Friday, October 26, 2007

Butterball/Jenna On Condoms/Deists

(P1) Poetical

Outsourced

Welcome to the Butterball Turkey Hot Line
What is your name please?
Thank you Edward. How may I help you?
Oh that is a good question.
I will tell you what to do with your turkey before you roast it
First, remove the original plastic wrapper
from the thawed or fresh turkey.
Do you understand?
Good. Now remove the neck and geeblets,
then drain the juices and blot the turkey dry
with paper towels. You may now stuff the turkey
then return it’s legs to the tucked position,
insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the thigh,
brush with oil to prevent the skin drying
and follow roasting directions that come
with every Butterball turkey.
Have I helped you, Edward?
Good and Happy Thanksgiving
from all of us here at Butterball Turkeys in
Bangalore—I mean Illinoize! Goodbye.

- Ed Coletti
© 2007 -

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(P2) Political

Jenna Surprises

I couldn't have been more surprised and gratified to read a daughter of George Bush respond intelligently and apparently counter to her father on the issue of condoms. Brava! Now talk to your daddy. This interview question appeared in Time Magazine.

Q: How do you feel about providing young people with condoms to protect against HIV?

A: There is no doubt Ana (the Latin American subject of Jenna's recent book) and kids like her need to use condoms to keep themselves safe and to stop the spread of HIV. It's a personal choice, and the most important thing is that kids become aware of their choices and make the proper decisions.

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(P3) Philosophical

Our Founders Were Not Christians, Senator

Philosopher William Edelen (right) says, "When Sen. John Mc Cain said recently to an audience the 'America was founded as a Christian nation,' he showed that he is either historically and religiously ignorant and illiterate...or worse, that he knows better and would lie to get the bible belt voes which would reveal a total lack of integrity, honesty and character..." I'll give you Edelen's discussion of Garry Wills book "Heart and Head" on the subject of our founding fathers. After you read these blurbs, I suspect you may want to read Edelen's full article.

"Finally and at last, a Pulitzer prize historian and scholar, Garry Wills, has written a book that is getting rave reviews and highlights the facts that America was not founded by Christians and was not founded as a Christian nation. This is exactly what I have been writing and saying in newspaper columns and lectures for the past 30 years. I am thrilled that a historian and scholar of his stature is putting the facts out there for the truth to be known. The title of the book is "HEART AND HEAD"....

"The book brings out the fact that at the time of the founding very few Americans professed any religious preference. The book strongly makes the point, as I have for 30 years, that the founders were Deist who believed in providence known only thorough reason and experience. In Deism there is no personal God "out there" as a divine window peeker or cosmic bellhop. In Deism the bible is only literature and bad literature at that. Thomas Jefferson called the bible a "dunghill". In Deism Jesus is nothing more that a nomadic teacher. As President John Adams put it: "The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus has made a convenient cover for absurdity" Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli which states that...quote: "The United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." ...

"Wills notes this about the historical and religious illiteracy pouring out of todays White House..."The right wing of America likes to think that the United States government was at its inception highly religious and Christian and also highly biblical. This was not true of that or any other later government...until 2000.

"...When Sen. John McCain said recently to an audience that "America was founded as a Christian nation." He showed that he is either historically and religiously ignorant and illiterate..or worse, that he knows better and would lie to get the bible belt votes which would reveal a total lack of integrity, honesty and character. Senator McCain is not alone in this historical ignorance as other candidates also pander to the religious and political right with equally absurd and idiotic statements about the founding of America.


(Here's the link to the full article.)


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting book review. I googled George Washington's first Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1789.htm) and was struck by the inconsistencies between the author's assertions and the text. The proclamation does not feel like that of a "Deist". I can't say it was that of a Christian, but it seems to have an obvious religious flavor. The later proclamations seem to contain the same religious flavor.

Several years ago, a book by Dr. Michael A. Bellesiles called "Arming America" was written suggesting that gun ownership in early America was almost non-existent. The book won a Bancroft Award. Bellesiles research was later discovered to be grossly fraudulent (an account of the controversy can be found on wikipedia). The Bancroft award was withdrawn and Bellesiles' reputation destroyed.

Arming America was originally seen as a book proving the anti-gun lobby's point. Is it possible this book may be a similar attempt to provide proof supporting the "separation of church and state" controversy?

Regards,

Paul

Ed Coletti said...

Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Paul. You might be interested in this George Washington passage,

"Being no bigot, I am disposed to HUMOR Christian ministers and the church. hoping that their fights will not endanger the peace of society" (Ltr. to Sir Edward Newenham)

Anonymous said...

personal choice? u really think to stop the spread of HIV is a personal choice rather than a personal obligation? wow... i knew someone on positivesingles.com, he held such kind of view, but by the time i knew him, i debated with him, becz i consider it's our everybodies's obligation to resist HIV, rather than so called choice,aha?