Society's Child
Pondering the comments of those who think Mitt Romney's religions is kooky and others aren't.
Two weeks ago, at the GOP's Values Voters Summit - also known as Lalaland-a-Palooza - Mitt Romney's faith was taken to task.
For whatever reason, Romney was scheduled to speak in the slot immediately before Bryan Fisher, a right-wing talk-radio host and spokesperson for the American Family Association.
Fischer's a raging mormophobe. He's the guy who famously declared that the First Amendment doesn't apply to Mormons, along with a spate of even more ludicrous and bigoted remarks that helped earn him a slot as a featured speaker at Lalaland-a-Palooza.
But the comments that made the headlines came during the introduction to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's speech.
"Only faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, qualifies you as a Christian," said Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Texas.
I always get a big yuck out of these mainstream-religion types who scoff at fringe religions as being preposterous, which is like junkies scoffing at tweakers for being addicted to a more damaging drug.
As much as Jeffress, Fischer and those who share their views would like to separate Christianity from Mormonism, the fact is, Mormons are Christians. This is not debatable.
A large force of police and bailiffs faced resistance from several dozen residents and supporters who threw bricks and struggled with officers at the Dale Farm site, set amid fields 30 miles east of London. One mobile home was set on fire as police moved in at dawn, and several protesters chained themselves to barricades with bicycle locks in a bid to slow down the evictions. Others scaled a 40-foot scaffolding tower, from which police began removing them one by one.
Essex Police said two protesters were Tasered and one person arrested and that police officers had been attacked with rocks and other missiles.

Activists confront police as they enter the site to begin evictions from Dale Farm travelers' camp near Basildon, England, on October 19. Travelers have fought for 10 years to stay on the former scrap yard site. The local authorities have been given the go-ahead to proceed with the eviction of illegal dwellings after rulings by the Court of Appeal.
Ankara, Turkey - Turkish security forces said they had killed 15 Kurdish militants and they also reportedly launched an incursion inside Iraq Wednesday, after Kurdish rebels killed 26 Turkish soldiers and wounded 22 others in multiple attacks along the border.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said revenge would be "very great" for the attacks in southeastern Turkey.
"No one should forget this, those that inflict this pain on us will endure far greater pain. Those that think they will weaken our state with these attacks or think they will bring our state into line, they will see that the revenge for these attacks will be very great and they will endure it many times over," Gul told reporters in Istanbul.
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and its Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu both cancelled foreign trips after the attacks, the deadliest strike on Turkish security forces in 18 years, Al Arabiya reported. Al Arabiya, citing the AFP, said that the PKK killed 33 unarmed soldiers in Bingol province in 1993.
The Kurdish rebels, who are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast, staged simultaneous attacks on military outposts and police stations near the border towns of Cukurca and Yuksekova early Wednesday.
The attacks left 26 soldiers dead and 22 others wounded, the Interior Ministry announced. It was the deadliest Kurdish rebel attack since 1992, according to a tally by NTV television.
Washington - A long-awaited showdown between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry erupted at Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate, in an occasionally personal battle between the two GOP heavyweights.
Romney and Perry sparred throughout the two-hour CNN/Western Republican Leadership Conference debate in Las Vegas, mostly overshadowing an early pile-on of Herman Cain and his "9-9-9" economic plan.
Perry called Romney a hypocrite, while the former Massachusetts governor retorted that the Texan was suffering from some recent rough debate outings. The body language of both turned visibly cool as they talked past one another at points.
The fireworks emerged halfway through the first hour of the debate, when Perry accused Romney of having hired illegal immigrants as landscapers at one of his homes. Perry has been looking to reverse a slide in the polls driven in part by poor debate performances.
"The idea that you stand here before us and talk about you're strong on illegal immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy," a more animated Perry said.
Romney denied ever having hired an illegal immigrant and heatedly insisted he have a chance to talk when the two bickered during Romney's response.
"This has been a tough couple of debates for Rick and I understand that, so you're going to get testy," Romney said, later adding: "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking."
Police clashed with protesters outside the Greek parliament on Wednesday, blanketing the centre of Athens in tear gas as they came under attack from firebombs during a massive demonstration against austerity.
An AFP reporter saw some 200 youths hurling themselves at a steel barricade erected outside the parliament building as the street protest of some 70,000 people converged on central Syntagma Square at the beginning of a two-day general strike.
A battle later broke out outside a row of luxury hotels on the square and a department store was vandalised as small groups of hooded and masked protesters broke away from the main demonstration.
A presidential guard sentry box was set on fire near the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Greece's foremost military monument that stands next to parliament, before police moved in to clear the area.
Police were also attacked in the second city of Thessaloniki, where the government's regional headquarters was assaulted by a group of 100 protesters throwing firebombs.
More pictures here.

Unite! A woman holds a flag during a protest against the global financial system outside St Paul's Cathedral
Thousands have descended on the area known as the Square Mile - under the banner 'Occupy the Stock Exchange' - for a 'peaceful protest' against the global financial system.
They had planned to take Paternoster Square, where the Stock Exchange is located, but police cordoned off the area prior to the protest.
A notice was put up stating the square is private property and access would be restricted. Police sources said a High Court injunction had been taken out to prevent members of the public from accessing the square.
The event kicked off at midday outside St Paul's Cathedral and initial reports on Twitter talked of an 'amiable' atmosphere.
Activists carried banners with slogans such as 'We are the 99%' and 'Bankers got a bailout, we got sold out'.
Among them was Lorena Fuentes, 27, a charity worker originally from Vancouver, Canada. She said: 'I'm here today because I can't see why you wouldn't be and I feel that this is one of the few moments in history where it's not a protest, it's an actual movement that's taken root.

Last stand: An activist holds aloft a crucifix in one hand and a mug of tea in the other as behind her the last of a caravan is burned to the ground
Protesters retaliated by hurling missiles at police who had fired Tasers when the eviction got underway at the rear of the illegal camp just after sunrise this morning. Talks that were going on at the front gate are thought to have been a police distraction.
Anarchists used motorcycle D-locks to chain themselves by the neck to ruined cars but police used their shields to barge protesters aside as they marched deeper into the site.
Electricity was cut and moments later a caravan was set alight, sending flames and thick black smoke into the air. After a 90-minute stand off the police made another push into the site at 9.25am and scaled the scaffolding at the entrance to the camp.
Battered by a slowing economy, a falling stock market and their customers' worries about a looming recession in Europe, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America reported Tuesday that they lost money on their core banking operations.
Bank of America was able to record a profit of $6.2 billion for the quarter, thanks to accounting gains and the sale of a large stake in a Chinese bank, which offset lower revenue and income in its credit card, real estate and investment banking businesses.
The deal also helped knock Bank of America off its perch as the largest U.S. bank by assets, which fell to $2.21 trillion in the quarter. The Charlotte, N.C., bank cedes bragging rights to rival JPMorgan Chase & Co., which reported total assets of $2.28 trillion.
Comment: What are we supposed to do? Feel sorry for them?! The poor banksters only have over 2,000 1 Billion dollar pile$ of money. How will Bank of America ever resume its perch? Inquiring minds want to know!
The slimming down reflects Bank of America's strategy of cutting costs and selling off businesses that don't fit into its simpler banking model. CEO Brian Moynihan told analysts Tuesday he had begun the process of a "strategic transformation of the company."
Comment: No doubt these corporate psychopaths will find it a real pleasure to write off all those 'losses' and have to pay little or no tax.
How long before the banksters are crying "stimulus" again?
There are no excuses that explain why nearly 20 people ignored a critically injured toddler and left her to die in China - but that hasn't stopped some of the passers-by from trying to dodge the blame.
The world united in grief yesterday as CCTV footage showed the horrific scenes as a two-year-old girl was twice run over in a narrow street and abandoned as she bled into the gutter.
Pictures show 18 people callously passed by little YueYue, who is now fighting for her life in critical condition following the incident in Foshan city in China's Guandong province.
Several schools announced that they will not have school on Wednesday after exotic animals escaped a Muskingum County animal farm.
The schools are: Maysville Local Schools, Zanesville City Schools, Foxfire Community Schools and West Muskingum Local Schools.
Police said they had shot at least 25 of at least 48 escaped exotic animals on Tuesday night.
Terry Thompson, the owner of the farm, was found dead outside of his home on the animal farm property.
Police said the fences had been left unsecured.
According to police, the animals escaped at about 6 p.m. from an animal farm near Kopchak Road.
Police would not comment on what animals escaped but said the animal farm did have lions, wolves, cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, camels, grizzly bears and black bears.
"It's been a bad situation for a long time and the last thing we want to do is to have any of our public hurt," said Muskingum Sheriff Matt Lutz. "No young kids should go outside tonight."
According to police, bears and wolves had been shot and killed.











Comment: Comical. In the dustbin of Politics we have non-debates, upside down 6-6-6, and a chance in the 2012 S-election to vote for Satan, Lucifer or the Devil. How does one look better if the only options are Evil, Greed, Lies, Corruption?