For some reason, the myth persists: NPR is nothing but a bunch of tree-hugging union activists, hell-bent on forcing their socialist ways on the world using tax-payer dollars. Millions of gullible lefties continue to support NPR's fund drives in a presumed conviction that it somehow balances out Fox News and helps to ensure an "alternate" viewpoint.

And yet, all they seem to get for their hard-earned dollars is brilliant bullshit like Cokie Roberts claiming that Hawaii is a suspiciously exotic place for Barack Obama to go on vacation, endless corporate-friendly soft-porn and the occasional mainstream Democrat, who is then immediately rebutted by at least a dozen invited and unchallenged Republicans.

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I was deeply involved with an effort to get Vermont Public Radio to add Democracy Now! to its schedule. In spite of overwhelming popular support for the idea, we were roundly dismissed and ridiculed by VPRs board -- DN! was just too far out there, too weird, too challenging to their comfortable little cocoon of self-righteous mainstream blather. Mind you, this was at a time when NPR was busy cheerleading for the pending invasion, bending over backwards in order not to challenge the conventional wisdom as presented by the Bush Administration, actively avoiding anything resembling investigative journalism, so perhaps it wasn't too surprising that they were reluctant to add a little truthiness to their plateful of hyper-patriotic cheerleading coated with the regurgitations of pseudo-intellectuals like Thomas Friedman to make it seem like in-depth coverage.

But evidently NPR is still so busy proving to a world that really, honestly doesn't give a shit that it isn't as liberal as the wingnuts think, while still trying to convince the liberals that it represents some sort of sensible, sane alternative to Fox and Clear Channel.

Alas, whenever they run into anything more controversial than, say, the weather, NPRs crack squad of highly paid pundits and reporters seem to step in it with gusto. Viz. the latest gem: the passing of Howard Zinn. Now, given that he was a historian with the courage to take a different look on things, always thinking outside the box, going the extra mile to see things from more than one side, true to his convictions, never shy to speak his mind, it is perhaps not so hard to understand why the morons at NPR would have no clue how to deal with his death. But their treatment of him was classic NPR: "hey, I know: why don't we get David Horowitz, renowned right-wing bullshit artist who is wrong about things more often than even William Kristol, to spend a few minutes of our air time slandering the memory of a man whose boots he's not worthy to kiss? That'd make for some awesome radio."

And so, in closing: I'm still not going to support my local "public" radio station -- because it doesn't offer me anything I couldn't get for free simply by banging my head against a wall and slashing my wrists with sharp objects.

Great; I'm *so* glad our secular leadership feels it's necessary to party hard with this particulalry virulent crowd of Bible-wielding mercenary hypocrites. How very civil of the preznit to stand up at their party and gently wag a finger at his hosts for indirectly backing a bill in Uganda that would make homosexuality punishable by death.

How about you reconsider their invitation alltogether next time?I mean, I don't assume you're having brunch with the KKK next weekend in order to take the opportunity to caution them that some people might disagree with their use of cross burnings to express their dissatisfaction with race relations?

Golly, it's hard to imagine anyone out-whackying the fringe X-tian evangelical nutjobs when it comes to hysterical over-the-top homophobia, but Club Circumcized is putting forward a strong contender in Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance of America. Seriously, this is one awesomely deranged individual:

We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.

Right. Because Chernobyl was *so* too an earthquake. Except, not. Damn, those gay Russians fooled you again, huh?

Is it too much to ask that these people keep their grotesque interpretations of their fairy tales and science fiction to themselves? I mean, by all means, friends and sympathizers of the Rabbinical Alliance of America can sit around in their cool book club and talk about the supposed horrors caused by homosexuality, and they can even hook up with their buddies in Focus on the Family for some good time back-slapping and gay bashing among themselves. But whip that evil shit out in public in an attempt to derail the long overdue process of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell and you're looking for trouble. Sane people can rightfully point fingers at you and call you names to your face. And -- hopefully -- the backlash you will suffer for your ludicrous faith-based hatred will whittle away at any influence you might still have over your sorry-ass followers. After all, who wants to be associated with a Grade A certifiable whack-o?

(Photo from here)

Also. More of this insane ultra-orthodox bullshit here.

Update: Feh, why should I even try to make with the funny already, when the gay and always entertaining crowd over at Sadly, No! do it so much better?

Hey, Obama already showed us how he rolls when he agreed to throw an additional $30bn at Operation Lost Cause in Afghanistan. Yeah, baby, burn it like it's nobody's business... And so, it shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise that -- in spite of these hard recessionary times with belt tightening for all (except the military) -- Obama would find yet another hopeless war on which he could squander a few more taxpayer dollars. Viz, the War on Drugs -- perennial favorite of wanna-be law-and-order hawks who feel a need to impress reactionary voters and the GOP with their depleted uranium balls of uncompromising toughness.

Yes, the same Obama who laughed dismissively when someone asked him about possibly legalizing marijuana has decided that the way to really deal with this shit is to throw more money at the law enforcement side of things. Never mind that his own drug czar showed up for work a few short months ago with progressive notions of treatment instead of criminalization, and that California is on the verge of legalizing pot.

Perhaps he really thinks this is the right thing to do; after all, nothing Sir Change-a-Lot thinks is the right thing to do can really surprise me these days -- sadden me, yes, but surprise, no -- or maybe Obama's ever-so-sage advisors have told him that the best way to piss off the four remaining liberal supporters he's got after botching the economy and health care is to go back to something old school like the war on drugs.

Either way, here's to the $15bn that are to be spent next year on "enforcing" our ridiculous drug laws to make Obama look good to the gun-toting, straight-laced Bible belters who consider drugs on a par with gay abortions. Unfortunately for you, Obama, no matter how many stoners you throw in prison, the GOP and the average Republican will continue to make fun of you for being weak, pathetic, and too soft on crime. It's got nothing to do with the facts. It's got everything to do about you.