Some Thoughts For Your Day

- As is to be expect, Sarah Palin is in full-on "quit picking on me"' mode now that her book is being scrutinized by not only the public, but various members of the media. She's upset that the AP is fact-checking the assertions that she ( and her ghostwriter ) made in her memoir. Why does she think that we are to simply take her at her word? This is, after all, the woman that quit her job rather than finish out her term as Governor of Alaska, that was famous for either making things up or acting like a bumbling freshman during the campaign. She, and all of her drooling sychophants, intend on using the "you can't question a woman - that's sexist" stance in order to deflect any questions. And Fox"News" is more than happy to carry that water for her as long as they can.

- There is nothing more pathetic than people that continually deny the well-recorded history of this country. And that definately extends to the reactionary conservative tea-bagger set. What is it about honesty that they can't grasp. Do they not realize that their conservative Jesus, Ronald Reagan, actually offered amnesty to illegal immigrants and had to deal with 10.2%unemployment?

- It's always fun to see conservative Republicans scurry away from their fearmongering talking-points on healthcare when it comes to light that the very things they are using as a weapon is actually part of their own package. The "death panel" meme that was so pervasive several months ago has shown up in the RNC's own healthcare plan. That's right, they offer "end-of-life" counciling. Woops.

Their Intellectual Honesty Has Bowed Out, Again

Over the past 48 hours or so, conservatives have insisted that Obama has someone "breached protocol again" by bowing when greeting the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Straight away, I knew that this was nothing more than another example of their flail around on the carpet and shriek as loud as you can strategy, so there really wasn't as much substance to their side of this non-issue to begin with. So since people like Ed Morrissey insisted that there was some piece of verifiable evidence that heads of state ABSOLUTELY do not bow to other world leaders, I thought I would try to find said piece of procedural language. And considering that Ed, and other bloggers were citing each other, it's safe to say that searching Google would do nothing but turn up tons of results that all said the same thing yet didn't provide a true source.

And that's when Twitter came in handy. SEK over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money has found something that the reactionary conservatives in this country might want to take a look at.









For those of you that aren't familiar with the man doing the bowing in these photos, that's former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. You know, one of the men that helped us defeat the Nazis and Japanese back in the 40s. I think it's a fair assumption that people like Morrissey and "The Purse-Lipped-One" Michelle Malkin aren't going to admit that there is not set protocol when greeting heads of state from other countries. However, and this is something that conservatives REALLY don't want to even begin to understand, when greeting someone of a different culture, there are customs when greeting others.

For instance, bowing and Japanese culture are widely recognized around the world.

When dealing with non-Japanese people, many Japanese will shake hands. Since many non-Japanese are familiar with the custom of bowing, this often leads to a combined bow and handshake which can be quite complicated to execute. Bows may be combined with handshakes or performed before or after shaking hands. Generally when bowing in close proximity, as necessitated when combining bowing and shaking hands, people turn slightly to one side (usually the left) to avoid bumping heads.

Looks to me like Obama is following Japanese tradition and it is reciprocated. This is how diplomacy works - show the person you are going to be speaking with that you understand their culture and aren't some blithering buffoon who's likely to puke in your lap.



But back to the Ike side of this story. Should this actually be something that conservatives respond to, it is likely that they will create some line of reasoning that shows that he truly didn't matter in the landscape of American history or that his status as a Republican is irrelevant to the discussion.

Let's remove Obama from the equation for a moment. What do wingnut conservatives know about the cultures of other countries? Is this why they are so against diplomacy - they're afraid that they'll make a fool of themselves for being so unblushingly ignorant?

Ignorant, Conservative, Quote Of The Day

While the next two to four months of maneuverings and hearings may provide more insights into the views of Mr. Obama's pick, barring an unforeseen development -- not unheard of in Supreme Court nominations -- Judge Sotomayor will become the second Hispanic (Benjamin Cardozo was Sephardic) and third woman confirmed to the Supreme Court. Democrats will win the vote, but Republicans can win the argument by making a clear case against the judicial activism she represents.

Karl "I'm Really Spending More Time With My Family, Really I Am" Rove in an article from the Rupert Murdock owned Wall Street Journal.

There's a problem with this though, Benjamin Cardozo was a Jew who's ancestry was traced back to Portugal. Portugal is not considered a Hispanic country.

It can, and has, been argued that what is at issue is not that Portugal is normally considered a Hispanic country, but the very real fact that people like Rove use ethnic terminology in order to seem more educated than those they are attempting to inform or represent - if they be an elected official, which Rove was thankfully not.

It is likely that this line of thinking, that one particular race has held a particular position in government, will be used against the next African American that runs for the Presidency.

A Haven For Racially-Charged Language And Ignorance

I am speaking, of course, of the Fox Nation website.

In a "discussion" relating to Barack Obama's scheduled appearance at Notre Dame's Commencement, complete with video and scary music, you get the sense that Fox Nation welcomes and encourages ignorance and language that steps right up to the line of blatant racism.

Anonymous
Anyone truly offended should just stay home and let the University mail your paperwork to you. The biggest nationally visible impact any of you could possibly have would be for the cameras to look out onto thundreds or thousands of empty seats where the students normally sit. Let "Buckwheat" speak to empty chairs.

Thursday, May 07, 2009 at 06:16 AM

Anonymous
For those of you saying Obama is a Christian, He was a Christian for election purposes only. He's the living embodiment of AntiChrist, using the concept of Christ to advance his personal ambitions no matter how non christian they may be.

Thursday, May 07, 2009 at 05:57 AM

Delores CH WV
Odd, that ND invites someone who will not even attend the National Prayer Day sponsered by the Catholic Church!
Wake Up....................................This man is not coming because he is your friend. He is just stickin' to you because he the ONE. Just watch his evil smile..................................gives me the creeps..........
I would definately not break bread with this man!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009 at 10:15 PM

Wolverine - Independent - Colorado
Anything can happen in politics. Especially with monkey head, the guy from Indonesia, he illegal alien that claims to be a President, the guy that made all of these promises to get your vot and some haven't realized it because they are so infatuated with him being a black president that they cannot see that he just killed America. Purposely demeaning the catholic faith. Read Below:
Terrorism is, most simply, policy intended to intimidate or cause terror. It is more commonly understood as an act which (1) is intended to create fear (terror), (2) is perpetrated for an ideological goal, and (3) deliberately targets non-combatants.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009 at 09:23 PM

Bernie
Canceling National Prayer Day, Obama states he will pray on his own.
Well ND now cancel Obama and let him pray on his own as he wishes!!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009 at 07:26 PM

And they just keep going.

Another piece about the Hawaii legislature creating an "Islam Day" is also drawing out the loonies in the Fox Nation. Linked from Michelle Malkin's blog, the piece leaves out one crucial bit on information.

It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day.

Although Malkin does link to the CBS.com story, she decides to crop that last line off.

There a lots of silly "National Days", as well as days that most of them probably don't know about but seem to think don't exist. I'm sure that none of the commentors on FoxNation - as well as Malkin's Blog - even considered that. Here's quite a few:

January
13- Blame Someone Else Day

Febuary
1- National Freedom Day

March
4- Hug a GI Day

April
16- Patriot's Day

May
2- National Day of Prayer

November
24- What Do You Love About America? Day

And there's tons more.

The larger point of this is that it's Hawaii that is recognizing this day for reasons that the fringe right-wing isn't willing to understand. Their rationale is that since all terrorists are Islamic, then everyone of the Islamic faith are terrorists. If you are willing to follow that logic, then you'll fit right in at Fox Nation.

The Ignorant Nativist

How many "American" holidays can you name?

Lou Dobbs can't even think of one.



Courtesy of Media Matters

Hey, Redstate. Fuck You.

Francis Cianfrocca, or "Blackhedd", at REDSTATE has a problem with how people are expresing themselves in regard to Obama winning the Presidency.

I’ve been struggling mightily with this. Not only every talking head and newspaper writer in the whole world, but also large numbers of my acquaintances have entered a state of near-delirium over the result of last Tuesday's election.

Many of them have been saying “Please, just let us have this moment.” This is startling because at some level, they’re acknowledging that the hope, joy and even (God help us) the tears that they’ve invested in what is merely the result of an exercise in transferring political power, are phony and will not last.

Not suprisingly, the more that people like Francis become irrelevant, the more that they will start to tear away at the very fabric of reality in order to create the alternate versions of any and all situations.

Francis takes the painfully obvious and twists it into something that makes ones brain throb. Not in-so-much as it is a difficult piece to read, but that his thesis is so ridculous, so preposterous, that it will, in fact, cause vessels to burst in your brain.

Either they believe they themselves are racists, and they were suddenly redeemed by their vote for a black man. This is messianism of a high order. It's very unsettling, and very creepy.

The other possibility is that they all believed hitherto that every white person in America is a racist except for themselves and their acquaintances. And they’re overjoyed that all the rest of us turned out not to be as racist as they’d all been led to believe.

Sorry. I’ve never been a racist. And I’ve never believed that all that many people in America really are animated by racism and ignorance. If nothing good comes out of this election, perhaps at least we can get past this slander born of the sins of past generations of people, none of whom is still alive today.

What Francis is trying so hard to escape, is that many people - both within and outside of his political affiliation - have been and will continue to have their thoughts and actions guided, in part or in whole, by racial divisiveness.

This article, and more that are sure to come, are and will be nothing but a pitiful attempt to try and completely dismiss the notion that racism ever existed.

Those that not only voted for Obama, but actively and passionately campaigned for him, don't think that this is a fleeting moment. We see this as the beginning of something. It is the start of a progressive revolution not meant to simply stay within the confines of politics.

These people who have allegedly said "please, let us have this moment" to Francis are not speaking as if this is a one-time-only deal. They are saying, if in fact we are to believe the author's statements as true, that the far-right conservative ideology - which is continually vomited forth from Redstate - is specifically designed to stamp-out any and all voices and actions that wish to see this nation returned to it's founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Francis Cianfrocca, and all like him, wish to deny the very existance of things that are still poisoning America. They wish to indoctrinate our children rather than have them develop their own thoughts and opinions. They wish to establish their own segregationist tactics against gays, lesbians, non-Christians, hispanics, and yes - blacks.

The author may not consider himself a "racist" and has stated as such. However, it is undeniably obvious that he is - for lack of a more appropriate or even coloquially resonant term, a fucking idiot.

Michelle Bachman : A Case Study In Ignorance

This is something that you would expect to hear from someone who knew nothing of the 2005 French Riots other than what Fox"News" was telling her.

Moderator: Given the recent rioting in France that is the result of a sub-culture that has not assimilated, what would you do to make sure that a similar situation does not take place in America?

[...]

Michele Bachmann: I just want to say only in France, only in France could you have suburban youth rioting because the welfare benefits aren't generous enough. And that's... That's what they're telling us now is happening there. And only in France could that happen.

From The Up-Take.

These statement are from a debate that was held when Bachman was initially running for her Congressional seat for Minnesota. One has to wonder how someone with such seething discontent for anyone that doesn't conform to her utterly canted view of the world - of reality - was able to garner enough votes to win a Congressional position.