Tag: Conservative Values

Calls it phony: Conservatives are, by definition, anti-intellectual, especially in the Bush era, so what gets written by the smarty-pants among them can be viewed with some suspicion. This is especially so if that smarty-pants is Charles Krauthammer, a colunnist for the Washington Post and one of the hordes of Gop apologists on Fox News.

But in a column today under the headline, “Phony Theory, False Conflict: ‘Intelligent Design’ Foolishly Pits Evolution Against Faith,” Krauthammer takes the central tenet at the heart of rightwing anti-intellectualism:

Let’s be clear. Intelligent design may be interesting as theology, but as science it is a fraud. It is a self-enclosed, tautological “theory” whose only holding is that when there are gaps in some area of scientific knowledge — in this case, evolution — they are to be filled by God. It is a “theory” that admits that evolution and natural selection explain such things as the development of drug resistance in bacteria and other such evolutionary changes within species but also says that every once in a while God steps into this world of constant and accumulating change and says, “I think I’ll make me a lemur today.” A “theory” that violates the most basic requirement of anything pretending to be science — that it be empirically disprovable. How does one empirically disprove the proposition that God was behind the lemur, or evolution — or behind the motion of the tides or the “strong force” that holds the atom together?

The former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting broke federal law and repeatedly violated the organization’s rules and code of ethics in his efforts to promote conservatives in the system, an endeavor that included consultation with White House officials, according to the findings of an internal investigation made public Tuesday.

The 67-page report — the culmination of a six-month investigation by Kenneth A. Konz, the corporation’s inspector general — portrays former Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson as a rogue appointee who often exceeded his authority in his determination to address what he viewed as a liberal tilt in public broadcasting.

Konz’s report depicts the corporation as a deeply dysfunctional institution in which there has been little oversight over hiring and contracting and minimal communication between the professional staff and the board, made up of political appointees.

In his report, Konz agreed that Tomlinson — a Republican who was originally appointed by President Clinton — overstepped his boundaries and broke corporation rules. But he did not conclude that Tomlinson was seeking to remake the corporation as a conservative institution, as critics have charged, noting that the former chairman was following the CPB’s mandate to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting.

In a statement included in the inspector general’s report, Tomlinson, who resigned his board position this month, denied any wrongdoing. He called the findings a triumph of “politics over good judgment” and disputed the charges as “malicious and irresponsible.”

Are you on the list? As Buck noted earlier, Bill O’Reilly recently announced that he is compiling a list of his enemies which he will post on his website soon. We don’t know about you but if O’Reilly has an enemies list, we want to be on it.

Here’s what O’Reilly – whom Keith Olbermann calls “the Big Giant Head” –
said about his new, exclusive Bill O’Reilly’s Enemies List^TM:

“I’m glad the smear sites made a big deal out of it. Now we can all know who was with the anti-military internet crowd. We’ll post the names of all who support the smear merchants on billoreilly.com. So check with us.”

Here’s an opportunity to join the coveted Bill O’Reilly Enemies List – and let the world know the reasons why.

First, take a moment to write an email to Bill at oreilly@foxnews.com explaining why you are his enemy.

Next, share your reasons for joining Bill’s list with us in either of these two ways:

• When you send your email to O’Reilly, simply cc: us at newsdesk@pensitoreview.com
• Or – block-copy-paste the contents of your email into the Comments section for this post

We will post your reasons for joining Bill O’Reilly Enemies List to Pensito Review as they come in.

Please note that this is urgent. The top spots on Bill O’Reilly’s Enemies List are the most coveted. Don’t be at the bottom of Bill’s list! So email him today!!

Sleazy ‘Christian’: Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed — he of the holier-than-thou, unctious manner and choir boy face — is up to his elbows in the scandalous doings of former GOP uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to the Associated Press:

In 2001, Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to prevent rival gaming casinos from siphoning off its Texas customers. He paid Reed as a consultant, and Reed lobbied to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas.

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe’s casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.

“We have also choreographed Cornyn’s response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso (where the Tigua casino was) and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law,” Reed wrote. “He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston.”

Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, had filed a lawsuit in 1999 to shut down the casino operated by the Tigua tribe in El Paso, saying it violated the state’s limited gambling laws. In 2002, federal courts shuttered the Tiguas’ casino and Cornyn used that ruling to shut down the Alabama-Coushattas’ casino.

Cornyn, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has denied knowing Abramoff. He also has said he was unaware of Reed’s work with Abramoff.

Nobody’s laughing: A few years back, when progressive political activist Arianna Huffington was asked about the fact that she had once been a Gingrichite Republican, she would often respond, “When I was a Republican, Dennis Miller was still a liberal and still funny.”

Last week, Miller was the keynote speaker in Boca Raton, Florida, for the annual meeting of the the Securities Industry Association, which is the financial industry’s top professional organization, where he managed to offend quite a few fiscal conservatives:

Comic Dennis Miller managed to offend more than a few of the country’s financial elite Wednesday night at one of Wall Street’s most prestigious gatherings.

In a performance littered with expletives, the conservative political humorist ran down a list of raunchy jokes on his usual topics from Viagra to former President Clinton’s sex life.

Despite explosions of laughter from most of the audience, several attendees left steak and potatoes half-eaten on their plate and took off outraged…

“One woman at my table just got up in the middle of dinner and said ‘I’m offended’ and walked out,” said one investment guru at the meeting.

Good lord. Nerve.com:

In this week’s New Yorker, Lauren Collins alerted us to the diverse sexual content of Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 1996 novel The Apprentice. Today, to further edify the American public, Nerve brings you some longer excerpts.

The book is about a young Japanese man who runs a remote mountain inn and becomes embroiled in a world of intrigue. “A world of intrigue,” in this case, involves:

* a scene of incest between two uncles and their niece;
* a hunter asking his companions if they should fuck a freshly killed deer while it’s still warm;
* the description of a prepubescent girl’s painted “mound” and pleasing lack of vaginal odor;
* a story about a girl who’s kept in a cage and raped by a bear to train her to become a prostitute.

Thanks, Scooter, for reminding us — once again — about the healthy sexual psychology that lurks within the political party of “family values,” abstinence-only education, restricted reproductive rights and opposition to same-sex marriage! Below, some selections penned by the vice president’s former right hand:

I can’t stand any more. You’ll just have to click the link if you can.

Another negative record: According to the Treasury Department, from 1776 to 2000 — the first 224 years of United States history — 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions. In the past four years alone, the Bush administration has borrowed $1.05 trillion.

The unmistakable whiff of fascism: In Washington, a “gaffe” is when someone accidentally tells the truth. In the Bush White House, even the fact that the gaffe is on tape does not stop them from trying to alter the record to cover up the truth:

There is a brewing controversy about what exactly was said at the White House press conference on October 31. Everyone agrees NBC’s Dick Gregory said this:

Q Whether there’s a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations.

Congressional Quarterly and FNS both transcribed Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s answer as “That’s accurate.” The White House transcript lists McClellan’s answer as “I don’t think that’s accurate.”

We’ve isolated the clip so you can judge for yourself:

Watch in QuickTime streaming.

If you listened to the clip, it’s clear McClellan says “that’s accurate.” Nevertheless, the White House is trying to get CQ and FNS to change their transcripts. They’ve refused.