Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Kings College Student: Hyphenated Americanism Creates a Great Divide

College Insurrection  ... "In an essay for The College Fix, Seaworth reviews the prescient words of President Theodore Roosevelt.
A century ago, hyphenated Americanism was a slur, an epithet, an insult – a means of denigrating immigrants.
President Theodore Roosevelt, in a 1915 speech to the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal organization founded by an Irish
priest to care for “Irish-Americans” during a stage in American history not far removed from the formation of an anti-Immigrant party, The Know-Nothing Party), stated: “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.”
Teddy Roosevelt’s dire warning has unfortunately come to pass; the very embodiment of the mischief of factions, noted by President James Madison within Federalist No. 10, our government was meant to overcome, and yet so embraced and promoted by the Democrat Party.
Today Hyphenated Americanism is worn as a badge of honor by many, a distinction of sorts that separates Americans by skin pigmentation. Our sole identity as Americans has been divided into racial categories, creating a system in which White is American, and all other races are, and always will be, immigrants to this great nation.
…Like Teddy Roosevelt predicated, hyphenated Americanism is ruining this country.Being an American has nothing to do with what color your skin is, it has nothing to do with where your ancestors are from, it has nothing to do with where you were raised. You are either American, or you are not American.
Hyphens are a societal loophole that perpetuate the notion that America is run by old white men who are native to this country, but not its land. Hyphens feed into the notion that America is a country of racial divides, of racist undertones, and facades of acceptance.
If things have gone too far askew to correct, then perhaps we are looking at the wrong place to discover the roots of this acrimony and the way to equalize it. If the addition of the word American to forms is a fix, we have a duty to allow Americans of all races to declare themselves as race.
…Those who cling to their hyphenated status should join hand in hand with those who bare no hyphens and realize the dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr., putting behind the notions of a man or woman born in this country, or who were lawful immigrants, as anything other than simply American.

  

Friday, December 20, 2013

Walmart Selling Out of Duck Dynasty Merchandise After A&E Suspends Phil Robertson. Buy Duck Commander instead! (UPDATE)

Weasel Zippers
 
However, others pointed out that this support merely puts more money into A&E’s pockets as well, with one tweeting: ‘Loving that Tea People are rushing to Walmart to Duck Dynasty swag in protest of A&E who OWNS the merchandising.’Another added: ‘I better rush off to Walmart and buy up all the Phil Robertson merchandise ‘cuz it’s gonna be a collectors item one day.’ -
 
Be aware of this, however;
"BTW, another way to show your support is to purchase Duck Commander products and NOT the Duck Dynasty products. The Robertson family owns the rights to Duck Commander. A&E owns Duck Dynasty.   (Emphasis added)
 
 UPDATE: Oh, no! Say it ain't so! Cracker Barrel Bails On Phil's Products
1221-phil-duck-dynasty-cracker-barrel
 

2013, A Year MSNBC Would Like to Forget

Newsbusters  "During the past 12 months, NewsBusters has chronicled the downward fall of the liberal cable television network known as MSNBC. Not only has the channel dropped by double digits in prime-time and daily ratings, but the network also lost two of its most prominent hosts in very public, very embarrassing ways.

As a result, L. A. Ross of thewrap.com noted in an article that the people in the “Lean Forward” channel "might rather forget 2013," which he noted is when MSNBC will end the year in third place among the cable news networks in total day viewers, due to a loss of 20 percent from 2012

The forces of “tolerance” are intolerant of anything less than full-blown celebratory approval.

Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty
 
Mark Steyn: The Age of Intolerance   "Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson, in his career-detonating interview with GQ, gave a rather thoughtful vernacular exegesis of the Bible’s line on sin, while carefully insisting that he and other Christians are obligated to love all sinners and leave it to the Almighty to adjudicate the competing charms of drunkards, fornicators, and homosexuals. Nevertheless, GLAAD — “the gatekeepers of politically correct gayness” as the (gay) novelist Bret Easton Ellis sneered — saw their opportunity and seized it. By taking out TV’s leading cable star, they would teach an important lesson pour encourager les autres — that espousing conventional Christian morality, even off-air, is incompatible with American celebrity."

Story of the year

Political Cartoons by Chip Bok
Charles Krauthammer  "The lie of the year, according to Politifact, is “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” But the story of the year is a nation waking up to just how radical Obamacare is — which is why it required such outright deception to get it passed in the first place.
"Obamacare was sold as simply a refinement of the current system, retaining competition among independent insurers but making things more efficient, fair and generous. Free contraceptives for Sandra Fluke. Free mammograms and checkups for you and me. Free (or subsidized) insurance for some 30 million uninsured. And, mirabile dictu, not costing the government a dime." ...
Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez
This administration promised us: " Don’t worry. You’ll be left unmolested. For you, everything goes on as before.
"That was a fraud from the very beginning." ...
Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler
And we must ask Harry Reid and his Senate majority, who are the watchdogs of the Constitution:
On what authority does a Cabinet secretary tell private companies to pay for services not in their plans and cover people not on their rolls? Where in Obamacare’s 2,500 pages are such high-handed dictates authorized? Does anyone even ask? The bill itself is simply taken as a kind of blanket warrant for HHS to run, regulate and control the whole insurance system.
 
Full article here. 

There seems to be a theme in these 'toons:
Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson
 
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

Support for Phil Robertson tops Obamacare

Petition launched to reinstate 'Duck Dynasty' star  
... "The petition -- which also calls on A+E to formally apologize to Robertson, his family, and the show's millions of viewers -- says the reality star's comments "are simply reflective of a Biblical 
view of sexuality, marriage, and family – a view that has stood the test of time for thousands of years and continues to be held by the majority of Americans and today's world as a whole."
"The letter reads: "While the LGBT community may be offended by his opposing viewpoint, your rash, discriminatory, and unfair treatment toward Mr. Robertson -- a recognized symbol of the faith community -- is a slap in the face to Faith Driven Consumers and everyday Americans alike.' "
113K Sign Petition Demanding ‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch Return, Rabid Fans Threaten A+E, Robertson Clan Stands United
The petition:

Dear A&E Network,
I am writing to you regarding your network’s intolerant, discriminatory, and punitive treatment of Mr. Phil Robertson, star of A+E’s #1 hit show, Duck Dynasty.
Mr. Robertson’s comments in GQ Magazine are simply reflective of a Biblical view of sexuality, marriage, and family – a view that has stood the test of time for thousands of years and continues to be held by the majority of Americans and today’s world as a whole.
Many members of the LGBT community may not agree with this view, but the notion that a free-thinking American should be discriminated against simply for expressing a perspective that is in conflict with another is patently un-American and flies in the face of true tolerance and civility. A+E’s position, which in your own words is “championing” the gay and lesbian community — which I believe you have the freedom to do — excludes the views of Faith Driven Consumers and effectively censors a legitimate viewpoint held by the majority of Americans.
As a Faith Driven Consumer, I am signing this petition to demand that my views be treated with equality and respect in America’s rich rainbow of diversity.
I am asking your network to immediately reinstate Mr. Robertson to Duck Dynasty, and to formally apologize to him, his family, and the millions of viewers who tune in every week, stand by him, and share his worldview. While the LGBT community may be offended by his opposing viewpoint, your rash, discriminatory, and unfair treatment toward Mr. Robertson — a recognized symbol of the faith community — is a slap in the face to Faith Driven Consumers and everyday Americans alike.
There are 46 million Faith Driven Consumers in America today who spend 1.75 trillion dollars annually. Should you refuse to equally respect and welcome our legitimately held views, we will gladly stop watching this and all other A+E programming and turn to any reformulation of Duck Dynasty on another network – while simultaneously supporting brands that stand with the show and the Robertson family.

Facebook Likes for Robertson Support Page Top Total Obamacare Enrollments  The Facebook page: Boycott A+E Until Phil Robertson Is Put Back On Duck Dynasty

Forget Obamacare! Look over there!

 
10 problems with Obama’s income inequality speech    "The president who was going to keep the focus on Obamacare yesterday digressed to give a base-pleasing, shopworn liberal ode to fighting income inequality. Don’t worry if you missed it. There was nothing new. Raise minimum wage! Extend unemployment benefits! More government spending! My goodness — it’s as if he has slept through the last 40 years of public policy research and economic experience." ... Jennifer Rubin

Obama, Income Inequality, and The Constitution  ... "Think about this: of all of the problems in our world, the President of the United States and his ideological ilk view the fact that some people earn more than others as the problem, the one next to which all others pale in comparison, “the defining challenge of our time.' ” 

The GovFather requests...

 
Obama Administration Asks North Dakota Insurance Company To Stop Reporting Enrollment Numbers   ... "Now BCBS of North Dakota – whose PR department, I think it bears repeating, is now being run by former Democrat candidate for US Congress Pam Gulleson* – is claiming the feds asked them not to release any more embarrassing enrollment numbers."
 
* "Update: BCBS is now walking back their comments, claiming that they weren’t told to hide the numbers."
Any connection of that to the new PR head mentioned above?

Obama dictates private insurance companies must provide “free” contraception instead of religious institution  ... "This is the tip of the iceberg, foreshadowing what the country can expect from Obamacare. Healthcare will be used to control behavior, the way tax code dictates the direction of our spending by allowing or disallowing deductions and giving tax credits for specified behaviors."

CNN: Obama Admin Intimidating and Threatening Insurance Companies To Keep Quiet  ... "It seems that the Obama administration is putting major league pressure on the executives of the largest insurers and trade groups to not speak out regarding the variety of problems with his health insurance rollover roll-out." ...

New Obamacare Rule Dictates Mental Illness Treated Equally as Physical Illness

 

Reading list; Duck hunters think they have bagged one

'Duck Dynasty' Family: 'We Cannot Imagine the Show' Without Phil Robertson  ... "We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right. We have had a successful working relationship with A+E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm." ...
Duck Dynasty
 
A company called Skyjacker -- which builds truck suspensions -- tells us it stands solidly behind Phil and the show  Misquote: "Robertson opened up a can of worms when he said homosexuality and bestiality were the same sin ... his church seems to back Phil up on that."
He did NOT say that, but said it would be a natural progression of the trend which would include bigamy, child marriage- already practiced in many cultures.
 
Hunting Duck Dynasty ... "The PC crowd, including most media progressives and liberals, have hated Duck Dynasty from the start. In the same way they hated Sarah Palin when she arrived on the scene, unapologetically espousing her conservative Christian views all over the airwaves." ... Read more:
....
"Supporters of the Duck Dynasty clan can rest assured that Phil Robertson isn't surprised or worried about what's happening to him and his family for openly espousing their Christian faith - because he truly believes the words of Christ Himself when He said:

"You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."
Mark 13:13
 By Keith Edwards in American Thinker.

Odd Duck at Gay Wedding
131219 -odd-duck-dynasty-cartoon
Chip Bok writes:  "Sometimes tolerance isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to bake a cake.
"That’s what a Denver judge told the owner of a bakery who declined to make a cake for a gay wedding. The baker’s argument that same sex marriage violates his religious beliefs wasn’t good enough for the judge.

"Odd Duck

"A+E didn’t order Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson to bake a cake when he professed similar religious beliefs. The network suspended him indefinitely." ...
....
"Camille Paglia calls “this is level of punitive PC, utterly fascist, utterly
Stalinist”.
"Which brings me back to Jonah Goldberg and his excellent book “Liberal Fascism“. "

Huge backlash mounts over suspension of ‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson   "As of Thursday night, more than 1.1 million people “liked” the “Stand With Phil Robertson” Facebook page, while about the same number had clicked their support for another Facebook page called “Boycott A&E Until Phil Robertson Is Put Back On Duck Dynasty.” There was even flak on the Web page of the gay advocacy group that demanded his firing."

Phil Robertson, Diversity + Offensensitivity   ... "The problem is that those in cultural power love to talk loud and long about diversity, but what they really want is everyone to march in lock-step agreement, or else." ...

UPDATE: 'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson once a college quarterback
"Robertson didn't play his senior season, instead deciding to spend his time hunting and fishing. You may have heard of the guy who replaced him as the Bulldogs' starting quarterback: Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw."
Video

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Look out Southern California; here comes the Westboro church!

Westboro Baptist Church Picket Schedule  For January and then on to Missouri in February.
  • Salem Lutheran Church and School in Glendale, CA    January 12, 2014  8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
  • First United Methodist Church of Glendale in Glendale, CA    January 12, 2014  8:45 AM - 9:15 AM
  • Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, CA    January 12, 2014  10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
  • Holy Family Catholic Community in Glendale, CA    January 12, 2014  10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
"Golden Globe Awards at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA    January 12, 2014  3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
"WBC will picket the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills on January 12. The Golden Globes recognize the best in film and American television."
  • El Segundo High School in El Segundo, CA    January 13, 2014  7:10 AM - 7:40 AM
  • Then on to Missouri;   Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO    January 18, 2014  6:45 PM - 7:30 PM
  • KC Music Hall in Kansas City, MO    January 19, 2014  6:15 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Midland Theatre in Kansas City, MO    February 1, 2014  7:15 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO    February 13, 2014  6:45 PM - 7:30 PM.   They're picketing a...a ventriloquist?
  •  

Duck Commander; the pot boils

"Robertson's fans used the hashtags #BringPhilBack and #StandWithPhil in tweets to A&E, voicing their opinions."   
Here are some tweets for A & E

martha maccallum         @marthamaccallum
Lemme get this straight - A&E loved Phil, cz he was gun carrying, real and Christian, until he was those things?
 
Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

 


Legal Insurrection has much to say on this subject:  ... "The slippery slope is not an equation of one to another, it’s seeing how far the logic can last before reaching moral absurdity.
"What about beastiality?  Professor Eugene Kontorovish recently noted the debate in the terms of the arguments used to expand personal sexual privacy rights:" ...
Now seems like a good time to revisit a post on bestiality from earlier this year, which surely seems less radical now. Bestiality bans are [even?] less constitutionally defensible than polygamy bans because the purported harms associated with the practice are lower. It does not undermine families because it is not a substitute for traditional unions (though presumably limits one to unusually broad-minded spouses). Nor does it oppress women, the empirical claim behind bans on polygamy, as well as prostitution.

Hey, wait! How'd this one get in here?
Backlash Grows Against 'Duck Dynasty' Firing  " 'Phil Robertson and his family are great citizens of the state of Louisiana," Jindal said on the official website of the governor's office. "The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they disagree with.' " ...

Coulter: 'Duck Dynasty' Star Robertson Said 'Nothing Offensive'  "Ann Coulter says gays are being hurt by A&E's suspension of "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson for his controversial comments about homosexuals and she believes an "angry gay Mafia" is to blame."

NRO: A&E’s Problem — And Ours   " The kneejerk instinct to silence anybody who steps out of line — which we have seen recently on both sides of the political aisle — is deeply injurious to our folkways, and it should be condemned. Shame on you, A&E. Shame on you, GLAAD. Shame on you if you applauded the move."

Ann Althouse considers:   ... "And the attacks are unfair. He didn't compare "being gay to bestiality." He put homosexual conduct — not the status of being gay — into a category of sins that included "sleeping around with this woman and that woman" as well as bestiality. We don't see the heterosexual men who enjoy multiple sex partners getting hotheaded over Phil Robertson. Why not? They're not organized to make political demands at the moment, but they haven't had to fight for the right to fornicate recently."

Well, all this should about cover the subject for today

10 Truths Mainstream Comic Books Evade To Promote ‘Muslim Superheroes’

"An Ex-Muslim independent cartoonist vs the politically correct cowardice of Marvel and DC Comics."

Bosch Fawstin  "The Muslim terrorist is a cliché. But only in real life. And in post-9/11 comic books, “Muslim superheroes” are becoming a cliché. As a cartoonist and as a recovered Muslim working on an anti-Jihad graphic novel called The Infidel, featuring Pigman, I’ve identified certain truths that Marvel and DC Comics have to evade in order to shove their “Muslim superheroes” down the throats of their readers.
....
As I’ve argued in my work, a good Muslim by our standards is a bad Muslim by Islamic standards. Therefore, a true Muslim superhero would be a Muslim supervillain."

The Bosch Fawstin blog
Islamophobia ISLAMOPHILIA
 
“Slaughter him. Right. Because he is an infidel. Anyone who does not believe in Islam is an infidel.”  "Children, at least some of them, learn what they’re taught, and follow in the paths their elders have mapped out for them. Yet in response to all this, Western leaders issue denial after denial that any of this has anything to do with Islam, or that it calls for any accountability, much less genuine reform, among Muslims in the West. Some of the current shapers of public opinion and public policy may be repeating that Islam is a religion of peace and that only “Islamophobes” think otherwise right at the very moment that one of the boys who learned the Syria jihadist’s lessons in this video begins to slit an infidel’s throat."