Mike Ritze, Oklahoma wingnut & the 10 Commands

Of course you can't expect much from politicians in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a U.S. Senator who disbelieves in evolution, global warming and most other scientifically proven facts.

Now, in keeping with the tradition, an Oklahoma State Representative has presented a bill into the Legislature which would put a "Ten Commandments monument" on the grounds of the State Capitol. People are thrilled. The bill has already made it through a state House committee.

Who is this paragon of private virtue who wishes to foist his private virtue on the pagan public? Mike Ritze. And this guy is such a Biblical scholar he intends to use the verbiage from the King James version of the Bible (which is probably the most inaccurate version in print!).

Some think this monument might alienate folks who don't believe as does Rep. Ritze. Ritze doesn't give a damn. He thinks ours is a "Christian" nation or at least a nation imbued with those elusive "Judeo-Christian" values and that we, as a nation, have gone morally astray and so this monument will remind everyone who looks at the monument (i.e., Ritze and his wife) of "basic values."


Well, let's take a look at the "basic values" of the Nine or Ten Commands. It is interesting that even before God gave Moses the commands, he had already put one into effect: honoring the Sabbath (Exodus 16:25ff).

1. Don't make a sculptured image. I'll bet the State of Oklahoma has broken that one on numerous occasions. Yikes! And if you do make such images, the Lord is a jealous god and he's gonna visit "the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject" him!

I think Ritze should be worried.

2. Don't bow down to false gods. Does that count the ones on American Idol?

3. Don't swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God. Hmm. Has any politician ever kept that little goody?

4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Well, hell, Ritze doesn't do that, either!

5. Honor your father and mother and if you do you'll have a long life on the land. But what if your mother's a drunk and your daddy's in jail for murder? Gotcha!

6. Don't murder. I wonder if Ritze favors the police action in Iraq?

7. Don't commit adultery. No comment.

8. Don't steal. You can't steal anything at all? Not even a pen from the office? Sheesh!

9. Don't lie about your neighbor. There isn't a politician in the world who's kept that one! Ritze is known for lying about President Obama!

10. Don't covet your neighbor's stuff, including his Hummer or his trophy wife!

[I think number one and two are one command. That would make only 9. Tell Ritze before the engraver gets to work!]


These are the "values" that Ritze and his ilk would foist upon us. I wonder if he's ever read the Bible.

I think we can do a lot better than that and we don't need some ancient story about a god blowing smoke on top of a mountain to do it!

Oh, yeah, one more thing: Ritze is so much of a wingnut he tried to mount a challenge to Barack Obama's election because he claims Obama is not a "natural born citizen"!

Don Feder's boycott of The New York Times

Perhaps the best thing one can say about Don Feder is that he doesn't try to hide his bigotry and his hatred for all things "liberal."

Now a media consultant and author, he formerly worked as an editorial writer at the Boston Herald. In 2005, he founded and assumed the presidency of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. Feder is a rabid conservative, with a bent toward theocracy, with the need to impose his beliefs on the rest of the nation.

He has written several books and numerous columns expressing his extremist views, and has appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity and Colmes," "Politically Incorrect," "The 700 Club," "Focus on the Family," and "Fox and Friends." Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham have referenced his columns on the air.

Those affiliations tell you most of what you need to know about Don Feder.


Currently Feder's mission is to organize a boycott of The New York Times. He is, in fact, the editor of Boycott The New York Times website. This boycott is a project of Accuracy in Media (AIM), which gives you a further clue, as AIM is about anything BUT "accuracy" in the media.

What has Feder so upset that he's taken on The New York Times? It's quite serious, actually; a major problem in our world; and something that desperately needs to be rectified immediately.

It has to do with -- ta ta! -- the so-called "war on Christians." Yup! The New York Times, in a November 12 editorial, had the unmitigated gall to suggest that the United States Supreme Court rule a Ten Commandments display in a public park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, is in violation of the Constitution's First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Pleasant Grove, you see, refused an offer by The Church of Summum to set up its own monument to its Seven Aphorisms in proximity to the Ten Commandments display.

There are some 10 other monuments in Pioneer Park in Pleasant Grove.

So, the Supremes are considering this "monumental" matter. The Summumists (or whatever the hell they're called) are arguing if a Ten Commandments monument can be erected, well, so can their Seven Aphorisms monument!

Summum is a rather kooky religion started in 1975 by a guy named Corky. I am not making this up. You can read further about Summum and this fracas in Utah here.


But back to Feder. Feder has been "summumed" by his higher power to fight The New York Times because of its lack of "true" religion and its assumption that all religions, including a kooky religion by Corky, must be accorded equal treatment.

Feder disbelieves that equal stuff. This is a Christian nation, says Feder. The New York Times is "distorting the First Amendment to promote secularism," says Feder. If this wasn't meant to be a Christian nation, asks Feder, "why was Congress's first official act to hire a Christian chaplain? (They couldn't find a Jewish one?)

Feder then delves into the repository of right-wing theocratic historical crap that fills the history books of the Reconstructionists: Congress appropriated money for Christian missionaries to the Indian tribes (that's not quite the way it went, but no matter). "What about 'In God We Trust' on our currency and 'One Nation Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance ...."? Now, I'd guess Feder is being coy here, 'cause he must know that both of those items were inserted much later in our history and were a political ploy to nod to god in hopes he/she would give the U.S. special blessings and protection and had nothing to do with the founding of our nation.


Let us say once again - this is a secular nation! It is a nation comprised of people who believe in just about every religion under the sun; or none. True, most of the folks profess Christianity although you'd never know it considering the shape we're in. Furthermore, the word, Christian, has several thousand different meanings for there are thousands of Christian cults.

The New York Times is right. Toss out the Ten Commandments display, the Summum monument to the Seven Aphorisms, or any other religious monuments that might have misguidedly been placed in the public Pioneer Park, in Pleasant Grove, Utah!

And then Feder can go on ranting about how badly Christians are "persecuted" in this secular nation of ours. I mean, hell's bells, they can't tell anyone what to believe any more. And it seems like the number of atheists has increased by .0001 percent.

Feder claims to be Jewish. Sounds like a "closet" Christian to me!