The new round of telecom immunity in the Senate

[solarbird]

Okay, the thing that you can actually do something about first:

The first ACTION ITEM on the new round of telecom immunity is out on Glenn Greenwald's blog, down in "Update II" of the linked post. It's an effort to get the three major Democratic candidates (and the Edwards campaign in particular) to actually do something with their pledges to oppose this reward for telecom spying and lawbreaking. (And this is spying and lawbreaking which, thanks to the civil-lawsuit evidence investigations that the Democratic leadership is joining with the GOP to try to cut off, we now have evidence started before 9/11.) In the last round, none of the candidates other than Senator Dodd lifted a finger; Senator Dodd is now out of the race and is the presumed leader of this fight. Follow the link, go, and do.

In other news, the new Canadian manual on torture awareness correctly listed the United States as a state practicing torture - until Harper's government got embarrassed and ordered the manual be rewritten accordingly. That's unfortunate.

Mike Huckabee, fundamentalist asshat, "argues that a constitutional amendment that defines life at conception is necessary to prevent '50 versions of right and wrong.'" Federalism is, of course, beyond dead, but remember things like this whenever the GOP pretends to be in favour of small government or Federalism or any of that craptrap. Also, this is from the article:

The former Arkansas governor was joined by his friend and best-selling Left Behind series author Tim LaHaye, Pastor Don McClure of Calvary Way Ministries, and David Barton of Wall Builders.

Tuesday’s speakers will include Dr. Beverley LaHaye of Concerned Women for America, Dr. John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and Dr. Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.

Mmmm, Beverly LaHaye, famous defender of gaybashers and well known for urging parents to throw queer children out onto the street - and don't lie to me and pretend it's not true, I've heard all that out of her own damned despicable mouth - and demi-Reconstructionist Tim LaHaye. Fun times!

Oh, and Bill Clinton, who can still go fuck himself, called Mike Huckabee a "very good man" right before the GOP candidate got endorsements from a little set of fundamentalist black ministers on MLK day. I speculate crankily that this is former President Clinton trying to split off parts of the black vote away from Senator Obama. But that's just speculation. But given his endorsement of and praise for anti-gay laws at the Federal level during his turm, and his urging candidate Kerry to condemn GBLT marriage rights in 2004, you'll forgive me if my interpretation is a bit spicy.

Comments

[blues-kun.livejournal.com]

Good old Fuckabee.

I quite like Obama. He should win more things.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Did you know that Tim and Bev LaHaye wrote a sex manual? (http://www.amazon.com/Act-Marriage-Dr-Tim-LaHaye/dp/0310212006)

My fundy parents had a copy. Back in the 70s. Pretty much the only thing I remember reading from it was on the subject of oral sex, in which they pretty much say "well....the bible doesn't actually say it's forbidden. In fact, the bible doesn't even MENTION it, so if it doesn't mention it, then it obviously shouldn't exist and thus we prefer to believe that it's forbidden".

That logic could outlaw cats, who are also not mentioned in the bible.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Oh the bible mentions oral sex all right. the Song of Solomon, chapter seven, verses one and two:

"How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

Thy navel is like a round goblet, which overfloweth with wine: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies."

The "navel" verse makes more sense when you realize that in the original Hebrew of the Song of Solomon, the word for "navel" and the word "vulva" are the same but for the diacritics -- and the diacritics were commonly left out of Hebrew at the time, as they were in most versions of this text.

I'm not Jewish, but I've spoken to rabbis who assert that absolutely Songs 7:1-2 refers to oral sex.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Actually....navel and vulva are two different words entirely. Navel is "shorer", while vulva is "poth" with a long O sound. (vagina is "nartik", which means sheath, which in Latin is...vagina).

Diacritics don't really mean anything except for syllable accents and vowel signs; in Semitic languages the entire meaning of the word is in the consonants, and words that have the same basic three-letter consonantal root but different vowels are still interconnected with the same basic meaning. (LMD has to do with learning, so a student is a "taLMiD", who often learns from the book of teaching, "taLMuD", often from a teacher, "meLaMeD", and hopes to grow to be a learned person, "LaMDan".)

/is Jewish :)

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Well, huh! You'd certainly be the expert over me, that's for damn sure. Now to track down my original source and figure out why they got it wrong.

[solarbird]

Did you know that Tim and Bev LaHaye wrote a sex manual?
Oooooh, didn't need to know that. Ew.

However, that logic is typical of religious fundamentalism in all its many guises. C.f. comments reportedly made at the burning of the library at Alexandria - if it was in the Koran, it was redundant; if it wasn't, it was superfluous. (It's worth noting given the current environment that according to this article, the library had already been partially destroyed by an early Christian bishop.)

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I had never heard that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by Muslims, so I looked it up. From what I can tell, there is no clear evidence of what destroyed the library, and there are four major events cited, all of which are problematic and based on sketchy historical accounts. That particular quote is apocryphal, though it could be based in fact. The other candidates for the library's destruction are Julius Caesar, Aurelian, and Theophilus. It seems like there were multiple fires throughout history, all of which burned some portion of the library's contents. The idea of one event destroying everything? That's probably unlikely.

[wrog]

there were multiple burnings (libraries are flammable, film at 11).

I think it's fairly clear that some portion was destroyed during Roman civil war (48BC), that the final destruction of whatever was left was at the time of Theophilus (~400AD) in response to Theodoseus's decree -- these are both much better supported than the story that the Muslims did it, which didn't appear until centuries after the fact and had a clear propaganda purpose.

[wrog]

though to be sure, none of this affects the original argument, i.e., fundamentalism is Bad, whether Christian or Muslim, though there might be a legitimate question of how meaningful/applicable the term "fundamentalism" is to the Alexandrian Christians of 400AD. Though I suppose in general terms, if you get sufficiently near to the founding of a religion -- and the Council of Nicea in 325, the establishment of the Nicene Creed, and the subsequent institutionalization of Christianity in Roman society is as much a founding event in Christianity as anything else -- everybody's a fundamentalist

[solarbird]

This was the era when they were counting vermin fleeing from bodies of the recently dead to see how holy they were. I'd call that pretty small-f fundamentalist. (As opposed to modern American fundamentalism, which is a modern creation and very different in some key areas of expression, tho' not, I think, necessarily in impulse.) But that's me.

[solarbird]

The idea of one event destroying everything? That's probably unlikely.
While I didn't know that the story about Caliph Omar finishing off the last of the library most probably wasn't true, I never said that he was the only one having a go. (You'll note that I called out the previous, and, upon further reading now, probably most substantial burning, and that the source I linked to described the reported Muslim action - which I'd read about years ago, so was not new to me - as the final act, ending an already severely damaged - and most importantly, disused - library.)

Interestingly, I had never heard (or read) the "bathhouses" part of the story that I found here. Just that the Caliph had finished off the last of it, with the alleged quote.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

This is such funny timing, even tho very late. I was just earlier reading someone on my f-list who said she needed a new fandom because of a fanflic kerfluffle, and I suggested she write Left Behind pornfic just to annoy certain people.

Then, a few minutes later, I read this.

I take this as an omen; the mischief making idea must be spread.

Tho I must repeat what I said to my friend elsewhere -- do as I say, not as I do, because whosoever writes the fanfic, presumably even pornfic, must read the source material, and better thee (or anyone) than me!

[risu.livejournal.com]

Sunlight burst---that blessed emanation---through the high windows and onto Rayford's face.

"Oh," hissed Rayford, virtue dancing in his eyes, "you are a dirty, *dirty* savior."

And Jesus' grace seized him---

Caught it up as it ever did, writhing playfully and gripping tighter about his beating heart. Oh holy! Holy! He cried inside, giving devotion to the Lord; then, abandoning decorum, yielding works to grace, he wriggled free of the confines of the pew and raced towards the altar to kneel before his master.

And sometimes, in the small still hours of the night---when Jesus struggles with the guilt of murdering countless billions of sinners and banishing their souls into the pit; when he turns, as he so often does, to stare wistfully upon the straps of his cross and the crown of thorns---it is the other way around.

[solarbird]

I'm FOR it. risu's already off to a bit of a start, and the LaHayes have no sense of humour I've ever been able to discern - they laugh at the conquest of their enemies, but that's not the same thing.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Yes, mischief must be made.

I mean, logically one might think that those "Left Behind" are those who missed the Happy Heaven Gospel Boat, and thus there is no reason for them to even attempt a pretense at following the Heavenly Dictates.

"Commandments? We don't need no steekeeng commandments. It can be partiez timez now."

[solarbird]

No, there's two sets of belief about the rapture here - I think they're called pre-millennial and post-millennial. One set says that post-Rapture, everybody left is going to hell, period, end of story, and the "tribulations" come after the Rapture. The other set says that there'll be a Rapture (maybe even in two parts? I forget), but the "tribulations" come first, and that during that timeframe, redemption is still possible. The LB books are of the latter theology.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Speaking of telecom immunity, Vice-President Shotgun wants expanded, unlimited surveillance (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_terrorist_surveillance).

"The intelligence community doesn't have the facilities to carry out the kind of international surveillance needed to defend this country since 9-11. In some situations, there is no alternative to seeking assistance from the private sector. This is entirely appropriate," Cheney said.

International surveillance. I wonder how many people casually reading the news article are going to think "Hm. They want to spy on the entire world, not just on us citizens of The Lockdown State".

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

More seriously than my last comment here, what originally led me to the comment thread -- do we know for certain that Bill gave Kerry that bit of (truly awful) advice? Not that there aren't plenty of reasons to be furious with him over the years (my current more often pro-Hillary than pro-Edwards position notwithstanding, the only reason I didn't vote Perot in 96 out of sheer frustration was that I feared a Clinton loss would validate the really fucked up attacks on them from the right in the minds of the frighteningly numerous sheep-y types out there, not to mention the nutjobs themselves), but this one I didn't recall and am surprised at.

[solarbird]

It was reported and as far as I know never denied - and it's perfectly within his normal track record (c.f. DOMA and just in general), so I don't find it unbelievable at all.