Please click on cartoon to embiggen.Thanks to Atheist Cartoons.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Is the rising Islamophobia the new anti-Semitism?
First of all, the damn thing is not a mosque, it is a community center with a prayer room.
But it has become "ground zero" for a rising tide of hatred across these United States. It seems that many of our "upstanding conservative" citizens are not happy unless they can hate someone or something with their entire being.
Many hate Obama or Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Some hate all progressives. Most hate "libruls." A whole lot of them hate any religion but their own - which is usually a sect of Christianity. But of late they have come to hate Islam and Muslims with an eerie sort of passion reminiscent of humanity's worst historical hatreds.
Joshua Holland, who, I must confess, is one of my favorite political writers, has posted an informative and frightening article at AlterNet, titled "Fallout of Hate Is Spreading Across America from 9/11 Site."
He begins with this insight:
"[...] the feverish discourse about Muslim's role in American society is not about the proposal to build an Islamic community center a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site. Park 51, as it's being called, merely let an ugly genie out of the bottle. The dark stain of Islamophobia had spread far and wide long before the controversy erupted."
The Mr. Holland provides numerous examples: Last May, there was a pipebomb attack at an Islamic Center in Jacksonville, Florida (which got no notice by the national media) and a firearms attack at a mosque in Miami last year. "Mosques have been vandalized or set aflame in Brownstone, Michigan; Nashville, Tennessee; Arlington, Texas (where the mosque was first vandalized and then later targeted by arsonists); Taylor, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Tempe, Arizona; and in both Northern and Southern California. A mosque in a suburb of Chicago has been vandalized four times in recent years."
Holland goes on to document numerous incidents in which people have met bodily harm by Muslim-haters.
These frenzied and crazed "perpetrators of ... hate crimes" have been spurred on "by cynical fearmongers on the Right. Holland notes that Daniel Luban, in Tablet magazine, suggests "the dark spread of Islamophobia has become 'the new Anti-Semitism.''
I think he's right, and there is a definite resemblance between what is happening in our country now and what happened in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. For example, the Lt. Gov. of Tennessee, Ron Ramsey, doesn't think Muslims should have freedom of religion. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, probably wouldn't go that far, but his idea of freedom of religion does not include the building of a "mosque" in NYC!
Newt Gingrich, who has become ever more unhinged, "compared the organizers of the Park 51 project ... (including the imam who was sent by none other than George W. Bush to represent the United States in its outreach tothe Muslim World) with the Nazis."
Brian Fischer, representing the frenetic, christianist, dominionist American Family Association, would deny all permits to build mosques in the U.S. because "each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."
A rightwingnut radio host in Florida, Michael Berry, said "If you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up..."
The hysteria is growing. Just this morning I read of a construction worker in NYC who vowed not to be involved in building the Islamic community center as a way of protest. No doubt others will climb on that bandwagon!
There's much more in Holland's article, including commentary on how the Republicans plan to use Islamophobia to further their cause against the Democrats in upcoming elections.
You can read all of it here. And weep for what has become of the "home of the brave and the land of the free."
But it has become "ground zero" for a rising tide of hatred across these United States. It seems that many of our "upstanding conservative" citizens are not happy unless they can hate someone or something with their entire being.
Many hate Obama or Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Some hate all progressives. Most hate "libruls." A whole lot of them hate any religion but their own - which is usually a sect of Christianity. But of late they have come to hate Islam and Muslims with an eerie sort of passion reminiscent of humanity's worst historical hatreds.
Joshua Holland, who, I must confess, is one of my favorite political writers, has posted an informative and frightening article at AlterNet, titled "Fallout of Hate Is Spreading Across America from 9/11 Site."
He begins with this insight:
"[...] the feverish discourse about Muslim's role in American society is not about the proposal to build an Islamic community center a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site. Park 51, as it's being called, merely let an ugly genie out of the bottle. The dark stain of Islamophobia had spread far and wide long before the controversy erupted."
The Mr. Holland provides numerous examples: Last May, there was a pipebomb attack at an Islamic Center in Jacksonville, Florida (which got no notice by the national media) and a firearms attack at a mosque in Miami last year. "Mosques have been vandalized or set aflame in Brownstone, Michigan; Nashville, Tennessee; Arlington, Texas (where the mosque was first vandalized and then later targeted by arsonists); Taylor, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Tempe, Arizona; and in both Northern and Southern California. A mosque in a suburb of Chicago has been vandalized four times in recent years."
Holland goes on to document numerous incidents in which people have met bodily harm by Muslim-haters.
These frenzied and crazed "perpetrators of ... hate crimes" have been spurred on "by cynical fearmongers on the Right. Holland notes that Daniel Luban, in Tablet magazine, suggests "the dark spread of Islamophobia has become 'the new Anti-Semitism.''
I think he's right, and there is a definite resemblance between what is happening in our country now and what happened in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. For example, the Lt. Gov. of Tennessee, Ron Ramsey, doesn't think Muslims should have freedom of religion. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, probably wouldn't go that far, but his idea of freedom of religion does not include the building of a "mosque" in NYC!
Newt Gingrich, who has become ever more unhinged, "compared the organizers of the Park 51 project ... (including the imam who was sent by none other than George W. Bush to represent the United States in its outreach tothe Muslim World) with the Nazis."
Brian Fischer, representing the frenetic, christianist, dominionist American Family Association, would deny all permits to build mosques in the U.S. because "each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."
A rightwingnut radio host in Florida, Michael Berry, said "If you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up..."
The hysteria is growing. Just this morning I read of a construction worker in NYC who vowed not to be involved in building the Islamic community center as a way of protest. No doubt others will climb on that bandwagon!
There's much more in Holland's article, including commentary on how the Republicans plan to use Islamophobia to further their cause against the Democrats in upcoming elections.
You can read all of it here. And weep for what has become of the "home of the brave and the land of the free."
Friday, August 20, 2010
Lying Christians and the lies they tell
[Photo of Jan Markell at a conference with Joseph Farah]Onenewsnow is "Christian" news organization, owned and operated by the American Family Association's "news network." The American Family Association, founded by Don Wildmon, a freaky Methodist preacher and now run by his son, Tim, is most famous for boycotting every company and organization that dares to contradict the radical rightwingnut christianist views of the AFA. The AFA is perhaps best known for trying to bring down companies that grant equal rights to gays/lesbians.
With that in mind, one would expect that people who work for Onenewsnow would not hesitate to tell tall tales if such tales would enhance their ability to impose their christianist agenda on the citizens of the United States and bring down our president, Barack Obama.
Chad Groening in an article titled "President's sentiments on mosque made clear," quotes a woman he claims to be "A Messianic Jewish leader and supporter of Israel [who] thinks President Obama's recent comments clearly illustrate his sentiments are with Islam -- just as he promised in his book The Audacity of Hope."
This Messianic Jewish leader is Jan Markell, who runs Olive Tree Ministries. (You can get a better feel for what she is about if you know she associates with Joseph Farah, the batshit crazy editor of WorldNet Daily!) She has the audacity to say (as do rightwing christianist websites all over the Internet) that Obama wrote this in "one of his books":
"When ill wind blows, I will always stand with the Muslims."
Note, however, that Groening references an "editor's note" - "Actual quote: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds whift in an ugly direction.'"
That's not the actual quote either. Groening's a liar, too!
Markell, liar that she is, goes on to try to smooth things over a tad: "I am not one who is saying that Barack Obama is a Muslim; we don't know that. But the fact is his sentiment is with the Muslims of the world, and his sentiment is with the Muslims of Manhattan. I'm quite sure that he would be very okay with a mosque just a stones-throw away from 9/11."
What a witch, this Markell. Yes, we do. in fact, know of Obama's religious faith: He is a Christian. A practicing Christian! As far as his "sentiment" about Muslims, well, this is just simply stupid. As president of our very large and very diverse country which is comprised of a multitude of races and ethnic groups and religions, his sentiment must be with all of them and each of them! That's what a president does, if he or she is any damn good!
But neither Markell or Groening care for truth! It isn't difficult to look up the quote in Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, to find out if, indeed, he really said that. The full quote is on page 261:
"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from their neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political wings shift in an ugly direction."
Now, if you can find a more perfect and beautiful sentiment by an American president on how to deal with threatened minorities, I'd like to see it. This is what leadership is about. This is what it means to care about ALL the people in our country.
You may remember the story of Peter denying his Lord three times in the courtyard the night of Jesus' trial as told by the anonymous writer of the gospel of John. Peter was afraid for his life. He had a reason.
Markell, Groening and all the other cutthroat christianist asshats who continue to misquote and thus libel our president have no excuse. They continually deny their Lord for their own gain and dream of political power!
The U.S. Evangelical Christian Army - Soldiers punished for not attending a Christian concert
Click on cartoon to embiggen.Thanks to Atheist Cartoons.
We've written previously about how "evangelical" Christian leaders in the U.S. Army push their particular religious persuasion upon the "troops" due to the belief they are engaged in some kind of "holy war" against the enemies of God and because they are convinced that anyone who has not been "saved" by confessing Jesus to be the messiah who died for the sins of the world, etc., etc., is going to burn forever in hell. They are, therefore, in their piddly little minds, doing the work of God.
What this means to our soldiers in their day to day life has once again come to light, primarily due to the fine work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Chris Rodda, head researcher for the MRFF and author of the book, Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History, has the story which begins like this:
"For the past several years, two U.S. Army posts in Virginia, Fort Eustis and Fort Lee, have been putting on a series of what are called Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts. As I've written in a number of other posts, 'spiritual fitness' is just the military's new term for promoting religion, particularly evangelical Christianity. [...]
"On May 13, 2010, about eighty soldiers, stationed at Fort Eustis while attending a training course, were punished for opting out of attending one of those Christian concerts. The headliner at this concert was a Christian rock band called BarlowGirl, a band that describes itself as taking 'an aggressive, almost warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God.'"
Rodda notes that the Army post's newspaper, the Fort Eustis Wheel, ran an article subsequent to the concert which included this paragraph:
"Following the Apostle Paul's message to the Ephesians in the Bible, Christian rock music's edgy, all-girl band Barlow Girl brought the armor of God to the warriors and families of Fort Eustis during another installment of the Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert Series May 13 at Jacobs Theater."
It should be noted that this Concert Series "was the brainchild of Maj. Gen. James E. Chambers, who, according to an article on the Army.mil website, 'was reborn as a Christian' at the age of sixteen."
Please read Ms. Rodda's complete article here. The details will (or should) make you scream in anger and frustration! And it should raise many questions which desperately need to be answered. Ms. Rodda goes into much more detail on the issues involved, but there is really one major issue:
The U.S. military has no business promoting any religion whatsoever!!! This is verboten, invalid, dangerous and absolutely stupid, not to mention unconstitutional!
What really makes the blood boil is the fact that the soldiers cannot easily opt out of a program deemed "important" or imperative by the commanding officer. At Fort Eustis those who did so were disciplined!
Let's hope these violations of our Constitution and military procedure come to the attention of the Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama. He could, I believe, put a halt to this nonsense with the stroke of a pen. The wingnuts on the right, of course, would go out of their freaking minds, but they do that no matter what he does or says. So he might as well do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may!
More on the insane Sharron Angle
This from a post by Steve Benen at AlterNet...
Back in 1992, Sharron Angle ran for a county school board and was elected. A really big problem arose: one of the high schools used black athletic jerseys! Angle thought black athletic jerseys were "un-Christian and wicked." They were subsequently changed to a less "offensive" color.
In a previous post today, I said Sharron Angle is insane.
This, I believe, is another example of said insanity.
Or, to quote one Jon Chait:
"One of the reasons I've been fascinated with Sharron Angle's Senate campaign is that she is not merely a candidate with extremely radical views, like Rand Paul, she inhabits an ideological grey area where radicalism starts to become indistinguishable with actual mental illness. ..."
Or, to put it more starkly and more truthfully - Sharron Angle is insane.
Read the entire article here.
Back in 1992, Sharron Angle ran for a county school board and was elected. A really big problem arose: one of the high schools used black athletic jerseys! Angle thought black athletic jerseys were "un-Christian and wicked." They were subsequently changed to a less "offensive" color.
In a previous post today, I said Sharron Angle is insane.
This, I believe, is another example of said insanity.
Or, to quote one Jon Chait:
"One of the reasons I've been fascinated with Sharron Angle's Senate campaign is that she is not merely a candidate with extremely radical views, like Rand Paul, she inhabits an ideological grey area where radicalism starts to become indistinguishable with actual mental illness. ..."
Or, to put it more starkly and more truthfully - Sharron Angle is insane.
Read the entire article here.
Sharron Angle is Insane!
The fact that someone like Sharron Angle can become a serious candidate for the United States Senate indicates how far we have fallen and how deep is our trouble! Sharron Angle is as stupid as she is ignorant, which is totally; a woman who would be much more comfortable living in the 16th century rather than the 21st.
Jill Lawrence, writing at Politics Daily, discloses what Angle said in an April radio interview with Rick Wiles of TruNews Christian Radio.
First off, she described her contest with Harry Reid as "a war of ideology, a war of thoughts and of faith. And we need people to really stand for faith and trust, not hope and change." That's the kind of thinking you would find in a sixth-grader's essay in a Christian school. It makes "faith and trust exclusive of hope and change," which is a false dichotomy and thus makes no sense at all.
Obviously, it's a pathetic attempt to denigrate our President who campaigned on the themes of hope and change.
Furthermore, Ms. Angle, being a Christianist dominionist, obviously believes this country is, or should be, a Christian country. She knows not of our historical underpinnings, and she blows off our Constitution. We have too many people who "stand for faith and trust" and they are the ones who have brought this country to its knees. If there were a God, she would make this crystal clear to Ms. Angle, in spite of the fact that Angle's brain is pretty much non-functional.
It gets worse. During the interview, Angle tells the world she thinks the U.S. is a Christian country and should be ruled by her God. She said [to Wiles] 'these programs that you mentioned -- that [President] Obama has going with Reid and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi pushing them forward -- are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And that's really, what's happening in this country is a violation of the 1st Commandment. We have become a country drenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We're supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not ... our government.'"
In most other countries, and in another time in this country, the laughter directed at Angle would be so loud it would drown out Rush Limbaargher! And she would be consigned to a place reserved for really stupid people, never to be seen or heard from again.
And just when you think it can't get any worse ... Angle, because the small brain she possesses is consumed with a fever, believes she is God's candidate and doing God's will. Her desire to attain a U.S. Senate seat is all part of God's larger plan for her life. She has been called by God to do this. "I have watched Him walk with me through politics and help me to see the pitfalls of the political machinery, the seduction of the party, and even those outside the party, the lobbyists -- all of that to say that the Lord shows me daily where He wants me to walk."
This fruitcake, who, in her arrogance actually believes she has been "called" by some God somewhere, insists the Senate is not in the business of creating jobs. She thinks Medicare and Social Security should be abolished, along with the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Perhaps I need to clarify my rhetoric. I've called her stupid and ignorant, and I think that's true. But I am forced to further conclude that she is insane. Unfortunately, that does not disqualify her to run for the U.S. Senate. She may win, and take a seat amidst that august body. And that will mean, to our collective detriment, we'll have one more crazy fool to contend with at the top level of our government.
But maybe there's an out. If she wins and takes the oath of office, she must be arrested for perjury! She does not believe in the Constitution and her taking an oath to uphold that Constitution would make her a perjurer! She would have to be denied her seat in Congress because she won her race under false pretenses and does not believe in the government of which she wants to be a part.
Is this a great country, or what?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tim Tebow in the NFL
(Please click on cartoon to embiggen.)Word is that Tim Tebow suffered a rib injury during a practice session. We certainly wish no harm to come to him in his new pro career, but we can't help but wonder why his god didn't keep him injury free so he could continue to proclaim god's word on the football field.
Thanks to Atheist Cartoons.
And god said "Woof!"
The varieties of nonsensical christianist fundamentalism (especially among the pentecostals) continue to amaze me even as they proliferate and mushroom like evil mutants.
Up in Toronto, Canada, there was a "church that housed the Toronto Blessing revival." But this revival group got so big (2,000 members that gather in 11 locations in the city) that they are now busy exporting "the values of the renewal through a new network of churches."
Just what we need!
I'm not sure what these "values" are although Steve Long, senior pastor of the Toronto church speaks of "knowing God's love and deepening one's intimacy with the Father," whatever that means in the day-to-day. It also seems to mean "soaking" (praying and worshiping) for hours and hours at a time.
Now I don't care about any of this and actually I think if there were a god, he or she would crush all this foolishness pronto! I think any god worth his or her salt would see to it that the time and money spent by these preachers and churches advancing their own glory be spent helping people in need.
But here's the part of the story that caught my attention: The Toronto Blessing was begun in 1994 by John and Carol Arnott. It was a small church named the Toronto Airport Vineyard. That small church grew into a rather large revival, which, according to Charisma magazine, "drew hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world."
Maybe.
I've saved the best for last: the revival created "controversy over unusual manifestations [of the Spirit?] such as barking and uncontrolled shaking."
Barking and uncontrolled shaking? Heh, heh! When that happens to our Golden Retriever, we take her to the vet, 'cause something is obviously wrong.
But then again, god is Dog spelled backward.
Woof!
God is the devil?
This tidbit is from the pentecostal, fundy, right-wing Charisma magazine...
Seems an R. T. Kendall wrote a "daily devotional" in a book called All's Well That Ends Well. R. T. wanted to inform those silly enough to read his stuff that they need to understand "how the devil works."
Here's the important thing: The devil (Satan) is a creation of god and is doing god's work in the world. Yup! You must "Learn that every satanic attack is with God's permission and has a purpose."
But never fear, for God is stronger than Satan and while God may allow Satan to attack you, God will also be with you so you can stand up to Satan! Isn't that cool? What a cool God!
But wait, there's more! Maybe god isn't so cool! You have to be very, very careful, 'cause the devil is really sneaky and is an "accuser;" she'll make you feel stupid (for following Jesus), and she is a liar. And that's why you have to be so very, very careful 'cause the damn devil is going to "use a close relationship to get at you".
Psst! Maybe it's your brother, or sister, or boyfriend or girlfriend, or priest or pastor or teacher or god forbid, your spouse! Holy crap! "The devil will use that to discourage you. ... we must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone, because even the best of God's people, and sometimes those closest to us, will disappoint us sooner or later."
Well, this is simply too hard to take. God creates the devil and sets her loose on us poor unsuspecting souls. And if we go the devil's way, we'll spend eternity burning in the fires of hell. Now R. T. Kendall says that god will be there to help us fight the devil, but obviously that doesn't always work and because we're weak and fragile we're gonna trust those closest to us who will be used by the devil to do her work. Sounds like a no-win to me.
What a mess!
Who needs such a goofy god?
Or, perhaps R. T. Kendall doesn't have a freaking clue what he or she is talking about! You think?
Seems an R. T. Kendall wrote a "daily devotional" in a book called All's Well That Ends Well. R. T. wanted to inform those silly enough to read his stuff that they need to understand "how the devil works."
Here's the important thing: The devil (Satan) is a creation of god and is doing god's work in the world. Yup! You must "Learn that every satanic attack is with God's permission and has a purpose."
But never fear, for God is stronger than Satan and while God may allow Satan to attack you, God will also be with you so you can stand up to Satan! Isn't that cool? What a cool God!
But wait, there's more! Maybe god isn't so cool! You have to be very, very careful, 'cause the devil is really sneaky and is an "accuser;" she'll make you feel stupid (for following Jesus), and she is a liar. And that's why you have to be so very, very careful 'cause the damn devil is going to "use a close relationship to get at you".
Psst! Maybe it's your brother, or sister, or boyfriend or girlfriend, or priest or pastor or teacher or god forbid, your spouse! Holy crap! "The devil will use that to discourage you. ... we must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone, because even the best of God's people, and sometimes those closest to us, will disappoint us sooner or later."
Well, this is simply too hard to take. God creates the devil and sets her loose on us poor unsuspecting souls. And if we go the devil's way, we'll spend eternity burning in the fires of hell. Now R. T. Kendall says that god will be there to help us fight the devil, but obviously that doesn't always work and because we're weak and fragile we're gonna trust those closest to us who will be used by the devil to do her work. Sounds like a no-win to me.
What a mess!
Who needs such a goofy god?
Or, perhaps R. T. Kendall doesn't have a freaking clue what he or she is talking about! You think?
Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa, and Obama is a Muslim
It shouldn't matter. The Constitution of the United States is very specific - there shall be no religious test for public office.
But it seems to matter to some - to the morons and christianist dominionists and the stupids in our country and especially to the 18 percent who believe that President Obama is a Muslim.
Eighteen percent! And generally speaking, these are the same morons who are opposed, on principle, to anything he says or does. And just like their main disinformation source, FAUX News, Obama could bring about the Second Coming of the legendary Jesus, and these people would complain that his robes weren't white enough!
It's depressing. We have 1/5th of our population so goddamn dumb or mentally challenged that they are unable to recognize (or care) about evidence, facts, truth, or reality. Some of them are so off the wall that if Rush Limbaargher told them cowshit was good to eat, they'd fry it up for dinner!
Consider Dan Maes of Colorado, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Sarah Palin of fame and fortune, Rand Paul of Kentucky (or perhaps another planet entirely), Sharron Angle of Nevada, just about any representative from Texas or Oklahoma ... etc., etc. -- put them all together and you still wouldn't get one fully-functioning brain!
This does not bode well for the future of the US of A.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Jon Stewart - Internet Exploiter
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Internet Exploiter | ||||
| ||||
Jim Hightower, in his July 2010 Lowdown, has an excellent article on how a cabal of big, "bullying, arrogant ... telecom conglomerates" are aiming a broadside, not only on "common" folks who use the Internet, "but more broadly at America's democratic values."
"The whole idea of the internet," says Hightower, "is that it's a wide-open, wildly-democratic place where anyone and everyone can 'meet' to exchange viewpoints, ideas, facts, ideologies, theories, videos, opinions, stories, visions--and, yes, propaganda, nonsense, ugliness, and outright lies. The internet's beauty is in its free-flowing, uncensored, uncontrolled nature."
Unfortunately, "corporate autocracy," namely in the form of the four telecom giants who have the internet in their "firm grasp" -- AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon -- "is now asserting its market dominance and political muscle in an autocratic effort to impose corporate censorship over what information the public will be allowed to get via the internet."
This is a very important article, for this telecom cabal, pretending to desire internet "neutrality," is working for exactly the opposite. They are flooding Congress with lobbyists and money in order to get their way. And, of course, the billionaire Koch brothers are there with buckets of money, "specializing in doublespeak, distortions, manipulations, histrionics, stunts and tricks, deceit, huffery and pufferey, and lies."
Watch the video, read Hightower's entire article here, send it to your friends! The American people are about to get reamed by the robber barons once again! All for our own good, of course!
Who really owns FAUX News?
[Image of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal from here.]
Rupert Murdoch, who owns the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, also happens to be one of the owners of the faux news network known as Fox News. As everyone is aware, Fox News is not a real news company but rather the propaganda wing of the Repugnican Party. And because of that fact, it comes as no surprise to learn that Murdoch just gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
What is surprising, however, is the fact that "News Corp.'s [Fox News parent company] second-largest shareholder, after the Murdoch family, is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal ... the nephew of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, and one of the world's richest men."
This info comes from an article at AlterNet which derived from Speakeasy, and which first appeared at Hullabaloo. You can read it in its entirety here.
Contradicting myself, perhaps this is not all that surprising, either. The Republican leadership has been in bed with the Saudis for the past several decades. Our Iraqi wars, perpetrated by the two Bushes, had nothing to do with WMDs or freedom or democracy but had everything to do with oil - who owns it, who gets it, who refines it, who makes billions from it. From the Saudi point of view, old Saddam had gotten out of hand; he had become a threat to the Saudis and the American oil people who lusted after the black gold in Iraq and needed to be taken out.
Furthermore, our Republican politicos and the corporate honchos they work for, knew they couldn't make an enemy of the Saudis or their wealth would decline precipitously. Thus, the U.S. has for years given a pass to old King Abdullah and the imams, assiduously avoiding any critique of Saudi involvement in the funding of terrorism and its fondness for Sharia law, which allows no religious freedom, no freedom of speech, no honest intellectual endeavor, and crushes the rights of women into the desert sand.
"Saudi Arabia ... is ... an authoritarian petro-monarchy that actually is governed by Sharia law and is known as one of the top global sponsors of terrorism."
The irony is almost too much. As Digby says, "I doubt all those Fox news patriots know that the same News Corp that's owned by a Wahhabist Saudi prince just donated a million dollars to the Republican party. Of course they'll never find out because the only network they watch is the same terrorist funded network that's doing it."
And then, with a slicing slam against the wingnuts crying over the so-called "ground zero mosque," Digby suggests that it is insensitive to expect that some people who really hate Muslims should continue to watch a network that is owned in part by one or vote for a party that's funded by Muslims.
"I'm not saying that Murdoch should be forced to stop donating millions to Republicans or partnering with Saudi princes who believe in Sharia law. I just think it's common sense that he wouldn't do it in the first place."
Rupert Murdoch, who owns the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, also happens to be one of the owners of the faux news network known as Fox News. As everyone is aware, Fox News is not a real news company but rather the propaganda wing of the Repugnican Party. And because of that fact, it comes as no surprise to learn that Murdoch just gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
What is surprising, however, is the fact that "News Corp.'s [Fox News parent company] second-largest shareholder, after the Murdoch family, is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal ... the nephew of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, and one of the world's richest men."
This info comes from an article at AlterNet which derived from Speakeasy, and which first appeared at Hullabaloo. You can read it in its entirety here.
Contradicting myself, perhaps this is not all that surprising, either. The Republican leadership has been in bed with the Saudis for the past several decades. Our Iraqi wars, perpetrated by the two Bushes, had nothing to do with WMDs or freedom or democracy but had everything to do with oil - who owns it, who gets it, who refines it, who makes billions from it. From the Saudi point of view, old Saddam had gotten out of hand; he had become a threat to the Saudis and the American oil people who lusted after the black gold in Iraq and needed to be taken out.
Furthermore, our Republican politicos and the corporate honchos they work for, knew they couldn't make an enemy of the Saudis or their wealth would decline precipitously. Thus, the U.S. has for years given a pass to old King Abdullah and the imams, assiduously avoiding any critique of Saudi involvement in the funding of terrorism and its fondness for Sharia law, which allows no religious freedom, no freedom of speech, no honest intellectual endeavor, and crushes the rights of women into the desert sand.
"Saudi Arabia ... is ... an authoritarian petro-monarchy that actually is governed by Sharia law and is known as one of the top global sponsors of terrorism."
The irony is almost too much. As Digby says, "I doubt all those Fox news patriots know that the same News Corp that's owned by a Wahhabist Saudi prince just donated a million dollars to the Republican party. Of course they'll never find out because the only network they watch is the same terrorist funded network that's doing it."
And then, with a slicing slam against the wingnuts crying over the so-called "ground zero mosque," Digby suggests that it is insensitive to expect that some people who really hate Muslims should continue to watch a network that is owned in part by one or vote for a party that's funded by Muslims.
"I'm not saying that Murdoch should be forced to stop donating millions to Republicans or partnering with Saudi princes who believe in Sharia law. I just think it's common sense that he wouldn't do it in the first place."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Keith Olbermann: There is no 'Ground Zero Mosque'
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From Crooks & Liars:
Keith's Special Comment on the "inaccurately described ground zero mosque" where he started things off by reading from Pastor Martin Niemöller's "First They Came..." statement.
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
I'm sure all the right wing blogs will be going crazy accusing Olbermann of being over the top here but he explained why he thought Niemöller's comments were relevant today. From the Wikipedia page quoted above a little background on Niemöller:
Martin Niemöller was a German pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-Communist and supported Hitler's rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. Unlike Niemöller, they gave in to the Nazis' threats. Hitler personally detested Niemöller and in 1937 had him arrested and eventually confined in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Niemöller was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His statement, sometimes presented as a poem, is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.
Given the over the top rhetoric coming from the Republicans and Fox News whether it be race-baiting of African Americans or illegal immigrants or Muslims along with the terrible state our economy is in right now, I would agree with Keith that it is not out of bounds to remind the public of just how dangerous that kind of fear mongering can be. It might be different if we didn't have one television network along with right wing radio devoted to beating that drum 24/7 reaching millions of Americans with their propaganda day after day.
Partial transcript below the fold and h/t to StuHunter at DailyKOS for part of it.
Olbermann: Niemöller survived the death camps. In quoting him I make no direct comparison between the attempts to supress the building of a Muslim religious center in downtown Manhattan and the unimaginable nightmare of the Holocaust. Such a comparison is ludicrous, at least it is now, but Niemöller was not warning of the Holocaust. He was warning of a seeming rational society to condone the gradual stoking of enmity towards an ethnic or religious group, or more than one, warning that the building up of a collective pool of national fear and hate, warning of the moment in which the need to purge out strips even the parameters of the original scapegoating, when new victims are needed because a country has begun to run on a horrible fuel of hatred; magnified, amplified and multiplied by politicians and zealots within government and without.
Niemöller was not warning of the Holocaust. He was warning of the thousand steps before a Holocaust became inevitable. If we are merely at the first of those steps again today here it is one step too close.
Yet in a country dedicated to freedom, forces have gathered to blow out of all proportion the construction of a minor community center to transform it into a training ground for terrorists and an insult to the victims of 9-11 and a tribute to Medieval Muslims' subjugation of the west.
There is no training ground for terrorists. There is no insult to the victims of 9-11. There is no tribute to Medieval subjugation of the west. There is in fact NO GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.
[...]
What was that about Iraq? Why did we go into Iraq? To free the world, and especially Iraq's citizens of the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. That's its supporters defense of the Iraq invasion of this hour. Well who lives in Iraq? Muslims. I hate to reveal this to anybody on the right who doesn't know this but when they say Iraq is 65% Shia and 32% Sunni you do know that Shia and Sunni are forms of the Muslim religion, right?
We sacrificed 4,415 of our military personnel in Iraq to save Muslims, and there are thousands of us still there tonight to protect Muslims, but we don't want Muslims to open a combination culinary school and prayer space in Manhattan.
From the beginning of this nation we have fought prejudice and religious intolerance and our greatest enemy stupidity exploited by rapacious politicians. It is only 50 years now, this month since Americans publicly and urgently warned their countryman not to support a presidential candidate because he was Roman Catholic. He would bow to the will not of the American people, but of the Pope. He would be a papist. He would be the agent of a foreign state. His name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Despite the nobility of our founding and the indefatigable efforts of all of our generations, there have always been those who would happily sacrifice our freedoms, our principals to ward off the latest unprecedented threat, the latest unbeatable "outsiders". But once again at 45 Park Place, we are being told to sell our birth right. To feed the maw of xenophobia and vengeance and mob rule.
The terrorists who destroyed the buildings from which you could only see 45 Park Place as a dot on the ground, wanted to force us to change our country, to become more like the ones (they) knew. What better way could we honor the dead at the World Trade Center than to do the terrorists heavy lifting for them.
Do you think 45 Park Place is where it ends? The moment this monstrous betrayal of our America gained the slightest traction, the next goal was unveiled. "No more building permits for any Mosques in this country" brayed the man from the euphemistically named American Families Association. Of course, he said maybe the permits could be granted if the congregation was "willing to publicly denounce the Koran."
They came first for the building permits....
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