Cruzin'

It's been a while since I've inducted anyone into the Whacked Out In The Head (WOITH) club.

First a quick review of current members:

Politicians:
Steve King
Bob Vander Plaats
Glen Massie
Kim Pearson
Kent Sorenson
Michele Bachmann
Brad Zaun

Non-politicians:
Charlie Sheen

Anyone with a reality show on MTV
Jerry Sandusky

The entire Kardashian family

The guy down my street who put a $60,000 house on a $30,000 lot (Honorary Member)

I am now compelled to add another politician, someone who's been begging for membership since he joined the U.S. Senate less than a year ago.

In just that short of a time, he's single-handedly shut down the government with unsupportable grandstanding political tactics, and tried to make everyone believe he's a hero for doing it.  He's also alienated members of his own political party for not being compromising enough, while simultaneously making the other political party look better for not compromising.

But what really put him over the top was being in Iowa (again) this weekend for a speech, then going pheasant hunting with original WOITH member Steve King.  As we've seen before, whenever two or more WOITH members are together, the country ultimately laughs and does the opposite of what they want.

Welcome, Texan Ted Cruz, who's so far to the right on the political spectrum he's off the map.

Our Unstoppable Social Evolution

In the past week, there were at least 3 major news stories (two national and one local) about same-sex couples and the gay lifestyle.  How can I refuse to write about them?

The two national stories were U.S. Supreme Court cases, heard on back-to-back days.  One case was about the right of gays to marry, the other about gay marriage rights as they relate to the Clinton-era federal Defense Of Marriage Act.

The local story was another attempt by extreme Iowa Republican Party conservatives (I'm not sure there's another kind right now), to remove the governor's name from an anti-bullying conference.  Why?  Because they believe "anti-bullying" is a cover for promoting the gay agenda.  Yes, they actually think this out loud.  Not surprisingly, the effort is being led by WOITH Bob Vander Plaats, who can't be disgraced enough.

Regardless of how any of this turns out in the short term, in the long term it's once again time to remember a basic rule in America:  Society evolves on social issues.  There's no stopping it.

When we recognize something that hurts/helps society, we take action to disallow/allow it, respectively.  It may take years, or decades, but eventually, we get it right. 

It's going to take a while, maybe even another generation, but legislation allowing and expanding same-sex marriage in all states is going to happen.  Take it from someone who lives in a state where gay marriage has been allowed for years now - we've figured out it doesn't hurt us, it only helps us.

And so society evolves.

About That Presidential Election.....

Many years ago I attended a meeting where an economist was the keynote speaker. His opening line was, "I'm not a member of a major political party.  I'm a Republican."

Never has that line cut deeper than this week.  After all of the campaigning, the SuperPAC money, the advertisements, the blustery predictions, etc., the Rs have gone in reverse.

Their presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, seemed like he was qualified enough to be president.  Certainly qualified enough to defeat an economically-weakened Barack Obama.  So how did this happen?  Let a lifetime independent voter tell you.

If you listen to the Rs, they've got all sorts of reasons why they lost the presidency plus some senate seats.  The only correct reason is that the Rs don't have a big enough tent.  It's comprised of a declining base - whites, males, married females, social conservatives, and, um, that's about it.

Look at America.  It's becoming less white, less dependent female, less socially conservative.  Rs have to start appealing to those constituencies, or at least stop pissing them off.

But what are the conservative pundits framing as their next strategy?  To go even farther right!  They seem to believe that if they simply do a better job promoting their anti-secular, anti-immigration, anti-environment ideals, that we 'moderates' will be more likely to join them.

So, the Rs analysis of the problem is correct, but their solution is exactly wrong.  They think we independent voters don't understand them?  The problem is we understand them perfectly, and we don't like it.  Newsflash to Rs: We aren't going to like more of what we already don't like.

The crazy thing is, the Rs really weren't/aren't so far away from taking power.  Most independent voters are like America - socially liberal, but still fiscally conservative.  If the Rs would spend more time on the fiscally conservative message, and a lot less on the social issues, they'd be fine.

[This is a good time to note and give kudos to the states of Colorado and Washington for legalizing marijuana.  Talk about your trending social liberalism.  By the way folks, it's no big deal - they already have legalized alcohol, a more abusive and dangerous drug.  More about this in a future blog.]

There is plenty to dislike about the other non-major political party, a/k/a Democrats. As an independent, I think they're wrong on union support, wrong on expanded government, wrong on tax policy.  I matured (such as it is) in the 80s, during the Reagan revolution, and I actually believe in supply-side economics.

To a political independent like me, however, the other stuff matters more now.  It's encouraging to see WOITH politicians like Michele Bachmann, Steve King, and especially Bob Vander Plaats struggle so much (and in the latter case, outright lose) this election cycle.  Their message of hate, masquerading as social conservatism, has become the  millstone around their necks.

If they and the rest of the Rs want to appeal to today's independent voter, they need to go farther left, not farther right.

These People Are Not Well

It's past time to add a few new members to my list of people who are Whacked Out In The Head (WOITH).

I haven't even mentioned this acronym for over six months, the last time when I was handicapping the field of Republican presidential nominees.

Based on her campaign after I wrote that, I'm elevating Michele Bachmann to full WOITH status.  Just like WOITH members Steve King and Bob Vander Plaats, if you pulled back her skin I'm pretty certain there's an alien creature underneath.

I'm at least going to add a politician to the WOITH list while I'm on the topic. Hmmm, so many to choose from...Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is certainly deserving, but it has to be...my own State Senator, Brad Zaun.  Not only has he never met a social conservative issue he didn't like, but he also took on the duty of campaign manager for Bachmann when fellow WOITH member Kent Sorenson quit.  It couldn't be more perfectly symmetrical than that.

To save time, I'm just going to list my new WOITH members with no explanation.  If you don't know why they belong, I suggest you Google them:

Charlie Sheen (obvious and belated omission until now)

Jerry Sandusky

Anyone with a reality show on MTV

The entire Kardashian family

And as an honorary member, I also want to include the guy down my street who put a $60,000 house on a $30,000 lot.

Bobby's Pledge (Part II)

Based on a segment in last night's show, I can only conclude that Stephen Colbert must be reading my blog.

http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/07/13/stephen-colbert-weighs-in-on-iowa-marriage-pledge/

Bobby's Pledge

A quick update for you on WOITH member Bob Vander Plaats, who now calls himself the chief executive officer of something called the Family Leader.

Bobby's latest venture is to ask all presidential candidates to sign a pledge to affirm support of personal fidelity to his or her spouse, oppose any redefinition of marriage, and appoint “faithful constitutionalists” as judges, (as opposed to unfaithful constitutionalists, I presume). This so-called Marriage Pledge will be a requirement for future endorsement by the Family Leader. You know, because as the Family Leader goes, so goes America.

Michele Bachmann immediately signed the pledge, solidifying her position as an incredible social conservative suck-up in Tea Party clothing. (May be redundant to say that.) Or, she may also be compensating for something else, there's really no way of knowing.

It's important to point out that this pledge only covers FUTURE events. So if you cheated on your spouse in the past, it's OK to sign the pledge. Newt Gingrich must be sooooo relieved.

It's also worth noting that Bobby is asking for a pledge of allegiance to him and his organization, not to God. So, we now can officially confirm it - he thinks he's God.

How To Become A National Joke

As a regular viewer and Twitter follower of The Colbert Report, I see some of the best political satire there is to offer. Colbert and his writers regularly ridicule the self-importance of others in a genius way.

Nothing has been better than this week when Colbert took on Tyson Zone member Bob Vander Plaats. I saw this when it originally aired - it doesn't hurt that it starts with a few digs at Tea-Party goofball Michele Bachmann:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/381487/april-12-2011/threat-level--rainbow

Congrats, Bob. You have now officially been upgraded from local joke to national joke.

Whacked Out In The Head

In a couple of prior posts, I've gone over something called the Tyson Zone, popularized by writer Bill Simmons of ESPN. I've noted a couple of local politicians who ought to be in the that club, and over time I'm sure there will be more.

However, I've decided I need my own name. to enshrine those, especially politicians, who aren't all there. For now, I will give these people the moniker of Whacked Out In The Head.

Along with Bob Vander Plaats and Steve King, my inital inductees to WOITH are 3 new Iowa legislators who apparently don't care about anything but social conservative issues, along with a speaker at a open legislative forum on gay marriage.

Let's start with the 3 Fox TV wannabes. Their names are Glen Massie, Kim Pearson, and Kent Sorenson. Each of them happen to be a Tea Party favorite with (coincidentally?) extreme right-wing views. Although freshmen legislators, they are, among other things, taking the lead in supporting legislation to impeach the remaining Iowa supreme court justices who were a part of the court's unanimous ruling that legalized gay marriage. (You'll recall that removing those judges, purely for this single political reason, has become the life goal of Bob Vander Plaats.)

Anyone and everyone in Iowa knows this impeachment idea is a non-starter. No crimes were committed. It doesn't even have the support of the majority of their Republican party brethern. It's a total waste of taxpayer time and money. But that hasn't stopped these three WOITHers. In the meantime, dealing with the fiscal restraint issues on which they were supposedly elected (isn't that the Tea Party mandate?) will have to wait. They make me embarassed for Iowa, a la Steve King, that they could be elected to political office by a supposedly intelligent electorate.

Now to our anonymous speaker, who spoke this week at an open legislative forum regarding putting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot. (Note: This is actually the only sensible approach to this issue - let Iowans decide how they want to govern themselves. That's how many other states handle social issues; the representative approach doesn't work. Let people, not politics, decide.) This female speaker, whom I've chosen not to name, warned of unintended consequences of same-sex marriage by saying, "How do we fend off bigamy, polygamy? What about people who want to marry computer generated images?"

Regardless of our differences about gay marriage, can we not all agree that this lady, and anyone else who believes that, is Whacked In The Head? (Contrast that comment with another speaker, which has gone viral on the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q

Please feel free to send your future nominees for the WOITH club to me. There is certainly no shortage of candidates.

More Things For Which I'm Not Thankful

A year ago today, on the cusp of Thanksgiving Day 2009, I made a brief list of things for which I was not thankful:
http://streffblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/im-thankful-for-this-but-not-for-that.html

Today, on the eve of Thanksgiving Day 2010, I bring you more of those things:

Far right AND left wing media personalities. I'm now convinced the lefties exist, just not in as great of numbers. I also hereby expand this to include anyone outside the political mainstream, media or not. (I'm looking at you, Bob Vander Plaats.)

Iraq / Afghanistan / North Korea.

Subsidies.

Homophobes. (Again, I'm looking at you, Bob Vander Plaats.)

People who oppose medical marijuana at the least, and who oppose criminalization of marijuana at the most.

Anyone working on commission.

Malingerers.

People who live unhealthy lifestyles, especially if they're smokers.

A New Member Of The Tyson Zone

Today I'm naming a new political inductee into The Tyson Zone. (As a reminder, The Tyson Zone is named after former boxer Mike Tyson, and is the status an athlete or other celebrity reaches when his or her behavior becomes so outrageous that one would believe any story or anecdote about the person, no matter how shocking or bizarre. http://streffblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/politicians-in-tyson-zone.html)

It's social conservative and perpetual Iowa gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. After another failed attempt this year at being nominated as the Republican candidate for governor, he is now leading a well-financed (by others outside Iowa) fight to remove 3 Iowa supreme court justices from the bench. Their sin? Being part of a ruling over a year ago that allowed gay marriage in Iowa.

I've said before I think it's up to the people of Iowa to decide this issue (http://streffblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/for-athiests-there-is-god-of-common.html),
but through legislative means, not this this way. Removing justices for a single and defensible, albeit controversial ruling is plain stupid.

However, simply trying to remove these justices isn't what gets Bob into the Tyson Zone. For that, you have to look at what he said this week in a debate on the issue, when he asserted the ruling opened the door to the possibility of polygamy, parents marrying their children, and other similar decisions.

Not sure if Bob really believes that, or if it's just more scare tactics from a bitter man. Regardless, after saying that, I don't see how there's anything more the guy can say or do that would surprise anyone. In short, social consevatives like Bob will say or do anything to get everybody to live in the same little box that they do, bordered only by their own idea of morality.

The truth is, regardless of how anyone feels about this ruling, Iowa's social climate and culture hasn't changed in the past 1+ year. Every once in a while, gay couples come here to get married, spend some money doing so, and then usually go back to their lives. It hasn't exactly become the Sodom or Gomorrah of the midwest, and on the plus side, at least we don't subsidize its economic impact with our taxes, like we do with ethanol.

Bob Vander Plaats, join your political soul mate Steve King in the Tyson Zone.