Note to Pat : Thou Shalt Not Kill. Geddit?

Phew! What a week that was! The Karaoke evening at the Anaesthetist & Parrot (which I said Maureen and I were going to last week) was an absolute fiasco. It all started going tits-up after one of the inmates, Pat Robertson, escaped from the Weasel’s Unit over in the American Annexe.

He’d been bought to the Weasel’s Unit by Carl and Viktor from Security for his own safety, after he had barricaded himself in the control room of our hospital Radio Station, “ASYLUM 700 FM”, and proceeded to scream over the PA that “if anyone wanted to murder Mr. Chavez,” (one of our Visitor’s Café Volunteers) “that’s just fine by me and God, because Jesus wants us to kill all the little brown people who say “No”… and send $50 NOW before Satan kills ya!”.

The Cannon of Christianity: Pat Robertson Calls for the Assassination of Hugo Chavez

Christian televangelist Pat Robertson set off an international firestorm this week when he called for the assassination of Venezuela's democratically elected president Hugo Chavez. Robertson made the comment on his TV program "The 700 Club."

PAT ROBERTSON:
“He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he’s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any
oil shipments will stop, but this man is a terrific danger, and the United States -- this is in our sphere of influence. We can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine. We have other doctrines that we have announced, and without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”

…watch video clip here

…read complete article here

Obviously, we couldn’t allow this kind of thing to happen! The other American Inmates started rioting, screaming “Yo, Death! USA!”, and as usual, they rushed into the toilet block and set fire to all the condom machines, and within minutes most of the furniture was thrown out of the windows. Inmate Bush went totally bat-shit, and was jumping up and down and on his “Barbie’s First Bicycle”, screaming “Georgie wanna kill the Commie Muslim Venezuelan Cuban Homosexual Bastard”. Inmate Cheney started drooling, fingering his pocket calculator, and was caught masturbating over his current Bank Statement, and Inmate “Creepy” Rumsfeld set fire to all the paperwork in the Nurse’s Station, claiming afterward that he knew nothing about anything at all… honest.

What a mess!

The magnificent Nurse Kravitz held the baying mob at bay for a good half hour, armed only with a rolled-up copy of “Democracy Now” until Dr. Strangelove eventually turned up with Carl and some of the burly Kitchen Porters, who shouldered the Radio Station door down and dragged the kicking, screaming Robertson into the corridor.

Just as Carl was fumbling about trying to get the Tranquilizer Gun out of the holster, Robertson sunk his teeth into Carl’s overly-pronounced gonads, and, in the ensuing pandemonium the gun went off, shooting Dr. Strangelove, as Robertson wriggled free and gleefully legged it out of the fire exit!

Unfortunately for us his escape route included the Anaesthetist & Parrot, and, as Maureen was onstage and just about to launch into the first chorus of “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”, Robertson, hotly pursued by an enraged, howling Carl and four Kitchen Porters, burst in through the front door, leapt onto the stage, grabbed the mike from Maureen’s startled grasp, and started to shriek wildly that “the city of Orlando will face divine retribution, in the form of terrorist attacks, hurricanes, earthquakes… or even possibly a Meteor, because a Gay Group has been allowed to fly Rainbow Flags off light poles during an event at Disney World” whereupon Chaos reigned until the big boys from Isolation arrived with their Tasers.

The rest, as we know, is history.

As you know, I’m usually the very soul of discretion, and I would never normally discuss an Inmate’s personal history, but I’ve got to say that this Pat Robertson is a particularly nasty and dangerous individual. I think it’s in the Public Interest that our visitors be armed with the facts before making a judgement on this devious self-appointed Prophet of the God of Pain, who has the President’s permanent Ear, so here are some extracts from his Patients Records:

Pat Robertson - Stormtrooper of the New World Order

Born the patrician son of a Democratic senator, Marion Gordon Robertson wasn't always interested in religion. As an undergraduate at Washington & Lee University, he had quite a reputation for indulging in drinking, gambling and chasing women - a reputation which continued while he studied law at Yale.

He failed several times to pass the bar exam after graduating, and was forced to pursue various business interests in New York City. His involvement with religious fundamentalism while running his own electronics company in New York was brought about by his intensely religious mother who got him into contact with charismatic Christians speaking in tongues and advocating faith healing.

His wife Adelia, a nurse, thought that he was sick and recognized schizoid tendencies in his behavior. This was especially true when he decided to leave her to go on a month-long religious retreat even though they were desperately poor and she was seven months pregnant.

As far as he was concerned, God would provide. Fortunately for her, she too eventually had a charismatic conversion experience. It's a shame, though, that she didn't pursue her original diagnosis and seek treatment for him. I think that this treatment of his wife is instructive of how Robertson thinks women should be treated.

He became increasingly certain that God wanted him to buy a television station to spread the gospel. He got himself ordained as a minister of the Southern Baptist Church, and set about the business of making himself famous and very, very rich at other’s expense.

As is the fashion in Faith-Based Extortion Rackets, a broadcasting empire was crucial to these plans for theocratic sedition (and the millions and millions of dollars that disingenuous Snake Oil Salesmen like Robertson knew he could con out of the gullible public). The as-yet-unsullied by the craziness of Theocracy, Robertson brought his family to Portsmouth Virginia in November 1959, with only $70 in his pocket, and a year later bought a $500,000 bankrupt UHF station in Portsmouth for a mere $37,000. In 1960 he went on the air with an evangelistic religious format.

Robertson's decision to ask for 700 supporters to contribute $10 a month led to the 1963 birth of the 700 Club, his religious talk show. In the early 1980s, Pat Robertson embraced a new doctrine within the Christian right known as Christian reconstructionism or dominionism, which calls for the creation of a Christian America.

The fanatical fervour pumping out of CBN was ramped up many notches, and the money started pouring in. The brainwashed audiences loved the wall-to-wall clarion calls for violence and retribution against anyone considered to be an enemy of the Christian cults – Liberals, Intellectuals, Immigrants, Gays, Atheists, Feminists etc. etc.

In 1986 Roberts resigned his ordination and ran against Vice President George Bush in the Presidential Nominations campaign and failed, due to press hostilities around unrelated scandals embroiling two Christian Broadcasting stations.

Not to be deterred from his craven lust for political power, he fell in behind George Bush Snr. , the Republican Party (and later Bush Jnr.) to offer his unrivaled services (and mailing list) as King-Maker, and was responsible for overseeing many relentless leafleting campaigns to illegally influence voters by way of millions and millions of “Voters Guides” distributed to Evangelical Christian Churches, which purported to give an impartial list of all candidate’s campaigning platforms, but which were slyly worded to heavily promote Republican candidates.

NOTE: Very shortly after he announced that he would be seeking the presidency in 1988, the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been lying for many years about the date of his wedding in order to hide the fact that his wife was very pregnant
during the ceremony. And he was still lying about it to the press as late as 1987. It might not have mattered much had he been honest about it earlier, but the fact that he was deliberately courting the votes of a moralistic and self-righteous crowd prevented honesty in such matters. It's his own fault, really - snake handlers get bitten from time to time, and have no one to blame but their selves.

His reaction to all of this was quite illuminating. He told reporters in Philadelphia that: "It is outrageous to pry into a man's past and try to do damage to a man's wife and children under the guise of journalism."

The obvious question raised by this is: why didn’t he come to the defense of President Clinton when he was savaged by the media for reports of sexual impropriety? Unless, of course, Pat Robertson is little more than a liar, a cheat and a hypocrite.

Robertson founded the Christian Coalition in October of 1989 in order to "give Christians a voice in their government again." As a Modest Man of God himself, Robertson has at various times in the past called for the Righteous execution of Gay’s, Lesbian’s, Liberals, Athiests, Finger-painters, Chihuahas, and Anyone who doesn’t agree with him. (The man’s a SAINT, I tell you! A LIVING SAINT!)

In 1990 the Coalition accepted a $64,000 donation from the Republican Senatorial Committee and used it to intervene in a North Carolina Senate race between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt. At a closed-door meeting of Coalition activists in November of 1991, Ralph Reed (who runs the day-to-day of the Coalition) bragged that after Helms called Robertson for help, the Coalition blanketed the state with 750,000 "voter guides" and helped Helms win. Remarks Reed, "I had access to the internal tracking, and I knew Helms was down by 8 points. So Pat called me up and said, 'We've got to kick into action.' Bottom line is...five days later we put three quarters of a million voters' guides in churches across the state of North Carolina, and Jesse Helms was re-elected by 100,000 votes out of 2.2 million cast."

In 1989 Reed announced that "What Christians have got to do is take back this country, one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time and one state at a time. I honestly believe that in my lifetime, we will see a country once again governed by Christians…and Christian values.

These illegal campaigns were financed by the Republican Party through the back door, though not enough conclusive evidence was ever produced in court to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the wording of the material was unfair.

Note for British readers: US Christian organizations like Christian Coalition etc. have
special tax exempt status, on the strict understanding that they do not involve
themselves in blatantly commercial, for-profit activities (such as accepting
massive donations from the Republicans, and generating acres and acres of
propaganda on the client’s behalf). Thanks to the Bush gang’s crooked patronage,
this rule has been flaunted to an incredible degree.

By 1986 the Christian Broadcasting Network’s gift income was over $139 million a year. At present Roberts’ CBN is now a vast multi-million dollar operation, with facilities in three U.S. cities, the Ukraine, Philippines, India and Israel. Radical Christians now control six national US television networks, each reaching tens of millions of homes and virtually all of the nation's 2,000 religious radio stations.

Christian radio now outnumbers every other format, except country music and news talk.

(The latest venture, Sky Angels, is putting up direct broadcast satellite networks and broadcasts 36 channels of Christian radio and TV, and nothing else… except relentless fund-raising, and calls for their viewers to pledge a percentage of their wages to the CBN. The Christian Broadcasting Network needs around $100 million a year to operate at it’s current level.) Obviously all of this has made Pat Robertson obscenely rich – his personal wealth is estimated to be in the region of $1 billion. It’s stashed away offshore, naturally.

...

Drunk in charge of a Superpower

Every so often one of those fairly improbable coincidences happens, which makes you chuckle and puts a smile on your face.

I was having a bit of a skive over in the Dependency Clinic Visitor's Reception with my mate Maureen, and, as Laverne (the hard-nosed little madam of a Receptionist) was out to lunch, we thought we'd have a little peek inside the "Suggestions" Box. The box was padlocked, but I could see something inside, and could just about reach through the letter-box and. I fished out two yellowing pieces of paper.

Rather spookily there were two photocopies of exactly the same article from Counter Punch, sent in by two different visitors: Holly & Joe, and Joseph Lucas. WoooOOoooh! A little frisson of statistical excitement shot up my suspenders as I read on...

Addiction, Brain Damage and the President:

"Dry Drunk" Syndrome and George W. Bush

Alan Bisbort argues that Bush possesses the characteristics of the "dry drunk" in terms of: his incoherence while speaking away from the script; his irritability with anyone (for example, Germany's Schröder) who dares disagree with him; and his dangerous obsessing about only one thing (Iraq) to the exclusion of all other things.

In short, George W. Bush seems to possess the traits characteristic of addictive persons who still have the thought patterns that accompany substance abuse. If we consult the latest scientific findings, we will discover that scientists can now observe changes that occur in the brain as a result of heavy alcohol and other drug abuse.

Some of these changes may be permanent. Except in extreme cases, however, these cognitive impairments would not be obvious to most observers. To reach any conclusions we need of course to know Bush's personal history relevant to drinking/drug use.

To this end I consulted several biographies. Yes, there was much drunkenness, years of binge drinking starting in college, at least one conviction for DUI in 1976 in Maine, and one arrest before that for a drunken episode involving theft of a Christmas wreath.

According to J.D. Hatfield's book, Fortunate Son, Bush later explained: "Alcohol began to compete with my energies....I'd lose focus." Although he once said he couldn't remember a day he hadn't had a drink, he added that he didn't believe he was "clinically alcoholic." Even his father, who had known for years that his son had a serious drinking problem, publicly proclaimed: "He was never an alcoholic. It's just he knows he can't hold his liquor."

Maureen gave a “Haruumph” and peered at me over her horn-rims. “Never an alcoholic? What planet are these people ON? Talk about abject denial! Tsk! Tsk!” She read on:

…Bush drank heavily for over 20 years until he made the decision to abstain at age 40. About this time he became a "born again Christian," going as usual from one extreme to the other. During an Oprah interview, Bush acknowledged that his wife had told him he needed to think about what he was doing. When asked in another interview about his reported drug use, he answered honestly, "I'm not going to talk about what I did 20 to 30 years ago."

That there might be a tendency toward addiction in Bush's family is indicated in the recent arrests or criticism of his daughters for underage drinking and his niece for cocaine possession. Bush, of course, deserves credit for his realization that he can't drink moderately, and his decision today to abstain. The fact that he doesn't drink moderately, may be suggestive of an inability to handle alcohol.

In any case, Bush has clearly gotten his life in order and is in good physical condition, careful to exercise and rest when he needs to do so. The fact that some residual effects from his earlier substance abuse, however slight, might cloud the U.S. President's thinking and judgment is frightening, however, in the context of the current global crisis.

...complete article here

Whipping out her Catholic Herald Commemorative Hip-Flask and knocking back a large slug of home-made Potcheen, Maureen shot me one of her 'knowing' looks. "Well... there you go, sweetie," she said "It's not just us, then."

I noticed the date on the two faded photocopies - 2002. "Bloody hell," I exclaimed "How often does Laverne empty this box? She's supposed to pass Visitor's observations onto Senior Management as soon as it arrives... this kind of stuff's too important to ignore. How can Dr. Strangelove diagnose properly if he’s only got half the facts?"

Maureen by now had the bit firmly between what remained of her own teeth - she'd produced a pair of plastic "Happy Garden" chopsticks from her capacious handbag, and was merrily probing the slot of the Suggestions Box again. After a brief tussle and much swearing, she gave a little "whoop" of victory. "Got you, you little beggar. Come to nursey..."

Gingerly teasing to document out of the slot, Maureen smoothed it out and started reading out loud:

Bush’s cognitive functioning worries observers

...It is thus hard to avoid the conclusion that Bush's cognitive functioning is not, for some reason, what it once was. I am not qualified to say why this is so. It would not be surprising if he was under enormous stress, particularly after the 9/11 atrocities in 2001, and I gather this could explain much, if not everything.

But I have heard wild speculation in Washington that he is suffering from a neurological disorder, or that the years of alcoholism might finally be taking their toll on his brain...

...It does not help that Bush now lives in a positively Nixonian cocoon. He does not read newspapers; he sees television only to watch football; he makes election speeches exclusively at ticket-only events, and his courtiers consciously avoid giving him bad news. When he met John Kerry for their first bout on the debating platform, it was almost a new experience for the President to hear the voice of dissent.

A senior Republican, experienced and wise in the ways of Washington, told me last Friday that he does not necessarily accept that Bush is unstable, but what is clear, he added, is that he is now manifestly unfit to be President. This, too, is a view that is widely felt, but seldom articulated and then only in private, within the Republican as well as Democratic establishments in Washington. Either way, the choice voters make on
Tuesday fortnight should be obvious: whether he is unstable or merely unfit to be President -- and I would argue that they amount to much the same -- he should speedily be turned out of office.

... complete article here

"Bejeesus," she exclaimed "this one's from last year, during the Presidential campaign. I can't believe that this kind of commentary has been floating around, unheeded and unreported by the mainstream media and their Masters..."

She paused mid-sentence as the penny dropped, and she realised it was a rhetorical one.

"Hmmm… I guess that's why he was the perfect choice for their miserable, corrupt agendas; the fascist Cultists, the New World Orderists, the Robber Barons and the Plain, Honest-to-Goodness Psychopaths who have stolen the American Republic.

"If you're conspiring to impose a fascist regime, destroy Democracy in your own Homeland in order to exert totalitarian control over the general population, whilst plundering the nation's coffers via Haliburton and Bechtel, you'd really need a psychotic, messianic nut-job Figurehead, without a single atom of human compassion or sense of guilt, now wouldn't you?"

By this point my Nurse’s Radar was pinging away like the last screen of Space Invaders. How many analyses and commentaries by respected mental health professionals have been out in the Public Domain, yet been completely suppressed by the Media?

This was crazy. I needed to sneak into Patient's Records and have a look at his Psychological Profile so I could properly understand just how dangerous George Bush really is. Laverne was going to be back in ten minutes, so I'd better hurry. A brief flurry of the old nail-file saw me into Patient Records. To my amazement the Bush's have their own filing cabinet. I opened the "Restricted - Junior" drawer, and pulled a file:

Noted psychologist observes Bush's behaviour

There's plenty to be worried about

by Oliver James, The Guardian [London, UK]

Sept. 2, 2003

As the alcoholic George Bush approached his 40th birthday in 1986, he had achieved nothing he could call his own. He was all too aware that none of his educational and professional accomplishments would have occurred without his father. He felt so low that he did not care if he lived or died.

Taking a friend out for a flight in a Cessna aeroplane, it only became apparent he had not flown one before when they nearly crashed on take-off. Narrowly avoiding stalling a few times, they crash-landed and the friend breathed a sigh of relief -- only for Bush to rev. up the engine and take off again.

Not long afterwards, staring at his vomit-spattered face in the mirror, this dangerously self-destructive man fell to his knees and implored God to help him and became a teetotalling, fundamentalist Christian.

"Good grief," I thought " so THAT was the horror-story - the cathartic life event that finally sent the alcoholic, tormented, knuckle-dragging George Bush Jnr. over the edge of Humanity and into the raging vacuum of Insanity. This was important-to-know stuff. I had to know more...

...He was aggressively anti-intellectual and hostile to east-coast preppy types like his father, sometimes cruelly so. On one occasion he walked up to a matronly woman at a smart cocktail party and asked, "So, what's sex like after 50, anyway?"

A direct and loutish challenge to his father's posh sensibility came aged 25, after he had drunkenly crashed a car. "I hear you're looking for me," he sneered at his father, "do you want to go mano a mano, right here?"

As he grew older, the fury towards his father was increasingly directed against himself in depressive drinking. But it was not all his father's fault. There was also his insensitive and domineering mother.

“Mmm,” I mused “I wonder if I can guess what comes next…”

Barbara Bush is described by her closest intimates as prone to "withering stares" and "sharply crystalline" retorts. She is also extremely tough. When he was seven, Bush's younger sister, Robin, died of leukaemia and several independent witnesses say he was very upset by this loss. Barbara claims its effect was exaggerated but nobody could accuse her of overreacting: the day after the funeral, she and her husband were on the golf course.

She was the main authority-figure in the home. Jeb describes it as having been, "A kind of matriarchy... when we were growing up, dad wasn't at home. Mom was the one to hand out the goodies and the discipline." A childhood friend recalls that,"She was the one who instilled fear", while Bush put it like this: "Every mother has her own style. Mine was a little like an army drill sergeant's... my mother's always been a very outspoken person who vents very well -- she'll just let rip if she's got something on her mind."

According to his uncle, the "letting rip" often included slaps and hits. Countless studies show that boys with such mothers are at much higher risk of becoming wild, alcoholic or antisocial...

I’d say that’s about as perfect an environment as you could get to turn any child into a sociopathic, bullying drunk… emotionally cold, physically abusive, fanatically domineering parents. Nice. And in Texas, too… a place not noted for it’s collective compassion. This is where the anger and loathing for anyone further down the food-chain comes from.

How did this personal epiphany manifested itself in George Bush, a failed man already filled with loathing and contempt for other people’s happiness? How does he express his desire to hurt and control the whole World, so he can maybe one day feel good about himself?

... His moralism is all-encompassing and as passionate as can be. He plans to replace state welfare provision with faith-based charitable organisations that would impose Christian family values.

The commonest targets of authoritarians have been Jews, blacks and homosexuals. Bush is anti-abortion and his fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible would mean that gay practices are evil. But perhaps the group he reserves his strongest contempt for are those who have adopted the values of the 60s. He says he loathes "people who felt guilty about their lot in life because others were suffering".

I think we’re getting the broader picture now…

He has always rejected any kind of introspection. Everyone who knows him well says how hard he is to get to know, that he lives behind what one friend calls a "facile, personable" facade.

Frum comments that, "He is relentlessly disciplined and very slow to trust. Even when his mouth seems to be smiling at you, you can feel his eyes watching you." His deepest beliefs amount to superstition. "Life takes its own turns," he says, "writes its own story and along the way we start to realise that we are not the author." God's will, not his own, explains his life.

“Here we go again.” I groaned “Back at the bloody Apocalypse! Always with the bloody Apocalypse! No matter which way you turn when inspecting the dis-ease of George Bush Jnr, you are constantly banging into these insane Religious Terrorists. When are people going to WAKE UP and DO SOMETHING about these Fanatics who are telling George Bush what they expect him to do for them and their Theocratic ambitions?”

Most fundamentalist Christians have authoritarian personalities. Two core beliefs separate fundamentalists from mere evangelists ("happy-clappy" Christians) or the mainstream Presbyterians among whom Bush first learned religion every Sunday with his parents: fundamentalists take the Bible absolutely literally as the word of God and believe that human history will come to an end in the near future, preceded by a terrible, apocaplytic battle on Earth between the forces of good and evil, which only the righteous shall survive.

According to Frum when Bush talks of an "axis of evil" he is identifying his enemies as literally satanic, possessed by the devil. Whether he specifically sees the battle with Iraq and other "evil" nations as being part of the end-time, the apocalypse preceding the day of judgment, is not known. Nor is it known whether Tony Blair shares these particular religious ideas.

By the way - we’ll be getting onto Inmate Blair, aka “The Vicar” soon, I promise.

However, it is certain that however much Bush may sometimes seem like a buffoon, he is also powered by massive, suppressed anger towards anyone who challenges the extreme, fanatical beliefs shared by him and a significant slice of his citizens -- in surveys, half of them also agree with the statement "the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word".

Bush's deep hatred, as well as love, for both his parents explains how he became a reckless rebel with a death wish. He hated his father for putting his whole life in the shade and for emotionally blackmailing him. He hated his mother for physically and mentally badgering him to fulfil her wishes. But the hatred also explains his radical transformation into an authoritarian fundamentalist.

By totally identifying with an extreme version of their strict, religion-fuelled beliefs, he jailed his rebellious self. From now on, his unconscious hatred for them was channelled into a fanatical moral crusade to rid the world of evil. As Frum put it: "Id-control is the basis of Bush's presidency but Bush is a man of fierce anger." That anger now rules the world.

...full article here

I stopped reading. Tears were welling up in my eyes… I’d been so busy reading, crouched down behind the filing cabinets, that I didn’t realize I had hooked the top of my knickers on a cupboard door-handle, and was slowly giving myself a strangulated Wedgie. I heard Maureen hissing to me from the other side of the door. “Laverne’s coming back, come on, hurry up!”

I put everything back where it belonged and slid out through the door, just in time. Maureen and I were lost in our thoughts, as we walked back to the Janet Adegoke Ward. What did I think?

Now I knew: This was how the man was made: this apparently idle, drunken, hate-filled Trogolodyte Playboy Prince, the runt of the litter, the self-loathing, anti-intellectual heir-apparent of the New World Order's first Royal Family.

These cruel Anti-Kennedy's... the disastrously emotionally constipated Bush family, from whom George Bush Junior was running from when his twisted id tried to kill himself one day in a plane crash - and in the process (and by a quirk of chaos), got as close to seeing his own rectum from the inside-out... and the light at the end of the tunnel... as any man ever did, and lived to never-ever-ever-tell what it did to his already deranged mind.

I think George Bush Junior was, literally, the much-scorned Atheist in the Foxhole, the allegorical ‘Coward’ who stared his own empty Death right in the eye, suddenly grovelled to God and ‘magically’ got a second chance.

Almost dying changes you, it really does. I've been pretty close myself (especially when the Safeway Security Guard catches you red-handed, stuffing tins of Chicken Roll down your tights!). For most people it's a life-affirming experience, a chance to try again and learn from the Past, to try and become happier because it puts things into a healthier perspective. They typically become much nicer, kinder people.

But for those people who were never All That in the first place, it results in a catastophic delusional experience waaay beyond their already-dim imaginings. Junior didn't suddenly snap out of what ailed him like most people would; he went slightly mad instead.

This is a problem for all of us. Something just HAS to be done.

Maureen and I are going out to the 'Anaesthetist & Ferret' tonight for a mad Karaoke party, so don't expect to hear from me for a couple of days, unless I make bail!

I'll leave you with a famous quotation:

"All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it... Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."

Adolph Hitler

Who gave him a helmet, fer chrissakes?!

I daresay you've been wondering why Nurse Riches has been absent since Wednesday. I'm afraid I had to provide cover over at the Camp Casey Excercise Compound and Velodrome, where Nurse Cravitz accidentally left a side door unlocked, allowing Inmate Bush to escape into the Bike shed.

Well! What a to do, dears! Despite trying to lure him back inside with pretzels and comics, the little bastard would have none of it, and took off like a rat up a drainpipe. I think he could smell the rat poison in the pretzels.

We spent the whole week chasing him all over the grounds in the Land-Rover, with Carl from Security hanging out of the side window, trying to get off a decent shot with the Tranquiliser Gun.



All to no avail, I'm afraid. George was eventually brought down by a couple of burly Kitchen porters who caught him rooting around the waste bins, muttering something profane about Cindy Sheehan, and gibbering on about needing clean jim-jams in case he's invited for a sleep-over at the next Donor's Campaign Fund-Raiser.

Anyhow, I've got to wash all the dust out of my tights before my next shift starts, but I'll be back later...

I'm reaching for the straight-jacket as I speak...

(Courtesy: Wizard of Whimsy)

Every so often, Inmates, someone actually comes up with a bit of GOOD news. After the initial suprise of the unexpected, Good News quickly gives you the kind of gratifying thrill that only the Hope of Natural Justice can give...

There was I, in the Nurse's Lounge (having spent the entire shift chasing Larry Northern 'round and 'round and 'round the High Security Excercise Yard, attempting (and failing) to give him his hourly Anti-Shithead injections), my ravaged feet soaking in a hot bowl of Epsom Salts, when I noticed a fresh memo pinned to the notice-board.

It was from Professor Pizzo, from the News For Real Research Hut over in the American Annexe, who's tirelessly dedicated the last few years to trying to find a cure for Presidential Bird-Brained Flu. He's had some VERY encouraging confirmation of his data, and it's so good I'm reproducing it in full:

Is Bush Out of Control?

Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia.

They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”

In fact, George W. Bush’s mood swings have become so drastic that White House emails often contain “weather reports” to warn of the President’s demeanor. “Calm seas” means Bush is calm while “tornado alert” is a warning that he is pissed at the world.

Decreasing job approval ratings and increased criticism within his own party drives the President’s paranoia even higher. Bush, in a meeting with senior advisors, called Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist a “god-damned traitor” for opposing him on stem-cell research.

“There’s real concern in the West Wing that the President is losing it,” a high-level aide told me recently.

A year ago, this web site discovered the White House physician prescribed anti-depressants for Bush. The news came after revelations that the President’s wide mood swings led some administration staffers to doubt his sanity.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a “paranoid meglomaniac” and “untreated alcoholic” whose “lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad” showcase Bush’s instabilities.

“I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed,” Dr. Frank said. “He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated.”

Dr. Frank’s conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School.

As a recovering alcoholic (sober 11 years, two months, nine days), I know all too well the symptoms that Dr. Frank describes and, after watching Bush for the past several years, I have to, unfortunately, agree with him.

Conversations over the last few weeks with longtime friends who work in the Bush White House confirm even more what Dr. Frank says and others have suggested.

The President of the United States is out of control. How long can the ship of state continue to sail with a madman at the helm?

© Copyright 2005 by Capitol Hill Blue

...original article here

I don't know about YOU, but the fact that enough strssed-out mutterings have now leaked out of the woodwork of Capitol Hill to result in this kind of reporting might be the first omen that the lid is about to blow right off the White House pressure cooker, especially now it seems that Blunderer-In-Chief's relationship with the Pentagon is turning sour, just as he's about to go Nuclear Poo-Poo in Iran...

It just goes to prove that no matter how hermetically sealed your Rocket-Proof triple-glazed Oval Office windows are, and no matter how ruthlessly efficient your Pitbull-Powered, Truth-Erasing air conditioning is, the stench of a truly evil Fart will always make its way out of the building.

Bush Ignored the Truth About Iraq

Slowly but surely the hardhead who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is realizing what his military experts and others told him all along – he cannot and will not win the war in Iraq.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Bush senior advisors say the President is accepting the harsh reality that the U.S. will probably leave Iraq in worse shape than it was before we invaded the country in 2003.

Sadly, the experts in the Pentagon told Bush from the beginning that he could not achieve his goals in Iraq and, had he listened, nearly 2,000 American men and women might still be alive (not to mention the many thousands more wounded and maimed), along with more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

“Senior Pentagon officials are quietly urging President George W. Bush to slow down his headlong rush to war with Iraq, complaining the administration’s course of action represents too much of a shift of America’s longstanding “no first strike” policy and that the move could well result in conflicts with other Arab nations,” this web site reported on January 22, 2003.

“We have a dangerous role reversal here,” one Pentagon source told Capitol Hill Blue. “The civilians are urging war and the uniformed officers are urging caution.”

...rest of article here

There's hope for us yet, Inmates! Must dash, though... It's time to give Inmate Blair his colonscopy.

He doesn't need it, I just feel like giving him one!

Is that a Bunker-Buster in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

OK, Inmates. Weekend’s over. Back into Therapy with you!

The twists and turns of the Iranian nuclear “crisis” seem to read more interestingly with a bit of timely analysis:

We’ve heard a lot over the last week of the efforts of several countries, namely the US, UK, France, Germany and China to negotiate a freeze on Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment program through the United Nations. The Chimp-In-Chief, as we all know, is showboating to all and sundry that he has “information” that Iran is conducting secret tests to enrich Uranium beyond the level needed for electricity production from nuclear facilities. He asserts that, just like Saddam Hussein, the Iranians are secretly developing nuclear weapons.

Hands up who’s stupid or corrupt enough to fall for THAT crap a second time? Stand up, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac!

The Iranians flatly deny this accusation. They say that they only want to be able to generate electricity, as do many other countries:

Nuclear Power in the World Today

Seventeen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity. France and Lithuania get around three quarters of their power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more. Japan, Germany and Finland get more than a quarter of their power from nuclear energy, while the USA gets one fifth.

…more information here

The Iranians say, quite rightly, that if nuclear power is so efficient, and almost everyone else who can afford it can have it, and since Iran is a co-signatory to the Non- Proliferation Treaty (unlike India and Pakistan), why shouldn’t THEY be allowed to have it?

International nuclear safeguards

Over more than 30 years the IAEA's safeguards system under the NPT has been a conspicuous international success. It has involved cooperation in developing nuclear energy for electricity generation, while ensuring that civil uranium, plutonium and associated plant did not allow weapons proliferation to occur as a result of this.

It is important to realise that international nuclear safeguards are focused on the control of fissile materials only. They have nothing to do with engineering or organisational safety aspects of reactors, waste disposal, or transport. These are covered by other international arrangements and conventions. It is also important to understand that nuclear safeguards are a prime means of reassurance whereby non-nuclear weapons states demonstrate to others that they are fulfilling their peaceful commitments. They prevent nuclear proliferation in the same way that auditing procedures build confidence in proper conduct and prevent embezzlement. . Their specific objective is to verify whether nuclear material remains within the civil nuclear fuel cycle and is being used solely for peaceful purposes or not.

…more detail here

Britain and France, I should remind you, are the only two European countries with nuclear weapons, and are in a position to join Bush in strutting, crowing and making the Ultimate Threat. Germany doesn’t have nuclear weapons, and is saying loud and clear that invading Iran would be a disaster, and the UN Security Council should be kept out of this debacle for the sake of us all. Germany wants to negotiate guarantees from Iran. We just want to demand with menaces.

India and Pakistan, who have both refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and who have both developed, tested and threatened each other with nuclear weapons, faced sanctions so mild and short-lived it was laughable. The US is now back in business trading nuclear fuel with India. Pakistan, as we now know, has been selling nuclear technology and fissile material through the back-door to anyone with a suitcase full of money for years, and has undoubtedly hastened the almost inevitable arrival of a screaming lunatic with a low-yield device making it past the security cordons and into history.

America, which signed the NPT, and is supposed to be drastically reducing its stockpile of nuclear warheads to reflect reductions made by Russia, is in fact INCREASING weapons production in the form of “Bunker Busters”, intended to penetrate underground facilities. These will be the first nuclear weapons to be deployed when they invade Iran on this flimsiest of excuses.

High Tide of the Neocons

The neocon plan as I understand it is to stand by while the EU-Iran talks collapse; hold France, Germany and Britain to an earlier promise to support UN sanctions against Iran in the wake of that collapse; push Mohamed El Baradei and the IAEA to find Iran in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (even though it's not); attempt, knowing the effort will fail, to acquire a Security Council resolution condemning Iran; have John Bolton as new U.S. ambassador to the UN declare the organization irresponsible if not useless; and then tell the American people the U.S. has tried to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons threat (and its support for international terrorism, and the prospect of nukes falling into the hands of Islamic Jihad or Hizbollah) through the international body, but failed due to China's obstructionism based on Chinese selfish demand for Iranian oil.

Soon thereafter (before a massive movement against an attack on Iran can form) they would like to conduct a horrific tactical-nuke operation against Iranian nuclear facilities as well as government offices. Scott Ritter suggests that they plan an actual invasion from Azerbaijan. They apparently plan to use Mujahadeen Khalq forces much as they used Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. Europe might stay out this time, although Israel may have an important role, and France having generally reconciled with the U.S. and having worked with the U.S. to reconfigure Syria and Lebanon (and Haiti) may be assigned a major role in her former colonies in the Levant.

The neocons must anticipate resurgent resistance activity in Afghanistan (due both to the activities of one-time CIA favorite Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as well as to Taliban "remnants"), as well as intensified fighting in Iraq, where the Shiites and Sunnis alike will see the Iran attack as a U.S. war on Islam, on behalf of Israel. The American Empire in Southwest Asia will as it expands remain in a semi-chaotic state, with weak client regimes struggling alongside overstretched U.S. forces to contain insurgencies. But that is okay with the neocons, who delight in chaos and see glorious victory and progress in the disarray of Afghanistan and Iraq. They apparently think that their imperial goals can be achieved even in the context of ongoing low-intensity warfare, and that they can meet those goals (of controlling the flow of oil and gas and establishing permanent military bases throughout the region) without a Vietnam-like disaster, or a level of dissent in the U.S. that could actually lead to the fall of the Bush administration.

…more here

Iran sits atop some of the largest oil fields in the world, yet they have a conflict of needs; the oil provides virtually the entire Gross Domestic Product for Iran, but the oil’s not going to last forever (we may fast be approaching the ‘Hubbert Peak, AKA Peak Oil’, after which it’s downhill all the way…), and the least beneficial way of using the oil is to pump it out and use it themselves for generating electricity in inefficient oil-fired power stations. Iran is entitled to long-term energy security, whether George Bush hates their guts or not. It’s simply none of his business.

So… why is France suddenly jumping on the bandwagon? It seems that the Americans have offered the French a little sweetner in exchange for support at the UN – a hinted-at major role in her former colonies in the Levant – Syria, Lebanon and Damascus.

A little history in two links:

THE U. S. NOTE TO THE FRENCH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT ON THE LEVANT STATES May 31, 1945

PRIME MINISTER CHURCHILL'S SPEECH IN COMMONS ON SYRIA AND LEBANON June 5, 1945

French and British 20^th century colonialisation and dominance of much of the Middle East is one of the issues which inflames Middle Eastern passions. When we were there we treated them worse than animals. Then, as now, an arab life is not even worth counting. We Brits have an inglorious past of murder and torture in other people’s countries, and if we want to ever truly understand why there is so much anger and hatred towards us, we forget that fact at our politically-correct peril. The French were every bit as brutal, make no mistake about it.

What of Blair’s position? As you probably know we’ve had a few differences with the French of late over the way the EU works. Britain currently holds the EU Presidency, and it is in Blair’s mind to trump the French card and sidle up to the Chimp-In-Chief again and romp off on another Imperialistic jaunt, thinking that maybe THIS time George will keep his word and let us get our noses in the Criminal Trough of Plunder. The problem with being Bush’s Bitch is that the primary qualification seems to be matchless stupidity.

Much as many of us loathe the idea of returning to nuclear power with all its massive problems, it’s a sad fact that at present nuclear power seems like our best medium-term hope for energy security. Renewable Energy technologies are still in their infancy, having been crippled over and over again over the past couple of decades by all those companies and governments who have colluded to make sure that Sustainable Energy Research consistently fails to get proper grant support, tax-breaks etc. Oil is King, the King has no clothes on, but he’ll destroy the Earth to make sure YOU don’t have any clothes either.

We all get the crystal clear picture, too, that the Republic of Iran isn’t a very user-friendly place to be if you’re not a friend. Several violent, extremist Jihadist organizations are based there, and it’s an almost definite that the Iranian government is financing them left, right and centre. The Iranian Military is highly-trained, pretty damn modern, massive and very, very focused. Attacking Iran wouldn’t bear any comparison to invading Iraq (recently described as “Mexico with oil”).

We know, also, what lies in the religious hearts of the Iranian Clerics, and it’s not a pleasant picture.

However: the cultural issue should be kept separate from the long-term needs of millions of Iranians. How can we ever claim to hold the moral high ground if we treat other nations with such astonishing duplicity, arrogance and murderous disdain? If we can’t accept that this is a time when we need to prove OUR intelligence and integrity by allowing the IAEA to continue its inspections, and offer the hand of trust (let alone technical assistance) to Iran, then the future looks very, very bleak.

Which is just the way George Bush seems to want it…

Iran : Atomic Bombs don't kill People, Stupid... PEOPLE kill People!

(Courtesy: Wizard of Whimsy)

I was under the impression that the crux of the argument used by George Bush to justify not changing U.S. gun ownership laws to introduce Gun Registration and the limiting of the size and power of gun that people can reasonably own, following national outrage after several High School Shootings, was that “GUNS don’t kill People – PEOPLE kill People” and that “Constitutionally every American Citizen has the Sacred Right… Nay! The Sacred DUTY… to bear arms”, to defend themselves.

Note: Actually, George, if you want to be correct about this, I think you’ll find it’s ammunition that kills people…

US Bill of Rights, Article [II.]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

…And I was also under the impression that the entire basis of American Criminal Justice was “Innocent until proven guilty”. I’m not imagining these facts, am I? No. I didn’t think so.

But the consistency of these arguments seems to go a bit Tits-Up when you look at Bush's George’s imminent Pre-emptive (possibly Nuclear) strike against the Sovereign Nation of Iran… because “We’re suspicious of their Desires”.

Bush is now insisting of Iran (with its determined desire to develop civil Nuclear Power for the sake of Iran’s long-term domestic energy planning, because they know full well the oil is about to start running out, especially since the Chinese arrived) that as far as HE’s concerned, the ONLY motive the Iranians could ever POSSIBLY have for wanting a nuclear ANYTHING can ONLY be to make MILLIONS of Atom Bombs, and promptly strap said Atom Bombs into the end of Iranian-developed ICBM missiles (based on legitimately-acquired medium-range Russian missile technology) and bomb the holy crap out of Israel… because HE says they’re part of The Axis of Evil, and that’s what these Evil-Doers do, Right?

Then, implies Bush, once they’ve wiped out Israel with their as-yet-not-developed Shehab-3 long-range SCUD-type missiles (Range 1,300km / 807 miles), they’re DEFINITELY going to Atom-Bomb YOU, and YOU, and YOU in your beds in Wisconsin, and Texas, and in England-land, by sticking Atomic Bombs into the as-yet-undeveloped Shehab-5 space rocket (Range 2,000 Km… that’s 1,242 miles to you, Bub) which they’re jointly developing with the assistance of North Korea, China and Russia.

Mmmm MMM! I don’t think so, Boyfriend!

• Here’s a handy pull-out-and-keep Distance Converter

From	To	Kilometers	Miles
Tehran	Jerusalem	1,557	967
Tehran	Paris	2,616	4,211 (Doh!)
Tehran	London	2,734	4,400
Tehran	Washington DC	10,178	6,324
P’Yongyang	Jerusalem	7,884	4,899
P’Yongyang	Paris	8,761	5,444 (Doh!)
P’Yongyang	London	8,655	5,378
P’Yongyang	Washington DC	11,047	6,864

Bearing these distances in mind, here’s some more relevant information you need to have:

Iran’s Missile Capability 2005

	Range (Km)	Range (Mi)	Can hit	Status
Shehab 3	1,300	807	Israel (at a push)	Developed
Shehab 4	3,600	2,237	Israel, Germany	In Development
Shehab 5	5,000	3,107	London	In Development, 2010

North Korea’s missile capability, 2005

	Range (Km)	Range (Mi)	Can hit	Status
Scud B	300	200	S. Korea	Developed
Scud C	550	350	S.Korea	Developed
Nodong	1,300	800	S.Korea	Developed
Taepo-Dong 1	2,000	1,200	Japan	Tested
Taepo-Dang 2	6,000	3,700	Alaska/Hawaii	In Development
Taepo-Dong 2 (3-stage version)	12,000	7,500	Continental US	Possibly by 2010

Israel’s missile capability,

	Range (Km)	Range (Mi)	Can hit	Status
Jericho 2	1,300	800	Iran, Sth.Russia	Since 1989
Jericho 3 / Shavit	4,500	2,800	Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Riyadh, Tehran, Tripoli	Being tested

Just two more statistics you need to be aware of:

• Estimated number of Israeli Nuclear Warheads : 300

• Estimated number of U.S. Nuclear Warheads : 3,000+

Q : And how long will it would take Iran to develop and manufacture just one single Atom Bomb, if left completely alone?

A : Ten years at the earliest, according to the expertly compiled estimate of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose teams of absolutely professional IAEA Inspectors have been regularly inspecting Iran’s Nuclear development for years, accompanied by CIA, Mossad, MI5 spies posing as “Assistants”. That’s Ten Years, NOT Forty-five Minutes.

George Bush is about to move on to the next part of the Grand Plan, and he’s using exactly the same tactics he used to deceive the UN, the US and Tony Blair that Saddam Hussein was armed and extremely dangerous and was an immediate danger to EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD… and we know how true THAT wasn’t, don’t we?

He’s going to go to the UN, the IAEA, the EU and anywhere else he can think of, and he’s going to tell more lies, whilst pleading that “I’ve give Iran every opportunity to disarm their WMD, we don’t have time to wait for Sanctions, and now I’m going to attack for the sake of Truth, Justice and the American Way… I’ve been a reasonable man… “

He'll back up his lies with alledged heaps of "evidence" created by seditious Iranian dissidents in the same vein as Mahamed Chalabi, the Iraqi dissident who lied and lied and lied about Iraq's WMD arsenal, their 45-minute Nuclear strike capability, and Saddams loving relationship with Al Q'aeda. It was ALL a LIE, as will be everything that comes out of the mouth of the NEXT favoured dissident.

George Bush Jnr. is really, really limbering up to attack Iran and risk massive retaliation from the entire Middle East, and their Allies – Russia, China, North Korea, on the basis of “We’re suspicious of their desires”. Remember - George doesn't do Brinkmanship for long. He's got an itch, and it's driving him Krazeeee.

Slaughtering tens and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children wasn’t enough blood for The First Prince of the Theocratic States of America. No. He needs to slaughter at least as many again, and then he’ll move on to the next Node of the "Axis of Evil", because that’s what God has told him to do. He doesn't care if ten million people die at his self-righteous hand. He thinks he's going to be whisked straight up to Heaven to sit with God before the shit REALLY hits the fan. Really.

This utterly unnecessary escalation of aggression is intended be the beginning of The Rapture – the Final Battle between Good (Theonomy, George Bush and the Krazy Gang) and Evil (Islam, Satan, the Pope)

You know what? The most depraved aspect of all this insanity is that pathetically, the Crypto-Islamic Krazy Gang want exactly the same Final Battle. It's all been foretold, y'see. World War 3 - which may begin over the next few weeks - will actually be God's Desire, apparently. What a Shitty Concept.

There Is No Tomorrow

Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true - one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate. In this past election several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the Rapture Index.

That's right - the Rapture Index. Google it and you will find that the best-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the "Left Behind" series written by the Christian fundamentalist and religious-right warrior Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions of Americans.

Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer George Monbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted to him for adding to my own understanding): Once Israel has occupied the rest of its "biblical lands," legions of the antichrist will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon.

As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to Heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow.

I'm not making this up.

... rest of article HERE

Tribulation and Rapture - the Theology.

Just prior to Jesus’ return to set up an earthly kingdom, argue most amillennialists and all premillennialists, there will be a time of persecution, called the Great Tribulation. It is here that the great debate over the Jews begins. Amillennialists believe that Christians will be persecuted by their enemies. A handful of premillennialists, referred to as "historic premillennialists," also identify Christians as the targets. This version of premillennialism has been insignificant institutionally since the 1870’s. The dominant premillennial view says that Jews will suffer the Great Tribulation. Born-again Christians will have flown the coop – literally. This is the doctrine of the pre-tribulation Rapture.

According to pre-tribulation premillennialists, who are known as dispensationalists, Jesus will come secretly in the clouds and raise deceased Christians – and only Christians – from the dead. Immediately thereafter, every true Christian will be transported bodily into the sky, and from there to heaven: the Rapture event. The passage cited to defend this view is found in Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessolonica: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [harpazo] together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thes. 4:16-17). Throughout most of church history, this passage was associated with the final judgment, but beginning sometime around 1830 in England, it was linked to the premillennial, pretribulational Rapture – a word that is not found in the Greek text or in any English translation of the New Testament. Its Latin root word is in Jerome’s Vulgate, a translation of the Greek "harpazo" – seize, catch, or pluck.

...rest of article here

Can you believe this insanity? WAKE UP!

So what's Timothy LaHaye got in store for YOU?

...What is LaHaye's worldview? In a recent non-fiction book titled Mind Siege (coauthored with David Noebel), LaHaye outlines his model society a Religious Right utopia where there is no separation of church and state. Abortion is outlawed and homosexuality is lumped in with pedophilia and prostitution as "perverse sexual practices" that are "universally viewed as immoral and would be shunned." Censorship is rampant as the "Christian and pro-moral community" use the federal government to promulgate "decency" codes.
In LaHaye's perfect world, voucher subsidies for private religious education are freely available. Public schools are turned into centers for fundamentalist indoctrination with daily prayer, promotion of the Ten Commandments and creationism firmly ensconced. The Department of Education has been abolished, and teenagers are given no sex education at school. Instead, children are taught revisionist history about how the United States was founded to be a "Christian nation."
Women, in LaHaye's dream, would "stay at home to raise their babies," eschew feminism and submit to their husbands who would assume their God-given role as "the spiritual head of the family."
For years LaHaye labored through various Religious Right groups to persuade Americans to adopt his views and win support from politicians. Having made only limited progress, he now uses fiction to achieve what he could not get through politics....

...A year later, LaHaye was co-founder and first president of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a secretive umbrella group of far right leaders who meet regularly to plot strategy designed to advance a theocratic agenda. CNP activists have included Falwell, Pat Robertson, long-time right-wing strategist Paul Weyrich, the American Family Association's Donald Wildmon, Focus on the Family's James C. Dobson and former attorney general Edwin Meese. (Even R.J. Rushdoony, the now-deceased dean of the radical Christian Reconstructionist movement, was a member.)...

...LaHaye's books are based on a reading of the Book of Revelation popular among many fundamentalists. Revelation is a symbol-laden book that is fertile ground for those interested in the apocalypse. Under LaHaye's "premillenialist" interpretation, which is common in some fundamentalist circles, the end of the world begins with the "Rapture," when all "Bible believing" Christians are whisked off to Heaven, leaving only their clothes and jewelry behind. Non-believers are forced to stay on Earth and endure the "Tribulation," a period marked by war, confusion and death, as well as the rise of the Antichrist.In the "Left Behind" series, the Antichrist comes to power and, aided by duplicitous United Nations officials, instills an oppressive reign under a totalitarian one-world government. A motley collection of ordinary people who failed to make the cut for the Rapture commit themselves anew to faith and organize a "Tribulation Force" to overthrow the godless regime. ..

...Conspiracy-theory thinking and contempt for religions that differ from fundamentalist Christianity run through LaHaye's non-fiction works. His 1983 book The Battle for the Public Schools contains a drawing of a tree whose trunk is labeled "Secular Humanism." Some of its roots are labeled "Hinduism," "Buddhism," "Taoism" and "Confucianism." Branches and leaves coming off of the tree are labeled "Crime," "Divorce," "Abortion," "Homosexuality," "Rape," "V.D.," "Public Schools" and "Liberal Politicians."
Humanist leaders in the United States are alternately amused and horrified by LaHaye's smear campaign against them. "Tim LaHaye blames secular humanists for everything from communism to bad breath," Edward M. Buckner, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism in Amherst, N.Y., told Church & State. "LaHaye's paranoid ravings and conspiracy theories about humanists running the world would be amusing but for one thing: He is stirring up hatred against an entire class of people based on their belief system and worldview. That's not funny."
Humanists aren't LaHaye's only target. As might be expected from a Bob Jones University graduate, he also has a long history of vitriolic attacks on Catholicism. In his 1973 book Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain, LaHaye writes that the Catholic Church "is more dangerous than no religion because she substitutes religion for truth.... Rome is also dangerous because some of her doctrines are pseudo-Christian." Elsewhere in the book LaHaye compares Catholic services to pagan rituals...

...Aside from conspiracy theories, LaHaye's non-fiction works show unmitigated hostility toward the separation of church and state. In The Battle for the Mind, LaHaye writes that the First Amendment was intended only to prevent the establishment of a national church. He insists that the country was founded on "biblical principles and a clear recognition of God" and asserts that "atheistic, amoral humanists have moved in...they control our nation's destiny and are seeking to separate her from God. This is particularly true of our judges, a high percentage of whom make humanistic decisions."
In Mind Siege, LaHaye calls church-state separation "the big lie" and insists, "With a false interpretation of separation, the humanists have rendered our government almost as secular as Communist China and the former Soviet Union. In fact, in many ways there is more religious freedom in present-day Russia than there is in the United States."...

And last, but not least...

Christian Reconstructionists/Dominionists: Deemed "scary," even by Jerry Falwell's followers, Dominionists literally want to impose Biblical law and reconstruct America as "the Kingdom of God on earth." In short, they seek to toss out the U.S. Constitution, override the authority of the Supreme Court and turn the U.S. into a theocracy. Embracing a "Biblical world view" as the only worldview, Reconstructionists would squelch democracy and all its trappings, while making homosexuality and other "sins" punishable by death. Rev. Timothy LaHaye, who played a role in putting Bush in the White House, was one of the movement’s framers.

...Council for National Policy: Co-founded by Rev. Timothy LaHaye, the Council for National Policy has included John Ashcroft, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell among its lengthy list of influential members. According to Rolling Stone, the impeachment effort against President Bill Clinton "was reportedly conceived at a June 1997 meeting of the CNP in Montreal." And as ABC reported, the group came under heavy scrutiny in 1999 following G.W. 's "king-making speech" wherein it was rumored that candidate Bush (depending on which report you believe), promised to take a "tough stance against gays and lesbians."...

...Of course, there are plenty more extremist groups out there, with plenty of clout. And in addition to sharing an incestuous relationship (Famed Reconstructionist Dr. George Grant, for example, is affiliated with Coral Ridge Ministries, which is run by former National Council for Policy member D. James Kennedy, who sat on the board of directors of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, which was also organized by Tim LaHaye), they seem to be driven by a single-minded determinism. "There are forty million people who claim to have been converted. If every one of those would simply win one other person to Christ, we could control this country," televangelist Kennedy once said....

OK, I'm done for now. These are the secret Big Ideas justifying Bush's Middle Eastern Policy. These are the King-Makers who put Bush where he is, and he now believes completely that he is The Chosen One to initiate the Rapture. Every time you see The Prince delivering his dogma on News items as the next War approaches, listen very carefully to the language he uses...

I know it's hard to reconcile all of the above with what you've been allowed to hear on TV over the past two days about Iran removing those IAEA seals, but you must understand that the Man is Trippin' on Raw Power, and he now thinks he's on a mission from God.

When Bush attacks Iran the Syrians, the Libyans, the Lebanese, the Jordanians, the Afghans, the Iraqis and maybe the Egyptians and Pakistanis will coalesce and mount a massive counter-strike on every American Military Asset they can hit, and will try and take out the Israeli Threat, if Israel hasn't already started launching Jericho 3s left, right and centre.

If Bush uses 'Battlefield' Nuclear Weapons, in the form of the shiny, new, untested-on-the-battlefied so called Bunker Busters, all Hell will break loose. The North Koreans will respond, as will the Chinese and the Russians. They will have no choice. Bush is doing a big shit right on their doorstep. The lethal Baboon is showing his big red arse, and his lips are pulled right back over his fangs.

Bush is also doing this to prove that he's just crazy enough to destroy the entire region, and he doesn't give a rat's arse WHOSE doorstep he does it on. He's about to send a very clear message to the World, and we'd better be ready to deal with it.

Yes, that's real. Tomorrow... a pause for breath.

First : a Declaration of Independence

cartoon by Mr.Fish

Before I start to roll out the next part of this scary story, I think I should first state my position to avoid any confused messages you might get later on, as the next part deals in particular with the sordid business of Religion.

I am an Atheist. Actually, by definition, I am a "Strong" Atheist.

• I do not believe in God, Gods, Goddesses, Devils, Prophets or Miracles. At all. Trust me on this.

• I do not believe in Healing Crystals, Pyramid Power, Gaia, or blaaah-blah-blah.

• I do not believe in the Paranormal, Ghosts, Spirits, Raelians, Pixies or (Contrary to popular belief) Flying Spaghetti Monsters.
  

• I do not believe that 'there must be SOMETHING out there responsible for the Universe'.

• I do not believe that when you die you go Anywhere. Not Heaven, not Hell, not Limbo, not Asgård, nor even into the Odd Sock Dimension. The End.
  

In a nutshell, I don't believe a single word ever written about ANY of the above subjects. I do, however, find them all very interesting because of the impact that they have all had on the general Human Condition, and because of the abuse, pain, humiliation, quackery and corruption carried out in the name of Religion.

OK. That's what I don't believe in.

• I DO believe that most people are profoundly insecure, and are often emotionally lonely and isolated. Sheep-like, they have a craving to be told where to go and what to think so they are accepted by The Herd, because statistically there's Safety in Numbers.
  

• I believe that Sheep are easy prey for Predators.

• I believe that some people will do or say ANYTHING to exert the Power of Life and Death over others - ranging from School Bullies to Presidents to Psychotic Murderers.
  

• I believe that Religion gives many people tacit permission to vent their hatred and primal fury on others.
  

• I believe Hatred is caused by profound combinations of Guilt, Fear, Envy, Greed and Pain.
  

• I believe that everybody has the right to be happy, but not at the expense of others.

• I believe that everyone has the right to expect Food, Comfort and Shelter, and we have a duty to our species to provide it - unconditionally - to those who cannot provide for themselves.
  

• I believe that YOU have the right to believe in anything you like, if it makes you feel better about yourself and gets you through your day without sticking an axe in your neighbour's head - until the first time you have the effrontery to ask ME for money to finance YOUR belief.

• I believe that you should Know Your Enemy, in all circumstances.

• I believe that Religion is the Last Refuge of the Scoundrel.

It would be sooo easy to just pull the curtains shut to avoid having to gaze one second longer on the Miserable Mess which is being created all around us by the Criminally Insane and their Criminally Incompetent 'Enablers', but sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming "La, LaLa, La-La" twenty-four hours a day until the day you die would be a monumental mistake.

"La, LaLa, La-La" will NOT make it all just go away, and Knowledge once learned cannot be Unlearned: Pandora's Box has been opened, and all that remains at the bottom of the box is Hope.

I also believe that you ignore Religion and the Causes of Religion - and those who have greedily manipulated themselves up the Greasy Pole to get to the Power Centre of ANY religion - at your peril. Especially right NOW.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, and where I'm going to go next...

Love it or Hate it?

I keep forgetting to mention that anyone can comment on these postings by clicking on the "Comments" link at the end of each days offering, or by emailing me.

New readers who want to go on my mailing list should also e-mail me.

I solemly promise that your e-mail details will never, ever be leaked to the hoardes of Thieves, Snake-oil Salesmen and Porno-Ladies (or Special Branch) who seem to be clamouring outside the main gates of Asylum Earth!

I am touched by His Noodly Appendage

Sorry I’m late for work today, but I didn’t get much sleep last night following a little set-to with Nurse Ratchett who lives in the room above me in the Nurses Accomodation tower, here at Asylum Earth. We’ve never really got on with each other since the Inmates Ritalin Riot of ‘03, but I thought thing’s had died down.

Obviously not.

She’s now taken to maliciously emptying her saucepans out of her window!

I woke up on Sunday morning, opened my curtains and threw open the window, only to greeted by half a pound of congealing Pasta Tricolore, draped all over my ‘Victoria Beckham Ornamental Bird Feeder’.

Well… I was FURIOUS, dears. I stormed upstairs, ready to confront Nurse Ratchett. I hammered for fully ten minutes on her door to no avail. She was playing Indians In Moscow at full volume and couldn’t hear my furious knocking; I opened the letter-box to shout through, and was greeted by an overpowering smell of Gin and cat litter, so I left well alone and went back downstairs. She can be a bit dodgy when she’s Loved-up.

Anyhow, later on I was flicking through this week’s edition of New Scientist, when something caught my eye:

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

THE board for Beebe School District in Arkansas voted on 12 July to remove from textbooks stickers promoting an "intelligent designer" over evolution. Feedback wonders if they were influenced by an open letter to the State Board of Education in neighbouring Kansas circulated by Bobby Henderson, a "concerned citizen".

"Let us remember that there are multiple theories of intelligent design," is its crux. "I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster," Henderson affirms. "It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him."

He writes "to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories [creationism and evolution]." The full text is at www.venganza.org and includes the argument that global warming correlates with the diminishing number of pirates. There is also a discussion forum and two friendly letters of response from members of the Kansas state board.

…original article here

I went immediately to the website, as one would, to find out more…

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTERISM

• They promote Flimsy moral standards.
• Every Friday is a religious holiday.
• Their heaven is WAY better. They've got a Stripper Factory AND a Beer Volcano.

“What a deliciously witty way to tackle these delusional Creationists, not only by ridiculing THEIR Imaginary Friend by comparing it to MY Imaginary Friend, but also to remind them all exactly WHY the authors of the American Constitution were so clear about building a solid wall between Church and State, especially since these Backdoor Creationist are currently screaming their tits off about the Founding Fathers being Christians, and this is what they intended to happen”, I thought. (Really!)

My appetite was whetted. I obviously needed to find out more…

I began by looking at the claim that America always was a God-Fearin’ Christian country until these filthy Liberal, Communist, Homosexual, Hippy, Treasonous, Nigga-loving Girlie-men (and the US Supreme Court) spoiled everything since the 60’s with their obviously-evil sedition:

The United States was not founded as, nor was it ever intended to be, a Christian nation

Certainly many of the early immigrants to the New World came for religious reasons - often to escape persecution. However, they were not interested in religious freedom for anyone other than themselves, and often turned around and persecuted others who had slightly different viewpoints.
As Pastor Richard T. Zuelch pointed out in his letter to the Los Angeles Times on August 14, 1995:

Gordon S. Wood, in his 1992 book, "The Radicalism of the American Revolution," states that, by the 1790's only about 10% of the American population regularly attended religious services - to quote just one statistic. Not exactly an indication of a wholehearted national commitment to Christianity!
It is a matter of simple historical fact that the United States was not founded as, nor was it ever intended to be, a Christian nation. That there were strong, long-lasting Christian influences involved in the nation's earliest history, due to the Puritan settlements and those of other religious persons escaping European persecution, cannot be denied. But that is a long way from saying that colonial leaders, by the time of the outbreak of the Revolution, were intending to form a nation founded on specifically Christian principles and doctrine.

…Rather than continue to cling to a "Moral Majority"-style fantasy that says America is a Christian nation that needs to be "taken back" from secular unbelief (we can't "take back" what we never had), it would be much healthier for us Christians to face reality, holding to what Jesus himself said in the Gospels: that Christians should never be surprised at the hostility with which the gospel would be greeted by the world, because most people would fail to believe in him, thereby strongly implying that, in every age and country, Christianity would always be a minority faith. (Rev. Richard T. Zuelch, Letter to the Editor, Los Angeles Times, August 1995)

The United States is not, by any stretch of the imagination a Christian nation today, nor has it ever been, nor was it ever intended to be. The Religious right (or left) would do well to stop looking for the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.

…rest of article here

OK. So it seems that the ‘romantic’ picture the Religious Right are portraying of the USA being founded on absolute Christian Fundamentalism is as spurious as it is totally dishonest. Surprise, surprise.

Next, I wanted to find out first-hand exactly HOW the US Bill of Rights defines the clear Separation of Church and State – the very Separation that is being demolished at an astonishing speed by the Commander-in-Thief and his cohort of truly seditious puppet-masters:

Article [I] of the US Bill of Rights states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Article [VI], Clause 3 of the US Bill of Rights states:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

…read the full Constitution here

Happy that I now knew the exact wording, I wanted to find out WHY this Article was included. What Big Ideas influenced the authors so convincingly? There’s a substantial amount of source material to choose from. Here are some extracts:

From the Encyclopedic Index of A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, published in 1917:

Religious Freedom. - The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (q.v.) requires that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Religious freedom doubtless had its greatest inspiration from James Madison while he was in the Virginia Legislature. An attempt was made to levy a tax upon the people of that state "for the support of teachers of the Christian religion." Madison wrote what he called a "Memorial and Remonstrance," in which he appealed to the people against the evil tendency of such a precedent, and which convinced people that Madison was right. A bill was passed providing "that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever * * * nor shall suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and, by argument, maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." The religious test to which many of the states put their office-holders were gradually abandoned, and the final separation of church and state in America came in 1833, when Massachusetts discontinued the custom of paying preachers.

(A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. XX. New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1917).


Ulysses S. Grant said in his seventh annual State of the Union address to the Congress, December 7, 1875:

As this will be the last annual message which I shall have the honor of transmitting to Congress before my successor is chosen, I will repeat or recapitulate the questions which I deem of vital importance which may be legislated upon and settled at this session:
First. That the States shall be required to afford the opportunity of a good common-school education to every child within their limits.
Second. No sectarian tenets shall ever be taught in any school supported in whole or in part by the State, nation, or by the proceeds of any tax levied upon any community. Make education compulsory so far as to deprive all persons who can not read and write from becoming voters after the year 1890, disfranchising none, however, on grounds of illiteracy who may be voters at the time this amendment takes effect.
Third. Declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres; and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation (emphasis added). (A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Vol. X. New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897, p. 4310)

John Adams, the second U.S. President

John Adams, the second U.S. President rejected the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and became a Unitarian. It was during Adams' presidency that the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli, which states in Article XI that:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion - as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, - and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

(Charles I. Bevans, ed. Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949. Vol. 11: Philippines-United Arab Republic. Washington D.C.: Department of State Publications, 1974, p. 1072).

Thomas Paine - Pamphleteer

Thomas Paine was a pamphleteer whose manifestoes encouraged the faltering spirits of the country and aided materially in winning the War of Independence. He was a Deist:

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

(Richard Emery Roberts, ed. "Excerpts from The Age of Reason". Selected Writings of Thomas Paine. New York: Everbody's Vacation Publishing Co., 1945, p. 362)

…and so it goes on and on. I think it’s crystal clear what was intended by the Founders. Enough said. But – What happened in the 1960’s to so upset the Crazies? It turns out that: in 1962 the US Supreme Court ruled for School Administrators to write prayers and read them over the intercoms to the students was in contravention of the Bill of Rights.

They did this because the US is supposed to be a Secular nation. No religion should have any undue prominence in the State School System, because the Constitution considers Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Flying Spaghetti Monsterists et cetera to be equal, and it is wrong for, say, a rabid Southern Baptist school official to force his or her personal Religious Cult’s opinion on people of other faiths. Apart from that, the American State is forbidden from promoting any religion.

THAT’s why there is such anger and upset growing in the US about the whole disgraceful “Intelligent Design” farce. The battle has commenced.

Tomorrow I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned about George Bush and Theocracy, and what they have in mind…

Oi! What's with all this Americana?

I've just had a memo sent me from Mrs. Abercrombie over in Nurses Admin asking me why I'm spending so much time over in the West Wing observing the American Inmates, when what I should be doing is emptying British bedpans and dabbing Calomine Lotion on British bedsores.

My reasoning is this: I personally consider Inmate Bush to be the most dangerous, morally corrupt figurehead in the world today. He has risen to absolute power with the depraved support of the most ruthless, cold-blooded, scheming group of Power-Brokers and truly sinister Religious Fascists we have ever experienced in the last couple of centuries.

We sit back here in the British Annexe slightly sneering at how unbelievably dumb so many Americans were to vote the First Prince of the Theocratic States of America back into power for a second time.

We also sit in small groups, tut-tutting at how the Extreme Right has completely taken over the entire Mainstream Media in the U.S., and is suppressing with shocking effect any hint of documentary or reporting which criticises the Administration. The planning and coercion used to achieve this can be identified and compared side-by-side with published archives of the Methodology and execution of Political Propoganda and Suppression of Dissent issued by the Nazi Propoganda machine.

I kid you not... but Phew! At least it's not happening HERE, now is it...?

I've learned a great deal that has shocked me to the core over the last few months by spending a lot of time reading and following up news and opinion from what I consider to be the creme de la creme of the highest-quality, hardcore American Blogs. The Blogsphere seems to be the only available way for good-hearted, "Liberal" Americans to make their opinion known, as so-called Liberal Thought is now openly derided and laughed at. So-called Liberals (who, abviously are most likely to be Democratic voters) are often labelled in ways which also prove the Extreme Right's haterd of Homosexuality. Arnold Schwarzeneger famously referred to Democrats as "Girlie-men". Nobody stopped him, and that insulting tag has been repeated thousands and thousands of times by the triumphal Neo-Con propoganda machine ever since.

There is a wave of hatred and fury building up in American society, fuelled entirely by extremist religious organisations, who have swarmed over the entire Administration like an aggressive cancer, and I promise you: some dreadful things are on the cards for the majority of the population of the US at the hands of these emotionally violent hate-mongers.

I'm going to spend a few days preparing, then laying out my stall, because there's some seriously gripping qualifying material I want you to see - both factual and opinion - and I'm interested to know if you reach the same conclusions as me when I'm done.

Have a great weekend, wherever you are!

Hmm... I've been thinking...

So there I was, hiding behind the Kitchen Waste bins, smoking a sly ciggy with Maureen from the Electro-Shock Theatre and pondering on the Demeaning of Life, when she reached into her coat pocket and handed me an article she’d ripped out of a magazine in the Visitor’s Centre...

Bush: Intelligent Design Should Be Taught

---

President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss "intelligent design" alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.

During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

The theory of intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation.

Christian conservatives — a substantial part of Bush's voting base — have been pushing for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. Scientists have rejected the theory as an attempt to force religion into science education.

...rest of article here

“Bleedin’ Nora,” I exclaimed. “I thought Dr. Strangelove had got George’s delusional state under control… You can’t have the President of the United States running around promoting supernatural Creationist Myths through the schools curricula, fer Chrissakes! It’s barred by their Constitution, isn’t it? Surely he knows that he’s expected to completely separate his personal superstitious fantasies from The Day Job?”

Maureen rolled her eyes and started making another roll-up.

“There you go again, forgetting this is an Inmate we’re discussing here,” she muttered. “Know what I mean? He was never treated properly for his alcoholism, or his cocaine addiction. His family just let him run around for all those years after Yale, getting arrested, doing drugs, getting wrapped up in all sort of corrupt business practices. It runs in the family, you know..”

George Bush's Cocaine Accusations Resurface

---

…Rumors of heavy cocaine abuse by Bush have been floating around for many years. The most pointed and public work was released by James Hatfield in his book, Fortunate Son. The book details an alleged 1972 drug conviction by Bush that was supposedly later removed from the record. In July of 2001

…full article here

“OK, OK. So he was out of control for a decade or so. Who wasn’t?! Hell, I had my own share of fortified wine when I was a student nurse. It didn’t make me believe the Earth was flat! What’s this got to do with all this Intelligent Design stuff?” I replied

Carefully rolling the tobacco and licking the gummed edge of the Rizla, Maureen answered “Look - Inmates like him, especially when they’re from an autocratic dynasty who’ve been abusing power, uncontrolled, for generations and getting away it, tend to develop Messianic tendencies. He’s an out of control Megalomaniac, dear!“

Understanding the U.S. War State

---

Presupposition 2 is that America is the ultimate source and moving line of the world’s freedom and goodness, God's material embodiment on earth.

This assumption too is presupposed as true by definition, the prime article of faith of a fanatic religion. Full-spectrum dominance and pre-emptive attack of threats before they appear are not merely clinically paranoid delusions of power and persecution. They follow from the underlying and increasingly absolute assumption that America is God, the source of all Freedom and Goodness on the planet. The expressions of this deranged presupposition are evident in every speech of the former alcohol and cocaine addict occupying the White House, and there is no evident opposition from the parishioners of U.S. official culture.

...full article here

As Maureen lit up her roll-up and sucked in a satisfying cloud of smoke, I handed her back the by-now grubby newspaper clipping. “Well,” I said “I can see how someone who’s supposedly running the most powerful nation on the planet might begin to delude himself that his country’s status is kind of God-like, but you aren’t seriously telling me he actually BELIEVES all that mumbo-jumbo, are you? That would be insane.”

Maureen snorted derisively “It’s worse than you think, sweetie.”

Bush says "God Speaks Through Me"

---

It was an odd location for George W. Bush to make his big announcement. No television cameras were present. Yet, as Mr. Bush walked into the offices of the Lapp Electric Service plant in Smoketown, Pennsylvania, he must have known that his words would be reported around the world.

There, waiting to talk to Mr. Bush, was a group of about 60 local Amish, one of whom had made a quilt for the visiting President. Mr. Bush shook a few hands, tried on a straw hat, and then made his announcement to the small crowd.

"God speaks through me," he said.

…rest of article here

I laughed nervously. “OK, so he’s got some eccentric self-obsession. We can treat that, right? That’s what we do here at Asylum Earth. Surely he can’t be THAT crazy? They wouldn’t let him sit behind that big old desk right in front of that big old Red Button if he was suffering serious psychotic delusions, now WOULD they?”

Bush's War on Liberty and America - and Reason

---

‘’Just in the past few months,’’ Bartlett said, ‘’I think a light has gone off for people who’ve spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he’s always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.’’ Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush’s governance, went on to say: ‘’This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can’t be persuaded, that they’re extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he’s just like them. . . .

‘’This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,’’ Bartlett went on to say. ‘’He truly believes he’s on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.’’ Bartlett paused, then said, ‘’But you can’t run the world on faith.’‘ ...

...rest of article here

I felt a shudder run through my soul, and pulled my threadbare regulation nurse’s cardigan around me. “There must be some mistake, Maureen. There must be. Maybe this is just other people’s jaundiced observations. It can’t be possible that George Bush actually says he’s in direct contact with his Imaginary Friend? There’s got to be a logical, medical reason for all this!”

“Oh, sure,” said Maureen. “When we’re zapping the little suckers down in Electro-Shock Therapy we play a little game; the one who makes the most Inmates suddenly think they’re talking to God gets to sneak off early on Fridays. Been doing it for ages…”

Is Belief a Psychological Condition?

---

Synopsis: Findings seem to point to a region of the brain commonly referred to as the 'God Spot' or 'God Module', that when stimulated creates hallucinations that are interpreted as mystical or spiritual experiences.

This 'spot' is stimulated during meditation and prayer and is affected by electromagnetic fields and epilepsy. The resulting hallucinations may be the cause of mystical, spiritual and paranormal experiences as they can give feelings such as a presence in the room or an out of body experience. In the case of epileptics, this may be the reason for many of them becoming obsessed with religion.

For those who experience the stimulation it is explained related to their own personal beliefs; a visit from an angel or lost loved one, an extraterrestrial encounter, a higher plane of consciousness or a visit from God.

...rest of Article here

Maureen stuffed the article back in her pocket and sniffed. “You know what he’s like, though. These untreated alcohol and coke addicts often suffer Deist Megalomania fantasies. The man’s got serious issues going all the way back to his teens. His dopamine levels are shot to shit. Add all that to his enormous sense of personal Inadequacy, and his bizarre lack of real human emotions, you can kind of understand why he’s like he is.”

The Coalition of the Stupid

---

To have the leader of the country, the leader of the party, and the person who proclaims that he wants to be known as the ‘education president’ to state, even casually, that he thinks intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution is lunacy of the first order. First, the facts:

1.) Intelligent design is not a theory. There is no theoretical basis to it. It is not scientific theory, and it is not just bad scientific theory, it is simply not theory. It is ascientific. It is a flight of fancy. It is a call to discard mountains of evidence, throw up ones hands, and state: “This is all too confusing and complex, and science is hard, so some ‘intelligent designer’ must be behind all this.”

2.) Intelligent design is creationism. It may not be quite as audaciously stupid as the nonsense peddled by the ‘young earth’ crowd, but it is creationism. Just who do you think this ‘intelligent designer’ is? One more time, let’s review who the candidates are for the title of ‘intelligent designer’ is:

... rest of article here

I nodded, thoughtfully. “So this Intelligent Design issue is just one more smoke-screen to keep people from focusing on him and his mental disorders? To keep the media running round in circles?”

“I reckon.”

“Hmm. OK. Well… What’s Intelligent Design asserting, then? It all sounds very scientific… lots of people claiming to be scientists popping up on TV saying the Universe is soooo complicated it couldn’t possibly have happened without some kind of superior intervention. Bush claims to be the ‘Education President’, and he’s got lots of scientific advisers around him…”

Maureen opened her handbag and pulled out a leaflet.

“Read this. This explains the core of the ID claims.”

A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory and Neocreationism

---

A new brand of creationism has appeared on the scene in the last few years. The so-called neocreationists largely do not believe in a young Earth or in a too literal interpretation of the Bible. While still mostly propelled by a religious agenda and financed by mainly Christian sources such as the Templeton Foundation and the Discovery Institute, the intellectual challenge posed by neocreationism is sophisticated enough to require detailed consideration.

Among the chief exponents of Intelligent Design (ID) theory, as this new brand of creationism is called, is William Dembski, a mathematical philosopher and author of The Design Inference . In that book he attempts to show that there must be an intelligent designer behind natural phenomena such as evolution and the very origin of the universe. Dembki's argument is that modern science ever since Francis Bacon has illicitly dropped two of Aristotle's famous four types of causes from consideration altogether, thereby unnecessarily restricting its own explanatory power. Science is thus incomplete, and intelligent design theory will rectify this sorry state of affairs, if only close-minded evolutionists would allow Dembski and company to do the job.

… Aristotle identified material causes, what something is made of; formal causes, the structure of the thing or phenomenon; efficient causes, the immediate activity producing a phenomenon or object; and final causes, the purpose of whatever object we are investigating. For example, let's say we want to investigate the "causes" of the Brooklyn Bridge. Its material cause would be encompassed by a description of the physical materials that went into its construction. The formal cause is the fact that it is a bridge across a stretch of water, and not either a random assembly of pieces or another kind of orderly structure (such as a skyscraper). The efficient causes were the blueprints drawn by engineers and the labor of men and machines that actually assembled the physical materials and put them into place. The final cause of the Brooklyn Bridge was the necessity for people to walk and ride between two landmasses without getting wet.

…complete article here

It took a while to wade through the leaflet, by which time it was time to go and give the Inmates their lunch. I met Maureen again later on when I was taking Mugabe down to Theatre for his lobotomy, but he was going a bit bonkers and had to be restrained by Carl from Security, so we didn’t have time to chat. She’s coming round to my room in the Nurses Block later on for a Gin and Tonic, so we’ll carry on with this later…

Echoes of the past - Sowing the seeds of the new Hitler Youth?

So... there I was, on my coffee break, sitting in the Asylum Staff Room nibbling on a Chocolate Hob-Nob and flicking idly through today's "Asylum Gazette", when this article caught my eye...

Bush gives pep talk to disaster-hit Scout jamboree

FORT A.P. HILL, Va., July 31 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush delivered a pep talk on Sunday to thousands of Boy Scouts, urging them not to waver after four tragic deaths and a rash of heat-related illnesses cast a pall over their camping "Jamboree."

"The men you lost were models of good citizenship ... And you Scouts honor them by living up to the ideals of the scouting they served," Bush told an estimated crowd of 50,000 Boy Scouts, Scout leaders and visitors.

The president twice postponed his visit to the Scout gathering, which at times had the air of a U.S. Army recruitment drive. Men in black "Army" T-shirts coached young boys to chant "OO-rah" like soldiers. A giant "ARMY" hot-air balloon bobbed overhead.

Bush said the Boy Scouts "understand that freedom must be defended," and touted what he called the "armies of liberation." The Army has fallen behind its recruiting goals amid the Iraq war.

"When you follow your conscience and the ideals you've sworn as a Scout, there is no limit to what you can achieve for our country," Bush told the crowd, which chanted "USA, USA."

... Read rest of article here

My finely-tuned Nurse's Radar started pinging ominously when I read this, and I wondered if I was the only staff member who had noticed the ominous overtones of this article. I quickly thumbed past the Classifieds, onto the "Readers Write" page, and was greatful to discover I wasn't alone in my unease...

Scout Law

Howdy, Yall!

Just got back from Quantico, Virginia...Right next to CIA headquarters, the Marine University, and the spot where they had several thousand boyscouts gathered up in a field so the President could fly in for a photo op. They called it the National Jamboree and the President was a few days late getting there.

The Boy Scouts of America are a fine idea with bad execution. Let's see...How 'bout we dress a bunch of kids up in quasi military outfits, you know, like the Hitler Youth, and get them to chant things like "...a scout is obedient..."

Here is what the Scouting website says about being obedient:

"OBEDIENT
A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobey them."

Think about that, for a second...

Scouts are also ordered to be:

"REVERENT
A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others."

While respecting the beliefs of others, Scouts cannot be agnostic...They get publicly ostracized and kicked out if they are. They are also kicked out if they are not "...Morally straight!" There are court cases saying so.

So you see, Scouts are supposed to respect the beliefs of others as long as they aren't other scouts who don't believe the right things. Scouts have to swear an oath to be morally straight, while giving the scout salute.

Scouts are also supposed to be:

"BRAVE
A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him."

The Sout organization has kicked out lots of brave scouts who had the courage to stand up for what they think is right...Here's something that just happened that I don't think was right...

Making 3000 boy children stand in a field in 94 degree weather, waiting on George W. Bush to show up.

The humidity was near 100%...Heat index over 100.

The Boy Scout motto is, "Be Prepared", and the boys tried to be prepared for the suffering they were about to endure on behalf of the President's photo op team by bringing water bottles...

Sorry, you can't do that...someone might throw a water bottle at the President.

15 year old boys dangerously armed with waterbottles are apparently a matter of National security...

The water bottles were taken from the boys and nearly one third of them had to be treated for heat related health problems. 300 of them had to be evacuated for medical treatment. I talked to a government official who was there.

George W. Bush decided this was a bad day for a photo op and didn't show up.

...Read more here


Now... call me odd, but my subconscious mind suddenly started re-running flickery old newsreels of thousands of young, indoctrinated German boys gathered in a vast stadium in 1932. Rank after rank of ecstatic uniformed teenagers, their heads relentlessly crammed full of Nazi propoganda, listened with rapt attention as their idol, Adolf Hitler, poured his poisonous doctrines into their young hearts. Huge flags fluttered. The World, had it known then to what purpose these young boys would be set to, would have shuddered...



Shit! I must be losing it! I've been spending far too much time on Ward 16 with the Messianic Delusional Complexes. Surely we wouldn't simply stand back and let this all happen again? Was I just feeling paranoid?

I clearly needed another perspective on this. I read on...

Hitler Youth, Anyone?

America the Free and the Brave as a permanent military state, getting up like the Fuehrer in front of a grief-stricken group of 40,000 Boy Scouts, with giant friekin' army balloons and military recruiters working the crowd, has got to be the lowest of all lows. It beats the aircraft carrier stunt by a country mile. Of course What a f*cker. While we already know that W. will sink to any low to promote his bad faith views of, the "Jamboree," which requires weeks of planning and cooperation with the hosts, is held on an army base.

For some context, the (British) History Learning Site says:

"The Hitler Youth was a logical extension of Hitler's belief that the future of Nazi Germany was its children. The Hitler Youth was seen as being as important to a child as school was. In the early years of the Nazi government, Hitler had made it clear as to what he expected German children to be like:

'The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel.'

Reader might ask, 'aren't you being a bit hard on the president, especially because American society indulges its children to be exactly the opposite, flacid, weak and docile?'

Not if you look at the later careers of some illustrious members. As the Christian Post report said:

"...Bush told attendees that he was a former Cub Scout from Texas; the first man he sees every morning – chief of staff Andy Card – is a former Scout from Massachusetts; Vice President Dick Cheney was a Boy Scout in Wyoming; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was an Eagle Scout in Illinois; and his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, was the den mother of his Scouting troop."

Note the ideological aspects; the Scouts are also by necessity ordained into Bush's Christian conservatism:

"Mark Hunter, the director of marketing and administration for the Chief Seattle Council, said it was enforcing a national policy. The Boy Scouts is a faith-based organization, he said, and the issue of God is not negotiable. Aside from the vow of reverence in the Scout Law, every Boy Scout pledged a duty to God in the Scout Oath."

Leaves little to wonder about what Bush meant when he said, "when you join a Scout troop and put on the Boy Scout uniform you make a statement."

... Read rest of article here


Phew! It's not just me, then.

Now... most of this was something of a Revelation to me. Y'see - where I come from in the British Annexe, just behind the Inmate's Canteen Block, Boy Scouts are nothing whatsoever to do with incitement to become Stormtroopers for the New World Order. Oh, no! OUR Boy Scouts are merely children who are supposed to be enjoying their childhood in a safe envoironment, free from any kind of vile, abusive indoctrination at the hands of superstitious fanatics, where they're taught the fine arts of helping old ladies across the road, eating baked beans with your best mates 'round the camp fire in the school holidays, learning to mix with other kids of every race, religion and colour... and face-painting.

US Army recruitment is facing a major crisis. They're missing targets left, right and centre, because suddenly the Army's not just a place to go to get yourself out of the ghetto on a decent wage and learn a trade. No. Suddenly the US Army is a place to get yourself killed or maimed, and suprise, suprise, these internet-educated lambs don't want to be led to the slaughter:

Fewer early sign-ups as Army struggles to recruit soldiers

The Army, which expects to miss its 2005 recruiting goal by about 12,000, already is falling behind for next year.

The pool of recruits who sign up as much as a year before they report for training is dwindling. So far, 3,100 have signed up for 2006, according to Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. The Army says it hopes to have 7,200 recruits in the pool by Oct. 1, when the 2006 recruiting year begins. By comparison:

• The Army started the 2005 recruiting year with about 14,700 recruits in the delayed entry pool. It is making up some of the shortfall in recruiting by re-enlisting soldiers at a higher-than-expected rate. But the Army also has tried to trim this year's shortfall by rushing many delayed entry enlistees into basic training.

• In 2004, the Army had more than 33,000 enlistees signed up ahead of time. It met its recruiting goals

Allowing recruits to put off going to boot camp for up to a year gives enlistees flexibility and provides the Army with a buffer for future recruiting needs. Army statistics show

the pool's size is a key indicator of its annual recruiting.

Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, who heads Army Recruiting Command, said recruiting in July is slightly ahead of its goal, but that won't wipe out the current shortfall. He said parents are still reluctant to encourage their children to enlist. The Army has taken the brunt of U.S. casualties in Iraq.

Rochelle acknowledged it can expect another struggle next year.

Stephen Cheney, a retired Marine brigadier general and recruiting coordinator, said the small size of the delayed entry pool would make it extremely difficult for the Army to meet its 2006 target.

Next year's recruits may also not be as qualified as this year's, because the Army will be looking for enlistees it can quickly ship to basic training. That means recruits whose options are limited, "are not in school and not in a job," said Cheney, chief operating officer of Business Executives for National Security in Washington, D.C.

The Army is offering unprecedented enticements — including enlistment bonuses as high as

$20,000 and service stints as short as 15 months — but so far has been unable to persuade enough young men and women to join.

Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey recently proposed increasing the top enlistment bonus to $40,000 and is about to add 800 additional recruiters to the force. Even the new recruiters and higher bonuses "may not be enough for everyone," Rochelle said.

None of the recruiting trends bode well for the Army, said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

"If you think of the Army as a watershed, their reservoir is about to run dry," Thompson said. "They have nothing left in reserve."

Recruiters have got statutory access to every American child's school records. They turn up at kids houses after school and interview them. They run glossy ads on TV pushing all the bits about Army life that don't involve being blown up by a truck bomb in Baghdad, or being forced to execute men, women and children out of hand because they're so fucking scared and trigger-happy they'll kill anything that moves.

They offer huge cash bonuses to potential enlistees. They offer college educations to kids who ordinarily wouldn't stand a cat in Hell's chance of getting further education.

All these sweetners used to work, but now they're up against rapidly-forming coalitions of parents... people who are old enough to remember the LAST Vietnam, and who have no intentions of letting their children be shipped out to the Middle East to fight a hopeless, immoral War based on lies and utter corruption.

As the murderous Neo-Con Skull 'n Boners turn their psychopathic gaze now towards Iran, the Pentagon knows that what comes next, especially if it's handled in the same inept way as Iraq (which was already a basket case, unlike Iran, which is sophisticated, commited, determined and armed to the teeth) will probably decimate their regiments.

(Courtesy: Wizard of Whimsy)

Deep Background

In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

...read full article here

So, Inmates... what do YOU think is going on? Are the Crazies cold-bloodedly indoctrinating and recruiting the next wave of Boy Soldiers to be sacrificed on the Halliburton Altar? I kind of think "Yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt".

Answers on a postcard, please.

Anyway... Must dash... Time to dish out the sedatives.