Paganism Is Surrounded by Newt Gingrich!

...And Mike Huckabee! And Dick Cheney! And Rush Limbaugh!

George Washington in a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island in 1790:

...for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support ... May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Newt Gingrich thinks our country is being attacked by "paganism" (whatever that means to him), but it just may be that our country is being attacked by the likes of Newt Gingrich and his army of hardcore Christofascists.

From Think Progress:

On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.” The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”:

GINGRICH:

I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.

Huckabee also equated America’s victory against the British in the Revolutionary War with the right-wing’s success in the Proposition 8 fight in California as being miracles “from God’s hand.”

How would Newt and his gang eradicate paganism? Remember that in its original usage, "paganism" meant everyone who wasn't Christian (the Jews being referred to under their own separate terminology: "kike"). Does the newly Catholicized Newt want to expel every Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist and Mormon (well, maybe the poor LDS's)? Does Huckabee think of himself as the new "Queen Isabella," ordering forced conversions in lieu of torture or exile?

Remember that Fox montage of self-aggrandizement ? It was pointedly anti-immigrant (legal or not). Will the Boss's "Bloviators" force immigrants out of the country? They're already having a fit about allowing gay partners of immigrants into the country.

So it looks like Gringrich intends for the "pagan wagon train" to be attacked by his group of thugs rather than the other way around.

We can only hope that the Obama Cavalry will come to rescue us in the nick of time. Until then...

Tosca And The Hotdog People: Religion Subtly Scorned

Last night, the Puccini opera, Tosca, broadcast to one of the largest audiences it ever had. In conjunction with the San Francisco Giants and the San Francisco Opera, Tosca was simulcast from the grand SF Opera House to the incredible screen and sound system of AT&T Stadium. FREE!

The Stadium Loved It - But Did They Get It?

I hope they did. From the comments on Yelp! the crowd was an opera-loving crowd. Yeah, I'm being a bit snobbish here, but I don't think these were people who had tailgate parties (note the one comment: "...I'm going to try to sneak in some 92' Château d'Yquem Sauternes underneath my cummerbund.").

As one critic put it, Tosca is

"...an impassioned piece seething with revolutionary overtones, love, lust, lechery, torture, murder, suicide and religion."

I wonder if anyone got the subtle anti-religious theme? If Tony Perkins had seen it, he would have undoubtedly picked up on it: Tosca is a woman of the theater (opera singer) who meets her lover in a church where he is painting the Magdalene for a side chapel. She becomes extremely jealous of the painting, not knowing that her lover is harboring the model's brother, a rebel who has escaped from prison. This was during a time in Italy when the Vatican was hand-in-hand with Rome against the liberating forces of Napoleon. Both lovers get caught up in a web of spies, lies and intrigue. If that's not enough, she kills the evil chief of police to save her lover, then kills herself after her lover is killed. Got that? With grand sets, incredible costumes, phenominal score, and all three principals dead at the end, the audience goes away with excitement and pathos almost too much to handle. But it's one small part of a scene - actually one bit (pictured in the old poster) that catches our interest: after she kills Scarpio (the chief of police), Tosca lays him out on the floor and places a candle on either side of him, giving his corpse a dignity he never deserved.

However, in the production I saw last night, she places Scarpio's arms straight out! It's a cruciform layout to be sure. He's laid out as if for a Christian burial, in a rather sacrilegious way. In her mind, Tosca has not only murdered Scarpio, but the church as well. The church she was devoted to. The church which chastized her for her love of the painter. The church which was co-ruler with an oppressive government. The church which condemns suicide. And for our modern-day sensibilities: the church which deplores the idea of a judge having empathy.

Here is how one first-timer ballpark opera fan put it:

What a unique and bizarre way to watch a show: blankets, beers, wine, sandwiches, popcorn, scarves, whatever. It was even weirder noticing that right above the huge digital screen was a Budweiser ad.

The audience booed at the villain, cheered with the heroine and tried not to yell at people who were talking to loud.

Garlic fries and Opera do mix!!

Couldn't have been a better night. Almost full moon. Perfect weather. At one point during Floria's moving aria a flock of seagulls flew by as if on cue. I love this SF tradition. The casual setting was great for this particular opera and it was great to hear the crowd roar for Floria....

While I haven't as yet obtained a current criticism of Tosca by, say, that totally enlightened preacher, Rick Warren, there were critics galore in Puccini's times:

(from Giacomo Puccini: Tosca, by Mosco Carner)

…the implied anti-clericalism of the opera manifest not only in Cavaradossi [the painter] but also in the fact that its villain was himself portrayed as a devout believer; this threw an odd light on the Catholic Church and would probably go against the grain of many spectators, to say nothing of the Vatican.

One current critic (1903):

“…a prolonged orgy of lust and crime made endurable by the beauty of Puccini’s music."

And then there was the ultimate (Puritanical) put down:

“…a shabby little shocker.”

There's a fascinating book that doesn't critique opera music nor even the librettos. It's To the Devil with Opera! It's All Religion, Myth and Sex, by Michael Kreps. It tells us what a rich source the Bible was for opera librettos. And even though it's only been out a year, it's probably been banned by U.S. Christian bookstores and the Southern Baptist Convention.



Below is the role played by the incomparable Maria Callas at the height of her fame.

In her interpretation, she lays the candles down with trepidation; she cannot stand to be near the corpse. In fact, she literally forces herself to commit the sacrilege, but performs it just the same.

Let's face it: the pomposity and hypocrisy of the church are main themes in Tosca just as brazen as the lust and the love. And some of today's Evangelicals or, ahem, "social conservatives" wouldn't approve of it. Pat Robertson wouldn't approve of it. Justice Anthony Scalia wouldn't approve of it. The Mormon Church wouldn't approve of it.

And (if he could understand it), Sean Hannity wouldn't approve of it.

WARNING: This Video May Make You VIOLENTLY ILL!

Unless You Have A Kinky Taste For Hypocrisy.

I wonder when this video was produced. It has Alan Colmes in it. He left Fox a while ago. And how "fair and balanced" could the Fox Nation be if they're supported by Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove? KARL ROVE!! More below the video.

It must have been very, very cold in the studios that day with such a snow job: Glen Beck trying desperately to look sincere, Mike Huckabee chiming in for his worthless two cents; Geraldo Rivera still trying to deflect the memory of "Al Capone's Vaults;" Greta Van Sustern talking through the side of her mouth (as usual); Sean Hannity emitting his Irish Catholic-ness to the max, Bill O'Reilly thinking the video was somehow about him; Geraldine Ferraro looking like she doesn't know (or care) which studio she was in; Ollie North being...Ollie North.

And notice how the point of "immigration" was handled. If you're "fair and unbalanced" no hint of public policy should have been made at all.

And the invitation to "everyone"? Pulleees! The ad makes this appeal to the "patriotic-American-only" right wing. I expected Ann Coulter(geist) to start singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Or at least have Michelle Malkin screaming "there are no such things as Asian-Americans."

Intentional Or Stupid, But With FOX...Well, YOU Decide

How Intligent! How creativ! Suttel!

The following is on the Fox Nation website.

Those Fox webmasters have come out of their single-wides and created some first-rate subliminal messages! Too bad might someone might be prone to act on them.

Just a thought.

The Power Of The Bloviating Blimp: Hot Air

If al-Qaeda wants to demolish the America we know and love, they better hurry because Obama is beating them to it. He wants to impose his values on America. He is running around apologizing for the country. Sean, I’m telling you this guy has grown up, he was taught that there is something inherently immoral and unjust about America. And now that he leads it, he thinks it’s great. Finally America’s moral, finally America’s just, and it’s his duty to run around the world and apologize because he thinks, he’s been taught that everybody around the world hates us and doesn’t like us to the degree that he doesn’t like us.

- Rush Limbaugh on Hannity.

I put the quote in purple because Limbaugh's statement is as purple as prose can get. Comparing President Barack Obama to al-Qaeda is as treasonable as Limbaugh can get without telling people that they should bomb the White House.

What Rush Limbaugh is negating is the fact that people DID hate us before the election of Obama. Pope John Paul II chastised Bush to his face about invading Iraq. Since the Great Diplomatic Dimwit decided that no diplomacy was just as good as ...no diplomacy, people took a hard cold look at America and saw a president who, when he landed on foreign soil, didn't know what country he was in. He didn't know Iraq, Hussein, Shiites or Muslims. He only knew that he wanted to invade a country - any country. He wanted to be a better war president than his daddy. He hammered at Iraq YEARS before we invaded. The moment he took office, the United Nations proclaimed us a "rogue nation." They knew something that the American public didn't.

In 2006, Pew Research released data that showed how much approval of America and Americans plummeted

David Gordis, Atlantic Monthly (HT Andrew Sullivan):

The real news is that contrary to what many expected, or feared, President Obama assumed positions virtually identical to those of Israel’s political center –- namely, that the Palestinians must renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist, while Israel must cease settlement building and permit a Palestinian state to arise.

Rush Limbaugh loves politicians. He hates statesmen. He especially hates intelligent statesmen. Barack Obama is a statesman, ergo, Rush Limbaugh hates Barack Obama. From the very scent of Obama becoming President, Limbaugh knew that he needed to speak louder, wilder, more ferociously. He had to play on the American public's suspicious nature reserved almost exclusively for intellectuals and people with I.Q. higher than that of a dead flashlight battery.

Limbaugh and his world will eventually explode without a shred of dignity to be seen for miles. The problem we now have is: how many victims of "the boss" will Limbaugh take with him when he goes down? Who knows?

Sex With Ducks, PRIDE and The Gayification Of The Obama Administration

36 Queers, Oh My! Oh My!
36 Queers, Oh Fabjous Day!
36 Queers, Oh My Oh My!
36 Queers, Calloo Callay!

Doesn't it seem as if we're in some bizarre Lewis Carroll poem with weird political undertones? Take the month of June, for instance. I've always loved it, partly because I'm a Gemini (15th, but don't ask the year!) In my youth, it was also the time of fireflies and everything in full bloom. It was the month we kids were freed from the clutches of the nuns (BVMs - Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but we called them "Black Veiled Monsters").

In Chicago, June could be an exciting, even dangerous month. I remember all the warning signs for tornadoes (skies were always a rather sickly-looking green). It was also the time when kids risked being roadkill for the "Good Humor" man and those tinkling bells every kid was genetically disposed to run towards.

Junes are (for me) now synonymous with rainbow flags and gay tourists from around the globe reveling in San Francisco's diversity. The City is (literally) bursting with PRIDE in June and everyone wants to celebrate in the place that has always been in the forefront of everything gay. It's a whole month when people are celebrating diversity, creativity (e.g. film fests), love and compassion. I celebrate compassion in particular by reflecting on the initial Age of AIDS and how the City was beckoning to people: within four years, (in 1986) there were dozens of model AIDS-related agencies,
some even "faith based" (at that time there were no "faith-based" agencies outside of San Francisco and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and to date, there are none associated with the Southern Baptist Convention and some other "non-denominational" groups). People were coming to the City - while they were sick and dying - desperate for help or a peaceful, dignified death, both of which were denied to them even by their own friends and families.

Lesbians and gays across the country have made June their own month, not only because of the Stonewall riots in New York that sparked the gay freedom movement, but because June itself seems to symbolize a time of freedom. The Fourth of July is also a time for celebrating freedom, but does that feeling extend to the whole month of July? Hardly. On June 1, President Barack Obama became the first President to recognize the month of June as LGBT PRIDE month.

Of course, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council didn't like that one bit:

Considering the moves by this administration, every month feels like "gay pride month." But in keeping with the liberal tradition, President Obama did single out the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement for special recognition yesterday, signing a White House proclamation that officially designates June as "LGBT Pride Month." President Bush had refused to acknowledge the hype, saying repeatedly that the White House shouldn't "politicize people's sexual orientation." In the proclamation released Monday, his successor makes no secret about the upcoming policy push.

"I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world," President Obama writes. "Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy..." If, as the saying goes, people are policy, then we have no doubt where this White House stands. At last count, the Obama administration employed 36 open homosexuals.

Thirty Six! Such a ENORMOUS number! Horrors! Why it's a "road to perdition" number! Surely, the whole world is in its last days when a Muslim anti-Christ recognizes so very many homosexuals! Now there's Dick Cheney and his revelation that he approves of gay marriage. NOW doesn't it seem like we're living in a Jabberwocky world? The "Torturer's Apprentice" throws a bone to Gay Pride? Weird! Is he campaigning to be called ChenEVIL by EVERYONE?

From Pam's House Blend

Bam Bam Barber on Cheney: 'he's virtually endorsing incest and bestiality'

It didn't take long for Dick Cheney's carefully parsed statement about marriage equality to send Liberty Counsel's Matt "Come Hither" Barber over the edge...A conservative Christian political activist accuses former Vice President Dick Cheney of advocating "sexual anarchy."

...Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs with Liberty Counsel, says Cheney's love for his lesbian daughter has "clouded his judgment." "If freedom to marry means, as he said, that people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, well then, he's virtually endorsing polyamory and polygamy, and incestuous marriage, and bestiality," Barber claims. "[There are] no holds barred here."

Last, but never least is, of course, Pat Robertson, who recently chimed in on The 700 Club that gay marriage and the passage of the hate crimes bill would lead to legalizing "sex with ducks."

So this June is a Jabberwocky month of torturer-turned-benign-father-of-a-lesbian, an administration rife with new gay blood, new gay marriage states, old anti-gay marriage Christofascists, and sex with ducks. And we've still got 25 days to go! Always on the ready, creative gays and friends never miss a chance to poke fun out of someone like Pat Robertson (it's just so easy!). Enjoy this latest tome to Rev. Robertson. I don't think he'll enjoy it.

Then again, he may not even get it!

Just a thought.

Vengeance Is Mine Sayeth The FRC, O'Reilly, Terry, Palin, Robertson, Limbaugh,

If These People Aren't The Height Of
Christofascist Hypocrisy - WHO IS?

Of these people:

1. Who is the MOST Hypocritical?
2. Who is the most honest?

Don't pay any attention to my comments: remember, I'm just a blogger.

Tony Perkins, FRC:

Yesterday as I was leaving church my phone rang. It was ABC News asking for a reaction to the report that late-term abortionist George Tiller had been shot and killed in the foyer of his church in Wichita. I was shocked. As much as we detest and condemn the work of abortionists like George Tiller, we also detest and condemn this act of vigilante violence. George Tiller was a man whom we publicly sought to stop through legal and peaceful means. We are a nation that is governed by the rule of law, not by individual acts of "justice."

Of course, after the interview, Perkins (probably) got out the bubbly and toasted "Mission Accomplished" to a small gathering of his 150 dearest friends. I think they also had a huge barbecued lamb (sacrificial, of course). He probably hosted some "vigilante violence" parties as well before the Abu Ghraib expose broke out.

Randall Terry's presser about the murder:

"Thank you for coming, unless there's any other questions. And I truly am sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances. I like Guinness for those of you who want to have a beer somewhere. I prefer my chicken wings really hot and a little crispy."

"Regardless of my strong objection to Dr. Tiller's abortion practices, violence is never an answer in advancing the pro-life message."

- Governor Sarah Palin

Right.


Frank Schaeffer, son of famed evangelist Francis Schaeffer, is the only one, it seems who takes culpability:

My late father and I share the blame (with many others) for the murder of Dr. George Tiller the abortion doctor gunned down on Sunday. Until I got out of the religious right (in the mid-1980s) and repented of my former hate-filled rhetoric I was both a leader of the so-called pro-life movement and a part of a Republican Party hate machine masquerading as the moral conscience of America.

And then there's Bill O'Reilly who says that he NEVER condoned or advocated killing. Just view the video below and see why he didn't have to be so overt: (I think his total attacks were 183 if I'm not mistaken!)