Have You Persecuted a Christian Lately?

B’Man: I find it the ultimate hypocrisy when leaders of a group of people who make up somewhere around 90% or more of Americans claim that they are being ‘persecuted’. They feign hurt and false flag events in their cause and use people who claim to be Christian, but have evil intent in their hearts.

Look at Bill O’Reilly and his ‘Christian’ protectionist identity, although he has some weird fetishes (loofas, anyone?) and was sued by Andrea Makris over his unwanted advances. But just his obvious hatred for most of America and certainly free speech and other liberties, shows he is about something more than patriotism or Christendom. As a matter of fact, anyone who suggests he is a ‘man of God’ is an obvious charlatan or imbecile.

My friend Brian (Memoirs of a Godless Heathen) has a great post up about this phenomena and it hits home…

The Lie of Christian Persecution

Certain Christian elements in the media today are perpetuating a myth, a lie, that their religion is somehow under attack. Christian conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly calls it a “Culture War.” He cites the fact that businesses are not using the phrase “Merry Christmas” but instead “Happy Holidays” during winter solstice season as proof that reverence to God is going by the wayside, that Christian “values” are under attack by “secularists.” Also cited is the fact that compulsory school prayer met it’s end in the 1960’s.

One of the greatest lies ever told by these Christians is that prayer was removed from public schools. It is completely and utterly untrue. Every public school student is 100% free to express their religious beliefs, to pray whenever and however they wish, and to even hold and organize bible clubs. When I attended public school, I remember a 6th grade teacher of mine who had a Bible prominently displayed on his desk. He made the point that even though he wasn’t allowed to teach it in the context of religious instruction (although he did use it for historical purposes), the constitution allowed him to have it.

Christians lost zero freedom to practice their religion in 1963. Christian children were and are still absolutely free to pray in school. What the O’Hair case did was remove mandatory, coerced prayer from school. The case merely changed the status of prayer from mandatory to voluntary. So if what these Christians want is mandatory school prayer, why don’t they move to Saudi Arabia? Oh, that’s right! The forced, mandatory prayer in Saudi Arabia is not of the religion they prefer and it’s not to the God they worship. For some reason, it’s only okay to force children to pray if it’s to the God you happen to worship!

What these Christians are really lamenting is the systematic dismantling of the unconstitutional government sponsorship of their faith. Losing this favored position is causing them to cry “persecution!” To these Christians, it is persecution to treat all other faiths and non-faiths equally instead of giving Christianity the advantage. It’s laughable to think that Christianity is a persecuted religion when one considers that the mass media, government, and most of the business world is run by them.

What’s really happening here is that Christians are noticing their children aren’t praying on their own in school. They’re not thinking about God and they’re not thinking about the Church. These Christians now want the government to step in and force their children, along with all those who may not share their beliefs, to pray and practice the preferred religion. This is the same motivation that stops alcohol and cars from being sold on Sundays in certain places. They are trying to use the government as a moral enforcer, even against those who don’t share the same beliefs.

We’ve seen what governments are like when combined with religion, and there has never been a good result. From the Christianity-dominated middle ages to the Islamic terrorist states like Saudi Arabia; when one religion uses the government to enforce it’s rules on the rest of the population, even if that population’s majority shares the same beliefs, violence and brutality take hold and freedom dies a slow, painful death.

It’s not my problem if you can’t get your parishoners to stop drinking, or your children to pray before they eat lunch at school. Don’t make me or my children conform to your rules. I have the right to decide how I’m going to live, and I have the right to decide what rules my children will live under. My children have the right to decide if they’re going to follow those rules and I have the right to decide the punishments for breaking them. Forcing your religion on me through governmental interference to remedy your wayward followers goes against everything for which the principles of freedom and this country stand.

Our founding fathers chose “E Pluribus Unum,” not “In God We Trust” as our country’s motto. This nation was to be a haven from the state churches of Europe, where religious belief was compulsory. It saddens me that some Christians want to make their local and federal governments into a sort of modern-day “state church.” We are a nation of many ideals, many religions, many philosophies, and many beliefs, united under the banner of freedom. Never could there be a more perfect way to describe us than that motto on the great seal, a motto that means in English “Out of many, one.”

WTF Thursday: Mississippi Talk Radio Grows Some Integrity (Maybe)

I never thought I’d live to see Mississippi Talk Radio ban a right-wing tool like Michael Savage, but it appears that he finally went over some imaginary line in their heads (when that line was passed in normal people many years ago).

But just as Steven D., of the Booman Tribune questions, wonder why on this subject, after all the other intolerable subjects he has attacked Americans with previously. Any sane person who thinks this guy has a pulse on America is nuts themselves. He is worse than Scamnity, O’Liely and Limpballs all rolled up in one. The thing that gets me the most about some conversations I have had about him with Mississippians is that they are mostly religious Baptists, or what-not.

I simply cannot get my hands around such a thing. First, Savage pronounces to be a Universalist (but his hatred and fear mongering betrays such a claim). But I know of NO baptists that agree with a Universalist. Secondly, Savage savagely attacks people in a manner so unlike Christ’s methods, he is more attuned to an anti-Christ personality than the Christ’s. Yet, they fall for it (I suspect for the faux power they assume by holding such a vile belief in a God of wrath and horrible tortures).

Hate-Speech Connoisseur Michael Savage Goes After Autism; Gets Pulled From Mississippi Airwaves

What does it take to get a racist, liberal hating eliminationist, right wing talk show by Michael Savage canceled in Mississippi? Well, you might think that “nothing” Michael Savage could say would get his program removed from the air there. But you would be wrong. Apparently all it took was for him to call autism a “fraud” and a “racket.”

The Super Talk Mississippi radio network has canceled The Savage Nation because of comments syndicated host Michael Savage made about autistic children last week.

Steve Davenport, president and CEO of Super Talk’s parent company Telesouth Communications, confirmed The Savage Nation had been dropped from the network’s lineup as of Monday.

“It was just horrible what he said,” Davenport said Monday.

“When you talk about people in politics, business people, that’s one thing. But when you talk about defenseless children, that’s another.”

Savage, a controversial conservative commentator, said during the July 16 broadcast of his show that autism is a “fraud, a racket …

“I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.

Davenport said, after he had read an account of Savage’s comments, “I made the decision that we weren’t going to tolerate that.

“They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’”

“What do you mean they scream and they’re silent?

Yes, they weren’t going to tolerate calling poor defenseless children with autism frauds and brats. Now they did tolerate him playing a Dead Kennedy’s song after Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer. And they tolerated it when he called Nancy Pelosi “Nancy Mussolini.” And they tolerated it when he called for sending homeless people to “work camps.” Or when he said Obama had been “hand picked by some very powerful forces … to drag this country into a hell that it has not seen since the Civil War”. Or when he called women who wear burqas Nazis who want to “cut your throat and kill your children.” Or when he called gay parents child abusers. Or when he said of the 9/11 attacks on America “That was God talking.” Or when he called civil rights a “racket” to steal the birthright of “Christian, white males.” … , or when … , or when …

I guess there must be a few white, right wing conservative Christians who have kids with autism in Mississippi. I guess you never know what people won’t tolerate if you really put them to the test. So thank you Michael Savage. You’ve finally taught us what turns even your most devoted listeners intolerant when they hear it from a right wing talk show host.

Full disclosure moment: I have a nephew who suffers from seizures and displays autistic behavior, though he hasn’t been officially diagnosed with autism (because the seizure issue makes doctors reluctant to diagnose him as autistic). He’s not a brat, he’s a lovely, sweet child who has difficulty relating to people at times, and who dislikes environments which provide too much external stimulation. So, I agree, Michael Savage’s comments about autistic children are despicable. I just find it odd that those comments are the only ones by Mr. Savage that “The Super Talk Mississippi” radio network found intolerable.

Actually, I just lied. I don’t find it odd at all. Sad, disappointing, predictable, perhaps. But not odd.

How Much Sunlight or Wind Does It Take To Destroy The Mississippi River?

I dunno, but it doesn’t take a lot of oil. From Jeff at CottonMouth:

419,000 gallons of oil spilled into Mississippi River

While we sleeping last night a large ecological disaster happened in the Mississippi river around New Orleans. Close to a half million gallons of oil were spilled into the Big River when a barge collided with a Liberian oil tanker. CNN has the story:

The spill is much smaller than the ones that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Mississippi and nearby waterways.

But Wilma Subra, a chemist who advises the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said the oil could affect wildlife and work its way up the food chain into residents, many of whom fish for subsistence.

“This is a spill that occurred in a very urban area, and it can impact a very large number of people,” she said.

The oil, widely used as marine fuel, is heavier than diesel but lighter than crude, and it is likely to stick to rocks, trees and wildlife, Stroh said.

Are You Happy?

When a wanna be believes the BS big guys–

                   Anbar Sheik Cited By McCain

                     Was Assassinated Last Year

The major Sunni sheik who John McCain said was protected by the surge and subsequently helped lead the Anbar Awakening, was actually assassinated by an al-Qaeda led group in midst of the surge.

On Tuesday evening, McCain falsely claimed that the downturn in violence in Iraq’s Anbar province was a result of the surge, when in fact the surge began months afterward. Moreover, he said, if it weren’t for the work of U.S. forces, the major Sunni figure leading that awakening wouldn’t have had the protection he needed. “Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks,” said the Senator. “Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening.” The Arizona Republican’s campaign went further the next day, claiming that the major figures that turned around Anbar province would have been killed had the surge policy not been in place. “If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda,” said spokesman Tucker Bounds. Sadly, that murder took place even with the surge underway. In September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the sheik widely credited with persuading Sunni leaders to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq, died in a bomb attack in Anbar. His work, prior to then, was held as a major effort in transforming the province from one of Iraq’s deadliest areas into one of its safest. It was in a September 2006 interview with UPI, when U.S. Army Col. Sean MacFarland first spoke about Sattar’s efforts. “Some of the sheikhs have begun to step forward and some of the insurgent groups began to fight against al Qaeda,” he said. His reference was Sattar, according to a Reuters article published upon the sheik’s death. Below is more from the Reuters article on Sattar’s death: “When U.S. Army Col. Sean MacFarland, working in his Pentagon office last Thursday, heard that a tribal leader had been killed in Iraq’s Anbar province, his first reaction was: “Please don’t let it be Sattar.”
His fears proved well-founded. A bomb had killed Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the founder of a movement of Sunni leaders who turned against al Qaeda in Iraq, who are also Sunnis, and transformed Anbar from one of Iraq’s deadliest areas into one of its safest. MacFarland is in a unique position to offer insights into the movement Sattar led and how it may develop without him. As a brigade commander in Iraq, he was present at the alliance’s founding and worked closely with Abu Risha for months. “I owe him a lot,” MacFarland said. “He was a young guy with a great vision of the future and he was a fast friend of the United States.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/2 … 14581.html