America by Heart – Chapter 7, The Indispensable Support of Freedom
This was a sneaky one. I read the title of the chapter thinking it might be anything. Turns out that the hidden message of this chapter is religion. We have hit the “faith” part of “Family, Faith and Flag.” Although (spoiler alert) the next chapter is called “I Hear America Praying” so we might be in for two scoops of religion in this Palin-style crap cone.
Let’s get right to it.
Page 181
Little Sarah had a transcendant experience when she was eleven years old. She walked out of the cabin and things seemed different when she looked at the mountains. It hit her. “If God knew what He was doing when He created Alaska, then He certainly had some ideas in mind when He created a speck like me.” (Am I a bad person if I smile when Sarah Palin calls herself a speck?)
Page 182
It was that moment that she became “reborn.” (Satisfying evangelicals who won’t take her seriously unless they see the word “reborn” in the book.)
Her calling is to be of service to others – “my neighbors, my community, my state, and eventually my country.” (Noooooooooooo!)
“That desire pointed me in the right direction (some would say the “right” direction).”
(Ohhhhh. Get it? “RIGHT” direction? Haha. Sarah made a funny. *jabs you in the ribs with my elbow*)
Page 183
George Washington said that faith was an indispensable support. We have separation of church and state but we must have faith. It’s part of what makes us “exceptional.”
It seems incredible that JFK’s Catholicism was ever an issue, but it was.
Page 184
She was taught that Kennedy’s speech about religion succeeded in the best possible way and reconciled public service and religion without compromising either one. But now that she has revisited that speech as an adult, she realizes that everything she was taught was wrong. Kennedy dismissed religion as a private matter. That’s bad. He even objected to government funding of religious schools!
Page 185
And then there’s Ted Kennedy. (tsk, tsk) He “had a long career advocating positions directly at odds with his Catholic faith, even though his faith was sincere.
(Phew. She’s not questioning his faith, just saying he was a hypocrite. Yes, Sarah. Too soon.)
Forget those Kennedys who thought that religion should be irrelevant. If we really want an example of someone who knows how to handle religion and political life we should turn to… Mitt Romney!
Page 186
Clip from a speech by Mitt Romney that begins: “America faces a new generation of challenges. Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us….”
“Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.” (I guess atheists think they are free, but they’re not.)
Page 187
More of this interminable speech from Mitt Romney. He wants to embrace religion. Kennedy just wanted to run from it. (I will agree with her. Kennedy is no Romney.)
“Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government.” (So if you have a problem with the TSA violating your fourth amendment rights, you can complain by taking a number and waiting at the Pearly Gates to give somebody the what-for.)
Page 188
There are still people who reject the gift of our religious heritage and somehow find it “divisive.” “Where we see tolerance, they see intolerance. Where we see wholesome purpose, they see a sinister agenda.” (Where WE se WE and THEY – THEY call us divisive.)
OK, sometimes religion is a little over the top. We don’t think adulterers should be stoned to death. And we don’t like how Muslims abuse women.
As Mitt says, “Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.” (Thinking that she’s preparing for Plan B – a Romney/Palin ticket. Or a Palin/Romney ticket. *shudder*)
Page 189
John Adams quote: “Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (Yup. We’re screwed.)
Ministers used to be the most educated people in society. “And they had a captive audience once a week. Not only did they preach revolution, they also organized militias and fought in the war.” (What is she saying here?)
Page 190
There was a minister during Revolutionary War times who delivered a sermon and then threw off his clerical robes to reveal a military uniform. Then he ran off to join the Continental Army.
Page 191
John Witherspoon was a hero and founding father, but he was overlooked by people who are threatened by religion. He was the only member of the clergy to sign the Declaration of Independence. But nobody remembers him for that. They only know him because he was a direct ancestor of the actress Reese Witherspoon. (Yes, because more of us are interested in researching the genealogy of movie actors than those who read the Declaration of Independence.)
Page 192
A long quote from Reese Witherspoon’s great great great great great grandfather. “A republic once equally poised, must either preserve its virtue of lose its liberty.”
Page 193
You may hear that the founders were Enlightened Deists who tried to reconcile religion with reason. Despite this, they all had genuine faith.
George Washington added the words “so help me God” to his oath of office. Sarah Palin “ad-libbed ‘so help me God’ every time she was sworn in as an elected official. (Isn’t it eery how just like George Washington she is??)
Page 194
Some people wanted George Washington to be a king. He didn’t want to. You can’t be free and have a king. Long quote from Washington’s farewell address talking about the importance of national morality and religious principle.
Page 195
Morality cannot be sustained without religoius belief. This may not be a politically correct view, but it’s true. (Heads up atheists – do not adopt children, give blood, donate to the food bank, or save drowning puppies. These acts by their very definition are immoral and unsustainable without religious belief. Sorry.)
Even Thomas Jefferson who was the least religious founding father was still really religious. Calvin Coolidge said that Jefferson got some of his best ideas while he was sitting in church meetings.
Page 196
Samuel Adams let a bunch of people in prayer, even though they were different denominations. “And like most Americans, I feel exactly the same way. Despite differences in the denomination you may belong to, if you love both God and country, I’ll be happy to pray with you too.” (Wow. She’ll pray with you despite your Denomination? Let nobody accuse her of being narrowminded…)
Page 197
One of her favorite examples of explicitly religious acts of the Fathers, comes from a dissentin opinion by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. (GAK!!! Wasn’t expecting that one. Although I shouldn’t be surprised.) Long quote from the dissenting opinion that the 10 Commandments shouldn’t be displayed at a courthouse in Kentucky.
Page 198
Page 2 of Scalia’s dissent. The President says “so help me God”; there’s In God We Trust on our money; and we say that we are a nation “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
“The Founders understood our political freedom as resting on the indispensable support of religious faith.”
Page 199
Hey, Alexis! Haven’t seen you in like a chapter and a half. Yes, once again we have Alexis de Tocqueville to tell us that in the early 1800s he was struck by how religious Americans were.
Page 200
Lots of Americans have faith, but some think it’s dangerous. Some think religion is divisive.
Page 201
George Washington set aside November 26 as a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Even though Thanksgiving falls on a different day depending on the year now, November 26 is personally significant to her because it’s her sister Molly’s birthday! Yay! They pray when they eat cake.
Page 202
Another speech from George Washington. Religious intolerance is bound to exist.
Page 203
Tocqueville thought we were exceptional.
(I slam the book closed and throw it across the room. I rub my face vigorously with my palms. I get up and retrieve the book.)
Lincoln’s second inaugural address had 703 words, and 14 of them were God.
Page 204
Lincoln’s “with malice toward none” passage. (Well, non except Muslims and non-Americans)
That morning when she was 11, she discovered that she has a purpose in the world. (To increase my pain threshhold?)
Page 205
America has a purpose too… shining city on the hill, beacon of liberty, freedom, faith, authority of God, Constitution, Creator, virtue,………… Done.
Keep your crosses on and your flags wrapped tightly around your shoulders for the next installment – I Hear America Praying.
I’ll get religion when Sarah Palin is struck down by a bolt of lightning.
I read the first paragraph and recognized BB material – 11 years old and finding ? when she looked at the mountains for the first time in her life? She isn’t a very observant person even from her own account.
The Tundra Turd would be hard pressed to find anywhere in the Bible a passage where Jesus advocates nationalism. Does she really think He gives a rat’s ass about it? Jesus was completely about loving one another no matter what, period. What a dipwad.
I remember having a transcendent experience when I was 14. I remember looking around and thinking “all these people have lives as important to them as mine is to me.” It was life altering. But, I didn’t ascribe it to god, buddha or any deity. I just went about my day a bit more intrigued by this incredible realization. It has held with time and I am still in awe I am alive at this time and with all of you.
When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis
doesn’t that describe palin to a tee
Everything fake Christian Sarah Palin does is in direct conflict to Christianity’s Founding Father, Jesus.
So $P is willing to pray with me if I’m of a different denomination then her, but I wonder if she would be so willing if she knew my political party affilation?
Prolly not…
I would have thought the least religious founding fathers were Benjamin Franklin–an avowed atheist—and Thomas Paine, a disillusioned Catholic-became-atheist. And of course Alexander Hamilton, another dread Catholic.
What exactly is her beef with JFK? His Catholicism perhaps? She actually believes she is superior to him in some God-knows-what (ha) way?
I took it that her complaint was that JFK didn’t want to do everything as President in the name of religion. He made it clear that he would keep those separate.
She’s chicken to challenge someone who’s dead. Very disrespectful that woman.
Because of Ben Franklin, many ‘devout’ Christians believe that the quote ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is scriptural from the Bible.
Just when I thought I’d seen everything, there’s this: “Leather-Bound Edition of ‘America By Heart’ and Alaska Book Signing Date http://fb.me/MCGFbGe9” (head > concrete piling. Multiple times: Hard!)
I honestly didn’t know you could, literally, bind crap in leather — cover a pile-o’-crap with leather to hide it, yes; bind a pile-o’-crap in leather for preservation and display, no. What a waste of good leather. The macabre and grotesque just keeps coming from $arah, doesn’t it? beth.
(Penny Elaine) I just began reading “America By Heart” 2 days ago. It is well written, very informative and uplifting!! What a true historian and patriotic American she is!! We need more people like Sarah Palin in government! — comment from ‘Leather-Bound’ site.
Sad to think that just because Sarah (or her ghostwriter) included ‘information’ about old-timey people and things in the book, she’s considered to be “a true historian.” Is $P a magnet for the terminally clueless? (I won’t even comment on the “well written” part — AKMs pain is evidence enough that there’s much left to be desired in that department.)
As far as any US history goes, I’d love to see $arah have a one-on-one with Doris Kearns Goodwin…although I’d hate to see Ms Goodwin harmed by the whiplash she’d be bound to get trying to keep up with $arah’s re-writes of our nation’s incredible story. beth.
“bind crap in leather” – my sentiment as well – TABODAIOC who really laps this stuff up. Too bad.
i just want to say that mudpups are the best.
akm, thank you for all that you do. do you need a hasmat suit to read this crap? does the book come with proper disposal instructions? can you be fined for mishandling? when you pick up the book, do you burn your hands. i need to stop and take a deep breath. better now.
what will sarah pack for haiti? caribou meat, medication, bibles , cookies, photographers? will she drink the water there? don’t think she will enjoy her runs- you know, running around all the the sick and dying. will she take boot straps for the people that don’t have boots or shoes so they can pull themselves up and work hard? will she remember to take all the famous quotes she knows, i am sure that will help. omg, i need to stop this, will she take her books so the dying can read while they wait for death? will she make a big donation- don’t think i will wait for that.
i need to stop, have to get back to reality- my sci fi show is getting ready to come on, somehow, that seems more sane.
sorry for the rant.
love you guys.
“Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government.”
So once those involuntary invaders from Africa were converted to Christianity they weren’t really slaves they were at liberty all the time?
Even though the government indulged in slavery it wasn’t really slavery because liberty is a gift of God, so slavery couldn’t exist in God’s universe. And there were no whippings and rapes and hangings and beatings that was all liberty given them as a gift of God, not the indulgence of a government.
Then the Civil War and a million dead were just the government indulging is some kind of effort to unindulge the liberty disguised as slavery that was the gift of God.
Of course semantically a “gift of God” is not the same thing as a “gift from God.” So though accepting Christ might have given slaves a sense of inner peace once they received the “gift that was God,” it did not make them free in any sense of that word’s use in the Constitution.
Only the government could give the slaves their freedom and liberty in the legal and Constitutional reality of their life on earth. The government does indulge in giving or taking away freedoms and equalities to our corporal beings
Marie, Palin probably believes that African slaves were the same as European indentured servants.
American slavery = indentured servitude–really that bogus lie is creeping into grade school texts / curricula. Your well stated circuitous explanation is probably what low-information christianist home-schooled children are being taught because it serves those who grift for gold in the name of God.
Hello. My name is Mag and I’m an atheist.
I always thought I was a fairly moral person. I try and leave things betterr than I found them. I’ve tried doing good and finding good in others. If I see someone who has fallen down, I try and help them to their feet. I’ve done it because things work better when one tries to build up instead of tear down. For me, a belief in some higher authority has never played into it.
But now, Ms. Palin has decreed that because I don’t believe, I am innately immoral. Hell. Why didn’t she tell me this 40 years ago when I could’ve actually had some fun? When I think of all those years I wasted, trying to do the right thing when I could’ve been out there lying, raking in money I didn’t honestly earn, and screwing people? Yes – I could’ve been JUST LIKE SARAH!
I can smell b.s. from my house.
i can do this too:
“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis
“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
Steven Weinberg
“We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”
Jonathan Swift
“The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.”
Georgia Harkness
“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
Richard Dawkins
The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.
-Thomas Jefferson
I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.
~ Douglas Adams
i could go on, and on. and get this sowah: faith can be experienced and expressed outside of religion, your religion or any religion at all.
and yes i am a real american, with morals and ethics also too.
gawd she makes me sick.
Thanks for that. If religious people could admit some doubt, we could all get along. Certainty of any kind whether it is about God or economics is limiting and ultimately unproductive.
**applause** 🙂
Why do I, or other people who believe in God, have to admit doubt to “get along”? Isn’t that asking the same sort of thing of me that you object to from Sarah Palin? My beliefs are my own and I don’t feell the need to justify them to others. Nor do I ask those whose beliefs are different than mine to justify theirs. That’s the whole point of separation of church and state, isn’t it? You believe, or not, whatever it is you believe and I will do the same. If you are asking me to respect your right to be an atheist, then please respect my right to be a Christian.
We all have the same problem with people like Palin who insist that only those with her beliefs are appropriate to lead our country.
YOU are not seeking to force your religion on others, but that is not true for the so-called Christians elected to office and those who vote for them. THEY believe they are absolutely correct and so, there is no room for others and their beliefs. and they won’t give rights to gay people because they have NO DOUBT about what god wants.
If they were not so certain there is a heaven, maybe they would think twice about War, for example. I do believe that people who think there is a heaven feel that good soldiers go there and eternity is LOOOOONG so who cares about this life?
You must have doubt because there is no faith WITHOUT doubt or there would be proof and no faith needed. Admitting doubt makes it easier for us all to get along because no one has the absolute truth then to use as a bludgeon.
I understand what you are saying. But my faith isn’t because I have doubts of what I believe. I doubt that there will ever be a way to prove what I believe. Maybe you don’t see that as a difference.
I think you are right in the way some evangelicals believe though, about heaven being the ultimate goal so nothing really matters here on earth – like wars, etc. I have always had trouble understanding how that group who are usually “pro-life” can be so willing to send our sons and daughters off to fight and possibly die for our country. War has never seemed very “pro-life” to me.
Do I wish that we all had the same beliefs about God? Actually I do. The world would certainly be a lot more peaceful – one less thing for countries (and neighbors) to disagree about. And it would be less interesting, and quite boring if we all thought and believed the same. So, no – I’m not going to try to impose my beliefs on anyone else.
This is likely to get everyone ticked at me but:
I don’t think whatzername is really religious at all. Really…
It’s merely a framing which was present in her life and was moldable… the evangelical thingy… to her purposes.
The private conversations and forgivenesses from her God allow for any kind of behavior she engages in to be “ok” as long as she can convince herself and enough around her that the underlying motive is/was service to the almighty.
She’s a human being and therefore falls into a general personality type… and I don’t think it’s an SP 🙂
A small tidy world suffices for her and vast swaths of humanity do not have to be reckoned with (and can be written off or shoved aside) within her chosen framework… which is not really religious… because it’s not open to ANYthing.
That stone cold heart pumps no red blood…
There is no reason to even make generalizations about what suffices as a person of faith in relation to her…
Because she is the faithless one…
That’s all that matters here…
Well, I have to agree with you. There is nothing about her actions that resembles any of my beliefs or those of other people I know who are Christians. I think if the evangelicals who follow her really ever paid attention to what she says, they’d realize that as well.
It doesn’t mean. however, that she’s is not a fanatic or demogogue.
It just means she’s found a vehicle… found it very young…
Been using it ever since…
Just like the phony arguments about feminism … another later vehicle…
None of it’s real.
Doesn’t pay to get too wound up about any of her justification blather about too many things because she does not live and breathe, heart and soul, frontal cortex and lizard brain, anything except her own ambitions and certainly does not pay to harm each other over her crap.
whatzername is an opportunist with a competitive nature who found a narrow world view with a big stick named God attached to it to do guard duty while she does whatever she wants- she’s not religious.
AKM wrote, a long time ago, about the childish behavior- the pouting and helping herself to the cookie jar mentality (entitlement !!! mentality ) whatzername exhibits…
Dumb whatzername seems to think we’ll all fall for it as proof she’s anointed or something…PfffffffffffTTTTTTTT!!!!!
I’m an indivdual atheist, a person without God (not a person against God ) who sees my own personal experience is not that of many, many people the world over.
However, I see lots folks who cannot see the evidence of the same, no matter what side(s) they are on…
Rest easy though.
The only one who has to pass any tests is whatzername should she stick her big mouth and small world on the national stage… start making lists of questions my friend… start making lists… just in case.
Man, this so makes me feel like burning a Bible -wrapped in a flag.
Well, I know what I’ll be praying to see at the end of the next chapter…Sarah Palin will tell us that she heard the voice of God telling her that she needs to stay home and devote all of her time and energy to her children. Somehow I don’t think my prayer will be answered though. Sigh. Thanks for reading this awful book so we don’t have to!!!
The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, UCC (United Church of Christ, quite theologically liberal) is quite erudite, served in the Marine Corp and the Navy, and is a talented preacher and teacher. He was invited to White House by Bill Clinton (along with others to help him out of his mess with the intern).
Believe me, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would never, ever consider anything but prayer for Sarah Palin.
Wright also had a hand in helping LBJ medically, I don’t remember the story, but yes, he is not as the Right paints him.
Ministers used to be the most educated people in society. “And they had a captive audience once a week. Not only did they preach revolution, they also organized militias and fought in the war.”
=========================================================
OMG!! Sarah Palin is going to make a run in 2012 with Jeremiah Wright as her running mate!!!
As ridiculous as this sounds, the scary thing is that Sarah Palin is so intent on clawing her way to the top, she actually WOULD run with Jeremiah Wright if she thought that’s what it would take to get her elected… Anyone who believes that Sarah Palin believes anything other than what’s best for Sarah Palin is deluding themselves… The B.S. in this book aren’t her beliefs…She only has one belief… Her only belief is to “WIN” at ANY cost and don’t worry about the lies she tells or who she has to trash or destroy to achieve her twisted ambition…
Ministers used to be the most educated people in society. “And they had a captive audience once a week. Not only did they preach revolution, they also organized militias and fought in the war.”
=========================================================
OMG!! Sarah Palin is going to make a run in 2012 with Jeremiah Wright as her running mate!!!
As ridiculous as this sounds, the scary thing is that Sarah Palin is so intent on clawing her way to the top, she actually WOULD run with Jeremiah Wright if she thought that’s what it would take to get her elected… Anyone who believes that Sarah Palin believes anything other than what’s best for Sarah Palin is deluding themselves… The B.S. in this book aren’t her beliefs…She only has one belief… Her only belief is to “WIN” at ANY cost and don’t worry about the lies she tells or who she has to trash or destroy to achieve her twisted ambition…
The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, UCC (United Church of Christ, quite theological liberal) is quite erudite, served in the Marine Corp and the Navy, and is a talented preacher and teacher. He was invited to White House by Bill Clinton (along with others to help him out of his mess with the intern).
Believe me, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would never, ever consider anything but prayer for Sarah Palin.
Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick, she actually writes this?
“OK, sometimes religion is a little over the top. We don’t think adulterers should be stoned to death. And we don’t like how Muslims abuse women.”
I’ll bet adulterers are breathing sighs of relief, And, apparently,how people of *other* religious faiths abuse women is okay with Yukon Snookie?
Unbelievable.
Only things in quotation marks are exact quotes. The rest is my summary… sometimes snarkified, but my take on a passage. My inner ramblings are in red. AKM
OK: 2 things
First: Mrs. Palin: Do not judge or you too will be judged…Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Refer to Matthew 7:1-5– that would be in that Bible thingy you like to go on about
Second: A ghostwriter was hired to write this nonsense? Couldn’t they find a good one–that and a literate editor? I mean, really, it looks like Palin wrote this herself and sent it out to a vanity publisher.
The woman is on her way to hell!
Don’t you think she’s already in he!!? She doesn’t trust anyone except possibly Todd and her dad. Her kids get in trouble. She doesn’t seem to have much of a relationship with any of them. She has to fake that she has a life in her TV show. She spews hate (do you really feel good when you spew hate? I don’t.) She won’t take the time to learn any skill well, or even become a Jill of all trades. A lot of people laugh at her.
She may derive some sort of satisfaction from her adoring fans, giving speeches, and making money, but none of that seems to make her happy or fulfilled. She even smiles a lot, but there’s nothing there that says she enjoys life. I think she mistakes her feelings of smugness, superiority, being G-d-chosen, self righteous, and thinking that talking at your kids, not communicating, are all signs of success and happiness. But all that negativity is awful. Don’t you think that’s he!!?
I don’t think she’d know real joy or happiness or true satisfaction and fulfillment in a job well done because she hasn’t actually experienced them. That’s sad.
It would only be hell if she CARED. She really doesn’t seem to CARE about anyone but herself.
It would appear she doesn’t raise her children, she spawns them.
She doesn’t have warm connections with people, she simply provokes them then starts shrieking about how they pick on her (so much for being some sort of rough & tough pioneer-type).
Her lack of empathy doesn’t hurt her–because she doesn’t feel it as a loss. You can’t miss what you never had. In addition, it frees her to do whatever she wants. No internal braking system.
Thanks, AKM, for slogging through this pile of trash.
When I was studying holistic health, our teacher put a certain person in charge of the class’s money. This guy asked me to lunch with him a couple of times. I stopped breaking bread with him, because despite his awareness that I’m a (secular though spiritual) Jew, he always had to add “in Jesus’s name” to the saying of grace.
Long story short, this “Christian” stole the class’s money, and the teacher stopped coming to NY from MI. Of course, I cast no blame on Christians for what one individual did. I use this story only to illustrate hypocrisy among the elect, of which $arah is an exemplar.
“It is very clear to me that no one in her life has ever explained the difference between parroting the tenets of your religion and actually living them.”
She only listens to what God has to say to her (and it always happens to be what she WANTS TO HEAR), why would she listen to any mere mortals?
“There was a minister during Revolutionary War times who delivered a sermon and then threw off his clerical robes to reveal a military uniform. Then he ran off to join the Continental Army.”
Yup…nothin’ says “Love Thy Neighbor” better that grabbing your musket and shooting him with it.
– – – – – – – –
“Despite differences in the denomination you may belong to, if you love both God and country, I’ll be happy to pray with you too”
Here’s another quote right from the Quitter’s mouth that contradicts that little gem:
“And the McCain campaign, love ’em, you know, they’re a lot of people around me,” she said, “but nobody I could find that I wanted to hold hands with and pray.”
– – – – – – – –
“Morality cannot be sustained without religious belief.”
I find this personally offensive as I consider myself moral but don’t follow any religious doctrine. I also find it interesting how this comes up just as scientists have demonstrated that primates have an inborn sense of morality and compassion. And yet, I don’t recall seeing any apes at church when I was a kid!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/science/20moral.html?_r=1
It is very clear to me that no one in her life has ever explained the difference between parroting the tenets of your religion and actually living them.
sociopath don’t like to have things explained or suggestions made to them. they see it as criticism. they don’t like any kind of criticism. not one little bit.
a few years back i had an acquaintance who had just bought a beautiful home and had planted in her huge yard a very nice Wisteria. she planted it next to her home and had attached it to a drainpipe at the corner of the house. i remarked that the Wisteria was lovely but i wondered if it might in time pull the drain pipe away from the house. the woman was very upset and accused me of criticizing her. i laughed and said ” oh no. i haven’t started to criticize yet. i am waiting until dinner time so everybody can hear what i have say about you”. she stopped a moment and looked at me and decided to dial back on the crazy. we went on from there. she being her narcissistic self and me making her dial it back. she respects me because in her words i am even crazier than she. we get along.
“And the McCain campaign, love ‘em, you know, they’re a lot of people around me,” she said, “but nobody I could find that I wanted to hold hands with and pray.”
Maybe none of them wanted to hold hands with her because they were afraid of catching her craziness.
As an American, ostensibly a free person, I don’t have to prove my love of God and/or our Country to the likes of Sarah Palin, even if she were, God forbid, to become President.
This Servant’s Heart narrative is just as ridiculous as any of her manufactured and amplified ideals and personality traits.
Her pursuit of power is NOT altruistic. Every little thing that comes out of her mouth and reportedly typed on a keyboard or written on her hand is suspect. The level of her celebrity and influence is astounding and horrifying.
It makes me wonder, what other figures in history have such superficial beginnings, in that they were largely benefactors of circumstance and not earned by distinction?
“It makes me wonder, what other figures in history have such superficial beginnings, in that they were largely benefactors of circumstance and not earned by distinction?” — ISVFMH
That little dude in Germany during the first half of last century? beth.
John McCain
Sorry, Beth, Palin doesn’t measure up to Hitler. Hitler was a decorated veteran, wounded (gassed) in WWI. He was a sincere, if maniacal, patriot, eschewing luxury and personal gain. He was not a creative thinker, but was highly intelligent, although not formally educated. Hitler was no quitter. Tenaciously fixed on his goal, in a dozen years he led a political party from an obscure band of nationalist street-brawlers to totalitarian rule, outfoxing those who tried to use him. Thank God Palin is neither so ruthless, so evil, nor so talented.
Ahhh, Chaim, but the question was only about “superficial beginnings, in that they were largely benefactors of circumstance and not earned by distinction”.
To my thinking, a (singular) ‘claim to fame’ would fit that bill of “superficial beginnings.” $Ps was her “being mayor” of dinky Wasilla; AHs was his ‘heroics’ in war. With those as a start (and, admittedly, their charismatic personalities) they were off to the races because of circumstances…not as a result of their individually cumulative (and previously evidenced) merits. What happened after they got that initial notice, is another matter, entirely; the circumstances gave them traction / conspired to elevate them further.
Some characters will rise to the top / be distinctive no matter the circumstances; others will never. I don’t believe $P fits into the former category (nor did AH) — the stars had to be aligned juuuuuuuuuust right for the rise to prominence / notice… Leastwise, that’s how I figure it. beth.
Rasputin.
Her pursuit of power is NOT altruistic.
Perhaps the God she really worships is really power and money. Sure seems like it to me.
“power and money”…also known as mammon in whatzername’s Bible, if I’m not mistaken….
Grifting for gold in the name of God.
I love this one: “Jefferson got some of his best ideas while he was sitting in church meetings.” Uh, I don’t think that means what SHE thinks it means.
That’s a little more sage than her best ‘speeches’ coming from her thigh-burning runs.
Exactly! It is totally lost on her.
chortle… he OBVIOUSLY wasn’t listening to the sermon , was he !? 🙂 At least it was better than snoring thru the service !
LOL – yes, I’d never thought of Jefferson as a day dreamer, in church no less, but that image will be with me forever.
Meetings were held in church buildings. The meetings were not necessarily religious worship services. Church buildings were large enough to accommodate meetings. Silly, silly Sarah.
Couple of quick questions for $arah:
1) On the one hand, you get moist retelling stories about the rugged, individualistic pioneers and their bravery as they went it alone; on the other hand, you actively court those who are members of mega-churches who sop up what they’re told weekly as if it were mother’s milk without which they would keel over dead. How do you reconcile in your mind the two diametrically opposed ‘types’ of people you so ardently praise?
2) The US Constitution mentions, specifically, the “Blessings of Liberty”. Our Declaration of Independence mentions, specifically, the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”, “their [men(s)]Creator”, and “Divine Providence”. I was wondering if you could point me to where the appointment of your G-d as The G-d (over the citizenry) is to be found in any of our collective foundational documents? I don’t seem to be able to find that specific mention; can you help me?
3) If Tommy is born into a Baptist family, practices the tenets of that denomination all through his growing up, and converts to Methodism as an adult, does that mean the religious tenets held by Baptists are invalid? What if he were born a Jew and converted to Catholcism? Or converted from Unitarian to Buddhist? Scientology to Mormanism? Assembly of God to Deism? (Or vice versa on any of the aforementioned…)
(I think you can see where I’m going with this, here, $arah, no?) According to our Constitution and our laws (all of which are based in our Constitution, remember?), it is not illegal –IOW: it’s perfectly legal!– for a citizen to change their religion at any point in their life…or to decide they’d rather not practice any religion at all.
That being the case, and it is, maybe you should form and lead a committee to decide which religion(s) are ‘acceptable’ for a citizen to convert to. I’m pretty sure you’d agree that decided-upon list would be very short: Protestant, preferably Assembly of G-d or, or, if needs be, Baptist (and, for both, it goes without saying: Evangelical.) Just think: In a mere couple of decades, all citizens would be practicing the same religion (Evangelical Assembly of God and/or Baptist) and there’d be no worries that we lived in a country devoid (as it apparently is now) of compassion, caring, honor, integrity, love, virtue, values, etc., what with all the “other” gumming up the works, and all. Could you, please, get back to me and let me know why such a plan would be hunky-dory for our nation? — it seems to be, if I’m ‘reading’ you correctly, exactly what you want.
mudpeeps, I am a woman of great Faith (both in the ‘religous’ sense and in the non) but I do not have any faith that $arah will respond to any of the questions I ask of her. Her ‘thought’ processes, sadly, do not extend beyond the shiny object in her immediate vision and since she bounces around from ‘thought’ to ‘thought’ with the rapidity of a pinball in a game of chance at an arcade, there is, inevitably, a disconnect of insurmountable proportions in her immediate vision. And yet, she is absolutely worshipped by those she’s snowed as she presents herself as the ‘expert’ on everything… Heaven help us! beth.
Little Sarah had a transcendant experience when she was eleven years old. She walked out of the cabin and things seemed different when she looked at the mountains. It hit her. “If God knew what He was doing when He created Alaska, then He certainly had some ideas in mind when He created a speck like me.”
It was that moment that she became “reborn.”
Her calling is to be of service to others – “my neighbors, my community, my state, and eventually my country.”
This explains why her dream was to be a sportscaster for ESPN. It also explains why I watch “Sportscenter” religiously.
IMO, she realized why she was rewarded with so many cookies and learned how to use it to her advantage.
I have always believed in separation of church and state. Mixing religion with politics is dangerous in my opinion. In Iowa , people voted to get rid of three of our judges. It was all about the gay marriage law. People from out-of-state were coming in with their money to fight against our judges. Now these people who fought against our judges are trying to get new judges to support their twisted view . So—-why have judges if they are told how to vote on issues? What other decisions are they wanting these new judges to vote in their favor?
VanderPOOPS who headed up this drive, never served in the armed forces—–yet, gays serve and put their lives on the line every day. I am sure he is against DADT,but he would accept their working and paying taxes.
MS Quittypants was in Iowa , and campaigned for our new Gov. elect. . and if she decides to run in 2012, these are the people she will expect to return the favor.
I am getting my signs ready
One of the grievances listed against the King in our Declaration of Independence was: “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” Just sayin’… beth.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
Ooops – forgot to include this one, too and also. b.
“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:”
Just a thought – but has anyone ever told $owah Payme that just because someone influential said something that sounds significant doesn’t automatically make it true? Yes, quotes can be inspirational and influential but she (or her ghostwriter(s)) use them as some sort of proof that her world view is infallible. Her ghostwriters/paid research staff) must have really burning the midnight oil googlin’ up these cherry picked quotes from impressive sounding figures.
But you know they’ve really started scraping the bottom of the barrel when they start quoting Mit Romney. Really????
I hear America praying too. We pray that she would shut up and go away.
I wish there was a ‘like’ button on this comment board because I’d give you 500 for that comment. 🙂
yep. fanned and faved and liked and sending hugs and kisses
yes we do.
as the rabbi prayed for the tsar: “God bless her and keep her…far away from us!”
Amen!
“Despite differences in the denomination you may belong to, if you love both God and country, I’ll be happy to pray with you too.”
Except for Muslims, of course.
Or Sikhs!
It is so obvious Mrs. Palin is incapable of even the smallest amount of research. Thanks for the link to the Witherspoon site.
Sarah Palin is dumb as a rock.
“Her calling is to be of service to others – “my neighbors, my community, my state, and eventually my country.” ”
Which is why she quit her job as governor to make the big bucks…and avoid ethics charges.
‘Sarah Palin “ad-libbed ‘so help me God’ every time she was sworn in as an elected official.’
Hey, he helped her to quit! Maybe she needs to pay closer attention to his help.
It seems only natural that the most divisive person would utilize religion to divide people. We must be religious and be religious her way. The kind of thinking that leads to religious wars.
Her comments on Kennedy are so shallow. I remember during the election our minister told the congregation not to vote for Kennedy because he was a Catholic. My parents walked out of church!
Palin always seems to operate from the “I’m better than you position”.
Lets hope her dissing Kennedy will be here downfall as many loved the man and his ideas.He IMO was the father of our space program
The John Witherspoon Society (Presbyterian Church USA) refutes most of Ms. Palin’s politics:
http://www.witherspoonsociety.org/about_us/john_witherspoon.htm
Before I go on to read any more of the above, I have to make a comment – something I just considered. I’m going to compare herself against Harry Potter for a moment. From the beginning of the HP books, we knew that Harry was the “chosen one” to take out Voldemort. However, the entire time, he was a reluctant chosen one. He only used the ego involved when it helped him defeat V. Whenever it would start to go to his head a bit, he would get brought back to reality, but overall, he had great humility. (I love the books and actually think I will do a full re-read since I’m still stuck at moms with the broken leg.)
Anyway… She Who Must Not Be Named is trying to become the Voldemort character in this fiasco. She claims to be a “Chosen One” and she fully embraces it. “God has a plan for a speck like her”? Seriously? Is she saying that, at 11, she thought she was destined for greatness? If that’s the case, why didn’t her lord give her a functioning brain? (BTW, full disclosure, I’m an atheist)
I know there has to be a certain amount of ego involved with running for office on all levels, self-promotion is key, but the stuff she comes out with is very rich, especially considering she QUIT her job as a leader AND is currently only temporarily employed (what do you call it when someone gives crappy speeches for a living, and not much else of substance?)
I don’t want to do too much of a comparison to her and HP, because it might demean HP, but that was just something I thought about and it struck me.
I’m also a huge Harry Potter fan. I don’t see Palin as Voldemort. She’s mean enough to be Umbridge but not organized enough in her thinking. I think she’s more like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia – narrow in their thinking, unwilling to accept anyone who is different than they are and convinced that their way is the only proper way to live. But that description also fits some of the wizarding families – the pure bloods like Bellatrix and Lucius. Well, like Bellatrix. Lucius, it turns out at least care more about his son than about some abstract ideas from Voldemort.
But I do definitely agree with you about how you see Harry. Humble to a fault, and so completely unlike Sarah who thinks she has all the answers and can do no wrong.
Is Rupert Murdoch Voldermort or the Koch Brothers et al?
She’s Bellatrix!
Alexis de Tocqueville is best known for his praise of American democracy and society; less well known, however, are later criticisms he made of both. Apparently he grew disillusioned of America in ways that echo down through today.
The Winter 2005 Wilson Quarterly describes “The Third Democracy: Tocqueville’s Views of America after 1840” by Aurelian Craiutu and Jeremy Jennings, in American Political Science Review (Aug. 2004):
In his letters to various American friends, never published in English translation… [there are] misgivings about “an emerging American imperialism, the excesses of American democracy, the decline of mores and the rise of lawlessness, the revolutionary fervor of American politics, poor political leadership, and the reckless spirit of American capitalism.”
The United States’ continuing expansion westward, Tocqueville wrote in 1852, revealed a troubling “spirit of conquest” and was “not a sign of good health for a people which already has more territories than it can fill.” Instead of softening human nature, as he’d argued it would in Democracy in America, America’s abundance seemed to be increasing material desires and the buccaneer spirit. In 1856, he expressed concern about “this race of anxious gamblers . . . which combines the passions and instincts of the savage with the tastes, needs, vigor, and vices of civilized men.”
The full article is available at the Wilson Quarterly site for a fee. I suppose $P didn’t want to let go of $2.95 in order to read it, eh ?
The full article is available at the Wilson Quarterly site for a fee. I suppose $P didn’t want to let go of $2.95 in order to read it, eh ?
I’m still not convinced the woman CAN read, let alone focus on something with which she automatically doesn’t agree and is clearly longer than can be readily fit onto a bumper sticker.
In 1856, he expressed concern about “this race of anxious gamblers . . . which combines the passions and instincts of the savage with the tastes, needs, vigor, and vices of civilized men.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
wow!
Thanks for sharing this, BuffaloGal!
Thanks again, AKM. It’s mind boggling to read this. I certainly appreciate the condensed version.
If this woman gets elected to anything that effects me I am moving to Canada. I guess I am doomed as a lapsed Methodist. I left the church because of all the in fighting . I think religion has killed more people than we know. As an Agnostic, I am afraid the government according to Palin makes me doomed? Without a religion I can’t have freedom?
Lincoln’s second inaugural address had 703 words, and 14 of them were God. Ahhhh, Michele Bachmann must of been talking to Palin (Bachmann commented on Obama not using the word “God” enough ….
Oh yeah? Well Miss Wasilla doesn’t use the word JESUS enough because if she did, she would be struck by lightening.
This is sort of an essay that I wrote in preparation for Chapter 7. —
FAITH is the confident belief or trust in a person, idea, or thing that is not based on proof.
— from Wikipedia
I’m going to take a couple leaps off the high diving board here to comment and speculate on Faith, primarily in regard to religion. Here’s my first Leap of Faith, in 3 parts:
1) I think we all need Faith to move us forward, but as most people have experienced, it doesn’t always predict the outcomes of our lives. It’s really part of our Belief System that starts when we are very young which, if we allow it, gets tweaked as we grow older. It helps us see the world in some sort of context. We like that because it contains our structure and our boundaries.
2) For many, Faith is imbedded in religion. You may have noticed that there are many religions in the world, even in America. Wow! So, what do many of them have in common? I think a lot of religions are taught, learned and ingrained in our very souls, all perhaps with the hope of an immortal life or salvation. Unfortunately, to get to that immortal life religions differ in their creeds and human expectations, thereby potentially creating a very prejudiced society between individual Beliefs. [It also creates a large number of hypocrites who don’t walk the talk!] Those prejudices have created, and still create, wanton malice.
3) To help remove some of the inherent prejudice in religions, the Founding Fathers decided to provide Americans the ability to CHOOSE their own religion – or none at all, thank you – and not entangle Church and State. Sadly, I don’t think it’s worked all that well (ahem!) and, as long as religious advocates keep fighting this concept, we can’t ever move closer to the peace desired by that freedom. There is no Freedom of Religion when people like $P keep mouthing off about what the President or any other politician must believe, or should and should not do based entirely on some religious law “passed down from their God”. Do you believe in Freedom of Religion or not? Do you believe in the Constitution or not?
Second leap, from a higher diving board:
Frankly, it isn’t a god, or gods, that makes a nation great. It’s motivated, hard-working, charitable people who guide us toward rational change. We shouldn’t discount altogether that their personal Faith may assist them along the way – but, my hope is that one creed stands out, that of “Treat others as you would be treated”. Therein lies political and personal justice and it encourages Faith in living together as a wholesome nation. Anything that supersedes that Golden Rule is suspect in my mind.
In the Texas state house, and actual JEW was slated to be the Speaker but the rest thought that because they had elected so many good Christians, that a Christian needs to lead them.
and so it goes…
a hearty and heartfelt AMEN.
The President says “so help me God”; there’s In God We Trust on our money; and we say that we are a nation “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Palin, the President does not say “so help me Evangelicals, Catholic, etc. Do you understand the difference?
Ministers used to be the most educated people in society. “And they had a captive audience once a week. Not only did they preach revolution, they also organized militias and fought in the war.” (What is she saying here?)
Onward CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!
Her history comes from the Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot. That is where this comes from.
jeez what a cheese head.
Hey, bubbles, ToesintheSand and I are cheese heads. We Wisconsin exiles know from Cheese Heads, and granny feckin’ fraud is No Cheese Head. just sayin’ 🙂
Nobody ever told whatzername that you can’t judge a book by its movie, eh? $he is such a… such a…such a… _ _ _ _ head!
oh dear. forgive me. i didn’t know. hmmm. lessee. that Sarah Palin is a dumkopf. also. too.
You got that right and I am still a cheese head and proud of it
Bingo!
OOps. That’s BINGO to Christian Soldiers.
Question: In all the video, stills, etc of Palin and her family, have they ever said grace before meals? (I refuse to watch Sarah Palin’s (Fake) Alaska, but I’ve seen a still of Willow shoving Piper’s face into the birthday cake. I’m wondering, since they can pray & eat Birthday cake for Molly, did they pray & eat birthday cake for Piper?)
I was prepared for this chapter (via The Washington Post) so I plan to post a little essay. But, I could not overlook this line:
“Ministers used to be the most educated people in society. ‘And they had a captive audience once a week. Not only did they preach revolution, they also organized militias and fought in the war.'”
I have wondered if she thought War, Government, Freedom, and Religion all went together like a Horse and Carriage. Let’s all sing it.
Do you suppose she has ever read The Scarlet Letter?
Only if it was made into a movie!
I doubt she was able to pay attention to the Cliff Notes version.
Demi Moore starred in one adaptation and rather infamously said that the changes to the story (such as the couple living happily ever after) wouldn’t be noticed since it wasn’t a book read by too many people.
“it wasn’t a book read by too many people.”
*sobs softly*
For what it’s worth, it was a book that I had to read in English class, sometime during high school.
I just looked, it’s still an assigned book in our school district. If it weren’t, I would assign it.
i read it in high school. my daughter read it in high school. millions read it in high school. Sarah Palin didn’t read that or anything else in high school.
I also too read it, and learned about Id’ing and following a color theme thru a book ( or movie) to foresee what was about to happen… so much more can be gleaned from a book by following the author’s clues rather than just reading the main story line….
I read it in high school – well, I was supposed to, but I didn’t like it so I kind of skimmed it. It was in an honor’s English class with a teacher who couldn’t teach it and the whole class was . . . sort of out of control, which was the reason most of us didn’t really read the book.
When my daughter had to read it in her English class, she liked it. So, I bought a copy and read it. It was better than I remembered, but certainly not one of my favorites. And I am partial to 19th century literature – just not that one.
But I’m quite sure that Sarah Palin never read it, or any other social commentary books of that period.
Religion, by its very nature (absolute truths) is Divisive, always has been, always will. That is why it is kept private and the government lets people handle snakes for God if they want.
Wonderful story in the New Zealand Herald questioning whether Palin is an “outdoors fraud”. It was read in its entirety on progressive talk radio this morning in Portland:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/television/news/article.cfm?c_id=339&objectid=10692930
The more I read about palin, the more I realize how dangerous she really is.
Her thoughts, that influence so many of her followers, are off the cuff, not well researched and not much thought behind them, they are superficial at best.
When I read about what she said about POTUS Kennedy and her remarks about religion, it showed so many of her failings. I was alive at the time, 7 years old, so I did not have opinions, but I heard what was being said. I am a Catholic and I remember the hostility towards Kennedy and Catholicism.
What he said then is so pertinent now. It was a religious issue and in many ways, it reminds me of what we are dealing with today.It amazes me what she took to be the important that he dismissed religion as a private issue.
Well sarah, it is a private issue. Always has and always should be, until now. POTUS Kennedy was right then and would be today.The prevailing sentiment was that as a Catholic, Kennedy could not serve as POTUS because his actions, thoughts etc would be dictated by the Pope.
This issue of the right to practice one’s religion should be just that. A private decision. It HAS to remain separate from ones ability to govern or make public policy.
What palin and her cohorts, he religious right etc. are now saying what was said in the 60’s, your religious preferences dictate how you will vote. Their exclusionary methods are narrowing the field to only Evangelical Christians, who as we know are the ‘chosen’ people by the Constitution to make the laws.
I think it is very important to pay close attention to this. The tea party is looking for a few good Christians only. Not good conservatives, but Christians.
Look to the Texas legislature*. They are willing to lose a good leader, not because he is not conservative enough, but because he is Jewish.
(http://juanitajean.com/2010/12/06/and-we-have-another-date/) This should scare all of us. Because if we are not observant and do not speak out loud enough, the so called evangelical Christians will try and make this a christian country. And I know that to be ‘christian’ will not be enough. You will need to be an evangelical christian. Jews. atheists, Methodists, Catholics anybody not ‘their’ kind of christian, Need Not Apply.
And Romney might have to make that same speech about his religion. Most view Mormonism as strange.
I am not a believer in any gods, a creative loving energy, yes, and though I think all religion is strange, Mormonism with it’s sacred underwear and that book that predicts the discovery of America, is very strange!
Palin and her religious views are very scary. I wish that we were still in the state of mind that we were when JFK gave that speech. He was reassuring people that he would respect that separation of church and state, just as we all expected. We need that attitude again. It should not even be a topic of discussion, this identification of one’s religious beliefs, affiliation or lack thereof. It shouldn’t matter.
Isn’t there some movement out there that preaches we should become a theocracy and of course, they would be the ones to say which religious views are the right ones? Is that the Seven Mountain folks, or someone else?
Christians Dominionists, Seven Mountain strategy for conquering the world. See Leah Burton’s blog, God’s Own Party.
That is disgusting….baloney ….seven mountains of baloney…! I appreciate and see the wisdom of: Separation of Church and State….! ALWAYS..!
I agree and have had those same thoughts for over 2 years
yes anyone can embrace religion…on their own terms, their choice…but not to incorporate a single religious view into a body that governs all people here in this melting pot we call the United States. if she wants that, then move to a country whose ethnic population are also their beliefs.
yeah. Afghanistan would be perfect. she can peddle her religious beliefs and doctrines to the people there and become a martyr and be called Sarah the Savior of Wasilla.
She could move to Uganda. Sounds like she’d fit right in. But she can only go if she takes a bunch of her fellow fundies with her – and they promise not to come back.
And take beck & limbaugh & hannity & Murdoch, as well…oh yes…!
So, as long as people believe in HER God, she’ll pray with them, no matter the denomination. Other religions’ gods don’t count. She shouts, “My God is better than your god!”
Religion is the great divider. People who believe, want to think there is a greater power running things, to whom we ALL must genuflect and pray. Problem is, that instead of having one of these, there are several, and according to humans, they have differing dogmata which are incompatible. In my humble opinion, the basic tenets are completely compatible, it’s the upper layers that get skewed.
Why can’t we just have one “Supreme Being” and let people either have faith or not? I never understood religion’s grasp on people. It never grasped me. My mother recently described me as an Atheist as a child. That’s a little extreme, but she saw it when I was very young. I thought I just didn’t want to go to Catechism classes.
Fundamentalist Believers HAVE to believe their version of God and what HE wants is the absolute truth of the Universe, or what do they have? So of course it is divisive by its very nature.
Then of course, because most Americans claim to be Christians though they never set foot in a church, the Fundies claim America should look like their version.
She must think she has hit pay dirt now, claiming that wikileaks disrupted her credit card accounts. Portrayed as a personal attack. So she had to mention “anti American”, although Assange isn’t American, and she had to get in a few references to the first amendment, as though Australians should be caring about that. She forgot to mention the troops, though.
The day before that, when I learned that Elizabeth Edwards had died, it occurred to me that Palin would try to capitalize on that, sure enough, she even misspelled Edwards’ name, trying to get some daily headlines from the passing of Edwards.
There is nothing she won’t do or say to get attention.
And, were Palin the deceased, she would never have gotten the wonderful writings about her life as did Elizabeth Edwards. Mrs. Edwards was well educated – smart – well written and someone who actually wrote her last book – an attorney by trade – held a positive attitude in spite of what all she went through – the reports by many that said she was a wonderful mother and someone who held forgiveness in her heart for the good of her remaining children.
Palin in no way has the kind of depth to her soul as did Mrs. Edwards.
Right you are despite what Mr palin tries to claim
Dear whatzername-
This is an intervention dear. It is obvious now that your habit of huffing history imperils your livilhood (declining book sales ) and likely your interpersonal relationships and community standing.
I urge you to check into rehab immediately.
Romanticizing de Toqueville’s sojourn through America during the Second Great Awakening without providing context :
“A romantic construction of Tocqueville supposes that voluntary groups spring up de novo from below, created by individuals in small geographic areas who spontaneously decide to associate to get things done “outside of” government and politics. Supposedly this is what Alexis de Tocqueville saw in early national America. But local spontaneity wasn’t all that was going on back then. True, once local villages and towns passed a threshold of 200 to 400 families apiece, voluntary associations tended to emerge, especially if there were locally resident business people and professionals. But research on America in the early 1800s shows that religious and political factors also stimulated the growth of voluntary groups. In a country with no official church and competing religious denominations, the Second Great Awakening spread ideas about personal initiative and moral duty to the community. In addition, the American Revolution, and the subsequent organization of competitive national and state elections under the Constitution of 1789, triggered the founding of newspapers and the formation of local and translocal voluntary associations much faster and more extensively than just nascent town formation can explain. The openness of the U.S. Congress and state legislatures to organized petition drives, the remarkable spread of public schooling, and the establishment of U.S. post offices in every little hamlet were also vital enabling factors, grounded in the very institutional core of the early U.S. state. (As a nobleman critical of the centralized bureaucratic state of contemporary post-revolutionary France, Tocqueville naturally riveted on the absence of a bureaucratic state in early America. He briefly acknowledged but did not emphasize the effects of early American government on the associations of civic society.) ”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/assoc/25-cnt2.html
has already been done to the death by your right wing suppliers hon. Maybe you’d best go back to them and demand fresh supplies of horsepunky to peddle and huff yourself…? That is, if you are unable and unwilling to do what is best for yourself and “man up ” to your addiction to snippets of self serving “history”…
And while we are on the subject, since our gents here are too polite and I’m not, I’d like to encourage you to see a doctor about your problem with premature ejaculation , specifically the twittery thingy…You kknow, “man up” to the problem and seek help…?
Also too, even then , I think you will have hard time with reality hon… if you manage to get sober…
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_royal_we
“The truth, though, is that “the American people” don’t have opinions or beliefs or judgments. Each one of us does, and subsets of us share some things in common, but the idea of a collective national will is a fantasy. ”
And encourage you to stay in touch with professional help as you transition back into society.
Dearest AKM-
I have stood through this side by side with you- as a gesture of solidarity. I’m getting worn out.
I know you must be beyond worn out…
I’ll hang right here til you finish this project and then I will hang my seasonal lights …
We talk a lot about the light and dark here. I’ve thought a lot about the stone cold dark of the “heart” on these pages you are working through .
I’ve worried some that by diverting our attention in the attempt to put out the fires her flaming britches have spread across the landscape
or the sheer magnitude of horsepunky she generates rising above our nostrils and suffocating us all that whatzername might prevail by default.
It has been TRULY heartening to see and read reviews of this waste of a forest pointing to a growing disenchantment with her shallow servants-heart across an ever widening group of folks…
I’ll really enjoy hanging my lights when it’s done and I’m going to hang a special jewelled starnd in my front window for you… 🙂
and a STRAND as well… 🙂
hanging a strand of fairy lights for AKM. what a fantastic idea.
i have big ficus tree in my living room that i call the jubilee tree. i light the tree with round Chinese multicolored bulbs for special occasions and this dear Pi is a worthy effort by our sweet leader. let there be lights!!
Count thatcrowfamily in!
Chanukah ends tonight as soon as it is dark enough to see three stars. This is the first time in 21 years that LittleBird and I have spent the whole 8 day festival of lights apart, but she finishes her exams tomorrow and will be home this weekend. 🙂
We’ve planned a latke~jelly donut~dreidel~movie~ indulgence for the weekend, but won’t light another menorah until next Chanukah.
A 9 foot tall potted Norfolk Island Pine moved inside from the front porch since we’ve had some freezing nights here. It’ll be much jollier festooned with seashells, sand-dollars, and fairy lights in honor of Our AKM. What a lovely way to enhance the winter holiday season! (We could share photos of AKM’s lights on the forum,eh?)
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
Oh Pi – you are so good – right up there with AKM with your wit and witticisms! You two continually amaze me with how well you handle all things Palin (I’m including Victoria in that exalted list as well) and that’s why you all are so beloved!
On another note – AKM – have you heard from our newly-adopted Clan McFarlane from the D.C. Rally? They indicated that they would be joining up on The Mudflats. If so, would love to make contact with them.
Thank you….that was beautiful …
What a horrible person she is.
I’m ROFL at this site: http://www.tinadupuy.com/column/sarah-palin-full-time-professional-duelist/
“During the same appearance in which she slammed MacFarlane, Palin also pronounced to O’Reilly, “Let’s not call each other names because it invalidates what our arguments are all about.”
Uh huh.
This is the same woman who refers to her critics as “jerks.” Palin called CBS-affiliates “corrupt bastards” in the same week she called reporters “impotent and limp and gutless.” She called the McCain campaign’s Steve Schmidt a liar and in her book said he was “rotund.” She called journalist Joe McGinniss a “pervert” and implied he was a peeping tom. She labeled feminists as a “cackle of rads.” She blasted Alaska bloggers as “bored, anonymous and pathetic.” She deemed David Letterman “sexually perverted” after accusing him of making a rape joke about her then 14-year-old daughter. And don’t forget when she accused her opponent/enemy of “palling around with terrorists” and still refers to him as “Barack Hussein.”
LOL! That was a good read. 73 people on her flame-war enemies’ list. And growing.
It’s really about time someone summarized all of those personal attacks she makes in order to get publicity. Then someone should make a list about the people she’s idolized….the ex almost miss USA, that talk show hostess that said the N word over and over, Joe Miller, etc Ie, people she supports, people she attacks. Those lists, contrasted, would be illuminating.
you can email her and suggest more names – she even answers back sometimes.
I am just struck by the fact that she can boldly state that there is no morality without religion. While I was raised Jewish, it was more cultural and was background to my family’s belief system…as it is now. I now know that my parents are athiests, as am I. I have a stronger moral compass than this Butcher of Words and Logic, and for her to state this nonsense about MY morality (or lack thereof) is inexcusable. What’s so much worse is that so many Americans believe as she does. Truth told, this country is full of hypocritical idiots, and I am amazed everyday that it can even tie it’s own shoes. Now I need a hot shower.
The Buddhists do not believe in any gods, but they do believe that every life is equally valuable and they don’t believe in taking any life. Love everyone and Tell the Truth. That is what the enlightened ones tell us, including Jesus. I will take Buddhism, but thanks anyway, Twitler.
I think more people need to realize that religion is personal and just because someone doesn’t believe and act like they do they aren’t necessarily wrong or bad.
I have to drive by a church every morning that has a sign that says “If there is a hypocrite between you and church, that hypocrite is closer to God than you.” Before they changed the sign to that it said “Love thy neighbor.” There are days when I truly fear the future and where our society is heading.
Agreed. Raised Catholic, now atheist/agnostic. My moral compass is much stronger than any I ever encountered in religious circles, and certainly well above the Caribu Snooki! I do what is right regardless of some kind of reward/punishment scenario — simply because it is right!
You do not have to be religious to be moral.Some of the most moral people I know belong to no church.They have their own beliefs and treat others as they would want to be treated.Does palin not get that fact?Is she treating others as she wished to be treated? I think she feels if she is trashed her followers will feel sorry for her and defend her all the more
Whew! I thought that I would never get through your synopsis, I don’t know how YOU got through that chapter.
She seems to never take into account the climate and culture of the times. Does she honestly believe that JFK would still have gotten elected if he didn’t make it clear that the Pope would not be the one to call the shots? What a strange journey we have been on to go from a basically Protestant nation that knew that it didn’t want to be ruled by the Catholic Pope by way of JFK to a whole political party full of religiously ruled people.
Her ghost writer doesn’t provide any quotes from Washington that says that he hoped to see America ever to become more liberal over time… What about that, Ms. Righty Palin?
And John Adams? Provided the first test of the first amendment to the Constitution when he tried to use “revenge” to silence the Press for printing articles against him..(no doubt Palin would approve).
… for 2 years the Sedition Act through reporters in jail just for what they wrote about Adams, and if she thinks today’s press is bad, she should check out some of those papers! The words that they called leaders were downright vicious. ( I wonder how she reconciles these actions with being a “journalism major?”)
Did Calvin Coolidge meet Thomas Jefferson? How would he know where Jefferson got his ideas?
And yes, the founders were mostly Enlightened Deists that believed in the SEPARATION of Church and State. Because they SAW what religion mixed up with Religion can do to both.
Sheesh. This woman is hardly a critical thinker, is she?
Threw* people in jail not Through …. oopsy.
Did Sarah ever acknowledge anywhere the reason that the British settlers / pilgrims even came to this continent? The why of it?
I can’t prove this,but somewhere in the deepest recesses of Fake Noise Channels bowels,is a small cave where Quitty gets to screen short films from the anti-Christ-Brother Glen Beck. This must be where she finds her quaint notions of what was and what will invariably be. As for Ms Witherspoon. I’d be more than happy to worship her if I was about 30 years younger and dumber and my poor aching back wasn’t poor or aching. See Ms Quittypants I,too,can be superficial. I just don’t have people sending me their hard earned pesos for nothing.
Hah–now we know! Sarah is a first class graduate of Beck U…$79.95 in monthly installments. Perhaps we are now being treated to her Beck U degree among the pages of this ungodly piece of published work.
This was a painful installment. I would love to see Miss Sarah and Bill Maher in an iron cage debate on the subject of religion.
She left out so many of my favorite religious icons. David Koresh, Jim Jones, Charles Manson….I could go on and on but I digress.
She just doesn’t get it when it comes to the separation of church and state. I’m starting to think her master plan is to convert to Mormonism, team up with Mitt, and bring Glen Beck in as her Chief of Staff.
2012? The Mayan calendar makes more sense every day.
She thinks the government should support Faith. Whose faith? And why? If their God is so powerful and their faith so strong, why do they need government?
And just what IS her faith?
Any mention of the hippy socialist Jesus guy?
Nope.
Just her God, made in her image.
Besides Witherspoon (Presbyterian), most of the Founding Fathers were Unitarians- no Trinity, but God/Son/Spirit as one. And a strong emphasis on reason and acceptance.
Hmmm…guess Palin didn’t take a Religion survey course during her five-year college career. Or early American History, either.
CO almost native, McQuittyPants didn’t take courses in writing either. Or critical thinking, or leadership skills, or public speaking, or parenting, or basic reading. Or abstinence……
I would pay to sele of wits.e that iron cage match. Of course, she’d go unarmed to a battle of wits.
I feel my blood pressure rising just reading your summary, I can’t imagine actually reading her book! I don’t know how you do it, but I am thankful that you do.
Thank you also to all who post their thoughtful comments and add links regarding this drivel.
This woman makes me sick – I just can’t understand how supposed “Christians” can justify their worship of money over people. The disconnect between what they are saying and what they supposedly base their beliefs on is incredible.
It’s simple really. Christianity is based on the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we may be forgiven our sins. He took them on. How convenient a religion it is that asks nothing of its believers. We can do whatever we want, say whatever we want and all we have to do is ask forgiveness on our death bed, receive that forgiveness and be admitted to heaven. This is why, having been raised in the Baptist church, I don’t fancy myself a “religious” person. I have my faith and I try to do right by other people. My mother, a holy rollin’ Bible thumpin evangelical is one of the meanest people I know.
That’s not how my Christian religion works. Jesus showed us the way, but we’re responsible for following him. And we can’t just ask forgiveness at the last moment and get into heaven. Nope. We gotta follow Jesus to the best of our ability right here.
I agree. It is not easy- we must do unto others as we would like them to do unto us. Feed the poor, clothe the needy, take care of the sick- accept and embrace those who are different…
I’m a fan of the comedian Eddie Izzard, and I heard him once on a radio interview say that it seemed to him that every teaching in the Bible boiled down to the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have others so unto you.
I’m with you, tinydancer: I’m faithful but not religious. When I do meet religious people who are respectful of others and truly try to live their faith … I’m humbled and greatly impressed.
Sarah makes me itch.
Right you are CO almost native that has always been my creed to follow
Conservatives seem to think ya can,like the c street people the tell God they are sorry so that makes it all good.
tiny dancer, I’m sorry for your negative experience with a church and religion, but that’s not at all what I’ve experienced in any of the churches where I’ve been a member. The message I’ve always heard is that we should love one another and care for all. Yes, there is the grace of forgiveness, but that’s not license to go out and do whatever you want. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
for the love of money is at the root of all evil
History whether it be the founding fathers, the history of the planet or something that happened yesterday is something that she just doesn’t understand or care to be accurate about. Her text on page 198 about Washington and the “so help me god” statement has been proven false over and over and over again – most resently in Slate on line magazine. But then that is the Palin way – lie the same lie over again and again and maybe somebody will start to believe it is true. I can imagine a book in the future about the history of Palin, it would be 1 page and in the very center of the page would be one word – idiot-
Thank you AKM for this detailed review. As mentioned before, I have only been reading the red parts and it has been quite enough. I think you should post some of these posts on Amazon for everyone to see what a pile of junk this so-called book is!
O—M—G—!!! I had to speed read your condensed version to keep from spewing !!! There is just SO much WRONG here !!! Page 190… did she get this minister in robes from the movie “The Patriot” ?? page 189 – Ministrers use to be the most educated peopel.. oh yes,, they also brought us witchcraft trials, the Inquisition, and the slaughter and slavery of people who did not believe as they did…the Crusades, the conquest of the Americas, the wars of the Reformation, YUP ! I want to be a Christian Zealot so I can kill and maim those whose don’t believe as I think they should…GGAAAKKKK !!
Hear, hear . . .
Surely you wouldn’t hold a few peccadilloes against men of the cloth? After her Highness,we are all slightly imperfect. It takes more than this to make me gag. Not much more.
OMG, The Patriot! I thought the same thing.
LMAO – While I totally agree that she stole the minister in robes from “The Patriot”, she might have been referring to Rev. Peter Muhlenberg. (Though I think knowing Palin she was just lucky.)
Peter Muhlenberg was a Lutheran minister in VA and member of the House of Burgesses until joining the Continental Army in January 1776 (though some reports say late 1775). It was during January 1776 that he supposedly removed his clerical robes revealing his military uniform and proceeded to enlist members of his congregation to join him in the army. After the war he became active in politics in PA and was elected to the 1st Congress as a representative from PA. Eventually he would become a senator from PA, however, he only served 4 months as a senator before leaving office.
So, ” . . . he only served 4 months as a senator before leaving office,” eh? Seems appropriate that Sarah or her ghostwriter alluded to another quitter.
I was going to make a comparison but figured you guys would catch it.
I think the year he resigned President Jefferson appointed him for a position involving tax money or customs in Philly but I can’t recall at the exact position.
I think you’re right. John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister, a member of the Church of Scotland before he moved to the colonies to become President of Princeton. He believed in many of the advanced ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment, including no conflict between faith and reason, and the importance of common sense in making decisions- he is best known as a proponent of the Common Sense Philosophy. Although he had strong convictions, Witherspoon never protected Princeton students from exposure to ideas he didn’t agree with- his primary emphasis was there should be a well-educated clergy, who could understand contending points of view and then use persuasive reasoning to come to a proper conclusion.
And Witherspoon was able to unite the sharply divided Presbyterian factions, to support Princeton.
Witherspoon was exactly the kind of minister Palin modeled herself after 😉
But most importantly, he is Reese’s ancestor! Don’t forget that part!
Geez,
I pass the school everyday (Harpeth Hall) where Reese’s Mom teaches here in Nashville – does that make me connected to the Founders? YIPEE – this is like Six Degrees of Founding Fathers or somethin’……
Those ministers – priests- of the 14th and 15th centuries also manipulated what was in the Bible precisely because ordinary people couldn’t read it for themselves. Once they started having translations in their own languages, they started to see that they had been lied to for the benefit of the priests and we eventually ended up with the Reformation.
The path that Palin and people like her seem to be on would take us back to the days of having someone tell us what we should believe because we can’t read it and understand it on our own. And her version just doesn’t line up with any of my Bible studies.
my Bible study either…
They are preaching to the illiterate that’s why – ignorant and illiterate – just like what she did to the Native Alaskans when we elected her Governor. Now we feel used because we were stepping stones to get involved in national politices. Sarah Palin is not Alaska and Alaska is not her’s.
I think we are being introduced to “Sarah Palin’s America.” (Voter discretion advised.)
Personally, I hope that NEVER turns into a Real reality show!
We’ve already had a preview of that in the writing of Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, George Orwell, etc.
Hell, we already saw what someone of her ilk can do when given the opportunity. Joe McCarthy, anyone?
Dagian, how about Cohen, McCarthy’s aid? He was worse than McCarthy.
I am wondering if the editors at her publishing company even read this crap. Surely, Mrs. Palin’s contract did not give her right of refusal to edit? I don’t know about standard publishing contracts, and hope someone does.
How can all this get by an editor at this level? The blatant plagiarism is enough to sicken me, let alone the bloated prose that she would be unable to write on her own. It is easy to see where the ghost writer stepped in, because of the stunning passages that actually make sense. (I don’t like them, but they are readable.)
I have found that many Evangelicals are quite tolerant of my denominational beliefs. They might not agree with my Liberal Episcopal self, but we can sit and discuss. We can find common ground.
That is what is important in this country. Common ground. However, Mrs. Palin and her ilk seem to have no interest in this.
Yep, Palin and her ilk do seem to be intolerant of tolerance.
“I am wondering if the editors at her publishing company even read this crap.”
They must be receiving hazard pay if they try to parse this steaming stew of slop.
I still think they all gave up LONG ago and are simply drinking themselves blind. Or drawing the short straw to see who will be recognized as the lead editor behind this steaming pile in the roadway.
How much money and drink to own an editor’s soul? Maybe it’s a lease, rather than a rent-to-own option.
Generally speaking, one of the first thing publishers do is put a book through a good edit, trying hard to “preserve the author’s voice” while making the book readable and correcting for spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. After that the manuscript is sent back to the author for comments and changes. Authors frequently disagree with changes suggested by editors, so often these are discussed and sometimes compromises are reached, at which point the changes are incorporated into the manuscript. And sometimes there’s more than one round of this kind of editing/discussion, etc, with an editor having another look at the final product. Finally, the manuscript is typeset, then sent off to be printed.
This is just a rough outline of the process. While publishers want to produce a good product, there has been a lot of skimping/cost-cutting over the last several years (I have purchased books that were badly in need of editing). And I strongly suspect that if a publisher thinks the book is going to make them a boatload of money no matter what, they will be more accommodating to the author’s opinions of how the book should read than what the editors think. I do believe this could be the case with Scarah’s tome.
And bottom line, publishers will try to spend as little as possible to get a book through all these steps.
So Scarah’s barely readable book is most likely a combination of the above. They let her have her say with minimal editing, knowing her book would sell to her devoted followers anyhow, and perhaps guessing that most of the devotees wouldn’t even catch the mistakes and lack of editing.
Thank you! I had no idea.
Today Keith Olberman stated that her book sales have plummeted. Like her fake show. Going Rogue ain’t going anywhere. (Thank God)
“plummeted.” up or down? I haven’t been paying attention to that former beauty queen especially after she didn’t take care of the Ethics in Alaska as she promised she would when she ran for Governer of Alaska. She gave Alaskan’s hope, then she let us down when she quit!
… Most of her devotees wouldn’t even catch the mistakes and lack of editing.
Or even reading it at all?
How can her followers be so different from us..??????? I mean we ALL have troubles of one sort or another…..I just have difficulty figuring out how people can shun information….
I’m still amazed & will never understand….
People will and always have shunned information which frightens them, threatens to rattle a long held idea or belief, or necessitates a true shift in worldview…
It is very human.
It is sad but it is very human.
It’s not fun to have the ground shift beneath your feet . Denial that it has does not change that it has but it does go a long ways toward getting through a tough time for certain types of folks…
I am so grateful to you, AKM. I love books, treasure books as a general rule, and have thousands of my own (I know, I know, but to my husband’s dismay, I am not exaggerating). That said, if I were reading this piece of tripe, I would not have been able to restrain myself as admirably as you have. I would also have thrown it across the room, but I might have tread upon it and torn it into tiny little bits. That hurts even to contemplate – it is a book, after all.
Glad you are not reading on a Kindle or Kindle-like device.
Take care of yourself. Be kind and give yourself a treat. Sarah is in her element now, and the risk of injury is great. Brain cells could collapse.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the gracious, magnanimous woman you are. Without you, the rest of us would just have to remain in the darkness regarding what Palin is ranting about. Few of us have the stamina you do, and of those, even fewer have the courage to slog through this fetid pile of moose pooh (no offense, Brian, there’s moose pooh, and then there’s Palin-moose pooh – you know, the pretend but truly stinky kind).
Only on Mudflats could I expect to find information on the differences to be found in Moose Pooh! I must say that it is a refreshing distraction from Quittypants’ neuroses vis a vis religion, liberty and hackers “out to get her”. Great thanks for your insights ks sunflower. I truly appreciate your efforts.
‘so help me God, or God Bless America etc’ can be interpreted to refer to the God of ANY faith, not just Christianity. The Ten Commandments on the other hand are specific to a certain religion. Oh but wait, you mean there are other faiths beside Christianity?? GOD, this woman is insufferable. Hope you didn’t damage anything throwing that book across your room. I would have tossed it into the fireplace by now.
Thank you for pointing out this point. Hopefully Sarah or one of her minions will be reading these posts and might learn a thing or two (I would say “a thing or two or three, but that’s asking a heck of a lot from people with their particular mindset). I can’t quite understand how Sarah could have survived into middle-age with such a narrow philosophical perspective. Talk about having a concrete mentality! Her head must be filled with granite – heavy and thick solid granite. Her God is so limited, it is amazing He built such a magnificent and diverse world.
“Her God is so limited”. And THAT is EXACTLY why I have such a problem with dogmatic religions. How can you limit the unknowable power of the universe with tiny print in a big book? How can you claim to ‘know’ this power’s mind or intent? I find ‘free thinking’ to be the most respectful of the power of god in that it does not limit the vastness of spirit to one cultural iteration or another.
Very well said ks sunflower and overthemoon! I cannot believe in a religion that excludes others. Being created equal in the eyes of “God” (however you define him/she/it… higher power?Nature’s God?) and the freedoms granted Americans by the crafters of the Declaration of Independence just seem like darn good starting points if one is seeking harmony among people. Isn’t that why they/we (foundingfathers according to Palin ) came here in the first place – well, that and cod.
Palin’s only game is her divisiveness. No one would pay any attention to her, right or left, if she stopped being a pain/idiot/pitbull. Interesting how her rise to fame puts her at odds with the most basic values of religion and democracy. Most people couldn’t deal with this much incongruence. I keep watching because I’m so shocked and outraged. I’m trying to ease off because that’s what is giving her more power, and it makes me tense. But I still love The Mudflats and sooo appreciate the humor! I liked the Kennedy article too. I feel a little more balanced when I come here. Thank you all!
Considering the ” under god….” part of “one nation under god” was inserted into the pledge in the 50’s as a show against the “godless” communists during the McCarthy reign of terror of this country…
Irritating, isn’t it?
“…One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
THAT has a nice ring to it.
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America. As published that year in a magazine called The Youth’s Companion it said, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands—one Nation indivisible—with liberty and justice for all.” Later these words were changed three times to write the pledge as it is today. The most controversial change came in 1954, when Congressman Louis Rabaut suggested adding the words “under God” to the pledge. Opponents said the change would violate the separation of church and state. Congress, however, voted to approve the change, and children across America now begin each school day by pledging allegiance to “one Nation under God.”
And, “In God We Trust” was first used on coins starting in 1864, and it was officially codified as our national motto in 1956 (from Wiki–pedia, not leaks!!)
So, our founding fathers are being smeared again by SP.
And, having just looked up the “so help me God” thing, it is NOT REQUIRED to be said by the President during his oath. It IS part of the oath for some federal offices, such as judges, but it MAY BE OMITTED if the person taking the oath has a personal or religious objection to it.
Thus, there is NO EVIDENCE, Ms. Sarah Smartypants, that the phrases “under God”, “In God We Trust”, or “so help me God”, prove that “the Founders understood our political freedom as resting on the indispensable support of religious faith.”
NO NO NO you moron, the founding fathers took great pains to enSURE that the free and uncoerced practice or non-practice of “religious faith” was protected by the government–we the people.
In other words, again, Sarah, you have it bass-ackwards. As usual.
Yes, under God was added in 1954, the year of my birth, when godless communism was the “enemy within” as well as elsewhere. I skip those words when I recite the pledge.
I think it’s the law now where everyone is suppose to skip that “under God” part of the pledge – something from the 1990’s legislation.
Well Ok then. I’m getting warmed up to the idea of going back to the original constiution, the original pledge of allegiance, and all that. Back to where we understood the dangers of a tyrannical church state.
There are no other faiths, just other denominations.
Wonder what denominations the McCain staffers were since none of them were good enough to pray with.
I think they smelled bullshit when she was trying to be all Religious for the benefit of the press corps and other observers. She had to stand out as the one true Conservative Christian Republican in the sea of pretenders.
It doesn’t seem to sink in to her that the Ten Commandments were given to -gasp! – Jews! Not Christians and Jesus was a Jew and worshipped as a Jew. Islam revers Abraham and until the radical Islamists took over the conversation, Islam would respect “people of the book”. It’s sad that so much of the world is dedicating itself to hatred and division and the quitter is leading much of the charge here in the US.
Whenever I hear about a 10 commandments fight in the news, I think that the people who want to post the 10 Commandments haven’t got a clue that they would have been given in Hebrew. Would they still want them if a judge said they could be posted exactly as original?
Even the “modern” version doesn’t jibe so well with the Constitution, despite their claims that our laws were based on the bible:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/08/are-the-ten-commandments-really-the-basis-for-our-laws/
Thank you, so much for mentioning that…..
I agree, PA in MA, Palin’s openness to all “denominations” really shows her view of who can be considered an American, in her mind, and who never will.
By the way, the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament are specific to not one but two religions: Christianity and Judaism. Not criticizing you, just pointing it out.
She’s a bully and a con…and games the system to her advantage…I question that status as a
judge to criticize ANYbody…ESPECIALLY their patriotism and religion.
Separation of Church and State…. It’s a beautiful, American thing…
It’s very sad for me to say that Sarah Palin grew up in the state of Alaska, where the norm of politicians was/(is) to be a “bully and a con”. I voted for her as Governor because she promised to challenge those unethical attitudes. Now the same type of people, DA’s, still refer to her as the “Governor of Alaska” – she quit before her term was up. She’s a big, big problem for Americans who believe in justice and equality. Please don’t take her seriously.
Man,
Thank you – I could NEVER take the Snowbilly Grifter serious – I’ve been personally INSULTED and APPALLED since she first opened her mouth on the national stage.
OMG AKM – How have you managed to read that tripe day after day? I’ve just now finished hours of reading your postings from the beginning, as I’ve been out of commission for a couple of weeks and had not kept up. All I can say is that I thank the God that I worship (which doesn’t seem to be the same one that Sarah follows), that there are people who are finally waking up and speaking up against her in the mainstream media. I caught the article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend where she clearly lays out her uncles’ beliefs and actions versus how Palin interprets them. I had a great chuckle during the night as I read Aaron Sorkin’s opinion of Sarah and The Learning Channel. MSNBC is on as I type this and someone is talking of her exclusive interview with Time magazine – I’m so glad I did not renew my suscription recently!
Thank you for the fabulous and funny reporting on that book – so that the rest of us don’t have to read it.
Stay sane!
hey, mz greatgranny2c…
could you one more time, pretty please, send me an email?
i opened the last one on someone else’s computer and can’t find it anywhere on mine.
luv ya to pieces (and mr gg2c, also and too there)
Message on its way – check your box! Luv ya 2!
Great granny i am sorry to hear that you have been ill. i tried to reach you earlier by phone. look out for an E-card from me. love you sweetie.
I’m really glad that I don’t have to waste my hard earned $ to buy TDB.
Great,
I started late to the party here at Mudflats as well. I spent hours one day and posted my thoughts, many days AFTER the threads appeared.
I just love this blog and all the posters – AKM is my new heroine for taking this task – I know I could not read the garbage written by the imbecilic Snowbilly Grifter.
I’m at a loss for words………
I agree!
NOBODY EXPECTS THE ALASKAN INQUISITION!
No, wait! That was the Spanish Inquisition – and it was a different Palin.
Nope, I think my garlic necklace may be most appropriate for chapter 8.
OK, had to stop after the Kennedy slams and insert this from JFK’s niece regarding Palin’s “analysis” of Kennedy’s speech:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306536.html
Thank you for the link, Pat in MA. That was a beautifully expressed defense and explanation of JFK’s purpose and belief. People need to reminded of that speech, its context and its relationship to our political heritage. I really appreciated reading it, thanks.
Excellent Rebuttal.
thanks for that. sarah swipes at our “liberal lions” are pathetic. how she can even write about people who have accomplished so much more than she with such judgment…. ohhhhh, it burns. this piece by jfk’s niece assuages things, though, thanks.
You’re welcome, Sarah’s crap really struck a nerve – I’ve lived in MA pretty much all my life (brief stints in NH and ME) and though the Kennedys were far from perfect they accomplished great things for the state of MA and our country.
Mudpups,
As a lifelong bookworm, I must say that if someone handed me this book, it would be BURNED. Yeah, I said it, I would BURN this book. Gawd, this fewl is a moronic imbecile.
I remember reading that Sarah Palin’s mother was Catholic and that at one time the children were, but I don’t know how she can claim to know all of what Roman Catholics believe and know that Sen. Kennedy was taking positions at odds with his faith. All major religions have a gamut of belief, with individuals positioned somewhere in the range. No one can possibly know the extent to which one lives out one’s beliefs, or is motivated by them. It is currently fashionable (and I assume this is what Gov. Palin means) to think that Catholics are mostly motivated by the abortion issue. However, that is only one of an infinite number of moral dilemmas that people of faith sift through each day. Catholics are supposed to follow seven works of mercy — feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, care for the ill, bury the dead, shelter the homeless. Sen. Kennedy did pretty well in his work on behalf of those groups. Perhaps Gov. Palin could share with the world all the “required” tenets of her denomination.
very nice. Thanks for the reminders. If indeed we were to inject our beliefs into our politics, these tenets would be a good place to start. In fact…why aren’t more ‘Christians’ democrats? Those tenets are fairly similar to the Democratic Platform……
…but I don’t know how she can claim to know all of what Roman Catholics believe and know that Sen. Kennedy was taking positions at odds with his faith.
Reading between the lines, I took this to mean that this about him supporting a woman’s right to choose. Nothing else. Since the Catholic church doesn’t support abortion, and this is such a huge issue for her, it is likely to be the only thing that she was talking about.
kate, McQuittyPants IS doing those things…..or pretending to anyway. She’s headed off to Haiti with Franklin Graham this weekend.
So now…we have a fake reality show, a fake hunter and gatherer, a fake fisherman/woman/kids, a fake leader, a fake writer, a fake parent and a fake reader.
Those poor people in Haiti..getting duped by the two biggest shysters since Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. I think she’s going to REALLY REALLY know how to spell Haiti. She wants to form her own country with Glen Flake and it’ll be called New Hate Tea.
Wonder if he is paying for her protection. Those people need food and other help not some religious fanatic telling them to pull themselves up and God will help those who help themselves.As far as I have seen this woman has helped no one unless it served her purpose
She’ll probably bring home baked cookies as a gift.
Wow! Just wow.
that was a terrific article. “John F. Kennedy knew that tearing down the wall separating church and state would tempt us toward self-righteousness and contempt for others.” describes palin to a T.
I so appreciate the link about Kathleen Kennedy’s response. She said all of what needed to be said much better than any of the rest of us can. And that was quite a reminder of the difference of attitude in our country in 1960 and now.
My mother was a life-long Democrat and really liked John Kennedy. But her one reservation was that he was Roman Catholic and that if elected, the Pope would be running our country. That was the common criticism of him at the time. After the speech, where he reassured all that he would keep his political and religious views separate, my mom’s fears just sort of became non-existent. And he did just what he said he would. Now we have just the opposite standard – prove you are a “worthy” Christian or we don’t want you in office.
And just for the record, if Palin did a little research, she might not be so comfortable with Romney. Mormon ideas don’t necessarily line up with her evangelical ones all that much. Personally, I don’t care. I’m more concerned that he has already said that his religious views would have an influence on his presidency. It’s precisely what we should be trying to not have in any of our political leaders.
Neither does scientology which is the religion(snark here) of Greta and her husband. You would think her followers would wonder about that.