Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Bonus Rant! READY. GO!!

I don't think I'll be voting for Kinky Friedman.

I also suspect he's a fake atheist.
"The Ten Commandments being taken out of the public schools... I want them back, they belong there. Maybe I'll have to change their name to the Ten Suggestions, you know. But they were taken out, not by separation of church and state, but by political correctness gone awry. One atheist stands up and says, 'I don't like the Ten Commandments,' and suddenly out they go.
I fail to see how "political correctness" comes into the issue. It is immoral for an inherently compulsory institution like a government to endorse religion. Period. Especially in front of kids. Such profound ignorance about a fundamental aspect of our government should disqualify someone from office.
An, of course, we all know what happens to an atheist when he dies. His tombstone usually reads, 'All dressed up and no place to go.' ... Now, if that's comparing my self to Jesus, I don't really think it is. But, the Jesus in my heart is a Jesus with a sense of humor. And, personally, I think he's enjoyin' my campaign as much as anybody right now. I think he is. ... I'll tell you right now. I'm for prayer in school. I say what's wrong with a kid believing in something? I don't care if it's a tree or a rock or something, he should believe in something."
Like, maybe freedom of religion? Or truth? Logic, maybe? Maybe just good ol' fashion compassion, a value that necessitates a drive for all the previous suggestions.

There's also equivocation involved. Believing in something that you have good evidence for: Good. Believing in something without evidence: Bad. They're two different things.
Friedman foresees Texas schools having revolving prayer along the lines of "may the God of your choice bless you."

"But what if there is no God of your choice?" Ventura asked Monday.

"If there is no God," Friedman said, "the kids will find out sooner or later. But (for) the time being, let's let them believe in something."
That last sentence, in addition to continuing the equivocation mentioned earlier, dodges the issue: He's in favor of making kids perform a prayer in public schools. Also, though the actions he's proposing, he's not letting them believe in "something": He's going to be forcing kids to go through the motions of believing in "something."

I suspect he'd take offense to the idea of changing that prayer to something along the lines of "May the tree of your choice bless you." I'm not sure if there are any atreeists to be "offended" (as if offense was the issue).

7 comments:

Bob said...

Well that didn't take you long. Bravo!

Rev. BigDumbChimp said...

Ugh. He's an interesting character similar to a street actor. I never believed alot of what he was saying. It always seems like to me he was just saying shit to rile up a group of people or to get more publicity.

Ranson said...

I liked Kinky, but I heard those same comments last year and knew he'd be alienating his rational followers. I like it when grade-A publicity hounds run for office, especially when they're also speak-their-mind, grade-A bastards like Ventura was. You don't have to agree with them all the time, but they usually won't lie to you as much. I guess Kinky is just a grade-C weasel, in the end.

I live in NC, though, so it's all sort of moot.

Clint Bourgeois said...

Vote for Kinky if only because the other dolts are probably no better if not worse.

Please don't listen to me. I really don't know, and I live in Ohio.

Michael Bains said...

"the kids will find out sooner or later. But (for) the time being, let's let them believe in something."

Gee... Is he saying they'll know when they're dead? Besides being rediculous, that doesn't sound like it's gonna help 'em all that much.

More importantly, I've always considered it the Schools' job to help the kids learn how to believe in Themselves. It's pretty much the only thing every one of us actually has to believe in, donthchyaknow...

Like some of the other folks I've read recently ('cluding above,) I kinda dig the Kinkster, but really couldn't see m'self voting for him, even were I a Texan.

Good Luck, Dog.

Bob said...

bigdumbchimp...

"It always seems like to me he was just saying shit to rile up a group of people or to get more publicity."

Click here, and scoll all the way down to take an opinion poll conerning Kinky's hostory of employing racial slurs in his comedy routines.

So far it's a dead heat between "Yes! It's unseemly for a leader of Texas," and "No! C'mon, he poked fun at everybody! Lighten up!" I voted for the former. How will you vote?

TAKE A POLL
Is Kinky Friedman's use of racial epithets as a comedy music performer a legitimate issue in the gubernatorial race?

Yes! It's unseemly for a leader of Texas.:
45%
Yes. Even if it was funny, who's laughing now?:
3%
Not sure. Is what he did as a performer relevant?:
2%
No. I don't approve, but it's irrelevant.:
6%
No! C'mon, he poked fun at everybody! Lighten up!:
45%

Total Votes: 562

Anonymous said...

Being a fellow Texan (though a Houstonite), I was quite ready to vote for Kinky until I heard this sort of thing come out of his mouth several weeks ago.

I still like the guy, and if it wasn't for this, I'd vote for him. But now my vote's going to Bell. I have next to no idea what his policies are, but hey, he's a Dem. Can't be worse than the Rep and Red/Ind that we've also got running.