Random thoughts for the day

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.

David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, [some versions have 'Schopenhauer and Hegel']

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.

There's nothing Nietzche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist.
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed.

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.

Plato, they say, could stick it away--
Half a crate of whisky every day.

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle.
Hobbes was fond of his dram,

And René Descartes was a drunken fart.
'I drink, therefore I am.'

Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker,
But a bugger when he's pissed.

Bruce's Philosopher's Song
Monty Python

Jerry Falwell=Evil +++

Jerry Falwell
Okay, a little late...

THREE STRANGERS IN THE AIRPORT
Speaking of colonial times, I am reminded of the three strangers who struck up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge in Abilene, Texas, awaiting their flights. One was an American Indian passing through from Oklahoma City. Another was a Cowboy on his way to Fort Worth for the livestock show, and the third passenger was a radical fundamentalist Arab student from the Middle East secretly enroute to a NJ terrorist cell meeting.

Their discussion drifted to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two Westerners learned that the Arab was a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation fell into an uneasy lull.

The cowboy leaned back in his chair, crossed his boots on a magazine table and tipped his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face. The wind outside was blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock was flapping; but still no planes arrived.

Finally, the American Indian cleared his throat and softly, he said, "At one time here, my people were many, but sadly, now we are few."

The Muslim student raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, "Once my people were few," he sneered, "and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?"

The Texas cowboy shifted his toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson said in a drawl, "That's 'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet, but I do believe
it's a-coming”.

--The opening to one of his many sermons, all of which are available at http://www.trbc.org


I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979 pp. 52-53, from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

Indoctrinating the heathens into christianity, one child at a time

It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.
-- Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

Feminists are evil

I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status.
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell, USA Today Chat, quoted from The Religious Freedom Coalition, "The Two faces of Jerry Falwell"

"God-ordained minorities?" Apparently he's never been to Africa.... or Mexico.... and since when are women the minority? Don't women outnumber men in the US?

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, 'People for the American Way' --all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen!" He goes on to say "God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve,"

Are you sure it's not because we tell the UN to screw and bomb the hell out of everyone who gets in our way?

"I think the Moslem faith teaches hate. I think there's clear evidence that the Islam [sic] religion, wherever it has majority control--and I can name a dozen countries--doesn't even allow people of other faiths to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence....I think that when persons are clearly bigoted towards other persons in the human family, they should be disqualified from funds. For that reason, Islam should be out the door before they knock."

"I think Mohammed was a terrorist. He - I read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and – and - non-Muslims, that he was a - a violent man, a man of war. And I do believe that - Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. And I think that Mohammed set an opposite example."
--Jerry Falwell, 60 Minutes, October 6, 2002


"I have never said in a sermon or a speech that Muhammad is a terrorist."
--Jerry Falwell, interview with Religion News Service

Big surprise. Jerry Falwell is a liar? Or maybe he's mentally damaged. Or maybe both.

"Most American children do not know that this is a Christian nation... [O]ur Constitution won't work in Russia, won't work in Haiti, won't work in Iraq. It only works where the people believe in the Christ of the Bible. The United States of America."
--Jerry Falwell on "Sunday Live with Jerry Falwell," July 23, 1995

This is quite possibly one of his most disturbing statements. The Constitution, the document that FOUNDED our democracy and gave us unalienable rights.... yeah, it's only for christians. I've got one thing for you Mr. Falwell: BITE ME

If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
--Jerry Falwell

No, you're just projecting

I'd have some pithy comments here, but I'm too bloody angry. So Mr. Falwell, you can take a flying leap off a cliff...and I hope there's a big group of angry, tree-hugging, feminist lesbian, non-christian, pinko-commie liberals waiting for you when you get there.

Post-Election Blues...

Okay, so I've lost all faith in humanity. I cannot understand why ANYONE would vote for Bush. Maybe I really am the radical lefty that everyone says I am. I always really thought of myself as a moderate. Now I'm a political outcast because I didn't vote for the Shrub.

One of our school projects was to write a paper on media coverage either during or post-election. So without further delay...


Indecision 2004: Election Night Assignment
Okay...the day after

Like millions of voters, I waited anxiously for polling returns on election night. Despite an important school assignment, I avoided the pundits on the radio and TV like the plague, relying strictly on the internet for my results. Pulling up my trusty C-SPAN.ORG map, I hit the "refresh" button a record number of times as I watched the precincts report in. I put on a pot of coffee, expecting a long night. It wasn't until after the election that I felt I was ready to subject myself to the political commentary.

Hannity & Colmes

My bleeding liberal heart weeps at the thought of watching the "Fair and Balanced" Fox News. By sheer willpower alone, I flipped through the news channels and finally settled on Hannity & Colmes. The majority of the analysis focused on the cultural aspect of the election. Hannity characterized the Democratic party as whole-heartedly embracing the extreme liberal left. I tried to keep track of the number of times Hannity referred to the Democratic party as the "party of Michael Moore," but I lost count. He reinforced the stereotypical idea that there was a "total package" associated with Kerry that included Moore, Whoopi, Theresa, Edwards and rock stars in general. He, along with his conservative guests, contrasted that Hollywood image with the "regular guy" image of President Bush. I found that an interesting comparison especially after watching Jon Stewart's interview with Senator Charles Schumer who claimed that the Democratic party was the party of the average American despite election results.

Several key issues were reiterated by Hannity and the conservative guests. Gay marriage was at the top of the list. The issue was repeated over and over again as possibly the deciding factor of the election. This set the stage for Colmes' interview with Pat Robertson, who said that the voters put morals at the top of the ballot. He reminisced about the good old days when democrats were more conservative, stating that the Democratic party had rejected traditional values, the values of the South. Colmes questioned Robertson, asking him that if the moral issues revolving around the election were key to Bush's victory, why hadn't he won the presidency in '88. Robertson referred to himself as a John the Baptist figure who paved the way for a president like Bush, a man of faith. The Messianic comparison was unmistakable. For those faithful Pat Robertson viewers, that is a powerful statement indeed. Robertson even borrowed a familiar catchphrase, saying that in '88, he was the wrong man, at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Hannity, on cue, echoed Robertson; Bush was the right man, at the right place, at the right time. This, in contrast with Kerry's "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" message, seemed to create the perception of negativity on Kerry's side. Kerry was further characterized by Dick Morris who, throughout the interview, parroted the "way out of the mainstream" image. His repeated observation during his interview with Hannity was that the democrats would have won the election if they hadn't selected the most liberal member of the Senate. The Democratic party had abandoned "mainstream America" in favor of the liberal extreme.
To say that the piece reflected a fairly conservative message would be an understatement. I found familiar themes in the commentary that have been repeated throughout the election by the conservative side of the media.

I wasn’t expecting a “Fair and Balanced” viewpoint from Fox, but I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. I tried to dispel my own preconceptions of what I perceive as the Right-Wing portion of the media, but there are some pretty unbalanced statements and comparisons that are obvious to me. I observed a pretty large margin between the conservative versus liberal time allotted to the two hosts.

Despite all of Hannity’s off hand remarks emphasizing the “liberal hatred of Bush” and the lack of presence from the liberal Colmes, I still found the piece enlightening. It challenged me to be a little more critical of my own party and their approach to the election. Both sides made valid points, and their analysis of the results seemed plausible, though the presentation makes me as the viewer question the tactics used to present certain information.

I always said I would move to Canada if Bush won...