You'd think that the world's best-selling book, The Bible, which sings God's praises from cover to cover would help raise God's image in the public relations department, especially in a Nation like America where Christian evangelicals claim that a majority of our citizens want Christianity adopted as our national religion, but you'd be off base if you thought so. According to the results of a poll just released by Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina firm, only fifty-two (52%) of Americans approve of God's job performance. While only nine (9%) flatly disapproved, thirty-eight (38%) percent had no opinion on the matter.
Pundits across the religious and political spectrums will no doubt spin those survey results to support whatever position they champion, but I'm kind of interested in finding what criteria those who answered the poll used to judge God's job performance. Were answered prayers a factor? Was prayer response time taken into consideration? What about assistance with smiting one's enemy? Inquiring minds like mine would like to know.
The one amusing point that emerged from the poll in question is that Americans see God as doing a better job than our politicians. I guess that's a plus for God, but to those of us who see God as being all-wise and understanding, a 52% approval rating seems kind of low.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY, AMEN
I admit that I'm not a car racing fan, but I was tickled by the reports of Pastor Joe Nelms' pre-race prayer at a racing event in Nashville, Tennessee last Saturday night. During Nelms' invocation, he thanked God for Dodges, Fords and Toyotas. He thanked God for Sunoco racing fuels and for Goodyear tires. And just for good measure, he thanked the Lord for his, and I quote, "smoking hot wife." I've never seen Pastor Nelms' wife, so I'll just have to take him at his word. Nelms finished his prayer with the following words: "In Jesus' name, boogity, boogity, boogity, amen."
Some think the pastor's prayer was blasphemous. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. All I know is that my wife, an ordained pastor, has never referred to me in a public prayer as her "smoking hot husband"…and I feel a bit slighted. Boogity, boogity, boogity, amen!
Some think the pastor's prayer was blasphemous. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. All I know is that my wife, an ordained pastor, has never referred to me in a public prayer as her "smoking hot husband"…and I feel a bit slighted. Boogity, boogity, boogity, amen!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
WORLD NEWS FROM RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS
Let's start at home with our very own radio talk show host, Glenn Beck. On his Monday broadcast, Beck trashed the government of Norway for running the Utoya Island camp for youth interested in careers in politics. The Utoya island camp was the scene of last week's massacre where a right-wing extremist, Anders Breivik, brutally killed scores of youngsters and camp counselors. Beck suggested that the camp was turning out "Hitler Youth" and said, "Who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."
It sounds like Beck was justifying Breivik's mass murder, at least that's how the Norwegians took his comment, and why not? Breivik's so-called "manifesto" contained the same anti-Muslim immigrant ranting that Beck's been spouting since the day after September eleventh.
Here in the United States, Beck has made a name for himself by touting the Second Amendment as in insurance policy for common citizens to overthrow the government if it doesn't cede to their demands. In the next breath, Beck says the U.S. government isn't listening to its citizen's demand to keep out Islamic immigrants. Breivik said the same about the Norwegian government and he used his firearm to get the government's attention. It's no wonder that Beck focused his indignation on the Norwegian government instead of on Breivik. Deep down, Beck and Breivik are two-of-a-kind…except that now Breivik has a higher body count to his credit.
P.S. My daughter is attending church camp this week. Who does a camp for kids that's all about God?
~~~
Heading East to Africa, over 11 million Somalians face starvation as a result of the worst drought in that country over the past 60 years. In some parts of that country, it hasn't rained for over five years. The United Nations and European Union are trying to arrange airlifts of food supplies to the region, but right-wing extremists (of the Islamic variety) are doing their best to thwart outside assistance from reaching the starving masses.
Of course, that's nothing different from what the Tea Party and the Republican Party are attempting to do here in the United States. I guess starvation is one of those tools that the right-wing finds most effective.
~~~
In Syria, right-wing dictator, Bashar al-Assad continues his bloody and torturous crack-down on anti-government demonstrators in an attempt to keep the "Arab Spring" from flowering in Syria and ousting him from power. Syrian tanks routinely bombard anti-government towns with mortar fire and the Army has carried out systematic executions of known political dissidents in a move to quash criticism of the Assad regime. Plus, the neighboring right-wing theocracy in Iran is lending Assad all the support it can muster. Last year's "Green Revolution" in Iran woke the Ayatollahs to the fact that no rulers in the Middle East were safe from overthrow. That's one problem situation the Ayatollahs are trying to prevent.
~~~
A right-wing Taliban suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar earlier today in Afghanistan. The Mayor, Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, was killed when the bomber detonated a pack of explosives hidden in the bomber's turban. It's just another day of senseless right-wing violence!
I'm guessing we'll see a "ban the turban" bill in Congress in the near future.
~~~
Farther west, China continues its right-wing government led crackdown on Internet users who employ that medium to criticize government policies. Apparently, free speech is alive and well in China, as long as you don't exercise that speech to criticize anybody in power. I doubt Glenn Beck would last five minutes in that environment.
~~~
Let's end this tour back in the United States. FOX news (America's right-wing mouthpiece) continues to tout the claim of Texan Republican Congressman John Culbertson that VA officials at the Houston National Cemetery refuse to allow Christian prayers at military funerals. Culbertson claims he conducted his own undercover operation to confirm his accusation. There's no video or audio recording to back-up the charges…just the word of a Congressman – whatever that's worth.
But let's not be hasty here. After all, this is a FOX news story we're talking about. The last thing you'd expect is 'fair and balanced' coverage…and FOX doesn't disappoint.
At issue is the Veteran's Administration's requirement that military honor guard personnel first receive permission from the widow or family of a fallen soldier before using the word God in remarks at a graveyard service. The regulation was put into place to prevent military personnel from offending any grieving relatives who were atheists or agnostics or did not believe in the same God as the majority of our military personnel. The regulation was not instituted to prevent the mention of God at military funerals or to prevent Christian prayers, as Culbertson and FOX news charge. It was instituted to respect the wishes of grieving relatives.
Buried in the print of the FOX news story was Congressman Culbertson's admission that military honor guard members didn't want to have to bother a grieving widow with such a request. To Culbertson, I guess having the honor guard make such a request is a trite and senseless task. However, if I were an atheist (which I'm not) and I had just sacrificed my son or daughter's life for the benefit of this nation, being asked about my wishes at a graveyard service seems like something I'd be entitled to. If that's too much to ask of the military, FOX news or Congressman Culbertson – tough!
It sounds like Beck was justifying Breivik's mass murder, at least that's how the Norwegians took his comment, and why not? Breivik's so-called "manifesto" contained the same anti-Muslim immigrant ranting that Beck's been spouting since the day after September eleventh.
Here in the United States, Beck has made a name for himself by touting the Second Amendment as in insurance policy for common citizens to overthrow the government if it doesn't cede to their demands. In the next breath, Beck says the U.S. government isn't listening to its citizen's demand to keep out Islamic immigrants. Breivik said the same about the Norwegian government and he used his firearm to get the government's attention. It's no wonder that Beck focused his indignation on the Norwegian government instead of on Breivik. Deep down, Beck and Breivik are two-of-a-kind…except that now Breivik has a higher body count to his credit.
P.S. My daughter is attending church camp this week. Who does a camp for kids that's all about God?
~~~
Heading East to Africa, over 11 million Somalians face starvation as a result of the worst drought in that country over the past 60 years. In some parts of that country, it hasn't rained for over five years. The United Nations and European Union are trying to arrange airlifts of food supplies to the region, but right-wing extremists (of the Islamic variety) are doing their best to thwart outside assistance from reaching the starving masses.
Of course, that's nothing different from what the Tea Party and the Republican Party are attempting to do here in the United States. I guess starvation is one of those tools that the right-wing finds most effective.
~~~
In Syria, right-wing dictator, Bashar al-Assad continues his bloody and torturous crack-down on anti-government demonstrators in an attempt to keep the "Arab Spring" from flowering in Syria and ousting him from power. Syrian tanks routinely bombard anti-government towns with mortar fire and the Army has carried out systematic executions of known political dissidents in a move to quash criticism of the Assad regime. Plus, the neighboring right-wing theocracy in Iran is lending Assad all the support it can muster. Last year's "Green Revolution" in Iran woke the Ayatollahs to the fact that no rulers in the Middle East were safe from overthrow. That's one problem situation the Ayatollahs are trying to prevent.
~~~
A right-wing Taliban suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar earlier today in Afghanistan. The Mayor, Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, was killed when the bomber detonated a pack of explosives hidden in the bomber's turban. It's just another day of senseless right-wing violence!
I'm guessing we'll see a "ban the turban" bill in Congress in the near future.
~~~
Farther west, China continues its right-wing government led crackdown on Internet users who employ that medium to criticize government policies. Apparently, free speech is alive and well in China, as long as you don't exercise that speech to criticize anybody in power. I doubt Glenn Beck would last five minutes in that environment.
~~~
Let's end this tour back in the United States. FOX news (America's right-wing mouthpiece) continues to tout the claim of Texan Republican Congressman John Culbertson that VA officials at the Houston National Cemetery refuse to allow Christian prayers at military funerals. Culbertson claims he conducted his own undercover operation to confirm his accusation. There's no video or audio recording to back-up the charges…just the word of a Congressman – whatever that's worth.
But let's not be hasty here. After all, this is a FOX news story we're talking about. The last thing you'd expect is 'fair and balanced' coverage…and FOX doesn't disappoint.
At issue is the Veteran's Administration's requirement that military honor guard personnel first receive permission from the widow or family of a fallen soldier before using the word God in remarks at a graveyard service. The regulation was put into place to prevent military personnel from offending any grieving relatives who were atheists or agnostics or did not believe in the same God as the majority of our military personnel. The regulation was not instituted to prevent the mention of God at military funerals or to prevent Christian prayers, as Culbertson and FOX news charge. It was instituted to respect the wishes of grieving relatives.
Buried in the print of the FOX news story was Congressman Culbertson's admission that military honor guard members didn't want to have to bother a grieving widow with such a request. To Culbertson, I guess having the honor guard make such a request is a trite and senseless task. However, if I were an atheist (which I'm not) and I had just sacrificed my son or daughter's life for the benefit of this nation, being asked about my wishes at a graveyard service seems like something I'd be entitled to. If that's too much to ask of the military, FOX news or Congressman Culbertson – tough!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
AMERICA'S RIGHT-WING KILLERS
Yesterday, Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist brought terror and death to scores of people in Oslo, the capital of Norway, via bombs he planted and detonated in government buildings and by shooting innocent youth and counselors on the island of Utoya, a government run youth camp. Breivik's actions were the work of a sadistic individual with no sense of compassion for humanity.
Closer to home, U.S. House of Representative Speaker John Boehner and his henchman, House majority whip Eric Cantor, right-wing extremists of a home-grown sort, planted and detonated their own political bombs by walking out of debt-ceiling talks with President Obama, a move that will trigger a default by the U.S. government on its debts and indirectly cause the death of thousands of people world-wide who depend on assistance from the United States for their very survival.
Boehner and Cantor don't care that they are sending thousands of innocents to their graves. All they care about are the dollars millionaires and billionaires will save when the tax man visits. Their actions are the work of sadistic individuals with no sense of compassion for humanity.
It's maddening to recognize that a man like Breivik could be considered a greater humanitarian than Boehner or Cantor, but Breivik's killing days are over. Boehner or Cantor's have just begun.
Closer to home, U.S. House of Representative Speaker John Boehner and his henchman, House majority whip Eric Cantor, right-wing extremists of a home-grown sort, planted and detonated their own political bombs by walking out of debt-ceiling talks with President Obama, a move that will trigger a default by the U.S. government on its debts and indirectly cause the death of thousands of people world-wide who depend on assistance from the United States for their very survival.
Boehner and Cantor don't care that they are sending thousands of innocents to their graves. All they care about are the dollars millionaires and billionaires will save when the tax man visits. Their actions are the work of sadistic individuals with no sense of compassion for humanity.
It's maddening to recognize that a man like Breivik could be considered a greater humanitarian than Boehner or Cantor, but Breivik's killing days are over. Boehner or Cantor's have just begun.
Friday, July 22, 2011
PIZZA AND PARTY POLITICS
For all the zeal Republican presidential candidates put into flag waving and other patriotic themes, you'd think they'd be equally zealous about guarding the rights guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution, but you'd be wrong. Only guns and flags are sacrosanct. The other stuff is window dressing.
Take Herman Cain, for example. "Who's Herman Cain," you ask? Well, he just the most recent addition to that pantheon of Republican gladiators vying for an opportunity to slay the Christian Obama in next year's presidential election. Cain first made a name for himself in the pizza business, which everybody knows was very appealing to gladiators with an appetite for dough, tomatoes and cheese, but Cain has found a new calling – laying waste to the U.S. Constitution.
Cain asserts quite forcefully, that communities in this nation, where the First Amendment unequivocally guarantees freedom of religion, nevertheless retain the right to ban Islamic mosques and the practice of Muslim religious traditions within their boundaries. Cain also stated that he would not permit any individual of the Islamic faith to work as part of his Administration; never mind that such a stance is forbidden by Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes which ban discrimination in hiring based upon religious belief.
After hearing Cain speak, it's hard not to imagine him wearing a toga like Caesar, the emperor, because the ideas that he champions belong in a dictatorship, like Rome of yesteryear. It's too bad that Little Caesar pizza chain isn't looking for a new spokesman. Pizza is clearly Cain's forte.
Take Herman Cain, for example. "Who's Herman Cain," you ask? Well, he just the most recent addition to that pantheon of Republican gladiators vying for an opportunity to slay the Christian Obama in next year's presidential election. Cain first made a name for himself in the pizza business, which everybody knows was very appealing to gladiators with an appetite for dough, tomatoes and cheese, but Cain has found a new calling – laying waste to the U.S. Constitution.
Cain asserts quite forcefully, that communities in this nation, where the First Amendment unequivocally guarantees freedom of religion, nevertheless retain the right to ban Islamic mosques and the practice of Muslim religious traditions within their boundaries. Cain also stated that he would not permit any individual of the Islamic faith to work as part of his Administration; never mind that such a stance is forbidden by Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes which ban discrimination in hiring based upon religious belief.
After hearing Cain speak, it's hard not to imagine him wearing a toga like Caesar, the emperor, because the ideas that he champions belong in a dictatorship, like Rome of yesteryear. It's too bad that Little Caesar pizza chain isn't looking for a new spokesman. Pizza is clearly Cain's forte.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
NOT AS SELF-EVIDENT AS PALESTINIANS WOULD HOPE
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." – The Declaration of Independence (unanimously adopted by the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776)
Every time I read this section of our Declaration of Independence I am filled with a sense of awe by the language contained therein that recognizes the God-given right of every people to self-determination and the right to form their own government. Our Declaration of Independence begins with a profession that those rights are "self-evident", but judging by the United State's current position vis-à-vis the Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, those God-given rights are not as self-evident to America's leaders in 2011 as they were in 1776. If they were, America wouldn't be threatening the Palestinians to prevent them from declaring themselves an independent nation and seeking recognition of that status in the United Nations. We'd be steadfastly backing their bid to self-determination.
Instead, America has chosen to sacrifice our founding principles in favor of maintaining close foreign ties with the Nation of Israel, who by its continued military occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory, denies Palestinians the very right of self-determination we Americans claim is God-given and self-evident to everybody. No wonder people in the Middle East view Americans as hypocrites and hold such distain for our principles. Apparently, we don't think much of our principles either, because we don’t follow them. That's a shame. Thomas Jefferson put a lot of time and effort into drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Continental Congress showed their wisdom by debating and then adopting it. You'd hope that such wisdom would survive the ages. Apparently not.
Every time I read this section of our Declaration of Independence I am filled with a sense of awe by the language contained therein that recognizes the God-given right of every people to self-determination and the right to form their own government. Our Declaration of Independence begins with a profession that those rights are "self-evident", but judging by the United State's current position vis-à-vis the Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, those God-given rights are not as self-evident to America's leaders in 2011 as they were in 1776. If they were, America wouldn't be threatening the Palestinians to prevent them from declaring themselves an independent nation and seeking recognition of that status in the United Nations. We'd be steadfastly backing their bid to self-determination.
Instead, America has chosen to sacrifice our founding principles in favor of maintaining close foreign ties with the Nation of Israel, who by its continued military occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory, denies Palestinians the very right of self-determination we Americans claim is God-given and self-evident to everybody. No wonder people in the Middle East view Americans as hypocrites and hold such distain for our principles. Apparently, we don't think much of our principles either, because we don’t follow them. That's a shame. Thomas Jefferson put a lot of time and effort into drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Continental Congress showed their wisdom by debating and then adopting it. You'd hope that such wisdom would survive the ages. Apparently not.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
BACHMANN & RACE-BAITING
When Republican candidate George H.W. Bush unleashed his race-baiting Willie Horton ad against then Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential contest, politics in America reached a new low in terms of using bigotry and racial hatred to advance a political cause. In doing so, the Republican Bush co-opted the race-baiting mantle of former Dixie Democrat, Governor George Wallace, and used that mantle to secure the White House.
Bush's campaign chairman, the infamous Lee Atwater, confessed in a Life magazine article published a month before he did in 1991 that the Willie Horton ad was "naked cruelty" and apologized to Dukakis for the dishonest tactics Atwater authorized to advance the Bush campaign. Atwater acknowledged that his actions were reprehensible, but he forgot to apologize to the people most hurt by his campaign smear tactics – the Black community at large. Dukakis only lost an election. The Black community lost a measure of equality to which they were absolutely entitled.
I'd like to think that the political race-baiting days of Bush and Atwater were relegated to the dustbin of history, but that is just a pipe dream I have about racism and politics. The reality is that race-baiting still sells in many parts of this country. Just ask GOP presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann. She promotes race-baiting every day, to thunderous applause.
Here's how it works. Bachmann stirs up her adoring fans, an angry pack of Tea Party followers hell-bent on the elimination of the federal government, with claims of oppressive taxation and regulatory burdens that would make living under Stalin's thumb a Sunday school picnic. Then, she further enrages the crowd with a litany of government expenditures that she characterizes as government theft of an honest man's wages. The crowd claps and chants with adoring approval. Then, Bachmann goes for the jugular. She angrily charges that the President (who we all know is Black) authorized $1.2 billion in payments to Black farmers and the payments were waste.
What Bachmann doesn't say is more telling. She doesn't mention that Congress, in a bi-partisan measure, approved the payments first. The President simply authorized the payment of the checks, under Court supervision that required verification of claims. She doesn't mention that the Black farmers were entitled to that compensation for official discrimination committed by agents of the federal government over a period that spanned 40 years. She also doesn't mention that in 2010, she voted to provide over $20 billion in farm subsidies to corporate farms, largely owned by whites, not to grow crops.
Candidate Backmann's message is clear. It's not okay to subsidize Black farmers for decades of government discrimination because it's wasteful. It is, however, not wasteful to pay $20 billion to white farmers to sit on their butts and let their fields stand fallow. If that's not the definition of racism and bigotry, nothing is!
Bush's campaign chairman, the infamous Lee Atwater, confessed in a Life magazine article published a month before he did in 1991 that the Willie Horton ad was "naked cruelty" and apologized to Dukakis for the dishonest tactics Atwater authorized to advance the Bush campaign. Atwater acknowledged that his actions were reprehensible, but he forgot to apologize to the people most hurt by his campaign smear tactics – the Black community at large. Dukakis only lost an election. The Black community lost a measure of equality to which they were absolutely entitled.
I'd like to think that the political race-baiting days of Bush and Atwater were relegated to the dustbin of history, but that is just a pipe dream I have about racism and politics. The reality is that race-baiting still sells in many parts of this country. Just ask GOP presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann. She promotes race-baiting every day, to thunderous applause.
Here's how it works. Bachmann stirs up her adoring fans, an angry pack of Tea Party followers hell-bent on the elimination of the federal government, with claims of oppressive taxation and regulatory burdens that would make living under Stalin's thumb a Sunday school picnic. Then, she further enrages the crowd with a litany of government expenditures that she characterizes as government theft of an honest man's wages. The crowd claps and chants with adoring approval. Then, Bachmann goes for the jugular. She angrily charges that the President (who we all know is Black) authorized $1.2 billion in payments to Black farmers and the payments were waste.
What Bachmann doesn't say is more telling. She doesn't mention that Congress, in a bi-partisan measure, approved the payments first. The President simply authorized the payment of the checks, under Court supervision that required verification of claims. She doesn't mention that the Black farmers were entitled to that compensation for official discrimination committed by agents of the federal government over a period that spanned 40 years. She also doesn't mention that in 2010, she voted to provide over $20 billion in farm subsidies to corporate farms, largely owned by whites, not to grow crops.
Candidate Backmann's message is clear. It's not okay to subsidize Black farmers for decades of government discrimination because it's wasteful. It is, however, not wasteful to pay $20 billion to white farmers to sit on their butts and let their fields stand fallow. If that's not the definition of racism and bigotry, nothing is!
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