Conservatism as an excuse to be a prick: example no. 8,306,372

Raw Story: A restaurant outside of Oklahoma City is facing criticism after its outspoken owner made a series of inflammatory comments after one of his former customers, who is disabled, complained that he’d been banned from the establishment.

Matt Gard claims that the owner of Gary’s Chicaros restaurant, Gary James, banned him from the restaurant because of his wheelchair. James, however, says otherwise: “He created an issue. You only have one time here. You create an issue, you’re out forever.”

Gard claims that’s just “a weak excuse,” and that James’s real problem with him is that he’s on disability.

James doesn’t deny that he thinks some people shouldn’t patronize his restaurant. “Well if you work, you own a business, pay your taxes, you’re more than welcome here,” he told KFOR. “If you’re on welfare, stay at home and spend my money, there. I don’t deal with these people walking down the street with no jobs on welfare.”

Gard also claims that James has routinely turned away customers for decades. “He doesn’t like certain people of race, color, ethnicity,” Gard said of James.

James told KFOR that he’s owned Gary’s Chicaros for 44 years, so he “think[s] I can spot a freak or a f*ggot.”

There’s more and you should read it if you can stomach it, otherwise you get the idea. Why this clown hasn’t had the pants sued off him under the Citizens with Disabilities Act or any segregationist era laws is beyond me. The man’s a dinosaur.

"The restaurant’s official t-shirt makes it clear that a ‘f*ggot’ isn’t welcome in James’s establishment," the report goes on. "It features that word, the N-word, and threatens violence against Muslims, Democrats, and members of many minority groups."

"Appalling, bigoted, discriminatory behavior is regularly displayed at this establishment," says one Yelp reviewer. “The owner, Gary James, refuses to serve wheelchair bound persons, black people, Hispanics, mixed race couples, gay people, people who wear hats, people who ask for Budweiser, liberals, men with longish hair, people wearing clothes he doesn’t approve of, people with facial piercings, on and on, ad nauseum.  If you pass first inspection, don’t think you’ve got it made - if he doesn’t approve of an overheard conversation, if he decides you are too effeminate, if your politics don’t agree with his, if you don’t like the way your steak is cooked, if you cheer for the wrong team, etc etc, Mr. James will charge you more for your meal.”

Bonus fun: the food sucks. The reviewer complains of a “mediocre steak” and says the menu is short on side dishes. “At Chicaro’s the only things you get with your meat are hate, indigestion and stale cigarette smoke,” the reviewer concludes.

Of course, this is just another example of a conservative using conservatism as an excuse to be a dick. There are people who trollishly thrive on negative reactions and use hate to trigger them. The American right is sadly full of these clowns. What’s more disturbing is the fact that he’s been in business for 44 years. If he’s been this bigoted all that time, then what the fuck is wrong with Enid, Oklahoma? This is KKK level stuff. If the food is as bad as they say, then it’s hard to fathom why people would frequent the place other than to support this sort of bigotry (I refer back to the t-shirts as evidence — that alone should drive people who aren’t actual Nazis away in droves).

Apparently, we’ve discovered a whole community of assholes who either hate like neo-Nazis or think it’s funny to watch people react to neo-Nazis. Either way, fuck this town.

SCOTUS turns away Oklahoma ultrasound law

Los Angeles Times: For the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has let stand a ruling that strikes down a major abortion regulation from Oklahoma.

The justices on Tuesday turned down the state’s attempt to reinstate a law that would have required pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound test and hear about the size and possible heartbeat of the fetus.

Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the state’s ultrasound law on the grounds it put an undue burden on a woman’s right to abortion.

This is what always gets me; the extremely weak and stupid rationale for these sorts of laws. “State Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt appealed and argued the law was needed to ensure women were ‘fully informed’ before they opted for abortion,” according to the report.

Just once I’d like to see one of these clowns asked point blank what they think it is that most women don’t understand about pregnancy. What Pruitt’s argument — and that of every “informed consent” spin doctor out there — boils down to is an argument that women are too stupid to know what they’re doing, so they need a helpful Republican male politician to draw them a damned picture with a sonogram.

It’s not just an unnecessary burden, it’s an insulting one, as well.

Coburn clearly feeling the heat for his hostage-taking

Talking Points Memo: Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) office on Tuesday afternoon slammed critics of his position that any additional disaster relief funds to tornado victims in his state must be offset with spending cuts.

“It is crass for critics to play disaster aid politics when first responders are pulling victims from the rubble,” his office said in a memo to reporters.

Wait, you’re holding potential disaster relief for your own constituents hostage to budget cuts and your critics are playing “disaster politics”? Really? The person making the conditional demands is the one playing politics, because they’re using the disaster as leverage. I’m really hoping this statement’s the most bass-ackward thing I read today, because anything worse may actually cause brain damage.

His office explains his hostage-taking.

“Dr. Coburn has opposed disaster aid bills in the past because he believes disaster funding should be used to pay for disasters, not a wish-list of parochial or backlogged priorities that have nothing to do with helping victims,” his office said. “If an additional emergency aid package is necessary Dr. Coburn will not change his long-standing position on offsets.”

Of course, this is complete BS. Coburn has pulled this hostage-taking before and when his demands weren’t met, he went ahead and shot the hostage. Of course, you can’t come right out and say that without seeming like a villain, so he makes up excuses. But his demands are villainous.

“Especially in the wake of the sequester cuts, the notion that the federal budget is larded with easily eliminated spending is ludicrous,” writes Joan Walsh at Salon. “Would Coburn like to see more kids thrown out of Head Start? More seniors losing Meals on Wheels? The federal deficit is shrinking faster than at any time since just after World War II, but Coburn is going to insist that someone, somewhere, must lose their federal help so Oklahoma can get it instead.”

And what exactly does Coburn — and the rest of the GOP, for that matter — have against taxpayer money going back to the taxpayer? That’s what all of their cuts are about, whether it’s disaster relief or Medicare. This is money that you and I pay in and Republicans seem to believe it should all just disappear — preferably into our  bloated military and its corporate contractors.

He’s not lashing out like this because he’s getting a ton of praise for his stance. I went out of my way to try to find defenders. I didn’t have a lot of luck. He’s trying to turn the criticism around on his detractors by trying the strategy conservatives so dearly love — playing the victim card. I doubt anyone will bite.

Oklahoma death toll rises to at least 91 (UPDATED)

New York Times: A giant tornado, a mile wide or more, killed at least 91 people, 20 of them children, as it tore across parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday afternoon, flattening homes, flinging cars through the air and crushing at least two schools.

The injured flooded into hospitals, and the authorities said many people remained trapped, even as rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets to the devastated suburb of Moore, where much of the damage occurred.

Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including the children, and officials said that toll was likely to climb. Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.

Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, but on Monday evening crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris amid reports that dozens of students were trapped. At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off.

“Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled,” Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said by telephone. “Neighborhoods just wiped clean.”

The immensity of this disaster is just appalling. If you want to help, donate to the Red Cross here.

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]

UPDATE: The state medical examiner has since revised the estimate down to 24.

Oklahoma experiences one of the worst tornado disasters in history

CBS News/AP: A mix of volunteers and first responders began combing through debris in the Oklahoma City area Monday evening to look for survivors after neighborhoods were flattened and buildings burst in flames from a destructive, mile-wide tornado.

Television footage on Monday afternoon showed homes and buildings that had been reduced to rubble in Moore, Okla., south of Oklahoma City. Footage also showed vehicles littering roadways south and southwest of Oklahoma City.

CBS News affiliate KWTV reported that emergency personnel were rushing rushing toward an elementary school in south Moore, trying to rescue students and staff that were trapped.

Reports of casualties are still coming in as hospital officials remain on emergency alert, although KWTV reports there are already multiple deaths. One hospital in Moore was hit by the tornado, and patients were being evacuated.

It’s too early for anything approaching a casualty count, but the loss of life is potentially catastrophic.

News Roundup for 11/2/11

Herman Cain harasses an Iowa crowd with a sexually suggestive gesture

-Headline of the day-
"Oklahoma Consultant Claims He Witnessed Cain Harassment."

Herman Cain's sexy sexual harassment sex scandal (SEX!) may have just moved from the abstract to the concrete. And, in the process, moved into the icky. According to the report, "Oklahoma political consultant Chris Wilson says if the woman behind the reported sexual harassment complaint against GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain is allowed to speak publicly, it'll be the end of Cain's run for the White House."

"I was the pollster at the National Restaurant Association when Herman Cain was head of it and I was around a couple of times when this happened and anyone who was involved with the NRA at the time, knew that this was gonna come up," Wilson told an Oklahoma radio station.

"This occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City [Virginia] and everybody was aware of it," he said. "It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left---everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up."

Wilson described the woman as a "a low level staffer who was maybe two years out of college" and says that, for legal reasons, he can't get too into it. But that it's pretty bad. "[I]f she comes out and talks about it, like I said, it'll probably be the end of his campaign."

Cain defenders are making a big deal about the fact that Wilson is a Perry backer. But if the allegations are true, would you really expect him to be supporting Herman Cain?

Think about it. (KTOK)


-This isn't going to help-
A lawyer for one of the women Cain is accused of harassing says that the confidentiality agreement keeping her from coming forward is out the window -- because Herman was bound by it as well.

According to the report, "[O]ne of the stipulations of the confidentiality agreement was that neither party could make disparaging remarks about the other. [Attorney Joel] Bennett said Cain violated that agreement on Fox News on Monday when he said that he had been told that the accuser’s performance in the workplace 'was not up to par.'"

FLASHBACK TO PREVIOUS ITEM: "If she comes out and talks about it... it'll probably be the end of his campaign."

She wants to come out and talk about.

OK, GOP voters. Back to the drawing board. (The Hill)


-Bonus HotD-
"AP Exclusive: Third worker says Cain harassed her."

Oh man, Herman. You are so screwed! (AP)

News Roundup for 8/17/11

Just your normal teabagger

-Headline of the Day-
"Manhunt On For Ex-Marine Oathkeeper Accused Of Rape."

You know those rightwing extremists that it's silly to worry about? Yeah, one of them is on the run in Oklahoma, likely armed and dangerous, after not showing up to court on "one charge of possessing an unregistered grenade launcher that was registered as stolen from a military base in California, and one charge of raping a minor."

Former Marine and current militia-type Charles Dyer is a crazy SOB and believes that the whole thing is a government conspiracy to put him away. So he plans to go out with guns blazing. "I have been pushed to the limits multiple times by law enforcement and the judicial system in an attempt to cause me to take violent action against them," he said in an email sent to his attorney. "If I do, I know I will be the monster they depict me as."

Yeah, we totally shouldn't worry about guys like this. Did I mention he was a member of the Tea Party?

At least he's not a union thug. Those are the people we have to worry about. Right? (Talking Points Memo, with video)


-Man of the people-
Mittens explains that corporations are people.


Click to embiggen

And it's true. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Santorum: 'Huge Moral Failings' Are The 'Root Cause' Of Our Economic Problems."

Translation: the economy sucks because gay people and abortion exist. (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 4/28/11

Cold. Dark. Drizzly. I don't want to talk about it. No here's the news...


Now that we've (failed to) put the birther thing behind us, here's more ridiculous horseshit polluting our national dialogue -- all debunked.


Donald Trump doesn't like being called racist, but goes ahead and tells a black journalist -- absent any evidence other than skin color -- "I know you are a big Obama fan."


And, no matter what Trump is, Oklahoma Republican state rep Sally Kern is most definitely and inarguably racist.


Put the storms that rolled through the south last night together and it qualifies as one big natural disaster and national tragedy.


Ben Stein's a jerk. Rep. Allen West is a coward.


A really great flowchart on whether or not you should care about the royal wedding.


As is so often the case, a Republican proposal -- this time Paul Ryan's fantasy-economics porn -- loses a lot of support in polls once voters are told what's really in it. Once again, I find myself wishing there were some sort of "news media" capable of informing people.


Finally, Democratic recalls against Republicans are going swimmingly.