Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo! The poor Catholics are being unfairly maligned again by that wicked heathen Bill Maher. Naturally, the valiant culture warriors at Fox & Friends were all over this trumped up controversy earlier today like a fat kid on a butter tart. HBO has a leftist agenda! Liberals are religious bigots! And so on.
Just listen to vapid hack Steve Doocy (author of The Mr. and Mrs. Happy Handbook, I kid you not) wringing his hands over the fact that last week Bill Maher said the Pope “used to be a Nazi” (he also said he “wears funny hats”), referred to the Catholic Church as “a child-abusing religious cult” and linked the Church to “organized pedophilia.” Blustering with indignation, Doocy suggested that “Real Time” be pulled from the air and gripes, “HBO costs me $15 extra a month… I’m not going to pay for this junk!” Steve… it’s ONE program for chrissake. So don’t watch it. And another thing… all of the Maher’s remarks, while certainly delivered with biting sarcasm, happen to be true. As a young man the future pope did belong to the Hitler Youth; in the strictest sense of the word, the Catholic Church is a “cult” (i.e., “a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents”) as is every church body for that matter; and finally, as to the charge of “organized pedophilia” the John Jay Report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found accusations of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests in the USA, about 4% of all priests.
The funniest retort though came from media critic and chairman of The Christian Film and Television Commission Ted Baehr who moans about Maher’s “hate speech” and “bigotry” and then promptly compares Maher to the Nazis. In attempting to be ironic, it seems the irony of his own observation was entirely lost on him.
For heaven’s sake… haven’t we had enough of these comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis (or Chamberlain) already? Almost without exception they always backfire (or misfire), so why do people persist with them... I really don’t get it. Does it stem from a lack of imagination perhaps?
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Fox Attacks Maher & HBO for “Hate Speech”
Chris Matthews Explains the “Rube Mentality”
Here’s “blue collar guy” Chris Matthews (who’s a multimillionaire with a get-away home in Nantucket, by the way), the host of MSNBC’s slobberfest “Hardball” providing so-called insight into the minds of “ordinary” Pennsylvania voters. Apparently their choice is based on which candidate would be most likely to stop and help them fix a tire — certainly an all-important qualification for the next leader of the free world. Doesn’t the media ever tire of this ridiculous trope? (No pun intended.)
After initially seeming to be stumped by Maher’s question about why Hillary is polling so well amongst Catholic voters compared to Obama, here’s Matthew’s best effort to explain the mystery: “Let me find an issue that you agree with the Pope on here… you’re both against the war in Iraq. Catholics are generally against the war in Iraq and Hillary voted for it. Maybe that would be a logical reason, I’m not sure it’s the real reason, but that would make sense.” Huh… that would make sense? Logical? It’s astounding that anyone pays the slightest attention to this cosmic nut-case let alone to think that he has two shows on cable and appears as an “expert” all over the place… it really beggars belief.
Quest for Adventure
Oops! Seems quirky CNN presenter Richard Quest was busted in Central Park early yesterday with some crystal meth in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot, according to police. Funny, but I never pegged him as a Tory.
“It’s the first time I’ve come across such a thing and I’m starting to get an insight into what being an explorer is all about. Going, seeing and experiencing for the first time…” — Richard Quest
Welfare for the Wealthy
While visiting the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store yesterday looking for a space heater (yes, I confess, I’m a shameless skinflint) I ended up in their book section and there was a copy of Michael Moore’s “Downsize This!” that I thumbed through briefly. In it was a section on corporate welfare where Mike quite naturally wondered why it was that whenever the term “welfare” is mentioned, we automatically conjure images of shiftless layabouts, when in fact, the largest beneficiaries of government “welfare” are actually massive corporations and industrial agri-food conglomerates. Good question.
Following that train of thought, here’s Bill Moyers talking the other week to David Beckman, president of Bread for the World about agricultural subsidies that currently flow primarily to wealthy landholders, without regard to need or profitability while relatively modest changes to the distribution of funds these programs afford could result in millions of dollars being diverted to feed the working poor and those most in need, the majority of whom are rural families.
Oh, but remember that according to the likes of Kathy Shaidle and Mark Steyn poverty simply doesn’t exist in America. I guess they’ve never seen this.
The “Conservatives” Do Something Good!
Mark it on your calendars, boys and girls. Of course this is actually just a re-announcement of a promise that was made last July to invest $3.1 billion to modernize the ships from 2010 to 2017, but still… one shouldn’t quibble when this government does something good for a change.
Update: Unfortunately, every silver lining has a cloud.
Update2: Speaking of things military, Dred Tory has an excellent critique of outgoing Gen. Hillier and some thoughts about his retirement that cast some doubts on the official explanations, or at least provide a different perspective to the matter.
Debate Debacle
So now it’s known that George Stephanopoulos quite literally took dictation from FOX News dirtbag Sean Hannity for one of the more ridiculous questions to Sen. Obama in the other night’s debate in Philadelphia. Amazing.
Olbermann discusses the debate overall with Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher and looks at how this case has become an embarrassment among journalists. Meanwhile, at TPM, a number of (mostly liberal) journalists have slammed ABC for their disgraceful performance. The fallout has been so bad that ABC felt compelled to run a segment about it on Friday’s World News broadcast.
Update: Heh.
Looking for the “Superdelegates”
No doubt most of the ex-officio “superdelegates’ will hold off until the results are in from Pennsylvania, but the call from Howard Dean for them to start making their positions clear NOW is a promising development.
Ezra Levant, pathetic
I guess when you’re a nasty little douchebag, it’s pretty easy to take a quotation out of context and pretend that it has a lot more nefarious significance than is actually the case. Carter’s meaning seems fairly clear when taken in the context in which it was said.
Here’s what passes for the “conservative” intelligentsia these days on Fox’s late-night Red Eye program opining on the former president’s latest Middle East visit.
Britain’s Got Talent...
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for poor Donald.
Even though the witless lad was ruthlessly terminated in a matter of seconds by Simon Cowell, he’s nonetheless, as Piers Morgan says, “horrifically entertaining.”
There’s something just absolutely glorious about watching someone making a complete tit of themselves on national television. I don’t know, maybe it’s an example of that truth/beauty thing we were discussing the other day…
The Crying Game
A marginally funny Air Farce sketch. I have to admit I’m going to miss Craig Lauzon’s “robo-Harper” a little because it’s so eerily close to the mark.
The Power of Nightmares (Redux)
I’m reposting these as the old links have gone dead. Thanks to “Mr. X” for pointing this out and for kindly providing the new URLs.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Friday Night Brenda Bashing!
Gotta love the “compassionate Conservatives” over at “Blue Like You!” and their ceaseless campaign of malicious character assassination and personal destruction against this rather pathetic woman inadvertently caught up in the dysfunctional Mexican justice system (that Amnesty International has rather politely described as “gravely flawed”) for no reason other than the fact that her case reflects somewhat poorly on the Dear Leader and his hapless government when it comes to “getting things done” for Canadians in trouble abroad.
Imagine... the sheer temerity of this uppity strumpet (who we’ve learned from Joanne is an illegal immigrant, an alcoholic, and a really bad cook) asking for documents to be translated into English so she could actually understand the decision rendered by the presiding judge! And surely, as congenital idiot “Alberta Girl” suggests, there must be an “alterior [sic] motive to her rabid, over the top defense.” Oy.
Just as an aside, why are so many “Conservatives” so profoundly illiterate?
China = Nazi Germany?
It’s somewhat curious that the CPoC would shuffle notorious loon and pro-Apartheid wingnut Rob Anders (who’s been studiously low-profile and clandestine over the past couple of years) to the front of the deck as their spokesman on the matters of Tibetan autonomy and human rights in China.
While the Liberals’ critique is obviously quite opportunistic, it’s also legitimate. Is it really helpful in any way whatsoever to think “absolutely 100 per cent” that the upcoming Olympics parallels the event held in Berlin 72 years ago and in the process effectively compare one of our largest trading partners and most promising export markets with Nazi Germany?
Anders, I suspect, is animated more by a deep-seated hatred of “commies” than by any abiding concern for the welfare of the Tibetan people, although his religious fundamentalism may have something to do with his sympathies in this regard. Which brings to mind the sniping of Christopher Hitchens about the “democratic” pretensions of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama…
Stephen Harper, fearless LEADER that he is, has deftly side-stepped controversy surrounding the Olympics by recusing himself from attending the opening ceremonies for unspecified and rather mysterious “personal reasons” while at the same time, indicating that high-level government officials will be present. So what gives?
It’s funny that this government, for all of its adamantly strident insistence on being absolutely different from the dithering equivocations of the Paul Martin Liberals, so frequently evinces the same sort of fatuous waffling, flip-flopping and hopelessly muddle-headed thinking when it comes to… well, pretty much everything.
Splat!
Ah, yes… the sound of kooky-Con conspiracy theories doing a faceplant. Ker-thunk!
Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Kady O’Malley? (I do... She’s absolutely adorable.)
Terms of Endearment?
So… I’m wondering what your favourite term for Harper and/or the “Conservatives” is and whether you think these silly taunts actually serve any purpose or perhaps do they just reflect somewhat poorly on the people who employ them…
The Great Deceiver: A litany of “cretinisms”
“There you have it, Canadians. The CPC has essentially wiped its ass on three million of your dollars in order to send you infantile anti-Dion vitriol — thus expending a fortune on something dozens of slackwitted Blogging Tories offer us daily, for free.”
Sacrilege!
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. That’s a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor.” Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful.“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”
Not surprisingly, I’m agnostic on the matter. Utilizing iconic images to make a point is nothing new and at the risk of pointing out the obvious, there’s more than a little irony to be found in the notion that somehow disgracing an “icon” is “sacrilegious” when you really think about it.
Update: If nothing else, this has certainly elicited some rather amusing reactions from the perpetually frenzied denizens of Wingnuttia. Five Feet of Bowel Obstruction™ is quick off the mark with the first comment at SDA: “Urge to kill... rising...” I really can’t be bothered to document the rest, but will guarantee there’s much mordant hilarity to be had if you’ve got the stomach for it. Do feel free to share.
Because we care…
Bonus Track: John Daly (aka Johnny Maudlin) is really too easy a target, no? Yo, dude, buy a clue. No one is looking for “positive vibes” on political blogs. Please don’t actually make me agree with the likes of Kathy Shaidle. (h/t: the usual suspect.)
