Bad News for Christofascists!!

"We Are The TRUE Religion" Doesn't Hack It Anymore With Americans

This just in:

(CBS/ AP) America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life - even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise. The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths. Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.


The "divine" message of religious intolerance is just not reaching the public as much as some of Christianity's leaders would like it to: Rod Parsley, John Hagee, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson evidently aren't working hard enough to drive home hatred of "non-believers." What is this world coming to? We need people to man the gas ovens for "heathens" not pansy scribes to write love letters to infidels!

Christofascists know that everyone has capacity for hatred somewhere in their heart. This Pew study will only tell them that they have to work harder in reaching that hatred.

Sad but true.

Tuesday of Gay Pride Week

Well, it's Day 2 for an event-filled week, and readers should note that here in California, the anti-same-sex marriage protests are pounding out screeds of endearment (not) and carrying misspelled placards extolling Leviticus, Romans, and Ann Coulter. These are people who believe in not the institution of marriage, but the asylum of marriage. And, worse yet, they believe the one-man-one-woman-in-love institution lasted for at least 3000 years! Yet the idea of marrying for love and for raising a family is a hell of a lot younger than 3000 years. It isn't even 300 years old. Not 150 years.

"King Solomon loved, in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh, many foreign women, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had warned the Israelites. "You must not cohabit with them, nor they with you, for they will certainly turn your hearts to their gods". Solomon held fast to them in love. He had 700 official wives and 300 concubines...." (1 Kings 11:1-3).

And how about the Middle Ages? Women were almost always treated as bartered goods. Marriage wasn't much of a sacred institution to them!

Spanish chastity belt

Moonlight and Magnolias? In the antebellum South: before marriage, Southern women had to pretend to be empty-headed waifs - after marriage, they were expected to run a plantation of 100 slaves or more while the menfolk went hunting.

Marriage - Sacred - Time-honored - Institution.

Some people spit into the wind of history.

They really haven't been together all that long.

OMG! Bruce Vallanche Is NOT A Values Voters Summit Guest!

And Neither Are These People:



Top Row: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, George Takei (Star Trek), Harvey Fierstein, Rep. Barney Frank.
Second Row: Brokeback Mountain Cowboys, Mary Cheney, Al Franken, aaah, someone famous in the 70s

So who IS confirmed to attend Tony Perkins' little homophobe/anti-everything party?

" In order to drum up sales, the group is running a promo page of pics featuring 24 named speakers. Only problem? Only 10 of these names -- ones that mostly make up the lesser-known, more conservative contingent -- have actually confirmed that they'll be in attendance:

1. Gary Bauer

Supporter of the death penalty. Opposes cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Supports a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Prefers abstinence programs to comprehensive sex education programs. Wants to remove from the tax code all economic disincentives to marry.

2. Dr. William Bennet (Former Secretary of Education under Reagan)

Detests today's schools and education system. Wants to "open the teaching profession to knowledgeable individuals who have not graduated from 'schools of education'". Hates multicultural courses.

3. Chuck Colson (One of the Watergate Seven who now heads up a prison ministry). Born again. Received the Templeton Prize for advancing the cause of religion.

4. Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House of Representatives) Likes divorcing wives while they are in the hospital.

5. David Horowitz - Likes going from extreme left (political aide to Bertrand Russell) to extreme right (author of Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left.)

6. Star Parker - Recipient of four abortions and welfare.Born again. Opposes the welfare system. Claims stable families can cure poverty. Last year's Values Voters Summit guest.

7. Phyllis Schlafly - Likes to give out disinformation about sex education. Opposes federally funded day care. Like to think of sex education classes as "in-home sales parties for abortions." Thinks sex should happen only between one man and a woman who is his wife.

8. Alan Sears (President and CEO of Alliance Defense Fund) Likes being the toady of Pat Robertson. Opposes Roe v. Wade except what it brings in legal fees.. Campaigns for freedom of religion. (Of course, only Christianity)

9. Michael Steele. Opposes to abortion including in cases of rape and incest. Supports free trade, tax cuts, school vouchers, welfare reform and tort reform. Opposes gay adoption and supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

10. Tony Perkins - president of FRC and host of the event (but nonetheless thinks of himself as important enough to include himself on the roster of notables)

Now look at the list of advertised invitees and ask yourself, "WHY HAVEN'T THESE OTHER PEOPLE CONFIRMED SUCH AN IMPORTANT EVENT?" Have they scheduled that date to , uh, wash their hair?

To Someone Who Wouldn't Be Caught Dead Attending The Values Voters Summit

George Carlin, 1937-2008
Originally uploaded by SimuFlite

Dear George:

Thanks for all your irreverence. It not only made me laugh, but it made me think. That's what you did so well: you made us think.

Have a wonderful time in heaven. I'm sure you'll make God think too.

Gay: Proud Profane Pejorative Populous

This Monday marks the beginning of Pride Week in San Francisco. People from all over the world will descend upon the City to see movies, attend cultural events, see exhibits (and exhibit themselves as well) and march/ogle at the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. Up to one million people will be milling around the City. That doesn't mean, however, that there are only one million queers in the country.

I stand by the old Kinsey guestimate at 10%. "Nonsense, that figure has been disputed countless times" say the Christofascists, Fundamentalists, Rightwing Evangelicals - and Fred Phelps. It's not that I have an agenda or anything, it's just that I think human nature has a lot more to do with a 10% outlook. Of course, that would make 30 million Americans gay, or at least bi-sexual... or "curious" (I hate that term - it sounds like research). And I'm proud enough to say 30 million wouldn't be a bad figure at all.

In the past, Americans have prided themselves on their diversity. In today's climate, however, where diversity can sometimes be frowned upon as somehow UN-American ("Diversity = Perversity), Americans have found themselves divided by a "culture war".

And it is truly a war. And waving an American flag won't tag you as someone on the right side.

Score: McClellan 14, Bush Administration 935! VICTORY!!

But Victory Never Tasted So Bitter!

There was a study made by Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism. According to the study, Bush and seven top officials -- including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice -- made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources -- mainly quotes from major media organizations.

The study says Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein's possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq's links to al Qaeda.

Here are the exact 14 statements made by McClellan:

• November 12, 2002: And—but I would also reiterate what I said earlier, that we do not need any more proof that Saddam Hussein possesses and is willing to use chemical and biological weapons.
• November 13, 2002: We have made that clear, that Iraq does possess chemical and biological weapons. And what we are doing is to—what we are working to do right now with the international community, speaking with one voice, is to disarm Saddam Hussein of those weapons of mass destruction. We know that he possesses chemical and biological weapons. And we know that he seeks to acquire nuclear weapons.
• November 14, 2002: And it spells clearly out in the resolution what the regime in Iraq needs to do to disarm.
• February 10, 2003: And this is a—if Saddam Hussein is not making a drastic change in course in showing that he is going to disarm. . .
• February 10, 2003: There is a short period of time left for Saddam Hussein to disarm before the United Nations Security Council must come together and show its relevance by enforcing 1441.
• April 16, 2003: One of the reasons—one of the primary reasons that we had to take action in Iraq was because of that danger that is posed by a regime like Saddam Hussein's that possesses weapons of mass destruction and has supported terrorists in the past. And now we've gone after terrorist camps in Iraq, we arrested this—captured this terrorist yesterday. And that is a reminder of the danger that can be posed when you marry a regime with weapons of mass destruction with terrorists.
• July 16, 2003: Well, the case against Saddam Hussein and his regime was solid and compelling. There was never any discussion about whether or not Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or weapons of mass destruction program until recently. That's only recently come into play. The debate was about how to confront these weapons of mass destruction. It was about how to confront a regime that was willing to use these weapons of mass destruction.
• July 16, 2003: I differ. I think we're beginning to learn the truth and we've seen some of the evidence of Saddam Hussein's desire to seek nuclear weapons, going back quite a while. We've seen some of the evidence of his weapons of mass destruction program through two mobile biological weapon labs that have been discovered.
• July 16, 2003: Absolutely not. The president has been very straightforward about this from the beginning. He laid out a very compelling case, a very clear case. It was based on solid evidence and it was based on a number of factors. It was based on Saddam Hussein's past history of not only having chemical and biological weapons, but being willing to use those chemical and biological weapons. It was based on UNSCOM's [United Nations Special Commission] report from 1999, it's [sic] final report to the United Nations Security Council, saying he has large stockpiles of unaccounted for biological and chemical weapons. It was based on his support for terrorists and his support for—and his harboring of terrorists. So there are a number of compelling parts of this evidence that led to us confronting this threat. And the last thing the president wanted to do was go to war. But Saddam Hussein, for 12 years, was defying the international community, he was defying the United Nations and 17 resolutions. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, that final resolution made it very clear, this is a final opportunity to comply, final opportunity to disarm.
• July 17, 2003: We're talking about one piece of information about Iraq reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. There were a number of other factors that justified that statement, and we stand by it. And that overall reconstitution of its nuclear weapons program was one part of a much larger body of evidence of the threat that we needed to confront, and that was posed by Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein talked openly about his nuclear Mujahideen, the nuclear holy warriors, his scientists that he kept in close contact with about reconstituting his nuclear weapons program.
• July 18, 2003: I think that when you look at the information that was released, it shows further how clear and compelling this case was regarding the threat that we faced in Iraq, and that we ended in Iraq. Saddam Hussein is gone and his regime is no longer a threat of using these weapons of mass destruction.
• July 22, 2003: He was an individual that possessed chemical and biological weapons, and sought to reconstitute his nuclear weapons program. He was an individual that had used chemical weapons on his own people in the past. So Iraq was a very unique situation, and it was a part—it was part of our broader effort to win the war on terrorism.
• July 23, 2003: I think we made it very clear that we are confident that we will uncover the full extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program.
• July 25, 2003: We're confident that we will uncover the full extent of the weapons of mass destruction programs.

Now let's look at everyone else's score:



Colin Powell: 254
Donald Rumsfeld: 109
Dick Cheney: 18
Condoleeza Rice: 56
George Bush: 232

Way to go Colin! Way to go George!
Sorry, Scott - Your score puts you in dead last!
(politically speaking, of course)

"Packaging" The Truth - Machiavelli, Anyone?

How Bush and Cheney Lied...and Lied... and Lied

... A prudent lord, therefore, cannot observe faith, nor should he, when such observance turns against him, and the causes that made him promise have been eliminated.... Nor does a prince ever lack legitimate causes to color his failure to observe faith.... But it is necessary to know well how to ... be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple and so obedient to present necessities that he who deceives will always find someone who will let himself be deceived.

Nicollo Machiavelli - The Prince

Bush and Cheney lied. So? Everyone knew that. Everyone's been trying to prove that. Countless discrepancies, numerous secret memos (and meetings) numerous scandals, no WMDs, no "yellowcake" cronyism run wild, yet not any one of these has made Congress and the public admit what has been happening for almost eight years.


So along comes Scott McClellan and a book titled "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception."

From AP:

From life-and-death matters on down — the rationale for war, the leaking of classified information, Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend — the government's top two leaders undermined their credibility by "packaging" their version of the truth, former press secretary Scott McClellan said.

Now the Bush administration is just a little bit edgy. The situation even got 85-year-old Bob Dole out of semi-retirement/senility to crank out an ornery email to McClellan:

“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues,” Dole wrote in a message sent yesterday morning. “No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.”

Notice that he didn't say that what McClellan said wasn't true. In fact, from all of the criticisms of the book and of McClellan, no one has come forth to say that McClellan himself is lying.

No one.

"It didn't bother me whether or not he (Bush) had used cocaine previously or not _ that wasn't the issue _ 30, 40 years ago. The issue was how he approached it and how that transferred over into other issues. And I think it tells something about his character." _ McClellan, elaborating on a claim he made in his book that he had overheard Bush say he does not recall whether he had ever used cocaine.

What McClellan said is certainly consistent with Bush's character, if not his lack of intelligence: what moron doesn't know if he ever used cocaine or not? Were those times so blurred by substance abuse that he just blanked them out? EVERYONE knows the first time they smoked pot, snorted cocaine or, for that matter, mainlined heroine. EVERYONE. To insult someone by giving such a asinine answer means only one thing: Bush doesn't even care what people think. He actually believes that the American public will swallow whatever he says!

Bush really is beyond political redemption. He should be held accountable in a world court just to acquaint himself with reality!

Words to ponder from Wikipedia:

The Prince should be read strictly as a guidebook on getting to and preserving power. In contrast with Plato and Aristotle, the ideal society is not the aim. In fact, Machiavelli emphasizes the need for the exercise of brute power where necessary and rewards, patron-clientelism etc. to preserve the status quo.

Karl Rove placed The Prince above the Bible in his office. Bush, Cheney and the administration followed Machiavelli's rules.

Scott McClellan shows how they followed them and when they followed them. They lied to achieve power. They lied to preserve power. They rewarded. They chastised.

"I stand by everything in this book. I was a spokesman for the president, not for myself." _ McClellan.