Letterman. Polanski. Ensign. Edwards. Writes Gene Lyons on Salon.com: “What would Americans talk about without celebrity sex scandals? It’s getting to where even a diligent voyeur has trouble keeping the protagonists straight without schematic diagrams…. Reveling in other people’s sins has become the national pastime. We’ve become a country of Peeping Toms, a sadistic activity.”
Roper does a worldwide survey to show how much admiration people have for different countries. It’s called the National Brands Index. Last year, the United States ranked 7th, behind: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Italy.
This year, the United States ranked first.
I think that’s a good thing. If you’re a Republican (as are 90% of my Facebook friends), you may think that’s a bad thing, because it could be a “win” for Obama. Kinda like getting the Olympics would have been, which is why so many conservatives cheered when Rio got the Olympics.
Or maybe, like me, you cheer for your country no matter who lives in the White House.
The survey included 20,000 respondents from 20 countries.
I’m amused by the obsessive attention Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity give to czars, on whom they hang apocalyptic intrigue. They contend that these special advisers, appointed without Senate confirmation, subvert the Constitution. I personally don’t think America is so fragile that a collection of advisers focused on specific issues will usher in Armageddon. But Glenn and Sean are entitled to their hysteria.
FactCheck.org, like Politifact, freely criticizes idiocy among both Democrats and Republicans. I like those sites, because my interest is in truth and accuracy, something the drive-by motormouth pundits don’t care about. When Obama lies (which he does), I want to know it. When Republicans lie, I want to know it. I voted for Obama, but I’m not interested in blindly excusing him of whatever he says or does. Nor do I automatically believe what he says. So I appreciate FactCheck and Politifact dutifully checking into things.
FactCheck.org has now investigated the whole czar controversy. They found that for the most part, the title “czar” is a media creation; it’s not the person’s actual title, and it’s all a tad arbitrary about who Beck et al deem worthy of the designation. President Bush appointed a guy to be the point person for dealing with the Bird Flu. His actual title was Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Public Health Emergency Preparedness, but the media called him the Bird Flu Czar, which was sure a lot easier. That’s sort of how it works with most of these folks.
Every administration appoints people as special envoys, office directors, special assistants, or point persons on issues-of-the-moment. Such people are most vulnerable to getting tagged with the czar label.
Glenn Beck identifies 32 persons as Obama czars. Here’s what FactCheck.org learned about these persons (there is some overlap):
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of political appointees in every administration. I don’t know where the anti-czar people draw the line. Wouldn’t the White House chef, about whom the Senate has no say, be the Kitchen Czar (or Czarina)? Is there a Mail Room Czar? Housekeeping Czar? At what point does a person become a Czar? This cries out for definition.
George Bush probably had more czars than Obama, though again, that term was largely a media creation. He had a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Czar, AIDS Czar, Cybersecurity Czar, War Czar, World Trade Center Health Czar, Faith Czar, Budget Czar, Cleanup Czar, Intelligence Czar, Bioethics Czar, Manufacturing Czar, Public Diplomacy Czar, Regulatory Czar, Abstinence Czar, Domestic Policy Czar, Food Safety Czar, Homelessness Czar, Reading Czar, Science Czar, Terrorism Czar, Counterterrorism Czar, and others. You could probably say Presidents George HW Bush and Clinton were both Tsunami Recovery Czars. The final one was the Bailout Czar, charged with distributing the first $700 billion.
Despite all of these nefarious Bush appointees blatantly undermining the Constitution, America muddles along. I suspect that the Founding Fathers created something durable enough to survive even Obama’s dastardly attempts to topple 230 years of capitalism and democracy.
And now, enjoy this little clip.
My pastor, Tim Hallman, wrote a very good blog posted called “What is the Greatest Threat to Christianity?” I recommend it.
Apple is suing Woolworth, the largest retailer in Australia, saying their new logo looks too much like Apple’s logo. Woolworth says it’s a stylized W that also looks like fresh produce. Apple doesn’t want them slapping this logo onto electrical appliances–like, uh, portable music players.
I don’t know. While I am so technologically ideological that I will normally excuse anything Apple does, I think they may be a bit picky here. Yet, I can see the argument.
A few conservatives are speaking out against the madness and conspiracy-mongering of the far-right Punditocracy. Lindsey Graham is the latest to raise a sane voice.
Jordi was sitting in the front yard, looking up the street. Two young kids, maybe 6th grade, came down the walk with three dogs on leashes–a small poodle, and two even smaller dogs. The yappy kind.
Then the two kids spotted Jordi at the same time. They quickly came to a stop.
I heard the girl say, “I thought that was a big dog.”
Then they turned around their dogs and headed back the other way. Didn’t want to risk tangling with our 17 pound boy.
Jordi is SO intimidating. Meow.
When we went on vacation in mid-September, I took some books of redeeming spiritual and intellectual value…but didn’t read any of them. Instead, I stuck to the escapist track, devouring five thriller novels during our 12-day vacation. All were winners.
Fresh Disasters. This is the first Stuart Woods book I’ve read, which is pretty amazing, considering how many books he’s written in genres I like. He has a series about a private investigator named Stone Barrington. Fresh Disasters is part of that series. I enjoyed the character, and enjoyed the plot–not hugely, but enough to want to read more. I found several more Stone Barrington novels at a used bookstore. They’re now sitting on my shelf. I’ll get to them eventually.
Rough Justice. I’ve read a number of Jack Higgins books over the years, but not in quite a while. It’s about time I got back to him, because he never disappoints. His books have some continuing characters, such as Sean Dillon, who figures in this book. In this book, Higgins creates a new fellow, Harry Moore, who joins this cast of tough-guy British spooks. This was a very good book.
The Killing Floor. This is the first of Lee Child’s novels about Jack Reacher. I’d previously read books 2-5 in the series, but not the first one. Of the books I’ve read, The Killing Floor and Echo Burning are my favorites. This one had a great plot, and plenty of action.
L.A. Outlaws. T. Jefferson Parker is a superb writer. I’ve read only a couple of his books, but they’re always good. And LA Outlaws was outstanding. The central character is a sympathetic woman bank robber, a really unique literary creation. Her parts are written in first person, everything else in third person. I loved this book.
Black Widow. I’d not read a book by Randy Wayne White. He’s a heckuva writer. Black Widow was based on a Caribbean Island. The protagonist, Doc Ford, is a former CIA agent of some kind (the book never really explains much of his background). A collection of very interesting characters populate these pages. White has written another Doc Ford book. I’ll probably need to track it down one of these days.
My brother, Rick, posted this “Note to Bill Clinton” on his blog:
“Okay, so you still think there is a vast right wing conspiracy? Now, did it keep you from being elected twice to the Presidency? Did it keep the Democrats from retaking the House and Senate in 2006? Did it keep Obama from gaining the White House in 2008? If there’s a conspiracy, it sure ain’t doing very good at whoever they are conspiring against.”
Now, for all those people on the right who imagine a dastardly conspiracy by Obama to create a 1000 Year Fourth Reich….
Did you know there is a “Christian Hall of Fame“? It’s even located in Canton, Ohio, home of the pro football Hall of Fame. It’s a creation of Canton Baptist Temple. The most recent inductee is Jerry Falwell, added September 23.
When I read about that, I immediately fell into my default cynical mode. I assumed it would be populated mainly by fundamentalist Baptist Republicans. And I figured it would be fertile ground for a very satirical blog post, as if that would edify the Kingdom.
Then I took a look…and I’m fascinated by it!
First of all, the website is very, very well done. As user-friendly as can be.
The inductees span the last 2000 years. Click on a name, and you get a picture and description of that person. Click on a period of history (say, “The Church in Reformation: AD 1000-1500”), and you get a list of persons from that period–some that you’ve heard of, some that you haven’t. In the Reformation period, there were eight persons: Wycliffe, Huss, Savonarola, Hubmaler, Zwingli, Tyndale, Luther, Simons. I’d never heard of Savonarola or Hubmaler, so it was interesting reading about them and their contribution to Christianity.
The last period, “The Church Expands: 1900-2000,” has 50 entries. Of those, all were English-speaking Caucasians–ten from Great Britain, one from Canada, the rest from the US of A. So I guess the world’s significant Christians mostly lived during the last 100 years, and apparently almost entirely in the United States, or at least they spoke English. There is only one person of color in the list (John Jasper, from the 1800s) and only one woman (hymn-writer Fanny Crosby). It’s too bad that, according to the Christian Hall of Fame, there has not been a single significant black or Asian Christian in the whole world during the last 100 years.
So if you want to make it into the Christian Hall of Fame, you really need to be a modern-day white English-speaking American man. And I’m guessing that you need orthodox fundie credentials.
But still, it’s interesting.
My favorite entry was the very last entry, for “The Unknown Christian.” It says:
This Christian never made the headlines as a greet theologian or a silver-tongued orator. He (or she) is a faithful, consecrated, born-again layman. The foot solder in the Gospel army. He (or she) is a Sunday School teacher, an usher, a singer, a bus worker, a nursery helper, a parking lot attendance, or a prayer warrior. His (or her) service is unheralded but vital in the cause of Christ. His (or her) testimony adorns the gospel as he (or she) faithfully witnesses daily “in the temple and in every house,” sacrificing time, talent, and tithe to the Lord.
Having served the Lord in the home, the church, and the world, this Christian will one day hear the Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord” (Matthew 25:21).
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