This is one of the best takedowns of war fetishism and American foreign policy I’ve seen recently. It’s a shame more people won’t see it because it’s hidden in a video game review :

Since the President was so concerned about “socialized medicine” that he vetoed SCHIP expansion, can we assume that his trip to Southern California tomorrow is to deliver a lecture about the evils of socialized firefighting? After all, if the free market is the best way to fight poverty, injury, and disease, I’m sure the invisible hand would have no problem putting out a few fires. Since America has the best healthcare in the world, maybe the progress against the wildfires would go quicker if the firefighters borrowed a trick from the insurance industry and only concentrated on saving the homes of people whose employers have enrolled them in a private fire protection plan that provided coverage for fires caused by accidents, arson, and acts of god. Just cross your fingers and hope that the fire gets put out before your coverage lapses.

Earlier today, I wrote the following at The Huffington Post :

If you look around the liberal blogs today, there’s a lot of frustration with the Senate bill to grant immunity to telecoms who have helped the Bush administration illegally spy on Americans. High profile bloggers like Glenn Greenwald, Markos Moulitsas, Atrios, Jane Hamsher, and Big Tent Democrat at MyDD have been urging their readers to put pressure on the Senate to block the bill by contacting…Chris Dodd.

If anyone from the Obama campign is paying attention, this should serve as a wake-up call. A representative cross section of the liberal blogosphere no longer thinks Barack Obama is willing to stand up to the Bush Administration. These bloggers have already been disappointed enough over the last few months they didn’t even bother asking Obama to oppose the bill this time around, instead throwing their support behind a candidate who’s trailing Dennis Kucinich and Undecided in the polls.
. . .
The Obama campaign has been playing it safe for months now, so it should be no surprise that the base no longer expects him to, in the words of his campaign, “challenge the status quo and get results”. It’s not too late for Obama to turn things around. I still think Obama would make a fantastic president, but if he wants his grassroots-fueled campaign to regain some momentum, he needs to start by recognizing that people no longer see him as the go-to guy to buck the Washington establishment and be a champion for change.

The post got picked up by DailyKos and turned into a heated discussion about the Obama campaign. One of the unfortunate things I’ve noticed when writing for sites that get as many viewers and comments as DKos or HuffPo, people tend to respond to what they think they read rather than what I actually wrote.

I like Barack Obama quite a bit, but I’m not happy with the way his campaign has been going. He’s been attracting crowds of thousands and is dwarfing his competitors in the number of people contributing to his campaign, but his often brilliant and inspiring campaign rhetoric hasn’t been matched by action. It’s as if he’s so focused on 2008, he’s forgetting that there are a lot of things he can do right now in his role as a Senator to stop the war, protect the constitution, etc.

I’m no blog triumphalist. If anything, I think it would be embarrassing for a nominee to heed every call to action that the liberal blogosphere endorses. That said, what made today unique was that liberal bloggers didn’t even try to appeal to Barack Obama. The unspoken assumption that Obama wouldn’t stand up to the Bush administration on telecom immunity (or war with Iran or any other issue) is a serious problem for any candidate that wants to set themselves apart from the Washington status quo. I don’t necessarily think Obama needs the support of high-profile bloggers to win, but I do think that what we’ve seen today is an indicator of the much larger problems facing the Obama campaign that have been playing themselves out in his diminishing poll numbers.

I personally think some of the positions that Obama has staked out for himself are nuggets of political genius, so here’s hoping that he can turn around the impression that many in the netroots (and perhaps the Democratic base in general) have of him as a candidate who isn’t willing to take a stand on any controversial issues. Finally getting around to putting together a rapid response team is a good start, but here’s hoping that Obama’s campaign puts as much emphasis on being proactive as reactive.

I was just checking out Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 blog and noticed this image accompanying a post about Stephen Colbert’s announcement that “he’s officially considering whether he will announce that he’s running for President of the United States” :

This is remarkably similar to my favorite bit of post-9/11 (unintentional) kitsch :



Even the comic brilliance of Colbert can’t compete with the real absurdity of the Bush years. If Stephen joins the Republicans in their YouTube debate, somebody should ask whether he joins George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Nancy Pelosi in praying for President Bush.

Speaking of Nancy Pelosi, I know it happened last week, but this whole “I pray for President Bush all the time” thing has been really grating at me. Take a look at the transcript :

WALLACE: You said the other day that you were praying for President Bush to change his mind about vetoing SCHIP. Do you pray for our soldiers to win in Iraq?

PELOSI: Of course I do.

WALLACE: To win?

PELOSI: Of course I do. Of course. What a question. First of all, I pray for President Bush all the time, and I–prayed especially hard that he would sign the…children’s health bill, because it’s so important to America’s children.

WALLACE: When you pray for President Bush, what do you pray for?

PELOSI: I pray that, that–well, at the same time as I pray for him, I pray for America’s children, and that there can be some compatibility in their thinking.

Aside from the fact that it stinks of the predictable Fox News bias, Pelosi and other Democrats are fools for even wading into the murky waters of “I’m religious too!!” political pandering. If Democrats want to be seen as religious without getting caught in rhetorical traps, they should acknowledge their beliefs and move on. If some Fox News douche wants to insist on asking religious questions, tell him that your “relationship with the Lord” is a personal matter and bust out some chapter & verse :

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

If you’re so religious, then heed the words of Jesus. The pundits and politicians who insist on mentioning their beliefs with every other breath, they’re the hypocrites. Are their embarrassing displays of zealotry really behavior that you want to emulate?

Here’s a revealing behind the scenes look at CNN that was hidden in a movie review at Ain’t It Cool News :

I worked for CNN for 10 years, and there’s a line in there by Streep’s character about how her network was bought by a giant corporation in a merger back in 1991, and how the focus of the organization shifted from “reporting news” to “selling advertising time.” Well, I attended a meeting at CNN earlier this year in which the president of the entire news division actually said, while boasting about their steady increase in profits over the past several years, that ” Good journalism is good business.” Think about that.

Good journalism! That must be why they dumped Aaron Brown and hired Glen Beck and Nancy Grace.

A few years ago, there was an episode of King of the Hill in which Bobby was dragged to the local church’s haunted house, where he encounters attractions like this :

MAN: Where’s grandpa?
(Enter a man in a gorilla suit.)
JUNIE: Ugh! That’s your grandpa?
MAN: Haven’t you heard? Our ancestors are monkeys!
WOMAN: Stop him! He’s eating the baby!
MAN: We can’t. It’s against the law to teach creationism.

What’s scary is that King of the Hill’s version doesn’t stray too far from the real thing.

If you’re lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, you can check out a hilariously ironic (but faithful) recreation at Hollywood Hellhouse. After missing it for the last couple of years, I finally got to see it on Saturday. Trust me, you’ll love it.

I dunno about you guys, but I’m thanking my lucky stars that Republicans are dumbasses. Recently evangelicals have been threatening to support a third party (yeah, right) if Giuliani wins the GOP nomination. At The Corner, the pity party continues :

Rich and Jonah have written well today on the state of the GOP candidacies for president. “Is this it?” Rich asks, then answers, with some sadness, yes. Feelings are very mixed about the field. Republicans are depressed — there doesn’t seem to be a candidate with the right mix of ideas and positions and character.
. . .
The point is that there never is a candidacy that breeds joyous enthusiasm. Politicians are flawed beings. The ones who speak well often seem false. The ones who are substantive bore. The ones who are tough enough for the job seem too mean. The ones who are likable enough seem too soft. Both parties and all ideological camps express the same reservations, regrets and anxieties. Always. And then they fall in love — or they try to, desperately, like a bride in an arranged marriage.

With all the whining about how horrible the GOP candidates are, they seem to be ignoring a perfect (for them) candidate that’s sitting right under their noses, Mike Huckabee. On every issue other than taxes, he seems like their dream candidate. He thinks abortion is murder, supports the Iraq war, opposes gay marriage and adoption, etc. Even worse for the Democrat who might face him in a general election, Mike Huckabee seems like a pretty cool guy. Yet with three pieces posted at the National Review complaining about the GOP candidates, the only mention Huckabee gets is a dismissive reference as an “underfunded…spoiler”. If you guys want to ignore candidates who aren’t in the “top tier”, more power to you. It’ll make it that much easier to beat you next year.

This week has been like a gourmet, five-course meal of wingnuttery. Naturally, the main course was the stalking and harassment of 12-year-old Graeme Frost. That alone would be a week’s worth of conservative lunacy, but it was complimented by an even more hilarious side dish. When Ezra Klein decided to take Michelle Malkin at her word that she wanted a “a good-faith argument” on the merits of SCHIP expansion met, not did Michelle show her true colors by cravenly turning down his offer to debate, but one of her fans took the absurdity to another level by challenging Ezra to a boxing match.

Adding to the right wing dipshittery, John Gibson’s analysis of yesterday’s school shooting included the observation that “Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves.” Fox News asked viewers if Air America was in a “War on God?” (Does that mean that the all-powerful God is losing?) And, you probably already guessed this, Ann Coulter said some more crazy bullshit that will help her sell more books and get her booked on more cable news shows.

For your digestif, here’s Iain Murray at The Corner suggesting that Al Gore should share his Nobel Prize with Osama Bin Laden.

In case you were wondering, Bob’s book “Who Hates Whom” is incredible. If you’re as obsessed with the news as I am, it’s probably the most important book you’ll read all year. Plus, it’s funny as hell.

What sort of advice would you give to an atheist whose fundamentalist 13-year-old daughter is upset at belief that her father is going to hell? If you’re Salon’s advice columnist, Cary Tennis, you give the worst advice possible.

Her problem is not that she believes in God. It’s that she believes you are going to burn in hell when you die. It’s her concern for you, and her fear for you, that are the problem. She wants to believe otherwise but has no solid grounds on which to place any hope. If you go to church with her, you will make it possible for her to believe that there is at least a chance that you will not burn in hell.
. . .
But don’t just go to church with her. Meet with one of the officials. That’s right, wander right down on to the field and speak with one of the guys in the striped shirts. Or whatever they wear. Arrange a private conference. In this private conference, you can say whatever you like. It doesn’t matter really. It might be a good conversation or it might be utterly ridiculous. But show your daughter that you are willing to engage with one of the people she respects. Show her that you have enough humility and independence of spirit to engage, that you are not fearful or dogmatic or close-minded.
. . .
Once you have done this, and conversed with an official, you might be able to confidently tell your daughter, without going into specifics, that you think everything is going to be OK, eternal-life-wise. She would probably appreciate that.

In other words, lie to your kid and help validate her beliefs that everything you stand for is against the wishes of God. The problem here is that the daughter’s view of religion is a choice between “friendly people who say daddy’s going to Hell” and “sleeping in on Sunday”. If you want your daughter to respect your beliefs, you should start by making your two weekends a month count for something.

When she’s with her mom, let her go to the fundie church where they tell her gay people are sinners, the Earth is 6000 years old, and stem cells are babies. When she’s with her dad, rather than argue about the merits of her religion (which is a waste of time), use the opportunity to broaden her religious horizons. Start by taking her to Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Zionist, and Lutheran churches to experience different flavors of Christianity. From there, broaden her horizons even more with trips to Jewish synagogue, Islamic mosques, and Hindu temples. Show your daughter that there’s a broad spectrum of religious belief, not just a choice between religious extremism and no faith at all.

When you visit different houses of worship, don’t just sit there passively and let the words go in one ear and out the other. Ask for a meeting with someone there to ask questions about their beliefs. Encourage your daughter to ask questions too. Hang around in the lobby after the service and mingle with people. Not only should your daughter experience how other religions worship, but she needs to learn firsthand that one doesn’t need to be a fundamentalist to be kind-hearted person.

After you’ve given your daughter a worthwhile religious education, encourage her to find her own path. If she still decides to be a fundamentalist, then respect that decision, but with the insistence that your beliefs deserve respect as well.