When Atheists Attack....Palin

[Sulawesi]

As an atheist, I have all sorts of issues calling Sam Harris a "provocateur", but ignoring all that for the moment, I liked this commentary on Palin...

"The point to be lamented is not that Sarah Palin comes from outside Washington, or that she has glimpsed so little of the earth's surface (she didn't have a passport until last year), or that she's never met a foreign head of state. The point is that she comes to us, seeking the second most important job in the world, without any intellectual training relevant to the challenges and responsibilities that await her. There is nothing to suggest that she even sees a role for careful analysis or a deep understanding of world events when it comes to deciding the fate of a nation. In her interview with Gibson, Palin managed to turn a joke about seeing Russia from her window into a straight-faced claim that Alaska's geographical proximity to Russia gave her some essential foreign-policy experience. Palin may be a perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American success story—but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling into, or upon, world history."

...

Palin's most conspicuous gaffe in her interview with Gibson has been widely discussed. The truth is, I didn't much care that she did not know the meaning of the phrase "Bush doctrine." And I am quite sure that her supporters didn't care, either. Most people view such an ambush as a journalistic gimmick. What I do care about are all the other things Palin is guaranteed not to know—or will be glossing only under the frenzied tutelage of John McCain's advisers. What doesn't she know about financial markets, Islam, the history of the Middle East, the cold war, modern weapons systems, medical research, environmental science or emerging technology? Her relative ignorance is guaranteed on these fronts and most others, not because she was put on the spot, or got nervous, or just happened to miss the newspaper on any given morning. Sarah Palin's ignorance is guaranteed because of how she has spent the past 44 years on earth."

...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080

[DangerousRhythm]

1. Ooh, nice.

Thanks for this article! :thumbsup:

[ColbertWatcher]

2. k+r, n/t

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. I heart Sam Harris. nt

[KathieG]

5. Me too...Sam is great

[Window]

4. K/R.

:kick:

[moobu2]

6. Thanks so much for posting this. I hope people, even theist folks, READ this!!

[Usrename]

7. In what respect, Charlie?

:rofl:

[Sulawesi]

8. LOL

[jazzjunkysue]

9. GOD SENDS SHOCKING MESSAGE TO EMERGING CHURCH!

No real connection to this but, with the new church/porn story all over CNN, ths story does come to mind.....

GOD SENDS SHOCKING MESSAGE TO EMERGING CHURCH!
http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor82.htm

Texas Pastor Electrocuted During Baptism

Oct 30 08:18 PM US/Eastern

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8DIM630N&show_article=1

WACO, Texas (AP) - A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning after grabbing a microphone while partially submerged, a church employee said.
The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in water up to his shoulder in a baptismal at University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted, said Jamie Dudley, a church business administrator and wife of another pastor there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just love the part where it's his reaching for the microphone that does him in...
It seems even god attacks believers, sometimes.....

[Solomon]

10. I cut this article out of the paper the day it was reported and

keep it in my office drawer. Periodically, I challenge those who go to far religious-wise to explain to me the possible meaning of this particular occurrence. The minister was in the act of bringing souls to God. My fundie friends have not been able to contemplate the issue, much less give an intelligent answer on the subject.

[Sulawesi]

13. Thanks for sharing that, as the subject further drifts, do you know this site?

http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/

[dansolo]

11. I disagree that it was an ambush

I believe that Charlie Gibson honestly expected her to recognize the term. It was a softball question, not an ambush. I don't care that most people might not be familiar with the term. It is the guiding principle of (at least before this week) the single most important issue facing our country--the Iraq war, and the rational for it that could lead to other wars. He even explained the term to her, and she still wouldn't give a clear answer.

[Sulawesi]

12. I agree with YOU there...not Sam Harris...

[SDJay]

15. Agreed.

It was not an ambush, it was just the opposite. It was a would-be softball that should have been right in her wheelhouse. Not to continue to belabor the "Russia is right next door" BS, but if she really felt that they needed to 'have an eye kept on them,' then she probably would have/should have understood what it meant in 2002 to basically radically shift the fundamental tenet of US foreign policy from one of diplomacy first/war only as a last resort to attack first/preemptively strike/bomb the shit out of whatever and rationalize it later. That would seem to directly affect one's perspective of someone who's 'looking down the barrel of Russia.'

Of course, all of this logic is a waste of time, because when we analyze Churchy Spice, we're dealing with a certifiable moron, someone who's gotten through life with half-assed effort, BS in general, winking/flirting in an area where women are not as populous, and of course someone who doesn't think she should have to answer questions from the press or debate under the same rules.

It gets more ridiculous every day.

[electron_blue]

17. Agreed - not an ambush. Gibson asked the same question at the primary debates and

everyone there knew what it was. She (or her handlers) should have studied Gibson's old questions.

[LiberalHeart]

14. Here's a swell excerpt from the article....

What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents—and her supporters celebrate—the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth:

"Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?"

"Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter."

"But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind."

"That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink."

[Sulawesi]

16. ping!

[TNMOM]

18. best line: using our country as collateral on "journey of faith.."

Sam hits the nail on the head right her:
..."Palin seems perfectly willing to stake the welfare of our country—even the welfare of our species—as collateral in her own personal journey of faith."

It is a nice rejoinder for her snarky remark about about Obama's path to the white house as a "journey of self-discovery.":bounce: