Republican Jesus™
When I was a kid, I was taught that the Pilgrims fled to the New World to escape religious persecution. Somewhere in there, I learned that we don’t have a national religion and people were free to practice whatever religion they wanted. That was kind of it as far as religion went in my history classes and overall education. Sure, Jews were mentioned in the context of the Holocaust but more as a race than a religion. I did, however, attend Synagogue for a few years as an adolescent. I viewed it more as learning my heritage as opposed to actively worshiping. Even then, I was not inclined towards belief. Probably because my parents were more interested in making sure I was curious about stuff instead of learning any particular dogma. Religion was, for me, just something that other people did. It would be many years before I understood I was an atheist and even more years until I stumbled across Dawkins, Hitchens, et. al and learned how to verbalize it.
Through all of this, it never occurred to me that I would ever have to worry about a particular set of religious values being forced upon me. I always assumed that religion was a private thing, practiced in one’s home or place of worship. That was it. Even in college, I rarely came across any real religious zeal. I once took a trip down to Washington DC with the Young Republicans club because they were my friends and they invited me to go. I got to meet Oliver North (yay me?) who was so exact in his pose with each of us, from me at 6’2” to little Jen, all of 5’1”, that to this day, I cannot convince people the pictures are not of us next to a cardboard cutout.
But even with the Young Republicans during that first Bush presidency, I wasn’t assaulted with any kind of religious politics. I did find a good deal of racism which gave me a big clue about how Republicans see the world. I was totally apolitical at the time and had no idea what the difference between a Democrat and a Republican was. I didn’t read, or watch, the news and no one had ever mentioned it in any of my classes. My political education was also sorely lacking. It irritates me when I think back on it.
Fast forward to the George W. Bush years. I had been aware of the Evangelical movement back in the 80s but Creationism still wasn’t being taught in schools and Roe v. Wade hadn’t been overturned on religious grounds. But during Bush’s tenure, I started hearing the more than occasional remark about how not believing in God makes you a bad American and if you were a LIBERAL that didn’t believe in God? Scum of the Earth!
Wait a minute. Not believing in God (or, more precisely, not believing in a very specific version of God) makes me a bad American? How does that even work? This country was founded on religious freedom and the explicit separation of Church and State, wasn’t it? And that’s when I became acquainted with Republican Jesus™.
Who the hell is Republican Jesus™?
Republican Jesus™ is very different than the Jesus you and I are familiar with. First off, he is White. Not just white, but White. Republican Jesus™ has a special place in his heart for America. Specifically, White America. Do you doubt this? Ask yourself why anyone who believes in a colorblind Jesus would even conceive of praying for the death of Obama? No, only those who follow Republican Jesus™ would think that such a prayer could, or should, be answered. If you are currently thinking that racism has nothing to do with the unprecedented hatred of Obama, go away, I’m talking to the grownups.
Republican Jesus™, by the way, is a big supporter of the Confederacy. Why he let them lose the War of Northern Aggression is a mystery. But all “real” Americans know that the South will rise again and Republican Jesus™ will lead the way back to glory. Or something like that. How the Northern and Mid-western Red states fit into this Southern revival is also a mystery.
Republican Jesus™ loves guns. Loves them! Never mind all that silly talk of beating swords into plowshares! Every good member of the church of Republican Jesus™ should have, at minimum, enough armament to hold off an invasion by those commie Nazi liberal hordes that are coming any day now. Or the ATF, whichever shows up first. Or maybe just enough to wipe out a schoolroom filled with kids when their excellent parenting skills manifest themselves in the next Columbine tragedy.
Remember, conservatives, to complain about anti-bullying programs being government overreach afterwards!
Republican Jesus™ loves the rich. Ignore that whole “camel through the eye of a needle” garbage. Republican Jesus™ wants you to be prosperous! It’s called “prosperity theology” and it percolates throughout the conservative religious fervor. God rewards the faithful with material wealth. Very spiritual stuff. If your idea of spiritual is a McMansion.
But Republican Jesus™ is not just about love. Republican Jesus™ also hates and, boy, does he hate!
Republican Jesus™ hates the poor. This is the flip side of “prosperity theology.” If God rewards the faithful with riches, than the poor are obviously NOT of the faith and deserve what they get. This is, in part, why conservatives hate the social safety nets of welfare, food stamps and Medicaid. Those (and by “those” I mean those) people don’t worship Republican Jesus™ and are unworthy of being helped. Besides if you feed them, they’ll just breed!
Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina actually said that. And he meant it.
Republican Jesus™ hates The Gay. They’re sinners, after all. It says so right there in the Bible next to the part about shellfish being an abomination. Nothing demonstrates the compassionate conservatives’ dedication to the teachings of Republican Jesus™ like blocking legislation for same sex marriage and calling homosexuals pedophiles while enjoying a nice shrimp cocktail before a delicious lobster dinner.
Also, Republican Jesus™ gave us AIDS, and STDs in general, as punishment for homosexuality. Of course, this ignores the fact that lesbians (a well-known subset of homosexuality) have the lowest rate of STDs, including AIDS, among all adult population groups. So as far as punishment goes, half of the “sinners” are better off than the rest of us, statistically speaking. Maybe Republican Jesus™ likes him some girl on girl action?
Republican Jesus™ hates Muslims. Muslims are scary because some of them do bad things to innocent people. That makes them all evil terrorists. This is not to be confused with White Christian Militia types who blow up abortion clinics or plot political assassinations in Republican Jesus’™ name. Those people are martyrs and heroes. Or they were crazy lone wolfs having nothing to do with Republican Jesus™. It depends on which channel you’re interviewing on, Fox or MSNBC.
Republican Jesus™ totally hates Liberals. Liberals are the pawns of Satan George Soros trying to destroy the greatest country ever made on this 6000 year old planet (conservative moderates are almost as bad and must be expunged!). Compromising with a Liberal is a terrible sin in the eyes of Republican Jesus™ and must not be tolerated.
Finally, Republican Jesus™ hates science. With a passion bordering on obsession. And that’s the topic of my next ivory tower snobby liberal thesis: “Why DO conservatives hate science so much?” or “How I learned not to learn and trust my beer gut instead.”
Edited by Sherri Yarbrough
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Justin, I’ve been awake for I wanna say 15 minutes, and you just made my day. Week, as well. Screw it, I’m giving you March.
Have a good one. 😉
Wow, you’re Jewish and you hit it spot on! I am Christian, but I don’t worship God as the conservatives worship. Their view of God is more in line with Satan. The Jesus I worship is compassionate, kind, and loving to everyone. And oh, if you read the New Testament, not only did Jesus treat women equally to men, but in some ways superior to men (they were the first witnesses to his Resurrection).
The real Jesus is loving and compassionate. Satan is hate.
I totally agree with this post!! Those who follow Republican Jesus scare the crap out of me!!
Republican Jesus…. Abe Lincoln is turning in his grave. Poor Abe.
Perhaps it’s a geographical thing. I rather believe, from experience, that the RJ’s in the South who find comfort in the clobber verses in Leviticus against homosexuality tend to eat more barbq pork than lobster.
They’re still an abomination. Just ‘Que’ eatin’ RJ worshipers.
Ahahahahahahaha! You have discovered the flaw in my logic!
Ya know there are many more types of shellfish than lobster. How ’bout the crayfish? I recall them being popular in some areas in the south.
YOU ARE MY FRIGGIN HERO! The next HITCH!!!!
Smaller Government? No intrusion? Then why is it that in Texas a woman has to undergoe a MANDATORY TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUND if she decides to have an abortion? You don’t think this is an intrusion? And if you are worried about YOU/US, paying for this COMPLETLY UNNECESSARY MEDICAL PROCEDURE then why on earth would you support a party that is clearly INVADING WOMEN’S private parts. Don’t kid yourself. Republicans are against women and against minorities. What about gay marriage? Why should the government be involved in marriage? Who cares who marries who? Oh wait, the Republicans care. Not too long ago it was illegal to marry a black person. C’mon! Republicans are obsessed with sex in an extremely unhealthy way. The hypocrisy is undeniable.
The trackers report that Santorum argued for a raise in the retirement age for Social Security or saw a conspiracy in Pell Grants (which Santorum apparently stated were being given to rapists and murderers, according to the trackers’ reports) and claimed that single mothers breed criminals.
I am single mother who worked super hard, took pell grants from the government and now I’m an accomplished medical professional. My child has graduated from college and is now working for the same university I attended. She is not a criminal. Thank goodness for the social safety net the the government provided for me. I’m am very successful and so is my child. Thank you USA, the land of opportunity. By the way, I paid for my kids education out of my own pocket. She attended a private university. Not all liberals are lazy, not all liberals want a hand out. I know a lot of Republicans who vote against their own interest because they are uneducated. Like Santorum said, Obama is a snob because he wants everyone to have the opportunity to go to college.
/quietly humming the Star Spangled Banner
Go, YOU!
You have just proven that you are as much a bigot as those you presume to be ranting against! You obviously have no idea what being a Conservative is all about and hey guess what if you are an athiest…Great! I’m not and because this country was founded on religious freedom, I could give a rat’s rear end less who you choose to worship, how you choose to worship, or if you choose to worship at all!
1) No republican leader in this country has ever stated or indicated that you are ths “scum of the earth” because you are not a God fearing Christian, if you choose to feel that way based on something that you construed then you might want to check into therapy for an overly defensive complex (dont worry, thanks to your president I’ll be the one to pay for it)
2)Second of all, I’m pretty sure that most conservatives realize that Jesus was a Jew and that the Bible clearly states that he had olive skin (aka NOT white) so I’m pretty sure that negates your point that all conservative think that Jesus was white
3) I cant speak for anyone else but I can guarentee you that i have never wished President Obama any ill will. Would I like to see him gone after 4 years? Absolutely! Do i think he has done damage to America that will take generations to undo? Absolutely! I do not wish for any harm to come to that man or his family, and as far as race being an issue, you were way out of line there. I like most intelligent thinking conservatives would care less what color you are as long as you maintain our nations defenses, keep the gov’t small and out of my personal business, keep our deficit as low as possible, and maintain or nations impecable credit rating (something your shining star failed to do)
4) As for our right to keep and bear arms, not only were you failed in your religious and political education but you were also failed in your historical education. Do you know the only reason why the Japanese didnt choose to invade mainland United States after Pearl Harbour? “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” is a quote by Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. after reading that, maybe you’ll see some value in your average American citizen being able to exercize their right to keep and bear arms.
5) I do not hate Gay people, People of other ethinicities, Poor people, Social Sfety Nets and I will address each of these in turn
Gays- the Lord says to love all those you fall within the relm of his creation, and that he will be the final judge. Sounds good to me I’ll treat others with respect as long as they treat me the same and will not judge them by any other standard than of their character as a human being. Its not my business to do God’s job
People of other ethinicities- See Gays
Poor People / Social Safety Nets-Get off your ass and get a job! I work for what I have and provide to my family. Do you think John D Rockafeller, Steve Jobs (sorry he was a humanitarian conservative), and Bill Gates got where they are by collecting social services? Absolutely Not! They got where they got by being Doers! I believe that i do have responsibility to help those you are UNABLE to help themselves, I do not have responsibility to help those who are UNWILLING to help themselves (that unwilling part takes up an estimated 80% of those recieving social services) and I have NO responsibility to provide abortion services or contraceptives to ANYONE! If you are too poor to afford contraceptives…Remain Abstinant, its that easy, or is it? I guess not since the “entitlement generation” has been tought from birth that no matter what they do, there is no need to worry because there’ll always be someone to bail you out, be it Mommy and Daddy (if either one is around, probably a grand-parent) or…Big Brother (thats a reference to the Novel 1984 for you little ones of the “entitlement generation who passed high school w/o having to read so much as pamphlet much less any thing of socially readeaming value)
Please realize that Conservatives do not hate liberals, we dont hate anyone, we love America as our Founding Fathers intended it, a place of Freedom from Tyranny where a person IF THEY WERE WILLING TO PUT IN THE WORK is able to accomplish big things, have a family, not be over burdened by taxes, and not have to worry about the Federal Gov’t intruding on our day to day lives.
Oh, look. There’s a disciple of Republican Jesus™ now, aka FECAL™ (Fox Echo Chamber Angry Listener.)
Wow, You’re a brilliant little fella aren’tcha? I clearly differentiated myself from what the blogger defined as a disciple of “Republican Jesus”. I noticed that you didnt argue any point that I presented, you resorted to name calling and and “FECAL” slinging, and by the way I’m actually not a big fan of FOX News, I’ve moved on to other Big Boy media sources, Fox takes just as many stories from the AP as the other major networks.
Sure they do. And? I’m not a fellow. I’m one of the women the Republicans are trying to disempower.
Have to ask you Matt: If you felt the need to so vigorously claim you are nothing like the people I describe, does that mean you know people that are exactly like what I describe? I rather think you do or you wouldn’t be so defensive about it. If I’m clearly not describing you, why are you angry? We both know for a fact that there are PLENTY of conservatives that think this way. Why don’t you spend your effort on them instead of yelling at people pointing it out?
That’s like seeing a fire and attacking the person that called 911. Set your priorities.
@ Matt – Since a point-for-point refutation is what you seek, Matthew, then you shall have it.. en garde! Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll throw in the points of the definition of Fascism to point up the right wing’s Fascistic nature.. just for fun. I’ll try to stay calm and cool during My refutation.. but to quote Dick Jones, in “RoboCop” – “You just fucked.. with the wrong guy!”
1) If you think that the Republican right wing hasn’t been demonizing Liberal Democrats in this fashion, then you have not been paying much attention to the Republican nominees’ campaign speeches, particularly those of Gingrich and Santorum. They may not have called us the “scum of the Earth” in literal terms, but both of them have implied, multiple times, that we are “Godless heathen socialists” who are out to destroy America. I guess you must have bought Dr. Lyle Rossiter’s new book, since you think that Liberalism is a mental disease (implying that Justin needs psychological help)
Point of Fascism #1: Right Wing: Fascists are fervently against: Marxism, Socialism, Anarchism, Communism, Environmentalism; etc – in essence, they are against the progressive left in total, including moderate lefts (social democrats, etc). Fascism is an extreme right wing ideology, though it can be opportunistic.
Point of Fascism #2: Nationalism: Fascism places a very strong emphasis on patriotism and nationalism. Criticism of the nation’s main ideals, especially war, is lambasted as unpatriotic at best, and treason at worst. State propaganda consistently broadcasts threats of attack, while justifying pre-emptive war. Fascism invariably seeks to instill in its people the warrior mentality: to always be vigilant, wary of strangers and suspicious of foreigners.
Point of Fascism #3: Hierarchy: Fascist society is ruled by a righteous leader, who is supported by an elite secret vanguard of capitalists. Hierarchy is prevalent throughout all aspects of society – every street, every workplace, every school, will have its local Hitler, part police-informer, part bureaucrat – and society is prepared for war at all times. The absolute power of the social hierarchy prevails over everything, and thus a totalitarian society is formed. Representative government is acceptable only if it can be controlled and regulated, direct democracy (e.g. Communism) is the greatest of all crimes. Any who oppose the social hierarchy of fascism will be imprisoned or executed.
2) Do they? REALLY? Because I’ve seen plenty of posts on various news threads across the Internet from neo-Fascist Christian right-wing Republicans, buddy, and they are UGLY. Calling Liberal Democrats everything from socialist/Communist to Heathen to the spawn of Satan. And every single one of them is convinced that God & Jesus are on their side – and given the racist attitudes displayed by many of them, I’m guessing they DO think that Jesus WAS white. Personally, I don’t think Jesus ever existed, and is just one more fictional character in a book full of fictional mythology. Why yes, how astute of you to realize that I’m an Atheist, too.
Point of Fascism #4: Religious: Fascism contains a strong amount of reactionary religious beliefs, harking back to times when religion was strict, potent, and pure. Nearly all Fascist societies are Christian, and are supported by Catholic and Protestant churches.
3A) Well, bravo for you, Matt.. unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there in the right wing, whose comments I have seen in news threads, who are members of your neo-Fascist right wing, and whom not only harbor racial hatred towards the President, but whom have made countless statements about wishing him dead and/or wanting him assassinated.
3B) Race may not be an issue for you, but apparently many of your fellow party members feel differently. Take a look at the commentary on the Fox News site under the article about the murder of Trayvon Williams, for instance.
Point of Fascism #5: Anti-equality: Fascism loathes the principles of economic equality and disdains equality between immigrant and citizen. Some forms of fascism extend the fight against equality into other areas: gender, sexual, minority or religious rights, for example.
3C) Maintain the national defenses? Why are Republicans always about keeping the military-industrial complex going, but to hell with social programs? I mean, after all, people don’t seem to matter much to them.. at least, people who make less than $1 million or more a year.
Point of Fascism #6: War: Fascism is capitalism at the stage of impotent imperialism. War can create markets that would not otherwise exist by wreaking massive devastation on a society, which then requires reconstruction! Fascism can thus “liberate” the survivors, provide huge loans to that society so fascist corporations can begin the process of rebuilding. (Gee, aren’t we providing assistance of JUST THIS SORT to help rebuild Iraq..?)
3D) As for the national deficit, you Republicans do seem to have poor memories – see, President Obama inherited these two wars called Afghanistan & Iraq from your beloved Dubyah, and those wars were costing our nation $465 million A DAY. Both wars were unfunded, and we ended up taking out loans from China to pay for them, as well as to help fund domestic programs to keep our country’s infrastructure intact. Thus, the $3 Trillion national deficit – part of which was run up in a war we should never have been in to start with – Iraq! Dubyah lied to the American people, to Congress, in order to justify his invasion of Iraq. He INTENTIONALLY used intel that was ELEVEN years out of date, claiming that Iraq had WMDs of various kinds, when they had nothing of the sort. It was Dubyah’s policies that plunged this country into the worst recession since the Great Depression, Matthew.. Obama’s policies hadn’t even begun to take effect at the point of the downhill slide. If you think otherwise, then you don’t understand how American government works.
3E) As long as the government is kept small and out of your business? Oh, Matthew, your poor, deluded man.. you’ve really not been paying attention to what your party has been up to in the past months, have you? These are people who want to control what you can hear/see/read/do/THINK, and they are shameless in their manipulation of society to achieve their ends.
– Just this past week, Reich Insanetorum said that he’d declare war on pornography, and given his near born-again Christian outlook, I’m certain that would include artwork that was of nudes.
– About three weeks ago, Representatives from one of the southern states – I believe it was Tennessee – attempted to introduce legislation into Congress to remove all mention of slavery from the history books that our children are taught from – their justification was “the names of the Founding Fathers must not be sullied” What a flimsy lie – slavery is the shame of the southern states, and they’d like history to forget their past.
– Multiple states have either passed or attempted to pass legislation which criminalizes abortion, or, failing that, attempts to shame a woman seeking an abortion into changing her mind – FORCED TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUNDS, sound familiar?
– And then there’s the star piece in My presentation of evidence, Governor Scott Walker (REPUBLICAN) of Wisconsin’s attempt to pass legislation which would have effectively repealed the Equal Pay Act at the state level in Wisconsin, making it legal for employers to discriminate against an employee, paying them a lower wage because of their age/gender/race, in no way based on their skills or relative ability to do the job.
Given the mess that President Obama was handed, I think he’s done a great job at cleaning up what he could of Dubyah’s fuckups – and given that mess, is it any wonder that our national credit rating is in the toilet?
Point of Fascism #7: Capitalist: Fascism does not require revolution to exist in capitalist society: fascists can be elected into office (though their disdain for elections usually means manipulation of the electoral system). They view parliamentary and congressional systems of government to be inefficient and weak, and will do their best to minimize its power over their policy agenda. Fascism exhibits the worst kind of capitalism where corporate power is absolute, and all vestiges of workers’ rights are destroyed.
Point of Fascism #8: Anti-Modern: Fascism loathes all kinds of modernism, especially creativity in the arts, whether acting as a mirror for life (where it does not conform to the Fascist ideal), or expressing deviant or innovative points of view. Fascism invariably burns books and victimises artists, and artists which do not promote the fascists ideals are seen as “decadent.” Fascism is hostile to broad learning and interest in other cultures, since such pursuits threaten the dominance of fascist myths. The peddling of conspiracy theories is usually substituted for the objective study of history.[31]
(See also Point of Fascism #4)
4) Our right to bear arms is contingent upon the need to form a militia, in time of emergency, presumably wartime. Back in the colonial days of America, a militia was needed to help repel the British, should they make any further attempts at taking the colonies back. However, today we have no need of a militia, because we already have an official one – it’s called The National Guard, perhaps you’ve heard of it? Not to mention that the idea of a civilian militia being of any use in a full-scale combat situation, especially against forces like the Red Chinese Army Regulars, is beyond laughable. Do you really think that you & others with some hunting rifles and handguns are going to be able to stand up to highly-trained combat troops who have high-tech weaponry? Oh, but we’ll use guerrilla warfare, you say.. honestly, how many people in modern America know the first thing about effective guerrilla tactics? And if you DO have weaponry that’s capable of actually inflicting significant damage on a highly trained combat force, you’re in violation of the law. This isn’t “Red Dawn”, Matt – grow up. And your historical example from World War II (which My father fought in and lived through, so don’t go there) is irrelevant in today’s world – the tech levels of today’s military factions are vastly more lethal and capable than they were back then.
Point of Fascism #9: Voluntarist Ideology: Fascism adopts a certain kind of “voluntarism;” they believe that an act of will, if sufficiently powerful, can make something true. Thus all sorts of ideas about racial inferiority, historical destiny, even physical science, are supported by means of violence, in the belief that they can be made true. It is this sense that Fascism is subjectivist.
5A) Well, Matt, you may not hate gays & people of differing ethnicity/creed/faith, but again, given the commentary I have seen on many news threads, on Yahoo, on Facebook, and on political action sites, a great many of the followers of your Republican right wing very much DO. The hatred, prejudice and bigotry they spew are unbelievable, and many of them are self-avowed “good Christians”.
5B) Poor People/Social Safety Nets – Matt, I think it’s fairly safe for Me to assume that you have a well-paying career, possibly self-employed.. or that you’re a member of the 1%.
– “Get off your ass and get a job”, you say? Looking at today’s economy & job market, where would you like them to FIND a job? Are you aware that many people who are on social assistance programs are thus because of disabilities? I love how you Republicans spew figures and percentages – do you have any citations & sources to back up your statement about “80% of the people on social assistance programs fall under the UNWILLING part”? Ones that DON’T come from a right-wing supporting site, but rather a non-partisan site? I’ll be VERY surprised if you can actually produce proof, because most members of your party just regurgitate what they’ve been fed by your leaders.
– And by the definitions of the leaders of your neo-Fascist party, SOCIAL SECURITY is among those “entitlements” – Social Security, which people pay into all their working lives, and have every right to expect payment from – it’s not an entitlement, and only those owned by Corporate America would think that way. Nor is Social Security bankrupt, as your Republican leaders would like you to believe – it was set up as a system to be self-sustaining, using investments which employ the money paid into it in order to maintain the funding of Social Security. Maybe Social Security would stay solvent if people would stop raiding it, huh?
– Oh, and by your own logic about not being responsible for paying for anything for anyone else with your taxes.. do I get to dictate which roads you can drive on, or which bridges you can cross, then? Buddy, I’d love to see you suffer a devastating on-the-job injury and be forced to rely on the social safety nets which you and your Republican party want to erase.. just so you could learn how it feels to be on the other end of the situation. No, I’m not disabled – I’m employed, I pay My own bills, My taxes, and I have My own medical insurance. The difference between Me & thee is that I have no objections to My tax money helping those who are in dire need – those who you view as lazy & shiftless because they suffered a major setback in life and ended up struggling to survive. I guess that’s probably because I’m a Secular Humanist and I care about My fellow humans more than any Christian does – I’d love to contribute to charities, but alas, I live paycheck to paycheck.
– And in response to your statement about John D. Rockefeller, Steve Jobs & Bill Gates..
– John D. Rockefeller was born a rich boy, and he came into his money through inheritance from his parents. The only way in which he ever “worked” to augment his obscene fortune was being one of the Robber Barons of the early 1900s, in his case, Big Oil. Rockefeller made his fortune grow by being the original Corporate raider, either forcing out or buying out his smaller competitors – and when he bought them out, he disassembled their companies and liquefied their assets, selling off everything and putting their employees out of work. Rather like a huge, bloated spider, preying on smaller insects for its’ own profit. He, Andrew Carnegie, Mellon, and several others – they all worked the same way, and none of them ever did an honest day’s work in their filthy lives. And then, when they’re dying, they contribute money to charitable causes so they can be remembered as a kindly philanthropist, when they were blood-sucking, money-grubbing, bastardly PARASITES.
– Steven Jobs, deceased CEO of Apple Computers – Stole the basis of his work from Bill Gates, having been one of Gates’ original two partners. Yes, he expanded on that basis, but without Gates, he would never have gotten anywhere.
– Of these three, Bill Gates is the only one I have ANY respect for – Bill Gates was once an ordinary guy, but his genius in software & hardware design are what started him down the road to success – he designed MS-DOS, writing most of it, and along with Jobs and his other partner, designed the first PC motherboard. Down the road, it wasn’t Gates’ technical skills that availed him, but rather his shrewd business practices, hiring the best of the best to work for Microsoft. Bill is even crafty enough to have screwed IBM over not once, but twice.. and that was before Microsoft was the corporate giant it is today. If Bill Gates ran for President, even though he’s a Republican, I’d vote for him.. and the other countries of the world had best look out if that happened, because he’d own them before long.. LOL!!
5C) Abortion/Contraception – Matt, only a small part of Planned Parenthood’s funding comes from payments from the US government, so stop your whining. They are funded, in large part, by companies making charitable donations to them, like the Susan G. Komen foundation. Ergo, you’re not paying for anyone’s abortions, although I realize that, as a Christian, you’d like to outlaw abortion and take away a woman’s right to choose. Well, tough, it’s not going to happen. Ditto for Planned Parenthood providing contraception to people who go there – you’re not paying for much, if any of it. And as far as the controversy over churches being made to have medical insurance programs that will cover contraceptives, churches are, whether you like it or not, businesses. They have employees, and their employees have the right to coverage which is comparable to that of other employers. It is NOT up to an employer to dictate what an employee’s medical insurance will or will not pay for – even though your scummy Republicans managed to get their filthy “extended conscience” clause into the Affordable Care Act. And while we’re on the topic of contraception, you’re saying that unless a woman can afford to pay for her own contraceptives, she should not have a sex life, is that right? Matt, you’re showing the same invasive, choice-denying, life & mind-controlling attributes as the rest of your Christian brethren.. be careful in how you choose to answer here. Personally, I’d like to erase organized religion as a whole from the face of the planet, and I mean ALL of them.
Oh, golly, Mr. All-Knowing Obnoxious Christian Matt, I’m SO glad you descended from on high to tell poor, ignorant Liberal Me what the Orwellian reference of “1984″ & Big Brother means.. even though I’ve read the book, and likely have read far more material, of any sort, than you have. Ever heard of Sinclair Lewis? He’s an author who wrote a book back in 1935 – it was called “It Can’t Happen Here”, and it opens with the phrase “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sounds like the Christian-Republican right wing to Me. *sarcastically* I hear the Christian faith has a new symbol that signifies the unity of the different sects.. they call it the Unifix (you know, one symbol that can fix all of humanity’s problems.. CHA), with crosses coming off of each of its’ four arms.. funny, to Me, it looks a whole lot like a SWASTIKA.. (not that they’ve actually done that, just venting a bit)
And that being said, I’m done.. you’re on, Matt.. if you dare.
Oh, and Matt.. on a personal note, it is My opinion that those who are religious were either indoctrinated from a young age (brainwashing, fear and intimidation work very well on a three year old), or they are weak-minded, wanting a ready-made explanation for everything that exists. Religion requires no thought, because all questions have the same answer: “Because God said so/did so/made it that way.” And religion’s utter denial of empirically provable science makes them all the more laughable… especially since they believe in what cannot be seen, heard, or in any other way proven to exist.
Matt: I quite reading after point 1 and only glanced at the rest, so I will address the two complete misstatements you made that I bothered to waste my time noticing.
in answer to point 1): While I could find no reference to those exact words, you apparently slept through the entirety of Mike Huckabee’s Governorship, and both Rick Santorum and J.C. Watts’ time as congressmen.
As for the Yamamoto statement, that was completely fabricated by Lyndon LaRouche in order to justify why Libertarians should fight against gun laws. You Know the “Great Libertarian Leader” who, immediately after being convicted of major firearms violations, was disavowed by his followers.
I suggest you quite trying to be the next Glenn Beck, and learn a little bit about the real world. And before you start doing the usual conservative thing of calling names because someone pointed out you were wrong, please remember to refer to me as Sgt.-Disabled-Combat- Veteran-Who-Spent-Years-Risking-His-Life-To-Defend-This-Country-And-It’s-Constitution-Pinko-Commie-Nazi-Obama Loving-Liberal-Scum. Oh and remember to add the part about how all of us who support the Occupy movement are trying to destroy this country.
/salute
I can do that, I was in the guards. But I just wanted to swing through and seriously thank you for serving.
Sergeant Heflin, I salute you, sir! Thank you for your years of brave service, and for the sacrifices you made for our great nation! 🙂
I dont rely on the AP when it comes to news as they take direction those that are trying to disempower ALL of us, you and I. Thats not freedom of press, they are held hostage by those you grant them the ability to pretend to be journalists because w/o being spoon fed the stories that they regurgitate they might actually have to really BE journalists…you know who go out and find the FACTS, validate LEADS, before telling the masses things that may or may not be true. Do you really think that Republicans want to disempower you? If so, you are missing the whole point. The GOP standard of small gov’t, low taxes, and minimal social programs is design TO empower you. The whole concept of this great nation was not to be a welfare state but to be a place where YOU could achieve great things, if YOU were willing to do the work to get there. The reason I am capitolizing YOU is because empower ment doesnt work w/o YOU. By establishing a welfare state the gov’t takes power from you. You as a parent in North Carolina connot decide what your child brings to school in their lunch box, the gov’t has taken that power from you. How is that a gov’t who empowers you? The Republicans want you to start a small business hire employees and make tons of money, empowerment. The Republicans are fine w/ you owning a gun as long as you are responsible w/ it, empowerment. The Republicans want you to make health care choices based on your needs w/ your physician and not have to pay for someone elses healthcare needs based on the determinations of a panel of beaurocrates, empowerment. Please enlighten me as to what power the Republicans are trying to take from you?
;ustin, I get angry when I get stereotyped, anyone who tries to be above the lowest forms of life does, just like I’m sure that you don’t like the conotations that you are nothing but a tree hugging dirt worshiping leech of society. Do I call you those names, no I don’t because I don’t like it when someone says that I hate people I don’t hate, that I worship the rich, or that I want to see someone murdered for their political actions or because of their race. The people you speak of are there but they are the minority, and I mean extreme minority. I am a realist and a historian and historically it has been proven that you can’t throw money at a problem to make it go away, you can’t tax yourself into prosperity, and a person on a pedistal can’t pull someone up there to join them, the person on the ground must build their own pedistal or remain on the ground. I do feel the need to help out my fellow man, but I am in no way compelled to help those who accept govt funds (which ultimately come from my pocket) who are fully capable of finding employment. There is no such thing as free, no matter what it always costs something.
I notice that you are fixating on how YOU are not like that while completely avoiding the point that the GOP is currently infested with people who are and the base is certainly reflected in this.
Good for you for not being a follower of Republican Jesus. Can you say the same about your fellow conservatives? Have you watched the debates? Republican Jesus might as well been on the stage. Tell me, honestly, that this article does not reflect the current GOP base at all. Take a good hard look at the bills being passed in Republican controlled states and don’t blame me for pointing out how radical they’ve become.
Oh, Maaaattt… whatsa matter, buddy..? Cat got your tongue? Or is it just that you don’t have any good answers for My refutation..?
You don’t know about the Republican War Against Women? Trying to rape women who want an abortion, with an ultrasound wand? Throwing up all manner of obstacles? Defunding Planned Parenthood? Not wanting contraceptives to be covered (You know. Like Viagra is.) Etc, etc., etc. Seriously? What coverage do you watch now, that you haven’t heard about all this.
Oh, you forgot how Republican Jesus loves sex; not to obesession though, they’ve totally overshot obsession.
@ Matt – Since a point-for-point refutation is what you seek, Matthew, then you shall have it.. en garde! Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll throw in the points of the definition of Fascism to point up the right wing’s Fascistic nature.. just for fun. I’ll try to stay calm and cool during My refutation.. but to quote Dick Jones, in “RoboCop” – “You just fucked.. with the wrong guy!”
1) If you think that the Republican right wing hasn’t been demonizing Liberal Democrats in this fashion, then you have not been paying much attention to the Republican nominees’ campaign speeches, particularly those of Gingrich and Santorum. They may not have called us the “scum of the Earth” in literal terms, but both of them have implied, multiple times, that we are “Godless heathen socialists” who are out to destroy America. I guess you must have bought Dr. Lyle Rossiter’s new book, since you think that Liberalism is a mental disease (implying that Justin needs psychological help)
Point of Fascism #1: Right Wing: Fascists are fervently against: Marxism, Socialism, Anarchism, Communism, Environmentalism; etc – in essence, they are against the progressive left in total, including moderate lefts (social democrats, etc). Fascism is an extreme right wing ideology, though it can be opportunistic.
Point of Fascism #2: Nationalism: Fascism places a very strong emphasis on patriotism and nationalism. Criticism of the nation’s main ideals, especially war, is lambasted as unpatriotic at best, and treason at worst. State propaganda consistently broadcasts threats of attack, while justifying pre-emptive war. Fascism invariably seeks to instill in its people the warrior mentality: to always be vigilant, wary of strangers and suspicious of foreigners.
Point of Fascism #3: Hierarchy: Fascist society is ruled by a righteous leader, who is supported by an elite secret vanguard of capitalists. Hierarchy is prevalent throughout all aspects of society – every street, every workplace, every school, will have its local Hitler, part police-informer, part bureaucrat – and society is prepared for war at all times. The absolute power of the social hierarchy prevails over everything, and thus a totalitarian society is formed. Representative government is acceptable only if it can be controlled and regulated, direct democracy (e.g. Communism) is the greatest of all crimes. Any who oppose the social hierarchy of fascism will be imprisoned or executed.
2) Do they? REALLY? Because I’ve seen plenty of posts on various news threads across the Internet from neo-Fascist Christian right-wing Republicans, buddy, and they are UGLY. Calling Liberal Democrats everything from socialist/Communist to Heathen to the spawn of Satan. And every single one of them is convinced that God & Jesus are on their side – and given the racist attitudes displayed by many of them, I’m guessing they DO think that Jesus WAS white. Personally, I don’t think Jesus ever existed, and is just one more fictional character in a book full of fictional mythology. Why yes, how astute of you to realize that I’m an Atheist, too.
Point of Fascism #4: Religious: Fascism contains a strong amount of reactionary religious beliefs, harking back to times when religion was strict, potent, and pure. Nearly all Fascist societies are Christian, and are supported by Catholic and Protestant churches.
3A) Well, bravo for you, Matt.. unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there in the right wing, whose comments I have seen in news threads, who are members of your neo-Fascist right wing, and whom not only harbor racial hatred towards the President, but whom have made countless statements about wishing him dead and/or wanting him assassinated.
3B) Race may not be an issue for you, but apparently many of your fellow party members feel differently. Take a look at the commentary on the Fox News site under the article about the murder of Trayvon Williams, for instance.
Point of Fascism #5: Anti-equality: Fascism loathes the principles of economic equality and disdains equality between immigrant and citizen. Some forms of fascism extend the fight against equality into other areas: gender, sexual, minority or religious rights, for example.
3C) Maintain the national defenses? Why are Republicans always about keeping the military-industrial complex going, but to hell with social programs? I mean, after all, people don’t seem to matter much to them.. at least, people who make less than $1 million or more a year.
Point of Fascism #6: War: Fascism is capitalism at the stage of impotent imperialism. War can create markets that would not otherwise exist by wreaking massive devastation on a society, which then requires reconstruction! Fascism can thus “liberate” the survivors, provide huge loans to that society so fascist corporations can begin the process of rebuilding. (Gee, aren’t we providing assistance of JUST THIS SORT to help rebuild Iraq..?)
3D) As for the national deficit, you Republicans do seem to have poor memories – see, President Obama inherited these two wars called Afghanistan & Iraq from your beloved Dubyah, and those wars were costing our nation $465 million A DAY. Both wars were unfunded, and we ended up taking out loans from China to pay for them, as well as to help fund domestic programs to keep our country’s infrastructure intact. Thus, the $3 Trillion national deficit – part of which was run up in a war we should never have been in to start with – Iraq! Dubyah lied to the American people, to Congress, in order to justify his invasion of Iraq. He INTENTIONALLY used intel that was ELEVEN years out of date, claiming that Iraq had WMDs of various kinds, when they had nothing of the sort. It was Dubyah’s policies that plunged this country into the worst recession since the Great Depression, Matthew.. Obama’s policies hadn’t even begun to take effect at the point of the downhill slide. If you think otherwise, then you don’t understand how American government works.
3E) As long as the government is kept small and out of your business? Oh, Matthew, your poor, deluded man.. you’ve really not been paying attention to what your party has been up to in the past months, have you? These are people who want to control what you can hear/see/read/do/THINK, and they are shameless in their manipulation of society to achieve their ends.
– Just this past week, Reich Insanetorum said that he’d declare war on pornography, and given his near born-again Christian outlook, I’m certain that would include artwork that was of nudes.
– About three weeks ago, Representatives from one of the southern states – I believe it was Tennessee – attempted to introduce legislation into Congress to remove all mention of slavery from the history books that our children are taught from – their justification was “the names of the Founding Fathers must not be sullied” What a flimsy lie – slavery is the shame of the southern states, and they’d like history to forget their past.
– Multiple states have either passed or attempted to pass legislation which criminalizes abortion, or, failing that, attempts to shame a woman seeking an abortion into changing her mind – FORCED TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUNDS, sound familiar?
– And then there’s the star piece in My presentation of evidence, Governor Scott Walker (REPUBLICAN) of Wisconsin’s attempt to pass legislation which would have effectively repealed the Equal Pay Act at the state level in Wisconsin, making it legal for employers to discriminate against an employee, paying them a lower wage because of their age/gender/race, in no way based on their skills or relative ability to do the job.
Given the mess that President Obama was handed, I think he’s done a great job at cleaning up what he could of Dubyah’s fuckups – and given that mess, is it any wonder that our national credit rating is in the toilet?
Point of Fascism #7: Capitalist: Fascism does not require revolution to exist in capitalist society: fascists can be elected into office (though their disdain for elections usually means manipulation of the electoral system). They view parliamentary and congressional systems of government to be inefficient and weak, and will do their best to minimize its power over their policy agenda. Fascism exhibits the worst kind of capitalism where corporate power is absolute, and all vestiges of workers’ rights are destroyed.
Point of Fascism #8: Anti-Modern: Fascism loathes all kinds of modernism, especially creativity in the arts, whether acting as a mirror for life (where it does not conform to the Fascist ideal), or expressing deviant or innovative points of view. Fascism invariably burns books and victimises artists, and artists which do not promote the fascists ideals are seen as “decadent.” Fascism is hostile to broad learning and interest in other cultures, since such pursuits threaten the dominance of fascist myths. The peddling of conspiracy theories is usually substituted for the objective study of history.[31]
(See also Point of Fascism #4)
4) Our right to bear arms is contingent upon the need to form a militia, in time of emergency, presumably wartime. Back in the colonial days of America, a militia was needed to help repel the British, should they make any further attempts at taking the colonies back. However, today we have no need of a militia, because we already have an official one – it’s called The National Guard, perhaps you’ve heard of it? Not to mention that the idea of a civilian militia being of any use in a full-scale combat situation, especially against forces like the Red Chinese Army Regulars, is beyond laughable. Do you really think that you & others with some hunting rifles and handguns are going to be able to stand up to highly-trained combat troops who have high-tech weaponry? Oh, but we’ll use guerrilla warfare, you say.. honestly, how many people in modern America know the first thing about effective guerrilla tactics? And if you DO have weaponry that’s capable of actually inflicting significant damage on a highly trained combat force, you’re in violation of the law. This isn’t “Red Dawn”, Matt – grow up. And your historical example from World War II (which My father fought in and lived through, so don’t go there) is irrelevant in today’s world – the tech levels of today’s military factions are vastly more lethal and capable than they were back then.
Point of Fascism #9: Voluntarist Ideology: Fascism adopts a certain kind of “voluntarism;” they believe that an act of will, if sufficiently powerful, can make something true. Thus all sorts of ideas about racial inferiority, historical destiny, even physical science, are supported by means of violence, in the belief that they can be made true. It is this sense that Fascism is subjectivist.
5A) Well, Matt, you may not hate gays & people of differing ethnicity/creed/faith, but again, given the commentary I have seen on many news threads, on Yahoo, on Facebook, and on political action sites, a great many of the followers of your Republican right wing very much DO. The hatred, prejudice and bigotry they spew are unbelievable, and many of them are self-avowed “good Christians”.
5B) Poor People/Social Safety Nets – Matt, I think it’s fairly safe for Me to assume that you have a well-paying career, possibly self-employed.. or that you’re a member of the 1%.
– “Get off your ass and get a job”, you say? Looking at today’s economy & job market, where would you like them to FIND a job? Are you aware that many people who are on social assistance programs are thus because of disabilities? I love how you Republicans spew figures and percentages – do you have any citations & sources to back up your statement about “80% of the people on social assistance programs fall under the UNWILLING part”? Ones that DON’T come from a right-wing supporting site, but rather a non-partisan site? I’ll be VERY surprised if you can actually produce proof, because most members of your party just regurgitate what they’ve been fed by your leaders.
– And by the definitions of the leaders of your neo-Fascist party, SOCIAL SECURITY is among those “entitlements” – Social Security, which people pay into all their working lives, and have every right to expect payment from – it’s not an entitlement, and only those owned by Corporate America would think that way. Nor is Social Security bankrupt, as your Republican leaders would like you to believe – it was set up as a system to be self-sustaining, using investments which employ the money paid into it in order to maintain the funding of Social Security. Maybe Social Security would stay solvent if people would stop raiding it, huh?
– Oh, and by your own logic about not being responsible for paying for anything for anyone else with your taxes.. do I get to dictate which roads you can drive on, or which bridges you can cross, then? Buddy, I’d love to see you suffer a devastating on-the-job injury and be forced to rely on the social safety nets which you and your Republican party want to erase.. just so you could learn how it feels to be on the other end of the situation. No, I’m not disabled – I’m employed, I pay My own bills, My taxes, and I have My own medical insurance. The difference between Me & thee is that I have no objections to My tax money helping those who are in dire need – those who you view as lazy & shiftless because they suffered a major setback in life and ended up struggling to survive. I guess that’s probably because I’m a Secular Humanist and I care about My fellow humans more than any Christian does – I’d love to contribute to charities, but alas, I live paycheck to paycheck.
– And in response to your statement about John D. Rockefeller, Steve Jobs & Bill Gates..
– John D. Rockefeller was born a rich boy, and he came into his money through inheritance from his parents. The only way in which he ever “worked” to augment his obscene fortune was being one of the Robber Barons of the early 1900s, in his case, Big Oil. Rockefeller made his fortune grow by being the original Corporate raider, either forcing out or buying out his smaller competitors – and when he bought them out, he disassembled their companies and liquefied their assets, selling off everything and putting their employees out of work. Rather like a huge, bloated spider, preying on smaller insects for its’ own profit. He, Andrew Carnegie, Mellon, and several others – they all worked the same way, and none of them ever did an honest day’s work in their filthy lives. And then, when they’re dying, they contribute money to charitable causes so they can be remembered as a kindly philanthropist, when they were blood-sucking, money-grubbing, bastardly PARASITES.
– Steven Jobs, deceased CEO of Apple Computers – Stole the basis of his work from Bill Gates, having been one of Gates’ original two partners. Yes, he expanded on that basis, but without Gates, he would never have gotten anywhere.
– Of these three, Bill Gates is the only one I have ANY respect for – Bill Gates was once an ordinary guy, but his genius in software & hardware design are what started him down the road to success – he designed MS-DOS, writing most of it, and along with Jobs and his other partner, designed the first PC motherboard. Down the road, it wasn’t Gates’ technical skills that availed him, but rather his shrewd business practices, hiring the best of the best to work for Microsoft. Bill is even crafty enough to have screwed IBM over not once, but twice.. and that was before Microsoft was the corporate giant it is today. If Bill Gates ran for President, even though he’s a Republican, I’d vote for him.. and the other countries of the world had best look out if that happened, because he’d own them before long.. LOL!!
5C) Abortion/Contraception – Matt, only a small part of Planned Parenthood’s funding comes from payments from the US government, so stop your whining. They are funded, in large part, by companies making charitable donations to them, like the Susan G. Komen foundation. Ergo, you’re not paying for anyone’s abortions, although I realize that, as a Christian, you’d like to outlaw abortion and take away a woman’s right to choose. Well, tough, it’s not going to happen. Ditto for Planned Parenthood providing contraception to people who go there – you’re not paying for much, if any of it. And as far as the controversy over churches being made to have medical insurance programs that will cover contraceptives, churches are, whether you like it or not, businesses. They have employees, and their employees have the right to coverage which is comparable to that of other employers. It is NOT up to an employer to dictate what an employee’s medical insurance will or will not pay for – even though your scummy Republicans managed to get their filthy “extended conscience” clause into the Affordable Care Act. And while we’re on the topic of contraception, you’re saying that unless a woman can afford to pay for her own contraceptives, she should not have a sex life, is that right? Matt, you’re showing the same invasive, choice-denying, life & mind-controlling attributes as the rest of your Christian brethren.. be careful in how you choose to answer here. Personally, I’d like to erase organized religion as a whole from the face of the planet, and I mean ALL of them.
Oh, golly, Mr. All-Knowing Obnoxious Christian Matt, I’m SO glad you descended from on high to tell poor, ignorant Liberal Me what the Orwellian reference of “1984” & Big Brother means.. even though I’ve read the book, and likely have read far more material, of any sort, than you have. Ever heard of Sinclair Lewis? He’s an author who wrote a book back in 1935 – it was called “It Can’t Happen Here”, and it opens with the phrase “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sounds like the Christian-Republican right wing to Me. *sarcastically* I hear the Christian faith has a new symbol that signifies the unity of the different sects.. they call it the Unifix (you know, one symbol that can fix all of humanity’s problems.. CHA), with crosses coming off of each of its’ four arms.. funny, to Me, it looks a whole lot like a SWASTIKA.. (not that they’ve actually done that, just venting a bit)
And that being said, I’m done.. you’re on, Matt.. if you dare.
You forgot the part about how Republican Jesus doesn’t just hate Moslums, but he also hates Christians who follow the teachings of that evil brown skinned, middle eastern terrorist and “False Prophet” : The REAL Jesus.
Most excellent…my favorite post by far so far. 😉