Hump Crosses the Line of Civility - and couldn’t give a fiddler’s damn.

I was gently chastised recently for expressing my disgust with Dick Cheney’s obscene condemnation of Obama in the WSJ and on talking head TV over the Iraqi crisis that he and his ventriloquist dummy president promulgated.

In my anger I openly wished that snarling hunk of human feces Cheney would suffer a massive heart attack, and save the rational people of this nation the further pain of having to bear witness to his obscene lies, perversions and obfuscations of truth.

Evidently my wish (which of course has all the power of a religionist’s prayer) crosses the line of civility. I was chastised that no one should wish ill on anyone.   Oh fucking please. 

There's a cattle car load of people, past and present, that I would have or do wish harm on.  There are people alive today who, because of their deceit, greed, twisted reasoning, and utter disregard for life sentenced thousands of American soldiers, and untold tens of thousands of Iraqis to their unnecessary and premature deaths ... with thousands and thousands more still to come.

I challenged my critic to tell me:  if hindsight were foresight, and she had known where their lies would have lead, and her wish would have been granted, would she NOT have wished for the deaths of the prime perpetrators in order to prevent the deaths of the innocent thousands they caused for their own perverted purposes or defective reasoning?

How many times have we the thinking condemned people for praising their god, worshiping it, praying to it, and swearing their allegiance to it, when that same god permits millions of third world children to die of starvation and disease?  When that god who creates all life creates horrific diseases that torture millions to death?  If said god existed how many of us would not join an alliance to find a way to destroy this psychotic being, or at least wish for its demise to stop its threats and reign of horror?
 
Why then is it wrong to wish for the demise of a person who perpetrated horrors, then goes on to lie and bolster their reputations at the expense of others? People of horrendous repute, who refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for carnage, and who happily lick clean their hands stained with innocent blood while pointing fingers elsewhere. To not wish for their demise would be no better than to say they’d not wish for the demise of a callous and psychotic god who’d watch 6 million Jews gassed, millions of children suffer, and condemn billions of non-believers to eternal torture instead of using its power to destroy the destroyers, right the wrongs, and abandon its torture chamber. It would be morally wrong - unconscionable.

One might ask what my justification is for wishing said person(s) death after the fact, when the ill deed is already done.  Easy… because if wishes could come true, their death after the fact would be the only justice those countless thousands of dead Americans and Iraqis will ever get.  Crossed the line of civility? Perhaps. I suppose it’s a matter of opinion - in the eye of the beholder. Frankly, I’m still wishing today and I’d put my civility, ethics and morality above the likes of Dick Cheney’s and George Bush’s,  or any of history’s great deceivers and murderers any day. 

George W. "God told me to" Bush's Religious Legacy of Horror: The worst is yet to come

What we are watching transpire in Iraq may be the greatest horror story of our generation.  Mass executions by the radical Sunni ISIS organization (photo above); murder and bombs in the street through out the nation; armed Shiite civilian militia; the likelihood of Iran and the US being drawn back into the chaos; the potential destabilization of the entire region - beyond what it was already. 

And why? Well, if I were to focus only on the religious aspects, I could place the blame entirely at the feet of the two Islamic sects who have been at each others throats for centuries. But that wouldn't be the whole story... not by a long shot.  Before we overthrew Saddam in a trumped up phoney threat of non-existent "weapons of mass destruction" there was no sectarian violence in Iraq.  Saddam used an iron fist to keep that seething hatred under control averting civil war.

No ... as much as I'd like religion alone to bear the blame, the fact is the mega portion of blame rests squarely on George W. Bush,  his puppeteer Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and an administration of chicken hawks who never fired a shot in anger, never felt the sting of battle, never feared sudden death every day for a year or two at a time - they own the horror past, present, and still to come.  They duped a majority of  the American people, myself included, and for that I'll always feel responsibility for some of the blame.

George W. "God told me to liberate Iraq"  Bush has the corpses, blood and lost limbs of thousands of Americans and untold tens of thousands of Iraqis on his filthy paws, never mind $2 trillion in US treasure down the toilet...enough money to send every US kid to a public university for free. 

And now, Phase Two of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" fiasco: chaos that will at best end up in a blood bath with a radical terrorist Muslim theocracy as a result, or partition of the nation; and at worst an extended conflict that will draw in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other neighboring nations... jeopardizing their more or less secular governance.  Nothing good will come of this. This will be Bush's legacy.

Indeed, still not satisfied with our useless sacrifices, already you can hear the loudest drum beat for war from the GOP, especially from chicken hawks like Lindsay Graham, and the man who never met a war he didn't like: John McCain. We never learn.     

To a degree maybe religion is all to blame, after all, it was the voice of an imaginary god thing echoing in Bush's empty skull that he claims provoked this tragic farce.  A biblical pox on George "God spoke to me" Bush - his father, his family, and his ancestors for the next ten generations.  Damnable piece of human flotsam.

What's behind the "Scriptural Shell Game"?

Funny how as society and social mores evolve, that religions - especially Judaism and Christianity - don't change their scripture, but instead they just parse it, manipulate it, and otherwise pervert it to not mean what it says.  This is necessary in order to be more relevant to modernity and appear less arbitrarily and utterly stupid.

They stopped not "suffering a witch to live," they quit stoning their unruly rebellious children to death, they don't "...sell everything and give the money to the poor...," and follow their man-god.  They ignore admonishments not to pray in public like the hypocrites do, preferring to insert public prayer at every opportunity. The list goes on and on.

The latest foray into this exercise in the scriptural shell game is perfectly demonstrated in the article attached.  In it a rabbi explains how the Judaic prohibition against tattoos as clearly stated in the Torah isn’t really a prohibition.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-evan-moffic/can-jews-have-tattoos_b_5484367.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

The rabbi's apologetics are just more of the same... "Never mind what scripture says - here's what I say it really says."  What a coincidence given the rising popularity and acceptance of tattoos as body art. 

The Mormons of course are famous for this.  First God tells Joseph Smith polygamy is the thing to do. Then when Utah was going to be refused statehood because of it, BAM! their church president gets a "revelation" that god changed its mind. First blacks are unworthy to be LDS church bishops, then BAM!, the church president gets a revelation (coincidental with the civil rights movement) and blacks are miraculously allowed to join the "White and Delightsome" as full church members in good standing. But to their credit, at least they are claiming a major change in their god's sexual appetite and racist perspectives.  The Jews and the mainstream Christians just re-imagine the textual meanings: "You have to understand..here's what God really meant."

I wish they'd cut the phony pretexts and hypocrisy and just come out and say what we all know:   "There is no Boogie Man. Scripture was the tribal law of Bronze Age nomads and ravings of 1st century cultists, all ancient myth of pre-scientific man. So do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone,  live like good human beings just because we should - and cut the crap."

“Cancer Fears Jesus”: The ultimate example of religious ignorance and obscenity

How sad and pathetic this is. The meme above was posted by a religious fanatic on her facebook page. It seems posting crazy religious memes are her life’s work. Check it out if you have the stomach for it.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herty-Borngreat-Music/372138476157121?fref=photo

 
I’m still trying to figure out the meme’s message. What…if they don't believe in Jesus a child is more likely to succumb to cancer?  That chemo, radiation, all that modern medical science has done to extend and save lives means nothing if that child doesn’t have Jesus in her corner facing down this disease like some imaginary superhero? That cancer has a thought process, is sentient, and can be intimidated into remission / eradication by the mythical Christian man-god?    

I posed these questions to the devout readers of this religious nutter’s page. Amongst the  “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs” of agreement with the nutter’s meme, there were these responses:

”Ok. You Don't Believe In God/Jesus. Why rant about the ones who do? Your interpretation wasn't correct.” Barbara Latty

Needless to say, no “correct” interpretation for the meme was offered. I imagine Barbara tried her  hardest to make up some off the wall interpretation for this embarrassingly absurd “Cancer Fears Jesus” non-think, but came up dry.

 “I think the message is no child should have to live with cancer so pray for them or do whatever you can for them. But then some people just have to jump on the Dumb wagon because they have nothing else to do…” Patricia Henderson

Lest it be lost in translation, I’m the one driving the “Dumb wagon.”
If they truly believed prayer was effective and their god was real why even bother with modern medical science?  Why not go one step further and pray to end ALL cancer everywhere?

OH NO, that wouldn't do would it? Because cancer isn’t going to suddenly disappear, they know that, it’s just too big a challenge for their imaginary friend; where as this young girl COULD go into medically induced remission thus permitting the religionists to claim “God answered our prayers!” Convenient.

”I wonder how many people die in the hands of our mighty doctors? They can kill an unborn child but not heal em off cancer? Wow science is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us.”  Mahase Mosoloane

Says the halfwit who likely runs to the doctor to reconstruct his face when he falls off his trailer head first into his wood chipper; or saves his wife from hemorrhaging, or cures his infection with antibiotics so he can save his limb, or corrects his cholesterol, or treats his kid’s appendicitis,  or exorcises his anal wart. Funny how they bad mouth doctors when their god’s healing power is challenged, while only a miniscule minority of fringe Christians actually refuse medical treatment favoring prayer only.

”Well Bart u obviously lack several things 1. A brain 2. Compassion 3. Faith and most important self worth! U poor ignorant man we'll pray for u!” Conni Gent

Ah...now there’s an in depth analysis!  Yes, the lack of a brain and my utter ignorance owing to my accepting reality and rejecting ancient superstition and religious mind masturbation is quite a burden. 

But it’s a burden I  share with 93% of the National Academy of Science fellows, and 96% of the Royal Society (UK's counter part) the best scientists in both nations, who reject supernaturalism - those very people who have extended the lives of humans, who found the treatments for childhood diseases (the ones their god thing seems to keep creating). Yep I, just like all of them, are missing a brain and self worth, and because we reject ignorance in favor of medical science, we are lacking in compassion to boot!  Brilliant.

Note the passive aggressive “We’ll pray for you.” …Strangely, it didn’t make my head explode as Conni no doubt expected. 

 
Mindless kowtowing to myth and fable is one thing, but implying a child's cancer will be healed by indoctrination into Christian delusion is another entirely. That they don't see the grotesque stupidity of it is simply a result of total immersion into the religious affliction. They are the Christian answer to the Bushman shaman chanting, shaking a rattle and throwing ashes over a sick child.   People who embrace this kind of non-think disgust me. It is obscene... simpleminded obscenity.

Hey, Black Clergy - "Civil Rights" ... It Ain't for Blacks Only!

The article in the Huffington Post declares:  African-American Vs. Gay Civil Rights Is A False Choice

Evidently it is perceived to be insensitive or demeaning to the historical Black struggle for civil rights to equate the gay rights movement with the African-American fight for equality. Leading this indignant opposition to gay rights as a civil rights issue are the Black pastors.  The African-American community is among the least accepting of gays, the most homophobic group, thanks to hard-core Christian indoctrination and the fire and brimstone rantings of many of their religious leaders.

Whole pathetic story here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/african-american-gay-civil-rights_b_5353878.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

But "Choice"?  What's choice have to do with anything?  The fight for civil rights, for equality and equal protection under the law whether black, feminist, or gay doesn't require a "choice". Since when is civil rights an "either or" situation?

The fact that African-Americans were subjected to the abomination of slavery doesn't give them more right to equality, more right to respect, more right to the sole ownership of the term  "civil rights", or the benefits thereof.  The Jewish community came to the aid of the Black civil rights movement in the 60's.  Some of those Jewish activists were beaten and hosed,  torn by police dogs, and killed by racist southern scum.  Those Jews felt a kinship with the black activists because they had borne the injustice of antisemitism.  I don't recall rabbis coming forward to declare: "Well, yes, you're put upon, but you haven't suffered a Holocaust; so your demand for and expectation of equal rights is less than ours. Besides, the Torah doesn't say anything about Black people deserving equality." 

The shame of Black Christian clergy  is and always will be the fact that they stood against and barred the door to equality of another oppressed group that is desperately trying to throw off  second class citizenship. Their opposition reminds me of Gov. Wallace and his ilk, and the crowds of ranting jeering whites, who barred the door to school  integration by black children.

Can they be so blinded by the religious dogma inherited from their white slave masters,  and their obedience to a book of fables?  Can they be so callous as to NOT see the correlation to their own struggle for equality?
Interesting how, in such a short time, the persecuted easily becomes the persecutor.

Steven Weinberg's observation has never been more true: “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
Jesus wept.

Racist scum Robert Copeland makes me ashamed to be a New Hampshirite

The photo above is Robert Copeland.  An eighty-two year old elected member of the Police Commission of Wolfboro, New Hampshire; a bigot; a man with zero social grace; a person of questionable integrity; possessing no dignity or sense of  shame.  He has now become the face of New Hampshire to over 300 million Americans. Although I don't live in that town, I am never the less ashamed to be associated with his home state.

Copeland was overheard calling President Obama a "fucking nigger."  Not only  was he unapologetic when challenged,  he was actually indignant that his assessment of the President was being questioned. It seems the President "meets [his] criteria"  for the epithet. When questioned by the press, he became enraged that reporters would dared question him on his use of the term much less make an issue of it, calling one local TV reporter  "a skunk" for doing precisely what reporters do. I imagine it would be fair to proffer that had  the reporter  been black he'd have been called "a fucking nigger skunk." 

Details here:  http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/11973699-95/wolfeboro-police-commissioner-under-scrutiny-for-racist-comments-about-obama

This would be reason enough to be ashamed to be a resident of a state that would elect this racist old  fool to local office; but one of his fellow police commissioners, Joseph Balboni, went so far as to seemingly defend Copeland's  right to free speech, condemning the town's and state's citizenry's expression of outrage,and offering how generous and fair Mr. Copeland has always been to the town - as though he is due a pass for his obscenity based on past financial contributions; or that the outrage against his comment was somehow an attempt to deny him his 1st amendment rights. This simply served to heap more disgrace upon an already disgraceful situation.

Yes, Mr. Copeland has the right to say what he pleases.  This isn't in question. But so too do the public that he was elected to represent, and the people of the state in which he lives, have the right to condemn him for his backwardness, archaic incivility, lack of decency and gross behavior which casts us all in a bad light. The fact that New Hampshire has one of the nation's smallest  populations of minorities should raise sensitivities to any bigotry and racism displayed by an elected official. Indeed, how can an African-American, or Hispanic, or Jew, or Muslim, or atheist,  or any minority that Mr. Copeland may also harbor hatred toward, ever feel that their interests are being fairly represented by an admitted racist and bigot who goes so far as to take pride in his bigotry?

The jury is still out as to whether this piece of human flotsam can be recalled, and what pressure can be put on him or the town to unseat him.  It's entirely possible that nothing can be done and that he will serve out  his three year term which ends in 2017 - unless he dies before that by natural causes. If so, I harbor a hope for the latter.

Mr. Copeland's political party hasn't been specifically divulged as yet.  However, his documented derogatory references to "liberals" eliminates a lot of the guess work. As a moderate and undeclared / independent voter I'm no admirer of  either end of the political spectrum's fringe.  But the mentality displayed by Copeland, and the many like thinking Republicans country wide - local, state and federal- who openly or covertly "hate that fucking nigger in the White House", make me glad to have left the "Party of God, Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny and Anti-Science" far behind years ago. 

I can at least be proud of that.

Why?

You know why.