1) The kerfuffle on The View (video at link) yesterday is interesting to watch, but moreover to ponder. Bill O'Reilly was attacking the so-called "mosque" (really a YMCA with a gym and a cafeteria and...well, you know how I feel about it) yesterday. The debate was getting hotter and hotter. Now, O'Reilly is hardly a shrinking violet, altho he is clearly mentally deficient, and the panel on The View were chosen because they ain't about to go quietly either. Sparks were bound to fly. O'Reilly, as you know, made one of the single most ignorant comments I've ever heard, and two of the panel became so offended they walked off.
I'm tempted to say bully for them, standing up to a bully like that. The audience applauded loudly, and I suspect that O'Reilly got a first-hand take on what the country really thinks of him outside his airtight enclosed little bubble of yes men (you can read a further analysis of Herr O'Reilly starting here. You'll have to scroll down a bit to capture the links to the following chapters.) The View crowd is not a flaming liberal audience, as there are all points of view allowed and much of the audience is suburban housewives.
But here's the thing: it wasn't until Barbara Walters chided her co-hosts and O'Reilly apologized that the larger point was brought up: does O'Reilly really think that "Muslims killed us" on 9-11, when it was 20 extremists and they killed people from around the world? In other words, how deep does his paranoia really go? His delusion of grandeur, that 3,000 people somehow equals 300 million Americans and 19 radical extremists somehow equals 2 billion people of a particular faith, most of whom admire America, is disturbing.
And O'Reilly's considered a moderate wingnut! Imagine what some jackwagon like Pam Atlas thinks!
I'll get back to this point in a second, but I really wish it had been Joy Behar or Whoopie Goldberg who took a breath, swallowed a little and asked what Walters asked. The progressive case could have been moved forward a little if that had happened.
A further question could then have been raised: since the right is willing to extend to all Muslims terrorist sympathies and to all Americans the right to claim victimhood because of that attack, what about Oklahoma City? Surely there's a church within a half mile of the Murrah Building site. Should that be moved? Should white American men be barred from opening business establishments there? What if we limit it to even the ideological ones? Should conservative whites be barred from opening a business there?
This persecution complex that the right has is staggering. Rather than accept the Constitution as a living document, they want two things: to roll it back at least a hundred years and to kill it for anyone but those they approve.
But, see, the ultimate goal of the Constitution is to protect the rights of individuals and minorities from the tyranny of the majority, the TRUE Original Intent. O'Reilly keeps screeching about the "70% of Americans don't want that mosque built!" but this nation was founded on the backs and sweat of that other 30%! You know, the folks that left Europe seeking a better life for themselves, because they were truly being persecuted.
Why is American history so lacking in a group that swears such deep allegiance to its values and heart?
2) Ben Bernanke's magic bag of tricks is empty. Note to Ben: try giving money away to the people who need it. Circumvent Congress, you can do this because you aren't a government agency, and just give money away. You can start by seizing the $144 billion in bonuses Wall Street is paying its employees.
3) "Yeah.....after that I used to go round his flat every Sunday lunchtime to apologise and we'd shake hands and then he'd nail my head to the floor"
4) I haven't really focused on the new controversy regarding funding for the Teabaggers, specifically the US Chamber of Commerce's sleazy foreign financed attack ads and the Koch brothers blatant lie about financing the Teabaggers, but it seems to me this is the October Surprise for 2010. The story has the feel of being rolled out and orchestrated to deliberately lead into a climax a few days before the midterm elections. Watch carefully. I suspect some surprising names will find themselves deep in hot water.
5) China's doing it. Why can't we?
6) Y'know, it's only a matter of time before we see some ugly business going on in this nation. A little exposure in a national news magazine is not going to dissuade the nutbags portrayed in that link to stop their activities. Will the conservatives who have egged these assholes on stand up and take the blame? Of course not.
7) Really, Daily News...it's just overkill now. There are real stories in this country, in this city, that could use the laser-like focus you've given to Paladino.
8) MEMO
To: Democrats
RE: Election 2010
See? Roll out The Big Dog! He's the first and last politician who can speak to the people in a way that connects to them, and he's a guaranteed draw and election boost.
9) Nutbag Californian clown (see photo) says "Dixie" a patriotic song. NAACP squirts lapel flower back at her.
10) It's Bacon Week! Wait, what???
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