The GOP and its actual record: "For the entire history of modern conservatism, its ideals have been wedded to and marred by white supremacism."

Typically, whenever I remind contemporary gated-community Christians about the legacy of the Crusades and the Inquisition, the hushing is audible -- and a bit angry.

I'm told not to distort history, and that while this may have been true at one time, much has changed.

Many of these same advocates of Republican White Jesus now inform me that the period of my life span, which after all I've observed with my own two eyes, didn't actually happen at all. They remind me that the GOP directly reflects the ideals of its founding prior to the American Civil War, and furthermore, insist that Democrats remain as firmly unreconstructed as those representing the Deep South in the 1920s.

As the guy denouncing the two-party system, and now has little use for either "side," allow me to remind you this argument is a farrago of bullshit, perpetuated by folks who might read books other than the Bible every now and then. Most man-on-the-street Republican voters wouldn't buy it, because they know full well why the GOP appeals to them.

The subterfuge isn't necessary. My sense is that it's an ideological security blanket constructed by suburban white conservatives to keep their cognitive dissonance manageable.

But you needn't trust me.

Rather, take it from a Republican.

A Republican intellectual explains why the Republican Party is going to die, by Zack Beauchamp (Vox)

 ... “Conservative intellectuals, and conservative politicians, have been in kind of a bubble,” Roy says. “We’ve had this view that the voters were with us on conservatism — philosophical, economic conservatism. In reality, the gravitational center of the Republican Party is white nationalism.”

Conservative intellectuals, for the most part, are horrified by racism. When they talk about believing in individual rights and equality, they really mean it. Because the Republican Party is the vehicle through which their ideas can be implemented, they need to believe that the party isn’t racist.

So they deny the party’s racist history, that its post-1964 success was a direct result of attracting whites disillusioned by the Democrats’ embrace of civil rights. And they deny that to this day, Republican voters are driven more by white resentment than by a principled commitment to the free market and individual liberty.

“It’s the power of wishful thinking. None of us want to accept that opposition to civil rights is the legacy that we’ve inherited,” Roy says.

And ...

This soul-searching led Roy to an uncomfortable conclusion: The Republican Party, and the conservative movement that propped it up, is doomed.

Both are too wedded to the politics of white nationalism to change how they act, but that just isn’t a winning formula in a nation that’s increasingly black and brown. Either the Republican Party will eat itself or a new party will rise and overtake its voting share ...

 ... For the entire history of modern conservatism, its ideals have been wedded to and marred by white supremacism. That’s Roy’s own diagnosis, and I think it’s correct. As a result, we have literally no experience in America of a politically viable conservative movement unmoored from white supremacy.

Affordable health care and the GOP's rampant moral failures, Part Three: Sandra Fluke.

It is a place to begin to join the civilized world. Right, Mittster?

Why Obamacare is worth fighting for against Mitt Romney's repeal threat; Now the supreme court has affirmed the Affordable Care Act's constitutionality, we need to show how this law will save lives, by Sandra Fluke (guardian.co.uk)

... Governor Romney's objection to this law is hypocrisy at its worst – especially since he enacted a very similar health reform measure in Massachusetts. But for Romney, that's not really the point. For him, this is about politics. And that's where he and our president couldn't be farther apart.

In addressing our country following this historic ruling, President Obama reminded us that this law and his decision to fight to enact it was never about politics. Popular or not, it was about a belief that "here in America – in the wealthiest nation on Earth – no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial ruin."

Here in America, in 2010 – the same year the law was enacted – 26,000 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely because they didn't have health insurance. That's tens of thousands of American lives that might have been saved if a law like the Affordable Care Act had been in place earlier.

As President Obama has acknowledged, this law isn't perfect and we should work to improve it where needed. But repealing it would take our country, our economy, and the financial security of millions of Americans in a dangerous direction. It would quite literally put lives on the line.

Affordable health care and the GOP's rampant moral failures, Part Two: Michael Moore.

Neither headed back to the days of Dickens characters, nor to those of Mitch McConnell.

More Than a Victory, the Decision Today Was a Mandate for Us to Act, by Michael Moore

... So, yes, the bill is highly flawed and somewhat wrong-headed – but what it IS is a huge step in the right direction. And today's court decision cements that. The right wing knows this and they are probably unraveling in some not-so-pretty ways right now. And that's why today is a great day. The Right has been smacked down by one of their own! They know what we all know — that the path of history has been, and will continue to move toward the basic human right that all people are entitled to see a doctor and NOT have to worry about losing their home because they can't afford to pay the medical bills. Those days are over, or will be soon, and that is where civilization is headed. It's not headed back to the days of Oliver Twist. Today's victory is momentum, it's forward motion, and we WILL have true universal health care in this country in the not too distant future.

So take some time tonight to celebrate; this is a victory for the people. Actually, more than a victory, it is a mandate that all of us must now make sure that a second-term Obama continues to move the ball down the field, toward a system like they have in every other First World country on the planet. He simply has to improve Medicare and then expand it to every citizen in the country. The countries that do this, their people live an average of two to four years longer than we do. Is there a reason anyone doesn't want an extra four years of their lives? Or that our babies would have a better chance of surviving their first year like they do in the 48 countries that have a better infant mortality rate than we do? Exactly who is opposed to this? You'd have to be a bit…crazy ...

Affordable health care and the GOP's rampant moral failures, Part One: Paul Krugman.

"Kinder and more decent" doesn't exactly fit with the Right's eternal goal of preserving wealth by blaming victims.

The Real Winners, by Paul Krugman (New York Times)

... In short, unless you belong to that tiny class of wealthy Americans who are insulated and isolated from the realities of most people’s lives, the winners from that Supreme Court decision are your friends, your relatives, the people you work with — and, very likely, you. For almost all of us stand to benefit from making America a kinder and more decent society.

Some things are so absurd, a caption contest is redundant.

Thanks to RD for the photo, as originally posted on Facebook. He tells me the sign is in front of an unoccupied house that's currently for sale -- priceless imagery, for sure.

Shaking sticks at daze of infamy.

When Job One is preserving the wealth of monied oligarchies and privileges elites at the expense of everyone else in the country, the GOP implements a governing order that really and truly trickles down to all of us, mostly in the form of raw sewage.

NA-FC School Board accepts budget reduction plan, by Jerod Clapp (One Southern Indiana House Organ)

Today's Tribune column: "Taking a WikiLeak on bridge tolls.”

Okay, okay. I'll go in peace. The truncheons are pretty much overkill, don't you think? Yeah, I understand my rights and all that, but since when is it that my phone call must be made to my state representative and not my mouthpiece? Wait, this isn't the jail, this is River Ridge ... and that's Dick Cheney ... help, I'm being oppressed ....

BAYLOR: Taking a WikiLeak on bridge tolls

... The difference between New Albany/Floyd County and Clark County is that in Clark, the anti-toll people include quite a few heavier hitters than me, and they’ve showed the color of money with those billboards. This definitely has the Bridges Authority rattled, because No 2 Bridge Tolls cannot be easily dismissed as malcontents. It’s populated by the respectable.

In Floyd, quite a few small businesses are in complete agreement with us, but we’re destitute by comparison with the Clark forces. I’ve uncovered numerous Republican officials here who are against tolls … but only off the record. You’d be surprised how far up the hierarchy it goes.

"Out at Home."

"Out At Home: The Glenn Burke Story" Is A Tragic Tale Worth Seeing, by Nico (Athletics Nation blog).

... since Glenn Burke came out to teammates and ownership in the late 1970s, no gay major league baseball player has come out -- not to teammates, not to owners, not to fans -- while he was still playing. And if you watched "Out At Home: The Glenn Burke Story," aired this past Wednesday on CSN Bay Area and airing again next Tuesday night at 8:00pm on the same channel, you understand why gay athletes tend to keep their sexual orientation to themselves.