The Rapture Is Not An Exit Strategy

I've been reading the Military Religious Freedom Foundation website and newsletter for a couple of months now. There seems to be some crossover between church and state going on in our military. Which is against the law, but hey, that hasn't stopped this administration on several other fronts so nobody seems to expect this to matter to them now.




The image on the right kind of summarizes the whole issue for me. I call it "Rifles and Bibles".

I thought it was those nut job Taliban guys that did stuff like this -

A Hamas suicide bomber posing with a rifle and a copy of the Koran.












not our guys and gals.




From Saturday, May 26, 2007
FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
MICK FARREN BLOG POSTING

I don’t feel exactly comfortable with the idea that megaton loaded nuclear bombers are flying around with crews who believe the Book of Revelation is going become reality anytime.

“The Christian Taliban is running the Department of Defense, It inundates everything. Can you imagine a contingent of religious zealots, with their contempt for secular values (and such manifestations of secular order as the U.S. Constitution) — and with their zest for holy war — in control of the most potent fighting force and weaponry in human history? Is this possible? Well, said Weinstein, consider the 523rd Fighter Squadron, based at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., which calls itself The Crusaders, and whose emblem consists of a sword, four crosses and a medieval knight’s helmet. They fly F-16s with payloads consisting of “a wide variety of conventional, precision guided and nuclear weapons.” And listen once again to Commander-in-Chief Bush, speaking in 2003 to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If this is a religious war — a “clash of civilizations,” waged by competing agents of God’s will — victory may be indistinguishable from Armageddon. God help the human race.”

Black National Anthem

It took me awhile but I finally found a video of the whole song. It's a beautiful thing. I thought others might want to see and hear it also, so I'm posting it.



Denver "Singer opts for black national anthem lyrics over 'Star-Spangled Banner'", from the LA Times.

USA, Home of the Free and Land of the Brave - where we torture children and bury people alive to keep it that way?

From the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing on: From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules, Part III




Here's an idea: They should have used harsh interrogation tactics on them! Thee artwork alone is worth a look at this blog post. I'm of the opinion that it's always nice to keep a sense of humor about, even when discussing serious matters such as these.

Watch the whole three hour and thirty seven minute Hearing here.


Other references:

Two Testify on Memo Spelling Out Interrogation from the New York Times

From Elusive Starting Point on Harsh Interrogations from the NY Times

*Most Republicans continue to defend the administration’s policies. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, insisted that while there had been occasional mistakes, the policies had prevented a repeat of Sept. 11. “By and large, I would say our people have done a terrific job,” he said.

The American News Project

The Headmaster and the Schoolboy from Slate.com

From The Garlic: Oh Yeah ...There'll Be Hard Karma A'Comin' ...

The Torture Memo from The Nation

From John Conyers' Balloon Juice, Your Government in a Nutshell:

Fundamentally, the reason why Bush officials like Yoo and Addington show such total contempt for Congress is also the answer to the question that Conyers asked John Yoo: a rule without a penalty is no rule at all. If Congress won’t enforce the law when the President breaks it, then why should he pretend the law is there? For all intents and purposes it isn’t. Yoo’s answer to Conyers, then, is to lean back, smirk and ask what are you going to do about it?

Both sides of that conversation know the answer: nothing. Maybe Conyers will hold another hearing and invite another Bush official to crap on his desk.

*Note on quote from NYT article: There is no way to prove that anything that has been done since 9/11 has prevented a repeat episode. I would say it would be much easier to prove that the Bush administration's ineptitude allowed 9/11 to happen.