Republicans are stupid and evil

An amount roughly proportional to our desire not to have to deal with the effects of widespread overpopulation, poverty, famine, AIDS epidemics, mass migration, and political instability?

Well, until someone who feels differently than Bush becomes president of the U.S., to which we'll probably walk back.. which is hopefully in a few years.

Sigh, you know I'm really getting fucking sick of all the doom talk about this Republican regime... Things swing back and forth at a relatively rapid pace here in the U.S., politically, and it has for quite a while. And it will likely remain that way for the next decade.

Why is it that when leaderships we support initiate something, it's rarely mentioned, but when leaderships decide to withdraw support from something, we assume it's this final thing written in stone that we'll *never* support again? I'm almost starting to feel ashamed to be associated with American left wingers, now.

Mind you, I am upset when I hear about stuff like this -- and there are rare cases, such as adding Supreme Court justices, where the effects are practically final -- but as for the common case, for fuck's sake... it's a bump in the road, not the end times.

Also, wouldn't his view that "life begins before a sperm fertilizes an egg" severely cramp his ability to make decisions on 99% of contraceptive drugs?

DB -- I would rather have the outrage that has been expressed in the last few days than a "just bear it, it'll get better, it's all good" attitude -- of course, that outrage will have to translate into action for it to truly be beneficial -- for it to keep the pendulum, as you put it, swinging right along.

You are right in all points, and that first post of mine was very impulsive, I admit. I think just the sheer volume of doomsaying is just getting to me. So, I apologize.

I believe Nabisco and others have been cogently pointing this out all along... but a big form of this action would be extremely useful if it could somehow educate most Americans as to how much effect their country has on the rest of the world. I think most Americans know the U.S. is one of the most powerful forces in the world, if not the most. But I don't think they realize what that means, or really care. That's the crux of these global problems were having right now. Calling Republicans stupid and evil is only helping to steer things away from confronting this crux.

There is, I believe, a serious PR gap between the GOP and the Democrats. The GOP is much better about dictating the agenda in exceedingly simple terms. They've had an easy time doing so in large part, I think, because the Democrats are hanging back out of unwillingness to repeat Clinton-era mudslinging. And as a result, the hanging-back then turns into backtracking and "no, but it's like this" explaining, which -- and I hate to say this, but I mean it happens to me too -- loses people. (I feel like this whole scenario also underlines why the judicial system is based on the 'innocent until proven guilty' ideal -- it's much harder to prove a negative.)

I mean, all of the vehement hollering/characterization of the GOP as 'evil,' etc I've heard has come from not politicans, but pundits and laypeople -- ones who are frustrated beyond a shadow of a doubt at what they see around them, but who feel they have no recourse to get their viewpoints across aside from screaming (at least in the mid90s the right-wingers had talk radio).

It also ignores the fact that Democrats are stupid and evil. We need to break things down to the "regardless of ideology, the average human being is a rampaging asshole" level before a cogent and durable model for productive social interaction can be formulated.

no, but groups of them are.

>Subject: Important note about Bush's plan to appoint
>Dr. Hager to head FDA Reproductive Health Drugs
>Advisory Committee
>
>
>President Bush has announced his plan
>to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and
>Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs
>Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for
>more than two years, during which time its charter
>lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is
>tasked with filling all eleven positions with new
>members. This position does not require Congressional
>approval.
>
>The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee
>makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs
>used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and
>related specialties, including hormone therapy,
>contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical
>alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization
>and pregnancy termination.
>
>Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far
>outside the mainstream for reproductive technology.
>Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes
>himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe
>contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the
>author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women
>Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of
>Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's
>practice.
>
>In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled
>"Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women
>who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help
>from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and
>contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A
>Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive
>Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to
>have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that
>the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
>
>Hager's mission is religiously motivated. He has an
>ardent interest in revoking approval for mifepristone
>(formerly known as RU-486)
>as a safe and early form of medical abortion. Hagar
>recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in
>a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to
>revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of
>women's health.
>
>Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on
>religious grounds rather than scientific merit would
>halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment
>for numerous medical conditions disproportionately
>affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine
>cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression,
>bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome.
>
>Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe
>and effective drugs for reproductive health care
>including products that prevent pregnancy. For some
>women, such as those with certain types of diabetes
>and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy
>can be a life-threatening condition. We are concerned
>that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color
>his assessment of technologies that are necessary to
>protect women's lives or to preserve and promote
>women's health.
>
>Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to
>guide his medical decision-making makes him a
>dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as
>chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy
>and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion
>politics.
>Members of this important panel should be appointed on
>the basis of science and medicine, rather than
>politics and religion. American women deserve no
>less.

Barrientos said he wanted to honor Nelson "for so much good music and so many good works."

or construction time again, perhaps?!?