Religious folks claim to be inspired by the fantasies they are told while in church, but I can state that I have been greatly inspired by being in a crowd of people, who are able to think for themselves and place reason above superstition. We're not a bunch of haters either, because FFRF has honored people of faith who have worked to keep church and state separate. The biggest haters I have witness are those who claim to be children of God (their capitalization), when they urge the stoning of heretics, gays, adulterers, and many others. It's their way or the highway to hell.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2009
FFRF Convention 2009
I'm excited to announce that I am registered to attend this year's Freedom From Religion convention, which is taking place in Seattle. I started attending two years ago, and vowed that I would make it a yearly ritual. The first convention was in Madison, Wisconsin, where FFRF has their headquarters. Last year it was held in Chicago. Thankfully, due to economics and my personal transitions of late, I'm glad it's being held in my hometown this year. A few of this year's featured speakers include Ron Reagan, a self-described "unabashed atheist" and resident of Seattle; Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of Doubt: A History; and former Los Angeles Times religion reporter William Lobdell, whose new memoir is entitled Losing My Religion. Lobdell will be receiving this year's “Emperor Has No Clothes” Award. Also appearing will be the science fiction and fantasy legend Ursula Le Guin, who will also receive an “Emperor Has No Clothes” Award. I have hardcover copies of the books by Hecht and Lobdell that I plan on getting signed, and I'm hoping that I can get my copy of Le Guin's translation of the Tao te Ching signed.
Religious folks claim to be inspired by the fantasies they are told while in church, but I can state that I have been greatly inspired by being in a crowd of people, who are able to think for themselves and place reason above superstition. We're not a bunch of haters either, because FFRF has honored people of faith who have worked to keep church and state separate. The biggest haters I have witness are those who claim to be children of God (their capitalization), when they urge the stoning of heretics, gays, adulterers, and many others. It's their way or the highway to hell.
Religious folks claim to be inspired by the fantasies they are told while in church, but I can state that I have been greatly inspired by being in a crowd of people, who are able to think for themselves and place reason above superstition. We're not a bunch of haters either, because FFRF has honored people of faith who have worked to keep church and state separate. The biggest haters I have witness are those who claim to be children of God (their capitalization), when they urge the stoning of heretics, gays, adulterers, and many others. It's their way or the highway to hell.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sarah Palin was not Miss Congenialty
Where to begin. George W. Bush in drag? Like everyone else I have had my fill of the moose-eating mom from Alaska over the past week. Ever since John McCain pulled the rabbit out of the hat others have covered the phenomenon known as Sarah Palin better than I could, but I’ll step into the foray anyway.
Once at the convention the hypocrites were in overdrive, trying to con the public into somehow believing that the Republican party wasn’t in charge over the last 7 and a half years (forget the Democrats being in charge of congress for the last two years when the Repugs can use rules they created to basically kill any decent legislation.) It all comes down to making the tax cuts for the richest among us permanent and stirring up the culture wars to get the ignorant blue-collar bible thumpers out to the voting booths this November. It was the same old same old, except they had a feisty “hockey mom” from nowhere to fire up the conservative base. (Not that Wasilla, Alaska is nowhere. On the contrary. I’m sure it’s a beautiful spot. I’m mean symbolically that Sarah Palin is from nowhere. She has no significant political background. She is being used as a political tool to engage a certain voter: anti-choice, book burning creationists. The same lunatic fringe that elected George W. Bush . . . twice. (Of course the results of the 2000 election show that George W. Bush was selected not elected; and the results of the 2004 election should probably be examined a little more closely. (Hello Ohio.) )These voters have never been crazy about John McCain, who once (accurately) called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”
The ploy at this week’s convention was obvious. Sarah Palin was there on Wednesday night to (literally and metaphorically) give the conservative base a hard-on. While John McCain’s job on Thursday night was to appeal to the independents and those dissatisfied with the way things have been run for the last 7 and a half years. His choice of Palin was such a obvious political hail Mary pass. A desperate overture to the fundamentalists in the extreme right wing of the Republican party. If you are John McCain — a self-professed maverick — you don’t go from considering Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge for the V. P. spot one week to suddenly picking the radical mother/governor, who is already embroiled in a bit of controversy. Now she is thrust onto the national stage, along with her political and familial baggage (and they seemed to be tied together in this case) to rev up the base before hightailing it back to Alaska to sort out her affairs (no pun intended) and bone up on foreign policy. I’ve heard that she is being quickly schooled in the ways of the world by the ever stalwart (hack!) Joe Lieberman. It seems that Joe has nothing better to do than lick the boots of Republicans since being re-elected back in 2004.
All in all I’m not worried by this recent turn of events. The idea that Hillary supporters are going to flock to McCain now that he has a vagina on the ticket is preposterous and insulting to thinking women everywhere. As has been pointed out, there were much more qualified women on the right to fill that position, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Susan Collins. If people are not riled up enough to get out in force and elect Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn what has been done to this country for the past seven years then we, as a country, will get what we deserve. When I mention to my conservative parents the things that repel me about Bush’s control of our government: legalizing torture, systematically stripping away fundamental constitutional rights, consistently rewarding his corporate buddies. They blithely respond, “well, we don’t know about that.” Exactly, and that’ just how the powers-that-be want it. The public is being dumbed down by a corporate culture run amok, so that they cannot get off their lazy asses one day out of the year to vote the bastards out of office.
It’s a nation of flag-waving hypocrites exhorting a war that they do not actually have to fight. When ever anybody utters the word “draft” they are immediately hushed. I support the draft, because then, if more citizens were forced to serve militarily, they might be more apt to oppose a senseless illegal war. When your ass is literally on the line then you might be more likely to say, “hey wait a minute!” Two of the Republican party’s most aggressive chicken hawks warmed up the crowd for Sarah Palin on Wednesday night: Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson was deferred from the draft during the Vietnam era, because he had children. Rudy Giuliani, who was fresh out of law school, had influential judges in New York excuse him from duty, by declaring him vital to their staff. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of these speeches, including the highlight of the evening Gov. Palin. I find that I hearing lies and propaganda continuously for a few hours damaging to my health, mental and otherwise.
McCain and Palin were stumping in Wisconsin today, repeating some of the same lies that they introduced during the RNC. For sixty days we will be subjected to some of the basest and most vile attacks on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and on roughly half the country in disagreement with right wing ideologues. If we question their ginned up war we’re labeled unpatriotic (even those of us who have served in the military.) If we urge diplomacy over military aggression than we’re called appeasers. If we want a fair wage and decent affordable health care we socialists! And what’s wrong with socialism anyway? Our capitalist democracy seems to favor the wealthy few over the masses. Why would any sensible working individual fall for the scam called “trickle down economics?” As Dennis Kucinich shouted at the most recent Democratic convention: Wake up America!
The flag waving half of the country drink the Kool Aid by watching Faux News, and getting stirred up about gays and immigrants while their jobs are being sucked away by the corporate elite. I’m sure the oil execs were creaming their jeans when they heard the crowd at the Republican convention start chanting “Drill Baby, Drill!” Election after election common working people hand the richest few in the country everything they want and desire. Before Bush & Co. leave office they are determined to get drilling approved for ANWAR, contraception declared abortion, and they are gutting the endangered species act among other things. The right wing thugs have raped and pillaged this country for the last seven and a half years. Enough!
As for Sarah Palin: the idea of a Dominionist, who believes that God has a plan for Iraq being the vice president to a president, who is a seventy-two year old cancer survivor, sends chills down my spine. The warped ideology of those who would urge on the apocalypse, because they believe that they are going to rise up into welcoming heaven at that moment, is just as dangerous as the Jihadists, who believe that they have 77 virgins awaiting them after their martyrdom. And as for Ms. Palin being once voted Miss Congeniality during a beauty pageant?
Now that I've got that out of my system. Let's take a break for a little cooking instruction.
Once at the convention the hypocrites were in overdrive, trying to con the public into somehow believing that the Republican party wasn’t in charge over the last 7 and a half years (forget the Democrats being in charge of congress for the last two years when the Repugs can use rules they created to basically kill any decent legislation.) It all comes down to making the tax cuts for the richest among us permanent and stirring up the culture wars to get the ignorant blue-collar bible thumpers out to the voting booths this November. It was the same old same old, except they had a feisty “hockey mom” from nowhere to fire up the conservative base. (Not that Wasilla, Alaska is nowhere. On the contrary. I’m sure it’s a beautiful spot. I’m mean symbolically that Sarah Palin is from nowhere. She has no significant political background. She is being used as a political tool to engage a certain voter: anti-choice, book burning creationists. The same lunatic fringe that elected George W. Bush . . . twice. (Of course the results of the 2000 election show that George W. Bush was selected not elected; and the results of the 2004 election should probably be examined a little more closely. (Hello Ohio.) )These voters have never been crazy about John McCain, who once (accurately) called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”
The ploy at this week’s convention was obvious. Sarah Palin was there on Wednesday night to (literally and metaphorically) give the conservative base a hard-on. While John McCain’s job on Thursday night was to appeal to the independents and those dissatisfied with the way things have been run for the last 7 and a half years. His choice of Palin was such a obvious political hail Mary pass. A desperate overture to the fundamentalists in the extreme right wing of the Republican party. If you are John McCain — a self-professed maverick — you don’t go from considering Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge for the V. P. spot one week to suddenly picking the radical mother/governor, who is already embroiled in a bit of controversy. Now she is thrust onto the national stage, along with her political and familial baggage (and they seemed to be tied together in this case) to rev up the base before hightailing it back to Alaska to sort out her affairs (no pun intended) and bone up on foreign policy. I’ve heard that she is being quickly schooled in the ways of the world by the ever stalwart (hack!) Joe Lieberman. It seems that Joe has nothing better to do than lick the boots of Republicans since being re-elected back in 2004.
All in all I’m not worried by this recent turn of events. The idea that Hillary supporters are going to flock to McCain now that he has a vagina on the ticket is preposterous and insulting to thinking women everywhere. As has been pointed out, there were much more qualified women on the right to fill that position, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Susan Collins. If people are not riled up enough to get out in force and elect Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn what has been done to this country for the past seven years then we, as a country, will get what we deserve. When I mention to my conservative parents the things that repel me about Bush’s control of our government: legalizing torture, systematically stripping away fundamental constitutional rights, consistently rewarding his corporate buddies. They blithely respond, “well, we don’t know about that.” Exactly, and that’ just how the powers-that-be want it. The public is being dumbed down by a corporate culture run amok, so that they cannot get off their lazy asses one day out of the year to vote the bastards out of office.
It’s a nation of flag-waving hypocrites exhorting a war that they do not actually have to fight. When ever anybody utters the word “draft” they are immediately hushed. I support the draft, because then, if more citizens were forced to serve militarily, they might be more apt to oppose a senseless illegal war. When your ass is literally on the line then you might be more likely to say, “hey wait a minute!” Two of the Republican party’s most aggressive chicken hawks warmed up the crowd for Sarah Palin on Wednesday night: Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson was deferred from the draft during the Vietnam era, because he had children. Rudy Giuliani, who was fresh out of law school, had influential judges in New York excuse him from duty, by declaring him vital to their staff. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of these speeches, including the highlight of the evening Gov. Palin. I find that I hearing lies and propaganda continuously for a few hours damaging to my health, mental and otherwise.
McCain and Palin were stumping in Wisconsin today, repeating some of the same lies that they introduced during the RNC. For sixty days we will be subjected to some of the basest and most vile attacks on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and on roughly half the country in disagreement with right wing ideologues. If we question their ginned up war we’re labeled unpatriotic (even those of us who have served in the military.) If we urge diplomacy over military aggression than we’re called appeasers. If we want a fair wage and decent affordable health care we socialists! And what’s wrong with socialism anyway? Our capitalist democracy seems to favor the wealthy few over the masses. Why would any sensible working individual fall for the scam called “trickle down economics?” As Dennis Kucinich shouted at the most recent Democratic convention: Wake up America!
The flag waving half of the country drink the Kool Aid by watching Faux News, and getting stirred up about gays and immigrants while their jobs are being sucked away by the corporate elite. I’m sure the oil execs were creaming their jeans when they heard the crowd at the Republican convention start chanting “Drill Baby, Drill!” Election after election common working people hand the richest few in the country everything they want and desire. Before Bush & Co. leave office they are determined to get drilling approved for ANWAR, contraception declared abortion, and they are gutting the endangered species act among other things. The right wing thugs have raped and pillaged this country for the last seven and a half years. Enough!
As for Sarah Palin: the idea of a Dominionist, who believes that God has a plan for Iraq being the vice president to a president, who is a seventy-two year old cancer survivor, sends chills down my spine. The warped ideology of those who would urge on the apocalypse, because they believe that they are going to rise up into welcoming heaven at that moment, is just as dangerous as the Jihadists, who believe that they have 77 virgins awaiting them after their martyrdom. And as for Ms. Palin being once voted Miss Congeniality during a beauty pageant?
Now that I've got that out of my system. Let's take a break for a little cooking instruction.
Monday, March 17, 2008
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:
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.”
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