Brit Karen Armstrong Tackles Religion at Salon

Steve Paulson of Salon gives us "Going beyond God : Historian and former nun Karen Armstrong says the afterlife is a "red herring," hating religion is a pathology and that many Westerners cling to infantile ideas of God." that is a good read for an alternative take on religion. She's a "freelance monotheist" by her own description. No patience with literalism yet likes the myth and poetry. Abandon self. Transcendence. Might need to look Ms. Armstrong's work up? Peace ... or War!

WaPo Agrees - Here's To You Mighty Wingman!

While I don't buy from Coors when possible, their Mighty Wingman commercial was an instant classic. Today, with the WaPo's Laura Sessions Stepp giving us "A Bud for The Ladies : Fly Solo, and a Guy Can Get So Shot Down. Wingman to the Rescue!" I couldn't help but send you to the video. Thank goodness she's writing in Arts and Living yet Ms. Stepp writes

... This is a generation that, in large part, dismisses the idea of courtship. Many move fast through relationships: face-booking, instant-messaging, text-messaging. ...

Am I officially old when this sort of thing bothers me? Mercy if I'd want to start over in this type of environment yet I still think there are plenty of young, smart, decent kids out there that don't use or need this sort of approach. Oh, I sure hope this reporter isn't related to Alabama's Senator Jeff Sessions. Yet, if she is I bet Session's Stormie would have been happy to have helped her out on background and perhaps even in the field. Peace ... or War!

Blue Gal Urges & Provides Reframing of Abortion

Birmingham's own Blue Gal serves up "The mainstream on abortion and why we're out of it..." which I highly suggest. Peace ... or War!

Ralph Reed - Religious Right's Posterboy

ReddHedd/Christy Hardin Smith at FireDogLake gives us Praise the Lord and Pass the Collection Plate that is good for a quick post at Jimi. Ralph Reed is such a tool! Peace ... or War!

Is It Really Just The Identity (Tribe) Stupid?

I started working and thinking on this first from reading ReddHedd/Christy Hardin Smith at FireDogLake and then Digby, posting a long comment (#172@FDL) on each, but it started with Chris Bowers at MyDD. Great post and map(s) that makes a culture warrior, especially one fighting behind enemy lines here in the Bible Belt, think long and hard. More to come maybe yet they've all said much I think that is worth pondering. Tip of the tam to all! Peace ... or War!

Does anybody miss the Jimi Thing?

I regret going silent these last few days. Grumpy gut and closing down the classroom and summoned to the hayfields and … I’ll be back in the saddle surely this evening. Hope to even get something up on Marque Stuart given my labors about the property. Give me some comments, suggestions, challenges, … on any of my five blogs listed below. Peace … or War!
Captain Plaid - Progressive Scot
Captain Bama - Southern Scot
Tin Shop Tartan - Localism
Captain Jimi - Culture Warrior
Marque Stuart - Home & Garden

1 in 136 Americans in Jail or Prison in a Year!

TruthDig gives us the reporting from AP's Elizabeth White. The "War on Drugs" is likely a good point to start figuring out these numbers. Highest per capita rate in the world. Here's some reporting from Ms. White's work:

... The states with the highest rates were Louisiana and Georgia, with more than 1 percent of their populations in prison or jail. Rounding out the top five were Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

The states with the lowest rates were Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Men were 10 times to 11 times more likely than women to be in prison or jail, but the number of women behind bars was growing at a faster rate, said Paige M. Harrison, the report's other author.

The racial makeup of inmates changed little in recent years, Beck said. In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males. ...

Peace ... or War!

TVC's Louis Sheldon Courts ATL Kingdom Builders

A wingnut site of note that I thought I'd share today is the Traditional Values Coalition. Executive Director Andrea Lafferty (who is the daughter of Founder Rev. Louis P. Sheldon) is rather attractive I'll admit. They'd surely appeciate a red blooded heterosexual ogling the merchandise. (I also do wonder if Dad likes to wear her heels. Would get him up to eye level perhaps?) People for the American Way gives the TVC the treatment here. With a tip of the tam to Pam at Pandagon, Reverend Sheldon is apparently heading to The ATL this next weekend to visit Kingdom Builders yet their site is not showing the events as best as I can tell. No doubt Karl and Ken need all the help they can get for this fall. Peace ... or War!

Southern Fried Snark from Jeremiah Bullfrog

With a tip of the tam to Wheeler at Alablawg, I'll send you to Jeremiah Bullfrog posting at "Goddamn I love America!!" providing a patriotic perspective from Pig Fork, Tennessee. Mullets do make the man! Peace ... or War!

Youth Culture - Putting on the Ditz?

Rebecca Traister of Salon (I'm a member but I think viewing a mere advertisement can get you a day pass) gives us "Return of the brainless hussies: From "American Idol" to Paris Hilton to an army of jiggly video stars, vapid females seem to be everywhere these days. Have we really gone this far backward, baby?" that is worth a visit. Not great yet solid. While Ms. Traister focuses on young girls/women the same could perhaps be said for the roosters. Parents and corporations looking for sales and/or ad dollars have plenty of the blame. Not that all kids are idiots as some, such as Alabama's own Ava Lowery, are doing great thinking and work. Yet, does our mass culture really reward that sort of conduct? Has it ever? I still think the PBS "Merchants of Cool" series is as solid as anything I've yet to run across on this issue. As an educator working in the trenches it often seems like kids that have "it" are really special but also that the vast majority are incredibly limited in range and talent and capacity and ... The thing is that often our teachers can't really run with or push the truly talented as we are so caught up in dragging the wounded along in our often misplaced efforts at "no child left behind". Peace ... or War!

Arlen Once Again Hands One to The Radicals

I used to sort of respect this guy and yet he keeps flip-flopping about. Talks a little tough and then fades when things get to the end. As to why, five theories follow:

#1 - He wants to keep the majority in the Senate. Patrick Leahy would take the Chair if the ReThuglican are in the minority and I think Old Arlen likes calling shots.

#2 - Rove has some dirt on him and he'll remind him everytime he gets contrary.

#3 - He's covered for Bu$hCo so long his reputation will be destroyed if meaningful hearings result should the Democrats gain subpoena power after 2006's elections.

#4 - Aging a bit, plus drained by battle with cancer, Arlen might have lost some of the fire.

#5 - Arlen Specter puts party loyalty over principles as do unfortuantely many Republicans these days. Chuck Hagel and Susan Collins and ... come to mind.

According to Laurie Kellman of the AP, reported by the Houston Chronicle, Arlen Specter and Russ Feingold tied up as Feingold walked out of the closed hearing on "gay marriage". Here's the coverage:

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Thursday, after a shouting match that ended when one Democrat strode out and the Republican chairman bid him "good riddance."

"I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., shouted after Sen. Russ Feingold declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting. "If you want to leave, good riddance," Specter finished.

"I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman," replied Feingold, D-Wis., who is considering a run for president in 2008. "See ya."

Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush's judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment _ which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages _ to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing.

Democrats complained that bringing up the amendment is a purely political move designed to appeal to the GOP's conservative base in this year of midterm elections. Under the domed ceiling of the ornate and historic President's Room off the Senate floor, senators voted 10-8 to send the measure forward.

Among Feingold's objections was Specter's decision to hold the vote in the President's Room, where access by the general public is restricted, instead of in the panel's usual home in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Specter later said he would have been willing to hold the session in the usual room had he thought doing so would change votes.

Not all those who voted "yes" support the amendment, however. Specter said he is "totally opposed" to it, but felt it deserved a debate in the Senate.

"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman," reads the measure, which would require approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states.

"Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman," it says.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment the week of June 5. ...

"Deserves debate on the Senate floor" is what Arlen offers. No investigations on anything of substance as to Bu$hCo yet this deserves floor consideration? Right? Red meat for the Dobsonites?

"American Fundamentalist" by Joel Pelletier

As best as I can tell the creator Joel Pelletier appears before his massive effort. Here's the story. I've copied much of it below:

This full-size acrylic adaptation depicts current American religious, corporate and political fundamentalists and their lackeys whooping it up in a big parade celebrating the return of Jesus, as 2008 Washington burns, the sky is a permanent nuclear red, and everywhere snipers and military aircraft stand guard. Designed to roll up and be easily transported, he is touring the United States showing and discussing the painting, its depicted event, the depicted participants, and the ramifications to American democracy and freedom of faith.

One major addition to Joel's version of Ensor's painting is the lack of spectators in the parade: the current popular interpretation of the second coming of Christ follows a disastrous World War and genocide of most of the population on the planet. In this interpretation of the Armageddon myth most of the planet's cities, culture, animals and people are lost in a firestorm which ends in the few, chosen leaders ruling over the what's left for a thousand years, with Jesus as King. To a skeptical freethinker, the idea that some within the current American political and military establishment, and many who vote or financially support them, actually believe in this "happy ending" is beyond worrisome. More than the freedom to choose or not choose faith is threatened by these current political and cultural movements - ALL life on this planet, based on a dangerous modern interpretation of an ancient myth, is endangered in the real world by real people with the power to act.

The rise of American political, economic and religious fundamentalism is unique to world history, with foundations in the Pilgrims and the Virginia Colonies, "Manifest Destiny," free market capitalism and the rise of corporate media. Although each movement has its own goals, they have formed bonds and coalitions to achieve and dominate power, money and cultural influence today. No one person or movement can ever totally agree with the others, but (when necessary) they use each other's power and money to help achieve their goal - of "winning", once and for all, ideological, economic or political struggles that have characterized American history.

This desire to "win", to KNOW that only their plans and ideas are RIGHT, is the definition of Fundamentalism, and is by its very nature anti-democratic, anti-pluralistic and anti-American, threatening the very strength of American culture and civic life. The freedom to think, choose and disagree is the foundation of our shared cultural "bible", the Constitution of the United States of America, the very document a President swears to protect and defend. The unique convergence of modern political, economic and religious American Fundamentalism has no interest in what we, as Americans, have in common - our diversity.

Interesting! A great conversational work that might get some folks thinking. I've ordered a poster via Pay Pal for a mere $13.00. Peace ... or War!

Is Left Coast Education "Leave No Group Behind"?

The AP via MSNBC reports "California might honor gays in textbooks - State Senate passes bill that would also bar negative portrayals". California is number one in the textbook market in the US. The report reads, in part, as follows:

California children would read about homosexuals' contributions to history under a bill approved by state senators who often drew on their own childhood experiences in supporting the measure.

The bill would require California's social science textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history. ...

The measure passed Thursday 22-15, with no Republican votes. It heads to the Assembly, where opponents vowed another fight. ...

The bill — introduced by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the state's first openly gay legislator — also would bar textbooks and other instructional material that portrayed gays in a negative light. ...

Two of three gay students are verbally harassed and one of six is physically harassed, said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, which sponsored the legislation. "The invisibility that currently exists (in textbooks) contributes to that," he added.

Other women senators drew parallels to the lack of female or minority role models they saw in history books as children.

Sen. Bill Morrow disputed the comparison. "If you are a black American, you can't help it, you were born that way," he said. "There is not one scintilla of credible scientific evidence that suggests that homosexuality is biological in origin..... It is behavioral; it is not racial."

Sen. Richard Alarcon disagreed. "This is the way ... God made people," said Alarcon. "Let's stop trying to hide this reality."

One thing I immediately thought is how conservative states like Texas might require an alternative version. We could have an Alabama version that required Bear Bryant to be positively mention but the Georgia text could not reference banjo music in Appalachia.

Is Senator Morrow's "logic"really that "you can't help it" if born black? I would also refer the learned Senator to this fine Boston Globe effort by Neil Swidey. Very interesting and certainly enough to qualify for "scintilla" status. It is refreshing to see not all the stupid politicians are here in Alabama.

As for the decision, I'm not very certain that a text is where to start. Mentioning that Langston Hughes, or another significant historical figure was gay, seems appropriate perhaps yet so often it seems like these textbooks, often written via "group think" for "canned curriculum" application, provide contrived examples to meet the requirements of more "group think".

The best place to start might simply be with teachers trying to model appropriate attitudes and allowing them freedom and flexibility in covering material. My son will likely grow up to be a tolerant man yet it will be more likely because I've influenced him more than popular culture or his peers or ...

A final thought is that this will give the Conservative GOP yet another weapon in their need to "fight the culture war" to get regular Americans to vote against their real interests. I can imagine sermons and direct mail and ... being prepared already about the Godless liberals trying to promote their homosexual agendas. Karl Rove ought to send the California Democrats a "Thank You!" note.

Peace ... or War!

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Mohler Thinks Birth Control Pill Has Had Greatest Impact on Human History Short of "The Fall"

Russell Shorto of The New York Times Magazine serves up "Contra-Contraception" which made me think long and hard about the direction of our country. Walking us from early 18th century England to the modern USA controlled in large part by conservative wingnuts and then back to Europe, this article, and it is admittedly a monster of one, offers much. Peace ... or War!

Mandatory cervical cancer vaccine may be resisted by Dobsonites on "conflicting messages" grounds!

Tristero via Dgby's Hullabaloo gives us another installment of "The War on Fucking" where he points out the likely opposition to Merck's newly developed vaccine that targets the human papilloma virus. Virtually all cervical cancers are caused by some strain of this virus, known as HPV. It's very common among both men and women, and is transmitted by sexual contact. The ideal age for the vaccine to be administered is when a girl is between 10 and 11. Steven Groopman at TNR previously gave us "Conservative Christians and HPV - Blind Faith" that likewise covers the health policy issues in play here. Newsweek's Claudia Kalb and Karen Springen also gave us "The War on HPV - A new vaccine that prevents cervical cancer could be available soon" recently that covers the effort. Many of the religious right would apparently oppose the mandatory vaccination of young girls even though statistically and logically that is the wrong call. Like abstinence only sex education, I fear the radicals will wind up killing people in their goal to bring their "morailty" to dominate our public policy. Peace ... or War!

INTELLIGENT THOUGHT by EDGE contributors

I added EDGE to my links to the right. The above may be purchased at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or ... A link to EDGE discussing the text is worthy of a visit as well. Nice effort it seems. I agree that it is time to fight back against these activist fundamentalists. Peace ... or War!

The Rich get Richer & The Poor get ... Pregnant?

The Guttmacher Institute releases A TALE OF TWO AMERICAS FOR WOMEN -
Low-Income Women's Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Rates are Increasing As Better-Off Women Continue Three Decades of Progress. Here's the good stuff,

“Effective contraceptives backed up by safe and legal abortion have allowed American women to become equal partners with men in modern society and must remain an integral part of health care for all women,” says Dr. Camp. “Sadly, although abortion remains legal, a two-tiered system is already emerging in our country. Wealthier women have quick, convenient access to contraceptives and safe, early abortions, while poor women are less able to prevent pregnancies through contraception and are then forced to jump over a series of obstacles in order to obtain an abortion. This is turning back the clock on all the gains women have made in recent decades. We need to do more, not less, to give women control over their reproductive lives.”

"Family values" and "culture of life" indeed. Peace ... or War

Feminism - Forward Fundamentals Please Folks

Caitlin Flanagan recently wrote in Time an essay entitled, "We're Here, We're Square, Get Used to It - Why the Democratic Party is losing the housewife vote" where she writes, in part, with my emphasis supplied, the following:

... there is apparently no room for me in the Democratic Party. In fact, I have spent much of the past week on a forced march to the G.O.P. And the bayonet at my back isn't in the hands of the Republicans; the Democrats are the bullyboys. Such lions of the left as ... have made it abundantly clear to me that I ought to start packing my bags. I'm not leaving, but sometimes I wonder: When did I sign up to be the beaten wife of the Democratic Party?

Here's why they're after me: I have made a lifestyle choice that they can't stand, and I'm not cowering in the closet because of it. I'm out, and I'm proud. I am a happy member of an exceedingly "traditional" family. ...

As far as I can tell, every reviewer and reporter who has encountered my book has assumed that I'm a conservative Republican. At the end of an interview on a national TV network, a reporter said, "Caitlin, I can't let you go without asking you one question." Here was her question: Was it really true that I'm a Democrat? Those reporters' assumptions don't tell you anything about me, nor do they tell you much about the reporters themselves: they made an honest mistake. What it tells you a whole lot about is the Democratic Party and the face it projects to the world. It's a party that supports gay families, as I do, and has vast sympathy for many other kinds of alternative lifestyles. But we let the Republicans have complete ownership of the image of the traditional family. And that's one reason we keep losing elections.

Most of the 60 million people who voted against George W. Bush have lifestyles more like mine than the Democratic Party would like to admit. Most of us aren't the Hollywood elite or the nontraditional family. Many of us do what I do, which is go to church on Sunday, work hard and value my marriage. Again, it's not so much my party's platform that rejects the family; God help us all if Bush's brutality to the poor continues much longer. It's a small but very vocal minority, the Democratic pundits, who abhor what I represent because it doesn't fit the stereotypical image of the modern woman who has escaped from domestic prison. ...

The Democrats made a huge tactical error a few decades ago. In the middle of doing the great work of the '60s--civil rights, women's liberation, gay inclusion--we decided to stigmatize the white male. The union dues--paying, churchgoing, beer-drinking family man got nothing but ridicule and venom from us. So he dumped us. And he took the wife and kids with him.

And now here we are, living in a country with a political and economic agenda we deplore, losing election after election and wondering why.

It's the contempt, stupid.

Ms. Flanagan has recently released "To Hell with All That : Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife" and apparently she feels that she's been savaged by the left, or maybe she is wanting to get press to boost sales. I'd honestly not been aware of her work and past yet she's apparently talented even if rather frustrating to many people working from a feminist position. I did however enjoy your idea that "serfdom" enables some of the "do it all" types, both male and female I'd add.

Forty four years old so you came along Mrs. Flanagan just a little before me. Neither of us remember JFK being killed but we've got memories of Vietnam and certainly Watergate. The thing is that you are falling for a trick, or worst yet, enabling the ReThuglicans to continue this foundational lie. They've created this lie that the Democrats are radically against the traditional family. Few of the lefty class has done anything that you've described so to have you get ink in and bytes on Time to forward that tired yet tried and true right wing saw gets my Scots up.

Republicans learned they can't win on many issues after the Civil Rights movement empowered a group naturally attracted to Progressive ideas so they borrowed a tactic from how Southern Democrats destroyed fusion efforts of poor whites and blacks. Divide and distract. Wedge and widen. Ridicule intellectualism and tolerance. Scare the hell out of easily scared people. By the way, nobody is "after you". They are engaging your position and arguments. Religious Right shilling of GOP talking points can be expected often these days yet you are working at high brow posts that would suggest to me that would expect a little more. You deserved scolding perhaps and to see you react by attacking the Left was wrong and it is going to get worse unless you make amends. And I'll offer why you might want to do this at the end of the post, and maybe even explain why I titled this missive using "Fundamentals".

I like zuzu's post at Femniste yet "vile" might be too strong for a Southern gent. Shill, hypocrite, confused, opportunistic, conflicted, out of touch, ... Echidne knows a good myth of course and she does a tolerable Thor on Ms. Flanagan. The above minor Greek Goddess has known you for some time it appears. I'd perhaps begin, which of course explains why I put the link here at the end of my post, with Salon's Joan Walsh review as she might have started this latest fracas, with I think a very solid and reasoned review.

I whipped out my feminist collection just this last week. Andrea Dworkin's "Intercourse" and a few other classics in essays assembled in "Transforming a Rape Culture" were carried across the river to my school. I was motivated to do this by several things. I have been allowing some of the little girls in my room to look at and/or listen to some music videos recently. Earlier in the week they pulled some hip hop stuff that was very sexist and degrading. They were really into the language and it was admittedly minimal compared to some stuff I've seen. Thugs with their "bitches and hoes" in skimpy stuff grinding and bootie shaking. When I was trying to get them to stop I wound up cutting a deal. Finish but you've got give me three to five minutes to deconstruct what you've been saying and seeing and doing the very next morning.

I showed my whole homeroom the books, talked about feminism and even my friend Red Crowley's "The Lie of Entitlement", and generally got them thinking just a touch. I talked with another "aspiring model" who has a fall back strategy of marrying money later in the day, getting a few other kids, both hens and roosters, in the mix. I've left the books where some will pick them up. Have used as bait maybe. The thing is that so few of my kids, as is true I regret for many ideas, have been exposed to the fundamentals of feminism. And they need this as I hope nearly any reasonable person can agree. So if we can ratchet the fuss above back to getting the message back where it needs to be then I think we'll do more good. Having a guy "pissing contest" or a gal "cat fight" is of little harm, and appropriate at times, yet remember the fundamentals folks. It is the next generation that really counts. Peace ... or War!

Papal Bull - "Before you tap it ... jimi cap it!"

Will "love gloves" for married couples finally be accepted by The Catholic Church? Christopher Dickey of Newsweek gives us the reporting yet officially one partner has to be infected with AIDS. Seems common sense enough and that they are even having the debate is bizarre, even to this recovering Southern Baptist. We can't dance but if couples do the horizontal bop they can strap one on. Crazy mess of theology when reason is ignored. Peace ... or War!

Evil Liberals with their Blogswarms?

I'll drop here on Jimi as this is a much a part of the "culture war" as anything. Digby rolls them really fine with this post labeled "I Can't Hear You" where he tackles the right wing Wurlitzer and the so called liberal MSM and ... Indeed most of the left deals in political outrage rather than personal attacks. Ideology not personality. I think it grand that the MSM is writing about the lefty blogs. First they laugh at you, then they ... Soon!

Also, tip of the tam to Tristero in his smack down of Snitchens and his enablers such as Kenny Boy Pollack. Translating Bu$h to English is tough enough brother! Farsi could perhaps work just as well?

Further, Juan Cole has destroyed you Snitchens. Stay in the bottle or fight your way from the dark side. Smarts for certain yet you've been in the Kool Aide for too long maybe.

Time for Stewart and Colbert. Peace ... or War!

GOP is "The Party of Life" ... Until You Are Born

Most progressives favor some type of universal or single payor or national or ... health care. The GOP is tied to Big Pharma and Big Insurance for certain. Whatever they lack in ideas, the ReThuglicans can divide on a "wedge" issue such as "threats to the family" or "respect for the culture of life" or ...

But even the Brits are doing a better job it seems with their health care than the market based personal responsibility crowd might care to admit. Here's a link to Financial Times where Clive Cookson reports "England beats US in health stakes". A portion of the writing indicates,

Middle-aged English people are “much healthier” than their American counterparts, even though the US spends far more on medical care than the UK, according to a large international study published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. ...

As expected, people with higher socio-economic status, as measured by their income and education levels, tended to enjoy better health. But because the national differences were so great, those at the top of the education and income scale in the US suffered diabetes and heart disease at a similar rate to those at the bottom of the scale in England.

The researchers are struggling to explain their findings. Their analysis shows that lifestyle factors – particularly the fact that Americans are more obese and take less exercise – cannot account for the whole discrepancy. though they may provide a partial explanation.

Different health systems may also be part of the story. The researchers note that the US spends $5,274 per head on medical care while the UK spends $2,164, adjusted for purchasing power. But Britain’s National Health Service provides publicly funded medicine for everyone, while Americans under the age of 65 have to rely on private insurance.

I can recall several years ago a little eighth grade kid railing against socialized medicine when it came up in class. She had the talking points down pat. Not a strong student nor well informed yet she had been indoctrinated fully. Church shirts nearly every day. Snarly at times. Often unprepared. Yet she was a full right winger in her politics, with health care being something she liked to use for her ammo. I wonder how she would handle the above?

A "culture of life" would I think value a "healthy" life. Don't get me started on how the GOP treats kids with poor parents/caregivers. Peace ... or War!

Racism, nativism, facism, ... Conservatism?

David Neiwert of Ornicus is one of my main authorities on neo-facism and racism and hate and ... Today he gives us "The end of the end of racism". Faulkner is always a good start. Long yet solid. I'd add that Chavez was thinking on the idea of organizing labor in his negative ideas on "illegal" immigration. Read this work and return to Ornicus often. I've pondered long and hard on his ideas of neo-facism. Peace ... or War!

Are Democrats MIA in Gay Marriage War?

Egalia crossposting at Tennessee Guerilla Women and subbing for Jesus General gives us "Who's Missing in Action in the Gay Marriage War?" where the "Gay Marriage" issue is tackled. Nice graphic yet more details would be helpful. My angle is fairness, at a minimum via something like "Civil Unions". I'll vote "No" simply for the statement in Alabama's elections. Peace ... or War!

Rush Limbaugh - Lemonade from Lemons?

While I'm nearly convinced Rush Limbaugh is Satan, John Ehinger of The Huntsville Times reminds us of the disaster that "The War on Drugs" has been in examining Limbaugh's sweetheart deal in Florida. He urges Rush Limbaugh to use his position of influence for good. That's where you've lost this one Mr. Ehinger. Limbaugh has already talked of sending drug addicts up the river. Rush Limbaugh is indeed "a big fat idiot" that shills wing nut conservatism not logic or reality. He's the chief player of the "Mighty Wurlitzer". He's selling "Club Gitmo" shirts. He lies, twists, shouts down logic, ... and smiles all the way to the bank. He and his sponsors and imitators have created a legion of dittoheads that are a modern form of brownshirts. I fear it is wishful thinking that BFI will do anything for the good of society. Peace ... or War!