More Patriotic Bullshit

Tags

fundamentalists, right wing nuts

Seldom does there rise up an example of abject stupid of such gargantuan proportions as a fellow named Todd Kincannon. It is perhaps, should be we prone to speculating on God’s designs, His way of showing the rest of humanity how not to do it.

Todd was once upon a time executive something or other in the GOP of South Carolina, and grad-u-ate, of the law school of the University of South Carolina. That second part should give parents of graduating seniors pause. Somehow that university failed to weed out the chaff and gave this fool a degree.

By now, you no doubt have heard of Todd. He is an equal-opportunity coconut of the first order. In fact, as I said, he may well be the prototype of all nut jobs.

In response to Ebola, Todd suggests that we just “humanely” put them down. He has also tweeted that we need to deal with ISIS pretty much as Columbus dealt with the “filthy savages” he found in Merika–exterminate them. He suggests that African-Americans are good but Africans are savages with AIDS and Ebola, and our President is the latter. There is more, but who cares. The official GOP is pretty much disowning the guy who seems intent on encouraging the scorn.

I rail about stupid, but not stupid in general. Nobody can be faulted for being stupid if that is their fate based upon too few brain cells. I mean one can’t control such things and the most one can hope in such a case, is that the few that exist can get together and counsel their owner to keep his beak clamped firmly shut to notify as few as possible of the infirmity of being rock stupid.

What I rail at is stupid that is willful and deliberate (if there is a difference between willful and deliberate, otherwise I’m repeating myself). There is no excuse for it. Yet people hide behind “two things you don’t discuss in polite society are politics and religion” and other such trite phrases. Another is being “too busy”. Well aren’t we all? If you want to take that route, then you by definition leave the field to those who are so rich that they have nothing but leisure or so rich they have a vested interest in things being done their way. Neither is a good thing, yet this is what we find today.

Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, was recently interviewed by Stephen Colbert and had this rather profound remark to make:

“A thoughtless citizen of a democracy is a delinquent citizen of a democracy.”

Unlike other forms of government, we get the government we elect, we get the government we demand, we get the government that we choose. If we choose to opt out by our failure to learn the truth about all the issues that confront us, if we fail to vote, we are unworthy of the land in which we live. We are not patriotic, we are nothing but ignorant “feel-good” loafers who are so involved in our own lives that we can spare none for the country we claim to love so much. Patriotism is a good deal more than thanking veterans for their service, singing national anthems, and critiquing the correctness of Presidential salutes upon exiting Marine One.

Opinions don’t count, opinions based on actual facts do. And actual facts are discerned through a sifting process of reading and THINKING about a host of sources, determining what can and cannot be given credence. It does not involve looking for arguments that support what one really wants to be true because it suits one’s worldview, religious needs, or pocketbook.

We have to laugh at the likes of a Ted Cruz, who when confronted with the fact that SCOTUS was refusing to take up a number of circuit cases involving same-sex marriage laws, determined that this inaction constituted some gravest of all forms of judicial activism. We have to shake our heads at the continued doomsday reports from the hate groups like Family Research Council who beat the drums of impending Armageddon should people of the same sex be allowed to marry. Mike Huckabee has threatened to leave the GOP if crazier heads like himself don’t prevail and carry on the fight against this god-less movement.

The FACT is that this idiocy of fundamentalism is not something that can be traced to the apostles of our Lord. This brand of fundamentalism with all it’s “inerrancy, creationism,anti-climate change, and young-earth-ism” is of recent vintage, being born in the early 60’s, about the same time that a periodic Spiritual awakening was occurring among the Boomers. Most went the way of exploring an expansion of God, encompassing other faiths, and new approaches, but the reactionaries withdrew and made God smaller and easier to fit inside their tiny braincases.

The FACT is that homosexuality is not by any means “prohibited” in the bible, and anyone who suggests it is, is engaging in the same literalist interpretation that is  incorrect and utterly unsupported by biblical experts around the world. The literature is extensive and profound on the issue and only awaits the fundamentalist’s courage to actually read it. Contrary to their claims based on nothing, learning truth does not destroy God, but rather it makes God really God, and not some human caricature designed to make one feel okay about ones miserable self.

We are awash in a sea of stupid these days. And for reasons that should shock and astound us all, the stupidest of all seem to seek office. Like minded stupid people find solace across the Internet, finding compatriots of ignorance and losing what should be their isolated “otherness” mantle that used to keep them securely locked in their garrets tormented by a world that rejects their insanity. Such people don’t procreate, since in small town America their numbers are still so small that they seldom by chance run into someone as stupid as themselves and join forces. At least pre-Internet that was true.

Over sixty-percent of 18-20somethings in the GOP are okay with same-sex marriage. What does that tell ya? It should tell you that you need to rethink your stupid, but of course, being stupid you won’t. You’ll rail that this generation of kids just wasn’t properly disciplined with the belt as you were, and thus has grown up without real morals.

Real morality I hate to tell you, has to do with respecting other people and their rights. But you won’t learn that any time soon, since you protect your thin-skin by surrounding yourselves with others like yourselves and then telling the biggest lie of all–most people are like us. Well, they aren’t.

You have no guts, no integrity, no moral compass, and not a modicum of intelligence. You  are unable to hold up your end of a “debate” and are reduced to coded ad hominem attacks to replace the arguments you cannot make. You prefer to believe what makes your tiny simplistic world work for you, and damn the vast rest of humanity who must be wrong-headed, atheistic, commie, socialist, fascist, feminist, racist, lazy and dogs. Half of the above you couldn’t define if put to the test. You wave the flag and tout how “blessed” you are and “share if you love God too”. You question everyone else’s faith while not following a single dictate of the man you claim as your savior.

And still, and still when it all comes down to it, you have to try to cheat to win an election. So where are your hordes of followers? The two thousand who showed up for your “family values” annual lovefest? The three who showed up at your border protests? Or was it the 2 semis and 4 pickups who showed up for your Washington protest? You can try to suppress Democratic votes, but the result will be the same as last time. We will vote in greater numbers than ever before.

And you will lose, and lose and lose until finally you all retreat to your basements and your hoarded food and weapons while we continue to create a world that is fair for all. We have a long way to go, but at least we are moving forward, and you can only slow things down, never stop it.

Stew in that!

 

 

What’s Up With That?

Tags

1st Amendment, dominionism, teabaggers, Ted Cruz

Never let it be said that a college education isn’t a good thing.  But it does not mean, gentle folks, that everyone that secures one comes out, well, . . . educated.

Some come out with better talents at manipulating the world they hope to rule one day.

Case in point is Canadian Ted Cruz, that stalwart Haaaavard educated douche from Texas whose daddy is still quite certain that President Obama was born in Kenya, which apparently is something less good than being born in either Canada or Cuba as the case may be.

It would be inappropriate to compare Ted to another well-known demagogue, so we won’t, but gosh Ted could give any of a host of world ogres a run for their money when it comes to using white-hot rhetoric in attempts to raise the blood of the great stupid hoards.

Truth? Not so much. Truth is not the providence of a demagogue; not that truth has no place at all in propagandizing. It does, but a minor part at best. Truth becomes the kernel which is then popped all out of its original proportions in order to reach the goal of making black white and thus creating the “new” rallying cry of the duped.

My very own Senator, Tom Udall recently introduced a constitutional amendment before the Senate which would try to put a stop the abuses that stem from Citizens United. As you recall, the SCOTUS held in that case that corporations were “people” for purposes of the 1st Amendment and that they could spend unlimited money denouncing or supporting various candidates for office.

This led to the creation of “super Pacs” which collected millions of dollars which were funneled to various campaigns supporting various candidates. The one run by Karl Rove controlled over $300 million dollars.

Of course, we all agree (or at least most of us) that such behavior amounts to actually a very few people being able to buy elections for candidates who we must conclude feel rather beholden to their benefactors. Money has become “speech”. Indeed in the McCutcheon case, limits on the total amount an individual could spend on election campaigns were removed. All agree, that the average person, as a result has less and less a voice in these matters, being unable, even collectively to meet these staggering amounts of money, all designed to elect those who will be favorable to one’s desires.

One must remember that Citizens United involved a film, one made about Hillary Clinton, which was in all respects nothing more than a campaign tool used by the Right to smear Mrs. Clinton. That was the argument made, that the film was funded by corporate funds for one reason and one reason only, to affect the election against Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Ted has used this one fact, that it was a film to make the grandiose argument that the Democratic party intends to vote to eliminate the 1st Amendment.

He argues because this was a film (which has nothing to do with the decision at all, but is merely the vehicle for the principle embedded within it), that the very next thing to happen will be that Democrats will decide that you can’t read this particular book, view that particular movie, or go to that particular play.

Watch the video, and listen to the audible gasp by his Family Values audience as he announces this draconian fairytale. He then goes on to tell the audience that government wishes the authority to “muzzle you” if it doesn’t like your speech.

Of course this is not true at all. It is directed solely at the concept that a corporation can be a person with a political agenda, free to spend millions to do exactly what Ted decries as the eventual outcome–muzzling you. In fact it’s to keep your voice valuable, that the amendment is offered.

This all becomes the more sweet when we recognize that indeed Cruz is arguing that corporations are people in his view, a concept he shares with Willard Romney, who found that people were not really happy with his refrain, “corporations are people too, my friends.”

Indeed the irony is delicious here.

Ted is a dominionist by religious flavor, another of those Christianist offshoots that create their own theories about “what the bible means”. Ted’s daddy is a preacher who preaches this stuff through his ministry Purifying Fire International.

This ideology calls on anointed “Christian” leaders to take over the state and make the goals and laws of the nation “biblical.” It seeks to reduce government to organizing little more than defense, internal security and the protection of property rights. It fuses with the Christian religion the iconography and language of American imperialism and nationalism, along with the cruelest aspects of corporate capitalism.

Note that the ideology calls for “anointed Christian leaders”. Well as you may have guessed, Ted is one of those “anointed“. And if you are at all unsure about that, you need but ask his daddy:

Rafael Cruz indicated that his son was among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society, an agenda commonly referred to as the “Seven Mountains” mandate, and “bring the spoils of war to the priests”, thus helping to bring about a prophesied “great transfer of wealth”, from the “wicked” to righteous gentile believers.

So what we have here folks, is a man who is lying and making ridiculous claims about the Democrats being Fahrenheit 451 Democrats, determined to gut the 1st Amendment right to free speech, while at the same time, declaring that he has every intention of gutting the separation of church and state, and the right to freedom of religion, from the very same Amendment!

It pays to know what both hands are doing.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that perhaps the son doesn’t follow his father’s beliefs. He does folks, he certainly does.

Now, I recognize that normal people get Ted Cruz. The see him for what he is, and I have little or no doubt that he will fail miserably in his attempt to gain the GOP presidential nomination. You simply cannot hide all this stuff. It’s too well attested to by video alone.

But the antics of Ted serve to continually stir the pot of the crazy element in this country and that is a dangerous element, and becoming more so. One has only to examine the insane “open carry” nuts in Texas who even looked crazy finally to the NRA. Of course the NRA backed down, and that is even more worrisome. There is a level of crazy in Amerika that is increasingly willing, or so it seems, to use violence to achieve their goals however they articulate them beyond, “we don’t wanna pay for that” and  “we don’t want them people around us”.

Most will mess their pants at the first shot fired. But I’m afraid all too many are just nuts enough to bunker down and begin a “war”, one that will take no prisoners, but will mow down anyone who appears to be “not one of them”.

To the degree that Cruz and his ilk continually rile these folks up with blatant propaganda lies, we must all be very afraid.

 

 

The Rest is Just Commentary

Tags

Extreme right-wing, tea patriots, teabaggers

As one rows through life, (apt analogy notwithstanding), one does, at least once, come to  what seems to oneself at least, an original conclusion about this or that flotsam that crosses the bow.

See, right there, I probably wrote a sentence that is unparalleled in human history, if not for its brilliance, then at least for its collection of words before unknown in such conjunction.

Yet, I am torn between the fact that we humans probably talk too much (ala Hillel and his oft quoted remark ““That which is hateful to you, do not unto another: This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary.”) and my own creative genius, “no original thought has occurred since December 14, 1963.”

Put together, they form a perfect indictment that is hard to avoid the next time you decide to open your mouth and spew forth with some sort of “wisdom” meant for the ages. You’re just whistling Dixie as it were.

Yet, in my endless quest for truth, I stumbled across a word that seems to me, “new” and so perfectly fit for today, that it required a few tingling fingerprints across the keys to bring this dose of enlightenment to you, my dearest reader of all readers. Alas, but a cursory “google” proved that this “new” word was hardly new, but had been bounced around for some time, proving again, my only original thought.

(By the way, my original thought, occurred sometime after December 14, 1963, for it must be in a linear time progression, so it is perhaps better not to think to hard on the subject. The December 14, 1963 original thought was “Oh damn, the music died,” uttered by Dick “Night Train” Lane upon discovering the dead body of his beloved Dinah Washington, dead by her own “oops” overdose of barbiturates. Not to be confused with “the day the music died, in the song American Pie written about the untimely deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.)

Back to the word.

The word was freedumb.

It seemed to encapsulate all that is Amerika these days. Dumbasses who spout “freedom” always with the slavering spittle of “I’ll die for it” flung from their lungs as their eyes cart-wheel and spin in ways that would make the average carny feel right at home.

Freeeeeee-dummmmmmb. Catchy no?

Ain’t nothin’ new under the sun as they say.

What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun. (Ec 1:9)

Here’s a few notions ’bout freedumb you might have missed.

Don’t that just bring back fond memories? Old George was all about protectin’ them freedumbs from those A-rabs, when he wasn’t holdin’ hands with ’em. Lest we forget.

Damn facts as usual, getting in the way.

There was a man with a messed up head, fit for finger painting, which is where it all ended up.

It’s all been said so many times before.

It’s all be cried about, over and over.

It’s all frustrated the right good sense of the few, the proud, the thinking.

The word speaks volumes, leaving us the refrain, all else is commentary.

My latest entry?

Oh a someone who shall remain nameless who just posted one of those oh so obvious memes from Facebook that we all use because they say in few words what we think, even though often if looked at carefully, they are stupid? Those things.

It was a “oh, gosh, I feel so bad and so sorry for all those poor parents whose children were murdered by that awful kid who went on a rampage.” Except said person, had but a week or so ago, on MOTHER’S FREAKIN’ DAY, posted a meme of a purdy pink hand gun and at the ripe age of 65, moaned how much she wanted one of her very own.

How do your reckon with a mind that has warped itself into a slippery eel who no longer can tell head from tail? It has swallered its own head!

Such is the state of too much of Merika these days. Freedumb don’t begin to explain it.

In watching the badly done History channel’s marathon of the Great Wars, one noted that Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, all managed to design and wear spiffy new “uniforms” to define themselves as something “new under the sun”.

The poor turds that banner themselves as Tea Patriots, will never see the demagogue coming, cuz, so far I ain’t seen Ted Cruz or Adam West, or any of the other high hyenas of crazy parading around in high boots and military garb. And ya know, that’s what demagogues wear. It’s a rule.

So much for sanity today. I’m all crazied out.

*Taking down the crazy, one stupid placard at a time*

Pinterest Madness

Tags

blogs, Humor, Pinterest

I am not insane.

I repeat, I am not insane.

When I first got wind of Pinterest, I thought it odd, stupid, and incoherent.

I thought that for a very long time.

Then, I got the notion that I might find some beading ideas there.

And so I went.

And then I went again.

And I swear, I never knew that I was being invaded by nano bytes. Insideous robots whose only aim in robotic life is to whisper, “go to Pinterest. There might be something new.” And one board leads to another, and another and like a black widow your synapses are painstakingly webbed with connections that all lead to another board of PINS!

Seriously I’m not that addicted. I have found some good ideas, and am presently making a this and a that.

I figure the problem with most crafters is that they think that anybody can do this. And thus you end up with some really stupid things. I figure coffee filter wreathes is a pretty stupid idea.

I’m rather suspicious I gotta say of the man I ran across who pins roaring twenties girls. That seems fairly weird.

But then I just learned something today. When the going gets weird the weird turn pro. Hunter Thompson said that, probably while higher than a kite, which is not all that high actually–a weather balloon would be a better analogy, but I guess such things were unknown when that phrase was invented.

Oops, my bad, the Thompson quote comes from A Pondering Mind. You should sign up if you haven’t, since there is much wisdom, much humor, and well, both are useful in any given day.

Along similar lines, do stop by Mostly Bright Ideas, a fella who has a good sense of humor and is kinda shotgun in his approach, and well, makes you smile, another useful thing to do in any given day. People who think like me realize that really really disparate ideas often have a common thread if you search hard enough, and are creative enough, and are well, strange enough to see the invisible connection. Mysterious no?

Any the way: here is another of those, “I’d rethink that idea before setting up a store to sell it in” items that somebody thought was a good idea on Pinterest:

Some people go a bit over the top with recycling.

I figure somebody will start up a tutorial on how to render dead bodies to make soap.

But I’m really glad to know how to make a dress from a man’s large t-shirt.

You don’t think that’s possible?

I beg to differ.

Without scissors or tape or even a pin.

You see?

And who can say they have not stayed awake at night dreaming (awake of course) of this:

Can you have TOO much duct tape?

Seriously.

I think I would go crazy with duct tape.

But not for the reasons they might think.

I go crazy about a lot of things.

Most of them are of interest only to me.

I realize that.

Do you know how many mirror frames I’ve seen made out of plastic spoons?

The woman who lives in the house belonging to this tree, needs help.

And who would want to miss this great tip:

I mean this is like a certified listing of people who need meds quickly.

And wow, I can’t wait to get in the kitchen with this idea:

Home cooking is so much better than any old junk you find in the supermarket.

But enough.

I recognize these  as crazy, therefore I am most sane.

While I’m at it, take a look at a couple of good blogs I’ve run into lately:

Evolving Thoughts has been doing some good writing on the human mind and how it can get so screwed up and how it can decide it likes it that way. This is a first article and there is another one, so go back to the home page and you’ll find it. How we learn, or how others don’t, is fascinating.

I was looking some stuff up for Facebook on Ted Cruz, dominionist and all-around nut, and found a great article by Jonathan Turley, super smart professor of law and all-around commentator on lots of things. His resume is impressive and so you might be interested in his thoughts. Mostly he talks about legal cases, but occasionally slips off into other areas, hence the post on Teddy the Tunnel Vision Turd.

You might want to take a look at OPED News as well, which is I find to give pretty good news well backed up with facts.

This is all connected by the way, but I’m sure not gonna tell you how.

And I have no idea why so many people are now following this blog. Over two thousand. Musta been something I said. But I have no idea which oddity it was. Pin on world!

Serendipity Do, I Love You, or Words to That Effect

Tags

bible, dominionists, exegesis, fundamentalists, Ted Cruz, US government

There is a definite payoff to being an eclectic. I think all great minds are actually. Not that I am comparing myself to being a great mind. I am all too aware of my limitations to do that, but at least my nose is pointed in the right direction.

Which all goes to say nothing more than that my interests are myriad and lets just say, broad, broad, broad. I read a lot of stuff in any given day or week. And I’m convinced that because of that, I draw a parallel sometimes or should I more perfectly say, an idea seems to form, informed by all that flotsam free-floating around just waiting and looking for a hook to grab and attach itself.

Utterly confused? Yeah, I know, I get so in love with the flowery shimmer of words kissing that I end up just babbling. I would compare myself with Sarah Palin, but unfortunately she never manages to ever reach an idea ever, just snippets of phrases strung together in some effort to look Wall Street Journalish.

Back to business.

So my friend Tim is going to the Chicago Theological Union working on a Masters in Divinity and he sent me his book list for the semester, and I’m reading one of those (figuring out that textbooks required from that place are certainly useful for my scholarly endeavors). It’s a dry subject to most but fascinating to me–biblical exegesis–methodology to be exact. It’s called Method Matters: Essays on the Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.

And given the political landscape, I’m reading a lot of crap about Ted Cruz, that lunatic genius from Texas who has designs on America the Beautiful that should they comes to realization would make you cry.

And I just finished reading another tome about creationism and the crazy people who believe in it, which I hated for a variety of reasons that we don’t have to go into here, but nonetheless offered real nuggets of truth too.

And can you believe that those three things all swirled around in me old head for a few days, and is now busting out in urgent spews of words and phrases all because something important is to be learned in all this? And since you haven’t (unless the universe is way more crazy than I think) been reading these same things, I just got to let you know all about it.

So let’s start at the bottom and work up. About these creationist believers. You know the one’s I mean, the silly folks who are just sure that Genesis (chapter 1, 2 or together) describe in REaLitY just exactly how the earth and everything around it were created? Them? The cognitive dissonance folks? The compartmentalized fools? Them.

They like their bible their way, as has been pointed out innumerable times. God said it, I believe it, ‘nuf said. God actually said it in the pages of the King James Bible, the only one worth reading from their point of view. And he said it, dictated it, so that the average, only sorta educated person could easily understand it. Why do they know that? Because they understand it, just fine.

No amount of showing them that they don’t understand it will be allowed. Mostly that is true, because they way they understand it suits them just fine. It allows them to hate whom they naturally hate, and condemn whom they naturally wanna condemn, and look down upon those they think should be looked down upon.

Now to suggest to them that they are wrong in their understanding is well, easily dealt with. That’s where the red guy comes in.

See, Satan is a real dude, and he is everywhere, making it his personal job to screw all mankind and womankind as well, after raping them no doubt. Satan is behind everything bad.

Satan is also the most devious trickster ever invented (and God did that, but a good fundamentalist doesn’t dwell on why too much–it was no doubt for our own good). Satan gets in people’s heads and messes them up.

Fundamentalists are pretty sure that any time somebody–anybody–says something that they don’t like, Satan is behind it.

Are you getting the drift?

So, if somebody tries to present actual facts that the bible is not as they say–that’s SATAN working again. They actually call you that to your face if you aren’t careful. Or words to that effect. I was once asked, “Sherry, why do you hate Jesus so much?” all in response to my trying to explain why evolution was actually true and believing in God and believing in EVOLUshun was really okay.

Which all led to this remark by a geologist (a real one) speaking at a creationist convention:

“. . .I am a young-age creationist because that is my understanding of the Scripture. As I shared with my professors years ago when I was in college, if all the evidence in the universe turned against creationism, I would be the first to admit it, but I would still be a creationist because that is what the Word of God seems to indicate. Here I must stand.” (Amongst the Creationists, pg 213)

That pretty much tells you that these people are not to be trifled with.

Now, Ted Cruz is a fundamentalist of the first order. His daddy is a preacher who talks about Ted being a royal priesthood, a king, and Obama of course being a Kenyan devil. These folks are serious about their fundie ways. Ted is also a dominionist among other things.  A dominionist is defined as:

The theocratic idea that regardless of theological view or eschatological timetable, heterosexual Christian men are called by God to exercise dominion over secular society by taking control of political and cultural institutions. Competes in Christianity with the idea of Stewardship, which suggests custodial care rather than absolute power. Used here in the broader sense, some analysts use the word only to refer to forms and offshoots of Reconstructionism.

Basically these folks believe to one degree or another than they should impose a Christian government over the US, based on biblical law as they understand it, and go on to do so across the world. People who are not Christian or don’t adhere to proper beliefs are to be eliminated (How that is to be done  depends on how hard-core you really are.)

Where do they get this notion? Why they get it from Genesis 1:28 where in God gave Adam “dominion” over all the earth.

See, they read this and define it as the way we would use the words today. Subdue involves or can involve force. Dominion means dominance, power and control over.

So they feel very righteousy in all their planning to destroy the Constitution as it is, in favor of what it really always was, but somehow got perverted by the LIBERALS, those heathen God-haters, also known as the N word of all words SECULARISTS, which is really an S word, but no matter.

And they mean business and no bigger proof of that is grifter girl Annie Coulter, who probably could care less, unless she can see a way to make a dime off it, but anyway, she in seriousness or jest said this:

And well, we don’t know how close to Mr. Cruz this is or isn’t, but for some, this is what they really believe, and if you try to explain to them that they are probably pretty wrong in this, well, as I said, you get Satanized.

So what is the truth about all this dominion stuff?

Well, I was reading my Method Matters and I was reading about the methodology called Comparative Methodology which to make a long story very very short, means comparing biblical texts with other textual material from other areas and groups such as Egyptian or Mesopotamian, Babylonian, and so forth. Do we find similar stories say to the flood story? And of course we do. And that helps us understand the Hebrew flood story in some context. Get it?

So when we look at the “man made in the image of God” we wonder what that means. And it suggests that in Mesopotamia, the king made images of himself for the temple (to be worshipped) and in territories taken in war. So if God made an image of himself (in man) is this similar to showing off one’s victory–humans are the capstone of God’s creation. Except that in Mesopotamia, the images are cast to revel in war victories or hunting victories, the latter reflecting on the former. They reflect violent acts by the King.

Is this the same in the bible or different. The author of that essay, argues different. Why? Because when we read Genesis 2:16, we see that the “dominion” previously alluded to, is tempered in the second Genesis story using the Hebrew words šmr (serving) and ‘bd (preserving). We can see that the Hebrew writer who joined the two creation stories changed the royal rhetoric of violence which we see in Mesopotamian texts to a non-violent image of caring and nurturing of the earth by this image of God–humanity. (*please note I am not suggesting that the Genesis redactor was aware of the Mesopotamian textual or iconographic rhetoric)

The lesson is quite different. And rational people thus informed and having a better idea of what dominion means in the Hebrew bible, no longer can or should use it as a basis for a forceful control over others.

But of course we run into that old demon Satan once again.

I might be telling you the truth, and honestly I am, but then again, my mind might be so warped by my companion Beelzebub that I only THINK that I’m telling you the truth, and I’m really doing Satan’s handiwork. Or as they say in Star Trek: Everything I say is a lie–I’m lying.

You have now entered a circular argument and will never be released–or a black hole–or the inside of true-blue fundamentalist.

Related articles

• Rafael Cruz is an avowed creationist (dailykos.com)
• Ted Cruz’s Father is a Dangerous Religious Fanatic (politicususa.com)
• Creationist Ken Ham: Vote for godly candidates, not for policies that benefit you (rawstory.com)

 

To Christie or Not, That May or May Not Be the Question

Tags

Chris Christie, Election 2016, Rand Paul, teabaggers, Ted Cruz

Well, another election down. I won’t bore you with rehashing the results. You probably know them all too well. McAuliffe wins in Virginia, Christie wins in New Jersey, New York City goes for the progressive, Detroit goes white, Alabama chooses the moderate Republican over the Tea.

One might take from this that the Tea Party had a bad night. Both in Virginia and in Alabama the tea party candidate was way way out there in Righteous land and both were defeated, in one case by a Democrat  whom nobody really liked (McAuliffe) and in the other by a more moderate version of conservatism.

Of course the Tea Numbskulls will not learn the RIGHT lesson from all this. Rather they are already grousing that Cuccinelli was in reality not really Right enough. And if they are saying that, well what can you expect? While there are grades of insanity no doubt, from mild to severe, insanity pretty much says it all doesn’t it? No matter the degree, one is not going to let a certified one babysit the kids or take your money to bank for deposit.

This is actually good news for the rest of the country who still holds on with all its might to the last shreds of sanity allowed one in this magnificent country of denial. As I always say, the crazier they are, the saner we look by comparison. By the way a huge huge thanks for Toronto and your own brand of crazy with his band of happy pipers, the illustrious still mayor, Rob Ford. You make America look good there pal.

Any the way, where does all this leave us?

Well, it seems to me that it leaves us chomping at the bit for the big old 2016! I means it is likely to be even more a hoot than 2012 was, and who can forget all the fun we had then? We had wonderful Michele with her big ole eyes and her “win” out of Iowa or was it the straw poll that she bought with lots of corn on the cob and music entertainment? And then there was Herm and his 999 and Ickbekistan? Who can forget that Perry forgot and made famous that lovely word, “OOPS”? Oh gosh, and there was Newt and his plastic hair wife, and zoos. And Willard, ahh, dear Willard and we had dogs on roofs, and 47%, and elevators for cars, and trees just the right size. Those were the days.

And yet, I smell similar fun coming up.

Even though old Rinsed Penis has abolished all those weekly debates, there will still be enough.

Let’s look at the contenders.

First we got Randy Paul. Randy has a bit of an issue with stealing other people’s work, as in plagiarism. Randy didn’t like the accusation when it came from Rachel Maddow, but well the rest of the lazy press when shown the pathway to success, started scrambling through Randy’s written chit, and pumping it into a plagiarism-finding site, and whoa, did they get lucky. Lots of speeches, lots of “editorials” in various newspapers, and even a good chunk from his book lifted from the Heritage Foundation, which publishes enough propaganda to choke an ox, having given up the word “think” in think tank. Nowadays Wikipedia probably does have more professional bonafides than it.

Randy, confronted with the avalanche of proof of his cheating, does the Anthony Weiner defense: there may be more of this “stuff” out there still, and tells us he will “restructure” his group of workers. This all suggests that it is staff in his office responsible which is interesting to note, since it does suggest that Randy never even wrote his own book.

But sadly this is not the first time Randy has told us that he may have a rather unique understand of ethics. Witness his gleeful explanation of how one can succeed in med school. Lie to other classmates, telling them that you have a copy of the test, which you provide freely, and letting them study for the wrong stuff, in the hopes that they will do badly and you will look better on the curve and score a better grade. All without having to know anything! Hurrah. What’s not to like about this? Oh cheating? No, Randy says, no it’s not cheating, just I guess free markets at work?

Throw in a little self-aggrandizement in the form of making yourself “board certified” by organizing your own Board of Ophthalmology, in which your wife is the Vice President and his father in law was Secretary and which operates out of a mail box. See, Randy didn’t want to take the recertification required by the state, so he just certified himself.

Now if all that leaves you a little queasy when it comes to Randy’s sense of ethics, just think of all the fun we are all gonna have come 2016? As a bonafide wanna be candidate for President, Randy is surely gonna face some fun questions from the other candidates and the press.

And then there is Teddy the Latin Cruz. Teddy is a dominionist, which means he and his daddy and others like them, (Sarah, dear girl, included) further warp and twist Genesis in the bible. In one of the creation stories God tells Adam that he has dominion over the earth. Well, Teddy takes that chit seriously, and intends to dominate it, as in Christian supremacy. That stuff about separation of church and state be damned. He is after all, as Daddy says, one of the Kings who is entitled to get the money, and the power, and rule. Meanwhile they will get rid of everyone who disagrees with a vengeance.

Teddy might also find it hard to live down his tentherism ties. Actually his 9th and 10th erism ties. Basically tentherisms contend that most all of the laws of the US are unconstitutional, since the assume power not directly given to the government by the Constitution. (read literal in the extreme). This is states rights talk, plain and simple.

Mike Lee, Senator from Utah, who showed Cruz how to win an election from a conservative Republican by running farther to the right of them, is a huge champion of this as well. Basically (all your poor hanger-on teabuzzards don’t read this lest you pass out), these guys want to repeal EVERY and I do mean every social safety net program ever invented such as social security, medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and on and on. Most government agencies would be dissolved such as the EPA and presumably things like the FDA, FAA, FCC, and so forth.

Well, then we get to Christopher Christie the big winner from Tuesday. That makes him the frontrunner to many. But of course, he has to get through Randy and Teddy, and God knows how many other loons such as Allen West, Sarah, well the mind boggles at the thought.

Christie has his own issues: an explosive temper that borders on bullying which apparently is fairly easy to set off. You know that  Randy and Teddy will be doin’ just that. And there is the fact that Willard Romney liked Christie and wanted to make him his VP, until his vetting team uncovered enough that that option was no longer viable. Now the Romney robot may have been a bit gun-shy give just how stupid Sarah turned out to be, but lordy, there are suggestions that Christie may play a little fast and loose with the government contracts and friends issue.

This may all be fairly small, but you can be sure that the field of loons the GOP is likely to field will go fast and furious in exploiting each and every alleged faux pas to its logical conclusion. And of course the red meat blogging community who is hell-bent for a REAL PATRIOT to be the candidate, well, they will again be doing the work for the regular press and feeding them every located skeleton found.

Which all, goes to say. . . .

It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Thank you Ms. Davis!

PS: Where big GOP bucks come in here is anybody’s guess at this point!

Armaggedon Bound

Tags

Glenn Beck's crazies, Humor, Tea party nuts, teabaggers, teabibbers, TeaBirchers

Glad you all found out the new location. Thelma and BillyJohn are still recovering from their little adventure. When that Farah guy over at WorldNetDaily signaled that the war was about to commence, well Thelma and BillyJohn headed over to their bunker to make ready.

They was just headin’ back from the truck with a load of water jugs when Henry’s still blew sky high. Course they both thought it was a military strike and dropped everything, hit the bunker, and slammed the door. Was easy enough given all that for BillyJohn to forget that the keys were still in the truck.

So him and Thelma was locked in for two days before Henry came back in there to check the still, and found what had happened. Well, he say BillyJohn and Thelma’s truck, and after working on repairing the still for a good couple hours, finally heard them pounding on the door to the bunker. He got the keys and let ’em out. Boy was they a sorry mess.

But for all that, it did uncover a design flaw in the bunker. BillyJohn says Thelma sent him direct to the survival store and ordered them up two big ole port-a-potties. Henry said that the smell dang near knocked him down when he opened the door. Thelma is still taken to her bed and claiming she may never get that smell out of her again. BillyJohn is sleepin’ in the truck until she cools down.

Anyway, Ted Cruz fought the good fight didn’t he? So, let’s call this meeting to order of the Mason County Patriots Tea Party Division A.

So what y’all think of them goin’ ons in Washington?

Cosmos 102 says: Historically, third parties didn’t work. This next election is too important to risk it. Better to drain the swamp of Republican elitists and create a new party from within. Much the same way Obama has been remaking America from within. We can do this. If Libertarians and Conservatives team up, there will be more of us than there are of them. Ya might want to do that math again there Cosmos. I don’t think that adding the two together amounts to as much as you think. And exactly how has the President been “remaking America from within?” Any examples there guy? Or is that like mixing chocolate syrup in white milk that you are meaning?

Joshundead1 says: Health insurance already belongs to private companies in a competitive market. He is changing that and putting it in the hands of the government, which has failed at every thing it has touched. And the real freeloads those who stay on government assistance will be given insurance whether they can pay for it or not, because the rest of us will be forced to pay for it. Socialized medicine has never and will never be successful. Everything it’s touched? It seems it’s touched the military a lot Josh, and gosh, don’t you guys think the US military is the greatest on earth? Do you like the roads you drive on? Do you feel pretty safe eating food you buy? Is the Hoover Dam still operating okay? Did we land on Mars several times and on the Moon? So what is your solution to sick people who don’t have insurance? Do you prefer to pay for their “emergency treatment” or just kick them to the gutter to die? As to socialized medicine–Canadians and Brits seem fairly healthy? Ever checked out MOST OF FREAKIN’ EUROPE?  

TreeTeacher says: Why the Well Not,Most of the GOP are now gut less, for the ones with Hotspa to go to a New or just another Party is a good thing, Thins out the Hurd. The TEA Party was a Great start but was Highjacked by the GOP. This could work, Ah Constitution Party you say. I’ll look for them Well, I can see why they have you teaching trees my friend, cuz you are a whole bag of stupid aren’t you? Is Hotspa supposed to be chutzpah? You just continue “lookin’ for them” and we’ll see you in a few years.

Joshundead1 says: Im sorry but not everyone NEEDS health insurance and it is most defiantly not a right. Rights don’t infringe on others. Insurance is a company in which you pay money for them to cover you in case you get hurt. They will take you and if you get injured or something goes wrong they use their money to foot most of the bill letting you pay a minimum. They provide a service and as far as I can tell any company that provides a service should get paid. Do you not get paid for going to work? So lets look at car insurance. If you have tickets and wrecks on your background they can either not accept you or charge you lots of money. SO why should it be different for health insurance? If you have a preexisting condition costing them more than they will make why shouldn’t they have the right to turn you away? Do you specialize in teaching Tree Teacher how to teach trees? Nobody needs health insurance until, duh, they need it. And saying definitely doesn’t make it definitely Not a right.If you shoot me (2nd Amendment right) do I not bleed (infringe on me?) So you think that your choice to drive badly is equal to your not choice to get cancer? I am assuming that you missed all the classes on logic at your school? I’m guessin’ that you might not have even matriculated through the 12th grade huh Josh?

Rosemary Woodhouse says: Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Allen West, Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, Jeff Sessions, Ben Carson, Sarah Palin and others were to do this en masse that would send a HUGE message and true conservatives would follow suit. The cannot hang onto a party that is going the way of the Whigs hoping things are going to change. The Republicans who represent us AND are conservative are the minority. THEY MUST LEAD THE WAY OUT! Yep it would send a message all right Rosemary, that the nuts are all together and the net can capture them all at once.Did you read what you wrote dear? The last sentence? Do you know the meaning of MINORITY? You got that party right. You are in the minority and while you may speak, you don’t necessarily get to rule. That’s sorta how majority rules work hon. Sorta.

Adronicus.Americanus says: If it were not for Senator Cruz, the Second Amendment would have been repealed and the DHS would still be gunning down Mr. and Mrs. America at this very minute.
Senator Cruz is a congressional hero because he keeps his word to his constituents.
His latest attempt to sustain our economy in the Defund Obamacare movement will be acknowledged in the 2014 election by more than conservatives but also democrats and independents. Boy when you like a guy you kinda rewrite history don’t you? Cruz prevented the repeal of the Second Amendment huh? AA do you have ANY idea how you repeal a constitutional amendment? I mean just any? And just a hint there AA. . . .Cruz kept his word to himself: increase my name recognition, increase my campaign coffers, and establish a bigger and longer campaign donor list. I’m sure you’ll be hearin’ from him soon AA–can ya spare a dime?

Mrsstirfry99 says:

it makes me happy knowing that Harry will be judged by a Righteous Judge.

I’m tending to agree with Glenn more and more, Harry is senile. Wow lady, to know God’s mind AND to agree with Glenn Beck? Now that may be a symbiosis that has never been contemplated before. I take it you got the name stirfry from recognizing what is going on in your head?

media-bias-steals-elections says: the conspiracy of silence, surrounding the activities of King Clinton, are on the tips of our tongues?

United we stand, against Lady GaGa haters, and all haters in general?

King Clinton can not use Rush Limbaugh as the tip of the spear, or the human shield of his media empire that Glenn Beck is teaching you how to fight?

Mr. Reid, we might suggest that football players that participate in the conspiracy of silence, who refuse to tackle the issues your political party present, is not a joking matter?

The billions you have cost the economy, and the hardship, is not something we can hope goes away for more than an hour if we watch an entertainment event? It requires we take your jokes, and make better ones? You have a fascination with question marks doncha? Methinks you spend too much time with that bottle of Jack Daniels under the bed. I bet you like conspiracy theories, mostly because they make about as much sense as you do, which is mostly none. Still back in the Clinton years aren’t ya?

socratessocrates says:

If anyone tries mob/thug tactics at Senator Cruz, his family or his home, I will be there fighting with Senator Cruz against [all enemies].

Liberal pieces of crap wanna play? Let the games begin. Seriously, you have no idea who Socrates was do you? Not a dang clue.

Patty Henry says: EVERYTHING YOU SEE AND HEAR IS COMING FROM a totally PANICKED Administration!!
Cruz landed body blows not only to this Corrupt, horrid Administration who has NO EXCUSE but their insatiable greed and ambition but also to the corrupt and horrid GOP creeps like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Kelly Ayotte …. I mean really think about this folks: IF CRUZ was so ineffective; was such a loser; and did not COUNT in the world of POLITICS…we would not have heard his name after his 21 hours. CRUZ slaughtered them in the name of PATRIOTISM and FREEDOM, AMERICA and the CONSTITUTION…
It’s been a long, long time since ONE individual was able to knock them all down at once…a Bowling Strike that struck fear in all the little CRONIES in DC Politics and beyond.
In ONE 21 Hour period, this man became the most powerful, influential single voice in America. Karl Rove knew it…you all saw Rove the day after.. filled with admiration over Cruz’s STRAIGHT TALK.
NOW these dolts are all scrambling like the little whiners they are trying swat Cruz down…from all sides.
ONE man/One Night called out: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES…. and ALL the people heard him….and ‘all the kings horses and all the king’s men will not be able to put Obama back together again’ no threat, no bribe, no power can stop THE TRUTH. TED CRUZ spoke the TRUTH and what should really scare them even more : THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEHIND HIM. HALLELUJAH !! Ephesians 6: 10-18 TED!! I bet you think you are the female version of Patrick Henry doncha? Oh, if only typing it made it so. Do you use medications to continue living in that bubble where up is down, right is left, and you are inside not outside?

Alas, my friends, enough of the fun. The time locks on all these cells is set to lock ’em up until next time. Thanks for visiting the zoo known as Glenn Beck’s nincompoops brought to you straight from the pages of The Blaze, the little online hell hole where you too can pretend that your opinion matters. To the barricades my tea party patriots, to the barricades. They are coming to take you awayyyyyy!