"real Americans" can't relate to this

Nothing screams elitism like spending $150,000 on new clothes in one month

Privatized Profit, Socialized Loss

I am an entrepreneur and big believer in capitalism (with oversight). Of course, Reagan, W, and McCain believe that oversight is a terrible thing because then all their major campaign contributors can't pull off stunts like this

Who care about cutting spending a few million dollars here or there when we will spend over one trillion dollars in Iraq and another trillion in bail outs for wall street.

Where have all the fiscal conservatives gone?

The Ultimate Faith-Based Initiative.

I belong to a fringe sect of Christianity.  It's clearly outside of mainstream Christianity, and while it agrees with the four founding principles of fundamentalism (try Googling them if you're curious), it's diametrically opposed to what the public face of Christianity has become. My small band believes in a faith that starts on the inside (the soul), and that behaviors, right or wrong, are an outward projection of what's going on inside.  I call it "inside out" Christianity.  My group of wingnuts finds many biblical references that support this not-so-widely-held set of beliefs.  A few quick ones:

• Salvation by faith and not works ..  "...that whosoever believes in him shall have everlasting..."
  
• The woman at the synagogue whose penny offering (all she had) was the greater gift.
  
• Valuing he who prays in the quiet upper room over the proud man who prays loudly in public.  Could this be characterized as "listen to the still small voice, not the shrill Fall(well) voice"
  

Jesus had only a few conflicts during his earthly life.  The most significant was a running disagreement with a group whose Judaism was "outside-in", insisting that salvation required specific outward behaviors (and its complement, prohibitions against others), that somehow percolate into the soul, saving it.  The ultimate expression of this errant (to us, but not to most of today's politically active Christians) "outside in" philosophy is to harness political processes and the power of government to enforce outside behaviors when guilt trips alone fail.  It is what ultimately allowed the Pharisees to kill him.  When Jesus said "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's", he wasn't only talking about paying taxes, he was reinforcing that a true faith is beyond the reach of governments.   "Mine is a not a kingdom of this earth" was telling us all that government is beyond the reach of true religion.    

Perhaps this is what the founders of our country realized when they separated church and state.   They realized that true faith is difficult, challenging, introspective work, and that compulsory acts, enforced behaviors, edicts from this religious leader or that, and using government powers to enforce beliefs is counter to true faith, and is ultimately only a lazy alternative to genuine soul-by-soul missionary work.  They realized that outside-in Christianity is a stumbling block to the faith of others (Google what happens to those who put stumbling blocks in the path of their Christian brothers).

Perhaps the ultimate "Judeo-Christian value" upon which our country was founded is to keep religious zealotry out of the political arena altogether.

FPT

Sarah Palin

An excerpt from an interview in Reason magazine with an Alaska Democrat about Sarah Palin.

I don't know if this will hurt or help her with this group.  I suspect it will cut both ways:

Q: I was just talking to someone who claimed to have knowledge of Alaska to some degree, and they say where Sarah Palin comes from it's the equivalent of Humboldt or Chico in California, like, of course, you know, she'd have a Girls Gone Wild phase, and smoking pot. Is this just wishcasting, or what can you tell us about her geographical background?

A: So the Mat-Su Valley, you know, Matanuska-Susitna Valley, otherwise known as Upper Wingnuttia, is full of right-wing libertarian militia fundamendalist Christian gun-toting, pot-growing dope-heads.

Q: Awesome.

A: Yeah. If Jerry Falwell rolled his own, you would have the Mat-Su Valley. I live in South Anchorage, and my raspberry plants, courtesy of 22 hours of daylight in the summer, grow eight and a half foot high. That's a raspberry bush. Can you imagine what a single pot plant would turn into? [...]

--DB

Wind and Solar

Maybe this is why congress has an approval rating of 18%

Nothing like standing in the way of vital progress just because you can.

Logic, Reason and Paris Hilton?

I agree that our political system is broken from both sides of the spectrum but you can't make a serious case that the GOP has a more solid foundation in logic and reason than the Democrats.

This is the party of George W. Bush after all. You will never see a Democrat who's that much of a simpleton on the national stage, ever, because the base wouldn't allow that to happen. That shit stain on American history and the rule of logic and reason is all on you, GOP.

If we truly had an informed and educated electorate then both parties would be forced to raise their dialog to a higher level but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon.

In case anyone has been living under a rock, Paris Hilton responded to McCain's ad with this.

Logic and Reason ≠ Democrats

Why do the Dems hate logic and reason? Why can't they agree to honest debate (or at least, a vote)?

Seriously, you will find very little logic and reason in the major political parties and major party presidential candidates. You will find a lot of words and actions taken merely in the interest of getting elected and retaining/increasing their power.

For example, think of both parties' support for the incumbent protections that are campaign finance reform and the disaster that is the war on drugs.

Logic and reason...

Logic and Reason or Paris Hilton?

Why do so many GOP'ers hate logic and reason? There is nothing wrong with honest debate and disagreement but what is the point if instead of reasoned debate all McCain wants to talk about is Paris Hilton.

Here is a little nugget McCain and Co. should consider.

Sounds like the Republicans are pretty jealous of Obama's talent. I would be too if the people I looked up to as "leaders" were people like:

Ted Stevens
Jack Abramoff
Larry Craig
Mark Foley
Duke Cunningham
Dick Cheney
and of course big brain himself, W.

if you want to laugh at both candidates, check this out

Dig this, Obamaniacs   .   .   .

I got a kick out of this piece by some guy in England. It sums up the "Messiah" label pretty well.

The always more insightful John Stossel

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/dire_news_from_my_colleagues.html

The always insightful Thomas Friedman

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/opinion/20friedman.html?em&ex=1216785600&en=d99abe61c15d216c&ei=5087%0A

Obama in Colorado

So Obama was in Colorado last week and needed to do a live video feed addressing the US Steelworkers Union convention. I got called for work as a Grip/Utility for the shoot and even though I have another day job these days I took the day off from that and went to check this out. It was a good decision.

Obama was the same in person as he comes across on camera, friendly, charismatic and seems to be the genuine article. After the shoot he shook all of our hands and as agreed upon by our little crew I asked his handler if we could get a picture with him. (I am the dork running back in to the photo and leaning in.)

McCain is going to be here tomorrow but I have not gotten the call for work...oh well.

George Carlin, RIP

George Carlin is dead at 71.

I must admit a soft spot for George, as I have a taste for intelligent irreverence in comedy. It cuts through the bourgeois fog we often sleepwalk through in our day-to-day lives.

But Carlin, who was known for, among other things, “the Seven Words That Can Never Be Said on Television,” cut himself off from the light with such statements as:

"The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things - bad language and whatever - it's all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition. . . There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. ... It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have." (2004)

He was right that prudery is unhealthy.

But he was wrong about religious superstition, and that reluctance to fully embrace sexual frankness is based on such superstition. Granted, many people who call themselves religious mistake prudery for spirituality, just as many mistake following a checklist of rules for spirituality.

The real reason most people are uneasy with full sexual frankness has to do with the sacredness of sexuality. Most of us would be uneasy in the face of open propositioning, but not because we would not like to engage in some of these activities. Rather, we’re uneasy because we sense on some level that sexuality is so powerful that it can destroy a life as well as bring life into being. Men of another era used to name hurricanes after women, and called battleships “she” instead of “it,” recognizing the powerful forces moving them in their own lives. These same men, if they outlived their wives, often died very soon afterward. Carlin trivialized that which we knew was not trivial.

So again, when we heard the seven words you can’t say, we either recoiled, or laughed uneasily, because of the man’s audacity. Those who laughed without reservation have stunted souls, able to enjoy the profane but not appreciate the sacred. Unfortunately, today such people are legion.

Under Mr. Carlin’s system, he is now mere food for worms. I hope he said, in the moment of mortal extremity, “God, maybe I don’t have all the answers. Here I come,” thereby saving himself.

“Requiescat In Pace”