Recently, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a resolution proclaiming 2012 to be “The Year of the Bible”. (Read commentary along with much of the text of the resolution in the Scranton Examiner http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-scranton/pa-house-of-representatives-declare-2012-to-be-year-of-the-bible . Funny that there is no mention of this in the Post-Gazette. Maybe Ann Rodgers got to the story first.) This is so wrong on so many levels that in addition to being absolutely infuriating, it is almost mind boggling.
In the first place, it shows how completely hypocritical these idiots are. They take an oath of office in which they swear (on their book of fairy tales) to uphold and defend the Constitution. It goes like this:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, obey
and defend the Constitution of the United States and the
Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the
duties of my office with fidelity.”
They just swore this oath less than a month ago. And then they turn around and thumb their nose at the Constitution, completely rejecting the intent of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Not only that, but the same conservative assholes that push this kind of nonsense through are the same ones that blather on at length about the importance of the Constitution and how we need to get back to following it and… and… – Yeah, right. Obviously, they don’t really believe that. Nor do they have even one shred of integrity.
But let’s look on the bright side. At least they have dropped any pretense of actually wanting to promote jobs and keeping the Commonwealth competitive into the future. By loudly proclaiming their devotion to ignorance and superstition, they have shown their true agenda behind the Draconian cuts to public education and the school voucher proposals – namely the destruction of public education. Forget what their oath of office says about discharging the duties of their office with fidelity. Instead, let’s keep the populace even more ignorant so they are even more easily manipulated.
Great idea Sk8eycat. I sent this email to my representative this morning. HR 535. Grassroots anyone?
Representative Vulakovich,
As a registered republican in your district and equally important, a devout secularist consistent with the basic tenets of our U.S. Constitution, I’m first appalled and then embarrassed that the legislature of my state contrived, authored and then unanimously approved HR 535 declaring 2012 the “year of the bible”. On the most basic levels, this was at very least an unconstitutional expenditure of taxpayers dollars. But more importantly than that, it was a slap in the face to what our founding fathers had intended for the separation of church and state. Combining the effort expended on this resolution with the current financial status of our state and country, makes me very leery of the intentions and/or capabilities of our government. I’d like to believe that our legislature can actually do something tangibly productive for the world around us rather than such ill contrived attempts at colluding with the sentimental conservative base in vote gaining tactics. This is complete and utter nonsense.
*sigh* Another “Year of the BuyBull.”
Ray-Gun signed such a bill in 1983; my district’s (Republican) congressman was one of the sponsors. I wrote to him about the unconstitutionality of it, and asked him when he was going to sponsor a bill declaring “the Year of the Koran” or the Kama Sutra. He actually wrote back…he was amazed that anyone would object to “honoring the Good Book.” (His exact words) I was so fed up that I didn’t bother to write back and point out that that book is anything but “good.” Obviously he had never read the book all the way through.
Our current (Democratic) congressman voted “Aye” the other day to put a prayer on the FDR Monument. I’m disgusted. They just don’t GET it!
Welcome back, ol’ Militant One! It’s great to see you back in full-form.
But come on now. Stop beating around the bush already. Be honest, tell us how you really feel.
I feel your frustration. I feel the precise same sense of outrage that you do every freakin’ hour of every freakin’ day. It’s gettin’ exhausting already.
The saddest – and scariest – part for me, however, is not the degree of ignorance, stupidity, shilling and general contempt for intelligence that these troglodytes demonstrate and defend in their daily lives but the decline of the ability of the general electorate to see it for what it is.
There are a host of polls out there strongly suggesting that if the general election were held today, the Prez. and the Moron (oop, forgot that middle “M” again) would be running neck to neck. It literally blows my mind to realize that one of the most politically astute among us is viewed as an equal to a corporate shithead.
UN-BEE-LEEV-A-BL!