Author: Michael A. Ventrella

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Treason is only patriotic when the right does it

Hey, remember when a majority of Americans voted against George W. Bush yet he became President by, let’s say, “less than ideally democratic” means?  Were there any mainstream liberals calling for an overthrow of the government?  I can’t recall any, and a search finds none.

Yet we are constantly hearing such talk from the right concerning Obama — who won twice by huge margins.  These sore losers are not just some crazed radicals (both parties have those) — these are people who get coverage on legitimate talk shows and on legitimate (albeit right-wing) blogs.

The gun lovers are mostly the ones who make these arguments, as if treason were patriotic, but other un-American right-wingers apparently think not getting their way because they are in the minority is the exact same thing as tyranny.  It must be hard to live in a world when you are this delusional, but there you go.  (Here’s where all the people advocating the overthrow of our democratically elected government get mad that I called them “un-American.”  There’s that delusion I spoke of;  how else can you classify someone who is so against democracy?)

Of course, none of this is too surprising, as some conservatives are still upset about the Civil War and make excuses for the slave-owning Southerners who committed treason.

Editorial cartoon: Light dawns

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Anti-science hypocrites

“Conservatives hate science!  Look at how they deny evolution and climate change!”

Well, while that is true, you can’t smugly say that while consulting your astrology charts and using your crystals for positive energy.  You can’t say that we should listen to the scientists when they talk about global warming and we should ignore them when they talk about vaccines.  science

Mind you, there is a big difference — liberals who believe in superstition and non-science aren’t trying to force their views on everybody else, like the fundamentalists who want to ban Darwin from the classroom.  But still, I don’t see how you can criticize them for ignoring science if you are doing the same, even in smaller amounts.

Science is not good or bad — it just is.  Conservatives deny science when it contradicts their religious or economic views, but otherwise have no problem with it.  (They’ll scream that evolution is just a “theory” yet never complain about the “theory” of gravity, for instance).  Liberals tend to use generalizations too often with science, by claiming that all genetically-modified foods are bad or that nuclear power is evil without acknowledging that there are huge gray areas.   (And of course, both sides have their share of believers in psuedo-science like fortune-telling, faith healing, ghosts, and scientology.)

So look at your beliefs and make sure you aren’t being hypocritical for pointing a finger at non-believers in science if you too are picking and choosing which science to believe.

Editorial cartoon: The Terrible Tyrant

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Freedom of Screech

“You’re violating my freedom of speech!”

This statement is often heard from people who have no idea whatsoever what they are talking about.

The 1st Amendment prohibits Congress from taking away your freedom of speech.  That’s why they can’t pass a law censoring your views or punishing you for speaking your mind. There is absolutely no way an individual citizen can take away your 1st Amendment rights. Only the government can do that.

So you have freedom of speech. That doesn’t mean you have the right to spout out whatever you want without being criticized.

The people who argue this usually are just upset that someone has disagreed with them.  Well, sorry, my freedom of speech means that I can do that, too, you know.

This came up today when some conservatives recited the inane “freedom of speech” mantra after liberals were writing to the Washington Post to complain about Charles Krauthammer’s latest column.post  You see, Charlie boy  was complaining about climate change — which he denies — and whining that people were trying to silence the dissenters.  When people who understand science complained and suggested that having him say such stupid things in a respected newspaper was like having an Flat Earther pen an op-ed column — and that maybe it might be a good idea for the Washington Post to not print lies about climate change — this was seen as proof of what Charlie said.  See?  They want to violate his freedom of speech!

Freedom of speech does not guarantee you an audience.  You don’t have the right to be in the Washington Post.  People have the right to complain about your column, and if you think that is wrong, then you clearly don’t understand what freedom of speech is about in the slightest.

Somehow, conservatives who boycott advertisers, yell at politicians to prevent them from speaking, and fight to censor books from school libraries that teach evil things like science never seem to think that they are “violating someone’s freedom of speech” do they?

Editorial: Blame the parents

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Bigots pass bigotty Bigot Law in Bigot Arizona

Bigots in Arizona cheered as their state legislature passed the nation’s toughest law against tolerance, understanding, and equality.

“Finally, we can discriminate against gays and lesbians,” say the bigots, who had been doing that for years anyway.   raibow

The law allows businesses to discriminate for religious reasons.  So if you are a person who really believes in the Bible and thinks that it says you should treat gays as subhuman, you’re in.  This is your day.

“It’s great,” said Marcus J. Kellington, a Christian supporter, while eating shellfish and showing off his new tattoo.  “Now I can abide by my religious beliefs without government interfering by taking the side of actual, caring and feeling human beings.”

“The part about how evil gays are is right there,” he said, pointing to the Bible, after passing by the parts prohibiting the eating of shellfish and the wearing of tattoos.  “Wait a minute,  sorry.  That’s the part where Jesus says we should love one another no matter what.  It’s in here somewhere.  Give me a minute.”

Satanist Deathblade Bloodshatter (not his real name), a barista at an Albuquerque Starbucks, is also pleased.  “Dude, now I can refuse to give Christians their morning latte because I don’t like what they do.”  Some Muslim organizations said they would kick out any women not covered from head to toe, and a Scientologist who owns a bakery in Flagstaff will require all who enter his place of business to vow service to Xenu, Grand Dictator of the Galactic Federation, or be denied cupcakes.

“This is what America is all about,” said Governor Jan Brewer.  “The freedom to  deny basic human rights and to be assholes to anyone not like us.”

Editorial cartoon: Boys and the hood

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God wrote the Constitution

The idea that the Founding Fathers were god-like and that their words are carved in stone is out there, and I’ve ranted against it many times (here and here and here, for example).  People who have this idea are political fundamentalists who, like their religious counterparts, know exactly what the (insert one:  Constitution/Bible) means and amazingly it always lines up exactly with their own views.  constitution_quill_pen

But to say that “God wrote the Constitution” — well, that’s just delusional.

Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay believes it, though.  Apparently God, through his angels on earth, wrote the Constitution, including all those parts justifying slavery, not to mention those parts that prohibit the establishing of any religion in this country.  Even more amazingly, God chose a bunch of deists to this.  Prominent among them was Thomas Jefferson, who had edited the Bible to remove all the fantastic miracles he didn’t believe in.

I could ridicule this forever, but the point is this:  People who are convinced that God guides American politics and that they personally know exactly what God wants for America are a huge problem.  It’s why it is impossible to compromise with these radicals.  God is against abortion, so therefore anyone who has a different position isn’t just on the other side of the political aisle — they are agents of the Devil.  Any sort of compromise will surely place the compromiser in Hell.   This gets expanded to the point that any view that the “Devil politician” stands for has to be fought, because if they like it, it must be evil.  Higher taxes?  Has to be Satan’s plan.  No compromise!

Maybe the root of many of our political problems isn’t in politics as much as it is in religion.

Editorial cartoon: Someone’s gotta do it