Vote For The Cutest Couple Among Presidential Candidates.

Who's the Cutest?
The Kucinichs, The Huckabees, The Thompsons or The Clintons?
Vote by commenting here or by emailing virgilsnoddy@hotmail.com

Will Fred Thompson Carry On The Bush-Cheney Legacy?

• Thompson supports continuing the War in Iraq and the "Surge": most Americans oppose both of these: to the tune of 59-64%. Why don't you just run Rumsfeld? He's better looking . . . you've got to admit, he's a lot better looking.
• No military service, at all. Zip. Zero. But he wants to push war without end--another chicken-hawk? America will pass, thanks.

Veal, Pork, & Poultry

"Within moments of birth, male calves born on dairies are taken away from their mothers and loaded onto trucks. Many are sold through auction rings where they are subjected to transportation and handling stresses. The fragile animals are shocked and kicked, and when they can no longer walk, they are dragged by their legs or even their ears.

Every year, approximately one million calves are confined in crates measuring just two feet wide. They are chained by the neck to restrict all movement, making it is impossible for them to turn around, stretch, or even lie down comfortably. This severe confinement makes the calves' meat "tender" since the animals muscles cannot develop."

Of course, what muscle is left is poisoned with antibiotics necessary to keep the calves alive while living in their own excrement.

Feeding You Like Family-This Film Is Brought To You By The Japanese Whaling Industry.

Supremes Tell Women & Minorities To Eat Cake

“The Bush administration had entered the case [Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company], on Goodyear's behalf. . . The majority's holding,. . . ‘is totally at odds with the robust protection against workplace discrimination Congress intended Title VII to secure." Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the majority "does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination.’" She went on to say "Once again, the ball is in Congress's court," . . .expressing the hope that the lawmakers "may act to correct this parsimonious reading of Title VII." Yeah, right.

See, also, Opus Dei Goes To Washington and Bush Wins Honesty Loses Alito Sucks.

Thanks For Your Dedication & Sacrifice Cindy. Who's Gonna Fill Your Shoes? Certainly Not Congress.

"Casey Sheehan, 24, an army specialist, was killed in an April 2004 battle in Baghdad.
His death prompted his mother to found Gold Star Families for Peace.
‘I've tried ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful,’ she wrote.
‘Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.
‘It is so painful to me to know I bought into this system for so many years, and Casey paid the price for that allegiance.
‘I failed my boy and that hurts the most.’”

Someone failed your boy Cindy, but it certainly wasn’t you.
Who's a whore?
Meanwhile, Ten [MORE] U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq; Bus Bomb Kills 22

For Texas and Miss Lillie!

Virgil has always admired Judges-All Judges, but the best of them all is Judge Roy Bean. Here's a bit of his wisdom.

Judge Bean: Justice is the handmaiden of law.
Patron: You said law was the handmaiden of justice.
Judge Bean: Works both ways.

Villain: Who are you?
Judge Bean: Justice, you sons of bitches.

Watch Judge Bean mano a mano with Bad Bob, “Not Dirty Bad Bob, the New Mexican... but the original Bad Bob, the mean one, the albino”

Yubileinaya

Please look after the miners St. Barbara & comfort their families.

Cheney Family Values-God Bless Them Every One

“Mary Cheney's baby has much to overcome. It may well take more than two mothers to trump the venomous genes of Dick. . . .
‘Under Virginia law, Mary's partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 'will have no legal relationship with her child. She can't adopt as a second parent. She won't have her name on the birth certificate.' President Bush will still not say whether or not he supports gay adoption.’ [via Think Progress]”

What Should We Swallow?

"We call it the Eucharist, the Mass. We're so used to it we hardly see that it's a cannibalistic feast. But whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas has Jesus laughing at the disciples, to say, what you're doing is ludicrous. Turning the death of Jesus into something like an animal sacrifice. Eating flesh and drinking blood ritually, even, is a kind of obscene gesture. This author, this follower of Jesus, sees the idea of Jesus dying for our sins as a complete misunderstanding of the whole message of Jesus. So, although the Gospel of Judas is an authentic early Christian document, it was early condemned as "blasphemy". We don't know whether this actually IS what Jesus taught—for although New Testament Gospels say that Jesus did teach secret teaching, they don't tell us what it was. But we do have many new texts that show us secret teaching, like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Phillip. And probably Jesus, like other first-century rabbis, taught one kind of message in public, with thousands of people listening, and other kinds of teaching in private. We don't think the Gospel of Judas belongs in the canon—but we also don't think it belongs in the trash: instead it belongs in the history of Christianity—a history that now, in light of all these recent discoveries, we now have to rewrite completely." From THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS, A Talk with Elaine Pagels

"What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak." -George Santayana, (1863-1952)

Blaze

Earl Long: Would you still love me as much if I wasn't the fine governor of the great state of Louisiana?

Blaze Starr: Would you still love *me* if I had little tits and worked in a fish house?

Selling it-“Tyson Family Foundation Endows 'Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace Chair' in Walton College.”

"We know from the success of the Tyson Foods chaplains' program that there is a great need for this kind of support and knowledge in the workplace,". . . "To ignore the role that faith plays in our daily lives, including at work, is to miss out an essential part of human identity and motivation. We are a faith-friendly company, striving to honor God and be respectful of each other, our customers and other stake holders. We are pleased to be able to help create this position that will lead the study of faith and spirituality in the workplace."
John Tyson
For more on the spiritually of Tyson Foods Inc., Wal-Mart, & the University of Arkansas see, Finger-Lickin' Bad How poultry producers are ravaging the rural South (Thanks to Patti) & Honoris Causa.

Bye Bye Battleship-Sixty-Six Years Ago, A Fairy Took Out The Bismarck & Her 15 Inch Guns.

A Fairy Swordfish biplane damaged her rudder. Then the  King George V, Rodney. Dorsetshire and Norfolk finished finished her off.  Good work lads.

In May of nineteen forty-one the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the sea
On her decks were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees
Sink The Bismark by Johnny Horton and Tilman Franks 

All's Well That End's Falwell

". . . it takes admirable courage and nimble logic to devote your life to issues Jesus completely ignored (abortion, global warming, tax breaks and homosexuality) while completely ignoring issues Jesus told you to devote your life to (love, charity, nonmaterialism -- and not getting divorced or devoting your entire life to being judgmental prick," From Mrs. Betty Bowers' Eulogy for Rev. Jerry Falwell. Click here to read it in its entirety .

If You Wanna End the War and Stuff, You Gotta Sing Loud & Send A Letters Like This To Your Congress Persons!

This is a good pattern, and can even be modified into a “Thank You” letter to one who voted right.
Thanks to my friend Peter, The Big Fisherman, for having the knowledge and eloquence to write it, and the courage and conviction to send it.
Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln
SD-355 Senate Office Bldg. 1^st & Constitution Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20510-0404

Dear Senator Lincoln:

I was disappointed to see that you voted with the Republicans not to cut off funding for the war in Iraq. I believe that vote was misguided.

Please ask one of your staff members to provide you with a short briefing on the functioning of the Iraqi legislature. All, even President Bush, agree that the death and destruction in Iraq cannot be ended militarily. Political actions and solutions are essential. Our military has achieved all that it was asked to achieve.

The existing Iraq political establishment is locked in a co-dependent relationship with the United States military in Iraq, and it is dysfunctional. It is incapable of taking the political steps essential to reverse the existing downward spiral in the country. Our continued presence only preserves existing dynamics and indeed, provides a catalyst to increase the internal insurrection and terrorist infiltration from outside the country.

Withdrawing troops is directly related to decreasing the violence in that country. The President’s assertions that violence will increase with withdrawal or that withdrawal is “defeat” is simply another administration lie.

An overwhelming majority of Iraqi citizens as well as a majority of the Iraqi parliament want us out of Iraq. The sacrifice we are making in lives and financial resources is not simply wasted; but worse, it feeds the turmoil and destruction.

We need to conduct a strategic withdrawal leaving a limited presence in key areas and a striking capability from bases outside of the country. We need to assure the Iraqi people and neighboring states that our strategic plan is not to continue as long time occupiers in that region.

That, of course, is the unstated strategic goal of this administration. That goal must be publicly abandoned as the policy of this country for there to be any recovery in the Middle East. Please vote to end the war and get out troops out of Iraq.

Sincerely,

Click Here to See The Real Cost of This War. See, Also, Chatham House Report: Iraq On Verge Of Collapse

Pastor Harry Hardwick Likely To Succeed Jerry Falwell.

“Jerry Falwell, the godliest of men -- the man who did more than anyone to put religion back in government and replace the Constitution with the Book of Leviticus.” Pastor Harry Hardwick in Sermon, May 15, 2007


Meanwhile, at the Pearly Gates:





By Jack Ohman in The Oregonian May 2007









Will God let him in when she gets back?

GOP Presidential Debate-Are These Guys Really Running for President?

I miss Gabby Johnson. At least he was authentic and courageous.

Gabby Johnson: “I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.”

Olson Johnson: “Now who can argue with that? I think we are all indebted to Gabby Johnson for clearly stating what needed to be said. I am particularly glad that these lovely children were here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.”

Mohja Kahf

"Mohja Kahf, an Arab-American writer, draws sharp, funny, earthy portraits of the fault line separating Muslim women from their Western counterparts. At times she captures the breach in a single title, like her poem built around respecting prayer rituals, called ‘My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears.’
Occasionally it just takes a few lines, as in ‘Hijab Scene #2,’ a poem that reads in its entirety: ‘You people have such restrictive dress for women,’ she said, hobbling away in three inch heels and panty hose to finish out another pink-collar temp pool day. Sometimes it's a whole book, particularly her novel published last year, ‘The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf,” a coming-of-age tale set in Indiana, where Ms. Kahf spent much of her own childhood. The novel turned Ms. Kahf into something of an idol among Muslim American women, especially younger ones, struggling to reconcile their faith with a country often hostile toward it.” She Carries Weapons; They Are Called Words. By Neil Macfarquhar

Virgil has read The Girl In The Tangerine Scarf and liked it a lot. Virg & Mary, and about twenty other heathens, met with Mohja and grilled her for a several hours. She has spunk. Normally, Virgil hates spunk, but not in this case. We found her to be brilliant, knowledgeable, tolerant, witty, and unflappable.

See, also, A Woman True to Herself.

Credit for photo of Mohja Kahf at Arsaga's: Lorraine Chittock, PADIA, and Saudi Aramco World.

You Can Now Tithe With Your Tax Payment. Your Non-Iraq Tax Dollars, In Part, Go To Catholic, Mormon, & Other Godly Groups.

". . . the number of earmarks for religious organizations, while small compared with the overall number, have increased sharply in recent years. From 1989 to January 2007, Congress approved almost 900 earmarks for religious groups, totaling more than $318 million, with more than half of them granted in the Congressional session that included the 2004 presidential election. By contrast, the same analysis showed fewer than 60 earmarks for faith-based groups in the Congressional session that covered 1997 and 1998.

Earmarks are individual federal grants that bypass the normal appropriations and competitive-bidding procedures. They have been blamed for feeding the budget deficit and have figured in several Capitol Hill bribery scandals, prompting recent calls for reform from White House and Congressional leaders.

They are distinct from the competitive, peer-reviewed grants that have traditionally been used by religious institutions and charities to obtain money for social services.

As the number of faith-based earmarks grew, the period from 1998 to 2005 saw a tripling in the number of religious organizations listed as clients of Washington lobbying firms and a doubling in the amount they paid for services . . ."
Religious Groups Reap Federal Aid for Pet Projects, By DIANA B. HENRIQUES and ANDREW W. LEHREN in the New York Times.

Happy Mother's Day, Mary.

To the left is Max Ernst’s The Virgin Spanking the Christ Child before Three Witnesses: Andréé Breton, Paul Eluard, and the Painter.* It offended some people including “his own father and the archbishop of Cologne, who had the exhibition in which it was shown closed down.” They, and some other Christians, however, like the image of Jesus being tortured and having his body mutilated by Roman soldiers. Jesus’s death for our sins is what’s important to them. Many of these same Christians believe God commands them to beat children. They claim, however, that Jesus was an excception since he was not human. Others believe that he was human and it is his life that was important. (Virgil is one of these pro-lifers.) If he were not human, his sacrifice meant nothing. After all, what does a god have to fear? Any fool can get himself killed, but life is hard. It’s especially hard to live it as Jesus did. He spoke the truth and tried to help people, no matter what the consequences. He showed us life’s path. God’s decision to give Jesus a mother lends credence to the human (life) theory. Jesus obviously needed a mother or God wouldn’t have given him one. He needed nurturing, guidance and discipline. Probably, considering the mores of the time, corporal punishment was a motherly obligation. Virgil opposes hitting children, but that Mary had a tough job whether Jesus was human or not. We know that Jesus was not the most thoughtful child, and that Mary lit into him for it when he was 12. See, Luke 2:41-52. It is also possible that Mary, rearing Jesus and his siblings, taking care of Joseph, and being human herself, was stressed and just lost it on this day even if she normally would not resort to corporal punishment. Whatever her methods, she was a good mother and her child became a strong brave man who cared about folks and was true to himself. She loved him and he her. Happy Mother’s Day to Mary and to all the other Mothers out there.

*Some scholars believe that Breton, Eluard, and the Painter were born years after this event and could not have witnessed it.

Virgil, As Usual, Takes the Middle Ground. Romney & Sharpton Are Both Right.

"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation." Al Sharpton

"It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners." Mitt Romney

“Many religions have recently begun changing in an attempt to equalize the roles and responsibilities of men and women. Mormonism is one of the exceptions. The Mormon position on women has changed little since the early 1800's, when the official view was that "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband" (McConkie 844). This attitude, coupled with the doctrine of polygamy and the absolute power claimed by the men of the church, created a legacy of profound sexism which modern Mormonism has been unable to escape.” The Role of Women in Mormonism

“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African Race? If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. Cain slew his brother. . . and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.” Brigham Young, "Journal of Discourses," Vol. 7, Pages 290 & 291 RACISM IN THE LDS CHURCH: A partial success story

“God changed His/Her/It's mind in 1978 about how cursed and lowly the black race was.” Mormons and Blacks

Use A Condom (Tasteless though it may be) or Get The Vaccination.

"People who have had more than five oral-sex partners in their lifetime are 250% more likely to have throat cancer than those who do not have oral sex, a new study suggests."

Greensburg Kansas a Casualty of the Iraq War. Who’s Next?

"Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday evening that the state's response will likely be hampered because much of the equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies _ including tents, trucks and semitrailers _ is now in Iraq.
'Not having the National Guard equipment, which used to be positioned in various parts of the state, to bring in immediately is really going to handicap this effort to rebuild,' said Sebelius."

Nero didn’t actually fiddle while Rome burned. He probably played either a lyre or a guitar.

God Save Us From True Believers.

“Then all of the candidates were asked to indicate which of them DO NOT believe in evolution. Huckabee, Brownback and Tancredo each raised a hand. . . .In retrospect, it seems astounding that three candidates, 30 percent of the Republican presidential field, said flat out they do not believe in evolution, without any further queries or explanation on the subject.” (emphasis added)

“The true-believer syndrome merits study by science. What is it that compels a person, past all reason, to believe the unbelievable. How can an otherwise sane individual become so enamored of a fantasy, an imposture, that even after it's exposed in the bright light of day he still clings to it--indeed, clings to it all the harder?” --M. Lamar Keene

See also, Eric Hoffer’s Work

So What If Millions Will Die Because of Global Warming? There's Always Heaven.

"A United Nations' panel says the world must begin immediately to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions thought to be bringing about climate change. "

Alcohol Shrinks The Brain. Now They Tell Me.

". . . a reduction in brain volume of 0.25% for every additional category of alcohol consumption. In contrast, the average age-related decline in brain volume is 0.19% per year, she noted."

It's even worse for women. "Gender modified the alcohol-brain volume relationship significantly (P=0.0029), with men having a slightly lower downward slope than women, meaning that brain volume decreased more in women than men across categories of alcohol consumption. "

Gonzales: The Lawyer Who Lied to the Judge

". . . in November 2005 Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales apparently misled a federal judge in Montana about the status of William W. Mercer, the U.S. Attorney for the state. The nation's top lawyer and chief law enforcement official reportedly told the judge that Mercer was not breaking the law by spending his time working in Washington (for the Justice Department) and not Montana (for the people of his state). But this evidently was not true. Because on the same day, Eggen reports, "Mercer had a GOP Senate staffer insert into a bill a provision that would change the rules so that federal prosecutors could live outside their districts to serve in other jobs, according to documents and interviews."

Back in the Days of 'Mission Accomplished'

May Day