Rational Nation USA

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth I happened to run across the following list while surfing the net this afternoon. So, being in an inquisitive mind stopped to read it and give a few moments thought to each and every one of the twenty five items. Can't say I agree in total but there is much that I do. Given the current mood of the combined GOP, particularly the tea party, neo con, and religious fundamentalist wing I thought it would be fun to run this post without comment moderation for a day. Perhaps thoughtful, reasonable, intelligent, and rational republicans will stop by and posit intelligent comments as to why they disagree (or agree) with certain or all items on the list. Have fun and please keep it clean... 25 Reasons Why I’m Thankful That I’m Not a Republican (in no particular order) : I respect the civil rights of all Americans, not just those I choose to agree with. I understand basic economics that consumer demand creates jobs, not tax breaks. I know...

If Western countries want to disprove the dire forecasts of Karl Marx, we must think creatively about how to make the middle class more prosperous and secure Capitalism is arguably the economic system that has created opportunity for millions, created the greatest wealth of any economic system devised, created the largest middle class ever known to humankind, and improved the quality of life for millions. Even Karl Marx acknowledged that capitalism was the most productive and best economic force (system)designed up his time in history. Marx also realized that unless the power of capitalism was harnessed and driven to provide growth, security, and benefits for the society as a whole (think successful and growing middle class)at some point in the history of capitalism it would collapse, a result of its own blindness. In other words if capitalism was driven by greed, its focus being to create enormous wealth for the benefit of a miniscule percentage of society, while keeping wages an...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Pope = Christian, Catholic, Democratic Socialist. His positions against intolerance, greed, polarization, lack of concern for the planets eco system, and income disparity does not threaten an enlightened capitalism. But capitalism continued on its present trajectory certainly poses a threat to itself.  Reading conservative commentary and listening to conservative rhetoric, as well as reading fringe rightwing weblogs that have been trashing Pope Francis for being, in their myopic view a Marxist and a commie, has convinced that there are indeed large numbers on the right who have lost their ability to think and reason. It is impossible for the thinking women and man to gasp the thought process of those folks because of the absurdity of it all. Another reasoned commentary on this subject can be found HERE . UPDATE : For an example CHECK THIS OUT .

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth THE HILL - Sen. Ted Cruz is gearing up for another showdown with Republican leaders in Congress. The presidential candidate, a conservative Republican from Texas, is deploying arguments similar to those he used two years ago in rallying Tea Party lawmakers to block a government funding measure. Back then, the focus was on ObamaCare. Now, it’s on Planned Parenthood. Cruz has invited House conservatives to meet in his Dirksen Building office while ratcheting up criticism of GOP leaders in recent days. Cruz’s message is simple and a repeat of 2013’s: President Obama and the Democrats will deserve blame for a shutdown, not Republicans. “President Obama’s position is that if Congress funds 100 percent government that he will nonetheless veto funding for the government, unless Congress also gives $500 million to Planned Parenthood,” Cruz told reporters, noting the group is not part of the government and under investigation. “That is a radic...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Media-ite - The media world was waiting for it and Donald Trump delivered Wednesday night, performing his now nightly Twitter assault on Fox News after announcing his boycott of the network earlier in the day. This time, the GOP frontrunner’s outrage came after the National Review’s Rich Lowry suggested that Carly Fiorina “cut [Trump’s] balls off with the precision of a surgeon” at the CNN Republican debate, much to host Megyn Kelly’s shock. “You can’t say that,” Kelly said. For once, she and Trump agreed. Look at Donnie, his feelings are hurt. Must be awfully hard for Donnie to face the truth of the matter. What a joke Donnie is. Nothing more than a narcissistic bullying fat as* demagogue and when someone speaks precisely what millions are thinking he gets himself all pissed off and expects an appology. Donnie had it coming and it's about time he got it. Let the truth be told about Domnie and to hell with political correctness. ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth POLITICO - The on-again, off-again feud of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump with the media has taken another turn. Trump, in a tweet, announced that he “won't be doing any more Fox shows for the foreseeable future," as the channel “has been treating me very unfairly.” Once again we witness the whining narcissist in action. Crying about not being treated fairly. Golly gee Donnie ole boy, just know that no sane person really gives a damn because you're fragile feelings are hurt. SKIP In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson said that Trump's tweet was sent after the channel canceled his appearance on O'Reilly's show. "At 11:45am today, we canceled Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance on The O’Reilly Factor on Thursday, which resulted in Mr. Trump’s subsequent tweet about his ‘boycott’ of FOX News," the statement reads. "The press predictably jumped to cover his tweet, creating yet anoth...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth This found on one of the Right Wing's most degusting gutter weblogs .

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Monday Evening Wacko Roundup. Despite backlash, Ben Carson is not backing down from his opposition to a Muslim president Marco Rubio: Women Being ‘Pushed’ Into Abortions For Fetal Tissue Profits 'I'm One of You': Donald Trump Vows to Protect Christians, Religious Liberty First Read: Trump's Negative Impact on the GOP Race

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Monday that President Obama's administration is "the most anti-Christian in American history," according to The Iowa Statesman. Huckabee was upset over Obama inviting transgender activists and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop to the welcoming ceremony for the pope at the White House. The Vatican criticized the invitations and said that photographs of the pope and these individuals might suggest approval of their decisions, according to the Wall Street Journal. Huckabee called Obama's decision a "politicized cattle call" in his statement. “President Obama’s classless decision to transform Pope Francis’ visit to the White House into a politicized cattle call for gay and pro-abortion activists is an insult to millions of Catholics," according to the statement. "Why is it that Obama goes to extremes to accommodate Mu...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth At one time being a skeptic of climate change (global warming) is what seemed to be a reasonable position. It even sounded plausible to me that left leaning scientists (most are for explainable logical reasons) were in cahoots with left leaning politicians who saw climate change as an avenue to enact legislation (cap and trade) and an pathway to exact more taxes on business. Taxes which could be used to fill the coffers of government so government could spend more on social programs that may ultimately lead to greater dependendency on government. Sound familiar? At this juncture in my thought process (aided by evaluating factual data) the narrative now seems more geared to preserving the bottom line profit motivation of companies whose business it is to grow exceedingly wealthy by exploiting and expanding fossil fuel consumption. Of course my re-evaluation has been an evolving process over time. But given the following (which certainly sup...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth To the reasonable, rational, and concerned republican and GOP party members. Dump Trump America's Biggest Narcissist, Demagogue, and Bigot   Make America Great Again!       

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth With the growing interest in a Biden run it is apparent that the once presumable shoo-in to the democratic nomination has failed to ignite the kind of enthusiasm that will likely be needed to insure a democratic victory in November 2016. As the reasons for this are rather obvious there seems no need to point them out. With HRC at 46%, Sanders at 27%, and the yet unannounced Biden at 16% there is the possibly that if Biden announces he would draw a sizable number of tepid HCR supporters away from the ex Secretary of State and he and Sanders would occupy the 1&2 slots. This would be a very positive development. A contest between two individuals who are genuine and unabashedly so. As opposed to HRC who is aloof, has questionable integrity, and really is a very unlikable person. Imagine a head to head with Sanders and Biden down the finish line! Sanders would push a conversation that needs to occur and the more moderate Biden would have ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth The Hill - House GOP leaders are trying to convince their rank and file it would be a bad move to risk a government shutdown over blocking funding for Planned Parenthood. At a closed-door conference meeting on Thursday morning, leadership presented their members with polling data from the House GOP's campaign arm showing Republicans would be blamed for a government shutdown. “They showed us some polling data about shutdown versus defunding Planned Parenthood and obviously showing in their opinion that it would be a political bad move,” said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a conservative who has pledged not to vote for Planned Parenthood funds. Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), another conservative who wants to defund Planned Parenthood through a government-funding bill, also said GOP leaders think the data showed Republicans would be responsible. “They’re trying to let us know that if we submit a bill to the president that defunds Planned Par...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth It is apparent the media, in this instance CNN, is a prime promoter of the narcissist and demagogue that is Trump. There certainly are far more qualified (and serious) republican candidates than Donald Trump yet none come even close to the exposure given the Donald. When the GOP candidates assemble on CNN's stage Wednesday night, they will be appearing on a network that has virtually ignored most of them, while spending vast amounts of time covering the now-frontrunner, businessman Donald Trump. SKIP To put that in perspective, Trump’s 580 minutes of coverage averages out to more than 25 percent of total programming for the ten days analyzed (after you subtract commercials, each hour-long broadcast takes up roughly 45 minutes). This study looked at prime time (7pm through 11 pm) weekday news coverage on CNN for the two week period from August 24 to September 4, including Erin Burnett OutFront, Anderson Cooper 360 and CNN Tonight wit...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth What follows is highly worth reading, re-reading, and then examining closely the words of 2016 democratic presidential Bernie Sanders. There is much truth in his words and regardless of ones political affiliation truth is truth. Our nation at some point must come to grips with the issues he highlights. In a rational political environment a frank, honest, and open discussion including all political parties would be had and decisions would be made to address the growing threats to the nations social well being. Unfortunately, and to our countries great detriment, rather than having the needed discussion and working together to truly make our nation great again battle lines are already drawn and one party and movement in particular has no interest in resolving these issues and again creating a great middle class explosion. U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders Sept. 14, 2015 Lynchburg, Virginia Thank you very much for inviting me to be with you t...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Logic in a convoluted religious fundamentalist tea party sort of way. Raw Story - Mat Staver — a lawyer from theocratic law firm The Liberty Counsel — said on Sunday that his client, Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, is like President Abraham Lincoln because of her stand against marriage equality for all Americans. Staver made the remarks in an appearance on C-SPAN after which a caller said that Davis should do her job or step down. Full text BELOW THE FOLD . Via: Memeorandum UPDATE: MOREHEAD, Ky. — Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who was jailed this month for defying a court order that she issue marriage licenses, said Monday that she would not block her employees from processing licenses for same-sex couples. But she warned that the licenses would be issued without her authorization — she said they would note that they had been processed pursuant to a court order — and she raised questions about whether they would be legal...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth After listening to the GOP/Tea Party 2016 presidential candidates essentially spend their time blowing smoke (or perhaps its gas; especially in the case of Trump, Huckabee, Cruz, and perhaps Carson), and listening to a damaged and in many people's opinion a dishonest HRC, a Biden candidacy is something many would welcome. He is an honest, sincere, and dedicated knowledgably public servant. A man who the record will show has served his country and its people well. This person has not voted for a democrat for president in over 30 years but if Vice President Biden decides to run there is better than a 55/45 chance he'll get my vote. The interview below has me hoping he decides to jump in and run like hell. Follow this link to read The Washington Post article. Via: Memeorandum

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth The Kim Davis controversy exists because, as a culture, we have elevated respect for religious sensibilities to an inappropriate level that makes society less free, not more. Religious liberty should mean that no set of religious ideals are treated differently from other ideals. Laws should not be enacted whose sole purpose is to denigrate them, but, by the same token, the law shouldn’t elevate them, either. Above is taken from The New Yorker . In one short paragraph Lawrence M. Krauss has stated what the rationally thinking American knows to be true. The problem, obviously, is that what is sacred to one person can be meaningless (or repugnant) to another. That’s one of the reasons why a modern secular society generally legislates against actions, not ideas. No idea or belief should be illegal; conversely, no idea should be so sacred that it legally justifies actions that would otherwise be illegal. Davis is free to believe whatever she w...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Kim Davis, released from jail vows to continue to deny marriage licensees to same sex couples in violation of our secular law. Davis certainly has the right to stand on her convictions that are based in biblical antiquity. She has the right to carry signs and give speeches supporting her biblical beliefs and she has the right to appear on television or radio espousing her biblical beliefs. What she does not have the right to do, while being paid by the taxpayers of Kentucky is to refuse to issue marriage licenses to ALL couples who wish to get married. Same sex people pay taxes as well and our secular law allows for their union in marriage. If her convictions are that strong, and they obviously are, and if she had integrity she would resign from her position. She is in violation of her oath of office which requires her to serve all Kentuckians in her present capacity. Simply put, if she cannot execute all the requirements of her job she s...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Juan Williams is a journalist/news commentator that while not always agreeing with him there was never a question as to his intelligence or integrity. Putting blind partisanship aside Mr. Williams is capable of analyzing issues and seeing both sides clearly while recognizing the best most productive approach to addressing very real problems. His article below is an example of this in which he discusses the very real danger that the Black Lives Matter movement may find itself in unless it turns to constructive ways to get its message across and work within the system to effect the needed changes. #BlackLivesMatter is fast becoming its own worst enemy. It lacks an agenda, it is antagonizing the black community’s top white political allies, including Democrats running for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, and it is not finding common ground with any of the Republican majority in Congress. The catalyst for the movement was outrage o...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Silencing Speech Two terms have risen quickly from obscurity into common campus parlance. Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as a kind of violence nonetheless. For example, by some campus guidelines, it is a microaggression to ask an Asian American or Latino American “Where were you born?,” because this implies that he or she is not a real American. Trigger warnings are alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response. For example, some students have called for warnings that Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart describes racial violence and that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays misogyny and physical abuse, so that students who have been previously victimized by racism or domestic violence can choose to avoid these works, which they believe might “trigger” a recurrence of past t...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Our new poll finds that Trump is benefiting from a GOP electorate that thinks Barack Obama is a Muslim and was born in another country, and that immigrant children should be deported. 66% of Trump's supporters believe that Obama is a Muslim to just 12% that grant he's a Christian. 61% think Obama was not born in the United States to only 21% who accept that he was. And 63% want to amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, to only 20% who want to keep things the way they are. Trump's beliefs represent the consensus among the GOP electorate. 51% overall want to eliminate birthright citizenship. 54% think President Obama is a Muslim. And only 29% grant that President Obama was born in the United States. That's less than the 40% who think Canadian born Ted Cruz was born in the United States. Trump's supporters aren't alone in those attitudes though. Only among supporters of John Kasich (58/13), Je...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth In ruling against a Kentucky clerk who, because of her deeply held religious convictions, refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples the SCOTUS reaffirmed marriage equality and the rule of law. Under the guise of holding sincerely held religious belief homophobes have been attempting to argue religious freedom as grounds for discrimination against same sex couples. The U.S. Supreme Court late Monday rejected an appeal from a county clerk in Kentucky who said she could not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious objections. Kim Davis, the clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, "holds an undisputed sincerely held religious belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, only," her lawyers said in asking the court to block a lower court order directing her to issue the licenses. But the Supreme Court denied her request without explanation in a brief one-line order. No dissents were not...