The Fag Hater Doth Protest Too Loudly

Incitement 3 - Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8

"Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8"

There’s a new slogan making its way onto car bumpers and across the Internet. It reads simply: "Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8"

A nice sentiment?

Maybe not.

The psalm reads, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

Presidential criticism through witty slogans is nothing new. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, and hats with "1/20/09" commemorated President Bush’s last day in office.

But the verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." more

The Blackwater Problem

I have been suspicious of the move to use private contractors for government work (especially military) since the days of Reagan. It appears to be cheaper only on paper. For instance rather than have a buck private drive a truck we pay a private contractor over $100,000/year to do it. Instead of training and deploying army electricians on bases in war zones we hire KBR at outrageous rates who then electrocute our soldiers. Perhaps the most bothersome is that security for the State Department as well as the army (which confuses the crap out of me. Shouldn't soldiers be the best people to provide security?) is provided by the shadowy mercenary company Blackwater (renamed to Xe Services). We are allowing civilians to operate for profit in war zones with fully armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and apparently little or no culpability for their actions.

And now the inimitable Jeremy Scahill has dug up this frightening story:

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
...
...the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as "John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided. The Nation

Not only are these people war profiteers and mercenaries, they're also religious crusaders and zealots. The damage that the Christian Right has managed to do to the integrity of our government and military during the rein of King George the Shrub is deep and systemic. Can we weed these people out and shut them down? They are at war with the American way of life while claiming to be protecting it. Fascism wrapped in an American flag and carrying a cross...

Quote of the Week

"They have a good heart," Hampton said of the men. (He did not address the question of how the men survive while sharing a crucial bodily organ.)

From: "Hampton: Religious Buddies Drove Ensign To FedEx To Mail Letter To Cindy"
By Zachary Roth - July 10, 2009, 11:58AM

I think the group referenced in this piece, "The Family," is well worth looking into. These are people who believe freedom of religion and separation of church and state is not only unconstitutional but unamerican as well. And they preach this bizarre fundamentalist view of the world where the rich and powerful are rich and powerful because they have been chosen by God, and they need to do everything they can to make sure they remain rich and powerful because they had been chosen by God. See Mark Sanford comparing himself to King David as another example of their twisted thinking.

I am an atheist, in case you didn't know. I am an atheist surrounded by true believers of one type or another, but far too many of the low rent version of the Family. I'm surrounded by the type of people that think it's OK to kill a man because he does something that is legal that they don't agree with. For instance, Dr. Tiller. Or JFK. Or Jimi Hendrix. Or John Lennon. People that will mass around military funerals with GOD HATES FAGS signs, loudly and hatefully informing everyone not with them that they are GOING TO HELL. The Southern Baptist Seminary is located here, a sprawling campus of hate and hypocrisy. A local landmark is the disturbingly huge Six Flags Over Jesus (or Southeast Christian Church) which yearly puts on a really mindboggling production of the Rapture. An entire hollywood stunt school specializing in flying people for stage moved to Kentucky for this thing.

It was much worse in West Kentucky, around Murray, where I lived from the age of nine until I left for college. The level of open, bared teeth white hot hatred from the "Christians" to everyone who wasn't with them went to the extremes. I can remember hearing of one church that split and how one church said that everyone but the members of that church were going straight to hell, but especially the members of this other break-away church who would be sent to the bottom-most pits of hell... and vice versa.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

These church members are mostly nice people but they're screwing up the world. In our military we have the most right wing extremist zealots filling entire posts in Muslim countries. The Air Force Academy is apparently overwhelmed by the kind of people for whom their religious beliefs supercede their dedication to the Constitution or the nation. Meaning they are beholden to their preacher. These are the kind of men that would paint "Jesus Killed Muhammed" on their vehicle, in Farsi! and then drive through the streets of a city, shooting anyone that shot at them. Seems oddly identical to the kind of bastards that would drive through a black town in Mississippi yelling, "Here nigger nigger" and then shooting any black person that dared to step to their door. It's the same people.

This is one of many reasons Obama should get rid of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy in the military. It will help to drive out those that consider their commitment to their religion more important than their commitment to their country. I've heard it argued we would lose up to 15% of our military if we got rid of DADT. I say good riddance to bad garbage. I'll bet we lost a similar percentage when we allowed blacks full equality in the military. That just destroyed the military, didn't it?

These people are legion and they all call themselves "Christian." Another change Obama must make to the military is the way chaplains are recruited. A Reagan-era (shudder) rule change made it possible for the evangelicals to take the posts once held by other Protestant sects by percentage. It's not right and it's not American. It is anti-American, and if there is such a thing, it is the Anti-Christ.

The Family is the perfect example of why I think the entire evangelical Christian movement is the Anti-Christ. For one thing the lines in the Bible about the anti-Christ seem to me to refer to it as a collection of many as opposed to a One, like Jesus. Secondly, the values of the Christian right movement are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. You are supposed to give to those less fortunate to yourself, regardless of who those people are. These people, especially the Family, believe that God gave you stuff so you should fuck over people less fortunate than yourself because if they weren't such worthless trash they would be rich as well. To share is evil. It is against God! And thus they are about as anti-Christ as you can get.

Hate Groups Affected by Economy?

Focus on the Family Shrinks: Does God Hate Homophobes?

The Gazette

Because of a weak economy and cash-strapped donors, Focus on the Family said it is eliminating 202 jobs, the deepest cuts in the 32-year history of the Colorado Springs-based Christian nonprofit. The ministry laid off 149 workers, and cut another 53 vacant positions.

The cuts announced Monday slash Focus' local workforce by nearly 18 percent - from about 1,150 to 950. Twenty percent of the cuts are in management.

The layoffs come just weeks after Focus announced it was outsourcing 46 jobs from its distribution department. Focus also laid off 30 workers and reassigned 15 more in September 2007.

The organization also cut its [...] budget from $160 million in fiscal 2008 to $138 million for fiscal 2009 in anticipation of tough times.

more...

I can hardly stand to read about these loathsome bastards, even when it's the wonderful news that they're shrinking. I've been trying to think of any other city on earth that has been infected with as horrible a collection of humans as Colorado City which is overrun by evangelical "Christian" zealots.

Palin and Witchcraft

Considering this may very well be the most important election of our lifetime I'm going to pile on Sarah Palin a little bit more because, well, because she's a loony right wing fundamentalist wacko. She apparently has been very upset that McCain refuses to go after Obama for his connection to the Reverend Wright. I think McCain may be more intelligent than he often appears given his own controversial religious supporters from the far right (John Hagee being the best example of the worst). But wouldn't you think Palin would have the same sense of shame considering her close association with the insane witchhunter Thomas Muthee? She doesn't. Despite this man being responsible for the murder of many people he declared "witches" she has never said a word against the man. She's part of that weird Christian cult that believes they are literally at war with Satan on earth and there there are witches and demons lurking in the bodies of other people. Here's an example of what Muthee's condemnation caused in Kenya:



Here is a link to a concise page about Sarah Palin's association with this cult.

Thomas Muthee has one of his many churches in the Kisii region, just 125 miles from Kiambu. Kisii has been the scene of many murders of people accused of witchcraft. In the latest of these incidents, in May 2008, at least eleven elderly people were killed, some of them burned alive, by a mob of hundreds that accused the victims of being witches.

...

The children are beaten, starved, tied to trees and left to die, buried alive, and if they survive, are abandoned. They're treated this way because they're suspected of witchcraft, submitted to the same accusation that Thomas Muthee has used to gain power himself.

...

The USA is not apart from the rest of the world. There are many people here in the United States who believe in evil witches casting satanic spells. They are trying to get leaders like Sarah Palin to "infiltrate" the government on their behalf. They are attempting to use the power of government to spread their paranoid ideas.

via

"Keep Her Free of All Witchcraft"

A little bird told me about this video taken at a freaky little church in Wasilla Alaska featuring a preacher from Kenya and the State's governor. I'm now wondering if Sarah Palin doesn't handle snakes...

Palin: Speaking in Tongues