I pass this along as someone who lived in NY for 15 years and who wouldn't live in TX for 15 days

Jack Kelly Sunday

Ed's right.

There's not much to fact-check in this week's Jack Kelly column though that doesn't mean there's nothing worth writing about in it.

American Idiot

It doesn't take much to make fun of Perry, but this parody is hilarious:


(Original "Strong" ad here.)

Religion Poisons Everything (Again)

Hitchens was right - here's another example.

Yesterday, President Obama issued this memorandum regarding LGBT rights across the planet and of course religious conservatives gagged on it.

Here's how the memo opens:

The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States commitment to promoting human rights. I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation. That is why I declared before heads of state gathered at the United Nations, "no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere." Under my Administration, agencies engaged abroad have already begun taking action to promote the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons everywhere. Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened when we as the United States bring our tools to bear to vigorously advance this goal.

By this memorandum I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.

What follows is a seven point plan.

The AP (by way of the Washington Post) notes:

In his presidential memo, Obama directed the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies to make sure U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance helps gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations. He also ordered U.S. agencies to protect vulnerable gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.

But the directive does not make foreign aid contingent on a nation’s gay rights record or include specific sanctions for poor performers, making the policy more of a moral challenge to other governments than a threat.

Of course the nation's conservative "faith community" is outraged.

OUTRAGED!

First our friends at the Family Research Council:

Family Research Council criticized President Obama's memorandum today instructing federal agencies to promote the acceptance of homosexuality and gender identity disorder through its foreign policy.

FRC Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg made the following comments:

It is startling that President Obama is prepared to throw the full weight and reputation of the United States behind the promotion overseas of the radical ideology of the sexual revolution. If he did the same on other issues, his own liberal allies would undoubtedly accuse him of cultural imperialism. Threats to withhold foreign aid from poor countries unless they conform their laws to the views of Western radicals are unconscionable.

Except we already know that there is no "treat to withhold foreign aid" in the memo.  In fact, the section of the memo dealing with "Foreign Assistance" reads:

Agencies involved with foreign aid, assistance, and development shall enhance their ongoing efforts to ensure regular Federal Government engagement with governments, citizens, civil society, and the private sector in order to build respect for the human rights of LGBT persons.

What's unconscionable is Sprigg's statement, a year or so ago on Hardball, that gay behavior should be criminalized.

Then there's Governor Rick Perry:

Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn’t get any more out of touch with America’s values, AP reports his administration wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights.

This administration’s war on traditional American values must stop.

And then:

Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong.

The president is talking about building respect for LGBT human beings, and the conservatively faithful find that deeply offensive.  It's a war on traditional values, they say.

It's a faith based bigotry, to be sure.  Killing/maiming/jailing people across the planet merely for being gay should be allowed to continue because their "behavior" offends people claiming to speak for an omnipotent Supreme Being..

Hitchens was right, you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you just say it's your faith speaking.

ANOTHER Reason Not To Like Rick Perry

Besides the anti-scientific evolution denial, and the anti-scientific climate change denial, (both of which are not-surprising coming, as they do, from the anti-science party that's the current GOP), but I've just discovered another reason to really really dislike (or at least distrust) Rick Perry.

Recently the Washington Times asked all the Republican candidates about their favorite movies (Newt Gingrich said Casablanca and Herman Cain said The Godfather, and so on), Rick Perry said Immortal Beloved.

It was such a strange answer (though not as strange as Perry's speech in New Hampshire), the Washington Times wrote:

The most unusual choice belongs to Rick Perry, who immediately singled out “Immortal Beloved” as his favorite, adding, “Bet you’ll have to look that one up.” (He was right.) “Immortal Beloved” is a 1994 drama starring Gary Oldman as Ludwig van Beethoven.

There's a bit more to this bio-pic than that.  The "Immortal Beloved" of the title is a woman to who Beethoven wrote (but did not send) a love letter.  It was found among his effects after he died in 1827.  For more than a century and a half, real musicologists have struggled to figure out who she was.

The producer of the movie (not a musicologist) believes he settled the issue.  He thinks it was Beethoven's sister-in-law.  It's a claim no actual scholar has actually proposed.

As Beethoven scholar Lewis Lockwood pointed out:

That this 1994 film by Bernard Rose failed notably as cinematic product is obvious from reviews by film critics, surely none of them musicologists. That it also fails, on other levels, as history and biography is clear enough to music lovers, musicians, musicologists and certainly Beethoven scholar by all of whom it's been pretty much condemned to oblivion.

Don't get me wrong, Gary Oldman did a great job and the music, well, was Beethoven.

But it's hardly surprising that such an anti-science guy such as Rick Perry would also be an anti-history guy as well.

Ok, this blog post was a just teensy bit nit picky.  But it's MONDAY, for gosh sakes!  And it's RAINING, for gosh sakes!

Do I need to go all Carpenters on you?

Governor Rick Perry's A Birther

Via Talkingpointsmemo, we get to this interview in Parade and the conversation there turns to birth certificates:

Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?
I have no reason to think otherwise.

That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—
Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

But you’ve seen his.
I don’t know. Have I?

You don’t believe what’s been released?
I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

And?
That came up.

And he said?
He doesn’t think it’s real.

And you said?
I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.

While he does say "It doesn't matter" he's still doubtful that the long form birth certificate's been released (it has).  Unless I am mistaken, this device is what's known in the rhetoric trade as apophasis.  It's an assertion by denying the importance of the thing being asserted.

The subtle is there.  All rhetoric aside, he doubts the long form birth certificate is legitimate.

Rick Perry's a birther.

Anita Perry climbs up on the cross

"We are fighting for the soul of our country."
According to Anita Perry, Governor Goodhair is 'being "brutalized" by fellow conservatives for his Christian faith and his slide in the polls is not because of his extreme vacuousness during the debates, his N-word problem, his supporters demonizing Romney's own faith, or just being the latest Tea Party flavor-of-the-month candidate to fall out of favor (or "number three guy at al-Qaeda" as Joe Scarborough put it this morning).

Via CNN:

(CNN) – Anita Perry stuck up for her husband Thursday, saying Texas Gov. Rick Perry was being "brutalized" by fellow conservatives for his Christian faith.

"It's been a rough month," Perry said in an emotional speech to voters in South Carolina Thursday. The speech was recorded by NBC News. "We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today."

[snip]

"We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party," Perry said. "So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith. He is the only true conservative – well, there are some conservatives. And they're there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose."

[snip]

She said Perry relied on prayer when deciding whether or not to enter the GOP race.

"He felt like he needed to see that burning bush," Perry said. "I said he may not see that burning bush but other people are seeing it for you."

And, Gov. Perry agrees with her. Via Talking Points Memo:

“We still feel called to do this,” Anita Perry said. “We didn’t have to do this. We are doing this because we want to do this. Because we want to save our children…we are fighting for the soul of our country.”

Speaking on Friday to ABC News, Perry said, “I stand by my wife.”

“My understanding is that she said I’m the most conservative candidate in the race and ‘he’s a Christian.’ So I haven’t got anything I can add to that and she’s hit me on my mark both times there,” the candidate told Good Morning America.

Positively delusional.

Here's the video of her full remarks:

We'll stop calling them racists when they stop acting like racists

Via The Washington Post:

Paint Creek, Tex. — In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance.

“Niggerhead,” it read.

[snip]

“My mother and father went to the lease and painted the rock in either 1983 or 1984,” Perry wrote. “This occurred after I paid a visit to the property with a friend and saw the rock with the offensive word. After my visit I called my folks and mentioned it to them, and they painted it over during their next visit.”

[snip]

Perry’s version of events differs in many respects from the recollections of seven people, interviewed by The Washington Post, who spoke in detail of their memories of seeing the rock with the name at various points during the years that Perry was associated with the property through his father, partners or his signature on a lease.

[snip]

Of those interviewed, the seven who said they saw the rock said the block-lettered name was clearly visible at different points in the 1980s and 1990s. One, a former worker on the ranch, believes he saw it as recently as 2008.

Oh, and on a side note, he also thinks it would be a good idea to send US troops to Mexico...

New Rick Perry Campaign Ad!

Remember, this is a guy who even the Bush people think is shallow. Which I assume means he should have a great shot at being nominated (and possibly elected).

[sigh]




(h/t to Spork).

More On Dominionism

I take Tony Norman's column as a start - this specifically:

The first time I ever heard of the Christian Reconstruction movement, now known as Dominionism, I thought it was a gag.

Who in their right mind wanted to live in a world where the Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws would become the template for local and national politics? It was a profoundly dark theology even by the standards of the dour Calvinism I considered reasonable at the time.

According to the tenets of Christian Reconstruction, it was up to Christians to bring the whole world into submission to Jesus Christ. Once that was accomplished (with God's help, of course), the Old Testament laws that guided ancient Israel would be dusted off and applied to civil societies across the globe, including America.

He then goes on to outline some of the scarier parts of this scary stuff and ends not with a whimper but with a bang:

Today, two of the leading Republican presidential candidates, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, reportedly have ties to the Dominionist movement. The press has got to get up to speed on the movement's ideas before either a President Bachmann or a President Perry are in a position to drag Jesus feet first out of heaven, again.

Allow me to do my part.

Michelle Goldberg over at The Daily Beast has more on Dominionism:

Dominionism derives from a small fringe sect called Christian Reconstructionism, founded by a Calvinist theologian named R. J. Rushdoony in the 1960s. Christian Reconstructionism openly advocates replacing American law with the strictures of the Old Testament, replete with the death penalty for homosexuality, abortion, and even apostasy. The appeal of Christian Reconstructionism is, obviously, limited, and mainstream Christian right figures like Ralph Reed have denounced it.

Rushdoony was a piece of work. As Frank Schaefer points out:

Rushdoony (whom I met and talked with several times) believed that interracial marriage, which he referred to as "unequal yoking," should be made illegal. He also opposed "enforced integration," referred to Southern slavery as "benevolent," and said that "some people are by nature slaves." Rushdoony was also a Holocaust denier.

And yet his home school materials are a mainstay of the right-wing evangelical home school movement to this day. In Rushdoony's 1973 book, The Institutes of Biblical Law, he says that fundamentalist Christians must "take control of governments and impose strict biblical law" on America and then the world.

Back to Goldberg with more on Michele Bachmann:

For believers in Dominionism, rule by non-Christians is a sort of sacrilege—which explains, in part, the theological fury that has accompanied the election of our last two Democratic presidents. “Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ—to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness,” wrote George Grant, the former executive director of Coral Ridge Ministries, which has since changed its name to Truth in Action Ministries. “But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice ... It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time ... World conquest.”

Bachmann is close to Truth in Action Ministries; last year, she appeared in one of its documentaries, Socialism: A Clear and Present Danger. In it, she espoused the idea, common in Reconstructionist circles, that the government has no right to collect taxes in excess of 10 percent, the amount that believers are called to tithe to the church. On her state-senate-campaign website, she recommended a book co-authored by Grant titled Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee, which, as Lizza reported, depicted the civil war as a battle between the devout Christian South and the Godless North, and lauded slavery as a benevolent institution. “The unity and companionship that existed between the races in the South prior to the war was the fruit of a common faith,” the book said.

We wrote about the Lee biography here.

Does Goldberg have more on Rick Perry? She certainly does:

In elaborating Bachmann’s Dominionist history, though, it’s important to point out that she is not unique. Perry tends to be regarded as marginally more reasonable than Bachmann, but he is as closely associated with Dominionism as she is, though his links are to a different strain of the ideology.

How? She cites this piece in the Texas Observer by Forrest Wilder. Goldberg continues:

The Christian Reconstructionists tend to be skeptical of Pentecostalism, with its magic, prophesies, speaking in tongues, and wild ecstasies. Certainly, there are overlaps between the traditions—Oral Roberts, where Bachmann studied with Eidsmoe, was a Pentecostal school. But it’s only recently that one group of Pentecostals, the New Apostolic Reformation, has created its own distinct Dominionist movement. And members see Perry as their ticket to power.

“The New Apostles talk about taking dominion over American society in pastoral terms,” wrote Wilder in the Texas Observer. “They refer to the ‘Seven Mountains’ of society: family, religion, arts and entertainment, media, government, education, and business. These are the nerve centers of society that God (or his people) must control.” He quotes a sermon from Tom Schlueter, New Apostolic pastor close to Perry. “We’re going to infiltrate [the government], not run from it. I know why God’s doing what he’s doing ... He’s just simply saying, ‘Tom I’ve given you authority in a governmental authority, and I need you to infiltrate the governmental mountain.”

According to Wilder, members of the New Apostolic Reformation see Perry as their vehicle to claim the “mountain” of government. Some have told Perry that Texas is a “prophet state,” destined, with his leadership, to bring America back to God. The movement was deeply involved in The Response, the massive prayer rally that Perry hosted in Houston earlier this month. “Eight members of The Response ‘leadership team’ are affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation movement,” wrote Wilder. “The long list of The Response’s official endorses—posted on the event’s website—reads like a Who’s Who of the apostolic-prophetic crowd, including movement founder C. Peter Wagner.”

While it's the Republican Party that's otherwise up in arms about Islamic Sharia law taking over the Constitution, isn't it funny (just SOO FUNNY) how they're not so upset about the Christians who want to do the same?

Oh, God. Not AGAIN

From the AP:

The debate over teaching evolution in public schools is resurfacing at the Texas State Board of Education.

The board is meeting to consider supplemental science materials for the upcoming school year and beyond. The Republican-dominated board drew national attention in 2009 when it adopted science standards encouraging schools to scrutinize “all sides” of scientific theory.

A public hearing on the new science materials is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

The board is under the new leadership of Chairwoman Barbara Cargill, a former biology teacher who disputes the theory of evolution. She is considered to be one of the panel’s more conservative members.

Cargill was appointed earlier this month by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

The same Rick Perry that asked Texans to pray for the end of the drought.

But what are these "supplemental science materials" they mention? The AP from yesterday:

An intense fight over evolution and intelligent design theory in science curriculum put a national spotlight on the 15-member elected board in 2009 when it adopted standards that encourage public schools to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theory.
The board is now considering supplemental online instructional materials that fit under those standards and could be used as early as August when classes resume. The new materials are necessary because the state could not afford to buy new textbooks this year, leaving students to use some that are several years old.

And:

The supplement materials submitted for consideration include a high school biology e-book that promotes intelligent design despite federal court rulings against teaching the theory that life on Earth is so complex that it must have come from an intelligent higher power.

So we're talking "intelligent design" as opposed to "young earth" creationism.

Whew. That's such a relief.

Still isn't science, of course. And here's why. In his Summa Totius Logicae, medieval philosopher William of Occam wrote:

Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora

Which translates into English as:

It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.

Basically it means "don't try to explain mysteries by imposing other mysteries." Philosophically, it's what's known as "lex parsimoniae" but that's not important.

What is important that once you impose the "intelligent designer" onto the science, you've effectively left the world of science.

Can't explain what eyebrows do? It's what the designer intended. How about what earthquakes are for? The comparative weight of neutrons to protons to electrons? Why the earth is in exactly the proper orbit for us pesky hu-mans to live? Designer, designer, and...designer. But wait:

• Who is this designer?
• Where is this designer?
• Why did this designer chose one design path over another?
• When did this designer design?
• How do we resolve any of these questions?

See what just happened? Now we've got a whole new set of questions that can't be answered by empirical science because the concept of "the designer" is, by definition, metaphysical (ie it is "beyond" physics).

As Judge Jones (a sane Republican, by the way)pointed out in his decision Kitzmiller v Dover, the religious nature of Intelligent design is obvious and that:

We initially note that John Haught, a theologian who testified as an expert witness for Plaintiffs and who has written extensively on the subject of evolution and religion, succinctly explained to the Court that the argument for ID is not a new scientific argument, but is rather an old religious argument for the existence of God. He traced this argument back to at least Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, who framed the argument as a syllogism: Wherever complex design exists, there must have been a designer; nature is complex; therefore nature must have had an intelligent designer. (Trial Tr. vol. 9, Haught Test., 7-8, Sept. 30, 2005). Dr. Haught testified that Aquinas was explicit that this intelligent designer “everyone understands to be God.” Id. The syllogism described by Dr. Haught is essentially the same argument for ID as presented by defense expert witnesses Professors Behe and Minnich who employ the phrase “purposeful arrangement of parts.”

I know Rick Perry's flirted with secession a few months ago but Texas is still a part of the Union, right? The Constitution is still the Law of the Land in Texas, right? They still have to abide by the 1st Amendment, right?

You wouldn't know it by this ID argument.

Those who are seeking to impose Intelligent Design in the public school curriculum are attempting nothing more than to inject religion into the curriculum. In doing so they are undermining the education of the very students they're supposed to be supporting.

I've said it before. If we are a nation in decline, one of the reasons is this willfull stubborn religiously inspired anti-intellectual retreat from science.

Um...What?

From The Office of the Governor Of The Great State of Texas:

In a letter sent to President Barack Obama late Saturday afternoon, Gov. Rick Perry requested a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of Texas as a result of widespread wildfires and continuing fire danger across the state. The governor identified 252 Texas counties presently threatened or impacted by wildfires. Since the wildfire season began, Texas has responded to 7,807 fires across the state that have burned more than 1,528,714 acres and destroyed 244 homes. Rescue efforts have saved 8,514 threatened homes.

"Texas is thankful to the brave men and women across the state who are battling these fires on the front lines and providing support to wildfire victims," said Gov. Perry. "As wildfires continue to rage across our state, Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies and is in need of federal assistance. I urge President Obama to approve our request quickly so Texans can continue receiving the resources and support they need as wildfires remain an ongoing threat."

The Great State of Texas needs help from the guv'ment.

From the Governor's letter to the Kenyan-born atheist Muslim:

I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments, and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary.

And how much does he want?

The estimate is $70 million (see the Enclosure B from his letter to the evil one)

It was a different story two years ago:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry isn't ruling out the possibility his state may one day secede from the nation.

Speaking to an energetic and angry tea party crowd in Austin Wednesday evening, the Lone Star State governor suggested secession may happen in the future should the federal government not change its fiscal polices.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

Except when there's a big problem, then they run to the federal government for $70 million worth of help.

Everything's bigger in Texas even the self-serving hypocrisy.

Notice Something?

Ok. Found this by way of crooksandliars. It links to this page at Houston Press. The text reads:

The much awaited Perry-Palin rally (with extra special guest Ted Nugent) visited the Rick Berry Center in Cypress on Sunday afternoon, but made sure to wrap things up before the Big Game. Football trumps politics in Texas, of course, even if Sarah Palin comes to town.

And here's what's what:

Texas, Palin, Perry, Homeschooling and The Nuge.

Some days, it's just too easy.