Tag Archives: David Barton

Oh Let the Finger-Pointing Begin!

05 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in American History, Economy, Election 2012, Founding Fathers, fundamentalism, GOP, History, Humor, Mitt Romney, religion, Satire, teabaggers, What's Up?

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Well, it seems that the crazies in the GOP, and there are surely a bushel of them, are already writing up the scenario of how they lost. Or how they are losing. Or how they were duped, or cheated, or had the wool pulled over their lyin’ eyes.

It got a real boost the other day when the GOP en mass decided that it would claim that the polling (all of it, including darlin’ Fox’s) was skewed (deliberately I might add, but just out of pure stupidity presumably on the part of Foxy NOT) in favor of the Democrats. There are lots of silly theories as to why this is, but the most prominent seems to be that they poll “too many Democrats”.  *Yawn*

Of course that flies in the face of logic, much as the argument that there is a massive conspiracy to sell evolution–people’s entire careers are based on doing peer-reviewable work and who is going to waste a career to prove  a lie just for the joy of being a conspirator? With polling, the peer-review is rather obvious–the election results.

One of the reasons that Rasmussen is ignored by and large is that they are so wildly wrong in the outcomes, sometimes missing the winner by 40 or more percentage points. That’s not as good as my dog can do by random selection.

The reason for the GOP foul calling is because they are facing the danger that their base may conclude that the game is over and there is no reason to get out in the snow/rain/heat/traffic/couch-potato-mode to vote when it will make no difference. They need every precious vote they can get if only in the hopes of preserving the down ticket GOP slate.  Of course the same is true of the leader, who must keep his base fired up, because people conclude, “my vote is unnecessary, he’s winning by a mile.” But you don’t see the insanity of claiming the polls are a sham from the left.

Now we have Jack Walsh, former head of G.E. claiming that the jobs numbers and unemployment numbers just released a few minutes ago are, “cooked” in some desperate attempt by the “Chicago guys” to steal the election from the rightful heir and king Mr. MY, MY, I CAN LIE, ROMNEY.

I mean really. Jack Walsh is a douche.

But get this, another GOP douche, Conn Carroll who ostensibly writes for the Washington Examiner, says it wasn’t the Dems themselves (meaning Party) but actual Democratic voters who lied about being employed. Yeah. I hear that. Oh wait, I just saw a pig fly by my window, fancy that.

Others just find the “timing” too convenient, without offering any explanation because they are TOO FRACKING STUPID TO COME UP WITH ANYTHING THAT EVEN SOUNDS PLAUSIBLE TO A PERSON OF 70 IQ POINTS.

Speaking of douches, Mr. Romney comes back to the mind quickly. I loved his line that “you know I have five sons, so I’m used to the idea that if you keep saying a lie over and over, somehow it becomes true.” Well as I’ve said before Willard, that is what the psychiatric community called projection–for that is the ploy par excel-lance of the GOP and has been since the Rovian invasion.

And the perfect response would be: Hey Willard if your boys lied to you a lot, you might remember that children imitate their parents. Duh.

Oh I gotta go back to the jobs numbers, because the wall building GOP is simply apoplectic. They were waiting with glee for more bad economic news, because they really don’t care about people, just winning. Instead as we learned, the numbers are amazingly good. Unemployment is down to 7.8% from 8.1%.

Nat Silver points out why this all is quite reasonable given the manner in which these numbers are arrived at. Oh and don’t be taken in by the old GOP argument that the only reason it went down is because even more people have “given up” and left the job seeking force. Not true. Four hundred and thirteen thousand new workers ENTERED the work force last month, so the fall in the unemployment rates reflect actual jobs obtained, NOT people dropping out.

This all led the lying Right to simply do what they do best: LIE SOME MORE

I was stunned into silence by this morning’s ridiculous unemployment report, showing a magical drop in the unemployment rate from 8.1% to 7.8% despite not one single other economic or employment indicator suggesting that such a gain was possible.

So says American Spectator‘s, Ross Kaminisky.

And I cannot let this moment pass without a gush of sympathy for my good friend, David Barton, the man who knows zero about history, but is determined to bamboozle you into thinking that black is actually white. (his latest is that the bible talks about DNA! Remember Cain and Abel? Where God says to Cain, “your brother’s blood is calling out to me from the earth?” Well need I say more? Obviously God was referring to DNA)

Okay, so David, dear boy has raised himself to that rarefied plane where he now compares himself to Job. All those pesky real historians who are criticizing him, are nothing more than Satan’s pets, sent to test him. But I’m here to tell ya that good old boy David, why he is up to the task. I can’t wait for the boils to arrive. Oh, and by the by, David is real sure that his new “Founder’s Bible” available no doubt on Amazon, will soon replace the Geneva Bible as the go-to Good Book. OH, wait, I just saw another pig fly by!

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Reading Between the Lines

10 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in American History, Election 2012, Founding Fathers, GOP, Humor, Presidents, Satire, What's Up?

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The Contrarian often accuses me of being too partisan. Well, maybe I am, but frankly it’s very hard not to be. The clear and unadulterated fact is that all politicians mislead. The Democrats do it from time to time. The Republicans, on the other hand, do it as a matter of course. They seem so sure that their true intentions are so out of line with what any human would agree with, that lying is the only way to get us to “take our medicine.”

And believe me, medicine is what they are offering from their strange world view. I think it goes something like this–Rome fell in part because it let every Tom, Dick, and Harry become a citizen. They then fed them free of charge. They became entitled from their point of view. Rome became lazy and bloated with a welfare mentality and was ripe for the picking.  And they were picked.

They would claim that the US is falling behind in everything because the government and Democrats want to grow a nanny state, which is what Europe did, and look at the mess they are in, powerful and mostly bankrupt. We are too lazy, and we expect the government to provide for us, so why bother?

Okay, the medicine. Drastically reduce all controls on business and let it be a free system where the successful will rise to the top and the not so successful won’t. When business has freedom to do what it wishes, the economy will flourish, employment will rebound to  offer a job to all who wish one. Those who don’t wish one–not their concern. All government programs that support the poor? Slashed drastically or gutted completely. The only safety net is temporary and for those who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own.

Religion by the way, will pick up the slack for the truly poor who are unable to work permanently. That’s called charity and you should be damned glad we just don’t throw you into the furnace.

Of course, such a plan is silly, and misses the biggest ingredient of all–GREED. It depends on the good intentions of the business community, and frankly we see way too little of that these days.

Anyway, that’s my take on what they want to do and why. And that it sucks is why they lie about everything and try by hook and crook to win the day rather than tell the truth and let average people decide.

Take one idiot–Joe Walsh–a name not to be bandied about for long, since he is surely to lose his seat in Congress come November. His pronouncements become more outlandish every day. He sees Al Qaida behind the recent shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin. He calls the President “boy” and claims that Jesse Jackson wants to return all African-Americans to the plantation–which if you didn’t know, is code, for “he’s an uppity Negro”.

Just read that our favorite pseudo-historian David Barton, has had his book pulled off the shelves and all publication stopped because the publisher became “aware” that it was full of errors.

His newest book, Jefferson Lies, turned out to be just chock full of them.

Irony is sweet at times doncha think?

Aww, and Barton is always saying that the only people who disagree with his books are dirty liberals.

Speaking of crazy out of this world lunatics, consider Dick Morris, mouthpiece of Foxy Noise who is almost always wrong in his predictions but enjoys the drama so much.

Morris has a new book out called Here Come the Black Helicopters which he claims is code for attacking Washington. In this case he means Obama, who he claims will impose a world government through the UN if re-elected.

Remember that crazy guy who predicted the end of the world recently? I think he should pick the day after the election, cuz Republicans sure say a lot of bad stuff is gonna happen should the Prez be re-elected. Hang onto your hats–and guns!

Another paste eater as a kid for sure.

One could go on.

Endlessly.

Until the sun implodes and becomes a white dwarf.

Until Ying meets Yang.

But I have a Cobb salad to make for dinner, so that’s all for now.

 

 

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Stop the Presses!!!

14 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in American History, Budget, Corporate America, Economy, Election 2012, fundamentalism, Gay Rights, GOP, History, Humor, Individual Rights, Media, Michelle Backmann, Rick Perry, Satire, teabaggers, The Wackos, What's Up?

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Okay, Herm’s 9-9-9 economic “plan” may be a little short on  rational theory, but that doesn’t mean that the GOP candidates are devoid of ideas.

In fact, Ricky (oops, I almost got my foot out of my mouth now) Perry, has probably solved our jobs problem all by himself.

And when you think about it, it just makes perfect sense. He’s been teasing us for weeks with his economic recovery plan, tossing us morsels like the dancing dogs he views us as.

Well, another morsel, but this one is very substantial. He says the way to create one million “good paying American jobs” is simply this. Wait for it. . . .

MAKE WHAT AMERICANS BUY AND BUY WHAT AMERICANS MAKE!!!

Wow, now that is so, well, just sensible. It’s so easy. It’s so obvious. It’s so “the American Way”.

So all we need to do folks is start making porn flicks by the zillions and open up about another 100,000 Mickey D’s. Damn, I coulda had a V-8!

Good grief, I’m so glad we have InTeaLek-suls like Ricky around to save the day.

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Jim Morin is a political cartoonist for the Miami Herald. Here are a couple of his latest:

Or perhaps this one:

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Thanks to Joe.My.God. we have this gem:

Um, Mark, confession is good for the soul. Thanks for sharing. You might want to try video games. I think that keeps both of your hands occupied in less dangerous pursuits.

“Masturbation can be a form of homosexuality because it is a sexual act that does not involve a woman. If a man were to masturbate while engaged in other forms of sexual intimacy with his wife then he would not be doing so in a homosexual way. However, any man who does so without his wife in the room is bordering on homosexuality activity, particularly if he’s watching himself in a mirror and being turned on by his own male body.” – Pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church.

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It would make you laugh, if it didn’t make you cry:

Paul Krugman’s editiorial in the NYTimes.

And since economic policy has to deal with the world we live in, not the fantasy world of the G.O.P.’s imagination, the prospect that one of these people may well be our next president is, frankly, terrifying.

And rational people are considering voting for any one of these morons?

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Oh my God. Texas is working hard at leading the nation in having the dumbest kids in America. David Barton, pseudo “historian” and all around Christianist NUT, has written a textbook suitable for grades 6-12.

It has been reviewed by a real expert in the field of history and constitutional law. You can read all about it here. You can read the entire review here.

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Our only girl candidate left (damn you Sarah, I was counting on YOU!), Michele is getting the blow back. I have been waiting for this for YEARS.

 I mean, take Phyllis Schafley for instance. That rotten old crow spent a life time making a living at going around telling other women that they  belonged at home tending to the fire and pointing their toes at the ceiling in the bedroom. She reassured men that they were right that their “wimmin” needed nothing more than an apron and a SUV to drive the kids to football practice and “Miss Princess” contests. Never mind that the wacked out woman was being “motivational speaker” and EX-EC-U-TIVE director of all things Stepford Wives.

I ticked me off that nobody ever called her for it and ordered her back to the kitchen. (no doubt her hubby had long since told her to point her toes at the floor in the bedroom.)

So along comes Missy Michele with all her “husbands are heads of the family” and “My Marcus told me to go to tax school, so I did” crap. Wait for it.

Finally!

It seems that some evangelical pastors are takin’ a cotton to Missy being a candidate for president. It’s unseemly they say. She has been keeping them waiting, and that’s what men do, not women. And worse yet wimmin are really supposed to be in “EX-EC-U-TIVE positions are they? And will Muslim leaders even talk to her?

Sometimes Missy, ya can’t have your cake and eat it too. Just sayin’.

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The Blaze wants you to know:

Everything I Say is a Lie. . . .I’m lying

25 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by in African American, American History, Creationism, Evolution, fundamentalism, Humor, Individual Rights, Non-Believers, racism, Rick Perry, Satire, Sociology, teabaggers, Uncategorized, What's Up?

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Note that the cartoon pictured at left carries the “Answers in Genesis” website. I believe that these are the same people who bring you the “Creation Museum” in Kentucky and are building the Noah’s Ark as their next “reality” project.

I am generally not a big fan of atheists, at least the mocking types. It’s all well and good to conclude that there is no proof of God and that you are content to let it be, living your life by perfectly good standards of conduct, without resort to any religious faith. I tend to be in agreement with atheists who take on the fundamentalists, because they don’t represent any kind of believing that I can understand nor accept and their actions are damaging for the most part.

I do tend to get rather pissy with atheists who lump all believers, of ANY faith into the same basket and make fun of them, such as referring to their belief in “faeries” and boogie men. It tends to belie your own faith in your own beliefs of “there is no God” when you are so insecure as that.

So, I’m not, generally speaking, a great fan of Richard Dawkins, though I certainly have no quarrel with his evolutionary statements. I find them compelling and utterly credible, as the entire field of evolution seem to be to me. But recently, Dawkins had some words for our new pal Ricky Perry and the field of GOPers who adhere to the “safe” haven of “it’s ONLY a theory.” (By the war, Al Gore points out in An Inconvenient Truth, that “it’s only a theory” is the intentional plan of attack of those who wish to confuse any issue, be it global warming or evolution.)

My thanks to Joe.My.God for the quote:

There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office. What is unusual about today’s Republican party (I disavow the ridiculous ‘GOP’ nickname, because the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt has lately forfeited all claim to be considered ‘grand’) is this: In any other party and in any other country, an individual may occasionally rise to the top in spite of being an uneducated ignoramus. In today’s Republican Party ‘in spite of’ is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job.” – Famed atheist Richard Dawkins, responding to Rick Perry’s denouncement of evolution.

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Speaking of evolution, there is a rather fascinating book published in 2010 about what the author calls RD or “renewed Darwinism“. Paul Lawrence area of expertise is in business, and he was near retirement from the Harvard Business School when he became dissatisfied with the “agency model” of business leadership, finding that it seemed to relate only to making stockholders happy. He began to investigate other fields and found in Darwin his answer.

Lawrence posits that man is evolutionarily driven to four things: acquisition, bonding, defense, and comprehension. We are, he suggests, constantly engaged in the activity of balancing these four things. He claims that things appear out of whack now because a “few bad apples with an outsized drive to acquire and no moral conscience” have prevailed, because they have no apparent need to bond.

So far, studies looking at Lawrence’s model of leadership tend to confirm it. Those companies who exhibit a healthy balance of all four things, tend to show good results, those that don’t, don’t.

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I must say I’m good. I read this headline in my reader: “Perry retreat co-host MLK deserved no credit on civil rights.” Well, I knew it could be none other than our ubiquitous TeaNutz® faux historian David Barton. Yes, Perry continues to double down in his unity with all things wingnut crazy, alienating all non-Christians and not a few Christians, and now African-Americans.

It seems that Barton is of the belief, that while MLK is a deserves a “place” in history, “Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.” Barton is almost too stupid to attack. I mean, dude, seriously, your “analysis” is childish.

Barton and others have done their level best to rewrite history books for Texas schools, seeking to minimize such folks as Thurgood Marshall and César Chávez. This all in an attempt to glorify white Christians, to the exclusion of all others in the history of the US.

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Ya know, Jebby Bush warned ’em when he was last interviewed on Faux Noise. He said, it’s fine to criticize the President’s policies, but hey, lay off challenging his motives. But of course, no, that would not be cool would it? The National Review, long since sunk in a cesspool of what else? poo, has decided that the President’s VACATION READING FARE is not appropriate! Angry Black Lady Chronicles has the story (Not sure if they got it from Think Progress?) 

 

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Self-Serving Interpretations

16 Saturday Jul 2011

Posted by in Bible, Corporate America, Economy, Editorials, fundamentalism, GOP, Inspirational, Matthew, social concerns

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I haven’t posted much here lately of a religious nature. And I usually describe this blog as part political commentary and part religious commentary.

Yet, I’ve been sensitive (probably too much so) to the fact that a good many of my readers are either agnostics or atheists and have little or no interest in things spiritual.

But, of late, I’ve been thinking hard about David Barton and his awful pretense of “historical” revising. We all know of course, his proclivity to proclaim that America was “founded on Christian principles.” While we agree that most of the Founding Fathers were Christian in some form or another, it is equally clear that the dangers of a religious-political union were well-known from history and there was a deliberate determination to not allow that unholy alliance to be the government of the new nation.

Barton, who has a BA from Oral Roberts University (which tells you a lot in and of itself) in religious education, has the temerity to hold himself out as “expert on historical and constitutional issues.” What he actually does, is cherry pick statements from historical documents and the bible and create a web of arguments that favor his view–that America is meant to be a nation ruled by Christian principles (supposedly as defined by him and others who agree with his fundamentalist notions).

Ironically, the Founding Fathers were steeped in exactly the opposite philosophy. The long history of the Roman Church and its marriage with the kings of Europe served an object lesson in how not to govern. Moreover, the FF were men of the Enlightenment, and any high school student in the US knows that they were deeply influenced by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, both Enlightenment thinkers, who posited that man was more than capable of learning the secrets of nature and governing himself. One’s personal belief in a deity, was just that, personal.

One of the dangers of people like Barton is that they use their “talents” to create a history that favors their agenda and that of the party they affiliate with. In this case, Barton provides the “philosophical” underpinnings to the Republican notions of free market economies unfettered from regulation of any kind. In other words, toss out all the anti-trust, anti-child labor, minimum wage, safe working conditions legislation. This is God’s will.

Of particular interest to me as of late is the continuing claim that “Jesus opposed the minimum wage.” Setting aside for a moment the obvious idiocy of this, since there is no reference to “minimum wage” in the bible, let us examine the crux of the argument.

Most often cited in this discussion is Matthew 20: 1-16. In this parable, a wealthy vineyard owner seeks day workers for his fields. In the morning he finds some and agrees to a wage, and sends them out. At noon, some more are found, and they too are sent to the fields. Late in the work day, a few more are found and sent for a hour’s work.

As the men line up for payment, those who worked a full day are chagrined to see that the owner is paying those who worked only an hour the same wage as those who worked a full day. They complain. The vineyard owner points out that they agreed to their wage before they began working. What is it to them how he deals with others? And here is the phrase that the Christianists hang their hat on:

“Have I no right to do what I like with my own?”

To the so-called Christian who wants to protect his/her own wallet, more lovely words were never spoken. Why God says that a business owner has the right to do with his money as he wishes! The government has no right to order them to pay people any set sum of money!

Such greedy and selfish people virtually ignore the obvious point Jesus makes, and see nothing but that one sentence; that along with various verses strewn throughout the psalms and scriptures which talk about not placing undue emphasis on wealth. (Except the wealthy I guess did place a lot of emphasis on money in order to become so.)

This is then married to the “Jesus never said that Rome should care for the poor” and “it’s the job of charitable works to take care of the poor” (the poor being those people we conclude are deserving). There you have it. A perfectly constructed argument that allows “Christians” to keep their money in their pockets and the government out of social safety-nets. (An amazingly high percentage of these fools do take their Social Security and Medicare when they reach retirement. Shocking isn’t it?)

Actually the clear import of the parable is this: The vineowner was a good man. He recognized that all those who worked for him that day had to eat and probably had families they had to feed. He had no idea what may have prevented the later arrivals from getting to the town square earlier. Who knows how far they traveled to seek work?

He provided a decent wage to all who worked because they had themselves and their families to support. He recognized the need to make sure that all were cared for. If you struck an agreed-upon bargain, what was it to you if the owner struck more favorable bargains with others? The implication is, that the long-day workers were the greedy ones! They wanted more if the owner was paying the latest workers a “living” wage.

This is the kind of thing that fundamentalists do with scripture, twisting and dishonoring it in order to serve their personal desires. And of course, in doing so, they dishonor God, the Bible, and other Christians.

And sad to say, Barton continues to be the darling of the likes of Bachmann, Huckabee and Gingrich and others who play to the fears and greed of the “religious right.” 

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History is What I Say It Is

23 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in Abortion, American History, Election 2012, Essays, Founding Fathers, Humor, Judiciary, Michelle Backmann, Reproductive Rights, Satire, SCOTUS, What's Up?, Women's issues

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It’s been apparent for some time that some of our states have been engaged in revising history to say what they feel more comfortable with. Spurred on by pseudo-historian David Barton, such Republicans as Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee have given new versions of our country’s beginnings that soften substantially the evils that we have faced from our past.

Bachmann has an entirely new version, based on Barton’s made up nonsense for instance, on slavery. We are now told that the Founding Fathers were intent on ending slavery and even that one of the impetuses for migration to this continent was to get away from British slavery practices. This shocks Britain no doubt, since they ended slavery decades before the US, and moreover faced American intransigence in their efforts to stop the movement of slaves across the Atlantic.

This would be bad enough, but of course it doesn’t end there. School districts across the south are revising their curricula to reflect a “whiter” and more religious orientation, whether it be history or science. This is perhaps where Barton and his religious firebrands do their worst damage–deeply infecting the next generation of Americans with a mindset that is incorrect. Colleges thus become more and more, correctors of misinformation rather than furthering the knowledge of their students.

The link today relates to the Atlantic Slave Trade. It revisits some older work that is still considered some fifty years later as being basically sound research. The review is carried on the link from History Today, and there is an internal link to the original abstract, published in 1958. It’s good to be reminded of the truth.

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 For some time now, the rabid Right-wing Christianists, the ones who say “do as I say, not necessarily as I do,” have aimed their vitriol at Planned Parenthood. Screeching about fetuses and murder, these crazed nut cases have offered a trade–their votes to the GOP in return for a GOP assault on all things PPH.

Planned Parenthood, as most people know, does so very much more than abortions. It is often the only means of general women’s health in communities that are loaded with poor women. They screen for cancer, offer birth control, and in general provide free health care to low-income women who are in dire need. They counsel teens and help them avoid pregnancy.

Yet, state after state is denying funding to PPH in hopes of retaining the Christianists in the voting booth. And the toll is horrific. In all too many states, PPH is being forced to close their doors, and thus turn their backs on women and their health needs. Zander has a couple of excellent posts on the subject.

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Don’t expect much to ever come of this. The SCOTUS is one of the most insulated branches of government. It is definitely not self-governing in the sense that the Congress is (ethics investigations, censures, expulsions). Individual justices who are miles apart ideologically, go to extraordinary lengths to get along, since the work of the court is so intimate in its nature.

Abe Fortas was one of the few justices who was “forced” to leave the bench for his unethical relationships with those who gifted him. I’m not sure that we live in the same times today. The far right tends to glam onto any dark face that talks like them, as proof of their lack of bigotry, so they are likely to raise a loud defense today against the increasingly scandalous behavior of one Clarence Thomas.

Thomas has for years now been gifted and supported by those who ultimately find themselves before his court. And he votes accordingly. It remains to be seen whether he will even bother to recuse himself from cases in which he has financially benefited. The man remains one of the most successful grifters in the country.

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We consider Michele Bachmann and idiot, but she is not the same kind of idiot as Sarah. Sarah is both stupid in general and has no particular desire to learn anything. She is simply engaged in self-promotion. Not so Michele. Michele is a true believer in all the right-wing Christianist crap from being anti-gay to creationism, PPH to God whispering in her ear and leading her down the right path. This makes her willing to rely on the stupid (if wishes were reality) blabberings of Barton and others of his ilk. She is also a savvy politician, and absolutely loves the game and is willing to learn the basics of economics and domestic policy.

This all makes her dangerous. If you read nothing else today, don’t miss Matt Taibbi’s fine piece at Rolling Stone today. Her minions love her with the same crazed devotion as Sarah’s do, yet she is Politifact finds her statements the most untruthful of any politician. Beware. I beg you to read this. It is long and every paragraph is filled with so much insanity, that you will be chilled to the bone. This woman is fifty times more dangerous that Sarah could even contemplate.

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Founding Fathers Opposed Darwin!

09 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in American History, Election 2012, Environment, Evolution, Founding Fathers, Health care, Herman Cain, History, Humor, Immigration, LifeStyle, Paleontology, Philosophy, Psychology, Rick Santorum, Satire, Uncategorized, What's Up?

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Shocking? I guess it should be given the fact that Darwin didn’t publish his seminal work until 1859, more than half a century after our government was formed.

That is the claim however of the pseudo-historian David Barton. And he claims that no less of a questionable religionist than Thomas Paine, who died the same year that Darwin was born, argued that creationism must be taught in the schools.

If all of this leaves you a bit skeptical, well, Barton has plenty of other ideas that would make a big business  CEO grin from ear to ear. Jesus was opposed to minimum wage laws, and therefore unions, as well as progressive income taxes.

Even more shocking Mr. Barton explains the real impetus for the revolution was not economic, but a persistent dedication to the eradication of slavery. Somehow, England ultimately beat us to the punch on that, but no matter, it’s the thought that counts.

You can read all this and watch the actual interview wherein Barton espouses his unique “history” by following the link.

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Herman “step ‘n fetch it” Cain is busy these days, yakking up the airways with his bizarre understanding of the world. He too has a slippery grasp on history as he reminded us to “read that small section of the constitution” wherein we were promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Except that that little phrase doesn’t come from the constitution, but rather from the Declaration of Independence.

Cain then went on to and pontificated that as President, he would not sign any bills longer than three pages. Given that much of any bill deals with its impact on a plethora of other agencies and legislation and regulations and interfaces are essential for all these things to work together, this presents quite a problem. It suggests that Cain would end up signing zero bills. It also suggests Cain has no sense whatsoever of how the government operates.

Now Cain explains how he would deal with the problem at the border with Mexico–a wall, akin to the Great Wall, and one with a companion moat, and yes, filled with alligators!

Cain appears to subscribe to the Palin school of knowledge–just say what seems sensible to you, even when its demonstrable that you are not a very sensible person.

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“To thine own self be true?” Okay, but how exactly is one to determine who the true self is? It’s a lot harder question than you might have thought. Depending on what standard you use, you can end up at quite different conclusions. A very thoughtful article by Joshua Knobe.

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That leave you bored? Well join the club. Boredom is a human condition, no matter what anyone says. Even animals get bored. Boredom can be normal or abnormal, situational or existential. So if you find yourself bored, then read all about this subject! Nothing could be less boring.

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Memo to Antony Weiner: Dude, don’t miss the next meeting of “How I threw away my life”. Lots of your favorites will be there! Tiger Woods will offer the first testimonial. Also, a good move would be to check into rehab forthwith. That tends to get a sympathy vote. Sex addiction is the hottest trending rehab these days.

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When I was growing up, to call someone an Neandertal was essentially to call them something just barely above the level of ape. Today, our understanding is vastly superior, and we find that most of our old assumptions were wrong. Neandertal DNA shows up in some parts of today’s populations. And there is no evidence that Neandertals were in conflict with more modern man.

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These chin-ups are sure to pay off in the future!

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If you aren’t totally tired of Weiner jokes, then bop on over to Political Irony and see the late night comedians do their thing.
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Ricky “don’t google me” Santorum, just can’t stop being a boob. It’s his nature. He has told Johnny McCain that he don’t know nothin’ bout no torture, said that climate change is a patent absurdity, claimed he would make marriage inequality the center of his campaign, and so forth. Now in the growing Republican revision of history, he tells us that the D-Day invasion occurred precisely to insure the American right to private health care. Yes, he said that:
 
Almost 60,000 average Americans had the courage to go out and charge those beaches on Normandy, to drop out of airplanes who knows where, and take on the battle for freedom. … Those Americans risked everything so they could make that decision on their health care plan.
 
Yes, my friends, the ultimate nutjob said that.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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