Weekend Open Thread
It’s time for your open thread. Hopefully this will be enough to tide you through the weekend.
Satan writes a letter to Pat Robertson:
Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract. Best, Satan
LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS
In the Massachusetts Senate special election you can phonebank for Martha Coakley through the Organizing for America website.
The GOP continues to shrink its tent. Falwell’s Liberty University pulled out as a sponsor the CPAC conference because they dare allow gay people to attend:
The right wing has been outraged over the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) decision to allow conservative gay rights group GOProud to be a co-sponsor of the event. GOProud says it “represents gay conservatives and their allies” and is “committed to a traditional conservative agenda.” While it has eschewed many “traditional” gay rights issues like hate crimes legislation, it has embraced marriage equality and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
CPAC has resisted the far right’s efforts to pressure it to drop GOProud as a co-sponsor of the popular conference, even though some groups have threatened to boycott the event. Last month, CPAC director Lisa De Pasquale told Hot Air that she was “satisfied” that GOProud “do not represent a ‘radical leftist agenda’ and thus “should not be rejected as a CPAC cosponsor. David Keene, the head of CPAC’s main organizing group, assured the far right that GOProud would not be allowed to have any speakers at the conference.
These concessions weren’t enough for Liberty University Law School. Last month, Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Liberty Law School Dean Mat Staver, joined by other conservative evangelical leaders, wrote a letter to Keene with their objections. Staver has now announced that since they never received a “formal response,” they are dropping their co-sponsorship.
Tags: Open Thread
I’m wondering why CNN’s Sanjay Gupta is still reporting from Haiti. Wouldn’t his time — all of this time — be better spent practicing medicine instead of the hour or two he does pretending to be a journalist?
evil yankee imperialists are preventing the socialist heros Chavez and Castro from saving their caribian brothers in Haiti.
“Luxury liners are still docking at private beaches near Haiti’s devastated earthquake zone for holidaymakers to enjoy the water.”
Doing everything we can…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/cruise-ships-haiti-earthquake
but i bet oBOMBa did all he could to stop it right a1?
actually nem, Dr gupta was the only doctor at one medical station all night at one point. dont have the link, but i swear i saw it on cnn at the gym…. he was reporting on it
I did find it interesting that Bill Clinton took the time to go to campaign for Coakley before setting about the task of helping the people of Haiti. I guess he figured that the loss of a Democrat Senate seat was a greater tragedy than the additional lost lives.
Nemski i thought the same thing. I’m watching AC360 and he’s like “omg all the doctors are leaving, there’s patients, one guy even showed me where the stethoscopes and ivs are” and i’m screaming at the tv “PUT DOWN THE MIC AND PICK UP THE STETHO OMFG”
Clinton & Bush didn’t go to Haiti until the weekend on purpose. It was more important to get medical supplies and search & rescue teams on the ground first. Unless you thought Bush and Clinton would be digging people out of buildings themselves?
It doesn’t matter, UI. If Clinton had gone to Haiti, Bob’s argument would shift to how dare he take a runway spot away from necessary supplies and medical personal; that he was simply grandstanding. It’s nonsense. It’s also boringly predictable.
Indeed, Pandora.
“Friday’s call in Labadee went well,” said Royal Caribbean. “Everything was open, as usual. The guests were very happy to hear that 100% of the proceeds from the call at Labadee would be donated to the relief effort.”
Forty pallets of rice, beans, powdered milk, water, and canned foods were delivered on Friday, and a further 80 are due and 16 on two subsequent ships. When supplies arrive in Labadee, they are distributed by Food for the Poor, a longtime partner of Royal Caribbean in Haiti.
Royal Caribbean has also pledged $1m to the relief effort and will spend part of that helping 200 Haitian crew members.
The company recently spent $55m updating Labadee. It employs 230 Haitians and the firm estimates 300 more benefit from the market. The development has been regarded as a beacon of private investment in Haiti; Bill Clinton visited in October.