Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Bush Doctrine
Texas is a state run by religious reactionaries that imprisons and executes many of its citizens--it also has oil. Let's invade them.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
How independent of Bush is McCain?
According to Congressional Quarterly, John McCain voted with President Bush 100 percent of the time in 2008 and 95 percent of the time in 2007 on issues where Bush expressed an explicit opinion. Critics will say this proves McCain is nothing more than Bush's third term proxy. But in his defense, the sample is flawed by its size. McCain hasn't bothered to show up for that many votes.
We liberals can be just as stupid as conservatives
Actress Sharon Stone, who is usually counted on our side of the aisle, gave reporters at Cannes her assessment of the causes of the Sichuan earthquakes and revealed a mind just as superstitious and inclined to blame the victim as any reactionary on the right.
Karma sure has bad aim. It shot at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing and killed thousands of innocent bystanders living in small towns over a thousand miles away. There is no difference between her silly statement and those of televangelists like Hagee and Robertson who claim Hurricane Katrina was the wrath of God on New Orleans for tolerating gays or that 9/11 was caused by feminists. Neither end of the political spectrum has a lock on superstition or muddy thinking.
“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong’s Cable Entertainment News. “And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”
Karma sure has bad aim. It shot at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing and killed thousands of innocent bystanders living in small towns over a thousand miles away. There is no difference between her silly statement and those of televangelists like Hagee and Robertson who claim Hurricane Katrina was the wrath of God on New Orleans for tolerating gays or that 9/11 was caused by feminists. Neither end of the political spectrum has a lock on superstition or muddy thinking.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Libertarians nominate Bob Barr
The Libertarian Party has nominated former Republican congressman Bob Barr as their standard bearer for the 2008 presidential race. It took six ballots for him to muster a majority. Barr beat former Democrat Mike Gravel and four real Libertarians to get the nomination. He will be the first nationally known candidate (outside Libertarian circles) they've ever had. I'm not sure that will help them. A lot of the Libertarian faithful think Barr is too Republican. On the other hand, he might get enough press time to attract a few votes get some of the small "L" libertarians who are still disappointed that Ron Paul isn't running to look at the Party. As a disaffected Republican, he could do some real damage to McCain. If Howard Dean and the Democrats are on the ball, they should be lobbying the networks to include Barr in the debates.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
What does the religious right fear the most?
A poll that one of the giants on the right, Coral Ridge Ministries, sent to their members gives a revealing insight into their world view. They asked "How dangerous are the following to the spiritual health of America?" and provided the following list of possible threats:
They might as well have only given their flock four choices: education (evolution, college, and public schools), democracy (congress and the courts), sex (abortion and the homosexual agenda), and people who don't think exactly as they do (Hollywood, Islam, other Christians, Atheists, and the ACLU). The flock answered like a Pavlovian conditioned dog to the standard talking points of their culture warrior leaders; most of them chose all of the above. The order of the list is from most threatening (96 percent for the ACLU) to least threatening (63 percent for congress). Their fear of the modern world outside the close confines of their community is palpable. The outer world is all gays, free thinkers, and strangers who are out to get them.
The rest of the poll goes on to reinforce the standard culture warrior message. The "Family Values" section is all about abortion. The other questions are structured to evoke answers that are anti-gay, anti-evolution, anti-separation of church and state, and distrustful of information sources not under the direct control of their insular community. Several of the questions are quite open in their fear-mongering, for example: "If Christians don’t take action, how likely is it that the federal government will pass a law making it a 'hate crime' for pastors and others to speak out against homosexuality and religions like Islam--as other countries have done?" Seventy-eight percent answered Very Likely and ten percent answered Somewhat Likely. Only four percent answered Not Very Likely.
While many will notice the fact that there is little that might be called traditional Christian values in their list of culture war gripes, that's not what struck me as most alarming. After all, the the sex and Hollywood bashing brand of Christianity should be pretty familiar to us. It is what has dominated the politically active, religious right for almost forty years now. What struck me was the hostility that they showed to the instruments of democracy; two thirds of the respondents see Congress and the courts as threats to the spiritual health of America. Ninety percent think something needs to be done to improve that spiritual health.
Why that hostility? Congress and the courts are the two branches of government that give voice to a multiplicity of opinions and that should aim at creating compromises that protect the interests of all Americans, not just the demographic majority or the self-proclaimed "real Americans." The executive, which was not offered as a threat, is the only branch that can act dictatorially as a stern father. The executive can only be one voice. Naturally, they like that branch because it reflects their authoritarian and hierarchical impulses. Even if they might not like a particular inhabitant of threat office, they like the arrangement and hope to someday take control of it and use the powers of the stern father to bring all of the other voices in America into line.
That's your modern conservative movement: fearful, authoritarian, and insular. And in their own words.
(Discovered via Thoughts from Kansas.)
- The ACLU and similar groups
- Pro-homosexual indoctrination
- Abortion
- Islamic terrorism
- Hollywood
- News Media
- Darwinism/evolution
- Cults and false religion
- Atheism
- Courts
- Apathetic/uninformed Christians
- Colleges and Universities
- Public education (K-12)
- Congress
They might as well have only given their flock four choices: education (evolution, college, and public schools), democracy (congress and the courts), sex (abortion and the homosexual agenda), and people who don't think exactly as they do (Hollywood, Islam, other Christians, Atheists, and the ACLU). The flock answered like a Pavlovian conditioned dog to the standard talking points of their culture warrior leaders; most of them chose all of the above. The order of the list is from most threatening (96 percent for the ACLU) to least threatening (63 percent for congress). Their fear of the modern world outside the close confines of their community is palpable. The outer world is all gays, free thinkers, and strangers who are out to get them.
The rest of the poll goes on to reinforce the standard culture warrior message. The "Family Values" section is all about abortion. The other questions are structured to evoke answers that are anti-gay, anti-evolution, anti-separation of church and state, and distrustful of information sources not under the direct control of their insular community. Several of the questions are quite open in their fear-mongering, for example: "If Christians don’t take action, how likely is it that the federal government will pass a law making it a 'hate crime' for pastors and others to speak out against homosexuality and religions like Islam--as other countries have done?" Seventy-eight percent answered Very Likely and ten percent answered Somewhat Likely. Only four percent answered Not Very Likely.
While many will notice the fact that there is little that might be called traditional Christian values in their list of culture war gripes, that's not what struck me as most alarming. After all, the the sex and Hollywood bashing brand of Christianity should be pretty familiar to us. It is what has dominated the politically active, religious right for almost forty years now. What struck me was the hostility that they showed to the instruments of democracy; two thirds of the respondents see Congress and the courts as threats to the spiritual health of America. Ninety percent think something needs to be done to improve that spiritual health.
Why that hostility? Congress and the courts are the two branches of government that give voice to a multiplicity of opinions and that should aim at creating compromises that protect the interests of all Americans, not just the demographic majority or the self-proclaimed "real Americans." The executive, which was not offered as a threat, is the only branch that can act dictatorially as a stern father. The executive can only be one voice. Naturally, they like that branch because it reflects their authoritarian and hierarchical impulses. Even if they might not like a particular inhabitant of threat office, they like the arrangement and hope to someday take control of it and use the powers of the stern father to bring all of the other voices in America into line.
That's your modern conservative movement: fearful, authoritarian, and insular. And in their own words.
(Discovered via Thoughts from Kansas.)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Great Moments in Marketing
Behold, the awesome Spongebob Squarepants Musical Rectal Thermometer.
This ought to make James Dobson spin in his grave. What's that you say? Dobson's not dead? This ought to put him in his grave.
Effect Measure has more.
I was shopping at the supermarket yesterday when I came upon a unique piece of Nickelodeon merchandising - a Spongebob Squarepants Musical Rectal Thermometer! Yes, it's musical. And yes, it's clearly marked for rectal use. It actually plays the Spongebob theme in your ass when your temperature is taken!
This ought to make James Dobson spin in his grave. What's that you say? Dobson's not dead? This ought to put him in his grave.
Effect Measure has more.
Your Republican Party, now whiter than ever
Just a few years after Ken Melman launched a highly publicized diversity effort for the big tent, the Grand Ol' Party is heading into an election season without a single minority candidate who has a chance of winning their campaign for House, Senate, or governor. If it wasn't for the older generation Miami Cubans and Bobby Jindal, the GOP caucus would be indistinguishable from a meeting of the Sons of the Confederacy. As for their beliefs, even with Bobby and the Cubans the GOP is completely indistinguishable from the SOC.
Friday, May 16, 2008
GOP targets Michelle Obama
The Tennessee Republican Party has released a video attacking Michelle Obama as unpatriotic. Have they forgotten that Cindy McCain is a former drug addict who stole drugs from a nonprofit organization? Do they think everyone else has forgotten? Would it kill them to actually campaign on the issues instead of turning this into yet another battle over whose spouse is the most unlikable? How stupid do you have to be to start this particular food fight?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Questions that should be asked
With tornadoes tearing across Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Georgia; destroying property; and killing people,why has no one in the mainstream press has asked John McCain's friend the Rev, James Hagee just what the Bible belt did to piss God off so badly. Hagee goes back and forth on whether he knows the mind of God. He originally said God sent hurricane Katrina to destroy New Orleans because they allowed their gays to get uppity. Then he said he shouldn't have claimed to know the mind of God. Since then he has gone back to saying the hurricane was divine punishment for the sin of tolerance. On the balance, Hagee, like Pat Robertson, feels he has a special gift for understanding the Almighty's intentions where weather is concerned. So, why won't anyone ask him about these tornadoes?
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