A few months ago, a probable Skank by the name of Rosemary Port created an anonymous blog, in which she gave another probably Skank, Liskula Cohen an award for being the Skankiest Ho in NYC.  Among the some 1,700 viewers of this blog was the targeted maybe-skank, who got all offended.  Some damage had been done, but not very much.  A blog that gets 1,700 visitors is very, very low-impact.  And few of those visitors are likely to remember much.  Fewer still are likely to credit an anonymous source.  But, still, it was a nasty thing to say.  Maybe.  Even if it was true.

The real damage started when Cohen’s lawyer, Steve Wagner, decided to sue this anonymous blogger.  Instead of, say, 1,700 people thinking of this partying model as a “Skank-Ho”, now millions and millions of people are making that association.  As is Google.  Put in Skank, and the first picture you get is Liskula Cohen.  The first persons mentioned are Liskula Cohen and Rosemary Port.  Are they really skanks?  I don’t know, but who am I to argue with Google?  Can Liskula Cohen sue her lawyer?  After all, the damage done to her reputation by his lawsuit far, far exceeds that from the barely known anonymous blog.

And who could Jessica Biel sue?  Over 753 articles have headlined her as the “most dangerous celebrity in cyberspace” claiming that “Jessica Biel could give you a (PC) virus.”  Isn’t that a bit negative?  What did she do to earn this honor?  MacAfee created a list of celebrities who they claim are dangerous when searched for.  Naturally, they are selling something.    Can anyone double check their findings?  Seems to me that it’s just a pure press release play, using celebrity names to raise fear and drive people to buy more MacAfee.  Personally, I’ve never gotten a virus from Jessica Biel, or from any other online celebrity.

• Giant balls of twine and three-story lava-lamps, huge fiberglass dinosaurs in the middle of nowhere.  A ranch of Cadillacs half-buried.
• Religious fundies who hate the “War on Christmas”.  Other religious fundies who believe Christmas is a tool of the devil. (Satan/Santa)
• Gun-toting rednecks
• Hippie chicks with un-shaved arm-pits
• Courses in multi-culturalism that reduce each culture to pop spiritualism
• Courses in home management in college
• Republicans who have integrity and really believe their economic religion helps more poor people than any other method
• Exploiters of every stripe who whip up American sincerity and make a buck
• Democrats who served honorably in every branch of the military
• Chickenhawk politicians who sound righteous as they send people off to war, having never served themselves (this started long before the current Neo-cons)
• Strident athiests
• Flag burners
• Get-off-my-lawn old veterans
• Illegal immigrants
• First, second, and third generation immigrants
• Racists
• People who claim not to be racists, but always find other reasons to hate people from other cultures or ethnic groups
•  People who you assume are racist, but turn out not to be
• Dennis Hopper
• John Wayne
• Martha Stewart
• American Idol

The exact mix keeps changing, but it’s still my country and I always want the best for it.  When President Bush decided to invade the wrong country, resulting in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, I wanted something better.  But, like most people, I did not root for failure.  I wanted the war to be over quickly, I wanted stability to return.  I wanted few casualties.  Because, though it was a bad decision, the best thing for our country was an easy resolution.  I also knew that was not likely.

A lot of sock-pundits on the right accused liberals of rooting for the failure we eventually felt.  No, we just foresaw it.  Nobody wanted it.  But, they project thoughts into our head.  We can play that game, maybe THEY were rooting for failure so then they could prove that we were rooting for failue!  Who knows what dark threads take hold in the human soul?

Now Rush Limbaugh is openly rooting for failure.  Why?  Because he doesn’t love America.  Not all of it.  He has picked the parts he likes, and will only love an America if it fits that model.  That’s sort of like only loving your kid if he goes to the same college you did.  Rush believes in “Individualism and Capitalism” and whatever.  As if those things are going away.  We haven’t been the capitalist country he espouses since before WWII.  And we aren’t any closer to pure socialism than we were eight years ago.  But the diseased economic religion of tax cuts and minimal regulation has produced a huge bill.  If we don’t pay it now, it will only get bigger.  Rush is apparently rooting that our efforts to save the economy will fail.  That is the most unpatriotic thing I’ve heard in a long time.

The stated claim that this somehow “defends marriage” is too ludicrous to be taken seriously.  Straight celebrity couples are doing far more damage to the image and reputation of marriage than any known gay couple.  We all know about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline.  Name one gay couple who has had anywhere near the public drama?  No, this argument is about possession of a word.  Who gets to define the term marriage?  In California, it’s a large group of people who claim the word Christian who also want to claim the word marriage.  For some reason, they feel their message is weak, so they turn to the State to do it for them.

Why not?  The California initiative system lets people pull pretty much any stupid idea out of their collective ass, and then vote it into place.  Even something as stupid as having the State force the religious definition of a term into law.  People in California are perfectly happy to flood courts with half-baked legislation, though they then complain about judges making law.

But, hey, anybody can play.  If we’re going to have the State define religious terms, let’s have them define something big.  How about the term Christian?

Of course we could make up any definition and if we got enough signatures, it would go on the ballot.  But let’s try to give it some reasonable basis.  The term Christian should obviously pertain to someone who “follows Christ”.  So the best authority would be Christ telling people how to follow him.  For instance:

Matthew 19, 21 – 22,

The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to (the) poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Also,

Luke 6, 30, 36 – 37

To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

So, some principles we can abstract:

• Giving up possessions
• Turning the other cheek
• Giving to people who ask of you
• Non-judgmentalism

Therefore we can safely remove the title of Christian from churches where wealth is common, where war is promoted, where generosity, in any form, is derided, and where people are judged by anyone other than God.

Since law is usually better with large, broad strokes, let’s just say that any church that has large buildings, fancy cars in the parking lot, that advocated for the War in Iraq, that opposes social programs, or that encouraged members to vote yes on Proposition 8 can no longer carry the name, Christian. And, when in the State of California, anybody who violates these premises, yet calls themselves a Christian, will be fined or jailed.  Why not?

It’s not hate, it’s patriotism. 

If you believe, as I do, that she is utterly unqualified, and that the country is in deep trouble, you have to believe that Palin is a threat to our country.  It’s not just politics.  I don’t agree with a lot of conservative positions, but usually from a moral, philosophical, or economic basis.  I don’t usually think they are trying to destroy our nation.  We can argue over minium wage, a woman’s right to choose, and proposition 8 (hate).  These are important arguments, and the Republicans are morally wrong.  But lots of people are wrong.  I’m sure I’m wrong about something too.

Patriotism is a different thing.  Patriotism starts from the premise that this is my country, and I care about what happens to it.  I don’t think it’s the greatest possible country, or that it’s always right.  But I live here, as do most of the people I love.  It has given me life, prosperity, space to become who I am.  I owe it something in return.

One thing I owe it is criticism of its leaders.  If we’re going into a war we can’t win, for reasons that are misguided, I owe it to myself, to the troops, to the future of our country, to object.  Also, while my politics are important, I owe the country at least the awareness that people who disagree with me are still Americans.  We’re in this together.

If I were to push a person or an agenda that satisfies my personal interests, the economic status of my class, or the specific requirements of my religion, that has to be balanced against the interests of the country as a whole.  I can do so, of course.  But if I push for my particular bracket to get great tax relief, while other brackets suffer, that’s not patriotic.  If I take it to the extreme, undercutting the financial health of the country as a whole, I’m being unpatriotic.

After the Katie Couric interview, it became obvious to me that Palin is not ready to lead.  Not even close.  If you don’t see that, and you are for Palin still, that’s fine.  We disagree.  But if you did see it and are ignoring it because she represents your party or your religion, then you are being unpatriotic.  The most patriotic thing I can do, right now, is to strive against her.  It’s not because I hate her, it’s because I love this country.