Mark Byron

Herald-Leading Out of the Closet

When I was in Lexington, the daily read was the Herald-Leader, part of the McClatchy chain of newspapers; complaining of the leftward list of the paper and the chain as a whole was common amongst my friends.

Here might be a contributing factor; chairman Kevin McClatchy outed himself to ESPN. It's a sports story since he used to own the Pittsburgh Pirates; he's one of only two sports execs known to be gay.

Mainstream media has a hard time covering a lot of cultural issues since the reporters and editors tend to lean strongly secular and liberal on social issues. Here, you have one boss who has a vested interest on that side of the issue.

Deductive Reasoning

One interesting point in the latest Romney tax return is that they underreported their charitable donations for tax purposes.

Romney and his wife, Ann, gave just over $4 million to charity, the campaign said. The amount includes more than $1 million in cash to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and more than $200,000 to the Tyler Foundation, which serves families of children undergoing treatment for epilepsy. They also reported more than $900,000 in noncash contributions.

But the couple chose to deduct only $2.25 million of their charitable contributions. The reason was "to conform" to Romney's statement last month that he never paid less than 13% in income taxes over the past 10 years, Brad Malt, a lawyer who presides over the Romneys' blind trust, said in a statement.

So, they Romneyes gamed their tax return so they didn't look like they were gaming their return; they paid more than they had to in order to not look bad.

It's also good to note that Mitt's more generous with his money that his foes; their strong suit is being generous with other people's tax money.

Also, it's fair to note that 10% is the top rate on dividends, so the 14% figure isn't fishy; Romney got the lion share of his income from investments. Company's paying dividends have to pay taxes on the income that gets payed out at dividends, so that 10% is in addition to the 34% or so that companies pay in federal income taxes.

Taking Back the Arab Street

Interesting news out of Benghazi, where the US embassy had been torched last week. A mob of more-moderate citizens overran a militant group's headquarters. A step in the right direction and not something you'd expect on a Friday during crazy season in Muslim territory, with French cartoons adding to the outrage mix; the natives are more outraged at their own radicals than the next poor excuse for free speech.

To Kill a Mocking Hebdo

I spent some time last night doing a word-search on mock in the Bible. Mocking is stuff the bad guys do. I saw one positive reference to mocking in Proverbs 1, where Wisdom states to the folks who ignore his advice "I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you."

This morning, I bopped over to Get Religion, where they had a piece on Wednesday on the latest Arab Street-inflamer in the form of the French mag Charlie Hebdo. They have an Arab guy in a wheelchair being pushed by a Haradi on the cover-

The text balloon states “You must not mock”, but there is also the undertone of “Make my day” here also. Last November the offices of Charlie Hebdo were firebombed after they put Muhammad on the cover of their magazine and ran some distasteful cartoons inside the magazine.

Of course, CH mocks away once again, and French embassies are having to board up the windows.

Teasing and mocking doesn't make for good rhetoric; it doesn't endear you to the target and makes you look thugish. In this case, there seems to be little benefit from insulting Muslims other than a juvenile desire to make fun of others outside your in-group. We see that in politics, where liberals will make fun of conservatives for the amusement of their fellow progressives and conservatives follow suit.

Making fun of Mohammad's sexual habits isn't going to win anyone over to Jesus; making a negative case for another religion (and a lame one at that) doesn't make a case for yours. Likewise, making fun of Sandra Fluke's virtue (or lack thereof) isn't going to make a good case for allowing religious opt-outs on reproductive drugs.

Psalm 1 hits it on the head-

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That's at the front of the playlist for a reason.

Footy Goal Jesus

Two years ago, a big statue of Jesus just off of I-75 between Dayton and Cincinnati (immortalized by the song Big Butter Jesus) burned down in a lightning strike. The original statue had His hands raised, prompting the alternative nickname Touchdown Jesus; a mural on the side of Notre Dame's library overlooking the football stadium originated that title, so I like the song title better.

We've missed seeing BBJ on our trips between Michigan and Tennessee, but He's back....sort of...

The new 51-foot statue was erected today at the Solid Rock Church near Monroe. It’s visible to drivers along busy Interstate 75.

Nicknamed “Hug Me Jesus,” the statue depicts a full-bodied Jesus who’s standing with open arms.

If we had TDJ in the first case, we can call this Footy Goal Jesus, since the sign for a six-point goal in Australian Rules football is two hands pointing straight ahead; no, the index fingers aren't extended, but close enough for a forced metaphor.

Not So Charming Billy

Sad story out of Lubbock, where former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie stepped down from the Texas Tech head coaching position amid health issues and charges of mistreating players. He's had a lousy five years after signing with UK, lasting two underpeforming (by tough Big Blue standards, a one-and-out NCAA visit and a NIT bid don't cut it in the Bluegrass) years there, having a DUI and getting scammed out of investment money along with a number of other basketball coaches, then acting a bit too much like predecessor Bobby Knight and having bad high blood pressure issues that sent him to the Mayo Clinic and a leave of absence leading up to today's resignation.

Somehow, I get the feeling Billy Clyde (as they used to call him in Lexington) needs some serious time away from basketball and the pressure-cooker of big-time sports. For some folks, a year can do the trick, as we saw with Urban Meyer, who's back in the saddle at Ohio State. Others take longer; Dick Vermeil took over a decade between coaching gigs, doing broadcasting for over a decade between burning out with the Eagles and presiding over the Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis.

Somehow, I think we're looking more at Vermiel than Meyer, unless his financial woes make him get back in the game sooner than his doctors would like.

Republicans Forgetting the 9th Commandment

Conservative pit bull Brent Bozell has an outfit called ForAmerica; here's the beginning of its mission statement as stated on Facebook.

ForAmerica's mission is to reinvigorate the American people with the principles of American exceptionalism: personal freedom, personal responsibility, a commitment to Judeo-Christian values, and a strong national defense.

OK. Judeo-Christian values, like the Ten Commandments that y'all love to put on school and courthouse walls.

OK, let's try #9 on for size-"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." via Exodus 20:16(KJV).

While we're in the neighborhood, let's refresh our memory of a certain pejorative per Merriam-Webster

Definition of IDIOT

1 usually offensive : a person affected with extreme mental retardation

2 : a foolish or stupid person

According to ForAmerica, Barbra Steisand qualifies.

Liberal icon Barbara Streisand said, “Obama has been more fiscally conservative than any other president in recent history, with the exception of President Bill Clinton.” Hey Babs! What about the $5.4 trillion Obama added to our national debt? LIKE if you agree:Streisand is an idiot!

They don't give you a "dislike" button, Brett, otherwise I would have hit it.

As I just put up on Facebook-

Babs gets a flunking grade in economics (“Obama has been more fiscally conservative than any other president in recent history, with the exception of President Bill Clinton.”) or a passing grade in Spin 697 ("The Big Lie" and How to Tell it), but you don't get to be a star singer and actress with a 65 IQ. Hence, the "idiot" label isn't called for. We didn't like it when Dubya had his IQ quartered by his foes, so let's not return the favor.

She doesn't meet the first definition for sure. Misguided, for sure. Mentally handicapped, no.

She only very loosely meets the second version. She's not stupid, but she might well be foolish. Not in an everyday sense (she's a savvy businesswoman and good entertainer) but in the sense that "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" from both Psalm 14:1 and 53:1; David liked it so much, he plagiarized himself.

However, that would require more of a theological argument to justify, more that Bozell and friends would likely want to take a stab at.

Babs is Jewish by background and pretty much a down-the-line liberal, the archetype of the modern Hollywood lefty, or at least in the top five on a conservative sneer list. She's quoted here as

being “proud” to be Jewish, and described herself as “a Jewess through and through, although I’m not religious.”

She was raised in an Orthodox home, but cut her teeth singing in gay clubs (not unlike Bette Midler, if memory serves; hey, I didn't know Barry Manilow was playing piano for Bette at that gig) before Broadway snapped her up, so she's not the most devout Jew. If you wanted to take a stab at calling her theologically foolish, she'd be fair game; just be careful of the three fingers pointing back at you while you point her out.

It's a cheap shot to call her an idiot. She might be bearing false witness by making Kennedy and Carter into spendthrifts vis-a-vis Obama (not to mention the various Republicans), but that doesn't make it right to return the favor. Try remembering the 9th commandment as well as the legendary 11th commandment.

Taking it to the Arab Street

I'm of two minds on how to handle Egypt and other emerging Arab democracies. The first is the hopeful, small-d democrat side, that wants to see folks have an honest shot at picking their leaders rather than dictating from the outside who those leaders can and can't be.

Here's a role-reversal that comes to mind; would we stomach seeing the Europeans and Japanese cutting off relations with a Romney administration because he's too culturally conservative, too Christian for civilized people to deal with? Would we tolerate outsiders saying that our leaders had to not be religious conservatives?

That's how some of the rhetoric from some quarters of the right would sound like to Abdul Q Public. If you tell him he has to vote for either the Mubarak leftovers or some egghead who spent more time in London and Palo Alto than in Cairo, that's not going to go over well.

What will a Muslim Brotherhood government look like? I'm not sure that it won't devolve into an Iranian style bounded-democracy, where you have to be approved by the Islamic powers that be to run and with civil rights only applying if you're what passes for a good Muslim. If it does, then plan B kicks in, but trying to do some Cold-War style coup and installing Mubarak 2.0 right now won't quite work.

Plan B could well look like making Islam the enemy if the bodies politic of enough Arab countries become radicalized and elect governments actively hostile to Western Civ. However, that's not how America rolls when it's on the side of the angels; the "he's a SOB but he's our SOB" school is best avoided.

 

 

Guys, You're On Your Own

Here's a Michigan Democrat page that has an ad for the trio of female jurists they have up as a tag-team package for the state Supreme Court; I saw a version of this via Facebook ads.

“Connie Marie Kelley, Shelia Johnson and Bridget Mary McCormack have spent their careers protecting families and victims of violent crime,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said. “They have taken criminals off the streets and kept children out of gangs. In addition, they have zero tolerance for violence against women and kids. Kelley, Johnson and McCormack protect Michigan’s families.”

That would imply that they have some tolerance for violence against adult males. Shouldn't the proper response be to have no love of violence regardless of who is the target?

It also begs the question on what defines "zero tolerance." Would that entail taking the full extent of the law against the three year old who clobbers his 18-month-old brother when he gets his toy taken from him? Or does that zero tolerance only kick in if the attacker is of a certain age or a certain gender?