In Memoriam

It was forty years ago today that Martin Luther King was assassinated by a sniper's bullet as he exited the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King is always remembered for his work in the civil rights movement, but (not surprisingly) the mainstream media tends to forget his fierce opposition to the Vietnam War. Below are a few quotes from Rev. King.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and
conscientious stupidity."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military
defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

We are now living in an America where the dead bodies, including many Iraqi women and children are shielded from us. The White House has even declared that photos of flag draped coffins of dead G.I.s returning home are off-limits. The government does not want us as citizens to know the maiming, killing and torture done in our name and with our tax dollars. They would rather that we spend our time watching Project Runway, or glued to our TV sets as Naomi Campbell is arrested yet again for being a flaming asshole. As far as the Defense Department (formerly known as the War Department, but truth in advertising is so out of fashion these days) is concerned, the actual on the ground results of Operation Iraqi Freedom are more palatable as "out of sight, out of mind." As far as the actual death toll of innocent Iraqi civilians? Well, I believe it was war criminal Donald Rumsfeld that said, "People say we hear about our death counts; we never hear about theirs. Why?" Rumsfeld's response echoed the famous remark in March 2002 by Gen. Tommy Franks, who ran the war in Afghanistan and later led the charge into Iraq. "We don't do body counts on other people."

Exactly one year before Martin Luther King was killed he gave a speech at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City entitled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Here is a link to that brave speech that you probably will not see referenced today, as the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq five years after the start of this illegal war. And if, out of mere curiosity, you might be interested to see how many innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed as the U.S. bravely gives them the gift of freedom, liberty & democracy (read: Wal-Mart, McDonalds & SUV's) go to iraqbodycount.org. The numbers may shock you, or at least they should. If on the other hand you think that this war is justified and you're also a big fan of Jack Bauer and the show 24 then go ahead and vote for John McCain this November. You should also get your fit lily-white ass down to your local recruiter and sign up to ship off to Baghdad if you're so gung-ho. Of course, it was folks like Dick Cheney who had better things to do during the Vietnam War. Surprise, surprise! Hell, it was only a couple of weeks ago when our president-select, the chimp-in-charge, speaking by video conference to military and civilian personal in Afghanistan, spewed these vile words:

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the same drunken fool who got out of serving in Vietnam by using his rich daddy's connections to secure a post in the National Guard. And then he didn't even show up for that duty! (I heard it was something about his fear of passing the urine test..er, I mean physical.) Of course, now that he's president the rules have changed and the Guard and reservists are having their bodies and souls shipped overseas with the rest of the volunteer force.

Inspiration

Sometimes we all just need a little inspiration. Thanks to Bob Cesca for creating this video using the song "The Tide is Turning" from the Roger Waters album Radio K.A.O.S.

Ignorance is Bliss

Watch as Rusty Carter and Billy Jack (?) lead a group of home-schooled Christian children on a tour of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Watch as they feed the children lines and get them to parrot their insular world view. Watch as they state that evolution is itself a religion. That's the IDer's latest trick that they've pulled out of their sleeves, claiming that Evolution is a form of religion and that by teaching evolution in schools the government is injecting religion into the public school systems. The whole idea might be laughable if it weren't so sad. These are bright and inquisitive children whose intellect is being stifled by a religion that is by definition narrow minded.





This news piece reminds me of the film Jesus Camp and the sadness I felt watching those kids having their bright burgeoning minds blunted by the ridiculous notions of adult Christians. I agree with Richard Dawkins when he says that one of the biggest problems with religion is its abuse of children through indoctrination and mind control.

It was Martin Luther who said: “Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more frequently than not - struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God”

Clintons Continue Down the Low Road

Bill Clinton, today:

It'd be a great thing if we had an election where you had two people who love this country, who were devoted to the interest of the country and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues instead of all this other stuff which always seems to intrude on our politics.

The philandering ex-president was talking about a potential fall match up between his wife and John McCain. So, is he implying that Barack Obama doesn't love this country? What is it with the Clintons lately building up John McCain? It's this type of egotistical sense of entitlement that will swing the super delegates over to Obama. They even found time to tear down Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama today, saying that at this point in the race it didn't mean anything. I'm sure they would have felt differently if the endorsement had been for Sen. Clinton. I'm sure Bill is pissed, thinking to think I went down there and watched the Super Bowl with that guy!

Appropriate to this democratic infighting is Tim Egan's op-ed piece in today's New York Times. He likens the Democratic candidates' journey to the convention in Denver to the tragic Donner Party of 1846. They haven't quite resorted to cannibalism yet, but August is a ways off. Here is the link to the Egan piece.

Meanwhile, we have McSame acting like a doddering old fool on his "fact finding" mission to the middle east, confusing Shia and Sunni and calling the Jewish holiday Purim their version of Halloween. Luckily, he has turncoat Joe Lieberman along to whisper sweet nothings into his ear.

"A More Perfect Union"

I continue to be inspired by Barack Obama and his wife Michelle whenever I hear them speak. Their honesty and compassion is such a breath of fresh air after the seven years of the swagger and buffoonery contained within the persona known as George W. Bush. Obama doesn't have the nomination sewn up yet, but if he manages withstand the assaults from both the right and the Clintonistas I believe he be a president that we can all be proud of. He already has the demeanor that I would want and expect from a president. Can you picture Barack Obama doing a soft shoe routine on the steps of the White House, or spending taking 452 days of vacation within seven years? It would certainly start to reaffirm my faith in America if we as a country can manage to rise above divisiveness and political rancor to elect someone as intelligent and forthright as Barack Obama. Today Barack Obama gave a speech in Philadelphia on the issue of race in politics. It was a speech that many felt he had to make to distance himself from controversial statements made by the pastor of his church last summer. An adage I often hear and have repeated myself is that our country gets the president we deserve. It would be nice to know that we as a diverse nation finally deserve someone as decent and honorable as Barack Obama as our president.

Introductory Post

Sometimes I just don’t know where to begin when it comes to criticizing religion and politics. Every day another example of the madness of faith in an ancient book of tribal laws rears its ugly head. Take the fanatic known as Pastor John Hagee: He recently endorsed John McCain and the mainstream media — which is constantly accused of being a leftist tool — has not held McCain to the same standard as the Democratic candidates, especially Barack Obama. McCain said in a Feb. 29 statement: "Well I think it's important to note that pastor John Hagee who has supported and endorsed my candidacy supports what I stand for and believe in. When he endorses me, it does not mean that I embrace everything that he stands for and believes. And I am very proud of the Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and the freedom of the state of Israel. That does not mean that I support or endorse or agree with some of the things that Pastor John Hagee might have said or positions that he may have taken on other issues." Talk about having your cake and eating it too! Barack Obama was cajoled to renounce and reject the statements of Louis Farrakhan. He is now having his feet held to the fire over the controversial statements by the pastor of the church he attends in Chicago. Meanwhile, McCain has not rejected the endorsement of a man who has made statements such as calling the Catholic church “the great whore of Babylon” and “a cult.” He also believes that Hurricane Katrina was punishment by God, because there was a Gay Pride parade scheduled for the day the storm hit. In 2006 on NPR's Fresh Air he said, "The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment." He also believes we should waste no time bombing Iran. Well, there’s something that he and John “Bomb, bomb, bomb…bomb, bomb Iran” McCain can agree on.

Tomorrow night I’ll be attending another in a series of lectures by Professor David Domke of the University of Washington entitled Playing the God Card: Religion and Politics in the 2008 Presidential Campaign. There never ceases to be something for David Domke to examine when it comes to the volatile mixing of religion and politics. It’s not as if David Domke was an atheist. He’s a believer and his wife is a pastor, but he has taken on this topic because he sincerely believes that it’s harmful to our democracy to allow religion to play such an influential role in our government and its policies. Maybe someday he’ll start to see that being a moderate Christian is just as dangerous as being a fundamentalist Christian. Allowing others to believe as they see fit may be a moderate outlook, but it lends credence to the wacky beliefs of those readers of the Left Behind series. Extremists like John Hagee are slobbering at the mouth with the prospect that when their god brings on the end times they will be lifted up into heaven with its streets paved of gold. I’m sure it’ll be like the scene in Monty Python’s Meaning of Life when all of the guests at a dinner party are felled by bad fish and they insist on taking their cars to the afterlife. What’s the use of having streets paved with gold if you cannot drive your Cadillacs and Humvees on them?

I received a couple of books today to add to my library on critical thinking: Why I Am Not a Muslim by Ibn Warraq and The Jefferson Bible by Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson Bible is Thomas Jefferson’s attempt at excising the parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he felt were false and didn’t fit in with the teachings. Ibn Warraq is a pen name for a Pakistani ex-zealot, who left his faith behind during the Salmon Rushdie situation. If he hadn’t used a pen name he would have most likely have been stoned to death already.

I’ll end my first post with a couple of quotes from one of my literary heroes, Ed Abbey:

“Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues…Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.”

“Fantastic doctrines (like Christianity or Islam or Marxism) require unanimity of belief. One dissenter casts doubt on the creed of millions. Thus the fear and hate; thus the torture chamber, the iron stake, the gallows, the labor camp, the psychiatric ward.”