See the entire speech above; read the text here.
I, for one, am glad to see this particular mindset go:
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FLOGGING THE CULTURE WAR CORPSE
January 9th, 2009, 10:17 am by Dan Lehr
(Illustration credit here)
One of the great things about Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish blog is he often makes a great point using a minimum of sentences, as he does here:
BARELY WORTH THE PAPER IT’S PRINTED ON
January 2nd, 2009, 12:56 pm by Dan Lehr
(I know, 2nd Kane clip of the day, but it’s as relevant to this post as the other was to the other.)
From FoxNews.com (h/t my Dad):
“Former Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler says that a democracy has an obligation to preserve a free press.
“I truly believe that no democracy can remain healthy without an equally healthy press,” said Fiedler, now dean of Boston University’s College of Communication. “Thus it is in democracy’s interest to support the press in the same sense that the human being doesn’t hesitate to take medicine when his or her health is threatened.”
Wrong. & here’s why:
REALLY, REALLY SIMPLE RULE FOR (APPARENTLY) CLUELESS REPUBLICANS
December 29th, 2008, 11:51 am by Dan Lehr
This little clip was sent as a “Christmas present” by the chairman of the RNC, who defended it even though many in the GOP have (rightly) distanced themselves.
It seems like Barack Obama’s not fitting the traditional “liberal attackable mold,” standards of which were set so high by Bill Clinton, Al Gore & John Kerry. That has -apparently- left many in the GOP struggling to find a way to attack.
Well, I’m here to help.
Let me just offer this clear & easy to understand bit of advice for those who are looking for ways to be a naysayer:
THE WARREN PIECE
December 23rd, 2008, 9:27 am by Dan Lehr
I was out for much of last week & therefore missed much of the hoo-ha surrounding the president-elect’s choice of pastor Rick Warren to read the invocation at his inaugural.
For those (likely very few) of you who have not heard yet, Warren is a preacher whose stance against homosexuality runs contrary to the views of Barack Obama.
But that didn’t stop Obama from the invite:
..even though the move has angered folks on both the right & the left.
My 1st thought about this is that we’re likely seeing a microcosm of what we’ll see over the next four years. It’s, in its own way, a “Nixon-in-China” moment. It’s interesting to watch to see who gets uncomfortable.
My 2nd thought is that you’d never-in-a-million-years see a President-elect McCain extend such an invitation to someone perceived to be a foe of “his sides” “religion.”
It’s a shrewd move. & not just for Obama. (Read my post from earlier this year highlighting an excellent article on Warren’s role in a “new evangelical movement” here.)
E.J. Dionne thinks so too:
“Although I support same-sex marriage, I think that liberals should welcome Obama’s success in causing so much consternation on the right. On balance, inviting Warren opens more doors than it closes.
The always-curmudgeonly Richard Cohen, though, thinks the move is a wrong one:
“I can understand Obama’s desire to embrace constituencies that have rejected him. Evangelicals are in that category and Warren is an important evangelical leader with whom, Obama said, “we’re not going to agree on every single issue.” He went on to say, “We can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans.” Sounds nice.
But what we do not “hold in common” is the dehumanization of homosexuals. What we do not hold in common is the belief that gays are perverts who have chosen their sexual orientation on some sort of whim. What we do not hold in common is the exaltation of ignorance that has led and will lead to discrimination and violence.”
But I think Melissa Etheridge, who happens to be gay, married, & with children, puts my thoughts about the matter best:
MY TAKE ON “THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS”
December 16th, 2008, 5:15 pm by Dan Lehr
[Above: me before the tree, Christmas Day, 1977. photo by my father]
I’ve celebrated Christmas as long as I can remember.
But there’s a part of the season these days that always bums me out, & that is people who try to make a point of saying “Merry Christmas.”
A WASTE OF A WORRY
December 4th, 2008, 8:32 am by Dan Lehr
The leftward blog Crooks & Liars is using several examples of hateful, divisive speech overheard on talk radio to (apparently) make a case for why we need to see a return of the Fairness Doctrine.
(Read about the Fairness Doctrine’s history here.)
I have some recommendations & thoughts for both sides of this debate:
SAXBY WINS, CHAPTER 2
December 3rd, 2008, 11:21 am by Dan Lehr
“Habitual voters tend to vote in special elections; in Georgia, there are more Republican habitual voters than Democratic habitual voters; the minds of Republican habitual voters were no doubt focused on Chambliss’s sudden cameo as the bullwark against an overweening Democratic majority. But these habitual voters are an ideologically charged subset of the electorate. On November 4, 3.7 million Georgians voted. Yesterday, about 2.1 million Georgians did.
HOW OBAMA COULD SAVE COUNTRY MUSIC
November 25th, 2008, 7:58 am by Dan Lehr
Above: Barack Obama, right after his speech accepting his party’s nomination for president. Playing in the background is Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America.”
It may not have been noticed at the time, but the New Republic’s David Browne theorizes that the moment above represents the potential dawn of a new era for the ailing country music industry (hat tip: A Fish in the Percolator):
DRIVING US CRAZY
November 24th, 2008, 7:56 am by Dan Lehr
From Wharton, University of Pennsylvania’s Universia blog:
“Should Detroit have seen that “tipping point” coming? “Maybe, probably,” says MacDuffie, admitting benefits of hindsight. “When gas prices spiked in 1980, the U.S. was making very big, gas-guzzling vehicles. So they were very vulnerable to competition from the Japanese and European manufacturers who were used to selling [fuel-efficient cars] in a market where gas prices were much higher. So you would think the U.S. automakers, having lived though that experience once, might be guarded about letting that happen again.”
One reason they might have dropped their guard was the irresistible profit margin in light trucks. “The trucks and SUVs had fat profit margins. Even if [the automakers] saw it coming, it would have been hard to shift resources to build more hybrids. The U.S. auto industry has been struggling with a lot of problems for a long time,” MacDuffie notes. “They felt that they could not move away from the SUVs and pickups because they needed the profits from those products to cope with the other difficulties they were having. … Labor and benefits costs were one of the largest problems.” Those costs also meant that Detroit “was slow to make their factories flexible,” which in turn made it more difficult for them to shift quickly from one product to another, adds MacDuffie. So, when U.S. manufacturers decide to reduce inventories of, say pickup trucks, they generally close one or more of the factories that make them. In their European factories, Ford and GM both make fuel efficient cars that are popular in that market. But the companies have said it would be impractical to ship those cars to the U.S. because of weakness of the dollar relative to the Euro.”
I have a couple of thoughts, & 1 idea:
ANOTHER ‘HERETIC’ REPUBLICAN CHIMES IN ON ‘ARMBAND RELIGION’
November 19th, 2008, 9:17 am by Dan Lehr
Hoo-boy.
Kathleen Parker, already on thin ice for her criticism of Sarah Palin during the campaign, may be setting herself up for a good old-fashioned stake burning among religious Republicans with her column today:
THE THING ABOUT THAT CHAMBLISS AD
November 13th, 2008, 12:34 pm by Dan Lehr
Democrats hoping to get Jim Martin elected Georgia’s new senator are using this ad as a way to drum up votes for the December 2nd runoff.
Watching the ad again, I find its content tame by the standards of today - in which a politician can claim, with a straight face, that their opponent “pals around with terrorists.”
No, what was wrong with the ad (which aired ad infinitum on NewsChannel9) was what it represented at the time.
FAILING THE ‘SMELL TEST’
November 13th, 2008, 9:45 am by Dan Lehr
My suspicion that a rumor out there about Sarah Palin not being able to tell if Africa was a country or continent has proved correct.
SHEPARD SMITH IS RIGHT
November 12th, 2008, 5:18 pm by Dan Lehr
The Fox News anchor tells it like it is.
& he says what I would tell anyone ready to blame “the media” for ensuring an Obama victory.
You folks who think so give the media far too much power - especially in the age of the internet. Not to mention you give average voters far too little credit.
Look at these numbers!
Pew found two weeks ago that while TV & newspaper use for campaign news among voters was flat this year compared to 2004, the numbers for internet usage TRIPLED from 10% to 33% in the past four years.
A revolution is underway, & if you’re quick to say “it’s all the media’s fault” you’re not only not paying attention to what’s really happening, you’re also not taking advantage of what’s available to you to become your OWN media.
By the way, this is also the reason why any calls for a return to the Fairness Doctrine is a completely moot point. If you hear anyone bring up either side of the debate (Mark Levin can’t seem to stop talking about it), turn the channel & find a better use of your time.
So to sum up,
1. Media=not to blame/credit for the election’s outcome
2. YAY Internet!
- Broadcast Services
- TV Listings
- Public EEO Report
- WTVC DTV Report
- Science Theatre
- Online Services
- RSS Feeds
- Advertiser Index
- Yellow Pages
- Related Sites
- Total Visual Concepts
A GITMO-ECTOMY
January 22nd, 2009, 1:00 pm by Dan LehrAbove: President Obama removes one of terrorism’s biggest recruiting tools.
Read about it here, & a discussion about whether it’s the right thing here.
Today I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio call this move a “political” one.
To which I say: well, duh.
But not ‘political’ in the way Rush is meaning (appeasing the left).
For too long we have failed to capitalize on the United States of America’s greatest weapon: the idea behind this country & the ideals it champions.
Some discussion on Talk 102.3 this morning brought to mind an analogy. Styles, et al were discussing what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners - & how we can’t have them mingle with the “normal” prison population, because they wouldn’t last longer than 2 seconds. They noted that America-bombers & child rapists are subject to the prisoners’ “own form of justice.”
That’s a perfect way of looking at the mindset behind the creation of Guantanamo.
The problem with the system is that it doesn’t leave room for justice. It keeps terrorist suspects off the streets .. but because we’ve thrown them down a legal rabbit hole, one that’s in my view ultimately self-defeating, many of the legitimate terror cases will never be given true justice.
Closing Guantanamo takes away a terrorist recruitment tool, & joins the battle where it really should be fought, & ultimately will be won - not in a physical location, but rather inside the minds of everyone around the world.
& there’s nothing that says we can’t hold a suspect extra-legally. But those cases should be both temporary & reserved for the very few, ones which we have clear-cut evidence on, & not just people picked up off the battlefield, or arrested in cases of mistaken identities who have languished in Gitmo hell for years.
We as a people are far smarter than that, & it’s a breath of fresh air to have someone in charge who realizes this.
(I should also note that I have the utmost confidence we are perfectly capable of housing these prisoners on U.S. soil. The fears of “well, what if we have a prison break?” can be dispelled if you think through logically the scenario about exactly how much damage a person in handcuffs & an orange jumpsuit could really do while on the run).
We need to have faith in our country, & the multitude of legal precedents of our criminal justice system.
We should not be afraid to try these cases based on evidence & the rule of law, & the rights that our Founding Fathers believed to be inalienable - not just to American citizens, but to the entire human race.
I, for one, would rather die while upholding my great country’s ideals than give those ideals up in the name of security.
FURTHER READING:
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