Creationism is a lie, by Mr. Bill Nye

From sarce - firedoglake
republished by Paddy Ryan

Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. According to Bill Nye, aka "The Science Guy," if grownups want to "deny evolution and live in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them."

Denial of evolution is unique to the United States. I mean, we're the world's most advanced technological—I mean, you could say Japan—but generally, the United States is where most of the innovations still happens. People still move to the United States. And that's largely because of the intellectual capital we have, the general understanding of science. When you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in that, it holds everybody back, really.

To bad the GOP isn't listening.

UPDATE: Romney makes outrageous, 'dog whistle' birth certificate joke

Hey baby I want that birth certificate!

Romney birth certificate joke blasted as ‘racism’ and ‘gutterball politics’

From Muriel Kane – The Raw Story

republished by Paddy Ryan

Obama spokesperson Jen Psaki issued a scathing criticism, telling MSNBC, “This is the kind of gutterball politics that will and should turn the American people off. This is a pattern. Mitt Romney has questioned repeatedly over the last several months whether the president understands America, whether he understands freedom — he’s wrapped his arms around Donald Trump, one of the originators of the birther movement, so we’ve seen a pattern here.”

Rachel Maddow made a similar observation, pointing out on Twitter, “Today’s remarks follow 5 straight Romney ads about Obama being the president of lazy welfare recipients taking your $. Not subtle.”

However, the harshest words may have come from Andrew Rosenthal at the New York Times editorial page.

“Politicians sometimes think they can get away with saying something profoundly offensive or just plain stupid by acting like it was a joke,” Rosenthal wrote. “It never works, just like it didn’t work today when Mr. Romney shamelessly played the birther card in what seems like an increasingly desperate campaign against President Obama.”

“Today’s crack was way over the line,” he continued. “His audience laughed and applauded, probably not because they thought Mr. Romney was doing hilarious stand-up comedy, but because they knew exactly what he was up to. … It’s racism, pure and simple.”

Romney makes outrageous, 'dog whistle' birth certificate joke

By Paddy Ryan

Today, Mitt Romney made an outrageous, off-color joke regarding President Obama's birth certificate;

Ginger Gibson reports from the joint Romney-Ryan rally in Commerce, Mich.:

Starting his speech with a reflection on his love for Michigan, Romney explained that he and Ann Romney are proud natives and named the hospitals where they were born.

"Now I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital. I was born in Harper Hospital," Romney said, continuing: "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."

The crowd cheered in response.

Open those checkbooks seniors, Romney/Ryan is going to cost you!

From Igor Volsky - ThinkProgress

republished by Paddy Ryan

The Romney/Ryan proposal to transform Medicare’s guaranteed benefit into a “premium support” structure for future retirees could increase costs by almost $60,000 for seniors reaching the age of 65 in 2023, a new report from the Center for American Progress finds. Current seniors would also have to pay more for preventive, hospital, and physician services should Romney and Ryan repeal the Affordable Care Act, facing an increase in health spending of between $7,900 and $18,600 over the course of their retirement.

Current seniors will pay more. The premium support structure does not kick in until 2023, so current seniors will remain in the existing Medicare program. But should Romney/Ryan repeal the Affordable Care Act’s savings, beneficiaries will face higher cost sharing and premiums (particularly for preventive services) and seniors who have received prescription drug discounts, will now pay more for their medications. What’s more, Romney/Ryan would lower Medicaid spending significantly beginning next year, shifting federal spending to states and beneficiaries, and increasing costs for the 9 million Medicare recipients who are dependent on Medicaid.

Huckabee still set to spread his hate in Tampa

From Evan McMorris-Santoro - TPM

republished by Paddy Ryan

Democrats say Mitt Romney has a Todd Akin problem and, by extension, a Mike Huckabee problem. The conservative radio host has reaffirmed his support for the embattled Senate nominee, just before he’s set to speak in a primetime slot in Tampa Monday night. Democrats are urging the GOP to boot Huckabee, one of its biggest social conservative stars, from the lineup.

American Bridge, the Democratic tracking firm, is launching an online drive to push Huckabee from the Tampa podium next week. The group says that keeping Huckabee on the schedule suggests the GOP isn’t serious about distancing itself from Akin and his stated views on female biology.

On Thursday, Huckabee took his party to task for calling on Akin to quit the Senate race in Missouri following Akin’s “legitimate lape” implosion, making the former Arkansas governor the most prominent of Akin’s remaining conservative defenders.

Huckabee backed Akin in the three-way GOP primary, along with other social conservatives like Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann and Steve King. Huckabee hosted Akin on his radio show for the first interview after the “legitimate rape” comment blew up, and again after Republicans including Mitt Romney shunned Akin and called on him to quit. Huckabee apparently had had enough.

“Who ordered this ‘Code Red’ on Akin?” Huckabee wrote in an email to supporters Thursday. “I will join Todd as often as I can, in his fight for our Party’s pro-life policies, traditional marriage and our efforts to rein in the massive expansion of government under President Obama.”

That set up a potentially awkward situation for Republicans, who scheduled Huckabee to speak in the same primetime block Monday night as Ann Romney.

Regional NAACP Endorses Amendment 64 in Colorado

From Jon Walker - firedoglake
republished by Paddy Ryan

Efforts to legalize and regulate marijuana in Colorado got a boost today when Amendment 64 was endorsed by the regional conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. Amendment 64 is currently on the ballot in the state. If approved by voters this November, the initiative would make marijuana legal under state law for adults over the age of 21, with it regulated and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol.

The NAACP felt compelled to endorse efforts to legalize marijuana primarily because marijuana laws are disproportionately enforced against minorities. For decades African-Americans have been more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites and more likely to face harsher punishments. This is true both nationally and in Colorado. For example, in Denver African-Americans account for over 30 percent of all arrests for private adult marijuana possession even though African Americans make up just 11 percent of the population of the city.

The NAACP endorsement helps highlight the fact that marijuana reform in addition to being about personal liberty, government fiscal responsibility, and reducing crime, is also a civil rights issue. While laws prohibiting marijuana in America are technically color blind, they were often conceived, designed and implemented in a clearly racially biased manner.

The endorsement of one of the nation’s most prestigious civil rights organizations should help the campaign in its outreach to the state’s African-American community. While African-Americans only make up 4.3 percent of the state’s population, with the initiative polling so close to even, a few percentage points could make the difference between a narrow win and a narrow loss this November.

Obama V. Romney on taxes, in under three minutes

By Paddy Ryan

Calculate your own annual family income here.