McIlheran: Your Illness Is A Sin

Father Patrick McIlheran again climbs up on his podium to preach to the great unwashed masses.

The main premise of his sermon is that there has been a spike of HIV cases among black homosexual men because they are sinners.  In other words, he is saying that those people who contract HIV are only getting what they deserve.

How absolutely Pat Robertsonian of him.  If Westboro was a Catholic Church instead of a Baptist one, McIlheran would probably be applying for membership.

But to further his egregiousness, McIlheran just doesn't know when to stop and includes this:

... Most churches decry drunkenness, and isn’t that awfully mean? (Don’t even get me started on how many churches cruelly try suppressing any expression of drunkenness by offering AA chapters meeting space down in the basement hall!)
No, in fact, it isn’t mean to say drunkenness is wrong, or lying or gluttony or any of the rest. It is kind if you believe, as churches do, that sin does real and lasting damage to the sinner.

Considering that Alcohol Abuse (and Drug Abuse, for that matter) are considered to be mental illnesses, isn't it being particularly inappropriate to be condemning it?

It makes you wonder what McIlheran does during his free time.  I'd hate to think he takes field trips to the local hospital and patrol the cancer ward telling people that they are sinners.

Oh, The Horror Of It All

Yesterday, I had the misfortune of catching a part of Sykes' show. He was doing a bit about schools, one of his favorite targets for his hate.

To his credit, he didn't think that an elementary school having a spirit week, or as they call it "Wacky Week," was that big of a deal. I was pleasantly find to see him do that rare exercise of common sense.

Common sense, finding itself in a strange environment (Charlie's head), quickly vacated the area, and his usual nonsense kicked in.

He started complaining about some school in California (nice to know he's worried about local and state issues-he just never said which locality or state). His issue was that a school was preparing to have a Day of Silence in support of any lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students who are often bullied, intimidated and harassed by other students.

His issue wasn't with the act of support, per se, even though he did think that any student who wouldn't answer a question due to participating in the Day of Silence should receive some sort of consequence. Yeah, that makes sense. He must have been channeling Dad29.

Sykes' beef had to do with a teacher and a guidance counselor who were alerting other staff to the upcoming event, giving them suggestions on teaching plans that would allow them to continue with their lesson plans while working around the silence, and offering ribbons and T-shirts to those who wanted them. The ribbons were free and the cost of the shirts were $8, which sounds about the cost of just making the shirts and no profit included.

Sykes was complaining that this meant school officials were using their official positions to support this Day of Silence.

To which, I would say, "Yeah? So what?"

I think it would be a sign of a good teacher and a good counselor who would want to be in touch with their students. I don't see anything wrong with them also using this to teach the students how to respect themselves and each other. It highlights current events going on across the country at this very time, and I thought that was what schools were for: To teach.

He really has nothing to go on, except hatred. The counselor and teacher that sent out the letter he was complaining about, if nothing else, alerted other staff members that this was coming out. They were not making any money about it. They were supporting students. What is so freaking bad about that? That they might have used school letterhead. He is going to get himself all worked up for a few cents of paper?

Maybe Sykes is afraid that their won't be another Matthew Shepard. Or maybe he is afraid that the kids will learn tolerance. They will learn about respecting each other, and not hating someone because they're different. The kids will be learning about equality.

And then no one will grow up wanting to listen to his hate-filled dreck.

McBride Admits Her Views Are "Over The Line"

In yet another post about Iranian president Ahmedinijad's appearance at Columbia University, McBride gives the following quote:

There is no value in it. Some repugnant viewpoints don't deserve the legitimacy
accorded by such a forum. I acknowledge that defining viewpoints as "repugnant"
can be a slippery slope. But virulent anti-Semitism and homophobia of the sort
spouted by AhMADinejad should be obviously over the line. A society that has
lost the ability to recognize that fact is a society without an internal
compass.

By McBride distorting Ahmedinijad's name into a schoolyard taunt, she is practicing anti-Semitism, as all Arabs are also Semites. And McBride's homophobic tendencies are evidenced in her posts about Sen. Larry Craig.

Whallah recognizes the truth in that these types of views are over the line, and will continue to point them out until McBride finds her internal compass.