Jesus Camp: Christian equivalent to al-Aqsa, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban, et al.

I must comment on the Jesus Camp documentary because it confirms what I've believed about fundamentalist Christianity for years. Fundamentalist Christianity can't possibly co-exist with our representatvie democracy, which has so far survived for 220 years(since ratification of the Constitution), particularly if the nutjobs like"Pastor" Becky Fischer whose camp is the subject of the documentary begin to dominate the "faith". The excerpts I've seen explain it all. An associate of Fischer, who is unashamed to admit that she wishes she lived in the deadly middle east, since she cited examples from Palestinian and Pakistani madrasas(where future suicide bombers receive invaluable instruction preparing them to strap on a bomb, or receive further training in an Islamic terror camp)and the Israeli state as her inspiration for the "boot camp", urged the children to pray over a life-sized cutout of George W. Disaster and some children lay prostrate before the cutout. When I attended a fundamentalist church, the congregation would have agreed that such foolishness is tantamount to idolatry, considered a sin so important as to have been included in the Ten Commandments. The camp is called "Kids on Fire"located in, of all places on earth, Devil's Lake, ND. I believe the brainwash camp is most certainly a machination of the devil. If folks who agree with the teachings of the camp continue to steamroll America with its prescription for global mass suicide, everyone will know personally how demonic these people really are. Parents who subject their children to such abuse should be beaten because they have slipped beyond the aid of a good, stern talkin'-to, so a good Humean "bloody nose" might convey the message more properly.

Interesting to me is the fact that these fundamentalist wackos who want to see a catastrophic Asian land war, which our great Senator Fulbright tried to prevent, which has already begun to smolder awaiting the great spark for which bin-Laden would be priveleged to take credit with a repeat of his Twin Towers mass murder. The region from the fringe of the Mediterranean throughout the old Soviet steppe provinces into India and beginning to rumble through southeast Asia to the fringe of the Pacific Ocean threatens to begin a mindboggling cycle of warfare and fundamentalist Christians seem overjoyed by the developments. If the fundamentalists love to send American troops needlessly into harm's way, why don't they host "Enlistment Sundays" to complement their fav "Justice Sundays" designed to take over the Supreme Court for big business lawyers, who talk the right lingo about "Christianity" and "morality", to gain approval by the Senate. Enlistment Sunday can host recruiters from the Marines, Army, and National Guard ( sorry guys, the Air Force and Navy have plenty of personnel for this particular phase of the conflict---I say "phase" because Bush's disaster may inevitably spiral into the most spectacular blunder in American history since the American people decided he needed four MORE years to complete his demonic mission to destroy the earth) to sign up all those little Christian militant children eligible for delayed entry or immediate induction and their parents to fight the Iraq War and the growing threat of Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan looming as they teach their new adherents the lessons learned from the needless Iraq War. It is IMPOSSIBLE to kill every terrorist because they have an endless supply of theocratically abused peoples under theocratic, repressive governments who are quite taken by militant Islamic leaders who would destroy any Islamic government friendly to the west. The messianic militantism movement within all three of the dominant faiths is a disturbing feature of their faiths which must be tempored by reason and diplomacy.

The "all-or-none" approach to the world advocated by militantly dogmatic religious zealots offers a natural case study for what can happen when a group or a dictator proposes that he/she/they have ALL the right answers for how to "fix" what ails the earth's inhabitants. These enities know ALL the truth and we are all going to discover those truths one way or other. Dissent will be met with harsh consequences ranging from a bit of a physical "roughing up" to imprisonment to execution because they are callously "unenlightened" and show no proof that they'll ever be capable of learning their truths. The 20th Century is one giant roadmap for the ascension of such philosophical positions and their results. WW II is a great example of the pitfalls of the intolerant "all-or-none" dogmas (read The Rebel by Albert Camus for some further enlightenment), which feed on fear and instability, much like George Dubya's administration's exploitation of the American people after one of the most terrible events in American history. The aftermath of WW I and the Great Depression were easily exploited by untrustworthy people who unleashed a deadly demon for nearly a decade on the inhabitants of earth. Enough already!!!!!

Fat man in a yellow coat: John Hagee

Flipping channels on a dull day, I happened upon a fat preacher in a yellow coat (see previous blog--obesity and religion, particularly fundamentalist sects) preaching war from the pulpit of his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. Hagee is now pushing for war with Iran to save America from destruction by Islam. Geez, Charles "the Hammer" Martel must be proud from his 1,100 year-old grave(not that Hagee would know, but Martel saved France and possibly all of western Europe from Islamic invaders based in Iberia in 732 A.D., not to be confused with pansies like Tom "the Hammer" DeLay. DeLay(aka Hottub Tom to his Christian party enthusiasts) is not exactly the picture of masculinity, much like the fat, yellow coat wearing proponent of "muscular" foreign policy radicalism Hagee.

There is a family photo of the Hagee family at his website and none of his youthful children and in-laws were donning military uniforms because someone else's children must die in these initial phases of his long anticipated battle of Armageddon cataclysmic orgy of death and destruction fundamentalists have believed in at least for the past 170 years(Counterpunch). Hagee is yet another chicken hawk bound and determined to get poor children killed in the middle east, while his children get into the "godly" business of raising a fortune for their financial well-being while they MUST still live on this earth awainting "rapture".

Hagee has been criticized in rational circles, beloved in fundamentalist "Christian Zionist" circles for his support for Israel with his group, Christians United For Israel . Now, Iran is on the Hagee radar and with his "godly" el presidente Bush in command of the nation's military assets, who knows if the notion of invasion is so far-fetched, along with Hagee's neocon cohorts like Bill Kristol (former adviser to Dan QUAYLE of all things---there's your first clue of who you're dealing with) rattling the sabers for more dead Americans whose names are NOT Kristol or Hagee. Not much has changed for chicken hawks throughout history who urge war and destruction without the first shred of circumspection or realistic assessments of what could go wrong. Chicken hawks urge war, then hide themselves and their beloved family members from serving as they'd have fellow countrymen serve.

In conclusion this afternoon of fat man in the yellow coat , Hagee sounded the alarm against Islamic folks migrating to America and the west in order to destroy it. I wonder how many imams over the years sounded the same alarm as western interests used the Islamic world's assets as personal possessions, particularly with Iran's experience with current day British Petroleum (known as Anglo-persian, then Anglo-Iranian Oil) who exploited Iran's oil wealth and paid almost nothing for the privilege, then got booted out of Iran by democratically elected Prime Minister Mussadiq and used Winston Churchill to ask the Eisenhower administration to help unseat Mussadiq and install the famously brutal and pusillanimous Shah of Iran in full control of the country.

Hagee is another "Christian Zionist" who believes all Jewish folks who don't believe Jesus to be the Messiah are bound for hell. Israeli PM Olmert doesn't really care that one of Israel's best "friends" in America believes he's going to hell unless he accepts Hagee's faith as long as America continues to provide $20 billion every five years for security assets. Hagee wants Israeli children to die in droves in order to satisfy his "godly" bloodlust and fulfil his neurotic "prophetic" worldview, which will usher in the Messiah and spare Hagee an actual physical death(you have to be a fundamentalist at one point in your life to understand what that means). It's all about fear with these "Christian" warriors. They don't fear much as long as someone else's kids are expected to fight this war for "national survival". Let's dump Hagee's fellow Texas Republicans(and national followers of their hateful brand of destructive politics) on the trashheap of history this November, then dump them from the presidency in 2008 for the very survival of our Constitutional government, saving it from Christian Reconstructionists who would be proud to serve Bush and dump all democratic elements forever and impose an Iranian-style(ironic, isn't it?) fundamentalist religious government.

Study: Being religious and being obese linked

From ADG, this morning.
"Christian couch potatoes
On the way to the church picnic, some Christians may not be sidestepping one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony.
A new study surmises that among Christians in the United States — particularly Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics — there is a significant relationship between being religious and being obese.
The study tracked about 2, 800 religious Americans of various denominations for eight years. Baptists, according to the study, were most likely to be obese, followed by Pentecostals, Catholics, Methodists and members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Denominations that stress physical health, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventists, show low levels of obesity, according to the study. There is also a very low percentage of obese Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in the United States, the study found. Because religion is often associated with positive health factors, such as lower blood pressure, stronger immune systems and less depression, the results of the study were somewhat surprising, said Purdue University sociology professor Kenneth E. Ferraro, a leader of the research. The study found a significant correlation between obesity and people who use religious media, such as television, radio and magazines. These “couch potato saints,” as the study calls them, tend to be less active and often watch “lots of obese religious leaders on TV,” according to Ferraro.

No wonder fundamentalist Gov. Huckabee has been so proactive in trying to save the state's citizens, particularly school children from a lifetime of obesity and the ailments of the obese. Huckabee overcame his own ordeal with obesity and diabetes and has taken the lead in emphasizing proper nutrition and exercise. The sedentary lifestyle is on display on television, particularly channel 21(KF45EI), a Christian-oriented programming channel that has a show with an obese fellow who cracks corny jokes and emphasizes cornier doctrine and parades scores of really unhealthy, obese folks onstage and sips soda pop and sits on a chair on a prop country store porch. The host must be diabetic and likely is just waiting for that stroke or heart attack. Some of his guests are morbidly obese, like a fellow who appears to be playing a ukele, but I believe it's a guitar. He dwarfs the instrument with his rolls of fat. Thanks Governor Huckabee for that shining moment in your gubernatorial administration of Arkansas. That said, let's elect Mike Beebe to continue some of the same progressive leadership, but without the need to answer to Shiite Republicans(gotta love the ever quotable, Guv'nor Huck). AR Democrats are a lot more trustworthy with leadership of this state than the hatemongering national GOP spreading its yankee(no offense to ALL yankees--some are welcome) suburban hard-right populism to this state to destroy the public school system and to leach the public purse for narrow concerns that help maybe 1% of the people. The BMI/wellness issue in the schools is the work of a man who really wants to be considered moderate and compassionate as the state's top elected consititutional officer.

Secretary of State and the rest of the Bush gang shamefully desperate

From Olbermann's "have you no sense of decency, Mr. President" echo of Murrow(directed at Sen. Joe McCarthy, typical Republican demagogue) concerning Rumsfeld and others' attempted linkage of tolerance of Hitler and the Holocaust to the tough questions posed by the media concerning the disastrous decision to invade Iraq and the much more disastrous prosecution(bungling "prosecution" is a better description) of the war and refusal to employ any sort of true diplomacy, it is obvious the boat is sinking for Bush. Condi Rice has just lost her friggin' mind, lately(as if she hadn't already---she doesn't care; she has an oiltanker named in her honor).

Rice stated:

"people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War (in this country) to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold."

"I'm sure that there were people who said, "why don't we get out of this now, take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves."
"Just because things are difficult, it doesn't mean that they are wrong or that you turn back," Rice told the magazine(Essence), which has a large audience among African-Americans."

Geez, Keith, these people INDEED have no sense of decency. Particularly since the Democratic Party's championing of civil rights for black Americans in 1964 and 1965 legislation pushed by LBJ with the lament that the party might suffer ill effects for their bravery and compassion for a generation is responsible for Condi's rise to power. Well, actually TWO generations so far. Most of the old segregationists in the South have been voting for the GOP since that time and won't likely return until the economic calamity which seems imminent draws them back(if it's not too late at that time). If it hadn't been for the courage of LBJ to enrage white southern Democratic voters, Condi'd still be in Alabama teaching in a segregated school because educated black folks wouldn't have been invited to join a presidential cabinet as Secretary of State.

Condi is an absolute drone. I read a letter to the editor a few weeks back in the Morning News or NW AR Times (can't remember which) where some moron was proclaiming Condi as the rightful heir of the Bush presidency. What kind of "jesus juice" is that woman drinking (thanks to the ever quotable Huck for that term)? Oy vey!

Fayetteville cable channel 6 completely looney this new television season

Looney toons television viewers who formerly tuned in to Channel 6 on Fayetteville cable have lost SafeTV, Carlos Padeiro's personal gig time for those who love to watch him play guitar in favor of Daystar network, which seems to air old-time snake-oil salesman Benny Hinn ministries several times a day (though I haven't used a counter to keep tally). Hinn, this weekend, has offered sensational love offerings for your collection to treasure for years to come. For $45 and for $25 look at the great gifts you will receive:

Temple Music Box
The Bible records how our Lord Jesus worshipped in the Temple during his life and ministry. This exquisite Temple Music Box, specially commissioned by Pastor Benny Hinn exclusively for our partners and ministry friends has been painstakingly crafted and molded from hand-sculpted artwork and plays the beloved song, “Alleluia.” No other song is more closely identified with Pastor Benny’s crusade ministry. Each time you hear this universally known melody, you will be reminded of the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit who gives comfort and hope in life’s every circumstance. Order your beautiful Temple Music Box today!
Item Code: M006
Item Price: $45.00 USD

$45 too expensive for your blood? The here's our love offering of the

Names of Jesus Writing Pen
Let this pen emblazoned with the names of Jesus—Messiah, Savior, Lord of Lords, Emmanuel, Jesus, Son of God, Resurrection & Life, Alpha & Omega, and The Way—be a beautiful reminder of the power of His mighty name! Uniquely crafted for Benny Hinn Ministries partners and friends, this distinctive writing instrument is perfect for witnessing as well as for gift giving. Order several today!
Item Code: M009
Item Price: $25.00 USD

Benny Hinn is one of the most powerful men of God I've ever encountered since I PERSONALLY saw him blow his breath on a woman on TV who then collapsed unto the floor-AH! Praise God-HA! Now that's some powerful breath in Brother Hinn's mouth g-LO-ry! Why the music box plays one of the most beloved hymns Alleluia. $45 to help provide for Brother Hinn's next limo,er, hospital bed for poor children dying from disease and starvation in deepest Africa--NO, DEEPER, where cameras and reporters never venture to check, er, report on the mass chaos from which we are saving them. And gain comfort from the the Names of God writing pen for the inexpensive love offering of $25, brothers and sisters-ah. Who wouldn't feel comfort during the day of toil to whip out a pen from your pocket and read the names of our Lord?

With godly men like Benny Hinn praying for the salvation of America, how could any of us feel trepidation in our hearts?

Bush: Opium growers(al-Qaeda faithful) choice for president-for-life Jan. 2009

According to Fox(Faux) News(I'm providing a negative Fox report about their boss, George W.--not to be confused with Rupert Murdoch), opium cultivation has yielded plenty of heroin for the globe's numerous devotees to consume.

"KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.N. anti-drugs chief announced Saturday a "staggering" 60 percent rise in opium cultivation in Afghanistan this year, and demanded the government arrest scores of major traffickers and remove corrupt officials and police who are profiting from the trade.
The record crop yielded 6,100 tons of opium — enough to make 610 tons of heroin — outstripping the demand of the world's drug users by a third.
"The news is very bad. On the opium front today in some of the provinces of Afghanistan, we face a state of emergency," Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told a news conference after presenting results of its crop survey to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"In the southern provinces, the situation is out of control."
The bulk of the increase was recorded in lawless Helmand province, where cultivation rose 162 percent and accounted for 42 percent of the Afghan crop. The province is currently wracked by an upsurge in attacks by Taliban-led militants that has sparked the deadliest fighting in Afghanistan in five years.
The rise comes despite an injection of hundreds of millions in foreign aid to fight the drug over the past two years. Costa criticized the international effort, and said foreign aid was "plagued by huge overhead costs."

The only problem for Bush is that synthetic heroin makers, the pharmaceutical industry, are dismayed at the stiffening competition. At this rate, popular synthetic heroin addicts, such as Jack Osbourne of The Osbournes Fame, might popularize the use of illegal street heroin instead of their products. The pharmaceutical industry doesn't like competition and have bankrolled GOP candidates with vigor in the past. In recent polling by the Islamic Polling Project of Dubai, 85% of all al-Qaeda faithful throughout the world rate Pres. Bush as the greatest president to ever serve in the office (no word if Zogby, the fav pollster of the AR GOP, has conducted a similar poll). The U.N. consider the development a state of emergency. Some success story for democracy Afghanistan has become, just like that wonderful success story in Lebanon after Hariri's assassination for the Bush administration. The Taliban have a source of cash to conduct their war against infidel sympathizers like Karzai and al-Qaeda and their sympathizers against the possibility of a new civilian government in Iraq capable of providing relative security and essential services citizens require. Today, I read a news crawler on the NBC Today show that the Kurds have begun to seek permanent seperation from Iraq. Partition has begun and our Turkish allies have to be dismayed at the news, since they have fought an intermittent war with Kurds that has cost the lives of 25,000+ in Turkey. The disasters and potential disasters continue to mount for this president. At this rate, it's beginning to look as if God is expressing his DISPLEASURE at Dubya's election by religious zealots who claim to speak in his name, according to their own beliefs about wars, rumors of wars, and natural disasters.

Apparently, activist warmongers are a hell of a lot more dangerous than the so-called "activist" judges of GOP lore who fuel their hate campaign against rank-and-file America with their consent at the ballot box (at least enough for GOP faithful to help steal elections ala Florida and Ohio for their party). Opium production thrives and the next generation of terrorists are receiving valuable training for the future as the Bush administration continues to bungle their responsibility to preserve the Constitution. $8 trillion dollars of debt to the like of China, Japan, Mexico, Israel, and scores of other countries not nearly as great as ours cannot possibly be considered as wise conservative policy. Read some of the quotes of likely voters across America as election coverage intensifies from this weekend until November and they whine that voting for a Dem challenger of their failed GOP representatives and senators is a vote for more "liberal" interests. Geez, if tolerance of an $8 trillion dollar national debt isn't akin to the mythology promoted by the GOP of "liberal" Democratic tendencies, I don't know what could possibly qualify as liberal policy on the economic front. It's time people were enlightened in the mechanics of the english language and learn what the words commonly used in political speech and commentary actually mean. According to M-W dictionary, the definition of conservatism is:

"Main Entry: con·ser·va·tism
Pronunciation: k&n-'s&r-v&-"ti-z&mFunction: noun1 capitalized a : the principles and policies of a Conservative party b : the Conservative party
2 a : disposition in politics to preserve what is established b : a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change 3 : the tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change."


There has been a great change in the earning power of the former American "middle class" during conservative governance's reemergence after their failed time in office during the early years of the Great Depression. Preserving social institutions is not exactly what has happened in Iraq or Afghanistan the past W. years as overnight, the conservative peoples of those two lands were told to form a radical constitution with a reverence for rule of law and the ballot box. Free and fair elections in Iraq promote more instability in Iraq than stability as Iraqi men-in-the-street await the next strongman to take over the government and impose a reactionary plan of promoting order, much like Saddam accomplished. Many folks who live in the more chaotic zones where the Mahdi army doesn't provide security from Sunni terrorists yearn for the days of Saddam's brutal control over the nation compared to the Americans' callous response to the needs of ordinary Iraqis to have a nation where it's safe to actually venture into public without fear of murder by roving executioners or assorted preferred methods of mass murder by the nation's myriad terrorists and sympathizers.

What's so conservative about this GOP? Other than their hollow observance of the three Gs and their traditional he-man values on the use of military force (not that too many REALLY believe this conflict all that important since so few actually enlist to uphold their values on this disastrous conflict in Iraq), NOTHING! Maybe someday, Japan, who proclaimed its freedom from America in the early nineties in the book Japan Can Say No , will call in their loans along with China, Mexico, Israel(not likely after $20 billion in aid and taking foolish advice from Dubya on Lebanon policy that brought them into a hollow military showdown with Hezbollah and destroyed a country that truly seemed to be moderating toward MORE democracy, at least outside the Hezbollah/Iranian direct sphere of influence), and others will call in their notes and begin to say 'NO!' to providing more bond purchases. What an "abrupt" change that prospect could spark!

At least, if the nation descends into a deeper abyss, we can all forget our troubles and start using the widely available new street heroin that should be making it to our shores every hour from Helmand and other al-Qaeda controlled areas of Afghanistan. Congratulations Mr. Bush on five of the most reckless years of presidential administration in American history. A 162% increase in cultivation of practically any crop is phenomenal growth no matter what the crop.

Early voting for Fayetteville bond issue votes begins

Early voting for the Fayetteville bond issues for road improvement, the planned sewer plant currently under construction along Broyles Road, and trail improvements begins Tuesday, September 5 at the county clerk office. It is obvious that Fayetteville will never be an industrial center. Our greatest asset is the wonderful town we live in that sets a backdrop of culture, architecture, and outdoor activities available in some form to all of us year-round that is the envy of our great state (as well as folks across America transferred to the area for one company or other and folks who move here because of the scores of national rankings in magazines through the years).

Fayetteville has, like it or not, become a bit of a bedroom community with the state's flagship university attracting a rather diverse crowd of proactive folks who don't want to see this gem of a hometown turning into the communally inhospitable towns and cities as exist across America. The trail system seeks to mimic areas annually rated as some of the best hometowns in America. The trail system will be an invitation for Fayetteville's citizens to strive for good health and provide an option for folks who would love to leave the automobile behind for some excursions around town. The trail system will be a shared amenity of living in one of the best small cities in America. Watching the city channel's taping of the Frisco Trail opening, the city foreman in charge of building this system commented on the parents riding along with all their children (one shot showed a mother and four children learning to ride---how could anyone be against a family value that seeks to promote lifelong wellness?).

Along with better access for pedestrian and cycling traffic is the issue of providing essential services like improved roads and an improved sewer system(some would argue these points are more important than trails, but I disagree). The capacity of the first sewer treatment facility has been exhausted, particularly since the west side of Fayetteville has attracted development and explosive growth. Also, Farmington and to its west Prairie Grove are growing and will require sewer treatment services that Fayetteville will be able to provide(Farmington would be a customer). Much of the growth that the potential street improvements will facilitate will be within the Fayetteville school district generating more property tax proceeds to provide for educating our children(some will be in Farmington district and Springdale). Near the mall, most of the property tax revenue goes to the Springdale school district. The new Sam's location along 112 and I-540 will be within our school district. Look throughout town at the signs hung by the city along roadways which will benefit from passage of the bond issues. Every part of town will benefit from passage.

This vote will be important to continuing the momentum of positive growth throughout our beloved hometown that 25 years from now, will be the envy of towns like Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale for their inability to shift enough emphasis to quality of life issues like trails, parks, greenspace, and communitarian values, such as the city policy excluding gated "communities" from within our city limit, and the ability to build centers like the WAC(thanks to donors and community vision) and the new library(thanks to the voters). Let's keep up the good work of crafting a city of which everyone can be proud and take the credit for following the vision of decent city government through the Hanna and Coody years. I've met Mayor Coody and Mayor Hanna and I took away all positive vibes from the both of them who share reputations for short-tempers(Hanna while he was alive). Cursed by an incendiary demeanor myself, who cares? It takes tough people to tolerate all the furor this population is capable of unleashing. What's great about the supposed "difficulties" caused by our city for business interests is a lot of hooey! This town's "difficulties" are mild compared to many smaller cities around the state. A city this size that discusses city issues and rouses as much support pro or con for various issues and usually arriving at a good solution is a reason to take pride. We haven't been steered wrong on most occasions, except the incinerator issue ( I didn't live here when the issue first landed in court) and the cost overruns of the west side sewer treatment facility (follow the link to Morning News).

Everyone should be glad to continue the rather well-managed progress of growth within our city limit and growth area. Vote Tuesday, September 5 until Tuesday, September 12 FOR all the bond questions for the city of Fayetteville.