Tag Archives: Rick Santorum

Who Cares If It’s True, It Sounds Scary

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Politics, Rick Santorum

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At something called the American Heartland Forum, held just before the Missouri Republican primary in February, Rick Santorum made some incredible claims during an interview with James Dobson. Santorum alleged that people in the Netherlands wore bracelets that read, “Do Not Euthanize Me,” that 10% of all deaths in the Netherlands were the result of euthanasia, and that half of those were forced euthanasia. The point of these assertions was that “Obamacare” would lead America down the same road. From Right Wing Watch:

Sounds pretty scary, right? Never mind that none of it is true. Jonathan Turley debunks Santorum’s “facts”:

“Clearly people can wear bracelets with their blood type or other instructions like do not resuscitate — as they do in this country. However, such bracelets are not needed in the Netherlands and Santorum’s comments appear to come as a surprise to people in that country.

[T]he number of people choosing euthanasia remains small and less than 3%. In 2010, 136,058 people died in the Netherlands and only 3136 did so through euthanasia. That is roughly 2.3% of the total deaths…In 2009, the annual report on euthanasia showed 2,636 cases of euthanasia — or 2 percent of all Dutch deaths.

As for those 50% of cases dispatched against their will, the Dutch law is extremely strict. It now only requires consent but a waiting period. If a doctor dispatches someone without their consent or satisfying the tight controls, he is charged with murder.

The doctor must document that he or she confirmed that the patient requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide is making a voluntary and informed request. The record must also show that the patient was suffering unbearably and was fully informed about the prospects. Then a second doctor must examine the patient and supply a second written opinion on the satisfaction of the criteria.”

Oops. Santorum’s press secretary was asked recently by a Dutch television reporter to explain the remarks:

Well that clears that up.

At the Risk of Sounding Like a Snob…

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Education, Rick Santorum

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I guess nothing should surprise me any more in the anti-intellectualism, celebrating ignorance, party of Palin, that is the modern-day GOP, but I must admit I’m taken aback by Rick Santorum’s recent remarks. First his claim that President Obama wants kids to go to college so they can be indoctrinated. Where they go in as good little conservative Christians and come out librul, Godless, communists. Never mind that Santorum went to Penn State, Pitt, and Dickinson Law School and it didn’t seem to have that effect on him. I guess he had his Satan shields up at the time.

Then his latest blast at the president, calling Obama a “snob” who wants your kids to go to college so they can be remade in his image. Unfortunately, the appeal to ignorance plays well with some:

“I thought that was brilliant,” said Angie Clement of Commerce, Mich. “Not everybody has to go to college. We need garbagemen, we need welders, carpenters.”

“Everybody can’t be equal,” agreed Paul Murrow of Milford, MI seated nearby. “Somebody needs to do the manual labor.”

Clement’s husband, Stephen, said Santorum was right on the mark when he said that Obama wants to send kids to get college degrees so as to produce more liberals.

“It starts down at the elementary school level with all this bullshit about diversity, pardon my French,” he said. “Diversity and sensitivity and all that crap. That’s the stuff that needs to be taught at home not by my teachers. My teachers need to be academic: Math, science, history, social studies, that sort of thing and keep political opinions out of it, bottom line.”

Yeah, I’m sure you teach what you call “diversity and sensitivity and all that crap” at home.

In his “snob” speech Santorum also had this to say:

“I know what it means to have those manufacturing jobs at that entry level to get you in there, and it gives you the opportunity to accumulate more skills over time and rise, so you can provide a better standard of living for your family.  And those opportunities are for working men and women — not all folks are gifted in the same way.  Some people have incredible gifts with their hands.”  

Mr. Santorum, may I invite you to join us in the 21st century. The days of getting a job on the line at the plant, putting in your 30+ years, and walking away with a gold watch and a pension are relics of a bygone era, kind of like your views on contraception. A piece by Adam Davidson at The Atlantic has two examples of how things work in the modern-day world of manufacturing.

One person went to community college (just what President Obama suggested in a speech to Congress in 2009)  where he studied algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and machine tooling. He makes $30 an hour and has job security at a fuel injector plant in South Carolina. The other person, who works in the same plant, didn’t get the education needed to advance. She doesn’t know trig, calculus, or computer programming language. She makes $13 an hour and can be easily replaced. No matter how gifted with her hands she may be, the path to advancement and the middle-class life she desires is directly related to her level of education.

Education is the key, Rick. Or does that make me a snob?

Madison and Reagan Would Also Make Santorum Throw Up

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Politics, Religion, Rick Santorum

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Rick Santorum on This Week yesterday, describing his reaction to John Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the issue of separation of church and state:

“To say that people of faith have no role in the public square?  You bet that makes you throw up.  What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?” Santorum said.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.  The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country,” said Santorum.

Obviously Santorum is the one who hasn’t read JFK’s speech because that is not at all what Kennedy said. He didn’t say people of faith have no role in the public square. He did say this:

“I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

…“I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views — in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates.”

Then there’s this:

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.  The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country, said Santorum.”

That would put Santorum at odds with two other American presidents–James Madison, the man who wrote the First Amendment, and conservative icon Ronald Reagan.

Madison wrote in 1822:

“Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Govt will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together”

It was also Madison who, as president; vetoed a bill that granted a charter to an Episcopal church in the District of Columbia; vetoed a bill that would have given Federal land to a Baptist church in the Mississippi territory; opposed appointing chaplains to both Houses of Congress, all because it was his opinion that these actions violated the non-establishment clause of the First Amendment, which he wrote. If Madison were around today he would no doubt be accused by Santorum of taking part in President Obama’s “war on religion.”

Reagan would also have made Santorum ill with these remarks in October of 1984:

“We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate.”

Somebody pass Ricky another barf bag…or two.

God Tells (insert name of Republican here) to Run for President

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Election 2012, Politics, Republicans, Rick Santorum

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And God said, “This shall be a sign unto you. If Obamacare passeth, thou shalt surely run for president”:

“The wife of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says that God is responsible for her husband’s recent surge in popularity.

“I personally think this is God’s will,” Karen Santorum told GBTV’s Glenn Beck on Thursday. “I think He has us on a path. And I do think there’s a lot more happening that what we are seeing.”

[…]

“Before we made the decision [to run], it was about a year, a year and a half, and initially when Rick mentioned it, I was just, ‘No way.’”

“I said we need to pray about it,” Rick Santorum recalled. “She said, ‘No, I’m not going to pray about it. God couldn’t possibly want you to do this.’”

But Karen Santorum said she eventually sought God’s guidance on the matter.

“I really started to pray about it, and I did always feel in my heart that God had big plans for Rick,” she explained. “Eventually it was there, that tugging at my heart.”

“It is hard because you know it’s a hard path,” Karen Santorum agreed. “What did it for me, though, was Obamacare. Because we have, as you know, a little precious — a little angel, little Bella — special needs little girl. And when Obamacare passed, that was it. That put the fire in my belly.”

” Vodpod videos no longer available.

 

“Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain have all claimed that God urged them to seek the Republican nomination for president.”

So going by what Republicans themselves have said, so far God’s 0 for 3. And BTW Mrs. Santorum, that skirt’s a bit short for the wife of the Morality Sheriff, don’t you think? Could it be…Satan.

Rick Santorum on Prenatal Testing

20 Monday Feb 2012

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Rick Santorum on Face the Nation yesterday, discussing prenatal testing, in particular amniocentesis:

Vodpod videos no longer available.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     “And in fact, prenatal testing, particularly amniocentesis — I’m not talking about general prenatal care…We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing, and specifically amniocentesis, which is a procedure that actually creates a risk of having a miscarriage when you have it, and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies in the womb. And which in many cases — in fact, most cases physicians recommend — particularly if there’s a problem — recommend abortion.”

Unlike Mr. Santorum, I don’t pretend to know what is said in private conversations between women and their doctors and whether or not in “most cases” abortion is “recommended.” My best guess, based on anecdotal evidence I have about this subject based on the experience of a family member, is that ‘presented as an option’ would be a more accurate term. Here’s why I say that.

My special needs niece, 21 years old at the time, went to a party one night where some low-life asshole slipped something in drink and raped her. When she woke up she had no memory of what happened and it wasn’t until a couple of months later she found out she was pregnant. Because no one knew who the father was, amniocentesis was done. The test results showed that the baby would have Down Syndrome, be severely retarded, and probably not live more than a few months. Abortion was presented as an option, it was not recommended.

But because of her religious beliefs, for my sister–45 years old at that point–abortion was out of the question for her daughter, and their choice was for the baby to be born. Their decision was that she and my brother-in-law would adopt the little girl and raise her as their daughter.

Fortunately, the doctors were wrong. The little girl who doctors said would have severe disabilities and only live a short time will celebrate her 17th birthday in April. She is autistic, but only mildly, and has been a joy and a blessing to the entire family.

That being said, I can also see the other side. A 45-year-old mother with a special needs daughter who is pregnant because she was raped, and who isn’t prepared–financially or emotionally–to take on the responsibility of raising another child  24 years after her last one was born. Especially a child with Down Syndrome who doctors say won’t live long and has little or no chance of ever becoming anything approaching a normal child.

You could not be more wrong, Mr. Santorum. Prenatal testing in general and amniocentesis in particular isn’t about anyone wanting to see disabled babies aborted or some plot to “cull the ranks of the disabled in our society.” It’s about choice, and that thing called freedom that Republicans claim to be so passionate about preserving. And that is the purpose of the testing, obtaining all the necessary information so an informed choice can be made.

GOP: Stop This Insanity Before It’s Too Late

18 Saturday Apr 2009

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Somebody in the Republican Party please put an end to this insanity before it’s too late. Let’s look at what has happened since January 20th:

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota has said she wants the people of her state to be “armed and dangerous.”

Former Senator Rick Santorum wrote in an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Enquirer that President Obama “has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.”

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said President Obama is waging a “war against churches” and that “there’s a clear desire to replace the church with a bureaucracy, and to replace people’s right to worship together with a government-dominated system.”

Congressman Spencer Bachus from Alabama said that 17 members of the House of Representatives are “socialists.”

Rick Perry, the governor of the second largest state in the nation, is talking about the possibility of secession.

The Georgia Senate passed a resolution calling for the nullification of the Constitution and disbanding of the United States.

Congressman Mark Kirk from Illinois has suggested that the people of that state “shoot anyone” who proposes to raise their taxes.

Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas is making speeches about tyranny and oppression, citing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that “the tree of liberty will be fed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”

Add to these the constant drumbeat from talk radio hosts about re-education camps, fascism, totalitarianism, and this administration taking away Constitutional rights.

Granted, probably 99.9% of the people who hear or read these things know it is just blowhard politicians trying to gain votes by appealing to their Republican base.

But what about the other 0.1%? What do they do? Do they get an assault rifle and kill police officers because they think their rights are being taken away? Do they fill a truck with explosives and park it in front of a federal building?

Keep this t-shirt in mind Republicans, before you quote Jefferson:

mcveigh-t-shirt

Anybody know what this is? It’s the shirt that Timothy McVeigh was wearing when he was arrested.