Bigger Brains, Little Sense

Tags

Andrew Cuomo, Carl Paladino, Catholic Church, Catholics for Equality, cookies, divorce, gay rights, geography, Individual Rights, invasion of privacy, new world order, Recipes, right wing religious, teabaggers

It should come as no surprise faithful readers that I think that a goodly portion of humanity is rather worthless debris. It continues to marvel my intellect that a surprising number of questionable humanity can walk and chew gum at the same time. Clearly a good number cannot.

From time to time I conclude that this proves that God is busier than I think, and only has time to do a drive by old planet Earth every few millennium or so, taking note that shockingly we still haven’t blown ourselves to smithereens yet.

I make light, but the subject is most serious. A young man, aged 18, took his own life after learning that two fellow students at Rutgers had web cast his room and had broadcast him having a sexual encounter with another male student. The students, both also 18, are being charged with the tame sounding “invasion of privacy,” apparently the only charge that will fit this 21st century crime.

One can wax for pages on how stupid one must be to know that such a thing is utterly wrong. I mean really don’t we expect more of a ten-year-old than this? I have zero sympathy for the two, and hope that they receive more public vilification than any court can hand out. I am not prepared to hear one word of, “we never for a moment thought it would lead to this,” kinda crap.

Nothing more to say on this one, it’s too despicable for words.

***

I wrote a piece on dissent in the Catholic Church which can be found at my other site, Walking in the Shadows. You might find it interesting even if you are not a believer, nor a Catholic. It discusses the responsibility of dissenters to speak truth as they see it. Concomitant to that, I learned that a new Catholic organization has been formed. NCR reports that Catholics for Equality will work for marriage equality, and other issues of importance to the LGBT community.  CFE is founded by Father Joseph Palacios and others. Fr. Palacios points out that while 52% of all Americans support gay relationships, 62% of Catholics do.

***

On a light note: don’t try this at home. This is only for experts. Sit in a comfortable chair. Now raise your right leg and twirl your foot in a clockwise direction. Now raise your right hand and draw the number six in the air. See what has happened to your foot. Now keep doing it until you got it right. Your skeleton will be removed when you have been missed by someone.

***

A new and kinda fun blog is called: How to Become a Better You in 365 Days. It has a lot of different aspects, such as good old advice about growth and personality, some excellent recipes, and quotes of the day. Worth a look-see at least. Inspirational, and fun at the same time.

***

Ree over at Pioneer Woman has a really really decadent cookie recipe that features oatmeal, M & M’s, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, pecans and Rice Krispies. Ya know you wanna try ’em. There are 3,722 pictures, so if you just want the recipe, it’s down at the bottom of the post all nice and neat for ya.

***

Mafia Don, turned Teabagger, Carl Paladino, threatened a reporter who wanted proof of Paladino’s claim that his opponent, Andrew Cuomo had cheated on his wife. (Paladino finally admitted to his wife, that he had fathered ten years before, a daughter by another woman.) The Godfather would be proud. Paladino called out the reporter: “I’ll take you out, buddy.”

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Don’t get me wrong here. I am in no way in favor of overly strict religious laws against divorce. They don’t prevent divorce and they  seem to encourage rather transparent attempts to call it something else–such as an annulment. However, RightWingWatch does have a point when it complains that the right-wing wackos are into every aspect of our sexual lives, always condemning,yet curiously, they are silent on divorce. And I would be the first to admit, that the bible does speak fairly directly on the issue. You’d think that there might be more bible banging about divorce. How come there isn’t? Read the post and see. I think I agree.

***

I’ve long believed that nation-states and their silly borders, are just that, silly. I’ve predicted their demise. (well, I predicted it to myself at least, and that does count!) Finally, somebody agrees with me! New Geography to be specific. In an article about the “New World Order” (here come the apocalyptic doomsdayers ala Jack Van Impe!), they find that race, ethnicity, religion and culture are the main drives today around which we are forming. It’s a most interesting look at how the world divides up along new parameters.

***

In our quest to understand the beastie that is Teabaggerism, we offer you a great piece by Kevin Drum over at MotherJones. Not only does it help us define who they are, but it links up to some very valuable articles that further flesh out our understanding. I think this is worth your time. It’s only three pages, and the links, I’ve yet to investigate myself.

Well enuf! Have a good one!

Related Articles

• Cheating Carl Paladino Accuses Andrew Cuomo of Cheating on His Wife [Polidicks] (gawker.com)

Feeling SOOOOO Self-Satisfied

Tags

Catholics, Christianity, DeMitt, Fox Noise, fundamentalism, Glenn Beck, GOP, Iowa, Islam, Media, Obama, teabaggers, tenets of faith, wacko right

It’s 10:00 am and all is wellllllll!

Oh, I’m just sitting here feeling quite self-satisfied. I’ve accomplished a journey-woman’s amount of work today. I’ve made the bed, dressed, coffeed, done morning prayer, prayed a rosary, meditated, swept and vacuumed all the floors, flurried around with the swiffer duster, collected 25 return bottles for the grocery store, filled the pasta kettle with water for dinner, poured new popcorn into its jar, and ate breakfast.

Nothing makes me happier than to sit down before the Window to the World, aka computer, having fought my way through a hearty list of “shoulds.” It’s the way I roll.

I figure there are probably better ways, but it’s the one that works for me. I literally cannot really enjoy anything until I’ve got a provable enumeration of completed tasks.  So sue me. I’ve got my housework for the day done. Do you? *smirk*

***

By now you all know the appalling truth that Christians score badly when it comes to knowing even the basics of their faith. Atheists and agnostics score better. Jews and Evangelicals do decently and Mormons next, with Catholics falling badly along with mainstream Protestants. The test, ( I took the 15 question version, scoring 100%) is quite simple really and it’s shocking that average Christians know so little. Ahab at Republic of Gilead has a fine review and a few important things to say about fundamentalists.

***

Shocking at it is getting to be, at least some GOPers are not happy with the twit-who-would-be king. Jimmy DeMint. Seems his incestuous relationship with Teabaggers is getting a bit much. DeMint, like his swooning-for idol, Sarah (that woman is an idiot) Palin, is prone to threatening other GOPers who don’t seem quite as crazy as they. Either be with us, or we will bury you! they say, in the best 1st Amendment interpretation they are capable of. Several old line Rethugs have been grousing that DeMint is not being particularly helpful to the GOP cause. It remains to be seen, who will still be standing after the November elections.

***

Rolling Stone continues to get the best interviews around. (recall McChrystal’s tell-all that doomed his career).  Obama was recently interviewed. Everyone is all agaga about the threat to the electorate to “wake up” but there was lots of other juicy tidbits collected. Obama noted that the “golden” age of journalism was brief, and most of our history demonstrates a very opinionated press. Fox he says is “wildly” successful in that vein. As to the teabaggers:

There’s no doubt that the infrastructure and the financing of the Tea Party come from some very traditional, very powerful, special-interest lobbies. I don’t think this is a secret. Dick Armey and FreedomWorks, which was one of the first organizational mechanisms to bring Tea Party folks together, are financed by very conservative industries and forces that are opposed to enforcement of environmental laws, that are opposed to an energy policy that would be different than the fossil-fuel-based approach we’ve been taking, that don’t believe in regulations that protect workers from safety violations in the workplace, that want to make sure that we are not regulating the financial industries in ways that we have.

 

***

If you like your political commentary a little more gritty and shall we say, colorful? then do stop over and read thump and whip, who profiles a number of teabagger candidates and rulers. A bit salty perhaps, but right on in analysis I’d say. Thanks to tengrain and Crooks and Liars for the H/T.

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Oh boy, it has been days since we had a thing to say about our favorite INSANE Human-pretender, Glenny Beck. I figured you needed a fix. NYTimes Magazine has an interview, and you are going to enjoy it, *bounce* *bounce*. It’s a looooongggg piece so be prepared–get a snack!

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For those of you in the Iowa area, please note that there will be an all-Muslim panel to discuss “What it means to be an American Muslim” sponsored by Stanley Richards Revocable Trust, at Drake Sheslow Auditorium, October 7, at 7pm. Admission is free. (moderator Dr. Mahmoud Hamad of Drake University)

***

What’s on the stove? leftovers–or as the Contrarian maintains “your leftovers are better than most people’s firstovers!” today we choose from venison stroganoff and chicken cacciatore, with salad and rolls.

Related Articles

• Dick Armey Tells Those Trusting Teabaggers He Wants To Use Them To Push Legislation (crooksandliars.com)
• Obama Takes on Fox News Again, Calls Its Political Views ‘Destructive’ (politicsdaily.com)

Looking Under a Rock and Finding DeMint

Tags

Darwinism, Fox News, GOP, Jim DeMint, Media, rightwing nuts, Sarah Palin, social Darwinism, Stephen Hawking

I mean, it’s not like I’m telling you something you don’t already know. Jim DeMint, (R-SC) is nothing more than your average jackass of a GOPer.

You remember him from early on in the Obama administration when he announced that health care reform would be “Obama’s Waterloo”, signaling that Republicans were only about destroying a president and not doing their constitutional duty to govern the nation.

He has of course stayed true to form. Worse, he has traveled far to the dark side, way past Darth Vader. He’s cozied up with the teabagger movement, making it most clear that he is willing to throw even other Republicans under the bus in pursuit of wacko teabagger ideals. That they have no actual policies outlined, is of course, besides the point.

It all goes to show that DeMint is a true lover of power, with no principles. It’s not like he has any issue with re-election. His opponent is laughable–Alvin Greene–someone so idiotic that it’s hard to believe he’s not a teabagger himself, except that he’s not. And being in South Carolina pretty much ensures his re-election anyway.

So, DeMint signals that his only true desire is to be a leader of the group he is banking will be a mover and shaker in the up-coming Congress. He made all this quite clear in the Value Voters Summit where he blatantly threatened, ala the Palinator, that you better either get with the “program” (which is really just a long list of dislikes), or you too will find yourself looking for work.

To show how awfully nasty he really is, and of course, his truest colors, when Democrats asked for unanimous consent to give the Oil Spill Commission subpoena powers, he alone stood up and objected. It is hard to know whether it’s just because he opposes anything proposed by a Democrat no matter how benign or universally agreed to, or whether he is protecting the oil interests of BP. In either case, it’s another case of refusal to consider the public interest in favor of personal political interests.

It points up of course the radical schizophrenia that inhabits the Teabagger movement. Surely these hard-working middle class folks can’t be in favor of the destructive activities of BP in the Gulf. Surely they would want them held accountable. Yet they will ignore DeMint’s betrayal of the public trust, because he is “for them,” and their political acumen is just that thin that that is held to be enough.

@@This just in: DeMint and Colburn vote against a bill that would allow the sale of a piece of federal land to a private interest for purposes of building a Women’s Museum. No taxpayer money was involved. The bill had popular support, across the aisle. Why you ask? Women already have a “Quilter’s Hall of Fame” and “Cowgirl’s Museum.” Yeah, right.

@@@This just in later even: It now seems that Master of the Universe, Jim DeMitt has sent a letter to all senators indicating that he will oppose any and all legislation not cleared through his office by end of the day today unless it has been hot-lined, meaning it has cleared each caucus with no objections. It seems the demagogue-in-his-own-mind desires to shut down government completely and then of course blame the Dems for not passing anything. The man is simply nuts.

***

Meanwhile, the Chronicle, gives a really captivating and thoughtful review of Stephen Hawking’s new book. Drawing strongly on the philosophy of Wittgenstein and Toulmin, Carlin Romano, makes a good argument that Hawking went a bit too far in his claims that God is unnecessary to the universe. Apparently, and I should have guessed, Hawking also argued that philosophy itself has had it’s day and should close up shop. Stimulating reading.

***

An intriguing poll sponsored by Politico and reported in the Washington Post, suggests that Sarah (that women is an idiot) Palin may  or may not be accomplishing what she wants to. If her goal is to be a force to be reckoned with within the GOP, then she appears to be doing that. If on the other hand, she is hopin’ to be the next POTUS, not so good. Her quitting of the governorship of Alaska, and her position as Fox Noise pundit, have served to increase and harden those who strongly disagree with any efforts of hers to seek the presidency. A strong 58% find her unacceptable.

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Oh Snap! The wacko right loves to call liberals elitists. Yes they do. Forgetting of course that their darlings, such as Billy (the nerd) Kristol were graduates of Harvard both undergrad and post grad. While a goodly clump of GOPers disfavor real Darwinism in favor creationism, when it comes to social Darwinism, we may have a different story. Social Darwinism, in case you are a bit rusty, is the Darwinian misuse of the idea of “survival of the fittest” promoted in the 19th century. Started by LIBERAL ELITISTS, it was co-opted by wealthy industrialists, to justify ruthless practices that left most of America in poverty. Ironic no? Read Robert Reich’s analysis.

***

Kevin Drum has an excellent explanation of why the right-wing crap flies. It has to do with Fox and how it operates. Basically, they hammer a story round the clock, using all their pundits, and so-called journalists to bang the same drum. More often than not, the mainstream media feels forced to pick up the story and say something: and thus we get more and more of our time taken up by non-stories such as the New Black Panther party. MSNBC keeps their punditry and their actual news quite separate, so the exposés don’t get the mainstream media play.

***

What’s on the stove? Chicken Cacciatore and Soft Polenta with butter and Parmesan, with rolls and homegrown corn.

Related Articles

• Chancellor DeMint dissolves the Senate (dailykos.com)
• Jim DeMint: The Emperor of the United States…. (tagg-lines.com)
• Sarah Palin’s Biggest Rival (thedailybeast.com)

If I Hear the 23rd Psalm One More Time!

Tags

death, funerals, Grief

I’ll make this as plain as I can: I HATE FUNERALS! And I hate everything associated with them.

I find them archaic, ghoulish, unhelpful in grieving, bizarre, in-opposite to their proposed point, and anything else that might smack of a good reason for having one. I hate ’em.

You can stand all the psychologists in a line and I will say that to each and every face. I don’t believe you have a clue what you are taking about when you suggest that it somehow is “closure.” It’s not. It’s barbaric. Period.

Such is my opinion. But I’m right. Just in case you were about to toss it off as but one woman’s idea. It’s simply the truth. It is beneath the emotional maturity of a 21st century person to engage in such a Gawd awful exercise.

We gathered today for a funeral of my husband’s cousin. It was a painful thing for the Contrarian, because now, the grandparents, most parents, and most aunts and uncles are now interred in Terra firma permanently. We are down to contemporaries–cousins and siblings. One’s own mortality looms ever larger.

We arrived at the quaint Methodist church in the small town where the deceased was “a pillar of the community.” A fine showing indeed, as the church pews were filled and the rest of us sat listening from the basement kitchen area. The usual prayers, hymns ensued. (Another rendition of Amazing Grace of course–I never say “a  poor wretch like me”–Catholics priest and sisters taught me that long ago–we eliminate the word wretch, much as I do in the Nicene Creed “for us (men) and our salvation”–I eliminate the word men–again taught to me by another priest).

Someone always breaks into tears giving the family eulogy. Soon everyone is drying eyes. I cry at the only hymn that ever makes me cry–“here I am Lord.” I don’t cry much, just get a bit watery.

We burst from the confines of the church to wander around and meet up with folks not seen for years. We locate the Contrarian’s brother, who always flies in from where-ever ( they live in Chicago). It’s almost the only time we see them, funeral or wedding. The Contrarian shakes hands and sometimes a hug with other cousins. They all look questioningly at me–yes eleven years and most have no clue who I am yet.

We finally break for the car, parked a full block away–I said the guy was the pillar of the community–not quite making it. Two other young cousins have spotted my husband and just have to say hi.

Mostly this “after” time is filled with laughs and back slapping, and introductions. Nothing is said about the deceased. Everyone is mildly ill-at-ease.

We stop off at the grocery/florist and pay for the flowers we sent to the “showing” which we did not attend. (I hate those worse than funerals) We can see that we can’t proceed but a block. The local fire truck is lit up and a few young kids have been co-opted to hold traffic until the funeral cortege has filed onto the Walker Rd.

We finally get to resume, following the last vehicle, a truck with blinking lights. Heading for the Troy Mills cemetery where nearly everyone  in interred. The Contrarian’s folks are there, as are, well every one of note.

We peel off at Alice Road, just a few hundred feet from the Cemetery entrance.  From there to Campfire and then back to the Troy Rd. and home.

We are skipping the “meal” at the bowling alley after the grave site, events. Festivities seems the wrong word, grave site event? We have spoken to those who we needed to, everyone has seen that we were there, the book has been signed.

For those in deep grief over the untimely death, all this is what? Goes by in a blur? Strange moments of memory, punctuated by strange faces smiling, laughing, children running, the same old tried and true, “I’m so sorry for your loss,” refrain. How is this helping?

Attendees are awkward, not knowing what to say, how long to say it, and how to disengage. Everyone is looking for someone or something to save them. At the awful meals, you just want to eat, find someone you’d like to talk to, chat about family, kids, the economy. It’s all so dreary, and there is less and less mention of, you know, poor Ronnie.

You mumble some more half-meant words of condolence and take off. You declare it a “fine” funeral, the food good, bad, or okay. You undoubtedly talk about how “good” this one looked, and how bad that one looked. You predict the next death.

You shudder at the grave site, if you went, as you think of the body inside the box. Seeing it there, above the hole, makes it so other worldly. I recall how my aunt was appalled that I kept a closed casket for my dad. I knew way too many funerals and recall the death face too well. I hate it. I’m glad I didn’t have to see Ronnie’s death face.

I would think a well-timed letter to the family might be worth more. Highlights of memories that make one smile, feel proud, or laugh out loud. Poignant pieces of paper that can be kept and taken out and lovingly re-read.

But that’s just me. I only know what I don’t want and that is people peering down at me in all my made-up mask, talking about how “good I look” and then talking about “Phil’s new promotion” next to my cold bones.

Throw me in a pit and let me feed the earth. It is not me any longer. I’m long gone. I’m sailing among the stars, unencumbered by flesh. My Father has allowed a two-week tour of the galaxy before I get on to work, helping his children on distant words.

That’s just the way I see it.

S’more People I’d Like to Send to Antares

Tags

Bill Kristol, Charles Colson, Evangelism, fundamentalism, Iraq, Kirk Cameron, neo-con, right wing religious, Sarah Palin

Billy (The Man!) Kristol is just one of those guys you can define just by looking at his face. A few sentences from his mouth, and you are sure.

Billy was born in 1952 to educated parents, his father being managing editor of Commentary and his mother an English Lit scholar. Born in NYC he was preppy all the way. In other words, Billy was born the good life.

His dad, an old progressive, disillusioned, became the major founder of the neo-conservative movement. Billy, ever, his Dad’s boy, attended Harvard and soon was deeply enmeshed in politics of the Republican kind.

With a few others, he started the Weekly Standard,  holy grail of  neo-con thought.  Murdoch financed it. Nice to have everyone in the same bed doncha think?

It appears that Billy was instrumental in killing the Clinton health care initiative and well, one could argue that Billy got heady with power. He self-claims that he alone was the main creator of the Iraq war, and ain’t that something to be proud of?

He claims almost sole credit for promoting the “surge” in Iraq. Kristol, ever the war monger wanted to join in the Lebanese war in 2006, and mused that it might be an excellent time to “take out” Iran’s nuclear capability as well. “The Man” is a full-blown believer in American Exceptionalism, meaning that America is somehow entitled to rule the world.

There is an overriding smugness about Kristol, a looking-down-the-nose kind of superiority. One could wonder mightily whether he is really the result of an unholy tryst between his mom Gertrude and one Dick (The Dick) Cheney, but alas that is pure speculation. Both biological oddities (they call themselves men) have that air about them that most of the rest of us stink in comparison to their heavenly brilliance.

Of course, riding on his own self-importance, Billy pushed hard for John McCain to choose the Moose woman as his running mate. True to his immense ego, Kristol no doubt saw a pathetic-star-struck wannabe and thought he could meld and mold her into a perfect mouthpiece.

But the Sarah has turned out quite different. Her advice to Christine (hands off my private parts) O’Donnell, to not be handled by the professional handlers, is clearly what has happened vis-a-vis Kristol. She has not been amenable to being groomed into the perfect neo-con Barbie.

Kristol of course, smirks and chuckles about Sarah’s independence, but clearly he and others are concerned about her “mavericky” behavior. O’Donnell’s surprising victory in Delaware, have all but destroyed any hopes that the GOP can capture the Senate.

We have little doubt that Kristol has had more than a few phone calls that start out with “Why in the hell can’t you control that woman!” No doubt such attacks recall the long years of youth when Billy was without doubt the subject of much taunting as the sissy boy nerd. Much of what passes for his “expertise” today is merely payback for all those playground assaults.

Suffice it to say, if I ran into Kirk Cameron, I’d be inclined to pipe up with: “What stupid vat did you fall into?”

You remember Kirk, cute teen TV kid, Mike Seaver on Growing Pains?  Uhuh, yep, that’s the one. with Alan Thicke.

Today? Why, he’s a full-blown evangelical minister. He now stars in Left Behind movies although his post Growing Pains career was fairly successful.

Kirk became a born-again while still filming GP, and was, if one believes Wikipedia, often heard to demand that anything “racy” by stripped from the show. He married his GP girlfriend, Chelsea,  and apparently will not “kiss” another woman in film shooting because it would violate his vows.

Normally I don’t give a hoot if someone professes and practices born-again Christianity. I do draw the line when they have an ability, as Cameron does to reach the masses. Then I sit up and watch. And watching, in this case, will hurt your brain.

Cameron espouses all the usual crap of the right-wing–creationism instead of evolution, and with few qualms about altering Darwin to suit his purposes. He and his partner Ray Comfort then distribute the altered versions free on college campuses.

He’s recently finished a film called Monumental which “documents God’s action in America.” He supports Glenn Becks efforts, but questions his Mormonism. (I just love that sort of thing don’t you?)

He voices the usual enemies list: secular humanists, radical atheists, socialism, and one can assume that he is nix to abortion rights and gay rights as well.

Nexxxt!

Chuckie (Hatchet Man) Colson is another of your evangelical types, having discovered the true faith sometime as he contemplated prison or had plenty of time to think while there.

There are only so many resurrection careers available to the ex-con and this is one of them, not that I question the conversion of Chuck. I surely don’t.

It seems that he has been admirable in putting most of his money into his ministry, contrary to many of his evangelical buddies.

As part of the inner circle in the dark Nixon administration, he identified himself as “ruthless” and was known for heavy-handed tactics. He authored the infamous “enemies list” at the White House. He of course is most famous for being a member of CREEP and imprisoned for his cover-up attempts of the Watergate scandal.

He has been active in his prison ministry but of course began to dabble in politics again, bringing, with others,  a “just-war” excuse to then President Bush, to justify the attack upon Iraq. He is a vocal opponent of abortion rights and same-sex marriage. As of late, he has claimed that he will no longer use the term “same-sex marriage” or “gay marriage”  because as he says, “there is no such thing.” Yep, problem solved, just define it out of existence.

PS: Dear Antareans: Should you have sentient beings on your planet, please feel free to divert this garbage scow to a more suitable barren planet. Your friend, Earthing Sherry of the species Homo Sapien Sapien

Related Articles

• David Isenberg: William Kristol: Dulce Bellum Inexpertis (huffingtonpost.com)
• Is Palin a Puppet? (charlestoncitypaper.com)
• Kirk Cameron Announces New Documentary, MONUMENTAL: In Search of America’s National Treasure (prweb.com)
• Video: Clinton’s religious/human rights views upset Chuck Colson (alt headline: ‘Good work, Secty. Clinton!’) (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Marriage and the Battle for Language (dakotavoice.com)

The Plague To America

Tags

corporate donations, Democrats, election 2010, GOP, Jon Stewart, Marbury v. Madison, October 30 Rally, Pledge to America, politcal funding, religious right, Stephen Colbert, Values Voter Summit

A new post at Walking in the Shadows today. Be there or be square as they say. It’s entitled: Who Do You Say I Am?

The Plague, instead of Pledge is not my invention, instead comes from a Twitter post yesterday. There is so much negative ink (literal or figurative) being spilt over the GOPer’s silly new manifesto that I shall not bore you. Heck some if it comes from the right-wing itself. It’s so much warmed over spit from the Contract with American foisted upon the US by Newt the Salamander. And they been working for months on it!

Dusty can point you to some actual facts about how insidiously stupid this thing is. Please do stop over and get the facts.

I don’t know if you know this but Mauigirl is one astute thinker. She’s written a great post on the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rallies coming up on October 30. I’d love to attend, but I can’t, but tons of my friends are and she explains why it’s important for you too to go–either to Washington or to a satellite rally if you can find one.  What’s important here, is that this is not a rally of progressives. It’s a rally for all of us who are sick and tired of business as usual. Unlike the TeaBaggers, we have some political savvy, we understand that freedom for all comes at a price. But we are damn tired of supporting these political professionals in their life-time jobs.

Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast kinda sums up this November’s race as alternately, “we suck less” or “we suck but they are crazy.” Pretty much true wouldn’t you say? I know it’s not a lot of incentive, but crazy people are kinda unpredictable, and that should get you moving to the door and to the polls in and of itself.  

Ahab has Part V of his series on attending the Values Voter Summit last week. He has some great analysis of the speakers and one’s you need to be aware of. Two of the three I profiled on my post about the VVS last week. You need to read what these nut cases actually said.

What you get when your SCOTUS declares that corporations are people and are allowed to give and give and give to political campaigns is what we now are seeing–all kinds of bogus “organizations” who are funding negative ads all over the country, following their own private agenda. Fake interest groups now dominate money wise the political scene, stumping overwhelmingly for the GOP ( I heard something like 28 million to 4 million for the Democrats).

On a personal note, there is an anti-gay national group that is peppering our airways with ads to vote out the members of the Iowa Supreme Court for finding the marriage provision in Iowa law unconstitutional. They claim they “we” Iowans are dis-served by legislative judges who upset the will of the people. Of course the judges are doing what has been established since Marbury v. Madison, that is, passing on the constitutionality of legislation. No doubt you are getting such ads too regarding your hot button issues in your state.

Related Articles

• Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert to hold own D.C. rallies, play on Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor’ rally (nydailynews.com)

Defining Moments

Tags

conservative, DADT, economy, empathy, GOP, immigration, liberal, political psychology, Politics, progressive, Republican platform, teabaggers

Just the usual housekeeping before we get to the news:

I’m having difficulty with some blogs these days regarding comments. They seem to be all Blogger platforms and the ones that include a comment box on the initial page. They are not taking my WordPress address nor an open-ID, and when I finally clear through Google, then I have to copy the silly word, and then another window, and well, I’m not getting through and it’s taking me forever. Dusty, Dr. McGrath and Ahab, I’ve had difficulty on all your blogs. Sorry. It’s my dial-up no doubt.

Oh and by the by, the book at right? I’m not endorsing. Just said what I wanted to say.

Speaking of which, we spend a lot of time defining the Right, the neo-cons, the cons, the teabaggers, the wacko religious right, etc. Well they define us too. Frankly, I’m not at all sure what I am. I am wayyyyyyy liberal. Does that make me liberal, left, progressive, socialistic,  anarchistic, or what?

Dissent Magazine has a good article that helps define what the progressive movement entails today. Do stop by and read. A thoroughly excellent essay.

We know who the TeaBaggers are: white, middle-class and older. We know what they want: stay out of my pocket at all costs. What do they think about foreign policy? World Affairs Journal, suggests it’s still pretty much any body’s guess. A series of interviews with “average teabaggers and the candidates that seek to woo them.

The Contract with America has morphed into the Pledge to America but nothing much has changed. The GOP is still about returning America to the glory years of tax cuts for the rich, and rugged individualism that leaves the have-nots still having not while the haves roll in luxury. Steven Benen from Washington Monthly has a good review with plenty of opinions from all the relevant pundits.

If there is anything that touches the progressive heart, it’s inequality. AlterNet provides an excellent essay with plenty of links, including one to a series at Slate, about immigration and the fallacy that undocumented workers have wreaked havoc on the American economy. Quite the opposite is true, and those TeaBaggers who claim that immigrants are draining their pockets are just plain wrong and ill-informed. Nothing new there is there?

Most of us, all of us who are rational compassionate people that is, were really pissed at the usual GOP stonewall of DADT yesterday in filibustering the Senate Appropriations bill. The usual excuses for “just say no” were given by the usual suspects. Rachel Maddow dismantles them all with actual FACTS. Read it, and contact a stonewalling GOPer near you and vent your displeasure.

If you ever wanted to take a test about critical reading, having I got the test for you! Take a gander at the National Review‘s “scientific” analysis of empathy and then at the amazing conclusions they come to. A number of key things to tease out here:

• sympathy is a relative term — yes and it’s the entire basis of your conclusions
• note that the differences in absolutes is extremely small between “liberals and conservatives”
• note the use of “some” of these “could” serve. . .
• similarly, one “might” and they “might”
• use of a Pew poll to suggest that conservatives are more patriotic than liberals. The question was “do you feel more patriotic than the average American?” That is not at all the same thing. This poll measured arrogance of belief, not actual patriotic feeling.
• “one whose sympathies. . . . is “probably” more likely. . . .
• “while such causality is hard to establish. . .  .” and then they go ahead and establish it.
• “some part of differences. . . might explain.”

What we have here, is just a hodgepodge of interesting data and someone sitting down and seeing what they “might” argue from the evidence. Beware!