Sunday, September 07, 2008

Just A Thought

One of the interesting ironies I run into dealing with my leftist friends and relatives is how many of them will say things like "everything happens for a reason" and then recoil in horror that some people believe in God, a belief that everything happens for a reason.

How could something have a "reason" if there is no intelligence that created it?

40 comments:

John said...

Leftists will believe in all sorts of ("New Age") religions and join cults and engage in irrational mumbo-jumbo (that's what's left without a cohesive, Ordering Force behind it), but traditional/conservative Judeo-Christianity--the uncial, Prime-Moving Fountainhead of metaphysics that has been intellectually apprehended, contemplated, comprehended, structured, and presented in evolving, rational terms for millennia (from ancient Jewish poets and Greeks like Plato to Byzantine Scholastics to renegade Muslim falasifas to the 20th Century exegeticals of C.S. Lewis)--is passe' (i.e. "Old Age"), and dismissed.

And good riddance, as it is the supposed Structural cause of social maladies like sexism, racism, homophobia, manichaenism, fascism, imperialism, and, most importantly, the discrimination of things along a superior/inferior spectrum of judgment calls.

In dismissing the Jewish deity Yahweh and the gentile follow-up of Jesus Christ, however, there was a lot of Their baggage laying around unclaimed and up for grabs (e.g. concepts of the afterlife, angels, healing, miracles, faith, prayer, Destiny/Purpose, etc.).

Needing something to fill the vacuum of the human soul, that baggage was rummaged through and appropriated with no concern for the original Owner (or even whether they would still work severenced from the Almighty Him).

So you hear both self-described atheists and neo-pagans talking about having "Faith" and "praying" and believing that "everything has a purpose"--sounding very much like Roman Catholics-- but they're not very fond of the biblical God who Ordained all that (because He tends to explicitly Command things that really suck).

Simultaneously, with the Top Cop gone, all the sins and taboos that had been arrested were sprung from the clink and felt free to also scavenge through the baggage left behind and put on the garments, so in New Age cults you have chimerical hybrids of revived, ancient, pagan deities that were banished now dressed up with the attributes of Yahweh--a.k.a. God-- and Jesus Christ (and with new names).

Liberals are very religious. The main difference between them and the traditionalists who worship a supernatural, transcendant Spirit (a.k.a. God) is that the former worships divine immanence in material Nature (explicitly or unwittingly), which includes themselves and with a little extra mojo of that on their hero/cult figures.

Nevertheless, all the "supernatural" things they believe in can only be part of the natural, physical universe, because as far as they're concerned, that's all there is.

And if that's all there is, there is no place for supernatural, metaphysical things like Fate, Destiny, Providence, and/or Purpose.

And so their supernatural musings, beliefs, and practices can only be whimsical (if not idolatrous).

Short of realizing that, however, they get wowee-wowee by the mystery bred from ignorance:

"It can't be God, but it's nothing science can grasp, so, like, WOW."

The supernatural, transcendant Spirit insttutionalized as the Western God, btw, was linked to the uniquely-human faculty of Reason by the Neoplatonists, who practically deified the rational, human mind.

Conversely, material immanence worships mindless matter (like "The Planet") and celebrates the impulsive, biological urges and passions.

Not only that, but, typical of leftist inversion, the self-appointed name of "New Age" for the liberal cults (to distinguish them from the supposedly older, institutionalized belief systems that were rejected)--with their crystals and astrology and what have you--actually belies the very old age origins of their beliefs and practices, which come out of the pagan, polytheistic belief systems that transcendant, Judeo-Christian monotheism replaced 2-3 thousand years ago.

The "New Age" crap is based on religions/philosophies of material immanence that had been practiced for many thousands of years BC in cultures that worshipped Nature.

Individual human life in those communities was not valued one iota (unless it was the king/queen, emperor, pharoah, or involved some form of hero worship, and those human lives were deified), and it was only with the appearance of the Western Deity on the scene--engendered with the law of the Jews (and their championing of the One, True God who Legislated it), Greek philosophy/rationality, and Christian Love-- that the course of human civilization changed profoundly and in pretty short order-- through trial and error-- gave us the modern world (with all its good stuff like law, philosophy, and Love).

Judeo-Christian monotheism is the true New Age religion.

The "New Age" stuff are throwbacks to ancient Babylon, with Judeo-Christian concepts thrown in a pot with pagan idolatry and mixed together.

John said...

P.S.

"John McCain has taken a slight lead over Barack Obama, 48-45 percent, according to the latest Gallup Daily Tracking poll out Sunday."

Anonymous said...

...and now an inverse argument (Nietzsche, "Gay Science") for the sake of argument.

111- Origin of the Logical. Where has logic originated in men's heads? Undoubtedly out of the illogical, the domain of which must originally have been immense. But numberless beings who reasoned otherwise than we do at present, perished; albeit that they may have come nearer to truth than we! Whoever, for example, could not discern the "like" often enough with regard to food, and with regard to animals dangerous to him, whoever, therefore, deduced too slowly, or was too circumspect in his deductions, had smaller probability of survival than he who in all similar cases immediately divined the equality. The preponderating inclination, however, to deal with the similar as the equal - an illogical inclination, for there is no thing equal in itself - first created the whole basis of logic. It was just so (in order that the conception of substance should originate, this being indispensable to logic, although in the strictest sense nothing actual corresponds to it) that for a long period the changing process in things had to be overlooked, and remain unperceived; the beings not seeing correctly had an advantage over those who saw everything "in flux." In itself every high degree of circumspection in conclusions, every skeptical inclination, is a great danger to life. No living being might have been preserved unless the contrary inclination - to affirm rather than suspend judgment, to mistake and fabricate rather than wait, to assent rather than deny, to decide rather than be in the right - had been cultivated with extra ordinary assiduity. The course of logical thought and reasoning in our modern brain corresponds to a process and struggle of impulses, which singly and in themselves are all very illogical and unjust; we experience usually only the result of the struggle so rapidly and secretly does this primitive mechanism now operate in us.

115- The Four Errors. Man has been reared by his errors: firstly, he saw himself always imperfect; secondly, he attributed to himself imaginary qualities; thirdly, he felt himself in a false position in relation to the animals and nature; fourthly, he always devised new tables of values, and accepted them for a time as eternal and unconditioned, so that at one time this, and at another time that human impulse or state stood first, and was ennobled in consequence. When one has deducted the effect of these four errors, one has also deducted humanity, humaneness, and "human dignity."

Anonymous said...

lol what's the deal here...the wingbats try to outgrotesque each other?

That "John" guy is even more distasteful than the weirdo blogger...his sordid screed on religion is a perfect example of a simple individual trying too hard to sound like he's not a moron ...and overcomensating wildly to comic effect...a duller, even stupider Smerdyakov. At least the next bozo fj isn't stupid enough to post his own "thoughts" but cut's and pastes something from an intellect he has no chance of comprehending...pretensions once removed...anyway...all in all a real loser's pit for those with the taste for those things. It appears that's what it's become.

Sorry but not my kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

Of course, if I had the intellect to understand a single word they had said, I'd have jumped in and refuted a point or too, but since I don't, let me just fade into the chaos and oblivion of drug dependence from whence my mind originated.

Anonymous said...

Excelsior

John said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John said...

"The angry left can do nothing but sputter. They are so used to talking with each other and patting each other on the back for being so smart that when it comes time to counter arguments with someone who has a different point of view all they can do is call names and spew invectives."

E. Sayet

Evidence A (more like Z, at this point):

"That 'John'...weirdo blogger... sordid screed... moron ...a duller, even stupider Smerdyakov... bozo...stupid...an intellect he has no chance of comprehending...pretensions...all in all a real loser's pit..."

Angry Leftist

Anonymous said...

Sorry but not my kind of thing.

...then why keep coming back, Pavel?

John said...

btw, the cut-&-pasters are posting lies about Palin. She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party and called for secession. She's been a registered Republican since the early '80's.

Anonymous said...

We've now had a week of blaring headlines and one-liners about Sarah Palin as the mavericky, pork-busting reformer from Alaska. But we seem to be witnessing the first stirrings of a backlash and a dawning realization that the 'Sarah Palin' we've heard so much about over the last few days is a fraud of truly comical dimensions.

The McCain camp has made her signature issue shutting down the Bridge to Nowhere. But as The New Republic put it today that's just "a naked lie." And pretty much the same thing has been written today in Newsweek, the Washington Post, the AP, the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday even Fox's Chris Wallace called out Rick Davis on it.

On earmarks she's an even bigger crock. On the trail with McCain they're telling everyone that she's some kind of earmark slayer when actually, when she was mayor and governor, in both offices, she requested and got more earmarks than virtually any city or state in the country.

Think about that. On the stump, not a single word that comes out of her mouth -- or not a single word that the McCain folks put in her mouth -- is anything but a lie. I know that sounds like hyperbole. But just go down the list. None of them bear out.


What's the metaphor? What movie character is she like? Some iconic phony, yes. It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't place it. Help me with this.

Anonymous said...

Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home
Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel
By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writers


ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses

Anonymous said...

The Seccessionist Alaskan Independence Party that Both of the Palins Used to be Members of and Palin Addressed as Recently as a Couple of Years is Associated with Radical and Terrorist Groups 9/9

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is collecting profits on the earmarks he placed with Barack Obama...

and of course, we ALL know that BOTH Biden AND Obama voted FOR the Bridge to Nowhere... and supported none of the amendment to transfer the money to Katrina Relief or bills to outlaw earmarks...

Anonymous said...

How much money did you gross in earmarks last session joe? I gave over $350M to MY friends in Illinois

Anonymous said...

Oh, I only got $87 Million to pass out to my cronies. But then, your state isn't the size of a postage stamp. And THANKS for taking caring of my son, Hunter! I was afraid he was never going to move out of "the compound".

John said...

"The Seccessionist Alaskan Independence Party that Both of the Palins Used to be Members of and Palin Addressed as Recently as a Couple of Years is Associated with Radical and Terrorist Groups 9/9"

This lying little tool is trying to get revenge because of Obama's decades-long attendance at an anti-American, separatist church and his friendship with anti-American terrorist Weatherman Ayers, hoping to balance the scales.

This devious little worm was also undoubtedly part of the furious chorus of unhinged Bush-haters who snapped when Bush spanked Kerry in 2004 (thanks in good part to the Red Staters who came out in droves and will do so again for McCain/Palin) and spent quite a while in a blogospheric circle-jerk entertaining the idea of Blue State seccession and Civil War.

Anyway, it's LIES:

"Sliming Palin
False Internet claims and rumors fly about McCain's running mate.

By Brooks Jackson, Jess Henig, Emi Kolawole, Joe Miller and Lori Robertson | factcheck.org
Sep 8, 2008 | Updated: 6:55 p.m. ET Sep 8, 2008
Closet Secessionist?

Palin was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party – which calls for a vote on whether Alaska should secede from the union or remain a state – despite mistaken reports to the contrary. But her husband was a member for years, and she attended at least one party convention, as mayor of the town in which it was held.

The party's chair originally told reporters that Palin had been a member, but the official later retracted that statement. Chairwoman Lynette Clark told the New York Times that false information had been given to her by another member of the party after she first told the Times and others that Palin joined the AIP in 1994. Clark issued an apology on the AIP Web site.

The director of Alaska's Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, confirms that Palin registered to vote in the state for the first time in May 1982 as a Republican and hasn't changed her party affiliation since. She also told FactCheck.org that Palin's husband, Todd, was registered with AIP from October 1995 to July 2000, and again from September 2000 until July 2002. (He has since been registered as undeclared.) However, the AIP says Todd Palin "never participated in any party activities aside from attending a convention in Wasilla at one time."

There is still some dispute as to whether Sarah Palin also attended the AIP's 1994 convention, held in Wasilla. Clark and another AIP official toldABC News' Jake Tapper that both Palins were there. Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla two years later. The McCain campaign says Sarah Palin went to the 2000 AIP convention, also held in Wasilla, "as a courtesy since she was mayor." As governor, Palin sent a video message to the 2008 convention, which is available on YouTube, and the AIP says she attended in 2006 when she was campaigning."

The Left is in a state of panic and throwing everything, because of this:

"PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain's 6 percentage-point bounce in voter support spanning the Republican National Convention is largely explained by political independents shifting to him in fairly big numbers, from 40% pre-convention to 52% post-convention in Gallup Poll Daily tracking."

And this:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate John McCain has gained huge support among white women since naming Sarah Palin as his running mate and now leads Democrat Barack Obama among those voters, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll found that much of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention is attributable to the shift in support among white women."

And this:

"McCain Rings Up $5M At Chicago Fundraiser."

And it's going to get worse.

John said...

"Everything's inverted with Democrats."

Evan Sayet

90 degrees.

A ticket comprised of two northern liberal senators with law degrees--career politicians-- supposedly represents "Change," and a ticket comprised of a war veteran called a "maverick" (by everyone) and has a record of reform (i.e. of real change) and the female governor of Alaska as veep is supposedly "same-ol,' same-ol.'"

It's madness.

Anonymous said...

Palin's AIP connected to terrorists

AIP'S TERRORIST FRIENDS

Because John McCain has not learned how to 'watch the
internet' or 'use the Google,' it has been left to the public
to vet Sarah Palin for him. I was curious what shady types would attend
separatist conventions, such as the one in Tennessee, where the AIP Vice Chairman
Dexter Clark extolled the virtues of their candidate Sarah Palin. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column
I expected that hatred for the American Federal Government would
bring white supremacists and small time individual hate criminals into their circus tent. But I did
not expect AIP to link itself to a foreign terrorist group personally funded by
Osama Bin Laden, that has been merging into Al Qaeda for years, is linked to 4
of the 9/11 hijackers, and other Al Qaeda attacks. That's right, the
Palins are only 2 or 3 degrees removed from the man that McCain swears he would
pursue to the gates of hell (Osama Bin Laden). Links below:




The LA Times broke the story that the AIP has a link to the Chechen separatists on its website. "The AIP's website also provides helpful links to other secessionist groups, including the Southern Independence Party of Tennessee (which boasts of going after "these Politically Correct Liberal Communist[s]"), Ulster nationalists and Chechen separatists." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column Remembering the Beslan school and hospital massacres, and Russian bus and tram bombings, I had to read that twice. I have now compiled an overview of the increasingly indistinguishable relationship between the AIP's Chechen friends and Al Qaeda:

The Al Qaeda/Chechen Separatist relationship has been evolving since the 1990s. The Bush Administration initially downplayed the Russian assertions that the Chechen terrorists were affiliated with Al Qaeda. However, President Bush later acknowledged Russia's claims, stating: "We do believe there's some al Qaeda folks in Chechnya." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL 'Washington also called on Chechen separatists to "cut all contact with international terrorist groups."' http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL

'Some terrorism experts say the West erred by dismissing Russia's claims for so long', Rohan Gunaratna, the author of "Inside Al Qaeda" states, "The initial wave of terrorists who are now coming to Europe trained in Chechnya or Algeria".

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm "According to the U.S. State Department, the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) is the primary channel for Islamic funding of the Chechen guerillas, in part through links to al-Qaeda-related financiers on the Arabian Peninsula." http://www.cfr.org/publications/9181/

It now appears that the Chechen separatists receive funding even more directly than via Al Qaeda channels, being personally funded by Osama Bin Laden himself. "Russia is exaggerating al Qaeda's contribution but not bin Laden's interest in the Chechen rebel cause. According to Gunaratna, the terrorist leader used a Persian Gulf bank to help finance the militants, at one point even ordering an investigation into whether some Chechen leaders had siphoned off funds for themselves." http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm

The central strategic importance to Al Qaeda of the Chechen separatists against the United States was explained by Bin Laden's #2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri (who was himself captured and released in 1997 while trying to enter Chechnya): "This poses a direct threat to the United States....the only thing that will separate them from Afghanistan will be the neutral state of Turkmenistan. This will form a mujahid Islamic belt to the south of Russia...." resulting in "....fragmentation of the Russian Federation....will topple a basic ally of the United States in its battle against the Islamic jihadist reawakening." http://www.meforum.org/article/744

The 'chief ideologue of the separatists and a "terrorist"' was the former Chechen President Yandarbiyev (until he was blown up in Qatar). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3DD1F3AF937A25751C0A9629C8B63 "Yanderbiyev was not judged to be a terrorist by Russia alone - he was on the UN blacklist as well. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m_qn4158/is_20061121/ai_n16856084

Yanderbiyev was on the "United Nations list of groups and people with suspected links to Osama bin Laden's network, Al Qaeda." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3DD1F3AF937A25751C0A9629C8B63

The roles of Chechen separatist commanders and foreign Al Qaeda commanders stationed in Chechnya in terrorist attacks can be seen graphically in anti-terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann's chart (with dotted red boxes around their photos): http://www.globalterroralert.com/islamicarmycaucusas3.pdf

(Kohlman is a terrorism expert witness for the Feds, who has personally interviewed Osama Bin Laden [before 9/11], and has interviewed 500+ insurgents in Iraq.) The role of Chechen separatists in the journey of 4 of the 9/11 hijackers is detailed in 'How Chechnya Became a Breeding Ground for Terror,' by terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino, in the Middle East Quarterly, 2005 http://www.meforum.org/article/744 'Islamist terrorists have co-opted the Chechen cause as part of the global jihad. Umar Ibn al-Khattab, a Saudi native who became the leader of the foreign mujahideen in Chechnya, said, "This is not just a Chechen matter...like Afghanistan."' http://www.meforum.org/article/744 A request from Ibn al-Khattab (Al Qaeda commander in Chechnya) to Al Qaeda operative Sakka on the Turkish border sent Sakka and his men to Afghanistan for combat training because "the Chechens needed trained fighters", where their training and ability to counterfeit passports came in handy. This re-direction of Al Qaeda resources sent four young Saudi students bound for Chechnya on "a path that was to end with the September 11 attacks on America in 2001. They were: Ahmed and Hamza al-Ghamdi who hijacked the plane that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center; their companion Saeed al-Ghamdi whose plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field; and Nawaf al-Hamzi who died in the Pentagon crash." http://www.meforum.org/article/744 Russia corroborates this connection, insisting that "the Saudi-born commander who goes by the name Khattab, was sponsored by suspected terrorist mastermind

Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/22/MN85469.DTL "Al-Qaeda's involvement in Chechnya has grown steadily." Under paragraph, "Al-Qaeda Adopts the Chechen Cause":

http://www.meforum.org/article/744

The affiliation of Chechen separatists with Al Qaeda is reported to have been voluntary at first, but later was compulsory, according to one Chechen Imam, "Join us or we'll cut your head off." According to Gunaratna, the this Imam was originally part of a secular separatist movement, which was "recast" by Al Qaeda as part of an international jihad. http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2003/Jihad-In-Chechnya26apr03.htm

You can bet that McCain did not do his homework on this one. If a Democratic candidate, or their spouse, were a friend of a friend of Bin Laden, this election would be over!

Anonymous said...

Ugly Conservative Values Embodied:

Deepak Chopra: Palin is "the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind."

Anonymous said...

The outrageous attacks on Palin out of the block (She banned books! She opposed family planning education! She's a creationist!) have missed the mark. And the eagerness of the mainstream media to go after her family life has backfired as well. For instance, the Washington Post's Hanna Rosin wrote sneeringly in Slate magazine of Palin's "wreck of a home life." Would Slate say that Obama, conceived out of wedlock to a teen mom, comes from a "wreck" of a family? I somehow doubt it.

Palin's more sober critics, mostly on the right, worried that picking her would undermine McCain's claim to "experience." Almost the exact opposite has happened. Thanks to the double-team strategy, Obama has found himself in the awkward position of sounding as if he's running against the GOP's vice presidential nominee. When Obama compared his own experience to Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla (leaving out her current job as governor), he ran right into the pick the McCain campaign had set, leaving McCain a clearer path to victory.

The more Obama has to explain why being a community organizer -- or a state legislator, or a one-term senator with few accomplishments under his belt -- is better preparation for the presidency than being a mayor or governor, the more he volunteers his own shortcomings when compared with McCain.

Besides, on paper, Obama doesn't stand up very well against Palin. All of the mythic themes of Obama's political narrative -- the ethics reformer, the bipartisan, the new kind of politician -- all look like press-release material next to Palin's accomplishments. Obama voted the Democratic Party line more often (97%) than McCain voted in accord with President Bush (90%). In Washington, Obama's supposedly "sweeping" ethics reform -- which forces congressmen to eat lobbyist-provided meals standing up instead of sitting down -- and his feckless reforms in Illinois make him look the Bambi to Palin's Godzilla.

Obama's idea of ethics reform is to mandate clean sheets in the brothel. Palin's is to tear it down.

The most unsportsmanlike conduct in the days to come will be the search for Palin gaffes, of which there undoubtedly will be many. The media will call fouls on her that they never call on the other candidates. Over the last week, Obama misspoke and referred to his "Muslim faith" on ABC's "This Week" and told a rally how excited he was to be in "New Pennsylvania." Perhaps that's one of the 57 states he once claimed to campaign in?

And let's not forget Biden, whose gaffes are the unavoidable byproduct of his limitless gasbaggery.
Biden could shout on "Meet the Press," "Get these squirrels off of me!" and the collective response would be, "There goes Joe again." But if Palin flubs the name of the deputy agriculture minister of Kyrgyzstan, the media will blow their whistles saying she's unprepared for the job.

Fair or not, that's how it works in the pros. But so far, it still looks as if the MVP title is hers to lose.

Anonymous said...

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Tuesday criticized Republicans for not supporting stem-cell research and, although he did not mention Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by name, the McCain campaign called his comments "offensive", "disturbing", and "desperate."

"I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there's joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect," Biden said at a rally in Columbia, Missouri. "Well, guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem cell research?"

John said...

I beg your pardon. I meant 180 degree (inversion), not 90, up there.

John said...

"The more Obama has to explain why being a community organizer -- or a state legislator, or a one-term senator with few accomplishments under his belt --"

Name one.

Anonymous said...

...the silence is deafening.

Anonymous said...

Scary Old Bastard Says Palin Even Scarier!!

Bush backer endorses Obama, calling Palin "Scary."

A former Democratic New York mayor who backed George W. Bush for President in 2004 has now labeled Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "scary" and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

Politico asked Koch "what prompted the move."

"The designation of Palin to be vice president," he replied. "She's scary."

"Any time someone goes to the library and says, 'I want to ban books,' and the librarian says 'no,' and she threatens to fire them -- that's scary," he said.

As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin inquired about banning a slew of "controversial books," including those by Stephen King and Wiliam Faulkner.

In his endorsement statement, he termed Palin "a plucky, exciting candidate." But he added that "when her record is examined, she fails miserably with respect to her views on the domestic issues that are so important to the people of the U.S., and to me. Frankly, it would scare me if she were to succeed John McCain in the presidency."

Koch had stumped for President George W. Bush's reelection. And previously, he had supported Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg in their successful runs for mayor of the city over which he once presided. And, at the statewide level in New York, he backed former GOP Sen. Al D'Amato and former GOP Gov. George Pataki."


Wingbats -- aka nazis -- find the book banning thing to be amongst Frau Palin's most exciting qualities.

"Very refreshing for her to just come out and say what we all know needs to be done," they say...in eerie unison.

John said...

"Over the Labor Day weekend, with most of the big enchiladas of the major media on vacation, the vacuum was filled with a hallucinatory hurricane in the leftist blogosphere, which unleashed a grotesquely lurid series of allegations, fantasies, half-truths and outright lies about Palin. What a tacky low in American politics -- which has already caused a backlash that could damage Obama's campaign. When liberals come off as childish, raving loonies, the right wing gains.

The witch-trial hysteria of the past two incendiary weeks unfortunately reveals a disturbing trend in the Democratic Party, which has worsened over the past decade. Democrats are quick to attack the religiosity of Republicans, but Democratic ideology itself seems to have become a secular substitute religion. Since when did Democrats become so judgmental and intolerant? Conservatives are demonized, with the universe polarized into a Manichaean battle of us versus them, good versus evil. Democrats are clinging to pat group opinions as if they were inflexible moral absolutes.

...

The witch-trial hysteria of the past two incendiary weeks unfortunately reveals a disturbing trend in the Democratic Party, which has worsened over the past decade. Democrats are quick to attack the religiosity of Republicans, but Democratic ideology itself seems to have become a secular substitute religion. Since when did Democrats become so judgmental and intolerant? Conservatives are demonized, with the universe polarized into a Manichaean battle of us versus them, good versus evil. Democrats are clinging to pat group opinions as if they were inflexible moral absolutes."

Camille Paglia

Anonymous said...

Gee, a former DEMOCRAT, Ed Koch, endorse the democratic candidate...

Somebody call a newspaperman. Man bites dog. NOT.

Anonymous said...

Jeezus...is this pathetic clown, "John," still hanging around here hoping for attention after all this time?

No one goes to the loser's own blog, so he lurks around here like a needy puppy hoping for a chance to blurt out some long winded shit that nobody reads past the first two paragrraphs.

Here's a clue, loser...the only people who ever visit this blog are liberals looking for some freak show action...they come to laugh at grotesques like yourself.
And to push the buttons of morons like you to watch them go crazy.

You're a boot target moron...so, I hope you're enjoying yourself.

John said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John said...

"John" is part of the surge (along with fj and others) that came here to eradicate the lefty terrorists who were infesting the commentary section of Evan Sayet's blog, sniveling trolls who went by the names of Boil, Fatneck, Frankie, Swiftie, Hubble, Blossom, lana banana, and suze.

John and fj are still here, "anonymous."

You and your humiliated goons hide behind masks, throw rocks, and cut & paste Kool Aid from sleazy propagandists.

And so I am enjoying myself, because, for one, I've seen the enemy, and you're a joke.

Two, I know how to.

It's over for you. You'll be commiserating each other in your misery in a circle-jerk for the next 4-8 years, spewing your venom, and keeping your therapists employed.

You deserve being stepped on, squished, and rubbed out of political existence, because you're hateful, devious, and repulsive murderers and don't understand who you're fighting, while they--we-- understand you very well.

But keep vomiting and defecating your innards so everyone can see what's really inside of you, because, obviously, if the polls you worship are any indication, it's only helping us.

John said...

Tammy Bruce: It's called grasping at straws.

After attacking the life of a baby with Downes and a 17-year old impregnated by her boyfriend (who she's marrying), what do they have left?

Sending a team of lawyers and investigators to Alaska to dig up dirt on the governor?

Oh, right, they're already doing that.

John said...

Good morning:

"Polls showing John McCain tied or even ahead of Barack Obama are stirring angst and second-guessing among some of the Democratic Party’s most experienced operatives, who worry that Obama squandered opportunities over the summer and may still be underestimating his challenges this fall.

'It’s more than an increased anxiety,' said Doug Schoen, who worked as one of Bill Clinton’s lead pollsters during his 1996 reelection and has worked for both Democrats and independents in recent years. 'It’s a palpable frustration. Deep-seated unease in the sense that the message has gotten away from them.'”

Have a nice day.

Jane said...

You deserve being stepped on, squished, and rubbed out of political existence, because you're hateful, devious, and repulsive murderers and don't understand who you're fighting, while they--we-- understand you very well.


Wow, you're calling us hateful? Pot, meet kettle.

John said...

I said "political" existence, Dora, as in an ideology that belongs in the ash-heap of history.

And that after being called an "attention-seeking pathetic clown," a "loser," a "lurker," a "needy puppy," "a blurter of long-winded shit," a "freak show," a "grotesque," and a "crazy boot target moron."

And that's just in a single post.

So I put the boot to proper use and stepped on it.

Nice ass, btw.

Anonymous said...

lol...this poor guy's buttons are easier to push than anyone I've ever seen. By just throwing out a comment now and then, you could keep him here forever in a state of hyper-vigilance, slobbering out incontinent verbiage which even he occasionally recognizes as embarassing...which is why he deletes half his own comments...that's hilarious btw.

He (and his imaginary friends) "eradicated" the lefty trolls...lmao...if anything they stayed around a little longer just to fuck with the poor, hyper-reactive moron. Did he really think a predictable, little verbal sewer like himself would keep people with IQs three times his own around indefinitely? I know several people stop here once or twice a week just to keep him in a state of nervous exhaustion and to see if he's had his final stroke yet.

John said...

"...with IQs three times his own..."

Don't make me laugh.

No, I did not "really think" that you'd be able to match wits with me "indefinitely."

*Au contraire,* genius (DUH), I was pretty damn sure I'd have you out of here faster than I got rid of you at Republicus, and without having to delete your noisome presence the way I spray a cockroach with Raid.

Sour grape it all you want. The fact of the matter is that you used to run hogwild here and say what you want with impunity, and that's simply no longer the case.

At least Dora has the character and confidence of her convictions to appear as she is and engage in reasonable debate (no matter how cuckoo-clocked her politics are).

Too bad I can't say the same for you and your other masked goons (who are the pigs to Dora's lipstick, and you know what they say about that).

Anonymous said...

Gallup Daily: McCain 48%, Obama 44%

Ouch! The worm has turned.

Anonymous said...

*Au contraire,* genius (DUH), I was pretty damn sure I'd have you out of here faster than I got rid of you at Republicus, and without having to delete your noisome presence the way I spray a cockroach with Raid.

The only way you get rid of anyone is by boring them to death...

Anonymous said...

One of the interesting ironies I run into dealing with my leftist friends and relatives is how many of them will say things like "everything happens for a reason" and then recoil in horror that some people believe in God, a belief that everything happens for a reason.

The only irony, and it isn't even interesting, is the phony b.s. you're spewing about any connection between god and reason. Your argument is totally devoid of any reason or logic--like the idea of god. You just made that shit up. You're merely a freakin liar. I'm surprised no one has called bullshit on this very obvious stinking pile of it.