Motley Moose – Archive

As I am sure most of you are already aware, conservative author John Derbyshire wrote a fantastically racist screed on how the children of whites and asians (he being white, his wife being asian) need to avoid blacks.  For example:

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

There’s quite a bit more in this vein.  Sadly, this is no longer the story as far as I’m concerned.  John Derbyshire is absolutely free to believe this crap if he chooses.  He is free to have this “talk” with his children, if he chooses.  He is free to write this crap if he so chooses, and Taki’s Magazine is free to publish it.  I am not simply saying this for the heck of it.  I love living in a nation so free as this one.  This pseudo-scientific garbage is a small price to pay so that I might dip my own pen in the ink of liberty.  No, the problem isn’t what Derbyshire believes or says.  The problem is that conservatives have a very good reason now to see that a significant slice (a minority, I’m sure) of their base agrees with Derbyshire.

Conservatives have insisted that they are not racists, that liberals are the true racists.  Conservatives have, by and large, insisted of late that whites are the victims of racism these days, and not the aggressors.  The reaction of many, many conservative commenters shows that this is wishful thinking at best.

Hey Moosers!

I’ve been away for awhile, don’t really know why but things happen.  Well I’m back now and was hoping to start what I know this place is best at … a conversation.

This thought came to me after watching BookTV on CSPAN2 (which I watch since I’m super cool) about the Constitution and I basically took their title and changed one word.

I want to talk about our Constitution here in the US and what it might mean to change anything in it.

Here we go again:

I love photography — love to see it well done, love to try to do it well.  At age 63 I’m getting reasonably good at it and continuing to learn to do it better.  I’ll never be in the same league as really gifted photographers, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made.

How far back does the shutterbug go?  Way, way back to my gawky awkward teens, when I found a battered old black and white camera in the attic.  It was all manual, not a bit of auto this or that; there was a flaw in its innards that left streaks on the negatives and thus the images; I had to learn how to use a handheld light meter and dial in all the settings; but I persisted, and had fun.

(crossposted from Green Mountain Daily)

Redefining rape. Attacking the right to choose. Belittling victims of violence. The Republicans are on a rampage attacking caterpillar’s health and rights this year. And if we don’t speak up, they’ll keep going. That’s why we need to raise a ruckus, and get the word out about the GOP war on caterpillars.

1) Republicans not only want to reduce caterpillar’s access to abortion care, they’re actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven’t yet. Shocker.

Written for the phazebooq group @ the daily kos.

http://www.dailykos.com/user/p…

According to a recent report from the Onion fake news report Mark Zuckerman won a medial from the CIA for his work with face book. Of course it is not true but it is true.

Are you feeling confused.

The Onion News commentator Brooke Alvarez reports that the US Congress voted to extend the CIA’s massive surveillance program over at Facebook. To see your tax dollars hard at work this diary invites you to watch the embedded Youtube video at the bottom of this diary for the full story. For those of you who can’t watch this video, because you’re still on dial up or on some low tech wi fi handheld, this writer invites you to read this diary video review.  

His atrociousness is only blunted by its banality.  He blathers on about Obama’s war on religion and claims that his administration has deliberated about imposing secularism on Americans (by which he means atheism and not its proper sense of separating civic and sacred institutions).  Then he accuses Obama of willfully mischaracterizing R-Money’s  positions to distract from talking about his administration’s record.  Of course, Obama talks about his record all the time.  And R-Money doesn’t ever specify when and where Obama has discussed and promoted his agenda to impose secularity on Americans as part of his war on religion, nor does he specify how any of Obama’s specific critiques of GOP policies and positions are erroneous.  

While whiling away a late-March Saturday afternoon, I came across these results from a political compass quiz. The results seem to indicate more progressive participants than conservative ones. This makes some results stand out as a bit eyeopening. See if you can spot the ones that seem out of whack.

Currently, after 117538 submissions, the average Conservative/Progressive score is 6.04, the average Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score is 6.79, the average Libertarian/Authoritarian score is 5.58, and the average Pacifist/Militarist score is 4.43

1. Are our gun control laws too strict? – 27% said yes, 73% said no

2. Should gay marriage be legalized? – 66% said yes, 34% said no

3. Should we consider invading Iran? – 23% said yes, 77% said no

4. Should intelligent design be taught in public schools alongside evolution? – 52% said yes, 48% said no

5. Does the US need a system of universal health care? – 61% said yes, 39% said no

6. Should marijuana be legalized? – 58% said yes, 42% said no

7. Should we repeal [or substantially change] the Patriot Act? – 56% said yes, 44% said no

8. Does the US have a right to stop countries we do not trust from getting weapons? – 50% said yes, 50% said no

9. Should we end (or reduce the use of) the death penalty? – 40% said yes, 60% said no

10. Should there be a higher minimum wage? – 68% said yes, 32% said no

11. Does affirmative action do more harm than good? – 62% said yes, 38% said no

12. Is the United States spending too much money on defense? – 56% said yes, 44% said no

13. Should embryonic stem cell research be funded by the government? – 59% said yes, 41% said no

14. Should flag burning be legal? – 43% said yes, 57% said no

15. Should all people (rich and poor) pay fewer taxes? – 58% said yes, 42% said no

16. Should the US begin withdrawing from Iraq? – 80% said yes, 20% said no

17. Is it sometimes justified to wiretap US citizens without a warrant? – 34% said yes, 66% said no

18. Should the government be involved in reducing the amount of violence/pornography in tv/movies/games/etc? – 25% said yes, 75% said no

19. Should the United States only start a war if there is an imminent threat of being attacked ourselves? – 77% said yes, 23% said no

20. Should stopping illegal immigration be one of our top priorities? – 56% said yes, 44% said no

21. Is outsourcing of American jobs justified if it allows for cheaper goods? – 28% said yes, 72% said no

22. Are all abortions unethical? [with the exception of risk to mother’s health] – 37% said yes, 63% said no

23. Should social security be privatized? – 56% said yes, 44% said no

24. Should the United States ever go to war even if the UN is against it? – 50% said yes, 50% said no