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Permalink Reply by Future on December 18, 2012 at 1:37pm

Well said.  They know that the world will never be a homogenous Christian entity, particularly not their kind, so they feel justified in making these shameless pitches at the times when the shock value will create the most publicity.  Whether you are religious or nonreligious, serious mental problems will dictate these situations if they are not identified and treated properly.  Coddling your obviously disturbed child rather than having him diagnosed and treated is what started this.  Collecting guns and training said child to shoot them is what ended it. 

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 20, 2012 at 11:26am

I think I mostly agree with this statement. My position is that we can't know for sure if the mother coddled her son, or whether the child had manifested signs of being disturbed (many, many serial and mass killers in the past have gone under the radar), but its merit still stands. I think it's a shame that seemingly inexorable tragedies need occur in order to begin realizing any progress at all - and that's assuming there will be progress this time around, which..... may be doubtful. 

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Permalink Reply by Liz on December 18, 2012 at 3:37pm

First of all, very well said and I couldn't agree with you more.

Sadly Huck isn't the only piece of shit spouting this nonsense and saying we need god in schools.  James Dobson of the group Fcus on Family (who I believe has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) blames gays and abortion for this.  Ridiculous.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/18/james-dobson-blames-gays-an...

Really, just fuck Dobson, Huckabee, and the other asshats that feel the need to spread hate and fear amongst the frightened and feeble minded.

As I find more of these I'll try to post them.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 20, 2012 at 11:32am

Definitely agree. I suppose to me, the most shocking part aside from the malicious, hate-mongering rhetoric from brother christian, is the fact that scores of people seem to be siding with him. I overheard my own mother in law (haven't outed myself to that side of the family yet) reading the "God, why do you allow children to die in schools" meme over facebook (it ends with "because I'm not allowed in schools" - BLAH)..... and agreeing with it. It's almost as though christian North America is so painfully short sighted, that they can't even realize that the very christian prayers that they would force on people now, might become Muslim prayers in 50 years time. Religious ignorance never seems to foresee the changing of the guard, and though they are perfectly contented shoving their own beliefs down our throats, LOOK OUT when larger and larger percentages of the US are comprised of Islam and they want their own piece of the pie. 

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Permalink Reply by Greg on December 18, 2012 at 5:43pm

It's possible I'm a bit sensitized to this due to the company I've been keeping as of late. It does seem this has come up far more than during earlier domestic atrocities.

Does anyone suspect this is a concerted effort to herd the sheeple? It feels as if it is connected to the war on christmas non-event.

I suppose it could just be natural collective bleating.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 21, 2012 at 4:00pm

Interesting post - made me think.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Lawrence on December 20, 2012 at 1:12pm

HOW DARE YOU suggest that denying you religious fucking yahoos the right to get away with whatever you want has brought us to this place.

That is exactly what they are saying.  Their god will massacre your children if they don't get their way.  Glad you called them out on it.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 21, 2012 at 4:01pm

Thanks for the comment, Richard. If only I had the courage to call them out en masse in a more meaningful way, but alas my words would go wasted anyways.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on December 21, 2012 at 4:06am

Yeah, Matthew, those mouthings of Huckabee and his ilk disgusted me too.

My outrage has settled down and I can now cogitate.

Let's see, atheists accept that we are descended from cyanobacteria, aka pond scum. Okay, ascended if you insist.

Do you reckon the DNA of such as Huckabee has a preponderance of pond scum genes?

More seriously, putting words in context...

I started a serious study of the First Amendment soon after I became a political activist in my early 40s, when my mouthings needed the Amendment's protection. That was 40 years ago and I haven't stopped studying it. The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) holds that the Amendment gives varying levels of protection: the most to political speech, and lesser amounts to commercial speech (substantial truth required) and sexual speech (most four-letter words protected but obscenity not protected). SCOTUS' views have evolved much since, shortly after WW2, it ruled that movies have First Amendment protection.

Atheists hear all kinds of stuff from believers and it desensitizes us. I wouldn't say these Huckabee mouthings are religious speech, though he will probably claim they are. They might pass as commercial speech, as he probably intends them to raise money for his racket.

That said, many people have a high regard for ministers and a low regard for used car salesmen. Huckabee and his ilk are setting a new low. They'll say anything for a few bucks from their followers.

I've heard people in the helping professions say we act in ways that will bring the regard of others to about the level of our regard for ourselves. It seems reasonable to say that Huckabee and his ilk have a very low self-regard.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 21, 2012 at 4:16pm

Couldn't agree more, Tom - I think the governing majority of zealous religionists very likely believe that they make such shocking claims "for a good cause", but you call it rightly. At the end of the day, it boils down to a self-delluded army of salesmen at the whim of their vickers. Such a tragic state - I wish more than you know that future generations (maybe even mine, if I should be so lucky) learn to immunize against this kind of stupidity.

I agree though, and what a funny state, that it's the atheists becoming desensitized to the lunacy and "sins" of the believers, and not the other way around. It's a travesty that Huckabee's rhetoric didn't ignite more outrage than it did, especially when one considers the powder keg that would have been waiting, had a muslim made similar remarks....

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Permalink Reply by Michael OL on December 21, 2012 at 8:01am

Traditionally, a bad harvest is always blamed on insufficient sacrifices (and thus inadequate appeasement of the deity) by the tribe.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on December 21, 2012 at 4:19pm

Exactly right, Michael - and wasn't it only 16th century Europe who finally had the good sense to place lightning rods on the churches, foregoing the witch hunts that had previously ensued when they were struck? Centuries later and we hardly seem more sophisticated on the whole.... yikes.

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