Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Media Circus

As usual Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (and Tom Delay's best buddy) has his politics and religion wrong. link
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Pat Buchanan on the self destruction of the conservative movement that is beginning. Link
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A Baptist Primer from Tampa's alternative newspaper. Link

From the same paper, a crash course in the filibuster. Link
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Tired of Waiting on the Rapture

From my local paper, in St. Pete, a local pastor is tired of waiting for God to bring about the end times. So, his church is raising money to send Jews to Israel, in hopes of forcing God's slow hand.
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Rant alert

Among the saddest things about the Newsweek fiasco include a bone given to the anti-mainstream media rightwing propaganda hate machine.

I checked out the the usual suspects (Hewitt, Drudge, Hannity, etc.) and they are using this for their usual agenda. The worst thing about the incredible hypocrisy from the propagandists and bloggers is that there is no one to hold their ("our"- I guess since I too am a blogger) hands to the fire when they get facts wrong.

Newsweek and CBS have to admit when they are wrong. WorldNetDaily, Hugh Hewitt and Matt Drudge print innuendo, gossip and lies, yet no one can touch them. Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly speak the same talking points. Yet, no one holds them responsible for the lies they tell regarding the memo in Mel Martinez's pocket, John Kerry's war record or treatment of POWS (I feel the same about the left-wing pundits, but they hold little power or sway).

Personally I think there is much to the story unreported (and I think it has to do with someone telling the truth, seeing the consequences and backing off the truth to tell the propaganda the military wants). We have already seen enough from Gitmo and other abuses of prisoners to give this story credence. So, instead of brave journalists fighting for truth in the face of power, they back off after seeing what happened to Rather and CBS. It is a sad day for freedom of the press.
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On a lighter note, thanks to Ryan Sharp for the heads up. Like him, tears came to my eyes upon watching the trailer for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I must admit that my excitement for December 9 is bigger than it was to the LOR saga.

8 comments:

Ryan Lee Sharp said...

I don't know if I should say that I can't believe that there are people actually trying to 'speed the rapture' or if I should expect it. Every time I get hopeful that perhaps the church is bringing about good (CRCC's Worship In The Spirit of Justice for example), I hear something like this.

I know that my goal is not just to make disciples that look just like me, but damn, this is sick!

Ought I tell him that the rapture was devised about 150 years ago after a girl had a dream about it? Hmm....... Slippery slopes, I'd bet he'd say.......

james said...

I must also admit, the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe trailer kept my aprehensiveness aside. I am anxious for it.

The rapture bit killed me...

jonathan said...

I can understand that the Tony Perkins piece might not be perfect, but how exactly is his "politics and religion" wrong?

DJ Word said...

Good question Jon-

Perkins faith and politics believes in an understanding of America's "Christian" history that is not accuratr according to weel respected historians.

He mixes church and state in a way that offends me as a Baptist, as a Christian and as an American.

I believe in a baptistic understanding of church and state separation.

I believe he thinks Christians are a persecuted minority with no power that need to put only those with our belief system into power. This smacks of theocracy. it is also arrogant and makes those persecuted for their beliefs less important. I think we are better off without power. This is what I learned from Jesus and the early churhc fathers.

Faith and Power do not mix well. He believes they do. He is also defending Delay a little too much for my comfort level, which means he is increasingly partisan, which I disagree with.

His understanding of the Senate, its rules and the filibuster is immature. He does not understand the big picture on this issue.

He thinks the whole filibuster is about religious belief. there may some of that. but, for many dems that is not the issue. In fact, many dems are people of faith.

the filibuster is about judicial records and comments in the public record. I may disagree with them, but that is the reason.

I agree with Bush in the article, not Perkins.

Many fo the 200+ that were approved (and not filibustered) had deeply held Christian beliefs.

Some of the judges from his article did not practice good understanding of their place as public figures. they should be careful about articles written for church newsletters or speeches in churches where they are introduced as judges and given authority because of that. this is important to many people.

The dems are not NOW or AmericanAtheists. his article implies that is where they get their orders.

he also says this "Faith is acceptable as long as it remains unknown, or is applied only to personal beliefs about such matters as poverty and capital punishment. Call this standard a litmus test on abortion, a de facto screening for religious conviction, or a demand for fealty to the Democratic Party platform -- whatever it's called, the results are the same."

i believe he is wrong and makes light of poverty and capital punishment, just as he believes others make light of abortion. For me they are all the same. They are all equally important because it is all about life.

Those are just a few ways I disagree with Perkins.


Thanks for asking. Hope it makes a little sense.

DJ Word said...

Good question Jon-

Perkins faith and politics believes in an understanding of America's "Christian" history that is not accuratr according to weel respected historians.

He mixes church and state in a way that offends me as a Baptist, as a Christian and as an American.

I believe in a baptistic understanding of church and state separation.

I believe he thinks Christians are a persecuted minority with no power that need to put only those with our belief system into power. This smacks of theocracy. it is also arrogant and makes those persecuted for their beliefs less important. I think we are better off without power. This is what I learned from Jesus and the early churhc fathers.

Faith and Power do not mix well. He believes they do. He is also defending Delay a little too much for my comfort level, which means he is increasingly partisan, which I disagree with.

His understanding of the Senate, its rules and the filibuster is immature. He does not understand the big picture on this issue.

He thinks the whole filibuster is about religious belief. there may some of that. but, for many dems that is not the issue. In fact, many dems are people of faith.

the filibuster is about judicial records and comments in the public record. I may disagree with them, but that is the reason.

I agree with Bush in the article, not Perkins.

Many fo the 200+ that were approved (and not filibustered) had deeply held Christian beliefs.

Some of the judges from his article did not practice good understanding of their place as public figures. they should be careful about articles written for church newsletters or speeches in churches where they are introduced as judges and given authority because of that. this is important to many people.

The dems are not NOW or AmericanAtheists. his article implies that is where they get their orders.

he also says this "Faith is acceptable as long as it remains unknown, or is applied only to personal beliefs about such matters as poverty and capital punishment. Call this standard a litmus test on abortion, a de facto screening for religious conviction, or a demand for fealty to the Democratic Party platform -- whatever it's called, the results are the same."

i believe he is wrong and makes light of poverty and capital punishment, just as he believes others make light of abortion. For me they are all the same. They are all equally important because it is all about life.

Those are just a few ways I disagree with Perkins.


Thanks for asking. Hope it makes a little sense.

Anonymous said...

You need to get your facts right. First, it's WorldNetDaily.com not "World News Daily." Second, it is not an arm of Thomas Nelson. It was involved in a joint puiblishing venture at one time. However, the two parted company almost a year ago. WND Books is now being distributed by Cumberland House.

jonathan said...

thanks much - that gives me a much better picture of it all.

DJ Word said...

Dear anonymous,

Usually I ignore the comments of those too lazy or disrespectful of others to leave their name. However, I will make an exception today.

Thanks for letting me know the error of my ways. I am sure you are as stringent with the conservative blog community and talk radio community to hold them to such a high ethic. If you are not, please do so, it will help everyone out.

As for the facts I must get straight, in your eloquent venacular...

1. net, not news. Actually that would be a typo, not a wrong fact. but thanks.

2.I did not recieve the word that WND and TN had parted ways. It was not in the news. So thank you for letting me know. I see that TN now has a new conservative political arm to publish trash like Mike Savage instead of partnering with someone else.

3. As for my comment that it is an arm of TN, excuse my choice of words. I guess "division" would be better, which is what TN called WND Books. Since WND got much of its financial resources from TN, I think arm is an appropriate word choice.

I am guessing that you are not disturbed by the lack of accountability in the conservative blog and radio communities, since you only pointed out a slight misstep and not an entire point I was making.

I am assuming you are not bothered when Hugh Hewitt and Sean Hannity can make up facts concerning individuals and groups and never mention them again when they are found to be spreading untruths.

I hope not.

Thanks for setting me straight.