Labels

Ok, I am a 'white' liberal atheistic-agnostic Miami Alumnus New York State born Guy. I generally don't say that. I sometimes call myself a liberal. I sometimes call myself a Miami Guy, or when refer to where I am from I say I am a foreigner to a person born and raised here in Cincinnati. When I got out with friends or go to an organization I usually don't say it is out of liberal guys. Conservative Christians does this all the time, like poster boy Evangelical ChristianPeter Bronson:

"I was paired up with Ben Turpin in a weekend outing of Christian guys."

Now, I have no problem with people getting together to play golf. If a Christian men’s group wants to have an outing, that fine. What troubles me is that in his description of the guys as "Christians guys." It was not a group of guys who are all Christians. It is like saying I am a white guy. I don't see myself as a white guy. I am a guy, who happens to be white. I am human being first, then all other classifications come second.

This takes on a whole new meaning with some Conservative Christians refer to and champion Christian Businesses. We get websites like this: www.christianebuy.com where you can find a Christian Quick Lube and get slogans like:

As a Christian, do you have what it takes to make in the business world? Absolutely!

It puts a label on someone, that makes it sound like all else stems from religion, and being human is merely a side-effect. Christians will say being human is being a Christian, which just layers on the sectarianism.

Bronson's column was in general good in so much that he appeared to understand that there is a middle ground on racial profiling. It does exist. It does happen. I would agree with him that those that use it to make money are likely overstating what happened, but it happens in the burbs all too often. A label on a black person is moot when the eyeball places a definition on them before the mind does. The mind must work faster than the eyes, but we must not just replace racism with another means of separation. Being human beings is more important than being part of a religion or part of a political party.

More Bias from the Enquirer

This is typical of the GOP leaning Cincinnati Enquirer, but this "news" item with a headline is about as biased without even the hint of being objective. I mean we get a headline bashing Kerry for using the Bungle reference, but we get nothing about Lynn Cheney saying:

"Isn't it called 'the Queen of the Cities?' " she said. "It's a very apt title."

It is the Queen City, not "Queen of the cities." That is an Elton John Song. I wonder if Lynn's daughter played a little funny on her mom with that reference. Constantinople was known as the "Queen of Cities." It should be an insult for the 21st Century crusaders here in Cincinnati to be linked with a city now majority Muslim. Can't have that, now can we. (cough, cough)

Ken Lucas is No Zell Miller

U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas put forth an honest and just plain true indictment of the War in Iraq:

"But I have to tell you from all the stuff that we've gotten I really feel like I was misled," Lucas said, responding to a question during the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's monthly Government Forum.

"I think people had good intentions but I feel very badly about that. Particularly with -- 1,000 young men and women who have died, and thousands who have lost body parts. I don't feel good about that," he said, trailing off as his audience listened silently.

Now, I assume the right wing response will be, "he flip-flopped." That will unfortunately be an attempt to ignore what he said, and instead try and make one who is honest, forthright, and nuanced as someone "weak." The game of having one idea or opinion and sticking to it no matter what is the kind of thinking this president has and it is type of 19th Century thinking that brought unnecessary deaths to millions of people. I hope we can bring the intellectual level of our government forward to the 21 century.

The Last Night of the Proms

I am listening to the last night of the BBC Proms an annual tradition of wonderful music. It is live on BBC 3 if you care to listen.

Bad Reporting

I will not get into the game of spin and duck on type fonts etc, but I will comment on this online story from WLWT. The story states that:

Richard Polt, a Xavier University professor, was called on to examine documents from the 1970s that could shed new light on information about George W. Bush's service in the military.

Ok, that is fine, but who called on him?? How did WLWT find out he was called upon? Later on the article states:

Several national magazines have called on Polt for his opinion.

Ok, now we have something added of merit, but WHAT MAGAZINES? National Review? Weekly Standard?

The most insane element was section, including the magazine reference:

"When you think about some of the details of the documents, it just adds up to something recently produced on a computer," he said.

Several national magazines have called on Polt for his opinion. He said the only excuse could be that the documents were handwritten and someone produced them on a computer.

How the hell does this guy know what the "only excuse" could be? That is a theory, but this guy has no knowledge or experience in what else could explain why "might" have been typed recently.

His opinions are being refuted in other places: Here and Here, and CBS is still sticking with their story and they have their own expert, Marcel Matley.

WLWT went for the local angle to this story, but failed to give any qualifications to the professor, failed to show who “called” on him to analyze the documents, and also failed to point out that he undoubtedly had copies of copies of copies of the documents, if not a higher level of distortion. Mr. Polt has done a lot of research on typewriters, but his knowledge of type fonts, seems to be limited. From his bio he appears to be a philosophy professor.

The game of claiming forgery has turned into another case of the Chewbacca Defense. There was far more to the CBS News story, than just those documents, but that doesn’t matter, when the game is afoot.

Bush's Guard Service, Or Lack There Of

I really have little to say about Bush's National Guard Service. I have no respect for him, so this just reaffirms my opinions. What I find humorous is how it compares to the bogus charges against Kerry. The media are directly pushing this one through honest and legitimate means. The Swift Boat liars use spin and conservative media outlets to create a hollow scandal.

Maggie on the Edge

Ok, Maggie Downs offically has more guts than I do. Either that or she really is a bit of a lunatic.