Tea Party Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution and Big Bang Are “Lies Straight From the Pit Of Hell.

[Drewbie]

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/10/05/tea-party-rep-paul-broun-evolution-and-big-bang-are-lies-straight-from-the-pit-of-hell-why-yes-he-serves-on-the-house-science-committee-with-todd-akin/

How are these guys even elected....

[The Pecman]

What I wouldn't give for a large sock, filled with manure...

I hate people like this who complete dismiss science out of hand.

[DesDownunder]

The terrible psychological torture that is part of relinquishing responsibility for their personal existence, manifests itself in the subjugation of reality, which they then seek to impose on others without any respect for human rights.

Or, to put it bluntly, those people are #@*%ing insane.

In my opinion, of course.

[Nick Deverill]

Presumably they are members of this lot:

http://theflatearthsociety.org

[Chris James]

And we know birds of a feather flock together...(no offense Camy)

http://now.msn.com/jon-hubbard-calls-slavery-a-blessing-in-disguise-for-blacks/

[colinian]

Here's my favorite quote from Representative Paul Broun (R, GA):

You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.

The part highlighted in red is my absolute favorite. I mean, he's a scientist so he's gotta be right, don'cha think, Bubba?

Colin

[vwl]

The topic title is misleading. The Tea Party philosphy is significantly different from social conservatism. While some social conservatives are members of the Tea Party, the Tea Party's origins and intent was financial -- the deficit, government spending, smaller government -- as Santelli's rant that started it all attests.

To me, the Tea Party roots are largely libertarian, and libertarians generally want the government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible, including our bedrooms, legalization of marijuana, not being against gay relationships.

In fact, I think there is a stronger kinship between the nanny-stater left and the social-conservative nanny-stater right than there is between the libertarians and the social conservatives.

Paul Broun is clearly of the social-conservative persuasion in his idiotic statements, not a representative of Tea Party positions.

[JamesSavik]

This is why people laugh in your face when you say that you are a Christian.

Many people think that all Christians are small minded idiots who think that the earth is 6-9000 years old and the devil himself put fossils all over the earth to deceive the faithful.

That anyone like this is on the House Science Committee is a sham and a sign that United States really is too stupid to survive in its present form.

I eagerly await the zombie apocalypse so I can hit assholes like this in the head with a shovel.

[JamesSavik]

The topic title is misleading. The Tea Party philosphy is significantly different from social conservatism. While some social conservatives are members of the Tea Party, the Tea Party's origins and intent was financial -- the deficit, government spending, smaller government -- as Santelli's rant that started it all attests.

To me, the Tea Party roots are largely libertarian, and libertarians generally want the government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible, including our bedrooms, legalization of marijuana, not being against gay relationships.

...

Paul Broun is clearly of the social-conservative persuasion in his idiotic statements, not a representative of Tea Party positions.

This is true. The media has completely and intentionally mis-characterized the Tea Party and what they are about. They are much more about bottom lines than Jesus freakiness.

[DesDownunder]

This is why people laugh in your face when you say that you are a Christian.

Many people think that all Christians are small minded idiots who think that the earth is 6-9000 years old and the devil himself put fossils all over the earth to deceive the faithful.

That anyone like this is on the House Science Committee is a sham and a sign that United States really is too stupid to survive in its present form.

I eagerly await the zombie apocalypse so I can hit assholes like this in the head with a shovel.

Go James. What a great idea for a movie, Apocalypse...Pow!

[FreeThinker]

There is actually a great deal of overlap among the Tea Party and social and religious conservatives. The various Tea Party organizations were indeed created for economic policy, but many social and religious conservatives ascribe to most Tea Party principles. A Venn Diagram of those who ascribe to principles of both followings would show a great deal of overlap, which explains why moderates and liberals often use the term, albeit inaccurately, interchangeably.

I have enjoyed the pseudo-intellectual gymnastics Paul Ryan engages in when he tries to distance himself from Ayn Rand, now that he's running for Number Two in a party that is all but officially the Evangelical Party. He spoke to the Atlas Society in 2006 declaring himself a Randian. Before 2012, he credited Ayn Rand with opening his eyes about liberty. He has for years declared himself a follower of Ayn Rand. But, now, he says he had no idea, gasp- no idea she was an atheist and, besides, he was never really that much of a fan. No one can read Ayn Rand, as I did when I was young, and not know she was an atheist. It just isn't possible. The Virtue of Selfishness, For the New Intellectual, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged-- what could he possibly have read of hers that didn't reveal her to be an atheist? It's the logical basis of her entire philosophy. To watch how the libertarian Republicans and the Evangelical Republicans try to rationalize their associations with each other- "Yes, I'm just like them"- "No, What are you talking about? I've never been one of them"-- is quite entertaining. Like watching them nominate the father of "Obamacare" to be the President to repeal Obamacare.

Ah, America. I would be laughing if I didn't fear arrest sometime in the next decade for not adhering to the coming orthodoxy.

Let me state though, I am not hostile to all Tea Party principles. I do believe in personal responsibility and I believe there is an almost criminal amount of wasted spending in government. And, even though I am a freethinker, I am not hostile to Christianity. I respect true Christians who live by Christian principles and I am sensitive to the fact there are good, decent Christians who are members of Awesome Dude. But, I also know there are Christians who believe that science and religion are not incompatible. I don't condemn all Christians, just the Paul Brouns, the Todd Akins, the Michelle Bachmans, the Mike Huckabees, the...

[The Pecman]

This is why people laugh in your face when you say that you are a Christian. Many people think that all Christians are small minded idiots who think that the earth is 6-9000 years old and the devil himself put fossils all over the earth to deceive the faithful.

I agree with what you say, James. I'm kind of a quasi-Christian myself, and I'm flabbergasted that anybody could take the Bible literally. To me, it's a collection of legends and allegories taken over time, meant to teach lessons and morality. Anybody who believes it literally has no concept how many centuries it took to write the Bible, how many languages it was translated to before winding up in English, and how much it's been changed, rewritten, and censored over the years.

Some of the core elements of Christianity, Buddhism, even Hinduism, Shinto, and the Muslim faiths, have elements that make sense or are at least grounded in reality. What's troubling is the ultra-conservatives and fundamentalists who rigidly interpret things as only having one meaning -- or that all other faiths are wrong.

I don't think that just because you believe in God means you're an asshole, or that you can't also believe in science. And, last I checked, I think the Earth is about 4.5 billion years, give or take. Anybody who feels differently has no clue when it comes to carbon dating:

http://en.wikipedia....ge_of_the_earth

You wanna read some weird, wild, and wacky version of Christianity, check out the Mormons sometime:

http://en.wikipedia..../Book_of_mormon

[DesDownunder]

Some people have come to atheism via Ayn Rand's writings. This can give the false impression that all atheists are Rand followers. I can assure you that is not the case.

No humanist worth their humanitarian outlook would want anything to do with, what I regard as, her manipulative philosophy.

[FreeThinker]

Oh, I agree completely with you, Des. I am an atheist now, but I am also a humanist. It is compassion for the poor and the unfortunate, respect for truth and not hypocrisy, respect for actual freedom for everyone and not just for the select few that drove me away from both Ayn Rand and the Republicans. I came to atheism through Rand, but I became a humanist through being gay and seeing not just how I and my fellow gays were oppressed, but how others experienced that, as well. Being gay gave me an empathy with others who had also experienced what I had.'

I was using Ryan and Rand as an example of the strange bedfellows in the modern Republican Party.

[E.J.]

Another Arkansas Republican, Charlie Fuqua is running for state office. He wrote a book that is quite interesting (a small sample):

The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21: ......

...This passage does not give parents blanket authority to kill their children. They must follow the proper procedure in order to have the death penalty executed against their children....

http://www.arktimes....llious-children

the book

http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B007X0FWOO

[colinian]

The Tea Party might have some Libertarian roots, but it also has some roots not unlike the Occupy Movement in that it's basically leaderless. What leadership there is appears to be strictly local. I went to two Tea Party meetings in my home town. There was a call for limited government and elimination of the IRS and eliminating sales taxes and increasing private sector jobs and eliminating government jobs. But the vast majority of speakers railed about social issues like abortion and gay marriage and civil unions and anti-gay bullying laws and Obamacare and Medicare and Social Security and limitations on Christian churches. I came away convinced that, at least at the local level, those who claimed to be members of the Tea Party were mostly Evangelicals and were focused on these social issues.

Colin

[FreeThinker]

The conservative humorist P. J. O'Rourke once said that libertarians make interesting points until they start talking about privatizing sewers.

[DesDownunder]

Rather than initiate an in-depth discussion, I refer you to the Wiki article on Libertarianism. As you will see, the term has been corrupted from its origins.

Whilst it is possible to refer to one's self as a libertarian, it is not necessarily related to freedom from authority in the societal sense once the term becomes politicised.

And it has been very much politicised in the U.S., in my opinion.