Manic Frustration “If I do not write to empty my mind, I go mad.” ~Lord Byron

Richard Mourdock (R) wikipedia.com

“I just struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize: Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." 
~Richard Mourdock (R-Indiana)

After reading this quote from Republican Treasurer of Indiana, Richard Mourdock, and watching the accompanying video of these exact words leaving Mourdock's mouth, I still couldn't believe it. Multiple times I checked the site address to confirm I hadn't stumbled on to The Onion. 

But it shouldn't surprise me. After Todd Akin's (R-Missouri) "legitimate rape" comment where he endowed the human vagina with, apparently, magical powers to differentiate between rape sperm and consensual sperm, I should expect anything from the mouths of politicians.

What really got to me this morning was reading Texas Senator John Cornyn's support of Mourdock and his biblical pandering. Coryn is the chairman of the Senate Republicans.

“Richard and I, along with millions of Americans — including even Joe Donnelly — believe that life is a gift from God. To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous. In fact, rather than condemning him for his position, as some in his party have when it’s come to Republicans, I commend Congressman Donnelly for his support of life.”

Many have blasted Mourdock, rightfully, for what he's said and have accused him of suggesting that God ordains rape to bring about life. Mourdock stated in a post-debate interview:

"God creates life, and that was my point. God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that He does. Rape is a horrible thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick.”

This is the problem with inserting personal, religious beliefs into politics. Mourdock says God does not ordain rape, but he ordains the pregnancy that may occur from it? Where does he pull this twisted logic from? It's certainly from somewhere much lower than his mind and lower yet than his heart.

Let's assume Mourdock didn't mean to insinuate that God pre-ordains rape. We're still left with the blatant disregard for women's rights and the interjection of religious beliefs into Mourdock's political intentions. Mourdock has every right to believe whatever spiritual or religious beliefs he wants, but he has no right to impose those beliefs on a country where not every individual, let alone every woman, share them.

And politicians like Cornyn support this kind of backward thinking? Since when? Coryn and the rest of the Republican party threw Akin under the bus for his "legitimate rape" comment earlier in the year but, now, the Senate Republicans are reconsidering their position on even this. Why?

Akin and Mourdock are both candidates in some of the closest election races this year (Akin for the House and Mourdock for the Senate). During one of the most polarized elections the country has ever witnessed, support for these two is bolstered by their party regardless of how absolutely asinine their positions may be. Why are the Republicans backing Mourdock and now rethinking their position on Akin? Because they can't afford to lose. They don't want to lose. And they'll sacrifice anything to gain the seats.

Absurd and sick, Mr. Mourdock? What is absurd and sick are your antique and ridiculous comments. Don't try to spin and pin the shame on Democrats or anyone else for your actions. What you said was loud and clear. Own it. Or, next time, just keep your mouth shut.

And since you'd like to invoke your God's plan, I'd suggest a reread of 1 Corinthians 2:11.

By the time of the adoption of the Constitution, our history shows that there was widespread awareness among many Americans of the dangers of a union of Church and State. These people knew, some of them from bitter personal experience, that one of the greatest dangers to the freedom of the individual to worship in his own way lay in the Government’s placing its official stamp of approval upon one particular kind of prayer or one particular form of religious services... The Constitution was intended to avert a part of this danger by leaving the government of this country in the hands of the people rather than in the hands of any monarch. But this safeguard was not enough. Our Founders were no more willing to let the content of their prayers and their privilege of praying whenever they pleased be influenced by the ballot box than they were to let these vital matters of personal conscience depend upon the succession of monarchs. (source)

We are not, as many seem to believe with searing intensity, a "Christian" nation. Even if the Forefathers were Christian themselves (This is hotly debated. Many were believed to be, at best, Deists. Much of the evidence in their writing and lives suggests this.), it would not make this nation a "Christian" nation anymore than a meal prepared by Richard Dawkins would be an Atheistic dinner.

We are a nation of many beliefs or lack there of. And we all are granted the right, by our Constitution, to practice whichever beliefs we hold free of persecution. It's one of the main reasons we came to this hunk of land in the first place.

The representatives in Harrisburg have crossed a line. They have committed a crime against the U.S. Constitution and against their constituents. There is no reason for this to be taken lightly. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the Constitution and all of the rights it guarantees to the citizens of this country must be upheld. House Resolution No. 535 is a slippery and sickening glimpse into the thought process of those in Harrisburg and it should not go unnoticed.

Religion is a personal choice and an individual's concern alone. And when government dips their pens into the inkwell of faith and personal belief, they breach a wall constructed to keep them out of it for their own good and for our own personal safety. This is not the "Year of the Bible". And this is not the time for any of you sitting in Harrisburg or in Washington to be concerning yourselves with topics that, constitutionally, do not concern you.

The U.S. is hungry. We want to work. We want proper educational systems for our children. We want safety. And we want to know that you're doing everything possible to provide these things for this country using our tax dollars that we fork over every paycheck. The Church does not pay your salary, we do.

Harold Camping predicts the end is here.

Tomorrow is the end of the world. It has been prophesied by the great Harold Camping. This man has never been wrong about anything pertaining to religion in his long career at Family Radio. He has studied the Bible from cover to cover. Word for word. He's crunched the numbers and he's predicted that tomorrow is it. On May 21st at 6:00 p.m. in each time zone, the rapture will occur. Good, God-fearing Christians will be beamed into heaven like holy Batsignals.

Families have been divided. Some have budgeted their savings to have absolutely nothing left come tomorrow. Evangelists are preaching from their piles of cash to save the world and atheists are cashing in on post-rapture pet care. No need to empty the shelves at the local grocery stores. This isn't Y2K. This is the god damn (pun slightly intended) rapture. Tomorrow, the man with the wavy hair, carefully crafted beard and birkenstocks will be knocking on your door and telling you whether you've been naughty or nice. Hint: if you suddenly end up near the largest bonfire you've ever seen, chances are you weren't nice. Or, at the very least, you didn't put enough folding money in the basket when it was passed around during mass. Pearly gates aren't cheap.

After all the pious folk are shot up into their sky-condos, we immoral, corrupted, non-believing blasphemers will have to endure Hell on Earth until October 21st. I could have sworn we've already been experiencing a bit of it here, but this will be the time when God turns it up to 11. It's going to be a vacation created from the pages of Dante. At least people will have no use for spray-tans anymore. Their flesh will be a lovely shade of charcoal. And, on October 21st, God will play Freebird and pull the plug. Lights out. Earth done. Humanity gone.

Or, on Sunday, we'll all sit back and watch Mr. Camping backpedal for the second time. He'll say he must have missed something in the Bible. Families who've torn themselves apart over this ridiculous concept will, at the very least, share awkward moments or be completely torn apart forever. People who've quit their jobs will be scrambling to find another, in an economy where it's nearly impossible to find anything decent, since more level-headed individuals scooped their old positions up the moment they left. And those who've budgeted themselves to have nothing left will be filing for bankruptcy or applying for loans to keep themselves from living on the streets.

Either Camping is right and tomorrow is the end of days. Or, he's simply another religious lunatic who's ruined the lives of many as he sits comfortably upon his cash. Either way, I plan on lounging around on Sunday (towering infernos or not), sipping a beer and probably caring about the passing "apocalypse" as much as an atheist can. Maybe I'll try to buy a house on the post-rapture market.