Religious Right prays to Moloch (No Escape from Jim Demint, pt. 2)

Wowee Zowee, today everyone is talking about the Family Research Council Action PAC's "prayercast event" (where do they come up with these names?) that our Senator, Jim Demint, attended with the likes of hardcore right-wingnuts Michele Bachmann, Sam Brownback, Todd Akin and Mike McIntyre. MSNBC covered the three-ring circus at some length last night.

Talking Points Memo reports that Dr Dobson also dropped in, to see what condition his condition was in:

James Dobson participated via phone, offering a prayer and seeming to tie the health care bill and the country's overall political direction to none other than the Devil: "I just pray that You will frustrate the plans of the Evil One, and revive us again with conviction and forgiveness. Show us how we can further your cause, Lord and advance your kingdom, and we will be careful to give you the praise. Just begin a revival in our hearts that will restore us as one nation under God."

Wow, silly me, I was just thinking that anyone who wants to deny health care to anyone for any reason will burn in hell for all eternity. But then, I am an adherent of that OLD TIME RELIGION, straight from THE BIBLE, which categorically states that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for Dr Dobson, a very rich man, to go to heaven.

I think they missed that verse.

In any event, the whole thing has me nauseated. Clean hands and a pure heart? (That would leave out politicians, simply by definition, wouldn't it?)

Well, get your barf bag, here it is. South Carolinians will note Jim Demint's reverently bowed head (far left of screen) at around 1:57:



On a purely theological note--as a child, I attended a Free Will Baptist church with my beloved uncle Ernest (R.I.P.), in which everyone started praying out loud simultaneously in the manner of the prayercast-participants at the end of this video. (Also, many Pentecostal churches do this.) I admit, I've always kinda liked the idea behind this tradition, that God can hear everybody at once... but then again, if they are all praying for the same thing, as they are here (they weren't at my uncle's church), then one assumes they could just ask in unison for an end to universal health care, couldn't they?: Dear God, let the people continue to suffer in pain and poverty, without any affordable health care... wait, Daisy asks, startled, which God is this? (Moloch!)*

I am somewhat amazed (okay, a lot amazed) to see this once-pious style-of-worship employed by politicians for right-wing ends (notice they held the prayercast on a Wednesday night, when the most faithful Protestants attend mid-week services) -- just as I would be if I saw Mass or Benediction being used for the same purposes.

Why is this any different than Muslims praying for victory, or any other blasphemous mix of politics and religion? Oh right, they're Muslims and we're not.

These HERETICS are the scum of the earth. (AND they will burn in hell.)


~*~

*I primarily refer not only to the historical Moloch, but to Allen Ginsburg's Moloch:

Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the
crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of
sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment!
Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose
blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers
are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo!
Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows!
Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long
streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories
dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose
smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch
whose soul is electricity and banks!

YES! That's him!

This is who they are actually praying to. Moloch, who enjoys the illness and pain of working people, as they die right next to Dr Dobson's homes (plural), valued at well over a half-million dollars each. Money he took right out of their pockets, too.

Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs!
skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic
industries! spectral nations! invincible mad
houses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!
They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven!

I'd recognize him anywhere.

Odds and Sods - Happy Labor Day!

Left: Official grandchild of DEAD AIR, with properly patriotic Uncle Sam hat.



Enjoying my day off with some frozen blueberries and the LAW AND ORDER marathon. What are you doing to enjoy your holiday?


Cracker Lilo reports that FOCUS ON THE FAMILY had to lay off 75 employees. Too bad Dr Dobson wasn't one of them!

[Cutbacks] include a staffer at "Love Won Out," a conference series about "overcoming" same-sex attractions that Focus on the Family announced last month would be ceded to another religious organization.

"Love Won Out"? Sounds like it should belong to our side.

...

I spend a great deal of my time at work attempting to locate appropriate and digestible foods for certain people to eat. There is a book for these folks titled What to Eat when you Can't Eat Anything, and they aren't kidding with that. Meowser writes more on this topic:

My shrink (who’s not autistic) told me that a couple of years ago, she was having Gut Issues herself. So she, following the advice of a nutritionist who believed in the “systemic candidiasis” gut theory, went on a dietary regime for two years that was not only gluten and casein free, but also low carb. (So much for being vegetarian on a diet like that, huh?) The idea was that those nasty yeasties would have nothing to yeasty-feast on and would eventually die off and go away. She was already quite thin and wasn’t interested in weight loss, and she did eat small amounts of potatoes, brown rice, and oatmeal, enough that she wouldn’t go into ketosis. And she ate as much protein, fat, and non-starchy vegetables as she wanted, lots and lots of each of those, so didn’t go hungry. And, she said, “My gut issues cleared right up.” She’s now back to eating much more omnivorously, with no problems.

Now, think about what a diet like that would consist of. Or, more to the point, think of everything you’d have to eliminate. Obvs, no baked goods, no fruit (!), no pasta, no white rice, probably no alcohol, no desserts — and most especially, no chocolate. For two years. Are your coffee beans broken? I can’t do that. Yeah, there’s an end in sight and I wouldn’t have to do it forever, but would it feel that way? Besides, how do you stick to something like that and never fall off? I don’t have a lot of confidence that there wouldn’t be recidivism, especially living with two skinny men (one an extremely active 18-year-old) who heart their carbs and would be very cranky not having them in the house unless it was a matter of life and death for me, or at least a matter of my being able to work versus not being able to.

I say, go for it. But then, I am still fond of my Calorie Restriction and Meowser thinks I shouldn't!

If you try a diet, no matter how wacky, and you FEEL GOOD? Stay with it. You have found a gem, The Secret, the veritable Holy Grail...gluten-free or meat-free or raw or however bizarre it might be, do it. I hate to sound like an old hippie, but here it is: Listen to your body.

I think so many of us have simply forgotten how to do that. Modern life isn't engineered that way; immediate gratification, Starbucks and M & Ms tend to be the quick panacea for our overworked souls and psyches.

I constantly slip up, but I get back up and try again. I am still attempting to achieve the 50-75% Raw Food Thing. When all is said and done, I just feel better when I eat more raw foods.

Yesterday, fabulous Tamara brought me a basket of vegetables that she grew herself. It was beautiful and scrumptious, and her generosity was so greatly appreciated, especially as I once again try to bring back the raw to my diet. THANK YOU, DEAREST TAMARA!!!

...

Gilbert Shelton is following me on Twitter! I am thrilled! HI GILBERT!

Never underestimate the power of a good Stealie avatar!

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Best spiritual blog is Kelly's wonderful KIKIPOTAMUS THE HOBO, which you should be reading every day if you seek grace in small things.

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Kittywampus writes about Sarah Palin's almost-son-in-law, Levi Johnston, telling tales in Vanity Fair. As I said on her blog, call me a cynical parent, but I don't believe anything disaffected teenagers say. Period.

Probably, First Dude (Todd Palin) went to sneak ONE beer in the garage, and Levi transforms this fact into Melodramatic Teenage Narrative: Sarah makes him drink all his beers in the garage!

Uh-huh. I think you all know how much I dislike Palin, but: been there and done that. I have to sympathize with her on this one, God help me. I can't imagine that Levi could put the bong down long enough to pay attention to anything too important.

Smells like Teen Spirit!

...

And finally, your DEAD FROM CUTENESS for this round... meet Renegade Evolution's new adorable babies: Sharon and Ozzy!

Warning, terminal cuteness awaits.

Odds and Sods - After the deluge/Stealth antichrist edition

Left: Anti-Walmart art on display at Downtown Books and News, Asheville, NC. (Artist/inventor unknown!)

~*~

Yes, sports fans, the horrible new neighborhood Walmart, the one we could not keep out, the one I complained about so much that I worried I would alienate my dear readers, is ready to open. It's too traumatizing for mere words. Suffice to say, the mess they have made of everything (I hold them accountable for my flood last week, although of course I can't prove their shitty construction is responsible)... is plenty substantial. The toll on my nerves alone, is sufficient to hate them forever!

And so, this edition of Odds and Sods, picks up where the flood left off. I wanted to give it a Biblical tinge.

~*~

For those of you who thought my piece yesterday was mean, I assure you, I am still getting a significant number of hits on IS BARACK OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?, which probably skews my thinking a bit. And then I wake up this morning and learn that Dr Dobson's outfit is asking people to PRAY FOR RAIN during Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the convention.

I wish I were making this up:

COLORADO SPRINGS – A video producer for Focus on the Family is asking people to pray for rain when Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) makes his speech at the end of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Obama is giving his acceptance speech outdoor at Invesco Field at Mile High on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Stuart Shepard made the prayer request in his latest Internet video for the evangelical Christian group.

He says he's only partly joking.

"Sure it's boyish humor perhaps to wish for something like that, but at the same time it's something people feel very strongly about. They're concerned about where he would take the nation," said Shepard.

Shepard does a weekly commentary called Stop Light, produced for the Internet by Focus on the Family Action.

Boyish humor!

Do you BELIEVE these people?

It is my opinion that such statements, as well as the recent McCain ad (famously featuring Paris Hilton and Britney Spears), highlighting Obama's popularity and naming him "the biggest celebrity in the world"--are covert, sly, under-the-radar winks to the Black Helicopter Faction of the GOP. This is precisely the faction McCain can't easily win over: the hard-core right wingnuts who are constantly looking for signs of the Rapture. They believe Senator Barack Obama is the antichrist, as evidenced by the fact that I am getting hits from them every day. And these little "boyish" jokes, the praying for rain (suitably Biblical, for those who don't get it), the frequent reminders of his dangerous, alarming "celebrity"--all of this is code. Most of it seems to be going right over the heads of the mainstream media, but it's connecting with the Rapture-freaks (and their many fellow-travelers) in the Heartland. The Obama campaign really should address these ongoing religious rumors HEAD ON, because I think his recent falling-poll numbers have everything to do with what I am hereby naming the Stealth Antichrist Campaign.

Stay on the lookout for more of the same.

~*~

Speaking of fundamentalists, Heart (aka Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff), our favorite ex-fundie feminist running for president (supposedly, although I have yet to see her on a national forum of any kind), posted a very bizarre, racist comic over a week ago, which I didn't know if I should link here. The comic, by one Elena Steier, I found very disturbing, because it reminded me of something, but I could not put my finger on just what it looked like.

Belledame and SnowdropExplodes have helpfully solved the mystery for me. The comic, particularly the juxtaposition of the sheer blond whiteness of the dancer and the dark, leering, long-nosed appearance of the male audience, look exactly like nazi propaganda cartoons. There are various footnoted comparisons (with linkage) to several of these old comics at Snowdrop's blog.

Heart, please stop embarrassing other feminists with this vicious bullshit of yours, and go back to the bosom of your cozy ex-comrade, Dr Dobson, where you belong. PRETTY PLEASE!?!

~*~

And while we are on the topic of vicious bullshit, Heart has repeatedly claimed transwomyn are not oppressed. And we now have another transwomyn who has been murdered, named Angie Zapata. (PS: that link is a veritable educational gateway; lots of details about the case, which are almost too heartbreaking to read.) Zapata was also a transwomyn of color, and Brownfemipower and Uppity Brown Woman write very well about these various intersections of identity, and how they threaten the mainstream media's hegemony (when they attempt to cover such stories), as well as the status quo in general.

I'm sure Heart has some handy-dandy explanation for why Angie Zapata wasn't really oppressed. She can sell it to Dr Dobson, as they go riding into the sunset together.

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Listening to: The Clash - Hateful
via FoxyTunes