Day: December 20, 2006

Have a Very Merry Mithras

Jon Ponder

Mithras was a god whose mythology originated in Greece in the 2nd century B.C. and spread to Rome 100 years later. As gods’ bios go, the story of Mithras has a familiar ring:

  • Mithras was born of a virgin on December 25th in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds.
  • He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
  • He had 12 companions or disciples.
  • Mithras’ followers were promised immortality.
  • He performed miracles.
  • As the “great bull of the Sun,” Mithras sacrificed himself for world peace.
  • He was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again.
  • His resurrection was celebrated every year.
  • He was called “the Good Shepherd” and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
  • He was considered the “Way, the Truth and the Light,” and the “Logos,” “Redeemer,” “Savior” and “Messiah.”
  • His sacred day was Sunday.
  • Mithras had his principal festival of what was later to become Easter.
  • His religion had a eucharist or “Lord’s Supper,” at which Mithras said, “He who shall not eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.”

Mithras ascended into heaven at the age of 64, in 208 B.C.

Gingrich Lashes Out at Bush and Rove – Won’t Run in ’08 Out of Fear of Hillary

Jon Ponder
Gingrich may be averse to running against Hillary Clinton because, as speaker, he persecuted her husband over an extramarital affair while he, Gingrich, was having an affair with a staff member.

You probably thought Newt Gingrich never had an unexpressed thought, but sources close to the GOP Big Thinker say he’s been biting his tongue for months about the incompetence of Bush and Rove. Well, no more. Rightwing Moonie rag WashTimes (edited by Gingrich’s former staffer, Tony Blankley) has him dishing on the Mayberry Machiavellis like they were Dems:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has decided to break with President Bush.

Sources close to Mr. Gingrich said that, after having kept silent for more than a year, he has become openly critical of the administration, portraying the president as a weak man akin to Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

As Newt surely knows, Gerald Ford is in failing health right now, so what better time to trash him. And comparing George W. Bush to a decent, highly intelligent humanitarian like Jimmy Carter is obscene. Neither Newt nor Dubya are worthy of shining his shoes.

There is not a dime’s bit of ideological difference between Newt Gingrich and his fellow travelers, Bush and Rove. If the GOP had kept control of Congress last month, he’d still be their BFF. Instead, he’s kicking them while they’re down:

“Newt bit his tongue for months and now feels he has to tell his base the truth: the White House does not have the will or the power to promote any agenda,” a source close to Mr. Gingrich said.

The sources said Mr. Gingrich … blames White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for Mr. Bush’s mistakes, including the loss of Congress in 2006. They said Mr. Gingrich’s criticism of the top Bush political adviser has been considered by the president and this could lead to Mr. Rove’s early departure.

On Nov. 30, Mr. Gingrich … spoke at a private fund raiser for the Virginia Conservative Action PAC. Mr. Gingrich, lamenting the waste of the Republican Party’s huge ad campaign during the 2006 election, called on Mr. Rove to either change his losing strategy or quit.

“2004 was pathetic, and 2006 was worse,” Mr. Gingrich said, referring to the Rove-directed GOP campaigns.

The same sources say that Gingrich is leaning toward running for president in 2012, rather than in 2008, because he is terrified of running against Sen. Hillary Clinton. He may be averse to running against her because, as speaker, he persecuted her husband over an extramarital affair while he, Gingrich, was having an affair with a staff member.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

… had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of their children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right, and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

— John Brown (1800-hanged 1859), American abolitionist

SMU Faculty Voices Objections to Being Site of Bush $500 Mil ‘Lie-berry’

Jon Ponder

The plans for this library are a sure sign that after Bush has completed his term as the Worst President Ever, he’ll spend the rest of his life being the Worst Ex-President Ever.

You can’t blame the faculty and staff of Southern Methodist University in Texas for objecting to Pres. Bush’s plan to put his $500 million library, or “lie-berry,” as he might put it on their campus. After all, who wants to be the home of the laughingstock of presidential museums.

Texas Monthly magazine got a copy of a letter sent from the a faculty group to the university’s board of trustees in which they expressed some of their concerns:

“We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.”

“[T]hese violations are antithetical to the teaching, scholarship, and ethical thinking that best represents Southern Methodist University.”

These are excellent points but the reason given by the faculty members that has real resonance is that the library’s real purpose is to rewrite the history of Bush’s term in office:

Their concerns are based on a New York Daily News story of November 27, which describes the future library as a $500 million center (the costliest presidential library ever), the purpose of which would be “to spread the gospel of a presidency that for now gets poor marks from many scholars and a majority of Americans.”

The letter to Turner makes the point that there are “two fundamentally different visions of the Library”: a neutral space for unbiased academic research conducted by scholars, or a conservative think tank and policy institute that engages in legacy polishing and grooms young conservatives for public office.

The concept of a George W. Bush library is a joke, or rather, I wish it were. It is a sure sign that after Bush has completed his term as the Worst President Ever, he’ll spend the rest of his life being the Worst Ex-President Ever.

Poll: 73 % of U.S. Military Ready to Ditch ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Jon Ponder
[Nearly] three out of four troops said in the Zogby poll that they usually or almost always take showers privately – only 8 percent say they usually or almost always take showers in group stalls.

Straight people who are secure about their own sexuality do not feel threatened by gay people. That fact is underscored in a new Zogby poll that found that three out of four (73 percent) of active duty military personnel said they feel comfortable around gay people.

Conversely, people who are conflicted about their own sexual attractions and try to hide them often feel hostility toward gay men and women. In the Zogby poll:

Of the 20 percent who said they are uncomfortable around gays and lesbians, only 5 percent are “very” uncomfortable, while 15 percent are “somewhat” uncomfortable. Just two percent of troops said knowing that gays are not allowed to serve openly was an important reason in their decision to join the military.

Another takeaway from the poll is that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which was supposed to expell gay people who refused to stay closeted, simply is not working:

Nearly one in four U.S. troops (23 percent) say they know for sure that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, and of those 59 percent said they learned about the person’s sexual orientation directly from the individual, a Zogby International poll of troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan shows.

More than half (55 percent) of the troops who know a gay peer said the presence of gays or lesbians in their unit is well known by others. According to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, service members are not allowed to say that they are gay…

Of those in combat units, 21 percent said they know for certain that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, slightly less than for those in combat support units (25 percent) and combat service support units (22 percent. One in five troops (20 percent) in other units said they know for certain someone is gay or lesbian in their unit. Overall, nearly half (45 percent) say there are people in their unit they suspect are gay or lesbian, but they don’t know for sure. Slightly more than half (52 percent) say they have received training on the prevention of anti-gay harassment in the past three years. But 40 percent say they have not received this type of training, which is mandated by Defense Department policy.

But what about showers, where gays could perv on their straight comrades:

[Nearly] three out of four troops said in the Zogby poll that they usually or almost always take showers privately – only 8 percent say they usually or almost always take showers in group stalls.

You have to wonder how many of the 8 percent who use the public showers are subset of the 5 percent who were “very uncomfortable” around gay people.