Conservatism is religion to these a$$holes

David Brooks finally gets it. Unfortunately, I expect to see his broken body hanging from every right wing burning cross in the days to come. These morons are too self-deluded to see anything but their own navels, which they swear is the eye of god egging them on.

The Mother of All No-Brainers - NYTimes.com:

“...the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.”

Conservatism has become a religion to these idiots. And you don't compromise your religious beliefs.

So we're all screwed because of a tiny minority of zealots.

And because no one in the Republican party is brave enough to stand up to them.

Thank god Frank Rich is back

To their shame, no one else writes the truth like Frank Rich.

I must admit that I no longer relish the NYTimes' Week in Review (now titled Sunday Review). They have lost too much and gained too little. Frank Rich is uppermost in the loss column.

The Annotated Frank Rich - The President’s Failure to Demand a Reckoning From the Moneyed Interests Who Brought the Economy Down -- New York Magazine

A Revolted Liberal

For the first time in my life, I cast a vote for the winning presidential candidate in 2008. I will be 51 this April.

I am a liberal. I knew Obama was more moderate than many thought he was, but I also thought that he had a strong commitment to some shared liberal ideals such as universal healthcare, an intelligent foreign policy that favors soft-power over militarism and that the foundation of this—and every—country are the middle and working classes, not the wealthy elites.

I now believe I was wrong about all of this.

I wish I had not voted for him.

I believe he is possibly the worst thing that could have happened to liberal ideals. He will forever be wrongly associated with socialism and liberalism and correctly associated with legislative putsches that will doom liberal policies in the United States for the remainder of my lifetime.

His legacy will be one of egregious failure and the ultimate repudiation of liberal philosophies. Republicans will run against him and his policies for decades.

And they will win. A lot.

And all he had to do was to show some strength of commitment; stand up in front of the American people and stand his ground; and be prepared to accept a partial defeat. Instead he has embraced Pyrrhic victories as his legacy.

The long, cold, hard conservative winter is upon us. And it could be that Spring may not come again for a long, long time.

Update: I wrote this piece over a year ago and sat on it. I didn't want this to be true. Now, I am certain that it is.

Obama is the Democrats George Bush, he will discredit the party for the next several elections.

Unlike the Republicans, Democrats can't get their stories straight so I don't expect any quick recoveries similar to what the Republicans have experienced. The only hope is that the Republicans so completely overstep their mandates that America wrenches itself away from their grasp and into…what?

There is no hope offered by any contemporary party. We need to be rid of both parties and replace them with at least three parties that more accurately represent the interests of Americans.

I hope we have the courage to once again strike out towards new frontiers, to begin building America again, instead of tearing it apart as we have since Nixon.

If we are to continue to lead, we must stop repeating the same old stupidities of the past.

And neither current party has any clue how to do that.

The Most Important Question Facing Liberal Democracies

 

Recently, multiculturalism, and its alleged failure, have caused some minor blips in the media.

Reference:

Cameron Criticizes ‘Multiculturalism’ in Britain - NYTimes.com

BBC News - Global debate on Cameron's multiculturalism speech

Club Britain: Access denied - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

While this has not gotten much attention while the world is focused on the will he/won't he drama of Mubarak and Egypt (he did while I was writing this), I assert that this is the most important question facing liberal democracies. And a potentially fatal one at that.

Where we set the limits on the tolerance of intolerance is at the heart of a liberal democracy's raison d'être. This is inherent in the protection of the minority from the majority (read: civil rights) as well as the freedoms of speech, assembly, the press and many other aspects of life in a modern liberal democracy.

Hence, dealing with groups that reject the tenants of liberal democracy within a liberal democracy is crucial. Their intolerance is corrosive in a liberal democracy because it seeks to elevate a particular group's rights over others.

So the question boils down to: "What can a liberal democracy do to protect itself from intolerance while remaining consistent with its basic tenants?"

And I do not think that anyone knows the answer to that question right now.

Down In Front Comix #001

 

The Surrenderer in Chief...

Scorched Earth

 

So there's this preacher man who is gonna burn a bunch of Korans on 9/11 just to show them Muslims who's boss.

So of course, there's a bunch of them Muslims who are gonna burn a bunch of Bibles--that'll learn 'em.

And then I expect there will be more Koran burning. Followed by more Bible burning. Followed by even more Koran burning. Followed by even more Bible burning. Until they's all burned up.

And then there will be peace.

Until all the carbon dioxide from all that burning tips the climate scales and the greenhouse effect kills the planet. And we all die.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Wait...what???

 

Quran-Burning Church Vows To Proceed Without Fire Permit:

“The church's website includes a list of 10 reasons to burn the Quran, including ... that the Quran teaches that Jesus "was NOT the Son of God.”

 

So are they going to burn the Torah too? Is not like Jews think Jesus is the son of god either.

But wouldn't that be the same thing as burning the Old Testament?

I'm so confused...

What the hell were they thinking..?

From A Special Place in Hell, by Bradley Burston

“We are no longer defending Israel. We are defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel’s Vietnam.… We explain, time and again, that we are not at war with the people of Gaza. We say it time and again because we ourselves need to believe it, and because, deep down, we do not.”

In the Nation's article today, Roane Carey quoted Glenn Green as stating: "If Israel’s goal were to provoke as much disgust and contempt for it as possible, it’s hard to imagine how it could be doing a better job.”

Yep, that about sums it up.

So Where Do We Buy Our Gas Now?

With BP showing that Exxon isn't the only oil company capable of completely trashing the world; with Chevron/Texaco facing their own issues coming from their brutal exploitation in the Pantanal of Ecuador; and with Shell now pushing hard to drill off the Alaskan coast...so who does that leave?

ConocoPhillips?

Hugo Chavez's Citgo?

No, really, where can I buy gas without supporting this crap?

Hello? Anyone?

Tea Bags for Brains

The Tea Party’s Political Favorites - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com:

“A broad majority of Tea Party supporters say they watch Fox News most for news, and more than half consider Mr. Beck’s show news rather than entertainment.”

We are in deep trouble if these people ever become more than the tiny minority they are now.

The Hatriots and Kristallnacht Redux

After Health Vote, Threats on Democrats - NYTimes.com:

“WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers have received death threats and been the victims of vandalism because of their votes in favor of the health care bill, lawmakers and law enforcement officials said Wednesday, as the Congressional debate over the issue headed toward a bitter and divisive conclusion.”

Lets call them what they are: Hatriots, people whose true allegiance is to violent anger and hatred of those who have the audacity not to agree with them.

Their solution to all political discord: intimidation, threats of violence and death.

And what's with all the broken glass?

Kristallnacht redux?

Yep, this about sums it up....

An Absence of Class in the G.O.P. - NYTimes.com

Expired for IF

Just a quick illustration using, appropriately enough Adobe Illustrator.

It's way past its expiration date....

All comments and criticisms welcomed.

Succinctly Stated

Sometimes someone says something so succinctly it needs to be repeated:

from Who Is IOZ?: Purple:

"...what actually strikes me as the most inhuman, the most anti-human idea of all the inhuman ideas lodged in the reptilian, blood-drinking brains of Thomas Friedman and his crocodilian cohort, is the horrific notion that the highest lifetime achievement is voting in an election. Seriously. The pinnacle of the human experience at the ballot box. It is quite seriously insane. It elevates a procedural aspect of one particular form of government to a categorical moral virtue."

While I enjoy the freedoms that a western democracy provides, I am under no illusion that it is the only paradigm for a modern state.

And with all "advances" the "costs" have to be weighed equally, not ignored.

Wait, who are we again?

Yesterday, Maureen Dowd wrote: "America seemed to have lost her ingenuity, her quickness, her man-on-the-moon bravura, her Bugs Bunny panache."

It seems to me that we are not Bugs Bunny, but some super-sized version of Elmer Fudd.

Why is it that every time I see someone claiming to be a security expert I keep hearing: "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbit"?

Fafblog! the whole world's only source for Fafblog.

I cannot argue with the logic of this:

Victory Science

Let us never forget just what's at stake in the war in Afghanistan: nothing less than the success of the war in Afghanistan. This war may be a mistake, a blood-soaked blunder, an unholy charnel house mindlessly consuming the bodies and souls of untold thousands, an open sore on the pockmarked face of history and an abomination before the sight of God and men, but it is first and foremost a war, and wars must be won. If the United States doesn't win this war, then will it not lose it? And if the United States loses this war, then won't the Unites States have lost it? And if the United States has lost this war, will that not then make the United States a kind of thing that loses wars? And then where would we be?

Follow the link for the rest of the story....

The Swan Song of the Castrati

David Brooks’ column today paints a portrait of the puissance —not— of Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity.

Maybe Lindsey Graham pricked a conscious or two?

This is a fact...

Enough said.

The Problem with the Kids These Days...

Facts. Yep, facts. That's the problem.

Everyone has 'em. They hold them tightly to their breasts, smothering their muffled cries and shouting over them.

They push them out into view like overly proud stage-parents and have them say: THIS IS TRUE!!!

Then the other side has their facts jump up in the audience and shout: YOU LIE!!!

Facts. Meh. You want facts? I'll give you facts…

According to the informal survey called my life, when asked if they liked killing puppies, 25% of Americans said "No;" 65% of Americans said "WTF are you talking about?"; and 10% said "Yes."

So there you have it, the majority of Americans don't know enough about killing puppies to have an opinion.

It's a fact.

Off With His Meds

This is not right. We should all leave Glenn Beck alone. The poor man is clearly unbalanced. Denigrating him is tantamount to making fun of the disabled. And encouraging him is even more irresponsible.

If you must draw attention to this sorry affair, I suggest you focus on Fox News. After all, they are ones promoting and exploiting this sad case.

Or maybe we could just ignore it?