Mr. Dobson, Why The Big Rush?

Assemblyman Leno, I have an idea.
And
Mr. Dobson, why the rush?

I was talking to my Domestic Partner (for all intents and purposes my Wife), Andrea this morning about how the Far Religious Right always schedules their initiative votes during the “off years”. You know, those years when there isn’t a Presidential campaign. It’s no accident that they time them this way, because they know that the vast majority of voters usually can’t be bothered to show up at a polling place in these "dog catcher election" years unless they needed to vote some complete reprobate out of office like when they turned out to oust Grey Davis... Or this year when they are going to the polls to decide whether or not to terminate Governor Terminator or not.

But even at that, the turnout still won’t be nearly what it will be in 2008 when the yet open field will be decided for the Presidential race. Something about these “off year” initiatives just seems sneaky somehow. Especially when they are being authored by someone from out of state and backed by huge gobs of out of state money! I mean, just where does James Dobson get off coming in from Colorado and telling US how to run OUR state?

So now Mr. Dobson is getting ready to blitz the state with deceptive advertising claiming that allowing LGBTQ folks equal access to the franchise of civil marriage will somehow weaken “traditional” marriage. Neither I , nor anyone I have asked on either side of the question have ever explained how that will happen, except the assurance from Mr. Dobson's supporters that is will. That it will damage the marriages of heterosexuals. Again, no knows how this will happen and we only have Mrs. Dobson's assurance that it will. That it will cost the state of California millions of dollars. That we already know, but we also know that we will get many time more than that back. That it will lead to the demise of western civilization itself! Huh? That all of that will happen overnight. Again, HUH? And that it violates Gods plan! Did you notice I said CIVIL marriage there? You know, like the kind you get with a Justice of the Peace or a County Clerk rather than a Minister or Priest, in a judge’s chambers or the county recorder's office instead of a church. You know, the kind that are legally binding without any religious under or overtones at all? Yeah, those kind. The separation of church and state kind. Anyway, why don't we ask the good people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? They’ve had legal gay marriages there for a year this month. A recent Boston Globe poll shows that better than half of the folks there are perfectly happy with having married gay neighbors. And that their society hasn’t been damaged one bit. And not a single church has been forced to marry a gay couple against the parishioners’ will, nor have any heterosexual marriages been damaged in the least. The state did lose about $15 million in lost tax revenue because of couples now filing jointly but gained something like $30 million more than that in taxes from increased tourist trade and from being able to deny people welfare and other "means based" program qualifications! But with all the millions and millions and millions of out of state dollars Mr. Dobson is going to pour into his ad blitz I seriously doubt anyone living here will get to hear about that. Nope, we have an outsider, with outside money, trying to buy a California Constitutional Amendment because our acceptance of diversity here in California violates the tenets of his Colorado church. So he’s going to stage an “off year” initiative vote and try to slip one over on the California people. And it just doesn’t seem fair, or honest.

The amendment to The California State Constitution that this Colorado outsider, Dr. James Dobson, has crafted is positively PUNITIVE in the way it strips away the rights and responsibilities of gay families from them! It is as though in his anger over having both of his legislative amendments soundly defeated in Sacramento, he needed to lash out at the LGBTQ population of California. It seems like he’s trying to show us, the people of California, that he does not care what we want as shown by the overwhelming support Assemblyman Mark Leno and the rest of our state representatives received that allowed them to defeat those bills in the first place! He's going to punish us for refusing to play his hateful game. So he has decided to do the next best thing to going behind the backs of the people of California; because in his arrogance he believes that most Californians will be too lazy to get out and vote down his hate based initiative! And the most terrible part is, he may be right, they may not vote, he may actually get away with buying an election here.

But wait, what about this? IF this California State Constitutional Amendment really does have the backing of a true majority of Californians, then why does Mr. Dobson have to have to have it voted on during an off year? Why NOT try having “gay marriage” for a couple of years? What would it hurt? After all, you can always come back later and declare them null and void, just like they did in San Francisco. So why not wait till 2008 and prove just how much the people of California really DO want it by holding off until then, when the most California citizens are going to be going to the polls? And would it not be an easier sell to the people of California if after two years of equal marriage he can point to hard, cold facts that back up his claim that allowing gays the opportunity to legally enter into civil marriage actually does damage to the marriages of heterosexuals? It sure would make more sense for him to do it that way instead of rushing right into filing to put an initiative on the ballot for next year!

So Dr. Dobson, if you really do have confidence that you know what the people, ALL the people of California want, then why sir are you rushing into this off-year election gambit? And if allowing homosexual couples the right to enter into civil marriage is such a terrible thing, then do you not think that by allowing Californians to live under the terrible conditions that you say will inevitably result from AB19 becoming law for 2 years that your point will not have been all the better made and you will have gained even MORE support for your cause? By rushing the people of California into this controversy without a period of contemplation and reflection it would seem, sir, that you have something to hide. Have you something to hide, Mr. Dobson? Is there a reason you do not wish for the people of California to be able to properly reflect on your idea? Do you have some reason to fear us having a period of 2 years of equal marriage before considering whether or not to ban it by constitutional amendment? Come to think about it, should we ban something outright that can do no actual harm without first giving it a fair trial? After all, Mr. Dobson, if you really ARE right, if you really do have nothing to fear, then why all the rush? Since it is the business of a state other than than your own we are talking about here, is it not prudent to use all deliberation in making such decisions and do nothing in haste lest ye do it in error? If you are an honorable man, you will wait. Are you that kind of an honorable man Mr. Dobson?

I'm just a handicapped housewife in a wheel chair Mr. Dobson. If I can figure all of this out, I'm sure my fellow California voters can as well. Why don't you wait and have your initiative vote in 2008 when the maximum number of California voters will be at the polls? Why the big rush? Is there something you're not telling us Mr. Dobson? Is there some particular reason you are rushing us into this vote on OUR state constitution? When all of this is over you'll be packing up your tent and going home. WE are the ones who will have to live with the results of this vote. So if there is something you don't want for us to have time to think about Mr. Dobson, you'd better come clean now. Because we're pretty quick on the uptake here in California Mr. Dobson, and it's not always all that easy to put one over on us.

So what do YOU think Mr. Leno? Do YOU think that Mr. Dobson, an outsider from Colorado, maybe doesn’t really know ALL of the people of California as well as he thinks he does? Do you think he's trying to put one over on us? Do you think you could convince the rest of people of our state to, well... not so much vote his amendments down, but rather put them on hold for 2 years until we’ve had a chance to see if equal marriage really is OK for us, or if there really is a good reason to ban it? For is it not a better idea to take our time and to actually try this great experiment? After all, there is no possibility of it doing any real harm to anyone. Do you think you can do that, sir? Do you think you can be the voice of your constituents in this matter and call for time to allow we Californians, without the interference of outside agitators, to consider carefully something as drastic as amending our state constitution to exclude an entire class of people? Of this I have little doubt. You have already proven yourself to be an able elected representative of the majority of the people of California in your district.

That's my opinion and you are welcome to it.

Julie Johnson aka “The Great Spoon“

NOTE: I Faxed this to Mr. Dobson @ Focus on the Family in Colorado prior to distributing it and snail-mailed copies as well. There is NO WAY he can say he didn’t see it. See attachment for the Fax receipt.

Something from my mail that I want to pass on.

From: stuartjohn@xxxxx.xxx (stuart/john)
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 17:33:00 +0000
To: stuartjohn@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: APA needs our support after voting to support marriage equality

After their recent brave action to support the rights of same-sex couples, the American Psychiatric Association is being flooding with angry emails from right wingers.

Their Board of Trustees still has to approve the statement passed by the APA Assembly. We expect this will happen, but we need to let the APA know that their position has support.

Please email the APA at apa@psych.org and tell them that you appreciate the APA's support of legal civil marriage rights for same sex couples. And tell your friends to do so, too.

If anyone has psychiatrist friends (especially those who are APA members), *please* have them identify themselves as psychiatrists and APA members in their emails. (APA members should contact APA through the psych.org member's center.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Psychiatric Association calls for gay marriage
recognition

May 22, 2005

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group
weighed in on gay marriage Sunday, approving a
statement urging legal recognition of same-sex unions.

The statement, if approved by the association's
directors in July, would make the American Psychiatric
Association the first major medical group to take such
a stance.

The statement, approved on a voice vote, supports
same-sex marriage and benefits "in the interest of
maintaining and promoting mental health."

The psychiatrists approved the statement Sunday, the
first day of the APA's weeklong annual meeting in
Atlanta.

The vote goes beyond the association's 2000 statement
supporting same-sex civil unions and continues a
history of recognizing "that gay men and lesbians are
full human beings who should be afforded the same
human and civil rights," said Margery Sved, a Raleigh,
N.C., psychiatrist and member of the assembly's
committee on gay and lesbian issues.

The position paper cites the "positive influence of a
stable, adult partnership on the health of all family
members." It says the lack of access to health
insurance, pension payments, death benefits and other
rights for same-sex couples hurts the stability of
their relationships and their mental health.

The document clarifies that the association is
addressing same-sex civil marriage, not religious
marriages. It takes no position on any religion's
views on marriage.

A clear majority of the assembly's roughly 250 members
present Sunday approved the measure.

Joseph Berger, a psychiatrist from Toronto, Canada,
voted against it for what he called political reasons.
He cited gay marriage votes in several states last
year where voters overwhelmingly sided against the
institution.

"It's very unusual for an organization like ours to
take on an issue so contrary to where public sentiment
is," he said. "It's a little bit like poking your
finger in the eye of the public when so much of the
public seems to be against it."

Forty states bar same-sex marriages, including some
that prohibit same-sex couples from enjoying many of
the legal protections that heterosexual couples enjoy.

Last year, Georgians voted 3-to-1 for a constitutional
amendment defining marriage as between a man and a
woman. Some psychiatrists pushed a boycott of this
week's conference because of the vote, but most APA
members opted to attend, officials said.

Other mental health groups have adopted similar
positions on gay marriage in the past year. In July,
the American Psychological Association adopted a
position statement that said research showed that
discrimination based on sexual orientation
"detrimentally affects the psychological, physical,
social and economic well-being of lesbian, gay and
bisexual individuals."

To All My Friends From Out of State And Other Countries

As I wrote this, the Assembly Appropriations Committee had just passed AB 19 by a 6-3 vote The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, sponsored by Equality California and authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno.  The legislation will likely not be voted on today but instead will go into suspense and be taken up again by the Committee during the last two weeks of May. This is normal since the legislation will make a rather sizable economic impact on the state... it seems the the net will be a GAIN of some $30 MILLION a year (source www.law.ucla.edu/williamsproject )!

Then there is the crap our favorite outside agitator James Dobson is pulling! Not taking the hint for the humiliating defeat he suffered with his attempt to amend OUR California state constitution through legislative means, now that AB19 (The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act)** is pretty much a sure thing to pass into law Dear Dork Dobson is pulling the bigots favorite tactic, “the off year election initiative end run” where the Religious Reich, banking on low voter turn out in off years and their ability to fire up the TRUE BELIEVERS (why do they always have to capitalize that when they write it? **sigh**) and turn them out in huge numbers to pass their unbelievably draconian and bigoted constitutional amendment! This piece of... Of... My gods, words fail me... I hesitate to call it legislation for it reads more like a Biblical pronouncement! Here’s what EQCA says about it:

"Bottomline:  This amendment would go to the fullest extremes to strip every legal protection from our families.   From health insurance and hospital visitation, to inheritance and medical leave rights, tens of thousands of diverse California families would lose protections they now have and would be left with no legal protections.  The amendment would prohibit same-sex marriage and strip the courts, cities, and every government agency of any ability to protect California familes not headed by a husband and a wife."

I’m SICK AND TIRED of being a second class citizen! But I’m too physically broken up to get out there in the trenches and do what needs to be done. I have to count on you, my friends to let the country and the world know the danger we face here in California, right here, right now, THIS WEEK! Tell your friends! Let them know that a small group of OUTSIDE AGITATORS is working with BIG money from organized out of state sources who are working day and night to strip us of the hard won gains we have made here! We are just WEEKS from making our marriage laws equal for EVERYONE in the state by LEGISLATIVE MEANS! That will be the VERY FIRST time that has happened ANYWHERE in the country! And the Religious Right will do ANYTHING to make sure that this does not happen. That sort of precedent is something that they absolutely cannot allow to be set. If it is, it puts the lie to all the years of propaganda they have drummed into the minds of the American people. DO NOT LET JAMES DOBSON AND THE RELIGIOUS REICH DERAIL THIS MONUMENTAL LEGISLATION WITH HIS HATE BASED INITIATIVE! PLEASE!

I'm pleading with you as a friend, as someone you know and hopefully care about and for. Contact your friends and family, ask them to write and call our California State Assemblymen and any of our Equal Marriage Organizations and pledge your support. Help us to turn the balance away from the forces of bigotry and hate!

Under normal circumstances I would never trouble you or the rest of my friends from out of state or out of the country, but these are not the "usual" circumstances at all! Dobson is bringing to bare all the power of his national organization and their international allies! I’m relying on YOU my friends to make my dream of legally marrying Andrea come true! Please, please don’t let me down.

Thank you.

Your friend,

Julie Johnson

juliedee@planetoutcast.net

Most Likely....

If you are reading this "standard cut and paste" note it is most likely because you have already not seen me for several days and most likely will not see me for several more. The reason for this (in order of most likelihood) is most likely because I'm having either; (1.) a bad pain episode, usually caused by arthritis and/or reflex sympathetic dystrophy; (2.) a bad pain episode caused by having WAY too much fun and "over doing it" OR (3.) I am recovering from some Frankensteinian medical procedure such as having the bone of a cadaver grafted into my living tissues and/or having leeches and maggots attached to/put into my open wounds in a ghoulish attempt by some New Age witch doctor to cure me by magikal means! Just kidding about the New Age witch doctor of course! Wouldn't let one of those quacks touch me with a ten foot Pole! A 6'10" Romanian maybe, or perhaps a 7'6" Namibian... maybe even a 7'2" Yugoslavian, but NEVER a 10' Pole!

But take heart friends, I'll be back just as soon as I'm feeling better! In the mean time you can send your well wishes and death threats to juliedee@planetoutcast.net. Hope to see you soon!

Your Friend,

JulieDee!


"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid,
but most stupid people are conservatives."
-- John Stuart Mill
(English philosopher)

Limbaugh walks on his tongue some more.

Limbaugh walks on his tongue some more.
OR
The 300+ lbs Cry Baby, Oxycotin
Junkie is Silent When Challenged
By High School Students to
Debate About WWII

While perusing this morning’s news I came upon this story (excerpted below) in the Chicago Sun-Times;

Teens seek debate vs. Limbaugh
May 13, 2005

BY KATE N. GROSSMAN Education Reporter

Rush Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated radio show that Evanston Township High School students "don't know anything about World War II" and "they've probably never heard the name Adolf Hitler" because they're so focused on a multicultural curriculum.

Some Evanston kids want to show Limbaugh what they know. They want to debate him on American history.

"I think [a debate] would be great because then we'd prove him wrong and open up his opinion a little bit," Sarah Loeb, an ETHS sophomore, said Thursday....

Limbaugh railed against multicultural education generally and singled out the North Shore school.

"What multiculturalists is, is balkanizing this country," Limbaugh said Tuesday. "People are coming here from various parts of the world and they're bringing their cultures with them and the multiculturalists are saying 'your culture is better than the American culture. The American culture is discriminatory, it's racist, sexist, bigot, homophobic.' "

Limbaugh's producer did not return a call on whether Limbaugh would agree to a debate.

"Maybe he might be a little intimidated because I don't know his basis for saying we don't know anything," Sarah said. "But I think he might be interested if he wants to live up to his reputation and back up his ideas so he doesn't look stupid."

This is just the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from this over stuffed, over compensating wind-bag. It’s like every time the “Patriot” Act (WOW! Is that false advertising or what!) comes up in the news this ample representative of The Far Reich goes on and on about what a good thing The “Patriot” Act is and how “patriotic” (“I do not think he knows what that word means...”) it is to make the trade of of a “few rights” (I suppose we really don’t need them in his book) for the supposed security we get from the “Patriot” Act! But then when the provisions of that act, the Feds new ability to snoop into our medical records without a court order, is used against him to prove that he is a low-life multi prescription seeking Oxycotin junkie he cries “FOUL!” like a little girl who just lost all of her jacks to the mean girl down the street. Give me a break Rush! You can’t have it BOTH ways!

So c’mon Rush! Be a big boy! Show that you can act like an adult for once! Rather than sitting back and poking fun of a bunch of hard working high school kids then pretend they didn’t respond at all, why don’t you accept their challenge and debate them on their, and YOUR, knowledge of World War Two? Or are you afraid that they will humiliate you more that you have already humiliated yourself?

That's my opinion and you are welcome to it.

Julie Johnson aka “The Great Spoon“

NOTE: At the time of publication I still haven't been able to reach Mr. Lumbaugh with this challenge. It seems that the only way to get his email or any other addy for him is to pay a minimum of $6.99 for a subscription to his newsletter... as though the Pillsbury Doughboy isn't wealthy enough! I fir one refuse to pay extortion just to drop him a challenge and so I am attempting to go through other channels to get this to him. If you can help me in this effort I would be forever in your debt!

Yet Another Blow For Justice OR Why I'm Proud To Be A Californian!

Yet Another Blow For Justice
OR
Why I’m Proud To Be A Californian!

Today in a stunning upset (well upsetting and stunning, but only if you are a reactionary bigot) the Senate Judiciary Committee announced that Senate Constitutional Amendment 1, by Senator Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) failed to pass with a 5-2 vote along with an earlier vote in the Assembly vote on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 3, by Assembly member Ray Haynes (R-Temecula) struck down with a 6-3 vote..? In a dramatic double failure today for Lou Sheldon (an outside agitator) and the Traditional Values Coalition (a known outside extremist group and the author and sponsor), both proposed anti-gay constitutional amendments went down in FLAMES!

Like there was much of a chance of either bill really getting approval. After all, it was but a short time ago that domestic partners here were given all the rights and responsibilities that the state can grant to married couples. It just didn’t seem too logical that they were going to turn around a short time later and say “Oops! Sorry about that folks! We know that 76% of you approved of our doing that but we just realized we made a HUGE mistake in giving all those gay families all those protections so we’re going to take them back now!” Nope... It just wasn’t going to happen. Can you really see all those politicos saying they were WRONG?

Of course, the bigots of the Traditional Values Coalition and their buddies at the Family Research Council who were bankrolling this Republican hate-fest dressed the whole schmoo up as “protecting both the traditional and gay family”. Now maybe it’s just me but, would someone PLEASE explain to me how taking away the protections that the children of gay domestic partners just acquired under the new legislation protects either straight OR gay families? Please... I just don’t see it. If it ONLY protects straight families I’d back it,... So someone PLEASE explain how it would protect them for US to lose our rights? Am I missing something here? I mean, is there a limited pool of rights and the more people share those rights the less they are worth? Is that it? Please! I’m SOOOOO confused!

But hey, that’s OK. In a few months California will be passing it’s own marriage equalization bill. After all, Prop. 22 just said that we could not recognize a gay marriage from out of state, not one conducted within our state! In any case, the California Supreme Court struck down Prop 22 along with all the other road blocks in our way. The people Of California have always been basically a decent, honest bunch. And when it comes right down to it, they have never stood for long for outsiders stirring the political pot here. Nope. We tend to settle our own hash in our own ways and the bottom line is Californianos are a fair minded people... And THAT’S why I’m proud to be a Californian!


That's my opinion and you are welcome to it.

Julie Johnson aka “The Great Spoon“

Praying for peace and understanding... OR Getting Nowhere at Light Sped!

Praying For Peace and Understanding...
OR
Getting Nowhere at Light Speed!

In Jerusalem, an American female journalist heard about an old Reformed rabbi who visited the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a long, long time.

In an effort to check out the story, she went to the holy site and there he was! She watched the bearded old man at prayer--and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.

"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN, sir, could you tell me your name please Rabbi?"

"Sure, sure, for a nice young Jewish girl like you, you are Jewish aren't you? Sure, I can tell you my name." He replied.

'Ummm, well... what is your name Rabbi?"

"My name? My Name is Rabbi Irving Finkelstien. But you can call me Rabbi Irving."

"OK then Rabbi Irving. How long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall and praying?"

"For about 50 years", he informs her.

"50 years! Why, that's amazing! What do you pray for?"

"I pray for peace between the Jews and the Arabs. I pray for all the hatred to stop, and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."

"And how do you feel Rabbi, after doing this for 50 years?"

"Like I'm talking to a fucking wall."

I've felt like that old rabbi sometimes. But hey, I've only been at it for 30 years! At first I tried actually talking to the Reconstructionists and the Fundamentalists and praying that the Gods, both theirs and mine, would open their minds and hearts to the beautiful message of love, acceptance and tolerance that their own Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth gave His very life to deliver to mankind. Man, you'd think I had just told them Jesus was a Jew! Hey... wait... Jesus WAS a Jew, wasn't he?

But so wrapped in the darkness of hate and their own warped interpretation of His words are they that there was, and still is, no possibility of reaching them. When I finally realized this some 20 years ago and finally gave up on the last vestiges of hope of getting through to them I began to try to sound the alarm. SHEEZE! You'd have thought I'd just have told THEM that Jesus WASN'T a Jew! Out came every Christian apologetic, DEMANDING that I take back the "slander and lies" I had leveled against ALL Christians! I was called an alarmist, an unpatriotic traitor (ME, who VOLUNTEERED for duty in Vietnam!), an "anti-Christian bigot", called a "crackpot" and ignored. It would seem that when a Nazi wraps himself in the flag and uses the pages of the Bible for underwear he becomes untouchable!

Why is it that the good God fearing Christians who are truly trying to live by the works and teachings of Jesus would jump to the defense of those who were using those same words in the most twisted and fiendish way to do the work of the Anti Christ? Why have they had till now no stomach to defend their own faith from those who would misuse it? "Why?", I asked myself for years, "why in the ten thousand names of God would they actually defend these monsters?" I asked that question and asked that question, but the answer never came.

Finally one day about eight or nine years back someone did have the nerve to answer, albeit from the cowardly cover of anonymity, and also years after I'd already figured it out. He/she said that for most Christians, especially those of about 10 years ago, it was a matter of "defending the faith". No one at that time was willing to admit that there could be a "bad" Christian, much less an evil one! And to that end they were willing to go to ANY length to defend ANYONE from ANY charge of religious malfeasance, malpractice or heresy brought up by any one, especially if it is brought by one outside the faith, that might reflect badly on Christianity in general. Remember, these were the days when molesting ministers were still trying to do the Ratzenburger Shuffle from parish to parish and hoping the media reported nary a case... 'cept it just wasn't working as well as it used to. Maybe that's why someone finally had the guts to talk about it to me.

This little tale does bring me to an interesting point... have you ever noticed how the most vicious and rabid of the "TRUE BELIEVERS" (they always seem to need to capitalize that and TRUE FACTS for some unknown reason) NEVER have a profile? If possible they will prefer to go completely anonymous if they can. Having over the years infiltrated some of their groups I can tell you from first hand knowledge that they are encouraged to remain anonymous to "prevent the violent and vicious predatory liberal sodomites" from "gaining any access to any personal information that might be used to track them back to their homes and thereby endanger their families". Have you EVER heard such a load of pure unadulterated BULLSHIT in your entire life? These are the same people who don't think twice about blowing up a family planning clinic FULL of women and children that is located right next to a child care center on one side and a gas station on the other! And THEY are afraid that a movement populated mostly by PACIFISTS for God's sake are going to molest their families??? CHEEZE MARIE PEOPLE!!! What in God's names are using for brains? Elephant manure? Peanut hulls? New York City Executive Washroom Keys? Maybe Southern Baptist Church toilet paper spools? I don't know! One thing for sure, what ever it is has zero capacity for logic, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, and a total disdain for the scientific method! As Martin Short pointed out last night on Bill Maher's show on HBO (a definite maybe-one-might-should-see-if-you-can-spare-the-time-and-are-really-bored-at-3-a.m.) "Bill Frist was playing to his constituency, the guys who believe that if a poisonous snake bites you you won't die!" in reference to Frist's outrage that Justice Kennedy researches his cases on the internet(oh high tech horror of horrors!)! Martin Short and Bill Maher went on to make the point that such people (those that believe the snake pucky) are, and I quote, "just a bit doofy". What can I say? I concur! True enough, we do have freedom of religion in this great nation of ours, but if you honestly believe that drinking poison and getting snake bit can be protected against by nothing more than your faith (and conveniently enough those who die just didn't believe enough you see... yea.. right) you are by ANY sane standard more than "just a bit doofy!" You are, in fact one uneducated, stupid, redneck moron! In short, if the context of this belief were anything BUT religion you would be locked up in the nearest mental institution for being not only completely delusional but a danger to yourself and to others! The truly unfortunate thing is many of them live long enough to breed (and in many cases inbreed) by the DOZENS!

And I'm not alone in my assessment of these "TRUE BELIEVERS" and their Washington Congressional leadership. Read an article form an acquaintance of mine, the Cato Institute's Radley Balko's piece entitled In the Reign of Cotton Mather. Not only well written but entertaining as well!

Well, that's my opinion and you are welcome to it!

Julie Johnson AKA "The Great Spoon"


[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to my friend Paula for the joke that allowed me to find a jumping off point for this rant! Thanks Paula!]