Rave Reviews 3!

Hey, kids!  It’s time for another installment of Rave Reviews!

“Calvin, you’d better take a course in logic while you’re there at Hillsdale, because this piece is full of logical fallacies. Oh, and a course in journalism mightn’t go amiss either…you’re a very silly boy, Calvin.”Peggy

“what a fool you are… drowned by politcal propaganda when you claim to be a student of the very institution you bastardise. you are subversley guised into behaving like a perfect pawn.”king james

“Look kid I’ve met many of your kind before, you have Dick Cheney written all over you. You’re willing to watch other people shed blood and make the sacrifice, but to chicken shit to put your own ass on the line. Why don’t you put your education on hold and join the fight instead of being some little bitch cheering from the sidelines. But of course we know you won’t, because you rather see other young men and women die for your twisted un-constitutional agenda.”Justin

“…afgan cave of a mind.”Rhys

“The problem with you Calvin is that you’ve been listening to Sean Hannity your entire life. If that’s your perspective, if that’s all you know, how do you know any better? You shut off your mind to any opposing views…But I know you won’t change and luckily not everyone is as arrogant as you in their beliefs thinking that they know everything”Mike

“You seem to have an absolute block in your mind about questioning anything that involves the military…I think it’s sad that you are unable to engage in an intelligent discussion of these topics.”Aaron

“You Neo-Cons are definitely in denial. Who the hell told you that being Pro-War is Pro-American? […] you definitely need much more education than I thought.”Branden

“…an Israel Firster.”William R

“Perhaps you’re not evil, just coldhearted.”GrrrlRomeo

“I am troubled that my alma mater Hillsdale is producing students of political science with such poor reading comprehension and listening capacities…an unprincipled young man who wishes to maintain present American global dominance without consideration of the damage it will do to our republic in the long run…my name is on plaques at Hillsdale, and yours isn’t.”Marcus Brutus

“You are such a little drama queen…You are despicable…Calvin, the Defender of Pedophiles. Hey, NAMBLA just advocates ‘free speech.’ They don’t really do anything wrong. Calvin, go join, quick, you little punk.”John Doe

“So, just labeling someone as crazy without challenging the points they brought up passes as political discourse at the mighty poli sci department of Hillsdale these days?”infocyde

“Scores of those ‘fringy’ Birchers , whose biggest crime is sticking up for the Constitution, have something on the chicken-hawk college student writing this silly blog entry – they’ve served their country admirably in the military.”Howling Hurricane

“Ad hominum attacks much?”spinnikerca

“I am not a 9-11 truther but I don’t have a big problem with those who question government and demand more answers from government. As Glenn Beck would say, question with boldness. Just not 9-11! That’s because, unlike you and him, I am for liberty and freedom in all instances…The elitism card can only work for so long and at some point you neoconservatives will have to articulate where and why I’m wrong or else people will start to suspect you can’t.”fatlibertarian

“Basically, gays can ride the bus, they just cant sit in the front. As you might say, “gotcha”. Try and twist yourself out of that pretzel, you thoughtless hypocritical carrier pigeon for hate.”Joshua from NJ

“If ever I needed proof positive that you are motivated by contempt for gay persons, you have just provided me with that proof — without as much as a hint of a fig-leaf of covering rhetoric.”Phillip Chandler

“Almost embarrassed??? That’s funny Cal, after the stuff you buy into and attemp to defend , I would say you’re not capable of embarrassment . Do all Repu….er ..uh …conservatives share your views ?”badaboo

“It’s self evident Calvin , take off your political blinders , and if you still can’t see this for what it is …well , that’s not my fault . That’s on you pal.”eyes wide open

“Love to see the Euphrates run red with Muslim blood don’t ya? Everything you guys spew is anti-Palestinian.”Jacob

“If you don’t ever encounter difficulty articulating or defending your views, then that may mean that your views are predictable and derivative: They apparently present no challenge to you.”CK MacLeod

“How sad that Calvin didn’t learn even the tiniest bit of logic and critical thinking allegedly taught at Hillsdale.”Debbie Schlussel

Start your day right with hateful, ignorant analysis from your favorite knuckle-dragging, pro-gay/anti-gay war monger!  Calvin Freiburger Online: shouldn’t you be reading?

(For more fun, check out Part 1 and Part 2!)

Introducing the Official CFO Store! (UPDATED)

The Conservative Armory: The Official CFO Store

Finally! All the intolerant, judgmental, right-wing wit and wisdom you’ve come to know and love from this blog is now available in pithy, wearable form! With tea parties and town halls popping up all over the place, it must be tough for poor Janet Napolitano to keep tabs on so many extremists. Why not help her out by proudly wearing your conservative views for all to see? It’s the compassionate thing to do!

Right now the store has a healthy mix of conservative, pro-life, historical, and anti-Obama t-shirts, plus one of the Web’s finest (and, near as I can tell, only) selections of anti-Ron Paul gear.  I’ll be adding new designs as I think of ’em, so be sure to check back regularly!

UPDATE: I set the products to “Private” while I make some adjustments.  It’ll be back up soon.

Who Is the Right’s Charles Johnson?

Looks like others are starting to notice that John Doe debates like a foul-mouthed twelve-year-old. For the record, I think Dan Riehl’s original criticism of Glenn Beck, while valid, was over the top, but it’s hilarious to hear Doe equate him with Charles Johnson, because it seems to me that Doe is the Johnson wannabe, not Riehl.  While Charles Johnson smears decent conservatives as too “extreme,” John Doe smears decent conservatives as not extreme enough.

“Conservative Progressivism”? Get Real

In Hot Air’s Greenroom, CK MacLeod argues that the Left has unduly hijacked the mantle of “progressive,” and that there can actually be such a thing as “conservative progressivism.”  Needless to say, I don’t find his argument very compelling.

The main problem seems to be the definition of progressivism he seems to accept as his starting point:

Progressivism simply stood for the determination on the part of countless people, most of whose names have been forgotten, to address the great ills of the age – conditions of life, work, and political affairs that few reading this essay can realistically imagine.

He attempts to enlist Sarah Palin and Rep. Paul Ryan as such progressive conservatives—the former based on little more than the fact that she campaigned as a reformer and uses the word “progress” a lot; the latter because he sees Ryan’s healthcare proposals as progressive, and, um…he’s from Wisconsin, isn’t he?

All this really shows is that CK’s definition of “progressive” is so vague as to be useless. What he calls “progressive” basically boils down to the word’s most common usage of reform or “improving stuff.”  Well, who isn’t for improving stuff? Who wouldn’t reform something that isn’t working? But that’s not what political progressivism means.

His characterization of Ryan’s healthcare goals—“bring government, including a longstanding societal commitment to care for the elderly and vulnerable, closer to the people, for the sake of greater efficiency and effectiveness, alongside the destruction of undemocratic and corrupting concentrations of power”—is a little closer, but still misses the mark.

“Bringing government closer to the people” is a value progressives sometimes advanced, via direct referenda, recalls, and such, but this was mostly a strategic calculation, not a political value—as they deemed certain levels & branches of government to be roadblocks to their vision, they experimented with different ways of getting around them.  Regarding “greater efficiency and effectiveness,” we again should ask: who’s against efficiency and effectiveness?  To present either as a defining trait of any one ideology is absurd.

He’s most wrong when he says “the destruction of undemocratic and corrupting concentrations of power” is a “foundationally, capital-‘P’ Progressive goal.” Progressivism certainly styles itself as movement of and for the people, but its conception of democracy—government actualizing the universal will—is not the same as the Founding Fathers’—government by consent.  For one thing, they explicitly rejected the Founders’ belief in clearly-defined limits on government power and dismissed the principles of the Declaration of Independence as applicable only to the Revolutionary era, from which history has since progressed.  For another, their idea of democracy granted the people a say in what goals government should pursue, but they emphatically denied that the people were fit to figure out how to achieve them—better to leave the actual details of policymaking to the unelected, unaccountable “experts” of the bureaucracy. As President Wilson said, “I believe in the people: in their honesty and sincerity and sagacity; but I do not believe in them as my governors.”

Blogger JE Dyer is doing a good job dismantling CK’s assumptions in the comments, and it’s extremely telling that CK’s already been reduced to little more than griping about semantics.

Glenn Beck ain’t perfect, but he does deserve credit for working to educate the country about the American Left’s progressive foundations. Heaven knows our schools and Republican Parties aren’t doing their job in that department…

Attention Righty Bloggers: Time to Edit Your Blogrolls

It’ll come as little surprise that John Doe of Smash Mouth Politics ain’t exactly the sharpest knife in the rack.  But, it turns out, he’s also a lying demagogue.  Nobody who would equate same-sex marriage support with PEDOPHILIA deserves the respect of anybody who claims to be a conservative or a Christian.  The crap he spews is neither.

UPDATE: A new standard in discourse: “do you wear a skirt when you whine like that?” Truly, my friends, we are witnessing a master of his craft at work.  Never before has such compelling logic and piercing insight been so succinctly packaged in such clarity!

Stay classy.

Charles Johnson’s Character Problem, Exhibit #6,174

Andrew Breitbart recently got into a fight with WorldNetDaily’s Joseph Farah over WND’s idiotic obsession with Barack Obama’s birth certificate.  Now, one would imagine this would be reassuring to those who devote considerable attention to the problem of “extremism” and “bad craziness” on the Right, and that perhaps someone like that would give credit to Breitbart for standing up to Farah.

Unless, of course, that someone happens to be slanderous knuckle-dragger Charles Johnson.

To him, the story is – despite having quoted absolutely nothing to imply anything of the sort – that Breitbart somehow “want[s] us to think [he] didn’t see it coming” that Birtherism would come up at the Tea Party Convention.

There’s no reasoning with you.  The only real flaw with Dennis Prager’s takedown of your lies is that he seems to think you still have a modicum of conscience to which he could appeal.

Dennis Prager Drop-Kicks the Little Green Football

The great Dennis Prager has penned an excellent takedown of libelous abomination Charles Johnson that really deserves to be reposted in full (hat tip to Robert Stacy McCain):

On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine featured an article on Charles Johnson, whose website — littlegreenfootballs — had for years been very popular among conservatives and among all those who believed that Islamic terror and Islamic religious totalitarianism were the greatest expressions of contemporary evil. The reason for the article was that Mr. Johnson has made a 180-degree turn and is now profoundly, even stridently, anti-right. This is my letter to him.

Dear Charles:

As you know, over the years, I was so impressed with your near-daily documentation of developments in the Islamist world that I twice had you on my national radio show — both times face to face in my studio. And you, in turn, periodically cited my radio show and would tell your many readers when they could hear you on my show.

So it came as somewhat of a shock to see your 180-degree turn from waging war on Islamist evil to waging war on your erstwhile allies and supporters on the right. You attempted to explain this reversal on Nov. 30, 2009, when you published “Why I Parted Ways With The Right.”

You offered 10 reasons, and I would like to respond to them.

First, as disappointed as I am with your metamorphosis, I still have gratitude for all the good you did and I respect your change as a sincere act of conscience. But neither this gratitude nor this respect elevates my regard for your 10 points. They are well beneath the intellectual and moral level of your prior work. They sound like something Keith Olbermann would write if he were given 10 minutes to come up with an attack on conservatives.

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, etc.).

Associating the American right with fascism is done only by leftist ideologues and propagandists, not by serious critics. It is akin to calling everyone on the left a Communist. As for the specific examples, forgive me, but in 28 years as a talk show host and columnist, I had never heard of Robert Stacy McCain or of Vlaams Belang. Nor did the BNP or SIOE register on my intellectual radar screen.

I looked them up and found that McCain is a former editor at the Washington Times charged with racist views. So what?

The BNP is the British National Party, a racist group that in the last U.K. general election received 0.7 percent of the popular vote. So what?

SIOE stands for Stop Islamisation of Europe. I perused its website, and while there are ideas I disagree with (e.g., the group does not believe that there are any Muslim moderates), the desire to stop the “Islamization” of Europe is hardly fascist; it is more likely animated by anti-fascism.

Vlaams Belang is a Flemish nationalist political party that won 17 out of 150 seats in Belgium ’s Chamber of Representatives. From what I could gather from a cursory glance at the party’s platform, it is an ultra-nationalist Flemish party, many of whose language protection and secessionist ideals are virtually identical to those of the Party Quebecois, a party passionately supported by the left.

In any event, what do any of these groups have to do with mainstream American right institutions such the Hoover Institution, the Heritage Foundation or the American Enterprise Institute; or with mainstream conservative publications and websites such as the National Review, the Weekly Standard, Townhall.com or Commentary; or with mainstream American conservatives such as Bill Kristol, Thomas Sowell, Hugh Hewitt, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Bill Bennett, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, as well as Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh?

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.).

I agree with the late William Buckley that some of Pat Buchanan’s views could be construed as anti-Jewish; I don’t know who McCain or Lew Rockwell represent among mainstream conservatives; and to label Ann Coulter a white supremacist (or bigot) is slander.

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.).

“The entire religious right” wants to throw “women back into the dark ages?” As a religious (Jewish) conservative, perhaps I am a member of that group, and I find the charge absurd. The one example you give — anti-abortion — is invalid. To those who regard the unborn as worthy of life (except in the almost never occurring case of it being a threat to its mother’s life), opposition to abortion is no more anti-woman than opposition to rape is anti-man. The only people who wish to throw women into the dark ages are the people you, Charles, used to fight. That is why your change of heart has actually hurt the battle for women’s dignity and equality.

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.).

So, Charles, all those scientists who question or deny that human activity is causing a global warming that will render much of life on earth extinct are “anti-science?”

Has the possibility occurred to you that those who are skeptical of what they consider hysteria cherish science at least as much as you do? In fact, they suspect that — for political, social, financial, psychological and/or herd-following reasons — it is the “global warming” hysterics who are more likely to be anti-science.

Activist scientists, liberal media and leftist interest groups brought us the false alarm of an imminent heterosexual AIDS pandemic in America , the false alarm about silicon breast implants leading to disease and the nonsense about how dangerous nuclear power is. They were anti-science, not us skeptics who have been right every time I can think of.

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.).

This charge is particularly ugly. It appears that you have decided to fight all the “hate” you allege to be on the right with your own hate. Why exactly is it “homophobic bigotry” to want to maintain the millennia-old definition of marriage as the union of men and women? The hubris of those who not only want to change the definition of the most important institution in society but believe everyone who ever advocated male-female marriage was a bigot — meaning everyone who ever lived before you, Charles — is as breathtaking as it is speech-suppressing.

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.).

What you call “anti-government lunacy” most Americans regard as preserving the greatest protector of individual liberty — limited government.

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.).

I am no fan of Alex Jones, who, coincidentally, has attacked me on his website as a “Jewish propagandist.” But please. The amount of hate speech in one Keith Olbermann commentary dwarfs any 12 months of Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck. In any event, the real irony here is that before your inexplicable change, it was you who devoted years to documenting the greatest amount of hate speech on earth today — that coming from within the Islamic world. If you still hated hate speech, you would still be doing that important work.

As for believing in conspiracy theories, your new team wins hands down — from multiple assassins of JFK to the American government being behind 9-11 (it was even believed by a high-ranking member of the Obama administration) to the war in Iraq waged on behalf of Halliburton.

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic , Ace of Spades, etc.).

From what I have seen, your examples do not justify your charge. Moreover, for every right-wing “raging hate” speech website, there are probably three on the left. The major conservative sites are overwhelmingly rational and devoid of “raging hate.” Given my longtime respect for you, Charles, it pains me that it is your list of 10 reasons for abandoning the right that is a prime example of “raging hate.”

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.).

I saw Pamela Geller’s site (The New York Times Magazine article about you cited it — Atlas Shrugs — and mentioned nothing remotely approaching your charges against her or her site) and I’ve interviewed Robert Spencer. Your charges against them only cheapen the words “fascism,” violence” and “genocide.”

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source).

The charge is a lie. Period. Those who cannot argue with the right always accuse it of racism. It used to work, Charles. But it is increasingly obvious to all but fellow leftists that the charge is specious. Opposition to President Obama has nothing to do with his race. Indeed, he continues to be more popular than his policies.

When you were on the politically and morally right side, Charles, you provided massive evidence for your positions. Now you throw verbal bombs. What happened? If you would like to tell me on my radio show, you are invited to do so. I miss you.

The Vile One promises a more comprehensive rebuttal tomorrow, but claims that Prager’s last point is invalid because…somebody anonymously left a “racist” comment on his article.  Grow up, Chuck…

I’d love to see Johnson take Prager up on his offer for a radio interview, even if it would be kinda like Jackie Chan vs. Jackie Mason.  Adding Stacy into the mix would be icing on the cake.

Rave Reviews 2!

It’s back, by popular demand! (And by “popular demand,” I mean “I felt like it.”)

“I know young Mr. Freiburger considers himself to ba a Christian; I wonder: what part of ‘thou shalt not bear false witness’ doesn’t he understand?” – Closet-Commie

“… you are an angry man!”naturboy

“Freiberger is a perfect example of what’s wrong with this country and why it is becoming ungovernable.”lisleil

“I do, however, find it disturbing when someone of that age simply repeats the tripe dished up on right wing radio.”radioguy2

“This rant is nothing more than bitching by the right over Obama being elected!!”geekyandwhatnot

“The same old ‘cut and paste’ rhetorical blather isn’t worth the time and effort necessary to conduct a ‘direct discussion’. However, it’s important to me that guys like Calvin know that I’m taking the time to read the work of others being passed off as his own.”Marvin49

“…speculative drivel and unfounded conjecture…”Justinfdl

“Just keep barking at your fellow citizens like a good little puppy and completely ignore the oligarchs screwing us all over.”M_miller_t

“Wow, bigoted much?”Michelle

“I need to ask if Calvin’s relatives own the Reporter? Is there any other reason they would continue to print this gibberish?”FDL54935

“Bat s*** crazy seems to be an understatement when describing you…would you even recognize sanity, conscience, or even integrity if you saw it?  I doubt it.”Chris Liebenthal

“Using fallacies for the purpose of making a point just makes you pathetic at what you do.”Oscar M

“You people See a Black face and automatically assume, Democrat!!!!!”Houston

“I do not have much respect for your standards of evidence or with what has and has not been proved to you.”Alonzo Fyfe

“Mr. Freiburg along with much of the right simply do not believe in equality and justice for all.”kalebgage

“I’m wondering if he honestly doesn’t see himself implementing the very tactics that he criticizes on the political left. I also wonder why he won’t concede a single point.”Gerald

“…the Neo-Cons like this blogger and their platform has been proven a complete failure…”Gmartine

“Partisan sniping without any actual evidence.”Anonymous

“You are losing. You are wrong and your are ‘Nuts.’”Derrick Gaskin

“Oh!! It’s so much fun laughing at you pious little war warmongers. Your little shrieks are becoming more and more ridiculous as each day passes.”Sex Panther

“Hello, Dr. Freiburger. Your astute knowledge of Psychology must be astounding to deduce and diagnose such a mental ailment from merely reading one comment in a blog post. Unless, that is, you’re practicing without a license, are you? I can understand it’s mush easier to label people then correct their error with reason, logic, and/or facts.” Professor MacNamarra

“Back to the television my sheepish friend, I hear that they’ve found some new meadows for you to graze upon.”Dan N

“Having read this entire thread, the concept that you think you are not only intelligent but funny as well is the most entertaining post for me by far.”Devon

“Your opinions in this thread are simply not supported by anything other than your own myopic world view. How dare you attribute some simplistic slipshod approach to me. You do not know me…You basically just stuck your tongue out at me and said ‘Now you really done it! You’re stupid for thinking that’. Tell us why!”Todd Owens

“You are a sad person and we all thank you for showing your true character…oops, lack of character. Now go back to sleep….sleep…sleep my friend. Just do as you are told and believe as we tell you to believe and go back to sleep.”Marvin K Johnson

“…if you’re going to write a slanderous piece on Dr. Paul, you better watch out because it’s going to get ugly and his supporters won’t back down.”Mike

“Calvin Freiburger does exactly what he purports to disdain, and that is too stick dogmatically to his simplistic beliefs about how the world works, then congratulates himself for being so objective.”Thinkingman

Calvin Freiburger Online: Shouldn’t you be reading?

A Case of Mistaken, Rabid Identity (Updated for Hypocrisy!)

Milwaukee blogger Chris Liebenthal (Boots & Sabers regulars may know him as Capper) has a cookie-cutter post about the tightrope future Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will supposedly have to walk between the crooked & incompetent GOP establishment on the one hand, and the tea-party lunatics on the other.  Blah blah blah…

Amusingly, the centerpiece of the post is a comment from somebody named “Calvin” on this post from Charlie Sykes’ blog.  Out of the State of Wisconsin’s five-and-a-half-million people, there’s apparently only one right-winger by that name, so Capper pegs me as the commenter.  I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’ve got the wrong man.

I do, however, appreciate being recognized as a “rabid right winger.” Remember, kids: Calvin Freiburger is precisely the kind of ignorant, intolerant, right-wing extremist scum your Homeland Security Secretary warned you about!

Calvin Freiburger Online: shouldn’t you be reading?

UPDATE: Understandably embarrassed at his blunder, Capper is digging in his heels in the comments, insisting that some nonexistent inconsistency between my words here and there somehow proves Sykes-Calvin and I are one and the same.  Apparently his brilliant mind cannot grasp the concept that, in the comment he imagines to be a smoking gun, I was responding to a specific claim by Anonymous (who, now that I mention it, is probably the same “Anonymous” from that other article I was reading last week!).  With such a tenuous grasp on reality and utter disregard for truth, no wonder the guy’s a liberal.

In all honesty, though, I should have known better than to waste my time wading into Capper’s cesspool – after all, a central tenet of the liberal playbook is to make a scandal out of the very act of defending one’s self from a vapid liberal attack.  Live and learn, I guess.

In honor of what feels like the ten-thousandth time one of these bozos has given blogging a bad name, it seems like a great opportunity to revisit this Steven Crowder classic:

UPDATE 2: So it turns out that yesterday, Cappy whined about falling victim to the very same thing he did to me.  You can’t make this stuff up…

UPDATE 3 (12/22/09): The Capster’s paranoia has been going on for even longer than I thought.  If it weren’t so stupid, I’d be flattered.