Would Jesus Believe In The Death Penalty?

Ken AshfordElection 2008, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Mike Huckabee got big laughs Wednesday night during the YouTube debate when he sidestepped a question about how Jesus might view capital punishment.  Huckabee responded by saying Jesus was too smart to run for public office.

Funny?  Not really.  Evasive?  Definitely.

The Arkansas Times notes the Huckabee has received the question before, and always dodged it.  Flashback to 1997, when Huckabee was governor of Arkansas:

On the eve of Arkansas’ recent triple execution, Huckabee made an appearance on an AETN call-in program broadcast statewide. A caller confronted him with a touchy question: How, how, as a minister of the Gospel, could he justify the state-sanctioned taking of life given the Bible’s many injunctions against slaughter and in favor of the Christian virtue of forgiveness?

Huckabee responded almost flippantly. First he cited Genesis to the effect that those who do violence will have violence done to them.

I’m assuming this is Genesis 4:15 — the whole slaying Cain bit.  Of course, in that passage, God does not say who will exact violence on those will do violence.  (Presumably, that is answered in

Next he claimed that there exist both Old and New Testament passages that support capital punishment, although he failed to cite any.

Yeah.  You would think between then and now, Huckabee would be able to cite the biblical verse in favor of capital punishment.  But then come the money quote:

"Interestingly enough, if there was ever an occasion for someone to have argued aginst the death penalty, I think Jesus could have done so on the cross and said, ‘This is an unjust punishment and I deserve clemency.’ "

Riiiight.  All Jesus said was "God, why hast thou forsaken me?"*. 

And since his gripe was to God rather than to the act of dying at the hands of the state, he must therefore have improved of state-sponsored execution.  Silence from Jesus about a subject connnotes agreement with it.  (We can assume, therefore, that Jesus supported the infield fly rule, since he is not quoted as saying anything on the subject).

Make sense?

Can’t believe this guy is polling so well….

* although the Bible is self-contradictory on this matter…

UPDATE:  Not related to the death penalty, but still yet another problem for Huckabee:

In June 1998, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a “statement on the family” that asserted, “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.” Two months later, then-governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full-page ad in USA Today specifically endorsing the Convention’s view on marriage:

You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband’s sacrificial leadership.

Someone should ask him if he still believes this.

Only My Mom Cares About This Post

Ken AshfordEducationLeave a Comment

USA Today:

It turns out that Montpelier High School is not one of the Top 10 public schools in the USA.

U.S. News & World Report had listed it as No. 5 in its rankings of the nation’s secondary schools, but the magazine now acknowledges the school really ranked in the nation’s Top 500 public schools. (That still places it in the top 3% of secondary schools.)

"We feel terrible about having gotten it wrong in the first instance," editor Brian Kelly says, according to the Associated Press. "We’re in the business of getting these numbers right. It’s particularly embarrassing that we’re in the business of judging people based on their math scores, and we got our math wrong."

Interestingly enough, the Times Argus says it was Montpelier High School Principal Peter Evans who noticed the mistake and notified the magazine.

Church Hero Not So Much A Hero

Ken AshfordGun Control2 Comments

For the past couple of days, the rightwing blogosphere has been touting and lauding the security guard who stopped the church shooter in Colorado.

Here’s Instapundit:

COLORADO SHOOTING UPDATE: The "security guard" who stopped the shooter was actually a volunteer parishioner who used her own gun, not a rent-a-cop. Much more from David Hardy, who notes that press coverage tends to obscure this point. Meanwhile, it’s more evidence that people don’t stop killers, people with guns do.

Michell Malkin:

Amid the horror, a glimmer of good news: The culture of self-defense may have saved untold lives.

John Hindraker:

Also, the woman who ended the New Life Church attack by shooting Murray was a parishioner armed with her own gun who confronted Murray–heroically, it’s fair to say–as he entered the church. She apparently was one of several people who volunteered to provide security after word spread of the first attack.

Q&O:

My guess is he figured a church would be a "gun free" zone and he could have his way with those there until police arrived. Like I said the potential for murder was mind-boggling.

But one armed church member, trained and prepared to use her weapon, ended it before it really got started.

That’s how you stop a psychopath.

Way to go, Jeanne.

Christian news service OneNewsNow:

A Christian who lobbies to protect the Second Amendment says the shootings at two Colorado ministries Sunday prove the wisdom of law-abiding citizens carrying concealed firearms for self-defense.

Yay, guns!  This story proves the point — if ordinary people had guns, they would stop these killers!  So arm up, y’all!

Um …..sadly this breaking news throws some water on the party:

Autopsy results show Murray, who was kicked out of a missionary training center where the first shooting occurred, killed himself, police said.

I don’t think this undermines the bravery of the woman who shot at (and apparently missed [UPDATE: latest reports say she struck him several times]) the assailant, but it really doesn’t serve as an anecdotal example of armed citizens stopping crime.

I, For One, Don’t

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Kevin Drum:

Let me get this straight. The White House had been in the loop for two years. The CIA had received letters from both the Justice Department and congressional leaders arguing that the tapes shouldn’t be destroyed. The CIA’s top lawyer had been involved for the entire time. And yet we’re supposed to believe that, in 2005, a mid-ranking agency lawyer suddenly decided the tapes could be destroyed and the head of the clandestine branch then gave the order to do so without anyone else being involved? Really? Does anyone actually believe this story?

Rape Culture

Ken AshfordCrime, IraqLeave a Comment

As if the story of the KBR/Halliburton employee rape of an American staffer in Iraq isn’t bad enough…

… it’s much worse when you take into account that KBR/Halliburton has tried to cover it up.

… it’s much worse when you take into account that a law (passed by the GOP majority) makes any the KBR/Halliburton employees immune for prosecution under the Military Code of Justice.

…it’s much much worse when you take into account these entries, from the victim’s own online diary:

May 3, 2007- I was told by the state department that my rape kit was missing. The state department had previously ensured both of my parents that the rape kit had made it back to Washington before I even arrived back to the US . I had my mom call the state department to refresh their memories.

May 4, 2007- The rape kit was found, however the pictures of the bruises and the doctor’s notes from that day were still (and are currently) missing.

May 17 2007- The state department let me know they were e-mailing the doctor that administered the rape examination again to see if she had found or located anything from my appointment in Baghdad.

May 22, 2007- Lynn Falanga flew to Florida to present my case to the AUSA in Florida . She stated that she had “good news” that she felt that there was an 85 percent chance that they were going to go foreword with prosecution. They felt that my criminal case is strong and the only setback was the logistical side of things. She stated that “this will be the first case out of Iraq that has gone this far along with prosecution."

May 31, 2007- Lynn Falanga called me to tell me that the AUSA took on my case as an “intake” so that they could investigate my case diligently. In regards to the missing pictures and doctor’s notes that were taken in Baghdad Lynn Falanga and I both called the doctor that performed the rape kit. The doctor stated to both of us that “I have no idea which rape victum you are because so many young contractor girls were raped after drinking with the guys” she also stated that “I performed so many rape kits in the six months that I was stationed there that there would be no way to recall whom yours was."

Cure For Teh Gay Discovered

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

And it’s always been right in front of our faces.

The cure?  Interstate 35, which runs from Loredo (Texas) to Duluth (Minnesota).

I’ll let Pat Robertson explain, because if I try, I’ll laugh myself silly:

Thanks, Pat.  Thank you for your continued weirdness.

(Ironically, rightwing nutjobs also attribute I-35 as part of the secret government conspiracy to make Mexico, Canada, and the United States into a single nation.  So, I-35 is — depending on which wingnut theory you embrace — an invasion/blessing from God, or a terrible government conspiracy.  Or something).

I stumbled upon this story while reading about another cure for homosexuality, this one from science:

A new study finds that both drugs and genetic manipulation can turn the homosexual behavior of fruit flies on and off within a matter of hours.

"Fruit flies".  Heh.

Anyway, the study should piss off fundies, because it shows that there really is a "gay gene", i.e., homosexuality is "hardwired" into one’s genetic makeup, and can’t be changed by christian "counselling" (or, presumably, by highways either).

On the other hand, once scientists were able to isolate the gene, they were able to mess with it by injecting the flies with certain chemcals.  They were thus able to literally "turn on" and then "turn off" the flies’ homosexuality.  And that news should make fundies pleased.

Of course, to be pleased, the fundies would be required to embrace science first, and the idea of genetic mutation.  Don’t see that happening….

UPDATE:  More on I-35 …from GodTube (that’s the YouTube that God uses)….

At My Age

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

At age 45:

Andre Marie Ampere, a French physicist, discovered the rules relating magnetic fields and electric currents.

George Foreman recaptured the heavyweight championship with a 10th round knockout, becoming the oldest person ever to win the heavyweight championship.

Earl Vickers created a program for displaying things other people accomplished when they were your age.

John Vida quit a 3-pack-a-day smoking habit. As of six years later, he hasn’t had a single drag off a cigarette or any other smoking utensil.

Cora Judd overcame a debilitating, lifelong aversion to math by taking three semesters of math classes at the local community college.

House Oversight Report On Climate Change

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Summed up as follows:  The Bush Administration has “engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming.”

Highlights and key findings:

  • The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues.
  • The Administration’s censorship of climate scientists was widespread – 150 federal climate scientists from eight federal agencies personally experienced at least one incident of political interference during the past five years.
  • The White House systematically minimized the significance of climate change by editing government climate change reports.
  • The White House edited EPA’s [Environmental Protection Agency] Report on the Environment.
  • The White House eliminated the Climate Change Section of EPA’s Air Trends Report.
  • The White House was involved in editing EPA’s legal opinions.