JetBlue is reducing the legroom on coach seats. Thinking of the last time I flew: is a reduction even possible? I had to store my legs in the overhead bin.
Weird Political Domain Names
Domain names for sale, according to GoDaddy:
- mitchromney.com ($9000)
- obamasfauxpas.com ($12)
- unicornsforromney.com ($800)
- romney4cannibas.com ($100)
- romneyrocks ($600)
- nutsforobama.com ($9)
- obamaisnuts.com ($200)
- romneyscandals.com ($999)
- obamacalifragilisticexpialidocious.com ($50)
Todd Akin Will Not be Moved
John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Reince Preibus, and various others have called for Todd Akin to give up his Senate race in Missouri, and outside funding groups have pulled their support. Kudos for these Republicans. Even extremists like Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Michelle Malkin agree that Akin needs to go.
But Akin says he’s staying in, and that, “By taking this stand, this is going to strengthen our country.” Can you spell e-g-o?
Akin put out an apology video saying, “Fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy.” Has anyone, EVER, had to publicly state that they do actually believe rape can cause pregnancy? One note of consolation: Stewart and Colbert are off this week.
Gallows Vs. the Stake
Esther tells about how the Babylonian Haman was hanged on the gallows which he built for Mordecai, a Jew. But yesterday I was reading this passage in the New Living Translation, and it had Haman being impaled on a 75-foot stake he built for Mordecai. I looked it up in my NIV Study Bible, and a note said the word for gallows was actually something like “tree,” so it could have been a stake, and said impaling was a common punishment in that part of the world. The NLT went fully with that interpretation. It was a new, albeit gruesome, twist on a familiar story. Are you not now edified?
Crying “Nazi!
Well, we have a couple more Nazi sightings.
Marisha Agana, a Republican running for Congress in Ohio, tweeted on August 5, “History has a way of repeating itself: Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, and now Obama!!!”
Then there is Dave Mustaine, frontman for Megadeth. After telling a Singapore crowd that President Obama staged the movie theater and Sikh temple shootings in an effort to ban guns, he said, “I don’t know where I’m gonna live if America keeps going the way it’s going because it looks like it’s turning into Nazi America.”
A couple years ago, the term “fascist” was getting thrown at President Obama with reckless abandon. Other labels were popular, too–communist, socialist, Islamicist–and they would sometimes get combined by the clueless fringe in comical ways–like Obama is a fascist communist intent on instituting Sharia law. Nonsense like that. Nazi comparisons were especially popular at Tea Party gatherings. People have backed off somewhat, but Nazi metaphors still get thrown around too easily.
- Rush Limbaugh said, “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate,” and spoke of Obama “sending out his brown shirts,” and that Obama’s healthcare plan “mirrors Nazi Germany’s.”
- When NPR fired Juan Williams, FoxNews chief Roger Ailes said of NPR execs, “They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism.”
- Glenn Beck compared auto bailouts to “the early days of Adolf Hitler,” compared TARP to “what happened to the lead-up with Hitler,” likened White House criticism of FoxNews to persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, and said Obama’s desire to expand the Peace Corps and Americorps was “what Hitler did with the SS.”
- Newt Gingrich said Obama was threatening America as much as “Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.”
- Bill O’Reilly compared gun control advocates to Hitler, accused the Huffington Post of using Nazi tactics to demonize people (“I don’t see any difference between [Arianna] Huffington and the Nazis”), accused the media of using the tactics of Josef Goebbels, described the Daily Kos blog as “like the Nazi Party. There’s no difference here,” and described Michael Moore’s power as “what happened in Nazi Germany.”
- Sean Hannity said using a Quran for a Congressman’s swearing-in was like using Mein Kampf.
- Ann Coulter called websites like Media Matters “little Nazi block watchers” that “tattle on their parents, turn them in to the Nazis,” and described Obama’s autobiography as a “dime store Mein Kampf.”
- Mark Levin described Obamacare as “Hitleresque.”
- Cal Thomas said Obamacare would lead down the same path that produced Hitler’s 1933 Sterilization Law.
It goes on and on.
The same thing happened during the Bush years, when idiots on the left regularly attached “Nazi” to him. Photos of George Bush in Nazi contexts abound (often the same photos now being used with Obama’s likeness). The website “The Right Perspective” published “A Short History of Liberals Using the Nazi Card.”
The words of Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride apply here: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
So what exactly is fascism?
I did some searching (thank you, Google) and came up with these characteristics.
- Fascism is an ill-defined political ideology that is both authoritarian and nationalist.
- Fascism emphasizes the right of the chosen people to dominate everyone else.
- Fascists believe everyone should serve the nation-state as the embodiment of the popular will.
- Fascism usually arises after a period of political polarization and legislative deadlock.
- Fascism arises from the middle classes, typically accompanied by economic instability which is more threatening to the middle class.
- Fascism mobilizes people through discipline, indoctrination, and physical training.
- Fascists favor eugenics.
- Fascists try to eradicate perceived foreign influences.
- Fascists promote the rule of people deemed innately superior, and purge society of people deemed inferior.
- Fascism emphasizes personal responsibility to the group over individual rights.
- Fascism emphasizes victimhood, and justifies action without constraint against the victimizers.
- Fascists, compared to the general population, tend to be younger and better educated–the type of people more likely to have opportunities blocked by economic instability.
- Fascists use the police and military to enforce order.
- Fascists, using perceived threats to the nation, approve of ignoring human rights and committing torture, executions, assassination, long incarcerations, etc.
- Fascists don’t “seize” power, but once in office they consolidate and expand their power through technically legal means.
- Fascists purge ideas, people, and forces deemed to cause decadence and degeneration.
- Fascism promotes political violence and war to promote national rejuvenation, spirit, and vitality.
- Fascists use paramilitary organizations to commit or threaten violence against opponents.
- Fascists claim their ideology transcends all classes.
- Fascists glamorize the military, and give the military a disproportionate amount of funding.
- Fascists are expansionist, looking to spread their power beyond their own borders.
- Fascists advocate a state-controlled and regulated mixed economy.
- Fascist governments are mostly male-dominated, and traditional gender roles are made more rigid.
- Fascists censor the media to protect the nation state.
- Fascist governments use fear as a motivational tool to control the masses.
- Fascists are hostile to financial capital, plutocracy, and the power of money.
- Fascists criminalize employee strikes and lockouts by employers, and otherwise suppress or eliminate unions.
- Fascists tend to be socially conservative.
- Fascists have a disdain for intellectuals, science, the arts, and academia.
- Fascists often give a national police force almost unlimited power, which people accept in the name of patriotism.
- Fascists make a fetish out of flags and other nationalistic paraphernalia.
- Fascists don’t tolerate dissent.
- Fascism is neither a right or left ideology.
As you can see, fascism can’t be tied to either the Republican or Democratic party. Some characteristics seem to fit more with either liberal or conservative ideology; you could go through each characteristic and say, “This is more likely with conservatives” and “This one is more likely with liberals.” But the whole package doesn’t fit anything in the American political scene.
Godwin’s Law, also known as Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies, states that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably makes a comparison to Hitler and the Nazis. But Godwin’s Law also applies to political discourse in other areas–on the floor of Congress, on news channels, on radio, in newspapers, on Facebook, and at the office water cooler. To press their point, people can’t help themselves–they just have to make a comparison to Hitler as the ultimate evil.
In so doing, they trivialize what the Nazis did. And they make themselves look stupid.
The Woman Stranded Beside the Road
On the way to work this morning, I suddenly came upon a pickup truck on the side of the road, its flashers on, and a woman standing by the tailgate with something in her hand. I figured it was a cell phone. By the time I saw her, I didn’t have time to stop, so I continued on.
But I kept thinking about her. Doggone it, I hate it when that happens. When my conscience gets all uppity.
I kept telling myself I should go back. Then I would talk myself out of it. “She had a cell phone. She’s calling somebody. Probably somebody else has stopped by now.”
The whole “what goes around comes around” principle, which is actually biblical, kept coming to me. If I were stranded, wouldn’t I want somebody to stop (a self-centered motive for helping somebody, when you think about it). There was the whole “angels unaware” argument (was I ignoring the angel Gabriel?). I didn’t think til later of the even better argument, “If that was Mom, wouldn’t I want a Good Samaritan to make sure she’s okay?”
So anyway, I knew God wanted me to turn around. It was what a Christian should do.
I was over a mile down the road before I found a place to turn around. I drove back, and saw the woman walking toward Roanoke (still miles away) with a small red plastic gas container in her hand. She was probably 30 yards from her truck. I turned around through the median again and drove toward her.
And JUST before I reached her, a maroon van stopped, and she climbed in.
I continued on, my conscience satisfied. I did consider the possibility that maybe the driver of the maroon van was a deranged serial killer, and I was too late after all. But some things just have to be left to a sovereign God.
India’s Problems in the Olympics
The India delegation enters the stadium at the 2012 London Olympics. The woman in bluejeans was a gate-crasher, not part of the team.
India’s men’s field hockey team is a traditional powerhouse, but hasn’t medaled in over 20 years.
India’s women’s badminton team.
India is the world’s 2nd largest country, with 1.2 billion people–four times the size of the United States. But in the 2012 Summer Olympics, they won just six medals–2 silver and 4 bronze. Which is actually good, considering that their pre-Olympics goal was to win five medals.
India has competed in every Olympics since 1900, yet has won just 26 medals (9 gold, 6 silver, 11 bronze). In other words, India has won just a few more medals than Michael Phelps.
What’s up?
A Google search showed that this subject fascinates lots of people around the world. And a variety of reasons–or excuses–have been cited for India’s lackluster Olympics performances.
- Not a priority. Sports just isn’t a priority among Indian families. Education and job training–and survival in general–take center stage. Athletics is viewed as something you do for fun. India certainly has people with potential world-class athletic skills. But it is rarely developed, or at least not developed at a young enough age.
- Infrastructure. India doesn’t have a widespread sports culture with athletic teams at all school levels. They lack a system where the best athletes rise to the top, along with skilled coaches and trainers.
- Money. Though India is developing economically, families lack the money to invest in high-calibre athletic training for their children, and local governments lack the funds to invest in good practice and competition facilities.
- No economic safety net. An American can spend many years de-emphasizing school and, if athletics doesn’t work out, still live a good middle class life. But in India, you’re taking a very big chance. It’s tough to make up ground.
- Caste system. A large part of the population is automatically excluded, because they come from lower castes. If you make the Olympic team, you’re probably a member of a higher caste.
- Not a national priority. Developing countries that do well have high investment from the central government–China, North Korea, Cuba. The Indian government has too many other concerns.
- No dominant sport. Developing countries usually excel in a particular sport–track (Jamaica, Ethiopia, Kenya), wrestling (Turkey), weight-lifting (Kazakhstan), boxing (Cuba). No such sport has emerged in India, unless you count cricket.
- Childhood malnourishment. Too many of India’s people begin life as undernourished children, and they never develop the physical qualities needed to excel in athletics.
- Corruption. The Indian athletic bodies are ridden with corruption.
- Tribalism. India has numerous ethnic identities with distinct languages, not to mention the divisions of the former caste system. North Korea, by contrast, has a single ethnic identity.
- Gender issues. Skimpy outfits–a staple in many sports–is frowned upon in Indian society.
- Cricket rules. India is a one-sport nation, obsessed with cricket. Which is not an Olympic sport.
Something else I found interesting.
Between 1928-1968, India won the field hockey gold medal all but two times (when neighboring Pakistan won). In 1976, the Olympics switched from natural turf to synthetic turf, which is more expensive. Indian localities lacked the money to switch fields to synthetic turf. Consequently, Indian players continued growing up on grassy fields, learning skills which weren’t suited for synthetic turf.
So there, an explanation of why the world’s second-largest country, it’s largest democracy, and its largest English-speaking country just can’t cut it in the Olympics.
Giving It a Little Extra
I’m reading through Nehemiah right now. Chapter 3 lists the people who rebuilt a section of the walls of Jerusalem. Dozens of people and groups are mentioned as doing their part. For some, it was just a matter of repairing a section of the wall in front of their house.
Then, in verse 20, we come to a guy named Baruch. The verse says Baruch “zealously repaired another section.” No adverb is used with any other persons, only Baruch. I imagine some people worked on the wall out of a sense of duty, or because they were coerced in some way. But Baruch did it zealously. It obviously made an impression on Nehemiah, and he appreciated Baruch’s enthusiasm enough to specifically point it out.
People like Baruch thrill the heart of a leader.
A couple weeks ago, Pam and I visited my parents’ church and sat in Dad’s Sunday school class. It’s obvious that, when it comes to teaching this class, Dad does it zealously. I’ve had many Sunday school teachers over the years who were certainly less than zealous, doing it instead because they had their arms twisted. But one teacher stands out, and my parents know exactly who I’m going to name: Dick Zimmerman, who taught my class when I was in 6th grade in Harrisburg, Pa. He put an incredible amount of energy and creativity into that class, and he has always been my model of an exemplary teacher.
Are there things I do that people say, “Steve did that zealously”? In what do I show zeal? Hmmm. Something to think about.
Religious Persecution? Ask a Muslim about That
Surveying a mosque in Joplin, Missouri, destroyed by an arsonist.
Religious persecution is alive and well in America. But the victims are not Christians.
There is no liberal “war on religion” or “war on Christmas.” A lame, half-hearted boycott of a chicken restaurant does not equal religious persecution. Disagreements about gay marriage, no matter how contentious, do not equal religious persecution. Banning a nativity scene from public property, or not allowing a prayer at a public school graduation…not persecution. Just examples of the give-and-take of public policy in a free society which is continuously testing the boundaries between church and state, and the boundaries of the free expression of religion in American life.
Fact is, Protestant Christianity is the Big Dog in American religion, just as Catholicism is the Big Dog throughout Latin America, and the Anglican church is in England. All of them “Christian” religions. Christianity enjoys a host of freedoms and privileges, and every single president has claimed to be a Christian (Romney would end that streak). Christianity is not persecuted. Christianity is on top, with tons of influence.
If you want to claim religious persecution, become a Muslim or a Sikh. That massacre in Wisconsin at a Sikh temple, true, was the work of one madman. That will happen. But the public record is filled with scores of incidents in which members of non-Christian religions–nearly always Muslims, or persons mistaken for being Muslim–are targeted.
During the past year, arsonists have struck Islamic centers in Arlington, Texas, Corvallis, Ore., Stockton, Calif., Houston, Texas, Worcester, Mass., and Wichita, Kansas. There have been scores of other acts of vandalism and other incidents at Islamic temples. This goes way beyond a few big-city mayors trying to score a few fleeting political points by saying they’ll oppose permits for new Chick-Fil-A franchises.
It’s not safe to be a Muslim. Consider these incidents, all of which happened within the last three years.
- New York: A 56-year old woman was attacked while walking on a city street by two people who ripped off her religious attire and called her a “f-ing terrorist.”
- Brooklyn, NY: a Turkish man and his wife were attacked by a neighbor screaming “F-ing Arabs! F-ing terrorists.”
- Wisconsin: a man of Moroccan heritage was hospitalized with head injuries while walking with a friend downtown. The friend was punched, knocked to the ground, and kicked. The attacker allegedly said “f___ Osama Bin Laden” during the attack.
- Illinois: a faculty member was stabbed by a man seeking to “save his country” because he thought the man was Middle Eastern.
- A Sikh man was stabbed at the airport in Fresno, Calif. Sikhs, because of their long beards and turbans, are often mistaken for Muslims.
- San Jose, Calif.: A Hindu man was assaulted by a group of men who called him a “terrorist.”
- St. Cloud, Minn.: Graphic, sexually explicit anti-Muslim cartons were posted on utility poles.
- Staten Island: A 14-year-old was beaten by a classmate who said he hated Arabs.
- New York: A man threatened to kill a Muslim mother and daughter, shouted racial and religious slurs, and spat on their car.
- Calif: A taxi driver was repeatedly hit in the back of the head by passengers calling him “Taliban” and “terrorist.”
- Florida: a Marine reservist hit a Greek Orthodox priest with a a tire iron and chased him for three blocks. He later claimed than an “Arab man” was trying to rob him, and described the priest as a terrorist.
- An Idaho Muslim had swastikas and slurs painted on the side of his truck.
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa: an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee and his mother were assaulted after a softball game. The boy’s jaw was broken by a member of the other team, who called him raghead, terrorist, and camel jockey. The same person assaulted the mother when she tried to defend her son.
- In July 2011, a Pakistani Muslim family that had lived in the US for 15 years had the word “Terrorist” spray-pointed onto their home.
- Murfreesboro, Tenn: a mother and son were the targets of anti-Musim and racial slurs by a knife-weilding driver.
- A man at an “Ask a Muslim” information booth outside a mosque was punched in the face by two men, who told police they wanted to kick out all the “ragheads.”
- Reno, Nev: Scrawled on a wall–“Don’t burn the Koran. Why? Just burn Muslims.”
- Manhattan: A passenger asked a cab driver, “Are you a Muslim?” When the driver said he was, the passenger slashed him with a knife on the throat, arm, and face.
- Missouri: a worker at an Islamic center was threatened by a man carring a knife and handgun, who said the center was for people “trying to take over the United States.”
- A Muslim man of South Asian descent had an aerosol cleaner sprayed into his yes by a coworker who, after failing to convert him to Christianity, began calling him “terrorist” and “Bin Laden.” The Muslim man was later fired from his job.
- Cyprus, Calif: “US Military is going to kill you all” was scrawled on the side of a mosque.
- Florida: a mosque was sprayed with bullets that left broken windows and holes in the dome. The mosque’s sign was previously defaced with a swastika and profanity.
- South Carolina: “Death to Muslims” was scratched into the sidewalk outside a mosque.
- Oregon: “Allah is a pig” was written on the mailbox of a mosque.
- Los Angeles: a burned Quran was found at the back entrance of a mosque. Burned Qurans were also found outside mosques in Tennessee, Michigan, and San Francisco after that crazy Florida pastor proposed burning Qurans.
- Jacksonville, Fla.: a bomb exploded late at night outside a mosque.
- South Carolina: vandals used bacon to write “pig” and “chump” on a mosque walkway.
- Seattle: Two Muslim women of Somali heritage were punched and kicked at a gas station by a woman who threw out allegations of “terrorist” and “suicide bomber.”
- Ohio: A mosque’s surveillance camera caught a man pulling his SUV behind the car of a Muslim woman, who was wearing a veil in which only the eyes are visible. He walked to her car and pepper-sprayed her through the open window, while yelling racial and religious slurs.
- Dearborn, Mich: a man was arrested carrying large amounts of explosives. He was planning to attack one of the nation’s largest mosques.
Disturbing, huh?
How would you like to live in fear of being attacked–in your home, on the street, anywhere–simply because of your religious beliefs? As a Christian, I face absolutely no such fears. Never have. I’ve been in situations where I felt in danger because of my race, but never because of my religion. But other persons–fellow Americans, protected by the same “freedom of religion” clause–do live in fear simply because of their religion. Fear for themselves, fear for their children. When they go out in public, it’s on their minds. Now THAT is religious persecution.
People like Pamela Geller make a living writing and speaking against Muslims and spreading hate. Geller has posted images on her blog depicting Muhammed as a pig. She frequently appears on FoxNews, a huge platform from which to spread her Islamophobia. Other conservative commentators keep the anti-Muslim hysteria alive, giving fuel to the whackos out there who put the hate speech into action. These commentators will never condone violence against Muslims, but they are entirely complicit it enabling it among their devoted listeners.
To our credit as a nation, attacks on Muslims and mosques are prosecuted by the police, and the FBI also frequently gets involved, since these are hate crimes. As a society, we do not tolerate hate crimes. Unfortunately, we give hate-speakers way too much of a voice. I find it shameful, unAmerican, and certainly unChristian. And I really wish my fellow citizens would be as upset about it as I am.
Nolte Vs. Travis
Nick Nolte (left) and Randy Travis
For many years now, Nick Nolte has been the undisputed champ of the celebrity mugshot. But now along comes upstart Randy Travis, who apparently made a New Year’s Resolution out of unseating Nolte. In February, he was arrested for public intoxication while sitting in front of a church, but his resulting mugshot was nothing to write home about. So, on August 7, he gave it another shot.
This time, Travis was found drunk, laying on the side of a road, and naked. We’re talking serious points for both style and execution. Bonus points for resisting arrest. And this time, he gave the world a mugshot for the ages.
