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Dear Marty, The First Amendment is Not Optional

Omnipotent Poobah — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:08:15 +0000

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? - A Sharia-like movement is afoot to deprive Muslims of everything from the right to build religious centers to their First Amendment protections. Burning Korans is not the answer to violent Muslim extremism.

The Anti-Mosque That Ain’t a Mosque crowd seems to be going all Sharia on America’s ass. You’d think the possibility – not the certainty mind you – of building a Muslim community center amongst the strip clubs and bars of Manhattan is a worse offense than knocking the WTC down to begin with.

We have idiots closing community centers in Kentucky ostensibly for lack of parking because according to the property owner, Muslims can’t be trusted to adhere to no parking signs. Florida’s Dove World Outreach Center, a violation of truth in advertising laws if there ever was one, is reaching out to Muslims by burning Korans. Now, New Republic editor-in-chief Marty Peretz says Muslims are unworthy of First Amendment protection, presumably regardless of whether they are citizens or not.

Marty the Magnificent Sez…
Says Marty the Magnificent, “…frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.”

Gee Marty, my gut – hell, every fiber of my being – tells me you would abuse First Amendment protections too. No, wait! You already have by suggesting the First Amendment is an option like the automatic transmission on your Ford Crown Vic. The same goes for your toxic brethren like the book burning “Doves” and the spreading community of knotheads elsewhere around the country.

Marty, can you not see the irony of exercising your First Amendment rights by saying someone else should be deprived of theirs? Screeching Doves, can you not see the same by the light of your Constitutional bonfire?

Whether Muslims “raise a fuss” is their call, not yours. To speak or not to speak are both protected rights. Besides, my gut also tells me that condemning their “brotherhood” wouldn’t make one iota of difference in your opinion.

The Lonesome Doves and Tim McVey
And Lonesome Doves, would you be burning Bibles if an inbred clan of Timothy McVey wannabes had rammed the WTC with an airplane instead? I’m an atheist and I’d be quite happy if someone burned all the holy books, regardless of whatever holier than though sect dreamt them up.

But wait! No, I wouldn’t! I believe in the First Amendment.

It isn’t optional because I despise you and what you’re saying. It isn’t optional because some lunkhead’s book isn’t as holy as you believe yours is. It isn’t optional because your gut tells you they don’t value human life. It isn’t optional because they are Muslim, Baptist, or Druid nor because some of their members were bat shit crazy and wanted to kill people for things like, gee, I dunno, disrespecting the Koran (see David Petraeus). In this country, people can say what they want and worship or not worship as they see fit – despite cockamamie faux “wars on Christmas” or people being gay in the privacy of their own homes or carbuncles on the ass of humanity who think their shit is infinitely less odoriferous than others are.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS NOT OPTIONAL!

…and the day it becomes so is the day we lose the privilege of calling ourselves American.

New Republic owner Marty Peretz sick of pretending Muslims “are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment” (salon.com)
Martin Peretz of The New Republic’s Vile Attack Against Muslim-Americans (alan.com)
In His Gut (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
“Petraeus says Koran burning could endanger troops” and related posts (blackfive.net)
Florida preacher vows to burn Korans despite death threats and condemnation (theglobeandmail.com)
Tuesday’s Mini-Report (washingtonmonthly.com)
After All, Only People Deserve Rights: (brothersjuddblog.com)

The Republicans: Poised at the Glory Hole

Omnipotent Poobah — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:09:54 +0000

ENTERING THE GLORY(HOLE) - The Republicans are almost certain to recapture all or part of Congress this time around, despite lower poll numbers than the Dems and the lunacy inspired by their inbred kin, the Tea Baggers. They think it's glorious now, but will it be a "surprise" on the other side of the hole?

As we enter the midterm elections the US is like a ship without a rudder – or more appropriately, a ship with a broken one. Obamanism has had mixed results at best with as much complaint from the left as the right. Approval ratings for Congressional Democrats are lower than whale crap at the bottom of the Marianas Trench and for Republicans … well, let’s just say they’re so bad even The Big Dick™ would flinch at the numbers.

The prevailing wisdom is that Republicans will romp and take back Congress for Contract on America – Part Deux. John “Agent of Orange” Boehner and Mitch “Yertle the Turtle” McConnell will rise to the podium and try to control their herd of cats better than the Democrats’ disgraceful performance.

Being egotistical, intransigent buffoons they’ll surely prattle on about non-existent mandates, promises of a new beginning, and demands that anyone – left, right, or center – genuflect and kiss their rings (and their asses too while they’re down there).

After 10 years of Republicans who rule and oppose rule like bungs in the hole of democracy, they’ll find a country a whole lot harder to govern than they remember. First, they were the ones to lay George’s flaming bags of dog crap on America’s front porch for someone else to solve (it turns out, poorly) and the country is none too happy about it.

AIN'T THAT A PURTY PITCHER? - Just what the nation needs ... more crazed loons.

Second, they will have to expand their limited single word, monosyllabic platform beyond “no” – and hell no, “Hell no” won’t do.

And most dicey, they’ll have to pay for all those Tea Parties they attended so giddily. Now that the Baggers are beginning to spectacularly embarrass or outright turn on them, they’ll have to figure out what to do with the Mad Hatter crowd. The Baggers may be imbeciles, but they’re hell-bent on Change No One Can Believe In and the hell with Hope, Republicans, and the portion of voters who have more brain cells than a doughnut.

The prospect this year’s turnover signals a permanent American move somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan and the foundation for a glorious thousand year Reich is far-fetched (and no, I’m not comparing them to Nazis, only to idiots). They built the gallows over the past 10 years and laid out more than enough rope to hang themselves. And because Dems are the limpest politicians on Earth, they’ll unwittingly help the Republicans put the noose on by doing exactly what they did under the reign of Bush the Lesser and The Messiah™ – cower and agree with the Republicans on every issue because their natural response to bullies is to pee down their own legs. In other words, the Republicans and their in-bred cousins, the Tea Baggers, will prove they are their own worst enemies.

When Nancy Pelosi rose to power, I cautioned Democrats against being too effusive over what the historic change meant. They didn’t listen. They fist pumped, whooped and hollered, and shit in their own mess kits. I’m cautioning the Republicans against the same thing. However, being recidivist crapweasels I’m sure they’ll pour it on even thicker than the Democrats.

Republicans, ignore me at your peril. Before you even regain power, I can already see how you’ll lose it just as spectacularly as you did before, only the timetable is still left to complete.

Hopefully, you’ll lose it by 2012. We’re in bad enough shape already.

Noonan: Do You Stop an Elephant Charging? (online.wsj.com)
Rossi gets some Tea Party endorsements (seattlepi.com)
Governor ‘Moonbeam’ Employs ‘Tea Bagger’ Insult on MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ (newsbusters.org)
The top of Pence’s priority list (washingtonmonthly.com)
A big wave is headed Nancy Pelosi’s way and few places to duck (sfgate.com)
The Intransigent vs. the Inept (omnipotentpoobah.com)
You Know You Might Be a Tea Partier If… (omnipotentpoobah.com)
Gallup Poll Suggest Huge Republican Congress Victories (themoderatevoice.com)

Anything’s Fair in Love and Politics as Long as It’s Not Gay Love

Omnipotent Poobah — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:04:33 +0000

When the news broke that former Bushinista and RNC Chairman Ken “Bud” Mehlman is gay I just thought it was an interesting news tidbit. I so readily accept the fact there are gay people in all walks of life – and that many people don’t like it one bit – that I don’t always give news like this the attention it deserves.

Then, I saw this article in which blogger Mike Rogers suggested Mehlman might make amends to the gay community for the damage he’d done to gay rights by donating his, “fabulous $3 million condo … to the cause that he worked so hard against.”

Three mill seems a bit steep for a modern day Benedict Arnold. Being a hypocrite is a free perk that comes with the First Amendment. After all, the Constitution allows free speech, it doesn’t say anything about hypocritical speech.

TURNING A NEW LEAF - Ken Mehlman is out of the closet, but the damage he did to the gay community is largely still in there.

The Pogrom of the Grand Old Paranoids
I’m not much for outing people against their will. I figure that’s no one else’s business, regardless of their sexual orientation. But then, Mehlman wasn’t your everyday closeted gay person either. He had a position of power which he exercised against himself and millions of others at the behest of the Grand Old Paranoids.

His overlords at the party knew of his orientation, but decided that a trusty attack dog was more important to the cause than being up front with their constituency. Anything’s fair in love and politics – well, maybe not in unnatural, scary gay love – but certainly in politics.

Commander Bunnypants apparently knew of the “problem” as did The Big Dick™ who is double damned for taking a hard line against gay marriage, which his own daughter might’ve otherwise enjoyed. Of course, Dick changed his tune (with caveats) after leaving the White House, which makes him double-damned and a flip-flopper.

The subterfuge isn’t particularly unusual, every few weeks there are similar stories. What is interesting, however, is how many Bushinistas used Mehlman’s reliably straight male injunctions as proof that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a sensible policy. Mehlman even said so himself and worked closely with Team Bush to craft that message.

Now that the administration’s discordant stance is a little better known, how many of the sanctimonious, anti-moral relativity crowd will react? Will they take to their soap boxes like Mr. Mission Accomplished climbed the mountain of World Trade Center rubble? Will they have megaphones in hand, ready to denounce their former leader or renounce their still shaky moral stance?

Ironically, Mehlman Can’t Join the Military Now
Here’s a case in which the Commander-in-Chief, vociferously opposed to gays in the military, didn’t follow his own logic when it came to his minions. Instead, he placed a known gay person in charge of explaining how gays were a national security danger. It’s not clear who asked or who told, but clearly the White House knew. Even though he wasn’t in the military, and ironically can’t join now, Mehlman was certainly a bigger cog in the national machine than a PFC choking on burning Afghan dust.

Suggesting one can be both for and against gays seems like a large contradiction for a policy usually defended on moral grounds. It’s a stance that tacitly says a soldier or administration policy advocate is somehow less gay if people don’t know the truth about them.

I’m confident that most of the DADT/Prop 8 crowd will stay as mute as humanly possible about Mehlman – these things are difficult to explain away. But, in the end it may not mean anything. The Bush administration will have to live with their actions, as will Mehlman. I can have some empathy for the man, but I suspect neither will lose much sleep over it. Their long-winded, anti-gay speeches notwithstanding, morality was always just a talking point for them anyway.

As I said, the First Amendment tolerates hypocritical speech, but valid claims to superior morality … not so much.

Question time with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic on Mehlman (pinkbananaworld.com)
Wayne Besen: Ken Mehlman’s Difficult Path to Redemption (huffingtonpost.com)
Ken Mehlman Reaps What He’s Sown (pinkbananaworld.com)
New York Times Fascinated That Republicans Don’t Care That Ken Mehlman Is Gay (outsidethebeltway.com)
The Most Powerful Gay Republican in History (gayrights.change.org)
Open thread for night owls: Ken Mehlman (dailykos.com)
“BREAKING: Former RNC chair Ken Mehlman comes out as gay man” and related posts (gay.americablog.com)
Does Ken Mehlman Fail His Barmitvah Covenant? (lezgetreal.com)
Thoughts on Ken Mehlman | Michael Tomasky (guardian.co.uk)

Randomness: God Stuff Style

Omnipotent Poobah — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:37:47 +0000

THE HEAVENLY CHOIR – Gittin’ jiggy wit it, accapella style.

God Stuff

Inspector Gadget Lives!

The Inexplicable Explained by the Unimaginable

DARWIN LIVES! - Actual proof that Creationism is a load of hoohey. Click photo for more >>

Sometimes Even The Grizzly Whisperer™ Looks Good

Medicine for the Medically Disinclined

Advanced Robotics for the Beginner

Gangsters Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight

For Those Who Can’t Get Their Mind Out of the Gutter

There’s More Than One Sucker Born Every Minute

Some Serious Japanalia

More Randomness (omnipotentpoobah.com)
Montana Fishburne Charged With Battery (movers.net)
Murata Unicycle Robot – Pic (risingsunofnihon.com)
Kim Kardashian ‘Should Say Something’ About Montana Fishburne (thesuperficial.com)
History of Sex Robots (medicalinsurance.org)
Forget Elaine: The Animated Ladies Of Yesterday Are The Real Style Inspirations [Trend Watch] (jezebel.com)
Pigeon Wranglers (neatorama.com)

Randomness: Nerd Girl Porn Style

Omnipotent Poobah — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:00:15 +0000

FARHRENHEIT UNDER 18 – A little Ray Bradbury wi-fi, hi-fi, sci-fi.

Nerd Girl Porn and Other Sexy Things

The Free Market Uber Alles

Stuff That Doesn’t Fit Anywhere Else

SARAH SAY IT AIN'T SO - Sarah, be careful about what you say. One day you're a hot MILF and the next day you turn into Dr. Laura. Click photo for more >>

Gangsta Fails

Emo Robots

Sushi Rots Your Brain

More Randomness (omnipotentpoobah.com)
The Gravest Threat to Your Job Isn’t Illegal Immigrants: It’s The Robots! (neatorama.com)
History of Sex Robots (medicalinsurance.org)
NASA’s Mars Robot Busts a Move (neatorama.com)
5 Greatest Inventions in Porn (coedmagazine.com)
Fighting the frontal wedgie (chicagonow.com)
Mayor Of Wasilla Responds To Levi Johnston’s “Campaign” (perezhilton.com)
Robot babies: Creepy or amazing? (io9.com)
The YouTube Genius Who Sings Of Vaginas, Sex With Bearded Men (jezebel.com)
Jimmy Kimmel Endorses Levi Johnston For Mayor (thehollywoodgossip.com)
Khloe Kardashian spends 30 minutes discussing her ‘swollen mess’ of a vagina: Why don’t I despise her? (popwatch.ew.com)
Am I Still A Virgin Even If I Use A Sex Toy? (worldofalbert.blogspot.com)
Can Robert Pattenson Actually Have a Vagina Allergy? [Mysteries] (gawker.com)