Tuesday Open Thread [3.25.14]

I love how Harry Reid just sticks the figurative shiv right into the Republican rib cage sometimes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Republicans may have helped Russia annex Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, delivering a surprisingly sharp attack just before lawmakers advanced a bill authorizing sweeping U.S. sanctions on Russia and $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine.

The 78-17 procedural vote in favor of the legislation spared President Barack Obama an embarrassing setback while he lobbies U.S. partners on a weeklong trip overseas to punish Moscow for its annexation of the Crimean peninsula. But Reid’s tone suggested a compromise with the Republican-controlled House may prove difficult, prolonging Congress’ inaction in the two weeks since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military intervention.

Reid focused his ire on the GOP senators who blocked the bill before lawmakers went on break March 14. He urged them to consider “how their obstruction affects United States’ national security as well as the people of Ukraine” and said their delay of any congressional action “sent a dangerous message to Russian leaders.”

“Since a few Republicans blocked these important sanctions last work period, Russian lawmakers voted to annex Crimea and Russian forces have taken over Ukrainian military bases,” Reid said. “It’s impossible to know whether events would have unfolded differently if the United States had responded to Russian aggression with a strong, unified voice.”

Indeed. If the shoes were on the other foot, and Democrats were blocking President Bush’s or President Romney’s efforts to respond to Russian aggression, they would would be called traitors, at best.

“At times we are able to humiliate our worst enemy. Inevitably, his weak moments come and we are able to thrust in his side the spear of defeat. But this we must not do. Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill which have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hate,” – Martin Luther King, Jr., Dexter Avenue Baptist Church; Montgomery, Alabama, Christmas Sermon, 1957.

This is the single hardest thing to do in life, whether in politics or no. I admit that I often succumb to schadenfreude, known as the joy in the suffering of one’s enemies, especially political enemies. And yet, it is the Christian thing to do. That is why being a true Christian is supposed to be difficult. And that is why it is both wonderful and ironic to see a lesson in Christian forgiveness being given to the Westboro Baptist Church, as shown in the above picture.

Another example is the Catholic bigot Bill Donahue’s failed attempts to set up one of his signature “Outrage” moments where his Catholic beliefs were being discriminated against. You see, Mr. Donahue wanted to march in the annual New York City Gay Pride Parade with a big “Straight is Great” banner.

LOL. Why do anti-gay bigots think that gays and lesbians hate straights and want to convert them? Is it projection? They feel that way about the gays so the gays must feel that way about them? So Donohue petitioned the organizers to be allowed to march with his rather innocuous banner. The reaction?

[Donahue] was sure that this was a message that gay people would find offensive. And, being a hate-filled asshat, he assumed that gay people would act with the same animus and exclusion towards him that is Donahue’s standard action towards us.

But, of course, we don’t hate straight people. And we agree, straight actually is great – just like gay and bisexual. And, though Donahue probably didn’t know it, many many straight people – Catholics, even – happily march in the parade each year to show their support for the community. Heck, some Catholic churches even have delegations.

So the organizers immediately said yes. Sarah Kate Ellis, the head of GLAAD and a fellow Irish New-Yorker, said she’d be happy to march with him. The irony is, of course, that the last thing Donohue wants to do is march in a gay pride parade. And now, having been greeted with graciousness, he’s looking for a way to weasel out.

Donahue found his way to weasel out. You see, he objected to the mandatory gay training sessions that he was required to attend. These gay training sessions did not involve cock-sucking lessons, but instead provided information as to NYPD safety policies, city sound and vehicle permits, and what times and where marchers should line up and check in. I know, horrible, horrible stuff.

But I am so proud of both these Westboro counter protestors and the NYC parade organizers for fighting fire with love.