The Other Cheek

The late Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater on John McCain's new pal Jerry Falwell, July 1981: "I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."

-from Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo

Now This I Can Do....

Now this is blogging! In all its glory, copied wholesale from another site:

McCain Embraces Falwell in All His Wingnut Glory

Republican John McCain gives some love to the crazy Reverend:

American military hero and Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver the Commencement message at Liberty University on May 13, at 9:30 a.m., in the Liberty University Vines Center.

While Sen. McCain and Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell have had their share of political differences through the years, the two men share a common respect for each other and have become good friends in their efforts to preserve what they see as common values. This will mark his first ever appearance at Liberty University.

Ah, a full embrace of the man McCain referred to as "pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance." My question: will Tim Russert ask Senator McCain if he agrees with Falwell's comments? If he thought it appropriate to ask Senator Obama about Harry Belafonte's remarks, why not ask McCain about the following, since he has chosen to so closely associate himself with the good Reverend?:

• Senator McCain, do you agree with Jerry Falwell that Muhammed, the prophet is Islam, is a "terrorist"?
  
• Senator McCain, do you agree with Jerry Falwell's statement that "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being"?
  
• Senator McCain, do you agree with Jerry Falwell's statement tht "Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc. are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status"?
  
• Senator McCain, do you agree with Jerry Falwell's statement that "Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home"?
  
• Senator McCain, do you agree with Jerry Falwell's statement that if the Antichrist did exist and were alive today, "of course he'll be Jewish"?

Come on Timmy, I hope you're taking notes. Now that McCain and Falwell are peas in a pod, I'd hope that the media can abandon that whole "moderate" myth.

Can't do any better than that. Thanks to georgia10 at Daily Kos.

Mea Culpa (Part Two)

I think that there have always been religious extremists and people who follow them out of some combination of obedience, ignorance and fear. They have always existed, everywhere. But the world is smaller, as the saying goes, and so now we have Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan who want to kill a guy for converting, and it's on TV, it's on the internet. Are they devolving? Probably not. I don't know. It's not for me to say. I'd like to think that there are fewer people in Afghanistan who feel this way than there might have been, say twenty years ago. But I have no way of knowing. I do know that I have no respect for a religious interpretation that demands a man be executed for converting to another faith. But it doesn't necessarily mean that Afghan society is being reduced to some lower level of consciousness, thereby lowering the worldwide morality/enlightenment quotient.

Are we in the US devolving? Probably that's the wrong word to use--it implies an organic process that can't be stopped. Are we slipping backwards down a social and political incline because half the population doesn't know or doesn't care or feels paralyzed to do anything about it? I sure think so. I no longer know what it will take to shake people up enough to reverse the process. I would have thought any one of about a dozen things that have happened would do it. But we move on to the next news cycle and we wait...for some pendulum to correct itself, for the next election, for some deus ex machina process from beyond history to set things right. But history is made, not written.

I hear that Americans don't care about history.

Rome is burning. It's not too late. History is made, not written.

Mea Culpa (Part One)

Frack me! Has it been a whole month since I posted?

I've been having health problems of my own lately as well as taking care of my mother...and the dog ate my homework...but I think the main reason is the outrage overload that I've been suffering whenever I read the news.

People get blown up every day in Iraq (and elsewhere); Bush declares that he's not required to follow the law, Congress agrees; abortion is banned; global warming reaches the tipping point. What the hell can you say about any of this? My outrage alert level is stuck at orange. In Afghanistan they want to kill a man for converting to Christianity. What values can I possibly share with people who feel this way? Are we devolving?

It's not that I don't care anymore. Maybe I've just used up all the adjectives.

(OK, that's just an excuse...more later.)