Roy Moore—Just Like Joseph (Except for the Jesus Part)

From the Washington Post:

An Alabama state official on Thursday dismissed a Washington Post report alleging that GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore had initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl decades ago, saying there was an age gap between the biblical Joseph and Mary. The Post also alleged that Moore had pursued three others when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s.

“Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus,” Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler told The Washington Examiner. “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.”

 

“Crucified Man Had Prior Run-in with Authorities”

 

From Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post:

I guess this is how we are writing up the victims of crimes now. I did not realize that when you boarded a plane you gave away the right to have your past remain your past, but a theme of life these days is that only people who have never done anything wrong, or are in some way related to Donald Trump, deserve to go through their lives unmolested. 

In accordance with this new house style I am writing up an incident whose anniversary some people are celebrating this week. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gentleman arrested Thursday and tried before Pontius Pilate had a troubled background.

 Born (possibly out of wedlock?) in a stable, this jobless thirty-something of Middle Eastern origin had had previous run-ins with local authorities for disturbing the peace, and had become increasingly associated with the members of a fringe religious group. He spent the majority of his time in the company of sex workers and criminals.

 

He had had prior run-ins with local authorities — most notably, an incident of vandalism in a community center when he wrecked the tables of several licensed money-lenders and bird-sellers. He had used violent language, too, claiming that he could destroy a gathering place and rebuild it.

At the time of his arrest, he had not held a fixed residence for years. Instead, he led an itinerant lifestyle, staying at the homes of friends and advocating the redistribution of wealth.

He had come to the attention of the authorities more than once for his unauthorized distribution of food, disruptive public behavior, and participation in farcical aquatic ceremonies.

Some say that his brutal punishment at the hands of the state was out of proportion to and unrelated to any of these incidents in his record.

But after all, he was no angel.

Stuff Jesus Said

From the Daily Kos:

What Would Jesus Order?

It’s been said many times recently that the GOP is living in a parallel universe, with their own set of facts that have nothing to do with reality as the rest of us know and understand it.

Here is proof, in living color.

These photos were taken at Rick Perry’s Prayerpalooza on Saturday, where he called for seven hours of intense prayer and fasting.

Apparently, the good folks who were in attendance didn’t know that fasting means not eating anything.

Either that, or they have applied the Michele Bachmann Rule of Denial and believe, even as you can “pray away the gay,” you can eat nachos and still call that fasting.

Photos courtesy of  http://s1124.photobucket.com/albums/l567/thanks_imjustlurking/Prayerapalooza%208-6-11/ via Juanita Jean’s blog.

Click on the link for more, including some great protest signs!

I’m guessing the nachos were heavenly.

Saucy Sunday

Well, Christmas is over for another year and I hope everyone had a good holiday—meaning, no drunken brawls precipitated by Aunt Lou’s bourbon balls. 

Time for a little irreverence in the form of a cartoon (not my own, unfortunately) that I’ve been hanging on to forever.  You can call it a little “palate cleanser” after all the yuletide treacle that was served up in heaping amounts.  Enjoy!

The Orthodox Agnostic

I may live in the Bible Belt, but with me it may as well be the SansaBelt (with apologies to the late Ed McMahon for that one.)  It’s not that I haven’t tried religion.  When we moved to Texas I did join a church, got baptized and the whole nine cubits.  But I don’t think it “took,” since I always feel like a fish out of water.  I think this cartoon by, once again, Roz Chast, illustrates my dilemma.

One of my favorite people here in Texas is Kinky Friedman, formerly of the band Kinky and The Texas Jewboys, who is also the author of a series of best-selling mystery novels.  Kinky ran for governor a few years ago under the slogans of “How hard can it be?” and  “I’ll keep us out of war with Oklahoma!”

What I like about Kinky, among many things, is his take on religion.  He lives in the Bible Belt but that doesn’t stop him from telling it like it is—at least from his perspective: 

 “Well, I just said that Jesus and I were both Jewish and that neither of us ever had a job, we never had a home, we never married and we traveled around the countryside irritating people.”

“I even went so far as to become a Southern Baptist for a while, until I realized that they didn’t hold ’em under long enough.” 

The last couple of years we’ve been bludgeoned with the “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” blunt weapon, where people actually threatened to boycott stores that didn’t proclaim the former rather than the latter.  Can’t we all just get along?  Kinky has it right with his own holiday greeting: 

“May the God of your choice bless and keep you this holiday season.” 

As for religion’s place in politics, he said:

“Yes, I’m a Judeo-Christian. Jesus and Moses are in my heart, and… both of them were independents, by the way.”

In the same vein, here’s a tongue-in-cheek ATC I did awhile back—

Kinky once said that he considers himself an “Orthodox Atheist.”  As for me, I think I’m more of an Orthodox Agnostic.

Besides, it’s wise to be kind to everyone, no matter who or what they are. 

Even pets. 

Especially pets.

You never know.  

God could be a cat.