MSNBC's Keith Olbermann guts Focus on the Family

Oh my, this is good.

Hey, guys, worry about yourselves. You’re spewing hate, while assuming that for some reason, God has chosen you and you alone in all of history to understand the mysteries of existence, when mankind’s existence is filled with ample evidence that nobody yet has been smart enough to discern an answer.

You might try keeping it simpler: did you help others, or hurt them?

I’ll be happy to be judged on the answer to that question, and if it’s a group session, I don’t expect I’ll find many members of “Focus On Family” in the “done ok” line.

Then be sure to read his next blog entry on the same page, where he talks about Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, doing an action alert to have his minions write Olbermann:

Firstly, you wouldn’t think a member of this group could misspell “Christian,” but sure enough, one of the missives had the word as “Christain” three times. I think just about every word you could imagine was butchered at some point (and we’re not talking typos here - we’re talking about repeated identical misspellings):

Spong, Spounge, Spnge - presumably meaning “Sponge.”

Dobsin, Dobsen, Debsin, Dubsen, Dobbins - presumably Dr. Dobson.

Sevility— I’m not sure about this one. This might be “civility,” or it might refer to the city in Spain.

The best of them was not a misspelling but a Freudian slip of biblical proportions. A correspondent, unhappy that I did not simply agree with her fire-and-brimstone forecast for me, wrote “I showed respect even though I disagreed with you and yet you have the audacity to call me intelligent.”

Well, you have me there, Ma’am. My mistake.

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Late night open thread

Blah. Read More......

Four black Baptist groups join together, say enough of abortion and gay debate

Very interesting story. I don't know enough about these groups, but this is very interesting that the black Baptist groups are trying to take back the moral highground away from the religious right and focus it where it should be, on actually helping people who are less fortunate. The impact remains to be seen, but this is a very good sign, and is not good news for the GOP or the religious right. Namely, someone is finally starting to redefine what it means to be a person of faith who cares. Read More......

Democracy is Born In The Middle East

I did not support Bush's unilateral invasion of Iraq (but I thought the UN should have gone in there YEARS ago). But whatever you think of the war, anyone with a heart has to be inspired by seeing people flocking to the polls in Iraq, apparently at the same level as voters here in the US -- and when they are risking their lives to do so. It is inspiring to see women proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers that indicate they too were able to vote. Even some Sunni areas saw strong numbers of voters. If the dominant Shiites and Kurds can actually maintain a pluralistic, secular government -- rather than taking revenge on the Sunnis who dominated them for ages -- it will be a miracle of decency. Arab news channels -- according to the NYT -- were filled with images of the historic vote going out to the entire Middle East. Our "allies" -- strategic partners who share none of our values, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- are deeply, deeply disturbed by this. Good.

Yes, the country is still riven by violence and 1/5th of the population is deeply hostile to the new leaders and our presence. Yes, the infrastructure is a mess. Yes, Afghanistan had elections and now only a few major cities are controlled by the "good guys" while a third of the country is back under the heels of the Taliban and another third dominated by drug lords.

But people want to be free -- whether they live in China or North Korea or Iran or Egypt. People want to be free -- despite a thousand year history of sectarian hatred and religious fanaticism, Iraqis risked their lives to go to the polls. We should be happy. And God willing today may be the day they start to consider themselves Iraqis instead of Kurds or Sunni or Shiite.

I almost put a question mark at the end of the headline -- Democracy is Born in the Middle East? But I don't think there's any question.
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Soros: Kerry was a flawed candidate

Amen to that.

The article also notes that Soros spent $26 million in the last campaign. Man, the trouble some friends and I could have caused with just a small fraction of that money. Read More......

The 25 Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Why aren't any of them nice people? Fair enough, I don't recognize all of them, but the ones I do recognize just aren't nice people. At what point did being a Christian become synonymous with being an arrogant, intolerant, bully? And why are there any evangelical leaders who are just nice tolerant folk? Is there someone we don't know about? I'd seriously like to know. Read More......

Another open thread

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Kerry on Meet the Press

Discussing the Swift Boats for 5 minutes. What the hell is his problem? Tell Russert to shut the fuck up about the Swift Boats. Put your foot down. Say enough is enough, you're through discussing whether you've stopped beating your wife. Scold Russert for pandering to shoddy yellow journalism. Tell him 2 Americans just died at our embassy in Iraq preparing for the Iraqi vote today. And Russert honors their memory to worrying about the fucking Swift Boats?

What does Kerry do? Launches into a long discussion of whether he did or didn't cross the Cambodian border Christmas eve 35 years ago. Who the fuck cares.

It's Kitty Dukakis all over again. Defend yourself. Put your foot down. Tell Russert to shove it. As my sister said to me before the election: If he won't defend himself, how is he going to defend us? Read More......

Beautiful Sunday open thread

GORGEOUS outside. The snow is sticking to the trees :-) Read More......

The 800 pound gorilla in the UK's house

There has been a lot of talk recently in the UK about immigration, perhaps because it's the only wedge issue the Tories can find. The results of a recent poll in the UK says that 71% of voters are worried about immigration. Maybe they're worried that yet another generation of immigrants will succeed and help grow their country? For as much as the Brits love to point the finger across the pond at our own difficulties with racism, they have a long history of it themselves and it's not getting better. Maybe we can start a letter-writing campaign to the Brits and the Guardian can help us enlighten those island-mentality xenophobes.
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Voting starts in Iraq, results are mixed so far

Seventeen dead from multiple attacks and few voters showing in Falluja, Ramadi and other Sunni strongholds. Elsewhere the poll stations were backed up so it's a real mix so far.
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Davos disaster dinner

I watched a great program on BBC World yesterday where the Beeb brought together people from around the world who are in Davos such as Senators Biden and McCain as well as professors, politicians, NGOs from the US, Europe and Middle East. As usual for the BBC it was great stuff and not just because McCain was caught red-handed lying about the world court and ripped in front the crowd. (Boy were his eyes bulging! You could just feel the miserable bastard seething.)

What I missed and what may not have been filmed was this absolute disastor dinner in Davos. I guess the upside (or downside) was that a food fight didn't break out, but just barely, apparently.
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