The Fury of Me

O’Malley vs. McDonnell

This conversation between the heads of the Republican Governor’s Association and Democratic Governor’s Association is worth watching.  O’Malley quietly softly destroys McDonnell in my opinion. I see a bright future for Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland.

Iowans Miss the Point

Recently, there was an article in The Atlantic about Iowa and some reflections on the state from a professor who has lived there and taught at the University of Iowa for the last twenty years.  Understandably, it was harsh, honest, unfettered, and insulting to Iowans who think their state is the best and should be allowed to be a ridiculously disproportionate weight in who gets to be the presidential nominee for both parties.  It’s insane. It’s a state of 3 million (less than 1% of the US population), and are 91% white.  Give me a break.

Things Iowans got pissed off about in Stephen Blooms article: references to “non-existent” mudrooms; a hunting fanaticism, a huge emigration of young people; it contains several meat-packing plants that hire non-union (il)legal immigrants to earn essentially nothing for a filthy, and unsafe job; an exceptionally high suicide rate; and finally that religion is the glue that binds Iowans together. 

Most of the people outside of Iowa would respond, in order, okay, yep, huh, I think I heard about that, didn’t know that, and no shit.

Bloom’s article triggered a bunch of comments which always teach me a lesson that I apparently refuse to learn – if I really want to be pushed over the edge, the best way is to read reader comments on any article posted on the internet.  It also brought on two published articles, one by the University of Iowa’s president, Sally Mason, and another by some recently laid-off reporter.

My response to the university President who felt it was important to declare that Stephen Bloom “did not represent the University of Iowa in his opinion” basically made me wonder if she just felt like she needed some attention.  Bloom didn’t sign the piece, “the University of Iowa.” He signed it with his name. So no shit Madame President.  Thanks for declaring that and letting us all know how great you think Iowa is.  Congratulations on being one of a few “literary cities of the world.” I’m not sure what I means, but here is a gold star.

And to the reporter who got bent out of shape over mudrooms, the crackling of corn, and some other stuff that essentially didn’t matter.  That’s great that Dubuque just did a $30 million renovation on a luxury hotel, but that money might have been better spent making sure people have even heard of that city.

Anyway, as someone who went to college in the South and got to experience what to me was a very different culture for four years, I understand what he is saying.  He wasn’t insulting Iowa to be mean.  He was being brutally honest. Something that people don’t like.  And Iowans should own it and do what they can to improve the state.  Don’t lie to the rest of us.  I’m a Californian. Our state is totally jacked up. I own that. I’m not going to try to tell other people that we have our financial house in order.  Californians like to spend money that we don’t tax ourselves for.

And of course there is Bloom’s observation about religion.  This is a point that neither of his responders addressed because there is nothing to address.  It’s true, pure and simple.  This was also something that I learned while at school in Texas.  There is a baseline assumption among everyone you meet that you are a Christian.  People are pleasant and friendly, and most probably don’t even realize that they are making this assumption, but in my experience it is there.  When, in some off-hand conversation or experience, this assumption gets blown up, there was always some kind of reaction.  Some people didn’t care, but were surprised to find out nonetheless.  Others, withdrew and were still friendly enough, but being a non-believer, I was now less relatable.  And of course, there were the few that had never made the assumption in the first place and it was a big deal. This was the minority, but they existed.  If I had been gay, it would probably have been an even bigger issue, maybe not to my face, but in the absence of my presence, I can assure you that I would have been ever more of an outsider.

My point is, Iowans and people in the Midwest need to be open to criticism.  If Bloom lived there twenty years, he’s an Iowan and I’d take his experience for what it’s worth. He has no incentive to lie or make anything up.  It’s also good to be proud of your state, but no to the point of denial.  Don’t talk about “small farmers” like they are the everyman.  The majority of farms are huge agri-businesses that are heavily subsidized by our government.  The common farmer is probably getting dicked over by Monsanto every year.  Don’t sell me the farming lifestyle, when your farmers are getting screwed. I like growing stuff. I like gardening.  I also read enough to know the whole small farmer thing is the same thing that comes out of your Holsteins – bullshit.

Everyone wants to think their state is great – and in some ways every state is great.  It’s when people can’t take the criticism.  People in the Midwest put down us egg-headed, coastal elite, limousine liberals all the time like they know what the hell they’re talking about.  If you can dish it out, then be able to take it, especially from someone who has actually lived there for a long period of time.

Finally, no offense, but you don’t deserve to have as much influence over the presidential primary process as you do. Neither does New Hampshire, another tiny, mostly white state.  It’s bogus.  I don’t care how seriously you take your politics.  There are people that take politics seriously in all states, most of which have more people than you and a more expansive array of issues other than Farm Bill subsidies for your resident agri-conglomerates.  It’s not personal.  It’s just that reality doesn’t defend your position.

And for the love of the God that most of you Iowans believe in, don’t get bent out of shape that your state is perfect. If I had a nickel for every time some journalist slammed California for not having it’s financial issues in check, I’d be able to fix our deficit myself.

More Evidence that Americans are Retarded

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The Environmental Time Bomb Nobody Is Hearing About

If you are a total newshound, you might, might, have heard a small something about a group of environmental protestors in front of the White House – some of who are being arrested.  Why are they there?  To protest a potential pipeline to be built from Canadian tar sands to Houston.  There is currently a pipeline, but it only goes to Cushing, Oklahoma and Illinois.  This new pipeline would go through some of the US’s most pristine natural habitat all because the current pipeline isn’t more direct enough.

I have to admit ignorance to this issue on many levels until recently.  The tar sands have always sounded innocuous to me.  I imagined something like a tar pit with a bunch of sand and oil in it that just sat in a field somewhere.  Completely naïve.  The tar sands are actually soil, clay, and sand with oil mixed in underneath a giant forest sitting in Alberta, Canada.  To get at this tar sand, you must raze the forest either by cutting it down or strip-mining it.  Then, they bring in giant tractors to dig up the ground and take the dirt away.  This is an awful plan on so many levels.

We are destroying a huge amount of trees, which convert CO2 to Oxygen, in order to get at oil which is completely inefficient and in refining and using it, will create what amounts to a CO2 bomb.  It’s absolutely asinine.  Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean we have to drill or mine it.  Jesus Christ! We need to show some self-control.  And we don’t need to build a giant fucking pipeline just because it will be more direct than the pipeline THAT IS ALREADY THERE!

Quick side note here.  The police are arresting peaceful protestors in front of the White House, who are exercising their legitimate 1st Amendment rights.  How come this is an arrestable offense and Tea Bagging fucklenuts can all get together for a gun orgy in public areas, and not get arrested in the claim of excercising their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights?  It makes no sense. Speech gets you arrested, guns imtimidate the cops?  This country is so screwed.

Back to my main point. This is something that Obama can end, all on his own. No matter what Congress wants. No matter what the Tea Idiots want. Because the pipeline crosses a national border, it is a State Department issue.  This is something that we need Obama to take a stand on.  To this point, Obama has disappointed every one of his major constituencies except for homosexuals. Social progressives, environmentalists, middle class, labor, teachers, young people, etc. have all been completely dicked over by the Obama Administration.  He has failed to take a stand on anything.

Over the last ten years, our government has been able to strip all meaningful funding away from any kind of scientific research done on our own planet. This includes our weather sattelite system that allows us to monitor storms like Hurricane Irene which is about to slam into the East Coast, as I write this.  The water in the Atlantic Ocean is at a record high which means more fuel for the hurricane and increases its strength. Also, the fact that the hurricane is reaching so far north up the east coast.  

And because man made climate change is still being denied by a bunch of evangelical fundamentalists and industry companies that care only about the bottom line, NOAA is getting it's funding cut, along with NASA, for monitoring ice levels in Antarctica, weather patterns, water levels, etc. Science isn't a hoax. Scientists aren't out to screw over the common man.  They have no reason to concoct some elaborate lie in order to fool the world into thinking it's apporaching the end. That's what religion is for.

 

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When you have a group of people in government that believe in the second coming of Christ, End Times, and that a war will be fought between Satan and God, you should probably just shoot yourself in the head.  People who believe the end is coming have no incentive to protect and care for the current world because they are just looking toward the fantasy world which doesn't exist.  I find this to be absoltuely, terrifying.

As a country, we currently are barely better than the Catholic Church persecuting Galileo, Copernicus, and the others in their investigation of the world around them. We persecute scientists that are trying to do nothing but explain the world around them.  I watched a show about the creation of the universe on Discovery the other day and at the end it was followed up by a discussion with two pre-eminent scientists, and some theologian from Georgetown.  The theologian offered absolutely nothing for the conversation besides saving Discovery from having to face the wrath of a bunch of crazy religious people.  You can watch the clips of the discussion below.

 

 

 

 

 

What Hast Thou Wrought?

It looks like one thing that evangelical Christians are good at exporting is homophobia.  A dispatch in June’s Atlantic describes how young Ugandans are using tabloids to publicly persecute homosexuals.  Giles Muhame started a tabloid called Rolling Stone, not related to the American one, in which he perpetuates Ugandans’ deep-seated fears and mischaracterizations of homosexuals.  At least once, this has led to the brutal death of a gay rights activist.  Uganda is also the country that is flirting with making homosexuality a crime punishable by death.  

You may be wondering about the somewhat self-referential title.  Evangelical Christianity is something that can be traced back almost exclusively to the United States.  It started in Great Britain in the 1730s, but really took off in the US in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries.  While the British have long ago lost their interest in such partisan behavior over the ethereal realm, Americans have confidently marched forward with the banner held high.  You don’t have to look far for Evangelical Christian loud mouths in the United States. 

There was Jerry Falwell who started Liberty University and opposed sanctions against apartheid South Africa as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s reception of the Nobel Peace Prize and uttered such gems as “gay folks would just as soon kill you as look at you.” Seems to feed into the idea that many Ugandans have about homosexuals working with terrorists to convert and kill people.

And then there is Pat Robertson who many know as the guy who blamed Hurricane Katrina American abortion policy.  He also declared that Haitians were being punished after the recent earthquake because Haitian slaves had made a deal with the devil to win their freedom from the French.  This comment was renounced by other evangelicals, but his discussion with Jerry Falwell after September 11^th in which he blames the attacks on the ACLU, pagans, abortionists, etc. (listen to the audio clip) in which Falwell “totally concurs.”

There is Ted Haggard who got caught paying his masseur to have sex with him.

There are many more, not all of which are caught in some sort of controversy in which they aren’t practicing what they preach.  Generally speaking however, Evangelical Christianity is very intolerant of homosexuality, science, womens’ rights (in relation to abortion as well as equal rights), and tend to preach this intolerance to their congregations.

For some of my less perceptive readers, I feel I have to put the disclaimer out there that not all Christians or even Evangelical Christians are bad or do and say bad things.  There are a handful of decent ones that believe in tolerance and love above all else.  The problem is that the message of love and tolerance gets smothered by those that preach fire and brimstone and hate and vitriol. 

Love and peace are much more sophisticated and nuanced beliefs whereas it is easy to hate someone and requires only the most minimal of mental capacities.  “You’re a gay, you should die or at least not have the same rights as me because the Constitution was written by Jesus and he hates gays.”  So I do think that American Christians need to look at themselves and the message that gets broadcast abroad as we proselytize. 

When countries that are Christian are brutally slaying homosexuals in the streets, you have to wonder where they got that idea from.  Why is it that the fire and brimstone preachers are the ones everyone can name, but nobody can recall one that preaches tolerance?  Hate is loud and blunt and easy to convey.  People respond to hate and hate sermons.  They get people fired up.  Hate gives people an easy cause to go sell to others.  And that is why I think Evangelical Americans should take a long hard look at themselves.  

For the ones that believe in the Book of Revelations and that the End Times are near, they don’t really care.  They believe they are the chosen ones that will ride of into the sunset on Jesus’ stegosaurus with God on his cloud like Lakitu from Mario.  I can only hope that when these people reach the gates of Heaven, that St. Peter has them take a look at the world they created and asks them “what hast thou wrought?”