Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I have no idea who is behind notRandy_Forbes, the new Twitter stream that mocks Republican Congressman Randy Forbes, but so far, I’m tickled by what I see there. The following two messages stand out so far:

- celebrating my judeo-christian heritage this weekend by feeding the homeless and giving away all my money. Syke! Im playing beer pong!

- I just caught my wife looking at pics of Rep Chris Lee

A wee bit of noise has begun to be made by supporters of a presumed 2012 presidential campaign by Mitt Romney. Romney fans made a big deal about Romney’s first place showing in a recent New Hampshire straw poll, though only a minority of the invited GOP elites actually voted for Romney.

Some point out that Mitt Romney’s supposed political strongholds are not as solid as Romney might like, and Romney’s failure to produce a solid campaign in 2008 leaves many Republicans suspicious of Romney’s leadership abilities.

There is a Facebook group now supporting Mitt Romney for President in 2012. It has 23,480 members so far!

That sounds promising, but then, all one has to do to join a Facebook group is to click a “like” button, and then forget about it, as one’s supposed membership requires no money, no work, and not even any attention. A person can be a member of 1,000 such Facebook groups, and never do anything to support the cause to which the Facebook group is supposedly devoted.

The question is, really, how much a Facebook group actually DOES to support a political candidate. In the case of the Mitt Romney for President 2012 Facebook group, the results are underwhelming. Right now, the group begins its self-description by stating: “Mission #1 is to focus on the 2010 races”.

The 2010 election was over three months ago. What has the Mitt Romney for President 2012 Facebook group done lately? Nothing. It hasn’t even bothered to update its profile.

With supporters like these Mitt Romney is going to have a very difficult time running for President indeed.

Who is more intelligent: U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, or a turnip?

That’s the Twitter poll being taken right now. If you follow the account, you’re voting that a turnip is smarter than Michele Bachmann.

90 people have made that vote so far. Which side do you come down on? Does Michele Bachmann edge out the root vegetable?

I rarely watch TV news, but right now I’m traveling, and I needed something to do while I ironed my shirt, so I turned on CNN. There I saw an advertisement that promised: “Look out political fringe! You’ve met your match!”

Who is this match for the “political fringe”? Why, it’s Eliot Spitzer, and his new TV show on CNN.

So, what, I’m supposed to be impressed because a huge corporate media organization is willing to hire a former Governor of New York State to fight against political ideas that don’t match the insider, mainstream standard of acceptability?

Looks like a boring show to me… because it isn’t even close to a fair fight. There’s no “match” between corporate-funded nationally televised political celebrities and individuals pursuing alternative visions of the American future. They might as well televise a fight between an elephant and a grasshopper.

Corporate media kicking political outsiders in the teeth doesn’t count as news.

Most people have heard by now of the findings of a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life that American atheists know more about religion than religious believers do. The story that they didn’t hear coming out of that survey is that Christians have a more general ignorance as well, when compared to non-Christian Americans.

One of the particular manifestations of Christians’ ignorance is in the realm of politics. When I speak of the political ignorance of Christians in America, I’m not using the term “ignorance” to describe merely having opinions that I disagree with. I’m talking about ignorance of basic political facts. In the Pew Forum study, Christians demonstrated a much greater political ignorance than atheists did.

One of the political facts that the survey tested respondents on was the identity of the Vice President. An astonishing 42 percent of American Christians surveyed had no idea that Joseph Biden is Vice President of the United States. Only 17 percent of American atheists were ignorant of this fact.

The political implications of this finding are not reassuring. The rate of Christian identity in the United States is in decline, but Christians still make up the majority of voters in the nation. If so many of them can’t even remember who the Vice President of the United States is, then how can this large bloc of voters be expected to make intelligent choices in this year’s congressional elections, when less well-known facts are at stake?

Back in 2008, after the election, it seemed that Barack Obama was actually going to make things different from how they were under George W. Bush. Remember that?

Here’s what President-Elect Obama had to say on climate legislation:

“My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process… Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.”

Here’s what President Obama has to say on climate legislation now:

Yesterday, congressional Democrats announced that they would stop trying to pass “comprehensive energy legislation”. That’s the new term they took on after they had removed real climate action from the bill, and added in big subsidies for oil and coal companies to encourage more fossil fuel use.

Now, the Democrats are saying they’re not even going to try to pass THAT shameful compromise. It was Barack Obama who led the way in abandoning the effort to deal with climate change. He just stood back and watched it fail.

Now, in the middle of the hottest year ever recorded, watch as climate change continues “to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.”

Vote for Barack Obama in 2012? This environmentalist says Hell no!

One of the best qualities of U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey is that her congressional activism doesn’t follow the ebb and flow of the news cycle. When she identifies an issue that matters, she keeps paying attention to it long after the collective attention of journalists has turned to something new.

Thus, although it was weeks ago when revelations of American military contractor corruption in Afghanistan took place, Lynn Woolsey is still speaking about the matter. Why? Congress still hasn’t taken care of the problem: The American military is paying big money to private contractor corporations, who in turn are paying protection money to Afghan warlords, who then give the money to the Taliban, who the American military is supposed to be fighting in the first place.

This week, Representative Woolsey linked the corruption to a fundamentally irrational structure of our nation’s military misadventure in Afghanistan, and renewed her call for a pullout of American soldiers from central Asia:

“At a time when communities here at home are crying out for investment in schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure, it’s galling to think that American taxpayer dollars are supporting the kind of thuggery in Afghanistan that is quite possibly endangering our troops. It’s bad enough, Madam Speaker, that the American people are being asked to pay for our failed war. Now it appears that they’re being asked to pay for the wrong side.

Madam Speaker, we simply cannot sustain a counterterrorism strategy that has us doing business, however indirectly, with the terrorists themselves. It’s illogical and it’s unconscionable. This is just one more piece of evidence that this war is failing the American people, undermining instead of advancing our national security objectives. It’s time for a radical change in our policy. It’s time to bring our troops home.”

Just a few minutes ago, the House of Representatives debated H. Res. 1446, a resolution praising the community of Tracy, California, for existing as a city for 100 years. Forty minutes of debate was ordered at 12:17, but debate ended at 12:22, 90 percent of the time for debate left unfilled.

Who in Congress could fail to have an opinion on such very, extremely important legislation? Why, if that resolution isn’t passed, just think of what that will mean for the city of Tracy! It’s not like one of those superficial issues, like the war in Afghanistan, climate change, or the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, after all.

Priorities!

It may be the clash of the Titans – or little critters living on Titan, anyway. Titan is a moon on Saturn that’s so cold it has seas of liquid methane. A recent chemical analysis of the chemical composition of Titan’s atmosphere is consistent with, though not proof of, methane-based life on the the little world.

Far out. ET may be very smelly.

Mo Brooks, who just defeated right wing Congressman Parker Griffith in Alabama’s primary election with promises that he’ll serve even further to the right, warns that the United States is engaged in “a mad rush away from free enterprise and towards Socialism”.

A mad rush? Really? To Socialism?

Look around you. Right now, I mean. Look around you and tell me – where is this mad rush to Socialism?

Did it pass through my neighborhood in the middle of the night? I haven’t seen it yet…

…oh, hold on. Here it comes – right across my front lawn!