“I used to hope and dream. Now I just keep a couple fingers crossed.”
-Aunt Betty’s Almanac
Archive for February, 2012|Monthly archive page
Aunt Betty on Being Liberal
In Aunt Betty's Almanac on February 29, 2012 at 6:59 amFrack It!
In Video on February 24, 2012 at 12:20 pmNew Video from Lester & Charlie’s
Do It At Home, America!
Series
Getting a fracking company interested in your property is easier than you think. Just ask your neighbors!
Follow this handy instructional video and watch the dollars start pouring in!
Cookie Monsters
In Poll on February 23, 2012 at 3:53 pm
This Week’s Poll!
“I have been told that, as of today, I am the only member not supporting the Girl Scout Resolution.” ~Indiana State Rep. Bob Morris, to fellow GOP House members
We’re not sure how many of you were worrying that the Girl Scouts of America were scheming to turn your daughters into sex-crazed lesbian Communists ready to go on abortion sprees, but, if you are, Bob Morris is on your side!
Morris is the Indiana State Representative who became a laughingstock this week when he sent a letter to his GOP colleagues concluding that the Girl Scouts of America had formed a “close strategic affiliation with” and had become the “tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.” He called the GSA a “radicalized organization” that was out to promote “homosexual lifestyles” and make girls receptive to the “pro-abortion agenda.”
Morris says he got all this information from the Internet. Of course he did. Where else? Is there anything that the Internet can’t prove? It didn’t even take him long: in his words, he simply talked to “some well-informed constituents” and did “a small amount of web-based research” before reaching his shocking conclusion, which also resulted in Morris being the only member of the Indiana House to object to the resolution honoring the GSA’s 100th birthday.
Morris is sticking to his story, despite denials of any affiliation from both the GSA and Planned Parenthood — and in spite of House Speaker and fellow Republican Brian Bosma ridiculing him and handing out hundreds of Girl Scout cookies to fellow legislators last Tuesday. But surely that won’t discourage such an intrepid investigator! More conspiracies are merely a click away. So what’s the next cherished institution that Morris will discover has been infiltrated by evil liberals? What do YOU think?
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And now, check out this week’s featured video:
One more look at MICHELE BACHMANN:
Side By Side
In Study Break on February 22, 2012 at 8:59 pm
President Bush was applauded for his dancing and President Obama has been criticized for his signing. Without commentary, here’s a side-by-side comparison. We want to know your opinion on who is the hipper Prez.
Contestant #1:
Twinkle Toes Bush
Contestant #2:
Mick Jagger Hands Over The Mic
Quick Poll:
This Week’s Monthly Book Club Selections!
In Book Club on February 21, 2012 at 10:58 am
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, by Doug Richmond
Snow Caves for Fun or Survival, by Ernest Wilkinson
To Put It Bluntly…
In Poll on February 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm
This Week’s Poll!
Missouri Republican and U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, who has already stated that Medicare has never done anything to make anyone healthy, has some big new ideas about health insurance. In case you hadn’t heard, Blunt isn’t sure you should have any. Not if your employer has any objection to paying for it.
The kerfuffle between Obama and the Catholic Church over coverage of contraception has taken a new turn. Blunt, in an amendment he’s proposing to a bipartisan highway bill, wants to allow any employer to deny coverage on a whim. “It would allow anyone to deny any health-care service for any reason,” said California Senator Barbara Boxer. This is no longer just about the Catholic Church objecting to providing birth control. This is about any employer objecting to covering anything, regardless of religion.
In fact, the National Women’s Law Center pointed out that the amendment is so broad it would allow an employer’s view of “morality” to dictate what health coverage does and does not get covered. It even goes as far as to allow employers to sue if state or federal regulators try to enforce coverage. Just imagine working for a Jehovah’s Witness and needing a blood transfusion.
Of course, Blunt’s amendment has gotten lots of support from the likes of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House GOP Leader Eric Cantor and America’s favorite lunatic Glenn Beck.
So employers, without having to cite even a religious objection, have the right to deny any coverage of any specific treatment to their employees, for any reason whatsoever? This almost sounds like an argument in favor of getting employers out of the insurance game all together and leaving insurance to the federal government. But we’re pretty sure this is not what Roy Blunt has in mind.
We’ve put our heads together to try to imagine how all of this, if Blunt’s amendment passes, will play out. What do YOU think? If Roy Blunt has his way, what should we expect to see from certain employers’ insurance plans in the near future?
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And now, check out this week’s featured video:
Lester & Charlie Show You How To Make Your Own LIGHT BEER:
Aunt Betty on Honesty
In Aunt Betty's Almanac on February 15, 2012 at 11:48 am
“I know that most of my Republican friends want to be honest, but they just can’t keep their mouths shut.”
-Aunt Betty’s Almanac
Important Update on Purple Squirrels
In Study Break on February 11, 2012 at 12:02 pm
When the first purple squirrel was captured in 1997, you probably though it was a fluke. And when the second was brought under control in 2008, you probably thought you’d heard the last of them. But then, just this week, Percy and Connie Emert of Pennsylvania found another one right in own back yard.
Leading theories on how the squirrel got purple range from genetic foul-ups or a diet of too much bromide to the possibility that someone from PETA involuntarily threw paint on it after spotting some fur.
In case you want to communicate with the purple squirrel or express your own theories on how he got that way, surf on over to his Facebook page.
Saturday’s Video Vault Selection
In Video on February 10, 2012 at 7:41 pmMake Your Own Coupon!
Need to cut corners and scrimp and save wherever you can? Easy! Let Lester & Charlie show you how to make your own coupons!
Oops!
In Poll on February 9, 2012 at 6:55 pm
This Week’s Poll!
When is news not really news? No, we’re not talking about FOX. We’re talking about satire.
You know the culture wars have spun out of control when no one can tell the fake news from the real. Even hard-nosed reporters like Rachel Maddow can be susceptible, as just last year she reported on a story from the satirical website christwire.org about a supposed Evangelical campaign to get Sarah Palin to invade Egypt.
With things at this kind of fever pitch, even the best of us can get confused. But is it too much to hope that an actual U.S. Congressman doesn’t fall for a beyond-outrageous story in The Onion?
This week, Louisiana’s GOP Rep. John Fleming posted a link on his Facebook wall. The link, to a nine-month-old Onion story with the screaming headline “Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex,” spins a tale of how Planned Parenthood wants to “make abortion more of a social event” with features in their Abortionplex like shops, cafes, a 10-screen multiplex movie theater and a three-story nightclub. “The Abortionplex’s high-tech machinery is capable of terminating one pregnancy every three seconds,” the faux article quoted Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards as saying while standing under a banner that read ‘No Life Is Sacred‘. “We’re so thrilled!”
Louisiana Congressman Fleming fell for the story, hard, adding his own comment on Facebook: “Abortion by the wholesale.”
The mania surrounding Planned Parenthood has been out of control for a while now, with conservatives blatantly misrepresenting what the organization actually does. But an elected official falling for a joke in a national satire publication is insane.
As we barrel toward November, we expect it all to get worse, especially as the GOP strangles itself trying to pick a nominee. Republicans started the culture wars, and they’re in no hurry to see them end, even if insanity has to come into play.
So we have to wonder: What’s the next satirical headline that some conservative official will fall for? What do YOU think?
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Before you leave, don’t forget to check out this week’s featured video:
GOP TIME MACHINE: Women in the Workplace
