the blog of DC Drinking Liberally
Is it just me, or are the excuses Republicans are making getting stupider? Let’s look at what’s happened just this week.
Monday WMAL radio talk show host Michael Graham was fired after refusing to apologize for saying “Islam is a terrorist organization” twenty-three times and making various other statements condemning the Muslim religion as a whole on his July 25 program. He couldn’t apologize, you see, because his motive in spouting the slurs was to help moderate Muslims and open a dialogue (see Obsidian Wings for more):
That’s the real tragedy here. The people who most need free speech and open dialogue on the issues facing Islam today are America’s moderate Muslims. These are people of good will who have the difficult job ahead of reforming and rescuing their religion. They need all the help they can get.
Via Pandagon we get this fascinating Focus on the Family Series: Eight Points That Show, Christian or Not, He’s Still a Guy. Some excerpts:
When he dropped me off, I remember thinking how guy-like he was. That’s when I started thinking about burping and how most men like to do it. And how Moses and the apostles burped. D. James Kennedy, Chuck Swindoll, James Dobson, my husband — they all burp. Guys burp. With gusto and obvious delight. [ed: Some parts of the Bible I’m more familiar with than others. Which book does the Moses reference come from?]
Guys don’t “do lunch” or go shopping with other guys. There’s no point, no goal. How do you win? [ed: well, I suppose you could have a food fight.]
I have a friend whose husband and father-in-law pull each other’s arm hair in an attempt to get the other one to cry or at least wince in pain. [ed: and that’s during worship service.]
For Barry, his “cave” is his truck. When he needs to sort things out, he heads for the highway — alone. [ed: Me go cave. Start fire. Fire good.]
He gives the age-old example of men not wanting to ask for directions when they’re lost, and he cautions women against offering a man advice unless he asks. [ed: or, you could get him GPS. Electronic devices go a long way towards keeping your man satisfied.
For hours of endless entertainment, read the whole thing.
Bill O’Reilly, February 4, 2003, speaking to Jeremy Glick, whose father died in the World Trade Center and who signed an antiwar ad:
I’m sure your beliefs are sincere, but what upsets me is I don’t think your father would be approving of this. […] I don’t think he’d be equating this country as a terrorist nation as you are.
Michelle Malkin, August 8, 2005, writing about Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq and who is holding a vigil near Bush’s ranch:
I can’t imagine Army Spc. Casey Sheehan would stand for his mother’s crazy accusations that he was murdered by his commander-in-chief, rather than the Iraqi terrorists who ambushed his convoy.
Tell Huffington’s Toast I sent you:
Blogfather: I have with me tonight Ann Althouse. Mrs. Ann Althouse.
Ms. Althouse: Ms.
Blogfather: You have a new theory about the blogosphere.
Ms. Althouse: Can I just say here Glenn for one moment that I have a new theory about the blogosphere?
Blogfather: Er… exactly. (he gestures but she does not say anything) What is it?
Ms. Althouse: Where? (looks round)
Blogfather: No, no. Your new theory.
Ms. Althouse: Oh, what is my theory?
Blogfather: Yes.
Ms. Althouse: Oh what is my theory that it is. Well Glenn you may well ask me what is my theory.
Blogfather: I am asking.
Ms. Althouse: Good for you. My word yes. Well Glenn, what is it that it is - this theory of mine. Well, this is what it is - my theory that I have, that is to say, which is mine, is mine…
Like me, you may have recalled hearing about a “Truth Tour” pulled together to bypass the MSM, and finally hear the Good News coming out of Iraq. I had wondered what had become of them, and why I still hadn’t heard the Good News. Now I think I understand why.
The “Truth Tour” was a group of right-wing radio hosts and personalities who toured Iraqi Army bases July 7 to July 17. The Tour was organized by a group called Move America Forward co-chaired by Melanie Morgan and Howard Kaloogian: (MediaTransparancy.org)
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On this 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, it seems appropriate to consider what we’re doing to prevent nuclear bombs going off in cities in the future. We already know that the president isn’t particularly concerned about what’s happening with nuclear materials and has recently promoted a guy who’s sabotaged attempts to control their spread. But how about the Congress?
Billmon at Whiskey Bar points out a Washington Post article about a provision in the recently passed energy bill (see also Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings). North Carolina senator Richard Burr (R) managed to slip in a passage relaxing restrictions on export of weapons-grade uranium. The “Arm Osama Amendment”, as Billmon calls it, was apparently inserted to help a Canadian producer of medical isotopes, one that “already has enough highly enriched uranium to make one or two Hiroshima-size bombs” but doesn’t have the security requirements of US weapons facilities. Billmon continues:
… I strongly urge everyone to read the entire Washington Post article and read it carefully. That way, when the day comes for you lean out your bathroom window and wonder: “How did that funny shaped cloud get there?” you’ll already know the answer. And as you watch the bones in your hand become visible through your skin, and marvel at the sight of your child’s hair instantly catching on fire, you can, in the brief moment before the shock wave hits, thank the good people at the Council on Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals for helping make such wonders possible….
Unfortunately, putting campaign donations above the security of the American people isn’t limited to Republicans. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat from Arkansas, cosponsored the amendment.
The insane way bills are put together and passed — thousands of pages put out only hours before the vote, full of irrelevant provisions, with no chance for review — may one day lead to worse than the usual wasting of billions of dollars. Congress has got to get the process under control, but it’s hard to imagine how that will happen.
Above you see a whole new brand of Republican: the Club Gitmo Republicans. They proudly sport t-shirts that openly celebrate the abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More here.
The concept of Club Gitmo originated with Mr. Dittocontin himself, Rush Limbaugh. Dittohead Neil Boortz explains, or if you prefer, spews:
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I’ve been reading Orwell’s 1984, DCDL’s book of the month, and for some reason a particular passage has been resonating lately — and I have a feeling the resonance may increase in the coming weeks (emphasis and paragraph breaks added, since Emanuel Goldstein seems addicted to page-long paragraphs):
A Party member is expected to have no private emotions and no respites from enthusiasm. He is supposed to live in a continuous frenzy of hatred of foreign enemies and internal traitors, triumph over victories, and self-abasement before the power and wisdom of the Party. The discontents produced by his bare, unsatisfying life are deliberately turned outwards and dissipated by such devices as the Two Minutes Hate, and the speculations which might possibly induce a skeptical or rebellious attitude are killed in advance by his early acquired inner discipline.
The first and simplest stage in the discipline, which can be taught even to young children, is called, in Newspeak, crimestop. Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.
But stupidity is not enough. On the contrary, orthodoxy in the full sense demands a control over one’s own mental processes as complete as that of a contortionist over his body. Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible. But since in reality Big Brother is not omnipotent and the Party is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts.
The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink.
Of course we don’t live in the world of 1984, and there is no threat of arrest, torture, or execution for those guilty of thoughtcrime. Instead people are training themselves in crimestop of their own free will. I’m not sure whether that’s better or worse.
The DCDL discussion of 1984 was postponed indefinitely. Are people still up for it? Do you have suggestions of other books we should read and talk about? If so, leave a comment.
Thoughts around the web about our ole Uncle Karl:
Growing up in Rockville, MD, I wasn’t exactly starved for cultural influences, but it’s fair to say I had to work a little harder. Thank goodness that WETA existed.
This of course was in the days before the Moonie Times could advertise on WETA, when Robin McNeill ruled the News Hour, before Fox News invented Fair and Balanced Propaganda, and certainly before Republican control of CPB.
The problem with Public Broadcasting is not an excessively liberal influence. The problem is that Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman, Ken Tomlinson, and chief executive Ken Ferree are total partisan hacks.
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