They Can't Read When They Graduate.....

... but, hey, as long as they git sum uf that ol' time relijun, Georgia is happy.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia lawmakers have approved a measure to fund elective Bible courses in public schools, raising concern among civil liberties groups the classes could violate the U.S. constitutional separation of church and state.

Isn't this what Sunday School is for? It's been a while since Hellena was darkening the doorstep of any high school, but she does remember this: there were precious few enough hours to squeeze in the necessary courses. And with Georgia consistantly falling at the bottom of the charts in education in a state to state comparison, seems they can hardly afford the distraction of another elective course.

If this is to be enacted as just a historical teaching of Biblical history & archeology, and not as an indoctrination for students as the legislators say, then Hellena proposes that ALL religions be included in a comprehensive course that covers the world's belief systems.

And the Conservative Push Begins...

...against adoption by gay parents. At the forefront of the debate emerges one Debra Maggart, Republican Rep in Sumner County, TN. According to Maggart, most gays and lesbians are unfit to parent because they have "emotional dysfunctions and psychological issues." Yeah, Hellena doesn't know any heterosexual women or men who are dysfunctional. There's no soccer moms doped up on mood inhibitors in this God-fearing country.

Is anyone else thinking of SNL's Church Lady here?

Turns out Ms. Maggart is divorced, which makes her oh-so-stable and qualified to be a single parent, yet she believes children need "the optimum family unit, and that is a mother and a father." Apparently, Maggart hasn't checked the divorce rate of heterosexual couples lately.

An excellent write-up from Guerilla Women TN here.

Isn't that special?

Ex-Preacher Molests His Own Grandson

If ever there was a human who needed to be locked in a cell with a 600lb. gorilla that had been fed nothing but viagra and pcp, Larry Nuell Neathery is that man.

Neathery, 56, is on trial on charges involving five boys, including three of his grandsons. The verdict may hinge on whether jurors believe his young accusers or his attorneys' contentions that the boys have falsely accused the former pastor of Westside Victory Baptist Church.

Neathery's grandson acknowledged that he didn't want to talk about the sex acts that the man he called "Pops" forced him to participate in "too many times" to count, starting when he was 5 or 6.

And if that's not enough to make you want to hurl your morning biscuits, there's more -

As he got older, the teen testified, Neathery asked him to remove his pants so they could engage in sex acts. Sometimes, he said, he awoke to find his grandfather having sex with him.

Apparently the abuse continued as the piece of shit grandfather threatened the child with beatings if he talked. To the point of making the child a vegetable.

When he was 7, the teen said, his grandfather took him to another man's house, where the men videotaped a prostitute having sex with the boy. He said his grandfather also had sex with the other man and with the prostitute and looked at pornography on a computer.

The incidents at the other man's house occurred 10 or 15 times over two years, he said, sometimes including his younger brother, who was forced to participate in sex acts with him. The teen said he tried unsuccessfully to stop his grandfather from abusing his younger brother.

The terribly sad part of all this is that the children involved will never be able to put the abuse completely out of their minds even if Neathery gets what is coming to him. Guess Neathery didn't take the teachings of the church very seriously, did he?

Technorati Tags: Religion Sexual Abuse Child Molestation Religion

Hellena's Weekend Weirdness Roundup

Hellena has decided to try for a weekly roundup of miscellaneous tidbits every week. This will be installment #2:

• A list of the Top 10 Best Accidental Discoveries. Viagra, LSD, and Silly Putty all made the cut.
• Man cold cocks cops with his own severed penis. Think he misunderstood the penal code?
• Oh fer crying out loud in a bucket. Fuck Starcast Productions for selling out the soul of rock and roll by trying to contact John Lennon's spirit in a Pay-Per-View seance. Is there no decorum?
• Guess what? White, highly-refined breads makes people fat! Next thing they'll be telling us sodas are not good for us.
• Enterprising entrepreneurs find a safe way for cancer patients to use medicinal marijuana, but are arrested as drug dealers. Go figure.
• Fifteen year old school vandals get a bum rap. That'll teach 'em.
• Two founders of the Cryonics Movement are cremated after a freezer mishap. Whoops!! I hate it when that happens.
• Another reason why Tom Cruise is an irrelevant doucherocket. Watch the episode here.

Random Cool Quote of the Week

"A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back, he ever wants to see a fucking cross? Kind of like going up to Jackie Onassis with a rifle pendant on, you know." - Bill Hicks, comic extroidinaire

Technorati Tags: Entertainment News Politics Religion

Best.T-Shirt.Ever.

Wear this to the next pro-life rally you protest:

May the fetus you save be a Black Gay Wiccan Democrat

Heh.

"a conscientious employee ... active in church"

Well it's a good damned thing he cared so much about his job..... Hellena would hate to think what horrors he would have perpetrated if he didn't give a shit.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Camera phones are now banned at the Children's Hospital and Health Center's convalescent unit. The curtains around patients must be left open most of the time. And administrators are considering installing security cameras in patients' rooms.

The precautions were prompted by one man: Wayne Albert Bleyle, a respiratory therapist accused of molesting brain-damaged, comatose boys and girls, taking cell-phone photos of himself in the act, and posting them on the Internet.

``This is the worst case of child molestation imaginable,'' prosecutor Laura Gunn said in court last week. ``I don't know if we've ever seen a case like it before where the victims were so vulnerable.''

Bleyle, 54, is in jail on $5 million bail after pleading not guilty to two counts of child molestation and 24 counts of child pornography. But Gunn said Bleyle molested many more patients over the past decade, preying on the hospital's weakest of the weak, including youngsters who would never be able to speak.

Gunn said that when an investigator asked how many children he had abused, Bleyle replied: ``How many snowflakes are there out there?''

Yup, another fine example of a man who is in need of having his testicles and dick removed by way of a rabid beaver that just dropped acid.

Technorati Tags: News Christians Crime

Hell Hath a Special Place Reserved....

... for anyone rat bastard enough to steal some kid's prosthetic legs. Holy crap, what sort of inbred, booger-picker breaks into a 16 year old's room, takes her legs (on Valentine's Day no less), and then graffitis all over them before returning them nearly a month later. Oh, and if that is not hard enough to believe, this was the second time some neanderthal purloined this young lady's leg.

Technorati Tags: News Rants

The Assault of the Press Begins....

A read-worthy story here, folks:

In recent weeks, the FBI has issued hundreds of "National Security Letters," directing employers, banks, credit card companies, libraries and other entities to turn over records on reporters. Under the USA Patriot Act, those who must turn over the records are also prohibited from revealing they have done so to the subject of the federal probes.

"The significance of this cannot be overstated," says prominent New York litigator Glenn Greenwald. "In essence, while the President sits in the White House undisturbed after proudly announcing that he has been breaking the law and will continue to do so, his slavish political appointees at the Justice Department are using the mammoth law enforcement powers of the federal government to find and criminally prosecute those who brought this illegal conduct to light.

"This flamboyant use of the forces of criminal prosecution to threaten whistle-blowers and intimidate journalists are nothing more than the naked tactics of street thugs and authoritarian juntas."

Kudos to Doug Thompson for his editorial on this thuggery.

Apparently this is not an isolated incident and here.

Technorati Tags: News Politics News and Politics

Getting Ready for the Weekend....

...already. Hellena will be out of town for a week from March 8-14 for a festival, so today's post will, be a roundup of goodies stumbled over this weekend. Enjoy!

• Bush visit taints Ghandi's memorial site. Hindu priests say it was the dog, but Hellena thinks it may have been when Bush removed his shoes.
• Thomas "Kinky" KinKade paints a dark side while marking his territory. That's some ritual, Tommy!
• Colorado Republican House member Marilyn Musgrave illustrates why she is on the list of 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress.
• Because there isn't anything else more important to legislate, lawmakers in Tennessee are trying to outlaw dildos. Write a letter if you can put down youur sex toy long enough.
• Urban couple expresses confusion after finding snake segment in a bag of frozen beans. Who knew green beans were grown outdoors where snakes live?
• Ice hockey crowd lines up for free "Runaway Bride" bobblehead doll. Well, puck me.
• Killing in the name of.... Kali. Unholy human sacrifice, Batman.

More later.....

Technorati Tags: Republicans News Politics Religion

Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Wire....

And who will that wire be bringing down? Cunningham, a California Republican who pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to taking $2.4 million in bribes—including a yacht, a Rolls Royce and a 19th-century Louis-Philippe commode—from a defense contractor, wore a wire at some point during the short interval between the moment he began cooperating with the feds and the announcement of his guilty plea on Nov. 28.

Oh how they sing when their ass is in a sling......

More here...

Technorati Tags: Republicans Bribery Politics

Stop the Gay Penguins from Adopting!!!!

Parents Complain About Book's Undertones

SAVANNAH, Mo. -- A children's book about two male penguins that raise a baby penguin has been moved to the nonfiction section of two public library branches after parents complained it had homosexual undertones.

The illustrated book, "And Tango Makes Three," is based on a true story of two male penguins, named Roy and Silo, who adopted an abandoned egg at New York City's Central Park Zoo in the late 1990s.

The book, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, was moved from the children's section at two Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branches in Savannah and St. Joseph in northwest Missouri.

Two parents had expressed concerns about the book last month.

Barbara Read, the Rolling Hills' director, said experts report that adoptions aren't unusual in the penguin world.

And homophobia reaches an all-time new low. Christ on a friggin cracker, is there ANYthing gay-haters won't complain about? So what? A couple of penguins saved a baby and raised it, is that something to sqawk about? Is it better to teach the children that the penguins might be gay, or that they saved a baby??? TWO parents complained.... TWO. And the book has to be moved.

For fuck's sake already.

Technorati Tags: Homophobia News Books Education

That's Just How They Say "Hello"

Reuters/Jason Reed

See, in India, the water buffalo think they're dogs.....

"The time has come," the Walrus said....

"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Despite Hellena's usual attempt's at sarcasm, she also has a serious side. And a side that likes to read, and give time to bloggers, and editorials from the other side of the political universe. This morning while perusing some of the anti-leftist, moonbat watch sites, Hellena stumbled across an interesting story on the current states' push to ban abortions.

On the Stop the ACLU site, one paragraph caught Hellena's eye:

It definitely looks to be a trend. In my opinion it is a trend for the better, for two reasons. One, it is a trend towards life. Two, no matter what your thoughts are on the topic of abortion, the legislators are taking the issue to the people. Abortion is a controversial topic that finds people all across the political spectrum in their opinions. The right place for this to be decided is in each State, not by unelected judges. These representatives are taking it up on themselves that they are representing their constituants. The beautiful thing about democracy is that if they are not representing the people, the people can speak up and effectively make a difference; something they can’t do with Supreme Court decisions. There is no doubt that NOW, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU will be challenging these laws soon. I hope this trend continues, and we get this issue back into the hands of the people where it belongs.

Now there are several points in the paragraph that beg to be elaborated upon, but the nit Hellena wishes to pick is the mention of Planned Parenthood. There's no need to write Hellena explaining what eugenics is or the beginnings of Planned Parenthood and its founder because that's not the point of this post.

Anyone know who was named Treasurer of Planned Parenthood in 1942, and then served as treasurer of Margaret Sanger's first national fundraising drive in 1947? That person is none other than GW's grandfather, Prescott Bush.

Well, not that a grandson can't have a completely different view of an issue from his long dead grandfather, but it is an interesting factoid, no? Seems at one time, the Bush family might have supported the idea of eugenics.

Technorati Tags: Bush Abortion Politics

Bush is a Saint

President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Methodist Church outside Washington. Karl Rove made a visit to the Bishop and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of Bush's position on stem cell research, the War, and such. I'll gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon, you'd say the
President is a saint."

The Bishop thinks it over for a few moments and says, "The Church is in desperate need of funds. I will do it."

Bush pompously shows up that following Sunday, looking especially smug, sneering for his photo ops, while strutting his way, cowboy-style, into the church.

As the sermon starts, the Bishop begins his homily: "George Bush is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite as well as a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, probably still a drunk, and a low-intelligence sneaky weasel. He has lied about his military record, and then had the gall to put himself in uniform on a military jet, landing on a carrier, and then posing before a banner stating 'Mission Accomplished."

"He invaded a country for oil and money, all the while lying to the American people about the war, with nary a care for the thousands of lives it has taken and continues to take. He is the worst example of a Methodist I've ever personally known or known of."

"But compared to Dick Cheney, George Bush is a blessed saint."

Technorati Tags: Bush humor politics

When Little League Sports Turns Bad....

A Little League baseball coach in Miami, Fla., is recovering Monday after being stabbed by a fan, Local 6 News reported Sunday night.

A baseball coach in Miami, Fla., is stabbed by a fan during a game.
A witness said the boyfriend of one of the player's mother was yelling at the coach during the game because he didn't agree with a decision.

Mmm-mokay. So this is how we teach the children to play well with others. What sad commentary on anger management.

Technorati Tags: Anger Management News sports