4 posts tagged “conservative is latin for "cretinous asshat"”
I just bet Nature Boy $20 that Giuliani is too liberal for the Republicans to nominate.I can see it going one of two ways:
1. He'll go the way of McCain in the 2000 primaries (in other words, getting thrashed by the evangelicals for not being a good enough misogynist and losing out to a proper woman-hater).
2. He'll get the nomination, but he won't be able to count on the fundoid block, which either won't come out to vote at all or will split for a third-party candidate (like Pat Buchanan or one of his lackeys).
Either way, he isn't a viable candidate. Nor is anyone else in the Republican pipeline. They're really up shit creek, so to speak. They've whored themselves out to the Religious Reich since the eighties, but have yet to deliver on such niceties as widespread abortion bans (all they've successfully passed are toothless, nitpicky bits of wishy-washiness that continue to be tied up in the courts), federal marriage amendments, faith-based initiatives, or mandatory school prayer.The fundoids know this, and they're starting to get antsy. On the other hand, though, the far right's politics are finally starting to alienate people in the middle, and if they want to win elections, they'll need to quit with the extremist candidates. I predicted the self-destruction of the Republican Party back in 2000, and I'm pretty excited to see that, once again, I'm being proven right.
Remember, all it takes is one Pat Robertson to split the vote. We'll see what happens.
I hate the end of January. It's dreary, the weather sucks, I have to go back to school, and all the idiotic anti-choicers come out of the woodwork to whine and cry about the evils of abortion (while conveniently ignoring the plight of poor children who are, you know, actually born). Today, the New York Times asks Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome? and does an excellent job of exposing the hypocrisy of the rhetoric of "Silent No More," "Operation Outcry," and other anti-choice groups that try to use a few women's negative experiences with abortion to justify re-criminalizing it.
Evidently, a women who was sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by her male family members as a child and teenager who went on to experience various drug addictions, a string of abusive relationships, and a handful of abortions as a result is infallible proof that Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome exists. Never mind the fact that the Reagan and both Bush administrations have poured millions of dollars into psychological/psychiatric studies that have all turned up inconclusive, that Congressional hearings have never turned up any proof either, nor have those conducted by a number of American medical associations and journals. In fact, the only studies in existence that do show evidence of so-called "Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome" have highly flawed methodologies (most of them rely on extremely tiny, cherry-picked samples that aren't representative), are conducted by researchers or institutions with an obvious agenda, or both. Oh no, we should never let reality get in the way of a good masturbatory hand-wring over those cruel, callous women who kill their babies and cause irreparable emotional damage to themselves.
I am so, so sick of the hypocritical attitude that so many people have towards abortion rights. I am so unbelievably tired of hearing people say things to the effect of "Oh, I hate abortion and think it's cold, vicious, cruel, and totally the wrong decision, but I guess it's better than letting those poor, irresponsible, slutty women breed babies that the rest of us will have to take care of." If you think abortion is mean, vicious, cruel, or whatever else, that's your business, but for the love of god, can you please stop raining condescension and moral judgment down on women who are already dealing with enough? Having an abortion isn't always an easy choice, and until you know every single woman who has ever had or ever will have an abortion to the core of her being, you have no right whatsoever to criticize her; I don't care how many warm, fuzzy feelings you happen to have about fetuses.
The only thing that those attitudes does is legitimate the anti-choice view that all women who have abortions are evil whores (and the "logical" conclusion: that the pregnancy and future child are adequate punishments for promiscuity) and contribute to a cloud of shame and silence that surrounds the women who chose to have abortions, possibly causing a number of the "symptoms" associated with "Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome." While the women who have abortions may not regret their decision, years and years of verbal abuse at the hands of self-righteous asshats can take its toll, especially when even the most reasonable among us are joining forces with heinously misogynic anti-choicers to condemn them. And where does that leave women?
I really recommend that everyone read the rest of the article. It's quite well-written and informative.
Bible Beaters around the nation will be pleased to know that they won't have to worry about little Malachi Isaiah or Mary Elizabeth engaging in morally questionable activities like dealing drugs or hiring prostitutes while they're shooting up major cities anymore. Instead, they can gun down unbelievers in the name of god in freshly-released Left Behind: Eternal Forces, which takes place in post-Rapture New York City. Based on the infamously poorly-written yet unbelievably profitable drivel spewed by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins for twelve painful installments, Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a first-person shooter in which the player may either join forces with the Anti-Christ (although they can never win on that side, of course) or start a band of "Freedom Fighters" that runs around ordering people to convert at gunpoint and killing them when they refuse. And here I was thinking the Crusades ended several centuries ago. And what's that I heard about Muslims being an evil religion for "Converting people by the sword"?
"It's an incredibly violent video game," said Stevens. "Sure, there is no blood. (The dead just fade off the screen.) But you are mowing down your enemy with a gun. It pushes a message of religious intolerance."
Right, then. Bring on the hypocritical hand-wringing:
Left Behind Games' president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is pacifist because players lose "spirit points" every time they gun down nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by having their character pray.
As my mother would say, "How conveeeeeeeeenient."
As I would say, "What utter bullshit." Although it is pretty hilarious that praying after you kill an unbeliever ups your spirit points in the eyes of god.
It gets better. Behold the xenophobia writ large:
The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics.
When asked about the Arab and Muslim-sounding names, Frichner said the game does not endorse prejudice. But "Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ" -- and thus can't be on Christ's side in the game.
Because all Arabs are Jesus-hating Muslims. Although I suppose it is good to see my father vindicated (he once told me that I was morally obligated to have children because otherwise the Muslims will outbreed us all).
If you're interested in sending outraged letters of protest, the game is being carried by Wal-Mart [big surprise there], Sam's Club, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, GameStop, EB Games and various Christian stores.
From the files of "I swear I'm not making this up," an editorial from today's Hustler (Vandy's Student Newspaper):
They are so prevalent in our lives, we might as well call them hangovers—except the difference is they don’t belong to or at our school. Like hangovers, they are both unwelcome and a disruption to our studies. And rather than going to places like Panera and Starbucks and finding the cure for this problem, like we do for hangovers, we go to these places and find the problem itself: the homeless.
Wow. Re-reading that renders me speechless all over again.
It gets better:
It is well known that Vandy students seek the convenience and comfort of places like Wendy’s, Starbucks, Panera, Breugger’s and Fido’s. They are the favorite of many looking for a place to study and fuel to get them going, or a place to just hang out and relax. These places are both so close and so commonly used they may as well be a part of our campus, and many of our favorites feel like an extension of our campus with use of The Card.
So why isn’t Vanderbilt doing anything about it?
With all the new changes being made to help improve this campus on all levels, including improving safety and facilitating our studies, this is one problem that is being overlooked.
There are easy ways to help alleviate this issue. For example, Vanderbilt could hire more cops or work with Metro to station guards around student hotspots surrounding campus. This way, when “Jacket Guy” or “Bag Lady” approaches students and aggressively hounds them for money, the security guards or officers would be there to help break it up and eventually discourage these people from continuing this behavior.
Once again, I'm not making this up.
While it's tempting to work myself up into a tizzy over how extraordinarily screwed up the priorities of the people I go to school with are and go on at length about how this girl is in dire need of a big, fat reality check, I'll go to bed because getting enough sleep and making it to work on time in the morning are more important than complaining about yet another hyper-entitled, over-privileged, spoiled rotten sorority girl. So I'll leave you with this:
Stephanie Fleischman [links to her e-mail], you suck.
