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Written by Dave at 7:26 am
Today is National Doughnut Day. That’s not important. This piece about the New York Times being a religion is:
The Times has of late acted a great deal like a corrupt religious institution. This column has chronicled its often vicious and dishonest attempts–both on the editorial page and in the news sections, which Abramson will head–to shore up its own authority by trying to tear down its competitors. Examples:
• In January, the Times responded to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by instigating a witch hunt against “Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media,” as an editorial put it–even though by the time the editorial was published, it was clear that suspect Jared Loughner was not motivated by politics.
There are other examples in the piece. The Gray Lady is dishonest, and it’s hard to take anyone who respects it seriously.
Written by Dave at 4:28 pm
President Obama serves up a huge heaping helping of Civility Pancakes, dripping with Civility Syrup and moistened with a nice pat of Civility Butter:
“It’s tempting not to negoitate with hostage takers unless the hostage gets harmed,” President Obama said at his Tuesday press conference.
“In this case, the hostage was the American people,” Obama said.
 I guess the Obamessiah didn’t get the Civility Memo.
Written by Dave at 1:07 pm
The media isn’t biased except toward Republicans, right? Wasn’t Helen Thomas in the front row of the White House press box for decades?
Speaking at an anti-Arab bias workshop in Detroit, Thomas told attendees, “Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists.”
“I can call a president of the United States anything in the book but I can’t touch Israel, which has Jewish-only roads in the West Bank,” Thomas said. “No American would tolerate that — white-only roads.” [...]
Thomas claimed that “You can not say anything (critical) about Israel in this country.” [...]
Go figure. Damned Jews.
Written by Dave at 10:06 am
And it ain’t a bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys:
And while the CSPI implies that these restaurant meals are responsible for America’s obesity problem (and in truth, obesity rates have stayed level for ten years), a recent study released by the Cato Institute found that eating in restaurants has a negligible effect on obesity. The authors found that the calorie difference among those who eat out regularly and those who do not is “too small to account for more than a trivial fraction of the increase in [Body Mass Index] observed over the past several decades.”
If the CSPI were releasing its lists simply to help inform consumers that some restaurant food is high in calories and saturated fat, it would be providing a helpful service to the dining consumer. But the CSPI’s goals go way beyond informing the public; the CSPI wants to browbeat these restaurants into serving only healthy foods.
 The good news is that Michelle Obama thinks it’s okay for you to have a piece of pie.
Whew!
Written by Dave at 8:50 pm
Curtis got slapped by a white teacher:
 I’ve read all 40 pages of the letter. I suggest you do, also.
I…I wish I had more to say at the moment.
Written by Dave at 4:41 pm
The Republican party has regained the House, taking at least 60 seats.
Liberal butthurt is at historic levels not seen since Bush’s reelection.
One would think that the president would consider what these significant gains mean, but he hasn’t. He’s chosen to see it as a referendum on the economy instead of his appalling mismanagement in forcing this country into the left-wing direction he thinks it should go. That was to be expected. He did win the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing, after all.
Usually, there’s that whole thing where the party that’s made big gains gives helpful hints and advice to the party that’s lost. Here are some of my helpful hints:
- Obama should hold on to the idea that this election wasn’t about him or his policies. He should continue to tack hard to the left and push for more and more of that hope and change. It’s the only way to win in 2012.
- The far left should support him in everything he does, as loudly and often as possible. The best solution to unpopular policies is more of the same.
- The MSM shouldn’t change a thing. The only biased news organization is FOX News, which is an obvious mouthpiece for the Republican party. CNN, ABC, NBC, The New York Times, and the rest of them needs to keep doing what it’s doing, ignoring ratings problems and falling circulation. Never mind FOX: despite taking more and more of the market share, only complete cousin-fucking idiots watch it. As elites, you’re smarter than them.
- Fight hard against any efforts to repeal ObamaCare. It’s the country’s only hope.
- Complain often about partisan politics and the lack of civility. Everyone sees that the Republicans are the uncivil ones.
I’m curious to see how the economy will fare now that the Obamessiah has decided to pay attention to it. In any event, it’s going to be an interesting two years.
Written by Dave at 12:15 pm
My soon-to-be-published writing project has taken a good bit of my time, as have my job and basically everything else I do with my personal life, which is why I only write here somewhat sporadically, and only about issues I find important enough to write about. This election season is one of them.
Get out there and vote. I have no doubt that every era, every election season, every day of the week considers itself historic in some important fashion. Despite the cliched Chinese curse of living in interesting times, nobody actually wants to live in the doldrums. This time is different, however. This election season actually matters. And your vote is what is going to make the United States the place you want to live in for at least the next few decades.
In 2008, the majority of Americans not only voted for Hope, Change, and Post-Partisan Civility by electing Barack Hussein Obama president, but they also solidified a Democrat party stranglehold on both the House and Senate. The result was an unprecedented era of partisan politics, backroom deals, and media-fueled hatred of anyone who didn’t fall into lockstep with the Obamessiah’s program. We ended up with a universal health care plan that will cost at least a trillion dollars, an unemployment rate of almost 9.6%, and an economy that has been on extremely thin ice for at least two years…and shows no signs of improving.
The Democrats’ excuse is that we’re not smart enough to see how much good they’re doing. We’re full of fear and frustration, and just don’t get it. We’re know-nothings. We’re nutcases. Bad enough that they attack the electorate, but the personal attacks Democrat candidates have been spewing at their rivals is pretty significant this season.
It’s been predicted that Republicans will take the House this year, and perhaps the Senate. But that’s not enough.
The Democrat-run Congress, helmed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, has shown utter contempt for the will of the American people. With Obama in the oval office, they’ve made every effort to not just steer, but haul this country’s policies so far to the left that if they have their way, there will be no difference between the U.S. and any failing European social democracy. This can’t happen. It’s not enough to win, but we must vote every single Democrat out of office as possible. We, as the electorate, have to teach them the lesson of not just no, but Hell, no. Democrats, you’ve done enough damage. You’ve governed against us long enough. You’ve shown us exactly how much you hold us in contempt, and we’re not going to let you do it any more. If we don’t do this now, and hard, these kinds of issues are just going to crop up again and again and again in the next few election cycles, and our Republic will suffer more for it. Teach the left in this country that when it goes too far, as it has now, it will be punished. They’ve had their way for too long.
Or, alternatively, you can go to the Jon Stewart rally and hang out with all the other ironic hipster douchebags. In which case, I heard that voting for rally participants will occur on November 3 this year.
Written by Dave at 8:53 am
This must be seen to be believed.
Imagine it: all the people involved with the production must have felt, on some level or other, that this was a good idea.
I cannot help but think that this is really the secret heart of left-wing environmentalism: all those AGW deniers and apathetic people who just won’t save the planet by reducing their harmful carbon emissions, don’t you just want to press a button and murder the lot of them?
It’s not funny: it’s sick.
Written by Dave at 7:14 pm
There’s a little more that needs to be said about the Ground Zero Mosque. I’ve described the nuts and bolts of it here.
Supporters of the mosque’s construction like to create several intellectual dodges in order to bolster their opinions. I’ve already addressed the first one: that it’s legal because it’s in the Constitution and in America we don’t trample on other people’s rights to worship. Seeing that nobody worth listening to is opposing the mosque on legal grounds, it’s silly to even bring it up. No one is saying that Muslims don’t have a right to worship. Or that they don’t have the right to worship in New York. Or that they don’t have the right to build mosques in New York. The argument against the mosque’s construction involves issues of basic human decency and sensitivity to those who have lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, not issues of religious freedom. We’re not saying you can’t worship Allah. We’re saying that you shouldn’t build a mosque right next to the site where other Muslims murdered thousands of people. That’s not a complex issue. Addressing the non-issue of religious freedom in America is an easy way to keep from addressing the main point: Islam’s fundamental disagreement with western values, characterized by the Ground Zero Mosque (among many other things).
The other intelligence-insulting dodge GZ Mosque supporters throw out is that there’s no difference between building a mosque on that site and building a church or synagogue. This would be a valid point if Christians and Jews flew planes into the Twin Towers while shouting praises to Jesus and Yahweh. They didn’t. Militant Islamists made this a holy war against the west. They attacked us in the name of their religion. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this eliding of the religious issue is a worthwhile argument. Just because you don’t see a difference between Christians and Jews and Islamists, it doesn’t mean that the rest of us lack perspicacity. Islamists have been trying to export their religious beliefs through violence for quite some time now. Don’t you read the news?
Those of us (close to 70% of Americans by the most recent polls) who are against the GZ Mosque’s construction have been labeled as bigots, racists, and whatever other names the left likes to call people who disagree with them. This is an important point: the vast majority of people who support the mosque are liberals. We’ve seen many times how the left in this country likes to publicly burnish its moral superiority, and in this issue, it’s made no exception. As usual, if you disagree, you’re not only wrong, but evil (and stupid). This isn’t surprising, but it also shows how out of touch the left wing is with basic American values and belief systems. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, said that opponents of the mosque should be investigated. Think about that: this isn’t just some Congressidiot from east Texas no one ever heard of. This is a Congressional leader saying that people who disagree with her should be subject to investigation. So you’re not only stupid and evil, but you should just shut up too, if you know what’s good for you. Our intellectual betters are pretty comfortable telling us that we’re bigots, all 70% of us.
It’s been brought up that the intention of the mosque- er, community center is to “build bridges” from Islam to the west, so we should support it. Sticking your thumb into the eye of 70% of the country is a damned silly way to build a bridge. Not only that, but there’s no guarantee that whatever goes on in that mosque will be dedicated to “healing the rift.” We’ve seen that a great deal of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” talk goes on in mosques. I’m not going to tell Muslims how to practice their religion; after all, the First Amendment protects freedom of religion. I know this because liberals have suddenly made freedom of worship a big deal in this country. They’ve been staunch supporters of it for at least the past week. In any event, there’s no way to tell what’s going to happen there, and just because a very questionable project’s spokesman makes noises about good intentions, there’s no guarantee of follow-through. “Islam is a religion of peace,” many say. Including President Bush. Me, I don’t know the majority of Muslims, so I’m not as comfortable speaking for all of them. All I can do is look at behavior patterns. Jews tend to vote Democrat. Christians tend to celebrate Christmas. Muslims tend to let the most violent sects of their faith do the loudest talking.
The fact is that Islam does have a problem with western values. Whenever someone commits or tries to commit murder in the name of Allah, we are cautioned against “anti-Muslim backlash”. So far, this backlash hasn’t made itself known. The Islamic community is extremely vocal when it comes to its rights, making demands of the majority time and time again. The demand tolerance, even approval. Yet, when it comes to the issue of sensitivity to non-Muslims, such as in this case, they’re dead silent. Not one of the GZ Mosque builders has come out and said, “Yes, I understand that some of you find this hurtful, and I’m sorry about that. But we’re going to build it anyway.” Instead, they’ve simply fallen back on the First Amendment (a notion that does not exist in any Islamic country in the world) and stubbornly refused to budge an inch.
What this suggests to me is that the Cordoba House is intended to be a Victory Mosque. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf isn’t a friend to America, and doesn’t seem terribly moderate to me, according to his statements. We also don’t know where the funding for this mosque is coming from. I’m certain that the Ground Zero Mosque is yet another battle the Islamists are fighting against the West. It’s a shot across the bow. How we respond to it will be another test of both American resolve and Islamic bloody-mindedness. We’ve shown that we won’t try to outlaw it. What we should do is fight it with ridicule. Draw more cartoons depicting militant Islamists as the shrieking, backwards, tissue-skinned, murderous children they are.
The problem is that our media doesn’t have the courage to do that. And our president has been his typically mealy-mouthed, pontificating self on the matter. People have asked why Obama felt he had to weigh in on the subject, when it would have been smarter and more expedient to just not address it. The answer is simple: he HAS to. Just like in the Skip Gates controversy, when, absent the facts, he blabbed out that the police “acted stupidly,” the Obamessiah has to tell you what he thinks. Because he’s smarter than you, you see. He couldn’t not say anything about it. It’s a characteristic of narcissists that they pontificate frequently and on all subjects, because they can’t imagine a world where you’re not sucking up their wisdom like life-giving pap.
Written by Dave at 9:15 am
Now that the Obamessiah has weighed in on the issue of building a mosque near the site where Muslims flew airplanes into the Twin Towers, it’s time for a little plain talk about the subject.
The Muslim in charge of this project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, famously claimed that the U.S. was an “accessory to the crime” of 9/11, and that Osama bin Laden was “made in the U.S.A.” He also refuses to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization, claiming that terrorism is a “complicated issue.” No it isn’t. If this is the most moderate voice that the Muslims could come up with, then there’s a serious problem with Islam.
With that in mind, it’s also important to acknowledge that Muslims like to build mosques on places where they have achieved victory through force of arms. No doubt that militant Islamists feel that destroying the Twin Towers and murdering almost 3,o00 people in the process is a triumph, especially in light of the fact that New Yorkers lack the courage to rebuild on the same site. The proposed name, the Cordoba House, is deliberately provocative, as it refers to a famous Muslim victory over the Spanish. The proposed opening date is September 11, 2011: the ten-year anniversary of the attacks.
Supporters of building the Ground Zero mosque like to claim that the First Amendment makes it perfectly legal to do so (and that if you disagree, you’re hateful, but we’ll address that later). However, the First Amendment isn’t absolute. My homeowner’s association contract doesn’t allow me to paint my house a certain color, for example. There are laws about building bars near schools and churches. Saying certain words in certain places is considered “hate speech” and you can be prosecuted for it. There are decency laws that prevent people from absolutely exercising their supposed First Amendment right to publicly depict sex acts. So the First Amendment claim is a dodge. It’s not a First Amendment issue. It’s a decency issue.
According to Islamists, President Obama, and everyone else who needs to show the world how inclusive and non-judgmental they are, not showing support for the Ground Zero mosque is hateful. They claim to not understand how anyone could be against it except as a symptom of Islamophobia. It insults our intelligence that these too-clever, morally preening imbeciles refuse to accept the idea that there’s a decency issue at stake, and that there may be some people who have a legitimate reason to be angry at the idea of Islamists building a victory temple at the same site where other Islamists murdered thousands of their countrymen. Why not build a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor, or a Richard Wagner opera house at Auschwitz? You have to give them credit, though: they’ve not backed down on their support. The common human decency argument won’t move them. And, as they’ve done for years and will continue to do for as long as it works, they’ll call you racist if you disagree.
The Obamessiah supports the mosque, and won’t even debate the decency issue, which shows how weak, vacillating, and completely at odds he is with most Americans and their values. I’m surprised that he managed to find the time to speak about it in-between vacations. I am willing to allow this, though: New Yorkers have elected politicians who support this mosque. They still haven’t built anything on Ground Zero. Is that’s how they want their little slice of heaven, they’re welcome to it. Perhaps Obama’s former pastor was right: the chickens have come home to roost. And you can’t make an Islamist omelet without breaking a few American eggs.
Or, alternatively, you can focus your attention on what two essentially meaningless politicians think. I mean, let’s get our priorities straight.
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