Bill Bennett -- or as he calls himself on his book jackets, "William J. Bennett"-- has shown over the course of his long career that he's mainly interested in three things: 1) holding back the tide of drug dealers eager to dine on your children; 2) reducing world literature to "And the moral of the story is..." formulas for encouraging good behavior; and 3) giving the Mooslims a good kicking. The way to give them a good kicking is through bombs and "moral clarity," which is shorthand for "America is always right, because our noted ally God says so." What is Dr. Bennett up to these days, book-wise?
Clearly Bob Bennett, a notorious J-pop fan, is referring to Perfume and their debut single, <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omajinai_Perori" target="_blank">Omajinai Perori</a>. Probably he&#039;s been disappointed by their recent commercial tie-ins with Pino and Natural Beauty Basic.
It&#039;s just the purity of the art he cares about, man.
Morality is what guides people <i>despite</i> expediency and emotional impulses. Like wanting to lie about being raped or incested to get one of those sweet, sweet Indiana abortions, but knowing to do so would be wrong. In Bennet&#039;s formulation, national moral clarity strikes me as a collective(!) impulse to action regardless of moral consequences.
In Afghanistan after 9/11, our national interest and values said we should apprehend bin Laden <i>et al</i> and hold him responsible for his crimes. Instead we regarded his whereabouts as an act of war by the disliked Taliban. So a few bombs and dead future leaders later, we have lost bin Laden and that moral clarity. Could we have found a just outcome without warfare? We&#039;ll never know.
In Iraq we had no clarity, moral or otherwise.
Today Repubicans like Bennett are trying to fabricate a moral clarity about American Muslims as a group. That is, they are <i>untermensch</i>, the enemy within. True moral clarity -- and fidelity to the Constitution -- tells us we cannot succumb to that emotional impulse. It&#039;s hard to resist the simple expediency of hatred. But we are obliged to do so. Are you with me William J?
...frankly I&#039;m surprised they haven&#039;t made 9/11 a conservative holiday yet. Instead of giving gifts or grilling hamburgers and hotdogs like other holidays they would celebrate by randomly throwing a dart at a map of 3rd world countries and then invading(pronounced: LIBERATE) that country in the name of George W. Bush!
Last time I <i>listened</i> to Bill Bennett on CNN, it was right after the 2008 Democratic Convention, and he was on CNN saying one of the reasons Barack Obama, U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European affairs as well as sponsor and co-author of several laws regarding foreign policy, wasn&#039;t qualified to be president was because he had no foreign policy experience.
The last time I <i>saw</i> Bennett on CNN, it was a few weeks later when he was touting Sarah Palin&#039;s qualifications to be vice president.
In short, Bennett is a hypocritical sack of crap that has no problem revising his own &quot;beliefs&quot; for the sake of political expediency and thus has all the moral authority of a delusional gambler, which he also happens to (in fact) also be.
Who does he think he is, &quot;Dick&quot; Morris?
Not to mention those cool trails when you slowly waved your hand through the air - and being swallowed by the wall.
<i>We saw and heard better music.</i>
Clearly Bob Bennett, a notorious J-pop fan, is referring to Perfume and their debut single, <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omajinai_Perori" target="_blank">Omajinai Perori</a>. Probably he&#039;s been disappointed by their recent commercial tie-ins with Pino and Natural Beauty Basic.
It&#039;s just the purity of the art he cares about, man.
i fucking hate those simplistic interpretations of shakespeare. it&#039;s never black and white with him and people who think so are idiots.
oh, yeah, right.
Morality is what guides people <i>despite</i> expediency and emotional impulses. Like wanting to lie about being raped or incested to get one of those sweet, sweet Indiana abortions, but knowing to do so would be wrong. In Bennet&#039;s formulation, national moral clarity strikes me as a collective(!) impulse to action regardless of moral consequences.
In Afghanistan after 9/11, our national interest and values said we should apprehend bin Laden <i>et al</i> and hold him responsible for his crimes. Instead we regarded his whereabouts as an act of war by the disliked Taliban. So a few bombs and dead future leaders later, we have lost bin Laden and that moral clarity. Could we have found a just outcome without warfare? We&#039;ll never know.
In Iraq we had no clarity, moral or otherwise.
Today Repubicans like Bennett are trying to fabricate a moral clarity about American Muslims as a group. That is, they are <i>untermensch</i>, the enemy within. True moral clarity -- and fidelity to the Constitution -- tells us we cannot succumb to that emotional impulse. It&#039;s hard to resist the simple expediency of hatred. But we are obliged to do so. Are you with me William J?
...frankly I&#039;m surprised they haven&#039;t made 9/11 a conservative holiday yet. Instead of giving gifts or grilling hamburgers and hotdogs like other holidays they would celebrate by randomly throwing a dart at a map of 3rd world countries and then invading(pronounced: LIBERATE) that country in the name of George W. Bush!
ERUDITION, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull. --Ambrose Bierce
Last time I <i>listened</i> to Bill Bennett on CNN, it was right after the 2008 Democratic Convention, and he was on CNN saying one of the reasons Barack Obama, U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European affairs as well as sponsor and co-author of several laws regarding foreign policy, wasn&#039;t qualified to be president was because he had no foreign policy experience.
The last time I <i>saw</i> Bennett on CNN, it was a few weeks later when he was touting Sarah Palin&#039;s qualifications to be vice president.
In short, Bennett is a hypocritical sack of crap that has no problem revising his own &quot;beliefs&quot; for the sake of political expediency and thus has all the moral authority of a delusional gambler, which he also happens to (in fact) also be.