Such a task could only be accomplished by faaaaaaaaaaaavorite group of people: The Evangelical Christians.
Vision America, a group headed by Rick Scarborough (left), famed author of Liberalism Kills Kids, held an event on March 27th-28th at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. The War on Christianity and Values Voters conference was organized to whip up support amongst the conservative base. Guest speakers, including Tom DeLay (bye, bye dickhead!), spoke angrily of an America that is attacking their values. They screamed of how Christians across the country are being persecuted for their beliefs and how our society as a whole is corrupt.Huh?
Bill Maher, host of Real Time on HBO, I think commented on it best when he said:
People who run everything can't complain that they're underdogs. To whit, this week, there was a highly-attended conference in Washington called "The War on Christians." Because nothing quite says "I'm oppressed," like the opulent Regency Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel.Ah, yes, whatever happened to that plucky little cult, Christianity? Oh, that's right, they're 80% of the American people, and have taken over all three branches of government, country music, and public schools...
Did you know that the Missouri legislature recently felt the need to propose a resolution declaring Christianity Missouri's majority religion. No kidding. Really, you mean people aren't saying, "Gosh, I'd like to go to Missouri, but...nah.....to Jewish." In Savannah, recently, a children's book about a baby penguin who is raised by two male penguins - ahh! - was removed from the library for its homosexual overtones. Because you know penguins, in those tuxedos, with the dreamy eyes. Huge fags!
The Christian right are now officially the party of paranoia. Secularists are attacking Christmas! Gays are attacking marriage! Liberals are attacking values! White girls are being abducted at an alarming rate!
And the worst part is, the people bitching loudest about being persecuted for their Christianity aren't Christians at all. They're demagogues and conmen and scolds. And the only thing they worship is power. If you believe Jesus ever had a good word for war or torture or tax cuts for the rich, or raping the earth, or refusing water to dying migrants, then you might as well believe bunnies lay painted eggs.
Thomas Jefferson called the type of Christian who trumpets his own belief in the divinity of Jesus rather than the morality of Jesus "pseudo-Christians." And that's who's running our country today...
I have written several columns about this new paranoia NCDs (neocon douchebags) seem to have but now I see the real reason why they do what they do: VOTES.
The evangelical Christian base helped George Bush win in 2004. They viewed him as being a man of honesty and good values. They are the ultimate lobby of psychotic morons who, when you wave the Bible, a few choice pics of gays, and cock your gun, will ALWAYS support the Alliance of Four out of plain ignorance and simple fear. And that's how personal liberties can so easily be given away....
Paul Hackett, last year in his run for Congress in Ohio, said that the Republican Party has been hijacked by people that aren't all that different from Osama bin Laden. He is absolutely right. In fact, there is an astounding book, just released, called American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips which details this unholy marriage of religion, oil and politics. This former Republican strategist main theme is that our "reckless dependency on shrinking oil supplies," a "milieu of radicalized (and much too influential) religion," and a "reliance on borrowed money" (domestic and international debt, that is) have all coalesced into our country being on the brink of collapse.I will take it a step further. Take these ideas and mix them with the thought of a spend happy military always needing a war, corporations only happy to make more money, an inept Congress, and group of lobbyists, the biggest of which believe that we are in the "End Times." What do you have?
The United States of America in the 21st Century.
Folks, we are at a crossroads, and I for one would like to move forward and it feels like we are moving backwards into the stone age. I mean, they are debating evolution as a "theory" right now in Washington. We have a president who, according to Senator Joe Biden, goes with his instincts, regardless of the facts presented to him, and then prays later that he will be right. For crying out loud!
The combination of watching the film Why We Fight and then hearing about these lunatics yell about a supposed war on Christians has really gotten me down. I don't see any way out of this. The Democrats are so weak and just plain pussy about everything that I can't rely on them. So, who then? Who is going to lead us in this time of great turmoil?And do we have the strength to change?
Do we?
10 comments:
Unfortunately, those of us who are aware of what's being lost don't have the power to stop it. The influence of the NCDs is too great, and it extends much further than what you've proven in your posting.
Not many people know this, but the push for smoking bans is actually being spurred by overzealous Christians. Studies were fabricated and even human organs were mutilated in an effort to stamp out what the religious right sees as the obscene practice of placing phallic symbols in your mouth.
This is going to be a bombshell when the public finally hears about it. That is, if Bush Co is unable to continue masterfully covering it up. The recent killings in Minneapolis were actually orchestrated by the Pawlenty administration (who everybody knows is simply a puppet of Bush Co). I hear that Ted Nugent was actually brought in as the honorary shooter, but that might just be a rumor. Anyway, they orchestrated the killings to kill two birds with one stone (so to speak). First, they once again were able to inflame the racial divide. (Notice that blacks were implicated in both killings. Once the racial divide is again great enough, the NCDs will be able to put "them" back in their place.) Second, they were able to actually get people to demand more cops. These cops, or maybe it's more appropriate to call them Stormtroopers, are soon going to be found on every street corner. Just another example of democracy ending with thunderous applause.
Also, Busch Co (oops, I mean Bush Co....don't even get me started on how the large breweries factor into this whole equation) has so cleverly built up a case against Iran and North Korea that they even got you to focus some of your attention on those nations rather than their failure in Iraq. Now, when talk begins about a bombing campaign against those "enemies", it's buried on the tenth page rather than being exposed for what it is - the blatant continuation of fabricated evidence against people who actually bear us no ill will, and the continued feeding of the military industrial complex.
Bill Maher, frankly one of the great political minds of our time, nailed it right on the head when he pointed out that Jesus would never approve of war (no matter how many people thought like they did or supported what they did months ago), tax cuts for the rich (no matter how much people manipulate numbers in a vain attempt to prove that it helps the economy), raping the earth (any excuses about the needs of the modern industrial society are just spin), and failing to provide for people who came to be among us with nothing but the best of intentions.
Personally, I think it's only a matter of time before we won't be able to sneeze without getting approval from the soon-to-be-formed Human Activities Regulatory Commission (HARC). You better start preparing. I'm already stocking up on canned foods and drinking water, although I'm somewhat leery of storing city water for consumption because I hear the NCDs have recently elevated their efforts to control us via the drinking water. It's common knowledge that the effort has been underway for decades....some of those seemingly innocuous documents that were recently re-classified actually spell out some of the details about how fluoridation was the first crude steps in the program to control our minds and wreck our bodies - the link between the NCDs and the health care industry already having been well established. Don't say I didn't warn you! (And if I prove to be mistaken, just disregard what I said.)
Neoconprog, laugh all you want and think that I am paranoid but start reading some of these books and watching these movies and maybe I won't seem so nuts anymore.
Just Dave, the government now has the right to wiretap my phone without a warrant. They also have the right to seize my weapons, without a warrant, if I anyone calls the FBI and says I am in Al Qaeda...whether it is true or not. This is in the Patriot Act. So that's two personal liberties...gone.
On a larger scale, the president now has the right to go to war without the approval of Congress. Since Congress represents my voice through my local representative, I count that as a liberty being taken away...or given away by an inept House and Senate. That's three personal liberties.
And lastly, I don't like the morals (or lacktherof) of those who are in power shoved down my throat. What right is it of the government's, state or federal, to tell me if I am not allowed to marry a man? For that matter, why should anyone be able to tell me how to live my life if I am not hurting anyone or corrupting minors?
That's four liberties gone. I hope that finally answers your question.
Read the books? I was thinking of writing some of my own. Get in on some of the action.
I will be in line for the first copy...
Something else you mentioned in your diatribe which I forgot to comment on.....the rise in crime in downtown Minneapolis is infinetly more important an issue than gay marriage and a new stadium deal which seem to be number one and number two on the state agenda.
Talk about misplace values....
Actually our elected representatives gave away their right to authorize attacks. I will be voting for someone else.
If you think the government is ONLY going to listen calls from terrorists, then you are naive. They won't. As a conservative distrustful of big government, I think you should question the right the government has to intrude on your personal life which is private AND a liberty.
And does it matter whether or not you are breaking the law? If they don't need a warrant, they can pretty much do whatever they want. Who cares if you are breaking the law?
I have to admit in my blind rage I didn't give a crap about how many people they hauled off to Gitmo. But these people haven't been charged with anything and have been tortured. Now, I have to question this as a Christian, American, and a simple human being. Where is their personal liberty? Is this really our country now?
If you are looking from some great, massive liberties lost, it's true, there are none...yet. This is how it starts, though, Dave. I would think someone as smart as you and as familiar with history could see that.
Don't dismiss your conversations as piddily...it's your right to have them privately without a warrantless government intruding.
Take care of that right because it's precious. If you don't want to, then I will for you.
I’ve been extremely bored with politics for about a month now but I’ll post a few things that have been on my mind in here.
Markadelphia says "the president now has the right to go to war without the approval of Congress. Since Congress represents my voice through my local representative, I count that as a liberty being taken away" yet last year when I questioned him about activist judges, his whole solution he gave me was "Well vote out the politicians who appointed that activist judge." It’s interesting that that same advice doesn’t hold true when dealing with Republican presidents.
About Delay, you think the dems are happy he’s gone? Not hardly – they just lost their whipping boy and you can bet that the dem strategists aren’t very happy about it.
I usually think of the left when it comes to restrictions on freedom. Why is it the left that wants to curtail my economic freedom by taking more money from me through punitive taxation? Why is it the left that implemented speech codes on college campuses, which regulate what can and cannot be said? The University of Connecticut has banned "inappropriately directed laughter." Brown University, sensing unacceptable gray areas, warns that harassment "may be intentional or unintentional and still constitute harassment." (Yes, we're talking "subconscious harassment" here). The Georgia Institute of Technology bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation. Last year, France and Canada, those hotbeds of Christian fundamentalism, banned anti-gay insults.
Why is it the left that wants to force me into a government run retirement system that I would rather have nothing to do with (and will throw me in jail if I don't pay taxes for said system)? The Social Security program makes it impossible for many millions of Americans to save, by sucking up the 15% of their incomes that otherwise could be available for saving. By making saving impossible, it relegates millions of Americans to retirement at the whim of Congress. SS doesn't apply to wealthy or prosperous Americans, who save through 401(k) programs and other vehicles, and essentially ignore the Social Security system, but Social Security destroys the potential for a secure, independent retirement for many millions of blue collar and middle-income Americans.
Why haven’t you mentioned eminent domain? Unlike the rest of the liberties and freedoms you listed where all you could say was what the government "might" do, people are being thrown out of their homes today due to eminent domain. Let’s look again at who voted against property rights...Ginsberg, Breyer, Stevens, Kennedy, Souter (The libs). Who voted FOR property rights? Rehnquist, Thomas, Scalia, plus O'Connor. Looks like mostlly libs who claim there are for the "little guy" and for "freedom" screwed us over. People in modest homes are being thrown out of their homes these days in favor of local governments and greedy developers.
History will judge our leaders long after they are gone. Some of the things FDR and Lincoln did during times of crisis would have libs calling for their impeachment. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeous corpus and authorized federal troops to search private homes. He instituted a draft but allowed an exemption if you paid the government $300. He also authorized trade with the south (the enemy) which ended up being quite large scale and enabled many union businesses to get filthy rich. I am not even going to get into FDR's actions before and during WWII.
Don’t tell me the Bush Administration has a monopoly on restricting freedom and liberty. What about those smoking bans? The supporters of those aren’t exactly bible thumpers.
There is a big difference between OBL and GWB, Christian leaders don't exhort others to fly airplanes into buildings or blow up themselves and as many innocent people they can in the name of Jesus.
You've said before that you "question your government"...sounds fun, let me try...Is it really fair for people without kids to pay for public education? Is it the job of the government to care about whether employers discriminate? Should we really tax based on income? My point here is that while we all like to say "question everything" but that's usually a completely inauthentic cover-up for "It's ok to question the stuff I disagree with, but it's not okay for you to question the stuff I agree with".
Seems like selective outrage here with regards to Christians - feminists, gay activists, and others on the left invoke their belief system to advance their political agenda all the time, but for fundamentalist Christians to do so is "beyond the pale" I guess.
The Democrats' recently released a national security plan. I noticed that while Democrats promise to "buy more weaponry than the Bush administration [and] sign up more troops," they also reject the notion that we are (or should be) engaged in a long-term global struggle against terrorism. I guess I’m wondering why we need to buy more weaponry and sign up more troops if they also think we aren’t at war.
I also found it odd recently that everyone is up in arms about the Scooter Libby story last week. Everyone that was vilifying Libby a month ago as a lying traitor who will do anything to support his personal agenda is now seeing him as this honest man who would NOT do anything dishonest at all. I love it. The same people who were NOT AT ALL upset about the leak of classified intelligence gathering techniques are all of a sudden OUTRAGED that GWB authorized the release of declassified intelligence. Either you are upset by both or you should be upset by neither. What is even more fun is watching you guys so excited. It's kind of cute. The thing I do enjoy the most with these types of cases is that you guys literlly jump on each headline as they come out...drawing every conclusion possible...professing guilt...calling for heads...etc...all without having all of the detail. I will let the legal process play out. If it is found that someone committed a crime then they should be held to the fullest extent of the law. Doesn't matter who. But I will wait to stroke myself and let the legal process play out.
Just Dave, it's funny that mention the dumbing down of language. I would refer you to this column I wrote sometime ago...
http://markadelphia.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_markadelphia_archive.html
I am sure you feel that the "liberal" media is making Bush Co out to be as evil at those regimes you mentioned. The fact of the matter is that torture is torture. Whether we are being more kind in our torture than Islamists does not negate the fact that it is still torture.
And we really don't know WHAT we are doing at Gitmo and the other facilities around the world. So, to call what we are doing "not torture" and what Islamist do "torture" is a bit premature.
This is a classic debate, though...a matter of semantics. When we accidently kill innocent children because our "smart" bombs miss their targets, we shrug and say, "Oh well, war is bloody. And it's their fault anyway. " But when our innocent children are killed accidently, then THAT is evil. And it's still their fault.
Crab,sorry you can't take the fact that people are finally starting to wise up about how much of a fuck up your boy is....35 percent and falling. It just validates everything I have been saying for the last three years. It doesn't make me excited at all...just sad and frustrated that people are going to continue to suffer his policies for the next two years.
Both you and Just Dave are quite fond these days of "letting history be the judge." I think several generals (Newbold, Eaton, Zinni) would agree with you as some of the most prominent names in the Pentagon have been going on record saying how poor the Iraq policy is and how mis-managed this war has been.
I guess they want to make sure that history will be accurate.
If "my boy" is a fuck up, what does that make your boy (who you campaigned so much for in your own way) who couldn't beat him in 2004? Maybe he would be president Kerry now if he would have sponsored at least 1 bill in his 20 years in the senate that was voted into law. What a leader.
When did I deny that his approval rating is 35%? Libs are always doing great in the polls, it's all they have these days. Hell, since 1992 the dems really haven't had a huge victory in terms of election results (sure Clinton was elected but he only got 43% of the vote in 1992 and 47% in 1996). I'm suprised it took this long for the pendulum to swing back toward the dems.
I have stated before that I really don't think that the Democrats have an answer to the solution either. My choices are complete and utter evil darkness (Bush Co) or wimpy, ineffectual PC paintywaists. I think we can do better than that and it is up to the leadership of both parties to put people forward who represent the best of this coutnry...not the worst.
Kerry lost because he wasn't man enough to call Bush to the mat for all the rotten shit he has done. I have said this before but I guess I have to say it again....
If Al Gore/John Kerry had done the following:
1. Lost a Spy Plane over China
2. Stalled stem cell research because of religious psychosis.
3. Sat dumbfounded for 7 minutes while American was under attack.
4. Called Osama Bin Laden "insignificant."
5. Attacked Iraq under false pretenses in order to satisfy corporate interests.
6. Completly and utterly ignored all assesments of Iraq, failing in every way to carry out the war effectively.
7. Played guitar at a "hoedown" while people were dying in New Orleans.
8. Failed miserably in repsonse to the worst natural disaster in our country's history.
9. Ruined relations with most of our allies and blackened the view of America.
10. Lied about intelligence documents, outed a CIA Agent, authorized illegal wiretaps, condoned torture etc etc..
then you, Just Dave and I would be calling for impeachment. As it stands, however, it is just me and I am a "liberal looney." You and just Dave are too full of pride to admit that a Republican could actually be this bad. I am fully aware of the shortcomings of the Democrats and am almost as unhappy with them as I am with Bush Co.
How about a third party containing Barak Obama, Rudy Guilliani, Colin Powell, Tony Zinni, and Paul Hackett?
I didn't say your point about torture was entirely inaccurate. We really don't know what went on down there but I believe there probably were SOME things that happened that shouldn't have and if true, that is not the America that I know.
"Siding against my own country?" Ah yes....there it is again. The sacred cry of the conservative. I guess I must be a traitor.
Or is that I want my country to be a BETTER place? That I am constantly looking for ways to improve our culture and quality of life? Even better, find a more intelligent way to fight the War on Terror?
As far as my list of ten goes, you know if President Gore did those things how you would react...
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