Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Tuesday Mashup Part Two (9/14/10)

(Part One is here.)

  • Leave it to Cal Thomas to come up with “solution” to The War On Terra! Terra! Terra! (here)…

    We are doing a poor job of fighting the terrorists at home if we continue to allow Muslim immigrants, especially from Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, into America.
    I’ll tell you what, Cal: here is a list of Muslim scholars throughout the world, including many in North America (and the U.S. of course). Why don’t you go over the list and let us know who we should keep and who we should send packing, OK (and more commentary on this is here – h/t Atrios).

    And I know I’m just a liberal nut job or something, but to me, if you want to reduce the number of prison inmates who could potentially be indoctrinated into radical Islam, then you might consider taking the profit motive out of the prison business, which could lead to fewer incarcerations for non-violent offenders (an example of politicians operating in collusion with same is noted here).


  • Next, it seems that those “values voters” aren’t as enamored with our 44th president as they pretended to be when everything was all “hopey, changey” (here)…

    President Barack Obama has long sought to open a dialogue between his administration and evangelical religious leaders, and he has even found common ground on some issues with conservative groups like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals.

    But even though Obama may have won over some religious leaders, he’s losing the battle to win over their congregants.

    Though several moderate to conservative evangelical pastors support the president, polls show that a significant percentage of conservative Christians remain skeptical about Obama’s sincerity when it comes to the values that he says they share, and many say they doubt his faith.

    Joel Hunter, one of Obama’s religious advisers, who has served on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, blames a coordinated campaign to spread disinformation about the president, undermining his efforts at outreach to evangelicals. That, he said, leads to suspicions among average conservative churchgoers who suspect Obama is trying “to enlist good people for their sinister causes.”
    Gosh, I can’t understand why these life forms aren’t rallying around the president; you think all those months of Fix Noise and their ideological fellow travelers caterwauling about Hawaiian birth certificates and alleged Kenyan Muslim ancestry have had an effect?

    And remember the outcry when Rick Warren was chosen to speak at the inauguration (here)? I would call this an interesting non-response from Warren in return; shows what happens when you try to bargain with some of these sheep as a non-white non-Republican.


  • Also (and in keeping with the theme of the prior two posts somewhat), Richard Cohen of the WaPo tells us the following (here)…

    There is a glint of John Brown in the eyes of the Rev. Terry Jones, a bit of theatrical madness and a Gingrichian lust for the spotlight. His plan to burn the Koran was canceled, or, given the way these things often go, maybe merely postponed. For CNN will call again or the "Today" show will run out of missing white girls and Jones will again feel compelled to burn someone else's holy book, striking a match to illuminate his own bigotry and, while he's at it, forcing us to take sides. I stand with Jones.
    I could go on a bit I suppose about Cohen’s farcical comparison of Terry Jones to John Brown; yes, Brown was a revolutionary, and I believe he was dealt with accordingly, but even though he was wrong to use violent methods, he knew he would be risking his life in what he believed to be a noble cause (and there is a school of thought out there that believes that, had Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry – a truly beautiful place, it should be noted – actually been successful, the South would have seen the folly of slavery and relented without having to fight The Civil War…I don’t believe that, mind you, but I’m just saying others do).

    “Pastor” Terry Jones, however, is nothing but a publicity hound who only “stood down” from performing his idiotic stunt when it was made abundantly clear to him that individuals likely to be offended by it might do him harm (Wonder what the “Terry Jones” of Monty Python thinks of all this, by the way? I’m sure I know, but it probably would be amusing to hear what he has to say).

    All that aside, the reason why I’m saying anything at all about this is because of Cohen’s line about “missing white girls.”

    Does our corporate media have a fixation in that department? Um, yep.

    Somehow, though, I don’t think Cohen has any room to be a crank on this subject (to say nothing of trivializing the pain of families and friends racked with worry over such awful circumstances).

    Particularly when, as noted here, Cohen was one of the individuals who minimized the crime of film director Roman Polanski, who now will probably never stand trial (yes, I know the judge in the case had issues to say the least, but that doesn’t absolve Polanski of his offense). And as noted here, Cohen has his own chauvinist “dirty laundry,” having been “scolded” by his paper for “crude talk with a female aide” (and I would argue that behavior like this is logical under those twisted circumstances).

    Pundit wankery is dumb enough, but when you throw some veiled sexism to boot, you have a truly ugly combination (wonder how Cohen will criticize his peers next time?).


  • Finally, I somehow missed the recent screed by PA-16’s waste of space on Tucker Carlson’s crayon scribble page (here, in the matter of President Obama’s recent proposal to spend $50 billion on infrastructure – too little, hopefully not too late, but a good idea anyway)…

    The President wants his new $50 billion in funding paid for by tax increases and attached to the general surface transportation authorization bill.
    Uh, no – as noted here…

    Obama said the proposal would be fully paid for. In an earlier briefing for reporters, administration officials said Obama would pay for the program by asking lawmakers to close tax breaks for oil and gas companies and multinational corporations.
    Also from Pitts…

    Only seven percent of the February 2009 stimulus act was dedicated to infrastructure.
    Actually, according to Wikipedia (here), the number is closer to 13 percent (about $105.3 billion divided by $787 total), for what it’s worth.

    Continuing…

    Many businesses could improve efficiency and increase profits by purchasing new computers or manufacturing equipment. Unfortunately, the President is calling for these tax credits to be paid for with tax increases in other sectors.
    “Other sectors,” huh? Does Pitts mean the oil companies and the rest of the investor class (as HuffPo reported above)? If he had a speck of integrity, he would be honest and say so, even though all we’re talking about here is a return to Clinton-era tax rates at worst, but that doesn’t sound scary enough for Pancake Joe (besides, the flip-flop on this issue by RNC head Michael Steele noted here is more comical than anything Pitts can come up with).

    This may be one of the last posts I do involving Joe Pitts before the election since Congress has returned to session, so I won’t have many more chances to make the following plea:

    If anyone from PA-16 happens to be reading this, please do all you can in support of Lois Herr, the Dem challenger for Pitts seat (you can start by clicking here). I haven’t seen any recent polling numbers, but I’m sure it will continue to be an uphill fight.

    Given the choice of dealing with Pitts nonsense through 2012 at a minimum (and receiving more posting material I’m sure) versus witnessing the glorious moment that this district receives the congressional representation it deserves at long last, I’d take the latter choice in a heartbeat.


  • Update 9/26/10: Go, Lois, Go! (here - and to do more, click here).

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