distractions

I tried to look at the news on TV last night. Usually it's either MSNBC or CNN. There was no news on any of the "Cable News Networks" (including -- shudder -- Fox).

There was a distraction. The "Miracle" of the miners rescue in Chile. No one mentioned the fact that better and tighter mine regulations allowed those miners to survive for such a long time. No one mentioned any of the news -- nothing about foreclosure fraud -- rampant foreclosures, coupled with bank fraud. Not a word. Nothing about all the negative economic forecasts. Nothing about the trials of our main street economy.

Instead we got a diversion, some fodder for "water cooler talk" (do they still have water coolers in offices?).

Heck, Cliff Lee's performance for The Texas Rangers (baseball - in case you didn't know) could only go so far. Election news stinks. The right wing is hitting back about the tragic LGBT suicides. Some go as far as blaming the gay community and gay organizations for the suicides.

Here's a taste: "Jonathan Capehart, the openly gay and very smart political commentator and editorial writer for the Washington Post, appeared on The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC Monday on a segment called “The Daily Rant.” Capehart – who some LGBTs may remember as the only journalist on the LOGO/Human Rights Campaign forum with all the Democratic contenders for president in 2008 – is not someone who “rants,” really. But he is clearly angry and is a welcome voice.

UPDATE: Perhaps as a counter-balance to Capehart’s editorializing on MSNBC, the Washington Post published an op-ed by prominent antigay religious right fanatic Tony Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council. The column essentially blames gay teen suicides on bullies who don’t go to church and slams “homosexual activists groups” who are “exploiting these tragedies to push their own agenda.” The “On Faith” column is managed by Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn – one-time real journalists who apparently now believe that “faith” is equal to “facts” since they did not bother to fact check Perkins’ so-called “expert” – the widely discredited Paul Cameron. Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend has a good roundup of the gay bloggers (Box Turtle Bulletin, AmericaBlog, MetroWeekly) who cite the shred and denounce Cameron."

"God" forbid we bother to focus on the human rights of AMERICAN CITIZENS. "God" forbid someone points out the ideals of the USA, the fact we are a SECULAR SOCIETY that allows every, or no, religion that doesn't perform human, or animal, sacrifice tp flourish.

We are NOT a theocracy. We do not (yet) execute adulterers or disobedient children. We have not (yet) instituted Old Testament Law (the way many who want a "theonomy" or "theocracy" do. Those folks are out there -- working every day to implement their fringe beliefs. "God" forbid anyone actually talk about what so many of our right wing Tea Party candidates really believe -- it just might upset people.

At one time the saying was, "I don't give a damn what you do -- as long as it doesn't scare the horses". The Sharon Angles, and other Tea Party folks, well, THEY DO SCARE THE HORSES!!