Friday, November 07, 2014

Newly elected Oklahoma Senator says that he will utilize a "Biblical worldview" to bring down national debt. Because when dealing with modern day problems why not rely on a book written over three thousand years ago?

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Oklahoma Senator-elect James Lankford says his “biblical worldview” will guide his actions in the upper chamber. “Budget, for me, is still a huge area. The people have started to step back and say, ‘Well, our deficit is only $480 billion now so we are doing much better in deficit.’ We still have $480 billion. That’s a big deal,” the Republican congressman and Baptist minister told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on Wednesday. 

“I come from a biblical worldview in the way I address issues,” Lankford said. “I look at Nehemiah and how he handled things when he stepped into Jerusalem. It was that the people were in disgrace and the wall was broken down, but the two things that he focused in on was the constructive side of things and the debt. Half of the Book of Nehemiah is just getting the people out of debt, so they could actually take on the other things.”

Lankford also suggested that it would help if more people prayed.  

“We are all pretty frustrated with what is happening in government, let’s lean in, let’s pray through, and let’s do this.”

It might be worth pointing out that President Obama has managed to cut the deficit in half without relying on the "wisdom" from Nehemia. So one can only wonder what Lankford's channeling of the spirit of Nehemia will instruct him to do differently.

I continue to be stunned that public officials are still attempting to perceive direction from a book written by primitive people who believed that the stars were stuck in a watery firmament, diseases were caused by demons, and that weather patterns could be changed through animal sacrifice.

48 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:53 PM

    He is going to take his cue from Nehemiah of the Old Testament. Might have better luck taking his cue from Renaldo Nehemiah. And have you ever noticed how how these followers of Jayzus are always reaching back to the Old Testament to support their stands and not to Jayzus's actual teachings. Probably because those teachings are too liberal, you know, the whole clothe the naked, feed the hungry stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:36 PM

      122:53. Actually, Nehemiah was about debt FORGIVENESS, and Jesus scene in teh temple with the money changers is based on Nehemiah - who would have been called a socialist today.

      Lankford = stupid, including biblically stupid and ignorant.

      Delete
  2. James "Crazy Eyes" Lankford would think the deficit too high if it were at $20 rather than give any credit to Obama's leadership cutting it in half, or admit that it was Bush that drove it up so high. Conservatives: heal thyselves.

    Ditto any credit for unemployment and job creation stats. And this man is a leader? What kind of people for for such a man?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:26 PM

      Voter turnout must have been really low in Oklahoma for an idiot like this to be elected to the Senate. That goes for the exorcist from Colorado, too. The next two years are going to be a real challenge.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:37 PM

      People that want to force 12 year rape victims to bring a pregnancy to term. Those are the kind of people that vote for Lankford.

      Lankford feels safe talking about public debt and praying through because the GOP has finally gotten through to few "electable" GOP men that mentioning rape is almost always a disaster for the GOP.

      Does Lankford believe "legitimate rape" rarely results pregnancy (ala Todd Akin)? He probably does but is smart enough to keep his mouth shut. I prefer stupid GOPers to quiet GOPers... they are easier to defeat in elections.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:38 PM

      Oklahoma either tied the old record for lowest voter turnout or broke it. I was too depressed to care which one.

      insane. They will regret the 'it doesn't matter' attitude in a matter of months.

      Delete
    4. Aunt Ethel3:48 PM

      What kind of people for for such a man?
      -----------------------------

      The kind who brag about being "pro-life" while refusing to spend money on tornado shelters for elementary schools.

      Delete
  3. The old testament does prescribe Jubilee years when all debts are forgiven. How about applying that to student loans?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:51 PM

      Yeah, let's go for that. And everyone over 50 gets to their jubilee year. Bye-bye debts!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:27 PM

      Yes. How bout applying the entire book, not just the two or three verses that Mr. Lankford chooses to apply?

      Delete
  4. Anonymous1:01 PM

    Why are these crazy christian men so unattractive? Ken Ham, JimBob Duggar, this guy? Seriously, these men couldn't get laid unless they convinced some other brain dead christian woman that it was god's will that she breed with him. Ick!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:16 PM

      Mainly their own daughters and sisters.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous1:09 PM

    Who knew? Apparently the Koch money is tainted with the same ergot-infected grain or Saint Anthony's fire/ignis sacer as was responsible for st00pid-stition in the Middle Ages, the French Revolution and the Salem witch trials.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:12 PM

    What's the difference between Joni Ernst and Abortion Barbie aka Wendy Davis?

    Joni has a job.

    The good people of Texas handed Abortion Barbie her vagina on a stick. To make sure she completely understands her status in Texas, they awarded her vacated State Senate to a Tea Party candidate.

    She spent $36M and couldn't even get 40% of the vote against a white guy in a wheelchair.

    Go ahead and make fun of Joni. She isn't being paid to make speeches. She's being paid to keep you pissed off for the next six fucking years.

    She's off to a good start don't you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Caroll Thompson1:48 PM

      Not really 1:12. I am not pissed off. I don't allow other people's actions to effect my emotions. If I did, they would control me.

      Ignorant assholes like you can lose control of your emotions. Thinking individuals know better.

      That is why most, if not all, IMer's love President 'No Drama' Obama.

      Now run along little troll; you have no power here.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:48 PM

      An intelligent person would comprehend that this thread is a bout someone else entirely.But that just seems to show a lot about you.

      Delete
    3. Leland1:53 PM

      People with the intensity of hatred you are displaying are mentally ill.

      Don't tell me, let me guess Presbyterian Fundamentalist.

      Please try to remember this is a secular country BY LAW and while you are entitled to your OPINION, attempting to force your religious views on others is a Constitutional NO-NO.

      Hell, you don't even have the courtesy - let alone intelligence - to recognize that you have just insulted your new governor! "White guy in a wheelchair"? Yeah. Real nice.

      Do you EAT with that mouth?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous1:56 PM

      It's fucking Iowa. We call it flyover country for a reason. I for one couldn't give two shits about Iowa or Joni Ernst. Who the hell in their right mind would ever willingly enter Iowa unless your plane had to land in Des Moines because of mechanical failure and then you get the hell out of there as fast as possible, even if you have to rent a car and drive to Minnesota. There are places neither fit for man nor beast, Iowa is one of those. Yep, I'm a progressive elitist, and for fucks sake, Iowa should just be avoided at all costs...Iowa is one of those places that sucks the culture right out of its populace. It's a dead zone, full of corn and retards.


      Too harsh :-)

      Delete
    5. "She's being paid to keep you pissed off for the next six fucking years."
      ------------------------------------------
      What a disgraceful and stupid thing to say. You are an ignorant drooling dolt.

      Her job is to serve her constituents and to do her part to make this country better.

      I realize that is complicated for seditious, America-hating cretins like you to grasp. She is not worthy to take the oath of office if she believes as you do.

      You are scum. And vulgar. And just generally a dirtbag.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous4:30 PM

      "She's being paid to keep you pissed off for the next six fucking years."
      -----------
      This has to be Sarah, her reason to run for office is to annoy liberals. The vulgarity is at her level also.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:15 PM

      "She's being paid to keep you pissed off for the next six fucking years."

      Heh, that's pretty much the stated mandate of the GOP/TP. If anything, that brainless shit-kicker of a senator will piss off and subsequently sink the Republican party. And I promise you, it won't take six--hell, not even two--years until your hero (and your party) implodes in a supernova of stupidity. Indeed, she's already far along that particular trajectory.

      I'll bet you a million of whatever you want on it.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous1:15 PM

    If you want to apply some sort of popular book knowledge into your daily reasoning then you'd be better off looking to Hunter S. Thompson than to crazy people spouting off old testament bullshit. Hunter was real, and smart, and we get a first hand look at what he wrote and his parsing of the world around him.

    The bible, both the old testament, the new testament and all of the versions translated and rewritten and so forth, not so much. I rely on smart, modern people to tell me how life is and what it means, not some 50x translations of the proven incomplete texts referring to the superstitions people had many thousands of years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous1:26 PM

    "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

    Dear Lord, please deliver us from those wayward people who
    claim to speak for you and wish to drive us to do a disservice to our nation. We ask you to give them intelligence and guidance to see the error of their ways, and that they learn the lesson of humility that you want us all to know. Thank you. Amen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:57 PM

      Smart people knew that Caesar was God.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:37 PM

      Thanks @ 1:26 pm.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous1:28 PM

    Why is it that religious whackos always look so inbred?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:55 PM

      Further proof that religious whackos are mentally ill.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:02 PM

      Hmm, let us look a little more in depth at your statement. Religious crazy people are insular, meaning that they look pretty close to home for people to breed other people with, they don't cotton to no outsiders ya know, just look at a how religiously dominated European royalties looked no further than sisters and brothers to continue their "royal bloodlines" and then ended up with something like Charles II of Spain.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain

      It was only his obvious inbred deformities that led the royal families to start looking for some new blood.

      Stupid religious people here in America haven't quite figured that out yet, but a few Charles II's might clue them in.

      Delete
    3. Anita Winecooler4:23 PM

      Generations of "the best place to find a spouse is in church", Maybe? The DNA pool keeps shrinking and they'd marry John Wayne Gacy if they saw him sitting in a pew.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous1:31 PM

    She's not pissing me off at all. She will be simply guided to the back of the line in the Senate and given jobs on committees that look good, or told to stand behind Mitch at his press conferences and smile. I don't know why you have to be so crude regarding Senator Davis but I guess strong women who don't agree with all your positions are a threat. I am not going to name call. I simply would not vote for someone who supports a person hood amendment and who wears the same uniform that I did, and swore the same oath that I did, yet goes on record that she would shoot government officials who were trying to take away her rights as she saw them. So, if you go along with her thinking, then it would be okay for someone who was pro-choice, to shoot a legislator in the states that have passed these restrictive clinic laws, for taking away their right to choose. But hey, nothing like second amendment remedies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:49 PM

      Thank you 1:31 p.m.! The person who posted about Joni Ernst does Ernst no favors. We now see the gloves are off and 1:12 p.m. is mentally challenged as well as classless. Go back to your bunker 1:31 and take care of your family.

      Delete
    2. Leland1:55 PM

      Incredibly well said, 1:31!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous1:58 PM

      In January when joni is part of the government maybe she will shoot herself. We can always hope.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:42 PM

      @ 1:58 pm - You said much nicer than I thought it. Thanks.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous1:46 PM

    President Obama has already reduced the national debt substantially. Maybe he's God?

    Does this fundamentalist GOP teabagger plan to see taxes raised? Sounds like a good idea to me but I guarantee that no Republican will support it, even if God asks for it directly. What kind of nincompoops did the GOP field this year?
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
  12. Randall1:51 PM

    Nehemiah?

    So... he's saying that banks shouldn't charge interest?

    Nehemiah 5:7 "Then I consulted with myself*, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them."

    5:10 I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.

    (And we shouldn't pay Lankford either, apparently)

    5:15 But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

    (and food stamps and WIC are good)

    8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

    (and every seven years forgive all debt?)

    10:31 And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

    (...and then in the last chapter Nehemiah throws out all the foreigners and beat all the men that had married foreigners and even pulled out some of their hair)

    13:25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

    HOW the book of Nehemiah is going to help this whack-job govern puzzles me. And when I hear any of these crazy bastards say they are going to rule with The Bible all I can think is "God help us!" (see what I did there? The irony? Anyway...)

    Those who elect crazy people to govern them deserve what they get.
    --------------------------------------------
    * "I consulted with myself..."

    That cracks me up: I discussed it with myself and I agreed with myself...

    Yeah, there's an indication that this guy has a firm grip on reality...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:13 PM

      I would love for someone in Oklahoma to email him this information and ask him to explain himself further. He supposedly has a master's degree in divinity. His contact info is here but you have to have an OK zip code in his district to email him:
      https://lankford.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

      Delete
  13. Gryphen - if that's even your real name, which nearly everyone suspects it probably is not - why must you focus on the negatives of the conservative takeover of America? There are some VERY awesome changes BESIDES the repeal of Obamacare, the impeachment of Obama, the reduction in the minimum wage, the return of prayer and Creationism in public schools, no age-limit open carry rights, internment camps for gays, shale oil piplelines for EVERYONE, plus the proverbial much, much more.

    For example, it's a poorly kept secret that - to reward their wealthy benefactors - one of the first pieces of legislation to be passed by the new GOPOOP majority will be the long awaited restoration of "jus primae noctis" for American nobility, By 'nobility', naturally we mean uber-wealthy "Masters of The Universe" head fund managers plus homely Republican legislators. You can check out the details on the secret website for billionaires which, if you dont already know the URL, you don't need to know....

    One hedge fund billionaire was quoted as saying "My secretary is so hot she made my dick hurt even when she futilely reported me to HR for creating a hostile workplace environment. I contributed a total of $100,000,000 to every conservative PAC on the books this election just so I could bone this babe on her wedding night. Thank you, conservative Amercia!"

    See? You can stop whining about the election results and start enjoying them very soon! Especially if you're a billionaire....

    ReplyDelete
  14. He draws an accurate comparison...Just as in biblical times, the slaves and the conquered were takers, the Roman aristocracy created jobs after Caligula lowered taxes, and the gladiators had one hell of a health plan, required only a 'thumbs down' or 'thumbs up', or as the Romans used to say 'Singlius payicus'

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous3:58 PM

    Quote Luke 6:30 to him! Watch him fall over.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anita Winecooler4:15 PM

    We desperately need to address mental illness better in this country. Clearly, this man needs it desperately, does he know Obamacare now covers many medications for mental problems?

    And we "need to pray more"?!?! For what?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous4:34 PM

    As a Christian and Biblical interpreter, Lankford is"full of shit" a technical term that means hasn't a clue what he's talking about. In actuality, Nehemiah is about a re-leveling of the playing field every few years - NOT about paying off debt, but about its forgiveness. So, it's Liz Warren who is dong the biblical thing here (from a secular base) like lowering student loan debt, another would be forcing banks to renegotiate underwater mortgages. http://michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/HudsonLostTradition.pdf .

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous4:36 PM

    Is he going to pray away the debt, he better start praying they don't lock him in the loony bin.

    Well if this is sample of the nuts that were just elected, America get ready for third world status, because we are going back to the middle ages.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous5:35 PM

    Can you imagine the reaction of these people if Muslim Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison proclaimed that he was going to use the Quran as the basis for his political decisions and he invoked everyone to pray to Allah to work through problems?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:38 PM

      Yes. Or even Romney, saying he would use the Book of Mormon, or a Christian Scientist saying he would use their text. The faux xtians have just gone plumb crazy: no other way to describe it. They are not fit for any public, or any private, job, and must be horrific to live with in real life. Woe unto us, as a nation, to have such people in positions of power.

      Delete
  20. Anonymous8:02 PM

    I knew he looked familiar

    http://cdn1-www.craveonline.com/assets/uploads/2013/10/Poltergeist-2-Kane.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous9:26 PM

    Well, Mr. Lankford should start by doing what Jesus and the apostle Paul commanded: honor those in authority, love your neighbor as yourself, and pay your taxes. The Bible is clear that taxes must be paid, even to pagan rulers, and that everyone must pay his fair share without grumbling or complaining. So Lankford, how about reading and studying the ENTIRE book before mouthing off again? And Mr. Lankford, grow up and treat all people with respect: that's also a Biblical commandment.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:52 PM

    “I come from a biblical worldview in the way I address issues,”

    Hmm, just like the Bush Administration. Yeah, that'll solve a lot of problems. What could possibly go wrong?

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.