In a Huffington Post interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid revealed that he has approximately the same standard of sourcing as a third-rate political blog.* Reid revealed that he is in possession of unprovable assertions from an unidentified person who seems unlikely to be in a position to know something very shocking! And that shocking thing is this: An unnamed investor with Bain Capital called Harry Reid with very damaging information about Mitt Romney: "Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid gleefully recounted the person as saying. Why would the unnamed investor have any knowledge whatsoever of Mitt Romney's personal finances? Well, we will go with 'why not?'
I used to think that, but I have become less optimistic.
1. In terms of &quot;official&quot; theology, there <i>are</i> huge differences between conventional Christianity and Mormonism. The LDS practically ignore the New Testament. The Book of Mormon is heavily cribbed from the Old Testament, with different dietary laws and a different Chosen People (see below). In a lot of places, the BoM explicitly accuses establishment Christianity (i.e., Catholics) of being instruments of the devil. At first blush, you would think this would at least irritate conventional Christians.
2. However, one must realize that many right-wing Xians (RWXs) do not actually subscribe to much of the Christianity that is described in the New Testament. As we hear every day, their version of Xianism is a bit of Genesis; a selective helping of Leviticus; the &ldquo;absolve te&rdquo; part of the NT; a bunch of shit they just make up (e.g., &ldquo;God says life begins at conception&rdquo;); and in some cases a dessert of Mushroom-John-of-Patmos. And for the better educated, a few selections from Paul-the-guy-who-actually-started-the-religion.
3. So, in terms of actual beliefs, LDS and RWX do not differ as much as you might suppose. (A quick check: how do you think members of either group react to being accosted by &ldquo;That which you do to the least of them, you do to me&rdquo;, or any of its variations?)
4. Now, some of the &ldquo;non-public&rdquo; LDS beliefs seem rather weird (Kolob, becoming God of your own planet after you die, Jesus and Satan are brothers, etc., etc.), but recall that a good many RWXs take the Revelation of St John as being literally true. Mormons have not had access to that quality of hallucinogen. (In fact, old Joe Smith had to steal most of his detailed arcana from the Masons, who he also considered tools of the Devil). So, it&rsquo;s possible that RWXs will be repelled by the unfamiliar supernatural shit, but some of these folks believe in the Red Heifer Prophecy (which isn&rsquo;t even in Revelation).
5. Some background. The central point of Old Joe&rsquo;s scam in the early 1800s was the redefinition of the Chosen People. Those who are not familiar with the BoM may get this wrong, so I will try to summarize. In approximately 600BCE, a bunch of Jews took travelled from the Red Sea to North (or maybe Central) America, led by a vision from God that included a 600-year-advance notice of the whole story of Jesus. They ended up somewhere in the Americas (LDS historians have been trying for a hundred years to fit this into real archaeology), and established a society, and went up and down for fucking ever. At one point, they ran into the descendants of yet another bunch of Jews who had come over a thousand or so years earlier in what can only be described as submarines.
6. I digress. It&rsquo;s a long book. Anyhow, they all knew (well, the believers did) that the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ were coming. They knew WHEN. They were still fuckups, like we all are. Eventually, year 33 rolled around. Unfortunately for the then-current inhabitants of America, they had achieved a high-level civilization, but were spiritually decrepit, so while He was off for three days, Extremely Muscular Jesus came to America and devastated the place (like Jesus always does, yo). There were still some survivors, and they carried on trading off believer/non-believer and beating the shit out of each other for a few hundred years, and then all died.
7. I&rsquo;m getting there. Before they all died, all this shit was recorded onto a big sheaf of goldish plates and hidden in what proved to be upstate New York. Now, here&rsquo;s the important bit: included on the goldish plates was a prophecy that at some future time the plates would be found, and that they would be used to found a new religion, which would be the one, true, and <i>correct</i> version of Xianity. And the followers of this religion would be the new, true and correct Chosen People.
8. [If you&rsquo;ve lost track, this means that the LDS are the for-real-this-time Chosen People]. Again, this might seem to be a bit off-putting to non-Mormons. But remember, this means God&rsquo;s Chosen People are Americans. As I said earlier, this was really the central point of Joe Smith&rsquo;s religion (well, except for Joe being the Prophet). I ask you, are RWXs really going to be repelled by a religion that considers America to be God&rsquo;s Country as one of its actual theological tenets?
Fukui-san, you have to remember that a large fraction of the NBC audience probably weren&#039;t too sure about who Michael Phelps is -- he&#039;s a <i>swimmer</i> for fuck&#039;s sake. (Although they certainly know who Ryan cunting Seacrest is).
You&#039;ve given me hope. There are, certainly, some specific things that will clang even against RWX beliefs. The Garden of Eden, posthumous (re-) baptism, yes. Maybe the fact that they have a living Prophet who outranks the Bible. Hmm.
I&#039;m holding out for Mitt&#039;s use of a tax amnesty program, where he fessed up to his Swiss accounts and paid taxes and penalties, in exchange for not being prosecuted.
A lot to hope for, I know ... but a boy can dream.
Objection your honor, irrelevant. There&#039;s no evidence that Mitt fucks Ann.
Pigs too? I&#039;d heard about the rats already, but only just found out about the pigs.
Given the tedium and boredom inherent with the job, phone sex actually sounds attractive.
I used to think that, but I have become less optimistic.
1. In terms of &quot;official&quot; theology, there <i>are</i> huge differences between conventional Christianity and Mormonism. The LDS practically ignore the New Testament. The Book of Mormon is heavily cribbed from the Old Testament, with different dietary laws and a different Chosen People (see below). In a lot of places, the BoM explicitly accuses establishment Christianity (i.e., Catholics) of being instruments of the devil. At first blush, you would think this would at least irritate conventional Christians.
2. However, one must realize that many right-wing Xians (RWXs) do not actually subscribe to much of the Christianity that is described in the New Testament. As we hear every day, their version of Xianism is a bit of Genesis; a selective helping of Leviticus; the &ldquo;absolve te&rdquo; part of the NT; a bunch of shit they just make up (e.g., &ldquo;God says life begins at conception&rdquo;); and in some cases a dessert of Mushroom-John-of-Patmos. And for the better educated, a few selections from Paul-the-guy-who-actually-started-the-religion.
3. So, in terms of actual beliefs, LDS and RWX do not differ as much as you might suppose. (A quick check: how do you think members of either group react to being accosted by &ldquo;That which you do to the least of them, you do to me&rdquo;, or any of its variations?)
4. Now, some of the &ldquo;non-public&rdquo; LDS beliefs seem rather weird (Kolob, becoming God of your own planet after you die, Jesus and Satan are brothers, etc., etc.), but recall that a good many RWXs take the Revelation of St John as being literally true. Mormons have not had access to that quality of hallucinogen. (In fact, old Joe Smith had to steal most of his detailed arcana from the Masons, who he also considered tools of the Devil). So, it&rsquo;s possible that RWXs will be repelled by the unfamiliar supernatural shit, but some of these folks believe in the Red Heifer Prophecy (which isn&rsquo;t even in Revelation).
5. Some background. The central point of Old Joe&rsquo;s scam in the early 1800s was the redefinition of the Chosen People. Those who are not familiar with the BoM may get this wrong, so I will try to summarize. In approximately 600BCE, a bunch of Jews took travelled from the Red Sea to North (or maybe Central) America, led by a vision from God that included a 600-year-advance notice of the whole story of Jesus. They ended up somewhere in the Americas (LDS historians have been trying for a hundred years to fit this into real archaeology), and established a society, and went up and down for fucking ever. At one point, they ran into the descendants of yet another bunch of Jews who had come over a thousand or so years earlier in what can only be described as submarines.
6. I digress. It&rsquo;s a long book. Anyhow, they all knew (well, the believers did) that the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ were coming. They knew WHEN. They were still fuckups, like we all are. Eventually, year 33 rolled around. Unfortunately for the then-current inhabitants of America, they had achieved a high-level civilization, but were spiritually decrepit, so while He was off for three days, Extremely Muscular Jesus came to America and devastated the place (like Jesus always does, yo). There were still some survivors, and they carried on trading off believer/non-believer and beating the shit out of each other for a few hundred years, and then all died.
7. I&rsquo;m getting there. Before they all died, all this shit was recorded onto a big sheaf of goldish plates and hidden in what proved to be upstate New York. Now, here&rsquo;s the important bit: included on the goldish plates was a prophecy that at some future time the plates would be found, and that they would be used to found a new religion, which would be the one, true, and <i>correct</i> version of Xianity. And the followers of this religion would be the new, true and correct Chosen People.
8. [If you&rsquo;ve lost track, this means that the LDS are the for-real-this-time Chosen People]. Again, this might seem to be a bit off-putting to non-Mormons. But remember, this means God&rsquo;s Chosen People are Americans. As I said earlier, this was really the central point of Joe Smith&rsquo;s religion (well, except for Joe being the Prophet). I ask you, are RWXs really going to be repelled by a religion that considers America to be God&rsquo;s Country as one of its actual theological tenets?
I saw him and Rick Perry fuck a goat at Niggerhead. I witnessed a lot of smiles and glass beer bottles kinking together. And a bunch of ya-hoos.
Now you&#039;ve got me looking for a new Leonard Cohen song, &quot;Halliburton&quot;.
Fukui-san, you have to remember that a large fraction of the NBC audience probably weren&#039;t too sure about who Michael Phelps is -- he&#039;s a <i>swimmer</i> for fuck&#039;s sake. (Although they certainly know who Ryan cunting Seacrest is).
Pornographic shadows on the cave wall.
shorter Harry Reid: &quot;You didn&#039;t pay that&quot;
You&#039;ve given me hope. There are, certainly, some specific things that will clang even against RWX beliefs. The Garden of Eden, posthumous (re-) baptism, yes. Maybe the fact that they have a living Prophet who outranks the Bible. Hmm.
KISS MY WONKETTE!
I&#039;m holding out for Mitt&#039;s use of a tax amnesty program, where he fessed up to his Swiss accounts and paid taxes and penalties, in exchange for not being prosecuted.
A lot to hope for, I know ... but a boy can dream.
Well, shit <i>I&#039;ve</i> known that for twenty years.
I thought Shel&#039;s support for Newter was entirely intended to flush Frothy, thereby clearing the path for the Junior Billionaire.
Christ almighty, I take a day off and Harry Reid -- goddamned HARRY REID -- is talking like a Republican?! WTF?
Did any other Dem&#039;s wake up and realize they&#039;ve been taking GOP sledgehammer up the ying-yang for the last 30+ years?
congratulations!
now you can demand more tax cuts.