Making Things Worse

So Megyn Kelly decided that it would be a good idea to have the molestation-enablers, Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar on for a friendly interview. I've embedded the video below, if you have the stomach for it. I didn't. I made it to about 1:20 before I had to turn it off, smash the monitor, or throw up. I turned it off.  Listening to this mother who clearly feels like the real victims here are herself, Jim-Bob and Josh was just too sickening.
Sample quote "The one ray of hope was Josh has a tender conscience and came to us himself."

 

Fortunately, Think Progress has someone with the iron constitution to view this sick trainwreck and report it to us.

Breaking his silence on Fox News, Jim Bob Duggar repeatedly minimized the actions of his son Josh, who sexually molested several of the Duggar daughters.
“He had gone in and just basically touched them over their clothes while they were sleeping. They didn’t even know he had done it,” Jim Bob said. Later Jim Bob admitted there “were a couple incidents where he touched them under their clothes, but it was like a few seconds.”

 Holy frickin Christmas cake!

If you're trying to salvage your family's reputation, this is pretty much the exact wrongest way to go about it.You could not show more callous disconcern for your daughters, who were victimized by your son under your roof. You're really going to try to minimize this? Oh, they were asleep, they didn't even know it happened. Because someone suddenly stroking your genutals is not something that would wake a person up.
Oh, and it doesn't really count because it was "over the clothes." He never , ever put his hands under their clothes. well. . . .

Hardly Everrrrrr!!!

I'd love to know how the Duggar parents would react if one of their daughters came home from a date and said "I got felt up, but don't worry, it was over the clothes, so I'm still pure!" I'm guessing that loophole doesn't apply to consensual feel-copping.

He emphasized that “this was not rape or anything like that.” 

  

Right, it wasn't "Rape" rape! What's the big deal?

Throughout the interview, Jim Bob returned to these themes. He emphasized again and again that some of the instances occured while his daughters were sleeping and the molestation occured over their clothes. (At the same time he acknowledged that, in other cases, his daughters were awake and groped underneath their clothes.) Jim Bob also attempted to characterize Josh’s behavior as commonplace. “We talked to other parents and different ones since then, a lot of families have said that they’ve had similar things happen in their families,” he said.

   

Seriously? This is a common occurrence in your circles?
How could that possibly. . . oh, right. Weirdo religious cult. I forgot.

“He was still a kid, you know, and he was still a juvenile. He wasn’t an adult,” Jim Bob explained. He also sought to deflect blame from himself. Jim Bob told Megyn Kelly that “kids will make their own choices.”

Right, of course. That's the usual conservative approach to kids who commit crimes. Only a lad, you really can't blame him. . . Oh no, wait. The conservative answer to juvenile offenders is "lock 'em up and throw away the key, unless you think this might warrant the death penalty, 'cuz that could work too."

It's almost like there are two sets of standards for folks like this.
Drug offenders should do hard time, except for Rush Limbaugh who probably had a good reason for needing oxy.
Unwed teen moms are destroying the country, except Bristol Palin who's a role model for girls everywhere!
Sex offenders should be punished to the full extent of the law. Unless they've asked God for forgiveness and it wasn't really, ya know, "rape" exactly. I mean, hey, it's not like he tried to marry a dude or something!

Of course, being a right-wing theocrat in America means never taking any responsibility for your own actions!

Here's the video, if you're interested. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh, P.S. I'm aware that "disconcern" is probably not a real word. But I like it, so it stays.
Hey, Shakespeare made up words all the time, ya gotta love it!

Dumb Actor Has Opinions. Opinions Are Dumb

Vince Vaughn, who hasn't been good in anything since, what, Clay Pigeons? has apparently decided to cushion his slide into anonymity by auditioning for FOX.

True Detective's Vince Vaughn on gun control, Edward Snowden and comedy

On the American right to own a gun:
"I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home.

Oh, good. That's terrific. Yeah, more guns in public, that's a great idea. More idiots like this:

 

 wagging their dick-substitutes in fast-food restaurants, Target stores, and saloons. What could go wrong.

Also, Vince, we don't say "full stop" in this country. We say "period." Just because this interview is with British GQ doesn't mean you have to take on British affectations. You're not Madonna.

We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government.

 Um, no. It's pretty clear that we have the right to bear arms in order to form a well-regulated militia. I really don't get where this idea comes from, that the founding fathers wanted the people to be able to overthrow their government. They were the government. No one, not even the venerated founders, is so selfless as to say "when I'm President, I'm gonna make sure that the people have the means to violently overthrow me should I do something they don't like." It's idiotic!

It's the same reason we have freedom of speech. It's well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.

Well known? Well known by whom? Do you have anything to back up this absurd statement? Or is it enough to just claim that it's common knowledge, no evidence necessary? Also, I really don't see the connection to Freedom of Speech. Unless you're saying that the framers of the Constitution wanted people to be able to criticize the government, so they obviously must have wanted them to be able to commit violent insurrection?

All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They've only happened in places that don't allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation.

As you say, these people are sick in the head. So, obviously, they're making the rational decision to seek out a "gun-free zone" in which to commit their atrocities. It just stands to reason that a murderous lunatic would use such a logical thought process!

 In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there.

 No. No, no, no, you're wrong. The reason that so many of these shootings have occurred in schools is because mostly they are committed by people who are students at those schools, and they want to kill the people that they feel have wronged them. Even the Sandy Hook killer, who was obviously not a student at the pre-school, went to the school at which his mother worked.

Kip Kinkle, who shot up Thurston High in Springfield, Oregon had been expelled from that school. He didn't shoot up that school because it was a gun-free zone, he shot up that school for some sort of sick, twisted revenge fantasy.

Michael Carneal, who shot up heath High School in Paducah, KY was a student there.

Mitchell  Johnson and Andrew Golden were both students at the middle school that they shot up in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Eric Harris and Dylan Kliebold were both students at Columbine High who wanted to kill the classmates they felt had disrespected them.

etc, etc, etc.


Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat.

Oh my God, I am so sick of stupid arguments like this. That analogy might make sense if we were constantly seeing headlines like "Toddler Finds Fork in Mother's Purse, Accidentally Force-Feeds Infant Sister to Death."
 or
 "Teen Accidentally Made Diabetic While Playing With Fork He Stumbled Onto In Parents' Room."

or

"Disgruntled Former Employee Rturns to Office With Fork, Makes Boss, Several Co-Workers Really Really Fat."

You know what I mean?

Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won't rid the world of criminality."

 And that's another argument I'm really really sick of. "getting rid of guns won't end crime, so there's no point." First of all, no one is trying to "get rid of guns." Most people support the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns for home protection, or sport, or what have you. The only restrictions even being discussed at all is that maybe we shouldn't have civilians carrying around military-grade assault weapons in public, and maybe if we could put a little effort into making it a bit harder for felons to purchase guns, please? So let's stop pretending that anyone, especially President Obama - black and scary though he may be- is comin' to take yer guns! And let's not pretend that sensible restrictions on gun ownership aren't worth doing if they won't prevent 100% of all violent crime in the world.

Recent Goings-On

A few things that caught my eye recently.

1. All the Congressmen and Senators from Texas and Oklahoma who voted against Hurricane Sandy relief, because we just can't go around willy-nilly spending money to help people just because of some disaster that maybe God wanted them to suffer, hmm? ever think of that? are now suddenly perfectly A-OK with federal disaster relief monies being spent in their states to the surprise of pretty much no one.

2. The folks who are constantly wetting their pants over the supposed "attacks" on their religious freedom and scary scary terrorism decided to attack some other peoples' freedom of religion by terrorizing them.

Armed American Protestors Surround Islamic Community Center of Phoenix

 

Nancy Wiechec/Reuters

The rally initially was organized by a Phoenix man who says he is a former Marine who fought in the Iraq War and believes Islam is a violent religion. He led about 250 people who carried pistols, assault rifles, American flags and drawings of Muhammad to the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.



Because there's no better way to show how your religion is superior to their violent one than by showing up with goddamm assault rifles?

And it may surprise you to learn that the organizer of the wave your machine gun at people trying to pray rally is both a coward and a grafter!
I know, right?

Arizona Anti-Muslim Activist Tries To Raise $10M As He Goes Into Hiding

Jon Ritzheimer, the man who organized an anti-Muslim protest rally and “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest on Friday in Phoenix, reportedly launched a GoFundMe page to raise $10 million to “protect his family.”

KPNX television reporter Brahm Resnik tweeted on Sunday that Ritzheimer had set up a GoFundMe page to raise $10 million to “protect his family or run against” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Yes, I have to either go into hiding, or do one of the most public things one can do, run for elected office. Whichever will make you give me more money!




Ritzheimer told television station KSAZ on Friday that he was going into hiding after the rally, which drew hundreds of people, including many who opposed him.
“I’m having to sell my house,” Ritzheimer told the station. “My family’s been threatened, so they’re in hiding right now. I’m having to go into hiding after this because they’re calling for lone wolves to come and behead me.”

Gee, I wonder what it must feel like to be threatened by heavily-armed religious fanatics? I mean, what if they were to surround your church while armed with machine guns?

However, on Facebook, Ritzheimer said in a Saturday post that he would not run and hide but would “hunker down” in his “fighting hole” and “stick it out!”

Yeah, I mean who ever said you were "hiding" anyway? Oh, right. You did.
Also I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know what his "fighting hole" refers to, or how he plans on hunkering down in it.

Driving in the middle of the quiet desert with a clear mind. Writing key notes for my next big announcement. I've decided that if I die, it will be as a free man, and not as a coward. You will not find me in a hole like we found Saddam Hussein. I'm going to keep living free but keep my protection close and near. I'm a Marine and we don't run and hide. We hunker down in our fighting hole and we stick it out! I have a heightened sense of things out here when I'm alone. And I have more PEACEFUL ideas that I want to see take place across America.

And all those ideas involve rubes giving him their hard-earned moneys. Because that's the new right-wing business model. Step1: be a colossal dick. Step 2: ? Step 3: Profit!

 3. Denny Hastert apparently did something untoward at the least with a high-school student when he was a wrestling coach. (How was "wrestling coach" not a huge red flag?)
So now all three House Speakers who led impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton for getting a blow job have their very own sex scandals. And had them at the time they were impeaching him.

4. Politico threw out the ceremonial first bitch of the "shitting on Bernie Sanders for not being 'mainstream' enough" season.

It's not your everyday Americans at Bernie Sanders' kickoff rally

The long-shot presidential contender launches campaign from the People’s Republic of Burlington.

Fuck you, Politico.
Yes, Bernie Sanders is a long shot, but if you look at the polling, his policy positions are firmly in the mainstream, supported by majorities of Americans. Raising the minimum wage? Americans overwhelmingly support that. Equal pay for men and women? Americans like that idea. Taxing the wealthy to pay for tuition-free colleges? Americans love that idea. But, sure you go right ahead and act like only unbathed patchouli-droolers support Bernie Sanders.

 In the afternoon, a “people’s assembly” of hundreds of Sanders supporters gathered in City Hall Park, where dreadlocked guitarists played in the morning and patrons browsed at the nearby Hempest, which advertises itself as the largest organic hemp product store in the world.

Oh, there were musicians? In the park? With bad hairstyles? Oh, clearly Sanders must be a kook!

The People for Bernie rally was organized by several former Occupy Wall Street activists, including Ready for Warren co-founder Charles Lenchner. Activists wearing shirts denouncing fast-track trade authority, fracking and George W. Bush held hands in a circle and used the “people’s mic,”

Right, nothing could possibly be further outside the mainstream than being against fracking, Fast-Track and the worst President since Warren G. Harding.

 Thousands attended Sanders’ rally Tuesday, with attendees spilling out along the park as the venue filled to capacity on a sunny and hot early evening.

But none of those thousands of people were "Every-day Americans," so that doesn't count.

This was, of course, an entirely predictable response by the "respectable" press to Sanders' campaign. Remember what they did to Howard Dean? Dean wasn't among the select group that the punditry had predicted to be candidates - John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Joe Lieberman, etc. and they just refused to take him seriously. Every discussion about Howard Dean would be about how "wow, he's really raising a lot of money on this new internet thing," and 'boy, people sure are getting excited about this Dean fella" and would invariably end with one talking head saying "of course, he's totally un-electable," and the other agreeing "sure, of course. Totally un-electable." Then they played "The Scream" on a loop and pretty much destroyed his credibility by making him seem crazy.

And Dean wasn't anywhere near as frightening to the establishment as Sanders. So of course Bernie sanders will be treated like a fringe candidate with nutty ideas while the media ties itself into knots pretending that Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are legitimate, viable candidates whose ideas aren't insane.

So how was your weekend?

Oh, pretty good. Thanks for asking.

Friday evening and Saturday we went to the Candler Park Music Fest. One of the great things about living in Atlanta is lots of free music. Technically, we paid $10 for a wristband that guaranteed admission both days, otherwise we would have had to be one of the first to show up, but admission was technically free. Anyway, for $10 we saw The Infamous Stringdusteres, Leftover Salmon, Southern Culture on the Skids and 7 Handle Circus. If we had stuck around long enough, we could have caught Shoverls & Rope and Drive-By Truckers, too, but instead we went to one of Decatur's free concerts in the square and saw Jugtime Ragband.

It was too dark Saturday evening to get video of Leftover Salmon or Infamous Stringdusters, and by the time we got to Decatur, my phone was out of memory, so here are the two videos that came out okay:










And here is some video that someone else took of Jugtime Ragband, my new favorite band in Atlanta for the moment:




They've added a couple members since these videos were taken. At the show we saw, there was a trombonist, a backup vocalist and a guitarist added to the mix. If you get a chance, you should check 'em out. http://jugtimeragband.com/

Speaking of the Duggars. . .

I think this whole horrible molestation story is a pretty good argument for banning home-schooling.

Hear me out.

For one thing, there's no way to control what kind of crazy shit these people are teaching their kids.

Why do you think the Duggars home-schooled their kids? Because Michelle Duggar was such a gifted educator? I mean, even if she was, she's got a dozen or more school-aged children at any one time, all at different grade levels. She's trying to teach all of them while cooking for a small army battalion with a toddler around her ankles and an infant on her breast. Do you think any of those kids got any sort of a decent education?

Not that a decent education is really the goal. Especially for the girls. What are the odds that any of those girls learns more than the basic arithmetic needed to treble a recipe meant for a normal family and enough language skills to get through the Bible?

And, look, if they're just being poorly educated, that's not necessarily the end of the world. If they grow up believing that the world is a few thousand years old, the sun revolves around the earth, and Jesus rode on a dinosaur, that just means none of them are going to have a career in the sciences. And what are the odds that that was going to happen anyway? No real harm done.

But in the last several days, we've been seeing some of the more horrific parts of the home-school curriculum the Duggars and other like-minded families have been using.





Maybe scientific ignorance is fairly harmless, but teaching young girls that they brought sexual molestation onto themselves by failing to dress modestly enough - that is criminal.

Look at # 6: IF the abused was not at fault. Because most of the time, according to this mindset, obviously it's the fault of the victim. So, according to this curriculum, maybe being molested isn't so bad, because God compensates for the abuse with "spiritual power." You know, IF you weren't at fault, which you probably were, what with not wearing a burqa around your brother, Lolita! And point #8 pretty strongly implies that, given a choice, it's better to have been sexually assaulted, because otherwise God wouldn't have given you this spiritual gift because apparently the god they worship is a pretty sick bastard.

And this brings me back to my original question. Why do people like the Duggars homeschool their kids? Not because they think they'll do a better job than a real school, but because it's the best way to keep them from being exposed to the outside world.

If the Duggar daughters had been sent to an actual school, there might have been a teacher, or counselor or school nurse that they could have told about the abuse and the authorities could have been notified (the real authorities, not a family friend who happens to be a state trooper and has a thing for child pornography) and they could have put a stop to it.

To be clear, I'm not saying that the Duggars made the decision to home-school with the idea that should their son molest their daughter(s) this would help keep them from reporting the abuse. But this is an unintended consequence of keeping their children isolated from the modern world. I'm sure that the intent is to keep the children from being "led astray" by a teacher who mentions Darwin, or a classmate who smokes cigarettes, or a friend who tells them that it's not actually normal to be beaten with a rod by your parents.

And yes, I'm sure that there are many perfectly good parents who homeschool their kids for perfectly legitimate reasons. But too bad. Send your fucking kid to school. A real school.  Because even though you may be giving your kids a legitimate education,. there's no way to know that. There's no way of knowing who is home-schooling because they're over-indulgent new-age dorks who think that their special snowflake kids should be able to choose what they want to learn about even if that means going to look at dinosaur skeletons every damn day, or if you're the kind of psycho nut that's teaching your kids shit like this: