How ’bout giving America and Americans the benefit of the doubt for once?

Why indeed. Here’s a few thoughts.

1. A healthy suspicion of government is a good thing. Governments need watchdogs and skeptics. Absolutely they do. Such skepticism is not un-American.

2. A healthy concern for minorities of all types is a good thing.

3. We can’t go around saying we are the greatest country in the world unless we are humble, contrite and self-deprecating. We have to actually BE the greatest country in the world. That means we have to set examples of moral behavior and fairness. We have to take the interests of others into account.

For some reason the Right, which historically has a healthy suspicion of government, loses that as soon as their guys are in power. Only now are we seeing the Right get critical of Bush and co.

For some reason the Right thinks we can selfishly defend our best interests, ignoring the best interest of others and yet cry foul when others do the same (e.g. France).

For some reason the Right will stubbornly be on “America’s side” even when America is wrong. For example, the world now perceives us as a country willing to torture people.

Finally, the Left is concerned with what Thomas Jefferson called the tyranny of the majority. Majorities can run amock. That is my concern, for example, with this whole business about the Bible. Yes, a majority of Americans are Christian. That does not mean we are a Christian country when it comes to our laws or who can represent us in public office.

So I think the Left wants to make the country better and the Right is willing to let us slide on a lot of shit.

Lest anyone think I’m taking sides, I don’t think our congress men and women should put their hand on any religious book when they are sworn in. Or, to take a step back, they can put their hand on any book they want when they are sworn in.

But this retarded opinion is moronic and un-American. America, my friends, does not have a state religion. In fact we put it in our god damn constitution that it is illegal to have a state religion.

Prager says:

Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.

Fuck him. Only Christians and Jews are allowed to serve in Congress? Fuck him. You better go brush up on the Constitution of the United States of America. I think the Koran is just as dumb as the Bible, but I believe in religious freedom, unlike much of the radical right wing.

There was a very interesting segment on Democracy Now! about this story. Amy Goodman interviews two of the men involved. While it is just one side of the story, it is pretty darn compelling. I think this was fear and paranoia in action.

I do understand that fear and paranoia may be high on airplanes right now. The major injustice that US Airways committed was to not fly these guys after the FBI had cleared them after 5 hours of interviewing them. I do blame the paranoid passengers, too, though. I think people incorrectly equate terrorism with Islam. As usual, I am surprised that atheists like me are the ones standing up for these guys. You know the crazy left, all obsessed with civil liberties and shit.

Well I got good news and bad news on my car. Volkswagen agreed to pay for the new transmission but are requiring that I pay for the new clutch. This is kind of odd because the clutch was destroyed by the failed transmission. Still, it reduces my bill from $3600 to about $900.

I do appreciate that they were willing to help me out on this. Technically, they have no legal responsibility to do so. On the other hand, it is very worrisome that, from my experience, a Volkswagen tranny is only good for about 30,000 miles.

I love this car for a lot of reasons. I think the human engineering is very well done. I’m a little worried about the technical engineering now, though.

Does Volkswagen suck? I guess I’d have to say….kinda.

From UTI we get this new low in ridiculousness: Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign

A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

…

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn’t say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.

IT’S A FUCKING PEACE SIGN! When did that become a symbol of Satan? When did sentiments of peace turn into a divisive issue during the holiday season?

Bob Kearns now joins our fucktard hall of fame!

I’ve been a big fan of Volkswagen but we are at a crossroads. I have a 2001 Jetta that I bought new. When it had about 25,000 miles in it, the transmission blew up. It was under warranty so I didn’t worry about it too much. They fixed it for free. On Sunday night it just blew up again. I have under 70,000 miles on it. I’m averaging 35,000 per transmission. That is fucked up.

I had a 3rd party extended warranty, but that expired last February. The power train on these is warrantied for a long time, but they say that they won’t fix the same thing twice under the warranty? I asked about goodwill and he sounded like I may have a shot at that but I have to wait until the manager guy gets back after Thanksgiving.

The repair cost for this is $3600. I think Volkswagen should pay for it. If they don’t, they are lame. I did not abuse this car. I did all of the scheduled maintenance. The dealer is the only person that has touched that car, except for an oil change or two.

OK, VW, time to put up or shut up.

I’ll report back.

Six imams ejected from US flight

If we listen to every xenophobic person on every airplane who is uncomfortable with Muslims, we are fucked. Muslims are not terrorists! Some terrorists are Muslim. Big fucking difference. Some terrorists are also protestant white guys.

My title is somewhat inappropriate because I know we are not talking about race, per se, but the net result is the same. Intolerant, ignorant, paranoid people treating people badly for no reason.

You’ll want to be avoiding the Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp chain of hotels. They have banned CNN from their hotels because they “supported terrorism” by showing footage of Iraqi insurgents shooting U.S. troops.

Wha..?

So if you show actual, unsanitized footage of war, you are supporting the enemy? James Thompson, president of the company, is clearly a complete fucktard with his head well up his ass. The market should punish him.

micadelic said:

If you start with the premise that the right has fucked it up so bad that you can never fix it, you are not only cheating the people of this country who deserve a government that actually works, you are cheating yourself by setting yourself up for failure.

I agree. The Democrats need to prove their mettle by showing leadership and good judgment. (This, of course, with the obvious caveat that Bush still holds a tremendous amount of power.)

The thing is, Bush sent the bull in the china shop. You can’t unbreak the china. The possible outcomes have been limited. Success at this point, as we’ve said all along, is international cooperation to try to get a legitimate Iraqi government going. We can’t do it ourselves and we likely can’t do it quickly. We do need Iraqis to take their country back, but we also have to remember that there are sometimes conflicts so deep in sectarian terms that they are almost permanent.

My point being, success means something different than it used to. When Bush went in success was defined as defeating Hussein. Yes, congrats, mission accomplished. Now success is — to what extent can we minimize civil war while we try to get a legitimate government going? That is a shitload harder than taking out a second rate military.

I think the political problem the Right had with Iraq last week was the result of a policy that seems endless and frankly hopeless right now. The Democrats have to lead us out of hopelessness in Iraq. If Bush lets them. The outcome will not be beautiful.

PS – micadelic, I do appreciate your positive attitude towards the outcome of the recent election. If Left and Right honestly tried to work together, regardless of our differences, good things could be done.

The good news: a Democratic House, likely a Democratic Senate, Santorum GONE, Klobachar IN. The bad news: Bachmann IN, Pawlenty stays.

More good news in that South Dakota didn’t approve an all-out abortion ban. Guess they got a little sick of being described as complete fucktards.

Rumsfeld being gone is more good news. When you architect failure, you should expect to lose your job.

As per my last post, I would be very happy if we had some meaningful compromise and honest, good-faith cooperation between the two parties. Lord knows the pendulum swings back and forth, but I do truly believe that good things can happen with a balance of power.

I do think Bachmann is an evil cunt from hell. But that isn’t really a very cooperative statement.