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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
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And please, don't thwap a reporter with a Bible. DED Space points out this post from the Non-Prophet,
who obtained an email from a pastor of one of those mega-churches with
instructions to the congregation on how to act when Barbara Walters
comes around. The pastor, Ted Haggard, will also be on Bill O'Reilly's
show this week. It's all good being a crazy fundie, so long as you
remember to act like you're not when the media shows up.
Here are a few tips:
1. If a camera is on you during a worship service, worship; don't
dance, jump, etc. Secular people watching TV are touched with authentic
worship, but jumping and dancing in church looks too bizarre for most
to relate to. Remember, people watching TV news are not experiencing
what you are experiencing. They are watching and thinking. Worship
indicates sincerity, dancing and jumping looks like excessive
emotionalism.
2. If reporters want to interview you, talk with them, but use words
that make sense to them. Speak their language. Don't talk about the
devil, demons, voices speaking to you, God giving you supernatural
revelations, etc. Instead, tell your personal story in common sense
language (I was a drunk but God changed me and now I'm sober, I'm
grateful, etc.).
3. Don't be nervous. Be friendly and open. Reporters typically don't
have an agenda, they authentically want to know what we do and why we
do it. For example, Barbara Walters is working on a story about heaven
and will interview me and get some supporting shots from the church.
She might not use any of it, but she wants to put together an
interesting story. Since we believe in heaven, we are, in fact, a good
source. So, if she talks with you, don't be spooky or weird. Don't
switch into a glassy-eyed heavenly mode, just answer, "Heaven is real.
It's the place where God will be fully present with his people. He will
reward people in heaven. Heaven is better than Colorado Springs." Say
it straight and clear. Don't worry (Yeah, sure!).
And, for the love of god, don't pull a Pat Robertson and bitch about the "homos" that are out to get you. [Pandagon]
9:17:16 PM 
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JOURNAL: A Paperwork Systempunkt.
Iraq's energy markets and infrastructure are in free-fall. Prices have
spiked (the price of a gallon of gas went from $0.53 to $5.22 over the
last several months) for basic necessities and oil exports in January
are down to 1...
[Global Guerrillas]
12:41:00 PM
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Last Night
Wandering around the
perimeter of the field last night, looking at the stars, a wee bit
drunk, I was reminded of the empires that have risen and fallen. I was
reminded of the many times the greed- and fear-mongers have tried to
assume complete control of those who had something they wanted, or had
something they feared. Sometimes it just hits me that way, outside,
walking on the earth, the... - RDF
[corrente]
12:17:29 PM
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Watching the Watchers.
Guest: cntodd
Yes, I think it is ridiculous and outrageous that a cop tasered a
pregnant woman with a 50 thousand volt stun gun simply over a speeding
ticket. But apparently Michelle Malkin disagrees. Note to Michelle: the
reason we...
[Majikthise]
11:24:22 AM
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Goodbye Tony Tuesday - Blair Didn't Win.
The majority of the Queen's subjects -- deathly afraid of the
return of Margaret Thatcher's vampirical Tory spawn -- held their
noses, voted for their local Labour MP and prayed that an act of God
will save their happy isle. Exit polls indicate the British were evenly
divided: forty percent wanted Blair to encounter a speeding
double-decker bus and forty percent wanted him stretched, scalded and
quartered in the Tower of London (within a sampling margin of four
percent).
[Greg Palast]
11:22:59 AM
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Magdeburg Mercy.
In a comment to my brief post about the 4th Circuit's establishment of
Semitic Monotheism as the official state religion in its jurisdiction,
I mentioned Magdeburg. I thought that worth a bit more explanation.
Much has been made (and justifiably so) of the violence that people
calling themselves Christians have wreaked on people belonging to
different religions: the Crusades and pogroms, just to name a couple of
the obvious examples. Americans, at least, are much less aware of the
internecine savagery that self-proclaimed Christians displayed toward
each other, most particularly in the unholy chaotic riptide of religion
and rule. Obvious...
[Paperwight's Fair Shot]
3:51:38 AM
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Baaaaa-a-a-a.
By way of The Carpetbagger Report, we learn this: [S]omeone on Bush's
staff apparently made a tragic error over the weekend and the president
started taking questions from some young people who hadn't been
pre-screened for ideology, hadn't signed a loyalty oath, weren't
prepped by a White House advance team, and had questions that the
president didn't care for. Unfortunately, this occurred in the
Netherlands, so it wasn't Americans who got to ask their president
questions, but it was compelling anyway. ... Another student asked Bush
about the cost of the Iraq war, which is when the funny part
happened:...
[Paperwight's Fair Shot]
3:49:25 AM
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My Favorite Luddite Kurt
Vonnegut, my favorite Luddite, occasionally sends something my way via
snail-mail. For example, his idea for a bumper sticker: “Your Planet’s
Immune System Is Trying to Get Rid of You.” So I’m taking the liberty
of sharing his latest thought-provoking missive here in cyberspace:
Dearest Iraq: Act like me. After 100 years of democracy,
let your slaves go. After 150, let your women vote. At the start of
democracy, ethnic cleansing is quite OK. Love you madly! Uncle Sam The Huffington Post | Raw Feed]
2:21:57 AM
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Congress Approves $82 Billion for Wars The
Senate gave final passage yesterday to an $82 billion emergency
war-spending bill, sending President Bush a measure that will push the
cost of the Iraq invasion well past $200 billion.
Even with such large, unanticipated expenditures, Army officials and
congressional aides say more money will be needed as early as October.
The Army Materiel Command, the Army's main logistical branch, has put
Congress on notice that it will need at least two more emergency
"supplemental" bills just to finance the repair and replacement of Army
equipment. By 2010, war costs are likely to exceed half a trillion
dollars, according to nonpartisan congressional researchers. - Andrew Breitbart (testing@testsite.com)
[The Huffington Post | Raw Feed]
2:20:46 AM
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Hello, this is the Press Gang 
Coming to a Houston Mall near you
Recruitment scandal
by kos
Tue May 10th, 2005 at 22:14:27 PDT
Ahh,
call it the chickens coming home to roost. When the Army and Marines
start suffering recruitment shortfalls, and when pressure gets too high?
There's this, in Houston.
The
Army will set aside a full day on May 20 as the day to have every
recruiter across America review Army recruiting policies and standards.
It's an effort to stop overly aggressive recruiting tactics.
Nationwide, the Army wants to make sure men and women who become soldiers do so without being threatened.
The
announcement comes just one day after the 11 News Defenders exposed a
Houston Army recruiter threatening to arrest a local young man if he
didn't report that day to the army recruiting station.
Sgt.
Thomas kelt left this message on that young man's cell phone: "Hey
Chris, this is Sgt. Kelt with the Army man. I think we got
disconnected. Okay, I know you were on your cell probably and just had
a bad connection or something like that. I know you didn't hang up on
me. Anyway, by federal law you got an appointment with me at 2
o'clock this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall, okay? That's the
Greenspoint Mall Army Recruiting Station at 2 o'clock. You fail to
appear and we'll have a warrant. Okay? So give me a call back."
Before
Bush's War, there was no need for such tactics. War supporting
politicians could lend a hand by urging people to join up, but they
won't. Can't have a call for sacrifice.
Religious Right
preachers could use their pulpits to urge their flocks to fight their
"just war", but they won't. No parent wants their preacher telling them
to send their kid to the grave.
The 101st Fighting Keyboardists
could urge their readers to enlist, and then follow suit themselves.
But they won't. The un-American cowards make a mockery of our anthem's
"home of the brave" line as they hide behind tough talk.
TV
blowhards could use their cable channel platform to urge their
listeners to head to the nearest recruitment office and put their words
in action, but they won't. "Supporting the troops" means nothing more
than empty words.
................
The press
gang is coming back. They'll just snatch people up off the street and
scoop them up, like they did in 18th Century England. Sure, they had to
flog the beasts (as they called soldiers then) but they fought like
hell.
Oh yeah, the recruiter called that a "marketing technique".
Here's
Bush's dilemma. If he calls for a draft and national sacrifice,
opposition to the unpopular war will explode overnight. If he doesn't
go for a draft, these numbers will get worse every month.
Bush
thought you could fight a war without sacrifice, allowed Kerry's
military service to be mocked, and neglected the care of wounded
soldiers. In the real world there are long term consequences for short
term actions. So now, people are not only refusing to join the Army,
but are going after recruiters who come after their kids. The Army used
to be a prefered choice for working class kids looking to move up in
life. Now, they rather be poor and uninjured than in Walter Reed.
The
neocons thought this was the road to empire. Instead it may dangerously
weaken the US and inhibit its fight against real enemies. [Steve Gilliard's News Blog]
1:54:10 AM
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Unqualified Offerings Is Disturbed.
It writes: : The Dog That Hasn't Barked?: Is it just me, or do none of
the reports on the current offensive in northwestern Iraq advert to
"Ccombined US and Iraqi forces," as customary in Pentagon PR for most
of a year? The reporting makes it sound like a pure American play. Are
the Iraqi troops all off painting schools?...
[Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal]
1:11:59 AM
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Recruitment scandal.
Ahh, call it the chickens coming home to roost. When the Army and
Marines start suffering recruitment shortfalls, and when pressure gets
too high? There's this, in Houston. The
Army will set aside a full day on May 20 as the day to have every
recruiter across America review Army recruiting policies and standards.
It's an effort to stop overly aggressive recruiting tactics. Nationwide, the Army wants to make sure men and women who become soldiers do so without being threatened.
The announcement comes just one day after the 11 News Defenders exposed
a Houston Army recruiter threatening to arrest a local young man if he
didn't report that day to the army recruiting station. Sgt.
Thomas kelt left this message on that young man's cell phone: "Hey
Chris, this is Sgt. Kelt with the Army man. I think we got
disconnected. Okay, I know you were on your cell probably and just had
a bad connection or something like that. I know you didn't hang up on
me. Anyway, by federal law you got an appointment with me at 2 o'clock
this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall, okay? That's the Greenspoint Mall
Army Recruiting Station at 2 o'clock. You fail to appear and we'll have
a warrant. Okay? So give me a call back." Religious Right preachers could use their
pulpits to urge their flocks to fight their "just war", but they won't.
No parent wants their preacher telling them to send their kid to the
grave. The 101st Fighting Keyboardists could urge their
readers to enlist, and then follow suit themselves. But they won't. The
un-American cowards make a mockery of our anthem's "home of the brave"
line as they hide behind tough talk. TV blowhards could use
their cable channel platform to urge their listeners to head to the
nearest recruitment office and put their words in action, but they
won't. "Supporting the troops" means nothing more than empty words. So it comes to this. Interviews
with more than two dozen recruiters in 10 states hint at the extent of
their concern, if not the exact scope of the transgressions. Several
spoke of concealing mental-health histories and police records. They
described falsified documents, wallet-size cheat sheets slipped to
applicants before the military's aptitude test and commanding officers
who look the other way. And they voiced doubts about the quality of
some troops destined for the front lines. The recruiters insisted on
anonymity to avoid being disciplined, but their accounts were
consistent, and the specifics were verified in several cases by
documents and interviews with military officials and applicants'
families. Yesterday, the issue drew national attention as CBS
News reported that a high-school student outside Denver recorded two
recruiters as they advised him how to cheat. The student, David
McSwane, said one recruiter had told him how to create a diploma from a
nonexistent school, while the other had helped him buy a product to
cleanse traces of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms from his body.
The Army said the recruiters had been suspended while it investigated. There is a recruiting crisis in this country.
Our troops in the Gulf need reinforcements. Yet those who claim to
support them the most refuse to lend a hand. Such cowardice has no
place in this country. I think we all know who the "surrender monkeys"
really are. (Thanks to glow dog.) Update: CBS Evening News story here. Try not to laugh while watching the Wal-Mart commercial that first airs ("good jobs").
[Daily Kos]
1:08:27 AM
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© Copyright
2005
Michael Mussington.
Last update:
6/1/2005; 1:34:12 AM.
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