Bible Comes in Handy to Justify Pedophilia

The ex-wife of a former youth pastor accused of using his position to form sexual relationships with at least six church members testified Tuesday that she partook in sex acts with her former husband and one of his alleged victims.

John Picard faces 42 counts of sexual battery for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with six girls who attended Grace Brethren Church.

Four of the girls, prosecutors say, were minors.

During the course of his trial, alleged victims have testified that Picard was a controlling man who used his position as pastor, as well as Bible passages, to get them to engage in sexual activity.

Here we have yet another "Christian leader" being morally repugnant. It should no longer surprise anyone. I wonder how many of those other child raping priests and pastors thought to use the Bible to sway their prey and justify their actions? What a fine book that Bible is!

Oy Vey! Waxman Equates America with Judaism!

Off with his moustachio-ed head!

In an interview published on Jeffry Goldberg's blog (The Atlantic) Henry Waxman made several comments about how his faith (he's Jewish) informs his policy decisions. At the end, Waxman states "It's hard to sometimes know what's Jewish and American -- they're so close together."

How dare he? Doesn't he know that this here is a Christian nation, godammit?!?!?!

Go Ahead... Fire That Bus Driver

The below story comes from The Examiner... my thoughts are in the title of this blog post:

The Des Moines, Iowa, bus driver who refused to drive a bus with the above ad on it has been suspended from her job. According to a report, Angela Shiel refused to drive the bus because the ad of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers goes against her Christian faith. The 8-year employee faces termination.

According to the report, the general manager of Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART), Brad Miller, said that "DART policy states that drivers cannot choose which buses they drive." He said, "'Drivers are not permitted to reject a working bus. It's a very fundamental policy for DART. ... It's an essential rule that we will maintain.'"

Of course, this brings up a whole new issue. Do government employees have the right to refuse to do their job if it is against their religion? Now I cannot imagine that it is written anywhere in Christian documentation that "thou shalt not steer a bus bearing ads of the fool who hath said in his heart or out-loud or in print that there is no God." So, it is difficult to see how this would be against her religion. It may sting her religious "sensibilities" a tad, but how can doing her job, in this instance, be against her religion?

According to the report, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Ben Stone, said, "'As a government agency operating a public forum, DART and all of its employees, including its drivers, are required to follow the First Amendment. Since DART managers cannot claim a religious reason to censor bus ads, neither can drivers.'" He went on to say, "'When you work for the government, part of your job is to respect the rights of your fellow citizens, and you cannot use your religious beliefs to evade that responsibility.'"

Shiel's husband reportedly said that his wife should have the right to refuse to drive a bus with the atheist ad on the side. He said that making her drive one of those buses is like telling her to be "'two-faced for the fact that she wants an income.'"

A Des Moines civil rights lawyer, Roxanne Conlin, has gotten in on the controversy saying that Shiel has the right to refuse to drive the bus and that making her drive it may violate her rights. She said that DART should accommodate Shiel in respect of her religious beliefs if they can reasonably do so. "For example", the report said, "DART might have been able to transfer her to a different bus or let her do desk work."

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. It seems, though, no matter what, when it comes to running these ads, DART is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't... at least for now.

A Damn Good Question

Jason Rosenhouse of EvolutionBlog poses the (damn good) question "Why Isn't Barney Frank Speaker of the House?"

I echo Rosenhouse's question. Frank would make a fantastic, common sense bull to head the Democratic party in the House of Representatives. His handling of a Hitlerizer was absolutely the correct way of handling a lunatic. And he has on other occassions called bullshit when bullshit was flying, remained rational as Bill O'Reilly spewed stupidity, and actually walked out of interviews rather than suffer fools. Not a bad approach at all IMHO.

Barney Frank would be a better leader than Nancy Pelosi.

Dissent or Stupidity

The right wing talking points about the jackasses disrupting town hall meetings are that (1) this is just Americans dissenting and speaking out like our forefathers did and (2) that the Democrats are calling this unpatriotic.

Both assertions are absurd. Dissent is welcome. Compare what is happening in town hall meetings to the previous administration who interviewed people and kept dissenters out of W's events. Seems to me that the Democrats are inviting discussion. What they are not inviting is the insipid, putrid, obnoxious behavior of many of these "dissenters." Since when is yelling "Heil Hitler" at a Jew patriotic dissent? And who actually thinks it is a good idea to allow weapons to be allowed into a meeting where emotions will undoubtedly run high? Republicans!

Then we get to the stupid claim that Democrats, and even President Obama, are calling dissent unpatriotic. This is a lie. Republicans seem to believe that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it. Unfortunately, they seem to be correct about that. Truth is, no Democrat has called voicing dissent or displeasure at town hall meetings (or anywhere else for that matter) unpatriotic. Oh, some have called screaming and shouting and lying and Hitlerizing (this is what I call non-Internet examples of Godwin's Law) unpatriotic... and they're right... err, I mean, correct!

By the way, it is quite likely that the Hitlerizing was adopted as a popular right wing tactic after that blowhard pig-boy Rush Limbaugh did it (although there are examples of it occuring before Rush, it kinda blew up after he oinked it out on the radio).

Enjoyable Rapture Post

Just a very quick post today to share this link to The Rapture is not an exit strategy from the Deep Thoughts blog.

Nice job, Mojoey!

Oh Blackwater, (Don't) Keep on Rolling, Mississippi Moon Won't You Keep on Shining on Me

The following story comes courtesy of American Atheists:

The controversial private security army once known as "Blackwater" is at the center of new allegations involving everything from murder to illegal arms dealing.

A former employee of the firm -- now known as XE -- and an ex-Marine who served as a security operative under contract in Iraq -- gave depositions which were filed this past week in federal court. Identified as "John Doe One" and "John Doe Two," the pair made explosive allegations against Blackwater founder Erik Prince. According to a story in The Nation magazine, Prince "may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company."

One portion of the affidavit claimed that Mr. Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe."

Indeed, Mr. Prince is an unabashed Christian evangelical with a family pedigree of support for religious extremism. He is the son of the late Edgar Prince, a wealthy Michigan industrialist and vocal born-again Christian who bankrolled a number of organizations including James Dobson's Focus on the Family, Promise Keepers, and Donald Wildmon's American Family Association. He also provided the seed money for Gary Bauer's Washington, DC-based Family Research Council. Wife Elsa was active in the semi-secret Council for National Policy, (Board of CNP Governors, 1996 and 1998) a meeting venue for conservatives and religious right leaders.

The elder Prince also funded Christian evangelical ministries like Gospel Communications International, a Michigan-based outreach which produces proselytizing films. Today, that ministry has expanded to include a number of internet-based projects including The Navigators, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Children's Bible Hour International.

Erik Prince's sister, Betsy, married Richard DeVos, President of the multi-level marketing giant Amway. DeVos's involvement in religious right politics dates back to the 1970s when he helped found the so-called "Third Century Movement" which grew out of a series of secret meetings in Washington, DC. According to author and historian Sarah Diamond ("Spiritual Warfare, The Politics of the Christian Right"), this was the genesis of the modern religious right. Also "present at the creation" were Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ); insurance magnate Arthur De Moss; and then-Congressman John Conlan. DeVos also bank funded the FRC's glitzy Washington, DC office building. Wife Betsy was prominent in the "school choice" movement, and at one time served as Chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Erik Prince was born in 1969, gained entrance to the U.S. Naval Academy, but transferred to Hillsdale College in Michigan and graduated in 1992. He served as an intern for George H.W. Bush in 1990, and two years later joined the Navy SEALS. From there, he inherited an estimated $1.3 billion from the sale of his father's company, Prince Automotive, and in 1997 established the Blackwater firm. From there, Prince operated under a Byzantine array of names including Blackwater Security Consulting (2002), and quickly won crucial government contracts. In 2007, Erik Prince testified before Congress during a probe of allegations that Blackwater operatives engaged in misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prince resigned as Blackwater CEO; meanwhile, the company morphed into XE. Prince has retained his title as Chairman, though, and according to published reports claims little involvement in day-to-day operations.

The depositions filed in federal court portray Erik Prince as a driven, ruthless paramilitary boss with a Christian supremacist vision of global affairs. "John Doe #2" stated in his deposition:

""Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar (sic), the warriors who fought the Crusades."

The deposition continues:

"Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to 'lay Hajiis out on cardboard.' Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as 'ragheads' or 'hajiis'."

Despite growing problems over the Blackwater-XE operations, Prince has continued the family legacy of serving as philanthropist for religious right interests. He serves as Vice President of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, which according to Salon.com provided $630,000 in funding over a three-year period to the Family Research Council, and over $500 to the Focus on the Family. Erik Prince is on the board of the group Christian Freedom International, a nonprofit mission to assist "Christens who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ."

He has also contributed money to the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious advocacy and legal group that defends school prayer, posting of the Ten Commandments on public property and other practices.

Along with the federal investigation into Blackwater and XE, there is a civil suit filed on behalf of Iraqis by the Center for Constitutional Rights. All of this may shed more light on the secretive, "private army" which, say some critics, is the modern day equivalent of the crusaders.

Health Care Facts

Do ridiculous right-wing talking points about death panels and forced abortions have you confused about health care reform? Are you looking for some sane, reason-based discussion about health care reform?

If so, check out the new White House web site, Health Insurance Reform Reality Check.