Should Kids Be Classified Under Religious Sects?

When it comes to matters concerning religion, theists and religious groups tend to get away with many of our liberties, with blantant disregard to secular norms and human rights. Rationality and reason, it seems, are applicable to many issues, but when matters of religion are concerned, no amount of reasoning, it seems, can seep into the fabric of entrenched religious dogmas.

Altar boys of a Catholic Church: Catholic Children?

Muslim Children?

Or Just Simply Children?

The minds of children are, metaphorically speaking, untainted blank sheets of paper. They are not born with any inherent beliefs, nor do they have the slightest dogmatic thoughts of invisible deities. Because they are born as such, learning becomes paramount to their existence, for even in a civilized world, knowledge is necessary to keep the child away from harm's way, as well as equipping them with the basic necessary skills for communication and survival. Hence, the idea that children can be attached with any sort of religious identities is not only ludicrous, it inhibits and limits the child's niche to a very selective community.

Richard Dawkins, an eminent atheist and professor, opined that no sane parent would call their child a Tory child, a left-wing child or a liberal child, yet they have no qualms calling them Catholic, Protestant or Muslim children. Such a degree of biaseness, it seems, has nothing to do with the child's beliefs.

All too often, religion is forced and shoved down the throats of children who are barely old enough to discern and rationalize the tenets of various beliefs, and religious folks will tell you that indoctrinating young children is easiest, since their minds are the most pliable at ages below ten. As children, their minds are "programmed" by natural selection to take orders without question. This evolutionary trait of compliance, it seems, allows children to learn the necessary skills for survival within the shortest time frame.

Unfortunately, this very trait has become a form of exploitation by parents who unwittingly indoctrinate their children to obey their respective religions blindly, without seeking any forms of justification, logic and rationality behind their faiths.

By labelling kids in accordance to the religions of their parents, there is also this tendency to segregate these kids from other kids who do not share their parents' religious backgrounds and creeds. Children in a Catholic school, for example, would likely not mix around as much with Protestant children as their catholic counterparts.

Another form of segregation of a more sinister kind may be that parents tend to imprint on the impressionable minds of their children that their beliefs are right, and the rest are outright false, and those so-called "infidels" who do not believe in their exclusive religion would find themselves burning in the raging fires of hell. This abject exclusivity leads to condescension and leads to further arrogance and segregation, for the child who harbors such fire and brimestone beliefs will not see eye to eye with people, possibly showing scant (or worst, disdain) respect to people who do not share their creeds and beliefs. Chances are, such children will stick to their own niche, seldom or never venturing to mix around with friends outside their own little band of religious kids and folks.

While I am not suggesting that classifying kids in accordance to their respective faiths that they are brought up in constitute child abuse, it is important to realize that children are far to young to make up their minds with regards to certain creeds and philosophies, and to label them as religious only serves as just another dastardly means of segregating them from an ideological and religious level.





-"What can it mean to speak of a child's 'own' religion? Imagine a world in which it was normal to speak of a Keynesian child, a Hayekian child, or a Marxist child. Or imagine a proposal to pour government money into separate primary schools for Labour children, Tory children, LibDem children and Monster Raving Loony children? Everyone agrees that small children are too young to know whether they are Keynesian or Monetarist, Labour or Tory, too young to bear the burden of such labels. Why, then, is our entire society happy to slap a label like Catholic or Protestant, Muslim or Jew, on a tiny child? Isn't that, when you think about it, a kind of mental child abuse?"

-Richard Dawkins, "Imagine No Religion"

Do you REALLY want America to be completely Republican-Free?

According to Rassmussen Reports, voters are continuing to flee the GOP so fast that for the first time ever the number of Republicans has fallen into third place, behind not only Democrats (who they now trail by over 5%) but also behind the number of unaffiliated voters. Comparing the 31.0% of American voters who considered themselves to be Republicans now to the 37.1% of American voters who claimed to be Republicans on election day 2004, it appears that fully one out of six Republicans have left the party in only a bit over two years. Most have apparently become unaffiliated voters, though even the most expensive health care system in the world can only keep the Barry Goldwater-loving, Joe McCarthy idolizing, 'the only Democrat they liked was Wallace-- the old Wallace' generation of paleocon dinosaurs alive for so long. Some of them have gone on to a nice, very warm vacation by now.

If we project this rate of decrease linearly, we see that the by the end of the next decade, Republicans will vanish entirely from the earth. And because of their opposition to cloning, stem cell research and universal health coverage, they won't even be able to ward off their own extinction.

I believe the time to do something is now. We must not let this happen. We must apply the provisions of the endangered species act, and create a preserve where Republicans can be protected from all the causes of their ills. Only FOX News will be allowed to broadcast within the preserve, and a continual supply of rosy news will flash across a ticker, right under the quadruple rows of barbed wire fence.

We might even create a captive colony of 'breeder Republicans' in a zoo somewhere, where they can help promulgate the species. Yeah, I know-- you are claiming that they won't because they are afraid of fornication. Well, let me tell ya, that isn't a problem. Truth be known, Republicans love to fornicate. They just don't want anyone to know they liked it. So we will make sure that the Justice Department security cameras that have a little cutout of Alberto Gonzales on them don't show a few select areas for them (though if both the fornicating Republicans are of the same gender, the rest of the captive colony will likely cook them and eat them.)

We cannot let these beautiful creatures die off. After all, they are like a record cold day in May-- you need one once in a long while to remind you of why you are glad it is May.

So just send your check or money order for $100 to the address on your screen...

GAY BASHING IN MICHIGAN

During the long debate running up to the referendum that ultimately banned gay marriage and civil unions in Wisconsin, the fascist PIGS who are so opposed to gay marriage claimed again and again that banning civil unions or gay marriage would not--repeat NOT--have an effect on partner benefits, claiming that this was just rhetoric to scare the voting public at large.

Well, it appears as if the right wing bastards who proposed this are as dishonest as they are bigoted. The appellate court in Michigan recently ruled that it would be unconstitutional under Michigan's gay marriage ban to pay partnership benefits to those individuals who work for the State of Michigan.

 

Public universities and state and local governments would violate the state constitution by providing health insurance to the partners of gay employees, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

A three-judge panel said a 2004 voter-approved ban on gay marriage also applies to same-sex domestic partner benefits. The decision reverses a 2005 ruling from an Ingham County judge who said universities and governments could provide the benefits.

"The marriage amendment's plain language prohibits public employers from recognizing same-sex unions for any purpose," the court wrote.  *

 

The upshot here is obvious. When the gay bashers and homophobes who were promoting a similar amendment here in Wisconsin told us that partner benefits wouldn't be affected, they were clearly LYING, and while lying is something those on the right side of the political spectrum do on a regular basis, I am still both happy and disgusted to use the all to familiar words:

I TOLD YOU SO!

Let's face it. The ultimate goal of the Christian right and of judges such as these is the eradication of homosexuals, a sort of cultural cleansing. If they can keep gays and lesbians repressed through legal means I'm sure they will do so. And if legal means don't work I suspect that at some time in the future they would pass laws declaring gays and lesbians to be non citizens, and finally subhumans, to be beaten and eradicated at whim. Think Nazi Germany.

As I've said before when fascist institutions, when bigots, want to test their muscle they almost invariably choose two groups to persecute: Jews and homosexuals, followed shortly by women and other convenient scapegoats. The actions of this "Peoples Court" are little more than legalized bigotry, homophobic at its worse: a small decision, by small judges, concerning a small-minded amendment to a small state's constitution. And if you don't think that I am using the word small in the most derogatory manner possible you'd better guess again.


* http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20070203/co_po/michigancourtvetoessamesexbenefits

BUSH ANNOUNCES OPERATION CANNON FODDER

"The Iraq government will appoint military commanders and two deputy commanders for their capitol.  The Iraq government will deploy Iraqi  Army and National Police brigades across Baghdad's nine districts.   When these forces are fully deployed there will be eighteen Iraqi Army and National Police brigades committed to this effort along with local police.  These Iraqi forces will operate from local police stations, conducting patrols and setting up check points and going door to door to gain the trust of Baghdad residents.  This is a Strong commitment.  In order to succeed our commanders say the Iraqis need our help.  So America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad.  This will require increasing American force levels.  So I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq, the vast majority of them, five brigades, will be deployed to Baghdad.  These troops will work along side Iraqi units and will be embedded in their formations.  Our troops will have a well defined mission.  To help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help the local population, and to help insure the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."

 

George W. Bush

Excerpt from a Speech dated

Wednesday, January 10,   2007

 

George W. Bush may be a sociopath and his followers may use war as a Viagra substitute, but you just have to give the American Fuhrer credit.  When the son of a bitch decides to mess up he doesn't go half way.   He's the living example as to why conservative Republicans always have to lie on the bottom during sexual intercourse--because they almost invariably fuck up.  And this policy, indeed this president, is just one big fuck up with a name attached to it.

 

Where do I begin with the key points of  the hackneyed failed policies that Bush had to offer.   Let's just take them at random.

 

Does George W. Bush really think that he is going to create any kind of unity by embedding American soldiers with Iraqi forces and then letting them rampage on a door to door basis throughout the city of Baghdad?   Yeah.  That's going to earn us some real Brownie points.  That's going to calm the double insurgency that the Sociopath select set into motion in March 2003.   Why I can just see the response now.  All those grateful, genuflecting Iraqis bowing down before the Iraqi thugs and American troops who have just broken down their doors and trashed their houses.   Sweet Jesus we're back to the Neocon delusion of flowers and candy!   The Sociopath select really thinks that the Iraqi people--who already want us to pack up and leave--are going to thank us for this.  Oh, they'll thank us all right.  And how.   They'll hate us even more than they do now and even the few remaining Iraqis who still want us there will be pushed into the welcoming arms of the multiple insurgency movements that have been waiting for the professional screw up in the Whitehouse to make another mistake.

 

And then we have a problem with the Iraqi police.   I don't know what newspapers or intelligence sources George W. Bush didn't read this week, but up to seventy percent of the Iraqi police force has been infiltrated by insurgencies; the Badr Brigade,* which claims to represent Iraqi Shias, and the Medhi Army** which is comprise of radical Shias.    And let's not forget the disgruntled Sunnis who are fighting the disgruntled Shias.  

 

Talk about an inability to learn from past mistakes:  embedding 21,500 American troops in a situation where they can be fired on by multiple insurgencies.   At the risk of repeating what has probably been stated many times over, it appears as if the sociopath select is still trying to finish that book about the god damned goat.  God knows he isn't reading the news or intelligence reports.  Someone really needs to tell this over glorified punk that to date American soldiers have trained and armed the Iraqi police; after which the same police have turned on their American trainers and killed them.  A fact which the sociopath select has yet to comprehend. 

 

Also of interest is the idea of using Iraqi police stations.  Again,. where has this president been?  Iraqi police stations have been targets for month after month after bloody month.  Again, all the president will achieve is more bloodshed, more wounded troops, more dead solders, and more wounded and dead Iraqis.  

 

Sadly the quoted portion of the speech wasn't the only area in which the president displayed a stunning lack of ethical comprehension.   We now have George W. Bush on record openly accepting responsibility for his past mistakes.   On the surface that sounds good, but like most right wingers, George W. Bush still believes that personal responsibility is something that applies only to the people below him.  And when we're talking about George W. Bush, an unfeeling sociopath with obvious obvious traces of  malignant narcissism, the people below means anyone who isn't George W. Bush.   Once AGAIN our moronic megalomaniac has found a way to divorce consequences from personal responsibility.  Come on now.  Let's get real here.   If your performed your job with the same degree of incompetence that George W. Bush and his crime family have performed their job in Iraq you would have been shown the door within weeks or perhaps even days.   You would have been fired, downsized, sacked.  You get the drift.   With that in mind  I am about to make a novel suggestion. 

 

If the imbecilic decider in the oval office is truly  serious about accepting responsibility he must prove to the American people that he is telling the truth.  He must prove a certain degree of sincerity.  For the well being of this country, for the well being of his own party, and for the well being of the freedoms that he so eagerly wants to roll back, George W. Bush and Vice Fuhrer Cheney should both step down, resign their positions immediately.   Short of that I cannot think of another way in which this maladjusted maladministration can prove that it has taken responsibility for the destructive consequences of its imbecilic actions. 

 

Of equal importance was what George W. Bush did not say.  Note that we are not going to talk to Iran or Syria.   That seems bizarre in the case of Iran. *** For all intents and purposes a majority of the Iranian people still like the American people.  They like American culture:  American movies, American fashion, American music.  And while they don't want to entirely separate from their Muslim heritage, they do want a lightening of the burden that is the Iranian theocracy and the rule of the Ayatollahs.  So what did George W. Bush do on Wednesday night?  Once again he singled out Iran for another one of his little digs.   It's almost as if he's TRYING to alienate the American people.  And if  Bush thinks for a minute that an armed invasion or even bombing of Iran will endear this country to the Iranian people, George W. Bush is sadly mistaking.   Indeed, Bush's ignorance in this matter is somewhat baffling.   The Neocons are viscerally nationalistic in their world view.  You'd think that they would understand that an attack on Iran by an outside power would only have the effect of unifying the Iranians against the attacker.   By the same standard the Decider's innate fear of diplomacy seems equally moronic.   Throughout the cold war we maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.  Nikita Kruschchev stood up at the United Nations and threatened to bury us; a  few years later that same Soviet dictator planted Soviet missiles in Cuba; and through it all we had arsenals of nuclear weapons pointed at one another but we did not break of diplomatic relations.   George W. Bush simply has not learned the basic lesson that in the realm of international relations you keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.  Of course it could be that George W. Bush is so incredibly dense that he couldn't tell a friend from an enemy at a distance of six inches.  This, after all is the same President who looked into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and apparently found a soul mate. 

 

 

In closing I shall only offer the following.   Asking this president and vice president  to show anything in the way of intelligence or normal human behavior is asking too much.  George W. Bush has proposed an increase of 21,500 Americans troops.   21,500 will become sitting ducks in the cross fire of competing militias and insurgency movements.   I see no reason to believe this mistake will be any less gruesome than previous mistakes.  We've had 160,000 troops in Iraq before, and look at where we are today; look at what it brought us.  It didn't make a difference then--unless you call an increase in the number of dead and wounded American soldiers a difference--and it won't make a difference this time either.   All it will do is prolong the misery, create even more hatred for us in the Mideast, and breed more of the terrorism that George W. Bush and his empty-headed followers so foolishly think that they will control. 

 

 

   *  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badr_Organization

  ** http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3604393.stm

*** As if to prove my point, on January 11th U.S. forces in Iraq conducted a raid in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil.  The target?  Iran's consulate.   For more information check out:  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aoEy7K5S8nqE&refer=us

 

 

OH SHUT UP AND GO AWAY!

This is the text to a popular email that's flying around these days.   I have received it from three different sources in the past few days.   To give you some idea as to how disgusted I am with this piece of nonsense I have decided to post the entire text of the email here, in black.   My corrections are written in blue.    By the time I was finished with it  I realized that the airhead who wrote this, a clueless spoiled brood sow named Vicky, was the epitome of what she chose to criticize.   Make of it what you will.     As for the author...OH SHUT UP AND GO AWAY!

 

 

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just aren't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?  (Meaning what?  That we have to deteriorate to the point of genocide before we have a right to complain?   Talk about a straw man argument.   How bad do things have to get before we're allowed to complain? )

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?    (Notice that the author didn't mention anything about airport security, or the lack of privacy in emails, phone calls and the United States Mail.)  Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.   ( I could show you a lot of dives and greasy spoons too, honey bunch--not to mention soup kitchens and emergency food pantries.) Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all involved.  ( We're supposed to be grateful because of a basic necessity?  Do we have to let corpses rot on the roadside before we have a right to complain?  And while we're at it, 46 million Americans are uninsured and would probably lose their life savings and their homes even if they were to survive the initial trauma. )  Whether you are rich or poor they treat your wounds and even, if necessary, send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.  (Again, no mention of the probable hospital stay that will follow the initial trauma.) 

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.  (Oh Sweet Jesus.   This person should have lived in the neighborhoods where I lived.  Drive by shootings were common place.  Rape, robbery, and drug abuse are common place in some areas of this country.  Are we to ignore them because they don't compose good news?   How typical of the over protected in our society  to ignore real problems in the real world.  Enough already with this cultural ignorance.  Indeed, the whole tone her is turning into a rant of "I have mine, my life is great fuck the next guy!)

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.  ( Almost all of which are being consumed by the fascist regime in Washington.  Welcome to the world Of George Adolf Bush where religious freedom means the right to impose Christianity on nonChristians.  Where social freedoms like marriage and domestic partnerships are limit ted to heterosexuals and where political freedom means the right of Republicans to rig elections, jam phone lines, and deny minority voters their right to vote.)

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.  (Correction.  Those people who refuse to see beyond the confines of their gated white communities are ungrateful spoiled brats AND BIGOTS who assume all is right with the world because all is right in their personal lives.  And I might point out that the downward spiral of our popularity into outright hatred against us  began under George W. Bush. ) 

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11?  (And who used it to start an Iraqi Civil War of choice for colonial exploitation!) The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession?  (Yes,  most of which went to the top one percent who deserved it and needed it the least!.) Can this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled brats safe from terrorist attacks?  The commander (DEMANDER)  in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?  (Take another look.  Recruitment is way down.   So much for your volunteer army.)

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. (WRONG.  We have a backdoor draft by which soldiers are forced to serve countless tours of duty and don't even get me started on the National Guard and how Bush has bastardized THAT concept.) They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.   ( Take another look toots.  Even the TROOPS are disgusted with this war, and I might add hat your rhetoric here reduces the troops to the modern day equivalent of human sacrifices.   Are we supposed to applaud their deaths because they volunteered?  And while we're at it, Why aren't those spoiled miscreants Barbara and Jenna Bush serving in the armed forces?  Where are the sons of our politicians?  Why didn't Republican law makers demand that their sons and daughters go off to fight.   Oh  Jeeze.  Could it be that SOME people in this country want other people's kids to die so that THEIRS won't have to die?  Talk about spoiled fucking brats. As for the idea that troops will only serve a few days in the brig...Just let them speak out about Bush and his war crimes, or let them refuse to go back for another tour and they face COURT MARTIAL CHARGES followed by at least a couple of years of imprisonment.  NOT a few days in the brig.   Get back into the real world little girl!) 

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media.( Most fascists do.  Don't change the offending behavior--shoot the messenger!)  If it bleeds it leads  ( Bush created enough bleeding ) and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit  corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book and do a TV special about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did ? Insane!  (Yes, but this was the FOX Propaganda Network!)

Stop buying the negative venom you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country.  (Translated into modern English, don't think, ignore bad news, and remain in ignorance!)

 

There is exponentially more good than bad. 

 

WE ARE THE MOST BLESSED PEOPLE ON EARTH,

WE SHOULD THANK GOD SEVERAL TIMES PER DAY!

 

(We are and we did--in November when the American people told the Nazi sociopath in the Whitehouse that we were sick of him and his fascist policies.  PRAISE THE LORD!  THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!)

--
Noli nothis permittere te terere
Brandon

HAPPY HOLIDAY!

To our our readers and to ourselves.   A very happy, safe, and Merry Christmas

 

The Cast and Crew at the Colaiition for a Republican-Free America

Married to the Mob.

I am posting a serious post here. But it's about a topic that everyone should become educated about: How John McCain got where he did.

Ever since the 2000 election, when Vietnam combat veteran John McCain burst onto the scene in the Republican Presidential primaries as a 'moderate alternative' to George W. Bush, it seems that he has led a charmed political life. George Bush is known to detest McCain personally, but he has needed him. Liberals held their fire because every now and then McCain throws them a bone (in fact John Kerry wasted valuable time and effort trying to convince McCain, who was the chair of the Bush campaign in Arizona, to defect and run on a ticket with him; what it also meant was that when John Kerry picked John Edwards for the ticket, everyone knew he was a second choice.) Independents ooze over the conservative McCain (and conservative he is, just look at his voting record,) as if they think he is one of them. Even Bush backers, like Pat Robertson (who thoroughly trashed McCain in South Carolina) have warmed up to him.

And one of McCain's biggest assets, according to most of these people is that he eschews negative campaigning.

There is a good reason for that though. It's a tale that involves organized crime, corruption and murder. Let's say that John McCain never runs a negative ad against his opponents because he doesn't want them to dig too hard.

It's because McCain is where he is because of his marriage to his second wife, Cindy. No, Cindy Hensley McCain is not where the story begins. She was a young 25 when McCain married her (he was 43). According to the Arizona Republic on June 5, 1999, McCain joked that his marriage was based on a 'tissue of lies.' Both he and she had lied to each other, she claiming to be older than she was and he claiming to be younger. Yeah, I know-- what a good foundation for a marriage to start off on. To their credit the McCains however have stayed together. Or maybe there are other reasons...

One wonders what Cindy told McCain about her father. When did McCain learn how her father-in-law Jim Hensley made his fortune? Sooner or later he had to be dealt in on the 'family jewels.' After all, they helped finance a run for Congress and not long after that for the Senate.

Jim Hensley and his brother Eugene went to work after World War II for Kemper Marley, a wealthy wholesale liquor distributor. Marley, in fact, had once been a bookie, getting his start working for the Transamerica Wire Service, a betting service established by mafiosi Gus Greenbaum (who was murdered with his wife when their throats were slashed in bed in 1958). Until 1947, liquor was rationed by the government. Apparently Marley did quite well in spite of the restrictions, and in 1948 the reason why became clear. Eugene and Jim Hensley were convicted of falsifying records on behalf of Marley's distributorship, United Liquor (along with fifty other Marley employees) to conceal the illegal distribution of hundreds of cases of liquor. Jim Hensley got a six month suspended sentence.

In 1953, Jim Hensley, then the General Manager for United Liquor, was charged again for doing the same thing again. Marley paid for top notch legal representation though (future Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.) Hensley still went to prison, but took the fall when the rest of the company was cleared. According to an article in American Mafia.com, Marley rewarded Hensley for his loyalty to the organization:

When Hensley strolled out of the joint, Marley bought his silence with a lucrative Phoenix-based Budweiser beer distributorship.

That distributorship and the rest of Marley's empire did very well over the decades for both Hensley and Marley, making both men multi-millionaires.

In fact, Marley was interested in more than just liquor. In 1976, then Gov. Raul Castro, a Democrat, appointed Marley, then a billionaire and the state's richest man, to the state racing commission.

And that's when one of those pesky investigative reporters got in the way. The reporter's name was Don Bolles and he worked for the Arizona Republic. Bolles discovered a land fraud ring and other crimes that appeared to lead to Sen. Barry Goldwater and others in Arizona's power structure. And he discovered that Kemper Marley, newly appointed to the State Board Racing Commission, had connections to the Mafia. In fact, Marley was a close associate of Peter Licavoli, the mob boss for Arizona. Marley had also served as Chairman of the Board for Valley National Bank, which helped bankroll Bugsy Siegel's construction of the Flamingo in Las Vegas. Digging into Marley's past also uncovered his earlier work for Gus Greenbaum. The revelations forced Marley to resign from the commission.

And Kemper Marley wasn't someone you crossed lightly.

On June 2, 1976, Bolles climbed into his car and was blown apart by a bomb under the driver's seat. Pieces of his body were strewn around the parking lot. Bolles amazingly survived for eleven days and said to investgators on the scene, "They finally got me. The Mafia. Emprise. Find John (Harvey) Adamson."

Adamson was later convicted of the murder. But who hired him? That trail was never really followed up on, according to members of the Arizona Project, a group of reporters who began looking into mob ties after the murder.

Following Bolles' death, more than 30 journalists from the then-newly formed Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) group arrived in Phoenix to carry out their late colleague's work....

Don Devereux, another Arizona Project reporter, feels the IRE team may have trusted the authorities too much. "We accepted very uncritically their scenario. In retrospect, we were very naive to get lead around. It really isn't something that we should be running around congratulating ourselves about," says Devereux of the IRE investigation...

"The biggest disservice we did to Bolles was not paying more attention to him," says Devereux. "His dying words were words we should have glommed onto a little more seriously, because when he was lying on the pavement he said: `Adamson, Emprise, Mafia. ... Emprise was almost Bolles' white whale. He was obsessed by them...."

Emprise, a Buffalo, NY based sports concessionire with known mob ties, had a circuit of Greyhound racing tracks in Arizona. So who was named to the Racing Commission was of vital interest to Emprise. Enter Kemper Marley. Exit Kemper Marley, courtesy of Bolles.

The Phoenix police theorized that Marley wanting revenge enlisted the help of local contractor Max Dunlap. Dunlap then allegedly hired Adamson to carry out the bombing. Adamson claimed that plumber James Robison assisted him.

Over the years, Dunlap and Robison have maintained their innocence. Dunlap remains incarcerated. Although, Robison gained acquittal in a retrial, he is still awaiting release from prison on a related charge. Meanwhile, the state paroled Adamson [in 1996], and he disappeared into the federal witness protection program.

The Phoenix police never even arrested Marley, who died in 1990.

Meanwhile, Jim Hensley remained a close friend of Kemper Marley. In fact, it was Bolles who wrote that the Hensleys had bought Ruidoso Downs horse racing track in New Mexico on behalf of Marley. Eugene Hensley later sold the track to a buyer linked to Emprise (linked here as described in the Phoenix Gazette, Jan. 4, 1990.)

In 1982, McCain decided to run for Congress. That takes some quick money, and McCain had access to it-- thanks to his father in law (whose employees at his liquor distributorship were 'persuaded' to donate thousands of dollars to McCain), and one of Hensley's friends, Charles Keating of the Lincoln S&L (I won't get into the Lincoln S&L scandal here because it is pretty well known by now that McCain was one of the 'Keating Five.') To seal the deal, Jim Hensley and Cindy Hensley McCain invested $359,100 in one of Keating's projects.

It has been said that the Mafia never really left, they have just moved upscale. That is certainly the case in Las Vegas, where the casinos are corporations and run in a businesslike manner (so a Bugsy Siegel would be an anachronism, but I'm also not sure I'd want to make an enemy out of some of the folks who have those offices on the top floor.) The original Cosa Nostra may have been largely broken up, but the remnants of the Mafia are still around, mostly in fat family bank accounts and politicians they have helped move forward, and John McCain is privvy to one and is the other.

DOBSON CHASTIZED BY OWN SOURCES

I'm sure by now that everyone has read the Time Magazine Article by James Dobson in which he condemned Mary Cheney and gay parenting in general.   

 

Well, surprise.   It appears as if Mister Dobson has done what the Christian Right does best.    He has engaged in the pseudo scientific practice of taking other peoples research out of context to support his distorted and highly bigoted world view.    It appears as if Mister Dobson has misrepresented the legitimate research of others using their information in the exact opposite way in which it was intended.

 

Said Doctor Kyle Pruitt at Yale University :

 

"Doctor Dobson, I was startled and disappointed to see my work referenced in the current Time Magazine piece in which your convictions opposing lesbian and Gay parenthood. You cherry picked a phrase to shore up highly discriminatory purposes.  This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo science circles.  There is nothing in my longitudal research or in any of my writings to support such conclusions.   One page 134 of the book you site in your piece I wrote "what we do know is that there's no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers.   It is love that bonds relationships, not sex."

 

Said Carol Gilligan of New York University also had a few choice words about Mister Dobson's misinterpretation of her work, writing:

 

"Dear Doctor Dobson.  I am writing to ask that you cease and desist from quoting my research in the future.   I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work this week in a guest column in Time Magazine.   Not only did you take my research out of context, you did so without my knowledge to support discriminatory goals that I do not agree with.   What yu wrote was not truthful and I ask you to refrain from quoting me again and that you apologize for twisting my words.   There is nothing in my research that would lead you to draw the stated conclusions you did in the Time article.   My work in no way suggests that same gender families are harmful to children or can't raise these children to be healthy or well-adjusted as those brought up in traditional households.   I trust this will be the last time my work is sited by Focus on the Family."

 

I think it's safe to say that Mister Dobson has again been revealed as a liar and a fraud and a hate-mongering bigot.. In fact, his latest chicanery raises the obvious question:   Why should we trust this man when he speaks to any issue? 

Nothing I could dream up is as bizarre as what the nutbag right really comes up with

Hat tip to Feministing.



According to the latest wacky theory being kicked around on the far right, A Devil Food is turning our kids into homosexuals.

No, that's the real headline.

According to the article,

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular.

The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore...

Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you're also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.

Estrogens are female hormones. If you're a woman, you're flooding your system with a substance it can't handle in surplus. If you're a man, you're suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your "female side," physically and mentally....

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to... sexual confusion and homosexuality.

So that's it! The geniuses in the nutbag right have finally figured it out! Burn the U.S. soy bean crop and there will be no more homosexuals. Oh, and if you meet a guy from Iowa, just keep in mind that it is the soybean capitol of America (that's right, it wasn't Klinger, it was really Hawkeye all the time.) And go back to that headline-- obviously soybeans weren't put here for the benefit of civilization, no, they were planted by the devil. Buy a bottle of soy sauce, and you're bringing Lucifer home with you from the supermarket.

Yeesh! You have to admit, they have gotten pretty creative trying to justify their anti-homosexual ranting.

HOW THE SHRUB SCREWED CHRISTMAS: NOT

HOW THE SHRUB SCREWED CHRISTMAS: NOT
Based on HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
by DOCTOR SEUSS ( AKA Theodor Geisel)
Parody Version by Brandon, Daniel, Jeffrey, and Kelli


Every Blue
Up in Blue-ville
Loved Christmas a lot
But the Shrub
Who lived South of Blue-ville
Did NOT
The Shrub hated Christmas; and this was a reason
He hated the joy and the whole peaceful season.
It could be perhaps he loved pain and the fright
Or maybe his brain wasn't working quite right
But I believe that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his conscience was no conscience at all.

But whatever the reason
The soul or his brain
He cursed through December, raising all kinds of Cain
Glaring up from DC with a mean Bushy smirk
He proved to the people that the Shrub was a jerk
Yes he knew every Blue up in Blue-ville above
Was now happily showing the peace and the love

"And they've taken my Congress," he complained in a snit
"They're praying for peace, they are so full of shit."
Then he clawed with Bush talons, crazily drumming
"Stop democracy now, keep the freedom from coming."

For tomorrow he knew
All the Blue girls and boys
Would wake up in the morning and then play with their toys
And then oh the joy! Oh the joy joy joy joy!
That's a thing Shrub hate so, the JOY JOY JOY JOY!

And THEN
They'd do something
That didn't belong
Every Blue up in Blue-ville, the weak and the strong
Would speak truth to power, and fresh from their winning,
They;d look in Shrub's face and they'd tell him "stop spinning!"
They'd tell and they'd tell!
And they'd TELL TELL TELL TELL!

And the more the Shrub thought of the things they would tell
The more the Shrub thought "I'll send Christmas to hell!
"Why for six God damned years we've exploited it now!
"I'll screw Christmas good!
"But how?"

Then Shrub got an idea
A dreadful idea
THE SHRUB HAD A SOCIOPATHIC IDEA!

"I know how to do it," the Shrub growled out loud
And he made a quick plan that would make Beelzebub proud.
And he smirked and he sneered, "what a great dirty trick!
"With some lies and the press I'll make every Blue sick!

"All I need is a gimmick!"
The Shrub looked around.
"But since truth is rare here it'll never be found.
Did that bother the Shrub?
"No The Shrub coyly said
"If I can't tell the truth I'll tell whoppers instead!"
So he called his pet FOX, then he called on the Reich
And the pundits crawled out, telling "facts" that weren't right

THEN
He sat in his chair
On his fat lazy ass
And the "Christians" all bitched
As the days came to pass.

And the corporate press
Came to spread the attack
Start a Yuletide war
To distract from Iraq.

All their words were ablaze, hatred soon frilled the air.
And the Blues were all hearing that the right never cared
"We will mow the Blues down," Sean Hannity hissed.
"We're God-fearing pigs and we want our butts kissed!

"We demand Merry Christmas, no more Holiday tree
"Shove our faith down your throat so that Blues can't be free!"
The Shrub found it good, how loved Goebbels chant!
And he laughed and he laughed with each right wing rant!
The radical "Christians" want a theocrat state.
To burn witches and homos and do it for hate.

The rage was a flowing; it's what fundies do best
They will persecute all and they won't let it rest
"The Jews and the Wicans, the Muslims, yes ma'am!
"The Buddhists and Hindus, agnostics all damned!"
They say they love Jesus, and they must do his will
But the words that they use are just so much damned swill

"No more Hanukkah dear, then Quanza must go!
"The solstice is next, yes we sunk oh so low!
"Burn 'Jingle Bells' soon,, its not in our canon
"We'll ban 'Deck The Balls' 'cause we don't like ass rammin'
"And we'll shot sidewalk Santas because Satan is vile
"Then we'll burn pagan wreaths if you give us awhile."

And the Shrub was a laughin' in spite of himself
Then he reached for the bottles that he kept on the shelf
He gulped down the brandy and sipped up the rum
"The ah people," he stammered, they sure can be dumb!"

The shrub was caught up in his maniac laughter
So eager to see what the Blues would do after.
All the Blues, he well knew, would ask 'W' why?
"Why ruin our Christmas, oh please tell us why?!"

But you know that mean Shrub was so mad and so slick
He found a new lie and he tossed it out quick
"Dear people, dear friends," the 'W' lied.
"I love Christmas too, won't you please join my side?
"I love Joseph and Marry and Baby Christ too
"I know who to kill ; that's what Jesus would do!"

And he fooled the few so inclined to believe
And the shrub was relaxed, he felt oh so relieved
So the pundits were griping with Yuletide Cheer
They made "Merry Christmas" a tool of fear.

And the last thing Bush said,
"Merry Christmas to you,"
Made the Fundies and Pastors think that Shrub was Christ too
And they prayed to the Shrub, just what else could they do?
And if there was truth
That he told on that day
It was lost while the freaks went on talking away

THEN
Robertson spoke
And Herr Dobson did rave
But when they were done not a single soul had been saved.

The Pastors of hate said "Happy Holiday, dead.
"We think with out butts and we don't use our heads.
"We hate all the Blues, yes our compassion is done
"They'll pray to our God at the point of a gun!
"They soon will we wake up, we know what they'll do!
"They'll cry and they'll fuss and we'll tell them 'screw you!'
"And the Blues up in Blue-ville will act as we tell them to do!"

"Here t comes," cackled Shrub
"This I simply MUST hear!"
And there was a new sound rising up from the crowd
It started out low and then it got oh so loud!

But the sound wasn't fear
Why the sound wasn't sad
Te Shrub was aghast
The sound was upbeat and glad!

He glared up at Blue-ville
His shorts in a bunch
What he saw hit him hard and he brought up his lunch.

Every Blue up in Blue-ville, the weak and the strong,
Was speaking and telling the Shrub was all wrong.
He hadn't screwed Holiday freedom at all
It came
The Liberty came and it drove Shrub insane

And the Shrub in his anger, just couldn't conceive
Why sane people heard lies and refused to believe.
"It came with the Muslims! It came with the Jews!
It came with Agnostics! It came with the Blues!"
And he screamed and he screamed, 'til his throat was too hoarse
Then he shouted for hours but his rage ran no course
So he fell to the floor and he chewed on the rug
His talons dug carpet, oh he DUG DUG DUG DUG!

So what happened then?
Up in Blue-ville they say
The FASCIST right wing really lost it that day!
O'Reilly went home and he started to pout!
Rush Limbaugh killed pain, Oxycontin no doubt
Anne Coulter threw up 'til her implants fell out

And the Shrub
Drank Drank Drank
With a whine and a shout.

CHRISTMAS PROTECTION ACT

DELAY PROPOSES CHRISTMAS PROTECTION ACT
From the Coalition Press
by Advocate 1 and Brandon

WASHINGTON DC--In yet another attempt to both anger and polarize the American people along theo-political lines, former   Congressman Tom Delay (BahHumBug Party, Texas) unveiled what the GOP calls the American Christmas Protection Act.  

According to Delay. the measure "has become necessary to keep uppity Jews, Muslims, and nonbelievers in their majority assigned place.   Grumbling at a hastily arrange press conference before his favorite pub in Washington DC, Delay, a supposedly recovering alcoholic and possible sociopath, openly condemned as un-American  those who refuse to  celebrate the Christmas Holiday in a religiously correct fashion.

"There's a Reich way and a wrong way to celebrate this thing," Delay stammered.  "And its time that we made a living hell for those who won't share the love, joy, and peace of the season."

The American Christmas Protection Act, Delay maintained, requires both, nonbelievers and non-Christians, to celebrate the Christmas Holiday in a legally prescribed manner.   Traditional hymns and carols such as "O Holy Night," "Away in a Manager," "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and the ever popular "Silent Night" would become mandated standards, while songs of a "less devout nature" would be explicitly prohibited by the force of law.   This, critics claim, would effectively ban the public and private performances of holiday classics such as  "Toyland," "Sleigh Ride," "Blue Christmas," "Jingle Bells," "Jingle Bells Rock," "The Christmas Song," "Frosty the Snowman," "Here Comes  Santa Claus," "Up on the House Top," "Winter Wonderland," "A Holly Jolly Christmas," "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "I Saw Mommy Doing Santa Claus, and the repugnant "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."  

On a similar fashion, the Welsh traditional, "Deck the Halls," would be strictly repressed because of its brief reference to gay apparel.  Songs, prayers, and chants pertaining to any Deity except the one found in the original King James Bible would be strictly prohibited as well.

"This is the holiest time of the year," Delay insisted,  "not a time to promote Satanic symbols like Santa Claus and the homosexual agenda."

In addition to requiring and banning an extensive list of prayers, chants, and songs, Delay's proposed legislation would also require all property owners, regardless of religious affiliation to "erect  prominent and respectful manger scenes in a prominent and readily-viewed location."  Supposedly secular or even Satanic symbols such as Christmas trees, which can be traced back to pagan roots, or Santa, whose name is an anagram of Satan, would be strictly forbidden.   Also banned would be public and private displays of holly, ivy, mistletoe, or any other plant or "cultural icon"  which can trace its original function or symbolism back to pre-Christian or non-Christian faiths.

If passed, the legislation would impose a penalty of 30 pieces of silver and 30 lashes for the first offense.  Second time offenders would be sentenced to 40 days and 40 nights in Colorado Springs, Colorado and forced to eat generous helpings of fruit cake with former pastor Ted Haggard.  Third time offenders would be boiled in their own pudding and buried with a stake of holy through their hearts.

When asked if the legislation and the initial penalty for a first time offense might create a hardship for the unemployed, homeless, and working poor, Delay asked:  "Are there no prisons?   Are there no workhouses?"

Support for the American Christmas Protection Act will almost certainly find widespread support within the ultra-fundamentalist community.  

"Praise the Lord and Hallelujah!"  Roared the Reverend Rob Paterson, founder and president of Citizens Rallied Against Progressive Policies (or CRAPP).   Staring down from his pulpit  with a sour, Grinchy frown, Patterson gleefully welcomed the idea of a mandatory, tax-funded Christmas celebration.    "We'll hang all the heathens," he said with a sneer.  "It soon will be Christmas, it's practically here!"

For many, however, the American Christmas Protection Act is neither American nor Protective.   Indeed some, would deny that it is even Christian.

"Using Christmas as a weapon to anger and polarize the American people during the holiest time of the year," said the Reverend Brandon Geraghty,  founder and pastor of the Wisconsin-based First Church of Reason.  "That's an interesting take on the situation.  I've always thought of Christmas as a kind. forgiving, charitable, pleasant time..when men and women seem seem by one content to open therir shut-up hearts freely...Not as as a time to force others to worship as we would see fit."

Passage of the American Christmas Protection Act  is dubious at best.   "Americans like their Christmas Holiday," Geraghty added   "but they still don't want to persecute people for calling God by a different name."

In addition, Kelli Fitzgerald , founder and President of Americans Neutralizing Goofy Evangelical Lunacy (or ANGEL) took both Delay and Paterson to task.  "Americans are a pretty tolerant bunch," Fitzgerald informed the befuddled cultural warriors.   "And Christmas is a rather resilient holiday to boot.  It comes without ribbons, it comes without tags.  It comes without packages, boxes or bags!"  

Delay, who denied that he had just polished off his fourth Manhattan, said nothing, although he did stammer a flurry of obscenities before he stumbled and fell into the front row of reporters. 

Paterson offered no response. 

IRAQ IS IN A STATE OF CIVIL WAR

For some reason the Republican Administration still thinks of a civil war in terms of the Union North verses the Confederate South.   For reasons that defy all reason they can't understand that the war between the American States was only one type of civil war.   And while this may come as a shock and  a revelation to the Powers That Be in Washington DC the truth of the matter is that a definition of a civil war is a lot broader than the one in which Americans slaughtered one another enmasse from 1860 to 1865.    That said I would suggest that the Bush Administration consult Merriam and Webster's Tenth Edition of the Collegiate Dictionary.  In it they will find a very useful and very practical definition of a civil war: 

 

civil war n (15c) :  a war between opposing groups of the same country

 

The Wikipedia* definition is even more interesting:

 

A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. Political scientists use two criteria: the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second criterion is that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.

 

Now, shall we take that definition and apply it to the failing state of Iraq?   The last I knew,  the combatants come from the same country and they are certainly killing one another for political and religious power.   By the same token I think it is safe to assume that more than 100 people have been killed on each side.  Contrary to popular belief not every civil war is a host to large armies stomping around the country side in blue and gray uniforms hunting one another with 19th Century technology.  In Iraq  we have Shias killing Sunnis.  We have Sunnis killing Shias.     We have Sunni death squads hunting down Shias.  We have Shia death squads killing Sunnis.   And through it all both sides are becoming increasingly disgusted with their American occupiers.   The insurgents and militais are using guerilla warfare, unconventional techniques, but they are nevertheless fighting a civil war

 

 As I stated in a separate post by Hangman_Elite, the Republicans in Washington DC are so determined to save face that they are unwilling to make a logical and rational appraisal of the situation.  Instead of looking at the facts they are more interested in preserving their reputations, in twisting the data and denying reality to save face while Iraqis kill one another whole sale. The  number of dead and wounded American soldiers continues to rise and the best that the George W. Bush and his cronies can offer is more imbecilic rhetoric about staying the course (in new and deceitfully crafted terms) and additional doublespeak about how the escalating Iraqi Civil War isn't a civil war at all.   Why if you didn't know better you'd think that there wasn't a conflict at all, that the nearly 3,000 dead American soldiers and more than 100,000 dead Iraqis weren't the result of a low intensity civil war, but the unexpected result of an unusually virulent strain of the common cold. 

 

For months now reporters on the ground have been describing the conflict in Iraq as a low intensity civil war.   The same holds true for a significant   number of  American Democrats who have  able to look at the devolving situation and who have had the courage to speak out and to call this barbarism what it is--a low intensity civil war.  And as of today, Secretary General Kofi Annan has officially described the conflict in Iraq as a civil war. ** 

 

And yet, the Republican strategy--or lack thereof--has been to break from the real world and to plan, scheme, and maneuver in a fantasy world of wishful thoughts and outright denial.   At times it seems as if they are merely crossing their fingers and hoping that Iraq will remedy itself and go away on its own before the 2008 elections.   What they either cannot or will not understand is that the low grade civil war has been escalating for some time now.  And their non solution appears to be one of denying reality, leaving the troops in a potentially explosive situation.  At no time has the moronic regime in Washington given any real thought as to what might or would happen if a high intensity civil war were to erupt around our troops and our coalition allies.  That doesn't come as a surprise.  God knows the Bush Regime has experienced an almost phobic, knee jerk reaction whenever it has been asked to think or plan ahead.   That much was obvious during the build up to this debacle, when they were telling us that Iraq would be a cake walk and that the troops would be welcomed with candy, flowers, and a hero's salute.  That didn't happen.   That was nothing more than wishful thinking and here we are again, with a President and his advisers trapped in an echo chamber of wishful thinking, hoping that the escalating civil war will somehow, as if by magic (or should I say faith?) reverse itself and evolve into an Islamic variation of the New Jerusalem on the Hill.

 

Well, I have bad news for Bush and his cronies.   Three years ago, when we warned this Administration that waging a war in Iraq would be the equivalent of opening the doors to hell, we were not kidding.  And, as much as I hate to say it, we weren't wrong either.   We had it right.   Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about Islam and the deeply troubled relation between Sunnis and Shias (not to mention the tribalistic nature of Iraqi society) knew from historical examples that this was a powder keg with a short fuse and that the American led invasion was the match that would set the fuse on fire.  

 

That fuse continues to burn but the administration is too proud, too arrogant, and too stubborn to admit that it has made a mistake.   Instead of conceding that our troops are in the middle of a situation that will ultimately blow up in their faces, the Bush Administration merely crosses its fingers and hopes for the best while the fuse continues to burn.  

 

I don't know how many dead soldiers and gallons of blood it's going to take before this Administration's insatiable appetite for death and thirst for blood will finally, finally be quenched, but I am fairly certain of this.   They seem to be as ignorant as to what comprises a civil war as they were about the history of the Middle East and of human nature in general.

 

 

 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war

 

 **http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/04/news/iraq.php

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHRISTMAS WARS

Editors' Note.   This Post oirginally appeared on THE COALITION FOR A REPUBLICAN-FREE AMERICA in December 2005.   We are posting it again because it appears as if the Christian Reich is going to wage another hate campaignb to prove how much it loves the Prince of Peace  Yours Truly, Advocate 1 and Brandon

THE CHRISTMAS WARS:
How the Radical Christian Right is Bastardizing Christmas and Christianity
A Brief History of the Christmas Wars

By  Advocate 1 and Brandon


-------""I am not going to let aggressive totalitarian and anti-Christian forces in this country diminish, denigrate, the holiday and the celebration. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that.."

Bill O'Reilly trying to sound like a Christian.

-------It seems as if the Radical Christian Right has stepped up its attack on America and mainstream Christianity by extending the Cultural War to include the words Happy Holidays; and while they may not realize it, they haven't exactly done a lot to equate their battle cry of "Merry Christmas" with anything especially Merry or Christian either.

-------On the surface, the whole thing seems rather bizarre. Christ, after all, never politicized his religious teachings; and the last we knew, bringing horror into the world of concerned Americans who oppose a Christian Republic or a Fundamentalist theocracy isn't exactly a Christian standard. So you just have to wonder: Why would the same professional misanthropes who so fervently complain about political correctness, want to demote the words "Merry Christmas" to the mere equivalent of right wing political war chant? Why would they want use Christmas, of all things, as an excuse to infuriate the American people at what they claim is the holiest time of the year?

-------First and foremost, we need to remember that this isn't the first time that the Pseudo Christian Right has used Christmas as a weapon against its opponents.

-------During the 1920s Henry Ford warned us about a Jewish conspiracy to remove Christmas from the public square. According to Ford and his ilk, there was a Jewish plot to eliminate Christmas caroling and Christmas pageants. Ironically, the current crusade against the term "Happy Holidays" also has a certain racist/antisemitic ring to it as well. The only other religious Holidays during the month of December are Hanukkah and Kwanzaa--a Jewish holiday and an African-inspired holiday. So you have to ask yourself, " what are the cultural warriors complaining about this time?" Are they really offended because they can't hear the words "Merry Christmas" on demand or are they just offended by Blacks and Jews? If it's the first scenario, we would suggest that they need to develop a few grown up characteristics such as patience and perspective; if it's the second scenario they clearly need to get a grip on their racist/antisemitic tendencies Granted, one might argue that conservative Jews and Christian Fundamentalists have forged a political alliance of convenience, based on Israel's right to exist and the Fundamentalists' literal interpretation of Revelations, but let's not deceive ourselves. This does not mean thay the Radical Christian Right has become more tolerant and accepting of the Jewish people. Rather, the Fundamentalist take on the Jews and the Nation of Israel is that Jesus, the beloved "Prince of Peace" will come back at the end of times to punish the Jews to eternal damnation because they refused to accept him as the Messiah.

-------Real love and compassion there.

-------The supposedly "Pro Christmas" crusade was renewed during the 1950s, when the John Birch Society decided there was a United Nations plot to replace Christmas decorations with symbols of one world government. In 1959 this fanatical little group (think KKK in street clothing) published a revealing pamphlet, "There Goes Christmas," claiming, "...one of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." This time the targets were American department stores, which they assumed were a part of a clandestine Soviet/United Nations plot. And the last we knew, the John Birch Society had a decidedly anti-Semitic streak to it as well....

-------The current crusade only combines the worst of both, religious fanaticism and outright paranoia. That much became obvious when Fox Propaganda Minister, John Gibson offered his half baked ideas about Christmas and religion on November 17 of last year. Gibson, the author of The War On Christmas suggested: 

-------"Minorities ought to have the same sense of tolerance about the majority religion -- Christianity -- that they've been granted about their religions over the years."

-------Which on the surface, actually sounds reasonable. But Gibson then went on to offer the following remarks.

-------"I would think if somebody is going to be -- have to answer for following the wrong religion, they're not going to have to answer to me. We know who they're going to have to answer to....And that's fine. Let 'em. But in the meantime, as long as they're civil and behave, we tolerate the presence of other religions around us without causing trouble, and I think most Americans are fine with that tradition."
----- -Hardly the image of the devout, Christmas- loving Saint that the folks at Fox and Penguin Books have been promoting, is it?

-------Can you believe this guy? Only moments after he stated that the religious minority (a code word for Jews?) should be more tolerant of the Christian majority, Gibson then revealed himself as a judgemental, Christian supremest who was only saying what God would say if God only knew what was going on down here. (A special hint to our readers. When you die, go to Heaven, and see Mister Gibson there, you should worry about where you went.)

-------Needless to say we really aren't surprised by this.

-------Since the early 1980s the Radical Christian Right has grown increasingly militant, and paranoid. This, after all, is the same crowd that has been warning us about a "Satanic, New Age Conspiracy" which is allegedly poised to take over the entire world; the latest assault on "Happy Holidays," being the most recent in a long line of paranoid conspiracy theories. Granted, the right to both hate and fear your fellow Americans is protected by the American Constitution,, but the Radical Christian Right hasn't only turned these "time honored practices" into art forms; they have also created a delusional, world wide conspiracy that is so involved and so far-fetched that you need a flow chart just to keep track of the various groups, individuals, and practices involved.

1 acupressure
2. acupuncture
3. aerobics at the YMCA
4. Alcoholics Anonymous
5. American Civil Liberties union
6. Amway Corporation
7. Atari Computer Corporation
8. Biofeedback
9. Blue Cross/Blue Shield
10. Buffalo New York Public Schools
11. Campbell's Soup Company
12. Catholic Church/Catholic Communion
13. Cocoon (the movie)
14. Cousins: Norman
15. creative visualization
16. ending world hunger
17. environmental movement
18. Free Masonry
19. gay rights
20. globalism
21. Gorbachev: Mikhail
22. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
23. guided imagery for success and prosperity
24. happy holidays
25. health food
26. holistic health practices
27. The Hunger Project
28. Huxley: Aldous
29. hypnosis
30. the information revolution
31. Jehovah's Witness
32. Jewish Cabala/Judaism in general
33. Life Magazine
34. Lions International
35. Lockheed Corporation
36. Minneapolis City government
37. Mobil Oil Corporation
38. Monsanto Corporation
39. Mormon Church
40. Mother Theresa
41. The Muppets
42. NAACP
43. Nader: Ralph
44. National Aeronautic Space Administration
45. National Organization for Women
46. Native American religious ceremonies
47. NBC Television
48. Newsweek Magazine
49. New York City government
50. Planned Parenthood
51. pluralism
52. Polaroid Corporation
53. Pope John XXIII
54. positive thinking
55. Prince Phillip of England
56. Princeton University
57. Proctor and Gamble
58. Readers Digest
59. rock and roll
60. Rockefeller Foundation
61. rosaries
62. Save the Whales
63. self-realization
64. Social Security Administration
65. stress management
66. transcendental meditation
67. Tutu: Desmond
68. UNESCO
69. United Nations
70. United States Navy
71. University of Michigan
72. University of Texas
73. vegetarian diets
74. Welesa: Lech
75. Westinghouse
76. world peace efforts
77. Yale University
78. Yeltsin: Boris

-------Those are just a few of the many people, places and things that this crowd considers "New Age," "evil," or "Satanic."

-------And just who are the spin masters behind this unadulterated lunacy? You guessed it: Dave Hunt, Texe Marrs, Ralph Reed, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, the late Randall N. Baer, Eric Buehrer, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Douglas Groothuis, Joseph Kennedy, Mel (deceased) and Norma Gabler, ad nauseum.

-------To quote Marrs:  "The New Age appears to be the instrument that Satan will use to catapult his Antichrist to power...When Christians refuse to be initiated into this Satanic religious system, they will be dealt with very harshly....The New Age is working hard today to set up an environment against Christians...so the public mood will be ready when the Antichrist begins his brutal anti-Christian programs." (1987).

-------And to make the situation still more interesting, even the Christmas-mocking Gibson himself has couched his arguments in brazenly conspiratorial terms:

-------"It's like the secret bombing of Cambodia--it was a secret from everybody except the people getting bombed. Same deal here. People trying to keep Christmas in schools and parks and libraries and city halls know about the war on Christmas. The people waging this war are trying to keep it secret, but it's too late. They have been outed."

-------Nope. No paranoia there.

-------Worse yet, the Christmas warriors aren't always dependable when it comes to the facts.

-------Consider, if you will, religion in public schools. Our public schools are more religious now than they were at just about any time in our nation's history. Students pray, study the Bible, and hold rallies around flag poles; they distribute literature and discuss religion with their fellow classmates. Or to be be succinct, student-generated(religious activities are perfectly legal and constitutional. But that isn't the main objective. The idee fixe of the Radical Christian Right is top down religion; using the power and authority of school personnel and public tax dollars to impose a particular (read literal) interpretation of a particular faith on people of different religions and denominations. Translated into modern English, they want to turn America's public school system into a hotbed of Ultra- Fundamentalist extremism.

-------Spokespersons for the Radical Christian Right admit as much.

-------In 1990, Robert Simonds, founder of Citizens for Excellence in Education, made no effort to conceal his agenda.

-------"I hope I will see, " Simonds noted, "the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have public schools. The churches will have taken over again, and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be ."

-------In a similar vein, Jerry Falwell, founder of the former Moral Majority went to far as to say:

-------"America was founded by Godly men who had in mind establishing a republic not only Christian in nature, but a republic designed to propagate the Gospel worldwide."

-------The upshot here is that the Christmas warriors couldn't care less about Christmas.   Indeed, there are times when it appears as if they don't even care about Christ.

-------They are not trying to promote Christmas and they certainly are not trying to promote Christianity. Instead of promoting the true spirit of Christmas they are merely exploiting the day in their ongoing attempt to establish a repressive interpretation of the biblical text. Instead of promoting the true spirit of Christmas they are wishing the horrors of hell fire and brimstone on anyone and everyone who dares to disagree with them.

-------To call their hateful, paranoid behavior Christian, is a little like calling Adolf Hitler a good samaritan.