Daily Topics - Thursday January 7th 2010
By Louise
Quote: “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” --- Ernest Hemingway
Hour One Congressman Ron Paul www.house.gov/paul How can we get Republicans to stop war and fear-mongering?
Hour Two Are Republicans going to end marriage as we know it? with Republican State Rep. Sally Kern who has introduced legislation to outlaw divorce
Also: Would there be a $1.5 trillion increase in GDP if undocumented immigrants are legalized?
Hour Three - Is the theme of Avatar really to kill all humans and especially the pro-American capitalist humans? Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission www.movieguide.org
Geeky Science Rocks - the magic power of mushrooms!
Comments
#2
In a “surprise” ruling on Tuesday, the 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state of Washington’s denial of voting rights to convicted felons amounted to a violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, citing a state judicial system “infected” with racial discrimination.
What? Isn’t Washington a “blue” state? A liberal, “progressive” state? Well, just because a state has a governor and two senators who are white females does necessarily mean it is liberal or progressive. Outside of Seattle, people can be downright bigoted; even in Seattle, many people mistake “progressive” for being a narcissistic, deluded superstar-in-their-own-mind type. This is a state that has in many ways not advanced much from the “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” days. This is a state that overwhelmingly voted for the anti-affirmative action Initiative 200. This is a state that allowed a self-promoting weasel like Tim Eyman to literally dictate to the state government its “priorities” by convincing enough lemmings to follow him off a fiscal cliff.
But in regard to the court decision (likely to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, knowing its contempt for individual rights), the state has always had a much lower percent of its population consisting of racial minorities (which is why many European immigrants come here), and now it has been found to be wanting as a social construct. Washington is a state that has difficulty in assimilating into its economic and social structure its (non-Asian) minorities; the state’s “good old boy” DOT, for example, is notorious for its discriminatory employment practices. Meanwhile, despite the fact that one local watchdog group asserts that blacks and whites in Seattle use “recreational” drugs fairly proportionately per their percentage of the population, blacks are arrested on drug charges at seven times the rate of whites, and this is a perfect example of why the activity such statistics are based upon should be a matter of public discussion—that is to say the reality of race-based policing.
There is an “alternative” weekly in town called “The Stranger,” and it has a “police beat” writer who apparently has a great deal of self-esteem and little sense of discernment. He once quoted a police report that stated that two officers sitting in an unmarked car observed a young black male carrying a backpack walking back and forth nervously in front of a club in North Seattle (the “white” section of town). Presently two young white males in a gold Cadillac arrived, driving slowly; the black male motioned to them into the parking lot, and then walked up to the driver and conversed with him. At that point the officers drove up behind the Cadillac, and while one officer kept the black male occupied, the other "interrogated" the white males, and then let them go. Marijuana was found inside the 17-year-old black male's backpack, and he was arrested. The writer for “The Stranger” praised the actions of the officers, observing that "What we want out of a (cop’s) day's work is this kind of purity."
If you ask me, this is about as far from "pure" as police work gets, short of killing unarmed “suspects.” This is race-based policing at its very core. Obviously the "buy" was set-up by the two white males in the gold Cadillac, doubtless from a wealthy household. Yet the police did not wait for the transaction to be completed—they intervened in time to prevent it, and allowed the white males (who doubtless made such purchases before) to get away scot-free. Their “upstanding” parents ought not be troubled by such embarrassing events. Doubtless the two white males--their hearts’ racing--thanked their God for their "good fortune" that the cops, at least in regard to drug crimes, are only interested in minorities.
#3
Regarding outlawing divorce, I believe criminalizing divorce is the wrong way to go. There are valid reasons for divorce, primarily abusive spouses. I think a better way to resolve this issue would be to eliminate the tax code benefits for divorced couples. Unless you are the victim of abuse, and are granted a divorce due to the abuse, you get to claim the tax benefits for your first marriage only.
#4
Thank you Thom for continuing to build bridges on principals that span the political spectrum. Congressman Ron Paul seems like a kindred spirit in this regard. I appreciate his frank observation that Republican ties to big business are driving his party's obsession with war.
Here's a link to a ditty I posted last night that attempts to support the bridge-building effort.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/w/a/watt_childress/2010/...
#5
Per Congressman Paul's comments on CIA drug connections, please review:
Obama and Afghanistan: America’s Drug-Corrupted War
by Prof Peter Dale Scott
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16713
#6
IRV, IRV, IRV
#7
Instant Runoff Voting - but only so instant as afforded by hand counting paper ballots. Physically stuffing ballot boxes is possible but it is harder than doing it digitally...
#8
argh- to be honest, the turn in was a draft and I just thought I should back up my claim of our human systems not doing such a good job- so I think I will add this at the risk of now needing to strike other words to keep to the 1000 word limit:
Any feedback welcome!
Consider for example, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Hunger Facts (2008) as re published at Bread.org international hunger facts: 16000 children die a day due to hunger, which is 5 children per second. Over one billion people in the world lack access to potable water and “over 2.6 billion people lack proper sanitation” (Snyder, 2009).
#9
Somehow, I am amusingly reminded of Anthony Burgess'
"The Wanting Seed"
#10
Your guest who argues that every empire that accepted homosexuality fell within a few generations had to argue that "generation" meant "centuries".
It was nice for you to have her on and treat her gently, but it's clear she has her feelings and can't back them up with facts. So when you present her with a fact (Greek empire from 700 BC to 31 BC) she just re-writes her own facts to fit.
You'll never persuade her but you can show others her absurdity
#11
THERMOPYLAE disproves the idea that gays destroy nations.
If it weren't for the 300 brave bisexual Spartans (and their 900 also-bi helpers) our entire Judeo-Christian civilization would not exist (...if you believe the Greek side of the story, which may be questionable.)
#12
But then, is it a good thing for Empires to exist indefinately...or at all.
#13
I think we as a country need to decide if we are a 'Christian' country, a judeo-christian country (which would then include Islam as muslims too consider themselves among the Judeo-Christian faith and belive Jesus as a messenger of God) OR are we a nation of laws guide by the principles and rules laid down in our Constitution.
#14
May this be the year that ALL Americans have the same civil rights. We are also into another blizzard in central Nebraska after our Christmas blizzard. It is -4 with wind chill at -23. Not a lot of snow but high winds. And they say there is nothing to global climate change?
#15
I think I will add this too,
Might as Leonardo Di Caprio conveys in his Eleventh Hour, we learn from nature’s superior models. For example, trees transport water with no electricity or even gravity feed. Could not our engineers learn to build our skyscrapers mimicking the efficiency of the xylem tissues of say a giant Redwood? Thom Hartmann (2007), in that same documentary, posits that in order to awaken people to these possibilities we would need to integrate such values and possibilities into our cultural awareness.
#16
Oh, one more thing about that poor anti-gay Representative: she cites Will and Aerial Durant as her authorities.
They wrote a nice, popular multivolume history of the world back in the 1960s. He was a nice popularizer and got the Pultizer Prize, but he shows the prejudices and ignorance of his age in matters relating to sex. I recall that early in his discussion of ancient Ireland that the kings practiced a form of lex prima noctis which had (Durant asserted) valuable eugenic results (he didn't use that word but it's what he meant) and in the next paragraph mentioned a custom of killing the 1st born, which with a moment's thought would have vitiated the prior point. Perhaps that was a singular aberration in his thought processes but at any rate it's safe to say that our knowledge of history, biology and sex has advanced considerably in the last half-century ... so I would suggest that the Representative needs to bring her knowledge up to date.
Her citation reminds me, however, of an explanation advanced on the Jon Stewart show earlier this week as to why conservatives claim that our past eras were simpler, happier times. Those times were simpler and happier because we were CHILDREN then! I can imagine the Representative reading Durant as a teen and being awed by the wonders of history, not having the self-knowledge today to realize that that author seemed great because she had nothing to compare him to.
#17
rewinn,
I'd have to posit that pre-computer times were simpler. My father grew up with radio, not tv, I remember my great-grandmother never had an electric toaster, (even when the banks were giving them away for new deposits.)
The graph of the totality of human knowledge is rising asyptotically to the y axis.
#18
asymptotically
#19
Thom, I just posted this over at the Daily Kos, but I know you like the orignal,so here's the next episode.
A day in the life of Joe Republican. 2030
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The coffee perks him up and gets him ready for his morning. He then gets into his car and drives to work. The traffic on the highway is backed up but it's ok. Homeland Security is searching all vehicles before they cross over the river for bombs. Its a small price to pay after the great Golden Gate Bridge bombing of 2015.
When he gets to work he parks his car in lot far away from any of the office buildings and begins to walk. Its a small price to pay after the car bombing spree that Al Qaeda went on in 2022. At least the streets are clear of cars and he can walk down the boulevards.
Before he makes it to his building he is stopped by a Homeland Security agent for a random strip search. Its a small price to pay after the suicide bombers who walked the streets in Manhattan with underwear bombs back in 2012.
While at work he is interrupted by his companies security guard to check and see if he has any weapons hidden on him or in his desk. Its a small price to pay after the over-worked under-paid accountants at Big National Bank went on a shooting spree in 2020.
When he is done he goes to the mall. There he is put through another strip search before entering. Its a small price to pay after the North Korean terrorists set off a bomb in the Mall of America just last year.
While at the mall he sees that night's football game on TV. There are no fans in the stands as that was banned. Its a small price to pay after the bomb that an Iranian terrorist set off during a game back in 2018.
After receiving another random strip search he purchases the new movie that just came out. He can no longer see it in a theater as they have all been shut down. Its a small price to pay after Hezbollah set a bomb off in a theater back in 2027.
When he gets home he sits down in front of the TV and sees that there has been another terrorist attack. A North African terrorist angry about America's invasion into his country drove a tanker truck full of gasoline into a church. Joe screams at the TV, "What is this countries problem? We need to send in more troops, build thick cement walls around all churches, and ban gasoline tanker trucks. What a stupid idea...trucks loaded with gasoline." He shakes in head and gets angry at those sissy liberals who allowed this to happen.
#20
How can we outlaw divorce? My Ketubah, complete with its Lieberman Clause, defines my rights and obligations for a divorce under the laws of Moses . . . I have a RELIGIOUS RIGHT to a farging divorce.
My will kill me for exercising it but I have a farging right.
#21
Is there a movement out there of people trying to marry their dogs?
#22
SB - My wife will kill me for exercising it but I have a farging right.
#23
Dang, I used to have a cited paragraph on studies about gay being natural- and , as callers have said, gay people are offended by such studies as the real issue is whose business is it of the republican party as to who each of us has sex with and how- what next, the gender inquisition?
#24
Dogs are more than happy to "live in sin" w/humans.
#25
@Zero G - it's true that in the past our selection of facts and technology was simpler, cuz we had less of both. But our life struggles could be very hard.Think about Vietnam, Civil Rights, Russian nukes pointed at our heads.
---
About the young man who just called and said Thom was not being scientific in re gays was amusing, since Thom had just cited several scientific study. The caller seemed quite certain of his position, and since he was right, he seemed to have to state that science supported him, even though he couldn't think of any.
#26
Good Lord...do people really go to bed at night with their covers up to their necks in fear and sweat worrying about people marrying their dogs?
#27
In response to that last caller on gay marriage: There is an excellent book I'd like to recommend he read, and to anyone else who may be misinformed, and/or struggling with his/her sexual orientation, as well as to those who have relatives or friends struggling with it. It's entitled: "Living With our Genes: Why they matter more than you think," by Dr.'s Dean H. Hammer and Peter Copeland. It's basically the published results of a comprehensive, scientific study on orientation and the genetics involved. Good read.
#28
@MVH for Is there a movement out there of people trying to marry their dogs?
Apparently amongst the Rapturian Fascists . . . Yes. Along with their movement to create amnimal-human hybrids, these are the most heinous plans they, themselves, wreak upon us . . .
#29
rewinn,
The ethical/philosophic debates endure. During the '60s it was more complex than what came before that. It is always the most complex moment, the arrow of time moves in one direction. (At least as far as conciousness can discern.)
#30
While I agree with Randi Rhodes, and we should do away with all laws regarding marriage, if you wish to share ownership with someone, get a Civil Union, and start a business partnership. Marriage is a religious issue. Any law should only state that this can only be between two consenting ADULTS. It has nothing to do with gender. Some Mormon sects allow for grown men to marry young girls, they are actually arranged, as social commerce. and most of the Religious right, only gets upset when some 50 year old man has more than one wife, never mind that several are under 18 years old.
They don't care about Morality, the just need someone to hate. They defile their own doctrines, so that they may feel righteous, they disgust me.
#31
Marry animals? Is it even legal to date them?
#32
I’ve written a blog entry about AVATAR from the perspective of a person with a disability, thought you might be interested:
#33
Oh and to the reference that Empires that accepted gays led to their destruction, couldn't it also be said that any Empire that allowed it people to practice a religion led to their destruction too?
I mean really, isn't sort of a stretch to look at one narrow aspect of a society and claim that it was that aspect that led to its downfall.
#34
The Message is that our culture has to stop listening the cancerous stories told to our children that empire/domination is the only to live and survive. We need to remember what the Older Cultures have said and done for us. We need to see the commonalities in their societies that help them to live peacefully.
Tribes are the key!
#35
@Nels- PETA's next mission :) was it Thom that has the recording of the right winger arguing with Alan Colmes? about admitting that everyone has sex with animals? Guess maybe that's why they are so worried?
#36
Plenty of kids go missing in America w/out the media spectacle. It is mostly pretty white kids that get the balloon boy treatment.
#37
@River-
Most excellent article. I was wondering if anyone would write about this angle: the Wounded Warrier and "Sully ultimately decides that life on Pandora can not only offer him a cure but a better world in which to live."
Thank you for sharing this.
#38
So Herod 'chased' Jesus and executed the 'innocent'. We 'chase' Osama and do the exact same thing and We are a Christian Nation?
When you have to keep telling me how Christian, my mistrust of you goes UP!
#39
Daniel Quinn ROCKS!!!!!!!!!
#40
Key to peace - learn to live as a society within our means!
Once a society depends on deb to 'develop' and 'progress' which leaves a un-satiable thrist for new resources and wealth, we are already well on our way to wars and strives.
#41
@KMH, Heck I'm all for dogs and people dating and marrying.... so long as the people in question can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the dog consents, and is mentally competent to make that consent.
#42
BTW- when I say I am 'publishing' .... what I mean is that. I had learned about something called Suite 101 from a job search engine that popped up on my screen just before Christmas. It seems to be an international aggregator of writing for which pay is based upon Google's AdSense. If anyone here wishes to be invited, I would need your email to send you an invite, or else you could find the site yourself and submit some of your writing. I am not sure how it works. I can only tell you I am learning a lot from them and this is an education I am not having to pay for. At any rate, the Thom Hartmann Tribe needs to be out there and having their voices heard and understood.
#43
@Nels- lol , yeah- that sounds fair- have you ever heard that posting about the dog who discloses his real thoughts about this master? oh...it is hilarious :)
#44
thanks KMH ! I searched high and low for opinions from others with a disability, found nothing but criticism. While I do think a critical eye is necessary, I'd rather give some credit for the use of disability as way to drive the plot. It's too easy to criticize Cameron for using an able-bodied actor, for using abelist slurs (meals on wheels...), and believe it or not, for promoting the need for a cure, rather than seeing the unconventional use of disability as a plot device.
#45
@KMH No haven't seen that posting. I sure hope the dog doesn't get to explicit with intimate details though.
#46
A short poem:
-I was just born that way
It's nature not nurture
you moronic birther
ask Adam and Steve
they'll make you believe.
-Jack
#47
TEXAS has institutionalized the stripping of facts from education.
#48
the quote from Avatar is "they've already killed their Mother"
and we are.
#49
Someone needs to write a comic book about the history of labor -
#50
@Dave- yes............ or as Neyteri says to Jake - how can you fill a cup that is full
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6 Republicans and 2 Democrats leaving the senate.
Statistically that's 15% of the Republicans and 3% of the Democrats leaving the senate.