G-D knows about this and She is not amused.

In fact, She decrees it's the men who should be sitting at the back. Also, to ensure that their gaze won't fall upon the women, the driver will issue blindfolds to the men.

From here:

[...]men told her that she had to get up. Move to the back, they insisted.They were Orthodox Jews with full beards, sidecurls and long black coats, who told her that she was riding a “private bus” and a “Jewish bus.” When she asked why she had to move, a man scolded her.

“If God makes a rule, you don’t ask ‘Why make the rule?’” he told Franchy, who rode the bus at the invitation of a New York World reporter. She then moved to the back where the other women were sitting. The driver did not intervene in the incident.

The B110 bus travels between Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn. It is open to the public, and has a route number and tall blue bus stop signs like any other city bus. But the B110 operates according to its own distinct rules. The bus line is run by a private company and serves the Hasidic communities of the two neighborhoods. To avoid physical contact between members of opposite sexes that is prohibited by Hasidic tradition, men sit in the front of the bus and women sit in the back.

Perhaps to avoid complete physical contact with women, fundamentalist zealot men of all religious orientation should live on a different planet.

Isn't it interesting how the *brothers* of Judaism and Islam ressemble one another in their hatred of women?

Grand merci to lagatta who provided the source material for this post.

Obligatory September 11 Post

As the airwaves fill up with undignified mawkishness and glurge intent on marking the 10th year anniversary of September 11th, it seems to me that most of these demonstrations are being subverted to suit the purposes of those expressing them.

So, here's my take.

Heroes? We seem to live in a time bereft of genuine, unsung heroes. This one, though known and admired at the time for a multitude of qualities and accomplishments, has become a lightning rod since a bunch of earnest, well-intentioned catholics decided to informally canonize him - for being a celibate gay man.

Fundamentalist Christian zealots are shrieeeking that they are being deprived of their media entitlements and an opportunity to spew their islamophobic screeds because the official NYC commemorative event will remain secular and focused on the families of people who died in the September 11 attacks.

And, according to this, the fall-out continues to kill more people.

More than 18,000 people are suffering from illnesses linked to the dust from the attacks on New York's World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.

The figure comes from the US government's monitoring and treatment programme for 9/11 emergency workers, volunteers and local residents. The most common afflictions are respiratory problems including asthma and sinusitis, but muscular and intestinal conditions are reported as well.

The senior US official managing the health legacy of the attacks warns that early deaths are possible among the survivors.

Note: I started drafting this post while listening to Radio-Canada's live coverage of Jack Layton's cross-partisan state funeral. The first photo was found here.

"Of religious fanatics in the Conservative"

There are many great things about Twitter; one benefit is that it allows me to get behind Le Devoir's subscription wall. I follow Hélène Buzzetti; a link to her political piece of the day led to the discovery of this (once again, a modified Google translation for those who don't read French). As we've written before, the Contempt Party provides fundamentalist religious christian non-registered lobbyists like Charles McVety and Faytene Kryskow with direct access to Parliament via its evangelical MPs.

Today we discover that Jason Kenney is someone who believes in religious institutions that maintain catholic sharia. And he is a prominent member of the Harper Regime a political party that appears hell-bent intent upon changing the secularity of government.

Here's a CNN news clip link from the article, circa 1989-90:

The money quote from Le Devoir and the CNN piece:

Jason Kenney initiated a petition asking the Church to withdraw Catholic status from his university. The San Francisco Chronicle asked him about his reasons; Mr. Kenney replied: "If the university is not prepared to offer an educational environment consistent with the Catholic faith, it should cease to call itself Catholic. " On CNN Mr. Kenney said the [pro-choice] group had "destroyed the mission of the university." During the previous year Mr. Kenney tried to impose Catholic prayer before each meeting of the Student Senate, but his motion was defeated. Even the university's administrators found the the activities of young Kenney and others deplorable. Le San Francisco Bay Guardian avait publié en avril 1990 un article détaillant «le siège de la droite à USF». In a San Francisco Bay Guardian article published in April 1990 titled "The siege of the right-wing at USF", former professor Joseph Soehee described this zealous youth movement: "They want the return of the 50s. And I do not mean the 1950, I mean the 1550s: obedience, obedience, obedience."

The title of the post is the translation suggested by Google for "Des fous de Dieu chez les conservateurs" literally: God's crazies in the Conservative's ranks. And also. Paul Wells wonders what the hell Contempt party leader is doing with all his *free* time, now that he's locked out of his PMO politburo his office. This, too:

By the peculiar psychology of campaign journalism, asking a party leader how he has governed the country or how he would proceed if given a mandate to govern it some more is “playing along,” “in the tank,” “throwing lob balls.” Asking him process questions to work through our frustration at how he’s treating us, on the other hand, is “tough” and “uncompromising.”

Look, I find it upsetting that the Conservatives are shutting people out of their events, even people who have previously jumped through the ridiculous hoops it takes to be accepted to Conservative rallies but who are then found unacceptable for whatever Orwellian reason. I’m used to more relaxed rules.

But we are living in deluded fantasy if we think the hardest question an incumbent prime minister can face is about the attendance rules at his campaign events. And I cling to the belief that what’s worst about the Carson affair is that, five years after Harper’s government promised to provide clean water on Indian reserves, it’s still possible to get rich promising clean water for Indian reserves.

'The Family Leader' FAIL

Just when you thought rightwing whackos couldn't get any nuttier, somebody comes along to crank up the shrieeek!

[...]The Family Leader, a conservative group spearheading the repeal same-sex-marriage campaign in Iowa. The organization’s president, Bob Vander Plaats, has embarked on a 99-county tour in which he presents The Family Leader as a traditional religious group that is more interested in restoring biblical values than slandering gay people. “The Family Leader affirms sexual relations within the bond of marriage, and opposes distortions of sexuality or special rights to those practicing distorted sexual behavior,” the group’s website states.

But as Hooper discovered, a slight alternation of the organization’s website reveals SecondHandEffects.com, a site which describes homosexuality as a public health crisis akin to smoking and endorses discredited ex-gay reversal therapies [...]

Those christianist zealots are indeed toxic, and the video that describes their activities and lobbying events is chilling.



Notwithstanding the contempt they have for the teaching of evolution, these bible-thumpers attempt to convey that there is a scientific basis to the lies they spew. This cached webpage can be found via google:

It is currently popular to support the notion of allowing two people of the same gender to “marry” each other. But should we ignore what science is telling us just because it is popular?

Doesn't that loopy illogic remind you of someone whose name is not yet trademarked because she didn't sign the application form? Yup, you betcha.

Another rant about self-righteous and self-serving religious idjits.

First, the 'Irony where is thy sting?' category:

An internal Foreign Office memo about September's papal visit to Britain, born of a Friday afternoon brainstorming session involving a group of junior civil servants, resulted yesterday in the demotion of a young official and a formal government apology to the Vatican.

The memorandum, apparently written by staff planning events for the four-day visit by Pope Benedict XVI, suggested he might like to start a helpline for abused children, sack "dodgy" bishops, open an abortion ward, launch his own brand of condoms, preside at a civil partnership, perform forward rolls with children, apologise for the Spanish armada and sing a song with the Queen.

If anyone ever doubted that most fundamentalist catholics are humour-impaired by their devotion to the Vatican Taliban, one has to look no further than the smarmy snitch who leaked the irreverent memo to the press. By the way, the song suggested for Betty and Benny's duet was 'God Save The World'.

All of this might be enough to set Tony Blair spinning in his grave - if he were dead, that it.

The 'Mormons and Muslims, oh my!' category:
Yet another sexist, irresponsible jerk uses religion to justify his behaviour.

Authorities are looking into whether the Algerian-born Lies Hebbadj was married to four women in French civil ceremonies, which would be highly unlikely. Were he married in religious ceremonies by imams in Algeria or in France, these unions would not count as marriages under French law, said Rabah Hached, a Paris lawyer who specializes in immigration issues. In that case, each of the officially unmarried women could potentially receive state aid for her children. [...]

Hebbadj, defended his lifestyle Monday by turning the notion of polygamy on its head. [...] He did not specify whether he lives under the same roof with the various women in his life, although press reports have quoted neighbors as saying he moves between several houses. Hebbadj, whose robed image has been flashed around France by TV, runs a recently opened halal butcher shop.

Social assistance regulations in Canada require that deadbeat dads like Hebbadj be sued for child support. Safety nets were set up for the benefit of women and children, not for opportunist men to scam the welfare system - whether they live in Bountiful, BC or Paris, France.

Finally, the flatulence and flamboyance category.
Ezra "Ezrant" Levant should fire his stylist and his acting coach - unless this performance as a rabid, zionist, rightwing ReformaTory Craig Russell was planned, to stupify his political and ideological enemies.



Here's the incomparable Russell. Wait for the cheeky Anita Bryant impersonation.

The sacred and the sacrilegious.

Karen Armstrong seems to be detested, derided and deplored by a wide range of rightwing religious zealots. That in itself makes her a person of interest to DJ!'s humble scribes and bloggers.

Armstrong wrote in her Xmas opinion piece for the LATimes:

Unconcerned about historical accuracy, therefore, Matthew and Luke tell entirely different stories. Placed at the beginning of their Gospels, the infancy narratives act as a preface, giving the reader a foretaste of how each evangelist understood Jesus' mission. [...]

The Gospels paint a picture that is very different from the cozy stable scene on the Christmas cards. They speak of deprivation and displacement. The Messiah himself is an outsider. There is no room in the inn, so Mary has to give birth in the 1st-century equivalent of an urban alleyway. As victims of Herod's tyranny, the Holy Family become refugees; other innocents are slaughtered. [...]

For Luke, the pregnant Mary becomes a prophetess, proclaiming a new order in which the lowly will be exalted and the mighty pulled down from their thrones. [...] For the faithful and nonbelievers, for Christmas celebrators and skeptics, this is how to answer the question of what the season means: Religion has often been used to endorse an iniquitous status quo. But the Christmas story is a salutary reminder that faith has also encouraged radical visions for a more compassionate world.

As you can imagine, Armstrong's ecumenical perspective does not sit well with theocrats and islamophobic christofascists. This review is typical of her detractors. I was curious about her Charter for Compassion and so checked it out.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

The power of this document lies of course, with those who are able to put its principles into practice. Easier said than done, when facing down shrieeekkking religious zealots, all spewing hatred in the name of their deity.

Babies or Fetus?

Which ones to throw under the bus?

A number of Republican senators attacked an agreement reached between Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Senate Democratic leaders Saturday, saying it would lead to the eventual reversal of more than 30 years of federal law banning abortion funding. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oka.) said it is “absolutely fictitious” that there is an anti-abortion provision in the Senate Democrats’ reworked healthcare reform bill. “The negotiations, whoever did them, threw unborn babies under the bus,” Coburn said.

From here.

It appears that the clusterfuck mêlée unfolding in the US Senate (or is it Congress?) around legislation to reform the parameters of US healthcare has been distilled to this.

On one side, The Fetus©™ fetishists - Repubs and Dems alike - who are taking their marching orders from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lobby.

On the other, those who appear to be more concerned about the survival of babies born, the availability of medical care to pregnant women, and their families. The recent World Economic Forum analyzed a number of gender indicators in order to measure for example, differences access to healthcare differences between the sexes. Antonia Zerbesias demonstrates why this is important.

For the record, Canada ranks No. 25 on all these measures, while the US is No. 31. Tops in the world is Iceland, followed by the usual line-up of northern European countries, Finland, Norway, Sweden. As for the bottom of the list, let's just say you don't want to be a woman in Yemen.

But let's cut straight to the maternal mortality chase, which those ''pro-lifers'' focus on. Not only do "weak healthcare systems not prioritize women's health,'' there is evidence that the number of skilled healthcare workers available to support women through pregnancy, delivery and post-natal care had everything to do with women's survival. The women who die, die of "severe bleeding, infection, hypertension'' and then ''complications from unsafe abortion.'' About 20 per cent of maternal deaths are related to diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS -- and then there's women's inability to get decent nourishment.

From here.

So let's be clear on who exactly who gets thrown under the bus if healthcare is not reformed in the US. Yup, yup, you betcha! Women and children - considered by those rabidly opposed to abortions as mere "Gestational Support Units" and "Not-Fetuses".

More teabaggers', assorted rightwing religious zealots' and stupid attention-mongers' indecent repurposing and/or spoliage of respected aphorisms, check out Boris' post at The Galloping Beaver.

Shrieeekkk!?!?!?!?

Warning: Many rightwing fundamentalist religious zealots of all stripes are likely to be offended by this post.

This week I attended an evening of Xmas and secular holiday music held in a local church. The choir gave the money raised from ticket sales to local charities: a food bank and a shelter for homeless men.

One of the carols they sang was The First Noel; the lyrics repeat several times, and end with this statement:

"... Born is the King of Israel."

So I wondered: Would the CPCCA - the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism which claims to the arbiter of everything anti-semitic find these words objectionable?

And if that carol were banned from public performance, would the fundamentalist christian zealots and/or rancid haters who screech there's a War On Christmas accuse Jews of persecuting them? Just asking.

It's all so confusing. Won't someone remember the true meaning of Xmas?

the lie has become ... a pillar of the State.

In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State - Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Jason Kenney let the other penny drop, when he accused KAIROS of supporting the enemies of Israel.

"We have de-funded organizations, most recently, like KAIROS who are taking a leadership role in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign" against Israel, he told the Global Forum for combatting anti-Semitism.

Amazing. We speculated here that Stevie Spiteful and his Harpocrites had slashed KAIROS' funding in order to placate their fundamentalist religious base of Con supporters. That theory may still hold water, but it would seem that Kenney used an opportunity to repurpose that Con tactic and exploit it to gain points with a different, yet also powerful lobby group. One with deep pockets too. One that sunk Paul Martin's ship of state in the 2006 election when it withdrew its support and gave it to the CPC.

KAIROS responded to this crude attack:

Executive director Mary Corkery said Kenney's statement was based on incorrect information about her group's positions and raises serious questions about the Politicization of the aid process by the Conservative government. "If any group that criticizes an action by the government of Israel is called anti-Semitic by the government of Canada, that's very serious." ...

KAIROS was stunned by Kenney's remarks because International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda told the public and Parliament the group lost its funding because of shifting priorities at the Canadian International Development Agency.

Corkery denied that KAIROS favours a boycott of Israel or advocated divesting funds from Israeli corporations. "We have taken positions that critique actions of the Israeli government, as have people in many organizations," Corkery said. "We have raised issues that we think cause suffering among people. But we have never spoken out against the state of Israel or tried to harm Israel."

For an excellent overview on the falsifying, groveling and pandering tactics of Stevie's bullies, read Dr Dawg's informal series of blogposts here about CPCCA - the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism.

Update: Bingo! In his blogpost, bigcitylib provides the missing link to the christofascists: "docter" Charles McVety.

Although it seems that Vic Toews isn't using Kenney's speaking points regarding Kairos, here he lays out the classic rightwing goon, union-busting tactic the Cons are rolling out - divide and conquer.

[...] several of KAIROS’ member organizations continue to receive separate funding from CIDA [...]

Many Canadians respect KAIROS' international development work over the decades. Hopefully this, as well as the Harper government maneuver to shift responsibility to the troops (regarding Afghan prisoners of war) could be the tipping point.

Another inappropriate and violent testerical FAIL.

In his blogpost today, C.C. draws our attention to what can happen in the US when you mix ignorance, testosterone enhancement and islamophobia, Dear idiot wankers: This is YOUR fault. From here:

Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him. That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.

What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.

Police say Bruce offered several reasons to explain his actions: The man tried to rob him. The man grabbed Bruce's crotch and made an overt sexual advance in perfect English. The man yelled "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," the same words some witnesses said the Fort Hood shooting suspect uttered last week.

"That's what they tell you right before they blow you up," police say Bruce told them. Bruce ended up in jail, accused of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was released Tuesday on $7,500 bail.

Marakis ended up at the hospital with stitches. He told the police he didn't want to press charges, espousing biblical forgiveness.

But Tuesday, Bruce wasn't saying sorry.

Marakis forgave Bruce, even though his assailant never apologized or expressed contrition. Now that is true christianity, unlike the ideologically-fuelled hate that various rightwing nutters, fundamentalist religious zealots and christofascists like Pat Robertson are shrieeeking.

We think that police should press charges against Bruce nonetheless. That man is a ticking time bomb and a threat to the public although it's likely his next victim will be his wife. We wonder what excuses to justify his violence he'll invent then.

"Islam is not a religion."

Well it would take one to know one, it seems.

From Think Progress, we learn that Pat Robertson has wasted no time in furthering his christofascist agenda.

On his 700 Club TV show yesterday, Pat Robertson claimed that Islam is “not a religion,” but “a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination” ... Anti-Islam rhetoric is nothing new for Robertson. He has previously called it “a violent religion” and “a political system…bent on world domination.”

It's interesting how his condemnation of the fundamentalist islamic movement corresponds exactly to the extreme and radical political tactics that his church advocates.

And they talk about infidels and all this, but the truth is that’s what the game is. So you are dealing with not a religion. You’re dealing with a political system.

Robertson's acolytes and zealots are no different from the islamists that he decries, except for the god they claim, in order to run roughshod over non-believers.

Vociferous energy, ill spent.

A sane response to Sarah Palin's prevarications about the US health care reform initiative has been rabidly attacked by her zealot fans and supporters.

A lot of folks use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. For Sarah Palin, it's a great way to spread lies about health insurance reform. A few months back, Palin took to Facebook to declare that health reform would create "death panels," and drive private insurers out of business -- and nonpartisan factcheck sites and the independent Congressional Budget Office debunked those lies.

But that didn't stop Sarah Palin. She's back with a new Facebook note claiming that reform will raise costs on families and drive up deficits. Unfortunately for her, even the conservative "Tax Foundation" says those claims are false. So, this week, we're calling out Sarah Palin and taking to Facebook to debunk her lies on the very same pages she's using to spread them.

Watch the video and check out the comments in support of Palin - as well as those raising intelligent points.

Religious Influence + Weaponry = Terrorism?

In the comments after this post on "honour" killings, brebis noire says among other things that one "can read much of the Old Testament as a recipe for mass genocide."

Islamophobes like Mark Steyn and Kathy Shaidle are prone to screeching and shrieking variations of 'moozlim extremism' whenever it suits their respective political (rightwing neocon) and personal (revenue-generating) agendas.

It seems though that using a work of literature declared "holy" by a particular religious institution or corporation as template for plotting acts of vengeance, fury and violence is nothing new. Religious texts can be exploited as the ideological justification for crusaders' rampage against those labeled pagans, heathens or infidels or blamed as the source for inciting terrorism.

It would be a challenge to identify how - and if - reading the Bible was a determinant factor in the reasoning, as it were, for Howard Barton Unruh's well-planned killing spree on September 6 1949.

Unruh killed five men, five women as well as three young children in New Jersey's Camden area.

An honourably discharged World War II combat veteran and pharmacy student, he had kept a journal of his intended victims for up to a year before the shootings. Those he killed were either intentionally targeted, or were merely unlucky enough to have been in his way.

An expert marksman, Unruh executed his massacre plot in the blue-collar neighbourhood with calm precision. Those he gunned down included a cobbler, a barber, some neighbours who had complained about him playing loud music, and a three-year-old boy peeking out of a window.

A tailor on Unruh's death-list had left his shop on an errand, so he shot the man's bride of six weeks instead, ignoring her pleas for her life.

Unruh - who had been sharing an apartment with his mother at the time of the massacre - told police he was convinced his neighbours were plotting against him. ...

He was described as a recluse who liked to read the Bible and had a passion for guns.

Once more, inspired by Steyn's pithy observation: "Must be convenient to have a [biblical] code that obliges all your pathologies."

Lila Rose: I have a fantasy.

Last month the odious Lie-Là Rose shared her fantasy and described how women would be treated if they required an abortion: a live medical intervention in a public place for the purpose of naming, shaming and blaming by rightwing fundamentalist gynophobes.

How very 12th century. This form of persecution could only happen in the dystopic fiction of The Handmaid's Tale, right? Except the state of Oklahoma is moving in that direction. Now, in the 21st century.

On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Implementing the measure will “cost $281,285 the first year and $256,285 each subsequent year.”

Here are the first eight questions that women will have to reveal:
1.Date of abortion 2.County in which abortion performed 3.Age of mother 4.Marital status of mother(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married) 5.Race of mother 6.Years of education of mother(specify highest year completed) 7.State or foreign country of residence of mother 8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother: Live/Births/Miscarriages/Induced Abortions

Although the questionnaire does not ask for name, address, or “any information specifically identifying the patient,” as Feminists for Choice points out, these eight questions could easily be used to identify a woman in a small community. “They’re really just trying to frighten women out of having abortions,” Keri Parks, director of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, said.

Jasper, a frequent commenter here, and at unrepentant old hippie, idolizes Lie-Là Rose and thinks her fantasy is a good idea.

Jasper was challenged about the inherent gynophobia of this fantasy, when I asked him why not give men who impregnated those women a public vasectomy in front of cheering crowds? Wouldn't that encourage them to stop breeding irresponsibly? Perhaps it would be become a well-attended reality and sports event. Women would certainly attend in hordes, I think.

Jasper got very huffy and opined that: "the women allowed the man to impregnate her (the women gets the final say in sex, not the man)."

And that neatly summarizes how religious rightwing zealots fundamentally view women.

To Blob Blogging Wingnut: 3 Words.

Ladies Against Women.

We Truly Tasteful Ladies Do Hereby Demand:

Repeal the Ladies' vote. It is suffering and not suffrage that keeps us up on our pedestals. And if God hadn't wanted us up on pedestals, He wouldn't have make us shorter than our husbands.

Abolish the environment. It takes up too much space, and is almost impossible to keep clean.

Free Ladies from wage slavery. The 60-odd cents we earn for every manly dollar is entirely too much. It is unladylike to accept money for work.

Maintain illiteracy as a high school graduation requirement. An uninformed populace is an obedient populace, and a self-censoring one, too. After all, ignorance is a virtue: what you can't read, can't hurt you.

At Canadian Cynic: Ah, the irony. our favourite anti-feminist hater is held up for consideration, a prime example of the "impeccably civil" blogger who lets commenters like the odious gynophobe 'Ken' and anti-abortion terrorist enabler 'Jill/bayouchild' do HER dirty work.

From a recent SUZY ALL-CAPS jeremiad:

I make no secret of my hatred of feminism. I am sick and tired of the feminist claim that they represent women; the implicit message that they speak for all women and know what's best for them. I'd like to start a movement called "free women". Free women oppose feminism, because as far as the West is concerned, women are free. The point of this movement would be to call feminists on their claims that uphold "the truth" about women. Feminists like to conflate their movement with women, and their ideology with what women want or need.

And Blob Blogging Wingnut and HER fundamentalist religious zygote zealot cohort aren't claiming to speak for The Fetus©™ in every woman's womb? Do tell us more about that conflation you so despise.

Prayers.

This photograph from the Omaha World-Herald coverage of the protest outside the Carhart Clinic made me think of Blob Blogging Wingnut's claim about the power of HER prayers.

The Fetus©™ fetishists pray for clinics to close and for staff members to die.

If I were someone who prayed for bad things to happen to people, the way zygote zealots do, I might pray for those pieces of duct tape to remain permanently stuck to the faces of foetishists shown above.

But then, that would make me a religious zealot and I'm not that.

I prefer to focus my prayers on the continuing good health and well-being of family members and friends, not wield that power like a weapon.

FANS. Sarah has fans. Lots of fans.

eh. Someone on Twitter with the screen name 2012Palin has linked to one of our posts at DJ!

So I checked out what other .... erm, useful links to all things Sa-wah led to on the Web.

Oh dear. It seems that some opportunist got the scoop on a Palin mini-biography. Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down. Oh - a gushing, fawning review. (Have you noticed that diehard fans still think Palin is hotshit?)

I read this book while my 2 year napped in about 3 1/2 hours. I was blown away at Sarah Palins politcal sucess. For the first time in my life I am proud to really support this woman's candidancy. This book is simple and easy to read through. It is NOT all fluff, it is factual and to the point. I wanted to have an open mind about Sarah Palin's experience and was not afraid to be somewhat critical of her. She DID SHAKE THINGS UP IN ALASKA. Living in the Left Coast (CA). The way things are in Alaska makes me want to pack my bags right now and raise a family in Wasilla. Sarah Palin is an amazing true Feminist, she is what TRUE WOMAN IS ALL ABOUT AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT SHE DOES IN WASHINGTON. GO SARAH!

Lots of capitalized words there. Must be an affliction associated with rightwing religious disorder zealotry.


And. Also. What the hell is that woman giving her toddler in his juice? A three and a half-hour nap?

Did Republican President Ronald Reagan have to mind The Fetus©™ when he died?

This post at Canadian Cynic made us think about that juxtaposition thing.

"Raphael Alexander" commented here at Unrepentant Old Hippie, in a thread about Senator Edward Kennedy's death:

There’s going to be a kind of awkward conversation when Teddy runs into Mary Jo Kopechne up there… would make a good Family Guy skit.*

So, we have a question for The Fetus©™ fetishists and other rightwing fundamentalist christian zealots, like this dim bulb who commented at Sarah Palin's Facebook page:

"good riddens If he makes it into Heaven (& I doubt he will with his stance on abortion) I hope that God makes him babysit all the aborted children for eternity. God have mercy on his soul."

In response to this vapidity, someone responded: "...What kind of person thinks that babysitting is a form of punishment? Do they dole out punishment in heaven?"

So, did Republican President Ronald Reagan have to mind The Fetus©™ when he died? After all, when he was governor of California, he signed in 1967 the Therapeutic Abortion Act, which was enacted to counter the thousands of illicit and often fatal 'back-room abortions' performed in the state every year.

SoCons and RepubliCons: fuelled by hate, smart as a bag of hammers and afflicted by religious zealotry disorder.

*R.A. was thoroughly spanked for his inane comment by the way. Again.

Prayer assaults: Attack of the self-righteous!

Why do fundamentalist christians pray for bad things to happen to those who don't share their religious beliefs? And when events such as tornados or plane crashes occur, these zealots will proclaim that it's a sign from God.

In Canada, claims were made that the potential closing of abortion clinics in Montréal was an answer to prayer assaults but it turned to be a false alarm - or perhaps a false prophet, it's challenging to keep track of all the christian rightwingnuttery at times.

As JJ blogged here, in the USA, "all manner of nutjobs can and do run for office on whacky platforms". And once voted into office by the gawd-fearing, they do what they threatened to do; become a festering sore in the side of a public or governmental institution impeded in its work by the sordid scandals or Rovian tactics of aforementioned elected officials.

Such an event, replete with the MASSIVE theatrics demanded by the rightwingnutters was held last week in Minnesota.

On Wednesday Rep. Michele Bachmann was part of a star-studded “teletownhall” meeting to discuss health-care reform. The event, billed “Keeping Faith with the Unborn,” was sponsored by the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group. The organization’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, claimed that there were some 350,000 listeners on the line. Bachmann was joined by North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, most famous for calling Matthew Shepard’s murder a “hoax” and former Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave

... Bachmann repeated the myth, adopted early by Sarah Palin, that the health-care plans being debated in Congress would set up “death panels” to determine which old folks are entitled to health care. “Thank God that Sarah Palin said that,” she told the callers. “These are true.” In response to a caller from Minnesota who wanted to know if there was a plan afoot in Washington to require all medical doctors to perform abortions, Bachmann didn’t exactly shoot the suggestion down.

“Unless we explicitly restrict these items, I think we can fully expect that these radical pro-abortion individuals could very likely make those decisions,” she told the caller. “All of us who have labored tirelessly in the pro-life cause for years and years and years, we know what these people are capable of.”

But it was Bachmann’s fervent call to utilize prayer and fasting to beat back health-care reform efforts that was the true highlight of the call. “That’s really where this battle will be won — on our knees in prayer and fasting,” she told the
listeners.

Meanwhile, over in Minneapolis, some nutjob claimed that God sent a tornado to disrupt the Evangelical Lutheran Church convention because ungawdly things were happening. Some non-fundamentalist, non-zealot religious folks held a different view.

...at least one pastor disagrees with the idea that God sent the tornado. Marty Duren, a Southern Baptist pastor in Georgia, took issue with Piper’s conclusion.

"I have no trouble at all ascribing responsibility for the storm to God (even insurance companies did so for decades, though some now opt to term them "natural disasters"). I’m simply demonstrating the danger and seriousness with which those who claim in some capacity to speak for God, better be sure when assigning motives to Him. These types of attributions (including the wild claims of Pat Robertson over the years) open the doors for skeptics to point out the rightful contradictions in the way that we interpret events (”If a tornado bloweth upon the Lutherans, it is God; but, if a tree falleth on our house, it is an attack of Satan”). This inconsistency is a greater tool of the Evil One than any believer would care to admit.

Despite the weather, the social statement relaxing church teaching on homosexuality passed by exactly one vote. Two days later, under a sunny sky, the ELCA approved a measure to allow gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships to serve the church.

As JJ warns: Incoming!!! We know what these people are capable of - indeed.

O-o-o-Oklahoma: Where law and reason came sweepin' down the plain.

And The Fetus©™ fetishists were smacked down again.

From the NYT, by way of Broadsides 'State-utory Rape':

On Tuesday, Judge Vicki L. Robertson of the Oklahoma County District Court ruled the omnibus abortion bill - which lawmakers passed over the veto of Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, in 2008 - violated a clause in the State Constitution requiring that bills deal with only one subject. Judge Robertson did not rule on whether the law, which rolled together five separate anti-abortion measures, violated constitutional protections of privacy and freedom of speech. ...

In recent years, several states have passed laws requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion and at least three - Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi - require doctors to offer the woman the chance to see the image. But Oklahoma’s Legislature went further. ...

In early stages of pregnancy, when the fetus is tiny, the law would have required the ultrasound to be done vaginally to get a clear image, providers said. No exceptions were made for rape and incest victims.

Imagine that. Abortion criminalizers were seeking to pass a law that would force every girl or woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy to submit to these invasive procedures. All in a zygote zealot day's work.

Oklahoma's is the not the only state legislature in the US beset with obstructive, fundamentalist religious, right-wing conservatives busy-bodies. The Centre for Reproductive Rights called this tactic "Most Extreme Ultrasound Law" in the US. But this war is being waged in other jurisdictions as well.

In Canada, The Fetus©™ fetishists do not currently own the ears of Stevie and his Harpocrites. But that doesn't mean they're not planning their next lunatic overstatement or MASSIVE tactic.