US politics

Evangelicals Don’t Like It Up ‘Em

Corruption, Media, Religion, US politics
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Well, yes, I know they actually do, that’s been proved often enough [insert gratuitous fundy sex scandal link here]

It’s getting shafted in the political sense the fundies don’t like, especially when it’s from someone supposed to be on their own side.

6 TV preachers’ finances are under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, led by a Republican Senator :

Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn are among representatives of six ministries asked to hand over their records of expenses and compensations to Grassley. Because of their non-profit “church status,” all of the ministries are tax-exempt and not required to submit their financial information to the Internal Revenue Service.

“I don’t want to conclude that there’s a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more,” Grassley said. “I’m following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries.”

Other ministries that Grassley has identified for investigation are Paula and Randy White; Gloria and Kenneth Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas; Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., and Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers International in College Park, Ga.

Hilariously, the preachers are now rallying their fellow fundies and dominionists to aid them in claiming the constitutional protection of the separation of church and state:

But traditional Christians aren’t universally celebrating the inquiry. Some are wondering whether the investigation led by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is the right way to end any wrongdoing, especially if the result is more government oversight of all ministries.

“We’re not representing any of the parties involved, but when I see a senator charging into organizations, wielding this kind of budget ax and laying bare religious figures and expenditures, huge constitutional questions are being raised,” said Garry McCaleb, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious liberty legal group founded by James Dobson of Focus on the Family and other influential evangelicals.

More…

Even if you loathe evangelical hypocrites, and I surely do, you’ve got to admire their ability to turn on a dime.

Border Incidents

Canada, Civil liberties, US politics, War on Terror
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As the British government once again attempts to prove the futility of borders in a globalised economy, let’s see how other countries are getting on, shall we?

Video shows Polish traveler dying after Canadian police use Taser

US guards prevent Canadian volunteers from answering an alarm call just over the border because one of the firefighters has a funny name.

Croatian Serb arrested for war crimes on US/Canada border: Goran Pavic, a 42-year-old Croatian Serb, was crossing the Ambassador Bridge from the Canadian town of Windsor enroute to Detroit when he was stopped.

Shoppers complain customs posts are overwhelmed and allege victimisationas the declining US dollar sends Canadians on a US spending spree.

The charges of smuggling illegal immigrants made by Canada against Janet Hinshaw-Thomas, an American refugee rights worker arrested in September at a Quebec border crossing while helping 12 Haitians seek asylum, have been dropped.

“In An Asylum Full of Napoleons, He’s the One Convinced He’s Joan of Arc”

'08/12 Election, Activism, Sensible Liberals, US politics, Wingnuts
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The Invisible Librarian‘s describing Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who I’ve been meaning to do a post about. But I’ve had real trouble getting a handle on the man other than that from what I’ve heard of him so far, he seems a bit of a crackpot libertarian.

Nevertheless he seems to be hitting a sweet spot with many Americans of all political stripes, sick as they are of the permanent folie a deux of a two party system and an entrenched media-political elite.

Even know sensible liberals like Glenn Greenwald are giving him credence:

…Glen Greenwald had to jump in and defend Ron Paul’s honor:

A “principled conservative” is someone who aggressively objects to the radicalism of the neocons and the Bush/Cheney assault on our constitution and embraces a conservative political ideology. That’s what Ron Paul is, and it’s hardly a surprise that he holds many views anathema to most liberals. That hardly makes him a “fruitcake.”

You’re right Glen. What makes Ron Paul a fruitcake is his desire to shut down the Department of Education, revoke Civil Rights, return us to the Gold Standard and use Letters of Marque and Reprisal to catch terrorists. His bid to defend the right to burn flags by proposing an amendment to make burning flags illegal and then arguing against his own amendment is just… no that’s nutty, too. Never mind.

[…]

Ron Paul views women as baby making machines. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. He wants to put us back on the fucking Gold standard! The Gold standard! And just because misogyny, sex-phobia and Jesus are planks of the GOP platform doesn’t make them reasonable areas of dispute. That we accept it as such just illustrates how far around the bend we’ve slid when it comes to acceptable discourse in politics.

Go read.

I’ve let Ron Paul slide under my political radar so far, taking the media spin at face value – that he’s a nothing candidate, a bit of crackpot, not a factor, nothing to consider. But this is the man that raised $4.3 million from a didaffected voting public in one day.

That says that, despite the official GOP trying to put a lid on his coverage, that he has a lot of potential votes in the Republican pimary.He’s not a nothing, or a nonentity and if he isn’t a nutter (though the omens don’t look good), well he certainly knows how to attract ’em.