President of the Catholic League believes that secularists are unhappy and insane. Hey!

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

“They believe that freedom is license to do whatever they want,” the Catholic League president explained. “They don’t want to be told anything, which is why they die prematurely, they’re unhappy, that’s why we have a disproportionate number of agnostics and atheists in the asylum, all of this is true.” 

Donohue said “secularists” have an inferior “mental health, physical health and degree of happiness,” adding: “They got to work it out, fine, I’ll help pay for their therapy, just take your hands, your mitts off the Catholics during Christmas.” 

One has to wonder just how many secularists Donohue has even knowingly met in his life.

By the way, and this is really not proof of anything definitive, but in my personal experience people who are suffering from a substantial mental health problem are quite often profoundly religious people.

In fact one of my all times craziest experiences was dealing with a young man who was in the middle of a psychotic break and having an actual back and forth conversation with Jesus about whether he should kill me or not. (Apparently Jesus said no to that. Good guy that imaginary Jesus.)

Not to be too flip but it is hard to take a person who believes that wine and crackers magically turn into blood and flesh seriously about who is, or who is not, crazy.

Just saying.

Louie Gohmert for President? Is ANYBODY wingnutty enough to want that to happen? Oh yeah.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

Anti-immigrant activist William Gheen, the head of Americans for Legal Immigration, stopped by VCY America’s “Crosstalk” program yesterday to discuss how a coalition of “big tycoons and kings and princes and emperors” is trying to take America down through immigration, thus taking away power from Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July, and his cunning plan to stop this from happening by having Rep. Louie Gohmert or Rep. Steve King ascend to the presidency. 

“The megawealth of the planet has never really been happy about the United States of America and this entire concept that we the people are self-governed and in charge and that big tycoons and kings and princes and emperors, like Obama’s acting like, are not in charge,” Gheen said. “And they’ve found a way to take over our corporations, to take over our media, to take over our country by facilitating a very costly and deadly illegal alien invasion.” 

He warned that Americans are in “mortal danger” from immigration and from the “growing anti-Christ spirit and anti-Christ movement in this country that is becoming stronger and more emboldened as the traditional conservative center-right Americans are displaced in our jobs and our politics and elections.” 

Aww, the brown people are giving this William Gheen guy a case of the sads.

So does he have some plan for turning this whol thing around?

Oh hell yeah!  

But luckily, Gheen has a solution. When a caller asked about how to “remove Obama from office,” Gheen proposed a simple plan. First, he said, “we’re working on Boehner and McConnell right now because those dominos have to fall and we can move to the next phase.” 

The next phase, he said, would be for Congress to impeach and remove both President Obama and Vice President Biden. 

Then the final piece of the puzzle comes into place: get Rep. Louie Gohmert or Rep. Steve King elected Speaker of the House, so he can ascend to the presidency until the next election is held.

Okay well first off that is the most convoluted plot I have heard in some time, and I have been binge watching the BBC series "Sherlock" for the last several days.

And secondly, though I do not usually consider myself the type to take up arms against my government, if somehow Louie "freaking" Gohmert were to be put in charge of the country you can bet I will be leading the northern resistance out of Alaska. 

And here I thought the worst thing that could happen is for Sarah Palin to be elected President.

Christian women's group opposes building of women's history museum. Wait, what?

"Christian women's group opposes building of women's history museum." Yep you read that right.

Here is the story: 

The Christian group Concerned Women for America (CWA) has been trying to stop the construction of the National Women’s History Museum in Washington D.C. 

The House approved the museum in a 383-33 vote earlier this year, but a similar bill has been blocked in the Senate by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), noted the New York Daily News. 

“Whose view of history is this going to be?” Penny Nance, CEO of CWA, told The Daily Caller earlier this year. 
 

Concerned Women of America CEO Penny Nance.

Nance claimed that the museum would espouse pro-choice, anti-marriage and anti-family positions.

Incredibly enough the museum sponsors even offered Nance a chance to participate in the museum's direction. Guess how that went:  

However, conservative Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), who sponsored the museum bill in the House, denied Nance's claims were true and even offered Nance a seat on the museum commission. 

Nance called the offer an "exercise in futility and frustration" because it wasn't the chairman position. 

“I am happy to either serve or find someone else to serve as chairman,” stated Nance.

Yes why wouldn't you put a person, who clearly has no concept of the struggles that women have undertaken to provide her the opportunity to participate in the the founding of a museum in their honor, the chairmanship?

Now you might find the idea of a women's group, ANY women's group, opposed to the building of a museum honoring women to be almost impossible to rationalize.

But that is because you do not yet realize that Concerned Women for America is not REALLY so much a women's group as it is a conservative group promoting Christianity, carefully hidden behind women's skirts. 

In fact on their list of top issues are :

Sanctity of Life
Defense of Family
Religious Liberty
National Soveregnty
And of course Defense of Israel.

Somehow I do not think that these issues were among the top priorities for the women who fought for the right to vote, or own property, or hold elected office in this country.

Here is CWA's Mission Statement:  

The mission of CWA is to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens — first through prayer, then education, and finally by influencing our society — thereby reversing the decline in moral values in our nation.

Oh yeah, SO pro-women don't you think?

In fact it seems to me that this is really just the same anti-women, Christian misogynistic group, railing against the feminists, that we have seen for years now.

Only this one wears lipstick and nail polish. 

Class...class...class...SHUT UP! Thank you. Now listen as Rick Santorum educates you on the fact that the separation of church and state is a communist idea, not an American one.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

In a conference call with members of right-wing pastor E.W. Jackson’s STAND America that was posted online today, former senator Rick Santorum disputed the existence of the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution, dismissing it as a Communist idea that has no place in America. 

A listener on the call told Santorum that “a number of the things that the far left, a.k.a. the Democrat [sic] Party, and the president is pushing for and accomplishing actually accomplishes a number of the tenets of ‘The Communist Manifesto,’ including the amnesty, the elevation of pornography, homosexuality, gay marriage, voter fraud, open borders, mass self-importation of illegal immigrants and things of that nature.” The likely presidential candidate replied that “the words ‘separation of church and state’ is not in the U.S. Constitution, but it was in the constitution of the former Soviet Union. That’s where it very, very comfortably sat, not in ours.” 

Wow! And here I thought there were limits to how Christian revisionists could rewrite American history.

Of course as Right Wing Watch points out Thomas Jefferson himself referred to the separation of church and state in an 1802 letter:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

The intention of the founding fathers seems fairly clear. That is unless you are Rick Santorum of course, and you refuse to accept facts which will not support your hypothesis. Or your faith.

New book uncovers the ugliness that hides within the hearts of self proclaimed "Christians" when they feel called to defend their faith.

Courtesy of Salon:  

Over the past few years, America has been divided by religion. The culture wars have heated up with secularists on one side and God-fearing Americans on the other, and to understate things: They disagree. But does that mean we hate one another? If the animosity is so intense, what kind of outrage goes too far? Bonnie Weinstein has tackled this issue in an important but very troubling book out Dec. 2, titled “To the Far Right Christian Hater … You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, But You Can’t Be Both: Official Hate Mail, Threats, and Criticism From the Archives of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.” 

Married to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the author has collected and annotated a sampling of the hate mail the foundation has received over the past few years. This hate mail is not trolling or anonymous “Internet comments.” The letters are specific and threatening and most often include a return address or email. The Weinsteins’ home has been vandalized — many times — and the family has had to take serious and expensive security measures. It’s no joke. As I read the book, curled up on my couch, my wife kept asking if I was OK. My face was fixed in an expression of horror and disbelief as I read the rage, hate and cruelty cataloged on every page. Bonnie has uncovered a shocking reality: Self-professed Christians deny the fundamental humanity of other people they don’t even know. 

As hard as it was to read in places, it’s important to read and understand. It offers an unflinching examination of a subset of American fundamentalism, created by a segment of our society that is whiter, more conservative and a lot angrier than the rest of America. For some people the future of their faith and of the nation are in danger, threatened by secular forces controlled by Satan himself. This existential threat to Christian supremacy justifies the most offensive, vulgar and cruel letters I’ve ever read. Think I’m overstating it? Read the book.

"Self-professed Christians deny the fundamental humanity of other people they don’t even know." Gee, ya think?

 As somebody who has been on the receiving end of some of this vitriol I am completely unsurprised by the fact that so-called "Christians" can be filled with an almost bottomless pit of hatred which bubbles to the surface whenever they feel their religion or idols are under attack.

I have little doubt that the people who called the school where I worked and threatened to shoot me on the playground would self identify as Christians.

Just as the people who send the off times hilariously angry comments to Richard Dawkins. Which he enjoys reading aloud to his supporters.

Of course the idea that being a Christian, whether practicing or merely for ornamental purposes, makes you a more ethical or moral person is utter nonsense. Yet that is the conceit used to sell the religion to the masses, and impress upon people that these believers should be trusted and admired above all others.

These letters do much to disprove that assertion.

Ken Ham tells us that Creationists DO believe in climate change. However no need to worry as it is just the earth "settling down" after Noah's flood. Oooookay.

Okay so on Saturday Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum and the worst thing to happen to children's brains since lead based paint, wrote a post explaining how everybody is wrong to assume that Creationists do not like science.

In fact they LOVE science. Just not the science that scientists understand.

Confused? Me too.

But here let Ham explain it to you:

You see, there are two different kinds of science. Observational science works in the present and is testable, repeatable, and observable. Historical science deals with the past (origins) and is not directly testable, repeatable, or observable. With historical science, the worldview you approach the evidence with is going to determine how you interpret the evidence. Secular scientists start from the perspective that man is the ultimate authority and determines truth, but we start from the view that the Bible is God’s Word and provides the true history of the universe. So we both reach different conclusions when we look at the evidence.

Okay so now do you get it?

The "science" that scientists study is the kind that relies on ridiculous things like facts, reliable testing procedures, and peer review. That kind is much more accessible for really smart people, and makes the brains of less intelligent people hurt like crazy.

However the much easier to understand "historical science" (Which is a term that apparently Ken Ham pulled out of his ass.) simply means that you rely on your faith in the Bible to explain how things work.  See? No brain pain.

Ham then goes on to explain that using his "scientific method" puts the whole global warming thing into perspective, and renders it not nearly so frightening:

I want to emphasize that we do not deny climate change. Even Bill Nye continues to spread the false charge against us that we supposedly deny climate change! What we do deny are the worldview-based assumptions behind the interpretations of what causes climate change. Climate change is observational science (we can observe it by recording measurements), but it needs to be interpreted as to why it’s happening—and your starting point determines your interpretation. Starting from the Bible, we know that there was a global Flood a few thousand years ago that completely changed Earth’s surface and climate, and that the earth is still settling down from this catastrophe. So we should expect there to be some variations in climate change, but this is not alarming and is not the direct result of modern human activity. 

See that kids? 

Sure the earth IS experiencing climate change. However there is no need to worry your ignorant little heads over it because it's really just due to the earth getting its act together after a huge global flood for which there is absolutely NO evidence.

But what am I thinking? What I mean is that there is no "observable science" which proves the existence of Noah's flood. But if you get your information straight from the "historic science" of the Bible, well then everything makes perfect sense.

So don't worry about switching to renewable energy sources, or having to buy an electric car, because God would never allow humans to break the planet he gave us.

And if the oceans do rise, no problem. Because surely God will simply wave his magic wand and give us all gills to help us survive underwater.

Wow, religion really IS the opiate of the masses.

Bulk buying your way to the best seller's list.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:

In January 2012, former megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll’s book Real Marriage went to the top spot on the Hardcover Advice section of The New York Times best-seller list. In March 2014, it was disclosed by evangelical magazine, World, that Driscoll’s publishing success was aided by a consulting firm called ResultSource, which purchased books on behalf of Driscoll in a coordinated effort to spike sales and give the impression that the book was popular with thousands of book buyers. Driscoll recently resigned from his church and one factor associated with his departure is the decision to buy his way onto the best-seller list. 

Driscoll later admitted that the scheme was wrong and even asked that the designation “New York Times best-selling author” be removed from his bio and book covers. However, Driscoll is not alone among evangelicals wanting to improve their brand and increase sales. 

This Daily Beast article is mainly concerned with how Christian authors get their books onto the best seller list, however I am sure that most of you were quick to realize that this is probably how a LOT of undeserving authors get there as well. 

In fact the author links to a 2013 Wall Street article which makes that very point: 

It isn't uncommon for a business book to land on best-seller lists only to quickly drop off. But even a brief appearance adds permanent luster to an author's reputation, greasing the skids for speaking and consulting engagements. 

But the short moment of glory doesn't always occur by luck alone. In the cases mentioned above, the authors hired a marketing firm that purchased books ahead of publication date, creating a spike in sales that landed titles on the lists. The marketing firm, San Diego-based ResultSource, charges thousands of dollars for its services in addition to the cost of the books, according to authors interviewed. 

As ResultSource's website points out, hitting best-seller lists can mean fame, and potentially lucrative consulting assignments. 

"Publishing a book builds credibility, but having a Bestseller initiates incredible growth—exponentially increasing the demand for your thought leadership, skyrocketing your speaking itinerary and value," ResultSource says. 

ResultSource's principal, Kevin Small, declined requests for an interview. On its website, the company outlines its ambitions: "'We create campaigns that reach a specific goal, like: "On the bestsellers list," or "100,000 copies sold.'"

Even though those who compile data for bestseller lists are vigilant about bulk book sales, and do not count them in their calculations, companies like ResultSource have found ways around their scrutiny.

This of course is the way that conservative authors like Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly obviously contiue receiving credit for writing bestsellers, even though their approach to their topic (Obama is bad!) is ham fisted and their built in audience is for the most part functionally illiterate.

And it also explains the success of this future bargain bin mainstay.

I had to read this literary shit stain for the blog, and I do believe that I have written far more eloquently constructed sentences while drunkenly banging my face onto the keyboard whilst attempting to retrieve a dropped cashew nut with my lips.

Hey do you remember back when an author actually had to write a good book to make it on the bestseller's list? When a politician actually had to garner votes from the majority of the people in order to get elected? And when a person's fifteen minutes of fame actually had to last only that fifteen minutes?

Boy those were the day weren't they?

I do not like energy drinks. But did you know some of them are the work of Satan?

What I enjoy the most about watching this lady is just how absolutely certain she is about what she is saying.

There is not a shred of doubt in her voice, in her affect, or in her super intense stare.

In her mind that drink is NOT a Christian drink, it is clearly the work of the devil, and she is dedicated to warning people about it.

You know sometimes I think it must be so comforting to see the world in such stark terms of good and evil, especially when you have convinced yourself that you are working on the side of good, and that the most powerful presence in the universe is working alongside you.

You know I was thinking of having a Monster energy drink today. But I just could not bring myself to break God's heart.