Author Archive for Anna Lemma

According to CUFI, 666=God

There is a series of articles on John Hagee and CUFI over at Talk2Action. I've covered the Hitler wannabe, Hagee previously. Now Talk2Action has a post about the fake converted terrorist, Walid Shoebat. Apparently, Shoebat is talking big about being some sort of former terrorist. If this is really true, then why is he not being prosecuted for murders he claims he committed. But it seems that he is scamming the Christians over at CUFI. And the latest is absolutely hilarious. Here are a few excerpt detailing the little scamp's mischief:
Shoebat also fancies himself as a bit of a Biblical scholar and palaeographer, and in a video clip that I have just been made aware of he expounds his theory that the "Number of the Beast" mentioned in the Book of Revelation is in fact a reference to...Allah.
The argument is that the author of Revelation was shown the Mark of the Beast in "video" form from God - obviously following Hal Lindsey's idea that the visions in Revelation, rather than being symbolic, in fact are John's interpretations of images from the future he couldn't understand ("locusts" being helicopters, and so on). With the Mark of the Beast, John saw some strange squiggles, which he incorporated into the text. For centuries, readers thought these squiggles were the Greek letters for either "666" or "616", but finally Shoebat has cracked the mystery: the squiggles are in fact Arabic, and they spell out "In the Name of Allah"!
Here is a video of him making the same claims (if you can stand listening to the idiocy):




I thought "Allah" was simply Arabic for "God". Don't Arabic Christians say "Allah" for their god? Does this mean that since 666=Allah, and since Allah=God, then God=666? So God is the Anti-Christ and Muslim? And I thought the anti-Christ was supposed to be Jewish. Can't CUFI get it's story straight? Does God annihilate himself like matter and antimatter? Since the universe acts like there is not a supreme being in it, this must obviously be true. Heh Heh Heh.

John McCain and the C-Word



Not safe for work, but absolutely hysterical.



I guess he wasn't expecting someone to bring this up at a town meeting. HehHehHeh.

Red Sky Ministries Nutcases

Check out the Red Sky Ministries. I guess the End-Times craziness is not confined to the United States alone. There is a creepy video of a man, perhaps the founder of the site on the front page. He is either one brain damaged specimen of humanity, or perhaps a badly done video. Very creepy.

Apparently these guys have now embraced Global Warming instead of denying it. I knew this would happen once they could figure out how to link this with Revelations and the Rapture. They are a bit slow on the uptake, but I knew they would eventually get there. After all, don't these people use any natural disaster they can wrap their grimy paws around, for their own nefarious purposes? The tsunami in SE Asia, Hurricane Katrina, and any other natural disasters with a large loss of life are used by these people to try to scare others into becoming Christians.

A lot of their links don't seem to come up, but I love the Practical Advice page. It says "coming soon...". And it won't be too soon for these fruitcakes.

Selecting Meet The Antichrist is absolutely surreal and very antisemitic at the end. Check out this:
Here’s the trick. The Star of David didn’t always belong to Israel. Originally, it was used by the Egyptians for Satan worship and still is. They call it a hexagram or a hex. Anyone with a hex is cursed.
What a bunch of morons. The word hexagram means six sides, you idiots. Hex means six not curse in this usage. What a bunch of ignorant dolts. You have to see the site to believe it. These people desparately need a good basic science education.

Oh, look here. There's a free e-book to download, The Global Meltdown Domino Effect: God's Judgment of Fire. Oh and they have a special notice for Christians only located at the back of the pdf file. I looked. Ooops. I guess I wasn't supposed to. I thought I would see their secret plans. But no, all I saw was mangled science and a bunch of boring Bible verses.
Redsky.uk.net is our official web site. It contains details of the Global Meltdown Domino Effect plus practical advice on what you should do during the coming years. There is also a section called “Meet The AntiChrist” where we reveal what he is doing at the moment, how he will take over, what the mark of the beast is, plus we virtually name him.
But their advice page had no advice. How the hell are they keeping track of the Antichrist? Did they snag him, drug him, rectally probe him, and implant him with a tracking device?

I think this is their technique for building this website:
  1. Drop your pants and underwear (if you are not going cammo).
  2. Reach around and locate your asshole.
  3. Reach in and extract as much information as needed to quell your fears (don't worry if it does not match the real world; the crazier, the better).
  4. Write website.
I'm laughing so hard now it's difficult to continue this post....

Pervert Alert: Horrifying Molestion Case

This is quite possibly the worst molestation case that I've read about in sometime.
The third trial of an alleged member of a swingers club accused of forcing children into sex shows was postponed Monday amid allegations that the foster father to the young victims molested other children.

Prosecutors said the California child sex charges against John Cantrell, who has custody of three siblings who allegedly performed inside the club, has nothing to do with their case in Texas.

Cantrell, 64, was charged last week with sexually assaulting two of his foster children in 1990. His wife has denied the allegations.

Margie Cantrell first told authorities in 2005 about what the children -- now ages 12, 10, and 7 -- revealed to her about having being forced into sex at the former daycare.

These poor children. First made to be the "stars" for these perverts, then the foster father who is now taking care of them is being charged with molestation from a couple of foster children he took care of 18 years ago. I hope for the kids that their current foster father is innocent of the charges. What a nightmare.

Jeremy Hall Update

Jews on First has a very good overview of the lawsuit that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is filing on behalf of Jeremy Hall. Hall as you may remember from previous posts on this blog, is a soldier who is suing the Department of Defense for the religious discrimination that he has received from superior officers and enlisted soldiers, as well as from the bureaucracy of the Army as well.

This case has been on going for nearly a year, and the government has asked for more time until sometime in July to prepare their case. Currently, the MRFF has received over 8000 complaints of harassment from conservative, fundamentalist evangelists. 95% of these complaints are from Christians,whom the evangelists consider "not Christian enough". There is a podcast of a Mikey Weinstein and Jeremy Hall interview here.

An excerpt from the report and the interview:
Maj. Welborn’s tirade notwithstanding, the Constitution’s First Amendment forbids the establishment of an official religion. In practice, however, according to Hall, fundamentalist evangelical Christianity pervaded his combat experience in Iraq. Before seeing any combat, his unit was lined up and a chaplain handed each soldier a New Testament. When a bullet hit the shield on the turret in which he was riding, leaving him “as scared as I’ve ever been,” the convoy stopped, “and the first thing I was asked was ‘Hey, Hall. Do you believe in Jesus now?’ And not ‘hey are you okay?’ Or ‘what happened?’ or anything like that, just immediately my eternal soul was in question; my religious beliefs were automatically brought into question as a test or as a means to gauge me, all the time.“ After this particular episode Hall replied, “’No but I believe in ballistic glass.’ And I knocked on the shield which had just saved me.”
Wow, these Jesus pushers are like telemarketers, they really don't know when to stop. And to know when they have crossed the boundaries of respectful behavior. Perhaps the Department of Defense can have an opt out list for members. They can call it the Proselytization Opt Out List (POOL). This can work just like with telemarketers. Violators can have their pay docked each time they violate the list by trying to convert those on the list. And anyone can be on the list, even Christians who are tired of their fellow Christian's bullshit.

Looks Like John Freshwater is Finally Out the Door

Cafe Philos has a very good discussion of the case of a science teacher in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. There are a lot of links about his story. Very good reading. John Freshwater is the science teacher who has had various complaints by both parents and students for many years.

His behavior this year has finally landed him in extremely hot water. In addition to continually proselytizing his students with right-wing fundamentalist Christianity, he is accused of burning a cross into a student with an electrical device which is not designed for this purpose. See the photograph at the left for a picture of the scar left but he burn.

If this was my child he burned, I would have raised hell the moment I found out about it. The parents of the burned child have been much more lenient than I would have ever been.

It looks like Freshwater has some extremely scary supporters, I can see why the parents wanted to remain anonymous.
Yet, despite Mr. Freshwater’s behavior, quite a few people in Mount Vernon support him. Apparently among his most ardent supporters are the members of a local Christian group that calls itself “Minutemen United“, and who envision themselves as existing “…to wage war against a culture of God-haters”.
Wow, it looks like a mini religious war starting up in Mt. Vernon. It seems like John Freshwater views all those who don't have the exact same religious views as "god-haters. What a dick.
His colleagues over at the high school, for instance, claim his teaching of evolution is so flawed they are forced to re-teach the subject to his students when they get into high school. It has also come out that Mr. Freshwater has been told on at least several occasions to change his behavior, but has refused to do so. Only now, years after the complaints first started coming in, has anything been done about them.
It looks like he really sucks at teaching science.
By the time the School Board met to discuss the matter, many more allegations had surfaced. Consequently, the Board met in executive session to decide to have an independent organization investigate the allegations, and Superintendent Steve Short announced, “The allegations against Mr. Freshwater are very serious. This is not about his personal Bible on his desktop. It is about the totality of his conduct.”
Freshwater seems to be trying unsuccessfully to make this about his personal Bible at work, when the real issue is the religious teaching during science class and his burning of a student. The School Board hired an independent firm to investigate Freshwater's conduct as a teacher. The report is here. And it looks like John Freshwater is as bad a liar as he is a science teacher.

Some excerpts from John Freshwater:
Mr. Freshwater said the State sets the benchmark standards and the school has adopted them. He said that all three eighth grade science teachers follow the same curriculum but exercise flexibility in how they present the curriculum. He said that he teaches evolution.

He denied that his teachings have varied from the District’s curriculum in any way due to his religious beliefs or that he has ever told students that although he is forced to teach from the text books the teachings are wrong or not proven according to the Bible.
Some excerpts from how others see his teaching (there is really so much more, read the report):
Dr. Weston stated that she has had to deal with internal and external complaints about his failure to follow the curriculum for much of her 11 years at Mount Vernon. It has come to her attention many times. She has reported these events to administrators and there have been some attempts to make changes and other instances where they seem to have been disregarded, particularly by one former assistant principal. She said that Mr. Freshwater cannot separate creationism/intelligent design from teaching to the science standards. She stated Mr. Freshwater has a lot of influence with his students that causes her concern.
The High School Principal said that Mr. Freshwater has caused issues for her high school teachers in having to reeducate students from his teachings. The specific issues include a number of areas -- his failure to follow the curriculum regarding teaching creationism/intelligent design rather than evolution and his teaching of the Periodic Table, as examples. The High School Principal specifically asked that her daughter not be assigned to Mr. Freshwater for her 8th grade science due to her concern about his teaching not being consistent with the curriculum.
It looks like the other teachers were aware of how bad a science teacher he was, but did nothing to stop him. As long as their children did not have to be taught by him, it seems like they were willing to let things slide. It took being sued by the parents of an injured student for them to do anything at all.

Adoptic Blogging Communities

I've been invited to try out the beta Adoptic blogging communities with the javascript on the left side of my blog. I'm in the academic community. I'll see how it works out, though I'm really not that worried about promoting my blog. I use my blog as a way to blow off a little steam.

Adoptic is similar to other blogging communities where post snippets are displayed in the Adoptic widget displayed. These snippets change over time as the web page is displayed. Going to Adoptic and logging in lets you quickly browse the communities and friends posts.

Passive-Aggressive Conversion Attempt?

Last November our housing subdivision held a Thanksgiving potluck lunch. One of our neighbors decided to take it upon himself to deliver a very sectarian Christian prayer/invocation. Never mind that several of us are not Christian and made it a point to not participate. Our host made a sarcastic crack to the prayer guy in support of us.

Later, after we had eaten, one of our neighbors and her husband kept following me around and talking about her church. I usually don't like to deliberately alienate people so I gave a few noncommittal answers. Eventually, I managed to turn the conversation to other topics, thus letting her figure out (or not) that I really was not interested in her church.

A couple of weeks later, we started receiving a church bulletin from her church. I didn't really put it all together until today when I received one of these things in the mail again. I asked myself "When did we start receiving these church bulletins?" It's been since last December. Is it a coincidence or did someone put us on their mailing list?

Some intriguing titles here in the church bulletin:
  • In Some Ways We Live in a Scary World (Looks like fear mongering always works well as an evangelism tool.)
  • What's So Great About Following Jesus (Apparently nothing except an unproven afterlife.)
  • Sir Edmund Hillary Falls To His Death (Better be a Christian, or you go to the scary, bad, hot place.)
  • Divine GPS (So you want to know where heaven is? Who knew that a GPS could tell you. Does it also show you where hell is?)
If we did get put on their mailing list, why? Do they think that I'll read it and suddenly drop to my knees and start screaming "Jesus, I believe in you"? Or some such crap? And why would a piece of paper make me do this? Do they expect people to easily fall for such drivel? And why could they not respect my position and viewpoint?

I guess some people cannot take no for an answer and prefer to keep on like telemarketers. If you have to market or sell your religion like some sort of cheap product, it makes me wonder why. If it were so obviously true, then there would be no marketing or faith needed. After all, no one has to sell me on the idea that the sun will rise tomorrow.

Holy Antisemitism Batman!

John McCain's favorite preacher seems to have quite the hate-on for Jews. Bruce Wilson over at Talk2Action has been covering this story for the last several months. In addition to some transcripts of Hagee's speeches,there is also plenty of incriminating video.
Last year, at Texas megachurch Pastor John Hagee's July 16-18 2007 "Christians United For Israel" conference in Washington D.C., US Senator Joseph Lieberman made a warmly received appearance and delivered a speech likening Pastor Hagee, Christians United For Israel's founder, to Moses. "He is an Ish Elochim," said the Senator, "A man of God." Lieberman went on, "and, like Moses, he is the leader of a mighty multitude." But in March 2003, on three consecutive Sundays at his San Antonio-based Cornerstone Church, Pastor John Hagee gave a series of three sermons heavily loaded with anti-Jewish memes, stereotypes, slurs and conspiracy theories, one of which was almost identical to what was perhaps Adolf Hitler's favorite conspiracy theory, which alleged that an international Jewish banking cabal, led by the The Jewish Rothschild banking family, controls the fates of entire nation, even the progression of world events and history, through the manipulation of global money markets.
Wow, just wow. And why doesn't the main stream media cover any of this? And what's with Joe Lieberman ignoring Hagee's antisemitic remarks? Well, I say if it walks like a Nazi and quacks like a Nazi, then it must be a Nazi, or at least a Nazi enabler.
John Hagee has also, to wide public notice, declared that God sent Hitler, to chase Europe's Jew towards Palestine with Nazi persecution and with the Holocaust. Hagee, additionally has stated that Jews are not "spiritually alive."
Check out the first two videos, just frightening. How the hell can his group Christians United For Israel get any Jewish support at all? Check out the multitude of links at the end of the article. There were too many articles for me to have time to read them all.

Fake Fundy Chaplains

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is currently investigating an outfit called Marshall Minutes Military Ministries. The Milwaukee MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) is being targeted by Marshal in order to "harvest young vulnerable recruits". According to Chris Rhodda:
Marshall Minutes is run by Michael G. Marshall of the Armed Forces Baptist Missions (AFBM), an organization on "A Worldwide Quest for the Souls of Men and Women in Uniform and their families." AFBM's primary means of evangelizing the military is "church planting," establishing churches near military bases and then opening "Military Service Centers" to help these churches "reach young, single military men and women with the Gospel of Christ." Marshall Minutes' particular "field white for the harvest" is the Milwaukee Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), where new recruits are tested and processed before being sent to basic training, and the ministry plans to "plant" a church near the Great Lakes Naval Base in late 2008 or early 2009.
Yikes. Sounds like a cult to me. And even scarier, members of the ministry are putting on military uniforms and giving themselves superior officer ranks that they did not even earn. THIS IS ILLEGAL, IT'S A FEDERAL CRIME. Clicking on the link for Marshall Ministries reveals that the website has been emptied of content. Looks like the cockroaches are scattering when the light shines on them.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code strictly prohibits any person who isn't a member of the armed forces from wearing "the uniform, or a distinctive part of the uniform, of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps" or "a uniform any part of which is similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps."

According to Title 18 of the U.S. Code, (Crimes and Criminal Procedures): "Whoever, in any place within the jurisdiction of the United States or in the Canal Zone, without authority, wears the uniform or a distinctive part thereof or anything similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of any of the armed forces of the United States, Public Health Service or any auxiliary of such, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."
What part of this do they not understand? It looks like another case of right-wing religious kooks pretending they have qualifications they did not earn. Just like fake college degrees in the Homeland Security Dept.
Michael Marshall, listed in Maj. Alan Shaw's endorsement letter as a Lieutenant Colonel in the USSC, doesn't provide his highest real military rank in his biography, but he was an enlisted man in the Navy from 1972 to 1976. By wearing the USSC uniform, which was essentially the U.S. Army uniform, and the rank insignia of a Lieutenant Colonel, Marshall was doing nothing short of impersonating an Army officer. Even the MEPS Inspector General didn't recognize the illegality of these Army chaplain look-alikes. According to Maj. Shaw's letter of endorsement, the IG actually commended them in a report.
I worked very hard for my rank as an officer in the US Air Force. I graduated with a degree in Applied math and passed Officer Training School. I made all of my promotions and held the rank of Captain when I left the service. I worked my ass off and earned a regular commission as a First Lieutenant. I'm extremely pissed that these assholes think that all they have to do is simply put on the uniform, walk in and get treated like an officer.
Thus, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is now officially demanding that those responsible within the penumbra of the Department of Defense, and there are many, including Inspectors General, for the aiding, abetting, and endorsing of USOSC proselytizers, feloniously impersonating active duty U.S. military officers and senior NCOs must be subjected immediately to trial by courts martial. Additionally, MRFF is now likewise demanding that all United States Attorneys whose jurisdictions cover localities where USOSC personnel are illegally wearing their proselytizing-enabling, intentionally confusing military 'uniforms' in blatant violation of Title 10 of the U.S. Code immediately refer these violations to the FBI for aggressive and swift investigation."
Way to go Mikey, get these assholes. Everyone, please read and forward links to this very informative article. These pricks need to be held accountable. If anyone has any photographs or video of these guys in uniform, please email the photos to me or send a link to video or photographs.

Kern County Clerk says “I don’t” to Same Sex Marriage

I live in Kern County, a large, rural, and very conservative county in Southern California. Tuesday, all counties must treat all people the same as regards to performing marriages. Apparently, the Kern County Clerk has decreed that Kern County stopped performing any marriages last Friday. According to the Antelope Valley Press, the Kern County Clerk will not perform any marriages at all, now that they also have to perform same sex marriages.

"The county clerk's office will not solemnize weddings after June 13, 2008," according to a post on the county clerk's Web site. "We will not have the staff or space to deal with an increase in both licenses and ceremonies. Because of long-term administrative plans, budgetary reasons and the need to increase security for elections, the clerk's office will cease solemnizing weddings, which is discretionary on the part of the county clerk."

But, the site notes, "the county clerk's office will issue the new marriage licenses as of June 17 in accordance with California law."

The move allows the county to avoid performing same-sex weddings while not discriminating against same-sex couples - heterosexual couples won't be able to say "I do" at county offices, either.

Looks like a case of "well if I can't get my way, then I'm taking my ball home, so no-one can play." What absolutely childish behavior. Talk about unprofessional.

Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett, who made the decision to stop performing weddings, declined to comment Friday, referring an Antelope Valley Press reporter to Greg Scott, a spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund, and Brian Raum, a senior fund attorney. Scott referred questions to Raum, who did not return phone calls Friday.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian legal organization that opposes same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and abortion, as well as the inclusion of contraception in sex education classes.

Syndicated Christian radio host James Dobson is one of the group's founders.

Looks like another conservative Christian group is interfering with County buisness. And exactly why is the County Clerk being represented by a right-wing Christian group instead of a state attorney?

Butte County, north of Sacramento, also is ceasing its wedding ceremonies. Like Barnett, Butte County Clerk Candace J. Grubbs said the change has nothing to do with values.

"The decision to discontinue marriage ceremonies is about budgetary issues," stated a press release from Grubbs' office. "The decision was made during a budget preparation in early spring when it was determined there were not sufficient anticipated revenues to support all current staff positions."

I'm calling bullshit on this one. It seems that there was plenty of budget for performing weddings before the decision mandating that same sex couples be allowed marry like hetero couples. Why no money now?

While Kern and Butte counties won't perform wedding ceremonies, Los Angeles County will open its doors Tuesday, offering extended hours for ceremonies at some county offices. The county clerk's Lancaster office, 1028 West Ave. J-2, will offer marriage licenses from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Wedding ceremonies are by appointment only.

The county clerk's office in Norwalk will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will remain open for ceremonies until 8 p.m. from Tuesday until June 27.

The Norwalk office will offer a first-come, first-served wedding event from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 21, with 12 civil marriage commissioners on hand to perform ceremonies.

Good for you Los Angles County. Show those jerks what acting like professionals looks like. It looks like some County Clerks are acting like bigoted jerks. They seem to forget that they are here to follow the laws, not force their personal religious views on everyone.

Dismaying Shopping Experience at Walmart

We needed to get new tires today for the car and after checking prices, the hubby decided to get the new tires at Walmart. I usually don't shop at Walmart, but the hubby does. While he was over in the Auto department waiting for the tires to be installed, I decided to walk around the store. I saw that they had moved the magazines and books to the front of the store.

I walked up the the book display and a large Father's Day display consisting of the book, No Atheists in Foxholes by Chaplain Patrick McLaughlin. As an atheist veteran, I'm flabbergasted at the denial of reality some Christians have about the existence of atheists in the military. When I was in the Air Force, I knew plenty of people who were either atheist or agnostic. In fact it seemed that was more common to be nonreligious than in the regular civilian world.

The December 2004 Population Bulletin - America's Military Population, Vol. 59, No.4 which analyzes the US Armed Forces regarding race, religion, ethnicity, civilian background, education, etc. A copy of the report is located at the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

Religious affiliation or the lack of it is addressed on page 25 of the bulletin. According to the bulletin, the number of service members identifing themselves as nonreligious is larger than in the civilian population, even taking into account the younger average age of service members. In the civilian population, younger people are significantly more nonreligious than older people.
We do know the civilian American population has been moving away from the traditional Christian religions and toward other religious groups or eschewing any religious affiliation.34 This latter trend is particularly pronounced among young adults, exactly the age groups most likely to enter the military. In general, the armed forces show lower religious affiliation than the civilian population, even among civilians ages 20 to 39 (see Table 5). A larger share of military than civilians reported they are Christians but are not Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox or Protestant, or do not specify a denomination.
This report shows the higher number of the nonreligious in the services, but also the higher number of non-denominational Christians in the military. A lot of non-denominational churches are heavily evangelical. The large number of non-denominational chaplains who have entered the service in the last 15 years may account for the increased friction between the nonreligious and evangelical Christians that have made the news in the last few year.

No More Anonymous Posing in Kentucky

There is a long and valuable history of anonymous writing in the United States, especially with the anonymous pamphleteering by writers such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. I choose to write anonymously because I prefer to keep my views private until I disclose them myself to someone.

This past March, Kentucky Representative Tim Couch(R) introduced House Bill 775, which would require all sites allowing comments to require the person identify themselves. There would be no anonymous posting of comments allowed on the Internet for Kentucky residents.
"In summary, House Bill 775 would require Kentucky residents who want to leave a comment on a Web site to register their real name, address, and e-mail address with the Web site. They would be expected to use their real name whenever they commented. Web site operators who would not abide by the law would be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for any additional violation."
Is the man daft? Does he even know how impossible it would be to implement this scheme?
Mr.Couch says his name has been slashed all over the blogosphere for this bill. I tried to persuade him the interview would give him the opportunity to explain to the blogosphere his original intentions, but he still declined saying:

“I only wanted to make a statement, and I did.”

Mr. Couch told me over the phone that he is being attacked on the Internet. He has received countless e-mails and phone calls not only at his office, but also at his home. His daughter received a call that contained severe “foul language.”

He said, “I am not a Communist,” like he thinks the blogosphere is making him out to be.

Well, you're a public servant, and when you do something this idiotic, people are going to voice their opinions. It appears that your constituents don't suffer fools gladly.
Mr. Couch also told WebProNews that he does not think the bill will go anywhere especially after the strong response he’s received. He said he would like the negativity to stop, and he’s very busy at the moment working on the state budget.
So why waste everyone's time with this sort of foolishness? Poor baby. The bill seems to be dead as of now. But I expect some power hungry control freak to try this again.

Quite a few bloggers use anonymity when blogging. There are a few disadvantages to anonymous blogging. Anonymous bloggers are more likely not to be taken seriously and usually have to compensate for this with more and higher quality posts. There is also a lack of some personal and uniquely identifying information in the posting, qualities that would allow readers to emotionally connect with the blogger. I find that I have to sometimes make small changes in identifying information in my posts. I also have to choose not to posts some personal stories. This restricts my content somewhat.

But I feel that anonymous activism can be a very powerful force. Anonymous has turned the act of anonymous protesting to an art form. It allows someone a freedom to express themselves with a possibly reduced risks of threats and harm. Though in the Keiffe & Sons Ford ad, I would have probably written as myself anyway, at least to the Ford Corporation. But publicly writing about this in the very conservative Antelope Valley almost requires me to write anonymously if I want to keep my family and property safe from some "Loving Christians."

Later, I will write about a few incidents that have prompted me to keep this blog anonymous. I enjoy my secret identity. It's turning out to be a lot of fun.

Home State Woes

It's been a crazy news week for my home state of Louisiana. These stories are the reason why I will never return to live there. I lived there for the first 25 years of my life, going to school, then college until I went into the Air Force.

Wacky Pentecostals in Shreveport, LA had themselves a book burning, a real good old-fashioned mini Nazi-style book burning. The guy on the right needs to close his fingers to give a proper Nazi salute. And a burning cross or a couple of swastikas would give the book burning that special fascistic atmosphere. Hitler would feel so at home there.

According to the preachers at this insane church:
"It is allowed for Harry Potter to be taught in our schools, but not the Bible," International House of Prayer pastor James Crawford said during the Shreveport Regional Unity of Faith Revival.

The book burning was a statement to reach out to people in Shreveport-Bossier City against sin, Crawford said.
Yeah, reach out and scare someone shitless. And some of the comments on the Shreveport Times website are scary indeed.

And on the creationism front, the NCSE has the latest news about the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act. La Senate Bill 733 singles out evolution from any other scientific theory and lets teachers use non-scientific materials to critique it.
After the bill passed the state Senate, Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, wrote to the New Orleans Times-Picayune (May 6, 2008), and echoed the same sentiments. "Proponents offer deceptive arguments about encouraging students to think critically," he observed. "But Louisiana's education standards already do that. The real intent is to introduce classroom materials that raise misleading objections to the well-documented science of evolution and offer a religious idea called intelligent design as a supposed alternative. That would unleash an assault against scientific integrity, leaving students confused about science and unprepared to excel in a modern workforce."
When I attended high school in Louisiana, evolution was not taught. Our biology teacher told us he was not allowed to teach about evolution. He said that out of class he could discuss it and answer any questions. I feel I was lucky that my parents encouraged questions and learning about science.

We watched science shows at home and my favorite books were the Time-Life Nature series that came in every month. That was my favorite present at Christmas. Those books taught me more about biology than ever I learned in high school. To me, evolution was a basic fact of biology. How could it not be? There is simply too much evidence in favor of evolution and no evidence for any alternative.

Poe’s Law for J W Horne?

As I perused J W Horne's third blog, I'm thinking that the entire blog is probably an implementation of Poe's Law. Poe's Law states:
Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing.
Horne has created 3 differing blogs over the last couple of weeks. Each blog consists of only one post containing one paragraph only. The first blog was entitled "Kieffe & Sons Ford" and consisted of the one long rambling paragraph, in which he apparently was trying (albeit unsuccessfully) to respond to my posts over here.

When people responded to his posts, pointing out his hypocrisy, he removed the first blog as well as all of the comments responding to his posts. He also renamed the blog. It also looks like Kieffe & Sons Ford seemed pretty unhappy with Horne's "defense" of the radio ad. In the comments to the Blog o'One Post, he gave out his buisness address and personal phone number for anyone on the Internet to see.

Now, that people have apparently been calling him and giving him a piece of their minds, he seems rather surprised people would call him. Duh! I don't advocate people calling and harassing anyone. He has every right to express his opinion no matter how hypocritical and bigoted. The lack of common sense in posting a phone number on the Internet is really mind boggling. He has now taken down that blog and created a new one. Again, with one post, though this time he finally uses paragraphs. Here are a few excerpts with my comments:
Because some of you respondents have crossed the line, I will issue this word of warning. Any attempt to be destructive, abusive or intimidating will not be tolerated. I have already reported some of you to the proper authorities. They have informed me that two have been identified and are now on a watch list. If you think you can hide behind the proxy servers and remain invisible and completely anonymous, you are mistaken.
Ooohhh, scary. What "watch list"? Blogger has checked on a couple of IP addresses for him? Well, I for one, have only visited his site, but have left no comments as there is really nothing to reply to. As for what Blogger can do, they could be easily defeated by using FireFox with TOR onion anonymous routing, and a throwaway email from DodgeIt.
Now all the details:
I wanted to get the attention of the 86 percent of Americans who say they believe in God. That includes Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans and Christians. I wanted to gauge their response. The ones who chose to be a part of the 14 percent spoke first. Calls were loud, vulgar and profane. After a few days, the believers started to contact the client. The positive calls and emails were far greater in number than the loud obnoxious ones. The majority woke up and responded. Included among them were the TV stations, the radio stations, other automobile dealers and people from all walks of life. I wrote the ad and produced it to get the attention of the believers. It is as simple as that. It worked and the atheists helped. Thanks.
J W Horne, you stated that 86% of Americans were Christians, who believe in God, and those are the people who are allowed to state their opinions in your perfect, Christian America. All others need to "sit down and shut up". Well, you are incorrect in your figures. It's closer to 73% identify as Christian, and about 10% identify as atheist or agnostic, with the remaining identifying as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, New Age, etc.

As far as pissed off callers, I simply placed your words for all to hear. You refer to a minority as if we are second class citizens and placed your phone number on your blog, and now act surprised that you received a lot of calls? Poor, oppressed baby.

Oh and you're welcome, though your customers may have an increase in fundy customers, it may not be so easy to get new customers outside of your Christian buisness directory.
PS. My relationship with the dealership is as strong as ever. Be sure to be listening for more ads
Go ahead, it will be fun to do this all over again. But I think that your customers may eventually get a bit gun shy from the excitement.

Even though I posted a reply here to Horne, I suspect this blog may really be a Poe. Could someone in professional media really be this bad at conveying information?

Pushing Christian Conversion in Iraq


















This article describes how some Marines are pushing for Christian conversions of Iraqis. Apparently, some Marines are taking it upon themselves to try to convert Iraqis by handing out some coins with John 3:16 on them.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. “Where will you spend eternity?” it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.”

“They are trying to convert us to Christianity,” said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They’d been given the coins, too, he said.

Dogemporer over at DailyKos has a series of 3 stories covering this in more details: coin source,
history, and current proselytizing in Iraq.
As it turns out, one group of folks promoting these "bible coins" specifically to Marines are a group calling themselves Basic Training Bible Ministries and specifically a group calling itself Osborne Coinage.
and

Osborne Coinage would appear to be primarily a token manufacturer--making the sorts of coins formerly used in the NYC subway system, the tokens at old arcades and present-day casinos, and so on. (One of their more popular lines apparently seems to be custom coins for Mardi Gras krewes.) Hence, we must look more at the group promoting the coins.

The proprietor of these coins, one Gene Cunningham, is linked with at least two fundamentalist "Bible churches" (and maintains links with several others. (As best can be determined, his group would fit more in the vein of "Fundamentalist Baptist" than neopentecostal.)

It appears that this is an organized effort by several Christian ministries to try to convert Iraqi citizens to Christianity. The only problem to this scheme is that if an Iraqi converts to Christianity, the only choice the person has is to leave the country. Also, these "ministries"have helped destroy the existing Christian communities in Iraq by aggravating tensions between these old Christian communities and the Muslim majority. Two million Christians have already left Iraq as refugees.

Additionally, this will drastically increase the tensions between the mostly Christian US forces and the mostly Muslim Iraqis. Why allow this to happen?

Of course, as soon as this hit the press, a scapegoat or scapegoats have to be found.
A military statement said "appropriate action" will be taken if the reports are substantiated.
Yeah, but what about the commanders and chaplains who encourage this type of behavior? Will they be punished?

The Hypocrisy Continues, Notpology Removed, Ad Continues

It looks like the Kieffe & Sons Ford radio ad is continuing according to several people that I've heard from.

The local Bakersfield station quotes Rick Kieffe:

Rick Kieffe, owner of Kieffe and Sons Ford, said he doesn't regret running the ad, which aired on radio stations in eastern Kern County and the Antelope Valley, but he does apologize for offending anyone.
So he wants to keep running an ad that drives away potential customers by insulting and calling them second class citizens. Real good buisness sense there, buddy. First, Placing an apology on your website which has been removed as of today, then continuing to play the ad, really shows that you like to talk out of both sides of your ass. Typical used car salesman.

But I guess he's "technically" not lying. He just like to piss off potential customers. As for caring not to offend people, why air an ad that says he does not care who he offends? Just so much hypocrisy and weaseling out. Well I know one car dealership I will never shop at. Since I'll never get a straight story about the ad, why think that I could ever get the truth about a car?

News Spreads all the way to England

It's nice seeing how far this has spread. According to The Telegraph:
Car dealership advert tells atheists to 'shut up'
By Matthew Moore

An advert calling for non-Christians to "sit down and shut up" is being used to sell Ford cars in the United States.

The radio commercial – which attacks people who call for the secularisation of American institutions – has been aired to promote an independent Ford dealership in California.

America's non-Christian minority of 14 per cent should have its views on issues like prayer in schools and the religious content of the Pledge of Allegiance ignored, the advert claims.

"I guess maybe I just offended 14 per cent of the people who are listening to this message," the voiceover continues.

"Well, if that is the case, then I say that's tough, this is America folks, it's called free speech. And none of us at Kieffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak up."

The bizarre commercial ends: "Kieffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond… If we don't see you today, by the grace of God, we'll be here tomorrow."

The advert, which makes no mention of the quality or price of the dealership's cars, has been broadcast on local radio stations in the south of the state since February.

Listeners who contacted Ford to complain were told that the dealership was independent and privately owned, and is responsible for its own advertising. There is no suggestion that Ford approved the content of the advert.

Anna Lemma, a blogger and former Air Force officer who was one of the first to raise concerns about the advert, described it as "quite possibly the most offensive advertisement for an automobile dealership that I have ever heard".

"I really don't care about what his [the owner of the dealership's] opinion of us godless folks is, but the most offensive part of the ad is the 'shut up and sit down' part," she said.

"I guess he doesn't support first amendment rights for those who don't agree with him."

Poll about Kieffe & Sons Ford

PZ Myers over at Pharyngula is encouraging everyone to go vote at the poll at KGET. I'm late getting to this. Good work everyone. Here are current results:


Looks like the poll has been Pharyngulated.

Notpology From Kieffe & Sons Ford

The local Bakersfield station quotes Rick Kieffe:
Rick Kieffe, owner of Kieffe and Sons Ford, said he doesn't regret running the ad, which aired on radio stations in eastern Kern County and the Antelope Valley, but he does apologize for offending anyone.
Why did he issue the apology if he does not mean it? Doesn't he have the courage of his convictions? Why be so cowardly? I guess he will do and say whatever he feels in order to make a sale.
Rick Kieffe said, "I do not regret it, it's simply how we feel. We feel that one child shouldn't keep the other 29 children in class from saying the pledge of allegiance. We feel it should say, In God We Trust should be on the money, and there's these things where the majority feels one way but a smaller group tells them to sit down and shut up and that's where the unfortunate language came into this ad. The sit down and shut up part kind of got by me."
If he really feels this way, why apologize? Keep on saying what you believe, Rick Kieffe, you have every right to say it, just as I have every right to point out the hypocrisy and criticize the ad.

He is also missing the point. The current pledge is is now a prayer. Why single out school children who don't want to or can't say it? This is really all about enforcing community conformity and civic religion. These Christians don't care if you don't believe in Jesus, they just want you to pretend and outwardly show that you do in order to reinforce their own beliefs.

This past winter, our neighborhood had a potluck dinner like it always does. There has never been a prayer said before. One guy, who is always trying to show how pious he is decided to enforce a group, Christian, prayer. I, along with several others refused to bow my head. The host also refused to bow his head in support, and made a wisecrack to the group afterwards. Later, I overheard someone saying "Why don't they just go along and pretend?"

Is this what Christianity's founder wanted for his followers? That they go around enforcing compliance? Is this what Christianity is all about, all show and no substance? And those who don't go along with it need to "shut up and sit down" so that Christians with flimsy faith can feel all comfortable in the delusion that everyone thinks and believes just like they do? If there is no one whose difference arouses questions and doubts, then those pesky questions and doubts can be safely ignored. Perhaps those Christians who scream the loudest about enforcing their religion are really the ones with the greatest doubts and the flimsiest faith.

What Happens When You Don’t Sit Down & Shut Up

Charming news from the Antelope Valley today. The Valley Press has an article in today's paper entitled Vandals Target Citizen Who Spoke Up.
A Lancaster woman's home was vandalized overnight Wednesday with "In God We Trust or ?" painted across her windows in what she believes is retaliation for speaking out against placing a similar phrase in City Council chambers.
So, is this what happens to those who don't "sit down and shut up"? Wow, sharing God's Love is a wonderful thing.

Phillips believes the vandals found her home after Mayor R. Rex Parris told her she had to announce her home address during the meeting, which is televised.

"I believe the two are linked," Phillips said.

She questioned the legality of forcing a speaker to provide an address to talk to the council. When she filled out a speaker card in order to address the council, she said she omitted her home address, but Parris asked her for her address when she stepped up to the podium.

This mayor will do and say anything to advance his political career. If sucking up to the Christocrats running Lancaster will advance his career, then he will do it.

At Tuesday's meeting, Phillips told the council that displaying the motto, "at the very least, implies that nonbelievers are unwelcome or unsuitable to appear before the council."

"I don't believe that motto should be brought into a public venue," she said.

Phillips said she is a "reluctant activist," but felt strongly about the council's proposal.

"I believe in God, but I don't even want my religion shoved down other people's throat," she said.

Phillips said she sent Parris, via e-mail, a list of secular slogans to put in place of "In God We Trust," but had received no response from the mayor.

Parris said he hoped the vandalism wasn't related to her speaking out.

Why aren't other non fundy Christians stepping out to support her? Why do they let the right-wing Christians run the Antelope Valley? Why do they stick their heads in the sand? Even if there are very few atheists, at least we support her, as she is supporting us.

He described the vandalism as an atypical incident since the vandal painted Phillips' windows with shoe polish.

Sheriff's officials are investigating the vandalism, Parris said.

I hope she didn't do this herself to get attention.

First Amendment expert Jim Ewert, legal counsel and legislative advocate for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, said no case law exists to indicate that a speaker must provide his or her home address to talk to a city council.

"I fail to see the nexus between providing an address and being able to speak at a council meeting," he said.

Under the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's opening meeting law, Ewert said, the council can't pose unreasonable restrictions on individuals who want to speak to it.

Providing one's name is not an unreasonable restriction, but being forced to state one's home address out loud might be, Ewert said.

"It all boils down to whether forcing the speaker to give out her address constitutes reasonable restrictions," he said.

Phillips said the vandalism demonstrates "there are repercussions in speaking out against them (the city council)."

"It's an invasion of freedom of speech and privacy," she said.

I wonder why the mayor insisted she give her address. Hmmmmm, it makes one think.

Role Model for Kieffe & Sons Ford

Kieffe & Sons Ford Apologizes for Offending Nonbelievers

The Kieffe & Sons Ford Dealership has issued a public apology at their website.
"For 15 years, Kieffe and Sons Ford has run ad campaigns that focus on current events. We have chosen to do this rather than presenting typical car sales ads. We do this through an agency that develops the material and sends us a package of commercials to review. From this, we select commercials that we distribute to area radio stations. Frequently we emphasize humor and patriotic themes, as we are located adjacent to two military bases. Public response over these 15 years has been hugely positive, often eliciting calls and visits from appreciative individuals. Regrettably, the commercial that has prompted the current objection to religious sentiment ("Under God", "In We Trust") was not closely reviewed by our dealership before it went live. The commercial has been replaced. We apologize to all who were offended. It is Kieffe and Sons' intention to support America and the freedoms that make this country great."

Rick Kieffe, President
Perhaps they will review the ads that they pay for in the future. They ended up with a lot of egg on their faces this time. I emailed them weeks ago about how the ad was offensive to nonbelievers, especially atheists. The portion of the ad that offended me was the "shut up and sit down" portion. The arrogance and condescension I can put up with, but not being told to give up my right to free speech.

If I were them, I definitely would screen future ads. There is a person calling himself J W Horne who claims to have made the ad. He seems to be cluelessly making himself look like an ass, both here and on his blog.

The Bakersfield Californian has the story as well.
A radio ad that tells non-Christians to “sit down and shut up” has prompted a flood of phone calls to the Kern County car dealer who paid for the ads and now regrets airing them.
...

Rick Kieffe, owner of Kieffe and Sons Ford in Mojave and Rosamond, insisted Wednesday that he does not remember approving the ad, which he said was written by his longtime advertising writer and producer in Oklahoma.

“It’s just something that went by us,” said Kieffe, who does not attend church but considers himself “a Christian spirit.” “We’re obviously sorry that it offends a given segment who identifies themselves as atheist.”

Airing on local AM and FM radio in eastern Kern County and the Antelope Valley, the ad has gained a lot of attention on the Internet, where blog posts go on and on about its pro-Christian, anti-atheist message.

Kieffe said he has received “an incredible amount” of calls from people as far away as Australia and England, most but not all of them from “very articulate, nice people.”

Way to go everyone.

Kieffe and Sons has contracted the same Oklahoma ad producer for 12 to 15 years, Kieffe said. Most of the ads are humorous but a minority are patriotic, “flag-waving” messages that don’t necessarily push car sales, he said.

The dealership also advertises on television and in print, although the ad in question was limited to radio.

I wouldn't call an ad that told 14% of the population to "sit down and shut up" very patriotic. The ad is also discussed over at Way of the Woo.

WWJD - Why a Ford of Course



Love it. This should be Kieffe & Son's new television ad. HehHehHeh.

Consumerist Discusses Kieffe & Sons

Consumerist discusses the Kieffe & Sons Ford ad as a prime example of bad advertising. I couldn't agree more.

Kieffe & Sons Ford Displays new Ford Concept Car

Poem by the Digital Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish has written a new poem especially dedicated to our friends at Kieffe & Sons Ford.
When the rapture sweeps the planet
I know Heaven's my reward,
But for now my piece of paradise
I bought from Henry Ford

It's a broken-down jalopy;
It's a rusted piece of junk;
But there's Jesus on the dashboard
And a fishy on the trunk

Sure, it leaks a little oil,
And it doesn't "turn", but "lurch",
Seven miles to the gallon
But it gets me to my church

You can hear me from a block away
And smell last weekend's skunk,
But there's Jesus on the dashboard
And a fishy on the trunk

Got a brand-new bumper sticker
Saying "What Would Jesus Do?"
Now it's holding up my tail light
With some duct tape and some glue

You can almost hear the "Kieffe and Sons"
In every "Rattle-Clunk",
But there's Jesus on the dashboard
And a fishy on the trunk.

I saw a car that had a fish--
A Darwin fish, with legs!
I fixed it, with a wrecking bar
And half a dozen eggs

Don't mess with me or with my God
You heathen, godless punk--
I've got Jesus on my dashboard
And a fishy on my trunk.

Thanks Cuttlefish, I've just added you to my blogroll.

Thanks PZ Myers

Thanks PZ for posting about the ad.I'm just getting through all of the comments, laughing my ass off.

YouTube Video with the Kieffe & Sons Ad



HehHehHeh. The ad with commentary seems to be going viral.

The Ad has Made it to BoingBoing

The story about the obnoxious radio ad by Kieffe & Sons has made it to BoingBoing. This is really making my day. WooHoo.