Wednesday Musings and Open Thread

 

"Call to Love" - Crooked Fingers

- John Cole concisely explains once again that whatever our disappointments with the Obama Administration, it is imperative that he win in 2012.  In sum, he must win because the other guys are fucking crazy -- individually and collectively.  Cole also links to a Krugman column in which he makes a point that I have tried frequently to make -- that the Republicans are an ideologically driven, Leninist-style party, where reality has long since ceased to matter and where completely contradictory attacks on their enemies -- the atheistic supporters of sharia law -- are delivered with a completely straight, if foam-flecked, face.     

-   And more garbage from David Brooks, whom I believe Krugman took another veiled swipe at in the linked column.  Yes, what Obama really needs to do to win is vow to privatize Social Security. 

- Romney's continued lack of conviction -- about anything -- smart move or deadly in a Leninist party?  I am truly at a loss to see how the GOP nomination battle is going to play out.  The smart money would continue to be on Romney by default, but I still can't quite believe he can make the sale.  Update:  Multiple Choice Mitt moves somewhere beyond self-parody on the flip-flopping front. 

- Lately one or two have fully paid their dues:  I must admit to being a bit mystified at the hand-wringing over the death of Muammar Qaddafi, brutal as it was.  Shockingly enough, if you govern as a monster, you are liable to meet a monstrous end, assuming you are stupid or delusional enough to let your people get their hands on you.  I guess my attitude would be succinctly summed up as "fuck 'im." I assume Bashar al-Assad is taking note of the Colonel's demise.  And it certainly wouldn't break my heart to see him go out the same way.   

- New recommendations for boys to also receive the Gardasil vaccine against HPV.  We actually did this with our son a couple of years ago, but had to push a little bit with the doctor's office to get it for him.  I will be curious to see what the response is to this.    

- Contrary to the author's claim, I find this kind of anti-abortion argument -- but "you wouldn't have been born if your mother had an abortion canard" -- to be horribly solipsistic and jejune and not in the least persuasive or even discomforting.   If my mother had had an abortion I wouldn't give a shit about the issue.  Rachael Larimore's presence on Slate is another reason not to read it. 

What's bugging you? 

Comments

[oddjob]

New recommendations for boys to also receive the Gardasil vaccine against HPV.

At the very least it makes abundant sense for anyone whose adolescent son is gay.

[oddjob]

Former Assistant Manager Ben Cherington promoted to Red Sox General Manager.

[Paula B]

What a terrific Freudian slip----madder for matter, in first graf.
What's bugging me?
1.That cabbie murder over at the aquatic gardens the other night. I hope MPD changes its procedures at roadblocks and gets people out of their cars when they spot an infraction or anomaly. It's possible the cabbie was trying to flag the cops in some way, or at least stall for time. Dunno. It's a chilling story. My toddler grandkids play in that park.
2. I'm happy Justice has grabbed another gazillionaire for insider trading, and hope this arrest scares the bejesus out of young turks who might have had plans to follow suit, our retirement money be damned.
3. When it comes to the Republican lineup, I don't know where to begin, so will take a pass. One is loonier than the other. Every day, they try to out-loony each other. Even the lowest of the low-information voter surely will get bored. No one who reads the scum Prup pointed us to yesterday would agree because they've been brain washed, but Obama looks like a knight in shining armor compared to the clowns on the other side. Let's see, killing bin Laden, helping topple a despised dictator, ending the war in Iraq, going after key inside traders, finding a way to provide near-universal health care: he doesn't have to do a damn thing between now and next November, as far as I'm concerned. Go play golf, Barack! As for the jobs crisis, I blame the banks that are sitting on money that should be out in loans, the large employers who continue to ship jobs overseas, the small employers too frightened to hire and the GOP, which has impeded legislation, the enforcement of existing regs, the development of leadership and the very existence of positive morale.

[kathy a.]

i've been wondering why this recommendation about vaccinating boys did not come sooner. there is nothing morally superior about being a carrier vs. getting cancer. also, the virus does not care about sexual morality; the virus just does its thing, and it is perfectly possible for someone who remains pure until marriage to contract it. oddjob, i'd hate to single out gay teen boys (or girls who are active early) -- it seems much better from a public health perspective to vaccinate everyone -- which has the added advantage of removing stigma.

here's another piece on the personhood amendment, noting that many forms of birth control would be banned; that IVF clinics would be affected; and that the proponents of the measure have some wackadoodle ideas about the joys of rape and incest. the proponents also have a cheery mindset about the feasibility of delaying life-saving treatment for the mother until after delivery. and they prefer not to consider the enormous litigation costs of attempting to defend this amendment in court -- costs that mississippi can ill afford.

[Sir Charles]

Paula,

Sorry I felt compelled to fix my Freudian slip -- it was quite apt though.

The jobs problem is only going to get better if you create demand. Businesses just aren't going to add jobs that they see as unproductive and banks aren't going to lend for projects that aren't vaiable. So it gets back to the need for government to find ways to stimulate demand -- hiring people is about the best thing for this that I can think of.

(I'll have to check out the cabbie story -- I haven't seen it yet.)

kathy,

Clearly from a public health perspective getting as many kids vaccinated as possible is the way to go on this thing.

The Mississippi amendment is monstrous.

[low-tech cyclist]

A local (DC-area) question: when did WMAL become a wingnut radio station? It used to be a mainstream news-weather-sports station; it was the home of Redskins radio for decades. Now it and its affiliates (including whatever the call letters are for the station at 105.9 FM, which used to be a rock/pop station of some variety, which was how I tripped into this) are the home of nonstop wingnut rants. Yesterday's (while we're on the topic of atheistic supporters of sharia) was basically a rant on how Obama has brought sharia law to Libya by helping to off Qaddafi.

I can't help but tune in on those rare occasions when I'm driving alone in my car, simply because I'm fascinated by the sheer insanity of the wingnut mind.

[oddjob]

oddjob, i'd hate to single out gay teen boys (or girls who are active early)

I would, too. I wasn't suggesting otherwise (although I can easily see how it would look that way), only making a strictly pragmatic observation. I've read online anecdotes about this virus also causing oral cancers.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

I keep saying this, but Romney's problem isn't just that he has too many implacable enemies among the base -- including 'Christians' who can't vote for a Mormon and people who are at least intelligent enough to see his pandering and resent it. He has no real constituency behind him. There is nobody pushing his candidacy on any but 'negative' grounds. He's the 'only sane one' -- dubious but arguable -- or the 'only electable one' -- not true, the Republican base is not a group that will 'hold it's nose and vote for the lesser of two evils' -- and they'd have a credible third choice somehow if he did win. Nobody is talking about the reasons -- if any -- why he'd actually make a good president.

(Can anyone remember any multi-candidate race for anything where -- consistently -- the dropping out (or off) of various lesser candidates never resulted in even a temporary surge for the puttive front runner. But this year, every time the anti-Romney 'flavor of the week' stunbles and crashes, his/her support stays in the 'anybody but Romney camp.')

It is only the winner-take-all nature of Republican primaries that gives him a chance -- and if he gets enough delegates, I expect a lot of his delegates will be getting equivalents of "If you vote for Romney, don't bother to come back home" notes.

I think New Hamphire will be enough of a wake-up call to shut up the "Mr. Inevitability" crowd and then the scramble will be on, and I still insist that we end up with a brokered convention and a true 'dark horse' like Cantor, McDonnell, or the like.

Get the popper popping, and start scouring the cheese stores and delis, we'll neeeeed LOTS of snacks.

[oddjob]

I'd be surprised if Romney doesn't win New Hampshire. That state's GOP is the one (aside from Utah's) most likely to vote for him with enthusiasm. Wearing your religion on your sleeve isn't a good way to win in New Hampshire, but being fiercely pro-business is.

If Romney can't win New Hampshire he has no chance of winning much of anything else.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

On demand as the only true stimulus to the economy -- and the problems with even the slight stimulus of tax credits if they go to financial institutions -- where productivity and hiring are totally unconnected -- those are the two points that Desert Beacon makes again and again. I really wish some of you would spend a couple of hours with some of her recent posts.

And, as I've said in the past, don't back off on posts seemingly specific to Nevada. A post detailing precisely the 9,100 jobs that Dean Heller's vote to sustain the filibuster against the AJA -- and calculating the $156,240,000 it cost the state and local economies -- makes the point more directly than vague country-wode generalizations -- and the post goes on in detail to destroy every argument the Republicans (not just Heller) make against the AJA.

Just don't stop there, she's been doing this for years, and about 75% of her posts are worth reading.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Speaking of Romney being 'pro-business' the Republicans will never get it, but hopefully OWS has helped us understand the difference between being 'pro-business' and 'pro-financialism.'

Financialism hurts business as much as individuals, both by moving money from the economy to the Wall Street Casino; and eventually -- when either bubble-bursting (CDS) or outright fraud (Madoff) makes trillions of dollars vanish from the economy -- by taking that money out of the pockets of businesses, business owners, and pension plans (not usually out of the pckets of the financialists.

[Eric Wilde]

With the article about male HPV vaccination recommendation was a catalyst for a brief discussion between my wife and me on getting our daughters vaccinated. They're too young for it now; but, its not to early to come to an agreement with my wife.

It took us all of 5 seconds to agree that they should get the vaccination as soon as they are the recommended age.

It took us 10 minutes more to wonder why in the world anyone would choose not to vaccinate their daughter. We were both incredulous at the various rationales used by people who don't vaccinate their kids.

[jeanne marie]

My fourteen year old daughter was vaccinated two years ago. My seventeen year old son just had his first (of three) shots. No need to mess with this virus.

As for the pro-financial vs pro-business distinction - YES! Having been associated with several promising companies that went public, I saw first hand what pleasing Wall Street did to ruin their businesses. Wall Street has no tolerance for anything that gets in the way of this quarter's profits. Companies were forced to bring products to market well before they were ready and they flooded channels with product offered at deep discounts in order to (temporarily) inflate sales numbers. The very idea of providing lasting customer satisfaction became a "quaint" one.

If a company can not invest in their own future, forfeiting their profit margin to "Wall Street investors", they don't stand a chance to remain competitive.

[kathy a.]

thumbs up, eric! my daughter was in HS when this vaccine became available for girls -- and she was strongly in favor herself, on public health grounds. we waited for the vaccine to reach our primary care physician's office, and her followup shots were at the U.

one of the only things i can think of that i admire about rick perry is that he signed an executive order mandating this vaccination [unless parents opt out]. and boy howdy, that has led to some crap, like michelle bachman saying that vaccines cause mental retardation -- NOT TRUE!

[kathy a.]

JM -- go, kids. this virus needs to go down.

you have the creds and i don't, but it has seemed for a long while that when wall street dips into a company, it's suddenly all about the quarterly profit and not at all about customers, about the quality of the product. pretty bad news for workers, for customers, and longer-term for investors. i could go on a rant here about "management consultants," who can ruin even a non-profit, but maybe i'd better not.

[beckya57]

One point the Salon article makes about the "personhood amendment" is that this could lead to investigations of women who have miscarriages. The NY Times did an excellent series a few years ago on the absolute bans on abortion in most Latin American countries, and that is indeed what has happened there. Women who come to ERs for care following miscarriages are often investigated on the grounds that they may have had an abortion. Not surprisingly this makes many women afraid to get needed care, not to mention tying up law enforcement resources on pointless and cruel prosecutions.

My sister, who is Catholic, is anti-abortion but pro-birth control. I pointed out to her once that most of the major "pro-life" organizations oppose birth control as well as abortion. She claimed with a straight face that she had no idea what I was talking about. Of course the biggest "pro-life" organization of all, the Catholic Church to which she belongs, takes precisely that position. I gave up.

[kathy a.]

nah, we can't give up, becky. i know a lot of people who are / were / kinda catholic, and even the ones who claim to be "pro-life" are at a place where birth control helps them take care of the life that's already born. most have exceptions for abortion, too -- like in most of the situations they personally know about, even if they think that's not generally a good birth control method.

on the personhood amendment, i share that worry about miscarriages becoming crime scenes.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

^^^ a new spammer ^^^^
welcome and bye-bye

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Why are we getting British spammers? I don't think many people would call the UK from California or Brooklyn to find a mover or house cleaner. Anyway, "Ruse Quote" farethewell for thee must leave us...

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

On wackiness in general, Linda Harvey -- in close competition for the title of "Quenn of Religious Crazy" with Cindy Jacobs, now that Janet Porter has needed Tommy John surgery on her brain -- has one that is new even for a student of homophobia:

“There are a few homosexual doctors treating kids, there are far more nurses, LPNs, technicians and other health care workers in these lifestyles so you may want to consider writing a letter that you file with your pediatrician that should your child ever be hospitalized, you do not want your child to be treated or cared for by one of these members of the Children’s Hospital gay employees group except in the case of an emergency situation.”

I'm not sure if she's complaining about the existence of gay medical professionals -- yes, she really could be that naive -- or the existence of an organized group for them.

A large proportion of the country seems drunk on crazy juice -- not the first or last time this will happen. But watchout for the handgover.

[oddjob]

Headdesk.....

[oddjob]

More religious crazy:

Quran Burning Pastor Terry Jones Is Running For President

[kathy a.]

the clown car is apparently not in danger of running out of occupants. "we're not as nuts as some of our supporters" isn't a bad slogan -- not that any of them is close to saying that.

honestly, prup -- what is that? a cootie directive? it does show a little more thoughtfulness than your average rabid anti-abortion freak, in that there is an exception for emergency situations.

[Paula B]

>> "we're not as nuts as some of our supporters" isn't a bad slogan -- not that any of them is close to saying that.

Has a nice ring to it and will work well on the same wall in the GOP Hall of Fame alongside "I am not a crook!"

[nancy]

TNR recently published a piece [book reviews] on the origins of the rabid right's 'personhood' argument where I was surprised to find it traceable to none other than Nixon. His intention was to capture the Catholic traditionally Democratic vote. Nixon actively sought the assistance of various Catholic bishops who'd previously stayed away from much public statement on the matter of abortion. (Griswold had been another matter.) This was a move to make political hay out of what had previously been rather settled and private:

"By 1972, anti-choice advocates were routinely throwing around the view that life began at conception as if it were an ancient belief. In fact, no religious tradition, including Catholicism, has had a consistent view of the status of the fetus; and for centuries no religion has been especially interested in the question. Before the advent of reliable contraception, pregnancy was always deemed a woman’s matter, only incidentally considered by ecclesiastical or secular authorities. Sara Dubow’s outstanding book, a history of the idea of fetal personhood—or more precisely, zygotic personhood—illuminates a murky history. Dubow begins with the ancient and ubiquitous belief that “quickening,” the point when a woman first feels the fetus move, marks the moment when the soul enters the body and the unborn child becomes fully human—an understanding elucidated by Aquinas, who held along with other ancient and medieval writers that “hominization” was delayed, because the soul could not occupy an unformed body. Only in 1869 did the Catholic Church identify conception as the moment of “hominization.” Dubow is not a student of theology, and any investigation of church doctrine on contraception uncovers a quiet debate that went back and forth over the centuries, especially in the early church; but on the overall historical pattern, she is correct. Abortion remained largely a matter of ecclesiastical indifference until quite recently."

becky -- Your sister can read the whole piece here. I'd say the clown car got on the road right about then.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Harvey is really something else, and this week she's been outdoing herself. I didn't have the full quote from the above -- I should have known to go to PFAE's RWW.

Here's the rest pf the quote leading up to the above:

How do you feel about open homosexuals tending to your child in a health care setting? Do you think these folks provide good role modeling at a time when your child is very vulnerable? I was thinking about this recently when I heard that Children’s Hospital in Columbus has a homosexual employees group called NCHARGE, which stands for Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Advocates Representing Gay Employees. The meeting minutes of this groups reveal that they participated in last June’s gay pride parade, that they participated in a health expo on adolescent health this summer and that they’re concerned about same-sex partner benefits. They’re also planning to be identified with rainbow lapel pins.

But let’s say your eleven year-old has broken her leg rather badly and needs to be in the hospital a few days, which would you prefer: a nurse who’s proud of her lesbianism, who has rainbow identifiers on her work clothing, or a nurse who does not?

I would like to suggest that parents think long and hard about this. If you want your children to admire people who proclaim a homosexual lifestyle, they’re involvement with your child during a hospital stay is sure to be an influence. And let me be clear that folks involved in these behaviors can be certainly competent workers but they are tacking on to their workplace identity one that is highly offensive to many people and can be erroneously influential to children who won’t, or shouldn’t, see the whole picture of how this behavior really manifests itself.

Here’s what parents can do: select your pediatrician very carefully, first of all....

The full PFAW section on Linda Harvey is here but chck "Mission America" -- her group -- as well. I have to give a few more examples, for those who share my fascination with this type of nuttiness.

We don't exist. It's implied in other 'we can change' pieces, but few simply say

There’s one big fact that’s not backed up. There is no proof that there’s ever anything like a gay, lesbian or bisexual or transgendered child, or teen or human. One of the other things you’re gonna see as I mentioned is a big campaign GLSEN’s gonna roll out this year calling for 'respect,' respect! Not just for people, but for homosexual lifestyle. The PR campaign to hold up gay as a good thing: the lifestyle, not the person, because there are no such humans.

Skipping over some, we find her position on bullying:

Big, big issue out there now is bullying. The homosexual activists are using this as a wedge to not deal with bullying, because it can be dealt without dealing with homosexuality at all, you don’t have to embrace homosexuality and cross-dressing to end bullying even if the people involved, the victims of the bullying, are identifying or sadly and tragically—at this point in their lives, maybe they’ll change—involved in those lifestyles or drawn to that. No you don’t have to deal with this issue at all, you just deal with insults, punish insults. If there’s physical assault you deal with that in the appropriate way.

No, what’s happening more and more is that that’s being used as a Trojan Horse to bring in all aspects of retraining everybody’s thinking to accept homosexuality in the schools. You got to watch out for that because it’s very slick, plays on people’s sympathies, our kids are all over this, ‘oh so sympathetic’ you know. There is not an epidemic of bullying for homosexual kids, there is simply not, that’s going unpunished. There is plenty of bullying incidents are getting punished every day around the country. The hard facts are simply not there.

But while homophobia is her main theme, she isn't a one-issue idiot. Her stupidity has other targets. And, since she was one of the first anti-Harry Potter speakers, you can bet how she loves Halloween:

Everyone thinks Halloween is harmless fun but just for a second, let’s look at from God’s perspective, at least from what He’s told us in His word. We’ve been taught not to worship or bow down to or in any way acknowledge any other gods. But Halloween is built around just exactly that. Behind the costumes and candy is a rebellious flirtation with fallen angels and deceptive spirits, and this definitely does not honor God. Where are these other spirits and gods you ask? Well, Halloween is all about fortune telling, magic, Ouija board, witches, it’s really hard to get away from all this. It’s definitely spiritual and that spirituality is not from our Lord.

So even if your child doesn’t directly participate in these activities, I think we’d be less than honest not to admit that yes it’s a huge part of Halloween. Dressing your child in a clown costume and going door-to-door may seem innocuous but your child has learned the following: blend in and don’t make waves. In those waves at some point in your child’s life will be all the dark elements we just mentioned and more. But the problem is your child will, by that time, have learned from you that Halloween is fun and no problem.

In my agnostic life before I knew the Lord, I loved Halloween. And even after I first became a believer, I had no intention of giving it up - I didn’t want to be a weird fundamentalist. But when I researched the origins and current celebration of Halloween, I was convicted in my heart and it boiled down to this: is it loyal to Jesus to participate in this event? If you’re married, it’s not appropriate to date someone other than your spouse and it isn’t appropriate for the bride of Christ to observe a holiday founded on the priorities of our spiritual enemy.

And, finally, her most recent delaration: ("One Wheaton" is a group of gay alumni of Wheaton College)

To try to slither around sin is not a novel idea, but to organize a group of folks to proudly renounce the teaching of Scripture is fragrantly defiant. They have bought the idea that there are people who are born to be homosexual or bisexual or in the wrong-sex body, it defies not just the teaching of Scripture but common sense, what kind of a Creator puts someone in the wrong-sex body? Or creates people destined to mate with just the same-sex, never being able to create new life together and always having problems making the anatomy work. Well, there’s a simple answer: our loving and all powerful Creator did not do this. This is the foolish and wandering heart of man.

Once you buy into the ‘born that way’ idea then self-delusion is not that far behind. There’s no evidence there are different humans called LGBTQ people, these are sinful behaviors, not in-born identities. And people do not have to cower in fear or depression or shame, if you truly love God you accept His will knowing it’s best for your life and it’s His design that will make you happy. God’s grace can and will help anyone who resolves to go beyond these feelings, to put them aside, and decide that He is sovereign.

But One Wheaton has apparently decided they are sovereign. They would be more respectful if they simply walked away from Christianity. But to try and stay and change it is worse than hypocrisy—it’s deception.

In other words, gay Christians should leave.

(btw, I called her 'stupid' above, but she really isn't. Her premises are, but given them, her reasoning is both more intelligent and more consistent than most of her ilk.)

[kathy a.]

nixon was paranoid, had been badly bumped off his initial path to the presidency by kennedy [catholic, and that was a real issue then], and nixon went on to quit in disgrace after the watergate scandal. i'm primed to believe he'd cook this thing up as a political strategy, but will go read the piece.

"quickening" makes some sense, at least. morning sickness, missed periods, weight gain, positive pregnancy test -- it did not become all that real for me until somebody started doing workouts on my innards. that point is pretty far along, but still way short of independent life; at least in my experiences and all the stories and evidence i've seen.

[kathy a.]

prup -- yeah, she's nuts. and on so many levels! you know what? children's hospitals do rainbows and ponies and dogs and loving everyone -- because that is good for their patients. and the people staffing those hospitals are there because they do good work and care about kids. that rainbow tag on an employee is about hope; and it was a symbol of hope and good things long before it was a symbol of inclusiveness about sexual orientation. this stupid woman needs to get a freakin' life.

p.s. -- sometimes kids are in the hospital for something worse than a broken leg, like my nephew was. often. for years. we saw lots of rainbows in those years before the cancer killed him.

and i am really really sure that his brother, who is gay, did not get that way because of rainbows or staff members who might have loved persons of not the opposite sex. we all had a lot more on our minds than fretting about the private lives of people trying to help alexander.

[kathy a.]

info on why emergency contraception [plan B] is not an abortifacent, from an ob/gyn. wish this did not need to be passed around, but there are a bunch of lies out there.

[oddjob]

Sir C. (& other Mass. residents, present and former), check out this photo of Warren volunteers (in Framingham - 13 months before the election)!

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I saw that. It struck me as a really remarkable scene --it gives me a great deal of hope.