Would the white supremacists please go colonize the moon???

Fighting contraception. Stopping domestic violence protections. Extending tax cuts for the wealthy, while hiking taxes on the middle class. Welcoming white supremacists to a conference, but banning gay conservatives. The GOP (Republicans) has followed its extremist fringe off the deep end, leaving the rest of us back in the reality-based world befuddled. Their strategists warned them not to do this, but it appears that to the GOP, radical fringe issue positions are like catnip. In last night's Republican presidential debate in Arizona, the candidates even spent several minutes discussing which of them is least in favor of allowing rape victims to have access to emergency contraception.

Perhaps Bruce Bartlett, who was an economic policy official under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said it best on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Discussing the obstacles to getting smart policies agreed upon and passed in government, he said, "the problem is purely political ... frankly, one (Republican) of our political parties is insane, and we all know which one it is." (Hint: he was not talking about the Democrats.)

Standing Up for Women's Health -- We all heard about the War on Women's Health last year, when Tea Party-empowered state legislatures passed a record slew of anti-choice laws -- like Arizona's ban on "race-based abortions" and Virginia's attempt to shut down most abortion clinics in the state. These state legislatures were joined by an enthusiastic right-wing Congress that attempted to defund the entire $317 million federal family program, tried to redefine "rape" and eagerly promoted lies about their favorite bogeyman, Planned Parenthood. Well, the War on Women's Health is back, and it looks to be more an all-out War on Women. PFAW members spoke out when Susan G. Komen for the Cure threatened to cut off funds for Planned Parenthood because of internal influences from right-wing staff and board members. We're currently fighting an amendment in the U.S. Senate that would give employers the power to deny any health care to their employees that they take "moral" issue with personally. And we continue to track closely dangerous and extreme state legislation like the recent bill passed by Virginia’s right-wing Assembly that would force women considering abortions -- even rape victims -- to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds.

Exposing the GOP Candidates' Extremism -- PFAW's Right Wing Watch last week uncovered the audio recording of a speech Rick Santorum gave to students at Ave Maria University in 2008 in which he said Satan, the "Father of Lies" was focusing all his attention on the United States of America. He said that academia had long ago fallen to this Satanic attack, derided mainline Protestant churches as no longer Christian and said that we are involved in a "spiritual war," as opposed to a political or cultural war -- a war in which we could only assume people with opposing views to Santorum's are on the side of Satan. The story took off like wildfire in both the blogosphere and the mainstream news media. It became the dominant storyline of the GOP debate for the two days leading up to the last debate and even had right-wing pundits like Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh, and politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, asserting that Santorum's religious extremism is too much for a majority of Americans.

Fighting Judicial Obstruction -- A new PFAW fact sheet shows the extremity and unprecedented nature of Senate Republicans obstruction of judicial nominees, as well as its impact on Americans' access to justice. While a vacancy crisis persists on many of the nation's federal courts, our persistence is paying off and we're finally making headway in getting some of the president's qualified nominees confirmed. This month, the Senate confirmed Cathy Ann Bencivengo and Jesse Furman to U.S. District Courts in California and New York respectively, and Adalberto Jose Jordan to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, all of whom had been waiting months on the Senate calendar for a vote despite the fact that they came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee without any opposition. But dozens of other qualified nominees, most of whom had little or no opposition in Committee, still await confirmation. We'll continue to hold Republicans accountable for their obstruction and keep the pressure on to confirm these judges as swiftly as possible, and one at a time if necessary.

Youth Spotlight: Young Elected Officials take on Citizens United v. FEC -- In state, city and municipal governing bodies in at least seven states, members of our affiliate PFAW Foundation's Young Elected Officials (YEO) Network have put forward resolutions that call for the end of corporate personhood and unlimited special interest money in politics. One of the first big victories in this coordinated national effort was that of Missoula, Montana Councilwoman Cynthia Wolken. After attending a session on Citizens United at the 2011 YEO National Convening, Councilwoman Wolken took a sample resolution and introduced a city-wide referendum calling for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that made it clear that corporations are not people. The referendum passed overwhelmingly, with over 75% of the vote, bringing an abundance of media attention to the issue and forcing leaders in Montana's state government to weigh-in as well.

Romney and Gingrich straw dogs who can only at best make a straw man to fight Obama

A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.  

To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

US Citizens have a right to vote!!! (A right that should be encouraged and not infringed upon)

Voting rights cannot be denied or abridged based on the following:
Birth - "All persons born or naturalized" "are citizens" of the US and the US State where they reside (14th Amendment, 1868)

"Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" - (15th Amendment, 1870)

"On account of sex" - (19th Amendment, 1920)

In Washington, DC, presidential elections after 164 year suspension by US Congress (23rd Amendment, 1961)

(For federal elections) "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" - (24th Amendment, 1964)

(For state elections) Taxes - (Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966))
"Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age" (26th Amendment, 1971).




According to news reports, James O'Keefe (Radical Right Republican) sent undercover operatives to commit fraud in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. They went to polling stations, falsely presented themselves, and requested ballots under the names of recently deceased voters — a violation of state and federal law.


O'Keefe badly wants to convince Americans that voter fraud — an extremely rare phenomenon — is a pressing threat to our democracy. So badly, in fact, that he reportedly sent his own agents out to commit fraud. The reason is simple — he wants fewer Americans to vote.


Fortunately we already have state and federal laws that prevent and punish voter fraud while allowing eligible Americans to cast their ballots. We call on you to enforce these laws and thoroughly investigate the actions of James O'Keefe and his operatives.

99% Time to be Heard; Time to FIGHT; For those of us with credit cards, mortgages, or student loans‏ -- be heard NOW!!!

Today the President appointed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

For months, Senate Republicans -- with Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum right behind them -- have fought this bureau every step of the way, and their latest strategy is to refuse to allow even an up-or-down vote on this nomination.


The issue isn't his qualifications: Cordray has bipartisan support from elected officials across the country and a clear majority of the Senate behind him. They won't allow a confirmation vote on any director -- because they don't want the agency to exist at all. YOUR ONLY PROTECTION FROM EXPLOITATION!!!!


We can't afford to continue allowing Wall Street to write its own rules. But today's action by the President is already coming under partisan attack, which we expect to intensify in the days to come.

Without a director, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is legally prevented from doing its job to protect millions of Americans -- including those of us with credit cards, mortgages, student loans, or home equity lines. But with Mr. Cordray at the helm, the agency will make sure payday lenders, private student loan providers, debt collectors, and the like have to play by the rules.


That's what this campaign is all about: electing a President who makes sure everyone plays by the same rules and gets a fair shake.


But Mitt Romney apparently doesn't think consumers deserve any protection at all from predatory lenders and other bad actors. His plan to fix the economy is simply to deregulate it. His proposal for the housing market is to let it "hit the bottom" so that investors can come in and make a quick buck.


The President thinks we need a cop on the beat preventing the reckless behavior that helped cause the financial crisis and so many problems for middle-class families in the first place.  The President is RIGHT!!!


But if the past is any guide, the GOP and Romney are not going to let this happen without a fight. They'll be doing everything they can to stand in Cordray's way.