Religion – Page 31 – Politics Plus

Pseudo-Christian Hate Lives On

Posted by TomCat at 10:51 am Politics, Religion

Nov 102012

One might think that, given their disastrous fate on Tuesday, Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians would back off their continuous stream of hatred toward and encouragement of violence against LGBT people. Sadly, if one did think that, one would be wrong.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) plans to expand its campaign to stoke homophobia abroad to undermine pro-equality American companies, according to audio of a conference call obtained by The American Independent. When asked during the call about Starbucks, which had spoken out against anti-gay ballot referenda, NOM President Brian Brown suggested his organization planned to intensify its campaign against Starbucks and other similar companies in countries where homophobia is pervasive:

Their international outreach is where we can have the most effect…So for example, in Qatar, in the Middle East, we’ve begun working to make sure that there’s some price to be paid for this. These are not countries that look kindly on same-sex marriage. And this is where Starbucks wants to expand, as well as India. So we have done some of this; we’ve got to do a lot more.

This strategy is incredibly irresponsible: by associating Starbucks with gay rights in homophobic countries, NOM is singling out Starbucks employees for anti-gay abuse and more generally stoking anger towards LGBT people. The broader Middle East is home to three out of the five countries in the world where homosexuality is punishable by death. Though Qatar specifically isn’t one of them, its government defends other countries’ right to execute LGBT persons and, according to the State Department, “there was an underlying pattern of discrimination towards LGBT persons based on conservative cultural and religious values prevalent in the society.”… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Please do not blame all Christians for this despicable behavior. These bigots’ and their dogma have absolutely nothing in common with the teachings and example of Jesus Christ or authentic Christianity.

Republican Skience

Posted by TomCat at 9:15 am Politics, Religion

Oct 102012

Yes, I know how to spell. The title is intended to reflect that what Republicans call Science, isn’t. This becomes especially clear when we look and the Republicans on the House Science Committee, that oversees the scientific pursuits of our nation.

The extent to which David Barton seeks to turn this nation into one governed strictly according to the dictates of the Bible really cannot be over-stated, as he displayed once again when he spoke [Theocons delinked] Grace Family Church in Florida over the weekend. After delivering his standard presentation about how the Constitution is full of verbatim quotes from the Bible, Barton called for a return to the practice of beginning every legislative session throughout the nation by inviting preachers to address the elected representatives and explain to them how they should handle every pressing legislative issue – from taxes to debt to immigration to education – according to the laws God set out in the Bible… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

See what I mean? Chris Matthews exposed the beliefs of Republicans on the House Science Committee.

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It’s enough to blow a person away. The real irony here is that these pseudo-Christians are only using the Bible as a prop. The have passed no legislation to allow me to own a Canadian, although the Bible is clear that I may make slaves from neighboring countries. (Lev. 25:44). In spite of his adultery, Diaper Dave Vitter has not been taken out to be stoned, as he should be. (Lev. 20:10) Now I have to admit that Rush Limbaugh has been stoned, but that didn’t take an act of Congress.

Seriously, lets look at what the Bible has to say about just one major Republican issue: personhood.

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. (Ex. 21:22) Causing an abortion is not considered murder here. Ending a life requires the death penalty.

And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. (Ge. 38:24) If the fetus were truly a person, burning it with the mother would be murder.

These passages make it clear that an unborn child is not legally a person, according to the Bible. Thus the Republicans, who would deny women choice, are not interested in what the Bible actually says. It is merely a prop to support their dogma.

That’s what the Republican Party offers: pseudo-Christianity and skience, but nothing real.

Go-Go Gohmert Still Insane

Posted by TomCat at 9:32 am Politics, Religion

Oct 042012

On days where a single story dominates the news, we can usually depend on the Bachmann wing of the Republican Party to do something or say something sufficiently outrageous to leave us shaking our heads in disgust. Louie Gohmert stepped forward to fill the bill.

4GohmertHat Fresh after his speech insisting that President Obama is reestablishing the Ottoman Empire, Texas congressman Louie Gohmert told [hate group delinked] anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney that the Obama administration is “getting advice on how to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood from people who are in the Muslim Brotherhood.” He claimed that the Obama administration is sending money to “radical jihadists” in order to “buy [them] off,” not understanding that they can only use “raw power” against those who worship “a radical, mean-spirited, hateful Allah that these people that twist Islam believe in.”

Gohmert, who signed letters with Michele Bachmann calling for an anti-Muslim witch hunt within the administration that were ultimately rejected but lauded by Gaffney and Newt Gingrich, charged that Muslim Brotherhood agents may be the ones shaping Obama’s foreign policy. Gohmert claimed that Muslim Brotherhood operatives are involved in Janet Napolitano’s “super-secret, trusted, Homeland Security advisory council” but said she won’t give him the names. He also criticized Napolitano for allowing an Egyptian lawmaker to meet with members of the U.S. government in Washington, even after he was vetted by Homeland Security, the State Department and the Secret Service, because he is a member of a political party tied to a listed terrorist organization that has since renounced violence… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

Is it any wonder that Muslims, who are not familiar with the ins and outs of Republican InsaniTEA, think that this nation hates them, when they hear such statements from a sitting member of Congress?

Now, you may say that Gohmert is just one wing-nut, and should not be taken seriously. However, if a member of the Democratic caucus were to make such hateful allegations, you can be sure he or she would be facing intense condemnation from the rest of the party in very short order. Nevertheless, Gohmert still enjoys the full support of the Republican Party. That provides Gohmert’s statements with a Republican stamp of approval. Just like Todd Akin represents the Republican War on Women, Louie Gohmert represents Republican religious intolerance, ignoring the First Amendment.

Open Thread–9/26/2012

Posted by TomCat at 9:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Sep 262012

Yesterday our prison CoDA group discussed the role of a higher power. I felt proud of how seriously my guys took the issue, how they honored each others beliefs, and how not one was over-simplistic in what some call “jailhouse faith”. If just half of America were just half as authentically introspective as my guys, it would be a far better nation . Critter said “Hi” to Critter. I’m exhausted, so this is today’s only article, but I am current with replies. Tomorrow is another prison volunteer day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:57). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Veteran Rejects His Rank on Mitt’s ‘Laundry List’

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Our troops and veterans are part of the 47% for whom Lord Willard has no use, except for when they are cannon fodder in a Republican war of conquest.

From NY Times and MSNBC: As Mr. Akin, a six-term congressman, fights for his political life after making controversial comments about rape victims, he is counting on a coalition of home-schoolers as part of a crucial support network for his struggling campaign. Mr. Akin and his wife, Lulli, home-schooled all six of their children, and it was other such families who helped in his political rise.

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Frankly I think McCaskill is more right. The left is in what used to be the center, and the Republican right is so far out, that it’s off the map. Akin is just too stupid not to admit what they believe. No wonder Akin draws so much support from people who go out of their way to keep their children as ignorant as they are, and he is.

From Daily Kos: When I saw this I had to share it. It has only received around 300 views so far, and it really needs to go viral. It is a video of a CO teacher describing her experience at a round table with Mitt Romney. According to the teacher, Romney was going on about schools failing and how we need a voucher system. When she said she had an answer for that he told her "I didn’t ask you a question."

Lord Willard claims to care about education. He cares only about shifting the cost of attending private and religious schools from those parents to all of us, at the expense of the public school system.

Cartoon:

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JFK kicked his butt!

Open Thread–9/16/2012

Posted by TomCat at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Sep 162012

Yesterday I slept, and slept and slept. Except for eating and personal functions, I was out from 2:00 PM until 3:30 AM. While doing my research, I did laundry. (I still HATE laundry!). Today is a ho;y day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, but my Broncos w2ill not be meditating until tomorrow night in Atlanta. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow I have an appointment for ultrasound imaging of my bad leg, so I may have only an Open Thread.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: 6 Well-Kept Secrets About America In One Graphic

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Even I didn’t know a couple of these. As a Christian, I favor more protection from cultural domination by Republican Supply-side Jesus hate mongers and fear mongers.

From NY Times: Republicans in tough races are seeking to soften their edges by moderating their votes, tossing their teacups and otherwise projecting a conciliatory image to voters.

The Republican quest for bipartisanship — at least nominally — is not hard to explain. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last week and released this weekend showed that 44 percent of Americans see Republicans at fault for gridlock in Washington, compared with 29 percent who blame President Obama and the Democrats. Nineteen percent said both were to blame. That imbalance has persisted at almost exactly those proportions since last year.

Nothing has changed. In RepubliSpeak, bipartisanship still means "turn around and grab your ankles."

From The Daily Dolt: Readers, please add Maricopa County, Arizona to your mental list of places not to get arrested in. Yes, white people, even you.

Deborah Braillard, age 46, was arrested and booked on a minor drug possession charge in January of 2005. Despite being a diabetic, Braillard was not given insulin or any other medication or medical care for four full days, until she was eventually brought to the hospital in a diabetic coma. She died 18 days later of complications from diabetes, and her family’s civil suit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is now proceeding at trial.

Chalk up another coffin for Crazy Joe and the Brewerstan Death Angel, Jan Brewer.

Cartoon: © by and posted with the permission of Kevin L. Anderson.

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Voters Without Values

Posted by TomCat at 10:35 am Politics, Religion

Sep 152012

It’s time to get out the tinfoil hat polish again as Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are gathering to express their gospel of hate, fear, bigotry, greed and racism fostered, not by the real Jesus, who represented the exact opposite, but by the Jesus they invented themselves: Republican Supply-side Jesus. And in the midst of all this is the Republican VP candidate, Paul Ryan.

In politics, as in war, the truth is often a casualty. But in the presidential election of 2012, the truth is targeted for assassination, placed on a hit list by the Romney-Ryan campaign and the Republican right.

There’s nothing random about it. That was made clear today by Rep. Paul Ryan, Wis., the Republican vice presidential candidate, in a speech delivered to the Values Voter Summit, the annual gathering convened by the FRC Action, the political arm of the Family Research Council…

…If Ryan’s remarks sound mild compared to those made by Romney earlier in the week, that’s because his speech was teed up by the poisonous rhetoric of former Reagan administration official William Bennett, who also made much of the fact that Ryan was his former intern.

But once he dispensed with the adorable image of Paul Ryan making Xeroxes and running errands for his high-rolling boss, Bennett drew the sum total of his mendacious pomposity to accuse the administration of deeds that would almost amount to treason, were they remotely true. Secretary Clinton, he said, "wonder[ed] aloud whether…our own constitutional freedoms go just a bit too far."

That would indeed be a horrible thing — if it had ever happened. But it hadn’t.

Bennett went on: "A Muslim mob brutalizes and murders an American ambassador, a representative of the United States of America, to disgrace him, and to disgrace us. They would murder us, and brutalize us, too — all of us. And our government reacts by shuddering and shaking, and wondering that the consequences of our First Amendment, that blames an inconsequential fool of a filmmaker with a paltry influence, for the venom unleashed in another part of the world. God help us. God help us."

Bennett read Romney’s statement verbatim, and went on to fault the media for the fallout Romney suffered. "Most of the press jumped in on Romney to kill this truth in the womb — something it is well-practiced at," Bennett said.

Romney running-mate Paul Ryan did not take issue with a single bit of Bennett’s introduction… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

Photo credit: OEN

Rachel Maddow had more details about the convention and assorted Republican conspiracies on the current crisis.

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I found the terrorist who was an aid to Pat Buchannan at the time when he was supposedly a terrorist most entertaining. Now. if that is not insane enough for you, Republicans have at long last come up with an explanation for all Obama’s ills. You’re going to love this one!

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Dang! Kenyan, Muslim, Nazi, Socialist AND Gay?!!? Who would have thunk it!! 😉

It seems that voters without values prefer candidates without value.

Open Thread–9/13/2012

Posted by TomCat at 8:22 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Sep 132012

Yesterday the returning heat set off my COPD, and I was unable to sleep last night. Therefore this is my only article for the day. I am behind on replies and will catch up when I can. Tomorrow I have a very early follow up appointment with my Cardiologist, so if I even post an Open Thread, it will be late.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:46 (average 5:01). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: The Graphic Every Obama-Blaming Conservative Needs To See

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Shhh! We’re not supposed to know that!

From NY Times: The history of the film — who financed it; how it was made; and perhaps most important, how it was translated into Arabic and posted on YouTube to Muslim viewers — was shrouded Wednesday in tales of a secret Hollywood screening; a director who may or may not exist, and used a false name if he did; and actors who appeared, thanks to computer technology, to be traipsing through Middle Eastern cities. One of its main producers, Steve Klein, a Vietnam veteran whose son was severely wounded in Iraq, is notorious across California for his involvement with anti-Muslim actions, from the courts to schoolyards to a weekly show broadcast on Christian radio in the Middle East. [emphasis added]

It appears that Republican Supply-side Jesus was blaming a fictitious Jew for an atrocity by Supply-side pseudo-Christian hatemongers.

From MSNBC: Maddow’s Hypothesis

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The notion that the attack was Al Qaeda terrorism, pre-planned for that date and that location is, in my opinion, the most plausible suggestion I have heard. If so, the demonstration over the Republican Supply-side Jesus hate film was only a coincidental convenience for the terrorists, screening their approach.

Cartoon:

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Open Thread–9/12/2012

Posted by TomCat at 10:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Sep 122012

Yesterday I met with a dozen prisoners for our CoDA group. A lot of the discussion focused on our need to maintain healthy relationships with ourselves, and as always, I could not have been more proud of my guys. I returned home late and pooped. I slept late this morning, so this will be today’s only article. I am not current with replies, but will catch up when I can. Tomorrow appears routine.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:47 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: Why Some Women All Across The Country Are Rethinking Their Party

For men, as well as women, unless you are rich and dominated by your own greed, a hatemonger or a fanatic trying to force your religious dogma on others, the Republican Party is wrong for you.

From NY Times: Protesters angry over an amateurish American-made video denouncing Islam attacked the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday, killing a State Department officer, while Egyptian demonstrators stormed over the fortified walls of the United States Embassy here.

Here’s that video:

I am behind the curve on this issue, so I do not have much to say. However, I remember millions of evangelicals demonstrating in anger over "The Last Temptation of Christ", and this garbage film is far more offensive. I understand people’s anger over it, but not the actions of the murderers. There is no conflict between authentic Christians and authentic Muslims. The conflict is between Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians and right-wing Muslim extremists, both of which seek to impose their dogma on others. Remember that the Libyans trying to save our people are Muslims too. I condemn Willard Romney for his desperate and dangerous political opportunism, and I ask your thoughts and prayers for the families of the four slain Americans.

From Democracy Now: The IRS has announced a record $104 million reward to a whistleblower who exposed the largest tax evasion scheme in U.S. history. Former UBS AG banker Brad Birkenfeld first reported in 2007 that he and his colleagues had encouraged rich Americans to store more than $20 billion in offshore Swiss bank accounts and cheat the IRS. But after coming forward, Birkenfeld was prosecuted and convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to prison. Following Birkenfeld’s release last month, on Tuesday the IRS vindicated his actions with the largest amount ever awarded under its whistleblower program.

I wonder whether he knows anything about Willard’s tax evasion using Swiss banks. Do you think this makes Willard nervous?

Cartoon:

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