elfs | There's a brain on my desk! (Reply)

Mike Huckabee: John McCain is your Lord and Savior!: In what has to be the most fascinating entry I've seen yet on the RNC, blogger Little Light takes apart Mike Huckabee's bizarre little homily about school desks and says
The lesson of Huckabee's story is that the desks can't be earned. You can't behave well enough to get one, work enough to get one, think enough to get one. It is impossible for you to deserve a place to sit before your teacher, see. ... This is the doctrine of "Grace, Not Works" or "Grace Alone," a theological position expounded during the Reformation, cuddled by Calvin, and popular among evangelical Christians. It's not a desk, it's a place in Heaven. And it's not soldiers we're talking about, it's Jesus Christ. [Mike Huckabee says,] "Ladies and Gentlemen, John McCain is one of those people who helped buy the freedom that we enjoy and the school desks we had." Has your jaw dropped to where mine was yet? Because I'm pretty sure, in this campaign where they're already painted the opposition as the Antichrist, they just labeled their candidate Jesus Christ.
The Republicans dictate lineup change at NBC: This annoys me in so many ways. The Republicans still have "their man Ailes" running the show over at FOX, yet the anti-liberal bias that has been around since Reagan introduced the "liberal media" meme thirty years ago still prevents NBC from having a "so-called" liberal host rise to prominence.

Besides, I don't find Olbermann "liberal." He's not. He's anti-authoritarian, which is different. He's revolted by the rise of authoritarianism in this country, and if he goes over the top (which he does) it's because he seems to be passionate about restoring this country to some semblance of liberty, justice and the rule of law. And his point is simple: The Republican Party is anti-liberty, anti-justice, and anti-rule of law. They have made the presidency into a cult and a seat of power greater than it was ever meant or deserves to be.

To decry Olbermann (and the more explicitly "liberal" Rachel Maddow, and Greenwald points out The New Republic recently did) is to buy into the notion that guys like Bill O'Reilly, Brit Hume, and Glen Beck, guys who routinely plant long, deep tounge-kisses on the hairy overfed asses of our oligarchs, are not "conservative" but merely telling it like it is.

Welcome to the Ministy of Truth.
Palin's gaffe on the campaign trail.: This is just embarassing. While trying to look at least vice presidential, Sarah Palin says that Fannie May and Freddie Mac had gotten "too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." Except they weren't costing the taxpayers anything; now they're gonna cost us something as the government bails them out to the tune of way too much taxpayer cash, but she clearly has no idea what the FM's do.

You'd think they'd get Marketplace up in Alaska, no?
The Parable of the Naked David Broder: No, really. It's funny. It explains a lot.
Churches urged to risk their tax-exempt status: The socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund is looking for "several dozen" church pastors to participate in "The Pulpit Initiative" on September 28th. The ADF contends that churches and pastors should be able to say what they mean to say without risking their tax-free status. I think this is a pretty big deal; I've never been happy with the idea that religious insitutions can take in cash and deliver a service without also paying taxes. (via The Revealer)
A fascinating look at life in a post-Islamic state: Although Hamas has imported outside, fundamentalist television stations and is starting one of their own, they can't seem to keep people from watching racy soap operas and reading Cosmopolitan. The overall theme of the article is that Islamism presents itself as a muscular alternative to traditional corruption, but after it has taken the reins of power, the citizens continue to be themselves and continue to enjoy the fruits of Western culture. There's a wonderful scene with a teenage boy who talks about how much he hates a Turkish soap opera that's "banned" but still widely watched in Gaza because it's "un-Islamic," and then gets outed because the ringtone on his cellphone is the show's opening theme.