Motley Moose – Archive

A victory for women in Congress today, as the Senate passed an amendment put forth by Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), which would require insurance companies to offer various preventative services to women. The amendment passed in what (I suppose) technically counts as a bipartisan vote, with three Republicans voting alongside the Democratic majority.

It never ceases to frustrate me how ignorant so many of my fellow Americans are about the Muslim faith (or, really, about any faith beyond Christianity). There are over a BILLION Muslims on this silly planet of ours, and merely a fraction of a fraction of them are ‘terrorists’. Yet, the entire faith gets slapped with the broad brush whenever a follower of Muhammad wreaks havoc. Did the atrocities committed in Bosnia by Christians against Muslims….the attempted genocide of an entire people…represent all Christians? IMO, no single group of followers throughout history have been more ‘terrorizing’ than Christians; yet, for some reason, seldom do you hear Americans lashing out at the followers of Christ for the evils committed by a tiny fraction of their brethren. In both cases the blame is misplaced. It is evidence of ignorance and fear of the unknown and unfamiliar…of the need to blame ‘other’ and ‘different’ for the evils and ills of the world. And it has been used to manipulate the majority against the minority in countless ways since the beginning of time. It is such fear and hatred and ignorance that are to blame for terrorism, not any particular faith (or its followers).

I have noticed several conversations and comments about Muslims in recent threads on the Moose. While visiting family for Thanksgiving, something I read here reminded me of an email exchange from a few years back. A friend received a hateful forward in a mass email blast, and she asked me to help her pen a response to ‘reply to all’…. You will find the result below the fold.

Welcome all, to the first installment of Wingnut Watch. A diary series of as yet undetermined frequency, it will focus on exposing the day-to-day ravings of this great nation’s most prominent, frightening, entertaining, whackadoodle Rightwing crazies. Hat tip to John, who came up with the idea for the series.

Follow me, my Moosey friends…

No one has done more “reporting” on Rightwing rallies than Faux’s own Sean Hannity. The other night, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart busted him for re-using footage from the 9/12 rally in DC, splicing it with clips from a more recent (and significantly smaller) anti-HCR rally, to back his rather outrageous claim that somewhere between 20,000 and 45,000 racist lunatics people showed up in Washington on a work day to protest health care reform.

Ahhhh, nothing says “respect for women” quite as loudly as a photo like this, huh?

Oh, that’s not really what this diary’s about, but it caught your attention, didn’t it?

Some of you may remember Republican Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32), pictured above, from past controversies, like sorta-kinda-maybe suggesting that his own party should become like the Taliban, his ties to Jack Abramoff, and his undoubtedly deeply family-oriented decisions to hold multiple fundraisers at Las Vegas nightclubs. But now it seems he’s mouthed off in a way that is proving beneficial to his Democratic challenger in 2010 by letting slip — in language very easy to understand — what Democrats have long known, but which I truly think the GOP believes to be one of its best kept secrets.

Seems like moose are busy doing other things today — here’s an open thread for whatever is on your minds.

Hat tip to John for the brilliant pic!

Not much of a diary because I have to go get ready for class shortly, but I just couldn’t let this pass. Here we have Republican John Boehner speaking outside the US Capitol, asserting that “PelosiCare” represents the “greatest threat to freedom” he’s seen since joining Congress. There are a number of problems with this little rant, but the most embarrassing comes around the 2:30 mark.

Yeah. That would be our fucking House Minority Leader confusing the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence. And Bachmann nodding and quoting along in the background.

Am I the only one who’s amused, embarrassed, and disgusted all at the same time?

I have probably watched more Fox “News” than any regular here on The Moose. In fact, I’d wager I have watched more of it than most rank and file Republicans, since I’m much more of a news junky than your average Joe. Growing up in a conservative household, it was pretty hard to escape it. (I have probably listened to more Rush than the rest of you, too, for that matter.) I have always enjoyed my parents — despite their unfortunate political leanings, they are smart, funny, cool people in most respects — and since they watched Fixed News in the den, I spent a lot of time viewing it as well, simply because it was a way of spending time with them and discussing the day’s events.

I think it’s a reasonably well accepted fact among educated individuals that Republicans aren’t known for believing in or supporting women’s rights. Whether it’s the traditional party policy of standing against a woman’s right to choose, conservative gubernatorial candidates joking that rape victims should “relax and enjoy it,” presidential nominees voting against equal pay legislation for women, or the unofficial GOP spokesperson Rush Limbaugh himself popularizing the term “feminazi” to describe women who refuse to live their lives barefoot and pregnant in front of the oven, Republicans have come up with plenty of creative ways to demean women and oppose gender equality.

Image from Republicans For Rape

I just couldn’t pass this up — the clip is too good to miss. This afternoon, in a segment headed, “YOUR FACTS ARE WRONG…AGAIN,” CNN’s Rick Sanchez tore Fixed News a new asshole, and it was a thing of beauty. It appears that Fox thought it would be a good idea to take out a full page color ad in the Washington Post, alleging that the other major media outlets (including CNN) failed to cover the (embarrassing, hysterical) 9/12 Tea Party protest in DC: