Exposing the Hypocrisy
In 2000 Joe Lieberman became the first Jew to run for President of the United States. Like a yellow star upon his chest Lieberman wore is religion proudly making his faith in God and his religion central to his campaign. Lieberman made his religion an issue and held it out as if representing all Jews and as an example of what being a Jew is all about. But Joe Lieberman is a poor example of a Jew and a poor example of a person with faith. Joe's conduct so offends me that I feel I need to speak out about his conduct during the 2000 presidential election and set the record straight. And I want to make sure that this phoney never gets the chance to run for president in 2004.
First of all --- Jews don't go around bragging about their religion and drawing attention to themselves and Judaism in general. For Lieberman to hold himself out as an example of what being Jewish is like and to presume that he is some sort of spokesperson for the Jewish religion is a crime against Judaism itself. Being publicly self-righteous and moralistically superior does not represent the way Jews see themselves and their role in society. Judaism is a humble religion that requires tolerance and respect for the beliefs --- or lack of belief --- in others. Jew don't go around bragging about their faith and holding themselves out as and example of what God wants them to do. Especially when Lieberman shows such little faith himself.
Separation of Church and State
Over the centuries the Jews more than anyone should know the importance of the separation of church and state. Especially an Orthodox Jew and a United States Senator should know this. But Lieberman is totally clueless on the subject. His statement that the that freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion is totally wrong. It absolutely does mean freedom from religion. There are many of us who do not believe God exists and people who believe in things other than the Bible. Yet Lieberman -- who is above us mere heathens -- feels it is for the good of the masses that the government impose religion on it's subjects.
Freedom of Religion exists only where the Government is religion neutral. |
The Bush administration --- with the support of Joe Lieberman supports giving massive quantities of tax dollars to churches to implement state social programs --- and to victimize the unfortunate with exposure to state sponsored religion. Christians seem to like the idea because they think it's free money. And Christianity is based on the belief that you can get something for nothing --- that you get to go to Heaven just on what you believe in -- not what you do in your life.
Freedom of Religion also means Freedom from Religion for those who do not want to participate in Religion. |
Once a church starts getting used to spending all that government money, will they ever be able to say No to it and go back to faith based funding? Will the faithful still put money in the collection plate when the church is rolling in big government money? I think not! After all --- that money comes from tax money so the government is tithing for them. What will happen is that people will stop giving their money to the churches because they expect the Government to do that for them. Once the government has undermined the economic base of religion --- then the government calls the shots. In order to get government money --- they have to comply with government standards --- and those standards will dictate the very character of religious belief.
Lieberman's Lack of Faith in God
Joe Lieberman started his campaign talking about his religion and his faith. He likes to flaunt the fact that he doesn't work on Saturday --- the Sabbath --- in order to honor God and his religion. Yet Lieberman's lack of faith was one of the thousands of things that caused us to be stuck with Bush as President. As a man who might think that he was chosen by God to be the vice president, he could have had that if he truly had faith --- but he didn't.
What am I talking about? Lieberman wasn't really just running for vice president. He was also running for Senator on the side --- just in case this vice presidency thing didn't pan out. Unlike Bob Dole in 1996, Lieberman didn't really get fully into the game. He was holding back --- just in case God didn't come through for him. And he was holding back in a particularly selfish way.
By holding onto his seat and running both campaigns --- had Gore won then Lieberman would have had to give his Senate seat up to a Republican to be chosen by a Republican Governor. Had he dropped out --- a Democrat who was in a position to win would have held onto that seat and it would have made the difference as to who controlled the Senate --- had Gore become president. So -- in order for Lieberman to be secure -- if he won the vice presidency -- it would come at the price of the senate. Lieberman put his own personal interests ahead of the nation in that it was more important to risk the future of our nation than to risk that he might be out of a job.
If Joe Lieberman had any "Faith in God" or any trust that there be divine intervention on his behalf to put Jews in power. Suppose God really does exist --- and that Lieberman was the chosen one --- and that God tested Lieberman's faith --- and Lieberman had to have enough faith to risk is senate seat in an act of faith to prove himself worthy to receive God's blessing ... But --- Lieberman failed to trust God so he punished Joe Lieberman by not only denying him the election --- but by so close of a margin that it was clear the Lieberman's lack of faith was directly responsible for Bush taking power.
Like it was when the Jews had to wander the desert for 40 years ... God is punishing all Jews because Joe Lieberman --- under the banner of "faith" offended God by his lack of faith. God is now punishing the Jews by giving control of the nation to a Christian moron who now rules over the Jews as punishment for lack of faith. We'll just add the "Book of Lieberman" to the Bible as an example that you don't fuck with God.
I -- of course don't believe any of this. Bush is President because he bought the position be selling out America to the enemies of the People. But I'm trying to make an important point here. It offends me --- even as a person who believes that the invisible guy in the sky isn't real --- that a person is a man of faith when he fails to act on his faith when a person who believes in God should act. Bob Dole is a man of faith and he gave up his Senate seat to run for President when he didn't have to. Bob Dole did it in part as an act of faith showing God that he was serious about winning. Unfortunately for Bob Dole --- God doesn't exist --- so there wasn't any invisible guy in the sky to fix the election in his behalf. Or --- God must like Clinton better --- or maybe the devil had a hand in it --- who knows. Perhaps I'm possessed by Satan and he's forcing me to write this --- and you to read it. Stop thinking about this --- it's what Satan wants you to do!
OK --- getting a little off subject here. The point is that if you claim to believe in God and that you have faith in God --- and you don't trust God on the big issues --- and you have to put the control of the Senate and the nation at risk for your own personal security --- then please --- it is so fucking dishonest to claim faith that even an atheist is offended by this. I feel offended on behalf of Jews and Christians who go out and actually take risks based upon their belief in God or just because they have the moral principles to do what is right for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.
Lieberman obviously must think God is the invisible moron in the sky. |
Besides --- the very idea of the Sabbath itself is based of the notion that God created the world in 6 days about 7000 years ago. We now know that the universe is far older than 7000 years and that the very basis for the Sabbath is rooted in a story equivalent to a child's fairy tale. It's right there with believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and is hardly a basis for people like Joe Lieberman or other Orthodox Jews to publicly flaunt their moral superiority. Honoring the Sabbath in the manner Lieberman does is merely a form of moralistic masturbation.
About Orthodox Jews
Orthodox Jews are kind of nut case Jews who are somewhat the Jewish counterpart of Christian holy rollers. They believe that the 613 commandments in the Hebrew Bible were given by God to the Jews and should be followed to the letter for all time. You Christians thought 10 was tough! Most commonly discussed is the complex law about keeping the Sabbath holy. The Sabbath -- Saturday -- is the traditional Jewish day of rest, a time to pray and reflect on God's creations.
Orthodox Jews are not to do any work, drive, use mechanical devices or turn on electrical appliances, including lights, on the Sabbath. They should not even write or pick flowers. Cooking is not allowed, so all food that is eaten must be prepared beforehand. There are also a lot of laws regarding diet as to what to eat, how it's killed, and what foods to mix.
Orthodox Jews spend a lot of time with ritual and dealing with minutia. To them -- God is in the "strict parent" model and one is judged (mostly judged by their fellow Jews) as to how well one performs the rituals and minutia. And this is all done, in theory, to impress the invisible guy in the sky who is sitting there keeping compliance notes on everyone that he's entering into a giant database called "The Book of Life".
By the way ... I got a message from God that the Book of Life database will be down for memorial day weekend because God is upgrading to Oracle version 9. So Orthodox Jews can go out and get a ham sandwich without getting caught.
Basically --- it's a stupid religion based on compliance with dogma. These people waste a lot of time over a book that has no basis in reality. Because this is such an intellectual drain, these people who are otherwise very smart, have the effective intelligence of a moron. Joe Lieberman is an example of this. Here he and Al Gore, both of which have serious religious obsessions, have the presidency stolen from them by a total moron who has no personal faith at all --- but gives lip service to his Christian supporters in order to get their time and money. Gore and Lieberman were running on the backs of the successful Clinton administration an record prosperity --- and they sacrificed it all because of their personal religious dogma. The results speak for themselves.
Orthodox Jewish rules are merely a form of public moral masturbation through which Jews assert their belief that they are better than everyone else because they are "God's Chosen People". |
For example --- I think anyone who believes the world was created in six days will believe anything. And a huge amount of their life is dedicated to rituals surrounding this false premise. But because of this --- the Jews fanaticize that they are "God's chosen people", which is to say --- we're better than everyone else. And the rituals are acts that assert their moral superiority to the rest of the world. And on the basis of these rituals, to support the concept that they are "God's chosen people" they claim that God gave them property called Israel and that they have a supernatural dead to this land --- and that it is exclusive to the Jews --- and that they therefore have a right to slaughter people in order to assert that right. And in doing so --- it lowers Judaism to the same level as all the other religions who have their own moral masturbation rituals to support the slaughtering of the heathens based upon divine guidance.
Of course --- even though every other religion feels that they are the chosen people --- Orthodox Jews believe they are "the real chosen people." Wow! That's unique --- Not!
The best thing about Orthodox Jews is that at least they aren't going around trying to spread it. Don't have people knocking on your door asking you if you know Moses. So I have to give them credit for keeping their stupid religion to themselves -- except for Joe Lieberman who was in the public's face about it and gave Christians and excuse to continue to do the same thing because now the Jews are doing it too. So --- if you're a Jew and you don't like this --- blame Lieberman. He's the one who put the issue out there and now we have to talk about it.
The Bible is an obsolete fictional work that keeps Jews stuck in the past and is a barrier to dealing with reality the way it really is. I believe it would be good for Judaism to separate out what is fiction from what is real. |
In Conclusion ....
Joe Lieberman is a poor candidate for public office and a poor example of a Jew. I strongly urge Democrats to not think in terms of either Joe Lieberman or Al Gore for president on 2004. Gore and Lieberman had their turn and they dropped the ball. It's time to find a fresh face that will bring back the principles of Bill Clinton and return us to a government based upon sound and reasoned decision making. Or - Maybe we should look to someone like Jesse Ventura - who is a dedicated public servant and puts the good of the public ahead of his own personal gain. I also respect Jim Jeffords --- who left the Republican Party for the good of the nation and put himself at great personal risk to do what really is right.
In 2000 Joe Lieberman blew the election by distancing themselves from President Clinton because Clinton got a blow job. In spite of all Clinton's accomplishments - the Republicans suckered Gore and Lieberman by playing to their sense of moral superiority. A mistake that cost them the presidency. Even though Lieberman considers himself morally superior to Clinton --- Lieberman is on his second wife --- and Clinton is still married to his first. As someone who is divorced myself, I feel I have no place to judge the marriages of other people who succeed where I have failed on the basis that someone did something that I might not have done. Joe Lieberman - as someone who is divorced - should know better.
While Joe Lieberman was out obsessing about Jewish law. George W. Bush was stealing the Whitehouse. |
As to Joe Lieberman --- Joe puts symbolism over substance and religious ritual over faith. I suggest that if he wants a religion with no personal responsibility --- that he should become a Christian.
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