Friday, April 27, 2012

GOP TEA PARTY's War On Women, War On Working Class and NOW...

GOP TEA PARTY's War On Women, War On Working Class and NOW...

Da ta da da da da daaaah!

War On Communism!
Attention GOP/TP
Thinking Outside The GOP "Good Book"

posted by thinkingblue at 6:28 PM

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

ALEC - A Really Scary Movie

ALEC's 'stealth lobbying' does not deserve non-profit status - The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur Current TV


I've added overtones of an old-time SCARY MOVIE to this video
to emphasize how frightening a closed door oganization such as
ALEC, is to a democracy.

 It is hard to understand how human beings can be so callous; conjuring up ways to turn a profit off the extreme suffering of others. Yet it appears that is exactly what the Republican Party along with its affiliates, are all about. If they are not exposed and stopped, our nation will cease to be a Democratic Republic and we-the-people
will anguish at the hands of The Slave Masters.
Hmmmm, where have I heard that before?


thethinkingblue youtube channel.

posted by thinkingblue at 7:33 PM

Monday, April 23, 2012

I Am A Job Creator



Ain't that the truth! I once wrote a brief summary on how my family helped create jobs, for an on-line petition. I can't remember the petition but I've located the word doc I created with my 2 cents worth:
---
“Congress keeps mum on how jobs can be created; they seem to be telling us with their silence that, THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO CREATE JOBS. How strange is that, when my family has created jobs by repairing our infrastructure… i.e. NEW ROOF (the old one was shot and leaked) NEW SEPTIC TANK (the old one cracked and became a health hazard) NEW WATER PUMP (the old one quit working and we were without water) not to mention, washing machine, air-conditioner, hot water tank, and ceiling repairs (due to the leaky roof). Congress can’t create jobs, but my "low income" household can, WHAT GIVES?”
---
And it goes without saying how we, the 99 % buy gasoline that keep BIG OIL filthy rich with profits; Purchasing food and umpteen other needs that make those who payout dues to ALEC, wealthy beyond their dreams.
(And, I can't begin to express how much of our hard earned cash goes out to Big Pharma, Big Medicine and Big Insurance... Oh, and let us not forget the $$$, we shell over to Big Education making debt the real lifelong career.)

Yes indeed, we are the JOB CREATORS and each and every one of us should thank one another for keeping this country running.
(Yet The Corporate Personhood will step on our face every chance they get, TELLING US, IT'S OUR OWN DAMN FAULT BECAUSE WE ARE THE CAUSE OF THE PAIN WE FEEL.) It's enough to make us SCREAM a collective “UNCLE”! thinkingblue
OCCUPY POSTERS
Occupy Wall Street

posted by thinkingblue at 8:31 AM

Sunday, April 22, 2012

'ALEC' Has Been Forced To REAR ITS UGLY HEAD At Last!




EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL (ALEC) but was (afraid) oops I mean (too outside the loop to know was going on ) to ask! Lot's of great stuff in here. thinkingblue

http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
WHAT IS ALEC?
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. (SCARY STUFF HERE!)
(MORE SCARY STUFF)
What goes on behind closed doors?
The organization boasts 2,000 legislative members and 300 or more corporate members. The unelected corporate representatives (often registered lobbyists) sit as equals with elected representatives on nine task forces where they have a “voice and a vote” on model legislation. Corporations on ALEC task forces VOTE on the "model" bills and resolutions, and sit as equals with legislators voting on the ALEC task forces and various working groups.
SCARY ISN'T THE RIGHT WORD... IT'S MORE LIKE BLOODCURDLING!
How do corporations benefit?
Although ALEC claims to take an ideological stance (of supposedly "Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty"), many of the model bills benefit the corporations whose agents write them, shape them, and/or vote to approve them. These are just a few such measures:
•            Altria/Philip Morris USA benefits from ALEC’s newest tobacco legislation -- an extremely narrow tax break for moist tobacco that would make fruit flavored tobacco products cheaper and more attractive to youngsters.
•            Health insurance companies such as Humana and Golden Rule Insurance (United Healthcare), benefit directly from ALEC model bills, such as the Health Savings Account bill that just passed in Wisconsin.
•            Tobacco firms such as Reynolds and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer benefit directly from ALEC tort reform measures that make it harder for Americans to sue when injured by dangerous products.
•            Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) benefits directly from the anti-immigrant legislation introduced in Arizona and other states that requires expanded incarceration and housing of immigrants, along with other bills from ALEC’s crime task force. (While CCA has stated that it left ALEC in late 2010 after years of membership on the Criminal Justice Task Force and even co-chairing it, its prison privatization bills remain ALEC "models.")
•            Connections Academy, a large online education corporation and co-chair of the Education Task Force, benefits from ALEC measures to privatize public education and promote private on-line schools.
Coke Quits ALEC on Threat of Color of Change Boycott





posted by thinkingblue at 3:58 PM

TIME'S LIGHTBOX PHOTOS OF THE TITANIC PRE April 15, 1912

TIME'S LIGHTBOX PHOTOS OF THE TITANIC PRE April 15, 1912
I came across these pictures posted in Time magazine's LIGHTBOX-TITANIC. They are stupendous, to say the least and I had to try and video them up a bit just for the fun of it. If you saw James Cameron's "Titanic" you will notice how he used these very photos in the making of his movie. Great Stuff! Also watch WHY SHIPS SINK on PBS NOVA 2012 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/why-ships-sink.html

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posted by thinkingblue at 1:54 PM

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Michelle Bachmann Tosses Up Her Tar Baby Sleep Toy, Again.

Michelle Bachmann Tosses Up Her Tar Baby Sleep Toy, Again.
Michelle Bachmann Joins The Hall Of Shame.

Today's post has nothing to do with NUTTIN. Michelle Bachmann lost the Repub Presidential Primary and we don't have to fear her insaneness any longer.
(Or do we?) BUT.....
Why do we have to see and hear the nonsense she spreads so furiously around like so much TAR on a leaky roof? Hey MAINSTREAM MEDIA, listen up! We are sick of Bachmann and her convoluted ideas about reality. Banish her to FOX FAKE NEWS where she belongs and leave us to enjoy the sweet aroma of FACT FILLED TRUTH!  Yeah right, like I believe, in this LOONEY TUNE TEA PARTY America we find ourselves in, that THAT will ever happen. thinkingblue
~~~
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) blasted President Obama following his proposed "crackdown" on firms found to be manipulating the oil market, saying he is "waving a tar baby in the air" as a distraction from high gas prices.
"This is just about waving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem," Bachmann said in an interview Wednesday with The Shark Tank, a conservative news organization that covers Florida politics. "I have never seen a more irresponsible president who is infantile in the way that he continually blames everyone else for his failure to first diagnose the problem and second to address the problem. It's always everyone else's fault."
She said her message for the president is, "Get over it," and stop blaming everyone else.
The term "tar baby" is a racially loaded phrase coined in the "Brer Rabbit" tales. The term generally means a "sticky situation," but has also been used as a derogatory term for a black person.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, apologized last year after he said associating with Obama was "like touching a tar baby."
Bachmann's attack on Obama comes after he pushed Congress this week for legislation that would increase penalties on oil speculators manipulating the market. He called for increased federal supervision of the markets and funding for enforcement.
“We can’t afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher, only to flip the oil for a quick profit,” Obama said during a Rose Garden speech Tuesday. MORE HERE
Rising gas prices have already been used in election-year attacks by both parties. Republicans in Congress who are pushing for an expansion of domestic oil and gas exploration to ease the price crunch have already expressed opposition to Obama's proposal.
"The problem is that liberals continue to lock up the energy resources that we have in the United States," she said. "The president already has every tool at his disposal to deal with speculators. ... If there's a problem with that you got to the Federal Trace Commission or the Security Exchange Commission [sic]. If there's a problem, President Obama is the problem for failing to use the tools that he has.
"It's anybody but Obama for Obama. And that's why we have to call him out," she said. "The president is a complete and utter fraud and a hypocrite on this issue, with all due respect."
---

On April 6, 1956 Michelle Bachmann (YIKES) came into existense.

So here is a belated birthday gift for those of us who enjoy listening to this exotic queen from La La Land. Michelle Bachmann the Minnesota-Representative-turned-failed-presidential-candidate's 56th birthday. To celebrate, we've drawn up this list of the 56 best things about Michele Bachmann.
Don't say we never do anything for you, M-Ba! FROM: http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/04/06/the-56-best-things-about-michele-bachmann
1. She enjoys corn dogs.
2. She also enjoys "noodles, cheeses, chicken and bacon."
3. She's tough on Iran and knows our imaginary embassy in Tehran should be relocated to Krypton or Atlantis.
4. There was that one time she dressed up like Princess Leia at a debate. That was awesome.
5. She gets all her facts about HPV vaccinations from random women she meets, unless they happen to be scientists.
6. She was born 24 years after the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, so there's no way you're pinning that on her.
7. She never looks directly into a TV camera because she knows her eyes will turn the viewers at home into stone.
8. She totally understands why you didn't do your math homework.
9. She's pro-choice, in terms of lightbulbs.
10. She was the first Jewish Republican to run for president, and she's not even Jewish.
11. There's a rumor that she's raised a number of children, but since she mentions it so rarely we can't confirm.
12. She bravely fought to repeal Hoot-Smalley, despite the challenge of it not existing.
13. She was preceeded in office by a man named Mark Kennedy, and she has misquoted Abraham Lincoln, so… connect the dots.
14. When she talks to God, God talks back.
15. She's a decorated veteran of the War on Christmas.
16. She’ll do anything to keep her congressional seat. Except acknowledge science.
17. Her name, anagrammed, is Man! Blame Chic Hen.
18. She's never had a gaffe.
19. She knows there are great qualities in every American, even serial child killers.
20. She really understands the plight of that one black person she knows (Michael Steele).
21. She looks fantastic, especially considering 56 is 300 in Lizard People years.
22. One word: Marcus (as in Bachmann).
23. She'll never let President Obama tell you how many babies to have; only Jesus can do that.
24. She's invulnerable to evil. Even when he’s disguised as a cute little boy.
25. American humans have elected her to make laws at the federal level. Multiple times.
26. She has plenty of choot-spa.
27. She's twice as conservative as Ronald Reagan but only half the weight of Rush Limbaugh.
28. She believes you're never too young to be a Founding Father.
29. She makes Sarah Palin look reasonable.
30. She is a lovable little fuzz ball.
31. She had the guts to stand up to Big Census.
32. She was extremely popular with GOP primary voters. Ten months before any actual voting started, but still.
33. She gave America the House Tea Party caucus it didn't know it was clamoring for.
34. She still believes in Santa, even though he's an anagram for Satan.
35. She doesn't make a big freaking fuss about sweater vests.
36. She advocated a strategy of subpoenaing for freedom.
37. She studied literature in college, so apparently she knows how to read.
38. We're at least a year or so away from her reality TV show.
39. She's open-minded enough to "take the president at his word" that he was born in the United States.
40. She received her law degree from Oral Roberts University. Haha, Roberts.
41. Every once in a while she really does say something accurate about foreign policy.
42. One L, two Ns. Maverick.
43. She may never pose for the cover of Newsweek again, but if Death Panel Watch Monthly comes calling, you bet she'll answer.
44. She volunteered for Jimmy Carter's campaign as a college student back in 1976, so she has a solid track record of working to defeat Democrats.
45. She's read the Bible cover-to-cover. Well, parts of it.
46. She's never allowed mere ignorance on a subject to get in the way of having a strong opinion about it.
47. She encourages her husband's interest in doggie sunglasses.
48. She's gone on record that the Pope is not the Antichrist.
49. Her sister talks to Bigfoot who's her neighbor.
50. She submits to her husband, if not to rational thought.
51. She was the first woman to win the Iowa Straw Poll, unless you count Phil Gramm.
52. She's adaptable.
53. When she got heckled by a gay robot, she didn't even ask Marcus to re-program it.
54. She was brave enough to infiltrate the IRS as a double agent years before she would learn that she hated it.
55. She's not Mitt Romney.
56. She's perfect. (Michele Bachmann, when asked for her opinion of the most conservative candidate in the GOP race…

"I was. I was the perfect candidate… America had their chance with the perfect candidate."

And we blew it. We blew it! Damn us! Damn us all to hell!)
AND OF COURSE WE CAN THANK ALL THAT IS GOOD, she didn't win the Republican campaign for presidential candidate. Do we hear VP?

Like I said, Truth will not be seen (or whiffed) as long as we have the GOP Tea Party Applauding Insanity. thinkingblue

posted by thinkingblue at 9:24 AM

Friday, April 20, 2012

Why Do Kids Bully?

Why Do Kids Bully?
Bully paralyzes middle school student with a punch to the abdomen.

NJ bully's paralyzing punch nets $4.2M settlement
AP – Wed, Apr 18, 2012

RAMSEY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a known bully punched him in the abdomen.
MORE HERE http://news.yahoo.com/nj-bullys-paralyzing-punch-nets-4-2m-settlement-161933503.html
When I hear stories like this, I am saddened to the core of my being. A 12 year old boy goes off to school to learn and prepare for his life as an adult. Then some sick bully (who was most likely bullied himself) punches him in the stomach, paralyzing him. More and more I am realizing that when we send our children to school (especially middle school) in reality, we send them off, to spend hour upon long hour, each day, in a prison resembling the LORD OF THE FLIES, in which there is NO ESCAPE. What is wrong with our adult world? I ask this question, not expecting an answer because the answer is already WIDESPREAD. Too many adults watch FOX FAKE NEWS (where they get the WHOLE LIE AND NOTHING BUT THE LIE and where they learn who and what to hate!) and of course there’s Rush Limbaugh (Whose talk radio show should be called BULLYING 101). It seems so simple to me, turn the channel and turn that sick radio program off and maybe our children won’t find it necessary to punch someone in order to rationalize his inadequate feelings about himself. I guess I’m the simple one. thinkingblue
----
EXCERPT: In "Lord of the Flies", British schoolboys are stranded on a tropical island. In an attempt to recreate the culture they left behind, they elect Ralph to lead, with the intellectual Piggy as counselor. But Jack wants to lead, too, and one-by-one, he lures the boys from civility and reason (JAKE = FOX FAKE NEWS?) to the savage survivalism of primeval hunters. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings.
The three most important aspects of Lord of the Flies:
1.The major theme of Lord of the Flies is that humans are essentially barbaric if not downright evil. The stranded boys begin by establishing a society similar to the one they left behind in England, but soon their society has degenerated into rival clans ruled by fear and violence; (Limbaugh's BULLYING 101) before the book is over, three boys have been killed.
2.The novel is an allegory, which is a story in which characters, settings, and events stand for things larger than themselves. For example, the island represents the world; Ralph and Jack symbolize different approaches to leadership.
3.William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies following World War II, during which the Nazis exterminated six million Jews and the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. In this context, the novel's profound pessimism is understandable. MORE HERE http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/lord-of-the-flies/book-summary.html
(NOT TO MENTION SAD!)
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/lord-of-the-flies/book-summary.html

posted by thinkingblue at 11:56 AM

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Interestingly Sick!



OK folks, get out your puke buckets.






The Hypocrisy of the GOP/TP/ROMNEY is OUT OF THIS WORLD for most of us but we do not watch FOX FAKE NEWS so the lying propaganda does not touch us. But even if we did watch FOX FAKE NEWS 24/7 that propaganda still would not touch us.
I wonder why? Maybe it's because WE THINK!  thinkingblue 

posted by thinkingblue at 5:27 PM

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Stand Your Ground Law, OVERKILL?

 Stand Your Ground Law, OVERKILL?


After Zimmerman arrest, questions about ‘stand your ground’
{{{If self-defense is sufficient, they argue, "stand your ground" may, literally, be legislative overkill.}}}

Do you ever feel like you are the only one, oh just hanging around, with at minimal, A HALF A BRAIN?
Good grief, from the get-go this nasty Florida (along with many other states) law was OVERKILL, “literally”!  
The NRA is an organization made up mainly (it appears anyway) of very frightened human beings. They fear every unknown in their life, which is of course most everything. No one can count on the next minute, hour, day, month or year to be without danger or mishap; most of us carry this thought way, way back in our minds, deeply tucked away, safely hidden within the brain, so we can behave normally and act unafraid most of the time. But with the card carrying people of the NRA, this dark thought is up front, right beneath their forehead, at the tip of their frontal lobes. In actuality, they're like frighten little children and cannot feel grown-up unless they carry a gun around and have an arsenal of weapons "LEGALLY" within their homes.
The NRA, along with its lobbies and members, get outrageous and dangerous laws passed like the STAND YOUR GROUND or SHOOT FIRST LAW, because they can, they're a large institution with many big bucks (ALEC) which enables them to buy our legislative leaders and turn them into puppets that they can play with...
(That is, when they’re not playing with their guns!)
I’m not sure the whole reason why they want to push laws that force us to live in a menacing environment
but one thing for sure it involves
BIG 's
because they have these oversized greedy pockets to fill, and they do not give a RAT'S ASS who gets hurt while they fill them.  
It's !
thinkingblue
ALEC Exposed Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations. In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU? MORE HERE
~~~
Accountability and responsibility for the guns everywhere mentality
In the last few weeks, an awakening has occurred. We have always known that public opinion comes down on the side of reasonable measures concerning gun control in America. (Here and here)We have also always known that too many of our elected leaders have chosen to ignore the support for reasonable gun control measures in deference to an organization called the NRA whose uber power and influence in America has led to the passage of gun laws which have made us all less safe instead of safer as is the job of our leaders.

Who is accountable for the culture in America where guns have become more important than people? This article makes it clear:
"How many students have to be shot to death in their schools before this country has a serious discussion about guns? Are the 10 who have been gunned down just since Feb. 27 enough?
The question of the constitutional right to own guns is irrelevant here—even if you believe that the Constitution gives every last American the right to own a firearm (which The Times editorial board does not, but many other reasonable people do).
There is simply no defending the many states that allow people not just to keep guns in their homes, but to buy an unlimited number of weapons each month, and to carry guns, concealed or visible, into public areas, including schools and churches and libraries. The culture of permissiveness is now so out of control that the city attorney in Tampa has said he cannot stop people from carrying guns into the security perimeter that will be established around the site of the Republican convention in August."
There is no defense for what is going on in our country. But yet, the NRA, its' bought and paid for politicians, the entire gun lobby, those involved in ALEC, and the public (who have been lulled into complacency by the onslaught of laws they did not want but got anyway) are all responsible. But Congress and our legislators are the ones who pass the laws and make the rules. They should be making the rules, not the NRA. The guys with the guns should not be making the rules: MORE: http://www.commongunsense.com/2012/04/accountability-and-responsibility-for.html
To join the Brady campaign on facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/bradycampaign

posted by thinkingblue at 12:28 PM

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Where Does America's Bigotry and Hate Come From?

Where Does America's Bigotry and Hate Come From?
‘Long Live Zimmerman’ painted on Ohio State’s black cultural center
Ohio State’s University Police are investigating after someone spray-painted “Long Live Zimmerman” on the campus’ black cultural center.

University newspaper The Lantern reported that the racially-charged graffiti was apparently left Wednesday night or early Thursday morning on the Hale Hall building, which houses the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center. The message is thought to be in support of George Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watchmen who admitted to the February killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teen.

“Ignorance is bliss,” Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center Executive Director Larry Williamson told 10TV. “We want the person brought to trial, caught. We want to make sure these kinds of things don’t happen.”

Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee insisted in a statement that police were “vigorously investigating the incident.”

“Early this morning, I learned of a racially charged act of vandalism at our Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center,” Gee said. “Let me be very clear: This is not who we are at Ohio State. Racism will not be tolerated on our campus.”

The graffiti has since been power-washed from the building. Williamson said that security would also be increased in that area of campus.

It was not immediately clear if the police had any suspects or if surveillance cameras monitored the area. MORE AT LINK BELOW:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/05/long-live-zimmerman-painted-on-ohio-states-black-cultural-center/
---
So where does all America's bigotry come from? It’s an age old question that no one (especially experts) seems to have a strong enough desire to answer. (or just maybe there is no acceptable answer) Of course we know human beings have the capacity to detest one another to the point of wanting to erase certain individuals or groups from existence.  Many feel a satisfaction in hatred and actually enjoy it. It is well, sort of a release valve (through rationalizing) for the inadequacies they mentally experience.  They feel abused within the system they live and need scapegoats to blame all this hurt upon. Also they endure inferiority and exhibiting intolerant behavior, gives them someone to look down on; which in return gives them a feeling of EXALTATION.
As long as we have the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter et.al, who espouse bigotry and hate, over the airwaves; processing and editing their listeners and viewers thoughts for them, there will forever be repulsive occurrences like this. I wish we could find a cure because it is just like a cancer that will, slowly and eventually destroy the whole civilized system we (all of us) live in.
Oddly, that appears to be exactly what the far right-wing long for. thinkingblue






PS: BTW, Homeschooling also adds quite a bit of hate and fear to the mix… (PITY THE LITTLE CHILDREN WHO LEARN (from their parents) TO BE AFRAID TO LIVE.)
EXCERPTS: Homeschooling has become so popular with fundamentalist Christians because, “there is an atmosphere of real terror among some evangelicals. They are horrified by the fact that Obama is president, and they see the New Atheist movement as a vocal, in-your-face threat. Plus, they are obsessed with the End Times, and believe that the Apocalypse could happen any day now...They see a demon on every corner.
“We homeschooled because we wanted to protect our children from what we viewed as the total secularization of America. We listened to people like Rush Limbaugh, who told us that America was in the clutches of evil liberal feminist atheists.”
Evil LIBERALS, FEMINISTS and ATHEISTS, Oh My!!!
 Ignorance is NOT bliss but for hate-mongers like Rush Limbaugh, it pays off BIG$$$$$$
Barely Literate? How Christian Fundamentalist Homeschooling Hurts Kids
The Religious Right touts homeschooling as the "responsible" educational choice. But what about the kids whose parents opt-out of the system -- and out of educating them, as well?
http://www.alternet.org/belief/154541/barely_literate_how_christian_fundamentalist_homeschooling_hurts_kids?
In recent weeks, homeschooling has received nationwide attention because of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s homeschooling family. Though Santorum paints a rosy picture of homeschooling in the United States, and calls attention to the “responsibility” all parents have to take their children’s education into their own hands, he fails to acknowledge the very real potential for educational neglect among some homeschooling families – neglect that has been taking place for decades, and continues to this day.

While the practice of homeschooling is new to many people, my own interest in it was sparked nearly 20 years ago. I was a socially awkward adolescent with a chaotic family life, and became close to a conservative Christian homeschooling family that seemed perfect in every way. Through my connection to this family, I was introduced to a whole world of conservative Christian homeschoolers, some of whom we would now consider “Quiverfull” families: homeschooling conservatives who eschew any form of family planning and choose instead to “trust God” with matters related to procreation.

Though I fell out of touch with my homeschooled friends as we grew older, a few years ago, I reconnected with a few ex-Quiverfull peers on a new support blog called No Longer Quivering. Poring over their stories, I was shocked to find so many tales of gross educational neglect. I don’t merely mean that they had received what I now view as an overly politicized education with huge gaps, for example, in American history, evolution or sexuality. Rather, what disturbed me were the many stories about homeschoolers who were barely literate when they graduated, or whose math and science education had never extended much past middle school. MORE HERE

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posted by thinkingblue at 1:36 PM

Thursday, April 05, 2012

WTF? YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.

Welcome to the Cockroach Tea Party.
Az. Official Considers Expanding Awful Ban on Ethnic Studies to Universities
 EXCERPT: {{legislators arguing that teenagers were not old enough to question race-sensitive topics in the classroom, -- college students aren’t old enough either.}}

I GUESS THESE LEGISLATORS (in the cockroach tea party) HAVEN'T SPENT MUCH TIME AROUND TEENAGERS... I wish these people would stay in the woodwork, with the other cockroaches’, where they belong.
EXCERPT: {{Their recent rap sheet includes a bill passed by the Senate that would allow doctors to withhold lifesaving information from women in order to prevent abortions, a bill that passed several procedural votes that would force all students on financial aid—except athletes—to pay at least $2,000 in tuition costs, and a bill that’s been floating around the Senate that would suspend professors for using profanity or teaching “indecent” materials in class.}}
OMG!!!!! Like I said… GO BACK IN TO THE WOODWORK and leave the thinking up to those who can THINK!
  GOOD GRIEF, when will ALL this insanity stop? thinkingblue
PS: My apologies to the cockroaches of our planet.
Another BEFUDDLE from these nincompoops that THINKING people like me, and YOU, help bring into the LIGHT OF DAY. (Cockroaches hate that!)
The Daily Show with Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tucson's Mexican-American Studies Ban
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook



Az. Official Considers Expanding Awful Ban on Ethnic Studies to Universities
They’re at it again.
Two years ago, the Arizona state legislature passed a law that effectively banned all public K-12 schools from teaching ethnic studies, with legislators arguing that teenagers were not old enough to question race-sensitive topics in the classroom.
And according to Arizona’s top education official, college students aren’t old enough either.
Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal recently said that ethnic studies programs taught at state universities are “toxic” because they teach students to resent Anglos.
“I think that’s where this toxic thing starts from, the universities,” Huppenthal told Fox News. “To me, the pervasive problem was the lack of balance going on in these classes.”
Huppenthal’s comments, combined with the possibility of even more government intrusion into what is taught in Arizona’s classrooms, have alarmed educators throughout the state.
“It’s an affront to freedom of speech,” Antonio Estrada, the director of the Mexican American Studies program at the University of Arizona, responded to Fox. “We do not indoctrinate, we educate.”
While the legislature hasn’t taken official action to extend the ban on ethnic studies to public colleges, the governing body does have a disturbing tendency to embrace the controversial.
Their recent rap sheet includes a bill passed by the Senate that would allow doctors to withhold lifesaving information from women in order to prevent abortions, a bill that passed several procedural votes that would force all students on financial aid—except athletes—to pay at least $2,000 in tuition costs, and a bill that’s been floating around the Senate that would suspend professors for using profanity or teaching “indecent” materials in class. MORE HERE http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/876597/az._official_considers_expanding_awful_ban_on_ethnic_studies_to_universities/

posted by thinkingblue at 11:46 AM

Who The Hell Does the STAND YOUR GROUND LAW Protect?

Another STAND YOUR GROUND (loathsome) LAW, travesty. Collier judge upholds 'Stand Your Ground' stabbing death defense in teen's bus stop bullying
Silly me, I thought it was illegal to take a knife to school. Well, I guess NOTHING is illegal under this perverted law (except maybe HUGGING). This just proves how much our children are in peril. I wonder how many more lives will have to be lost before someone takes a close look at the destruction the NRA and their multi-million dollar lobbies have caused. What a rotten society they have created; welcome to the wild (lawless) west of yesteryear, only in this new "WILD WEST", it's legal to murder anyone who you believe is looking at you cockeyed.
Please watch MSNBC's Chris Hayes discuss this despicable law with his panel. It's an inspiring and informative WOW, if you haven't seen it before. thinkingblue

Collier judge upholds 'Stand Your Ground' stabbing death defense in teen's bus stop bullying
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/jan/03/collier-judge-upholds-stand-your-ground-defense-ca/
By VICTORIA MACCHI
NAPLES — A 15-year-old who fatally stabbed his school mate will no longer face criminal prosecution.

A judge’s ruling, made public Tuesday, granted a motion to dismiss the second-degree murder charge against Jorge Saavedra in the death of 16-year-old Dylan Nuno on the grounds that he acted in self-defense under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The State Attorney’s Office has indicated that it will not appeal the ruling.

Nuno’s family and friends criticized Collier County Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie’s decision, calling it “unbelievable” and “heartbreaking.”

“We know this wasn’t the right decision,” said Dylan’s aunt, Adriana Nuno.“(The judge) is showing those kids it’s OK to get away with murder.”

Saavedra, who was 14 at the time of the stabbing, was charged as a juvenile. If found guilty, the former Palmetto Ridge High student would have been released by the age of 21.

Brodie’s ruling concluded that Saavadra, who said he was bullied and tried avoid a fight with Nuno, did not act unlawfully. She added that Saavadra had more than enough reason to believe he was in danger of death or great bodily harm.

Brodie based her decision this week on the findings from a two-day December hearing, during which students who witnessed the events Jan. 24, 2011, testified that several teens announced the fight on the bus, and Saavedra got off several stops early in Golden Gate Estates. Saavedra showed a pocket knife to two teens on the bus that afternoon.

In a nine-page document released Tuesday by the State Attorney’s Office, Brodie stated that by getting off the bus several stops before the location where the fight was to happen, Saavedra “demonstrated that, with or without a knife, (he) had no desire to fight with Dylan Nuno.”

Accompanied by several students, Dylan Nuno, a junior, followed Saavedra, a freshman, off the bus. He then punched him in the back of the head, according to court documents and testimony.

Saavedra attempted to get away once, witnesses said. He then stabbed Dylan Nuno 12 times in the chest and abdomen. Two of the blows caused fatal wounds, including one that nicked his heart.
MORE HERE
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'Stand your ground' law protects those who go far beyond that point
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/article1222930.ece
The men responsible for Florida's controversial "stand your ground'' law are certain about one thing: Because of his actions before he pulled the trigger and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman is not protected from criminal prosecution.

Because Zimmerman exited his vehicle, because he followed Martin, because his actions put him in a situation where he felt it necessary to shoot a boy dead, he should be booked, jailed and forced to face a jury of his peers.

Said Durell Peaden, the former Republican senator from Crestview who sponsored the bill: "The guy lost his defense right then. When he said, 'I'm following him,' he lost his defense."

Said Jeb Bush, the governor who signed the bill into law: "Stand your ground means stand your ground. It doesn't mean chase after somebody who's turned their back."

But they are wrong.

Since its passage in 2005, the "stand your ground'' law has protected people who have pursued another, initiated a confrontation and then used deadly force to defend themselves. Citing the law, judges have granted immunity to killers who put themselves in danger, so long as their pursuit was not criminal, so long as the person using force had a right to be there, and so long as he could convince the judge he was in fear of great danger or death.

The Tampa Bay Times has identified 140 cases across the state in which "stand your ground'' has been invoked, and many involve defendants whose lives were clearly in jeopardy. But at least a dozen share similarities with what we know about the Trayvon Martin case, and they show the law has not always worked as its sponsors say they intended.

Early morning, Jan. 25, 2011. Greyston Garcia was in his apartment in Miami when a roommate told him someone was stealing the radio from his truck.

Garcia grabbed a kitchen knife and ran outside. The burglar saw him coming, grabbed his bag of stolen radios and fled.

Rather than calling the police, Garcia chased the thief down the street and caught up to him a block away. The confrontation lasted less than a minute and was captured on surveillance video. The thief swung the bag of radios at Garcia, who blocked the bag with his left hand and stabbed the thief in the chest with his right.

Pedro Roteta, 26, died in the street.

Those are the facts. You be the judge. MORE HERE

posted by thinkingblue at 11:22 AM

Monday, April 02, 2012

Not A Christian, Then GET OUT!

So says, GOP Pastor Dennis Terry
I created this video using a clip from an Internet News Media about a month ago. Since that time so many sad and wretched events have taken place that I did not do too much more than upload it to my Youtube channel "thethinkingblue". Today I thought I would send it around to my usual daily blogs. It says a lot about the mentality of the Christian Right. These people seem to have the delusion that America belongs to only them. If you don't agree with said, THEM, they want you to leave so they can do what they want with America the Beautiful. If this could happen (thank all that is good, it cannot) the THEM would set the clocks of technology and freedom back, oh say, 'bout many thousands of years, take or leave a thousand years or two. People like Dennis Terry are so full of themselves; they believe that an all powerful, all omnipotent SUPERNATURAL BEING who created every last molecule, proton, electron, neutron, of mass and gas, cares about their pathetic accidental arrival into this fortuitous existence. GOOD GOD, NOW THAT'S HUBRIS! Please watch the video below. thinkingblue

More Links Below

posted by thinkingblue at 11:21 AM

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Why hasn't George Zimmermann been arrested?

Trayvon Martin case audio: Screams were not George Zimmerman's, 2 experts say
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/01/10963191-trayvon-martin-case-audio-screams-were-not-george-zimmermans-2-experts-say
The voice heard crying for help on a 911 call just before Trayvon Martin was shot to death was not that of George Zimmerman, according to two forensic voice identification experts, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday.

Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, told the Sentinel that he used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman.

Zimmerman told police that he screamed for help during his confrontation with Martin, 17. He claims the shooting was self-defense.
Why hasn't George Zimmermann been arrested? It makes no sense AT ALL! As for the screams, how dare this coward (Zimmermann) claim the screams were his? He was the stalker, he was the aggressor and then he (in the eyes of all that is loathsome) becomes the victim? No one should be tried and convicted before their day in court but when will that day become a reality? The longer this drags on the more absurd and wretched it becomes. thinkingblue

Trayvon Martin case: Why hasn't George Zimmerman been arrested?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0328/Trayvon-Martin-case-Why-hasn-t-George-Zimmerman-been-arrested-video
Why didn’t the Sanford, Fla., police arrest George Zimmerman after he shot Trayvon Martin Feb. 26? That’s a question that today is more relevant than ever amid reports the lead investigator in the case thought Mr. Zimmerman should be charged with manslaughter for his actions.

Trayvon Martin's parents went before a congressional panel and thanked those who turned their 17-year-old son's death into a cry against racial profiling. Martin's parents spoke at a Capitol Hill forum that began with a moment of silence.

The investigator, Chris Serino, was unconvinced by Zimmerman’s assertion that he resorted to deadly force in self-defense, according to ABC News. Mr. Serino filed an affidavit to that effect on the night of the killing.

But Serino’s superiors, in turn, were apparently unconvinced by Serino’s reasoning. They did not take Zimmerman into custody because of two words: “probable cause.”
This story becomes more heart wrenching with each passing day. The boy is gone, I wish we could bring him back but we can bring about closure with justice. WHAT ARE THEY WATING FOR? thinkingblue
Thousands of marchers took buses Saturday to take part in a large protest in the Florida town where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in February. The protesters demanded justice for the teen.

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CLICK FOR SITEFlorida Turns ‘Gunshine State’ After Years of Republican Control
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/florida-turns-gunshine-state-after-years-of-republican-control.html
EXCERPTS: “The goal of the gun lobby is to make Florida their armed utopia and spread that mentality nationally,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
In Tallahassee, the NRA has won battles with business interests, police departments, local governments and pediatricians since 1999, when Republicans won control of the Legislature and the governor’s office. The organization has championed 38 laws since then to expand rights to conceal, possess, display, discharge, sell or transfer firearms, according to state records.
That helped put Florida among the 10 states with the laxest gun laws, according to a 2011 scorecard from the Brady Campaign, which advocates gun control.
While the Sunshine State’s violent crime has decreased, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, gun- related fatalities increased 35 percent from 1999 to 2009, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s double the rate of population growth during that time and seven times greater than the national average.
It’s the Gunshine State,” said Kent Morden, manager at U.S. Pawn & Auto Inc. in Longwood, standing near a case of assault rifles surmounted with a remote-control plastic robot toy. “Everybody’s got one.”
The state of about 19 million has about 6 million gun owners, Hammer said. About 800,000 have concealed-carry permits that allow them to carry hidden firearms, according to Florida Agriculture Department statistics. In 2004, then-Governor Jeb Bush signed bills that blocked police from collecting data on firearm sales at pawnshops and barred lawsuits over cleaning up lead at gun ranges.
Then-Governor Charlie Crist signed a law in 2010 forbidding adoption agencies from considering gun ownership when matching children with prospective parents.
And last year, Republican Governor Rick Scott, an NRA member, approved the so-called “docs versus Glocks” statute. The law prohibits doctors from asking patients whether they have guns. Pediatricians opposed the bill, comparing questions about firearms to asking about using car seats or keeping poisons in the home.
Also see:
New Gun Law in Florida Might Land Me in Jail!
http://www.betterparentinginstitute.com/Better-Parenting/parenting-child-raising-skills/new-gun-law-in-florida-might-land-me-in-jail/
A law passed by the Florida legislature and likely
to be signed by Republican Governor Rick Scott
would make it a crime for doctors to counsel parents
about gun safety in the home.
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It's hard to fathom the reach and power the NRA and its lobbies have. How many children must suffer and die because of this insanity? Why can't something be done to stop the madness? There are many who do not agree with the psychopathic philosophies of the NRA, yet we all must live under their will. WHY?  It’s got to be more than just money but unfortunately, money talks the language of oppression and so the tyranny continues. thinkingblue.
More Links Below

posted by thinkingblue at 4:54 PM