Atheist Revolution

Idiot of the Week: John Boehner

2009-11-07T09:00:00.002-06:00

Ah, Saturday at last. Time for another Idiot of the Week award. Let's get to it.

When I first heard that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was calling for her teabagging supporters to converge on the Capitol to intimidate anyone who might actually support affordable health care, I knew there would be some idiocy on display. Would I have to honor Bachmann yet again in this series? It certainly looked like it. But then someone else would step forward at the last minute to take the prize.

Let me set the stage a bit more. Pictured here to the left is Greenman, a Philadelphia figure made famous by the hillarious TV show, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX). If you haven't been watching it, you are missing out. I am convinced it is the best comedy on TV these days.

The thing about Greenman is that he is supposed to be funny. When someone dons a Greenman costume, they are going to get attention and laughs. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Why the hell am I bringing this up? Good question. I am doing so because I'd like to contrast the image of Greenman with another famous figure, one that is equally hillarious but also pathetic because he isn't meant to be funny. Ladies and gentlemen, I present this week's idiot - Orangeman.

That's right, this Idiot of the Week award goes to Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). What did our winner do to deserve this award? As House Minority Leader, making him a prominent Republican leader in Congress, Rep. Boehner should have known better than to participate in Rep. Bachmann's embarrassing protest. She is well known for her crazy, but Boehner is supposed to be respectable and represent the GOP establishment rather than the fringe. By speaking at her teabagger rally on the Capitol steps, he wholeheartedly embraced her particular brand of crazy and signaled that this is the modern Republican party. Let him be known not just for his bad spray tan or tendency to sob like Glenn Beck but also for willingly associating himself with birther nutjobs comparing health care to Nazi concentration camps.

And yet, this was not enough for Rep. Boehner. During his speech, he proudly displayed a copy of the U.S. Constitution and quoted from it. The problem was, it was not the Constitution he was quoting from but the Declaration of Independence. An honest mistake for you and me, but this is a powerful Congressman who is supposed to know something about our Constitution.

This is the second time Rep. Boehner has been honored here. Something tells me it won't be the last.

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Idiot of the Week: Pastor Jimmy Dillon

2009-10-31T10:41:00.001-05:00

Image by Miala via Flickr

Time for a Halloween edition of the Idiot of the Week series, and what better way to do one but to honor some of the religiously-based anti-Halloween idiocy which rears its head each and every year. In my neck of the woods, this generally comes from the Baptists, so I'd like to honor Trinity Baptist Church (Wichita Falls, TX) Pastor Dillon.

According to this article from their local paper, Pastor Dillon has fond memories of celebrating Halloween as a child but has decided that he should now deprive other Christians of the opportunity to enjoy the holiday.

Dillon preached a sermon Sunday on his convictions that Christians should not participate — or allow their children to participate — in anything remotely connected to Halloween.

It appears that he's convinced himself that it is evil because of...well...he learned something about its history. As seems to be commonplace for Christians who have such a change of heart, Pastor Dillon went overboard with his opposition to Halloween.

Dillon soon became so firmly opposed to the holiday that he not only refused to celebrate it, but also decided never to engage in any of the typical “alternatives,” such as fall festivals.

One has to enjoy the pastor's "reasoning" with regard to Halloween. Because he does not like what the ancient Druids believed about the day, he has determined that no self-respecting Christian should have anything to do with the holiday. That would be a bit like reading the Old Testament, seeing how cruel and bloodthirsty this so-called god was and then rejecting all of Christianity on that basis. Hmmmm...maybe Pastor Dillon has a point after all.

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Idiot of the Week: Bill Donohue (Again)

2009-10-24T07:08:00.002-05:00

The Simpsons via last.fm

Another Saturday means another Idiot of the Week post. And despite several good options this week, I simply have no choice but to come back to a personal favorite...Bill Donohue.

I'll be the first to admit that I have a particularly strong dislike for Bill Donohue and his Catholic League. It is probably because he has appointed himself the defender of that which is utterly indefensible. This is a man who routinely levels accusations of bigotry against those who are only trying to protect innocent children from the clutches of pedophile priests. So yeah, I guess it is safe to say that Donohue really rubs me the wrong way.

So what did Donohue do this week to get on my radar? A new episode of The Simpsons aired last Sunday which contained a great line making fun of a certain absurd ritual propagated by a certain church.

What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their savior?

If you saw the episode, like I did, you'll know that it was quite funny in context. And yet, it prompted our idiot extraordinaire to complain.

What kind of uncivilized people work at Fox? Last year, when they poked some gentle fun at the Apostle’s Creed on the Halloween episode, we said nothing. That’s because it didn’t cross the line. This year is different: mocking the heart of any religion always crosses the line, and mocking the Eucharist does it for Catholics. They know this at Fox, which is precisely why they did it.

As PZ Myers (Pharyngula) pointed out, "Silly superstitions will always be a magnet for mockery." This is precisely what Donohue cannot seem to realize. When you believe something stupid and insist on sharing your belief with everyone, mockery is going to be the natural response. Dressing it up in religious garb changes nothing.

H/T to Friendly Atheist

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Idiot of the Week: Dallin H. Oaks

2009-10-17T07:43:00.001-05:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Each Saturday, an example of supreme idiocy is highlighted here at Atheist Revolution's Idiot of the Week series. There were some very deserving candidates nominated at our Atheist Nexus group this week, easily beating out anyone I had in mind.

This week's award goes to LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks. He compared the backlash his church faced after their support for California's Proposition 8 became widely known to the plight of African Americans during the civil rights movement. Oaks characterized those of us who oppose anti-gay bigotry by the Mormon Church as follows:

...they are like the well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation.

As University of Utah historian Colleen McDannell noted,

By comparing these two things, it diminishes the real violence that African-Americans experienced in the '60s, when they were struggling for equal rights. There is no equivalence between the two.

Oaks also referred to efforts to promote LGBT equality as "alleged civil rights." Best of all, he had this to say:

During my lifetime I have seen a significant deterioration in the respect accorded to religion in our public life, and I believe that the vitality of religious freedom is in danger of being weakened accordingly. Atheists and others would intimidate persons with religious-based points of view from influencing or making the laws of their state or nation.

A classic blame-the-atheists move tipped the scales in his direction and earned Oaks Idiot of the Week honors.

H/T to Poodles for nominating this tool.

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Idiot of the Week: The State of Oklahoma

2009-10-10T05:52:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Living in Mississippi, it is not often I get to look at something another state is doing and ask, "What the hell is wrong with you people?" But when just such an occasion presents itself, I can't pass it up.

As I suspect you have heard by now, a new law is scheduled to take effect in Oklahoma at the first of next month that will publicize details about women having abortions in the state. According to Think Progress, the information will be collected and then posted on a publicly accessible website. Although no names or addresses will be reported, Think Progress reports that Feminists for Choice is criticizing the legislation on the grounds that it will make it fairly easy to identify the women who are from small communities.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is challenging the law, and I certainly hope they are successful. In the meantime, I have no choice but to honor Oklahoma for this remarkable idiocy.

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Idiot of the Week: Elliott Abrams

2009-10-03T07:09:00.000-05:00

Time for another idiot of the week selection. A new "winner" is announced here each Saturday for the purpose of highlighting an example of extreme idiocy. With birthers, deathers, Glenn Beck, and Michele Bachmann on the prowl, it gets harder and harder to select just one a week.

Since I was accused of picking too obvious a choice last week (and rightly so), I tried to dig a bit deeper into the more obscure choices for this week. This week's nod goes to Elliott Abrams, Bush's Deputy National Security Adviser and Iran-Contra criminal, who appeared on Fox "News" this week to push for a U.S. attack on Iran. That is not enough by itself to make him idiot of the week. For that, you need to consider the following statement from Abrams:

My own view is that most Iranians now — after June, after the stealing of the election — would not rally around the flag. People used to say that — that if there’s an attack on Iran, you know the population is going to get patriotic. But that’s what Americans would do. I don’t know that it’s what Iranians are going to do, considering the way that regime is hated in Iran.

Right, so the Iranian people would welcome us as liberators. Hmmm...why do I feel like I've heard that before? Is Abrams unaware that we are already mired in two wars that aren't going especially well, that our economy is in shambles, or that we'd rather sit idly by calling our president a socialist while our fellow citizens die from lack of affordable health care?

This whole neo-con worldview, which Abrams embodies, has thoroughly failed. We'd be the idiots if we looked there for wisdom.

H/T to Think Progress

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Idiot of the Week: Ray Comfort

2009-09-26T06:58:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Each Saturday right here at Atheist Revolution, a new idiot receives the prestigious idiot of the week title. And boy, have we had some deserving winners! It is again time for another installment in the Idiot of the Week series, so let's get to it.

This week's idiot is none other than Ray "the banana man" Comfort. Special thanks to Dispatches From the Culture Wars for reporting on Comfort's latest bit of insanity from WorldNutDaily so I didn't have to contribute to their traffic. So what did Comfort do now?

At WorldNutDaily under the headline "Finally exposed: The scientific impossibility of evolution," Comfort dropped this gem:

All you have to do is push them into a corner and say, 'So, you're an atheist?' 'Yep.' 'So you believe that nothing created everything, a scientific impossibility?' And they'll say, 'Well, no.' 'So you believe something created everything?' And they say, 'Well, yeah. Something did, obviously.' 'So you're not an atheist?' 'OK, I'm not an atheist.'

'This something you believe created everything, do you think it was intelligent? I mean, could you create a bird or a flower or a tree or a blade of grass from nothing?' And they'll say, 'No, I can't do that.' 'Well, is this something you believe created everything intelligent?' And they'll say, 'Obviously.' And I'll say, 'Congratulations, you've just become an anti-science, knuckle-dragger in the eyes of our learning institutions, because you believe in intelligent design.'

Ladies and gentleman, Ray Comfort has clearly disproved evolution! Then again, maybe he's just distinguished himself as idiot of the week.

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Idiot of the Week: Carrie Prejean (Again)

2009-09-19T08:48:00.000-05:00

Image by cattias.photos via Flickr

This is one of those Saturdays where I still haven't woken up properly and remain in a bit of a haze from what turned out to be a long and difficult work week spent battling a cold and losing. And yet, Saturday means that it is time for another Idiot of the Week installment.

Carrie Prejean has already won this prestigious award once before, so you're probably wondering what she could have done to win it again, especially now that she's largely irrelevant. Well, Ms. Prejean is still talking about her loss in the Miss USA Pageant and has become the celeb du jour of the Values Voter crowd. During yesterday's Values Voter Summit, Ms. Prejean said that she was called by her god during the pageant and that "even though I didn't win the crown that night, I know that the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in Heaven for me."

You just keep telling yourself that, Carrie. It couldn't possibly have been your terrible judgment in expressing anti-gay bigotry during the Q&A portion of the "contest." It had to be part of some divine master plan. Sure.

If you are a sucker for punishment, you can watch her Values Voter speech at RightWingWatch. Man, does she have some crazy eyes in the videos!

H/T to Pam's House Blend

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Tags: Carrie Prejean, California, Values Voter Summit

Idiot of the Week: Rep. Joe Wilson

2009-09-12T06:01:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Every Saturday here at Atheist Revolution, a new Idiot of the Week is honored. It is again time to crown an idiot, so let's get to it.

Since beginning this series, I have to say that this is easily the most obvious choice I've made: Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). You know him as the moron who heckled President Obama during his speech before the joint session of Congress. While I am not necessarily opposed to heckling a President, even in such a forum, Wilson was factually incorrect in his accusation and has still not acknowledged this. Moreover, his own voting record on the subject reveals that he is a blatant hypocrite. For more on Wilson, see Olbermann's recent special comment below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Honorable mention goes to Glenn Beck for the 9/12 fiasco he is sponsoring today. Evidently, Beck still hasn't tired of exploiting this national tragedy.

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Idiot of the Week: Michele Bachmann

2009-09-05T06:48:00.003-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

This week flew by, and it is hard to believe that it is Idiot of the Week time already. Here at Atheist Revolution, a new idiot is crowned each Saturday. So let's get to it!

I may be getting lazy here, but when I heard the following come from Christian extremist Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), I immediately knew she was desperate for Idiot of the Week recognition:

This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't pass.

Way to inject your ridiculous religion into the health care debate! I suppose that spouting nonsense like this is easier than trying to explain how you are opposing reform simply because your political party wants to make the President look bad.

H/T to Dispatches From the Culture Wars

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Idiot of the Week: Barry Morgan

2009-08-29T05:30:00.001-05:00

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

It is Saturday, so it must once again be time for our weekly Idiot of the Week series. Each week, one idiot is selected from a crowded field of competitors and crowned Idiot of the Week. With so much idiocy happening lately, I cannot really claim that this week's winner is the most deserving. I suppose there is just something about him that I find particularly frustrating.

Dr. Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, is this week's idiot because he does not believe that teenagers deserve religious freedom. He has been quoted as saying,

A law allowing 16-year-olds to opt out of prayers in assembly devalues and marginalises religion in schools.

Perhaps, but religion does not belong in schools in the first place. As Conversational Atheist points out,

This is just a really creepy example of allowing religion and government to mix — obligatory schooling until a certain age that requires indoctrination. And complaints come in when the obligatory nature is removed when the kids are 16? Really?

Denying a fundamental right, which even many Christians support, to someone simply because they are 16 seems to miss the point of religious freedom entirely. It is painfully clear that Morgan is doing this merely to preserve his power. He says,

Collective worship has been branded as something that young people grow out of by the age of 16, at precisely the time when it might be the best way of feeding both their minds and their hearts as they start to explore the responsibilities and consequences of adult life.

And his solution is to compel prayer so his church does not lose any more believers. Sad.

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Idiot of the Week: Betsy McCaughey

2009-08-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Since I did not post an entry in this series last week, I suppose this one can be considered Idiot of the Last Two Weeks. Rest assured, I think this one is deserving of such an honor. For this Idiot of the Week post, I believe I've found one of the more astounding examples of idiocy I've seen in a long time.

This week's award goes to Ms. Death Panels herself, Betsy McCaughey, for her unbelievable performance on the Daily Show. This is a new low point in televised idiocy, and that is really saying something! Congratulations Ms. McCaughey. You have truly reset the bar.

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Idiot of the Week: U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer

2009-08-08T05:36:00.000-05:00

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It is Saturday, and you know what that means. Time for another installment in the Idiot of the Week series. I have been complaining lately that it is getting harder and harder to select a weekly idiot. With the rise of the "birthers," Republican thuggery at Democratic town hall meetings, anti-atheist bigotry in Iowa, and the continued presence of Rep. Michele Bachmann, it is once again a difficult choice.

Although I feel that the most obvious choice would have to be Orly Taitz, I don't want to go "birther" again. It just isn't fair to all the other deserving idiots.

In the end, I decided to go with someone you probably haven't heard of, U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer. According to Dispatches From the Culture Wars, Judge Shaffer has rejected a request for anonymity filed by the plaintiffs in a claim that the Cherry Creek School District (Denver, CO) was violating the Establishment Clause. The plaintiffs in this case sought to withhold their identities for fear that their children would be harassed at school. The school district did not oppose their motion, and Judge Shaffer noted that federal law does allow for this sort of anonymity. Then he denied the request.

Ed Brayton (Dispatches From the Culture Wars) characterizes the judge's reasoning as "rather weak," and he's absolutely correct to do so. Read what the judge said for yourself:

In this case, the individually named Plaintiffs argue that they should be permitted to proceed anonymously because of the role that religion plays in this case and the public's views toward atheists. Plaintiffs cite a 2006 public opinion poll which found that "atheists are seen by many as a threat to the American way of life and are the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry." Plaintiffs request anonymity out of their concern "about the possibility for intimidation, harassment, and physical harm should their identities become public." As support for their position, Plaintiffs cite three anecdotal accounts of religious discrimination and harassment recounted by Professor Frank S. Ravitch in his book, School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters (Northeastern University Press 1999).

While the court appreciates the highly personal aspects of religious dissent and could not condone any form of harassment that might be prompted by religious or any other considerations, the unsubstantiated potential for an adverse public reaction does not establish a compelling reason to depart from the requirements of Rule 10(a). Notably, Plaintiffs have not presented any evidence that reflects disapproval of the instant lawsuit within the relevant community or suggests they would be the target of actual threats, harassment or retaliation.

Judge Shaffer appears to be saying that since the plaintiffs' children had not yet been harassed, he was not willing to extend any protection to them. Ed Brayton notes that harassment is extremely common in these sorts of cases and provides some sad examples. I can't help wondering whether Judge Shaffer simply managed to convince himself that "real Christians" would never do such a thing.

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Idiot of the Week: Rep. Roy Blunt

2009-08-01T06:50:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

It is time once again to announce this week's idiot. Here at Atheist Revolution, a new "winner" is named each Saturday. Competition was unusually stiff, and it seems to be getting progressively more difficult to select our idiot king.

Despite just having honored the entire birther movement last week, I have to go with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) this week. It isn't just that he's feeding the birthers. It isn't even that he's talking out of both sides of his mouth, suggesting that Obama is an American citizen while continuing to spew birther nonsense. It is this:

What I don't know is why the president can't produce a birth certificate. I don't know anybody else that can't produce one. And I think that that's a legitimate question -- no health records, no birth certificate.

Rep. Blunt is free to despise everything Obama stands for, but by claiming that no birth certificate has been produced when we've all seen it is idiocy of the highest order.

As Fired Up Missouri says,

Either subscribe to the insanity. Or don't. There is no middle ground.

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Idiot of the Week: "Birthers"

2009-07-25T07:07:00.001-05:00

Image by brownpau via Flickr

It is Saturday, so you know it is time to crown a new idiot of the week. The field of idiots has been culled, and a winner identified. Let's get to the award ceremony.

If there is one thing we know about idiocy, it is that it is contagious. This week, I'm going to depart a bit from the usual practice of naming a single idiot and give a shout out to the entire "birther" movement. "Birthers" are a special form of idiots who refuse to believe that President Obama was born in the U.S. no matter what evidence they are shown. They represent a small but quite rabid segment of the far right, but they seem to be finding support from some of the big-name wingnuts (e.g., CNN xenophobe Lou Dobbs).

To appreciate the idiocy of the "birthers," one really has to watch this video from Delaware Republican Mike Castle's recent town hall meeting.

H/T to Dispatches From the Culture Wars

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Idiot of the Week: Pat Buchanan

2009-07-18T06:12:00.002-05:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Here we are with another installment of the Idiot of the Week series. Each Saturday, one shining example of idiocy from the previous week is selected for special recognition.

You know it has been a good week for idiocy when Christian extremist Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) does not win for his Human Physical-Mental Enhancement Prohibition Act! What could possibly trump Brownback's idiocy? It was a tough call, but I've been watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings with fascination and have observed almost too much idiocy to handle. To be clear, I have seen it from both political parties. As much fun as some of the Republican questions have been, the Democrats have absolutely squandered a perfect opportunity to explain many of the problems with the Roberts court. Both sides should be embarrassed.

But even worse than watching the hearings themselves, I saw Pat Buchanan on Maddow. After that, it was clear that he deserved Idiot of the Week even though I had already written (but not published) a post declaring a different winner. If you have not watched the clip of him arguing with Maddow, you really should see it in its entirety. It is a watershed moment in the history of race in America that we will be talking about for years to come (I hope).

I'd like to be clear that I'm not bestowing this honor on Buchanan simply because he opposes affirmative action. Based on my experience with graduate admissions, I have serious questions about the merits of affirmative action. That said, this is pure idiocy:

White men were 100% of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100% of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country built basically by white folks, who were 90% of the nation in 1960 when I was growing up and the other 10% were African-Americans who had been discriminated against. That's why.

If we want to have a real discussion about the pros and cons of affirmative action, we need to start by acknowledging that there are pros and cons. Stating that the purpose of affirmative action is "to increase diversity by discriminating against white males," as Buchanan does contributes nothing.

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Idiot of the Week: Barack Obama

2009-07-11T06:18:00.000-05:00

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Idiocy is a disturbingly common problem, making it quite difficult to select particularly dramatic examples to highlight. And yet, that is exactly what happens right here each Saturday in the Idiot of the Week series.

This week produced the most crowded field of competitors since I started the Idiot of the Week series. Not only was Sarah Palin back in the news following one of the more bizarre resignation speeches I've ever seen, but state senator Sylvia Allen (R-AZ) publicly stated that the earth is 6,000 years old while discussing uranium! Oh, this week was dripping with idiocy!

In the end, I had to go with the more controversial choice. You see, this was the week that President Obama selected Francis S. Collins to head the National Institutes of Health. In announcing his choice of Collins, Obama said,

My administration is committed to promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research.

The President is evidently unaware that Collins is one of the leading advocates of the deeply flawed perspective that science is somehow compatible with god-belief.

After describing Collins as "a competent administrator," PZ Myers (Pharyngula) hit the nail on the head when he said:

We can also trust him to drape Jesus over every major announcement, use the office as a platform for promoting religiosity, and otherwise taint the whole business with embarrassingly inane nonsense…just as he did with the human genome press conference.

Collins is the wrong choice not because he believes in some sort of god, but because he has already demonstrated a propensity to evangelize.

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Idiot of the Week: Mark Sanford

2009-07-04T06:18:00.000-05:00

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr

It is Saturday, and that means another helping of idiocy in the form of the Idiot of the Week series. Idiocy of this magnitude deserves attention, and that is exactly what it gets here each Saturday.

This week's winner is South Carolina's Republican Governor Mark Sanford but not for the reasons you are expecting. Sanford may have been competitive simply because he is a "family values" spouting hypocrite who went after former President Clinton with a vengeance and now refuses to step down himself. And yes, comparing himself to King David was certainly worthy of idiot gold. I will acknowledge that this hypocrisy was what initially brought him to my attention, but it isn't what put him over the edge for Idiot of the Week.

I actually feel somewhat sorry for Sanford. He clearly has not been in love with his wife for some time now, does not appear capable of leaving her to be with his "soul mate," and lacks the judgment to be quiet about it. What an awful predicament! Sanford wins the Idiot of the Week distinction for anchoring himself in a failed marriage when it seems quite obvious that his heart is elsewhere. He is not being fair to himself or his family here. Gov. Sanford, divorce your wife and pursue what makes you happy.

I do have to give Sanford credit for one other thing. The phrase, "hiking the Appalachian Trial" will live in infamy as a synonym for cheating on one's partner.

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Idiot of the Week: Patricia McKinney

2009-06-27T06:50:00.000-05:00

Idiocy may be growing in popularity these days, but that does not mean that particularly dramatic examples should be highlighted. That is exactly what happens right here in the Idiot of the Week series. A new "winner" is named each Saturday.

This week was a hard call that nearly ended in a tie. As soon as I heard about the "gay exorcism" conducted by Manifested Glory Ministries Church, I knew it would be tough to beat. But then I saw the press release issued by Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. Not only did he side with the exorcist, but he tried to turn it into a question of racism:

White homosexual activists who demand tolerance for their sexual sin have no right to defame black Christians for practicing their Constitutional religious liberty.

As tough as it was, I had to go with McKinney in the end. After all, she's the one claiming to to be some sort of prophet:

We are a spiritual church. I am an in-time prophet. I declare the word of the Lord. And all’s I’m doing [sic] is the work of the Lord. We’re not coming up against the gay community, we’re not coming up against homosexuality…

And then, there's the CNN interview.

A Christian pastor in 2009 trying to cast out demons is something that each of us should ponder, Christian and atheist alike. Exorcism was widely used as a "treatment" for mental illness during the Middle Ages. Most of humanity recognized the cruelty and absurdity of the method long ago. Then again, most people recognize that homosexuality is not something that needs "treatment."

H/T to ZackFord Blogs

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Idiot of the Week: Juliana Davis

2009-06-20T05:53:00.001-05:00

Image by smiteme via Flickr

Astounding idiocy deserves attention, and that is what it receives right here in the Idiot of the Week series. Stop by each Saturday to see a new winner.

As fun as it is to showcase the high-profile idiocy from those with a reputation for it, I enjoy highlighting those who would normally slip through the cracks even more. Today's winner, Juliana Davis of The Leaven, is just such a case. You may think I decided to give Davis the prize just for the title of the press release she sent to Christian Newswire, "Sarah Palin is Right: It is Time for Women to Stand Up to Say 'Enough'," but you'd be wrong.

Despite that excellent title for what initially looked like just another anti-Letterman rant, I realized that Davis deserved the prize when I realized that she was blaming all who value reproductive rights for sexism.

Sexual slurs are the result of a contraceptive mentality that in reality has only retarded masculine maturity, ironically emasculating men rather than demanding of them virtues that produce good fathers and husbands. Consider near epidemic addiction to pornography among single and married men as an example.

Huh? A "contraceptive mentality" is to blame for not only for sexism but also for porn addiction? What the hell is she talking about?

Slurs against femininity are part of the much broader assault on women due to widespread rejection of the prophetic wisdom of Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, wherein he predicted the impoverishment of women through contraception and abortion.

Oh, that clears things up considerably. Sexism is really the fault of those of us who reject the Pope's "prophetic wisdom" when it comes to contraception and abortion.

Contraception hurts women, and in so doing it hurts all of society, every man, woman, and child.

It is becoming increasingly apparent to me that some people reconcile any discrepancies they encounter between reality and religious belief by completely disregarding reality. Congratulations, Ms. Davis. I think you've set a new standard here.

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Idiot of the Week: John Boehner

2009-06-13T05:47:00.001-05:00

Idiocy of this magnitude deserves attention, and that is exactly what it gets right here in the ever popular Idiot of the Week series. A new winner is announced each Saturday.

This week's winner is House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). There is plenty to detest about Boehner, from his histrionic sobbing to his orange spray-tan. But Boehner is also a repository of some grade A idiocy. Take, for example, Boehner's recent comments about how his Republican party:

We’re digging ourselves out of a deep hole. We took it in the shorts with Bush-Cheney, the Iraq War, and by sacrificing fiscal responsibility to hold power.

On the surface, this doesn't look like idiocy at all. In fact, it might even be an accurate statement. One little problem though. As Think Progress points out, Boehner should be blaming himself rather than the administration he consistently supported.

He voted to authorize use of military force against Iraq, and voted against a House-approved Iraq withdrawal in 2007. He also voted for the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which were largely responsible for turning our nation’s surplus into a massive deficit. As Boehner himself said in 2006, “I think that Republicans ought to stand up and support George W. Bush for the job that he’s done.”

By blaming the Bush administration, Boehner does not have to acknowledge that much of our current situation is due to his politics, politics he has not exactly disowned.

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Idiot of the Week: Wiley Drake

2009-06-06T06:51:00.000-05:00

Idiocy of this magnitude deserves attention, and that is exactly what it gets right here in the Idiot of the Week series (now with a dedicated topic label for easy access). A new winner is announced each Saturday.

As has been fairly obvious to readers of Atheist Revolution lately, I was and continue to be upset by the murder of Dr. George Tiller. It is not simply that he may have been killed by someone who appears to be a Christian terrorist. Nor is it that the suspect appears to be an avid consumer of Fox "News," that the role of Christian extremism seems quite evident here, or even that the murder is being celebrated by Christian extremists. It is also that he was one of a tiny number of physicians with enough courage to provide a controversial but necessary service to American women and that he will be difficult to replace. Thus, I hold special contempt for this week's honoree, Pastor Wiley Drake, and acknowledge that this goes well beyond mere idiocy.

Here is what Pastor Drake had to say on the murder of Dr. Tiller:

I’ve been a Baptist pastor for a long time, been in the pro-life fight, been face-to-face with Tiller, told him about Jesus, and I’ve seen many, many others tell him about Jesus over and over and over again. And I’ve seen horrific things that go on in those death abortuaries — and that’s what they are — and so my initial response to those people, they said, 'Well what was your response,' and I said, 'Well, in all honesty I have to just respond directly and say I am glad that he’s dead.'

The murder of Dr. Tiller is abhorrent to most people, regardless of their views on the subject of abortion. However, Christian extremists such as Pastor Drake appear to have few moral qualms over this crime.

In the unlikely event that this is not enough for you, Pastor Drake is also the one who has been in the news lately praying for the death of President Obama (i.e., imprecatory prayer).

H/Ts to The Good Atheist and The BEattitude

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Idiot of the Week: Kevin Wirth

2009-05-30T09:15:00.001-05:00

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Idiocy this astounding deserves attention, and that is exactly what it will get here in the weekly Idiot of the Week series. A new winner will be announced each Saturday.

Admittedly, I am cheating a bit with this week's winner because the qualifying statements were made on Friday of last week. Still, I I would be remiss in my responsibilities to simply let it go. Therefore, I am happy to crown Kevin Wirth, Director of Product Development and Media Relations for Access Research Network, as Idiot of the Week.

And what, you ask, did Mr. Wirth say to qualify him for such a high honor?

Well, there currently exists under Obama's watch perhaps one of the most onerous abuses of our freedoms and Civil Rights that one could imagine. I'm speaking about Americans, not Islamic terrorists. Many of the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans are currently and have been under attack, but these actions are usually referred to as discrimination. I'm beginning to wonder if these actions shouldn't be classified as a form of terrorism. Who is under attack? The dissidents in our culture.

Wow! So American dissidents are currently under attack by a new form of domestic terrorism. That doesn't sound good at all. Dissidents are often a strength. We couldn't have had any social change movements (e.g., suffrage, civil rights, etc.) without them. Just who are these dissidents now under attack?

These are the folks who challenge the conventional views held within our scientific, philosophical, and academic communities. But they are often made to pay a huge price for speaking their mind. Many freedoms have been stripped from dissident educators, students, and scientists who disagree with conventional wisdom on issues considered settled by many experts. They are often dismissed as kooks, pseudoscientists, and charlatans who we should either ignore or consider as serious threats to the survival of our society -- depending on who you talk to.

Dissidents who are routinely dismissed as pseudoscientists? Hmmm...that's odd. Now you see where Wirth is heading, don't you?

The history of abuse by intellectual terrorists and Darwin fascists has just begun to be documented and is irrefutable. And, it presents Obama and Co. with a clear example of violations he says he will not tolerate. Terrorism of any kind that threatens the freedoms of any Americans should neither be excused or ignored.

And there you have it! Wirth is actually claiming that those who accept the foundation of modern biology and prefer to teach actual science as opposed to superstitious nonsense are...terrorists.

H/T to Bay of Fundie

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Idiot of the Week: Bill Donahue

2009-05-23T08:06:00.001-05:00

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Idiocy this astounding deserves attention, and attention it shall receive! Right here in the weekly Idiot of the Week series. A new winner will be announced right here each Saturday.

I must admit that this is the first time since I started the Idiot of the Week series that there really hasn't been much competition. Well, that didn't come out exactly right. Of course there's competition - there's always way too much competition. What I mean is that this is the first time that I had such an obvious winner in mind before Saturday rolled around.

Following the release of a damning report by Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse in which pervasive child abuse by Irish Catholics and a conspiracy by the Catholic Church going back to the 1930s to conceal the pedophiles among them were revealed, Bill Donahue had the following to say:

Reuters is reporting that “Irish Priests Beat, Raped Children,” yet the report does not justify this wild and irresponsible claim. . . . The Irish report suffers from conflating minor instances of abuse with serious ones, thus demeaning the latter. When most people hear of the term abuse, they do not think about being slapped, being chilly, being ignored or, for that matter, having someone stare at you in the shower. They think about rape.

By cheapening rape, the report demeans the big victims. But, of course, there is a huge market for such distortions, especially when the accused is the Catholic Church.

For more, see this post by outraged Catholic, Bitch Ph.D. And to give credit where credit is due, I'd like to point out that Bitch Ph.D. is precisely what many of us have been waiting for - a Catholic loudly and forcefully saying that Donahue in no way represents her:

Let's sum up.

Bill Donohue is defending a powerful institution, the Catholic Church, by minimizing and excusing the abuse and neglect of children, including deliberately overlooking oral rape, digital rape, rape with objects, or forced masturbation.

For some of our winner's "greatest hits," check out Media Matters' research on Bill Donahue.

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Idiot of the Week: James Dobson

2009-05-16T06:08:00.000-05:00

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Idiocy this astounding deserves attention, and attention it shall receive! Right here in the weekly Idiot of the Week series. Look for a new winner to be announced right here each Saturday.

Like most weeks, there was ample idiocy to be found this week. In the end, I just had to go with James Dobson. Why? He sums up the Christian extremist position on hate crimes law so perfectly that he deserves credit. Speaking on the subject of the recent Matthew Shepard Act, Dobson attempted to strike fear into his flock with outright lies:

Those who speak out against homosexuality, including pastors, could face prosecution for "inciting" violence against gay individuals.

First, that is not what hate crimes laws do. Pastors who commit felonies while spewing bigotry might have a problem, but nobody is going to arrest them for doing it in church. Second, and I know this will sound crazy, maybe bigoted pastors should not be pastors. Remember the shit storm over Obama's Rev. Wright? If Obama demonstrated poor judgment by attending that church (and he did), surely the same can be said of those who attend the churches of these bigoted pastors.

Still not convinced that Dobson is worthy? Don't worry, it gets better

Even more concerning, the legislation could create special protection for pedophiles. Democrats voted down an amendment to the bill that would have excluded pedophilia from the definition of "sexual orientation."

There is nothing whatsoever in the Matthew Shepard Act that gives pedophiles special protection. Why did Democrats vote down the amendment mentioned? Just maybe it was because pedophilia is a mental disorder that is not part of the definition of sexual orientation.

Evidently, Dobson is upset because he is actually a fan of hate crimes.

Things are being done that will undermine the rule of law and seriously damage morality and decency in the culture.

H/T to Pam's House Blend

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