The Catholic church has a veto over healthcare reform?
Rep. Bart Stupak: working for the voters of Michigan, or for the Catholic church?
A story in Politico paints a disturbing picture of the power a group of Catholic bishops, acting through their man on the Hill, anti-abortion zealot Bart Stupak, are wielding in the battle over healthcare reform: Read more
Evangelical ridiculousness: Christian group calls for Shamu stoning
Okay, so we all agree that Tilikum, the killer whale at Sea World who killed his trainer, is seriously dangerous to people. But the American Family Association wants to take things a step further, by doling out some Old Testament justice to the flippered demon:
The American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization, calls for the whale to be stoned. It says the Scripture says, “”When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable.” (Exodus 21:28)” Moreover, the AFA says the Scripture also lays blame on the curator at SeaWorld because the whale was not put down after previous incidents that involved killings.
No word on whether the AFA, which devotes much of its time to obsessing over gays in the shower stall and helping people experience Christian music in a new and exciting way, will also call for the stoning of the mosquito that bit its recently retired founder,Donald Wildmon last summer, causing him to come down with encephalitis.
At Christian forum, Rubio triple-doubles down on right wing nuttery, vows to send women back to 1972
Marco Rubio: have extreme right wing talking points, will travel
So let me get this straight … if elected Florida’s next Senator, Marco Rubio will push to overturn Roe v. Wade, skipping past the namby-pamby “changing hearts” or preventing unwanted pregnancy crap and cutting to un-Jesus-like chase of throwing women (to include rape and incest victims,) and their doctors in prison. Glad we cleared that up. Read more
Pat Robertson embarrasses Christianity … again
If there’s a national disaster somewhere in the world (or a man-made one, for that matter,) there will eventually be Pat Robertson, the former Republican candidate and stalwart of the Christian right, sharing his dark vision with the world. The devastation in Haiti has produced our latest serving of Pat’s insanity. Namely: he thinks Haitians are suffering because of a “curse,” brought about by their dark machinations to evade the blessings of slavery under the French. And what did those scurrilous Haitians do? They made a deal with the devil. … Seriously. Watch the face of the woman sitting to Pat’s right as he makes his craziest claim yet, on CBN:
UPDATE: Limbaugh gets in on the stupid
The text:
“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French … and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ “True story. And the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ …Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another.”
Politico links to some background and analysis of the folklore by Jean R. Gelin, Ph.D. The meme, which I just discussed with a Haitian-American friend of mine, who literally laughed about the legend, and said it’s one of those things old some people say in Haiti. Old people, and Pat Robertson. The bottom line is that it’s also a rumor spread by non-Haitian so-called Christians who simply can’t accept that an island full of black slaves overcame the armies of Spain, Great Britain, and Napoleon’s France. And, as Gelin writes:
Obviously, the idea that Haiti was dedicated to Satan prior to its independence is a very serious and profound statement with potentially grave consequences for its people in terms of how they are perceived by others or how the whole nation is understood outside its borders. One would agree that such a strong affirmation should be based on solid historical and scriptural ground. But, although the satanic pact idea is by far the most popular explanation for Haiti’s birth as a free nation, especially among Christian missionaries and some Haitian Church leaders, it is nothing more than a fantasist opinion that ultimately dissipates upon close examination. In other words, Haiti won her freedom by virtue of 13 years of good old fashioned struggle and a triumph of superior military strategy, not through some voodoo trick that only exists in Pat Robertson’s addled mind.
UPDATE: The Haitian Ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, fires back:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Isn’t it long past time to put Robertson out to pasture?
Trent Franks update: Obama is an enemy of unborn humanity
well, that clears that up…
Previous:
GOP Congressman: Obama an ‘enemy of humanity’
GOP Congressman: Obama an ‘enemy of humanity’
People for the American Way, which I presume will soon be labeled a communist beehive by Glenn Beck and the RedStaters, has a right wing watch site, which has been monitoring the kooky “How to Take Back America” / Phyllis Schlafly kookfest (which has featured lots of talk about Nazis, and plenty of other over-the-top Obama paranoia.) PFAW dispatched their latest findings to the Huffpo, which reports that not only did Arizona Congressman (and pre-litigious birther) Trent Franks reprise the demand that the president prove that he is a natural born citizen of the United States, he went on to say this:
“Obama’s first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers’ money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries,” said Frank. “Now, I got to tell you, if a president will do that, there’s almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn’t be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can’t do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity.” Read more
Pimp daddy: meet the ‘pastor’ father of faux ho ACORN-catcher Hannah Giles
Meet the right’s “Woodward and Bernstein.” James O’Keefe:
… and Florida International University student Hannah Giles. (Spoiler alert: Giles is the one with a future on Fox). Read more
And the winner is…
Baptist minister tops witchcraft-believin' maverick in the ex-governor showdown at the Values Voter Summit.
Surprise! Mike Huckabee beats Sarah Palin at the Values Voter straw poll. Proof perhaps, that the values voter still doesn’t believe being president is woman’s work (or maybe they just preferred the Baptist preacher who finished their term as governor and is still employed, over the lady with the unmarried teenager mom daughter and inability to finish what she starts. The Hill reports it wasn’t even close:
Taken at the Values Voter Summit, the poll had the former Arkansas governor winning with more than 28 percent of the vote, more than 16 points higher than his nearest rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Activists considered nine candidates for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination in the poll.
… Romney was at the top of a tight pack for the runner-up spot in the straw poll. Following him was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, then former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and then Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). All hovered around above or below 12 percentage points of the vote. Read more
More crazy Pastor Anderson audio: says it wouldn’t be murder to kill the president
From an August 31 interview with XM radio host Michael Signorelli, our good friend “Pastor” Steven Anderson takes his rhetoric to a new level, saying that he wouldn’t consider it murder if someone were to kill the president, and he doesn’t believe the murder of Dr. George Tiller was murder either. But wait, there’s more! He wouldn’t object to someone taking out an AK and spraying down “the gays” either. Listen (if you think you can stand it.) He ends the interview by hoping his interviewer “gets brain cancer like Ted Kennedy.” Here it is:
This would just be pathetic if Anderson didn’t have followers who actually take guns to President Obama’s events, and if he wasn’t preaching the same thing in his so-called “church.” No wonder the Obama administration is reluctant to see the “lone wolf” provisions of the Patriot Act repealed…
If Jesus was alive today, would right wingers call him a socialist?
If Jesus were alive toda, he probably wouldn't look like pretty Jim Caviezel either, but there you go.
A commenter named Tameka got me thinking with a post about what the Bible says our attitude should be toward our leaders; namely, that like them or not, we should pray for them:
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. — 1 Timothy 2:1-4 (New International Version)
I don’t think any of us, on the left or the right, has had that attitude toward a president on the other side of the aisle, and I include myself — although I will point out that when Dubya was in office, I don’t recall anyone taking a gun to his town halls or praying for him to die… Still, Tameka’s point seemed to be that the incivility we’re seeing at the town halls, tea party protests, and even in the halls of Congress, not to mention the calls by people like “Pastor” Steven Anderson for the president to be “melted like a snail,” can be called many things; but the acts of Christians is not one of them.
Which got me thinking: would any of the tenets of Jesus of Nazareth hold up in the “Obama is a Nazi/Marxist/commie/socialist” climate of today?
After all, Jesus was for a lot of things that by today’s standards, as articulated by right wingers, be considered “socialist.” Read more
Connect
Book deals
Links
Finalist: Best Liberal Blog
Poll
Loading ...
