Here is how crazy the republican far right, the tea party crowd and others, are. For the last few years they've been vilifying GOP Speaker of the House, John Boehner for being too cozy with the president of the United States. For those of you unfamiliar with current history, the Affordable Care Act, the law which drives right wing wankers absolutely berserk, was passed when Congress was controlled by the democrats. At the time John Boehner was not the Speaker.
After he assumed leadership of the House, Boehner was the guy who led republicans out of the trenches and on over 50 fanatical, but hopeless banzai charges meant to repeal what has come to be called, Obamacare.
Each one of those Quixotic attempts failed, not because of Boehner, but because democrats held a majority in the Senate. And--as everyone with half a brain knows--even if the bills would have gotten through the Senate the votes weren't there then and still aren't now to override a presidential veto.
That made no difference to people like Ted Cruz, who isn't even in the House, but thinks he should be in charge of everything. He and his toadies in the lower chamber went rampaging through town halls near and far, then finally, in an act of utter nihilism, shut down the government over the issue in 2013.
John Boehner, in a moment of complete cowardice, went along with them even though he knew it was a political disaster in the making.
Given the available evidence it's obvious that over the years, despite what conservative savants say, Mr. Boehner hasn't been struggling against this wild eyed tide of right wing insanity as much as he's been carried along by it. To the tea party, his fatal sin was that he always seemed far too ready to duck out of the kamikaze attack of the moment to suit the tastes of those serving the, We Can Do It, flavor of Kool-Aid.
At the beginning of the latest session of Congress, despite all the caterwauling, Boehner was easily re-elected Speaker. The scant opposition was in such disarray they couldn't even decide who to replace him with. To this day there has never been any real doubt, outside of right wing delusions, Boehner couldn't hold the position through at least the next election cycle and perhaps beyond.
Needless to say, when Mr. Boehner announced he was retiring at the end of next month, the hard right edge of the GOP went into a wild celebration. Never letting the truth get in the way of a good time, the extremist outfit, FreedomWorks, sent out a mass email and the first line of it read, "Fellow patriot, we did it!"
The Speaker, now unfettered by his paralyzing need to appease these goofs went on, Meet the Press, Sunday. Among other things he said, "The bible says beware of false prophets and there are people out there, you know, spreading noise about how much can get done. I mean this whole notion that we're going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013--this plan never had a chance."
He added, "And we've got groups here in town, members of both the House and Senate here in town, who whipped people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know--they know--are never going to happen."
Boehner's sudden fit of profoundly ungrammatical honesty, spurs the first question from this side of the computer screen. It is, " Mr. Speaker, given what you knew, why the fuck did you let that lunacy happen ?"
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the second most powerful political position in the U.S. government. Why didn't you use that power? If you knew of the impending PR nightmare why didn't you take each one of those terrible tea party clods into your office, grab them by the tie, and tell them something along the lines of, "If you keep this shit up you'll find yourself stuck on a subcommittee studying the migration habits of Monarch Butterflies for the rest of your God damned career." That's what people like Sam Rayburn and Carl Albert would have done.
No., you won't find any sympathy for John Boehner in these quarters. He is arguably the worst Speaker in the history of the institution. He was made so, not by a democrat in the White House, but his willingness to slavishly cater to a bunch of screeching brutes who have no idea how this democracy works in the first place, then repeatedly attempting to backtrack into statesmanship when their craziness flamed out. It was a doomed strategy from day one. By the time he decided to quit, he was not only loathed by democrats, but by a right wing who doesn't understand they can't command a sitting president to do what they want when they don't have the votes.
So the question is, who is on deck? Most reports believe it is House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy of California. If so he is in for the same fight. The true believers have already began to make threats. An op-ed piece in today's, The Oklahoman, quoted right wing radio host, Mark Levin as calling, McCarthy, "...not a principled conservative." It also quotes the mass email from FreedomWorks as saying, "We cannot allow one of Boehner's cronies to take control. we need conservative leadership in Congress."
Notice something interesting there? Levin, and the author of the email, Adam Brandon aren't members of congress. They're simply two dudes spewing all these vile threats out to the public and the people who serve them. Neither of them has a vote when it comes to electing the new Speaker.
A long time ago Dick Nixon won re-election to the White House despite wide spread and highly vocal opposition to his conduct of the war in Vietnam. He was commonly considered a congenital liar and would later prove himself to be a two bit felon.
After the election one republican wag was asked how Nixon had done it. His reply was something along the lines of, "He didn't count the number of people on the streets. He counted the number of people not on the streets."
Indeed.
If Kevin McCarthy is the next Speaker of the House he might want to keep that bit of wisdom in mind. John Boehner certainly didn't and look how he ended up.
9-29-15
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Saturday Dispatches: The Mother of All Tabs of Window Pane, Kim Davis is Compared to Parks, King, and Lincoln, Trump in OKC, and Boehner Calls it Quits
Sometimes the question isn't, was that last hit of acid really bad, but rather was it just so powerful the cosmos has changed completely forever?
Let's face it, there are times when reality is so incredibly twisted and the mutants inhabiting it are so utterly depraved, the only conclusion to be reached is you've run across the mother of all tabs of window pane LSD.
Case in point: On Friday, Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples was given an award at the Values Voters Summit. The, internationally unknown, "Cost of Discipleship," award was presented to her by Mr. Tony Perkins, head of the, Family Research Council.
During the presentation Davis, the thrice divorced mother of two illegitimate children, was compared to civil rights icons, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr, plus Abraham Lincoln. According to Perkins, the former boss of the incestuous child molester, Josh Duggar, Ms. Davis, like, Parks, King, and Lincoln, "...pursued justice at great personal cost."
For those unfamiliar with American history, Parks, King, and Lincoln fought for the inclusion of minorities, African Americans in particular, into what we proudly call, The American Dream. King and Lincoln were murdered because of their beliefs. Ms. Davis has and continues to fight for the exclusion of a minority from that same dream. Her great personal cost was five days in a county lockup while she continued to pull down an $80,000 per year salary.
Ah yes, Brother Perkins' connection makes perfect sense.
Then we come to Mr. Donald Trump. He flew into this burg yesterday to make a speech at the state fairgrounds. A photographer working for the town's daily paper, The Oklahoman, caught the mood, tone and wit of the Trump campaign perfectly. Bryan Terry snapped a shot of El Donald ambling down the middle of the fair's midway, surrounded by not just a crowd of smiling people, but lurid signs and cheap fluffy animal dolls offered as prizes to hapless rubes by professional hucksters.
Earlier in the day Trump had been booed by the same people who gave Kim Davis that award after he called Marco Rubio a clown. When asked about the boos afterward, he flatly denied there had been any and claimed the noise was cheers.
He didn't have to lie so blatantly after his OKC performance. By all reports the crowd of 5,000 plus which was gathered around the fair's band shell stage roared their approval at every wild eyed promise, xenophobic rant, and personal insult spewed by the candidate.
Aiding and abetting the entire odious affair was Willie Robertson, a star of the alleged reality TV show, "Duck Dynasty." Robertson's father, Phil has compared homosexuality with beastiality and claimed African Americans were far happier prior to the civil rights movement than they are now. In his words, during those despicable days,"...you never heard any of 'em singin' the blues."
Finally John Boehner announced he is quitting the House of Representatives at the end of October. The news set off a joyous celebration among the tea party thugs who have done everything in their power to remove him from the Chair of the House the last couple of years. Their disdain of Boehner has been surpassed only by their white hot hatred of Barack H. Obama.
The Joe McCarthy types, which are dreadfully common when it comes to the tea party, are already making threats. The New York Times quotes Texas congressman Roger Williams as saying, "I hope all republicans, including those in the senate, are listening to what grass-roots conservatives are saying: It is time for conservative leadership and conservative principles." In other words, if the next speaker even thinks about compromising with this president we'll fuck with him too.
Yeah, well, despite Williams' dark warning and the giddiness running rampant, the truth is Boehner quit because he wanted to. He was never in any danger of being voted out by his own party no matter what the ultra right will now claim.
But, hey, what's a little truth when it comes to the big picture?
Yes, given the circumstances, it is time to drink a beer in order to take the edge off the hallucinations. Let's face it, not even, Timothy Leary could deal with shit like this and he was the ultimate pro.
Indeed. Thank God for the Samuel Adams brewery located on Germania Street in Boston.
Not to mention the comfort their products supply.
sic vita est
9-26-15
Let's face it, there are times when reality is so incredibly twisted and the mutants inhabiting it are so utterly depraved, the only conclusion to be reached is you've run across the mother of all tabs of window pane LSD.
Case in point: On Friday, Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples was given an award at the Values Voters Summit. The, internationally unknown, "Cost of Discipleship," award was presented to her by Mr. Tony Perkins, head of the, Family Research Council.
During the presentation Davis, the thrice divorced mother of two illegitimate children, was compared to civil rights icons, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr, plus Abraham Lincoln. According to Perkins, the former boss of the incestuous child molester, Josh Duggar, Ms. Davis, like, Parks, King, and Lincoln, "...pursued justice at great personal cost."
For those unfamiliar with American history, Parks, King, and Lincoln fought for the inclusion of minorities, African Americans in particular, into what we proudly call, The American Dream. King and Lincoln were murdered because of their beliefs. Ms. Davis has and continues to fight for the exclusion of a minority from that same dream. Her great personal cost was five days in a county lockup while she continued to pull down an $80,000 per year salary.
Ah yes, Brother Perkins' connection makes perfect sense.
Then we come to Mr. Donald Trump. He flew into this burg yesterday to make a speech at the state fairgrounds. A photographer working for the town's daily paper, The Oklahoman, caught the mood, tone and wit of the Trump campaign perfectly. Bryan Terry snapped a shot of El Donald ambling down the middle of the fair's midway, surrounded by not just a crowd of smiling people, but lurid signs and cheap fluffy animal dolls offered as prizes to hapless rubes by professional hucksters.
Earlier in the day Trump had been booed by the same people who gave Kim Davis that award after he called Marco Rubio a clown. When asked about the boos afterward, he flatly denied there had been any and claimed the noise was cheers.
He didn't have to lie so blatantly after his OKC performance. By all reports the crowd of 5,000 plus which was gathered around the fair's band shell stage roared their approval at every wild eyed promise, xenophobic rant, and personal insult spewed by the candidate.
Aiding and abetting the entire odious affair was Willie Robertson, a star of the alleged reality TV show, "Duck Dynasty." Robertson's father, Phil has compared homosexuality with beastiality and claimed African Americans were far happier prior to the civil rights movement than they are now. In his words, during those despicable days,"...you never heard any of 'em singin' the blues."
Finally John Boehner announced he is quitting the House of Representatives at the end of October. The news set off a joyous celebration among the tea party thugs who have done everything in their power to remove him from the Chair of the House the last couple of years. Their disdain of Boehner has been surpassed only by their white hot hatred of Barack H. Obama.
The Joe McCarthy types, which are dreadfully common when it comes to the tea party, are already making threats. The New York Times quotes Texas congressman Roger Williams as saying, "I hope all republicans, including those in the senate, are listening to what grass-roots conservatives are saying: It is time for conservative leadership and conservative principles." In other words, if the next speaker even thinks about compromising with this president we'll fuck with him too.
Yeah, well, despite Williams' dark warning and the giddiness running rampant, the truth is Boehner quit because he wanted to. He was never in any danger of being voted out by his own party no matter what the ultra right will now claim.
But, hey, what's a little truth when it comes to the big picture?
Yes, given the circumstances, it is time to drink a beer in order to take the edge off the hallucinations. Let's face it, not even, Timothy Leary could deal with shit like this and he was the ultimate pro.
Indeed. Thank God for the Samuel Adams brewery located on Germania Street in Boston.
Not to mention the comfort their products supply.
sic vita est
9-26-15
Thursday, September 24, 2015
A Psychologist Says Jerrod Murray is Cured, but Will There be an Objective B?
Just short of three years ago young Mr. Jerrod Murray was a student at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. He was also bat shit crazy. At least that's what District Judge, John G. Canavan Jr. ruled this past summer.
Back in 2012 Murray paid a fellow student, Generro Sanchez $20 for a ride to a local Wal-Mart. Before they got there, Murray pulled a gun--because, you know, everyone here has one--and forced Sanchez to drive out into the middle of the country where he shot him twice, killing him. According to a story in today's, The Oklahoman written by Nolan Clay, shortly after the murder Jerrod Murray told his roommate over the phone he had reached, Objective A.
Two expert witnesses, one for the defense and one for the prosecution, told Judge Canavan the defendant didn't know right from wrong at the time of the shooting. In July, Canavan decided Murray was innocent by reason of insanity.
A month later, Brother Murray was sent to The Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita where he was expected, by everyone, to be taking some heavy duty meds for a really long time.
Or not.
Clay reports, a psychologist at the center named Peter Rausch issued a report on September 17th proclaiming that Jerrod Murray has been miraculously cured of his mental illness and is no longer a threat to himself, or the public. In other words he should be set free after a little over a month in the facility.
Rausch's report is quoted by Clay as saying, among other things, "...while he (Murray) voiced some ideas that could be perceived as odd, they were not delusional." Rausch also said that Murray, "...did state that he was a fatalist and that he believes all events are predetermined by God. He also related that he had planned on obtaining advanced degrees in chemistry and physics and that he had ideas for how to develop a new energy source via the space time continuum."
Ah yes, quite rational.
Clay notes not everyone agrees with Rausch. A senior psychiatrist at Vinita, Joseph Errico wrote a report of his own which says he and his team think Murray is, "...presently considered dangerous to the public peace and safety." He also diagnosed the patient as having bipolar mood disorder with psychotic features, or a schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. In Errico's words, "He demonstrates grandiose and paranoid delusions about the world, himself, and other people."
Confronted by the conflicting assessments, Canavan has ordered Murray to be examined by two other experts. All those expert medical conclusions will come to a head at a hearing currently scheduled for November 5th.
The prosecutor in the case, as Clay writes, is outraged. Pottawatomie County District Attorney, Richard Smothermon wants immediate legislative action which would allow a judge, or jury to find a defendant not only as crazy as a bedbug on meth, but guilty at the same time. It is sort of like saying to a defendant, "Yes, we understand you didn't know what you were doing was wrong, but, fuck the medical experts, you're going away for however many years a judge decides."
Hey, when it comes to dealing with a deadly whack job, such a measure sounds like a righteous response to an utterly subjective diagnosis delivered by a psychologist. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma legislature, while more than willing to chuck the insane away for 50 to 75 years, no matter what their condition, isn't nearly as ready to spend the money in order to expand existing mental health facilities, not to mention build new ones.
Indeed, the idea is easy, but paying for the tab is a bit tougher.
In the meantime we wait for what goes down with Jerrod Murray. What we know is he has reached, Objective A, by murdering Generro Sanchez. We also know, because this is America, as soon as he's let out, he'll be able to get his hands on a gun whenever and wherever he wants.
At this point, the only things we don't know are, if there was an Objective A, will there be an Objective B? And--what is it?
One shudders to think.
9-24-15
Back in 2012 Murray paid a fellow student, Generro Sanchez $20 for a ride to a local Wal-Mart. Before they got there, Murray pulled a gun--because, you know, everyone here has one--and forced Sanchez to drive out into the middle of the country where he shot him twice, killing him. According to a story in today's, The Oklahoman written by Nolan Clay, shortly after the murder Jerrod Murray told his roommate over the phone he had reached, Objective A.
Two expert witnesses, one for the defense and one for the prosecution, told Judge Canavan the defendant didn't know right from wrong at the time of the shooting. In July, Canavan decided Murray was innocent by reason of insanity.
A month later, Brother Murray was sent to The Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita where he was expected, by everyone, to be taking some heavy duty meds for a really long time.
Or not.
Clay reports, a psychologist at the center named Peter Rausch issued a report on September 17th proclaiming that Jerrod Murray has been miraculously cured of his mental illness and is no longer a threat to himself, or the public. In other words he should be set free after a little over a month in the facility.
Rausch's report is quoted by Clay as saying, among other things, "...while he (Murray) voiced some ideas that could be perceived as odd, they were not delusional." Rausch also said that Murray, "...did state that he was a fatalist and that he believes all events are predetermined by God. He also related that he had planned on obtaining advanced degrees in chemistry and physics and that he had ideas for how to develop a new energy source via the space time continuum."
Ah yes, quite rational.
Clay notes not everyone agrees with Rausch. A senior psychiatrist at Vinita, Joseph Errico wrote a report of his own which says he and his team think Murray is, "...presently considered dangerous to the public peace and safety." He also diagnosed the patient as having bipolar mood disorder with psychotic features, or a schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. In Errico's words, "He demonstrates grandiose and paranoid delusions about the world, himself, and other people."
Confronted by the conflicting assessments, Canavan has ordered Murray to be examined by two other experts. All those expert medical conclusions will come to a head at a hearing currently scheduled for November 5th.
The prosecutor in the case, as Clay writes, is outraged. Pottawatomie County District Attorney, Richard Smothermon wants immediate legislative action which would allow a judge, or jury to find a defendant not only as crazy as a bedbug on meth, but guilty at the same time. It is sort of like saying to a defendant, "Yes, we understand you didn't know what you were doing was wrong, but, fuck the medical experts, you're going away for however many years a judge decides."
Hey, when it comes to dealing with a deadly whack job, such a measure sounds like a righteous response to an utterly subjective diagnosis delivered by a psychologist. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma legislature, while more than willing to chuck the insane away for 50 to 75 years, no matter what their condition, isn't nearly as ready to spend the money in order to expand existing mental health facilities, not to mention build new ones.
Indeed, the idea is easy, but paying for the tab is a bit tougher.
In the meantime we wait for what goes down with Jerrod Murray. What we know is he has reached, Objective A, by murdering Generro Sanchez. We also know, because this is America, as soon as he's let out, he'll be able to get his hands on a gun whenever and wherever he wants.
At this point, the only things we don't know are, if there was an Objective A, will there be an Objective B? And--what is it?
One shudders to think.
9-24-15
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The State of Freedom in America Today: Polls and Billionaires Cull the Field
That was interesting.
It would seem the aging process, when combined with a certain amount of medical quackery, can add up to not just a painful experience, but a time consuming one as well. But, as they say, that's a story for another time and place.
Now, let's focus on the ugly business at hand. A while back Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker promised the American people that he was eminently qualified to take out those brute criminals known as ISIS because he had done the same thing to organized labor in his home state. His candidacy made large numbers of conservatives swoon and pledge undying fealty.
Well, at least until Don Trump got into the race with all the eloquence and swagger of Benito Mussolini. Compared to Trump's savage rants, Walker sounded like just another anemic little shit--a poor man's Newt Gingrich as it were. In a campaign which, at this point, is driven by the media, not actual votes, he couldn't buy a sound bite. Within a couple of months he had become irrelevant.
On Sunday he called it quits. In Madison he spoke to a crowd and said, "The bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in different ways. Today, I believe I am being called to lead by helping clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind I will suspend my campaign immediately."
While Governor Walker is correct, the bible certainly is full of stories, his withdrawal was prompted by something far less spiritual in nature. The campaign was broke and while it might be free to vote in a presidential election--at least for now anyway--running for the office costs truck loads of cash.
The governor's poll numbers had sunk abysmally low. The latest CNN/ORC survey showed him pulling less than one half of one percent. According to the Daily Kos, one supporter said Walker's donors were walking away from the campaign as fast as they could. Why shouldn't they? If you're going to buy a politician he ought to be one who at least has a chance of winning.
The same source said once the contributions dried up, the people running the campaign decided there was no reason to incur a huge debt in order to keep a lost cause on life support in Iowa. Indeed, you don't mortgage the home, then put the whole check on some implausible long shot. Losers who pull that sort of self destructive nonsense inevitably end up living out their lives in Las Vegas storm drains.
So who will go out the door next?
Probably Mike Huckabee. Despite grandstanding with Kim Davis in Kentucky his campaign has no traction at all. He increasingly sounds like a circuit riding tent evangelist more suited to delivering apocalyptic sermons than the political bacon. In fact the former Arkansas governor's appeal seems to be strictly limited to the sexually deviant Duggar family and those few churches who keep boxes of snakes near the altar for convenient handling.
The second option would be, Bobby Jindal. He isn't doing any good either, but his campaign appears to have been fueled entirely by exotic and powerful hallucinogens from the start. In such cases there is no telling when the visions will be replaced by a terrible head first crash back into reality. The only thing certain is that it will eventually come and when it does even the strong hearted will look away in disgust.
In the end, everyone knew this GOP field was too bloated to last, but now we're confronted with a sobering truth. The herd is not being culled by people actually participating in the election process, but by anonymous polling outfits sponsored by run amok media outlets and the billionaires who place their bets based on those results.
Such is the state of freedom in America today.
And now you know why the bar is, once again, open.
sic vita est
9-22-15
It would seem the aging process, when combined with a certain amount of medical quackery, can add up to not just a painful experience, but a time consuming one as well. But, as they say, that's a story for another time and place.
Now, let's focus on the ugly business at hand. A while back Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker promised the American people that he was eminently qualified to take out those brute criminals known as ISIS because he had done the same thing to organized labor in his home state. His candidacy made large numbers of conservatives swoon and pledge undying fealty.
Well, at least until Don Trump got into the race with all the eloquence and swagger of Benito Mussolini. Compared to Trump's savage rants, Walker sounded like just another anemic little shit--a poor man's Newt Gingrich as it were. In a campaign which, at this point, is driven by the media, not actual votes, he couldn't buy a sound bite. Within a couple of months he had become irrelevant.
On Sunday he called it quits. In Madison he spoke to a crowd and said, "The bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in different ways. Today, I believe I am being called to lead by helping clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind I will suspend my campaign immediately."
While Governor Walker is correct, the bible certainly is full of stories, his withdrawal was prompted by something far less spiritual in nature. The campaign was broke and while it might be free to vote in a presidential election--at least for now anyway--running for the office costs truck loads of cash.
The governor's poll numbers had sunk abysmally low. The latest CNN/ORC survey showed him pulling less than one half of one percent. According to the Daily Kos, one supporter said Walker's donors were walking away from the campaign as fast as they could. Why shouldn't they? If you're going to buy a politician he ought to be one who at least has a chance of winning.
The same source said once the contributions dried up, the people running the campaign decided there was no reason to incur a huge debt in order to keep a lost cause on life support in Iowa. Indeed, you don't mortgage the home, then put the whole check on some implausible long shot. Losers who pull that sort of self destructive nonsense inevitably end up living out their lives in Las Vegas storm drains.
So who will go out the door next?
Probably Mike Huckabee. Despite grandstanding with Kim Davis in Kentucky his campaign has no traction at all. He increasingly sounds like a circuit riding tent evangelist more suited to delivering apocalyptic sermons than the political bacon. In fact the former Arkansas governor's appeal seems to be strictly limited to the sexually deviant Duggar family and those few churches who keep boxes of snakes near the altar for convenient handling.
The second option would be, Bobby Jindal. He isn't doing any good either, but his campaign appears to have been fueled entirely by exotic and powerful hallucinogens from the start. In such cases there is no telling when the visions will be replaced by a terrible head first crash back into reality. The only thing certain is that it will eventually come and when it does even the strong hearted will look away in disgust.
In the end, everyone knew this GOP field was too bloated to last, but now we're confronted with a sobering truth. The herd is not being culled by people actually participating in the election process, but by anonymous polling outfits sponsored by run amok media outlets and the billionaires who place their bets based on those results.
Such is the state of freedom in America today.
And now you know why the bar is, once again, open.
sic vita est
9-22-15
Monday, September 14, 2015
Monday Dispatches: There are Martyrs and Then There are Martyrs, Rick Perry Drops Out, and the Latest Polls Show Republicans are Complete Idiots
There are martyrs and then there are martyrs. Over in Kentucky, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis went to jail for five days because she wouldn't issue marriage licenses to gay couples, despite the law of the land. She claimed this was due to her ironclad religious beliefs. After she was let out by federal judge David Bunning she was greeted by a massive choir, a pirated rendition of Survivor's rock anthem, "Eye of the Tiger," and two republican presidential candidates.
When she showed up for work today she told the press she would not interfere with her deputy clerks as they handed out marriage licenses to gays. In her words. she was forced to choose between, "...my conscience, or my freedom."
So, after a few days in a 21st century lock up it appears she's had enough. That hardly ranks up there with St. Julia who was beaten in the face, had her hair shaved off, was flogged, and finally crucified after she squared off against some pagans in 439 A.D. Not to mention, St. Laura. She pissed off the Moors so much they threw her into a vat of boiling lead.
Ms. Davis still maintains the licenses issued by her deputies aren't valid since her name has been replaced by the words, "Pursuant to a federal court order." The governor of the state and the attorney general disagree. Despite her lack of lasting resolve, one of her lawyers describes her as, "...the bravest woman in America."
Yeah, that's how low we've sunk to.
In other news, Rick Perry called off his campaign for president. This means Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal are now engaged in a death struggle over the support of the 100 or 200 people nationwide who would have voted for the former Texas governor.
Then we come to the latest polls which prove once again, vast numbers of Americans in general and republicans in particular are either delusional, or complete idiots.
According to the latest CNN/ORC poll nearly 30% of Americans think Barack Obama isn't a Christian. 43% of republicans are convinced he is a Muslim, and 20% of everyone thinks he was born outside of the United States.
Today, Salon published another survey, this one taken by Public Policy Polling and the numbers rank right up there with your average 7th grader's knowledge of United States geography. After the dust settled they found 66% of Donald Trump's supporters believe Obama is a Muslim and 61% of them are convinced he wasn't born here. Of course it doesn't matter to most of these terrible rubes if he showed up on the planet in Hawaii, or not. Even if he did, 63% of them disagree with the constitution of the United States and think the birthright amendment should be voided. That's right. His old man wasn't an American so even if he was born here he isn't one of us.
It is insanity that compares with the burning witches and the sun circling the earth. Even if any of this nonsense were true, it still doesn't explain their tolerance of Ted Cruz in the campaign. Hell, he is all up front about being born in Canada--which, for all of the mentally challenged yokels out there is a nation utterly separate from the United States--and--at the time of his birth, his father, was not an American citizen.
Oops.
Anyone still insisting that this vile xenophobia, when it comes to Obama, has nothing to do with race should be lobotomized.
It is also time to realize, Donald Trump is the 21st century American incarnation of Adolf Hitler and his hard core followers are nothing more than a modern version of the brown shirts. Yes, that's right, I just said it and I'm not alone. Even the super conservative, George Will made the link in a column which ran a couple of weeks ago. Trump has tailored his message to directly appeal to the basest instincts of a disenchanted white racist minority who feel set upon by people not like them. He, as the the late unlamented, Herr Hitler promised, wants to make his nation, "Great Again." He preens, poses, and brags. He derides his opponents not on the issues, but their personal appearance and personalities.
Between him, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, and the supporters of Kim Davis we have seen the republican party dissolve into the worst sort of toxic swill imaginable.
Abraham Lincoln would be appalled by these obese and horrifying Groupers. And, if he were alive today, he'd never vote for them.
Trust me. There isn't a real student of history who will tell you anything different.
9-14-15
When she showed up for work today she told the press she would not interfere with her deputy clerks as they handed out marriage licenses to gays. In her words. she was forced to choose between, "...my conscience, or my freedom."
So, after a few days in a 21st century lock up it appears she's had enough. That hardly ranks up there with St. Julia who was beaten in the face, had her hair shaved off, was flogged, and finally crucified after she squared off against some pagans in 439 A.D. Not to mention, St. Laura. She pissed off the Moors so much they threw her into a vat of boiling lead.
Ms. Davis still maintains the licenses issued by her deputies aren't valid since her name has been replaced by the words, "Pursuant to a federal court order." The governor of the state and the attorney general disagree. Despite her lack of lasting resolve, one of her lawyers describes her as, "...the bravest woman in America."
Yeah, that's how low we've sunk to.
In other news, Rick Perry called off his campaign for president. This means Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal are now engaged in a death struggle over the support of the 100 or 200 people nationwide who would have voted for the former Texas governor.
Then we come to the latest polls which prove once again, vast numbers of Americans in general and republicans in particular are either delusional, or complete idiots.
According to the latest CNN/ORC poll nearly 30% of Americans think Barack Obama isn't a Christian. 43% of republicans are convinced he is a Muslim, and 20% of everyone thinks he was born outside of the United States.
Today, Salon published another survey, this one taken by Public Policy Polling and the numbers rank right up there with your average 7th grader's knowledge of United States geography. After the dust settled they found 66% of Donald Trump's supporters believe Obama is a Muslim and 61% of them are convinced he wasn't born here. Of course it doesn't matter to most of these terrible rubes if he showed up on the planet in Hawaii, or not. Even if he did, 63% of them disagree with the constitution of the United States and think the birthright amendment should be voided. That's right. His old man wasn't an American so even if he was born here he isn't one of us.
It is insanity that compares with the burning witches and the sun circling the earth. Even if any of this nonsense were true, it still doesn't explain their tolerance of Ted Cruz in the campaign. Hell, he is all up front about being born in Canada--which, for all of the mentally challenged yokels out there is a nation utterly separate from the United States--and--at the time of his birth, his father, was not an American citizen.
Oops.
Anyone still insisting that this vile xenophobia, when it comes to Obama, has nothing to do with race should be lobotomized.
It is also time to realize, Donald Trump is the 21st century American incarnation of Adolf Hitler and his hard core followers are nothing more than a modern version of the brown shirts. Yes, that's right, I just said it and I'm not alone. Even the super conservative, George Will made the link in a column which ran a couple of weeks ago. Trump has tailored his message to directly appeal to the basest instincts of a disenchanted white racist minority who feel set upon by people not like them. He, as the the late unlamented, Herr Hitler promised, wants to make his nation, "Great Again." He preens, poses, and brags. He derides his opponents not on the issues, but their personal appearance and personalities.
Between him, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, and the supporters of Kim Davis we have seen the republican party dissolve into the worst sort of toxic swill imaginable.
Abraham Lincoln would be appalled by these obese and horrifying Groupers. And, if he were alive today, he'd never vote for them.
Trust me. There isn't a real student of history who will tell you anything different.
9-14-15
Friday, September 11, 2015
The Last Twenty Years: A Personal History
Many times when chaos and tragedy strike close to home the mind jumps to conclusions which have very little to do with reality.
Case in point--just over 20 years ago I was behind the wheel of a taxi trying to make ends meet while my second novel was circulating through a maze of unimpressed literary agents in New York City. On Wednesday, April 19th, 1995, right at 9:00am I had just let a fare out at a shopping center parking lot in, Edmond, OK. He was going to work at a movie rental store.
Before I was out onto the street the Yellow Cab dispatcher on the radio said, "What was that?" A second, or less, later I heard the explosion. Although I was 12, or so miles north and east of downtown Oklahoma City the concussion was strong enough to set off car alarms. Within minutes I turned south on what is called the Broadway Extension. It is a freeway running from Edmond straight into the heart of OKC. Driving south I could see a great pall of black smoke rising from the middle of the distant skyline.
My first thought was that an airplane had crashed into the center of the city. To this day I have no earthly idea why that particular scenario came to mind. It did though and the memory of it has stuck with me during the two decades since.
Of course there was no plane crash in Oklahoma City, or a vast international plot behind the devastating explosion. It was simply a couple of deadly rubes with a truck bomb, who, as the late science fiction author Mike McQuay said, "...were scared that if the government took away their guns they wouldn't be able to fuck their wives."
Six years later I was still in the hack. The novel had been turned down by just about everyone who could read the English language. I was picking up a few extra bucks every now and then by contributing stories and op-ed pieces to a couple of alternative newspapers. The morning of September 11th was equally as beautiful weather-wise as the one on April 19th years before. During the middle of it that very same dispatcher came on the air and said to another driver, "Yeah, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center."
The initial thing which came to mind? Some goof wearing a pink Izod polo shirt couldn't figure out how to fly his new Beechcraft and bounced it off one of the towers.
Little did I know.
By noon central time I was still on the streets and it was apparent to myself and nearly everyone else I had talked to, the republic was suffering an attack the likes of which hadn't been seen since December, 1941.
It seemed within hours the nation, just like it had done after Pearl Harbor, began to morph. However, unlike late 1941, in the fall of 2001 there ware no empires, or evil dictatorships driving huge military forces across continents, or seas. In short, there weren't any spots on a map like Tokyo, or Berlin for us to focus all our anger and might on. No, there was only some shadowy organization called Al-Qaeda, which suddenly seemed a Kafkaesque incarnation of Ian Fleming's, SPECTRE, with its head, not the fictional Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but a very real, Osama bin-Laden.
It was commonly believed he was holed up in Afghanistan which was run by an odious bunch known as the Taliban. Despite some chest beating demands by George W. Bush and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, they refused to give him up, although now it's unclear if they ever really knew where he was in the first place. It didn't take long for us to go in. We've been there ever since.
It went downhill from there.
George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, knowing we were in the neighborhood, milked the fear, anger, and xenophobia running rampant in America and invaded Iraq. Bush number two wanted to prove he had a bigger penis than his old man and Cheney wanted his boys at the Halliburton corporation to make bazillions of dollars, which they did.
We initially won the war, made sure Saddam Hussein was hanged, then screwed the pooch so completely when it came to remaking Iraq it ultimately gave rise to those beasts currently known as ISIS.
By the time the utterly amoral and clueless Bush and Cheney administration came to a close the U.S. economy was in nearly as much trouble as it was at the beginning of the great depression and George W. Bush was saying things like, "I don't care where bin-Laden is. He is irrelevant."
Well you have to say something don't you?
It took Barack Obama, a liberal democrat, who had promised during his campaign to kill Osama bin-Laden, not only to save us from another economic catastrophe, but to take out the evil twit who came up with the 9-11 attack.
In the last couple of years, Cheney, ever the Dark Lord, has been busy attempting to eviscerate Obama's middle eastern foreign policy in order to justify his complicity in a needless war and its aftermath. Meanwhile, former President George W. Bush, always the frat guy, seems more interested in the score of the latest SMU football game than anything else.
They appear to be utterly disconnected to the cost of their cynical adventure in Iraq, not just geopolitically, but with regard to the dead and maimed returning here and strewn across the streets of places like Mosul.
Perhaps they are because, in the end, the truth is history isn't simple math. There are no hard rules such as two plus two equals four. And, as every cop in the world will tell you, the least reliable evidence in a criminal case is provided by eye witnesses.
Given those parameters the people who see it differently are certainly free to express their views of what has happened over the last two decades. However, these are mine and they are not only just as valid, but I like to think a tad more real than the ones oozing out of the far right wing of this nation.
Hey, despite what those angry and ruthless yokels say it is still a free country. Take all of it for what you will.
sic vita est
9-11-15
Case in point--just over 20 years ago I was behind the wheel of a taxi trying to make ends meet while my second novel was circulating through a maze of unimpressed literary agents in New York City. On Wednesday, April 19th, 1995, right at 9:00am I had just let a fare out at a shopping center parking lot in, Edmond, OK. He was going to work at a movie rental store.
Before I was out onto the street the Yellow Cab dispatcher on the radio said, "What was that?" A second, or less, later I heard the explosion. Although I was 12, or so miles north and east of downtown Oklahoma City the concussion was strong enough to set off car alarms. Within minutes I turned south on what is called the Broadway Extension. It is a freeway running from Edmond straight into the heart of OKC. Driving south I could see a great pall of black smoke rising from the middle of the distant skyline.
My first thought was that an airplane had crashed into the center of the city. To this day I have no earthly idea why that particular scenario came to mind. It did though and the memory of it has stuck with me during the two decades since.
Of course there was no plane crash in Oklahoma City, or a vast international plot behind the devastating explosion. It was simply a couple of deadly rubes with a truck bomb, who, as the late science fiction author Mike McQuay said, "...were scared that if the government took away their guns they wouldn't be able to fuck their wives."
Six years later I was still in the hack. The novel had been turned down by just about everyone who could read the English language. I was picking up a few extra bucks every now and then by contributing stories and op-ed pieces to a couple of alternative newspapers. The morning of September 11th was equally as beautiful weather-wise as the one on April 19th years before. During the middle of it that very same dispatcher came on the air and said to another driver, "Yeah, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center."
The initial thing which came to mind? Some goof wearing a pink Izod polo shirt couldn't figure out how to fly his new Beechcraft and bounced it off one of the towers.
Little did I know.
By noon central time I was still on the streets and it was apparent to myself and nearly everyone else I had talked to, the republic was suffering an attack the likes of which hadn't been seen since December, 1941.
It seemed within hours the nation, just like it had done after Pearl Harbor, began to morph. However, unlike late 1941, in the fall of 2001 there ware no empires, or evil dictatorships driving huge military forces across continents, or seas. In short, there weren't any spots on a map like Tokyo, or Berlin for us to focus all our anger and might on. No, there was only some shadowy organization called Al-Qaeda, which suddenly seemed a Kafkaesque incarnation of Ian Fleming's, SPECTRE, with its head, not the fictional Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but a very real, Osama bin-Laden.
It was commonly believed he was holed up in Afghanistan which was run by an odious bunch known as the Taliban. Despite some chest beating demands by George W. Bush and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, they refused to give him up, although now it's unclear if they ever really knew where he was in the first place. It didn't take long for us to go in. We've been there ever since.
It went downhill from there.
George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, knowing we were in the neighborhood, milked the fear, anger, and xenophobia running rampant in America and invaded Iraq. Bush number two wanted to prove he had a bigger penis than his old man and Cheney wanted his boys at the Halliburton corporation to make bazillions of dollars, which they did.
We initially won the war, made sure Saddam Hussein was hanged, then screwed the pooch so completely when it came to remaking Iraq it ultimately gave rise to those beasts currently known as ISIS.
By the time the utterly amoral and clueless Bush and Cheney administration came to a close the U.S. economy was in nearly as much trouble as it was at the beginning of the great depression and George W. Bush was saying things like, "I don't care where bin-Laden is. He is irrelevant."
Well you have to say something don't you?
It took Barack Obama, a liberal democrat, who had promised during his campaign to kill Osama bin-Laden, not only to save us from another economic catastrophe, but to take out the evil twit who came up with the 9-11 attack.
In the last couple of years, Cheney, ever the Dark Lord, has been busy attempting to eviscerate Obama's middle eastern foreign policy in order to justify his complicity in a needless war and its aftermath. Meanwhile, former President George W. Bush, always the frat guy, seems more interested in the score of the latest SMU football game than anything else.
They appear to be utterly disconnected to the cost of their cynical adventure in Iraq, not just geopolitically, but with regard to the dead and maimed returning here and strewn across the streets of places like Mosul.
Perhaps they are because, in the end, the truth is history isn't simple math. There are no hard rules such as two plus two equals four. And, as every cop in the world will tell you, the least reliable evidence in a criminal case is provided by eye witnesses.
Given those parameters the people who see it differently are certainly free to express their views of what has happened over the last two decades. However, these are mine and they are not only just as valid, but I like to think a tad more real than the ones oozing out of the far right wing of this nation.
Hey, despite what those angry and ruthless yokels say it is still a free country. Take all of it for what you will.
sic vita est
9-11-15
Monday, September 7, 2015
Kim Davis Walks the Earth With a Clean Slate, but Faith Cuts Both Ways
William Smith Jr. and James Yates have been a couple for ten years. That would be a couple as in they haven't lived with, or had sex with anyone else for a decade. The past few months they've been trying to get a marriage license issued by the clerk of Rowan County, KY.
She is Ms. Kim Davis. According to Wikipedia, she was married to a guy named Dwaine Wallace from 1984 to 1994. Five months after she divorced him she had twins who were fathered by another guy whose name is Tom McIntyre. In 1996 she married Joe Davis. They divorced in 2004. In 2007 she married the father of her kids, but it didn't last. The following year they parted ways and in 2009 she remarried Mr. Davis.
Before she was chucked into the slammer by federal judge, David Bunning for contempt, Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to Smith and Yates on five different occasions because she considers their relationship immoral.
Yeah, I know, it has a sort of otherworldly feel to it doesn't it?
According to her supporters and lawyer her prolonged game of marital beach blanket bingo doesn't count any more because she became a born again Christian in 2011. That's right, all her previous sins were forgiven and she now walks the earth with a clean slate. On the other hand, however, if she helps legalize the marriage of what she and others consider two run amok Sodomites, her trip to the altar rail is null and void and eternal damnation awaits.
Bunning, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal bench and the son of a former republican Senator, offered Davis a compromise last week. To stay out of jail, all she had to do was not interfere with her deputies while they issued, Smith, Yates, and others marriage licenses. She refused--so into the tank she went for at least a week.
Since then five of her six deputies have been handing out marriage licenses to all comers who arrive at her office with the money to pay for them. Davis' lawyer, Matthew Staver says, among other things, the licenses are invalid because her signature isn't on them. He has also filed an appeal to get her out of jail and another motion which asks an appellate court to force KY Governor Steve Beshear to allow her to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples on religious grounds.
You read that correctly. As her supporters and a couple of republican presidential candidates scream about judicial over reach, Matt Staver wants a judge to force a sitting governor to allow a county employee to do whatever she wants, no matter what the law of the land says.
Mike Huckabee, who claims to be a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, despite what the polls indicate, immediately jumped on the martyr bandwagon when Davis was sent away. He issued a statement which in part said, "I'm headed to Kentucky on Tuesday to stand with Kim Davis. We must end the criminalization of Christianity." He added, "What a world where Hillary Clinton isn't in jail, but Kim Davis is."
The Huck, a firm supporter of the deeply perverted Duggar clan in Arkansas, wasn't clear about what crimes Hillary Clinton has committed, but hey, at times like these, a person shouldn't get bogged down in details. During the bombast, he also seemed unaware of revised Kentucky Statute 522 020. It reads, "A public servant is guilty of misconduct in the first degree when, with intent to obtain, or confer a benefit, or to injure another person, or to deprive another person of a benefit, knowingly commits an act relating to his office which constitutes an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, or refrains from performing a duty imposed on him by law, or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office, or violates any statute, or lawfully adopted rule, or regulation relating to his office."
Ted Cruz, who has recently been playing Don Trump's bitch, was quick to grab a ride on the crazy train too. As always he blathered on and on nearly endlessly. Amidst all those big brain words tumbling out were these: "Judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong, this isn't America."
Actually it is America, Senator and this isn't the first time. The smarmy little Canadian is either unaware of, or chose to ignore the arrests of Father Phillip Berrigan and Reverend James L. Mengel for protesting the war in Vietnam because, in their eyes, it was un-Christian. Both men did jail time and both, like Kim Davis, as conservatives are so quick to point out, conducted bible study classes for fellow inmates while in the joint. Faith, it would seem, cuts both ways.
Yes, it is a slippery slope. Even a panel on the Fox News show, "Happening Now" recognized it. Host, Gregg Jarrett and guests Sharon Liko and Chip Merlin went off on Davis and her attorney the other day with vitriol normally reserved for liberal democrats. Unlike Cruz and Huckabee, they understand that once you let people start doing whatever the hell they want because of their faith the rule of law quickly disintegrates into anarchy.
Think about it. What would happen if a newly minted President Donald Trump demanded the immediate deportation of every new born baby in the United States whose parents don't have a green card. But, citing their Christianity--you know all that charity to the poor and kindness to everyone stuff--some Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents refuse to do it? One can only imagine the reaction of evangelicals, not to mention the shrill howls of Brothers Huckabee and Cruz.
Despite the myths perpetrated by the Christian right and cranks like Cruz and Huckabee-- Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and a majority of the founding fathers were not Christians in the sense they wish to portray them. And not a one of those flawed, but brilliant revolutionaries would have ever agreed that a single person's religious beliefs should impede, or define the law of the land.
To them, that was what the separation of church and state was all about, not just 239 years ago, but today.
Saying anything else is to deny history, or, as much of the hard right edge loves to do, just making it up.
sic vita est
9-7-15
She is Ms. Kim Davis. According to Wikipedia, she was married to a guy named Dwaine Wallace from 1984 to 1994. Five months after she divorced him she had twins who were fathered by another guy whose name is Tom McIntyre. In 1996 she married Joe Davis. They divorced in 2004. In 2007 she married the father of her kids, but it didn't last. The following year they parted ways and in 2009 she remarried Mr. Davis.
Before she was chucked into the slammer by federal judge, David Bunning for contempt, Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to Smith and Yates on five different occasions because she considers their relationship immoral.
Yeah, I know, it has a sort of otherworldly feel to it doesn't it?
According to her supporters and lawyer her prolonged game of marital beach blanket bingo doesn't count any more because she became a born again Christian in 2011. That's right, all her previous sins were forgiven and she now walks the earth with a clean slate. On the other hand, however, if she helps legalize the marriage of what she and others consider two run amok Sodomites, her trip to the altar rail is null and void and eternal damnation awaits.
Bunning, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal bench and the son of a former republican Senator, offered Davis a compromise last week. To stay out of jail, all she had to do was not interfere with her deputies while they issued, Smith, Yates, and others marriage licenses. She refused--so into the tank she went for at least a week.
Since then five of her six deputies have been handing out marriage licenses to all comers who arrive at her office with the money to pay for them. Davis' lawyer, Matthew Staver says, among other things, the licenses are invalid because her signature isn't on them. He has also filed an appeal to get her out of jail and another motion which asks an appellate court to force KY Governor Steve Beshear to allow her to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples on religious grounds.
You read that correctly. As her supporters and a couple of republican presidential candidates scream about judicial over reach, Matt Staver wants a judge to force a sitting governor to allow a county employee to do whatever she wants, no matter what the law of the land says.
Mike Huckabee, who claims to be a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, despite what the polls indicate, immediately jumped on the martyr bandwagon when Davis was sent away. He issued a statement which in part said, "I'm headed to Kentucky on Tuesday to stand with Kim Davis. We must end the criminalization of Christianity." He added, "What a world where Hillary Clinton isn't in jail, but Kim Davis is."
The Huck, a firm supporter of the deeply perverted Duggar clan in Arkansas, wasn't clear about what crimes Hillary Clinton has committed, but hey, at times like these, a person shouldn't get bogged down in details. During the bombast, he also seemed unaware of revised Kentucky Statute 522 020. It reads, "A public servant is guilty of misconduct in the first degree when, with intent to obtain, or confer a benefit, or to injure another person, or to deprive another person of a benefit, knowingly commits an act relating to his office which constitutes an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, or refrains from performing a duty imposed on him by law, or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office, or violates any statute, or lawfully adopted rule, or regulation relating to his office."
Ted Cruz, who has recently been playing Don Trump's bitch, was quick to grab a ride on the crazy train too. As always he blathered on and on nearly endlessly. Amidst all those big brain words tumbling out were these: "Judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong, this isn't America."
Actually it is America, Senator and this isn't the first time. The smarmy little Canadian is either unaware of, or chose to ignore the arrests of Father Phillip Berrigan and Reverend James L. Mengel for protesting the war in Vietnam because, in their eyes, it was un-Christian. Both men did jail time and both, like Kim Davis, as conservatives are so quick to point out, conducted bible study classes for fellow inmates while in the joint. Faith, it would seem, cuts both ways.
Yes, it is a slippery slope. Even a panel on the Fox News show, "Happening Now" recognized it. Host, Gregg Jarrett and guests Sharon Liko and Chip Merlin went off on Davis and her attorney the other day with vitriol normally reserved for liberal democrats. Unlike Cruz and Huckabee, they understand that once you let people start doing whatever the hell they want because of their faith the rule of law quickly disintegrates into anarchy.
Think about it. What would happen if a newly minted President Donald Trump demanded the immediate deportation of every new born baby in the United States whose parents don't have a green card. But, citing their Christianity--you know all that charity to the poor and kindness to everyone stuff--some Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents refuse to do it? One can only imagine the reaction of evangelicals, not to mention the shrill howls of Brothers Huckabee and Cruz.
Despite the myths perpetrated by the Christian right and cranks like Cruz and Huckabee-- Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and a majority of the founding fathers were not Christians in the sense they wish to portray them. And not a one of those flawed, but brilliant revolutionaries would have ever agreed that a single person's religious beliefs should impede, or define the law of the land.
To them, that was what the separation of church and state was all about, not just 239 years ago, but today.
Saying anything else is to deny history, or, as much of the hard right edge loves to do, just making it up.
sic vita est
9-7-15
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
God in Kentucky and Vile Theories About Murders in Texas and Virginia
It would seem Kentucky's Rowan County Clerk, Kim Davis, much like Hebrew National Hot Dogs, answers to a higher authority.
Ms. Davis believes issuing gay couples marriage licenses will condemn her to hell. Unfortunately the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't agree with her assessment of the situation. On Monday evening it wouldn't even listen to the argument put forth by her lawyers that she should receive, "asylum for her conscience."
This morning, when she continued to refuse signing off on marriage licenses for gay couples a judge ordered her to appear in a federal court on Thursday. When she arrives she'll have to explain why she shouldn't be held in contempt. Quite honestly, it sounds like a pretty tough sell for her defense team.
Actually Ms. Davis hasn't validated marriage licenses for anyone, gay, or straight since the June Supreme Court decision which ruled gay unions are legal in the United States. In other words, because she didn't agree with the court's ruling, her attitude became, fuck not only the law, but the entire holy sacrament. During this ridiculous hub bub she has also refused to resign. The AP reports she issued a statement through her attorneys which read, in part, "I intend to continue to serve the people of Rowan County, but cannot violate my conscience."
Yeah, well she'll serve some of them, but not the ones she doesn't like.
The AP notes that since she is an elected official she can't be fired by anyone. She can, however, go to jail until she agrees to comply with the court. Luckily for her, if she does get shoved into the slammer, she will become one of the highest paid Christian martyrs in recent years. That's because she'll keep pulling down an $80,000 per year salary despite her incarceration.
On another subject we come to, Mr. Shannon J. Miles of Houston, Texas. He is accused of gunning down Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth with extreme prejudice last Friday. The motive remains unclear, although it most likely has to do with, Goforth was a cop and simply showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time..
Miles' mother contends he was with her on a shopping trip when the killing happened, so he is completely innocent. The authorities say security cam videos show Miles at the service station during the time the shooting occurred and his truck speeding away from the scene. They also say ballistic tests on a gun found at Miles' home prove it was the weapon used to shoot Goforth 15 times in the back and head.
Just to make sure none of us talk about the availability of guns and the American fetish for them, various groups are attempting to blame the organization, "Black Lives Matter," for inspiring the murder.
The accused had been previously arrested for criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct with a firearm. In 2012, after being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, he was found mentally incompetent. A year later he was declared cured and released, but the felony charges were dropped when the victim could no longer be located.
And just think, after all that--if he was indeed the trigger man--he was still able to get his hands on a gun.
Or, maybe not. If you travel into the murky nether world populated by the ghouls known as conspiracy theorists, you'll find a couple have already declared the death of Deputy Goforth a grotesque hoax. The details are still a little fuzzy, but, according to the latest news from the rabbit holes on Youtube, Goforth's murder was faked and is somehow connected to the military training operation known as Jade Helm 15, the Illuminati, and Jews everywhere.
Of course that speculation is nothing compared to the fetid hurricane swirling around the shooting deaths of TV reporter, Alison Parker and her cameraman, Adam Ward.
The accusations of government complicity in their, "staged," murders are not only outrageous, but so ugly and vile in nature it takes an almost superhuman effort of self detachment to plow through the savage nonsense. To read such evil shit, not just about the victims, but, also Alison Parker's father and fiancé, is to stare into the minds of the moral equivalents of the Nazi Death Head Units who prowled the confines of places like Auschwitz.
Yes, that's how low our national intellect and sense of decency has sunk.
God help us all.
sic vita est
9-1-15
Ms. Davis believes issuing gay couples marriage licenses will condemn her to hell. Unfortunately the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't agree with her assessment of the situation. On Monday evening it wouldn't even listen to the argument put forth by her lawyers that she should receive, "asylum for her conscience."
This morning, when she continued to refuse signing off on marriage licenses for gay couples a judge ordered her to appear in a federal court on Thursday. When she arrives she'll have to explain why she shouldn't be held in contempt. Quite honestly, it sounds like a pretty tough sell for her defense team.
Actually Ms. Davis hasn't validated marriage licenses for anyone, gay, or straight since the June Supreme Court decision which ruled gay unions are legal in the United States. In other words, because she didn't agree with the court's ruling, her attitude became, fuck not only the law, but the entire holy sacrament. During this ridiculous hub bub she has also refused to resign. The AP reports she issued a statement through her attorneys which read, in part, "I intend to continue to serve the people of Rowan County, but cannot violate my conscience."
Yeah, well she'll serve some of them, but not the ones she doesn't like.
The AP notes that since she is an elected official she can't be fired by anyone. She can, however, go to jail until she agrees to comply with the court. Luckily for her, if she does get shoved into the slammer, she will become one of the highest paid Christian martyrs in recent years. That's because she'll keep pulling down an $80,000 per year salary despite her incarceration.
On another subject we come to, Mr. Shannon J. Miles of Houston, Texas. He is accused of gunning down Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth with extreme prejudice last Friday. The motive remains unclear, although it most likely has to do with, Goforth was a cop and simply showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time..
Miles' mother contends he was with her on a shopping trip when the killing happened, so he is completely innocent. The authorities say security cam videos show Miles at the service station during the time the shooting occurred and his truck speeding away from the scene. They also say ballistic tests on a gun found at Miles' home prove it was the weapon used to shoot Goforth 15 times in the back and head.
Just to make sure none of us talk about the availability of guns and the American fetish for them, various groups are attempting to blame the organization, "Black Lives Matter," for inspiring the murder.
The accused had been previously arrested for criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct with a firearm. In 2012, after being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, he was found mentally incompetent. A year later he was declared cured and released, but the felony charges were dropped when the victim could no longer be located.
And just think, after all that--if he was indeed the trigger man--he was still able to get his hands on a gun.
Or, maybe not. If you travel into the murky nether world populated by the ghouls known as conspiracy theorists, you'll find a couple have already declared the death of Deputy Goforth a grotesque hoax. The details are still a little fuzzy, but, according to the latest news from the rabbit holes on Youtube, Goforth's murder was faked and is somehow connected to the military training operation known as Jade Helm 15, the Illuminati, and Jews everywhere.
Of course that speculation is nothing compared to the fetid hurricane swirling around the shooting deaths of TV reporter, Alison Parker and her cameraman, Adam Ward.
The accusations of government complicity in their, "staged," murders are not only outrageous, but so ugly and vile in nature it takes an almost superhuman effort of self detachment to plow through the savage nonsense. To read such evil shit, not just about the victims, but, also Alison Parker's father and fiancé, is to stare into the minds of the moral equivalents of the Nazi Death Head Units who prowled the confines of places like Auschwitz.
Yes, that's how low our national intellect and sense of decency has sunk.
God help us all.
sic vita est
9-1-15
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)