Today’s news from The Onion:
“All Muslims are at war with America, and I will resist any attempt to challenge that assertion with potentially illuminating facts,” said Gentries, who threatened to leave the room if presented with the number of Muslims who live peacefully in the United States, serve in the country’s armed forces, or were victims themselves of the 9/11 attacks. “Period.”
I’m listening to the Glenn Beck Bible Hour right now. My god – will the Republicans ever learn? Nobody wants their brand of evangelical nonsense in politics.
You know, I hear some of the conservatives on here constantly pointing out as proof how Obama is failing that his poll numbers have dropped from the (silly) high 60s to 43% approval now. 43%!!!! That’s FAR less than half the country approves of Obama’s job, we obviously need a change of direction!
Oh those damn facts. If only we had some way to put this in context. Say, Ronald Reagan is the magical “Saint” of all Republicans (and the ONLY previous Republican president of the last century mentioned by Republicans in debates or speeches, sure ain’t gonna be W, or Nixon, or HW Bush, or Ford). So Reagan is the GOLD STANDARD REPUBLICAN. Too bad he was less popular than Obama. He sucked. As this EXACT same point in his Presidency (4th week of Aug 1982), Ronald Reagan had an approval rating of 42%, less than Obama even. Didn’t Reagan go on to win a sweeping 2nd term as the economy rebounded (after a double dip recession)?
You can go to the Gallup “presidential comparison” utility and compare the two and see Obama has been more popular than Ronald Reagan for the majority of his first term. Looking at those 2 in comparison, they’re nearly identical.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124.....enter.aspx
And lets not forget the last Republican President who after 8 years of us getting to know him, and him having a chance to define his ideas, implement his policy and make his positions…after all that, was the most unpopular President in American history. The idea that the public would want to run back to that from a guy who’s as popular as Ronald Reagan? Seems unlikely.
@1 “Nobody wants their brand of evangelical nonsense in politics.”
Not true, millions of people do want this. They want America to be a Christian run theocracy, the Christian equivalent of Saudi Arabia where the government implements religious law and uses the authority and power of a strong central federal government to control our very lives…just for religious/moral reasons…but NO control over business/economic policy. It’s deregulation for business and ultimate regulation of personal lives. The government should NEVER be able to tell Monsanto what it can dump in the Mississippi, but the government SHOULD be able to tell me who I can marry to save marriage from magical harm and upsetting an invisible sky being.
But those those millions are just 12% or less of the public, the most conservative radical of the southern Baptist conservatives. There’s a lot of people there (see Becks rally) but not NEAR enough to win a national election. It’s enough to capture much of the politics of the right even if it’s not a huge chunk of America.
Lee,
You will not find the word “illuminate” in the constitution, so ‘illuminating facts’ are unconstitutional.
Of course, you won’t find the word “Christian” in the constitution either, so it stands
to reasonon WINGNUT logic that Christians are unconstitutional.Guns Don’t Kill People Dep’t
A 26-year-old Los Angeles man crashed a party Saturday night and shot his ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend, and a family of three (father, mother, 20-year-old daughter). He then kidnapped his two young children and later shot himself on a California highway.
Yeah, I know guns don’t kill people, the guy pulling the trigger does. In the absence of the easy access to guns we have in this country, this dude would have done it anyway, with a lawn mower or a chain saw or sharpened chopsticks or whatever. Regulating guns wouldn’t stop homicial maniacs from killing innocent people. Unregulated guns just make it easier for them. Hell, if they could get machineguns or bazookas or grenades or A-bombs, they could take a hell of a lot more innocent people with them than 5 or 6 or 20 or 30 at a pop, when they snap.
I’m just sayin’ …
Mass shootings have become so common in the United States it’s like reading the weather report.
From the Onion article:
“I almost gave in and listened to that guy defend Islam with words I didn’t want to hear,” Gentries said. “But then I remembered how much easier it is to live in a world of black-and-white in which I can assign the label of ‘other’ to someone and use him as a vessel for all my fears and insecurities.”
Is this guy pulling our leg? This sounds more like satire than heartfelt opinion.
Roger: the onion is satire — totally.
Amazing – I worry that the Onion is losing its edge – that article could reasonable be placed in any MSM outlet. Is it satire when it’s not taken to hyperbolic lengths?
Of course by Richard Jewell I meant Eric Rudolph. Damn CNN! Even though I know Jewell wasn’t the guy he’s still the first name that pops in my brain connected to the Olympic bombing.
HeyZeus! I’m screwing up all over the place. Can we get the edit function back…
Recently I saw this news about some new thinking on the nature of biological evolution. Some research suggests that biological evolution is driven much more by opportunity than by competition between species:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie.....t-11063939
If this idea gains currency, imagine the implications. Think of all the times that brutality (in its military, economic, and schoolyard forms) has been rationalized with reference to “survival of the fittest.”
@9: Good satire always has the veneer of truth and gets to heart of the matter. Like Stewart and Colbert, sometimes satire and humor are closer to the truth than the actual news.
Here is an excellent Senate Race in Colorado–
Monday, August 30, 2010
Likely a toss-up.
1. Crusader spews:
Beck is but one man.
And many of the people in that audience HATE both parties…as does Beck.
It would help you to listen carefully to what Beck is saying.
The Leftist Pinheaded KLOWNS want to paint Beck as a Republican spokesman…without listening to him.
I have heard him say DOZENS of times that BOTH Parties have failed America.
Free Speech is great.
Beck was speaking as 1 man who hates both political parties.
The issue is NOT Islam.
I disagree with those who say that.
The issue is SHARIA Law.
That is where the pure evil eminates from.
Ask your Muslim friends, if you have any, if they believe & follow SHARIA LAW.
We are friends with a Muslim couple. I ask him about that. He said he rejects SHARIA LAW.
I take him at his word. Good Conserrvative man.
7 more US Troops died today in Afghanistan under the misleadership of IMAMOBAMAO.
60 died in June
66 died in July.
Why doesn’t the MSM show the death toll daily like they did under Bush??
Not knowing anything about The Onion, so not having any expectations about what the content should be like, I took the article on its face and was duly impressed. If indeed the quotations credited to that gentleman are accurate, I took the subject to be remarkably in touch with his feelings and very forthright about what drives him. For a male to admit, in public, that he has fears and insecurities and recognizing how he copes with them is exceptional. Now, if it was meant to be satire, it still hits the mark because it verbalizes the most reasonable rationale I’ve yet seen for the behavior of the current crop of reactionaries and their anti-Islam tirades. Reactionary behavior requires something to which to react. If it is true that the radical right/libertarian/tea party TM feels the way Mr. Gentries does, then it underscores the need for an enemy, any enemy, to serve as the object of fear and insecurity.
It’s entirely possible that Muslims happen to be the most socially acceptable enemy right now. The enemy about whom rants will incur the least amount of social criticism and censure. Lumping all those who fit into the category of ‘other’: Commies, Muslims, gays, undocumented immigrants, Democrats, Blacks, whatever and transforming those ‘others’ into the great Muslim terror seems safe right now. The only group that doesn’t come with any immediate consequences appears to be Muslims. So the reactionaries are reacting with impunity.
Seems to me that now would be an ideal time to introduce immigration reform, since nobody seems to be paying attention.
Year US UK Other Total
2001 12 0 0 12
2002 49 3 17 69
2003 48 0 9 57
2004 52 1 7 60
2005 99 1 31 131
2006 98 39 54 191
2007 117 42 73 232
2008 155 51 89 295
2009 317 108 96 521
2010 308 87 76 471
Total 1255 332 452 2039
Casualties in Afghanistan by year
I thought ImamObaMao was going to protect our troops??
So now the Psycho is worried about the troops.
What were those Iraq troop death rates?
Iraq Coalition Military Fatalities By Year
Year US UK Other Total
2003 486 53 41 580
2004 849 22 35 906
2005 846 23 28 897
2006 822 29 21 872
2007 904 47 10 961
2008 314 4 4 322
2009 149 1 0 150
2010 46 0 0 46
Total 4416 179 139 4734
I am gathering that those numbers from 2009 and 2010 represent protection of troops by some measure you are using, but you don’t really care about that.
Since this is an ‘open’ thread, I’m posting something not political, but may be of interest to others. The smartest blogger I’ve ever read: http://blogs.archives.gov/aotus/ His current entry about the records of war is thoughtful and intriguing. I never really thought about preserving the records of present-day wars, but yes, they are extremely valuable. We can only hope that they will be as helpful 150 years from now as the records from the Civil War are now to family historians.
Highly recommend you stop by this diary by gjohnsit at DKos. gjohnsit writes on economic issues. All of his stuff is really good but this is especially well developed and illustrated and ties a bunch of stuff together very well:
The Revenge of Main Street
Here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....ain-Street
@15 – Crusader didn’t say squat about what Beck’s affiliation is. The quote you referenced was about his LISTENERS’ affiliation. And, at the end of the day, the vast majority of Beck listeners who vote vote Republican.
A little reading comprehension, please…