Cognitive Dissonance

How do you know you’re the most hate-y of the hatemongers? When the KKK counter-protests your ass:

Hours before President Barack Obama led the nation’s Memorial Day observances at the Tomb of the Unknowns, three members of the Westboro Baptist Church were challenged by others who disagreed with them - including members claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan. The Kansas-based church has attracted nationwide attention for its angry, anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members.

Among those counter-protesting at the cemetery’s main entrance: About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read “POW-MIA.”

They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-troop message. “It’s the soldier that fought and died and gave them that right to free speech,” said Dennis LaBonte, the self-described “Imperial Wizard” of the KKK group that he said he formed several years ago.

[Miley] Cyrus isn’t a fan of Urban Outfitters after stories emerged alleging that the store has copied jewelry designs, so she pointed out that the company’s president had contributed to Santorum.

“IF WE ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE NEXT THING U KNOW PEOPLE WILL BE MARRYING GOLD FISH” — Rick Santorum UO contributed $13,000 to this mans campaign” tweeted Cyrus, mocking Santorum for some earlier remarks regarding gay marriage.

She also wrote about Urban Outfitters and Santorum: “Not only do they steal from artists but every time you give them money you help finance a campaign against gay equality.”

Didn’t know that about Urban Outfitters and Rick Santorum. That’s even more motivation to not shop there. So go Miley?

A few choice quotes:

Fear, in fact, is precisely what Ailes is selling: His network has relentlessly hyped phantom menaces like the planned “terror mosque” near Ground Zero, inspiring Florida pastor Terry Jones to torch the Koran. Privately, Murdoch is as impressed by Ailes’ business savvy as he is dismissive of his extremist politics. “You know Roger is crazy,” Murdoch recently told a colleague, shaking his head in disbelief. “He really believes that stuff.”

Does this sound familiar?

Ailes also pushed Bush campaign manager James Baker to “get on the fucking offensive” and “go for the red meat.” From his office in Manhattan, Ailes advised the campaign to spin Clinton’s graduate-school train trip to Moscow into a tale of a Manchurian candidacy. “This guy’s hiding something,” Ailes barked over a speakerphone in Baker’s office. Clinton’s public fuzziness about the trip was proof enough, insisted Ailes: “Nobody’s that forgetful.” President Bush soon appeared on Larry King Live, following the redbaiting advice to the letter. “I don’t have the facts,” the president insinuated, “but to go to Moscow one year after Russia crushed Czechoslovakia, and not remember who you saw – I think the answer is, level with the American people.”

And the paranoia is real:

Ailes begins each workday buffered by the elaborate private security detail that News Corp. pays to usher him from his $1.6 million home in New Jersey to his office in Manhattan. (His country home – in the aptly named village of Garrison – is phalanxed by empty homes that Ailes bought up to create a wider security perimeter.) Traveling with the Chairman is like a scene straight out of 24… Ailes is certain that he’s a top target of Al Qaeda terrorists. “You know, they’re coming to get me,” he tells friends. “I’m fully prepared. I’ve taken care of it.” (Ailes, who was once arrested for carrying an illegal handgun in Central Park, now carries a licensed weapon.) Inside his blast-resistant office at Fox News headquarters, Ailes keeps a monitor on his desk that allows him to view any activity outside his closed door. Once, after observing a dark-skinned man in what Ailes perceived to be Muslim garb, he put Fox News on lockdown. “What the hell!” Ailes shouted. “This guy could be bombing me!” The suspected terrorist turned out to be a janitor. “Roger tore up the whole floor,” recalls a source close to Ailes. “He has a personal paranoia about people who are Muslim – which is consistent with the ideology of his network.”

I’ve experienced much of this.

Ayn Rand’s philosophy is taking hold in Washington despite her contempt for Christianity and any other faith that advocates for compassion. Rep. Paul Ryan, the architect of the Republican budget plan, even credits Rand as the reason he entered politics.

Though I don’t want religion in politics, the Randian turn is just as bad.

thebonedigger:

An article in the Billings Gazette about the good coroner in Albany County, a.k.a. my boss. Hellz yeah.

And one of my good friends and a bridesmaid in my wedding. Fuck yeah.

Illinois will begin allowing civil unions on Wednesday. It’s not gay marriage, but that’s a different debate.

Still, Catholic Charities of Rockford is so afraid that it’ll now have to place foster children in the homes of gay couples (PDF), that it’s going to shut down it’s state-funded adoption services altogether.

Yeah, that makes sense. The same people who stood idly by as priests raped little boys for decades are claiming the moral high ground… Keep in mind that the “offensive” activity they’re lashing out against is letting loving gay couples adopt kids who need parents. They’re so prejudiced against gay people that they would rather let the children suffer than to even consider that possibility. Sickening, right?

That’s religious logic for you: When a child needs a loving mother or father more than anything, and there’s a possibility of giving them two mothers or two fathers, the Church thinks they’re better off with nobody.

This is so utterly sad. Why not shift funds to non-religious agencies as the article suggests? It’s disheartening that Catholic Charities would rather use children as pawns in a culture war versus helping them, and I wish I could say I was surprised.

Ah, privatization:

As federal investigators arrested another central figure in their widening inquiry into the city’s troubled automated payroll project, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday leveled his harshest criticism yet against the project’s main contractor, suggesting there was “widespread fraud and gross negligence” in the company.

The scandal involving the payroll project, CityTime, has become an albatross for Mr. Bloomberg in his third term, with prosecutors accusing several employees of CityTime subcontractors of defrauding the city in an $80 million scheme that began in 2005.

The city official who was the project’s point person, Joel Bondy, resigned in December and had close ties to the suspected mastermind of the scheme. And, even before the accusations, the project was dogged by criticism over its ballooning costs, which have climbed to about $700 million after an initial estimate of $63 million.

Mr. Bloomberg has long defended the project’s goal of modernizing an antiquated and largely paper-based system. Indeed, on Friday, Mr. Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio show, said that “we actually did a pretty good job here, in retrospect.”

But hours later, Gerard Denault, a former executive with Science Applications International Corporation, the company overseeing CityTime, was charged with receiving over $5 million in kickbacks for his work as the project’s senior manager. Mr. Denault was also charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering in a federal complaint, as part of a continuing inquiry by the city’s Department of Investigation and the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.

After Mr. Denault’s arrest, Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement that “the fraud perpetrated against the city is despicable.” He also suggested the city would pursue avenues to recoup its money.