Finally got back to and finished that Slate article on Bernie that Alan posted the other day. Some of the stuff it discussed really irritated me. I mean, he's not running for Miss Congeniality. He's a serious and very intelligent man, with serious, sound ideas, running for what is arguably the most powerful office on the planet. He is also a dignified and reserved man., not a reality TV star or Hollywood starlet whose biggest thrill is to go on late night television and show off his chest hair while prattling about breaking up with his latest girlfriend. He's an actual, honest-to-God adult with actual, honest-to-God thoughts and ideas that he expresses very clearly. Why try to make him into something he isn't?
Sunday seemed like an appropriate day to share this. An excerpt:
"I feel sorry for professed Christians who support this President.
They have a profound and fundamental spiritual problem: their God is too small.
They passionately worship a deity made in their own image: white, American, Republican, male—and perpetually terrified of just about everything: Muslims, immigrants, gay children, Special Counsel reports, mandalas, Harry Potter, Starbucks holiday cups, yoga, wind turbines, Science—everything. Their God is so laughably minuscule, so fully neutered of power, so completely devoid of functioning vertebrae that “He” cannot protect them from the encroaching monsters they are certain lurk around every corner to overwhelm them."
They don't seem to have so much as a passing acquaintance with the Gospels. I wonder if they find even the God of the Old Testament entirely satisfactory. After all, He did occasionally say things like (paraphrasing), Do not oppress the stranger within your gates, for you were once strangers in Egypt, a particularly apt saying as it occurs to me. They also forget that Mirium and Deborah were leaders of the people and that Huldah was a noted prophetess. Oh, yes, as I think of it, there is much that would horrify followers of the Church of MAGA in the Old Testament. As for the New Testament, except for a few passages about keeping women in their place, that's just a Liberal, hippie, peacenik rag. Love one another? Ha!
The Easter of 1970, I think it was, my mother and I spent in Honolulu. Meanwhile, New England experienced the worst Easter snowstorm in something like fifty years. *shrug* It happens. A few years back we had a snowfall over the night of April 30/May 1 so severe that the weight of the snow knocked down not merely branches but an entire evergreen tree in our yard.
I read the first few volumes in A Song of Ice and Fire, but eventually the unrelenting violence and general nastiness got to me, so I abandoned it. Can't imagine why anyone would have put it on television. And, if they were going to, why use the title of the first book in the series instead of the name of the series? But then, recently I've been reading cozy mysteries starring cats; so, my various meters and gauges are probably out of whack.
Pete’s announcement [Click] It’s worth watching; he IS a good rhetorician. It looks like the venue is a repurposed warehouse; there might be a little story there. I wonder if it might be part of the old Studebaker factory. It is! Thanks to PBS for the information.
As a child growing up in SLC, my two wishes for every year were--that it not snow before Halloween so you didn't have to wear a coat over your costume, and the it had finished snowing by Easter, so the eggs could be hidden outside. . . . Neither seldom granted.
Sanders: $18.2 million from 525,000 donors Harris: $12 million from 138,000 donors O’Rourke: $9.4 million from 218,000 donors Buttigieg: $7 million from 158,550 donors Warren: $6 million from 135,000 donors Klobuchar: $5.2 million from “nearly” 100,000 donors Booker: $5.1 million from unstated number of donors Gillibrand: $3 million from unstated number of donors Yang: $1.7 million from 80,000 donors
That adds up to $67.6 million over something less than three months; say two months. Multiplying it by 3/2 makes it about $100 million per quarter. Trump is rumored to have hauled in $30 million in the first quarter. Although a number of Dems will probably have enough money to stay in the race to or even through Super Tuesday, I expect that the field will narrow dramatically then, and there will be a closing of the ranks. I wouldn't bet on a contested convention. But that's all a long way off. Dear Leader still has plenty of time to commit political suicide. We are living in times that are far too interesting for my taste.
Good story about Shakespeare's Ghost, listener! And glad to hear Spring is springing for you.
ReplyDeleteFinally got back to and finished that Slate article on Bernie that Alan posted the other day. Some of the stuff it discussed really irritated me. I mean, he's not running for Miss Congeniality. He's a serious and very intelligent man, with serious, sound ideas, running for what is arguably the most powerful office on the planet. He is also a dignified and reserved man., not a reality TV star or Hollywood starlet whose biggest thrill is to go on late night television and show off his chest hair while prattling about breaking up with his latest girlfriend. He's an actual, honest-to-God adult with actual, honest-to-God thoughts and ideas that he expresses very clearly. Why try to make him into something he isn't?
ReplyDeletehttps://johnpavlovitz.com/2019/04/11/the-terribly-tiny-god-of-maga-christians/?fbclid=IwAR3vqhqOk__vNh9qamawFC9Vd2LSmqD6D6TeGzc4N5EgOW6csHO-IRJL4e8
ReplyDeleteSunday seemed like an appropriate day to share this. An excerpt:
"I feel sorry for professed Christians who support this President.
They have a profound and fundamental spiritual problem: their God is too small.
They passionately worship a deity made in their own image: white, American, Republican, male—and perpetually terrified of just about everything: Muslims, immigrants, gay children, Special Counsel reports, mandalas, Harry Potter, Starbucks holiday cups, yoga, wind turbines, Science—everything. Their God is so laughably minuscule, so fully neutered of power, so completely devoid of functioning vertebrae that “He” cannot protect them from the encroaching monsters they are certain lurk around every corner to overwhelm them."
A long read, but worthwhile.
They don't seem to have so much as a passing acquaintance with the Gospels. I wonder if they find even the God of the Old Testament entirely satisfactory. After all, He did occasionally say things like (paraphrasing), Do not oppress the stranger within your gates, for you were once strangers in Egypt, a particularly apt saying as it occurs to me. They also forget that Mirium and Deborah were leaders of the people and that Huldah was a noted prophetess. Oh, yes, as I think of it, there is much that would horrify followers of the Church of MAGA in the Old Testament. As for the New Testament, except for a few passages about keeping women in their place, that's just a Liberal, hippie, peacenik rag. Love one another? Ha!
DeleteI was unfamiliar with Huldah, so looked her up; she sounds impressive. I can't help but be reminded of Hildegard of Bingen.
DeleteSo it is in fact snowing today. Still coming down, as far as my poor eyes can tell. But Hey! It's still a week before Easter.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Cubs' game was snowed out. Snowed out?? I thought baseball was supposed to be a summer game.
DeleteThe Easter of 1970, I think it was, my mother and I spent in Honolulu. Meanwhile, New England experienced the worst Easter snowstorm in something like fifty years. *shrug* It happens. A few years back we had a snowfall over the night of April 30/May 1 so severe that the weight of the snow knocked down not merely branches but an entire evergreen tree in our yard.
DeleteGame of Thrones summary to date for the culturally deprived. [Click]
ReplyDeleteUS Chamber of Commerce: Making your business LGBT-friendly is not just good – it's good for the bottom line [Click] “It’s not just the right thing to do. Most employees would leave their employer for one that was more inclusive.”
From the UK: Tories hit by new defections and slump in opinion polls as party divide widens [Click]
David Axelrod on Buttigieg: “His fluency on faith and his willingness to speak about it is an asset. Carter, Clinton, and Obama — they all shared that quality. It was one of the cues that opened the door to voters.” [Click] That’s all very fine I suppose, but if his religion leads him to condone Israeli violations of the law of war and occupation, I can’t think highly of him. From the Wikipedia article on the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907: [Click] “After World War II, the judges of the military tribunal of the Trial of German Major War Criminals at Nuremberg Trials found that by 1939, the rules laid down in the 1907 Hague Convention were recognised by all civilised nations and were regarded as declaratory of the laws and customs of war. Under this post-war decision, a country did not have to have ratified the 1907 Hague Convention in order to be bound by them.” Here is information on the law of occupation, drawing on the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Conventions. [Click] Not that I think many US voters will be concerned about such
“scraps of paper.” [Click] Please excuse my rant; it accomplishes nothing.
I read the first few volumes in A Song of Ice and Fire, but eventually the unrelenting violence and general nastiness got to me, so I abandoned it. Can't imagine why anyone would have put it on television. And, if they were going to, why use the title of the first book in the series instead of the name of the series? But then, recently I've been reading cozy mysteries starring cats; so, my various meters and gauges are probably out of whack.
DeleteIt seems rather much to me as well, Cat. I can't imagine watching it.
Delete
ReplyDeleteSanders Slams Liberal Think Tank [Click]
David Frum: Democrats Are Falling Into the Ilhan Omar Trap [Click] Here is Pete’s response; [Click] pretty effective, I think.
Pete’s announcement [Click] It’s worth watching; he IS a good rhetorician. It looks like the venue is a repurposed warehouse; there might be a little story there. I wonder if it might be part of the old Studebaker factory. It is! Thanks to PBS for the information.
From the bizarre news file: World War One grenade among potatoes at Hong Kong crisp factory [Click]
ReplyDeleteThe Electoral College Penalizes Voters In High Turnout States [Click]
ReplyDeleteAs a child growing up in SLC, my two wishes for every year were--that it not snow before Halloween so you didn't have to wear a coat over your costume, and the it had finished snowing by Easter, so the eggs could be hidden outside. . . . Neither seldom granted.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEdited post:
DeleteFirst quarter fundraising totals reported so far:
Sanders: $18.2 million from 525,000 donors
Harris: $12 million from 138,000 donors
O’Rourke: $9.4 million from 218,000 donors
Buttigieg: $7 million from 158,550 donors
Warren: $6 million from 135,000 donors
Klobuchar: $5.2 million from “nearly” 100,000 donors
Booker: $5.1 million from unstated number of donors
Gillibrand: $3 million from unstated number of donors
Yang: $1.7 million from 80,000 donors
That adds up to $67.6 million over something less than three months; say two months. Multiplying it by 3/2 makes it about $100 million per quarter. Trump is rumored to have hauled in $30 million in the first quarter. Although a number of Dems will probably have enough money to stay in the race to or even through Super Tuesday, I expect that the field will narrow dramatically then, and there will be a closing of the ranks. I wouldn't bet on a contested convention. But that's all a long way off. Dear Leader still has plenty of time to commit political suicide. We are living in times that are far too interesting for my taste.
'The perfect storm': hydrogen gains ground on LNG as alternative fuel [Click] With demand set to rise across the world, Australia is set to become a global primary producer of hydrogen. Some producers are skipping the pilot plant and going straight to industrial scale.
ReplyDeleteThunderstorms and a tornado watch in DC tonight/early morning. I should have thought that tornadoes didn't occur in the DC area.
ReplyDelete