The War On Women Meets The War On Science

march 1st, 2012

Well, this certainly is a convergence of two lunatic disciplines; practiced denial of science meets institutional misogyny. I suspect a sprinkling of Dominionism was added for flavor.

Igor Volsky writes:

"Just moments after Senators defeated the so-called Blunt Amendment, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) accused Sebelius of lying about the administration’s rule requiring employers to provide birth control coverage in their health insurance plans and falsely insisted that religious organizations would be required to provide “abortifacient” drugs." EMPHASIS MINE

Sebelius: There also is no abortifacient drug that is part of the FDA approved contraception. What the rule for preventive care…

Murphy: Ma’m that is not true…Is the morning after pill or something like that an abortifacient drug?

Sebelius : It is a contraceptive drug, not an abortifacient… It does not interfere with a pregnancy. If the morning pill were taken, and a female were pregnant, the pregnancy is not interrupted. That’s the definition of abortifation.

Murphy: Ma’m that is your interpretation, and I appreciate that’s your interpretation.

Sebelius: That’s what the scientists and doctors…

Murphy: We’re not talking about scientists! Ma’m we’re not talking about scientists here, we’re talking about religious belief. Ma’m, I’m asking you about a religious belief. In a religious belief, that is a violation of a religious belief.

This man is an idiot. Worse, he's a very dangerous idiot. Science isn't a political or theological opinion.

One more time... were talking about organizations that seek to participate in secular society, for commercial benefit, underwritten in dozens of ways by the U.S. taxpayer. They don't like it? Close. Period. I say that as a Christian.

Santorum's "Theology"

Feb 27th, 2012

Daniel Larison is gobsmacked by Santorum's recent theocratic declarations:

"Santorum made a very weird statement when he was trying to defend his “phony theology” remarks:

We’re not here to serve the Earth. The Earth is not the objective. Man is the objective.

Santorum has defended his statement in terms of affirming a Biblical understanding of man’s role as a steward of creation, but if we took this later remark at face value we would have to say that Santorum doesn’t understand the concept of stewardship very well. After all, the purpose of Christian stewardship isn’t simply to serve human needs (much less desires), but to preside over the natural world as God’s viceregents and to rule it in a manner pleasing to God, all of which is directed towards giving God glory and thanksgiving for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. We are to see creation as something entrusted to us by God, and as something that we are responsible for preserving and keeping as part of our obedience to Him. That necessarily involves limiting and restraining our desires so as not to exhaust or waste what has been entrusted to us. Viewed that way, we are here to care for the earth and for one another, and in so doing serve the Creator Who made both."

Of course, this is obvious to many. But to refer to Santorum as a Christian or a Catholic obscures his strict adherence to Dominionist ideology. In his view, "stewardship" and unrestrained exploitation are interchangeable. more frightening, he seem to regard the latter as a requirement of "faith."

The GOP War On The Separation Clause, cont...

Feb 26th, 2012

I wrote recently that the Republican party was engaged in nothing less than a full assault on the principle of separation itself. Some of the responses were heated and accused me of hyperbole. With all due respect, Rick Santorum exploded those arguments a short time ago. Appearing on This Week with George Stephanopulous this morning, he doubled down on remarks he made last year that his reaction to JFK's famous address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in Septemer of 1960 made him want to vomit.

"I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," he said. He then actually argued that the church not participating the "operation of the state" is "antithetical" to our founding.

How Social Conservatives Are Derailing The GOP, cont...

Feb 21st, 2012

Josh Holland notes that one of the interesting things to come out of the GOP's war on contraception is a fracture in messaging:

"Most progressives have come to hold a grudging admiration for the conservative movement's message discipline. We're often impressed by the way the entire movement repeats and reinforces its preferred narrative on most issues – from the most obscure bloggers in the fever swamps of wingnuttia to the Republican caucus in the senate. There's real power in that discipline."

At first, the arguments against the so-called "contraception mandate" were framed exclusively as an issue of "religious liberty." I thoroughly debunked this nonsense HERE. My expectation was that the establishment would keep order, the wing-nuts would follow and, as usual, I would have to keep making my point in an attempt to expose the underlying hypocrisy.

However, when you use a dog-whistle you can't always control how the hounds respond. From the recent disgusting pronouncements of Dana Loesch to the extreme proposals of Republican Senator Roy Blunt which would expand conservative demands for exceptions beyond the religious and into the "moral," the discipline of GOP propaganda which we once expected is showing signs of collapse.

The real and underlying fear among "conservatives" over changes in women's roles over the last two generations has erupted and is "throwing them off message and making it clear to the public at large that this fight is first and foremost about women's role in society, and not “conscience” or “liberty” or any of the other talking points that might have won the American people over to their side in the debate.

And that clarity will play out in this election cycle. As Greg Sargent notes, over the past three months pollsters have seen a dramatic, 18-point swing from Romney to Obama among unmarried women, and the president now leads the supposedly “moderate” contender by a stunning 65-30 margin among that group. When it comes to this bizarre fight over contraception, social conservatives are proving to be their party's own worst enemies."

And it's still only February.

A Note To The GOP Regarding The Contraceptive Mandate

Feb 8th, 2012

A majority of the Catholic Americans the GOP's social engineers purport to be defending from the "Obamacare" driven birth control mandate support its implementation. Sorry, GOP.

The GOP War On The Separation Clause

Feb 8th, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

I regard myself as a Christian. I believe in the Gospels. I generally keep it to myself and out of my writing because I have the right to do so. In America, no one may tell me what, how, when or where to worship.

I am protected from litmus tests or societal demands to prove my faith by the Constitution. That's what the separation clause provides for.

What I am not guaranteed is special status to impose my religion when I participate in public markets. I am also (supposed to be) Constitutionally disallowed access to taxpayer monies while simultaneously demanding the right to implement policies driven by a theological agenda in those markets.

Period.

Contrary to popular GOP propaganda, there is no war on religion in the United States. That is absurd. What we do have currently is a coordinated effort to attack the bedrock principle of separation. Nothing illustrates this more than the current brouhaha over the Obama Administration's new birth control guidelines.

Quotes Of The Day

Feb 3rd, 2012

"All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.


It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. 

For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens."

-- George Washington

Or, to put it more simply...

"The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

-- John Adams

The Modern GOP Vs Ronald Reagan, cont...

Jan 8th, 2011

"We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. 

All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief."

-- President Ronald Reagan

John Locke In Three Minutes

Nov 29th, 2011

A pretty astounding introduction to Locke's philosophies in about three minutes... with a solid dose of humor.

What Separation?

Sept 26th, 2011

James Madison once famously said, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries."

The following video is real. This is not a parody. This is an event in a public school. But remember, the hand-wringing over indoctrination and establishment attempts by Dominionists are just something we progressives are making up. Right?

Via Dred Pirate Rob:

Public School Proselytizes to Children by OnKneesforJesus