CommonPrejudice

Tom Selleck is an Idiot

Just heard Tom Selleck on CNN note how "Obama didn't get a mandate from the left-wing of the Democratic Party," implying that this is how Obama is running his government.

Really. So which of Obama's policies have come from the Feingold wing? Universal healthcare? Pulling out of Iraq immediately? Not going into Afghanistan? Trials for war criminals? The end of telecom immunity? Bank nationalization? Higher taxes for the most wealthy (there were no new taxes, Obama just let Bush's preposterous tax cuts expire). Raising the minimum wage? Change to the bankruptcy law? Change to the welfare?

Obama is a centrist....even worse, an American centrist, which in Canada would put him squarely in the middle of the Conservative Party.

Of course, with Blitzer giving the interview there was absolutely zero chance that Selleck's statement would be challenged.

The whole notion is a ridiculous republican talking point that can only exist because the mainstream media have only the most passing familiarity with what their role is in a democracy as well as the fact that, politically speaking, the United States is a very conservative country.

(btw Unlike some of those on the right, I don't deny Selleck - because he's famous - the right to opine. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Problem is you just can't make shit up)

Iraqi Hooliganism

Not for the faint-hearted:

Police say an Iraqi soccer player has been shot dead just as he was about to kick what could have been the tying goal in a weekend game south of Baghdad.

Police Maj. Muthanna Khalid says a striker from the Buhairat amateur team was facing only the goalie during a Sunday match in Hillah when a supporter of the rival Sinjar club shot him in the head in the final minute of play....

Socialism and Communism for Dummies

As many know by now Obama was recently asked by a New York Times Reporter whether he was a socialist. It is really difficult to properly relate how profoundly silly that question/topic is.  A return to pre-Bush level taxation while increasing spending during the most severe economic crisis of our generation is about as socialist as ..... global warming.

In New York today those who believe the earth is flat  climate change is not real are meeting to warn others about sailing off the end of the earth discuss the issue. And apparently the competition among world leaders to replace Bush as dimmest light bulb on the planet is heating up. Here for example is Václav Klaus:

... The organisers believe they have pulled off a great success by bringing in Czech and current EU president and Eurosceptic, Václav Klaus.

Klaus maintains that moves to reduce climate change are an attack on individual liberties.

Last night he said European governments are scaremongering and addicted to extreme environmentalists who want to set the human race backwards by some centuries.

He admitted that he was alone in this view but he received prolonged applause.

He said that the global warming debate has not moved forward and he is reminded of the dissatisfaction people experienced under communism ...

If there is one thing that is absolutely clear in the our battle to save our future on this planet it is that the greatest challenge is not technological nor strutural but simply overcoming our own idiocy.