Ohio State Rep Wants To Ban Abortion Because China Has Too Many Smart Kids – Um, I don’t think there’s any chance we can (assuming we even should) seek to rival China’s birth rate and population. Leaving aside, of course, the plain fact that Rep. Martin is simply casting about for a justification for his position.
Historians Agree: David Barton Is No Historian – “His game is to inundate public policy makers (including local and state education boards as well as Congress) with ideas packaged as products that will move policy.”
Newt Gingrich Is Just Like King David – “So it is pretty obvious that ‘family values’ leaders will do what is necessary to come up with ways to justify supporting Gingrich despite his history …” When you believe in absolutes, you learn to contort yourself around them mightily.
Obama’s Communist Nightmare Continues – “Clearly, Obama’s plan to turn the United States into a Marxist — not to mention Muslim and atheist — workers paradise is working like a charm.”
Single Ladies–Ruining It For Everyone – Actually, I’d raise the question of what the heck “Household Headed By Women” really means … as opposed to the “default” of headed by men?
A big shakeup in the DOMA defense – Law firms are certainly within their rights to decide whether or not to take certain cases, or even to change their minds after a time. This is not a “To Kill a Mockingbird” attempt to save an innocent whom everyone else has abandoned. This is defense of a political policy, which may appeal on principle — but, then, it’s not being done out of a noble sense of “defending an unpopular position,” either.
Even for Fox, a cheap attack – Stay classy (or at least truth-loving), Fox News! You really do justify that whole “Faux News” label sometimes.
Define ‘peacetime’ – I see Mitt is going to run on the “reality-challenged” ticket.
Jon Stewart Grills Mike Huckabee On His Praise For David Barton – I watched the on-air portion of this, and it really made me wonder how soon Huckabee will return to the show, since Stewart grilled him fairly well and all Mike could do was deke and dodge and answer different questions than what he was asked. I need to watch he unabridged interview.
Which Airports Have the Most Unfair Fares? – NYTimes.com – (1) Margie found this article very interesting. (2) Look, another reason to fly into Houston Hobby vs IAH. (3) Amusement that two of the top 5 most overpriced large airports are named after Republicans. (4) Woot, Denver is “competitively-priced.”
How to Turn DCA Into a Parking Lot – There was always something magical about which section you were parked in at Disneyland. That said, I’m happier to see a second park (even DCA) than a vast parking lot.
The 0.00014 percent solution – Remarkable that the GOP, oh-so-concerned over the budget, spent so much rhetoric on stuff that really doesn’t affect the budget all that much.
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand: A Love Affair Against the Common Good – One would think the conflict between Rand and Christianity would get as much play on the Right as the love affair between Rand and unfettered Capitalism. It’s telling which aspect of Rand makes the GOP go ga-ga.
Robert Reich (Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich) – “If the rich were taxed at the same rates they were half a century ago, they’d be paying in over $350 billion more this year alone, which translates into trillions over the next decade. That’s enough to accomplish everything the nation needs while also reducing future deficits” But … but … that would make them fractionally less rich!
Norton Disables Itself After One Year – Wow! If it’s a way to automatically get rid of Symantec software without reformatting your machine, it might even be worth it. (Side note: Way to go, Symantec, in driving still more people to Microsoft’s free AV solution.)
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
Quote of the Day – I would ask why anyone still cares about anything McCain says, except that he remains a regular on political talk shows and the press.
BBC News – Academics to ’embrace Wikipedia’ – There’s nothing particularly wrong with Wikipedia that awareness of its weaknesses and strengths can’t deal with. It’s a fabulously useful source of information — so long as you drill down appropriately into the source data.
Yglesias » Arab Autocrats Think Fighting Gaddafi Will Help Them Maintain Power – “There’s an obvious question as to what, in reality, American policy in the Arab world is. Is this part of a policy of boosting democratic change in the region, or is it part of a policy of bolstering the position of the Persian Gulf dictators who are important clients of American arms manufacturers?”
David Barton’s Anti-Islam Expert Is Disgraced Former FBI Agent – “Apparently, the Muslim Brotherhood is so powerful that it managed to get Guandolo to sleep with the key government witness he was supposed to be protecting in order to discredit him and stop him from exposing their plot to take over the United States.”
Cella Energy claims breakthrough that would result in $1.50 per gallon gasoline alternative. – “If this is real you can expect the Oil Industry to have an absolute shit fit over it. I’d like to be optimistic about it, but the cynic in me can’t help but think that even if it does work as well as claimed that there’ll be some wicked trade-off like it causes cancer in everything that comes in contact with it or something else equally horrible.” Or at least that’s what some with a vested interest in the status quo will CLAIM … [/conspiracymode]
A note to the Teapartiers… – But … but … if they had guns, they’d automatically have freedom! Plus, they’re Muslims! You can’t trust them with guns!
Again with ‘exceptionalism’? – I’d like to think that “exceptional” is meant as “unique” or “unanticipated” or somehow particularly wonderful. But “exceptional” also seems a lazy way of excusing our behavior: nobody should be allowed to torture prisoners “except” the US (because we’re “exceptional”); nobody should overthrow governments “except” the US (because we’re “exceptional”), etc. That this word has become a ginned-up synonym for “patriotic” is all the more lousy.
The serious flaws in the GOP’s anti-abortion bill – Not only does it block Medicaid funding for abortions when rapes aren’t “forcible” enough, it effectively does the same for private insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But remember, the GOP is steadfastly against imposing the government’s tyrannical health insurance rules on private individuals!
Frank Rich: The Tea Party wags the dog – The GOP establishment is potentially in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, that has consequences for the nation as a whole, too.
GOP Priorities: Redefining Rape – While abortion is an option I’ll never be happy about, this, right here, is precisely why I will never make that decision for someone else, for the person, individual, citizen, woman, who is ultimately having to make that choice. That there are those who are so enamored of the abstract that they would deign to decide who “qualifies,” whose rape was “forcible” enough to “merit” coverage of abortion services, is itself sickening enough.
I Me Mine: The Unholy Trinity Of Ayn Rand « Tomfoolery – Rand appeals to the high school / college period of self-discovery by saying, “You are the only person in the world who matters. Pursue your own self-interest because that is the highest good.” Most people grow out of that, fortunately. Randians never seem to. And way too many of them are now in the halls of our government.
Building a Better Word Cloud – An interesting analysis (esp. if you compare the most frequent words and compare them to the person usually considered more “aloof” and “analyitical” and out of touch, vs. the person who it’s often claimed is “one of us”).
HOWTO make health-care cheaper by spending more on patients who need it – ” In other words, providing excellent, personalized care to the small number of patients who don’t fit the system’s model saves far more money than making the system more stringent, with more paperwork, higher co-pays and other punitive measures. It’s a win-win.” The problem with systems is that they are rarely dynamic enough to deal with those outside the system. And they usually do everything they can to defend themselves from change.
Neil Barofsky: Credit ratings for banks now include assurance of government bailouts – Imagine the brouhaha if social activists were stating that any individual should feel free to take whatever risk they want because the government would always bail them out with a security net. But, then, the banks are “too big to fail,” and too many individuals are “too small to matter.”
The original Battlestar Galactica series bible is Ron Moore’s rebuke to Star Trek – Avoiding “the usual stories about parallel universes, time-travel, mind-control, evil twins, God-like powers and all the other cliches.” But we will have prophecies and flashbacks and future histories, humans who turn out to be programmed robots compelled to do things, multiple versions of the same people with different personalities, and some divine spirit who’s pulling the strings of destiny somewhere. I’m not quite sure where the vision here went off the rails. (I speak half in jest — BSG did some remarkable and stunning things, esp. toward the beginning of the series — but half in truth.)
House GOP wants to monitor what you are doing online – Not that the Dems have been all that impressive with privacy issues, but the GOP’s willingness to go all Big Brother Police State with information gathering on the off chance that it will protect Law & Order is a lovely juxtaposition to the quasi-libertarianism of the Tea Parties that brought them to power.
Voyager and the Will to Explore – “Long-term projects are guided by the decisions and the will of those who conceive and nurture them. The question now is whether we have the will to keep pushing, Voyager style, into the dark.”
Congress.org – News : More troops lost to suicide – “The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” — Robert Wilson Lynd
Study: No one cares about your tweets – Holy Kaw! – Okay, all the play here is over folks actually reading their Twitter feeds. The actually study indicates 1/3 of Twitter users check the site regularly, and 1/3 check it once every couple of weeks. That’s hardly surprising.
The indignation of the persecuted hegemon: An illustration – “It’s a sad thing. The sadness of it is qualified somewhat by the harm it does to others, but it remains sad enough that one wishes there was something one could do to help those trapped inside this self-inflicted misery.”
Even Greater Moments – Glad to see this is back, and looking forward to attending next time we’re at Disneyland.
Anti-drug groups protest RTD bus ads for marijuana convention – The Denver Post – So a legal organization, promoting a legal gathering at the Convention Center, related to something that (with stringent limits) is legal … is a Grave Danger to Our Society, according to law enforcement. “You keep using that word ‘law’ — I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Cheering a victory over their own idea – “In case there are any doubts on this, Republicans are cheering today’s ruling, but it’s not because they have a problem with the mandate. It’s not even because they have a substantive problem with the Affordable Care Act itself. This is about cheap politics.”
Right Hails Health Care Ruling As Victory For the Constitution – “Amazing, isn’t it, how when a judge rules in a way the Religious Right dislikes, it is unadulterated judicial activism but when a judge rules in their favor, it is a heroic stand for the Constitution?”
“Semper Fi Parents”‘ blog is supposedly about chronicling the Marine career of their daughter, which I think is an awesome thing to do. Apparently it’s also occasionally about screedifying about “those Liberals.” (That the underlying Blogspot site is called “RightWingWizKid” might betray a certain bias). So join us on this journey to discover why I (as an avowed Liberal) don’t believe in God. Which is the actual headline of the post: Why Liberals Don’t Believe in God:
Somehow I don’t think this is going to be a “fair and balanced” appraisal
There is a reason why many liberals don’t believe in God. It’s because he has been unfair to them. He gave something to the rest of us that liberals don’t have. It’s the only conclusion I can come to. In thinking over some basic liberal beliefs, the only logical conclusion is that liberals are missing a few brain cells, mainly the ones that give the rest of us common sense and prevent us from being hypocrites. Otherwise, how can they believe the following?:
So, just to be clear, the reason Liberals don’t believe in God is because they’re idiots, so they’re resentful of God for treating them unfairly. I’ll assume this is going to be part of the “writing about Constitutional and political events that I feel not only affect the men and women of America’s Armed Forces, but the freedoms the rest of us enjoy due to their sacrifice” and, in fact, meant to be … um … humorous. (Ah, wait, “political satire” is included in the list of things written about here — except there’s very little satirical in the rest of the post, unless it’s to be a satire of standard Conservative blogging points.) Ahem.
Note that accusing Liberals of being atheists and Not True Christians and the like is a fairly common calumny on the Right. They take horrible offense if anyone questions their piety, or their beliefs, but take it for granted that anyone to the left of Glenn Beck is probably suspect in their orthodoxy. That makes this a “ha ha funny” moment that really isn’t, because it’s joking about Liberals all being atheists (which I resent as a Christian and Liberal) in a way that goes right along with the libel that Liberals are all atheists.
Or, maybe, I’m just an overly-sensitive Liberal.
That Al Gore is a hero for speaking out against global warming. As he leaves his home, which has the highest energy consumption in the state, boards a private jet, and then takes a limo to wherever he is promoting his dogma.
Ah, let’s start off with Al Gore, who has the burden of being That Clinton Guy’s VP, The Guy Who Ran Against Dubya, and That Global Warming Dude. Al Gore is a favorite target of the Right, and, in the grand tradition of shooting at the messenger when the message is bothersome.
As far as the whole “Al’s House is an Energy Hog,” I’ll point to this Snopes article on the subject.
Liberals applaud the ACLU for fighting for the rights of the average American.
Actually, I applaud the ACLU for fighting for the rights of all Americans. If we only fight for the rights of “average” Americans, or “majority” Americans, or “the ones who think like we do” Americans, we weaken all Americans’ rights.
While they overlook the fact that the ACLU wages war against such traditions as the Boy Scouts of America, the NRA, Christmas, and numerous other decent and moral things.
This makes it sound like the ACLU is particularly targeting the institutions involved just becuse they are “traditions” and “decent and moral things.” Which, of course, is just goofy. In the specific cases involved, the ACLU has fought for actual Constitutional principles. They’ve also defended a variety of conservative / traditional institutions on those same principles. The ACLU understands what “liberty and justice for all” means.
The fact that the ACLU lobbies for the “rights” of terrorists and provides legal representation to such groups as the North American Man-Boy Love Association doesn’t bother a liberal in the least.
And they defended the rights of the Nazis to march in Skokie, too. And it bothers me, insofar as I detest the Nazis. And NAMBLA. And (actual) terrorsts.
But if we only extend those “inalienable” Constitutional rights to the folks we agree with, then they aren’t rights, are they? They’re just majority privileges. Which means that any time the majority thinks that you or I are on the fringe and undesirable or embarrassing, we can have our privileges taken away, too.
Liberals support abortion on demand.
There’s this odd meme on the Right that Liberals looooove abortion. That they relish seeing how high they can push the abortion numbers. That they throw abortion parties and abortion picnics and hold abortion competitions. They want “abortion on demand” delivered to their doorstep as fast as movies on demand are — and they want you to pay for it, bwah-ha-ha! Ugh. Most Liberals I know (self included) aren’t particularly fond of abortion. We don’t particularly like it. We really don’t like the circumstances that cause women to think of it as the least worst alternative. While I am sure there are some Left Fringers who see abortion as a casual birth control method, that’s not how most Liberals see it. That’s not how most women who’ve had abortions see it. We’re with Bill Clinton’s desire to make it “safe, legal, and rare.” But as much as we dislike abortion, we’re also reluctant to make that decision for a woman, or to get between a woman and her doctor over whether it’s necessary or desirable. And we’ve very aware of how abortion restrictions (and the birth control restrictions that too many on the far Right are also covertly in favor of) have been used to oppress women in ages past, intentionally or just effectively.
And they oppose the death penalty.
So, somehow it’s okay to say “Liberals love abortion, but hate the death penalty” and not note the converse of “Conservatives hate abortion, but love the death penalty.” I give kudos to the Catholic Church for, on principle, opposing both.
Now I can understand an argument that “the unborn are innocent; the condemned are guilty.” That does draw a distinction — but many Liberals object to capital punishment, less over the idea of taking a life (though some folks’ eagerness to do so gets a little creepy), than over the idea that our justice system (especially when it comes to capital crimes) is so flawed that we can have little confidence that, in fact, the condemned are guilty. Anybody who claims they are against the killing of innocents would have to be willfully blind to think that doesn’t happen on Death Row in this country. Not everyone executed, certainly, doesn’t deserve it. But not everyone does — and that’s an unjust killing that’s done on behalf of all of us.
Liberals feel that it is fine for such experts as Danny Glover, Sean Penn, George Clooney and the like to air their views on American political policies. But when Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter or Glenn Beck share their thoughts, they should be restricted by a “Fairness” Doctrine.
I am not a particular fan of the “Fairness Doctrine,” but, regardless, there are no actual effort from the Left to re-impose it. Even if there was, it cuts both ways. It means that if Sean Penn gets to blather on the air for an hour, then Glenn Beck does. And, frankly, Sean Penn gives me hives. But I don’t think he’s any less intellectually, educationally, or tempermentally unqualified to shoot off his mouth than Limbaugh, Coulter, or Beck.
Honestly, I wish they’d all shut up — but I defend their rights to bloviate as they see fit and/or profitable.
Liberals openly support gay rights parades. Yet feel that Christmas Nativity scenes should be illegal.
Um … no. If any organization wants to apply for a parade permit — be it the Ultra Gay Leather Boys of Downtown Denver, or the Devout Christian Nativity Reenactors of Our Lady of Perpetual Motion — that’s fine. As long as everyone gets the opportunity and everyone abides by the rules, that’s what makes this nation great. My objection (and that of such whacko groups as the ACLU) to Nativity Scenes only involves their display on public land with public funding, and in circumstances where other religious (or irreligious groups) don’t get the same opportunity. In other words, where Christianity, exclusively, is being supported by the taxpayer.
My family has a nativity scene. We have it in our house. My church has one that it will display by the altar. Heck, if my church decided to display it on their front lawn (as some of my neighbors do), that’d be fine by me. But why should I be asking people who don’t believe in the Nativity to fund, through their taxes, the display of a nativity scene on government property?
That “racial profiling” of Muslims is wrong. But that returning war vets are “potential domestic terrorists.”
Again, a lovely mix-and-mismatch of different issues. Profiling of Muslims and/or Arabs (or Semites other than Israelis) is “wrong” because (a) it sweeps up a whole group of people based on the actions of a tiny minority (e.g., why not, then, profile Caucasians or Gun Owners based on the terrorist activities of Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and the Huttaree?). (b) it’s ineffective (it assumes that all Islamicist terrorists are swarthy Middle Easterners, ignoring the various cases where that has not been the case), let alone the opportunity that such a profiling regime would provide actual terrorists to bypass security by coming up with fellow-travelers, mules, and others who would not trigger the “OMG HE’S AN AYRAB!” profile. (c) it encourages group prejudice, something we all (except for the proverbial WASP) have fine historical reasons to reject.
As to the whole veteran meme — yeesh. The DHS, after having issued a report about possible left-wing extremist groups in the US posing a domestic terror threat, has a report in the pipeline (initiated under the George W. Bush administration) about possible right-wing extremist terror … and the Right, once Obama is in office, goes ape-shit. It’s worth noting that the report suggests, as one element, returning veterans, as combat troops, might be targeted by right-wing extremist groups for recruitment. It didn’t suggest that all veterans were possible terrorists — it simply said that right-wing terrorists might see combat-trained veterans as possible recruits. Duh.
That it’s fine for a kid to bring a book about Adolph Hitler or Karl Marx to school. Yet that a kid carrying a Bible should be expelled.
I’m not sure what’s wrong about a kid bringing a book about Hitler or Marx, as historical subjects, to school. A kid obsessively reading books about Hitler would be more disturbing. I doubt any kid (or most adults) would be interested in reading much by Marx. The Bible-carrying kid expulsion does sound pretty outrageous. And, um, unrealistic. If someone would actually point to a case of the latter, I’d be more than happy to condemn it.
That Fox News is nothing more that an offshoot of the Republican Party.
Never mind that pretty much the entire active list of potential Republican candidates for President in 2012 have gigs with Fox. Never mind that Fox has openly declared itself “the voice of the opposition” to the Democratic Administration. Never mind that Fox’s owner, News Corp, contributed under orders of its president, Rupert Murdoch, significant sums to to Republican causes in this last election, and that Murdoch made significant personal contributions to GOP leaders’ campaigns.
And that Keith Olbermann, Katie Couric, Chris Matthews, etc. simply report the news without any personal bias.
I don’t know any Liberal who would make that statement about Keith Olbermann. They may like him (or not), but he’s clearly got a Point of View. And, in fact, he’s not actually hired as a newscaster, but as someone with a personal opinion. As is Chris Matthews. (And, for that matter, as is Bill O’Reilly.) Criticisms about Katie Couric are mostly because she managed to point out, through her interviews, that Sarah Palin is a dolt. And she did it by letting the subject’s words speak for themselves.
Liberals will cite the U.S. Constitution when they speak about the “separation of church and state. Despite the fact that that phrase is not included in the Constitution.
Well, no. I don’t know any Liberal who will claim the phrase “separation of church and state” is actually, word for word, in the Constitution. Really, can we have a citation here?
That said, the phrase was coined by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, and echoed by Founding Father JamesMadison, and is clearly the sentiment of a number of the Founders as to what the First Amendment was meant to do. The term “separation of powers” isn’t in text of the Constitution, either, but I don’t hear anyone protesting that as a bogus concept. Well, except for for the folks who dislike the judiciary.
Liberals believe that Barack Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. In spite of the fact that he has done nothing to earn it, and he was only in office for a month or two when he was nominated.
Actually, most Liberals I know would agree that Obama had not done much to warrant a Nobel Peace Prize (except to be Not George W. Bush). In fact, that was my reaction when it came out. Ironically, many Liberals would think it even less deserved currently. (Personally, the Nobel Peace Prize is … of dubious distinction, in terms of some of the folks to whom it’s been awarded.)
They believe Obama and Pelosi when they say that universal health care will lead to a reduction in the federal deficit. They never ask how insuring the (supposedly) 45 million Americans without health insurance will make money.
Obama and Pelosi assert it because the Congressional Budget Office asserts it. Here’s why that works (hints: free competition, getting away from an “emergency room as baseline medical care” culture for the poor, seeking efficiencies in Medicare, taxation of “Cadillac” plans).
Liberals will repeatedly bash Judaism and Christianity.
Liberals dislike the assertive claims of cultural ownership and exceptional virtue and righteous dominance by Christianity in America. To the extent that Christianists claim “We’re Number One (and the government should give us money because of that, and, oh, our religious laws should be national laws, too), I will feel free to “bash” those Christian groups (while still being a regular churchgoer).
Liberals tend to support Judaism as a minority religion, though they also tend to reject American foreign policy knee-jerkingly supporting Israel no matter what it does. (As a Liberal, I support Israel’s right to exist and be secure; I reject its territorial aggrandizement and oppression of the Palestinian populations; I also reject the conservative elements of Israeli culture that seek to run it as a conservative Jewish theocracy).
But they become angry if they hear anyone say anything bad about Islam.
Nice blanket statement. I get angry when people assert that all Muslims are out to TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY AND CUT OFF OUR HEADS AND MAKE THIS THE UNITED STATES OF SHARIA. That’s just a xenophobia to go along with previous American cultural/immigration shifts (along the lines of “ALL IRISH AND ITALIANS ARE OUT TO TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY AND COMPEL US TAKE COMMUNION AND MAKE THIS INTO THE UNITED STATES OF THE POPE”).
On the other hand, I (and other Liberals) are more than happy to criticize theocratic Islamic regimes and societies that impose cruel punishment upon (e.g.) rape victims and homosexuals (and, for that matter, Christians). And we do.
Ironically, I feel that Liberals (at least as I consider myself one) take the concept of “Don’t Tread on Me” more seriously than many Conservatives. We believe in inclusion (don’t tread on anyone) and protection for all, not just for the people we approve of.
So the next time you hear a liberal spouting off with some stupid statement, try and keep in mind that it’s not entirely their fault.
Yeah. We’ve probably been goaded into it by some conservative telling us we’re liberal idiots who hate God.
Note: in response to a comment on his original post, the author posted a full-length “defense” — which basically just restates all the points he originally made above.
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
The Ken Buck Rape Case | Mother Jones – This wasn’t a “she-said, he-said” case. It was a “she-accused, he-confessed” case, and Buck still didn’t prosecute. The other factors mentioned are interesting, but fail to address this core fact.
Is Downward Dog The Path to Hell? – Yes, because once you start taking yoga, “loneliness, alcoholism, and promiscuity” are the well-known, inevitable results …
The New No. 2 – Wow — some pretty massive changes to Disney California Adventures. Kind of glad I finally got a chance to see the “before,” so I can hopefully appreciate the “after” …
U.S. College Degrees by County – The concentration of higher education in urban areas is much greater than I’d expected – and rather disturbing, too. Compare the “reddest” areas with the “red states,” too.
San Francisco Earthquake & Fire – Remarkable post-Fire films. Devastated landscapes, still-smoldering ruins, building demolitions, tent cities … but also, a lot of folks still carrying out life and living as before.
Star Trek cited by Texas Supreme Court – Not sure if I should be amused, or make a snarky comment about the uproar from some quarters if the same lines had been attributed to a European court.
Bryan Fischer (courtesy of the American Family Association) is pleased to inform one and all that, faced with a fire on a house that hadn’t paid its fire protection bill … Jesus would have been happy to let the house burn.
A controversy has erupted over a decision by the South Fulton, TN fire department to allow a rural home in Obion County to burn to the ground because the owner did not pay the requisite $75 annual fee to secure fire protection.
The fire department was called when Gene Cranick’s grandson accidentally set his property on fire, but made no attempt to extinguish the flames, for the simple reason that they had no legal or moral authority or responsibility to do so. When the fire endangered the property of Cranick’s neighbor, who had paid the $75 fee, the fire department swung into action and put out the fire on the neighbor’s property. Cranick’s home meanwhile, burned to the ground after his family had fled for safety.
That actually raises the interesting question of what the fire service would have done (and what Bryan thinks would have been the moral course) had a family member (other than the pets, which died) still been trapped inside.
The backstory is that, while South Fulton had a fire department several years ago, the county did not. Rural residents approached city officials and asked them to extend their fire protective services outside city limits. Fine, said the city. We will provide fire services to any rural resident who pays an annual $75 fee. You pay the $75, you just bought yourself a year’s worth of fire protection. You don’t pay the fee, that’s fine too, it’s your choice, but be aware that you are making a deliberate choice to forego fire protection.
Fine, said Mr. Cranick, I’ll take my chances. He didn’t pay the man his $75, and when his house caught fire, he was on his own, by his own choice.
There’s no question that Mr Cranick was shortsighted.
(It’s worth noting that, had the fire department responded, it likely would have violated the terms of its contract with its liability insurance carrier. The fire department almost certainly had to enter into a legally binding commitment not to operate outside its jurisdiction. So our “compassionate” Christian friends would want the fire department to break its solemn agreement and put the entire city of South Fulton in a position of virtually unlimited risk. That hardly sounds like the Christian thing to do – demand that somebody violate a solemn oath and put an entire city at needless risk at the same time.)
So … legal contracts have a greater binding force than any other commitment or commandment? That sounds terribly Christian, Bryan.
That said, yes, the fire department probably had those sorts of contractual restrictions.
The fire department did the right and Christian thing. The right thing, by the way, is also the Christian thing, because there can be no difference between the two. The right thing to do will always be the Christian thing to do, and the Christian thing to do will always be the right thing to do.
If I somehow think the right thing to do is not the Christian thing to do, then I am either confused about what is right or confused about Christianity, or both.
That’s very convenient, Bryan. Whatever you think is Christian is clearly right, and whatever you think is clearly right then you enshrine as Christian.
On the other hand, I think you are confusing the legal thing with the Christian thing. Which is something Jesus certainly didn’t do.
In this case, critics of the fire department are confused both about right and wrong and about Christianity. And it is because they have fallen prey to a weakened, feminized version of Christianity that is only about softer virtues such as compassion and not in any part about the muscular Christian virtues of individual responsibility and accountability.
Yes, Jesus would have been muscular and punched the fire out.
Notice how compassion — one of Jesus’ most noteworthy attributes — is simply dismissed here as a “weak” and “feminized” and soft.” No metaphysical girl cooties for Bryan, though — he believes in Jesus by way of Ayn Rand.
The Judeo-Christian tradition is clear that we must accept individual responsibility for our own decisions and actions. He who sows to the flesh, we are told, will from the flesh reap corruption. The law of sowing and reaping is a non-repealable law of nature and nature’s God.
And yet, the New Testament explicitly rejects the harshest edges of that law. Paul, for example, makes it clear that if it comes to obeying the Law, no man can be saved. It is only by Grace — by God’s weak and soft and girly compassion — that salvation can be had. Similarly, we are called by Jesus to pray to be forgiven as we forgive others.
We cannot make foolish choices and then get angry at others who will not bail us out when we get ourselves in a jam through our own folly.
No. On the other hand, we are called on, as those others, to help with that bailing out. If I see someone behaving unsafely, I can simply shrug and say, “I guess he’ll learn soon enough.” We’re called to warn, to try and safeguard, and to compassionately help if the worst occurs.
Take some idiot who travels down an unsafe, lonely highway. He doesn’t wait to caravan with others, he doesn’t carry a gun in his glove box, he doesn’t hire a body guard, or pay $75 for the police to come by to protect him if he calls OnStar.
And, of course, he gets robbed and carjacked and beaten.
Bryan, of course, would argue the fool deserves everything he got. He made the stupid decisions, he has to live with it. He didn’t pay the $75, he didn’t make the smart choice, and, just like the other folks who zoom past, too busy or frightened or disinterested or scornful to assist, a truly muscular Jesus surely wouldn’t lift a finger for him.
Fortunately, the Good Samaritan felt differently. And soft, weak, girly, compassionate Jesus seemed to think that was the right course.
The same folks who are angry with the South Fulton fire department for not bailing out Mr. Cranick are furious with the federal government for bailing out Wall Street firms, insurance companies, banks, mortgage lenders, and car companies for making terrible decisions. What’s the difference?
Some of the same folks, yes. And Fischer has a something of a point here — the issue being that in the case of those various governmental bail-outs, they were done as much for the overall health of the economy and the citizenry as a way to reward bad actors in those various firms. (Honestly, I’d probably have been more onerous in the conditions placed, not so much as punishment, as tempting as that would have been, but to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. One can be compassionate and teach a lesson in responsibility.)
Mr. Cranick made a decision – a decision to spend his $75 on something other than fire protection – and thereby was making a choice to accept the risk that goes with it. He had no moral, legal, ethical or Christian claim on the services of the fire department because of choices that he himself made.
That’s right. Nobody has a “Christian claim” on me for anything. I have a Christian responsibility to help others. That’s a point that Fischer seems to miss. It’s not an matter of someone demanding an obligation from you. It’s a matter of your having an obligation toward others.
Jesus once told a parable about 10 virgins attending a wedding feast, five of whom failed to replenish the oil in their lamps when they had the chance. The bridegroom came when they were out frantically searching for oil, and by the time they made it back to the party, the door was shut tight. The bridegroom – the Christ figure in the story – refused to open the door, saying “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Matthew 25:13).
Jesus also told a parable about how a shepherd will do anything to recover a stupid sheep that’s made bad decisions, acted foolishly, and wandered off, lost. The shepherd doesn’t shrug, say, “Well, that dumb sheep deserves whatever it got.”
The critics of South Fulton thereby implicate themselves as accusers of Christ himself, making him out to be both cold and heartless. They may want to be careful about that.
Right. “Agree with my point, or Muscular Jesus will punch your face!”
I talked about this story yesterday on my “Focal Point” radio program, and defended the fire department without reservation. It’s been intriguing to watch – I haven’t received as much angry blowback over anything I’ve said on air since the program began. I’ve been told I’m evil and anti-Christian to even suggest that the fire department may be in the right and that Mr. Cranick has no one to blame but himself. (Where, I might ask, is all their Christian compassion toward me?)
I’ll assume that’s tongue in cheek, Bryan.
But it is interesting. Apparently nobody among your followers bats an eye toward your bashing of gays, or Muslims, or anyone else who twists you the wrong way. But as soon as they see you doing something that they can imagine themselves being on the wrong side of … well, it’s little wonder how they abruptly realize how easily they could find themselves with the short end of the stick.
Christian compassion, of course, prompts us to feel truly sorry for Mr. Cranick. If he were a friend of mine, I’d feel horrible for him and do what I could to help him in his time of need.
Because compassion and helping is only for friends. Just what Jesus taught.
But even were I his friend, I would not blame the fire department for the loss of his home. That’s on Mr. Cranick for making an irresponsible choice in the first place.
Even he admitted to Keith Olbermann last night that “I’ll have to suffer the consequences” of failing to pay the annual fee.
Now it’s intriguing to note that Mr. Cranick had insurance on his property, and told Olbermann that his insurance company was right on top of things, and he was going to receive in short order the full value of his insurance policy. Why? Well, because Mr. Cranick paid the premiums on the policy. If he had refused to pay the premiums, he wouldn’t be getting any help from the insurance company either, and likewise would have no one to blame but himself. So even Mr. Cranick implicitly accepts responsbility for the loss of his home, whether he realizes it or not.
Sure. Cranick made a stupid error. People have lost everything over that. Hopefully Mr Cranick will learn.
But that doesn’t mean that the fire department acted in a Christian, or moral fashion. Legal, contractual fashion, sure. But the fire department — and the city fathers — ought to have something in place to account for this. More on that in a moment.
What angry folks fail to realize is that if Mr. Cranick had been able to get away with this – if he’d been able to wait til his house started to burn, then offer $75 and immediately get help – it wouldn’t be long before everybody else stopped paying. Why bother if you can wait until the emergency hits? If you pay when you don’t need to, that just makes you a sap. Pretty soon nobody would have fire protection at all since the city can’t afford to fight fires at $75 a pop. The city would have to withdraw its offer to the county, and everybody, especially responsible folk, would be less safe.
(Essentially what Mr. Cranick wants is “guaranteed issue” for fire protection. This is the same thing that is going to destroy the health care industry, as it is already starting to do under RomneyCare in Massachusetts. If you can wait til you get sick before applying for insurance, and the insurance company has to provide it, everybody will just wait til they get sick to get insurance and pretty soon nobody will have insurance or health care, either one.)
That’s a major problem with this kind of model — either you kick people in need to the curb, or you allow free riders to take advantage of the system.
What if, however, the there was a mechanism in place where someone could call for help at the last minute (or if the fire department just happened to be there), and pay a significantly higher fee (enough to recoup the added resources plus something to disincent folks from calling at the last minute as a strategy). Maybe the county should contract with the city’s fire department for full coverage.
(Note also that this is the rationale behind a universal requirement for everyone to purchase health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Only by spreading the pool the widest and being ready to provide care for any who needs it when they need it, can the whole thing be both affordable and useful. But Bryan doesn’t like that model, nor, one suspects, the idea of fire departments providing service to all based on taxes rather than individual subscriptions.)
This story illustrates the fundamental difference between a sappy, secularist worldview, which unfortunately too many Christians have adopted, and the mature, robust Judeo-Christian worldview which made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world. The secularist wants to excuse and even reward irresponsibility, which eventually makes everybody less safe and less prosperous. A Christian worldview rewards responsibility and stresses individual responsibility and accountability, which in the end makes everybody more safe and more prosperous.
I’m going with mature, robust Christianity on this one.
Bryan, you have way too narrow of a vision here. You seem to feel that the only choices are between individual responsibility and being coddled. I think there’s room for both, and that siding with one vs. the other is a sketchy approach.
Further, Bryan, you miss the point that the two are not actually contradictory. Christian compassion is not a right to be claimed, but an individual responsibility for which we will be held accountable. We are called, not to demand the love of neighbors, but to love our neighbors, as one of the Greatest Commandments.
That may be hard to realize, Bryan, and you may commit the folly of neglecting that responsibility, of not, shall we say, paying your compassion “fee.” It does seem to me that you will be held accountable for that.
Gabrielle Bell’s comic strip about ComicCon – Boing Boing – An interesting collection, but … well, one commenter put it best. “Comicons are like Star Trek conventions – they’re about the core values. Core values like comic books that are for kids, not those artsy fartsy 20-something angst-ridden disenfranchised white kids with ennui.” Bell makes it sound like the Worst Possible Experience in the World, even when she’s invited to attend and given a freaking per diem.
Keep Calm and Carry On – I actually have a copy of this poster up in my office. It’s a good reminder that, no matter the business brouhaha, flying into a tizzy isn’t productive.
BBC News – Last US combat brigade quits Iraq – A noteworthy milestone — though the many remaining US troops will still be in harm’s way, even if their mission is not explicitly for combat.
YouTube – Is Sarah Palin gunning for 2012? – This is certainly unfair, uncivil, inflammatory, mocking, and disrespectful. However it is just too funny (and creepy) not to share.
Google chief warns of Internet imperiling privacy – The question becomes whether this sort of universal public square will suppress behavior, reimpose more keeping of behavior private, or change what becomes (eventually) acceptable. In either case, I expect a decade or so for society to adjust.
Under fire, SBI blood analyst suspended – Agents’ Secrets – NewsObserver.com – “The criminal convictions or sentences of three people who have since been executed in North Carolina, and four more cases in which the defendants are now on death row, are may be in doubt because of flawed reports.” The more I know about the criminal justice system — and the human failures of judgment, objectivity, or even love of truth, that riddle it — the more convinced I am that capital punishment is inexcusable. Not because the state cannot have a compelling reason to put some individuals to death, but because the state cannot convincingly assert that its evidence for doing so is correct “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Terry Pratchett: Doctor Who isn’t science fiction – Classic Doctor Who was, at best, space opera of the sophistication, physics, and often special effects of the old Buck Rogers serials. Current Doctor Who is, honestly, fantasy with (usually) SF trappings (space ships, time travel, robots). That’s not necessarily a bad thing — in fact, it’s damned entertaining. It’s not SF in terms of “speculative fiction” — the Doctor demonstrates that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
CWA Pre-Emptively Declares They Cannot Support Obama’s SCOTUS Nomination – Money graf: “So CWA urged President Bush to ignore any requests that he consult with anyone before making any nomination, because they were just going to oppose the nominee anyway and the president has the constitutional power to name any candidate he chooses … and now CWA is writing to President Obama, demanding that he listen to them and put forth a nominee that they can support, threatening that if he doesn’t, they will be left with no option but to oppose his choice?”
FRC Founding Board Member Discovered Traveling With “Rent Boy” – Reading about the virulently anti-gay pol or religious leader (or both) who turns out to be gay (and covertly and actively so) is almost becoming cliche. If I weren’t so angry about their hateful and harmful hypocrisy, I’d feel very sorry for their clear self-loathing and fear.
Quote of the Day – I realize the “law & order” types have never been fond of the Miranda ruling (rubber hoses and the third degree, anyone?), but the current harping that nobody accused of terror — or at least nobody “foreign” (even if a US citizen) — should be Mirandized because it’s more important to just beat the truth out of ’em and then shove ’em before a firing squad, rather than shilly-shally about with “rights” and “trials” seems particularly despicable (and, may I say, anti-American).
DORK TOWER, Monday, May 3, 2010 – Oh, Lord — how this describes so many games I have been in. (It’s not necessarily a bad thing, unless you’re looking to actually get gaming done ….)
AFA’s Fischer: Any Muslim Unwilling to Renounce Islam Ought to be Denied Entry to the US – I think a look at crime statistics in the US, as well as a review of Western history, will indicate that Christians are guilty of most murders. I think we should force all Christians to renounce their religion or face deportation. (Just kidding, of course, but, yeesh.)
The United and Continental Airline Mashup – What I note most about the (ugly) logo change is that it finally drops any of the “United [States]” red-white-and-blue imagery. Which may well make sense from a global standpoint, but is still sort of sad. As well as (as noted) ugly.
Captcha Advertising – I’m appalled, but I have to applaud the guy who came up with the concept.
Right on cue, McCain starts complaining – So is McCain’s standard now that folks who are likely to face capital crimes should not be Mirandized until they’ve been compelled to state everything they know. Is he actually listening to his own words? Jeez — what lessons did he really learn from the North Vietnamese?
The GOP’s emergency-room argument lives – Money graf: “Sue Lowden’s campaign and its Republican brethren oppose health care reform, but they’ve endorsed the most inefficient system of socialized medicine ever devised.”
Wash. Nuns Investigated By Vatican – Investigated for sexual abuse? Nah. Investigated for “feminism and activism.” Glad the Vatican has its priorities straight.
The American Family’s Financial Turmoil | – Scary Infographic. And, yes, I’m doing better than “average,” but it worries me a lot, as a society and an economy, that this is what the “average” is.
Ah, let’s start off with Al Gore, who has the burden of being That Clinton Guy’s VP, The Guy Who Ran Against Dubya, and That Global Warming Dude. Al Gore is a favorite target of the Right, and, in the grand tradition of shooting at the messenger when the message is bothersome.
