More America today, people. Facebook pal Joe Ferraro sends a story about a Catholic church's carnival game that has contestants shooting darts at a black man holding health care legislation and wearing the presidential seal for a belt buckle. Barack Obama, mayhaps?
The owner of "Alien Attack" tells the Lehigh Valley paper:
"Yes, a woman talked to me about it," [Irvin L. Good, Jr.] said Tuesday. "She said she was offended by it. I said if you are, you might want to be. But you're interpreting it as being Obama. We're not interpreting it as Obama. The name of the game is 'Alien Leader.' If you're offended, that's fine, we duly note that."
The priest at our Lady of Mount Carmel says he learned of the game only afterward, when a parishioner complained, and that he'd have stopped it had he known about it.
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Isolated incidents of racist behavior? I don't think so. I do think that the President is very wisely ignoring all this crap as much as possible; I am sure he expected a backlash and that the nasties would come out from under their rocks again to stir up fear and trouble. What I don't think anyone expected was how interrelated the racist/anti-semitic/anti-immigrant crazies are with the entrenched, wealthy, white, (mostly) male GOP power structure...and how closely these are influenced by various fundamentalist Christian sects in America. It's an unholy alliance that isn't making anything better and seems to be actively making things worse.
... Don't forget to add anti-Gay homophobes and anti-Secularists/non-Christians to the list.
This is what you'd expect with Fox lies dominating the airwaves and all the religious nut cases eating up every lie Fox psuhes.
Amen to that.
"We're not interpreting it as Obama"??? you're kidding me!! it doesn't take a geek to figure who that cutout is. Only idiotic morons would say it aint obama. what is wrong with this church?!! i dont think any religious books inked this sorta behavior. sad & pathetic morons pretending to be church-going people.
While I'm not normally a great fan of Catholicism, I believe the priest would have stopped it, had he known. It's certainly just as bad for the moron who put it up, thinking it was a good idea, though.
So many christians are sociopaths, and I don't even think they realize it. I've heard many, many christians expressing their satisfaction with the "knowledge" that "god doesn't care about nonbelievers, and is sending them all to hell to burn for eternity" and they never stop to wonder why it's okay to serve a dictator who would do such a thing to people for the singular crime of having a brain and using it. If these same people, who serve so blindly, were told that all [insert race here] were the devil's beasts and should be destroyed, they'd do it without question, as history proves. Which is why I find that shooting "game" so disturbing..
Sorry if this posts twice was having computer issues.
I was raised in an Orthodox Roman Catholic family and went to Catholic School all the way until I graduated. You've just described the one point of hypocrisy that I could never wrap my head around and still can't all these years. If the God that (some) religions teach were an actual person, let's call him Bob for simplicity, you would not want to be around that guy. Think about it- he had a bazillion kids entirely because he wanted them to worship him and give him attention. He then created a guidebook of rules for the kids to follow and if one of those kids breaks his rules, that kid is punished by having his home taken away, being beaten, being starved, living a life of unrest, or even killed. And Bob isn't content with that either. The kids that do follow him he convinces to kill other people's children. Or just torture them. Why should Bob care? His children need the space and those other people's children have the audacity to follow the parental instructions of someone who is not Bob. I'll admit I'm probably being overly cynical, but herein this church is representing what I've never been able to comprehend. "Step right up and enjoy the fabulous sermons preaching to the almighty Bob and while you're at it, kill some infidels!"
Very nice post. I too was raised as a Catholic and despise the religion but I would like to offer this. It wasn't the Catholic church that created that game but one whacked-out member of the congregation.
It is so disheartening that so many millions are brain-washed by organized religions. Sad, indeed.
WOW, what a wonderful sentiment and statement you have so aptly typed up and put out on the World Wide Web!!!! I have simply put in brackets the opposite of what you have written so that you and everyone else on this page may read it. ENJOY!!!!! So many [MUSLIMS]christians are sociopaths, and I don't even think they realize it. I've heard many, many [MUSLIMS]christians expressing their satisfaction with the "knowledge" that "god doesn't care about nonbelievers, and is sending them all to hell to burn for eternity" and they never stop to wonder why it's okay to serve a dictator who would do such a thing to people for the singular crime of having a brain and using it. If these same people, who serve so blindly, were told that all [CHRISTIANS][insert race here] were the devil's beasts and should be destroyed, they'd do it without question, as history proves. Which is why I find that shooting "game" so disturbing..
The heartbreaking part of this is that the people who believe and create this type of abomination look like normal people we interact with every day. Imagine all the children at that carnival who were being taught such an ugly lesson. I think that Priest should have raised hell when he found out...I hope the percentage of the parishoners who actually follow Christ's message make a real issue that causes that guy to cease and desist and causes the parishoners to assess their true values.
Now that's just tacky. We would not be surprised if this was one of any number of fundamentalist baptist evangelical churches. What's surprising is that its a Catholic church. In any case it stinks. And to threaten ANY president is a federal crime. Where's the secret service on this?
That's my thought Don, where IS the Secret Service on this?
Seems to me there is a collective of crazy behavior building to an exploding point that is going to be a part of what our children know of America and what it means to live here.
Duckin' the crazies has already become an art form if you ride the train everyday in Los Angeles, but that is typically the outwardly obvious crazy. What of the silent but deadly groups? There should be a mandatory class for students to learn to spot these folks and steer clear of the groups or the individuals. Having said that, what of the children growing up with the values of these hate mongers? Do decent people even have a chance anymore?
Me two - where is the SS? It is illegal to threaten the president of the U.S. It also seems since President Obama has taken office death threats towards him have increases so greatly that they have now formed a secret 'Presidential Threat Task Force' within the FBI to gather, track, and evaluate assassination threats....sick.
Quoting from a source: 'The task force operates within the FBI’s National Security Branch. It consists of 20 representatives from pertinent agencies, including agents from the FBI and Secret Service and operatives from the CIA, the NSA, and the Defense Department, as well as analysts.'
At a minimum, shouldn't the local police Dept. be down there documenting, interviewing, and admonishing (at a minimum) these morons...
Funny because the fact that it was a Catholic Church doesn't surprise me one bit.
Actually the game was made by Goodtime Amusements, which is a Lehigh Valley amusement company that creates & rents and even operates "games and equipments".
I'm from the Lehigh Valley - it's sickening and embarrassing - but it does not surprise me. In this area, most know the KKK areas...Roseto is one. I remember back in the early 80's KKK being spray painted on St. Anthony's church and a few spots, including my neighbor, a Catholic family owned funeral home that catered to all the Lebanese families in the LV area.
Lately, I definitely have noticed the increase in racism and just plain outright hatred of non-whites and non-christians...and any kind of immigrant.
Imagine the uproar if some church in SF had done something similar in 2003...set up a carnival booth that depicted a guy looking suspiciously like Bush, wearing a cowboy had and holding a declaration of war against Iraq in one hand, and participants could pay to shoot him. Rush and the gang would have been apoplectic, and protestations that "It isn't meant to be Bush" would have been brushed aside.
Maybe libs need to fight fire with fire. Let's see a carnival where you get a chance to shoot at a female figure wearing glasses and saying "You Betcha". But it's not Palin, you know?
Uffdaguy, regarding post #7:
I don't think that stooping to their level would be helpful, better to call them out on their America Hating Racist Bull-Sh!t.
I was going to try to reach TRMS to ask you to be sure to include this story in your show tonight. Of course, you are one step ahead of me.
This blows my mind. It demonstrates how far our behavior has fallen as a civil society. This is a fundraising summer carnival for a Catholic Church. They have them all over the country at every parish every summer. I remember them well from my childhood. I can't even imagine playing a game that involved trying to kill the President.
Of course, in my childhood it actually happened, JFK was shot and killed and we were all traumatized because of it. What has happened to us?
From the article: "When it was suggested the health bill and presidential seal might lead players to believe the game did depict Obama, Good [president of Goodtime Amusements] said, 'You may be right there.' "
What has happened to us? Well, for one thing we never did find out who killed Kennedy and the nation has been living a lie ever since. Same people who did it engineered 9/11 and they're still in charge.
mjq5683 #5 No, they're not normal people. I'm with Chris Matthews when he said some weeks ago that he knows where this kind of thing might lead. And, as someone who has the traumatic memory of being informed in Catholic School 3rd grade that President Kennedy had been shot and killed, I find this carnival item very, very offensive.
Btw, kudos to the TRMS staff for putting on such an informative show every night. We appreciate it! It looks so relaxed on-air, but such an undertaking couldn't possibly be easy on a regular basis. If I were in charge of things, every day would resemble that moving company commercial, where the furniture is on fire and people are chasing rampaging racoons with brooms!
I think Obama is being set up for an assassination if he does not fully cooperate with the plans of the racist Anglo-American imperial cabal that is actually running the country. Currently the color of his skin is giving them cover for their operations, but sooner or later his usefulness will be over. He must be starting to realize this.
Tony, he has been set up for assasination since day one. He could pass every piece of legislation that repubs want, and there'd still be that racist right wing faction that would still want him dead for having the temerity of being president while black. I for one hope he makes it through two full terms safely, and lives to a ripe old age to write his memoirs.
Uffdaguy you are right about that not to mention he getting WAY more death threats than Presidents before him.
Dave Chappelle said it best, he said if he were to become the 1st Black President of the United States, he would have to get himself some insurance to deter his assassination.....he would have a Mexican-American as his Vice President! You know what will happen and that would drive those Right-wing parasites into a crazier state than they are now! :)
"We're not interpreting it as Obama. The name of the game is 'Alien Leader.' If you're offended, that's fine, we duly note that."
Hmmm, even if you named the game 'Bill Clinton', I'd still think it was Obama. Game Name Fail.
Even the name is a swipe at Obama, and a tip of the hat to the Birther crowd. They would describe Obama as an alien because they still believe he wasn't born here.
Yeah good point. Didn't even think of that.
They're describing him as an alien because that's one of the crazy stories coming from the fearmongerers lately. Great timing--to play on these paranoias now--with the popular remake of the TV series "V" feeding the ideas of the mentally ill/drunks/druggies.
That is just plain wrong! To say they aren't interpreting it as Obama is such a bunch of hooey!
These idiots need a nice visit from the Secret Service, along with a good public shaming. It's one thing to protest against something you feel is wrong, it's quite another to encourage violence towards our president.
Off topic, but I've little time. I'm hoping Ms. Maddow will research David Lawrence and his opposition of the 14th Amendment.
Ya can someone explain that to me?
The 14th Amendment is the one granting citizenship to anyone born here. The GOP is trying to get it reversed so that children born here to parents who are undocumented won't be citizens.
I thought lying was a sin. Conservatives claim that our laws are based upon the Ten Commandments. It did take a movie of the same name to put stone monuments to the Decalogue in front of courthouses across the US as a publicity stunt, however.
I'm sure everyone was "shocked, shocked" that there was presidential assassination type gambling (well, sort of) going on at their fundraiser, so it's not a lie, right?
By everyone, I think you mean the naive.
So, somebody wearing the Presidential Seal, and with a health bill under his belt, is linked by Irvin L. Good, Jr. to the title "Alien Leader" ... uh-huh.
What I find interesting is that the early version of this article includes a poll. I'll link below. The poll asks, Do you find a shooting game in which the president is targeted offensive? Currently, the vote is 69% yes. That poll is now missing from the express-times home page and on later versions of the article.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2010/08/post_47.html
I don't care if it's right of center or left of center, it's wrong. Disagreeing over points of
view is one thing. Demeaning humanity is another.
Republicans like to point out that democrats voted against the civil rights and voting rights acts. True, they did. And when Lyndon Johnson signed them into law, they promptly left the Democratic party and were duly welcomed by the Republican party.
Republicans who have pilloried democrats for showing too much tolerance for democratic wrongdoing, have exercised little of that same outrage at their fellow republicans for
comparable wrongdoing.
I'm equal opportunity here. Wrong is wrong. I would be as angry and embarrassed to
be associated with a racist democrat as I would a racist republican.
Sly Stone said it best years ago...
"Don't call me n.... whitey. Don't call me whitey, n....."
Diversity. It simply means that we are different. We all bring something to the table
that makes the end result BETTER for the difference.
Some of us are having a real hard time with that. I'd rather look out a window than
in a mirror.
This pretty much explains the political futures of Armstrong Williams, Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton, Shirley Chisholm, etc.
I'd like to see an independent bi-racial Native American-Latino, divorced, lesbian, atheist, anti-death penalty, pacifist president.
Then, after that, a gun-toting, conservative, bi-racial jewish chinese-indian pro-life, free market republican president.
Maybe then we could get past the stereotypes and begin to accept each other for who and what we are.
It's certainly the direction we're going in - like it or not.
Mike,
That sounds good, in theory, but just remember that God loves stupid. Look around you. He certainly made a lot of them, and they tend to lean to starboard.
Call me hypocritical, but I'd drop $50 right now for baseballs to throw at a Dunk Mitch McConnell attraction at a carnival.
It would be totally cool to dunk Cheney... I'd pay $100
Instead of feigning ignorance and denying allegations, I hope they take down the carnival installation and for once accept responsibility for allowing it there.
Does a Catholic church really need to have a "shoot the person" themed attraction in their carnival? Seems to me there are other, more positive messages to deliver to their fellow residents in light of motivators for fund raising in an all-ages friendly environment.
The person(s) in charge of event themes should really spend some time considering healthier installations for their carnivals especially if they expect children and families to attend.
Catholic carnivals aside, it is wrong in general for the hate it represents. Resembling the president makes it worse but the fact that it represents and encourages the ideology and acceptance of violence against a black person or any person, should be obvious enough of a reason not to have it there in the first place.
I remember when church was a place of peace where you could worship without judgement. You just came no phones, no mail, leave your troubles at the door. Be in a neutral place just you and god. Whether it be during a service or just empty it was a safe haven. Why do politics have to even play a part in church. It doesn't. It should be neutral. I don't think anyone should live their spiritual life based on a political party affilition. Thank god no pun intended that god knows better if you are a believer. God only knows your heart man is what spreads evil. It's just disturbing to see evil speading within the churches so much. Just remembering the good old days when a pastor would say are you a believer in an almighty then go from there. Now it is are you a Christian Republican or a socialist Liberal. What a world.
If they are engaging in politically loaded activities such as these, maybe its time to revisit the whole tax exemption thing, yeah?
Wow, that church is converting me from an Agnostic to a True Believer. I always thought that the Devil, Satan, was made-up in order to keep people on the straight and narrow. But now it seems to me that there really is a Devil, and it is them.
I guess if you believe in the gospels, you think you are going to wind up in heaven after you die, no matter how evil you act while alive. And whoever had the idea of that church carnival game is an expert on evil. But I'll bet he thinks he's a hoot.
*going from agnostic to atheist"
An on-going poll at the Easton Express-Times which broke the story shows that readers are offended by/opposed to such a carnival game in which pistols with darts are aimed at the Obama figure by 70% to 30%. That's encouraging.
Unfortunately, no civic leader from the Big Time has used this opportunity to remark on the current divisveness and hatred raging in America today. Roseto PA was founded by immigrant Italians around the start of the last century and they faced considerable nativist antagonism for many years after they arrived to work in the slate mines.
Blatant slander and racism, in my opinion. Unbelievable.
Is it different than burning a political leader in effigy...?
Which also shouldn't happen at a church affair.
We haven't had presidents burned alive. However we havd had presidents shot to death.
All of this nonsense, every little bit of it is happening because President Obama is black! Disgraceful, disgusting and un-American..............................
Sorry to say this... but he isn't black. He is a person of mixed race.
Does that mean he's being racially targetted twice?
LogicalAbsurdity, being of mixed race is definitely black enough for a lot of people. I totally agree that most of the opposition to Obama seems to stem at least in part to the fact that some still can't deal with the fact we've got a president who is "of color" (at least halfway, anyway). We're so used to white men being in charge here, many of us are just not ready for things to change.
If it makes any difference, I think a lot of people in our country would be just as freaked out if a woman were elected president. We tend to run a wee bit behind the times in social matters here.
He's black "enough" for the GOP.