Over and over again we read how the blogosphere is polarized between the far-left and the far-right, and that the discussions online seem to be far more fierce than of those in the reral world. While some may view this, I find that the majority of the people in the blogosphere have rather centrist political ideologies (not to mention the over-representation of libertarians in the blogosphere), but what runs deep is the partisanship. I am as guilty as most, and I find myself defending Republicans far more often than they merit, if only because of the nature of their enemies. At any rate, in the last 24 hours, Kevin Drum has some prime examples of this partisanship, and I note this only because from my interpretation of his less snarky posts, Kevin actually has pretty middle of the road politics.
Yesterday, Kevin posted this doozy:
For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy:
In a newspaper interview published this week, the health minister in Italy’s right-of-centre administration, Girolamo Sirchia, announced that he would be doing what he could to reinstate Friday as a day of fasting throughout Italy.
“Apart from being an ancient religious tradition, the weekly fast is a useful health measure,” Mr Sirchia told the daily La Stampa. “It has a scientific basis. It helps to purify the system of the effects of an unhealthy diet.”
….”In school and works canteens and in the hospitals, we shall take the path of reduced portions and a day of abstinence,” Mr Sirchia declared.
A day of fasting in hospitals? Enforced by the government?
For the record, I find the idea of government enforced fasting in hospitals to be reckless and stupid- ‘No anti-nausea medicine today, chemo patients- you won’t be needing your appetites!’ Almost as stupid and reckless as this statement:
….For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy.
This is just a partisan swipe, a cheapshot, and it has no basis in reality. Conservatives may have hailed Berlusconi for being supportive of the administrations policies, but one of the main reasons many were praising Berlusconi was that he was also simply standing up for the United States at a time when certain of our ‘allies’ were running domestic political campaigns with the sole platform of America bashing. Remember this statement:
Editor’s note: This article is written by Jose Mar