Religious Zealotry Is Fun For Everybody, Part I

Earlier this week, State Del. Robert Marshall (R-VA) responded to comments he uttered last Thursday at a press conference organized to promote the elimination of funding for the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood. Delivered in front of an audience comprised of political leaders, religious clergy and other anti-abortion advocates, Marshall has defended his remarks with less than heartfelt apologies, declaring at one point, "I regret that I was the occasion for this because this is now a huge controversy".

So what exactly did Marshall say? "The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion who have handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the firstborn of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the firstborn of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest." Well, that's not offensive at all. Yikes. When various disability groups objected to his statements, Marshall replied by stating that he understood how those groups could react "but they are reacting in part to words I never said, never meant and don’t believe". Really? This idiot apparently wants to be taken seriously as a politician but then uses phrases like "nature takes its vengeance?

Now we certainly shouldn't be shocked by Marshall's comments. Let's take a look at just some of the nonsense that has come out of his mouth:

• When discussing rape and abortion, Marshall stated that "the woman becomes a sin bearer of the crime because the right of a child predominates over the embarrassment of the woman".
• On contraception: "We have no business passing this garbage out and making these co-eds chemical Love Canals for these frat house playboys in Virginia."
• While Marshall was the Research Director at the American Life League, he declared that the Norplant contraceptive (implanted under the skin) is "a real tribute to women's intelligence. They feel so irresponsible they can't do something once a day?"
• Marshall takes pride in describing himself as a "right wing extremist" and Virginia’s "chief homophobe".

What I find odd about this whole situation is the glaring absence of Sarah Palin. When Rahm Emanuel, the Chief of Staff for President Obama, used the word "retarded" during a closed door meeting, Palin labeled the "slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities" as "unacceptable" and "heartbreaking". At the same time, Marshall uses insulting words such as "vengeance" and "punishment" in reference to disabled children and Palin is deathly silent. It's funny how that works sometimes.

Northern Exposure of the Day

Gaylord Parkinson, the former Chairman of the California Republican Party, once remarked that "Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican". In this day and age of a highly partisan political climate, it is apparent that not everyone received Parkinson's memo. During a recent interview with "Newsmax" magazine, Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, discussed a variety of topics, including Sarah Palin and her viability as a presidential candidate. And while Bush attributed Palin's appeal to the conservative base to the fact that she is "a natural" and "charismatic", the praise for the former Governor of Alaska stopped there:

• "For Governor Palin to be a successful candidate for higher office", she needs to add "some depth of understanding of the complexity of life that we're living in today".
• "I don't know what her deal is. My belief is, in 2010 and 2012, public leaders need to have intellectual curiosity."
• "The world is really an amazing place but it is very complex and it's very fast moving. And to think you've got it all figured out, the minute you start thinking that is the first day of your demise. And so if she has those skills and she wants to run, she'll be a great candidate."

Ouch. To paraphrase Bush, Palin would serve as a strong candidate for higher office if she possessed any amount of "intellectual curiosity". In other words, she's not smart enough for the White House. (Finally a member of the Bush family that I can support, at least on this topic.) What is ironic about Bush's assault on Palin's intelligence is that, in an interview with the magazine last year, Palin uttered the following comments: "Let me start off by thanking you so much for your daily updates. If it weren't for Newsmax, there'd be a lot of us wondering what the heck was going on that day. It is very valuable, very helpful and I appreciate all that you guys are doing to get a good message out there." So why couldn't she at least list Newsmax as a news source she read when she was interviewed by Couric in 2008?

Northern Exposure of the Day

• "As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping."
• "The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care but, as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost."
• "Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens."

You can easily gather from the quotes above that Sarah Palin does not support President Obama's plan for health care reform. Those same quotes would probably lead you to believe that neither she nor any member of her immediate family would receive socialized health care, correct? Think again. Recently released court documents from the custody battle between Palin's daughter, Bristol, and her ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston clearly reflect that Palin's grandson, Tripp Palin Johnston, does just that. In fact, those documents state that Levi Johnston is not required to purchase health insurance for his son because "the majority of Tripps's health care costs are already covered by [the Indian Health Service] and the Alaska Native Medical Center". Levi was not mandated to do so because Tripp is "an enrolled tribal member of Curyung Tribal Council within the Bristol Bay Native Association Consortium".

The Evil Known As Buddhism

Brit Hume of FOX News has taken it upon himself to criticize Tiger Woods once again for the professional golfer's religion and, in turn, his extramarital affairs. Following Woods's televised apology, Hume uttered the following comments on Monday's "The O'Reilly Factor": "I think, because I'm a Christian and I believe that Christianity is true, that Tiger Woods and his wife Elin would be a lot farther down the road toward forgiveness and redemption if they were both Christians. But they're not. And they're going to do the best they can with what they have."

"With what they have"? Is he referring to a religion practiced by approximately 350 million individuals worldwide? A religion which assists its followers in achieving nirvana and escaping a cycle of suffering and rebirth. But maybe Hume has a point. Let's take a quick look at this list of Christian "leaders": Tony Alamo, James Bakker, Ted Haggard and Jimmy Swaggart. With moral and honest individuals like that to emulate, why isn't everyone a Christian?

This is not the first occasion that Hume has criticized Woods and his religion. On an episode of "FOX News Sunday" from last month, Hume had the audacity to deliver these remarks regarding Woods: "The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world'."

Game, Set, Match

On last Sunday's airing of "Geraldo at Large" on FOX News, the ultimate blowhard Ann Coulter provided her ludicrous commentary on the recent verbal sparring between Vice President Biden and Mr. Cheney over terrorism and both the current and former national security policy. Aside from declaring that she "would have been with Dick Cheney" on every issue concerning national security, Coulter insulted Vice President Biden by calling him a "drunken Irishman". She also remarked that having Vice President Biden respond to Mr. Cheney's statements is akin to "sending out the White House dog, saying 'We so don't respect you, we're sending in Joe Biden'".

First of all, Vice President Biden has never taken even one drink of alcohol, admitting frankly that there are "too many alcoholics in my family". Therefore, Coulter has managed in all of her infinite wisdom to label an individual who does not partake in alcohol as "drunken". But just when you think that Coulter is finished, her shrill voice unfortunately utters this gem: "How about comparing Joe Biden with Sarah Palin? She's twenty million times more qualified than he is." You can tell by the tone in her voice that she really doesn't believe what she just said. However, if, for some reason, she actually does, let's examine her comments by comparing Vice President Biden and Palin:

Current Position
Biden: Vice President of the United States
Palin: Political commentator for FOX News Channel
Score: Biden 1, Palin 0

Previous Position
Biden: United States Senator for thirty-six years (the fourteenth longest serving Senator in history)
Palin: Governor of Alaska (the least densely populated state in the country) for less than three years, resigning eighteen months before the completion of her term
Score: Biden 2, Palin 0

Education
Biden: Bachelor's in History and Political Science from the wonderful University of Delaware and Juris Doctor from Syracuse University, College of Law
Palin: Attended Hawai'i Pacific University, North Idaho College, the University of Idaho and Matanuska-Susitna College before returning to the University of Idaho and obtaining a Bachelor's in Communications
Score: Biden 3, Palin 0

Other Previous Positions/Roles
Biden: Former Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former Chairperson of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, former Chairperson of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, former Co-Chairperson of the Senate NATO Observer Group, former member of the New Castle County Council, former adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, former attorney and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Close Up Foundation
Palin: Former Chairperson of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission; former mayor of Wasilla, AK; former President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors and a former member of the Wasilla City Council

Is there a need to continue counting at this point?

This Unfortunate Day in History

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X began a speech at a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan when a disturbance broke out in the audience. A man stood up and yelled, "Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!" As the bodyguards of Malcolm X moved towards the man in order to quiet the commotion, another man from the audience rushed forward and shot Malcolm X in the chest with a sawed off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns, hitting Malcolm X an additional 16 times. Malcolm X was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived at Columbia University Medical Center. He was survived by his wife and six daughters, including twins born after his assassination.

Because of the fact that Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were very public figures in the same time period, Malcolm X's legacy has been tarnished in the eyes of some individuals. Since Dr. King preached the notion of non-violence on a daily basis, Malcolm X is extremely misunderstood and often viewed as a very militant individual, especially with his use of the phrase "by any means necessary". This view was intensified after that particular phrase was combined with a photograph of Malcolm X standing by a window holding a machine gun. However, the photograph was originally taken as a warning against Nation of Islam members who had already threatened Malcolm X's life. (In fact, the reason that Malcolm X was murdered is because he publicly spoke out against the Nation of Islam after leaving the organization due to his fundamental issues with the Nation of Islam and its leader, Elijah Muhammad. And one of the individuals behind the assassination plot, regardless of his denials, was Louis Farrakhan, who is now the Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam.) But by merging the photograph with the "by any means necessary" phrase, the image appears to be a call to arms for the black population. And if you look at the phrase in its full context ("We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence via any means necessary."), you can see that Malcolm X is calling for his African-American brothers and sisters to stand up and take their rightful place in society. The full impact of the legacy of Malcolm X can be viewed in the eulogy that actor and activist Ossie Davis delivered in remembrance of the slain leader: "There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain - and we will smile. Many will say 'Turn away - away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man' - and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate - a fanatic, a racist - who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them, 'Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did, you would know him. And if you knew him, you would know why we must honor him."

Swing and a Miss

At the beginning of his remarks earlier this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Mitt Romney delivered a futile stab at humor: "I spent the weekend in Vancouver. As always, the Olympic Games were inspiring. But in case you didn’t hear the late breaking news, the gold medal in the downhill was taken away from American Lindsey Vonn. It was determined that President Obama is going downhill faster than she is." Romney's attempt at a joke may have actually even been slightly amusing to supporters of President Obama if the rest of his speech didn't contain numerous inaccuracies and a baseless defense of the Bush "legacy". The following is a list of other ridiculous excerpts from Romney's speech:

• "[President Obama] himself promised change of biblical proportion. And given his filibuster proof Senate and lopsided House, he had everything he needed to deliver it." -- Even before Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) won the special election in January, the Democrats only held fifty-eight seats in the Senate. Yes, two other seats were held by Independents, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), but we all know which side of the aisle Lieberman truly supports.
• "Remember the B+ grade [President Obama] gave himself for his first year? Tell that to the four million Americans who lost their jobs last year and to the millions more who stopped looking." -- Let's not forget that President Obama inherited an economy in the midst of a recession, an economy which suffered 2.6 million job losses in 2008.
• Romney complained about "the absence of any meaningful sanctions against Iran even as it funds terror and races to become a nuclear nation". -- Last year President Obama extended the sanctions against Iran which had been established in 1995. And then just a few days before Romney's speech, Obama announced that his administration, in conjunction with international officials, will be "developing a significant regime of sanctions".
• "President Obama’s self-proclaimed B+ will go down in history as the biggest exaggeration since Al Gore’s invention of the Internet!" -- It is utterly amazing to me that Republicans still resort to the Al Gore/Internet reference after all this time. However, as many people (including yours truly) have reported, much more knowledgeable individuals disagree with Romney's stance on Gore's role in this area. This is clearly evident by the following quotes from Internet pioneers Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn: "Al Gore was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development...The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening...As far back as the 1970s, Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system...As a Senator in the 1980s, Gore urged government agencies to consolidate what at the time were several dozen different and unconnected networks into an 'Interagency Network'...The Gore sponsored High Performance Computing and Communications Act in 1991 supported the National Research and Education Network (NREN) initiative, which became one of the major vehicles for the spread of the Internet beyond the field of computer science...Gore provided much needed political support for the speedy privatization of the Internet when the time arrived for it to become a commercially driven operation...No one in public life has been more intellectually engaged in helping to create the climate for a thriving Internet than the [former] Vice President...The [former] Vice President deserves credit for his early recognition of the value of high speed computing and communication and for his long term and consistent articulation of the potential value of the Internet to American citizens and industry and, indeed, to the rest of the world."
• "As Everett Dirksen used to say, 'When they felt the heat, they saw the light'." -- Nice try, Mitt. Actually former Sen. Dirksen (R-IL) was frequently quoted as saying "When I feel the heat, I see the light".
• "My party should never be a rubber stamp for rubber check spending." -- Figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show that Bush was actually the largest spender since President Lyndon Johnson and that his spending increases were far larger than the three previous Presidents.
• "We conservatives don’t have a corner on saying no; we’re just the ones who say it when that’s the right thing to do!" -- Earlier this month, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) placed a blanket hold on at least seventy nominations President Obama sent to the Senate until two lucrative programs were approved, sending more than $40 billion in taxpayer dollars to his home state.
• "I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly. He pulled us from a deepening recession following the attack of 9/11, he overcame teachers unions to test school children and evaluate schools, he took down the Taliban, waged a war against the jihadists and was not afraid to call it what it is - a war - and he kept us safe." -- Yes, the recession following 9/11 (which Mr. Bush did nothing to stop despite the intelligence he received) did end during his administration. However, the most recent recession started while he was in the White House due to his lack of action. His No Child Left Behind Act has been widely criticized for multiple reasons, including a system of incentives and penalties which motivates schools, districts and states to manipulate test results. As far as the Taliban is concerned, the Islamist movement continued its resurgence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009. In fact, the Taliban was blamed for the violence prior to August's presidential election in Afghanistan. And although Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a top commander in the Taliban, was arrested this week, terrorism and insurgency experts believe that Baradar's capture will only have a short term effect because the Taliban has proven itself to be "a resilient organization". And "he kept us safe"? See my comment above regarding 9/11.
• "I also respect the loyalty and indefatigable defense of truth that comes from our 'I don’t give a damn' Vice President Dick Cheney!" -- Does this truth include Mr. Cheney's cowardly and irresponsible claims that Richard Clarke, the chief counterterrorism advisor for Mr. Bush, was responsible for 9/11?
• "Ronald Reagan used to say this about liberals: 'It’s not that they’re ignorant, it’s that what they know is wrong'." -- Wrong again, Mitt. What President Reagan said was this: "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
• "Conservatism has had, from its inception, a vigorously positive, intellectually rigorous agenda. That agenda should have three pillars: strengthen the economy, strengthen our security and strengthen our families." -- Unless your family contains a homosexual couple.

Let the Games Begin!

As fans of my blog have noticed, I had put my blog on hold for the last few months because I have been so busy with work, family, etc. However, due to the current political climate (and my love of voicing my opinion), I have decided to restart the blog in full force. Therefore, you will start to see new postings as early as this weekend. By the way, due to my utter disdain for her and her actions, I will be adding a regular "Sarah Palin Watch" segment to my blog. Enjoy!