misterx: (Default)
Our little town made the Drudge Report homepage... a vendor has been kicked out of the Johnson City Mall for selling anti-Obama merchandise.
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?ID=71327
misterx: (Default)
Bush to Jacques Chirac, prior to war in Iraq: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”  

This is confirmed by Chirac. So we went to war with Iraq because of Biblical prophesy? It was a f*cking holy war?  Excuse the pun, but holy shit! Four thousand American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives because of this. A trillion dollars in debt, gone to line the pockets of the war industries.

Fuck. WHY PEOPLE? WHY?

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=haught_29_5
misterx: (Default)
I am disappointed and saddened to see that it looks like Prop 8 will pass in California, making discrimination the law there.

Inequality in law also prevailed in Florida and Arizona.

So as glad as I am that we saw a turning of the tide last night, I am saddened that we still live in a time where people band together to deny equal rights to others.

I hope we can get some national leadership on this.
misterx: (Default)
Quoting from http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/29/suspects-note-cites-liberal-movement-church-attack/ ...

Adkisson went on a rampage at the church, Still wrote, "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets."
...
seized three books from Adkisson's home, including "The O'Reilly Factor," by television commentator Bill O'Reilly; "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," by radio personality Michael Savage; and "Let Freedom Ring," by political pundit Sean Hannity.


As you may know I listen to talk radio (which means "conservative talk radio") and while the viewpoints of Adkisson are shared by many (dislike of liberals, dislike of gays, a lack of tolerance) the specific phrases I was hearing, released in tidbits here and there, were reminding me of particularly stuff I had heard on Hannity's show. I was betting to myself that he was a listener, but I figured we'd never know. I hadn't thought about the book angle. Well, there ya have it.

I wish they'd just release the frickin letter already.

Allow me to point out the irony of this man owning a book titled "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder".
misterx: (Default)
Bush Administration Tries to Redefine Contraception as Abortion
July 16th, 2008 by Karina

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1441
misterx: (Default)
The emergence of a new breed of militants, who target people practicing arts they consider "un-Islamic", has led several worried parents to take their children out of the school.
...
Artistic director Ahmed Salim said many students could not practice their instruments at home, fearing attack by gunmen in their neighborhoods. "We find this a lot with loud instruments. It is dangerous if neighbors hear you're a musician," he said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL1118868820080530?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0


How screwed up do your religious beliefs have to make it okay to attack kids for playing music or dancing?

Holy crap, those warped Islamic freaks. Damn.

================================

But lets consider.

If you think there are not similar levels of religious intolerance in our country, think again. There is not as much violence, but that could change. The potential is definitely there.


Here are excerpts from items I found on the ScripturesForAmerica.org website:
Dear Pastor Peters,
I am disgusted with pea brained people who know absolutely nothing about the Bible, but are quick to say that "it's the old testament" that says that homo-sexuals are to be put to death. As if everything in the "old" testament is null and void. But, I never allow them to get away with saying that "it's the old testa-ment". I point out Romans 1:32 which backs up the "old testament" by saying that homosexuals are "worthy of death".
...
The book of Romans saying they are "worthy of death" is good enough for me. But, thank God for the entire bible. I wish it were a bigger book. But, it is all one bible with no contradictions. I pray for the day when there will be no more of the types "worthy of death” on earth.
http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/newsletters/newsletter%20vol%206_2007.pdf


The following week after my baptism at Branson I became very angry. At first I could not understand what was happening to me. I was always taught that tolerance was a form of Godliness. For an example, before Branson I would not have called a homosexual a queer. After Branson I called homosexuals like it is, they are “filthy fagot queers”. Any kind of sexual deviance should not be tolerated in any society. That is why God demands that the sexually wicked be removed from society.

I realized that the true Holy Spirit was severing the ties that bonded me with the counterfeit spirit. It really does take Holy Hate to break the spell that these churches of today are casting on God’s Children.
http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/newsletters/newsletter%20vol%208_2007.pdf


The programmed populous may say, “You are entitled to your opinions and I am entitled to mine”, but, that is if you stay inside the box – the parameters of which are the false premises programmed into the mind of the populace. Take for example the subject of homosexuality. Believe it or not, there was a time in America that if such a filthy, vile, sex pervert came out of the closet he immediately went into the grave. It was recognized as a capital crime by the men (when there were still Christian men in our society) who had the law of God on their hearts (Hebrews 8:10).
...
A few years ago this preacher wrote a small booklet entitled, “Death Penalty for Homosexuals is Prescribed in the Bible”
...
That booklet has been shown on the serpent’s national TVand it’s author has been cussed and discussed as a radical, the world’s most dangerous cult leader, an extremist, a terrorist, etc.
...
and a major portion was devoted to portraying Pastor Peters as a terrorist. Why? They are terrorized that people might dare think outside the box. Now, mind you, this preacher did not instruct anyone or even intimidate that anyone should execute a homosexual. He only introduced them to a truth – i.e., that the death penalty for homosexuals is prescribed in the Bible. And isn’t it?

from the innocently titled "THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX" by Peter J. Peters
http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/newsletters/newsletter%20vol_6_2003.pdf

There is also material against interracial relationships. And this is just one website.

Do you think these people wouldn't really do it, given the right circumstances?
Here's a nice article about violence against GLBT or perceived GLBT persons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_gays,_lesbians,_bisexuals,_and_the_transgendered
With a large list of actual attacks.

According to several sources, religious extremism has increased in Iraq in the absence of Saddam's extreme persecution of organized religion. It is said most Islamics do not condone the use of violence. But who is brave enough to fight them? Who is crazy enough to step up and face an extremist, and become the next target? This is where Islam stands today, and it makes me wonder.

If America ever reaches that point... where the religiously motivated carry out violence against artists, gays, interracial couples, pagans, Jews, or whomever... are you going to stand aside? Or are you going to take up arms? If the government won't stop them, will you? Will there be armies against intolerance? Or will we just stand aside, cower in our homes, bite our tongues, and let the extremists speak for us?
misterx: (red x)
I don't know if anyone else here is concerned with the constant erosion of our freedoms, by this administration or others, but for me it is a huge, major issue. "Who best protects my rights" is how I tend to decide who gets my vote at election time.

Anyway, as the only politician who really seems to give a damn about the constitution and preserving it, Ron Paul's new book is probably a worthwhile read. You may not agree with his politics in general, but for the constitutional issues alone it is worth a shot. I'm ordering mine as soon as I get paid.

Amazon link: The Revolution: A Manifesto


 
misterx: (Default)
Heh... how revealing. Here's a transcript from a call to the Sean Hannity program regarding Ron Paul.

Hannity: Mitzy, hi.

Mitzy: Hi Mr. Hannity. I was calling to let you know that I agree completely with everything you’ve said regarding amnesty today and the rule of law. However that only makes me all the more confused as to why it is you’re smearing Ron Paul and trying to silence him.

Hannity: I’m not trying to silence Ron Paul I put him on Hannity and Colmes after the debate the other night. I just had a disagreement. I find his remarks offensive. I find him totally and completely outrageous and wrong. I think he’s ill-informed. Look here’s what he said:

Paul [recording]: They’re attacking us because we’ve been over there. We’ve been bombing Iraq for ten years.

Hannity: I’m sorry I find his analysis naive, ill-informed, and frankly ridiculous. I’m not trying to silence him, I put him on TV that night.

Mitzy: Well his comments come directly from the CIA’s own comments and the 9/11 commission report.

Hannity: Listen, listen, go believe whatever conspiracy you want. I’m not going to sit here and waste time on the air arguing with you. You believe that…let me tell you something. You got to understand this enemy is coming here. They’ve dedicated their lives to destroying us. And if you don’t get that and Ron Paul doesn’t get that I just gently disagree.


Um... the 911 report is a "conspiracy"? If that is Ron Paul's position, which is basically saying the same as the CIA and the 911 Commission report, doesn't that mean that Hannity thinks those sources are "naive, ill-informed, and frankly ridiculous"? HAhahahahaha.
misterx: (Default)
I listen to a lot of talk radio, aka "right wing" talk radio. I used to listen to it mainly on lunchbreak and on the drive home. I now also listen to it on the drive in, since my local radio station filled the gap left by Imus with Bill Bennett.

I know others who also listen to these programs, and parrot the content back faithfully as fact. I find it disturbing, because some of these folks consider themselves independent thinkers. They have uncovered the truth of the matter, by cleverly listening to talk radio. I like to take it with a grain of salt myself.

It is in that spirit that Sean Hannity's flippant cheerfulization of waterboarding got to bothering me. "You put a rag over someone's face, and pour water on it, and it simulates drowning." I'm paraphrasing, but that doesn't sound so bad. Heck, I remember being a kid, lying in the tub, and pulling a wet washcloth over my face. I could see how it could be a little spooky if someone was splashing you, but it wasn't torture. Yet... why the big fuss then? Of course, that is what Bush/Cheney and the talk radio folks are arguing, "What's the big deal with pouring some water on a guy?"

"Simulated drowning", I keep hearing that phrase a lot, sometimes coupled with the word "harmless".

Here's an excerpt from someone with an educated and strongly opposing viewpoint:
"Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. ... A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black out and expiration –usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threaten with its use again and again."

--Malcolm Nance, former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE)


I find the following article well thought out, you should give it a read:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/10/waterboarding-is-torture-perio/

Another article, with testimony from a victim of waterboarding at the hands of the Japanese, can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20061106.html

Food for thought.

Luckily I post mostly late at night, so it's easily ignored.

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