8 Most Homophobic Religious Protest Signs

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These abhorrent messages are courtesy of Christians, Jews and Muslims.

These hateful homophobic church signs are made not by clergy, but rather the flocks they shepherd: Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. Enjoy!

1. Loophole for lesbians? This sign focuses on the solution to the “problem” of gay marriage. And that solution is hanging. The sign, on display at an Indianapolis rally during the National Organization for Marriage’s Summer for Marriage tour, is based on the book of Leviticus: “If a man also lie with mankind the way he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.” Sure, this open call for executing gay men is way harsh. But it is surprisingly promising for lesbian women. Guess they can lie with women however they want. Also, where are the signs for enforcing the other punishments laid out in Leviticus, like killing people who curse their parents; shunning people who shave or cut their hair; wearing clothes made of mixed fabrics; having sex with menstruating women; and banning flat-nosed, “lame” or “blind” people from entering the altar of god.

2. GAY: Gay-related acronyms for Yahweh. If you’ve ever wished you had a mnemonic device for bigotry, you’re in luck! You’ll never forget why you hate the homos, thanks to this helpful and clever sign, which was held at a rally attended by 2,000 people in support of a North Carolina pastor who was under attack. What was his crime? He offended people during a Mother’s Day sermon when he quoted the Bible verbatim and said, “I figured a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers….Build a great big large fence—50 or 100 miles long—put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out. And you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. Do you know why? They can’t reproduce!”

3. If these anuses could talk. This sign is from an anti-gay protest organized by religious groups in Kampala, Uganda in 2007. It gets right to the orifice of the matter: “Anus 4 defication.” The tagline, “A spoon is a spoon & a spade is a spade,” reminds us that an anus is an anus. And it’s for defecation. Nothing more. Nothing less.

4. God loves “God Hates Fags” apparel for kids! This isn’t a sign, per se, but it is an effective and kid-friendly way to spread the homophobic and hateful word of god. Kids love shirts that say God Hates Fags (I mean, just look at how happy the little girl is)! And God Loves Parents who use their children as ideological props and dress them in propaganda expressing something kids definitely don’t understand! With these Westboro Baptist Church motto shirts, you can really wear your lack of heart on your children’s sleeve.

5. Men at devious work.Sometimes, a picture speaks 1,000 words. And when the words are in Serbian, it’s especially helpful. This is another kid-friendly and accessible way to say, “I’m really insecure.” Continue reading “8 Most Homophobic Religious Protest Signs” →

St. Louis cops release incriminating video of fatal police shooting, think they look good

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Man with knife in Video re-creation

I have to applaud the police of St Louis. They are pretty powerful. Somehow, they managed to take  a video which captures a fatal, unjustified and unnecessary police shooting, and turn it into a video which, they claim, is “exculpatory” and proves that they were in the right.

In order to understand how they were able to transform the footage to suit their needs, let’s review what everyone agrees happened.

On Tuesday, in St Louis, fewer than four miles away from where the unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by police, a convenience store owner called 911 to report that a man, later identified as Kajieme Powell, had stolen pastries and energy drinks. Another woman called the police and said that Powell had a knife in his pocket and was behaving erratically. Two white officers arrived in an SUV. 23 seconds later, Powell, who was black, was dead on the ground, having been shot by the two officers.

On Wednesday, The St. Louis Police Department released footage recorded on a cell phone by a bystander. According to a police union representative, the footage released was “exculpatory.” In other words, the police decided to release the footage, along with the 911 calls, to show they had nothing to hide.

But let’s compare the footage of what happened and what the police claimed happened.

Police Claim: the police officers started shooting when Powell was within three or four feet of them.

Footage shows: Police started shooting before Powell was that close.

Via youtube. This is how far away from the cops Powell was when the cops shot him.
Via youtube. This is how far away from the cops Powell was when the cops shot him.

Police Claim: Powell was holding the knife ”in an overhand grip.”

Footage shows: Powell’s hands were by his sides. Continue reading “St. Louis cops release incriminating video of fatal police shooting, think they look good” →

90-year-old Holocaust survivor arrested at Ferguson protest

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Image by Steven Hsieh via The Nation
Image by Steven Hsieh via The Nation

Ninety-year-old Hedy Epstein, who was one of several protestors arrested outside Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s office, is no stranger to state-sanction discrimination and violence. Epstein fled the Holocaust as a child. A true intersectionalist, she insists on applying the lessons of the past to the present, refusing to remain idle in the face of persecution, whether she’s protesting the demolition of Palestinians’ homes or police brutality and racism in Ferguson.

Epstein was born in 1924 in Freiburg, Germany, but was sent to England at 14 via the Kindertransport, which brought nearly 10,000 children from countries invaded by Nazis right before the start of World War II. Epstein’s parents died during the Holocaust in Auschwitz. Following the war, Hedy returned to Germany, where she worked on the Nuremberg medical trial, against doctors accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp inmates. In 1948, she joined her only living relatives, an aunt and uncle, in the United States.

While the Holocaust is often invoked to justify Israeli policies, Epstein’s experience as a survivor makes her speak out against the government of Israel: “In 1982, I heard about the massacres in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon — I wanted to know who was responsible for this, what had happened between 1948 and 1982. As I learned more, I became increasingly disturbed by the policies of Israel and its military.”

As she explains, “The Israeli government’s actions happen far too often in the name of protecting Judaism, thereby conflating Zionism with Judaism. As Jews, we must not let the Israeli government use our heritage to excuse its morally unexcusable actions. Our Jewish values will not let us.” So, Epstein started to visit Palestine, where she’s been several times, and taken part in protest against the Occupation, the wall, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and olive orchards. Epstein published an autobiography, Remembering Is Not Enough, and speaks around the world.

So, it makes sense that Epstein would join the approximately 125 people at a St Louis (where she lives) protest organized by the Organization for Black Struggle against the decision to call the National Guard into Ferguson. They marched to the Governor’s office, demanded a special prosecutor to investigate the murder of Michael Brown, a larger Department of Justice investigation and a withdrawal of the National Guard. They sang, “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round,” and chanted “Hey hey! Ho ho! National Guard has got to go!” and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” Epstein was among nine protestors arrested for failing to disperse. They were handcuffed, taken to a police station, given a court date and then released. Continue reading “90-year-old Holocaust survivor arrested at Ferguson protest” →

Tea Party spokesman who said Obama’s blackness kills people breaks into tears on TV

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Lloyd Marcus

In this culture of hyper-masculinity, it’s refreshing to see a man who’s not afraid to show his emotions. So, let’s give a round of applause to Lloyd Marcus, the emotionally evolved Tea Party spokesman, and chair of the Conservative Campaign Committee, who broke into tears during an interview today with the right wing “news” outlet Newsmax.

Now, those of us who are fans of Marcus, who describes himself as “not an African-American,” but rather “An Americaaaaaaan!” know that he’s very capable of expressing his emotions. After all, who can forget his compelling headline warning that, “Because [Obama] is Black, Americans Suffer and Die.”

But perhaps an even greater example of his emotional connectedness is his writing the “Tea Party Anthem,” creatively called… “Tea Party Anthem.”

The lyrics deserve attention, because they express Lloyd’s sensibility, his creativity and his innovation. Look at how he employs an experimental second person shift. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Were you? Continue reading “Tea Party spokesman who said Obama’s blackness kills people breaks into tears on TV” →

9 Most Homophobic Church Signs

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They’re not exactly preaching peace and tolerance.

Texan televangelist John Hagee called same-sex marriage supporters “counterfeit Christians.” A pastor in Tampa, Florida refused to perform a funeral service when he learned the deceased man had been gay, because that would have been “blasphemous.” And Pastor Steve Washburn of First Baptist Pflugerville, Texas, is warning that pastors will be imprisoned for speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage. And that was just this week.

Certain church leaders certainly seem to be re-prioritizing Jesus’ to-do list. They’ve decided to ignore the Bible’s minor points, like turn the other cheek and that whole Golden Rule thing. Also, they’re not going to worry so much about the poor. These shepherds, instead, demonstrate their love for Jesus Christ by hating on homosexuality. They instruct their flock by broadcasting messages of homophobia—literally—on church signs and marquees. Here are some of the worst church signs preaching against brotherly love.

1. Ménage a trois with God. This sign, which was placed in front of the Devon Park United Methodist Church polling site in Wilmington, North Carolina, may go down in history for being the first, and probably only, religious sign to push a threesome as an alternative to same-sex marriage. The sign’s message is so urgent, no time or plastic could be spared for punctuation: “A true marriage male and female and god.” The takeaway? Marriage exists between one man and one woman and the omnipresent voyeur known as god.

Ménage a trois with God

2. God good, gays bad! In this sign, on display at the Santa Clara Jesus Is Lord Baptist Church in California, the beauty is in its simplicity: “God is good/Gays are bad/vote Yes on Prop Eight.” If only all get-out-the-vote initiatives were this straightforward and Manichean, voting rates would go through the roof. Prop 8, the statewide ballot proposition in California to ban same-sex marriage, brought together churches, synagogues, Mormons, Catholics, evangelicals and Orthodox Jews, who were able to put aside their religious differences and come together in a beautiful interfaith collaborative effort to strip people of their civil rights. Because, at the end of the day, we may call him different names, but we all believe in the same god, who happens to be very homophobic.

God good, gays bad!

3. Homophobic haiku. This short and catchy “Gay Is not Okay” sign appeared outside of Fort Des Moines Church of Christ in South Des Moines, Iowa. Pastor Mike DeMastus was merely using the church’s illuminated marquee to advertise the theme of his upcoming Sunday sermon, something he does for every sermon every week. Besides being an effective promotional tool, the minimalist text is just 12 syllables shy of being a homophobic haiku. Continue reading “9 Most Homophobic Church Signs” →

Israeli sperm banks see rise in demand for combat semen

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Sprem Donor

Nice Jewish boys, you’re out of luck. Apparently, Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza has ushered in not just death and destruction, but a rise in requests for sperm of men with combat experience.

At all Israeli sperm banks, women or couples can choose sperm based on the donor’s height, weight, other physical features, educational achievement and IQ. One sperm bank even lets you assess the donor’s “interests, language fluency, his parents’ countries of origin and astrological sign.” I mean, as a Cancer, I would definitely stay away from Aries or Libra jizz, right, ladies?

But the staff of a sperm bank at Rambam Medical Center, the largest hospital in northern Israel, is noticing a recent spike in the request for donors who have not just served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) but have had combat experience, as opposed to, say, experience as desk jockeys or company clerks or the “jobnikim,” the soldiers who do something like cook, drive, clean, build, and go back home every day or every weekend. Continue reading “Israeli sperm banks see rise in demand for combat semen” →

Are these images of Ferguson or the Middle East? Take the violent state crackdown quiz

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Ferguson police (Screenshot)
Ferguson police

After the initially ignored fatal police shooting of the unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown, people of Ferguson, Missouri, took to social media and the streets to protest the status quo of police brutality. And the police responded to these mostly peaceful demonstrations against excessive force, with… excessive force, using military gear and firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and smoke bombs at the mostly non-violent crowd. They responded to claims of a media blackout  around the shooting by arresting members of the media, including reporters who were filing their stories from inside a McDonalds.

The United States likes to think of itself as the land of the free,  home of the brave, and a peace-spreading, stabilizing, inspiring and intervening force for all things good and fair and democratic in the world. But images of Ferguson suggest that this country isn’t the beacon of liberty it would like to be. Many people, in fact, have been comparing the scenes in Missouri to scenes we see in countries considered unstable and undemocratic, especially in the Middle East. So, see if you can tell the difference in these images below. (Answers at the bottom of the page.)

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1. Tear gas in Ferguson.

2. Police shoot tear gas at protestors in Tahrir Square, Egypt.

3. Tear gas thrown at press in Ferguson.

4.Fighter copters in Iraq

5. Ferguson.

6. Ferguson.

7. IDF throws stun grenades at Palestinian protestors.

8. Ferguson.

9. Ferguson. 

10.  IDF throws stun grenades at Palestinian protestors.

11.  Ferguson.

Originally published on RawStory

6 Holocaust Survivors Who Fight Against Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians

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The lesson of the Holocaust should be “never again” for anyone, including Palestinians.

The Israeli government draws on the experience of the Holocaust to justify many of its policies, especially those relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of the people who defend Israel cite the Holocaust as one of the justifications for the founding and aggressive militarism of the Jewish state. For these people, the Holocaust serves as both a reminder of Jewish history and a cautionary tale for the future. When the Jewish people had neither a nation nor a military of their own, they were nearly exterminated; now anything the Israeli state and army does is acceptable because extermination could threaten Jews again.

But some Holocaust survivors cite the Holocaust as the very reason they oppose Israeli policy; specifically, its treatment of Palestinians. These people see that oppressing Palestinians is not just unnecessary and wrong, but hypocritical for a nation founded to provide people with a refuge from oppression. For them, the lesson of the Holocaust isn’t “never again” for Jews. It’s never again for anyone, including Palestinians.

1. Hajo Meyer. Born in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1924, Meyer fled Germany for the Netherlands at age 14, where he went into hiding when the Nazis invaded a year later. Captured in 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz. His parents died after being deported from Germany. When the war ended, Meyer returned to the Netherlands and studied theoretical physics, eventually becoming the director of the Philips Physics Laboratory. He has written several books, including  The End of Judaism. In 2011, Meyer went on a 13-city speaking tour throughout the U.S. and Canada called ” Never Again for Anyone.”

Although initially supportive of the founding of Israel, Meyer grew not only to reject Zionism but to see it as antithetical to Judaism.  Meyer rejects the way the Israeli government exploits the Holocaust and survivors to achieve its ultimate goal of “the maximum territory with a minimum number of Palestinians….They use the Holocaust to implant paranoia in their children.”

Meyer criticizes Prime Minister Netanyahu for using the Holocaust to further Zionism: “And like Netanyahu did the other day in the General Assembly of the United Nations, he used the number on my arm—or the number on our arms—to defend a coming attack on Iran. They have nothing to do with each other… The Zionists have not any right whatsoever to use the Holocaust for any purpose.”

Meyer likens the experience of the Palestinians to that of Eastern European Jews during the Holocaust, “in that they are very often held up at checkpoints, or they are not allowed to move from one place to another.” To Meyer, Israel’s mentality bears comparison to National Socialism; he believes Israel has “given up everything that has to do with humanity, with empathy, for one thing: the state. The ‘blood and soil,’ just like the Nazis. I learned in school about blood and soil, and that’s exactly their idea, too.”

2. Hedy Epstein. Born in 1924 in Freiburg, Germany, Hedy Epstein was sent to England at 14 via the Kindertransport, which brought nearly 10,000 children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to England during the months between Kristallnacht and the onset of WWII. After the war, Hedy returned to Germany. Her parents had perished in Auschwitz and Hedy worked on the Nuremberg medical trial. In 1948, she joined her only living relatives, an aunt and uncle, in the United States.

Epstein has been to Palestine five times since 2003, taking part in demonstrations against the Occupation, the wall, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and olive orchards. Epstein’s autobiography, Remembering Is Not Enough was published in 1999.

Continue reading “6 Holocaust Survivors Who Fight Against Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians” →

7 Best Jon Stewart Clips on Israel

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With his brand of cutting insight, the ‘Daily Show’ host offers his take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 Last week, Jon Stewart addressed how hard it is to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in a sketch called “we need to talk about Israel.” Though he mocked both sides, to a certain extent, the bulk of the sketch went after those who see themselves as “pro-Israel” and see Jon Stewart as a self-loathing Jew.

Now, from what I can tell, having been called a self-loathing Jew myself, the term applies to people who make any criticism whatsoever of the Israeli government. One can easily make the case that more diplomatic solutions, dovish approaches if you will, are more helpful for the state of Israel and Israelis than more military or hawkish ones. That makes some of the self-loathers more “pro-Israel” than the ones who blindly support the government.

Stewart is one of the few public mainstream Jews with the chutzpah to say anything critical of Israel’s policies. And as a Jew, I appreciate the way he’s been doing this ever since he took over the Daily Show. So, without further ado, I present 7 great Daily Show skits on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 Continue reading and see all the clips at Alternet.org

 

If only The Church cared as much about pedophiles as porn stars

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Church porn photos

A woman filmed herself exposing her breasts and touching herself in an Austrian parish, in June. She also was holding a bible and rosary, in case you were worried about her going to hell.  A church-going-porn-fan was trying to enjoy some secular online porn, when he recognized the interior of his church. Like any church-going-porn-watching-upstanding-tattle-tale, he informed his local priest, in what I imagine must have been an uncomfortable discussion.

In a compliment to the woman’s handwork, the church expressed outrage that, in addition to her sneaking herself in, she had snuck in a crew and cameras. According to the Austrian Times, “Local police confirmed that no permission had been requested or given for the church to be used to shoot the movies….” I’m sure the church would have been more than happy to sign a release form authorizing the woman to shoot a porn in their house of worship. The Austrian Times also reported that The ”Diocese of Linz said police are still investigating how the crew and actors were able to get into the church.” Then, the police realized that the quality and angles suggested this had been a DIY project, in a few aspects, actually.

But what could be done? Because, although the seductress showed off certain impressive attributes, she was careful not to film her face. In an attempt to apprehend the heretic, the authorities screened the video on local television. (It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.)

Continue Reading at RawStory