My Easter duty

Jesus is coming, look busy

There is little more frightening to me than a powerful public official who is ruled by his/her communication with god first, and who uses reason and common sense as a secondary resource.

It's one of the reasons George Bush has been such a terror. After all, wasn't it Jesus who told him to invade Iraq?

And it seems as if Sarah Palin feels that the war in Iraq is a "task from God," as she proclaimed from the pulpit of her former church in Wasilla.



Wasn't our entire American revolution about throwing off the yoke of tyranny imposed by a king who claimed a divine right as monarch?

Where exactly is the outrage that was leveled at Barack Obama, and his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Sarah Palin not only attended a church with outrageous beliefs about witchcraft, the coming of the final days, creationism, and the invocation of the "holy spirit," but she has proclaimed that her mission has been shaped by her church experience. And her pastor is (and my apologies to anyone with actual mental health issues) a certified nutcase.

Sample any portion of this video and see if you don't agree:




Some early alternative journalism work is linking Palin, and her church with the Third Wave movement, which promotes domination of the world by an army of Christian apostles (Bruce Wilson's alleged "documentary" is a messy pastiche of horrifying christian rituals, which doesn't prove a damned thing other than some Christian sects are so demented as to pass the holy ghost via cellphone - "Can you hear me now?"). And while the evidence that Palin herself is a Dominionist, isn't exactly clear, what is clear is that she's been close to the center of a movement, that given Homeland Security definitions, might be considered a terrorist organization.

I think anyone has the right to believe whatever fairytale they want to believe, without interference from the government, as long as they aren't hurting anyone else.

But I don't want someone making decision about me, my family, my community, my government and my country, who doesn't have the good sense to tell their Jesus to mind his own business when it comes to making policy.

Is it Jesus, or is it Joe?

Sarah Palin's foreign policy, so far, has been formed by her communications with her savior (and we don't mean Karl Rove). She has stated that the war in Iraq is a mission from God, and maybe that's why she's so proud to send her son into combat in a hopeless, endless and meaningless struggle.

Now there's word that Creepy Joe™ Lieberman is giving her foreign policy advice ("The Sunnis are the ones with the beards.")

As one of my favorite prayers goes: "Lord save me from those who believe in you."

Joe Cocker and the grease pen

She left me for Jesus

Everytime I play this on my radio show someone calls and says "Play it again."




From the new album by Hayes Carll Trouble In Mind.

Who's the scaredy cat?

To properly list all the illogical, disjointed, contradictory arguments WTIC-AM conservative chickenhawk announcer Jim Vicevich makes on a daily basis, would take a blog longer than any of you is willing to read.

Vicevich hates Barack Obama. In emulation of the great Joe McCarthy, Vicevich calls Obama a "marxist." And Vicevich, for who stammering is nearly an artform, had the nerve to call attention to how many times Obama said "um" in the most recent debates.

Also, lately, Buddy V, has taken to disdainfully calling Barack Obama "the messiah" while simultaneously disputing Obama's Christianity. Maybe Mr. "I gave my soul to Jesus" Vicevich ought to re-read the gospel, in particular, Matthew 7, chapters 1-5:

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Today Vicevich called Barack Obama a "scaredy cat" because Obama has indicated he is not planning another debate with Hillary Clinton. And who could blame him after the travesty on ABC Wednesday evening. In fact, Vicevich spent hours of his show repeated the slurs of Sean Hannity about Obama and his relationship with 60's radical Bill Ayers (for more on the truth about Ayers, see here).

But Vicevich should be the last to call anyone a "scaredy cat." Consider this:

- Vicevich is old enough to have served in Vietnam, but despite his support of the military, war (and yes, the Vietnam War), and patriotism, he did not serve
- Vicevich consistently hides behind vets who have served (including his sometimes co-host and co-blogger, Sergent Mel)
- Vicevich is consistent in his support of the troops except when he isn't, never speaking out against the outrages of the Bush administration who sent ill-prepared, ill-equipped troops into a poorly planned assault from which the volunteer troops have no escape (blocked by repeated call-ups and stop-loss orders)
- Vicevich consistently hangs up on callers who back him into a corner - when he can't come up with a response to someone who challenges him, he simply hangs up, says, "this conversation is over," or shouts over the caller. Typically, he will spend the next fifteen minutes making fun of the caller who found the fault in his illogic, without ever giving the caller the opportunity to respond. For the record, I've made three calls to the show, and have been hung up on each time
- Vicevich will never allow a guest who disagrees with him on his show into the studio with an open mic. Why? Not sure, but it certainly prevents all those (and they are legion) who could prove what an imbecile Buddy is from having the opportunity to do so
- Vicevich has a blog, but there is no area on the blog for comments from readers. A sure sign that someone is afraid of a little truth shining on their innuendoes
- Vicevich consistently supports hard line public policy for which he will never have to really show support. Support the troops, but don't ask me to volunteer to help with homeless vets, or wounded veterans at the VA hospital. Support the boycott of the China Olympics, but don't ask me to tell my management that we will not accept commercials from sponsors who are aligned with the Olympics. Abandon those who need medical, welfare or social services help from the state, but don't ask me, as a Christian to spend my time and money helping them, even if Jesus would. Don't help those who have been hoodwinked into high-risk mortgages, but when my own business goes belly-up, allow the government's bankruptcy laws to protect me from my creditors

Seems to me that Jim Vicevich should be considering the beam in his own eye before calling Obama a "scaredy cat."

Last time I heard someone called a "scaredy cat," was in the third grade. I think the response was: "It takes one to know one."

Get thee behind me Satan

My four year old boys have a pretty distinct New Testament categorization.

"There are two Jesuses," they told me the other day. "The baby Jesus, and the one they nailed on a cross."

Sure they've skipped all the good words in between (the beatitudes still get high marks from this old atheist), but it's pretty much on the money in the way we deal with the lord.

We feel good about his birth every year about this time, and the rest of the year we ignore everything he said.

I find this particularly true amongst "loud" Christians. The Christians who are constantly proclaiming a worldview in which Jesus in control. You know, "Jesus told me to do this, and that," and "It's the Lord's will," and "I put myself in the hands of Jesus." The way I understand it is that we're on our own, to make our own decisions, and using JC's words as guide, we should be able to make a pretty good place of this old world. Jesus isn't whispering in our ear. He's pretty much hands-off to see just how responsible we are.

And so, it's pretty easy to distinguish the Samaritans from the Pharisees.

George Bush, is a Pharisee. He says Jesus told him to bomb Iraq. Not something I suspect Jesus would tell anyone. George Bush is just looking for someone to blame, and Jesus is convenient because George knows full well that he's not around to testify before Congress. I suspect that old George doesn't ever expect to meet up with Jesus.

Down here, all you have to do is destroy some videotapes and stonewall Congress and you can get away with war crimes.

If you buy that whole, "Jesus is waiting for me on the other side," you're not likely to lob bombs on innocent civilians and expect to pass muster with St. Pete. So I'm thinking George Bush doesn't buy the whole concept of heaven and an afterlife. Or maybe he's just listening to the wrong voices.

And that would make him a liar and a hypocrite, or at best, simply deluded. But what else is new.

Matthew 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

Sweet jaysus

God bless Glenn Greenwald for making me see good in the feckless Democratic congress.

They love Jesus and Christmas, even if Jesus wouldn't much care for the dirty little war they're funding. I think these are the same folks who are skeptical of the fact that Mormon's believe that the Garden of Eden is in Missouri, and that Joseph Smith was talking to angels about a century and a half ago. These are the folks who believe that an angel poured the seed of Jesus into his mother Mary's ear.

I think Jesus had a lot of great ideas, but there's no way he walked on water, is there?

Jesus cured the blind man's eyes with mud

When George Bush accuses his critics of dragging Alberto Gonzales name through the mud he might be doing a disservice to mud. Bush's terse summary of Gonzales career to my ears sounds more like an indictment. According to Bush, Gonzales played a critical role in shaping policy in the war on terror. Says Bush, "The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and other important laws bear his imprint." He also helped shepard two conservative Supreme Court justices onto the bench. And by the way, he has led the justice department in making protection of children from internet predators a priority. Now of course, those predators will feel free to prey on our golden-haired progeny.

What he didn't mention is Gonzales critical thinking in executing prisoners on Texas' death role, and his interpretation of the Geneva Convention which allowed our country to torture prisoners. And when Bush shames Congress for pursuing Gonzales for "political reasons," he fails to mention that it was Gonzales who used "political reasons" to fire US Attorneys General.

And of course, Bush, the courageous, walked away from the mics without taking questions.

Colin McEnroe has an interesting Oedipal analysis of Gonzales' own announcement.

Al has not yet gotten what he deserves.

Jesus saves, but he doesn't preserve

Despite the happy talk about preserving the past, as the parish plans the demolition of a beautiful 120 year old building, the good folks at St. John's are destroying a landmark, which has serverd as a gateway to town on a promontory overlooking the Connecticut River (and beautiful Rte. 9) and putting up a modern two-story community center. I would love to get a look at the plans, but I'm afraid that my anticipation of what a two-story community center looks like will be exactly what I fear.

The Hartford Courant's article about a street in Great Barrington this weekend talked about the proud tradition of construction in the late 19th century. Such was the pride that builders (we call them developers now), actually put their names in brick, terra cotta and concrete on the cornices of these buildings. We knock them down with little discretion, and pat ourselves on the back for saving windows, molding and bells. Whoopee.

Meanwhile, at a workshop meeting of the town council last evening, about a development a block away from St. Johns, the developer defended a driveway that will cross a Main Street sidewalk by saying the proposed tenant (It's Only Natural) demanded a wide view of the parking lot on Main Street. Seems it's too dangerous in the North End to park your car in a sunny lot behind the building.

But not too dangerous for a new community center.

Free speech takes another, uh, hit

This court is our payment for not insisting that George W. Bush never really won the election in the first place. We will be paying dearly in the decades to come for allowing Gore to gracefully decline a challenge to the Florida hijinx, and for not urging Kerry to fight the Swiftboaters ferociously, and himself challenge the questionable results in Ohio.

Wave goodbye to your rights.

Fangul! Tell me Justice Scalia, what exactly is it okay for us to say? Obviously "Praise Jesus," is okay, especially if there are federal dollars behind it.