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James's Journal

james
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10/23/2008 14:29 #46278

Palin: I'm so AWESOME!
Way to go Sarah Palin!

You are such a great, principled woman. You could of had an abortion, but you didn't! You would have been tempted to abort one of those horrible, ugly, demi-human's with Down's syndrome. But you are so filled with conviction that you didn't kill this disgusting offspring.



Dobson reminded Palin that he sent her a letter after her infant son, Trig was born saying the baby's birth was "a powerful testimony" to the "sanctity of human life." Trig was born 6 months ago with Down Syndrome.

She told Dobson that Trig's birth was "an opportunity for me to really be walking the walk, and not just talking the talk" on her opposition to abortion.



maybe I am just a little pissed off at this woman, maybe I am a little sensitive about this issue lately, maybe it is the way this article was framed. But these remarks do not come off well, as if there was doubt that an absolute stance against abortion applied to other human beings we value less.
gardenmama - 10/23/08 16:55
Absolutely with you on that - mom could use a little humility and compassion. I have alway had the same difficulty with the limiting access issue - it's a brutal class distinction that frequently makes me want to just scream.
james - 10/23/08 16:48
Mr.Mike. She is a voice by proxy. Because of her genetic closeness to Trig she is magically an advocate. And having lived with this for six months I doubt she has any real idea what to advocate for, not that her life's entirety has given her particular insight into much of anything.

G-Mama: That is why I have always found the state's right argument to be false. Limiting access only grants access to those with the means to obtain them. And while I don't believe in a utopia where anyone can get anything, this is an unnecessary restriction. I will say for Trig though, how great that he is born into a family that can afford to give him a high-quality life that families of lesser means can't afford. Good for him. I hope he teaches his mother a little humility and compassion.
gardenmama - 10/23/08 16:31
Maybe it's because I'm a woman, but it seems to me that the real point here is, she had a CHOICE. She can blow her own horn, and so can everyone else who wants to - but she still had a CHOICE!!!

Maybe someone else wouldn't have made the same decision because they know how difficult it can be on a family and on the individual with a disability, or because they just don't feel they have what it takes to give a child what it may need (disabled child or not). Life is different when you have money and power and can access what you and your children need.
mrmike - 10/23/08 15:52
I don't know. I'm the sibling of two special needs guys and she isn't the advcocate that my folks could used when my brothers were young. Only six months in, she is just starting down a what is going to be a tough road for parents, child, and the whole family. I don't say this to denigrate but it rings sort of hollow at the moment. If you are an advocate, you advocate. To pronounce yourself as going to be a voice seems a little empty. Be a voice, that brings people in and would give her some actual credibility.
jason - 10/23/08 15:23
I don't particularly like John Roberts pretty much immediately talking about Trig's paternity, or Capitalists talking about how he and others like him are a financial burden to society, or any of that stuff.

I don't think anyone should be given "credit" for not destroying their baby. Okay Sarah, yeah you walk the walk, that's nice I guess, but most parents don't destroy their children. Oooh fer sure!
james - 10/23/08 15:04
Bravo, way to not abort a disgusting retard!

I don't think the value of an individual is any less because they have Down's syndrome (and I am not implying that you do). But there is an element to these stories that prop up the notion that they are worth less.

And this baby has been on a non-stop PR campaign for mommy dearest since the convention. She is using him constantly to talk about abortion, and that I find deplorable. "See, I should have flushed it but I didn't! Way to go me." barf.
joshua - 10/23/08 14:56
I think she should be applauded for that particular choice she made. She did do the hard thing, after all. I don't think the insinuation is too unreasonable, given that it seems that many people might not have made the same choice knowing the truth about the health of the baby.

We know you are chafing at the mentioning of the lady's name, but c'mon man. Please set it aside for just a second!

10/23/2008 09:13 #46269

Jacob Bronowski
There has been some chatter about Carl Sagan's Cosmos being available online in the chatter pannel, which got me thinking.

The first series that got me hooked on these epic, far reaching TV series was Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. He was a prominent mathematician, but his mind was not bound by mere numbers. He was more of a numbers-based anthropologist, able to dissect what it is to be human through the lens of science. Much like one of my favorite authors, Lauren Eisley.

The Ascent of Man talked about not just science, but the scientific mind and the unraveling of the human story. Filmed at the height of cold war tension, the series is an appeal to the scientific reason which both brought us to the verge of annihilation, and could being us back. Here is the final clip, where Bronowski goes to Auschwitz, where many of his friends and family members were killed.

It is one of the most moving pieces of film I have ever seen.


tinypliny - 10/23/08 19:43
Very cool indeed. And I find myself agreeing with everything he says. Science is about knowing that we are just human and rejoicing in that knowledge for the better.
jason - 10/23/08 11:22
Damn, James. I think you've turned me on to a series I'm really going to enjoy. Thanks a bunch.
james - 10/23/08 11:16
That is what I love about the series and something I think the current angry-atheist movement could learn from. If religion, as they contend, is a symptom of ignorance, why not fight ignorance? Ignorance does not infect only the religious and it is ignorance, not religion, that perpetrates crimes of faith.
drew - 10/23/08 11:06
This is a great clip. It's not a science v. religion thing, or a right v. left thing, it's arrogance and certainty v. humility and inquiry.
james - 10/23/08 09:23
It isn't a good TV series unless there is that cold war hullabaloo. My favorite series are
1)The Ascent of Man
2)Connections
3)Cosmos

and all three are just brimming with atom bomb terror.
jason - 10/23/08 09:16
I'm sure you noticed this too, but watching Cosmos it really seemed like Sagan thought we were really going to blow each other all to hell.

10/22/2008 19:27 #46257

Fucking Idiot in Chief.
image

I have said it before and I will say it again, John McCain should have fired his entire political operation months ago. Look at that scarf!

I guess while in Neiman Marcus spending $115,000.00 she asked the sales clerk "I need a political scarf, the one for my party. Is that the one with the Elephant or the Donkey?"
and the good clerk said hiding the smile "The donkey, definitely the donkey. You betch'ya."
gardenmama - 10/23/08 16:50
Re: libertad's comment - "How many are LEFT?" LEFT - that's hysterical!
james - 10/23/08 11:06
Well Taddykins, she dropped 150k at a few different retailers. NM, Macy's, Saks, to name a few. I am not sure if she picked up this gem at any of those, but it is hilarious to speculate.
fellyconnelly - 10/23/08 11:00
hahahahaha awesome!
libertad - 10/23/08 10:55
No luck on the website. I'm thinking about calling them with a super femme voice and say "I just have to have that scarf that Sarah Palin was wearing at the latest rally. How many are left?!"
libertad - 10/23/08 10:50
Thank you for a great laugh. I didn't even notice the donkeys at first because I was so taken aback by the absolutely hideous scarf itself. Now I wonder if they have that listed on their website...
jason - 10/23/08 09:12
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA......HAHAHAHAHA. Unbelievable.
james - 10/22/08 22:11
Paul: the story isn't fake. It was all in the campaign's financial disclosure reports.

But christ she must be dumb.
paul - 10/22/08 22:04
Is that for real? It seriously blows my mind that she can be so dumb. I mean even if the story is fake about the shopping experience, she is wearing a red, white, and blue donkey scarf that says vote on it, lol.
gardenmama - 10/22/08 19:58
I'd say definitely an ASS!
janelle - 10/22/08 19:33
Or a goat??
tinypliny - 10/22/08 19:33
Hahaha... $115K in erroneous scarves.
janelle - 10/22/08 19:32
Maybe they are moose or caribou.

10/22/2008 08:50 #46246

And the Ass Saw the Angel...
... and that angel had pea soup on his chin.

John McCain got an endorsement today that is right out of the Onion. John McCain has said he will be tough on terror. He wont come home from Iraq in defeat. John McCain is going to crack down on rogue states like Iran and their all powerful president. So it is no surprise that McCain should receive the endorsment of...al-Qaeda?

This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier," the message said.
"Then, al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush."
"If al-Qaeda carries out a big operation against American interests," it said, "this act will be support of McCain because it will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America till its last year in it."



What a chilling retelling of The Emperor's New Cloths.
tinypliny - 10/22/08 11:37
LOLZ it's just so conspiracy theorized, I couldn't help it. ;D
james - 10/22/08 11:35
They could use someone like you at FoxNews TP. ^_^
tinypliny - 10/22/08 11:31
Or it could be a reverse psychology attempt to make people vote for Dems.
james - 10/22/08 09:11
Chilling indeed.

Perhaps more chilling was that al-Qaeda communicates via online forum. Can you imagine what those flame wars look like?
jason - 10/22/08 09:08
Apparently they believe in McCain so much they are willing to execute a pre-election attack to make it more likely. Obviously none of us support this, but it is chilling as hell, ain't it? It sounds like they're talking raw numbers, like they can kill more Americans if McCain is elected.

10/21/2008 13:48 #46232

We Come in Peace


Never has the 70's been so monumentally awesome.