Dé Máirt, Márta 30, 2010
God Is Great: Or, Hail the Radok!!
http://www.hutaree.com/
About Us
HUTAREE; Christian Warrior
"As christians we all are a part of the Souls of the Body of Christ, the one true church of Christ. Not any specific man made building or any man controlled organization. This is the belief of the Hutaree soldier, as should the belief of all followers in Christ be.
We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. All christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. Luke 22:35-37, And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” 36, Then he said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37, “For I say to you that this which is written must be accomplished in me: ‘And He was numbered with transgressors,’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” This clearly states the reason for the training and preparation of the Hutaree.
Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment. The only thing on earth to save the testimony and those who follow it, are the members of the testimony, til the return of Christ in the clouds. We, the Hutaree, are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren’t. We will still spread the word, and fight to keep it, up to the time of the great coming.
Being Hutaree is to stay the Testimony of Christ alive, and follow a motto, John15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are hoping that through this website we can reach out to those who have not the word of God and those who are lost in there ideas of Christ. Many of the things Christ said would happen have happened and some things are still in the works of happening.
We all must know that we all carry a cross and a soldiers cross is just as heavy as any other. Just as Jesus did we must also carry our cross to our destination our life abounds us to. All people are givin a destination by God’s will and have to continue there walk to there own golgotha. But many people, even christians don’t agree with the things we do but all we have to say is, we will not argue over the Bible, read it for what it is. We believe only what the Bible says and not on only philosophy, as many christians of this day do. Christ is our king of kings and top general of all things, for we are not of this world but we live in it.
The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it. We will reach out to those who are yet blind in the last days of the kingdoms of men and bring them to life in Christ. Daniel 11:32-35, “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33, “And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34, “Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join them by intrigue. 35 “And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.”
You can find the news we find in some of the places we have in the information sources section. Also you can get gear from some of the choice places we have on gear links. Thanks for coming to Hutaree.com and please come again. Oh and don’t forget that you can write us through the contact us link on the Hutaree homepage. Once again thanks for visiting Hutaree.com and may Christ bless you widely."
And finally, it must be pointed out that these schmucks are in some way associated with a band called "Poker Face."
Dé Sathairn, Márta 27, 2010
NCAA Notes: Week 2
With the exception of Geno Auriemma, everyone associated with woman's basketball, of every sex and ethnicity, speaks with the accent of a Southern White woman. Just listen to the halftime chatter on ESPN 2 if you doubt me on this.
Dé Máirt, Márta 23, 2010
Health Care and It's Discontents
Democracy, reason, and decency won, sort of. Negotiations widdled away the public option and other points that I would have preferred stay extant. All the same the health care bill will create a country that is safer and healthier than it was before. Common citizens are now more likely to survive calamitous illness and live to maybe contribute something important to their intimates, society, or humanity as a whole. The USA is a better place than it was forty eight hours ago. Hail hail.
And as for the tight wing opponents. Well, combined with the election of Obama, this is the second time in two years that every conceit they have about themselves has been blown up in their faces. Twice in two years has their belief that they cannot possibly lose, so long as they are violently passionate enough, certain enough of their own righteousness, devoid enough from any doubt that they are the eternal standard of Americanism, and contemptuous enough of their opposition, has been proven wrong.
Health care reform passed not because they lacked the will to fight it to their last breath, but because their will to fight was irrelevant. While they were heroically engaged in an apocalyptic fight against socialism that exists only in their childishly dramatic minds, the health care bill was being cobbled together, piece by agonizing piece, by the civilized methods of process, procedure, and negotiation. Make all the vague allusions to guns and revolution you want to you sons of bitches, it doesn't change the fact that the egghead elitists are in charge of things now, and that they are, however fittingly, having their way with (cough)your(cough, giggle)country.
The party controlling the White House nearly always loses seats in midterm elections, and this year will be no different. Whether or not the Democrats lose their majority in one or both houses, conservatives will doubtlessly consider their gains to be proof that the moment of their eternal triumph, which is always just around the corner, is once again just around the corner. But if they continue to insist upon viewing the world as a hyper masculine struggle of the chosen few against the parasitic many, than the GOP as we know it ultimately remains as doomed as the White majority. So long as the modern right refuses to accept that democracy is essentially anti-glorious, that American institutions are intrinsically designed to deny illusions of cosmic triumph, so long as the right wing is more willing to cling to absurd theories of media bias and secret Muslims than to accept the banality of freedom, it is condemned to boil down to a handful of true believing cranks, the tiny handful that is immune to apocalypse fatigue.
And as for the tight wing opponents. Well, combined with the election of Obama, this is the second time in two years that every conceit they have about themselves has been blown up in their faces. Twice in two years has their belief that they cannot possibly lose, so long as they are violently passionate enough, certain enough of their own righteousness, devoid enough from any doubt that they are the eternal standard of Americanism, and contemptuous enough of their opposition, has been proven wrong.
Health care reform passed not because they lacked the will to fight it to their last breath, but because their will to fight was irrelevant. While they were heroically engaged in an apocalyptic fight against socialism that exists only in their childishly dramatic minds, the health care bill was being cobbled together, piece by agonizing piece, by the civilized methods of process, procedure, and negotiation. Make all the vague allusions to guns and revolution you want to you sons of bitches, it doesn't change the fact that the egghead elitists are in charge of things now, and that they are, however fittingly, having their way with (cough)your(cough, giggle)country.
The party controlling the White House nearly always loses seats in midterm elections, and this year will be no different. Whether or not the Democrats lose their majority in one or both houses, conservatives will doubtlessly consider their gains to be proof that the moment of their eternal triumph, which is always just around the corner, is once again just around the corner. But if they continue to insist upon viewing the world as a hyper masculine struggle of the chosen few against the parasitic many, than the GOP as we know it ultimately remains as doomed as the White majority. So long as the modern right refuses to accept that democracy is essentially anti-glorious, that American institutions are intrinsically designed to deny illusions of cosmic triumph, so long as the right wing is more willing to cling to absurd theories of media bias and secret Muslims than to accept the banality of freedom, it is condemned to boil down to a handful of true believing cranks, the tiny handful that is immune to apocalypse fatigue.
FC top Ten
With Soccer Season reaching a climax, here's how I think they stand.
1. Barcelona
2. Manchester United
3. Inter Milan
4. Bordeaux
5. Chelsea
6. Real Madrid
7. Arsenal
8. Bayern Munich
9 AC Milan
10. Independiente
1. Barcelona
2. Manchester United
3. Inter Milan
4. Bordeaux
5. Chelsea
6. Real Madrid
7. Arsenal
8. Bayern Munich
9 AC Milan
10. Independiente
Dé Sathairn, Márta 20, 2010
NCAA Notes: Dear Miller Brewing Company
I'm afraid that a mutual hatred of women will not inspire me to buy your product. Because I myself do not hate women, indeed I think I prefer them to men in many ways. Even without the sex factor they're still fine company, up to a point of course. While I agree, Miller, that women do speak far too much and expect intense emotional attachment far too soon, it is also true that if I am ever at the point of drinking Miller Christfucking Light, this means that I am already drunk and so much more likely to enjoy what some random girl has to say; and I also just may be madly in love with whoever she is for the next hour or so.
I realize that your customer base is made up largely of men who deeply resent the women in their own lives and remain in their relationships chiefly to adhere to social norms. But aren't you just wasting your money appealing to regular guys; giving them little chuckles to hold back their tears of rage when you already know that they're going to buy Miller Light? Isn't the point of advertising to gain new customers? I ask this only out of concern. I am a loyal citizen who wants nothing more than the continued success of our corporate institutions, and I am at your service.
Sincerely,
Joshua D. Beran
I realize that your customer base is made up largely of men who deeply resent the women in their own lives and remain in their relationships chiefly to adhere to social norms. But aren't you just wasting your money appealing to regular guys; giving them little chuckles to hold back their tears of rage when you already know that they're going to buy Miller Light? Isn't the point of advertising to gain new customers? I ask this only out of concern. I am a loyal citizen who wants nothing more than the continued success of our corporate institutions, and I am at your service.
Sincerely,
Joshua D. Beran
Dé hAoine, Márta 19, 2010
If God Offered Me A Choice
Between a hundred years of happiness and one second of pain, or never feeling anything, my choice would be to never feel anything.
I'm kiddding? Strum and Drang.
Happy face.
I'm kiddding? Strum and Drang.
Happy face.
What The Fuck You Think You Know About The Velvet Revolution Cujo?
"I look back 20 years ago in the square in Prague... when tens of thousands showed up there and they shook their keys peacefully and they took over their country and they achieved their freedom back again," he said. "If you can keep coming to this city, fill up the congressional offices across the country but jam this city. If you can get on your cell phones, and get on your Blackberries and your email, and ask people to keep coming to this town. Storm this city, fill up Washington D.C., jam this capital so they can't move. And if tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of you show up, we will win. We will defeat this bill and you will have your liberty back." -Steve King, Congressman for Western Iowa. The population centers for this region are Sioux City and Council Bluffs so, there you go.
Let's be clear. You know nothing of freedom you self-absorbed puritan asshole. You, the Tea Baggers, and "movement conservatism" as a whole, with its all-consuming ideology, claimed monopoly on morality and truth, and triumphal sense of entitlement to the levers of power, has far more in common with Soviet thugs than any meek Democratic proposal to expand the social safety net. The people of the Czech Republic, who I am proud to call my ninth or tenth cousins, did not take to the streets because they hated taxes, poor people or health care. (Which has, by the way, always been an entitlement for post-communist Czechs.) The Velvet Revolution was a movement led by those faggy artist types. It was a revolution for self-determination, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression. You and your ilk have no clue of what these things are, and it is clear that you have no desire to know. Freedom to you is nothing but perfect self-assurance of your own righteousness, while oppression is the thought of you and your constituency not getting your mean and miserly way for the first time in decades.
I had thought that the "Reagan won the Cold War" myth was insult enough to the Eastern Bloc patriots who did the real work of staring down Soviet tanks. But no, you had to go and compare those damn Tea Party knuckleheads to my brave revolutionary twelfth cousins. May you forever be defenestrated in effigy for your insult to all true lovers of freedom and the Czech people
Let's be clear. You know nothing of freedom you self-absorbed puritan asshole. You, the Tea Baggers, and "movement conservatism" as a whole, with its all-consuming ideology, claimed monopoly on morality and truth, and triumphal sense of entitlement to the levers of power, has far more in common with Soviet thugs than any meek Democratic proposal to expand the social safety net. The people of the Czech Republic, who I am proud to call my ninth or tenth cousins, did not take to the streets because they hated taxes, poor people or health care. (Which has, by the way, always been an entitlement for post-communist Czechs.) The Velvet Revolution was a movement led by those faggy artist types. It was a revolution for self-determination, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression. You and your ilk have no clue of what these things are, and it is clear that you have no desire to know. Freedom to you is nothing but perfect self-assurance of your own righteousness, while oppression is the thought of you and your constituency not getting your mean and miserly way for the first time in decades.
I had thought that the "Reagan won the Cold War" myth was insult enough to the Eastern Bloc patriots who did the real work of staring down Soviet tanks. But no, you had to go and compare those damn Tea Party knuckleheads to my brave revolutionary twelfth cousins. May you forever be defenestrated in effigy for your insult to all true lovers of freedom and the Czech people
Déardaoin, Márta 18, 2010
Pretty Much Yeah.
"No doubt, most St. Pat’s revelers have been motivated by nothing other than the desire to have a little fun. But it’s worth asking why this desire took the form it did. Many white Americans really are Irish, of course, but the reason so many white people of all ethnic backgrounds celebrate this one ethnic holiday rather than, say, Oktoberfest, goes deeper. It would be a little weird, not to say unseemly, for Americans of English or German descent to parade in the street celebrating their ethnic heritage. To do so would be like dancing in the end zone of colonial history. And so, because the Irish were actually the subjects of discrimination and oppression, Irishness has become the go-to white ethnicity."
- Matthew Schmitz
http://www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2010/03/my-problem-with-st-patricks-day/
Yup. The Irish are everyone's favorite White ethnicity on account of being the colonizee instead of colonizer; and though this is not a stunning or profound observation by any means congrats to Schmitz all the same for writing what someone had to. Of course the Irish are not the only Europeans who have been the victims instead of the culprits of imperialism. And that brings us to our next post.
- Matthew Schmitz
http://www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2010/03/my-problem-with-st-patricks-day/
Yup. The Irish are everyone's favorite White ethnicity on account of being the colonizee instead of colonizer; and though this is not a stunning or profound observation by any means congrats to Schmitz all the same for writing what someone had to. Of course the Irish are not the only Europeans who have been the victims instead of the culprits of imperialism. And that brings us to our next post.
Dé Máirt, Márta 16, 2010
Dé Luain, Márta 15, 2010
If God Is Love.............
"I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! …
If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, “Excuse me are you down with this whole social justice thing?” If it’s my church, I’m alerting the church authorities: “Excuse me, what’s this social justice thing?” And if they say, 'yeah, we’re all in that social justice thing'—I’m in the wrong place."
- Glen Beck.
You've probably heard that quote and heard of the kerfuffle over it at some point in the past few days. In order to better understand where Beck was coming from, I think it would help to read some excerpts from an article posted by one Don Feder, one of many right-wing laments about how American Jews vote Democrat in spite of conservative indulgence of Israel.
People like Norman Podhoretz (admittedly, a great man) keep writing books with titles like “Why Are Jews Liberals?" Every other talk show that I do begins with the question: “Mr. Feder, as a practicing Jew, perhaps you can explain why most American Jews are so liberal, when self-interest and common sense dictate the opposite....”
"The standard explanations for Jewish leftism are: 1. Like Judaism, liberalism calls for succoring the poor and downtrodden (now known as “social justice” – Marxism by another name) 2. In pre-war Europe, anti-Semitism was a phenomenon of the right and 3. Having been persecuted for most of their history, Jews tend to identify with victims.
These rationalizations can almost be dismissed out of hand.
1. Treating the stranger justly and providing for the widow and orphan aren’t the essence of Judaism. Saying Judaism is about charity is like saying Jesus is about love. (BTW, the Torah says you provide for the widow and orphan, not you take the income of others to support them.) If there was an identity between Judaism and liberalism, why are the Jews who are the most ignorant of Jewish law (the most Jewishly illiterate) the most liberal, while those who live, breath and (quite literally) eat Torah values are the most conservative?"
To say that "Treating the stranger justly and providing for the widow and orphan aren't the essence of Judaism" is tantamount to saying that empathy is not the essence of morality, and if morality is not based on empathy than what else could it be based on. Adherence to Torah of course, or the Bible, Koran, an "originalist" reading of the Constitution, etc, etc.
To be morally good than is to submit to a power higher than yourself and no more. To put it simply, poweris morality. We can make shows of mercy towards the weak, but only as much as power tells us to, and of course it is far preferable to show this mercy in the form of physical force, via the punishment of wrongdoers, (avenging the ethereal 'honor' of a wronged one instead of actually helping them.) than to betray any real tenderness.
If power is the essence of good, it follows that any historically favored group (or anyone suckered into believing themselves part of that group) has not only the right but the duty to cling to any mythology that justifies our privilege with the whole of our beings. Not only is it good for me to consider myself superior to non-Christian, non-Caucasian, non-male, non-American, liberal, city boy, homo, etc, but I couldn't possibly be good unless I considered myself superior to those folk. It is my burden to be loved by God more than you. Moral masturbation is my sacred duty.
It is this mindset that provides the link between fundamentalist religion and trickle-down economic theory. How glorious it is to believe that the market provides physical proof of power (or the lack of it) and morality being one in the same, that the poor and the rich are precisely where they cosmically deserve to be, that to question or attempt to flatten the social hierarchy is the ultimate evil. The fact that White Christian Americans are the most powerful ethnic group to ever exist is proof that we deserve to be, to doubt this is to be a Liberal Atheist Communist Fascist Monarchist Unitarian Muslim Faggot Slaveholding Elitist. And any church that preaches "social justice", that dares to do anything but tell me that I and only I am favored by God and entitled to strut on whoever I please, is nothing but Liberal Athiest Communist Fascist Monarchist Unitarian Muslim Faggot Slaveholding Elitism in sheep's clothing.
If God is love, than my own White dick cannot possibly be God, and it is better to believe any hateful absurdity that Glen Beck and his ilk come up with than accept that.
If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, “Excuse me are you down with this whole social justice thing?” If it’s my church, I’m alerting the church authorities: “Excuse me, what’s this social justice thing?” And if they say, 'yeah, we’re all in that social justice thing'—I’m in the wrong place."
- Glen Beck.
You've probably heard that quote and heard of the kerfuffle over it at some point in the past few days. In order to better understand where Beck was coming from, I think it would help to read some excerpts from an article posted by one Don Feder, one of many right-wing laments about how American Jews vote Democrat in spite of conservative indulgence of Israel.
People like Norman Podhoretz (admittedly, a great man) keep writing books with titles like “Why Are Jews Liberals?" Every other talk show that I do begins with the question: “Mr. Feder, as a practicing Jew, perhaps you can explain why most American Jews are so liberal, when self-interest and common sense dictate the opposite....”
"The standard explanations for Jewish leftism are: 1. Like Judaism, liberalism calls for succoring the poor and downtrodden (now known as “social justice” – Marxism by another name) 2. In pre-war Europe, anti-Semitism was a phenomenon of the right and 3. Having been persecuted for most of their history, Jews tend to identify with victims.
These rationalizations can almost be dismissed out of hand.
1. Treating the stranger justly and providing for the widow and orphan aren’t the essence of Judaism. Saying Judaism is about charity is like saying Jesus is about love. (BTW, the Torah says you provide for the widow and orphan, not you take the income of others to support them.) If there was an identity between Judaism and liberalism, why are the Jews who are the most ignorant of Jewish law (the most Jewishly illiterate) the most liberal, while those who live, breath and (quite literally) eat Torah values are the most conservative?"
To say that "Treating the stranger justly and providing for the widow and orphan aren't the essence of Judaism" is tantamount to saying that empathy is not the essence of morality, and if morality is not based on empathy than what else could it be based on. Adherence to Torah of course, or the Bible, Koran, an "originalist" reading of the Constitution, etc, etc.
To be morally good than is to submit to a power higher than yourself and no more. To put it simply, poweris morality. We can make shows of mercy towards the weak, but only as much as power tells us to, and of course it is far preferable to show this mercy in the form of physical force, via the punishment of wrongdoers, (avenging the ethereal 'honor' of a wronged one instead of actually helping them.) than to betray any real tenderness.
If power is the essence of good, it follows that any historically favored group (or anyone suckered into believing themselves part of that group) has not only the right but the duty to cling to any mythology that justifies our privilege with the whole of our beings. Not only is it good for me to consider myself superior to non-Christian, non-Caucasian, non-male, non-American, liberal, city boy, homo, etc, but I couldn't possibly be good unless I considered myself superior to those folk. It is my burden to be loved by God more than you. Moral masturbation is my sacred duty.
It is this mindset that provides the link between fundamentalist religion and trickle-down economic theory. How glorious it is to believe that the market provides physical proof of power (or the lack of it) and morality being one in the same, that the poor and the rich are precisely where they cosmically deserve to be, that to question or attempt to flatten the social hierarchy is the ultimate evil. The fact that White Christian Americans are the most powerful ethnic group to ever exist is proof that we deserve to be, to doubt this is to be a Liberal Atheist Communist Fascist Monarchist Unitarian Muslim Faggot Slaveholding Elitist. And any church that preaches "social justice", that dares to do anything but tell me that I and only I am favored by God and entitled to strut on whoever I please, is nothing but Liberal Athiest Communist Fascist Monarchist Unitarian Muslim Faggot Slaveholding Elitism in sheep's clothing.
If God is love, than my own White dick cannot possibly be God, and it is better to believe any hateful absurdity that Glen Beck and his ilk come up with than accept that.
Dé Céadaoin, Márta 10, 2010
Right is What we Do
"The idea that you can castigate people because they disagree about your ideas on safety. I think that's what offensive." (Jon Stewart, interviewing Mark Thiessen on Yesterday's TDS.)
Offensive as it may be. what is inconceivable to Thiessen and his ilk are that a Republican administrations ideas could be anything less than THE ideas. This is the deepest and most fundamental conceit of American conservatism. The right "knows", is convinced with every fiber of their being, that their understanding of evil and the need for violent self-defense is far superior to that of liberals. I remember the arguments in favor of the Iraq war, how many of them were no more than general arguments against pacifism, and the attitude was clear. 'We and only we are the adults. We are the only ones who understand the need for war, and we are the only ones who know when it is necessary to go to war. And when is it necessary you ask? Whenever we say so of course. Haven't we already told you that we're the adults?' It is this central notion that allows the right to consider itself the normative standard of Americanism. It is they who decide what is native and what is foreign, what is mainstream and what is radical, for the rest of us are hopeless innocents; doomed without their paternal vigilance.
How exactly did torture and indefinite detention become official planks of the Republican Party. You have the general reasons for why anyone tortures anyone; hatred towards the enemy in war, hatred towards the racial or religious other, general contempt for anyone at our mercy who dares to beg for it. The sexual revelry of unrestrained power, always.
A true love of torture requires a sexual orientation to power, not to powerful men but to the power itself. It is perfectly clear that this is Dick Cheney's orientation, and also the orientation of John Yoo, the Bush administration lawyer that was tasked with declaring whatever the administration chose to do to detainees was constitutional. When quoted in the New York times as follows “What’s the big whoop? he asked. 'The Constitution makes the president the chief law enforcement officer. We had an election. President Obama has softer policies on terror than his predecessor.' He said, 'He can and should put people into office who share his views.” it's perfectly clear what sort of 'softness' he is thinking about. But back to the point.
The modern American right have been likened to fascists many times, in fact too many times, and I am as guilty of this as anyone else. So I will choose for now to ignore their self-righteousness, cultish contempt for outsiders, love of struggle for its own sake, etc etc. However much of a threat to liberty I consider modern Republicans to be, I don't believe conservatives generally share the sexual love of power felt by Cheney and Yoo. I'm willing to give the Mark Thiessens of the world the benefit of the doubt and assume that their "pre-9-11" minds would have been disgusted by the thought of their government engaging in torture for any reason; that they would still be disgusted by it post 9-11, if only a Republican administration had not made torture and detention official national security policy, if only John Yoo had not codified it into official conservative legal thought. Now these things simply must be right. And however much they have to convince themselves that water is dry in order to believe that torture and secret detention are right I have no doubt that they most sincerely do. Indeed the secretive nature of torture and its legal justifications have served to give Republican foreign policy even more of an aura of unquestionable wisdom among the converted.
The recent ad put out by doting daughter Liz Cheney's "Keep America Safe" outfit, questioning the loyalty of "Al-Queda seven" lawyers who dare to represent terror suspects, is of course despicable. Thiessen's assertion to Jon Stewart that 'terror lawyers' should be assumed to be under the thrall of their clients in the same manner as 'mob lawyers' is utter nonsense. And when he answered in a weaselly affirmative when Stewart asked him if lawyers who represent pedophiles should be considered pro-pedophilia it was jaw-dropping. The idea that lawyers of accused criminals simply must approve of the acts of the guilty is beyond absurd. It is to reject our entire legal system. It is to reject any legal system worthy of the name, it is to negate any concept of due process for not just "enemy combatants" but for anyone.
But instead of being outraged by this let us instead take a moment to feel sorry for those who have willed themselves to believe such twaddle. The Thiessens of the world have staked their entire professional lives upon "knowing" that Republican foreign policy is never wrong. Their entire self-image as worthy and important people is based on "knowing" that imperialism is the only alternative to national impotence. So of course there is no limit to the amount of neon bullshit they will swallow rather than believe otherwise. This, children, is what "Banality of Evil" means. This is how atrocities on a national scale come about, not by the hands of a thousand evil men, but a small handful of wicked men riding the wave of a million small men's vanities.
Offensive as it may be. what is inconceivable to Thiessen and his ilk are that a Republican administrations ideas could be anything less than THE ideas. This is the deepest and most fundamental conceit of American conservatism. The right "knows", is convinced with every fiber of their being, that their understanding of evil and the need for violent self-defense is far superior to that of liberals. I remember the arguments in favor of the Iraq war, how many of them were no more than general arguments against pacifism, and the attitude was clear. 'We and only we are the adults. We are the only ones who understand the need for war, and we are the only ones who know when it is necessary to go to war. And when is it necessary you ask? Whenever we say so of course. Haven't we already told you that we're the adults?' It is this central notion that allows the right to consider itself the normative standard of Americanism. It is they who decide what is native and what is foreign, what is mainstream and what is radical, for the rest of us are hopeless innocents; doomed without their paternal vigilance.
How exactly did torture and indefinite detention become official planks of the Republican Party. You have the general reasons for why anyone tortures anyone; hatred towards the enemy in war, hatred towards the racial or religious other, general contempt for anyone at our mercy who dares to beg for it. The sexual revelry of unrestrained power, always.
A true love of torture requires a sexual orientation to power, not to powerful men but to the power itself. It is perfectly clear that this is Dick Cheney's orientation, and also the orientation of John Yoo, the Bush administration lawyer that was tasked with declaring whatever the administration chose to do to detainees was constitutional. When quoted in the New York times as follows “What’s the big whoop? he asked. 'The Constitution makes the president the chief law enforcement officer. We had an election. President Obama has softer policies on terror than his predecessor.' He said, 'He can and should put people into office who share his views.” it's perfectly clear what sort of 'softness' he is thinking about. But back to the point.
The modern American right have been likened to fascists many times, in fact too many times, and I am as guilty of this as anyone else. So I will choose for now to ignore their self-righteousness, cultish contempt for outsiders, love of struggle for its own sake, etc etc. However much of a threat to liberty I consider modern Republicans to be, I don't believe conservatives generally share the sexual love of power felt by Cheney and Yoo. I'm willing to give the Mark Thiessens of the world the benefit of the doubt and assume that their "pre-9-11" minds would have been disgusted by the thought of their government engaging in torture for any reason; that they would still be disgusted by it post 9-11, if only a Republican administration had not made torture and detention official national security policy, if only John Yoo had not codified it into official conservative legal thought. Now these things simply must be right. And however much they have to convince themselves that water is dry in order to believe that torture and secret detention are right I have no doubt that they most sincerely do. Indeed the secretive nature of torture and its legal justifications have served to give Republican foreign policy even more of an aura of unquestionable wisdom among the converted.
The recent ad put out by doting daughter Liz Cheney's "Keep America Safe" outfit, questioning the loyalty of "Al-Queda seven" lawyers who dare to represent terror suspects, is of course despicable. Thiessen's assertion to Jon Stewart that 'terror lawyers' should be assumed to be under the thrall of their clients in the same manner as 'mob lawyers' is utter nonsense. And when he answered in a weaselly affirmative when Stewart asked him if lawyers who represent pedophiles should be considered pro-pedophilia it was jaw-dropping. The idea that lawyers of accused criminals simply must approve of the acts of the guilty is beyond absurd. It is to reject our entire legal system. It is to reject any legal system worthy of the name, it is to negate any concept of due process for not just "enemy combatants" but for anyone.
But instead of being outraged by this let us instead take a moment to feel sorry for those who have willed themselves to believe such twaddle. The Thiessens of the world have staked their entire professional lives upon "knowing" that Republican foreign policy is never wrong. Their entire self-image as worthy and important people is based on "knowing" that imperialism is the only alternative to national impotence. So of course there is no limit to the amount of neon bullshit they will swallow rather than believe otherwise. This, children, is what "Banality of Evil" means. This is how atrocities on a national scale come about, not by the hands of a thousand evil men, but a small handful of wicked men riding the wave of a million small men's vanities.
Dé Luain, Márta 08, 2010
Karl Rove was Beaten Up by a Little Girl
ttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030502249.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Apparently she was a Kennedy supporter who objected to his Nixon bumper sticker when he was nine. Some of the internet have praised this girls (Now presumably a middle-aged woman)actions. I cannot bring myself to join them. This little lady is the reason why Rove equates the sight of his preferred candidate losing an election with the ultimate in personal humiliation, something he must go to all lengths to prevent so he can allow himself to live without shame. The woman owes us an apology she does.
Apparently she was a Kennedy supporter who objected to his Nixon bumper sticker when he was nine. Some of the internet have praised this girls (Now presumably a middle-aged woman)actions. I cannot bring myself to join them. This little lady is the reason why Rove equates the sight of his preferred candidate losing an election with the ultimate in personal humiliation, something he must go to all lengths to prevent so he can allow himself to live without shame. The woman owes us an apology she does.
Dé Domhnaigh, Márta 07, 2010
Political Correctness
People who complain about it tend to believe that honesty and courtesy are opposed to each other. This is bullocks of course. It is totally possible to be honest about ones beliefs without being willfully belligerent, antagonistic, or forcing ones beliefs' into an unrelated conversational subject.
To be able to say the same thing either politely or bluntly speaks to the aesthetic quality of a language. Those who think that it is always more honest and masculine to choose the blunt way of speaking are, to describe them in the kindest and most artful language available, fucking idiots.
To be able to say the same thing either politely or bluntly speaks to the aesthetic quality of a language. Those who think that it is always more honest and masculine to choose the blunt way of speaking are, to describe them in the kindest and most artful language available, fucking idiots.
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