Is This the Portrait of the Most Effective Serial Killer in History?

elizabeth-bathory-tm
Originally uploaded by yehandhow

Countess Elizabeth Bathory had a terrible effect on young women: they always seemed to wind up being tortured and/or dying. She was charged with 80 murders, but legend had the number slightly higher: 650. So very many women went missing in areas of Slovakia, Hungary and Austria that it was rumored that she bathed in blood to keep her youth and beauty. After she was charged (there was no formal trial) she was imprisoned in her bedroom - actually walled up in it with only a small door to pass food. She died mysteriously four years later (there were days of untouched food in the room).

Her legacy was to become a kind of "Countess Dracula" because of the bathing legend. Below is the ironically named "Iron Maiden" - one of Elizabeth's (supposedly) favorite toys.

Fallout From Rick Warren's Faith Forum?

And What About Other Uber Christians?
Then Again, With Friends Like Ralph Reed,
Who Needs Enemies?

Last week, news broke that Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition director and crony of Jack Abramoff, would be helping to raise money for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) fundraiser in Atlanta. Reed “touted himself as a member of McCain’s ‘Victory 2008 Team’ in an e-mail that solicited donations on McCain’s behalf,” and public watchdog organizations called on McCain to denounce Reed. The Wall Street Journal now reports that Reed was a no-show at tonight’s Atlanta fundraiser.

This now makes THREE prominant conservatives John McCain has had to distance himself from. Whose idea was it to invite Reed anyway? But is McCain distancing himself from Reed, or is Reed distancing himself from McCain? Maybe Reed is being paid NOT to have a relationship with John McCain. Hey, that would be pretty nifty - being paid NOT to endorse a candidate! Sort of like farmers who are paid NOT to grow things.

Who the hell would have requested the presence of Ralph Reed anyway? It shows that the McCain camp is slipping when it comes to endorsements and support. Reed's curriculum vitae is terrible:

• His religious experience was at a Washington bar when the Holy Ghost himself "demanded me to come to Jesus."
  
• His college activist group was supported by Jesse Helms
• He headed his own political consultant firm and had clients like Enron, Microsoft, eLottery and The People's Republic of China.
• He helmed The Christian Coalition and left underneath a shadow of scandal and investigating by the IRS and the Federal Election Commission.
• Then he got together with Jack Abramov.

The person who invited him to the Atlanta fundraiser obviously doesn't have a brain.

There will be other fallouts from the Faith Forum and John McCain's answers: evangelical leaders, for example.

“I don’t think it’s right for pastors to endorse [a political candidate] in the first place,” Warren said on a recent CNN interview when asked if he thinks McCain was right to disavow controversial pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

From Michelle Malkin (before the Forum):

Both candidates will uh and um and blather their way incoherently with vague platitudes about religion throughout this two-hour event.

That's how important religion is to Malkin. I think she was denegrated for her wildly spectulative view.

From TIW by fringe blogger Bruce Tyson:

Rick Warren: pathetic false teacher meddling in politics

Rick Warren is no longer “hip.” In fact, he never really was. Instrumental in building a mega-super church for the express purpose of damning souls to Hell in the name of religion, Warren is again sticking his nose into politics, offering to legitimize evil men (Barack ObamaBarry Soetoro Barry Dunham and Juan McCain) through his imprimatur.

In fact, you might just call Rick Warren the “Lindsey Graham” of false religion.

I'll see what kind of fallout there was on the Obama side tomorrow.

From Hippocratic to Hypocritical: Court Orders Compassion from California's Doctors

Beware of the Oaths You Take
They May Require That You Do Something Against Your Faith
- Like Be Compassionate

(From AP)

California’s high court has ruled doctors cannot withhold care to gays or lesbians based on religious beliefs.

The case stems from a San Diego-area lesbian’s claim that a private fertility clinic refused to inseminate her because of her sexual orientation.

A unanimous state Supreme Court said that California’s civil rights law barring sexual orientation discrimination extends to medical care.

An Open Letter to the Mrs. Rick Warrens of America

While sifting through the whole Saddleback/Warren/McCain/Obama brouhaha, I came upon this page on Saddleback's sebsite. I was rather struck by it, but for reasons other than what the site wanted to project.

Why care about HIV/AIDS?
Why should we care about HIV/AIDS? Why not focus on cancer, tuberculosis, diabetes, or heart disease? For a very simple reason: HIV carries a stigma that other diseases don’t carry.

No one ever gets banished from her village because she’s infected with tuberculosis. No one loses his job simply because of malaria. Husbands don’t beat or divorce their wives for developing the flu, diabetes, or cancer. No relatives refuse to care for children whose parents were killed in an accident. But all of those things and more happen on a daily basis where HIV/AIDS is involved.

I then sent a letter to Elizabeth Styffe, R.N. M.N. who works for Kay Warren and who is listed as a principle contact. I've had no reply. (Was I so audacious as to think I would receive one?). But here it is, and I would like to consider it an open letter to the Kay Warrens of America who always seem to think that AIDS is far away in third world countries (or that we in America have enough AIDS agencies).


Dear Ms. Styffe:

Please excuse this intrusion on your time, but I was surfing the net researching some information about Saddleback Church and realized that it actually has an AIDS/HIV ministry.

Something bothers me a great deal and maybe you could help for sake of clarity. I am an older (61) gay man who has been fortunate enough to live with HIV for 28 years (yes, that's right). I was also privileged to live in one of the most compassionate communities in the country - San Francisco - and VERY privileged to be a part of the AIDS Emergency Fund (3 years as client intake - 1990-93 and 3 years on the working Board of Directors). During the time I did client intake, I believe I saw the worst of the worst: men, women, and children who were, for lack of attention, literally dying in the streets.

Oddly enough, there were also people who were dancing in the streets: the Falwells, Robertsons, Thurmonds and Helmses were thanking God that a wonderfully hideous disease had been showered down upon the people they loved (and lived) to hate.

It was at this time I had an epiphany of sorts: I saw tens of thousands, knew of hundreds of thousands of people who were giving their time, their money (!!) and their very lives to help PWAs. And I realized that those people were by far the truest "Christians" and a million times more human than all the Falwells, Robertsons, etc. combined.

Several years ago, in doing research for a book (still ongoing), I posed a question to many denominations and ministries: what/where was the first faith-based AIDS agency outside of San Francisco? Many answers came back: they didn't know. Period. Finally I received a comprehensive portrait of the Episcopal Archdiocese of Los Angeles - they had reached back into their records and told me that, to their knowledge, they were the first - in 1986.

By 1986, 65,000 people had died.

I've researched, in particular, the Southern Baptist Convention and their members. To this day, they have no AIDS agencies/ministries outside of Africa.

That begs the question: WHY?

Look at it this way: what could have been Christianity's finest hour was passed by. "But we all thought it was communicable!" So? Did Father Damian live on Molakai for his health? Besides, scientists proved fairly early on that toilet seats were not dangerous. More dangerous were the people who believed they were.
And the people who taught them to believe that way were even more...

So now I see that Kay Warren has an intense interest in AIDS in Africa. How old is she? Perhaps she was too young in the 80's and 90's to care about other people as she now does.

Again, I'm so very sorry to have taken up your kind attention and time. It's just that people do not know how it rankles me to know that people in foreign countries have garnered more "Christian charity" sooner - and with more compassion - than my neighbors.

Sincerely,


Dan Vojir
Proudly,
from San Francisco
http://thedevilanddanvojir.blogspot.com

Well, Who Won: Obama, McCain or...Warren?

Where God and political candidates meet.

For a portrait on Rick Warren and how he's affected politics without being political (rather hard to do, but after all, he IS a "man of God"), read the article by Alan Wolfe of The New Republic. What I'd like to do at this time is to comment on certain points of the article. Keep in mind that it was written BEFORE the forum. Sounds ass backwards of me, but please bear it and read on.

But since the Republicans have had something of a lock on the votes of white evangelicals, McCain's appearance at Saddleback is not big news. That Rick Warren has invited Obama, and for the second time no less, is.

Warren, I think, is priming himself for much bigger things. I don't know what or how to frame it just yet, but I have the feeling that Warren is not merely going to play this out. He intends to be around (meaning, in the public consciousness) for a long, long time.

Warren is America's anti-Falwell. If he has little interest in removing evangelicals from politics, he has taken the lead in removing them from automatic identification with Republicans.

That, however, is NOT anti-Falwell. It may be shifting voters around a little bit, but Falwell's goal was political and he wanted the same thing as Warren: TOTAL conversion of everyone on the planet. Falwell wanted desperately to de-secularize schools. He didn't just want prayer in schools, he wanted public schools to be replaced with religious/parochial schools - everywhere. Falwell knew that total conversion meant theocracy. He prayed for it. Warren must surely realize that total conversion means total control of the educational system of a country, or else there are apostates.

Regardless of which candidate benefits the most from this joint appearance, however, the biggest winner is Warren himself. A wildly successful author and church planter, Warren is leading an effort to focus the attention of Christian conservatives on questions of social justice.

I agree. Of course, Warren's the winner. But leading conservative Christians to issues of social justice is a pipe dream. Warren certainly knows that. As long as there are people in this world who need to hate someone else for their own enrichment, there will always be James Dobsons, Tony Perkins and Rod Parsleys galore. They enjoy duality and hypocrisy and they won't go away - at least without a fight. And they'll say that God's on their side. Social justice is not the reason Pat Robertson's Regent University churns out lawyers to (in effect) infiltrate the government. If they wanted social justice, it would have been doled out long ago to Americans who needed better AIDS research and faith-based agencies back in the 80's and 90's. The people of Africa need a great deal of education and compassionate commitment - not hypocrites who will demand a quid pro quo: "If you say Jesus saves, we'll give you the anti-viral drugs."

There is no doubt something of a missionary aspect to Warren's work in the region, but once California exurbanites see the devastating effects of AIDS and poverty, they are unlikely to ignore the same problems in West Central Los Angeles.

Don't bet on it. The reason that any compassion is reserved for Africa is because it is far enough and foreign enough to disassociate it with AIDS in America. In America, AIDS carries an even deeper stigma than in Africa, and the "Compassionate Conservatives" wouldn't give up that stigma for anything. To them, the stigma needs to be in front at all times. One of the (erroneous) statistics agencies like Family Research Council love to site is "the gay lifestyle condemns a man to a very short life span." Give everything you have to the poor people in Africa, but never ever condone someone's behavior by helping the gay man next door. Not a cent!

The Christian right was more right than Christian. Its poisonous influence on American politics is well-documented. But it also had negative consequences for American religion. Faith is, and ought to be, about more than your position on late-term abortions.

Yes, Alan, you are definitely on the mark about the Christian Right. But you underestimate the power of the anti-abortion movement and the anti-gay rights movement: many of these people have a commitment to their form of "faith" that borders on fanatical.

The joint appearance of McCain and Obama at Saddleback is only one event in a long political campaign. But it is also a significant antidote to the poison that the religious right injected into American politics.

Right again, Alan. And very well written. However, it's still debatable as to whether or not there is any significant antidote. The Christofascists aim to go deep into American politics - perhaps they already are too deep for politics to be cured at all.

Just a thought.

Kay Warren - where were the likes of her in the 80's and 90's when Americans needed her?

SEX! SEX! and more SEX!!

Mae West
Originally uploaded by twm1340

After Mae West's play SEX hit Broadway and gave police officers something to do, West knew she had hit on something - herself. She decided to make herself the very embodiment of SEX. And, let's admit it, for decades, every time someone mentioned her name it was attached to or prior to the subject of sex. She was almost a savant of sex - almost, because she was also a shrewd business woman. Happy Birthday, Mae. Wish you were here.

Rick Warren vs The Christofascists: A Purpose Driven Hoax?

Saddleback Church: Religion Meets Las Vegas...And Then Some!

I'm not really a conspiracy buff, I just talk like one when it comes to organized religion: I don't trust it. Religious leaders are too much like politicians. Do you trust them? Hence, it may sound a bit arrogant, but a religious leader has to EARN my trust. Titles and (mostly honorary) doctorates mean very little to me. The title of "Reverend" could have come from a box of Crackerjack for all I know. Even the title "New York Times Bestselling Author" means little to me, and I was in the book publishing business for 25 years.
(Left: St. Vitus Cathedral - Built for Awe and Inspiration)


The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, has been one of the bestselling books of all time - the sale of 20 million books confirms it. The book has been translated into dozens of different languages. Warren's "method" has been taught in thousands of churches across the country. So why don't I trust this guy?

I can honestly say I don't know. There are some things I can cite, like his biblical literacy, but that's not enough to label him a Christofascist. It may be his passion for evangelizing "the whole world":

"Jesus said, 'This Gospel shall be preached into all the world to every nation and then the end shall come.' He's not coming back until that happens...The question is will we get to be the ones who get to be in on it or not. Will we be the generation who says, "Let's make this happen!'"

Warren's PEACE Plan - to put together a network of "10 million" churches to end poverty and disease (primarily AIDS) is bold and passionate. Notice I didn't write "compassionate." I succumb to people passionate about causes or careers as easily as the next person. Warren's passion, however, goes beyond religious belief: it hints at a lust for power. I'd research his PEACE Plan a lot more and see how he envisions himself within it. Warren's theology also rests on Original Sin and man's responsibility for all the evils in the world, including natural disasters:

"The Bible teaches that since sin entered the world, way back with the first human beings, we have lived in an imperfect, broken planet, and that causes hurricanes and tornadoes."

(Right: Saddleback Church on the inside.Unfortunately.Do you feel inspired yet?)

I'm not big on Original Sin. Just because good 'ole Saint Augustine had a massive amount of guilt doesn't mean people are born sinful. Original Sin brings humanity down a notch and practically equates man with sin: born guilty until proven innocent. I don't buy that either.

Warren is also a master of "The Seeker-Sensitive Movement" - paying attention to most of the "unchurched" souls and giving them a non-traditional, laid-back form of religious expression. Hawaiian shirts and sandals are O.K., and desire of material things is O.K. too - the movement encourages the marketing of churches to attract people. Some churches give away U2 tickets and church-logo frisbees while others have free ice cream trucks and martial arts classes (Christian warriors ala Rod Parsley).

So, is The Movement really bait and switch? Is Warren merely trying to attract new souls in order to build a theocratic empire? Having Barack Obama and John McCain come together for an informal debate may look like bipartisanship (and Warren himself refuses to endorse a candidate), but is it a move toward much greater things? No matter which way you look at it, "evangelizing the entire world" will have serious casualties. People of other we-are-the-only-way religions will fight - to the death.

Just a thought.



Spirituality... with a latte! Or...

...wait til they get the skateboard park finished!