Jul. 11th, 2005

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http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050709/NEWS01/50709002

"Middlebrook church set fire; anti-gay messages found
National church recently approved of same-sex marriage

By Jonathan D. Jones/staff
jjones@newsleader.com

MIDDLEBROOK — A small fire was set in St. John’s Reformed United Church of Christ this morning and anti-gay graffiti was painted on the side of the building.

The outside of the church was vandalized with anti-gay messages and a declaration that United Church of Christ members were sinners. The graffiti’s message appeared to be a reference to the national church’s decision earlier this week to endorse gay and lesbian marriages.

The United Church of Christ’s General Synod voted Monday in Atlanta to approve a resolution that is accepting of gay and lesbian marriages but is not binding on local congregations.

A member of the congregation discovered the graffiti Saturday morning when he stopped by to mow the grass. He went into the church building, and when he opened the sanctuary there was still a small fire.

The Middlebrook Volunteer Fire Company responded, and it only took a few minutes to put the fire out, Lt. Tim McCray said. He deferred any questions about the cause of the fire to police investigators.

A Virginia State Police fire investigator was on the scene Saturday afternoon, but declined to comment. The Augusta County Sheriff’s Office initially responded and a deputy was there assisting.

Firefighters removed a stack of burned hymnals. Police cordoned off the sanctuary, but through the windows a portion of the choir loft and a pew that had been damaged by the fire were visible.

Smoke damage will keep the congregation out of its sanctuary, but members still intend to have a 225th anniversary celebration tomorrow. They’ll move it onto the front lawn and use tents, Pastor Darcas Lohr said.

It’s the second time in the last 30 years that St. John’s has caught fire. Four people, three juveniles and a Staunton man in his 20s, were arrested on arson charges after an Aug. 1, 1978, blaze destroyed most of the church’s sanctuary."

Forwarded from [livejournal.com profile] dark_christian
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Forwarded from Keith Olbermann:

"Karl Rove: Soft on terror (Keith Olbermann)

SECURED UNDISCLOSED LOCATION -- Karl Rove is a liability in the war on terror.

Rove -- Newsweek’s new article quotes the very emails -- told a Time reporter that Ambassador Joe Wilson’s trip to investigate of the Niger uranium claim was at the behest of Wilson’s CIA wife.

To paraphrase Mr. Rove, liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers; conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared to ruin the career of one of the country’s spies tracking terrorist efforts to gain weapons of mass destruction -- for political gain.

Politics first, counter-terrorism second -- it’s as simple as that.

In his ‘story guidance’ to Matthew Cooper of Time, Rove did more damage to your safety than the most thumb-sucking liberal or guard at Abu Ghraib. He destroyed an intelligence asset like Valerie Plame merely to deflect criticism of a politician. We have all the damned politicians, of every stripe, that we need. The best of them isn’t worth half a Valerie Plame. And if the particular politician for whom Rove was deflecting, President Bush, is more than just all hat and no cattle on terrorism, he needs to banish Rove -- and loudly."
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I recently read a book by Travis S. Taylor, better known to denizens of Baen's Bar as "Doc" Travis. It was his first novel, and was pretty good as first novels go. His characters occasionally missed really, blatently obvious clues, and not all of them were fully realized. The main character was a Kung-Fu-Blackbelt-Super-Scientist-All-Around-Badass. He was also a very transparent avatar of the good doctor himself. Ordinarily, this sort of writing is referred to as "Mary Sue-ing", and is grounds for defensestration of the author. However, reliable sources all concur that "Doc" really _is_ that studly in real life, the sort of Shining Golden Boy Paragon Of All Things Cool who would arouse instant hatred in all lesser males if only he weren't so gosh darn nice.

However, there seems to be one 'super' attribute that the doctor lacks, and that would be compassion. Towards the end of the book, the main character explains to a small child that the massive casualties that the 'Good Guys' are about to inflict on the bad guys, and which will include millions of civilians, are all fully deserved. That the civilians got what they had coming to them for not overthrowing their despotic governments. It appalls me that someone who can be so educated and erudite can be so utterly heartless. Even John Ringo, bloodthirsty reactionary that he is, doesn't write his characters that ruthless. Not the Good Guys, anyway.

Obviously, Doc has had no experience whatsoever with societies less free than our own. This is a mindset typical of 'self made' Americans: "I done good, I succeeded in life, if those furriners live worse than I do, it's their own damn fault". Not to belittle to good doctor's accomplishments, but if he were born in a third world slum, all the hard work and dedication in the world would not have made him what he is is in this timeline; the best he could hope for would be Local Strongman or Political Refugee. As for not submitting to tyranny, well, he's never had to stand up to it in real life, so how can he know what he would do? One of our interpreters _did_ stand up to Saddam's tyranny, and ended up shot in the back and buried alive for his troubles. Luckily for him, he was on the top layer of corpses, and the dirt was packed loosely enough that he could breath for the time it took to dig himself out. The rest of his family weren't so lucky.

Another example: One of the locally employed cleaners at our FOB has a truly magnificent set of prison tattoos from his time in Saddam's jails. He also has a vast assortment of whip, burn, and cut scars. One of the worst is on his arm; A guard handed him a knife, held a gun to his head, and told him to start cutting. All of his scars and tattoos were acquired before he was 17 years old. As a child, he spent 12 years in prison because his parents were accused of plotting against the ruling regime.

It's easy for us comfortable first-worlders to blame third-world civilians for the crimes of their governments. We've never had to face the sorts of choices that they've had to. In their position, most of you reading this would have done the same.

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