Strelnieks

Here are sections of recent Ashcroft speech. This guy makes me vomit.

(I have cut out about 1/4 of the speech. The whole text can be found at the attourney general's webpage.)

>---------------------------
>Prepared Remarks of Attorney General John >Ashcroft
>National Religious Broadcasters Convention
>Nashville, Tennessee
>February 19, 2002
>
> Thank you. And congratulations on this, your >59th annual convention. I want to thank and >acknowledge each of you here today for informing >and enlightening a grateful nation. We are >grateful for the indispensable role religious >broadcasters play in connecting communities of >faith to each other and to the issues of the day.

So they are enlightening us! What a joke.

> But the call to defend civilization from >terrorism resonates from a deeper source than >our legal or political institutions. Civilized >people --
>Muslims, Christians and Jews -- all understand >that the source of freedom and human dignity is >the Creator. Civilized people of all religious >faiths are called to the defense of His creation.

So your only source of dignity is an invisible spook. BOO!

> We are a nation called to defend freedom -- >a freedom that is not the grant of any >government or document but is our endowment from >God.

You as such do not have freedom. You are just there, a potential slave, until God decides to grant you freedom.

>-- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, >that all men are created equal, that they are >endowed by their Creator with certain >unalienable rights, that among these are life, >liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And what about the legally relevant founding document, the Constitution? And what about the Federalist papers? Where's the clerical claptrap in those?

As God's gift, our freedom is not license to behave in anyway we choose. It is the ability to make choices with the understanding that what we choose has real consequences. We may be free to choose to act for good or for evil, but our's is not a freedom from consequence. Our choices will have consequences for good or evil.

> For those who embrace a biblical >understanding of creation,

In the rest of the speech, he procedes to assume that we all have a biblical understanding of creation...

>the difference
>between freedom and license echoes down the >corridors of time in
>two voices, first heard in the Garden of Eden.

> The first voice -- the voice of evil >disguised as freedom -- whispers: just do it, it >won't make a difference. The second voice, the >voice of God, states plainly: make your choices >but make them carefully because you make all the >difference.

What the voice of God really says in Genesis is this: "You have not eaten of the fruit which will give you the ability to know the difference between good and evil. Nonetheless, as uninformed as you are, you are free to choose..."

>-- [Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth >to record this day against you, that I have set >before you life and death, blessing and cursing: >therefore choose life, that both thou and they >seed may live."]

Huh?

> The voice of evil, posing as freedom, tells >us that we are free to ignore the difference >between life and death,

But belief in an afterlife does just that, Mr. Ashcroft.

>and between blessing and cursing. But when you >are told that your choices are without >consequences you are not told that you are free, >you are told that you are meaningless.

When there is an all-powerful God, I am meaningless. When I find myself espousing all manner of ethical jibberish (calling Auschwitz a "lesson" or a "mystery"), that is when I find myself unable to distinguish between blessing and cursing.

> It is this freedom that is at the basis of >the rule of law in America.

In case you didn't hear him the first two times: American freedom is based on divine blessing.

> Our fight against terrorism, then, is a >defense of our freedom in the most profound >sense: It is the defense of our right to make >moral choices --
>to seek fellowship with God that is chosen, not >commanded.

So we are fighting a war so that I am free to seek fellowship with an invisible spook. This is so grotesque.

>This freedom is respected and
>nurtured in our society of laws. It is respected >in our right
>to choose how or if we worship God.

Did he really say IF?! Yaay! He has some brains after all!

> This is not a conflict based in religion. It >is a conflict between those who believe that God >grants us choice and those who seek to impose >their choices on us.

So I guess I am not involved.

>It is a conflict between
>inspiration and imposition; the way of peace and >the way of destruction and chaos. It is a >conflict between good and evil. And as President >Bush has reminded us, we know that God is not >neutral between the two.

I'm glad to know that the invisible spook is on our side. He sure did help the Germans win the last two wars, in which every soldier wore "God with Us" on his belt buckle.

> Nor is our system of government neutral >between good and evil. We are blessed to live in >a nation that respects our freedom to live in a >context of choice. The founders of our nation >understood religion's role in promoting the >virtues necessary for self government.

That is why they mandated worship in the Constitution.

> George Washington warned in his Farewell >Address that our young republic would not >survive if Americans indulged in >the "supposition that morality can be maintained >without religion. "

Let's have another "founding-fathers-quote-slinging" match!

> "Of all the dispositions and habits which >lead to political prosperity,"said >Washington, "religion and morality are >indispensable supports."

Okay, you win.

> Our Constitution does not call for the >establishment of religion in the public square.

Good. Then shut up.

>Just as important, it does not call for the >abolition of religion in the public square. It >calls for the respect of religion in its >indispensable role in forming a just and moral >citizenry.

The public square is not government.

> Today our freedom and this heritage is under >assault from those who fear its capacity to >unleash the potential that God has placed in >each and every one of us.

Notice again: Without God, you don't amount to much. The potential in you is from a spook.

>Our enemies hope that
>by portraying this as a religious conflict, they >can disguise their own betrayal of religion.

If it isn't a religious conflict, what have you been gabbing about the whole time?

> We must call these things what they are: >lies -- lies designed to exploit differences >among us. Lies designed to inspire hatred and to >deny choice. Lies meant to extinguish freedom.

Is he referring to the first part of his own speech or to something Mr. Laden said?

> True faith is not built on a foundation of >lies, nor is it supported by a framework of >hatred.

Rather, it forges on, without any support whatsoever.

>True faith unites us against evil. It calls on >us to put aside small differences to pursue >great virtues.

Unless you happen to have true faith in something else, in which case our unity dissolves.

>--[Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason >together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are >like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; >though they are red like crimson, they shall be >as wool."]

Huh?

> Today Americans are coming together, united >against a common enemy. For people of all >faiths -- be they Christians, Jews or Muslims -- >it is impossible not to see the stark difference >between the way of God and the way of the >terrorists.

Again, the non-believers are left out of the conflict. I'll be happy to sit out this war.

>It is the difference between a hero and a >murderer, a fireman and a suicide bomber, a >culture of life and a culture of death. It is >the difference between those who would die to >save the innocent and those who would die to >destroy the innocent.

"Culture of death" is a buzz-word for abortion and euthanasia. So you docs out there doing these nasty things: You are terrorists. Mr. Ashcroft says so.

> Thank you very much. God bless you and God >bless America.

God was certainly happy to be reminded/cajoled/ordered to bless our countrly again.

Strel

Toto

<a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2002/021902religiousbroadcasters.htm" target="_blank">Prepared Remarks of Attorney General John Ashcroft </a>

(NOTE: The Attorney General Often Deviates from Prepared Remarks)
National Religious Broadcasters Convention
Nashville, Tennessee
February 19, 2002

Good news (to give credit where it is due): he recognizes we have a right not to worship his God.

hezekiah jones

Haha. I must say, that's mighty white of John.