Right Wing World's Puzzling Love Affair with Vladimir Putin

We should have known when the Republican Party was willingly branded "Red" America, as opposed to the Democrats' "Blue." You could argue that this was an accident, a happenstance of how the networks colored electoral maps on television. But that would be ignoring that the colors changed from year to year, and network to network, before sticking on our current red/blue dichotomy.

So, the GOP has taken the red identity, something that used to mean communist pinko. But it's starting to make sense with the right's new found love for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ol' Vlad seems to be their guy these days, trying to embarrass President Obama, playing hardball with gay people. He's the rising conservative superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if he endorses a GOP presidential candidate in 2016.
 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Guess Who's Coming to CPAC?

Image from source, MetroWeekly

I love the headline to this piece. I don't love the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), though I do love writing about the insantity that comes out of there.  I don't love GOProud, the gay conservative group that is causing a ruckus at CPAC.  But I love the fact that they're causing a ruckus!

The members of GOProud sometimes will say that the "vast majority" of conservatives aren't anti-gay, that it's just a vocal minority who are homophobic.  I would contend that it is a bit larger than they imply, and that they aren't just vocal, they set the agenda, and sometimes are actually in office. GOProud represents a collection of people with arch-conservative views (or at least what conservatism has morphed into), who are also gay. Where the Log Cabin Republicans are gay conservatives, GOProuds are conservative gays. The size of the text there is on purpose. GOProud would comprimise on gay rights issues long before they'd consider (hell, they might not even consider) comprimising their conservative "ideals." 

Try as I might, I can't understand those ideals. When I watch Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, listen to Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin, read something by Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin, or hear something by Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin, I don't disagree with them because they're might be anti-gay, or even because they're conservative. I think they're extremists.  I think they're bonkers and/or charlatans. But GOProud is solidly in line with all of the above. Anyway, enough ranting by me. The article excerpted below is an excellent introduction to what GOProud is about. See what you think.

[Excerpt]

Guess Who's Coming to CPAC?



GOProud has taken the conservative and LGBT movements by storm by being brash, loud and uncompromisingly conservative -- and just as uncompromisingly gay. . .
 
I disagree with that last part, but the article is good. Read more at: MetroWeekly

Keith Olbermann and John Dean on Conservative vs. Liberal Brains

Right vs. Left: An Interesting Case

Image from source, Utne Reader

I found this article very interesting. And I can't say I disagree with its main assessments exactly. Though I think just about everybody would take issue with at least half of the headline excerpted of the piece. Conservatives aren't ignorant? Surely, some are. Liberals aren't un-American? While I'd say most aren't, many conservatives would be sputtering about that one.

The setup to this piece is pretty much that there are five basic moral points, and that liberals hold two of them dear, and conservatives hold to the other three. While the author thinks that successful politicians or policies would find a way to embrace all five, I'm much more cynical than that. Especially when it comes down to the spiritual-religious part. I want no part of that. No, I think if this guy's right, never the twain shall meet.

[Excerpt]

Liberals Aren’t Un-American. Conservatives Aren’t Ignorant.

Jonathan Haidt is hardly a road-rage kind of guy, but he does get irritated by self-righteous bumper stickers. The soft-spoken psychologist is acutely annoyed by certain smug slogans that adorn the cars of fellow liberals: “Support our troops—bring them home” and “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”

“No conservative reads those bumper stickers and thinks, ‘Hmm . . . so liberals are patriotic!’” he says, in a sarcastic tone of voice that jarringly contrasts with his usual subdued sincerity. . .

Read more at: Utne Reader

Exxon-Mobil's Historic Profits: More than Anybody Ever

Image from source, Los Angeles Times

Yeesh. ExxonMobile's profits lead me to ask a few questions of any conservatives who may have happened upon my blog on accident.

First, if demand is down, and supply is static, how do oil and gas prices remain so high? Second, if ExxonMobil only raised the price of gas enough to keep its profit margin, why did they make so much money? Shouldn't profits remain static? And third, while I understand why people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are carrying water for Big Oil, why are you?

I've seen and heard ordinary Joe Citizen conservatives leaping to Big Oil's defense. Enthusiastically, they swallow whole the utter bull crap that off-shore oil leases and drilling in ANWR is the answer. They want to give Big Oil even more wealth. Assume it was all true, and that oil would flow freely. Do you think that's for us? No, it would be sold on the world market, and ExxonMobil gets even richer. I seriously don't see how this comes down to conservative vs. liberal.

[Excerpt]

If only Exxon could earn money like Disney

The net profit on those sales: $11.68 billion, which just happens to be the largest quarterly profit ever earned by a U.S. company.

But Exxon’s net profit margin of about 8.5% -- net income as a percentage of revenue -- pales when compared with what many other blue-chip companies earned in the latest quarter. . .

Read more at: Los Angeles Times

Arianna Huffington on the Right Wing Media

Image from Amazon.com

One of the most frustrating nuggets of "conventional wisdom" we liberal/progressives have to hear is liberal media bias. It is usually offered without any sort of evidence, as though it is just a fact. I often counter with, OK, outside of Countdown with Keith Olbermann which of the media is liberal? In return, the whole alphabet of ABCCBSNBCPBSMSNBCCNN is offered, but still with skimpy reasoning.

I long ago came to the conclusion that conservatives see any media that does not promote conservative bias is de facto liberal. I find that preposterous, and so does Arianna Huffington, proprietor of The Huffington Post. HuffPost was one of the primary influences and inspirations for this blog, and the following excerpt might give you a clue as to why I like it, and her so much.

[Excerpt]

Probing a Political Paradox: Why the Discredited Right Still Sets the Agenda and Dominates the Debate

It's a paradox: the political center has clearly shifted; what used to be considered "left wing" positions have now become part of the mainstream, and the views of the Right are now at odds with the majority of the American public -- and with reality.

Yet, despite this seismic shift -- grossly underreported by the media -- the Right remains as powerful as ever when it comes to setting the national agenda and dominating the national debate. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Why Torture is Good: A Conservative's View

Since I'm a lefty blogger, and fairly immersed in a leftist point of view, it can be difficult at times to appreciate the other side of an argument. This post will illuminate for people on my side of the aisle on at least one conservative's views on torture.

Before we get to that, I'll just give you my take. Torture is bad, because:

- It produces wholly unreliable information. It's been proven again and again that people who are tortured will say anything to make you stop torturing them. Not necessarily true information, but often what just what you want to hear.

- It has not been shown that the people who have been subject to torture are actually terrorists. These people are held without counsel, and not told what offense got them arrested in the first place. What if we were wrong?

- If we torture "enemy combatants," it only encourages enemies to torture our people. Terrorism is in the eye of the beholder.

- It's illegal. And we are supposed to be above torture in America.

Now, on to our conservative's take:

[Excerpt]

WHY WE TORTURE....

I want our side to win. Or maybe more accurately, I don't want our side to lose....As with any other form of violence, motivation is everything. A cop shooting a murderer is not the same as a murderer shooting an innocent victim, although both use guns, and at the end, someone is bleeding and dying. . .

Read more at: Washington Monthly