I felt as if I'd landed on an Alien planet, had established rapport with the local indigenous fauna, and then, having been invited to their weekly gathering, had been completely shocked from the ridiculousness and utter lack of reason inherent in their kooky, and otherwise meaningless rituals and sermons:
from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot:
Consider again that pale blue dot. Take a good long look at it. ["That's us. That's Earth."] Stare at the dot for any length of time and then try to convince yourself that God created the whole Universe for one of the 10 million or so species of life that inhabit that speck of dust. Now take it a step further: Imagine that everything was made just for a single shade of that species, or gender, or ethnic or religious subdivision. If this doesn't strike you as unlikely, pick another dot. Imagine it to be inhabited by a different form of intelligent life. They, too, cherish the notion of a God who has created everything for their benefit. How seriously do you take their claim?
Do some "Big Think", and doesn't every resulting religion or ideology resemble or become a self parody of this?
Under Mr. Steele's helm, the “old” may seem inappropriate in the Grand Old Party's affectionate nickname. He said he is putting a new public relations team into place to update the party's image.
“It will be avant garde, technically,” he said. “It will come to table with things that will surprise everyone - off the hook.”
Does that mean cutting-edge?
“I don't do 'cutting-edge,' “ he said. “That's what Democrats are doing. We're going beyond cutting-edge.”
We need tanks and hummers, not hybrid cars! We need honest politicians, not communist czars! USA, not the USSR. We need more Ann Coulter and less Bill Maher. […] I don’t need another lecture from the Socialistic hypocrite. Tuesday was your birthday, but where’s your birth certificate?
I can't figure out which is worse, that or this:
Seriously,
When conservatives try to replicate "cool", they end up with laughable shit like this:
Also, in a totally unrelated thing, I came across this quote from one of the classics of American Literature.
“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one is true.” -Nathaniel Hawthorne
As if her washed-up parents weren't already exploiting the hell out of their daughter's youth and sex appeal. I only mention this because today, of all days, Wingnut back-bencher Laura Ingraham felt compelled to comment on this incident.
Yeah yeah, they mocked her stupidity, her idea of a trailer park, with cut-offs as the embodiment of the All-American Southern Girl. My question is this, if they're so concerned that the Health Care Reform that the Democrats are proposing will lead to Fascism, Tyrrany, and the Government sentencing sick people to death (and they are, just read her front page), then why spend two full segments talking about how stupid a 16-year old Disney Pop-star is?
That is how criticism of pop-culture is done.
Ingraham and her ilk are not to be taken seriously, on any topic. Ever. When a google search of your name reveals that you're widely known for calling people you disagree with "fat" (Al Gore, Michael Moore, Meghan McCain), you should forever be remanded to the hellish dinosaur infested wasteland known as AM radio. Enjoy your dwindling audience.
CNBC approached Tea Party activists, looking for angry protest events that would make good television, according to a leaked email from a Tea Party discussion group. And one Tea Bagger responded by flagging an upcoming event that, he said, "should be a riot ... literally."
Yesterday, Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin sent an email, obtained by TPMmuckraker, to a Tea Party google group. Martin told the group: "We have a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC."
She then asked: "So, where are the big events this week and where can TPP best be represented on the news?"
Later that day, a Tea Bagger named Pat Wayman responded with a suggestion, also obtained by TPMmuckraker: "This one should be a riot! literally...." he wrote.
*UPDATE*: Moron acts Moronic, gets to be interviewed on TV so we can see how much of a dope she is.
Sigh, I liked this better when it wasn't purportedly "Serious" news, and it was called "Jaywalking".
*UPDATE II*:
Okay, Gray Hair, you feel free to sign a waiver rescinding your Medicare benefits, which are paid for by the taxes on our hard-earned labor. If not, STFD & STFU, you're wrong. And even though you lose, you win.
I mean, if the one of the claims of the website called "StopMedicare" is that "Anyone that has ever used Medicare has died or will die.", then what else can be said?
Everyone that has ever been attracted to another man or another woman has died or will die.
Anyone that has ever used a toothbrush has died or will die.
Okay, you don't want to change the companies dictating policy at all, we get that. What are you for? What do you propose?
Toby: You think we should run a counter ad.
Will: We have to.
Toby: Saying what?
Will: Oh. I don't know.
Toby: What do you mean?
Will: What do you mean?
Toby: We've been sitting here for twenty minutes.
Will: I came in to show you the spots and to tell you I think we should run a counter ad. I don't have an idea for one.
Toby: Well get one. Have an idea! Don't come in here with half a thing and not be able to – you know, after you've walked me to the brink, and say "We've got to do this, it's important, though I have no earthly idea how"! Like one of those guys who buys a big new thing but doesn't really know how to get the most out of it!
Private Military Contractor formerly known as Blackwater, now known as XE, implicated in murder, arms-dealing, and other Christianist ideals...
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
*****
Evangelical Leaders currently with their hands on the levers of power, embracing a philosophy and theology they called "The Totalitarianism of Christ". Be leaders that people follow, Emulate people like Pol Pot, Osama bin Laden, and Lenin.
"Christianity got it wrong for 2,000 years talking about the poor, the weak, the down and out. God it turns out, wants people to focus on serving the powerful."
*****
What is the infrastructure, the institution of Modern American Christianity, really, other than an umbrella held aloft by millions of uncritical rubes in order to shield those that exploit and profit off of faith as a cynical tool used excuse villainy and to step on those Values Voters keeping them in power?
Beneath the elegant philosophical language is a blunter message to George's gay fellow human beings: be straight or go away. And since when is that a practical option in the 21st century?
I repeat to conservatives: we know what you're against, in healthcare, energy, counter-terrorism, taxation, gay rights, abortion. What are you actually for? How do you intend to actually address the questions of our time and place? And if conservatism cannot do that, what use is it?
When you walk through the garden you gotta watch your back well I beg your pardon walk the straight and narrow track if you walk with Jesus he's gonna save your soul you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole he's got the fire and the fury at his command well you don't have to worry if you hold on to Jesus hand we'll all be safe from Satan when the thunder rolls just gotta help me keep the devil way down in the hole All the angels sing about Jesus' mighty sword and they'll shield you with their wings and keep you close to the lord don't pay heed to temptation for his hands are so cold you gotta help me keep the devil way down in the hole
Also, too, lets say for the sake of argument Obama was born in Kenya. His mother was a US Citizen which according to laws passed in the 1950s, would have automatically made BHO a natural born US Citizen born on foreign soil (Even before that it's likely that it would still be the case, as John McCain was born in Panama, but is a "Naturally born" US citizen. The US Consolate in Kenya would have had issued a Passport for him in order for him to be able to return to Hawaii and travel abroad as well. Even if they're right, They're wrong!
This map is leading me to believe that Jihadis want world domination so that they can surpass USA in freedom having capability? Or is Mitt doing that assuming here?
And so it went, up and down the street, in between tents and tables, squeezing past pedestrians to inspect the offerings in one booth after another, we milled around this marketplace in downtown Baghdad for more than an hour. I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime. -Rep. Mike Pence (R-ID), April 4, 2007.
"“Freedom in fact may be flowering in Iran as hundreds of thousands rally for democracy and free elections. While I appreciate President Obama's comments yesterday at the White House that he was, ‘troubled by the violence,’ and his belief that the voices of the Iranian people should, be ‘heard and respected,’ it seems by my lights that this administration has yet to express the unqualified support of the American people for those who are courageously taking to the streets for free elections and for democracy in Iran. “Let me say from my heart, the American cause is freedom and in this cause the American people will not be silent, here or abroad. If the President of the United States won't express the unqualified support of our nation for the dissidents in the streets of Tehran, this Congress must. “Today I'm introducing a resolution that will do just that. It will express its concern regarding the reported irregularities of the presidential election of 12 June, 2009. It will condemn the violence against demonstrators by pro-government militia in Tehran in the wake of the elections. It will affirm our belief in the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections. And lastly, and most importantly, it will express the support of the American people for all Iranian citizens who struggle for freedom, civil liberties and the protection of the rule of law. “Believe it or not in my small town of Columbus, IN, I grew up next door to a Hungarian immigrant who fled Hungary in the wake of the Soviet repression of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. I sat often with Julius Perr, now passed away, and heard of the way the Hungarian people, inspired by our calls for freedom, stood up for their own freedom. And as Brett Stephens recounts in today's Wall Street Journal we stood by idly. We didn't want to interfere. And the Soviet tanks rolled. “We cannot stand idly by, speak of Iran's sovereignty, speak of her own right to choose her own leadership at a time when hundreds of thousands of Iranians are risking their lives to stand up for free elections and democracy. “Ronald Reagan said, ‘No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.’ All of us desire a fresh start with Iran and it seems from news reports and the extraordinary images coming from the streets of Iran that millions of Iranians long for a new start in their government. There is a reformist movement afoot in Iran. “Today I’ll introduce a resolution. I urge all my colleagues in both parties to join me in expressing their support for these brave and courageous men and women.”
What good ole Mike wants us to say, what he wants to declare publicly, and purely for his own political gain; will let Ahmadinejad and his higher proxies declare for propaganda purposes in service of retaining their own power, that all these people,
are actually astro-turf surreptitiously working here:
"Beck offered the following rationale on his Fox News show tonight:
Beck: What they're missing is: The pot in America is boiling. And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.
Actually, Beck has this exactly right. But frankly, it's boiling because of people like Glenn Beck, ranting hysterically every night about impending apocalypses of various forms -- looming "liberal fascism," the "economic meltdown," the "New World Order," violence spilling over the Mexican border, even FEMA concentration camps.
As I tried to explain in the case of the shooting of Dr. George Tiller, when you spread far-right conspiracy theories through mainstream channels the way Beck does with such abandon, it not only validates their beliefs, it rather hyper-validates them: It tells these people -- who see the Becks and O'Reillys as part of the "liberal media" -- that things are even worse than they thought, and it often spurs them into action."
If radical Muslims had carried out terrorist attacks in Kansas and Washington DC over the past five days, we might be trying to pass legislation giving the president the legal authority to place people in preventive detention, and Daniel Pipes would be implying that we need to round up Arab-Americans (correction: Muslims) and put them in relocation camps.
But it was only a couple of old white guys, so our civil liberties remain unthreatened.
