Newt Gingrich.

Newt. Fucking. Gingrich.

This is how bad things have gotten.

I think it’s time to revisit a post I did a while back. It’s primarily about lies in politics, but has a good amount of information about Gingrich specifically that most people aren’t aware of. I’m pretty proud of this piece:

Pants on Fire

I’ve been having a bit of fun, joking around about the wave of Veterans’ Day posts that we see every year on this day, and I know not everyone appreciates the humor. I get that, and I’m sympathetic. But I don’t apologize.

I’m a veteran. I’ve had blood on my hands. I’ve lost friends. And to me, though I realize how sincere most people are, Veterans’ Day is a day of jingoism and platitudes, particularly in a time when we send our soldiers to die in wars we do not need to fight, and when we don’t take care of them when they come home.

Yes, we should honor the soldiers who are fighting and dying in our name, but we should do that by making sure they are doing so ONLY when necessary, otherwise we are wasting their efforts and their lives. Honor them by doing all you can to bring them home. Let their spouses curl up with them every night, their parents be able to sleep in peace, and their children grow up with fathers and mothers.

Yes, we should honor the veterans who have fought in our name when ordered, whether misused by their leaders or not. And to do that best, we should make sure they are given the medical and psychological attention they need when they’re back home, and we should make sure they’re given the benefits they’ve been promised (the VA screwed me out of over 80% of my College Fund, and I’m not alone), we should make sure their homes haven’t been stolen by bankers, and we should do all we can to help them find security in our lousy economy.

So yeah, wave the flag if you want to, tell everyone how important it is to honor our warriors, but if that’s the extent of it, it’s meaningless. If you want to thank me for my service, do something that’s going to help those who need help because they volunteered.

Hey! Stupid!

Just because you’re making ends meet, just because you haven’t stumbled because of a terrible illness, just because the culture we live in is so awash in products produced from petroleum and by corporations with no loyalty to our country or to you that it’s impossible to avoid their use, does NOT mean that there aren’t huge things wrong and does not mean people should just fold their tents and go home like compliant little sheep.

In a time when our country, and the world, are still bleeding out economically because of the ongoing excesses and corruption of Wall Street and large corporations in general, it amazes me that otherwise reasonable people are dedicating their energy and their bile to trying to tear down the people who are trying to change things.

Really? You stand for the banks? You stand for BP? You stand for all the companies who won’t give jobs here because it’s cheaper to pretty much enslave people in foreign countries? You stand for the insurance companies that will let you die if it saves them a few dollars? Really?

You are the 53% because you can’t count all the way to 99.

So the cops have started brutalizing the Wall Street protesters again today. I hope this pisses you off as much as it does me. If it doesn’t, there’s something fucking wrong with you.

What is the heart and soul of Christianity in America?

If you pay attention to most of the news related to Christianity, what you see is hatred and intolerance, militarism and fascism, a lockjawed embrace of ignorance, and a blind adherence to principles which seem to actually fly in the face of those presented by Christ himself.

Last week I was fortunate (blessed?) to have the opportunity to see the two extremes of Christian behavior, and while the first was disheartening, the second was wonderful.

First, the suck.

One of my friends on Facebook recommended a new friend named Sandy to me, and being the generally agreeable guy I am, I clicked to invite her. Some time later, I received this message from the woman in question:

I received your friend request but have to refuse. I am conservative Christian. It is too much that you are liberal but when I saw you were into the occult that was just way to much.I have no tolerance for liberals and much less for anyone who gets involved in evil. Hope you find your way out of that because you are heading for hell.

My goodness. Aside from the fact that she blows my rather unformed and informal interest in paganistic spirituality (i.e., I see the sacred in the natural world) into occult evil, she has “no tolerance for liberals.” No tolerance.

Just like Jesus.

For rhetorical effect, and the joy of irony, I embraced the tolerance of actual pagan religion to reply to her:

Go with love, Sandy. My faith encourages me to have compassion and understanding toward people even if they are different from me, so I regret we cannot be friends, but harbor no ill feelings toward you for it.

She responded:

You don’t have a faith you have an invitation to hell. The one giving you the encouragement is none other but ole Beezlebub himself.What a horrid tragic choice you have made for your life. Your future is burning in hell and I can’t help but wonder where mentally you got your self so messed up that you would choose eternity in hell. Of course I have compassion for you, who wouldn’t but it is pretty hard to understand how a mind can become so mixed up with demons. There is nothing grand about saying you are involved in evil but your choice and I know the ending and for you it isn’t going to be pleasant.

Speaking the truth is not being judgmental. It is called speaking the truth.. Your liberal wording reminds me of when a liberal says an area of water is a delicate wetland.. No it isn’t, it’s called a swamp. or liberals call it same sex marriage, It is called legal perversion. Lets tell it like it is. You are involved in a horrible evil entity that is going to take to straight to the pits of hell itself if you stay in it. That is not being judgmental that is the truth. You tack your words on if you want but I am being up front and totally honest.

The warmth of her Christian love makes me feel all toasty and safe, how about you?

That’s enough about Sandy. Let’s move on to someone who Sandy would despise as much as, or possibly even more than, she does me:  a true Christian.

Lisa Bertolini blogs about her own spiritual journey at her blog Soul Liberty Faith:

Soul Liberty Faith is a place where I share my personal journey, my walkabout with Agape, exploring all that grace is. To live with soul liberty is to have freedom to follow Agape, as Agape guides us. This journey might look different than your own and yours might look different than mine. My walkabout is a journey in the wilderness of grace being led by faith. There are times when I step out where there is nothing visible to stand on and that’s why faith is so important to me. I believe in the sovereignty of God to do as He wills in my life on this journey and while that which many might call evil, falls upon me, or crosses my path, I rest in His unchanging grace that there is a purpose for those times. May we uplift one another to walk by faith in this glorious grace, for that is where we are the safest.

On August 2nd, in a post titled “Pagan Kinfolk,” she shared her experiences with pagans online and in a Lughnasadh ritual she attended and participated in:

About a month ago, I was inspired to volunteer for a work day with some local Pagans. The thing that inspired me? Seeing Christian mom bloggers bashing Pagan mom bloggers and watching the Pagans have more grace than many Christians did. The kindness they expressed while suffering from the cyber ‘witch hunt’ stopped me dead in my tracks. I had the most wonderful opportunity to get to know these bloggers better and they have been quite gracious to me and all my questions about their faith. The more I read their blogs the more I realized we had something really incredible in common. So I spread my wings and ventured out to the local park work day with the local group of Pagans in my town. After spending a few hours having a fantastic discussion with my new friend, Stella, I became more intrigued with their spirituality. I decided to go to their Lughnasadh High Day Ritual.

Who is more Christlike? Sandy, who won’t “tolerate” those who are different, or Lisa, who goes lovingly to learn and share spiritual common ground with those of different faith?

Some may be in fear for me and my family as we have taken this incredible journey, but I can assure you that my friendship with Pagans has solidified my faith in Christ more than I could have imagined. Yes, their own spiritual journey has deepened my own. But not because they are ‘opposite of Christ’ or ‘of the devil’ like many Christians claim. In fact, I have seen more Christ (Anointing) in their spirituality than I see in many churches today.

I know which I want to hang out with.

Lisa’s account is a beautiful read, very moving and thoughtful and wise. I encourage you to read it and see the face of a Christianity that exists all too often in the shadow of the politically crusading and hate-filled “faith” we see in America these days, as well as the loving face of modern paganism.

Go read it here. Really. Go.

The boat is sinking.

Supporting the Democrats is bailing water with a bucket with a hole in it.

Supporting Republicans is shooting more holes in the boat’s bottom with an automatic shotgun, hoping the water will drain out.

Supporting third party candidates is hoping a playmate-laden sailboat will come by and save us.

What do we do?

Thanks, New York! Time to oil up the ol’ rubber ducky for the honeymoon!!!

Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions.

Thanks to Cairelle Perilloux for this…

I fully support Donald Trump in his quest for the Republican candidacy for President of the United States.

Now, people who know me might automatically think I’m trying to be funny, or that I figure Trump would be easy for Obama to beat, so that’s why I’d like him to be the chosen candidate. But after the last decade, I no longer trust the American people’s ability to make smart decisions in their own best interests; at this point, if Trump won the office it wouldn’t actually come as a surprise to me. And Obama has been such a bowl of gruel, after promising a succulent banquet of hope and change, that I know he’s probably beatable.

No, I support Trump as the Republican candidate because I think he’s the best they have to offer. Yes, he’s a corporate shark. Yes, he’s a narcissistic douche-bag. Yes, he’d probably be a bad president. But I’m more concerned with what he isn’t.

He’s not a religious nut who wants to take us back to the days of Cotton Mather. He doesn’t want to burn witches or books, he doesn’t want to outlaw people’s private sexual choices, he doesn’t want to bring on the friggin’ Rapture by attacking heathen countries. Far as I know, he doesn’t want to teach children ancient fairy tales in school instead of science.

He’s not beholden to corporate interests. This one might seem surprising, but I think that Trump is so insulated in his World of Trump ™, so completely narcissistic, that he doesn’t give a fuck about other corporate douche-bags. As long as he gets his — the power, the money, the attention — I don’t think he’s going to put a lot of energy into protecting and furthering the corporate oligarchy now running things. (Which may make him actually preferable to Obama on that front).

He’s not a tea-bagger. Sure he’s pandering like a flat-broke hooker who hasn’t eaten in two weeks with all this nonsense about Obama’s birth certificate, but surely no one actually thinks he believes it for a second. He’s just stroking them, trying to make ‘em purr, the same way the GOP power brokers have been doing.

If Trump took the presidency, the results would likely be terrible. But he probably wouldn’t do nearly as much damage to our country, and to the world, as George W. Bush did,  or as much as the rest of the assholes the GOP is likely to field would do.

[UPDATE FOR THE OBTUSE: Read closely. I say I support Trump being the Republican candidate. I do not say I support him being president, though I do say he'd probably be less damaging than any other possible GOP contender right now.]