Showing posts with label obfuscation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obfuscation. Show all posts

21 April 2009

obfuscating obfuscations: turn the other cheek - your ass or mine...?

christians consider themselves under attack today. they believe that they are the ones against whom persecution is aimed. they think that the secularism in the world is crushing them out of existence.

well, they forget how they used persecution throughout their history right from the beginning to foist their beliefs on everyone else.

from a book by James J. O'Donnell, The Ruin of the Roman Empire -
"Christians resisted persecution well--both the ordinary spasmodic kind and the infrequent broader campaign--because their communities were many-headed, did not have substantial real property, and lived so fully intermingled with Roman society that they could not simply be carved out and attacked. A century after Galerius, when Christian emperors set out to--we might as well use the word--persecute 'pagan' communities and practices, they were far more devastatingly effective. They halted the supply of state funds for traditional practices, crippling much of what had been long familiar. Then they seized buildings and banned ritual in them, sweeping the landscape nearly clean of the old ways. What survived--and much did--was personal, small-scale, or highly localized. Over a relatively short time, the new bludgeoned the old into submission and eventually supplanted it. That's what real persecution could do, unafraid to use violence but not needing to use very much of it. But Christianity never faced anything like what it would later visit on the traditional cults."

they were the real experts at persecution. we see this all the way down to the present day. there is no hesitancy on the part of christianists in trying to bat the world into submission to their way.

sadly, they set the example. we see in the world of Islam the same type of fringe groups, eg. Al Quaeda, who adopted this christian view to their own imagined advantages.

like i said, turn the other cheek...

20 April 2009

this is America? - pure obfuscation...

land of the free? home of the brave? a christian nation?

Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects
Mr. Hayden [CIA Director for the last two years of the Bush Administration] said he had opposed the release of the memos, even though President Obama has said the techniques will never be used again, because they would tell Al Qaeda “the outer limits that any American would ever go in terms of interrogating an Al Qaeda terrorist.”
NYT, April 20, 2009



i don't remember what show i was watching this weekend but one of the guests speculated on what the reaction would be not if but when a former detainee perpetrated an act of terrorism against the U.S.

both sides will say, "See! I told you so."

and it will fly into the face of the men who fought for the freedom...
Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.”
- George Washington charge to the
Northern Expeditionary Force,
Sept. 14, 1775

i am sad...

19 April 2009

de-obfuscating an obfuscation: Frank Rich in NYT on NOM"s "Gathering Storm" video ad...

The Bigots’ Last Hurrah
Yet easy to mock as “Gathering Storm” may be, it nonetheless bookmarks a historic turning point in the demise of America’s anti-gay movement.

What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.

NYT, Sunday, April 19, 2009

there is a lot more to his argument and i recommend everyone read Rich's entire OpEd. i only hope that it as easy as he seems to portray it. my reliance on hope says, "YES", but my cynicism says, "I have to wait and see...

at any rate, this is one of the more logical and calming statements and stands i've seen over the years. it says that people might be beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, there really is very little difference.

i am reminded of Mr. Spock's IDIC - infinite diversity in infinite combinations...



ST Vulcan IDIC.jpg.jpeg

17 April 2009

obfuscations in the news: the pope needs a psychiatrist - desperately...

from the Panzerpapa

Vatican accuses AIDS groups of intimidation
(Vatican City) The Vatican on Friday denounced the criticisms of the pope’s comments about condoms and AIDS during his trip to Africa, saying they marked an unprecedented attempt to intimidate him into silence.

Pope Benedict XVI said last month that condoms weren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic and could make the problem worse.

France, Germany, the U.N. AIDS-fighting agency as well as the British medical journal The Lancet criticized the comments as irresponsible and dangerous. The Belgian parliament passed a resolution calling them “unacceptable” and demanding that the government officially protest.


intimidation?

INTIMIDATION?



how about The Inquisition? the Knights Templar? Galileo? The Holocaust? the...

why mention more? the catholic church has killed more people than all wars put together over the centuries. all in the name of their god.

these bear repeating again and again and again...

as i've quoted Henry II before, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

and

If Jesus were alive today, the last thing he would be is a christian.

i have never said anything like this in my life before... but the best thing that could happen for the world would be the death of benedict xvi. the only problem is that whoever the hierarchy of the church [the oldest, most inflexible, and basest men in the world] might be worse! he along with them continue advocating the deaths of people around the world. not just through statements on AIDS but in forcing women to have children they don't want - among other things.

he is a deceiver out of touch with the world around him; and he makes me see red.

more and more, he is looking like the anti-christ the believers preach of...

the score seems to be adding up...

the more i've been reading about Obama's release of the torture memos and his decision not to pursue any legal maneuvers the more it seems that most people do not like his stand.

i don't either.

with all the talk during the campaign with emphasis on the Rule of Law, as a lawyer he is shirking his legal and ethical standards as an officer of the courts.

the best argument i've heard was Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night. Olbermann lays out the argument succinctly bringing in historical reference that is quire indisputable, going all the way back to the Civil War.

you can watch and read Olbermann's Special Comment over at Crooks and Liars. it's really to the point.



one of the better round-ups of the flurry of pundits, newspeople and other media is over at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.

he has links to Greenwald, Coles, and others in a lot of posts he's done. one of the more telling post's title is We Are Now Indonesia.

IMO, Obama has surpassed all of the obfuscations over the last eight years in one fell swoop...

13 April 2009

tea parties...

when i first heard about these winger/Republican/christianist/nut tea parties i immediately thought about the ones that the Mad Hatter had in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonder Land and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.

i mean think about it. they are protesting tax increases... FOR THE RICH!

well, here's some news for them. Obama has not had any tax plan passed as yet. what they are protesting is the tax plan that Mr. Bush put into effect, where he lowered the tax rate for the wealthiest people in the world and stuck it to the middle class! i don't think that these people are smart enough to understand this.

the tea parties were touted by the Republican leadership that doesn't know what its left hand is doing with its ass.

what are these people thinking? are they just so out of their minds that they will just let the Fox mumble-mouths and Tsar Rush* talk them into anything because of their hate and bigotry. that's exactly what's happening. they are lemmings. they don't think; they follow the party line - no matter what it is that is shoved down their throats.

and i'm serious about bigotry being one of the elements behind what's happening. i strongly believe at the core and heart of it all is white racism because of Obama's background and this is the way they can avoid the word racism!

they want to work on everyone's fear but it's their own unfounded fears that fuel their low-stoked fires and the leadership of the minority party and its spook-miesters know that full well.

they repeatedly talk about Obama putting socialism into place when, if you look at the majority of the protesters you might notice they are probably over 65. they are part of the largest socialistic program not only in the U.S. but in the world - Medicare

i would love to see a Republican lawmaker in the House or Senate bring a bill to the floor to do away with Medicare because it is a socialist program. something tells me that there would no longer be a Republican Party in existence.

talk about obfuscation...


Hysterical Dog.gif
Maxx thought i said pee party!
might as well have...


*i first wrote King Rush for Limbaugh but it dawned on me when i typed it that what he is after is replacing Tsar George. if there hadn't been a term limit on the presidency, ole Rush could have been in the planning stage of a Kremlinesque coup. think about it...

12 April 2009

a question...

why do we need to have an ambassador to a fake country that does not pull its weight, does not give us any support, does not believe in democracy, and does not punish its own malicious predators?

Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy appointment as US ambassador
Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint.

Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy's daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid. She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job.


on this day that is considered the most important religious holiday of the church, it shows its true christian nature.

as i've quoted Henry II before, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

pernicious, hurtful, destructive, inimical, noxious, malignant...

i become extraordinarily hateful on beautiful days when confronted by obnoxious obfuscations by men who live in the 19th century and call on their god to condemn and foment against others while boisterously advocating free choice and will. they malign the basis for what they believe.

as i've also said before, "If Jesus were alive today, the last thing he would be is a christian."

in spite, no because, of this i'm going to have a great day with the kids, the easter egg hunt and the fried turkey. the religious meaning of this day has been bastardized, as has Christmas. i prefer to acknowledge that both days are really about the children - Celebrations of the Child.

10 April 2009

obfuscating obfuscations: the storm is false... part 2

the video by NOM has really made the rounds in the last couple of days. not only on many blog sites but also on all the mainstream media as well. it hasn't really had a great reception though. even the media has been pointing out its falsehoods and latched onto the fact that the people in it are all actors.

the video does say they are actors in small print in the video, but someone inside the organization has leaked the audition tapes and that has taken a lot of the wind out of the sails. the auditions have been removed from YouTube because NOM says it's a copyright infringement. if that were the case, why didn't they take the video ad down too? hmmmm?

one of my favorite posts is over at the Bilerico Project by Bill Browning entitled Stupid Alert: NOM ad actors "controversy". the opening snippet from the post:
Have you ever been arguing with someone and been frustrated that they choose one small minute part of what you said and constantly keep picking at that instead of seeing the bigger picture? It's stupid and doesn't get you anywhere.
this is the usual tactic used in almost all propaganda. after all, narrow minds can only deal with narrow ideas.

the part of the Bilerico post that caught my eye initially is also may favorite. it is the easiest way to fight propaganda, but it is also not the way we do things in this country. nevertheless, you have to see it...


stupid-people-shut-up-thumb-200x279.jpg.jpeg



i feel soooo sorry for the bunny...

and thanks, Bill, for sharing all this.

09 April 2009

obfuscating obfuscations: the storm is false...

this is so sad. the end of the video says that the organization flaunting the lies in the video are responsible for its content. that's the one thing that they got right - they are responsible in their irresponsibility. there are too many proofs that every statement that is made in the video is false, and i'm not about to list them all here. it's a simple Google.com search. there are a couple of references after the video.





an example of the falsehoods: the mention of the church in New Jersey who is being punished for not allowing a lesbian couple to commit on their property. the group has been receiving government support for allowing the general public to use the land. by denying them, the church group broke the basic contract it had with the New Jersey government. NOM doesn't mention that. Nor does the video or group report that the California doctor was not only cited for breaking the law but the Hippocratic Oath by denying health consultation because of religious beliefs. yes, the case was concerning reproductive rights, but what if the couple had then gone to a less qualified professional and it resulted in harm or even death? the culpability would still be there.

no one is forcing anyone to change their beliefs or restructure their lives as they want to do to others. the even sadder thing is that these people throw out the number one thing that their god commands of them - love their neighbor as themselves.

i suppose the real comment behind this is that they really don't love themselves...



i would also direct you to a piece on Huffington Post yesterday by Mike Alvear - At Least Have the Decency to Lie About Your Sexuality - where a woman sitting next to him on a flight admonishes him for being gay when he did everything in his power not to bring it up. her solution was exactly what the title said - lie about who you are.

it would have been better if the woman had lied instead...

05 April 2009

obfuscations in the news: and they say guns don't kill people...?

though this may not really count as an obfuscation, the news that the gunman who killed three policemen in Pittburgh said it's because of his fear that the Obama government was going to take away his right of owning guns. huh?
Poplawski's [the shooter] friends at the scene described him as a young man who thought the Obama administration would ban guns.

One friend, Edward Perkovic, said Poplawski feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon."

Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said he feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he "wasn't violently against Obama."

KDKA (CBS Affiliate), Pittsburg

and Crooks and Liars connects his thinking to the vitriol of the likes of Glenn Beck. well, it's not really much of a leap.
He feared an Obama gun grab? Gee, I wonder where he could have heard that.

Indeed, a story replete with NRA-style fearmongering about the looming "grab" -- which has been fueling a run on guns at local shops -- ran just three days ago in the Pittsburgh Tribune.

We've been reporting for awhile on the surge in gun sales, and how the paranoia around guns is making the more unstable elements of the right particularly edgy. Inevitably, that edginess is going to break out into actual violence -- as it appears to have done today.


i have no problem with people having guns for recreational purposes, though i would never have one. but no one in the NRA or any other organization has successfully convinced me how an automatic, rapid fire gun is in any way recreational. it is purely for one thing - taking human life!

30 March 2009

obfuscating obfuscations...

Yesterday's New York Times Magazine had a great article on Freeman Dyson, one of the most brilliant people who have lived, at least in the 20th Century. As one piece of evidence was the idea that his college mentor told him that a Ph.D. would be totally useless for him. He knew more than anyone else already.
Among Dyson’s gifts is interpretive clarity, a penetrating ability to grasp the method and significance of what many kinds of scientists do. His thoughts about how science works appear in a series of lucid, elegant books for nonspecialists that have made him a trusted arbiter of ideas ranging far beyond physics. Dyson has written more than a dozen books, including “Origins of Life” (1999), which synthesizes recent discoveries by biologists and geologists into an evaluation of the double-origin hypothesis, the possibility that life began twice; “Disturbing the Universe” (1979) tries among other things to reconcile science and humanity. “Weapons and Hope” (1984) is his meditation on the meaning and danger of nuclear weapons that won a National Book Critics Circle Award. Dyson’s books display such masterly control of complex matters that smart young people read him and want to be scientists; older citizens finish his books and feel smart.

The title of the article refers to Dyson being a heretic because he just doesn't see global warming as a real threat. In a nutshell, he says that people like Al Gore and James Hansen, the major proponents of the crisis, are merely believing their own hype. Dyson, on the other hand, says it is not really a crisis of the magnitude they say - yet - nor will it necessarily become one. It's nature doing what it does.

One of the things he cites is that cooler places may be getting a little warmer but hot places are not, and it is really limited to specific areas where there is a CO2 problem.

Personally, I've not liked the term global warming. Instead, I have preferred climate change because it more accurately describes what is happening in different parts of the world. It also is not as frightening. The earth has recorded many climate changes over the millenia. Maybe we are quickening this one, but who is to say that it is not just a normal process that is supposed to happen?

The article on Dyson is fascinating for many other reasons and I really recommend spending the time reading it. He is a subversive as he calls himself and truly brilliant in many areas. He has spent his life obfuscating obfuscations...

Again, its The Civil Heretic

07 March 2009

obfuscations in the news...

Brazilian archbishop embroiled in abortion row after child's rape
from IrishTimes.com
the quote:
“There are two legal justifications for abortion envisioned by the law, which are rape and risk to life. She [the girl] falls within the two and, as a doctor, I could not let a girl of nine years be submitted to this suffering and even pay with her own life.”

But Archbishop Cardoso Sobrinho has dismissed the fact that the abortion was legal under Brazilian law as irrelevant to the question of excommunication. “God’s law is above whatever human law. So when a human law is contrary to God’s law, this human law has no value,” he said.

26 February 2009

Limbaugh and his wish for Obama's failure...

i'd like to hear how

...big ole Rush would react if someone made a statement like: "We want Rush to die!"

it really is not a very nice thing to say but it's one solution to dealing with a problem; it's on the same wave length as his liking Obama to fail; and it would have the same effect on the American people.

no, wait! it wouldn't.

the American people would be much better off by not being subjected to constant belittling because they are not in the right class or have the correct beliefs. the beliefs that Rush and his minions want to foist against all of the hopes and works of the men and women who created this nation, who fought to protect this country, and who sought to increase the freedoms promised by the "Declaration of Independence" and the Constitution.

i've often found it amazing that there is always a group in this country who has had to fight for the rights and freedoms that they already have because of the two documents.

African-Americans weren't fighting for new rights as history of bigotry has portrayed their struggle; they already have it.

Women weren't fighting for new rights to vote or equality in the workplace; they already had it according to the documents.

LGBTQ are not fighting for a new right to form unions equal to other groups; they already have it according to the documents.

talk about obfuscation...

at the basis of all Limbaugh's statements [and not verbally spoken] is always one thought: if they get what we already have, we won't have as much power and wealth.

sad.


[note: i posted this as a comment over on Pam's House Blend in an article Pam wrote - Rush: The 'Hell We Don't' Want Obama To Fail!' i decided i wanted to post it here also. Limbaugh is a great obfuscation from head to toe.
thanks, Pam!]