Posted at 08:23 AM ET, 07/19/2012
“Are Bachmann and Sununu attacks part of a
new McCarthyism?
By Mary C. Curtis
John Sununu apologized,
not for the sentiment but for these words: “I wish this president would learn
how to be an American.”
“The former New Hampshire governor
and White House chief of staff was speaking as a Mitt Romney surrogate, and the
message was an old one, heard since Barack Obama was a presidential candidate.
“This guy is not really one of us. He’s someone and something else.” Got it.
Heard it. Sure we’ll hear it again and again. Birth certificates are no longer
enough. From now on, one must pass the Sununu citizenship test.
“Even for
those who accept that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, it is, don’t you know, a
state unlike any other – multiracial, multicultural and in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean. Sununu, who was born in Havana, Cuba, has looked at the
president’s background and decided it doesn’t fit, all irony apparently lost
amid the bluster..”
Posted at 09:52 AM ET, 07/19/2012
The
redemption of John McCain
“The sound that you hear is John
McCain getting out of the doghouse. That’s where I put him — appropriately and
I thought for life — when he chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate. It was
an impetuous decision by a man who did what I thought he would never do — put
career, not country, first. A Palin presidency is simply unimaginable.”
“ Now, though, the old McCain has returned with a ringing defense of Huma Abedin. She is Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s long-time aide de camp and, among other thing, a
Muslim. The “other things” include marriage to former representative Anthony
Weiner, who is Jewish and, when he was in Congress a down-the-line champion of
Israel and all its causes. Still, in the quite-mad rhetoric of Rep. Michele
Bachmann and some others, Abedin is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and its
attempt to gain access “to top Obama administration officials…”
Excluding atheists and gay people is a sad
evolution and unnecessary evolution for the the group.
The Boy Scouts of America, an organization
once known mainly for welcoming boys to a world of adventure, self-sufficiency
and good citizenship, now is more famous for the groups of people it bans:
atheists, agnostics and homosexuals.
Cassi Creek:
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) (1947–1975) was
an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the
House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal
Security". When the House abolished the committee in 1975, its functions were
transferred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Growing up in the 1950s &
1960s, the great and continual source of
fear was that of “ godless, international
communism. Performers and artists were
black listed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. HUAC, a self-perpetuating group that afforded
undeserved power, demonstrated why Congress was often the enemy of all it
claimed to stand for.
All it took for someone to wind up “invited to testify
before the Committee was the mention of a secret list of the names of people
who “might be secretly members of the CPUSA.
Taking its cues from rumors,
misunderstood statements, innuendo, and outright lies, it left a trail of
broken careers in its trail. HUAC was capable
of censoring radio, television, the theater, and movies. It wielded that capability brutally and
carelessly. Witch hunting for communists
in government and in non-governmental endeavors was common.
So poorly informed was HUAC, that it acted upon the
slightest whisper of suspicion that someone might be a communist. The FBI Director used HUAC to punish enemies
and to increase his power. Richard Nixon’s
early progress to power was aided by his willingness to exploit HUAC and the
Alger Hiss hearings. The boy Scouts were
even asked to spy upon their neighbors for the FBI at one time.
After the cold war ended, the political situation cooled
down. There were no communists to
hunt.
Now, coincident with the rise of the theocons, and the
various teavangelist demagogues the Star Chamber behavior is returning. Formerly lumped in with “the communists” were
civil rights activists, gender equality activists, minority religion members –
primarily Jews and Muslims – and other people misfortunate enough to believe
that the Constitution applies to all citizens, and that no state religion means
just that. Without a pool of hidden
communists, Congress now can target Muslims, Jews, homosexuals, socialists,
civil rights activists, pro-abortion activists, and all those other citizens
who have been able to avoid falling into the cultural quicksand that threatens
to engulf those who have learned to think and behave independently of magic
myths and invisible sky fairies.
Michelle Bachmann now provides an outstanding example of
how to avoid critical thinking and embrace mass political stupidity. John McCain has just provided a behavior goal
for the rest of Congress, House and Senate.
While McCain has taken steps toward self-redemption, the
Boy Scouts have further lost their way.
The fear of homosexuality drives many of the program
changes that the BSA has implemented since I was a youth member, and even since
I was an adult volunteer. It limits
activities when sufficient adult leaders can’t be found. The program is weaker because of such
fears.
I began cub scouting at 8 years of age. I received the Eagle Award in 1963 and
continued in the program until I became 18.
I served as an adult volunteer for an additional 8 years. During that time, I never was approached by
anyone seeking homosexual behavior. Nor,
did I hear others complain. This doesn’t
mean such behavior did not occur around me, only that I was unconcerned about
the behavior of other people and that I was not an object of lust for any other
scout.
The Girl Scouts have changed to accommodate reality. International Scouting has also. The BSA needs to join the 21st
century.
I periodically get requests for money from the BSA, Inc. Like a Marine, one is always an Eagle
Scout. The award is presented only after
approval by the national organization. The
decision to strip a 19 year old of his Eagle Award infuriates me. The next BSA solicitation will be returned
with a list of reasons why they will not be getting my charitable,
tax-deductable, contribution.
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