Last week I posted two entries about Bristol Palin's mother, and after doing so I tossed and turned in bed and asked myself....."Why am I wasting my time on a person who knows so little about so much?" And I thought about getting out of bed, getting online, and declaring this an "SP free" blog for the immediate future.
But I didn't. And I should have.
I think the last straw was the botching of "the Sputnik Moment", and Greta Van Susteren giving her a pass on her ignorance during an interview on Fox News after President Obama's State of the Union message. And then came my moment of clarity....few Republicans or conservatives will publicly challenge her lack of knowledge on even the most basic concepts. And those on the left who criticize her are immediately labeled the enemy and the elites by the former Guv and her supporters.
So, again, I asked myself....why bother trying to shine a light on her ignorance to people who can't handle the truth, and keep on preaching to the choir again and again?
Earlier today, I mentioned my thoughts on Sue's blog in her comments section. I was feeling the effects of being Momma Grizzed out
And strangely....I wasn't alone. Little did I know Dana Milbank of The Washington Post had declared on January 21st that he was making February an "SP" free month. It seems that Milbank has written a whopping 42 articles or blogs about Momma Grizzly and has started feeling guilty about it.
Think about it. Every time any media pundit, journalist, talking head, or blogger mentions her she gets free publicity. And as it turns out, I'm as guilty as the next guy- between September 2008 and January 2011 this blog has tagged the former half term governor of Alaska 81 times!!!!!
Yeah, it shocked me too.
Dana Milibank has organized a campaign to make February an "SP" free month. And as I just TWEETED moments ago....I'm in! Better late than never.
Momma Grizzly....no mas!!!!
Well.... at least through February....then go through Lent and on to Easter.
Let's take this one step at a time.
(Oh what the hell...I'll tag her! For old time's sake).
To close out the month of January.....with a civil unrest in Egypt, healthcare reform under attack from courts, the lingering images of the Tucson massacre, and much too much snow.....let's say "GOOD RIDDANCE!" to this nasty month with a laugh or two.
Below, from The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur prsents a couple who've written a battle hymn for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party that must be seen and heard to be believed.
On MORNING JOE (on MSNBC) Joe, Mika, Willie and guests watched a clip of Greta Van Susteren's interview of Sarah Palin critiquing President Obama's State of the Union Address, complete with her use of the acronym "WTF" to describe areas of his speech. I'm pretty sure she knows what it means- and it's not "Winning The Future". Surely Palin probably got some yucks from the knuckleheads who think she should run for president in 2012. But what was really interesting was Palin's response to the term "Sputnik Moment", meaning that event that challenges America to get up, be more competitive, excel, and win, just like the US did after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957 and America entered and eventually won the space race.
Hmmmm. That answer kind of reminded me of something I saw years ago. From another former pageant contestant.
Anyway....back to the original subject.
Wouldn't it have been merciful to all who still care about Sarah Palin to have Greta Van Susteren just stop Palin in the middle of her gibberish and say....."Governor Palin, you really have no idea what a 'Sputnik Moment' refers to, do you?".
But I guess the Fox News audience would have turned on Van Susteren, called her a "RINO", and demand her firing.
I guess Uncle Pat Buchanan deserves some high marks, however. At least he had the good sense as not to try to spin her words.....and the reaction from the MORNING JOE regulars was priceless.
Today Sarah Palin broke her silence after the tragedy in Tucson last Saturday, by posting a video that repudiated the accusation by some that the harsh political rhetoric in the country had any connection with the shooting that left six dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the target of alleged shooter Jared Loughner.
Palin's website at one time had a picture of Ms. Giffords in crosshairs such are found in a rifle, targeting Giffords for ouster in the upcoming midterm elections.
Palin said the following in the video.....
I listened at first puzzled, then with concerned, and now with sadness to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event If you don't like a person's vision for the country, you're free to debate that vision. If you don't like their ideas, you're free to propose better ideas. But especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible."
And as usual, Palin did her best to portray herself as a victim. And Sarah being Sarah, she made a huge tactical blunder by using the term blood libel, which was used in the past and in the present day by anti Semites to accuse Jews of sacrificing Christian and Muslim children and consuming their blood. Jewish groups, upon hearing Palin use the term, expressed their outrage.
Furthermore, Gabrielle Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona.
When I heard the news yesterday of the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a meet and greet in a Tucson supermarket I must admit, I was not shocked. I was saddened to hear of the incident that left Ms. Giffords shot through the head, and six others dead and another 12 people wounded. A man who can best described as a deranged lunatic named Jared Lee Loughner was the alleged gunman. Federal judge John Roll, 9 year old Christina Taylor- Green-the granddaughter of former Phillies manager and Cubs general manager Dallas Green, Gifford's aide Gabriel Zimmermann, 76 year old Dorothy Murray, 76 year old Dorwin Stoddard, and 79 year old Phyllis Scheck lay dead after the scene was sprayed with shots from a handgun that we're told held 30 rounds of ammo in it's magazine.
No, I was not shocked in the least....in fact I said to myself, well, it finally happened. "It" being a violent event so shocking that the entire nation would be talking about it, just like after Virginia Tech, and just like after Columbine. And as in the case of those two horrific incidents, much will be said about guns and gun violence in America, and the examination of the Second Amendment...and ultimately nothing will change.
No rational person can say that the angry rhetoric we hear in political discourse everyday was responsible for the shooting. But sometimes irrational people can believe the nonsense that they're hearing and act on it. I've often wondered if Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck actually believe even half of the BS they spew out daily, or are they just throwing it out there to appeal to a lunatic fringe. The extreme voices that talk about "second amendment remedies", and accuse a sitting president of being (pick one) a Communist, Nazi, racist, Marxist-Socialist, a Muslim, or not even being an American citizen didn't pull a trigger that killed six and wounded a dozen others. But they stir a pot that's ingredients are fear, ignorance, and paranoia.
And to certain deranged minds, like that of Jared Loughner, the conspiracy theories and angry rhetoric make perfect sense.
The Right will say there was anger and vitriol pointed towards the Bush administration and towards conservatives in general. To be sure, there were angry words- but never did members of People For The American Way show up "locked and loaded" with firearms at a Bush political event, nor did any Blue State governor call for secession if we didn't stop using his states' National Guardsmen in an Iraq war he didn't support. There was anger, but the progressives left 19th century remedies where they belong.
And to those who say the words of politicians and extreme media members don't incite people to violence, well aren't some of those the same people who fingered rappers and rockers for lyrical content that they contend lead young listeners to misogyny, drug addiction, and the murder of the nation's cops?
Many years ago I worked in a hotel in Miami. The Speaker of the House at the time, the Democrat Thomas Philip "Tip" O'Neill was a frequent guest with his wife.The Speaker would vacation with his best friend from Massachusetts, the Republican Silvio Conte. Among those in their close circle of friends were Bob and Elizabeth Dole, both Republicans and, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Bob Strauss. That was about 25 years ago, but it was a glimpse as to how things used to work in Washington- lawmakers were like an extended family, with disagreements on certain issues, but in many instances with deep personal friendships when the nation's work ended. It's no coincidence that the wedge that began to divide America was born in the late 1980's with the rise of Right Wing talk radio. The conservative base found a voice with Limbaugh, and he spawned scores of imitators and wannabes.
And the nation changed....and for my money, not for the better.
I'm the guy who used to post new entries to this blog everyday......and then a funny thing happened. It's called "Christmas". From Thanksgiving until about 9PM last night (Happy Belated "Festivus", BTW) I've been running a 30 day sprint, trying to get things done before The Big Day. And finally, when I got up this morning, I looked around....and EVERYTHING IS FINALLY DONE!
Free at last! Now I know many of my fellow bloggers have been keeping up with current events, politics, and pop culture while I was making myself hysterical for the past three weeks. So why go through a rehash of everything that's been said already? Those guys know what they're talking about....I'm just a wise guy from Jersey.....no, not THAT kind of "wise guy".....maybe I should say "smart ass" instead.
But I will touch upon some of the people who deserve coal in they're stocking this Christmas.....there is a list, you know. Trust me. It does exist. I found this video on the internet that proves it.
Walter Hobbs is not alone, Buddy.....and as for New York, we'll I'll talk about that later.
But first.....here's a list of those who've made Santa's Naughty List. Some should remain on it for years.
(1). Senator Mitch McConnell- The Republican minority leader from Kentucky has earned this description from MSNBC's Chris Matthews; ".....a character from Charles Dickens.". It's hard to tell what he's for, and much easier to talk about those things he's against, like the START treaty, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", The Dream Act, the bill for medical aid for the 9/11 first responders.....oh yeah, he is FOR the giving of billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires when the money could be used to aid municipalities around the nation on the brink of default.
(2). Senator John McCain- probably the biggest political sellout of the early 21st century. The Republican who ran for the presidency on the motto "Country First" opposes START, was a leading voice to kill the repeal of DADT, has swung way right on immigration issues, and called the Zadroga 9/11 First Responder's bill "fooling around" in a speech on the floor of the US Senate. The once proud maverick has morphed into The Angry Old Man of the Senate
3). Governor Chris Christie- the guy blows a $400 million government grant to education, then tries to blame the Obama Administration for the New Jersey delegation's error, and when that doesn't work he throws his education chief under the bus. His personal war on the teacher's union has led to referring to New Jersey students as "drug mules", carrying information from teacher union leadership home with them, and his allying himself with conservative gonzo filmmaker James O'Keefe. There's a lot more to say about this guy, but time is limited. The governor, who's personal style reminds me of Billy Martin at his worst, is finally starting to have some veneer wear off of his once somewhat (by GOP standards in New Jersey) lofty status. Recent polls have shown his job approval dropping 5% in the past month, while disapproval in New Jersey shot up to 48%.
4). Sarah Palin- much can be said why she belongs on the naughty list. But this year it's because Santa is afraid the former half term governor of Alaska will shoot one of his reindeer.
5). BP- It's not cool to pollute our waters....and even worse when some of our political leaders, like Texas Congressman Joe Barton apologized to BP's CEO when President Obama took the company to task for the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.
6). Oh yeah....Joe Barton. You're on the list, too.
7). The New York Giants. You guys were beating the Eagles by 21 points (31-10) with less than eight minutes to play.....and lost 38-31! C'mon, man! All of you belong on the list after that one.
8). The NCAA- the governing body of college sports has decided to punish five Ohio State football players for selling personal items, trophies, and awards by suspending them for the first five games of the 2011 season. OK, the "student athletes" bypassed the rules laid down by the NCAA. But all five players remain eligible to play in next week's Sugar Bowl game. So when is a suspension not a suspension? When it impacts the showcase of a BCS bowl, and the big bucks a BCS game generates. Shame on you, NCAA.
9). LeBron James- to paraphrase Michael in GODFATHER II, "You broke our hearts, Fredo......I mean, LeBron". So speaketh the hurting sports fans of the city of Cleveland. But this video says it better than I ever could.
And finally.....
10). Rex and Michelle Ryan- the head coach of the New York Jets and his wife have been making some news lately......is it naughty?
Actually...it's not THAT naughty. Maybe even kind of nice.
That is, if you're into that kind of stuff.
I wonder if they exchange argle socks for Christmas?
Yes, I'm back after taking a few very needed days off for Thanksgiving to spend with friends and family.....and then some extra time to clean up the mess we created, and take a day or so to recover....and stretch it out as long as possible. My fellow bloggers have been doing their stellar job and covered most of the bases, but I just came across this article, and ready or not, here's my two cents.
In Politico, former GOP congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough takes Sarah Palin to task for being Sarah Palin; that is, being a reality show personality by choice, and one who has practically no chance at all of ever being elected President of the United States. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Palin said that she believed she could defeat Barack Obama in 2012.
Also in in Walters interview Plain seemed to downplay Ronald Reagan, a figure close to sainthood in the Republican pantheon of heroes, as well as her referring to President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush as "blue bloods".
Scarborough says the following about the young Sarah Palin and her contrast to the young George Bush, a naval pilot during World War II.
I suppose Palin's harsh dismissal of this great man is more understandable after one reads her biography and realizes that, like Bush, she accomplished a great deal in her early 20s. Who wouldn't agree that finishing third in the Miss Alaska beauty contest is every bit as treacherous as risking your life in military combat? Maybe the beauty contestant who would one day be a reality star and former governor didn't win the Distinguished Flying Cross, but the half-termer was selected as Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants.
To anyone who's ever read my blog you know that I'm a lifelong Democrat, but one who did a 180 in my assessment of the first President Bush after reading the book Flyboys by James Bradley several years ago. I may not agree with George HW's politics, but I never questioned his commitment to his country or his patriotism. He left Yale at age 18 and was at the time the youngest aviator in the US Navy. His father, Senator Prescott Bush, told George he could get him a deferment from the draft- George wouldn't hear of it. He believed it was his duty to serve when so many with less advantage then he were being drafted to fight the Nazis and Imperial Japan. He was shot down near Chichi Jima, near the more famous island of Iwo Jima in September 1944. Though his plane was burning, and most of crew was killed, Bush completed his mission before ending up ain the ocean; Bush barely avoided capture by the Japanese, who at that time were executing mots of their allied prisoners.
Some blue blood.
And Sarah Palin?
A reality show star, former beauty queen.....and a governor who quit her job in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years to get rich through book deals and speaking engagements.
Below, more from THE HUFFINGTON POST on Scarborough's verbal evisceration of the famous Half Term (former) Governor of Alaska.....you betcha.
Bill Maher has taken heat from some people by calling the United States a stupid nation. On Friday Bill took it one step further, likening Americans to dogs, with short attention spans and only wanting immediate rewards from their masters.
I think that's kind of extreme. Americans are basically good people, and most aren't idiots.....but being a nation of 300 million plus it's clear that we do have a large segment of the nation who will never be confused with MENSA members. I do think there is more ignorance in America than we'd like to admit. Ignorance is not stupidity; the word implies "a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge)". Stupidity means a person is "lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; (they are) dull".
Many pundits, social critics, and bloggers have pointed to the results of the 2012 midterm elections and asked "Is America that stupid?". They voted into office more of the same people who who advocate the same polices that drove the economy off a cliff in 2008, either believing in the song they are singing, or blissfully unaware of who and what they are voting for.
Yesterday Sue posted a entry called Europeans Are Flabbergasted, a look at what our friends across the pond are saying about the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, and the "quality" of some of those swept into office. I'm sure every person looking at the results has a different take on why the Republicans made such great gains.....of course there are true GOP believers and those who have lost faith in Democrats to get the economy turned around (after less than two years of control of the Legislative and Executive branches of government).
But I think the underlying truth behind much of the GOP resurgence is that many Americans are gullible, and sadly ignorant about their country, their government, and their world. The Republican message machine exploited that fact.....and they seized a big chunk of power back from the Democrats last week.
Newsweek had a very revealing article recently called America the Ignorant; Dumb Things Americans Believe. These beliefs have little to do with political dogma, just facts that everyone should know.....and too many Americans don't. And you have to wonder "why?".
About three out of four of all Americans believe in some form of the paranormal. Forty-one percent believe in ESP, 32% believe in ghosts...and 21% of all Americans believe that witches exist. See, Christine O'Donnell should have never made that commercial to "refudiate" being a witch. The poll was conducted by Gallup.
And the youth shall come forth to lead us.....a Roper Poll conducted by National Geographic among young people (ages 18-24) and released in 2006 told us the following..... six in ten could not locate Iraq on a map. Other findings- following Hurricane Katrina almost one-third couldn't locate Louisiana, and half couldn't find Mississippi. About half couldn't find New York State on a map, and almost 75% couldn't locate Israel. The same poll showed that 90% young people couldn't couldn't find Afghanistan on a map that was of Asia only.
I guess you can bottomline these poll results by saying too many people know too little about things they should know, and know too much about marginal stuff. And these people are among the electorate of the United States.
When new arrivals become naturalized citizens they first have to take a citizenship test. When they pass they take an oath of allegiance, and are they receive the same rights as native born citizens....and that's great.
But our native born citizens' education about their world, their nation, and their government seems to have fallen through the cracks. I'm not proposing a test for voting- that's what we had in the Jim Crow South to prevent African Americans from voting by making the test impossible to pass. We do need to start educating our citizens in the things we need to know before we give them a high school diploma and send them out into the world. We should make courses in civics, US History, and World History mandatory in every state, and in every school system.
But that won't happen, because if such a requirement were implemented the Right would call it just more of the boogieman called Big Government stepping on the rights of school systems, and private and charter schools, to educate children as they see fit. And so we'll probably have an alternate history where cavemen rode dinosaurs 5,000 years ago and of a universe created in seven days competing with science and natural history.
The Americans who can't find Louisiana or Israel on a map or name one Supreme Court Justice didn't get dumb by watching Fox News, however Murdoch's gang is a primary source of the "disinforming of America"- but they're not alone.
One of the most telling (and sad) things I have ever witnessed on a news channel was an episode of The Situation Room on CNN a few years ago. Wolf Blitzer had Bill Cosby on as a guest, and the topic was educating America's youth, and quelling the rising rate of high school dropouts in America's inner cities. Halfway through the discussion Blitzer cut Cosby off to go to breaking news from Los Angeles.....
Paris Hilton was surrendering to authorities in LA to begin serving her jail sentence.
The late Walter Cronkite said the purpose of news was to tell people what they need to know. What we see all to often are news organizations telling people what they want to know, even if it is not really news at all, only more heaping helpings of pop culture morsels.
More than twenty years ago in Joseph Campbell; The Power of Myth, Campbell, the great mythologist and teacher, lamented to host Bill Moyers that education of our young people had become more utilitarian and concerned with only making a living in the future. He looked at the classical eduction of the past- what was once called Liberal Arts- as being of intrinsic value because of the broadness and range it covered. Maybe we just educated our young more completely in those days, making them better, informed citizens.
Whatever you think of Barack Obama, he's the President of the United States and we're at war against the Taliban. I'd expect something like this from a soulless troll like Ann Coulter, but Sarah Palin is supposedly one of the leaders of the Republican Party.....and it appears a candidate from the presidency.
Click the link below for the story and see the photo from FACEBOOK that claims Barack Obama is "an illegally elected Taliban Muslim", favorited by the half term former Governor of Alaska.
Above, President Obama talks to probable new Speaker of the House John Boehner on election night 2010
Commentary
It's the economy, stupid!
And it was heard, loud and clear from sea to shining sea. Republicans rode the wave of voter discontent to take control of the House of Representatives last night, but didn't take the Senate. On the House side, Democrats controlled that body, 255-178. It looks as if the the Republican takeover could get the GOP a 242-193 edge (estimated at this hour). the Senate will remain in Democratic hands, with 49 seats (and two independents caucusing with them)in their hands, plus the tie breaking vote of Vice President Joe Biden. You can read about the individual races nationwide, but here are a few thoughts and notes I made overnight.
1. The GOP won the House yesterday, but now they have to deliver. The Republicans told voters that government needs to get smaller and spend less. Not one of the Republican leaders, such as probable new Speaker of the House John Boehner or his #2 Eric Cantor, is specific as to what will be cut. Their job creation plan seems to be hold unto the Bush tax cuts and hope that the private sector reinvests in America and gets the American economy moving again. And how will the House co-operate with President Obama and his administration? They cannot remain the "party of no"- they have to get something done, and they have to do it soon. The 2010 midterm was about change, as were the elections of 2006 and 2008. The Republican House cannot be obstructionist because if they are they'll lose the House as quickly as they won it in 2012.
2. Can the Republican leadership keep it's Tea Party faction on a short leash?. Despite their failures in most Senate races, the Tea Party emerged as a force to be reckoned within the GOP. Tea Party backed Republican candidates won 113 of 129 House races. Many of these new representatives ran on the "strength" of not being professional politicians. Now comes their reality check- politics IS a profession. They have a job to do, and some of the more extreme members can't be concerned with the birth certificate or "secret Muslim faith" of the President, or be involved in whacky schemes to have the President impeached. Sarah Palin and her guy on the inside of Washington, Jim De Mint, let the genie out of the bottle, and now the mainstream of the GOP have to deal with a probable divide from within, conservative vs. ultra-conservative.
3. Barack Obama is a brilliant man, a good leader, but not the world's greatest politician. The Democrats were poised to lose Congressional seats last night; that's what happens in midterms. But losses could have been minimized if the President did a better job of selling his accomplishments to the voters. Much time was devoted to healthcare reform while unemployment hovered at close to 10%. Healthcare reform should have been presented in a way as to show how getting away from employer mandated healthcare could help private enterprise, but the administration's message was weak.
And the President should have been more adamant about job creation. If there was no co-operation given by Republicans and the private sector, he needed to take that to the American people. Instead, he held an olive branch to Republicans instead of a club.
America wanted to see co-operation between the Democrats and Republicans, but it wasn't going to happen. Everything the President wanted to do was opposed by Republicans. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said early on his aim was to make Barack Obama a one term president. The President should have taken him at his word, because now the GOP's plan is very close to being on schedule.
4. The Reagan Democrats of the Rust Belt went to the GOP. This might be the most disturbing factor of the night for Democrats. Part of the coalition that swept Barack Obama to the White House in 2008 went to the other side in large numbers. The Great Recession of 2008 is over, so say economists. But many former industrial workers in the vast area stretching from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, the Great Lakes region, have been living in near depression realities for years. In those states unemployment has topped the unacceptable 9.6% national average for years, and the anxiety of the laid off workers who are living off of their life savings were part of the angry backlash.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews is a Philly guy who "gets it". Early this morning he talked about the need to for America to start making things again, in factories, manufacturing, and in public works. The auto industry in the Midwest was saved by a bailout, but it had been on the ropes for years. The American heartland has always been where America made things, and now we are not. President Obama and the Dems will be OK in New England, the Mid Atlantic, and the West Coast. The Mountain West and the South are owned by Republicans. Obama must get the Rust Belt on the way to recovery, and soon, or he may have trouble winning a second term.
5.) The 2012 election cycle begins now, and I think the President's challenger will come from the New Jersey . The power struggle from within the Republican Party to produce a challenger to Barack Obama begins in earnest today. The mainstream GOP has a nominal leader in John Boehner; the Tea Party is for all practical purposes led by Sarah Palin. Get ready for oil mixing with water.
The conventional wisdom is that Sarah Palin would be a weak candidate for the Republicans to run against the President; her negatives are higher than Obama's. The party insiders dislike Mitt Romney, a man who's positions seem to change with the direction of political winds. Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee would just reinforce the perception of the GOP as a Southern party.
I really think the Republicans will try to catch lightning in a bottle and urge Chris Christie, New Jersey's governor of less than a year, and a former federal prosecutor, to run in 2012. He's become a rock star among Republicans despite his lack of a track record, because of his tough talk and in your face style. He could run strong in the Mid Atlantic region as well.
And I don't think it's a crazy idea; Obama and Palin had little experience on the bigger stage, and found themselves on national tickets in 2008; one is President of the United States, the other is now the leader of an effective populist movement.
As I said on another board late last night, Tip O'Neill had it right; all politics is local. And I think New Jersey and it's governor are about to get a national spotlight put on them starting today.
Above, members of the Westboro Baptist Church protest a soldier's funeral in Vermont, Undercoverage.net
Yesterday I published a blog entry about the building of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City, not far from where the September 11th terror attacks took the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent victims. The entry took nearly eight hours to write, and it's composition took five writing sessions spread out over two days.
And I thought I had said everything I wanted to say....namely, that extreme Muslim terrorists, not Muslims, were responsible for 9/11.....and that building a mosque at the site was within the Muslim group's rights; I agreed with the position of President Barack Obama and Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
And I disagreed with the critics of those who questioned the reasons for building a mosque at the site; there is a thing called The United States Constitution that guarantees freedom of assembly, speech, and worship to all, not to a select few.
But at 4:00am this morning I woke up- it was a bad dream. I was seeing a Bizzaroland dreamscape, a New York City that didn't have a mosque two blocks from the former WTC site.
Rather, there was another religious group housed there.....The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, had opened a satellite church in New York; 8 million sinners, 8 million souls going to hell en masse.
But I'll digress for a minute....let's talk about those religious groups who could occupy the site, and have little or no objections.
No one would have a problem with Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, or other Eastern Orthodox Churches at the site. Coptics? Well, they're Arabs, but they're CHRISTIANS...so they're OK.
Anglicans, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian.....heck, any mainstream Christian Church would be alright, even the ones who perform same sex marriage; this is New York, ya know.
Evangelical Christians and Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews can build at the site....
Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses? Well, there's enough doormen in NYC to slow down any door to door missionary work, at least limiting it to "normal business hours".
Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs....they're part of the mainstream.
Santeria? Well....maybe some trouble with animal rights people....but OK, they can build a church there.
Wiccans....they're "white witches", aren't they? Pantheism....like in AVATAR? Oh, what the heck, they're OK.
Scientologists? John Travolta and Tom Cruise can't be wrong, can they?
Atheists, Agnostics, and Unitarians? One group believes in nothing, another isn't sure, and the third believes in SOMETHING, but can't quite define what it is. They're harmless....let them build SOMETHING there.
Which leads us to the Westboro Baptist Church, and their pastor, Fred Phelps.....remember them? They are the ones who picket other churches, events, stadiums, funerals, and cemeteries with signs that say things like "God Hates Fags", "God Hates America", and "God Hates Israel". The WBC is not part of any Baptist conventions or associations, and claims to adhere to Primitive Baptist and Calvinist principles. And to be fair, the WBC is NOT a representative of any mainstream Christian group
But- for argument's sake- what if the WBC moved into the same building that the Muslim group wants to turn into a mosque/Islamic cultural center?
I talked about these guys a few months ago. On April 14 the WBC was set to picket actress Dixie Carter's funeral, claiming Ms. Carter "...lived her life in adultery. She divorced her husband and married two other men along the way. God says that is living in adultery!".
In the view of the WBC, America is being punished for it's sins by being engaged in war in Iraq and Afghanistan, hence the protests at the funerals of military members killed in action....and they believe that 9/11 was more Divine Retribution leveled at America.
I could go chapter and verse about the Westboro Baptist Church and their hatred of Jews, Catholics, other Protestants, homosexuals, and a long, long, list of all they find sinful.....just check out some of these pictures. But the bottomline is the WBC, spewing hate and venom, could occupy the same space that Muslims want to use for a mosque, and little could be done to stop them. Their picketing (41,000 protests since 1991) could be curtailed by requiring them to have permits, but as far as having freedom of speech and assembly, and of religious expression, they are protected by the Constitution, even being as loathesome as they are.
I wonder how, in this Bizzarroland scenario, would the usual suspects react.....what would Palin, Boehner, Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and the other voices with an opnion an everything, say about a far, far off the charts radical right Christian group occupying a building so close to Ground Zero, hallowed ground, and an event the WBC cheered as God's punishment?
Would those voices be as strong in repudiation as the one's we've heard in reaction to the building of a mosque? Surely there would have been fewer political ramifications.....and probably much less media coverage.
Part One-Prologue "I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.~~Colin Powell on his endorsement of Barack Obama for the presidency, October 19, 2008 on Meet The Press. The text was copied from the44diaries.wordpress.com.
Part Two- Fear The story told by General Colin Powell cuts to the chase more eloquently than I could ever imagine to. US Army Corporal Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, an American Muslim from New Jersey lies in a grave in Arlington National Cemetery. The picture above shows his grieving mother at his headstone.
Everyday we put on the news, and learn the name of yet another young American killed in action in Iraq or Afghanistan. We're told they died defending freedom, and they fight so we don't have to. I'm sure Corporal Khan believed that when he entered the Army. And it's sad, and very troubling, to know that while he and others fight and die in the Middle East for this American Ideal we're told of from the day we enter kindergarten, there are some in this country who believe that some of these freedoms should not be made available to all of our citizens.
Freedom of speech, of assembly, of worship, and the separation of church and state are all guaranteed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Yet there is an undercurrent in the United States of ant-Muslim sentiment; the proverbial "broad brush" is being used to paint Muslims the same color. It doesn't matter that the majority of Muslim Americans are good citizens, or that some, as in the case of Corporal Khan, died serving our country, killed by extremists who have perverted their religion. There is fear, there hatred, there is bigotry, and there is xenophobia.....and it threatens to undermine much of what we hold sacred in our country.
In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision, and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting.
In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.
In Sheboygan, Wis., a few Christian ministers led a noisy fight against a Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store bought by a Muslim doctor.
At one time, neighbors who did not want mosques in their backyards said their concerns were over traffic, parking and noise — the same reasons they might object to a church or a synagogue. But now the gloves are off.
In all of the recent conflicts, opponents have said their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran and argue that even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with Islamic Shariah law.
These local skirmishes make clear that there is now widespread debate about whether the best way to uphold America’s democratic values is to allow Muslims the same religious freedom enjoyed by other Americans, or to pull away the welcome mat from a faith seen as a singular threat.
“What’s different is the heat, the volume, the level of hostility,” said Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky. “It’s one thing to oppose a mosque because traffic might increase, but it’s different when you say these mosques are going to be nurturing terrorist bombers, that Islam is invading, that civilization is being undermined by Muslims.”
Feeding the resistance is a growing cottage industry of authors and bloggers — some of them former Muslims — who are invited to speak at rallies, sell their books and testify in churches. Their message is that Islam is inherently violent and incompatible with America.
Now I have a question....is this the America that our brave men and women are fighting and dying for everyday? Is it the America that Corporal Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, winner of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, of which he took an oath to serve and protect, and for which he ultimately died in battle? It is a country that he loved, but many of it's citizens, it can be implied by the examples above, did not love him back.
Part Three- Do the Right Thing; The President and The Ground Zero Mosque
On August 12, 1834, just after midnight, an anti-Catholic mob attacked the Ursuline Convent School in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and burned it to the ground as the nuns hurried the children out the back. Rev. Lyman Beecher had helped to incite the mob hours earlier, giving three anti-Catholic diatribes at three different churches in Boston. Beecher, whose children included educator Catharine and abolitionist and author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' Harriet Beecher Stowe, later expressed regret over the arson; but as is often the case, violent speech led to violent action. Those arrested for the outrage were quickly found not guilty and became heroes in Boston. After failed attempts to get the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pay for the damages, and amid threats of further violence, the nuns eventually moved to Canada, driven from the country by bigotry and hate.
The late former Speaker of The House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (1912-1994) told a story in his bio Man of the House about growing up in "Old Dublin", the Irish- Catholic suburb of North Cambridge, Massachusetts. When he was a kid the adults always talked about how the Boston Yankees, all Protestants, had burned down the Ursuline Convent, a dark deed done to the newly arrived Boston Irish-Catholics. Below, his comments from Man of the House, page 8.
I heard so much about the incident that one day, while in my teens, I decided to look it up in a book. To my shock, the burning of the convent took place in the summer of 1834! But to hear people talk about it, you'd think it happened the day before yesterday.
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The scars of hatred can run deep and last for generations, as the example from Tip O'Neill's childhood illustrate; the Irish were on the bottom of the pecking order in the early 19th century. They got the dirty jobs, like building canals across the East and the Midwest, and the new arrivals were hated primarily for their Roman Catholic religion. Here, in my home state of New Jersey, the Catholic minority were subject to persecution of the majority Protestants- in 1701 Queen Anne granted freedom of religious conscience to all in the colony, "except Papists". Later in the century, New Jersey Catholics were implicated in "The Negro Plot", in which they allegedly were accomplices in a slave rebellion; persecutions and executions followed.
As you can see, bigotry and religious intolerance have been part of America since before there was a United States. Every ethnic group or members of a "different" religion has met resistance after arrival on these shores; even the Pilgrim Separatists, who tradition tells us met friendly Indians when they founded Plymouth Plantation, met resistance from the Nauset after first landing on Cape Cod. The Englishmen found small mounds after landing, which they unearthed; they were graves. The Nauset came back to greet the New Arrivals with a rain of arrows.
The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 was an act of mass murder, performed by deluded fanatics bent on destroying an America that they were told was waging war on Islam. What they did was as much a perversion of Islam as what the Japanese warlords did to the code of bushido in their wars of aggression, up to and beyond their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
"(the government) shouldn't be in the business of picking (one religion over another)I think it's fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming. And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it, too.
After weeks of silence on the matter, President Obama addressed the subject during a Ramadan dinner at the White House on August 13. Below, highlights from his address.
"That is not to say that religion is without controversy. Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities – particularly in New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. The pain and suffering experienced by those who lost loved ones is unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.
But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. 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. The writ of our Founders must endure."
In an age of politicians being politicians, and doing and saying what is popular instead of what was right, President Obama gave us a real moment of political courage in his support of the right of those who wish to build the mosque. His poll numbers are sagging, unemployment numbers are stuck at 9.5%, and the partisan attacks on him continue to grow, as well as criticism from the Democratic Party's left wing. But the President stuck his neck out on this issue....a principle greater than politics is at work here, and it transcends the bumper sticker and sound byte talking points that are fed to the American public by those who believe most of our citizens have the attention span of a potted plant.
The question asked is not if Muslims can build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, but should they.
And the government's position must be they can, and offer no opinion if they should, because it's not the government's business, nor any of the elected or appointed officials business.....period. It's about the separation of church and state, and the practice of religion in this country. If any other religious group were to try to build a house of worship on that same site, and if all permits were in order, their would not and could not be any debate. One religious group cannot be singled out fro special handling.....it's un-American.
President Obama made his statement regarding the right of Muslims to build a mosque to a nation where 57% of Republicans believe he is a closet Muslim ( and 24% say he's the Anti-Christ, and another 45% of the nation's GOP believe he was not born in the United States. Supporting the rights of Muslims to build the community center/mosque was not the politically savvy thing to do....but it took principle, and it took courage.
Mr. Obama is taking political hits for his stance; some say that it may damage his popularity further, and even drag down the Democrats in this year's midterms.
But would it be better to say and do the popular thing instead of the right thing, and retain the House and the Senate, and sully the Bill of Rights in doing so?
Part 4-The Aftermath and Beyond
After the President addressed the mosque issue, the attacks from the Republican right were swift, immediate, and relentless. Below is a sampling.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)....
The decision to build this mosque so close to Ground Zero is deeply troubling, as is the president’s decision to endorse it. The American people certainly don’t support it.
The fact that someone has the right to do something doesn’t necessarily make it the right thing to do. That is the essence of tolerance, peace and understanding. This is not an issue of law, whether religious freedom or local zoning. This is a basic issue of respect for a tragic moment in our history.
Sarah Palin....
Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people?
Please tell us your position.
We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade.
If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive "cross-cultural engagement" and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven't they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite?
Republican strategist Ed Rollins....
(Obama's remarks were) probably the dumbest thing that any president has said or candidate has said since Michael Dukakis said it was okay to burn the flag. And it was very similar.(CBS News)
Sen John Cornyn (R-Tex)....
It demonstrates that Washington, the White House, the administration, the president himself seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of America. And I think that's one of the reasons people are so frustrated (POLITICO)"
And there was frustration from members of the President's own Democratic Party, particularly House members facing stiff re-election campaigns. Here's what one congressman told POLITICO
Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX)....
"I would prefer the president be a little more of a politician and a little less of a college professor. While a defensible position, it will not play well in the parts of the country where Democrats need the most help."
The comments above can be divided into two types. There are those who criticize Obama for not making the most politically expedient thing; namely question why the Muslim group wishes to build on that particular site, and for God's sake, don't defend their rights as Americans to do so!
And the second group chastises the President for not joining them in the chorus denouncing the construction of the mosque; a private citizen should voice their opinion if they desire, but any government official at any level who does so may very well be infringing on the groups First Amendment rights.
That's not how we should be doing things in this country.
On the day of the September 11 attacks by early afternoon you could smell the faint odor of smoke here in my town, nearly 30 miles south and west of New York. We lost several of our residents in the inferno; the attackers didn't care about the age, sex, race, marital status, or religion of those they murdered....there were Christians and Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, non-believers and agnostics......and Muslims in the Twin Towers.
The smoke and the ashes brought all to a common end, and they entered eternity as one.
Most of the opponents of the mosque say that two blocks is too close to Ground Zero. My question is how far away would be far enough. Three blocks? Five? Ten? Or how about miles.....five miles, or 10, or 20?
Maybe the mosque should be moved to Route 3 in New Jersey, or possibly off of I-80 in central Pennsylvania? Does Lewisburg sound good?
The bottomline is the opponents of the mosque have no real solution that makes any sense other than "we don't want it", an emotion based on pain and possibly by fear. And maybe it's time to get beyond that, and think about other possibilities; like building an Islamic community and cultural center may be a viable bridge to understanding, and reconciliation, and possibly our better angels will prevail, and the broken and hardened hearts may heal.
Through it all, the United States is still a nation worthy of our love and our allegiance, and worth fighting to defend. A young corporal who lies in Arlington National Cemetery with the star and crescent on his grave believed that.
So little energy, because it's been a long hot summer.....therefore it's time for my method of last resort, when I want a blurt out some stream of conscious ramblings....it's QUICK HITS!!!!!
(1). Deepwater Horizon Disaster- The leak has been plugged, we're being told much of the oil as been dispersed and cleaned up. But the effects will still be felt for years. The damage the wetlands have sustained might be irreversible. And many Gulf fisherman may never return to their old way of life; why go back and harvest tainted shrimp, oysters, and fish and sustain even bigger financial losses? And the latest from BP is they may resume drilling in the area near the leak because of the billions of dollars worth of oil under the ocean floor.
Did anybody ever see GROUNDHOG DAY?
(2). Katie Couric vs Sarah Palin; The anchor of the CBS Evening News, who famously asked then Vice Presidential candidate Palin tough, ambushy questions like "what newspapers and magazines do you read?", is being trashed by the usual suspects for allegedly "dissing" Palin's children. A video from the 2008 Republican Convention shows Couric asking, "Where the hell do they get these names?” when she saw the names of two of Palin's kids, Trig and Track.
Okay...let's bottomline it. Trig and Track might be two wonderful, sweet kids....but they have funny names. They probably have the weirdest names of any offspring of a public figure since Frank and Gail Zappa begat Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Maybe "Trig" and "Track" were mistakes on the birth certificate.....that kind of stuff happens in Alaska. "Nome" became the name of the city when a mapmaker made a note "Name?" where the burg exists....it was misinterpreted as "Nome" and stuck.
Or....contrary to what she said publicly....maybe she does like certain herbs.
Yep....Trig and Track. Circumstantial evidence at best....but you might have to be really loaded to do that to your kids. It's amazing how this woman and her followers always seem to find a way to portray her as a victim.
There was an eighteen hour pause between items two and three. I told you, it's the Dawg Daze of August, and my mind and body are working on four cylinders...well, make that four and a half.
(3)The Prop 8 Decision- The decision rendered by US District Judge Vaughn Walker in ruling California's Proposition 8 was unconstitutional was, as former George W. Bush solicitor general Ted Olson said, not a liberal or conservative matter. When the preamble of the Declaration of Independence declares "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", it means just that. All have the same rights, regardless of race, creed, religion, national origin.....or even sexual orientation. "Inalienable rights" are that which cannot be legislated away or altered by popular vote. Olson went on.....""We do not put the Bill of Rights to a vote."
"I think what you have is one judge who thinks he knows -- and a district level judge and an openly homosexual judge at that -- who says he knows better than not only 7 million voters in the state of California but voters in 30 states across the nation that have passed marriage amendments. "
Judge Walker was first appointed the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan. He was re-appointed by George H.W. Bush. His nomination was opposed by congressional Democrats at the time.
Using the logic of Tony Perkins, an African American judge should never be allowed to rule in a hate crime case, a female judge in the case of a battered wife, an Italian-American judge in a Mafia trial, or any Jewish judge in a case involving Neo-Nazis.
When does it stop?
(4). New Jersey, home rule, and property taxes- Today's print edition of The Home News Tribune (WOW! Reading an old fashioned NEWSPAPER on a Sunday morning) had a feature that should be required reading by all residents of New Jersey, and all those outsiders who think they know what's going on politically in The Garden State. Namely, all of those conservative types who have declared Governor Chris Christie the new Savior of The GOP, since he got it done in New Jersey, lowering spending by draconian slashing of the state's budget and of state aid. All he did was put a band-aid on a problem that's been ailing the state almost from it's colonial origins.
The Home News Tribune's writer and extraordinary columnist Rick Malwitz detailed what the biggest problem New Jersey has, and why it has the nation's highest property taxes.....and it is, in his words, a self inflicted wound. The people did it to themselves......
There are simply too many towns in a small state like New Jersey. Conservatives like to talk about "Big Government". In New Jersey we have many govern-ments....there now 566 municipalities in New Jersey, all with their own governments, mayors, council, some with school systems, police and fire, some with garbage collection, and many other bells and whistles. Many of these municipalities began by breaking away from an existing town or township. In Middlesex County, where I live, there were six towns in 1850. One hundred and sixty years later there are 25; most of the breakaways began over neighborhoods wanting more control over businesses, schools....and of course, taxes. So they set up their own home rule, had families move into them, and before you know it they needed cops, firefighters, and more and more teachers.....and up went the taxes.
We have 566 municipalities in New Jersey; California has four times the residents of New Jersey; they have 480 municipalities.
The cure for this, and a way lower taxes would be either to merge towns or consolidate services. The problem is New Jerseyans LOVE home rule. As Malwitz noted in his piece, former State Senator Fairleigh S. Dickinson once said "Home Rule is regarded as a political concept in other states. In New Jersey, its' a precept of theology".
The late Democratic State Senator Alan Karcher wrote a book about the problem more than a decade ago, and called for consolidation and merger. Governor Christie, instead of bullying tactics to put the Democrats in their place, would have been wiser to take the Democratic leadership aside and use Karcher's concepts as a blueprint for fixing the problem rather than going for this one shot quick fix, that only manged to insure a balanced budget for only this year...and get some shots of Christie on TV.
Chris Christie could have gone in the books as a statesman instead of one term conservative media darling.
And what about next fiscal year?
At this point there is another pause of about three hours to go to the Red Lobster on Route 18 and consume a more than reasonable amount of skewered shrimp and a portion of snow crab legs.....and enough Yuengling to put a smile on my face. Back to work!
(5) Copy cat clown bank robbers in Pennsylvania- across the I-78 bridge in Pennsylvania, Carolyn A. Williams, 43, was arraigned on charges robbery, theft, and receiving stolen property after she was arrested for stealing $7,000 from a bank in Bethlehem. Williams, dressed in a clown suit, told the teller she had a bomb on her after entering the bank on Friday. Minutes later, after trying to allude police, she was caught with her pants down. Literally.
Williams was changing out of her clown suit when the police caught up with her.
But....didn't something like this just happen before? Also in Pennsylvania? Yes....Less than two weeks ago, across state in Swissvale, near Pittsburgh, Dennis Hawkins, 48, tried to rob a bank wearing clown pants, a wig, and fake breasts. His disguise didn't fool anyone....his goatee was showing. He tried to rob the bank with a BB gun....and he forgot to use a getaway car.
Oh yes...."The Tears of a Clown".
In Closing- it's the one year anniversary of my buddy Sue's blog, Hello Mr. President.....Are You Listening?. And I just want to congratulate her on that milestone. She does her homework, always has something interesting to say, and is passionate in what she does. Politics and political discussion are in her DNA, much moreso than me. So if political discussion...and an occasional food fight...is your thing, then give her a visit....even you conservatives out there. But be nice!
Most the civilized world has heard the latest Palinism; Sarah invented the word "refudiate" during a speech, and even TWEETED it later on (ahhhh.... while tweeting didn't that red line under the word indicating it was mispelled, or not a word, set off any alarms...at all?).
Sarah decided to compare her malaprop to Shakespeare inventing words, and to Dubya's "misunderestimate" and Barack's "wee-wee'd up" (is that a diminutive form of being pissed off?).
But take a look at the following video and pay attention to the conversation Harry Smith has with Erica Hill at it's conclusion.
AMAZING!!!!
You mean to say John McCain said "refudiate" as well?
This got me thinking.....whatever happened to "The King of The Malaprop", comedian Norm Crosby. Well...Norm is still alive, and will be 83 years old this September. Obviously, he must be semi-retired at this point in his life.
In keeping with the political side of things, Norm Crosby roasts Senator Barry Goldwater in this old DEAN MARTIN CELEBRITY ROAST....looking at some of the other guests (William Conrad, Dan Rowan) my guess is that the show is from the late 1970's or early 1980's.
Red state, blue state....Republican, Democrat....conservative, liberal.
But the bottom line is.....it matters little. Because for all the bluster you hear about "tax and spend liberals" and "fiscally responsible" conservatives, the bottomline is remarkably similar.
A listing of the Pain Index found in US News & World Report shows that of the Top Ten states with the most tax burden per citizen and the biggest budget cuts, resulting in less "bang for your buck", is evenly divided among what are nominally designated as "red states" and "blue states".
Five of the states are traditionally Democratic, and the other five usually vote Republican. But here's an interesting note; of the five "blue" states listed- California, New Jersey, Hawaii, Delaware, Rhode Island- all but Delaware have Republican governors (Don Carcieri-RI, Arnold_Schwarzenegger- CA, Linda Lingle-HA, Chris Christie-NJ).
Don't shoot me....I'm only the messenger. Talk to Mort Zuckerman.
But the winner is....as shown in the list below.....the 49th state.
Alaska....the state that gave us a famous half term governor, is the state that leads the nation in The Pain Index.
Sarah Palin, who left office after little more than half of her term was complete- and made a zillion dollars in the process- apparently had left a real mess for her successor, Sean Parnell, to clean up.
And there's a sizable group of people in the Republican Party- and the Tea Party- who want this woman to run for president in 2012.
Indeed Mrs. Palin...."How is it workin' out for ya?"
And for Michael Steele....Rudy Guliani...John McCain....and to Republican Governors Bobby Jindal (LA), Haley Barbour (MS), Bob Riley (AL), and newly minted independent Charlie Crist of Florida- are you still in favor of letting Big Oil use the Gulf of Mexico as their own personal cash register? The worst ecological disaster in more than 20 years, an oil spill 130 miles long and 70 miles wide has reached the coast line of Louisiana, and the first oil covered animals have been seen on shore. We can expect an area stretching from near New Orleans to Pensacola to be affected.
BP's platform exploded last week, 50 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and sending the giant oil slick on a collision course with an area of the country called by some "The Redneck Riviera". The irony of the oil slick hitting and possibly devastating one of the most Republican areas of the country, states whose leaders (and many citizens) drank the GOP "Drill Baby Drill" Kool-Aide are about to find out....pardon the expression....an inconvenient truth. That is, offshore drilling has risks and unintended consequences- and in yet another tragic case greed won out over safety, and now an ecosystem is threatened with collapse by this spill. Some species may never recover, the wetlands may be polluted forever, and people who made a living from harvesting the Gulf and in tourism could find the extinction of their way of life by the time the weekend is over.
But where are THEY now? The "Drill Baby Drill Cheerleaders" have been strangely silent. That is, with the exception of Boss Limbaugh. Yes, Rush has a bizarre theory that President Obama had a hand in the creation of the oil spill. I won't even bother to try to explain it- his twisted "logic" makes my brain hurt.
A week or so ago I wasn't focused on offshore drilling. After all, the President proposed expanding offshore drilling earlier in the month. But that wouldn't be in by backyard. It would be in the Gulf, and along the Atlantic Coast off of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. No need to worry in New Jersey.
And then came the BP-Gulf Disaster of 2010. And the reality set in that here in the Northeast we would not be immune to any potential oil spills that could occur in the South. Imagine this- an oil spill like the one in the Gulf is the size of New Jersey. What if a spill off the Virginia coast of that size were to hit New Jersey? The state's second largest industry, tourism, would vanish overnight- and the impact would be felt in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and possibly Pennsylvania.
We use the term "teaching moment" a lot, so it seems. The spill in the Gulf was the hardest of lessons. And the after the full impact is felt, we all need to ask...."Now what?".
Click here for a very well written blog entry on the oil spill and the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd by WABC TV's Bill Ritter.
Remember those wonderful days of yesteryear- 2008 to be exact- when "Tea Party" was something little girls did with their dolls and "birther" was just bad English? There was a new mantra being heard throughout Red State America and in the Presidential campaign.
Check the videos to refresh your memory.
Drill Baby Drill!
And drill they did. Oil companies continued to tell America, and the world, of the relative safety and efficiency of offshore oil drilling. We were (and still are) a nation way too dependent on foreign oil and weak on alternative sources of energy. And one of the reasons Barack Obama got the votes of environmentalists was his opposition to expansion of offshore drilling during the presidential campaign.
But something happened during the early part of 2010. The President caved. He decided out of the blue to allow and expand offshore drilling. That's right- he adopted the position of John McCain and Sarah Palin- he wanted to allow offshore drilling in a move that seemed to be designed to score political points with more conservative and independent voters.
And most progressive bloggers gave Barack a pass.....because we like him. Its that simple.
I'm as guilty as the next guy. But the 24 hour news networks, the guys who were supposed to be asking tough questions to the administration about this move, did anything but. Nobody seemed to ask if this decision would present even more dangers to the environment. The political angle was played backwards and sideways, with no thought given to any long term effects.
Click below to see an incredible montage from MSNBC and CNN about the President's decision. I think FOX was busy that day covering a Tea Party somewhere. Video fromThe Huffington Post.
Sometime tonight a massive oil spill will hit the Louisiana coast on or about the Mississippi River's delta. Its estimated that a broken well that exploded last week is spewing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. BP's Deepwater Horizon was drilling in 5,000 feet of water 40 miles offshore last week when it blew up, with eleven crew members missing and presumed dead. Attempts to burn off the oil haven't been entirely successful, nor have any attempts to close the well. Its estimated that as many as 4.2 million gallons of crude oil could spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
And as I type this, the spill is about three miles from the coast of Louisiana. The governor of Louisiana is Republican Bobby Jindal- his state is facing an environmental disaster of epic proportions that will greatly cripple the shrimp and oyster industry, perhaps kill thousands of fish, pelicans, and various shore birds. Neighboring Mississippi and its resort beaches in Biloxi maybe effected as well. Its governor is Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
I wonder if Governors Jindal and Barbour will be chanting Drill Baby Drill at any GOP functions anytime soon?
President Obama has said BP will pick up the tab for the cleanup of the spill. BP can cough up the dough, but they can't alleviate the cost- fisherman, sportsmen, and the tourist industry of the Gulf Coast will be suffering even more in these tough economic times.
It seems the President's decision to expand offshore drilling was more of a political one than an attempt to change our dependency on foreign oil. President Obama pulled an old political maneuver- co-opt the ideas of your opponents to take a few arrows out of their quiver. This week there was to be legislation proposed on climate change, a a bipartisan bill worked on for months by Senators John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham. The legislation had the potential for more green jobs and could create new alternative sources of energy. But the uproar over the Arizona "Show Me Your Papers" Law meant the Climate Bill would be put on a backburner in favor immigration reform legislation. And the Climate Bill was never more necessary as it is now, for energy and for jobs.
Its time for the Obama administration to take another look at expansion of offshore drilling. Maybe the impending disaster in Louisiana is the canary in a coal mine, the wakeup call that will alert the administration and all of our citizens that any expansion of new drilling has to be re-examined. The real cost may outweigh any potential benefits.
In closing, take a look at the following memo from Washington DC.
WASHINGTON D.C. — The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced today that the 2010 Annual Industry SAFE Awards Luncheon scheduled for May 3, 2010 at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas has been postponed.
The ongoing situation with the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling accident has caused the MMS to dedicate considerable resources to the successful resolution of this event, which will conflict with holding this ceremony next week.
The MMS will announce how the agency will proceed with the 2010 SAFE Award program during the next several weeks. The MMS apologizes for any inconvenience and thanks the organizers of the OTC for their understanding of our current situation.
