So here’s something I don’t quite understand. We can’t talk about politics and religion, right? We’re told that, quite frequently. Can’t talk about them, it never ends well. People can’t discuss them rationally, better to not bring them up. Never talk about two things: politics and religion.

Well there’s a smart response! Should we maybe discuss them more, work out ways to discuss them and find a language that works across barriers so that we can discuss these two things, or should we just hide our heads in the sand and yell “Too hard! Too hard!” while we do? Somehow the “too hard” crowd is winning, and seemingly has won. I’m not exactly sure why.

I mean wouldn’t it make our planet, country, community better if we could openly, and honestly discuss these things without fear of, well, discussing them? And yet, there we go, off again not talking about them.

Better yet, we blame them for everything, don’t we? I end up feeling like this:

“Look, over there!”

“Where?”

“There! There!”

“At… you want me to look at those things we can’t discuss? That I can’t look at fully in the first place, because you insist I shouldn’t?”

“Yes! Yes, exactly, look there!”

“Uhm, all right…”
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I got nothing to ad to it, really:

I’ve seen a lot of “Fuck Chris Matthews” since last night. Mostly by people throwing around a quote of his, in reference to the State of the Union:

Wow that looks horrible and damning, doesn’t it? But so far most of these screaming people who are flinging hate don’t seem to have bothered to look for context. Fucking genius! Way to go! …seriously, guys? Because here’s the full quote:

“I was trying to think about who he was tonight. It’s interesting; he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. He’s gone a long way to become a leader of this country and past so much history in just a year or two. I mean it’s something we don’t even think about. I was watching and I said, wait a minute, he’s an African-American guy in front of a bunch of other white people and there he is, president of the United States, and we’ve completely forgotten that tonight — completely forgotten it. ”

And that isn’t really damning. It’s a statement by someone trying to see a situation and talking about it, fairly honestly. Far more honesty than we normally get, in fact, on TV. Does it contain a hint of “Well he’s black and sometimes that’s still shocking to me”? Sure. But that’s honest. Does it mean Matthews is a monster? No, of course not. But why the fuck are we attacking this and not applauding it for its honesty and reality?

Explain it to me, please.

Edited to add: Please keep in mind I do not like Chris Matthews and it pains me to defend him at all, because wow, he’s an ass, but seriously, context counts, people. We rail against soundbites and then use them ourselves the same way the people we rail against do? That’s bullshit.

Wait… fucking what?

So today on Oprah… Sarah and Bristol Palin were on the show. Well, you know, there via satellite. Whatever. That doesn’t fucking matter. No because prepare to have your mind blown!

So Oprah decides she wants to talk about sex (Let’s talk about sex, baby, let’s talk about you and me, let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be. Let’s talk about sex. Sorry. Salt N’ Pepa moment.).

Oprah reads an In Touch Weekly quote from Bristol: “I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it… I just think it’s a goal to have and I think other women should have that goal.”

Keep in mind Bristol is 19. She has a kid by her boyfriend, Levi Johnston. Got that? Fine, whatever. So she was quoted as saying something and life turned out different. No problem!

Except.

To quote Extra: Oprah says she believes women who publicly announce they are waiting to have sex until marriage are “setting themselves up,” but Bristol says she doesn’t see it that way. “It’s a realistic goal for myself,” Bristol replied.

Wait. So she’s going to abstain now that she’s had a kid? And it is realistic? There’s no recrimination, no basic understanding here that maybe there’s an issue? Wow. Just, wow.

(via ABCNews) – TSA screening manual posted online.

In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening procedures manual, including some of the most closely guarded secrets regarding special rules for diplomats and CIA and law enforcement officers.

The most sensitive parts of the 93-page Standard Operating Procedures manual were apparently redacted in a way that computer savvy individuals easily overcame.

The document shows sample CIA, Congressional and law enforcement credentials which experts say would make it easy for terrorists to duplicate.

The improperly redacted areas indicate that only 20 percent of checked bags are to be hand searched for explosives and reveal in detail the limitations of x-ray screening machines.

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ABC has posted the manual as a PDF. You can read the whole thing RIGHT HERE (It is a PDF, remember).

So yeah. Whoops.

(via lots of places but right now Commercial Appeal) Arlington mayor fires at Obama online.

In the opinion of Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the “Peanuts” television Christmas special.

Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman’s “friend’s list” had access to the post. He has more than 1,600 friends on Facebook.

“Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas Special’ and our muslim president is there, what a load…..try to convince me that wasn’t done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it….w…hen the answer should simply be ‘yes’….”

—————————

Wait. What?

Yeah. So this guy goes on to be all “Well I posted it online and it wasn’t public,” because he still thinks that no one would ever send that shit anywhere. I don’t care, if you post something online, even private, it can get out. But let’s move away from that and back to the “holy fuck sticks what the fuck just happened” of the situation. Can you imagine what this guy thinks happened?

Obama is in the Oval Office, contemplating what to do. Then he has an idea. The easiest way to destroy the morale and religious center of this country, since the country is so obviously only Christian and since Obama is obviously Muslim (except it isn’t and he isn’t but why bother with facts?), is to thwart the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Without that, why, we’ll just all turn into pinko commie bastards, I suppose.

First of all, best, pettiest abuse of power ever! Secondly, seriously? The fucking Peanuts special matters that much? Now, if Obama gave a speech and managed to take every airing of It’s A Wonderful Life out, every one for the entire season, I might think he was up to something.

And just think! This paranoid, raving lunatic is in office! Hooray!

Here’s part of why. This article about a Sarah Palin signing in Fort Wayne manages to pin down so many different things wrong with our country at once it is fairly impressive. You can read the whole article over here but I am going to just use some choice moments.

And this isn’t an attack on Palin, not really. More the culture she builds up and the people surrounding and following her. I mean really, attacking her is like punching a baby. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t exactly a challenge.

The book-signing drew some 1,200 supporters of the former GOP vice presidential nominee and Alaska governor, one Meijer official estimated. Some had lined up the night before to ensure they’d meet Palin and get her signature on their books.

That’s a good sized crowd. Not the largest I’ve heard of for a signing. There were at least that many for Hunter Thompson, for example. But good turnout, seriously good.

But while there was controlled havoc outside Palin’s curtained-off signing area, those in line seemed happy and excited to meet the woman with whom most felt on a first-name basis.

And good on them for being happy and generally well behaved. I mean that’s always the fear isn’t it? Any large gathering you worry about crowd control and it is good to see a very large group upbeat and fine. Yeah, I’m building up to it… wait for it…

Sharon Grimes traveled from South Bend to meet Palin, with three copies of “Going Rogue” that she had purchased from Amazon.com, but in accordance with the book-signing rules that had Palin signing only books bought at Meijer, Grimes bought two more Thursday at the store.

“She’s great,” Grimes said. “She’s got the common people’s touch, and we love her. She doesn’t sound like a highfalutin’ politician. She wants to save us from ourselves and she wants to give us the opportunities to be free.”

Wait, what? Palin wants to save us from ourselves and set us free? Well those don’t go together at all, do they? I mean think about it. If I save you from yourself I will be forcing you to do things that you wouldn’t want to be doing. Changing your behavior. Arguably for the better, but even so.

Setting you free doesn’t really go hand in hand with that concept, does it? I mean one is exerting control over someone, the other is exerting a lack of control. To think that someone will do both, I suppose at once? Hmmm.

But maybe she means that first Palin will free us from ourselves, correcting our bad problems and then will set us free – once we’ve learned her lessons and incorporated her … no we’d have to still be under her thumb to tow the line. So yeah. It’s a creepy sentence that brings home how many people want to be led by the nose while shouting that they are utterly free and no one controls them.

City resident Mark Little said he’s so tantalized with Palin and her book that “it will be the first book I’ve ever read.”

And if you don’t see what’s wrong with America when you read that sentence I don’t know what to do with you. I mean they don’t give the guy’s age but if he was a kid they would have mentioned it, because that would be odd. So I have to figure he is the same age group as the rest of the crowd. 30s and up. It’ll be the first book he ever read.

I’m going to make a possibly bad assumption here. He is ignoring books he read in school and means the first book he has ever read for pleasure. Jesus. There’s something deeply disturbing about that. But there’s the issue. If all your information comes from TV, if you don’t read and don’t improve yourself you end up nodding and agreeing a whole lot more. I’m not going to blanket call all of Palin’s supporters ignorant. Just the ones who talk to reporters. But wow. Those that do talk seem to be the problem, in general, for the country. Not for their beliefs, but for their general ignorance. I don’t care what you believe, and I’m not talking about how much school you went to – but we have a problem when people don’t educate themselves on issues, read up on things and find things out for themselves. When you rely on “what you’ve heard” only and don’t know history and take the time to study the world on your own time, it’s unhealthy and unwise.

Bottom fucking line.

(via Boston.com) In his latest bid to spotlight science education, President Obama today kicked off an “Educate to Innovate” campaign to help boost US students from middle-of-the- pack mediocrity internationally in science and math achievement to the head of the class over the next decade.

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All right. That’s awesome. But I want to look at his remarks. Because … yeah.

“It’s an honor to be here and to be joined by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Sally. This is a person who’s inspired a generation of girls and boys to think bigger and set their sights higher. I want to thank NASA and Charlie for providing the interactive globe — an innovative and engaging way of teaching young people about our world.

Welcome, Mythbusters, from Discovery Channel. Where are they? There they are. I hope you guys left the explosives at home.”

All right, so far so good. But wait, let’s back up a second. He said what right before Sally Ride?

“As President, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots, in case they try anything.”

Yes. Yes he did say that. Now you can follow the link above and read the full remarks, which are much, much longer. But I think that simply knowing that while our President respects and welcomes and desires further scientific study he is also watching out for a robot rebellion – well. I’ll sleep easier.

(via BBC News) The High Court has given permission for an injunction to be served via social-networking site Twitter.

The order is to be served against an unknown Twitter user who anonymously posts to the site using the same name as a right-wing political blogger.

The order demands the anonymous twitter user reveal their identity and stop posing as Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney’s Blarney.

The order says the twitter user is breaching the copyright of Mr Blaney. He told BBC News that the content being posted to Twitter in his name was “mildly objectionable”.

Mr Blaney turned to Twitter to serve the injunction rather than go through the potentially lengthy process of contacting Twitter headquarters in California and asking it to deal with the matter.

UK law states that an injunction does not have to be served in person and can be delivered by several different means including fax or e-mail.

Danvers Baillieu, a solicitor specialising in technology, said it was possible for anyone to approach the court about any method of serving an injunction if the traditional methods are unavailable.

“The rules already allow for electronic service of writs, so that they can be sent by e-mail, and it should also be possible to use social networks.”

Mr Blaney decided to use Twitter after a recent case in Australia where Facebook was used to serve a court order.

The blogger, who is also a lawyer and owns the firm serving the order, said that he thought that it was the first time Twitter had been used to deliver a court order.