Sotomayor during the confirmation just said this morning that Roe vs. Wade
is "settled law."
The last two paragraphs from a NY Times article about lefty blog Talking Points
Memo raising a million dollars:
What left wing media bias? A bunch of journos apply to a lefty blog butThat represents a huge leap for a site that began as a one-man news blog
in the aftermath of the presidential election recount in Florida of 2000.
Since then, the site’s staff and visitor traffic have grown steadily, he said,
aided most recently by receiving the Polk Award in 2008 for its coverage
of the firings of United States attorneys during the Bush administration.He said that in a week and half, he had received 200 applications for the
seven positions that have been announced, some from news veterans with
25 years of experience. “They are the best group of applicants I have ever
seen,” he said, adding that “when I see some of their applications, I think
I should be applying to them.”
This diary from the Daily Kos really has me mad:
So when Democrats elect some from a minority community or a woman it is allSo, yeah. As long as Republicans choose to elevate women based on the
hope that voters will be fooled into thinking that woman on ticket = policy
stances friendly to women, families, and working people, it is not only not
sexist to call that out for what it is, it's sexist not to.Sadly, this is a question relevant not only to Palin; Republicans are not
averse to running this play again and again. So we're told by Republican
commentators that, in New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte is a particularly strong
candidate because she's a mother of young children, that Ayotte, like Palin,
is a strong candidate because she's an outsider, because:Like Obama, they don't have to talk the talk of change. They are change.
That is what Republicans want us to believe, that policies don't matter,
that tokenism produces meaningful change. We see it too with RNC chair
Michael Steele -- Republicans responding to the election of an African
American president by getting an African American spokesperson of their
own...and not changing a thing about the policies that lead on the order of
90% of African American voters to vote for Democrats even when Barack
Obama is not on the ticket.If we pull back from criticizing the tokens Republicans throw up to stand
in the way of real change, we legitimize the strategy. In discussing -- mocking,
criticizing -- the tokens themselves, we of course must be respectful of their
humanity, and should always remember that the individual is not the real
issue. But unqualified is unqualified, unethical is unethical, bad on the issues
is bad on the issues, and it would be a disservice to the nation not to say so.
I have heard this said several times and in various places (television and
in college) that Americans are prudish, especially compared to our European
friends. Are we more reserved than the Europeans? Perhaps. But in no means
are American prudes. The United States may have once been a puritanical
society but that is long gone.
Let me first just state the facts. Porn is a billion dollar industry in America.
I don't know if one can call a society that is so addicted to porn as prudish.
There are a few well known American celebrities who got their fame by making
sex tapes, for example, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. In a prudish society
they would treated like the plague but they are not. You can see them grace
(if you want to call it that) the covers of fashion magazines and they even have
their own television shows. Here is an interesting article on the pornification
of America.
Here is another fact that goes against the "Americans are prudes" argument:
40 percent of U.S. births are born out-of-wedlock. Having such a high number
of babies born out-of-wedlock doesn't sound like a symptom of a prudish society
in fact it suggests to me the opposite. Lots of people are having sex whether or
not they are married.
My third argument against the idea that Americans are prudes is simply a
subjective observation I've made. American media (movies, television, radio, etc.)
it is filled with suggestive material. It is hard to find a situational comedy that
doesn't have sexual innuendo and/or even stories about one-night hookups.
Movies are pretty explicit in sexual content especially the Wedding Crashers-
The Hangover- Step Brothers type films and they usually do well in the box office.
In a truly prudish society these movies would be met with scorn not laughter.
I have also heard it said that Americans are scared to talk about sex. Are we?
When we have a popular pastor in Dallas specifically talking about sex from
the pulpit, can we really say Americans have a fear about talking about sex?
If there is any place in this country were puritanical instincts exist that place
would likely be in the Church but I don't think that is the case.
Like I said earlier perhaps Americans are somewhat more reserved compared to
the French, Italians, and other European countries. But is that a bad thing? With
the percentage of French babies born to unmarried couples maybe Americans
shouldn't follow Europe's footsteps when it comes to this topic.
I heard this said the other day on the radio and I had thought about it
before but talk show host Dennis Prager put it succinctly. I'm paraphrasing
but his basic argument was the reason why celebrities tout their pet causes
whether it be global warming or animal rights because they basically live
meaningless lives. So to make themselves feel important they will talk
about some pet cause. Movie stars didn't have to do this. There was a
time when movies actually had moral lessons (I think Citizen Kane is movie
with a great a moral story) so they felt fulfilled in their work. They weren't
making raunchy or slasher type films. Everyone human looks for meaning.
Everyone has a God-shaped hole in their heart.
Interesting video here. Seeing pure evil with your own eyes can do that to you.
I've become such an obsessive thinker that I can't let a silly pop song go.
I was listening to the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus and I think for
the most part it has a good message. The message being: Stay strong
through life's woes. However one line in the song bugs me! Here are
the lyrics and I italicized the line that bugs me:
I can almost see it.I guess the line bugs me because I often hear agnostics and atheists say,
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make
Feels lost with no direction,
My faith is shakin'
But I gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high
There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb
Listening to a C-SPAN Washington Journal call in show.
My goodness the callers are absolutely nuts!!!
I often hear the line of attack from liberals that they are smarter than conservatives.
Every once in a while you will see a study that "proves" liberals are smarter than
conservatives. In their minds they must be smarter since they hold such complex
positions. For example, when John Kerry said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion
before I voted against it," there was so much nuance! So much brilliance! They will
argue that conservatives see things in absolutes (er, except for when it comes to
advanced interrogation techniques) so they must not be intellectually savvy.
I have one question: If liberals are so much smarter why has every institution
in which they dominate has been dumbed down? Let me explain. First there is the
liberal domination of journalism. Majority of journalist financially support Democrats.
I don't think anyone would argue that American journalism has become more
intellectual or substantive. In fact quite the opposite. For example, these past
few weeks of news has been dominated by a celebrity death. The news business
has become more infotainment than hard news. Not exactly a beacon of intellectual
depth.
Then there is academia. Teacher unions have a strong hold on our educational
system. Liberal bias can seen in the curriculum especially when it comes to
higher education. Yet, American teens continue to trail other developed countries
when it comes to science and math. The academic standards in our schools are
continually lowered. Hollywood has even exalted teachers who teach Bob Dylan
instead of the literary classics:
This brings me to me the next area where liberals dominate yet the product has
been dumbed down: The Arts. Every election year celebrities en masse vocally
support the Democrat candidates and every year movies and television just keep
getting more crass and silly. In fact the same celebrities who call conservatives
like George Bush and Sarah Palin dumb are probably hoping their next toilet
humor movie is a box office hit. Television programs and movies are written at
a 6th grade level.
Right now liberals dominate politics. They currently hold the executive and legislative
branch. And guess who just became the newest Democratic Senator? Al Franken.
Having him in the Senate is deplorable. He is known for saying vile things. Our
political discourse has become dumbed down through out the years with people
just spewing simple talking points. Having Franken in the Senate just legitimizes
the dumb downed portion of our politics.
If liberals are so much smarter than conservatives why do institutions known for
being liberal keep lowering their standards? I think I have a partial answer to why
liberal institutions continue to have their standards lowered. Post modern thought
is strong in liberal circles. Part of post modern thought is the notion that we shouldn't
judge others. It's all relative. Who are we to deem entertainment news less relevant
than other news? All art is the same and good even it is toilet humor. So what if Al
Franken was a mean-spirited comedian before seeking office, who are we to judge
him?
