Oh boy…. the silly season is on us.
…and a little music for the occasion:
Tag: politics
Some Clarity
I was not going to comment on this, but I feel the need to. As you all know, I defended John Derbyshire’s piece and even did a follow up on it. I even blasted NRO for their firing of him.
The one thing you must know, when I am right, I will argue about being right, until I am blue in the face or until I drop dead. What I will also do, unlike some of bloggers on the right; is admit when I make a mistake — and yes, I made a big one. I made the common mistake of not fully reading John Derbyshire’s piece, which I, for the most part, pretty much agree with — except one little part. That would be this one here:
(11) The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black. These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”
I included the links, because, quite bluntly, I hold some of those links in suspicion. Look, I do not like what happened to my Cousin at all; but I am not prepared to say that ALL black people are stupid — because they are black. I just do not agree with that and I do not think that my late Cousin Michael Hill would either.
Folks, I admit it, I blew it here and I blew it badly, for not reading the entire article. Next time, I think I will be a bit more careful in reading articles, like this one; before I toss my support behind it. Again, what happened to my cousin in 1994 was a tragic thing and I think I should mention, that my cousin was not totally blameless either. Were there trigger happy cops involved? Yes. Were they corrupt? Yes. But my cousin could have prevented it from happening, by using a little bit of common sense. All I am saying about that, its a personal family thing and I do not like using family for political stuff. But, I felt this warranted the mention, seeing all this stuff about Trayvon Martin.
Again, my friends, I am very sorry and next time; I will be much more careful about what I support and write about. Also too, a special thanks to Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com and Roy Edroso at Village Voice for pointing out the part of that article that I was not aware of, when I hit publish the first time. Let this be a lesson to me and everyone who sided with this piece; that WE READ THE WHOLE THING before we hit publish! It is a lesson well-learned, at least here anyhow.
Bottom-Line: I reject the accusation of racism by the left. But, I will fully admit to not reading that entire article and then siding with it. Because of that, I can say that I do not agree with the article now fully, neither would my late cousin.
Profiles in Cowardice: Rich Lowry and National Review
As I suspected, due to his rant, which I did defend; John Derbyshire was terminated from his position at National Review.
Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he’s a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR. Derb is also maddening, outrageous, cranky, and provocative. His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation. It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer.
via Parting Ways – By Rich Lowry – The Corner – National Review Online.
I happen to agree with Jeff over at Protein Wisdom, when PC rules the day, we have lost badly. Because of this, I will be removing National Review Online’s entries from the blogroll here and replacing it with something else. If freedom of speech is subject to that sort of nonsense at NRO; than I have nothing in common with them and I hardly consider them a truly conservative website and publication.
Let me say emphatically, the staff of National Review and yes, that includes Rich Lowry — can go to hell.
Why I am not a big fan of John Podhoretz
I support Israel and all; but this right here, is why I am not a huge fan of John Podhoretz.
Glenn Greenwald reports:
One reason I think this discussion is so important is because the manipulation of the term “terrorism” this way permits and bolsters (even if unintentionally) an extremely ugly, destructive, and toxic worldview, one which the Editor-in-Chief of Commentary Magazine, John Podhoretz, vividly expressed last night on Twitter when discussing the firing of Keith Olbermann by Current TV:
That’s about as overtly racist a statement from a media figure with a platform as you’ll see (and the it’s-just-a-joke excuse is obviously irrelevant: just imagine analogous “jokes” about how disfavored journalists would be punished at The Jerusalem Post, or Black Entertainment Television, etc.). To Podhoretz, Al Jazeera is filled with Arabs and Muslims, which means: The Terrorists (for many years after 9/11, that was virtually official U.S. government policy). Podhoretz is the same person who wrote a New York Post column in 2006 lamenting that in the early stages of the Iraq War, “we didn’t kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything,” suggesting that the big U.S. mistake in the war was allowing “the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35.” Remember, though: it’s those Muslims who are The Terrorists (when influential American “terrorism experts” start talking about the John Podhoretzes of the world as terrorism advocates, and about “Shock and Awe“, the assault on Fallujah and the bombing of Gaza as terrorism, and about Ronald Reagan as a “state sponsor of terrorism” for his funding of El Salvadoran death squads and Nicaraguan contras, and about the parties responsible for the assassination of Iranian civilian scientists as international terrorists, then I’ll start to take the honorific more seriously).
I have no doubt that most respected “terrorism experts” would find Podhoretz’s comment about Al Jazeera repugnant. But the mentality on display here — and it’s quite pervasive (which is why this is one of the few remaining forms of overt bigotry that provokes no real sanction) — finds nourishment in the constant discussion of Terrorism, the Supreme Evil, as: acts of violence by Muslims directed at us (but not violence by our own government or those of its allies directed at Muslims).
The above is exactly why the libertarian crowd hates the Zionist crowd with a passion. This is why I am not a huge fan of John Podhoretz and his ilk. It is because they can make statements like this, without any repercussions. If someone, who is not a Zionist made a similar statement about Israel and Jews; they would be excoriated from one end of the blogosphere to the other. Mr. Glennwald has a very good point and I think everyone on the Jewish Conservative side of the political isle, ought to take a hard look at this and take it very seriously. If the Zionists want respect, they have to learn to respect others. Because not all Arabs out there are terrorists; just like not all blacks are murders, robbers, and so forth —- not all white people are robe and hood carrying Klansman. Some black liberals might think that, but I digress. Furthermore, not all Jews are evil bankers trying to overthrow the Country. See? It goes both ways. Someone needs to tell Podhoretz to keep his damned bigotry towards Arabs to himself.
Also too; anyone who believes that Jews can be insulted like this, and can get away with it —- ought to have a nice long talk — with Rick Sanchez.
Just a thought.
Jeeez, no wonder Keith Olbermann left Current TV!
Looks like ol’ Keith made a bit of a mistake:
Keith Olbermann wanted out of Current TV well before he was fired yesterday because he felt the network was mismanaged and wouldn’t be around much longer … sources close to Keith tell TMZ.
As TMZ first reported, Keith is planning on filing a lawsuit against the network for his unceremonious dumping yesterday. He released a statement that said in part, “It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.”
According to our sources, Keith felt the network was a “ragtag operation” that was disorganized and felt thrown together. We’re told Keith felt the entire place was mismanaged … right down to the office supplies.
On one such occasion, we’re told the staff couldn’t use one of the printers because it was out of toner and they had none in supply. In a staff-wide email obtained by TMZ, a production administrator told the staff, “We expect to have replacement toner in tomorrow and will have a better stock on hand for the future. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
via Keith Olbermann — Planning His Exit Long Before He Was Fired | TMZ.com.
Then there is this:
To Keith’s point … they couldn’t even fire him without a giant mistake. In Current TV’s press release to announce that Eliot Spitzer would be taking over for Olbermann, they provided a Twitter account for Spitzer that is not his. The real Eliot Spitzer doesn’t have a Twitter account.
Heh. D’oh! 😀 Sounds like management problems to me and maybe even money problems. I thought that Keith was brought on as a partner and had a stake in the Company? I guess not. 😯
Keith Olbermann and Current TV part ways
Nothing like a bit of interesting news to bring a burned-out blogger out of his funk.
Keith Olbermann and Current TV have parted ways.
NYT’s Media Decoder has the story:
For nearly a year now, Al Gore and Joel Hyatt have been building their liberal cable news channel, Current TV, with the mercurial television anchorman Keith Olbermann at its center.
This week, the center collapsed.
Current said on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mr. Olbermann — one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers — just a year into his five-year, $50 million contract. It was the culmination of months of murky disputes between Mr. Olbermann and the channel that he was supposed to save from the throes of ratings oblivion.
Yet as inevitable as it might have seemed to some in the television business who know the long history of antipathy between Mr. Olbermann and his employers, it was nonetheless shocking to his fans, to his detractors and to staff members at Current when the announcement was made.
To the Viewers of Current:
We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.
Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.
We are moving ahead by honoring Current’s values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily — especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.
My full statement:
I’d like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.
Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I’ve been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.
It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain. http://nyti.ms/HueZsa
In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.
I have a personal opinion as to why things did not work out. This is not snark, humor or whatnot; it is truly my feelings. I believe that Keith just was not happy with this setup. I believe that Keith was not a good a “Democrat” enough for these people. Keith always said on his show, that he did not vote. I believe he is a political liberal. But I do not believe him an establishment figure. This was proven during Keith’s time at MSNBC, when he would criticize Obama.
I was doing some reading on some of the progressive sites out there; and I do notice that not everyone is sad to see him go. This is because Keith went into the tank for Obama, and went after Hillary, this did not sit well with some of the liberal left. To think, the thanks he got for all of his bombast and over the top verbalization, for all that tank diving he did for Obama — was a suck job at a third-rate network. Obama must be proud. The loudest voice of criticism on the left of Obama is now silent.
I will give some unsolicited advice to Al Gore and his partner at Current TV; give Keith the money for his contract, settle the as quickly as you possibly can. Because if you two do not think that Keith will not dish on what he knows about what happened in 2008 and with the inner workings of the liberal media — you are crazy. Furthermore, let me just say it; when it comes to lawsuits, discovery is a bitch. I would get this out of the headlines as quickly as I could. Because if Keith starts dishing, you think the left is in disarray now? You wait till that starts happening.
Either way, it would be a blog traffic goldmine.
Blogs covering: Gawker, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, The Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice, DownWithTyranny!, The Raw Story, CANNONFIRE, protein wisdom, Show Tracker, National Review, Hot Air, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine, Conservatives4Palin, Althouse, Jammie Wearing Fools, Politico, TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Mediaite, Conservative Hideout 2.0, NewsBusters.org, Stinque, TMZ.com, TVbytheNumbers and Weasel Zippers, Liberal Values, Guardian, Gothamist and dallasmorningviewsblog …,
Mediagazer has more here and here, Here
I do believe I have figured Tina Korbe out
I knew there was something a bit….um, special…about Tina Korbe. Well, now I know what it is!
She adores Dr. Pepper. You know, as in the soda? Just like my Mother, she likes that stuff too and yes, it shows. 😯
For the record, I happen to be of the opinion that Dr. Pepper is the worst tasting, rock gut, God-awful, stuff; since them bunch of weirdos decided that Vernor’s was something that the general public, namely me, would like to drink.
I have a theory as to how Dr. Pepper got it’s life; some guy working for that drug store in Waco, Texas, whose name had to be Louie or Tony, was walking across the shop with a bucket of whatever it is that gives that swill its god-awful taste. He was told to measure out a cup or so of it and he dumped the whole damned bucket in there! So, the owner walks over and grabs a cup and takes a drink and spits it out and commences to chewing Louie or Tony’s butt out. Finally, after chewing him out, the boss man calls over his man that works in the shipping and receiving area. His name is Bill, Bill is a bit slow and they offer some to him. He takes a drink and says, “Hey, that’s pretty good!” and that’s when they decided that someone would actually be that stupid to buy that awful tasting rot-gut and that is how America really ended up with Dr. Pepper.
Which is sort of how Vernor’s ended up on the free market too. The really funny thing is, I have heard that Vernor’s is good for people with a sick stomach. Well, of course! You ever smell that rot-gut tasting stuff? Phew. If you have stomach problems, you will not after you get a nose full of that stuff. That is because you will be in the backyard heaving your shoe soles up! They used to bottle that stuff right up the road here in southwest Detroit and yes, it stunk. I had the chance to tour that bottling plant once. I took two steps inside that building and got a whiff of that awful smell; and I made a rather abrupt bee-line for the exit!
Anyhow, as for Tina; She’s a good gal. Even if she does have some oddball tastes in soda pop. (Yes, I will resist the urge to make a crack about skirt lengths. Last time I did that, a civil war broke out in the blogosphere!)
As for me, I can tolerate Diet Pepsi, preferable cold. I happen to adore Mountain Dew, the throwback version being the best.
Rick Santorum commits the worst political gaffe ever
First of all, before I get started here and before anyone comes into the comments section yelling at me. I really do not have a dog in this fight at all. I am not voting Republican this time around either in the general election. This is because I am of the opinion that NONE of these candidates really fit the bill of what I consider a small Government Conservative. Romney is a flip-flopper, a serial liar, and basically said that the big three should be allowed to fail; which pissed me, my family and a good part of Detroit off. Which explains why nobody showed up at his little event at Ford field. Rick Santorum is an anti-libertarian and, as all pro-lifers are, a big Government Statist and a Theocrat. Not to mention that Santorum and Gingrich are both Catholic, something of which I have some serious issues with; it is simply that I happen to know what the Roman Catholic Church did to my Baptist ancestors. I cannot and will not vote for someone who is Catholic. As for Ron Paul, while I can appreciate his stance of economic issues; I just cannot and will not support someone, in the general election, who is not supportive of Israel. Because of all this, I am voting libertarian in the general election. I am a principled voter, not a “go along to get along” voter.
Now that I have said all of that, let’s get to the gaffe already!
Here is the video via HotAir, in which AllahPundit almost caused a civil war! 😯
AllahPundit posted that last night with the following quote:
Faced with the reality that his chances have collapsed, the Sweater Vest begins to unravel…
Based on the comments, all 1,650 Comments of them; I have one thing to say to you Allahpundit — not to rip you off, but — Good Lord. 🙄 I thought I was a poop-stinky starter! I have nothing on AP man, nothing at all. 😀
Of course, this earned him a good smack down by Ed Morrissey, who is a Republican and a level headed Conservative. Ed offers this bit of advice to Santorum:
It seems that Senator Santorum has forgotten the purpose of the Republican primary. It’s to choose the most successful candidate to beat Obama in the general election. It isn’t to test a few candidates to see whether the goal of beating Obama is worth the bother.
And why do we need to beat Obama? The economic policies of this administration have been an utter disaster. The Senate won’t pass any budgets, not even the President’s, while he’s in the Oval Office. Energy prices are going through the roof thanks to the massive regulatory hurdles his administration has created to production and refining, especially on federal lands. An ObamaCare repeal will only happen if Obama is no longer President, assuming that the Supreme Court doesn’t throw the whole law out this summer.
I suggest you go read the rest of that; because I happen to be of the opinion that Ed is very much correct in his assessment.
Of course, Santorum issues a statement, of course, blaming Romney for the mess, which is quite stupid, because Romney did not make the gaffe — Santorum did. Idiots deluxe as always! 🙄
Here is the statement:
“I would never vote for Barack Obama over any Republican and to suggest otherwise is preposterous. This is just another attempt by the Romney Campaign to distort and distract the media and voters from the unshakeable fact that many of Romney’s policies mirror Barack Obama’s. I was simply making the point that there is a huge enthusiasm gap around Mitt Romney and it’s easy to see why – Romney has sided with Obama on healthcare mandates, cap-and-trade, and the Wall Street bailouts. Voters have to be excited enough to actually go vote, and my campaign’s movement to restore freedom is exciting this nation. If this election is about Obama versus the Obama-Lite candidate, we have a tough time rallying this nation. It’s time for bold vision, bold reforms and bold contrasts. This election is about more than Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, or Rick Santorum – this campaign is about freedom and I will fight to restore your freedoms.”
Why can’t the man just say, “oops. I blew it. I am sorry, will not happen again.” and be done with it? This is why I could not be a politician. Either that or even better, “Yes, I said it and I am proud of it!” Why this walk-back crap? It isn’t like Santorum is going to be the nominee anyhow. So, why do this? I just do not get it.
Either way, should it be any surprise that Romney is doing well in the polls now? You think it is bad here? Wait till the later polls come out, when this all has had to time to get to the public. I am think Santorum will be backing out soon here. Now, I am not saying that Santorum should back out; I am simply saying he might have suck his foot in his….political campaign.
Bill Maher says stop apologizing, liberals call Maher a “Dirtbag”
I must say, I was rather shocked to see this.
Bill Maher writes a pretty decent Op-Ed in the NYT. Basically saying if you say offensive stuff, man up and stand behind it and don’t apologize.
This gets Maher branded a “Dirtbag” by this blogger here, who writes:
There’s a lot of stupid crap there, but I’m just going to make three brief points:
1. The problem with a lot of the garbage for which public figures end up having to apologize isn’t that it’s “offensive” (although it is). The problem is that it creates, entrenches, and maintains oppressions: It is the pervasive, ubiquitous, inescapable little things that create the foundation of a kyriarchal culture on which the big stuff is dependent for its survival. It’s the little things, the constant drumbeat of inequality and dehumanization, that inure us to increasingly horrible acts and attitudes toward non-privileged people.
2. Maher routinely mistakes for “offended” what is actually contempt, and reads calls for an apology as a game of gotcha instead of a request for meaningfully accountability. See previously.
3. This line, ugh, this line: “I don’t want to live in a country where no one says anything offensive.” My question to that is WHY. Why would he not want to live in a country where no one ever says anything offensive (marginalizing)? What’s the net positive of people saying marginalizing things?
Of course it comes down to the reason he doesn’t want to live in a country where no one says anything offensive is because HE WANTS TO SAY OFFENSIVE THINGS, and the only kind of country in which no one says offensive things that he can imagine is one in which IT’S NOT ALLOWED.
Whereas, when I imagine a country where no one says offensive things, it’s because it’s populated by people who give a fuck about not offending other people, and thus CHOOSE not to offend them, no censorship required.
Unlike Bill Maher, I expect more. Firstly of myself.
Believe it or not; I am actually glad to see a liberal blog taking this issue up. Because if we are going to have this sort of dialog on what is acceptable and what is not, then BOTH SIDES have to be fair and agree to a standard. Not just one side be held and the other not be held to any kind of a standard.
So, for once, I commend someone on the left.
Baptist Pastor Dennis Terry introducing Rick Santorum, tells liberals “Get out of America!”
I suppose you all might be expecting me to cheer this guy. Well, surprise! No, not this time. In fact, I even feel a bit sorry for Rick Santorum.
What am I talking about?
This: (Via Right Wing Watch)
Phew! Grumpy old feller ain’t he? Well, he is a Baptist and he is old and he is from Louisiana. I would tend to guess that this sort of thing is basically par for the course; at least with him anyhow. In other words, yeah, he is one of ours. 🙄
For the record, I do not believe for a minute that Rick Santorum believes any of that stuff that Dennis Terry was preaching from his bully pulpit. In fact, he said as much yesterday; over to you ABC NEWS:
MOLINE, Ill. – Rick Santorum told reporters Monday he did not agree with a controversial statement about non-Christians made by a Louisiana pastor at a church service Santorum attended Sunday in Greenwell Springs, La.
[…..]
After an event in Moline Monday evening, Santorum was asked repeatedly by reporters if he agreed with the pastor’s words.“If the question is, do I agree with his statement that America shouldn’t do that? No, if he was speaking for himself he’s obviously allowed to believe what he wants to believe but, obviously I believe in freedom of religion and all religions are welcome and should be. I think I’ve made that pretty clear throughout my campaign that I believe very much in freedom of religion, and folks should be able to worship whoever they want to worship and bring their thoughts in the public square and have at it and give them the opportunity to make their faith claims, and make their claims to reason and any other claims. That’s what America’s all about. As far as I’m concerned they should be here and make their arguments the best they can,” said Santorum.
Santorum said he did not clap when the pastor made these comments.
“I didn’t clap when he said that. I do remember him saying that, I said, well, I wasn’t quite sure he was saying it for himself, I wasn’t quite listening to everything to be honest with you. But I wasn’t sure whether he was speaking for himself or speaking generally, but I didn’t clap when he said that because it’s not how I feel.”
Here is why I feel a bit sorry for Rick Santorum. Because quite frankly, there are times when these guys who are running for President, will find themselves in awful situations like these and to be quite honest with you; there is not much he can do about it. I mean, it would be totally disrespectful for Mr. Santorum to try and interrupt, or worse, get up and leave. Now, I am sure liberals would think he should have done that; but some things are just best left alone.
For the record, and this is for the Conservatives and Republicans who will actually read this; I do not fault this Pastor for what he believes. Pastor Dennis Terry is an old salt from the America that once was; and I do not think he should be punished for his remarks, no more than I would want a far-leftist liberal Democrat punished for he believes. Like Rick Santorum said, that is what makes America great, diversity of opinion and beliefs. If we all believed alike, this Country would be more boring than watching a Martha Stewart peep show.
I have been known to fault Rick Santorum on many things; one being his big Government Statist stupidity. But, this one here, I just cannot muster the outrage. I mean, it just is not his fault that Pastor Dennis Terry believes the way that he does.
Liberals who are not happy about it: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Rumproast, Mediaite, his vorpal sword, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, CBS DC, Holy Bullies …, The Agonist and Good As You
