Comments On Current Teapot Tempests
First, what’s up with the Google logo? What do kangaroos have to do with the holidays? Is there a joke here that I’m missing? Google’s based out of Oregon, not Australia. Is there a ‘Roo infestation in Oregon that I don’t know about? I mean, not that it isn’t cute and all, but I went online last night to find two kangaroos knitting in front of a garland-bedecked Google logo, and it confused the bejebus out of me.
Second, why do people like this get to have a job in Congress, while intelligent, reasonable folks like you and me have to work in crapholes and listen to them? (I know, I know, it’s the money and education thing again, isn’t it? Dammit!)
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Keith Ellison was recently elected to Congress, from Minnesota. Ellison is a Muslim. Ellison is the guy who had an interview with that amazing asshole, Glenn Beck, from CNN’s Headline News, and Glenn Beck said, “And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’” Keith Ellison is also the guy who would like to swear in to Congress using the Koran, not the Bible.
Now, first off, unlike with the Presidency, you don’t have to swear in to Congress with the Bible, or any religious book. I think you basically just raise your right hand and swear to try to not be too much of a crooked asshole. The whole congressman with the Bible swearing in thing is basically just a photo op that a lot of congressmen and women do. It’s not required, doesn’t mean much. But, you know, if you’re going to swear in on a holy book, shouldn’t logic dictate that you use your own holy book?
Virgil Goode sent out a letter to his constituents which mentioned Ellison wanting to swear in on the Koran instead of the Bible, and went on in a xenophobic whine-fest about those sneaky Muslims from the Middle East taking over our congress. Please note that Ellison is a black American, not a Middle Eastern jihadist. The letter said, in part:
The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.
We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country.
WTF? Why does it matter that Ellison is a Muslim, and why do we care which book he uses to swear in to Congress? Muslims are the not the problem, folks. Nutjob fundamentalists are the problem. Nutjob fundies from any country or religion are the ones causing problems, not nice, decent guys and gals who also happen to be religious of some sort or form.
Ask yourselves a question: If this were an American Jew who wanted to swear in on the Torah, would this even be an issue? Would this even have gotten a mention in the news?
Probably not. This is an issue solely because this guy happens to also be a Muslim. Oooh, scary bad Muslims!
Can we grow up now? I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I stopped believing in and being scared of the Big Bad Bogeyman in the closet back when I was just a little kid. I don’t see any need to invent another version of the Bogeyman to be scared of, and that’s just exactly what folks like Glenn Beck, Virgil Goode, and others, are doing.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing to be scared of. The Muslims are not coming to get you. In fact, the terrorists are not coming to get you. By raising the issue that Ellison is Muslim, assholes like Beck and Goode are trying to scare you, trying to turn being Muslim into something to be frightened of and worried about. They want you scared and distracted, because it makes you easier to control and manipulate. So just stop it. Let the guy swear in on his Koran, and the rest of us get back to our business.
I’m sure you’ve heard that Stallone has made another Rocky movie, but have you heard that he’s promoting it as a Christian allegory? Stallone says:
We need the God-fearing script, the script that really deals with compassion and deals with the word of Jesus and God, and believe me, people will rally behind it because we need it,” Stallone said in a late November conference call to Christian leaders. “It’s like, you watch some of the films, they only save these kinds of films for Christmas.
This strikes me as so much pandering to a demographic to make some bucks that I just can’t believe religious folks are falling for this. I mean seriously. Have you people been paying attention? This is clearly a ploy to get Christians in to see this movie, drive up the sales, and make Stallone money. Anyone with half a brain is diving in to take advantage of the Christian right to pad their own wallets, political agendas, pet causes, etc. And it kind of seems like this particular target group of Christians keeps falling for it. Come on, guys, I know that for some of you, critical thinking isn’t really your strong point, but some of these things are really obvious.
Media Matters has put out a list: Most Outrageous Comments of 2006. Here’s a few of my favorites:
Coulter responding to Hardball host Chris Matthews’ question, “How do you know that [former President] Bill Clinton’s gay?”: “I don’t know if he’s gay. But [former Vice President] Al Gore — total fag.”
Right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel on Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian … is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father’s heritage, a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?”
Nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz on Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s (D-GA) hairstyle: “She looks like a ghetto slut. … It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. … She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence. … She looks like a shih tzu!”
Glenn Beck: “Blowing up Iran. I say we nuke the bastards. In fact, it doesn’t have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me.”
Although frankly? Just between you and me? I kind of agree about McKinney’s hair. I don’t think I’d have used the term “ghetto slut”, but the rest of it? Um, yeah. Some people should not be allowed out of the house without being checked over by responsible style-minded folks first. Sorry.
December 24th, 2006 at 9:51 am
“If this were an American Jew who wanted to swear in on the Torah, would this even be an issue? Would this even have gotten a mention in the news?”
Oh, I think it’d have raised more than a few eyebrows and some commentary, as I feel that antisemitism isstill running high in this country, too.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Sorry it took me so long to answer — busy, busy, busy!
I think it would have raised a few eyebrows and/or gotten a mention on the news, but I kind of don’t think it would have stirred up the the BS that the Muslim fellow had to deal with. I think most of the people making a stink would have been the “neo-nazi” types, who tend to get ignored and marginalized in the national media. The media will mention the nazis, but it’s usually mildly derisively, and no one takes them seriously. I don’t think that anyone who wanted to be taken seriously, IE, another Congressman, would dared have raised a fit about a Jew swearing in on the Torah. You be slapped with an anti-semite label and get in all sorts of trouble over it, whereas this senator seems to have gotten away with his Muslim-hating, for the most part. People got crabby over it, but mostly it was people who write the left-wing blogs who were really yelling about it.