According to End Times talk radio host Justice Antonin Scalia was ritually murdered by President Obama to mark a pagan festival. Say what?

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

Yesterday on “Trunews,” End Times radio host Rick Wiles discussed “the possible occult connections” to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, whom he concluded was murdered by President Obama and was a human sacrifice to mark the pagan festival of Lupercalia. 

Wiles explained that the “Luciferian” “devil-worshipers” who control the government are out for blood, noting that Lupercalia is observed between February 13 and 15. Scalia’s body was discovered on the 13th. “There’s always human sacrifice involved,” he said, claiming that Scalia was “killed” to mark the beginning of pagan fascism ruling over the U.S. 

“The 13th was the 44th day of 2016, Obama is the 44th president of the United States,” Wiles said, “so you have this numerology thing taking place.” 

Wiles said that the assassins who killed the conservative justice “deliberately left the pillow on his face as a message to everybody else: ‘Don’t mess with us, we can murder a justice and get away with it.’ And I assure you, there’s a lot of frightened officials in Washington today, deep down they know, the regime murdered a justice…. This is the way a dictatorial, fascist, police state regime takes control of a nation.” 

Okay usually I would mock this as batshit crazy talk, but I seriously do not think that a bat could shit this much crazy.

I would like to seriously ask how somebody like this is not only NOT in a rubber room someplace, but is allowed on the radio to spread this kind of lunacy?

Producer suggests that rash of new TV shows featuring the devil, Antichrist or demonic possession is because people think we are entering the End Times.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

So why is the devil suddenly so sexy again for the small screen? 

"The devil has always been very sexy," Mazzara told THR following his time in front of the press Wednesday at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. "There's something in the air that people feel like these are the end times, in some way. There's an anxiety about what's happening all around the world and some of these shows — like Lucifer may take a comic approach — we're taking a hopefully more thoughtful, thematic approach to that material. There has been a lot of post-apocalyptic shows out there now and we're the show that's about the question: "Can you stop it?"

Glen Mazzara is a producer on an A&E show called "Damien" that explores the life of the Antichrist.

Similarly themed programs are also coming from Fox and Cinemax.

Of course stories featuring the devil or Antichrist are nothing new. From Schwarzenegger's "End of Days," Keanu Reeves in "Constatine,"  to Al Pacino's scenery shredding performance in "The Devils' Advocate," these movies have been around essentially since movies have been around.

However these days there really MIGHT be more Americans who believe that the biblical prophesies are about to come true, especially for those one in four Americans who think that President Obama IS the Antichrist.

Yeah, I wonder who we have to blame for that?

All I can say is that I hope I live long enough to see the country move away from these crippling superstitious beliefs into an enlightened age where ghost stories, movies about demonic possession, and music inspired by Satanism are seen as purely entertainment and not some harbinger of terrifying things to come.

Colorado Springs police say they are not going to release motive for the Planned Parenthood shooting. WTF?

Courtesy of Salon: 

Colorado Springs police say they will not disclose why a gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic, killing three people. 

Police say in a statement Sunday that they are sealing the warrants related to the case against 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear. They say they are not providing information on the weapon used in Friday’s shooting, a timeline of events or a motive of the suspect. 

That will continue to stoke speculation about what led to the shooting that killed a police officer and two other people. Dear is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday afternoon.

Okay not to be too conspiratorial here but for what reason could a police department have for not releasing this kind of evidence to the media?

I mean usually by this time there have already been a number of police statements as to the motive, condition, and attitude of the defendant. Yet in this case mums the word?

Could it be due to the fact that Colorado Springs is a conservative community, and that many of its residents are deeply religious, that is keeping the police from releasing information which might indicate that Mr. Dear is a fundamentalist with opinions about abortion that were tempered in the fires of religious rhetoric?

That is certainly what the evidence is starting to suggest:

A username apparently connected to Robert Lewis Dear, who is accused of fatally shooting three people, may shed light on the dark side of a man who was a mystery to many until he allegedly opened fire in the Colorado Springs clinic. 

The user posted a series of paranoid, Biblical rants on the message boards for Cannabis.com nearly a decade ago. 

“aids , hurricanes, we are in the end times,” one post from December 2005 read. 

“accept the LORD JESUS while you can.” 

Another post weeks later declared: “A FOOL HATH SAID IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD,” adding: “PROVERBS.” 

Yet another said: “god made us so he can kill who he wants...the lord giveth the lord taketh away blessed be the name of the LORD.”

It is still too early to jump to conclusions, but that is why it would be very helpful for the police to cooperate with the press and let the public know just who this guy is, and what motivated him to murder three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

However it is clear that anti-abortionists are already getting their talking points prepared for if, and when, it turns out this guy was motivated by their rhetoric.

Last night Nancy French, hiding within her faux Bristol Palin camouflage, had this to say about the killings:

I join with the rest of America in grieving over this senseless violence and am deeply saddened that three more souls were added to the countless others who’ve lost their lives at that location.

Which is almost verbatim what Mike Huckabee is also saying:

“There’s no excuse for killing other people, whether it’s inside ... Planned Parenthood clinics, where many millions of babies die, or whether it’s people attacking Planned Parenthood,” Huckabee said.

Of course their argument is at least somewhat more coherent than the one made by Ted Cruz: 

When a reporter reminded the Texas senator that the suspect allegedly made a comment about “baby parts” while being arrested, Cruz countered, “It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is.”

WTF?

So you see even if Mr. Dear was motivated by those doctored videos, or anti-abortion rantings (Which the conservatives want to point out is NOT proven yet!), it is really no big deal because thousands of potential human beings are killed at that location all of the time. And besides that he is probably a transgendered Democrat who is voting for Hillary, so what's all the fuss?

Of course if the Colorado Springs police would disclose more information we might be able to clear all of this up. But it does not appear they are going to do that anytime soon. 

Speaking of Right Wing nutjobs, what's Michele "crazy eyes" Bachmann been up to lately?

So one time Congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann has been on a tour of Israel with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

During the last week of this tour she appeared on Perkins' radio program, where she said this as reported by Right Wing Watch: 

“Almost every article in the paper” has to do with conflicts in Israel, Bachmann said, “and it ties with so much biblical prophecy. This week really was about biblical prophecy in many ways. And we’re seeing as events are speeding up, events are speeding up so quickly right now, and we see how relevant the Bible is, and we’re reading our newspaper, at the same time we’re learning about these biblical events, and it’s literally day by day by day, we’re seeing the fulfillment of scripture right in front of our eyes, even while we’re on the ground.” 

“We recognize the shortness of the hour,” she said, “and that’s why we as a remnant want to be faithful in these days and do what it is that the Holy Spirit is speaking to each one of us, to be faithful in the Kingdom and to help bring in as many as we can — even among the Jews — share Jesus Christ with everyone that we possibly can because, again, He’s coming soon.” 

So to be clear Bachmann is visiting the Jewish state of Israel, you know a place bursting at the seams with Jewish people, and pushing for their conversion to Christianity as quickly as possible, based on her belief that Jesus has already bought his return ticket and is on his way.

Now that does not sound very respectful of other religions does it?

But once again THAT is what motivates these fundamentalist Christians to support Israel.

They say they love the people of Israel, but only because they believe that two thirds of them need to die in order to usher in the return of Jesus. And that once that happens the rest will convert to Christianity.

In fact they love them much like they love the soldiers who they eagerly send off to die in foreign lands to protect the "homeland" and of course the flow of their precious oil.

Bachmann is only saying out loud what all of them believe in their hearts, and that is that Israel exists solely so that THEIR messiah can return, and after that the people of Israel will have served their purpose.

End Times radio host warns his listeners that they have to "flee America" before Obama destroys the country. Now THAT'S a good idea!

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch: 

End Times radio host Rick Wiles warned his listeners last week that they have a year to “get out” and “flee America” before Obama destroys the country. 

Saying that he also predicted that “Obama would destroy” Syria, Wiles warned that the president is “a man of destruction, darkness and evil” and will “destroy this nation too.” 

“There may be a year remaining in which you can get out and save your family,” he said. “I’m convinced the Luciferian Illuminatus that control this country will dismantle it over the next two years and the Phoenix will ascend to replace the old constitutional republic.” 

Apparently this Wiles guy has a history of this sort of  histrionics, earlier this year he warned his listeners that they better flee the country before marriage equality angered God into destroying America.

You know maybe God is just looking for a reason to destroy America. 

Hey look I don't care what their reasons are. Anything that gets more of these superstitious morons out of the country is a good thing in my eyes. 

Maybe we should start making things up to scare them. Such as saying that Obama has passed an executive order that mandates that only gays can teach Sunday school from now on, or that makes it illegal to watch Fox News, or that Christian schools have to celebrate Charles Darwin day.

Hey, its worth a shot.

Woman tries to kill children after hearing phone messages from estranged preacher husband that the world was ending. Religion makes everything better, don't you think?

Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times:  

A Montgomery woman accused of trying to kill her three children told police she was sending her daughters to meet Jesus Christ, according to court records. 

The children were dressed all in white when Montgomery police arrived at the family’s Patron Lane home at around 10: 20 a.m. Sept. 25, after dispatchers received two hang-up 911 calls. 

When they arrived, police said Pamela J. Christensen, 47, answered the door wearing a white shirt covered in blood. She got down on her knees before police and told them she had tried to kill her children. The girls were upstairs, and two had suffered stab wounds to the chest. According to Kendall County Court records, Christensen had also stabbed herself in the chest and abdomen. 

In an affidavit to secure a search warrant for the family’s home, police said Christensen told officers that she was sending the girls home to “meet Jesus Christ.” 

The three girls, ages 12, 16 and 19, told police that their mother held a knife to them and asked them if they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Two of the girls were stabbed. 

Police recovered a poisonous liquid in the home’s kitchen, which Christensen said she had concocted out of dishwashing detergent in an attempt to subdue her children. 

She told police she had hoped they would fall asleep so she could stab them. Police said the children refused to ingest the poison. 

On the scene, police said they found a cell phone which belonged to Christensen. The woman told officers that her husband, Vaughn Christensen, had left messages on the phone telling his wife that the world was ending, and that she needed to prepare the family to meet Jesus. 

Vaughn Christensen is a former pastor at a Sugar Grove church.

The three girls were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and then released.

The mother has been charged with attempted first degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint. All of which are felonies, and her bail is set at one million dollars.

An interesting side note is that the reason that the woman is estranged from her pastor husband, and has an "order of protection" filed against him, is that she claims he was acting erratically and in a threatening manner.

But after that he simply calls her, tells her the world is going to end, and she then tries to murder her own children? WTF?

And my question is, if the world was about to end anyway, why bother killing your kids? Aren't they going to get to meet Jesus anyway?

Man I'll never understand this new Christian religious fad. I certainly hope it never catches on.

Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker is back. This time selling, I kid you not, "End of the World Biscuits" in preparation for Armageddon.

Courtesy of the New York Daily News:  

Twenty years after his release from prison following rape and fraud allegations, the disgraced pastor is busy selling unique survival kits apparently for the Apocalypse. On his website for his latest TV program, "The Jim Bakker Show," the 74-year-old sells everything from bulk "End of the World Biscuits," "Extreme Survival Bottles" — two for $57 — and extreme cold-weather apparel. The evangelist, who considers himself one of today's experts on the Book of Revelation, appears motivated by the prophetic scriptures in the Bible, which warn of the Rapture — where Christians will be taken by God into heaven — and the second-coming of Christ.

I have to admit that I thought this was a joke, but nope, they are serious.

The majority of the food sources appear in the form of beans, such as the $3,000 "Time of Trouble" tub, which contains 7,728 servings of black bean burger pouches. 

Others include a mixed array of "End of the World Gravy" and "Kevin's Krazy Lasagna" in large, tightly-packed containers.

"End of the World Gravy?"

Okay look this is America, and people can make a living any way they see fit. But is it really ethical to scare these poor simpletons into believing that some catastrophe is about to occur so that you can profit off their ignorance?

Besides who is going to be here to eat all of these beans?

I thought that during the End Times that all of the "good" Christians were going to be sucked up into Heaven to party with JC while the rest of us fought amongst ourselves for the belongings they left behind?

Boy this takes me back to the televangelist scandals of the 1980's.

Such good times.

Thanks to a Duck Dynasty dipshit a film I had no intention of seeing is now one I wouldn't see even under threat of torture.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

One of the stars of TV’s “Duck Dynasty” urged Christians to take their non-believing friends to see an upcoming Nicolas Cage movie, saying it might convert them. 

Willie Robertson recorded a short promotional video that was posted Friday morning to the Facebook page set up for “Left Behind,” an upcoming feature film based on the popular religion-themed book series that depicts the end times. 

“Like most Christians, my family and I can truly say that we’re excited about the soon return of Jesus, and I’m sure, if you’ve been watching the news lately, you know that that return could be any day from now,” Robertson said. 

He said the film, which he described as “an action-packed thriller that will take viewers on a wild ride to the day of the Rapture,” would encourage atheists and non-Christians to convert. 

“It’s a warning to those, if it happened today, would be left behind, and I believe people are going to make that life-changing decision to follow Christ on the way home from the theater on Oct. 3,” Robertson said. “Let’s all make sure we bring some friends and family to see this movie – people who need to see to believe.”

My new goal is life is to be left behind by these fundamentalist imbeciles. 

And I can hardly wait for it to happen, Look I even promise to water your plants and walk your dog after you leave.

Just go already!

However the problem with the idea of the return of Jesus, and all of the miraculous occurrences that are supposed to surround it, is that it was already supposed to have happened during the lifetimes of his disciples.

That's right folks the event that all of those sidewalk preachers and revival tent evangelicals have been warning you against is already thousands of years past its "sell by" date.

Essentially running off to get "saved" after seeing this movie is like buying rental car insurance for a car that your returned safely to the lot over fifty years ago.

Besides this movie has Nicholas Cage in it.

When was the last time that a Nicholas Cage movie had anything in it that even remotely reflected reality? 

Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson respects the Jewish people so much he'd like to make them all Christians.

"As long as they're Christians." There fixed it for you.

Courtesy of Haaretz: 

Patriarch of A&E's Duck Dynasty, Phil Robertson, who has caused controversy in the past with homophobic and racist remarks, is on a mission to bring Jews closer to the Christian faith. 

According to WebProNews, Robertson and his son, Alan, are taking part in an event organized by the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute. The group's stated aim is to "bring Jewish people into a personal relationship of faith with Yeshua the Messiah, knowing their acceptance will eventually mean life from the dead (Romans 11:15).” 

“The MJBI equips leaders who will establish Messianic Jewish congregations and ministries in Jewish communities worldwide. Additionally, the MJBI seeks to equip the Church in its responsibility to take the Good News to the Jew first (Romans 1:16). Like Paul, the MJBI helps educate Christians in their role to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy and thus save some of them (Romans 11:11-14),” the group's website says. 

The event, titled "A Tale of Two Ducks," will take place at the Fort Worth Convention Center on November 1, with tickets costing between $100 to $10,000.

As we have covered many, many times here on IM, the Fundamentalists only respect the Jewish community and support Israel for what they represent to them. Tools needed to help usher in the End Times.

In the end Israel itself is supposed to undergo a mass conversion to Christianity, which will essentially make it all one big born again theme park.

Robertson is just getting a jump start on what he, and his ilk, see as the eventual outcome anyhow.

Why wait? Eschew your traditions, and the religion of your people, and join the Christo-fascists now.

I understand that the first one hundred will get a genuine Duck Dynasty duck caller, useful for calling pagan ducks to Jesus Christ or luring them close and blowing their feathered asses away if they refuse to submit.

Sarah Palin takes to Facebook to kiss up to the Jewish people. However her motives are far from pure.

Courtesy of yesterday's post on Queen Ester's Facebook page:

Tonight Jewish families all over the world celebrate Passover, the commemoration of their freedom from bondage and their Exodus to the Promised Land. We join with them in spirit in celebrating mankind’s universal aspiration for freedom, and our prayers are especially with our Jewish friends in Israel. May they continue to flourish as a democracy in a region of the world so troubled by despotic regimes. Chag kasher V'Sameach. Happy Passover. And next year in Jerusalem!

 - Sarah Palin

Of course as we have discussed here on IM numerous times Palin's support for the Jewish people and Israel has NOTHING to do with any altruistic feelings, and EVERYTHING to do with the Fundamentalist's belief that it plays a very important part in the  second coming of Jesus Christ.

She cares nothing for the Jewish people, and instead sees them only as a means to an end. The End Times that is.

Interestingly enough a new show on HBO, Vice produced by Bill Maher, addressed this very situation recently.

Here is a debrief.

Thomas Morton joined a group of born again Christians as they toured the Holy Land and found out the real reason why they support Israel.

It is certainly not shocking to learn that Sarah Palin is a religious nut who supports the oppression of an entire race of people, simply to usher in a supernatural occurrence that she believes allows her access to eternal life. And it offers yet another opportunity to point out that Sarah Palin does NOTHING that does not, in some way, benefit Sarah Palin.

Speaking of the End Times now some Fundamentalists are saying that the recent red moon sightings are the newest sign.

And speaking of Passover, it is a celebration of an event that never actually took place.

Did you notice the Antichrist pretending to be a puppy during that Superbowl commercial? No? Well that's only because YOU are sane.

Did you see that cute commercial? Doesn't it fill you with fuzzy feelings and happiness?

Well that's clearly because you are a sin filled pagan destined to end up in the fiery pits of hell.

Don't believe me? See for yourself:  

William Tapley, the evangelist who gained fame when he said public works of art in the Denver airport included hidden phallic symbols, now sees evil in a puppy that appeared in a Super Bowl commercial. 

In a video posted to YouTube on Friday Tapley says the Budweiser commercial in which a Labrador retriever puppy is born among Clydesdale horses and keeps running away from adoptive human parents to rejoin them is evidence of the nearing of the end times. 

“It is talking about the arrival of the Antichrist,” Tapley said in his video. 

In the commercial called "Puppy Love," which won USA Today’s Super Bowl ad contest, the puppy is born at a ranch identified as “Warm Springs.” “That is code for 'lake of fire,'” Tapley said. “(That’s) where our puppy dog comes from. … But this puppy dog is more than a cute, warm, fuzzy animal. He is a symbol of the Antichrist.” 

Tapley sees symbolism throughout the commercial, saying that four of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses represent the “beasts of the apocalypse” and a fifth is a false prophet. 

“Will the end times signs and wonders in this commercial never cease?” he asks.

Dammit! And here I thought I was watching an innocent beer commercial about a giant Clydesdale's unnatural and inappropriate relationship with a clearly underage puppy. 

Nice try Budweiser, but this Tapley guy is not so easy to fool!

Sarah Palin inserts not so subtle slam at the United States foreign policy while praising Canada.

Sarah Palin hugging it out with Netanyahu's wife Sara.

Courtesy of Jerusalem Rose's Facebook page:  

Thank you to our good neighbors led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper for their exemplary support of our friend Israel. 

As significant and dangerous progress is made by Iran no doubt wanting nukes, and with the continued threats against Israel by radicals in the region, Canada's steadfastness is praiseworthy. 

Friends, THIS issue, along with innumerable domestic failures of government, should warrant more concern and focus than things like, oh, say, how a Seattle Seahawk verbally ramped up after intense competition and hard fought victory. 

Hold the media accountable as its priorities in coverage perhaps distract from REAL issues that actually affect your life. Hold government accountable. Let's do our own homework in order to know how the actions of leaders worldwide impact America. 

And thank you, friends to (my) East! It's wise and prudent for Canada and America to stand together against evil that would seek to destroy Israel. 

The post then links to this article at Breaking Christian News, which apparently is where all GOOD Christians get their news. 

Clearly this is Palin's sad little attempt to slam President Obama for the progress he is making with the Iranian government in curtailing their nuclear ambitions in exchange for a loosening of the sanctions.

This progress terrifies those who have long used Iran as the bogeyman, and panics those, like Palin, who believe that war in Israel is pivotal in ushering in the End Times and ensuring the return of Jesus Christ.

Sarah Palin does not give a shit about Israel. Like everything and everybody she simply sees it as a means to an end, and that end is Armageddon.

Sadly for her, and those like her, President Obama is working to preserve this planet, and protect its people from a war that through democracy and compromise can, and must, be avoided.

People like Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush, who live this life with their eyes firmly focused on the next, should NEVER be given power, because they care little about how many lives are lost in their quest to prepare the planet for the Rapture and ensure their place at the right hand of God.

Rachel Maddow's chilling report about George W. Bush and his world ending, Rapture ready, foreign policies. If you have not seen this, you must take the time to listen now.

"It wasn't just an accident that we were almost bringing about the end of the world, that was the point."

I started this blog in November of 2004. And I started it right after George W. Bush beat John Kerry to start his second term.

In fact it is that victory which is the only reason that you are reading these words today.

Somebody had to speak out.

They had to speak out about politics, and religion, and more importantly religion's impact on our politics.

They had to talk about those subject that are always considered taboo in polite get-togethers, family holidays, and conversations with coworkers.

What Rachel is reporting is not new information to me, that was what I was blogging about way back during the Bush administration. I typed until my fingers bled, but it seemed to make little difference.

Until that is 2008 rolled around.

But we are by no means out of the woods yet.

There is a reason that you will rarely see me talk about Astrology, Scientology, Shintoism, Hinduism, or any number of other beliefs which I find ridiculous and potentially damaging. And that is because they do not present the kind of threat that fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam do to this country.

Currently these two, and to be honest mostly Christianity, are to blame for most of the problems we are dealing with right now with public policy toward education, women's health, terrorism, LGBT rights, foreign relations, and numerous others which may or may not seem directly tied to religion.

Like I have said before I do not care if you carry a rabbit's foot for good luck on your key chain, check your horoscope every morning before deciding whether to go into work or not, or if you drop to your knees in prayer when you are confused about what choice to make next. None of those are any of my business, until you force them into the public forum and use them to make public policy, or attempt to force those beliefs onto our childen.

THEN it is our business. And it is especially our business if you use superstitious nonsense as a factor when deciding when or where to wage war, who does or does not deserve to live, or whether the planet will be around long enough for us to worry about a little thing like man made climate change.

Conspiracy theorist, and contributor to Alex Jones Infowars, claims that President Obama has been killing off reporters right and left.

Jim Garrow.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

Earlier this year, a right-wing activist named Jim Garrow started claiming that President Obama had instituted a litmus test within the military, requiring leaders to pledge to fire on American civilians if so ordered and purging anyone who refused. 

Yesterday, Garrow showed up on Rick Wiles' End Times radio broadcast to claim that for the last forty years, he had been working as an undercover intelligence officer for the US government until he was forced out last month by President Obama for revealing this information. 

During the interview, Garrow claimed that everyone in the intelligence community knows that President Obama is bisexual and that he has "little buddies ... brought into the White House even now." 

Garrow also revealed that the Obama administration was responsible for the deaths of right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart, journalist Michael Hastings, and novelist Tom Clancy, all of whom knew that Obama was, in reality, an agent of the Saudi Arabian government. In fact, Garrow said, it was the fact that Breitbart couldn't keep his mouth shut about it that caused all three of them to be killed:

Wiles: Is it common knowledge among intelligence agencies that Barack Obama is not an American but indeed a foreign agent? 

Garrow: Yes. Yes. 

Wiles: But do the other agencies know who he works for? 

Garrow: Yes. Yeah, they do. 

Wiles: And you think that answer is Saudi Arabia? 

Garrow: Well, I know that to be true and that's why Breitbart, Hastings, and Tom Clancy are dead. 

Wiles: Okay, Breitbart, no doubt in my mind, taken out. He bragged. I liked Andrew Brietbart but what he did was incredibly stupid. He bragged the day before his death that in the morning he was going to reveal shocking information that would stop the Obama campaign. Mr. Breitbart dropped dead waling home at night and his corpse was blood red. 

Garrow: Brighter than that actually. But the point is that he caused the death of Hastings and Tom Clancy because he had been sharing data with them. 

Wiles: There's a connection between Breitbart's death and Hastings and Clancy? 

Garrow: All of them, yea. All of them. Because of the information that Breitbart gave to Tom Clancy, he was working on a novel that would have exposed Obama as a Saudi agenda, as a Saudi plant in the White House ... He knew exactly who Obama was and he was going to release it in character form in a book . The character was going to be this President of the United States who was a plant. It was going to be the real information about Obama was going to come out in the form of a novel. 

If you are thinking that this Rick Wiles guy sounds vaguely familiar you are right. He was the guy from End Times radio who interviewed the husband of the Stenographer for God the other day.

So these are the kinds of conspiracy theories rattling around out there in the fringes of the Right Wing. The ones that are shaping the views of many of the Tea Party's staunchest supporters.

And you just KNOW how much they want to believe that Obama had something to do with the death of Andrew Breitbart. 

"Facts? We don't need no stinking facts! We know it must be true!"

Husband of stenographer who interrupted House vote to rant about God and the Freemasons, says she just did what God told her to do. Well okay then.

Rick Wiles

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

Following the vote in the House of Representatives to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government last week, a House stenographer named Dianne Reidy briefly seized the microphone and began ranting about God and the Freemasons before being removed and sent to the hospital for a psychological evaluation. 

On Friday, her husband Dan appeared on the End Times radio broadcast hosted by Rick Wiles where he revealed that, for the last month, Dianne had repeatedly been woken up in the middle of night by God and compelled to read the Bible, as He pressed upon her the need to speak publicly and deliver a prophetic message. 

Dan revealed that his wife had no idea what it was she was supposed to say and that God simply spoke through her once she finally acquiesced to His commands to took control of the microphone: 

Reidy: "She shared with me when she actually stepped up to the podium that she didn't know what she was going to say; that those words that came out were what she prayed 'Lord, I'm your vessel, you speak through me.' So her belief is, and my belief is, is that those words came from God. It's not He coached her, she memorized the words or anything like that. In fact, afterwards, I don't think she even remembered what she said ... She was like, I was just the vessel that God was speaking through and it wasn't for me to know what I said, it was for who was hearing it."

Wiles: "I believe God gave a prophetic utterance through your wife. I believe it was an utterance from the Holy Spirit, a very, very solemn, a very severe prophetic warning to the people of the United States. "

Reidy: "Yes, I agree with you. She was prepared for it and she gave it and as a scribe does, they're all about words and He gave her the words and she recorded the words or spoke the words and she feels her job is done. "

For his part, Wiles is convinced that Reidy's rambling statement was a dire warning from God that the Freemasons and the Illuminati are plotting to destroy our constitutional republic and replace it with totalitarian tyranny "because we can see it with the NSA spying, with the TSA groping people, even the park police now don't wear green uniforms, they wear Brownshirts." 

So there you go then.

The stenographer wasn't crazy she was just doing her job and taking notes for the Lord. And then delivering those notes to the world on a turned off mic in the middle of the House of Representatives.

Makes perfect sense.

After all if you cannot trust the opinion of a man who has a radio show called End Times radio who can you trust?

Four reasons that Christian Fundamentalists are looking forward to the End Times.

Courtesy of Alter Net:  

1. They don’t think they’ll be around for the worst of it. Modern American fundamentalist Christians believe in something that has never before been part of Christian tradition: the Rapture. The idea is that the true believers will be whisked away into heaven before the ugly parts of the end times begin. The idea was invented in the 19th century but only took off in the late 20th century because of pop culture products like the Left Behind series. As Christian writer and critic of evangelical culture Fred Clark explained, it’s an “escapist fantasy” and a way to avoid having to consider the possibility that they may die. 

Christian writers don’t really hide that this is what’s going on with end times hope. As blogger Nathan Jones said, “It is an amazing hope to have because we can know that as terrible as it is getting out there, believers in Christ don't have much longer to worry about it.” 

2. The end of the world would mean they get to have the last word. One thing that’s indisputable is that if the apocalypse does come and it unspools as Christians predicted, they will have won the argument! As Doug Weaver, a professor of religion at Baylor, explained to the Washington Post, “I think history will tell you that end time predictions increase when people are being persecuted or feel persecuted.” 

While conservative Christians are most definitely not being persecuted, watching their privileges decline often makes them feel persecuted. When you feel put upon, mocked and persecuted, the desire to show your opponents you were right all along can become overwhelming. So much so, that you’re willing to wish for a fiery apocalypse just so you can say I told you so. 

3. It provides a distraction from and an excuse to avoid the real problems in the world. The appeal of apocalypse fantasies is mainly that they help believers avoid the fear of death. (A secular version of this can be found in zombie apocalypse stories, which work because the audience identifies with the survivors, not the people who die, i.e. zombies.) However, belief that the end times are near is used by conservatives all the time to direct their followers politically. 

4. They want to see the non-believers punished and themselves instated as the rightful rulers of all mankind. In 1980 , Pat Robertson laid out this hope bluntly, predicting that World War III and the end times were upon us, saying, “sorrow and bloodshed that will have no end soon, for the world is being torn apart, and my kingdom shall rise from the ruins of it.” 

Or as Fred Clark said in his criticisms of the apocalypse fantasy books in the Left Behind series, “The authors' real message for those they regard as unsaved is to thumb their nose and do a little victory dance.” 

This eagerness to see the non-believers punished is so strong in the Christian right that many are unwilling to wait until the so-called “Tribulation” described in the Left Behind books, and to a lesser degree the Bible, is upon us. That’s why, after any great tragedy, there is a rush of eager-beaver pastors willing to say this is what people have coming for being sinners, from Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blaming “pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians” for 9/11 to John Hagee blaming the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on gay pride parades.

Now take a moment to remind yourself that THIS is the mindset embraced by numerous politicians currently creating policy for ALL of us, and of course standing in opposition to policies that would benefit the planet and its people. 

And we also recently learned that we could count Justice Antonin Scalia among the superstitiously driven powerful men whose decisions have everlasting impacts on our nation.

Those who believe that the Rapture is nigh upon us, and further, that they themselves are among those who will leave this polluted overburdened orb for a chance to party with the Prince of Peace himself, should be kept as far away from politics as possible.

As Bill Maher pointed out last Friday: 

"If you think the world is about to end that's your right. But you don't get to vote on next year's budget, because it doesn't concern you." 

Personally I have to wonder why you would hire one of these simple son-of-a-bitches to do ANY job?

Why show up to work on time, put in 100% of your effort, or treat others with respect if you think your Greyhound bus to paradise is about to drive up and whisk you off at any moment?

I would MUCH prefer to work alongside an Atheist who is grateful for his time on this earth and wishes to protect it for future generations to come.  A person who does the right thing, BECAUSE it's the right thing. A person who treats even the least among us with respect because he knows we are all in this together and, without a omnipotent deity watching over us, we need each other to survive and flourish.

But hey, that's just me.

How the Republican Religious Right does not fear the consequences of a government shutdown or default, because you know Armageddon.

Courtesy of Alternet:  

It’s hard for the Christian fundamentalists who run the Republican Party now to worry about the serious economic danger they’re putting the world in, because they are swept up in worrying that President Obama is an agent of the devil and that the world is on the verge of mayhem and apocalypse if they don’t “stop” him somehow, presumably be derailing the Affordable Care Act. Christian conservatives such as Ellis Washington are running around telling each other that the ACA will lead to “the systematic genocide of the weak, minorities, enfeebled, the elderly and political enemies of the God-state.” Twenty percent of Republicans believe Obama is the Antichrist.Washington Times columnist Jeffrey Kuhner argued that Obama is using his signature health care legislation to promote “the destruction of the family, Christian culture”, and demanded that Christians “need to engage in peaceful civil disobedience against President Obama’s signature health care law”. 

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops joined in, demanding that the Republicans shut down the government rather than let Obamacare go into effect. The excuse was their objection to the requirement that insurance make contraception available without a copayment, saying ending this requirement matters more than “serving their own employees or the neediest Americans.” 

The Christian right media has been hammering home the message that Christians should oppose the Affordable Care Act. Pat Necerato of the Christian News Network accused the supporters of the law of committing idolatry and accused people who want health care of being covetous. The Christian Post approvingly reported various Christian leaders, including Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, saying things like the health care law is “a profound attack on our liberties” and lamented “Today is the day I will tell my grandchildren about when they ask me what happened to freedom in America.” 

Some in the Christian right straight up believe Obamacare portends the end times. Rick Phillips, writing for Christianity.com, hinted that Obamacare might be predicted in Revelations, though he held back from saying that was certain. Others are less cautious. On the right wing fundamentalist email underground, a conspiracy theory has arisen claiming that Obamacare will require all citizens to have a microchip implanted. While it’s completely untrue, many Christians believe that this means the “mark of the beast” predicted in Revelations that portends the return of Christ and the end of the world. 

 In other words, the Christian right has worked itself into a frenzy of believing that if this health care law is implemented fully, then we are, in fact, facing down either the end of American Christianity itself or quite possibly the end times themselves. In comparison, it’s hard to be too scared by the worldwide financial collapse that they’re promising to unleash if the Democrats don’t just give up their power and let Republicans do what they want. Sure, crashing stock markets, soaring unemployment, and worldwide economic depression sounds bad, but for the Christian right, the alternative is fire and brimstone and God unleashing all sorts of hell on the world.

Damn am I tired of all of this ridiculous shit! You simply cannot reason with people who are this insane.

And people wonder why I spend so much time talking about religion on this blog. How can I not?

Possible military action in Syria has many churches preaching about the Rapture. Well that's helpful.

Courtesy of USA Today:  

The deadly violence percolating half a world away in Syria and the warnings of a possible U.S. attack have some people not only looking ahead to what might happen in the coming days — but also looking backward into ancient, apocalyptic prophecies in the pages of the Old Testament. 

In recent weeks, some dire prophecies have turned up on websites, in book stores, as the subject of Bible studies and in sermons by some Christians and others who see a link between the old passages and modern-day events in Egypt, Libya and Syria. 

"Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, and will become a fallen ruin," reads Isaiah 17, a passage some Christians say they believe details a horrific event that leaves the city uninhabitable and leads to worldwide tribulation and the second coming of Christ. 

Damascus is the Syrian capital and one of the world's oldest cities. 

Another passage in Isaiah 19 deals with civil war in Egypt and the rise of a "fierce king." 

Talk of those prophecies has intensified as President Barack Obama considers a U.S. military strike on Syria in response to what Washington says is evidence that the Syrian leadership used chemical weapons against its own people. In turn, Syria vows to retaliate against neighboring Israel if the U.S. strikes. 

Christian bookstores such as Family Christian Ministries in West Melbourne report that book sales of prophecy-themed works by charismatic minister Perry Stone, Pastor John Hagee and novelists such as Joel Rosenberg have increased in recent weeks since tension in Syria and Egypt escalated. 

"We sold a lot of Perry Stone books, and he's really good with the end times. A lot of our customers say their churches are doing something on prophecy," said Kaylee Snodgrass, assistant manager at Family Christian Ministries.

Of course this kind of thing ALWAYS takes place when a new war breaks out in the Middle East, however I imagine that it might become even MORE prevalent this time since 13 percent of Americans already believe that the President is the anti-Christ. 

And at least one program has used a President Obama lookalike to portray Satan.

Yeah, somehow I think those Christian bookstores better stock up on that "Left Behind" series.

Man blows up family dog because it "had the devil in it."

Courtesy of KOIN:  

A father with children in the house who was preparing for “the Rapture” blew up his family’s Labrador Retriever because the devil was inside the dog, court documents showed. 

Christopher Dillingham, 45, allegedly attached an explosive device to his dog and detonated it around 4 a.m. Sunday outside their home. 

Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown, who lives nearby, said the explosion woke him up. 

“It sounded like a high-power rifle outside my window,” he said. 

A slew of 911 calls sent deputies to Dillingham’s home. They found the remains of the dog strewn about the yard and arrested Dillingham on the spot. 

Documents obtained by KOIN 6 News show Dillingham told Skamania County deputies “the world is going to end” because of a nuclear strike and he was preparing. 

When they asked him why he was throwing items out of his house and onto his lawn, he said he believed “the souls of demons” were inside the metal objects in the house, the documents said. 

His ex-girlfriend, he told the deputies, gave him the dog, named Cabella, and “put the devil in it.” He allegedly told the deputies he made the explosive device on his home work bench using black powder from fireworks. 

He then allegedly strapped it around the dog’s neck and fed the dog treats to keep it from trying to wriggle out of the bomb. He also allegedly told the deputies he stepped behind a wall before triggering the bomb because he did not want to get injured by flying debris. 

The dog was decapitated.

Well it could have been worse I guess, at least he did not think his children were possessed by the devil.

However the fact that there are people in this day and age who actually think that possession by demons and devils is a REAL thing, and who are preparing for the Rapture as if its impending arrival is a reality, should be troubling to EVERY person living in the world today.

This kind of suspension of critical thinking is frightening, ESPECIALLY when you consider that the man is parenting children who are using him as a role model to help them to understand and interact with the world around them.

Without the cover of religion to camouflage this obvious delusional thinking, this man may have received help much earlier, and in time to save a dog who did nothing to deserve its fate.

More examples of how religion is destroying our future. Believers in the Biblical "End Times" stifling climate change legislation in America.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The United States has failed to take action to mitigate climate change thanks in part to the large number of religious Americans who believe the world has a set expiration date. 

Research by David C. Barker of the University of Pittsburgh and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado uncovered that belief in the biblical end-times was a motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change. 

“[T]he fact that such an overwhelming percentage of Republican citizens profess a belief in the Second Coming (76 percent in 2006, according to our sample) suggests that governmental attempts to curb greenhouse emissions would encounter stiff resistance even if every Democrat in the country wanted to curb them,” Barker and Bearce wrote in their study, which will be published in the June issue of Political Science Quarterly. 

The study, based on data from the 2007 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, uncovered that belief in the “Second Coming” of Jesus reduced the probability of strongly supporting government action on climate change by 12 percent when controlling for a number of demographic and cultural factors. When the effects of party affiliation, political ideology, and media distrust were removed from the analysis, the belief in the “Second Coming” increased this effect by almost 20 percent. 

“[I]t stands to reason that most nonbelievers would support preserving the Earth for future generations, but that end-times believers would rationally perceive such efforts to be ultimately futile, and hence ill-advised,” Barker and Bearce explained.

Over and over again we see examples of religion interfering with scientific progress and education in this country, and I for one am damn sick and tired of it!

Make no mistake the push for home school programs, charter schools programs, religious teaching in the classroom setting, and the introduction of standardized tests, are ALL a coordinated effort to keep our children believing rather than thinking, or receiving educations that do NOT encourage critical thinking skills and instead focus on memorizing test answers rather than learning.

EVERYTHING the GOP does is designed to make Americans dumber, and more easily manipulated, and religion is the very best tool they have to help them to achieve that goal.

This country was founded as a secular nations for a reason.