[Vision2020] Book Recommendation

[Rosemary]

I just finished reading Jane Smiley's  review of
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html
> Republican Gomorrah by Max Blumenthal.



Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html


 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html.
This book is an examination of the right wing, Evangelical lunatics who
enjoy powerful positions in this county.  The following is a short selection
from the review.


"Republican Gomorrah is a frightening book because it is clear to all of us
on the outside that the various Republican operatives who surround James
Dobson and his ilk have no consciences and will stop at nothing. They invoke
the name of God for purposes that shame God absolutely--hurting, destroying,
maiming, and damning others who either don't accept their beliefs or don't
acknowledge their power and righteousness. Of course that is frightening.
But Blumenthal's cast of characters, beginning with Dobson and his prodigal
son, Ryan, and including John Hagee, Sarah Palin, Ralph Reed, Charles
Colson, Judith Reisman, Christina Regnery, Donald Wildmon, et al. strike the
reader as above all else very small--egocentric, narrow minded, uneducated,
selfish, and resentful. Each of these qualities is destructive in and of
itself. The combination is turning out to be coercive. Even those of us who
are immune to the emotions these people play upon are getting more and more
nervous about the power that they wish to exert. . .   And power plays are
the key to right wing psychology. Right wing psychology is the other thing
that Blumenthal has to offer. At the periphery of this world is your
run-of-the-mill bully, a man like Jack Abramoff, whose brutality is well
remembered by his high school classmates, but who sang like a bird once he
was caught. At the center of is James Dobson, a much more destructive figure
than Abramoff, who advocates, in the strongest terms, child beating, and not
only child-beating, but dog-beating. At one point he brags about going after
the family canine (who weighed twelve pounds) and engaging in "the most
vicious fight ever staged between man and beast." As for children, the goal
is to keep beating the child until "he wants(s) to crumple on the breast of
his parent." In other words, Dobson is a proud sadist who thinks sadism is
kind of funny, and who, over the years, has successfully advocated sadism as
the only workable form of child-rearing.



Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html

 

Please read this review and then trot down to BookPeople and place your
order.  And, in case you believe that in little old Moscow, Idaho we are
immune to Dodson-like loonies, I invite you to read "Spanking Stories" by
Doug Wilson, in the April 2005 edition of Credenda Agenda.
http://www.credenda.org/issues/16-2childer.php which includes the following:

"Children who are not corrected and spanked when they need it know that
their parents are actually exhibiting a hatred of them (Prov. 13:24). This
is what Scripture teaches, and so we may safely assert it. But having done
so, we are also invited to taste the godly fruit of obedience in this. The
Scriptures are not true in a vacuum; they speak the truth to us, about us,
and concerning us. Whenever we obey, trusting God for the blessing, the
results are what the Bible promises to glad obedience. 

And this is why it is such a great delight to listen to spanking stories.
They are overwhelmingly characterized by joy, kindness, delight and
affection. It would be wonderful for someone to collect and publish them."

Rose Huskey

 



Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html


 




Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html

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