Let's see...Mr. Brown was elected (unfortunately) to the United States Senate by the people of the state of Massachusetts. Mr. Brown is a Republican. His election was considered to be a huge upset, despite the fact that his Democratic opponent was out-to-lunch during most of the campaign.
When Mr. Brown was sworn in as a Senator his first word was "No." He joined lock-step with the other Repugnican nogoodniks in the Senate to vote against President Obama's nominee to the National Labor Relations Board. In other words, Brown jumped aboard the Repugnican bandwagon to nowhere by voting with his brown-shirted brothers and sisters in another attempt to bring our President down!
That shouldn't surprise anyone, for this mess from Mass is a cookie cut from the same dough as the rest of the Repugs in the Senate...you know, he's agin national health care reform...but that don't mean he don't love all the peeple - dontcha know he drives a pickup truck jest like real folks!
Now, Mr. Brown believes himself to be such a goddamn hero he's going to write an "inspirational" memoir.
Heh, heh!
Let's hope the national media starts digging around in Mr. Brown's past; from what I've heard he's got quite a history; something about posing semi-nude for Cosmo? Read this. And of such are Repugnicans made these days.
Oh, and you'll be interested to know that he's on about the same intellectual plane as Sarah Palin...he's a history buff! Watch:
For the second night in a row Chris Matthews expresses just how much Sarah Palin scares him to death, this time with the admission that she's just as much of an empty vessel as George Bush.
MATTHEWS: I wouldn`t be afraid if either of those guys were president. I might not vote for them, but I wouldn`t be afraid of them. I`d be afraid of her because I think she`s an empty vessel, ready to be filled by ideology she doesn`t even understand. That is really scary. We saw that with Dan Quayle. We saw that with W. Nothing is more frightening than an empty vessel in power.
Well Mr. Matthews, if this is what you really believe about George Bush, can we get you to quit fawning over him in his flight suit?
Transcript via Nexis Lexis.
MATTHEWS: Well, Chris Wallace asked her how hard President Obama would be to defeat in 2012. Here`s what the governor said. Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do. But that changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three -- I think if the election were today, I do not think Obama would be reelected.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You`re not suggesting he would cynically play the war card.
PALIN: I`m not suggesting that. I`m saying, if he did, things would dramatically change, if he decided to tough it up and do all that he can to secure our nation and our allies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: She`s frightening. Mark, that is frightening stuff. Frightening. First of all, presidents do not declare war. Anybody knows that in high school. Congress has to declare war.
To declare war in Iran -- I don`t think the most far right Middle East hawk would talk about declaring war on Iran, a country of 70-some million people, with an advanced air force. A war like that, between the United States and Iran, would be so costly, an actual all out war. Why does she talk like that? Is that coming -- where do people get talk -- I mean, I was kidding last night. Is Michael Ledean (ph), a real hawk, writing this stuff for her? I don`t know anybody as far right as that, besides him.
HALPERIN: She is out there free-lancing and flailing and relying on what`s gotten her this far. I don`t think you can overstate the extent to which she is the dominant figure in the Republican party today, for 2010 and 2012. I also don`t think you can overstate the extent to which answers like that, she`s lucky they`re not worse because she`s obviously flailing.
She`s spending time traveling, making money, giving speeches, going on Fox. She`s not spending time doing what she should do. Again, I would say even if she`s not running for president, be a serious person. Learn what you need to learn. She said in the interview with Chris Wallace, she knows more now than she did when she was governor of Alaska. Answers like that do not manifest that that is true.
MATTHEWS: Great example, Greta Van Susteren was interviewing her on Fox. Greta`s a serious person. She`s asking serious questions as if -- and they`re very friendly to Governor Palin -- asking her a serious question with the idea she might be able to give serious answers. Nothing comes out. Nothing -- she says nothing spontaneously when you ask her a serious question.
KORNBLUT: What`s more interesting -- that may be the case. I didn`t actually see that interview.
MATTHEWS: It was stunning. If I was Roger Ailes watching, the head of Fox, I would say this is a mistake on my part to pay her any money, except for show business purposes. She has nothing going on mentally.
KORNBLUT: Yet, Chris, what`s happened, as Mark said, accurately, she is the leading figure in the -- if she were to run tomorrow, who would challenge her for this kind of attention?
MATTHEWS: These guys are so boring. Isn`t there any -- just a minute, Mark. You`re a reporter and you`re a reporter. Is there anybody in the Republican party who could debate her right now and out-shine her?
KORNBLUT: I think Mitt Romney --
MATTHEWS: He could outshine her?
KORNBLUT: I think it`s possible. I think it hasn`t happened yet.
MATTHEWS: Mark, your thoughts? Who could out-shine her right now? She`s got nothing going on right now mentally.
HALPERIN: Hailey Barbour and John Kasich both could. But neither of them -- no one in the party has shown the courage to take her on and say, Governor Palin, we like how you excite the base, but tell us one specific thing you`re for, even in the area of energy, her supposed area of expertise. Just tell us one thing you`re for specifically that would make America better.
MATTHEWS: I wouldn`t be afraid if either of those guys were president. I might not vote for them, but I wouldn`t be afraid of them. I`d be afraid of her because I think she`s an empty vessel, ready to be filled by ideology she doesn`t even understand. That is really scary. We saw that with Dan Quayle. We saw that with W. Nothing is more frightening than an empty vessel in power.
It's the same old story. The GOP has only one goal - to take down President Obama. Meanwhile, Republican hypocrisy reaches new heights. And these creeps claim to be "patriots." What is patriotic about continuing to obstruct all attempts to stabilize our country?
But others did. Glenn Greenwald, writing in Salon, notes that on the night Palin did her shtick at the tea-party "convention," she was wearing two flags on her lapel - the U.S. flag and the Israeli flag.
Greenwald says:
"... Along with the fact that she remains deeply popular with most Jewish-American voters, Palin's flamboyant display of her so-called love for Israel -- she previously boasted that the Israeli flag was the 'only' one she kept in her Gubernatorial office -- is almost certainly grounded in her creepy desire to mold America's foreign policy to fit her evangelical belief that God demands that 'Israeli land' be unified under Israeli control in order for Jesus to return and sweep all the good Christians up to heaven in Rapture (while banishing everyone else -- including the Jews she loves so much -- straight to hell forever).
...
"Is there any other nation in the world where a leading politician can appear in public -- without controversy -- wearing the flag of a foreign country? ... Why should an American political leader be wearing an Israeli flag?"
Sarah Palin is crazy. She is certifiable. She's also ignorant and stupid. These are very dangerous combinations. She is also THE candidate of the far-right christianist pentecostals who believe in demon possession, spirits, spiritual mapping, praying away evil, etc., who further believe they have been called by God to take over the US of A and reform it in "his" image as they understand it!
Sarah Palin is a card-carrying member of these moronic bozos.
This fact should be front and center in every article written about her and in every television program that mentions her. Her religious beliefs are not peripheral, they are what drive her! This is why she can lie with such a straight face, and why it bothers her not at all to have no moral or ethical standards - as with most christianists of this ilk, the ends justify the means!
She said, in a recent interview, she thinks it might be time for another "divine intervention" in this country. I think she thinks she would be that "divine intervention." But, believe me, whatever she meant by this, it wouldn't be good for the common weal!
And our Fourth Estate should take her to task for flaunting an Israeli flag in her lapel. That is not only ludicrous but borders on treason. The US and Israel are not one nation nor are they bound together. Both are independent, sovereign nations that stand alone. If her loyalty to the US is somehow tied to her loyalty to Israel, she's got a big problem, and we ought to know about it.
She should be lambasted for her religious views relating to Israel. She is not Jewish! But rather, like all the christianists on the right who claim to love Israel, she doesn't give a goddamn for the Jews; they are merely pawns in her sick, violent, mythical end-world scenario.
If you wonder what Palin would be like in the Oval Office, think Dick Cheney, magnified a hundred times!
If you live in the great state of Texas...well, lucky you! A bunch of nogoodnik Baptists are planning to get a "multilingual, multimedia CD that allows folks to listen to key biblical passages in their native language" into all 9 million homes in the great state of Texas.
The Baptists want you to know "that there's hope in Christ.!
And they want you to know before Easter. Maybe there's no hope after Easter?
So, Baptists in churches all over the great state of Texas are handing out these CDs - "at block parties, festivals, food pantries, health fairs, and door-to-door. They're mailing them to hard-to-reach places. A few doorbell-ringing churches are delivering homemade cookies and pies with every CD."
And the Lord said, "Jesus Christ, what a bunch of morons. Wasting all that time, money and energy on such nonsense. Why the hell aren't they out there taking care of the poor, the sick, and those in prison? That's what I told them to do!"
Not to worry, Lord. These CD's will make great coasters. Or kids can use them as frisbees.
The Baptists, though, think they'll be so popular that in ten years Texas will be even more inundated with "fire-breathing Christians."
And the Lord asked, "What the hell is a fire-breathing Christian? If they don't start following my teachings soon, I'll give 'em a little fire to breathe!
Last Thursday, President Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. He said some very nice things. But he didn't say what needed to be said.
Some think he shouldn't even have attended the NPB, for the NPB is "fathered" by that notorious bunch of "Nazi-like," rich, above-the-law, christianist miscreants known as The Family. From what Mr. Obama said, it appears he is not familiar with The Family, or not as familiar as he should be. He said, for example, that The Family began in Seattle many years ago to help out the working folks. He couldn't have been more wrong. The Family has its roots sunk in nefarious activities - its forerunner was begun in order to break the power of the unions and strengthen corporate control in Seattle! It began as an organization to beat up on poor people!
Another reason some folks believe he should have boycotted the NPB is that the man responsible for the Uganda bill calling for the execution of homosexuals, is an active member of The Family, and another Ugandan pushing for the killing of homosexuals was involved in planning the NPB!
According to Religion Dispatches, Jeff Sharlet, author of the book, The Family, described the Ugandan situation thusly to NPR last year:
"David Bahati, the man behind this legislation, is really deeply, deeply involved in The Family's work in Uganda, that the ethics minister of Uganda, Museveni's kind of right-hand man, a guy named Nsaba Buturo, is also helping to organize The Family's National Prayer Breakfast. And here's a guy who has been the main force for this Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda's executive office and has been very vocal about what he's doing, in a rather extreme and hateful way. But these guys are not so much under the influence of The Family. They are, in Uganda, The Family."
I don't know why Obama thought he had to attend this prayer breakfast, this superstitious, superficial nod-to-god.
But so long as he attended and spoke at the event, I cannot understand why he did not condemn in no uncertain terms the Ugandan anti-homosexual bill and everyone connected with it! But the president remained silent on the one issue that really mattered at that point in time.
Oh, and you'll get a kick out of this: Tim Tebow, a great theologian, known for passing a pigskin, gave the closing prayer! In Jesus name? Kinda makes you want to sing that famous ol' country song, "Drop-kick Me Jesus, Through the Goalposts of Life"!
This isn't surprising as we've known about it for some time: Todd Palin was playing hanky-panky in the Alaska Guv's office throughout the brief reign of Ms. Sarah.
But now a bunch of e-mails are coming back to haunt him and Ms. Sarah because these e-mails prove they've both been lying through their teeth for years.
NBC has obtained 1,200 e-mails from the state of Alaska. These e-mails indicate good ol' Todd "got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney."
Not only so, but, according to AOL News, "NBC suggests that Palin and his wife sent many of the e-mails from private addresses outside the state system to try to put the information beyond the reach of public record laws."
And that's just a small part of Mr. Todd's and Ms. Sarah's chicanery!
The point is not that Todd and Sarah were up to no good in the Alaska state office. The point is that the Palins are without morals, values, ethics or integrity. It has to do with the fact that they lie with ease. It has to do with what appears to be their belief that they are not subject to the same rules as the rest of us.
The fact that Sarah Palin is working for FAUX News, and that millions of people remain convinced she's god's gift to the U.S. and actually believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that she's qualified to be president, is an indicator as to how low the common denominator has sunk in this country.
Mr. and Mrs. Sarah Palin are despicable human beings. Mr. and Mrs. Sarah Palin would trade the well-being of our country for a bit of fame and a few dollars - as they have already proven. To think that Ms. Palin was actually on a national ticket is so mind-boggling and so chilling that future historians will be hard-pressed to find words to describe how it happened.
(As a side note, whatever "good" John McCain might have done during his political career will be totally eclipsed by his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. That choice spoke volumes about how his desperate desire to be president overcame his common sense, and was a great deal worse than his "mistake" of getting shot down over North Vietnam when 1) he wasn't supposed to be flying and 2) he was flying at a lower altitude than regulations provided for.)
But, back to the Palins: In a just world, they would be drummed out of this country and set upon a small island in the South Pacific prone to tsunamis!
"On Fox News' Hannity, host Sean Hannity again attacked President Obama over his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and guests Richard Miniter and Noelle Nikpour attacked Obama over devotional messages he receives, while earlier this week, right-wing blogs attacked Obama over his church attendance. These attacks follow repeated religion-based smears of Obama both during the 2008 presidential campaign and after he took office."
We all know that while Hannity used to love hookers, he now has a special relationship with Jesus and God loves him more than most people, so it would behoove us to listen to what he has to say. There's a problem, though. Hannity lies. Over and over again. And if he doesn't lie, he stretches the truth, or omits the truth, or twists the truth to suit his right-wing, fanatical agenda which includes destroying the president!
What part of Jesus' instruction does he not get: "Love your neighbor as yourself"? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? "Turn the other cheek"? Did he somehow miss the commandment against bearing false witness?
Hannity is typical of right-wing christians these days. Their "lord" is a figment of their imagination - a figure they've created in their own minds that has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Gospels! The other thing typical of christianists today is they believe and act on the notion that the ends justify the means. So, if you have to tell some lies, do something illegal - hey, no problem if you're doing it for Jesus' sake.
Hannity was concerned about devotional messages President Obama receives on his Blackberry - some of them might derive from Buddhism!
The on Feb. 1, Fox Nation complained that Obama still hasn't decided on a church and doesn't even attend church on a regular basis.
A number of other right-wingnut commentators attacked Obama for not choosing a church, invoking the Rev. Wright, e.g. the reason he has found a church "is that he's having a hard time finding a speaker imbued with the true spirit of Christianity as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright."
And several morons cried that he's been photographed "dropping off his daughters at school, taking his wife out to dinner, and frequenting a gym in Chicago. But one location Mr. Obama has not been photographed at is church."
Here's the thing: Whether Obama goes to church or not is irrelevant! Whether Obama gets religious messages or not is nobody's business. None of this crap matters at all! And the only reason these self-appointed guardians of public morality bring it up is simply to attack the president and try to make him fail in his role as the leader of our nation!
There is no religious test for office in this country. You would never know that listening to the dickwads on the right, but it is the truth.
In fact, considering the shape of Christianity these days, I would be much more comfortable if Obama never stepped inside a church or received any devotional messages, or spoke with any religious leader!
Most so-called Christians in this country have no clue what their faith is about! One minor example: Drive the speed limit down any major highway in this country and you will be passed by 95 percent of the other vehicles, all going 10-20 miles over the speed limit. Now, Christians claim a goodly percentage of the population. Which means that most of those flying by you with their little Jesus fish stuck on the back of their Hummers are "christians" who don't give a rat's ass about obeying the law, but instead risk their lives and the lives of everyone else on the road in their need for speed!
Well, maybe that's not so minor when you consider we lose 12 times as many people in ONE year to traffic accidents - most of which are caused by speeding! - than were killed in the 9/11 attacks. (Hmmm...does that mean all these christianist speeders are terrorists?)
Back to Obama. Dear Mr. President, tell the dickwads to go to hell. They know nothing and you have no obligation to display any religious sensitivities whatsoever. In fact, considering our recent history, many of us would rather that you not pay obeisance to any religion! We would much prefer you govern on the basis of reason, common sense, and scientific knowledge rather than on the tortured writings by fevered and ignorant nomads who lived thousands of years ago.
And you can't win. There is NO way you can live so as to garner the appreciation or the respect of the Hannity's of the world. That's because they don't really care about your religion or lack of it, they use that issue simply to bring you down.
Do your own thing. FAUX News will go down in the history books as one of the most evil and pernicious organizations ever to operate in our country!
There's a little more titillating info re: the Jesus-loving Mr. Hannity here.
C'mon. Tim! It was one thing to push your Jesus during football games with bible verses scrawled on your cheeks, but is it really necessary to try to foist your religious beliefs upon people who have tuned in to watch a football game and not a fundamentalist church service?
If you haven't heard, here's the story: Tebow is appearing with his mommy in an ad sponsored by the notorious and fanatical right-wing bunch of broomsticks at Focus on the Family to be aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday!
According to the Christian Post, "The 30-second spot from the pro-family organization will feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, who will share a personal story centered on the theme of 'Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.'"
Details are not yet available, but "many speculate" that the ad will tell the heart-wrenching story of how Pam did not abort Tim even though she had a bad infection while pregnant.
That would, of course, have been horrible for the University of Florida's football team, which everyone in Gainesville knows is God's favorite pigskin battlers.
Some folks are unhappy about this ad claiming it will "alienate viewers," and that its content "endangers women's health," and that the ad "uses sports to divide rather than to unite" ... etc.
Other folks say it's a matter of free speech and all of the anti-abortion groups are ecstatic!
Well, it has nothing to do with free speech. It has to do with money. If CBS really thought it would cost them viewers and cash, they'd cancel the ad immediately. But, I think CBS believes that the ad will attract more viewers if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss is about. That means more buckaroos!
It also has to do with the christianist confrontational approach to get in non-believer's faces! They don't care if they make people mad, 'cause Jesus will send them all to hell anyway!
And finally, this speaks to the power (read money) of the christianist right. I haven't read what this particular ad cost Focus on the Family, but I do know the cost of putting together an ad involves many thousands of dollars and that to air an ad during the Superbowl is going to run in the millions!
What's scary here is that our future, I'm afraid, is going to be dictated almost entirely by those who control the most money. 1984 is going to have a whole new look. Just as deadly, though!
When you add this ad to all the other unadulterated crap spewing out from FAUX News and other Republican camps across the nation, one must conclude the Republican Party has no soul, and is comprised of serious goofballs with no brains and no common sense.
Rod Parsley, in case you forgot, is the uneducated hick who "pastors" the World Harvest Church - a non-denominational, fundy, money-maker. He's also a political right-winger skating on the fringes of insanity. (Just Google his name!)
Because of all of the above, he fits snugly into the religious ballyhoo that defines Charisma magazine, a neo-Pentecostal rag that spouts the usual fundamentalist claptrap.
I find the theology of guys like Parsley unfathomable. They insist they preach a god of love, but are constantly using horrific passages from the Hebrew bible to make a point. Thus, in a little "meditation" intended to give the faithful hope, Parsley quotes a passage from Exodus describing how his killer god slaughtered all the first-born Egyptian children AT MIDNIGHT."
He doesn't flinch while attributing such an atrocity to his god. He simply ignores what the passage clearly implies: the Hebrew god was a ruthless murderer!
(And why doesn't he use a quote or a story from the Gospels to buck up his fantasies?)
Parlsey wants the word, MIDNIGHT, 'cause it fits his meditation, which is quite simply that when things get tough, the tough get going - with god, who is always there in your "midnight" situations, when everything appears hopeless.
Yep, "Too often," says the preacher, "in the middle of the night, in the midst of our darkest crises ... we allow ourselves to become upset, distraught, concerned, and anxious."
Don't do that, says Parsley, for "God sits on His throne saying, 'When you have worn yourself out through your own ability, I will be here to help you and life you up..."
"We serve a God," pontificates Parsley, "who is so much greater than we allow Him to be. Rely on Him alone. Turn to Him. In the midnight hours of your life, God will bring your deliverance."
Yeah, right. Does he mean we should shed ourselves of doctors and other caregivers? What does he mean? It's all unadulterated nonsense.
And if you asked Parsley to give you examples that could be tested and verified by outside, neutral observers, he would reach his own "midnight" hour.
Did God bring "deliverance" to those who died in the Holocaust? What about the innocents killed in the Haitian earthquake? Where was God when a young girl was killed by murderous cancer cells, created in her body by the same god who Parsley and his ilk claim created her in the first place!
The truth is, when "midnight" comes, there is no god anywhere in sight! It doesn't matter how often or how hard you pray. No god hears you!
That truth may not be as hopeful as Parlsey's false promises based upon ancient Hebrew scribblings, but the truth is the truth and it's better to know the truth than live a life of hopeful pretense!
The National Center for Science Education is reporting that a bill in the Mississippi House which would have required that anti-evolution material be taught alongside pro-evolution material has died in committee.
Thank God! Or someone!
The good guys won for a change.
That won't stop the broomsticks and numbnuts, though. Eternal vigilance is the watchword when dealing with christianist crazies!
It would be good if the moron from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, was never heard from again. It's hard to believe that any human being can be as stupid as she is! What's worse, her stupidity seems to be growing!
To date Keith Olbermann's most important commentary; dealing with the recent Supreme Court decision to unfetter corporate monies in our political life.
We will move, quickly, to a corporate totalitarianism, and in the process the United States will become unrecognizable!
The ego of christianist athletes is a mind-boggling thing to watch in action.
Kurt Warner, last of the Arizona Cardinals, a quarterback with god at his back, has retired from the NFL, praising his god for being so good to him. It was his god, you see, you provided the "opportunities" he's had passing the pigskin.
Warner has been consistent in his adulation of his football-loving deity. Upon the occasion of his NFL retirement, Warner hearkened back to the good old days of 1999 when his team then, the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl:
"As always, as it started in 1999 when I was up on the podium holding up a trophy, the first thing I want to do is give thanks to God.
"My Lord Jesus brought me here. I know he brought me here for a purpose. And it's been an amazing ride."
It sure has. God in heaven, not having much else to do ('cause he has a penchant for ignoring real global crises), made sure that Kurt had lots of "opportunities" on the gridiron to become a star for Jesus. Not only so, but God in heaven, also gave Kurt "opportunities" off the football field.
What are those opportunities? They involved such things as being "a featured speaker across the country for numerous churches, non-profit organizations, men's conferences, and corporate events."
Another is defined by the charity Warner and his wife set up in 2001 which "has been involved in numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents."
Now such a charity might be a good thing, unless, of course, it's merely an excuse to "evangelize," to try to convert people to fundy Christianity. And it appears that may be the case. The charity is named "First Things First Foundation, and "is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities 'to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put first things first.'"
If you're biblically literate, you may remember that the name has been taken from Matthew 6:33: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
One must understand that fundamentalist christianists like Warner do everything for the purpose of converting others to their religious beliefs. That is their right. But it indicates their "caring" is suspect, for "caring" becomes something of a subterfuge - a means to convert people to the idea of "putting first things first" which involves accepting Jesus as one's personal savior and living according to the codes of fundy Christianity.
There's could be another "motive," also. The Warners of the world believe they'll get "brownie points" in heaven for bringing more souls to Jesus thereby saving them from eternal hellfire, the latter provided by the courtesy of their loving heavenly father.
To sum up: There is no evidence anywhere that any god or any person named Jesus had anything to do with Warner's football career or his "opportunities" on or off the football field.
Warner may believe this with all of his heart, but that doesn't make it so. There is no way to verify such a belief. Every athlete in the world who has found success in his/her chosen sport could claim his/her god provided the ability and the opportunity for his/her success.
Those with a big ego, who think they really deserve special attention from a deity, would most likely be the ones to make such a claim.
And even though we think a person who's good at throwing at football means nothing more than the person's good at throwing a football, which seems to be one of the least important things in life; and even though we fail to find any evidence that a god or someone named Jesus has anything to do with one's ability to throw a football; and even though we suspect Warner's charity work is built on a hidden agenda (to convert people to fundy Christianity), we certainly don't wish him ill in his "retirement."
At the same time, we will oppose his attempt to impose Christian values on the rest of us.
It has been my experience with christianists that "Christian values" is double-speak for a whole host of issues, such as installing christianist practices in public schools and in other public venues; being anti-choice regarding abortion; voting Republican; being against health care reform; opposing actions that would preserve the environment; supporting nation-building wars; etc.
Finally, upon Warner's retirement, we can hope we no longer have to listen to this pious egotist bloviate about how fearful he is that his teammates and their families are going to hell because they don't believe in Warner's Jesus!
That's a relief!
[Note: Much of this info came from an article at Christian Post here.]
[Some of the GOHP in all their gory glory - Photo by Reuters]
They don't have "communism" to kick around any more, so the Repugnicans have fallen in love with the word, socialism. They love to use the word and do so every chance they get. They tell the world socialism is bad. Not that any of them could define what it means, but they think they might know it if they saw it, and it is a really nasty thing, like swine flu.
Now, out in the hinterlands, most people don't know the difference between communism, fascism, socialism or Hinduism! Thus, they are easy prey for these Congressional whores who are paid off by the insurance companies and vote, not for what is best for the country, but for what will best enhance their careers.
And Repugnican congresspeople know that the way to confuse their constituents and have them vote against their own best interests is to threaten that a bill is "socialistic."
What follows is from Jim Hightower's latest issue of The Hightower Lowdown:
"The entire bloc of 39 Republican U.S. senators locked arms just before Thanksgiving in a failed attempt to block the federal health-insurance reform bill from even being debated. 'Socialism!' they barked in unison. They declared that their principled intention in trying to prevent debate was to save the American people from the nightmare of government-run health care.
"Thank you, senators. For nothing. First the bill does not--repeat, does NOT--create any government-run health-care program. Instead, it is an insurance reform bill, dealing not with the delivery of care but with the raw gouging we consumers and tax payers routinely get from the private-insurance giants.
"Second, and more fascinating, what all 39 of the naysayers hope you don't figure out is that they actually are (shhhhh) secret socialists when it comes to health care! Their health care, I mean. Not yours.
"Have you ever heard any of these free-market purists mention that (shhhhh, again) they and their families get a Rolls Royce level of socialized-insurance coverage? Of course not. They don't want us to know that about 75% of their insurance cost is paid for by taxpayers--aka you and me--who are lucky if we can afford a Yugo-level of coverage for our families.
"But (double-shhhhh)), the thing they most want to keep secret from us commoners is a special spot of unadulterated socialism located right under the Capitol dome: the Office of the Attending Physician (OAP). This obscure nook is where these antigovernment-run health-care stalwarts go to get government-run health care delivered directly to them. When they get a little boo-boo, they can get it kissed in this tucked-away office, courtesty of us taxpayers.
"The OAP is a boutique medical practice providing full-service, state-of-the-art treatment exclusively to members of Congress. It offers full-bore, British-style, socialized medicine--the physicians, specialists, nurses, med-techs, pharmacists, and others working there are government employees.
"Their service is primo. Let's say that one of the 39 Republican grumps gets gaseous or suffers a tongue cramp while giving a Senate speech denouncing socialism. He or she can scoot just a few yards way for socialized care at the OAP--no appointment required, no bothersome insurance forms to fill out, no co-pay, no waiting. Just care.
"So, let's all ask our own Congress critters why we can't have what they're getting. Do they think they're better of more deserving than us ... "
College football is strange. There are millions of people out there in loony-land who think college football is important; that it really matters.
It doesn't. It's a damn game. Nothing more, nothing less. It is unrelated to real life. Some countries (Sweden, for example) do not have college sports. Hmm. Might that mean less nonsense and more learning?
Yesterday the Florida Gators lost the SEC championship game to Alabama's Crimson Tide by a score of 32-13.
Some people in Florida were very sad. Tim Tebow, the Gator's quarterback was heartbroken. He actually shed tears. And that's understandable. For Tim, football is his life. It is not only extremely important to him but his relationship to football has something to do with his image of himself. Thus to lose to Alabama was devastating; a loss of face; a loss of sense of self. He must be wondering, "How could this happen?"
But more than that. Because Tim believes (as he has noted on his cheeks previously) that he can do all things through Christ because Christ gives him strength, this was not only a blow to his self-understanding but his religious understanding. Christ didn't come through. Tim's god gave the nod to Alabama.
How does one deal with that?
But maybe god is just plain sick of Tebow sporting his religion on his cheeks? The latest was John 16:33, which says, in part, "In the world you have trouble. But courage! The victory is mine; I have conquered the world." Maybe god saw that and said, "Enough already!" and gave the victory to Alabama!
Whatever, it's over for the year for Tebow and the Gators. In purely secular terms, if you're a Gator or a Gator fan, that's worth shedding a few tears.
I bought a box of Christmas cards at Target with the following on the front :
The 12 Steps of Christmas
Admit you are powerless over Christmas, and that your life has become unmanageable.
Believe that a power greater than consumer credit can restore you to sanity.
Decide to turn your will and life over to Santa as you understand him.
Make a searching and fearless inventory of your material desires.
Admit to Santa, to yourself, and to another human being the exact nature of your size, color preferences, and taste in furniture.
Allow Santa to remedy all defects of your bank account.
Humbly ask Santa to payoff your mortgage.
Make a list of everything you want, and be willing to read the instruction manuals.
Cite model numbers and retail locations wherever possible, except when doing so would require an internet search.
Continue to take personal inventory, and when you think of something else you need, add it to the list.
Seek through prayer and meditation to improve your conscious contact with Santa as you understand him, praying only for knowledge of his gifts for you and the power to open them quickly.
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, carry Santa's message to friends and family every Christmas.
My personal favorite is #3. If I ever find myself looking towards a higher power, it will be Santa. Unlike other gods, Santa actually delivers. I actually find gifts under my tree every year.
While there are some fine people living in Texas, contrarily some of the weirdest things/people come from Texas, too. Think G. W. Bushie. Or the current guv'nor. Or Tom DeLay. Now God has arrived in the form of an egg from a chicken, and by god, god's doing miracles! Yes, ma'am! Real down-to-earth Texas miracles. Y'all just gotta believe!
There is no question anymore that FAUX News is nothing more than a propaganda outlet for the ultra-right wingnuts in our country. Here's more confirmation if you need it!
This topic deserves much wider circulation. One area that Ms. Maddow needs to spend more time on is the collusion between the religious right (Anglican ultra-conservatives) in Uganda and its connection with the religious (Christian) right around the world. There's much more here than meets the eye!
From Crooks and Liars:
Rachel follows up on her reporting on the 'kill the gays' bill being considered in Uganda. Her show attempted to get some responses from the American legislators who have decided to inject themselves so deeply into African politics - with predictable results. Most of them either tried to wash their hands of their part in this absolutely horrid piece of proposed legislation or didn’t bother to respond at all. The scandal ridden John Ensign’s office said he was too busy screwing up the health care bill to give a response.
James Inhofe and Sam Brownback didn’t bother to respond, either. Don’t hold your breath waiting on those two knuckle-draggers, Rachel. I’m sure it will be a cold day in hell before either of them bother to tell the evil “librul” lesbian woman why they could care less if you were killed if you were unfortunate enough to live in Uganda, assuming this law gets passed.
Props to Rachel for keeping after this story. It has to be one of the most disgusting news items I’ve watched in a very long time and these C-Street wingers need to be held to account for their actions. It’s a shame the rest of the media is not giving this story the attention it deserves. They’re too busy chasing around the White House party crashers or Tiger Woods’ mistresses.
Transcript via Nexis Lexis below the fold.
GEORGE W. BUSH, THEN-U.S. PRESIDENT: Today on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus -- including 3 million children under the age of 15. Ladies and gentlemen, seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many.
Tonight, I propose the emergency plan for AIDS relief -- a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: A legitimately moving moment in President Bush`s State of the Union address back in the year 2003. When all was said and done after two terms of the Bush administration, American help fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa was one marquee issue of compassionate conservatism that Mr. Bush could brag about in trying to shape his legacy for historians and he did come back and talk about the issue at the end of his presidency to remind people about that.
The issue of AIDS in Africa indeed became one of the hallmark causes for a lot of different conservatives who wanted to keep the compassionate conservatism idea alive, conservatives like Kansas Senator Sam Brownback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: It`s amazing how grateful people are for -- if you save -- help save their lives. The approval ratings of the United States in Africa, the highest continent in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: But it`s not just that these conservative religious politicians have a generic continent-wide engagement on the issue of AIDS in Africa. The involvement that these politicians have had has largely been focused on one specific country, Uganda. When President Bush came into office, Uganda was one of the success stories in Africa when it came to fighting AIDS.
Their success was built around a strategy called ABC. ABC stood for "abstinence," "be faithful" and "condoms." In other words, first abstain from sex, otherwise be monogamous, otherwise use condoms. And condom billboards, condom promotion was evident all over the nation of Uganda.
This effort to combat HIV and AIDS through that comprehensive strategy worked pretty well. Infection rates in Uganda dropped from about 15 percent to 5 percent from 1991 to 2001.
But then President Bush`s big high-profile push to help fight AIDS in Africa ended up coming with a big catch. American conservatives wanted the focus to be on abstinence, not on condoms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWNBACK: It`s abstinence-focused. If you want to stop the spread, the key best way to do it is abstinence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: When Congress finally passed the big AIDS legislation that President Bush wanted, Republican Congressman Joe Pitts slipped in an amendment that said 33 percent of the funding -- 33 percent -- could only be used for abstinence programs. Fully, a third of that money earmarked only for abstinence, even as American research consistently demonstrated that abstinence programs just don`t work.
As religious conservatives were pushing abstinence on places like Uganda from Washington, internationally-minded, politically-connected America conservative evangelical began focusing on Uganda as well. Evangelicals like American Pastor Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church; evangelicals like the Family which we`ve talked about on this program with Jeff Sharlet.
The Family, of course, is the secretive religious organization that runs the C Street dormitory for lawmakers in Washington. It`s led by a man named Doug Coe.
Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma credits Doug Coe for launching his own activism in Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAMES INHOFE (R), OKLAHOMA: Doug has always been kind of the unseen and very quiet. He talked me into going to Africa. I had no interest in going to Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Religious conservatives saw Uganda specifically as a place that they could have some real influence. Uganda`s first lady became an emphatically born again Christian. Her husband, the president, is believed to have serious ties to the Family. Same goes for the ethics minister of Uganda, as well as a number of legislators there.
One of Uganda`s most prominent pastors began speaking at Rick Warren`s mega-church in California. He became so close with Rick Warren that Rick Warren`s wife reportedly called him her brother.
And while Americans were courting that Ugandan pastor here touting their own compassionate conservatism on the issue of AIDS in Africa, back in Uganda, that pastor was taking up the anti-condom cause, holding public bonfires of condoms, conducting some of the most extreme anti-gay preaching and activism anywhere in the world.
Evangelicals and conservative politicians in this country saw Uganda as a place that they could leave their mark. Senator Sam Brownback traveled there to look into the AIDS issue in 2005. Senator James Inhofe made at least 20 trips to Africa just since 1999, mostly to Uganda as well as Ethiopia.
In March of this year, a group of three American evangelicals traveled to Uganda for a conference on the evils of homosexuality. Their message was that homosexuality is a choice, that it can be cured by a relationship with Jesus, that, in short, you can pray the gay away.
There`s been a dual effort under way here: anti-gay proselytizing by American evangelicals and assurances from conservative American politicians that we can solve that nation`s AIDS problem.
The culmination of these efforts -- this massive focus on Uganda -- is a piece of legislation that`s been introduced in that country now that attempts, it says, to tackle the AIDS problem in that country and the problem of homosexuality all at once. It`s a bill that calls for the execution of any gay Ugandan who is HIV positive, who is caught having gay sex -- death by hanging specifically. And it`s not just gay Ugandans who are HIV positive who are being targeted, the sentence just for being gay is life imprisonment.
The sentence for knowing somebody who is gay and not reporting them to authorities, presumably so they can be prosecuted, is three years in prison. This bill was written by a Ugandan legislator purportedly taken in by Republican Senator James Inhofe and the Family here in America.
Having lit this fuse and created this environment in Uganda where a bill like this can exist, some American evangelicals and conservative politicians are now sort of washing their hands of the whole situation.
Pastor Rick Warren is saying, quote, "It`s not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations."
The evangelical leaders who went there in March are now saying their intent was not at all to inspire this type of legislation.
But what about all of the conservative politicians in this country who have shown themselves to have such influence in Uganda and who have decided to concern themselves so publicly with this one specific country in Africa?
Now that there`s a bill in that country that calls for the execution of people who are gay in that country for the simple fact of being gay, those politicians maybe should say what they think about it.
Family-linked Senator Tom Coburn`s office is telling us today that the senator does not support the legislation. When we asked his office whether he would communicate that to officials in Uganda where it might matter, the senator had no comment.
Family-linked Congressman Bart Stupak`s office telling us, quote, "Any claim that I support the legislation before the Ugandan parliament is as clueless as it is false." Mr. Stupak`s office adding that he believes the State Department is looking into it.
Indeed, the State Department telling us exclusively today that they are looking into the matter saying, quote, "If adopted, a bill further criminalizing homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda." The State Department tells us that they are in the process of raising this issue with Ugandan authorities.
Now, the office of Congressman Joe Pitts, who slipped in that pro- abstinence language telling us today -- who slipped in that pro-abstinence language in the Bush AIDS bill, he told us today, quote, "What the Ugandan legislation proposes to do is unambiguously wrong and I hope they will not proceed with it."
These statements, of course, encouraging. Some other senators remain silent on the issue as yet. Senator John Ensign`s office, for example, told us today they could not get an answer from him on this issue because he`s been so focused on health care.
We made repeated calls to the offices of Senator James Inhofe and Senator Sam Brownback. We have yet to hear back from either of them on this issue -- despite the fact they`ve been so proudly outspoken on issues affecting Uganda and, specifically, sexuality in Uganda in the past.
Conservative politicians and evangelicals in this country have made a really big push into Africa in recent years and they`ve even been very delighted to get some political acclaim as compassionate conservatives for having done so.
When a human rights disaster like this is born in that country that they`ve taken so much pride in showing off their influence in, in a country they have been intimately involved in, it could be argued that it is incumbent upon those politicians to at least say what they think about that legislation, if not take action in that country in which they have such influence. We`ll keep you posted on what we hear from them, their future actions or lack thereof.
There is no redeeming the GOP. A more sorry bunch of miscreants has never been seen in our country. A "purity" test may, in fact, be good for the Democrats, but I'm not sure it's good for the country.
If I were a Republican, I would be distressed with the fact that the GOP has no vision, no plan, no dream for the country. This "purity" test is all negative! The Republican Party has indeed become the party of NO!
And this is the benighted church that claims the moral high ground on abortion, birth control, gay marriage, etc.
From BBC via Crooks and Liars:
November 27, 2009 BBC World
DUBLIN, Ireland — Police officers, government officials and bishops of the Catholic church in Ireland have been harshly censured in a report on clerical child abuse over three decades in the Archdiocese of Dublin. Coming just a few months after an equally harsh report on the ill-treatment of children in Church-run industrial schools, the latest revelations have shocked Catholics and non-Catholics alike throughout the island.
An official commission investigated 320 allegations against a sample of 46 out of 183 priests from 1975 to 2004. It found that several cardinals and bishops protected criminal priests while taking no action to protect children.
Responding to the report, Ireland’s Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said that “the era where evil people could do so under the cover of the cloth, facilitated and shielded from the consequences by their authorities, while the lives of children were ruined with such cruelty, is over for good.” He added: “The bottom line is this: A collar will protect no criminal.”
In one of the most telling comments, the religious affairs correspondent of Irish national broadcaster RTE said on the main evening news that the report “represents the failure of civil Ireland, in the independent republic of Ireland, to stand up to the royalty of Ireland, the Catholic Church.” Deference to the clergy in this once devoutly Catholic country caused the police to conclude that the crimes of the Catholic Church were outside their remit.
