I Thought The XFL Folded

He Hate Me chosen to give invocation at Obama inauguration.

WTF?

Megachurch minister/thief Rick Warren is a hateful bigot who is anti-stem-cell-research, anti-choice, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-gay marriage, and basically a big dope. He's gone on Fox Noise in the last month to apologize for the Bush torture regime and to proclaim that Jesus was pro-assassination. Basically he is Jerry Falwell in a fat suit. He's Rupert Murdoch's pastor, for crying out loud. He's a hater.

Obama can throw him bones for the rest of his life and that faker isn't going to change one position. Naive and deeply disappointing decision by Obama. It is a gratituous insult to all of Obama's supporters who support gay rights.

I'll turn my back when he speaks.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: November 18, 2008

Tee shirts celebrating the victory of President-elect Barack Obama are offered for sale at a shop on Michigan Avenue November 17, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama, a long-time resident of Chicago, has set up his presidential transition office in the federal building a few blocks off Michigan Avenue. By Scott Olson/Getty Images.

We don't just need more Democrats -- we need better Democrats; the Senate Democrats are poised to leave Traitor Joe Lieberman in charge of the Homeland Security Committee. He failed to investigate the Bush Administration's failures in Katrina and Iraq during the past two years, but you can be sure he will be in high dudgeon soon enough for some perceived weakness by Obama. This is just disgusting behavior on the part of Senate Democrats who may as well be wearing "kick me" signs on their backs today.

In other bad news, AP reports that Obama's Justice Department will not prosecute anyone for torture. Again, this is a sign of weakness on Obama's part, and of not knowing his recent history. Democrats failed to prosecute the Iran-Contra criminals in the 1980s; and they formed the nucleus of the PNAC that led us into the disastrous war with Iraq. The torture cabal must be prosecuted and imprisoned so that they can't regroup and take over government again in 15 or 20 years. What Digby said: "when you let Republicans get away with murder, they will do it again."

Bushco is "burrowing" political appointees into civil service jobs -- career jobs -- in federal agencies. They're going to spend the next 63 days laying landmines for the Obama Administration.

Obama has named two attorneys who have fought in favor of Net Neutrality to head his FCC transition team.

Gregory Craig has been named Obama's White House counsel; he "quarterbacked" President Clinton's impeachment team.

The TSA's security theatre of the absurd is completely ineffective. Their own statistics show that less than 1% of people singled out for "behavior detection" were arrested (1,266 arrests of more than 160,000 people searched). As BoingBoing notes, who could have anticipated that a "'behavior detection' system whereby slack-jawed, water-confiscating security officers [are] trained to recognize your 'micro expressions' and single you out on the basis of a twitchy eyelid or a sweaty upper lip" would not work?

Query: Is Lisa Miller, Society Editor of the Newsweek (and OnFaith panelist at the Washington Post), the AntiChrist? Because she wrote a column that will be published in next week's Newsweek asking the same question about Barack Obama. Newsweek, asking if our next President is the AntiChrist. As evidence of bias, I present the fact that Newsweek never asked this question of either George W. Bush or Dickhead Cheney, both of whom could credibly claim to be Satan walking. Seriously, Newsweek: WTF?

Palin's Witch-Fighting Pastor

Scrubbed video from Wasilla Assembly of God church (May, 2005). Sarah Palin appears starting at 7:12

Max Blumenthal: The Witch Fighter Anoints Palin

The audio on this video is pretty loud, so be forewarned.

As a lapsed Catholic/current atheist I find this deeply weird. The Kenyan witch-fighting pastor actually prays to protect her from the "spirit of witchcraft," and she stands there with her eyes closed as though this were a perfectly reasonable faith.

When I hear witches I think Salem and The Crucible (hysteria and woman-hating) or Wiccans (peaceful, earthloving humanists.) This guy looks like he'd fit right in in Salem.

Wingnut Email for Sarah

Palin's address to the Wasilla Assembly of God church/mashup

I find this very creepy. Sarah Palin belongs to a far-right Assembly of God church, and one of her church's beliefs is that the world will end in her lifetime.

The Wasilla Assembly of God and its parent denomination -- the three-million member General Council of the Assemblies of God -- espouse core beliefs not widely ascribed to by major Christian factions. Many members pray in undecipherable sounds or "tongues." The denomination's Web site says some scholars believe that the "end times" foreshadowing the end of the world was confirmed in 1948, with the founding of the state of Israel, marking the Jews' return to the Holy Land, fulfilling a Biblical prophecy. The Assemblies of God is part of a Pentecostal movement that numbers 80 million people world-wide.

No one has asked what her beliefs on the issue are, as she has only been interviewed by marshmallow, faux "journalists" Charlie Gibson and Sean Hannity. But among religious conservatives, this freaky email has been circulating, claiming that she "chosen by God for an important end-time role". Oh. My. God. This woman CANNOT be a heartbeat away from the nuclear football. You want endtimes, she'll give you endtimes. Eeek.

salon.com: Sarah Palin, anointed by God

[] As best as I can tell, the text of the e-mail was originally written by Jim Bramlett, an author and former vice president with the Christian Broadcasting Network. (You can read more about him in this WorldNetDaily article about his claim that he's obtained recordings of angels singing.)

[]

Further excerpts from the e-mail are below.

Dear friends:

Barack Hussein Obama has taken the nation by storm. From obscurity, with zero executive experience, or much of any kind, he has vaulted into the position of Presidential frontrunner. It is stunning. On the surface, it appears attributable only to his eloquent oratory and his race. But an invisible factor may be a strong spiritual force behind him, causing some people to actually swoon in his presence...

Last week at Obama's acceptance speech, that spirit exalted itself in front of a Greek temple-like stage, and to a huge audience like in a Roman arena. Obama was portrayed as god-like. His voice thundered as a god's voice.

At the end, Democratic sympathizer Pastor Joel Hunter gave the benediction and shockingly invited everyone to close the prayer to their own (false) gods. This was surely an abomination, but it was compatible with Obama's expressed theology, and Hunter's leftist leanings.

God was not pleased...

Enter Governor Sarah Palin. With incredible timing, the very next day, Sarah Palin also appeared out of nowhere...

We quickly learned that Sarah is a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian, attends church, and has been a ministry worker.

Sarah is that standard God has raised up to stop the flood. She has the anointing. You can tell by how the dogs are already viciously attacking her. But they will not be successful. She knows the One she serves and will not be intimidated.

Back in the 1980s, I sensed that Israel's little-known Benjamin Netanyahu was chosen by God for an important end-time role. I still believe that. I now have that same sense about Sarah Palin...

Only God knows the future and how she may be used by Him, but may this noble woman serve to bring renewal in the land, and inspiration.

This Poisonous Mushroom Was Cultivated

Nina Burleigh, HuffPo: Who is the Handler?

...Sarah Palin's entry into politics and subsequent rise has all the hallmarks of having been engineered, coached and groomed by bigger outside forces with a bigger plan.

Her first election to mayor in 1996 was based on "wedge Issues" - abortion, gun control, and proof of hard-core religiosity - issues that had never been discussed before in the town of 7,000, where politicians had run on where they stood on bingo revenue and fixing muddy roads.

[]

There was a time when America's small town governments were about local civics and its churches really were mainly about spirituality. That quaint era vanished, within living memory, with the rise of the "Christian right" which literally infected mainstream American Christianity with hateful brochures about gays, guns, and abortion.

The movement didn't emerge from within those little country churches, either. It was brought to them by a sophisticated set of well-funded groups and foundations, many with ties to the Republican Party and its copious moneybags. These organizations are based a long ways from Wasilla, in places like Washington, D.C., Arlington, Norfolk -- the state of Virginia, in fact, seems to have spawned or hosted most of them.

But they have a long reach and they are run by cautious, clever, watchful men.
I learned never to underestimate these right wing Svengalis involvement in small things....

More Video From Sarah Palin's Church

Wasilla Assembly of God Clip


When I was a kid, the local community church hired me & my friend to babysit kids while the church hosted a revival. Only one kid got dropped off in the kids room, so we had plenty of time to watch the revival. I remember vividly watching an elementary school teacher of mine drop to her knees in the aisle and begin wailing in tongues. It just seemed so false to me. Like the wandering zombies in this video.

John McCain is certainly a POW: Prisoner Of Wingnuts.

UPDATE: Edited to add link to BoingBoing, where I saw this video.

Jesus Was A Community Organizer

zazzle


Jesus was a community organizer, and John McCain is a POW: a Prisoner of the Wingnuts. Only a Republican wingnut like Sarah Palin would have the chutzpah to mock community organizers in her first major speech on the national stage.

Hey, you know another community organizer? John Lewis, Congressman from Georgia, chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee fighting for civil rights during the 1960s; beaten to a bloody pulp by police during the Selma march in 1965; recently cited by Republican hypocrite John McCain as someone he would look to for advice. So, McCain would look to community organizer and American hero John Lewis for advice, but he sends out his pitbull in lipstick Sarah Palin to attack Obama as a lowly community organizer.

The Rethugs have nothing. They don't have any policies to offer except for four more years of George W. Bush's failed policies. So they're on the attack. We're not falling for it this time.

Insightful diary from organicdemocrat at dailykos.

Jesus Was a Community Organizer

Martin Luther King was too. So was Gandhi. Mandela. Also John Hancock, who organized a boycott of [t]ea imported from China.

The Republican Party is run by powerful corporate interests who feel threatened by any citizen organization. Mitt Romney made money at his East Coast hedge fund by taking over companies, firing his workers and looting their pension fund. (While Mitt was talking, Nero called. Wants his fiddle back.) Rudy Giuliani, as Mayor, lived in fear of community organizers from Harlem and Brooklyn who held him accountable for his brutal tactics. They have no credibility even with their base. Even Huckabee's "Aww shucks" act falls flat.

So they go out and hire an attractive young spokeswoman. Write a speech for her. Attacking Obama at his core. Before even introducing her properly to the public. It is not going to work either. Because Obama's brand is more established than hers.

[]

The proper response is not to go after Sarah Palin. Instead, hit McCain at his core. If Obama is a community organizer, the defining trait of McCain is POW. Take over that word. Own it. Mock not his war record, but the way he has been exploiting it for cheap political purposes. Obama cannot do it. Nor even Biden. But the rest of us can. We are the community they are mocking. Let us organize to give them a piece of our mind. Two million voices.

Every American knew a year ago that McCain was a POW. By offering up nothing more than that, no economic plan, not even a coherent foreign policy ( supposed to be his strong suit), the Republican are risking over exposure. And there will be even more today. McCain does not really have anything else to talk about.

McCain's greatest weakness is his association with Bush. Obama has gone after that. But the tactic of attacking an opponent at his strength is effective. Do not be afraid to go after McCain's strength as POW. Trivialize him.

What does POW stand for again? Prisoner of Wingnuts. He can't even make a phone call without permission from his minders.

What war did he get taken Prisoner in? The Culture War. The man who once derided Falwell and Robertson as "agents of intolerance" is now pimping for them.

McCain is a coward. He runs in fear from the Press that once adored him. The "Angry Left" that he is running from is that well known young radical, Larry King.

[]

THIS is what they were mocking tonight.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matt. 25:34-40

Remember This Speech

When you're watching the speech McCain's Bushies have carefully crafted for Sarah Palin over the last few days, remember this speech. This is who she really is: a rightwing loon with not a lot going on upstairs, speaking in a chirpy voice.



PZ Myers calls her Palinanity. He's right.

This is a terrifying video. It's Sarah Palin going on and on in front of her Assembly of God church, talking about the war in Iraq as "a task that is from God", promising the congregants the gift of prophecy, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…it ought to make any rational human being ill.

It's scary to think that there are a lot of people out there who will admire this.

False Advertising

 

Downsville, New York, July 5, 2008

Media Giving McCain Another Free Pass

Rod Parsley (photo via Evangelical Right)


Columbia Journalism Review: Rod Parsley’s Free Pass
Jeremiah Wright gets torched, while McCain’s “spiritual adviser” offends with impunity

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have religious allies who have made controversial, and sometimes flat-out offensive, public statements. But the media have treated them very differently.

[]

Meanwhile, John McCain has a Christian ally of his own. At a rally in late February, McCain appeared with Rod Parsley, the pastor of an Ohio mega-church, and called him a “spiritual guide.”

Parsley has his own history of controversial statements. As David Corn reported this week for Mother Jones, Parsley has called for Christians to wage war against the “false religion” of Islam, in order to destroy it. He does not distinguish between Islamic extremists and ordinary Muslims. “What some call ‘extremists’ are instead mainstream believers who are drawing from the well at the very heart of Islam,” he has written.

And it’s not just Muslims he’s got it in for. Last year, Parsley’s organization called for people who commit adultery to be prosecuted, and in January he compared Planned Parenthood to the Nazis.

But the press has largely shrugged off the Parsley story. I couldn’t find one mainstream American news outlet that has so much as mentioned Parsley’s extremist views since McCain appeared publicly with him in late February.

McCain has the media eating out of his hand.

Kitsch

I've got to get me one of these. My old George H.W. Bush "Turn On A Thousand Points of Light" postcard taped to the light switch in my bedroom is getting a bit bedraggled. (Yes, the hole for the switch is right over the crotch of Bush 41's pants. I can't find a picture of it on the interwebs, not surprising as it is at least 15 years old.) This one appeals to the atheist in me. Great kitsch, too.

Hat tip to Shakesville, Via PZ through Amanda, who highlights the best line possible: “For he is the Gloryhole, and the Light.”.

Huckabee: No Separation for Church and State

This guy is batshit crazy. He says he wants to amend the Constitution "so it's in God's standards". Somehow, I doubt that he really means it. Will he end the death penalty? Thou shalt not kill instructs the King James Bible (not that I'm a believer or anything, but the King James has the prettiest and most colorful language of any of the Bible versions). No, Huckabee is in favor of the death penalty, and as Arkansas governor the state carried out 16 executions. Thou shalt not kill being apparently advisory in nature to god-squadder Huckabee. He is the extreme example of the Republican party's capitulation to the religious right.

rawstory: Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

Here's the video:

WaPo Columnist Smears Obama

ANATOMY OF A SMEAR, by Richard Cohen: Write a column claiming the only African-American presidential candidate must support Louis Farrakhan, because the candidate's church gave him an award. Spend the entire column outlining Farrakhan's misdeeds. Sneak in this sentence at the end: "I don't for a moment think that Obama shares Wright's views on Farrakhan." Pretend that you have not delivered a vicious, factfree smear. Go have cocktails with Fred Hiatt.

Call article Obama's Farrakhan Test

This sickens me.