The apology to Mr. Beck in my previous post doesn't erase the scariest thought imaginable!

All of the talk on cable TV today reminded me of one of the most worrisome political graphics ever produced!
Why Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck did not find it necessary back in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and earlier this year to restore honor when Dick Cheney's company shamelessly kept reaping huge profit from engaging American servicemen in an unnecessary war in Iraq fully underscores the hypocrisy of this duo's fumbling rhetoric. Even Barack Obama had to mumble something akin to restoring honor today when he announced that we had removed [sic] our combat troops from Iraq on time [sic] and with honor [sic].

Who or what exactly was it worth taking our country's honor back from? Bush/Cheney in 2009 or or a ten-year foreign policy run amok? I've been asking that question all day.

Its true that real conservatives (and real liberals) would want to be seen to refrain from politicising the military. But nothing will be too sacrosanct for the Palin-Beck duo (above and below) to touch--not even the military--in their quest to sell their peculiar politics to the unwary.

Did anyone ever hear a constructive sentence coming from either one of those two clowns' lips?

No.

Criticism, innuendos and hatred is their theme song. Do they ever answer to any of their allegations? Do they ever even tell us whose words they mouth over and over again? (That would be the corporate dollars that keep their faces on our television screens, of course.)

No.

All questions addressed to Palin are screened beforehand to ensure she knows the answer. And Glenn Beck? He just has a big fat mouth--as he so accurately admitted yesterday to Chris Wallace.

The latest Gallop Poll released today showing that the Republicans would win the House of Representatives by ten percentage points is really scary. It is terribly worrisome that so many people actually believe in these two empty heads--how many Americans do they really speak for? I don't want to even think about the likely answer to that question. But ...

... not Mediawingnuts, that's for certain!

Still, I should conclude this posting with a slightly nicer photo of the Republican Party's newest leadership team ...

I Owe Mr. Beck an Apology!

Despite the Misgivings Reflected in my Previous Posting, Glenn Beck Gave an Excellent Speech that did Honor to Himself and Us All

And in his first interview today with Chris Wallace, he said the following in answer to Wallace's most pointed question:

Wallace: "Do you regret having called [Obama] a racist and saying he had a deep seated hatred for white people?"

Beck: "Of course I do. I don't want to retract the, um ... I want to amend that ... I think it is much more of a theological question, that he is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim. 'Racist,' first of all, it shouldn't have been said. It was poorly said. I have a big fat mouth sometimes and I say things. That's just not the way people should behave. And it was not accurate. It is liberation theology that has shaped his world view."

It takes a big person to mouth those words about himself. I apologize to you Glenn Beck for many similar "big mouth" things I have posted relative to words you've spoken on your Fox Cable show. My prayers will be for you as these next days pass ... and I surely hope that "honor will be restored" to a country that has slid away from its solid support for world peace and sanctity of all humans from whatever country and whatever skin color or culture. My prayers and the infinite power of the prayers of people worldwide for that is drifting to our Lord even as I key this in.

A View of America from Vantage of Most Muslims

Glenn Beck Leads "Restore our Principles" March on Anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech
Muslims and their Shariah Law (where applied) can truly be both brutal and evil (as can every other religion in this a fallen world), but Jesus told us all (believers and unbelievers) to "Love your enemies!"

I think that Mormons read the same Bible that I do (more or less), so where do Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin fit into the picture with Beck's march tomorrow?

Ron Paul to Sunshine Patriots on Meet the Press yesterday: Stop Your Demagogy About The NYC Mosque!

Representative Ron Paul, R. Texas
Every American should read this statement by Ron Paul. I couldn't add one word without diminishing its truth or its sting!

(quote) Is the controversy over building a mosque near Ground Zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery?

It has been said, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” Are we not overly preoccupied with this controversy, now being used in various ways by grandstanding politicians? It looks to me like the politicians are “fiddling while the economy burns.”
The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque.

Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be “sensitive” requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from “ground zero.”

Just think of what might (not) have happened if the whole issue had been ignored and the national debate stuck with war, peace, and prosperity. There certainly would have been a lot less emotionalism on both sides. The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate raises the question of just why and driven by whom?

In my opinion it has come from the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia and are compelled to constantly justify it.

They never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for the ill conceived preventative wars. A select quote from soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq expressing concern over the mosque is pure propaganda and an affront to their bravery and sacrifice.

The claim that we are in the Middle East to protect our liberties is misleading. To continue this charade, millions of Muslims are indicted and we are obligated to rescue them from their religious and political leaders. And we’re supposed to believe that abusing our liberties here at home and pursuing unconstitutional wars overseas will solve our problems.

The nineteen suicide bombers didn’t come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. Fifteen came from our ally Saudi Arabia, a country that harbors strong American resentment, yet we invade and occupy Iraq where no al Qaeda existed prior to 9/11.
Many fellow conservatives say they understand the property rights and 1st Amendment issues and don’t want a legal ban on building the mosque. They just want everybody to be “sensitive” and force, through public pressure, cancellation of the mosque construction.

This sentiment seems to confirm that Islam itself is to be made the issue, and radical religious Islamic views were the only reasons for 9/11. If it became known that 9/11 resulted in part from a desire to retaliate against what many Muslims saw as American aggression and occupation, the need to demonize Islam would be difficult if not impossible.

There is no doubt that a small portion of radical, angry Islamists do want to kill us but the question remains, what exactly motivates this hatred?

If Islam is further discredited by making the building of the mosque the issue, then the false justification for our wars in the Middle East will continue to be acceptable.

The justification to ban the mosque is no more rational than banning a soccer field in the same place because all the suicide bombers loved to play soccer.

Conservatives are once again, unfortunately, failing to defend private property rights, a policy we claim to cherish. In addition conservatives missed a chance to challenge the hypocrisy of the left which now claims they defend property rights of Muslims, yet rarely if ever, the property rights of American private businesses.

Defending the controversial use of property should be no more difficult than defending the 1st Amendment principle of defending controversial speech. But many conservatives and liberals do not want to diminish the hatred for Islam, the driving emotion that keeps us in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.

It is repeatedly said that 64% of the people, after listening to the political demagogues, don’t want the mosque to be built. What would we do if 75% of the people insist that no more Catholic churches be built in New York City? The point being is that majorities can become oppressors of minority rights as well as individual dictators. Statistics of support (are) irrelevant when it comes to the purpose of government in a free society — protecting liberty.

The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims. This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservative’s aggressive wars.

The House Speaker is now treading on a slippery slope by demanding a congressional investigation to find out just who is funding the mosque — a bold rejection of property rights, 1st Amendment rights, and the Rule of Law — in order to look tough against Islam.

This is all about hate and Islamaphobia.

We now have an epidemic of “sunshine patriots” on both the right and the left who are all for freedom, as long as there’s no controversy and nobody is offended.
Political demagoguery rules when truth and liberty are ignored. (unquote)

Anyone for a building a soccer field and then playing a game of soccer (remember that nearly 100% of all men in the Middle East play soccer!) ... say about two blocks from Ground Zero? That would really wind Sarah and Rush in a tight knot, wouldn't it? Soccer balls aren't nearly as stimulating as nukes.

Shhh ... The latest Republican rumor is that Obama, having the seed of Islam in his DNA, plans to move a Muslim Holy Site to Ground Zero in New York!

Kaaba after being removed from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and rebuilt in lower Manhattan in New York City
There's little we good Methodists and Lutherans can do about it. Barack Obama received the "seed of Islam" through his father (actually an Atheist, but who cares about logic and truth?) in the same manner that Jews receive the seed of Judaism through their mothers, according to Franklin Graham, the son of the Reverend Billy Graham. By that insane logic, I suppose that Progressives learn to care about people--as opposed to corporations--from compassion, study and clear thinking in contrast to Republicans who get their conservative views from the deepest recesses of their aaa-aa-aa ...

No! I can't say it. The Dark Lord of Partisan Politics almost caught me. Delete that last sentence ... this is a PG-rated blog site and I intend that it remain such!

The most Reverend Franklin Graham, along with Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and the Most High Glenn Beck, have every right to their cockeyed beliefs, no matter what the cost to the clear thinking and sobriety of the rest of us. We'll just have to satisfy ourselves with overturning and whipping the tables and booths of the sacrifice peddlers and money exchangers in the Jewish High Temple in Jerusalem ...

Russell Simmons said it better than I ever could when he spoke on Larry King Live this evening.

A Hip-hop Original: Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons eloquently put forth the very best argument why we not only should, but must ... now that it has been politicized by the crazies who want to use the issue in the upcoming midterm elections ... build the cultural center two or three blocks from where the Twin Towers stood. I "borrowed" the text below from Russell Simmons' excellent op-ed on Huffington Post.

It says it all!

(quote)"It was a day we will never forget. It was a day that changed the course of this nation forever. It was a day that permanently bruised our hearts, with the potential of healing almost seeming impossible. Yet, with love, faith and compassion, we showed the world and showed ourselves through the promotion of one of our nation's greatest values -- tolerance -- we can overcome fear and hate.

Today, ten years later, I peer through the front windows of my apartment and still see a large gaping hole that once was the home to the World Trade Center. I pass by the firehouse on my block and say hello to the firemen who lost almost all of their guys on that day. This is my neighborhood, my backyard. And in my backyard, I have no tolerance for a new fear-mongering, hateful rhetoric that has sprung up over the proposed $100 million Islamic cultural center that they plan on building blocks away from Ground Zero.

It is not insensitive to put a cultural center of any sort, that has a place of worship, anywhere in our city. This is what makes our country and our city great. As a nation that was founded by men and women who were being persecuted for their particular faith, we should know that the best path to finding freedom is finding freedom for others. We were formed as a pluralistic society and this means we welcome all religions. Islam did not attack the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, sick and twisted men did, who not only hijacked four airplanes but also hijacked a religion.

Let us not stereotype the over one billion Muslims around the world because of the evil acts of a few. A decision like this one, to support or not support the construction of this center, defines who we are as a nation. It's at the essence of our values, our freedom of expression, freedom of religion and religious tolerance.

As the Chairman of The Foundation Of Ethnic Understanding, my partner Rabbi Marc Schneier (also the Vice President, World Jewish Congress; Chairman, World Jewish Congress United States) and I have worked tirelessly to promote dialogue among different ethnic groups all over the world, particularly Jews and Muslims. We have witnessed the power of the fostering of this dialogue. We know that we must fight Antisemitism and Islamaphobia together and at the same time. We welcome and support this cultural center, as it will continue constructive conversations around a moderate approach to co-existence between all people, regardless of religious preference. In fact, we strongly feel that this center will bridge the divide that many of our nation's citizens have with the Islamic faith.

There are moments that define our nation. There are moments that test the strength of our character. There are moments that test the essence of our freedoms. Let this be that moment and let us pass this test with grace and dignity. As I will not stand for any sort of Islamaphobia in my backyard."(unquote)

Personally, I believe that a cultural center with a Muslim prayer room honors those (Christians, Jews and Muslims included) who died on that Terrible Day ... 9/11/2001 ... far more than a dilapidated coat factory

Who the hell cares? Let's spend that $50 million on improving the schools and assisting the students on Chicago's South Side!

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, convicted on one felony charge, leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday

Retry this case? Lord love a duck!

I will agree that Rod Blagojevich is a sleazy freak of nature. But all the Federal prosecutors will get out of a "new" trial will be the distinct honor of fattening the pockets of both the prosecuting and defense attorneys to the tune of something more than $50 million. I'd surely be able to come up with something better than another (very poor) TV reality show for that kind of dough.

There are children on Chicago's South Side (read The Bridge) who would dearly love to have their lives improved to the tune of that kind of money.

For that matter, why not set up food banks in randomly selected cities around the U.S.? How far would $50 million go ... hmm ...

Admittedly, with a 95% conviction rate, the prosecution should be embarrassed, but should we help them regain some respect at such a cost?

I say, "hang this one up and let Blago cool his heels for five years in some Federal penitentiary."

Is it just me, or is the "issue" of a Muslim Recreation Center two blocks from Ground Zero being blown out of proportion?

Ground Zero hardly looks like a target of insensitivity to this old man. Let the Muslims (or anyone else) practice their religion anywhere they please ... within local ordinances and assuming they have ownership of the property whereupon they plan to build their Church, Cathedral, Sacred Statue of the Virgin Mary, Synagogue, Temple, Kingdom Hall, Mosque, Shrine or whatever.

Having lived with my large family in range of conventional (at that time) artillery for about five years or so back in the 70's ...

Do we really need this? At this time and with North Korean nukes a reality!! Over an unnecessary Ulchi XXIX??? Over the years, I've lost count of the Roman numerals that signify each annual Ulchi! I haven't yet been able to distinguish between Ulchi Fofus Lens and Ulchi Freedom Guardian ... and what's Ulchi Flatulent Gas?
Why not just use the latest PCs we procured and play purely computer games in the Wargame Bunker at the top of Yongsan!

But whatever, it seems as though the United States and South Korea are beginning their annual joint military exercise later today, kicking off an 11-day drill designed to ensure the countries' alliance is "fully prepared to respond to any potential provocations," according to a statement from U.S. forces in South Korea.

Personally, I see this as a face-off between Lee Myung-bak and Kim Jong-Il for some kind of "bragging rights." (Bragging about exactly what eludes me.) I always wondered why, in the older black-and-white movies, the cowboy with the white hat always allowed the guy with the black hat to draw first.

Maybe, it would be better to simply tip our hat, smile gently, and turn away ... one Ulchi more or less is hardly going to save the world, but one ill-timed and unnecessary additional Ulchi certainly could make our planet unlivable for its seven billion inhabitants.

Consider the following communique dispatched by North Korea"

"The military counteraction of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] will be the severest punishment no one [sic] has ever met in the world. The Obama Administration would be well advised to cool its head heated with the moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK, and deeply ponder over what the DPRK meant when it clarified its resolute determination and solemn declaration to defend the country and the nation."

The Korean-to-English translation may be sloppy, but the intent and spirit of the message suggests to me that we might be well suited to rethinking when and where we wish to exert our military strength.

Let's continue to exert diplomacy and WORDS (not weapons!) to convince North Korea that it's in their best interest (and ours) for them to discontinue their nuclear weapons programs.

My memories of Korea and its people are both pleasant and peaceful. Allow those memories from the 70s to remain as they have been for the past thirty-five or so years.

Which one is the "anchor baby"? These new laws to fight the War on Terror and protect our security are pretty tricky, aren't they?

DNA testing shows that the baby on the right was fathered by an illegal alien and the one on the left by a genuine all-American father who even fought in Iraq and Afghanistan
The mother of these two paternal (but fathered by two different men) "twins" is distraught. Sadly, she lives in Arizona and suddenly realizes that she might soon become the mother of one American baby, the son of a serial killer (released from the military prematurely) currently serving time in the Mississippi State Prison--but a "regular" American, having been born in the San Juan Islands off of the State of Washington--and the other child being what we now call an "anchor baby."

That is, one of her children, as the daughter of an illegal alien, is clearly a security risk and potential terrorist while the other will, in a couple of decades or so, target predator drones at Northern Canadian cities--and maybe die--for his country as a United States Marine. What is she to do? Can she allow them to love each other as they live together over the next few months until the one on the right is forcibly deported to Uzbekistan? (The story behind how the mother happened to do what she did to conceive these babies on the same evening is too long a story even for one of Mediawingnuts' blog postings.)

I won't discuss the complications involved in breast feeding the two babies from the same ... well, you get the drift of where this is going.

But what's really mind-boggling is that it might not only be Arizona who is looking into overriding the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution so as to separate such unfortunate babies at some future time in their young lives. There have actually been calls for Congressional hearings to look into the issue. House Minority Leader John Boehner, shockingly even more bone-headed than usual this week, said on Meet the Press, “It’s worth considering.”

Really? It’s "worth considering"?

God bless America!

We Americans have our politicians, gangsters, movie stars, billionaires and ... oh yes, the Palins!

Sarah on the far right (of course); my favorite Palin, Trig, in Todd's arms (Todd's the multi-time dogsled champion and, for a short time, was married to the Governor of Alaska); and Bristol and her former/current/maybe future beau, Levi Johnston, second and third from the left! The white-haired guy over next to Sarah is rumored to be a cameo guest on her upcoming reality show--except that he ain't real and doesn't have Sarah's shapely legs! Also, if you click on the photo, you'll see why I decided not to identify the object in the old guy's right hand. This is, after all, a PG13-rated blog site.

Normally, vice-presidential candidates (particularly the losers) fade away like everything I print just after the time duration between when I buy a new print cartridge and then have to print a job application that is really important to me--typically three weeks.

But the Palins (in particular, Sarah the Sumptuous) are indestructible. Would you believe, we will even have the inaugural (deliberately chosen word) of Sarah's own reality show to compete with the midterm elections in November. And, of course, Bristol's and Levi's on-again-off-again relationship will keep us mentally occupied between now and 2012--the year that the Mayan calender (and the earth, presumably) go pffft.

This, friends, is the United States of America. Lord love a duck!

Except for the plane rides to and from Jackson Hole, Wyoming ... this could be Ocean Shores!

Well, there was Yellowstone Park with Old Faithful (and miles upon miles of thermal activity), the Grand Tetons, the tram rides up and down, the boat ride (Jackson Lake) and too much walking for this old man.

It was wonderful seeing the "kids" (in their 30s and 40s) and grandkids ... and the others (we're called "elders" now), etc., etc., etc.

Great 2010 family reunion!