Tea With The Mad Hatter

by EGBERTO WILLIES

Author and Scholar Reza Aslan appeared on Fox News’ Spirited Debate to discuss his new book “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”. The host of the show Lauren Green started the interview with a rather uncivil and strange question.

Green asked, “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” Mr. Aslan seemed prepared for the general attacking nature that Fox News uses when conducting interviews with those with different positions than theirs. He was very poised and non-combative in his answer. He answered, “Well to be clear, I am a scholar of religions with four degrees including one in the New Testament and fluency in Biblical Greek who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades who also just happens to be a Muslim. So it’s not that I am just some Muslim writing about Jesus. I am an expert with a PhD in the history of religions”.

Mr. Aslan’s answer was simply disregarded by Ms. Green as she interrupted his response and asked, “But it still begs to question why you would be interested in the founder of Christianity”. Did Mr. Aslan in his first response not state he was a scholar of religions? If he is a scholar of religions would he not study them all (or many of them)?

Throughout the interview it was evident that Ms. Green was not listening to Mr. Aslan’s answers or statements. In the Fox News bubble where she resides it is evident that scholarly methodologies are neither taught nor acknowledged. One wonders if Fox News has ever interviewed Christians writing about Islam. The Christian Science Monitor writer Dan Murphy answers that question in his article “Can Muslims write about Christianity”

The proposed law, which faces major opposition in the Florida legislature, would make it illegal for people in the state to shoot each other for no reason whatsoever.

(Giving The Onion a run for it's money. Not so horrible an idea as the SYG law itself, actually, and a completely believable forecast of what the NRA's reaction would be.)

But she said, "Instead of cutting deals with the president's allies in Congress, we can be opposing them every step of the way."

WHAT DEALS?!??! If only that were just a little bit true....

Armed demonstrators gathered outside the Texas capitol building in Austin on Wednesday, seeking to highlight the state's right to openly carry rifles.

But it also presents a danger for Mr. Christie going into 2016: Conservatives tend to recoil at those Republican figures who become in-house critics, especially those who are media favorites. Jon Huntsman faced that dynamic during his failed 2012 presidential campaign. That is not to compare the two. Mr. Christie would come to a Republican race with far more strengths, though perhaps his most significant one — his frankness — can sometimes double as a liability. But he professes not to care. “The problem with politicians,” he said during one of his riffs here, is “they try to be everything to everybody.” - Jonathan Martin, NY Times

Ever since Pat McCrory took office as governor earlier this year - GOP lawmakers in North Carolina have turned that state into ground zero for Tea Party extremism - gutting social services- slashing taxes - and - yes - even banning Sharia law.

*Romany Malco, who reprises his role as Zeke in the recently wrapped “Think Like a Man, Too,” weighed into the Trayvon Martin topic from a different angle...

He wrote:

I haven’t touched on the Trayvon Martin issue because race matters in this country are the paralysis of the American people. To constructively discuss Trayvon would require empathy, introspection and an understanding of America’s social and economic history. This is why the open forums we have seen thus far seem to fuel more ignorance and bias than reasonable debate.

To be brutally honest, the only reason people are even aware of Trayvon Martin is because it became a topic within mainstream news and pop culture. Meaning: News directors saw it as a profitable, sensational story. Hundreds of blacks die annually in South Side Chicago without even a blurb. Trayvon isn’t in the mainstream news for any reason other than ratings and profit. The news coverage on the Zimmerman case almost implies that the killing of this young black man is somehow an anomaly and I resent that....

"Was Trayvon Martin aggressive and paranoid from smoking marijuana, and did that lead him to attack George Zimmerman? That’s what lawyers for Mr. Zimmerman are arguing. He is on trial for killing Mr. Martin, but claims he acted in self-defense, and the judge in the racially charged, nationally followed case decided earlier this week that the jury could be presented with Mr. Martin’s toxicology report, which shows that he had marijuana in his system. As a neuropsychopharmacologist who has spent 15 years studying the neurophysiological, psychological and behavioral effects of marijuana, I find this line of reasoning laughable." - Carl L. Hart, an associate professor of psychology at Columbia University

Who doesn't find that laughable?

“…there is nothing in Obamacare that stops patients from choosing their own doctors, and people who get their insurance through their employer likely won't see any changes at all. And, while the Americans For Prosperity ad refers to higher healthcare premiums, we've seen insurance rates go down in states implementing the law - like California - and millions of Americans will qualify for subsidies to purchase healthcare through insurance exchanges.” – Thom Hartmann