UFOs Are … [Fill in the Blank]

I’ve posted on this blog before about image artifacts and pareidolia, such as, World Net Daily Is a Fan of Pareidolia” which reported on WND’s Joe Kovacs, the executive news editor of WND, writing about an image anomaly that some claimed looked like Jesus in a Google image.

Joe Kovacs is apparently a big fan of these kinds of image anomalies, and now we can add UFOs to the list: “Mystery Lights Spotted Over U.S. Heartland.” The entire article is a credulous reporting of what various people said they saw in the sky.

The reason why I’m talking about this is the comments:

• rickc — “Holograms , NWO trick or Angels batteling in the heavens. I won’t lose any sleep over it GOD is in control and I belong to him. Jesus is my Lord and savior.”
• Robert R. Lionshield — “t’s fallen angels that this people are seeing, they(angel) shape-shift into anything that we know and see on the earth. Do NOT BE FOOLED BY DEVIL.”
• EMIRCITNA — “BOTTOM LINE; I don’t want to hear anything else about “UFO’s” ….until one actually lands and the occupants show themselves!!! ~ (most probably will be a George Soros-funded NWO gimmick!)”
• gian2012 — “Everybody should know that it’s Bush’s revenge on all those who hate him. Ditto Sarah Palin who helped Bush launch thousands of captured fireflies into the atmosphere. Or it’s a new campaign by Michael Bloomberg so he can blame the NRA for all the tracers being shot into the air. Other than that it’s an atmospheric phenomenon launched by Almighty God against a godless America as a warning to clean up the corruption in this country with it’s Constitution inspired by Divine Providence or dire consequences await. There will be more heavenly signs as time goes by, just wait and see. I’m no crackpot and believe there’s forces out there far more powerful than Obama,Dirty Harry,and Nanny Pelosi, who mock God by laughing at the Constitution of this beautiful country now blighted by the folly of corrupt men and women who are drunk with power for personal gain. Don’t forget, Jesus said, “What profit a man (or woman) should they gain the world but lose their own soul”? Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and boy are we seeing that in the president,the congress,and especially Dirty Harry senator extraordinaire from Nevada trying to throw a guy off his ranch for personal monetary gain. The Almighty has a special room waiting in hell for all because He doesn’t like to be mocked . Go ahead non believers, liberal trolls , throw your potshots at me whereby I’ll survive and you will not. “
• katch52 — “Think how easy it would be for a government regime to stage these things and use the media to put a scare into the whole country that we’re being invaded by aliens. They’d instruct us all to go to the nearest FEMA camp for shelter and for those who didn’t have the transportation or who just didn’t want to go, they’d make sure we got there. Don’t fall for it!”
• makeminefreedom — “It’s called PSYOPS or psychological operations. It goes something like this, “I saw a light in the sky. I’m scared. I guess I should give up my rights so the government will protect me.””

I’m not sure much needs to be said at this point. Exposing how these people think is enough.

It’s Very Hard to Take Away Government Benefits

You would think that Republicans would have learned that with Social Security, a Democratic proposal during the height of the Great Depression that economists said would kill jobs because employers couldn’t afford the 2% and then 6% payroll tax to pay for it. Conservative Christians decried it as the Mark of the Beast.

These days, even reform of Social Security – let alone canceling it – is a political non-starter. Medicare and Medicaid are similar. And, I think, the Affordable Care Act (derisively called “ObamaCare”) will soon follow.

Like it or not, it is in effect almost in full at this point. That means that over 7 million people are getting benefits in some way from it. I think Republicans (the pragmatic ones) have recognized that, but WND doesn’t like it: “GOP Leader Throws in Towel on ObamaCare Repeal.”

There are only 151 WND comments at this time, and they did not like what “Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a stalwart opponent of the Affordable Care Act,” had to say.

The highest rated comment was from “jtrollla:” “Rodgers has now officially joined the Boehner-McConnell camp and must be one of those purged if the Republican Party is to redeem itself, rather than damn itself to oblivion.”

Second-highest “LynxNews” agreed: “We now know what side she is on…. the wrong one. And I’d guess she has been since the beginning. What a coward, and traitor.”

In 50 years — heck, probably in 10-20 — I would guess that most Republicans will be on the opposite side, pushing to keep it in the face of desired reform. It happened with Social Security, it’ll happen again.

The Cliven Bundy Scandal

This should be a lesson to conservatives: Most old white men with strong anti-government sentiments who don’t have media savvy are not good to hang your hat on. Cliven Bundy seemed to have it all: He had a ranch, just mindin’ his own business, and the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wanted to fine him several $million. Why? Because he let his cattle graze on public lands.

And, marshals went in to try to enforce the order, and Cliven Bundy had a militia waiting. Or something like that.

He became a conservative darling practically overnight, a case study of apparent federal government over-reach upon the most sacred thing a man can have: his land. Tea Partier after Tea Partier, including media figures, FOX “news,” Congressmen and Senators, all fawned over him. And then he opened his mouth.

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times had him on tape stating:

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Yeah, so blacks were better off as slaves because now they’re all on welfare. Turns out the old conservative white man is a racist. Probably not the best thing to say when you’re surrounded by media, either.

Politicians deserted him, and the media lit up. But his militia is still there. An African-American who was his (former?) bodyguard said that he would still take a bullet for him. And World Net Daily went all out attacking his detractors:

• “N.Y. Times: Cliven Bundy Says Slavery Better for Blacks” (April 24, anonymous)
• “Why the Land Belongs to Bundy” (April 24, by Ilana Mercer)
• “New York Times Sting Entraps Bundy” (April 24, Joseph Farah)
• “Black Leader Says Bundy Remarks Not Racist” (April 24, Bob Unruh) — Right Wing Watch commented on this one
• “Bundy-Times Sting: Worse Than I Thought” (April 25, Joseph Farah)
• “‘Better Off as Slaves'” (April 25, poll)
• “How a Cattleman’s Comments Cost Conservatives” (April 29, Selena Owens)

The April 25 poll, now with 543 voting, shows only 3 voters (<1%) said that his comments were racist, 8 said it was hard to say because Americans are hyper-sensitive to the issue, 23 said that they don't care because the feds are overreaching, and all the rest (509, or 93.7%) said that they were not racist. I would hazard to guess that the majority of those voting – since you have to be registered with WND, are the stereotypical ultra-conservative … old white male.

Getting into what all the WND folks wrote is beyond the scope of this post, and I honestly don't really care anymore. It's just post-hoc rationalization and digging themselves even deeper. Bundy's remarks are stereotyped, offensive, and wrong.

Why Über-Conservatives Hate the Judiciary

Because they stick up for the little guys. The legislative branch is clearly dominated by the will of the majority. That’s how it works. The executive is dominated by, well, whatever. The role of the judiciary is, in part, to ensure that the laws that are created and as they are implemented are fair to everyone. Put another way, a primary role of the judiciary in America that has developed over the last several hundred years is to protect the minority from the majority. The balance in government is that the executive nominates judges, the legislative has to confirm them, and the legislative can impeach them. In some cases, judges are directly elected, but that’s at a state level; and they can be recalled.

The story this time (“Judge Overturns ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban”) is almost inconsequential. Rather this post is aimed at the majority of the commenters.

Take “Pi10107” for instance, who clearly does not understand the judicial role: “No judge, you are unconstitutional. We need to get rid of these federal judges. They overturn the will of the people and decide on what they personally want. The Constitution means nothing to them.”

Or “truthtalker” who thinks that the judicial system of the state should be that of his religion: “Another judge headed to Judgement Day before the Throne of God with the blood of innocent unborn murder victims dripping from his fingers.”

I’m not saying that liberals aren’t idiots when it comes to the judiciary. I personally think that the SCOTUS decision to allow legislative prayer is horribly flawed. But, you won’t see me advocating for impeachment or removal of the Justices.