"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

What the frack does French culture, declining or not, have to do with a Congressional seat in Minnesota?

And I love the Freudian slip, "taken over by Mu(slims) a Muslim ethic ..."

What the frack is a 'Muslim ethic'?

Not all cultures are equal. Not all values are equal.

I would say that counts as a truism, since she dropped the normative standard from the language, although you know it's still there unspoken in her case.

I'm sure the Europeans like to think their culture is better than ours, their values better than ours. We certainly given them cause to with Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and Pauly Shore.

The Romans became soft and overran by the barbarians. But our ancestors (the whites) were for the most part the barbarians. Societies evolve just like biological entities, and not necessarily at the same time.

But it's my view that religions and moral codes have little intrinsic value, and that it's in the application or the misapplication of it, and in the Western World's case basically telling the clergy we're not gonna fight your damn rigteous wars anymore.

Although when we fight for any other cause, somehow religion gets linked to it, like theold cliche, "There's no atheists in foxholes."

This woman has sunk her own ship.

Obama's Senate Coattails

State (Flip %) Coefficient Obama % Senate % Incumbent
Rhode Island (0) 1.55 46.56 72.00 Democrat
Arkansas (0) 1.49 36.19 54.10 Democrat
South Dakota (0) 1.49 40.29 60.00 Democrat
West Virginia (0) 1.42 42.83 61.00 Democrat
Montana (0) 1.41 45.35 64.00 Democrat
Louisiana (2.72) 1.28 41.11 52.68 Democrat
Idaho (0) 1.20 24.90 30.00 Republican
Oklahoma (0.3) 1.20 33.34 39.89 Republican
Virginia (100) 1.17 50.12 58.61 Republican
Delaware (0) 1.14 56.07 64.00 Democrat
New Mexico (100) 1.12 50.24 56.21 Republican
Alaska (62.08) 1.11 41.91 46.60 Republican
Mississippi-B (35.72) 1.10 42.89 47.06 Republican
Michigan (0) 1.08 55.16 59.36 Democrat
Iowa (0) 1.07 53.31 57.16 Democrat
Kentucky (13.48) 1.06 42.19 44.80 Republican
Illinois (0) 1.04 59.72 62.00 Democrat
Massachusetts (0) 1.03 58.71 60.38 Democrat
New Hampshire (99.91) 1.02 50.20 51.29 Republican
Colorado (99.76) 0.98 50.95 50.00 Republican
South Carolina (0) 0.98 40.84 39.83 Republican
Nebraska (0) 0.96 36.84 35.50 Republican
Texas (0.19) 0.96 42.56 40.82 Republican
Georgia (34.13) 0.95 45.86 43.44 Republican
New Jersey (0) 0.92 58.71 54.29 Democrat
North Carolina (59.53) 0.92 47.94 43.94 Republican
Alabama (0) 0.90 35.80 32.26 Republican
Tennessee (0) 0.84 41.23 34.62 Republican
Kansas (0) 0.83 42.22 35.05 Republican
Wyoming-B (0) 0.82 36.36 29.90 Republican
Oregon (72.85) 0.78 49.90 38.97 Republican
Maine (0) 0.77 54.45 42.10 Republican
Mississippi-A (0) 0.75 42.89 32.00 Republican
Wyoming-A (0) 0.75 36.36 27.10 Republican
Minnesota (66.9) 0.73 54.38 39.96 Republican

I think she's a horrible individual, but I think those statements aren't necessarily as bigoted as you'd like them to be.

What culture in the history of the world would not compare favorably to Nazi Germany?

Don't the cultures spawned from the Enlightenment exceed those defined by European feudalism?

I have no problem with Bachman pointing this out. Of course, her subtext is that Christian Republicanism is superior to all other cultures. And that I do disagree with. Christian Republicanism is is vastly inferior culture that could not survive without the tolerance of cultures based on reason and democracy.

I guess this moron forgot about those golden rules - 'we are all created equal' and 'do unto others'. Yep, she's surely a good christian. She's clueless about christianity; clueless about the concept of representing people in her state from all walks of life, all cultures, etc. This woman needs to be escorted out of Congress pronto!

It's probably better that she has made these comments now. It gives people the opportunity to see another side of her and respond with their vote appropriately.

It appears that the McCain camp holds the smoking gun on the Ashley Todd hoax. This is criminal if found to be true. It's clear that they pushed the story even before it could be fully investigated which is criminal enough and shows their level of criminal conduct and desperation; if they fabricated it and asked this woman to do this to herself, they all should be in jail.

I have a feeling that the Ashley Todd story is not going to go away as further details emerge and will occupy the better part of next week.

Also Congress is filing suit against the McCain campaign for violation of campaign laws - two suits in fact. This will not bode well for McCain in the final days of his "brokeback express".

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Reporter_Attack...

This Ashley Todd story is definitely NOT going away; in fact,it's now taking on a life of it's own. I've been scanning the internet and it's now a featured story on all news and political blogs. It's been discovered that Peter Feldman, Pa. Communications Chairman for the McCain campaign called in the precise same quotes to two television news channels BEFORE anything about the story was confirmed by local law enforcement.

I think it's time to put Peter Feldman under oath and force this man and the McCain campaign to "come clean" with the american people.

Their use of this hoax (or perhaps conceptualization and implementation of the hoax itself) makes them culpable under the law of intent to spread misinformation to incite racial violence.

After the lies and hatred we've seen Palin and McCain spew for weeks along with their sleazy robocalls, I believe absolutely NOTHING coming from their lips or their campaign at this point.

I believe it's time for the news media to force this story to be investigted by law enforcement or the DOJ - and immediately.

Do whatever you can to circulate your outrage that the McCain campaign would stoop to such heinous and criminal tactics to attempt to incite racial violence. This is an outrageous abuse of the law.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239...

I think it is truly horrible that these Muslims in the suburbs of Paris have cable tv. What are they trying to do? Be Americans in Paris?

The suburbs of Paris, Michelle, are not like the suburbs of America where white people run to flee people of color in the cities. They are the slums.

If Michelle Bachmann's culture is superior to anything i certainly would like her to say it straight out and not twist the English language to cover up her hate.

Stupid is as stupid does ...

'Nuff said.

This level of hatred has been able to go unchecked in this country for too damn long. She has every right to think these racist and truly unamerican thoughts let's just hope the electorate has enough decency to vote her out of office. Our great country is going through a rather remarkable transformation and we must be vigilant in our pointing the spotlight when this level of vile is displayed. I for one am greatful to C&L and other's groups fighting the good fight. Let us also hope that the major media players return to being the 4th branch of government.

Besides what do you know about assimilation? I thought this was a free country. Why MUST we assimilate? And who is the judge of whether we are or are not assimilating? You ya fruitcake?
Kindly shut your bigoted pie hole Michelle.

John McCain, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Ashley Todd, Peter Feldman, and all the racists who spew venom at the Republican Hate Rallies have done America a favor by finally removing any deniability that race is an issue in the United States of America. They have removed any doubt that discrimination and hate exists here. It is time American stands up and faces this problem in a proactive and straight forward manner. We need to get beyond the joke that a black man is only a n@gger when he is out of earshot.

cannot be equal. Just impossible.

Next topic, please.

As PT Barnum I think it was said: You can fool some of the people all of the time.
christian republicans want to believe. That is where their problem comes from! They spend so much time believing in what is told them by anyone that pushes the right button, or says just the right thing that they don't really look at what is going on around them because someone they think is one of them says it is this way.
I ran a lumber yard for a man that thought he was a christian and maybe he is.
Another man wanted to sell the lumber yard some hardware and had been trying to get me to join the program for years. I would not because it was not in the best interest of the business to tie up money in hardware, we were a lumber yard and there was three hardware stores in our little town. One day this salesman was giving his pitch after he found out that the owner thought of himself as religious. He said you know every morning when my feet hit that cold floor I just thank the lord I've got a job.
The owner looked at me and said this is a good christian man trying to help us out.
I said this is a salesman trying to put his hand in your pocket.
To make a long story short the owner signed up for the hardware package, the money that should have bought lumber went to hardware and in about a year we were out of business.
The moral of this story is if you believe to much you will be taken advantage of.
That is what has happened to America!

...like this get past security in D.C?

The district in Minnesota that sent this hopelessly ignorant whore to congress should be given back to the Native Americans....a casino would be more useful.

All cultures tend to become ethnocentric.

Living overseas, I came to learn that while I may not see value in some cultural characteristics, it does not matter: they are important and valuable to the culture where they are born, even if my own cultural ethnocetricity blinds me to that. In a culturally diverse nation, ones like the USA and Canada, this is poison.

This is a bit long, but I think very relevet, so please indulge me: it's a poignant legend and we should all pay heed.

The legend of the Sky Maiden
The legend of the Sky Maiden, derived from West Africa

Once upon a time there was a tribe that was greatly blessed. It owned cattle and lands that produced fruits and vegetables in great abundance. But over time, tribe members noticed that their lands and cows were producing less and less milk and food. They could not understand why. The harder they worked, the less was available.

One young warrior decided to find out what was happening. He thought that perhaps someone in the tribe was taking more than his share of food or that thieves from other tribes were stealing the food at night. So he stayed up all night day after day looking for the thief. Finally, one night he saw a wondrous sight. A beautiful young woman descended from the stars carrying several large baskets. She milked the cows, picked vegetables and fruits and filled all of the baskets to the brim. She then returned to the stars.

The warrior was entranced. So he set a trap for her and continued his vigil until she returned again. When she descended, he captured her. He asked what she was doing and where she had come from.

She said that she was a member of a tribe in the stars. She told him that they had little food of their own and so she came down to find food for her community. She asked him to release her and let her go home.

He agreed on the condition that she return and marry him. She promised to return in three days.

When she came back she was carry a large box. She told the young warrior that she would marry him, but he must promise never to look in the box.

For months the couple was very happy with one another. But, one day when his wife had left to gather food, the warrior's curiosity got the best of him and he opened the box. He was amazed! There was nothing in it.

When the young woman returned, she soon realized that her husband was staring at her as though she was very, very strange. She gasped and turned pale. "You looked inside the box. I can't stay here anymore."

He replied, "That's ridiculous. There is no reason for you to leave. There was nothing in the box."

She said sadly, "I am sorry. Its not that you looked into the box. I expected you might grow curious. But, you see, I filled my box in the stars with everything that was important to me in my world: the air, the smells, the sights, the sounds, the tastes."

"I can't love you anymore now that I know that you find those treasures to be nothing."

All cultures are equal in that they are striving to do right in the universe. They have different ways of manifesting their goals and some members of a culture loose their way.

Only bigots look at the failures within a segment of a culture and attribute it to the whole culture. America had it's own Holocaust. We destroyed the natives and we enslaved a whole race of people. Christianity burned people at the stake and massacred whole towns of Muslims and Jewish people during the crusades.

How dare an American Christian hold themselves up as a culture somehow "better than others!!?"

How dare she stand up there talking about tribalism in one breath and spouting American exceptionalism in the next!!?

I can only hope that enough Minnesotans see through this transparency. It's easy for Americans to let this stuff slide sometimes when the bigotry is also telling you how great you are as an American.

If Bachman's comments are kept in context it is impossible not to see the xenophobia. Let's not pretend that she had in mind cliterectomies or honor killings when she talked about cultures not being equal. She was speaking from a strictly white, american, right wing christian view point. To pretend that her comments were not bigoted is simply ridiculous.

I heard that McCain was going to ask Bachman to be his VP, if Palin turned him down. *snicker*

Is Capital Punishment a superior value? That's kiiling people in your name. Nice.

To get back to my thoughts earlier above, I had to leave early, because my energy was draining quick.

You don't necessarily fault the whole due to problems with the part. That's one culture treating another culture like one man treats another man on facile differences. It's the sociological equivalency of racism.

No, not all cultures are equal, what one has to address is how they confer benefits to their citizens or at least deny as little as possible if they believe in the Ius Naturale. The Communist Chinese of the 1970's would argue what's the point of guaranteeing individual rights if the State itself becomes too weakened to guarantee them? Interestingly enough, that's the argument of conservatives now regarding the "War on Terrorism," and the Patriot Act.

The problem with women of this ilk is that they equate Christianity and Capitalism as greater virtues, when actually it's just a dominant religion and an economic theory. In the Western World Humanity civilized religion, not the inverse.

)O(

I didn't listen to hear speak or read anything past the included quote, but isn't it true that not all cultures or values are equal?

Ignoring whatever subtext you think is in her words, and not to say our culture is perfect, but I feel very strongly that it's 'better' in every way than the culture of radical Islam.