Five Before Chaos

Now, given my current standpoint on religion, I never think any new houses of worship are a good thing, although I’m not about to advocate banning ‘em. But this whole “mosque at Ground Zero” thing is yet another thing that convinces me we are truly Redneck Nation.

Putting aside the fact that in the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero, there’s a few other mosques, titty bars, gay bars and several other things that conservatives object to when they’re not secretly going to them (except for the mosque, of course, we can’t have that… plus whatever goes on there might not be in English), why on earth should anyone give a flying fuck about this? Seriously. Will the ghosts of the WTC hijackers be attending this mosque? What are you tough-talking pants-pooping chickenshits afraid of?

Well, to answer that question, unfortunately, we have to poke our noses into the mouthbreathing, paranoid, delusional far-right blogosphere,  more specifically, something by a WATB named Brian Fischer. Fischer blogs for the hate-group known as the American Family Association. With quaking, greasy fingers, he wipes the piss and shit off of his keyboard long enough to tell us:

Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.

Each one is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the “Grand Jihad” of which Andy McCarthy has written.

Really? Each one? For “evidence” he makes the huge jump citing some radical Muslim, who obviously speaks for all Muslims, right? Just like nutters like Tony Perkins, Mike Huckabee, and hell, Fred Phelps speak for all Christians, of course. Or I speak for all atheists, for that matter.

Now, for a contrasting viewpoint, look at what not-nearly-as-crazy-as-Fischer conservative Jeffrey (not Jonah) Goldberg (ADDENDUM: Yes, I know Goldberg’s a warmongering dolt – he just has a momentary lapse of insanity here) at the Atlantic has to say about the Cordoba Initiative (the mosque in question):

This seems like such an obvious point, but it is apparently not obvious to the many people who oppose the Cordoba Initiative’s planned mosque in lower Manhattan, so let me state it as clearly as possible: The Cordoba Initiative, which is headed by an imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf, is an enemy of al Qaeda, no less than Rudolph Giuliani and the Anti-Defamation League are enemies of al Qaeda. Bin Laden would sooner dispatch a truck bomb to destroy the Cordoba Initiative’s proposed community center than he would attack the ADL, for the simple reason that Osama’s most dire enemies are Muslims. This is quantitatively true, of course — al Qaeda and its ideological affiliates have murdered thousands of Muslims — but it is ideologically true as well: al Qaeda’s goal is the purification of Islam (that is to say, its extreme understanding of Islam) and apostates pose more of a threat to Bin Laden’s understanding of Islam than do infidels.

Treason! Traitor! Giving aid and comfort to the enemy! Socialist! Ack!

Yes, Jeffrey, it is an obvious point… to one who, you know, pays attention to facts and stuff, not someone who takes his marching orders from some Michelle Malkin or some similar waste of oxygen. Fischer closes his rant with this gem… who’s to say he’s not open-minded?

American Muslims are being radicalized every single day in American mosques. We are sowing the seeds of our own destruction by allowing these improvised explosive devices to be established in community after community.

If a mosque was willing to publicly renounce the Koran and its 109 verses that call for the death of infidels, renounce Allah and his messenger Mohammed, publicly condemn Osama bin Laden, Hamas, and Abdelbaset al Megrahi (the Lockerbie bomber), maybe then they could be allowed to build their buildings. But then they wouldn’t be Muslims at that point, now would they?

Fair enough. Now, let’s just say that there was a big uproar about a megachurch going up somewhere next to the Smithsonian or some other place that celebrates knowledge, and there was a big stink about it. I’d say to Fischer…

“American Christians are being radicalized every single day in American megachurches. We are sowing the seeds of our own destruction by allowing these improvised explosive devices to be established in community after community.

If a megachurch was willing to publicly renounce the Bible and its endless verses that call for the death of non-believers and those who enjoy shrimp or touching menstruating women, renounce Jesus and his messenger Paul, publicly condemn Tony Perkins, The American Family Association, Focus on the Family, creationism, homophobia and Phyllis Schafly, maybe then they could be allowed to build their buildings. But then they wouldn’t be Christians at that point, would they?”

It’d be funny, I guess, if they weren’t serious. But, of course, they are. The Republican solution for fixing the ailing economy?

The Economic Freedom Act of 2010 — introduced by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) — proposes deep tax cuts favoring the wealthiest in America, a reduction in regulatory oversight and the elimination of a federal tax on the estates of millionaires, which will allow wealthy investors to escape taxes entirely on a significant portion of their income.

Republicans say the bill will create jobs where President Obama’s policies have failed to do so.

Because, of course, Bush’s tax cuts for the rich created a bajillion jobs, right? And the rich are just suffering so much, right now. Sniffle. Jordan and Chaffetz also stated that the tax cuts would prevent any future oil spills, reverse the global warming they don’t believe in, divert any asteroids that may head toward earth some day, cure all kinds of cancer, male pattern baldness,  and make Lady Gaga go away.

Now, to understand the theoretical underpinnings of this, I’d suggest one from a typical shill-for-the-rich over at The Cato (“Promoting Social Darwinism under the guise of liberty”) Institute. Mitchell states:

The White House may be playing smart politics by engaging in class warfare, especially if President Obama succeeds in blaming the recession on tax cuts that took place five years before the downturn began. But for those who care about prosperity more than politics, what really matters is that the economy is soon going to be hit with higher tax rates on productive behavior.

Well, putting aside the fact that the economy was more or less anemic, with very little growth throughout the Bush administration, that the said tax cuts did nothing to kick the economy into overdrive, that the upper classes that Mitchell defends have been waging “class warfare” for decades and that when Mitchell talks about “productive behavior” and competitiveness, he’s really talking about a race to the bottom, several questions remain. I linked to him moreso to show it’s the same-ol’ same-ol’ that’s floating around out there, with none of the “maybe we just might be wrong about this” that’s needed when one keeps pushing failed ideas ad nauseum. They’re simply not adding anything new to the discussion at this point.

Maybe I’ll even ask or try to answer a few shortly, but let’s look at the way Republicans really push this – like most things in fundamental libertarianism (just like fundamental Marxism), it looks good on paper, but then that pesky thing known as human nature kicks in. The Repubs and Cato folks seem to push this notion that if you give more and more tax cuts to the rich, they’ll automatically invest it and create more jobs, not just, you know, spend it on stuff to already enrich their privileged lives. It doesn’t seem to work out that way. If it did, the economy would be booming with all that freed-up-death-tax billions, wouldn’t it? Trickle-down is really pissing on the rest of us, as the last thirty years have shown us (more on that below the jump).

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Y’all still coming here? My stats say you are. Once again, I feel like a negligent father in regards to the blog. Life catches up with one every now and then. Between working, finishing this goddamned master’s thesis, and getting my sweetie moved in, the computer doesn’t get much face time, lately. That’s not to say I’m not following the oil spill, continuing Republican insanity and the ongoing corporate/capitalist ass-rape of our nation, I just haven’t had much time to write about it. And yes, every now and then I teeter on pulling the plug, but I just can’t seem to do it. I figure, I’ve made it four and a half years, giving future employers, friends and enemies plenty of things to hold against me, so why stop now?

My hometown here is a pretty common one in terms of Vermont small towns – a blend of hippies and rednecks with your usual mix of eccentrics, trustafarians and normal people thrown in for good measure. And me, of course.  And, oh, the silly things one learns from this stew… two recent examples, all within a 5 mile radius.

Dumb thing number one, from a redneck on the other side of the loop – I finally get it. “Socialism” to right-wingers is not some complex historical political system, it’s simply “when the government does something you don’t like”. Like when they arrest you for a DUI. Apparently, that’s socialism now, according to my neighbor. Perhaps I understand the complete and total ignorance of the teabaggers now a little better. Wait, no I don’t.

Exhibit number two… I’ve noticed, in the past few weeks, random appearances of cows all around the hill. Sometimes in the woods, sometimes running down the road right at me. A few days later, I see a flyer at the convenience store about some lost cows, something like ten of ‘em. Know why? They don’t want to use an electric fence around their pasture, because it’s apparently very mean, or something like that. Apparently, letting your cows get out and get hit by a car or eaten by coyotes is not mean, nor is sending them to the slaughterhouse and eating them. I just don’t understand these people.

Speaking of teabaggers, I want to thank that J.D. Hayworth idiot who’s running against McCain in the Arizona GOP primary. Recently, at some sort of appearance, when asked about his feelings on how the US gets involved in all sorts of undeclared wars now, he stated that we never declared war on Germany in WWII. But it gets better. When someone in the audience questioned that premise, he said, and I shit you not, “But as I recall in my history, Germany declared war on the United States, not vice-versa.” Of course, we declared war on Germany on Dec. 11, 1941, the same day they declared war on us. Here’s the video:

Even John McCain won’t be able to outcrazy-stupid this guy. He’s really the perfect teabagger candidate, in that he doesn’t have a fucking clue about history. And of course, McCain won’t really be able to use this against him, as there are a lot of people who don’t know we declared war on Germany, so McCain would be painted as “elitist” for mocking him. Along with “it’s all about ME”, this notion of having one’s own set of facts (because we can never truly know, of course) sums up these idiots in a nutshell. What keeps these peoples’ craniums from collapsing in on themselves, I will never truly know.

There is an upside to this. I have a great excuse for fucking up now. Let’s say I go and install a window in someone’s house. Poorly. With an unclosed three-inch gap on one side. A few days later, as rain is pouring in, they call me up and tell me I installed the window improperly. My answer? “Not in my history.” One could use it for anything, a hit-and-run, marital infidelity, etc. Hell, Bush more or less used it his whole presidency in one way or another.

Thanks, Mr. Hayworth. You’re a perfect example of the batshit-ignorance that’s making us a laughing stock of the world and a truly half-assed country. You’ll make an excellent running mate for Sarah Palin on 2012, should you both choose to run.

… has always been, I believe, rooted in capitalism and economic libertarianism. Basically, if anthropogenic global warming proponents are correct (as I believe they are), it basically means that we can’t just “do what we want” regardless of the consequences. One of those right wing definitions of freedom seems to be mind-numbingly simple , i.e. freedom is doing (or buying or destroying, but certainly not having sex with) what you want, regardless of the consequences. It certainly doesn’t take into consideration other people’s freedoms to be free from pollution, dirty water or having the public commons completely corporatized and exploited.

And of course, apologists for this worldview inevitably point to “market based” solutions and the convoluted illogic that regulations are hampering environmental progress, as though if there were no MPG standards, and they could build a car that gets 2 MPG, somehow people will miraculously all start buying hybrids. It’s really as crazy as what the Rapture-Ready™ crowd believes, but it’s more harmful, as it truly affects every single thing on the planet.

This free-market fundamentalism consistently fails to address a rather salient point… how do you fix things, when consumers, given a choice between something environmentally friendly or not, healthy or not, toxic or not, repeatedly choose the detrimental option? Nobody seem to be able to give me a decent answer on that, instead blathering on about “individual choice” and “it’s not my fault if people make bad choices”, or when all else fails, “who are you to decide what’s right?”, as though there are really upsides to lead paint or BPH that are somehow escaping me. If all else fails, some vague reference to the Soviet Union and waiting hours on line for a roll of toilet paper are thrown in for good measure.

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Overheard in a Facebook conversation with a conservative. Really:

Nothing wrong with 16th century thinking.. we need more of it because this world is in chaos now so imagine what it will be like 50 years from now!

Sums up the entire movement better than I ever possibly could.

… in that this is what a “million” looks like at last week’s anti-healthcare conservative shit toss in D.C.:

Meanwhile, the lead headline at the CNN website is “New Mom Inspired to Lose 71 Pounds”.

We are a stupid country.

Shorter John Cole:

There is nothing, nada, zilch, zero, nothing, that is bad news for conservatives. When they win elections, it proves we’re a conservative country. When they lose, it proves it. When we pass health care bills, it proves it. When we lower taxes, it proves it. When we raise taxes, it proves it. Everything proves it always.

Did you know that…

• - Obama wants to have all men in this country circumcised.
• - Obama wants us all to have the same healthcare (in a sense, that may be true, as in “access to”)
• - Obama wants us to all have the same alarm system (WTF?)

She “read it someplace”, so it obviously must be true, as “reading it someplace” is the only criteria for truth in conservative America (or “‘cuz Hannity sez so.”)

That’d explain religion, too.

It’s been a while since I’ve commented on the GOP implosion. Perhaps it’s so rapid and farcical, I’m having a hard time even digesting it. It’s as though all of the seediness, intellectual vacuity, and Randian selfish prickishness that so many of us  have known about for so long is finally getting so obvious that even Joe the Plumber could figure it out. Well, maybe that’s stretching it a bit, as there’s no coloring book or distracting shiny objects involved yet.

One of those things that I’ve talked about before is the split between the big money/country club Republicans, and the batshit-insane crazy uncle of the party, the social conservative/Godidiot wing. Anyone paying attention well knows that the real “base” of the GOP (the hypercapitalists) have more or less used the Christian Taliban for electoral success, all the while loathing the flat-earth/dark-ages viewpoint that they’re so vocal about. You know the drill.. vote against the gays, but get a capital gains tax cut, vote to “save your guns”, get a corporate deregulation. It’s so freakin’ hilarious, simply because of the fact, that on their own, both factions at this point would be faring even worse than they are now. The Godsquad pretty much would be more at home with some fringe party like the Constitution Party or something, where they would pretty much drop off the radar. The GOP keeps playing these people for suckers, yet, being “faith” based, they keep coming back for more. It’s quite obvious the distaste from the country club wing for the Godsquad is quite high. Do you think they really give two shits about abortion, especially considering quite a few of ‘em have probably knocked up their fair share and had to take advantage of abortion, lest they hit a setback in their careers and pocketbooks? C’mon.

RNC head Michael Steele has been a hoot lately, saying crazy-ass things faster than I can keep track. First, the “are you crazy?” remark about the GOP being open to civil unions, then the Rush Limpballs apology, and now the GQ interview we’re all hearing about where he inadvertently let slip that he personally probably isn’t opposed to gay marriage or abortion. I can’t remember who I was reading yesterday, but it said that one really gets the impression that Steele basically says whatever he thinks the interviewer wants to hear. I can see that, although I really believe his comments in the GQ interview reveal the schism that I talked about above.

Vote-fraud enabler and GOP hack Ken Blackwell  (the other prominent Republican black guy) had this to say:

“Chairman Steele needs to reread the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and the 2008 GOP Platform,” said Blackwell. “He then needs to get to work or get out of the way.”

See, that’s the GOP’s dilemma. A party who finds “reading the Bible” an important part of their schtick is in serious trouble, in regards to any long-term success, as the country grows ever more secular (and of course, one also has to put aside the achingly obvious conundrum of having a party that continuously boasts of being pro-life, yet seems to simultaneously fetishize war, torture and the death penalty). Most of the real leaders are really hamstrung by the Godsquad, they probably enjoy sex of all kinds almost as much as they love money and power, but have to toe the moralist hack line, and it’s killing ‘em. When are they gonna toss these crazies overboard? As the views of the religious right seem crazier and crazier to most normal Americans, what will be the tipping point when the GOP finally gives ‘em the old heave ho?

I’m really enjoying the Republican meltdown, immensely. Aren’t you? As I’ve said before, they suck at introspection and self-reflection, big time, with the dominant narrative being that “they just weren’t conservative enough”, which is based on this false notion that we’re really a conservative nation, and not just a conservative one, a borderline retarded, batshit-insane conservative nation.

The UK Telegraph has a nice piece right now about how the GOP is pants-pooping about a landslide election that could potentially give Obama a huge mandate and even more power. But the best line is at the end, after the GOP blowhard they talk to is going on about how those conservative “intellectuals” who think Palin is a cancer are now “dead to the party”, and even funnier is this line here. I practically pissed my pants:

He said: “Win or lose, there is a ready made conservative candidate waiting in the wings. Sarah Palin is not the new Iain Duncan Smith, she is the new Ronald Reagan.” On the accuracy of that judgment, perhaps, rests the future of the Republican Party.

“The accuracy of that judgement.” Snicker. Will the fun ever stop?

Sirota also has more on this over at Open Left. Worth a read.