thinking from emotion, rather than facts

What started out to be a posting on people wigging out over Marco Rubio questioning why there seems more outrage over Cecil the Lion than at Planned Parenthood as heartless.took an unexpected turn.  

Oh, I am still astonished at people dumping on Sen. Rubio - the man believes that abortion is full-scale murder, so his outrage at the lack of fury make sense.  He is sharing one of his deepest beliefs, not simply playing to his base.  But looking at Business Insider's reporting of his comments, I realized that there is much more here.  There is a perfectly calibrated example of thinking from our emotions, instead of our brains.  And that is what we have been set up to do.

The article notes that videos showing distressing aspects of how Planned Parenthood disposes of aborted fetuses, shot by members of an anti-abortion group posing as representatives of a fetal DONATION company, "display a Planned Parenthood employee sipping wine and eating cheese while appearing to speak about abortion procedures that doctors use to preserve tissue for research."

It's completely understandable why anyone who believes abortion is murder would be in arms.  It's understandable why any human would feel disturbed by the casualness with which the disposal of a "pre-born" is discussed.  Absolutely understandable.  

A few comments.  First - that's why the anti-abortion group shot & edited the video.  Opponents of abortion took a long time to realize they need to appeal to emotions, rather than indignation.  They took a long time, but are now masters. For all those folks who looking for Planned Parenthood's hide because of how someone talked over lunch with people she thought were on the up & up - never listen in on a lunchtime conversation between physicians or lawyers, because it can get shockingly cavalier.

Second, Sen. Rubio joins a host of Republicans calling for the government to defund Planned Parenthood.  Based on the videos.  Because...?  They are disgusting?  They are.  That's what they are edited to do - to disgust anyone who has a feeling heart, pro-life or pro-choice.  But that isn't cause to defund a group that is far more than the political organization that Mitch McConnell describes.   All the videos portray is how the organization disposes of fetal remains - the unedited version is clear they are not trying to make money out of heartbreak.  What is the basis for defunding Planned Parenthood, at the state or federal level?  That they donate fetal tissue to scientific research? 

Sen. Rubio's condemnation is understandable.  Majority Leader McConnell's is about as political as it gets.  And by the way, Sen. McConnell -  abortion is only a political issue because the GOP makes what it currently the law of the land into a political football.  How many times does he state that defunding Planned Parenthood will protect women's health?  Leader McConnell - I believe you meant the fetus' health.  And I have no problem with that, as many people believe that a fetus should be protected, at all costs, including a woman's life, that it should have equal rights with its carrier female. If it was about a woman's health, every bill banning abortions would include exclusions for incest & when the mother's life is at jeopardy.  

Last, let's look at the call for a Department of Justice inquiry - how does the DOJ launch an inquiry when donating fetal material for scientific research has been legal since 1993?  Yes, the woman from Planned Parenthood talked about being paid certain amounts - that is also covered under the law, as long as it is covering only the costs of processing & shipping.  It sounds hard cold unfeeling to say "shipping & handling," but that's what's being discussed.  

Talk about playing politics - Sen. Rubio knows that everything described on the video recordings are legal.  He might be in total disagreement with them, but that doesn't make them illegal.  What Planned Parenthood does with the fetuses is stomach-turning - but it's not illegal. 

People of every political stripe might find abortion on demand to be unethical & immoral.  I am one of them, believing that the process we call LIFE begins with the fertilization of the egg by the sperm.  That is my belief.  And I believe that abortion - as a permission - is acceptable in cases of incest & when a mother's health - certainly her life - is in danger.

But believing that isn't cause to defund Planned Parenthood, just as them doing something icky isn't cause to have them investigated by the DOJ.

It took conservatives a long time to learn, but they have mastered the emotional assault.  It brought down ACORN, which was defunded & destroyed based on similarly heavily edited videos that went straight to our sense of outrage, bypassing our brain.  

It's interesting that Sen. Rubio compared Cecil the Lion to Planned Parenthood because he - and his fellow conservatives - are as out for the organization's hide as Walter Palmer was for the beloved lion's.  They know they'll never get it through reason - Planned Parenthood provides too many essential health services - so get it the same way they got ACORN's.  Just lie, but lie in a way that touches our hearts & inflames our minds.  

Sweet justice for Cecil

   
Yes, there is justice in this cold, cruel world.

Everyone knows that Walter Palmer did NOT kill Cecil, a beloved lion, with is trusty bow & arrow, as this photo certainly would lead one to believe.  He wounded the majestic creature.  It took hunters over two days to track Cecil down & finish the killing with a rifle.

 

THAT, my friends, is sweet revenge.  This photo, which the world knows captures a lie, is phony.  How many of Walter Palmer's other "trophy" kills are equally suspect?  Worst fate in the world for any hunter - to be called out as a LIAR. 

       

foods that help me sleep? bring 'em on!

 

According to a HuffPo article,  ten foods & fluids  that can help Mr. Sandman do his thing include:

Carrots     Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice    Raw Walnuts   Greek Yogurt    Pumpkin Seeds    Mushrooms     Tomatoes    Virgin Coconut Oil     Kale      Plain Water

With having chronic problems waking up at weird hours of the night, time to get back to my super yummy homemade tomato sauce stuffed with mushrooms & kale, add pumpkin seeds & serve steamed carrots on the side!  Topped off with a couple dollops of Greek yogurt with raw walnuts.  And eat before 8:00 p.m.!

Ted's "it all depends what 'is' is" moment

Ted - y'all wounded me!  Ya seriously did!  What happens to your righteous dude creds, now that you've backed away from your take down of Cecil Turtle Mitch McConnell?  And in such D.C.-infused words - -  

When asked by host Howie Carr whether or not he believes that the speech was an attack on a fellow Republican, Cruz said he would never “throw rocks” at a member of his own party. Ronald Reagan famously refrained from attacking fellow GOP-ers, dubbing this policy his “eleventh commandment.” Cruz has cited Reagan’s dictum in the past.

“What I said about McConnell wasn’t attacking him personally,” explained Cruz, who later refused to condemn any of Donald Trump’s comments on the campaign trail.

Seriously?  You can read over the transcript of your speech where you basically mopped the Senate floor with the Leader & say with a straight face that you weren't attacking him personally, that you would never throw rocks at a member of the GOP?  

Ted, I hardly know ye!  That statement is right up there with "it all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is" for flat-out flim flammery!
 

But perhaps I speak too soon.  Yes, he grovelled in a most un-Teddish fashion, but I a refortified, tried & true red white & blue Ted rising from Sunday's ashes, as witnessed in this closing snipped from The Atlantic:


But those failures may be precisely what he needed to revive his presidential bid. Whereas on Friday he was attacking McConnell, by Sunday afternoon he was attacking the entire "Washington Cartel" —recasting a handful of bland, cautious senators in their 60s and 70s as, perhaps, a band of brazen, drug-dealing warlords. Cruz is trying to persuade voters that he’s just the man to take on Washington’s political establishment, and on Sunday, a parade of senators professing their grave disappointment inadvertently bolstered his cause.

Yeah, baby - that's the Ted I've come to expect.  The person who can take what traditional D.C. would view as an ignominious defeat & flip it to actually burnish his "I hate Washington" creds.  Did his Senate colleagues bolster his cause & revitalize his presidential hopes with their Sunday pillorying?  You betcha! 


UPDATE 07/28/15  4:35 p.m.
Ted comes through! 
About two hundred people gathered around the junior senator from Texas Tuesday as he shouted to his fans on the lawn, “I call upon the United States Congress right now to stand up and lead and to defund Planned Parenthood.”

He was met with the crowd’s enthusiastic chants of “Defund!” and more than one, “Thank you for your leadership.”

Sen. Ted Cruz was one of the last speakers in a pro-life rally in front of the United States Capitol, which started with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and ended with Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson. 

Videos of Planned Parenthood employees talking about selling fetal organs and tissue to researchers surfaced last week, sparking national outrage and a Republican effort to defund the organization. 

Ted Cruz, never one to let an inconvenient truth - the reality that the video he showed was edited to outrage rather than inform - hit the notes I'd expected.  


Mr. Cruz called out the Senate for foiling his plan to defund Planned Parenthood, an effort he said was led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mr. Cruz accused Mr. McConnell of working with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to work against Republican values, an echo of a speech he gave on the Senate floor Friday accusing Mr. McConnell of lying about a deal to give supporters of the Export-Import Bank an opportunity to revive it in exchange for votes for a trade bill.

Earlier, Sen. Cruz protested that he'd NEVER "throw rocks" at a fellow Republican, reeled in disbelief that anyone could have misconstrued his comments as a personal attack on the Majority Leader.  They apparently grow mega tough hides down in the Lone Star state.

an angry daughter (NOT me) speaks

After reading Sydney Seau's tribute to her dad, Junior (Tiaina Baul) Seau, realized I'm honor-bound to share it, to shout it from the rooftops, to everything in my rather limited but committed power to take it viral.  Her dad, her family, every football player past present future, deserves nothing less. 

Excerpt:
But blaming league officials and the media, while fun and easy, stops short of identifying the true culprits here: the fans.

It’s the fans who turned to men like my father to carry out savage feats they could never hope to enact. It’s the fans who have elevated football into our national religion, who ooh and ahh at the biggest hits, who pretend that such violence can be enacted with no mortal consequences.

My father’s life had great meaning to us, his family, and to the millions of fans who were inspired by his fearless play.

His death has meaning, too. It was the direct result of that fearless play. He pretended none of it was hurting him, and we took him at his word. Just as he chose to play, we chose to watch. We never stopped to ask ourselves what it meant that our chosen form of entertainment required men to risk their lives. Or that we cheered loudest for those moments of impact in which that risk was made manifest.

My father dreamed of this day for most of his life and gave his life in pursuit of that dream. The question we should be asking today is this: Now that we know how and why my father died, will any of us have the moral courage to turn away from the stirring highlight reel and question our own role in his death?

introducing Senator MIKE LEE (R-UT)

from Sen. Lee' biography:

Elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the basic liberties of Americans and Utahns as a tireless advocate for our founding constitutional principles.

Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early on. His father, Rex Lee, who served as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, would often discuss varied aspects of judicial and constitutional doctrine around the kitchen table, from Due Process to the uses of Executive Plenary Power. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique, hands-on experience and understanding of government up close.

Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.

Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.

Today, Lee fights to preserve America's proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic prosperity.

Lee is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and serves as Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee protecting business competition and personal freedom.

He also oversees issues critical to Utah as the Chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, as well.

In the 114th Congress, Lee also began his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, where he works with his Republican colleagues in the Senate to introduce bold and innovative solutions to issues facing the American people.

Lee and his wife Sharon live in Alpine, Utah, with their three children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Two Constitutional scholars walk into a bar...

 

Ted Cruz & Mike Lee - about as nimble a tag team as you're goint to find & as savvy as they get when it comes to the rules of the Senate.  Per today's Salon article:
Sen. Lee is expected on Monday afternoon to play some Obamacare-repeal procedural hardball in an effort to put his colleagues on the spot.  Here's the big plan, in Lee's own words:

“Republicans now have an opportunity to make good on our promise to repeal Obamacare,” Lee said. “The first Obamacare vote on Sunday will have a 60 vote threshold, and Democrats will likely block it,” Lee continued. “But thanks to the sequencing of the votes we just locked in, Republicans will have the opportunity resurrect that Obamacare amendment later on in the process, and put it back before the Senate in a manner that only requires a simple-majority vote.”

After cloture is reached on the Export-Import Bank amendment, senators will still be allowed to offer germane amendments to the highway bill, each of which would only require a simple-majority to pass. If the Chair rules that the Obamacare amendment is non-germane, Senate Rule 22 also allows any senator to appeal that ruling to the full Senate. At that point, a simple-majority of Senators would have the power to add the Obamacare repeal amendment to the highway bill.”

 

Hmmmm...  You think Donald Trump is giving the GOP apoplexy?  Get together two freshmen senators who give squat about the hallowed procedures & protocols that typically hold sway on Capitol Hill, one of whom is running for president, both of whom were sent to D.C. to smash up the place, and you have one super-sized headaches that's considerably less manageable than The Donald!