Religion, Politics and Tea Parties

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Richard Cizik is a fool, which explains why he’s a go-to source for Ben Smith of the Politico:

“As far as I can tell [the tea party movement] has a politics that’s irreligious. I can’t see how some of my fellow conservatives identify with it,” said Richard Cizik, who broke with a major evangelical group over his support for government action on climate change, but who remains largely in line with the Christian right on social issues. “The younger Evangelicals who I interact with are largely turned off by the tea party movement — by the incivility, the name-calling, the pathos of politics.”

Cizik did not specify exactly where and how he “interacts” with these “younger Evangelicals,” but perhaps he met them through his fell0wship at the (Ted Turner-funded) United Nations Foundation. You reckon he got some of that Turner money for his new organization?

Oh, but global warming wasn’t the reason for Cizik’s split with the National Association of Evangelicals. NTTAWWT. 

Please see my further observations at the American Spectator blog.

Jumping in Pools has a poll on religion and politics.

Klavan

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by Smitty


At some point of critical mass, PJTV should grow its own studio and start another phase of bulldozing the entrenched dreck. So subscribe to them, and bring that day closer.

The Brilliance of Breitbart

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The first time I met Andrew Breitbart — at CPAC 2007 — the recognition of genius was  immediate. Some people are fearful of superior intelligence and others are envious. Admiration is more appropriate, and Breitbart combines raw brain power with a fierce contempt for liberalism and a refusal to be intimidated by power.

This is not to say that Breitbart is faultless or immune to criticism.  It is, however, to say with unexaggerated sincerity that he is a man as potentially valuable to American conservatism today as Buckley was in 1951. One quote from the Wired magazine feature:

“They call us tea-baggers. They call us racist, sexist, homophobic, and we are finally punching back. It’s over, dude. It’s over. You think you’re gonna be able to put the genie back in the bottle? It’s over. And if you don’t like my aggression, there are going to be millions more of me . . .”

You should read the whole thing, and see if you notice the little “gotchas” that Noah Shachtman evidently feels compelled to intrude into the article, such as describing Breitbart as a “beefy 41-year-old” in the third paragraph.

Breitbart is over 6 feet tall and probably a lot less “beefy” than the average 41-year-old. Had he grown up in Alabama instead of Brentwood, Calif., some football coach would have spotted  him in the school hallway and made an all-state linebacker out of him. His most remarkable feature is his blue eyes, which glare with a luminous intensity whenever he begins talking about anything he is passionate about. Yet Breitbart’s owlish eyes go unmentioned by Shachtman in favor of “beefy.”

Such are the little darts that Gulliver must suffer from the Lilliputians . . .

UPDATE: ACORN Baltimore drops its lawsuit against Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe. (Hat tip: Inside Charm City.)

ObamaCare Swindle Makes DC Beltway Look Like a Kiddie-Car Ride

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When it comes to cussing people straight to Hell, the experience of driving I-495 would tempt a saint, but it can’t hold a candle to the spontaneous-Tourette’s factor of Lynne Woolsey’s latest proposal:

As House Democrats press for final passage of a health care bill, a legislative scenario has emerged whereby the House wouldn’t have to take a formal roll call vote to endorse the Senate version of the legislation.
Instead, the House would craft a special piece of legislation declaring the Senate bill to have been passed by the House when the House approves its package of “fixes” under the budget reconciliation process. That would spare House members of the perception of endorsing politically explosive Senate deals such as the “Cornhusker Kickback.” . . .
“I don’t need to see my colleagues vote for the Senate bill in the House. We don’t like the Senate bill. Why should we be forced to do that?” said Woolsey, D-Calif. “But what we need to know, before any Senate bill is passed, that we have enough of the fixes that we’ve asked for, that we will be satisfied with the final product as a beginning for health care [reform].”

Are you saying, you contemptible harridan, that you intend to ram this damnable monstrosity down our throats on a voice vote? Generations yet unborn will  curse the name of Lynne Woolsey.

Media Malfeasance Begins To Eat Itself

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by Smitty

James O’Keefe has no business walking about unrecognized. You figure that, had the media covered the ACORN scandal at a realistic level, JOs face would be as infamous as that of, oh, OJ. The fact that JO waltzed into HUD and pulled a similar “how-can-we-work-these-rules” sort of stunt just shows another reason why a house bent on dividing the public wallet cannot stand.

Let’s also take a moment to hoist an international gesture to HUD. Started as part of LBJ’s Let’s BankruptGreat Society, HUD, along with follow-on disasters like the Community Reinvestment Act, serve

  • To underscore the timeless wisdom of the 10th Amendment,
  • As an indictment of Progressivism, and,
  • As an example of the kind of collectivist crap that was possible in a pre-Information Age.

Let’s screw HUD to the wall with a threaded telephone pole through its vampiric heart. Try not to hurt Dodd or Frank in the process; this blog does not advocate existential violence.
Also, let’s rejoice that the complicit media are doing such a terrible job of communicating the appearance of JO, so that he can continue his merry reign of modern Robin Hood-ism.

Prayers For Lara And Lana Reid

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by Smitty

Thanks to commenter Keyboard Jockey for pointing out the Drudge Report and the tragic situation for the Senate Majority Leader’s family. The I-95 and the Beltway are a mess at almost any hour, I know from personal experience.

This is the sort of tragedy that can befall any family, and it’s an opportunity to recall the humanity of even those with whom we might differ in other contexts. Let’s keep the comments classy, folks.

UPDATE (RSM): Glenn Thrush of Politico has details:

Harry Reid’s wife, Landra, suffered a broken neck, back and nose and his daughter, Lana, also sustained serious injuries in a chain-reaction car accident in Fairfax, Va. on Thursday according to Reid’s spokesman.
Both women’s injuries are considered serious but not life-threatening — and both have sensation in their extremities, an indication that they aren’t paralyzed, Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.

Local TV reports that the driver of the truck has been charged with reckless driving. I’ll be interested to see a more detailed accident report.

The D.C. area is home to the world’s worst drivers. As a connoisseur of automotive skill, I routinely become enraged at the cluelessness and carelessness of the subnormals who constitute a majority of Washington-area motorists. I find myself shouting: “If you can’t bleeping drive, why the bleep don’t you take the bleeping bus?”

Obviously, the brain-dead morons at whom I shout these imprecations can’t hear me, but it makes me feel better. The cardio-vascular benefits of cussing a blue streak are not to be underestimated.

As Smitty said, our prayers are with Senator Reid’s family members, innocent victims of the pervasive vehicular  ineptitude that plagues our nation’s capital region.

Humor Sites Become Worrisome

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by Smitty

Hard to believe Parliament of Whores is nearing 20 years old. That classic surveys, in a humorous way, the crap-tacular organizational behavior problems that were just kind of amusing then, and quite literally threaten the solvency of the country now. Farm policy is among the more glaring examples of Federal policy silliness O’Rourke surveyed. I don’t recall if this quote is from PoW, but it’s certainly in keeping with the spirit of the chapter on farm policy:

Farm policy, although it’s complex, can be explained. What it can’t be is believed. No cheating spouse, no teen with a wrecked family car, no mayor of Washington, D.C., videotaped in flagrant has ever come up with anything as farfetched as U.S. farm policy.P. J. O’Rourke

Even P.J.’s least sober visions of Jaws jumping didn’t quite reach the height of Interesting News Items “FarmVille Acquires Agricultural Subsidies“:

Bigger is better in the new FarmVille, adds Peck. Players may pursue the traditional path of acquiring more neighbors, experience points, and gifts in order to purchase additional land or else donate real money to the FarmVille Growers Association. FGA members are automatically elevated to agribusiness level, enrolled in a political action committee, and given farm dollar subsides which lower prices, encouraging bucolic avatars to plant even more crops, driving down the price and increasing subsidies. In addition, Peck encouraged gamers to divide their plots into shell farms incorporated under the names of their children and apply for individual subsidies.

It looks like those subsidies are merely a part of the game world, at least for now. One shudders to consider the danger if Progressive politicians figure out a way to squeeze real world votes out of players.

Stacy And I, Combined, Haven’t The Charm To Garner An NYT Quote

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by Smitty

. . . Barabara Espinosa, on the other hand, does:

The interesting crosscurrents in the contest are seemingly endless. Mr. Parker appears to enjoy support from the same people getting behind former Representative J. D. Hayworth, who is challenging Senator John McCain in the Republican primary with a hard right elbow to the ribs.

“I love J. D. and Vernon,” said Barbara Espinosa, who was attending a recent rally for Mr. Hayworth here. “He’s calm, he’s collected and he’s conservative. I know Vernon Parker. I don’t know Ben Quayle.”

Go Barbara! Go Hayworth!