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.

Almost half of all Americans lived in households that received government benefits in 2010! Why? Becasue the Middle-Class is being destroyed...

Almost half of all Americans lived in households that received government benefits in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. The share climbed from 37.7 percent in 1998 to 44.5 percent in 2006, before the recession, to 48.5 percent in 2010. 

The trend reflects the expansion of the safety net. When the earned-income credit was introduced in 1975, eligibility was limited to households making the current equivalent of up to $26,997. In 2010, it was available to families making up to $49,317. The maximum payout, meanwhile, quadrupled on an inflation-adjusted basis. 

It also reflects the deterioration of the middle class. Chisago boomed and prospered for decades as working families packed new subdivisions along Interstate 35, which runs up the western edge of the county like a flagpole with its base set firmly in Minneapolis. But recent years have been leaner. Per capita income in Chisago excluding government aid fell 6 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis between 2000 and 2007. Over the next two years, it fell an additional 7 percent. Nationally, per capita income excluding government benefits fell by 3 percent over the same 10 years. 

Rick Santorum, who won 57 percent of the vote in Chicago County in the Republican presidential caucuses last week, has warned of “the narcotic of government dependency.” Newt Gingrich has compared the safety net to a spider web. Mitt Romney has said the nation must choose between an “entitlement society” and an “opportunity society.” All the candidates, including Ron Paul, have promised to cut spending and further reduce taxes.

The Republicans will turn your sons into slaves and daughters into prostitutes.  Vote wisely, the 1% see you merely as a cost function. 

THINK for YOURSELF!!!

Just what you want in a Presidental candidate (Ron Paul)...somemone motivated by "greed more than bigotry"

The controversy over Ron Paul's newsletter business erupted again on Friday -- just days before the Florida primary -- when three former associates of the libertarian presidential candidate contradicted his earlier claims of ignorance about the racist and anti-Semitic material published under his name. Although the Texas Congressman has previously insisted that he had been unaware of the newsletters' racial slurs, his former secretary Renae Hathaway, who still supports his candidacy, said: “It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. . . . He would proof it." Hathaway told the Washington Post that Paul was a "hands-on boss" who frequently visited the publication's offices despite his busy schedule as a Congressman and practicing physician.

Confirmation of Hathaway's recollections came from Eric Dondero Rittberg, another ex-aide, who told the Post that Paul approved all the final copy in his newsletters during the 1990s, when the racist articles appeared. As other former Paul associates have suggested, Rittberg said that the Congressman's motives involved greed more than bigotry. “The real big money came from some of that racially tinged stuff," Rittberg said, "but he also had to keep his libertarian supporters, and they weren’t at all comfortable with that." According to the Post's analysis, the newsletter business was so profitable that Paul went from personal indebtedness to a net worth of more than $5 million.

As White Supremacists go Ron Paul may be the nicest....

While Ron Paul would like you to believe that his connections to white supremacy ended with his racist newsletters, he has actively courted the white supremacist movement well into the 21st century, which is evident due to his outreach to white supremacist radio programs.


On February 18, 2001, Ron Paul appeared on “Radio Free America,” a show founded by Willis Carto, a neo-Nazi who founded the white supremacist group the National Alliance. “Radio Free America” is part of Carto’s “American Free Press,” which is labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). While Paul did not discuss racial issues, he discussed several conspiracy theories. A transcript of the show was made available through Carto’s now-defunct racist publication “The Spotlight.”

In 2006 Ron Paul was scheduled to appear on another white supremacist radio show, “The Political Cesspool,” which featured the who’s who of racists, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers and neo-Confederates. The show’s sponsors include white supremacist separatist group the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust-denying organization founded by Carto, and the show is broadcast online via the neo-Nazi website Stormfront.

The show’s host, James Edwards, is a rising star in the white nationalist movement and idolizes former KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke. After reports began circulating that Ron Paul appeared on his show in 2006, Edwards wrote on his blog:

Unlike those who constantly attack me, I prefer to be honest. So, rather than be disingenuous, I will tell you that Ron Paul was scheduled and confirmed to appear for an hour-long interview on The Political Cesspool Radio Program in 2006. This booking was arranged by Jesse Benton.

A couple of hours before the live interview was to take place, we were informed that Congressman Paul had to take an unexpected flight and would be happy to reschedule with us at a later time.

Edwards also wrote an open letter to Ron Paul:

Dear Rep. Paul,

I know that the jackals in the establishment media are attempting to use your near-appearance on my radio program (five years ago!) as a hammer against you today. I’m sure you understand that you will never be able to curry favor with the Cultural Marxists that hate our values and seek to destroy the country we know and love.

You are just days away from winning the Iowa caucuses, which is why your opponents are resorting to such desperate measures. Your success causes the media and its handlers great distress, but always remember that appeasement never works.

We’ve done nothing wrong.

You’ve done nothing wrong.

Stay the course.

Our motto here in the studio is simple: “No Retreat, No Surrender, No Apology.”

Our mutual friend, Pat Buchanan, has recently given you a template to be used when answering questions about this show. You may want to take a look here and here.

We remain supportive of your candidacy and wish you nothing but the best of luck.

Sincerely,

James Edwards

Host, The Political Cesspool Radio Program



Ron Paul has also been a hot topic on Stormfront. Former KKK Grand Wizard Don Black had fellow former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke on as a quest and they discussed the man they rabidly support.

Don Black in the ’80s and ’90s believed that Ron Paul was a fellow white supremacist who wrote the racist newsletters:

Everybody, all of us back in the 80′s and 90′s, felt Ron Paul was, you know, unusual in that he had actually been a Congressman, that he was one of us (white supremacist) and now, of course, that he has this broad demographic–broad base of support.

They went out under his name in the first person and most people receiving these newsletters, including me, thought he really did write them.

So, now that he has this new base of support of course, he’s having–frantically trying to disavow himself from the newsletters.

David Duke would also voice support for Ron Paul:

Again, I go back to that, you know, traditional topic that I always talk about, you know, the powers of international Zionism–a power in banking, a power in media, a power in government influence, in campaign finance–a power that’s, you know, hurting the values of this country on behalf of Israel

So, I would vote for Ron Paul at this moment because he’s one of the few candidates who have policies in this regard and this realm that I wholeheartedly support, and that’s why I’d vote for him.

When will the Republican Freak Show End?

A direct-mail solicitation for Ron Paul's political and investment newsletters two decades ago warned of a "coming race war in our big cities" and of a "federal-homosexual cover-up" to play down the impact of AIDS.



The eight-page letter, which appears to carry Paul's signature at the end, also warns that the U.S. government's redesign of currency to include different colors - a move aimed at thwarting counterfeiters - actually was part of a plot to allow the government to track Americans using the "new money."


The letter urges readers to subscribe to Paul's newsletters so that he could "tell you how you can save yourself and your family" from an overbearing government.


The letter's details emerge at a time when Paul, now a contender for the Republican nomination for president, is under fire over reports that his newsletters contained racist, anti-homosexual and anti-Israel rants.


Reports of the newsletters' contents have Paul's campaign scrambling.

Among other things, the articles called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a "world-class philanderer," criticized the U.S. holiday bearing King's name as "Hate Whitey Day," and said that AIDS sufferers "enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick."