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The Reverend Jerry Falwell at age 73 died of heart complications in his office at Liberty University.
Now, let's me see, some of the Religious Right's leaders are becoming awfully old. Pat Robertson is 77, James Dobson is 71, and Phyllis Schlafly is 83. Beverly LaHaye is 78 and her husband Tim is 81.
Not that they will be missed, mind you. These deaths will not be a tragedy because they have set back the course of American progress in science, literature, medicine, and technology with their ignorant, uneducated, and superstitious view of the world. Instead of promoting research and development in the fight against AIDS and cervical cancer as well as in the general realms of medicine, they have promulgated scientifically incompetent abstinence programs for teen age sex education, discouraged fact based solutions against the transmission of AIDS on the basis of their hatred for gay people, and thwarted future careers of children who would be doctors with introduction of the false science of intelligent design in schools. These are people who don't understand that even cats get a form of AIDS . Preventing the virus should not be a matter of biblical morality, but of the most effective way of stopping transmission.Evangelicals also do not understand sex is not the only way the human papillomavirus infection (HPV) that causes cervical canver can be transmitted.
Furthermore, the religious right grudge against the teaching of evolution imperils scientific research in the fight against fatal diseases. It is relevant, for example, that bats are related to humans through a distant and common ancestor. Bats, as mammals, can not only transmit diseases like rabies to humans but very lethal diseases like Ebola, Marburg virus and SARS. There is nothing wrong with evolution in schools because teaching this science is a matter of human life and death.
The leaders of the religious right will not be regretted when they pass on. The world will be a better place without their outdated and harmful beliefs.
UPDATED 5/19/2007 Okay, this is cute. The Westboro Baptist Church, home of those ultra-fundies the Phelps, has decided to picket the funeral of the late Jerry Falwell because the Phelps think that he was too tolerant. This is the guy who blamed 9/11 on gay people, feminists, Pagans, et alius.
If that isn't enough fun check out the amateur video that the Westborians have created. The production values of "God Hates the World" suck wind but what can one expect from hard-core Xians? Not MTV quality fer sure.Near the end of the video, they wave a Canadian flag upside down. Does that have the same symbolism as an upside down pentacle with a goat's head? Or was someone not watching where they put the flag this morning? For a moment, I thought that the video was a joke but the Westborians are serious in their copyright infringement of "We Are the World."
Technorati Tags:abstinence , aids,hpv,jerry falwell,religious right,westboro baptist church
A four-year-old child killed his father in Vallejo, California. Brian Sparks was on disability leave when his son shot him. The child, due to his minority, is not identified.
No child should have to bear this burden for the rest of his life. This is why guns and children should never be in the same house.
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It seems that most ambitious rulers of the male persuasion are felled with the same flaw. To be precise,if you have a penis then you are screwed.
Recently, presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson pleaded his little man in an embarrassing response to a question about gay rights.
The question was if an employer had the right to fire a gay person because the employer considered homosexuality to be immoral. Mr. Thompson answered, "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be." That is a clear and cogent answer but Thompson backtracked on his response after protests by saying that he was lost hearing in one ear and his hearing aid went dead in the other. So, how did he hear the question initially? When this answer did not suffice, Thompson explained that he had the flu and bronchitis and not only was he deaf but he had an urgent need to go to the bathroom.
While we have all had moments when nature's call has caused hasty exits at the most awkward of times, having reliance on one's plenipotentiary instrument can get you in trouble.
A case in point is that of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus also known as Caracalla for the hooded cloak that he wore. Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus. His parents, Emperor Septimius Severus and Julia Domma renamed their son when he was seven to gain support from the powerful Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. The Severus' had two sons, the youngest Publius Septimius Geta who was at heart an administrator and Caracalla who was a soldier. The elder Severus progeny was ruthless to the point of attempting the assassination of his own father. When Septimius Severus died (of gout), the two brothers were co-regent until Caracalla murdered Geta and his followers. Caracalla ruled with a bloodthirsty administration. He killed his father-in-law Lucius Fulvius Plautianus, his wife Publia Fulvia Plautilla and their daughter, and thousands of others that stood in the way of total power.
However, after only five years of rule, Caracalla made a fateful error in judgment. On April 8, 217, he requested privacy from his bodyguards to urinate and was promptly assassinated by Julius Martialis, an officer in the imperial bodyguard. Martilalis, who was hunted down and killed, either was angry about not getting a post as a centurion or was upset about Caracalla executing Martilalis' brother. With either reason, the disgruntled bodyguard proved once again that men in power or those who seek power should take care how their privates affect their public life.
Technorati Tags:roman history,tommy thompson
The NRA is trying to push legislation that allows employees the right to keep guns in their cars during the work day. This is not a good idea. Recently a construction worker,James Forrest Mobley, responded to taunts from fellow workers by taking a 40 caliber Glock that he had in his lunch box and murdering Grady Boseman and Rolando Matta before he committed suicide.
(UPDATED 10:20 PM 05/12/07)
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George Bush has threatened to veto hate speech legislation that would make it illegal to incite violence against people based on their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. One clue to this reluctance to protect disabled people is that Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a former co-chair of the state's 2004 has ties to the Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom. NOTE: Yeah, their website production values suck, but what can you expect from a conservative organization?
The MSU-YAF is responsible for such puerile shenanigans as the racist "Catch An Immigrant" game where they offer $100 to MSU students for turning in illegal immigrants. Pshaw, that paltry sum won't buy textbooks. And of course these are white frat brats, Caucasians whose ancestors were not native to America's shores, who are offering the reward. If the MSU-YAF doesn't like immigrants, they can go back to where their ancestors originated.
Technorati Tags:disability rights,hate speech,religious right
Tony Blair will resign on the twenty-eighth of June 2007. He will remain a member of Parliament until the next election. His colleague, Gordon Brown, is expected to win the Prime Minister role. Meanwhile the cash for honours investigation , where donors to the Blair's Labour Party sought access to the Prime Minister and tried to buy peerages,is still ongoing. Blair was not implicated in the scandal.
Technorati Tags: tony blair, cash for honours great britain
DJ Paul Edge has a great site with powerful videos about war, peace and justice. Take a look.
Okay, so some days are better than others. I was looking at my SiteMeter account and I want to thank the person in Australia who googled "christian idiot". It cheered me after a week of blogging gun deaths and the all the tragic lives gone without sense.
It was my old blog on a fundie who had tried to ban the boy wizard (we all know who he is and there needs no mention of his name) and it made it to number 4 of 1,550,000 on Google. It gave me much needed guffaws of laughter after watching a PBS show on the horrors of the Inquisition.
Technorati Tags:christian idiot,inquisition
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (Head of the Commonwealth, Lord High Admiral, Supreme Governor of the Church of England aka Defender of the Faith, Lord of Mann,Paramount Chief of Fiji,Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of many of her Realms) recently visited the White House, and its Bimbo in Chief (aka George W. Bush). Grand Poobah George greeted her Maj with the suggestion that the queen had visited America in 1776, making her a sprightly 231 years old. Rumor has it that George Bush was drunk as a skunk when he greeted her Majesty. What the White House resident and frat boy extraordinaire had meant to say, after the Queen corrected him by saying sotto voce, "Wrong year", that her Highness had visited in 1976 for the bicentennial festivities. Later, Mrs. Bush made her own gaff, saying that she had attended a formal dinner given by President Bush senior in 1993. Bill Clinton was President from 1993 to 2001.
The dinner was meant to reciprocate for Her Majesty's hospitality that hosted the President in November 2003. During that visit, Bush's helicopters used the Royal Gardens as a helipad and destroyed many rare plants.The Bush communications staff also ruined many expensive furnishings with the high tech links that the Bush entourage fitted around the palace. The Bush administration did not reimburse the Royal family for the damage and the British government was forced to take up the tab.
Please feel free to stop by my Commonwealth British Columbia home any time, Your Majesty. I'll remember your correct age and serve tea. And we won't hurt the flowers.
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David W. Logsdon had already killed a man in 1981 before he went on his murderous Kansas City rampage.
Logsdon killed Steven J. Foster in 1981, leaving two children without a father. Initially, Logsdon lied about the killing by saying that Foster had committed suicide with a gun but later Logsdon changed his story to say that he had a fistfight with Foster and that Logsdon acted in self-defence. There were no charges brought.
Technorati Tags:guns,kansas city,steven j. foster
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1592, has passed in the House. You can read my opinion of the legislation.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act is necessary because still in the American government there are hicks like Representative Ted Poe of Texas (but of course!) who quotes KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest to chastise Democrats about the war in Iraq. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate general who founded the KKK and who was guilty of war crimes during the Civil War.
Technorati Tags:disability rights,hate speech,nathan bedford forrest ,religious right ,ted poe
This is becoming more stupid by the day. Police arrested a Fresno college student,Jonquel Brooks, a 19-year-old freshman and criminology major at California State University,for killing one man, Brant Daniels, 19 and wounding two others over a Sony Playstation game console. Jonquel Brooks was accused of stealing the Playstation when his roommates confronted him over the theft.
The Playstation is just a damn toy. I don't understand the frenzy that accompanies the latest release of a gaming device. This is the same silliness that used to attach itself to Nike shoes. One might as well go flush the money down the loo, considering the nonesense that proceeds a game machine announcement. A Playstation or Gameboy or whatever is certainly not worth killing or dying.
Technorati Tags:guns,playstation
The interview with Ms. Debbie turned out to be a bust for ABC News. There were no big names for Brian Ross to out and there was also tragedy in the show. One of those named in the court filings had hanged herself because she was about to go on trial for prostitution, irrespective of what was in Palfrey's telephone records. Furthermore, Mr. Ross exercised humane judgment by not naming a naval academy instructor who worked for Palfrey and who, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, would have faced court martial.
However, the commentary that I have made about the religious right and their ignoring the indiscretions of their own sect still are valid. If someone like Randall Tobias is on a call-girl telephone list (and one would have to be naive to think that some of those women did not go beyond just massage), and he is promoting chastity and fidelity with the approval of evangelicals, then there is something hypocritical about the Religious Right.
Technorati Tags: brian ross ,deborah jeane palfrey,religious right
Hi, you may have noticed the funky spelling on my blogs. No, I'm not illiterate. I am using Canadian English for my blogs. When in Rome, or in this case the Great White North, don't be a hoser and write as the Canucks do, eh? It's a beauty way to go...
Technorati Tags:bob and doug mckenzie,canada,great white north
The Religious Right wants George W. Bush to veto the anti-hate speech law that has just been passed by the House. The evangelicals believe that the law will criminalize free speech about their aversion to homosexuality. In fact, the law will halt speech that directly leads to violence against people based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. The law budgets ten billion dollars over the next two years to help local law enforcement, and authorizes federal authorities to participate in resolution of hate crimes. There is nothing wrong with this legislation because keeping society civil is the role of the government. Advocating violence toward anyone that causes unlawful acts based on race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability disturbs the peace of society.
Just look at what happened during the Third Reich where the rhetoric against disabled people led to thousands of disabled people being imprisoned and killed in places such as Hartheim Castle in Austria and the Hadamar Hospital in Wiesbaden Germany. What does the Religious Right want in promoting a veto of hate speech laws? Eugenics? Gas chambers? To play the devil's advocate (and I would never advocate any such violence), if the Religious Right doesn't like hate speech laws, they might as well send the hard-core Christians in wheelchairs to be euthanised first.
Morally, George W. Bush and his evangelical cohorts should not be proud of their veto of hate speech laws because negating such legislation affects those, the disabled, who deserve the same rights, the same legal protections against invective speech, and the same freedoms as the able-bodied.
Technorati Tags:disability rights,hate speech,religious right
Now I have read almost enough about the Religious Right to convince me that if Jesus or God came down to Earth, the evangelicals would have a whole lot of 'splaining to do.
Remember Jeff Gannon? Master of the softball questions for George W. Bush and and gay sex escort on HotMilitaryStud.com? Mr. Gannon, aka James Dale Guckert, is now a spokesman for the International Bible Reading Association. He recently managed a not very successful Bible Reading Marathon for the evangelical National Day of Prayer that was on Thursday. (Amusingly, this NDP site has a Flash image of George Washington praying by his horse. What the evangelicals don't know is that George Washington did not like to attend church). God obviously is not a crowd magnet, at least not for wayward conservatives like Jeff Gannon who had only thirty-seven people,mostly tired tourists, out of six hundred seats.
NOTE: I am not linking to any images of Mr. Gannon. I have seen the nude photos and I prefer to keep my lunch.
IN OTHER RELIGIOUS NEWS:
The Westboro Baptist Church, infamous for Fred Phelps' "God Hates Fags" website (No, I'm not linking to the site, their production values are not to my standards), is protesting at the funerals of murdered Virginia Tech students with the theme of "God Hates Virginia Tech and America". The church's basic premise is that God has punished Virginia Tech with murder because America tolerates gay people. Hookay...The Westboro church has also protested at the funeral of the saintly Mister Rogers of television fame. I wonder how the Phelps feel about former gay male escort Jeff Gannon being a spokesman for a Bible association?
Technorati Tags:jeff gannon,mister rogers,religious right ,westboro baptist church
While we wait for Deborah Jeane Palfrey to divulge her clients,let's list more hypocritical Religious Right organizations that don't have the issue on their website:The Christian Coalition,The Family Research Council, and nada on The Eagle Forum site. Nothing from the Traditional Values Coalition. There's not a peep from the bastion of male purity, The Promise Keepers. It seems that the Religious Right is not upset about Randall Tobias' moral failings, even though he was their man in the White House for abstinence based sex ed.
The World Magazine doesn't mention it.
There is a loud silence about Republican and Religious Right wrongdoing that needs to be addressed. If they can't police their own, there is no moral authority in their beliefs and politics when they misinform and endanger people with an abstinence and fidelity policy that the promoters, such as Tobias, will not follow.
Technorati Tags: deborah jeane palfrey,religious right
I've been surfing the Religious Right websites and have come back to report that there is a great silence about Randall Tobias' fall from grace. Not a peep on the Concerned Woman for America site about the scandal, although they do have outdated info about Mr. Tobias when he was an AIDS czar. This from an organization that touts abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage. Nada for Focus on the Family.
The 700 Club has a story but not the American Family Association.
Nothing on the Christianity Today site.
It seems that when the religious right has one of their own fall from favour, there is a conspiracy of silence regarding an issue (sex) that can lead to things that they politically and morally abhor: fornication, adultery, and abortion. The Religious Right needs to clean their own house before telling everyone else what to do.
Technorati Tags: deborah jeane palfrey,religious right
David W. Logsdon lived with the body of his first murder victim, Patricia Reed, before going on a killing spree at the Ward Parkway shopping center in Kansas City.Logsdon beat Ms. Reed to death, then stole her late husband's rifle and her car. He used the victim's credit cards for purchases.
With respect and sorrow for the dead woman, sometimes having a gun in the house is not a defence. Guns can be, and are often, stolen and used for criminal purposes.
Technorati Tags:guns,kansas city
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