Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Happy Birthday, Jon Rowe

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:23:28 -0500

I want to say happy birthday to Jon Rowe. One of the coolest thing about blogging has been getting to know so many really smart, interesting people over the years and Jon is right at the top of the list for me. He displays at all times a commitment to reason and collegiality that I can only aspire to myself. His erudition and careful research are a model of intellectual honesty.

And how cool is the idea of getting your bachelor's degree in guitar from Berklee School of Music and then getting a law degree too? It's easy to see why Jon is one of my favorite people. Happy birthday, Jon.

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Dumbass Quote of the Day

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:23:21 -0500

What is it with politicians from Alaska? This is from Alaska Rep. Don Young:

"This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a national phenomena. Oil has seeped into this ocean for centuries, will continue to do it. During World War II there was over 10 million barrels of oil spilt from ships, and no natural catastrophe. ... We will lose some birds, we will lose some fixed sealife, but overall it will recover."

Yes, you dolt, ships do leak oil into the oceans all the time. But 10 million barrels spread across several years and several oceans is hardly comparable to a few million barrels leaking out in a very short period of time in a small space.

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Dueling Wingnut Endorsements

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:16:41 -0500

Iowa has an interesting battle going on for the Republican nomination for governor. Sarah Palin endorsed Terry Brandstad for the job, while Chuck Norris endorsed Bob Vander Plaats. Sounds like a good reason not to vote for either of them. The good news is that neither of them has a very good track record of the people they endorse actually winning.

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Helping Victims of the Gulf Oil Spill

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:09:17 -0500

If you're like me, you've probably been wondering what you can do to help those devastated by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, particularly those whose entire livelihood depends on a clean and healthy gulf. Lauri Lebo, the irreplaceable dynamo of Dover, took the time to ask our mutual friend Barbara Forrest, who lives in the area, where to send donations to help the most.

Her answer: the Southern Mutual Help Association, which helps those who work in the fishing industry in particular. Barbara vouches for their work and that is more than good enough for me. I just donated to the group and I hope you will too.

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Badass Quote of the Day

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:02:59 -0500

From James Baldwin:

"Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."

Very true. But the powerful need not be ignorant themselves in order for this to be true; it's equally true when the powerful need to pander to the ignorant to get elected and reelected. That is how we get an ever-widening and more liberty-crushing war on drugs, laws against flag burning, and policies that have packed our prison system with more of our citizens than any other nation in the world.

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Hatch's Partisan Military Service Bill

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:30:58 -0500

I blasted Richard Blumenthal for his repeated attempt to exaggerate his military record a couple weeks ago and now we have a second candidate, Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk, doing much the same thing. He's lied repeatedly about being named the "navy intelligence officer of the year."

In between those two instances, Sen. Orrin Hatch submitted a bill to fine and/or imprison anyone who distorts their military record for political gain. But when the Republican senate candidate got caught, suddenly he doesn't think his bill would apply. Here's Rachel Maddow documenting the total hypocrisy:

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Moore Loses in Alabama GOP Primary

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:23:38 -0500

Here's some good news: ~~Judge~~ Roy Moore finished a fairly distant fourth place in the Republican primary for governor of Alabama on Tuesday. Nice to know he's too crazy even for most people from that state.

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Limbaugh's Getting Married. Again.

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:16:35 -0500

Gawker reports that Rush Limbaugh is about to get married. For the fourth time. Apparently, the threat of gay marriage destroyed the sanctity of his three previous marriages. Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

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I Have No Words For This

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:09:55 -0500

The following, from Raw Story, is presented without comment:

If you're ever lucky enough to be in Afghanistan, Gunnery Sgt. Benjamin Lepping's left butt cheek has a special surprise.
Sarah Palin.

Or, as Lepping puts it, "the hottest cougar in the Republican Party."

There's even a picture of it. I'm speechless.

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BP Engineers Worried About Well in Advance

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:02:24 -0500

The New York Times reports that BP's own engineers had expressed their concerns about the Deepwater Horizon rig long before it blew:

Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.
The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.

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Bigots Throws Hissy Fit Over Gay Pride Month

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:16:30 -0500

President Obama declared June to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month and, predictably, the religious right is stomping its feet and holding its breath and generally throwing a temper tantrum over it. And you're gonna love the argument made by Baptist Press about it:

Bob Stith, the Southern Baptist national strategist for gender issues, said Obama's proclamation is disappointing and also "marginalizes" the beliefs of not only Christianity but also other religions.

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Even Worse from the Sons of Liberty

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:09:27 -0500

Remember that Christian rock band from the other day, the Sons of Liberty, aka You Can Run But You Can't Hide ministries? It turns out they don't just want gays thrown in prison, they want them killed. And they praise Muslims for being more godly than most Christians for agreeing with them. On their May 15th radio show, Bradlee Dean said:

"Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination."

And remember: These guys do assemblies in public schools.

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Brewer Fakes Military Achievements -- For Her Father

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:02:44 -0500

The problem of politicians exaggerating military achievements continues -- and it's even skipping generations. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer recently got angry at the comparisons of that states "your papers, please" policy on immigrants to Nazi Germany by invoking her father's martyrdom:

"The Nazi comments . . . they are awful," she said, her voice dropping. "Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that . . . and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced."

Except that he died in 1955. Of lung disease. Probably never even saw a Nazi.

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I Bet BP Can Leg Press 2000 Pounds

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:30:31 -0500

In one of the most ridiculous claims since Pat Robertson infamously declared that, due to his age-defying shakes, he could leg press 2000 pounds, BP told the government that they were so well prepared for a problem on the Deepwater Horizon that they could handle a spill orders of magnitude worse than the one happening now.

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Liz Cheney's Attempt at Misdirection

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:23:20 -0500

The increasingly execrable Liz Cheney is now demanding an investigation into whether the Obama administration broke the law by offering a job to Joe Sestak in exchange for him dropping out of the primary race against Arlen Specter. At the very least, if they did that, the Obama administration should be criticized for utter stupidity; I'll take Sestak over Specter every day and twice on Sundays (which says more about my disgust with Specter than my love for Sestak).

And if they did break the law, by all means I hope those responsible are prosecuted for it. I certainly have no reason to care that someone in the Obama administration may have broken the law and no concern for defending anyone who did (I have no idea if that happened, of course). But this, coming from Liz Cheney, is staggeringly absurd:

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