A Secular Defense of the 9/11 WTC Cross

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Apparently some atheists are upset that a 9/11 memorial will have the “WTC cross” found in the wreckage of steel girders where the towers had stood.  I am agnostic, but I am not easily offended by displays of religion.  It is a freedom which I feel very well pays its own freight.  I used to be fairly militant in my atheism, but that stance made little sense to me after some years.  How could I be so smug and inflexible on a topic where my whole thesis was that certainty without evidence was unacceptable?

The cross discovered in the smoke and rubble was a powerful symbol to many who served on scene, and was a comfort to those who toiled in the swirling mist of human and architectural … Continue reading →

George Monbiot – How the Billionaires Broke the System

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[Update: BREAKING: Monbiot may not actually be a Marxist.  But Cripes!  I’m not nearly so far off in my characterization of him as he is of the Tea Party, and that’s me, baby.  That’s me.]

Popular Commies at it again.  Or still.  Skip to the chase: it’s the Koch brothers who ruined America.

The US deficit reduction plan makes no sense – until you remember who’s behind the Tea Party movement.

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 1st August 2011

There are two ways of cutting a deficit: raising taxes or reducing spending. Raising taxes means taking money from the rich. Cutting spending means taking money from the poor. Not in all cases of course: some taxation is regressive; some state spending takes money from ordinary citizens … Continue reading →

Humble, Grateful GOP Thanks Tea Party

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From Senator Mitch McConnell’s remarks to the Heritage Foundation November 4, 2010.  Just after the Tea Party delivered the GOP a stunning victory:

Republicans have a plan for following through on the wishes of the American people. It starts with gratitude and a certain humility for the task we’ve been handed. It means sticking ever more closely to the conservative principles that got us here. It means learning the lessons of history. And, above all, it means listening to the people who sent us here.

[pullquote]So we renewed our commitment to our core principles — win, lose, or draw.[/pullquote]

While the media was still groping to define the 2008 election, Republicans were taking stock. We knew the principles that had made our party great were the same principles … Continue reading →

Weekly Standard Editor Fred Obama

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Excuse me while I retch.  Weekly Standard Editor Fred “Reagan and Boehner, Two Peas in a Pod” Barnes misses the point, which is that this deal is not “good”, it is bad.

What would President Reagan do in the debt limit battle? That’s unknowable, but we do know what his goal would be: get the best deal possible under the circumstances. Reagan never let the perfect or the unattainable keep him from achieving the good.

via Reagan and Boehner, Two Peas in a Pod | The Weekly Standard.

Reagan did not accept a negotiated defeat at Reykjavik just because it was “the best we could get” from the Soviets.  Instead, he walked away, preserving the initiative, retaining the ability to fight on his terms.

Boehner, on … Continue reading →

A Bit of a Rant

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We hold a veto on spending which we refuse to use. We just A) approved a business-as-usual increase in spending, and B) funded ObamaCare for the duration by not forcing this prick to make choices. He gets everything he wants–we just wrote him a blank check for it. The supposed cuts amount to trying to slow your father’s Oldsmobile by cupping your hand out the window. It’s crap.

The reason all revenue bills must start in the House is to grant an “opposite end” veto as a check on the size of government. It is of course a fact that we only hold “one half of one third of the government”, but it’s the portion that really matters when it comes to choking this pig. We own the … Continue reading →

Hugh Hewitt Oddly Surprised By Democrat Shenanigans

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Hugh Hewitt is not happy with the deal reportedly shaping up between “Congress” and the White House:

Sunday, July 31, 2011 Preparing to Defend Defense Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 5:20 AM

Automatic cuts to Defense are tantamount to threatening the national security.  If Democrats were simply obstinate and ran the clock down, they would put Republicans in the position of choosing between tax hikes and destructive cuts to defense spending.

via HughHewitt.com Blog : Hugh Hewitt : Preparing to Defend Defense.

Please don’t look surprised.  You chose this outcome when you prioritized short-term market fluctuations, which you admitted were not rational, over the long-term effects:

Friday, July 29, 2011 … Continue reading →

John Kerry Scores an Own Goal

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I agree with Senator John Kerry:

“You know the Chinese are looking at us right now and they are just gleeful and incredulous at the way in which one of the great competitors is imploding on itself, because a group of absolutists and extremists don’t understand the implication of what they are doing, and prepared to hold the entire economy hostage and it is unprecedented of anything I have seen in all of the time I have been in public life, and I think it is damaging and dangerous and reckless and irresponsible,” Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told MSNBC.

via Kerry: Tea Party A “Group Of Absolutists” Who Don’t Understand What They’re Doing | RealClearPolitics.

I just disagree with him about precisely whom the Chinese find so … Continue reading →

Rush to Conservatives: I’m damn proud of you | The Right Scoop

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Boehner 3.0 passed, Senate killed it, and now Reid will replace it with a craptastic compromise.  This is the sell-out we are bracing for.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  We did win, after all.  We have a veto on spending.  If we show the fortitude required, the Democrats will crumble.

RightScoop currently hosting a great clip from Rush:

Rush says that the only reason we have Boehner 3.0 is because of the Tea Party members in Congress and because of us conservatives who made our voices loud and clear, and he says he’s damn proud of all of us. And then he turns it on.

He blasts the leadership for doing Obama and Reid’s bidding and says we should not be the lifeline to getting … Continue reading →

President Arafat Rejects Boehner's Camp David Offer

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John Boehner is a good man.  But his anger, while justified, engenders no sympathy from me.  He hollered the following, thumping the podium:

Boehner said the bill was necessary “after I stuck my neck out a mile trying to get an agreement with the president of the United States.”

“But a lot of people in this town can never say yes. This house has acted and it is time for this administration to put something on the table, tell us where you are.”

via Boehner Goes Irate On Dems Prior To GOP Passing Another Bill To End The “Crisis” (Video) | Red White Blue News.

There he is, angry that he has no idea what constitutes the negotiating position of the Democrats.  Angry and alone, unable to … Continue reading →