National treasure Jon Stewart wants to know:
Category: Religion
I Wish that I Lived In Pennsylvania Right Now
I want to vote for Joe Sestak, candidate for Senate,who just did his commonwealth proud:
Sestak chimed in, “As you know, I haven’t taken very good direction yet from party leadership. All that said, I strongly believe in the constitutional right of religious freedom and in the separation of church and state applying equally to everyone. Those are rights that I defended for 31 years in that fine U.S. Navy. This is an issue for New York to resolve as long as it respects those constitutional rights. … Let’s also step back and say, ‘Let’s stop playing politics with religion.’ “
When someone asked about the sensitivities of the Sept. 11 families, Sestak said, “Do I respect those sensitivities? Oh yeah. When I walked out of that Pentagon, 30 people who I knew never walked out of that building. My 9/11 is that Pentagon. Am I sensitive to their desires? Sure I am. But I also upheld the Constitution for 31 years. I lived with men and women of all religons and you know what? They’re all equal, and I believe that is what’s most omportant in this.”
Maybe I’ll write him in in 2012.
I’m not feeling to hopey changey about Dr. Dean today.
Well F%$# Me.
Pat Buchanan taking the moral high ground
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Ted Olson says that Obama is Right
Howard Dean calls for the Islamic center to move
First, Pat Buchanan seizes the moral high ground, 7 words I never expected to say, when he takes Newt Gingrich to task for inappropriate Nazi references:
How do you get more attention than Sarah Palin, who’s very good at this, is to go two steps further. I mean, I think bringing the Nazis into the argument is always absurd in American politics because there is no valid comparison there. And secondly, you know, you bring that in and that’s all we start talking about.
Meanwhile, Ted Olson, Republican hatchet man, and survivor of a 911 victim, his 1st wife was on one of the planes, has said that Barack Obama was right to say that this is a matter of fundamental rights and values.
And while we are on the the matter of people taking counter-intuitive positions on this, we have Howard Dean calling for the Islamic center to move.
I’m not sure what brought on this uncharacteristic outburst of cowardice, but Dr. Dean is the individual here to whom the “wanker” tag implies.
We live in a world that resembles what The Onion would write, if they were on Bizarro World, and they dropped acid.
Deep Thought
H/t JR at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.
The Daily Show is the Best Journalism on TV Today*
Seriously, the fact that Jon Stewart has so much material to work with makes me despair for the future of the Republic.
This sh%$ is not rocket science, and the idea that the press is not to call bullsh%$ over transparent bullsh%$ is not a mark of professionalism, it is a mark of cowardice, hypocrisy, and laziness.
In any case, on to the vid.
*Yes, my Geek Goddess, Rachel Maddow, is a close second.
I Have Been Remiss in My Duties
I have not posted Jon Stewart’s take on the Lower Manhattan Islamic center:
And Wyatt Cenac’s expose:
I have to add Mr. Cenac to my list of People I Do Not Want to Piss Off.
And Here Comes the Walk Back
Remember when I said that, “I expect to see him [Obama] walking this back in some manner or another over the next few days, because, after all, that’s how he rolls?”
Well, he just walked it back (that was quick):
Speaking to reporters today, President Obama drew a sharp line under his comments last night, insisting that his defense of the right to build a mosque does not mean he supports the project.
“I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding,” he said.
So, to quote Chris Hayes on Maddow this evening, this is “Supporting the 1st amendment in principal, but not in practice.”
So long as Democrats, and Obama is the head of the Democratic Party in all the ways that matter, are willing to flee in terror of this kind of crap, this poo will continue to be flung.
H/t Digby.
What Keith Said
Keith Olbermann’s special comment on the bigotry and cowardice behind the campaign technique masquerading as outrage on the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan:
He had his groove back today.
Big Surprise, Harry Reid Chooses Cowardice Over American Values
He’s called for the Lower Manhattan Islamic center to move:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has now spoken out on the Muslim community center in New York — saying that while the organizers are free to construct the project, it should be moved somewhere else.
“The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else,” said a statement from Reid spokesman Jim Manley. “If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 911, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation.”
If he weren’t running against Sharron Angle, I’d be rooting for the Republican.
Of course, he is running against Sharron Angle, so I am merely ambivalent.
Of course, it’s so transparently craven that it probably hurt him more, but cowardice when it is both self-destructive and stupid appears to be a basic Democratic Party value.
I Take a Few Days Off, and This Happens……
He goes and supports the right of an Islamic center to be built a few blocks away from the former World Trade Center (aka Ground Zero):
President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”
After weeks of avoiding the high-profile battle over the center — his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said last week that the president did not want to “get involved in local decision-making” — Mr. Obama stepped squarely into the thorny debate.
“I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.
But, he continued: “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.”
I am stunned. I did not figure that he has the guts to do this.
I am pleasantly surprised, but I expect to see him walking this back in some manner or another over the next few days, because, after all, that’s how he rolls.
Hopefully, I am wrong about this.
If There is the Slimmest Possibility of Making the Wrong Decision……
Then you can be certain that soon to be former New York Governor David Paterson will be in favor of it:
Gov. David A. Paterson said Tuesday that he would consider offering state-owned property to the developers of a $100 million Muslim center and mosque if they decided to build it farther from ground zero.
The governor, wading into a fierce national debate over freedom of religion, said “there is no reason why” the center, known as Park51, should not be built as planned, two blocks from the former World Trade Center.
Well, let’s see. We have:
- Appealing to the basest of bigoted demagogues.
- Just how far from ground zero do you have to be?
- Why is it OK for a strip club to be located less than a block away from the mosque sites.
- This a blatantly unconstitutional engagement of religion by the government. It’s both a subsidy, and a ban based on a the religion of those involved.
- OK, I’m a Jew, when does my shul get its free real estate on Manhattan?
Seriously, this guy almost makes McConnell and Boehner look good.
Kidnapped, Made to Smoke a Bong, and Worship Aqua Buddha?
We have a report that as a some sort of twisted college prank, while an undergraduate at Baylor, Rand Paul and his friends kidnapped a coed, and then made her take bong hits worship “Aqua Buddha” in a stream.
This is whack, and I hope that Paul doesn’t do drugs any more, but it raises a question: If he was into this, why did he go to Baylor, where they ban premarital sex because it might lead to dancing.
This is a weird news day.
Normally I Don’t Comment on Local Rulings of Local Landmarks Preservation Commission
Only this time, it was the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission ruling that the location for the Islamic center and mosque in lower Manhattan is not historically significant, allowing for construction to proceed.
This puts them on a higher moral plane than Abraham Foxman’s ADL, but considering his recent history, the geriatric leader of the ADL does not set a particularly high bar.
They Should Save Their Energies for the Pedophile Priests
The Chilean President has denied a request by the Catholic Church to pardon members of the Pinochet junta currently jailed for murder, rape, kidnapping, etc.:
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Sunday denied a pardon to people jailed for dictatorship-era crimes, a move likely to ease tensions with the opposition and rights groups over a controversial call for clemency.
Chile’s Catholic Church had asked Pinera to free or lower jail sentences of military officers convicted for human rights violations as well as other criminals in a call for clemency to mark the country’s upcoming bicentennial celebrations.
The pardon request infuriated human right groups and the center-left opposition, rekindling memories of General Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 rule that still divides many Chileans.
I’m thinking that the Church of Rome issues of forgiveness that are a bit “closer to home”.
Perhaps they should address these matters before engaging in a full throated defense of the perpetrators of horrors of the Chilean dictatorship.
You Win a Brand New Car! Or a Spiff Horse Drawn Carriage!
They are having a blood drive in Ohio, where donating blood enters you into a competition for a brand new car, or, if you so choose, you can win a brand new custom made horse-drawn buggy:
During the traditionally slow summer months for blood donation, the Northern Ohio Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross offers an incentive: Donate a pint, get a chance to win a car.
It’s a tried and true promotion. From charity golfers to high school boosters to game show contestants, who wouldn’t want to drive home in a brand … new … car!
How about a culture that shuns such modern contrivances. Say, the Amish.
Turns out Amish people are faithful blood donors in this district, which encompasses Geauga, Holmes and Tuscarawas counties – all centers of Amish population.
The Red Cross doesn’t want to forget them, said spokeswoman Christy Chapman. So in addition to the car, donors can win a brand…new…buggy!
Seriously.
Obviously, this is a sensible and humane way to encourage blood donations by accommodating the needs of a supportive community, but I also find it a hoot.
What can I say, I’m not a good person.
What a Repulsive Capitulation to the Forces of Bigotry and Evil
The Anti-Defamation League has, over the past few years, attempted to forge ties with the Christian Right, because they are perceived as “Pro-Israel.”
It should be noted that the fundamentalist Christian definition of supporting Israel means that they want Jews to be around to die horribly and painfully during the Armageddon that follows the rapture, which is a different definition of being “Pro-Israel” than I was previously aware of.
Well the latest big of demagoguery coming from our Christo-Fascist friends is their Jihad against an Islamic center being built in lower Manhattan, largely because they think that this is an act of bigotry that can play well for them politically.
In response, to these contemptible proclamations from Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and the rest of the merry band of bigots, the ADL has come out against the complex with a bizarre statement saying that the people screaming are bigots, but that the screaming has upset 911 victims, and that any construction should therefore be stopped.
The ADL has affirmatively allied itself with the philosophical descendants of the bigoted thugs who lynched Leo Frank, which, ironically enough, was the event that led to the creation of the ADL in the first place.
The Latest Country to Ban the Burqa is……
No, really:
The Syrian minister of higher education has prohibited the entrance of veiled female students into universities and colleges throughout the country, news agencies reported Sunday.
Dr. Ghitath Barakat explained that the donning of face veils, which cover everything but the woman’s eyes, “opposes the morals and values of the academy”.
Barakat’s decree followed similar ones approved by a number of European parliaments, including Belgium and France.
Obviously, while Syria is a part of both the Arab world and the Islamic world, it is in a number of ways atypical. Its rulers are Alawites, who are not considered normative Muslims by Sunni or Shia, and the government is rather stridently secularist, it is the sole remaining Ba’athist regime, but it does provide an interesting counterpoint to European bans.
Deep Thought
Victor Stenger, noted atheist, has come up with the following ad for London buses.
Speaking as someone who is religious, I wholeheartedly agree: science does fly you to the moon, and religion does fly you into buildings.
Whatever benefits an individual, or a society, might derive from religion, there are real dangers associated with people assuming that a supreme being sanctions their actions.
I would also add that the socialist critique of religion, that it is used to maintain the power of the powerful, Karl Marx said that, “Religion is the opiate of the masses,” is yet another concern.
I would argue that most of these problems are more an artifact of religion than they are of private and personal faith, and, interestingly enough, the majority of the founding fathers, including George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, would wholeheartedly agree on this point.
French National Assembly Votes to Ban Burqa
The vote to ban face coverings in public places with only one no vote, and it now goes to the Senate, where passage almost certain.
I have actually lived in a place where face coverings were briefly banned, I discovered this when we had issues with Halloween masks one year, for reasons completely unrelated to religious observance.
As I stated a few months ago, I have some mixed emotions here.
First, there is already an extant ban on masks in public, so the law, with its €150 fine for wearing the veil seems to be gilding the lily. Simply by enforcing the existing ban on masks in public places could achieve the same effect.
That being said, criminalizing coercion by family members to wear the garb, the law calls for €30,000 fine and up to a year in jail, does seem to be an unalloyed good.
Of course, you really don’t have good guys on either side.
On one side you have right wing nativists, and on the other side, you have a profoundly medieval mindset which sees the subjugation of women as a core value.*
If there were only a way for both sides to lose this battle.
I don’t think that women should be wearing the burqa anywhere in the world, but I am still conflicted as to whether this needs to be put into law.
*In the interest of fairness, I consider the Jewish Heredim, the ultra orthodox, to have a, “profoundly medieval mindset which sees the subjugation of women as a core value,” as well.
Karma, Neh?
So, a preacher in Ohio with a lot of money and wacked priorities decides to erect a six plus story statue of Jesus, because helping the poor is for punks.
I imagine that he thought that God is much bigger into graven images than he is into helping the downtrodden.
Well, the score is now God:1, religious and self-aggrandizing nut-job:0.
Lightning struck the statue and it burned to the ground. Doubtless the preacher won’t even feel a shred of doubt though.
Posted via mobile, which is why I am not composing a filk of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” (“Smoke on the Jesus?”) for my blog.