Well, according to the latest national polls it looks like Mike Huckabee is now running neck and neck with Giuliani for the Republican nomination. This amiable and likeable guy - at least on the surface - is a complete wreck of a candidate. The only reason he is surging in the polls is due to the lemming-like nature of evangelical xians who only want to vote for another brain-dead xian. When Huckabee was asked what he attributed his surge to he said something so stupid that only a xian could like it:
“There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one,” Huckabee said. “It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people and that’s the only way that our campaign could be doing what it’s doing.
"And I’m not being facetious nor am I trying to be trite. There literally are thousands of people across who are praying that a little will become much and it has, and it defies all explanation. It has confounded the pundits, and I’m enjoying every minute of their trying to figure it out. And until they look at it from a just experience beyond human, they’ll never figure it out. And that’s probably just as well. That’s honestly why it’s happening.”
I think I even prefer Giuliani to this nonsense.
At the same time Mormon Mitt is trying to convert his raging Mormonism into a plus by touting his "faith." Well, you all know what I think of faith, but this whole speech is a crock of crap. If he were honest he would admit that he does NOT believe what most xian believers believe. But he won't do that... no, no... that would be too... gasp... honest.
Anyway, the whole field of Republicans is nothing but a fetid, stinking bouquet of turds.
Monday, December 10, 2007
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15 comments:
i'm enjoying the huck show. watch him rocket 2 the top, then implode. i think maybe all the scrutiny will take him down. if i thought he had a chance, i'd be very, very afraid.
you've nailed his supporters, btw.
mindless lemmings. push the right buttons, and they'll send ya $$$, 2.
It occurs to me that an important charactoristic of this discussion is its framing. If you remember the 80's, you'll recall the difficulty Act-Up and other organizations had getting the Government to assume it rightful role in confronting an impending international plague. The Feds had already set a precedent for action in such cases with the formation of the Center For Disease Control. However, at the time vested interests without mortal or human concerns were able, through the repeated broadcast of demagoguery, to frame the epidemic as the 'Will of God'. This was the position of Presidential Contender Huckabee at the time.
My concern is that if we dismiss all christians as 'mindless lemmings', we do ourselves a disservice. These folks are, I'm making an assumption here, sincere, earnest and significant. What makes them vulnerable to manipulation, is the same thing that unifies them. An assailable commitment to a written text. This is not a charactoristic of chistians alone. The same can be said of most religions.
Here, I'd like to refer you to Noam Chomsky's book Necessary Illusions. Perhaps you could have a look at it when in your free time. Remember, however, these are ideas and likely to be altered as new data developes:)
derF
One other consequence of all this God talk is how we look to the rest of the world, much of it non-Christian. It gets harder and harder to tell others we are not in a religious war with Muslims when we keep telling anyone who will listen we are a Christian Nation and we have God on our side.
I don't know derF, the problem with the media that I see is the concentration of the media in fewer and fewer hands and the corporate nature of those hands which have tight bonds to our federal government through merger deals, licensing and just plain politics. This brings me again to the Internet and the individual in the original realm of federalism which I believe our Founders(some of them) envisioned. Maybe I am wrong, but your last post to my question on federalism seemed to put federalism in an antiquated and clunky light. I still feel it is the best way to bring power back to the individual and take it away from a strong central source where they can abuse everyone's freedoms. This is why most religions have a central physical base(the Vatican, Mecca, etc.); it is the source of power over the individual. I find many of this world's problems stem from the need for humans to have everything convenient and easy and they are willing to give up freedom for convenience and ease. Maybe I am weird, but I don't always think the easiest and most convenient way is necessarily the best way to achieve an objective.
Again, I do not dismiss anyone's spiritual beliefs as lemminglike, but I also don't think they should be worn on your sleeve either. I asked the dynamic duo on the other site whether it was possible that any two Christians believed in their faith in exactly the same way considering all the factors that go into any individuals life and of course I got no answer, but I would bet there aren't two exactly alike to the nth degree.
just 2 clarify, only huck supporters qualify as mindless lemmings in my post last night.
it seems like about 66.6% of the human race just wants someone 2 tell them what 2 do.
no hard thinking. no questions nagging in the night.
just sweet, ignorant bliss.
a lot of those types will support huck. did ya see how he landed the minutemen leaders endorsement? that'll go a long way with the anti-illegals crowd.
that said, i will check out mr. chomsky's book asap. thanks 4 the recommendation!
I look forward to tracking down and reading the Chomsky book, derF. Thanks for recommending it.
Also, please note that I did preface my lemming comment with "evangelical" xian. Not every christian is "lemming-like" but from my experience most of the evangelicals I've encountered are. Heck, it is almost definitional!
Ahhh… sweet, ignorant bliss. Please, Sir, may I have some more?
Yeah, it’s a long leap from the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s god” to a 'Christian nation'. That, again, is part of the problem: folks making assumptions about what their Constitution is before picking it up and reading it. If we truly want to know what the current war is about, a good place to start is a search of who has profited from it. The America people have paid dearly but there are those who have reaped unprecedented profits.
The reason why The Articles of Confederation were abandoned by the USA is that they were too divisive. The aims of the Nation, at that time self-preservation, could not be maintained with thirteen States behaving as fully autonomous agents. I had hoped when I referred to Civil Right’s in American history (Hammer v Dagenhart, Griswald v Connecticut, and most specifically Atlanta Motel v United States) you would have picked up upon how important a powerful central government has been for the preservation of individual rights. Apparently, that was another flawed assumption on my part.
However, Civil Rights are not the only aspect public life that has been affected by decisive action, or lack of it, on the part of a Central government. I think you have the timeline about right as to when serious deviations from social norms took place that negatively impacted American standards; about 150 to 100 years ago. However, I think you confused the actors. It’s not difficult to do. A couple months ago, I was watching C-Span when they ran a partial list of Representatives who had members of their immediate family working on K street and their considerable salaries. That alone would create considerable confusion.
derF
Even John Edwards, not a radical by any stretch of the imagination, has been hear to say that if you are expecting to exchange a corporately vested Republican Congress/Administration for a corporately vested Democrat Congress/Administration with the result being change, you are deceiving yourself. These are institutions that wield great power. They will not freely give it up. They must be forced to surrender it. Their agents are not about to implement any legislation that is not in their corporate interest. As an example, look to the most recent Presidential Veto, which effectively blocked increased taxation on the Oil-industry’s War-Profits.
derF
derF,
I realize the importance of the central government in maintaining the individual civil rights of the citizenry. It was half of the original mandate outlined in the Constitution. It is what the Bill of Rights are all about. This does not though, confer the power to the federal government to get involved with every aspect of that citizenry's life. I have posted before, many times, the 10th Amendment is the most trampled upon of the Amendments.
The office of the Presidency was mainly(in peacetime, which should be most of the time)to enforce the laws enacted by Congress. Now the President proposes laws, selectively enforces laws and makes up it's own interpretation of the laws Congress enacts.
Congress, to it's detriment, has abdicated it's power to the Executive, become all intrusive in areas the Constitution forbade, has entrenched a formidable Two Party system(with little difference between them, for good reason for them), set up two-way conduits for money and power for a few and have placed this country in legitimate fiscal danger with little foresight.
The Supreme Court has become a political football and has lost sight of it's Constitutional moorings; making decisions based on what yardline the football is placed by the referee(the President).
Now if you are telling me this is the best way to run this country(and I don't believe you are, I am just trying to get you to tell me in your own words what you would like to envision our future to be)on behalf of it's citizens(see, I use that word alot)then we are diametrically opposed.
When I read your post of Naomi Wolf's words, I kept thinking to myself this is happening because of a strong central government where power(and money) is concentrated. It is becoming more concentrated each and every day. When I read your postings on "global corporations" and "war profiteering" I think to myself, this is because we have a strong central government, derF. Think about it, corporations want one thing more than anything else, predictability. Sure, they want laws to go there way, they want government contracts and low corporate taxes. They want protectionist laws passed in their particular fields. On and on. But all of this leads to one avenue, predictability. You can get predictability when you are dealing with one entity. But when dealing with 50 disparate entities, well that is another matter and it scares the shit out of global corporations. You are seeing it now with energy companies, health insurers and car manufacturers. Because California, Massachusetts and my state, Arizona, among others are taking the lead in energy conservation, water conservation, immigration, eminent domain issues and even foreign policy to a degree, corporations are running to the federal government to take over because they don't want 50 different sets of laws regulating them, they want only one, and one they have a pretty good(relative term)relationship with. This is why I have never really minded gridlock in our federal government; it promotes the doing of nothing from them and lets the 50 laboratories come up with the best answers to our problems. Will it be perfect, hell no. But I think it(federalism) has a chance to make this country more of what it was originally about.
One other point, there will always be divisiveness between the 50 states, but a few years have passed since the Articles of Confederation and I think the states are more used to each other as are the citizens in those states. Most Americans, I believe, think of themselves as Americans. Back when the Articles were tried we were a fledgling experiment. Though still a relatively young country, we have a couple of centuries under our belt and because of our collective power and wealth, I would hope States would be less willing to fuck up the ongoing experiment for the sake of their own particular State. I would also envision the insertion of the federal government in a mediation process; that would make sense. I just personally think federalism is a method we haven't tried in awhile and I look at the path we are on now with much trepidation.
derF,
What better way to dislodge these entrenched henchmen(sounds like a good name for a rock band, actually)than a return to a more federalist system? Hey, if the population of Venezuela can keep Chavez from becoming a king, anything can happen.
I don’t consider myself an ideologue. I think it is because of this lack of ideology that contributors at Freethinkers Paradise had difficulty categorizing me. But after all the time spent debating with the likes of Gene, fcc and G; I have lost the ability to differentiate between when someone is being intentionally myopic and when they just don’t possess the historical background to orient themselves socially/culturally/politically. That is why, when citations and references are made, I find it so infuriating if they are ignored. So, when faced with a disregard for background information, I begin to suspect an unreasoned adherence to agenda.
You wax poetic in your portrayal of a divisive form of federalism. It’s cute but annoying. A couple years ago, I was engaged in conversation by a woman during one of those interminable stays in a medical waiting-room. Initially, I thought it was just pleasant small-talk designed idle away our shared internment. It broached mildly interesting topics: origins, evolution, and education. However, this proved not to be a conversation at all but an opportunity for this lady to exercise her indoctrination upon a wider audience. This was made evident by everything that couldn’t be introduced into the conversation. No evolutionary evidence, none of the results of genetic research, and no comparisons between human and animal physiologies and behaviors were allowed because they didn’t fit within the woman’s limited belief system. I’m sure you can understand how a discussion within these parameters was destined to arrive at a conclusion defined by her beliefs. It was more an evangelical diatribe and in itself irrelevant.
Though it is encouraging that California, Arizona and other states have on some environmental issues, this is not corporate law. Corporations are chartered at a state level. So, 50 different sets of laws have been regulating them. What we currently have is a result of that policy. States have been played against each other in the pursuit of jobs and investment. This has resulted in a ‘race for the bottom’.
If you are asking me if I accept this factious approach to a commonly share problem could liberate us from entrenched powerbrokers, I would suggest that recent history proves that it will not.
derF
I don’t know if you will remember Cynthia McKinney. She was the first black female elected to office from the state of South Carolina. McKinney caused quite a stir when she was first to call for impeachments against the Bush administration. For this, she was immediately rewarded, despite her high visibility and regular attendance, by not being recognized and summarily frisked and grouped by Capital Hill Security guards. (Who is the Administrator in Chief for Federal buildings?) During the 2006 election primaries AIPAC’s from across the country sent donations to finance her contender’s campaign. You see, there is something that both the political conservatives and the Democrat Party understand. If they are right and Ms McKinney share this understanding, then she deserved that betrayal. Oh, what is the something? MONEY ALWAYS TRUMPS PUBLIC INTEREST.
Well, today Ms McKinney has announced that she has changed Parties. During this upcoming election, she will be running as a Green candidate.
derF
Huckabee is a shit head. Back in 1992 he said he wanted to quarantine all AIDs patients. According to Huck homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk." So could stupidity you old fuck!
He has also been quoted as saying he wants to take this nation back for christ.
How can this idiot be surging in the polls? Because there are untold millions of idiots just like him being polled, that's why? It is as scary as all fuck.
Oops… I meant to say groped.
derF
derF,
This is the same crap Ron Paul is getting from his party and the right wing press and he HAS money. The dipshits at the other site believe everything Fox News is shoveling out on Paul(conspiracy theorists, etc.) even though they agree with much of his platform(fcc even said he agrees with 90% of Paul's platform which is a higher percentage than myself, but he sweeps him under the rug anyway). A highly concentrated corporate press + a strong central government + entrenched politicians with little difference between them + an apathetic voting public = beautiful governmental experiment with freedom as it's core down the toilet.
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