Read This: Beck Plus God Does Not Equal X | Politics | Religion Dispatches

I'm very late in commenting on the competing rallies held in Washington on the anniversary of Dr. King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech and that sucks ass, so I'm sorry.

But hell, I need to say something and the Tea Party movement is still out there and even though this particular event has come and gone, this still matters.

There is a very good article on the issues of race and faith as they relate to the rhetoric of Glenn Beck.

My first comment on the article is this. Butler is right about the absurdity of comparing Beck to Malcolm X.

Not because of their opposing ideologies, but because they are not anywhere close to being in the same league.

Brother Malcolm was a goddamn hero.

He was one of the great minds of the 20th century and comparing ANYBODY to him is a leap and there are very few people alive that are worthy of such a parallel.

And to compare someone like Glenn Beck to him is just fucking dumb.

Okay, let's move on.

I don't believe every single person who follows Beck or watches Fox News or goes to Tea Party rallies is racist or stupid. Let's just get that out of the way up front.

People believe what they do for a wide array of reasons.

There are plenty of Tea-party-people who are simply life-long conservatives, or truly believe they have to go out and protest to protect capitalism as if it were in danger.

Having said that, conservatives who keep insisting there is no racism in the Tea Party movement are either in denial or they're lying.

On its face, the rally in Washington might seem innocent enough.

But given the subtext of the debate of whether or not the Tea Party movement is inherently racist, the act of holding a "Restoring Honor" rally on the anniversary of MLK's "Dream" speech in the spot where he spoke WAS an intentional "Fuck You!" to Black America.

It can't be interpreted any other way.


If one were to be extremely generous and give Glenn Beck the extraordinary benefit of the doubt which he hasn't earned, the rally was at the very least a deliberate "Fuck You!" to the NAACP.

But forget Glenn Beck for a minute.

Right now, I'm talking to those in the Tea Party who are genuine in their principles.

I'm speaking to those of you who are conservatives and go to these rallies for ideological reasons alone, not for the adrenaline rush being part of a mob gives you.

Stop ignoring the racist signs. Stop pretending these guys are on the fringe. They represent a significant segment of your movement and you can't just close your eyes and hope we don't notice them.

When they are pointed out, you can't say the "liberal" media is singling you out and picking on you.

Stop faking that innocent, wide-eyed look when the NAACP tells you that you have blatant racism within your ranks and saying, "What the hell are you talking about?"

It makes you look stupid because you know what we're talking about.

I've talked to Tea Party people who have told me point blank that the "N" word has NEVER been used at a rally.

Really? Never?

We see the signs at every Tea Party event.

Let's turn back the clock for some perspective.

When we protested Bush, we were unpatriotic. We hated America.

And when we assembled, we were arrested en-masse.

You have people coming out, literally talking and acting like the Klan and look the other way.

You deny that they're there.
When your people make violent threats, you brush them off.

Just a few years ago, you were screaming for the heads of any actor or Dixie Chick who dared question the leader of our great nation because doing so was unpatriotic.

We were seeped in yellow-ribbon McCarthyism.


Don't get me wrong, it's not your protests themselves I have a problem with. It's okay for you to hate Obama, or any leader for that matter.

As a Socialist, I am not happy with our President either because he's a rabid capitalist who's expanding free trade and dragging out both of the wars we're in.

I could list a few more reasons, but that would be getting off point. Let's just say that, like many leftists, I do not consider him a liberal.

But coming from the same assholes who, less than two years ago were telling us that if we love America, we couldn't criticize the President, is disingenuous.

Imagine the uproar if a country music group came out and criticized Obama and as a result was pulled off of every radio station in the country.

My point is, you and your protests, by contrast are being treated with a lot of dignity compared to what we went through for eight years.

You guys have no idea how easy you have it.

I'm getting off topic again, aren't I? Sorry, it's late.

Back to acknowledging and denouncing the racists in your ranks.

I mean, they can't even come up with newer material than "Go back to Africa?" At least be original.

Jesus.
If you want us to take you seriously as a populist movement, at the very least admit that there are dissenting voices in your ranks and that a chunk of the people who show up might be racists.

Then denounce them.

Until then, mainstream America is going to keep on thinking you're fucking idiots.

Lower Standards, Less Freedom

"There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia." - Newt Gingrich

No, Newt, you fucking idiot.

See, here's the problem. You and those who think like you seem to think it's good enough for America to be as free as countries like Saudia Arabia.

Fuck you.

That's not good enough.

Our standards are higher than that.

We believe in absolute freedom of religion and if you want to lower our standards to the level so that we are on an equal plane to countries like Saudi Arabia as far as our freedoms go, then thank Christ you no longer have any power.

Stop Throwing Around The Word "Freedom" If You Don't Understand It

I don't have a whole lot to add to the argument about the flap about the Islamic Cultural Center they want to build a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Just a couple of things.

How far away do you want this thing? Eight blocks? A couple of miles?

Are you actually suggesting we start zoning religious sites?

Yes, the people who attacked us on 9/11 were Muslims.

And on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, we were attacked by white Christians. So let's agree, no Protestant churches within two blocks of the Murrow Building?

Fuck, Scott Roeder gave his life to Jesus on his knees in front of the TV because Pat Robertson told him to. How about we not allow the 700 Club to be broadcast in the Wichita area?

Let's go all the way. Anywhere there are victims of religious violence, let's pick a radius and ban that religion out of respect for the dead.

Maybe if the same people who were saying "Let them build the Islamic Center farther away," weren't also protesting the erection of Mosques in Tennessee, Wisconsin, California and, well, anywhere in America, they wouldn't sound so goddamn silly.

So please stop saying that the terrorists hate our freedom. Because you have already given them that.

You throw the word "freedom" around, but you either do not believe in it or you just don't understand it.

Either way, when you say it, it sounds hollow and I don't believe you.

Make that Change

The political center of America has been moving decidedly to the right for decades.

Actual liberals have been all-but banished from the Democratic Party.

Ask yourself, do we have any heroes in America like Marek Edelman, who left us this past October? Uncompromising and fierce, even in the face of death, even in the face of the scorn of his countrymen and allies?

The Democrats will not get their shit together on issues like marriage equality or reproductive rights and they have caved on every economic issue there is.

The Clinton 90's heralded an era of Democratic Reaganomics.

The Democrats are now on the wrong side on the death penalty, the war on crime, the war on drugs, and more or less every other aspect of both our foreign and domestic policy.

Gains are small and usually immediately taken away. Resistance is met with either scorn, or muscle.

We, the left, caught a great deal of grief from the Democratic Party when we dared to refuse to support Gore and Lieberman who might as well be Republicans.

I’m sorry, but you can’t move that far to the right and then complain that the left has abandoned you.

And anyone who has spoken out in the last eight years, from Ward Churchill to Bill Maher to the Dixie Chicks can tell you what it’s like be responded to with simple, brutal, unmoving force.

And now, we are at a crossroads. Did we really mean what we said when we voted for change, or are we just jerking off?

Are we pissed off enough about this recession to demand that the people we just put into office reverse the past 28 years of systematic deregulation that led to this whole mess?
The hubris of the last eight years, the prioritizing of power over party, and party over country has imploded the Republican Party and we have been given a magnificent opportunity. It would be a crime to waste it. But the Democrats have indeed wasted the opportunity.

They could not get meaningful health care for all Americans even with a Super-majority in both houses. You know why? Because they didn't fucking try!

They talked of bi-partisanship as if it were the primary virtue for any politician. As if making friends with the enemy were more important than principle.

They've put Blackwater into Pakistan for Christ's sake!

No more. I've come to a crucial decision. When you choose between the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil.

Go ahead and tell me I'm throwing my vote away.

But from now on, every vote will go to a Socialist, Green or Independent candidate.

I used to think the Democrats' problem was weakness. Now I see that it's a lack of conviction.

And for the record, to you, the Democratic Party, you left us. Adieu.

Contact Your Lawmakers! Get Out of Afghanistan!

Below is a link you can click to send messages to your Senators and your Rep asking them to support legislation getting us out of Afghanistan.

http://www.winwithoutwar.org/page/speakout/timeline

They have their own pre-written message, but I suggest writing your own. I think when politicians get the same thing over and over they tend to think a lot of people are clicking without thinking and probably don't give it the weight they should.

So, in the hopes that Sen. Bond, Sen. McCaskill and Rep. Graves will actually read something I took the time to compose myself, here's what I wrote:

With due respect, the arrogance with which we are fighting this war is staggering.

I know that you are educated. You don't get to where you are if you're not smart.

No superpower in history has been able to conquer Afghanistan and many have tried.

First, the terrain is prime for defense and second, this is not a culture that surrenders. EVER.

What's happening there now is a civil war and we have got to get out. Please, I care about my country too much to stand by and watch it continue in its imperialism.

I'm writing to ask that you support legislation introduced by Senator Feingold (S.3197) or Representatives McGovern and Jones (H.R. 5015) requiring the president to submit to Congress a plan for the "safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan."

President Obama promised change and he has not delivered it. It is up to the legislative branch to stand up and get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Please, don't let any more of them die over there.

Please don't let any more of our young people become killers.

Thank you for listening.

Joshua D. Lucht

Blue Springs, MO 64015

joshlucht@yahoo.com

Sour Grapes - Guilty

I'm not going to be shy about the disappointment I'm feeling that Dick Cheney seems to be 'feeling good.'

Call me a sadist, but after spending the morning writing about the swath of destruction being cut across Iraq and Afghanistan and cutting the worst gore out of crime scene video where a family of eight was beheaded outside Baghdad, I'm not feeling particularly forgiving of the old cunt right now.

I just watched video of a child who had his fingers blown off after picking up an IED outside Marjah, so why does one of the people responsible for all this get to rest comfortably and go home later?

Suck a cock and die, Dick.

Fighting for Freedom

Support the troops.

I’m not going into a rant about what supporting the troops does and doesn’t mean. That debate has been rehashed so many times, I’m not going to say anything new. It’s a tired argument.

You’re going to say that I can’t support the troops if I’m against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And then I'll say that your idea of supporting the troops is a hollow joke. It takes more than a bumper sticker and standing up for a Lee Greenwood song at a monster truck rally.

On that argument, we are at an impasse.

I’m talking about the whining I hear on a regular basis regarding the media. There is a deep resentment towards the media for ‘getting into our business’ that I’ve been hearing from people in the military.

The sentiment seems to be that we should shut the hell up and just let the army do its job.

No.

I’m going to get into why my answer to that is an absolute, unequivocal ‘no’ in a second, but first, let me clear up a couple of things.

When we talk about our troops, we always hear about how they’re fighting for our freedom, or protecting our freedom. That’s a notion that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard questioned.

But it’s just not true.

That isn’t the function of our armed forces. Their function is to keep America strong, not free.

A strong military is hardly unique and there are plenty of governments and countries and empires now and throughout history who have had strong armed forces yet had no freedom.

China, the former Soviet Union, the Third Reich, and we could go on and on through the mightiest military forces in history. If a strong military was the key to freedom and democracy, these societies would be the models of what we should pattern our Republic after.

No, the difference is the free exchange of ideas.

The media.

Because these powers, with all their military might, controlled the flow of information.

They had state-run outlets for information that the government wanted the public to hear. There was no transparency and no accountability because there was no free press to ‘get into the military and the government’s business.’

That is our job. The media holds the military and the government and corporate America accountable.

We have, these past years been failing miserably, but that is a different post.

And that transparency, not military strength is the difference between a totalitarian state and a free country.

You are the ones fighting for our safety and strength.

We are the ones fighting for our freedom.

Goddamn Mongols! More Civil Than The Lone Star State

Mongolian's President Tsakhia Elbegdorj has suspended his country's death penalty, which makes him officially more progressive than Rick Perry.

President Elbegdorjsaid that continuing to execute people degrades a country's dignity.

In his first year as President, Elbegdorj has already commuted the sentences of three men sentenced to die.

This is not a complete victory, however. Elbegdorjsaid has suspended the death penalty. He has yet to abolish it altogether.

Roseann Rife, a spokesperson for Amnesty International said that, "It's a very important first step towards abolishment. he mentioned in his speech that while this is an important step for him, the country also has to then move forward to implementing its laws to make sure it becomes fully abolished in law as well."

To give you an idea, world-wide what countries still use the death penalty, the breakdown looks something like this.

Last year, Mongolia executed one person.

China executed more than 1,700.The United States executed 111 people.

North Korea executed 15.

Fuck, it looks like North Korea is more humane than Texas, too.

By the way, the state of Kansas is talking about suspending the death penalty because it costs too much. We are talking about the state murdering people and the only way people are willing to consider putting an end to it is to help the economy.

I know I sound cynical and smart-ass much of the time, but in all seriousness, that simply breaks my heart.

I’m Back And So Is My Soap-Box

Okay, I've taken off a couple of weeks to play video games and junk and now I'm back.

This is in response to a good friend's response to a post of mine urging President Obama to reverse our military’s 'don't-ask-don't-tell' policy.

First, let’s get the preachiest sentence out of the way from the get-go. Equality is not a social experiment.

Okay, the rest of this entry gets about thirty percent less pompous and forty percent less vainglorious from here, I promise.

Animal Collective is excellent. If you aren’t already a fan, seek them out.

Second, from what I have read, the military has not been keeping their part, the don’t ask part, of the bargain. But that is incidental.

The question becomes, is it right to demand silence from the men and women who serve our country?

Why is it that I can say anything in the world with impunity while our service men and women have to shut up?

I have never served partly because of ideological reasons and partly because I don't have the balls.

So, I think that our troops are at the very least entitled to the same freedoms that we take for granted under the first amendment.

And lastly, I do understand that there is a difference between racial prejudice and prejudice against homosexuals, but it is prejudice nevertheless.

Every civil rights struggle in every period of history in every region of the world has looked and behaved differently.

Injustice ranges in nature from beating down ideas and art to economic oppression to genocide, simple murder, rape and everything in between.

Sometimes these fights are won in centuries, sometimes they take days.

Sometimes the solutions are peaceful, tragically, sometimes they are not.

But one thing that every single one of these fights have in common is that they are worth fighting.

There is value in ending prejudice no matter where we find it, and no matter what form it comes in.

Our Definition of Spreading Democracy

Pictures of the New Iraq:

Thank God we ousted an oppressive monster so the people of Iraq could be free.

I know you can't hear the tone of my voice, but I'm being mother-humping, jesus-banging sarcastic.

When I Am Elected God: Part 1

Michael Bay, Joel Schumacher, Scott Stapp, all of the Eagles and any television personalities who talk like Fire Marshall Bill will be banned from the BatCave.

Heaven will be renamed “The BatCave.”

Tony will be reincarnated as Roseanna Barr’s clit. (You don't have to know which Tony. He knows what's coming.)

Tantrum throwing conservatives will be reminded on a daily basis that for the past 8 years they have been telling us that criticizing our President is Un-American. They will then be cooked and eaten by Mark Mangino.

Roberts, Thomas, Scalia & Alito are hunted down by Mothra, Godzilla, Clive Owen from Shoot ‘em Up or Rodan, depending on what kind of budget I have, the Supreme Court will be stacked with Obama appointees.

You will be able to select your own password on your own goddamn terms. None of this at least one letter and at least one number shit. If I want my password to be badmotherfucker, it’ll be badmotherfucker, goddammit.

Toby Keith will get the Dixie Chicks treatment. What’s the fun in winning if we’re not going to eye-for-an-eye these fuckers? He will also then be eaten by Mark Mangino.

John Waters will be the new pope.

My last pre-election rant - 11-03-08

The following is a list of things I refuse to accept.

1) Patriotism being defined as refusing to hold to account our leaders no matter what they do. I’ve been hearing ever since 9/11 that opposing Bush is the same as opposing America. Please. If I had told you ten years ago that to criticize Clinton was tantamount to treason, you would’ve punched me in the sack and you’d have been right to do it. Refusing to accept the actions of leaders we deem as reckless in no way detracts from the love we have for our country.

2) Support for our troops being defined as assent with the actions we have taken in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would say that demanding that we not get our people killed unless we have no other choice is the best kind of support I can offer. There is a lot of talk about honoring our men and women in uniform. I choose to honor them by being furious that more than four thousand of them are dead when they shouldn’t be.

3) Pro-Life being defined solely as the belief that abortion should not be legal. I have so many problems with this, I don’t know where to start. It might be easier to swallow if those talking about the sanctity of life have such a flippant attitude to our actions around the world that costs people their lives, particularly in the Middle East and in South and Central America. If these people fought for the rights of the born as well as the unborn, I would be more willing to listen. I do not accept the implication that the belief that abortion should not be allowed is somehow ‘anti-life.’ When doctors can no longer perform abortions, women bleed to death. Pro-Choice is Pro-Life.

4) Words like liberal, socialist, Marxist among others are something to run from. Everyone who accuses Obama or anyone for that matter of being a Marxist really should read something that Marx has written. That way, you won’t look quite as douchey.

So there, I’m back down off my soapbox and I’m going to play some incarnation of Resident Evil. Everyone have fun tomorrow.

Profoundly Unpatriotic - from 07/14/07

When future generations look back on the 2000 Presidential Election, they will see George W. Bush’s platform of restoring honor and integrity to the Oval Office as the great irony of our time.

It has been almost two weeks now since Bush has commuted the sentence of one Scooter Libby.

For those of you just joining us, Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. He helped assure that Special Council Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leaking of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame went nowhere.

The granting of commutations and pardons are the prerogative of the President, so what exactly makes this particular act of this particular president so revolting? More importantly, why did he do it?

Is it possible that the explanation was as simple as he said it was?

Did he commute the sentence just because it was excessive?

Considering the fact that we are talking about a man who prides himself on being tough on crime, who advocates harsher sentencing and presided over 152 executions as the governor of Texas, I would say no.

George W. Bush does not believe in mercy. Period.

The idea that he would consider 30 months to be too harsh a sentence for lying to a grand jury and obstructing a federal investigation is laughable.

Am I going so far as to say that Bush was lying when he gave us this explanation for his actions?

Absolutely. You are goddamn right.

So, there must be some other reason why he would do this.

Many feel that Libby was a scapegoat for what was, at its heart, a witch hunt.

Some claim that, from the beginning, this has been an overzealous investigation relentlessly pursuing an imaginary crime brought on by those who wish to undermine this administration.

When it comes to Libby’s guilt regarding the charges he was convicted on, the motivation for the initial investigation is irrelevant.

Remember Clinton’s impeachment?

Every time one of us lefties would complain that the President’s sex life was nobody’s business but his own, we were told that the Oval Office hummers were no longer the issue.
Once the President lied under oath, it was a whole other ballgame.

So why apply a different standard to Libby?

Once he lied to a grand jury and impeded a federal investigation, was not the validity of that initial investigation a moot point? Apparently not.

One argument is that since nobody was charged with the crime being investigated that there was no underlying crime.

The flaw in this logic is maddening. The lack of charges being filed is not vindication.

It just means that Libby’s obstruction of justice was, in fact, a success and extends that obstruction.

He assured that the right people were shielded from prosecution and he was duly rewarded.

Now, to the crime that started it all.

It has been asserted that there was no crime to investigate in the first place because Valerie Plame was not covert.

This claim is not an exaggeration, nor is it a distortion of the truth, nor is it spin.

It is simply a lie.

I did not hear anybody say any such thing until Judith Miller said the names Libby, Armitage and Rove.

Up until then, Rove was saying that he had never heard of Valerie Plame and Bush was promising us that if the leak originated from inside his administration, whoever was responsible would be fired.

You do not promise the American people to fire the guilty party if there is no underlying crime.

The CIA would never have asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into the leaking of the identity of an analyst.

If this whole thing had been started by Congressional Democrats, you might be able to argue that this is a political vendetta, but we are talking about the CIA.

Not only was Plame a covert agent, maintaining two identities; she was the operations officer in charge of counter proliferation.

Not only was one our spies outed, an operation to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons was compromised.

We will most likely never know to what extent Plame’s outing had on the CIA’s counter proliferation efforts. What happened to her overseas contacts? Were other agents affiliated with her exposed?

This had to have been a significant setback. We were all put in danger so that Joe Wilson could be punished for informing us that Iraq was in fact, not trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger.

So first, Bush has progressed from promising to fire anyone involved in this leak.

Then, he claimed that he was unwilling to comment on an ongoing investigation.

And now, he has taken it upon himself to undermine the investigation.

The only hope that Fitzgerald had of squeezing something meaningful out of this mess was to try and use Libby’s impending jail time as leverage to compel him to finally tell the truth.

And now, Bush has cleanly and effectively taken away the only tool that prosecutors had left.

With this commutation, Bush has seen to it that Libby has no reason at all to cooperate with prosecutors.

Was this the plan from the beginning? Was Libby told at some point to just keep his mouth shut and he would never have to worry about prison?

We will never know, but I think that it is likely.

In a time when we see so many yellow ribbons and are reminded, and rightly so, that we should ‘support our troops,’ this whole mess takes on another meaning.

We have been told that we are fighting a new kind of war against a different kind of enemy.

It will be fought on many fronts.

One of these fronts, perhaps the most vital, is intelligence gathering. So in this war, like none other before it, spies are troops.

So congratulations, Mr. Bush. You have passed the likes of Pierce, Johnson and Hoover to become the single worst president this Republic has ever seen.

Not only are you entirely devoid of integrity or any sense of morality, you have shown a blatant disregard for both the security of our country and for the well being of the men and women who dedicate their lives to keeping us from harm.

You are more than unseemly, smug, arrogant or immoral.

You are profoundly unpatriotic.