Feminist Rhetoric is Hysterical Hyperbole

By William L. Garvin

In war, the first casualty is truth.  In the so called “war on women,” the radical left and extreme feminists have combined to make certain this is true.  Their blatant disregard for the truth and in some cases, absolute ignorance of the facts in the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision is at best, appalling, and at worst, despicable and reprehensible.  Strong, independent women everywhere must be cringing at the hysterical hyperbole and ignorant assertions being made by those currently in the spotlight purporting to be feminist standard bearers.

 For those who choose not to be “informationally-challenged,” a little history is in order.  The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed in the House by a unanimous voice vote and in the Senate by a vote of 97-3.  It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in November, 1993.  Basically, RFRA prevents the federal government from imposing laws that substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.

The owners of Hobby Lobby, a closely held corporation, did not want to provide four types of contraceptives that could cause abortions of fertilized eggs.  Their sincerely held religious belief is that life begins at conception.  Fines for not providing these abortifacients under the Affordable Care Act could be as much as $475 million dollars per year.  If they dropped health care entirely, the fines would still be $25 million dollars per year.  The Greens, the principal owners of Hobby Lobby feel a moral compunction to provide their employees with health insurance so the latter was not an option.  They also feel a moral compunction to treat their employees as family and pay their full-time employees a minimum of $14.50 per hour and their part-time employees $9.50 per hour.  Lost to reason in leftist minds is the fact that they have no objection to contraception per se and in fact willingly provide for 16 out of the 20 ACA contraceptives.

Let the contrived “war on women” begin.  While Patricia Ireland, the former president of NOW, was roundly condemning the Hobby Lobby decision, she was asked if she knew how many forms of contraception Hobby Lobby provided.  She had to admit that she didn’t know that basic fact.  Again, it is 16 out of 20.  Amanda Marcotte, feminist writer and leader of the cyber-lynch mob in the Duke lacrosse case, posted that the Supreme Court decision could cost a woman as much as $22,000.  Given that most women can get birth control pills for $9 per month or $108 per year and given a generous 50-year fertility cycle, that would be more like $5,400 unless you have been raised on Common Core math.  Hillary Clinton chimed in with “It’s very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer’s health care plan because her employer doesn’t believe she should use birth control.”  As wrong as videos in Benghazi!

The hopefully soon-to-be-irrelevant yet perpetually clueless Sandra Fluke saw it as a “limit to women’s access to reproductive health care.”  Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted “Can’t believe we live in a world where we’d even consider letting big corps deny women access to basic care based on vague moral objections.”  Upping the ante to her potential challenger, Secretary Clinton then voiced a rather unsettling analogy:  “It is a disturbing trend that you see in a lot of societies that are very unstable, anti-democratic, and frankly prone to extremism where women and women’s bodies are used as the defining and unifying issue…because of their religion, their sect, their tribe, whatever.”  Yes indeed, whatever!  Naturally her acolytes trumpeted her theme:  “the HL decision is like ISIS imposing Sharia law”; “Scalia law is like Sharia law”; and then called for burning down Hobby Lobby stores and raping conservative women who upheld the HL decision.  Whatever, indeed.

Lost on the leftist leaders and their masses was the egregious error in their simplistic notions that the HL decision applied to contraceptive coverage in general and that HL saw all birth control as not appropriate.  Look at their printed slogans:  “Bosses don’t belong in the bedroom.”  “Keep the Board Room out of the Bed Room.”  “My bedroom is not my boss’s business.”  “If I wanted government in my bedroom, I’d (have sex with) a senator.”  Meanwhile, they are totally oblivious to the irony that they are asking the courts to force the government to force their employers to pay for avoiding consequences of their bedroom activities by destroying life.  Where’s Helen Reddy when we need her!  

Half Cocked Potshots from Crackpots

By William L. Garvin

If Hillary’s current book tour is a kickoff for a presidential campaign, she needs to hit the reset button…and try to spell it correctly this time!  Her opening salvo not only missed the American bullseye, it missed the entire target.  The reputed “world’s smartest woman” committed such a fusillade of gaffes with such annoying regularity that Joe Biden now looks like Mensa material!  Steve Martin should sue for copyright infringement as she continues her “I was born a poor black child motif.”  Someone who is “dead broke” might think about selling at least one of their million dollar plus homes or leveraging the multi-million dollar book deal coming right down the pike.  Someone whose net worth is now over fifty million dollars might want to stop whining that “we’re not well off.”  It appears even low information voters are tiring of her faux struggles.  If things were really that tough, I’m sure she could float a loan from Chelsea who is making $600,000 per year from NBC television.  Not bad for someone who has no broadcast experience and such minimal actual work product.

I would expect that Hillary’s publisher is also considering asking for some of the advance money back.  Despite massive free publicity from her simpering media sycophants, her book with the “borrowed” title only sold 100,000 in its initial week and then immediately dropped out of Amazon’s top ten.  Sales since have fallen faster than President Obama’s poll numbers.  By way of comparison, Sarah Palin sold 496,000 copies of her book “Going Rogue” in its first week.  That is nearly pure profit since the Governor still lives totally rent free in liberal heads!

Then there’s good old Harry Reid who finally came up for air in his incessant sliming of the Koch brothers to lash out at the Washington Redskins.  Maybe he should make a personal visit to Red Mesa High School on the Navajo reservation in Red Mesa, Arizona where he can see “Red Mesa Redskins” proudly emblazoned on the running track surrounding their football field.  He could also read about Redskins Sports and Redskins News on their website.  Apparently Harry gets to decide what is politically correct and what is offensive for “everyone.”  He’d get along fine with the cash strapped liberals at Brooklyn College in New York who refused a $10 million gift from those evil philanthropists, the aforementioned Koch brothers, and the frothing lunatics who are ranting that the United Negro College Fund should return the $25 million grant from the Koch’s, or the $100 million hospital gift they just made should be verboten! They just keep getting nastier and nastier.

We also see that President Obama has “promised” (spoiler alert!) that there will be no boots on the ground in Iraq but has dispatched 300 advisors to that country.  Apparently our special forces are so special that they can now hover somewhere above terra firma indefinitely.  Some may remember the “advisors” that were sent to Viet Nam as the Military Assistance Advisory Group in 1950.  How did that play out in history?  As the hard won stability in the Middle East disintegrates under this administration, it proves that a flaccid foreign policy results in premature evacuation that ultimately satisfies no one.

On top of that, the Border Patrol has now morphed into “Baby Sitters R Us.”  Somehow, despite assurances that the border is now more secure than ever, thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied children are able to cross with no difficulty.  If you expect that they will ever be returned to their home countries, then you probably also believe that Lois Lerner’s emails were accidentally lost, there’s not a “smidgeon” of corruption in the IRS, Obamacare is a fabulous success, and the Supreme Court’s 9-0 smack down of the president’s unconstitutional overreach is a gross miscarriage of justice!

 

Caveat Emptor

Dear Editor;

 

If you are looking for reliable information in Letters to the Editor, then caveat emptor, buyer beware.  It would be a full time job to correct all the "mistakes" and a lifetime endeavor to follow all the rabbit trails the writers throw up to obfuscate their errors in fact.  For instance, in response to the claim that Toyota left California for Texas because they wanted a more favorable business climate, one writer's "rebuttal" spends a lot of time talking about Fox News and "tin foil hat kooks."  Obviously he's unaware of the maxim that you only resort to name calling when you've lost the argument and have nothing else to offer.

 

What he finally did get around to is that Toyota will realize "massive cost savings" by "consolidation" in Texas.  These same savings from consolidation would also be realized if they had moved everything to California wouldn't they?  They didn't choose California; they chose Texas.  Why?  Maybe it's because California charges high taxes, imposes significant regulations, makes it hard to start a new business and has billions of dollars in debt for pensions owed to retired public employees.  Texas has more limited regulations, charges NO state income tax, reduces barriers to entry and creates a more dynamic business climate.  The business climate in Texas is usually rated in the top 5 while California is usually in the bottom 10 (and dead last in some!).  Texas has four times the job growth of California over the last 20 years and unemployment is 50% less than California's.  Put all that in your "tin foil hat kook" pipe and smoke it!

 

Another writer on the same subject claimed that Tesla was building a $5 billion plant in Lathrop, California and would employ 6,500 people which more than make up for the loss of Toyota employees.  That couldn't be more wrong.  Tesla does plan to build a "gigafactory" but Tesla CEO Elon Musk says it is "improbable" that it will be built anywhere in California.  Please review the previous paragraph if you are still wondering why.  To be sure, Tesla has begun modifying an empty plant in Lathrop that will be involved in manufacturing parts.  Initial plans call for them to employ 125 people and their website currently shows 17 job openings.  All the other "pie in the sky" conclusions that the writer makes are economic sophistry and purely delusional.

 

Don't expect them to admit to these mistakes as they have never admitted to any of their other errors.  Do expect them to change the subject, challenge on matters irrelevant to the discussion at hand, and continue to support a Big Government agenda at the expense of the Constitution and individual liberty.  I expect they will continue to call people names, misstate opposing positions, and knock down straw men that they have concocted.  If I err in fact, I expect to be called on it.  If you want to crawl around in the inner workings of my psyche, my heart, and my motivations, don't bother.

 

Take everything you read with a grain of salt and do your own research.  As Reagan was fond of saying "trust but verify."

 

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin

A Personal Manifesto

By William L. Garvin

Over the course of my years, I have been privileged to reap the counsel of many people who are wiser than I will ever be.  Much of their wisdom has faded into the recesses of an aging memory but some has stayed with me as personal, lasting immutable truth.  One team of psychologists wrote in a memorable treatise as to how, as a society, we have fallen into a pattern that is dangerously oriented toward “raw advocacy” rather than  “pure dialogue”, the latter defined as the search for meaning via the free flow of information.  Another lesson came from a distinguished executive who said the following:  “I will always tell you the truth, based upon the facts that I have available to me at this time.  I reserve the right to change my mind as additional facts become available.”  To paraphrase another well respected author: “as a society, we have fallen into a pattern of making technically accurate statements with the intent to deceive.”

As a left brain dominant male, I know that I do gravitate toward discussions that rely heavily upon facts.  I am also aware of my tendency toward raw advocacy when it comes to matters of principle with which I have wrestled for years and have reached what, at least to me, are logical conclusions bolstered by available facts.  That is not to say that I am devoid of right brain emotional responses.  Logically knowing my faults as a man, husband, father, citizen, and Christian does not inure me to feelings of regret and sorrow.  It does however spur me toward trying to be a better person in all the aforementioned categories.

Not surprisingly, I also respond to emotional attacks upon myself and my compatriots in an all too typical “fight or flight” syndrome.  Being old and with bad knees, I no longer have the flight capability of youth.  Being blessed with a modicum of wisdom and experience, I do have the ability to discern between fact and fiction and choose to stand and fight the latter.

For instance, as a conservative, I am frequently called a racist by people I have never met.  I have a son and daughter who have each blessed me with two beautiful “mixed race” grandchildren.  As a proud grandpa, my two granddaughters are beautiful beyond compare and my two handsome grandsons make Adonis jealous!  I would vote for Ben Carson or Allen West in a heartbeat, and despite his flaws, believe Martin Luther King was courageous and showed incredible humanity.  I also believe the policies and leadership of Barack Obama are unfortunate failures for his presidency and for the United States.  I believe these decisions are based on fact not skin color.

I am also told than because I am a conservative, I am waging a “war on women.”  Apparently I have no mother, wife, sisters, daughters or other close relations of the feminine persuasion with whom I have any particular affinity.  This is as nonsensical as saying that because I am a conservative, I’m for “dirty air and dirty water.”  Apparently, conservatives like myself have an indefatigable supply of clean air and clean water that is not accessible to the leftist perpetrators of this canard!  Furthermore, conservatives are nothing more than “corporate shills.”  One letter writer even suggested that the Koch brothers were my “patron.”  If so, the brothers are way behind on their payments!  Nobody pays me anything for putting my pen to paper, excuse me, my fingers to keyboard (old habits die hard!), not even this newspaper.  And if you ask my wife, I spend far too much time researching thoughts, ideas, and facts before I commit anything to print.  By the way, I hardly ever quote Fox news in order to avoid provoking leftist angst, vituperation, or apoplectic fits.

I also believe that the United States is a remarkable, an exceptional country that has spread more wealth over a broader spectrum of its citizens than has ever happened in history.  I believe that the founding fathers were brilliant intellects as did John F. Kennedy when he quipped at a 1962 dinner for 49 Nobel laureates that the evening was "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

So if you think that because I believe the Constitution restricts the federal government to specific enumerated powers, that I believe free market capitalism provides the greatest opportunity for the most people, that I believe the massive federal debt is a threat to our security both individually and nationally, that I believe government spending and regulation is out of control, that I believe our God-given rights stem from Him and not from government, therefore I am some kind of radical, right wing terrorist…then here I stand!

 

 

Letter to the Editor

Are you kidding me?!  TEABAGGERS?!  Is the best that you've got?  Are you so bereft of creativity that it's the same old third grade name calling?  Please get a better writer for some new material!  As for "fascist oligarchy," will next week bring quotations from Mao's LITTLE RED BOOK?  Talk about '60's redux!  Boring!

 

While it's hard to find reliable data, one source shows that in the last five years, California lost 400,000 jobs while Texas gained 640,000 jobs.  As for the preposterous notion that Hans Slade and the Tea Party want to give tax breaks to "Hollywood billionaires," are you from Colorado?  What are you smoking?  Every sane person knows that the EXTREMELY liberal Hollywood cabal would probably be the last courtesan the conservatives would try to bed.  Be that as it may, the Taxed Enough Already party prefers no crony capitalism for anyone--not Hollywood, not banking, not oil, not wind, not solar, not GM, not Tesla, not Solyndra, and so forth.  Why is that so hard to understand?  Let the free market decide winners and losers, not presidents (and their bundlers), not K Street Lobbyists, and definitely not bureaucrats or presidential advisors who virtually no private sector experience.  (Actually, it's 8%...pathetic!)

 

Specifically addressing the film industry canard, the Legislative Analyst's Office recently criticized film tax credits for creating an "awkward precedent" of giving tax breaks  to "certain well-connected industries over others."  Can you say "crony capitalism" my socialist, Big Government advocates?  And for the record,  , Assembly Bill 1839 authored by DEMOCRAT Raul Bocanegra from Pacoima and Mike Gatto,  a DEMOCRAT from Los Angeles, was unanimously voted out of committee that had ZERO Tea Party members to grant the government largesse, special dispensations, tax breaks, privileged crony status to the movie industry.

Surveying the Scene

By William L. Garvin
Let's bask for the moment in the joys of higher education.  If you're attending Harvard University, you could experience a Satanic Black Mass, which is described as "a magical ceremony, one that makes fun of the Catholic Mass, mocks God and worships the devil."   A group called "The Satanic Temple" was working hand in hand with Harvard's Cultural Studies Club to present this sacrilegious 'performance' which is seen as an "…attack on Christianity and, especially, on the Catholic Mass done in celebration of the Holy Eucharist."  So much for sensitivity and not offending people of faith…but then again, they're only Christians.  It was finally canceled.

Of course, over at Rutgers, a group of about fifty students and professors can deprive the entire class from hearing one of the most accomplished women in America deliver a graduation speech.  Apparently this elitist group is smarter, wiser, more accomplished, and superior to Condoleezza Rice.  Obviously, they feel they are entitled to pass judgment on the qualifications of the first African-American woman to serve as Secretary of State.  So much for diversity of opinion in the hallowed halls of higher education.  Were it a conservative group depriving a liberal of a speaking opportunity, you know they would automatically be labeled as sexist, racist, and the latest example of the "war on women."  Fortunately for the lunatic left, they never have their hypocrisy subjected to media scrutiny.

This double standard also shows up in the sporting world.  For instance, look at the mockery and ridicule heaped upon Tim Tebow for confessing his Christian faith.  Bill Maher verbally abused the NBA's Blake Griffin for the same beliefs. It's a different press when it comes to Michael Sam for coming out as a gay football player.  Why he even got a congratulatory call from the president of the United States.   Unfortunately for Mr. Sam, he's a "tweener" in regard to size and was outrun by defensive lineman and out lifted by wide receivers in the pro football combines.  Eventually, he was selected in the seventh round, where less than fifty percent ever make a pro roster.  Of course, in his mind and those of his acolytes, he should have been selected in the second or third round.  Do they think being gay should be more important than the fact that he's smaller, slower, and weaker than those already playing the game.  Hopefully his on field performance will be better than the predictors, but if Mr. Sam fails to make a roster, as happened to Mr. Tebow, the hills will be alive with the ring of "institutionalized homophobia" in concert with leftist chorus of "institutionalized racism."  And if Hillary decides to run for president, "institutionalized sexism" will join the trio!

In the meantime, the national debt is now over $17.5 trillion with no hopes of a balanced budget let alone a reduction in the national debt.  On top of that, our foreign affairs are in a shambles and we can't even seem to get Americans out of Iranian or Mexican prisons let alone rescue all those Nigerian teenage girls from Boko Haram, the savage Islamic terrorists.  Maybe the hash tag campaign will result in something positive but I doubt it will influence the "leaders" who have forced all the Christian girls to convert to Islam.  At least the boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel is a concrete response to the imposition of sharia law in Brunei.

To cover up all the cover-ups and other failures, Democrats of every stripe seem to be billowing smokescreens in every direction.  First, there's Assistant Democratic Leader Representative James Clyburn complaining in a Washington Post article that Republican Senator Tim Scott "doesn't vote according to the color of his skin."   Then Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid totally loses it saying the Koch brothers are "experts at contributing to climate change…They are one of the main causes of this.  Not a cause, one of the main causes."  Harry, just admit it: you've got a Koch problem!  That's the first step to recovery!  Finally, the President solidifies chances for a second straight "Lie of the Year" by proclaiming with a straight face that Republicans have "…filibustered about 500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class."  He's only off by 1,000%!
Meanwhile Russia eats the Ukrainian elephant one bite at a time.  CNN reports that 11,000 children have been killed in Syria.  Thousands of Christians have been killed in Egypt since Morsi's ousting.  The Taliban continues to terrorize women in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Iran continues its nuclear march.  The U.S. is still leading from behind and tumbling down the New World Order.  If you're comfortable with all this, keep reelecting incumbents.

Questions Without Answers

By William L. Garvin

According to Washington liberals, the current administration, main stream media, and Letters to the Editor, everything is coming up roses.  The economy is booming, manufacturing is coming back, and millions upon millions of good paying jobs are being created.  Obamacare is wildly successful, all the scandals are “phony” and there’s not a smidgeon of corruption anywhere.  Our foreign policy is superb, Islamic extremism is an insignificant problem, jihad is just like Christian baptism, and peace will break out everywhere if only intransigent Israel would stop insisting on their right to exist!

If the economy is so robust and the unemployment is only 6.3%, why was the first quarter GDP growth only 0.1% and likely to be revised downward?  Why did the labor participation rate drop from 63.2% to 62.8%, which ties for the lowest percentage of workers since January, 1978?  Why did 988,000 workers drop out of the workforce last month, which is the second highest monthly drop ever?  Why do we have 90 MILLION people out of the labor force and 6,146,000 people who are unemployed but are not even looking for a job?

If the economy is so rosy, why aren’t wages being forced upward by the demand for workers?  Why does the government think it has to force feed an increase in the minimum wage even though the CBO says it will cost 500,000 jobs?  When things are going so well and all those lost jobs have been regained, why is there such a necessity to extend unemployment benefits?  Since all is well, why does the Fed continue to pump $45 billion of printed money into the system every month?  If GM is hitting record profits, why don’t they pay back the $11.2 billion of their TARP bailout that they owe the taxpayers?  If the economy is so rosy, why are there record numbers of people on food stamps?  If the economy is so rosy, why is there so much rejoicing about so many people signing up for Medicaid?  If the economy is so rosy, why do so many people have to get subsidies to afford the Affordable Health Care act premiums? 

On another front, since when do “phony scandals” come home in body bags?  Nancy Pelosi may think it’s “diversion” and “subterfuge” but her mocking "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Why aren't we talking about something else?" is sounding pathetically desperate.  Almost as bad was Tommy Vietor’s “Dude, it (Benghazi) was like two years ago,” or Victoria Nuland coordinating AP coverage to minimize the impact of Fox news or Jay Carney employing the “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes” strategy when confronted with emails clearly showing White House involvement in the cover-up.  When will someone answer exactly where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were while all this was going on?  When will the murderers be brought to justice?  Will there ever be accountability for anyone?

Now we know why Congressman Elijah “the outraged and outrageous” Cummings was desperately trying to end the IRS hearings on its targeting of the Tea Party.  Additional emails show he was coordinating with Lois Lerner and attempting to influence criminal charges against “True the Vote” and that Lois Lerner was also coordinating with the Department of Justice!  Will there ever be an investigation of this unethical conduct?  If found guilty, will Cummings also receive a standing ovation from Democrats just as Charlie Rangel did when he was censured by Congress?

More outrage occurred in Nigeria when hundreds of teenage girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, another Islamic extremist group.  While about fifty girls have escaped, according to the Associated Press, another 220 remain unaccounted for.  It is reported that these sixteen to eighteen year old girls are being sold into “marriage” for 2,000 naira or about $12 to their captors.  This is nothing short of mass rape and slavery.  When will the so called “moderates” stand up and condemn these extremists?  When will they begin to eradicate these cancers from their midst?  When will feminists begin to support those who are exposing these and other criminal travesties against women being perpetrated in “honor cultures”?  When will liberals and the Hollywood elite stop making trivial public service announcements about women being called “bossy” and take on the tragedies of real crimes in the real wars being waged on women?  Just asking.