What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Some good news to start. A very nice story. 🙂
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2. And then it goes downhill……
Meet the new tone, which oddly enough, sounds just like the old tone.
From RollCall “Newly minted White House counselor John Podesta has apologized for a remark that likened House Republicans to a “cult worthy of Jonestown” after getting called out by Speaker John A. Boehner’s spokesman.
“They need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” Podesta told Politico’s Glenn Thrush earlier this fall, before the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton was named to the White House post.”
“Brendan Buck, spokesman for Boehner, had suggested the quote was a bad omen for 2014.
“For those who’ve forgotten, a Democratic member of Congress was murdered in Jonestown and a current one, Rep. Jackie Speier, was shot five times during the same incident,” Buck noted.”
Yeah, classy as ever eh John? 🙄
Although I guess being called a cult is better than being called terrorists. Maybe…
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3. More waste that could be cut instead of troop pensions. And you just gotta love the “shocking” findings. 🙄
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4. Plenty more here to cut. And a CONTENT WARNING!!! for some adult (and duck?) material.
From TheNYPost “While the White House and Congress griped this year about the pain of automatic budget cuts, the federal government still managed to spend billions of dollars on seemingly frivolous projects – from a $384,989 grant for Yale University to study the duck penis to $1.9 million for “lifestyle” lessons for Senate staffers.
Nearly $30 billion in questionable federal spending is detailed in the “Wastebook” that was released Tuesday by the Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who annually compiles the report.”
“$10 million for National Guard advertising tie-ins with the “Soldier of Steel” movie, despite budget cuts reducing the Guard’s strength by 8,000 soldiers.
$7 billion for the Pentagon to destroy vehicles and other military equipment used in wars in the Middle East rather than sell or ship the items home.
$17.5 million for special tax exemptions for Nevada brothels, including tax deductions for groceries, wages for prostitutes, rent and utilities.”
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5. Is this in every Democrat up for re-election’s future?
Yes please! 🙂
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6. I have to say, Phil shoulda seen this coming. Publicly speaking out against homosexuality is not tolerated.
With a CONTENT WARNING!!! for adult subject matter.
From MSNTV “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson has been suspended from the A&E reality series, following anti-gay remarks he made in an interview with GQ magazine.
In a statement, A+E Networks said he had been placed on indefinite hiatus.”
“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series ‘Duck Dynasty,'” the company said. “His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”
Robertson caused controversy with his comments, in which he grouped gays with “drunks” and “terrorists,” and said that they won’t “inherit the kingdom of God.”
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7. By now you’ve probably seen the commercial with the guy in the pajamas pushing ObamaCare. I think 12 year olds are making these commercials, and they seem geared toward children. They’re just awful. This one however, is a new low. This one features adult (supposedly gay) men in their underwear celebrating ObamaCare and being gay. And remember folks, we’re paying for this garbage. Military pensions are being cut, but the President and Democrats can find the cash (400 million + so far ) to pay for the making and the advertising of this nonsense. It’s pathetic.
With a CONTENT WARNING!!! for adult subject matter and men in their underwear.
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Wandering Views 
I’m beginning to think that Obamacare and Miley Cyrus have the same agent.
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At least if you heard Miley on the radio and didn’t have to watch her you would think she could carry a tune. That is about the dumbest and most overtly, in your face, provacative garbage I have seen. This is healthcare, not a dating site.
I wonder what the fall out will be with Duck Dynasty. Phil has stood up to A & E a couple of times already and come out the winner. I have registered my support of Phil. I am afraid we have already lost our right to free speech and I can trace it back to the Clinton years with Political Correctness. Some of you maybe can trace it back further. I don’t have to agree with everything you or anyone else says but I do believe you have the right to say it.
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I think the military retires are getting a 1% pay raise. This, of course, is not keeping up with cost of living increases.
The real travesty is because the inflation rates are being rejiggered and true inflation hidden (is your formerly 5 pound bag of sugar 5 pounds anymore?), no one is getting a true COLA raise–including you. 😦
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What’s a cost of living raise? 😦
The obamacare ads (loved the man-child in a onesie) are just bizarre. And I hadn’t seen the gay guys in underwear. Sheesh. As AJ said, who in the world was put in charge of producing this childish drivel? It’s beyond embarrassing.
This administration is turning itself into a very bad joke.
The freedom of speech issue, though, is a serious matter. It’s alarming, actually. 😦
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Once again, Mohler nails it:
http://www.albertmohler.com/2013/12/19/you-have-been-warned-the-duck-dynasty-controversy/
” … So, even as most evangelical Christians will likely have concerns about the way Phil Robertson expressed himself in some of his comments and where he made the comments, the fact remains that it is the moral judgment he asserted, not the manner of his assertion, that caused such an uproar. …
“… the controversy over Duck Dynasty sends a clear signal to anyone who has anything to risk in public life: Say nothing about the sinfulness of homosexual acts or risk sure and certain destruction by the revolutionaries of the new morality. You have been warned.”
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Another good piece, this one from the respected Roman Catholic magazine First Things, reflecting on the nation’s first black president:
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/12/the-selfie-presidency
“… Though I didn’t vote for President Obama I was unusually happy for his election. To me it said many good things about America. …
“… to be honest, I really wanted a reason to vote for him. I never found it. …
“I have thought about it, puzzled over it, and I really can’t come up with one all-purpose word to describe this president. A lot of words are out there: disengaged, clueless, sloppy, and the like, all mostly related to the rollout of the health care web site. But even here, I was willing to give his singular legislative achievement a fair shot. (The sign-up hasn’t worked well for my family, but that is another story.) I think in concept I might have even given the Affordable Care Act better marks had it contained a religious exemption.
“But, ACA aside, I have a word now. He’s a selfie. … “
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6. I just read the whole article and I have to say that it was incredibly obnoxious. Not what Phil said, but the article itself. I’ve never read (or even heard of) GQ so maybe this one is typical, but it is disgusting and the author’s views are pretty darn obvious. This looks like a set-up to me – send a flaming liberal out to bait an evangelical Christian and then cherry-pick his responses in a mocking article.
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Linda,
BINGO!
And then feign outrage.
And yes, it’s standard fare and practice for GQ.
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For those of you on FB you can go to A&E’s page and report them for hate speech against a religion
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You know what’s interesting. I haven’t expressed my support for DD and Phil on FB because I’m quite certain that if I did, I’d be fired. I am “friends” with my boss and several levels up the food chain, all of whom are liberals. I am also “friends” with several folks who work for some of our clients. I am sure that if I posted something in support of this, I’d be called on the carpet for offending my coworkers and our clients.
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Linda, I won’t go near FB posts or “like” pages that even touch on the gay marriage topic.
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The Duck Dynasty thing is a typical example of how smothering and stupidly selective political correctness is, but it should be pointed out that it’s not a free speech issue in the sense of having legal rights threatened. As Al Mohler explains (the obvious) in Donna J’s linked article, it’s almost as bad as having rights infringed, just in a different way.
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Last night on Facebook, I shared this…
“Written by a gay man: “We shouldn’t have to resort to trumped up charges of bigotry to explain why opponents of gay marriage are wrong. Calling someone ‘anti-gay’ when his behavior is undeserving of that label doesn’t only end civil discussion – it degrades the foundation that undergirds a democratic, pluralistic society.”
Together with this article…
http://www.worldviewchurch.org/wvc-digest/featured-articles/20933-being-against-gay-marriage-doesnt-make-you-a-homophobe
The first comment on my post was one insisting that any opposition to same-sex marriage is indeed “homophobic”. Another friend, who later deleted her comments, stated that I & another friend are “on the wrong side of history”. (I’m sick of reading that phrase in connection with those of us who oppose SSM.)
It is so discouraging to me – & a bit scary – to see how merely saying that one can oppose SSM without being a bigot (without even stating one’s position on SSM) brings out the ire of SSM proponents.
I have tried making this point on others’ Facebook posts. On one, I mentioned that I have read on & considered both sides of the issue. One young lady, who had only considered the pro-same-sex marriage side, called me closed-minded for even considering there could be another side. Really? But that’s the timbre of the current debate.
There is indeed a spiritual blindness on this matter. Oh, Lord, please open their eyes!
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Here are some good thoughts by several Christian thinkers on the Duck Dynasty controversy:
http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/articles/entry/12/24159
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And another good piece by Olasky:
http://www.worldmag.com/2013/12/duck_dynasty_going_to_shoot_him_the_woman_me/page1
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