I want to vote...

... but they won't let me. I actually do want to cast my ballot. I know the whole thing is full of holes (e.g. the huge contributions that Diebold made to the Republicans) but I still want to, just to get rid of the open checkbook that is Congress and at least try to roll back the police-state laws that Bush has instated. We can only hope.

Nope, haven't been in the country long enough to do my bit. I really wish I could, for the first time in my life. I don't care if the Cookie Monster gets in, just as long as we get rid of the Republicans. It's the same ABB crowd(Anyone But Bush) from last time, and the democrats didn't even have to be that organized this time round, because the Republicans kinda did this to themselves. It's the same reason that comedy about Bush is almost redundant. Hang around for five minutes and chances are he'll do something that far more laugh/wince/frustration-worthy than you could ever think of.


In other news:

"Hi, my name is Pastor(ed) Ted Haggard. You might remember me from such movies as 'Jesus Camp' and 'The Root of all Evil'. I really don't like gay people. I don't like atheists. Liberals suck too. In fact, if I had it my way, there would be a lot of people not tolerated in our good god-fearing country, and would probably be stoned to death as the Good Book tells it. God rules. Either that or the Messiah Pat Robertson.

Funny thing is, I have actually been having sex for the past three years with... wait for it... no, not my wife... a male prostitute! Yes! No wait, it was a massage. And blowjob. Same difference.

Turns out I was actually a hypocrite. An ugly, filthy hypocrite.

You know the kind, the one that can't keep their thirteenth-century beliefs to themselves, but actually goes out and actively destroys other people's lives in the name of their distorted opinions.

But wait, it gets better.

I bought crystal meth from the same guy! Can you believe that? But I didn't take it... or did I? My memory gets hazy sometimes. Probably something to do with the meth. But it's not my fault. Temptation comes in many forms. McDonalds, meth, working on Sundays, male hookers. The work of Satan.

Damn that tricksy Satan. But hate the sin, not the sinner. You see, in being religious, I have long since given up having responsibility for myself. That's the beauty of it. When I screw up (or down, depending on the position) I'm not guilty! It was the devil all along of course.

Never fear. My loyal sheep, er, I mean my congregation, don't even think I'm guilty. But they also believe the earth was made in seven days (yes, I mean seven literal days) about six thousand years ago. They'll believe anything. And they'll shoot people for it too. Boy I'm so proud of them. I trained them all so well.

Stay in school kids.
Don't do drugs."



The face of religious hypocrisy:

UFO's vs Religion

From George Carlin's book 'When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?'

'Granted, the world of UFO-belief has its share of kooks, nuts and fringe people, but have you ever listened to some of these religious true-believers? Have you ever heard of any extreme, bizarre behavior and outlandish claims associated with religious zealots? Could any of them be considered kooks, nuts, or dingbats? A fair person would have to say yes. But the marginal people in these two groups don't matter in this argument. What matters is the prejudice and superstition built into the media coverage of the two sets of beliefs. One is treated reverently and accepted as received truth, the other is treated laughingly and dismissed out of hand. As evidence of the above premise, I offer one version of a typical television news story heard each year on the final Friday of Lent:

"Today is Good Friday, observed by Christians worldwide as a day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose death redeemed the sins of mankind"

Here is the way it should be written:

"Today is Good Friday, observed worldwide by Jesus buffs as the day on which the popular, bearded cultural figure, sometimes referred to as The Messiah, was allegedly crucified and -- according to legend -- died for mankind's so-called sins. Today kicks off a 'holy' weekend that culminates on Easter Sunday, when, it is widely believed, this dead 'savior', -- who also, by the way, claimed to be the son of a sky-dwelling, invisible being known as God -- mysteriously 'rose from the dead'. According to the legend, by volunteering to be killed and actually going through with it, Jesus saved every person who has ever lived -- and every person who ever will live -- from an eternity of suffering in a fiery region popularly known as hell, providing -- so the story goes -- that the person to be 'saved' firmly believes this rather fanciful tale."

That would be an example of unbiased news reporting. Don't wait around for it to happen. The aliens will land first.'

'To Pray'

From Richard Dawkin's new book, 'The God Delusion'.

'Remember Ambrose Bierce's witty definition of the verb 'to pray': 'to ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy.'

There are athletes who believe that God helps them win - against opponents who would seem, on the face of it, no less worthy of his favoritism. There are motorists who believe God saves them a parking space - thereby presumably depriving someone else. This style of theism is embarrassingly popular...'

I see that kind of thing all the time. I know someone who gambles and thinks god helps them win, at the expense of the others I can assume. It's an accepted mode of thinking, even though if you think about it, it's utterly absurd. This clip from The Daily Show portrays how this kind of superstition has become part of the mainstream.

On the idea of 'miracles'. Terry Pratchett (humor/fantasy author):

Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been Fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events : the oil just spilled there, the safety fence just broke there : that must also be a miracle. Just because its not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous.

Excellent 'Jesus Camp' Review

This link goes to a review of the new 'Jesus Camp' movie, to give you further insight to this film. I personally feel it's worth seeing, because anything that makes someone want to 'vomit into their own drinking cup', as this reviewer says, has a great deal of appeal to me.

The good thing, from what I've read, is that this kind of militant 'God's Army' stuff is pretty limited in scope, and I sincerely hope it stays that way. I think because of how raw the movie is in it's view of the children and what happens, a lot of evangelicals have tried to either separate themselves from it, or attack it for being too harsh.

“We're frankly surprised and a little disheartened by the efforts of prominent members of the evangelical community to clamp down on JESUS CAMP. Whether or not the children and camp depicted in the film represents the ‘mainstream’ of the Evangelical movement is beside the point: they exist, the film documents them, and the subjects feel they’ve been treated fairly. Why a community that’s so quick to attack discrimination from secular Americans would then turn and do the same to other Evangelicals is unexpected, to say the least.” - Eamonnd Bowles, Magnolia Pictures

The film makers feel that although a lot people don't agree with the subject matter, the portrayal of the participants, including Becky Fischer, the ordained pastor who runs the 'Kids on Fire' summer camp, is fair and unbiased (yeah, I know, 'kids on fire'... Waco anyone?). It's good I guess to know that the disturbing images of kids speaking in tongues was not exaggerated. However it was a little too harsh for some, including Pastor Ted Haggart who features in the film. But for interesting reasons.

"I didn't like [Jesus Camp] for two reasons. (1) It portrayed the training of kids at the camp as militaristic, extreme, and scary and (2) It forces non-Charismatic evangelicals to say, "That's not us, it's them!" My concern is that the movie will reverse the growing respect that has been growing between Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal Evangelicals for the past three decades, and that those on the far left will use it to reinforce their most negative stereotypes of Christian believers. … It's one more 'documentary' that seems to miss the point intentionally."

How it's possible to 'reinforce negative stereotypes' further I don't know. I think when evangelicals move into positions of political leverage, and how they begin to assert their opinions on us, when they picket abortion clinics and the countless other things they do ad nauseum it's very difficult to reverse any stereotypes we might have. In his documentary, The Root of all Evil, Richard Dawkins states that because of the Catholic church discouraging birth control, in Africa, millions continue to suffer and die in the most AIDs infested country on the planet. That's a perfect example of organized religion asserting beliefs on other people, regardless of the humanitarian cost.

Politically speaking (and I don't have the hard data), Evangelicals, in fact most religious people, are usually very conservative, and the movie expertly portrays that. In a review of the film Peter T. Chattaway mentions:

"The children may be too young to vote, but they're hardly politically unaware. In addition to the usual praise and worship at their Pentecostal services, the children offer prayers for President George W. Bush—by actually laying hands on a life-size cardboard cut-out—and burst into tears while asking God to fill the U.S. Supreme Court with "righteous judges"."

Regardless of the indoctrination of small children into political opinions they scarcely understand and the implications of which they can hardly be aware of (we've been seeing political cradle-advertising for some time now), I think the movie is important because it raises awareness on the subject and we all need to be on the alert for this kind of threat. The religious zealotry that is happening in America is in no way different from the kind of religious fanaticism that is taking place in the Middle East. It is the use of a belief structure to galvanize people to do the bidding of whatever their masters desire. It's a concept as old as civilization, and that we continue to be suckers to it is testimony to the extent of our short-term historical memory as a race.

What... the... f&%k? (UPDATED)

I thought this video was going to be a joke, a parody or something.

It's not.

Watch this:



This scares the crap out of me. These kids are the fucking Hitler youth of today, the SS of tomorrow, screaming the name of Jesus as they happily march around the country killing people in his name. I'm not kidding. Be under no illusions, this is a repeat of the Spanish Inquisition or burning people at the stake. Nothing good ever comes from this fanaticism, ever. If these people take over any more of the minds of America, it's the end of any kind of freedom.

They manipulate these kids, brainwash them, before a child has even a sense of who they are... and they're not dumb people (well by an I.Q. rating that is). These despicable people will turn these children into robots.

I'm thinking of starting an atheist group, I really am. You can imagine our chants "We believe in nothing!", and "Nietzsche was right!" Something has to combat this mind-wiping bullshit.

Did you see how they were wearing camo paint and chanting "this means war"? It's incredibly disturbing, terrifying. They say things "who would give up your life for Jesus?" and the wording is very important there. Not 'give up your life to Jesus', like living in his name, living the morals, no, it's 'give up your lives for Jesus.' As in die in his name. And don't forget the kid saying "we're being trained to be Gods army." I consider it scary enough to see grown adults screaming his name and crying as they receive the 'feeling', but to see kids like that, before they even know right from wrong, so impressionable... that's unbelievable.



I'm interested to know what other people think about this so post your comments. Anyone have any more information as to the extent of this cultish behaviour?

UPDATED: Go to this website for more snippets from the movie.