Michigan about to require women to buy "rape insurance" based on petition signed by 4.2% of voters

Michigan about to require women to buy "rape insurance" based on petition signed by 4.2% of voters

by EclectablogFollow

The War on Women continues...

Graphic by Anne C. SavageCross-posted from Eclectablog.
Thanks to a petition drive that resulted in 4.2% of Michiganders voicing their minority opinion, Michigan is about to become a place where women have to plan ahead for their abortions. If you become pregnant accidentally or if you are raped and become pregnant and haven't purchased a separate abortion coverage rider on your health insurance, you won't be covered. This isn't just for state government insurance plans or those purchased on the health insurance exchange. It's for EVERY insurance plan available in the state.

Apparently no government is too small to get between you, your doctor, and your health insurer.

A controversial initiative that would require women to buy an additional rider on their health insurance if they wanted abortion coverage is one short step away from going to the Legislature, where it is likely to easily become law. Because no one filed a challenge by Monday’s deadline to the more than 315,000 signatures turned in to the Secretary of State, an initiative that would prohibit abortion coverage from being included in standard insurance policies will go forward.
And the Secretary of State certified Monday that Michigan Right to Life, which spearheaded the petition drive, has more than enough valid signatures to start the ball rolling on the new state law. A minimum of 258,088 valid signatures were needed. The anti-abortion activists turned in 315,477 signatures. And the Secretary of State’s elections division estimated that 299,941 of the signatures are valid.
The state Board of Canvassers will meet at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 2 to certify the signatures and then the petition moves to the state Legislature, which has 40 days to approve, reject or do nothing with the legislative ballot initiative.

If Republicans vote it down or fail to act on it, it will be a ballot iniatitive in the next general election. Neither of these is likely given their ideologically extreme views. If they pass it, it becomes law. The other 95.8% of us won’t have a say and neither will Governor Snyder. Don't tell me there isn't a War on Women in Michigan being waged by religious conservatives in our state. The evidence is right before you.
If you want chime in, Planned Parenthood has a petition going asking legislators to allow ALL Michigan voters to have a say in this. You can sign the petition HERE.

Originally posted to Eclectablog - eclectic blogging for a better tomorrow on Wed Nov 27, 2013 at 09:24 AM PST.

Also republished by Motor City Kossacks, Your Government at Work, State & Local ACTION Group, and Michigan, My Michigan.

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Conversations With A Tea Party Patriot: Is Obama Bisexual Or Homosexual?

Conversations With A Tea Party Patriot: Is Obama Bisexual Or Homosexual? (VIDEO)

 
June 16, 2013 | Filed under: Right wing hatred,Videos | Posted by: Kimberley Johnson

Are you a liberal? Well, according to this
scholarTea Party person, you are brainwashed. That “Jewish guy,” what’s his name, is funding liberalism and we are all sheep.
But the burning question, the real debate, is whether or not President Obama is homosexual or bisexual. Yes. They are seriously discussing this. Aside from calling him a Muslim, a Kenyan, a pot smoking Socialist, a Communist and a terrorist, he wants to take away your guns and he beats seven-month old fetus babies over the head.
 Her news sources? Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and “informative” Tea Party meetings.
Seriously, these people are scary and they vote. These are the folks complaining that Sarah Palin isn’t president.
Watch and weep.

---

Kimberley A. Johnson (BIO) – A.K.A. The Anti Coulter is the author of The Virgin Diaries and an activist for women’s rights. Like her on Facebook, Twitter or friend her on FB HERE.

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10 Headlines Fox News Might Have Written Had They Existed During Key Points in U.S. History

November 27, 2013 By Allen Clifton 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed the tendency for conservatives to have what can best be described as a foggy recollection of history.  While modern day right-wing media outlets like Fox News mostly paint the Republican party in a positive light, anyone with any kind of common sense knows that, while political parties might have shifted over time, the beliefs of the “conservative” have not.
Hell, these people now try to claim that President Kennedy was actually a conservative and if MLK were alive today he would be a Republican.  And while many conservatives today love programs like Social Security and Medicare, their rabid opposition to anything “socialized” leads me to believe with great certainty that had Fox News been around during the time when Social Security and Medicare were created, conservatives would fiercely oppose both programs as well.
So while this idea has been explored by others, I decided I would give my own take on the type of headline I believe Fox News would write about certain issues that have happened throughout our history.
I figure, let’s have a little fun.
In no particular chronological order, here we go:
1) Watergate:
Liberal Witch Hunt Continues: Mainstream Media’s Relentless Attack on President Nixon Proves Their True Liberal Bias


2) MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech:
Racist Martin Luther King Descends on Washington D.C., Continues to Try to Make Race an Issue
3) Social Security:
FDR the Socialist? President Signs Largest Redistribution of Wealth Legislation in United States History
4) Medicare:
Following Kennedy’s Assassination, President Johnson Signs Communist-like Law Forcing Younger Americans to Pay for Free-Loading Seniors 
5) Truman’s Election:
Rampant Voter Fraud Leads to Unexpected Truman Victory
6) Pear Harbor Bombing:
FDR’s Nazi Sympathizing Backfires: German Ally Empire of Japan Attacks United States Naval Base 
7) Custer’s Last Stand:
American Hero General Custer Slaughtered by Pack of Illegal Immigrants
8) Lincoln’s Push to Free Slaves:
“King” Lincoln Wants the Federal Government to be Able to Seize Your Personal Property, Destroy United States Economy
9) University of Alabama Integration:
Police State in Alabama: President Kennedy Attacks States Rights, Sends Military to Protect Inferior Negros Trying to Mix with Whites 
10) Building of the Interstate Highway System:
Government Spending is Out of Control as President Eisenhower Plans Socialist Takeover of Interstate Travel 
Alright, I’m going to stop there.  Honestly, I could do this all day.
Did I exaggerate a bit on some of them?  I’m really not so sure.  Considering the radical nature of the Republican party — tea party Republicans in particular — and Fox News being the mouthpiece for the GOP, I think most of them would be fairly accurate.


But of course Republicans won’t agree with any of these.  Then again, most conservatives are in complete denial about the sad reality of their own party.
I hope those reading this will share this around and see if others agree with what these “headlines” from Fox News might have been.
Image via “If Fox News Was Around” on Facebook

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6 Outrageously Greedy Companies That Make Scrooge Look Like a Softie

6 Outrageously Greedy Companies That Make Scrooge Look Like a Softie 

AlterNet / By Lynn Stuart Parramore

Meet the companies offering sh*t sandwiches to employees for the holidays.

Photo Credit: shutterstock.com

November 24, 2013  |  

Ebeneezer Scrooge knew how a greedy capitalist deals with workers during the holiday season: Consider yourself cheated when they take a day off with pay to celebrate with their families.
But the old miser is bit too soft for many of today’s corporate titans. A day off with pay? Bah, humbug! Across America, workers are faced with no paid holidays at all or “encouraged” to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some get paid extra, some don’t. Unless you have a union contract or work for the federal government, Thanksgiving and Christmas may just be another day on the job.
While Scrooge was forced to bow to Victorian norms and give his employees Christmas Day off with pay, American law does not require such generosity. In fact, the U.S. is a world leader in least generous holiday arrangements.
American misers don’t stop there: From paying starvation wages to abandoning victims of factory disasters, there is no action too heartless for some of our best-known companies. Here are some of the brands offering “season’s beatings” to hard-working people.
Kmart
Several stores on this list will be open on Thanksgiving, but Kmart has outdone them all by announcing it will be open 41 hours straight, starting at the obscene hour of 6am on Thanksgiving Day.
According to Kmart spokeswoman Shanelle Armstrong, the company is doing workers a favor, informing the Huffington Post that "We staff with teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them the opportunity to make extra money during holiday."
Many customers obviously can’t appreciate such generosity, leaving irate messages on Kmart’s Facebook page like these:

“Hey Kmart! Because of you being Open on Thanksgiving and totally disrespecting your employees, Our Family will never spend a $ in your store!”
"I refuse to shop at a store that makes employees work on Thanksgiving so you can earn a buck this store among others takes the fun out of shopping on black Friday.”

Around the country, Kmart’s full-time employees report being pressured to work over holidays, despite the company’s claim of using seasonal and temp workers.
McDonald's
McDonald’s, never one to shy away from screwing employees, recently found itself caught up in a blizzard of negative PR for putting its business principles into writing in the form of a list of holiday budget tips for its workers, whose pay averages $8 per hour. (This just months after a stunningly McStupid employee budget guide that allowed zero dollars for heat and $20 for healthcare.)
The company has some money advice that would make Scrooge giddy. Facing debt? Try returning some of your presents and selling off possessions on eBay. Need to make a purchase? Go to a thrift shop instead of the mall. Feeling depressed? “Try to avoid using shopping as a pick-me-up or as a way to relieve boredom.”
McDonald’s concluded with a cheery holiday message for workers who live below the poverty line: “Financial security is something we all dream of. You can make this dream a reality with a little hard work and a lot of dedication.”
Thanks, McDonald's. Could we at least have fries with that?
Sears
With an Ayn Rand-worshipping libertarian at the helm (financier Eddie Lampert), it’s no wonder Sears has become the poster child of worker misery (Sears Holdings also now owns Kmart). When he took over Sears in January 2013, Lampert rolled up his sleeves, turning the company into a giant Randian experiment where workers were pitted against each other until the venerable retailer descended into a chaos of screaming matches and infighting.

Naturally, Sears will be open on Thanksgiving this year (8pm).  And that’s not all.

A year after the horrific factory fire in Bangladesh, Sears, which sold clothing made there, is giving victims the cold shoulder, declining to participate in a global effort to get compensation to injured workers and the families of survivors. According to the New York Times, some European retailers, like the Anglo-Irish Primark, have embraced their moral obligation and are working hard on the effort, but Sears is unmoved by the idea of burned and paralyzed victims, or families trying to survive without a breadwinner. Happy holidays.
Walmart
Walmart, boasting a profit of $15.7 billion last year, has distinguished itself by paying crap wages to its 2.2 million employees.In fact, the majority of its workers with children live below the poverty line.
This year, the company is actually holding food drives so that its own poorly paid employees can donate food to each other for the holidays.
Walmart is really a standout when it comes to caring about workers — for example, not giving a hoot if people die while making its products. The company recently showed what anti-sweatshop activist Samantha Maher calls “an astonishing lack of responsibility” to the victims of the Bangladesh factory fire where a large portion of its clothing was being made. Like Sears, it will not participate in relief efforts for victims.
Walmart has announced it will open its stores at 6pm on Thanksgiving, and according to chief marketing officer Duncan MacNaughton, employees are “really excited to work that day.” Gee, work or get fired? Or end up with so few hours that you can’t eat that week? What an exciting choice!
What MacNaughton does not say is that many Walmart workers would like to work full-time, but are forced to work part-time so the company can avoid offering benefits. They are also forced to deal with erratic schedules that drive them into poverty, making them unable to take second jobs or arrange childcare.
Josh Eidelson reports that Walmart can expect protests and demonstrations across the country during Black Friday, including strikes.
Apple
Apple was planning on increasing the number of stores open on Thanksgiving this year, but CEO Tim Cook made a big show of expressing his goodwill by insisting that only some of his employees should be miserable for the holidays: those working in stores on the Las Vegas Strip, Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach and New York’s Fifth Avenue.
Cook’s largesse is duly noted.
But so is the fact that Apple’s employees are pretty miserable to begin with. According to Glassdoor.com—sort of like Yelp for America’s workforce where employees leave reviews of their experience on the job—working for Apple is no picnic. In terms of satisfaction, Apple ranks #34, far behind tech companies like Facebook (#1), Google (#6) and Linked-In (#14). It also ranks below Shell Oil US (#18), Mastercard (#29) and Bain & Company (#4). Apple employees complain of long hours, difficulty in balancing life and work, and — surprise! — “retail hours involving holiday hours.”
Apple’s per-employee revenue is an off-the-freaking charts $2.13 million, yet the average salary of an Apple store “Genius” is $38,937, which, in locations like New York, is barely subsistence level. Apple is sitting on a tremendous amount of cash right now, but is it going to increase the pay and benefits of the workers who make its success possible? Or maybe invest in the development of new products? Perish the thought! No, it appears Apple is likely to do a massive stock buyback (read: stock manipulation) and enrich executives to the tune of $150 billion (if Carl Ichan has his way). Stock buybacks are a noxious form of redistribution of profits away from workers and an innovation-killer, and should be banned.
Let’s not forget that Apple is facing a class-action suit for conspiring with other tech firms to screw over employees with do-not-hire arrangements. Or that Apple iPhone workers in China work in virtual slavery. Or that Tim Cook sent an incredibly creepy video to employees warning them to read up on “business conduct” guidelines. Et cetera.
Macy’s
For the first time in its 155-year history, Macy’s will be open on Thanksgiving. This is especially ironic given that the iconic store has practically made its name synonymous with the holiday through its nine-decades-running festival of ginormous balloons, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year, many Macy's workers will not be able to enjoy the parade, because they will be inside bound to cash registers.
Macy's employees have reported an obnoxious scorescorecard system that the company uses to judge and control them. They also complain of low wages, dirty conditions, and poor training — which is no suprise given reports of "Shop and Frisk" incidents involving people of color getting harassed in the store.
Last year, we noted that Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren was spending his time lobbying to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Lundgren is part of a notorious group of greedy CEOs called “Fix the Debt” which strives to further distress hard-working people by running ad campaigns, purchasing members of Congress, etc. so that he and his fellow Scrooges can enjoy tax breaks by shredding the social safety net.
According to Forbes, Lundgren took home over $10 million last year.
And there you have it — a corporate climate in America which would make Scrooge himself shudder.

Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet senior editor. She is cofounder of Recessionwire, founding editor of New Deal 2.0, and author of 'Reading the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture.' She received her Ph.d in English and Cultural Theory from NYU, where she has taught essay writing and semiotics. She is the Director of AlterNet's New Economic Dialogue Project. Follow her on Twitter @LynnParramore.

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Ted Cruz Quite Possibly Just Made His Most Ridiculous Statement — Ever

November 26, 2013

By Allen Clifton


It’s no secret that I absolutely cannot stand Texas Senator Ted Cruz.  I still go back and forth between him and Sarah Palin when trying to figure out who I loathe more.  Currently the edge goes to Cruz simply because he’s actually a senator, whereas Sarah Palin is nothing more than a failed vice presidential candidate and the Alaska governor who quit before her first term was up.
That being said, it’s not difficult at all to find ample quotes from Ted Cruz that are completely absurd.
But while there are plenty of quotes proving Ted Cruz is an idiot, the context of his recent comments about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid using the “nuclear option” to change the rules of the Senate might just be his most ridiculous ever.
During an exchange with Bloomberg News’ Al Hunt, Hunt asked Cruz about the change in the rules made by Senator Reid:

Hunt: Will it complicate passing budgets or debt ceilings or anything?
Cruz: Of course it will. I mean, it will poison the atmosphere of the Senate.

Yes, that’s Ted Cruz accusing Harry Reid and Democrats of poisoning the atmosphere of the Senate.  The guy who many within his own party can’t stand.  The man who staged a fake 21-hour filibuster where he tried to compare “Obamacare” to Darth Vader and misconstrued the meaning of Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor.  The same Senator who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to force a government shutdown, knowing that it stood absolutely zero chance at accomplishing his ridiculous “goal.”
The same Senator Cruz who, in his very brief time in the United States Senate, has done absolutely nothing except use his position as senator to set himself up for a 2016 presidential bid – at the cost of the taxpayers, of course.
Ted Cruz epitomizes “poison” in the Senate.  It’s clear to anyone with any kind of common sense that Cruz only ran for the Senate because he had presidential ambitions for 2016 and needed a way to get his name known to voters.  And since his election he’s taken up the strategy that the only thing he’ll do is pander to the tea party, hoping that if he builds enough support with far-right Republicans, he’ll set himself up to claim the GOP nomination in 2016.
But like I said, you don’t have to believe me – many within his own party can’t even stand him.  Look at how quickly many leading Republicans emphatically denounced the idea of shutting down the government again once another vote on the budget will have to be held in a couple of months.
So while what he said wasn’t the most asinine thing he’s ever said, the context behind what he expressed might just be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard him say.
Of all people, for Ted Cruz to accuse anyone of introducing poisonous behavior in the Senate could be a definition for hypocrisy.  And while this just might rank at the top of my list for ridiculous comments from the Texas senator, I’m sure it won’t be long before he says something else outrageous to trump its stupidity.

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The Religious Right With Their Weaponized Jesus Are Not Christians

The Religious Right With Their Weaponized Jesus Are Not Christians 

 

By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Tuesday, November, 26th, 2013, 7:28 am

It is instructive that Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin (retired), who now works as the Family Research Council’s executive vice president, cares more about what Jesus looked like than what Jesus taught.
Boykin, another one of those who says Islam is not entitled to First Amendment protections, and thinks God, not the American people, chooses our presidents, told the audience of a Men’s Prayer Breakfast at William Jessup University, that,

[Jesus] was a man. He was a man’s man, but we feminized him in the church…he was a tough guy and that’s the Jesus that I want to be like. That’s the side that I want to be like. But we’ve feminized Jesus in the church and the men can’t identify with him anymore; not the kind of men that I want to hang out with, they can’t identify with this effeminate Jesus that we’ve tried to portray. He was a tough guy. He was a man’s man.

For Boykin it was bromance at first sight and perhaps a wee bit of latent homosexuality as he waxed over Jesus’ “big, bulging biceps…thin waist” and “strong shoulders” (Who knew Jesus was the Marlboro man?)
Boykin’s accidental outing of himself aside, we don’t know what Jesus actually looked like. But we do know that he was not the strangely Germanic blond guy of popular imagination. He was a dark-skinned Semite:

There is also no doubt that Jesus smelled bad. They didn’t have deodorant in the first century of the Common Era so Jesus smelled bad, Peter smelled bad, Pontius Pilate smelled bad, Caiaphas smelled bad, the guys who nailed Jesus to the cross smelled bad, and so did the two rebels he was executed with and the people who watched, including Jesus’ mother. We get that. But smelling bad doesn’t make you a man when everyone – women included – smells bad. This sort of reasoning is why Boykin is working for the FRC.
We get that too.
But it’s a shame Boykin and the FRC care more about what Jesus smelled and looked like than they do the important things, like what Jesus taught about the poor coming first and the rich, having sold their souls to the dark powers that ruled the age to become rich, coming last. That would be swell, but people like Boykin prefer the Weaponized Jesus of the twenty first century to the apocalyptic prophet of the first.
Jesus is often portrayed as a carpenter but he might well have been, like Socrates, a stone mason, since the word used, in Mark 6:3, τέκτων (tekton), means only that he made things with his hands; it does not specify which craft he practiced. So yes, he would have been a hardy, no doubt muscular fellow, though Geza Vermes, whom I often cite here, points out that the language used – “son of a carpenter” – is used in the Talmud to mean somebody who is “learned” and therefore might have simply signified that Jesus was wise. Of course, we already figured that out, given what he said about rich people chances of getting into heaven (Matthew 19:24).
He might have been big, strapping, smelly AND wise. We’ll just never know. And it really doesn’t matter.
And that is because most of us would agree that what Jesus said was more important than what he looked like. Think about the Beatitudes and Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) and think about them particularly in terms of what President Barack Obama has accomplished with regards Iran and its nuclear program.
Because it is Obama the Republican response was automatically negative but their response should have been to remember Jesus’ words, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7).
What we get instead is Bryan Fischer proclaiming that God will curse America for making a deal with Iran. Fischer forgets Jesus entirely and goes all Old Testament on us:

What he cursed us with are people like Bryan Fischer and Jerry Boykin and groups like the Christian America Patriots Militia, who have been claiming that Jesus and the Second Amendment together gives them the right to assassinate the president.
If Republicans really cared about Jesus, and what Jesus taught, they would be talking less about their Savior’s manly odor, flip open the New Testament that supposedly informs their beliefs, and realize that having done what Jesus wanted, Obama is blessed, not cursed, and that even if he does something you don’t like, you forgive him, not kill him.
It is too much to say that Jesus would say he wants his religion back. It was never his religion to begin with, after all. It is beyond contestation that Jesus was a Jew who preached an apocalyptic message to the Jews, that he ignored the Gentiles (Pagans) and not only ignored them, but told his disciples to avoid them, referring to Gentiles in true Jewish fashion as “dogs” and “swine” (Matthew 7:6).
Jesus did not invent Christianity. Christianity is a religion that was invented about Jesus, based, allegedly, on his teachings and not his appearance. But Jesus would certainly want those teachings heeded. He did not walk all over a Galilee infested with bandits, rebels, Herodians, and Romans, just for yucks. It was hot, dangerous – and smelly, after all.
We have to assume (assuming a historical Jesus in the first place) that he was serious about what he said.
He died for it, after all.
Whether Jesus was right or wrong about what he taught, whether he was an illiterate Galilean craftsman or divine, he died miserably and in great agony on the cross. And in at least one of the mutually contradictory versions of his death, he told his Father to “forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He did not say “nuke ‘em till they glow” or “bomb them into the Stone Age,” like would a Republican.
We should respect that, Christian or otherwise.
But Jerry Boykin and his ilk have no genuine respect for Jesus. Jesus has become “weaponized” – a club used to bludgeon enemies. This is not at all what Jesus would have wanted, since he said to “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39) and that if somebody steals your shirt to give them your cloak as well (Matthew 5:40) and to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44).
The only weapon here is love.
But conservatives hate that Jesus. Hate is more their speed. Old Testament wrath. A god who tosses nukes with his fingertips. That god profits them and their friends in the military industrial complex. That’s a Jesus they can get behind. That’s the Jesus Boykin really loves with all his manly man’s heart.
Unfortunately, that’s not the Jesus in the gospels, which is, after all, supposed to be a good message, not a bad.
The thing is, if Christianity is a religion about what Jesus taught, then these people on the Religious Right are not Christians at all. How much greater their crime if they claim Jesus actually created Christianity.
Yes, I do think Jesus would want his gospel heeded if he put in an appearance today. And I suspect he would have a few words for the dogs and swine on the Religious Right who have been masquerading as followers of the rabbi from Galilee.

The Religious Right With Their Weaponized Jesus Are Not Christians was written by Hrafnkell Haraldsson for PoliticusUSA.

© PoliticusUSA, Tue, Nov 26th, 2013 — All Rights Reserved

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Republicans Outraged Over President Obama and Gettysburg Really Won’t Like Reading This

Republicans Outraged Over President Obama and Gettysburg Really Won’t Like Reading This

November 20, 2013 By Allen Clifton 

I love how the right-wing media blatantly treats conservative voters like idiots, knowing that they’ll eat it right up.  See, while liberals like myself often call Republicans ignorant, the right-wing media seems to feel the same way.  How else could they deliberately create “outrage” over events they know to be completely inaccurate?
Because they know conservative voters are just dumb enough to fall for it.  The right-wing media knows that they can simply make up almost anything they want, “report” it to the masses of conservatives just itching to find something new to hate President Obama for, and Republican voters will believe practically anything they say.
A few months ago it was “Umbrellagate” that caused conservatives to spit their venom toward the president.  Then more recently it was Michelle Obama encouraging children to drink more water that seemed to offend conservatives to their very core.  Now it’s President Obama not going to the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and during his reading of that very same Gettysburg Address he didn’t utter the words “under God.”
First, let’s address his lack of attendance on the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg.  Here’s a fun fact for conservatives: No president since William Howard Taft, who went in 1909, has attended Gettysburg on its anniversary.  Not even their hero Ronald Reagan.  Who, by the way, never visited Gettysburg while he was president.
Aww, too bad.  So much for that pointless conspiracy the right-wing media blatantly made up and millions of ignorant conservatives took off and ran with.

Then on to an issue many conservatives have throw an even bigger fit about — President Obama reading the Gettysburg Address without saying the words “under God.”
It’s true, in Lincoln’s speech he did say the words, “under God.”  But they weren’t actually written in the original speech — which is what was given to President Obama by Civil War scholar Ken Burns.  Burns gave him a version of the speech called a “Nicolay Copy.”  A “Nicolay Copy” is in reference to John Nicolay, the White House staffer who preserved the speech.
Darn, strike two for made up right-wing conspiracies.
But they are a perfect 2-0 in this for proving that they are absolutely terrible at knowing United States history.
Oh, and just for good measure, our Pledge of Allegiance originally never contained the words “one nation under God” either.  In fact, our pledge was written by a Christian socialist and the words “under God” weren’t added until 1954.
This “outrage” has just been another perfect example of conservatives manufacturing fake stories to use in a pathetic attempt to attack President Obama.  Just more of the same from the people whose careers depend on the abject stupidity of the average conservative.

About Allen Clifton
Allen Clifton is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has a degree in Political Science. He is a co-founder of Forward Progressives, and author of the popular Right Off A Cliff column. He is also the founder of the Right Off A Cliff facebook page, on which he routinely voices his opinions and stirs the pot for the Progressive movement. Follow Allen on Twitter as well, @Allen_Clifton.

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25 Ridiculous Conservative Ideas In Their Own Words

February 8, 2013

Posted by: Samuel Wynn

1. Armed rebellion is a viable alternative to elections: ”Our nation was founded on violence. The option is on the table. I don’t think that we should ever remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms.” —Tea Party-backed Texas GOP congressional candidate Stephen Broden, suggesting the violent overthrow of the U.S. government if Republicans don’t win at the ballot box, interview with Dallas’s WFAA-TV, Oct. 21, 2010
2. Banning abortions for high-risk pregnancies can be a positive experience for women: “I have been in the situation of counseling young girls… who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made WHAT WAS REALLY A LEMON SITUATION INTO LEMONADE.” — Sharron Angle on abortion
3. Bringing your gun to crowded public events is normal: “It’s not unusual in political rallies, it’s not unusual in parades, to see that type of thing.” — Joe Miller on guns at his rallies
4. Carbon Dioxide is safe: ”Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.” —Rep. Michelle Bachmann
5. Climate change is a myth: “I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change. It’s not proven by any stretch of the imagination…It’s far more likely that it’s just sunspot activity or just something in the geologic eons of time. Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ‘gets sucked down by trees and helps the trees grow.”’ – Ron Johnson
6. Corporations are people: ”Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings, my friend.” —GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney
7. Discrimination on the basis of race is desirable: “I don’t want to be associated with those people, but I also don’t want to limit their speech in any way in the sense that we tolerate boorish and uncivilized behavior because that’s one of the things freedom requires is that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized, but that doesn’t mean we approve of it.” —Rand Paul, taking issue with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while arguing that government should not prevent private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race
8. Evolution is a myth: “You know what, evolution is a myth….Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?” —Christine O’Donnell
9. Geography is not important: ”I’m ready for the ‘gotcha’ questions and they’re already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?” —Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
10. Government has no role in job creation: “People ask me, ‘What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?’ Well, that’s not my job as a U.S. senator.” —Sharron Angle
11. Higher education is elitist: “President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob … Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.” –Rick Santorum
12. Hitler coined the phrase “separation of church and state”: “The exact phrase ‘separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph HItler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ASK THEM WHY THEY’RE NAZIS.” — Glen Urquhart
13. Inciting violence is acceptable: “I hope that’s not where we’re going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” —Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle, floating the possibility of armed insurrection in a radio interview
14. Intelligent Design is a viable scientific theory: “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.” – Michele Bachmann
15. Lawyers are Un-American: “the ABA is about as far left as the Communist Party, so those who usually get those awards are lawyers committed to socialism, not freedom.” – Tea Party Nation Founder Judson Phillips
16. Marriage is related to national security: ”Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?” —Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), on congressional efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage (July 2004)
17. The media is a threat to national security: “The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession or even another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS.” — Lamar Smith
18. Minimum Wage created unemployment: “If we took away the minimum wage-if conceivably it was gone-we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.” —Michele Bachmann
19. Most Americans cannot accept gay marriage: “Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the next, at least, thirty years. I AM NOT UNDERSTATING THAT.” — Michelle Bachmann
20. Obama is the enemy: “He has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an ENEMY OF HUMANITY.” — Trent Franks on Obama
21. The rise of the Soviet Union is cause for concern among Americans: ”What people recognize is that there’s a fear that the United States is in an unstoppable decline. They see the rise of China, the rise of India, the rise of the Soviet Union and our loss militarily going forward.” —Michele Bachmann (R-MN), unaware that the Soviet Union collapsed more than two decades ago (August 2011)
22. Sexual Revolution created AIDS: “We had the 60s sexual revolution, and now people are dying of AIDS.” —Christine O’Donnell, Politically Incorrect. August 1998
23. Trees have a proper height: ”I love this state. The trees are the right height.” —Mitt Romney, campaigning in Michigan (February 2012)
24. We should use prisons for low-income housing: “THESE ARE BEAUTIFUL PROPERTIES with basketball courts, bathroom facilities, toilet facilities. Many young people would love to get the hell out of cities” — Carl Paladino on housing poor people in prisons
25. Women are disposable: ”She’s not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a President. And besides, she has cancer.”’ —future House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), reportedly speaking to a friend in 1980 about why he was divorcing his first wife

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Michele Bachmann Considers Suing Obama Over Canceled Plans Fix

The Huffington Post  |  By Mollie Reilly Posted: 11/19/2013 4:31 pm EST  |  Updated: 11/20/2013 11:15 am EST  

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Tuesday that she and several of her Republican collegaues in the House of Representatives are considering suing President Barack Obama for allowing plans canceled under the Affordable Care Act to be extended through 2014.
According to Politico, Bachmann, speaking at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, accused the president of violating the constitutional separation of powers by changing the health care law through administrative means, rather than consulting Congress.
"That's the essence of lawlessness and now it's our time to defend our prerogative," she said.
When asked about the lawsuit by MinnPost, Bachmann's office said a lawsuit was not imminent, but was under discussion.
"She and some of her colleagues have had discussions about the best recourse to put a stop to his unconstitutional actions," a spokesman said in a statement.
Last week, facing backlash over plan cancellations under the health care law, Obama asked insurers to let individuals whose plans had been cancelled to renew their plans another year.
"Insurers can extend current plans that otherwise would be canceled into 2014 and Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan," Obama said. "This fix won't solve every problem for every person, but it's going to help a lot of people. Doing more would require work with Congress."

The White House later offered legal justification for Obama's fix to the Washington Post's Greg Sargent.
“The Supreme Court held more than 25 years ago that agencies charged with administering statues have inherent authority to exercise discretion to ensure that their statutes are enforced in a manner that achieves statutory goals and are consistent with other administrative policies," a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said. "Agencies may exercise this discretion in appropriate circumstances, including when implementing new or different regulatory regimes, and to ensure that transitional periods do not result in undue hardship.”
 

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You Might Be Surprised Who Collects on the Tips You Leave at Restaurants

By law your tip is supposed to go to restaurant workers -- often they don't.

 

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Rommel Canlas

November 17, 2013  |  

 

I was asked during a recent interview what happens to the tips we leave in restaurants. Do they actually go to the workers? I said they’re supposed to. Often they don't.
First, tips don't  only go to servers. They are typically shared—with bussers, runners, bartenders, floor captains, and more. These workers receive varying percentages of total tips on top of the abysmally low minimum hourly wage they receive for tipped labor—$2.13 at the federal level, and between $2 and $4 in most states. These workers live off low wages earned from their employers as well as the generosity given by their customers, who decide whether and how much to tip.
By law, restaurants are required to make up the difference between a server's hourly base pay and the federal minimum for all other workers, $7.25. That means restaurants are supposed to calculate how much servers make in tips and ensure that those tips exceed $7.25 per hour on average. This legally required business expense is offset by what's called a "tip credit"—a discount on workers' wages because we, the customers, are asked to pay workers' wages for restaurants.
Having to calculate whether tips actually bring workers' wages up to the federal minimum wage each week can put an incredible burden on small businesses. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. Department of Labor reports a violation rate of 84 percent with regard to the tip credit.
Worse, these workers' paltry earnings are often stolen.
One in five servers reports being forced to share tips with management, according to a national survey conducted by my organization. You might think that happens only with cash, not with credit cards. Think again. Restaurants often deduct credit card-processing fees from workers’ tips.
Philadelphia recently passed an ordinance banning the deduction of credit card-processing fees from tips. When the bill was being debated, a local restauranteur complained that he'd lose $500,000 annually. It was a rare case of unintended honesty. He had been skimming half a million dollars from his workers' tips. Sadly, Philadelphia is just one of a few places to ban tip-skimming.
Workers’ tips are stolen in other ways. One of our leaders, Claudia Munoz, tells the story of having worked at the IHOP in Houston while in graduate school. Her hourly base pay $2.13. The IHOP did not bother making sure that her tips brought her hourly wages up to the federal minimum. It reported that she was earning $7.25 an hour regardless of what she earned in tips. The result? No paycheck. Ever. The real $2.13 an hour paid the taxes on the fictional $7.25 an hour.
Claudia describes not being able to afford food, and being so hungry that she’d wait to get to the restaurant so she could flirt with cooks to get extra food. One evening, Claudia worked an overnight shift at the IHOP, and earned some decent tips. But at the end of the night, a couple walked out without paying the bill. The restaurant's management—though it is illegal—required Claudia to pay for the walkout, which was more than everything she earned that night.
Claudia paid $20 to work for nothing.
What can we do as tippers? First, leave tips in cash. Second, demand that tips go solely and directly to workers, and that workers be paid a full, stable, livable base wage. Don't continue subsidizing an industry that should be paying its own workers. No one should be living off tips.

Saru Jayaraman is the co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley. She is the author of Behind the Kitchen Door.

 

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You Might Be A Fascist If…

Author: Stephen D. Foster Jr. May 7, 2013 12:01 am

 

Are you a fascist? Many people are fascists and they don’t even realize it. And sometimes, they know it all too well, but hide and deny it. Most of the time though, it’s obvious who the fascists are. For instance, you might be a fascist if…

1. You are obsessed with national power and pride and believe your country doesn’t have to follow the rules and shouldn’t ever apologize for doing things that are wrong. You think your nation can do whatever it wants.
2. You believe in the rule of the few, election rigging, political decisions being made by a select group of officials behind closed doors, embrace the informal and unregulated exercise of political power, arbitrary deprivation of civil liberties, and little tolerance for meaningful opposition.
3. You believe in survival of the fittest, an every man for himself mentality that causes you to believe that poor people and sick people are weak and must be punished. You think rich people are strong because they are wealthy and that they should rule us. You also believe your race is superior to all others.
4. You use the media as a political propaganda machine to target a specific audience and to push your agenda on others. You make sure the media demonizes your opponents and takes your side on nearly every issue. You use your propaganda machine to play on the fears of others.
5. You are obsessed with security, and war. You feed this obsession by spending trillions of dollars building up a large military force and are willing to sacrifice domestic programs your people count on to keep your military huge. You start unnecessary and costly wars and you are paranoid of other nations.
6. You are driven to indoctrinate others into your way of thinking. So much so, that you try to re-write history, change the way school children are taught and you brainwash the ignorant. You use your propaganda machine as a tool to achieve this.
7. You fear and demonize intelligent people who have a higher education because they are the ones who can thwart your effort to brainwash people. You then attempt to prevent others from achieving a higher education because you want the people as ignorant as possible so you can convince them that your way is the right way.
8. You have a deep hatred and fear of communists and you instill your followers with hatred and fear of others by accusing your political opponents of being communists. This gives you an easy scapegoat to blame when things go wrong. Any person or policy you don’t like is branded as communism.
9. You disrespect women and think their place is in the home. You believe women are weak and cannot do things that men do. You believe that sexual harassment or assault is no big deal and that the only thing women are good for is cooking meals and having babies.
10. You strongly align yourself with corporations and you support corporate money and influence in government. You despise government regulations that keep corporations honest because you believe everything should be controlled by the free market and that corporations should be allowed to do whatever they please.
11. You are obsessed with Christianity. You seek to declare a Christian State and to impose religious laws on all the people across the country and the world. You believe other religions are inferior and that those who practice them should either be converted or destroyed.
12. You believe your race is superior and seek to disenfranchise or humiliate other races. You believe in legalized discrimination and fantasize about a return to times when the races were separate or when those of color were enslaved. You use code words in an attempt to hide your racism and you make laws that weaken the influence of those of color. Immigration and voting laws in particular.
13. You absolutely despise unions. To you and those like you, labor unions represent the empowerment of workers. Since you believe corporations can do whatever they want, you see organized labor as a threat because they fight for higher wages, health care, safety regulations, less hours, vacations, sick days, and holidays off. This obviously threatens the amount of money corporations can give to you and your cause so you brand unions as proponents of socialism and make laws that severely weaken them so that corporations can have a cheap, mindless labor force.
14. You are obsessed with crime and a major supporter of punishing those who commit crimes. So much so, that you don’t care about the concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ You are proud of executing people and aren’t bothered if an innocent person is killed. You seek to make harsher laws, especially laws that target specific groups of people such as immigrants, women, and people of color. You also oppose Miranda rights and using humane interrogation tactics and you seek to undermine the independent judiciary.
15. You believe every election should go your way and to reach that goal, you push voting laws that disenfranchise those who traditionally vote for opponents such as people of color, the elderly, college students, and the poor. You even stoop to fixing elections in some cases and complain when your opponents challenge the vote counts.
16. You believe in rewarding your friends with positions when you gain power and you reward those who support you with government contracts and money, especially corporations. You also do your best to aid your supporters in any way you can, such as repealing undesirable pieces of legislation and regulations. You often have something to gain financially from this.
17. You create scapegoats to blame when problems arise. Whether it’s communists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, the poor, or non-Christians, one thing is for certain. You and your propaganda tool will blame each and every one of those groups for bad things that happen even if you were the cause of the problems in the first place.
18. You take advantage of a national disaster such as an economic collapse or an attack to demonize your opponents and push your agenda. You use these events to strike fear into the population in an attempt to scare people into voting for you and your cause. It’s all about fear and scare tactics.
Sounds just like the Tea Party led Republican Party, doesn’t it?
 

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10 Tactics To Get A Republican To Agree With You

Author: Matthew Malone May 8, 2013 12:01 am

 

1. Talk about lowering taxes. It’s like a dog whistle for them. Even if you’re saying it in the middle of another sentence — “I don’t think trickle down economics actually — LOWER TAXES — works for anyone except the super-rich.” They’ll start salivating and forget the rest of what you said.
2. Praise Ronald Reagan, but make sure not to point out that he actually agreed with President Obama on lots of issues (like taxes, for example).
3. Say something sympathetic like “Rush Limbaugh is misunderstood.” They’ll launch into a speech before they notice you’re being sarcastic.
 4. Agree that it makes sense to spend millions of dollars fighting foreign enemies that we created thanks to the stupidity of decades of “military intervention.”

 5. Question something about Obama as a man.. But instead of going for the old, worn-out ones that everyone already knows — you know, the facts, like that he’s a Muslim terrorist from Kenya sent to kill us all and destroy the free world — try starting a rumor that he’s an alien zombie sent to eat our brains.
6. Say something that ends in the words “Tea Party.” For example: “Zebras are pretty frickin’ sweet. Tea Party.” You’ll score automatic cool points with them even if it makes no sense.
7. Call the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare” and then say something about socialism encroaching on our individual liberties.
8. Bring them dinner: poor people meat patties with a side of cash. (Before you crucify me for that one, read Jonathan Swift.)
9. Tell them that the war on drugs is a good idea, because obviously if you fight against something you don’t like, it’ll go away. Just like crime and alcohol and prostitution and terrorism!
10. Above all else, avoid using too much logic, or you might confuse them.

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Republican Jesus’ Ten Commandments

Author: Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" Rosario May 20, 2013 12:01 am

 

And Lo, did Republican Jesus come down among the masses and holding his tablet PC did he give unto his disciples the NEW (and improved) Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Socialism, out of the house of Communism.”

1. You shall have no other gods before me, especially that terrorist monkey god, Mohammed.[i]
2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them except for the Holy Benjamins. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting poverty of the fathers on the children of those (as in those people) who hate me, but showering material riches unto thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Also, you shall have guns. All you want.
3. You shall not take the name of your God, Ronald Reagan, in vain, for the Lord will hold him guiltless of treason and malfeasance.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. If you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, six days you shall labor and do all your work, that should just about do it for the year[ii], but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor the stranger who is within your country illegally unless they are off the books then they shall work all seven days without respite. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, including dinosaur bones and rested the seventh day.
5. Honor your father and your mother by ensuring that they keep their Social Security even as you shall taketh it away from all others.
6. You shall not murder unless they are Muslim. Or gay. Or abortion doctors. Or government workers. Or black. Or whatever group is currently out of favor with mine chosen White (not white, White) People.
7. You shall not commit adultery and get caught during an election year.
8. You shall not steal unless it’s from the worker’s pensions.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Just kidding, Fox News. Go forth and bear away.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. Instead, you shall go forth and buy these things for yourself on credit and keep the “too big to fail” banks happy.
And thus did Republican Jesus™ lead his Chosen White people to that paradise on earth known as Somalia where they did not have to render unto Caesar anything and freedom showered from the heavens like Manna.
And then they all died of dysentery.
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These Two Anti-Abortion Protesters Should NOT Have Harassed This Man’s Wife (VIDEO)

Author: Justin Acuff August 1, 2013 10:21 pm

Clinic protestors are some of the lowest forms of right-wing idiocy in the country. Why? Because A), they harass women that aren’t getting an abortion or visiting a clinic for anything to do with one, and B), harass women that are making one of the most difficult decisions in their lives, and are going through nearly unimaginable emotional turmoil. Furthermore, they’re protesting the wrong thing — if they really wanted to help lower abortion rates, they’d help educate young people about safe sex and contraception as well as abstinence as the safest choice, and they’d help mitigate other factors, such as lack of access to proper health care and contraceptives due to poverty. When they harass Aaron Gouveia’s wife, he goes back to confront them — and the video below is the result.
Here’s the video:
 

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Gun Insurance Proposals Stall as Critics Cite Obamacare

By Marci Jacobs - Nov 18, 2013 10:01 PM MT

Plans to mandate liability coverage for U.S. gun owners after last year’s school shooting in Connecticut have languished as opponents attack the proposals by comparing them to President Barack Obama’s health overhaul.
Lawmakers in Illinois voted down by a margin of more than 2-to-1 a measure that would have required $1 million of insurance. Similar proposals were excluded from gun-control bills that passed in California and Connecticut. Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said he withdrew his firearms-liability bill because of a lack of support.

 

The cost of U.S. gun violence was as much as $174 billion in 2010, according to an analysis by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an organization that conducts studies tied to public health. Photographer: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

“Society is not yet ready to impose the cost of gun ownership on owners and manufacturers,” Raskin said. “That would require a dramatic shift in public understanding and political dialogue.”
The failed efforts in states that voted for Obama, a gun-control advocate, is partly the result of opposition from the insurance industry, which is seeking to avoid claims tied to policyholders’ crimes. Opponents of the liability measures have also cited frustration with the federal mandate that people have health coverage next year or pay of a fine.
“I don’t believe it’s going to gain any traction, particularly in light of the fact that we’ve got, at this juncture, a fiasco with Obamacare being mandatory,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, a Bellevue, Washington-based gun rights group. “I don’t think legislators want to get near any kind of mandatory insurance.”

‘Market-Based’

U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, introduced a bill in March that would prohibit the sale of firearms to uninsured people. She called her proposal a “market-based approach” and likened it to car coverage, which is required by states and is more costly for those deemed by underwriters to pose the greatest risk. Her proposal hasn’t been brought for a vote by the House of Representatives.
Michael Bost, a Republican state legislator from southern Illinois, opposed the insurance bill and said supporters of the mandate from Chicago were mistakenly blaming the city’s violence on guns, rather than on criminals. Asked about parallels between the firearms proposal and Obama’s health policies, Bost said both are “too much government in my life.”
A mandate for gun buyers could be more challenging than for drivers, given insurers’ aversion to the risk from assaults. That compares with U.S. auto insurance, where companies spend more than $5 billion a year to win customers in a $178 billion market.

‘Different Question’

“That’s why things like mandatory auto insurance kind of work, because you’ve already got a highly functional market and it’s a matter of herding the last stragglers into it,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a think tank dedicated to limited government, said in an interview. “But when there is no functional insurance market at all for some kind of risk, it’s a different question.”
Florida State Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican, introduced a bill this month that would prohibit insurers from underwriting a policy or refusing to provide coverage based on an applicant’s ownership of a legal firearm.
Most carriers don’t ask clients if they own a firearm, said Neil Alldredge, senior vice president for state and policy affairs at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. One way a home insurer might find out is if a customer requested extra protection to guard a gun collection against theft, Alldredge said.
Costs from accidental discharges may already be covered by a gun owner’s health insurance or property coverage, he said. The state proposals would make insurers liable for additional expenses, he said.

Pain, Suffering

The cost of U.S. gun violence was as much as $174 billion in 2010, according to an analysis by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an organization that conducts studies tied to public health. The estimate accounted for lost work, medical care, criminal-justice expenses and pain and suffering.
“We oppose proposals that would mandate gun liability insurance, as property-casualty insurance does not and cannot cover intentional criminal behavior,” Willem Rijksen, a spokesman for the American Insurance Association, said in an e-mailed statement.
Gun control efforts accelerated after Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school in December. A California effort to mandate insurance faltered while other restrictions advanced, including a bill signed last month by Governor Jerry Brown that places tighter limits on gun storage.

Maryland, Connecticut

Maryland now requires that gun buyers get fingerprinted, and Connecticut added requirements for background checks in private gun sales.
“Last year was our big year, and I think we got a tremendous amount done,” Maryland’s Raskin said. The insurance proposal was more than colleagues were prepared for, given the industry’s opposition, he said.
“It’s likely this won’t come back again until, god forbid, the next huge round of spectacular gun violence and we summon the momentum to act again,” Raskin said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Marci Jacobs in New York at mjacobs63@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

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