Why is this man struggling??

Correct Dope Slap administration

Jesus Christ on a Cracker, Obama is angsting over whether to sign an executive order to make sure that the LBGT community is not discriminated against in federal contracts.  The religious leaders involved, RELIGIOUS leaders who you would expect to be above petty shit like this, are demanding to be excluded from working next to people who do “unnatural” things with each other in bed.  That would include almost everyone, gay or straight, married or un, over the age of consent.  Yes, Rick Warren, married heterosexual couples engage in sodomy of one kind or another.  You might even be one of them.

Obama might not be in this predicament if he hadn’t made use of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives to give taxpayer money to churches like Warren’s in exchange for favorable sermons to the parishioners before election day.  The rest of us were very skeptical when Obama made an alliance with evangelical leaders in 2008.  Remember how women were supposed to consult with their clergy before getting an abortion?  Remember how we all were concerned with the signals that Rick Warren’s inaugural presence would send to the LGBT community?

Ok, nevermind all that now.  We’re dealing with a crisis situation.  We can’t go back and dope slap Obama and his short- sighted campaign droogs, although I did mention back in 2008 that the scorched earth policy against women was going to come back to bite us.

Here’s the correct response to these so-called “Christians”, and I do use that term very loosely.  Sign the damn order for the following reasons:

1.) It’s the right thing to do.  Treating people like dirt and unequally to make people in your tribe feel superior is the signature hallmark of narcissists.  It’s just wrong morally and ethically.  It’s very strange for an agnostic panentheist non-Christian like myself to be pointing this out but, what can I say, the country is in the grip of some weird juju right now and the people who should be upholding the rights of others, I’m looking at you Rick Warren, have lost their fricking minds.

2.) It’s for their own good.  Slight digression: Alan Turing was a code breaker extraordinaire and computational genius.  He was also gay.  Without Turing, it would have been very difficult for England to triumph over the Nazi’s.  That guy should have been a national hero until he died.  Instead, Alan Turing’s life was destroyed by some very nasty anti-gay laws.  He was barred from serving his country and his security clearance was denied.  He committed suicide.  Congratulations, Britain.  If Obama doesn’t sign the order because the Rick Warren’s among us stamp their little feets and threaten to hold their breaths, he will be denying the rest of us the talents and gifts of American gays and lesbians. It’s just not a very smart, long term move.  But then, when have we ever seen Obama and his campaign guys look to the long term?  Amaze us for once.

3.) It’s none of their G-d damned business.  Seriously, these evangelical so-called “Christians” need to learn to respect other people’s boundaries.  Or at least be consistent.  If it’s sodomy they object to, they need to find out what their married employees are doing too.  If they don’t like to contemplate what other people are doing in bed, they need to demonstrate some self-control and STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.  Get a life.  I guarantee you that the liberal side of the spectrum does not drive itself crazy thinking about all of the permutations of what body part goes into what orifice.  We drive ourselves crazy thinking about the melting point of the earth and whether we have passed the point of no return.  We stay up nights worrying about more important things we can, you know, actually do something about.  Ending gay sex forever does not rank up there among our insomnia inducing scenarios.

4.) Ignore the evangelical so-called “Christians”.  Obama doesn’t have to run again.  And the people who are really freaked out by the fact that might have to work cheek by jowl with people whose cheeks and jowls might have been touching the cheeks and jowls of a same sex person the night before are never going to vote for you anyway.  In any case, they will never respect you if you give in to them.  That’s because they have been encouraged to become narcissistic and any ground you give will just encourage them to exceed their boundaries in other areas.  Today it’s gays, tomorrow they’ll threaten not to vote for you if you don’t eliminate evolution from the school curriculum everywhere. Trust me, they don’t know there is a line.  You need to make them see that there is one or the establishment clause will become meaningless.

Like you’ll listen to me.  You’re the one who gave us the ACA and how did that turn out?  I don’t mean, “how is the propaganda spinning the ACA?”.  I mean, how did the ACA actually turn out for the little people who have to deal with it.  (Don’t even get me started.  It’s a disaster.  Someday, the brain trusts are going to correlate the falling GDP with that piece of crap legislation.  Mark my words.)

But signing this executive order to protect gays and lesbians is a no-brainer.  It’s the right thing to do.

Therefore, I predict Obama will screw it up somehow.  He’ll qualify it just enough that he will plant the seeds for further evangelical so-called “Christian” mischief down the road.

 

Judicial Mischief

Well, that didn’t take long.  The ink had barely dried on the Hobby Lobby case before a.) we learned that the ruling actually applied to *all* birth control, not just the ones Hobby Lobby erroneously decided were abortifacients, b.) Rick Warren, the evangelical lite preacher Obama insisted be shoved down our throats at his inauguration decided that asking him and his kind to associate with LGBT people at work was intruding on their “religious freedom” and c.) John Roberts was lying through his teeth when he said employers, like Wheaton College, would simply fill out a form to get their birth control exemption from Obamacare.

I’m guessing that it won’t take long for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to determine that none of its permanent unpaid interns at their Brooklyn and Bethel sites should get blood transfusions.  Oh, it could happen.

But the bigger problem is going to be the bureaucratic nightmare that now will descend on the labyrinthine monstrosity that is already Obamacare.  And, no, Paul Krugman, it is not all that.  The ACA is a horrible piece of legislation and I speak from experience since I don’t watch cable TV anymore.  You don’t have to be a Republican to absolutely hate it and every stupid destructive thing it has done to the workplace.

So, yeah.  It’s pretty bad right now.  On the other hand, this ruling could be the eucatastrophe that spurs the good side to victory down the road.  You know, a REAL national healthcare policy that’s genuinely universal and has cost controls.  One that doesn’t have holes open for the exploitation of working people and protects the rights of women and LGBT people.

Or not.  The Democrats seem to be in some sort of psychogenic fugue these days.  You would have thought they would have had a 24/7 internet news outlet where their supporters could go to get the best opinion and strategy but, um, I’m not aware of one.  Nor have I seen a line up of liberal clergy condemning this ruling and its implications.  It’s like the whole party sort of checked out.

What’s clear is that the Robert’s Court is determined to destabilize the culture in such a way as to create chaos.  I don’t think this ruling was motivated by the religious convictions of the majority.  I think it was motivated by the ideological convictions of the political party that nominated them.  But at this point, I’m not sure what their aims are.   Do they even know?  Or is it just a power trip without a purpose?  Because that’s what it looks like.

What we really need is a Churchill right about now.

 

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Misogynists of a feather flocking together

What the hell is our problem, feminists of America?

As the hair-flipping, tweeny-bopper-imitating Naomi Wolf giddily claimed on the Teevee, we have instantly achieved all we could possibly want simply by electing Barack Obama to be our next President. I mean, hel-LLLLLOOOOO! What else could we possibly desire? Why don’t we just go away, and stop embarrassing well-behaved womens’ magazines so? Perhaps we should consult with our pastors and husbands before opening our big fat mouths again!

Well, Naomi dahlink, we have ISSUES – and not the emotional kind.

Just as no one in the corporate media or the Democratic Party would admit that the objections of millions of Democratic activists to Barack Obama were based on something other than race, patriarchy-enablers like Ms. Wolf refuse to acknowledge that feminist objections to Obama are based on…anything at all.

But we do object; we object most strenuously. In a year when Senator Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win a primary, and went on to win the most primary votes of any candidate, male or female; in a year when Governor Sarah Palin became the first vice-presidential nominee in 24 years (and the first one from the Republican Party), Ms. Magazine chose to highlight a man on the cover of their magazine – and not just any man: a man that had run a blatantly misogynistic campaign in order to defeat these women, and to win the Presidency of the United States. What woman worth her uterus would not be a tad exercised at this revolting development?

America Jumps The Shark

I’m beginning to think that the art of politics (if there is such a thing) is the ability to get strangers to pretend to understand when you talk nonsense out of both sides of your mouth.  Unfortunately, that is also today’s definition of journalism.  That makes looking for turds of political wisdom among the media bullshit as much fun as a scavenger hunt in a sewer.  And just as obvious.

Politico is reporting that there are landmines ahead for ever-prepared policy wonk, Hillary Clinton, in her upcoming Senate confirmation hearings because she’s married to Bill and she ran against the man who appointed her, while at the same time (same article) reporting that her confirmation hearings are scheduled for only one day and everybody thinks she’ll be confirmed “speedily.”

Rasmussen Reports tells us that “lots” of people, 75% in fact, plan to watch at least “some” of the first black president-elect’s upcoming inauguration, with 28% planning to watch it “all,” while you couldn’t pay 21% to watch “any” of it.  They don’t tell us how many people plan to watch “for sure,” but 61% of black people will watch “all” the festivities, because he’s black, too, while only 22% of whites feel the same way, because they’re not.  Since the stupid networks show every indication of airing every aspect of the stupid inauguration festivities over and over until we “all” puke, I think it’s significant that 21% obviously won’t be turning on their televisions, reading a paper or surfing the net in the foreseeable near future.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s recent support of Rod Blagojevich’s appointee for Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, Roland Burris, should score her some major points with black voters and colleagues who pretty much liked her anyway, according to CQ Politics.  Fienstein’s support registered well with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, though her reasoning had nothing to do with his skin color; rather, she cited a quaint little concept known as “the law.”

Feinstein’s bold stance on a no-brainer issue nonetheless puts her at odds with her Senate colleagues intent upon prolonging what amounts to a pissing contest during a circle jerk.  Those opposing Burris’ seating because he was appointed by a guy they consider to be a slimeball, (presumably not because he was involved in shady pay-to-play scams, but because he got caught; nobody’s calling for Bill Richardson‘s head or for his duties to be suspended; probably because he doesn’t have a Senate seat to sell like Blago and barely Governor Patterson) are suddenly trying to figure out how to zip up their wet pants and look presentable without washing their hands now that they realize that the curtain’s open and people are watching.

What do you do when you pick the guy you like to give the invocation at your inauguration, in order to make nice with the people who didn’t vote for you, if the people who did vote for you hate him?  Why, you find somebody the people who like you will like, too, and invite him to speak at another event, call it an “inauguration…something” and, sell it on EBay the internet.

But, all of that is just business as usual.  Sure, the outgoing Republican president turning over 350 billion taxpayer dollars to the incoming Democratic president is a little unprecedented (like being a little pregnant) but, not eyebrow-raising in today’s Obamacan political climate.  And, so what if people who read Politico think that MSNBC’s Chuck Todd is a latter-day Walter Cronkite?   Who cares if the FISA guy wants to digitalize medical records?  Multiple wars, impeachments, Gitmo flip-flops, unemployment, sucky economy, scandal, we’re used to all that stuff.

No, what has sent the country into a Happy Days-inspired leap from reality is the recent propensity of popular culture icons to embrace the ridiculous as it relates to Barack Obama.  You’d think they’d never seen a black president before, or something.  First Ms. Magazine, in a move that makes “The View” and “Playgirl” seem radical by comparison, boasted an improbable cover touting Obama’s non-existent feminist creds, going so far as to depict him as the women’s movement’s very own super hero, a giant leap up, in the wrong direction, from Prince Charming or Barbie’s Ken.

But the “fridge was nuked” waaaay over the rainbow shark when Marvel Comics equally (more) improbably paired Obama with a real-as-it-gets superhero, Spiderman, in it’s latest edition, because the future Geek-In-Chief was once a collector.  I shit kid you not.

The Barack Obama rage has now taken the comic world by storm. Reportedly the president will feature along with the superhero ‘Spiderman’. The fact that the US-president elect was a Spidey collector as a kid, has inspired the Marvel Comics to feature the ‘icon’ for the children’s book.

“When we read that we thought, ‘Oh my God the future Commander-in-chief is actually the future nerd-in-chief,’ the New York Daily News quoted Joe Quesada, Marvel’s top editor, as saying. “With a geek in the White House , we just had to give him a shout back. It’s just the coolest thing ever,” Quesada added.

Unlike Ms., at least they didn’t give the Obamessiah undeserved super powers.  Maybe by this time next week, or more likely, the week after, since “lots” of us will be eating nachos and watching the Super Bowl of Politics on cable next week, (I wonder if they’ll have cool new commercials?) we’ll find out that the wheels on the Obabus are actually jet-propelled wings or something.  I’m sure a rocket fueled, Acme Co. E-ject-O driver’s seat is too much to ask for.

And, the wheels on the bus…

*X-posted over at my place, Cinie’s World, as you would expect.

Merry Almost Christmas!

I Hate You, and You, and You...

In the spirit of the season, I’d like to take a break from my usual snark to ask this question:

Who Would Jesus Hate?

Now, if you ask Rick Warren, it’s Jews, women who have abortions and are not properly submissive to their husbands, and teh gays. (Whew – that’s a lotta hatin’.)

If you ask the pope, it’s teh gays. (Yes, homosexuality is hot! Oh, that’s not what he meant?)

I know I’m a Jooo, but so was Jesus. And if we’re going to cherry-pick the Bible to make it reflect our beliefs (as all Judeo-Christians do, since the book is full of contradictions and outdated restrictions), then why can’t we pick the most enlightened parts, the most tolerant parts, the most loving parts?

Like this one:

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing….

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

– 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

And what about this, which is directly attributed to Jesus himself?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40

Let’s Stay Focused

Heidi Li linked to this video in a discussion thread last night, asking who was the most pitiful bigot. 

I responded that I couldn’t watch the whole clip, because I have a low tolerance for those staged arguments, but I told her it seems to me that Left Blogistan is angrier at Rick Warren than they are at Obama for inviting him. 

Rev. Rick-Roll is who he is, a religious fundamentalist, a homobigot and a sexist.  We have lots of those in this country, and he’s actually a relatively benign example of the species.  There are many of his ilk that are far worse, but hatred is hatred, even when it wears a smiling face.

I don’t waste too much time worrying about bigots just because they’re bigots.  Because of the “free country” thingie that’s part of our political philosophy, we have to tolerate the presence of haters and other undesirables.  We let Nazis, Klansmen and anti-semitic groups exist, along with cults, lawyers and mimes.  Like cockroaches, we’ll never be rid of them completely.

Obama is the one everyone should be angry at, because he’s the one giving Warren the high profile platform.  By doing so, he is tacitly endorsing the bigotry that Warren preaches from his Saddleback pulpit, as if it were nothing more than a difference of opinion on tax policy.  Despite all the talk about being inclusive, I doubt that Obama has invited any representatives from NAMBLA or the Ku Klux Klan.

The way you deal with bigots is to ignore them.  Oh, you may want to keep a watchful eye on them in private, but you don’t reward them with what they crave most, which is public attention.  This kerfluffle is giving Warren lots of attention, and it’s raising his prestige among the fundie crowd, and most likely his income too.

Anyone who thinks it’s going to help advance LGBT rights or end sexism is smoking too much hopium in denial.  The way to end homobigotry and sexism is to repudiate them, remove them from the protection of law, and make them socially unacceptable like we did with racism.

Racism, homobigotry and sexism are all separate and distinct from each other.

Separate but equal.

Obama: Dancing with the Ones That Brung Him

Barack Obama, Committed Christian

So, Obama wants Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, eh?

This Rick Warren?

“Of course I want to reduce the number of abortions,” Warren told Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steven Waldman when asked if he was going to work with the Obama administration to achieve an abortion reduction agenda or if he thinks that the effort is a charade.

“But to me it is kind of a charade in that people say ‘We believe abortions should be safe and rare,’” he added.

“Don’t tell me it should be rare. That’s like saying on the Holocaust, ‘Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that,’” Warren said. “I’m not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.”

Rick Warren thinks that women who have abortions can credibly be compared to Hitler. Godwin’s law, apparently, does not apply to people with scary ladyparts.

But don’t fret, female Obamabots. I’m sure the President-Elect doesn’t endorse those views. He’s just trying to have a…say it with me now…discussion.

• As he’s said again and again, the President-elect is committed to bringing together all sides of the faith discussion in search of common ground. That’s the only way we’ll be able to unite this country with the resolve and common purpose necessary to solve the challenges we face.

Horse. Pucky.

When you give a raving homophobe and misogynist like Rick Warren a national audience of tens of millions, the discussion is over.

Oh, did I not mention the homophobia? My bad. Here, watch Rick Warren say that gay marriage is a sin, and equivalent to incest and pedophilia. And of course, the “moderate” Mr. Warren was a most insistent proponent of Proposition 8 in California.

Let’s talk about “all sides of the faith discussion.” Again, this is a giant steaming load of Unity Pony crap. Where’s the rabbi, Barack? Where’s the imam? Where have they been this whole time, while Obama was on his “faith, family and values” tours and giving Donnie McClurkin and Douglas Kmiec a high profile during his campaign and organizing evangelical Christian programs like “The Joshua Generation” for the young-uns and meeting with the members of the “faith community” in Chicago (which was overwhelmingly evangelical and Christian, coincidentally) and pledging to e expand upon Bush’s faith-based initiatives (98.3% of the funding of which went to evangelical Christian organizations, coincidentally), and papering the country with flyers entitled “Barack Obama, Committed Christian?”

Based on the past and the present and the future plans of President-Elect Obama, it appears that “all sides of the faith discussion” includes Christian, Christian and Christian. Sorry, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists et al. You are under that darn bus too! Hope you didn’t expect him to give a flying fuck what you think or believe.

In other news…

There is a lot of news to cover today:

• Al Franken is the likely winner of the Minnesota Senate Race.  It’s not official yet but he is down by a mere 5 votes and is expected to pick up enough votes in the discarded absentee ballots that will put him over the top.  (You can judge the absentee ballots yourself at the Star-Tribune site.  There are literally hundreds of legitimate ballots what were tossed for no good reason)  I’m really glad to hear this.  Franken the satirical writer will put away his poison pen and become one of the only truly liberal senators we have.  Hillary was a strong supporter and I know she picks wisely.  So, a cautious congratulations to Franken and for those who would like to help defray the costs of the recount and make sure that every vote is counted, please see this link.  Update: Whoo-Hoo!  Franken is up by 31 123 129 205 this morning.   You can follow the action online here.  Go Al, Go!
• Terry Gross interviewed Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University a couple days ago.  Warren was recently appointed by Congress to investigate how the Paulsen Bailout funds were spent. What she says about the Treasury Department is scathing.  What she says about Sheila Bair, the FDIC head, is nothing short of laudatory.  Bair is the unexpected gem in the Bush Administration.  She is a woman with foresight and good administrative skills.  And she is also under attack by the Obamaphiles.  Don’t ask me why.  I think we all know.
• Bill Clinton reveals his donors to the Clinton Global Initiative.  {{Yawn.}}  There’s really nothing new here.  Leaders from countries around the world succumbed to the Big Dawg’s charms and donated money to a worthwhile foundation.  Some of those people were from countries we don’t like much.  Eh! They’re money’s still green and as long as they don’t mind parting with it with no strings attached, where’s the fire?
• Not everyone in the NY media likes the prospect of Caroline Kennedy as the next Senator from NY.  Buffalo News columnist Rod Watson reports on her “listening tour” of upstate NY.  As we all predicted, Lady Caroline, the intensely private person, has not been exposing herself to the germy hands of icky constituents.  Nooooo.  She has been greasing the skids with the leaders of the political machine in the upstate areas.  Sweet!  Edgeoforever, our source for all things Caroline, has more this morning.
• Oh and you women Obamaphiles?  You should remember what Rick Warren said about abortion.  You don’t remember?  Let me remind you:
  

  “Of course I want to reduce the number of abortions,” Warren told Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steven Waldman when asked if he was going to work with the Obama administration to achieve an abortion reduction agenda or if he thinks that the effort is a charade.

  “But to me it is kind of a charade in that people say ‘We believe abortions should be safe and rare,’” he added.

  “Don’t tell me it should be rare. That’s like saying on the Holocaust, ‘Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that,’” Warren said. “I’m not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.”

• Following up on that last point, edgeoforever at Not Your Sweetie has this little bit of Holiday Joy.  Bush has signed an executive order that allows a health worker with consceintious objections to refuse to participate in abortion related activities.  “Oh, don’t worry about that”, the stupid female Obamaphiles will say. “He has 120 days to rescind it once he takes office!”  Oh, REALLY?  And we’re sure he’s going to do that, why, exactly?  Remember, Obama’s whole shtick is to not rock the boat and challenge the media.  If he steps out of line even one tiny iota in those first 3 months, the Villagers are going to eviscerate him.  And they will use culture wars to do it.  It’s inevitable.

Changeity, hope, change, change!

Why Did Salon Care About a Freshman Senator’s Visit to Saddleback Mountain in 2005-2006?

Joan Walsh

Heidi Li linked to this story at Salon by Joan Walsh:

“I tried to keep an open mind when Obama began courting Warren three years ago; Salon sent a reporter to cover the popular young Democrat’s first visit to Saddleback Community Church, to talk about its laudable AIDS work, in 2006.”

This raises some questions for Ms. Walsh:

In 2006 Obama was a freshman Senator from Illinois who was not yet a Presidential candidate.  Rick Warren’s church is in California.  So why did Salon send a reporter?  Were you asked to send one, or were you told?

Either way, who made the request/gave the order?

Three years ago was 2005.  Obama had less than a year in office.  He had accomplished nothing.  2006 was an election year but Obama wasn’t on any ballot.  So why did you care about “keeping an open mind?”  How many other freshman Senators got the same attention? 

C’mon Joan, tell us more! 

Why did Salon give a fuck what Obama was doing back then??

Is it Just Me?

Doesn’t it seem like the lefty blogosphere is way more upset about this friend of Obama:

than they were about this one?:

Is misogyny more acceptable than homophobia?