The Danger of the Reality Challenged Right (or "Hey, Mitch" part 2).

As if having Donald Trump be president isn't enough to clue people in on that.

Anyway, this relates to the Britsh election and Theresa May's flirting with the Democratic Unionist Party, which is a quarantined version of the US religious/reality challenged right wing.  I thought about mentioning this article from the British satirical site the Daily Mash which makes it plain how far out the DUP happens to be: if the comparison of Iris Robinson to Michele Bachmann didn't.

The Guardian is reporting that Conservative MPs are objecting to this alliance, which is good.  I have found that non-US conservatives are reasonable people who one can have an intelligent conversation with even if you disagree (e.g., I staunchly believe in the EU and European Monetary Union, or Euro).

On the other hand, US "conservatives" have been willing to use hot button issues to short circuit the masses intellect for far too long.  Gun control is a prime example of this. 

I find it amusing that this public safety issue has been turned into a "battleground" for "left v. right" when there are loads of examples of true conservatives being staunchly "gun grabbing". Case in point being Richard Nixon is on record as saying:

"I don't know why any individual should have a right to have a revolver in his house. "The kids usually kill themselves with it and so forth." He asked why "can't we go after handguns, period?"

Nixon went on: "I know the rifle association will be against it, the gun makers will be against it." But "people should not have handguns." He laced his comments with obscenities, as was typical.[source]

And let's not forget Jim "Bear" Brady happened to be Ronald Reagan's press secretary (and some of the Goldwater republicans who ran the Brady Campaign).  But that is one of many toxic issues which the Republicans have glommed onto in a successful campaign to get people to vote against their self-interests.

On the other hand, I read this on the Guardian website:

The Observer has learned that the DUP was planning to dodge a row when negotiations began by avoiding the inclusion of any controversial social policies, such as opposition to gay marriage or abortion, in its so-called “shopping list” of demands to the Tories. Party sources said it would be seeking commitments from May that there would be no Irish unity referendum and no hard border imposed on the island of Ireland.

However, some Tories remained concerned that a pact would damage a brand they have spent years trying to detoxify.

The DUP is opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. It has also appointed climate change sceptics to senior posts within the party. That is in contrast to the UK Conservative Party which at one time made climate change a plank in its platform, but it now seems to be missing from their website.

Another point, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s secret negotiator with the IRA after the 1998 Good Friday agreement, said on Monday: “If Mrs May depends on the DUP– Ian Paisley’s party, not the old Official Unionists who used to work with the Tories – to form a government it will be impossible for it to be even-handed.”


David Cameron's ill fated gamble on Brexit may have just sentenced the Tories to a slow and lingering death.  Let's hope the same befalls the US religious/reality challenged right.  I know that some of the more reasonable right wingers have defected to the Dems already, which is why neoliberal Clinton as the nominee instead of Sanders.

No War on Religion, Just Another Right Wing Conspiracy Hoax

If one army faced another army, and the generals of the opposing army came forward to parley, and all the soldiers ran away, the other army including their generals, and any neutral observers, might fairly doubt that the lone generals legitimately spoke for their military force.  In this case, for purposes of analogy, the one army is wearing blue, the one with the most people on that side, and the other side is wearing red.  Many of the people now streaming over to join the blue army have taken off their red uniforms, at least for this battle.

When you have 98% of the women in the Roman Catholic church who are sexually active - which is at some time in their lives most of them, overwhelmingly - then I think it is fair for the rest of us, including the Obama administration, to recognize that the hierarchy, the Bishops of the Roman Catholic church are not speaking for the body of their own church, any more than generals without soldiers could legitimately speak for an absent / dissenting army.

Obama is clearly not waging war on religion; and he is no more waging war on Roman Catholicism than generals and an army are waging war on dissenting soldiers for a conflict with a few in the hierarchy - and even the hierarchy is far from unified on this point. Some f the ranking officers, so to speak, dissent as well. The scope of the generals whose soldiers have left them in dissent is covered below, but for those of you who wish to read the LA Times article referenced in the video below for yourselves, it's here.

 

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And if you doubt the analogy I made above about contraception, also on the topic of the fabricated war on religion is this, from the Maddow blog author, Steve Benen which you can read here (the original has the actual poll links):

Ignoring a consensus on contraception

By Steve Benen - Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:09 AM EST.Critics of the White House's policy on contraception access have been pretty aggressive of late, with a coordinated attack both on the policy and President Obama's compromise, but the campaign has failed miserably to persuade the public.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll included a straightforward question on this:

"Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?"

Support: 66%

Oppose: 26%

Don't Know: 8% 

And what about a requirement on religiously-affiliated employers to cover contraception in their health insurance plans? Support drops a little, but it's still 61%. I thought the inclusion of the phrase "federal requirement" might affect the results a bit, but apparently not.

By the reasoning of many congressional Republicans, nearly two-thirds of the country likes contraception access so much, they're willing to endorse an outrageous assault on religious liberty.

All kidding aside, these results are consistent with other recent polls, all of which point in the same direction: the American mainstream agrees with the administration on this issue.....

Update: Greg Sargent has some additional details, including the fact that self-identified Roman Catholics agree with Obama's line, 67% to 25%, and even a majority of self-identified Republicans feel the same way.

Don't look now Catholic Bishops, but your church is not really behind you for the most part.  Don't look now Republicans, but the rank and file of your political party isn't behind you EITHER. You might want to think about that a bit further before you start getting too free with the whole 'War' thing.  You are clearly on the losing sid of that battle.