B
BrianHawkins1
Guest
Re: Salon.Com: A Tale Told By An Idiot
I posted the following opinion piece a few months ago, just after the 'election' in '04, but it's only more relevant now that we're getting our first good look at the emerging theocracy. Most certainly worth a second glance.
Good links re the theocrats:
www.theocracywatch.org/index.html
www.publiceye.org/magazin...isre1.html
www.bopnews.com/archives/...public.pdf
www.forerunner.com/theofaq.html
"Lulled by a period of stability which had seemed permanent ... (we) find it nearly impossible to take at face value the assertion of the revolutionary power that it means to smash the existing framework."
"Democratic societies have a hard time dealing with extremists in their midst. The desire to show respect for other people's beliefs all too easily turns into denial: nobody wants to talk about the threat posed by those whose beliefs include contempt for democracy itself."
- Paul Krugman
"Rovians understand well the central flaw of democracy -- that in the end, a small and noisy minority can usually have its way over a large but relatively apathetic majority. In fact it's their ace in the hole."
- Billmon, Mar 30/05 (billmon.org)
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===========================================
"Still Missing the Big Picture About This Election"
by galiel
Wed Nov 3rd, 2004
www.dailykos.com/story/20...92359/8844
This is not about Republicans or Democrats.
This is not about the war.
This is not about the economy.
This is not even about counting the votes.
This is the final step in the 20-year creeping coup by the theocrats, the Dominionists.
In the House and the Senate, the theocrats made dramatic advances, far beyond the number of seats that switched parties. On the GOP side, they have replaced moderates with zealots, and have significantly strengthened the support for the main theocrat bills that will be reintroduced in the new Congress.
You can hear it in the media's codewords: this election did NOT turn on Iraq or the economy or security, it turned on "moral values", the politically correct code-word for theocratic values, i.e., placing one's religion above the laws of man. Exit polls show that "moral values" were the most common #1 concern among voters, and that among those who marked "moral values" as their primary concern, 80% voted for Bush. Every state that had a same-sex marriage ban up for decision voted the theocrat way.
When analysis of local races around the nation becomes available, it will become clear that theocrats have advanced everywhere, gaining control of even more school boards, gaining even more representation in city councils, winning even more seats in state legislatures.
Make no mistake, this election was the keystone of the theocrat coup. All that is left now is carrying out the agenda and changing the laws of this nation irrevocably to gut the Bill of Rights and establish a Dominionist government in America.
IN the coming days, Reinquist and others will resign, including half of the exhausted courageous liberals and moderates who held the line longer than anyone expected, and Bush will appoint a solid theocrat majority to the Supreme Court, and the Dems will not be able to stop it, fillibuster or not. The Dominionists have enough stealth candidates to push through like they pushed through Thomas, and the public pressure will be irressistible. In the next four years, theocrats will fill life-time appointments in the judiciary all over the nation, and essentially open the gates for the coming theocratic legislative agenda.
The administration will complete the overhaul of the science advisory committees and the Dept of Health and Human Services, laying the ground work for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and ending all biological research deemed objectionable to the theocrats.
They will complete their overhaul of the Education Department, starting a process of eliminating evolution from the national debate and working with the local and state boards, where they have now increased their control, to introduce creationism into the curriculum.
They will complete their overhaul of the Energy, Agriculture, Interior and EPA, which are already ridden with theocrats who reject the theory of evolution, and thus the concept of "fossil fuels", believing instead that their god has placed energy resources in the earth in just the right amounts for human domination of nature.
As soon as the theocrat majority is esconsed in the Supreme Court, Congress will pass three key theocrat bills, which already passed the House this time around and will pass the Senate next time around:
The Marriage Protection Act, which would bar federal courts, including the Supreme Court from intervening in cases involving a state's recognition of another state's civil rights bills regarding marriage;
The Pledge Preservation Act, which would bar the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from hearing challenges to the "Under God" part of the pledge;
The big one, the Constitution Restoration Act, which would bar the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from hearing any challenges to violations of the Establishment Clause, the bill having been written by Harb Titus, who defended former Judge Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judges. The bill goes even further, potentially barring challenges to the constiutionality of state laws, for example, mandating stoning for adultery, if such laws are based on Old Testament rationale.
(I know you read this and think, "ridiculous, this could never happen here". You have a choice now, you can listen to those of us who have been predicting the current outcome for a long time, or you can continue to listen to those who predicted a different outcome and who still misinterpret actual results according to a Pollyanish worldview that refuses to acknowledge the critical danger to our nation and think this is "just another bad election")
Now, most people don't understand what is really going on here.
They focus on homophobia as the issue, or they trivialize the Pledge issue as not being critical to Separation traditions.
The real point is that the theocrats are constricting the courts' ability to challenge the establishment of religion in this country. Making this a Christian Dominionist nation based on literal interpretation of Old Testament law is an explicit part of the theocrat agenda.
I warned before the election that they were one victory away, and that they would win no matter what the actual vote was, because they are zealots who would do anything to win, including fraud on a massive scale that folks here just don't want to even concieve, because they have never looked radical religious extremism in the face the way I have, having lived in Israel for 13 years in the past.
The theocrats will not be stopped, because Americans refuse to believe that it could happen here.
It is just like Germany in the 20's---not like McCarthyism in the 50's. This is far worse, but denial is rampant, because we just don't want to believe that our America could fall to Christian Taliban.
We've already reached the tipping point. It is only a matter of time, unless people wake up--and I don't think they will, the taboo on confronting the dark side of religion is just too strong here in America.
What about Ohio, you say?
The judges deciding matters in Ohio, like the two judges that allowed challenges inside the polling places, are theocrats - one was the author of the original draft of the Thornburgh brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe V. Wade, the other was the dissenting voice in cases about 10 Commandment displays on government property.
You think it is a coincidence that Ohio is the first place where statewide, the teaching of creationism has been mandated in science class?
Wake up, America!
Thus, the election is already over, even though I personally think that Kerry won, not only Ohio, but states like Florida, and may even have won the popular vote, so deep is the fraud, led by the electronic voting machines--not just those people actually use to vote, but far more significantly those used to tally the votes, carefully placed in key districts, carefully managed behind the scenes, vote totals manipulated with no way for an audit or verification.
But, unless you understand who is actually behind this election victory, you probably dismiss that as hysterical tin-foil paranoia. Surely, you think, the margins in places like Florida are beyond contesting.
That is because you still think this is just a struggle between two competing parties in a democracy. That is because you just don't get it.
This was a coup.
All I can say is, the folks who predicted morning in America have egg on their faces today, even as the struggle continues in Ohio. You choose who to listen to. The future of America is at stake, not just the next four years.
Because this is NOT about the surface issues.
I will write more about this in the coming days, when I get some sleep, can see straight, rage turns to cold anger, and the agenda starts to unfold.
I honestly do not believe I will be heard, but I can't live with myself if I don't at least try.
I posted the following opinion piece a few months ago, just after the 'election' in '04, but it's only more relevant now that we're getting our first good look at the emerging theocracy. Most certainly worth a second glance.
Good links re the theocrats:
www.theocracywatch.org/index.html
www.publiceye.org/magazin...isre1.html
www.bopnews.com/archives/...public.pdf
www.forerunner.com/theofaq.html
"Lulled by a period of stability which had seemed permanent ... (we) find it nearly impossible to take at face value the assertion of the revolutionary power that it means to smash the existing framework."
"Democratic societies have a hard time dealing with extremists in their midst. The desire to show respect for other people's beliefs all too easily turns into denial: nobody wants to talk about the threat posed by those whose beliefs include contempt for democracy itself."
- Paul Krugman
"Rovians understand well the central flaw of democracy -- that in the end, a small and noisy minority can usually have its way over a large but relatively apathetic majority. In fact it's their ace in the hole."
- Billmon, Mar 30/05 (billmon.org)
===========================================
===========================================
"Still Missing the Big Picture About This Election"
by galiel
Wed Nov 3rd, 2004
www.dailykos.com/story/20...92359/8844
This is not about Republicans or Democrats.
This is not about the war.
This is not about the economy.
This is not even about counting the votes.
This is the final step in the 20-year creeping coup by the theocrats, the Dominionists.
In the House and the Senate, the theocrats made dramatic advances, far beyond the number of seats that switched parties. On the GOP side, they have replaced moderates with zealots, and have significantly strengthened the support for the main theocrat bills that will be reintroduced in the new Congress.
You can hear it in the media's codewords: this election did NOT turn on Iraq or the economy or security, it turned on "moral values", the politically correct code-word for theocratic values, i.e., placing one's religion above the laws of man. Exit polls show that "moral values" were the most common #1 concern among voters, and that among those who marked "moral values" as their primary concern, 80% voted for Bush. Every state that had a same-sex marriage ban up for decision voted the theocrat way.
When analysis of local races around the nation becomes available, it will become clear that theocrats have advanced everywhere, gaining control of even more school boards, gaining even more representation in city councils, winning even more seats in state legislatures.
Make no mistake, this election was the keystone of the theocrat coup. All that is left now is carrying out the agenda and changing the laws of this nation irrevocably to gut the Bill of Rights and establish a Dominionist government in America.
IN the coming days, Reinquist and others will resign, including half of the exhausted courageous liberals and moderates who held the line longer than anyone expected, and Bush will appoint a solid theocrat majority to the Supreme Court, and the Dems will not be able to stop it, fillibuster or not. The Dominionists have enough stealth candidates to push through like they pushed through Thomas, and the public pressure will be irressistible. In the next four years, theocrats will fill life-time appointments in the judiciary all over the nation, and essentially open the gates for the coming theocratic legislative agenda.
The administration will complete the overhaul of the science advisory committees and the Dept of Health and Human Services, laying the ground work for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and ending all biological research deemed objectionable to the theocrats.
They will complete their overhaul of the Education Department, starting a process of eliminating evolution from the national debate and working with the local and state boards, where they have now increased their control, to introduce creationism into the curriculum.
They will complete their overhaul of the Energy, Agriculture, Interior and EPA, which are already ridden with theocrats who reject the theory of evolution, and thus the concept of "fossil fuels", believing instead that their god has placed energy resources in the earth in just the right amounts for human domination of nature.
As soon as the theocrat majority is esconsed in the Supreme Court, Congress will pass three key theocrat bills, which already passed the House this time around and will pass the Senate next time around:
The Marriage Protection Act, which would bar federal courts, including the Supreme Court from intervening in cases involving a state's recognition of another state's civil rights bills regarding marriage;
The Pledge Preservation Act, which would bar the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from hearing challenges to the "Under God" part of the pledge;
The big one, the Constitution Restoration Act, which would bar the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from hearing any challenges to violations of the Establishment Clause, the bill having been written by Harb Titus, who defended former Judge Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judges. The bill goes even further, potentially barring challenges to the constiutionality of state laws, for example, mandating stoning for adultery, if such laws are based on Old Testament rationale.
(I know you read this and think, "ridiculous, this could never happen here". You have a choice now, you can listen to those of us who have been predicting the current outcome for a long time, or you can continue to listen to those who predicted a different outcome and who still misinterpret actual results according to a Pollyanish worldview that refuses to acknowledge the critical danger to our nation and think this is "just another bad election")
Now, most people don't understand what is really going on here.
They focus on homophobia as the issue, or they trivialize the Pledge issue as not being critical to Separation traditions.
The real point is that the theocrats are constricting the courts' ability to challenge the establishment of religion in this country. Making this a Christian Dominionist nation based on literal interpretation of Old Testament law is an explicit part of the theocrat agenda.
I warned before the election that they were one victory away, and that they would win no matter what the actual vote was, because they are zealots who would do anything to win, including fraud on a massive scale that folks here just don't want to even concieve, because they have never looked radical religious extremism in the face the way I have, having lived in Israel for 13 years in the past.
The theocrats will not be stopped, because Americans refuse to believe that it could happen here.
It is just like Germany in the 20's---not like McCarthyism in the 50's. This is far worse, but denial is rampant, because we just don't want to believe that our America could fall to Christian Taliban.
We've already reached the tipping point. It is only a matter of time, unless people wake up--and I don't think they will, the taboo on confronting the dark side of religion is just too strong here in America.
What about Ohio, you say?
The judges deciding matters in Ohio, like the two judges that allowed challenges inside the polling places, are theocrats - one was the author of the original draft of the Thornburgh brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe V. Wade, the other was the dissenting voice in cases about 10 Commandment displays on government property.
You think it is a coincidence that Ohio is the first place where statewide, the teaching of creationism has been mandated in science class?
Wake up, America!
Thus, the election is already over, even though I personally think that Kerry won, not only Ohio, but states like Florida, and may even have won the popular vote, so deep is the fraud, led by the electronic voting machines--not just those people actually use to vote, but far more significantly those used to tally the votes, carefully placed in key districts, carefully managed behind the scenes, vote totals manipulated with no way for an audit or verification.
But, unless you understand who is actually behind this election victory, you probably dismiss that as hysterical tin-foil paranoia. Surely, you think, the margins in places like Florida are beyond contesting.
That is because you still think this is just a struggle between two competing parties in a democracy. That is because you just don't get it.
This was a coup.
All I can say is, the folks who predicted morning in America have egg on their faces today, even as the struggle continues in Ohio. You choose who to listen to. The future of America is at stake, not just the next four years.
Because this is NOT about the surface issues.
I will write more about this in the coming days, when I get some sleep, can see straight, rage turns to cold anger, and the agenda starts to unfold.
I honestly do not believe I will be heard, but I can't live with myself if I don't at least try.