The Faith in Humanity Meter

The Faith in Humanity Meter currently reads:

Sad. See "Ignorance Inc."



Tuesday, March 30, 2010

It's Going to Be Harder Than They Think

Ouch.

See, Republicans like to think anti-establishment anger runs exclusively in their favor. But people are angry at everyone, including the GOP. In fact, I daresay there are as many or more people angry at them than their opponents.

Does this mean the Democrats aren't going to lose a lot of seats in mid-terms? Of course not. The current imbalance is untenable in the long-term, and mid-terms are always bad for the party in power.

But I don't think there's going to be a huge shift towards the right. There probably won't be a huge majority for either side. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrats keep a slim majority.

StumbleUpon.com

Monday, March 29, 2010

Suit up, people.

If I were a Democrat, I'd be saying something like this.

Seriously, people. It's about to be March Madness for us political junkies.

StumbleUpon.com

Can I get an Amen?

This is what they pay E.J. Dionne for.

He pretty much nails it. The church isn't fundamentally broken, but it has some real issues that need real solutions. It'll be hard, but it'll be worth it.

StumbleUpon.com

Bullied to Death

Hmm...

A tragic thing, obviously. But what's interesting to me is the front-page feature tab that links to this from Fox's home page.

"Nine Charged in Bullying Girl to Death."

Bullying to Death. Hmm.

It's an interesting term to use, especially given this is Fox we're talking about. The age-old "driving someone to suicide" idea seems a bit counter to Fox's usual hawkishness about personal responsibility.

They're probably right.

StumbleUpon.com

The Crazy-Right GOP

Amen, brother.

I couldn't agree more. The very definition of extreme is that few people agree with you. The Republican formula of rallying the base is not working, and it will not work in 2012. It might conceivably work in 2010, but I doubt it's going to get the huge results that Republicans think it will.
Besides, anger-voting in mid-terms is the status quo. And the current lopsided majority is unnatural and untenable in the long term. So Republicans will certainly even the odds this year, but they can't make the mistake of thinking divisive, extremist politics will win net them big wins when it counts.

StumbleUpon.com

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Catholic Crisis

Whatever the ramifications of this most recent sex abuse scandal end up being, there might be some hope in it all.
I disagree with Catholics on a lot of theological issues. Maureen Dowd mentions several of them here. And this new Pope has seemed sketchy fromt the start.
That said, these theological quibbles are nowhere near enough to merit condemnation of the whole church. Critics of Catholocism, in their haste to get to the juicy bits, tend to forget the staggering amount of good the Church has done in modern times. And they often make the regrettable mistake of pressing the sins of church hierarchs onto everybody practicing the religion.
I have a great deal of respect for Catholics, even if I disagree theologically with some of their tenets. These crises are more a problem with their leaders then with the faithful at large.
That said, Catholics do need to stand up and be intentional and loud about reform. The Pope's position is far too sacrosanct in current doctrine -- this most recent scandal is damning evidence.
Andrew Sullivan is a good example. He's a Catholic, but he's also willing to criticize the Church when it does something he thinks is wrong.

StumbleUpon.com

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

She Isn't Running #347

Sara Palin isn't running for president.

There is one school of thought that her forays into the media world (which, by the way, should make most hard-working professionals in that arena pretty angry) are an unconventional way to keep herself in the spotlight should the time come for here to get serious about campaigning.

Protip: she isn't.

She will probably keep dropping hints, probably keep flirting with the idea, keep people guessing. But when it comes down to the wire she will simply be someone the Republican nominee needs to cozy up to.

Is she a political force? Certainly. She's got a considerable following, and that following is rabid enough to immediately, unquestioningly flock to whomever she endorses.

But she knows better than anyone that she can't win the nomination and she sure as hell can't win the main event, so all of this is just a way to milk her fame as much as possible.

And, perhaps, keep the issues she thinks are important out in the public forum. Although narrating a documentary hardly seems like such a thing to me.

StumbleUpon.com

Is This How it's Always Been?

Is this the way it used to be?

I dunno. I'm sure there has been legislation that's incited this kind of ire before.
That doesn't make it any more sad or infuriating now.

StumbleUpon.com

He's on a Roll

President Obama is on fire this week.
CNN and Fox haven't covered it yet. Fox doesn't surprise me, but I don't think it's settled in how big a deal this is.
While reducing nuclear arms isn't the kind of sexy thing that starts conversations — or press coverage — it's the kind of important, world-changing stuff that earns presidents historical significance.
The timing could absolutely not be more spectacular. Slashing nuclear arms the day after you sign the most sweeping domestic policy legislation in decades is a colossal achievement. Spectacular.
For an administration that's been muddled in bloody policy battles with no foreseeable conclusion or positive headway, this is proof that these efforts haven't been wasted.
Obama's approval rating should skyrocket. If they don't, the Faith in Humanity Bar is going to plummet.

StumbleUpon.com

Preventative Health Care?

I wonder how effective this will be.
For the burger regulations, I guess it really depends on how clear the FDA makes restaurants make the labels. Your average joe (myself included) hardly knows what constitutes a good or bad calorie count. I mean, if a Big Mac's 540, I guess that's bad, but I only know that because I already know Big Macs are not healthy.
Most people for whom calorie counts matter are people who probably aren't going to be eating these things anyway.
That is, of course, unless the regulations force you to put the % daily value stuff up there.

As for tanning, there's a big issue everybody's overlooking — yes, this will conceivably discourage people from tanning bed use. But that doesn't mean white people won't want to look tan — the bill does nothing to discourage spray tan use.
So we'll have less cancer, but we'll have more people running around in that distinctive Jersey Shore, TV reporter orange glow.
And I dunno about you, but that seems like a huge risk factor for the general mental welfare.

StumbleUpon.com

Monday, March 15, 2010

Today in the Lulz.

Really?


This seems like a staggeringly bad idea to me. The potential for awkwardness is barely fathomable.

StumbleUpon.com

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Jury-Rigged Reform

For those of you who haven't figured it out, the Democratic Party's leadership sucks at this game.
I understand the temptation to sneak the college funding reform bill into the health care reconcilliation bill. The Republicans are good at keeping legislation locked down, and the opportunity to milk as big a policy gain out of this.
But when you're trying to corral moderate Democrats, and Democrats that are only in their position because the last election was so skewed, the last thing you want to do is tack on more legislation that plays right into the "Big Guv'mint" frame.
Besides -- even if they can pass the bill with this legislation included, it's only more ammunition for Republicans to use in 2010. The Republicans will use the argument -- indeed have already used the argument -- that the Dems crammed this down the nation's throat via reconcilliation. And, the more they pass by those means, the more potent that argument will be.

StumbleUpon.com

Really helping the stereotype

This is pretty disgusting.
Whatever your opinions on the morality of homosexuality, it's pretty hard to support this.
Also -- of course it's in Mississippi.

StumbleUpon.com

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tea Parties — not that big a deal.

Lee Harris tries to analyze the Tea Parties' impending historical significance.

"Today many intelligent observers grope to discover what the Tea Party is all about and where it belongs on the Richter Scale of historical events. Does it signal the approach of a catastrophic upheaval, like the 9.0 earthquake of 2004 which sent devastating tsunamis across the Indian Ocean? Or will the Tea Party movement register only as a light quake in the 4.0 to 4.9 range, entailing “noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises,” with “significant damage unlikely”?"

I tend to think the latter. The Tea Party movement does not have any new ideas, and it has few — or no — practical policy suggestions. It is merely a rag-tag conglomeration of the most rabid of conservatives pitching a fit because the Democrats are in power.

Tea Partiers say they dislike the Republican Party as much as they dislike the Democratic Party. This is a load of hogwash. Sure, they don't agree with the GOP on everything, but it seems likely this movement will collapse once the Republicans seize power (whenever that is).

This is just an unconventional grass-roots campaign against the Democratic Party. If the movement makes it into the history books at all, it will be as an interesting example of how to protest.

This isn't a Chilean earthquake, although if it were the consequences would be no less tragic. It's more a tremor that makes people stop, look, shake their head, and move right on with business as usual.

StumbleUpon.com

This is News?

Why the hell is this news?
Who gives a damn if Republicans think Harry Reid is Scooby Doo? Why is he responding the accusations? Why is that news?
It isn't. Unless, of course, you're Fox News. How a "journalistic" organization that puts crap like this on their front page is so well-known is scary.

StumbleUpon.com

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

On the sexuality of politicians

This is either hilarious or pathetic. Or some combination of both.

The short version: a California state senator notorious for his activism against gay marriage has recently come out of the closet.

How does this happen? What kind of mind supresses its own sexuality in the quest for political power?

Well, I've got a theory. This theory explains why men in the highest echelons of power get caught so often in some kind of sexually damning scenario.

Some politicans aren't heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual. They're mysexual.

Meaning they love themselves above all else.

While I'm not old enough, experienced enough, or cynical enough to apply this theory to every politician, only the most idealistic (or idiotic) would deny that the overwhelming majority of politicians have horrendously inflated egos. Their life goal is power and attention, and in that pursuit they will sacrifice whatever it takes.

There are, of course, degrees. Not every politician is mysexual, because not every politician has let their ego seep that pervasively into their psyche.

But, for the worst of these fellows, sex is merely a physical impulse that has to be taken care of quickly so they can get back to big, important, attention-getting things.

Which explains why so many of them are caught and exposed, and explains why the circumstances in which their dalliances occured are so head-scratchingly hastily thrown together.

Sure, some of them are gay, some of them are straight. Sexuality is as much a physical trait as intelligence or strength. But their psyche is so overwhelmed by their ego that that it gets buried.

StumbleUpon.com

Headline of the Day

Republican Denies Back waxing.

Apparently Crist accused Rubio of getting his back waxed. In addition to being hilarious and bizzare, it's damaging. I think. Still haven't figured that one out yet.

If I were a Florida voter, I probably wouldn't have much of a forehead left from beating it on a wall after seeing this whole kerfluffle unfold in 3-D, full color, 24-hours-a-damn-day-o-vision. If they're talking this thing to death in the national media -- well, maybe not to death, but certainly somewhere in the emergency room -- I can only imagine what hell Floridans are in.

Marco Rubio for President? Meh.

StumbleUpon.com