Will include an invocation from the Reverend Rick Warren? Of the Saddleback mega-church and author of THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE? The anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-evolution Reverend Warren? At Obama's inauguration? Say it ain't so.
I know this missive comes late to the topical news scene, whatever "legs" the story had have already given out. But the more you think about it, the more wrong it feels. Even as a purely political decision it makes little sense, unless we can believe it will result in Obama garnering even a statistical handful of social conservatives. Meanwhile, Obama supporters - including this progressive secular humanist - are agape at prospect of Rev. Warren spouting his "mainstream" brand of pseudo-science and bigotry. Perhaps the Rush Limbaugh should be invited to sing "Barack-the-magic-negro" to warm things up? Shouldn't Barack reach out to listeners of right-wing radio too?
At least January 20th will be "The end of an error," and Obama can begin to govern us back from the abyss - I hope.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Do Iraqis think Bush is that big a "heel?"
I know, everyone's seen it. The "shoe-icide" attacker Muntader al-Zaidi hurling his shoes at President Bush. The 29 year-old journalist is still in custody in Iraq, to whom no one is sure. For his part, President Bush brushed off the incident saying something the effect that he saw the man's "sole." But one question: Where was the Secret Service? Aren't they trained to take a shoe for the President?
And after 8 years of(as Garrison Keilor calls him) the Current Occupant, Shouldn't everyone send a shoe to the White House? Nike, Florsheim, Hush Puppy or Keds, it wouldn't matter, the point would be made...no?
And after 8 years of(as Garrison Keilor calls him) the Current Occupant, Shouldn't everyone send a shoe to the White House? Nike, Florsheim, Hush Puppy or Keds, it wouldn't matter, the point would be made...no?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Has it been this long...
Since I've blogged? Was it the vacation to Florida to see my dear mother (and get some sunshine) followed by a super hectic work schedule at my school? Is it...Christmas?
There are few places like my home, Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, where people come unglued over a toy doll being sold at Target. A doll whom some think has a pro-Islam agenda Why do they believe this? Because when activated, it appears – to some – to say, along with a lot of baby babble, “Islam is the light.”
Full disclosure: I haven’t been to our new Target to personally hear
Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” make her subliminal “Come to Mohammed” pitch. But others have, and they’re upset with Baby Cuddle and Coo, thinking the doll sends an insidious message that’s dangerous to our four and five year-old children, and probably that she should be pulled from Target’s shelves and sent back to Tehran where she belongs.
Now, cognitive scientists tell us that humans are hard-wired to "connect-the-dots" and see patterns. It’s the reason we're superior to the beasts in the jungle, and try to make sense of the universe. Because of our ingrained hopes, fears and biases, it’s also the reason some people think that 9/11 was a government operation, make pilgrimages to Roswell, New Mexico, or believe they'll have a five-star day if they read it in their newspaper's horoscope.
A thought: might the people who are so exercised over Baby Cuddle and Coo be the same sort of people who see the Virgin Mary – or Elvis - in a potato chip, and phallic symbols in all the animated Disney movies? The sort of people who a few years back demanded that all the Cosmo magazines at the local grocery story checkout counters be covered high enough that impressionable pubescent male minds would not be distracted from purer thoughts by all that Cosmo Girl cover cleavage?
Lastly, what would Valley shoppers think if Baby Cuddles and Coo seemed to babble the phrase, “Jesus is my light? That would be OK, I take it?
There are few places like my home, Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, where people come unglued over a toy doll being sold at Target. A doll whom some think has a pro-Islam agenda Why do they believe this? Because when activated, it appears – to some – to say, along with a lot of baby babble, “Islam is the light.”
Full disclosure: I haven’t been to our new Target to personally hear
Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” make her subliminal “Come to Mohammed” pitch. But others have, and they’re upset with Baby Cuddle and Coo, thinking the doll sends an insidious message that’s dangerous to our four and five year-old children, and probably that she should be pulled from Target’s shelves and sent back to Tehran where she belongs.
Now, cognitive scientists tell us that humans are hard-wired to "connect-the-dots" and see patterns. It’s the reason we're superior to the beasts in the jungle, and try to make sense of the universe. Because of our ingrained hopes, fears and biases, it’s also the reason some people think that 9/11 was a government operation, make pilgrimages to Roswell, New Mexico, or believe they'll have a five-star day if they read it in their newspaper's horoscope.
A thought: might the people who are so exercised over Baby Cuddle and Coo be the same sort of people who see the Virgin Mary – or Elvis - in a potato chip, and phallic symbols in all the animated Disney movies? The sort of people who a few years back demanded that all the Cosmo magazines at the local grocery story checkout counters be covered high enough that impressionable pubescent male minds would not be distracted from purer thoughts by all that Cosmo Girl cover cleavage?
Lastly, what would Valley shoppers think if Baby Cuddles and Coo seemed to babble the phrase, “Jesus is my light? That would be OK, I take it?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
