Election

Conservatives vs Conservatives – everyone else wins

It’s great to see that Republican “leaders” are frustrated with ultra-conservative Republicans. Welcome to the club, join the majority of Americans. You encouraged them and now they are going to destroy you. Hooray!

I love when Conservatives call each other “phonies” (RINOs have become CINOs) and non-credible. They’re all looking in the mirror and hate what they see, as do we all.

Conservative wing frustrates GOP leaders | Albuquerque Journal News By Erica Werner / The Associated Press

A frustrated Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, lashed out at “a small group of phony conservative members who have no credible policy proposals and no political strategy…”

Conservative wing frustrates GOP leaders | Albuquerque Journal News

Watch as the loony Right destroys Jeb Bush, even if they have to wait until the day of the presidential election in 2016.

Jeb Bush, CPAC piñata – The Washington Post By Dana Milbank Opinion writer

It happened just as Jeb Bush was about to explain why he thinks conservatives need to stop being perceived as “anti-everything”: Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference let it be known that, as part of their anti-everythingness, they are also anti-Bush.

A man wearing a tricorn hat and carrying a large “Don’t Tread On Me” flag stood up to stage a 30-person walkout of the former Florida governor’s speech. As the aspiring presidential candidate continued his Q&A with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, the Founding Father impersonator, William Temple, joined dozens of other demonstrators in the hallway, where chants of “USA!” disrupted the speech. …

[Bush] shifted and fidgeted his way through the performance, at one point losing control of his syntax by suggesting that we “put ISIS around a noose.” Asked about securing the border, Bush replied with a jovial “Let’s do it, man!” And when Hannity said he had a final question, Bush blurted out, “Boxers!”

Jeb Bush, CPAC piñata – The Washington Post

Another brilliant Bush.

Election

Scott Walker is yet another Conservative jackass who needs to be honest or shut up

2016 is going to be ugly as hell. But discouraging, dispiriting, disgusting, and disenfranchising voters are all strategies of the Radical Wrong.

Scott Walker’s insidious agnosticism – The Washington Post By Dana Milbank Opinion writer

Here is what one of those meet-the-candidate Q&As might look like if the answers were drawn from actual demurrals Walker has used in other contexts in recent weeks:

Why does Scott Walker hate America?

“I’ve never asked him that.”

When did he stop beating his wife?

“He can speak for himself.”

Does Walker love his children?

“For me, I’m going to punt on that one as well.”

Does he have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, one way or the other. I’ve said that 100 times, too.”

I’ll go out on a limb and stipulate that Walker loves his country and his family, and I have no reason to think he isn’t a good Christian and a decent man. But he’d be a better man if he didn’t insinuate with his demurrals that his political opponents are not.

Scott Walker’s insidious agnosticism – The Washington Post

Ah, Wilderness!

Every Kid in a Park | National Park Foundation

Every Kid in a Park | National Park Foundation

To help engage and create our next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates, we are kicking off the Every Kid in a Park initiative. The immediate goal is to provide an opportunity for each and every 4th grade student across the country to experience their public lands and waters in person throughout the 2015-2016 school year.

Every Kid in a Park | National Park Foundation

5 stars

Wadjda (2012) – 4+ stars

We enjoyed this movie, filmed in Saudi Arabia by a female director. The lead actress is terrific. The film gently conveys how similar and how different life is between the US and SA.

Wadjda (2012) – IMDb

An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school’s Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.

Wadjda (2012) – IMDb

Election, The Atheist's Pulpit

American Christian Conservatives embrace, crave, demand ignorance

Ignorance snowballs. Conservative opposition to science and education will put us into a death spiral.

Conservative Christians Abroad Seem More Accepting of Evolution

The theory of evolution may be supported by a consensus of scientists, but none of the likely Republican candidates for 2016 seem to be convinced. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said it should not be taught in schools. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas is an outright skeptic. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas will not talk about it. When asked, in 2001, what he thought of the theory, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said, “None of your business.”

After Mr. Walker’s response, the interviewer in London, an incredulous Justin Webb of the BBC, said to the governor: “Any British politician, right or left wing, would laugh and say, ‘Yes, of course evolution is true.’ ”

Unlike the United States, where Republicans and conservative Christians are more likely to deny evolution and climate change, most conservative politicians in other countries, as well as other branches of Christianity, see Darwin more favorably. The BBC reporter’s response to Mr. Walker could serve as a reminder that American evangelicals, and the Republicans who woo them, are the exception, not the rule. …

By contrast, evangelicals’ commitment to the Bible — for many, the 17th-century King James Version — can come between them and new scientific learning.

But all of this theological discourse assumes that Governor Walker, or anyone else, actually understands what evolution is. Edward Humes, author of the 2007 book “Monkey Girl,” about the court battle over anti-evolution “intelligent design” theory in Dover, Pa., schools, said that many evangelicals did not really understand evolution.

“When the people on the school board were asked to explain in Dover what they took the theory of evolution to be, they couldn’t,” Mr. Humes said. “Nor could they explain the intelligent design theory they were embracing.”

For example, Mr. Hume said, some evangelicals believe that evolution is a theory of how life began. In fact, he said, “it explains the diversity of life on our planet, and why so many have become extinct and others have risen to prominence.”

Conservative Christians Abroad Seem More Accepting of Evolution

loco

Nusenda? No thanks.

If you’ve heard of Nusenda, you’ve probably heard of the controversy attached to the name. I’ve been a member of the New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union since 1984. This week, members were told abruptly, “Here’s the new name: Nusenda. Ta-da!” Along with the name, we’re told that it’s still the same CU and we’re still the owners. Name another company where the owners came in one day to find the name had changed without warning.

We’re told the old name was too hard for people to remember. Boo-hoo. The old name confused people — they thought you had to be an educator. Isn’t marketing supposed to explain that anyone can join? How does “Nusenda” say that more clearly? You can’t even guess what kind of business Nusenda is. 

Potential members confused by the name might also think you have to live in New Mexico and with that tidbit we get at the truth: Nusenda has larger ambitions than New Mexico, than educators, than its current members. Nusenda means self-serving greed and expansionism. No thanks.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams