A post I made to Slate.Com about Mitt Romney, Mormonism and politics

In an article dated October 17, 2011, on Slate-dot-com, Christopher Hitchens published an article called "Romney's Mormon Problem".  His basic tenet was, who cares if Mormonism is a cult or not, it's the religion's sinister beliefs that matter.  I love the use of the word sinister - it's very appropriate.  This article was one of the great Hitch's last before his death from pneumonia related complications due to esophegeal cancer on December 15th of last year.   Here is my comment/reply to Hitchens' article.

Amazing article. Thank you Mr. Hitchens, posthumously, for writing something that needed so badly to be put out there, as one of your final essays. I was a Mormon, born and raised. I escaped three decades ago, and helped influence my younger brother to do the same. The rest of my family on both sides (except one Jehovah's Witness aunt belong faithfully to the cult. Mormons are strange, and clickish (see; cultish), but they're also, for the most part, good people. Their beliefs, however, are sinister. Especially in light of two of them are running for the highest office in the land, Romney and Huntsman, and Romney seems to be the front runner. Except for his well-known corporate greed and wealth created by buying out good, functioning companies and demolishing them to "part out" and sell off all the company's valuable assets at the expense of local economies and jobs, muckrakers and journalists are never going to dig up dirt on Romney. I'd put Vegas odds on it. Astronomically overwhelming odds are he's never cheated on his wife, taken a male escort to Belize, committed any financial misdeed that wasn't technically legal (even though entirely immoral and unethical). Why? Because he's a Mormon. This all might sound good on paper, but all that is kind of like, in my humble opinion, like electing Damien Thorn ("The Omen") or Rosemary's Baby to the place where the anti-christ can do the most damage.  

Mormon's believe that "in the end times, the United States government will "hang by a thread", and that worthy priesthood members will step in and "save the day" by taking over - and basically enacting something akin to Sharia law, turning our already shaky democracy into a full blown and truly terrible theocracy. Anyone who doubts this, just take a look at Utah politics. Utah is practically a theocracy as it is. I high-tailed it out of that state the minute I was old enough. I have personally talked to a lot of Mormons who, while loving their church, shudder at the thought of the POTUS answering to the "prophet" in Salt Lake City". These people were raised in a free country and want to see it stay that way. They want the freedom for others to live as they would, as well. Others, however, in my non-scientific estimation, the vast majority of Mormons, have wholly consumed the purple Kool-Aid and think it would be just peachy if the entire world were forced by threat of death or slavery or loss of freedom to bow to the "elders" and tow the line of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  

To me, it is terrifying to think of a magic-underwear wearing (complete with symbols stolen by Joseph Smith from Freemasonry) Melchizedek priesthood-bearing drone of Mormondom to be within a stone's throw of "the button". People argue that the office of president is largely ceremonial and that of a figure-head, that the real power lies in Congress, and while this may be to a certain extent true, it is also true that by taking advantage of national crises, figure-heads can gain real, terrible and terrifying power. Look at how Hitler took advantage of Germany's runaway inflation in the thirties. Look at how the Patriot Act has completely gutted our American people's personal liberties and rights to privacy because of a single, horrible as it was, act of terrorism. As a dyed-in-the-wool Star Wars geek, I call it "Palpatine syndrome." (If you don't get the reference, fuggedaboudit, you're not geeky enough!) 

The problem with all of this is, who do we vote for? I'm a slightly left-leaning centrist, basically. I believe in a fairly free market-place, where business, small and large is allowed to prosper, but not at the expense of Dickensian conditions for workers and catastrophic results for the environment. I believe in moderate progressive taxes that guarantee social security and socialized medicine (with checks in place that guarantee the rights for personal decisions such as smoking, danger-chasing, and eating foods that aren't good for you without interference by the state.) We need someone who will stand up for the Constitution and for the checks and balances that keep us from hastily voting away our freedom and liberty in times of crisis and national panic. Obama has proven to be a turn-coat, a Trojan horse who has given the right, the Republicans more than they could have ever taken if McCain had won the presidency. All-in-all, I still suppose he's the best choice that has a snowball's chance in hell of winning, and maybe, just maybe when he doesn't have a re-election to worry about, he really will keep some of those promises he made four years ago. 

But lets not vote in a born-again religitard like Perry, Santorum, Ron Paul and that jaded, evil old troll Newt Gingrich - and let's not vote in a scary cult member in good standing who will bow to the will of the legacy of Joseph the huckster-fraud-pedophile-hat-scrying-polygamist-cultleader Smith. No theocracy in the United States of America!

Jessica Alquist is an "evil little thing"

There's a girl named Jessica Alquist at a high school in Rhode Island who's an atheist and has fought for a year against a prayer plaque on the wall of her PUBLIC and publicly funded school.  She won her court case.  Jessica has endured vicious name-calling, threats of violence and even death for her speaking out for the separation of church and state.  To add insult to injury, a State Representative named Palumbo went on the radio and referred to this, in my opinion, very brave young woman as "an evil little thing" because of her views and right action.  This is a man who is supposed to represent the law, the Constitution, and his constituency.

The following is my e-mail to this asshole State Representative:


Represantative Palumbo.

I wish I lived, just for now, in your constituency so I could have the pleasure of voting against you for your vile public religious bigotry and public name-calling of sixteen-year-old  Jessica Alquist after her legal victory in a case about separation of church and state.
That's OK, I can still spread the word about you and actively campaign against you  You claim to be a mature representative of your state.  Are you aware that Rhode Island was founded because of the need of a place free from religious persecution.  Are you aware that the Constitution of the United States, the document you are supposed to protect and cherish as an elected official provides for the separation of church and state to keep the land free from religious oppression, and that is especially important when it is the oppression of the few by the many.
There are plenty of places where a prayer plaque is appropriate.  It is appropriate in a church.  It is appropriated in a privately owned building or place.  It is appropriate even in a public place that is privately owned, such as a store, or private but open to the public museum or park, etc.  It is completely inappropriate in a public, government funded high school, as it would be in a town hall, courtroom or government building, unless it is on the private desk or office wall of an individual.
Due to your nasty, immature comment, calling a brave 16-year old high school student who is willing to withstand a lot of emotional and verbal abuse to stand up for what everyone should know is a just cause - even if they don't personally like it, an "evil little thing", I'm going to assume you're a Christian.  How would you like it if the plaque on the wall had been praising Allah - or better yet, what if it had contained a Wiccan pentagram and pledged obeisance to "The Goddess"??  I'll bet you would've pitched a fit and done everything in your power to have the offending plaque removed post haste, even though both of my examples are legitimate religions recognized by the IRS and the armed forces, including tax-exempt status.
Mr. Palumbo, you are a religious bigot, and are openly acknowledging that fact in public, by using your position to work against the Constitution - and maybe worse, against a juvenile member of your constituency who has shown dignity and bravery, and most importantly, A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW than you have.  You do not deserve your office.  I sincerely hope you lose any bid for re-election, and I plan on using my connections to spread the word about you.

Sincerely,
real name deleted here, but included in the original email.

Here is Palumbo's e-mail address.  Feel free to write him and tell him what you think, but please keep it civil so he might actually read it, and so filters won't block it.  Call him an asshole and a fucktard on your blogs and  in comments on YouTube if you want, but e-mailing his office with such will only guarantee being ignored, or thought of as "fringe,"
rep-palumbo@rilin.state.ri.us

My Mom's an Octogenerian today.....

It's October 9, 2011.  My awesome  mother has just become an  octogenarian.  Time friggin' flies, because it seems like just a few years ago she was turning sixty.  In the last couple of years my mom fought early stage breast cancer.  She had a lumpectomy and came home the same day.  She took her chemo and never got sick.  She took her radiation with just a little bit of pain.    It still burns a little sometimes, but her sciatica is worse, when it bothers her.  But  everything seems good.   Today we'll  take her to lunch at a local popular Mexican restaurant and she'll drive herself in her little gold Toyota.  She's strong, and good, and I'm proud to have been raised by her.  I'm proud to still be a mama's boy at my age.  It seems like my mom can't possibly be turning eighty, but they say 50 is  the new 30, so by that math, 80, at least for my mom, must be the new 60.  Happy Birthday, Mom.  I love you.