Clipmarks | earnric's clips

Mediocre Leadership...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:42:03 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris points out the fact that we love our politicians... but we love them to be like the "average guy" -- pretty dumb.

Clip Source: articles.latimes.com

Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a man or woman with more power and responsibility than any person has held in human history, Americans say they want a regular guy, someone just like themselves. President Bush kept his edge on the “Who would you like to have a beer with?” poll question in 2004, and won reelection.

Tags: religion, politics

Palin's prudence...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:15:52 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: She stands for everything America is NOT...

We are NOT a nation built on biblical respect for authority... but on the idea that power emanates from the goverened.

Clip Source: fogghorn.blogspot.com

If you want to see how well she fits with traditional American values, Simply compare Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, or any of those whose erudition and philosophy created this country through disobedience to authority and the creation of a state where authority comes from down here, not up there; compare it to what you'll read on the Wasilla Assembly of God site:

As believers, we are reminded in 2 Peter 2.13 that we are to submit to those in authority.

Tags: politics, republicans, backwards

Everything he touches...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:58:54 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Our president that is...

I am for the ethical treatment of prisoners: no matter who they are or what they've done. Our morality doesn't depend on the actions of others (no matter how henous). That's part of the very definition of morality.

But our "moral" president has likely made it difficult, if not impossible to prosecute some of these people... Some that are likely a real threat.

Chock it up to incompetence... once again.

Clip Source: www.csmonitor.com

The first war crimes trial to be held by the United States since World War II began on Monday

the judge refused to allow the prosecution to enter evidence that was obtained under duress in Afghanistan.

But the judge declined to suppress admissions made by Hamdan after he arrived at the U.S. military prison here, ruling that the Fifth Amendment did not apply to Hamdan and that "no coercive techniques influenced" what he said. Allred ruled, however, that to use the admissions, prosecutors must produce Hamdan's interrogators to explain the conditions under which the questioning took place.

Tags: military, terrorism, trial, guantánamo

The results of republican leadership.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:07 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: When you put people who don't believe in governance in charge, you should expect poor governance...

Clip Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Republican strategist Frank Luntz, an analyst for Fox News Channel, says the current atmosphere has been shaped by a series of traumas. The Sept. 11 attacks made the country seem vulnerable, he says, while Hurricane Katrina made the government seem incompetent and the Iraq war "has made us seem weak."

Tags: republicans, bush, government, incompetence

Doing the job...

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:11:13 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Gays serve in the military now... Its simply hypocritical to now allow them to serve openly.

If people are prejudiced, they just have to get over it -- like they did with integrated (black and white) units some 50+ years ago.

Clip Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Capt. Darrah maintained her "two lives" throughout her military career, always fearful that her secret would someday be revealed.

"When the admiral would call me into his office, 99 percent of me would be certain that he wanted to talk about something operational," Darrah said. "[But] there was always a little fear in the back of my mind that somehow I had been outed and that he was calling me in to tell me that I was being fired."

Tags: gays, military, bigotry

The drum beat of idiocy...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:00:57 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Capt Fogg nails it again: patriotism trumps any type of reason in our (right wing) politics...

Will anyone actually listen to what the candidates has to say on the issues? Or is it all decided based on imagery...

Clip Source: fogghorn.blogspot.com

Am I imagining it, or has our military in effect seceeded from mainstream American culture?

What I'm seeing is the search for another Commander Guy who has never had a doubt about anything the US has done or a scruple about anything we might do in the future: another strutting drum major, another prancing cheerleader who knows nothing about economics, history world affairs, international politics - but looks good in a flight suit. Five years in jail trumps five years at Harvard and hot rod Johnnie doesn't have a wife who ever had a doubt about American exceptionalism whether it be about Slavery, wounded knee, Jim Crow, the trail of tears, the Chinese exclusion act, Joe McCarthy, Father Caughlin, the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry, Kent State, the Gulf of Tonkin hoax, the WMD hoax, the Niger Uranium hoax or abu Ghraib. We're number one.

Tags: obama, mccain, military

So you think christianity is crazy?

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:47:15 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Give the Quaran and Islam a try... Kafir girl reads and comments on the book so you don't have too!

She also adds some family "insights" to keep things moving... Funny stuff (it so many people didn't take this crap seriously)

Clip Source: kafirgirl.wordpress.com

Hadith are the everyday practices and traditions from Mohammed’s life, which were transmitted orally and written down much later. Boy, that sounds reputable, doesn’t it? They cover everything from dream interpretation to gardening to dinner table etiquette. I’ve met some Muslims who take hadith very seriously, and others who think hadith are total bullshit. Most of all, though, I’ve met Muslims who cherry pick the best advice and ignore the shit that makes Mohammed look like batshitass crazy.

My family falls into that last category for the most part, but my grandmother was all about the hadith. Or at least the hadith as she knew them. It drove me nuts when she would chastise my left-handed cousin with, “The prophet says you should never eat with your left hand!” Why not, grandma? “It’s the hand of the devil!” Well, fuck. All this time I thought it belonged to me. There were many hadith she would pull out of her ass, but this one was her absolute favorite.

Tags: islam, craziness

Both sides of your mouth...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:17:26 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Conservatives are experts at speaking out of both sides of their mouths... The latest case in point: They seem outraged at Gen W. Clark's comments about McCain's experience... but I bet many of these folks were the same people that wore "purple band-aids" at the 2004 Republican convention denoting their "contempt" for 2x purple heart winner John Kerry and his Vietnam war record.

I guess you only have to respect the service of conservatives.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Democrat Barack Obama rejected a retired general's suggestion that Republican John McCain's military experience didn't necessarily qualify him to be president, as GOP surrogates lined up to label the remarks indecent and disrespectful.

Tags: false indignation, hypocrisy, conservatism

Christians & Muslims beleive god wants you to marry only virgins...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:43:01 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: Or you have to at least believe he USED to require it... cuz there are many passages in the old testament that indicate you should stone your wife if you find out she's not a virgin on her wedding night...

I guess god changes his morality based on the age however - since we're not supposed to do this anymore right?

Clip Source: dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com

The annulment of a young Muslim couple’s marriage because the bride was not a virgin has caused anger in France, prompting President Sarkozy’s party to call for a change in the law.

The case, which had previously gone unreported, involved an engineer in his 30s, named as Mr X, who married Ms Y, a student nurse in her 20s, in 2006. The wedding night party was still under way at the family’s home in Roubaix when the groom came down from the bedroom complaining that his bride was not a virgin. He could not display the blood-stained sheet that is traditionally exhibited as proof of the bride’s “purity”.

Is there something about bloody sheets in the Quran? No, for shit like that you have to go to the Bible.

Tags: religion, islam, christianity, insanity

George...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:57:31 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: We'll miss him....

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

"I'm in favor of the separation of church and state," this Carlin would opine. "My feeling is that either one of these institutions screws you up bad enough on its own. You put them together and you got certain death."

Tags: comedy

Devolution...

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:40:13 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: The ability of mankind to cling to ancient myths when they can't fully grasp science is astounding...

Clip Source: fogghorn.blogspot.com

You would think I wouldn't have to beat this subject to death, but here we go again. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, said to be on the short list for running mate with the idiot McCain, wants his kids to be exposed to the "best science" because he's a "Christian" and to be politically correct according to Christian politics, that means ancient and resoundingly debunked legends handed down from illiterate goatherds on the edges of civilization. Jindal insists that the denial of all observed facts packaged as Intelligent Design is a "legitimate scientific discipline." It's not. It's none of those three things, but perhaps it makes Bobby Jindal just dishonest enough to appeal to American voters.

Tags: evolution, culture, religion

Twain on the heavenly father...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:59:08 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: From a blog... some thoughts on god as father...

Clip Source: www.blogger.com

The best minds will tell you that when a man has begotten a child he is morally bound to tenderly care for it, protect it from hurt, shield it from disease, clothe it, feed it, bear with its waywardness, lay no hand upon it save in kindness and for its own good, and never in any case inflict upon it a wanton cruelty. God's treatment of his earthly children, every day and every night, is the exact opposite of all that, yet those best minds warmly justify these crimes, condone them, excuse them, and indignantly refuse to regard them as crimes at all, when he commits them. Your country and mine is an interesting one, but there is nothing there that is half so interesting as the human mind. -- Mark Twain

Tags: religion, twain, god, cruelty

A distant "ally"

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:52:17 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: As I've said before, when the dust settles, Iran and Iraq will be closer allies than the US and Iraq...

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Top Iraqi officials are calling for a radical reduction of the U.S. military's role here after the U.N. mandate authorizing its presence expires at the end of this year. Encouraged by recent Iraqi military successes, government officials have said that the United States should agree to confine American troops to military bases unless the Iraqis ask for their assistance, with some saying Iraq might be better off without them.

In Iraq, the willingness to consider calling for the departure of American troops represents a major shift for members of the U.S.-backed government. Maliki this week visited Iran, where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, urged him to reject any long-term security arrangements with the United States.

Tags: iraq, us military

Support the troops...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:24:28 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: ...Mr. President... and Mr. McCain... put your money where your braggadocio is...

Will it cost? Sure .. .but expenses at in-state "state" schools aren't outrageous.

And even if it is expensive -- 36 months active duty should be enough to earn any enlisted man a college degree: it helps them, and helps the country (which is sorely short of educated people...) Helping an entire generation get an education is a good thing: probably one of the best ways the government can spend its money ... and which group could be more deserving?

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Webb is not suggesting that the government pay for everyone in the military to go to private college. He would more than double the GI Bill benefit for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, offering a living stipend of about $1,000 depending on where the veteran lives, and pay the equivalent in tuition of the most expensive state school in the veteran's home state.

Tags: veterans, gi bill, war

Baptists on the decline...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:00:15 GMT

clipped by: earnric
clipper's remarks: could it be...

...that people are waking up to the fact that religion is based on superstition and the desire of one group of people to control others?

When you can say "god wants you to do this" -- and you believe in god -- it makes it easy.

Clip Source: www.azcentral.com

But with membership slightly down last year, and flat for the past five, Southern Baptists face a growing anxiety about their future as they gather for their annual meeting Tuesday in Indianapolis.

"We have peaked," Southern Baptist statistician Ed Stetzer wrote in an online commentary on the latest statistics from 2007. "For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline."

Tags: religion