Conroe man arrested after son run over

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3110556

Most people who get run over don't live to tell about it. That's what I've noticed since I began watching the news for these kinds of stories since it happened to me nearly a year and a half ago.

It was either a miracle or dumb luck that I survived practically unscathed (except for the 15 to 20 broken bones, but they healed up rapidly and even my facial scars are barely evident). I choose to believe the former.

'We Are America' For Sure, But on Borrowed Time?

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0329-30.htm

"Shopping is the nation's leading time-killer next to television ... "

That makes me 0-for-2 on killing time so far. I'm just not a very good consumer.

The Long Emergency

This article excerpted from a book by James Howard Kunstler should be read as a counterpoint to the Surprise, Ariz., megachurch article in my previous post.

"America is in a special predicament due to a set of unfortunate choices we made as a society in the twentieth century. Perhaps the worst was to let our towns and cities rot away and to replace them with suburbia, which had the additional side effect of trashing a lot of the best farmland in America. Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. It has a tragic destiny. The psychology of previous investment suggests that we will defend our drive-in utopia long after it has become a terrible liability.

"Before long, the suburbs will fail us in practical terms. We made the ongoing development of housing subdivisions, highway strips, fried-food shacks and shopping malls the basis of our economy, and when we have to stop making more of those things, the bottom will fall out.

"I predict that Sunbelt states like Arizona and Nevada will become significantly depopulated, since the region will be short of water as well as gasoline and natural gas. Imagine Phoenix without cheap air conditioning."

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7203633?rnd=1111860430596&has-player=true

As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"

The author has a few choice words for this area as well:

"I'm not optimistic about the Southeast, either, for different reasons. I think it will be subject to substantial levels of violence as the grievances of the formerly middle class boil over and collide with the delusions of Pentecostal Christian extremism. The latent encoded behavior of Southern culture includes an outsized notion of individualism and the belief that firearms ought to be used in the defense of it. This is a poor recipe for civic cohesion."

The soul of the new exurb

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_033105D.shtml

''I'll tell you right now, if one of you is a believer and the other is not, your relationship is doomed.''

I view this as a very ominous comment on the part of the Rick Warren-wannabe pastor of the megachurch in Surprise, Arizona.

What he is telling us in a larger sense, although he was directing it toward teenagers, is that we as a nation are doomed. He is telling us that the half of America that hasn't signed onto the theocracy yet cannot be related to his half which is "chosen by God" to rule over it all ("in Jay-zus name" of course).

First thing you gotta do to be a "purpose-driven" pastor is to go down to your local Goodwill store or wherever and get you a bunch of Hawaiian shirts. Perhaps one day these churches will adopt the motto of our local high school's football team, the state champion Gilmer Buckeyes, "KUI."

In his recent book ''The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith,'' Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science at Boston College, writes that ''American faith has met American culture -- and American culture has triumphed.''

How does this square with I John 2:15"?

LOVE NOT THE WORLD.

Very unfortunate comment here on the part of the megapastor:

''I tease people and I go, 'This is my rookie season, this is my first church,' '' McFarland told me, ''and they go: 'Shut up, dude, you're sickening. You're pastor of a church that has grown like a weed.'''

The scriptural name for weeds is tares.

Oh, well. Wannabe Warren has already told us he never finished his correspondence courses. In fairness, he is only quoting one of his congregants. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe the pastor needed to hear "weed" and it'll hit him later what that means in terms of what his church actually represents in these "Last Days."

The other thing that comes to mind is that if "exurbs" are the wave of the future, it is no wonder that the exurbanite megachurched are so gung-ho on the wars for oil. It is the only way they can remain in the exurb and be able to commute affordably to their jobs in Phoenix or wherever.

Well, there is a limit on how many people can survive in the Valley of the Sun which may be fast approaching and the limitation is water, not gasoline. That is, unless they can tap into those "rivers of living water" in a literal sense. I just know they had better not try to turn any water into wine if they ever come to our downtown wannabe megachurch. To quote the pastor, "I know our Lord would never have created anything that causes a person to ACT A FOOL!"

George W. Bush is the AntiChrist

http://www.bushisantichrist.com/

I have just come back from the First AntiChrist Church in downtown Pineville (actually we ought to term it 'Clearcutville' or 'Wastelandville' since nearly everyone who lives here but me hates pine trees and wants the burg more to resemble the "real Texas" out west on the treeless plains) and one of the congregants sought prayer for a young soldier shipping out to Iraq who has told all relatives he must go because previous generations of his family have and "this country is worth fighting for."

It reminds me of the Lieutenant Dan flashback sequence in "Forrest Gump" which showed all his ancestors dying face down in the mud during a war. He was upset that Gump had saved his life in Vietnam and left him alive with no legs in a wheelchair.

I think the country WAS worth fighting for, but that's over now. The USA/NAFTA/FTAA/NATO/WTO is the New World Order empire and this poor deluded young man is one of its "shock troops."

It will be destroyed just as every other one in human history has been. It is only a matter of time in spite of deluded dreamers like this guy.

(We will be able to take NATO out of the alphabet soup lineup before long when the last few remaining European countries drop of out of the vaunted "coalition" and join their saner brethren back in "Old Europe.")

Church sets up nightclub missions to attract New Age followers

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=623792

I cannot imagine the Baptist pastor ever getting this desperate. He is into all the latest "church growth" techniques, but this is a bridge too far.

It's too much fun to rail against the New Agers in his sermons to ever want to see their point of view.

Plus, the Rapture could occur at any moment so we've got to get on with the task of conquering the oilfields and leveling the forests. That's also why it's not necessary to save any money anymore, except for your tithe, of course.

Bush ordered attack on Sgrena and Calipari

http://www.vialls.com/italy/sgrena.html

The reason this is plausible is that the BFEE (Bush Family Evil Empire) destroyed the evidence (the bullet-riddled car) rather than turn it over to Italian custody.

This is reminiscent of previous U.S. government misfeasance/malfeasance at Waco, Oklahoma City and even New York City. All evidence was bulldozed, carted off, buried, etc.

This is called "tampering with a crime scene" if you or I were to do it, but when you are the BFEE or the Clintons or just about any U.S. president except for Jimmy Carter over the course of my lifetime, it is par for the course.

Naomi Klein reveals new dtails ...

Reva Rasmussen: When the GOP wanted less intrusion and the Democrats had spine

http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/story.php?template=print_a&story=5307755

In Minnesota the Republicans may be questioning "Dear Leader," but here in Podunk the preacher is calling on the flock to surrender to God's authority in the White House.

The average IQ of Minnesotans, I'm just guessing here, is about 30 points higher than that of our native Pineywoodsmen.

To paraphrase Handel's Messiah, 'And the U.S. federal government of the earth has become the Kingdom of Our Lord.'

I never thought I would witness the merger of church and state and certainly never thought the Southern Baptists would be in control of the U.S. government. But now that I am witnessing it, I marvel at the wisdom of our founders in wanting to maintain a healthy distance between religion and politics.

You can read about the hundred years' war fought over religious differences on the European continent several centuries ago, but there's nothing like actually seeing a new hundred years' war unfold where you live. I wish I'd never had to see this, though.

You heard it here first

After Terri Schiavo expires, the GOP leadership will blame the coming economic meltdown on the fact the "non-activist" judges would not obey God. America is being judged, they will say. We tried our best, but the satanic judges did a "Pontius Pilate" on us.

And their fundy base, most especially the Southern Baptists, will be in the "Amen Corner" and rally around GodBush even more fervently.

It was getting more and more difficult to blame Bill Clinton anymore anyhow.

The undoing of America

http://citypages.com/databank/26/1268/article13085.asp

The only surprise I got out of reading this was that Gore Vidal was selling his villa in Italy. Other than that, he has been saying the same things for years, all of which come true, and sees no real hope for the future of this country.

In other words, he is facing reality. The GOP strategists have already told us they do not respect "reality-based" people. They remind me of when I was a near-psychotic 18-year-old. I matter-of-factly would state to anyone in my presence that "the world" was going to have to adjust to my reality and not vice versa. The psychological term for this is "megalomania."

That meth must be good stuff

2 ARRESTED IN HOUSE THEFT

Reminds me of the old Commodores song, "Well, she's a BRICK ... house."

She WAS a brick house.

"Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down, down ...."

Some IMAX theaters not screening volcanoes flick

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SC_VOLCANO_MOVIE_SCOL-?SITE=SCGRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

That'll learn 'em. Damned scientists. I didn't spring from no microbe inside no vowelcano.

What's the likelihood at this point of volcanos forming in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas anyhow? Let's screen the tornado movie in these parts. Something Bubba can more nearly relate to his everyday experience.

Let the Wiccans in the Pacific Northwest see this one. They've prolly sacrificed their progeny into them to appease the gods in the not-too-distant past.

Gasoline hits $2 a gallon in Pineywoods

Just imagine how high the price would be if we had "lost" the war.

It's all right. I don't feel much like traveling anyhow. I haven't flown since shortly before 9-11. Don't miss it at all. The "meals" on my last flights to Boston and back left a lot to be desired. I think it was actually called a "bistro" snack.

Of course, it is true that I only paid $99 for a round-trip ticket from D-FW, so I should have felt guilty about making Delta lose so much money on me. It looks like I almost single-handedly put them on the verge of bankruptcy.

Dough-faced nation

http://indyweek.com/durham/2005-03-02/cover.html

People commenting here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x114113

In a warped reality

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1442368,00.html

Just think how many Iraqi versions of Terri Schiavo our valiant U.S. warriors have created over the past two years.

At least she still has all her limbs. There are thousands of Iraqis who have "given an arm and a leg" for their "freedom."

From what I've heard of her husband, I think he'd make a good Abu Ghraib prison guard.

Why don't the Focus on the Family types protest our simulation of homosexual activity whenever our miscreant soldiers shove various objects up the Iraqis' anuses? That could give our impressionable youths some unsavory ideas.



In fact, it may already have.

It's time to "pull the feeding tube" which is providing a never-ending supply of dollars into the maw of the war machine before we are all bankrupt.

The economy is in a "persistent vegetative state" and is only kept alive by massive infusions of "liquidity" from Chairman Greenspan as he awaits the "transfusion" of your Social Security into the stock market.

Sullivan sees coming conservative 'crack-up'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1533089_1,00.html

I don't see it, not in Texas anyhow. Bush is the Baptist god and Baptists run Texas. Whatever successor he names will be their new son of gawd making war on the enemies of "freedom" everywhere in the world. It will be interesting when they have to bring back the draft, though. My guess is Cheney will pull the string on the Chimp to "mash" the nuclear button and most of the world will go up in mushroom clouds before we reach that point.

'Theology for the Art Bell Crowd'

I resemble that remark, especially since I went on a cruise in August 1996 to Scandinavia and Russia with a group sponsored by Art Bell.



I Just Couldn't Look Away: The Crazed, Cranky, Captivating Christianity of Dr. Gene Scott

I couldn't look away either, although usually I was listening on shortwave, but I never "got on the telephone" to give him any money. I kept meaning to as Scott was way more entertaining than any NPR station I've ever listened to (I never got around to sending them any money either), but I believe in giving locally. I don't even like my own church's emphasis on foreign or "international" (as they call them now) missionaries or even so-called "home" (North American) missionaries. I think the pastor won't be emphasizing this as much in the future now that he has settled in for the long haul and is more focused on building a "megachurch" here in downtown Podunk. Good luck with that, preacher. Let me know how that turns out. Better fleece the flock before your lord Bush does away with Social Security. That's the only "fleece" a lot of your members have.

It is rude to try to convert people. It makes them feel inferior to you. I don't feel superior to anyone else, so why should I do something that I know will make them feel inferior to me?

At a loss for words

http://www.moderateindependent.com/v3i6ashton.htm

I just checked the NYMEX light sweet crude spot price from two years ago. On March 21, 2003, the price had dropped to $27.10 per barrel as U.S. and British forces "secured" oil wells in the southern part of the country.

This is one of the least reported aspects of the glorious conquest of Iraq. Before the invasion, Iraq was supplying (even under sanctions) more than three million barrels a day to world markets. Before sanctions were imposed in 1990, it used to pump up to five million a day even during an 8-year-long war with Iran.

Had the conquest actually been a success, crude prices would now be no more than $35 per barrel instead of $57.

The Bush Regime's Greatest Fear

http://www.cloakanddagger.ca/media/_BUSH/The%20Bush%20Regime.htm

Very clever chaps, those Russians. The U.S. dollar will eventually be used for toilet paper if we don't have a nuclear holocaust first.

In other economic news, U.S. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High of $665.9 Billion in 2004, Commerce Dept. Reports.

Convenient Christianity

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/03/con05089.html

Since I don't watch TV, I didn't have to sit through any of this coverage. I am not surprised they downplayed the Wisconsin shooting. Have you ever noticed how much Atlanta seems to be in the news? Almost like it's New York South. I trace this to the founding of CNN back around 1980. Also, a lot of Yankees moved down there and made it more "cosmopolitan."

To me, Atlanta is Dallas with pine trees. Speaking of which, I had a dream last night in which I was at the Dallas Arboretum (I've never actually been there and probably never will; in fact, I hope not to even ever have to visit Dallas) and there was a huge pine forest there. I also have had this dream about acreage in Waco and Fort Worth.

Hu's on first?

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1450.htm

The Voice of the White House

March 12, 2005: “The hot topic here today, and probably for a week or so, isn’t the Gannon scandal which has more or less died away. Gannon has been quiet and no one here in the White House even remembers who he was. Officially.

The concern here is the PRC. They have been annoyed with Bush for his clumsy and arrogant behavior towards not only them but just about everyone else. Bush is pig-headed and totally devoid of any diplomatic skills. Rice in narrow-minded and clever but inflexible. The problem is that the PRC has always believed that Taiwan was a part of China and must eventually be reunited. This does not sit well with the people of Taiwan and there has been ongoing tension. To show how clever he was, Bush sent US naval units to the area last year and in essence stuck his tongue out at the mainland Chinese. Now, Beijing has retaliated. They have warned Bush, through the DoS that they would no longer tolerate any interference by the Bush Administration in their problems with Taiwan and they went on to demand, not request, that Bush back off.

He was told, again, not asked, that if he did not make a public statement to the effect that the United States believed that the problems between the two entities could be solved between them and wished to remain strictly neutral, they would retaliate against the US. In other worse, if Beijing decided to invade Taiwan, which they are now seriously planning, Bush would have to butt out and stay out. Their threat? Clever. If he keeps up his current nose-thumbing at Beijing, they will repeg their currency and dump all of their US treasury holdings on the market and never again buy any US paper.

This would be a devastating blow to our economy and the Chinese, and the world banking systems know it. If China did this, all the other countries holding American notes would very quickly follow suit so as not to be caught with increasingly worthless paper. I understand from a friend at the DoS that the note was civil but devoid of any of the usual diplomatic bs. In essence, Bush was ordered to butt out and stay out or the Chinese would at once carry out their threats.

Those in the know are horrified but many of wonder if Bush is even aware of this (he is told what his handlers want him to hear and nothing else…he never reads any newspapers or watches anything on TV but the sports programs…and no one at Foggy Bottom has any idea what to do.) It is well-known that the Chinese do what they say and if there is no Bush response very quickly, there will be hell to pay economically.

The standard threat from the Bush people is that we would cease doing business with them unless they followed our orders but now, the Chinese have been quickly opening up other markets to compensate for their anticipated loss of American trade and the DoS and CIA people feel that they have found more than enough support in Europe and elsewhere from countries that are outraged by the Bush drumfire of malicious threats. This man is going to destroy the United States economy all by his pin-headed self.!”

Hu's on First

Twelve Steps for Recovery from Fundamentalism

http://www.bigmamaschurch.org/

There are a few of the steps I disagree with here, especially No. 12, which flies in the face of Chief Joseph's advice on minding one's own business a few entries below.

As to whether God is patriarchal or not, I think it says in the Bible (the words of Jesus Christ Himself, you can't miss them) that God is a spirit.

God is a loving spirit. I happen to know this personally because of a Near-Death Experience I had not too long ago.

I went to the Baptist Sunday School yesterday and a heavy-set white woman made the comment with a mocking, condescending sneer in her voice, "People today say 'Gawd is love.'"

Yeah, they do. Maybe because it's in the Bible also.

These are "Bible-believing" Christians? That's what they keep telling me.

Okay, if they don't want to believe in a loving deity, that's okay by me. I just don't want them to unleash their judgmental, fearmongering, wrathful deity (aka Lucifer) on me in the form of their false messiah, Dubya.

Maybe my corpulent friend would be more comfortable worshipping The God of Hellfire that her "too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew."

I am coming full circle in my beliefs about the dangers of fundamentalist religion. I used to deride a girl in high school who went to the same Baptist church I sporadically attend these days. In those days I worshipped Bacchus. I was pretty high on myself most days also. But being somewhat bipolar there were also quite a few days of self-loathing as well. At any rate, if I had a dollar for the number of times I derided that girl to her face as a "fundamentalist," I'd be more easily able to pay for my retirement. At first she didn't realize I was trying to insult her. To an extent, it is really a blessing to be uneducated. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

Chief Joseph for President. Hail to the chief. I know you're out there somewhere, Chief, or there wouldn't be people channeling you. And unlike Governator Schwarzenegger, you are a native American.



Nez Perces Chief Joseph & Red Thunder pose with Edmund S. Meany, Washington, ca. 1903
Photographer
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952
Photographed
United States--Washington (State)--Seattle
Available Info On photo:
Left to Right
Chief Joseph and Red Thunder wearing headdresses, with Edmund S. Meany (called Three Knives by Chief Joseph)

It takes a pillage

http://sideshow.me.uk/smar05.htm#111445

The Cisco kid was a friend of mine. Now he's turning into a Chinese company. How "Wong" can this go on?

Why does Cisco hate America?

Sentinels of the SkyConversations with Chief Joseph

http://www.greatwesternpublishing.org/weeklymessages.html

Resistance Will Get You Nowhere

John Cali
 
This past month or so, I’d been getting sales calls from a telemarketing company. I never answered the phone because I recognized their number from my caller ID service. But I’ll have to give them credit -- they were incredibly persistent, calling me several times daily, day and night.

I watched myself getting more and more frustrated over the course of several weeks, and I was feeling greater and greater resistance. The more resistant I got, the more they called.

Finally, after tiring of the continual calls, I answered what turned out to be the final call.

I politely told the lady on the other end I wished to be taken off their calling list. She pleasantly agreed to do so.

Simple solution. And that was the end of it.

Afterward I got to thinking about it all. I had allowed myself to move deeply into resistance. And that resistance against what I did not want only brought more of what I did not want. When I gave up the resistance, it all ended peacefully and quickly.

What a magnificent lesson! Especially for someone like me who prides himself on being so non-resistant.

You know, Joseph and I teach non-resistance and all those kinds of things all the time. Yet sometimes it takes the teacher longer to learn than the student.

Chief Joseph

The biggest challenge most humans face in their current lifetimes is their resistance to what they do not want. And yet, as John’s story so clearly illustrates, resistance only brings more of what you do not want.

There are two principles -- or laws, if you like -- at work here.

The first is what many of you call the Law of Attraction. Simply said, the Law of Attraction, dictates you will always get more of what you put your focus on. Always, no exceptions!

So if you are focusing on something through your resistance to it, you’ll get more of it. And if you’re focusing on something through your appreciation of it, you’ll get more of it.

That’s the way the Universe and its Law of Attraction work. You get what you focus on. Period!

It’s pure and it’s simple. And it’s nothing you don’t already know. You just forget now and then, as John did. So we are here to gently remind you.

The second principle at work here is simply allowing all others to be whatever they choose to be. Whether you agree with it or not. You will find great peace and joy, friends, in simply following your own bliss, and ignoring what others are doing.

Resist what others are doing and you’ll end up frustrated and drained. Allow others what they are doing and concentrate on what you are doing, and you’ll end up joyful and energized.

As more and more of you follow this path we’re prescribing here, you’ll find your lives becoming far more peaceful, abundant, and joyful.

You can create what you call peace on earth only by starting with yourself. That’s where it all begins and ends -- with you.

This is a rather long-winded way of saying "mind your own business" and "live and let live." Always good advice. I've never channeled a dead Indian chief. In fact, I don't do channels anymore period, TV or otherwise. But I think the chief is right here. Hail to the chief! IIRC, he was the chief of the Nez Perce. Pardon my French. Why do they hate America?

This is also an argument against door-to-door missionaries of various stripes, from Baptists to Mormons, which periodically infest this area on a continuing basis.

Well, it's also an argument against something like the last 65 years of United States foreign policy. And we wonder why America is fast becoming the most reviled nation the planet.

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/twain1.html

"It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms ... "

Some things never change. But the language always does. These uses of the word "gay" from a hundred years ago really stick out like a sore thumb, particularly when used in a military context.

Hey, hey, ho, ho ... Social Security's got to go!

Protesters, supporters line route

As someone else just pointed out to me, the last time Caligula made news in Shreveport was when he stopped off at Barksdale AFB in nearby Bossier City on Sept. 11, 2001, when he was flying around the country wondering what to do next.

This deranged lunatic (I think that's redundant, but whatever) said yesterday that he's not going to go away and will be campaigning to "reform" Social Security from now on. How will he have time for the wars? Maybe this is a good thing, after all.

More photos

Bush to Nation’s Elderly: “Support my Social Security Reforms or Electronic Homosexual Robots Will Rip You to Pieces”

http://www.newsmutiny.com/2-3/ssrobots.htm

Who Owns The Ownership Society?

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00078.htm

Bill Grigsby is from Eastern Oregon University. The more scenic part is farther west. Maybe that is why he is so depressed. If he lived on the coast, maybe a tidal wave from the volcano which could be forming off Vancouver Island would soon end it all for him. But he's probably at too high an elevation to experience such a euthanasia. Only those who are literally "feeling low" will be swept away.

Why does the Juan de Fuca Ridge hate America?

If there weren't so many dirt-poor people living around me who will soon be destitute thanks to continuing to vote against their economic self-interest, I'd be more okay with all this going down.

Of course, it's immoral and unScriptural according to the words of the REAL Jesus Christ in the Gospels and not 'another Jesus' that the GOP/SBC worships. So I would have to oppose it on that level even if it the ownership society was a benefit to me personally.

Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction

http://www.wokr13.tv/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=422B960A-26BA-4891-9E60-21C8818788D4

Why does the ex-Marine hate America?

America by the numbersNo. 1?

No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1264/article12985.asp

As the Baptists would say, "Why does Michael Ventura hate America?"



The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Why can't everyone in Minneapolis be like Mary Richards who used to "turn the world on with her smile" and "take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile"?

What Jesus Wouldn't Do

http://www.alternet.org/story/21428/

"As the religious Right loses influence, nothing could be better for the health of both church and society than a return of the moral center that anchors our nation in a common humanity. If you listen, these voices can be heard rising again. "

Sorry, Jim, I must be hard of hearing. I can still hear nothing but the bleating, maniacal, warmongering sheep called Southern Baptists around here. BTW, why do you hate America?

Psalms - Chapter 120

Psa 120:1 [[A Song of degrees.]] In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

Psa 120:2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, [and] from a deceitful tongue.

Psa 120:3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?

Psa 120:4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

Psa 120:5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, [that] I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

Psa 120:6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.

Psa 120:7 I [am for] peace: but when I speak, they [are] for war.

I turned to this chapter at random this morning. It just confirms what the Spirit has been telling me already. I didn't leave the Baptists; the Baptist left me. The Southern Baptists are the self-appointed, self-anointed state religion of the "Holy American Empire."



http://www.cafepress.com/mopaulcartoons

Television and the hive mind

http://www.mackwhite.com/tv.html

"57 channels and nuthin' on."

U.S. attack against Italians in Baghdad was deliberate: companion

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=38029

Support the troops? President Bush phoned Prime Minister Berlusconi to express his regrets (that the woman journalist hadn't been killed?).

It's a miracle she survived. I read elsewhere that they fired 300 to 400 rounds of machine-gun fire at her vehicle.

The Voice of the White House

http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a1426.htm

GOP Congressman Seeks to 'Restore Free Speech' in Churches

http://www.cnsnews.com/Politics/archive/200503/POL20050303e.html

And the hits just keep on comin'.

I am of the belief that if churches wish to become subsidiaries of political campaigns, they should pay taxes on every last dime of revenue taken in and no donors should be allowed any more tax deductions.

I don't even know why they feel this is necessary. The pastor of our local Baptist church has been there five years. From Day One, it has been obvious that he considers "lib'ruls" the bane of America and the spawn of Satan. Everyone knows he votes Republican. After 9-11, he wrapped himself and our church in the U.S. flag. The other day at the "Flagtist" rally pictured below, the singer's lyrics included a reference to the "stripes" on Jesus' back (from the floggings) now having been transformed into the "stars and stripes." Utter blasphemy.

Jesus is an American and God is a Republican. This is called being sent the "strong delusion" somewhere in the New Testament.

Is America going broke?

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20050307_101541_101541

Maybe so, but if things get bad enough here, I think the madmen in D.C. will play out the final scene from the movie "Dr. Strangelove."

Talk about a "debt bomb"!

Sy Hersh spoke in Louisville last night

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1637766

Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter

http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html

What's interesting is that it was the Baptists who were concerned about this issue in 1802.

In 2005, the Baptists (or at least the Southern branch thereof) have merged with the Republican Party and taken over the government. They are now the "Flagtists." (See photo in previous post.)

I would characterize the Southern Baptists as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GOP, although it is difficult to tell some days which of the two is calling the shots.

The GOP is back in control right now since you don't hear much anymore about the gay marriage prohibition constitutional amendment that the Baptists were wanting to "ram down our throats" (couldn't resist the pun) a few months ago.

The Baptists are also claiming "see no evil" regarding the growing Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert "hotmilitarystud" scandal broken by bloggers and exposed in more detail a few posts below by TBRNews.org.

Where is General Patton?

This is a scene from a luncheon held at our First Baptist Church's new multimillion-dollar Family Life Center. They held a revival this week to spread the Gospel of Dubya, it looks like.

I don't know where the Cross is. Maybe it is behind the flag. Lord, have mercy.

"JesusLand"

Download mp3 here:

http://www.thatguitarman.com/MP3/jesusland.mp3

Gladewater business to lay off 127 employees

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/03/01/20050301LNJGladewater.html

There's that giant sucking sound Ross Perot warned us about hitting a town just south of here. However, this area is ideally suited to compete with the Midwest for the booming meth lab industry. We are equidistant between Interstates 20 and 30, have lots of woods for camouflage and are relatively close to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. What more could a crank dealer want? < /sarcasm>

Poor, Rural Counties Offer Sweet Deals for Meth Lab Development