Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. ~~Mark Twain
I know the headline comes as a surprise to you, but Right Wing Watch has called attention to an article by some Christian author who, on Charisma News, posted a list of 100 things we Liberals hate about America. I had to read the list, and, of course, since it’s me, I have to comment on it. So let’s just roll right through this list.
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In the western world, churches, in particular Christian churches, are showing a general decline in attendance and membership. There’s much hand wringing within those denominations most affected; reports are being prepared, and great plans are being made to try to stem the tide, but I am not yet convinced the people in these organizations have the self-awareness to overcome the trend. The Facebook response to a recent article I posted in a conservative United Methodist discussion group really brought this home for me, and helped me congeal my thoughts on this subject.
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Little Bobby Knight, he of the conservative “private sector” over at One News now, has written a piece in which he makes this accusation, “Liberals, whose lifeblood is government red ink, are working around the clock to move America closer to one-party rule.” So how is we’re doing all this you ask? Well, according to Bob, by an assault on election integrity.
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Michael Lind has a great story at Salon.com today about how conservatives say one thing, but do another. I know that will come as a shock. Despite their claims of being the people bent on protecting Americans’ freedoms, they are actually the people who have, over the past 60 years, most sought to curtail those freedoms. Lind is careful to make the distinction between true Libertarians and conservatives, and points out that, since World War II, conservatives have opposed every expansion of personal liberty in the U.S. This really is an article you need to read, especially if you are a conservative.
Read moreFrom the “comes as no surprise” category, Fox News Pundit Fred Barnes said Sunday that McCain would have to run a center/right (not sure what that actually looks like myself) in order to win the election. This would mean appealing to the far right wingnuts of the party by using the “gays in the military” and “gay marriage” issues. Barnes explicity cites these issues. The left side of the blogosphere is all in an uproar over the comments. I don’t like that this happens to be a true statement, but it is true that McCain will win friends from the krazy kristian kooks by bashing gays. This has been a winning issue for Republicans for a while now.
Read moreUniversity of California at Berkley professor Jack Block and his late wife, Jeanne Bock, tracked almost one hundred children for two decades. From nursery school on, the kids were studied and interviewed–without any sense of political bias. The whiniest, least confident kids were those who grew up to be uncomfortable with ambiguity, who toed a rigid line on social issues, and who were, for the most part, right wingers. The kids who were loose, interesting, and willing to challenge authority ended up being liberals.
Read moreI might as well get a post about Bush’s Supreme Court Nominee out of the way. In bowing to the religious fanatics on the right, he’s pretty much sealed the fate of our Constitutional rights to be left alone by the government.
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