gentleman my ass...

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

—Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125

i would narrow it down a little further - christianity killed god! and the Fishers, Donohoes, Benedicts, Fallwells, Robertsons, etc have done the most murdering of god.

where is this coming from?

Fischer: God Didn't Stop CT School Shooting Because He's a Gentleman Who Doesn't Go Where He is Not Wanted

from RightWingWatch.org

SCOTUS & the pro-Prop 8 gang...

SCOTUS last week stopped a federal judge from taping and broadcasting to other judicial venues the Bois-Olson trial contesting the results of Prop 8.

one of the arguments they used agreed with the pro-Prop 8 gang that their lives could be interrupted and they could be threatened from the queer activists if their testimony were to be shown live. never mind that there is a court recorder in the room and the entire trial transcript will be available sometime in the future.

[you can follow the news and the trial at American Foundation for Equal Rights.]

on of these "testifiers", a christianist minister publicly and very loudly dropped out.

but can anyone come up with matches to these headlines regarding lgbtq people who are asking only to be treated equal to everyone else with the christianists who are not very christian?


VANDALS SLASH TIRES OF TWO DOZEN CARS AT GAY ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB

RHODE ISLAND GAY MAN'S BUSINESS TARGETED: 'FAGGOTS HAVE NO RIGHTS'


D.C. Jail guards accused of beating gay inmate

just these three are from Towleroad and DC Agenda over the last couple of days!

how many others have we seen over the years? how long did it take to pass the Matthew Shepard Act? how many more lgbtq are going to be beaten? raped? killed?

the proponents of Prop 8 have made themselves the victims when they, in fact, are the perpetrators of violence and crime and hate all in the name of a myth that clearly espouses loving your neighbor more than yourself.

i have a sense that their Jesus would now refuse to die for their sins...

weekender...

Maxx decided that there shouldn't be a weekender today.

there is really nothing funny after what happened not only in Haiti but with the responses from certain characters like Robertson and Limbaugh who use the misfortune of others as reason to espouse lies and further their hypocritical and insidious agendas.

try and have a good weekend...

name your favorite modern pharisee...

def. pharisee a hypocritically self-righteous person

who on the radar these days fits into this definition and is your favorite?

i'll start with three:

1. Pastor Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation League
2. Rush Limbaugh
3. Sarah Palin

man, that was difficult narrowing it down to three. there are so many choices...


if you don't want to vomit, don't click on the links i provided. i just couldn't bring myself to put one in for Palin.

words for today's United States...

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility...."

in this time of crisis with all the forces denigrating and questioning and bombarding us from within, the rest of the world is declaring itself to be back in our corner with the Nobel Peace prize award. they see hope where there has been none for the last several years.

the self-ascribed patriots who live in this country are attacking the very core of its basis and doing it under the guise of their love of country. they are doing everything in their power to derail progress and hope. they avidly state that they want Obama to fail. they openly declare he should be impeached for unknown offenses. they have prediction sites for people to guess when he will be assassinated.

these people hate their country and they are being lead by self-aggrandizing demagogues using the freedom of speech of which they truly believe only they should have. they lie; they cheat; they twist words; and they border on the traitorous with their accusations that others are the turncoats.

they have hijacked the progress of this country. they have worked against the will and promise of the founders of it. they bastardize the words of the founders and ignore their true meaning. worse, they do it in a self-righteous misreading of the worship they portray, their own personal version of judeo-christian dogma at the expense of the true intent of the scripture they spout so often and to the detriment of others with different beliefs.

the quotes that open this post describe more than adequately and with great precision the state we find ourselves in today. the person saying them accurately identifies the force behind the attacks and the situation of the United States and what is happening right now.

sadly, they also give more credence to the George Santayana quote that is always in the right corner of this blog - “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

also, they make the old French adage "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" even truer - the more things change, the more they stay the same....

who originally spoke these words? i would bet certain elements reading them would say Barack Obama, because they would want to use them to discredit him even more.

they would be wrong.

Abraham Lincoln in his Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 wrote the words.

weekender...

late in the day but things have been hectic...

from a comment on Pam's House Blend article: Vatican: sex abuse in Catholic Church was a homo problem, not pedophilia


Question: What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.


read the article it's attached to. it's beyond the pale. these old white men of the cloth have no sense of what's going on in the world today. they are so out of touch with reality that they already think they are in heaven.

i was at the Vatican and its museums just a couple of weeks ago. i was defending all of the art collections to my friends with the argument that if the stuff wasn't there it may just have been lost to all.

maybe it would be better off lost...

NOW i will say, "i told you so"...

if you missed Bill Maher Friday night, you missed someone in the media finally calling Obama out. the key quote:

And just like Lindsay (Lohan) we see your name in the paper a lot, but we're kind of wondering when you're actually going to do something.

the full clip is below.



this is exactly what he did here in Illinois. he played politics.

so, since Bill Maher has brought this up, i will now say

i told you so...

obfuscating obfuscations...

the video from Rachel Maddow's show last night really speaks for itself. it's not just as obfuscation, it's pure hypocrisy.




and they call themselves christian!

i worry for Mr. Dias on appearing on Rachel's show.

anyone want to bet he is punished in some way? suspended? kicked out?

no bets? didn't think so...

the former vice-president...

i love the way that Chris Matthews pronounces his name - Cheeney.

just listening to the excerpts from his speechifying today at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank [an oxyomoron?] i wish the man would just go away.

i realize that i'm a small cog in the wheel of Republicans and Democrats who wish the same thing.

Cheeney is so over the top he borders on mental. that anyone can believe that it is right to harm another person for any reason is beyond me.

he says that he saved thousands of lives with this actions; he says the safety of the U.S. was strengthened because of his actions; and he believes that what he did is forgivable.

it's not.

he is diminished in his humanity and he has diminished the humanity of the country.

if he were a priest, i'd use the line i've used in several previous posts - here...

great website and right to the point...

if you're not familiar with Listverse: The Universe of Lists, you should be. it's list of just about everything and it's brilliant. they include everything from history to food to politics to spooky sports curses to... you name it. you can also sign up for a daily list that they send to your email inbox.

this is today's emailed list:

10 Cases of Conservative Hypocrisy

here's just one from today's list and its #1 -

1 Strom Thurmond



Hypocrisy: Blocking Civil Rights for His Own Child

When South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on the Dixiecrat ticket, he vowed to bar blacks from white schools, restaurants, and even some occupations. But at the same time he was preaching segregation, he was secretly financing the business administration degree of Essie Mae Washington, a black coed at the all-black South Carolina State College. Why? Because it is widely believed that Ms. Washington is his daughter. By supporting a black woman he supposedly sired, Thurmond considered himself remaining loyal to a Southern Gentleman’s code that required white boys, who often learned about sex “on the colored side of town,” to take care of any children they fathered. To his very death, Thurmond never confirmed nor denied Ms. Washington as his daughter, even when the headline: “SEN. THURMOND IS UNPRINCIPLED — WITH COLORED OFFSPRING — WHILE PARADING AS A DEVOUT SEGREGATIONIST” ran in the Edgefield Advertiser, where Ms. Washington went to school.

another thing Mr. Vitter needs to keep zipped up...

Hurricane season begins June 1, and yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency still has no new director. Two months ago, President Obama nominated Craig Fugate, the state emergency chief who excelled in Florida. The choice was hailed widely, on both sides of the aisle, as ideal. But Mr. Fugate is being held hostage in the Senate by David Vitter of Louisiana.

Doin’ a Heck of a Job, Senator,
Editorial, New York Times
May 9, 2009

always at the people's expense. isn't politics republican-style fun?

i feel less safe...

after seeing this...






no other comment.

on "do away with ALL special rights"...

i guess i was a day ahead of others. [check out the previous post]

Bob Cesca over at Huffington Post wrote this today:

Here's the thing, though. Hannity, Limbaugh, King and 166 House Republicans are decidedly against the hate crimes bill. The legislation, as passed by the House, specifically defines hate crimes as being "motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim." Again, Hannity, King and the rest are absolutely opposed to this.

So while the Republicans have vocally and repeatedly expressed their position against "protecting pedophiles," it can be said -- and, quoting King, "it's a matter of record" -- that they're also against protecting women, racial minorities, ethnic minorities, religious people and disabled people, among others.

Republican Political Hackery and the Hate Crimes Bill
Bob Cesca, Huffington Post

one of the arguments that i heard today was to an amendment that was added to the bill by a Republican representative from Iowa to include veterans. the problem with this amendment to the bill would invalidate the entire piece of legislation. and i'm sure the republicans knew this. of course, the other outrageous thing this representative said was that the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill (S 909 IS*) protects pedophiles when it actually is very specific in its scope. [i'm one of those people who actually reads bills and does not rely on what others write or say alone.]

the actual focus of the bill is to protect people from

(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY...*

(emphases in bold added)

with the exception of religion, no one falling into the other categories has any control over who/what they are and that is why they are part of these groups.

well, there is my previous argument in a nutshell. people choose to be part of a religion. they may be born christian or a follower of Islam but they can opt to change it. they can also decide to become an atheist or select Lutheranism as their basis of belief or non-belief.

why should they have special protections?


as to the idea that is prevalent in the hate-speech of the media specialists like Savage, Beck, Limbaugh, Dobson, etc. who say that it will prevent preachers from speaking in the pulpit according to their beliefs of lgbtq Senate Bill 909 is very specific in its language.

(3) CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment and peaceful picketing or demonstration. The Constitution does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to commit, or committing an act of violence.

(4) FREE EXPRESSION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual's expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual's membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs.

in addition, another point of the bill is to assist local and state police with investigating and prosecuting hate crimes especially in place that do not have local provisions for these crimes. it also provides grant monies to local authorities to help defray cost in investigations and prosecutions as well as direct support from FBI, Secret Service, etc.


AND, before i get slammed about the veterans part: i strongly support and stand by the men and women who are or were in the services. i actively support VoteVets and SLDN. i did not use them in the amendment; the repubs did and i would bet on purpose because they knew it would invalidate and make unconstitutional the entire bill.

so..., who do you think is really not supporting veterans? to shamelessly employ a group that the country owes so much to for their service in protecting us is beyond ignominy. it borders on traitorous, IMHO. the servicemembers put their lives on the line to make certain that i have the freedoms that the Constitution guarantees. except, being lgbtq, i don't have all of those entitlements. the repubs and the nutters see to that.

i would be very much in favor of enacting a special law to insure the rights and benefits of veterans. AND while i'm at it... why DON'T all veterans have those rights? more fodder for the right-wing composter.

my point again is if any amendment should be added to the bill or removed from the body of the bill it should be to eliminate religion.

as i said in the previous post -

oh wait, Dobson, Falwell and all the other blather-mouths are saying that christianity is under attack. they would think this to be one more foray into that battle.

i still think it would be a good start...

(*link to S 909 IS as introduce in the Senate)

do away with ALL special rights...

one of the biggest arguments that the right uses against the fight for equal protection is that it bestows special privileges on a specific group of people. they don't believe that is necessary.

well, then they should be marching and preaching and screaming to reverse ALL laws that pretend to place special protections on ALL groups.

let's see. there is a law that gives equal protection to religious people.

that's a good place to start. in their logic, if special laws are not needed, then who needs this one.

oh wait, Dobson, Falwell and all the other blather-mouths are saying that christianity is under attack. they would think this to be one more foray into that battle.

oh well. gotta start somewhere...

plain words...

i found this on one of the French blogsites i haunt - L'homme est un concept - Man is a concept.


Comme ca c'est clair*



this makes me very sad. there is absolutely no excuse for this. it is tragic that people who say that their very core beliefs are based on love but deny love as they pigeon-hole it based on a narrow minded interpretation of a three word sentence they hold sacred - god is love.

Nietschze said that God is dead. i think what he really meant is that mankind killed god by its hypocrisy and self-righteousness.

if there was an original sin that would be it...



*literal translation is "Like that, it's clear"; idiomatically, i'd translate it as "How stupid"

this is America? - pure obfuscation...

land of the free? home of the brave? a christian nation?

Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects

Mr. Hayden [CIA Director for the last two years of the Bush Administration] said he had opposed the release of the memos, even though President Obama has said the techniques will never be used again, because they would tell Al Qaeda “the outer limits that any American would ever go in terms of interrogating an Al Qaeda terrorist.”

NYT, April 20, 2009

i don't remember what show i was watching this weekend but one of the guests speculated on what the reaction would be not if but when a former detainee perpetrated an act of terrorism against the U.S.

both sides will say, "See! I told you so."

and it will fly into the face of the men who fought for the freedom...

“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.”

- George Washington charge to the
Northern Expeditionary Force,
Sept. 14, 1775

i am sad...

obfuscations in the news: the pope needs a psychiatrist - desperately...

from the Panzerpapa

Vatican accuses AIDS groups of intimidation

(Vatican City) The Vatican on Friday denounced the criticisms of the pope’s comments about condoms and AIDS during his trip to Africa, saying they marked an unprecedented attempt to intimidate him into silence.

Pope Benedict XVI said last month that condoms weren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic and could make the problem worse.

France, Germany, the U.N. AIDS-fighting agency as well as the British medical journal The Lancet criticized the comments as irresponsible and dangerous. The Belgian parliament passed a resolution calling them “unacceptable” and demanding that the government officially protest.

365Gay.com & The Associated Press

intimidation?

INTIMIDATION?


how about The Inquisition? the Knights Templar? Galileo? The Holocaust? the...

why mention more? the catholic church has killed more people than all wars put together over the centuries. all in the name of their god.

these bear repeating again and again and again...

as i've quoted Henry II before, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

and

If Jesus were alive today, the last thing he would be is a christian.

i have never said anything like this in my life before... but the best thing that could happen for the world would be the death of benedict xvi. the only problem is that whoever the hierarchy of the church [the oldest, most inflexible, and basest men in the world] might be worse! he along with them continue advocating the deaths of people around the world. not just through statements on AIDS but in forcing women to have children they don't want - among other things.

he is a deceiver out of touch with the world around him; and he makes me see red.

more and more, he is looking like the anti-christ the believers preach of...

a question...

why do we need to have an ambassador to a fake country that does not pull its weight, does not give us any support, does not believe in democracy, and does not punish its own malicious predators?

Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy appointment as US ambassador

Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint.

Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy's daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid. She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job.

Telegraph.uk

on this day that is considered the most important religious holiday of the church, it shows its true christian nature.

as i've quoted Henry II before, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

pernicious, hurtful, destructive, inimical, noxious, malignant...

i become extraordinarily hateful on beautiful days when confronted by obnoxious obfuscations by men who live in the 19th century and call on their god to condemn and foment against others while boisterously advocating free choice and will. they malign the basis for what they believe.

as i've also said before, "If Jesus were alive today, the last thing he would be is a christian."

in spite, no because, of this i'm going to have a great day with the kids, the easter egg hunt and the fried turkey. the religious meaning of this day has been bastardized, as has Christmas. i prefer to acknowledge that both days are really about the children - Celebrations of the Child.

obfuscating obfuscations: the storm is false...

this is so sad. the end of the video says that the organization flaunting the lies in the video are responsible for its content. that's the one thing that they got right - they are responsible in their irresponsibility. there are too many proofs that every statement that is made in the video is false, and i'm not about to list them all here. it's a simple Google.com search. there are a couple of references after the video.





an example of the falsehoods: the mention of the church in New Jersey who is being punished for not allowing a lesbian couple to commit on their property. the group has been receiving government support for allowing the general public to use the land. by denying them, the church group broke the basic contract it had with the New Jersey government. NOM doesn't mention that. Nor does the video or group report that the California doctor was not only cited for breaking the law but the Hippocratic Oath by denying health consultation because of religious beliefs. yes, the case was concerning reproductive rights, but what if the couple had then gone to a less qualified professional and it resulted in harm or even death? the culpability would still be there.

no one is forcing anyone to change their beliefs or restructure their lives as they want to do to others. the even sadder thing is that these people throw out the number one thing that their god commands of them - love their neighbor as themselves.

i suppose the real comment behind this is that they really don't love themselves...



i would also direct you to a piece on Huffington Post yesterday by Mike Alvear - At Least Have the Decency to Lie About Your Sexuality - where a woman sitting next to him on a flight admonishes him for being gay when he did everything in his power not to bring it up. her solution was exactly what the title said - lie about who you are.

it would have been better if the woman had lied instead...

obfuscating obfuscations: it's still ALL about sex...

Both as a social institution and as a public policy, marriage exists to foster connections between heterosexual sex and the rearing of children within stable households. It is a non-coercive way to channel (heterosexual) desire into civilized patterns of living. State recognition of the marital relationship does not imply devaluation of any other type of relationship, whether friendship or brotherhood. State recognition of those other types of relationships is unnecessary. So too is the governmental recognition of same-sex sexual relationships, committed or otherwise, in a deep sense pointless.

The Future of Marriage, The National Review
by The Editors

there is no fight to protect traditional marriage. it's all about the sex, no if's, and's or but's about it.

the editorial in yesterday's National Review is explicit in this core belief, and that of the organizations like National Organization for Marriage.

since they can't save their favorite bastion of tradition from their own sort by stopping a divorce rate of over 50%, keeping their teenagers out of each other's pants, stopping the onslaught of couples merely living together, or decreasing the number of single parents, they latch onto the evil that dare not speak its name - non-missionary position sex.

oooooo...

maybe part of the problem is what they consider normal sex boring but don't want to admit that they enjoy, you know, the kinky stuff, but their beliefs, or at least their pastors, tell them they can't...?

any way, why are they so fixated on sex? it's really highly overrated, isn't it?

just asking...