Oh, please! Just shut up and/or go away!

"To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case? That makes me throw up and it should make every American…Now we’re going to turn around and say we’re going to impose our values from the government on people of faith, which of course is the next logical step when people of faith, at least according to John Kennedy, have no role in the public square. " - Rick Santorum to George Stephanopoulus on Sunday television show This Week

"I'm for separation of church and state. The state has no business telling the church what to do."
- Rick Santorum in Michigan today

Taking these two quotes from Rick Santorum together, one can see that he doesn't believe that the state should have any control over religion. On the other hand, he obviously does believe that the church should be able to tell the state what to do, no matter how much he may deny it now that he has started to receive flak because of his ignorant statement to Stephanopoulus on Sunday..

Rick Santorum, I remember Jack Kennedy's speech back when he was running for president. Rick Santorum, you are no Jack Kennedy.

Of course, Kennedy, the first and so far only Catholic president this country has had, never said anything close to what Santorum accused him of saying, as Joan Walsh carefully delineated in her excellent blog post on Salon.com entitled "Santorum's JFK story makes me want to throw up" in which she quotes extensively from JFK's speech. But Santorum, like many other Republicans, is in no way bound by the truth. They seem to believe that if they can say it, it somehow magically becomes true. This entire year of vying for the Republican presidential nomination could justly be called "The Year of Magical Thinking."

What is particularly troubling is that Walsh is one of the few journalists on the scene today who is willing to point to such statements as Santorum has made and call a lie a lie. This is true even though the lie is easily debunked with only a brief internet search to call up the Kennedy speech and read it.

And so we continue to get lies such as Gingrich's statement that Senator Obama voted in favor of infanticide or Romney's insistence that the economy is in worse shape today than when President Obama took office. And we continue to hear the lie that Barack Obama was not born in this country or that he is not a Christian but a Muslim. There seems to be no depth that the perfidy and dishonesty of these people will not plumb in their desperate attempt to remove from the White House a black president whom they despise and disrespect.

I am so sick of all of these puny little unworthy men running for the Republican Party's nomination for president that I just want them all to go away - the sooner the better. They are an embarrassment to a once proud party and to this country. The thought that any of them could stand a snowball's chance in hell of becoming president of the country is enough to make me throw up.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

Search This Blog