The Monsters in the Closet

The last of Mitt Romney’s values on his website is Marriage. It consists of only two short paragraphs, the opening paragraph mentions that he learned those values at home, the second paragraph he basically reinforces that it is very important to him to “preserve traditional marriage.”

I wonder what he was taught about marriage when he was a child. Often I imagine Romney as a child looking at old family albums with pictures of his great-grandparents and their multiple wives… How was this explained to him? After all, he was a child growing up in a country where polygamy was and still is not only prohibited but sanctioned. How did his parents explained to him that his great-grandfathers loved this country so much that they preferred to flee this country in order to keep collecting wives? I wish someone would ask Mitt Romney about this, about how, if given the opportunity, all the Mormon men will be polygamists, himself included. The Mormon faith or cult as many claim this religion really is, diminishes women and render them as sexual toys created by their god for men’s own pleasures. How can a man that is a Mormon whose great-grandparents were not only polygamists but fugitives, whose uncontrollable desire to satisfy their penises was greater than obeying the law, criticize those that are pursuing to get married because they are of the same sex? How can this man, with that history, say that he will make a Federal Amendment to the Constitution to reflect that marriage is the union of one man and one woman? He will not only be going against what so many of the citizens of this country want, but he will be going against what his church and religion stands for. The only reason why Mormons fled to Mexico was to be able to be polygamists, the only reason they returned and remained in this country was, beside the revolution, because it is illegal to be a polygamist in Mexico and in almost any other country in the world, at least, any “civilized” country.

I guess that Romney thinks that if there are sanctions for his religion to have multiple wives and it is illegal according to the laws of this country, then it should be illegal to marry a person of the same sex. If “they” can’t be happy, no one else should be happy… the eternal excuse of the mean at heart, the homophobics and the emotionally envious.

Gay marriage will not, in any way, change the value of heterosexual marriages. The old rhetoric of the “sanctity of marriage” doesn’t hold any water, the United States has the highest divorce rate of any other country in the world. When we have people in this country that “respect” marriage as much as they respect chewed gum stuck on the sidewalk and whose marriages have made a mockery of that “sanctity” such as Kim Kardashian (married 72 days), Mario Lopez (married 2 weeks), Carmen Electra (married days) and the record-breaking Britney Spears whose marriage lasted a whooping 2 days! What fucking “sanctity” are these politicians talking about?

While the Democrats have their fair share of sexual improprieties, we are not the ones shouting the loudest about any “sanctity” and most of us are not against same-sex marriage. However, the Party of “NO” has a very outstanding record about how much they believe in this “sanctity” and uphold the “value” of marriage between a man and a woman.  Just for fun, here is a list of the most prominent Republicans that value the institution of marriage more than anyone else:

John McCain – current Senator of Arizona. John McCain, who gained notoriety and a status of hero for the simple fact that he was captured by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War and who sang like a canary was left with injuries where to this day he can’t raise his arms above his head. While he was in Vietnam, his then wife was in a car accident that had left her crippled; upon his release and after receiving intense therapy for his injuries, McCain who believes so much in the “sanctity” of marriage had a few extramarital affairs. After “pecking” here and there, he settled for the daughter of a prominent beer distributor at which time he asked his then wife for a divorce. It is so good to have “family values” that we can count on!

Danny Lee Burton, current Representative from the state of Illinois. One of the most ardent opponents to Bill Clinton, who said at the time "If I could prove 10 percent of what I believe happened, he'd be gone. This guy's a scumbag. That's why I'm after him” and “"No one, regardless of what party they serve, no one, regardless of what branch of government they serve, should be allowed to get away with these alleged sexual improprieties,” the man that was so outraged by Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs turned out that he had an affair with a state employee that produced a child! His wife passed away of colon cancer in 1993, and he married the internist who cared for his wife while she was fighting cancer… Sure, we are to believe that they had nothing to do with each other while his wife was terminally ill!

John Ensign, Senator of Nevada from 2001 – 2011. Who has forgotten about this scumbag? He once said “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation.” What a hypocrite, as most in the Republican Party are! This jewel of a man, not only had an extramarital affair, but allegedly asked his parents to pay $96,000 to the mistress’ husband as “severance” pay... or was it more a payment in the hopes that he would keep his mouth shot? Who knows and who cares, the fact still remains that Ensign really values the sanctity of the institution of marriage.

Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina from 2003 – 2011. Don’t cry for me Argentina comes to mind when I hear his name, this guy whose “family values” break the mold not only was unfaithful to his wife, but performed a disappearing act on the Appalachian Trail and reappeared in Buenos Aires where he was enjoying wonderful nights of presumably wild sex with his mistress, all while the state citizens were paying for him to get laid. He was forced to resign and to reimburse the public funds money he used to support his private “fun.” Another great example of the “family values” upheld by the Republican Party.

Larry Craig, Senator of Idaho from 1991 – 2009. Another great example of morals and ethics. Larry Craig while in Congress consistently voted against LGBT issues, he was a firm advocate of the “Sanctity” of marriage and against the moral “corruption” of homosexuality. In 2007, Larry Craig was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for soliciting an undercover police officer. At the time he insisted that he was picking up a piece of paper from the floor to wipe his ass, how filthy is this? Again we can see how much the far Right value marriage and how much they are against homosexuality… Nothing worse than a closeted homosexual.

Timothy Hutchinson, Senator of Arkansas from 2002 – 2008. Baptist. A pro-life (surprise!) candidate that values life so much that he supports the death penalty. Needless to say, he also opposed same-sex marriage and he is such a “Christian” that he also opposed expanding hate crimes legislation. He values marriage so much that he divorced his wife of 29 years to marry an aid, now a lobbyist.

Henry John Hyde, U.S. Representative for Illinois from 1975 – 2007. He was one of the loudest voices in Congress during the Bill Clinton’s witch-hunt… oops, I mean, Impeachment Hearings. Mr. Hyde had kept secret at the time that for 4 years, from 1965 – 1969, he committed adultery and this became public knowledge in 1998, when the woman, Cherie Snodgrass, accused him of hypocrisy in an article published by the Internet magazine Salon.com where she declared that they had an affair. Mr. Hyde didn’t denied this but brushed it off as an indiscretion of his youth. We must keep in mind that he was 41 years old when he began the “youthful indiscretion”!

Kirk Fordice, Governor of Mississippi from 1992-2000. In 1996 he signed an executive order banning recognition of same sex marriage in Mississippi and an amendment to the State Constitution defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman, further banning recognition of same sex marriages from other states. This man that upheld the “sanctity of marriage” was caught cheating on his wife of 44 years with his high school sweetheart, divorced her to marry his mistress. The new marriage ended in divorce. I guess this guy truly believed in marriage!

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House from 1995 – 1999. Newt Gingrich exemplifies what the morals and values of most of the GOP.  A guy without scruples who is one of the loudest voices defending “family values” yours not his, of course! This poor excuse of a man doesn’t know the meaning of loyalty and faithfulness and has been consistent in having a mistress.

Michael Joseph Bowers, Georgia Attorney General from 1981 – 1997. Another republican that believes in the sanctity of marriage that had a mistress for a decade. A mistress that used to be a Playboy Club waitress, Anne Davis, and who Michael J. Bowers was so kind and rescued her from such demeaning position and made her his secretary. Talk about having the proper qualifications for a job!

I will never understand how the Republicans have the audacity of preaching when they can't keep their pants up, there is no doubt that they believe that if you repeat a lie long enough, it will become true... After all, isn't that what they've been doing all along?

Casualties of War

I am not in a good mood. Truth be told, I haven’t been in a good mood since the Wisconsin recall fiasco, it is so bad that I promised to take a few days off from politics, but it is easier said than done.

I encountered a person in Facebook that confronted me saying that I have to be less aggressive, more persuasive and basically to go with the flow, this person obviously doesn’t know me; otherwise that would have never been suggested. I can never hide or masquerade my ideals in order for others to like me. I can carry a debate, we can have a difference of opinion but I will not change my values and if I am wrong, I will be the first one to admit it. I will try my best to offer the other person all the facts I may know or have at hand, but I will never lie in order to make others happy or others to like me. No one pays my bills but me, I have to be honest with myself first before I can be honest to others, those that don’t agree can either accept me for what I am or leave, as most things it’s a matter of choice.

I keep hearing that President Obama might lose the elections because the unemployment rate went up by half a point. I can’t believe that people are so stupid! How can they be so blind and not realize that the private companies are purposely not hiring in order to get rid of our President? To me it is so obvious, so clear that makes it incomprehensible that people are so quick to flip… and Latinos, Latinos are beginning to flip because they think Mitt Romney will be more pro immigration than Obama! They will hit Mexico before they can say “Orale” and if they vote for Romney, it will serve them well… I hope they enjoy the ride.

For those Latinos that haven’t done their homework, I will provide them with this entry from Wikipedia about where Mitt Romney stands on Immigration, gay marriage and minimum wage from the time when he was the governor of Massachusetts, I truly don’t think his views have changed any and if they have, I can assure you they are now worse, not better.

Illegal immigration

Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain in-state tuition rates at state colleges if they graduated from a Massachusetts high school after attending it for at least three years and signed an affidavit affirming that they intended to seek citizenship. Romney argued that the bill would cost the state government $15 million and that Massachusetts should not reward illegal immigration. A study by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicted that the legislation would generate over $5 million in state revenues; the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform disputed this conclusion. In 2005, the bill was reintroduced to the House and brought to a vote on 11 January 2006. The legislation was defeated 96-57.

On December 2, 2006, it was reported that a landscaping company Romney contracted to perform yard work at his home had been suspected of employing illegal immigrants. Romney said that he was unaware of the immigration status of the company's employees. A year later it was reported that the same company was still using illegal immigrants to work on Romney's estate. After this second report, Romney fired the landscape company.

Later in December 2006, Romney signed an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that would have allowed Massachusetts State Police troopers to arrest and seek deportation of suspected illegal immigrants they encounter over the course of their normal duties Under the terms of the agreement, a group of 30 troopers would have received specialized training allowing them to question and detain suspected illegal immigrants, charge them with a violation of immigration law and place them in removal proceedings.

The executive order pertaining to state police was consistent with Section 287(g) of federal immigration law. Section 287(g) is a program of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 that deputizes state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce immigration matters.

The agreement was never implemented because governor-elect Deval Patrick, who had expressed strong opposition to the agreement before it was signed, revoked it a month later when he was sworn in.

Minimum wage

As a candidate for governor in 2002, Romney proposed indexing the minimum wage to inflation and raising the hourly pay for the state's lowest-paid workers from $6.75 an hour to $6.96 an hour starting January 2004, saying, "I do not believe that indexing the minimum wage will cost us jobs. I believe it will help us retain jobs.”

In July 2006, the legislature passed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $8.00 an hour, and he vetoed it. "I have spent hours reading a wide array of reviews on the minimum wage and its impact on the economy, and there's no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs, and the loss of jobs is at the entry level," said Romney when he vetoed the bill. He proposed an increase to $7.00/hour (which represented a 25 cents an hour increase over the existing rate.) The legislature voted on July 31, 2006 to override his veto (unanimously in the Senate) thus setting the minimum wage at the higher amount.

Same-sex marriage

Romney strongly opposed same-sex marriage during his governorship. He emphasized his desire to "protect the institution of marriage" while denouncing discrimination against gays and lesbians. "Like me, the great majority of Americans wish both to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and to oppose bias and intolerance directed towards gays and lesbians," Romney said in 2004.

Romney attempted to block implementation of the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that legalized same-sex marriage in 2003. Romney criticized the decision as harming the rights of children:

“They viewed marriage as an institution principally designed for adults. Adults are who they saw. Adults stood before them in the courtroom. And so they thought of adult rights, equal rights for adults…Marriage is also for children. In fact, marriage is principally for the nurturing and development of children. The children of America have the right to have a father and a mother.

Romney subsequently released a statement in support of a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts state constitution defining marriage as existing only between "one man and one woman" in order to overrule the court's decision. His statement said, "the people of Massachusetts should not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to our society as the definition of marriage."

While consistently rejected same-sex marriage, there was a rhetorical shift in other emphasis around this subject during his time as governor, culminating with Romney rarely talking about protecting gays from bias and instead characterizing himself as a conservative stalwart in the battle against same-sex marriage and in support of heterosexual families.

The above, according to Wikipedia, is Mitt Romney’s proven record. Don’t be a fool and believe that he has changed his mind about any of these so important subjects, keep in mind the “etch a sketch” analogy used by his campaign manager… nothing he says in his campaign is true, except that analogy.

Mitt Romney will be the worst thing that could happen not only to Latinos, minorities and the middle class but also to America as a whole. There is no question why the Koch brothers are backing Romney and most Republicans… they are trying to secure cheap labor and increase their already obscene wealth at whatever cost necessary. For them, you and I are just casualties of war.

We must vote in great numbers even greater numbers than in 2008. Those of us that are unemployed should volunteer to be an election’s worker – not only will you have something to do but you can use the time there to make sure nothing strange or corrupt takes place or go to the nursing homes and offer to help the elderly fill in their absentee ballots, be prepared, be informed and clarify any doubts they may have. Offer a ride to the voting sites to those that don’t have transportation. If they have a disability and can’t stand in line offer to stand in line for them, do whatever it’s necessary but move and vote, vote for the Democratic or Green Party… our way of life depends on it.