American Realistan

I’ve been quite remiss in my posting duties due to real-world time constraints. Luckily, I have a few loyal readers who occasionally give me something that I think deserves posting. Such is the case today, an observation concerning the recent claims by Mitt Romney that his father George marched with Martin Luther King. This story has since been disproven, adding to the already numerous reasons (which do NOT specifically include his Mormon faith in my opinion) why Romney is wrong for this nation (standard non-martial law condition applies), but I will allow VS-) to have the floor. Just keep in mind that this was written prior to the story - as presented by the candidate-  being shown to be false.

R

Detroit Free Press is not exactly most reliable source on anything, let alone on all things Romney. But the time is particularly intriguing–Romney now backtracks to say that he was speaking metaphorically when he said that he “saw” his father “march” with MLK. He neither saw them, nor did they march together. As MSNBC puts, “Romney says that it depends on what the definition of ’saw’ is.”

(more…)

I’ve been getting mail from my regulars for the last week or so, and I haven’t been able to respond due to a change in the SMTP policies of my ISP. What this means in clear American language is that I can receive emails, I just can’t send them.

This has me a bit suspicious, in that the stated claim for the instigation of the tighter email transmission policies is to reduce the amount of spam being disseminated, and yet spam - for me at least - isn’t much of a problem. I got a few as we all have, but it hasn’t dominated my inbox.

Rest assured, dear Regulars, that I will - as soon as my real-world occupation ceases its monopoly on my time - make arrangements be become responsive again.

I just wish that was the limit of the communication problems I face. I fear there is more.
(more…)

One definition of “conversation” is “the discussion of great and small topics by people who practice mutual tolerance for opposing viewpoints”. The key phrase is “mutual tolerance”.

Recently, blogger Kathy Sierra had to cancel a speaking engagement due to death threats she had received at her website and other blogs. I haven’t looked into just why her comments riled the hateful to such vile action, but for the purposes of my post, that is not especially important.

What is important, however, is to point out that our nation is facing a situation similar to that just experienced by two Texas fathers and their sons. They managed somehow to avoid death when their boat went over a dam. Our nation is drifting toward the edge of a precipice, and those of us who attempt to point this out to the rest get doused with abuse and calumny.

I guess it’s considered gauche to point out
that the party needs to come to an end
when the End is why there’s a Garishly Opulent Party occurring.

(more…)

This post was supposed to be on Blogcritics, but since it doesn’t meet with their standards, I’m posting it here.

You can tell when you score points with a recent post when the responses to it get personal, ignoring the attributes of that topic in favor of personal slander of the author, during which the commenters make unsubstantiated claims with no links to support their “everyone knows” idiocy.

For instance, Al Barger jumps in with, “Fool calls himself the ‘Realist’ seemingly exactly because he’s not. Brother Nalle makes the obvious point about the basic complete lack of any actual real facts.” That isn’t even properly grammatical English, Al! My own editor, “Brother” Dave Nalle would never let me get away with such sloppy writing!

Since you brought him up, let’s let him get his shots in: “Realist is clearly out of his league. The only value to these omnibus articles of Realist’s is to follow the links to his even more insane sources of inspiration so you can guage [sic] just how crazy the most dangerous elements on the left are.”

That’s “gauge”, Dave. G_A_U_G_E. Look it up.

OK, Dr. Nalle! Having diagnosed my mental condition along political lines, maybe you and “Brother” Barger would like to see some real facts from those who are all-stars in their leagues? You can hit the ‘back’ button to resume your slanderous tirades of me once you’ve determined that I still fit your narrow psychological profile. (more…)

The Times of London published a rather astonishing story the other day. It seems that Israel appointed a Muslim, veteran Labour Party member Ghaleb Majadleh, as a minister without portfolio in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s shaky coalition. There was, of course, the customary tired objections and denunciations from the usual Israeli suspects, but the precedent has been established. As the Arab community constitutes 20 per cent of the population in Israel, the appointment of Mr Majadleh is historic, and might eventually lead to an easing of the tensions between Israeli Jews and non-Jews as they enter the government.

One has to wonder if the flap over Muslims entering American government hasn’t reached the point where, because the precedent has now been established, the dinosaurs of American politics will have find something else to rant about besides the real or imaginary religious affiliations of the duly-elected representatives of We, the People.

As one of my faithful regular readers VS-) put it:

What’s there to brag about in the “Obama Madrassa” non-story? Well, not the story itself–with CNN and Nightline pretty thoroughly debunking the Insight Rag story, there is not much to add on that particular subject.

Sure, the Muslim “parents” (father and step-father) and the school in Indonesia were an easy target that I spotted early, as Obama-for-President stories began to boil over a few weeks ago. (I also spotted the “not-Black-enough” angle that I still believe will be picked up by the Right wing media.)

But there is not much noteworthy in the story itself–some conservative rag and Fox News create a tempest in a teapot, making things up, then get slammed for the slime job. Who cares! That’s not news!

And just what is news? Read on:

(more…)

One of my readers wasn’t too pleased with my comments concerning the Democrats and their initial difficulties getting organized. She chose to write me directly, so I will quote her email with my responses to her below the fold.
(more…)