Fearing the ‘Other’

I strongly suspect that (((Wife))) and I scare the shit out of many extremely religious people.  I bet dollars to donuts that my best friend does, too.  Why?  We’re boringly normal.  

Christianist Values: Jesus on a Sniper Scope!

Trijicon  is, by most accounts, a reputable member of the national defense establishment and the NRA.  I know that they produce excellent scopes for rifles — for hunting trophies, for meat, and for hunting humans (real quick caveat:  I do not hunt but I have no real problem with most hunters;  I also understand the ethics and efficacy of military sniping — neither is the point of this post (not that that will stop some, but . . .)).  It would appear that they are, at some level, full-blown Christianists looking to ‘save’ the Middle East (after all, those ragheads are worshipping the wrong misogynistic psychopathic ‘god(s)’) for the greater glory of the eternal paradise of  . . .   Sorry.

They Just Can’t Help Themselves, Can They?

The earthquake in Haiti is tragic and horrific.  And the response from America was quick — U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard units were underway within, literally, hours.  And the the response from one of the most prolific mouthpieces of the religious right was adding insult within, literally, hours.

You Can’t Make This Shit Up

And here I was, innocently thinking it was just really, really shitty animation and pathetic dialogue:

A Torture Device on a Christmas Tree

Back when I was in (I think) middle school (Western Maryland’s version of junior high) I began to hear various Christers (billboards, pamphlets, T-shirts in school (mostly (but not all) on students) and in conversation) telling me (and everyone else) to ‘keep Christ in Christmas.’  Which is when I decided that Xmas was a good way to annoy people who annoyed me.  Since then, the right-wing takeover of Christmas has continued apace (actually, I think it has accelerated with the War on Christmas idiocy).

Oklahoma OK? No, Oklahoma In-Sane!

A few months ago, down in the great state of Kentucky, a high school football coach got into a little bit of trouble (I say a little bit as the school district decided this was just okey-dokey) when he loaded up members of his football team and took them to a Baptist revival.  As I pointed out at the time, the argument that ‘it was voluntary’ doesn’t cut it.  Playing time for athletes depends upon the perception of the head coach.  Being on the team depends upon the perception of the head coach.  If a player is, for whatever reason, perceived as ‘not a team player’, the player will spend lots of time sitting on the bench.

Why do I bring this up?  A court case has been filed in another less-than-progressive state:  Oklahoma (from American Atheists).

More Mail: AFA Fundraising

More mail.  And this one came from an email farm server in Phoenix, so I can’t even blame anyone.  Actually, I can.  I blame myself for putting my email address out there on my blog.

Anyway, I got this in the email today and, well, shit.  Read it:

A Kentucky Hat Trick of Stupid

I guess I am just not jaded enough.  I can still be surprised.  Case in point?  The state of Kentucky.  I really am beginning to wonder about Kentucky.  There seems to be a veritable plethora of stupid seeping out of the state.

I, like every other civil servant, make a sacrifice.  Any time that I am in uniform, or on duty, my freedom of speech and of action is limited.  I must, while in contact with the public, avoid certain topics and actions.  If I were to  make public statements about politics or religion, while in either work status or in my government uniform, it would be very easy for a member of the public to interpret my personal views as an official stance of the government of the United States of America.  It really does not matter if a person is an employee of a state, federal, county, local or city government, their freedom of speech is similarly constrained while on duty. 

I Get Mail. And It Isn’t Nearly As Exciting As It Should Be.

Today, I got an email from Tina Jane.  I  did not recognize the address, or the mailer, but, after doing a quick McAfee scan, I clicked.  Then I clicked over to a Google document.  And I realized that I was being witnessed via billytheatheist (at) gmail.com as I read:

Republican Family Values: Bullshit!

The Republican Party, in a rather successful attempt to convince poor and middle class Americans to vote against their self-interest, have embrace the idea of family values.  They are anti-choice (because women are made to have babies), anti-birth-control (because if the sluts want to have sex, they damn well better get pregnant (otherwise, they might do it for pleasure)), anti-sex-education (because if you teach kids the facts about how their bodies work, they might get the wild idea that they can control their own fertility), anti-pornography (because we certainly don’t want humans to think that sex might be enjoyable), anti-GLBT (because we should ignore the Levitican proscriptions about shellfish and mixed fabrics and embrace the anti-homosexual message (without, of course, cherry-picking the Bible) and anti-freedom-of-though (because rational thought is the enemy of faith).