This has got to be one of the funniest clips I've seen in a long time. It's laugh-out-loud stuff.
It's also sad, as there are a whole hell of a lot of morans out there who really believe it's true. But, hey, I taught school for many years, and know exactly how stupid some people and their kids really are!
h/t to Adult Christianity
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Stop the insanitea
This is just wonderful. Mr. Dan Gross of Newsweek clearly delineates the insanity of the tea-baggers who do not have a clue as to what they are doing, or why.
The notion of holding "tea parties" where participants toss tea into a river or lake to protest governmental taxation is ludicrous, indicating ignorance of American history. The original so-called Boston Tea Party, which these tea parties claim to emulate, was a protest against taxation without representation. The Bostonians didn't want to pay taxes to King George because they believed they were not represented in Parliament.
Today's tea-baggers, on the other hand, are well-represented in the hallowed halls of government.
Furthermore, while today's tea-baggers complain about the "bail-outs," they show their ignorance of the fact that all of the various "bail-outs" originated with the Bush administration. They can't really complain about higher taxes, either, for unless they make over $250K per year, Obama's going to give them a tax cut.
So what's up?
Personally, I believe that however this crap got started, this insani-tea - which is being heavily promoted by FAUX News - is part and parcel of a conservative wingnut plan to distract the Obama administration from its agenda; it is an attempt to throw a wrench into the workings of the government.
But because it is counter-productive and finally self-destructive, it becomes the equivalent of a bunch of little pissant kids throwing pebbles at the wall of an ice cream store because daddy won't buy them an ice cream cone, not realizing daddy has put a half-gallon of ice cream for them in the freezer at home.
The notion of holding "tea parties" where participants toss tea into a river or lake to protest governmental taxation is ludicrous, indicating ignorance of American history. The original so-called Boston Tea Party, which these tea parties claim to emulate, was a protest against taxation without representation. The Bostonians didn't want to pay taxes to King George because they believed they were not represented in Parliament.
Today's tea-baggers, on the other hand, are well-represented in the hallowed halls of government.
Furthermore, while today's tea-baggers complain about the "bail-outs," they show their ignorance of the fact that all of the various "bail-outs" originated with the Bush administration. They can't really complain about higher taxes, either, for unless they make over $250K per year, Obama's going to give them a tax cut.
So what's up?
Personally, I believe that however this crap got started, this insani-tea - which is being heavily promoted by FAUX News - is part and parcel of a conservative wingnut plan to distract the Obama administration from its agenda; it is an attempt to throw a wrench into the workings of the government.
But because it is counter-productive and finally self-destructive, it becomes the equivalent of a bunch of little pissant kids throwing pebbles at the wall of an ice cream store because daddy won't buy them an ice cream cone, not realizing daddy has put a half-gallon of ice cream for them in the freezer at home.
East Texas lawmaker struts her stuff
In East Texas there lives people who don't know which cow ate the cabbage. Y'all kin be shure 'bout thet!One of these is Betty Boop, oops, I mean Betty Brown. Betty Brown (not Betty Boop) is from the town of Terrell, which is way out thar in East Texas. She lives on a ranch way out thar.
Betty Brown (not Betty Boop) is a Repugnican Representative in the Texas Legislature.
Yup.
Bud Kennedy, writing for the Star-Telegram, notes that Brown told "a Chinese-American lawyer at a 'Voter ID' hearing that if Asian-Americans can't get accurate IDs, they should pick new names 'easier for Americans to deal with.'"
Like Betty Boop, oops, Brown.
Yup. That's what she said. Thet's the way they talk out thar in East Texas.
Y'all kin read the whole story right here.
But don't go away! Betty Brown (Not Boop) is a darling of the Eagle Forum, which means she's farther right than Attila the Hun.
Well, if you don't believe that, here are three bills introduced into the Texas legislature that she "co-authored":
* House Bill 1034 - This gem "added the words 'under God' to the Texas pledge" which now reads: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."
Heh. Heh. "Thee"? "under God"?
* House Bill 1287 - This beaut "put the Bible back into the classroom. It strengthened traditional values in Texas by allowing an elective course on the Bible to be offered in Texas schools."
Whee! The course they chose was, of course, a fundamental christianist operation. And it seems not many are "electing" to take this elective.
Furthermore, I want the Qu'ran to be taught as an elective! Is this a free country or not?
* House Bill 3678 - Ah, yes. Freedom of speech. Ms. Boop, oops, I mean Brown wants Texas students to be able "to voluntarily express religious viewpoints in public schools, and to add to a discussion on art, literature, science, or other subjects in which the free expression of religious views has previously been excluded."
Right! Can't you hear it now? "I believe that Jesus saves me from my sins and thus I don't need to learn no biology!"
Or, "I'm a Wiccan, and I believe God is in everything, especially literature. Let's study books about pagan goddesses!"
Boop, Brown, whatever - is, unfortunately, not unusual in the Lone Star State. She is just as much as down-home Texan as a cowpie in an East Texas pasture!
h/t to McClatchy
Full Metal Budget with Jon Stewart
Mr. Stewart eviscerates Gates and Lieberman...and wonders how the talking heads around the MSM can consider a 4% increase constitutes massive defense spending cuts.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Full Metal Budget | ||||
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Jon Stewart's Easter & Passover Highlights
A little bit of fun for the season.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Easter & Passover Highlights | ||||
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Hitting back at Rove (Turdblossom)
Rove's continuing appearances on FAUX News and other slightly more rational media outlets is sickening. The man deserves nothing but our contempt and a trial for his high crimes and misdemeanors!
Thanks to Video Cafe.
Michael Steele, the perfect Repugnican
[Image from Getty Images]The chairman of the Republican National Committee laughs off talk of a depression.
Michael Steele is the perfect Repugnican. Perfect Repugnicans create a godawful mess, in this case, an economic depression; then refuse to take responsibility for doing so; indeed have the gall to claim this is not a depression, merely a bump in the road. And then because it's so funny, they laugh. Ha, ha, ha.
Tana Ganeva, at AlterNet, references remarks by Steele in response to a comment that people were not spending less money than usual:
"I've heard a number of people say that across the country. [LAUGHTER] The malls are just as packed on Saturday. [LAUGHTER]
Well, maybe not. The number of companies declaring bankruptcy or closing stores and laying off people is large and growing. Does Steele not read the papers?
So far as the malls being packed on Saturday or any other day: again, not true. Maybe Steele has not been in a mall of late. I have. It reminded me of a tomb. During the week before Easter one would expect that any mall would be packed. Not so. The majority of stores had more employees than customers. In the smaller stores, the clerks sat morosely with their heads in the hands, or yawned while staring out the door - their shops were empty!
Michael Steele, the reigning representative of the Repugnican Party, thus personifies a party that has no grip on reality, and a tendency to laugh at the poor, the needy, the laid-off, the homeless and the fear-filled who constitute a rising segment of our population.
And that's why "Repugnican" is their perfect name.
Ganeva's article is here.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Is the US a Xtn nation - Ken Blackwell debates Christopher Hitchens
Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State, debates noted atheist Christopher Hitchens relative to the US being a Christian nation.
Blackwell, who now works for the ultra-right wingnut group, the Family Research Council, didn't have a chance! Probably because he has no clue as to what he's talking about.
If you haven't read the Newsweek story, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," by editor Jon Meacham, it's worth a look. For one thing, he gives too much attention and credence to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler, a rabid fundamentalist, represents only one very noise segment of Christianity, and would be shunned by many of the mainstream denominations - their clergy and laity - as an example of ignorance and superstition.
Nevertheless, Meacham makes many interesting observations and from what the most recent polls indicate, the number of people who identify as Christians is dropping, while the numbers for unaffiliated as well as atheists and agnostics is growing.
Blackwell, who now works for the ultra-right wingnut group, the Family Research Council, didn't have a chance! Probably because he has no clue as to what he's talking about.
If you haven't read the Newsweek story, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," by editor Jon Meacham, it's worth a look. For one thing, he gives too much attention and credence to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler, a rabid fundamentalist, represents only one very noise segment of Christianity, and would be shunned by many of the mainstream denominations - their clergy and laity - as an example of ignorance and superstition.
Nevertheless, Meacham makes many interesting observations and from what the most recent polls indicate, the number of people who identify as Christians is dropping, while the numbers for unaffiliated as well as atheists and agnostics is growing.
Rachel Maddow - Insani-Tea
This is an absolutely hilarious segment on tea-bagging and the tea-bagging movement.
[For another slant on the movement, click here.]
I'm sorry, I'm still laughing!
[For another slant on the movement, click here.]
I'm sorry, I'm still laughing!
Lou Engle - burning up
Lou Engle is just another christianist wingnut. His major concerns, like so many of these fundy preachers, are homosexuality and abortion. It is fascinating how the god in which these folks believe doesn't appear to care about the poor, the environment, war, peace, nuclear weapons, health care -- you know, those peripheral matters.
Lou Engle doesn't really matter, either, but he does have a following and he is fanatical and thus dangerous to common sense and the commonwealth.
Engle was "a strong supporter of Proposition 8" in California. About a month and a half ago, however, he became worried that Proposition 8 might be overturned. Engle knows that God hates same-sex marriages so he thought he better help God out. Engle threw himself into this battle against sexual sin!
According to Charisma magazine, Engle, in the latter part of February, he issued an "urgent call for fasting and prayer." In a video on TheCall Web site, Engle cried "I'm just burning inside for California ... we are taking our stand and saying 'no' to the powers of darkness and 'yes' to the brilliant light of God."
Engle "has asked the entire body of Christ to pray for God to 'hold back the homosexual marriage thing that's coming raging in again.'"
Isn't that interesting? Engle's burning up and everybody's praying and God doesn't seem to be listening! Or maybe God is on the other side of the issue? Maybe God thinks Engle is a moron? Who knows?
Engle doesn't make any sense. If God was so opposed to gay marriage, why would people have to burn inside and issue urgent calls for prayer? Wouldn't God take care of the matter like when he burned up the prophets of Baal? Has God lost his power? Is the Baal story simply an ancient myth?
And now, omigod, Vermont and Iowa have approved gay marriage. Iowa, for Christ's sake!
Which is really funny because Engle's been fasting and praying for 40 days to ensure that things like this don't happen!
But here he is, "burning"!
Lou Engle doesn't really matter, either, but he does have a following and he is fanatical and thus dangerous to common sense and the commonwealth.
Engle was "a strong supporter of Proposition 8" in California. About a month and a half ago, however, he became worried that Proposition 8 might be overturned. Engle knows that God hates same-sex marriages so he thought he better help God out. Engle threw himself into this battle against sexual sin!
According to Charisma magazine, Engle, in the latter part of February, he issued an "urgent call for fasting and prayer." In a video on TheCall Web site, Engle cried "I'm just burning inside for California ... we are taking our stand and saying 'no' to the powers of darkness and 'yes' to the brilliant light of God."
Engle "has asked the entire body of Christ to pray for God to 'hold back the homosexual marriage thing that's coming raging in again.'"
Isn't that interesting? Engle's burning up and everybody's praying and God doesn't seem to be listening! Or maybe God is on the other side of the issue? Maybe God thinks Engle is a moron? Who knows?
Engle doesn't make any sense. If God was so opposed to gay marriage, why would people have to burn inside and issue urgent calls for prayer? Wouldn't God take care of the matter like when he burned up the prophets of Baal? Has God lost his power? Is the Baal story simply an ancient myth?
And now, omigod, Vermont and Iowa have approved gay marriage. Iowa, for Christ's sake!
Which is really funny because Engle's been fasting and praying for 40 days to ensure that things like this don't happen!
But here he is, "burning"!
Hope for those left behind at the Rapture
The so-called Rapture is coming at any time, according to millions of christianist wingnuts around the world. For those who don't know about this, The Rapture is the name given to a delusion these wingnuts have that Christ (not Jesus) who is living in heaven with the Father, who is himself, and the Holy Spirit, who is also himself, will return to earth any minute and whoosh "up" into the sky all those who have accepted Jesus as their personal savior and believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word of God, and who fight the "good fight" against homosexuals, liberals, humanists and Democrats!This delusion has been around for over 2,000 years and people keep waiting for The Rapture to occur, and even though it has been inexplicably delayed, people continue to hang on to their hope that there really is a heaven "up" there where they can spend eternity instead of as just a bunch of bones in the cold, cold ground.
One of my friends says he does not think these people "really believe" this nonsense as their lives don't portray such a belief. For example, some of the biggest promoters of The Rapture, who preach about it and write books about it, don't seem to be the least bit worried about it. They build huge mansions and fly fancy private jets and put their money into the stock market, and drive the most expensive cars, and why would they do all that if they really believed that Christ was returning any moment?
It is possible, of course, that these people are really charlatans, who are conning the naive and ignorant folks in the hinterlands and in the big cities into sending them money which will allow them to live luxurious lifestyles and continue to preach about The Rapture, even though they don't believe a word of what they're saying.
But, for the sake of argument, let's assume Christ is going to come back any day and Rapture the righteous. The rest of us will be left behind.
Fortunately, there is hope for the rest of us. You can buy several products from WhooshKlinx at WereULeft.com ("Hope for those left behind; help for those who don't want to be.")
One of the products I like the best is pictured above - the Rapture Dogtags. You can get them here.
It is possible this site and product line is a joke. I cannot guarantee anything.
Except, of course, that whole notion of The Rapture itself is a joke!
Why isn't Obama going to church?
[Image from telegraph.co.uk]As everyone knows, we face multiple, massive problems in our country and around the globe; problems which could escalate into end-of-the-world scenarios; problems for which we don't seem to have solutions at the moment, or if we do have solutions, we lack the political will to implement them.
Why then, we wonder, do some people concern themselves with trivia, such as why Obama isn't going to church?
Alex Koppelman at Salon's War Room has a brief article about Bill Sammon, who serves as the managing editor of the Washington Bureau for Fox News. Mr. Koppelman quotes from a blog post by Sammon which appeared on the "nework's Web site:
"With Easter just days away, Obama has yet to reveal what church he may have chosen or when he might attend his first Sunday services as president."
Why would Sammon care?
It seems that Sammon is a christianist of some stripe, as, according to Koppelman, he wrote a book in 2007 called "The Evangelical President: George Bush's Struggle to Spread a Moral Democracy Throughout the World."
Heh. Heh.
The title alone removes Sammon from our list of serious thinkers! George Bush and Moral Democracy? George Bush the lying warmonger? I don't think so.
Now, none of this is a big deal, but it does point out the tendency of christianist wingnuts to simply get everything all wrong. Whether Obama goes to church or not is irrelevant. His actions as president are what count, not some piety expressed in a public place.
And, I for one, am delighted he's not going to church and that most of the religious rhetoric that hung like dark clouds over the Bush administration has been lifted.
At this point in our national life, we need less religion and more morality; less piety and more pragmatic action based upon reason, not faith.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Rush Limbaargh, the brain-washed moron
Joshua Holland, at AlterNet, has a funny piece about a "Republican" calling in to old Rush and castigating the fat man for being one of the reasons McCain lost the election to Obama, and for his endorsement of torture.
The caller's name is Charles. He first says this:
"Thanks, Rush. Rush, listen, I voted Republican, and I didn't -- really didn't want to see Obama get in office. But, you know, Rush, you're one reason to blame for this election, for the Republicans losing.
"First of all, you kept harping about voting for Hillary. The second big issue is the -- was the torture issue. I'm a veteran. We're not supposed to be torturing these people. This is not Nazi Germany, Red China, or North Korea. There's other ways of interrogating people, and you kept harping about it -- 'It's OK,' or 'It's not really torture.' And it was just more than waterboarding. Some of these prisoners were killed under torture.
"And it just -- it was crazy for you to keep going on and on like Levin and Hannity and Hewitt. It's like you're all brainwashed.
"And my last comment is, no matter what Obama does, you will still criticize him because I believe you're brainwashed. You're just -- and I hate to say it -- but I think you're a brainwashed Nazi. Anyone who could believe in torture just has got to be - there's got to be something wrong with them."
Rush, at this point, tries to interrupt, but Charles won't let him.
It's quite fascinating and there's much more, which you can read here.
Just two things: To say that Rush Limbaarh is "brainwashed," is assuming too much. An asshole doesn't have a brain!
The caller's name is Charles. He first says this:
"Thanks, Rush. Rush, listen, I voted Republican, and I didn't -- really didn't want to see Obama get in office. But, you know, Rush, you're one reason to blame for this election, for the Republicans losing.
"First of all, you kept harping about voting for Hillary. The second big issue is the -- was the torture issue. I'm a veteran. We're not supposed to be torturing these people. This is not Nazi Germany, Red China, or North Korea. There's other ways of interrogating people, and you kept harping about it -- 'It's OK,' or 'It's not really torture.' And it was just more than waterboarding. Some of these prisoners were killed under torture.
"And it just -- it was crazy for you to keep going on and on like Levin and Hannity and Hewitt. It's like you're all brainwashed.
"And my last comment is, no matter what Obama does, you will still criticize him because I believe you're brainwashed. You're just -- and I hate to say it -- but I think you're a brainwashed Nazi. Anyone who could believe in torture just has got to be - there's got to be something wrong with them."
Rush, at this point, tries to interrupt, but Charles won't let him.
It's quite fascinating and there's much more, which you can read here.
Just two things: To say that Rush Limbaarh is "brainwashed," is assuming too much. An asshole doesn't have a brain!
Jesus is coming! Anytime! Omigod!
This is just too funny! And to think there are millions of people still living in some religious dark age who actually believe this crap!
It's sad, really. They're simply replaying the same song as those ignorant "Christ-ians" from the days of St. Paul, when he warned that Christ was coming soon; of course, when that didn't happen, he changed his tune. That was only 2,000 years ago!
Yup! He's coming back any day now. Keep watching the sky "up" there! A dead man, resurrected ghost, in bodily form who is really God and the Holy Spirit is going to descend up the earth and gather up only those who believe the right doctrines!
Isn't that amazing?
Oh, stop laughing. No, actually, this is worth a good laugh.
It's sad, really. They're simply replaying the same song as those ignorant "Christ-ians" from the days of St. Paul, when he warned that Christ was coming soon; of course, when that didn't happen, he changed his tune. That was only 2,000 years ago!
Yup! He's coming back any day now. Keep watching the sky "up" there! A dead man, resurrected ghost, in bodily form who is really God and the Holy Spirit is going to descend up the earth and gather up only those who believe the right doctrines!
Isn't that amazing?
Oh, stop laughing. No, actually, this is worth a good laugh.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
State secrets and surveillance - what's going on?
This is just plain depressing. The Obama administration needs to address this issue immediately and tell the American people what the hell is going on and give the rationale for their actions!
From Video Cafe.
From Video Cafe.
Torture is as American as apple pie?
It seems that way, at least during the reign of the criminals, Bush and Cheney and their thugs in Washington.
A just-released Red Cross report suggests that torture was and IS commonplace at Gitmo. You decide.
The next question, of course, has to do with what kind of a nation we have become under the reign of Kings George and Dick.
Thanks to Video Cafe.
A just-released Red Cross report suggests that torture was and IS commonplace at Gitmo. You decide.
The next question, of course, has to do with what kind of a nation we have become under the reign of Kings George and Dick.
Thanks to Video Cafe.
Jesus is going to fight for you
[Image from Our Lady of Guadalupe]Charisma magazine is a fundy Pentecostal operation, and as such, prints some very funny articles on occasion.
A recent "funny" was entitled, "The Lord Shall Fight For You!" And the sub-title was "The victory is ours, and the battle is the Lord's. He packs a stronger punch than you ever could."
Exactly what the author, Linda Sommer, is trying to get at is difficult to determine because nothing of what she says means anything in the real world in which people live.
Essentially her message is "Don't worry when bad things happen because God/Jesus is fighting for you and even though you may go through hell you'll come out of it a better person."
Our "trials" in life are to be of as "joy" for "these trials will form patience and other character traits of God in us."
(Patience is a "character trait" of God? Not in the Bible I read. He gets pissed off quickly and wipes out whole populations!)
Anyway, here's the message: when a hurricane hits and blows your town away or you get cancer or your child dies suddenly or you lose you job or your house is foreclosed on, all you need to do, says Sommer, is "position" yourself "in the cleft of the Rock (Jesus Christ) and watch Him do battle for [you]."
"Our place," she continues" is to wait upon Him, trusting in Him with all of our hearts." That will bring you peace.
It all comes down to this, she says: "The victory is ours; and the battle is the Lord's."
See how simple? Just become a christianist and believe stuff like this and everything will be all right.
I'm constantly amazed, not only that people write this drivel, but that people actually believe it!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Economic collapse? It's the atheists' fault!
There's a clown in Minnesota by name of David Lebedoff, who has penned an article for the Minneapolis StarTribune, in which he declares that the real problem we're facing is atheism.Yup. He references George Orwell, the English satirist who he claims somehow years ago foresaw our economic collapse and just knew "that the cause of the market failure would not be economic, nor even psychological, but rather moral."
Now, reading that I had to stop and ask myself if this guy was serious. Maybe he's writing a satire; a bit of comic relief for people without jobs waiting to be evicted from their foreclosed homes.
I don't think so. I think he's serious.
Orwell, says Lebedoff, was thoroughly disenchanted with the "Modern Age" because "People no longer believed in life after death." And this was, for Orwell, "the most important fact in the modern world."
And this, says Lebedoff, has "almost everything" to do with our current economic misery. Then he devolves into the usual rant of the religious goofballs on the right who maintain, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, that atheists can't be good people and do good things because they don't believe in God and heaven and hell.
And if you don't believe in heaven and hell, well, it's party time!
Lebedoff puts it this way: "If you only go around once, then the main thing is to have fun. If you start admitting that from cradle to tomb it isn't that long of a stay, then life is a cabaret, old chum, and so, by the way, is Wall Street. There is a bumper sticker that proclaims 'he who dies with the most toys wins.' This is indeed the moral philosophy of those who believe that death is the final closing bell. Materialism, hedonism and Stairmasters are what people do until the clock stops ticking."
Then he goes on to suggest that our economic collapse is the result of people playing with money who "are in many cases free from moral restraint," and the reason they're free from moral restraint is that they don't believe in heaven and hell.
Lebedoff doesn't seem to notice he is telling us the only reason he might behave in a moral fashion is because he doesn't want to go to hell. He doesn't seem to realize that his is no moral position at all, but the lack of morality. He has no inner mechanism that guides his decision-making except the fear of a bloodthirsty god who will torment him with fire eternally unless he follows the laws of this bloodthirsty tyrant.
In other words, he will behave only because of the big stick held over his head.
I like PZ Myers response at Pharyngula:
"I had no idea that Wall Street was run by atheists, or that the government was run by atheists, or that Christianss and Jews and Muslims were never, ever interested in material possessions (I just knew that whole Prosperity Gospel thing was a weird confabulation of my imagination).
"But, speaking as a fairly strong atheist, I have to protest. The absence of an afterlife means that this life is all I've got, and I'd like to live it well -- there are no do-overs or second chances. I don't have the excuse that 'God would never allow harm to come to the planet' or 'Jesus will forgive my sins and let me live in paradise'. If I screw up now, that's all there is.
" ... Not believing in a magical afterlife ... actually tends to make things like preparing for the future, being a good steward of my resources, educating future generations, etc., even more important."
Lebedoff is one sorry excuse for a human being, in spite of the fact he's scared as all hell of hell.
Read PZ Myers here.
Lebedoff's article is here.
Is it safe to take Vioxx and Celebrex?
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that one man, Dr. Scott S. Reuben, "a prominent Massachusetts anesthesiologist," chief of staff at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, falsified data in 21 medical studies which "claimed to show benefits from painkillers like Vioxx and Celebrex."
Why would the good doctor do this? No answers seem to be forth coming as yet although Reuben "had been a paid speaker on behalf of Pfizer's medicines, and it paid for some of his research. ...
"Wyeth said it isn't aware of any financial relationship between the company and Dr. Reuben. [That isn't to say, of course, that there wasn't one] ... Merck had no immediate comment."
Baystate "has asked the medical journals to retract the 21 studies..."
Every day this question increases in importance: Who can we trust?
You can read the entire article here.
h/t to BS Alert
Why would the good doctor do this? No answers seem to be forth coming as yet although Reuben "had been a paid speaker on behalf of Pfizer's medicines, and it paid for some of his research. ...
"Wyeth said it isn't aware of any financial relationship between the company and Dr. Reuben. [That isn't to say, of course, that there wasn't one] ... Merck had no immediate comment."
Baystate "has asked the medical journals to retract the 21 studies..."
Every day this question increases in importance: Who can we trust?
You can read the entire article here.
h/t to BS Alert
Hamas will not recognize Israel - so what's Israel to do?
When a democratic country is threatened by a terrorist country, what can be done?Khalid Amayreh. writing in The Palestinian Times says this:
"The leadership of the Palestinian Islamic resistant movement, Hamas, has reasserted its principled refusal to recognize the Zionist entity (Israel), saying that Israel is an illegitimate state based on ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
"Ismael Haniya, the legitimate Palestinian Prime Minister, told foreign dignitaries visiting Gaza last month ... "We will not cave in to pressure, we will not betray our people's trust, we will not recognize the illegitimate Zionist entity. This has always been our stance, and it will never change."
Okay. There you have it! Nothing new, of course, just more terrorist rhetoric.
So, what's Israel to do? Negotiate? Negotiate what? Turn Israel over to the terrorists?
Bob Poris, erstwhile scholar and knowledgable commentator on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, suggests this:
"It is time to accept his declaration and act accordingly. How much more need he say to realize he will not be a partner for anything but genocide? He should be taken seriously and removed from the scene."
Read the entire article by Amayreh here.
Colorado Christian arrested for trying to engage in sex (with girl under 15)
[Focus on the Family image by Houdini2]Only it wasn't a pubescent youngster, as Juan Alberto Ovalle discovered. Nope. It was "undercover officers with the Jefferson County district attorney's office." Ovalle was "arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to arrange sex with a teenage girl."
So, big deal, you say. Happens all the time. Lots of Christians involved in this stuff.
Except...Ovalle, 42, is a big-time Christian who is employed by "a Spanish-speaking arm of the Colorado Springs Christian group Focus on the Family and narrates Biblical text for CDs..."
Yup, that Focus of the Family. Kinda gives the word, "focus" a new meaning!
And one more "moral scold" christianist wingnut bites the dust.
Read more here.
Michele Bachmann - Ha, ha, ha
It's been about a week since her last bit of insanity, so we would expect Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Moron, to be on her soapbox once again.The Minnesota Independent reports that Bachmann, in a conversation with Minnesota KTLK-AM (radio podcast), warned the American people that President Obama is threatening our way of life by forcing our wonderful youth into "'re-education camps,' where ... [they] will have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums."
I hadn't realized the act Bachmann was ranting about was so far along. It's called The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which would broaden the AmeriCorps program. Obama will probably sign it into law this week. Please note that the co-sponsor of this act is none other than Orrin Hatch, not exactly a flaming liberal!
Here's what Bachmann said:
"It's under the guise of -- quote -- volunteerism. But it's not volunteers at all. It's paying people to do work on behalf of the government. ...
"I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns [sic] is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums."
Blue Texan at Firedoglake adds this: "Bachmann ominously announces she's 'watching our freedoms slip out the door,' warns that 'President Obama wants to cede American sovereignty to trans-national global authorities,' and once again calls for everyone to be 'armed with knowledge so that they can be dangerous to the views of the Left.'"
Also, from The Minnesota Independent: "A Minnesota Independent investigation reveals today that Minnesotans in Bachmann's district face the worst effects of the foreclosure crisis - but she's doing the least about it. Bachmann calls homeowners 'irresponsible' while advancing legislation to restrict abortion, make the U.S. government more Christian, and fend off mythical assaults on the dollar."
The entire article here.
We've said before that Bachmann is certifiably crazy. This is merely another confirmation of that fact.
Read more here, at The Minnesota Independent.
Another article at the Huffington Post here.
Monday, April 6, 2009
A new form of Christianity - it's enough to raise the dead!
[Image of New Life Church by David Shankbone]Bruce Wilson at Talk 2 Action has, for some time, been involved in an extensive investigation as to how Christianity is in flux.
In an article entitled, "Pray," Wilson offers an overview as to how Christianity is changing into something quite different historic forms of the religion.
For example, he notes that prayer has generally been considered a private matter. But that's not true anymore. Consider what prayer means at Ted Haggard's former church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From information derived from author Alix Spiegel, we learn that the pray-ers at New Life Church not only take prayer public but do so because of one certain conviction: Colorado Springs is infested with "teeming territorial demons," and said demons are a plague on the city.
Members at New Life, therefore, have established a plan to combat these demons: Spiegel said "they use maps, and computers, and statistics to chart out what parts of their city need prayer, for what reasons ..."
So, as Wilson put it, "Ted Haggard's New Life Church members were - street by street and block by block, toiling to expel, one by one, with prayer, the teeming territorial demons ... And they were maintaining, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, a prayer shield over their city to prevent those evicted spirits from re-infesting Colorado Springs."
And yes, you are still living in the 21st century!
This is, for Wilson, one example as to how Christianity is changing. Or, maybe not. Christianity has from its inception believed in demons and evil spirits and has used prayer to overcome same. The Roman Church has a bloody history of killing people it believed were infested by demons. Today, exorcists represent a growing profession within the Roman Church.
On the other hand, it is probably true to say that within mainstream Protestant Christianity, demons and demon-possession have generally been relegated to their rightful roles as manifestations of psychological trauma and thought to be better dealt with by science than by the magic of prayer.
However, there's much more. Within the last generation has grown up a new form of Christianity, of which Haggard's church is a part, called Postdenominational by the U.S. Center for World Missions, which, in 2001, published a massive research study of the Christian religion since its inception. The study is titled World Christian Trends AD 30 - AD 2200.
According to the book, Postdenominationalism is something quite new and has "no connection to historic Christianity."
What Postdenominationalism is doing is rabidly moving across the face of the earth garnering converts by the millions. Wilson notes World Christian Trends estimated this movement had grown to 385 million people by 2000 C.E.
The situation becomes even more stark when we come to realize that within this larger movement is another, "even newer and more radical faith" - the Third Wave.
Note, please, that Sarah Palin is part of the Third Wave!
Wilson says, "A rupture has occurred. Several hundred million Christians worldwide, more every day, are sailing into the uncharted waters of a theological system that has nothing to do with historic Christianity and which might have been, during the Medieval period, considered the wildest form of heresy."
The Third Wave believes, among other things, that through prayer they can change the "spiritual DNA" of a community. One of the leaders of this nonsense is Thomas Muthee, a self-appointed religious fruitcake from Kenya who appears in "Transformation" videos which promote the notion enough of the right kind of prayer can "transform" the essential character of a city or town or community. [Which is precisely what the pray-ers in Colorado Springs were trying to do.]
You will recall, that, in 2005, Muthee "blessed and anointed Sarah Palin."
But that's only part of it. This bunch of morons actually holds to the "doctrine that average Christians can learn to raise the dead. It's a claim one can hear promoted from the pulpit of Sarah Palin's most significant church, the Wasilla Assembly of God."
There's much more and it's important to have some understanding of this movement for it's not going away; it's growing. And it's not benign; it is cancerous. It is deadly. It is, to coin a phrase, demonic.
Read Wilson's article here. And he has another insightful piece here.
More on Thomas Muthee here, and an article by Jane Lampman of the Christian Science Monitor, here.
Update: My friend, Grandpa Eddie, has a scintillating post on this same topic today. Click here.
If you haven't seen the video of Palin's anointing and blessing by Muthee, watch below:
Cheney's assassination wing - where's the outrage?
[Image of Seymour Hersh from citizenbfk.wordpress.com]There hasn't been very much about Dick Cheney's assassination wing in the mainstream media. That is a conundrum. As Seymour Hersh described it, this assassination wing was engaged in killing people the Bush administration didn't like or thought might be anti-American or terrorists and as such was a strictly illegal, unconstitutional, clandestine operation.
Where's the outrage? Have we become so numb to assaults, not only on the basis for our life together as Americans represented by our Constitution, but also with regard to basic human decency, that we no longer care?
Amy Goodman, writing for Democracy Now and AlterNet discusses this assassination wing as described by Seymour Hersh and John Hannah, Cheney's national security adviser.
Hersh claims that with the authority of George W. Bush, U.S. special forces (commandos) have "been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or to the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving."
When questioned as to the accuracy of this information, Hannah said, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer:
"There is clearly a group of people that go through a very extremely well-vetted process, inter-agency process ... that have committed acts of war against the United States, who are at war with the United States, or are suspected of planning operations of war against the United States, who authority is given to the troops in the field and in certain war theaters to capture or kill those individuals. That is certainly true."
Blitzer asked Hannah if he thought this was "totally constitutional, totally legal, to go out and find these guys and to whack 'em.""
Hannah responded affirmatively, reiterating the notion that we are at war with "al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and on that Pakistani border ... [and] our troops have the authority to go after and capture and kill the enemy, including the leadership of the enemy."
Hersh, speaking with Amy Goodman, calls this kind of irrational rationale for what it is: horsehockey (although he didn't use those words). Hersh noted that in the 1970s, President Ford signed an executive order banning such activities. "It's not only contrary -- it's illegal," said Hersh. "It's immoral, it's counterproductive."
Hannah was being disingenuous. The assassination squads were not "troops" in the field of battle, but well-trained special forces who went into, not only the Middle East, but Central and South America.
"And the idea," said Hersh, "that the American president would think he has the constitutional power or the legal right to tell soldiers not engaged in immediate combat to go out and find people based on lists and execute them is just amazing to me."
It should be amazing to every American! It should be more than amazing, it should be absolutely reprehensible for it goes against our consititution and everywhere we have stood for as a nation.
So, again: where's the outrage? Where's the MSM? Why haven't Bush and Cheney been arrested and thrown in jail? They're not above the law.
Or, are they?
Read the entire article here.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Palin just needs a little stimulus to get in gear
[Sarah Palin working on her plan to become governor of Alaska - Time photo]Remember now, Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, has been bitching about the federal stimulus package since it was first announced. She wasn't going to take it, she said, in concert with several other rightwingnut GOP governors.
Amazingly, most of these rightwingnut GOP governors have learned through a process of self-discovery that they are against big government spending, deficits and red ink. How this happened exactly, we're not sure. It's possible they used taxpayer money to fly to Tibet and mediate with the Lama, or may Peru where they meditated with the llamas.
Obviously, they have not always been against big government spending, etc., as they gave Chimpy everything he asked for during his eight years in office. But lately they've got religion and that's why they don't like the stimulus bill and why they won't take any of this wasteful largess for their states!
But...but, it appears that these rightwingnut GOP governors have had another revelation. Even Mark Sanford down in South Carolina is making noises like he'll accept the money - even though he really doesn't want to. Heh. Heh. (The SOB knows if he doesn't he'll be lucky to be elected chairman of the capitol john in the next cycle!)
And Palin, too, is prancing about perkily suggesting that she might be open to accepting some of the money. I think she's finding it difficult to all of a sudden be against federal gifts to Alaska when she's spent her entire political life digging in the federal money pot.
In addition, Palin has, so far as I know, uttered not one complaint over the past several years about borrowing money to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, while she's been yelping lately about how the stimulus "enslaves our nation to other countries," she's never said a word about the fact that we're financing our war efforts on borrowed money from other countries - almost $1 trillion so far.
So, she has to be careful. She's a hypocrite for sure. But she can't overplay her hand or she'll end her career fishing off the back end of hubby's boat.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's "House leaders are moving toward accepting all the federal stimulus money, and lawmakers think Gov. Sarah Palin is becoming more open to the cash."
You betcha! She's got 2012 in sight. If she rejects the stimulus money, which includes a big chunk for education, it is likely that may doom her chances to get the Repugnican nomination as it will show her to be the uncaring, ideological wacko that she really is.
Furthermore, after careful reflection on the career of Sarah Palin and her character (or lack thereof), it seems clear that she intended from the get-go to accept the stimulus money. She had a plan--Sarah always has a plan; and that plan always has to do with ensuring that Sarah wins whatever game she's playing at the moment.
It goes like this: Make a lot of noise about how bad the stimulus is and how she is in favor of small-government and low taxes and low spending and blah, blah, blah. That will get her in good with the rightwingnuts and fruitcakes who are her base. Then, at the last minute, decide with a huge sigh, to accept the stimulus because she just doesn't have any choice; she's under so much pressure, she had to do it. Then explain, finally, that she's realized the stimulus might be good for Alaska, even, (weep here) if it is harmful for the country as a whole.
Tada!
What's Obama done lately?
It seems the other day I saw a video of Mitch McConnell, erstwhile Repugnican wingnut leader, saying that it's really too early to criticize President Obama for not turning around the financial crisis...he's only been in office for two months...but...
There's always that "but." Some folks are not only criticizing Obama for having failed to solve the financial problems of the world in two months, but are actually blaming Obama for those financial problems, even though said problems are the exclusive province of the Repugnican Party and the George W. Bush "Evil Axis" criminal gang.
Anyway you look at this, the implication is clear: Obama's had two months and he really hasn't accomplished much of anything yet.
This all got me to thinking. Excuse the hyperbole, but you'll get the point.
These aforementioned folks remember the good old days under Chimpy, and hell, it didn't take George W. Bush very long to accomplish a whole lot of things. I mean, really, just think about it:
His negligence and failure to read intelligence reports in the summer of 2001 may very well have led to 9/11; within a very short time, he had blown the entire surplus left behind by President Clinton; he started a war with another country to cop its oil for the US, but lied to the American people about it; he declared war on the environment; he talked to God and brought christianist wingnuts by the carload into the government; he started a bunch of faith-based programs which gave taxpayer dollars to christianist groups so they could save people for Jesus; he failed to provide our soldiers with proper gear and materiel; he hired crooked contractors to steal American money in Iraq; he made the US roundly hated around the world; he gave orders to torture our enemies; he wiretapped American citizens without authorization; he killed the Constitutional guarantee of habeas corpus; his FEMA organization failed totally in New Orleans during and after Katrina; he gave up playing golf (for about 2 months) to show solidarity with our fighting men and women; he gave us the highest deficit and most debt ever ...
And, amazingly, while doing all these things, he spent almost 1/3 of his time as president on vacation!
What a guy!
Country music singers and God
[Image from American Music Channel]Charley Daniels is a country singer who blathers on about God, patriotism and fighting and stuff. I don't know, but I wonder if he's ever served in the military. There's another country, John Rich, a Jesus-lover, who's singing anti-Obama crap these days; God told him to. One of Toby's Keith's songs is downright racist, but I don't know if Keith loves Jesus or not.
These are jest a few of the goofy good old boys from Nashville, some of which love drinking, Jesus and c-a-p-i-t-a-l-i-s-m, and think this is a good old Christian country thet jest don't got no room for faggots and Democrats, and liberals, and atheists, and socialists and commies!
Enter Diamond Rio. They used to be "stars." Back in 2005, the group recorded a song called "In God We Still Trust." Sounds about right for a country group worried about liberals and godless commies and goddamn atheists.
Most people have probably never heard of it. I hadn't. Then I read a tidbit from The Boot.
And naturally, when weirdness rears its ugly head, it often derives from Florida. In St. Augustine, an elementary school evidently required its students to learn this Diamond Rio tune, "In God We Still Trust," "for an end-of-the-year-after-school assembly."
Two families have sued the St. John's County School Board, claiming that this "amounted to religious indoctrination and interfered with the parents' right to raise their children according to their own beliefs."
The pressure worked. Just before the lawsuit was filed, the song was dropped from the program. But it ain't over yet. A hearing is set for April 8 in Jacksonville.
This kind of thing goes on in our country every single day. For some reason, many personnel affiliated with our public schools, are so obtuse they don't seem to ever understand the fact that they cannot promote Christian or any other religious propaganda in their school settings, or they do understand and do it anyway.
It's not like this is a secret! It seems, rather, that if a school board is dominated by christianists and the school district is made up mostly of fundy christianists, the powers-that-be figure they can get by with their little "evangelistic" endeavors in spite of the fact they violate the Constitution!
So Diamond Rio is out. For now. But the game isn't over. In your city, today or tomorrow, there will be another school somewhere proselytizing your children in the name of Jesus; sometimes using the work of Nashville's finest country music stars; probably because they are such great theologians and such terrific role models.
What do you think would happen if a public school required its students to learn a song called "In Allah We Still Trust"?
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