What with all Chaplinesque moustache-porn videos going around, I do wonder what J.R.R. Tolkien would make of the current culture wars. He knew his way around a mythology, invented or real, so I wonder what he’d think of Beck’s reverse-engineering of the national mythos of the Founding Fathers? 10. He wasn’t nearly as fond of Nazis as they were of him. Tolkien’s academic writings on Old Norse and Germanic history, language and culture were extremely popular among the Nazi elite, who were obsessed with recreating ancient Germanic civilization. But Tolkien was disgusted by Hitler and the Nazi party, and made…
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Flying high after flexing muscles in GOP primaries, Sarah Palins next stops: Iowa, cable TV – chicagotribune.com. Remember John Glenn? The former astronaut and senator drew huge crowds and intense attention here when he sought the Democratic nomination in 1984 — and got just 4 percent of the vote. “They were coming out to see John Glenn the astronaut, not John Glenn the Democrat running for president,” said veteran Republican strategist Eric Woolson. If she runs, Palin would start with strong appeal among the social and religious conservatives who play a crucial role in Iowa’s Republican politics. But that appeal…
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We watched Real Time with Bill Maher last night and enjoyed this clip from the 90’s “Politically Incorrect” show Maher used to have. Turns out he and Christine O’Donnell go back a ways, and she’s always been a little… odd in her beliefs. And this is the person that Delaware conservatives want representing them? Seriously? Of course, no one was at their best in the era of big mall hair, but it’s really hard to imagine this person actually formulating policy as an actual adult. Via Daily Kos: DE-Sen: O’Donnell: “I dabbled into witchcraft”
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Funny how a meme I saw mentioned in the comments thread at a liberal blog pops up on the Christian Science Monitor. When the Muppet fits… The GOP’s constant kneejerk rejection of economic ideas simply for the sake of Saying No has as much to do with our current malaise as anything being done wrong in the White House. The newly-minted fiscal conservatives on the Republican side of the aisle, many of whom are themselves responsible for the $3 trillion and counting Iraq War, are like the old men who heckle the Muppet Show from the balcony. Via GOP: The…
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We Americans have no idea that American labor union members in Chicago fought and died for the right to work no more than an 8-hour day, and their sacrifice is remembered the world over and commemorated on May Day. A policeman died, too – but although he may have been there to protect strikers and strikebreakers from each other, he was identified with the kind of thugs corporations send to break up labor disputes. Actually, several policement and an unknown number of workers died, all told. Utah Phillips speaking at the Haymarket Martyr’s Memorial for the 100th anniversary We Americans…
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Do you really want to elect someone to national or local office who actually believes in witches, and that angels and demons are constantly at war, kept at bay only by the actions of prayer warriors? Do you think that people with such extreme religious views should dictate whether you can marry the person you love, or whether you or your female partner should be forced carry every potential pregnancy to term, even if it’s against her will? Do you think it’s a good idea for a large number of voters to be so willfully and deliberately mal-informed, by just…
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The unchurched in America are probably not buying what #Beckapalooza was flogging, either – A lot of them are conservative, but hurt by “The Church.” The Barna Group – Millions of Unchurched Adults Are Christians Hurt by Churches But Can Be Healed of the Pain Other interesting insights into the self-identified Christians who have distanced themselves from a conventional church relate to their beliefs. Two-thirds (68%) hold a biblical view of God – that is, He is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe and He still rules that universe today. However, only one-third (35%) agree to any extent that…
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Why @GlennBeck’s campchair revival meeting on the National Mall will probably turn out to be irrelevant, even with the Theocratic Right’s deep pockets. Barna: How Teenagers’ Faith Practices Are Changing The most striking change was the fact that teenagers today seem much less inclined to have spiritual conversations about their faith in Christ with non-believers. The survey question specifically asked if the survey respondent had “explained your religious beliefs to someone else who had different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their savior.†Among born again Christian teenagers, the proportion who said they had explained…
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Beck’s team got a permit for 300,000, about 87,000 showed up. Via @KeithOlbermann Glenn Beck Rally Attracts Estimated 87,000 – Political Hotsheet – CBS News An estimated 87,000 people attended a rally organized by talk-radio host and Fox News commentator Glenn Beck Saturday in Washington, according to a crowd estimate commissioned by CBS News.
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“Don’t make me come out there.” What the hell, I ended up live-blogging the whole damn thing. I took this photo a few years ago on a trip to Washington DC, with the “good camera” that’s been sent off to Canon for possible repair, or I’ll be in the market for a refurbished 30D. I Tweeted a lot of my Lincoln Memorial photos last night after getting irked at all the Beckamania co-opting of the imagery of Lincoln, Dr King, and all the hoo-ha about reclaiming the nation’s honor. It bugged me that the national honor so much in need…