People That Could Benefit From a Little Googleing

I'm an English and Journalism major, so I'm totally familiar with the art form of making it look like you've read something that you didn't. But, at least most of the time, I do some google-ing before I have to pretend to know something. Here are some people in and around politics that could have benefited from doing a little homework:

"...the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States....Men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country."
--Michele Bachmann, during her Tea Party response to Obama's State of the Union Address

Oh yeah, and the moon's made out of cheese and I'm sitting here sharing a milkshake with James Dean. Really, THAT'S how ludicrous that statement is. That's more than just not knowing history, that's totally giving credit where credit is NOT due. Sure, Adams helped to get the conversation started about ending slavery, but of the so-called "founding fathers," many were slave owners, like Thomas Jefferson. The 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery) wasn't ratified until 1865. John Quincy Adams was already dead. Washington, Franklin, Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, and the first Adams were already dead. Even with the 13th Amendment, segregation was instated till the middle of the 60s, and we're still fighting civil rights battles today.

During her response, Bachmann also used the phrase "American exceptionalism." This works both ways; both they way your 1st grade teacher used it to describe your work of art, but also meaning that America as somehow an "exception." We've used this belief to do a lot of stupid things, and I was irritated that Bachmann used this in her speech.

"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed."
--President Obama, on a tornado in Kansas

I guess 10,000 died in Obamaland, but, here on Earth, it was 12. I'm all for upping the drama, but not to the effect of killing off 9,988 extra people. All you had to do was take out your Blackberry and Google it. THAT'S IT!


Glenn Beck's Thomas Paine worship...

I'm no expert on Paine. I've only read parts of Age of Reason and Common Sense in a couple classes. But, I'm expert enough to say that Beck is backing the wrong guy and he, quite obviously, has never actually read Paine. Both of these are quotes from Paine's "Age of Reason" .....

• "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church."

• "Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter."
  

Seeing any problems here? Beck is a Mormon. He said:

''I haven't seen Jesus and what he would do on a talk show on Fox, but I'm going to try.'' —Glenn Beck, FOX News Channel's Glenn Beck show, April 21, 2010

He ALWAYS plays the god card in his political rhetoric. And he's siding with an atheist? In fact, most of the so-called founding fathers were deists, not Christians. So, sorry Beck, it looks like Paine's just not that into you. Calling one of your books, "Common Sense," after Paine's work of the same name is just not cool. You should probably start wearing the costume of someone closer to your particular brand of crazy.... like Sarah Palin. Speaking of Sarah.....

“Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”
--Sarah Palin, about the bad press she was getting in lieu of the tragedy in Arizona

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47477.html#ixzz1Ck3kwkwb

This is the definition of "Blood Libel," from wikipedia:

"Blood libel (also blood accusation^[1][2]) is a false accusation or claim^[3][4][5] that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays.^[1][2][6] Historically, these claims—alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration—have been a major theme in European persecution of Jews."

So, basically, Sarah Palin just compared her bad press to the persecution of the Jews. Let that sink in for a minute. Jewish people, your persecution and torture at the hands of many different groups, all throughout history, is being equated with Palin showing up in a few unfavorable articles about her use of gun-related rhetoric. If this doesn't label her as a sociopath, I don't know what does. I don't think I can even say anything else about this without breaking something.


(Edit: I didn't put Christine O'Donnell's denial of the separation of church and state on the list because it's another one of my posts, entirely dedicated to her crazy antics)


This list could be a thousand times longer, and all of these people are repeat offenders. I just picked the ones that made me the most angry. If you can think of anything else that belongs on the list, make your case in the comments section. I just thought of one I didn't put on the list...the Tea Party for not bothering to use Google to find the meaning of another tea-related word.

Thanks for reading!!