Political and religious commentary from a liberal, secular, humanistic perspective.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Michele Bachmann and the presidency
It seems that Michele Bachmann, the Repugnican House twit from Minnesota, was talking with a Mike Gallagher, a "conservative" talk radio host, the other day and Ms. Bachmann, the twit, told Mr. Gallagher, the "conservative," that people like to criticize her because she is a female!
Furthermore, if the Democrats attack someone, that would indicate that someone is doing something right; ergo, Ms. Bachmann is doing something right.
Democrats, Ms. Bachmann, continued, go after someone like herself because "... with women politicians, they want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they're doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don't have a prominent national voice."
Well, as a Democrat, I can tell you that I lay awake at night trying to figure ways to make sure a Democratic woman gets to be president before a Republican woman.
I must admit, however, that the thought of either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann in the Oval Office is too terrifying to contemplate.
But, no, Ms. Bachmann, it has nothing to do with your femininity. Democratic opposition to you and/or Sarah Palin is based solely on the fact that you both are unmitigated idiots, bound by really scary religious beliefs that seek to remake the United States into a theocratic state, and by the fact that you both are totally unqualified to be much more than lump of clay in a skirt.
Unfortunately, you have a "national voice" now, being a member of the House of Representatives (the history books are going to have a lot of fun with that fact). But every time you open you mouth, you prove how ignorant and how stupid you really are and much of the country convulses with gales of laughter mixed with horror at the thought you have anything to do with the governance of our country!
In fact, here's something you "voiced" in 2006. It sort of proves beyond all reasonable doubt that you are truly an idiot of the greatest magnitude!
God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought “What in the world will that be for?” and my husband said “You need to do this,” and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, “Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?” and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure. And its been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress.
Who in their right mind would spend 2 years to run for a job that lasts 2 years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ. And in the midst of him making this calling sure, what has occurred now in this particular race is that this Congressional seat out of 435 in the country has become… it has been one of the top five races in the country, and in the last week this has become one of the top three races in the country, and you may have seen how God has in his own will, and his own plan, has focused like a laser beam after this scandal that came up about a week or so ago. He has focused like a laser beam in his reasoning on this race. The reason why this is one of the top three races is because this race will probably decide which way Congress goes this fall.
We could talk more about what that means for this nation, what this means for defeating radical Islam, what this means for what the future of the family is going to be, what this is going to mean for the future of the freedom of religious expression.
[Emphases added]
Al Franken at the Minnesota State Fair
From http://www.dustytrice.com/:
I got to witness something really special the other day. About a dozen tea party activists had staked out Sen. Al Franken’s booth at the Minnesota State Fair and confronted him loudly when he arrived. But within minutes, he’d turned an unruly crowd into a productive conversation on health care. The discussion went from insurance reform, to the public option, to veterans benefits, to cap and trade. He made a few laugh and even told a touching story that moved a few to tears. A whole lot of common ground was found.
This was really wonderful to watch. I hope they get a chance to post more of their footage of Al at the State Fair.
Thanks to Crooks and Liars!
God loves crooks and liars like Gov. Mark Sanford
That's what's happening to Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. It seems that no Republicans in the South Carolina House will support Sanford in his bid to keep his job. And it seems further than come January, an impeachment bill is destined to reach the South Carolina General Assembly.
Poor Mark. What makes this especially galling for Mark is that he knows he has been called by his god to "fight for conservative causes." That, says Mark is "what God wanted me to do with my life."
So what if he told "a little white lie" to deceive his staff while traveling to Argentina to rendezvous with a lover? So what if he is the subject of a couple of ethical investigations relative to his travel expenses "and disclosures"?
Those are simply minor missteps and, because he has not fulfilled the task set before him by his god, he has no intention of resigning.
It is possible that Mark has been spending too much time at The Family's house on "C" street in Washington. Mark appears to sincerely believe that there is a god somewhere who has empowered him to rule the world even if he is a crook and a liar.
I wonder if Mark has ever considered what that would make his god? A crook and liar?
More here.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Gotcha, Gov. Jindal - by Rachel Maddow
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Keith Olbermann on Beck art insanity
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Beware! Obama is coming to your school!
Yeah, right!
The United States is a country filled with batshit crazy goofballs who hate public education, don't fund it properly, pay teachers a pittance, where technology, such as it is, consists of throw-away computers from corporate entites which have no further use for them, and where incompetent, brown-nosing administrators are the rule and not the exception.
It's also a country which includes a number of batshit crazy, Jesus-loving, hate-filled, racist nogoodniks who are truly stoopid!
President Obama does plan to address our nation's school children next week. He will talk about the importance of education, urge young people to stick with it, to study hard, and be responsible for their learning!
Sounds pretty damn good to me.
Not so, say the wackos on the right. Malkin cries that Obama is attempting to make "junior lobbyists" of our kids, and is trying to "radicalize" school children! Gary Bauer, a rightwhitewingnut, claims "the Obama adminstration is using its power in unprecedented ways" by invading public school classrooms.
In Texas, that great state filled top to bottom with insanity (and why the hell hasn't it seceded from the Union yet?) some ass-kissing administrators are refusing to "interrupt daily lesson plans" (Hah! I know how many teachers follow lesson plans!) to show the speech.
According to McClatchy, the Tarrant County Republican Party chairwoman, Stephanie Klick, said, "We're hearing from parents and grandparents that are not very happy. They really feel like it is political indoctrination. People don't like this. I have heard from some families that are planning to keep their kids home."
Right. Study hard, stay in school, take responsibility: doesn't that sound like "political indoctrination."
What a bunch of bozos!
But Florida...even Texas can't beat Florida for freaky, stoopid, racist Republicans! The chair of the state Repugnican Party had this to say [he's really, really stoopid, but that's no excuse!]:
"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power."
This stoopid asshole wasn't done:
"...The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President's agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates."
Yup. Isn't that a hoot? Ostracized! Wow. In fact, most kids in Florida's classrooms won't understand a word Obama says because education in Florida has been so goddamned screwed up by the Republicans. Some kids can take a test, but they haven't learned anything!
But then we come to the crux of the problem. The man is a rightwhitewingnut who loves Jesus. He just hates libruls and democrats (small "d" purposely)! Public schools, to this dimwit, are to indoctrinate students in christianist theology and pave the road for a theocratic takeover.
"Public schools can't teach children to speak out in support of the sanctity of human life or traditional marriage. President Obama and the Democrats wouldn't dream of allowing prayer in school. Christmas Parties are now Holiday Parties. But, the Democrats have no problem going against the majority of American people and usurping the rights of parents by sending Pied Piper Obama into the American classroom."
Methinks Mark Karlin, at Buzzflash got it right when he said:
"...we are faced with a coordinated incendiary attack on President Barack Obama as an individual and beneficial public policies such as healthcare reform and climate control the likes of which are terrifying to a democracy.
"What is occurring is the same model: corporations who control the mainstream media and control the majority of elected officials on Capitol Hill use facistic [sic] 'coded' misinformation to rally a thunderously loud confused base to bollix up any legislation that would diminish their profits or power to control what happens in D.C."
The corporatists who rule are dreadfully fearful of Obama's agenda. They will use any means to stop him! Any means whatsoever! The thought of Obama speaking, even in the most innocuous terms, to our school children, terrifies them because the kids may decide they like the guy and further realize that their asshat parents are nuts.
"Now," says Karlin, knocking the White House's passive response to these various attacks, we find ourselves in "imminent danger of a toxic pathology out of control." And the media is "once again distracting us from the issue at hand -- healthcare -- by covering a right wing, GOP, Corporate PR Firm 'boycott' of a speech by President Obama encouraging students to study hard and take education seriously."
I think Karlin is absolutely on target. Watch and listen to Beck, Hannity, Coulter, Limbaargh, Malkin, Ingraham, Savage, and all the other fascist creeps on the right. Ultimately, this brouhaha about Obama's speech is the tip of the iceberg.
Again, from Karlin: "If President Obama doesn't become less Pollyanna and more Richard the Lionheart soon, the terrorism we will face will not be from Afghanistan but from within. ...
"The nation is afflicted with a pathological cancer that has moved into a real Red Alert for domestic and personal danger."
But what can you expect in a country where a growing number of people, egged on by the rightwhitewingnut media, are batshit crazy, Jesus-loving, hate-filled, truly stoopid, racist nogoodniks?
Michele Malkin - Batshit for Jesus
From Crooks and Liars:
September 02, 2009 News Corp
(Heather): Ugh... more fear mongering from Fox. From Media Matters- Conservative media accuse Obama of "indoctrinating" kids with back-to-school speech:
Numerous conservative media figures have baselessly accused President Obama of trying to "indoctrinate" America's children with his planned back-to-school speech encouraging students to succeed and persist in their studies. Sean Hannity claimed that "it seems very close to indoctrination," while Fox News commentator Monica Crowley said "just when you think this administration can't get any more surreal and Orwellian, here they come to indoctrinate our kids"; similarly, Michelle Malkin claimed that "the left has always used kids in public schools as guinea pigs and as junior lobbyists for their social liberal agenda."
Transcript below the fold.
HANNITY: And tonight in "Your America," now parents across the country are voicing concern over President Obama's plans to address schoolchildren on September 8th. Now the plan was announced by the education secretary, Arne Duncan, in a letter to principals all across the country.
Now Duncan says the president will use his remarks the challenge students to work hard. But in conjunction with the speech, the Education Department is encouraging teachers to utilize lesson plans that clearly promote the president's agenda. One of which calls on students to, quote, "Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."
Now that's September 8th. Now fast forward three days later, September 11th. On that day, rather than honor the thousands of innocent lives that were lost in the attacks eight years ago, President Obama's political organization, Organizing for America, plan to push his health care reform agenda.
MyBarackObama.com recently pulled this statement from their site, quote, "all 50 states are coordinating in this. As we fight back against our own right-wing domestic terrorists who are subverting the American democratic process, whipped into a frenzy by their FOX propaganda network."
And joining me now with more on both of these outrageous stories is the author of the best-selling book, "Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies." Michelle Malkin is back with us.
Michelle, good to see you. Thanks for being here.
MICHELLE MALKIN, "THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION" AUTHOR: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Let's start with this pro-Obama action group, Organizing for America. You know recommending we set aside 9/11 as a day to call senators to pass the government option, fight back against our own right-wing domestic terrorists. And they also go on to say, "they heirs of bin Laden."
This is Obama's group.
MALKIN: Yes.
HANNITY: Reaction.
MALKIN: It is. And it's no surprise. After all, this is an administration whose Department of Homeland Security earlier this year demonized right-wing opponents and tried to smear them with the terrorism label.
It's no surprise when we've seen all summer the critics of Obamacare opponents smearing them as un-American, terrorists, Talibani, every base name that you can think of, and this is directly something that Obama is responsible for because these are the people who put him in office.
And it's very telling that the Organizing for America Web site tried to scrub this, tried to pretend it didn't happen. That kind of white washing is also par for the course for the Obama machine.
HANNITY: But we're going to get into this a little bit later. We'll talk more about Van Jones and some of the more controversial appointments of Barack Obama and some comments he made about America being an imperialists country at -- the day after the 9/11 attacks, calling Republicans a word I can't say on even cable TV.
MALKIN: Yes.
HANNITY: We'll get to all of that. What do you think it is? I think, in part, Barack Obama is so used to adulation and people fainting and praise from the media that this is the first time that he's had some resistance. And it seems that that Chicago political instinct to lash out has popped up immediately. Is that what this is?
MALKIN: Yes. It's classic culture of corruption and Chicago hardball tactics, to try and stifle their opponents and stifle dissent instead of answering it and winning the arguments on substance.
And we've seen it and we've talked about this, Sean, many times, about the way that team Obama handled their critics during the campaign, including you, most -- foremost, for shining light on the radical ties that Obama has forged over his lifetime with his cronies in academia and in the political world in Chicago.
We've seen them try to shut down a radio station that tried to broadcast more information about the ties between Obama and Bill Ayers. We've seen him try to use the power of government in seeking the Justice Department on critics who tried to run ads that highlighted a lot of his radical agenda.
And now we're coming full circle with regard to the second story of them abusing.
HANNITY: Yes.
MALKIN: Abusing and exploiting children. It all goes back Bill Ayers and Chicago.
HANNITY: I think a lot of people will be surprised, and we'll get into this. Ann Coulter will join us and we'll talk about, well, an appointment he made of somebody that supports compulsory abortion. Somebody that called America an imperialist nation after 9/11.
I want to move on. I want to ask you, though, I would not normally have a problem any president that wants to address schoolchildren, wants to encourage them to study hard, to develop -- to learn, to have a great education, to inspire them that America is the greatest country and they can be all they can be.
But when you read the specifics here, what is the president asking me to do? How can I help the president? Now we're getting into an area where it seems very close to indoctrination, or at least has the potential. Your thoughts.
MALKIN: Well, my first thought is that people have to understand the context, the timing, and the culture of this speech. Although a lot of leftist and FOX bashers will make fun of us for calling attention to this event and say, what's the big deal? And they'll point to some sort of prepared text from Obama that looks very innocuous on its face.
But this is not a merely a morale-boosting speech that he's giving. He's giving it in the context of his Obamacare plan completely under siege. We know the left has always used kids in public schools as guinea pigs and as junior lobbyists for their social liberal agenda.
And of course, as I said, it goes back to Bill Ayers.
HANNITY: All right. But let me ask.
MALKIN: His pedagogical philosophy was to use the schools as tools for left-wing activists.
HANNITY: And, of course, he -- we know about Alinsky model and he actually taught the course. We have the video of him at the chalkboard showing that.
Do you really think, in light of the fact that we're paying attention to it, that he's not going to be a little more cautious? That he would.
MALKIN: Well.
HANNITY: Go ahead.
MALKIN: Yes. Well, as I said, it's not about the text. He'll actually deliver a very innocuous speech. I can guarantee you that. But in these classrooms, which are living laboratories for left-wing activism, what you're going to get are over zealous teachers, teachers union brass who are in the hip pockets of the Democrat Party, urge their kids to write letters, to demonize Obamacare opponents, and to call them proponents of change.
And we've seen this at the town halls. Obama is not above using an 11- year-old girl as his conduit for attacking a town hall protester's sign as, quote-unquote, "mean." He did that in New Hampshire and that girl was the daughter of an Obamacare acolyte. They are using these kids as political guinea pigs for hope and change. And we know what it's really all about.
HANNITY: All right, Michelle. Thanks again. Thanks for being with us. appreciate it.
Glenn Beck and "communist" art
Beck, the boob, continues to expose himself as a complete and utter fool, and his advertisers are dropping like flies, but he bravely carries on against our "racist" and "socialist" president.
If this asshole didn't exist, I'm not sure anyone would believe such a creature was possible!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Bob McDonnell - Just another rightwhitewingnut who wants to be a governor
It was 1998. He was 34 years old, in process of obtaining a master's from Regent University (then known as CBN University).
His master's thesis was titled, "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade."
Aha. This should be good!
Now you might recall that Regent University is a rightwhitewingnut faux institution founded by the crazy christianist goofball, Pat Robertson [Who also donates bunches of money to McDonnell]. It is just about everything a real university is not! It is a training ground for rightwhitewingnuts who want to go into the world preaching Jesus in their daily work and make the US of A God's country! The people spewing from the maw of this miserable mess of a school have not been taught to think. Regent's purpose is to indoctrinate - to create a class of repugnant, rightwhitewingnut politicos, or lawyers, or business people, or whatever.
Case in point, Bob McDonnell. Politics Daily had this to say about McDonnell's 1998 thesis:
"In the 99-page document, McDonnell outlined a battle plan to social conservative warriors that called for the usual things: make abortion illegal, oppose gay rights, bring religion into the schools. The Democrats and media reports have focused on how McDonnell went the extra mile by decrying working women as 'detrimental' to the traditional family, blasting federal tax credits for child care expenses, and denouncing a Supreme Court decision overturning laws criminalizing contraception for married folks."
It gets worse! McDonnell wrote:
"Each institution in society has been instituted by God for specific, limited purposes."
Not only so, but as the Politics Daily noted, McDonnell "had written approvingly of laws that made sexual intercourse outside of marriage illegal."
[Boy, that would put one hell of a lot of Repugnican politicians in jail; including most of those who think they should be president!]
Now McDonnell, who would be governor of the state that has as its motto, "Virginia is for lovers," says aw, he didn't really mean what he wrote back so many years ago. He was young and immature, and his views, he claims, have changed since he wrote that master's thesis.
Thirty four was young?
Have his views really changed?
Nah. Not much anyway. Read up on his career as a Virginia state legislator! He just doesn't like being outed as the complete asshole he is!
Read the Politics Daily article by David Corn here.
A WaPo article on this dipshit is here.
And there's more here.
Michael Steele - Worst Person in the World
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Ingraham and Crowley are insane
From Crooks and Liars:
Okay, we've had the tea baggers, the birthers, the deathers and so what do we have now? The "speechers"? Good grief. Our own Susie Madrak wrote about this in her post Wingnuts Are In Full Bloom. Obama Speaking to Schoolchildren Is Really 'Recruiting for Hitler Youth.' and Media Matters has a good run down of the collective freak out over this at Fox Noise and some of the right wing blogs as well- Conservatives on Obama's stay-in-school speech: "Indoctrination," "brainwashing," Communist China, Hitler Youth.
Never ones to go off script, Laura Ingraham and Monica Crowley continue the hysteria about Obama potentially wanting to have some sort of mind control over children by giving a speech that they should stay in school and Alan Colmes, for once, counters his right wing Fox cohorts and treats this nonsense as anyone with a functioning brain should. By mocking it.
Crowley: This guy is not over exposed enough right. So now he's going after pre-K, four and five year old kids, up to sixth grade with this message. Look, just when you think that this administration can't get any more surreal and Orwellian, here he comes to indoctrinate our children.
Colmes: Indoctrinate...
Crowley: You know that there's going to be a political message in here Laura, right? It's going to be something about the environment, green jobs...
Colmes: Where? I don't see that?
Crowley: Something is going to be embedded here because the guy cannot help it.
Colmes: Right.
Crowley: And look, there's a reason why he's only going up to the sixth grade. Because number one the older kids would be like "what is this?" And number two, he's gotta' get them young.
Colmes: (laughter)
Crowley: This is such, this is what Chairman Mao did Laura.
Colmes: Oh my god.
Crowley: This is Max Headroom. This is going into every single classroom. There is no escape from him.
Ingraham: Monica, I hate to burst your bubble, but there are also materials going out for sixth grade and high school...
Crowley: Oh! See, I knew it!
Colmes: Get 'em young! Get 'em in that tent! Get 'em in that Democratic liberal tent!
Crowley: That is the point.
Ingraham: Well first of all Alan the thing I like is that it's so micro-managed, it's so micro-managed that they even suggest the ways to make posters with Obama's notable quotes...
Colmes: It will be like this..
Ingraham: ...about past speeches. What is this?
(crosstalk)
Colmes: Next you're going to accuse them of implant chips in these kids' brains, right?... And they're going to program kids to go Obama... Obama... Obama right? That will be your next ah...
And they go on from there. Jebus, I think Ingraham and Crowley were trying to give Beck a run for his money tonight. I was glad to see Colmes looking like he had some what of a spine for once.
Schakowsky tells it like it is: Repugnicans are liars
Maybe this should be titled "The Corporate Media Never Met a Repugnican Liar They Didn't Like."
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Spencer Bachus, another stoopid rightwhitewingnut
This Repugnican congressperson, this rightwhitewingnut from Alabama, is whining these days that it is likely the guv'mint's gonna have to put some money into the Social Security Trust Fund.
Here's how Onenewsnow, the rightwhitewingnut news service, put it: Congressperson Bachus "warns that another taxpayer bailout is likely if the government has to start putting money into the Social Security Trust Fund instead of borrowing money from it." [My emphasis]
Now, read that again. Then again.
The Social Security Trust Fund is a "trust" fund, funded by the payroll taxes of millions of workers in order to provide for a certain little fallback money when they retire.
Hah! The damn Congress has been "borrowing" from this "trust" fund for years, thereby breaking their trust with the American people. So Bachus, being a true Repugnican, and a total wingnut, is complaining that the guv'mint may no longer be able to steal money from the rest of us who have "trusted" the guv'mint to ensure our money stays were it belongs, and may actually have to put money back into the fund to provide the retirement income that's rightly ours!
Someone tell this dipshit that Social Security is NOT an "entitlement" program!
And that is the current sad state of affairs. Social Security payments will be less next year because there will be no cost-of-living adjustments and Medicare premiums are going up. That may not matter when, like Bachus, you make hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum and all your retirement and health care needs are taken care of BY THE GOVERNMENT, but for a lot of folks, it's one hell of a big hit! And they're already hurting!
Bachus must be insane! Which isn't surprising. He is a Repugnican. He is worried that Social Security, "instead of being a revenue generator" for the guv'mint to use to "apply on the deficit," will need cash to stay afloat!
In other words, they steal our money and then cry about having to pay it back!!!
It's enough to drive the rest of us crazy! The Social Security Trust Fund has been, for years, a cookie jar into which the feds have dipped their sticky fingers to pull out what they thought they needed! That's supposed to be a no-no.
So now there's not enough money? There's money for every goddamn war the United States wants to fight, and there's money to bail out the high and mighty; hell, there's even money to help the "poor" car companies sell more cars -- Cash for Clunkers is the name of that program!
But when it comes to the real poor or the elderly or those in need, the Repugnicans begin whining about budgetary concerns just as Bachus is weeping crocodile tears about having to stop stealing from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The number of stoopid, lowdown, shyster, assholes in Congress is truly depressing.
Prayer saved Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson,79, recently underwent "extensive heart surgery," according to CBN News:
"Robertson has suffered a condition known as atrial fibrillation, an often-debilitating heart disorder involving shortness of breath and weakness affecting an estimated five million Americans."
CBN goes into some detail explaining what the surgeons accomplished during the 10-hour ordeal, using a "state of the art technique they pioneered called Convergent Procedure."
While Robertson did have some good words to say about his attending physicians, Dr. Andy Kiser and his staff, he then went on to make this stoopid statement:
"Only the prayers of thousands of believing people kept me on this earth." [My emphasis]
In other words, the doctors helped, but it was "only the prayers" of all these "believers" that turned the tide!
And that calls for a couple of questions and a comment:
Why should anyone need to pray for good ol' Pat? Was not his god aware of his heart condition? Is his god some child who needs to be patronized and bombarded incessantly with piteous pleas to do the right thing? And one can't help but wonder if god likes ol' Pat just a little bit why he didn't make this atrial fibrillation go away a long time ago?
We know from extensive studies that prayer has little or no curative effect on sick people or people in process of undergoing surgical procedures. This has been thoroughly documented. In fact, the studies have shown that people who were prayed for tended to have more problems than those who were not prayed for.
Finally, what kind of god would intervene (using the doctors, of course) to keep ol' Pat alive when he is a noted liar, charlatan, con artist and general all-around nogoodnik; a nasty wolf in sheep's clothing?
It's enough to make one sick!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Uh oh!
Something happened. I've been unable to determine what. Perhaps the Vatican and its minions pulled some strings (threatened the "right" people with excommunication) and had it taken down.
Sanford, Maguire, sex and Jesus
The subtitle to this post is: Hypocrisy R Us. Which is the new Repugnican motto.
Most people are hypocrites to some extent and/or at certain times. Which means simply that we fail to live according to the precepts we've laid out for ourselves. It's a universal human condition.
That's why it would behoove the great majority to shut up when it comes to judging other people or attempting to run their lives. But one of the great anomalies (& ironies) of our time is that the party which claims to admire and desire freedom above all else, also wants the power to regulate the morality of the people of this country according to their own prejudices.
Two issues come to mind: Abortion and equality for homosexuals.
Over the past several years, we have seen a number of Repugnican icons who have proclaimed loudly and publicly their commitment to "family values," bite the proverbial dust when caught in their own shenanigans.
It would matter less if they weren't such BIG hypocrites.
South Carolina seems to have a surfeit of such hypocritical Repugnicans, starting with the guv hisself - ol' Mark Sanford.
But, as if his lying and chasing a skirt in Argentina wasn't enough, a new scandal has arisen in the state that loves god and grits. Sanford's good friend, Kristin Maguire, a Jesus-loving evangelical, a true "conservative," has been caught with her hand in the sexual cookie jar, so to speak.
Maguire, who has advised Mark on issues related to education (hmm...anything else, Mark?) for several years, was appointed by the guv to the state's Board of Education. Then, lo and behold, Maguire got herself elected chairwoman of that board last year!
Oops!
According to fitsnews.com (via BuzzFlash), Ms. Maguire is also a "prolific author of hardcore erotic fiction on the Internet." And FITS has the documents to prove it. Now, understand that Ms. Maguire is a real conservative, as we already noted. I mean she even home-schools all four of her children. (That's a bit ironic, too; that the chairperson of the state Board of Education - we're talking PUBLIC schools here - home-schools her kids!).
Oops, again. It seems much of the hardcore stuff Ms. Maguire has written has disappeared! But,
"FITS was able to use conversations in various Internet chat rooms ... to link at least two 'erotic stories' to Maguire's alleged pen name, 'Bridget Keeney.'"
Maguire did "confess" to FITS that she had visited websites which may have had some smutty stuff, but did not admit to writing any such herself.
As FITS notes, none of this is illegal. And I don't think there's any inherently wrong with writing erotic material. But ain't it funny? Another pious, super christianist, hits the hypocritical wall!
Oh, yes, Maguire is a strong supporter of "abstinence only" sex education.
Of course she is.
Read the entire FITS article here. And you can read two of her stories here (they are hard-core).
Late-breaking news: Ms. Maguire has resigned!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Penn & Teller dis the Roman Catholic Church - the Pope, the Vatican, the whole ball of wax
Penn & Teller, Bullshit! The Vatican from Brewster on Vimeo.
With thanks to PZ Myers at Pharyngula.
Here's the commentary from Crooks & Liars:
August 29 2009 CNN
(Heather): Well, it looks like the Secret Service has paid someone a visit. Good. That's the least they should be doing.
SANCHEZ: All right. Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This is a conversation. It is not a speech. And it is your turn to get involved.
It is my duty as a journalist to make you aware of a deeply disturbing trend taking that is taking place in our country and how it ironically folds into yet another story that I shared with you just last week.
A CNN source with very close to the U.S. Secret Service confirmed to me today that threats on the life of the president of the United States have now risen by as much as 400 percent since his inauguration, 400 percent death threats against Barack Obama -- quote -- "in this environment" go far beyond anything the Secret Service has seen with any other president.
Now, I need to have you keep in mind today as we add details to this story of what we're going to share with you here. I want to take you back 11 days ago, when Mr. Obama visited Phoenix, Arizona. Do you remember this man? He's one of a dozen or so people who carried guns to that presidential event that we have been checking on.
You may remember that we heard him say on camera that he is prepared to resort to forceful resistance against the Obama administration. Now, today, I want to tell you about the church that that man attends. And, in particular, I am going to play for you parts of the sermon that were delivered from the pulpit on the very day before the president arrived in Phoenix, Arizona.
This is important. This, my friends, I believe you will agree, is chilling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR STEVEN ANDERSON, FAITHFUL WORD BAPTIST CHURCH: Tonight, I want to preach this sermon. And you have probably never heard a sermon like this before. Actually, you probably have if you have been coming to church here for a while. But you know what? Here is my sermon, why I hate Barack Obama. That's my sermon tonight, because Barack Obama is coming to town tomorrow morning.
Barack Obama is coming to town. And he is going to be here tomorrow morning. Who knew that he was coming to town? I didn't know. I just found out recently with his health care and everything like this.
And I'm going to tell you something. I hate Barack Obama. You say, well, you just mean you don't like what he stands for. No, I hate the person. Oh, you mean you just don't like his policies. No, I hate him.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There is more and it is much worse. First, I want you to know the voice you heard there was that of Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. On the day before the president's visit, Mr. Anderson told his parishioners that he hates Barack Obama and wants him dead. This was Anderson from the pulpit saying the president deserves to die for supporting abortion rights. That is what he means when he uses the word violence. All right. Here is some more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: What goes around comes around. You love violence. You hate that which is right. You love to harm others. You love to hurt or kill the unborn or the innocent or the righteous. He is saying, God is going to bring that upon your own head, because whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Now, turn back to Psalm 58 and let me ask you this question. Why should Barack Obama melt like a snail? Why should Barack Obama die like the untimely birth of a woman? Why should his children be fatherless and his wife a widow, as we read in this passage?
Well, I will tell you why. Because, since Barack Obama thinks it is OK to use a salty solution, right, to abort the unborn, because that's how abortions are done, my friend, using salt -- and I would like to see Barack Obama melt like a snail tonight.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Joining me from New York, a man who used to work for the U.S. Secret Service. He is Scott Alswang. He personally guarded Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush.
Thank you, sir, for being with us.
SCOTT ALSWANG, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: We are also going to be joined by Mike Brooks, who is standing right here next to me who has been digging down on this story.
Mike, thank you for being here.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Sure.
SANCHEZ: This looks serious. This almost looks like this is coming to the point where we are even beyond maybe where this nation was on November 22 of 1963, when JFK was assassinated, when there was also an environment of hate in this country. When you hear that, what are your thoughts?
ALSWANG: Well, I'm confident that my former organization, the Secret Service, is doing everything they can to keep the president and his family safe. There are a lot of people that like attention in these cases.
SANCHEZ: What about this case? Do you know if the Secret Service has knocked on this pastor's door? Should they be knocking on this pastor's door?
ALSWANG: I am confident that they have already knocked on his door, that through counterpart means in local and state and federal authorities, that this has come to be explained to. And for the media to bring it out, I definitely think that it has come to their attention.
SANCHEZ: Mike, were you going to add something to that?
BROOKS: No, no, I have been talking to some folks. And he has been interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service.
But, boy, he walks the fine line. And, Scott, you will agree with me. I was with the Metropolitan Police who worked on the presidential and vice presidential details when I was there for 26 years. And I can tell you, we used to run into people like this all the time, who knew how to walk that fine line without making a direct threat. And that's what he did...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, hold on a minute. Here is Statute 18, U.S. Code, Section 871. We looked it up today, about threatening the president of the United States.
It is against the law to do so, as I'm sure you both know and I am just recently becoming expert on.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Let me read you the quote: "Whoever knowingly and willfully threatening to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States." That's the way we were able to decipher those words.
It sounds like both of you are saying that this man directly is not doing that. Is that right, Mr. Alswang?
ALSWANG: He is walking a fine line. The problem I have with it is that he seems to be inciting his congregation to go and act in a direction toward the president. And that, at least on a local level, would seem to me to be an inciting charge. And if someone in that congregation had mental disabilities or were prone toward violence or had a direction of interest toward the president or his family, there could be grave consequences.
SANCHEZ: Well, that's interesting. Let me show the viewers something.
Do we have that shot of Chris? Chris is the guy, Chris Broughton. It's taken us a long time to dig down and find out who this guy is. Chris Broughton is that gentleman who had an AR-14, right, Mike?
BROOKS: AR-15 type weapon.
SANCHEZ: AR-15, sorry. There he is right there.
He is outside where the president was speaking. We have found out that Chris was actually in attendance when that sermon was given on the eve of the president's arrival. Now, let's listen to just a little bit more of that sermon, as we consider that chilling thought.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You are going to tell me that I'm supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth (INAUDIBLE) everything? You are going to tell me I am supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he's in Phoenix, Arizona?
No. I am not going to pray for his good. I am going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And, by the way, I should add once again that I have reached out to the pastor today. He has agreed that he will join us, he will talk to me on this show, most likely over either the weekend or Monday, was not able to do so today, because we want to reach out to him.
It's interesting as you listen to the last words there. Let me read those back to you. "I am going to pray for his good" -- "I'm not going to pray for his good. I am going to pray that he dies and goes to hell."
Again, most of us law-abiding Americans listen to those words and we start to get worried for our president, whether he is a Democrat or a Republican or what he is.
What is Secret Service's responsibility with people like this? And what are your concerns?