Ambush
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
If these statements offended anyone.
I was just reading the statement made by St Louis Congressmen Akin "At the heart of liberalism, it really is a hatred for God and the belief that government should replace God," and his half assed puedo-apology “My statement during my radio interview was directed at the political movement, Liberalism not at any specific individual. If my statement gave a different impression, I offer my apologies.”
His actual statement I don't have too much to say about other than someone should give Akin a history lesson. When the shoe was on the other foot and Christians were the minority, their government fed them to the lions. If I were a Christian that would sway me to try to keep church and state separate.
My problem is the whole "if my statement" part. Obviously if he is being called on to apologize- he offended someone. Own it. If you said something that offends people but you still believe it's true, don't obfuscate it, explain it.
Akin should have just explained what ever it is he meant and then say "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings".
When one does not explain why they said something it leaves no room to debunk them. I suspect that is exactly why he issued this lackluster apology instead of actually defending himself.
One other thing I should throw out there so no one thinks I am hiding it. I am an atheist. This does not mean I hate God any more than Christians hate any of the Hindu gods. I don't want your god in our government because many people (like this phoney apology) use faith as an excuse not to explain their rationale. They use faith as a way to make the opinions of others indefensible.
Faith is supposed to be about an individuals relationship with their god(s) or lack there of. It isn't about being used as a weapon against others. And if I were a Christian I would think I would be offended at someone like Akin presuming to speak on my behalf.
His actual statement I don't have too much to say about other than someone should give Akin a history lesson. When the shoe was on the other foot and Christians were the minority, their government fed them to the lions. If I were a Christian that would sway me to try to keep church and state separate.
My problem is the whole "if my statement" part. Obviously if he is being called on to apologize- he offended someone. Own it. If you said something that offends people but you still believe it's true, don't obfuscate it, explain it.
Akin should have just explained what ever it is he meant and then say "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings".
When one does not explain why they said something it leaves no room to debunk them. I suspect that is exactly why he issued this lackluster apology instead of actually defending himself.
One other thing I should throw out there so no one thinks I am hiding it. I am an atheist. This does not mean I hate God any more than Christians hate any of the Hindu gods. I don't want your god in our government because many people (like this phoney apology) use faith as an excuse not to explain their rationale. They use faith as a way to make the opinions of others indefensible.
Faith is supposed to be about an individuals relationship with their god(s) or lack there of. It isn't about being used as a weapon against others. And if I were a Christian I would think I would be offended at someone like Akin presuming to speak on my behalf.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Obama needs to quit being a fag about gay marriage
I was at a barbecue of left leaning people (that doesn't sound right but moving on), and because of the progress in New York, Obama's position on gay marriage came up. Basically the theory and evidence points to Obama being for gay marriage but knows it's politically tricky so he claims to be against it but "evolving".
I don't expect Obama to take my position on the issue (Civil Unions for gays and straights alike), but I expect him not to screw with people on this issue. If he supports gay marriage he needs to say so. If he doesn't think it's politically possible, he needs to state his position, but endorse some sort of middle ground.
Part of the point of Pride is to show people just how many people are gay or support the gay community. It's about being visible about something many people didn't really believe existed. When public figures like Obama are ambiguous in their support they are supporting those who don't believe that being gay is real. It adds credence to the idea that it is a choice that some individuals make.
Obama needs to remember that anything could happen to his station. And if he were out of the office tomorrow, history could forgot his 'secret' position. It is especially concerning that Obama doesn't consider this when Kennedy was very famously going to put off civil rights for his second term that never came about.
I don't expect Obama to take my position on the issue (Civil Unions for gays and straights alike), but I expect him not to screw with people on this issue. If he supports gay marriage he needs to say so. If he doesn't think it's politically possible, he needs to state his position, but endorse some sort of middle ground.
Part of the point of Pride is to show people just how many people are gay or support the gay community. It's about being visible about something many people didn't really believe existed. When public figures like Obama are ambiguous in their support they are supporting those who don't believe that being gay is real. It adds credence to the idea that it is a choice that some individuals make.
Obama needs to remember that anything could happen to his station. And if he were out of the office tomorrow, history could forgot his 'secret' position. It is especially concerning that Obama doesn't consider this when Kennedy was very famously going to put off civil rights for his second term that never came about.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
GOP thou shall not bare false witness
On GPS this week, Fareed Zakaria made the argument that conservatives are being irrational in their philosophy because they keep repeating the same statements about tax rates being directly related to economic strength, dispute the fact that taxes are proportionately at historic lows and countries with higher taxes are doing better than America.
Where I disagree with Zakaria is that the 'conservatives' are not being irrational they are being dishonest. These talking points are #notintendedtobefactual. The first evidence of this is all the socialist talk about Obama. The fact that Bernie Sanders didn't rise to power should be a clue to the fact that it just isn't true. The second evidence is all this Reagan revisionist history. If you watch the documentary "I want your money" (available for streaming on netflix) one of the first things the film tells you is that Reagan cut taxes, but they never got around to mentioning that this wasn't feasible and Reagan was forced to raise them back up. Remember when Bush Sr. said "Read my lips no new taxes"? The reason he had said that was that because the previous 'conservative' did introduce new taxes.
This goes back to a previous post I wrote about what republicans care about. The GOP tells it's operatives to SAY they care about abortion and fiscal responsibility. But they never DO anything about abortion or fiscal responsibility unless it's part of a political stunt.
Where I disagree with Zakaria is that the 'conservatives' are not being irrational they are being dishonest. These talking points are #notintendedtobefactual. The first evidence of this is all the socialist talk about Obama. The fact that Bernie Sanders didn't rise to power should be a clue to the fact that it just isn't true. The second evidence is all this Reagan revisionist history. If you watch the documentary "I want your money" (available for streaming on netflix) one of the first things the film tells you is that Reagan cut taxes, but they never got around to mentioning that this wasn't feasible and Reagan was forced to raise them back up. Remember when Bush Sr. said "Read my lips no new taxes"? The reason he had said that was that because the previous 'conservative' did introduce new taxes.
This goes back to a previous post I wrote about what republicans care about. The GOP tells it's operatives to SAY they care about abortion and fiscal responsibility. But they never DO anything about abortion or fiscal responsibility unless it's part of a political stunt.
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