God and Greed

In "Why Do Christians Worship Greed?" Peter Laarman puts his finger on yet another ugly-Americanism:

Only in America can one find significant numbers of serious Christian theologians who will still argue that unfettered capitalism represents God's Plan for human thriving.

Contemporary Republicans have worked extra hard concoct their stunted Money-God. Laarman quotes David Brooks:

The Republicans talk more about the market than about society, more about income than quality of life. They celebrate capitalism, which is a means, and are inarticulate about the good life, which is the end. They take things like tax cuts, which are tactics that are good in some circumstances, and elevate them to holy principle, to be pursued in all circumstances.

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Rush Limbaugh’s obsession with buttocks

Gabriel Winant lays out a strong case at Salon.com: Rush Limbaugh just can't stop talking about butts.

Critics say that Rush Limbaugh likes to talk out of his ass. But that's only half the story: Rush can't stop talking about butt, either. It's too bad that Sigmund Freud's long dead, because Rush is the old shrink's dream patient, with an obvious diagnosis: Limbaugh has an anal fixation.

Based on Winant's long list of evidence, it does make you wonder whether Rush needs to go see a therapist to figure out why it is that this "family values" guy has now divorced three women. Maybe we've got yet another classic case of reaction formation on our hands, and that would certainly explain a lot of Limbaugh's hostility.

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Steven Colbert on John Yoo’s new job as newpaper columnist

The Philadelphia Inquirer has announced that the man who authored memos justifying torture will now be one of their regular columnists. Steve Colbert reports:

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Who’s watching the Federal Reserve? Not the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve.

Who's watching the Federal Reserve? Not the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve. This video shows a May 5, 2009 hearing where Rep. Alan Grayson asks Elizabeth Coleman, the Federal Reserve Inspector General, about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. As you can see, she is clueless and/or full of bullshit. So much for public accountability. It's time for a real investigation of the Federal Reserve.

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