They're off and running for the 2008 GOP nomination:

[Ninong]

Mitt Romney delivered the commencement address at Regent University Saturday. Pat Robertson called him a "great American" but still hasn't endorsed him. Mitt desperately wants Pat's benediction.

Mitt pandered to his audience, preaching about the evils of video games. He talked about the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech and said the shooter had drunk from the cesspool of video games. I didn't know that. Did anyone else pick up on that in any of the stories about Cho Seung-Hui? I don't think he played video games. I think Mitt made that up. He also said that as soon as he heard about the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, he opened his Bible and read the Cain and Abel passage. Yep, the shooting at Virginia Tech inspired Mitt to read about how Cain killed Abel. Does that sound credible to you? Me neither.

Mitt makes up stuff. For instance, he's been a hunter his entire life, which means once when he was 15 and once a few years ago when someone invited him on a hunting trip. And he's a lifetime member of the NRA, since October 2006.

And he is no longer pro-choice, in spite of bragging for years that he was just as pro-choice as his mother and every bit as pro-choice as that Teddy Kennedy fella, who wasn't nearly as strong on gay rights as Mitt promised to be. Oh, and he's no longer in favor of embryonic stem cell research because it's no longer necessary. He thinks adult stem cells are just as good now. And we need to do something about all those Mexicans crossing the border. That's odd. Mitt's father was born in Mexico. That's because George Romney's grandfather moved his many wives and children to Mexico when polygamy was made illegal in Utah. Many Mormons moved to northern Mexico because Mexico was encouraging immigration and willing to look the other way even though polygamy was against the law in Mexico, too.

Besides the weird reference to the evils of video games (remember that Pat Robertson has been preaching against the evils of video games for years), Mitt dumped on France! France is the favorite target of the Republican Party, for some reason or other. Oh, that's right, it has to do with the fact that they refused to join our Preznit in his ill-conceived, trumped up war on Iraq. Remember that they were in on the Niger documents from the very beginning in that they examined them and told us they were forged. They also told us that since they were in control of the two uranium mines in question, they could assure us that no yellowcake was being sold to Saddam. We told them it really didn't matter and besides, we didn't care what they had to say anyway. And don't expect Halliburton to cut them in on the reconstruction subcontracts and they could kiss their sweet oil deals with Saddam auvoir.

Here is what Mitt had to say about France: "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

I didn't know that. Has anyone else heard about that? I think he just made it up. If it's not true, and that's what I suspect, then Mitt is an idiot to keep making up stuff that can be easily checked.

Mitt's magical mystery tour continues to mystify.

[SPasse]

Ninong,

Mitt is a real oddball and you are right, as far as I can tell he just makes it up as he goes.

"In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

Term Contractual Marriage is actually concept that some psychologists have put forward and is also a reoccurring theme in the Star Trek folklore.

I Guess if this is tried somewhere; France might be the first place.

Actually, I find it an interesting concept and something that might actually work out.

Regards,

Scott

[Ninong]

Scott,

Do you happen to know if Mitt's claim that "in France marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms" is true? To tell you the truth, I've never heard of that idea before. That sounds strange but it might be a good idea for all those fundamentalist Christians who can't seem to defend their own marriages very well.

A genealogist has posted Mitt's family tree online. It's interesting. He has taken it back 12 generations. It turns out that Mitt is approximately two-thirds English. Several of his ancestors practiced polygyny, including a great-great grandfather who was an LDS apostle with 12 wives. Mitt's ancestry is traced through the fourth of those 12 wives. His ancestors are listed as among the first members of the LDS church when it was formed in 1830. I guess that makes him about as Mormon as Steve Young, who is descended from Brigham Young. The residents of Hawaii like to address everyone as "cousin," but it seems like it would be more appropriate for Utah.

I remember when Mitt's father, George, was running for president that there was a controversy over whether he was even eligible because he had been born in Mexico in 1907. Looking at the family tree, I believe he probably was eligible because it appears that George's father was born in Utah in 1871 and then went to Mexico with his parents when they and other extended family members left Utah after the LDS church dropped polygyny. You didn't have to get rid of any of your wives, you just couldn't take on any new ones. A large number of LDS members moved to northern Mexico. Polygamy was illegal in Mexico but the government was willing to look the other way because they wanted new immigrants. If you look at Mitt's family tree, many of his ancestors were born in Utah but died in Mexico.

P.S. -- The LDS apostle with the 12 wives didn't go to Mexico because he was murdered in Van Buren, Arkansas in 1857 at the age of 50. He's No. 20 on the family tree.

[schrocat]

The French marital "term limits" comment was an accident.

He was confusing French Marriages with the Republican parties infatuation for term limits in the 80's
...remember those guys and gals?
The term limit crew?
If not, don't feel bad...they never left after one term so it's not too late to say hi.

Also his statement has the standard GOP wiggle room created with the fifth and sixth word.

"In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now..."

He's setting it up perfectly. It's the new pink for Republicans...simply blame the staffers.

Got an embarrasing talking point memo out there that picks out the pros of politicizing Schaivo?
...simply blame the staffers.

Got a key bit of legislation snuck into law that takes away congressional oversight of the establishment of US Attorneys?
...simply blame the staffers.

What to do when one gets caught trying out the new power the staffers mentioned above have given you? Well...I'd...
...simply blame the staffers.

Hey!! Who didn't report this pervert preying on Congressional pages?
...simply blame the staffers.

[Ninong]

The French marital "term limits" comment was an accident.

He was confusing French Marriages with the Republican parties infatuation for term limits in the 80's
...remember those guys and gals?
The term limit crew?

Of course I do. Term limits were part of Newtie's Contract with America. They were determined that senators should be limited to two 6-year terms and representatives to either 3 or 6 2-year terms. They couldn't make up their minds on the House whether it should be just a total of six years or maybe 12 years like the Senate. Their affection for term limits diminished the longer they were in office. Term limits were enacted in California and are still in effect.

BTW, there is a video on YouTube of Joe Lieberman in 1988 swearing on a stack of Torahs that if elected to the Senate, he would limit himself to no more than three 6-year terms. Under no circumstances would he seek a fourth term. Well, as we all know by now, he lied about that, too. He was so determined to seek a fourth term that even losing his party's nomination didn't stop him from running as an Independent.

Oh, and let's not forget the very first plank on Newtie's Contract With America: A Constitutional Amendment requiring a balanced budget. I think a lot of Americans always wondered what would happen if both Houses of Congress and the White House happened to come under the control of the GOP. Now they know. They also wondered what would happen if they elected a really stupid person president. They know that, too.

Also his statement has the standard GOP wiggle room created with the fifth and sixth word.

"In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now..."

He's setting it up perfectly. It's the new pink for Republicans...simply blame the staffers.

That's what he did on the "I've been hunting my entire life" lie. A reporter contacted his campaign spokesperson who said that the governor went hunting twice in his life, once at age 15 in Idaho (or Utah?) and once a few years ago as an invited guest of some political acquaintances. The next day Mitt tried to say that his staffer was misinformed. When asked by reporters to describe his hunting trips, what guns did he use, what game did he shoot, etc., all he could come up with was that he "shot varmits" in Utah all the time. When they told him that they had checked with the state fish and game people in all four states he's lived in and he has never taken out a hunting license, he told the reporters that you don't need a license to "shoot rodents and varmits." What's a "varmit?" Sounds like a cartoon character.

Got an embarrasing talking point memo out there that picks out the pros of politicizing Schaivo?

...simply blame the staffers.

Ah, Terri Schiavo! Life for Republicans begins at conception and ends at birth. And then it miraculously reappears again if one is in a permanent vegetative state. And state courts should have jurisdiction over family law except when they disagree with the state court's rulings. There should be separation of the legislative and the judicial branches of government exept when the legislative branch disagrees with the decisions of the judiciary. In which case they should appear at right-wing fundamentalist hate rallies demanding that someone rid them of those troublesome activist judges. Pat Robertson even posted that as one of his special prayers requests: Please pray that vacancies would come up on the Supreme Court.

As far as Mitt's address at Regent University was concerned, he was pandering to his audience of Monica Goodling wannabees. He knew (or his staffers knew) that Pat Robertson has strong opinions on the evils of video games (he once told a woman who asked about them that they were possessed by demons) and that's why Mitt threw in the reference to video games.

BTW, I wonder who outed Rudy Giuliani's multiple contributions to Planned Parenthood? Did you see that news item today? "Another campaign" emailed copies of Giuliani's tax returns for the 1990's (which are in the public domain) to a political website pointing out that Giuliani made a total of $900 in contributions during four different years in the 1990's to Planned Parenthood at the national, state and city levels. I have a hunch it was McCain's campaign that did that because I know where he got some of his staffers. And was it a coincidence that McCain made a statement on abortion while this was coming out about Giuliani? McCain thinks it would be very difficult for a pro-abortion Republican to win the GOP nomination. This is the same John McCain who once said he believed that Roe should NOT be overturned.

[Ninong]

Uh, oh! Now Romney's in trouble with the fundies because he didn't raise his hand with Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee when the 10 GOP candidates were asked if any of them didn't believe in evolution.

Seems like a pretty straightforward question to me, how about you? If you raised your hand, it meant you didn't believe in evolution. If you didn't raise your hand, it meant you did believe in evolution.

The fundies are not the brightest people in the world and it appears that they're not sure what it meant, so they have asked Romney to please confirm to them that he does still believe in creationism. I guess he must have told Pat privately that he's a creationist but now they have their doubts.

Here is the response the CBN correspondent got back from the Romney campaign when asked if Romney believes in evolution: "Governor Romney believes both science and faith can help inform us about the origins of life in this world." The folks at CBN have now "asked the Romney campaign specifically if he believes in Darwin's theory of Evolution or does he take the Creationist view?"

P.S. -- While I was on the CBN site, I decided to check up on Pat's latest words of wisdom. His answers to questions from readers are often hilarious:

Q: Is it a sin to sing country music?

Pat: It's OK to sing country music, "just don't sing dirty country and somebody done somebody wrong."


Q: Is it OK to get a tattoo?

Pat: No. "These are pagan customs, and the Bible condemns it. ...usually it was a scarring to indicate their allegiance to some pagan deity. So that's what tattoos are all about. Plus the fact, they're ugly."


Q: My best friend is a lesbian and has a crush on me. What should I do?

Pat: "She's got urges and those urges are not heterosexual. So you've just got to break it off and say goodbye. You just have to do that. Otherwise, you're going to get ensnared."


Q: One of my close friends is a homosexual and I attended a high school program with him to show him he's still my friend. My high school has programs that support homosexuals. Is this going too far?

Pat: Yes, it's going too far. "If you go to these places, the next thing you know, you will be enticed into their lifestyle instead of him being enticed to yours. I would strongly advise against it."


Q: I'm worried that maybe I'm doing the wrong thing in wanting to become a police officer. How effective is using violence to stop violence? Is pacifism a practical means to stop violence?

Pat: Police have to be armed, blah, blah, blah and sometimes they may have to use deadly force. "The amazing thing is that there [is] one place, I think in Mississippi, that mandated that all the citizens had to CARRY FIREARMS. And you know something? The crime rate dropped dramatically, because the criminals couldn't find prey." [Pat has a tendency to make stuff up.]


The last time I browsed through Pat's advice column, he was telling a mother that she was right to be worried about her teenage sons playing computer games because many of those games are possessed by demons.

[Ninong]

Scott,

Do you happen to know if Mitt's claim that "in France marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms" is true? To tell you the truth, I've never heard of that idea before. That sounds strange but it might be a good idea for all those fundamentalist Christians who can't seem to defend their own marriages very well.

Mitt was lying, as usual!

A blogger asked the Romney campaign to explain Mitt's claim that "in France marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms." It turns out he was talking about the French version of civil unions, not marriage. That law was passed in lieu of passing a law allowing outright gay marriage. They were required by their legal system to make these new civil unions available to opposite-sex couples, too.

From Wikipedia:

In France, a pacte civil de solidarité (English: "civil pact of solidarity") commonly known as a PACS /paks/ (or PaCS), is a form of civil union between two adults (same-sex or opposite-sex) for organising their joint life. It brings rights and responsibilities, but less so than marriage. From a legal standpoint, a PACS is a "contract" drawn up between the two individuals, which is stamped and registered by the clerk of the court. Individuals who have registered a PACS are still considered "single" with regard to family status for some purposes, while they are increasingly considered in the same way as married couples are for other purposes.

[zhenya]

A blogger asked the Romney campaign to explain Mitt's claim that "in France marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms." It turns out he was talking about the French version of civil unions, not marriage.

How conviniently confusing, you can;t possibly differentiate between marriage and civil union terms if you running for President of the US.

Liar!

[Ninong]

Gene,

That was the explanation from Romney's campaign but "Chris in Paris" says no one over there has any idea what the hell Romney is talking about. Read his post, it's pretty good.

The French are getting pissed at all the gratuitous French-bashing the Republican Party engages in to divert attention from their own miserable failures. Let us not forget that without the help of the French, we would have been bowing and curtseying to the queen yesterday.

Here is what "Chris in Paris" had to say about Romney's claim:

Mitt Romney discovers "popular 7 year renewable marriage contract" in France that no one in France has ever heard of

French-bashing has been so much fun so I don't know what Romney and the GOP will do now that the right wing Sarkozy has been elected president. Over the weekend Romney spoke at Regent university, aka Pat Robertson U., and used it as another opportunity play to bizarrely attack France.

"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

Yes, it's so frequent that I've never heard of it nor has anyone I know who is either married or has a PACS. At a minimum it's the best kept secret in France despite being "frequently contracted" though in reality it's just another lie by Romney who is so desperate to win he will say anything. I'm very curious how his religion views lies because he so often struggles with the truth.

One thing that Romney or other French-bashers can address is why the divorce rate in France is so much lower than the US divorce rate. Maybe Mitt and the GOP can address and resolve that issue before spreading lies about other countries and questioning their morality. Heck, Mitt can also explain why more Americans are unfaithful in marriage than the French since he wants to talk about how moral America is compared to France.

Then he can tell us more about the divorce rates of GOP candidates including his hero Reagan and if we're lucky, he can even cover polygamy and the Mormon religion both in the early days as well as some of the modern day cases. Sure they're in the minority, but polygamy by Mormons is a lot more common than the renewable seven year marriage contract in France. :eek3:

[Aragorn]

Wow...Romney's address at Regent is unreal. Yeah, that's who I want running the show....not.

It's ideology like this that made me leave the Republican Party last year. They no longer hold true to the fundamental tenets and constructs that they were founded upon. The party has been hijacked and I choose to no longer associate myself with them.

[zhenya]

Check out this hilarious video...

James Dobson, the Rosa Parks of Intolerance - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

My favorite- Pat Robertson= MalcolmX

[schrocat]

Nice.

[Ninong]

The Colbert Report

That clip of Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) is one of Stephen's favorites. He cut it short in the clip Gene posted but the expression of surprise on the face of Westmoreland is priceless. The full clip from last summer is even funnier because Stephen let him sit there and struggle to try to name any of the Ten Commandments. He finally got credit for naming three of them. The audience was roaring with laughter the whole time.

You would think that a Baptist Congressman from Georgia who is pushing the placement of the Ten Commandments in public buildings would at least be able to name them. Hasn't he seen Colbert's show before? Didn't he know what to expect? These guys are so stupid it's hilarious. They're stupid to think that Colbert isn't going to make them look like idiots.

The Ten Commandments issue came up three years ago. Here is what one of the local papers in Georgia had to say:

"We are under consistent attack from the ACLU for displaying religious documents in our courthouses," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Sharpsburg Republican who said Tuesday he will sponsor the bill.

The bill's chances are unclear. Democrats wouldn't comment on it because they haven't seen it yet, but there's some suspicion that Westmoreland's idea is simply a counter attack on Sen. Mike Crotts.

Crotts, an Atlanta Republican, is running against Westmoreland for an empty seat in Congress, and is also sponsor of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Skeptics say Westmoreland is trying to prove his conservative credentials with a Ten Commandments bill.

We shouldn't pick on Mr. Westmoreland. He's not what you would call one of the intellectuals in the Congress. He earned his GED from Terral HS in 1968. He has the full support of the Sons of Confederate Veterans but not the ACLU.

[Ninong]

Check out this hilarious video...

James Dobson, the Rosa Parks of Intolerance - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

My favorite- Pat Robertson= MalcolmX

Gene,

Speaking of hilarious videos, did you ever see the South Park Book of Mormon episode?

[zhenya]

Gene,

Speaking of hilarious videos, did you ever see the South Park Book of Mormon episode?

No, but thanks a bunch for the link. I don't remember laughing this hard in quite some time...

The "white native americans from Jerusalem" just about caused my jaws to lock up...

I saved the link for future watching.

[Ninong]

No, but thanks a bunch for the link. I don't remember laughing this hard in quite some time...

The "white native americans from Jerusalem" just about caused my jaws to lock up...

I saved the link for future watching.

Don't tell me you didn't know about the Lamanites killing off the Nephites? That's why God made them dark skinned. Before that they were white. They were made dark-skinned as punishment for killing off the Christians (the Nephites). The Lamanites had fallen away from Christianity. Of course, all of them were Jews originally, but the prophet Lehi took them from Judea to America. There was a regular cruise line running between Haifa and Brooklyn at the time -- I think it was called the Jewish Princess Line or something like that.

Jesus came to America in 34 A.D. (C.E.) and converted all the Jews to Christianity. Native Americans were all Jews then, having come to North America from Judea around 600 B.C. (B.C.E.). Don't tell me you didn't know this? Isn't that in the sixth book of the Torah? The one after Deuteronomy? The book of Nephi?

Anyway, Jesus toured America for several months after he was resurrected from the dead. You might call this the first second coming. He converted the Jews that were living here then to Christianity. Years later, after Jesus returned to his home planet, some of the new Christians (Lamanites) stopped being Christians. Others (Nephites) were still Christians. But the Lamanites killed them off. So then all you had left in America were Native Americans (they used to be called Indians) who were no longer Christians or Jews and who had dark skin as punishment for their sinful ways. Please try to keep all of this straight because it's just the opposite of what happened over on the other side of the globe where the Christians were slaughtering the Jews for practice on their way to the Holy Land. BTW, the Vatican officially apologized for that sometime in the 1990's. The Vatican doesn't like to rush things. Think of poor Galileo. It took hundreds of years before the Vatican finally forgave him for insisting that the Earth orbits the Sun. They wanted to make sure they had it right first.

But there was still hope for the Native American savages, who are all descended from the Lamanites who came here from Judea some 1600 years ago. You see, according to Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon, if the savages accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they will become "white and delightsome." I kid you not! That's the exact phrase from the early editions of the Book of Mormon. In later editions that particular phrase was left out. You have to get one of the first editions to find it. This is somewhat similiar to what the Christian church did in the fourth century when they had to choose which books to include in the New Testament and which to burn. They also tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to make the four gospels they did choose sort of agree with each other. The other two dozen or so were then banned. And then, subsequently, every few centuries they would revise the translation of the Bible to make it more acceptable to the contemporary morals and beliefs. I think maybe it's time to revise Leviticus to do away with the section on stoning. And they might want to take another look at the Book of Revelation, this time while not on acid.

Anyway, the way it was supposed to work was that once the savages converted to Mormon-style Christianity, their skin would gradually lighten until they eventually became "white and delightsome." They later dropped that claim. I think it might have been due to the fact that someone pointed out to them that the Jesuits had been converting savages all up and down the west coast for centuries and they weren't exactly "white and delightsome." So that claim was deleted from later editions of the Book of Mormon.

But I digress. Suffice it to say that all books of Holy Scripture claim divine inspiration: The Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, etc. It's just that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has so many options that the older forms of Christianity didn't have -- new miracles and new whitening power. And all the men got to have lots of wives, even more than the Koran allows. I've never figured out how the limit ended up at four wives for Muslims (the current limit), since the original prophet had either 11 or 13 wives. I think maybe the Mormons got this idea from King Solomon, who had about 1,000 wives and concubines, so I guess we can blame that on the Jews, too. Anyway, the Mormons got to have lots of wives, which is how Mitt Romney's great-great grandfather ended up with 12 of them. He died young. He was murdered at the age of 50 in Arkansas, but he had lots of children before then. Mitt is descended through the fourth wife.

Some of the other Christians in the early 19th century didn't believe Joseph Smith, the new prophet. After all, he was just a young kid in his early 20's at the time that the angel Moroni appeared to him and told him where to dig in the hillside to find the gold plates. So the Mormons all moved to Utah. That was long before the New Orleans Jazz moved there. Then, in the late 19th century, a compromise was worked out so that Utah could enter the Union as a state and so that the rest of the country would stop calling them bigamists -- the LDS Church gave up polygyny. Some church members were not too pleased with that idea. Mitt's ancestors all moved to northern Mexico, which is where his father, George W. Romney, was born in 1907. Mitt's family isn't nearly as interesting as John Ashcroft's family. John, his father and his grandfather were all ordained pentecostal ministers. They used to tour the country in a beat-up old station wagon. John no longer speaks in tongues (at least not in public) but both his father and his grandfather were famous for their ability to speak in tongues, to say nothing of their powers to heal people by laying on of hands.

Speaking of "white and delightsome," isn't this the whitest, most delightsome family you have ever seen? And they're all very, very patriotic. They love the War in Iraq and they encourage everyone else to enlist and fight for our country.

[zhenya]

Of course I didn't know that. Book of Mormon was never read by me, I try to stay away from books describing some delirious visions of grandeur...

I've never figured out how the limit ended up at four wives for Muslims (the current limit), since the original prophet had either 11 or 13 wives. I think maybe the Mormons got this idea from King Solomon, who had about 1,000 wives and concubines, so I guess we can blame that on the Jews, too.

You got me there. I don't know that either. Somehow or other I ended up with just one wife, darn it. :eek3:

[Ninong]

You got me there. I don't know that either. Somehow or other I ended up with just one wife, darn it. :eek3:

“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:1-3).

According to that passage, you're allowed as many girlfriends as you can afford.

[zhenya]

“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:1-3).

According to that passage, you're allowed as many girlfriends as you can afford.

Yeah, the Dude must've been very rich to have that many wives... and girlfriends.I'm not sure what princesses had to do with anything, though, I understand concubines and wives but what exactly having princesses means escapes me somehow.

[schrocat]

umm...sorry about the blame it on the staffers comments up there guys.
I was just... wait a sec, what's this?

"The House Judiciary Committee has released Alberto Gonzales' written statement in preparation for tomorrow's hearing. The story won't surprise anyone, but it's clear at least that Gonzales has honed it down to a streamlined tale of his chief of staff Kyle Sampson's failure to fulfill Gonzales' expectations."

Umm...nevermind.