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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Monday Evening Open Thread: The Jeebus Card

Monday Evening Open Thread: The Jeebus Card

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(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)

While we’re on the topic of religion and its place in the public realm, don’t miss Mr. Charles P. Pierce speaking for us People of Faith:

Over the weekend, Willard Romney, a most preposterous man, gave one of the most preposterous speeches ever delivered by an American politician. The presumptive nominee of the Republican party went down to Liberty University, the late Jerry Falwell’s old diploma mill, to deliver the commencement address, because that is what presumptive Republican nominees do…

[T]he speech was seen as Romney’s chance to “cement his relations” with a vital part of his constituency, albeit one that believes he regularly cuts up goats on a rock in his magic underwear in order to pay homage to St. Jesus of Polynesia. The quite obvious ridiculousness of the whole moment was the only story worth covering. Romney went before an audience and argued that, because they share common opinions on various political issues of the moment — in particular those involving sexy sexytime and the people to whom the Deity has granted permission to have it — their “faith” will bind them together. In other words, speaking to the graduates of a institution of Christian theocracy, Mitt Romney told them that, because they’re all against marriage equality, they’re all brothers in the spirit. I can’t think of anything any politician ever has said that has denigrated the allegedly exalted status of “faith” more than that. It is fashioning religion into a form of ward-heeling….

I think that Mr. James Madison, because he was a fk of a lot smarter than all of us are, was dead right when he pointed out that involving your religion in politics, and your politics in religion, works only to unreasonably secularize religious belief and unreasonably sanctify profane secular power…

Self-governing people have to be wary of religious establishments that ally themselves to attain secular political goals, not merely because they do themselves damage, but also because they threaten the very safeguards that have allowed them to flourish in the first place. Willard Romney was a preposterous man even by his own standards over the weekend. He was a special pleader, asking a group of post-adolescents to ignore the fact that they believe different things about what he calls “something far greater than ourselves” because he wants them to vote for him so he can eliminate the Affordable Care Act and eviscerate some tepid Wall Street reforms.

Apart from Republicans making themselves ridiculous (but I repeat myself), what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeJ

    Somebody should tell Chuck that you can use the word fuck on the internet. It’s really fucking annoying when people use the word fuck but don’t have the stones to actually use the fucking word.

  2. 2.

    greennotGreen

    I tried beer to console me over this (although, really, I don’t care what Missouri does – come on down to the bottom of the barrel with us in Tennessee,) but it didn’t work, so now I’m trying milk and chocolate.

  5. 5.

    greennotGreen

    Oh, you know who some other famous people from Missouri are? Frank and Jesse James and James Earl Ray.

  6. 6.

    lamh35

    Anyone see the Family Guy episode last night where Peter Griffin joined the Tea Party? Maybe I’m easy, but it was pretty funny and some mildly biting humor directed at the tea party crowd.

  8. 8.

    J.W. Hamner

    Diablo III out tomorrow… while I still play a ton of video games, I don’t follow the press as I did years ago… so haven’t really read anything about it or heard any rumors, but already have it loaded up on my computer out of RESPEK for Diablo II and Blizz. Not gonna stay up until 3 am EST to play it, but I think I’ll get up a little early to kick the tires.

  9. 9.

    PeakVT

    Got the wood for my new hardwood floor today and unboxed it. Any lessons learned, tips, etc. from the commentariat would be appreciated.

  12. 12.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @PurpleGirl: Oh, for fuck’s sake. Esquire doesn’t allow the word “fuck” in its pages? Are you fucking kidding?

  14. 14.

    Heliopause

    Self-governing people have to be wary of religious establishments that ally themselves to attain secular political goals,

    Agree, but that also applies to the hippie version of Jesus that is popular on lefty blogs. As long as you allow that the Jesus character had secular goals you leave yourself open to the nonsense related at the top.

  15. 15.

    Cacti

    Not that it will change their votes, but I’m guessing there’s more than a few believing Mormons having to beat back the cog dis from watching Brother Mitt grovel before the evangelicals.

  16. 16.

    Shinobi

    So my dog just ate a tube of chap stick and now I’m over analyzing his every movement for a sign that he is ill. Oy. He’s pretty annoyed with me right now. Though the internet says he should be fine. He should be fine.. right… RIGHT?

    On a happier dog related note I just took a super cute pick of him this weekend at the park: http://yfrog.com/nvmezzgj

  17. 17.

    gaz

    Visited with two of my sisters today. One came by my place, one by live messenger webcam (skype can eat me).

    My little brother said he thought I was fucked up for my undergoing gender transition. I responded that at least I didn’t turn out like him

    I like my sisters better. =)

  19. 19.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Shinobi:

    Chapstick:

    The gooey inside stuff or the whole container?

    Actually, he’s a big boy and should be able to handle that volume of exotica.

  22. 22.

    greennotGreen

    @Shinobi: If you’re worried about your dog (and I suspect the internet is right, the dog will be okay, although he may have some diarrhea,) call your local pet emergency clinic and ask them if 1) it’s a problem, and, if so, 2) what signs you should watch for. I’ll bet Chapstick is pretty innocuous.

  24. 24.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Here’s the conundrum: We want liberal churches to get involved to counteract the BSC (Bat shit crazy) churches, yet they would be violating the very thing that we want churches to do: Stay out of politics. And, more than likely, the marriage would change them more than it would politics.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Question for you Massachusetts elitists: I seem to remember that the Kennedy Romney race was still pretty close going into the last week, when Romney made some hamfisted statement about the Kennedys profiting off their various gov’t offices, and Teddy pasted him, “We’re not in it for the money, Mr Romney. We’ve paid to high a price.”

    Am I remembering that correctly? Seems to me that should have come up in all the discussions of how Romney is, besides everything else he is, an asshole.

  27. 27.

    Chris

    @Heliopause:

    Agree, but that also applies to the hippie version of Jesus that is popular on lefty blogs. As long as you allow that the Jesus character had secular goals you leave yourself open to the nonsense related at the top.

    I find it worth remembering religion has, in fact, been a component of our own secular goals in the past and probably will be again, be it abolitionism, the Social Gospel or civil rights. I’m not trying to say that stuff is the “true version” of X religion, but it seems like something to keep in mind when we talk about not mixing religion with secular goals.

  28. 28.

    handy

    Oy, just got done reading a heap of kvetching on FB from wingnut friends-of-friends about that Marxist redistributionalist Jerry Brown for deigning to suggest wealthy people in our Golden State pay more in taxes, temporarily at that. On election night CA is reliably blue, but don’t be fooled–the wingnut is still very strong over here, and not just in places like Bakertucky and Fresneck. Sometimes I think we just deserve to fall into the ocean.

  29. 29.

    srv

    Enjoy:

    “JPMorgan is one of the best managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost $2 billion and counting,” the president said. “We don’t know all the details. It’s going to be investigated, but this is why we passed Wall Street reform.”

    Editors at Yahoo/ABC News title?

    Obama: JPMorgan Is ‘One of the Best-Managed Banks’

    http://news.yahoo.com/obama-jpmorgan-one-best-managed-banks-214359921–abc-news-politics.html

  30. 30.

    gaz

    @Chris: I agree with you, and I vehemently disagree with Heliopause (insomuch as I understand what he wrote).

    The “liberal jesus is secular” trope is utterly false, and yet the New Testament speaks to a lot of social justice concerns that impact society (yeah, secular society) even 2000 years later. Despite that, Jesus is not intrinsically secular (liberal or otherwise).

  32. 32.

    Cacti

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Question for you Massachusetts elitists: I seem to remember that the Kennedy Romney race was still pretty close going into the last week, when Romney made some hamfisted statement about the Kennedys profiting off their various gov’t offices, and Teddy pasted him, “We’re not in it for the money, Mr Romney. We’ve paid to high a price.”

    Not from Mass, but in an article from the wayback machine

    Voters took a skeptical look at Romney’s wealthy, Ken-Doll perfection, especially after a disastrous Boston Globe interview, in which wife Ann came off as a coddled, suburban Marie Antoinette.

  34. 34.

    clayton

    Leno comes off as a serious asshole in the American Masters piece on Johnny Carson. Letterman comes off sweet as the pies his mom makes.

    I never cared much for the late night talk show thing, but I know enough now to see just how much of an asshole Leno is.

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    @Shinobi:

    So my dog just ate a tube of chap stick and now I’m over analyzing his every movement for a sign that he is ill. Oy. He’s pretty annoyed with me right now. Though the internet says he should be fine. He should be fine.. right… RIGHT?

    One tube of an edible substance? If your super-cute Husky was a ten-pound toy dog, it might be a problem. Or if he’s allergic to one of the ingredients (highly unlikely but you can check the online list for whatever brand you bought). But if he swallowed the tube whole, it’ll probably come out the other end little the worse for wear. And if he crunched it up first, the petroleum jelly which is the main chapstick ingredient (IIRC) might loosen his bowels a little, but that’ll help move the container fragments along.

    If he stops eating, or can’t defecate (especially if he’s straining & not producing anything) call your vet. Otherwise, I think the worst you have to look forward to is a late-night/early-morning “surprise” when he can’t hold it in, at one end or the other. (Then you and Cole can compare unfortunately-timed pet-excreta stories.)

  36. 36.

    MikeJ

    @greennotGreen: If Esquire doesn’t allow it, he shouldn’t use it, even in its bowdlerized form.

    And site:esquire.com fuck in google returns 1300 hits, including the snippit: “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckin’, fuck, fuck, fuckin’, fuck. Bugger, bugger, buggedy, buggedy, fuck, fuck, arse, balls, balls, fuckety, shit, shit, fuckin’ willy, willy, shit, …”

  37. 37.

    gaz

    Between Jesus being concerned with secular goals, or secular society being concerned with the goals of Jesus, I think it’s overwhelmingly the latter.

  41. 41.

    Cacti

    @Narcissus:

    The evangelical community still thinks Mitt is a cult-member, right?

    Absolutely.

    Mitt is a marriage of convenience for them, and a barely tolerable one at that.

  42. 42.

    handy

    @Narcissus:

    I think Mitt is a cult member. But I’m not voting for him, so lucky for me I don’t have to deal with the religious right’s conundrum.

  43. 43.

    Gin & Tonic

    @PeakVT: You probably don’t want to hear this, but my advice is have a professional install it. We had a maple floor installed as part of a kitchen remodel, and it’s a lot of work with specialized tools. Pay a carpenter.

  44. 44.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Narcissus:

    They do, there were quotations with various LU students who were less than happy that a vile cultist was speaking at their commencement.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Cacti: Thanks. Interesting that The Lady Ann has learned to present herself in public so well. I’ve always wondered why she was such a phantom in ’08 when they tried to make the Mittlets out to be lovable scamps.

  46. 46.

    Suffern ACE

    @srv: Yep. Obama’s jp Morgan problem was on the cable this afternoon. Since people don’t understand what is actually happening, it’s good not to spend time on those details.

  47. 47.

    catclub

    Lakers getting clobbered by OKC. Good times, except it is making this Spurs fan nervous

  49. 49.

    caring and sensitive

    @PeakVT:
    Make sure you let the wood acclimatize in your house for at least two weeks before you install it

  50. 50.

    handy

    @catclub:

    They don’t stand a chance in this series. Bynum loves to talk but doesn’t step up his game consistently, Gasol is the Invisible Man, and MWP is certifiable. Westbrook should absolutely light up their backcourt.

  52. 52.

    catclub

    @handy: I could see both OKC and Spurs sweeping — two LA teams!

    So far this is definitely not the same team that barely squeaked out two wins at home against Dallas.

  53. 53.

    Shinobi

    @Anne Laurie: Thanks! I know in my head that he’s going to be fine, because, he’s huge. But I have an anxious jerk brain that wants me to stay up all night listening to him breathe.

    (Un)Fortunately I already have a plethora of unfortunately timed excreta stories. For some reason he likes to use the rug in the front hallway, I think we’re on number 5 or 6 now. I’ve stopped buying any rugs that cost more than $50.

  54. 54.

    Anne Laurie

    @Shinobi:

    I already have a plethora of unfortunately timed excreta stories. For some reason he likes to use the rug in the front hallway, I think we’re on number 5 or 6 now.

    “Dude, I did my best. Is it my fault the front door can’t be worked without opposable thumbs?”

    One of our chickenshite little rescue dogs will sneak in & pee on the base of the toilet rather than go out in the yard if it’s raining. And when we point out this is not acceptable, you can almost see the “Well, *you* guys do it” word balloon over his pointed little head…

  55. 55.

    Gretchen

    My favorite part of the speech was his harping on marriage being for “one man, one woman.” This from a guy whose family fled the country so they could keep practicing polygamy. But hey, that was at least 2 or 3 generations ago.

  56. 56.

    suzanne

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Here’s the conundrum: We want liberal churches to get involved to counteract the BSC (Bat shit crazy) churches, yet they would be violating the very thing that we want churches to do: Stay out of politics. And, more than likely, the marriage would change them more than it would politics.

    While I concur with your point, I do think that we need an overarching moral/ethical revolution and that religion could be a positive part of that.

  57. 57.

    Mark S.

    @catclub:

    Yeah, both LA teams are going to get their asses kicked this round. It should be a hell of a conference final.

    And it should be a hell of a NBA Finals, as long as LeBron doesn’t fall into a black hole like he did last year.

  58. 58.

    handy

    @Mark S.:

    as long as LeBron doesn’t fall into a black hole like he did last year.

    That is pretty much guaranteed.

  61. 61.

    Suffern ACE

    Was thinking about taking the day off to go to net roots nation. Then I went around the roots tonight. Nope. I just don’t see myself fitting in.

  63. 63.

    burnspbesq

    @MikeJ:

    Somebody should tell MikeJ that the indiscriminate use of the word “fuck” to describe things other than sexytime is unnecessary if your point is valid and unhelpful if it’s not.

  66. 66.

    Calouste

    I’m surprised no one has come out yet to say that Romney is such a suck up that he is even willing to give the commencement address at a university that calls his religion a cult. Probably a bit too far for Obama or his surrogates, but it would be interesting to see a left-wing comedian make that remark.

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