August 20, 2008
Quiver full o' Jesus.
Today's NY Times has a story about Kisik Lee, coach of the U.S. Olympic archery team and super-devout Christian. How devout? Well—
Two weeks before leaving to compete in the Olympics, the archer Brady Ellison waded into a pool not far from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and was baptized in the Christian faith.In the water with him was Kisik Lee, the head coach of the United States archery team and a Christian who has become a spiritual guide for Ellison, 19, and the larger group of athletes who train and live full time at the Olympic Training Center. He has also served as a sponsor in the baptism of three other resident archers.
“I give him six tasks a day, including reading the Bible and education,” Lee said. “And he’s doing it.”
Can you imagine the shitstorm of protest if Mr. Lee happened to be a similarly devout Muslim? Teaching archery?
Of course, were he a Muslim, he'd probably never have passed the job interview when the U.S. Olympic Committee went shopping for an archery coach:
Lee, 51, came to the United States two years ago as part of an effort to revamp the archery program after Americans failed to take home any medals in the 2004 Athens Games. His arrival was greeted with excitement because Lee served in the 1980s and ’90s as the national coach of his native South Korea, helping the team win eight gold medals. In 1997, he moved to Australia and was that team’s coach for the Sydney Games when Simon Fairweather won a gold medal.
Setting aside the issue of whether it's unseemly to recruit Olympic coaches from other countries, Mr. Lee's behavior is creepily reminiscent of the stories coming out of the U.S. Air Force Academy in the past few years. And just like at the Academy, the guy selling the religion also wields real power:
As the national coach, Lee helps distribute grants for high-level archers and select resident athletes, as well as those named to the junior development team. For athletes who live at the center, Lee evaluates their progress and helps decide whether they can continue in the program.
Is it really much of a mystery that his prayer group is so well-attended?
Unfortunately for anyone expecting supernatural results from Mr. Lee's hiring, the gods apparently want him to wander in the wilderness for a while:
None of the American archers won a medal in Beijing. Khatuna Lorig had the strongest finish, placing fifth in women’s individual.
But my favorite quote of the story (which the writer saved for the end, clearly loving it as well) has to do with the mental calm that Mr. Lee claims his athletes can find in the religion he sells so hard:
To be an effective archer, Lee said, athletes must learn to clear their heads and focus. “If you are Christian,” he said, “then people can have that kind of empty mind.”
August 18, 2008
Bullshit repellant.
Bereft of ideas, the McCain campaign is falling back on the tired old Republican scare tactic that the Democratic candidate Will Raise Your Taxes.
In Obama's case, if you make over $200,000 a year ($250,000 as a couple, if you're married), that's true.
And if that's you, congratulations: you're in the highest-earning 3% of the U.S. population.
Unfortunately, the McCain campaign needs to scare people in the remaining 97%. So they make shit up:
A snarky Web ad from Sen. John McCain calls Sen. Barack Obama "The One" and shows his supporters saying things like "Hot chicks dig Obama"...Text flashes by briefly, then spins around 360 degrees as it fades away, saying, "Obama voted to raise taxes on everyone making more than $42,000."
McCain has made similar statements before, saying Obama voted to raise taxes on people making more than $42,000 a year. We rated that statement Barely True...
That seems designed to make the average viewer think that Obama wants to raise taxes on people making that amount, which isn't true. Obama wants to increase taxes by rolling back the Bush tax cuts on people making more than $200,000 if single or $250,000 if married filing jointly...
But the new Web ad pushes the envelope too far when the narrator says "a tax increase for everyone earning more than $42,000 a year." It's a gross distortion of Obama's proposals to say they would raise taxes on "everyone" who earns that much, and we rate McCain's claim False.
Obama's tax plan hits $200,000 and up (PolitiFact.com)
August 14, 2008
Fear-mongering: still dumb, still effective.
Over at Swampland, Joe Klein slams John McCain for his abandonment of all principle in pursuit of this election—and his campaign's embrace of phony patriotism and moronic bravado:
there is no excuse for what the McCain campaign is doing on the "putting America first" front. There is no way to balance it, or explain it other than as evidence of a severe character defect on the part of the candidate who allows it to be used. There is a straight up argument to be had in this election: Mcain has a vastly different view from Obama about foreign policy, taxation, health care, government action...you name it. He has lots of experience; it is always shocking to remember that this time four years ago, Barack Obama was still in the Illinois State Legislature. Apparently, though, McCain isn't confident that conservative policies and personal experience can win, given the ruinous state of the nation after eight years of Bush. So he has made a fateful decision: he has personally impugned Obama's patriotism and allows his surrogates to continue to do that. By doing so, he has allied himself with those who smeared him, his wife, his daughter Bridget, in 2000. Those tactics won George Bush a primary--and a nomination. But they proved a form of slow-acting spiritual poison, rotting the core of the Bush presidency. We'll see if the public decides to acquiesce in sleaze in 2008, and what sort of presidency--what sort of country--that will produce.
And Andrew Sullivan sees ominous signs in McCain's exploitation of the Georgia vs. Russia shitshorm:
If the reaction to the last week is any indicator, Americans are still viscerally committed to the kind of Cold War dynamics we once had a chance to leave behind. The Republican party especially thrives on such conflict, enabling it to dominate domestic politics with appeals to bravado and patriotism and empire. Meanwhile, America's fiscal standing continues to slide down and down; its military consumes more and more resources; dependence on foreign oil does not prompt us to find alternative energy resources as an urgent national security matter, but to face off against Petro-powers, demonize oil companies, offer gas tax gimmicks, and occupy dysfunctional regions in far away countries because our addiction to a substance that is wrecking the planet is too great to resist.This is the way great powers fall. And this election presents us with a very rare chance to move in a different and more rational direction. Turning this around will be a monumental task because so many forces now conspire to push this country further and further along on this declinist, neo-imperial path. But it can be done over a generation.
Or to put it more bluntly: yes, we can. And yes, we must.
August 12, 2008
If only this sturdy fence wasn't here, I'd...
...hey, wait a minute—you're lunch.
From evilrobot6 on Flickr, via Slog.
August 11, 2008
Melodic sociopaths.
Meet Deiter and Gunter of The Chalets, appearing in one of the many treats you'll find at LP Cover Lover.
One more specimen:
July 31, 2008
It's our 15th today.
Celebrate with us by giving some dough to the NO On 8 Campaign. A good marriage is a beautiful thing, and we should encourage more of them.
July 29, 2008
The gods of irony are well pleased.
Image via Slog, in a posting about the forthcoming web publication of Orwell's diaries.
