Theocons: The Newest Con of the Radical Wrong

Although still in rare use, a term for the hellion of theocratic conservatives dovetailing (isn't that immoral illegal?) with the neocon and conservative radical right has been minted in the heat of the rankling left: theo-cons and now Theocons. For me it suits perfectly the many faces of radicalism that are melding into one snarling, moralistic menace from Tom Delay through Alan Keyes (gag) and all the ugly tones of believers (government officials or not) in between. I wonder if at night Karl Rove dreams of himself, bloody sword in hand, leading this band of jackals (hysterical with glee and power) hacking their way through throngs of flower-holding, tie-dye wearing peaceniks. If so, Theocon is the word that must be emblazoned on his stanchion (and the 't' so handily lends itself to rendering as a cross....); such a dream is the closest to heaven Rove will ever get.

Personally, what infuriates me about Theocons (beside the most vile of their rank's appropriation of the pious religious as their political pawns) is the pride and arrogance defenders (of both the political appropriator's and the pious) have about being ignorant to the point of committing crimes against humanity; it is one subsect of their group--the Rapturist's--who are currently reveling--counting the days--to the climate melt-down that will cost millions of human lives and catastrophe world-wide on a still unmeasureable scale of incomprehensible devastation, (unless you live in an area that is already on the leading edge of the trend within which, sadly, none of our theocon assholes reside).

This week Alternet has brought us a piece that I think nicely describes an unvarnished framing of the realm in which, at it's worst, religion functions. It is the reality-challenged nature of that world that so readily lends itself to theocon manipulation (a few snippets follow--color highlighting is mine):

"For Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, until 2003 the deputy head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's most powerful office, seeing The DaVinci Code in a Vatican bookstore was the last straw. In early March he lashed out at Catholic bookstores for carrying the book, and directed Catholics not to read it. Why? 'There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true.'

Fables?

Dan Brown's phenomenal bestseller suggests that Jesus was an immensely popular and prophetic leader who married one of his closest associates and had a family. Archbishop Bertone and the Church maintain that Jesus was at the same time a man, the son of God, and God himself, that a virgin woman gave birth to him and remained a virgin, that a few days after he was killed he came back to life and shortly thereafter was taken up to heaven to spend an eternity directing the destinies of billions of people.

In a rational world the burden of proof as to which is fable would fall on the Church. But there's the rub. For when it comes to organized religion, no burden of proof is required. On the contrary, by definition, religion requires faith and faith renounces evidence. Taking a proposition 'on faith' means to consciously and willfully refuse to examine the facts.

Take Terri Schiavo's case for example. Throngs of theocons and their religious supporters were motivated to threaten violence, political revenge, spritual retribution and even death to save the vegetative 'life' of a woman none had personally known or cared about before they were motivated by political expediancy or direct command. The religious are the same who would save the 'life' of an as-yet unimplanted egg in the uterus of a woman who has made the decision that she is unwilling to carry a fetus to term. No problem for the conscience of such a personal-rights invader-- the abortion that woman will likely be forced to have is not his or her problem--until it is time to 'intervene' on the behalf of said fetus (just as was their Godly commendation to interven for Terri Schiavo, an equally unconscious entity). So how will that work? A religious fanatic can decide to legally withold (equally legal) prescription birth control, then (their hope is) legally deny abortion? Gee, doesn't that mean someone outside her family could force her to have a baby? Isn't that what slave owners did? How many decades must we slide in reverse before voters put us out of this misery? The only religious group more ghoulishly invasive than theocon supporters are Mormons (by definition Mormons are not Christians, by the way) who sift through death certificates baptizing the completely and permanently unconscious (deceased) into their particular and seperate heaven!

The Alternet article goes on:

There is a word for this type of thinking: Superstition. Many dictionaries define superstition as 'belief which is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge.' The American Heritage Dictionary defines superstition as 'a belief, practice or rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature' and 'a fearful or abject state resulting from such ignorance or irrationality.'

Of course, we all have our superstitions. I may refrain from walking under a ladder, or throw salt over my shoulder after a salt spill to avoid bad things from happening to me. But organized religion elevates superstition to an entirely new level. It demands that we govern our lives with superstition, promises us eternal salvation and bliss if we do, and threatens us with eternal damnation and pain if we do not."

Before theoconservatives harangued their way into power (which I personally think began with the 1994 104th Congress of Newt Gingrich) reason ruled politics because radical right politicians had not yet fully dared hitch a ride on the back of the religion snake, a mindless thing that during the 70's and 80's undulated and twisted its way through the cultural holes in which the ignorant, culturally impoverished and angry were just waiting for someone--anyone--to legitimize their projected bigotry and self-hate onto those whose lives were being bettered by the liberal agenda (namely people of color, women, the disabled and the poor, i.e. everyone other than white Archie Bunker males). Politicians were not yet so hungry and desperate for control to make a pact with a mob mentality that (for the same reason it could be molded to direct its venom on their political enemies) could twist back on itself--without the governor of reason--and strike a death blow as well, to them.

If we are lucky, the self-destructive codependence of the radical religious will soon make short work of theocon careers; Theocons, to maintain their rabid base, must feed them the red meat of the 'right-to-choice' daily but in so doing risk alienating voters who find their meddling into state's rights and home affairs too distasteful to bear. The dangers here for liberals are theocon passage of laws that will allow them to turn on a dime and crush the religion snake as it readies to strike or packing the courts with radical theocon judges. Is Karl Rove that politically good? If you believe in the Antichrist he is...

An Easter Thank You to Terri Shiavo

As that poor woman, Terri Shiavo, dies before our eyes (as she would have, removed from feeding tubes at any point since becoming dependent on them) most citizens regardless of party are sickened by the media and political spectacle right-to-lifer's and savvy Republicans have made of her.

I hate hearing about it, reading about it, knowing about it. And it is not her particular case or death alone that upsets me, but that she is one of millions who languish, die, dehydrate and starve in our wealthy country (or globally) every year from lack of money, concern, care or political interest. A greater writer than I can and will codify in elegantly simple language the complex interactions between the many issues eliciting our deep anguish over this...so I will let my emotional expression go at that.

What I would like to point out, is that from this national scandal of political self-interest, the Right is practically ripping it's own heart out; I feel for those who are having the scales from their eyes lifted. They are in shock, and here and there on right-wing blogs conservatives are starting to feel disgusted by the blood sport being made of Michael Shiavo--even posting the original 2003 document presented to Jeb Bush regarding Terri's condition--so they can find the truth, so suspicious are some becoming of the accusations Rush, Savage and the MSM are making. They are starting to question their 'masters'.

Terri may end up being a martyr, but at least her death may not be futile.

Thank you, Terri--if there is a God--may you rest therein.

Save Terri Schiavo Or I'll Kill You

This APS story sums up what conservative zealots feel emboldened and righteous in doing:

A man arrested in Buncombe County Friday was charged with threatening the husband of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of the right-to-die case gripping the country.

Meywes is accused of sending an e-mail putting a $250,000 bounty 'on the head of Michael Schiavo' and another $50,000 to eliminate a judge who denied a request to intervene in the Schiavo case, the FBI said. The FBI did not immediately identify the judge.

And this is why:

Last week, Congress and President Bush entered the battle to force the case to be heard by federal courts. Since then, all courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have refused to intervene to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tubes restored.

Does this surprise you, when the once-democratic nation of the United States, guided for hundreds of years by the rule of law (laws established by the interaction of senate and congress informed by thousands of precedents slowly and painstakingly developed following the guiding principle of the constitution to the joy and consternation of rich and poor, winner and loser alike) falls in a bloodless coup handed over by embedded right-wing high-court judges to a party leadership hungry for a theocratic revision allowing, under cover of their so-called God, nothing short of the wholesale destruction of the moderate judicial system that is the final and only bulwark against their lunatic plans of global corporate domination under the guise of so-called American style democracy?

If you didn't vote against Bush, you voted for him. If you didn't agitate against his party you were a silent enabler of its rise.

If you don't work against the end of this vile regime now and forever, you will suffer and die by it. They have you in their sites...can you feel their eyes?

INCOMING (AGAIN): For $940 You Too Can Sell Your Child for Chemical Research AT HOME!!!

From canary chronicles EPA and Human Testing: What is CHEERS?

...the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is paying Florida families who “spray or have pesticides sprayed inside your home routinely” to study their infant children. When agency scientists started to question the ethics of the study, EPA removed the protocol from its website.

Mike Malloy covered this on his March 23 broadcast including a side rant that according to the revered Snopes (urban legend debunking site) it is not the case (funny, I found a discrepancy with Snopes over the WTO Codex 'urban legend' which BTW, is NOT an urban legend--see this--so what's up with Snopes?).

Anyway, I suspect that the study is paying folks who already routinely use these chemicals in their homes, to monitor their kids--yes, paying them for it--but not necessarily asking them to add more chemicals than they already use. But the point isn't (just) that they're asking folks to add industrial value to their kid's lives (I mean why not get a few extra bucks for having the little rats around), or that industry is finally paying to collect data on what it has always done--use humans for product testing; it is that the results will then be used to downgrade EPA rules thus allowing higher exposure level limits of chemicals presently in use (and assume that will lower the bar for new chemical product introductions as well), which will result in higher product and health costs for users and revenue streams for manfacturers! Oh, and with all those reductions in EPA standards there will be less production control and related cotst for protecting manufacturing employees thus COST SHIFTING RISK TO CITIZENS AND PROFIT TO MANUFACTURERS (do these guys ever pay for anything, well, beside political favors?).

I may have issues with some aspects of that great weirdo cult film The Matrix, but boy am I feeling like a "Coppertop" right now...

GOOD READ: Slaughter/Pelosi "Broken Promises: The Death of Deliberative Democracy" Report Synopsis

This is good; a Kos diarist takes on analysis of the 147 page Slaughter/Pelosi report "Broken Promises: The Death of Deliberative Democracy", slices out the crap (like a hundred pages of necessary but painful-to-read appendices) and leaves us with the report's better filets, like:

"In short, the Republicans have not only shortened the working session by nearly 8 weeks since they took over leadership, but they've dedicated a MAJOR portion of that time to debating bills that there is ALREADY A CONSENUS on!

Let's put it another way: This tactic is nothing short of a systematic shutting off of debate by 'debating' non-controversial bills. Republican leadership made time for nearly a thousand non-controverisal bills, but the House was given only 4 HOURs to debate the Medicare prescription drug bill, which involves literally hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars!"

Now if only the over-paid dog-faced (right-wing) media would report (hahahahahahahahaah) like that instead of (as usual) leaving the heavy lifting to unpaid, left-wing bloggers, we might be able to get back to (or start?) living in a real democracy in this country...

...nah.

BTW, read the diary comments for added value.

VICTORY: "Clear Skies" Dead!!!!!

Finally, a Republican who understands that clean air is a property right.

President Bush's bid to rewrite the nation's air pollution laws ground to a halt in Congress Wednesday when Republicans were unable to overcome objections in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the bill would weaken central pillars of environmental protection.

Democrats, joined by Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., and Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., said that negotiations had been conducted in bad faith, that the initiative's pollution control targets were set too low, and that certain loopholes in the bill were irresponsible.

The 9-9 vote in the Senate committee followed weeks of postponements and months of anticipation, alternately marked by low-ball tactics and high drama. While neither side said the bill was doomed, the groups remained far apart on many issues, and future negotiations appeared to be jeopardized by mistrust and radical differences of opinion.

and...

The Environmental Protection Agency will issue new rules today and next week to control the same pollutants targeted by the Bush initiative, but these rules will not change provisions in the 1990 Clean Air Act that would have been revised by "Clear Skies."

Now (you can) breathe deep...inhale...exhale...inhale...

Get Sick, Get Fucked

The bankruptcy bill that will allow you to live in poverty (while the wealthy skate away) was not blocked by Democrats. I am ashamed of the party I support, again.

For the LAST GODDAMN TIME

A great rant from a diarist on dKos, a great blog:

The idea of a 'reactionary left' applied to the Democratic Party is a joke. It's another Orwellian twist on the truth, another 'white is the new black'. I think it's incredible that some of you journalists apparently can't see the irony of using a term whose very definition means opposition to progress and liberalism.

MUST READ: DKos Diary - A Promise to My Grandfather (Roman Edemskoi - 58877241)

Since the days of Ronald Reagan and Karl Rove's entry into politics, things have been weird and getting weirder. I don't know if he actually is THE BEAST 666 (or just alien) but he is definitely warping the reality around him and not a day goes by that things don't get weirder. Today is such (another) day. But I have also noticed that the Forces Of Good seem to be rallying and if I didn't believe in such things I would think there is a war against Evil in Heaven mirroring our war against Bush/Rove here on Earth, and in Heaven at least, we are gaining ground.

My evidence of that war comes in moments of serendipity such as the one following. First, I received an email from MoveOn requesting that we mobilize our grassroots fight because:

Karl Rove recently announced that he was setting up a "permanent campaign" -- modeled on Bush/Cheney ‘04 -- to force a sweeping right-wing agenda through Congress. The same corporate donors are donating, the same ground troops are organizing -- even people like the Swift Boat Veterans are back in business, all working together to gut Social Security, confirm extremist judges, and silence the Democrats.

Immediately after that I read on dKos a diary with a clarity of such emotional power that, should I tire of the hate-filled attacks, remind me of why I must never, never, never give up. Holocaust Auschwitz