The Gay Thing: Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Given ONE MORE DAY?

Okay, long story short, after the Supreme Court effectively legalized marriage between same-sex couples in the entire United States, there was some foot-dragging and stone-walling by several elected officials. They were scattered around the country, and most have been resolved. But there's this clerk in Kentucky--represented by muckraking Right Wing World attorneys, naturally--who is loudly and proudly defiant in the face of the ruling.

She was thought to have exhausted all potential trump cards, and should have had to start issuing licenses on Tuesday morning. She didn't. She is brazenly defying all courts including the Supremes, using extraordinarily flimsy, baseless, illogical and frankly goofy reasoning. But, since she's an elected official, she can't get fired directly. But she is in contempt of court, and also refusing to do her job, though she won't resign. She hasn't got a legal leg to stand on, but she's still stamping her feet.

Thrice-divorced, four-times-traditionally married marriage defender,
Kim Davis, in stunning blue. From source, LGBTQNation.

All of this is made somewhat hilarious by the fact that this woman, Kim Davis, has apparently been married four times and divorced three. She continues to conflate "holy matrimony" with civil marriage, confuses the county courthouse with a church, and confuses her government job with some sort of religious consecration. She's either a dim bulb, a nutbar or a disingenuous grafter hoping for a big score and some fame. But for some reason, they're giving her yet another day to come to her senses.

But here's a point to ponder, for any of you Kim Davis supporters out there:

Should a Muslim DMV worker be allowed to refuse issuing drivers licenses to women, if he says it's against his religion? How would that be any different?

[Excerpt]

Judge: Kim Davis has until end of day Wednesday to respond
 
A federal judge says a Kentucky county clerk who won’t issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her religious beliefs has until close of business Wednesday to respond to the latest motion in the case. . .

Read more at: LGBTQNation

The Gay Thing: Ted Cruz's Disingenuous "Religious Freedom" Video

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Washington State Politician Thinks "Religious Freedom" Means for Christianity Only

Wow, would he be easy to caricature!
Image from source, Raw Story

When the Supreme Court recently ruled that it was constitutional to open governmental meetings with prayers, I knew this was coming. I've done enough arguing online over the years to see it. When a lot of Christians argue for religious freedom, they really mean freedom for Christians.

[Excerpt]

Wash. state city councilman demands all prayers be directed to Christian God

A city councilman in Kennewick, Washington is demanding that council meetings open with a prayer to an explicitly Christian God, The Tri-City Herald reports. John Trumbo proposed that all city council meetings should begin with a prayer “directed in name and reference to the same God addressed in the Founding Fathers’ signatory documents that established this nation. . .”

Read more at: Raw Story

Glenn Beck, Doomsday Prophet

Schtick or the real thing? Image from MStarz.com

There is a whole collection of right-wing heroes that defy description, and are probably best left without media attention to give them what they crave. But they're like catnip in the opposite way to us liberals as they are to their conservative fans. Some of them are easy to figure out. Ann Coulter is a troll, making outrageous pronouncements in order to stir up a controversy, and then she reaps the rewards. Sarah Palin is similar, but with a much shallower reserve of actual knowledge and brain power. Glenn Beck is harder to peg.

It's difficult to tell if Beck is all a show, or if he's really like that. But it's helpful to remember that Beck is an adult convert to Mormonism. That could be an act too, I suppose, to appease his wife. But if not, it might explain Beck's flights of fancy. It takes either an extremely gullible mind to be taken in by such a wacky religion as a full-grown adult, or one with rather odd neural pathways. I may be guilty of being an LDS-O-phobe, but I think if you read The Book of Mormon, and say to yourself, "this makes sense!" you might just have more than a few screws loose. And Mormons, I'm not picking on you, all religions are bananas on their surface. To convert to one in adulthood takes a mind that is not necessarily firing on all thrusters.

But Beck is a showman, so I don't know where the line is. Days ago, he was claiming his vocal chords were paralyzed, and then he was right back on his internet "radio" show, yapping away. Now, he's dragging his Mormonism out into the light, and going on about "the end times." Has the butter finally dripped off Beck''s noodles? Is this yet another ploy for attention? Or is he right?

That last question is a joke.

[Excerpt]

Citing the Book of Mormon, Glenn Beck Warns That 'We Are at the End'


Near the end of today's radio broadcast, Glenn Beck grew solemn as he warned his audience that "we are living in Biblical times."

Read more at: RightWingWatch.org

Two & A Half Men Star Finds Religion, Loses Mind

Who knew crazy was contagious? From People.

As an atheist, I have a very low tolerance level for religious foolishness. I understand that I'm supposed to respect peoples' religious beliefs. In point of fact, I don't. Well, let's not be too harsh. I respect your right to believe anything you wish. But I reserve the right to think that those beliefs are stupid.

In the stupid category I would put radical, nutbar religions like Seventh Day Adventists. And into that religion did one Angus T. Jones apparently fall. In what I'm hoping is either a publicity stunt, or a classic Punk'd episode with costar Ashton Kutcher, Jones--who plays Jake Harper, the half man of the title--has come out against the show. The show that made him a star, and is solely responsible for anyone knowing or caring what he has to say.  As I said, I hope it's all a ruse. If it's not, he's playing with the livelihoods of his costars and those of everyone associated with the show, all based on nothing more than this addle-brained, crazy-pants religious sect. And I'd lay money on Angus being very embarrassed by all of this when he outgrows his "religious phase." I may actually believe he's for real if he gives back all of the money he's gained from his "filthy" show.

Christian Right: Masturbation is Gay

Hmm. Kinda sexy. Is that wrong?
Image from source.

The right wing has made great strides since the Tea Party took over. Oh, we can't govern for shit, but they won governorships, Congressional seats, and all kinds of offices in 2010. But the rhetoric is starting to get a little too restrictive. A little too limited. I mean, Rick Santorum (and, unwittingly, Mitt Romney) are advocating getting rid of contraceptives. And now we've got this uber-Christian dude (kinda hot in his Mickey Mouse shirt) saying you can't masturbate because it's GAY! C'mon, dude? You can't have premarital sex, and you can't have one off the wrist? Really? Free entertainment, right out the window? Somebody buy this dude a Fleshlight.


[Excerpt]

Christian Right Wing Pastor Mark Driscoll Says Masturbation Is Form Of Homosexuality

The Christian Right has much to say about homosexuality. Fred Phelpsl says God hates them and stages protests at the funerals of American soldiers to bring attention to his hatred. An anti-gay Christian Right wing activist recently said there wasn’t any proof that LBGT people exist. And most recently, a conservative crowd booed a gay soldier during a GOP Debate. Now a “pastor” on the Christian Right is saying that masturbation is a form of homosexuality. . .

Read more at: Addicting Info

"Christian" Newswire: Celebrities Responsible for Gay Suicide

Looks better with quotes around "Christian."

The word "Christian" is in the headline in quotes as snarky retribution for their use of "gay" in the same. In the case of the latter, the term for it is a scare quote, or possibly a futile protest that the dictionary definition of the word has more than one meaning. They do love their word definitions.

Anyway, I'm featuring the excerpted story below, only because I'm flabbergasted by its existence. It is about the suicide of a gay teenager, the latest in a string of them. Now, one could argue that publicizing particular suicides could cause the Werther effect, the very real syndrome of copycat suicides. But "Christian" Newswire doesn't go there. No, they believe that gay kids kill themselves because they haven't been made to feel bad enough.

These moral crusaders like to toss around words like perverse. But what is truly perverse is to blame gay teen suicides on people who try to make them feel better about themselves. Bill Keller, the subject of--and possibly the speaking-in-third-person author--of this piece has turned a real trick with this viewpoint. He also has absolutely, positively no idea what he's talking about.

Jamie Hubley killed himself because he was bullied
for being gay. It wasn't Anderson Cooper's,
Ellen DeGeneres' or Rachel Maddow's fault.

Keller says: "A 15-year-old has no real understanding of sexuality, and most are still trying to figure out life and how they fit in."  Ask any adult when they knew if they liked girls or boys. I'd wager the high ninety percentile would peg it earlier than 15.  Personally, I knew for sure at 14, and can recognize signs as far back as five years old.

Keller says: "The fact is, suicide is exponentially higher amongst those who choose the homosexual lifestyle, and while those in the media want to blame people like myself who take a Biblical stand on this issue, the fact is, they are the ones most responsible!"  Yeah, I'm not sure Keller knows what "exponentially" means, but it is true that suicides are higher among gay kids. But it is precisely because of the hellfire, brimstone and bullying. Not solely because they're gay, but because of the reaction to it. And don't get me started on "choose," and "lifestyle." This is another of the many areas where Keller is clueless.

"Over the past 20 years, Liveprayer has helped thousands of men and women make the choice to turn from the sin of homosexuality." Bullshit. Prove it. And exactly how many have you driven to suicide, jackass?

Ugh. As you can see this claptrap pisses me off. And it probably just makes people like Keller happy to get my goat. But people like my Mom like to shrug and say that "most" people don't have a problem with gay people. "Just ignore them," she would say. I'm sorry, I can't. I've got to call them out.

[Excerpt]


Cooper, Maddow, DeGeneres, The Media, Responsible for the Suicide of Hubley

Bill Keller, the world's leading Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers worldwide reading the daily devotional he has written every morning for 12 years on the issues of the day from a Biblcial worldview, is calling out Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Ellen DeGeneres, the media, and gutless pastors for the suicide of a Canadian teen who claimed to be "gay. . ."

Read more (if you dare) at: "Christian" Newswire

Rick Perry Not Just Religious but Weird Religious

Or is that scary religious? We all know that Rick Perry hosted a big ol' "pray for America" rally this past weekend, and that it wasn't particularly well attended. You might have even known that many of the religious figures associated with the event were a bit kooky (hello, Oprah is a harbinger of the anti-Christ?). But did you know that the religion being pushed here is the New Apostolic Reformation? If you didn't, click the link. They're. . .well. . .a little out of the mainstream. And they want to take over our government. For realz.

Whatever your religion, it is a core principle of the United States of America that we have no state religion. Though many conservatives attempt to rewrite history, the separation of church and state is fundamental to what America is, and what it was founded as. Rick Perry, if he indeed is a believer or supporter of this belief system, must not become president.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Nutball Preacher/Singer Sues Rachel Maddow

Image from source

If you praised a religion for more "properly" dealing with the gay by killing gay people, as you believe your religion instructs but doesn't do, what would that make you? Would it make you a person who thinks gay people should be killed? After all, you're supposedly a fervent believer in your religion, and you believe your religion commands it.

Well, nutball preacher/singer/artiste Bradlee (cute spelling, hellooooo) Dean thinks that's slander. So, he's suing people, notably MSNBC hostess, Rachel Maddow. As though this dude's reputation could possibly be in any danger. His followers would like him more for that. Duh.


[Excerpt]


Bradlee Dean Sues Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Bradlee Dean is a man who hates lesbians and gays with such a passion that he does not care to be bothered with the facts, the realities, or, for that matter, his own religious books. His You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International Inc (that is, his ministry is a corporation, that means he worships not God but the Dollar) is planning on suing MSNBC, Dr Rachel Maddow and others for, supposedly, defaming him. . .

Read more at: Lez Get Real

Welcome to This World

Wow. This video is deep (and the narrator is haunting). Before you click play, the video is of a mother instructing her child about religion. Depending upon your point of view, she's giving it to the kid straight or this is a cannily crafted anti-religious message.  I'm quite certain it is the latter that is intended, but really, could any argument be made by a religious person against what the narrator is saying?  Religion can be quite nasty when boiled down to its basic elements.  Well done.



Found at: Joe.My.God.

Christians Praying for Death of Political Adversaries?

This caught my attention for a particular reason. It isn't unusual for prominent religious extremists to say outrageous things that seemingly contradict their doctrine. And it isn't unusual for them to be corpulent--something that I'm quite sure is sinful by definition. What caught my eye was the use of the term "imprecatory" prayer. The reason is, a heated discussion on Facebook with a "friend" contained the singular word "imprecate" from one of the "friends" of this "friend," directed at me.

The word seems to denote a curse, particularly a prayer to God for the smiting of ones adversary. Nice right? So this blowhard preacher, one Pastor Wiley Coyote Drake, apparently makes imprecatory prayers for the deaths of Democratic politicians. And in this case, Drake seems to think that God struck down Rep. John Murtha. I always enjoy seeing the love and compassion of religious people.

[Excerpt]

Pastor Wiley Drake prayed for the death of John Murtha



The sickness that permeates the extreme religious right never stops surprising me. We've seen Wiley Drake's shtick before, but it's still as repulsive as ever. What type of religion do these freaks practice anyway?

Read more at: Crooks and Liars

Jesus Appears on a Steam Iron

Image from source, CBS

Honestly, people. If Jesus wanted to appear before his faithful, wouldn't he just go on Oprah or something? And isn't it a little presumptuous to claim you know what Jesus looks like in the first place? The mind wobbles. . .

[Excerpt]

Mass. Woman Sees Image Of Jesus On Her Iron

A Massachusetts woman who recently separated from her husband and had her hours cut at work says an image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that "life is going to be good. . ."

Read more at: CBS

Previously:

Jesus on a Pickup Truck!
Virgin Mary Appears in a Brain Scan?
News of the Weird: Jesus! Clean Your Shower!
The Second Coming of Cheesus!
Cheesus: Jesus Found in a Cheetos Bag
Jesus Found in Potato!
Jesus Found in Slab of Granite
Jesus Christ on a Pancake!
Jesus is Everywhere!

Conservatives Hawk Biblical Anti-Obama Merchandise

Image from source, Christian Science Monitor

If I saw--prior to yesterday--a T-shirt reading "Pray for Obama, Psalms 109:8", I'd have thought nothing of it. I'm not the praying type, but to each his own. I do know quite a bit about the Bible, but I haven't committed it to memory. So I was surprised when I found out that this slogan is a hot ticket item in conservative circles these days. I thought, really? They're praying for President Obama? Well, no, not really. They're praying for him to leave office. And if you follow logically to the next line in the Bible, the message takes on a fairly hideous tone.

Now, some will undoubtedly say that they only want Obama out, not dead. But unlike other defensive arguments, they can't claim they're being taken out of context. To believe no harm is intended by the slogan would be to claim that they took the Bible out of context. Whoa!

Now, I will freely admit that I levelled a fair number of slurs and ill wishes toward George W. Bush. But I never wished him dead. And I certainly got a good long dose of the Bush Administration before I started to get snarky about it. These clowns started on day one, and haven't let up yet.

[Excerpt]

Biblical anti-Obama slogan: Use of Psalm 109:8 funny or sinister?

There’s a new slogan making its way onto car bumpers and across the Internet. It reads simply: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8”

A nice sentiment? Maybe not. The psalm reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office. . .”

Read more at: The Christian Science Monitor

Jesus on a Pickup Truck!

Jesus is everywhere, y'all! And if it isn't him appearing in various items, it's his mom. This time, it was JC himself, or at least a bearded dude who. . .let's face it. . .could be anybody.

[Excerpt]

Man says image of Jesus appears on truck window

Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup. Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image. . .

Read more at: Yahoo! News

Previously:

Virgin Mary Appears in a Brain Scan?

News of the Weird: Jesus! Clean Your Shower!

The Second Coming of Cheesus!
Cheesus: Jesus Found in a Cheeto Bag
Jesus Found in Potato!
Jesus Found in Slab of Granite
Jesus Christ on a Pancake!Jesus is Everywhere!

Virgin Mary in Bird Poop

I simply could not resist this. . .

Previously. . .

Jesus is Everywhere!
Virgin Mary Appears in a Brain Scan?
News of the Weird: Jesus! Clean Your Shower!
The Second Coming of Cheesus!
Cheesus: Jesus Found in a Cheeto Bag
Jesus Found in Potato!
Jesus Found in Slab of Granite
Jesus Christ on a Pancake!

Jesus on Mars!

Rachel Maddow & Frank Schaeffer: GOP Sub-Culture Is "The Fifth Column Of Insanity"

Do I really have to add anything to that headline (cribbed from Democratic Underground)? OK, just this bit: 1 in 3 New Jersey conservatives think that President Barack Obama just might be the antichrist. Seriously.

Economy a Sign of ARMAGEDDON?

Until recently, we as a nation lived under a policy of fear. "Be afraid, be very afraid" could easily have become our national motto. What works out for politics also seems to be one line of attack in religion as well.

We know why. Because fear sells. It works on all of us at times, but some people seem to be masochists for it, dreaming up rich conspiracy theories that show they're out to get us! And religion--it claims--offers a solution. But the scary thing is, some religions seem to be eager for the scary stuff to happen. They're really itching for Armageddon, because it means paradise after. Or something.

Look, I've read the doomsday religious series, Left Behind. Nearly as scary as the terrible writing is the "tribulation," the nasty stuff those of us who aren't "raptured bodily into heaven" will have to live through before the "glorious appearing" of Jesus. And then it gets even worse.

Jesus isn't the warm, loving being we learned about in Sunday school, if you believe these stories (and way too many do). He's apparently a slaughterific, blood-n-guts, friggin' destroyer of souls! And you don't even have to be a bad person. You just have to not be a believer.

But it's trickier than it sounds. You have to be a particular kind of believer.

Being Catholic won't save you. Even being a protestant won't save you. You have to be a believer in the tribulation and rapture and all that comes with it. To make matters worse, there are at least three schisms even in that: Pretribulationism, Midtribulationism and Posttribulationism. Yikes!

I of course pick none of the above. It's all rather gruesome and hard to square with the rest of the religion. Plus, if I did throw in with them, the kind of people who are believers aren't the sorts of people I really want to hang around with anyway.

Which is a long way to go to show you these scans of an invitation I got in the mail from a group called "Creation to Revelation." They're having a big gig this week tying the current economic crisis with the end of the world!!! The creepiest part is the last photo of the jubilant children with the notice, "Bring the whole family!" Worse, the event is being held at the Boy Scouts Resource Center. Which is a whole 'nother level of creepy.

No Liberty at Liberty University

While I am surprised a progressive/liberal/Democrat would want to go to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, this story is still sort of shocking. The super-Jesusy college has banned official recognition of a Democratic club, deeming them incompatible with their mission. Or something. Ridiculous.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

GQ: Rumsfeld's Creepy War Briefings to Bush

Image from source, AmericaBlog

Last night, I read in several locations that GQ Magazine (of all sources) was about to release a "bombshell" story, wherein Donald Rumsfeld's religion-laden war reports to George W. Bush would be revealed. The thing is, most Democrats can't have their feelings toward Bush, Rumsfeld, and the entire Bush Administration pushed any lower. And Republicans--by and large--seem to have an endless capacity for overlooking anything negative about the whole crew.

So while this story is just one more thing that proves we Democrats were right all along about this insufferable cabal, it probably will have very little effect in changing anybody's mind. After all, the evangelical GOP base will probably be thrilled by these revelations, right?

[Excerpt]

Rumsfeld sent Bush creepy Top Secret religious updates about the Iraq war

Frank Rich reported on this last night. GQ has copies of the documents (I show two of them above, GQ has lots more). I'm a Christian. This is creepy. They look like "end of days" propaganda created by a cult or the Unibomber. . .

Read more at: AmericaBlog

Notre Dame, President Obama and Controversy

Image from Obama-Zone

I usually pay pretty close attention to the news, since I use the topics of the day for blog fodder. But one issue has slipped by me. I'd heard about some sort of controversy over Notre Dame, and an issue with giving President Obama an honorary degree. But it didn't trip my trigger for stories that interest me.

But the story continues to percolate, and I wanted to figure out, what's all the hubbub, bub?

So I guess Notre Dame, being a Catholic university, is all up in a lather about Obama for his stance on abortion rights. But see, I'm not Catholic. . .I'm not even religious. . .shoot, I'm very nearly anti-religious. And abortion has never even hit my top 10 of "important political issues." So I have to turn to another (better) blogger to explain it all. And it's pretty good too.

I had to figure that if religion was involved, there was more than a dab of hypocrisy in there too. I was at least right about that.

[Excerpt]

The Hypocrisy At Notre Dame

All week long the media has been trumpeting a controversy that barely deserves mentioning. When President Obama gives the commencement speech tomorrow at Notre Dame, he will be following five previous presidents to do so. In addition, he will be the eighth president to be awarded an honorary degree.

The controversy stems from the fact that Obama’s pro-choice position is in conflict with the University’s Catholic principles. However, neither the Catholic protesters nor the media ever threw similar tantrums when George W. Bush delivered the commencement speech in 2001, after receiving his honorary degree. . .

Read more at: News Corpse