MSNBC's Betrayal of the Liberal Left

For the last several years many of my friends on the Left, both on Twitter and in the Blogosphere have decried the polarizing bias they see nightly on the FOX News Network.  Fox leans right and, occasionally, falls overboard on the starboard side of the ship.  Occasionally this bias extends in to the news programs as well.

Naturally these same Progressives and Liberals watch MSNBC and especially rejoice in the Liberal Glow of MSNBC's Primetime line-up. While still condemning the bias on Fox News, they love the fact that there is a left leaning alternative.

Unfortunately MSNBC betrays its viewers nightly with a horrific mixture of mis-reporting, false memes and outright lies.  They believe, I think incorrectly, that such overboard bias to the left is their only hope of getting television ratings and more advertising dollars.

As a champion of Liberal causes, I want more from my network.  I want honesty, honor, strict discipline, high journalist standards and an unrelenting search for the truth.

For critics to say that MSNBC is simply a mirror of Fox News is the ultimate indictment, a true measure of their total failure.

Sadly, MSNBC can't even live up to that mediocre standard.  Fox is a shining beacon of journalistic integrity compared to MSNBC.

Last night was the first night of the coverage of the Republican National Convention.  For Liberals and Progressives there is much to compare, contrast and even condemn.  So why not do that?  Are we incapable of wining a fair argument?

Republicans have very little minority support.  There were, indeed, few people of color in the delegations or on the floor.  So why did MSNBC feel the need to edit out every single speech delivered by a person of color?  Some of those speeches were important.  Several were electrifying!

MSNBC eliminated the speech of former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black Alabaman who had actually seconded the nomination of President Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention!  This was an important speech by an important news maker.  It was also an electrifying speech that brought the crowd to its feet!

Not content to overlook one person of color, MSNBC bypassed them all. Gone from their coverage was Mia Love, a rising superstar in Republican politics. Mia is unique. She is a Black Mormon and a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah.

Even if you somehow use the excuse that she was a minor player at the convention, how do you not broadcast the speech of Ted Cruz, a Latino American who will be the next Senator from Texas?  

This kind of reverse racism doesn't happen by accident. The executives at MSNBC decided they needed to support their false meme of racism in the Republican Party by purposefully hiding these key minority superstars in the Republican ranks. MSNBC's coverage demanded only whites be allowed to speak.  

Someone at MSNBC decided that we Liberals can't handle the truth.  We must be shielded from the small edges of color that actually are in the Republican Party.

Rachel Maddow owes us an apology.  MSNBC owes its viewers an apology.  

If there is any good news from last night's embarrassment it is that no one was watching.  Thank goodness they were watching Fox News, which actually covered the Convention with a reasonable amount of integrity and honor.

LAST NIGHT RATINGS:

FNC: 6,878,804 viewers (1,679,763 in 25-54)

NBC: 4,770,050 viewers (1,725,282 in 25-54)

CBS: 3,118,927 viewers (938,237 in 25-54)

ABC: 2,862,656 viewers (920,346 in 25-54)

CNN: 1,473,885 viewers (413,467 in 25-54)

MSNBC: 1,468,348 viewers (411,738 in 25-54)

Truths We Dare Not Discuss

The low light of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's gaff filled summer European trip was his praise of Israeli culture in its contribution to Israel's success when compared to the relative poor success of the Palestinians.

Instantly Romney was condemned by every Democrat politician for his insensitivity, prejudice and ignorance.  Romney backed down and apologized and clarified his comments so as not to offend anyone's sensibilities.

Romney should never have apologized. The very sad truth is that Romney was right.  The Jewish culture is powerful, strong and productive. It's tightly knit and based on incredibly strong family units and powerful traditions.  Because of this amazing culture Jewish minorities have flourished through some of the more horrific periods in our world's history.

It also has nothing to do with my essay today.

But I must talk about the role of culture in any society's success, especially economic minorities in our society.  We also need to talk, once again, about the fact the government doesn't work.  Almost all government programs are failures filled with huge waste, leaden bureaucracy and inadvertent social engineering that affect our culture, generally for the worse.

Our love of humanity, concern for the poor and desire to protect children have created welfare programs that have enslaved a significant portion of our society.  As our population sinks further and further into poverty our initial urge is to increase our welfare to the poor.  Yet we are not improving the situation precisely because we are not allowed to ever address any cultural issues.

Our entire American culture is based on freedom.  We cannot tell other people how to live.  The evolution of our society now has removed the stigma of divorce and the stigma our unwed parenthood.  At the same time it has encouraged women to seek out careers and fulfillment outside of marriage and motherhood.  All of these things are good for the individual and individual freedom.

Our welfare programs have supported, even encouraged, this evolution toward freedom and independence for women.  This would be a good thing, if it actually worked.  As part of the welfare process, we have partially removed the necessity of marriage and the involvement of men in the family unit.  For example we established the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, popularly known as WIC, SNAP, the old food stamp program, medicaid and other programs step in when the father or mother fails to provide support.

Of course none of these programs are sufficient and women struggle to balance jobs and child-rearing.  In addition drugs ravage families leaving children to be raised by grandparents or by themselves.

In spite of all these programs children are going hungry.  Even though 45,753,078 people receive food stamps, the highest in US history, all too many parents simply fail to care for their children.  Neglect and lack of personal responsibility are the biggest problem and it's the one problem we are never allowed to discuss.  No politician dares to cross that line.

Today's tragic story comes from Chester Township, Pennsylvania.  Here's the story.  Read it and weep:

Mom vows to keep feeding needy kids from her driveway despite city crackdown

A Pennsylvania woman has vowed to continue doling out free lunches to children in her hardscrabble neighborhood, even though officials there have threatened to fine her $600 a day. 

Angela Prattis, 41, was ordered by the Chester Township Council to wind down the makeshift dining room she runs in the driveway of her modest home during the summer for the hungry kids who come to her daily in search of a good meal. Under pressure from the community, the local leaders agreed to let Prattis finish her mission this summer, but told her she would need a zoning variance to resume the operation next summer. 

“I’m going to continue to feed the children,” Prattis told FoxNews.com. “I’m just doing this for the kids. I don’t want a big fight. “I just want to be in right standing with the town,” added Prattis, who feeds 20 or more kids on some days.

The mother of four says she serves up the lunches while the kids are out of school because many are too poor to get good lunches at home. 

Prattis gets the food from the Philadelphia Archdiocese, which makes daily deliveries of pre-packaged lunches, drinks and snacks to her doorstep. She pointed out that the archdiocese required her to take a preparatory class focusing on nutrition — and other essentials — before serving kids. “I’m not working with some fly-by-night operation,” she maintained. 

“This isn’t a working-class neighborhood,” she quipped. “It’s a hardworking-class neighborhood.” 

The neighborhood kids enjoy the lunches and benefit from the nutrition, she said. “We have tons of children, here,” Prattis said. “There’s a lady who baby-sits a bunch of kids and she brings them around because the parents can’t afford to have them in day care and feed them at the same time. 

“We had a nasty storm last Wednesday, and I only set up one table because I didn’t think the kids would come in the pouring rain,” she said, before adding, “They all came. I served 20 children in the pouring rain.” 

Poverty certainly exists in Jewish communities, Arab communities, Irish communities and every community. These problems can happen in any culture.  But in many cultures within our melting pot society, the outcomes described in the article above are extremely rare.  

The divorce rate and the rate of unwed mothers also vary wildly between cultures.  So do high school graduation rates, college attendance and average incomes.  

My current home state of Mississippi is the most obese state in the nation, Colorado, the state of my birth, is the most fit.   Mississippi's tradition of rich, fattening fried food and soul food greatly contributes to this outcome.  There is a mighty difference between cultures in Mississippi and Colorado.

Mississippi also ranks near the bottom in health care, birth to unwed mothers and education.  Our cultural background also prevents sex education in most public schools.

Culture makes a huge difference.  It must be a topic for open discussion and debate.  As Liberals we are quick to condemn Mississippi's religious leaders from their failure to provide sex education.  But we are never allowed to discuss or even mention the crisis of single parent households.  That would be judgmental.

We want our children educated about sex, homosexuality, alternative lifestyles.  But we cannot discuss parenting, parental responsibility, child rearing or any type of personal responsibility.

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

I do not have the answers to these problems. But we are not helping our children be failing to even allow discussion of the underlying issues.

Harry Reid

Sadly, there is a thin line between dishonesty and illegality.  I'm guessing Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) hasn't crossed that line.  But if you or I or anyone in the private sector had done the things he has done, we would be in jail.

Just one small example from The National Review Online article by Betsy Woodruff: 

"On December 20, 2005, [Harry Reid] invested$50,000 to $100,000 in the Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector Fund (IYE), which closed that day at $29.15. The companies whose shares it held included ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and ConocoPhillips. When he made a partial sale of his shares on August 19, 2008, during congressional recess, IYE closed at $41.82. Just a month later, on September 17, Reid was working to bring to the floor a bill that the Joint Committee on Taxation said would cost oil companies — including those in the fund — billions of dollars in taxes and regulatory fees. The bill passed a few days later, and by October 10, IYE’s shares had fallen by 42 percent, to $24.41, for a host of reasons."

Read the entire article.

Harry survived the last election because his opponent, Tea Party upstart Sharon Angle was sadly incompetent.  The voters will ultimately decide Harry's fate, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him retire before the next election.

"They’re going to put y’all back in chains"

"They’re going to put y’all back in chains."

These are the exact words spoken by Vice President Joe Biden, addressing a largely Black audience Tuesday during a campaign speech in Danville, Virginia.

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Monday the campaign has “no problem with those comments,” in an interview with Andrea Mitchell.

I personally have a problem with those extremely racist and disgusting comments.

I will not be voting for Barack Obama or Joe Biden this November.  These are not the people I want governing or representing our country.

The Headline You Never Saw

Everyone saw this Headline:

Gunman kills Six at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin

The entire nation (and most of the world) was shocked this weekend by the senseless assault on a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.  Every cable news channel quickly dropped weekend programming and broadcast full time from the site of this tragedy.  Twitter literally burst at the seams with reports, rumors and completely false accusation (all aimed at the right, from Progressive Zealots on the left who all but claimed Michelle Bachmann pulled the trigger).

The world was at once captivated and horrified.

However, no one saw this headline:

Twelve Murdered in Chicago This Weekend

The headline above never appeared anywhere until my posting, but it is completely true.  It represents just one small piece of the massive American Genocide being ignored by the press.  Because each murder happened individually (or in small groups) and because each is attributed to "gangland violence" they are ignored and forgotten, never reported outside of the neighborhood communities.

Worse, there will be no follow-up.  We won't know anything about the killers.  Many will, in fact, never be identified.  Many will kill again..... and again.  Some will actually murder more people than the famous serial killers.  They will go unrecognized because they are taking lives slowly in drive-by shootings and random acts of violence.

I keep coming back to Chicago because there is an excellent website, Redeye Chicago Com that tracks every murder.  

But these murders are being duplicated in every major metropolitan area in America.  Well over one hundred black teen and twenty something boys and girls die every weekend.  No one reports this tragedy.

I'll finish this tragic entry in my long and growing blog series with a tiny portion of a gut wrenching article in the Chicago Sun Times written by Mary Mitchell, Chronic grief overtaking black communities

It used to be when a teen was killed under any circumstances, mothers would snatch up their children and keep them inside as if they were trying to hide them from the Angel of Death.

Mourners would stop by the grieving family’s house carrying trays of food and just sit quietly. But the prolonged killings of young black people have resulted in a macabre cultural shift when it comes to the grieving process.

Mourners leave empty liquor bottles and cigarette packages on the spot where the victim died. They order T-shirts with an image of the fallen and distribute them to the dead youth’s family and friends. They string up balloons like they are getting ready for the family reunion picnic.

The Rev. Oscar Crear, pastor of New Tiberia Missionary Baptist Church at 2156 W. Wellington, is one of the pastors called upon to perform funeral services for young people who have no church home.

“People struggle for a long time after a violent death,” Crear told me during a recent interview.

“A lot of young people are suffering from chronic grief. They are not handling this very well.”

Some ask, “ ‘How can I bury my son this week and bury your son the following week?’ ” Crear said.

“When people go to funeral after funeral it impacts them.”

The Difference Between Republicans and Democrats

I've written this before.  Probably a lot.  It is one of the greatest oddities of our democracy.


The difference between Republicans and Democrats:


Democrats LOVE laws, they love to write and pass them at the drop of a hat, but they HATE enforcing them.


Republicans HATE laws and want as few on the books as possible but, once they are passed, DEMAND that the be enforced to the letter of the law.


This classic dilemma is being played out today with President Obama's new "guidelines" to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  He has basically done what most Democrats always do, ask law enforcement officers or the courts to ignore and not enforce the law.


First it's important to point out that I like and support the DREAM ACT and feel we need a reasonable way to deal with immigration in this country.  Certainly we should not punish children who were forced to come to the United States by their parents when they were children or even infants.


President Obama feels it would be impossible to pass such a law through Congress, so his answer is..... just don't enforce existing laws.


This is a double dilemma because the President is charged with the enforcement of this law.  At a different time there might be calls for his Impeachment over this gross failure to fulfill his duties,  However, the election is just days away and the public will get the ultimate decision on Obama's actions.


But the second of the double dilemma's is more serious.  His directives are so lax and so unclear it is causing a major, extremely negative, reaction among ICE agents.  They are being forbidden from doing their job, even when their lives are in danger.  


Basically, all illegals who are not wanted for serious crimes as simply being set free, regardless of age or situation.  ICE agents are being fined, suspended ofr doing what was, until a few weeks ago, their jobs.


Here is a snippet from a longer report from Todd Starnes: ICE Agents: Morale is in the Toilet

Morale among Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is at an all-time low more than a month after the Obama administration announced major changes to the nation’s immigration enforcement policy, according to the head of a national agency representing thousands of agents. 

“Morale is in the toilet right now,” said Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council. “Most of the guys out in the field are just in an uproar.” President Obama’s policy allows the federal government to use “prosecutorial discretion” to allow younger illegal immigrants to stay in the country and get work permits. 

Critics called it backdoor amnesty, but the administration said it stops short of granting illegals citizenship. 

“They call it discretion but it’s not our discretion,” Crane told Fox News. “We have no discretion.” Crane said a case involving a veteran ICE agent is a perfect illustration. The agent arrested an illegal who was not a “primary target.” The agent’s superior officers ordered the illegal released – even though he did not meet the criteria listed by the Dept. of Homeland Security. The officer refused to follow orders and is now facing a three day suspension. 

The 35-year-old illegal immigrant with ten traffic violations was released.

The problem is that we have a President who is legislatively incompetent and lacks basic leadership skills.  The back door is always the President's favorite door. He can't work with Congress.  He has no idea how our Government works, even after four rather horrific years.


I'm concerned his second term will not be any better.


We need fair laws and clear, strong, impartial enforcement.  We need the best of both Republicans and Democrats.


UPDATE 8/4/2012: John Nolte is married to a legal immigrant from Mexico and supports The Dream Act and also supports an improved and streamlined path to legal immigration.  


But John joins me in condemning President Obama for his failure to enforce the law and Obama's failure to seek  a legislative solution to this problem, in spite of overwhelming public support.  Read his passionate essay here: $465 FOR AMNESTY: OBAMA TO MAKE ILLEGALS LEGAL BEFORE ELECTION DAY 

The Disposable First Amendment

It seems that it's easy to dispense with the Bill of Rights when it doesn't fit with your personal agenda.  Certainly the mayors of two of our largest and most important cities have no problem tossing the First Amendment to the Constitution aside.

You might remember the First Amendment.  It's the one that guarantees Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.  Those rights no longer apply in Boston or in Chicago.

It was easy for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to dispense with the Constitution since they were simultaneously discarding their oath of office and the virtually all city, state and Federal laws at the same time.

Both Mayor's personally promised that Chick-fil-A, the popular, successful and well managed fast food chain would never open a store within their respective cities.  The reason is that Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy is a Christian who made the mistake of actually professing his faith in an interview.  Cathy committed other sins in the mayor's eyes.  He personally gave donations to his church and supported many of their charities.  Some of these well known charities oppose gay marriage or, at least, favor traditional marriage.


But Emanuel and Menino have both decided they alone are the arbiters of religious dogma.  And Freedom of Religion no longer exists.  If you do not believe EXACTLY as they believe, you will be legally prevented from doing business is their cities.


This abuse of power is precisely what the framers of our Constitution feared.  Our government is prevented from establishing any single religion for precisely this reason.  Our country was originally settled by people trying to escape the Church of England and have religious freedom.  


The Boston Herald Editorial Board has rightly condemned Mayor Menoni.  In their editorial Mayor Plays Chicken they write:

We’re trying to imagine a big-city mayor telling the world that he refuses to grant government permits to a restaurant business whose CEO happens to support gay marriage. The condemnation of such an abuse of government power would be swift, overwhelming and appropriate. 

But Boston Mayor Tom Menino apparently doesn’t see any problem using the power of his government office to issue threats to a private company whose CEO does not happen to share the mayor’s own personal or political views.

UPDATE 7/27/2012: Boston Mayor Menino has backed away from his promise to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening in his city or even along The Freedom Trail.  While maintaining his strong support for Gay Marriage, he insists he spoke incorrectly, exaggerating both his ability and intent to block the fast food chain. "I'm just the mayor," Menino sheepishly admitted.

Animal Farm

It's tough to be a liberal today.  The liberal movement has been hijacked by zealots who require that you abandon not just your principles, but also your brains and your hearts, replacing them all with hatred so vile and putrid you rot from within.


Of course the first and most important principle the new left demands you relinquish is independent thought.  Sharing and embracing new ideas, exploring options, self exploration, critical review, all are forbidden by today's left.  Only uniformity of thought is allowed.


Freedom of choice is also forbidden.  Our leaders know exactly what is best for us and to think outside those boundaries is strictly forbidden.


Our elected leaders our the enforcers of these rigid and unyielding rules.  Not only will they control the physical environment in which we live, but they act as thought police as well, demanding ridgid adherence to the freedoms they believe are important while demanding that any other freedom be relinquished.


Thought police require massive armies to enforce the required beliefs.  It behooves our fellow citizens to insure we are thinking clearly and not allowing forbidden thoughts to enter our minds.  Society can only move forward once we are all walking on the same path and thinking the same thoughts.


Today that path of glorious uniformity begins on The Freedom Trail.  You can be certain there will be no Chick-fil-A's to tempt your body or your soul off the path to liberal righteousness.

No News IS NOT Good News

Just because you didn't see or hear this headline this morning doesn't mean it didn't happen. The big networks simply chose to ignore it.


3 People Murdered and another 18 injured in Gun Violence on Saturday in Chicago

If you watch network news, ABC, CBS or NBC or if you watch cable news, FOX, CNN or MSNBC or if you listen to NPR you didn't know that.  They were all too busy rehashing the 12 murdered and 58 injured in Aurora, Colorado on Thursday morning to bother to mention that murders continue unabated across the country.


As I write this President Obama is flying over Chicago to visited the families of the victims in Aurora to give them comfort, according to the White House Press Secretary.


He will never mention the nearly 300 murdered in Chicago so far this year.  He will not be stopping to give comfort to the grieving families of Gerry Woods, Akil Partee or Pablo Hernandez, all murdered Friday night and Saturday morning.


How I wish George W. Bush were still President.  Not because I want him back in office, but because if he pulled the stunt of flying over the families of 300 black and Latino victims to give aid and comfort to 12 white victims, my fellow Democrats would condemn him for racism, insensitivity and incompetence.  Instead we have President Obama and the silence of the Democratic lambs.


I don't blame President Obama.  It's not racism, it's politics.  Colorado is a swing state.  He needs their votes.  Chicago will vote for Obama regardless of how much he ignores or even abuses its citizens.


And, lets be honest, the Chicago problem is one of unemployment, poverty and failed social engineering.  It's going to be tough to fix.  And President Obama is not up to the task.  He is way to small, way to weak to take on a mission this large.


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On a related note, my friend Steve is launching a series on the need for Gun Control and ways to successfully implement it over on his blog The Peripatetic Blogger Steve and I might not always agree on this issue, but I urge you to read his blog and consider his opinions and solutions carefully.  We need everyone's ideas.  We need all hands on deck.

Crying Out For Those Alone....

The horror of 12 senseless murders hit the television, radio, newspapers, blogs and social media yesterday in an inescapable fashion.  The live, non-stop coverage of the frightening assault on a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was relentless.  Everyone knows of the events and the name of the obviously deranged murdered, and many of the individual heartbreaking stories recounted on Facebook and the national news networks.


It's estimated over one thousand law enforcement officers from local, state and national agencies are involved in the investigation and in the search of the assailant's booby trapped apartment.


Certainly there are many thousands of journalists, bloggers, investigative reporters, pundits, experts, politicians, religious and civic leaders analyzing every tiny detail.  Like similar events in the past, it will be dissected for months and tens of thouands of pages will be written.  Books and even movies are likely to follow that.


I am raising no objection to any of this.  It is as it should be.  I pray for comfort and healing for the suffering and know, in many cases, there will be no relief from the relentless grief.


But, even as Aurora captured the news, there were dozens more murder victims this past week nationwide that gathered no attention.  There will be few, if any, law enforcement officers investigating.  There will be no national task force, no F.B.I., no forensics, no new laws, no  great discoveries. Many of the murderers will never be identified and many will murder again.


For all these murders there will be no national press coverage.  Probably no local press coverage either.  The victims family will never be interviewed by Piers Morgan or Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity.  We won't know their story, experience their horror or feel their pain.


Facebook entries might be made, but you and I will never see them.


Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney will make a speech, say a prayer or suspend campaigning in respect for their tragedy.


And the worst part? Next week it will all repeat.  Roughly eighty to one hundred bright young people will be senselessly murdered.  You'll never notice.  You'll never know.  And, as a society, we won't do a damned thing to stop it or even slow it down.


Maybe that's the scariest part of the genocide happening in our country right now.  Because every story is a small piece, we can ignore it.


Because of Aurora our movie going experience will change.  There will be ample extra security, cameras, alarms on doors, maybe even metal detectors.  There will be security guards, probably armed security guards. 


Even though there have been virtually no murders in movie theaters over the last 100 years, we will have massive protection going forward.


But the national genocide will continue unabated, at the rate of 6 to 7 Aurora's every week, 80 to 100 people murdered every week, most in senseless acts of violence every bit as horrific as Aurora.  But nothing will be done.  Nothing.


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As you remember the twelve people killed in the Aurora movie theater this week, please also remember these twelve people killed in Chicago this past week, too. They'll get no press coverage and you'll likely never see their names anywhere but on this blog.


Nathaniel Gonzalez, age 16


Marshall Knights, age 21 


 Ricky Hankins, age 49 


 Daniel Green, age 21 


 Mark Carney, age 26 


Andrew Jackson, age 27 


 James Bell, age 26 


 Martin Tejeda, age 16 


 Elle Mills, age 53 


 Maurice Wilson, age 22 


 Phillip Finley 


Anthony Collazo, age 21

Dear Mr. Romney....

Of course it's unlikely Mitt Romney will ever read this blog or my rather blunt "letter" to him, but here goes......

Dear Mr. Romney,

I read news reports daily about the "Sarah Palin Controversy."  It seems you or someone on your staff believes it would be unwise for Mrs. Palin to have a speaking role at the August Republican Convention in Tampa.  At this point the news is a dull roar, but it's not going away and it's getting louder daily.

I could easily make a case that snubbing Sarah Palin is a serious mistake because her supporters are so loyal and their support is so critical to your success. But I'm guessing your large and well paid staff have analyzed this factor and believe the benefits of her presence are outweighed by the liabilities, whatever those liabilities might be.

So my point today concerns another big factor in your potential success.  I'll summarize it in two parts.  Number ONE, the mainstream media really prefers President Barack Obama and their reports will be slanted against you throughout the convention.  There is nothing you can do about this, it's a fact of life in American Politics.

But, Number TWO, the media really, really loves controversy.  And snubbing Palin is just the raw meat the media craves.  I believe that, by leaving Palin on the sidelines, the convention will actually become ALL PALIN, ALL THE TIME.  She'll get massive amounts of media coverage, interviews and more.  Your messages will be drowned out by an error you can easily avoid right now.  

Invite her and give her a prominent speaking role and she'll electrify the base.  Omit her and she'll be the ghost that haunts your convention every night.

I know there are ill feelings between you and the former Governor.  She has been critical of you on more than one occasion.  But it is actually that criticism that gives her so much credibility among the base.  Embrace her and that all that credibility will flow over to you.

Sincerely,

Bob Keller,

Wizard Extraordinaire 

Religious Zealotry

These are modern times.  Religious Zealotry is no longer confined to the worship of a god or goddess.  It can be an equally blind dedication to any idol, a dedication that moves beyond admiration or even belief and into worship at the expense of all other goals, ideas, morals and principles.

While we are all familiar with the traditional religious zealotry of the far right conservative Christians and the Islamic Fundamentalists, there is equal and even more destructive zealotry on what we call the "left" or Progressive end of the political spectrum.

Because such zealotry is blind, the zealots often don't realize they are violating their very own stated principles and ideals.  Lately I've seen way too many examples of the leftist zealotry and it makes me terribly uncomfortable.

As a Liberal I strongly believe in diversity, tolerance and acceptance of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and even diverse value sets and lifestyles.  This view or principle is stated often by ALL who claim to be liberals and progressives.  You can see it and read it and discuss it on every liberal blog and progressive forum.  Tolerance and acceptance are the holy grail of Liberal beliefs.

Except........ it seems the VAST and VOCAL majority of self proclaimed liberals and progressives don't believe a damned word of it.  It seems their beliefs on any issue is actually a RELIGIOUS DOGMA that cannot and must not ever be violated.  These so-called Liberals are nothing more than the Taliban of the Left.

One need look no further than famous (and incredibly talented) actor Brad Pitt's mother to see the Taliban of the Left in action.

Jane Pitt wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in response to another letter.  In what ought to be a liberal example of TOLERANCE she actually admonished a conservative Christian for his prejudice against the Mormon religion.  Jane Pitt urged fellow Christians to vote for the man who shared their ideals of being "pro-life" and opposing "gay marriage," even if Mr. Romney didn't share their exact Christian faith.

Now, to be certain Jane was vocal and aggressive in her opposition to President Obama attacked his positions on these same issues.

Of course I personally disagree with Jane Pitt's position on both gay marriage and abortion.  But, tragically, many of my fellow (not really) liberals and progressives took it much further.

Hollywood rose up and attacked Mrs. Pitt with vile and horrific glee.  And the Twitterverse was even worse:

“BRAD PITT’S MOM WROTE AN ANTI-GAY PRO-ROMNEY EDITORIAL. KILL THE B***H.”
“Brad Pitt’s mom, die”

“F*** you, Brad Pitt’s mom. The gay community made your kid a star, you whacko.”

“Brad Pitt’s mother…what a brainless old b***h…”

“Brad Pitt’s Mom Slams Obama, Gays. That stand makes her a deluded, dumba** Fascist Repuke”

“I hope Brad Pitt has been supporting his mother and decides to cut her off. What a b***h.”

“Brad Pitt’s mom can choke on a (redacted).”

Jane Pitt has also received numerous death threats and the attacks are unrelenting.  The Hollywood attacks have been played out all over television. 

What disgusts me most is that (so far) Brad Pitt himself has been silent.  He can't bring himself to step up to the plate and defend his mother. In fact the only prominent Hollywood voice to defend Mrs. Pitt is Jon Voight, Brad Pitt's Father-in-Law (Angelina Jolie's father).

As usual, conservative firebrand Michelle Malkin has said it best: "Hollywood and the American left love diversity, except when it offends their “progressive” value system."

An excellent article on Jane Pitt's letter and the Hollywood backlash can be found in The Huffington Post

UPDATE 7/12/2012: Brilliant blogger B. Daniel Blatt also defends Jane Pitt over on The Gay Patriot.  This short essay is a must read confirmation of the misplaced hatred of the left in attacking Mrs. Pitt unfairly.