Speaking of Death...

Hey, Tony! Where were you 20 years ago?

Tony Perkins, as head of Focus on the Family's lobbying spin-off, Family Research Council, has today announced how "successful" its bids have been for more funding for AIDS prevention and awarness ($50 billion worldwide over a number of years) and keeping "abstinence only", faith-based bigoted programs while nixing family planning:


"Unlike previous versions, this House bill doesn't fund "family planning" services, ("Screw you Planned Parenthood!") although theres no explicit ban preventing it. After FRC went to bat for a continued emphasis on the abstinence and fidelity components, the end result is that both House and Senate bills (which is currently awaiting floor action) require a "balanced" approach to prevention.("Balanced? Sure, but that's only the beginning folks") While no fixed percentage is included, the abstinence strategy will retain its prominent place in "behavior change" programs. The conscience protection provision was also noticeably improved. Not only are faith-based groups exempt from performing activities with which they disagree, but the House and Senate bills also state that the government cannot discriminate against religious organizations as they seek funding. ("Tough shit, filthy homosexuals)...Until the final version passes in the Senate, FRC will continue its work with Congress and the administration to make those changes and to oppose any abortion provisions that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) may try to sneak in." (Boxer is the spawn of Satan)

Squeaky-clean Boy never ceases to amaze people with non-sensical titles (presumably meant to be satirical), poor grammar and convoluted ideas of righteousness.

20 years ago? That was when Tony had just gotten out of JerryFalwell's Liberty University and worked for the Baton Rouge Police Force (but way before he was accused of giving David Duke $82000 for the KKK's mailing list to aid a political campaign he was working on). During that time frame Tony must have heard about the AIDS epidemic but decided to ignore it. Like many other "people of faith" he had an opportunity for a shining hour and blew it. Now he's attempting to look the part of the compassionate soldier of Christ.

Way to go Tony!

The entrance to Family Research Counil's Washington Headquarters trumpets "Faith - Family - Freedom" oddly flanked by two surveillance cameras.

You Pick: Which Death is The Most Significant?

Rate them 1 through 4

April is usually depicted as a time of life's renewal, but the date of April 4th is partiularly noticeable for deaths:

The assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

by James Earl Ray

The stabbing of mobster Johnny Stampanato

by Lana Turner's daughter, Cheryl Crane

The deaths of 20,000 people in India during a massive earthquake (1905)

The death of Casey Sheehan in Iraq, causing his mother,

Cindy Sheehan, to tackle President Bush and press for answers.

And they're all so very very different: at least you can't combine them in any given category.

How would you rank them?


Most Americans might go with 1. MLK, 2. Sheehan, 3. India, 4. Stampanato. But...

People in India might put the earthquake as #1
Cheryl Crane would remember her incident as #1
Protesters to the War in Iraq might even go with Sheehan as #1


Of course, it might be easier to say that all of these fatal episodes are relative and that they can't be ranked at all. But then, you'd be labled as a "relativist" which, to many people of "faith," is a terrible thing to be.

The Most Unselfish Act in History?

...Sure Wasn't Blood For Oil

"It is logical," said Marshall, "that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health to the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is not directed against any country, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Any government that is willing to assist in recovery will find full co-operation on the part of the U.S.A."

Secretary of State George Marshall to the graduating class of

Harvard University June 5, 1947.

Can anyone in the current administration say the words "exit strategy?" The Marshall Plan was not perfect nor was it really that unselfish (nor even a planned "exit strategy" in today's sense), but it exhibited a knowledge of the people with whom we fought and against whom we fought. It didn't stroke people on foreign soil with "Hi! we saved your asses, now demonstrate to us how grateful you are by instituting something called democracy. After all, you'll want to be just like us!" And while it did require that the benefiting countries trade with us, it certainly didn't force countries to change their form of government.

(From Wikipedia)

The official mission statement of the Marshall Plan was boost to the European economy: to promote European production, to bolster European currency, and to facilitate international trade, especially with the United States, whose economic interest required Europe to become wealthy enough to import U.S. goods. Another unofficial goal of ECA (and of the Marshall Plan) was the containment of growing Soviet influence in Europe, evident especially in the growing strength of communist parties in Czechoslovakia, France, and Italy.

Possibly the most astute statement made about the American entry into Iraq:

The American invasion of Iraq was, above all else, a revolution in the lives of Iraqis. Their institutions, their everyday routines, their futures, their sense of order were all turned upside down. This revolution, which is still ongoing and will play out for years to come, was the opening of a prison. When they staggered out into the light, most Iraqis didn't know where they were, what they wanted, even who they were, and the Americans who had so quickly and casually broken down the gate were standing around as if they had never even considered what to do next. The Americans were nominally in charge—the Iraqis expected them to be, and after the first few weeks of paralysis, the Americans flung themselves into a flurry of activities befitting an occupying power—but it was all illusion. No one was in charge.

-George Packer: Over Here: Iraq the Place vs. Iraq the Abstraction

Alas... all too true:

The picture at the right may not at first seem to have much in common with this post, but the sign about "The Rapture" indicates just how much Americans believe religious ideolgies are involved in the war. They don't see those ideologies as "peacemaking" either. An Onward-Christian-Soldiers thought: will Christian soldiers be the only ones to stay in Iraq for the next 50 years?

Banning the Bible and The Little Mermaid

The "The Ugly Duckling" Could Be Next!

Today is International Children's Book Day. It's a day that librarians and teachers embrace, but school boards detest. Why? It just means extra work and unwanted publicity - banning children's books is a nasty affair. If the school board is too hideabound and slow (like Tennessee's state government- see side bar), it winds up looking ridiculous. Books by Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss, Jack London, Judy Blume, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein and (of course) JK Rowling have been detested (and contested) by minds that have obviously never enountered the joy of childhood reading.

Then there's guilt by association - actually, guilt by authorship. Oscar Wilde wrote fairy tales, so naturally his books could never be seen in a children's library. And Hans Christian Andersen was a homosexual whose life mirrored "The Ugly Duckling." And since King James I of England was bisexual, those "King James Version Only" advocates look pretty suspicious.*

Book banning in any form is a crime. With children's books, however, it's partiularly pernicious.

"In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards." - Mark Twain

Reading to an ugly duckling

* There has been a "distancing" of some fundamentalists from the KJV recently - the ones who've actually studied history. They take to heart the adage the Elizabethans coined on the death of Elizabeth: "Elizabeth was king - now James will be Queen."

The Bush Legacy: A Waste Management Facility Memorial!

This Could Be

The Legacy He's Dreaming About!!

Let's face it: George Bush is desperately searching for a legacy - ANY legacy. History's greatest diplomatic dimwit is willing to put his stamp on anything so that he won't be known merely as the President who craved war. This lamest of lame ducks has safely hidden his gubernatorial records (as governor of Texas) in his father's presidential library so that nothing more could sully the Bush name.

Ever-considerate San Francisco is now willing to help the President achieve his goal. This item hit newsprint yesterday:

(From SFist, Mar. 31, 2008)

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

The local grassroots movement, helmed by "Wayne Pickering," is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the poop/pee/vomit plant's title changed. Why? To honor our current leader of the free world with an "appropriate and enduring legacy...As we near the end of George W Bush's presidency, we think it is important to select a fitting monument to this president's work. On matters ranging from foreign relations to fiscal and environmental stewardship, no other president in American history has accomplished so much in such a short time. To honor George W Bush for his eight years of public service, the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is sponsoring a ballot initiative this November in San Francisco. It reads

..."Should the City and County of San Francisco rename the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility the George W. Bush Sewage Plant?"


More high-caliber volunteers are being called upon to help promote this ballot initiative (after all, six people - so far - cannot accomplish this lofty task by themselves). To sign up for this worthy cause just click here.


This is one Bush project I heartily support.

The God Who Loves to Hate

A Goddess of Compassion or...

a God of Extreme Vengeance - Your Pick

The Tsunami - Wrath of God

Katrina - The Opposite of Mercy ?

Yes, I'm taking advantage of the Chinese celebration of the birthday of Quan Yen, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion. Too many people today seem to savor hatred - in themselves and in God: John McCain's now happy to curry favor with people he once called "agents of intolerance." Preachers like - alright I won't name them, I'm not that much into redundancy, so just look at my last 100 posts - love the "bully pulpit". "I knew my God was stronger than his"* has captured half the country. The Christ of Love is out, the Christ of War and Pitiless Retribution is IN. Oh, Joel Osteen will tell you differently: God really WANTS you to have that new SUV (or that pain-free appendix), but that's a God of greed and self-preservation and no one's yet been able to capture that God in all His glow-in-the-dark magnificance for the dashboard of your car. The Rapture and Armageddon are gleefully anticipated by millions of self-righteous sadists.

Isn't it (just a bit) against human survival to fear and adore a God who hates you so much? I was going to present you with an interview of Shirley Phelps-Roper of "God Hates America" fame, but I ran into this clip. It's more than a typical "God Hates Fags" balladeer because this guy so keenly enjoys singing it! He's enRaptured (sorry) about it and I' sure that he pleasures himself with visions of people writhing in the flames of hell.



On the other side of the coin, stories of the Chinese Goddess Quan Yen bear a remarkable likeness to attributes ascribed to Jesus: "She began her journey to heaven and was about to cross over into heaven when she heard a cry of suffering from the world below. She turned around and saw the massive suffering endured by the people of the world. Filled with compassion, she returned to earth, vowing never to leave till such time as all suffering has ended."

So you might say that when faced with a canundrum involving compassion, we might ask ourselves WWQYD - What Would Quan Yin Do?

Again, your pick: God or Goddess?

Bush, Hagee, Osteen, Copeland, Delay - Is It the Water in Texas?

And They Think California Is Wierd!

The state of Texas has tried to pass amendents to its constitution 342 times without success.

It was the last Confederate state to be readmitted into the Union after the Civil War (it never did conform to all the requirements).

It has given us President George W. Bush, Rep. Tom Delay, Pastors James Hagee, Joel Osteen and Ken Copeland. And let's not forget Karl Rove.

Now its 7300 Democratic delegates are battling it out on a decision between Sen Barak Obama and Sen Hillary Clinton.

(From UPI)

Early results tallied by The Associated Press showed that Obama had 839 delegates selected to go on to the state convention, compared with Clinton's 833 delegates. That's out of about 7,300 delegates expected to be selected at senate district meetings across the state. Because of the huge Democratic turnout in Texas' primary and caucuses on March 4, just registering delegates took hours at some conventions. ... Hundreds of increasingly irritable and bored delegates at the Senate District 23 convention in Dallas stood in lines snaking around four hallways as they waited to receive a delegate credential. Police kept people from jumping out of turn. Several called the process "chaos." "People are so confused," said Michelle Powell, 18, five hours after she arrived at the convention. "Nothing is organized." Jacqueline Bell, a precinct chair, said, "The democratic process is messy."

In the Old Days, fights would actually break out between delegates. And don't forget: practically everyone in Texas owns a gun! Will there be bloodshed? Hell, it's all in a good cause (I guess)

Nobody's civil anymore. Will Obama and McCain duke it out like these two Czech officials? No need to have a translation for what's happening here!

And Now a Tribute to a WONDERFUL Lady

Six years ago a truly unique lady passed out of our realm. She was born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Glamis Castle in Scotland (featured in Shakespeare's Macbeth) a daughter of the Earl of Statford. We are referring, of course, to Her Majesty Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. But she'll always be known as "Queen Mum." She loved her family and her people and showed her love in extraordinary ways: during WWII when part of Buckingham Palace was hit by a bomb, her only reply: "Well now we can look the East End in the face." She never gave up her hope for the best under any circumstanes. She was a very great lady.