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Entries in social conservatives (61)

Tuesday
May082012

President Obama Endorses Gay Marriage | Meet France's New First Lady Valerie Trierweiler, A Fresh Face

Daily French Roast

Anne is reading …

One key line in the sand between President Barack Obama and Republican contender Mitt Romney has been drawn today, and the topic is gay marriage. In a dramatic nod to his own constituency of Democrats who heavily favor gay marriage — and that includes large numbers of Catholic voters — President Obama became the first sitting president to declare this afternoon his support for same-sex marriage. Huff Po writes:

The statement constitutes an act of political bravery on the president’s behalf, as well as a major victory for the gay rights community, which has been pushing him to declare his support for marriage equality for several years. With the issue back in the news this week, the pressure intensified.

Mitt Romney does not agree, when asked for his views on gay marriage, telling POLITICO’s Reid Epstein:

“Well when these issues were raised in my state of Massachusetts, I indicated my view, which is I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name. My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not.”

Related: Liberal Donors’ Plan Worries Top Democrats NYTimes

Hatch calls on IRS to probe whether staffer leader anti-gay marriage group’s files FOX News

A Real Conversion for the Rest of Us Catholics Huff Po

More DFR

France’s New First Lady

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of defeated French President Sarkozy, will exit the Elysee Palace stage left, as the new first lady Valerie Trierweiler prepares for her new role alongside President-elect Francois Hollande. Adding spice to the French election result is the fact that twice-divorced journalist Trierweiler “stole” her man, according to the Washington Post, from “Segolene Royal, the mother of Hollande’s four children and a former presidential candidate now seeking her own seat of political power.”

After losing to Sarkozy in 2007, Royal asked Hollande to leave the family home, given his full-blown relationship with Trierweiler. Now she seeks the position as speaker of France’s lower house of parliament, if the Socialists win June’s legislative elections.

Unlike her supermodel predecessor, Valerie wears high-street shops or mid-range labels. Her trademark look consists of a trench-coat or a blazer, a simple shirt, ample trousers and small heels — often accessorized by a Gérard Darel handbag and a colorful silk scarf, writes Fashionista.

Florence Willaert, editor-at-large at French Grazia, describes France’s new first lady. “She is discreet, real, and a lot easier to identity with. She embodies the same message as her husband: a new proximity to the people.”  The couple intends to live in their apartment in a Parisian neighborhood, not the Elysee Palace.

DateTue, May 8, 2012 in , , , tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Friday
May042012

UniteWomen.org Calls Out PA (R) Congressman Joseph Pitts, Sponsor of HR 358 "Let Women Die" Bill

Joseph Pitts (R) PA

Open Congress Summary: Amends the new health care law so that no federal money could be applied to health insurance plans that cover elective abortions, even if the abortion coverage is paid for entirely with private funds. It also states that a federal agency can not force a health care provider that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to provide abortion services, even in cases when the mother’s life is endangered.

The above need to know about PA (R) Congressman Joseph Pitts is a public service announcement by UniteWomen.org.

MS Magazine wrote about Joseph Pitts and his Catholic bishops-driven vision of women’s rights:

The provision of the amendment that frees hospitals that refuse to perform emergency abortions from even the legal obligation of stabilizing and transferring individuals also creates a direct conflict with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which since 1986 has required them to do so. This “conscience clause” would also overturn the recent Health and Human Services Department decision that requires contraception be covered by insurance at no additional cost.

Based on a recent Catholic survey, conducted by Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, only about 14% of Catholics support Joe Pitts’ bill as Catholics who refuse to accept abortion under any circumstances. “Another 37 percent said it should be legal in just a few cases, 27 percent said it should be legal in most cases and 21 percent said it should be legal in all cases. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points,” writes PolitiFact.

Just yesterday, Cardinal Dolan admitted that the majority of Catholics don’t stand with his church on not permitting contraception or the demand of Catholic bishops that the Obama contraception mandate compromise infringes on their religious liberty. Listen to Cardinal Dolan at 2:30 on religious freedom.

Even more interesting, listen to Cardinal Dolan talk about Republican attitudes about immigration and substitute dying women in hospitals for immigrant families. With all due respect, I’ll agree that Cardinal Dolan is smooth. But let’s just get all the facts on the table in the Catholic bishops war on women.

The Catholic Church now owns one hospital in six in America. Even without HR 358 American women now are left to die in emergency rooms and not even stabilized, if a needed drug or medical procedure could possibly harm her 1” zygote. Her existing children don’t matter nor does her distraught husband, because SHE has no right to personhood.

We all need to listen to each other and let the voters decide what’s right for the future of our daughters and granddaughters in America. As for contraception, Cardinal Dolan says that the bishops must “get our act together on contraception”. It didn’t sound like the bishops would be bending but rather launching a major new legislative assault on women’s rights to contraception in America.

Is Joe Pitts the Catholic bishops’ man to ban birth control in America?

(R) Congressman Joseph Pitts works for the Catholic bishops and not for the voters of Pennsylvania OR the rights of American women, men and families. Pennsylvanians must FIRE Joseph Pitts at the ballot box in November. Let him become a Catholic bishop because he refuses to represent the beliefs of the vast majority of Americans and American Catholics and to uphold the core Republican-led Supreme Court decisions giving women the right to control our reproductive choices.

The people MUST claim our rights in November 2012 by firing Republican Joseph Pitts. ~Anne

Related May 5, 2012: PA Aryanna Strader (D) vs Rep Joe Pitts (R) | Big Pharma & Heath Care Against Women’s Rights

DateFri, May 4, 2012 in , , tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Thursday
May032012

Motivated Reasoning in American Politics | Was Richard Grenell More Republican Misogyny? 

Daily French Roast

Anne is reading …

The Republican Brain

Any book entitled The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science — and Reality is certain to create controversy. The Atlantic publishes an informative and comparatively neutral passage from Chris Mooney’s analysis of how we’re built for bias in public life.

The idea is called ‘motivated reasoning’ — thought and argument that sounds rational and debate-worthy but actually isn’t.

Our human brains are the product of an evolutionary process. The older parts — including the subcortex and the limbic regions — operate in the nether land of survival of the fittest and fight or flight response, riddled with often involuntary, rapid-response reactions.

The more sophisticated prefrontal cortex is able to reason abstractly, learn language and generally drive decision-making with more conscious, goal-directed behavior. Comparatively-speaking, the prefrontal cortex runs slow.

Another potential liability expresses itself also in the way our old brain functions with our new one. The theory of motivated reasoning prompts us to protect our theories with “a diverse battery of cognitive defenses designed to repel attacks” on our positions, writes psychologist Paul Klaczynski of the University of Northern Colorado.

Perhaps motivated reasoning isn’t a liability but an asset. It’s possible that human reason didn’t evolve as the pursuit of the objective truth. The power of persuasion, getting members of your group to behave in a specific way, has historically been key to group survival and the development of civilization. 

Motivated reasoning inevitably leads to bias, as both Republicans and Democrats employ selective reasoning skills to reinforce our key beliefs and keep us on track.

By the same token, the theory also suggests that if you insulate yourself from belief challenge, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to the worst flaws of reasoning, without deriving any of the benefits of it.

DFR Boys Club

Richard Grenell: More Republican Misogyny?

The short-lived appointment of openly gay Richard Grenell, who formerly served as an aide to John R. Bolton, United States ambassador to the United Nations in the Bush Administration, focuses on the rejection on his homosexuality and support for same-sex marriage.

Writing about Grenell’s departure before getting started, the NY Times says:

“It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay,” one Republican adviser said. “They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.” Like many interviewed, this adviser insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Indeed the right responded. “If personnel is policy, his message to the pro-family community: drop dead,” Tweeted Bryan Fischer, a Romney critic with the American Family Association.

Ironically, Grenell himself had a history on Twitter. Before dwelling on his “women issues”, it’s a fact that the Romney appointee swiped at Newt Gingrich, saying “I wonder if newt has investments in Lipitor.” Suddenly gone were 800 other Tweets, mostly targeted at women.

Examples of Grenell’s now deleted Tweets include:

Obama: No Condom Left Behind

rachel maddow needs to take a breath and put on a necklace

Hillary is starting to look liek Madeline Albright

note to children: when your mom is a grandmother DO NOT let her wear backless dresses

#FreeContraception is really Obama’s population control strategy

More Boys Club

Dolan Admits Catholics Don’s Agree With Church’s Birth Control Prohibition Think Progress

DateThu, May 3, 2012 in , , , tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
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