{"id":284,"date":"2009-11-20T03:58:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T11:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=284"},"modified":"2009-11-20T03:58:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-20T11:58:00","slug":"are-american-taliban-traitors-trolling-for-an-assassin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/20\/are-american-taliban-traitors-trolling-for-an-assassin\/","title":{"rendered":"Are American Taliban Traitors Trolling for an Assassin?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was known for attacks on GW Bush and his GOP Regime.  I pulled no punches.  But I never implied support of violence against them and when someone did in a comment, I spoke up to oppose them.  The Theocratic Wing of the GOP, with full support from the leadership, knows no such restraint.<\/font><\/p>\n

\"prayobamamerch2\"<\/a> The newest far-right craze is an anti-Obama slogan that is making its way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, and even teddy bears: \u201c<\/font>Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8<\/a>,\u201d which reads, \u201cLet his days be few; and let another take his office.\u201d The meme is also<\/font> taking off on Twitter<\/a>, with conservatives calling it \u201chilarious.\u201d Commentators have noted that it\u2019s unclear whether the intent is to hope for an end to Obama\u2019s time in office \u2014 or an end to his life. But a look at the<\/font> lines in the rest of the psalm<\/a> hint at the latter: <\/font><\/p>\n

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.<\/font><\/p>\n

Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.<\/font><\/p>\n

Diana Butler Bass at Beliefnet explains that Psalm 109 is<\/font> one of the \u201cimprecatory\u201d prayers<\/a>, \u201ca lament in the form of petition to destroy one\u2019s enemies.\u201d While perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that the psalm actually \u201centreats God to destroy the president\u201d:<\/font><\/p>\n

It is the personal prayer of an individual, someone who has been dealt an injustice by another\u2013and usually more powerful\u2013person. The words of Psalm 109 are those of deep agony, the longings of a victim for retribution and justice. This psalm is considered one of the most difficult of all the psalms\u2013full of violent images of vengeance and death…<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

[emphasis original<\/em>]<\/font><\/p>\n

Inserted from <Think Progress<\/a>><\/p>\n

This disgusts me.  Although I am a Christian, albeit a most unconventional one, I respect and honor the beliefs of those with a different belief in God or no belief in God.  I believe that God transcends religion.  There is only one form of belief that I do not respect and honor and that is belief that preaches intolerance to others.  For my example in this is Jesus.  He had no problem associating with people with human failings.  But he continually rebuked the religious right of his day.  Like today\u2019s religious right, they used their belief structure to gain control of others and to enforce their piety codes while enriching themselves in the process.  They are hypocrites.  Diana Butler Bass defined the crux of this by saying that the these hate mongers are using the psalm to entreat God to destroy the President<\/strong><\/em>.  Consider that there is an abundant supply of wing-nuts who believe that God talks to them.  Crawford Caligula said that God told him to invade Iraq.  If enough of these wing nuts believe that God wants Obama\u2019s children to be fatherless and his wife to be a widow, isn\u2019t one of them sure to believe that God has told him to carry out his will?  This is so obvious that the perpetrators of this outrage must realize it too.  Therefore at least some of them are trolling for an assassin.  That is treason.<\/p>\n

A blogging friend, fellow Oregonian, and excellent writer, Marva Dasef, dug out the beginning of the psalm and posted it.<\/p>\n

\n

\u20262: For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.<\/font><\/p>\n

3: They encompassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.<\/font><\/p>\n

4: For my love they are my adversaries: and I give myself unto prayer.<\/font><\/p>\n

5: And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love\u2026<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Dasef Central<\/a>><\/p>\n

Is this not what Obama could say about these Republicans?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was known for attacks on GW Bush and his GOP Regime.  I pulled no punches.  But I never implied support of violence against them and when someone did in a comment, I spoke up to oppose them.  The Theocratic Wing of the GOP, with full support from the leadership, knows no such restraint. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}