End of August Miscellany

Clearing some things from my mind the last days of August:

We pretty much stopped shopping at Amazon a couple years ago. (Not a 100% boycott, but pretty close.)  The New York Times piece really didn't contain much that's new.  We have a much clearer conscience shopping at Walmart than we do at Amazon.  And that's been true for a long time.

Radical religious extremists now control the governments in Israel, India, Iran (although, ironically, Iran's government is less radical than, say, ten years ago), and parts of Africa.  Some might add Pakistan and even Iraq.  And others--such as Turkey--are moving more and more in that direction.  In all these cases, the world is worse off.  In the US, radicals of the Religious Right would like to have the same thing happen here.  We used to have a Constitution to protect us from that happening, but with the current activist Supreme Court I am not as confident of that protection as I used to be.

During all the faux-scandals of the past few years (Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, et al...I lost count), the hyper-ventilating Right would have you believe that the "Liberal" media simply covered things up.  On the contrary, these things were incessantly covered, way beyond anything dictated by reality.  They faded away because the Darrell Issas and Fox Newses of the world were unable to answer the question,"Where's the beef?"  They made up their own facts for a while but the public eventually just yawned.  The same thing will happen with the latest faux-Planned Parenthood scandal, and probably even the faux-Hillary Clinton email scandal.  As Kevin Drum says, there's no there there.

My wife has been on Social Security for much of Obama's presidency (early 2009 to now).  Her benefit has gone up an average of less than 1.5% per year.  I'm not complaining about that.  That's what the CPI has been.  My point is that Rick Santelli and other inflationistas have been panicking about inflation for most of those seven years and have been screaming for the Fed to raise rates.  I have two questions: (1) What inflation? (2)  Why is anyone still listening to people who have been so consistently wrong for seven years straight?

WELS Misses the Mark on Gay Marriage

Headline on the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church  (WELS) website, in response to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage: "Marriage under Assault". Ummmm...I have news for the WELS: marriage has been under assault from heterosexuals since the day it was instituted. Why all the concern now? I don't see how LGBTs can possibly make the institution any worse.

Musings

Haven't posted much in the last couple months, partly for valid reasons and partly because I am just plain lazy. I thought I'd better post something so my account doesn't get canceled for lack of use.

• What are the chances of seeing some outrage from Christian Life Resources (or any other voice from the Religious Right) about Ben Carson's research with aborted tissue? (Zero) They have spent weeks being outraged over a few edited videos of doubtful validity and veracity. They don't have the time or inclination to be outraged over a true story.
• I am 67 years old and I'm amazed at how I am continually blown away by authors that I hadn't heard of a few years ago. (My fault.) The short stories of Lydia Davis are the latest revelation.
• Speaking of Ben Carson....His justification for using aborted fetal tissue was pretty familiar for a Republican. Is torture okay? Only if we're the ones doing it. Is it okay to use "harvested" fetal tissue for research? Only if I'm the one doing it. I think he is qualified to be a Republican presidential candidate. Moral relativism has become a guiding principle.
• I read the other day (I forgot where) that the only people opposed to the Iran Deal are the hardliners in Iran, the hardliners in Israel, and the hardliners in the United States. Pretty accurate I'd say.
• I see that Scott Walker has found a subsidy he likes (some $250 million plus interest) for an NBA arena in Milwaukee. No Medicaid expansion in the state but $250 million for those underprivileged hedge fund managers who own the team. Oh....and they also happen to be campaign contributors.
• According to the CDC, the uninsured population has decreased from 20% to 13% since the ACA has been in effect.
• According to Christian Life Resources, there have been fewer abortions per year during the Obama administration than any time since the mid-70s. Wait...I thought Obama invented abortion!
• The undocumented immigrant population is lower today that in 2007.

Christian Life Resources Reaches a New Low

Christian Life Resources (CLR) has reached a new low in its on-the-fringe right-wing activism. Not only did it publish a story about the original tainted video about Planned Parenthood "selling" body parts. It has now doubled- and tripled-down by taking at face value the more recent follow-up video.  There is only one word for this: lying.

CLR has a habit and long history of publishing stories that are full of dubious science and dubious facts.  As long a story fits into their activist political agenda, they will publish it on their website, regardless of the validity. Christian Life Resources has become the poster child for moral relativism.

But this latest round hits a new low.  There are several fact check articles that pick apart the video.  They are there for anyone to see.  The video is blatantly edited to the point of falsehood.  The second video appears to be the same.  The group making the videos has a history of falsehood and deception.  Christian Life Resources' willingness to present this as a reliable and factual story in spite of the evidence to the contrary simply reaffirms what I have been saying on this blog for several years now: CLR will sink to any depth to advance its political cause.  Apparently anything is acceptable as long as it serves their perceived "higher purpose".

But this may be the worst ever.  It's utterly disgusting.

Quote of the Day

"Supporters of the Affordable Care Act, starting with President Barack Obama, have generally taken the high road in response to Thursday’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the heart of the law. Graciousness in victory is, perhaps, its own reward. But it may also be appropriate, on the occasion of the 6–3 decision in King v. Burwell, to observe that this lawsuit was from its inception a shameful and cynical exercise, which illustrated the debasement of the contemporary conservative legal movement."

Jeffrey Toobin  in The New Yorker

 

Randomness at the End of June

• It seems that most of the rest of the world is pretty satisfied with Obama's foreign policy. The comparison between 2008 and 2015 is striking.
• I have never agreed with Antonin Scalia's judicial philosophy, but it is sad to see a once-respected jurist turn into a caricature of himself. He is becoming more and more irrelevant.
• The Occupy movement has been dismissed as some sort of failure, but it is the single biggest reason that we are talking about income inequality today.
• Similarly, folks can talk about Eric Snowden in any way they want, but he is the reason we are starting to rein in the NSA.  We should let him come home. (Maybe he deserves a ticker tape parade.)
• I wish Obama had pursued some of his other proposed policies with as much ardor and passion as he did for the TPP.

Middle C

I just finished reading William H. Gass's novel Middle C (a Christmas gift from my daughter). First, I have to confess (with embarrassment) that I had never even heard of Gass before. But my second confession is that I was totally dazzled! So glad I had the chance to read this book.