Betsy DeVos Taps ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Whiner for Civil Rights Post

Civil Rights Office Renamed

Secretary of Education Betsy Devos has named attorney Candice Jackson as acting head of her agency’s Office for Civil Rights. Ms. Jackson seems to share Ms. Devo’s belief that public education programs should be eliminated, has condemned feminism and, while a student at Stanford University, complained that she suffered discrimination because she is white.

Candice Jackson had an underprivileged childhood. Her father labors as a humble family medical practitioner and had to take a second job as a singer of Christian Country Music. She survived Stanford and Pepperdine Law School, had a fellowship at the paleolibertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute (where she wrote a book report), litigated for right-wing legal pest Judicial Watch, wrote for Reason and The Federalist, and penned a book slamming the Clintons, published by conspiracy peddler WND.

Republican: Restaurant Worker Hand Washing Should Be Optional

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina is a lavatory libertarian. He told the Bipartisan Policy Center that governments shouldn’t force restaurant employees to wash their hands:

“I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says, ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom.'”

Here’s a sane word on this from Mr. Tillis’ neighborhood:

“If a government shouldn’t create and enforce regulations to stop the spread of disease, for Typhoid Mary’s sake, exactly what should it do, and how many people have to suffer the avoidable consequences in the name of freedom?”

“Even if Tillis was joking, or half-joking, there’s no question that the Republican Party sees government not as the collective expression of a populace but an evil to be eradicated one set of rules at a time, even if it means people getting hurt or sick or financially ruined, because liberty. That, at base, isn’t funny, isn’t funny at all.”

— “Thom Tillis Steps In It,” Greg Lacour, Charlotte Magazine

The FDA has a cogent explanation for compulsory hand washing: It “reduces the spread of fecal-oral pathogens from the hands of a food employee to foods.”

Iowa: Last Harrumph for Ron Paul?

“Is this surge a vote for the congressman named Ron Paul? Impossible. It’s in fact the Republican Party protest vote. Since summer, this block of votes has jumped from one candidate to another, desperate for an anti-Obama champion whose anti-Washington intensity matches its own.”

–“The Ron Paul Vote,” Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal

Paulista Coup at Right-Wing Religious ‘Summit’

Republican presidential candidates debated theology with right-wing fundamentalists this weekend in Washington. The Values Voters Summit, produced by the Family Research Council, staged a “Straw Poll” beauty contest, and lovely and talented Congressman Ron Paul won the tiara.

Conservative blogger Ed Morrisey notes:

” … to say that the Values Voters Summit organizers are skeptical of Paul’s win is an understatement. Tony Perkins [President of the Family Research Council] twice noted that 600 tickets were bought this morning, and that a great many people left after Paul’s speech. The conference sold 3406 registrations, well over their 2007 record of around 2700. If half of those 600 were Paul ringers [aka Paulbots -ml] and we take them out of the equation, then Cain would have finished first, 27/26 with Santorum at 19%. If 80% of today’s registrants were Paul ringers and are removed, Cain would have had 32% of the vote, followed by Santorum at 23% and Perry in third place with 12%.” [Notes and links added]

Revenge of the Blimp!

Just when you thought it was safe! The Ron Paul Blimp returns.

Perhaps.

“Hope And Change 2012: Ron Paul Blimp Maybe Coming Out of Storage,” Kirsten Boyd Johnson, Wonkette

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-aCc

Image by Mike Licht (no biplanes were harmed in making this picture). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Motorcylist Protesting Helmet Law Takes a Header and Dies

500 bare-headed motorcyclists participated in the 11th Annual Helmet Protest Run in Onondaga NY, near Syracuse, protesting New York’s law requiring bikers to wear helmets. Philip Contos, 55, was riding a 1983 Harley Davidson with the Onondaga chapter of American Bikers Aimed Towards Education (ABATE) when he flipped over the bike’s handlebars, hit his head on the pavement, and was killed. Police said that Mr. Contos would have survived had he been wearing a helmet.

Gas Up the Blimp!

A humor-starved nation welcomes Congressman Ron Paul (R, TX-14) into the 2012 presidential race. His strong constituency of unmedicated mental patients, climate change deniers, potheads, gun nuts, gold bugs, teenie boppers, survivalists and anarchists makes him a Tea Party shoo-in. We can’t wait for the new blimp.

More:

“Ron Paul: Why his silly campaign launch today really matters for 2012,”Andrew Malcolm,  Los Angeles Times

“Does the Tea Party Make Ron Paul Mainstream?” Michael D. Shear, New York Times blog

 “Ron Paul stirs the pot for America’s annoyed,” Konrad Takabusi, Globe and Mail

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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March of the Disgruntled in DC

They came from all across this great land, from Sun City to Leisure World, united only by … by … Dick Armey’s astroturf roots movement and their dissatisfaction with … something-or-other. 

Rebels without a common cause, they came to Washington because whatever irks them, it must be that guy’s fault, that Obama. He’s been in office practically forever.

So they brought their Winnebagos and walkers to Washington, all  two million, one million, 100,000, 60,000 of them.

That’s about the number expected for next week’s big DC demonstration and march, Mothers Against Bad Stuff. DC Drivers: expect delays — just like any other weekend in Washington.

 

 

Images by Mike Licht. Download a copy of the top one here and bottom one here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Hypocritical Housing Policy

It is the height of hypocrisy when self-proclaimed Free Market Fundamentalists support subsidizing borrowers through tax law and mortgage assistance and approving billions in lender bail-outs.

Allow housing prices to be determined by use value, not resale value (speculation). 

Stop debasing The American Dream by reducing it to a cheap sales pitchfor real estate

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Pixels to Ponder, 22 January 2009

• Perhaps we could re-define disease as “Terrorism” and fight it under provisions of the PATRIOT Act.
• Baby boomers who had cosmetic surgery don’t go to the movies anymore. They hate looking at young film stars and seeing that their old noses are back in style.
• The new president should immediately abolish Gatorade. Why does the government support idle critters? Damn gators should get off their lazy butts, catch something, and eat it.
• Most Americans have changed their minds and believe the scientific evidence that Global Warming is real. Now they want the government to stop those space aliens from causing it.