FOX News – where embarrasment is foreign, and a star is born

As this story says (video at the link) this is the single most cringe-worthy interview ever.

The author here, Reza Aslan, has been interviewed extensively on C-Span’s Booknotes, PBS’ News Hour, the BBC and dozens of other outlets. So why not FOX? This is why – and lesson learned. Don’t bother next time Reza, unless you’re game for providing the rest of us with something to fill in the time while Jon Stewart is away.

 Fox News anchor Lauren Green* had religious scholar Reza Aslan on her FoxNews.com show Friday to talk about Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, his book that has been stirring up some online controversy recently. And right off the bat, Green gets to what is important: “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” Aslan seemed a little flabbergasted: “Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.”*

But Green just wouldn’t let it go: “It still begs the question though, why would you be interested in the founder of Christianity?” Aslan then starts talking to Green slowly, as if she were a child: “Because it’s my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That’s what I do for a living, actually.” But Green insisted, accusing him of failing to “disclose” that he’s a Muslim and at one point asking him about a stupefying claim on whether a Muslim writing a book on Jesus isn’t sort of like a Democrat writing a book on former president Ronald Reagan.

Dear god (by which I mean the one of the Hebrews, Christians and Muslims. That one.)

*And she’s not even blonde!

There must be almost a hundred people there – why is no one objecting?

In Alabama, at a hearing on a public power utility hearing:

Perhaps they’re really praying for lightning; they may think that’s where their ‘lectricity comes from?

Friday Night Oldie

I keep trying to get back here and post and comment and engage but this week has been most annoying. I am overcommitted – friend Elaine tried to warn me a few years ago with a t-shirt that said: Stop me before I volunteer again!

Meanwhile, tap yer toes:

Some things are not like other things

Using prostitutes. Check. Cheating on your wife. Check. Hitting on women employees. Check. Doing any of that while President. Yeah, check. Sexting pictures of your penis while calling yourself Carlos Danger. Huh?

One of these is not like the others.

Now, we know that boys will be boys – always have, always will. We almost bestow a sort of cultural acceptance on very bad behavior, especially when teh sex is involved.

Except when it’s icky. Really really icky.

Sean Hannity’s wet dream comes true

Oh boy, ‘s true. From ABC News, and now echoing with hallejulia’s from every single bit of righty internet real estate, where, all along, the between-the-lines-meme has been that George was really a hero.

George Zimmerman, who has been in hiding since he was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, emerged to help rescue a family who was trapped in an overturned vehicle, police said today.

Zimmerman was one of two men who came to the aid of a family of four — two parents and two children — trapped inside a blue Ford Explorer SUV that had rolled over after traveling off the highway in Sanford, Fla. at approximately 5:45 p.m. Thursday, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

This isn’t directed at Zimmerman who did a good thing here. It’s his media fans. They do piss me off.

 

As watertiger put it, grifters gotta grift

Here again cometh Christian pin-up Ralph Reed and this time with More-Deity-For-Your-Dollars! He had to shut down that Indian Tribe swindle he had going – and damn but that was good money! Former partner Jack Abramoff went and changed careers after getting himself convicted and sent to jail. Jack’s into redemption now, so Ralph is back to plain old huckstering, an ancient, if dishonorable, profession. (See those annoying little points on the pocket handkerchief? There’s yer proof that Ralph’s the too too smooth sort.)

Does make me wonder where is Tom DeLay these days?

Yet another bit of logic we must ignore if we want to stay F-R-E-E-E

This thing is kind of like health care. In spite of abundant evidence that Glass-Steagall worked (no bank failures for 50 years – approximately  ’33 to ’83), those enjoying the fruits of today’s perverse versions of capitalism and finance, who are dedicated to making money with money (making things is so yesterday), will not tolerate anything resembling a reinstatement of that law. And they will win.

Here’s a People’s Warrior on CNBC facing the conventional opposition, laced with a bit of hostile mockery. This video was viral a few days ago, until it briefly disappeared because CNBC filed a copyright claim against, I believe, the Senator. Ahem?

That is what brought this video to the attention of the fine folks at Upworthy. They note that “It gets amazing at 2:08. At 3:42, she uses their words against them. And at 4:39 [it really rocks].”

Listen to her ‘splain it all – clearly, simply and confidently.

Friday night oldie

Heard the man himself perform this when I was in college. In person. In the same room. Honest.

It’s this way because we want it this way

From Bloombery News, this is something that’s been screamingly obvious, and widely known. It has, however, been barred from any examination of American health care reforms. Because Denial isn’t just a streetcar, it is a national state of mind.

Americans are dying sooner and living with more illnesses than residents of Slovenia and other less prosperous countries . . . the U.S. is getting a poor return on money it spends on health care.

. . . lose more years of life to heart disease, lung cancer, preterm birth complications, diabetes and more . . . than most of 34 other developed countries from 1990 to 2010..

The study comes from the famously socialist Journal of the American Medical Association.

The U.S. failed to keep up with other nations in improvements in health care despite spending most per capita . . . U.S. death rate fell to 27th place in 2010 from 18th place in 1990.

Anything here you didn’t already know about?

This is how we roll down here in The Sunshine State

Will someone explain this to me please.

(CNN) — Saying he had no discretion under state law, a judge sentenced a Jacksonville, Florida, woman to 20 years in prison Friday for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her abusive husband.

Marissa Alexander unsuccessfully tried to use Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law to derail the prosecution, but a jury in March convicted her of aggravated assault after just 12 minutes of deliberation.

(Lost in the circus these last weeks: the Zimmerman case first made national headlines, not just because of racial overtones, but because it was the case wherein the rest of the country was introduced to Florida’s twisted “Stand Your Ground Law”. Most of us were repulsed. But hey . . . )

Texas. Again. And this time, tampon free.

A quick copy/paste is all I need do for this one:

Texas Senate is a no-tampon zone during abortion debate

Due to the heated debate taking place Friday in the Texas Senate over House Bill 2, a move to ban late-term abortions, the gallery is filled with people. And while women in the crowd may have differing opinions, none of them have any tampons. Or feminine pads or tissues. Or condoms. Fearing that such intimate items could become missiles flung at the heads of policymakers by abortion-rights advocates, state troopers are confiscating such female necessities from attendees. Senators may vote on the highly controversial matter Friday night, but at least they can concentrate without threat of a tampon fusillade.

Friday night oldie

Been swamped this week, had very little time to spend here. I don’t like that! Clearing up soon. But meanwhile, lest Ed get the vapors because I forgot again, here’s the oldie. (Sister Marion Joseph really didn’t like this one; she had to bustle about the dance floor insisting we ‘make room for  the Holy Ghost’.)

The NBA draft is in full swing . . . do they know about this kid?

His name is Titus. He is two years old. And this is real. (He showed up on Fox & Friends and it was going great ’till Brian Kilmeade (the one whose name no one can remember) tried to get in the act and basically lobbed the ball into little Titus’ face. Show over. The little guy burst into loud tears and Dad carried him off the set trying to make things right by saying “Brian didn’t mean it”. What he should have said was “Brian is just a doofus.”

“and merriness passed among the tourists”

China has opened what is now the largest building in the world. It’s called the “New Century Global Center” and it has a beach. Honest.

The Center is practically an enclosed city. From The Guardian:

[It’s] . . .  an entire seaside resort, along with a 14-screen Imax cinema, Olympic-sized ice rink, two five-star hotels and its own Mediterranean shopping village – all wrapped with a vast ribbon of offices. Sprawling for 1.7m square metres, it could fit 20 Sydney Opera Houses beneath its glass roof.

They’re billing it as a business center and resort destination where – well, let’s hear it from them: “where recreation has become the core value of modern business concepts and business will become a way of life.”

This is a video tour of the place (The headline comes from the English language voice-over script – so very Chinese, so very “all your data are belong to us”.)

Don’t bother watching it all – the tour starts at 6:44.

When a President travels: it’s embarrassing

Every now and again, a tired and predictable outrage erupts over the cost of Bush’s! Obama’s! or (fill in the blank) _____’s travel. We heard one a few weeks ago when the President went! to! Africa!

The rants are usually accompanied by charges that the President is getting all tyrannical and acting like a king plus no other President has been so respectful of hard-working tax-paying Americans, so extravagant (especially if the President being so characterized is of anther political party).

And they’re right. President protection has reached preposterous levels. As for the effectiveness of the web of security we’ve constructed, look  no further than Reagan –  shot from just a few yards away while surrounded by Secret Service.

From the time of the Kennedy assassination, the retinue – from the epic productions that are foreign travel, to the limo known as “The Beast” and the ambulances that accompany every POTUS motorcade – has grown like a cancer.

In a post called When Presidents Travel, james at PoliticalDog101 tells us in detail how costs reach absurd levels when a POTUS and/or a FLOTUS go a’callin’ – pretty much anywhere.

Here’s The Dog (he does not even try to list the number of people who travel with the President – staff aides, cooks, stewards, pilots, government functionaries):

Aircraft for the President:

• Air Force One of course
• a second B-747-200 back up plane in case the one the President is traveling on has trouble.

Helicopters when needed:

• Marine One Helicopter – for POTUS
• For security details and press, another 4-5 choppers

The helicopters are airlifted by Air Force C-17 Cargo planes to EACH stop on the trip

The vehicles:

• Presidential Limo’s – two limos for EACH stop
• Secret Service ‘Back-Up’ Vehicles to transport the President’s Security Detail
• White House Communications Vehicle – This SUV will be in the motorcade to help keep up contact with the US from anywhere on the planet
• Secret Service Counter Assault Team SUV – Heavily armed firepower to protect POTUS (in addition to the Security Detail)
• Hazmat Vehicle – A Marine detail in case of a chemical assault on the POTUS group
• White House Medical Team Vehicle – Usually a US Doctor from the WH Staff plus a paramedic or military medic with their equipment

All of the vehicles (about 8 to 10 ) are airlifted by Air Force C-17 Cargo planes to EACH stop

I’d say she got the ‘modestly dressed’ part just pitch-perfect

Who wouldn’t want to rush home to this little lady? Anyone? Anyone? Come on guys, look at that resume! Jeeez.

Wisconsin won. Well, the godly gentlemens did anyway.

Calling Wendy! Calling Nina!

Governor Scott Walker put pen to paper yesterday and proudly inflicted mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds upon Wisconsin ladies because that’ll get the women’s vote fer-sure!

Something new is in the air. My sisters are waking up.

Here’s what’s new. Wendy Davis and Nina Turner. And many many other women, young women, around the country using an entirely different vocabulary and saying back off fellas, hands off.  This is a different conversation. It’s a different fight. It’s not about abortion this time. . .  it’s not about fetuses. It’s about them. Always was.

Here’s what’s old. Ohio. Texas. North Carolina. Mandatory vaginal probes. Forced ultrasound. Catholic Bishops. Religious right. Family Research Council. Todd Aiken. The American Taliban. Rep. Steve King. Louie Gomert!!!! Michele Bachmann. Personhood. Pat Robertson. Phyllis Schlafley. Pin-up boy Ralph Reed.

A little background? Try this. And this. And this.

Or just read a whole buncha posts about lady parts and the men who want, well, this is what  they want:

Available in other colors – as long as it’s black.

Oh joy! Today is an excuse to post these

James Cagney was the ultimate song and dance man. I’m pretty sure Michael Jackson watched these moves over and over . . .

and how about this for pure grace . . .

and you can’t beat this for pure wonderful schmaltz . . .

 

 

On the Fourth of July . . .

. . .  I choose to celebrate the continuity of our government. We’ve managed it for  237 years. That’s an achievement and a testament to the brilliance of our constitution and our continuing respect for it. So good for us. Herbunk created this a few years ago and he just reposted for 2013. Also, it may be the best morph ever.

This disgusts me

The President needs to stop this and find a way out. But he isn’t. He’s defending it. The inhumanity of force-feeding political prisoners plays out in the wider world just like Abu-Ghraib. But this time, it’s my guy doing it. Shame, shame, shame.

MIAMI, July 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. federal court has no  jurisdiction and no legal basis to intervene in the  force-feeding of prisoners at the Guantanamo naval base, the  Obama administration argued in a court document on Wednesday

Like Wendy, Nina knows it’s not really about abortion. It’s about women.

Meet another woman warrior; I love this lady. Like Texas’ Wendy Davis, Turner gets that all this is really about women, about uppity women, about women having sex. Especially about punishing women for liking it.

Take it away Ohio State Senator Nina Turner (she really rolls at 4:38):

Here’s a glimpse of her Governor, ole John Kasich with his theocratic allies thrusting themselves (legislatively of course – what, you thought I meant something else?) into yet more lady parts:

I guess he’s running for President

And now, in news from Wisconsin:

Gov. Scott Walker distanced himself from House Republicans debating a new immigration bill Tuesday by endorsing a path to citizenship for immigrant workers. . . .  He also was sharply critical of how difficult the federal government makes it for those workers to come to this country.

“If people want to come here and work hard and benefit, I don’t care whether they come from Mexico or Ireland or Germany or Canada or South Africa or anywhere else,” he said. “I want them here.”

Yup. Running for the big one. The Reverend Perry better watch out!

I do love (South – nope) NORTH Carolina: I’m not sure if it’s the abortion part or the Sharia part that’s taken my breath away

South North Carolina’s legislature swung into late night action to propose legislation (yet again, sigh) aimed at getting a handle on those lady parts – and to guard against the imagined but dangerous onslaught of Sharia law – and they did it all in one tidy bill.

Senate tacks sweeping abortion legislation onto Sharia law bill

Raleigh, N.C. — Senators on Tuesday tacked a suite of new restrictions and regulations pertaining to abortion clinics onto a bill dealing with the application of foreign laws in North Carolina family courts.

As described here, there is a long tradition of U.S. law incorporating religious law into our system.

Duncan has proposed a state constitutional amendment that would bar U.S. judges from considering Shariah or any foreign law. But that might be problematic: U.S. courts already recognize and enforce Shariah law in everything from commercial contracts to divorce settlements, wills and estates.

What’s In Place

Marc Stern, a religion law expert at the American Jewish Committee, says that’s no different from how religious laws and customs are already applied.

He says when there’s a conflict, U.S. law always wins. For example, when Orthodox Jews have asked judges to enforce their laws on divorce, the courts have refused to do it; they won’t be involved in interpreting religion. In the same way, the government won’t enforce Kosher food standards because it would violate the separation of church and state.

Of course, once in a while, a judge with limited knowledge of the law as it is (they’re out there) rules otherwise – and certain legislators and media stars get the vapors. For a while. The follow up   – rarely inspiring the alarm – is that such rulings are always overturned in appellate courts.