President Obama comes very, very close to endorsing Hillary Clinton for President.

Okay remember, be subtle.

Courtesy of Politico: 

In his speech Tuesday commemorating the designation of a new national monument honoring women's equality, President Barack Obama said he looked forward to the day when future visitors to the Washington, D.C., site would be "astonished" that at one point in time, a woman had never been president. 

“I want young girls and boys to come here 10, 20, 100 years from now to know that women fought for equality, it was not just given to them. I want them to come here and be astonished there was ever a time when women could not vote," Obama said during his remarks at the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, which served as the headquarters of the National Woman's Party since 1929. 

"I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women earned less than men for doing the same work." "I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women were vastly outnumbered in the boardroom or in Congress, that there was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the Oval Office," he remarked. 

Hold on. The President wants young girls and boys who some to the monument in 10 or 20 years to be astonished that there was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the Oval Office?

Because the only way for that to seem unremarkable is if we were to actually elect a female president in the very near future, and the only woman poised to meet that criteria is Hillary Clinton.

And this follows closely on the heels of this comment from Joe Biden: 

"This country’s ready for a woman," Biden said. "There’s no problem. We’re gonna be able to elect a woman in this country. I would like to see a woman elected.”

Now the Vice President also claimed that neither he nor the President were going to endorse any candidates, but I guess that doesn't mean they're not going to drop hints like crazy up until the nomination now does it?

Federal judge rules that controversial Ten Commandments monument in New Mexico must go.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lawn in front of Bloomfield City Hall. 

Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker said in his ruling in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that the monument amounts to government speech and has the "principal effect of endorsing religion." 

Because of the context and history surrounding the granite monument, Parker said Bloomfield clearly violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. 

He gave a Sept. 10 deadline for its removal. The suit was filed in 2012 on behalf of two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion.

Well at least the Wiccans will take the heat for this one instead of the Atheists. 

The Bloomfield mayor claimed that he considered it a monument to an historical document. However I am not sure how the Ten Commandments could be considered part of New Mexico's history.

Not only that but of course the actual tablets themselves never existed which sort of undermines the idea that they have a place in reality based history.

If one were to follow that line of logic one could put up a statue representing the Tortoise and the Hare from Aesop's Fables, Humpty Dumpty from Mother Goose, or even Rapunzel from Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Fox News panelists suggest that Satanists should be shot standing next to their proposed Oklahoma monument. Fox News refuses to apologize.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

The Satanic Temple has issued a press release demanding that Fox Business News publicly apologize for the remarks made by one of its commentators. 

On January 9, 2014, one of the participants in Fox Business New’s “Mensa Meeting,” Bernard McGuirk, said that members of the Satanic Temple who want to erect a monument in Oklahoma City should be executed. 

“They should be able to put the statue up, and then they should be shot right next to it, and then we take it down,” McGuirk said. 

Lawyers for the Satanic Temple say that “[s]uch incitement to violence is reckless and possibly criminal. Advocacy of the murder of American citizens based on their religious beliefs is intolerable and sickening. For [Fox Business] to disseminate such a position as part of a televised debate on a national network strikes at the heart of this country’s founding principles and potentially places the Temple’s members in imminent danger.”

The "Mensa Meeting?" Seriously?

As I have mentioned before the Satanic Temple is really  a tongue in cheek organization that enjoys trolling Christians. However as irritating as that might be to said Christians it certainly does not justify killing them.

After all the members are really no more fake than say those who follow Scientology or Mormonism in my opinion.

Besides we have a history of people becoming agitated by those who appear on Fox News and then acting out in a violent manner.

Remember?

So yes Fox News should do the right thing and suspend this McGuirk fellow and send a message to others appearing on their network that such talk will not be tolerated.

Or do they really want to have even more innocent blood on their hands?

Tea Party monuments if they actually ever succeed in taking over the government. Frightening thought I know.

History is written by the victors. Which got me thinking, if the Tea Party actually got their way what will Washington D.C. look like in the future? What monuments will be built to the petulant children of the Shutdown War of 2013? They’d likely build a fantasyland of guns, God, and a food court on the National Mall. For the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with Bloody Marys at the Cheesecake Factory.

(Source)

Atheist group puts up monument in response to Ten Commandments monument.

Courtesy of Yahoo News: 

A group of atheists unveiled a monument to their nonbelief in God on Saturday to sit alongside a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments in front of the Bradford County courthouse. 

As a small group of protesters blasted Christian country music and waved "Honk for Jesus" signs, the atheists celebrated what they believe is the first atheist monument allowed on government property in the United States. 

"When you look at this monument, the first thing you will notice is that it has a function. Atheists are about the real and the physical, so we selected to place this monument in the form of a bench," said David Silverman, president of American Atheists. 

It also serves another function — a counter to the religious monument that the New Jersey-based group wanted removed. It's a case of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

American Atheists sued to try to have the stone slab with the Ten Commandments taken away from the courthouse lawn in this rural, conservative north Florida town best known for the prison that confines death row inmates. The Community Men's Fellowship erected the monument in what's described as a free speech zone. During mediation on the case, the atheist group was told it could have its own monument, too. David Silverman, president of American Atheists, stands on a Ten Commandments and says why he thinks … 

"We're not going to let them do it without a counterpoint," Silverman said. "If we do it without a counterpoint, it's going to appear very strongly that the government actually endorses one religion over another, or — I should say — religion in general over non-religion."

Let me just go on record as saying that the idea of Atheists putting up a monument to rational thought seems a little ridiculous to me. It is kind of like  putting up a statue commemorating breathing.

Shouldn't be necessary.

However I do understand the desire to have a counterpoint to this.

I mean that is just obnoxious.

Besides there is not ONE Christian living today who follows those ten commandments. Not one.

Oh well at lest the Atheists made their point which I ma sure was welcomed by the goodhearted. loving Christians in the area. Right?

About 200 people attended the unveiling. Most were supportive, though there were protesters, including a group from Florida League of the South that had signs that said "Yankees Go Home." 

At one point someone in a car driving by tossed a toilet seat and a roll of toilet paper at the crowd. Neither struck anyone. At another point, Eric Hovind, 35, of Pensacola jumped atop the peak of the monument and shouted his thanks to the atheists for giving him a platform to declare Jesus is real.

Oh yeah, what was I thinking?

You know every time I see another monument to the Ten Commandments or a saint go up, or see another church or temple being built, I just remember this.

The monuments and statues may indeed endure, but the reasons behind them, and the Gods they were meant to worship, will someday be lost in the fog of history.

I have little doubt that someday our children's children will study about Jesus Christ in Edith Hamilton's new and revised book on Mythology, right along with other great religious icons such as Ra, Zeus, and Thor.