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meanwhile, as per rick warren
Dec. 19th, 2008 09:21 amI'm really surprised about how angry I am about this whole Rick Warren headshot. Surprised, no. Angry? Yeah, very. I guess I was secretly hoping for better. More fool my subconscious, then. Anyway, Rick would be pleased to note that the US yesterday refused to sign on to a UN declaration condemning the criminalisation and execution of GBLT people. The US is the only country in the Western world who refused to sign. The 70 countries which still have laws making GBLT people illegal - many of whom impose the death penalty - were no doubt pleased.
Glenn Greenwald takes apart the idea of the Warren selection being part of a "new, post-partisan" politics - at least the new part, running off a list of ways that Democrats have bent over backwards to accommodate Republican positions and demands only to be treated with more savagery and disrespect than before. He also points to this article saliently outlining how this boosts Rick Warren's goals:
However, to be fair, he does point out that the benediction will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, a long-time civil rights advocate who does support actual equal rights. This doesn't change anything about my polite political society post before, or the quoted material above - but it is worth the call-out.
In other news, this article on the media coverage of American government torture is reasonable, noting that even when there is coverage, it is neither of degree or kind to other news topics such as the Blagojevich scandal.
Glenn Greenwald takes apart the idea of the Warren selection being part of a "new, post-partisan" politics - at least the new part, running off a list of ways that Democrats have bent over backwards to accommodate Republican positions and demands only to be treated with more savagery and disrespect than before. He also points to this article saliently outlining how this boosts Rick Warren's goals:
If Democrats collaborate in positioning Warren as the centrist alternative to the religious right, they consign vast numbers of people, including many of the party’s most dedicated supporters, to the fringe. “It does strengthen Warren as kind of a new Billy Graham figure,” says the Reverend Dan Schultz, a United Church of Christ pastor and the founder of the progressive religious blog Street Prophets. That has especial relevance for Warren’s role in Africa, where a very conservative kind of evangelical Christianity is exploding, bringing with it virulently anti-gay politics.John Cole at Balloon Juice says Mr. Obama's platform is clear and that complaints are "obnoxious and silly." He then lists HRC's endorsement points and rating of Mr. Obama from earlier in the campaign, with essentially the implicit trust that Mr. Obama won't be changing course on any of these agenda items because of that. I've already mentioned the previous most-gblt-friendly-evar platform; all I can add at this point, I suppose, is, "FISA."
Feminists and gay people have long feared that the Democrats’ much-vaunted new religious outreach would come at their expense, and the Warren choice seriously exacerbates such anxieties. Both groups have long complained that that their concerns aren’t taken seriously by the broader progressive coalition, a lament that’s gained urgency in the wake of the explosive sexual politics that marked the election. By honoring Warren, Obama is rubbing salt into wounds that have barely begun to heal...
After all, Warren is not just anti-abortion—he is anti-egalitarian. A page on his Web site Pastors.com, a resource for his fellow Christian leaders, features a woman named Beth Moore explaining and even celebrating the necessity of wifely submission....
By choosing Warren, he is suggesting that Warren’s positions on gay people, women and Jews aren’t really that bad, and that he can be a unifying force in American life. Whether Obama intends to or not, he’s pulling a Sister Souljah on some of his most ardent backers, writing them out of the American mainstream at precisely the time when, thanks to his election, they were so dearly hoping to reenter it. ... Obama is sending a message of respect and conciliation to those who oppose gay rights, women’s rights and secularism more broadly.
However, to be fair, he does point out that the benediction will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, a long-time civil rights advocate who does support actual equal rights. This doesn't change anything about my polite political society post before, or the quoted material above - but it is worth the call-out.
In other news, this article on the media coverage of American government torture is reasonable, noting that even when there is coverage, it is neither of degree or kind to other news topics such as the Blagojevich scandal.
