Courtesy of the Washington Post:
A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.
Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband “decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us” when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny island nation of Kiribati in May.
But just weeks into their journey, the Gastonguays hit a series of storms that damaged their small boat, leaving them adrift for weeks, unable to make progress. They were eventually picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel, transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and taken to Chile where they are resting in a hotel in the port city of San Antonio.
Their flights home were arranged by U.S. Embassy officials, Gastonguay said. The U.S. State Department was not immediately available for comment.
So they fled America because they felt oppressed and yet they then after damn near dying in the middle of the ocean they eagerly accept a free plane ride back to the states. Yeah America sucks alright.
Hannah Gastonguay said her family was fed up with government control in the U.S. As Christians they don’t believe in “abortion, homosexuality, in the state-controlled church,” she said.
U.S. “churches aren’t their own,” Gastonguay said, suggesting that government regulation interfered with religious independence.
Among other differences, she said they had a problem with being “forced to pay these taxes that pay for abortions we don’t agree with.”
Seriously when was the last time that anybody fled this country searching for religious freedom?
Isn't it usually the other way around?
But here's the kicker.
The Gastonguays weren’t members of any church, and Hannah Gastonguay said their faith came from reading the Bible and through prayer.
“The Bible is pretty clear,” she said.
Did you get that? These people were not even members of a church, and yet they say they fled the country because of "state controlled churches." Makes perfect sense, if you're crazy.
Methinks SOMEBODY may have been watching a little too much Fox News.
Funny...God led them right back to where they started. Who pays for their airfare?....the government they're trying to escape from. Why didn't they just stay in Chile?
ReplyDeleteThe Wife doesn't look "White" to me, she looks NA or Guatemalan...he looks like a old perv....
DeleteAnd since they didn't even GO to church? WTF?
Stop watching faux news.
Maybe they will all get on a boat like Noah's ark and float away, you know off the edge of the earth?
She doesn't want her tax dollars spent on abortion; I don't want my tax dollars used to fly their sorry asses home! Stay were God sent you!
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. Who has been paying for their food and lodging? Obviously, they are freeloaders not paying their way and we are stuck with the bill.
DeleteAnd to take small kids on such a cockamamie trip SHOULD provoke a visit from authorities.
I'm glad they survived the ordeal, since I don't wish a death like that on anyone, especially small kids, but DAMN, they're just so ignorant, it would be ok with me for them to find a home someplace else. We have enough ignorant bible thumping morons here in the US already.
Couldn't agree more with both of you!
DeleteUgh, do we have to take these morons back? There should be some kind of rule about this.
ReplyDeleteVirginiaVoter
Child endangerment, elder abuse. the only type of US support these people should have is behind bars. But please take the kids away. Mama and daddy can set sail in a cast iron bath tub for all i care, but the kids don't deserve their fate.
ReplyDeleteI agree it's child abuse. In fact, I wonder if the father-in-law or the children knew fully or understood what the plan was, if any (did they have a compass and sextant aboard, for example?).
DeleteKiribati is a nation that is soon to be submerged in the Pacific Ocean, thanks to global warming (you know, that phenomenon that these people probably believe doesn't exist). I doubt they have many jobs (assuming someone in the family was interested in working) there, to say nothing of a big supply of baby diapers. The entire island chain is literally in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/kiribati-a-nation-going-under/590/
It must be horrible to be so pervasively governed by paranoia.
We have a family coming to our church from Micronesia. They are a 'protectorate'of the US, so these people got a voucher for an apartment, they get medical care for their diabetes. The grandpa is 65 and has already had part of one foot amputated. He gets home care and disability...and has never worked one day here. The daughter has two kids, is sort of married to the man who saved up to bring them all here (he does work, but doesn't drive legally.) The only citizen is a two year old, who was born in Seattle. The mom wants another baby with the new husband, and she can't take care of the kids she has. I am all for immigration, but these people are taking advantage of my little church and our community.Just like the rescued family above.
DeleteThe U.S. taxpayers probably paid for their plane trip back to the U.S. Dumbsh*ts. There's probably a reality show in their future.
ReplyDeleteWow, that chick is 26?
ReplyDeleteThe husband is 30? He looks 50!
DeleteAnd what's with that...he doesn't talk?
She does all the talking?
Can we send them there when they arrive here? (assuming the tiny nation would WANT them!)
ReplyDeleteCripes! They're dumber than SP! And to subject their little children to that wide open piece of water is almost criminal.
A BOAT? Hell, why not fly? They'd be there one helluva lot faster AND safer! I wonder how much the wasted on that boat and the supplies they had?
Yeah. Yeah. I know. They wanted to put themselves in god's hands. Shit. They're lucky he didn't drown them considering how concerned he is about the rest of the world!
Red this: http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/kiribati-a-nation-going-under/590/
DeleteWe can assume Kiribati wants no part of them.
Can we send them there when they arrive here? (assuming the tiny nation would WANT them!)
ReplyDeleteCripes! They're dumber than SP! And to subject their little children to that wide open piece of water is almost criminal.
A BOAT? Hell, why not fly? They'd be there one helluva lot faster AND safer! I wonder how much the wasted on that boat and the supplies they had?
Yeah. Yeah. I know. They wanted to put themselves in god's hands. Shit. They're lucky he didn't drown them considering how concerned he is about the rest of the world!
And, for them, flying would be a much more efficient and faster method of meeting Jesus--just jump off the roof, flap your 'wings' a couple of times, boom! you're home!!
DeleteDarwin Award finalists.
ReplyDeleteLosers.
They should be billed for their rescue.
Absolutely. I want my money back as a taxpayer. Why didn’t the rescuers just put them on a plane to that crazy nearly underwater island they wished to go to? And the woman should be required to get her tubes tied and the man should be required to get a vasectomy so they don't put more unborn children at risk. As to their abortion stance, stupid is as stupid does.
DeleteTax dollars never paid for abortions. Never will. Good Lord, these people are crazy. Thank you Sarah Palin, McLame, ALEC, Koch Bros., the GOP, and Fox for contributing to the end of America. I do hope you are thrilled with your flock.
DeleteShe is quoted as saying they will find another way or something to that effect. Seriously, shouldn't the children be taken away and put in a safer environment? I cannot imagine putting my children in such a dangerous situation. All I ever wanted to do was to protect them from any harm.
ReplyDeleteJust because she and supposedly her husband are off the wall nuts, the children should not have to be subjected to such abuse.
If they screw up again, they should have to pay their own way out of what ever situation they find themselves in. Are these people really THAT stupid?
Who cares. Those kids come from parents with obviously genetically damaged material. Just let Darwin do his good works. Sometimes it is difficult to witness, but really, stupid people, this family included, simply need to be removed from the gene pool.
DeleteAnd will they consider that stranding them was gawd's answer to their prayers? Oh, hell no! They'll just pray a little harder next time.
DeleteMaybe CPS will step in to prevent them from putting their children at risk before they continue their quest.
wow 3:55, if it weren't for the Darwin reference I'd swear you were a teabagger.
DeleteI'd have them charged with endangering their children. Their painful deaths at the hands of their own stupidity is well deserved.
ReplyDeleteThe parents of these children should be held criminally liable for endangering the kids’ lives and yet another clue there should be a class and a test to be passed to become a parent. Enough of the insanity, it puts us all at risk.
ReplyDeleteI HAVE NOT READ ANY PREVIOUS COMMENTS:
ReplyDeleteone HAS to wonder why they came here in the first place....
given the article I would say, go HOME then, this is obviously not the land of freedom that you had hoped for and good LUCK with finding broader freedoms in other countries, let alone your HOME land....
re-launch your boat and don't let the proverbial door hit you in the ASS on your way OUT.
you might consider PAYING for your silly rescue and make sure that your ESCAPE from the US is FOR GOOD next time.
Buh BYE.
It seems to me as if the mother has agreed to take the hit, but it almost certainly was the father’s idea. Grill that sucker and make him pay all the expenses. Maybe he won’t try that crap again. God help me, I hate these people more than you can imagine.
DeleteReligious people are less intelligent than atheists, study finds
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/religious-people-are-less-intelligent-than-atheists--study-finds--113350723.html#upCr476
Part of my taxes fund Child Protective Services which could use that money to HELP those little kids.
ReplyDeleteThey're from Arizona; why couldn't they just wander the desert for 40 years? What arrogance led them to believe they'd be welcome in Kiribati?
ReplyDelete"What arrogance led them to believe they'd be welcome in Kiribati?"
Delete****
Their stupid bible!
Bible thumpers have roamed and conquered by force. Its gross. Genocide. They should be run out on a rail and leave the indigenous people alone!
Who needs a travel agency? Just buy a one way ticket, and when you get stranded in a foreign country due to your own stupidity call the nearest embassy and let them take care of the rest.
ReplyDeleteSave 50% on your next vacation! Some restrictions apply (Fundie idiots only.)
Deletei thought it was Rinse Pubic, Hair.
ReplyDelete(His daddy knew something about his mama and other women that he didn't want that boy to EVER forget. )
These ignorant fucks are just on a different branch than the Heath-Palins, but same family-fucking (pun intended) tree that goes straight up.
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but it was the U.S. GOVERNMENT (embassy) that helped these dumb fucks to get home safely.
ReplyDeleteI think they should have been left in Chile to fend for themselves. That's where God led them, right? In fact, why didn't they just refuse help and stay in the ocean. Wasn't that "God's will"?
Arizona is a fitting place for these nuts.
Soooo......
ReplyDeleteIt would seem to me god's wish for them was to suffer a horrible painful death at sea?
Why did they not go with god's plan for them?
Fundie stupidi logic.
They can hold themselves blameless now - it wasn't gods will that they make it to Kiribati.
And, choosing Kiribati shows they sure didn't put a lot of thought into their plan. That place is in big trouble. It is the canary in the coal mine for climate change!
I hope they do NOT get any notoriety ($$$$$) from their stupidity. They need to be the poster children for irresponsible parenting and religious nuts.
It amazes me how parents who claim to be so religious have no problem risking the lives of their children. Had this family not been rescued the two small children might well have died. How is that any better than a woman deciding that it would be better for her child never to be born? Somehow I think it's far worse to bring a child into the world and then deliberately choose to risk its life.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
yes, exactly ! Thank you, Beaglemom.
Delete