we don’t need no stinkin’ separation of church and state
5 June 2006 @ 17:28
Filed under: Amerika, Bend Over & Take It, Exile on Bellevue
since the last few years have proved me an emotional masochist, i’m keeping up the tradition of seeing how much i can take before my poor head finally explodes for good. and so tonight at 20,00 i shall be watching Channel 4 and ‘god’s next army‘ cause i can never get too much justification to balance out all the booze and extra-legals and other fun stuff.
the Guardian’s summary: ‘Insight into the world of America’s Patrick Henry College, where all classes are taught from a Biblical point of view. The latest batch of freshmen adapt to the establishment’s strict rules, while graduates of the school — which has provided more White House interns than any other recently, despite being only five years old — take their first steps into the political arena.’
fun fact: ‘The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools turned down Patrick Henry’s accreditation bid. The American Academy for Liberal Education first turned down the application. The college appealed, and later withdrew. The college is now a candidate for accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.’
LOL, ‘Can you imagine the kind of “parties” that go on around this campus on the weekends? / “Oooh oooh look! she’s showing ankle!!11? / “yay, more punch and bible verses!”…’
from one who’s already seen this on Discovery Times channel in the states: ‘The biology teacher only teaches creationism and believes that geology can be explained by the Flood. She gives no real credit to scientific methods and allows Biblical evidence to trump. The students are taught to rely on the Bible and that anything contradicting it can be rationalized away as either scientific misinterpretation or Satan’s hand. Similarly, all of the students express that they personally follow the Bible literally and violators are shunned from the community.’
there’s much, much more on this exclusive hatchery for baby rethugs in God And Country from the New Yorker. a snippet:
‘Three times a year, the White House chooses a hundred students for a three-month internship. Patrick Henry, with only three hundred students, has taken between one and five of the spots in each of the past five years — roughly the same as Georgetown. Other Patrick Henry students volunteer in the White House. Tim Goeglein, the Administration’s liaison to the evangelical community, said that the numbers reflect the abilities of the Patrick Henry students, who “have learned a way to integrate faith and action.” For the White House, it is also a way to reach out to its base while building a network of young political operatives.’
after reading both pieces above, i was reminded of Jesus Plus Nothing, which Chris sent while i was still in Germany and about which i initially tossed off my reaction as ‘1/3 comicbook plot, 1/3 Bilderberg controller, 1/3 worst-case theocracy scenario.’ from the link:
‘…Ivanwald, which sits at the end of Twenty-fourth Street North in Arlington, Virginia, is known only to its residents and to the members and friends of the organization that sponsors it, a group of believers who refer to themselves as “the Family.”
‘The Family is, in its own words, an “invisible” association, though its membership has always consisted mostly of public men. Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as “members,” as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.). Regular prayer groups have met in the Pentagon and at the Department of Defense, and the Family has traditionally fostered strong ties with businessmen in the oil and aerospace industries…’
‘…In the process of introducing powerful men to Jesus, the Family has managed to effect a number of behind-the-scenes acts of diplomacy. In 1978 it secretly helped the Carter Administration organize a worldwide call to prayer with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, and more recently, in 2001, it brought together the warring leaders of Congo and Rwanda for a clandestine meeting, leading to the two sides’ eventual peace accord last July. Such benign acts appear to be the exception to the rule.
‘During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa’s postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand “Communists” killed marks him as one of the century’s most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators.
‘During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. “We work with power where we can,” the Family’s leader, Doug Coe, says, “build new power where we can’t.”…’
am i pissing my bed over bu$hCo’s brand of terra? totally nah. am i frightened of rabid fanatical christian righteous bible thumpers who work in and/or influence government, big oil and the military? you fucking betcha. as a side note, i can’t help but remember Margaret Atwood’ dystopic The Handmaid’s Tale and facets of Miller’s & Gibbons’ Give Me Liberty — both are books i totally adore as long as they remain in the fiction department.
i really shouldn’t watch tonight but i feel i must, so i’ll be bringing on the hugeass quantities of vodka and other more potent stuff in the bleak hope i forget it all in the morning — but somehow i never do.
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