Theodoros Pangalos

It's been a while since I've written about conditions in Greece, but believe me, things have not improved for the great majority of Greeks. Via Greg Palast, we learn that Theodoros Pangalos, former Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, an individual who (ahem) looms large in the politics of austerity thrust upon Greeks of ordinary means for the benefit of European banksters, blames the collapsing economy in Greece on lazy, hungry working people and greedy, starving children. Perhaps the population's hunger problem could be remedied if Pangalos (pictured at right) fasted for a week or two...

(H/T BadTux.)

Attaturk of FDL, citing John Aravosis of AMERICAblog:

This is happening right now [Sunday about 7pm] at Mitt Romney’s rally in Pennsylvania.

Apparently it’s freezing, and Romney’s staff is refusing to let rally-goers leave. People are begging reporters for help.

Absolutely incredible.

From the NYT’s Michael Barbaro:

From USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich:

Jeebus Christ on a crutch!

If you had any doubts whatsoever about Rmoney and his staff before, they should be dispelled now. This man has no right to be running for president of the United States. Indeed he should spend some time in a jail cell. I expected evil things in the last week of Rmoney's campaign... but never this.

Put him in a box and send him somewhere else. Dog bless and keep the Mittens, far away from me. And Dog spare the children. Spare the children!

Two points provided by Pam Spaulding at FDL about this utter nutjob, Charlie Fuqua, and his proposal:

• He's a Republican (did I even need to say it?);
• He bases the proposal to allow parents to execute "rebellious" children on some passage from some version of the Christian Bible.

This is the kind of crack-brained thinking that drives me ever further from the GOP and from right-wing Christians.

Should anyone who genuinely believes a parent should be able to arrange his/her own child's execution for "rebellious" behavior be allowed to hold public office of any sort?

We don't even need a law against such parental action (other than the murder laws already on the books). What we need is common sense on the part of voters no matter what their political affiliation, a tacit agreement that some things don't pass muster no matter which party's candidates advocate them.

Is such a silent rejection of the hardest of hardcore capital punishment too much to ask? Oh. Excuse me. I forgot that one is not permitted under any circumstances to request that a fundamentalist evangelical god-botherer exercise reason in the least degree. How silly of me. [/snark]

Indeed, Arkansas being what it is, Fuqua may well be elected.

Texans (or any other Americans), do you have youngsters in school? Are they (or are you) interested in their rights in the educational setting? Are you facing problems with a particular school administration, or a local or state school board, involving your child?

Youth Rights Texas has joined with the ACLU to publish a series of short e-books available to you free as .pdf downloads. Subjects range from their Youth Rights Manual (in English or Spanish), Stand Up for Children (two volumes on dealing with local and state boards of education), Free People Read Freely (from the ACLU Foundation of Texas's Banned Books Project), and others such as Use of Force in Texas Public Schools (the title speaks for itself), Distribution of Gideon Bibles in Texas Public Schools (I still have mine from my childhood when the Gideon folks did their unsubtle proselytizing unimpeded in public schools), and The Texas State Board of Education (surely the worst of the worst, and one of the most influential on textbooks all over America).

Note that I never "bleg" for myself. But I will suggest that if you have a steady job that pays decently, perhaps you could throw a little money toward the ACLU and/or your state ACLU. It's one of only three org's that I continue to support in these hard times. (The other two are Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood.) Without the ACLU, the anti‑rights agendas of presidents Bush and Obama and possibly (Dog forbid!) Rmoney, would roll over us without obstacle. With the ACLU, we have a fighting chance. Help if you can.