Re: Not Self-Parody

1

And he has just as much executive experience as Barack Obama.

....I ban myself.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 9:26 PM
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2

so cute, i really would love to believe in reincarnations


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 9:28 PM
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3

Since Clive Crook and Megan Mc/Ardle told me that it's not appropriate to be derisive or dismissive about red state customs ... I've got nothing.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 9:31 PM
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4

Thank you Jesus!


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 9:42 PM
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5

I give you permission to be dismissive about red state customs, pf.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 9:58 PM
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6

2. is the second part of that thought related in some way to the first?


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 11:14 PM
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There must be fifty people clapping at that toddler. Each one of them is unbelievable. That is more people than I can imagine. Ar gha arghha!


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 09-14-08 11:21 PM
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8

Speaking in tongues becomes a hit on the Panamanian charts!


Posted by: CN | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 12:22 AM
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8: Wow. I suppose it's entirely appropriate for a made-up country to put forth a made-up language, but I doubt it's what Messrs. Hay and Bunau Varilla had in mind for Panamá.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 12:38 AM
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10

Those hand motions. I know I've seen them somewhere before. The kid is Mussolini reincarnated.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 5:00 AM
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11

Uh...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/youtube-censors-documenta_b_126202.html

Speaking of speaking in tongues. I'm not sure I approve of the 'be scared of X 'cause X's religion is weird.' It would mean that no one who takes peyote in the Native American Church could ever be vice president.

But I think we won't hear about this since the entire economy is set to collapse in 1 hour and 40 minutes (it's 7:22 AM EST).


Posted by: ozma | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 5:15 AM
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11: Except there's nothing weird about taking peyote.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 5:28 AM
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13

Apo, your demographic is not really a game-changer, though probably it's bigger than my demographic.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 5:36 AM
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14

Apo has like 30 goddamn demographics.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 6:06 AM
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I think we won't hear about this since the entire economy is set to collapse in 1 hour and 40 minutes (it's 7:22 AM EST).

Someone has a case of the Mondays!


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 6:23 AM
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It would mean that no one who takes peyote in the Native American Church could ever be vice president.

Oh yeah, that's why we won't see a Native American elected as VP.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 6:36 AM
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can anyone comment on my post above? I mean, not in a begging for attention way, but in an 'is it possible' way. I can't, seemingly, though comments should be open.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:09 AM
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16: RED MAN INSULTED!! NO ACCEPT PALE FACE BOOBIE PRIZE FIT ONLY FOR WOMEN!


Posted by: OPINIONATED STEREOTYPE | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:14 AM
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Holy Shit! Kai is Blessed!!

Also, Iris was blessed for a few minutes this morning, but once I got her dressed, it went away.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:23 AM
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15 is great.

18 reminds me that Iris has Peter Pan rented right now, and (as B once noted), the Indian scenes are really troublesome. We saw the stage show a couple months ago, and I'd rate those Indians no more than 50% as problematic. Tinkerbell is about 5% as problematic (still a Jealous Woman, but at least not the World's Sexiest Pixie).


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:28 AM
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Explain that praying for Tinker Bell to come to life is America's new economic plan. That way you can make this archaic cartoon relevant to your razor-sharp twenty-first-century kids.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:33 AM
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That kid is toooo cute. Did you see the way he handed the mic back to the preacher and got a little hug. Cute!


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:38 AM
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I'm not sure I approve of the 'be scared of X 'cause X's religion is weird.'

It's not that Palin's version of Christianity is "weird" - it's that it's social and political implications, if taken seriously, are extremely dangerous for a pluralistic democracy.

What people who want to sweep the anti-American ideas of Dominionism* under the rug are asking that we take their religion seriously when it's to their benefit, but not when it might harm them in the public eye. I insist on taking people's religious beliefs very seriously, and that means taking them at their word** about the implications. If someone thinks that the US needs to be an explicitly Xian country with "Bible law" in order to avoid God's wrath, then that person has goals wholly incompatible with everything this country is about, and needs to be kept far away from public office.

I don't think that mocking speaking in tongues (and other "weird," incidental facets of their worship) is in any way helpful towards that goal, but I'm not going to be all lecturey at y'all.

* I'm going to use this as a shorthand for the set of beliefs I'm talking about. I suspect that actual Dominionism is a pretty small subset, but its anti-American tenets are more widely held, and it's those specific tenets that I'm getting at here.

** The words they use when they don't think "we" are listening - I don't give a shit about their press releases, how they spin their beliefs for mass consumption


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:39 AM
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Oh, the clapping for Tinkerbell thing creeps me out enormously. I never saw Pan as a kid, so I didn't know about it - the first time I ever heard of it was that freaky story about the kid who goes to see Pan and, at the clapping part, the actors announce that the crowd didn't clap hard enough, and now Tinkerbell is dead, and the curtain comes down.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:44 AM
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I'm not sure I approve of the 'be scared of X 'cause X's religion is weird.'

All religion is weird. And while "being scared" the weirdness can go a little far, I do think that mockery is an appropriate response. No reason that silliness should get a pass just because its sanctified.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:52 AM
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I'm all in favor of linking prosperity theology to pyramid scams, corrupt self-help gurus, levitation, stock market bubbles, Nigerian spam, Marie Antoinette, gambling shills, counterfeiting, etc.

The affinities are real, for one thing.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 7:58 AM
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27

What are the six degrees of separation between Marie Antoinette and Nigerian spam?


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:06 AM
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"I certainly don't fault Sen. McCain for these problems," Obama said, "but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to."

I'm lukewarm on this.... I'd like to see him actually fault McCain for these problems.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:10 AM
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Nigerian spam -- > getting something for nothing -->
Getting something for nothing and believing that you deserve it --> magical thinking --> "God has blessed me" --> Prosperity theology --> Marie Antoinette.

Prosperity theology is different than the old Protestant Ethic of work and frugality. It's a highroller / scam artist religion. People pray for miracles.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:10 AM
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28: D'oh, wrong thread....


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:11 AM
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31

Never fear, Spike. I transferred it.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:13 AM
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32

Thanks.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:15 AM
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33

Maybe I'm not as versed in 18th century French history as I should be. Was Marie Antoinette into the prosperity theology?

Seems to me that she was already rich, and wouldn't have had much need for it. I think the con of prosperity theology is that it gets sold to people who aren't rich, but want to be. But I guess it also serves a purpose of helping the wealthy fell they deserve it.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:24 AM
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I think the con of prosperity theology is that it gets sold to people who aren't rich, but want to be. But I guess it also serves a purpose of helping the wealthy fell they deserve it.

It's teaching the starving masses that they shouldn't resent Marie Antoinette for having bread and cake. It's very much an opiate for the masses.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:30 AM
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35

"Let them eat cake" was the part I forgot to mention.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:31 AM
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36

Yeah, but if you added "Let them eat cake" it would have push you beyond your 6 degree limit.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:34 AM
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37

I didn't need that many units there. I was unpacking, not boiling it down to a tight argument.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:35 AM
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38

Also, you failed to mention Kevin Bacon.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:37 AM
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39

34 makes sense.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 8:41 AM
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40

OK, so Spike and I have agreed: first we burn down the HQ of Lehmans (with the overpaid workers inside), then we take care of business with the prosperity churches in a cross-country spree.

Comity!


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 9:19 AM
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41

To the pitchforks!


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 9:59 AM
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I know some people really dislike my exposition of simplistic folk-wisdom but if there was ever a better example of the old theatre adage "never appear onstage with a child or a dog' I have not seen it.


Posted by: Tripp | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 10:17 AM
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11: Holy crap. That's my ex, Bruce. Well, ex-before-last. Good for him.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 11:08 AM
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44

Palin's church isn't just weird. They seem to think of themselves as an army to purge the war of sinners (us).

Evil Christians, in other words. Licence-to-kill 007 Christians.

No, I don't think we can be sure that it's just metaphorical. Not in the long run. The anger and hatred they spew might lead to action at some point.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-15-08 11:23 AM
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That kid has a great career as a minister ahead of him. The rhythm, the timing, it's all there. He's been watching carefully as grown people did precisely what he was doing and called it religion.

I grew up in a Pentecostal church and that video is giving me flashbacks. BAD TOUCH!


Posted by: winna | Link to this comment | 09-18-08 3:04 AM
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