THE RIGHT

Why do I inveigh against The Right? Why this animosity towards them, other than they are trying to drive the country to ruin? I mean, they won't be the first or the last to try to do so. But why do they incense me so? Let me count the ways:

Newt Gingrich calls for Clinton's impeachment because Clinton supposedly lied to Congress about a sexualk scandal, all the while Gingrich was having an affair.

He was not the only Republican at the time doing so.

Dont' forget Limbaugh.

And we wouldn't want to forget his comments about drug abusers, while he himself was (maybe still is?).

Ann Coulter tells women they're not smart enough to vote. Does that mean Ann is not smart enough to open her mouth on national TV?

Ann Coulter gives lessons on morality yet doesn't believe those lessons pertain to her personal behavior.

Oh, forget it. There is just no way I can cover the myriad litany of sins by the so-called Right and the Conservative Movement. There are jsut too many, and I don't have that kind of time. Just sitting here typing this I'm reminded by the last item I write about another hypocrisy, another example of just how warped these people are! Laws don't apply; moral standards don't apply. They will say and do anything...ANYTHING...to win and damned the consequences for the country. These are not just people we can disagree with; these are evil people. EVIL! How do you discuss what is right or wrong when they are so certain in their rightness, even when they have done the very acts they rail against? There is no common ground. There is no means of honest debate, because they do not care about debate; they care only in power and control and exerting it over others!

I've called them Fascists in this blog before, and I believe that is what they are. But if possible they may be worse than simple fascists because of what they are doing to political discourse in this country. They are forever destroying the concept of common ground, of what makes us all citizens. With every slander, every lie, every condemnation of positions not their own, they make it that much harder to ever debate intelligently. They are destroying debate. They are hypocrits of the worst sort.

I found out my college roommate now writes sometimes for the National Review Online. That in itself shouldn't be a comdemnation of my college roommate. He was a pretty smart guy. But what has finally brought home just how evil these people are is what he writes about and how he can justify writing what he does after what he's done. I know. I was there. But now he rails against the very actions which he took, and I find myself wondering how can he be so intellectually dishonest? I find myself looking back and wondering if he always was so? And if he wasn't, what happened to the objective intelligent thinker that was there then? And are we all doomed to become hypocritical caricatures of our better selves? Is that what we all become?

ARE END-TIMERS TRAITORS TO THE US?

I'msure if anyone read this, they would have somethingto say about it: some in the vein that they agree with me totally without thinking about it; others that I'm some heathen. But the question is valid.

End-Timers believe in their interpretation of The Book of Revelations. According to their interpretation, God's Children (them) will be whisked away to Heaven to leave the wicked (us) to fight it out, and once the fighting is over, God will return them to a Heaven on Earth. Sounds good, as a story. But I have questions.

For instance, according to some End-Timers, not all the Righteous are going to be whisked away in The Rapture. Some will be stranded here on Earth with us wicked folk. There is in fact a chosen few who will be whisked away. So as an End-Timer, how do you know you will be one of the Chosen? I mean, it's not like there's a list, is there?

But let's say for the sake of arguement, you are one of the Chosen. If that's true, why do you care what happens on the Earth? Why do you care what the wicked do, as the End-Times are coming (I knew an End-Timer who said in the year 2007) and you won't be here? The only possible explanation for your behavior is to try to accelerate the coming of the Rapture. If this is so, then your political actions are not taken for the good of the country as you profess, but for the good of End-Timers; and your political actions are actually a betrayal of your fellow citizens, who won't be saved by your considerably vengeful God. In other words, you're selling all the rest of us down the river for your personal salvation (though how betrayal translates into a Christian virtue, I don't know).

On the other hand, you could argue that since you don't know if you are one of the Chosen you're hedging your bets. But tha's a cop-out. If your faith is so strong, why would you need to hedge your bets? Hell (Sorry), you're going to Heaven, and that's that. The rest of us can fry! Which brings me back to the question of why you do what you do? You're not making the Earth a better place for me by your actions. In point of fact, I think you're making it worse. So stop trying to save my soul by controlling everything we wicked would like to do. The only thing you seem to be trying to do is destroy the US that much faster so that you can meet your interpretation of your maker that much faster. To me (but what do I know; I'm wicked), that's treason.

THE REAL USE OF THE OVERTON WINDOW

Joshua Trevino, a conservative blogger who blogs at Redstate.com and Swords Crossed, recently provided all us liberal bloggers with the secret formula to conservative success in the elections. Basically, he tells us about the Overton Window and the idea of making many of the not initially palpable ideas of the conservative movement palpable over the course of time to the majority of the country. How this works is by getting the fringe members of the conservative movement to put forth fringe ideas. As the fringe idea moves through the public discourse,it picks up legitimacy,perhaps still staying outside the mainstream but not dismissed out of hand. Further, it becomes a point which must be refuted, then a point which must be considered, still further a point which is considered a legitimate policy initiative, and finally policy. Then the process starts all over again in thepolicy arena until the conservative movement achieves its ultimate goal in that particular policy area.

He gives as an example Education Policy: The Window Shows the different areas of this policy from the inital phase where all schools are public, then private schools are allowed, then Charter schools are allowed, then shcools are privatized but funded by the government, and finally all schools are private.

I do not doubt that the conservative movement has as one of its ultimate goals the complete privatization of education. Nor do I doubt that they use the Overton Window for policy procedure. But I believe Trevino is being disingenuous here, because let's face it, most people don't want shcools fully privatized, knowing that that will lead to the most unequal of educations. No; the Overton Window has a much more sinister use. It's use is as a tool to discredit and destroy opposition because most conservatives know that the policies they advocate do not in fact aid the majority of the population.

Witness the conservative assault on the Media. The Media at present is constantly described as being liberal and biased. Consrevatives harangue the NYT, the WAPO, and all media as being liberal and biased. Now, however, they have moved on to the next step in the Overton Window on discrediting the Media. They have claimed loudly that the NYT and the WAPO reporters who received Pulitzers for their reporting of stories dealing with Gov't malfeasance are traitors and should be in jail. They have made a fringe arguement about the Media being criminals, but that fringe arguement becomes more mainstreamed the more they repeat it. It doesn't matter that the policies and practices which these articles pointed out were illegal. The Gov't disobeying the law is not the issue the Conservatives want us to focus on. It is their fringe position that the Media has done something wrong by educating us to criminal activity by our Government.

The same is occurring with critics of the Administration in general. If you are a critic, you are a moonbat, out of your head, a defeatest, and last but not least a traitor. And that is the point the Conservatives want. If you disagree, you must be a traitor so whatever you say or do is suspect. And soon, they'll be able to throw you in jail for just disagreeing.

But some of the most insidious use of the Overton Window comes when it's election time. The Conservatives pull out all the stops. Witness the recent Rush Limbaugh statements concerning crime in Houston because of the population influx from New Orleans. He doesn't come and straight out say it, but we know what he means. Even those of us who do not agree with his statements know what he is alluding to. Pretty soon, if Limbaugh and company have their way, they will repeal the 14th Amendment.

As they will repeal the citizenship of anyone whose sexual preferences do not meet their standard. The issue isn't Gay Marriage. The issue is the creation of an internal enemy which they can then defeat. Last year, it was Gays getting married. This year, it will be an attempt to outlaw Gays adopting. The next election cycle, it will be Gays employed in the public sector. After that, it will be Gays employed anywhere. And in the end, it will be Gays anywhere at all.

No,the real use of the Overton Window is not issues. It is to create enemies with which the Conservative Movement can frighten us into ignoring their complete and utter malignancy. Movement Conservatives have nothing to show for their beliefs other than hate. We win when we show them for what they are. We lose when we provide them with easy targets.

WE'RE ALL TERRORISTS NOW!

I've been following the NSA Warrantless Wiretapping story since the beginning as I find Government encroachement of Civil Liberties something of an issue. I didn't like the explanation at the beginning of this story when it first appeared, and I like it even less now that we find out that 3 major phone companies (who want to have the right to make you pay for what you see on the internet) are giving out phone records wily-nily because the NSA asked nice. What we now find is that not only does the Administration believe it has the right to break the law (warrantless wiretaps), it also has the right to do it to anyone it wishes for whatever reason.

Bear with me for a moment as obviously that is not what the USAToday article said. What it stated was that the NSA was given phone records of 10s of Millions of US citizens by 3 major phone companies without obtaining a warrant for this information to distinguish "suspious" patterns. It also stated that QWest found the request problematic.

Now, That doesn't look like they listened in on conversations, does it? Except, of course, how do you define a suspious pattern? How do you finally know that a pattern is suspious? Ah...I think you might have to listen in.

There are only two scenarios in which having all this data works: 1) a terrorist attack occurs and you can backtrack, perhaps catching other terrorists. This does no good in detering the inital attack, or 2) you listen in on conversations.

Let's start with the simple stuff: almost everyone who makes phone calls has patterns of calls. I know I do. There are places and people I call regularly. That's a pattern. There are new people and places I have to call regularly. That's a pattern. So if I change my pattern to a new pattern suddenly for whatever reason, I'm now under suspicion. Even if my change of pattern is perfectly reasonable (new friend, different client, new home, search for a new job). So how does the NSA determine that my pattern is not suspious? Guess what; they have to listen in on my phone calls! And possibly log what internet sites I visit. And soon they will be reading our mail, because, you know, We're All Terrorists Now.