Deadset Legend of the week: Matthew LaClair

Here in Australia we regularly endure Rightwing culture warriors screaming at the top of their lungs about the Left's "long march" through educational institutions, bedazzling us with tales of how our children are strapped into their chairs Clockwork Orange-style and force-fed ideas that come "straight from Chairman Mao."

Well, Jim Lippard's blog (Via Pharyngula) really gives them something to whinge about:

A history teacher at the local public high school here may have bitten off more than he cares to chew this fall. Self-described conservative Baptist David Paszkiewicz used his history class to proselytize biblical fundamentalism over the course of several days at the beginning of this school year.

Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, "you belong in hell." Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.

One of his hell-bound students, Matthew LaClair, took issue with Paszkiewicz's ramblings and requested a meeting with the teacher and the principal. The teacher lied (for Jesus) through his teeth, denying he had uttered the offending statements; upon which instance LaClair revealed that he had recorded the remarks, presenting two CDs to the principal.

The teacher then declined to comment further without his union representative. However, he fired one last shot at the student, saying, "You got the big fish … you got the big Christian guy who is a teacher…!"

Matthew LaClair, you are a Deadset Legend, and an inspiration to us all.

UPDATE: At Dispatches from the Culture Wars, a Deadset Legend from the past.

UPDATE II: Audio and a transcript of part of the recordings, via Jim Lippard.

UPDATE III: I respond to Kearney students here.

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Today's Text

Isn't it interesting how, "I think, therefore I am," has today become, "I emote, therefore I think"?

--Jennifer Cascadia

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The Lazy Blogger

I can't be bothered with a proper post this weekend, so allow me to point you in the direction of some worthwhile discussions and posts on other blogs:

New Lines from a Floating Life
Religion and politics in the USA: nonstereotypical view
A particularly Australian decency

Bruce's Rave and Rant
My farewell post to "Seeking Utopia" (a.k.a "Secretly Seeking Kool-Aid")
Metablogging Blog Implosions: Timorous and Callow

Also noteworthy:
Slacktivist's rejoinder to Jim Wallis' strawman attack on the "Secular Left."
Another strawman attack on the "Secular Left" that desperately deserves fisking (Radio National: "Ockham's Razor")

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This is your brain on dispensationalism #6

The week in fundie . . .

*Purity Balls: Proof that the Christian Right hates women's sexuality as much as Sheik Hilaly does. (Via Pharyngula--and check out this fantastic post on the same topic at SFGate.com)

*From the same Pharyngula post--news that the "Kids on Fire" summer camp, featured in the documentary Jesus Camp, has been closed down.

*Oddly enough, it appears that "abstinence education" has not lowered the incidence of sexually-transmitted disease in the US. (No!) (Via Morons.org)

*A Texas landscaping firm, Garden Guy, sent the following email to a prospective client:

"I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work for homosexuals."

Said prospective client promptly forwarded the email to all his friends, who forwarded it onto theirs, and the rest is history.

*Bill Muehlenberg dons the tinfoil hat in a letter to the evangelical newsletter New Life:

I have long been aware of the number of people and organisations that really do not like me and what I am doing. But lately I have learned of even more hatred and animosity being directed at me, and all this makes me realise how much more I need your prayer covering. The hatred and vitriol is of course symptomatic of a deeper spiritual war, as Scripture tells us ...

I continue to be amazed and grateful that neither I nor my family members have been physically attacked as yet, and our home still stands. Undoubtedly there are angels surrounding our home, and all the hatred has thus far been limited to mail, email, phone calls etc.

Even yours truly gets a mention, courtesy of the Trophy cast in Bill's name and awarded periodically on this blog. More at Unbelief.org (5/11/06 entry).

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The US midterms: Fundie is so last week . . .

The latest Religion Report looks at the failing marriage between libertarians and fundies in the Republican Party, also making the point that both groups are becoming disillusioned with the Bush administration, albeit for different reasons. Libertarians are unhappy with the increasing size and power of government under Bush; while the fundies are pissed off that the administration hasn't used its power--including its domination of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government--to punish sodomites, further curtail the reproductive rights of women, and force prayer and pseudoscience upon students in public schools.

This all bodes very interesting for Australian politics. The Religious Right does not have the power and influence here that it enjoys in the US; nevertheless, the Coalition, in imitating what it believes has been a very successful Republican Party formula*, has focused a lot of energy into cultivating an evangelical Christian base of its own (the Hillsong vote). Now that the Republican formula has demonstrably failed, and with increasing numbers of "Howard's Battlers" struggling to service credit card debts or even losing their homes, it remains to be seen whether there will be a shift in direction on the part of the Howard Government (or whether it will keep on digging).

*OK, OK, I'm not being fair. In some areas--such as its cruelty towards asylum seekers--the Howard Government has been a global trendsetter.

UPDATE: Looks like the Dems have the Senate in the bag as well.

UPDATE II: Concerning reaction to the Dem's win, all's quiet on the RWDB front (so far). For sheer entertainment, have a look at the Little Green Footballs response (Jesus General). The RaptureReady crowd, meanwhile, are not happy with the fact that a Muslim has been elected to the House of Reps (Pharyngula).

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The Cream of the Republican Party

Some interesting information regarding Republicans running for Congress:

–AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
–AZ-01: Rick Renzi
–AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
–CA-04: John Doolittle
–CA-11: Richard Pombo
–CA-50: Brian Bilbray
–CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
–CO-05: Doug Lamborn
–CO-07: Rick O’Donnell
–CT-04: Christopher Shays
–FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
–FL-16: Joe Negron
–FL-22: Clay Shaw
–ID-01: Bill Sali
–IL-06: Peter Roskam
–IL-10: Mark Kirk
–IL-14: Dennis Hastert
–IN-02: Chris Chocola
–IN-08: John Hostettler
–IA-01: Mike Whalen
–KS-02: Jim Ryun
–KY-03: Anne Northup
–KY-04: Geoff Davis
–MD-Sen: Michael Steele
–MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
–MN-06: Michele Bachmann
–MO-Sen: Jim Talent
–MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
–NV-03: Jon Porter
–NH-02: Charlie Bass
–NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
–NM-01: Heather Wilson
–NY-03: Peter King
–NY-20: John Sweeney
–NY-26: Tom Reynolds
–NY-29: Randy Kuhl
–NC-08: Robin Hayes
–NC-11: Charles Taylor
–OH-01: Steve Chabot
–OH-02: Jean Schmidt
–OH-15: Deborah Pryce
–OH-18: Joy Padgett
–PA-04: Melissa Hart
–PA-07: Curt Weldon
–PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
–PA-10: Don Sherwood
–RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
–TN-Sen: Bob Corker
–VA-Sen: George Allen
–VA-10: Frank Wolf
–WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
–WA-08: Dave Reichert

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This is your brain on dispensationalism #5

The week in fundie:

*Irony can be a bitch: having, along with many other evangelical leaders, prostituted himself to the Republican Party for years, National Association of Evangelicals president (and rampant homophobe) Ted Haggard finds himself at the centre of a gay sex and meth scandal involving a male prostitute in Denver. (TIME)

*Homophobia: bringing Jews, Muslims and Christians together for two millenia. (TIME)

*Hilaly is the theory and Saudi Arabia is the practice. (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

UPDATE: Bugger the closet-homosexuality allegations--the real question is: does Ted Haggard eat figs?

UPDATE II: President Bush claims only to have spoken with Haggard a couple of times, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell play down his influence among evangelicals, and now his own church has sacked him. That's thrice he's been disowned!

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