Jesus H. Christ on a cracker. In Rep. Bryan Stevenson's (R-MO) vigorous objection to Barack Obama's support of the Freedom of Choice Act he decided to bring an offensive blast from the Civil War past to the floor. :
We're in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, so of course the Bible-thumping wingnut response is, "How can we work this to get some gay people fired?" From Feministing comes this galling show of bigotry mixed with indifference to the reality of our economic situation:
I must vociferously protest Matt's post about the post office. That he even wrote it shows how powerful repetition of talking points is---the libertarian worship of Fed Ex and dismissing of the post office has been uncritically repeated so often it starts to make sense. But take a breath and think about how foolish libertarian philosophy is. It's about creating a government so localized that the best living example of it is the fundamentalist, polygamist Mormons whose child rape compounds keep getting raided by the real government they refuse to recognize. In other words, we're not talking theories that have been thought out as thoroughly as they should be.
The wingnuts are at it again, according to PZ, pushing that ridiculous story about how Darwin converted to Christianity on his deathbed. It's time to set the record straight and explain how it really happened. There was no Lady Hope that visited Darwin on his deathbed, but there was Lady Ross and this is her story.
The views of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has led the seminary in La Reja since 2003, do not reflect those of The Society of St. Pius X, said Christian Bouchacourt, head of its Latin American chapter."It's obvious that a Catholic bishop cannot talk with the ecclesiastical authority, but to things related to faith and morality," Bouchacourt said in a written statement.
Williamson, shortly before the pope lifted his excommunication, denied the Nazis had systematically murdered 6 million Jews during World War II.
In his blog Saturday, Williamson, referring to himself, posted a note, saying, "His Excellency is neither dead, dying, nor retired."
And German Chancellor Angela Merkel isn't buying the flaming pile of excuse crap being shoveled out of the Vatican. She picked up the phone and called Papa Ratzi directly, knowing she'd get nowhere.
Earlier Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Pope Benedict about the issue, though neither side seemed to have shifted its position over Williamson."It was a very constructive conversation," the German government and the Vatican said in a joint statement about the call. Merkel and the pope expressed respect for each other's opinion, the release said -- diplomatic-speak for saying neither side budged.
Related:
* Papa Ratzi's Holocaust denier: I'll review evidence - but I won't visit Auschwitz
* Bill Donohue: leave Papa Ratzi alone - Germans reek with guilt over Holocaust
All I think really needs to be said about Obama's speech last night is that I continue to be concerned that he's sticking to the catastrophic-times-mean-catastrophic responses line. I mean, it's true and it might be the only thing he's got, so I can't hold it against him, but it doesn't set him or congressional Democrats up to transition into the next round of legislation that will cause Republicans to have faux heart attacks all over cable news. It's not just universal health care, though we need that more than ever because it will help get people into the more temporary jobs that the stimulus bill has in it. (Though, ideally, the infrastructure built will encourage economic growth---fascinating how much conservative rich people rail against systems that will make them more money, if the side effect is that the working class does better? Seems like a lot of people would choose fucking their neighbor over enriching themselves every single time.) We're going to have to do another round of stimulus spending after so much was cut from this package, I suspect.
Update: