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Religionists Attempt Takeover of US Military

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, Christianity, culture, faith, freethought, history, Military, politics, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , on April 27, 2010 by chouck017894

Every citizen of the United States should awaken to the real and present danger that religious fanatics in branches of the US military bring to national security.   Religious fanatics with guns and aircraft and uniforms and a Pentagon allowance are today a part of an undemocratic contagion being nurtured in the bowels of democracy.  The idea that a combination of mismatched ideological groups are actually conspiring for the common goal of imposing a theocratic-form of government  upon US citizens may seem unbelievable, but that element does exist.  If in doubt, consider how religious views influenced the Bush administration and shaped the nation’s foreign policy that regarded the war in the Middle East as essential to its Bible-inspired mission.  And let us not forget the devotion expressed by the born-again president for torture of defenseless prisoners as was practiced in Europe during the church-controlled Middle Ages. 

We should ask, who makes up these seemingly mismatched ideological groups?  First off, major corporations and their puppets known as neoconservatives.  Corporate ideology stresses for profit business.  In itself that is not anti-American.  But it is how they wheedle lawmakers and the media to con the public in ways that increase profits while also setting up safeguards for themselves to avoid liability for the damages they knowingly inflict upon the public.  As a screen these cohorts invariably set up so-called “think tanks” and phony “not-for-profit” fronts that twist their purpose into plausible sounding indulgences.  The goal, however, always remains money and power.

Linked with these are the theo-cons who are dedicated to a theocratic agenda.  In “spirit” there are “faith” enthusiasts who choose to indulge in a long-range plan of Christian reconstruction of America’s genuine history for the purpose of eventually imposing severe  limitations  on every citizen’s freedoms.  Since the 1970s these political minded persons have used religion as a front for attempting the overthrow of democratic principles and imposing a restricted form of government—or as they put it, a  “God-based or Bible -based government.”  The proposal agreed upon in the late seventies and early eighties was to gain control of one of the political parties, and this was accomplished with the full takeover of the Republican Party in 1996.  A few names that were active in this mockery of democracy have become well-known: Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Karl Rove, John Hagee, to mention only a few.  The organizing was covertly funded by corporations, and the big-lie battle-cry adopted by the brainwashed was that the constitutional demand for separation of church and state was a myth!

But this was not the end of the religious right-wing plotting.  Grabbing and taking command of the nation’s muscle—the military operations—was desired and remains the big prize.  If the military can be brought into submission under religious intimidation, Christian tyranny can be made to prevail.

Thus with religious undertones the US was urged by the Bush administration into a “crusade” against Iraq, and to engage in a “war on terrorism.”  The funding for the religious-right clamoring was  provided by the major corporations that would thereby augment their profits by ensuring their control over the oil subsidized NeoCons.  It has been these institutions that have bankrolled the right-wing religious activists that have brazenly attempted to seize control within the US military. 

Today in 2010, in all the military branches that are intended to guard America’s freedoms, there are still acts of religious intimidation taking place.  At the US Air Force Academy, for example, cadets were still being subjected very recently to heavy-handed proselytism by evangelical Christians.  Shockingly, military officials appeared to be working in conjunction with them.  Hundreds of active duty servicemen from all military branches have reported and complained of similar ham-fisted proselytism tactics.  The general pitch of the proselytizers is that if one does not believe in the Christian version of “spiritual” salvation, then they are destined to become, as on proselytizing officer avowed, nothing more than “worm-dirt.”

Such shameful disregard for spiritual integrity and a lack of respect for other peoples’ sense of spirit is still being fanned by those who profit materially by the phony holy hubbub.  The extremes that militant faith will sink to was recently revealed to the public in the disturbing news that a rifle-sight supplier to the Department of Defense had been imprinting all their rifle-sights with coded references to Bible verses.  Our service personnel must face constant danger and the possibility of death every day when on active duty: they should not be made to endure such a conniving  practice of Christian proselytizing while they are defending a nation that rose  to power by proclaiming everyone’s right to religious freedom.

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Corporations Shaft America

Posted in Atheist, culture, Government, history, politics, random, thoughts with tags , , , on September 18, 2009 by chouck017894

Back in 1816 Thomas Jefferson—who wrote the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third president of the United States—was understandably suspicious of the rise of corporations.  He felt that such business structures would function as a perpetual threat to democracy and therefore had to be strictly limited.  Jefferson stated his fears regarding corporations assuming power saying of the looming threat that governing policies must “…crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of the country.”

 Today the United States is bound in shackles to corporations, and they have proven what Jefferson had feared: corporations are, just as are all organized religions, inherently antidemocratic and are presided over by a wealthy select few who have no concern for “the masses.”  Over the decades corporate shysters have underhandedly and intentionally chipped away at the noble democratic principles set down by the nation’s founding fathers to indulge themselves in amassing vast sums of money through corporate stealth, then use that wealth to elevate their private interests over the nation’s common good.  In the process they have managed to tangle laws for citizens protection—such as price controls, monopoly laws, etc.—so that those who invest in their shady work are absolved of any personal responsibility carried out under the umbrella of their corporations. 

Of course the Constitution gives no recognition to corporation rights, stating in that noble document the sovereignty and right of self-governing to “The People.”  Nowhere was there made allowance for corporate exercise of power over the citizens that we see in the U.S. today.  But oil, pharmaceutical, insurance, coal and similar conglomerates hold the nation in ransom with absolutely no regard for equality and fair exchange that makes democracy work.  And this abuse of corporate power has been aided and abetted by none other than the U.S. Supreme Court!

Especially the John Roberts Court.  Roberts, we should remember, held political jobs in both the Reagan and Bush I administrations, and he was active in crafting policy aimed at curbing personal privacy rights and religious liberty rights.  In fact, he authored a brief for the Bush administration that proposed allowing clergy-led prayers at public school events! 

Under the “guidance” of Roberts and abetted by Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Antonio Scalia, and Samuel Alito—all Catholic, all Republican sponsored—and antidemocratic elements have lurched forward with stunning favoritism toward corporate power and radical right religious trickery.  With their brand of  “justice” the nation’s workforce, taxpayers, environment, etc. have been repeatedly spurned in favor of corporate law-breaking and theocratic notions.

 This antidemocratic stance of the Supremes has been obvious from at least 1998 (thus even before Roberts), which then set about actually rewriting long standing laws.  In that year the Court rejected  legal precedent to rule that a woman claimant had no valid claim to antidiscrimination by a tire firm because she had not filed her disparity of pay suit within 180 days of first suffering the discrimination.  Totally ignored by the Supremes was that the claimant had not been aware that men holding an equal position had been earning forty percent more for years.  Snickering up their judicial sleeves, the Justices brushed her off and democracy suffered still more loss of integrity.  This is the same Court that struck down the majority wishes in the 2000 national election to put oil men Bush-Cheney in control of government.  That tramping upon the elective process revealed the extent of their alleged “impartial” judgment.

Thanks Supreme Court for giving the U.S. eight historical Bush years.  We’re still paying for it.

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Corporate-Backed Crusades

Posted in Atheism, Bible, Christianity, culture, freethought, history, humanity, life, politics, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , on September 5, 2009 by chouck017894

Finally, in the 2009 presidential election the citizens of the United States roused themselves out of their long Republican induced stupor and began clearing the fanatic right-wing elements out of offices that are expected to represent the people.  Eight years of having two corporate hustlers sitting in the highest seats of government had plunged the nation noted for individual freedoms into a so-called “Christian nation” that turned its back on the principles stated in the Constitution, the very principles that had made the nation great.  The chipping away at constitutional rights began almost immediately with no apparent recognition of the irreverence and disrespect of having held their hands on the Holy Bible while swearing before God to honor, uphold and protect the Constitution.

The attempt was quickly taken up by the new administration to impose a parochial view of control upon the nation as was once practiced by the “god-fearing” characters in the Old Testament.  The Bible to be used as law allowed for savage attacks upon anyone deemed too independent.  According to the theocratic notion which they sought to impose, the right of a woman to determine what was to grow within her own body was to be denied: the sovereignty of the family was to take precedence over individual rights: unruly children were to be stoned: same sex minorities were to be denied the right to a committed relationship: and the Christian religion (their particular narrow brand) was to control how everyone was to live, meaning that democracy was to be replaced by theocracy.  The irony of these fanatics calling themselves “Christians” while using the gross tales of the Old Testament as the model of governing does not exactly equate with the early teaching attributed to Jesus in the New Testament.

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 seemed a peculiarly—almost uncannily convenient event for those who had schemed of taking control of democracy.  It seemed that God had smoothed the way for corporate profits.  After all, an array of corporations had worked to ensure that a “man chosen by God” would be placed in the Oval Office.  Of course it didn’t hurt that corporation big-wigs had developed a collation of think tanks—and don’t forget their false-front not-for-profit outfits that they established to justify their political tampering.  With the heavily tilted Republican and Catholic-leaning Superior Court’s help, God’s plan had been set into effect.

Thus a twenty-first century “Crusade,” declared by God’s alleged choice for U.S.  president, became the needed motive to begin implementation of theocratic management.  In order to grab full control of national acceptance it was vital to change the viewpoints and traditions of the American public.  Corporation pundits knew just how to do this: build up a facade of respectability for any proposed route that led into corporate profits.  Thus the Neoconservatives—or “Neocons”—came  into full bloom which, in actuality, act as the public relations firm that works for those predatory corporation that operate through the government.

Corporate interests are never concerned about public welfare: the only “god” they turly worship is materialism.  It does not matter to them if a formerly little-respected segment of the Christian community was making threatening waves in a democratic culture devoted to equal opportunity.  The power conversion that the corporate fat cats eagerly supported and assisted had nothing to do with religion or in support of personal freedoms.  As far as the corporate schemers are concerned, any shift in governing affairs is profitable for them: it is peace, mutual respect, and rational discussion on national problems that pose the real threat to fat-cat’s wallets.  That corporate approach can be said to be religious in a sense, however:  they operate on the same practices of half-truths and scare tactics that served as the foundation for all hard-line religions.

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Radical Right’s Nazi Agenda in USA

Posted in Atheist, belief, Christianity, culture, faith, history, humanity, life, politics, random, religion with tags , , , , , , on August 13, 2009 by chouck017894

Today, August 2009, we see much of the Nazi party’s tactics at work in the United States, and it is not in the Democratic Party’s attempt to bring actual health care benefits to all citizens.  In a truly democratic culture there is freely allowed a civil exchange of ideas on the means of establishing public policies–in this case the need for blanket health care protection for all citizens.  The radical right politicians and radical right religionists, urged on and financed by corporate multibillion bankrolls, are deliberately misleading and manipulating thousands of not-too-bright party-liners in a scenario that has startling similarities to Germany in 1931.

The rise in the 1930s of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany, as surprising as it may sound, hinged upon the people’s need for spiritual identity that had been brutally savaged by the victorious Christian-dominated nations acting through the League of Nations.  The emotional climate in Germany in that time is given little space in most historical accounts, with historians preferring to dwell on the lurid aspects that crept into society and took root–having been heavily fertilized with lies and deceits to advance sick politics.  Broadly ignored for the most part is the religious undercurrent that fed and shaped the early Nazi movement.

Like all religions, the Nazi code of belief that developed gained support and grew because it at first fondled and gratified the egos of the anguished people.  Bankruptcy of the German Danabank in 1931 resulted in the closure of all German banks—a circumstance that seems to have been the objective of the radical right politicos in the US, and suggests a possible attempt to destabilize the US economy through decades of chipping away at price controls and similar even-playing field regulations.  In Germany back in those critical times the German millionaire Hugenberg actively supported the 800,000 strong Nazi Party, and other wealthy men such as Kirdorf, Thyssen and Schroder quickly followed Hugenberg’s lead: it was all seen to be to their financial benefit.  As in Germany, multibillionaire US corporations and individuals today have actively financed the radical right religionists in the US with the intent of taking control of government by using these factions as a front.  The wealth has not been extended to believers due to any true religious convictions.

The  means of the 1930s National Socialists German Worker’s Party power grab—Nazis—was the instigation of systematic disturbances and encroachment of public discussion—domestic terrorism—just as we are seeing played out today at what are supposed to be public discussions on health care issues, but which are totally nullified by misinformed mob mentality.  As in 1930s Germany, lies are being freely indulged in by those seeking to capsize democratic rule.  The radical right now use Hitler tactics while accusing others of their own disgraceful conduct.  They refuse to pay attention to facts, but choose to listen to propaganda machines being financed by the ones who will truly benefit materially from defeat of a national health care system.  Like Hitler, the corporations and men behind the smear campaign against the health care proposal speak with forked tongues.

The radical  right  politicos and the radical right religionists in the US have apparently taken inspiration from Hitler tactics.  As an example, on April 26, 1933 Hitler said in a speech during negotiations that led into the Nazi-Vatican Concordant of 1933: “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith…we need believing people.”

Haven’t we in the United States been hearing a variation of this same song being brayed loudly from the radical religious right for at least three decades?

It should be remembered though that as a boy Hitler had been indoctrinated under Catholic guidelines, but his early life had been a dismal failure.  As a result he felt that society and god had failed to answer his needs and he then gravitated to the occult.  Hitler understood the hypocrisy that always infects religious posturing, thus through the 30s, and even during the war, there was an active conspiracy between Hitler’s government and a vast array of European Christian churches.  Thus inspired, the radical right in the US today employ the techniques that brought the Nazi regime to Germany.  Perhaps the radical political right and the radical religious right that conspire to control the people of the US should check how history tends to deal with such fanaticism.  On August 19, 1934 the destruction of Germany was guaranteed—as well as the needless suffering for the rest of the world—with Adolph Hitler’s propaganda taken as truth.

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