OUR HOMEGROWN EXTREMISTS

America has its own list of homegrown extremists, of practically every genre one can imagine and probably some we can't.

One of our basic freedoms is freedom of speech, so God Bless America even the koo-koo birds have a right to publically reveal how ridiculous they are.

One is Fox News O'Reilly, see 2nd post below. Access the url and read his report. How dare the San Francisco folks run their city in a way he disapproves of? And for being such bad boys and girls, he is going to excommunicate them, disown them. I wonder if he has ordered the REALLY BIG ONE people have talked about for years to strike them down and shelve them off into the ocean.

O'Reilly and Robertson. Each calling down destruction and catastrophe for violations of their particular opinions of what citizens should do. Apparently other people have no right to have differing opinions, but if they do, they're going to be punished.

Robertson's foolishness is old hat but I would like to quote a favored columnist of mine, Mr. Leonard Pitts, Jr. I don't always agree with Mr. Pitts but sometimes I say "Amen, brother".

The Houston Chronicle picks up news and columns from the Knight Ridder Newspapers. Mr. Pitts writes for the Herald. On Monday, Nov. 14, this column appeared, of which I quote excerpts.

Rev. Ridiculous doesn't speak well for intelligent design

"And the Lord did look with discontent upon the town of Dover in the province of Pennsylvania. For Dover was a wicked and prideful place and had turned its back on God. Its people had voted out school board members who tried to introduce intelligent design into schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution.

"And the Lord was wrathful and said, I will smite them with burning coals from the sky. Their fields I will make barren, their rivers I will cause to rise in flood, their football teams will lose, their sewers will back up, no one who lives there shall hit the Powerball. And I will help them not."

OK, so that's not in my Bible, either. But apparently it's in the Rev. Pat Robertson's. [...] he issued a dire warning to the town last week [...]. "If there is a disaster in your area," he said, "don't turn to God --- you just rejected Him from your city [...].

[...] wasn't it just a few months ago that Rev. Ridiculous put out a hit on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Two years ago that he asked viewers to pray for God to remove three justices from the Supreme Court? Four years ago that he linked the Sept. 11 attacks to the fact that organized prayer is not allowed in schools? Seven years ago that he warned Orlando, Fla., of "terrorist bombs ...earthquakes,tornadoes, and possibly a meteor" for allowing a gay pride event?

He also said that Mouse Town could get hit by a hurricane, which was a really gutsy prediction [...]. A hurricane, hitting Florida? What are the odds?

I can't believe that God requires ignorance, that he gave us brains he doesn't want us to use, or that intelligence and faith are mutually exclusive.

Ofcourse, I'm forced to reconsider that position every time Rev. Ridiculous opens his mouth.

This is rather long but I wish I could have posted his entire column. He made some excellent points in a humorous manner. It must be nice to be as wise as Mr. O'Reilly, to know with certainty what is best for the citizens of San Francisco. Or to know with absolute certainty the will of God and what His plans are, and to be His spokesperson.