A Question to the Faithful

Today ( 12/30/09 ), I caught "Pastor" Rod Parsley's "Breakthrough" comedy TV show where he said that his "ministry" was under its worst attack in 30 years and oh yes, HE NEEDS YOUR MONEY. He needs it before the end of the year.

So I hear you asking, "what's new with these fakers?"

Pastor Rod said they had met one financial goal ( Damn! ) because of a "matching donation gift", but they still need $500,000 by close of business tomorrow and guess what? Miraculously there is another "matching donation gift" of $250,000 already on the table, so all he needs now is a measly quarter of a million dollars in 36 hours! Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! You can do it!

Now the question I feel that must be raised is "What is the Christian basis of these 'matching' gifts?"

Surely "God loveth a cheerful giver" as it says in Second Corinthians 9:7.

Please note that's not "a matching giver" or "a reluctant giver" and it most certainly isn't "a giver who only gives if he strong arms another giver first". I think the Bible has a lot to say about pride and simply doing stuff for the adulation others in the congregation. And surely isn't that what this "matching donation" nonsense is all about, pride and preening?

Or is it even worse? Is it really Religious Extortion of the believers sanctioned by their Pastor?

James Dobson Quote 12/29/09

And I jest not.....This has to be the second best quote of 2009 - after the one about "The hand is an object of love...."

"The culture is at war against our kids and against what we are trying to teach. I mean, they are determined to damn them because the popular culture, I think, is Satanic in its influence and they want to take your kids to Hell".

12/29/09 - FoF website - Focus on Parenting - "Heritage Builders I"

Is this man insane? Would you want this man dispensing any advice on raising children? I think not. I wouldn't want this idiot within a 1000 miles of my kids.

I bet Iain Banks would have something to say about this claptrap.....Know your Culture novels people. Special Circumstances would be on Dobbo's case...If they were real. Schade.

Manhattan Declaration = Abject Failure

Again assuming 160 million adults as potential signers of this thing, with a total of 310830 signatories today ( December 26th ), that only represents 0.194% of the American people.

So Chuck "The Felon" Colson can say this is THE most important thing he ever wrote, but these numbers tell me that people are not interested in signing up to loony right wing screeds.

So the only conclusion we can draw is that this "Call To Christian Conscience" is a complete failure.

Let's see if Dobson has the gall to mention its "success" before he leaves the air for ever in February. I guess he might, given the numerous instances I have quoted and written about of his bearing false witness. He wouldn't know Intellectual Honesty if it showed up in Colorado Springs and demanded an interview.

My sister is back in the hospital in the UK

Looks like the chemotherapy knocked her white blood cell count down to a big round zero and she's now being ravaged with every opportunitic infection she could have gotten. My mom says she looks like she is bruised all over her body...

This in not in any way going to be a Happy Christmas.

What is she getting for Christmas? Answer: Platelets and Antibiotics.

What am I getting? Answer: Sadness, broad and very deep.

Visor-gate. It looks minor but speaks volumes

Today ( Sunday December 20th ) John McCain was playing down the Sarah Palin visor-gate story, saying he understood she blanked out his name on her visor to avoid publicity and paparazzi attention on her vacation in Hawaii. Basically he reiterated Sarah Palin's own explanation - one that stands up to no scrutiny whatsoever.

Her explanation makes no sense because (a) the paparazzi would have been photographing her no matter what her sartorial garb was and (b) WalMart sells blank visors.

Clearly she did it to stick a finger in McCain's eye and for her own unending desire to keep herself in the news.

What is disturbing is that this woman, who so promotes herself as one of the people and just a hockey mom, should have such poor judgement when it comes to understanding the public's perception of events. Does she think she's so loved that she is immune to scrutiny or analysis of her actions? Does she really think the public is so stupid that we won't see her petty vindictiveness behind her "Aw Shucks!" schtick? This story tells more about Palin's spite and ego than a dozen rambling interviews with the mainstream media.

And now she has cut short her vacation. Is there nothing in her life that this woman woman won't quit from?

Chuck Colson says Israel is not a "civilized society"

Listening again to the Focus On The Family radio broadcast of 11/23/2009 where Doctor Dobson and others including convicted felon Chuck Colson were discussing the "Manhattan Declaration" a so called "Call To Christian Conscience", I heard Colson utter a sentence so inane, so utterly loony and also contemptible that I feel I have to share it with a wider world.

Colson said, "We're talking about the Foundational Truths of the christan life, which by the way, are the Foundational Truths of EVERY civilized society." ( my emphasis ).

Do you hear what he actually said? He said that societies not founded on "Christian Truths" ( whatever they are ) are not civilized. You know, like Israel or Japan or India.

I bet that comes as a shock to Bebe Netanyahu. I'm sure he thought these right wing loons were Israel's friends, but there goes Chuck letting the anti-semitic cat right out of the bag. But we know these guys don't care a toss about Israel - after all, working for the Lord's return does imply working for the end of the state of Israel.....but who cares, it will finally be civilized and that's what has to count the most, right?

And for those of you not keeping up with these things, the Manhattan Declaration is a document drawn up by a cadre of religious leaders, prominent evangelicals and general loons which any Tom, Dick and Harriet can sign affirming their commitment to the baby Jesus while at the same time poking the current administration right in the middle of its huge socialist pro-abortion eye.

The Declaration has been available for anyone to sign for just about three weeks now and according to their website, to date ( December 12th 2009 ) it has garnered a whopping 285386 signatures.

Well in a country of 320 million people, if we assume half are adults and only adults are signing up to this errant nonsense, that number represents less than 0.18% of the US population agreeing with Dobson, Colson and the rest.

This can't be the response the Declaration's originators were hoping for. Focus has gone very very quiet on the whole matter - after trumpeting reaching 200k signatures in the first few days of the Declaration's existence.

Also on the broadcast Doctor got his panties so in a wad about the Obama administration and the healthcare bill, he threatened to "pull an Alec Baldwin" and leave the country and "go into exile" if a bill passes.

Alas, I fear he will do the "full Baldwin", which is of course, simply to threaten to leave and then stay anyway.

But I can have my dreams can't I?

Perhaps he will exile himself to one of Chuck Colson's uncivilized countries - how much irony would that entail? Perhaps more than I can handle.