Sapere Aude!

Keith Olbermann, Sean Hannity Friendly At Yankees Game

Keith Olbermann, Sean Hannity Friendly At Yankees Game.  Hannity has an iPhone, he must be a closet liberal.

Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: A Political Philosopher on Teaching Ayn Rand

Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: A Political Philosopher on Teaching Ayn Rand.  I've included Rand in a class before, but only to use it to move on to more sophisticated libertarianism.  I get the feeling this is not uncommon, when Rand is included in a class.

Jennifer Burn on Ayn Rand on The Daily Show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jennifer Burns
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

I do not get why the Right would draw on such a crappy thinker as an intellectual resource when there are better examples of libertarian thought out there. Nor do I understand why so many of the Rand fans that I met have such a high regard for her thinking but so little awareness of the various criticisms of her thinking. There's a nice review of Anne Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made and Burn's Goddess of the Market here.  Some interesting tidbits from the review article are below the fold.

Conservatizing the Bible

This conservatizing the Bible thing has got to be a joke, right?  If it's not then it's really, really sad.  I grew up holding the view that the King James Version of the Bible was a divinely inspired translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.  I don't those that view anymore.  In fact, I'm more inclined these days to think that something like the conservative Bible project has been instrumental in shaping what we know call the Bible in the sense that people's political, historical, cultural contexts influences how the Bible was put together.  But, if I did still hold that view of the Bible, the Conservative Bible Project would still bother me.

Glenn Beck Blames Minority For Social Ills

Studies keep showing that religious belief is doing pretty well. It seems like increasing secularization of society is more of a myth an a reality.

Dear RightWingers, Do You Understand the Difference Between "Some" and "All"?

I'm a little late posting this clip from The Colbert Report.  In it Colbert takes on the "black-washing" of criticism against Obama.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Blackwashing
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

I remember a time not so very long ago when anybody that criticized Bush was labeled a "terrorist sympathizer" or "un-American" by many of the people who seem to have conveniently rediscovered their principles now that a Dem is in office.  Or they distort the claim for their own ends. Just check out how Morning Joe takes Carter's claim about some of the opposition to Obama and turns it into a claim about all the opposition to Obama.  What are we to make of somebody that takes a claim about some of the opposition to Obama and turns it into a claim about all the opposition to Obama so that they can accuse the person who made the original claim about some of it of falsely accusing people of racism?  I'm not inclined to think much of them as a critical thinker or a reliable source of information. 

Meanwhile back in reality it's pretty clear who is injecting race into our political discourse.  Limbaugh and Beck characterize Obama as prejudiced against white people and then claim that motivates his policies in order to generate opposition to his agenda.   Then they cry foul when somebody suggests that some of the opposition to Obama is racially motivated?  Seriously?  I'm supposed to think that Birthers, the folks that claim Obama is a Muslim, and think his policies are really a plan for reparations to take money from white people to black people have a "principled opposition" to Obama?  Give me a break.

I don't think all criticism of Obama is racially motivated or that there are no principled objections to his agenda. But, I very much doubt that people who refer to blacks as "niggers" or exhibit overtly racist attitudes about blacks have a principled objection to his policies since I imagine their racist beliefs and their political beliefs probably influence one another.

Jon Stewart on 9.12 Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mad Men
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Joe Wilson (R-SC) is either Ignorant or a Liar

See.  I've read the bill myself and it explicitly prohibits giving credits to or using Federal funds to illegal immigrants.  Just read the bill for yourself, it's unambiguous.  So, either Wilson knows what's in the bill and is lying when he charges the President with being a liar or he's ignorant of what's in the bill.  Either way, Joe Wilson is a jackass!  Keep it up Republicans, drive that party right over the cliff.  They've managed to manufacture opposition to Obama's health care reform agenda not on the basis of principled opposition but by associating it with every divisive issue in their playbook from end-of-life and beginning-of-life issues to immigration.  There will be death panels!  They're going to kill babies and your grandma!  They're going to give care to outsiders!  We're not hearing any principled opposition we're just getting pathetic bullshit from a party that see it in their political interest to scuttle anything remotely positive.

Home-schooler ordered to attend public school

Washington Times - Home-schooler ordered to attend public school.  Obviously, they do not teach the debate at home school. 

The ruling quoted Mrs. McLaughlin as saying the child "appeared to reflect the mother's rigidity on questions of faith." The child would "be best served by exposure to different points of view at a time in her life when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief and behavior," it added.

You think mom's giving a fair shake to both side of the issue?  Or just poisoning the well against an honest examination of other ideas?  This is where religion becomes child abuse.

The ruling also said Amanda told a counselor she was distressed by her father's refusal to accept her religious beliefs and that "his choice to spend eternity away from her proves that he does not love her as much as he says he does."

According to the brief filed by the child's mother, Mrs. McLaughlin dismissed critical evidence and key witnesses in the case because they were "connected to Christianity."

When the mother tried to give the guardian material on home-schooling, Mrs. McLaughlin reportedly said: "I don't want to hear it. It's all Christian-based."

If you are appealing to sectarian doctrines as reasons for refusing to allow your child to be exposed to different ideas then you're the one with the problem.  And, of course, with no good arguments on their side, the Fundies just play the bias/victim-card just like the multiculturalists that they criticize.

Douglas Napier, senior ADF counsel, suggested the court has a bias against Christianity.

"What if this were Muslims who don't want their children exposed to infidel thoughts?" he asked. "Can a judge come into my home -- even if my wife and I agree to home-school our children -- and say it's to their best interest to put them in government schools?"

He added: "Does anybody seriously believe a public school will broaden this girl's views on comparative religious thought? The schools are the number-one censors of religious thought."

So, it's biased against Christianity to learn about different religions and views?  Seriously, these are the people that cry about political correctness the most, but the real problem is their own persecution complex and "religious correctness".

Paging Dr. Freud!!!!!! You Are Needed in the Psych Ward, Stat!

Rush Limbaugh is afraid Obama's health care reform will take his dick away.

But when was the last time that stopped these guys? Two days ago, Rush Limbaugh claimed, "It is President Obama who wants [to] mandate circumcision ... And that means, if we need to save our penises from anybody, it's Obama."

That guy needs some serious help.  I hate to psychologize from the armchair, but this is just hanging their right over home plate waiting to get knocked out of the park.  Seriously, we've got a rich white guy expressing fear about loosing his masculinity because a bi-racial dude wants to reform health care.  My guess is the reason he's concerned about his masculinity is because he really does not have much of it to lose in the first place.  Let me know when Rush comes up with a principled objection to health care reform based on factual information, and I'll address it.  In the mean time I'm just going to make fun of these people.