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In Which No One Should Take Pat Robertson Seriously Ever Again
Just when Haiti thought it had enough to deal with, Pat Robertson comes along.
The erstwhile “700 Club” host and sometime presidential candidate claims that he has isolated the cause of the devastating earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince this week, and it’s…Haiti. Apparently, the island made a deal with the devil several centuries ago in order to get out of the horrors of French colonialism, and now they’re paying the price.
“They were under the heel of the French,” he explained to his co-host, Kristi Watts, on an episode of “The 700 Club.” “You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’”
Those who are trapped underneath shoddily constructed buildings must surely feel some gratification that at least they …
Popularity: 1% [?]
The Dems’ Double Standard?
Harry Reid’s comments may not stand up to Trent Lott’s, but a lack of criticism is undermining the Dems’ credibility.
When Harry Reid was growing up in post-Depression Nevada, the term “negro” had not yet fallen out of common usage. As the Senate Majority Leader is now painfully aware, however, the times have changed, and such terminology has gone the way of the dinosaur and the Jim Crow law. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t seem to be aware of that back in 2008, when he described our future president as potentially successful because he was “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
As usual in the game of politics, such inflammatory comments were seized upon immediately by Reid’s opponents, who accused his supporters of carrying a double standard with regard to senatorial racism. As a result, some prominent Republicans have demanded that Reid, like his predecessor …
Popularity: 1% [?]
How Much Do Teachers Make, Again?
Despite all those stories about how the recession is making us spend more time at home and look for more fulfilling jobs and all of that, there are some among us who have not given up their dreams of a lost way of life. Check out Nicole Zenel.
“I’m not looking at it [Goldman Sachs] for that $20 million bonus,” the MIT MBA candidate says in a Bloomberg article on the popularity of such banks, despite their recent legal, financial and ethical troubles, among aspiring businessmen and -women. In a statement that proves that we have learned absolutely nothing from this financial crisis, Zenel adds, “I’m more looking at it as an opportunity to work for a solid firm that has a track record of success.”
And by “success,” she means “a slew of scandals but a lucrative entry-level salary.” Sloan School graduates who choose i-banking start out at around $100,000, …
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tea Time for America
At first glance, the demographics of the Tea Party seem to confirm all the stereotypes. Texas, noted conservative bastion and perpetual secession candidate, has 91 separate Tea Party organizations. Alabama and Georgia have large numbers of Partiers; so does Florida. Massachusetts, meanwhile, has zero party-affiliated organizations. There are only seventeen people in the state of Rhode Island willing to claim any sort of affiliation with this ideology. And the location of the nascent party’s first-ever convention sounds like a punch line: it’s at OpryLand, in Nashville, Tennessee.
A closer look, however, reveals that while Tea Parties slant heavily towards what Sarah Palin famously referred to as “the real America,” the suburbs and townships outside of our major metropolises, they’re surprisingly spread out – not just the provenance of the famously conservative South, but also taking root in the Midwest (Illinois and Ohio are big), even as far west as California. All …
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Finally, “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage”
I don’t have a lot to add to Ted Olson’s Newsweek piece on why he, one of the capitol’s more prominent Republicans, believes that gay marriage ought to be taken up by the nation’s right wing as well as its left, except to say that his analysis is a thing of beauty.
“The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this, rather than lament it,” he reminds us. Highly recommended.
Popularity: 1% [?]
