Politics Plus

Here’s how desperate the GOP has gotten in their attempts to defeat the health care bill in the Senate.

 

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is hoping, even praying, that one of his Democratic colleagues somehow cannot manage to cast a vote on health care in the wee hours of Monday morning.

As the chamber nears the first of several procedural ballots to end debate on the bill ahead of final passage, Coburn said, "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray."

His suggestion, seemingly a veiled remark aimed at ailing 92-year-old Senator Robert Byrd (D-VA), struck a raw nerve with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). "I don’t think it’s appropriate to be invoking prayer to wish misfortune on a colleague…

Inserted from <Raw Story>

Only a true GOP Sweetheart would call on the Supply-side Jesus (The GOP invention, not the real one) to bring harm to a colleague to prevent a fair vote.

The last time we discussed this issue, someone raised the possibility that Rick Warren and the C-Street hypocrites might be dominionists.  At the time I did not know, but now this has come to light.

Critics have called the Anti Homosexuality Bill due to come before "Purpose Driven" Uganda’s parliament in early 2010 a "kill the gays bill." As detailed in a new report from a religious right watchdog group, networks tied to Rick Warren’s mentor and doctoral dissertation advisor have played a major role in organizing and inspiring Ugandan legislators who have spearheaded the legislation, which would mandate the death penalty for homosexual acts.

Homosexuality is already legally a crime in Uganda that can lead to lifetime prison sentences, but the new bill would require the death penalty for something termed "aggravated homosexuality" and might even lead to the execution of HIV positive Ugandan citizens. Rick Warren has refused to denounce the new bill.

As described in the report, Rick Warren’s Dissertation Advisor Leads Network Promoting Uganda Anti-Gay Bill, both Rick Warren and C. Peter Wagner have called on their followers to take dominion over the globe, and Rick Warren’s efforts in Uganda closely parallel those of his academic mentor Peter Wagner. Mainstream media has glossed over Rick Warren’s political extremism but, as shown in a video at the end of this post, in April 2005, before thousands of his church members assembled at California’s Anaheim Angels sport stadium, Rick Warren described a "stealth" program for global Christian dominion and encouraged his supporters to embrace the level of dedication shown by followers of Hitler, Lenin, and Mao [see here for a partial transcript of Warren’s April 17, 2005 speech at California’s Anaheim Angels Stadium].

In March 2008 Rick Warren designated Uganda as the world’s second officially "Purpose Driven" nation. The other is Rwanda. Rick Warren’s doctoral thesis adviser C. Peter Wagner leads globally influential religious networks that include, as a prominent "prophet," Founder of TheCall Lou Engle – whose organization played a substantial role in passing California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition Eight.

Warren has backed and associated himself with virulently anti-gay religious leaders in Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria who are known for their anti-gay tirades, and Warren was until 2007 working closely with Ugandan preacher Martin Ssempa, who is one of the most extreme anti-gay activists in his country.

Peter Wagner is an unabashed dominionist and has said so in his books. Rick Warren tries to fudge things but as a new report details, there seems to be little difference in Warren’s and Wagner’s agendas… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

Here’s the video:

It does not surprise me that Warren wants his followers to emulate those of Hitler, Lenin and Mao.  The dominion theology movement believes that God intends them to take over the world on his behalf, using force if necessary.  The Left Behind books and games are their tool to desensitize their people to committing acts of violence.  They are totally intolerant and completely ruthless.  They do not worship the same God I do.  They invented Supply-Side Jesus to personify their gospel of greed, intolerance, and violence.  The way I figure it, when and if God decides to take over the world, she can handle it without any help from wing-nuts.

We’ve all been aware of the domestic activities of the C-Street members covering up GOP scandals and failing to practice what they preach, but outside the US, their conduct is beyond despicable.

The African nation of Uganda is weighing a bill that would impose the death penalty on HIV positive men who have committed what it calls "aggravated homosexuality."

As if that were not shocking enough, a U.S. author is claiming that a secretive group of American politicians appear to be a driving force in seeing the proposal become law.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, heavily supported by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, was first read in October, triggering a wave of condemnation. According to the gay blog Queerty, Joann Lockard, public affairs officer at the Kampala, Uganda embassy, said the law would "constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda."

She added: "We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention."

While that condemnation by a U.S. official would seem reflexive, others in U.S. political circles are providing financial and political support for the bill’s sponsors, according to author Jeff Sharlet.

Sharlet’s book "The Family" is an investigative look at a secretive group of fundamentalist Christian lawmakers in Washington, D.C. In a recent interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, he broke the news that The Family’s influence in Uganda is rife.

"[The] legislator that introduced the bill, a guy named David Bahati, is a member of The Family," he said. "He appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda."

And how did Sharlet discover the connection? "You follow [the] money," he said. You look at their archives. You do interviews where you can. It’s not so invisible anymore. So that’s how working with some research colleagues we discovered that David Bahati, the man behind this legislation, is really deeply, deeply involved in The Family’s work in Uganda, that the ethics minister of Uganda, Museveni’s kind of right-hand man, a guy named Nsaba Buturo, is also helping to organize The Family’s National Prayer Breakfast. And here’s a guy who has been the main force for this Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda’s executive office and has been very vocal about what he’s doing, in a rather extreme and hateful way. But these guys are not so much under the influence of The Family. They are, in Uganda, The Family."

Under current Ugandan law, homosexuality is a crime punishable by life in prison. The proposed law would not just condemn HIV positive gay men and "repeat offenders" to death, it would also jail for three years anyone who knows a gay man but refuses to report them to authorities. Further, anyone who defends in public the rights of gays and lesbians would be subjected to a seven year prison term.

In his NPR interview, Sharlet said the bill would "very likely" pass and become Ugandan law. He added that the nation’s president, whom he called a "dictator," has long been in The Family’s fold.

"The Family identified [Museveni] back in 1986 as a key man for Africa," he said. "They wanted to steer him away from neutrality or leftist sympathies and bring him into conservative American alliances, and they were able to do so. They’ve since promoted Uganda as this bright spot – as I say, as this bright spot for African democracy, despite the fact that under their tutelage, Museveni has slowly shifted away from any even veneer of democracy: imprisoning journalists, tampering with elections, supporting – strongly supporting this Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>

I was actually shocked to learn this, and I asked myself, “Why aren’t they trying to do the same thing here in the US?”  The only answer I could imagine is that they do not have the power… yet.  One thing is clear.  People who would act in such a manner anywhere in the world have absolutely no business in the United States House or Senate, regardless of political party.  Here is a list from Wikipedia.

They need to be eliminated, and lest I be confused with the teabaggers and Faux Noise pundits, I am speaking politically only.  I am NOT calling for violence against them, and I oppose any such call.  That’s how they work.  We’re better than that.  May the next time they stand for reelection be the last.

JFK’s nephew has supported a woman’s right to choose, a position shared by the majority of the voters in his district.  This is what he gets for it.

…"Patrick Kennedy, pictured in May 2009, [different photo here] a US lawmaker and the nephew of ex-president John F. Kennedy, has been barred from receiving communion at his Catholic church due to his support for abortion rights, a newspaper reported Sunday."

US Representative Patrick Kennedy, son of the late senator Edward Kennedy, was told of the move by Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, according to The Providence Journal newspaper in the US state of Rhode Island.

Kennedy represents a district in Rhode Island in the US Congress.

"The bishop instructed me not to take communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me communion," the paper quotes Kennedy as saying in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him that he was not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that he had taken as a public official, particularly on abortion, the report said…

Inserted from <Alternet>

Pat Kennedy was not elected to Congress to represent the wishes of the Catholic Church.  His job as a legislator is to determine what the voters in his district want and vote to carry out their wishes.  For him to allow the dogma of his church to override his sworn duty as a Representative, he would be violating the Constitution.  Now I have nothing against Catholics.  Liberation Theology is a Catholic idea.  However, our Constitution separates religious and secular activities through the establishment clause in the First Amendment.  By punishing Kennedy, Bishop Tobin and, through his representation, the Catholic Church is violating the Constitution and should be given a choice.  They must either end their political interference with the Constitutional duty of their parishioners, or lose their tax exempt status.