Monday, November 22, 2010

COWARDS AND HEROES




I was just going to do a short thing about people I do not like. There are plenty of people out there who would not like me if they had a real chance of getting to know me.


I do not like Conan. I don’t like him. I do not know him in person, as they say. I just cannot stand his persona. There is nothing personal in a persona really. He looks like a bunch of sticks in an expensive suit and every frickin time they advertise that nothing show of his, I switch channels on principle.

I bet he is a nice person. He might even be a Democrat. I just do not like him.

Leno I know is a repub. I have watched him for years. He is probably one of those moderate repubs who thinks we should help poor people once in a while; we just should not over do it. I gave up on him on principle for what he did to Conan. That makes no sense. But my likes and dislikes make no sense, really. Of course, I have given up on Leno long ago and never watch the guy.

Now I do not like Sarah Palin. I cannot stand her voice, I cannot stand her mannerisms, I cannot stand her oratory.

But when you add her ‘message’ to this ‘persona’ it is too much for me to handle.

I never met the lady and I hope I will never meet the lady. Her message contains every single thing I hate about this country and her persona grinds on me like skates on a blackboard.

Michelle Bachman is just Palin’s mini-me. In point of fact, Bachmann might end up being a bigger threat to the country than Palin.

Personae and messages are really two different things. If you add bios to all of this you may create a three point examination; things can become even more intense.

I have been thinking about the persona and message and bio lately. Maybe I am all wrong about this. What do I know?

But then I run into quotes like this:

"When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements," wrote Fischer, director of issue analysis for the AFA, a longtime lobby on the Christian right. "That kind of heroism has apparently become passé when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them."

Bryan Fischer said this.

SO WHO IN THE FUCK IS BRYAN FISCHER?

Bryan Fischer is the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, a blogger and a public speaker.
He has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Stanford University, and a graduate degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.[1]
In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition a group dedicated to keeping a controversial monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho. From 2000 to 2005 he served as a commissioner for the city's Park and Recreation Department.[1]
He is a strong supporter of conservative causes, such as the Right to life, and opposition to national health care and has been active in city and state politics.
ischer has often attracted attention with his comments at public events or in print.
  • Fischer wrote on November 6, 2009 that "It is time, I suggest, to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military. The reason is simple: the more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security."[2] [3]
  • On May 7, 2010, Fischer wrote:
Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.[4]
As evidence for the claim that Hitler was homosexual, Fischer went on to state:
In 2001, noted German historian Lothar Machtan published the book, "Hitler's Secret: The Double Life of a Dictator." As the far left London newspaper, The Guardian, reveals, not only is it a well-established matter of historical record that Hitler was a practicing homosexual, he murdered those around him who threatened to expose his sexual preference to the public.[4]
Within this, the phrase "As the far left London newspaper, The Guardian, reveals," was linked to a news article in The Observer that noted of Lothar Machtan's forthcoming book that: "Adolf Hitler was gay - or so says a sensational new biography on the Nazi dictator due to be published tomorrow."[5]
  • CBS News reported on 12 August, 2010 that Fischer was opposed to the construction of a mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center. He pointed out, because of their, "subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment."[6]
  • On his 9 November 2010 blog entry, he commented on a fatal attack by a grizzly bear, calling for an "open season" on the animals in Yellowstone National Park and incidentally referring to the notion that humans are to blame for climate change as a "fantasy."[7] The Talking Points Memo article on this wondered "Does Stephen Colbert know about this guy?"[8]
  • On 16 November 2010, the day after Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta was decorated with the Medal of Honor -- for his bravery in an episode during which, according to Barack Obama, he had wounded one enemy insurgent and killed another[9] -- Fischer took exception on his blog, "So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night

Yeah, but who is Bryan Fischer?


Indeed, while Fischer's column irked many of his allies, his views are in keeping with a strain of conservative American Christianity that frets about the "feminization" of the faith as evidenced by the widespread emphasis on God's love and mercy rather than his anger and punishment, for example. And some such Christian conservatives are also concerned about efforts to accept gay clergy and to portray Jesus as a passive, wimpy victim rather than a tough-guy martyr like the Messiah portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie, "Passion of the Christ."

"Jesus' act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless -- yes, meaningless -- if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life," Fischer wrote in his original column on Giunta's Medal of Honor. "The cross represented a cosmic showdown between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and our commanding general claimed the ultimate prize by defeating our unseen enemy and liberating an entire planet from his bondage."

With repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy still possible during the lame duck session of Congress after Thanksgiving, it's likely that Fischer -- and others -- will have plenty of other opportunities to make their point, and perhaps with more support from their own troops on the religious right.  http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/11/20/christian-right-activist-blasts-medal-of-honor-as-feminized-s/
Listen to me. Wiki is supposed to be a starting place for research on a person. But I cannot even find out when the fuck he was born.

I found five links, hell ten, but I still do not know when he was born or where he was born or who is parents are or anything else.

I KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE:

This man never served in the military. This man never went into battle. This man never risked his life for a fellow soldier.

And yet, he gets press.

In the old days we never ran into this problem. I mean Kennedy and Nixon fought in the world war. Eisenhower fought in two and won the second as head of the ETO.

How in the fuck can you attack a brave soldier who went above and beyond and you never touched a battlefield?

Bryan Fischer is the director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at American Family Association, where he provides expertise on a range of public policy topics.
Bryan Fischer has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Stanford University, and a graduate degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He served on the staff of Cole Community Church in Boise, where he founded the Cole Center for Biblical Studies and served as its director for 13 years. He then founded Community Church of the Valley, where he served as senior pastor for 12 years. Prior to joining the leadership team at American Family Association, Bryan served as Executive Director of the Idaho Values Alliance which was the state affiliate of the AFA.
In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition in an effort to protect the Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise. After the monument was removed, he spearheaded the initiative drive which collected 19,000 signatures to give citizens in Boise the opportunity to vote on a new Ten Commandments display for the park.
Bryan served as the chaplain of the Idaho State Senate in 2001, and served the Boise community from 2000-2005 as a commissioner with the Boise Parks and Recreation Department.
He received the "Friend of Life" award from Idaho Chooses Life in 2003, and the "Christian Statesman" award from the Biblical Worldview Learning Center in 2005. He was recognized by the Ridenbaugh Press as one of the top 25 "Influencers" in Idaho in 2005, and one of the top 25 conservatives in Idaho by Idahoans for Tax Reform

Yeah, but who is Bryan Fischer?

Bryan has been married to his bride, Debbie, for 32 years, and they have lived in Idaho since 1980. They have two grown children, Jana and J.D. Jana is a graduate of Willamette University (in literature, music, and philosophy), while J.D. is a graduate of Whitman College where he majored in molecular biology and played baseball. Jana is currently pursuing a doctorate in literature and philosophy at Purdue University, and J.D. is working as research scientist at the University of Washington.
Several Iowa veterans, along with the LGBT-rights group One Iowa, called on Vander Plaats to publicly denounce Fischer for the statements. But despite numerous ties to Fischer and the American Family Association — which includes AFA spending $140,000 on Vander Plaats’ successful campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices and an appearance by Vander Plaats on Fischer’s radio program — Vander Plaats says he won’t answer for something someone else said.
“As the son of a World War II veteran, I understand the sacrifices those in the U.S. military such as Staff Sgt. Giunta make to preserve our liberties and freedoms,” Vander Plaats said in a statement to The Iowa Independent. “It is disappointing a group would try to settle a score and try to make me accountable for words that aren’t mine. Bryan Fisher and AFA do not speak for me or Iowa For Freedom, and we don’t speak for them.”
Vander Plaats has previously faced criticism for his association with Fischer and the AFA. Last month, a group of religious leaders labeled the AFA an “extremist hate group” and called on Vander Plaats to “denounce hate-filled comments” Fischer has made.
Fischer has said homosexuals should be barred from public office and called gay sex “domestic terrorism.” He said Muslims should be imprisoned because “that’s not religion, that’s treason,” and argued that inbreeding may have done “irreversible damage to the Muslim gene pool, including extensive damage to its intelligence, sanity, and health.”  On women, Fischer agrees with U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint that unwed mothers should not be allowed to teach in public schools

This Fischer has got to be one of the worst human beings on the face of the earth.

I cannot help these feelings of animosity I have for this fellow.

I never met him.

I have never interviewed others to discover what alms he has paid to the poor.

I have no idea what things he has done for those imprisoned.

I have no idea what things he had to sacrifice to help his children and his wife of a hundred years.

I have no idea what sacrifices he has made for others in his life.

I do know that I despise this gentleman with my whole heart, my whole mind and my whole soul.  I cannot even imagine one issue facing this country which could become a common challenge to both of us.

I am sure that Sarah and Michelle and Sean and Rush and Glenn and a host of others love this man.

Just answer me this:

How am I to let loose of this animosity and hatred?

By the way, read about the hero who received the medal. I saw the fellow interviewed a few times on cable. It was all:  Why me? This man is a saint. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/

3 comments:

Alan said...

Bryan Fischer apparently never heard of Milton Olive either, who threw himself on a VC grenade in Vietnam, saving other lives in his unit. There is a park near downtown Chicago named in memory of Olive.

and I wonder about his "pro-life" (what an absurd tag - yet why are Dems not as good at such things?) feelings, should a fetus he campaigned for turn out to be gay.

The guy is easily one of the most contemptible examples of something I'm looking at writing about soon - that the policy views of the "Christian" right, and the Republican party in general, are the sorts of things we might expect to see if we asked a group of sociopaths to design a political party.

Bluntly, some infections require surgery, and this bozo (with my heartfelt apologies to the late Bob Bell!) is a symptom.

ARTHUR OF THE ROUNDISH TABLE said...

How in the fuck can someone see gay people as domestic terrorists?

See I don't care, frankly. I mean I don't care if gays get married or join community theaters or enroll in our military forces. I don't care. It has nothing to do with me.

But people like this must harbor some need to have gay sex...where else does this animosity come from?

To piss on a hero and heroism really irks me. And when that pissing is done by a man who makes money by dragging gods into the picture, I go bananas.

I am probably wrong about this but I don't think this kind of crap was published. I am sure that some cleric somewhere, sometime depicted Audie Murphy as a homicidal maniac put in the right place at the right time; but I do not think that kind of comment was ever published anywhere.

I do know that if there is a heaven of some sort and these right wing bananas go there after they die; I do not wish to go there when I die.

I mean it would be pure hell.

Alan said...

If indeed there is a heaven (a prospect which would surprise me greatly) there will be a lot of even more surprised Repubs when they find themselves looking at it from a considerable distance.

I suspect most of them would be only too happy to take up the ropes and hammers and nails and affix old J.C. to the cross again for his "commie" views, were they ever to meet him in person.

Almost enough to make me wonder if old screechy Sarah (the Alaskan shriek alarm) might be some new form of anti-Christ. Or Beckerhead or Rush maybe?