Freemasons and Jews

Sasha told me about this idiot who is blaming the Jews for Catholic child sex scandals. The retired and apparently retarded bishop also blamed the Freemasons. So I had to look up “Freemasons and Jews” in Google, and was surprised to see so much rhetoric about the two being linked. I don’t know if they are or not, but the few Freemasons that I knew weren’t Jewish.

I found this and read it to Sasha (the summary came up in Google so I didn’t have to click on the link): “Freemasonry is based on the Jewish Kabbalah and is being used to undermine and eventually destroy Christian civilisation [sic] …” To which Sasha replied, “Well it’s taking them a while, isn’t it?”

Sasha is the Wrong Tree for Glenn Nye

Sasha is on Glenn Nye’s mailing list.

The Congressman recently sent out this email:

Dear Friends,

It’s time to put our game faces on.

There are currently 7 Republicans vying for the opportunity to challenge me in November and try take back this seat . Several have already committed to self-fund their campaigns if necessary – and even more importantly, the national GOP has declared that it will pour tens of thousands in outside money into this race. Its game time.

In just 5 days, I’ll have to report our first fundraising numbers of the election year to the FEC. Everyone – the media, pundits, our opponents and both political parties – will use these numbers as the first real test of whether our campaign has what it takes to win in November.

That means we have just 6 Days before the most critical fundraising deadline so far. I know I need another 114 donors to make our goal and put this campaign in a strong position for the Election Year – and I need your support to put us over the top.

Contribute $100, $50 or even $25 before the FEC deadline on March 31st

Sasha replied.

Dear Congressman Nye:

You have got to be kidding! I wouldn’t give a penny to see you re-elected to congress. What a gutless weasel you turned out to be. Good luck with your campaign although I guess your service to the Republican party has not reaped the benefits you thought it would.

Below, is a copy of the email I just sent to Congressman Perriello who, unlike you, understands the purpose of being a congressman.

Sasha Goldberg

Hello,

I just wanted to let Congressman Perriello know how much we appreciate his vote. HCR is a national issue affecting all of us and Congressman Perriello really stepped up to plate, casting what had to be a difficult vote. I truly believe that he is on the right side of history and that this a vote of which he can be proud! I hope our contribution helps; I only wish that we could vote for him as well.

Warm regards,

Sasha and Benjamin Goldberg

Truth is Blasphemy

There are certain people who get angry at the suggestion that we have to, or at least should, deal with anything. So weather it’s peak oil, global warming, or children without medical care, they close their ears and get angry at those who try to explain the facts. And the more complex the facts are, the angrier they get.

And just as they used to burn people for daring to even question Biblical contradictions, people are ready to take up arms against those who dare to discuss any evidence that suggests a problem with their rosy world view. But ignoring facts doesn’t make them false.

Maybe the Earth has an endless supply of oil. Maybe global warming is both non-existent and perfectly natural. Maybe it’s the child’s own damned fault if he or she doesn’t have access to health care. But there are facts worth looking at that suggest these views may have holes. Don’t get angry at people for pointing them out.

Sasha’s Message to Father William Breslin

Sasha wrote the following to Father William Breslin of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School, in response to their decision to deny admittance of the child of a lesbian couple.

————
Dear Mr. Breslin:

The reason I, and many others, think your decision to expel those children stems from bigotry, rather than principle is simple: How many children of divorced parents have been similarly expelled? Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t it true that the only thing Jesus had to say about marriage is that any divorced person who marries is an adulterer? I’d love to hear why it is so very important to exclude these particular children when so many other children are allowed to attend.

I am not a Catholic but I used to admire the church and the people in it. Now, I see your leadership as being made up of repressed and confused homosexuals and child molesters. I see your church as a force for evil in the world. Now would be a good time to focus on beams and less on motes.

———–
My Take: Father Breslin addressed the comparison between divorce and homosexual relationships in his blog, but his explanation is dishonest. He says the difference is nobody says divorce is good. In fact, whether they say it or not, almost everyone who’s been divorced believes it’s good. It’s what saved them from a life of misery resulting from a bad marriage. Few would, if they had the chance, go back in time and continue the failed marriage. Unless Father Breslin disagrees, his explanation is merely an excuse to support the bigoted actions of his church.

Father Breslin also says that there are no pro-divorce parades. There don’t have to be. I’ve never heard of someone getting beaten to death because they were divorced.

Sasha Goes to Town.

Sasha went to Jim Webb and Glenn Nye’s offices today to tell them how disappointed she is that our Democratic leaders are acting like whipped puppies and that it’s shameful and disgusting. The person she spoke to at Congressman Nye’s office was sympathetic. She seemed to understand that if our leaders cut their own wrists it won’t be good for the aids, receptionists and other staffers who work for them. Even as Sasha admitted that she wasn’t a constituent, the receptionist, rather than disregarding her, was impressed that she came all the way from Suffolk to share her feelings.

Jim Webb’s office was different. In fact, from what Sasha told me I can’t figure out what the office is there for. But one thing it’s not there for is sending messages to the senator, because there was nobody there who would commit to passing one along.

We have the majority and we’re loosing. Our leadership is like a big dog who wets the floor and rolls on his back because a little dog barks loud. It’s truly disgusting. What a mess.

From Andrew Sullivan: “… it is absurd that one special election should upend a clear campaign promise, a year of work, and a necessary start on a critical reform without which we hurtle toward bankruptcy even more quickly.”

and ..

“This is about more than health reform and we have to see it in that context. This is about a cynical nihilist attempt to break this presidency before it has had a chance to do what we elected it to do by a landslide vote. It is an attempt to destroy a majority’s morale, to break a president’s foreign policy autonomy, to prevent engagement in the Middle East peace process, to stop action on climate change, to restore torture, to increase tensions with the Muslim world, to launch a war on Iran. We cannot delude ourselves that if Obama fails, this is not the alternative. It is.”

Andrew Sullivan wrote to implore the President to stand up and fight. I do the same for you. Make phone calls write letters. There are more of us. We shouldn’t give in to this.

Update (Jan 23) Here’s another way to put it :
(video)http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002494/

Sasha’s dKos Diary

Sasha doesn’t blog, but she does post, very very rarely, on Daily Kos. Her latest post, In Defense of Bipartisanship was misunderstood by many readers as “In Defense of Compromise”, which wasn’t quite what she was saying.

Leading Questions, False Results

Sasha picked up the phone to talk to a computer-generated poll taker. She doesn’t remember the exact wording, but one of the questions was something like, “Do you support health care reform even though it’s going to cost billions of dollars in Medicare cuts and have medical panels and include every other right wing alarmist bullshit lie?”. The question was almost a minute long! If she would have responded to all of these lies by saying saying, “no, I wouldn’t support such nonsense”, as most people will respond, then the survey result would indicate that she doesn’t support the health care bill. That’s the only way they can make it seem like “the people” are against health care reform. It’s also a sneaky way to spread propaganda over the phone, by disguising taking points as questions. Think about that the next time you see poll results showing what “the people” think. Then go ahead and do some real research about the health care reform. Don’t just support what the media tells you your friends and neighbors are supporting.

Best Buy and the War on Christmas

One of the latest catalysts that set the War on Christmas reactionaries in motion was a Best Buy ad with a little bubble in the bottom of the page wishing a happy Eid, which failed to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. The fact that Christmas is four weeks away doesn’t matter. Apparently, any time between the last Thursday in November and December 26th, you’re not allowed to wish anybody happiness (or merriness) unless it’s directly related to Christmas, and you’re sure as hell not allowed to wish happiness to a Muslim. Ever.

There is a fact which gives a false appearance of legitimacy to this hysteria: In 2006, Best Buy stopped using the word “Christmas” in their holiday ads. But, since 2006, they also haven’t mentioned any other ethnic or religious holidays. There is no 2006, 2007 or 2008 Hanukkah ad, either, and I doubt Best Buy has ever mentioned Eid before. It seems that this year, Best Buy has decided to change their holiday advertising policy, and it seems logical that chronology is the only the reason Eid preceded Christmas in Best Buy’s holiday wishes. Eid was November 27th this year.

Apparently that theory is backed up by the facts: Best Buy plans to issue all kinds of happy holiday messages, including Christmas, as mentioned in the Detroit News, in an article which I found after reading Snopes.

But, as usual, the wingnuts can’t spend ten minutes fact checking before flooding the media with their wrong-headed accusations.

Or, maybe some of them do the fact checking and still manage to flood the airwaves with their wrong-headed nonsense. If you look at this post on Big Government’s blog, and scroll down to Gues’s comment, you’ll notice that Gues has seen definitive evidence that Best Buy is not avoiding the “foul word, Christmas” as the original post claims, but has, in fact already started running Christmas ads. Doesn’t matter. Gues manages to follow up this seemingly myth-busting fact with a strange anti-Muslim tirade, and for extra wingnut credit, includes a derogatory reference to President Obama.

We just purchased a new Garmin GPS receiver from Best Buy. I’ve had problems with Best Buy in the past, but this year, I’m happy to send a message in support of their decision to piss off the the anti-pluribus faction and acknowledge the fact that our country is not a monolithic Christian empire, but one society, made up of many.

Update (Dec 5): I (Ben) was mistaken about 2007 and 2008. Apparently, Best Buy HAS been saying “Merry Christmas” in their ads, which means this whole nonsense is even more nonsensical than I realized. It is true that they initially stopped referring to Christmas in 2006, as conformed by this Snopes article. But Best Buy notes previous Christmas and Hanukkah ads Here. Although they don’t present documented proof, I doubt they can make such a blatant lie without being caught.

Good without God (period).

Recently, in the Washington Posts’s On Faith column, they posted the topic “Good without God?” and had the audacity to ask its panel and readers: “How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some sort of belief in a being which is greater than they are?”

Perhaps they should ask: “How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, if the only reason they don’t steal, rape, and murder is they believe that an invisible sky-daddy is looking over their shoulders and waiting to squash their souls if they misbehave?” Good people are those who feel and act upon genuine compassion for others. People who act good out of fear are not truly good; they’re cowards. But so many people of faith don’t even meet that criteria. If more people of faith at least acted like good people, I wouldn’t find this question so galling. I don’t mean to say that there aren’t good people who believe in God. I mean to say that belief in God doesn’t make you good, and you can certainly be good without it.

Here’s another question for WaPo: What gives them the right to have an open conversation with their readers about the nature of other people’s souls? If the Washington post wants to ponder religious questions with their religious readers, then that’s fine. Just leave the rest of us out of it.

Suffolk Dreamin’

Sasha says:
I was in Franklin to run some errands and stopped in at a hardware store. I was chatting with the checkout girl about the price of gas in Franklin vs the price of gas in Suffolk (it was two cents higher in Franklin), and the girl said “I love Suffolk, I’d like to move there someday”.

Suffolk?? Don’t get me wrong, Suffolk is nice. It’s just hard to imagine someone living 20 miles away in a similar city dreaming of it.

We’ll, don’t give up on your dreams, girl. Suffolk awaits with open arms.