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lapsedmodernistMissionaries won't give food to tsunami victims unless they convert
Samanthapettai, near the temple town of Madurai, faced near devastation on the December 26 when massive tidal waves wiped it clean of homes and lives.
Most of the 200 people here are homeless or displaced , battling to rebuild lives and locating lost family members besides facing risks of epidemic,disease and trauma.
Jubilant at seeing the relief trucks loaded with food, clothes and the much-needed medicines the villagers, many of who have not had a square meal in days, were shocked when the nuns asked them to convert before distributing biscuits and water.
Also, speaking of heathens, anyone catch this article last winter?
Bible Belt missionaries set out on a 'war for souls' in Iraq
While we're at it, I am sure you all want me to share with you what I learned from my personal edification project of reading the Left Behind series. The project it going slowly--I am reading them in sequence (although that is not really necessary as each book provides a "previously on the OC"-type recap in the beginning), but I refuse to buy them from any venue that will give a part of the proceeds to the Gruesome Twosome that pens this crap, so I have to wait until I stumble on the next-in-sequence book at the one English-language bookstore in Quito (called Confederacy Books, FYI) or it pops up at a book exchange.
My favorite part about LB is their attempts to be "hip" and to appeal to audience that is maybe on the margin of their demographic, rather than in its glowing center. There are inexplicable, yet priceless moments. Here are some of them:
Priceless Moment # 1, where the authors take their cue from Eminem's strategic "homofriendliness" in 8 Mile
One of our main heroes, Buck (a rogue journalist who is revealed to be a 30+ virgin) is in danger of being exposed: he is trying to keep his Christian beliefs hidden from The Antichrist who so far went from being the SecGen of the UN to the Potentate of the Global Community. His coworker with whom there has been many an altercation is not a Sister and threatens to expose him (it's a long story why but he is harboring a rabbi-turned-Christian who is a Wanted Man after basically being a Judah to his people and announcing on national TV in Israel that JC is the only one who meets all the Biblical qualifications for being the Messiah). Apropos of nothing Buck counterattacks with "you wouldn't want your private life talked about, right? Like, for example if you were a lesbian?" That shuts her up but good and later Buck's formerly-sceptical, but now-domesticated (see Priceless Moment 2, upcoming) wifey Chloe says she hadn't known the coworker in question was a lesbian. Buck replies that neither had he and implies that God armed him with this knowledge at the necessary moment. At some point a couple of chapter later Buck tries his usual conversion shpiel on Lesbian Coworker and she (justifiably might I add) hisses at him "I know how your God feels about people...like me." However, Buck isn't named Buck for nothing and will not be deterred; he trips her resistance before it's out of the gate with the following 100-carat diamond of logic: "Verna Zee*, God does not say homosexuality is a sin, only homosexual sex. But heterosexual premarital sex is also a sin. God loves us all equally."
Priceless Moment # 2, designed to appeal to "feminazis"
Buck is figuring out a way to transport aforementioned Rabbi Judas back to Israel (that has so far been spared from every Judgement/Natural Disaster including the Wrath of the Lamb Global Earthquake, also see Jesus Landing Pad. His wifey Chloe wants to come with but she just got banged up real bad in the Global Earthquake. Rabbi Judas makes some comment about her condition, like "all that matters is that the little one here gets better." Although no character development could have predicted this, all of a sudden Chloe freaks out and says she is offended by being referred to in such a diminutive fashion. Buck laughs that she is going through a PC stage. Because political correctness--HAHAHAHAHAHA! That weatherman who announced Martin Luther Coon Day today was totally crucified on the cross of those feminazis and those uppity affirmative action minorities! Anyway, then Chloe delivers an impassioned speech about how she is prepared to obey her husband because she knows how much he loves her and she will defer to his Deity-sactioned Cartman Clause (Respect Mah Authority!) but she wishes that he would be reasonable in his decisions. And guess what, it works, he (after a face-saving grace period) decides to let her come to Israel. One small step for Chloe, one giant step for women worldwide.
Priceless Moment #3: The Allah-la-la-la
In the fourth book we finally have a named character who is an Allah-worshipper. He is a black market speculator and, essentially a war/tragedy profiteer, but he does supply our main Hero with a scuba diving suit so that he can go diving in the Tigris river looking for the body of his dead wife to make sure it has the Jesus Mark on the forehead which would definitely mean she wasn't a double agent for the Antrichrist (don't ask). So in the hierarchy of the book it is made very clear that Allah-worshippers are better than those allied with the Antichrist. This should be reeling Muslims right in!
*for that be the Lesbian's name
Speaking of saving even more Muslim souls, The White House is trying to discredit Seymour Hersh now that Hersh has come on "Late Edition" and said that "The Bush administration has been carrying out secret reconnaissance missions to learn about nuclear, chemical and missile sites in Iran in preparation for possible airstrikes there." First of all, it's (gasp!) inconsistent of the MisAdministration to try and Dan Rather Hersh over something that is corraborated by their own Blueprint For World Domination. Secondly, "I don't believe that some of the conclusions he's drawing are based on fact," Bartlett said. Isn't it so cute how they are invoking "facts" after relegating peeps like Hersh and Suskind into the non-grata atavistic Siberia of the "reality-based community"?
Word to the wise: Seymour Hersh is pretty much all that left of the Old School of Journalism, you know, the one that at least cut its machismo with integrity and a commitment to investigative reportage. Seymour Hersh broke the My Lai massacre story. Seymour Hersh broke the Abu Ghraib story in the New Yorker long before any of the networks gigerly touched it with a ten-foot pole held in rubber gloves. What Seymour Hersh has to say about The Upcoming Wars should be heeded.
what is your favorite part? Mine is this:
"Under Rumsfeld’s new approach, I was told, U.S. military operatives would be permitted to pose abroad as corrupt foreign businessmen seeking to buy contraband items that could be used in nuclear-weapons systems. In some cases, according to the Pentagon advisers, local citizens could be recruited and asked to join up with guerrillas or terrorists. This could potentially involve organizing and carrying out combat operations, or even terrorist activities. "
I guess asking "are you a narc, man?" does not translate well from after-school specials to Global Entrapment Techniques. And the best part? Hold on a sec...we get to Do Terrorism in order to Stop Terrorism? You mean like 9/11?
To quote the brilliant Immortal Technique,
They control the ghetto, with a fear of attack
Tryin to distract the fact they engineerin the crack.
Samanthapettai, near the temple town of Madurai, faced near devastation on the December 26 when massive tidal waves wiped it clean of homes and lives.
Most of the 200 people here are homeless or displaced , battling to rebuild lives and locating lost family members besides facing risks of epidemic,disease and trauma.
Jubilant at seeing the relief trucks loaded with food, clothes and the much-needed medicines the villagers, many of who have not had a square meal in days, were shocked when the nuns asked them to convert before distributing biscuits and water.
Also, speaking of heathens, anyone catch this article last winter?
Bible Belt missionaries set out on a 'war for souls' in Iraq
While we're at it, I am sure you all want me to share with you what I learned from my personal edification project of reading the Left Behind series. The project it going slowly--I am reading them in sequence (although that is not really necessary as each book provides a "previously on the OC"-type recap in the beginning), but I refuse to buy them from any venue that will give a part of the proceeds to the Gruesome Twosome that pens this crap, so I have to wait until I stumble on the next-in-sequence book at the one English-language bookstore in Quito (called Confederacy Books, FYI) or it pops up at a book exchange.
My favorite part about LB is their attempts to be "hip" and to appeal to audience that is maybe on the margin of their demographic, rather than in its glowing center. There are inexplicable, yet priceless moments. Here are some of them:
Priceless Moment # 1, where the authors take their cue from Eminem's strategic "homofriendliness" in 8 Mile
One of our main heroes, Buck (a rogue journalist who is revealed to be a 30+ virgin) is in danger of being exposed: he is trying to keep his Christian beliefs hidden from The Antichrist who so far went from being the SecGen of the UN to the Potentate of the Global Community. His coworker with whom there has been many an altercation is not a Sister and threatens to expose him (it's a long story why but he is harboring a rabbi-turned-Christian who is a Wanted Man after basically being a Judah to his people and announcing on national TV in Israel that JC is the only one who meets all the Biblical qualifications for being the Messiah). Apropos of nothing Buck counterattacks with "you wouldn't want your private life talked about, right? Like, for example if you were a lesbian?" That shuts her up but good and later Buck's formerly-sceptical, but now-domesticated (see Priceless Moment 2, upcoming) wifey Chloe says she hadn't known the coworker in question was a lesbian. Buck replies that neither had he and implies that God armed him with this knowledge at the necessary moment. At some point a couple of chapter later Buck tries his usual conversion shpiel on Lesbian Coworker and she (justifiably might I add) hisses at him "I know how your God feels about people...like me." However, Buck isn't named Buck for nothing and will not be deterred; he trips her resistance before it's out of the gate with the following 100-carat diamond of logic: "Verna Zee*, God does not say homosexuality is a sin, only homosexual sex. But heterosexual premarital sex is also a sin. God loves us all equally."
Priceless Moment # 2, designed to appeal to "feminazis"
Buck is figuring out a way to transport aforementioned Rabbi Judas back to Israel (that has so far been spared from every Judgement/Natural Disaster including the Wrath of the Lamb Global Earthquake, also see Jesus Landing Pad. His wifey Chloe wants to come with but she just got banged up real bad in the Global Earthquake. Rabbi Judas makes some comment about her condition, like "all that matters is that the little one here gets better." Although no character development could have predicted this, all of a sudden Chloe freaks out and says she is offended by being referred to in such a diminutive fashion. Buck laughs that she is going through a PC stage. Because political correctness--HAHAHAHAHAHA! That weatherman who announced Martin Luther Coon Day today was totally crucified on the cross of those feminazis and those uppity affirmative action minorities! Anyway, then Chloe delivers an impassioned speech about how she is prepared to obey her husband because she knows how much he loves her and she will defer to his Deity-sactioned Cartman Clause (Respect Mah Authority!) but she wishes that he would be reasonable in his decisions. And guess what, it works, he (after a face-saving grace period) decides to let her come to Israel. One small step for Chloe, one giant step for women worldwide.
Priceless Moment #3: The Allah-la-la-la
In the fourth book we finally have a named character who is an Allah-worshipper. He is a black market speculator and, essentially a war/tragedy profiteer, but he does supply our main Hero with a scuba diving suit so that he can go diving in the Tigris river looking for the body of his dead wife to make sure it has the Jesus Mark on the forehead which would definitely mean she wasn't a double agent for the Antrichrist (don't ask). So in the hierarchy of the book it is made very clear that Allah-worshippers are better than those allied with the Antichrist. This should be reeling Muslims right in!
*for that be the Lesbian's name
Speaking of saving even more Muslim souls, The White House is trying to discredit Seymour Hersh now that Hersh has come on "Late Edition" and said that "The Bush administration has been carrying out secret reconnaissance missions to learn about nuclear, chemical and missile sites in Iran in preparation for possible airstrikes there." First of all, it's (gasp!) inconsistent of the MisAdministration to try and Dan Rather Hersh over something that is corraborated by their own Blueprint For World Domination. Secondly, "I don't believe that some of the conclusions he's drawing are based on fact," Bartlett said. Isn't it so cute how they are invoking "facts" after relegating peeps like Hersh and Suskind into the non-grata atavistic Siberia of the "reality-based community"?
Word to the wise: Seymour Hersh is pretty much all that left of the Old School of Journalism, you know, the one that at least cut its machismo with integrity and a commitment to investigative reportage. Seymour Hersh broke the My Lai massacre story. Seymour Hersh broke the Abu Ghraib story in the New Yorker long before any of the networks gigerly touched it with a ten-foot pole held in rubber gloves. What Seymour Hersh has to say about The Upcoming Wars should be heeded.
what is your favorite part? Mine is this:
"Under Rumsfeld’s new approach, I was told, U.S. military operatives would be permitted to pose abroad as corrupt foreign businessmen seeking to buy contraband items that could be used in nuclear-weapons systems. In some cases, according to the Pentagon advisers, local citizens could be recruited and asked to join up with guerrillas or terrorists. This could potentially involve organizing and carrying out combat operations, or even terrorist activities. "
I guess asking "are you a narc, man?" does not translate well from after-school specials to Global Entrapment Techniques. And the best part? Hold on a sec...we get to Do Terrorism in order to Stop Terrorism? You mean like 9/11?
To quote the brilliant Immortal Technique,
They control the ghetto, with a fear of attack
Tryin to distract the fact they engineerin the crack.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 06:02 pm (UTC)I'm sorry, but am i the only one who finds this statement just short of unintelligable?
no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 07:19 pm (UTC)left behind
Date: 2005-01-17 06:17 pm (UTC)Re: left behind
Date: 2005-01-17 07:16 pm (UTC)Also they DO have not-quite-believers in each book to identify with, eventually they become believers though, except Hattie (who is carrying the Child of the Antichrist--which is apparently better than aborting it!) who is still straddling the fence despite being one foot in the grave.
But seeing as all the Xtians got Their Marks already and I think The Mark of the Beast will be making an appearance in the next book it´s moving towards that "either you are with us or against us" moment.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 06:22 pm (UTC)Pumping up the global black market in nuclear contraband by filling it with Fake Rich American Businessment is just about the stupidest non-proliferation scheme I've ever heard, short of Putting Missiles in Space So the Chinese Don't Get Any Ideas.
On the Iran issue:
Now, I haven't been following it that closely of late, and I greatly respect Hersh's integrity, but attacking Iran, even just via a few fly-by airstrikes, would be suicide, and the neocons know it. In my occasional dips into right-wing blogland, the less insane, if hawkish, hawks have acknowledged that Iran has to be left for Europe and the global community to deal with. They've come to this conclusion grudgingly: An invasion is 100% out of the question, and even airstrikes are somewhere in the high 90% out of the question range. Attacking Iran would make Iraq look like the invasion of Grenada (remember that one?)
I know this administration isn't really known for its judgement, but this is one of those things that they seem to have acknowledged is beyond their military capabilities. If they're not actually admitting to 'losing' Iraq, then they will lose Iran. There's no way they can win.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 07:19 pm (UTC)But it dovetails well with the Futures Market in Terror, no? Hmmm.
As to the Iran issue, I am sorry, but you are still trying to use logic and reason with the neoneocons which means you will carry The Mark of the Beast of the Reality-Based Community. Seriously, this is just the vestigial influence of The Economist. Sanity is yesterday´s black. They can "win" Iran just like they "are winning" Iraq if they have the draft and there is more and more evidence pointing to the fact that the draft is where it's all heading anyway.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 02:42 am (UTC)Thanks for the skewering of the crazies; it's fun to read but scary to think about too hard.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-18 02:44 am (UTC)