buzz twang

It’s no secret that internal discord within the Republican ranks has been raging for awhile. The most recent internal struggle over the Terry Schiavo case, in reaction to the frighteningly real power exerted by the Christian Right, has made more than a few of the Republican faithful question not only the direction of the GOP but who should be trusted to dictate policy.

The GOP has reached a watershed moment, yet it may go unnoticed by most, since how many people read the Omaha World-Herald?

One almost has to truly appreciate the history and singular political power of Harold Anderson, the now retired publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, to understand what it means when Anderson states in the Op-Ed pages of his own paper:

I would think that I’m not the only Republican who feels the party’s leadership has engaged in an irresponsible and perhaps unprecedented effort to subvert the traditional separation of government powers. How to express our disapproval?

And, it gets better.

I’m going to the Douglas County Election Commissioner’s office on Monday to change my political registration from Republican to Independent, while continuing to feel sympathy for Terri Schiavo and her parents and believing that the most compassionate course is to free her from her sad existence, Republican Party politicians to the contrary notwithstanding.

Anderson also stated:

The majority of Americans are simply outgunned when it comes to anything like “equal time” in the debate and legal maneuvering.

Representing the minority viewpoint are people with their hands on the levers of power – President Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (and isn’t he a fine one to be lecturing on the “moral” way to handle the Schiavo case) and Senate Majority Leader William Frist – holders of the most powerful positions in the U.S. Congress and all members of the Republican Party. What do members of the relatively silent majority do? How do they speak out?

For Republicans who consider their party a captive of the religious right on matters like medical research and right-to-die legislation and now legislative intrusion into the judicial system, there is a way to at least feel more comfortable with their political consciences.

That way is to leave a party whose leadership is currently attempting to leave behind in the dust of American constitutional history the principle of separation of powers that has served this country well for more than 200 years.

This is pretty serious stuff from a life long Republican who, for decades, has used his position as the publisher of Omaha’s only major daily newspaper to obediently promote the ideas and policies of the GOP.

It would appear that the Grand Ol’ Party is being torn apart from the Heartland outward.

We shall see.

The original Op-Ed is here. (Subscription Only) but may be viewed here as well. (The last paragraph, which is the first quote in this post, is missing.)

From the Chicago Tribune:

So accustomed have we become to seeing video–the Rodney King tapes; Timothy McVeigh’s truck bomb; astronauts in space; an escaped criminal fleeing the rabbit’s warren of court buildings and parking garages in downtown Atlanta; airplanes crashing into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center–that we almost take for granted that it will be there. And we become irritated and suspicious when it is not.

What the Red Lake massacre reminds us is that, even in our highly urbanized, electronically monitored nation, there still are remote places that are a challenge for newsmen and newswomen to reach.

The majority of Americans are unaware that most of the information that they take for granted as the Gospel Truth is in fact propaganda. It is neither objective, nor is it news, nor is it the truth. It is simply intened to confirm what they already believe, or to proffer an agenda dictated by either the government or business, or both.

Of course, try telling this to your average conservative (or a liberal for that matter) and likely you will be insulted and attacked by the conservatives and called “boring” by the liberals. A sure sign of herd poisoning if ever there was one.

News from around the world. As a traveler, my experience has been that the world loves Americans and America, but they really don’t like our government and its policies. They are scared of what our government and military is doing, and they are frightened for their own families and future, just as we are. Something to consider, since the reality is, if the United States is going to survive the very dangerous threats to its economic and physical livelihood, we need the rest of the world. And, it seems more than a bit over the top that our fear has affected the rest of the world so extremely. Historically, that is not a good sign. It always leads to being isolated and hated.

Those who think we can go it alone are fooling themselves.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Funny flash… I love satire. It gives one hope.

More right-wing censorship. This time, the Florida legislature “voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out ‘leftist totalitarianism’ by ‘dictator professors’ in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.” (Source)

What is so wrong about this type of thinking is it supposes that students are not smart enough to decide for themselves what ideas they wish to engage and believe in themselves. That’s just for starters. Additionally, such thinking is easily unconstituional.

When I was in college, there were professors of both the left and right persuasion who took the opportunity to preach their right or left ideas. And, you deal with it. It’s reflective of the real world.

If we censor our universities, then the diversity of ideas suffers. It’s that simple.

But, of course, those on the right who actually support such censorship are all about killing all ideas which they oppose. Diversity bad. Conformity good. Think like us or die!

Does this type of blatant censorship exist on the left? I’d suspect it does, but the commonality of it in these times is troubling.

The lack of criticism of it from the right is troubling as well.

O’Reilly the perv goes kaboom. Hehe.

Two posts, here and here, by John Cole at Baloon Juice which are required reading. The right-wing is about to implode and the road kill will be laid at the feet of George W. Bush. Leadership? Hardly. War time President? Nah. Shill for the wingnut Christian right? Could be.

From Think Progress, an excerpt from Tom Delay’s speech (Listen to the MP3) to the Family Research Council. An excellent example of the rampant religious Fascism that is out there, condoned and preached by the right-wing: Arrogant. Paranoid. Delusional. Desperate. Self indulgent. Unintelligent. Uninformed. Undemocratic. Uncomprimising. Self-righteous. Deceptive. Manipulative.

The proponents of this type of tactics will fall to the ground and become dust by the sheer weight of their crimes against mankind and against G-d. You read it here first.

And so it’s bigger than any one of us, and we have to do everything that is in our power to save Terri Schiavo and anybody else that may be in this kind of position.

And let me just finish with this: This is exactly the issue that’s going on in America. That attacks against the conservative movement, against me, and against many others. The point is, it’s, the other side has figured out how to win and defeat the conservative movement. And that is to go after people, personally charge them with frivolous charges, and link that up with all these do-gooder organizations funded by George Soros, and then, and then get the national media on their side. That whole syndicate that they have going on right now is for one purpose and one purpose only and that’s to destroy the conservative movement. It’s to destroy conservative leaders and it’s, uh, not just in elected office but leading. I mean Ed Feulner, today at the Heritage Foundation, was under attack in the National Journal. I mean they, they, this is a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in, and, and you need to look at this and what’s going on and participate in fighting back.

Don’t, you know, the one way they stopped churches from getting into politics was Lyndon Johnson, who passed a law that said you couldn’t get in politics or you’re going to lose your tax exempt status because they were all opposed to him when he was running for president. That law we’re trying to repeal; it’s very difficult to do that. But the point is, is when they can knock out a leader then no other leader will step forward for awhile because they don’t want to go through the same thing. When, if they go after and get a pastor then other pastors shrink from what they should be doing. It forces Christians back into the church and that’s what’s going on in America: “The world is too bad. I’m going to go get inside this building and I’m not going to play in the world.” Uh, that’s not what Christ asked us to do. And, and so this, they understand that it is a political maneuver, and, and they are, uh, going to try to destroy the conservative movement and we have to fight back.

So, please, this afternoon, each and every one of you, if you know a senator give him a call. Tell him, they’ll say, “Our bill can pass in the House.” Tell him, “That’s fine. Your bill’s okay but the House bill is better and, uh, I want the House bill.” Particularly if you know Democrats, uh, don’t let them get off the hook, um, by hiding behind one House and the other is adjourned. We can do anything we need to do to pass any bill that we need to pass. So I appreciate what you’re doing. God bless you and thank you for the Family Research Council.

The story that just gets stranger and stranger all the time. I don’t know how much of the Thompson angle is real or imagined, but the rest of it seems about right. Keep in mind, what this article is detailing is the fringes of a black op. Of course, such activities are excempt from the usual process of laws and oversight.

One of my favorite cities in the world. It is entirely unique and a wonder. An interesting film has been made regarding her future… which is frought with issues, both natural and man-made.

From Billmon, some clarity and sobriety in the comparing of ideas and statements proffered by the right-wing here in the US and the stooges of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Viva la Assclowns!

While I don’t ascribe my ethical center and moral clarity to any particular sect or religion, Christian or otherwise, I do follow certain aspects of Christian fellowship, a practice which is not unique to Christianity. This though, has nothing to do with Gnosticism nor with Christianity, and everything to do with the darker aspects of humanity. Shameful. Truly. They are no different than the Taliban or the vengeful Crusaders of ages long gone.