Religion - what the hell's it good for?

Absolutely nothin'. Say it again. Here's 19 deeply religious men whose schools didn't teach evolution, Mr. Tom Delay.....




I guess they weren't very "evolutionized," eh, Tom? What we need is a good crusade - maybe send some children over to kill the infidels - and perhaps you'd like to burn a few of us atheists at the stake while you're at it? I can't believe these right wing religious fanatics are going to march us straight into a holy war.... I mean the republicans and the Al Qaeda. Welcome back to the dark ages....

I joined the fray today, something I rarely do, but the discussion over evolution (because of the new PBS series) was getting pretty deep over there, and I just couldn't stay out of it. I was reading this: Darwin's Sanitized Idea -
PBS's Evolution is an exercise in Creationist appeasement. Here's my response:

Screw religion. What has religion gotten us? 19 fanatics flying planes into buildings in the name of God. Supposed "christians" who want to bomb women and children in retaliation. Jerry Fallwell telling gay people it's their fault. What the hell do we need more crusades for? That's what religion has gotten us.

There is no proof of God. Take a philosophy course. There are arguments for the existence of God, but there is no PROOF. That's why we don't teach it in PUBLIC school SCIENCE classes. Don't pray in our schools and I won't think in your churches. We teach science in science class - and not very well in this country. When you have some scientific evidence of GOD, then we'll talk. Funny thing is, there can be no scientific evidence of God. By definition, God is METAphysical....

90% of Americans believe in some "higher spirit." When you ask about God, the number actually goes down. There are many more of us militant agnostics (I don't know and neither do you) than most people suspect. We have tons of evidence in evolution. It is a perfect ontology. GOD only complicates your ontology. Anyone wants to have God for desert after a main course of reality, go ahead. Just do it in church - not school. That's what churches are for, remember? Or have churches just become training grounds for idiots like Tom DeLay who grow up to show the world what kind of homegrown fundamentalists we raise here.... Guess we're not all as "evolutionized" as the next guy....

Anybody says evolution is to blame for punks shooting up schools like Columbine should have their entrails laid out next to pigs, so they can graphically see the similarities in our mamalian anatomy.

Shame on the DeLays and Falwells of the world for blaming science, which actually studies nature and FACTS, while they sit back and take money from people who are too stupid to realize what jerks these liars are, and how short a crawl out of the primordial mud these guys have made.

Evolution doesn't have to find a way to get along with religion. What we believe doesn't matter one bit. What matters is whether we choose to be a religiously dominated society, or one that teaches science. The two cannot be melded. They have nothing to do with each other. You can believe god started things off with a big bang, but the evidence is clear what happened after that.

If you want a country run by religious fanatics, move to Afghanistan or Iran. And remember, when religion ruled the world, they called it the dark ages.

The truth is the truth, and can be found in the evidence. If we choose to ignore it, it will be a sad day for human intellegence.....

Scott Supak
supak.com

From the why-I'm-not-letting-up-on-Bush files

He's not REALLY the president, and shrub and his smirk belong back in Austin and Al Gore (who's commision had plenty of great ideas to make airlines safer that were ignored and ridiculed by Republicans and the airline industry) should be running the show. The "election" of 2000 was just the beginning of Jr. ruining this country. Now he's on the "crusade" to kill the "evil doers." As if events weren't surreal enough, Dumbya's tele-prompter people are mixing up their comic book lines with the president's speeches.

Oh, and hey, I'll be the first to mention it when Bush Boy actually says something smart. I read that in a meeting with four key Senators, W actually said, "What's the point of shooting a 2 million dollar missle at a ten dollar tent that's empty?" I hope the Uncle Dick and the Joint Chiefs were listening.

Bush Rejected Terrorism Commission Report

Salon's Jake Tapper reports, "White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year. Bush administration officials told former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., that they preferred instead to put aside the recommendations issued in the January report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Instead, the White House announced in May that it would have Vice President Dick Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism -- which the bipartisan group had already spent two and a half years studying -- while assigning responsibility for dealing with the issue to [FEMA], headed by former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. The Hart-Rudman Commission had specifically recommended that the issue of terrorism was such a threat it needed far more than FEMA's attention."


The Gore Commission Demanded Tougher Airline Security, But Airlines And Conservatives Said No

In 1997, the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security - commonly known as the Gore Commission - issued 50 recommendations for defending air travel against terrorists. The cost: $2-8 billion, to be paid from user fees. But the airline industry dismissed the threat of terrorists, and attacked the commission. And conservative ideologues rejected the proposal on "cost-effectiveness" grounds. How much are 5,000 lives - not to mention the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and America's security - worth?

Phil Gramm (R-TX) Blocked Clinton Bill to Trace Terrorist Money

The NY Times reports, "Federal officials say they have not persuaded foreign banks to open their books to investigators and that in this country, a law that would have allowed the United States to penalize foreign banks that did not cooperate was blocked last year by a single United States senator... The bill, introduced by the Clinton administration, would give the Treasury secretary broad power to bar foreign countries and banks from access to the American financial market unless they cooperated with money-laundering investigations. It was strongly opposed by the banking industry and [Senator Phil] Gramm. 'I was right then and I am right now' in opposing the bill, Mr. Gramm said yesterday. He called the bill 'totalitarian' and added, 'The way to deal with terrorists is to hunt them down and kill them.'" According to the Times, Bin Laden's financial methods have not changed since he worked "side by side with the C.I.A. to support the rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan."

Why Did Bush Give $43 Million to Afghanistan in May?

On May 22, LA Times columnist Robert Scheer denounced "the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell... makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God... Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden." Is the US funding the Taliban? Bush needs to tell Americans the truth.

Yeah. Like that'll happen. And the immortal words of Wayne (Mike Myers): "And monkeys might fly outta my butt!"

NO COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Where are the voices for peace? I want justice, not war. Justice cannot be done with collateral damage. Collateral damage, as our military calls it, means innocent civilians who get killed for being too poor to get the hell out of the way. In every discussion I've had on this, even with my fellow Democrats, I say we shouldn't just go in there and bomb the hell out of innocent civilians - namely, women and children - and people say, well, they're all leaving anyway. Well, they're not. Many of them are too poor, old, or feeble to walk across one of the most inhospitable places on earth. I'm beginning to think that it doesn't matter now. We're going to kill innocent people. And that is going to make the Muslim world hate us even more.

I heard a good report on the World Round-up on CBS news radio this morning (apparently, they don't have a web site). A Muslim cleric was saying that the Koran doesn't say anyhting about this kind of horror being allowed. These freaks who call themselves Muslims are actually going against the teachings of Islam. Then, this same cleric went on to say that retaliation is allowed in the Koran, but only if it's retaliation against the individual who did you wrong. So, if the US goes over there and kills innocent people, then we will also be in violation of the Koran, which would further piss-off the Muslims who would then actually have a religious right to retaliate.

Can you say quagmire? Sure, I knew you could. How to stay out of this quagmire and still bring justice to the people who did this? Very carefully. First of all, Shrub needs to get himself a Muslim specialist to make sure he doesn't say things like Crusade any more. He needs to apologize for using that word, instead of having Colin Powel do it.

Next, we need to make damn sure we don't have any collateral damage. None. Because one glimpse of dead Muslim babies killed by US bombers and we're doomed over there. Justice will never be done because the whole thing will spiral out of control. We need to search the world for the people who did this. We need to arrest them. If they resist arrest, we can kill them in self deffense and try them later. Either way we must prove in a courtroom that these are the people responsible. We should extradite them to the US and make them stand trial, like every other criminal we've hunted down and captured, from Manuel Noriega to Ramzi Yousef.

That is how a civilized society responds to crime. In this case, we certainly need our military to go get these people, because they are a military outfit in a remote country on the other side of the world. But our military needs to be told, by the man in charge (who was AWOL in the last big war), that this is justice, not genocide. We're not over there to wipe out the entire country, like some of my red-neck neighbors would have us do. We should not go to the middle east intent on killing the infidels in some huge crusade against the people of these screwed up countries, as some of the more "religious" people here would have us do. Amazing how the religious fanatics come out on both sides when the shit hits the fan. While we're bringing the religious fanatic Bin Laden to justice, maybe we should arrest Jerry Falwell while we're at it. It's been proven he's a lying slanderer before. I'll stop short of saying we should round up all the religious fanatics in this country. That would be un-American, and far too Falwellesque.

Freedom of speech under attack

No, freedom of speech is not under attack just from the terrorists. Now the redneck republican Bush voters and the screwed up liberals who are buying their garbage in the the wake of this tragedy are trying to squash it too. I had a red-neck in a big red pickup fuck with me while driving down the freeway today. He was really mad about my silver spoon bumper sticker. Like I'm supposed to blindly follow this jerkwad who took over the presidency in an illegitimate coup put in place by a Supreme court that went against everything it's ever said before to stop the legal vote counting in Florida. This should be Al Gore we're rallying behind. And I'll bet whatever that asshole's truck is worth that he wouldn't rally behind Al in this situation. Just remember this: Al Gore was in Viet Nam while Dubya was drunk, coked up, spending his Daddy's money while AWOL from the Air Guard he used to dodge Nam. So, Mr. finger-pointing-red-neck-asshole-fascist-pig-scum-bag, stick that in your spoon and snort it. Remember this too: It was the "drug war" that W used as an excuse to give the Taliban 150 million of our taxpayer dollars. Snort snort....

One more time, here. Bush was AWOL for at least a year. Why did the Bush campaign refuse to release his military records, as Senator John McCain, Vice President Gore and President Clinton have all done? And people are claiming that we should blindly follow this lying cheat little rich frat boy who took over this country without actually being elected? Please! Spare me!

I got some hate mail from someone who is apparently into organic gardening and worried that I'm giving organic guys a bad name by keeping my dumbya page up during this time of tragedy. Please. Here's the exchange:

Hey, is there anyone out there?
For Christ's sake why don't you at least suspend the Dubya page for a while. There's a war going on out there and you're acting like you're on the wrong side.
Don't make us organic guys look like a bunch of radical idiots right now. The sixties are over.

Last time I checked, this is a free country. I don't believe in Christ. It's my right. I don't think Dubya is the president. Al Gore won. Dubya stole it and shouldn't be there. I'm not making all organic guys look like anything. In my experience, I've even seen Republican organic guys. I was born in the sixties. I don't remember them. I remember the seventies when another asshole president bombed the crap out of people, sent thousands of mostly poor American boys to die (while dubya was drunk, coked up, and AWOL and AL Gore was in NAM).

One can be radical without being an idiot. I have strong beliefs about what we should and shouldn't be doing right now and I will express them. W is a dickwad asshole who should go hide back in Texas. I'm acting like I'm on the wrong side? Are you suggesting that I'm helping the terrorists? What the hell kind of crap is that? I'm proud to be an American, and it's people like you, who suggest that I should stop my free expression of my views, who are the real threat to freedom in this world.

Get this right, man. W could seriously fuck this up. At no time should we ever blindly accept what our leaders are doing. EVER. The blind acceptance of leaders is what has caused the most trouble in this world.

So, get off my back, man. You want to vote for W, you go right ahead. I think I'll vote with the majority again. I love this country. I love what it stands for. So far, W has proven that he is the opposite of what I stand for. His right wing fanatic Attorney General is now going to try to take away our civil liberties. You're going to tell me I should accept that too?

Don't be a fascist like this coup that took our country and is now hiding behind patriotism while they prepare to make their war machine buddies richer while mostly poor, minority American boys go off to die. Just what Bin Laden wanted.

Scott Supak

I sent this exchange off to organic gardener Mort Mather, my long time friend, who had this to say:

Hey Scott,
Always good to hear from you. Thought you might like my thoughts for our
"president". It may win an award for thinking outside the box.

Dear President Bush:
Please do not play into the hands of the terrorists. They have used incredible bait for their trap and it is surely difficult not to respond in kind. If this is war, it is a very different kind of war. Just as our forefathers learned a different way to fight with guns (The British undoubtedly thought them cowards for shooting from hiding behind trees.) our current enemies have found a different way of fighting. Unless we want to lose we will have to find a different way to fight also. Ships and planes and missiles are what they are fighting against. We must surprise them with something they aren't expecting.

The word I'm about to use is put forward as a focus for really different thinking. It is out of the box and most likely not the answer but if you give it
some serious thought, it might lead to an answer. The word is "surrender."

Imagine Osama bin Laden's surprise if we offered to surrender. Would he come forward to talk? Would anyone from any country come forward to talk about
surrender? Could anyone? I know this would not sit will with many in this country and among those around the world who lost loved ones. But it would have
an incredible effect in the world of Islam I would think. Perhaps we would even regain some of the love and respect they had for us 30 years ago, before we
started showing favoritism in the middle east.

Mort Mather

Well, that is outside the box. I completely concur, Mort. It certainly brings a point home. Isn't it ironic that the supposedly most "religious," "christian" people are the ones most visciously demanding we carpet bomb Afghanistan. That the most Jesus loving freaks who are always in my face about saving unborn babies are the ones who want to bomb actual BORN babies in the middle east. How can all these people who believe in God somehow think that "Thou shalt not kill" doesn't apply to them? That Bush would even use the word Crusade is a diplomatic faux pas of majestic proportions. Was Karen Hughes or Carl Rove not there to jerk his chain, to mention that during the Crusades, Christians sent thousands of people, including children to massacre Moslems? That to this day the word Crusades is highly offensive to Moslems? Or are Karen and Carl really as dumb as Dumbya? We need to show the fanatics that we're in control of our fanatics over here, like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and John Ashcroft.

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." --Thomas Jefferson

A friend (who probably knew it would piss me off) sent this along:

ON MONDAY
there were people fighting against praying in schools.
ON TUESDAY
you would have been hard pressed to find a school
where someone was not praying.

ON MONDAY
there were people trying to separate each other by
race, sex, color, and creed.
ON TUESDAY
they were all holding hands.

ON MONDAY
we thought that we were secure.
ON TUESDAY
we learned better.

ON MONDAY
we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
ON TUESDAY
we relearned what hero meant.

ON MONDAY
people went to work at the World Trade Centers as usual.
ON TUESDAY
they died.

ON MONDAY
people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.
ON TUESDAY
the same people all said "God help us all"
while thinking "Thou shall not kill."

ON MONDAY
people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
ON TUESDAY
the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.

ON MONDAY
people picked up McDonalds for dinner.
ON TUESDAY
they stayed home.

ON MONDAY
people were upset that their dry cleaning was not ready on time.
ON TUESDAY
they were lining up to give blood for the dying.

ON MONDAY
politicians argued about budget surpluses.
ON TUESDAY
grief stricken they sang "God Bless America."

ON MONDAY
we worried about the traffic and getting to work late.
ON TUESDAY
we worried about a plane crashing into your house or place of business.

ON MONDAY
we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
ON TUESDAY
we saw people celebrating people dying in the USA.

ON MONDAY
some children had solid families.
ON TUESDAY
they were orphans.

ON MONDAY
the president was going to Florida to read to children.
ON TUESDAY
he returned to Washington to protect our children.

ON MONDAY
we e-mailed jokes.
ON TUESDAY
we did not.

It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place
things into perspective.

To which I replied:

I still fight against prayer in schools. Don't pray in my schools and I won't think in your church. I'm still fighting having the ten commandments on public property and always will. It is my right as an American. I never say God help us all. The people who believe the most in the ten commandments are the first to say let's go kill those mother fuckers. I never eat at McDonald's. I hug my kids while I tell them to clean up their rooms. I hardly ever dry clean. It's one of the biggest sources of air pollution. I know that Bush is not the president and cannot protect our children. I know that Bush's faith says he should forgive and forget, that vengence is God's, that he should not kill. I also know that he wants to remove the law that stops us from assasinating people, he will accept "collateral damage," and that his idea of protecting children before this tragedy was to allow prayer in schools.

Protecting children indeed.

"Teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
--GW Bush

The suggestions that I should drop my free speech and blindly follow this president while we march off to war makes me sick. What kind of fucked up mentality just drops all the great things this country stands for and starts acting like the enemy? We have freedom of (from) religion here. So, let's drop all this God stuff. We are right because philosophically and ethically we are right, not because of some devine intervention that allows us to ignore our laws whenever we want. Not because our God can beat up their God. This is not some schoolyard brawl. This is serious stuff and we need to prove why we are better. We need to prove that we can practice all the things we preach, like justice belonging in court, not the belly of a bomber, and tolerance. I can tolerate your God crap if you can tolerate my lack of it. Apparently, a lot of people can't.

"Don't follow leaders. They're walking parking meters." --Bob Dylan

When these fascist pigs start knocking down your doors, holding you without charges, deporting your relatives or household help without reason, you'll wish you'd have said something. When they start locking up everyone who looks Arabic, like we did the Japanese during WWII, maybe people will start to realize what a bunch of dickheads took over this country. Blind faith in leaders is how Hitler came to power.

But, hey, keep 'em coming folks. We all have a right to free speech. Remember, I may disagree with what you're saying, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

supak.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - SEPTEMBER 14, 2001
AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.

For more information, please contact:

Ellen Johnson, President (973)334-5110
Ron Barrier, Dir. Communications (718)967-6453

IN WAKE OF TERRORIST ATTACKS, GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED RELIGION SHOULD NOT BE USED TO RALLY NATION, SAYS ATHEIST GROUP

American Atheists today warned that citizens should not surrender civil liberties as the price for combating terrorism, and that government leaders must avoid using religion as a rallying point.

"Let's remember that Islamic terrorists despise the best ideas of the Western Enlightenment, including secularism and the separation of church and state," declared Ellen Johnson, President of the group. Ms. Johnson noted that Osama bin Laden, the man suspected to be behind the violence directed at the World Trade Center and buildings in Washington, D.C., has the goal of establishing a Pan Islamic theocracy combining fundamentalist Muslim religious doctrine with a stern, authoritarian political regime.

"President Bush and other political leaders should not be trying to use religion to unify the country," Johnson said. "Their 'God' didn't do any good on September 11 when thousands of people were being murdered."

Johnson says that Bush and local and state officials should refrain from organizing prayer vigils and other sectarian events. "If people want to pray on their own, that's up to them, but perhaps they should consider doing something more tangible like giving blood or writing out a check to a qualified relief agency."

Johnson also cautioned political leaders about excluding millions of citizens who profess no religion.

"Religious intolerance is one of the things that motivates Osama bin Laden" she noted. "Many citizens are Atheists, Freethinkers, and Secular Humanists who profess no religious beliefs. Atheists, too, are appalled at this tragedy and directly affected by it."

Johnson added, "Our elected officials should be trying to bring us together, not divide us by using public religion to marginalize Atheists."

American Atheists is asking all nonbelievers to donate blood and support the work of qualified relief agencies. "We think it's a tangible thing to do, and helps make this world we live in a better and safer place for everyone."

American Atheists is a nationwide movement defending the civil liberties of nonbelievers and the separation of church and state, and addressing matters of First Amendment public policy.

American Atheists, Inc.
P.O. Box 5733
Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Tel: (908)276-7300
Fax: (908)276-7402

"We will rid the world of the evil-doers." --GW Bush

I think someone interupted the resident while he was reading his super hero comic book. Why haven't his advisors told him that he sounds positively idiotic when he says that? Do they even notice, or are they all too busy working out the greedy details of who's going to make all the money from this new Bush war? Or maybe they're all too worried that we'll somehow capture the evil doers and actually put them on trial. No one would get rich building million dollar cruise missles from that conclusion.... I heard another talking head of the right wing-nuts say how this proved we need a missle shield. Wonder what companies he owns stock in. Missle shield... Geeze. How stupid can these people really be?

Yes, the resident was in front of cameras again today, spewing whatever went through his brain out of his smirky mouth. How they let him wander off without a teleprompter I'll never know. Maybe they need to keep Karen Hughes around him with a cattle prod. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZSHT - back on message, Dubya.

And to think, this should be Al Gore doing this....

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" --Jerry Falwell, Religious Fanatic, September 14, 2001

"The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism. It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does." --Lorri L. Jean, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, September 14, 2001

Jerry Falwell has proven he's not so different from the terrorists. He wants a country run by religious fanatics. As long as they're his fanatics. He wants his version of god in the public square. He doesn't just say God, either. He specifically mentions Christ. No room for Jews, or Muslims, or Budhists, or Hindus. He claims America was founded on Christ. He is wrong. America was founded by people who came here to get away from governments telling them what religion to practice. Seems the Reverend is doing something else they do in these "religous" countries. He's rewriting history to fit his world view. And what a view it is.

Unfortunately, and I'm sure this self-righteous bastard knows this, no one who already agrees with him is going to leave his flock over this. If anything, he and Pat Robertson (who agreed with him) know that this scores them points with the right wing nuts who send them money every week. Say anything to get those donations up, eh boys? Maybe somewhere in Texas they'll beat a gay person senseless because you said they're to blame, eh guys?

And now Rush Limpbrain is spewing crap about who we should bomb. As Michael Moore says in today's comminique from the road, "...I am sure he is on his way down to the nearest recruiting station to sign up -- for surely he would not expect your son or daughter to risk their lives for freedom while he just sits back and enjoys his new half-billion dollar contract." Michael decided to drive back to New York, as I mentioned yesterday. He's in for one hell of a ride. Just stay outta Texas, Michael. You driving through Texas would remind me of the joke going around during the election: The new CBS Survivor show puts contestants in an old Volvo to drive across Texas with a bumper sticker that reads, "I'm for Gore, I'm queer, and I'm here to take your guns."

While I know that probably no one is reading this, I sometimes fantasize that someone like Falwell will. I'd like for him to come stick his finger in my face. I'd bite it off and perform a Pagan ritual with it. I'm not a Pagan, but it would be so much fun to piss him off after biting off his finger.

Ah, who am I kidding? I would never bite his finger off, as tempting as it would be, all chubby and bouncing in my face... I know I wouldn't because I am more moral and ethical, even though I'm a militant agnostic, than Falwell could ever be.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. --Charles Darwin

I know Falwell often spews off like this, but it strikes as particularly repugnant now. The fact that his religious right is the biggest threat to freedom, that his "president" says we're going to "rid the world of evil", just so he can make his rich buddies richer building more guided missles, war planes and whatever else they plan to use on some Arab civilians. After all, it should be an eye for an eye, right Georgie? That's the way they do it down in Texas. That's what the extremist Israeli government does with the planes we sell them.... Let's go kill 5000 innocent Muslims! That'll make it all better! They deserve it! Because our God is better than their God!

What would Al Gore do?

Apparently, immediately after saying he wasn't going to get into politics at this time of crisis, Rush Limpdick joined right in on tirades on Bill and Hillary. Way to come together, Limpass! Then there's this guy, quoted at Rush is Wrong, who said this (followed by Steve's thought):

"Rush, we need to get back to work and save this economy. When the market re-opens, the aftermath could be much worse than what happened yesterday."

Yep, that's a conservative for you. A drop of 7% in your 401(k) is so much worse than thousands of innocent men, women, mothers and fathers being killed, not to mention the police and firefighters, to a conservative.

Here's a post that was reposted on rushiswrong.com. It really fits with what I was saying yesterday.

Please spare me the "rally 'round the president" BS. The last time I fell for that I found myself grunting through the jungles of Vietnam. I don't need no hyper-emotional self-indulgent overly-comfortable mush-brained couch-potato patriots scolding me for exercising my first amendment right to nail this stolen election president on the cross of his own making. Let's not forget that he is our servant, not our king. If you want to imbue president junior the reverence of royality, that's fine, but don't insist that others share your deluded self-subjugation.

supak.com

Rally behind the resident? I don't think so.

Three days before the terror, on September 8th, 2001, the LA Times reported that "The Bush administration has decided not to invoke against Israel a U.S. law that bars military aid to countries that use American arms for purposes other than self-defense, despite controversy over dozens of 'targeted killings' of Palestinian militants." In the story, U.S. Won't Invoke Law Against Israel, Norman Kempster and Tracy Wilkinson reported that "...a prominent Arab-American organization is considering a court challenge." Israel maintains that the strikes that kill terrorists who are planning attacks falls under the definition of self defense. Regardless of the legal definition, the Bush administration angered Arabs around the world by once again taking Israel's side in the conflict. Reports of Arab indignation were coming in all over the place, like from the Racisim Conference where the Israelis and we pulled out, angering Arabs.

Since Bush took office the US has pulled out of Peace talks that Clinton was negotiating (down to minute details). Seems our last president understood that the best way to protect ourselves against terrorism is to address the very real concerns of those who would resort to it. As long as we continue to support Israel, and to arm Israel, we will anger Arabs. The time has come to sit back down with both sides and to stop supplying arms. How many times will we light a match in a powder keg and not expect to be blown up?

I'm a big fan of Michael Moore. In his log from the road today, since he decided to drive back to New York with his family, from LA, Michael is really cranking out some great thoughts. He's never driven across the country before. He's in for quite a trip. I'm sure the country never seemed bigger than it will now, with flags flapping on so many car antennas, hanging off overpasses, and so many somber faces along the way. It's a big country, and it just got a lot bigger. And flying over it just doesn't give you a feel of the diversity. Mike's going to be going through places where they hate people like him. And he'll meet a lot of people who love him too. And despite all the talk of togetherness, there's a lot of angry people who will take their anger out on any commie liberal they can get their hands on. To them, anyone who dares to exercise their freedom of speech now should be shot, preferably by Charlton Heston himself.

I just don't get those people. Maybe Michael will. I hope he can better explain them to me. Because right now, I don't know how they can look at Curious George stammering his way through the most important words of his life and actually be proud that a man who was AWOL while he said he was doing his duty (while poor boys were dying in Nam) is now saying things like "...rid the world of evil." What the hell is he talking about? The only way we could ever rid the world of evil would be to kill all the people. Why can't Karen Hughes and the rest of his big-business-loving red-necks write something that actually makes sense?

We couldn't win a guerilla war in Nam when we knew where the enemy was. And we killed more civilians there than terrorists have here. Many, many more. What the hell does Shrub think he's going to do now to rid the world of evil? Nuke the whole damn world except us? Please, Carl Rove, hire some new writers. And tell them to use smaller words.

In the mean time, I'm going to hope we don't lower ourselves to the level of these slime. I hope we don't carpet bomb these people who kill innocents and surround themselves with children who they are training to be their next suicide squads. I hope we send in special forces and actually get this guy. Walk right up to him and "badabing, you get blood all over your nice Ivy League suit." No collateral damage. We have people who are willing to do that, who are trained to do that, right? Are there really no Rambos, no Bonds? Do we have to use Napalm to kill a fly?

And what else do these people have? Biological? Nuclear? By the end of WWII we could get a kiloton in a 101 howitzer shell. The miniturization of nuclear weapons has proceeded unchecked within almost every nuclear country. What could a determined terrorist get into a brief case today? Can we ever be safe?

And this is an administration that wants to let Mexican trucks drive anywhere in this country... Besides putting thousands of American Truckers out of work, think of the fact that they already ship trucks with full loads of drugs across the border now. A few thousand trucks loaded with explosives driven by suicide drivers could do a hell of a lot of damage. Trucks full of gasoline drive around every day. How hard could it be to get a job driving a truck for a Mexican company? A lot easier than learning to fly a plane....

No, fighting these people is a pointless, expensive, and dangerous endeavor. Why are we so convinced that these people don't have a legitimate gripe? Why did Clinton listen to them, try to get Israel to listen to them, and now the Bush administration will not? Is it because Bush's buddies make the profits when we sell arms to the Jews? What happened to James Baker saying "Fuck the Jews, they didn't vote for us anyway."? Huh? Now it's time for Bush and Company to pay back the people who put them back in power. And if it costs a few thousand American lives, then tough. Hey, they were New Yorkers anyway. They voted with the majority. We all know how Texans feel about New York.

As the bumper sticker says, I'm doing my part to piss off the religious right (which is neither). These self-righteous bastards don't realize that when they advocate bombing the hell out the arabs, they are just as bad as those bastards who advocate killing inocent Americans. I heard someone say that there are no innocent Arabs. And I'm sure the Arabs who attacked us said that about Americans. These damn red-necks just don't get it. They just want to get their guns off. Most of them would shit their pants if they had to fight. Especially against an enemy that has nothing to lose.

Al Gore should have been giving that speech today. Everytime I see Bush smirking like he owns the goddamn world I just want to, well, have a real election. Soon.

In response to an article about the terror that a friend sent me....

Leonard,

I really wish people would get off this our god vs. your god crap. The more quabbling I see between people over this god vs. that god the more sick I get of it... Religious fanatics are spewing their mighty god crap everywhere. People are killing people in the name of god. God bless this and that. God blesses us but not you. It's been going on forever. And I'm sick of it. These religions are the cause of the wars, the death, the destruction: all in the name of god. I dream of a day when I can turn on the news without hearing about god blessing America. How about just being proud - saying United We Stand - America the Beautiful - etc.... When America does something, it should be because it's the right thing, not because it's the religious thing.

And then, when I say something about this, I get told I'm going to burn in hell. I love that. Even if I'm the most moral, ethical person on earth, even if I save babies and feed the poor, just because I don't believe in your god I'm going to hell. This insinuates somehow that I can't be moral without God. Hell, even resident Bush made that suggestion. That people can only be moral if there's some higher authority to make them pay if they're not. This is sick. This means that the resident only acts morally because he's afraid he's going to burn in hell if he doesn't. Why not do the moral thing for it's own sake? Why not be ethical because it's the right thing to do - because PEOPLE - decent people say it's the right thing to do.

These fanatics killed thousands of people because of some perverted view of god and religion. Christians have done the same. So have Jews, Muslims, Hindus and many other religions. Only Budhists, and I'm not sure of this, really practice peace. It's time to stop talking about religion while we're all trying to get along. We have to talk about morality for morality's sake. We need to do the right thing because people deserve to live free to believe what they want. I don't need to be condemned for not believing any more than some Muslim needs to be condemned for believing in Allah, some Jew in God, or some Christian in Jesus. We need to stop condeming our beliefs and start condemning our bad actions. And we really need to praise our good actions more.

So please, when you talk of that just and loving god of America's, remember that a big chunk of people in this country believe in a fire and brimstone god, and a sizeable chunk believe in no god at all. But a vast majority of us do believe in doing the right, decent, and honest thing, no matter what happens to us when we die.

Since the terrorists struck, I've heard a lot about standing together. But, in the same breath, I'm being asked to sing songs like God Bless America. I don't sing. I don't pray. It's my right. But, It's like I'm back in grade school in the south and I have to go stand in the hall because, even in the sixth grade, I knew I believed in evolution, in science, in what I could prove, not some book that was full of contradictions that said not to kill that people who were advocating the death penalty and war against communists were trying to shove down my throat. Why should I be forced to stand out in the hall, to be stared at by my co-workers and neighbors, all because I am excercising my rights as an American. My right to believe what I want is one of the things people have been protecting all these years. I shouldn't have to be outcast for my beliefs any more than any religious person should.

Justice will bless America if we do the right thing. For the sake of everyone involved, we should keep these competing gods out of it. We should try to talk to each other as PEOPLE, respectful of our widely varying beliefs, and moral because it's right, not because we're afraid of a vengeful god. We are angry because these terrorists have forced their extremist religious views down our throats. We should be careful not do the same.

In the days just before the terror, a story came out that the Bush administration was not going to enforce a federal law that prohibits selling arms to nations that use them for anything other than self defense. The Bush administration said they were going to continue selling arms to the Israelis, even though we knew they were using the weapons offensively. I thought the president was supposed to enforce the laws, even if he disagrees with them. This outraged the Arab world. I am not trying to justify the horrible acts of violence. I am only trying to point out that the US should be actively seeking to broker peace in the region by treating both sides equally. Since Bush took over we have been favoring the Israelis and pulling out of the peace process. This is wrong. It is unethical. And it is immoral. While the Bush administration is looking for things to do to bring an end to these kinds of attacks, hopefully it will look to the bargaining agreements that Clinton worked so hard for, that Bush has decided to leave behind.

Keep counting those ballots down there, Leonard. I want to know how many votes Al Gore actually won by, because I think America should be just and ethical, especially when we're about to fight a war with people who believe it's a holy one.

Scott Supak
http://supak.com

Please excuse any spelling errors. I'm at work and don't have a working spell checker here. I know, I know. A moral outrage.

Work's what keeps us happy

I think that's the line from Raising Arizona, one of my favorite movies, and, as Susan Egan told me when I was working in Putting It Together, the Sondheim musical at the Mark Taper Forum a few years ago, Raising Arizona was actually made into a musical (featuring the hit song "Gotta get his dip-tet"). Hope you're doing well, Susan! One of the best cues I ever had was opening that upstairs door for you! Let's do lunch at Phillipe's again sometime! You Sci-fi comedy fans may know Susan as Teek, on Galaxy Quest....

Anyway, nothing but moving and work--so no new Hawaii pictures, but I have plenty of them downloaded at home just waiting for me to size them as desktop wallpaper. Seems the only time I have is between cues here at work!

Thinking about Putting It Together led me to think of Carol Burnett, who is a real pro to work with. One night, backstage before places was called (she was always early), she was talking about a book that talked about how groups of things got their plural names. She asked those of us sitting around what a group of stagehands would be called, and I said "A Cue, of course!" She said she'd always remember that! Wow.! What a great lady.

One night, Bronson Pinchot was having trouble and couldn't pop his head out to deliver the one word line, "meanwhile." So Carol popped her head out. I noticed that she paused long enough to give the sound mixer, Todd Reynolds (now audio engineer for the LA Opera), long enough to kill Bronson's michrophone and bring up Carol's. What a pro!

Find out more about Hollywood stagehands at the IATSE Local 33 site, which features pictures from backstage at the Lion King.

The news from the LA production of The Lion King is that Moe Daniels, who plays the grown-up Nala, is being replaced by a Hawaiian actress, Jewl Anguay, from the Miss Saigon tour and a graduate of James B. Castle High School in Kaneohe. You can see a picture and read a little about Anguay in this Star-Bulletin article. And, she gets mentioned as a possible Nala in this story.

More backstage ramblings tomorrow, since I won't be able to sit down in front of the home computer for a few more days....

Three moves is as good as a fire

An old woman back in Arkansas, where I did most of my growing up, used to say that whenever she heard someone was moving. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, while I haul boxes into my new garage, not wanting to part with anything for fear of someday needing, or just wanting, it. Amazing how attached we get to things. Simple things, like T-Shirts.... Pillows. Old newspaper articles. Magazines. Books that I haven't opened in years but can't fathom parting with them.....

So, we've been moving. As one friend who's helping said, "Everything you own is heavy." Deep thought, that. No new pictures. I returned to the LA production of the Lion King after a three day weekend of moving, to, as I told everyone here, get some rest! When you've been moving, work is restful.... The home computer is off line until Friday, so I'll get some new pics up Saturday morning, I hope.

Also by then I hope to post some of the bio info from the new performers in the cast here at the Pantages....