Thanks for Not Shooting

When I posted yesterday morning I thought it was likely I was going to be placed on the "shoot on sight" list for breaking the "thou shalt not speak ill of the dead" rule. Apparently not here in West Blogistan. Sometimes people surprise me in a good way.

Kudos to all the bloggers who are making certain Jerry Falwell's legacy is seen for what it truly is, a legacy of manipulation, hate, and intolerance.

Christopher Hitchens on Anderson Cooper:

The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing, that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called reverend.

Who would, even at your network, have invited on such a little toad to tell us that the attacks of September the 11th were the result of our sinfulness and were God's punishment if they hadn't got some kind of clerical qualification? People like that should be out in the street, shouting and hollering with a cardboard sign and selling pencils from a cup. The whole consideration of this -- of this horrible little person is offensive to very, very many of us who have some regard for truth and for morality, and who think that ethics do not require that lies be told to children by evil old men, that we're -- we're not told that people who believe like Falwell will be snatched up into heaven, where I'm glad to see he skipped the rapture, just found on the floor of his office, while the rest of us go to hell.

How dare they talk to children like this? How dare they raise money from credulous people on their huckster-like radio stations, and fly around in private jets, as he did, giggling and sniggering all the time at what he was getting away with? Do you get an idea now of what I mean to say?

How dare he say, for example, that the Antichrist is already present among us and is an adult male Jew, while, all the time, fawning on the worst elements in Israel, with his other hand pumping anti-Semitic innuendoes into American politics, along with his friends Robertson and Graham?

Yes, we can thank Falwell and his fellow evangelicals for helping to further muddy the waters in the middle east.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The State of Israel is not doing enough to utilize the growing Evangelical support for Israel at a time when a Christian-Jewish alliance is vital in the battle against Islamic extremism, according to Likud MK Gilad Erdan.

"The strengthening and development of our relations with the Evangelical world is a national interest which must be furthered," said Erdan, the deputy head of the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

All I can say is if Erdan is looking to Christian Evangelicals to save Israel then Israel is doomed. See Mr. Erdan, yes, they do share your hatred of the Muslim population but they only love you as tools to be used to bring about their beloved Armageddon. They will agitate in every way possible to escalate tensions in the middle east in order to bring this about and guess what, they have no intentions of seeing you survive it either. If you were planning on your grandchildren living long lives you had best find some saner allies. Tell you what...if you think they're so fabulous we'll send tham all over and they can fight in the trenches with you. Let us know how that works out.

Don't the religious texts advise against something like nourishing serpents at ones bosom?

Here's a clip of Hitchens' comments on Jerry Falwell. I could not say it any better.