This I Believe

I’m listening to This American Life on NPR (of course) and the topic is, “This I used to believe”. This leads me to need to repeat a rant that I’ve given live many, many times.

I’ve offered this up to dozens, possibly hundreds of Christians, and I’ve gotten no answer more satisfying than, “I never thought about it that way.” American Christians seem to have issues that drive them nuts. They loathe the idea of abortion. This is pretty consistently held across most Evangelical groups and exploited by Republicans. Abortion is murder. Period. Always wrong, never acceptable, forbidden by God, Jesus and Mary.

Nobody is pro-abortion. Abortion is required as a correction of a mistake. If no mistakes were ever made, no abortions would be needed. But humans are flawed and always have been. The word “prostitute” occurs hundreds of times in the bible. You have to assume prostitutes frequently became pregnant, and it’s also safe to assume that pregnant prostitutes get very little business. Given no contraception at the time that we know of, they must have practiced abortion, whether by some mix of herbs or falling down a staircase.

And yet, the issue of the evil of abortion, so important to many Christians that it is their single issue in all political choices is never, not once, called out in the bible as a problem. Why is that? Jesus hung with hos and never called them on it. Not once. Never. What is wrong with these people? Shouldn’t your most important political issue be at least mentioned in your holy book?

Right Wing and Hating America

If you want to get depressed about the level of political discourse in the country these days, just pop on over to the delightful Hannity forums, and read a few. The moderator (the MODERATOR mind you) of the site opens a thread called. “Is it time to shut it down?” The idea is that democrats in general and President Obama in particular have so thoroughly ruined America that we need to shut down all businesses in the US until we can remove all of the duly elected Democrats are replace them with real Americans.

Bad enough for the moderator to open it, but the 750 posts in the next 24 hours contain outright threats on the life of the President, a call to armed insurrection and much talk of violence. As Jon Stewart put it so well, “You’re confusing tyranny with losing.”

These people somehow can’t manage to see that they lost an election, actually quite a few, and when your party loses, you can’t just called for a revolution and claim to believe in democracy. It just doesn’t make sense. One of the unintended funny comments echoed GWB’s preemptive war strategy, “We have to take out Obama for what he might do in the future!” Here’s another actual quote, “Obama is the greatest threat to this nation that it has ever faced.” Really? Not Hitler? Tojo? The Civil War? (These are the type of assclowns who call it, “The War of Northern Aggression”.)

Huh? No wonder these guys lost.

The Republican Party is in real danger of falling off a cliff, and as it’s aging, dwindling membership loses moderates and independents, the remaining folk become more and more toxic, and more and more marginalized which will make them madder and madder. This can’t end particularly well. And their own little media circus of Sean and Rush and Ann and Michelle Glen and all their lesser wannabees are fanning the flames of this desire to harm, hurt or destroy those who’s opinions vary from theirs.

A two party system is probably a healthy thing, so the disappearance of the Republican Party would likely be an ugly thing. Personally, I’d like to see a parliamentary system, which coalitions and a Prime Minister, but that would require a constitutional conference, and THAT would be really, really hard to pull off in the current atmosphere. Imagine not having to pick the lesser if two evils, and actually join a Socialist or Nihilist or Populist or Libertarian or Agrarian or Green or Muslim or Christian party? Works for me.

American History

Sorry to not write today, but is the funniest damn thing I've seen in forever, especially in light of the recent teabagging absurdity.

(Sorry but blogspot decided to mess with my head and the tags won't work.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLzo9pOXa-s&feature=player_embedded

Really Red State Territory

We’re here in Barkers Crossing, Georgia, which means I tend to shut my mouth and open my tailgate. From the graphic above, you can see that I appear vaguely partisan to the passing driver and have gotten some dumb shit yelled at me over the years, but at least there are a few advantages to being most of two meters tall and a hundred kilograms. Somehow, they never actually take a swing. Go figure. Anyway, with the tailgate down, it’s a lot quieter and more peaceful which the dear wife appreciates.

I’ve been reading the follow-ups to the whole Tax Day Grass Roots (Really Not Funded By The Usual Republican Billionaires) Tea Bag Day Event, and it strikes me what a bunch of ignorant angry idiots there are in our fine country who can be so easily swayed.

My current favorite is Right WingTM outrage over DHS reporting (ordered by the GWB administration) that extremist groups might target veterans for membership and recruiting to carry out terrorist acts (anyone remember Tim McVeigh?) Without pausing for breath, they go on to call for the violent overthrow of the US Government in a revolution. Do these people have any inner monologue? Hello? Is this thing on?

Honestly, the fact that these idiots got their candidates elected and reelected in the last decade makes me wonder what a great idea democracy really is. Democracy if we win, revolution if we lose. Sounds sane to me. NOT.

Republicans Losing It

You know, you just can’t make this stuff up. The whole “tea party” thing is pretty funny, but the best part is how they make themselves look increasingly lost to the young. They are promoting these things on Fox News, and Hannity, Limbaugh, et al are talking up teabagging as the great new Republican stand for the common man. Teabagging will be just the trick to reach out and grow the base!

One small problem. Before betting the house on it, you think one of these geniuses would google it. Apparently, anyone under 30 is fully aware that “teabagging” refers to scrotal/facial contact, often while the facial contributor is passed out or asleep and the scrotal contributor has a camera. There’s also a large gay fan club of the practice, which is just icing on the, er, nutbag.

C’mon Republicans! Let’s go teabagging!!

Next, this great piece in the WashPo has determined that Rush Limbaugh is the leading cause of the growth of socialism and socialist thought, especially among America’s youth.

I love it. Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, “socialism” just isn’t the boogey man it once was. It’s more like, “European style socialism!” leads to kids looking it up on line and finding that in “European style socialism” education and health care are damn near free, life expectancies exceed our and they get 6 weeks of vacation to start. Where do I sign up?

Anyone under 40 today knows that communists are either crazy North Koreans, bullied people in Cuba or the people who make all the stuff we buy at Wal-Mart. They are likely much more pissed about some 27 year old on Wall Street making more in a year than their entire extended family will in their lifetime, after a taxpayer funded bailout. Now THAT’S where the populist rage is pointed, and the Republicans are having a hard time keeping a straight face talking to anyone but bankers and the mega wealthy.

WHEN WILL THIS DEPRESSION END?

(With thanks to Jal S. Desai)
Please tell me good friend,
When will this depression end?
When will the homeless have a roof over their head?
When will the starving have money to buy bread?
When will you stop being part of a mob
Desperately looking for a job?
When will the good times return?
When will people have money to burn?
When will all this misery end?
I'll tell you, good friend.
When compassion fills the human heart,
Then this depression will depart!
Things will change at the hour
The rich think of helping the poor.
When the wealthy think it proper
To share their wealth with the pauper.
Everything will become all righty
When we all live in an egalitarian society!

Day Three on the Road with Harvey

Well, there were fewer open restaurants in the Keys this winter, a good five within a half mile of my house. Tourist oriented businesses have a low life expectancy, so it’s not a huge surprise. But driving into Kissimmee, Florida today, neighbor to Orlando, holy crap! So many shuttered and “for sale” posted businesses, and not just the Mom and Pop variety. Today we saw a shuttered Shell station, also Waffle House, McDonald’s, KFC, Sears and a load of closed motels and restaurants.

I’d been waiting to see what the economics would look like on Main Street, so the next six weeks travel through small town America should be instructional. I’ll try to post daily.