Beth’s Books: Wingnuts by John Avlon

Hmm, maybe I need to come up with a cute little graphic for Beth’s Books, like I have for Beth’s Music Moment! Not today, though.

The subtitle is How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America, and that is a good descriptive.

I’ve always liked John Avlon, because he seems reasonable, but he is always willing to call bullshit when it needs to be called (I’m talkin’ to YOU, Orly Taitz!).

I think he is very fair in saying that the wingnuts occur on both sides; but the majority of the book is about the right wingnuts, because you know what? That’s where the majority of the wingnuts reside. The rhetoric on the left can be bad, too. That’s why I stopped watching MSNBC. I catch clips here and there, but I’ve found that the shouting (I’m talkin' to YOU, Chris Matthews!) kills any reasonable discussion, and I find it rather unpleasant and unproductive. You can’t have a conversation when you’re shouting down the other person.

But it’s pretty obvious that the right wing has been a little more vicious and vocal for the past several years, and Avlon rightly focuses more on this. There is just more “there” there, right?

I liked what he had to say about people on either side standing up to the fringes in their own party. There is nothing wrong with telling a friend that they need to dial down the rhetoric a bit. We all want to move forward, but if we are unwilling to listen because of our own ideological “purity,” then nothing really gets done, does it?

If you’re interested in politics, I recommend this book. I follow John Avlon on Twitter and told him that his book was fantastic, and he tweeted back a “thank you.” That was very nice!

Different subject. The Twitterverse and Facebookosphere are exploding with the news of James Gandolfini’s death. I am also reading reports that this is another celebrity death hoax. I am hoping that the latter is true. If so, I’ve got a few friends who are on board with finding out who is responsible for this and making them pay for what they have perpetrated. Ya get what I’m sayin’? [cracking knuckles] Nobody fucks with the guy who played Tony OR fucks with his family like this. NOBODY. You hear me?

Troll frag

Northeast has left a new comment on your post "Troll Patrol":

Hmmm . . . still no link to the document in question. Just incessant excuses for its absence. "The government must have seen it . . . TRUST them." "It's not his burden of proof." Yawn.

And then, irrelevant comments about the blog owner's rights and intelligence. Well, let's see. She proclaims herself a passionate advocate of peace and harmony, but then spends every other post calling conservatives stupid and evil. Ask her a simple question, and she goes on a hysterical rampage to "out" you while all her friends make threats of violence. But never answer the question, other than to call it ludicrous. Typical liberals.

I think I'll stick around and help educate you. You're welcome!

Well, this has all been an amusing diversion, but ultimately a waste of everyone's time. We all got a little outraged, and I'd like to thank my friends who had such nice things to say about me. I appreciate it very much. But we all have better things to do than spend time in engaging someone like this. Heck, even Northeast, who has spent the past two days obsessively checking this blog and its comments section (thanks for sending my stats up, though!) must have better things to do than waste his time with a group of people he obviously feels are "dumbasses." (As an aside, I see that my previous troll and her sister have also been checking obsessively over the past couple of days. I'm sure they had a good little chuckle over Northeast and his comments about me and my friends, which tells us everything we need to know about them. Perhaps the three of them can get together for a potluck, although I'm sure all the food and drink would taste decidedly bitter.)

A few things here. Northeast's continued harping on the birther "controversy" is fairly indicative of his mindset. It's old news, Skippy, thoroughly debunked. I haven't written anything about it for over a year (you can read my birther entry here, if you so choose) because it is a non-issue. His continued demands for me to produce the document are just...well, they're just silly. His patron saint, the lunatic Orly Taitz, has had numerous lawsuits thrown out of court, and has even been fined for frivolously wasting the court's time. If you're on the same team as Orly Taitz, Northeast, you might want to rethink your position. After all, bat-shit crazy can rub off on a person.

Yes, I do have strong opinions about some of the conservatives in the government and in the news, and what they are doing to my country. Yes, I think some of them are stupid (Christine O'Donnell), and I think some of them are evil (Sharron Angle). I think some of them are stupid and evil (Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, et al). I'm not the first to state these opinions, and I certainly hope I won't be the last. Everyone has the right to their own opinions, and since this is my blog, I choose to express them here. Northeast obviously has differing opinions; perhaps he will start his own blog, where he can express his own opinions. I'm sure he'll understand if I don't stop by to read it.

And if you think my previous entry was a "hysterical rampage," you really don't know me very well. And you don't want to. I'm fine with that, believe me.

I do appreciate his kind offer to stick around and help educate us, but I think he'll also understand if I don't take him up on it. I enjoy other viewpoints, and I have had several people express them here over the years. However, Northeast doesn't want a discussion; he wants merely to belittle and insult. You don't start an intelligent conversation or even a lively debate with someone by starting off with calling them an "ignorant dumbass." And you don't subsequently insult their friends by continuing to call them names. These are not the signs of someone who has any desire to engage in any sort of real discussion.

Since that is the case, as owner and proprietor of this blog, I have made an executive decision. I don't like to do this, because I loathe censorship, and I let 99% of comments that are left here stand. It's a rarity for me to do so, but I will be deleting all further comments from Northeast, or any other nom de plume he decides to use. His goal is not to further any dialogue; his goal is to kill it, and beat those who disagree with him into submission. (Remember my tip, Northeast...bag o' oranges!)

I'm not going to moderate comments, but I get emails for them all, and I will be deleting his as soon as I see them. You may still see them if you get here before I do, and I apologize for that. I'll see them all, but I'm cool with that.

You're welcome.

Teabagging: More, more, more!

I enjoyed reading about the roundup of yesterday's tea party convention festivities. Sort of the way I enjoy a jab in the eye with a sharp stick, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!

One of the speakers was Judge Roy Moore, and I wrote a little about him yesterday. When he signed on to speak at the convention, he remarked that "Our rights are being taken away and they never stop—whether it's our right to our guns, as outlined in the Second Amendment, or our right to religious expression as outlined in the First Amendment, or our property rights, as outlined in the Fifth (Amendment) or state sovereignty" in the Tenth Amendment.

Once again, we're delving into paranoiac behavior with a persecution complex. This seems to be the mantra of many of these folks. Obama is not going after your guns, people. No one is denying your right to religious expression, unless you do it as part of government business, something that Moore doesn't quite seem to comprehend. Religion has no business in government. As for state sovereignty, didn't we settle that for good about 150 years ago? Didn't we fight a war about that, or am I just imagining it? States still have rights, but they are also beholden to follow the law of the land in certain overarching issues including civil rights and equality for all. Last time I checked, we were still the United States, although Texas doesn't seem too happy about that lately.

In his speech yesterday, apparently Moore quoted scripture and Patrick Henry, much to the delight of the attendees. He said that America's "borders are open to criminals and terrorists who now roam among us." Again with the stuff about Canadian immigrants! Man, they must be badass to be generating such hatred and fear among the teabaggers. I'm really going to be on the lookout for these marauders.

About President Obama, Moore said he "has ignored our history and our heritage by denying we are a Christian nation. An appeal to the God of hosts is all that is left." Either that or "300 million people armed in the cause of liberty."

I have written about this before. For all this speechifying about how we are a Christian nation, and all their orgasmic love over the Constitution and our Founding Fathers, they are completely ignoring both by their continued clinging to the "Christian nation" meme. It is simply not so. And did he just advocate an armed insurrection? Isn't that considered treasonous?

By the way, Moore is running for Governor of Alabama in 2010, and has been endorsed by Chuck Norris, who pushes the levers in the voting booth with a roundhouse kick.

Another speaker was Joseph Farah, who is the editor of WorldNetDaily, a conservative website. (I think I've seen a few of their stories here and there.) He opened his speech with jokes about...President Obama's citizenship. That's right. The Birther movement is alive and well at the tea party convention.

To loud approval from the crowd, Farah said his dream is that if Obama seeks re-election in 2012, he won't be able to go to any city in America without seeing signs that ask, "Where's the birth certificate?" The fact that the rest of the media has declared the issue settled is proof, he said, that it's not.

To me, this speaks of the irrationality of this group more than anything else they do and say. The twisted logic of thinking that because the media says it's no longer an issue only "proves" that it still is...that's just beyond paranoia and frankly, it's pretty fucking stupid. It wasn't up to the media to "prove" anything, anyway. It was up to the hospital where he was born in Hawaii, by them producing his birth certificate, which they did. It was up to the judges who heard the continued suits filed by wild-eyed, batshit crazy Orly Taitz; the judges threw the suits out as having no merit, one of them even slapping her with a hefty fine for filing a frivolous lawsuit. If you're sticking with Orly Taitz and continue to believe that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen, you're just as batshit crazy as she is. Get some help. Seriously. Or maybe you're just a dumbass. That can be even harder to fix.

[As an aside, speaking of Hawaii...back when McCain picked Palin as his running mate, I was making fun of writing about her foreign policy experience, which consisted of Alaska sharing a border with Canada, and being able to look over and see Russia (As well as Putin rearing his head into U.S. airspace...hahaha...still a classic!). I said that since I've been to other countries, I thought I was qualified to be Vice-President, too, and since I eventually want to go to Hawaii one day, that would give me even more foreign policy experience. Someone actually thought I was serious, and believed that I thought Hawaii is a foreign country. heehee I still find that funny, and it says more to me about that person's obvious lack of any sort of irony or sarcasm detector. Or maybe it goes back to the dumbass factor.]

Some of the topics covered today included involving youth with the conservative movement. Apparently not too many young people showed up.

Jordan Marks, executive director of the conservative Young Americans for Freedom, suggested that activists use Facebook, volunteer to speak at high schools ("bastions of liberalism") and simply do fun stuff that hooks high school and college-age kids. Marks described a bowling party he organized - "Knock Down the Pinheads of Communism." A strike equaled Mao, a spare, Pol Pot. Mishelle Perkins, a 44-year-old mother of five children, said she supplements her children's education with books by Tea Party authors, but right now it's hard to get them too interested.

No doubt. That bowling thing sounds pretty fun, though. "Woohoooo, I got a Pol Pot!" But wait...high schools are "bastions of liberalism?" I'd like to see their evidence on that. I suppose that colleges are some sort of Dantean level of liberal hell for them.

Another speaker today was Steve Milloy, a guy who believes that global warming is not connected to human behavior, and owner of the site junkscience.com. He referred to modern environmentalism as “totalitarianism,” criticized Lindsey Graham for working with John Kerry on climate change legislation, and called for "reverse immigration" for Gov. Schwarzenegger for his work on environmental efforts.

Milloy...questioned the sanity and morality of cap and trade supporters, whom he called "bad people."

"Bad people?" He's giving a lecture at a convention about a topic he's focused on for years and presumably feels passionate about, and the worst he can come up with is that they're "bad people?" Oh yeah, Steve? Well...I know you are, but what am I? Man, he really needs to work on his Rickles skills.

I tell you what, it's a good thing this convention isn't a long one and is drawing to a conclusion tonight. I don't know how much more of this I could take. I find myself immersed in their words, slack-jawed and glassy-eyed, wondering what Bizarro World I've wandered into. If I stayed there too long, you'd probably find me rocking back and forth, holding onto myself, a little runner of drool descending from my bottom lip. Being the trooper that I am, I'm going to see if there's a live stream on the web of...gulp...Sarah Palin's speech tonight. If I need to, I've got that bottle of tequila that I haven't cracked open yet. I'm thinking that it might be kind of fun, though, if I get myself in the right frame of mind. It looks like it's going to be live on CNN tonight, but I'm not sure if I can handle her on the big screen, so I might have to watch it online; it looks like this site is going to stream it.

Anyone brave enough—or liquored up enough—to join me?

Note: I hope that everyone who got socked by the storm is safe and warm. Don't go out there if you don't have to!

Cognitive Dissonance, revisited

Well, that big brouhaha about President Obama's speech to schoolkids turned out to be a big ol' heap o' nothing, didn't it? Laura Bush thought it was a good speech to give to schoolkids; most teachers thought it was an appropriate message; heck, even most of the schoolkids who heard it thought it was a pretty cool speech, and said that it showed them that sometimes you have to try harder, it's okay to ask questions, and that not everyone is immediately successful at achieving their goals. When the President mentioned that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, I saw one young lady who showed a look of stunned surprise, then smiled to her friend. After the speech, it was neat to see the kids coming up to shake the President's hand, some of them turning to their friends with an "Oh my God!" look. All in all, I'd say it was successful in its targeting of schoolkids to try a little harder, and to realize that what they do today can make a difference years down the road. It was a good message.

Even Florida RNC chairman Jim Greer, who initially opposed this speech because he felt it was pushing Obama's "socialist agenda" onto kids, came out and said it was a good speech and he was going to let his kids hear it. Of course, then he had to go muck it up by saying later that it wasn't the speech that Obama had "intended to make," that he rewrote it. Really? I wonder how Mr. Greer knows this? Did he see a copy of the speech that Obama decided not to give? I have to say, I'm amazed at his ability to understand the unspoken intentions of our President. That is some parlor trick.

A pre-speech question and answer session with a handful of students wasn't part of the speech, and I found it even more interesting. If anyone wanted to accuse the President of pushing his agenda, that's where he did it. Except it was kids asking the questions, and they were some good ones. One kid even asked about universal health care. For anyone who thinks that they need to protect kids from hearing any of Obama's ideas, I...I...I just don't understand where you're coming from. These are ideas, and discussions, and kids should be interested in the workings of our government and want to be engaged in the process. The restriction of dialogue and information seems positively medieval to me. I honestly do not understand why anyone would have a problem with that. (And let me reiterate: I was not aware at the time of the controversy over GHW Bush speaking in schools. I would not have agreed with any protests. Let the President speak.)

Now that I've learned what cognitive dissonance is, I seem to be seeing it everywhere. Whether it's Mr. Greer giving an actual compliment to the President, followed by backpedaling and justifying his initial protest because of his perceived "intentions" on behalf of the President, or the off-her-meds Orly Taitz who continues to file lawsuits stating that President Obama is a Kenyan citizen and filing not one but two birth certificates--both of which are obvious fakes--to prove it, it seems that our country is absolutely lousy with cognitive dissonance right now.

Oh, and Obama's "socialist agenda?"

Today I read an interview with Frank Llewellyn, the National Director of the Democratic Socialists of America, which is the largest socialist organization in the country. Here are excerpts:

Q. Where on the scale does Obama fall on socialism?

A. There are many ways we can say that Obama is not a socialist, and that he is in fact governing as a centrist, but that doesn't necessarily get people to listen. Clearly the Republicans are saying it since that's all they've got to say. I don't believe they're going to stop making this charge.

It's good for me, we have more media attention as a result of this stuff than anything else in the last 10 years. When I announce our membership numbers, I'm contemplating sending Michael Steele a letter thanking him.

Q. On the school controversy, what was your reaction to people saying that the president speaking to schools is socialist? What goes through your mind?

A. The same thing that's gone through my mind every time the Republicans talk about socialism. It's silly, surreal, uninformed, and it certainly doesn't reflect what modern socialists think, and it doesn't reflect what Obama thinks. Obama's a market guy! Obama believes in markets. He probably spoke more about the role of the markets in the primary than Clinton did. So, there's no question that the Republicans are doing the same thing they did when Roosevelt was president -- confusing somebody who is trying to save capitalism from itself with somebody who is trying to destroy it. He's not trying to destroy capitalism.

And this school thing is just ridiculous.

Q. Is Obama a socialist?

A. No.

Q. Is he a secret socialist?

A. He's not a secret socialist. He's not any kind of socialist at all. He's not challenging the power of the corporations. The banking reforms that have been suggested are not particularly far reaching. He says we must have room for innovation. But we had innovation -- look where it got us. So I just...I can't...I mean laugh out loud, really.

I was on Glenn Beck recently and he said Canada is a socialist country. Well, there is a party in Canada that's called "socialist" within the Democratic party, that's won some provincial elections, never won a federal election. It would be news to them that Canada is socialist. So it's just unserious.

They always use socialism to try to defeat moderate reforms...just because something is government run doesn't mean it's socialist. I've never heard anybody say we have a socialist army.

Read the full article here.

So let me get this straight: the right wingers are saying that Obama is a socialist, or that he has a socialist agenda. (I've read a few people who have called it "socialistical." Watch the extraneous suffixes, folks.) Yet the Grand Poobah of the largest socialist organization in the country says that Obama is in no way, shape, or form--or in policy--a socialist. He finds the suggestion "silly, surreal, and uninformed." Do you think that will get people to stop calling Obama a socialist? Not a chance. "Uninformed" is the key word there. As Llewellyn states, government run is not the equivalent of socialist. But the cognitive dissonance will continue, with people ignoring facts, logic, and reality.

Tonight, I'll be settling in with my hubby and we'll watch our President's speech to a joint session of Congress concerning health care reform. I'm looking forward to it, and I think he'll be bringing his A-game.