Bits & Pieces

See the AP story here. And check out the live-blogging over at the Huffington Post.

Here is a McCain ad against his primary opponent in the Arizona Senate race. Love the Orly Taitz clip. How does he think being anti-birther will help him in a Republican primary?

There was a Sarah Palin-Rick Perry rally in Texas on Sunday. The usual crown of intellectuals was in attendance.  More photos here via The Houston Press.

credit: The Houston Press

The above picture is very much like this classic from the last presidential election:

Stephen Colbert defends Sarah Palin’s defense of Rush Limbaugh:

Sarah Palin has frequently criticized President Obama’s use of a teleprompter. At least with a teleprompter nothing is hidden to those in the room.

But check out Sarah Palin’s low-tech iPad:

Oh yes, she is ready to be President.

More details and a closer shot here.

Glenn Greenwald, writing in Salon, points out that if a government asserts that someone is a “terrorist” that does not mean that the accused in fact is a terrorist. The idea that if a claim of “terrorist” is made means anything can be done to the accused (torture, indefinite imprisonment, deportation, etc.) is what helps support the use of torture among a large number of Americans. This despite the fact that torture is both illegal and immoral. It is particularly galling that many on the right (but including a growing number on the left), who claim to be against government interference in the private sector because of alleged governmental incompetance, seem to be quite willing to believe that no claim of “terrorist” can ever be wrong.

The whole point of the Bush-era controversies was that — away from an actual battlefield and where the Constitution applies (on U.S. soil and/or towards American citizens wherever they are) — the Government should have to demonstrate someone’s guilt before it’s assumed (e.g., they should have to show probable cause to a court and obtain warrants before eavesdropping; they should have to offer evidence that a person engaged in Terrorism before locking them in a cage, etc.).  But to someone who equates unproven government accusations with proof, those processes are entirely unnecessary.  Even in the absence of those processes, they already know that these persons are Terrorists.  How do they know that?  Because the Government said so.  Even when it comes to their fellow citizens, that’s all the “proof” that is needed.

This despite repeated proof to the contrary.

Issue ads are generally not accepted for the Superbowl. But this year, CBS will televise an ad created by the anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-woman Focus on the Family.  The ad will be anti-abortion.

Yet CBS refuses to run this commercial for a gay online dating service:

So where does the bigotry lie: with CBS or with the NFL or with both? I vote both.

Remember the (heavily edited) video shot a few months ago in an Acorn office in Southern California. Well the faux-pimp/mastermind of that operation was arrested today trying, apparently, to bug the office of United States Senator Mary Landrieu.  He was arrested by the FBI along with a few equally intelligent comrades, include the son of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Alabama.

Fox News is desperately trying to locate some exculpatory “context.”

No, the headline is not a joke.

I think it is a good thing. That way we can watch two Fox News commentators wing-out over the coming months. The more entertaining will, of course, be Glenn Beck, but Palin won’t be far behind.

Hume is incorrect, by the way.  There is redemption in Buddhism. Bascially, the belief is that by living a proper life based on true compassion for all beings, coupled by proper practice leading to the realization of the interconnectedness of all things and the underlying reality of being, will lead to the redemption of all humans.

Traditionally, redemption was offered through “knowledge” (vidya) in the face of “ignorance” (avidya) which is entangled in the “cycle of incarnation” (samsara); but the Mahasanghika substituted “wisdom” (prajna) for knowledge. Furthermore they replaced the old ideal of the redeemed saint (arhat) with the Boddhisattva, who delays his own redemption in order to primarily lead others to salvation. The new ideal soon became popular. In the centuries that followed additional schools emerged from both of these doctrines.

***

Thus, the main intention of Buddha is to open Buddha’s wisdom in all people, to understand it and to let them enter into it Herewith, even women and criminals, who were damned as insufficient beings prior to the Lotus Sutra, are granted the chance to fulfill their Buddhahood–they are also accorded the universal dignity of life. For this reason, the Lotus Sutra can be understood as a declaration of the dignity and equality of all human beings without exception.

From a modern point of view, the declaration of the Lotus Sutra is that all human beings, irrespective of differences in race, nationality, culture, religion and sex, are equipped with Buddhahood and equally able to develop their Buddhahood, the highest potential for happiness. Herein lies the reason for the pacifist attitude of the Buddhist, which opposes all forms of war and the killing of people. We consider this declaration to offer a basis for fundamental human rights.

Update: Another take on Buddhist redemption from one of Andrew Sullivan’s readers.

Must be the season or something. (via Wonkette)

Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google. Google is evil.

Exhibit A:

If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

– Eric Schmidt, in answer to the following question asked of him on CNBC: “People are treating Google like their most trusted friend. Should they?”

This sort of argument is the lamest that could be imagined to justify spying and invasion of personal privacy. This position would justify installing surveillance cameras in everyone’s home. This kind of arguement is made by totalitarian regimes every day.

Oh, and if you want to learn a little about the personal life of said Eric Schmidt, feel free to look here and see how he reacted back in 2005 when his private information was widely disseminated. At that link, you can also watch this d-bag make the case that can make him rich: trust Google and quit your nasty behaviors.

This kind of argument is bullshit.

And don’t get me started on Yahoo and their simple instructions to the government regarding how to ask for and get user information from Yahoo.  For a fee.

With all of the comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis, young people are beginning to think that the allied powers defeated Nazi Germany because Germany had too much health care.

— Jim Hansen

When Obama addressed the audience at West Point regarding his plans for Afghanistan I was inspired by the sea of up and coming military leadership in the audience.

But then I looked more closely…

Glenn Beck has announced that he has a “plan.” Or maybe that should be “The Plan.”  Basically, he says that his “plan” involves a series of “conventions” (so far only one has been announced at a special patriot price of $25 to $85 per head) giving you a chance to meet with him all day to be educated.  Then later on August 28, 2010, the full story will be revealed by Beck at the “feet of Abraham Lincoln.” Apparently Lincoln didn’t see him coming.

Given his claims that Obama is a socialist, it is of interest that Beck was quoted today as saying:

We need to think like China and have a 100 year plan for America!

At that same rally, a Beck fan snapped this picture of the crowd. Note carefully how Glenn Beck appeals to all ages and races.

By the way, August 28 is the anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. As between the Beck event and MLK’s speech, which do you believe will continue to be regarded as a high point of American oratory.