Watering Hole: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 – It’s A Matter of Perspective

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The other week, we had dinner in a Lebanese restaurant.  On the wall next to the booth that my husband and I shared, were various photographs of Lebanon.  The owner must have seen us staring at these pictures as he came over to our table and began telling us about the various locations.  Some of the writings on the photos looked like French words.  We were informed that French is the official language of Lebanon.

The owner, I’ll refer to him as Jake (not his real name), was in a social mood as he stayed by our table and continued to talk to us as we were waiting for our food to arrive.  Jake began by telling us the story of the Lebanese civil war.  He was a leader in the “Christian Army” as opposed to the “Muslim Army”.

I’m going to cut to the chase.  There was one story that he told us that we found particularly interesting.  Jake told us that when the conflict first started, the US did NOT support the Christian Lebanese.  Here’s Jake’s version (paraphrased) that is not told in our history books.

Henry Kissinger had a plan for Lebanon which was to remove the Christians and replace them with the Palestinians from Israel.  Jake told us that the Lebanese Christians were offered “millions” of dollars for them to move out of Lebanon and to move to Canada.  The “Christians” were not going to have any of that so they sought help and received help from Israel and the civil war continued.

Support for Jake’s story is difficult to find and it certainly is not the story that was on the evening news in the United States. Whether Jake’s story is true or not is just a matter of perspective.

If you have the time, here is an interesting article in Slate that discusses the civil war in Lebanon and what was happening in Iraq in 2006.

This is our Open Thread.  What’s your perspective about anything?  Speak Up!

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202 thoughts on “Watering Hole: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 – It’s A Matter of Perspective”

    • Why isn’t Joe theNota Plumber coming out and picking? Oh, right, he’s too busy manning the borders with armed lunatics…

    • I will be truly happy when every persecuted person of Mexican decent flees Arizona and residents are forced to do their own dirty work in kitchens and outdoors.

  7. Akin’s son is his campaign manager and his wife is his top political adviser. The family that stupids together loses together.

  8. From Media Matters this morning:
    Brian Kilmeade triples down on the duhWTF…
    Fox’s Kilmeade On U.S. Troop Deaths: “Where Is [Obama's] Apology To Our Troops?”

    Umm, Brian? The CINC doesn’t apologize to the troops. He’s their leader. Not that you’d have a forking clue about anything like that, since Faux’s idea of leadership is to hurl blonde bimbos and vacuous morons such as yourself at the viewing pubic(sic).

    ..P.S. just looked up Kilmeade’s bio, and not surprisingly, didn’t serve in the military…Stop pretending to care, you fuckwit. Get back to reporting on imaginary voter fraud and headless corpses in the Arizona desert.

  9. Interesting, given that it’s being held in a facility that used public funding.

    GOP convention session to be themed “We Built This!” – Fox News

    The GOP is turning what some see as a presidential slight aimed at business owners and entrepreneurs into a theme for a night of the Republican National Convention next week, titling Tuesday night’s session “We Built This!”

    But, there had to even be a lawsuit to get the use of public money to build the Tampa “Ice Palace” (the name of the facility when it was built).

    Although Florida’s Constitution prohibits the lending of public
    credit to aid a private corporation, many local governments in
    Florida have constructed or renovated athletic facilities at least in
    part with public funds.

    In 1996, former Tampa Mayor William F. Poe filed suit seeking to enjoin the construction of a new community stadium to serve as the new home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (as
    well as other users) financed by a bond issuance secured with various tax revenues.

    On May 22, 1997, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld the use of public funds to finance the new stadium in Tampa, ruling that such use of public funds did not violate
    the constitutional prohibition against lending public credit.

    http://www.law.stetson.edu/lawreview/media/public-funding-of-sports-stadiums-and-other-recreational-facilities-can-the-deal-be-too-sweet.pdf

    An examination of the background, issues and ramifications surrounding the stadium litigation in Tampa. – Free Online Library

    I do hope someone in the media keeps pointing this out. Florida’s constitution prohibits the use of public funding for such projects, but they got it built with public funding anyway.

    So the Republicans can try to claim that they built it (and I realize they’re referring to their convention, and not the building itself) but the irony is still there.

    Plus, I wonder who did all the hard work inside the building to get it ready? Who built all the stages, platforms, etc?

  10. Cats, my high school biology teacher was an Iraqi Christian expat. Nicest guy ever, Dr. Ahmed Parsa. Some of the tales he told of life in Iraq raised the hair on the back of our scrawny necks!!

    • My mother lives in a senior building with a bunch RWNJ Fox viewers who blame Obama for everything. Many of them are Russian immigrants who get all kinds of unheard of benefits while driving luxury cars. They hate Obama too. My mother is legally blind and can’t get any kind of aid for anything. She claims the only intelligent, kind person in the building is an elderly Iranian man.

  12. Paul Ryan is about to give a speech in front of a sign reading “We Did Build It!”

    Seriously, I think this is a dumb idea. Only the most stupid people in this country don’t understand that anything we do is a group effort, and those idiots are already voting for Vulture/Voucher — if they can find a voting booth.

  14. The NFL announced today that the Jacksonville Jaguars will play at least two games in London during the 2013 regular season.

    They will then be known as the Jack-Londons.

  15. WWJD … What Would Jesus Donate?

    The Paul Ryans donated $12,991 to charity in 2011, and $2,600 to charity in 2010 — which are 4 percent and 1.2 percent of his income, respectively.

    Lets round it out at 2.5 percent. The average is 3.5 percent. How much did the Obamas give in 2010? 14.2 percent – compared with Ryan’s 1.2 percent – and Santorum’s 1.7 percent. Romney was far more generous (so he says), largely through tithing – but he was still beaten in percentage terms by Obama in 2010. But it’s Ryan who is the most prominent advocate of replacing state care with private charity. It’s just that others will have to supply the charity. Judging by his past, he sure won’t.

    • Romney doesn’t give to charity he gives to his super wealthy church. And we don’t know what percentage he gives because we don’t really know what he makes. Why aren’t his 2011 taxes finished. The final deadline for tax extensions is Oct 15. Bet he tells us they aren’t done by then either.

  16. Clip’n'save:

    “Every religion has its own unique doctrines and history, these should not be bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance.” — Mitt Romney, in an interview released today with the Washington National Cathedral’s magazine, Cathedral Age

    • Yes, but His Noodliness Knows that when people make stuff up about spacemen coming and talking the the Indians and promising them their own planets when they die …. well at what point one person’s religion become a joke that anyone with an ounce of reason can spot a mile off?

      • Not to mention all the doctrine defining Black people as the spawn of Satan.

        What I find most fascinating about Mormon doctrine (other than the really weird shit about God living on another planet with some or all of his wives) is their ability to turn on a dime when it is politically expedient to do so. This applies even in the most basic and central of doctrines, like polygamy. It’s like the Roman Catholic Church suddenly bagging transubstantiation.

        • I don’t trust anyone who claims to ‘talk to God’ – which God? how do you know its not a bad God with an agenda all its own, like chopping up and eating gay guys in Milwaukee or putting on a suit of armour and taking the first boat ‘Holy Land’.

          Mormonism must attract people who can delude themselves easily…

          • I can understand how someone raised as a Mormon would swallow their beliefs, just like anyone raised as a Catholic or a Holy Roller. How they could ever convert anyone to their beliefs boggles my mind. OTOH, it worked wonders for L Ron Hubbard and his made-up cult is arguably wackier than most. Of course, one of his more brilliant ideas was making people pay money (lots of it) in order to become a member and then rise from level to level (becoming more special every time). If you had to pay for it, it must be good.

            • That’s the fascinating thing about cults and religions …. the ones that are single-minded about gaining political power seem to survive and become ‘religions’ and the ones that are happy to pull on the black tracksuits and drink the ‘Jim Jones High-ball’ remain cults that disappear in a blaze of ‘well they were simply loonies’ publicity.

          • ‘taking to God’ !!! No, that’s your own mind talking. Or it could be schizophrenia in which case you have ‘multiple’ minds talking. There are meds or newer alternatives to meds to help mitigate the ‘multiple’ minds. I’m no doctor but I’m guessing that schizophrenia is not a black/white issue – meaning that a person could be a little bit schizophrenic or completely non functioning schizophrenic.

            If you think the voices in your head are God, seek help!!!!

            • I still don’t understand why Mormonism is off limits but Reverent Wright wasn’t. And I thought Republicans lead by Limbaugh are against political correctness.

            • Easy. Rev. Wright is a Satanic-spawned black, a commie-socialist-fascist-marxist-nazi-faggot and Romney is a fine white American, a multi-millionaire taxpaying devout believer who wants only the best for everyone.

  17. Awkward HuffPo headline of the Day:

    Obama shifts to Ryan education plan

    They might have wanted to put the word criticism after “shifts.”

  18. QOTD:

    “I have a job to do as president, and that does not involve convincing folks that my faith in Jesus is legitimate and real. I do my best to live out my faith, and to stay in the Word, and to make my life look more like His. What I can do is just keep on following Him, and serve others—trying to make folks’ lives a little better using this humbling position that I hold,” – President Barack Obama.

    Yeah, he’s too logical for Wingtopia.

  21. Wake up: It’s not just Akin – CNN.com

    Last March, in a discussion in the Kansas House about whether women purchase separate abortion-only policies, Republican state Rep. Pete DeGraaf suggested women should plan ahead for rape the way he keeps a spare tire. A few weeks later, Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner, a Republican, said some women might fake being raped in order to get free abortions.
    Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suggested doctors who perform an abortion on a woman who becomes pregnant from an attack should be thrown in jail and this year suggested rape victims who become pregnant from an attack should be forced to keep the baby and “make the best out of a bad situation.”

    • I remember the spare tire moron. As if women are to blame for being raped and should always be prepared for that inevitable happening, but we can’t be bothered to tell men DON’T RAPE ANYONE.

    • No, No, the egg is an Xian egg, and as such, can detect whether the sperm was from a white heterosexual genteel male or some lowlife non-white scumbag rapist. It then determines if it should answer the door with or without a semi automatic assault rifle. That’s what Repiggies think, so it must be white, er, right..

  26. It appears that a hurricane may be heading toward Florida just in time for the repiggie convention. Wasn’t there a hurricane for the last repiggie convention in New Orleans?

    Somebody call Pat Robertson. :roll:

      • The FSM does answer some prayers. Depends on the quality of the chocolate milk and cookies sacrifices you leave.

    • If God has a sense of irony, it will hit while someone is giving a speech decrying wasteful government programs, citing FEMA as an example.

    • It probably does, however, include making gays wear a rainbow star sewn to their clothing.

  29. I am puzzled by the efforts of the GOP to suppress the Blah vote. These Blah people are Xtians in most cases and want to vote after church. I thought the GOP wanted the Xtians to vote? I suppose you have to be the right kind of Xtian,huh?

    • Blah folks might SAY they’re Christians, but remember, they’re really descendents of Ham and spawn of Satan, therefore they’re not really people and shouldn’t be voting anyway. I’m sure it’s in the bible someplace, probably in the book of Moron, too.

      Oops. Did I say ‘Moron’? I meant ‘Mormon’ of course. My bad.

      • My sister, who lives in Kansas, was telling me many weeks ago about Claire’s “clever” maneuver to get this asshat Akin to run against her. I replied that many years of playing and watching athletics taught me to NEVER underestimate your opponent.

        Duh.

    • And, if he wins, Claire, we expect you to jump into the Mississippi river and come up for air somewhere north of New Orleans.

    • Of course, he does it in the wimpiest terms possible:

      “As I said yesterday, Todd Akin’s comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country,” Romney said in a statement Tuesday. “Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.”

    • Let’s see if Ryan joins him – after all – Akin was only explaining Ryan’s similarly-held position

      • oh holy effen jeeessus. Are they truly that ignorant/stupid/thick headed…

        A menace to society is what he is…a menace.

        • Mary: “I don’t actually remember how many Roman soldiers it was, Joe, but hey God blessed me with a child, so that’s cool eh?”

          Joe: “Mosseltof!!”

      • OMFG :shock:

        So she’s been attacked in the most brutal manner imaginable by a stranger/date/uncle/daddy/husband, has probably beaten, threatened, or actually harmed with a weapon, and will never be the same child/girl/woman again, but if she finds herself pregnant as a result, that violent violation of every part of her being is actually a blessing from God, and there’s no getting rid of that unwanted little consolation prize.

        Get bent, you nasty-assed, self-loathing, bile-brained bitch.

          • You mean blessed by god?

            You know, the kind of blessing that could tear your body apart and destroy your ability to have children when you actually want them.

    • Not so secret code in the replies…

      Most of us should know by now that BO is NO thoroughbred from the homeland.

    • Wow. That’s some seriously psychotic crap. Gotta go now, however, to participate in our daily attack on the 2nd Amendment. Got to earn my paycheck from Smith & Wesson.

    • Wow and HOLY SHIT, talk about nuts! The post itself was crackpot crazy, but some of the comments were beyond belief! The commies are coming, God will save us, and how about secession?

      Most of us should know by now that BO is NO thoroughbred from the homeland. He had been coddled and groomed from early childhood by the COMMUNISTS who long ago promised to destroy us. A lot of Liberals here have been FOOLED and Brainwashed for so long they no longer feel the heat from the fry-pan or smell the stench of well-planned LIES and FRAUD. At least Newsweek recently caught a “whiff” of what the TRUTH smells like! Keep passing it on to all you know!! WE CAN take this Nation back and we must TRY everyday!

      God can save us:

      We know that troubled times are ahead but We The People (With The Help of the Lord to Strengthen Us) will deal with the “trouble” when it comes.

      HIS Grace is Sufficient !

      Or maybe secession? Yeah, hey, why not!:

      Actually, a “peaceful separation” of the states might be in everyones’ best interest.

      Secession is not unconstitutional. Obama might be surprised at how many states would actually exit. He’s no Abe Lincoln. This is not 1861. We are not experiencing the “age of innocense.” There is television. There is internet. Americans will never endure another blood bath as was witnessed during the war between the states. Certainly, not for Obama and Communism. In reality, many anti-Communists would welcome the moment! The long festering anger toward Progressive would be greeted with dreams of a massive turkey shoot. Not pretty!

      I must live in a cave. I mean, I know there are nuts out there, but holy shit!

      Maybe humans didn’t really evolve from the apes after all. I mean, surely no monkey or gorilla could possibly be as stupid as your every day teabagger. Right? I mean, really!

      • If they want to go, they can take all of the southern states, including Texas, and get the fuck out. I will fully support and celebrate their exit from our country.

        • But, as I always insist when the discussion drifts this way: they can go but they can’t take our stuff with them. No military bases, no defense contractors. Hell, we should take back the TVA.

          I will regret losing New Orleans, but I suspect that 10-20 years later the departing states will coming whining back for the Federal teat.

  35. via LGF

    Todd Akin Capitalizes on Dumb Comments by Asking for Money, With a Picture of a Fetus

    With extra bonus points for misspelling an incredibly simple word.

  36. I’m Shauna Prewitt. I got pregnant from rape at 21. Legitimately:

    “Rep. Akin, your statement poses another setback to the cause that I have fought passionately for since my life changed forever when I was raped and became pregnant from that rape at 21. But your statement has not landed on deaf ears or weak legs. My rape did not end my life and, in a profound way, I have become a stronger person after my rape. I will fight to extinguish your inflammatory statements just as ardently as I fought to reclaim a vibrant life. I hope you will find my concerns “legitimate.” ‘

    http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/dear-representative-todd-akin-i-got-pregnant-from-rape

    • I’ve never lived where it’s cold enough for such wear – thanks for the info!
      See you in hell.

        • I forgot to mention the scarf. Great for insulating any part of the body and almost as useful as a towel!

          I actually once used my scarf to get a friends car unstuck from a snow bank. I ruined said scarf but it was better than having to walk 3 miles in 30 below wind chill.

  38. DSCC Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) immediately after the deadline for Akin to withdraw from the MO race:

    The moment Washington Republicans first heard Congressman Akin’s remarks their inclination was to defend him. They circulated his statement and encouraged the media to move on. Not until the establishment saw the political backlash and saw that this would hurt Republicans across the country did they change their tune.

    Don’t be fooled by the faux outrage. This is not about principle. Congressman Akin’s substantive position on choice is the official position of the Republican party. This is about Washington Republicans playing politics with the voters of Missouri, plain and simple.

    The Republican establishment has poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of Senate candidates who share some of the same positions as Congressman Akin. Sharron Angle said that forcing a rape victim to carry the pregnancy was making ‘a lemon situation into lemonade,’ and Ken Buck refused to prosecute a rape case because he said that the victims just had ‘buyer’s remorse.’

    No one in the Republican establishment is standing up today to protest the party platform, which forces rape victims to carry their pregnancy to term. If Washington Republicans are not willing to stand up and defend rape victims when it counts, they should not have a say when Missouri Republicans nominate a candidate who shares that view.

    This is hypocrisy of the highest order.

    • I would never have guessed that we’d be discussing “legitimate rape”, and “forcible rape” in 2012, or that folks would advocate forced pregnancy for women already traumatized by forced sex. I’m ready to just go hide in the woods.

      • I wonder if the women in Afghanistan were as outraged and confused, in the years before the Taliban took over, as we are now?

      • Against all odds; our country, at least the right-wing, is still regressing. They won’t be happy until they usher in a new dark age.

    • Ya know what? None of this is having any negative effect for GOPers. Zilch. They just dig in their heels and the base firms up and they hope they can snare some ignorant indies in their path.

      November awaits….

      • I think you’re right, badmoodman. Only the fence-sitters (who are these people?) might choose to vote one way or the other because of this.

      • The people they are playing to would never have voted Obama. If you’ve got to go full wingnut in order to shore up your base you’re doomed. At least I hope there aren’t enough of the fascists to form a majority.

      • I’ve forgotten where I read an overview of polls but the number of “undecided” voters is very low for this far out from an election. I think that most people have made up their minds already. There is, of course, a wildcard. There is a chance that some fundies will refuse to vote for either the “Mormon RINO” or the black guy. I would not be surprised if quite a few stay home or write in Ronnie Raygun or Jesus as a protest vote.

    • Fischer is one of the more vile vile freaks poisoning the body politic. He’s one I would probably enjoy educating about what really constitutes “persecution”. A pillow case full of brass doorknobs perhaps?

    • I would think that the demographic group that would lean conservative, and favor Twisted Sister would be a very small number anyway.

    • They have Hank Williams *jr* and Ted Nugent ……

      …..piss poor choices really

  47. Hell Hath no Fury Like Saying ‘Hell’ in Your Valedictorian Speech

    For her part, Kaitlin is symbolically saying “to hell with Prague and it’s phony concerns. She’s already left for college where she’ll major in biology and natural science education. She also has a fiancée according to at least one media source. Here’s where it gets interesting. The fiancee’s name is supposedly Candi Werner.

    But is the problem really the “hell” word? :lol:

  48. So Romney has flip-flopped? Shocking!

    Romney Endorsed by, Praised Dr. John Willke, Leading Proponent of Idea That Rape Lowers Pregnancy Risk – Garance Franke-Ruta – The Atlantic

    Mitt Romney distanced himself Monday from embattled Missouri Rep. Todd Akin over the Republican senate candidate’s assertion that “legitimate rape” causes women to “shut down” conception.

    “He should understand that his words with regards to rape are not words that I can defend, that we can defend, or that we can defend him,” Romney told WMUR during a campaign swing through New Hampshire.

    But this isn’t the first time a member of the Republican Big Tent has asserted this, and in 2007 presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought and won the endorsement of the man who has since the mid-1980s promoted the scientifically baseless idea that rape doesn’t lead to pregnancy, Dr. John C. Willke.

    Hailing him as “The Father Of The Pro-Life Movement” and “an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda,” the Romney for President campaign in 2007 welcomed Willke’s endorsement.

    • Here he is, pioneering this wingnut version of female sexuality back in 1999:

      “First, let’s define the term “rape.” When pro-lifers speak of rape pregnancies, we should commonly use the phrase “forcible rape” or “assault rape,” for that specifies what we’re talking about. Rape can also be statutory. Depending upon your state law, statutory rape can be consensual, but we’re not addressing that here.”

      Yes, you read that right: “statutory rape can be consensual”

      • Gawd, that is so fucking stupid. It’s called “statutory” rape because the victim is not of an age to CONSENT. Therefore, statutory rape cannot be consensual.

        *banging head on desk*

  50. Somebody needs to find Cenk Uygur debating Dinesh Dsouza on tonight’s The Young Turks. It may make Youtube tonight, but post it in the morning so everyone sees it.

  51. In a lot of states, a rapist retains parental rights to the child that might be created as a result of his act. If a woman decides to continue this pregnancy, and the rapist has parental rights – presumably visitation rights, as well — I have to wonder if this isn’t cruel and unusual punishment for the victim to be forced into contact with her rapist over the course of the life of that child. But why do I even suppose that the pro-forced pregnancy crowd has even thought this issue through?

    • Some states require (or used to) that the rapist be given the opportunity to sign away his parental rights in the event of an adoption. Friggin’ insane.

    • I know exactly what that’s going to be in a few months…

      A big ham! (And I mean that figuratively!)

    • When I am forced to reside in some tiny assisted living apartment I intend to get one of these, or a herd…and some pots of tomatoes and maybe a few sunflowers.

      • Find some young, idealistic couple, trying to make a go of farming, and offer them your experience. If they’re not idiots, they will take you in, take advantage of your expertise, and you won’t have that to worry about.

        What about this mid-September weather in August?

  58. QOTD II

    “The gender gap exists for a reason. Whether mandating transvaginal probes prior to abortion under ‘informed-consent’ logic or misunderstanding basic biology, Republicans have managed to alienate a fair portion of the female population. Even pro-life women will have a hard time standing by men who are so willfully ignorant.” — Right wing columnist Kathleen Parker, in her Washington Post column tomorrow.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-the-republican-need-for-a-lesson-on-the-fairer-sex/2012/08/21/56d7d004-ebbf-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html

    • Yeah, the liberal media like Mitch McConnell, Mitt, Ryan, Sen. Blunt, and wait for it…. Sean Hannity.

      Hannity is liberal now? Geeze, the right has gone extreme.

    • My cynicism thinks that there’s some pimple-faced teenage netwhiz handling Issa’s Tweets. Probably goes for the whole GOP. Sorry Wayne.

  65. Son and I spent a lovely day in Shenandoah NP. I can’t believe he starts 8th grade tomorrow.

    • It sounds like they might get hit again this year. Would that be taken as a sign for the fundies to try and advance their own candidate? Obviously, God must be sending those hurricanes for a reason. A very cursory perusal of their own opinions on such matters would seemingly dictate that God is mad at the GOoPers because Bible Spice wasn’t the top of the ticket in 2008.

      There’s a tweet for you Wayne.

      “God is sending hurricanes to GOP conventions because Sarah Palin isn’t the top of the ticket.”

    • Could you tweet something about if fundies think abortion would be wrong if you knew your child would be born gay?

  69. I’ve decided that it would be a bad idea to share a cab or elevator with Mr. Akin. Or be within walking distance. But now I’m getting to the point, after several very nice beers, where I seriously consider doing something like punching the next person, including Akin, who tries to paint him as some kind of victim. The whole idea makes the gorge rise in my throat and I get very angry.

    I’ve never struck another human in anger and never will. But? That doesn’t prevent me from a wicked smile if I consider the option of punching said person in the throat and watching them change colors as they gasp.

    There. I said it and I feel better. Time for bed. G’night, good people.

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