It’s worth taking a look at, even if we are all/have been sick to death of analyzing this man’s character. In the age of the Internetz, we don’t wait for history “to write itself” (as the saying goes), we write it and debate it and revise it while the events are still going on. I for one think this is a good thing, even if it gives us a headache. By the time history gets canonized for future generations, there will be lots and lots of information to draw from, and the old adage of “the winners write history” will perhaps by then be untrue.
I spent the majority of my formative years in South Bend, IN. I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school all my life until college. My high school was located across the street from Notre Dame and it would be safe to say that *most* of my teachers attended that institution of higher learning. In other words, I am familiar with Notre Dame, and I am deeply disappointed with all the bullshit that has been going on there since Obama was asked to be the commencement speaker.
Behold, Catholicism gets hip to youtube and ushers Fr. Corapi, a man with a resonant and authoritative voice, to blather their nonsense.
He claims the Church has “dishonored itself” by inviting Obama to be Notre Dame’s commencement speaker. HELLO, HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Normally, as a liberal, I wouldn’t invoke the label of president to elicit a reverent stance towards anyone. Fight the power, right? But in the past 5 months, the label and institution of the presidency has been restored as a respectful one, as it is no longer inhabited by a village idiot who unbalanced the world with cruel and thoughtless policies. Never did American political life (among other things) tip so dangerously toward chaos than during the 8 years of GWB. But now at the helm of our still teetering realm, we have AN INTELLIGENT, COMPASSIONATE, THOUGHTFUL PRESIDENT.
But apparently Obama doesn’t just disrespect life, Fr. Copari says he is the first president to have an “obviously public and pernicious anti-life and anti-Catholic Christian bias.” What the hell is an anti-Catholic Christian bias? What does that mean? Copari and the Newman Center must have added the word “Christian” in there just to throw us all off balance.
That is clearly going too far. I can understand that Catholics might object to some of Obama’s positions, but wtf, Catholics, I always thought you (we!) had better sense than this! LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE.
We are still in the midst of a torture scandal, in which our nation’s leadership (on both the right and left) failed to be forthcoming about interrogation policy in our terrorist prisons. This isn’t really big news as we’ve known that torture was going on for a while. But I can’t help but be scandalized that the Catholic Church is wasting its breathe dishonoring and making a fool of themselves by protesting Obama’s commencement speech, when they should be re-examining what it means to respect life, and where the Church’s priorities should lay. Like Bush, the Catholic Church has started to rely on culture wars to define Catholic culture. But if we want to foster a world where compassion, tolerance, and Christ’s love reigns, then we can all agree that torture, unjust war (to use the Catholic term!), and poverty degrade life in noticeable, impactful ways. I am pro-choice (though I have a nuanced view of abortion’s morality), and it is preposterous to devote so much energy to one wedge issue when there is so much more meaningful evil going on out there.
Catholics have a strong reputation for being crusaders for social justice, and I know that some Catholics believe that all injustice stems from abortion (the argument goes: if we cannot protect the innocent, who can we protect?!??!)
WELL WE CAN PROTECT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY ALIVE. PLEASE DIVERT YOUR VITRIOL AWAY FROM OUR PRESIDENT AND TOWARD MORE LEGITIMATE CAUSES.
I’m too exhausted to post anything substantial today and I’d really like to do a recap of Jessica Valenti’s lecture, atleast for Anna’s sake, but I’m going to wait until I’ve caught up on some sleep. I do have a new column up on the IDS website in which I mock the latest fad among the ever-crazed and delusional libertarians/Randites- “going galt,” a reference to one of the worst books ever written, Atlas Shrugged. An explanation below [and no, this is NOT made up]-
Some conservatives and libertarians are threatening to curtail economic production in homage to the book. The loose movement, termed “going galt,” is a reference to an uprising led by John Galt, the novel’s antagonist, where the “productive” class of society goes on strike to protest governmental actions. Miraculously, this strike bleeds the government dry, capitalism is saved and the world is whole again!
If indeed people are planning on “going galt” to escape Obama’s taxes for the rich, I say good for them. People who actually like Ayn Rand and glean life lessons from her works are probably brain-dead anyway, so it isn’t like they’re contributing much to society.
God, I hate these people. Read the rest of the piece here.
A few weeks ago, in an interview with the Washington Times, newly-minted RNC chairman Michael Steele discussed his plans for remaking the Republican Party’s image, particularly in order to appeal to the “youth” vote.
We need messengers to really capture that region – young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”
Well, dear readers, I am proud to announce the unveiling of the first of (hopefully) many “urban-suburban hip-hop” videos by Steele. Who knew South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford could rap?!
Ok, while the video was clearly a joke, it makes a point that all Republicans should take note of- not all blacks are rap-listening gangstas. Like every minority group, they’re a fairly diverse group (shocker, I know!) and instead of superficial and offensive campaigns, perhaps Steele’s party can actually begin supporting policies that benefit young black people, instead of blaming them for all the miseries befalling them. Steele’s belief that recruiting some rap artists and planning “off the hook” pr campaigns (an actual quote) can miraculously erase the party’s pathetic record on civil rights just shows how out of touch he is with the black community (and reality).
Politicians like to tell folksy stories that illustrate a moral or a larger point. Telling stories about Margie who lost her health insurance in Virginia or, you know, about Sheriff Lee who discovered that bureaucracy interferes with saving lives, is a convenient rhetorical device to use when pressed for time, as it can reduce a whole slew of ideas into a neat little package, and cause an emotional reaction to boot. No politician is above this device, and nor should they be.
Bobby Jindal mentioned Sheriff Lee and bureaucracy the other night when responding to Pres Obama’s plan to turn our nation into a Communist regime. (JK.) As salon.com and others have now reported, Jindal’s story was exaggerated.
Who cares if it’s true or not? Okay, well, I care a little bit. But the point is, why the hell does a governor denounce government? And furthermore, why is a partisan for the economic ideology that ruined our economy making a speech promoting said ideology?
Most importantly, why aren’t we talking about how the idea behind his exaggerated story is untrue and harmful?
I’ve got a lot of problems, as you can see.
But nothing gets my goat more than that particular Republican idea, invoked by Jindal the other night, and also notably by Sarah Palin in her one glorious debate, that being anti-government is actually patriotic. Call me crazy, but that makes no sense. Being anti-government is being loyal to a deluded vision of America, the America of the Wild West, vigilantes and rebels.
I too have a “niche” view of America, but it’s not that different from Barack Obama’s or even Bobby Jindal’s view, in that I think this is really a land of some opportunity, a place that is a hodge-podge of cultures tumbling, melting, breaking, punching, and eventually finding some peace together (or at least hoping that we find peace in the future). And you know what? I like to think that the government bureaucracy helped this land become what it is, from immigration laws to civil rights laws. Places like France who choose to be officially color blind still do not have the legal or cultural vocabulary to deal with discrimination; it will be a long time until a person of, say, North African descent is elected to a high office there.
So Bobby Jindal contradicts himself when he decries the evils of bureaucracy while simultaneously praising America as a land of opportunity. Those opportunities might not exist without bureaucracy stepping in somewhere along the line.
Remember, after we elected Barack Obama, everybody was twittering about the end of racial barriers in America? Yeah, not so much. Today, the New York Post published a cartoon referencing Obama and the stimulus package, offensive even by the Post’s disgustingly low standards.
Where to begin? On matters of fact alone, the cartoon is grossly inaccurate. While it is true that Obama is the public face of the package, he’s not the author and never purported to be. More problematic though is the imagery. Depicting a black man as a monkey while two police officers stand over him with a smoking gun? Not cool and incredibly racist. Instead of apologizing for publishing this nonsense, the NY Post blamed the furor on all those whiny, over-sensitive minorities.
Col Allan, the Post’s editor-in-chief, said the cartoon “is a clear parody of a current news event.”
“It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist,” Allan said in a written statement.
I love that we’re so past racism, we don’t even need to acknowledge it any more. It’s nice living in post-racial America.
