Someone on a Facebook discussion recently told me that Gary North of the von Mises institute, former campaign worker for Ron Paul, former writer for Ron Paul's newsletter, and regular contributer to Lew Rockwell, is not representative of Libertarianism or Austrian economics...he's an anarchist.

Huh.

So...why did he write this?

http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/let_2_paul_hill.html

The guy may be a stark barking loony...but he's no anarchist.

Basically, the guy I was talking to pulled the "no good scottsman" bit on me.  Not buyin' it.  Gary North's Austrian economics and Libertarian cred is solid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_North_(Christian_Reconstructionist)

 You don't get to back away from it and dismiss him as an anarchist just because he's also insane.

Just as an aside, if you follow that first link and read North's long screed about why the guy should not have killed the abortion doctor, do this thought experiment:  Think about what would happen if we somehow magically managed to address all the reasons that people choose abortion.  Think about if education and government assistance, and community support and in-utero surgery and genetic medicine made it possible for there to never be another abortion in our country...

In Gary North's morality, even if there was never another abortion in the U.S. EVER...we would still be under God's judgement for keeping it as a legal option.  However, if we made it illegal and instituted the death penalty for it, and then just neglected people who might need to have options and they sought out illegal ones, we wouldn't even have to work real hard to enforce the law, and we'd have done enough to clear ourselves of his wrath.

Duuuuuuudes!  Like, everyone has been down on libs for so long.  Like, harshing our mellow to the max, and all because we're like, lame and stuff.

But don't dispair mon frare...we're back baby!

'cause we totally went back in time and took over the Bible.  We're like rocken spiritual time-pirates.

You thought Bill and Ted had a great adventure?  Nu-uh!  Team lib totally went back in time and snuck the lovey-forgivy-sharey crap into the Bible! 

Uh-huh!  BAM!!  Yeah, take that, in yer face  Mr. Judgy-Mcvitriol Christian guys!

But uh-oh...Andrew Schlaffly's gonna take it back with an army of homeschool kids!  Bogus!

http://conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project

Get back in the funkey time-travel phone booth dudes!  We have to save the wimpy social gospel or we won't get to have a modern government or health care reform!

James Linzey: "Stomp Them Out!" from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.

But that's not the best of it.  You gotta read the article below.  Amazing.  The man has a head full of NutterButters.

James Linzey:  Firehose of crazy.

Pat Buchanan offered some old creationist chestnuts up again for the consumption of the gullible masses. (link found at Pharyngula)

1)      He claims that Karl Marx loved Darwin.  Here’s a good treatment of that claim.
(link found at Pharyngula)

2)      He claims that Adolph Hitler loved Darwin.

This is an interesting claim, since the only references to “evolution” in Hitler’s writings are clearly in opposition to Darwin, and instead embrace Paley (distinct species created at the beginning of creation, and only able to modify a small amount, but no speciation) Lamarck (inherited acquired traits, along with purposeful striving for higher forms) and Linnaeus (the assumption that more complex forms have a higher moral value, and are judged “worthy to exist”).  If Hitler loved Darwin so much, how come his every use of the term “evolution” rejected Darwin’s mechanism, and instead embraced the mechanisms of Darwin’s defeated predecessors?  How come he mocked ideas based on Malthus and Darwin as the ideas of a “dear little ape-god” who would be punished by God for such unnatural ideas? 

3)      He also claims that Darwin stole his ideas from Wallace.  Here is what Wallace has to say about that.   (link found at Pharyngula)

4)      There’s a whole bunch of other claims mopped up at Pharyngula if you want to go through the whole tedious litany of creationist dishonesty.

But what I find funny is Buchanan’s attempts to paint his political opponents as Nazis.  Seems to me that Buchanan had some things to say about Nazi David Duke in the ‘90’s...lesseee, what was that?

Oh yeah:

1991: "David Duke is busy stealing from me. I have a mind to go down there and sue that dude for intellectual property theft."

- Manchester, NH Union Leader, December 15, 1991

"Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, [such as] reverse discrimination against white folks." (syndicated column, 2/25/89)

I guess that Pat Buchanan, the guy who opposed hunting down Nazi war criminals, the guy who is notoriously anti-Israel, who edges ever-closer to Holocaust denial every year, whose nativist screeds are practically a translation of Mein Kampf into middle American English, and the guy who has repeatedly made admiring statements about Hitler and who pals around with American Neo-Nazis, talks on their radio shows, and shares most of their issues has a problem with Darwin.  Not surprising, since Hitler hated Darwin too.

From Chapter one of Origin of the Species :

When a race of plants is once pretty well established, the seed-raisers do not pick out the best plants, but merely go over their seed-beds, and pull up the 'rogues,' as they call the plants that deviate from the proper standard. With animals this kind of selection is, in fact, also followed; for hardly any one is so careless as to allow his worst animals to breed.

Naturally, creationists merely quote the last sentence and claim that with this sentence, Darwin was advocating human eugenics.  In fact, Darwin spends the first chapter discussing the demonstrable effect of artificial selection over time in the creation of new breeds to lay the foundation for how changes over time could accumulate into new species, and discussing the difficulties that the previous explanations have in providing a mechanism that can accommodate all observations…on the way to eventually showing how his theory DOES accommodate these observations.

To mistake this sentence in context for anything other than part of a description of how artificial selection is implemented in domestic animal husbandry would require either extreme stupidity or extreme dishonesty.  In creationist apologists, it is difficult to tell the difference. 

Incidentally, the pre-Darwin explanations are the ones currently offered by creationists, with the terminology changed, but with no new information nor alternative mechanisms proposed.  Current evolutionary theory has offered predictions borne out by new discoveries, and has suggested areas for further study that have spawned whole new and fruitful discoveries that have enriched our lives in ways too numerous to list.  The theories that Darwin's replaced withered and died because they could not produce new knowledge.  Creationists who want to resurrect those old ideas have failed to demonstrate any ability of these ideas to provide any advancement of knowledge or understanding.

In the absence of such an ability to produce new information, it is ridiculous for creationists to claim that it is bias and prejudice that keeps their ideas from being accepted in academia. 

A while back, there was a bit of a "kefuffle" on You Tube when an Evolutionist named Thunderfoot did a 30-part series aimed at explaining, scientifically, the errors in common creationist claims.

One of the creationists that he chose was a young guy named VenomFangX, a very popular Christian apologist and fan of the Discovery Institute.

In these videos, Thunderfoot used clips of VenomFangX's work, for the purposes of commentary and criticism. VenomFangX filed a false DMCA claim against Thunderfoot, and the videos were removed by YouTube. Basically, it looked a lot like VenomFangX couldn't argue Thunderfoots points, so he decided to have Thunderfoot silenced instead.

Thunderfoot lawyered up, and when he found out he had a case, he went to VenomFangX and explained that filing a false DMCA claim against someone was serious business and would likely run into a lot of money and trouble for VenomFangX. Who, it turns out, is a young kid who probably doesn't need to spend the rest of his life burdoned from mistakes he made while romping around on the internet.

VenomFangX made an abject apology, and withdrew the claims, and Thunderfoot let him off the hook. It was all very civilized and admirable. I expect that VenomFangX will profit from the experience.

Now, I guess the Discovery Institute filed a DMCA claim against a guy named DonExodus2 for commenting on one of Casy Luskin's interviews. Fox interviewed Luskin, and in true fashion of most of the modern news media, they just invited the creationist on unchalleneged by any opposing side, and just let him talk and talk without having to deal with a single critical comment. Even when they have someone on to represent evolution, it is rarely an evolutionary biologist. It is usually somone who is friendly to evolution, but not knowledgeable, so they give away a lot of points that would have been taken by a scientist.

 So anyway, this guy decided that he would provide the critical commentary for the interview, and post it on YouTube. This is a common thing on You Tube, all sorts of people provide critical commentary on video content of others. 

DonExodus2 now reports that Discovery Institute has filed a DMCA claim against the video, and that his YouTube account was in danger of being closed. His position is that FOX News owns the rights to the material, not the Discovery Institute, so the claim is fraudulant. Also, that his commentary is protected under several exception clauses in the DMCA including being commetary, criticism, educational, and non-profit.

I think he made a couple of mistakes.

1) He made it clear that any damages he seeks are purely for revenge against the DI for filing the claim, not for damages caused by them making a false claim against him.

2) He publicly calls their actions criminal even though he is not a lawyer, and the case has not yet been brought or decided.

3) He announced his intentions before he even retained council. The Discovery Institute has historically gotten a large slice of its funding from Howard Ahmanson, who is kind of the "sugar daddy" of the religious right (if your church was ever taken over by fundies, and you were kicked out, you can probably thank Howard Ahmanson; he has funded several organizations to do stuff like that). Anyway, deep pockets. Very deep pockets. They are probably already pre-lawyered, and prepared to obstruct this case until DonExodus2 runs out of money. The case will likely never make it to a decision, because even pro-bono lawyers have their limits.

4) He made his best argument before even bringing the case. So now, all the Discovery Institute has to do is to convince FOX News to file the DMCA claim instead. Anyone wanna take bets that they can convince FOX News to do that? Suddenly, he has to make a case against TWO adversaries with deeper pockets than him.

I don't know, maybe DonExodus2 is one of those novel fools willing to wreck his whole life for a hobby YouTube Channel. Personally, I think Thunderfoot's approach was classier, and I think it more thoroughly showed the weak and pathetic nature of the act of defending your position by trying to silence the opposition.

I have to laugh a little as Premise Media sucessfully defended their pro-Intelligent Design movie "Expelled" by arguing that the clip of John Lennon's "Imagine" that they used without permission was used for "criticism"...even though it was merely part of the sound track, and never mentioned, discussed, or critiqued. It was clearly just part of the sound-track.

Naturally, they viewed this as a false claim made merely to censor the film. At least Yoko Ono actually owned the rights to the thing she was filing the claim about. Premise Media won it's claim. Basically, playing the song against footage of Stalin amounts to "criticism" and exempts their use under DMCA exceptions. That's a pretty low bar. You can "critique" a song you don't like by playing it while showing a picture of someone you don't like.

How come everyone isn't a music critic? We could empty the welfare rolls. There is obviously a low bar for defense when it comes to DMCA exceptions, at least when it is creationists vs. the widows of pop icons from the '60's. We'll see about when it comes to evolutionists vs. creationist moneybags.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Poor sad Ollie! He just gets thrown a bone at the end of the article. How sad! After taking the fall for the "guns for drugs" thing, he barely gets honorable mention for appearing in a carnival of the crazy. Newt never took a political bullet for a Republican president ever....and Huckabee, all he did was stop being fat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/06/newt-gingrich-americans-a_n_212235.html

You gotta go over to 4simpsons real quick and scan down the front page looking for Neil's "multiverse" post, or google it if it has already rolled off.  I don't want to trigger his paranoia with too many links but this is amazing!

Neil actually thinks that the multi-verse theories were proposed to counter Intelligent Design Theory.

Um.  The Multiverse Theory pre-dates the Intelligent Design political movement.

The Multiverse theory is described by mathematics.  The Intelligent Design political movement cannot be described according to any coherent organizational model.

But theoretical Physicists are just scrambling to scratch up something to answer Intelligent Design with.

Uh huh.  Whatever helps you sleep at night, Neil baby.

But I'd like to point out that the only way that the Multi-verse theories could have been created to respond to Intelligent Design is if the scientists developed them after 1992 (When ID was created) and then went back in time a significant amount, and then introduced a progressive series of theoretical models beginning with when the term was coined in the late 1800.

Of course, the only way that time travel would be even remotely possible is if one of the multiple universe theories were true... (since going back in time and changing events would create another alternate universe, and an alternate time-line).

And furthermore, why are we to believe that scientists are desperately flailing around to discount the arguments of ID proponents when ID proponents seem to have to be always making statements like this?:

[Update]  about not provoking his paranoia:  Too late. Neil is already Jonseing on how persecuted he is that people disagree with him and find his lunacy entertaining.  He only listed three people this time.  Usually he goes on much longer about how important an Godly he must be because people disagree with him.

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

[update] from the Daily Kos:  The George Tiller I knew .  Hmmm...facilitating adoptions, giving free medical care to needy patients, saving lives with decisive action...obviously, he needed to die.

Did this guy REALLY get funding from Bush's tax-dollar-funded abstinence-only money at the same time that our school district got solid, scientific, fact-based, comprehensive sex education cut, and we had to raise taxes on our house to make sure our kids got accurate information?

Bush is gone, and I'm STILL finding out new stuff that pisses me off.

As always, if you don't fit the description, I'm not talking about you.

If you don't believe in God, then your life has no value, and they will shoot you in the face.  But presumably they will wait until the end times when God declares open hunting season on you.

Nice.  Remember...they're the moral ones.

This guy doesn't like it when I link directly to his site. He feels persecuted and cries about how he has a "stalker" when I do.  Right at the moment, I don't care.

He makes all sorts of claims about liberals and Hitler from time-to-time, even though he's completely unfamiliar with the stuff Hitler wrote. 

http://4simpsons.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/but-hitler-would-never-never-lie-about-his-faith/

HWMNBN (Google Neil Simpson and "eternity matters" you will come to him, it upsets him when I do a link) currently has a "round up" where he spends a sentence crowing about how bad it is going to look for the Democrats to reveal the extent of torture done in our names under the Bush administration.

See, some Democrats knew about the torture, so Neil thinks that it is a stupid political move that will backfire on the Democrats.

What he doesn't get is; we don't care.  Revealing the extent of the torture is not about making the Republicans look bad.  Revealing and investigating the extent of the torture, who was tortured, why, and trying to find out who is innocent and guilty is about taking back control of the government and figuring out what was done wrong, fixing it, and doing it right here on out.  Making sure we get the right people, get the right information, and get it the right ways.

Period, end of story.

Will some Democrats end up looking bad?  You bet your boots.  Will they try to cover their asses?  Sure.  Will there be elements of party politics and trying to shift blame back and forth to salvage some moral highground?  I would not be surprised.  Those who will suffer from the truth SHOULD suffer from the truth.

Do I think Obama doesn't know this and accept it?  Not for a moment.  He's no dummy.  He'd probably rather not take the hit...but not doing the work is going to lead to much worse stuff than doing the work...

...and it's omlette/eggs time.

The fact that Neil doesn't understand that makes him slip even lower in my estimation.

Lower down in the "roundup" there's something else.  Neil quotes a UK journalist commenting on the Bush administration's reports (they were ordered by the Bush administration, and the investigations were carried out by Bush appointees) about domestic terrorism.  Neil blames the Obama administration for Bush's intelligence reports that imply that there are right-wing extremists that might want to do America harm...and says that Obama hates America and Americans.

So, apparently, Obama hates America and Americans so much that he went back in time and forced the Bush administration to prepare a report about right-wing extremists.

Yes, truly shocking that someone might think that the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building was a bad thing.  You would have to be truly un-American to not cheer on Timothy McVeigh, and to want to prevent actions like that in the future.  Apparently, Neil is on the side of those who would blow up government buildings with children in them.

Neil just makes me hold him in more and more contempt all the time.

Remember when Sarah Palin was prayed over by Bishop Muthee in her former church, and the church website had a story up bragging about how Bishop Muthee had caused a riot and whipped up an angry, murderous mob that ran an accused witch named Momma Jane out of town?  Remember the video where she stood on the stage of that church and praised his "boldness" in prayer?

Well, some Christians thought it was great, and some Christians thought it was weird but unimportant, and some Christians were with me in being appauled that a vice-presidential candidate for a major party had blood-stained hands laid on her head...by a contributer to one of the worst criminal trends against  vulnerable women and children across Africa, and even spreading into other coutnries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVVbGEOoCM

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/scandal-of-the-children-killed-for-witchcraft-1003968.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507723/Pastor-is-arrested-after-inquiry-into-claims-of-cruelty-to-child-witches.html

Well, it turns out that Bishop Muthee did not run "Momma Jane" out of town in a violent mob action.  And it turns out that she is not actually a "witch", but a local pastor:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/sarahpalin/3204292/False-claims-exposed-of-Kenyan-pastor-who-protected-Sarah-Palin-from-witches.html

So Muthee is apparently not a witch-hunter, but a liar.  It will be interesting to see if any more information comes forward.  Still, I find it quite appauling that Sarah Palin's former church promoted his claimed activities.  After all, lying or not, the church seemed to think that the things he claimed to have done were good, when in fact they were quite evil.

UPDATE:  Religious conservatives have gone on record recently as being against the UN. convention on the Rights of the child:

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm

They imagine that the convention, when supported and signed onto by a government, interferes with the practice of religion of the parents in regards to their children.  In the case of these children, I profoundly hope that they are right.  Killings,torture, abandonment, etc. should not be excused on religions grounds.  I would like to think that my country is a leader in the world for things that are good and right.  The fact that we stand with Somalia as the only country in the world who does not recognize the importance of a child's right to a safe and healthy environment is really regrettable, and the idea that people won't let the US lead on this subject because their paranoid imaginings are that the cause of this is that the rest of the world wants to stop them spanking their children is very sad.

Get over yourselves, people.  Children are hurting, and it would be good if we could step in and help some of these countries move forward rather than just sitting on our hands as some of our churches send them money and support to make it worse...and we come within a tremendously uncomfortable margin of electing a woman to high office who publicly praises and glorifies someone who benefits fromt he victimization of innocent women and children.

Finally, if you want to do something to help feed, cloth, educate and protect the innocent victims of the witch-hunters, you can donate to Stepping Stones. http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/

"Chrisitanity is the foundation of our morals"

Foundation. 

Yet it seems like a foundation that fails as often and as spectacularly as any other.

Everytime I hear about how religion makes people better, and how humanity would be so much worse without religion, and how all the world's ills are due to a lack of religion, or not enough religion, or whatever, I think of stories like this.

I get tired of hearing pompous and sanctimonious harping on how religion is a magic wand that makes us better people.  Obviously, it isn't.  If it helps some people, then it helps some people, but forcing children to pray in school, or taking taxpayer's money and giving it to churches, and having Godly symbols in our public places will clearly not help us improve society one bit.  There are good and bad religious people, there are good and bad non-religious people.  They happen at roughly the same rate and rank. 

So can we ditch the foundation argument already?  If it helps you, great.  I'm all for it.  Have at it.  But can I stop hearing about how I'm eroding the foundation of our society's morals by not believeing any number of magic fairy stories? 

Tell you what...

If you ever find me using a position of power and influence granted me as a privilaged member of a secular organization to murder a disabled person for insurance money...I'll be willing to re-open the discussion.  Until then, I'm not buying it.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Unbelieveable.  Give this guy a Minnesota accent, and a John Deer baseball cap instead of a cowboy hat, and I would swear to you that I rode the school bus with him and a half-dozen of his brothers and cousins when I was a kid.

They were the reason the back half of the bus was slick with chew-spit.

Classic.

I just saw Neil Simpson's (Google search for "Eternity Matters"  and his name - it bother's him when I link to him) latest "Round up" where he talks about this great new thing called online schooling.  He's really pumped and hopes it goes somewhere!??!

Uh, Neil, it's been around for more than a decade...for someone who is supposed to be all up on all the latest in education issues, you sure let that one whiff past you. 

His kids will now be doing it, with a combination of homeschooling.  No surprise.  I figured they were already doing it.

There's also the one further down where he implies that women who have abortions bring domestic violence upon themselves by being uppity and mouthy. Sigh. I think he's almost finished losin' it.

Before this post got lost in a change of servers...Alan wrote:

LOL. And here I was just getting used to that new-fangled papyrus.

Alan 

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-12/story/fbc_blogger_feels_privacy_was_violated

A mega-church pastor is unhappy because an anonymous blogger was critical of decisions he made and actions he took in his capacity as pastor.

So the pastor asked a Law-enforcement officer affiliated with the church to do an investigation.

The law-enforcement officer got a judge to issue a subpoena to Google, who was compelled to reveal the name of the blogger...despite the fact that there was zero evidence of any crime connected with the blogger.

then, the law-enforcement officer provided the mega-church pastor with the name of the blogger, and the pastor used that information to discipline the church member.

Don’t you just love it when your tax dollars go to stifle dissent and support a particular religious view, and enforce it's rules against private citizens acting on their conscience?

Over at Pharyngula, I saw a link to this story.

It made me laugh.  A religious nut is all upset that a statue of a pirate wench shows too generous a portion of cleavage.

So he cursed the statue.

OK.

And then he goes on to pledge to visit the statue every day and pray for its removal. Hmmm...

He will go and gaze upon the unwholsome thing every day, subjecting himself to the horror of it's huge exposed bosoms...and pray.  Pray for it to be removed.

Uh huh.

OK Mr. nutcase, I understand falling in love with fictional characters.  Been there.  Done that.  However, I think that you would be happier if you fell in love with a fake person who could move, and talk, and express themselves.  Or maybe not.  What do I know?  I just think it's weird, and frankly, that alone should give you pause.

Apparently Michele Bachmann's constituants are getting exactly what they voted for.  Michele Bachmann is one of those rootin'-tootin' conservatives who vows not to molly-coddle those irresponsible leeches who can't pay their bills.  Smaller government, and let the unfortunate swing!  Yee-haw!!

That's just what the voters of the sixth district wanted.  Nevermind that the sixth district has the highest number of forclosures, and the higest rate of forclosures of any district in the state.

LOL!  The voters of the sixth district have seen the irresponsible leeches, and they are them!

No worries, though, Michele Bachmann has consistantly voted against their interests.  So I'm sure they are happy.

She'll probably get a third term.

OK, so let’s look at just one example of why it is that Hitler had Darwin’s works banned, rejected Darwin, and why it is that Hitler’s philosophy was NOT based on Darwin’s works…and how it is a lie for the creators of Expelled to say so.

Take this little quote from Chapter Nine of the “Voyage of the Beagle”:

I was surprised to find, on counting the eggs of a large white Doris (this sea-slug was three and a half inches long), how extraordinarily numerous they were. From two to five eggs (each three-thousandths of an inch in diameter) were contained in spherical little case. These were arranged two deep in transverse rows forming a ribbon. The ribbon adhered by its edge to the rock in an oval spire. One which I found, measured nearly twenty inches in length and half in breadth. By counting how many balls were contained in a tenth of an inch in the row, and how many rows in an equal length of the ribbon, on the most moderate computation there were six hundred thousand eggs. Yet this Doris was certainly not very common; although I was often searching under the stones, I saw only seven individuals. No fallacy is more common with naturalists, than that the numbers of an individual species depend on its powers of propagation. (emphasis mine)

So, we see here that Darwin rejected any thought that the powers of propagation of a species or population was the determining factor of its power to survive and thrive.

In fact, Darwin’s assessment of the Fuegians of Tierra Del Fuego was just that.  They were, in his view, the victims of an under-productive, and harsh land, and thus their ability to fulfill their human potential was limited by deprivation.  Was that a bigoted judgment?  Sure.  Darwin’s views and impressions of Feugian culture and life lack his characteristic charitable instincts.  One of the instances of Darwin being wrong (in his uncharitably harsh characterization of the Fuegians)…but it is telling of the fact that, right or wrong, Darwin’s assessments were in direct opposition to the ideology Hitler found essential to his policies.  He did not attribute their state to an inherited inferiority…but instead to the unproductive and harsh nature of the environment, which he viewed as resistant to any sort of cultivation or civilization.

Tellingly, a robust power of propagation and the idea that deprivation was beneficial to humanity were fundamental to Hitler’s plan for Aryan domination.  Darwin’s work stood in opposition to these foundational concepts, which were completely indispensible to Hitler’s propaganda, his plan, his public policy, and his actions as the leader of Nazi Germany.  Take this excerpt from Mein Kampf, Volume 1 Chapter 4:

 (1) It was possible to adopt the French example and artificially restrict the number of births, thus avoiding an excess of population.

Under certain circumstances, in periods of distress or under bad climatic condition, or if the soil yields too poor a return, Nature herself tends to check the increase of population in some countries and among some races, but by a method which is quite as ruthless as it is wise. It does not impede the procreative faculty as such; but it does impede the further existence of the offspring by submitting it to such tests and privations that everything which is less strong or less healthy is forced to retreat into the bosom of tile unknown. Whatever survives these hardships of existence has been tested and tried a thousandfold, hardened and renders fit to continue the process of procreation; so that the same thorough selection will begin all over again. By thus dealing brutally with the individual and recalling him the very moment he shows that he is not fitted for the trials of life, Nature preserves the strength of the race and the species and raises it to the highest degree of efficiency.

The decrease in numbers therefore implies an increase of strength, as far as the individual is concerned, and this finally means the invigoration of the species.

But the case is different when man himself starts the process of numerical restriction. Man is not carved from Nature’s wood. He is made of ‘human’ material. He knows more than the ruthless Queen of Wisdom. He does not impede the preservation of the individual but prevents procreation itself. To the individual, who always sees only himself and not the race, this line of action seems more humane and just than the opposite way. But, unfortunately, the consequences are also the opposite.

By leaving the process of procreation unchecked and by submitting the individual to the hardest preparatory tests in life, Nature selects the best from an abundance of single elements and stamps them as fit to live and carry on the conservation of the species. But man restricts the procreative faculty and strives obstinately to keep alive at any cost whatever has once been born. This correction of the Divine Will seems to him to be wise and humane, and he rejoices at having trumped Nature’s card in one game at least and thus proved that she is not entirely reliable. The dear little ape of an all-mighty father is delighted to see and hear that he has succeeded in effecting a numerical restriction; but he would be very displeased if told that this, his system, brings about a degeneration in personal quality.

For as soon as the procreative faculty is thwarted and the number of births diminished, the natural struggle for existence which allows only healthy and strong individuals to survive is replaced by a sheer craze to ‘save’ feeble and even diseased creatures at any cost. And thus the seeds are sown for a human progeny which will become more and more miserable from one generation to another, as long as Nature’s will is scorned.

But if that policy be carried out the final results must be that such a nation will eventually terminate its own existence on this earth; for though man may defy the eternal laws of procreation during a certain period, vengeance will follow sooner or later. A stronger race will oust that which has grown weak; for the vital urge, in its ultimate form, will burst asunder all the absurd chains of this so-called humane consideration for the individual and will replace it with the humanity of Nature, which wipes out what is weak in order to give place to the strong.

Any policy which aims at securing the existence of a nation by restricting the birth-rate robs that nation of its future.

Don’t miss the snide little swipe at the “Darwinists” that was embedded in the reference to the “Dear little ape of an all-mighty father”.  Darwin’s views that depriving circumstances result in people who do not reach their full human potential were rejected by Hitler.  Hitler opposed the saving of “inferior” people, and viewed the desire to save unfortunates as a human weakness that would eventually be harshly corrected by a God-ordained law of nature...which put a moral value on "fitness" and made a moral deficiency of "unfitness"; and further, made misfortune a judgement of God with which man had no right to interfere.

Conversely, this is how Darwin spoke of such things;  after addressing the question of whether or not natural selection was applicable to human improvement, and if it were better to allow the “unfit” to die out to improve the species:

The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; ... (Origin of Species)

The more efficient causes of progress seem to consist of a good education during youth whilst the brain is impressible, and of a high standard of excellence, inculcated by the ablest and best men, embodied in the laws, customs and traditions of the nation, and enforced by public opinion. It should, however, be borne in mind, that the enforcement of public opinion depends on our appreciation of the approbation and disapprobation of others; and this appreciation is founded on our sympathy, which it can hardly be doubted was originally developed through natural selection as one of the most important elements of the social instincts.

Taking his works as a whole, it becomes clear  1) that he was resistant to deciding that particular traits constituted “weakness” or “strength”…he records numerous instances where traits possessed by “weaker” members of a herd or society in fact become advantages that benefit the whole group  in times of hardship or transition. 2) He felt that any  “weaknesses” (if they could be called such)of a number of individuals was only one factor in determining the strength and survivability of a population, and that it was, in fact, one of the least important factors in what he called “civilized” societies.  3) He viewed moral, ethical and spiritual values as being of much higher value for the improvement of humanity, and specifically expressed his belief numerous times that they held far more power for good than any attempts to manipulate heredity.  In otherwords, Darwin's view was that it was in the nature of man to interfere with misfortune and to sustain members of society who needed it, and that such behavior was in accordance with both morality and the long-term health of humanity...though there might be short term inconveniences.

This is in direct opposition to the claims of creationists. 

It’s really, really, important, when reading creationist comments on Darwin, that they quote-mine and chop up the things that he wrote to make it appear that he originated the idea of eugenics.  This is easily disproven, as the ideas behind eugenics existed, and were recorded and explored by people before the birth of Charles Darwin. 

Where Darwin discusses these ideas, there are several things to bear in mind.  Sometimes, he is describing the arguments of others, sometimes, he is describing the relationships that eugenicists are trying to make to tie it in to his observations, and discussing the extent to which they are correct before he reveals their errors.  He spends a great deal of time trying to untangle the muddled mess that ideological opportunists make in their attempt to entangle his observations and theories with their agenda. 

Creationists like to take advantage of this by putting in ellipses , or just outright cut the point at which Darwin turns his comments to the errors of the Eugenicists.

The good news is, you don’t have to even read all of Darwin to expose the Creationist lies.  It is usually sufficient to do a Google search for a sentence in the quote, select one of the many of the free online publications of Darwin’s works, do a “Find” search for the sentence, and then simply read the preceding and subsequent five or six paragraphs.  The deception will become clear.

You would think that the creationists could work up a simple blush of embarrassment…but they can’t even do that.  They are bold liars, who disrespect the intelligence of their audience so completely that they don’t expect to be fact-checked even at the most basic level.

I got this from Alan's blog.

"Corrective Rape"

Think about that.  The morality that condemns homosexuality as deviance somehow manages to come up with rape as a solution. 

I can think of only one thing to say to that.

"Those who can get you to believe absurdities can get to to commit atrocities."

Over at Talking Points Memo, I got a glimpse of this mash-up of Bachmann moments entitled "the Bachmann effect".  This is referring to the look that people get on their faces while listening to the wacky.

Priceless.

...

A member of our local media seems to have dislodged their nose from Michele Bachmann's posterior and said something not completely flattering about her.  They called her "the empress of exaggeration".

Stand by for conservative whining and crying about how this is signs of the "liberal" media's sexism or something.

How is it that the Minnesota MSM has been sooooo silent on this disgrace of a "representative"?

Personally, I like the things the national media says about her.  She has been called, for instance, the "demiglase of wingnuttia".

Now, THAT'S reportage. 

OK, so I just heard about this Margie Christoffersen chick.

I guess she operated a gay-friendly business in LA.  Then, she made a public donation to promote Prop 8.  This public donation was discovered by a group that was against Prop 8, so now the gays are boycotting the business and Margie is being ruined, and its all the meanie gay people's fault.

Whaaaa?

"I'll take your money, but you are an abomination and a threat to society and I must take the money you give me and work to destroy you...what, you're not going to give me anymore of your money?  Why are you being so MEAN to me?"

again I say...whaaa?

From Orcinus.

The guy who shot up a UU church in Knoxville is off to prison.  His manifesto brags of his “hate crime” (his words).  His reading material gathered from years of right-wing eliminationist BS stands as a testament to what we can expect from the CPAC luminaries over the ensuing years:  more and more hate-talk inspired  "lone nuts" trying to kill liberals.

And the UU congregation supplies us with the inevitable outcome:  Peaceful, determined, disciplined, intelligent resistance followed by a generous application of the orderly rule of law.

My favorite part of this story is where the shooter gets to spend the rest of his life in prison knowing that the "chickenshit liberals" that he set out to slaughter met him and his almighty gun unarmed, peaceful, in worshipful humanist faith that he sees as blasphemous.  They disarmed him, subdued him, and in the strength of their pacifistic convictions that he hates so much, handed him over to a fair trial.

Where Jim Adkisson's “true faith” saw only hopelessness, their “false faith” brought courage, effective action and grace.  Where he sought strength in individualism and superior fire-power, but found only despair; they found strength in community and common action.

He owes his life to everything that he hates so much.  He owes his incarceration for mistaking his weakness for strength, and for mistaking his victim’s strength for weakness.

The only thing that saddens me is that the people who spent years providing the poison to his soul will probably never have a heart-beat's worth of remorse for what they did to him, or the two lives they took with their words…and they will continue to work with their words in the minds of more dangerous fools, and be richly rewarded  with both money and power for doing so.

I guess poetic justice only goes so far…

The following was recently forwarded to me by one of my conservative friends.  Apparently, Godly people spend a lot of time fantasizing about physically beating "professors" who are "members of the ACLU".

What is weird, is that many of my professors at the U of M were ex-millitary...most of them seemed moderate if not outright conservative, and not one ever gave any indications of atheism....all treated religion respectfully if it was mentioned.  Furthermore, while it is likely that some of them WERE atheists...none of them would have felt free to waste 15 minutes of class-time that could be used to cram more knowledge into our heads...after all, most of them seemed to go over in lecture as it was, and fifteen minute sitting around baiting God would have been more intolerable to the professor than to the students...who would probably appreciate the break.

I attended three different colleges, including the much-hated-in-conservative circles University of Minnesota.

I really cant think of a single solitary professor who deserves this level of lible, and this amount of hatred, that someone would fantasize about them getting pummeled by a Marine, much less in the name of God, or to have "God's people" praising such behavior.  Although I must admit that a significant number of people I know who call themseles "God's people" WOULD not only praise such behavior, but would like to make it a cultural practice.

And by the way, I would think that our servicemen and women would be severely insulted that someone was disparaging their long history of service and discipline by implying that they would physically clobber a fellow citizen and a teacher.  But since it was sent to me by a service person, I guess that would not include all of them.

All-around offensive and disgusting.

I'm really disappointed in my friend, because I really like him and think he is a wonderful guy, but I have no idea why he would want to defame Marines, University Professors and Christians like this. 

God's Busy--- 

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!!

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in he looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform.. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes.' The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting'  It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him, knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked, stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?' The Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting American soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So, He sent me.'

THIS IS GOOD. KEEP IT GOING

And all God's people said -- AMEN

Ann Coulter on Larry King last night.

1)      The economic crisis only began last fall?  Then what have the economists been predicting for the last several years?  How come the situation we are in is the exact situation that was predicted to be the result of Bush’s policies and common business practices all along?  Seriously?  Does she really expect that people have forgotten all of the news stories and commentary that the right dismissed as “liberal whining”?

2)      “I’m very popular” (hair toss):  gag.  I have never personally met anyone who says “I like Ann Coulter.”  Even the conservatives that share her politics back out the door when her name is mentioned “uh…well…you have to remember that she’s an entertainer, not a real political voice”.  Uh huh.  They love her, and I suspect that most of them secretly agree with her…they just want to keep it a secret.

3)      “I like real men…ie conservatives…I don’t want them checking with the UN before making a move”  She should date good old Vox Dei then.  He doesn’t believe that date rape is real rape, so not only would he have no qualms about making a move without consulting the UN, but he might just feel free to drop a Mickey in her drink before making a move. 

4)      "Conservative women have more orgasms" Leave it to a conservative to simultaneously make sex into a sort of sports competition, AND claim to take it more seriously.

5)      Like I’m going to be chastised by a woman who claims to take sex more seriously and treat it more sparingly, but would never get invited onto television except that she is positively twitchy with physical signals of sexual availability.*

6)      Question:  Who was the last politician who was wildly successful with a campaign that

(among other things) called for a focus on traditional family values, and in particular detailed in  equal parts calls for increased public morality and a move away from “Bourgeois prudery” **; specifically highlighting the benefit of the increased pleasure of socially approved traditional marriage? (Hint:  He took Europe by storm!)***

7)      “I think we need a little NASDAQ  ticker that tells what words we can use and with whom…”  Uh…most of us do, Ann.  It is called “socialization”.  It is a collection of situational rules that people (and I am referring to people here, so I know this is strange for you) learn as they grow and interact with people (there’s that word again) in different situations and talk with them about different subjects, and learn through experience what is appropriate.  Yes, it is hard.  Yes, there are some people who are incapable of learning those rules.  However, the inability to learn them and apply them is not a virtue.  I realize that you think it is, and that it makes you smarter, but the rest of us just find it sad.

8)      “”…class up the category, like calling the GI Bill a form of welfare…”  The only people I have heard of referring to the GI Bill as “welfare” have been conservatives.

9)      About her comment that 80% of the prison population came from single moms…well, the statistics that I have heard is much higher than that for prisoners that were raised in Christian homes, and claim to be Christian.  I imagine that at least that many went to public schools…so maybe it is Christianity or public schools that cause criminality?  Or I imagine that more than 80% of the prison population wore blue jeans growing up…could that have something to do with it?  Yawn. 

*Not that there’s anything wrong with that…some men are turned on by the trampy-vampy Unattainable Ice Queen/Slut Just For You tease act, and some think it is sort of transparent and uninteresting.  Whatever floats your boat, I guess.  I just think that taking a common and pedestrian fetish and turning it into a national model for ideal relationships is a strange and bad idea.

** In other words, his argument went that if women were just a little less inhibited with their husbands, their husbands wouldn’t go to prostitutes, and we wouldn’t need to have public health initiatives, which are a liberal Marxist abomination.  Seriously, if you have not read Mein Kampf, you should; the parallels would stagger you.  Of course, he also recognized that this would necessitate training the young women to want to please their husbands in every way, and also pushing the idea of marriage and “moral purity” from a young age.  You might also be surprised at how much he agrees with Ann on the subjects of multiculturalism, the liberal press, war protestors, the importance of world opinion, family values, abortion, and the short-comings of liberal democratic leadership.  It seems a little telling that Ann herself heard “Mein Kampf” when Barbara Walters was reading her book.

***For the language impaired:  I am NOT saying that people who believe that sex within a serious, monogamous relationship is more fulfilling are like Hitler:  I’m saying that those who try to turn that belief into the exclusive political brand of a single party and then go on to use it as a form of mob-based social engineering and a tool for political eliminationism and manipulation are like Hitler. ‘Cause that’s what he did, and it worked for him really well.  You’d think people would be smarter than that the second time around, is all.

Oh God, the laughing. It hurts.

...by putting rich people on the Endagered Species list?

(Hat Tip: DumpBachmann)

LOL!  We're running out of rich people in this country?  That's not the statistics.  The statistics say that the Republican status quo has shrunk the middle class and left the working poor farther behind.  In otherwords, redistribution of wealth is just fine if it directs the weath upward.

I keep wondering why it is such a crime to have the top 1% pay 60% of the taxes, or whatever statistic the right is throwing around nowdays when they are accumulating 90% of the created wealth.  Seems as though they are still winning.  Personally, I think that these commonly repeated facts are not terribly accurate... the CIA factbook about the US says this:

 Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households.

In other words, if you are in the top 20%, you are benefitting from the economy, and should probably be somewhat motivated to pay for it's maintenance and repair.  To not do so would be a very bad investment.

Another thing I don't get is that the right seems to think Obama invented the concept of the progressive tax.

Actually, I believe it was that little splinter group from the Whig party that originally pushed it.  A bunch of wild-eyed liberal upstarts called the Republican party began the discussion about such things.

They say Obama is arrogant, but they're the ones trying to give him credit for hundreds of years of good ideas and sound policy.

Also, I would like to point out that it is the Republican areas that tend to have the lowest income brackets, and yet get way more federal money.  Bachmann is so full of crap here about money being sucked away from Republican areas and sent to Democratic areas.

Here's the deal Red States, we don't mind that we pay in way more federal dollars than we get back, and the money goes to you instead.  It is a small price to pay for not having to share the country with the great whirlpools of suck that you would turn your states into if we didn't.

In return, could you please invite the numbskulls that keep voting for Michele Bachmann to come and sleep on your couch so that we won't have to live with them anymore?  That'd be great.  Thanks.

[Update:  More on the Republican hypocracy of complaining about Federal Taxes while they take more than they contribute:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/1397.html

another thing I've noticed is that there is a lot of talk in Red States about creating wealth, but it seems that it is the Blue States that actually DO it.]

It is a threat to Christianity to pass a law that makes it a crime to hunt and kill gay people ...

THAT'S censorship.

But it ISN'T censorship to demand that a pastor's public prayer be stricken from the record of the Oklahoma Legislator ... because he is gay.

Christians are horribly persecuted, and the gays are a threat to our civil society.

Got it.

Orwell would be so proud.

(Hat Tip: Erudite Redneck)

A teacher is probably going to be fired under SUSPICION of being an atheist.

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

Sure, it seems pretty bad.  We got a Governor of Illinois whose corruption and fecklessness defy gravity, and he's a Democrat.

Obama can't seem to find a Democrat that has a clean tax history.

And there are items in the stimulus package that not even FDR would consider to be legitamate stimulus items...

...yeah...little bit of ice-water to bring down the swelling on the hope-change bubble...

But it could be worse.

These people could still be running the joint.

(Hat Tip: Erudite Redneck)

It seems that Ted Haggard has more skeletons coming out of the closet. color me soooo not surprised.

PZ Myers points out that Haggard is complaining that people don't understand that his homosexuality is special.  People don't understand that it doesn't fit into little stero-typical boxes.

A commenter at Pharngula points out the similarity between Haggard and the anti-choicers who have abortions, protesting that THEIR reasons for having one are good reasons...they're not like all of those loose women who have them.

It's like there's a disconnect between what they think of other people, and what they think about themselves.  The public charactature that they paint of homosexuality, and abortion doesn't fit what they see when they look in the mirror.  They can't reconcile it; there is dissonance.  Haggard is a Christian and a homosexual, but that is impossible in their little world.  Haggard tried to deny it for years and years, live a lie, decieve himself, his family, and the hundreds of thousands of Christians that he lead...and yet, he can't seem to control his behavior...and he even though he engages in the unwanted behaviors with people who he should be able to control (parishoners, prostitutes), even they eventually cannot be controlled.

How, oh how does one solve the dissonance?  Well, apparently Haggard's gambit is to pull arms and legs and vulnerable neck into a little fort of words and insist that he is not a "real" homosexual*.

In a reasoned commentary worthy of Poe's Law, a "real" Christian comes to a slightly different conclusion.

Just think if all of that creative energy was actually bent to solving problems, rather than creating them?

*although, I have heard some arguments that denying closet cases who self-identify as heterosexual should be treated as heterosexual...as that is their identity from a socio-political stand-point.  This is a complexity I havn't really needed to think about deeply, so if anyone would like to comment on the issue of identity, I would love to hear it.

My commentary here is only focused on the aspect that Haggard claims to have a uniquely complex and non-steriotypical (and, presumably, special) identity, while denying the rest of humanity the reality of human sexuality as being complex and not fitting neatly into little boxes.

He who must not be named has an entry up linking to a story about a Christian ™ woman who is now “ex-gay” and wants to deny her former partner visitation rights to their child.

Naturally, he makes a snide question “But oxymoronic “same sex marriage” won’t have any impact on us, will it?”

The question implies that marriage equality will introduce a new condition to marriage.  That of former marriage partners using the children to get back at and punish the other parent by withholding the child from them.  Which would indeed be a terrible consequence.

Imagine!  What a terrible world it would be if heterosexual divorcees started using their children against their former partners!

Of course, what HWMNBN fails to point out is that it is the newly-minted “heterosexual” parent who is using the child as a pawn.

Another question not asked by our intrepid nameless one’s commentary is, why is visiting the still-gay parent suddenly causing nightmares and behavior disruption?  Is this something that never happens to children of heterosexual couples who divorce?  Does the irrevocable dissolution of a family never cause anxiety and distress in the six-year-old children of heterosexual divorcees?  Or is it that the methods and skills for helping them through it are not expected to work if the parents are homosexual?

The WND article caused me to ask some questions as well.  The article makes a big deal about how the couple was never married.  It appears that they had a civil union.  Apparently, the WND believes that a civil union is not enough to legitimate a parent-child relationship.

So what ever happened to the idea that we don’t need marriage equality because gay people have civil unions, and civil unions are just as good?  I must have a different definition of “separate but equal” than your average fundy.

One thing they DON'T say is whether or not the non-custodial, visitation-seeking parent is up-to-date on her child-support payments...

And remember....these are the same people who also consider the rights of heterosexual women to be "separate but equal".  You know, just a little less equal than men:

So say that you are a conservative, and you desperately want to believe that Obama is evil and unprincipled?

Well, you can come up with a story about how he is spending four times more than Bush did on his inauguration.

And how exactly do you do that?  Well, first you pull a number out of your butt without telling how you arrived at it.

Then, you report a number for Bush, but leave out the totals for the most expensive parts.

Then, you say it over and over and over again until people accept it as a fact.

(Hat Tip:  He Who Must Not Be Named linked to this)

Remember, Innocent until proven guilty.

And make sure to note, the reason this bust happened after the election was because they didn't want to interfere with the secret service.

Here's a quote from this article in Pulse about "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide":

Kids love rock and roll. Everyone

Go and read this and have a good laugh.

Stop the ACLU is claiming that the Democrats are trying to steal the election between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

Despite the fact that the process has been allowed to function properly and transparently.

My favorite is where they quote an article that claims that 133 ballots might have been fed through the machines twice on election night.  Do any Minnesota voters think that is possible, considering that the ballots are collected inside the machines, the machines are heavily monitored at the polling site, and the polling site staff does not have access to the inside of the machines?

Nice try Stop the ACLU.

I found the Stop the ACLU post by following a link from He Who Must Not Be Named...who is typically credulous and clueless on this issue, and most likely still doesn't care to be enlightened.

He dissed the business of the family of Blackwater's head Holy Warrior!

Doesn't he know that Amway is run by Christian warriors out to win the world for free-market Jesus?  And one of the DeVoss kids founded Blackwater.  Someone is flirting with being branded a faith-traitor!

Not only is he dissing a fellow Dominionist...he's messing with Blackwater.

Poor Pastor Anderson...nobody tell on him.  Because other than the fact that he is nutty and homophobic, I'm kind of fond of him.

I know that Jason plays bass guitar, and I thought that he might want to branch out to you know, some mad church guitar skilz.

So what more perfect way to reward him for correctly identifying Pastor Anderson's Faithful Word Church in a recent post, than to give him a guitar lesson from Pastor Anderson.

I would like to point out that Pastor Anderson stresses that they DO NOT use the guitar in church services.  So no dissing his salvation based on any assumptions like that he lets anything contemporary or liberal creep into his services...

...we like to be fair here, after all.

Oh and Jason...YOU'RE WELCOME!

Some of you know that I am fascinated with crazy people.  Most particularly, the creative ways that they interact with consensual reality.  I find it admirable, in a way.  I really enjoy the creativity and energy of their fantastic sky-castles...even as some of their ideas repell me.

It has been described as a sickness.  I won't argue.  Mostly because it takes away from the time I can spend marveling at the creations of the human mind.

My favorite crazy pastor apparently took his church on a soul-saving marathon in Miami, AZ.  Here's a video where they talk about how many Catholics they converted to Chrstianity, and they show all of the Jehova's Witness material that they censored by preventing it from falling into the hands of vulnerable people who might be decieved due to their receptivity to crazy religious ideas. 

I really love this guy.  Who needs TV?  Not even Joss Wedan could make this up.

It's really amazing, the impact that the devout can have when they remember their priorities, and put God first above all other considerations.

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

...to act like a bunch of dicks.

this Private Catholic school has the complete right to fire a teacher for marrying someone they don't like.  Its something we have to live with if we want to have freedom of concience.

Not all Catholic Schools do this sort of thing.  Many Catholic schools hire people based on their competancy and desirability as staff...not based on how well they conform to arbitrary church rules...but that's not the point. 

But it is a damned good argument to not allow religion anymore latitude in society than it already has.  The more power you give religion over the rights of individuals, the more individual lives they will mess around with...just because they can.  Not all of them, but enough.  Better to keep their ability relegated to the private sector, rather than allowing it free rein in the public sector.

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

“You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide” claims that it is not unconstitutional for them to come into the schools with their Christianized political propaganda.  Even though it is unabashedly political and religious, even though they have spoken out against Catholics, gays, and have handed out Bible tracts.

Here's some local coverage of their activities.

Here's my impression of them from a recent encounter with some of the people from this group.

Given that they were able to make me mildly uncomfortable during an exchange I could walk away from at our local grocery store,  I can’t imagine what it does to kids who have to attend mandatory school assemblies where these people are teaching things that most parents (yes, Christian parents too) would never agree to.  The attitude of these people is quite intimidating, maybe not for a middle-aged martial arts teacher, but I can certainly see why it would be inappropriate to require teenagers to be subjected to it at the public expense, using public resources, and the authority of the school and government behind it.

They can’t even get the majority of the Republican party to take the tone they take…even though a majority of them agree with the politics.   It is wrong to use the authority of the schools to make the students think that this reflects the best values of our society.

Their assertion is that it is perfectly constitutional to spend our tax dollars to force students to sit through a mandatory assembly where Christianized political propaganda is blared at ear-shattering levels.

The arguments against separation of Church and State have come largely from one guy.  One very prolific guy.

David Barton is a very important evangelical operative.  I have yet to hear an argument against separation of church and state that isn’t fundamentally reliant on his work.  He has been re-writing the history of America since the 1980’s.  And his historical revisionism has been very successful in religious schools and the homeschooling arena.

Some say that he is a Christian Reconstructionist whose ultimate goal is to institute a Biblical Christian form of Shari’a Law on the nation.  Maybe, maybe not.  It’s sort of difficult to pin people down about what they mean by “Biblical Law.”  It seems to mean different things to different people, from instituting the Ten Commandments into the law code, to reviving Leviticus.  Anyway, whatever the ultimate goal is, people should not be fooled by poor scholarship.

I find it more likely that he just finally found something that he could be wildly successful at…and doesn’t want to give it up.

I love this page, because it shows the sort of company that David Barton keeps.

The Wikipedia page on David Barton.

Article where David Barton admits that there are no primary sources for some of his most widely referenced, and most popular “quotes” from the founding fathers.  He also claims that he is applying a “higher academic standard” in calling them unconfirmed.  I don’t know about you, but I if I had EVER quoted from a founding father or anyone else in a history class in college, and was unable to cite the original source…it would have been an epic fail.  Especially if said quotes contradicted the overwhelming amount of source material that we have on the founders in their originals.

In case you think he is an unimportant flake, here’s the entry Time Magazine did about him when they named him one of America’s 25 most influential evangelicals.  He may be a flake, but he is not unimportant.

Here’s what J. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee said about Barton’s “Scholarship” in 2005.

This article has a pretty good treatment of David Barton’s poor historical and legal scholarship.  It is by Rob Boston, for “Church and State” a publication of the group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.  It has many of the same arguments as J. Brent Walkers, but also builds on it.

Nevertheless, Conservative puditry is rife with reference to David Barton.  A friend recently sent me a “civics” quiz that nobody would pass unless they had heavy exposure to David Barton’s work, and bought into his ideas of what the founding of America was like…

…work that was conducted by someone who is most generously described as a “self-educated historian”, and which contradicts both the vast scholarly bodies of work in history and law.

Nothing against autodidacts, but anyone who wishes to be an autodidact should be careful to find out what the pitfalls and standards of a discipline are before they try to master it.  Conservatives scoff at the idea of peer review, but then, when peer review shows some weakness in the scholarship of an expert here or there, it is that very act of discovery that they use to undermine the idea of the value of “expertise”.

And they accuse credentialed experts of hubris and arrogance when they point out the short-comings of scholarship in those who are not credentialed.  In fact, while it is possible for an autodidact to achieve a very high level of expertise and respectability, conservatives seem to assume that such respectability should simply be granted without a need to vigorously defend ones ideas.

And no wonder, because it is that very peer review that exposed David Barton, and forced him to admit that he had no original citations for many of his quotes and assertions about the founding fathers.  Likewise, his claim to greater scholarly rigor can be contradicted by the experience of any History undergraduate.

But that doesn’t matter in the end.  His mistakes and “errors where the truth is concerned” will continue to be repeated and promoted by people who find them useful for a very, very long time.  In fact, they seem to be gaining acceptance rather than losing it.

More on David Barton:

http://community-2.webtv.net/Tales_of_the_Western_World/DAVIDBARTON/

Links to tons more footage at Dumpbachmann.com

Merry Christmas, everyone!

And, by “Merry Christmas”, I mean: “Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men.”

I find myself in the Christmas spirit suddenly.

The Christmas spirit sort of sneaks up on me late.  I tend to be Christmas resistant until right before the end.  I guess it’s the pre-Christmas noise.  It gets in my way.

And an increasingly large part of the noise are the conservative blow-hards turning “Merry Christmas’ into their own personal “Seig Hiel”.

I went to Rainbow to pick up a couple of random items that I needed.  And there was the Salvation Army person.  I like seeing them every year, and I usually manage to dump something in the bucket.  Sometimes it’s a penny, sometimes it’s a buck.  It’s usually around 50 to 75 cents.

But I don’t do it on the way IN to the store, because I am usually cold, and I don’t want to try to dig through my purse with my numb hands.  I smiled at the guy to let him know I’d catch him on the way out.  He smiled and said “Merry Christmas.” He was talking my language:  “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  I’ll be here when you come back.” 

“Merry Christmas”, I said back:  “Peace on earth, and Goodwill toward men.  I’ll see you then.”

And then I entered the store, and there were two young men there at a table topped off with banners proclaiming “You can run, but you cannot hide!”  Flame icons danced on the banners….the wrath of God that would one day consumed the wicked.  No doubt after these two fine young men dispatched them with controlled bursts of weapons fire learned from watching Kirk Cameron in that one “Left Behind Movie”.  But not until the final battle for the earth, you know.  No, they will certainly keep their powder dry until then, I’m sure.

Friends of Judge Moore’s; Preachers  in our schools with our tax dollars; evidentally, they think the pope is the anti-Christ - no word on WHICH pope.

I smiled and nodded to them.  Goodwill toward men.  I still had a good dose of it.

One of the kids sensed my discomfort, and he smirked; “Merry Christmas”  He said.  Different language:  “Hate the fags, the Jews are going to hell, kill the ragheads.”

“Happy Holidays”, I replied, choosing a synonym in my language that didn’t mistranslate in theirs, but still means “peace on Earth, and Goodwill towards men.”

“Merry Christmas”.  The boy said again, with and even bigger smirk and  a slightly different accent “Someday I’ll pull the trigger on your unGodly ass, and won't you be sorry then, you commie.”

A woman pushed between us and stopped, made a funny weird little bow to stress what she said; “Merry Christmas.” ; “Thank God we have nice clean-cut kids like you to hate the fags, tell the Jews they are going to hell, and  kill the rag-heads.”

“You know, I used to say Merry Christmas until it became an offensive term.”  I ventured.

“I think Happy Holidays is an offensive term.”  The guy said.

“What makes it an offensive term?”  The second guy asked.

“Jews getting beat up on the Subway for not saying it”.  I responded.

“When did that happen?” the first boy said dismissively.

“Last year.  It was in the news.”

“Oh, well…if it was in the NEWS, it MUST be true, right?”

Time to walk away.  He wouldn’t care about it if he believed it were true, so trying to convince him is a waste of time.

As I turned, the first boy twisted his face up one more time.  He might have been thinking about shooting someone, or he may have been thinking he had won the “argument”…or an invisible elf might have snuck up and crapped in his mouth…I don’t know…

“Merry Christmas”, he yelled after me; “There’s nothing you can do about it.  Christmas means  100% agreement with George W. Bush.  Like it or not, Christmas means nuke Iran ’till they glow and shoot ‘em in the dark.  There’s nothing you can do about it, and you’d better say it, ‘cause your government is taking your taxes and paying us to teach our perversion of what could be a perfectly good religion to your kids, AND they’re providing me with the means to harass you at the grocery store, biaaaatch…so what you gonna do about it?”

For Pete’s sake, I just wanted to buy some groceries.

As I walked through the store, the employees asked me “How’s it going?  Finding everything you need?  Everything OK?”  It’s kind of a Rainbow foods thing, and it kind of bugs me.

But then I stopped about the third time I was asked.

“You know what? No.  Everything is not OK.  I really could have done without the ‘Merry Christmas’ shake-down at the front door.”

Who was it?  Was it those kids? 

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go talk to them.”

“Just tell them, it changes the meaning of Christmas, if you say it with a smirk.”

“I agree ma’m.  It won’t happen again.”

I finished my shopping, paid, and left.  As I walked out, I saw the bell-ringer.  I dropped a buck into the bucket, and smiled at him.  He smiled back.

“Thank you, and Merry Christmas, Ma’m.”

“Merry Christmas to you, too.”

And peace on earth and goodwill toward men.  Amen.

Alan has an entry up about how some silly wacky fundies have their panties in a twist over some idiot writing "the gay Bible".

I saw that He Who Must Not Be Named was most displeased...so the effort is not a complete waste.

Suffice it to say that Alan's assertion is that "The Gay Bible" is NOT a serious scholarly work, is not faithful to the Bible, and is just plain silly.

HWMNBN's position is that it is yet another sign of the coming Gay Apocalypse.

The whole "controversy" would not be worth mentioning, except that Alan has managed to work in a comparison between the KJV of the Bible, and the LOLCats version of the Bible:

(Block-quoted from Alan)

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Sounds like Christmas to me.

But if you're going to go with a different translation this Christmas season; do it right. Instead of the Princess Diana Bible, might I recommend the LOLCats Bible:

"Then there wuz sheep-doods in teh field, an they wuz watchin teh sheep in teh dark. Iz vry vry boring. srsly. An suddenly, visible angel! An glory! O noez!! But teh angel sed, "DONT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! it r ok, you can has gud news for all teh doodz! Todai in da city ov David, you can has sayvur! is Christ da Lord! w00t! Is sign fer u, find da baybee wrapd like brrito in a big fud dish." An suddenly, moar angelz! They sez, "w00t to teh Ceiling Cat! An peace fer doodz he luffs! Kthxbai."

Jack Black should never be Jesus.

And what happened to Dr. Horrible's costume?  It's not evil at all.

And they sure are lucky the gang in black didn't call in Captain Hammer.  It'd cause a panic.

Sam assumes that the process of assembling a diverse administration is, by necessity, the assembling of an incompetent one.  Obviously, because the governance of an administration that is completely uniform in opinion and complete agreement in world-view and ideology has been SOoooo successful.

Naturally, cars that do less damage to the environment will be of low quality like the "Victory Gin" and "Victory Cigarettes" of 1984.  Presumably, Obama will also use perpetual war to keep the populace motivated, and cover his political blunderings with calls to patriotism and blame any losses on those disagreeing with him and undermining his efforts...obviously, since everything Sam believes that Obama will do comes straight out of "1984".  It just stands to reason that forcing the auto industry to move in the direction that demand is already moving is going to be a disaster.  'cause ignoring the market and pouring untold piles of money into advertizing and trying to create artificial demands for vehicles that people don't want anymore, but offer a higher profit margin has worked so well...why would you change that rather than just reduce the $28/hour average wage of the auto industry union fat-cats (ie, the average auto worker?)

Let's sum up with a little Ori watch:

Hallowed are the Ori!  (ah yes, memories of childhood)

Hallowed are the Ori!

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

Screw the Ori!

Give to organizations that save children from evil, witch-hunting pastors like the one that prayed over Sarah Palin.  I suspect that some of my witch friends might want to kick a five-spot to one of these organizations from time-to-time, for instance…

Find Out More

Stepping Stones Nigeria
Room 36, D Floor
St Leonard's House
St Leonard's Gate
Lancaster LA1 1NN
Tel: 0845 3138391 (Mon-Fri 9 - 5pm)
Email: Info@steppingstonesnigeria.org
Website: www.steppingstonesnigeria.org
Works in partnership with local organisations in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria to build sustainable futures for some of the region's many disadvantaged children, including protecting, saving and transforming the lives of children who have been stigmatised as being 'witches'.

Child's Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)
Website: www.crarn.org
Organisation with a firm belief in, and intent on, safeguarding the rights of a child including the issues of child abandonment, street children and stigmatization as witches and wizards.

African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN)
Website: www.anppcan.org
A pan African network that promotes child rights and child protection in Africa.

Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA)
Unit 3D/F Leroy House
436 Essex Road
London N1 3QP
Tel: 020 7704 2261
Website: www.afruca.org
An organisation concerned about cruelty against the African Child, promoting the welfare of African children in the UK.

Child Abuse Linked to Accusations of "Possession" and "Witchcraft"
Website: www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR750.pdf
UK Government report by Eleanor Stobart on the frequency and severity of child abuse linked to accusations of "possession" and "witchcraft" in the UK.

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
Website: http://www.crin.org
A global network coordinating and promoting information and action on child rights. It has numerous resources on the issue of child witches in Africa.

Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS)
PO Box 133
Swanley
Kent BR8 7UQ
Tel: 01322 667207
Website: www.ccpas.co.uk
The only independent Christian charity providing professional advice, support, training and resources in all areas of safeguarding children and for those affected by abuse. You can download their Good Practice for Working with Faith Communities - Spirit Possession & Abuse on their website.

Consortium for Street Children (CSC)
Unit 306
Bon Marche Centre
241-251 Ferndale Road
LONDON SW9 8BJ
Tel: 020 7274 0087
Website: www.streetchildren.org.uk
58 UK based organisations, working in 89 countries, dedicated to the welfare and rights of street living and working children and children at risk of taking to street life.

Every Child Matters
Website: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00220/
UK Government website that provides, amongst other things, advice to practitioners and managers to help them identify and deal with abuse that may be linked to a belief in spirit possession. The guidance is aimed at all agencies working with children.

Metropolitan Police: Project Violet Team
Website: www.met.police.uk
Project Violet aims to support communities where cultural and faith-based beliefs can lead to the abuse of children, including cases involving suspected witchcraft and spirit possession.

Poor Children: Child "Witches" and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa
Website: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/Articles/Volume3_2/
Symposium/Cahn-PDF-04-06-06.pdf
Examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are thrown away by their families because they are "sorcerers," and those children who become soldiers and, through their involvement in armed conflict, inflict violence and death on others, including children.

Nigerian Children's Parliament
Website: www.ncp-fmwa.org
Official organisation representing children in Nigeria.

Nigerian High Commission
Nigeria House
9 Northumberland Avenue
London WC2N 5BX
Website: www.nigeriahc.org.uk
The official website of Nigerian High Commission in London.

Nigerian Ministry of Women Affairs
Website: www.nigeria.gov.ng/NR/exeres/8211764C-80CE-4235-887D-79FB5135122A.htm
Nigerian government department responsible for the speedy and healthy development of Nigerian women and the survival, protection and participation of all children as preparation for meaningful adult life.

Victoria Climbié Foundation
C/o 28 Museum St
London WC1A 1LH
Tel: 020 8571 4121
Website: www.victoria-climbie.org.uk
Campaigns for improvements in child protection policies and practices and to ensure effective links and coordination between statutory agencies, care services and BME communities.

When self-lobotomized educated people clash with people who never developed their brains at all:

I'll never be able to respect Ben Stein again...but at least he can still be entertaining:

Are the Democrats really going to give the Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Comittee to Joe Lieberman?

This Joe Lieberman?

While I admire Sen Lieberman's comittment to and passion for the safety and security of one of our long-time friends and allies...I question his judgement and the form that comittment and passion are taking (the Lieberman stuff starts arouond 5.25)

Then again, maybe the lingering creeping sensation oozing it's way up and down my spine is just a reaction to the liturgical dancers - *shudder*.

Update:  Doh!  Rocky tells me that he already HAd the Comittee, and they decided to let him keep it (yesterday).  Oh well.  Lieberman still weirds me out, and the idea of him running that committee creeps me out a little.

Do you guys realize that the wacky fundies various anti-gay-rights-people of California (and the checkbooks of people around the country) may (I don't know at this point if Prop 8 passed or not for sure) have put their courts (which they don't trust at all) in charge of defining gender?

Marriage is to be defined as "between a man and a woman".  This is something that cannot always be said to be easily determined...even by genetics.

Messy.  Very messy.  True, it's not a large percentage of the people affected...but it DOES affect people, and adds a degree of difficulty that frankly, I don't really think they need.

For instance, between 1 in 500 and 1,000 people are affected by Klinefelter's syndrome. (xxy chromosome)

Turner syndrome affects about 1 in 2000 people. (only one x Chromosome, lacking the second, completely or partially)

The state of Minnesota defined gender for deer by simply stating that if it has horns, it's a buck...no matter what it's sex organs are.  And Im sure that's all very well and good if you are merely filling out a tag on a game animal.  After all, the whole point of the "it's got horns, its a buck" definition is a matter of convenience and expediency.  It is easier to spot horns through a scope at a distance over the grass/brush than it is to try to spot determine plumbing which is difficult to spot even when not obscured by groundcover.

Such simplistic expediency-based judgements on humans are not acceptable in a legal setting dealing with people, and their legal ability to enter into a socially supported contract of love and fidelity.

With people, I think we should be a little more careful...and it is staggering to me that something that used to be a matter of subjective perception so basic to identity is likely going to be a constitutional matter in California...and all just to deny marriage equality.

More info:

Does having a "Y" chromosome make you a man?

What does intersex have to do with the marriage equality debate?

Now that we have all come together, Democrats, Moderates, Independents, and elected a president that speaks to us...it is time to decide to stay united.  To commit to it, and to realize who benefits when we fight amongst ourselves.

Take a listen to David Duke addressing his faithful followers about the Obama presidency. (you have to click on the "MP3") He says that it is "time to stand up and fight, now."

Between Joe the Plumber howling about how Obama is the assured destruction of Israel...and David Duke howling about how Obama is the servant/tool of Israel...

You can hear the truth.  Neither of these guys (Joe or Dave) want a secure Israel at peace with her neighbors.  To them, Israel is not a potential partner in peace someday, a friend whose prosperity we can celebrate when the goal of peaceful co-existence is finally realized.

It is a tool to them.  A wedge, a threat, a bludgeon, a cudgel…or worse in the cases of the apocalypse-ready like Palin and her crowd…an important pawn in the endgame of the total destruction of the world.

I hope that Obama sees Israel as I do…as a nation that has problems to solve and a hard road to walk towards a peace that seems sometimes like it’ll never come…but something to strive for.

It’s on that ever-shrinking list of things we say we believe is possible, but don’t really think will ever happen…

…you know, like the cold war ending, the Berlin wall crumbling, an African-American president of the United States.

Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, maybe not in the next four years, but…

Yes, we can!

And David Duke can pull his Nazi arm-band out of the closet, dust it off, starch it real good, fold it until it is all sharp corners and…well…

Update:  Roxeanne's not too happy either...and if the Obama/Biden ticket in my reality bore any resemblance to the Obama/Biden ticket in her reality...I wouldn't be either.  Fortunatly, my reality doesn't rest on a few cherry-picked facts shown with the lights off and a flashlight tucked under their chins.  And fortunatly, in my world, a gain in equality for one person is a gain in equality for all.  (plus, I don't recall any black people whining about how women were being jumped ahead of when the first major-ticket female VP candidate was put forward before any major-ticket black VP candidate.  there may have been some, but I didn't hear about them)

The timeing of milestones might be different, but the gains are of benefit to all of us.  Squabbeling over order is petty.  And feeling sorry for Hillary Clinton is like feeling sorry for the Eagle that missed the fish.

In the mean-time, we've got more work to do...so?  A couple of days to celebrate and yell that America is great is not too much to ask.  Yes, we have more to do.  Prop 8 is waiting for our attention, for instance.

Talk about unhinged...

American Flag

At an Ohio campaign stop last week Obama gave a speech with a background of American flags which is quite common. However, if you look closely some of the flags are not American flags. The blue field has been changed to show an Obama seal. Yes, there are also stars but have no pattern and they do not add up to 50. With Obama making his own seal and now this it looks like maybe he is putting some credence to the recent article by Stanley Kurtz in the National Review. Is he planning on creating an African county within the US. I think the presence of these flags should be viewed with alarm. And I don't want to hear any looney left comments that they are only decoration. They ARE a modification of the American Flag.

Yes...let's not hear any excuses from the "loony left" about how these flags are not a sign that Obama is planning to create an African nation within the US...I guess the "Real Americans" over at Townhall.com have us over a barrel guys.  They have exposed the ancient liberal plot that is Ohio...

Jezuz

We can haz votes now?

(Hat Tip:  Majikthise, and Erudite Redneck)

Apparently, the NARN have radio...and they are allies of the Ori.

Actually, it sort of figures.  The Narn always were overly religious and overly drawn to power.

What next?  The BORG?  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry...there's a whole lot of TV you'd have to watch in order to figure it out.)

So in other news...

Fashion tip:  The crazy "pisseth against a wall" preacher's wife disses Michelle Obama for wearing a sweats outfit.  Apparently, the Dems should spend $150,000 playing dress-up-Barbie like the Republicans...instead of trying to lead the country.

This from a lady who will marry and reproduce five times with a man who will yell the word "piss" from the pulpit...and who thinks God cares if your knees are bent or not when you pee...ooooh  THAT'S gotta burn.

Make a note people...the Ori do not like knit fabrics.

The little girls making the racist Monkey comments are especially "REAL AMERICA"

Asked if a woman should have to pay for her own rape kit, the crowd responds with "She should die!" and "She should pay double!". Also, they yell "Get a job" at the Obama supporters...which is hilarious, unless all of the McCain/Palin supporters are on the McCain payroll...

Check out American Gothic chick...

And remember its not about racism...they just think he's a monkey.

Those FOX news commentators are SOoooo Funny...haa haa assassination, isn't that so funny?

Update:  Actually,  The lady above DID offer a public apology, and it seems sincere enough, so there is that.  I just wish that more poeple could do this.

It's very easy, in the heat of things, to say something glib in a moment of hyperbole and not realize it's full import until later.  I can respect that she can come back and recant her words.

Update 2:  Joe Biden says we have to "reach out" to these people.  Jesus.  He's right.  That sux.  OK, Joe, I'll try.  At least when they bite me on the hand, I can be assured of health care.

Update 3:  A Small Penguin brings a video of Muslim and Christian McCain supporters (peacfully) confronting bigoted jerk-wads.  The bigoted jerk-wads decide to leave.

Then again, some people are just jerks...the lady has a right to give candy to whoever she wants...but geeze...that's just plain ugly...

(Hat TIp:  Jason Bock and other places)

Attention Gamers!!

Christian Children's Fund does NOT WANT YOUR money.  So don't send it to them.

Gamers at GenCon raised $17,000 for Gary Gyax's favorite charity, and it was turned down.

Now, we want to be socially concious, open-minded liberals here, and we wouldn't want to insult or demean Christian Children's Fund by giving them any dirty gamer money without their knowing it.  It just wouldn't be right.

I've heard from people that Oxfam is an excellent charity that also helps children around the world, and they would probably take money from you, even if they knew you were a gamer.  In case you were wondering what happend to the money rejected by CCF...it was accepted by Fisher House   a charity that helps millitary families by providing "Ronald McDonald"-style houses for families to stay in while their loved-one is hospitalized in a VA or other millitary hospital.

I wonder if the good folks over at Christian Children's fund have ever had to have a blood transfusion and had to live with the creeping horror that they might have recieved demonic blood from one of the millions of pints of blood donated at fan conventions over the years?

Alternatively, I suppose you could be subversive and still send to Christian Children's fund, and then later send them an anonymous card saying that you are a gamer, and they should pray over all of the checks they get to figure out which one has the devil in it and needs to be rejected...but DON"T just send them a card and no money but lie and say you did...that would be wrong.  Even dirty gamers know that. 

The upside would be that you would still be able to give money and help the children who rely on CCF and should not be punished for the "morals" of their supposed benefactors.

Update #1:  Plan USA has also been recommended, and they have a similar "child sponsorship" program to CCF.

Update #2:  It has been implied that my post is a call for communism.  So I'd just like to point out that it isn't communism to inform people that a charity they might be contributing to as part of their identity as gamers actually spits on that identity and finds it so objectionable that it won't take their money if it becomes public knowledge that they were the source.

Well..unless my history professors skipped the part in the Communist Manifesto where Marx said that access to information in private giving is communist...

Update #3 Is anyone else getting dizzy trying to keep up with the various things that have suddenly become "Communist" in the past eight years?

(Hat TIp: Pharyngula)

Please don't vote for Bemidji homeboy Tim Tinglestad for the Supreme Court.

He's a religious wack-a-loon-wing-nut.  He's an Ori operative.  Scarey person if you like seperation of Church and state.

Vote for Incumbant Paul Anderson instead.

From this site:  (quoting extensivly, hope they don't mind)

As Minnesota Lawyer reports in its Bar Buzz column this week (password required), state Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson has already launched his '08 re-election campaign effort. His campaign committee is now soliciting funds and other support for the justice.

Anderson will present an interesting test case for Minnesota judicial elections, which so far have not been much impacted by federal court rulings striking down restrictions on judicial campaigning. Many in the legal community have been worried the rulings -- which were made in the White case -- will lead to the big-money highly politicized judicial races experienced in a number of other states. However, since White, judicial races have thus far remained relatively quiet.

But pro-life interests have publicly stated in the past that they would target Anderson when he came up for election because he was on the high court when it issued Doe v. Gomez in 1995. (In the Gomez case, the court struck down a law limiting state medical assistance for abortion to cases of life endangerment and reported rape and incest.)

Whoever decides to take on Anderson will have an uphill battle to fight. First of all, he is a Republican appointee who, in 13 years on the court, has earned a reputation as a moderate voice. Secondly, the longtime justice is also known as being the most gregarious of the seven justices. In fact, he has frequently been called the high court's "goodwill ambassador" due to his amiable disposition and omnipresence at community events and other outreach efforts. I have heard tell that he will serve as a tour guide for almost any student he happens to run into who expresses an interest in the courts. It's going to be pretty tough for an opponent to come at the popular justice if the only arrow in his or her quiver is a single opinion from 12 years ago (which Anderson didn't even write). "Activist judges" should be made of stronger stuff.

[update:  Now we know what the Republicans think of Joe-the-plumber, and Joe-the-waiter.  But here's what they think of Josaphine-the-911-operator;  Apparently, she can go "$%^" herself.  Also, Joe-the-little-kid-who-went-to-his-teacher's-wedding"...]

(Hat Tips: Pharyngula and Some Amusing Blog Pun)

Google Neil Simpson, and "hurry up to ensure that all waitstaff vote for mccain".

It is proof that the conservatives don't understand the Obama plan.  Under Obama's plan, people who make under $250,000 will get a tax cut. (note:  I changed the previously erroneous "$150,000 to $250,000)

So, to demonstrate how this is bad, Neal fantasizes about how much fun it would be to tell the waitstaff that he will give all of their tips to homeless people instead.

Unless you know some waiters who make more than $250,000 in a year, I'm thinkin that the only thing this will demonstrate to the waitstaff is that Republicans are mean-spirited dick-wads in their real life too.

Although, Neal once again shows his moderate side by acknowledging that the waitstaff earn their tips, rather than treating it as charity (or tipping really well only if they wanted to ask you out, and then never tipping again when you say you are married) like most of the openly religious conservative customers I encountered in my time working as waitstaff (personal favorites, the ones who left religious tracts in leiu of monetary tips).

And he thinks that this will convince them to vote against the guy who says he'll give them a tax cut.

Now, I think it is more likely that Obama will not actually be able to pull off the tax cut for the middle class because there will be too many Republicans in Congress and they will get in the way...

...or it is possible that he is only touting the tax-cut to blow smoke up the skirts of the working class...

but if you take what his plan actually says it will do...it will let the waiter keep more of his tips, and just make the upper 1% pay more of their fair share.

I got a letter from a reader about her dad sending her a "letter" from "Dr." Dobson's organization.

It is basically a story of what the next four years will be like after an Obama presidency.

And apparently, Barak Obama is going to surrender us to "the gay agenda".

I thought about coming up with all sorts of clever stuff to say about it, but I just don't have the heart.

The letter is a disgusting, hateful, paranoid, raving peice of trash.

And PZ Myers just did a better job on it than I would.

So I'm just going to give you a link to a horrifying video of the sorts of people who believe this stuff and feel they should run the country to protect us from "the gays". 

(Hat tip: Jason Bock - thanks alot Jason...I've been having trouble falling asleep since I watched it)

Dump Bachmann is in overdrive.

Take a look at this article detailing her "close associations" with unsavory radical leftists from the '60's.

The first one was part of a group called “O” which apparently took over a warehouse with an army of thugs armed with pipes, firebombed a truck, and reportedly had a large weapons cache in Minneapolis.  Then he worked closely with Bachmann trying to promote PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) and then went to prison for taking bribes as a Minneapolis City Councilman.

I didn't fact check it, but I’m sure someone will.  In the mean-time, just treat it like entertainment.  And really, read the whole thing because the story of the second "Radical" is hilarious. (Hint:  It's Norm Coleman and evidentally he used to smoke a LOT of pot)

Ya know, I’m re-thinking my position.  I now think Bachmann is right.  Perhaps we SHOULD do an exhaustive search into the histories and associations of our nation’s leadership.  Not to ferret out any “un-American” views…but just because what the country needs right now is a good, hearty belly laugh…

I think that all of the Minnesota politicians from both parties should get together in the same place and denounce the people who vandalized the homes of six Minnesota politicians.

There is no reason to suspect that anyone from either party was the culprit, since representatives from both parties were attacked.  Also, political moderates like Amy Klobuchar and Jim Ramstad were hit in addition to more divisive figures like Michelle Bachmann and Keith Ellison.

And while they are at it they can also decry the vandalizm to the Obama and Franken campaign headquarters.  (I haven't heard of anything happening to the McCain headquarters here, will someone let me know if they have heard anything?)

They should then all step forward and personally vow to keep their rhetoric to the issues, and to their opponents positions on the issues.  They should vow to avoid character assassination and dehumanizing rhetoric.

And I hope the police catch these maniacs who did this. There is no place in Minnesota for acts of political terroristic threat in the dark of night.

Then again, sometimes the Ori are hilarious.

This website warns that Barak Obama's "tribe" in Kenya is working round the clock to cast witch spells to make McCain look like a doddering old coot, and calls on Christians to do constant spiritual warfare over McCain and Palin.

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

Hallowed are the Ori. (warning, chillingly disturbing.)

Update: The above link is broken.  Jason found it in the "wayback machine" though: 

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

This will make you feel better (warning, vulgar...but not profane like the link above)

(Hat Tip:  Erudite Redneck)

We've got the profane above, and we've got the vulgar in the middle...so I thought that I would give you some Nathan Fillion "porn" just to round it out.  Probably not safe for work, even though it's not really porn...cause it's a little sick.  BUT IT'S NATHAN FILLION!!!

(Hat Tip:  Northern Misfit)

Palin on the 700 Club:

Why she doesn’t give many interviews:

"Well, sometimes it just doesn't do any good. I mean, you set yourself up just to continually be mocked, you know, so sometimes that doesn't do any good, but what I have done in this campaign is in reaching out to the American voters through our rallies, through the one-on-ones, through the small meetings that we've had trying to get our message out, our plans for this country out there minus the filter of some of the filter of the mainstream media because, because that filter as, as we see every day when we turn on the news, too often there is this, this opaqueness, there is this, this spin, this contortion of a person's words and intentions and that does more harm than good, so it's a greater challenge for me and for John McCain to try to get our message out there without that filter of I think some of the world's media. It's a greater challenge, but again, it does make us work harder and try to reach more people. That's why we're traveling around so hard and fast and aggressively across the U.S. is to reach more people."

Not knowing how to get your message out effectively through the media is a basic Presidential skill in our day-and-age.  Hell, even “W” could do it.  In fact, while he couldn’t handle a pretzel while laying on a couch…he somehow managed to find some people who could manage him managing the media, and quite frankly, they were brilliant at it.  They had a lap-dog press for six whole years.  How hard could it be?

"And it's not just that question, but it was some of the other questions that she asked me also and, and it was, I guess, my being such an outsider from the Washington elite and the media elite is the questions she kept asking me were, I kept thinking why aren't you asking me things that really, really matter right now about our economy and about how we're going to win the war and about protecting our constitutional rights in this country, some of the questions that were being fired at me, I was kind of impatient and I think that showed, it's like come on, Katie, let's talk about the things that really matter. And two, the other part of that was I knew that whatever I threw out there, whether it's the USA Today, or New York Times or whatever I said, that's just more fodder for someone to not only mock, but tear apart and presume to at least claim that that is a reflection of my own beliefs, so you know, so I just felt like, let's just move on to the next question."

Oh for real?  You were afraid to answer the question because you were afraid you would be mocked, and your words would be torn apart and spread around and made to seem to mean something different than what you meant?  Now come on.  There are any number of policy publications out there that you could have been reading as Governor that would be completely respectable.  Even something like the Cato Journal would probably have been found interesting, if partisan.  I hear that Cambridge has a public policy Journal , Duke, Cornell, Harvard…they all have public policy Journals.  Vanity Fair has some snappy politcal stuff in it.  There's the National Review....Harpers would have been a nice politically ecumenical touch, Reason magazine would have netted you interest from the Ron Paul crowd... I mean if you had said “The USA Today” I can see your point but…oh God...you would have said “The USA Today” wouldn’t you?

And I totally get drawing a blank trying to find the best answer.  I get it…really.  If Katie Couric was there with a microphone asking for my reading list, I’d freeze up too, and I have a whole lot of leather-bound books with really little print in my library.

But YOU are running for Vice President of the country!  Holy crap woman!  You froze up because you didn’t think it was important to give examples of where you get your decision-making information, and you didn’t want to say anything because you were afraid they would pick on you?  This is not High School.  You don’t get to do that.  You were given an opportunity to show that you are prepared, and you failed.  You were given an opportunity to explain in a mature and meaningful way WHY you failed…and you failed.

Jesus. And this is how she comes across in the FAVORABLE, friendly media.  The 700 Club!  It doesn’t get any less “Gotcha” than that!

There’s also a clip of her talking about religion.  It was not interesting.  I was hoping that she would say that she is just your normal, every-day garden variety Pentecostal.  I don’t care if she’s rolling around on the floor or whatever while she’s praying…but I would like for her to denounce the Third Wave Movement that she seems to be associated with.  I’d like to hear her say she has nothing to do with Joel’s Army, and I’d like to hear her say that she can govern our country with an eye towards the future, and not to affect some apocalyptic end-times milestones.  It would be great to know that she wasn’t looking forward to and working to hasten an end-of-times blood-bath that would kill most of her constituents:

Brody: There have been some shots taken at you…regarding your Christian faith…The Pentecostal stuff, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to clear up exactly what you believe in and so that the record can be set straight a little bit? Because there have been some editorials and others taking shots at you regarding --

Palin: Yeah, and I think the saddest part of that is that faith, not just my faith, faith and God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart and that is unfair for others who share a faith in God and chose to worship our Lord in whatever private manner that they deem fit and my faith has always been pretty personal. I haven't really worn it on my sleeve. I haven't been out there preaching it. I've always been of the mind that you caalk the walk. You just don't have to be talking the talk about your beliefs, so just wanting maybe my life to be able to reflect my faith. So it's always been pretty personal and that was kind of a surprise in the last couple of months that people would misconstrue and spin anything that has to do with my faith or anybody else's and turn it into something to be mocked. That's very sad. I don't think that there's anything that I can do about it, so you know, I won't, I won't whine or complain about it, but nobody is going to convince me that my foundation of faith is not good for me and for my family no matter the mocking, no matter what anybody says about it, I'm going to keep plugging away at this and I'm going to keep seeking God's guidance and His wisdom and His favor and His grace, for me, for my family, for this campaign, for our nation. Again no matter what anybody else says about it it's between me and God, and I am so thankful that that he has strengthened me with this understanding and this belief that I can count on Him. I can reach out to Him asking for that strength, asking for the blessings that He so freely gives and I don't know how anybody would want to do this if they didn't have real strong faith in God that He's got it all under control.

I don’t  feel reassured.  Sarah, it is between you and the voters whether or not you believe that it is your job to work to bring about God’s rule on Earth…whether you believe, as some say THEY believe, that you are modern day Esther brought forth to renew the nation for God.  In absence of a denial when you’ve had plenty of opportunity to set the record straight and explain the massive amount of video out there of you  with people linked to the Third Wave Movement (considered a Heresy by main-stream Pentecostals, by the way), and some pretty despicable actions…I’m left wondering and I don’t care for it.  At least Obama gave a big speech about his pastor and his faith.  It helped me understand the ties.

Anyway, there’s a LOT more video at this site.  Go check it out if you have the stomach.

And here's a video where they call here a "Modern Day Esther"

Minnesota's "Skipper" to  Alaska's "Caribou Barbie"...

...NOW  She walks, she talks, take a listen to some of the things she says:

Shorter Michele Bachmann: "Obama is a terrorist":

"But I'd totally kiss him":

Bachmann said her positions have been "quite different" from Bush's."

"If the presidency would somehow go to Barack Obama, I would welcome him to the 6th District as well," she said after the debate. "As a matter of fact, I would put my hand on his shoulder and give him a kiss if he wanted to."

I guess she's happy to kiss a "terrorist", as long as it isn't another chick.

And then there's the whole "if only there were some investigation into the government, searching for un-American actions on the part of government officials...if only there were SOME WAY to you, know, investigate them....the press isn't doing it...wink wink...nudge nudge...hedge hedge".  She doesn't have the guts to actually call for another HUAC, but she'll set the ball for someone else.

The whole time I was watching that video I expected it was building to a single sentence:  "Why nationalize Industry when you can nationalize The People?"

No, no, no, Michele, it's "kiss and tell"...not "tell and kiss."

Sheesh.  Republican hacks can't do anything right.

Although, WRT the situation with Bush, you are right in that the lady has the perogative to change her mind.

Then the AFA wouldn't have to send out letters like this, and incite people to violence and hate:

before you know it, they'll go from burning books to burning people.

Hey AFA!  It's true, the America where wealth is artificially redistributed by a rigged system from the middle class to the upperclass is disappearing.  People in the suburbs are tired of going to the foodshelf to cut costs on groceries to afford their insurance and their mortgage payments as their cost of living goes up but their wages stay the same.  Retirees are tired of going to the food shelves to save money for their medicines.  Working people are tired of paying the oil companies taxes for them.  Maybe the top 1% can sell a jet ski or two and buy a Bible.  It seems to have kept the working class content for a good long time...

Well, actually there'll probably just be minimal changes that basically amount to topical appeasement measures that you can quietly undermine over the next three decades or so, and you can do this all over again.  But hey, that's politics, right?

[UPDATE:  And the downfall begins...PZ Myers has a great story on a cool abiogenisis update!]

Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire e-mail list of family and friends. Please vote! Our children's future depends on it! October 15, 2008 Dear Teresa, In my 70 years, I have never seen an election where coverage was so one-sided and biased or where censorship by the liberal media was so widely practiced and where media coverage was so slanted as I have seen in this election process. Their plan is working. The only chance conservatives have is to make sure they care enough to vote. If the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist. This country that we love, founded on Judeo-Christian values, will cease to exist and will be replaced by a secular state hostile to Christianity. This “city set on a hill” which our forefathers founded, will go dark. The damage will be deep and long lasting. It cannot be turned around in the next election, or the one after that, or by any election in the future. The damage will be permanent. That is why it is so important for you to vote and to encourage friends and family to vote. This is one election where your vote really counts.

Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

Let's see it people!

I WANT A GOD-OFF!

Two bulls, two piles of wood.

McCain Prays to HIS God.

Obama prays to HIS God.

We'll see whose offering gets accepted.

I'm all eyes.

(Hat Tip:  Erudite Redneck)

PBS running poll on Sarah Palin. AFA counters by running poll on Barack Obama.

October 13, 2008

Dear Teresa,

PBS, the most liberal network in America (funded, incidentally, by your tax dollars) is running a poll concerning Sarah Palin. Their question is: Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States?

Since PBS and the liberal media will widely publicize the results, AFA has decided to run a poll concerning the qualifications of Barack Obama.

The question: Do you think Barack Obama is qualified to serve as President of the United States?  Take the Poll!

PBS refuses to show the number of individuals voting in their poll. It could be that only a small handful voted. AFA will show the number voting.

Please send this to your family and friends.

 A wacky fundy (if you want to read for yourself, just e-mail me and I'll e-mail you a link, he doesn't like for me to link to him) just did a piece on how non-Christians unfairly bring up the Crusades and the Inquisition, and the rampant hypocrisy of many Christians…and he points out that the failure of humans doesn’t make the Bible or the Gospel any less true.

In other words, you can’t say that when people violate a philosophy, that proves the invalidity of the philosophy.

I guess you can’t disprove a tautology (people who are not good examples of a philosophy are not good examples of a philosophy)…but where does that leave us?

And anyway, he misses that fact that when people raise the Crusades and the Inquisition, and pedophile priests (and the people who constantly excuse their behavior), they are not usually arguing against the assertion that the Bible is 100% literally true.  That is usually done with provable, demonstrative facts (evidence saying the earth is more than 6,000 years old, evidence that evolution happened, etc.)

The anecdotal evidence of Christians behaving badly is a direct contradiction to the constant, hubristic claims that religion should rule the world because it makes you a better person, improves society, and is responsible for everything good in the world (Christians have publicly claimed that there would be no medical advancement without religion because Christians built hospitals, for instance, or claim that slavery was the result of atheism, but Christians did away with it; they have even lied about Darwin, saying he approved of slavery and that his theory validated it, when it is explicit in his writings that he stood against it – supposedly, Christians have a moral foundation against lying, too)

Its a repudiation of a concentrated effort to "take over" America for religion...not an attempt to disprove the factual basis of an ancient document.

It's like saying "Those silly non-religious people, they keep using screw-rivers to turn screws...don't they know that screwdrivers can't do ANYTHING about driving in nails?  They are so stupid".

Trying to re-direct this evidence from the claims it effectivly addresses, and trying to make it address a tautology may be good enough for people who already want to believe, but it actually just makes them look dumb, especially when it is from someone who constantly accuses others of using strawman tactics, and then complains when people characterize their apologetics as “irrational”.

Isn’t it good enough to allow that some people DO find religion useful, individually, in their private lives? That they CAN, find a way to make that tool build something good, but that it has NOT, historically been beneficial for humanity as a whole when made the centerpiece of a culture?

The very fact that David Barton has to invent quotes to “prove” the founders wanted a theocracy seems to invalidate the claim that “returning”  to those roots (which never existed, or you wouldn’t have to fake the evidence)will benefit us in any way.

Finally, he points out that he shouldn't have to feel responsible for things that happened a long time ago, that he didn't do.

Absolutely.

But that's not the purpose of bringing it up now.  The purpose of bringing those things up now, is to point out that if Christians continue to support a group of people working to create a theocratic plutocracy on our country, they WILL BE responsible for the things they do...and history tells us that they things they do will not be good.

[Update: and so it begins with mob rule, and don't forget, the fundies believe "all your law are belong to us" (Michele Bachmann says the judges do not have the authority to interpret the law - a common conservative misconception).  Also, more lies to incite violence against the media.  Ann Coulter will be so happy when they finally fulfill her dream of open season on the press.  Remember:  You can run, but you cannot hide.]

And they say "All your law are belong to us"

Or maybe it's "I can haz doll burnings now."

Or maybe it is "You can not haz car startings!"

Or "Thank you for attending the Ex-Gay Boot camp please don't forget to pick up your beard/merkin at the door on your way back into the closet."

or "kill da beast" (video below)

Or "Ha-ha half ur family is ded, ur crying is teh stooopid":

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1417423198/bctid1834283910  (I took out the embeded video 'cause it was starting on its own and that was annoying)

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

Not surprisingly, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League (are there any Catholics IN the Catholic League? Besides Donohue?)has issued a statement condemning people who criticize Palin for letting a witchunter pray over her, and for her supportive statements of the man...a man who incited mob violence against a woman, which resulted in her pet snake being shot (they thought it was a demon).  Muthee reportedly ordered her to convert or leave town.  She was arrested, and when released, she left town.

And Donohue rebukes the people who think this is bad.  Here's his summary quote:

“We know that many cultural elites have a hard time embracing religion, but is it too much to ask that they at least show some manners when discussing subjects which most Americans hold dear?”

Yes people, where are your manners?  If a man expresses his understanding of evil by victimizing women and children in exchange for personal gain, who are you to judge whether he is right or wrong?  I mean, here we try to get students expelled from school over a bit of flat bread, in Kenya they burn elderly people as witches, and bury children alive, and shoot innocent snakes.  Potatoe, Potahto.  Don't be so judgemental.

Not only is Donohue apparently perfectly sanguin with children being buried alive under charges of witchraft, children starved, beaten and tortured on the say-so of Christian pastors,  old people being burned to death, thousands run from their homes by these bloody bastard pastors demanding money and power at the expense of the already powerless, he implies that there is some sort of moral wrong in condemning it.

Sick. Sick. Sick.  How can anyone, much less a man claiming to be a Christian leader, defend this sort of thing?

Read the article below and remember, this is what the people praying for the election of McCain/Palin, and the speedy death of McCain upon election think is the RIGHT direction for America:

Here is a quote, but click this link for the whole article.  This sort of thing is happening in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and many other places in Africa, and pastor Muthee has contributed to it at least once...but he claims to pastor "hundreds of churches".

But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much more sinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming them as witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turn on the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buried alive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.

Some parents scrape together sums needed to pay for a deliverance - sometimes as much as three or four months' salary for the average working man - although the pastor will explain that the witch might return and a second deliverance will be needed. Even if the parent wants to keep the child, their neighbours may attack it in the street.

This is not just a few cases. This is becoming commonplace. In Esit Eket, up a nameless, puddled-and-potholed path is a concrete shack stuffed to its fetid rafters with roughly made bunk beds. Here, three to a bed like battery chickens, sleep victims of the besuited Christian pastors and their hours-long, late-night services. Ostracised and abandoned, these are the children a whole community believes fervently are witches.

Sam Ikpe-Itauma is one of the few people in this area who does not believe what the evangelical 'prophets' are preaching. He opened his house to a few homeless waifs he came across, and now he tries his best to look after 131.

'The neighbours were not happy with me and tell me "you are supporting witches". This project was an accident, I saw children being abandoned and it was very worrying. I started with three children, then every day it increased up to 15, so we had to open this new place,' he says. 'For every maybe five children we see on the streets, we believe one has been killed, although it could be more as neighbours turn a blind eye when a witch child disappears.

'It is good we have this shelter, but it is under constant attack.' As he speaks two villagers walk past, at the end of the yard, pulling scarfs across their eyes to hide the 'witches' from their sight.

BTW:  If you would like to do something about this situation, I guess ActionAid is a good place to start.  Here is their Charity Navigator rating.  I'll see what else I can dig up.

Researching her religious beliefs just keeps giving and giving...

Did you know that "The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit" movement killed Princess Diana and Mother Teresa?  They also caused natural disasters.  Holy Crap, if they keep praying for McCain to die, he doesn't' have a chance in hell!

Wagner's top leaders often conduct spiritual warfare campaigns against the demons that block the acceptance of their brand of Christian belief, such as 'Operation Ice Castle' in the Himalayas in 1997. Several of their top prophets and generals of intercession spent weeks in intensive prayer to "confront the Queen of Heaven." This queen is considered by them to be one of the most powerful demons over the earth and is the Great Harlot of Mystery Babylon in Revelation. (The "Great Harlot [or 'whore'] of Mystery Babylon" theme also figures prominently in the sermons of Texas megachurch pastor and Christians United For Israel founder John Hagee, former endorser of John McCain's 2008 presidential bid.) Wagner and his group also claim that the Queen of Heaven is Diana, the pagan god of the biblical book Ephesians and the god of Mary veneration in the Roman Catholic Church. Following the 'Operation Ice Castle' prayer excursion which included planting a flag for Jesus on Mt. Everest, one of the lead prayer intercessors from the excursion, Ana Mendez, reported that there had been dramatic results including, "millions have come to faith in Asia... and other things happened which I believe are also connected...an earthquake had destroyed the basilica of Assisi, where the Pope had called a meeting of all world religions; a hurricane destroyed the infamous temple 'Baal-Christ' in Acapulco, Mexico; the Princes Diana died... and Mother Theresa died in India, one of the most famous advocates of Mary as Co-Redeemer."

I remember when "Jesus Camp" came out, and people I talked to about it were all dismissive, and said "Oh, well, these people are just fringe, they don't have any power or influence, they can't do any harm, they can't make their dreams of world domination and destruction come true..."

Well...they have a vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket now.  Anyone still think they are fringe and harmless?

Update 1:

Well, maybe mostly harmless...the earthquake that the "third wavers" claim destroyed the Basillica of Assisi only damaged it (from wikipedia)  but Hey, they managed to kill four people, so I imagine they are happy with that...

On September 26, 1997, Assisi was struck by an earthquake which caused four fatalities. The Basilica was badly damaged (part of the vault collapsed, carrying with it a fresco by Cimabue), and was closed for two years for restoration.

Update 2:

Anyone wondering who Ana Mendez is, besides being the person claiming responsibility for Princess Diana's death?  Here's some more info...

God love their crazy little hearts.  What would I do for entertainment if I didn't have Sarah Palin's religion to explore?

This is copied from the comments section here.  (The Ori are really exceited)

From Pastor Mark Arnold

This past Tuesday, the McCain / Palin Bus came through a little town called, Lebanon , Ohio. The LORD allowed me to go to the Rally giving them a message that He wanted me to personally deliver.

Sunday Night - a burden hit me that would only shake me to my knees - I prayed and wept for our Nation. Never has my heart been so broken before God. I literally interceded for these wonderful people who do not deserve all the hate against them. The GOD-Haters are going to try everything to stop them, but they will not succeed!

God is not pleased with the “bashing” in the News of this “Anointed” person. He has called her for this time! I promised God that I would pray and hold them up in prayer. I would “listen” out and be mindful of where they were. The following day is important in this time-line…because I didn’t even know until God spoke to me…

Monday and into Monday Night - the burden of prayer was so heavy that I was literally shaking and could not stop weeping. I didn’t know that they were coming to Ohio . I prayed and walked and wept and walked. I prayed and prayed and wept and prayed…

Tuesday at 2:00 A.M. - God spoke these words to me - “…Go turn the Radio on!” Immediately the Reporter’s Words were - “McCain & Palin Bus to be in Lebanon later this morning for a 10:00 A.M. Rally!”

Immediately on hearing that news, I heard God again…God said, “You are to go. You will meet them and give them a message for Me!”

I prayed as an intercessor and went to a place in prayer that I don’t think I’ve ever been…because the LORD had just visited me…and I knew I was on a ” Mission .” I had now been up since Sunday NIght…and now it’s Tuesday and I’ve got to go on the “WORD of the LORD.” He sure became My Strength as this unfolds…

I didn’t stop praying until I drove over to the town and parked the car. The News would later report they were expecting 5,000 people and the actual head-count of those who had been scanned was more than 10,000 people.

I simply obeyed…and God actually told me where to stand, who to talk to…and when to be on the move. I had sure learned on the Mission Field, when God wants to open a door, He will do it at the appropriate time. He always has someone to assist…and even those standing beside you may just be an Angel.

I struck up a conversation with an agent on the ground - he simply said, “I can’t allow you to stand here!” Here is where the bus was going to actual pull up to. They had to make a much larger perimeter so the entire area was now being moved back several blocks. The only other thing he told me to do was to go through the metal detector zone and just watch from the back. So, that’s what I did.

Due to sensitivity of the Internet…I can’t share much of the story as to what happened next was a definite GOD THING ALL THE WAY.

Looking over the shoulders and backs and heads of all those people…I knew it would take a miracle for what GOD told me to do.

As I was standing there, two Boy Scouts came running up my back…literally, they almost knocked me to the ground because they were running so fast behind me…up my back and over to the right. These Boy Scouts were about Junior High Age. Their Scout Leader and several others were behind them…but as the two out front was trying to push through the crowd, saying they were late…the smaller scouts were left in their dust. The Scout Leader who was with a McCain Rep from the State grabbed me and told me bring the other Scouts up front as they try to keep up with the first two that just came through.

I just became the leader of the rest of the Scouts to lead them right up front and center. As the Rep was shouting back at me…to bring the Scouts forward…the people parted just like God parted the Red Sea.

I marched them boys right up front and to the right of the stage as one was looking from the back. When I got there I was fifteen feet from the podium. GOD said, “Stand here, and don’t move from this spot.”

Within five minutes…the bus pulled up and around the other side McCain, Sarah Palin and her husband Todd stepped up and the speeches took off. I was where God placed me…and even Sarah Palin and Todd were standing on my side of the stage. I made eye contact, I gave them thumbs up gestures…and I knew they were just happy to see me standing there. Ha Ha

When they came around the podium and started on the other side, I knew they were coming right toward me, a little lady who stood by me, reached up and told the Rep that they had promised a Picture with her because she was the one who had lost a son in Iraq, recently. The Rep confirmed she would get a pic with them and they would talk to her. When McCain came to hug her… he immdiately shook my hand and following his moment with her, I shook his hand as he grabbed my hand, now for the second time, and I said, “God wants you to know that I’m praying for you, Sir!” He thanked me and kept smiling. I repeated that phrase to him five times. He grabbed my hands and looked right into my eyes and said, “I won’t make it without prayer. Sir, Thank You for praying for me, and don’t let one day go by that you don’t pray for me. I need all the prayers that I can get. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!”

As he moved to my right, Sarah Palin, came over to my left side…standing over the crowd and then looking at the little lady who had lost the son. It took a moment for her to shake some hands and people were pushing in all around. Sarah came and got on her hands and knees on that side of the stage and hugged that little Mom, telling her, “…it was not in vain.” She promised her support.

It was at this moment Sarah Palin, reached out for me to help her up and as I was assisting her to stand I was now face to face with her and GOD said, “Open up your Mouth and I will fill it.”

Here is what came out…

“God wants you to know that you are a present day Esther!”

[She immediately began to cry]!

“God wants to tell you that you are Chosen for such a time as this!”

“You are called, and chosen to be a leader.”

“Don’t lose heart and don’t fear man.”

“The news and nay-sayers and criticizers are going to be very hateful toward you… and in the days ahead they are going to turn up the heat…but do not fear.”

“You are a present day Esther.” You are an Esther. You are an Esther!

“Keep your eyes on GOD and know that He has chosen you to Reign!”

“Stay strong…be strong…don’t tire. Don’t be weary in well-doing. Be strong.”

Her husband Todd came over and I told him what I told her. He began to cry.

I emphasized the fact that he was to guard her at this time…and know that “…she is GOD-CALLED and GOD-ANOINTED.” “…this is a GOD-THING and your wife is a Present day Esther…she is for God to use at this time…She is an Esther…she is an Esther…she is an Esther.”

“You will be hated…but stand strong…GOD has called both of you to stand!”

“We are praying and I am praying for you…!”

At this moment, McCain came right to where I was finishing talking to Todd and I told Mr. McCain exactly what I told to Sarah and Todd Palin.

“Mr. McCain, …they are called of God and she is an Esther.”

“Don’t lose hope and don’t lose heart.”

“We are praying for all of you!”

He shook my hand and with a deep look of understanding what I had just said, he said, “Thank you for your prayers and support…I really do mean that!”

And he turned and shook more hands…and I watched them as they went through the crowd.

When I got to my car I sat there for quite a long time…knowing the GOD of the Universe had just used me to deliver a message confirming to Sarah and Todd to realize they are truly chosen vessels of God.

I wept. I have not stopped praying and crying. My heart is full knowing they had to have all the staging and all the hype and all the crowd…but the GOD of Heaven and Earth…wanted to give them a Divine-God-Appointment!

To God be all the GLORY and HONOR.

If anyone wants to know if I believe God can speak. Yes…Absolutely, is my Answer!

Be praying for me…and let me know what you think about all of this.

Pastor Mark Arnold
(Email redacted by me (teresa) because even crazy people deserve some measure of privacy  if you want the e-mail, follow the link above, and read the comments section there until you find this comment)

[Update:  Some more instances of Mark Arnold on the web:

http://mjwsjw.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/pastor-mark-arnold-talks-with-todd-sarah-palin/

http://thevirtuousrepublic.com/?p=1353 (first or second comment, I forget)

http://covenant.mypodcast.com/200708_archive.html (podcasts of his sermons.  I know you will be inspired!)]

And just a reminder to any fair-minded people who might point out that there is no real connection between Sarah and this guy, and that no candidate has control over who endorses them and how:  fair enough...but remember, Sarah doesn't put a lot of distance between herself and this kind of thinking:

While much is being made of Obama serving on a couple of the same boards and being members of some of the same groups  as Ayers, and Ayers doing a fundraiser for Obama…

(Watch your associations people, just being in the room with Ayers a few times has Obama fingered as a terrorist bent on destroying America. er sumptin'  (hey Sam, big Palin-style wink attcha))

…I haven’t heard about him doing anything like, oh, say, trying to finagle a Presidential pardon for him.

In fact, he has publicly disavowed Ayers violent and radical past.

Apparently the right doesn’t care that Michele Bachmann tried to get a presidential pardon for Vennes (a major campaign contributor) to relieve him of having to have any “personal responsibility”.

If having some common memberships makes Obama a terrorist, what does it make Michele when she advocates for a drug-dealing, gun-dealing, money-laundering Christian currently part of the focus for a fraud investigation?

In my book, nothing more than an embarrassment showing extremely poor judgement…but if you judge her by the right’s measure, she would be a drug dealer , illegal gun dealer, money-launderer and fraud investigation subject.

Fair is fair, after all…

Michele, (Palin’s ideological twin and intellectual “mini-me”; has there been an interview with Michele Bachmann in the last couple of months where Palin HASN’T been mentioned?  If Sarah is the Sarahcuda, then Michelle is…uh…however you creatively meld “michele” and “remora”…Michmora? )…

…anyway, Michele has retracted the request…since it has come to light…oops!

Also, just as an aside, I hope for Palin's sake that if she and McCain DO win, and the right-wingers prayers for a speedy McCain death ARE answered, that Michele Bachmann doesn't get re-elected.  It would hurt Palin with the base to have Michele clinging to her like she did to Pres. Bush at that one State of the Union address...although a certain segment would find it hawt...while condeming it and hitting the "back button".

From the DumpBachmann site:

Bachmann withdraws pardon request that links her to unfolding Petters scandal
By Andy Birkey 10/6/08 12:51 PM

In 2007, Rep. Michele Bachmann sent President Bush a letter recommending he pardon a man who is a major contributor to her campaign even though he lives outside of her district. Last Thursday, Bachmann withdrew that letter, written on behalf of Frank Vennes, after FBI, IRS and U.S Postal Inspection officials seized numerous items from Vennes’ home in connection with the ongoing investigation of Vennes’ business associate Tom Petters.

Vennes served time in the 1980s for illegally selling a firearm, cocaine distribution and money laundering. While in prison, he became a devout Christian, and after his release he became a devout Bachmann campaign contributor. Prior to Bachmann’s election (and letter writing), Vennes contributed $14,200 to her campaign; in 2008, he has contributed $4,600. Vennes’ wife Kimberly, who uses the same P.O. box number as Vennes, has contributed another $8,800

Just...wow.

You know how when you read the Illuminatus Trilogy, you thought that you could probably tell what drugs the authors were doing when they wrote each passage?  (I'm not the only one, right?  Right?)

Don't even try to do that level of analysis.  Just go along for the ride.

Oh No! A black man making a plausible run for the Presidency of the United States inspires a school drill team of black youths to make up a drill about how they see hope for their futures as Architects, Doctors, and Entrepreneurs! In other news, kids praying to a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush and vowing to bring about a one-world theocracy is just wholesome fun.

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed  are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

Hallowed are the Ori!

How do I know?

Well, they just had one question:

Should abortion be legal in all cases, legal in some cases, illegal in most cases, or illegal in all cases?

I said "legal in all cases".

That was the end of the "survey".

So the poll was either incredibly poorly designed (not even demographic information asked for, no other data to give context to the answer)...or it was a push-poll and my answer designated me as someone who would not be swayed by whatever lies they were going to come around with to use as a wedge to try to push me from a middle position to the "illegal in all cases" position.

The thing that sort of pisses me off, though, is that Tim answered the phone.  They didn't even bother to check his age.  I wonder what they would have done if he hadn't gotten uncomfortable and passed the call off to me.

Would they have used the phone to try to psychologically manipulate a child without his parent's permission/knowledge?  Probably.  Slimey bastards.

The AFA sent me an action alert asking me to take the "viewer's pledge":

Dear Teresa,

Are you tired of the extremely bias reporting by ABC, NBC and CBS? Do something about it! Tell the networks you are fed up with their attack on conservatives. Join other Americans who are tired of these networks promoting Barack Obama and attacking Sarah Palin. Take the pledge to not watch ABC, NBC or CBS until after the November elections! When the networks lose viewers, they also lose money. If viewers aren’t watching their promotion of Barack Obama and their trashing of Sarah Palin, they are losing money!

Send a message! We are sick and tired of your bias reporting, and we are not going to watch it anymore!

We will keep you informed on the progress of The Viewers’ Pledge.

Results will be given to ABC, NBC, and CBS.

The Viewers Pledge’ simply states, "I pledge not to watch any news programs on ABC, NBC and CBS until after the November elections."

Take the Pledge Now!

LOL!  I wonder if it could have anything to do with the expectation that soon, CBS will be airing more segments of the Palin/Couric interview where Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court decision except Roe V. Wade.

I'm guessing that the more people they can get to self-lobotomize before THAT hits the air, the better.

Here's a picture of what 50% of Americans look like to a conservative.

I think this might be what Robert Beal would say if he was capable of stringing words together that made sense.

It is probably a lot like the opinions held by such "top producers" as Tom Petters.

Seems like something "top producers" William and Shirley Pierce might have taught their students.

It sound like it would be right in line with the philosophy of intelligent, moral people like Fort Mill Mayor Danny Funderburk.  Now THAT'S a guy with a complex mental life who must certainly feel the moral weight of responsibility.

That mean government, always interfering with innocent, hard-working rich people.  Oh!  Those evil liberals who want to burden these bastions of virtue with government interference and regulation!

I think it's great that these poor put-upon assets to our country have someone to stand up and speak for them.

[off-topic update- Rocky just came back from a professional function, and reported that someone told him in conversation tonight that the reason we are in this economic mess is because the Democrats were helping the blacks buy houses.  Wow.  Rocky said he just walked away.  Probably the best response.  Really, the only safe and sane response.  The guy was probably armed.  Our friend Blake was there as well.  It will be interesting to get his take on it.]

[on-topic update] There's little news of this in the conservative MSM, but apparently the good Chrsitian morality says it's OK to gas babies and children if they are Muslim.  Dont you liberals wish that you had that kind of clarity and sanity?  You'd never be able to vote for Obama if you had these kind of rock-solid values.

Here's a cute story about how Kirk Cameron won't kiss anyone but his wife....including on screen.

That's very sweet.

It almost makes you forget that he's an extremist adherent to a philosophy that is trying to hasten the day when he and all of those in his religion get to slaughter most of the rest of humanity in rivers of blood, destroy the earth, and bring hellfire and torment to everyone who doesn't believe as he does.

(read with crackely old crazy prospector voice)

W-e-e-elll Do-o-o-gies.  Shift my ever moving foundation!  Darned if they haven't come up with a fine solution to the economy, the oil shortage, and the dilemma of marriage equality...the Pastor's pledge.  We'll lick 'em dern commies yet!

Just look at all of the pastors who signed their pledge.  Someone from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has come on board.  Aye-men.

They will also be happy to see that I made sure to do everything I can to get this into the hands of as many people as possible...just as they requested.

Yet another example of the true agenda of the "pro-life" movement raising it's ugly head.

PZ Myers got a letter the other day.

The letter follows below.  Notice once again, rhetoric that equates birth control to abortion.  This rhetoric has always been there, but it is increasing in frequency and volume.  The issue is not life, nor human dignity for these people, it is about control of women and their sexuality.

(Hat tip: Pharyngula)

My name is Mike Koelzer and I am the owner of Kay Pharmacy in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I thought you might be interested in seeing the recent coverage on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson of our pharmacy's policy to not sell contraceptives. You will find the link to the ABC video at www.prolifepharmacy.com.

Ours is a very important story on the abortifacient properties of birth control pills and why we no longer carry them in our third-generation, family-owned pharmacy.

I would enjoy speaking at your church or your organization's conference or other event. I also would be honored to have you share my apostolate in your blog etc. To learn more about my apostolate, please see www.prolifepharmacy.com

 

 

Thought it would be fun.  Anyone else want to go?  >:->

Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire e-mail list of family and friends.

Biblical Worldview Conference in St. Paul

Dear Teresa,

What: A Code Blue Rally for students and adults

Purpose: To equip Christians to stand for truth

         in an "anything goes" culture

Where: St. Paul, Minnesota

Place: North Heights Lutheran Church

       1700 West Hwy. 96

When: Sunday, October 12 (5:30 to 9:30 p.m.)

Costs: No admission fee

Speakers: Dr. Bob Cornuke, Sean McDowell

         (son of Josh McDowell) and Brannon Howse

Topics include: Three Worldview Trends You Must Understand

If You Want To Contend and Defend Your Faith; Political Correctness

is Cultural Marxism; Eight Ways To Think Like A Christian;

A Christian Response to Global Warming and Animal Rights;

Understanding The Reason For the Rise of Oprah's Pagan

Spirituality and a Christian Response; The Search For Noah's Ark,

The Ark of The Covenant and Mt. Sinai;

Why Worldview Training Matters and Students Want it;

The Rise of One-World Spirituality and more.

Seating is limited and filling fast.

There is no admission fee,

but you must register online at www.codebluerally.com. 

I was involved peripherally in a discussion with a wacky fundy on his blog once.  He insisted that pacificsts were immoral, because they would stand idly by and allow someone to rape and murder their children.

Either that, or they would commit violence in order to protect their family, so they weren't really pacifists.  Indeed, he went on to argue that pacifism was immoral.

This is so typical of that mindset; create a strawman to attack by only accepting polarizing assumptions.  Oddly enough, this guy was really hot on accusing other people of creating strawmen...but usually what he called "strawmen" were actual arguments.

But back to pacifism.  A friend just lent me season two of Kung Fu, and I was watching an episode that reminded me of this argument, and encapsulated my argument perfectly.

There was a Hutterite community being menaced and attacked by cattelmen (typical western motif) and the leader of the Hutterites was going to move his community; despite the fact that a large amount of their sheep were ill and would not survive the journey.

When Cain suggested that they stand their ground, the Hutterite leader said that if he is attacked by a man with a stick he had three options:

1) Let the man beat him and do nothing.

2) Beat the man rather than being beaten.

3) Go somehwere else.

Cain pointed out that there was another option:

4) Take the stick away from the man.

What was critical to the Christian's argument in my story was that he take away option #4.  That was the only way for him to complete his argument that pacifism is immoral.  In order to make pacifists craven, cowardly and immoral and the brave Christian "soldiers" preaching millitarism moral...he had to do away with #4.

Here's a real-world example.

In peaceful protests in recent years, protestors have discovered people in their midst that they have reason to believe are police officers acting as agents provocatuer.  They are usually dressed as "black block" anarchists...probably because that explains why their faces are covered (difficult to prove that they are cops if their faces are covered).  You can dismiss the fact that sometimes they are wearing boots identical to the riot police, or whatever evidence the protesters have.

It doesn't matter if the provocatuers are policemen in fact or not.  There is no need to prove it to court-level standards.  The protestors are developing a method of dealing with it that I think will eventually become quite effective.

Whenever someone notices another protestor about to start violence, or pushing for violence, they raise the alarm.  The protesors surrounding the provocatuers withdraw to create a ring  of space around the provocatuers, isolating them and making it easier for cameras to catch all of the action around them.

They then take up some sort of chant expressing their belief that the people in question are police, and that they reject the violence being encouraged by the provocatuers.

Eventually, the provocatuers are forced to leave.

The weapons of the provocatuers are:

1) Anonymity

2) Confusion

3) Public perception that they are part of the protest and their actions are tacitly approved by the other protesters.

Effectively executed, this tactic should eliminate the stories that involve the press saying "and then someone threw a bottle".  With the provocatuer isolated and easily identified, there will be no excuse for collective punishment.  So far, the weakness of this is that in order for it to work, it is necessary for the activist organizers to keep everyone together.  Where it failed in St. Paul was that the provocatuers broke off from the main protest, and this tactic does nothing if they are somewhere they cant be contained.  When you hear the organizers yelling "walk don't run"...that is probably so that people are not accidentally injured in mob panic.  However, it would also help to keep the groups together, where they can police their own membership.

The weapons of violence can be taken away by identification, organization, and isolation of those trying to use the cover of the community to violate the values of the community.  And no one gets hurt.

As one protester put it "nonviolent direct action".

So the Christianist millitants can mock pacifism all they want, and try to make it seem like pacifists are a bunch of immoral pansies...and they can even use that idea to convince themselves that their millitarism for their faith is moral and rightous.

That's fine with me because any pacifist knows...self-deception is always the first step toward self-defeat.

If you are interested, here are some examples of this priciple in action:

In this video, the tactic I describe comes into play about minute seven:

Here you can see how it worked in Canada with a bunch of Canadian protesters.

You can see that the protestors put themselves between the uniformed officers and the undercover officers with rocks (the police department was later forced to admit that the three people in question were undercover officers, but insist that their assignment was not to start trouble...however, they were identified as cops due to their provocative behavior, and their police-issued boots. They identified them, isolated them, prevented them from provoking violence. The video shows the provocatuers being cuffed, but the police department was forced to admit that they were officers when investigation showed no record of the arrests.

And as I alluded to before, this tactic works against all provocatuers, those who are police and those who are not.

Pacifism is the committment to find the non-violent solution.  It is a lie to say that that way has to be self-destructicve or ineffectual.

Remember how we were hearing there for a while about how Christian preachers were stirring up villages in Africa and driving out "witches", and there were lots and lots of pathetic stories about little kids and old people being horribly abused and tortured because of being accused of witchcraft? 

Well, Sarah Palin was apparently prayed over by an African Bishop who claims to have purged a town of witchcraft.  I'm a little creeped out by that.

Here is a description of how Bishop Muthee waged spiritual warfare on the town.  I especially like the part about how his helpers weathered demonic attacks characterized by sickness and physical weakness while fasting.  You gotta love it when people who aren't eating describe the results as the work of demons.  But apparently, these ended once they got some people to invade the local witch's home, murder her pet python, arrest her, and then she left the town.  They drove her out with their spiritual power!

Sheesh.  These people make Obama's former pastor look like a normal pastor by comparison.

Talk-to-action has assembled a great deal of good information:

Part one

Part Two

So really, what does this all have to do with Sarah Palin the candidate? 

Frankly, we don't know.  The things coming out of churches she has belonged to are disturbing.  She would do well to give a speech asserting her comittment to a secular government, and detailing her opinion of the role of private belief in public life.

This is much more important than stupid questions about the "baby burden" and whether or not she had an affair, or the fact that her daughter is pregnant.

I'd like to know if she thinks sound anti-crime policy includes storming witches houses, murdering their pets, and driving them out of town. 

This quote made me laugh though...but only fellow "tick" fans will get it:

"God showed Pastor Thomas the need for “armourbearers” so he gathered the intercessors (now 9) and gave each person two armourbearers on the day they fasted and prayer (the person from the day before and after) to form a protective hedge. "

"Saaaayyy...Aren't you guys crazy Dominionists bent on destroying modern civilization and controlling the world?"

"No, we're a hedge."

Hey, what good is it living in an age where insane people are on a spiritual mission to destroy the world if you can't have fun with it?

Skatja just posted an e-mail sent to her because her dad is an antheist.

In the letter, the Christian says that it should have been illegal for her to be born.

And then signed the letter "with love".

The mind boggles.

I admit, I was getting a little tired of being called Hitler by Ben Stein, Ann Coulter, Rev. Lively and other Dominionist rabbel.  I am completely gobsmacked that they are so completely ignorant of the actual man and his actual message, and how completely, vigorously, and explicitly it is opposed to the liberal/scientific/civic worldview.

Here's from the first chapter of the second volume of Mein Kampf:

The moment these artists in parliamentary government have the first glimmering of a suspicion that their darling public may be ready to kick up its heels and escape from the harness of the old party wagon they begin to paint the shafts with new colours. On such occasions the party astrologists and horoscope readers, the so-called 'experienced men' and 'experts', come forward. For the most part they are old parliamentary hands whose political schooling has furnished them with ample experience. They can remember former occasions when the masses showed signs of losing patience and they now diagnose the menace of a similar situation arising. Resorting to their old prescription, they form a 'committee'. They go around among the darling public and listen to what is being said. They dip their noses into the newspapers and gradually begin to scent what it is that their darlings, the broad masses, are wishing for, what they reject and what they are hoping for. The groups that belong to each trade or business, and even office employees, are carefully studied and their innermost desires are investigated. The 'malicious slogans' of the opposition from which danger is threatened are now suddenly looked upon as worthy of reconsideration, and it often happens that these slogans, to the great astonishment of those who originally coined and circulated them, now appear to be quite harmless and indeed are to be found among the dogmas of the old parties.
So the committees meet to revise the old programme and draw up a new one.

Take away the snarky cattiness, and what you've got is a long complaint about how representative government works:  "Oh, the parties become obsessed with helping themselves and forget who they're supposed to be serving, and then people have to get mad and make them pay attention." 

Frickin' duh.

That's why the founders had a distaste for parties.  But the fact of the matter is; that in a representative government similarly-minded people will form parties.  And those parties...like the government...have to be kept in line by the people they represent.  Whining about how proper citizenship in a representative government is hard, and you have to keep working to make it work.  What a big baby.  Man up and do it.  That’s like saying your car is broken because you have to keep steering it.

This is where McCain had it the most right last night.  And if you saw the cameras panning the crowd, you could see many individual that DID NOT like it.  Party politics are inevitable, but it is up to the people to keep them from eclipsing the good of the nation…just as it is the people’s job to keep the government working for them rather than for itself, and you do it by staying informed and voting and speaking, and not accepting bullshit.

Hitler was a big whiny baby...but he has a plan.  Do away with Democracy, and you can REALLY fight Marxism!  (By which he appears to mean market socialism...not communism.  He REALLY didn't like the idea that a society that needs things it doesn't have should, through it's government, trade and negotiate and enter into diplomacy with countries that have the needed materials and make agreements with them.  Also, forget about figuring out how society can live within its means.  The society should, instead use millitary force to go get them.)

So let's say Germany needed oil.  Having to deal with countries that have oil and get them to hand it over through economic (Marxist) means by managing trade through the government, which has collective bargaining power, the government under Hitler would go and take the oil needed.  (Forget about conserving or trying to reduce demand) Because the chosen people of God needed it (he spent much of Volume one establishing the case for the Aryan people as being God's chosen winners in the struggle - the microevolutionary struggle where the species of man can "evolve" within the species, but clearly...the species of man did not evolve from an ancestor in common with non-human animals.  This is important, because for Hitler the natural order was an inflexible one ordained by God, with man at the top, and with the Aryan race above all other kinds of men.  Being the result of "random chance" would not give the Aryans the God-given right to take what they (in his mind) needed to survive.) 

It might be also convenient to come up with some excuse for why the people you're running over in the process deserve it.  'cause Hitler has noted in Vol. I that civilized people don't enjoy this sort of thing, but he argued it is necessary.  For survival.  The political and economic models have failed (because you have to keep fixing them).

Scarcely anything else can be so depressing as to watch this process in sober reality and to be the eyewitness of this repeatedly recurring fraud. On a spiritual training ground of that kind it is not possible for the bourgeois forces to develop the strength which is necessary to carry on the fight against the organized might of Marxism.

Basically, if you’re tired of politics as usual, tired of repeatedly having to control your government, then sign on with us!  We'll take care of it!  What we need is a whole new approach!  You're tired of having the same old process where you have to keep participating and making your elected officials pay attention to you and keep them honest and stuff, we'll fix it!

At a time in which the one side, armed with all the fighting power that springs from a systematic conception of life – even though it be criminal in a thousand ways – makes an attack against the established order the other side will be able to resist when it draws its strength from a new faith, which in our case is a political faith. This faith must supersede the weak and cowardly command to defend. In its stead we must raise the battle-cry of a courageous and ruthless attack. Our present movement is accused, especially by the so-called national bourgeois cabinet ministers – the Bavarian representatives of the Centre, for example – of heading towards a revolution. We have one answer to give to those political pigmies. We say to them: We are trying to make up for that which you, in your criminal stupidity, have failed to carry out. By your parliamentarian jobbing you have helped to drag the nation into ruin. But we, by our aggressive policy, are setting up a new philosophy of life which we shall defend with indomitable devotion. Thus we are building the steps on which our nation once again may ascend to the temple of freedom.

See,  what he’s saying is that the "Marxists” have this systematic approach to life based in the idea that it is governed by predictable natural processes.  And that has made them corrupt, because they violate the old view of life which was mystical and had heart and…whatever…so the traditional way of life has to be energized by a “new” philosophy of government.  To preserve what’s old against what’s new, you have to be newer yet.

Shorter Hitler:  There are times when people have to put effort into maintaining their civil society, but they get tired of doing it.  So when those times of testing come along and effort is required, it is time to propose change.

And if someone comes along and suggests changes…you have to suggest something changier...but you have to leave some things the same:

1)     Sound Religious Doctrine:

By helping to lift the human being above the level of mere animal existence, Faith really contributes to consolidate and safeguard its own existence. Taking humanity as it exists today and taking into consideration the fact that the religious beliefs which it generally holds and which have been consolidated through our education, so that they serve as moral standards in practical life, if we should now abolish religious teaching and not replace it by anything of equal value the result would be that the foundations of human existence would be seriously shaken. We may safely say that man does not live merely to serve higher ideals, but that these ideals, in their turn, furnish the necessary conditions of his existence as a human being. And thus the circle is closed.
Of course, the word 'religious' implies some ideas and beliefs that are fundamental. Among these we may reckon the belief in the immortality of the soul, its future existence in eternity, the belief in the existence of a Higher Being, and so on. But all these ideas, no matter how firmly the individual believes in them, may be critically analysed by any person and accepted or rejected accordingly, until the emotional concept or yearning has been transformed into an active service that is governed by a clearly defined doctrinal faith. Such a faith furnishes the practical outlet for religious feeling to express itself and thus opens the way through which it can be put into practice.
Without a clearly defined belief, the religious feeling would not only be worthless for the purposes of human existence but even might contribute towards a general disorganization, on account of its vague and multifarious tendencies.

2)      Identity:

To take abstract and general principles, derived from a philosophy which is based on a solid foundation of truth, and transform them into a militant community whose members have the same political faith – a community which is precisely defined, rigidly organized, of one mind and one will – such a transformation is the most important task of all; for the possibility of successfully carrying out the idea is dependent on the successful fulfilment of that task.

 Out of the army of millions who feel the truth of these ideas, and even may understand them to some extent, one man must arise. This man must have the gift of being able to expound general ideas in a clear and definite form, and, from the world of vague ideas shimmering before the minds of the masses, he must formulate principles that will be as clear-cut and firm as granite. He must fight for these principles as the only true ones, until a solid rock of common faith and common will emerges above the troubled waves of vagrant ideas.
The general justification of such action is to be sought in the necessity for it and the individual will be justified by his success.

3)      Appeals to individualism, and rejection of “statism”.

The current political conception of the world is that the State, though it possesses a creative force which can build up civilizations, has nothing in common with the concept of race as the foundation of the State. The State is considered rather as something which has resulted from economic necessity, or, at best, the natural outcome of the play of political forces and impulses. Such a conception of the foundations of the State, together with all its logical consequences, not only ignores the primordial racial forces that underlie the State, but it also leads to a policy in which the importance of the individual is minimized. If it be denied that races differ from one another in their powers of cultural creativeness, then this same erroneous notion must necessarily influence our estimation of the value of the individual. The assumption that all races are alike leads to the assumption that nations and individuals are equal to one another.

This is important, because after all, he believes that government doesn’t work, is inherently flawed, and so any “solution” MUST require that the state be minimized and the individual elevated.  As long as the individual subscribes to the necessary philosophy, or at least supports it.  (For instance, it is not necessary for you to be a Christian as long as you recognize that the nation is a Christian nation, and support the supremacy of Christian principles in civic life).

The primacy of the god-ordered world is argued here:

Over against all this, the völkisch concept of the world recognizes that the primordial racial elements are of the greatest significance for mankind. In principle, the State is looked upon only as a means to an end and this end is the conservation of the racial characteristics of mankind. Therefore on the völkisch principle we cannot admit that one race is equal to another. By recognizing that they are different, the völkisch concept separates mankind into races of superior and inferior quality. On the basis of this recognition it feels bound in conformity with the eternal Will that dominates the universe, to postulate the victory of the better and stronger and the subordination of the inferior and weaker. And so it pays homage to the truth that the principle underlying all Nature's operations is the aristocratic principle and it believes that this law holds good even down to the last individual organism. It selects individual values from the mass and thus operates as an organizing principle, whereas Marxism acts as a disintegrating solvent. The völkisch belief holds that humanity must have its ideals, because ideals are a necessary condition of human existence itself.

The idea that natural processes organize the world is anathema to Hitler, because it inevitably leads to socialism.  If the world functions mechanistically, and there is no divine will directing it, then you cannot say that one thing is better than another.  One action is not more moral than another, one idea is not better than another, and one race is not better than another.  The order in nature had to be, in Hitler’s mind, the result of an intelligent, moral creator.  The actions of nature had to have moral value for his concepts to work.

(Incidentally, another reason Darwin ended up on the bonfires is the sentence that follows the one above:

But, on the other hand, it denies that an ethical ideal has the right to prevail if it endangers the existence of a race that is the standard-bearer of a higher ethical ideal. For in a world which would be composed of mongrels and negroids all ideals of human beauty and nobility and all hopes of an idealized future for our humanity would be lost forever.

Darwin repeatedly and energetically rejected the idea that human morality should be trumped by natural processes.  Because he recognized those morals as being an inherent and natural part of humanity…and therefore a SURVIVAL TRAIT. )

I’ll just leave you with the last couple of paragraphs of Chapter 1 of Volume II of Mein Kampf:

It is self-evident that so general a statement of the meaningful content of a folkish philosophy can be easily interpreted in a thousand different ways. As a matter of fact there is scarcely one of our recent political movements that does not refer at some point to this conception of the world. But the fact that this conception of the world still maintains its independent existence in face of all the others proves that their ways of looking at life are quite difierent from this. Thus the Marxist conception, directed by a central organization endowed with supreme authority, is opposed by a motley crew of opinions which is not very impressive in face of the solid phalanx presented by the enemy. Victory cannot be achieved with such weak weapons. Only when the international idea, politically organized by Marxism, is confronted by the folk idea, equally well organized in a systematic way and equally well led – only then will the fighting energy in the one camp be able to meet that of the other on an equal footing; and victory will be found on the side of eternal truth.
But a general conception of life can never be given an organic embodiment until it is precisely and definitely formulated. The function which dogma fulfils in religious belief is parallel to the function which party principles fulfil for a political party which is in the process of being built up.
Therefore, for the conception of life that is based on the folk idea it is necessary that an instrument be forged which can be used in fighting for this ideal, similar to the Marxist party organization which clears the way for internationalism.
This is the goal pursued by the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
The folk conception must therefore be definitely formulated so that it may be organically incorporated in the party. That is a necessary prerequisite for the success of this idea. And that it is so is very clearly proved even by the indirect acknowledgment of those who oppose such an amalgamation of the folk idea with party principles. The very people who never tire of insisting again and again that the conception of life based on the folk idea can never be the exclusive property of a single group, because it lies dormant or 'lives' in myriads of hearts, only confirm by their own statements the simple fact that the general presence of such ideas in the hearts of millions of men has not proved sufficient to impede the victory of the opposing ideas, which are championed by a political party organized on the principle of class conflict. If that were not so, the German people ought already to have gained a gigantic victory instead of finding themselves on the brink of the abyss. The international ideology achieved success because it was organized in a militant political party which was always ready to take the offensive. If hitherto the ideas opposed to the international concept have had to give way before the latter the reason is that they lacked a united front to fight for their cause. A doctrine which forms a definite outlook on life cannot struggle and triumph by allowing the right of free interpretation of its general teaching, but only by defining that teaching in certain articles of faith that have to be accepted and incorporating it in a political organization.
Therefore I considered it my special duty to extract from the extensive but vague contents of a general world view the ideas which were essential and give them a more or less dogmatic form. Because of their precise and clear meaning, these ideas are suited to the purpose of uniting in a common front all those who are ready to accept them as principles. In other words: The National Socialist German Workers' Party extracts the essential principles from the general conception of the world which is based on the folk idea. On these principles it establishes a political doctrine which takes into account the practical realities of the day, the nature of the times, the available human material and all its deficiencies. Through this political doctrine it is possible to bring great masses of the people into an organization which is constructed as rigidly as it could be. Such an organization is the main preliminary that is necessary for the final triumph of this world view.

MPR has a group of "rank-and-file" Republicans representing the Republicans.  One of the women wanted to dispel the myth that Republicans are intolerant.

So she pointed out that just within that group they had "Agnostics and Christians and Catholics".

Fish don't see the water.  "Christians" don't see intolerance in saying that Catholics aren't Christian.

Stop talking about stupid rumors about fake extra-marital affairs, and the “mommy burden”, and stupid rumors about fake baby bumps.  Sarah Palin’s family isn’t the issue.  Sarah Palin herself is not the issue.  Sarah Palin is the current focal-point symbolic face of a movement.

That movement is the issue.  More to the point, its methodology is the issue.  Because movements that cannot advance without this methodology have never ended well for humanity, nor the nations that they were implemented in.

The fact of the matter is, that anyone who can’t recognize the methodology of the people pushing Sarah Palin forward is not going to be persuaded by anything…much less trivia like that.

And for God’s sake people;  if you DON’T recognize the methodology of the people pushing Sarah Palin forward - read Mein Kampf.

I realize that reading the disorganized, irrational ranting of an anti-evolutionist, anti-abortionist, anti-birth control, anti-multiculturalist, anti-political correctness, anti-managed-trade-policy, anti-conservationist militarist who opposed medical and public health solutions to sexually transmitted diseases and instead advocated a return to moral purity as the only real solution; who had the urge to stamp the word “God” on every public surface he got his hands on; who painted his political rivals as defeatist traitors determined to undermine certain victory, who painted his political rivals as leftist elitists by making populist appeals to anti-intellectualism; who insisted that social well-being rested on a cultural adherence to a unifying religious doctrine (while advocating individual religious freedom); who manipulated people with the specter of a hidden agenda of an unpopular minority to undermine the cultural health of the nation, and described himself as doing the "work of God"…

<breath>

…well, I can see how that might be tedious.

But then again, you already read it every day on the right-wing blogs and in the newspapers and see it on the television whenever you turn on the news.

Why not read the original?

And I don't even want to hear someone crying about how I called Sarah Palin a Nazi.  I most certainly did not.  In fact, I am merely pointing out the methodology that the Nazi's used for gaining power, and the similarities to the tactics of a certain right-wing political philosophy.  If you wish to argue that there is no right-wing political philosophy that embraces the positions and methods described above, or that Sarah Palin does not represent, advocate and support that philosophy, or that she is not being supported by people who adhere to that philosophy please feel free.

Or I guess you could argue that Hitler didn't actually have the above positions and use the above methods...but to prove that you'd have to actually read the things he wrote and said...and that would be hard and unpleasant....and you might learn something.

At any rate, the point is that Sarah Palin is not the point.

Stop worrying about personalities and personal issues (or personal non-issues).  And start worrying about positions and policy, and pay attention to the big picture.  Sarah is just one person in a bigger situation.

I was really hoping that McCain would take Pawlenty off of our hands...but if he HAD to have a woman...couldn't he have spirited away Michele Bachmann?

She actually, earnstly, and proudly, embraced the pejorative "Minnesota Nice".  Doesn't she know that "Minnesota Nice" is a sarcastic name for bitchy, underhanded, two-faced, shallow, passive-agressive fake niceness?

Come on, McCain, Michele is just as pretty as Sarah...just as much a Jesus nut-and-fruit-cake...just as pro-drilling.

Or MAYBE...

...dare I say it?

Maybe Sarah should dump McCain and ask Michele to be her running mate!

If one is good, then more is better.  Am I right, or am I right?  Think about it, Republicans! 

Obama on private matters of Sarah Palins family life:

"Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president."

"And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off limits."

And as for the whole "theory" about her supposedly faking her last pregnancy to cover another pregnancy by her daughter...

1) What? Somebody has too much time on their hands.  Sure, anything is possible...but there's just too many stilts on a story that DOESN'T MATTER. (In other words, I dont see any reason to believe it, and even if true, its unimportant.  Boot to the head.)

2)You can say it matters because Palin runs on "Traditional Family Values".  But that would mean that you are assuming that a mother faking a pregnancy and miraculously "delivering' a baby while her daughter is convelescing from a mysteriously convenently timed prolongued "illness" ISN'T "Traditional Family Values".

False assumption, epic fail. Try again, or better yet...pay attention to the possibility that Palin might be an anti-intellectual religious nut opposed to science-based policy instead.

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

One of the fundie blogs I read had a link to this article.

Here, the author uses a single article (which does no original research) to conclude that The vaccination against the HPV is not only not necessary, but also very likely ineffective.  The person then implies some unspecified dark and foreboding threat to the effect that “the left” (apparently, we’re organized, would someone please send a copy of our agenda to our politicians in Congress?  They seem to have lost theirs.)

First, about the implications of a dark and lurk-y agenda on the left for inoculating all girls by age 12; AND the objection that it won’t do anything about the virus spawning new forms of vaccine-resistant virus.

The second objection answers the first.  The virus can only create mutated versions of itself if it reproduces.  It can only reproduce if it infects someone.  If there is no-one to infect, viola!  No new forms of the cancer-causing virus.  Small pox is an example.  Eradication techniques were not limited to reaching critical levels of herd immunity, but it was the center piece of the effort.

Another objection (#3)is that the vaccine might not provide life-long immunity.  In other words…you might need a booster shot.  HORRORS!  I guess we should eliminate all shots where you need a booster from the mandatory shot list.

Another objection (#4)is that there are several strains of the virus, and the strains that this vaccine covers  might take over its ecological niche, and become cancer-causing and ubiquitous.

Well, if we are going to allow the fact that some other virus might eventually come to make us sick if we treat the ones that are making us sick right now, we might as well just give up on all of them.  There’s always another virus.  Where are all of the fundamentalists railing against flu shots?  You have to take one EVERY YEAR to benefit, after all, and sometimes you still get the flu.

Objection #5 is that it is expensive.  You think a shot is expensive?  Try cancer.  A good friend of mine has recently completed a fairly modest and standard treatment for breast cancer (lumpectomy, radiation, Tamoxifen).  She has insurance, but the costs that she was still responsible for would have wiped out many families.

Cancer is incredibly expensive in terms of individual expenses, lost worker productivity, and as a burden on the health system (no matter if it is a public system or a private system, the cost is ultimately born by all of us…weather we all pay for everyone, or if we price ourselves out of our ability to pay through competing for available resources).  It is very resource-intensive to treat.  If we want to make it affordable to treat the people who WILL get sick, we have to first stop people getting sick wherever possible.

Objection #6 isn’t in this article, but it has come up in some others: women will stop getting pap smears.  That seems unlikely.  Pap smears are a standard part of the yearly exam, which also includes a manual check for breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, among other things.  Both of these are amply scary enough to keep women coming back year after year.  Not to mention that the yearly exam usually includes non-reproductive general health checks.  Do people think that just because women lower their risk of cervical cancer by a significant margin, they will think their heart is just fine too? Bah, humbug.

Or does Bill Donohue give other people a jumping case of the creeping wiggins too?

Doesn’t Bill Donohue have anything better to do than to troll the internet looking for bloggers who offend him and then release his hoard of minions upon them?

He claims the mantel of defender of the faith.

Huh.  Seems to me that nothing defames a group with quite as much panache as does treating them like a flock of flying monkeys.

Winner of the “Bill Donohue nose-out-of-joint award” (so far) the story is from 2007:

My personal favorite is Cosimo Cavallero,  a Christian and a Catholic, who decided to sculpt Christ in the most treasured and loved substance in the Western world.  A substance synonymous with love:  Chocolate.    Donohue sicced his raving hoards of lunatics against this man.  Apparently, chocolate does not symbolize the same thing for Donohue that it does for Cavallero, but Donohue isn’t able to let it go at that.  He PROJECTS his thoughts and ideas into Cavallero’s head, and judges Cavallero by his own sick standards.

You might have argued that Cavallero could have thought it through and realized that a small segment of his audience would take the long and twisty road to offense…but why?  If you are not setting out to offend, if that’s not where your head is, why would you think that casting Jesus in a substance you associate with sweetness, love, childhood comfort, Easter, etc  would at all make people think you were inviting people to fillate Jesus?

Cosimo says that he wanted to evoke in people the sensation of sweetness as they viewed his chocolate Jesus.  To give them a sensory response to the idea.

You should actually follow the link and read the transcript of the interview with Anderson Cooper, to get an idea of what we are dealing with;  violent, childish, mean, tantrum-throwing school-yard bullies bludgeoning people with religion.  And over a Chocolate Jesus.

It’s quite plain in this interview that it’s not about Jesus.  It’s not about religion.  It’s about power.  It’s about “what I can do to you” and “how I am better than you” and about “you have no power to defend yourself”. 

Particularly at the end:

I was reading this article over at Pharyngula, and I was shocked!  Shocked It say!  by the callous disregard for pre-implanted persons.

Did you know that an estimated 40% of all blastocysts do not implant in the mother's uterus?

I demand to know what steps the pro-life commuity is going to take to ensure that these pre-implanted babies get the life they deserve as human beings.

I need a new irony meter.

My old one just exploded.

Check out this Michele Malkin post where she brags about defending a "communist" holiday from the Muslims.

That is one very confused woman, people.

A REAL conservative would have demanded that Labor Day be scrapped too.  AND would remove May First from the Calender...just to be sure.

Although I have to say that Tyson Foods kind of deserved a smack-down for trying to replace one holiday with another.  Some might say that they were allowing "political correctness" to run amok.

Actually, "political correctness" (or, what I like to call, "not being an offensive jack-ass") is supposed to LOWER the amount of sectarian offence and conflict in society.

Taking a holiday that a bunch of laborers see as "theirs" away from them and giving it to a group that they have been primed to believe are "taking away" everything they have...well...THAT'S not "politically correct".

That's bone-headed political tone-deafness.  Yeah, way to fan the flames of ethnic conflict there.

I hope this wasn't arson as well.

Let's get this straight:  Arson is really bad.  Political arson is about as dangerously uncivil as you can get. 

Yes....even if they are stirring up hate and encouraging, inciting and celebrating murder.

Even if they insult honorable millitary service, and publicly abuse the bereaved families of service members.

Even if they preach hate and intolerance.  Even if they abuse children by brainwashing them into a cultish mentality that makes it impossible for them to function in a modern society

You might argue that they deserve to ge their compound burned down.  And that may be, I don't feel qualified to decide what people deserve (although I will occasionally use the word in a case of hyperbole).

But if someone DID set fire to the Phelps compound in the dead of night, they should ask themselves these questions:

1) What lack of self-respect do you have that you have to go to your enemies in the dark of night and set fire to their property while they sleep?  Don't you have the courage of your convicitons?  For God's sake stand up and be counted.  Don't act like a worm.

2)What will it accomplish?  Do you think it will change what the Bible says?  Do you think it will change their belief that it is the word of God?  Do you think that somehow this will deter them from demanding that the government kill homosexuals? Do you think it will frighten them?  They're religious zelots.  Their religious beliefs are more important than their own lives, the lives of their children, their well being, and their mental health.  They've already sacrificed everything they are including their own sense of their own self-worth to their religion.  All you will do is further entrench them.  They have a mission from God to make the country comply with Biblical law.  Do you think a scorched garage is going to deter them?  No.  It will only harden their resolve, and encourage them into thinking they have hit a nerve.  It will rally them to more viggerous action.

Their religious beliefs have wired them to be REWARDED by "persecution".  That's why they seek it out, happily recount every instance, real or imagined, that they can find.  They invite it because it validates them and tells them they are on the right track.  They celebrate it because it makes them feel special, and they recount ever instance of it they can find because it binds them together in a community of the "special persecuted rightous" brotherhood of the Godly.

In other words, if this was arson, you are helping them.  Stop it.

3)  What so you think this does to our country and the current state of discourse?  You know...all you're going to do is make them objects of sympathy to their religious bretheren.  People who currently sympathize with them, but were on the side-lines are likely to finally throw in and come to their defense.  You would be making the problem worse.

4) If you are a Christian "defending" your religious beliefs...God help you.  You just became the other side of the same coin.

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Taike Rae suggested that people quit riding Greyhound after a single, horrifying, inhumanly ghastly incident.

I kind of wanted to suggest that she might want to avoid church or homeschooling or preachers after reading about this incident...but I refrained.

I already put my foot in it over there by dareing to suggest that palliative chemo is a more appropriate treatment; more likely to extend the life and increase the quality of life of terminal patients.  And further, that the radical (curative - shooting for a five-year survival rate)treatments that they were demanding for a terminal patient might cause more harm than good...It was suggested that I was in favor of murdering  sick people.

I'm not a doctor, but it seems like using a treatment designed to give maximum benefit to a particular condition is the way to go.

blegh.

Sometimes, there is no point.  Did you know she actually said that she didnt care if private charities withheld treatment that could actually save people's lives?  However, for some weird reason, government programs should be required to spend extra money to give inappropriate treatment to terminal patients that probably won't extend their lives, but will almost certainly cost a fortune more...while rejecting palliative care which would likely help them live a little longer and increas their quality of life.

The mind boggles.

I'd just like to point out, and I realize that noticing this singles me out as a disturbed person, - that the name of the Preacher in the second link is "Anthony Hopkins"

What are the odds?

[UPDATE:  PZ Myers pointed out something that I completely missed.  It just glazed over my brain without question.  He comments on it, though.  People often claim that our "culture" is hostile to Christianity, that the church does not occupy a privilaged place in our society.  Funny thing, when the police showed up to arrest the alleged child-molesting, mudrering, wife-butchering incestuous criminal, what did they do?  They allowed him to finish his sermon. Most of the time, when police show up to arrest someone like that, they dont let him finish getting dressed, or finish a sentence.  They let him finish his sermon.  Good grief.  Seriously, talk to me about persecution in this country, and expect me not to laugh.]

[UPDATE II:  Someone points out that the police might have waited because the didnt know how the parishoners might react.  Good point, especially in a day and age where many of them might be armed, and some parishes are primed for the day when the "government" comes to arrest their preachers and take their Bibles.  You just don't know for sure what you are dealing with.]

After the UU shooting, at least one more crazy has found a target for his confusion and hate.

One of my friend's mothers is a contact person for their local UU.

She recently got a threatening letter that says something about giving them 70 weeks to rid themselves of "abominations" or face the consequences.

Sigh.  Hopefully, this person is just a coward and a liar, and won't carry through on his promises.

If not, he should be prepared for resistance, as Orcinus points out:  People should not confuse pacifism with doormatism.

And maybe one or two people will realize that the real purpose of eliminationist rhetoric is NOT humor.

And Ann Coulter is not funny.

Also, I just realized that if Dr. Who were religious, he'd be a Unitarian:

 "Sweet...maybe. Passionate...I suppose, but don't ever mistake that for nice"

                                                   --Dr. Who

Speaking of Hate Speech:

Above is a video of the Rev. Scott Lively speaking overseas.  He's telling this story in his own way:

http://www.jewsonfirst.org/07c/sacto_murder_update.html

A quote from the above link (from the DA's summary):

Satender Singh was part of a group Fijian East Indian men and women who spent the day at Lake Natoma Park. Vusik and Shevchenko were part of a separate group that also spent the day at the park, near the Fijian East Indian group. The group with Vusik and Shevchenko believed they saw Singh behaving in a homosexual manner towards other male members of the Fijian East Indian group. During the course of the day, Vusik and Shevchenko made racial and ethnic slurs directed at the Fijian group, and homosexual slurs directed at Singh.

Around 8:00 p.m., Singh’s group prepared to leave the park. Vusik and Schevchenko approached Singh’s group, which was sitting at a picnic table. They demanded an apology from Singh, which Singh refused to give. Vusik then threw a cup of beer into the face of a member of Singh’s group, and threw one punch at Singh, hitting him in the face. Singh fell over backwards, hitting his head on a concrete walkway. Vusik and Shevchenko ran from the scene. Singh suffered a brain injury and was pronounced dead on July 5.

Here is a link to a home video taken by Singh's group that day.  While they were loud, and boistrous, and I could see how someone might consider them to be distracting or annoying, their behavior does not even begin to approach "offensive" or "indecent", and is certainly not something that you have to kill someone for; to "protect the children".

http://www.outsacramento.com/Satendar_group_home_video_at_lake_natoma.flv

Here is the memorial service, where a bunch of people got together and processed the events of the story:

One of these things is not like the other.  Rev. Lively's speech has people cheering and clapping at the death of an innocent man, and the escape of his alleged killer.  Furthermore, it casts the audience and Christians as the "true victims" and the murdered man as the villian/perpetrator.  Sick sick sick.

On the other hand, you have the "heretical" (by fundie standards) liberal theologins from several faiths affirming the sanctity of life and the importance of forgiveness and love.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, when Rev. Lively says that he has been "working" with the Russian community in Sacremento....This is what he means by that.  Oh and lets not forget, that Rev. Lively is one of the authors of a book that claims that the Nazis were a homosexual movement.

Yeah...if Scott Lively is one of the sheep, I'll just stand over here...with the goats, thanks.

I know.  I told you that Crackergate was over.  And I thought it was.

The University of Minnesota Morris supports Prof. Myers free speech.

But it turns out that the Catholic campus group has set its sights on Benjamin Collard.  They have filed charges against him and caused a hold to be placed on his records - preventing him for signing up for classes.  They are disrupting his education and he faces the possibility of being Expelled.  Huh..."expelled"...where have I heard that word before?

So what is Ben's crime?  I guess he "disrupted" the service by being in the presance of someone who didnt turn the body of Jesus into poop.

“I tried to look at my class schedule,” Collard said. “There was a hold placed on my account that I couldn’t sign up for classes.  I went to the office of Student conduct to see what was going on and they told me Catholic Campus Ministries filed charges against me.”

Quote from the link above:

Collard learned that he has been charged with misconduct, disruptive conduct and giving false identification, the exact same charges as Webster.

Collard has been silent since the episode but when he learned of the charges, he decided he’d be silent no longer.

He said during the incident he sat silently while everything else around him was happening.

“I didn’t talk to anybody, didn’t say anything,” he said. “While the situation, disruption happened, I was sitting in my seat looking forward, I did nothing.”

“I never spoke to a university official, I never lied about who I was,” Collard added. “I never engaged in any disruptive conduct.  I just think this is absolutely disgusting that they’re going after me.”

Sigh.

PZ Myers has a link to this article about Harry Potter and an accompanying rise in the popularity of "Witchcraft".

I read it, but its kind of long.  There's a lot of hyperventilating about the popularity of fantasy in the current culture, some self-righteous pontificating....but the really significant quotes are as follows:

"In these standby novels, girls fret over friends, popularity, sports, parents, boyfriends, jobs and homework—or a neighborhood "mystery." But in this new darker world, girls don’t simply ask a friend’s advice, hang out at the soda shop or give the team their best effort. That would be too boring and too passive. Today’s girl takes charge, even in the heavenlies—these young priestesses cast spells. The paperbacks are laced with actual spells and rituals suited to many teen occasions. They are also packed with sexual innuendo and activity;"

uh huh...'cause hanging out at the soda shop had nothing to do with sexual innuendo and activity...and "boring and passive" girls never get into trouble.  Seriously?  You want your little girls to be boring, passive door-mats who know nothing about sex and hang out at the soda shop? (I think they actually hang out at coffee shops nowdays)  Jesus people, you might as well tattoo targets on their vaginas.

"It’s a seductive method of manipulating human envy by ensnaring naïve youth: if you’re a misfit, it’s not because you are lacking something; it’s because you are "above" the rest in a unique way."

Yeah...the other kids didn't pick you up and stuff you in the trunk of your car because you're an asthmatic shrimp with a 135 IQ, and they're a bunch of muscle-head jocks whose daddies told them they had to live it up 'cause these are the best years of their lives when they get to rule the school and have no consequences for their actions, and they know they'll have to spend the rest of their lives answering to people who are smarter and more educated than them.  They did it because YOU are lacking something.

But my favorite is this one:

"As adolescents peak in self–absorption, our panacea is to hand our offspring the sorcerer’s wand to wave away all troubles. They can use it to raise that already inflated self–esteem."

Obviously, this lady hasn't read the books she's condemning.  At no point does Harry simply "wave his magic wand" and have his troubles disappear.  Harry is initially protected by the loving efforts of his parents to shield him from danger, and prepare for his future.  Later, he learns to draw on the wisdom and advice of his teachers, and ask for help when he gets in over his head.  His loyalty to his friends and their resulting loyalty to him helps him through situations he could never have survived on his own.

In the end, he has to put his life on the line and risk everything...and it has nothing to do with his powerful magic.  It has to do with giving back to all of the people who stood by him what was given to him.  Giving love freely, and being willing to risk everything for the good.

Magic has nothing to do with Harry's final triumph.  It is achieved through love, trust, and courage.  The whole point of the ending is that he doesn't even raise his wand in order to win.

Geeze lady.

And, of course, no hyperventilating, hysterical scrawling are complete without the faint-hearted whining about D&D:

"Too numerous to mention are sites specific to role–playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and toys, CDs, DVDs and video games with occult themes."

OH NOES!  CHILDRENS CAN HAZ IMAGINASHUNS!  IM IN UR COMPUTER BRINGIN TEH DEBIL!

But how oh how do we stop it?

"Today we are urging parents and educators to prayerfully consider a general boycott of Scholastic materials in homes and schools country–wide." Kathi, a former witch who is now a Christian, has strong opinions about the Potter books. "Anyone who allows their children to read these books and participate in related activities is allowing their children access to the occult."

Of course!  Boycott the Scholastic-sponsored school bookfairs which is usually a primary vehicle for funding literacy programs in the school district! What we need is more illiteracy and less funding for the schools!  Naturally.  Genius.

Ill skip over the part where she bends herself into pretzel shape to involve Planned Parenthood, the feminists and homosexuals, and the ACLU in the plot to make your kids witches.  It's entertaining, but too self-satirizing to need my attention.

"And if your teen isn’t an activist or practitioner in middle school or high school, college is a fertile field for the growth of witch sympathies. Your daughter or son who takes a religion or women’s studies class at a non–Christian college can expect to be exposed to the benefits of alternative religions, mostly occultic, in overcoming the "oppression" of the entrenched Christian mainstream. "

For reals?  The University of Minnesota must be a Christian college then!  Except for my comparative religions class (which spent more than half the time on Christianity, 'cause there’s so many flavors).  Whatever.  Has this woman even BEEN on a college campus except maybe as a crazy mall preacher?

"If you are "as gods," you can make your own rules. Forget parents! Forget teachers! We’ll just live for the moment, the latest sensation and party on down. So witchcraft is a perfect fit for a paganized, pleasure–centered, shallow America.

I swear, everytime I hear a Christian's description of what their life would be like without Christianity, I thank God that they have Christianity.  People who have such a vivid imagination for depravity should certainly have a religion that makes them able to repress it,and keep it decently confined to airport men's rooms.

And I just have to say..."party on down?"  For real?  Linda, You. Are.  ADORABLE!

Finally, we have an end to "crackergate".  PZ puts up an complete post explaining his method and the purpose of the cracker desecration.

For the record, a copy of the Q'oran and a copy of the alleged Atheist Holy Book The God Delusion.  Were also included.

I'm still kind of torn about this.  PZ is not a hero due to this, but he made his point.

Message recieved loud and clear.

[UPDATE: Donohue demands that Prof. Myers be censured by the University if Minnesota, and has the audacity to compare the desecration of the Host to anti-sematism despite Prof. Myers pointing out that accusations of Host desecration were falsely used to kill hundreds of Jews in Europe over the centuries, and that during this whole incident, Myers was repeatedly accused of being a Jew by angry Catholics...because they assumed that a person would have to be a Jew to do such a thing. Donohue quoted extensivly from  the blog entry, but left out all of the parts where Prof. Myers explained the symbolism of his actions.  My guess is, it would have taken the starch out of the press release]

Over at Pharngula, Crackergate promises to draw to a close very soon.  PZ has announced the ignomineous demise of the cracker.

I have to admit, I found his decision to go through with it distateful and unecessary.  After all, why should he feel pushed by the out-cry to go through with something that was so obviously just illustrative hyperbole to begin with?  Acquireing a host merely to desecrate it (apparently, it is desecration to merely aquire the Host for any other purpose than mashing it with your teeth, mixing it with you saliva, swallowing it, and turning it into poop) seemed unessesarily provocative to me.

But I learned something when I got to this comment:

I feel very sad and hurt to read this. Many of you obviously don't understand that to Catholics what you have done is worse than spitting on us, abusing us or violating us. We would rather you did that to us than see a host desecrated. It is not a symbol or a religious object it is the one we love more than our own mothers and fathers, more than our children.
To do this is worse for us in one sense than if you had raped and tortured our loved ones. We are called to forgive so we will but that doesn't take away from the sheer revulsion, hurt and pain that you have caused to every Catholic who has heard of this very sad act of hatred and bigotry.

Posted by: Aron | July 24, 2008 7:52 AM

And this leads us back to PZ's original point:  It is a piece of starchy material.  It is not a person, and it is not the moral equivilant of a person, and it sure as heck isn't the moral superior of a person.

I realize that this guy doesn't speak for all Catholics.  I know many sane Catholics.  I'm related to some of them, but it is clear that someone like Aron would view them as not REAL Catholics.

And if he holds reverance for a peice of bread over the lives and well-being of people he loves, or even his own life...then that could one day end up being a real problem...like it has in the past.

How many Catholics do you know who don't believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation?  I know a few who go to mass every Sunday who have confessed doubt even about the divinity of Jesus.  What about the use of birth control?  More than one or two Catholics I know use it.

Those people are not the people who worry me.  The people who worry me are the people like Aron, who would rather see their children raped than see the Host desecrated.  Is that a real position of the Catholic church?  I don't think so.  I certainly hope not.

I would like to think that is hyperbole, but it was less than a year ago that I sat in my diningroom and listened to a lady complain about how people were "going after" and "hurting" the Catholic church because of pedophile cases.

I've heard a lot on the internet where people say the Inquisitions were not that bad...I hope we never end up having a modern demonstration. 

Shorter Michele Bachmann:

1)  I married the guy I did 'cause God told me to.  Tell you truth, he's not so hot, but my roomie and I shared a hallucination, so what'chagonnado?

2)God made me go to law school, I didnt want to.

3) God told me to run for political office, and I didn't want to, so I spent three days starving myself to weaken my resistance and talked myself into it.

4)  I may be crazy, but its OK, cause I'm Jesus Crazy.

hmmm...now it all makes sense.

I know tons and tons of people who are religious and DON'T drive themselves insane...

...but I can't help but wonder if more insane people would get help if Religion didn't give them so much cover?

It's just sad to me that either this woman has zero power in decision making, or she feels that she has to FAKE having absolutely no power over her own decisions.

I'd feel more sorry for her, but she's working really hard to screw up my country.

I read about Bill Donahue claiming he's going to sic the Muslims on PZ Myers, and I couldn't help it.  I think Bill Donahue thinks of himself as the Wicked Witch of the West, and the Muslims as his hord of flying monkeys.

Would that make PZ Dorothy, Skatja Toto,  Eugiene Scott the Scarecrow, Richard Dawkins the Tin Man, and Chris Hitchens the Cowardly Lion?

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

It's not that often that you happen accross a refutation of a creationist idea that also scewers an AGW denialist cannard...but there you go.

Bad Astronomer has one up now.

A while back, Mark and I were going 'round and 'round about AGW again.  I didn't actually have a lot of time right then, so I was just cutting and pasteing standard replies to the cannards he threw out from Gristmill...a place where they gather all the cannards together and give cursory and rudimentary answers to them to save people time.

Well, one of them was "The earth has been warmer!  There were palm trees in Antarctica!"

Implicit in this assertion is the idea that the earth was once warm enough for palm trees to grow at the south pole. 

But as BA points out...Antarctica was not always at the south pole.  In fact, parts of it were quite a ways north from there at one point, and it took significantly longer than 6,000 years for it to travel to it's current location.

 (Also implicit that since the earth has been warmer than it is now, the current unprecedented RATE of warming is unimportant, as is the accelleration of the rate.  Kind of like if you had water running into the bathtub at a greater rate than it can go out the drain, and someone worried about the tub over flowing and asked you to turn down the flow - it would be silly to point at the bathtub ring and declare that the tub would not overflow because it had been more full in the past.)

Anyway, here's some more denialist fun.  Let's not leave out the anti-vaxers!

cartoon from this site go look at it!

Can someone tell me what this person is trying to say?

That Photovoltaic energy kills babies?

Wind turbines destroy families?

Carbon credits burn Bibles?

Solar cells demand people get manditory abortions?

that Hitler was right, a healthcare system that provides easy access to birth control means the death of a civilization?

I don't get it.  There must be a point buried in there somewhere.

And what makes someone a "lefty-eco-freak"? an insistance on linear development of ideas in written language?

(Hat Tip:  Pharyngula)

Some of you might remember that terrible abuse of the Christian religion that was the Life of Brian.

And some of you might be aware that the Life of Brian was banned by a God-fearing community...among other places...

Quote from Wikipedia entry:  "It was also banned for eight years in the Republic of Ireland and for a year in Norway (it was marketed in Sweden as '"The film so funny that it was banned in Norway")"

And some of you might know some trivia about a certain actress that was in said movie and is now the mayor of said town.

Now, she apparently wants to abuse her power in a clear conflict of interest to persecute Christians by unbanning the terrible movie that blythely urged a generation to "always look on the bright side of life".

No doubt inspiring other un-Godly sources of a glib and light-hearted approach to the world that lead us down the primrose path.

Will the horror never end?

(Hat Tip: Pharyngula)

Yes, Wall-E apparently rolls glibly along in some sort of Marxist trance-world where the market is not inherantly moral...breaking the laws of Austrian economics along the way.

Commie robots...what next?

(Hat Tip:  Total Transformation)

Apparently, The desire to ridicule the idea of revereing a piece of unlevened bread is a "threat" to the Republican National convention.

My favorite quotes from the article above:

“I just felt security at the Republican National Convention ought to look at him and his followers,” Foley told CNA in a phone interview on Wednesday morning. He reported that he had not received an update about his request.

Voicing his concerns about Myers, Foley said: “What I think he has done, he’s loaded a cyberpistol and he’s cocked it and he’s left it on the table. He may have set something in motion that no one can stop. It was irresponsible, a hell of a thing to do.”

Oh my goodness!  Myers has a cyberpistol??!!  Whoa.  I want one too!  "Dear Budda, please bring me a cyberpistol, ooooh!  and a jet pack! (apologies to Joss Wheden)

And this one is good too.

Foley said he believes Myers was telling his readers to acquire a consecrated Host at Mass, which Foley thought would result in disruptions.

“What’s he telling them to do? Consecrated Hosts are not just lying around,” he said to CNA, noting that the only other possible way to secure a Host would be to accost a priest, nun, or layman taking the Sacrament to the sick. Even E-bay, Foley emphasized, has prevented the sale of consecrated Hosts.

Whoa.  Again.  Catholics sound badass!  Lutherans just hand them out to anyone who shows up at the alter.  The pastor just plops it down in your hand.  I had no idea that in the Catholic church you had to fight for it!  Whoa.

I have this weird vision now of Prof. Myers standing atop a hill in a dark hellscape a la "The One"...cyberpistol in one hand,  the other hand repeatedly backfisting and striking down an onrushing hord of Republicans intent on denying him the Host.

I better go and watch Rush on Colbert before my imagination adds tenticles to the scene. <shudder>

(hat tip: Pharyngula)