Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wow
Fox News reported that Sarah Palin had to be told that Africa was a continent, not simply a country in itself. What a complete ignoramus...Palin 2012!
Good Writing
Great stuff from favorite Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.com:
There are all sorts of reasons to view last night's events as an extremely positive development, including the fact that it was a truly crushing repudiation of the right-wing faction that has dominated the Republican Party for the last two decades. The GOP is very close to being nothing more than a broken regional party, confined almost entirely to the Deep South and a few small, scattered states in the Midwest, and entirely uncompetitive in huge swaths of the country. All of that merits, and will undoubtedly receive, lavish analytical attention (and celebration) over the next few days and weeks.
There are all sorts of reasons to view last night's events as an extremely positive development, including the fact that it was a truly crushing repudiation of the right-wing faction that has dominated the Republican Party for the last two decades. The GOP is very close to being nothing more than a broken regional party, confined almost entirely to the Deep South and a few small, scattered states in the Midwest, and entirely uncompetitive in huge swaths of the country. All of that merits, and will undoubtedly receive, lavish analytical attention (and celebration) over the next few days and weeks.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Yes We Can
First of all, I was in Rockefeller Plaza [MSNBC headquarters] and watched the Obama acceptance speech with a few thousand other people. It was uplifting, it was moving, it was amazing. There was a general feeling of joy and people are very, very excited in New York and I'm sure all around the country. This is a historic time and we should appreciate it accordingly and look forward with high anticipation to Jan. 20.
Secondly, I think my head is about to explode. Watching O'Reilly and Hannity today, there was a man on both shows actually defending Obama...who you ask? Would you even believe me if I told you it was Karl Rove? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was crazy. O'Reilly and Hannity both trotted out bullshit about how they don't know who Barack Obama is and they are hearing and feeling fear from people around the country about Obama. There was barely a whisper of congratulations from O'Reilly before he immediately began questioning Obama's "real" character and how he was going to accomplish his lofty goals. Forget the historical significance of the moment and the feeling of joy from many, many people around the country, let's just focus on the fear of the losers and question how Obama can possibly succeed...O'Reilly, what a schmuck. Karl Rove, still can't believe that.
Monday, November 3, 2008
How stupid is this guy?
Just read this article and laugh...http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/03/joe-plumber-plans-life-election/
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Why Hitchens Is the Best
From his latest Slate article:
"This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity."
Monday, October 27, 2008
The insanely stupid and illogical Religious Right
A story in the New York Times caught my attention today. California has once again become a hotbed of controversy in dealing with same-sex marriage. Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California has become a crusade for the Religious Right. Let's look at a few quotes from the article and attempt to determine what exactly is going on the these lunies' minds.
"This vote on whether we stop the gay-marriage juggernaut in California is Armageddon." Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministry
"We've picked bad presidents before, and we've survived as a nation, but we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage." Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council
"He is a symbol of what is ahead." Rev. Jim Garlow speaking about Swedish jailbird pastor Ake Green, recently imprisoned under Swedish law prohibiting hate speech. A sermon he gave included the following, speaking about homosexuality: "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society." He also said that a person cannot be a Christian and a homosexual at the same time.
Lou Engle, a prominent preacher in Washington and Kansas City moved his family to California and is holding prayer rallies where he is encouraging people to fast for the 40 days leading up to the election. Some people are giving up solid food, others are giving up clothes shopping or their favorite television shows. [paraphrased from article]
"We believe in a spiritual battle in an unseen realm, and that's why I've called for united prayer for divine intervention." Lou Engle
This is so ridiculous you can only laugh at the logic of these people. It seems to me that they are the bedfellows and disciples of the Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's of the world, both who claimed that 9/11 was the product of a morally corrupt American society that harbored gays and lesbians, and that America was deserving of the attack.
Yea, that makes a lot of sense too. This is religion at its very core, butting it's nose [and ideals] into the private lives of private citizens and attempting to impose its backwards, fraudulent, hypocritical morality on our society.
Here's a question I would love to ask the religious -- if god is the source of our existence and the existence of everything in the universe would it not make sense to assume that if homosexuality is a choice [which I happen to believe it is not] that god provided people with this choice and that either way is acceptable to god? If god really did not want homosexuality to exist why didn't he simply not allow his creations to even conceive of the idea? It would have been quite simple for god, seeing as how he is omnipotent to banish the very concept from our primitive minds. If everything has its innermost source in god, would not a part of god be homosexual, in order for homosexuality to exist in the universe?
I think the part about fasting for 40 days leading up the election is quite scary actually. Why would that make any difference? In god's mind or in the mind's of the voters? Do humans think more clearly when they restrict themselves from food? If so why aren't we doing this more? Perhaps if scientists fasted we would miraculously find the cures to many diseases? Maybe economists should start fasting so they can more quickly solve the economic meltdown. You get my point. I actually laughed out loud at the ridiculous follow up to the fasting sentence. "Some people are giving up solid foods; others are giving up clothes shopping or their favorite television shows." WHAAAA? So you think that god, your creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, the source of everything we know and will know, will rally to your cause because you gave up a few petty indulgences for 40 days?!?!
God sitting on his throne in heaven: Oh my! Look at these wonderfully obedient sheep I have created! That man has not watched The Office in 3 weeks! What a powerful will hath he! That woman, blessed woman, has not bought a pair of socks in 27 days! Glorious self-discipline have I given her! Let me look into their minds and see what they desire...hmmm, they wish to stop two people from marrying even though they love each other because they happen to be of the same sex! Strange request, seeing as there are so many more important problems in the world right now, but look at their mindless obedience to me! Thy will be done man not watching the Office! Thy will be done woman not buying socks!
This kind of thinking is beyond me.
"This vote on whether we stop the gay-marriage juggernaut in California is Armageddon." Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministry
"We've picked bad presidents before, and we've survived as a nation, but we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage." Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council
"He is a symbol of what is ahead." Rev. Jim Garlow speaking about Swedish jailbird pastor Ake Green, recently imprisoned under Swedish law prohibiting hate speech. A sermon he gave included the following, speaking about homosexuality: "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society." He also said that a person cannot be a Christian and a homosexual at the same time.
Lou Engle, a prominent preacher in Washington and Kansas City moved his family to California and is holding prayer rallies where he is encouraging people to fast for the 40 days leading up to the election. Some people are giving up solid food, others are giving up clothes shopping or their favorite television shows. [paraphrased from article]
"We believe in a spiritual battle in an unseen realm, and that's why I've called for united prayer for divine intervention." Lou Engle
This is so ridiculous you can only laugh at the logic of these people. It seems to me that they are the bedfellows and disciples of the Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's of the world, both who claimed that 9/11 was the product of a morally corrupt American society that harbored gays and lesbians, and that America was deserving of the attack.
Yea, that makes a lot of sense too. This is religion at its very core, butting it's nose [and ideals] into the private lives of private citizens and attempting to impose its backwards, fraudulent, hypocritical morality on our society.
Here's a question I would love to ask the religious -- if god is the source of our existence and the existence of everything in the universe would it not make sense to assume that if homosexuality is a choice [which I happen to believe it is not] that god provided people with this choice and that either way is acceptable to god? If god really did not want homosexuality to exist why didn't he simply not allow his creations to even conceive of the idea? It would have been quite simple for god, seeing as how he is omnipotent to banish the very concept from our primitive minds. If everything has its innermost source in god, would not a part of god be homosexual, in order for homosexuality to exist in the universe?
I think the part about fasting for 40 days leading up the election is quite scary actually. Why would that make any difference? In god's mind or in the mind's of the voters? Do humans think more clearly when they restrict themselves from food? If so why aren't we doing this more? Perhaps if scientists fasted we would miraculously find the cures to many diseases? Maybe economists should start fasting so they can more quickly solve the economic meltdown. You get my point. I actually laughed out loud at the ridiculous follow up to the fasting sentence. "Some people are giving up solid foods; others are giving up clothes shopping or their favorite television shows." WHAAAA? So you think that god, your creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, the source of everything we know and will know, will rally to your cause because you gave up a few petty indulgences for 40 days?!?!
God sitting on his throne in heaven: Oh my! Look at these wonderfully obedient sheep I have created! That man has not watched The Office in 3 weeks! What a powerful will hath he! That woman, blessed woman, has not bought a pair of socks in 27 days! Glorious self-discipline have I given her! Let me look into their minds and see what they desire...hmmm, they wish to stop two people from marrying even though they love each other because they happen to be of the same sex! Strange request, seeing as there are so many more important problems in the world right now, but look at their mindless obedience to me! Thy will be done man not watching the Office! Thy will be done woman not buying socks!
This kind of thinking is beyond me.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Misinformation is Sad, America's xenophobia rears its ugly head
I was just watching some CNN video of the McCain campaign stops, dealing with the increasingly volatile nature of the people at these stops. I get the feeling that one woman in particular serves as a microcosm to how many people think of Barack Obama and how scary and stupid some people in this country are.
The woman, middle-aged and white approached the podium and was given a microphone in anticipation of asking a question [one can only assume]. She said "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him...and he's not...he's a, he's an Arab." At which point, to his credit, McCain began shaking his head and took the mic away from her and discredited her by saying Obama was an honest, family man.
Firstly, let's look at a point not connected to the presidential race. The fact that this woman misrepresented and condemned an entire people with her racist misinterpretation of what an "Arab" is-- In the modern era, defining who is an "Arab" is done on the grounds of one or more of the following three criteria:
* Genealogical: someone who can trace his or her ancestry to the tribes of Arabia - the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula - and the Syrian Desert. This definition covers fewer self-identified Arabs than not, and was the definition used in medieval times, for example by Ibn Khaldun.
* Linguistic: someone whose first language, and by extension cultural expression, is Arabic, including any of its varieties. This definition covers more than 250 million people. Certain groups that fulfil this criterion reject this definition on the basis of genealogy, such an example may be seen in the identity of many Egyptians.[15][16]
* Political: in the modern nationalist era, any person who is a citizen of a country where Arabic is either the national language or one of the official languages, and/or a citizen of a country which may simply be a member of the Arab League (thereby having Arabic as an official government language, even if not used by the majority of the population). [Courtesy of Wikipedia]
Now it's easily recognizable that the woman did not in fact mean "Arab", she meant Muslim. Notice how none of the above definition, nor any definition of "Arab" mentions religion in its criteria of determining who or who is not Arab. Islam is a religion practiced by many Arab people, but there are Arab Christians and even Arab Jews [in Morocco and Tunisia mostly].
Now that we've cleared that up let's look at the woman's statement in a different light. Even if Obama practiced Islam, which sadly many still think he does [here's a question, why would Obama have a REVEREND who has caused him so many problems if he was Muslim?] why would that matter at all in terms of his ability to be President and in our ability to trust him? Sarah Palin harps on "small town values" at every campaign stop and in every speech, you know what I think some of those "small town values" are? Racism, xenophobia, and a distrust of people who are different than the people at the corner grocery store, or the fishing hole, or in Palin's case- the gun range. This hate directed at Obama simply because people think he is Muslim is something that is sad, and reflects so poorly on American society. Not every Muslim person is a terrorist, like not every Christian believes in the literacy of the New Testament, and not every Jewish person is a banker. It's disgusting the level of distrust people in this country, especially white, elderly middle-class and upper-class people have of a man who has served in the United States Senate, and of an entire people, based off of religion in general. Just another example of how religion fucks everything up.
I'm also listening to Palin speak right now, she just said "I eliminated personal property taxes [in my town as Mayor]", she should also mention that as mayor she forced women who had been raped to pay for their own rape kits.
The woman, middle-aged and white approached the podium and was given a microphone in anticipation of asking a question [one can only assume]. She said "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him...and he's not...he's a, he's an Arab." At which point, to his credit, McCain began shaking his head and took the mic away from her and discredited her by saying Obama was an honest, family man.
Firstly, let's look at a point not connected to the presidential race. The fact that this woman misrepresented and condemned an entire people with her racist misinterpretation of what an "Arab" is-- In the modern era, defining who is an "Arab" is done on the grounds of one or more of the following three criteria:
* Genealogical: someone who can trace his or her ancestry to the tribes of Arabia - the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula - and the Syrian Desert. This definition covers fewer self-identified Arabs than not, and was the definition used in medieval times, for example by Ibn Khaldun.
* Linguistic: someone whose first language, and by extension cultural expression, is Arabic, including any of its varieties. This definition covers more than 250 million people. Certain groups that fulfil this criterion reject this definition on the basis of genealogy, such an example may be seen in the identity of many Egyptians.[15][16]
* Political: in the modern nationalist era, any person who is a citizen of a country where Arabic is either the national language or one of the official languages, and/or a citizen of a country which may simply be a member of the Arab League (thereby having Arabic as an official government language, even if not used by the majority of the population). [Courtesy of Wikipedia]
Now it's easily recognizable that the woman did not in fact mean "Arab", she meant Muslim. Notice how none of the above definition, nor any definition of "Arab" mentions religion in its criteria of determining who or who is not Arab. Islam is a religion practiced by many Arab people, but there are Arab Christians and even Arab Jews [in Morocco and Tunisia mostly].
Now that we've cleared that up let's look at the woman's statement in a different light. Even if Obama practiced Islam, which sadly many still think he does [here's a question, why would Obama have a REVEREND who has caused him so many problems if he was Muslim?] why would that matter at all in terms of his ability to be President and in our ability to trust him? Sarah Palin harps on "small town values" at every campaign stop and in every speech, you know what I think some of those "small town values" are? Racism, xenophobia, and a distrust of people who are different than the people at the corner grocery store, or the fishing hole, or in Palin's case- the gun range. This hate directed at Obama simply because people think he is Muslim is something that is sad, and reflects so poorly on American society. Not every Muslim person is a terrorist, like not every Christian believes in the literacy of the New Testament, and not every Jewish person is a banker. It's disgusting the level of distrust people in this country, especially white, elderly middle-class and upper-class people have of a man who has served in the United States Senate, and of an entire people, based off of religion in general. Just another example of how religion fucks everything up.
I'm also listening to Palin speak right now, she just said "I eliminated personal property taxes [in my town as Mayor]", she should also mention that as mayor she forced women who had been raped to pay for their own rape kits.
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