to hurt them.
The controversy got started earlier in the month when owner Dan Cathy made public statements against gay marriage which also brought out the fact that the company donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups. The public relations dust up caused the Jim Henson company to pull out of a kids meal promotion and the outrage overflowed onto many articles in print and on the Internet from the LGBT community and its allies.
Republicans went apoplectic when President Obama stated July 13th that people don’t build businesses in a vacuum. He said the government and indirectly all Americans help build those businesses. That idea isn’t a new one. Back in 2011 Elizabeth Warren expressed the same thoughts and it seems that even founding father Thomas Paine stated that idea in a pamphlet published in 1795.
As a reminder here is what President Obama actually said on July 13th:
Living in Ohio I have been exposed to an avalanche of political advertisements so far this election season. A majority of them are negative, play loose with the facts, and are from 3rd parties who hide where their money comes from. All of those elements, to me are un-American. What really pisses me off is when an ad is actually a lie. What makes me even more mad is when that false ad was put out even after the facts were known. Mitt Romney released such an ad with the tagline of “Where did all the Obama stimulus money go?” Now because my local journalists seem to refuse to fact check this false ad I’ll have to do it here.
The ad starts: