Beating Some Sense Into the Non-Golden Rule Talibangelicals

On Christianity, Fundamentalism, Spanking, and What Constitutes Child Abuse

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" . . the fundamentalist view of humanity is such that humans are viewed as sinful and hell-bound by nature. This rebellion must be addressed. The best way to save one’s child from hell is by “beating the hell out of him or her.”

In Grevens’ Spare the Rod: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse (1991) the notion of using physical abuse to “break the child’s will” is explored. It is the parental responsibility to break the will so that the child will conform to the parent’s wishes, thereby learning obedience to God.

How much force must be applied?

Most fundamentalist commentators state that the parent must remain fairly emotionless and turn a deaf ear to the protests of the child.

[Thus engendering numbing and avoidance in the the parents, btw, a classic symptom of PTSD.]

The child must be struck repeatedly until s/he begins crying profusely, for that is the sign of a broken will—the objective of striking the child in the first place.

Grevens demonstrates through much anecdotal evidence that the whole notion is fraught with difficulties. . . .Citing examples of well-known Christians reflecting on their childhood, a picture emerges of children waiting during the “cooling off” period, making deals with God, and pleading with God that they would not be beaten again.

As for the love part, Ruth Wilkerson Harris (sister of evangelist David Wilkerson) in her book, It was Good Enough for the Father: The Story of the Wilkerson Family (1969), recounts how the Wilkerson children, had to face the “humbling” of embracing their father after a beating and saying, “I love you Daddy. Forgive me for disobeying.”

[Thus teaching the important lesson that people who love you get to hit you and hurt you.]

Capps, in Religion and Child Abuse: Perfect Together (JSSR, 1992), points out that this mixture of anger, pain, beating, and love is very confusing to children.

[No, really?]

They likely come to view the ritual as a pain filled affair necessary to gain the parent’s love. They must surely long for a love that might, someday, be unconditional, with no beatings attached.

[or -- they might go the way of -- Vitter?]

They plead for God to deliver them. God doesn’t. As much anecdotal evidence indicates, as adults, such children do not thank God that they had a parent willing to inflict physical punishment on them and many grow up with a very confused image of God. They have been taught that God is all-powerful, yet God did not rescue them when they pleaded with God for mercy."

Hands up everyone who perceives the relevance of the non-golden rule Talibangelical presence in the military to the government-sanctioned sadism at Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, CIA black sites?

Times R Tough: Let's Cut Back Our Social Infrastructure, Yep, The Same Social Infrastructure That Is Totally Inadequate At Present

Well, hey, it's true: times are tough.

FL: FL man arrested for child abuse:

Deputies say the report alleged that Joseph P. Gariano had shoved a juvenile victim to the ground and held her face in a puddle of urine as punishment for urinating on the floor.

There are also allegations that Gariano submerged another juvenile victim underwater in a bath tub because he was angry that the child was crying.

MA Foster mom burns 4 y. o. boy's face with hair iron, retains custody of her bio kids.

NY: 5 month old in critical condition

Police say they have charged the girl's father, Scott Archbold, 41, (above left) with causing the injuries including multiple bone fractures, internal bleeding and signs of prior abuse. Christina Benjamin, (above right) the infant's mother, has been charged with child endangerment for allegedly failing to get the child medical attention after the infant's grandmother suspected the abuse.

(What was that the Bushist fascists were saying about how every kid needs a mommy and a daddy?)

MA: 9. y.o. boy beaten so badly that "it looked like he he had been punched likes a boxer after a vicious fight."

AL: Foster Dad arrested for rape first-degree, torture, willful child abuse.

But just because times are tough, it doesn't mean we can't support government-forced maternity and random parenthood, can it? It's not as if we're unable to care for the post-born kids we already have, is it? Oh dear I'm repeating myself?

Read Arthur Silber's Post.

I'm swamped in rl right now.

But read my fellow Alice Miller fan, Arthur Silber,
here.


(and please send Arthur some really nice thing like, well, money.)

Your Tax Dollars at Work: Pushing Fundie Sexist Christ-ist Propaganda Instead of Treating PTSD

This is infuriating.

I don't have time to address it fully now, but it's so wrong across so many dimensions . . . feh.

Brainwashing "Purpose-Driven Airmen."

GOP Pushes Random Parenthood, Government-Forced Maternity

GOP slags evil Dem plan to help plan pregnancies; promotes virtuous GOP plan to fill world with more unwanted children, thus helpfully providing fodder for abuse, neglect, and (of course) cannons.

Dems waffle. Dems caving. Dems cave.

Red China Brown-Noses Dirty Bush!!

Do Not Undo Bubble Boy's Glorious Legacy!!, China begs.

Supporting the Right to Random Parenthood

Here's a cheery link: Economy Goes Down, Abortion Goes Up.

Oh golly.

What a surprise.

But get this: besides being for government-forced maternity, some rightwingers are militating against contraception! (Yes, let's return to the last century, shall we?) No really, they are.

Why would we ever want to plan our families?

Who cares if we can't care for the kids we breed? We're helping the economy by birthing more consumers who'll, you know, consume!

It's like an email I got today from constant reader Muffy:

louk, look NBFH when I cooke sundae dinnner i dont plan ahead do i. i just grab random stuff from th shelf and slap it all in a bowell & mebbe bakke it orr miccrowaqvve or evn iron it.

its just like whateverrr arises, thats kewl, u nko?

whuts rong witth thatt anyhow all yu smartypantsis wi/ yr pansy "recipp es." faugh. jusst get overr it.

Hat-tip to Muffy's Blog for Random Parenthood.

I Don't Know What to Call This Post. Oh, how about: We Can't Care for the Children We Already Have, part 2

Colorado Springs: Father arrested for causing traumatic brain injury to his 14-month-old child.

"The fiancee said she saw the 6-foot-5, 285-pound Terry hit the child more than 50 times since October, the affidavit said, and squeeze the child's head, causing the couple to fear she had a concussion."

North Carolina: Babysitter shakes 10 month old baby; infant in critical condition. Later, baby dies.

Stockton, California: Bio Dad's GF booked on suspicion of torture, child abuse, child abuse resulting in death of a 3 year old girl.

Utah: Man shakes GF's 1 year old son, causing brain injury and permanent partial blindness; judge gives perp one year.

Redding, CA: Father & Mother Arrested For Physical Abuse of their Seven Children.

Maryland: Man charged with murder, abuse in death of 2 year old.

All I have to do to find these cases is Google: "child abuse" "news." Every day there are more stories.

This is what is out there. This is what actual people are doing to their actual kids, their significant others' kids, the kids they're babysitting. Social awareness & adequate preventive infrastructure? Nah. Not so much.

Anyhow, here's the pick of the day:

American Fork, Utah: Father faces murder trial in death of his 4 month old infant daughter

The medical examiner's report [on the child] details numerous skull fractures, blood on the brain, a lacerated kidney and blood in the lining of the abdomen, with the ultimate cause of death being blunt force injuries to the head, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said.

Provo police detective Mark Petersen testified that during an interview with Gardea, he confessed to punching Jasmin in the head and torso, hard enough that had he been hit that hard, it would have knocked him unconscious, said Buhman.

Sorry about all this. I'll try to write something perky next time.

Send Arthur Silber, Fine Blogger, Some Dough

Here.

And Now for Something Completely Like Other Disturbing True Storiez

Daddy chains daughter to bed.

"She was indeed chained to her bed and shackled by her right ankle," the report states, noting that she was found "emotionally distraught and crying uncontrollably."

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said the accusations against the 53-year-old father are some of the most egregious he's seen in child abuse cases.

"While I've seen terrible things done to children, this tops most," Roger said Tuesday.

Mommy's boyfriend breaks one-year old's leg.

Mommy gets probation for failure to stop child abuse of her child by her boyfriend involving bite marks, bruises, burns, and broken ribs.

Parents on trial for for reckless endangerment in death of 11 year old daughter because their religious beliefs prevented them from taking her to a doctor.

Mommy's BF beats 5th grader to death; child protective services had been warned, but deemed the child "not at imminent risk." Well, oopsie.

While we're talking about restoring the US physical infrastructure, let's put some energy into social infrastructure, eh? For a change. Oh, except that in my state, a blue state with a Democratic governor, they've just fired (oh 'laid off') case management support for people who are psychotic and actively suicidal. Well, that's a good idea. And they're cutting dwon session auths for outpatient services -- while behavioral symptoms (child abuse & neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse, crime) are going UP. Oh, and child protective service workers are seeing twice the recommended caseload. No biggie.

Hey, it's hard times. People just need to deal with their feeeeeelings, no?

O Frabjous Day!!

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" he chortled in his joy.

Now remember, boys and girls: if you don't put aside your negative future projections just for the day, then the Bushist fascist terrorists win!

No no. Just kidding.

No threats.

But a little positive outlook just for the hell of it wouldn't come amiss.


Please click on, listen to, and most of all, enjoy Steely Dan's "Change of the Guard."

And if you're not going to an actual Inaugural Ball, you are cordially invited to attend the virtual Inaugural Ball in Second Life. It's carbon-footprint free. There are celebratory events going on all day. Just need a computer with a graphics card.) See "Celebrating the Inauguration on Your Computer" at The General's.

Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey --- Good-BYE!!

The Original Version. Well worth a listen.

Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey --- Good-BYE!! Parrty in SL. Inauguration Party Coming Right Up

More info at Jesus' General's "Celebrating the Inauguration on Your Computer.".

"What's In a Name? A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell --- " Um, like Torture?

No, Mikey, let's SO not call a spade a spade.

Let's keep throwing obfuscatory Orwellian propaganda-spin-chaff-labels around and see if anyone will notice.

Or if anyone will even mind.

So far so good, after all. The real problem is -- gay marriage! And a horrid failure to fill the universe with more and more unwanted children!

MukaseyCites Risk in Using Term 'Torture'.

(At this, NBFH, in a very unladylike manner, spits.).

No, no risk in torturing.

Truth-telling? Whoa, now that's risky business!


Question from non-media-whore media Foreign Press: Uh, Meester Mukasey, Meester Bush, Meester Rumsfeld, Colonel Geoffrey Meeller, een your Eenglish language, how you say "consciousness of guilt"?

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What Was That the Bushist Fascists Were Saying About How Every Kid Needs a Mommy & a Daddy?

Not when Mommy and Daddy's parenting style comes right from Abu Ghraib.

Who Would Mormon Jesus Gay-Bash? Um, Gays. Well, Super-Funding CA's Prop 8 Doesn't Count As Gay-bashing, Does It? Oh Wait. Sure It Does.

Bush: Never Having to Say He's Sorry

Sydney morning Herald: Bush admits mistakes but is unapologetic.

No really. He's not?

Down With The Pussy Christ!

Seattle preacherboy Mark Driscoll: pls. deeply enjoy NY Times story of testosterone-deficient loudmouth sexist fascist self-described Calvinist dude (with big-time personal castration issues) pimping way kewl ever so un-girly-manly Sexist Fascist Jesus.

"What really grates [on Driscoll] is the portrayal of Jesus as a wimp, or worse.

Paintings depict a gentle man embracing children and cuddling lambs.

Hymns celebrate his patience and tenderness.

The mainstream church, Driscoll has written, has transformed Jesus into 'a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,' a 'neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture.'"

Sarah Palin: Waaay Terrored by Blogtopia!!

Sarah Palin is angry. And Sarah Palin is scared. Apparently Sarah Palin was assassinated by the media and blogtopia, and now, she's LASHING OUT!

Now I thought it was Hillary Clinton who got assassinated by the media and blogtopia, but hey, I could be wrong.

Poor thing. Poor poor Palin.

One does feel Palin's pain.

One feels her moose's pain, too. Ok her caribou. Moose, caribou, what-everrr.

Its dead now.


------------
Skippy coined it.

Bushist Fascists to Vets: It's All In Your Heads, Suckers!

No purple hearts fer vets with post-traumatic stress disorder.

No wounds. No actual wounds, you see. It's sort of like waterboarding. No wounds there, either. No biggie.

Oh, except there are wounds generally speaking after one shoots oneself in the head in the process of committing suicide. So wouldn't that count? Wouldn't count if you just take pills, though. And what about wounds inflicted on other people by people with PTSD? Would those wounds count as wounds, ya think?

Suicide Attempts Jump for Vets by 500% In Five Years and Government Ignores It.

Bush
Vets with PTSD
Vets and suicide

US Child Abuse du Jour

Here's a Texas couple who managed to break the bones of their 8 week old infant.

Rudy Arismendez and Olga Arteaga were charged with Injury to a Child after doctors discovered numerous fractures on the child's body, according to police.

Police got involved when Arteaga took her daughter to Scott and White Hospital in Temple where doctors called police and Child Protective Services.

Temple Police say Arismendez abused the girl a number of times, causing severe damage to her body.

"It's very hard to break the bones of a newborn," said Temple Police Sergeant Brad Hunt. "They're very limber. They're bones are not developed in any way so it takes a lot of trauma, a lot of force to do damage."

And another very special present from Preznit Toad-Exploder: As Economy Worsens, Child Abuse Cases on the Rise.

Panetta: Anti-Torture American

Why are we even having this discussion?

What is wrong with the pro-torture crowd, anyhow?

Screws loose? Child abuse?

"Obama Picks Anti-Torture Chief for CIA" at Mother Jones.

More Hubris: Of the "Let's Ram Our Mistaken Views About Reality Down the Throats of Those Who Don't Adhere to Our Mistaken Views" Variety

I know, I know, I'm running out of patience.

So sue me.

In the meantime, the Random Parenthood crowd continues to support the notion that having a kid is just no biggie, it's just like picking up an extra carton of milk at Seven/Eleven.

So let's hear it for Government-Forced Maternity!

After all, it's not as if Unwanted Children grow up to be abused and neglected, is it?

oh well right they do. ummm.

And it's not as if Unwanted Children who are abused and neglected go on to endanger themselves and others by becoming drug addicts, violent criminals, murderers, and serial killers, is it?

oh well right they do. ummm.

oh well.

ummmm. yeah ok so abortion lowers the crime rate. lets ram our mistaken views about reality down the throats of everyone else because we just are selfish arrogant pigses?

Lots of Blood for Lots of Hubris

"With this level of self-regard, it’s no wonder that Bush could remain undeterred as he drove the country off a cliff. The smugness is reinforced not just by his history as the entitled scion of one of America’s aristocratic dynasties but also by his conviction that his every action is blessed from on high. Asked last month by an interviewer what he has learned from his time in office, he replied: “I’ve learned that God is good. All the time.”

Once again he is shifting the blame. This presidency was not about Him. Bush failed because in the end it was all about him."

Frank Rich.

$4K Deadbeat Dad Kills His 2 y.o. Kid

"I'm sorry about killing my baby. I had a whole bunch of reasons," Danny Platt said.