Day: August 7, 2006

Christian Right Worried about Drop in Youth Attendance

Jon Ponder

Via Pam’s House Blend:

The new president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) says he is disturbed that many students in both public and private schools — even Christian private schools — are leaving the church once they graduate.

In 2002, the SBC’s Council on Family Life reported that roughly 88 percent of evangelical children are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school. Dr. Frank Page, the denomination’s new president, says SBC churches need to counter that statistic by finding ways to make themselves more relatable, more pertinent and significant to students before they graduate.

“We’re seeing a societal trend where a large number of young people are opting out of the church,” Page notes. “Estimates of 15 to 20 million people now in America have said they are Christians but they simply don’t want to be a part of the church,” he says.

And in related news:

A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of Americans age 18 to 24 found Bush’s approval rating was 20 percent, with 53 percent disapproving and 28 percent with no opinion. That compares to a 40 percent approval rating among Americans of all ages in a separate Bloomberg/Times poll.

Could New ‘Anti-Stupidity’ Drug Mean Death of the GOP?

Jon Ponder

As we reported below, half the populace believes there were WMD in Iraq — and we know which half that is, don’t we? This could be good news:

A German scientist has been testing an “anti-stupidity” pill with encouraging results on mice and fruit flies, Bild newspaper reported Saturday.

It said Hans-Hilger Ropers, director at Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, has tested a pill thwarting hyperactivity in certain brain nerve cells, helping stabilize short-term memory and improve attentiveness.

“With mice and fruit flies we were able to eliminate the loss of short-term memory,” Ropers, 62, is quoted saying in the German newspaper, which has dubbed it the “world’s first anti-stupidity pill.”

Disparity Between Anti-Semitism Stories a Sad Commentary

Buck Banks

Who hates Jews more: The drunk guy who slurrily cursed them and then apologized, or the guy who shot five Jews, one fatally? You don’t have to decide — the media has done it for you, according to a column by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe.

Jacoby said the Mel Gibson anti-Semitic tirade turned up 888 hits on a Nexis search, while the story of Naveeq Haq’s attack with an automatic weapon on the Jewish League of Seattle received coverage in only 236 stories. Jacoby asks, Why the disparity?

No doubt part of the answer is that Gibson is a celebrity, and that “The Passion,” his 2004 movie about the crucifixion, was criticized by many as a revival of the infamous anti-Semitic motif of Jews as Christ-killers. Gibson, who belongs to a traditionalist Catholic sect, was already suspected of harboring ill will toward Jews. His crude remarks on July 28 confirmed it, and pushed the subject back into the spotlight. But if previous behavior and religious belief explain the burst of interest in the Gibson story, they only deepen the question of why the Seattle bloodshed was played down. After all, Haq is not the first example of what scholar Daniel Pipes has called “Sudden Jihad Syndrome,” in which a seemingly nonviolent Muslim erupts in a murderous rampage.

….

If the Catholic Gibson’s nonviolent bigotry is a legitimate subject of media scrutiny, all the more so is the animus that spurs Muslims like Haq and the others to jihadist murder. As The New York Sun asked the other day, how many more Haqs must erupt in a homicidal rage before we open our eyes “to the possibility that they are part of a war in which understanding the enemy is a prerequisite for victory?”

Poll: One In Two Americans Believes Iraq Had WMDs

Buck Banks

Fifty percent can be all wrong: A new Harris poll suggests that half of Americans believe Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction at the time Bushco decided to invade Iraq. And it appears that the delusion has been maintained and even enhanced by strong partisan rhetoric by bloggers and conservative media, as well as by individuals’ personal psychological need to find a justification for the ongoing war. The Associated Press reports:

People tend to become “independent of reality” in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull.

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

Despite this, a Harris Poll released July 21 found that a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents — up from 36 percent last year — said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, an attack whose stated purpose was elimination of supposed WMD. Other polls also have found an enduring American faith in the WMD story.

“ARE SADDAM HUSSEIN’S WMDS NOW IN HEZBOLLAH’S HANDS?”
— Fox News

Pollsters say that the timing of the poll may help explain the results:

Two weeks before the survey, two Republican lawmakers, Pennsylvania’s Sen. Rick Santorum and Michigan’s Rep. Peter Hoekstra, released an intelligence report in Washington saying 500 chemical munitions had been collected in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

“I think the Harris Poll was measuring people’s surprise at hearing this after being told for so long there were no WMD in the country,” said Hoekstra spokesman Jamal Ware.

But the Pentagon and outside experts stressed that these abandoned shells, many found in ones and twos, were 15 years old or more, their chemical contents were degraded, and they were unusable as artillery ordnance. Since the 1990s, such “orphan” munitions, from among 160,000 made by Iraq and destroyed, have turned up on old battlefields and elsewhere in Iraq, ex-inspectors say. In other words, this was no surprise.

The no-surprise aspect of the non-story didn’t stop the — surprise! — wingnuts from jumping all over it:

Conservative commentator Deroy Murdock, who trumpeted Hoekstra’s announcement in his syndicated column, complained in an interview that the press “didn’t give the story the play it deserved.” But in some quarters it was headlined.

“Our top story tonight, the nation abuzz today …” was how Fox News led its report on the old, stray shells. Talk-radio hosts and their callers seized on it. Feedback to blogs grew intense. “Americans are waking up from a distorted reality,” read one posting.

Other claims about supposed WMD had preceded this, especially speculation since 2003 that Iraq had secretly shipped WMD abroad. A former Iraqi general’s book — at best uncorroborated hearsay — claimed “56 flights” by jetliners had borne such material to Syria.

[…]

Cellphone Crutch Helps Cretins Converse On Culture

Buck Banks

Cellular crib notes: As I was reading Media Bistro over lunch, I came across an employment ad that looked interesting: “Pop Culture & Entertainment Writers in Anywhere, USA.” Following the link, I came to an ad placed by Moderati Inc., makers of Modtones mobile phone ringtones.

While I find “creative” ringtones only slightly less annoying than the people who pay for them, Modtones assured me that it could “Turn your phone into a house-rocking hit machine with Modtones. This ain’t yo momma’s ringtone!” “But I don’t need a rocking hit machine to make a phone call!” says my inner fogey.

The most popular Modtones songtones included “Ridin'” by Chamillionaire, “Unfaithful” by Rihanna, “Me and U” by Cassie and “London Bridge (Chorus)” by Fergie. Apparently people fork over $2.99 for one of these one-named wonders’ songs to distinguish their cellular phone from the next guy’s when it goes off in the middle of a movie. Or a funeral.

It’s a combination of tips & tools to help people fake their way through the competitive social scene using their cell phone

But back to the ad. Moderati is launching a mobile product that could prove to be even more obnoxious than their ringtones. The company is looking for copywriters for … I can’t explain it:

It’s a combination of tips & tools to help people fake their way through the competitive social scene using their cell phone. We’re seeking good, punchy writers who can contribute little scoops (about 2-3 sentences) on current goings-on in pop culture, entertainment, music and fashion.

To be considered, please send a couple sample blurbs on the topic of your choice in pop culture, and we’ll contact you with more information. Your blurb should explain the topic and give a distinct point of view, suitable for subscribers to use as conversation starters. Snarky smart-asses welcome!

OK, let me get this straight, so these are conversation starters for people who have Shakira’s “Thighs Don’t Lie” as their ringtone? To help them “fake” they have something to say, glancing at their phone cupped in their palm like they’re reading crib notes? If you need that kind of help, you belong on the bench watching the “competitive social scene.”

How hard can it be to have somehting to say about pop culture? Listen to AM radio. Watch “Entertainment Tonight.” Read “Tiger Beat” magazine or Fark.com. I mean, if one were trying to chat up a hot prospect about politics and culture, one could read Pensito Review, of course, but then readers of PR probably don’t have ringtones featuring “Miss New Booty (Edited)” by Bubba Sparxxx.

I wish Moderati luck with their product, especially with generating a need for it. But this seems to be just another senseless technological solution to a nonexistent problem aimed at the 14-24 demographic, a generation already overly dependent on electronics for, not even entertainment, but just stimluli. They have been so thoroughly overloaded by cartoons, music videos, video games, iPods and cellphones that, like some smack-addled junkie, they can’t create a cogent ice-breaker in the competitive social scene. So they look to their little electronic guru to help them “fake” having a brain, a personality and an opinion on whether Paris Hilton is really through with men and is now celibate, fer sure.

We are becoming a nation of pod people, separated by a couple of earbuds and a million miles. It’s no wonder we’ve forgotten how to start a conversation — we’re too busy not listening to each other.

OH-18: Ney’s GOP Replacement Won Current Seat by ‘Swiftboating’ Former Hostage Terry Anderson

Jon Ponder

It is alarming that Republicans like Joy Padgett would deploy such dirty tricks, but it is even more unnerving to think that Ohio voters could be swayed to fall for them.

Disgraceful: Rep. Bob Ney’s abrupt announcement yesterday that he would not seek re-election in Ohio’s 18th District was followed immediately by word that state Sen. Joy Padgett would replace him on the ballot.

Padgett will face Democrat Zack Space, a charismatic young lawyer and city official from Dover, in November.

Ney’s decision comes after months of speculation about his connections with disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But Padgett has an unseemly skeleton in her own closet that may follow her onto the national stage, if she wins Ney’s seat in their Republican-leaning district.

In 2004, Padgett won her senate seat in a hotly contested race against former Hezbollah hostage Terry Anderson, a Democrat and ex-Marine. Instead of fighting fair and dealing with facts, of course, Padgett took the GOP’s patented easy way out and attacked Anderson by falsely impugning his character:

During her race against Terry Anderson, Padgett accused Anderson of being a member of the “Blame America crowd”, and campaign fliers showed a photograph of Anderson in a meeting with a leader of Hezbollah.

The photos were taken when Anderson went back to Beirut many years after he’d been freed and confronted his former captors. The fact that he was there to challenge his terrorist abductors did not matter to Padgett, of course. Her campaign used the photos to cast Anderson in the most damaging possible light:

The attack ads against Anderson have been in mailings and on TV and radio. At a League for Women Voters debate last week, Anderson walked off the stage, refusing to participate. “The first time I met Padgett she said, ‘I run a clean campaign,’ and I said, ‘Good, let’s do that.’ I have attacked her votes . . . never attacked her personally. . . . She attacked me, twisting my campaigns. The last piece, I couldn’t accept it.

“The picture,” he continued, referring to the photo of himself shaking hands with the Hezbollah official, “is one of the guys who kidnapped me, who held me for seven years, who chained me and blindfolded me. I went back to Lebanon with a CNN news crew and looked him up and put him on camera and asked him, Why did you do this?

“She now says I am an apologist for terrorists.That’s sheer nonsense. It’s offensive. I’ve just about had enough.”

Anderson was working as an Associated Press reporter in Beirut when he was taken hostage in 1985 by Hezbollah Shiites. He was held for six years and nine months — one of the longest capitivities of the Reagan era.

It is alarming that Republicans like Joy Padgett would deploy such dirty tricks, but it is even more unnerving to think that Ohio voters are stupid enough to fall for them.

Poll: Few Young People Get Their News from ‘Daily Show’

Jon Ponder

Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll:

Myth: Most young adults get their news about current events from satirical shows such as “The Daily Show” or the Internet.

Truth: Just 3 percent of teenagers and 6 percent of young adults cited such programs as “The Daily Show” as their main source of information about current events. Only 10 percent of teens and 11 percent of young adults said blogs or other websites were their best source. Teens and young adults said they most frequently kept up by talking with friends and family and watching local TV news.

Hagel: Iraq Civil War Will Be ‘a Slaughter of Immense Proportions’

Jon Ponder
“This will be a slaughter of immense proportions. The American people will not put up with it. The leadership in Congress will not put up with it.”
— Hagel

Heard it before: Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, spoke out yesterday against sending more troops into Iraq:

On the heels of new warnings from top U.S. generals about the possibility of civil war in Iraq, a senior Republican lawmaker on Sunday publicly questioned the wisdom of moving more American troops into Baghdad to stop the violence.

“Are we going to put our troops in the middle of a civil war?” Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“This will be a slaughter of immense proportions,” he said. “The American people will not put up with it. The leadership in Congress will not put up with it.”

I’m not impressed. We’re getting used to occasional outbursts of sanity from Hagel and senators John McCain and Arlen Specter and others who make news pointing out various policy failures of the Bush Administration. But they never do anything. When it comes time to conduct a serious investigation or actually cast a vote in opposition, these Republicans always get back in line.

Put up or shut up.