Spot the Hater!

Inspired by Monty Python and Ed Morrissey (CONTENT WARNING), I am starting a fun new game series, Spot the Hater!

O. K. kids, time to play!

Your choices are:

1. Michael Weinstein, a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance or

2. Eeeeevil Christian FUNDAMENTALISTS!

Can you . . . Spot the Hater!

tick, tick, tick

DING

Time’s up!

Oh, I forget to tell you.  Michael Weinstein said this:

Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces. Oh my, my, my, how “Papa’s got a brand new bag.”

What’s Papa’s new tactic? You’re gonna just love this! These days, when ANYone attempts to bravely stand up against virulent religious oppression, these monstrosities cry out alligator tears in overflowing torrents and scream that it is, in fact, THEY who are the dispossessed, bereft and oppressed. C’mon, really, you pitiable unconstitutional carpetbaggers? It would be like the utter folly of 1960’s-era southern bigots howling like stuck pigs in protest that Rosa Parks’ civil rights activism is “abusing” them by destroying and disenfranchising their rights to sit in the front seat of buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Please, I beseech you! Let us call these ignoble actions what they are: the senseless and cowardly squallings of human monsters.

Queasy with the bright and promising lights of the cultural realities of the present day, those evil, fundamentalist Christian creatures and their spiritual heirs have taken refuge behind flimsy, well-worn, gauze-like euphemistic facades such as “family values” and “religious liberty.” These bandits coagulate their stenchful substances in organizations such as the American Family Association (AFA), the ultra-fundamentalist Family Research Council (FRC), and the Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty (CARL). The basis of their ruinous unity is the bane of human existence and progress: horrific hatred and blinding bigotry. However, when the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and others correctly characterize them as “hate groups,” they all too predictably raise a deafening hue and disingenuously bellow mournfully like the world class cowards they are.

More on the lovely Mr. Weinstein here.

And, yes, all know that those nasty Christian Fundamentalist MONSTERS are the haters!

And if you answered incorrectly, you are a hater, too!  And the Southern Poverty Law Center has already taken note of you!

Thanks for playing . . . Spot the Hater!

Downfall VII: Benghazi? UPDATED

So far, with the help of the snooze media, Obama has not been hurt much politically by Benghazi.  But that might be about to change.

Last night, Fox News made Benghazi more difficult to ignore.  It spent about the first 12 minutes of its 6pm broadcast on the subject, focusing on allegations that the Obama regime is threatening whistleblowers and on an interview with a Special Ops man who insisted we could have sent in help in time.

The allegations that whistleblowers have been threatened may be the more problematic politically for Obama.  Benghazi, like Watergate, took a long while to become a story.  But in the end, it was the cover-up that brought down Nixon.

Later in the broadcast, Charles Krauthammer went yard on Benghazi and the Obama-media cover-up with more emotion than I can recall seeing from the man.  He gave an excellent summary of why Benghazi should be a big deal.  I normally do not insist that my readers listen to a video, but I will now.

And there is more to come that may make it difficult for Obama and the sycophant noos media to keep sweeping this under the rug.

“There are more Benghazi hearings coming; I think they’re going to be explosive,” Mr. Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox’s Uma Pemmaraju.

Mr. Gowdy wasn’t able to give out too many details, but he hinted that the public for the first time might hear from witnesses to the terror attack that left four Americans dead. …

Mr. Gowdy added that in a trial, “direct evidence, direct testimony by eyewitnesses is always the most compelling.”

“Trust me when I tell you you will want to follow the hearings that are coming up,” he reiterated.

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Downfall is an ongoing series anticipating and tracking what I expect will be the self-destruction of Obama.

The first post may be found here.  The series may be found here.

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UPDATE: The first question in this morning’s press conference mentions Benghazi whistleblowers.  Progress! 

Obama replied he was “not familiar” with testifiers being blocked.  *SNORT*

Wow, second question mentioned Benghazi, too.  Like I said, progress!

West Indies Bishops Denounce Obama-Cameron Gay Rights Pressure

President Obama and UK PM Cameron have made pressure on foreign governments to conform to liberal gay rights norms part of their foreign policies.  And that includes threats of withholding aid.

Twenty-three active and retired Anglican bishops the Province of the West Indies have responded by urging their governments to resist such pressure.

There have been “trends within countries of the developing world and international forums, and in which these countries exercise a controlling interest, in which matters related to human sexuality have been elevated to the level of human rights and are being promulgated as positions which must be accepted globally.”

Failure to exceed to these new orthodoxies “results in the threat of various sanctions, including the withholding of economic aid”…

Kudos to these bishops for standing up against the pressure to conform to the modern Western version of “tolerance.”

And has not the gay agenda infected just about everything?  Now even relationships between countries are being made subservient to the endorsement of relationships between homosexuals.  Bow down . . . or else.

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Hat tip to Locusts and Wild Honey

BREAKING: Diocese of South Carolina Site Hacked

The website, diosc.com, of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (the seceded one under Bishop Lawrence) has this message on its home page at the time:

The website for the Diocese of South Carolina has been hacked and is down for repairs. Please keep us in your prayers.

I suspect this will get interesting.

Gallup: Distrust in News Media at All-time High

Gallup has 60% saying they have little or no trust in the noos media.

Gosh! I wonder why! . . .

. . .

What, you were expecting more from me?  Sorry, but I’m about as lazy as the snooze media is with the Gosnell trial.  I’m as unmotivated as they are about vetting Obama in an election year.  And I’m busy watching a fall out, remember?  I just can’t be bothered.

Oh heck, if you must read more, here’s some past posts on the “mainstream” news media.  They only begin to give an idea why distrust of the news media is high and getting higher.

FALL OUT!

No, this post is not of religious or political import.  And good luck if you were hoping for that from me today.

For here along the Texas Gulf Coast we are experiencing a fall out the like of which I have never witnessed.  No, a nuke plant did not blow up.  A strong April cold front has slowed and worn out birds migrating across the Gulf, and they now are literally falling out of the sky along the coast to stay and rest and feed a day or two.

To give an idea what this is like, I looked out a window and saw a Summer Tanager, a Scarlet Tanager, and a flock of Indigo Buntings almost at the same time.  I then looked out another window and saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Orchard Oriole, and a flock of Catbirds.  I’ve experienced fall outs before, but not like this.

In short, if you live along the Texas coast, stop reading even this erudite blog and GO OUTSIDE! . . . or at least look out your window.  I will.

Russia warned FBI “repeatedly” about Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Some may think I overstated matters when I called the Boston Bombing another failure of the Obama Administration.  It now appears I understated matters.

For it now appears Russia did not warn the FBI once about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but repeatedly:

Russian authorities contacted the US government with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev not once but “multiple’’ times, including an alert it sent after he was first investigated by FBI agents in Boston, raising new questions about whether the FBI should have paid more attention to the suspected Boston Marathon bomber, US senators briefed on the inves­tigation said Tuesday.

The FBI has previously said it interviewed Tsarnaev in early 2011 after it was initially contacted by the ­Russians. In their review, completed in summer 2011, the bureau found no ­evidence that Tsarnaev was a threat. “The FBI requested but did not receive more specific or additional information from” Russia, the agency said last week.

Following a closed briefing of the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said he believed that Russia alerted the United States about Tsarnaev in “multiple contacts,” including at least once since October 2011.

Again, the Boston Bombing is yet another major terrorism failure of the Obama Administration.  Ignore that if you like.  I won’t.

The Boston Bombing IS an Immigration Issue

Amnesty proponents, both Demorats and RINOs, are defecating on those who insist that we take a hard look at the Boston Bombing and take any immigration failures into consideration before proceeding further with importing Democrats immigration reform.  These rats say Boston has nothing to do with immigration issues at hand.

The hell it doesn’t.

First, we let the lovely Tsarnaev family come to the U. S. in the first place.  Then we let them all stay – even after Russia warned us about at least one of them – even after they got on welfare – even after one of them started posting jihadist videos on YouTube.

Year after year, we grossly mishandled the Tsarnaevs though there were obvious signs several of them were undesirable and worthy of deportation. The Tsarnaevs are one of a multitude of failures of our immigration system. And yet we can supposedly handle adding 11 million illegals into the immigration system in a way that improves the country?

With the Tsarnaevs we imported the ills of Chechnya and area.  With so-called immigration reform we will import more of the ills of North Mexico, including drug cartels.  I should say we are importing since the promise of amnesty has increased the flow of illegal immigration.

After Boston, “immigration reform” and amnesty in particular should not only be delayed, it should be stopped.

When stopping the import of terrorists, criminals, and looters becomes the focus of immigration reform, then we can do business.

Another Obama Administration Failure to Prevent Terrorism

Late Friday, the FBI released a statement that shows the Obama Administration has once again exercised inexcusable negligence and failed to prevent terrorism:

…in early 2011, a foreign government asked the FBI for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The request stated that it was based on information that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.

In response to this 2011 request, the FBI checked U.S. government databases and other information to look for such things as derogatory telephone communications, possible use of online sites associated with the promotion of radical activity, associations with other persons of interest, travel history and plans, and education history. The FBI also interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and family members. The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, and those results were provided to the foreign government in the summer of 2011. The FBI requested but did not receive more specific or additional information from the foreign government.

So this foreign government (Russia?) contacted the FBI and told them the older Tsarnaev brother was a radical Muslim and was traveling overseas to join “underground groups”.  Tamerian was not a U. S. citizen.

So why the heck did we allow him back into the country?  And why was he not questioned when he later began posting jihadist videos on YouTube?  Again, he wasn’t a U. S. citizen.  By that time, he was an obvious candidate for deportation if not worse.

Of course, Obama himself did not make these decisions.  And micromanaging FBI investigations and DHS decisions is not his role.  But it happened under his watch and was influenced by his leadership.

(To be fair, the Russians failed in this episode as well.  Putin, a former KGB agent, cannot be happy about it.)

This episode is hardly in isolation.  The Obama administration has looked the other way in other cases of terrorism.  Benghazi was a spontaneous protest against a dumb YouTube video, remember?  The truth, of course, is that our people in Libya warned Washington about the danger and begged for more protection . . . and got less instead.  And Ft. Hood was “workplace violence.”  There were abundant warning signs beforehand in that case as well.  This attitude of negligence beforehand and head-in-the-sand afterwards has trickled down through the Obama administration . . . with deadly consequences.

Although I was on to this failure early on twitter (All the more reason to endure my rantings there.), I am now far from alone in my concern.  Although I do not think he called out Obama, Former CIA Director Jame Woolsey called the Boston Bombing “a government failure” on CNBC this morning.  No reasonable person can now question that the ball was dropped.  Strange how often that happens on poorly led teams.

Even in his strangely detached post-arrest statement, Obama spoke as if the motives behind the Boston bombing were still a mystery.  They are not at all.  The main motive is Jihadist Islam. 

Combine those brands of Islam with the Obama administration’s negligence, and you get Benghazi and Boston.

The Boston Bombing Manhunt and the Religion That Must Not Be Named

Like many who work at home, I’ve had the TV on almost non-stop this morning monitoring the manhunt for the Boston Marathon Bomber(s).  But there are two words I cannot recall hearing all morning – Muslim and Islam.

Funny, early on some in the noos media could not restrain themselves from speculating (once again) that “right-wing” “extremists” were behind the bombing.  But now that is it highly likely that the bombers were Muslim terrorists, the quiet is deafening.

And in case you think I’m jumping to conclusions, read this from the Independent, hardly an extremist publication.  It is (or should be) well known Chechnya and Chechens are a hot bed of Muslim terrorists.  Russia sure does know that all too well.  (And, yes, there are also many good Chechens as well like the uncle who decried the bombing.)

Perhaps the media is being careful not to jump the gun, and guess I could be charitable and give them the benefit of the doubt on that.  But some sure were eager to jump the gun and finger “right-wing” “extremists”.  And the Chechen Muslim connection certainly is more relevant than one of the suspects being a star on his school wrestling team.

Noos media, your double standards are showing . . . again.

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MORE:

Ace is having some fun with this:

I enjoy how quick the left is to assert that no judgments can be made, about virtually anything at all, when just yesterday they were quite prepared to make some Big Judgments about the rightwing bombers who were probably celebrating Hitler's birthday, as most people on the right do (per NPR "news").

But I heard that NBC actually managed to mention “Muslim” and “Islam”.

NBC learned counterterror officials exam possible links between #Boston bombers & Islamic Jihad Union of central Asia usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/…
— Jordan Sekulow (@JordanSekulow) April 19, 2013

I just about fainted when I saw that tweet.

But the biggest laugh I’ve had this morning came from reading this one:

Give yourself up! You can teach at Columbia!
— Tari (@verytari) April 19, 2013

About West, Texas

First, my prayers are among the many prayers ascending for the town of West, Texas after the awful fertilizer plant explosion.

But I thought it might be helpful also to add a little background about the town.

And, yes, West, (comma) Texas in this case is a town, and it’s not in West Texas.  It’s in North Central Texas, more or less, between Waco and Hillsboro.  And it’s certainly not “Western Texas” as I think I heard BBC Radio Worldwide refer to it a couple hours ago.  They can be forgiven as it confuses even us Texans!

The reason I am familiar with West is that I have stopped many a time there to buy pastries and other food when driving on I-35.  The town is of Czech heritage and knows how to cook.

So watch how those who drive on I-35 will band together to help out the town.  They have already won our hearts via our tastebuds.  And the CzechFest they have every Labor Day weekend will surely be very well attended this year.

If you would like to chip in and help out the town of West, here are some ways.  In addition, Glenn Beck’s people are helping out as well.

President Oboohoo

One may think my opinion of President Obama is too low, and it is rather subterranean, yes.  Yet he continues to shock me with his conduct. So I guess my opinion has not been low enough.

Yesterday, after his efforts to increase gun control went down in flames in the Senate, he let loose with a televised temper tantrum I cannot recall seeing from any president.  It has to be seen to be appreciated, if that is the correct word. . . .

But two lowlights stand out to me.  First, his press conference (if it can be called that.  The press wasn’t allowed to spoil the glory of his tantrum with irreverent questions.) began with blatant emotional blackmail.  Look, I have a lot of sympathy for a father who lost his child.  But for Obama brazenly to use that to push a gun control agenda that would in reality do nothing to protect such children is shameless.

Of course, later in his own statement, Obama ridiculed those who point out he is in fact engaging in emotional blackmail.

Second, he made this fatuous claim . . .

So while this compromise didn't contain everything I wanted or everything that these families wanted, it did represent progress. It represented moderation and common sense. That's why 90 percent of the American people supported it.

That’s just a flat out lie.  No gun control proposal in the Senate had 90% support, not even close.  Yet he repeated that 90% meme again and again in his statement. 

Then in the very next angry breath, Obama accuses:

But instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill.

Incredible.  Project much, Mr. President?

Something to watch out for – Obama pledged to keep pushing for more gun control.  That might be mainly rhetoric.  But it might also be a tip off that he intends to play the dictator on this issue.  We’ll see.

I could say more, but I think some takes from twitter are to the point . . . and more fun.

Most popular president in history can't persuade own party to vote for commonsense legislation supported by 90% of voters. Or something.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) April 17, 2013

This is not a man who takes "no" well.
— Elizabeth Scalia (@TheAnchoress) April 17, 2013

Wow. I have never heard an American president full of so much rage at his fellow countrymen. Never.
— David Reaboi (@davereaboi) April 17, 2013

Pres. AngryMan NEVER acknowledges there is legit opposition to his agenda. His oppo is "bought, paid for" while his is "people-driven" #tcot
— Sister Toldjah (@sistertoldjah) April 17, 2013

What you see is the angry Obama who always lurks just below the surface, the man who cannot tolerate dissent & opposition. #tcot #p2 #tlot
— Sister Toldjah (@sistertoldjah) April 17, 2013

Exactly.

Obama Snubs UK and Margaret Thatcher

Obama must genuinely detest the British giants of the 20^th Century.  He sent back the bust of Winston Churchill.  Now, he is sending no one from his administration (other than perhaps the Ambassador to the UK) to the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

The excuse?

The US embassy insisted no snub was intended, but confirmed that Mr Baker and Mr Schulz would represent the US.

'This is a hugely significant week in terms of US domestic politics,' a spokesman added.

He said that both the First Lady and the Vice President were 'the President's point people on gun control', adding: 'This is a week when there is a lot of movement on Capitol Hill on gun control issues.'

Are we really supposed to buy that?  Give me a break.

And, no, sending Reagan-era allies is not good enough.  (And I highly suspect they were going anyway.)  At least the Vice-president or Secretary of State should go.  But, no, Obama just had to snub the UK (again) and Margaret Thatcher.

It would make me ashamed to be an American.  But Obama is hardly an American president.

I am no fan of Speaker Boehner either, but he has the common sense and decency to send a delegation of Congressmen to the funeral.

The Gosnell “News” Media Blackout and Backlash

If a man, under the pretense of being a doctor, literally butchered babies and hired at least one high school girl to assist him in doing so, that would be all over the “news” media, right? Right?

Wrong!

The noos media blackout of the Kermit Gosnell trial and of the horrific revelations coming out from it has become outrageous – and absurd.  One Washington Post “reporter” pro-abortion tool, Sarah Kliff, excuses the blackout by saying the Gosnell trial is merely a “local crime” story.  Yes, snarkworthy at least.

Meanwhile, seats at the trial reserved for the “news” media are going empty.  You see, anything that doesn’t fit into their viewpoint that abortion-on-demand is good just must not be news.

After weeks of this, enough good people are fed up and outraged at the butchery and the noos media blackout of it that #Gosnell has been trending first on twitter for well over 12 hours now and counting. 

This is becoming an episode that is decimating what remains of “news” media credibility.  And, yes, the citizens’ alternative news media of bloggers and tweeters is winning again.

Johnny Rotten: Thatcher Death Parties are “Loathsome.”

I love Johnny Rotten, aka John Lydon.  (Yes, I have my punk side.  Yes, I love Queen Elizabeth and The Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen.”  Yes, I have my contradictions.)  But I was dreading what he might say about the passing of Margaret Thatcher.  I revere him and was afraid he would disappoint me.

Instead, he made my lunchtime.  I just found out he has rightly called the Thatcher death street parties “loathsome”:

When someone dies, give them respect. Enemy or not. I can't be listening to folk who do that.

What kind of politics are they offering me? You dance on another person's grave? That's loathsome.

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Her politics were really dreadful [disagree! – ed.] and derisive [Agree, but I liked that about her. – ed.] and caused a great many issues for me when I was young, for all of us trying to go through that.

But that don't mean I am gonna dance on her grave, as they say. I'm not that kind of person.

I was her enemy in her life but I will not be her enemy in her death. I am not a coward.

Would those who partied in the streets had the class and perspective of John Lydon.  Thank you, Johnny Rotten.

The Church of England shows . . . Courage? (Not so much.)

When one thinks of the Church of England, one may think of many things, glorious cathedrals, beautiful music, perhaps the megalomaniac Henry VIII. 

But one probably does not think of courage.  Instead, jokes about spineless bishops may come to mind.

So the just released paper by the CofE Church and Order Commission is remarkable.  In the midst of much pressure from inside and outside the church to give into the current zietguiest in support of gay marriage, the commission dares to affirm that marriage is of God and between a man and a woman and not other diverse combinations.

Yeah, I was about to post that and more in praise of actual courage from the Church of England on the subject of gay marriage even. 

But one must read between the lines when parsing statements from the Church of England.  And after Giles Fraser does so, he seems pleased:

Rev Dr Giles Fraser, a leading liberal cleric, said that it was clear from the document that the Church’s stance had shifted even if the official policy had not.

“What this is saying is that you can bless civil partnerships as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing," he said.

“They are winking at people like me saying ‘be creative’ – it is a classic Anglican fudge.

“In effect what it is saying is you can do it as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing – call it something different, be as imaginative as you can.

“But the truth is this is how change happens in the Church of England.”

And if Giles Fraser is pleased . . .

*sigh*  I really wanted to say something nice about the Church of England, too.

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A hat tip to Stand Firm for ruining my post.