In the paper this morning, a comics character tells Santa she wishes people would recognize
our nation was founded on “Christian principles with a broad tolerance towards other faiths.” I’m touched by that right-wing politically
correct notion of “broad tolerance” — ie, mind your place and we’ll put up with you.
Where exactly in the Constitution does one
read “In Christ We Trust” or “Christ Bless America”? I am aware of the very few references to god and a creator in our founding
documents, but where is Christ mentioned?
You understand the confusion. Christians aren’t merely monotheists, they’re monopoly-
theists. They accept the notion that the only way to god is through Jesus. Frankly, I find it hard to believe the gentle Jesus was so
arrogant. Still, with Jesus as the gatekeeper, all references to god must implicitly include Jesus. So it is that a nation that makes the
blandest references to an unspecified god must really worship Jesus.
Or maybe it’s just that Christians, like the Radical Right,
associate all that is good with themselves and all that is evil with others. That is, they deny their humanity and the humanity of others
— we are all flawed in good and bad ways. But, if you only have good on your side and, we agree, the Constitution is a “good” document,
it must be a “Christian” document. Nonsense.
I’ve never understood why anyone worships the god of the Old Testement — just read
Job or Issac. The old god is one mean and demanding being. Good news, everybody, there’s a New Testement with a sweet nice guy as it’s
protagonist. You’ll go to hell if you don’t fully accept that as fact.
My Messiah would surpass the very best teachers I’ve
ever had. S/he would say, “good for you for finding your own solution.” My Buddha would say, “damn, I wish I’d thought of that as a way
to enlightenment.” My Muhommad would say to the others, “you should see this kid — no one has ever asked that question before.”
Or, more likely, “where the hell did you get the idea that it is OK to push others around and take their stuff?” mjh
Category Archives: NADA – New American Dark Ages
New American Dark Ages
Mission Accomplished?
Read the following polls of
Iraqis and Americans (3 different polls). Note that half of Iraqis say the US invasion was wrong; about the same number of Americans
agree. But more than 2/3rds of Iraqis oppose our continued presence (77% according to the DOD).
Yet, we will stay and continue
dying and killing — adding to the ranks of those who hate us. Maybe BushCo shouldn’t be allowed to fuck things up further. Impeach the
whole incompetent gang. mjh
ABC News: Poll: Most Iraqis Oppose Troops’ Presence
More than
two-thirds of those [Iraqis] surveyed oppose the presence of troops from the United States and its coalition partners and less than half,
44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine
and other media partners. …
Half now say the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was wrong, up from 39 percent in February 2004. …
A fourth of those surveyed, 26 percent, say U.S. forces should leave now, and another 19 percent say troops should leave after those
chosen in this week’s election take office. …
The poll was conducted by Oxford Research International face-to-face with 1,711
Iraqis age 15 and over from Oct. 8 to Nov. 22. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
DefenseLINK News: Poll Shows Nine in 10 Iraqis Want to Vote Dec.
15
A total of 77 percent of those [Iraqis] surveyed oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq, and almost half said they
believe there is a rationale for attacks on coalition forces, with 40 percent saying there is no excuse for such attacks.
Poll: U.S. can win war, but won’t – Dec 13, 2005
Forty-eight percent of those [Americans] polled said they thought it was a
mistake to send U.S. troops to Iraq, as opposed to 54 percent of those polled last month. Fifty percent said it was not a mistake,
compared to 45 percent last month. …
The poll, released Tuesday, was conducted with 1,003 Americans who were interviewed by
phone. The sampling error varied from question to question, but none had a margin of error exceeding 4.5 percentage points.
Beyond The War Spin
Beyond The War Spin By E. J. Dionne Jr.
[T]he Democrats’ problem is not
just one of political tactics. It’s also rooted in a simple reality: Democrats in both houses of Congress have been divided on this war
from the very beginning. House Democrats are, on the whole, more dovish than Senate Democrats. And the party’s rank and file are, on the
whole, more dovish than its congressional wing.
There is no magic solution to this problem, and Republicans will continue to
exploit it. But if they do nothing else, Democrats have to stop being defensive in the face of Republican attacks. …
In any
event, why shouldn’t Democrats be divided on the war? So is the rest of the country. And so are Republicans.
What’s gone largely
unnoticed is that while Democrats show their divisions on the war in Congress, Republicans are more divided at the grass roots. …
Lush Limbaugh Really IS a Big Fat Idiot
class="mine">Obviously, I don’t agree with Lush Limbaugh’s political views. More importantly, I consider him an odious, vile being —beyond a scoundrel. That anyone hangs on his words shocks me and saddens me about my fellow citizens. Dittoheads might as well tattoo
“moron” on their foreheads as allow this chump to shape their worldview. If you get all of your “information” from Lush and/or Fox,
you’re filling your mind with shit.
When I heard that peace advocates had been kidnapped by a previously unknown group, I
considered it might be the US government engaged in some PsyOps. See what happens when you govern through lies and deception? mjh
Christians Kidnapped in Iraq; Rush Limbaugh
is Pleased
Well, here’s why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringers are shown
reality. So here we have these peace activists over there. I don’t care whether they’re Christian or not; they’re over there,
and as peace activists they’ve got one purpose. They’re over there trying to stop the violence. [mjh:
in reading this, you’re missing the appalling “fag” lisp Lush affected. He’s a pig.]
Follow the
link below if you want to read some comments. In particular, from the dittohead who marvels that Lush foresaw that people would quote
him. Duh.
Media Matters – Limbaugh on kidnapping of peace
activists in Iraq: “I’m telling you, folks, there’s a part of me that likes this”
It’s comical how all of these people can
get so worked up when they hear he said/she said bunk. It’s perpetual, and doesn’t hurt him in the least bit. If I were him I wouldn’t
give it a second thought either, I mean, who are you people anyway? – pharmd
Bill of Rights Dinner
This social season led
us out a second night in a row, this time to the annual Bill of Rights Dinner for the ACLU in New
Mexico, for whom I am the webmaster.
A few hundred folks gathered in a large room at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town
(formerly the Old Town Sheraton). For many, it was a chance to see old friends seldom seen otherwise. The crowd was more old than young,
but less so than at a PBS fund-raising concert. It was a drastically white crowd, hovered over by a largely Spanish-speaking wait-crew.
Some may have been drawn specifically by Phil Donahue, whom we can blame for starting the whole day-time talk(back) show concept.
Like it or not, Phil’s love-child is Jerry Springer or, shudder, Tyra B(l)anks.
But, what do you know, an old white guy who
frequently references his Catholicism opposes the corporate takeover of America with the assistance of the Army of God, the Radical
Religious Right. A guy who must have enriched more than one corporation finds himself shutdown for speaking up. If the Right can revere a
spoiled, failed faux-Texan, it’s no worse that the Left might support a daytime talk show host. Only in AmeriCo.
I appreciated
hearing that his first guest 40 years ago was Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the atheist’s messiah (sorry, that would only
irritate her). It was good to be reminded that 50 years ago the ACLU supported Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to pledge allegiance to America. Between Supreme
Court decisions against and in favor of the abstainers, Jehovah’s Withnesses were beaten, scorned, and churches burned. Finally, the
Supreme Court decided that under the Federal Constitution, compulsion is not a permissible means of achieving “national unity.” These
days, Fox News does the job.
Court Decisions – West Virginia State Board of
Education v. Barnette
Symbolism is a primitive but effective way of communicating ideas. The use of an emblem or flag to
symbolize some system, idea, institution, or personality, is a short cut from mind to mind. Causes and nations, political parties, lodges
and ecclesiastical groups seek to knit the loyalty of their followings to a flag or banner, a color or design.
The State announces
rank, function, and authority through crowns and maces, uniforms and black robes; the church speaks through the Cross, the Crucifix, the
altar and shrine, and clerical raiment. Symbols of State often convey political ideas just as religious symbols come to convey
theological ones.
Associated with many of these symbols are appropriate gestures of acceptance or respect: a salute, a bowed or
bared head, a bended knee. A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and
inspiration is another’s jest and scorn.
O, the times they keep a changin’.
I was particularly touched by Donahue’s observation that he used to wonder how we could have rounded up Japanese Americans for
internment but now understands how fear drives us to do our worst, drawing an apt parallel. I hope he was wrong in believing things will
get much worse — I take hope from seeing so many of BushCo’s excesses challenged by the left and right. mjh
Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’
Capitol Hill Blue: Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a
goddamned piece of paper’
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could
further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the
Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr.
President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
I’ve
talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the
Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”
freedom of from religion
Well,
millions like me have been branded “the worst elements in our culture” by the self-righteous Wm Donohue, a notorious bigot. And notice
Duhbya isn’t born-again enough to satisfy some. I hope the Radical Religious Right get so disgusted they don’t ever leave home again.
But, seriously, I’m delighted to have the festive season disturbed by these ogres. The louder they bray like asses the more they
undermine their efforts to establish the Christian Republic of America.
Happy Holidays, everyone! peace, mjh
‘Holiday’ Cards Ring Hollow for Some on Bushes’ List By Alan Cooperman,
Washington Post Staff Writer
[S]ome conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.
“This
clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in
our culture,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
Bush “claims to be a
born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn’t act like one,” said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site
WorldNetDaily.com. “I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it.” …
“Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate
Christmas,” Donohue said. “Spare me the diversity lecture.”…
Mary Evans Seeley of Tampa, Fla., author of
“Season’s Greetings From the White House,” said the first president to send out true Christmas cards, as opposed to signed photographs
or handwritten letters, was Franklin D. Roosevelt. “Merry Christmas From the President and Mrs. Roosevelt,” said his first annual card,
in 1933. …
[mjh: Alert the Right: Roosevelt was the first to send out true Christmas cards! Time for all
conservatives to oppose the sending of Christmas cards!]
Seeley dates the politicization of the White House Christmas card
to Richard M. Nixon, who increased the number of recipients tenfold, to 40,000, in his first year. …
Ronald and Nancy Reagan,
similarly, began with a “Joyous Christmas” in 1981 and 1982 but doled out generic holiday wishes from 1983 to 1988.
greeting here)