Lies, Lies, Damnable Lies

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Bruce Braley, Carl Paladino, Catholic Church, Democrats, food stamps, fundamentalism, gay rights, GOP, immigration, Iowa, Latinos, Nazis, Newt Gingrich, Ohio, patriarchy, Politics, right-wing crazies, social issues, violence, women

Private monies funding attack ads are favoring GOPers about seven to one. And there are no reins on them either. Truth, Smuth. Who cares. It’s winning that counts.

Here in Iowa, they are out in force against Bruce Braley (D-IA), from the 1st district. The little dweeb running against him, just bought his first suit, or so it looked at their debate. Yet something like $800,000 is being spent by outside sources to defame Braley, telling Iowa voters that he is responsible for their individual taxes going up a cool $1600 per person next year. A bold-faced lie, but of course his opponent need only shrug and disclaim any responsibility.

This is taking place all over America. The GOP is not funding these “loser” races, because it cannot, but big business can. And they are. Further, as was noted on PBS News Hour, candidates in the future know what they will face.

Of course ads besmirching the character and actual policies and actions of  Democratic incumbents and candidates is only a part of the problem.

The other is the character and policies of the GOP-Teabagger candidates themselves. Paladino, in New York continues to try to walk back his ugly comments about gays.

”I just think your children and my children would be better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option–it isn’t.”

What he included in his written speech but didn’t actually say, and later denounced was this:

“There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual. . .[which] is not how God created us.”

Paladino has since tried to walk back his comments claiming a great love for all things gay, except marriage,  but his campaign manager continues to defend his statements as “exactly equivalent to the Catholic church.”  As David Wilson points out in the Commonweal piece, whether Paladino is in line with Catholic teaching or not, is this the way it should be expressed? He asks whether the hierarchy owes some statement about the tone being set by Mr. Paladino.

It is no secret that the Catholic church does not support active homosexuality. In this I would argue that it is categorically wrong and probably on some level realizes it among its scholars at least. However, having painted itself it a corner on many of these issues (the Church being protected by the Holy Spirit and being incapable of error on matters of doctrine and morality), She is having a mighty hard time figuring out how to get in step with modern exegesis and ethics.

To hide behind the Church’s skirts, if you will, is no defense at all to Mr. Paladino. Two wrongs don’t make a right as they say.

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I had to laugh yesterday when I was perusing the political blogs and came upon a reference to Cantor and his claim that the Ohio wannabe congressman who participates as a Nazi in WWII re-enactments had gone a bit too far. The writer, and I have no clue who it was now, suggested that FINALLY we have found something so outrageous that even Republicans are offended! Not the desire of such folks as Angle and Miller to disband and social security, medicare and Medicaid, and unemployment benefits. Nay, that is just forcing folks to look out for themselves. Not gay bashing, and treating undocumented workers as criminals who deserve hanging. Nay, that is just upholding morality and homeland security. But Nazi sympathizers? That just might be too much.

Cantor probably should speak to DeMint and the cuckoo clock in Delaware, I’m not so sure they would agree with him.

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Oh Newt the Snoot is at it again. Newt is another of those GOPers who still doesn’t GET that what he said before is actually written down and SAVED. Newty is urging his fellow slugs to start calling the Dems the “party of food stamps.” Except there Newty, you forget! Perhaps there is a limited brain capacity of the average sluggo, and that explains Newty’s failure to recall how he supported  Bush’s rather blatant attempt to increase food stamps for immigrants in the hopes of enlarging the Hispanic vote for the GOPers. Oh Think Progress, don’t miss a thing!

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It seems to awful to be true, but it is true. And Ahab at Republic of Gilead has done a great job in investigating and reporting on the strong ties between violence against women and children to the religious right. Indeed, it is their screwy interpretation of scripture that endangers women and children every day in this country. Read this and know thy enemy.

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Hope the day is finding you well and happy.

Related Articles

• Paladino offended gay pride parades’ bumping and grinding (nydailynews.com)

Okay, I’ve Made it This Far

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1st Amendment, Constitution, feminism, Humor, John Boehner, right-wing crazies, SCOTUS, Snyder v Phelps, women, Women's issues

I’ve come to believe that there are things that humans shouldn’t do. And if they do, well, what happens to them is pretty much their own fault, and I figure the gene pool is thus protected from self-destructive influences.

In other words, I don’t mourn idiots. The photo at right illustrates my point perfectly. This intellectually challenged individual is wrong on two counts. He (or she, but really most women are too smart for this) is climbing vertically which means falling will almost certainly cause serious injury or death.

That’s bad enough, but this, if I only had a brain! excuse for humanity, is climbing on ice, which is cold and can cause injury and death, seriously!

Mountains should be climbed if at all only when they have proven to contain precious metals or live-saving medicinal plants, and on no account should they have inclines of more than 20°. Otherwise one gets winded, and being winded leads to be tired, and being tired leads to making mistakes, and making mistakes leads to serious injury and death.

Am I making this clear? Suffice it to say that I watch Extreme Sports and cheer for the sport.

In case you aren’t happy enough yet, then go over to Vodka and Ground Beef and see about her fun quickie date at the Border’s Bookstore. I’m sure some of you could relate. Though not me. I’m not that kinda girl. I was, but if you tell anyone I’ll deny it. Just between us two, you understand.

And if that’s not enough, well, The Borowitz Report, has some significant info about the shakeup at the White House. Not to give it away, but it involves the White House, Afghanistan, and the Minnesota Vikings. Yes, with a little effort, you can see the relationship surely.

And if that is not enough, well, I suggest you contact your therapist, because you are wayyyy to depressed.

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John (I bathe in Cheetos) Boehner, is all poised to become the new Speaker. In fact it’s pretty clear from listening to him that it’s all he can do to keep his Depends® changed regularly, he gets so excited.

Bob Herbert has a very good report on all things Boehner. He frankly defines the word sleaze. Beholden forever to special interests, he just wallows in the good life supplied to him by all those lovely tobacco interests, et al.

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Frankly this is an interesting question. Why are so many of the uber crazies on the extreme right women? AlterNet picks up a post at Bitch Magazine which helps to give an answer. Worse, these women are attempting to redefine feminism. The connection may be the religious right, where many of these women got their training. In any case, this article is well-worth it and links to another carried at Slate.

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And now for a personal opinion. Yes, all the other stuff is pure fact! I do not lie!

The SCOTUS took up the volatile case known as the first amendment funeral case, otherwise known as Snyder v Phelps. This is the type of case that tries the souls of liberals, because every fiber of my being suggests that Mr. Phelps and his sick family (the only real “members” of his “church”) should have their mouths duct taped. There behavior and rhetoric is reprehensible, period.

However, if the 1st Amendment means anything, it means that we allow speech to occur which we find obnoxious, even blasphemous, even cruel and inhuman. That’s the nature of the beast. To do otherwise allows for the other side to have purchase to a doctrine that would allow them to silence simple opposition.

There are only two real bases for disallowing speech–speech that endangers life and limb, and speech which promotes immediate violence. Those are pretty thin parameters and indeed they need be. The typical scenarios are shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre, and inciting others to riot in a crowd, somewhere.

I think that Mr. Phelps and his motley crew of ugly might well satisfy the later. The Contrarian supplied the important ingredient here–namely that a funeral creates a place that cannot be “moved.” In other words, those attending must attend at the location of funerals–cemeteries. Thus one cannot “avoid” the hate-spewers.

The haters are inciteful–they carry signs applauding the death of  the subject of the funeral. They are inviting as it were reactions of the most explosive kind. The Contrarian pointed out that many of these military funerals now are attended by bikers whose sole purpose is to protect families from the tiny regiment of vile sign carriers.

Bikers, it seems to me, are rather well-known for their fight first mentality, and if the situation becomes unruly, then I would suggest, real violence can and is likely to ensue.

I’d like the SCOTUS to declare Phelps and company to cease and desist. But, I’d also like the Justices to declare that this case pretty much is limited to its very special facts and falls wholly within the parameters of one of two existing bases for limiting free speech.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Related Articles

• Supreme Court Weighs Free Speech Limits in Military Funeral Case (politics.usnews.com)
• Justices Hear Arguments in Funeral-Protest Case (nytimes.com)

Listen to Me–A Recipe for a Sane World

Tags

God concepts, Internet, opinion, power, quotations, Sophia, thinking, women, writing

I often sit down to write with little or no idea where I might end up. I figure that’s a good thing mostly. And frankly, on occasion, I start one place and end another. There is no road map after all.

I picked up this article in the NYTimes, which seemed provocative and in the end enlightening. It warned implicitly at least that we are usually wrong when we form opinions mostly from anecdotal evidence.

It seems to me, that most of what we do is in the form of  concluding from whatever “evidence” we have acquired up to a certain point from actual research or reading and experiential events. Depending on how heavily weighted the former is, we are more likely right or wrong.

The article pointed out that while it may seem that we are being turned into attention deficit superficialities by the ready speed of the Internet, in fact we aren’t, as attested by any number of actual scientific studies. Okay, I can buy that. And frankly, I’m relieved.

But the unintended consequence of the article, was a off hand link to a site I’d never heard of, and that was worth ten times the article to me. Where I started in the direction of discussing how we prefer 500 words or less in our posts, I drifted into the realm of thinking my opinions mostly shit.

So I developed this tongue in cheek title and went looking for a suitable image. I, as most writers, undoubted assume that we have something you should hear, so I typed in “God Complex” thinking it an amusing image for the post. Alas, not a single one portrayed a woman as suffering from this. So I tried “God as Woman” and that got me “God as women?” and then mostly tons of images of God creating woman. Then I tried feminists as God, and I got more garbage in the form of symbols, and this went on for some time.

My frustration grew. Finally I got the above sweet nurturing image of God as Sophia. Not at all what I was looking for. No ripped abs portraying woman as conqueror or powerful overlord of earth–no I got sappy sweet mother goddess stuff.

And I was reminded that yesterday, the owner of The Daily Beast was on GMA. She was asked what it meant that most of the Tuesday primaries had been won by women. Her response was, “well it proves that women can be wingnuts too.” And I agree.

It’s not that I’m arguing that I want women to be power hungry, insensitive louts like some men are. I’m acceding that they already are, and probably always have been. Yes, I believe that there are differences between men on women on a whole plethora of levels, but given the right motivations, women are as greedy and blood thirsty as any man thought of being.

So why no women with God complexes? I dunno.

Finding Arts and Letters Daily, (the above link) is like finding nirvana. It’s like you want to redo your entire blogroll, and well, spend a few days, weeks or so meandering around. That for me is the point of the Internet, but it’s a little like walking into the Library of Congress or the MMA–you have a day–choose wisely.

Once upon a time it was possible for a man or woman to know virtually everything that there was to know about any given field of endeavor, and perhaps several. Today, you can but keep generally abreast of the trends in a field. There are more books, articles and such than you can ever hope to read or even know about.

And the amazing thing, is that we (the writers of whatever) in our pathetic egotistical sadness actually think that somebody has time to listen to our pathetic whinings. Yet, the human spirit appears to forge ahead, confident that somewhere an audience exists. Dangerously, this thought occurs to the serial cannibal as well and they can but be encouraged when they find their own among the billions who inhabit the planet.

It all leaves me with no depressed feelings, but a shrugging feeling. I distinctly felt a shrug coming on as I thought about it. I don’t care. I write because I like my own voice inside my head, and I think myself devilishly funny and acidic and witty. I’m always surprised when my best prose, my most humorous repartee is met with silence, but it’s simply not my fault if you are unable to see the genius I am.

Now that was supposed to elicit a huge guffaw, before you snap off thinking me insufferably arrogant. The fact is, there is more talent on planet earth that most realize. I am not exceptional but the norm I suspect. That is not cause for sadness, but gives hope that in the end, this planet will survive its experiment with the human species.

So as you can see, this post is a bit incoherent. I am aware of that! But it’s what I chose to do today. Wandering as the thought carried. Thanks for wandering with me. I like the company. After all, there is a worthwhile couple of links, and you can skip the rest.

Two quotes:

Speed reading is touted as letting you read much faster with good comprehension. Woody Allen read War and Peace in one day and proved the truth of that by responding: “It’s about Russia.”

Jean-Paul Sartre quipped:  In a football match, everything is complicated by the presence of the other team.