Frank Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow
“When you see a bunch of people going around thinking that our president is the antichrist, you have to draw one of two conclusions: either these are racists, looking for any excuse to level the next accusation, or they’re beyond crazy. And I think beyond crazy’s a better explanation.”
“That evangelical subculture has rotted the brain of the United States of America.”
“When we talk about the Left Behind series of books…what we’re really talking about is a group of people who are resentful because they know they’ve been left behind: by modernity, by science, by education, by art, by literature…”
“The rest of us are getting on with our lives, these people are standing on a hilltop waiting for the end.”
Obama Is Not Stalin
The only thing our 44th President and Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili have in common is that they’ve both had their faces on posters.
That’s certainly no reason to believe he wants to send your grampa to the crematorium.
Hey, Hipster Bitches!
Bodycon is back, right?
Well, it’s only fair–if you want to wear this:
You ought to pay your dues, and respect this:
Lycra sausage casings and high-rise jeans have a long and storied heritage that must be paid tribute. Back before you were born, nobody gave a fuck about irony—they were too busy having fun. You’ve heard of fun, right? It was really neat. People got drunk, turned the music up, sang along, and had sex with each other…all without a trace of self-mockery. Bet you wish you could.
Hope’s not lost. Innocent fun could be the latest silly retro trend. You don’t care if people laugh at your dippy plastic sunglasses or uneven beard, do you? So why should you care what they think of your new studied optimism?
Remember, kids: Spandex isn’t a toy, it’s a tool.
Iran Protests This Week…
STRASBOURG Iran demo: Mardi 4/8, 18:00, Place Kléber http://whereismyvote67.blog…
ATLANTA Iran protest: Tues. August 4, 6-9pm, Lenox Mall, Lenox & Peachtree http://tinyurl.com/ndvxhp
MONTREAL Iran demo: 8/5/09, 4:30-7pm, Phillips Sq, Sainte Catherine O. & Union http://tinyurl.com/kqjujr
IRVINE (CA) Iran press conference: Fri. August 7, 5:45-9pm, City Hall, http://tinyurl.com/m6rd54
TORONTO Iran flash mob: Sat. Aug 8, 11:45am-12:00pm Dundas Sq. Yonge & Dundas http://tinyurl.com/ms3geq
Developments in Iran
Despite police threats, protesters and mourners gathered Thursday in Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery in Tehran, the resting place of Neda Agha-Soltan, to commemorate her and others killed in the post-election violence:
Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Mir Hussein Moussavi, at the cemetery:
This is an excellent YouTube channel by peive17, containing many videos of the latest protests in Iran.
Today, the AP reports that 100 Iranian protesters have been put on trial:
“More than 100 opposition political activists and protesters stood trial in Tehran Saturday on charges of rioting and conspiring to topple the ruling system.”
Stalin put on show trials, too.
Iran Silent Wave protests
Take a moment of silence at 6:30 pm tonight, to honor the memories of Neda Agha-Soltan and the other Iranians killed on June 20.
NEW YORK CITY silent vigil: Thurs 7/30, 7:30-9:30, Union Square Park (Park Ave. & 14th St.)
SAN FRANCISCO protest vigil: Thurs 7/30, 8-9pm, UN Plaza Market St between 7th/8th
LOS ANGELES protest vigil: Thurs. 7/30, 6-9pm, Federal Building at Wilshire Blvd. & Veteran
The Dirty Prism
MSNBC’s coverage of Sarah Palin’s swan song was on the televisions at the gym today, both in audio and closed-captioning. As I did my time on the stationary bikes, I was face-to-face with one of the monitors. I finally realized her non-ghostwritten speech patterns remind me exactly of crappy closed-captioning.
Have you ever been sitting at a bar or an airport, trying to get a news story from the scrolling white words at the top of a television screen? As each word dribbles out, sometimes one at a time but often in chunks, you struggle to anticipate where sentences end and begin. Words backspace and retype themselves over and over, resolving into nonsensical syllables. And at the end, you’re forced to admit that the info wasn’t really worth the effort.
Sarah Palin’s her own one-woman crummy news feed. One does not so much listen to her, as try to piece together from her speech what concepts her handlers were originally trying to deliver to the audience.
So much effort has been made to position and present this woman as the gem of the GOP, receiving a pure stream of patriotism and refracting it to a wide array of true-blue Real Americans™.
In reality she reflects only inward brokenness, and whatever message she was originally encouraged to deliver is always fractured into polarizing chaos. That she still has a small core of fanatical supporters speaks to our nation’s need for better mental healthcare.
