Tag Archives: God

April 8, 2013 · 1:55 PM

Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Roger ‘F@g Enabler’ Ebert’s Funeral

Anti-LGBT Westboro Baptist Church to picket movie critic Roger Ebert's funeral.

Anti-LGBT Westboro Baptist Church to picket movie critic Roger Ebert’s funeral.

Someone honestly needs to organize a picket against Westboro Baptist Church and their insidious hatred.  They are idiotic publicity hounds that have no real agenda except getting their name in a couple of news cycles on a regular basis…

Addicting Info

As fans mourn the passing of celebrated film critic Roger Ebert, Westboro Baptist Church is once again putting the “fun” in “funeral.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, the vehemently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church sent out a press release yesterday announcing their plans to picket Ebert’s funeral because, “God hates f@g-enablers.”

Apparently the folks at Westboro didn’t like it when Ebert tweeted a link to Jeff Chu’s Salon article, “My Day At Westboro Baptist: ‘Yes Jesus hates you,‘ back on March 25th while he was still alive:

Chu is a gay Christian writer, and the author of “Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America.” Ebert’s tweet read: “Just another day at Westboro Baptist.http://dld.bz/cs74b.” The Topeka, KS-based Westboro Baptist Church is known for hating gays (theirWeb site URL says God hates them, too) and for protesting at the funerals of thousands of gay advocates, public figures, members of the military, and others with the misfortune to run afoul of them. According to their Web site, they have disrespected the dead at 50,197 funerals so far.

Ebert was a beloved American journalist, film critic, and writer who had been living with cancer of the thyroid glands since 2002, and passed away at age 70 on April 4th, 2013. He and his dearly departed colleague, Gene Siskel, pioneered movie reviews for the modern age starting in 1986 with the thumbs up/thumbs down format of their long-running At The Movies television series. His funeral was held this morning, April 8th, at Holy Names Cathedral in Chicago, IL. Since the folks at Westboro are equal opportunity haters, their press release refers to this Catholic church as “PREISTS [sic] RAPE BOYS,” and further twist the knife of their contempt by misspelling the word “priests.” Either that, or they’re just no good at spelling.

The Chicago Tribune reported that people started lining up early on this cold, rainy morning to pay their respects. First in line was a 27-year-old admirer and film critic for Hollywood-Chicago — aptly named Matt Fagerholm — who said:

He was inspirational, both in terms of his depth of knowledge about film and his wisdom about life. He was always a joy to talk to, always so funny. I’m inspired by his life force, by his ability to keep going.

The Chicago Tribune also reported that as the funeral procession solemnly marched up the main aisle of Holy Name Cathedral, the choir sang, ”God has smiled on me, he has set me free.” If the folks from Westboro Baptist Church could hear the lyrics as they shivered outside in the freezing rain, they surely would have been gnashing their teeth. Well wishers are invited to send donations to the Ebert Foundation, c/o Northern Trust at 50 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60603. In addition, a memorial tribute will be held tonight at the Chicago Theater (for more information, click here).

According to Jeff McMahon from Forbes magazine, Ebert was America’s “greatest movie reviewer,”

Not because he cared about movies, not because he told us what to think about movies, but because he told us just enough to care and to think for ourselves.

The full text from Westboro’s hateful press release reads as follows:

GOD HATES F-G ENABLER ROGER EBERT!

LORD WILLING, WBC TO PICKET IN LAWFUL PROXIMITY TO THE FUNERAL OF F-G ENABLER ROGER EBERT AT “PREISTS RAPE BOYS” HOLY NAME CATHEDRAL (730 N. STATE STREET, CHICAGO, IL), MONDAY, APRIL 8, FROM 9:15-10:00 AM

For 22 years Westboro has warned the people of Topeka, Kansas & America that the policies of sin of this land have brought the wrath of God upon you, your houses, your city, your state, & your nation. American entertainment industry publicity leech Roger Ebert took to Twitterverse to mock the faithful servants of God at Westboro Baptist Church, just days before he received the horrifying summons: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: [now] whose shall [that silly vanity called a Pulitzer Prize] be, which thou has provided?” (Luke 12:20) This fool sold his soul for some fame & fortune, forgetting that God has made a simple declaration regarding His people: “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Psalms 105:15). Now the famed critic is in a new jurisdiction, where he can see the blessings poured out on God’s humble servants in heaven, from his seat of eternal torment & sorrow in Hell! It’s too late for the fool Roger Ebert! WBC will continue to bind those who still live in Doomed america to God’s eternal laws & Word, so you, like Roger, are without excuse!

Nostalgia Critic: posted a video remembrance about why Ebert’s so great.

Here’s the video…

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April 1, 2013 · 11:07 AM

Cardinal Dolan To Gay Couples: You’re Only ‘Entitled To Friendship’

Too bad some religious organizations are myopic to the cultural and political sea change occurring in modern society…

Think Progress

Cardinal Timothy Dolan told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that gay people are entitled to “friendship” but not a long-last romantic relationship in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

Appearing on the program following oral arguments at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of two laws targeting gay and lesbian couples, Dolan said that the Church should treat same-sex couples with love, while reminding them that “sexual love…is intended only for a man and a woman”:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): And you know, especially this week – because it’s been at the top of the news – for many gay and lesbian Americans –– gay and lesbian Catholics, they feel unwelcome –– in the Church. And what do you say as a minister, as a pastor – to a gay couple that comes to you and say, “We love God. We love the Church. But we also love each other, and we –– want to raise a family in faith. What do you say to them?

DOLAN: Well, the first thing I’d say to them is, “I love you, too. And God loves you. And you are made in God’s image and likeness. And – and we – we want your happiness. But – and you’re entitled to friendship.” But we also know that God has told us that the way to happiness, that – especially when it comes to sexual love – that is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally. We gotta be – we gotta do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit, we haven’t been too good at that.

Dolan has been vocal in his opposition to marriage equality, repeatedly condemning the rights of same-sex couples under the guise of love and support for the gay community.

After lobbying against New York’s marriage equality law, Dolan prohibited by decree any Church personnel or property from being utilized for same-sex marriage ceremonies under penalty of “canonical sanctions,” calling the state’s law “irreconcilable with the nature and the definition of marriage as established by Divine law.” He has also compared the “threat” posed to marriage by gays and lesbians to that of polygamy, adultery, forced marriage, communist dictatorships, and incest.

Despite his rhetoric, a majority of New York Catholics supported the marriage equality bill months before it came to a vote and still do.

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December 17, 2012 · 1:01 AM

Anonymous hits Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

Anonymous hits Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

I’m beginning to think Anonymous is not such a bad group after all.  Especially in this instance and thwarting Karl Rove’s alleged voting irregularities via his GOTV operation…

Salon

The ever-hateful Westboro Baptist Church has not failed to deliver in the wake of the Newtown school massacre. The Church, notorious for picketing the funerals of fallen troops with “God Hates Fags” placards, announced Saturday that they would picket Sandy Hook elementary school, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead Friday.  Tweets from the Phelps family suggest they believe the horrors in Connecticut are a punishment from God for gay marriage.

Hacker collective Anonymous was swift to respond, releasing private information of  Westboro members including email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses. This video, decrying the church for spreading “seeds of hatred” was also released. It warns, “We will destroy you. We are coming.”

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December 14, 2012 · 7:55 PM

Mike Huckabee: Newtown Shooting No Surprise, We’ve ‘Systematically Removed God’ From Schools

Mike Huckabee School Shooting

I cannot believe that a “man of God” can say this about the Newton shootings.  Not a word of condolence to the parents of the deceased children slaughtered bu a deranged gunman.

 

The Huffington Post

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) weighed in on the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, saying the crime was no surprise because we have “systematically removed God” from public schools.

“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools,” Huckabee said on Fox News. “Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”

This line of reasoning isn’t new for Huckabee.

Speaking about a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. over the summer, the former GOP presidential candidate claimed that such violent episodes were a function of a nation suffering from the removal of religion from the public sphere.

“We don’t have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem,” Huckabee said on Fox News. “And since we’ve ordered god out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn’t act so surprised … when all hell breaks loose.”

Adam Lanza, 20, is the suspect in a school shooting that left 27 dead Friday, including 20 children. Lanza is reportedly the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred.

 

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October 24, 2012 · 12:10 AM

Indiana Senate Candidate Mourdock: Rape Pregnancies Are A “Gift From God”

If Tea Party candidates keep making these gaffes, they will be obsolete before the mid-term election in 2014…

Alan Colmes

Debating his opponent, Democrat Joe Donnelly, Richard Mourdock said women who are raped should be forced to give birth because these pregnancies are a “gift from God.”

“I believe life begins at conception. The only exception I have for to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother. I struggled with myself for a long time but I came to realize life is that gift from God, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape. It is something that God intended to happen.”

Watch:

 

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July 20, 2012 · 12:44 AM

Chick-fil-A Seeks To Distance Itself From Anti-Gay Owner

Think ProgressChick-fil-A President Dan Cathy

On Monday, a Baptist Press story quoted Chick-fil-A’s president Dan Cathy admitting his company’s anti-gay ideology — a stance the company previously attempted to deny. But after two days of Cathy boasting about the story, the company’s Facebook page now features a message flatly contradicting its head.

In his interview with the Baptist Press, Cathy admitted that the company indeed has an anti-gay political agenda. When asked about reports that the company was against same-sex marriage, he told the paper “Well, guilty as charged,” adding:

We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit… We intend to stay the course. We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.

Cathy reinforced his views in a radio interview, in which he asked “God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.” He continued his anti-LGBT campaign Wednesday on Twitter, twice bragging that the Baptist Press interview had “lit up the gay community.”

Today’s statement on the the Chick-fil-a Facebook page takes the exact opposite view. The company now claims:

The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

Continue reading here…

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April 9, 2012 · 12:45 AM

Happy Easter From The GOP, Folks

How do Republicans sleep at night?

The Raw Story

This Easter Sunday, the NY Times has this Jason DeParle story on red states shredding welfare safety nets and the people who keep falling through them.

Faced with flat federal financing and rising need, Arizona is one of 16 states that have cut their welfare caseloads further since the start of the recession — in its case, by half. Even as it turned away the needy, Arizona spent most of its federal welfare dollars on other programs, using permissive rules to plug state budget gaps.

The poor people who were dropped from cash assistance here, mostly single mothers, talk with surprising openness about the desperate, and sometimes illegal, ways they make ends meet. They have sold food stamps, sold blood, skipped meals, shoplifted, doubled up with friends, scavenged trash bins for bottles and cans and returned to relationships with violent partners — all with children in tow.

Esmeralda Murillo, a 21-year-old mother of two, lost her welfare check, landed in a shelter and then returned to a boyfriend whose violent temper had driven her away. “You don’t know who to turn to,” she said.

Maria Thomas, 29, with four daughters, helps friends sell piles of brand-name clothes, taking pains not to ask if they are stolen. “I don’t know where they come from,” she said. “I’m just helping get rid of them.”

To keep her lights on, Rosa Pena, 24, sold the groceries she bought with food stamps and then kept her children fed with school lunches and help from neighbors. Her post-welfare credo is widely shared: “I’ll do what I have to do.”

And as any conservative can tell you, this is working 100% as intended.  If those on welfare turn to crime, then it’s clearly permissible to cut welfare even further to stop coddling these criminals, and then of course pass those savings through tax cuts on to the Almighty Job Creators, who will then certainly create more jobs and uplift these broken souls back into society.  Any time now, those jobs will be just pouring out.  Yep.

Of course without that vital last part, it becomes and endless conveyor belt to transfer wealth to the wealthy and drive the poor into other states (preferably blue ones) where they become somebody else’s problem.  Meanwhile, red states like Arizona get to claim they’ve cut welfare rolls and that the rest of America needs to follow their success.

Meanwhile, the expensive private prison conglomerates designed to incarcerate the increasingly desperate among us costing taxpayers far more per person than the welfare did in the first place is beside the point, that money’s well spent because we’re tough on crime.  Certainly the GOP is licking their chops at the latest iteration of the House GOP budget, turning safety net programs into block grants they can raid for even more tax cuts and wealth transfer.  And if the GOP gets control, guess what’s happening to these programs in the future?

Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the top House Republican on budget issues, calls the current welfare program “an unprecedented success.” Mitt Romney, who leads the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has said he would place similar restrictions on “all these federal programs.” One of his rivals, Rick Santorum, calls the welfare law a source of spiritual rejuvenation.

“It didn’t just cut the rolls, but it saved lives,” Mr. Santorum said, giving the poor “something dependency doesn’t give: hope.”

As in “hope God chose you to be rich, because otherwise you’re screwed.”  Happy Easter Hunger Games from the GOP.  Don’t worry, when you die, your suffering will be rewarded in the next life.  Oh wait, it won’t because you were poor and wasted your life so you obviously sinned, so it’s okay if we kick your face in a few more times.

Like I said, working as intended.

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March 11, 2012 · 12:12 AM

Politico’s: The week in one-liners: Bush, Biden, Newt

The top quotes in politics …

“I think it’s been the worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life.” — Former first lady Barbara Bush commenting on the presidential race.

“God love them, as my mother would say, I hope they have another 20 debates.” — Vice President Joe Biden weighing in the GOP primary.

“I don’t even consider myself wealthy.” — Ann Romney talking about money.

“I’m sick of the gossip and drama.” — Joe “the plumber” Wurzelbacher getting frustrated with the media.

“Folks do this all the time in my meetings.” — President Barack Obama after someone fainted in front of him.

“I am the tortoise.” — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich describing himself.

“Got him.” — GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney after killing a bug.

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March 4, 2012 · 7:43 PM

Thom Hartmann: Andrew Breitbart – The Bell Tolls for Thee…

I thought this was poignant enough to share with my friends here at TFC.  It’s a couple of days old but the sentiment is timeless…

Andrew Breitbart – the guy you were just watching – died last night at the age of 43. Andrew lived in a paranoid, libertarian, I-got-mine-and-screw-you world. Andrew was the perfect right-wing front man. I know – he was on my show many times over the years – and never failed to push that cruel, Libertarian line that anybody who couldn’t claw their way to the top didn’t deserve any help from the rest of us in any way. It’s really quite sad that Andrew never realized that we’re all in this together – that every individual clod of humanity is part of the continent of humanity.

As John Donne wrote in 1624 in his Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions…

Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill that he doesn’t know that it tolls for him 
No man is an island, Andrew, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main 
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Andrew, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a house of your friend’s, Andrew, or of your own were 
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind 
Therefore, Andrew, don’t ask for whom the bell tolls 
It tolls for thee. 

God bless and good journeys…

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV “live” 9pm and 11pm check http://www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

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February 16, 2012 · 4:20 AM

Pat Robertson Claims Obama is Becoming a Dictator

Another right-wing nut case…

Right Wing Watch

Conservatives just seem to love calling President Obama a dictator, as today on the  700 Club televangelist Pat Robertson repeated his claim that Obama is building a dictatorship. Robertson argued Obama “doesn’t care about the real management of the United States government” but only wants to win re-election and “impose a so-called progressive agenda upon America.” “He wants to take control of every aspect of this nation by the federal government,” Robertson said, “If you want a dictatorship, then that’s the way to get it because he’s giving it to you.”

Watch:

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