"...it's not the training to be mean but the training to be kind that is used to keep us leashed best." ~ Black Dog Red

"In case you haven't recognized the trend: it proceeds action, dissent, speech." ~ davidly, on how wars get done

"...What sort of meager, unerotic existence must a man live to find himself moved to such ecstatic heights by the mundane sniping of a congressional budget fight. The fate of human existence does not hang in the balance. The gods are not arrayed on either side. Poseiden, earth-shaker, has regrettably set his sights on the poor fishermen of northern Japan and not on Washington, D.C. where his ire might do some good--I can think of no better spot for a little wetland reclamation project, if you know what I mean. The fight is neither revolution nor apocalypse; it is hardly even a fight. A lot of apparatchiks are moving a lot of phony numbers with more zeros than a century of soccer scores around, weaving a brittle chrysalis around a gross worm that, some time hence, will emerge, untransformed, still a worm." ~ IOZ

Jun 5, 2010

Oh Noes!



Some iron spined elderly woman with a caustic wit and a sharp tongue suggests that white colonists should head back to Europe and stop keeping their captives in open air cages.

Cue outrage.

Prepare moral turgidity.

Embrace swooning disbelief.

Castigate and condemn!

How dare she? She must hate Jews! She's an enemy of civilization. A Nazi! A friend of evil Mooslims! Worse - a crone with an uppity mouth, a terrible fiendish bitch who refuses to retire gracefully!

*

Apparently, agents of the Israeli apartheid garrison state have begun to shadow (some reports state "seized," some "intercepted") the MV Rachel Corrie:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37504817/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/06/04/reported-rachel-corrie-ship-seized-by-israel/

Cue more video of poor Israeli commandos suffering their lynching in the wee hours of a new Mediterranean morning, on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, FOX, the BBC, the CBC and across the intertubewebz...

*

Also - please, any and all defenders of Israeli atrocities, please go self-defenestrate. That is all.

UPDATE:  If you have the urge to defend Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Fucking Biden or Hillary Clinton, for any reason, at any time, the above mentioned self-defenestration applies to you, too.

21 comments:

Jack Crow said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration

Ethan said...

I love how the video suggests Helen Thomas has never heard of the holocaust.

Jack Crow said...

I know. She was 19-25 during the period of WW2. She absolutely had no clue that the Nazis were nasty fucks who performed industrial murder on millions of Jews and millions of other victims.

Jane said...

I love how the idiot commenters call her an America hater for disparaging the state of Israel.

"She is a Terrorist and should be killed for treason."

Oh, the irony.

Jack Crow said...

Good catch, Jane. Really good catch.

Jane said...

I think the philo-Semitism of right wing Christians is less than thimble deep. My fear is that Israel will one of these days pull a USS Liberty mach 2, something that can't be covered up, and all bets will be off. I worry about the danger this Zionist madness poses to the Jewish people.

Jack Crow said...

Jane,

I have parallel thoughts. Christian Zionists, esp. of the dispensationalist sort, need Israel destroyed before God can turn the region into a landing strip for Jesus.

They have a vested interest in (a) destroying the world, and (b) getting most of the world's Jews killed on the way to Armageddon, since their prophecies demand it.

That would be Hagee and his ilk, as well as a number of old Bush family allies.

Curiously, the equally noxious Reconstructionists (Rushdoony's followers) take the exact opposite opinion. And while they would love a homegrown theocracy where homosexuals are stoned in the street (I do not exaggerate), they hate the dispensationalists' attempt to get Israel destroyed on the way to a Jesusian Return.

Sarah Palin's breed of Charismatic, Latter Rain theology, splits the difference and takes the worst of both - desiring both World's End, and an end times theocracy, to enact the Holy Nation Perfection which will induce God to send Jesus back.

That's about 25% of the US population, right there.

And they all need Jews to behave a certain way (up to and including dying off) in order to get God to notice all the nice white people in the States, who want into heaven.

Scary shit, especially bundled up with depression level job losses, increasing marginalization, oil catastrophes and a Democratic Party hell bent on provoking armed resistance.

Respect,

Jack

Jay Taber said...

As John Turturro remarked in The Big Lebowski, "You don't f**k with the Jesus".

Richard said...

"That's about 25% of the US population, right there."

Do you really think so? I know Americans believe a lot of weird shit, but I often wonder how deep some of these beliefs are. But then it doesn't matter if some charismatic loony-toon can channel that shit into a twisted direction just long enough for the damage to be difficult to undo.

Jack Crow said...

Richard,

"Left Behind" is dispensationalism, in very bad fiction. IIRC, approximately 20% of all American Christians subscribe to dispensationalist theology, but the figure may now be higher.

Reconstructionism (aka Dominionism) is the smallest sect, of the three - but its influence is not proportionate to the size of actual Reconstructionist congregations.

Philip Anschultz (owner of the Galaxy, the Kings, the Monarchs and a hundred other things) is a Reconstructionist:

http://mapper.nndb.com/maps/792/000001789/

This is the single best place to start, with regard to Reconstructionism:

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html

FWIW, Dominionist ideas have taken root in the SBC, which is still the nation's largest Protestant/Evangelical organization.

Also, Dobson is halfway to Reconstructionism:

http://www.truthout.org/article/christian-reconstructionists-trying-take-dominion-america

Here is the Dominionst Youth Organization:

http://www.battlecry.com/

They are the for real scary shit, right down to fascist rallies 25k teens strong, with military fly overs and special forces groups in attendance.

Happy hunting to you, with respect,

Jack

Jack Crow said...

Richard,

My C-Zion/Dominionist archives are all on a defunct computer that has a nasty batch of viruses, so this is not a complete picture. But if you are interested in following the chain of evidence, these should also help:

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/End-Times/On-The-Road-To-Armageddon.aspx

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2717

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/115/christian-zionism-and-the-us-israel-relationship

Including the AoG (Charismatics, but not including the Latter Rain, mentioned above, since the AoG expelled them as too radical), the SBC and the Independent Baptists and non-denoms who follow Dobson, the FRC, etc:

The total figure is about 45-50 million Evangelicals who attend dispensationalist or some sort of tribulationist churches.

As for Latter Rain itself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_Movement

I used to attend a Kingdom Now church here NH, to get a feel for its theology. The people were all really nice, but the theology (which is LR on steroids) makes Nazarene holiness look positively harmless.

More on Latter Rain and its offshoots:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/sarah-palins-churches-and_b_124611.html

Richard said...

Thanks for the links. I'll look at some of them, but my main point/question had to do with the depth of these beliefs. People can believe all kinds of nonsense, or attend some church that talks up said nonsense, but it doesn't mean they'd be foot soldiers for the movement when push came to shove. But then again, to repeat myself, it may not matter. Plenty of the Nazis weren't anything like true believers, and that didn't mean shit.

Jack Crow said...

When it comes to the religious right, I think there's a lot of depth.

When I was documenting skinhead groups (for the ADL, before Foxman turned it into his own Jihad), I had some occasion to study the overlap between white nationalism and reconstructionism, which is how I got my interest.

It's not a perfect overlap, since Reconstructionist ideas have found a home in a number of traditionally African American congregations, esp. in the Kingdom Now hybrid churches.

It is my anecdotal experience that the beliefs run very deep, and can explain a number of seemingly irrational positions which afflict members of the "religious right."

The "end times" eschatology is unbelievably prevalent, even among those who are not bible literate.

Furthermore, recently (following Bush mentor, Olasky) there's been a number of efforts to incorporate medieval Orthodox and Catholic maximalism, which basically states that the whole nation must be sanctified (see Chris Hedges book on the subject).

This maximalism is very prevalent - and goes a long way to describing how the politically active evangelicals became that way.

They legitimately believe that God wants them to seize dominion of the country, sanctify it, cleanse it of sin (this almost always means "get rid of Teh Gheys") and furthermore, embody prophecy and the prophetic will of the "God of Prophecy."

The Assemblies of God, Dobson's followers, the Family Research Council, the Southern Baptist Convention, the conservative Episcopalians who have broken with the main body over homosexuality, and most of the non-liberal Presbyterian congregations fall squarely into this camp.

It's about 45-50 million Americans who almost exclusively identify as conservative, libertarian and Republican, who vote and who don't change their identity or loyalties over any period of time.

It's that deep, and the theology itself is self-reinforcing - since a large portion of the ministers' task load is involved in interpreting contemporary events as signs of the End Times.

Flood? Jesus is coming.
Economic collapse? Jesus is coming.
Earthquake? Jesus.
Chinese slave laborers build toys with lead? Jesus.
Israel faces obstacles? Jesus.
Obama elected? Jesus is coming.
Sarah Palin's ascendancy? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

And so on.

But, it doesn't lead to anticipatory quietism, as was the case during other millenialist epochs.

It's a millenialism which is activist, and which is packaged in a holiness and sanctification message that states, unequivocally, that the God of Prophecy wants his followers to play their very active part.

Respect,

Jack

Jack Crow said...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2553935925007078074#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhA2sVB_bFQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=044VLx3PC90

And the really chilling one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXwVsJh_GU8&feature=related

Ethan said...

I had been completely unaware of the philosophy behind dispensationalism. Spooky.

Anonymous said...

"I think the philo-Semitism of right wing Christians is less than thimble deep. My fear is that Israel will one of these days pull a USS Liberty mach 2, something that can't be covered up, and all bets will be off. I worry about the danger this Zionist madness poses to the Jewish people"

Absolute nonsense, but admittedly a very useful technique to distract attention from the fact that their own country is, even as we speak, already engaged in such vile crimes in Af-Pak, Iraq and many other areas. Remember that the anti-semites are very right-wing, and very violent, and would think nothing at all of using the sufferings of the Palestinians to facilitate their own war crimes. These are some nasty thugs we're dealing with.

Jack Crow said...

Anon @ 5:23,

What are you trying to state?

Ethan said...

Did you see Thomas is now retiring?

Jack Crow said...

It's better than what'd happen if she stayed on to gadfly Gibbs and Obama.

Andromeda said...

All this talk of Christians; I wanted to throw in my two cents.

Last time I checked, the 2 major teachings of Jesus, straight from his mouth, were as follows:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

There is a third teaching regarding Jesus' intent: "God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him."

Even 2,000 years later, after numerous translations, and after the Catholic Church edited the "official Bible" via the Council of Nicea to fit their rabidly controlling and patriarchal ideas, these words still appear, and are extremely clear.

Let's review, shall we: Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself, and Jesus was not sent into the world to judge, but rather to save---the last of which you can extrapolate into the following: do not judge.

How simple is that? Not simple enough, apparently, so let's boil it down even further: love, love, and do not judge.

How do people misunderstand the very basis of their so-called religion, which all boils down to those three tenants? You don't even need to know anything else about the religion, really; that is all you need to know.

And people wonder why I don't use the word "Christian" to describe myself, even though I consider myself a follower of the teachings of Jesus, which to me means "walk the walk" (read: love, love, do not judge) and not "talk the talk."

I fail, on a daily basis, to achieve these things, but I would be the first to admit it. I am such a hypocrite, it's sad. I work very hard at recognizing my mistakes, though, so I can do better next time.

Don't look now, but somebody's been reading the "forbidden" Gnostic gospels. ;-)

I certainly don't concern myself with the status of other peoples' souls. Better to pray for everyone, and love everyone, of every religion, than to point fingers and pick out who is and is not "chosen."

Better for humans to care for the land, plants, animals, and people of the world themselves than to "leave it all up to God"---or worse, than to specifically set out to destroy those things in order to fulfill some perverted version of "God's will."

After all, Jesus was a homeless pacifist who spent a lot of time hanging out with drunks, tax collectors and prostitutes, and telling them about God's love; he never raised a hand to anyone.

Not trying to be preachy or anything, I just wanted to give my interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, since he (sadly) gets a pretty bad rap from his so-called "followers" nowadays.

Andromeda said...

And a word about Christian prophecies:

Ultimately, the Christian prophecies boil down to this: man will bring about his own downfall. Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy if I've ever heard one.

Take religion out of it: as long as the love of the self prevails over the love of another, and man chooses to serve himself instead of choosing to serve his fellow man, we are all doomed, "prophecies" or no.

Personally, as one who does believe that prophecies can have merit, I prefer the prophecies in the Book of Enoch (non-canon) to the ones in the Book of Revelation.

I particularly like the "prophecy of the ten weeks," which starts out pretty bad but has a nice ending.

Part of the "bad" goes like this:

...in the fifth week, at its close,
The house of glory and dominion shall be built for ever.

And after that in the sixth week all who live in it shall be blinded,
And the hearts of all of them shall godlessly forsake wisdom.

And after that in the seventh week shall an apostate generation arise,
And many shall be its deeds,
And all its deeds shall be apostate.

I'm not all "doom and gloom," (again, there's a nice ending after that part I just quoted) but it brings me comfort to read those words simply because that is what I see all around me: the people who chose to abide in what they called the "house of God" were blinded, and godlessly forsook wisdom, leading to an apostate (godless) generation, whose many deeds are all godless.

That "prophecy" makes more sense than anything I've seen in Revelation---which is probably exactly why the Book of Enoch didn't make the "final cut." ;-)