Anomalous Data - Political

There's always a bigger fish

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:07:28 GMT

Just when you thought nobody could have a crazier view of history than David Barton...

Apparently this guy is Alex Jone's answer to Glenn Beck's David Barton. Yow. It's like Dueling banjos but with psychotic pseudo historians instead of banjos.

I've been doing a lot of reading

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:52:55 GMT

What’s the difference between the theocrats of today and the theocrats of yesterday? Only one thing, as far as I can see. The arguments about the importance of religion are exactly the same. The arguments about the dangers of “atheism” (as is the sliding definition that sometimes actually means “atheism” and sometimes is just a general catch-all that includes Deism, Unitarianism, Skepticism and Freethought) are the same. Their lust to enshrine their religious beliefs in the seat of power at the expense of all other beliefs is the same…the only difference I can see is that the theocrats of today want to make Jefferson a Christian who wanted to establish religion in the government…and the theocrats of Jefferson’s time wanted to make him an atheist who wanted to extinguish religion completely.

I also love how the quote I’m going to show you demonstrates that the FOX news “hedge technique” is not a recent invention. “I’m not saying he’s an atheist, I’m just saying that he sounds like he’s trying to destroy America. Here’s the evidence, you decide.” Lol.

Below is an extended quote from Jefferson contemporary, the Rev. William Linn and his pamphlet “Serious Considerations on the Election of a President” I got it from Christ Rodda’s book _Liars for Jesus_

She is using it because David Barton (Glen Beck’s Yoda of American History, and one of the Christian Nationalists Ms. Rodda calls “liars for Jesus”) has to chop and cut and paste in order to use Linn’s rants against atheism to promote Christianity in government…but has to twist himself into a pretzel of illogic in order to hide the fact that Linn is speaking about Jefferson…Barton refers to Jefferson as one of “two prominent men”…and counts on his ignorant audience to not recognize Jefferson’s famous “it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket” quote. I mean, that would hurt his narrative about Jefferson being intent on establishing religion, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, here is the extended quote from Rev. Linn’s “Serious Considerations”:

“There is another passage in Mr. Jefferson’s Notes [on the state of Virginia] which requires the most serious attention. In showing that civil rulers ought not to interfere with the rights of conscience, and that the legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as they are injurious to others, he says, ‘The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ The whole passage is written with a great degree of spirit, it is remarkable for that conciseness, perspicuity, and force which characterizes the style of Mr. Jefferson.

Some have ventured from the words I have quoted, to bring even the charge of atheism against him. This is a high charge, and it becomes carefully to examine the ground upon which it rests. Though the words themselves, their connection, and the design for which they are introduced may be insufficient to support it, yet there are concurrent circumstances to be taken into consideration, and which will fix at least a suspicion. These circumstances are, a general disregard of religious things, the associates at home and abroad, and the principles maintained in conversation. with [sic] these things I am not so well acquainted as many. I shall only mention what passed in conversation between Mr. Jefferson and a gentleman of distinguished talents and services, on the necessity of religion to government. The gentleman insisted that some religious faith and institutions of worship, claiming divine origin, were necessary to the order and peace of society. Mr. Jefferson said that he differed widely from him, and that ‘he wished to see a government in which no religious opinions were held, and where the security for property and social order rested entirely upon the force of law.’ Would this not be a nation of atheists? Is it not natural, after the free declaration of such a sentiment, to suspect the man himself of Atheism? Could one who is impressed with the existence of God, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, to whom we are under a law and accountable; and the inseparable connection of this truth with the social order and external happiness of mankind express himself in this manner?

Putting the most favorable construction upon the words in the Notes [on the State of Virginia, by Jefferson], they are extremely reprehensible. Does not the belief influence the practice? How then can it be a matter of indifference what a man believes? The doctrine that a man’s life may be good, let his faith be what it may, is contradictory to reason and the experience of mankind. It is true that a mere opinion of my neighbor will do me no injury. Government cannot regulate or punish it. The right of private opinion is inalienable. But let my neighbor once persuade himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket, and break not only my leg, but my neck. If there is no God, there is no law; no future account; government then is the ordinance of man only, and we cannot be subject for conscience sake. No colors can paint the horrid effects of such a principle, and the deluge of miseries with which it would overwhelm the human race.

How strongly soever [sic]Mr. Jefferson may reason against the punishments of law of erroneous opinion, even of atheism; they are not the less frightful and dangerous in their consequences…”

According to Ms. Rodda, Linn goes on to accuse Jefferson of denying the factual nature of the Bible, wanting to take the Bible out of the schools, and that even if he didn’t rid the country of religion, he would set a bad example.

Linn even attributes this quote to Jefferson…which I don’t recall appearing exactly as such, but I’ve read a lot of Jefferson, and it may have gotten buried under other things…but anyway the point is that this is what Linn claimed Jefferson said:

‘…high time for this country to get rid of religion and the clergy;”

Linn even goes on to say that it would be better to elect an immoral Christian to the Presidency than an honest “infidel”…because the things the President professed would become fashionable, and so the country would stay Christian with a hypocrite in office, but would go to hell with an Atheist in office, because it would give people a sort of permission to not follow Christian values.

Thus Linn provides evidence of the sentiment expressed by many at the time that a Christian nation will, inevitably, become a nation of hypocrites (for which they had the governments of the old world as ample evidence). AND HE SAYS It LIKE IT IS A GOOD THING...or at least preferable to electing an honest atheist. What matters is the official line…not the truth or reality.

It makes me think of an argument that Gary North (fellow Christian Reconstructionist, Christian Nationalist, and admirer of R.J. Rushdoony along with David Barton and D. James Kennedy) made about the Godly exercise of authority. It shows the thinking that makes it necessary for all law to be Biblical law in the minds of Christian Nationalists, and it explains greatly their need to prove “Christian Nationalism” in the minds of people. The results don’t matter…what matters is that the process be according to Biblical law…only then can society be just, regardless of whether or not individuals follow the law or break it, and regardless of the results and consequences, law has no authority for them unless it comes from God, and then if it does, then its morality is incontrovertible regardless of its results.

http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/let_2_paul_hill.html

This is the same philosophical basis from which Rushdoony argued for the legality of slavery, the execution of gay people, and the disenfranchisement of non-Christians (meaning non-Calvinists, BTW). NONE of these ideas have been renounced by his followers, North, Barton, Kennedy, etc. They have simply not been mentioned, or when queried about them, they have been demurred as “not essential”. Not essential, but certainly Christian…which is how David Barton fan Bradlee Dean is able to say that Muslim countries are more moral than Christians in America, because they execute homosexuals. It’s not essential…but it is following “God’s law”. Obviously, some of Barton’s followers consider it to be desirable. Which is why I find it alarming that Glen Beck (a mormon, and therefore one of the disenfranchised in Barton’s hero’s re-imagined “Christian America”) is on the steps of the Lincoln memorial (immortalizing the “unnatural” act of abolishing slavery) pushing David Barton’s version of history on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech…(which advanced the civil rights this movement wants to roll back). Glen Beck and other useful idiots are actually promoting the groundwork of an ideology that would ultimately rob them of their freedom.

It’s insanity…but back to the past.

Jefferson was a very clear, precise and elegantly simple writer. His thoughts of Christ and Christianity are extremely difficult to mistake, and both Linn and Barton are either tremendous idiots or tremendous liars. When Jefferson described himself as a Christian, he defined it very clearly (and often explicitly)as a “follower of Christ”…specifically, those teachings he found admirable (which makes him as Christian as Ghandi or or my Jewish friends who admires Jesus’ teachings and consider them as valid as any other Rabbi’s teachings, or some Muslims I know who also believe Jesus was a wise prophet. If his approach to the study and understanding of Christianity made Jefferson a Christian, then the fact that he took the same approach and had the same response to the study of Islam would make him a muslim.)

And when Jefferson denounced “Christianity” he was also clear about what that meant…corruptions that he believed he found in the teachings of Christ…including those teachings attributed to Christ in the Bible that he believed to be ridiculous and nonsensical and assumed were corruptions and adaptations by followers and church officials who messed around with them; the trinity, the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the miracles, etc.

He was at once relentlessly critical of Christianity, and unreservedly admiring of Jesus…and ultimately believed that anything good about religion would be able to be defended on the field of reason, and that government power used to defend, promote or advance it could only serve to bring out the worst in it.

Even more, he didn’t think that Christianity had a monopoly on truth, and even thought that there were valuable truths that Christianity lacked…and furthermore that the only philosophy that had a chance at being perfect was one that held reason to be supreme over any sort of revelation. Which makes him more than a Christian with non-traditional beliefs, more than a heretic…it makes him something completely different. A Deist. And Deism has to be allowed to follow the developments of knowledge and reason. It’s can’t be rooted in a doctrine…because as soon as it does it becomes “religion”...once faith is enshrined in the power of government it becomes static and unchangeable. When it can no longer grow and seek greater truth, it becomes dead and useless and meaningless, and just another excuse for the government to exercise its power to enforce dead and rotting ideas.

Further, claims that he “promoted religion as beneficial” based on his encouragement to private individuals that they would benefit from studying religion would then have to lend validity to claims that he “promoted atheism as beneficial” when he likewise encouraged private individuals to embrace atheism if that’s where their reason and their conscience led them.

Trying to make him an Atheist or a Christian is just plain silly, and obsession to prove any such point turns people into liars. Anyone who cares about the truth should not rely on David Barton and Glen Beck to tell it to them. There’s no truth there. They should look for themselves.

And don’t just read the founders. Read their contemporary opponents. I’ve gotten great enjoyment out of Timothy Dwight, and now I imagine I will get great enjoyment out of reading William Linn, thanks to Ms. Rodda.

Dwight and Linn are proof that these same-old-same-old theocratic arguments have failed in the past…and there is every reason to believe that they will fail in the future. Turning Jefferson from an “atheist” to a “Christian” does nothing to change their inherent weakness and deficiency.

P.S. I’m finding that “Serious Considerations” is difficult to get hold of. Copies of it seem to cost around $400.00…so I am looking for an online version. I’ll let you know if I find one.

However, I did find this rebuttal to “Serious Considerations” that shows the confusion many people seemed to have between Atheism and Deism at the time. While Linn charges Jefferson with “Atheism”…the author of the tract linked to below does a direct rebuttal of Linn, but defends Jefferson from charges of “Deism”. Many Christians (like Timothy Dwight) saw them as the same thing. For many, “Unitarian”, “Deist”, “Atheist” and “Heretic”, “Skeptic” and “Freethinker” seemed to be synonymous.

Aside from the fact that the guy seems to not really know what a “Deist” is, nor be terribly familiar with Jefferson’s public and private writings, and though he is at times not strictly factual or rational, his apologetics make a tremendous counter to the apologetics of the Christian Nationalist crowd, who take similar liberties, but come to the opposite conclusion.

http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=817&chapter=69460&layout=html&Itemid=27

Ray's Place, and "Information you need to know"

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:51:33 GMT

On the way up to the North Shore, Rocky and I recently stopped for gas at a place (I think it was called "Ray's Place", but don't quote me on that).

The gas was horribly over priced, but we found ourselves on the bottom of the tank, and couldn't risk there not being another stop for a while.

I walked in to use the bathroom, and my ears were assaulted by the screaming rage coming from the radio. Some British guy ranting on and on about the "Obama Agenda".

The bathroom was filthy, so I was grateful for the sanitary wipes that moms seem to always need to carry around in their purses.

Then I went to pick up some water and soda. The radio had gone to ads about how our families were under assault, and men need to know what to do and have the right guns to protect their families...the onimous music in the background made it hard to follow the words, so I don't know what the ads were selling besides fear.

As I gathered together the things we wanted to buy, the two people staffing the store were stocking shelves and one guy (Ray, I assume) was ranting and raving about how hard it was to stay in business with the government taking all his money (I couldn't help think that maybe he'd get more business if he lowered his prices to attract business besides those who just happened to get caught in front of his store with an empty tank.)

While I waited at the counter, he held forth on how "nobody wanted to work for a living anymore"..they just wanted a hand-out from hard-working guys like him who actually do all the work in society.

The riff meandered on to "all the damned Mexicans taking our jobs and living on welfare"...He hopped on that dead horse for quite some time. So long, I was waiting in anticipation, hoping that eventually, a Mexican WOULD come along and take his job so I could pay for my darned merchandise.

Eventually, he came over and said "You're too patient and quiet, why didn't you tell me you were ready?"

Retorts such as "I didn't feel like telling you what to do. I'm a liberal, and we like to let people do things on their own." or "Because I figured you'd shoot me" or "No Comprendo Engles."flashed through my head, but I just shrugged and fished in my purse for my wallet. I didn't want to start something with this guy in the middle of nowhere when I had other places to be. We'd gotten going sort of late, and this trip was supposed to LOWER my husband's blood pressure...something that would not happen if he had to pull me out of a fist-fight with a local merchant.

Anyway, he goes on to ask me "You ever get on the Internet?"

"Occasionally". (lol)

"Well, here's some sites you should look at to find out what's REALLY going on in this country."

"You gotta get over there and see THIS GUY . Do it soon, because he's risking his life to get the truth out."

"Risking his life?"

Oh yeah. "The'll kill him for the things he's saying."

The guy is wearing a tee-shirt that compares Obama to Mugabe (I think. Fringe people - right and left- use so much short-hand it is sometimes difficult to understand exactly what they mean)...so I don't have to ask if he is serious.

I pay and leave.

I was happy to see that Rocky has to go in and use the facilities. Then he would'nt think I'm crazy when I tell him about this guy.

Since Alex Jones is going to be murdered by the Obama administration soon, I guess I better put this up for you to see soon.

www.infowars.com

UPDATE: WE went back again this year for a camping trip on Rainy Lake. We drove past Ray's Place and there was a sign out front that said "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to GOD". There was a nice, polite girl working the cash register, and she had the radio turned to some inoffensivly bland country music. The bathroom was cleaned. I don't think she was Mexican, but hopefully Ray figured out that he should stick with "being a job provider" rather than actually working. The gass was still horribly overpriced, so we didn't buy any of that, but we got some ice. That was also over-priced, but you know...it was ice. There's only so much you can inflate the price on an low-cost item like that, and we only needed a liuttle bit.

Oh, and one thing I forget to mention was still there...a wall fetischizing the local youths serving in the military. Huge pictures of them in their uniforms with maudlin images of 9/11, flowers, and horrible unimaginative and clunky quotes.

I've seen nice, respectful beautiful rememberances of local youth in the military, and I appreciate them. This was not one of those. It looked more like the creepy attic shrines that television stalker/killers build to their victims. No candles, though. Just pictures of candles. Probably the horrible oppressive fire marshal stepped on his rights and wouldn't let him have real ones.

I'm confused...no, I think you're confused...

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:03:40 GMT

Because of constant admonishment that I don't properly understand the "Tea Party Movement" from one of my conservative friends, I continue to read tea party sites and look at tea party videos, and just get more confused.

Example:

Here is one of the Tea PArty Hero guys, Sheriff Arpaio. If you read the tea party sites that support him, you will learn that he is a Tea Party Hero because he will stop at nothing to rid our country of the communist Mexican invasion conspiracy that wants to give us swine flu, take our jobs, guns, and bibles, and leave us with nothing but piles of brown babies on Welfare. (for my tone-deaf liberal friends, that is sarcasm)

http://www.thewoodlandsteaparty.com/2009/10/22/sheriff-joe-arpaio-im-not-going-to-stop-arresting-illegals/

He won't let the commie pinko liberal nazi atheist Maoist conspiracy that says he abuses his power stop him. Yeay Teabagger power! W007!

OK, so then you have another Tea Party Hero, the Reverand Steven Anderson. Shepherd of the flock at Faithful Word Babtist Church in Tempe AZ. Anderson stands up for "real" men who stand up to pee as God dictates in his holy word, the Bible, and also prays that Barak Obama (who, he mentions will be in town the next day, in case anyone missed it) will die and go to hell soon, as God says he deserves.

But that's not why Anderson has been invited to speak at Tea Parties, and is the focus of numerous Tea Party blogs...no.

Anderson is a Tea Party Hero because he "stood up to" the liberal fascist commie nazi pinko power structure, and he won't let tools of the liberal fascist commie nazi pinko athiests like Arpaio push him around*.

http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2009/04/cbs-news-report-on-pastor-andersons.html

Wait...huh?

Yep. Exactly.

But obviously, the reason I don't understand how one upstart movement that represents the sane majority of Americans can be it's own enemy, is because I am a commie liberal nazi fascist pink atheist who wants to take away guns and Bibles and give you the swine flu.

*I have to reiterate here what I have said numerous times on my Face Book page. that what happened to Pastor Anderson should never have happened to anyone. I have compassion for his wounds and for the indignity and violence that he suffered, and nobody should have to suffer that way. I'm glad that he can go to court and get recourse from the same government that he claims denies him freedom and justice.
I also oppose his message that in a biblical nation homosexuals would be "killed like animals", and the same compassion that says he should not have been tased and beaten requires me to oppose him when he preaches that his fellow citizens should be dragged into the street and stoned to death beacuse they violate his religious beliefs.

Play, Pie, and Crazy: Part 2

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:40:02 GMT

Rocky and I had been to see a play, part of our little tradition of subscribing to the Guthrie Theater every year. This performance had managed to sneak up on me. I had it on the wrong night in my calender, and everything had turned into a sort of train-wreck that day.

Rocky drove from the airport, directly from the play. I drove there from another location. We met, attended the play, and enountered a creepy older couple who desperatly wanted me to eat one of their throat lozenges. (see Play, Pie, and Crazy, Part 1)

Rocky and I decided to go to Perkins for pie and coffee. I normally would never eat pie, and certainly not that late at night, but decided to make an exception. We were going to meet at the Perkins on the way home.

But first, I had to stop for gas. I decided to go to a familiar gas station, first, rather than risk running out of gas on the freeway.

So I got through all the button-punching preliminaries, set the nozzle in my gas tank, and began the long wait. I did what I often do. I put one leg up on the concrete plinth that the gas pump sits on and proceeded to stretch out my hamstring muscles. I was already stretched from earlier that day, so I was able to nearly touch my nose to my knee.

Then, I switched legs, and as I did so, the car on the other side of the island rolled forward. There were a couple of skin-head-looking types glaring at me from the car. The window nearest me was rolled down slightly.

The guy in the passenger side glared at me and said "Bitch". They drove off.

Weird. Shrug.

Rocky got to the Prekins ahead of me, and was sitting at the table playing with his new laptop. It is a very special laptop from a very special source. Not everyone can get them, yet.

As he explained this to me, I thought about pointing out to him how unfair it was that he got to keep his special laptop that not many other people could get, which he got from a very special source...when I had to throw away a lozenge with similar credentials just minutes before.

But I was distracted by the conversation going on behind my back.

There was a young man explaining to another young man how current political powers were massing to bring about Armageddon.

"There are agents of the Beast who are right now working to make everyone in the world equal so that they can bring our country down to the level of other countries and bring about Armagheddon. Do you have any idea who that might be?"

I assume the other young man wrote some names down on a napkin or something, because I really didn't hear a reply, but the other young man seemed delighted with some sort of answer.

I couldn't help but overhear the conversation as the guy went through the _Left Behind_ series, and every single hair-brained conspiracy theory that I have ever even hear rumor of. It was masterful.

Rocky and I had a tremendous conversation about his trip, and some of the stuff he did and the people he talked to, and we talked about the play a little, and I told him about what had happened while he was gone...

Punctuated by dark intimations of the Jewish Monitary Conspiracy that was the Federal Reserve, and the heroics of certain politicians who were determined to preserve as much of the rightous church as possible for the final battle, and the implications of the gay agenda, and the importance os good spiritual hygiene and preperation for spiritual warfare in the conflict to come. They sounded really jazzed at the idea of rives of blood, death, and destruction. The identity of the horsement were discussed. The identity of the Beast was dicussed.

They covered everything.

Rocky and I would occasionally pause in our conversation just to gather our thoughts whenever a particularly noxious bit of craziness wafted over us.

What a weird night.

Team Lib's EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!!!!!

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:15:08 GMT

Duuuuuuudes! Like, everyone has been down on libs for so long. Like, harshing our mellow to the max, and all because we're like, lame and stuff.

But don't dispair mon frare...we're back baby!

'cause we totally went back in time and took over the Bible. We're like rocken spiritual time-pirates.

You thought Bill and Ted had a great adventure? Nu-uh! Team lib totally went back in time and snuck the lovey-forgivy-sharey crap into the Bible!

Uh-huh! BAM!! Yeah, take that, in yer face Mr. Judgy-Mcvitriol Christian guys!

But uh-oh...Andrew Schlaffly's gonna take it back with an army of homeschool kids! Bogus!

http://conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project

Get back in the funkey time-travel phone booth dudes! We have to save the wimpy social gospel or we won't get to have a modern government or health care reform!

Arrogance and self-importance hit with the "Bedazzler"

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:53:06 GMT

You gotta go over to 4simpsons real quick and scan down the front page looking for Neil's "multiverse" post, or google it if it has already rolled off. I don't want to trigger his paranoia with too many links but this is amazing!

Neil actually thinks that the multi-verse theories were proposed to counter Intelligent Design Theory.

Um. The Multiverse Theory pre-dates the Intelligent Design political movement.

The Multiverse theory is described by mathematics. The Intelligent Design political movement cannot be described according to any coherent organizational model.

But theoretical Physicists are just scrambling to scratch up something to answer Intelligent Design with.

Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Neil baby.

But I'd like to point out that the only way that the Multi-verse theories could have been created to respond to Intelligent Design is if the scientists developed them after 1992 (When ID was created) and then went back in time a significant amount, and then introduced a progressive series of theoretical models beginning with when the term was coined in the late 1800.

Of course, the only way that time travel would be even remotely possible is if one of the multiple universe theories were true... (since going back in time and changing events would create another alternate universe, and an alternate time-line).

And furthermore, why are we to believe that scientists are desperately flailing around to discount the arguments of ID proponents when ID proponents seem to have to be always making statements like this?:

[Update] about not provoking his paranoia: Too late. Neil is already Jonseing on how persecuted he is that people disagree with him and find his lunacy entertaining. He only listed three people this time. Usually he goes on much longer about how important an Godly he must be because people disagree with him.

Libertarian Paradise

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:46:43 GMT

Pcomeau put this video on my Facebook:

It lead me to This Link.

Sometimes the stupid burns. Sometimes the stupid clings and burns. Like Napalm. Von Mesis Institute: napalm for the brain.

And no, it's not an Onion article. They actually argue that a decentralized society ruled by a patchwork of autocratic theocrats and warlords who commit genital mutilation of little girls, honor killings against women, and allows famine, pandemic, mass killings, gun-point conversions, and a growing pirate trade is preferable to a stable centralized government that brings you fluoridated water, and a public health system.

The Authoritarians

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:26:10 GMT

A while back, Ben (the once and future Eclectic Anonymous...if I have anything to say about it)...recommended The Authoritarians to me...and even sent me a copy. I am finally ready to start reading it...although I am still in the middle of three other books. The total is down below 6 so I am ready to start another book. :-)

Anyway, I'll probably be talking about it, so if anyone is interested, go out an gitchya a copy: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

Sigh.

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:44:15 GMT

Some conservatives are in a tizzy that Feinstein supposedly "leaked" classified information that she read in the Washington Post.

So...if we want to officially deny that the strikes are being made from Pakistan with the approval of the Pakistani government, can't we just issue a statement that Feinstien was mislead by the Post article? Somehow, I think that getting all worked up in a lather about it and freaking out that she "leaked" information in a hearing by stateing something that is under common reportage in the mainstream press is the opposite of what you would want to do...

Return to the rule of law begins. It is just the beginning.

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:11:08 GMT

But it's a start. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm

The Regular Early Morning Yell of Horror...

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:12:21 GMT

...

was the sound of Arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was. It wasnt that the cave was cold...it wasn't that it was damp and smelly...it was that the cave was in the middle of Minnesota, and half the state's representation in the U.S. Senate was being held hostage by a slimey Republican senator with a mouthful of overworked dentistry, and probably would be for the next ten million years.

Identity politics is the worst place, so to speak, to get lost in, as Aurtur Dent could testify, having been stuck in it and forced to witness it played out as a single individual caused the political disenfranchisment of a whole state full of people in order to benefit his party on a national level.

(Apologies to Mr. Douglas Adams)

A cartoon about how we got screwed.

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:38:43 GMT

My friend Eric sent me the link for this video. It is pretty good. Leave it to a guy with a degree in economics to find something like this.

> > >

Oy...

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:32:05 GMT

Sure, it seems pretty bad. We got a Governor of Illinois whose corruption and fecklessness defy gravity, and he's a Democrat.

Obama can't seem to find a Democrat that has a clean tax history.

And there are items in the stimulus package that not even FDR would consider to be legitamate stimulus items...

...yeah...little bit of ice-water to bring down the swelling on the hope-change bubble...

But it could be worse.

These people could still be running the joint.

(Hat Tip: Erudite Redneck)

I wonder if his lawyers graduated from a REAL law school?

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:27:08 GMT

Not long ago, I got a mailing from the Republican party, begging me for money to help Norm Coleman in his noble and brave attempt to deny Minnesota half of their representation in the U.S. Senate during the time when Obama would benefit from having as many Democrats as possible.

I declined to contribute, and boy am I glad I did! Assuming thats where the money would really go, you couldn't ask for a bunch of lawyers less worth the money.

Apparently, the Coleman team can't make unaltered copies that they are going to introduce into evidence, and have trouble vetting voters who didn't committ some sort of transgression that amounts to voter fraud.

So THAT'S the nefarious plot of Democrats to "steal the election"! Trick Coleman into putting properly rejected voters on the stand, and introducing inaccurate evidence!

They're sooo sneaky!

The position of "loyal opposition" no longer has a vacancy.

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:53:48 GMT

All is right with the world. Democrats are running the show, and Republicans are doing what they do best...finding every chink in the armor of the ruling party, and exploiting the hell out of it.

I am enjoying watching the Republicans slap the nominee for Secretary of Treasury around like a teatherball over his tax difficulties. Hopefully, it will make them feel better about themselves, and it will bring home to Obama that he will not be allowed to over-look a single screw-up of any person anywhere on his staff. The watchword of this administration had better be "tight ship".

Just as it should be. Democrats: please take careful notes. You might need this information in the future. You sure as hell could have used it in the recent past.

I also assume that since they must have known this was coming, there must be some pretty high confidence in this guy despite his drawbacks.

People talk, they listen, they think...and they learn...

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:38:37 GMT

It's a good thing.

Rocky was telling me a story about a conversation he was in the other day.

A guy was talking about how we are in this financial mess because banks were forced by federal regulation to give out tons and tons of loans to people who didn't deserve it.

Rocky made many points counter to this, but I think the best one was pointing out that when businesses are "forced" to do something, they do it grudgingly. They minimize it, and do as little of it as possible.

And in reality, we have spent the last several years enduring ad after ad after ad on TV, in newspapers, on the internet, BEGGING people with bad credit to take out loans with this company or that. People with bad credit were heavily lobbied to re-finance loans, and roll their other bad debt into their new loans on their houses.

I know some of these people. Some of them owe us money that will never be returned, as the houses are gone and they still have massive debt to people with more power than we have, and more ruthlessness when it comes to getting it back.

I occasionally would complain about how these predatory lenders were sleazy scum-bags who should be against the law.

Naturally, I was sometimes denounced as a commie being against innocent capitalists just wanting to make an honest buck.

Anyway, Rocky had a pleasant, passing conversation with this guy, and seemed to have at least made some impression on him.

But later, in another conversation involving some of the same people, a new player came into the mix. A guy who had worked for one of these companies.

"Well, you can blame me at least a little bit for this whole mess. I used to work for one of these companies, and they told us to write to the government and tell them that they needed to deregulate us so we could do these loans." (Obviously, this is an approximation of what I remember Rocky saying he remembered the guy saying...not a real quote.)

The first guy got a stunned look on his face, like the rug had been pulled out from under him.

And, as much fun as it might be to smugly leave it there with a sense of superiority...

...none of us have all the answers all of the time. Sometimes we need a reality check. The best people recognize them when they see them and learn from them. I got the feeling that Rocky thought this guy was that sort of people.

LOL Conservatives

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:05:58 GMT

When self-lobotomized educated people clash with people who never developed their brains at all:

I'll never be able to respect Ben Stein again...but at least he can still be entertaining:

> >

Don't look now, but...

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:45:23 GMT

I think the Ori have slipped one of their Priors undercover as a Democrat in the Oklahoma government...

Here's what she's up to...

But to be fair, that is probably a really bad picture, and she has now claimed that she was just woolgathering when she made the comments. And there's no evidence I can find of her preaching Origin...

[Update: She says it was a joke.]

(Hat Tip: Erudite Redneck)

I don't need an imagination...

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:43:14 GMT

To come up with an unimaginable litany of corruption from the Bush administration...

But Roxeanne de Luca predicts that an Obama presidency will far exceed even our current level of what we consider to be imaginable corruption.

Amazing.

Let's play a fun game. Let's list all of the corruption we can think of in the Bush administraion, just so we can know where to set the bar for Obama.

Obamamania hits Spain.

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:54:50 GMT

If nothing else, Obama has made it easier to be an American overseas.

Rocky and I were just in Spain.

From our hotel window on the 10th floor of the AC Barcelona on Diagonal Ave, we could see this:

(although, from that angle, it looked like a characature of Richard Prior...this is a much better perspective)

Here's the story: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1509947

If you read it, you will see that originally, it was intended to question the out-sized expectations and exceitment that is Obamamania.

You will also see that the creator of the piece is an Obama "fan"...but a cautious one. Remembering that he is just a man.

The right has tried to inflate him to some out-sized anti-Christ, saying somehow he will march down our streets and collect our guns and Bibles, and have his Kenyan relatives put a witch -curse on us.

Some in the left seem to have forgotten that most of his campaign promises came with a "we will" in front of them, not an "I will".

But for one week I enjoyed walking around in Spain getting friendly smiles and thumbs-ups from strangers saying "Obama!". Having strangers tell me over beer that America has a history of doing things that no other country would do, and now once again, we have done something that no other country would do, and it is good.

It was described to me as a return to greatness, a rise in the moral mandate of America in the world...a leader (America) showing the way into a better future. It could have been the beer, but this recent election was spoken of with admiration and happiness to me by British, Norwegian and Spanish people. They couldn't stop telling me about how great America was (and is), though they were a little worried about us for a while there.

A waitress with no English at all tried to give me a newspaper with Obama on the cover, announcing his election. Everywhere I went, people asked me how I voted. Even though Obama was not my first choice way back at the beginning, I was happy to be able to say I voted for him...but when the hype dies down, I hope that people remember how he talked about how this was going to be difficult, and not everyone would be happy with every decision, and how we were going to have to do it together, and something would be asked of all of us, and it would be more than just "take a trip to Disney World" or "buy yourself a flat-screened TV for Christmas."

(BTW, does everyone remember when the conservative perscription to fix the economy was "go out and buy stuff"...and now suddenly it's the liberals' fault that people were buying too much damn stuff? What is up with that?)

Update #1 courtesy of Alan:

Speaking of going forward and not going back, vote with your wallet! You can go here to find out which businesses and business owners contributed money to pass "Proposition 8". In this way, you can then decide if you want your money to go to a business that will take some of the profits and turn it into funding for a divided, unequal America.

Do you want to play a game?

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:24:43 GMT

Given the chest-beating going on over in Russia right now...I thought a little distraction would be nice:

Roxeanne had a contest over at Haemet. The idea was to do a summary of that would happen in a Barak Obama presidency using the two cows” economic model.

You know(quote from Haemet follows in italics):

Democrat: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

Republican: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So?

Socialist: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

Etc.

Mine was a little long, so I trimmed it somewhat over there. I’m not happy with the shorter version though so I thought I would post it here and invite you to come up with your own. Also, you could do a “Palin” model (McCain’s probably would have ended up being fine, he would have gotten some sensible advisors and not done any of the hair-brained things he said in the campaign…until they killed him to make her president)

American capitalism actually seems to work a lot more like this:
You have two cows, but the distributer for your area doesn’t want to do business with low-volume suppliers anymore, so they tell you that you’d better increase your herd. In order to do so, you issue an IPO and sell stock in your cows, use it to increase your heard (using the bull method would take too long).
Through hard work and careful management, you build up a modest farm that is able to compete.
But then one day you endorse a candidate that some right-wing bunch of nuts doesn’t like, and they organize a boycott. Your board forces you to resign, as well as probably forces you to sell your stock, and you walk away without your cows. You have to get a crappy plumber job working for a guy named Joe who can’t stop telling you how great it will be when he finally is making a quarter of a million dollars and can finally benefit from the Bush tax cuts (it's working for Joe that makes the job crappy...not the actual work which is essential and respectable).

(at least, that’s what happened to this guy…well, not the working for Joe the plumber part): http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-30-gun-ceo-ousted_N.htm?csp=34

Under a Barak Obama presidency, you have two cows. You get a tax cut that helps you re-invest on your own and build up your herd. The much larger competitors and the distributor who were getting enormous tax breaks get their tax breaks rolled back, and have to pay a little more. They decide that they should pare down their business overhead somewhat, because they were using their tax breaks to maximize short-term profits and move as much of their operations as they could out of the country rather than actually investing in the stability of their businesses (or hiring workers) and now they want to trim the fat a little. You are able to buy more cows from them at an advantageous price. You are beholden to no one and can make your own business and personal decisions.

Your competitors don’t mind too much, because their overseas businesses profits are safe from taxation in an account in the Canary Islands and they just have to wait until they get a Republican president in the White House again to declare another “job-building tax amnesty” when they can bring that money home tax free and use it to pay the expenses of “repositioning” more jobs and assets overseas…and buying a few nice things here for themselves.

Here we go...

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:45:41 GMT

Now that we have all come together, Democrats, Moderates, Independents, and elected a president that speaks to us...it is time to decide to stay united. To commit to it, and to realize who benefits when we fight amongst ourselves.

Take a listen to David Duke addressing his faithful followers about the Obama presidency. (you have to click on the "MP3") He says that it is "time to stand up and fight, now."

Between Joe the Plumber howling about how Obama is the assured destruction of Israel...and David Duke howling about how Obama is the servant/tool of Israel...

You can hear the truth. Neither of these guys (Joe or Dave) want a secure Israel at peace with her neighbors. To them, Israel is not a potential partner in peace someday, a friend whose prosperity we can celebrate when the goal of peaceful co-existence is finally realized.

It is a tool to them. A wedge, a threat, a bludgeon, a cudgel…or worse in the cases of the apocalypse-ready like Palin and her crowd…an important pawn in the endgame of the total destruction of the world.

I hope that Obama sees Israel as I do…as a nation that has problems to solve and a hard road to walk towards a peace that seems sometimes like it’ll never come…but something to strive for.

It’s on that ever-shrinking list of things we say we believe is possible, but don’t really think will ever happen…

…you know, like the cold war ending, the Berlin wall crumbling, an African-American president of the United States.

Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, maybe not in the next four years, but…

Yes, we can!

And David Duke can pull his Nazi arm-band out of the closet, dust it off, starch it real good, fold it until it is all sharp corners and…well…

Update: Roxeanne's not too happy either...and if the Obama/Biden ticket in my reality bore any resemblance to the Obama/Biden ticket in her reality...I wouldn't be either. Fortunatly, my reality doesn't rest on a few cherry-picked facts shown with the lights off and a flashlight tucked under their chins. And fortunatly, in my world, a gain in equality for one person is a gain in equality for all. (plus, I don't recall any black people whining about how women were being jumped ahead of when the first major-ticket female VP candidate was put forward before any major-ticket black VP candidate. there may have been some, but I didn't hear about them)

The timeing of milestones might be different, but the gains are of benefit to all of us. Squabbeling over order is petty. And feeling sorry for Hillary Clinton is like feeling sorry for the Eagle that missed the fish.

In the mean-time, we've got more work to do...so? A couple of days to celebrate and yell that America is great is not too much to ask. Yes, we have more to do. Prop 8 is waiting for our attention, for instance.

How Republicans REALLY support small businessmen

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:52:41 GMT

CEO forced out of position with gun company that bears his name.

Basically, the guy made a donation to Obama and publically supported Obama, so a bunch of nutty gun-wackos organized a boycott of his company to force him to resign as CEO and possibly, he might have to sell his shares to save the company and protect his employees.

Nice.

Sure, he has a right to endorse whoever he wants, and the mob of goons has a right to organize a boycott if they don't like who he chooses...

...but WTF? Why the heck SHOULD they? It's just useless meanness. Obama's record on guns is OK. It isn't perfect, he's soft on assault rifles. So I can see if you really, really, really want to have an assault rifle and you don't want to have to have a collector's license in order to own one, it matters to you if he gets elected. Seriously, is it worth threatening a whole company, a guy's livelihood, and the livelihoods of nearly forty people because you don't want to have to buy a collector's license to own an assault rifle?

It's just senseless, stupid, mean, herd mentality.

The fact that many sportsmen scorn no-skill-half-wits who need an assault rifle to bring down a deer has made them anathema to the gun lobby. The NRA and related thug operations have been cutting the nose off of second amendment defense to spite its face, and they are eventually going to pay the penalty.

Sensible people with guns are leaving them or being thrown out. And eventually, they'll be out in the cold where they belong...and good riddance.

Oh, and the company that asked Cooper to leave? Apparently they put up a statement claiming that he also gave money to McCain, and only gave money to Obama to defeat Hillary...but then took it down later. The article says there is no indication that Cooper gave any money to McCain. Lovely. Anyone want to take bets on the longevity of a company with that kind of leadership at the helm?

They'll be regretting turning on Cooper before the shouting is over about this election, I'll bet.

Conservatives terrified of Ohio flag

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:33:53 GMT

Talk about unhinged...

American Flag

At an Ohio campaign stop last week Obama gave a speech with a background of American flags which is quite common. However, if you look closely some of the flags are not American flags. The blue field has been changed to show an Obama seal. Yes, there are also stars but have no pattern and they do not add up to 50.

With Obama making his own seal and now this it looks like maybe he is putting some credence to the recent article by Stanley Kurtz in the National Review. Is he planning on creating an African county within the US.

I think the presence of these flags should be viewed with alarm. And I don't want to hear any looney left comments that they are only decoration. They ARE a modification of the American Flag.

Yes...let's not hear any excuses from the "loony left" about how these flags are not a sign that Obama is planning to create an African nation within the US...I guess the "Real Americans" over at Townhall.com have us over a barrel guys. They have exposed the ancient liberal plot that is Ohio...

Jezuz

We can haz votes now?

(Hat Tip: Majikthise, and Erudite Redneck)

This is debate?

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:08:55 GMT

This is pretty much what I hear when I hear Coleman, Franken, and Barkley debate:

Coleman: "Franken, the things I say you'll do as U.S. Senator are despicable!"

Franken: "Coleman, the things you did as U.S. Senator are despicable!"

Barkley: "Tut-tut...so negative."

Coleman: "You made mistakes on your taxes!"

Franken: "You've got some donor problems!"

Coleman: "Leave my wife alone!"

Barkley: "Tut-tut. You'll excuse me while I sit here and smirk."

Me: "AAARrgghhh!! Shut it off! Shut it off!"

Chalk one up for the good guys.

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:43:01 GMT

Common Cause of Colorado, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund and the Service Employees International Union sued Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman, alleging that his office had violated the National Voter Registration Act by illegally purging about 31,000 eligible voters from the rolls 90 days before the election.

The state insists the actual number is smaller.

Finished The Big Sort

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:49:41 GMT

OK, I finished The Big Sort, and I have to say that while I agree with the observations of the author and his collegues, and I understand their point, I think that in the scope of their exploration they have missed an important factor.

Far be it from me to nit-pick people much smarter than myself, but they have thoroughly explored the results of insulating yourself from the "sanity check"...you and your little group become progressivly more extreme. (Sanity check: compareing your perceptions of the world to those of others as a way to moderate your opinions).

But they don't seem to address at all the power of the reality check.

Granted, the reality check takes longer, because the conflict of an erroneous position with reality generally has to build up consequences to the point where you can no longer ignore them.

However, we have been here before. There was a time when the world-view of most people was one completely inconsistant with reality...and eventually people began to depart from the demon-haunted view of the world, and turn toward a more reasoned approach. Some people require a much more strenuous thump-on-the-head than others...but eventually, most people come around.

I'm not sure how much off the track our society has to become before we reach that tipping-point when we return to sense...but I'd like to think we are approaching it right now.

I guess we'll find out soon.

Real "Mavericks" go to the glue factory

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:37:34 GMT

This paragraph from The Big Sort beautifully sums up what I have been trying to say about why I think religious conservatives and corporations are so interested in pushing "Libertarianism"...

"The continued distrust of government, however, has reduced the size and scope of public life. Democracy has become so balky that the normal processes of representative government are being replaced by systems of issue brokering that are only quasi-representative. In Austin, public policy is often negotiated among interest groups, with government only ratifying decisions behind the scenes."

It shrinks the power of the individual to influence government, and increases the reliance on what Bill Bishop calls "tribes".

Most alarming, for instance, is the "tribe" that brought Palin to the front of the line for VP...when there were so many more mainstream, and more qualified options. (I believe that I have heard the name Olympia Snow bandied about).

Here's another excerpt from the book to let you know what happens to REAL mavericks in the Republican party:

"Hey Sheila, it's time for you to become a true independent." With that, Minnesota senate minority leader Dick Day told state senator Sheila Kiscaden that she would have to vacate her office, the one she had shared for twelve years with other Republican state senators. Day called a sergent at arms, and Kiscaden was escorted out of her office and out of the Republican Party."

In other words, they get RINO hunted. Sheila ran as a fiscal conservative in 1992...but she wasn't socially conservative enough, and didn't kiss the NRA's ass enough.

So...

"In 2002, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a conservative education organization jammed the local nominating caucus in Rochester. "I went to the endorsing convention, and the gun guys were out," Kiscaden recalled. "Some came up and said, "We gotcha. We've got rid of you."

Fortunatly, she ran as an independant and won in 2002...and caucused with the Republicans until the day she was thrown out of the office...and told that the Republicans would spend $200,000 to beat her if she ran again.

Nice.

Some people ask why the Republican party no longer represents "get the government off my back" values? They can thank, in part, the NRA.

Woolgathering...

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:21:32 GMT

I’ve read more than one conservative commentator who points out that McCain surrounds himself in his campaign with many more accomplished and capable women, and thus is better on wage parity and opportunity for women than Obama.

However, given McCain’s history with women, it looks to me more like a case of Lazarus Long syndrome rather than being a beacon of equality and opportunity.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a guy wanting to be surrounded by accomplished women who are dedicated to his success and vision, I just suspect that it is more for the benefit of McCain than for the benefit of the campaign or the women, and it should not be assumed that McCain’s public policies will follow from any sort of feminist thought or dedication to a feminist outlook…liberal or conservative.

Oh God, Teh funny, Im about to die laughing. Srsly.

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:07:54 GMT

Dump Bachmann is in overdrive.

Take a look at this article detailing her "close associations" with unsavory radical leftists from the '60's.

The first one was part of a group called “O” which apparently took over a warehouse with an army of thugs armed with pipes, firebombed a truck, and reportedly had a large weapons cache in Minneapolis. Then he worked closely with Bachmann trying to promote PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) and then went to prison for taking bribes as a Minneapolis City Councilman.

I didn't fact check it, but I’m sure someone will. In the mean-time, just treat it like entertainment. And really, read the whole thing because the story of the second "Radical" is hilarious. (Hint: It's Norm Coleman and evidentally he used to smoke a LOT of pot)

Ya know, I’m re-thinking my position. I now think Bachmann is right. Perhaps we SHOULD do an exhaustive search into the histories and associations of our nation’s leadership. Not to ferret out any “un-American” views…but just because what the country needs right now is a good, hearty belly laugh…

The actions of an "energized base'?

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:11:08 GMT

I think that all of the Minnesota politicians from both parties should get together in the same place and denounce the people who vandalized the homes of six Minnesota politicians.

There is no reason to suspect that anyone from either party was the culprit, since representatives from both parties were attacked. Also, political moderates like Amy Klobuchar and Jim Ramstad were hit in addition to more divisive figures like Michelle Bachmann and Keith Ellison.

And while they are at it they can also decry the vandalizm to the Obama and Franken campaign headquarters. (I haven't heard of anything happening to the McCain headquarters here, will someone let me know if they have heard anything?)

They should then all step forward and personally vow to keep their rhetoric to the issues, and to their opponents positions on the issues. They should vow to avoid character assassination and dehumanizing rhetoric.

And I hope the police catch these maniacs who did this. There is no place in Minnesota for acts of political terroristic threat in the dark of night.

Poe's Law

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:17:02 GMT

Then again, sometimes the Ori are hilarious.

This website warns that Barak Obama's "tribe" in Kenya is working round the clock to cast witch spells to make McCain look like a doddering old coot, and calls on Christians to do constant spiritual warfare over McCain and Palin.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Slow-pitch softball...and she bunts.

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:36:11 GMT

Palin on the 700 Club:

Why she doesn’t give many interviews:

"Well, sometimes it just doesn't do any good. I mean, you set yourself up just to continually be mocked, you know, so sometimes that doesn't do any good, but what I have done in this campaign is in reaching out to the American voters through our rallies, through the one-on-ones, through the small meetings that we've had trying to get our message out, our plans for this country out there minus the filter of some of the filter of the mainstream media because, because that filter as, as we see every day when we turn on the news, too often there is this, this opaqueness, there is this, this spin, this contortion of a person's words and intentions and that does more harm than good, so it's a greater challenge for me and for John McCain to try to get our message out there without that filter of I think some of the world's media. It's a greater challenge, but again, it does make us work harder and try to reach more people. That's why we're traveling around so hard and fast and aggressively across the U.S. is to reach more people."

Not knowing how to get your message out effectively through the media is a basic Presidential skill in our day-and-age. Hell, even “W” could do it. In fact, while he couldn’t handle a pretzel while laying on a couch…he somehow managed to find some people who could manage him managing the media, and quite frankly, they were brilliant at it. They had a lap-dog press for six whole years. How hard could it be?

"And it's not just that question, but it was some of the other questions that she asked me also and, and it was, I guess, my being such an outsider from the Washington elite and the media elite is the questions she kept asking me were, I kept thinking why aren't you asking me things that really, really matter right now about our economy and about how we're going to win the war and about protecting our constitutional rights in this country, some of the questions that were being fired at me, I was kind of impatient and I think that showed, it's like come on, Katie, let's talk about the things that really matter. And two, the other part of that was I knew that whatever I threw out there, whether it's the USA Today, or New York Times or whatever I said, that's just more fodder for someone to not only mock, but tear apart and presume to at least claim that that is a reflection of my own beliefs, so you know, so I just felt like, let's just move on to the next question."

Oh for real? You were afraid to answer the question because you were afraid you would be mocked, and your words would be torn apart and spread around and made to seem to mean something different than what you meant? Now come on. There are any number of policy publications out there that you could have been reading as Governor that would be completely respectable. Even something like the Cato Journal would probably have been found interesting, if partisan. I hear that Cambridge has a public policy Journal , Duke, Cornell, Harvard…they all have public policy Journals. Vanity Fair has some snappy politcal stuff in it. There's the National Review....Harpers would have been a nice politically ecumenical touch, Reason magazine would have netted you interest from the Ron Paul crowd... I mean if you had said “The USA Today” I can see your point but…oh God...you would have said “The USA Today” wouldn’t you?

And I totally get drawing a blank trying to find the best answer. I get it…really. If Katie Couric was there with a microphone asking for my reading list, I’d freeze up too, and I have a whole lot of leather-bound books with really little print in my library.

But YOU are running for Vice President of the country! Holy crap woman! You froze up because you didn’t think it was important to give examples of where you get your decision-making information, and you didn’t want to say anything because you were afraid they would pick on you? This is not High School. You don’t get to do that. You were given an opportunity to show that you are prepared, and you failed. You were given an opportunity to explain in a mature and meaningful way WHY you failed…and you failed.

Jesus. And this is how she comes across in the FAVORABLE, friendly media. The 700 Club! It doesn’t get any less “Gotcha” than that!

There’s also a clip of her talking about religion. It was not interesting. I was hoping that she would say that she is just your normal, every-day garden variety Pentecostal. I don’t care if she’s rolling around on the floor or whatever while she’s praying…but I would like for her to denounce the Third Wave Movement that she seems to be associated with. I’d like to hear her say she has nothing to do with Joel’s Army, and I’d like to hear her say that she can govern our country with an eye towards the future, and not to affect some apocalyptic end-times milestones. It would be great to know that she wasn’t looking forward to and working to hasten an end-of-times blood-bath that would kill most of her constituents:

Brody: There have been some shots taken at you…regarding your Christian faith…The Pentecostal stuff, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to clear up exactly what you believe in and so that the record can be set straight a little bit? Because there have been some editorials and others taking shots at you regarding --

Palin: Yeah, and I think the saddest part of that is that faith, not just my faith, faith and God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart and that is unfair for others who share a faith in God and chose to worship our Lord in whatever private manner that they deem fit and my faith has always been pretty personal. I haven't really worn it on my sleeve. I haven't been out there preaching it. I've always been of the mind that you caalk the walk. You just don't have to be talking the talk about your beliefs, so just wanting maybe my life to be able to reflect my faith. So it's always been pretty personal and that was kind of a surprise in the last couple of months that people would misconstrue and spin anything that has to do with my faith or anybody else's and turn it into something to be mocked. That's very sad. I don't think that there's anything that I can do about it, so you know, I won't, I won't whine or complain about it, but nobody is going to convince me that my foundation of faith is not good for me and for my family no matter the mocking, no matter what anybody says about it, I'm going to keep plugging away at this and I'm going to keep seeking God's guidance and His wisdom and His favor and His grace, for me, for my family, for this campaign, for our nation. Again no matter what anybody else says about it it's between me and God, and I am so thankful that that he has strengthened me with this understanding and this belief that I can count on Him. I can reach out to Him asking for that strength, asking for the blessings that He so freely gives and I don't know how anybody would want to do this if they didn't have real strong faith in God that He's got it all under control.

I don’t feel reassured. Sarah, it is between you and the voters whether or not you believe that it is your job to work to bring about God’s rule on Earth…whether you believe, as some say THEY believe, that you are modern day Esther brought forth to renew the nation for God. In absence of a denial when you’ve had plenty of opportunity to set the record straight and explain the massive amount of video out there of you with people linked to the Third Wave Movement (considered a Heresy by main-stream Pentecostals, by the way), and some pretty despicable actions…I’m left wondering and I don’t care for it. At least Obama gave a big speech about his pastor and his faith. It helped me understand the ties.

Anyway, there’s a LOT more video at this site. Go check it out if you have the stomach.

And here's a video where they call here a "Modern Day Esther"

> > > > > > >

Strange Days indeed.

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:39:07 GMT

Colin "anthrax" Powell has endorsed Barak Obama.

What next?

He was there at the precipitous push to get us into Iraq, and now he'll be there for the precipitous push to get us out?

Dude changes direction quicker than a raquetball.

And speaking of things that change direction suddenly...I've mentioned that I'm disappointed in McCain, right? He missed the boat with that "Joe the fake Plumber" guy.

The old McCain would have gone with someone more like "Sheriff Billy McGee".

Shorter McCain

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:29:51 GMT

I don't think McCain realized that what he was saying to most Americans was:

"Feel sorry for Joe. Poor Joe only makes somewhere between two and thirty times more than you do, and he wants that tax cut so that he can hire one or two of you to pay the crappy wages that he used to make and dreamed of escaping and make more money for himself.

Now, you may want to take the opportunity of Obama's tax cuts and incentives and start a business so you can work for yourself and make the full amount off of your own labors, but Joe needs that money more than you, so he can grow crappy jobs for you to have. Joe made his nut, and now he wants to reap the benefits, by protecting his position and interest in holding down those beneath him.

Vote for me,and I'll make sure that Joe can hire you to work a crappy low-paid job like the one he dreamed of getting out of so long ago.

So just say 'OK, Joe, you need that tax break more than I do, you go ahead and have it instead of me.' vote for me, my friends, and I'll make sure that Joe's taken care of. And I'll balance the budget too, by taking a hatchet to the programs and projects that benefit you."

"Joe the Plumber"

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:21:16 GMT

From this day on, I think that all tetherballs should be called "Joe the Plumber"...because they get batted around back and forth almost as much as "Joe" did tonight. If I were Joe, and nobody but John McCain and Barak Obama knew who I was, I'd keep it a secret. Joe was subjected to so much pity and pandering from both candidates that if his identity was known, he'd have to turn in his "man card".

Prediction:

The News will be over-run with the sound-bite of Obama saying that Joe Biden worked hard on the "violence against womens act".

My McCain impressions: Did he fire his speech-writer, or does he think his base can't read? He keeps re-iterating the same tired, debunked charges over and over again. Nothing but old lies repeated, complaining about unfair negative campaigning (huh?). Strange that almost-slip about finding the best people in the worl...uh, the US for the Supreme Court. I don't think it really means anything, it was just a slip...but it was funny.

Obama impressions: Cool, collected, represented himself well. Didn't get rattled by McCain lying about him not disavowing that John Lewis' characterizations of the Palin crowds. A little light on specifics...but better than the past. He's no Adlai Stevenson...but then again, Adlai lost because he trusted the American people to be interested in detailed and complete discussion of the issues, and he lost to a guy with a catchy tune written by a composer of candy jingles.

McCain mockingly dismisses the idea of the "health" if the mother in the abortion question. Nice. Apparently, he's never heard of women diagnosed with arterial weaknesses or fast-growing cancers that need immediate treatment, or any number of other conditions.

WRT the education thing: Why does it have to be a choice between pillaging the public trust to give public money to religious schools or forcing kids to stay in failing schools? Minnesota has school choice...you can go to any publicly funded school that you can get into...including college your last two years of High School.

McCain is for vouchers - in otherwords, stealing public money for private profit.

McCain takes a petty snarky parting shot. You'd think he was running for King of the Internet bloggers, not POTUS.

Ending statements: McCain: "We have to make health care avoid...affordable..." LOL. No, I don't think it's telling, but it's funny!

Obama: Remembers to thank McCain and moderator (did McCain do that? I missed it if he did) -politness points! If he says "change" one more time, I'm going to scream. Love the "promise" hesitation...followed by a sort of dithering platitude. It's almost like he was going to say something really bold, but then chickened out.

[Update: Jenny informs me that McCain thanked The college, the moderator, and Obama. Also, I liked a comment that one of the guys over at Erudite Redneck said. Joe the plumber makes as much in a day as he makes in a month. My comment is, why doesn't Joe think it's in his best interest to pay to help maintain the society that benefits him above most of his fellow countrymen? It seems weird to me that people standing at the top of the ladder always seem to want to kick the bottom of the ladder.

I mean, I dont think anyone resents people who work hard to make thirty times as much as they do...but if they're working hard and paying their own bills, I think it's a little bit of a stretch to ask them to feel pity for some guy whose makeing thrity times as much and say "Oh no...no...YOU take the tax cut instead, you need it so much more than I do.]

Liberals: Ever wonder what you'd look like in a conservative mirror?

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:57:09 GMT

Here's a picture of what 50% of Americans look like to a conservative.

I think this might be what Robert Beal would say if he was capable of stringing words together that made sense.

It is probably a lot like the opinions held by such "top producers" as Tom Petters.

Seems like something "top producers" William and Shirley Pierce might have taught their students.

It sound like it would be right in line with the philosophy of intelligent, moral people like Fort Mill Mayor Danny Funderburk. Now THAT'S a guy with a complex mental life who must certainly feel the moral weight of responsibility.

That mean government, always interfering with innocent, hard-working rich people. Oh! Those evil liberals who want to burden these bastions of virtue with government interference and regulation!

I think it's great that these poor put-upon assets to our country have someone to stand up and speak for them.

[off-topic update- Rocky just came back from a professional function, and reported that someone told him in conversation tonight that the reason we are in this economic mess is because the Democrats were helping the blacks buy houses. Wow. Rocky said he just walked away. Probably the best response. Really, the only safe and sane response. The guy was probably armed. Our friend Blake was there as well. It will be interesting to get his take on it.]

[on-topic update] There's little news of this in the conservative MSM, but apparently the good Chrsitian morality says it's OK to gas babies and children if they are Muslim. Dont you liberals wish that you had that kind of clarity and sanity? You'd never be able to vote for Obama if you had these kind of rock-solid values.

Ignorant Racists hate blended fabrics.

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:34:53 GMT

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Oh, and this is fun:

Someone was getting tired of having their Obama/Biden sign stolen, so they put a camera on it to watch it 24/7

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/obama-sign-cctv-1

Fun stuff.

Sarah Palin represents "normal people"

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:53:35 GMT

Michele Bachmann says that Sarah Palin is the victim of "The biggest hissy-fit of modern times" is "comfortable in her skin" and "represents normal people".

"The biggest hissy-fit in modern times"? Wow...bigger than Watergate? For real? The press is hounding Sarah Palin more than they hounded Nixon? They're spending more time on Palin than they did on the Monica Lewinski thing? Really? The avid coverage of Gerald Ford's gaffs were more fair than criticism of Palins attempts to ban books at her local library and fire the librarian? The press's coverage of the "bunny attack" on President Carter was more relevant than questions about whether or not Sarah's claims about giving back federal money were true? Really? This is the biggest deal that the press has ever made about a political candidate? Wow. Those bastards.

And Sarah Palin is "comfortable in her skin". What does THAT mean? Presumably, she doesn't have any dermatological problems, or what with the press going all ga-ga over her, we'd know about it (along with how "spunky" she is to overcome it, and how much her faith has sustained her through it). That may seem like a strange choice of words, especially for someone like Michele Bachmann, who is more the type to say something less imaginative like "she is comfortable with herself". But in order to properly understand what she means, you have to use the Republican lexicon. See, Barak Obama pointed out that McCain was just recyceling Bush's failed policies and calling them something else...and he called it "putting lipstick on a pig" To the Republicans, Sarah Palin was, at that time, most famous for saying the word "lipstick"...so "McCain's policies" must have been code for Sarah and that ment that McCain was Sarah's make-up man, and...uh...actually, I'm not sure how the logic train ran...but it started with McCain's policies actually representing Sarah herself and ended with Obama calling Sarah a "pig" because they both used the word "lipstick". So, if you use Republican logic to interpret Ms. Bachmann's words, you can clearly see that when Republicans are backed into a corner where they have to say something nice about Obama or they will look like dicks, Obama is usually noted for being the first Black candidate for President. So "comfortable in her skin", means that Ms.Palin and her family are comfortable being white people. So what Bachmann is REALLY saying is "white pride"! Yeah, it doesnt make any sense, but what can you do? They're Republicans; no attempt to figure out what they're "really" saying makes any sense.

Kind of like what does Bahchmann mean by "normal people"? Well, Ms. Palin represents "normal people". Therefore, "normal people" are White, Protestant Evangelicals who also speak in tongues and roll around on the floor in church, are in the top 1% income bracket and have large quantities of their wealth invested in energy and defense companies. And don't we all live next door to one of those guys?

But then again, Michele Bachmann may not make sense, but she certainly has balls! Just look at the way she handles a face-to-face confrontation with Lord Voldemort!

I can't imagine how brave she must be to talk over him, falsely accuse him of sexism when he has made legitamate critisms, and generally behave like a deisel-powered, socially inept bulldozer towards him. Michele Bachmann has balls of steel!

She just looked him in his face and said what she thinks; It is demeaning to women to suggest that there are more qualified women out there than Sarah Palin. You just can't expect that much from women, you sexist pig. The only way it would have been ballsier is if she's said it to him in Parseltongue!

Now, stop demeaning women by discussing their qualifications. Straighten up, fly right, and rally behind a candidate that knows how to treat women!

Ooopsies.

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:30:37 GMT

Didja hear about how all of the homes that were raided by police were full of bomb-throwing radicals intending to riot?

Yeah. Funny Story. Some of them were actually Legal Observers crashing at a home of a former millitary policeman.

oops.

Another thing I agree with Obama on.

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:49:58 GMT

Obama on private matters of Sarah Palins family life:

"Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president."

"And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off limits."

And as for the whole "theory" about her supposedly faking her last pregnancy to cover another pregnancy by her daughter...

1) What? Somebody has too much time on their hands. Sure, anything is possible...but there's just too many stilts on a story that DOESN'T MATTER. (In other words, I dont see any reason to believe it, and even if true, its unimportant. Boot to the head.)

2)You can say it matters because Palin runs on "Traditional Family Values". But that would mean that you are assuming that a mother faking a pregnancy and miraculously "delivering' a baby while her daughter is convelescing from a mysteriously convenently timed prolongued "illness" ISN'T "Traditional Family Values".

False assumption, epic fail. Try again, or better yet...pay attention to the possibility that Palin might be an anti-intellectual religious nut opposed to science-based policy instead.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Long rambling post

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:01:31 GMT

Gary and Isa are here from Britain! Grasshopper is home from orchestra camp! Jay-the-dog is about to turn himself inside out. Today, we are taking Gary and Isa to a good old-fashioned pancake breakfast and an airshow.

Last night we went to a party thrown by a friend/neighbor. We left, but not until after I got into a “fight” with a republican.

No, not really. It was fun for both of us. It all started when I left our table in the pleasant back garden to find somewhere else to be.

We were having a great conversation when a guy standing right behind me launched into a diatribe about how the press was burying the “Johhny” Edwards story, and this was proof of a liberal bias in the press.

What? First of all, it was all over the place, and if they didn’t have Olympic coverage to run, they’d still be riding that horse until we ALL wanted to scream. Secondly, if the press DID cover it to their satisfaction, they’d make it into a complaint about how he’s such a pretty-boy media whore he’ll even use an affair to get attention. Seriously, John Edwards was so far out of the news until this erupted that they were practically on different planets.

So here’s a general drift of the conversation. I don’t remember it exactly, but its my best recollection”

Rep. man #1 “What do you think of this Johnny Edwards situation?”

Rep. man #2 “What a slime-ball he fathered that baby AFTER she was sick again with cancer.”

Rep. woman: “What is his WIFE still doing with him? Doesn’t she have any self-respect?”

Rep. man” 1: “She doesn’t have any choice, she’s not going to live much longer. She’s stuck.”

(Just an aside here, does anyone actually believe that Elizabeth Edwards could be forced , by circumstances or anything else, to do something that she did not want to do? I mean, wasn’t the Republican line on her that she was a brazen hussy who wore the pants in the family, feminized her husband, and didn’t know her place, or when to keep her mouth shut? Like, wasn’t that just a few weeks ago? And I would also like to point out that when Democrat women stand by their philandering men, they have no self-respect, but when Republican women stand behind their philandering men, they have family values.)

Rep. woman: “They won’t let him speak at the convention now”

Rep. Man#1: “Oh, they MigHT. How do you know they won’t? You never know what they’ll do.”

Rep. woman:” Ugh. He’s such a slime-ball.”

Rep. man #1: “And they’re not covering it at all! If it were a Republican, you know they’d find out everything and we’d hear about it, believe me.”

I DIDN’T get up and point out that the reason Republican affairs have gotten more coverage recently is:

1) Larry Craig was an out spoken homophobe (in other words, someone expressing unreasonable fear of homosexuality) who worked tirelessly to link homosexuality with pedophilia, libeled homosexuals as a group relentlessly, and pretty much made “traditional values” his calling card. That made him a story.

2) He broke a law in trying to solicit sex. There was an arrest, and he pleaded guilty hoping to keep it quiet and avoid public consequences, then regretted and retracted his plea when there were public consequences.

3) He was the latest in a long string of prominent homophobes caught in the act of engaging in the behaviors that they attribute to the homosexual community at large. (public sex, prostitution, drugs (Haggard), pedophilia (that one senator in the page scandal), etc.

4) Craig was arrested, and there was an arrest report, so the media could jump all over it. The Edwards story was broken by the National Enquirer. Running a false lead from the National Inquirer is probably a lot like getting duped into publishing false papers involving the President…a career killer.

5) Craig was arrested on a slow news week, the Edwards thing blew up in the advance of the Olympics coverage.

I’ll cut out a few minutes of topic jumping and complaining about how rich Edwards is (I thought Republicans admired rich people),taxes and how the Dems just want to spend willy-nilly on all of these “entitlements” and things that don’t do us any good…the one that made me have to get up and leave was this:

Rep. Man #1: ”Just think about typhoid and diseases like that. I just saw a show on it, and can you believe how many people they used to kill? I mean, wow.”

Rep. woman: (awe in her voice) “Yeah. Wow.”

And then they lapsed into profound silence.

*groan* Yeah…”wow”.

But I guess the Fox News commentators that write all of their lines hadn’t put any words into their brains to describe things like robust public health infrastructure, reality-based policy decisions, evolution-based genetics research that allows for analysis of mutations in diseases to create new vaccines to keep up with the rapid evolution of viruses.

I got up and left, ‘cause I was having trouble not saying anything, and these were not people you could talk to. They were possessed by John Gibson. Total Fox-bots.

And our host immediately introduced me to his “Republican friend” and left.

And one of the first things the “Republican friend” said was that the Dem’s didn’t provide funding for the 35W bridge, but were trying to blame the collapse of the bridge on Pawlenty.

Me: “Actually, there was funding specifically to brace those girders in the budget, and Pawlenty specifically vetoed the roads and bridges line item in the budget that would have provided the funds to fix the bridge, until it could be rebuilt”.

There ensued a lively and intelligent conversation where the guy didn’t dismiss my facts out of hand, while still challenging me to support them, and it was fun ‘cause he wasn’t a Fox-box idiot.

Thank God for the occasional Republican who is not a Fox-bot idiot. Cause talking to people who only agree with you can get boring, but talking to idiots is self abuse…and not the fun kind.

One of his points was that it was possible that bracing the girders would not have prevented the tragedy. Which is true enough…but IF everything that could reasonably have been done, HAD been done…and if Pawlenty hadn’t stood in the way of reasonable preventive action, I would merely disagree with some of his other policy decisions…but as it is, he DID stand in the way of reasonable action to prevent the tragedy, and a tragedy DID occur, and he is trying to somehow make it the fault of the congress.

A Neimoller Moment

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:13:03 GMT

If you don't think that it's a big deal that the government can seize lap-tops, books, magazines, or any other information media from people when they are traveling, and don't need a compelling reason to do so-

-I assume this might be because you don't travel and won't be inconvenienced, or you think you have nothing to hide.

If that's the case, I'd just like to point you to Denialism.com, were they point out that your doctor probably travels - and he could possibly have some of your private information on his laptop.

Poor John McCain

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:45:23 GMT

I gotta feel for the guy. First, a surrogate says something controversial . Then, McCain gets ambushed about it and hadn't had time to figured out which way was up yet...and it got caught on camera and put on you-tube, and the Daily Show picked it up.

Now, remember, he didn't just have to figure out what he thought about the subject, he had to figure out how to say it such that it could not be misconstrued...both by people of good will (difficult enough) or people who want to make him look bad no matter what he says (almost impossible without prep-time and a team of handlers).

I'm sure this has happened to every presidential candidate since high-speed communication...but now we have You Tube.

It sux to be MaCain right now. He looks like a total idiot on that video...but then again, so would most people I know....under the circumstances.

Here's the video for referance:

Just remember...he's not trying to figure out what he thinks. He's trying to figure out how to say what he thinks without either losing the women vote or the votes of the people who want to make birth control illegal/unavailable, etc. Hes on thin ice with those folks as it is, and they're the ones who put in crazy hours making sure Republican candidates win. Also, you definately want to reassure the Corporatist vote that you're not going to make the corporations do anything communist, like require Health Insurance Companies to cover preventive medicine.

Prayer works!

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:57:49 GMT

Remember how the Mayor of Birmingham (Larry Langford; D)was praying in sackcloth and ashes for God to reduce the crime rate of his fair city?

Well, it looks like Birmingham might soon be less one alleged criminal already...the Mayor of Birmingham! (don't forget, innocent until proven guilty)

(Hat tip and link: Pharyngula)

Hallowed are the Ori!

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Welcome to Sunday morning prostration.

(which, as Vala observed, is not nearly as much fun as it sounds)

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori (Bemidji is still an Ori strong-hold)

Hallowed are the Ori! (Jesus still hates taxes)

And speaking of the Ori...go take a look at this guy, and tell me he isn't one of their priors. AllI can say is, we're in trouble when a man named Kahn allignes hiself with enemies of earth. :-)

Kah-h-h-hn!!!!!! LOL

[Update: I think Ben Stein is angling for a priorship]

(Hat tips: Pharyngula and Denialism)

Apparently, Hitler was "Expelled" too!

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:50:37 GMT

Those darned intellectual elite...

Alway putting down the plucky dissenters who challenge the academic "consensus":

"The so called 'intelligentsia' always looks down with a really limitless condescension on anyone who has not been dragged through the obligatory schools and had the necessary knowledge pumped into him. The question has never been: What are the man's abilities? but: What has he learned? To these 'educated' people the biggest empty-head, if he is wrapped in enough diplomas,is worth more than the brightest boy who happens to lack these costly envelopes.And so it was easy for me to imagine how this ' educated ' world would confront me, and in this I erred only in so far as even then I still regarded people as better than in cold reality they for the most part unfortunately are. As they are, to be sure, the exceptions, as everywhere else, shine all themore brightly. Thereby, however, I learned always to distinguish between the eternal students and the men of real ability."

--Adolph Hilter: Mein Kampf (all quotes from Mein Kampf taken from this link)

"Not the smallest blame for the none too delectable religiousconditions must be borne by those who encumber the religious idea with toomany things of a purely earthly nature and thus often bring it into a totallyunnecessary conflict with so-called exact science. In this victory willalmost always fall to the latter, though perhaps after a hard struggle,and religion will suffer serious damage in the eyes of all those who areunable to raise themselves above a purely superficial knowledge."

--Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

>

And as for the materialists with the economic solutions based on facts and knowledge...don't even get him started! That leads to atheism, and even Hitler knows that's not good!

"In proportion as economic life grew to be the dominant mistress of the state, money became the god whom all had to serve and to whom eachman had to bow down. More and more, the gods of heaven were put into the corner as obsolete and outmoded, and in their stead incense was burned tothe idol Mammon. A truly malignant degeneration set in; what made it most malignant was that it began at a time when the nation, in a presumably menacing and critical hour, needed the highest heroic attitude. Germany had to accustom herself to the idea that some day her attempt to secure her daily bread by means of 'peaceful economic labor' would have to be defended by the sword."

(also Adolph Hitler, also Mein Kampf)

And I'd love to hear a conservative debate Hitler on the traitorous nature of the liberal press in war-time:

"The so-called liberal press was actively engaged in digging the grave of the German people and the German Reich."

(also Adolph Hitler, also mein Kampf)

I'm sure they would have a very nice counter-argument for how opposition to ill-concieved millitarism is a primary function of the press, a national duty, really to preserve a nation's honor and treasure. THEY'D give old Hitler what-for!

But they'd probably agree with him about the horrors of "safe sex". (link about the inventor of the latex condom)

"Particularly with regard to syphilis, the attitude of the leadership of the nation and the state can only be designated as total capitulation.To fight it seriously, they would have had to take somewhat broader measures than was actually the case. The invention of a remedy of questionable characterand its commercial exploitation can no longer help much against this plague.Here again it was only the fight against causes that mattered and not the elimination of the symptoms. The cause lies, primarily, in our prostitution of love. Even if its result were not this frightful plague, it would nevertheless be profoundly injurious to man, since the moral devastations which accompany this degeneracy suffice to destroy a people slowly but surely. This Jewification of our spiritual life and mammonization of our mating instinct will sooner or later destroy our entire offspring, for the powerful children of a natural emotion will be replaced by the miserable creatures of financial expediency which is becoming more and more the basis and sole prerequisite of our marriages.Love finds its outlet elsewhere."

(Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf)

New important news source.

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:19:58 GMT

Feeling a little down after so much time with no new "The Show"s with Ze Frank?

My friend Eric (who mostly limits his comments to e-mail) sent me a link to a new important news source:

Now, there is no excuse for being ignorant about current events. You've got the Daily Show, and "Unlce Jay"...how can you lose?

Summary of my reading of Mein Kampf...chapters 1-5

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:56:40 GMT

Volume I:

Chapter 1: Life story, lots of whining and bragging about how tough and smart his dad was, and how tough and smart he was.

Chapter 2: Says that as a Christian, he had a hard time accepting anti-Sematism, but then started to read the works of REAL CHRISTIANS ™ and came to understand that it was his Christian duty to oppose the Jews and their Marxist plot to destroy humanity. He also says he figured out that the secular Jews were only pretending to oppose the Zionist Jews and they were all actually in cahoots together.

Chapter 3: He says reason Germany was great was because there were mostly just Germans there, the reason Austria was having so much trouble was because of cultural pluralism and liberal acceptance of other people’s and cultures and languages. Germans should have been running things in the German language, and all other ethnic groups should have been educated into a German identity and required to conform to German norms.

Also, it was a bad idea to let everyone vote. Representative government is a big joke, because everyone gets to talk. In a representative government, great men are always burdened by what most of the people want. Real leaders can’t really express themselves fully with the great mass holding them back.

The Liberal Press fools people into thinking representative government is good, when it is really just a way to avoid personal responsibility.

The Pan-German movement failed because it tried to defeat representative democracy from within, when it should have been trying to destroy it at it’s foundations. Also, it tried to win over the middle class when it should have exploited the Proletariat.

The Christian Social Movement was successful because it properly exploited the lower class, and won over the Catholic Church.

Chapter IV:

He says that God has created nature such that it is essential for the survival of a group to have numerous offspring. Any attempt to limit the number of births is a crime against God and nature. God has shown us through his creation that the strong produce many offspring, and then they over-run the resources, and have to struggle with other groups for resources. Eternal struggle is God’s way of increasing the human race. Attempts to try to help the unfit survive, attempts to manage resources for the future, or to limit population within the bounds of resources will end in the extinction of “our” race. Also, it is an unpious attempt to thwart the will of God.

Refers to a person who interferes with God’s plan as a”dear little ape of an almighty father”. In other words, such a person thinks he’s an ape and he thinks he’s God all at once.

The German policy of “internal colonization”…that is, encouraging German people to move to other areas of Germany to provide labor for agriculture and to shore up ethnic German presence in areas dominated by other ethnic groups is short-sighted, because it implies that Germany can secure its survival through work and not through conquest. Other European countries make the mistake of creating far-flung empires around the world which are difficult to maintain, and expend too much effort for the gain they provide. If would be more efficient to expand German territory to neighboring countries. Expresses admiration for America's position as having enough land-mass to expolite for quite some time and grow strong before having to join the struggle. Notes that America had no need of colonies, because they could efficiently expand into their own land mass.

He says that a leader should embody the religious values of his people. If he can't do that, he should be a religious reformer.

Chapter V: Contempt for pacifism. Contempt for international commerce. Contempt for social doctrine stressing pacifism. Expresses happiness about the Boer War, because it is a “heroic struggle”. Describes relative peace as “morbid decedance”. Favores isolationism and expansionism.

Expresses joy at the outbreak of WWI because now Germany could (in his view)fight for its existence without limiting its consumption to the limits of its borders, or gaining the difference through trade. Celebrates the end to peace efforts as salvation for the German people.

“And if this struggle should bring us victory our people will again rank foremost among the great nations. Only then could the German Empire assert itself as the mighty champion of peace, without the necessity of restricting the daily bread of its children for the sake of maintaining the peace.”

Describes his transformation into a battle-hardened soldier, and expresses his contempt for “politicians” who were talking about peace, and “the press” who were, in his mind, dampening the citizens zeal for war.

“Shortly after our first series of victories a certain section of the Press already began to throw cold water, drip by drip, on the enthusiasm of the public. At first this was not obvious to many people. It was done under the mask of good intentions and a spirit of anxious care…Instead of catching these fellows by their long ears and dragging them to some ditch and looping a cord around their necks, so that the victorious enthusiasm of the nation should no longer offend the aesthetic sensibilities of these knights of the pen, a general Press campaign was now allowed to go on against what was called ‘unbecoming’ and ‘undignified’ forms of victorious celebration.”

Expresses contempt for “Marxist” (Jewish) intellectuals who had been preaching the liberal ideas to people. Rejoices that they had to retreat in fear at the uprising in national pride. Laments that they were not rooted out and killed while public sentiment would have allowed it.

He advances the idea that the only way to completely eliminate a world view (in this case, what he describes as the Jewish Marxism; pacifism, population control, resource management, commerce, diplomacy) is to kill every last person who adheres to the world-view.

But in order for it to work it has to: 1) have a spiritual and moral basis to get the support of the people (already established earlier that the moral basis should be the prevailing religion of the people, and the most fundimental doctrinal foundation should be stricktly adhered to). 2) advance a positive message of self-defense and talking about what is being preserved more than what is being destroyed. People need to know what they are fighting against, but they should be kept more aware of what they are fighting for. 3) the movement to eradicate the world-view must be absolutely consistent, and there must be NO ideological compromise with the enemy, no room for moral confusion, no grey area, and no hesitancy. There must never be a show of weakness, indecision, or error.