Down with FEMA!!!

Manhattan, during Hurricane Sandy

During one of the 2011 GOP presidential debates sponsored by CNN, Mitt Romney argued that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be disbanded and replaced by handing over the responsibility to the states to deal with their own emergencies.

Here’s what the Republican candidate had to say when asked whether FEMA should be shut down:

“Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?”

When moderator, John King, responded “Including disaster relief, though?”, Mitt Romney had this to say—

“We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids.It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.
 

                                                                           -Forbes Magazine

“Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions.  As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA."
 

                                                                  -Statement by Romney spokesman Ryan Williams

The Will of God

..."even when life begins with that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen." ...

"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something God intended to happen."

                                       -Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Indiana

It's A Black Thing: Do Black People Support Obama Just Because He's Black?

Snoop Dog's top ten reasons to vote for Obama, and top ten reasons to vote against Romney.  Besides being hilarious (look at number 5 on the Obama side, and number 9 on the Romney side), people are actually using this list and the recent dust-up with Stacy Dash supporting Romney to advance the notion that black people are only voting for Obama because he is black.  Is it true?

Losing Our Religion

...That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion...

                                                          -R.E.M.

It isn't because Obama is the Anti-Christ. More Americans than ever before identify as having "no religion".   According to a recent Pew survey, the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow, as 20% of Americans and 33% of adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated today. This include 13 million atheists and agnostics (almost 6% of the U.S. public),and almost 33 million people who have no particular religious affiliation (14%). What does that mean for Americans?

The Price of Sex

I've been thinking about Emily's piece on The War on Women, and how some issues have become perennial flashpoints. I think in the end, it all boils down to how "cheap" (easy to obtain) sex is in our culture, and how many social conservatives have a deep unease with this notion.  Most conservative social issues boil down to varying strategies to make sex more expensive, especially for women.

"Legitimate Rape"

First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

                                                                                                             - Rep. Todd Akin

7 Fun (And Not-So-Fun) Facts About Paul Ryan

There is a joke in there, somewhere...

So some of you may have heard that Romney picked a running mate this past weekend, Paul Ryan, a Representative from Wisconsin.  And you may have wondered, who is that guy with the creepy eyes that I may, or may not have heard of before?  Well, we have some answers for you, below the fold...

The 7 Worst Vice Presidential Picks

Speculation regarding who Mitt Romney will choose as his running mate is reaching a crescendo, though he probably won't announce a pick until after the Olympics are over. Conventional wisdom has Portman from Ohio, or Pawlenty from Minnesota as possible VP picks for Romney. Some others point to Paul Ryan or even General Petraeus. More forward thinkers point to Bat Boy as Romney's clear choice. Here is a guide to some stinkers that some of Mitt's predecessors have made when selecting their running mates. To keep it simple, I have confined the picks to choices who had problems that were widely known by the time Election Day came around.

The Fiscal Cliff

The so-called “fiscal cliff” is coming, looming just ahead, and if we aren’t careful, the entire country may fall off of it.  What is the fiscal cliff, you may be asking?