EFFin' Unsound

FW Con opines on the indictment and how it proves the Republicans are awesome.

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) Indicted on Corruption

Technically he was indicted for lying on his disclosure forms. Presumably to hide his corruption, but you know, facts and all. Not that I’m defending the crooked bastard.

As a republican, I’m not a huge fan of Sen. Stevens. Anybody that is that heavily involved in pork-barrel politics should be running as a democrat.

If Sen. Stevens is guilty, then he should be punished according to the law. I hope every other corrupt politician gets indicted and prosecuted as well.

Who puts together these cases and pushes for indictment? Why, President Bush. Thank goodness we have a president who is willing to bring charges against corrupt politicians of his own party.

Yes, the same week that the AG’s office was found to make political hires of career attorneys, we’re hearing from Jonathan how awesome the Bush administration is. Goddamn.

I think it’s fair to say that the Voters’ Guide is going to be a great source of fun for the next few days. Thanks, Republicans for providing easy targets. First up, running against Jim McDermott again is Steve Beren.

As your Congressman, I’ll be working for you – rather than cozying up to dictators like Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro!

Thank God. But I’m going to have to know if he’ll cozy up to Stalin and Edi Amin before I know how to cast my vote.

Anyway, is there any top-two primary strategery for this race? Does it make sense to vote for Goodspaceguy because it would be awesome if he could get more votes than Beren? I don’t think Jim is in any danger of losing in the first round.

For the record, I’m offended by what P.Z. Myers did. But sometimes when you’re defending someone’s right to do a thing, you get into a situation where you may be perceived to be supporting it. I don’t. But Bruce Chapman takes himself too far the other way.

The reason that many if not most of the leading Darwinists are so passionate about suppressing critics is that they really are practicing their own religion, crusading atheism. Richard Dawkins is again on public television in the U.K. denouncing foes of the theory that seems to constitute his liturgy and his eschatology. Meanwhile, Dawkins’ favorite side-kick in America–the activist who joined him in attempting to crash an invitation-only preview of the film Expelled last spring in Minneapolis–has made a public show of desecrating the Eucharist, what Catholics accept as the body of Christ. P.Z. Myers, a Darwinist cult figure in his own right, teaches and preaches atheism in the Biology Department of the University of Minnesota. From there he composes Pharyngula, said to be the most popular “science blog” on the Internet. There, too, he has just posted a photo of a consecrated communion wafer. He says he drove “a rusty nail” through it and then threw it in the garbage. He hints that there are more to come.

This is silly and offensive for offensiveness’ sake, it’s true. But, I seem to recall Jesus went through worse. Bruce, your faith is still yours. See that Bible at the corner of your desk: it’s still a Bible, even though a communion wafer got pierced by a rusty nail. You can open it up and read any passage and be moved just like before. You can still love thy neighbor; you can still make swords into plowshares. Job is still strangely written, and has lessons for all of us. The Burning bush is still there. God’s grace is still out there.

If you are a Catholic, this is a sacrilege. Even if you are not a Catholic, it exhibits disgusting bad taste.

On the other hand, birth control is sacrilege if you’re Catholic, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The Church can take it.

To answer charges that he would not dare do any such thing to Islam, Myers threw some pages torn from the Quran into the garbage, too. Give him credit; he’s an equal opportunity destroyer.

And some of Dawkins’ book. But here’s the thing: you can go to any book store and pick up a Quran. You can go to Church on any Sunday and get a consecrated communion wafer. No harm done to either of those religions.

Myers is jubilant. The Eucharist is “just a cracker,” he keeps writing, just as the Quran pages are just “paper.” He will decide what is offensive and what is not.

No, you can still be offended.

What does offend him is that a large number of people have emailed him to protest and denounce him. He also says he has been threatened physically. If so, shame on anyone who did so. Even threats of that sort are against Christian teaching, not to mention stupid and possibly illegal.

But attempts to get him fired will be tacked on to the end of this post. That’s the kind of threat that’s pro Christian teaching.

However, I have been threatened for far, far less–just expressing dissenting views on evolution.

Just for trying to turn your children into dumdums. Also, don’t threaten anyone. Seriously.

Words physically weigh less than the consecrated Host. They are “nothing”. And yet words that offend Myers and his fellow Darwinist apparatchiki can drive them to deeds of vigorous punishment. Restraint and scholarly good will are for other people. The mere words that Darwin doubters have raised in schoolrooms and lecture halls incite P. Z. Myers to call for punishments of flunking for students, expulsion for graduate students and firings for professors.

It’s because they are not practicing science, not because of their religion.

So words apparently matter in those cases. What gets thrown in the trash then are normal rules of civilized discourse, followed by people’s careers.

Also tough to find a job in the 21st century: Astronomy professors who think the Earth is the center of the universe, alchemist chemistry professors, and honest rightwing think tank employees.

William Donohue of the Catholic League is on Myers’ case. So is columnist Mark Shea. But the University of Minnesota, which normally is P.C. with a vengeance, apparently doesn’t think P.C. applies to P.Z. The New York Times that loved it when Myers crashed the pre-screening of Expelled, can’t find any news in this. The National Center for Science Education, whose leaders often have lauded and applauded Myers–all the while professing to assorted school boards and legislative committees that Darwin’s theory is “perfectly compatible” with religious faith–now is silent.

So, you’d like more publicity for his stunt? “Attention seeker seeks attention, theory of evolution now bunk.” You’d like the U of M to be more PC? And for the record, the Catholic Church doesn’t see a disconnect between natural selection and the faith, so the presumption that they aren’t compatible is an attack on Catholics, Bruce Chapman.
Anyway, then he quotes Donohue’s press release, and I’ll just point you to the conclusion:

“It is important for Catholics to know that the University of Minnesota will not tolerate the deliberate destruction of the Eucharist by one of its faculty. Just as African Americans would not tolerate the burning of a cross, and Jews would not tolerate the display of swastikas, Catholics will not tolerate the desecration of the Eucharist.”

Because nailing the Host with a rusty nail is the same as swastikas and burning crosses? I’m sorry, but having a holy symbol defiled is not the same as advocating genocide and murder. It’s just not.

I notice that the last post on the main page of Sound Politics is from Thursday. I’m sure there will be more clowns, random unsubstantiated allegations about Governor Gregoire, and pointless reports from Snohomish County a few minutes after I hit publish. But for now, victory!

Gary Randal seems to be, and I know this is out of character for him, backwards on an issue of faith and public life.

“Many Christians and their pastors are afraid to state their moral convictions about abortion, homosexuality, pornography and other issues,” says Senator Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina.

What they are afraid of remains unsaid. Are they afraid that people will laugh at them? I mean he’s a powerful U.S. Senator saying those things. He’s got a book coming out. You’re ranting on the Internet. Mission accomplished.

He says, “Before the 1960′s, it was pretty clear that abortion was wrong, that sex outside of marriage was wrong, that unwed birth was wrong and pornography, homosexuality–all this was considered wrong by our society.”

No, it never was pretty clear that those things. That’s why Republican hero Ronald Reagan signed a law in California legalizing abortion, and other states followed. That’s why people have been having sex outside marriage since marriage started. I mean really.

And DeMint says he knows why.

Because people like sex even outside the Jim DeMint approved time and place.*

In a new book he co-authored, titled, “Why We Whisper–Restoring Our Right To Say It’s Wrong,” he says, “But government came in and turned right and wrong upside down.”

You have a right to say it’s wrong. See the book, and this post. What you can’t do is impose your values on other people and expect not to get push back.

DeMint blames the government, and the courts in particular, for turning wrongs into rights and barring religious views from public debate.

If only religious people were allowed to speak in this country.

Government rulings he says, “Have changed American culture.”

Brown changed the culture quite a bit.

He makes the case that, “So many things that have a valued judgement about right and wrong can be related to religion, but government essentially said that religion must be separated from public life.”

And yes, government, the Constitution, the courts all say you can’t impose religion on other people. You can still speak out. And you can still say you don’t like things. You can try to influence people. You can say you find something to be wrong, but don’t impose it on the rest of us.

And by doing so he says, “People with really strong traditional views feel intimidated, and they whisper.”

So, we should form up a theocracy just so religious people feel like their views are validated? Church is a good place for religious people to go to have their views validated.

What he is saying is both true and troubling.

In the same way that Gary supports faith and freedom.

We join him in urging pastors and people of faith to speak up. America has lost her moral compass in recent years. If pastors and people of faith do not lead, who will?

If only there were pastors who spoke about things.

I think the answer is clear. Secular progressives are quickly filling the void of those who fear to speak out on biblical moral issues.

How dare people who not think the Bible should be the entirety of public discourse have some say at the table?

Oprah and Obama have essentially presented a new version of Christianity, proclaiming that they are Christian and that they believe there are many ways to God, ignoring the teachings of Christ that He is the only way to the Father.

Before Oprah, Christians never disagreed about any points of faith or about any policy. Damn you Oprah!

The so-called religious left is traveling the country explaining that God gives people the choice to accept Him, so why would He not give women the “choice” regarding abortion. And Obama says he believes the Sermon on the Mount affirms the homosexual lifestyle.

The Sermon on the Mount kind of affirms loving your neighbors.

If people of faith and conservatives, particularly pastors, continue to whisper, the elections of 2008 and the legislation that will surely follow will accelerate America and many of our communities further from our Judeo-Christian heritage and the principles that made this country the greatest country in human history.

We’re both “the greatest country in human history” and we “lost” our “moral compass” so awesome.

God help us.

Dear Jesus,

I know it sounds like religious conservatives have been some of the most outspoken people in the country in recent years, going so far as to elect one of their number President. But in fact, they’ve been super quite. Please rectify that.

Amen

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