Sundays with an Atheist

As you may recall, I've invited Austin Cline of About Atheism to post on Sundays. Don't forget to comb through his posts looking for personal information so we can hunt him down and kick his ass.

Who said it?

Who said:

It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction.

Lambert has the answer.

George's signing statement

George clears up any possible misunderstanding about what he signed at the "meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign, and the year of our Lord 1215."

Foley's gift to guys like us

Ken Mehlman
Chair, Republican National Committee

Dear Mr. Mehlman,

It's been a rough couple of days for Republicans. First, Rep. Mark Foley is forced to resign after being accused of violating the law he wrote making it a crime to use the internet to seduce teenage boys. And now, it appears that Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner may loose their leadership positions for trying to cover it all up.

Of course, all of these charges are bogus. Foley can't be a homosexual. He's a Republican after all, and thanks to you, homosexual persecution has become one of the party's main electoral strategies. Only a self-hating psychopath could be both a homosexual and a Republican, and you wouldn't have tried so hard to recruit him to run for the senate if that were the case.

Foley, Hastert, and Boehner are all good men. I hate to see their futures destroyed by this scandal. There's a lot more they could do for Our Leader. We need to help them rehabilitate their careers.

Some are calling for Foley to donate his campaign warchest to a child protection charity. While I think that's a good idea--it'd certainly help his image--I'd rather see him do something that would benefit people like you and me. I'm sure you would too. After all, self-interest is what made us Republicans.

I'm thinking along the lines of using the money to build a museum for gladiator movies. Think about it. Liberals have all kinds of museums in Washington for their decadent art and Darwinian propaganda, but we have nothing. A National Museum of Gladiator Movies would fill that gap. Finally, a guy could dress up in his gladiator gear and spend a weekend in his own personal viewing booth watching all of his favorite gladiator movies. It'd be great.

Of course, Foley's campaign war chest isn't large enough to fund the whole project, so we'd need some federal funding. That's where Speaker Hastert and Rep. Boehner come in. They could supply the federal funds. Not only would that make them heroes to guys like us, they could also make a few bucks by stipulating that the museum be built on land they own. Speaker Hastert's a wiz at that kind of thing.

All we're really talking about is capital construction costs and operational funding for the first year. After that, I'm sure the museum could support itself on tissue, lotion, and nacho sells alone.

Could you talk to Foley, Hastert, and Bonier about doing this? I'd sure appreciate it.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Show me your war face!

A few last words from my Inner Frenchman

The memorial to the United States I posted yesterday caused a few people to wonder if I'd given up. They were wrong. I was merely doing what I do every day here, expressing the way I felt about the day's events.

Although I expected we'd lose the fight in the Senate, the final result nonetheless brought tears to my eyes. I had witnessed the death of the nation I loved, or more specifically, the murder of a set of ideals, upon which a nation was structured. I felt a need to memorialize that loss.

I target patriotism almost daily with my satire, but it's not a love for country I mock, rather it is the simple-minded nationalism of the right; a patriotism that values symbols over substance; a patriotism that drives legislators who angrily acted to ban flag burning to pass a law gutting our Bill of Rights.

The basic values I love most, the ideals that made me proud to be an American, due process, habeas corpus, the proscriptions against cruel and unusual punishment and the use of coercion to compel confession were destroyed in the name of that kind of patriotism yesterday. Our America, liberal America, died with those ideals.

That's why I mourned.

But today is a new day, a day in which I hope we will all resolve to fight harder than ever to bring our America back. The first step is to retake Congress and the Senate from the tyrants and cowards who committed yesterday's crimes. That means doing everything we can to ensure that the Democrats win in November.

Each of us need to pick a candidate in a congressional or senate race in our respective states and work our asses off for him or her. We need to canvass neighborhoods, man phone banks, and talk to everyone we know, urging them to support our candidate, and ensuring that those who do get out and vote on election day.

For some, it will be easier than others. The people of Eastern King County in Washington are blessed to have a candidate like Darcy Burner, while the citizens of Ohio are cursed with the coward, Sherrod Brown. The latter will have to find a way to stifle their gag reflex and work like hell to get him elected, because, in the end, he'll vote for a Democratic Majority Leader. Then, future bills like the Bush McCain Torture Compromise will die in committee.

Are the Democrats perfect? Certainly not. We'll need to purge many of them in primaries over the next ten years. That means we'll need to actively search for candidates more honorable than a Sherrod Brown or a Bill Nelson (perhaps a pimp or a heroin dealer) to run against them. But in the end, we can build a party for which we can be proud if we're willing to work for it.

Lastly, we need to get corporate money out of politics. It limits our power as individuals and tempts our representatives into corruption. Public funding of campaigns is the only way to achieve that.

We have to do these things. We can't afford to sit back and wait for things to change. Waiting will allow the tyrant to strengthen his grip. 2006 may very well be our last chance to bring about change peaceably. We're getting very close to a time when the only option will be revolution. I don't like our odds if that happens. Technology has given enemy the kinds of tools it needs to create the most efficient police state the world has ever seen.

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing from my inner Frenchman, so I'll put him away and bring back the General. Thanks for indulging me, and thanks again for fighting so hard this week.

Elsewhere: There were a lot of great comments made at yesterday's memorial. You can find them here.

Stand up and fight for your values

The Times has a great primer on the torture/habeas corpus bill in today's editorial:

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

•There is not enough time to fix these bills, especially since the few Republicans who call themselves moderates have been whipped into line, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate seems to have misplaced its spine. If there was ever a moment for a filibuster, this was it.

Read the whole thing.

If you haven't called your senators about this, do so now. It's the most important thing you can do for your country.

We need a filibuster.

Here's a contact list, or dial 1-800-Amnesty and they'll connect you to your Senator.

Remember calling is far more effective than email.

And these two need to feel the pressure:

Susan Collins
461 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2523
Fax: (202) 224-2693

Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344
Toll Free: (800) 432-1599
Fax: (202) 224-1946

Kathy showed great victory

Florida newspapers and blogs are awash with claims that Katherine Harris outsourced her comment spamming to India:

The pro-Harris messages surfaced early this month on [local blogger Josh] Hallett's blog. They appeared within five minutes of each other and each said something nice about Harris, who faces Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the November general election.

Kathy showed great victory by winning the primary," one said. "Great show Kathy."

[...]

[Steven] Day said he assumed it was "some guy running a Katherine Harris spam operation." Hallett said he figured it was a Harris staffer. But when the internet protocol address tracked back to India, another thought crossed his mind.

"I wondered if she was outsourcing campaign support to India," he said. "It was so bizarre."

The wording of the messages also raised questions. The comments sound stilted, as if English wasn't the first language of the writer.

"Guys let us come out of this blue eye shadow," one says. "Let us not discuss such irrelevant details."

Another says, "At the end of the day what matters is her ability to lead the masses. Which I think she is quite good at." A third calls Bill Nelson, "Bill Henson."

I think Rep. Harris is being treated unfairly. There are probably hundreds of explanations other than that she's outsourced comment spamming to India. Maybe an Indian internet service advertises on Rush Limbaugh's show. That'd explain the IP addresses and the unconventional syntax. If you think about it, the commenters' English isn't any worse than Bob from Durham's or Earl from Topeka's. And it'd also explain why I found so many similar comments touting other conservatives.

Take a look for yourself:

"Humphrey Bogart" at Eschaton:

Racial Slur Senator G. F. Allen is a kind and potent man. He kill the caribou and postal send it to black Americans.

"Judy Garland" at Corrente Wire:

Not tolerant bloggers taunt Joe Lieberman for alms leaving to Ganesh. This is a thing of hate.

"Dr. Pepper Cola" at All Spin Zone:

Richard Santorum only contemplates sex with dog. Never does he do it.

"Walter Brennen" at Crooks and Liars.

I am tired and sick of people telling me that Senator Montana has burns.

"Claudette Colbert" at EFFin'? Unsound:

McGavick Mike drink like a champion. Please do sign this contract for Dish Network?

"Betty Crocker Cake Mix" at Martini Republic.

George Allen will be fine virgin senator.

"Billy Jack" at Tennessee Guerilla Women:

Leader Bill Frist is glorious stinking with gorilla hormone.

"Mr. Al Capone" at Liberal Hyperbole:

Tom Jr. King is not an untouchable. He will be an adequate senator. You will not be required to beat him if he touches your knee

.

Thomas Jefferson, terrorist mollycoddler

You expect better than this from one of our nations founding fathers. No wonder John Adams hated him.

Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? The parties who may be arrested may be charged instantly with a well defined crime; of course, the judge will remand them. If the public safety requires that the government should have a man imprisoned on less probable testimony in those than in other emergencies, let him be taken and tried, retaken and retried, while the necessity continues, only giving him redress against the government for damages. Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.

--Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1788.

And he calls himself a Virginian. He wouldn't be fit to run for dog catcher there, these days. Heck, he'd be too busy pulling deer heads out of his mailbox to even do that. Sen. Allen would see to it, given Jefferson's close relationship with Sally Hemings.

If that bastard were around today, I'd do the patriotic thing and courageously send him an anonymous letter filled with suspicious white powder. That'd shut him up.

Finding Jesus

Steve O. reports the latest sighting.

Unfortunately, he doesn't tell us if he's in Jerusalem, so we don't know whether we should sell our stocks short. Bad Steve, bad, bad.

Whoops. I should have linked to John Owens.

Call, Call, Call!

I'm stealing this from Lafayette who's stealing it from Stoller.

The debate is on C-Span 2 here. The Levin substitution failed 43-54, and Lindsay Graham is speaking. Here are more specific instructions on what to say to the Maine Senators.

Call Senator Collins/Snowe and urge her to vote against S. 3930 . This unAmerican bill betrays our constitutional tradition and costs us what little moral authority we retain, not to secure the country -- torture doesn't produce useful intelligence -- but because desperate politicians want something to brag about on the campaign trail. Tell Senator Collins/Snowe that no cheap partisan stunt is worth exposing our troops to torture, alienating our allies, and abandoning the Constitution.

Susan Collins
461 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2523
Fax: (202) 224-2693

Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344
Toll Free: (800) 432-1599
Fax: (202) 224-1946

If you can't afford long distance use this number: 1-800-Amnesty. They'll patch you through.

Calls are much more effective than emails.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!

A hell of a way to turn out your base

From the Times:

Democrats, who have found themselves on the losing end of the national security debate the past two national elections, said the changes to the [torture] bill had not yet reached a level that would cause them to try to block it altogether.

"We want to do this," said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. "And we want to do it in compliance with the direction from the Supreme Court. We want to do it in compliance with the Constitution."

Fuck Harry Reid.

A lot of us are disenchanted with our Democratic representatives for caving on the war and judicial nomination filibusters. It's going to be very hard for us to cast a vote for anyone who institutionalizes torture. It's fucking evil and contrary to every principle this nation was founded upon.

And I don't want to hear any lectures about the lesser of two evils. I've heard enough already. There are few greater evils than torture. Once you institutionalize it, little else matters.

Call your senators and representatives today. Tell them to grow a spine and provide some leadership. After you've called them, both Republican and Democrat, tell your friends to do the same.

Dial 1-800-Amnesty to be connected to your Senator to oppose torture.



Photo courtesy of the Freeway Blogger.

Oh and Obama, now would be a good time for you to start backing up all that talk about Christian values with some action.

Update: Meet the new America.

George Allen, Responsible Hunter

I forgot about this poster Deer Hunters of America sent me last year. I wonder why Sen. George Allen doesn't talk about his deer hunting experiences more while he's out campaigning. It's important for our children to see our leaders modeling safe hunting practices like wearing safety orange.



Elsewhere: Allen Resignation Watch.

Update: Feeling left out?

Evil

OK, the General tried to address this, but he can't. Everything he wrote seemed too trite. Some things are just too horrific to approach from the General's perspective.

At this moment, Congress is working to institutionalize evil, and that, without a doubt, is what torture and indiscriminate imprisonment is. It's evil no matter how patriotically it's packaged. And as the Rude Pundit notes, we are just as guilty of committing this evil as our leaders if we do nothing to stop it:

Last night, on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann was right: we are led by moral cowards. But, to take it further, more evil has been committed by fearful people than by brave ones. Ask the Bosnians.

We have to accept that, whatever their intentions, whatever reasons they might have had for their actions, the ones that they give mighty speeches about before handpicked crowds and the ones that they only whisper in private to their reflections in the mirror, we are now being led by people who are doing evil. This doesn't mean that others around the world are not doing evil. Just because al-Qaeda members commit evil deeds doesn't mean that Donald Rumsfeld does not. A man who murdered someone in a drive-by shooting is not excused because he is put into a jail cell next to a serial killer.

If we dare accept to our horror and infinite shame that we have allowed ourselves to be represented by people who do evil, even in the name of good, then we can either be complicit - we can go about our daily lives while the stench of the concentration camp pollutes the air of the town - or we can reject evil.

Pastordan chimes in as well:

What is happening on Capitol Hill today is plainly evil.

[...]

The new interrogation policy, if ratified, will cause harm. Obviously, it will harm prisoners lost in some black hole in the second or third world, subject to tactics that haven't quite been made public for what should again be obvious reasons. It will deprive them of goods which are proper to them, namely liberty, dignity, due process, and the fundamental right not to have to have the shit kicked out of them on the authority of an unaccountable regime.

Less obviously, this policy harms us all. Aside from the damage it does to US moral authority abroad, and the danger to which it exposes captured American troops, it degrades our shared humanity. I am less of a person because of this shocking and disgraceful policy, and so are you.

What our elected officials intend to carry out is, in a word, evil. It is time for our leaders to say so.

They won't, of course, unless one of them has a sudden attack of conscience.

More likely, they will have to be dragged into finding their consciences, kicking and screaming. It is our responsibility to do the dragging. If necessary, we will need to raise the stakes to such a point that they cannot resist the pressure. Anyone - anyone - who accomodates torture takes part in evil. That might not make us all equally responsible, but it does make us all guilty. May God have mercy on me for what is being done in my name. I do not want to be safe at that price.

You need to contact your senators and congresspeople today. Original letters, faxes, and phone calls work best, but if you can't afford a stamp or long distance charges send them an email. If you can't write something yourself, send this postcard, but do so knowing that it won't be nearly as effective as a letter or a phone call.

Tell your senators and congressman, both Republican and Democratic, that this legislation is evil and goes against every value Americans have held since the birth of this nation. Tell them that it is time for them to show leadership by confronting those who promote this evil. Speak and write with the passion of our those who founded this great nation on the values Bush, McCain and the rest seek to destroy. Speak to them as Jefferson and Paine would have addressed them. America's soul is at stake.

And after you've contacted them, call the Obamas, the Clintons, and the others who've decried Democrats for not embracing the Christian left. Tell them that now is the time for them to stand up for people on the Christian left like pastordan and lead the fight to stop this evil. It might not hurt to send Amy Sullivan a note too. This is her opportunity to actually do something other than bitch about secular Democrats.

And please consider sending a few bucks to promising challengers like Peter and Darcy. We won't have to worry about this kind of crap if we take Bush's rubber stamp away from Congress.

Elsewhere: Another kind of evil.

The General and Mr. Bauer

Here's my phonecall to Gary Bauer's radio show. I accuse Klinton of murdering the entire population of Mena, Arkansas with a sharpened spoon, and Bauer's co-host, Tome Rose, responds as if he gets these kinds of calls all the time.

The greatest of honors

I've received a great many honors in my life: the placement of my paper maiche likeness in Collectors Wing of the Alcoa Aluminum Recycling Hall of Fame; the awarding of my rank as general by the men who hang out in the restrooms at Liberty Park; and the letter I received from the National School of Art praising my drawing of the pirate in their ad. But I haven't received the greatest honor of them all, the naming of a non-related child after me.

That honor is reserved for only the greatest of men, heroes like Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. He was honored in this way by no less a man than George Felix Allen when the senator named his oldest son, Forrest.

I can imagine how the senator felt that day. He probably experienced the same rush of emotions I felt when I held my first born son for the first time and introduced him to the world as Torquemada Joshua Christian. Just as I prayed that little Torky would grow up to emulate the Gand Inquisitor's love for using "extreme methods" to wash idolators in the Blood of the Lamb, I'm sure Sen. Allen hoped that his tiny manchild would be imbued with Gen. Forrest's hatred of those cursed with melanin.

Well, that's about it for me tonight. I'm have to help my second born, Goebbels, pack for his internship at Disney. Damn, I'm proud of that boy.

GOP Heritage Defense Team

I can't tell you how happy I was to see that you can sign-up for the "GOP European Heritage Team" when you join GOP.com. And we all know what they mean by "European Heritage," don't we.

It's going to be great working with Sen. Allen. Sen. Burns, and the rest of the gang from the CCC.

KO'd again

When will MSNBC rid Our Leader of this meddlesome Olbermann.

Looks familiar

I guess some of my soldiers serve in the Allen campaign.

And Larry Sabato remembers Senator Allen's love for colorful language.

Chris Wallace feared for his safety

And rightly so. After all, Klinton massacred the entire population of Mena, Arkansas, single handedly, using nothing more than his bare hands and a homemade shiv he fashioned out of spoon stolen from the Governor's mansion.

Monday, September 25, 2006
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer

The Bauer & Rose Show

What's got Bill Clinton so upset? In a weekend interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace, Clinton got red in the face and attempted to physically intimidate Wallace, who later commented, "I felt as if a mountain was coming down in front of me." The issue was the Clinton Administration's response to Osama bin Laden and terrorism, and Chris Wallace clearly hit a raw nerve!

Do you think the former president bears any responsibility for the September 11th attacks? I'd like to hear from you! Call into the Bauer & Rose Show with your comments or questions at 1-866-369-1160.

You can listen to the Bauer & Rose Show on the radio in the metro Washington, D.C. area on WMET 1160 AM from 10:00 am to noon. If you do not live in national capital area, you can listen live online or catch the show later in the archives at http://www.bauerandrose.com where you can also sign up for Podcasts.

Please give Mr. Bauer a call. He'll need your support.

Oh, it's been awhile since we've taken a moment to remind ourselves that Mr. Bauer is a heterosexual. It's important, so please do so now.

Update: I got through. It doesn't look like they get many callers. I'll post my call if it makes it onto their podcast.

Republican traditional values

Update: I updated the ending to focus more on Se. Allen's fondness for noose humor. It's pretty graphic, but I hope it's also very powerful.

I put together this short film about Republican traditional values featuring George Allen, Conrad Burns, and Gladys Gill from Concerned Women for America.

The Gill clips are from Red State. I called it "the most dangerous film in America when I reviewed it." It would make one hell of a GOTV tool for the Democratunistoslamofacists.



He's a good old rebel.

Three GOP values cheers for Sen. George Felix Allen:

Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."

A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.

A helmet tip to Right Reverend Rabbi Judah for reminding me to post this.

Where in the World is Jesus Christ? Finding Jesus in a Christian Nation’s Acts of Brutality & Torture

_{Image © Austin Cline
Click for full-sized Image}

Christians commonly represent their religion as being one of peace, love, and kindness. At the same time, Christians don’t appear to be any less likely to engage in cruelty, brutality, or evil than anyone else. What gives? How can both of these be true? The answer lies in the fact that as a belief system, Christianity isn’t solely defined by the highest ideals which it might express. Christianity is also defined by the actions and attitudes, however low, of actual Christians. In effect, Christianity is what Christians do — for better and for worse.

So, what’s the “Christian” position on torture and brutality? If there is any ideal within Christianity that should encourage people to treat others better, it’s the one which says that however we treat our fellow human beings is effectively how we are treating Jesus — and therefore also God. If we help, care for, and love each other, then we are helping, caring for, and loving Jesus and God. If we harm, humiliate, and brutalize each other, then we are harming, humiliating, and brutalizing Jesus and God. No sincere Christian believer should want to harm or brutalize Jesus and God, so this should inspire them to treat fellow human beings with the highest possible compassion and kindness. Right?

Well, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. If we are to take this injunction from Jesus seriously, then Christians should have treated the detainees at Abu Ghraib — and should be treating all current detainees at Guantanamo Bay and sundry secret prisons — as if they were Jesus. Did the guards at Abu Ghraib welcome the strangers and clothe them? No, they stripped them, beat them, and worse. Have the CIA interrogators at secret prisons done any better? No, Jesus didn’t encourage his followers to waterboard him.

And what of the reactions from vocal defenders of conservative Christianity and Christian morality back home? How many of those who commonly lash out at abortion or homosexuality as incompatible with Christian morality said anything negative about the mock executions, human pyramids, sexual abuse, waterboarding, and other forms of humiliation or torture visited upon detainees? I can’t remember any; instead, it was standard to deny that the abusive treatment was “true” torture (as if that made it okay), to deny that the abuse was really all that bad, or to insist that complaints about the abuse are a sign of feminine weakness.

It does no good to rationalize that such people aren’t “real” Christians because being a Christian isn’t dependent upon being perfect in upholding all the highest ideals that one can locate within Christian traditions. Moreover, as I explain above, Christianity isn’t solely defined by those ideals — Christianity is a diverse belief system with diverse people and ideas. Christianity is defined to a great extent by what Christians actually say and do, even if those statements and actions conflict with various traditions and ideals.

So where is Jesus in the above poster? According the words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is every one of those people being brutalized and humiliated by American Christians. According to words of Rush Limbaugh, it’s a sign of weak feminization that we would even be concerned with such a question.

I know that this evening's "sermon" has a similar theme this morning’s, but this doesn’t mean that it’s the only thing I’ll ever post. It’s simply a coincidence that it worked out this way. I guarantee more variety in the future, assuming people would like to keep seeing more. You can see other posters I’ve created in this gallery on my site: Christian Right Propaganda Posters

Modern Crucifixion: American Empire and the War on Terror

_{Image © Austin Cline
Original Poster: Wikipedia
Click for full-sized Image}

It’s disturbing enough to ponder the extent to which the American government has authorized and defended certain practices, such as torture and secret prisons, which are characteristic of fascist, authoritarian, and totalitarian political systems. Even worse, though, is the extent to which self-proclaimed defenders of traditional Christian morality have been willing to either openly support or at least turn a blind eye to these practices. People who spend a lot of time crying out that America is a Christian Nation are spending little if any time proclaiming that torture and secret prisons are incompatible with Christian morality.

This is not to say that Christian Nationalists are silent about American politics and culture: on the contrary, they have a long litany of complaints about all manner of things which they insist are contrary to God’s will and America’s status as a Christian nation. Foremost among these are typically abortion, acceptance of homosexuality, gay marriage, and the secularization of public institutions. A great deal of time, effort, and money are invested into combatting these problems on the premise that they are incompatible with Christianity and a Christian nation.

For some strange reason, though, these same ostentatiously devout Christians have not invested similar amounts of time, effort, and money to combat things like poverty, homelessness, or the lack of educational opportunities which plague so many Americans. Other Christians have certainly been involved in those issues and these same Christians have also protested the American government’s recent foray into a world of torture, secret prisons, and domestic spying which is usually only inhabited by brutal dictators.

The Christian Nationalists, though, are nowhere to be seen. It would appear that they think America can be a Christian nation if it tolerates torture and secret prisons, but not if it tolerates abortion and homosexuality. The latter may be abominations to God, but the former are legitimate instruments of national security. If America is a Christian nation, people may be inclined to regard the cross as its symbol, but perhaps the original Latin Cross is the wrong one to choose. Christians treat the cross as an innocuous symbol of Christianity when in fact it is better regarded as a symbol of human brutality and death which Jesus is supposed to help people overcome.

The cross was one of the cruelest and most brutal forms of executions of the ancient world. Christians believe that God was brutalized and executed with one. Christians also believe that humans are created in the image of God, such that whatever we do to each other we are effectively doing to God. Actually putting God incarnate on the cross was a way for God to demonstrate this in an immediate and visceral manner, rather than as an abstract or esoteric idea. Christianity teaches that when the Romans crucified Jesus they crucified God, just as when we harm others in our everyday lives we are harming God.

The Roman or Latin Cross has largely lost this impact, though. People no longer associate it directly with human brutality and cruelty as they once must have. The Nazi Swastika, however, still conveys such things. If America is going to endorse brutality, torture, secret prison, military tribunals, and more, then perhaps swastika is the appropriate cross to use in order to properly communicate that. Liberal Christians might argue, with some justification, that any time people try to use the cross for partisan political purposes it will necessarily become bent and twisted anyway.

This image is based on a Spanish Revolution poster depicting an anonymous man tied to a swastika; Christ’s head is my own addition as is all the text. Knowledgeable observers will notice the similarity to two of John Heartfield’s works: “Christ Suffers Under the Swastika,” 1933, and “As in the Middle Ages...So in the Third Reich,” 1934. The references are deliberate and why I chose the original poster as the basis for my own image.

You can see many more posters I’ve created in this gallery on my site: Christian Right Propaganda Posters

Sundays with an Atheist

I've invited Austin Cline of About Atheism to post his propaganda poster remixes on Sundays of his choosing. I know I'm taking a chance offering this forum to the godless, but my hope is that he'll slip up and provide us with enough of his personal information that we can hunt him down and beat the hell out of him. I'm sure that's what Republican Jesus would do.

Embracing torture as an American value

I took Ofjoshua and JC II to the Central WA State Fair last night. As always, I headed straight to the Constitution Party's booth to discuss the communist / tri-lateralist / bankster conspiracy with them, but unfortunately, they didn't have a booth this year. I blame international communism for that. I'm sure they used their influence to give the Party's space to the wooden toy people--I noticed a little too much proletarian joy in the caterpillar pull toy's expression.

So I decided to take in the Yakima County Republicans' booth. It's always fun to check it out in all its red, white, blue, and glittering glory, looking like what Las Vegas would look like if it was built by a bunch of Baptists.

It was manned by a guy in his sixties or early seventies and two women of about the same age. I told them how excited I was about the new torture legislation, and how I hoped we could start "torturing people right and left soon."

That seemed to stun them for a moment. Indeed, one of the ladies looked horrified. Finally, the old guy smiled and said, "yeah, more torture." The lady to his right repeated it, "more torture." And then the horrified one relaxed, smiled and spoke the same words as well, "more torture."

That's when it became a little weird, because they kept repeating it, three or four times each, stuttering "more torture, more torture, more torture," as I stood there in front of them, dumbfounded. I'm not making this up.

It was very strange. It was as if repeating it like a mantra allowed them to embrace the new, albeit horrendous, standard of what it means to be a patriot--that is to embrace torture as an American value.

As one of the most patriotic men in America, I'm a little worried about their reaction. It was a little too slow, and their chant was a tad unconvincing--there just wasn't enough sadistic joy in their facial expressions. I hope that isn't the case in the Senate. Perhaps we need to contact them to ensure they step up to this new level of patriotism.

The commenters at Lac de Chien du Feu created a postcard you can send to your senators. Please consider sending one and let me know how they respond.

Update: David Neiwert of that fish blog, Orcinus, will join Goldy of that horse's ass blog to talk about torture on KIRO radio tonight. You can stream it live from 7-10 pm Pacific or download the podcast, later.

Nostalgia

I'm a sucker for the movie, Dazed and Confused. I have to watch it every time it comes on. I knew every one of those people in high school. I was probably a cross between Slater, the stoner, and Tony, the nerd character but with a big belt buckle, cowboy boots, and a western shirt (hey, it was rural Utah, after all).

The mood and feel of the film captures my high school experience, perfectly. The soundtrack was certainly my soundtrack at that time, although I would have thrown in a bit more Black Sabbath and BTO.

Is there a film that takes you back like this?

And as long as I'm being nostalgic, Bill's mention of sugar beets at Kos the other day sent chills down my spine. I hate the sugar beet. I despise it with a passion that is as intense as it is irrational.

Sugar beets were the bane of my childhood. They played as big a role in my life as Mormonism. Every day of my summers was spent either thinning them, weeding them, or irrigating them. Even today, 30 years later, Bill's mention of them churned my stomach.

It was worse for my parents' generation. They thinned beets with a short handled hoe. Migrant workers called it El Cortito, "the short one," and Ceasar Chavez eventually got it banned because of the way it destroyed those who used it. My parents generation also had to harvest the beets by hand, using a beet knife, a machete type tool with a spike on the end. The spike was used to pull the beet out of the mud, and the machete to top the beet, cutting the greens from the tuber. The high school shut down for two weeks this time of year so the students could help with the harvest.

I spent the summer, fall, and winter of my senior year working the graveyard shift at the Mormon-church-owned U and I Sugar plant in Garland, Ut. It was dangerous work. In the summer, I cleaned the bins, by undermining huge columns of hardened sugar with a pickaxe in 100+ degree heat. Once I undermined the columns enough that the sugar began to fall, I had to scramble out of a tiny hatchway to avoid being buried and crushed. I'm not exaggerating the danger involved. Two people were killed doing that job in the decade I did it.

My job was safer during the sugar campaign in the fall and winter. I stacked bags of sugar in the warehouse and loades them onto train cars. I also cleaned up contaminated sugar that leaked from torn bags or was used to clean up the oil leaking from company's ancient fleet of forklifts and trucks. I'd haul it back to the front of the process, 500 lbs at a time in a wheelburrow. There, I'd melt it down with a steam hose and it'd be reprocessed. One night, a pallet I was standing on, broke, I fell and the steam hosed nailed me, giving me first and second degree burns over half of my body. It was a good thing I was stoned.

Still that job was safer that the one a couple of my friends had. They were spinners. They reached into centrifuges with stainless steel paddles ensuring that the sugar was spun correctly. A lot of people lost their hands, fingers, or thumbs doing it, but at $4/hour it paid better than any other job at the plant. It was so hot and draining, they were only allowed to work a half hour at a time. It was a half hour on and a half hour off. The heat and danger drove them a little nuts. They got their kicks spitting chew and peeing into the centrifuges. Their tales put me off sugar for quite awhile.

The plant is closed now and sugar beets are no longer grown in the Bear River Valley. I think that's a good thing.



This looks like the same bagging machinery we used in the Seventies. It also looks like the same room. I bet the picture was taken at the Garland plant.