Monday Evening News Reads: Only a flesh wound…tis but a scratch

Good Monday Evening

I just love this cartoon from  Mike Luckovich.   GOP focus | Mike Luckovich There is something about seeing the candidates limbs torn apart,  complete with talking heads that makes me laugh out loud.

I could not help thinking of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the Black Knight…”None shall pass.”

It seems like every time I look at the news, or open my reader, the shit just keeps coming. And frothy dick really is good at flinging it.

Santorum: Privacy ruined everything

James Carter digs this up from a speech given by Republican frontrunner Rick Santorum back in 2003:

All the rights in the Constitution, which are individually based rights, according to our founders were not there for the individual’s gain, but the reason we established those rights was for the common good. The right to privacy is not the right to a common good. It’s a me-centered right, that obviously started in the sexual revolution with contraception and obviously quickly evolved to abortion, and now has found its way into the marriage debate. And all those acts that were self-giving acts, self-sacrificing acts, have been polluted by this right to privacy.

No wonder Santorum thinks birth control “is not OK” — your right to it ruined the Constitution.

Also today, from another wack job, this time an Indiana crank…Bob Morris, Indiana Lawmaker, Calls Girl Scouts A ‘Radicalized Organization’

An Indiana lawmaker has decided not to support a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts because he feels the group is a “radicalized organization” that “sexualizes” young girls and promotes homosexuality.

In a letter sent to Indiana lawmakers obtained by the Journal Gazette, Rep. Bob Morris (R-Fort Wayne) said he plans to pull his two daughters out of their Indiana Girl Scout troop because information he found online about how the organization allegedly operates. One source he mentions is conservative “news” site World Net Daily.

Those of you who have read Charles Pierce’s book Idiot America should be able to spot the prime example of the…

The three Great Premises of Idiot America:
· Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units
· Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough
· Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it

So…Bob Morris has hit the jackpot with the second and third principles. As the Huffpo link states via,

The Associated Press reports:

… Morris said he found online allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, encourage sex and allow transgender females to join. He also wrote that the fact that first lady Michelle Obama is honorary president should give lawmakers pause before they endorse the Girl Scouts.

Morris goes on to say those considered role models by the Girl Scouts are all “feminists, lesbians, or Communists” and claims that troops are no longer allowed to pray or sing Christmas Carols. (Read Morris’s full letter to lawmakers here)

Morris is the only Indiana lawmaker who has refused to sign the nonbinding resolution, which aims to honor the “strong positive influence” the group has had on American women.

No way in hell… do the right wing conservative asses want to promote a group that brings about a strong positive influence in young women.

And since we are on the topic of right wing conservative asses, What’s in a name? Southern Baptists to decide

The nation’s largest protestant denomination will definitely remain “Baptist,” but leaders are thinking about whether it will be “Southern” for much longer.

Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright, senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, was expected to present the recommendation of a task force assigned to study a name change to the denomination’s executive committee at a meeting Monday night.

Any name change would have to be approved at the SBC’s annual conventions the next two years.

Wright has said he is concerned the name is too regional and hinders efforts to plant new churches outside of the South. Others outside of church leadership say the name has become a liability because it is too often associated with divisive, partisan politics.

Hmmmm…if my attitude was slightly better, I am sure we could come up with some new names for the hate group…I mean religious organization.

While the 16 million member denomination continues to plant new churches in the U.S. and around the world, it has seen a decline in baptisms, church attendance and membership in recent years.

Wright has not revealed whether the task force voted in favor of a new name, but task force members have spoken positively about the idea.

Hey, I don’t think a new name is going to make a difference. What was that thing about lipstick on a pig…you can change the name that has a negative association with it, but it is still a extreme form of religion that carries with it a large dose of hate and intolerance and nonacceptance. (If you think I have taken that description a bit far…remember, I live in the middle of the bible belt. And in my town of Banjoville, I have seen the hate first hand…and of all places, at the funeral of a good friend. )

Back on the GOP’s crusade against women’s health, check this out: 5 sexual health services insurance will cover… for men

The fact of the matter is that health insurance covers all manner of “things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” when it comes to men, and no one has any real complaints about insurance coverage that allows men to continue having sex for non-procreative reasons and despite medical conditions that would otherwise prevent it. Most of them are actually far more expensive than hormonal birth control or intrauterine devices, the two methods of contraception that House and Senate Republicans now want all employers to be able to prevent their insurance companies from covering in employee health insurance packages. Five things that health insurers — including, in some cases, the federal government — currently cover for men’s reproductive tracts.

Those five services include:Erectile dysfunction drugs, vacuum erection devices, penile implants, vasectomies and circumcisions. You can click that link up to read more about it.

Stepping away from the war on women, and moving on over to the civil war in Syria. There is a very good and very long article at the Guardian that you should read. Homs, city of torture 

Author Jonathan Littell tells of Assad’s security forces targeting medical personnel and how he was smuggled to the heart of the Syrian conflict

A member of the Free Syrian Army wounded in clashes with government forces. Photograph: Tomas Munita/New York Times/Redux/eyevine

In Bashar al-Assad‘s Syria, it is not just forbidden to speak, demonstrate and protest: it is also forbidden both to give medical treatment, and to receive treatment yourself.

That is just the beginning…take some time and read this article.

Tonight, I started with a crankass who was getting his information from questionable sources, and still passes it off as TRUTH.  I want to end with this…“Wikipedia Is Not Truth” – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast

Timothy Messer-Kruse tried to update the Wiki page on the Haymarket riot of 1886 to correct a long-standing inaccurate claim. Even though he’s written two books and numerous articles on the subject, his changes were instantly rejected:

I had cited the documents that proved my point, including verbatim testimony from the trial published online by the Library of Congress. I also noted one of my own peer-reviewed articles. One of the people who had assumed the role of keeper of this bit of history for Wikipedia quoted the Web site’s “undue weight” policy, which states that “articles should not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more popular views.” He then scolded me. “You should not delete information supported by the majority of sources to replace it with a minority view.”

[…]

“Explain to me, then, how a ‘minority’ source with facts on its side would ever appear against a wrong ‘majority’ one?” I asked the Wiki-gatekeeper. …  Another editor cheerfully tutored me in what this means: “Wikipedia is not ‘truth,’ Wikipedia is ‘verifiability’ of reliable sources. Hence, if most secondary sources which are taken as reliable happen to repeat a flawed account or description of something, Wikipedia will echo that.”

So what is the response to someone trying to correct information on Wikipedia?

Rebecca J. Rosen offers a limited defense:

If Wikipedia hesitated to change its article ahead of the scholarly consensus, that is an artifact of academia’s own inability to quickly adopt a new consensus, not a failing of Wikipedia.

Alrighty then…on that note we’ll end it here. What are you up to this evening? The Third Man is on TCM later tonight…so until then I’ll see you in the comments.