P is for... Pistol whipping nuns.

Feeling in a better mood now folks! You'll be pleased to know?!

Thought I'd get on with another post to try and make you all forget about the grouchiness of the last one... And since I've recently covered religion- I thought, why not go all out? So now I'm covering religion AND politics. American politics! Eeeeep! I am feeling brave.

I mean, it's all pretty relevant, what with the next presidential election coming up in November, and all this talk on policy and protests; my two favourite blogging subjects!

For this post, I am looking at the Republicans. Nuns and Republicans actually. What a combo! It's a tale of what happens when right-wing politics rubs extreme Catholicism up the wrong way. Potent! (Couldn't resist a sexual innuendo there!)


Now, if you haven't heard of this story before, then you would be forgiven for thinking me hyperbolic with what I am just about to say- but, I'M NOT BEING HYPERBOLIC! I can confirm that a Republican radio host said, LIVE ON RADIO last week, that nuns protesting the Republican budget should be 'pistol whipped'! Yes, you read that right- pistol whipped.

Let me give you a bit of background...

There are a group of Roman Catholic nuns who have decided to take a bus on a nine-state protest against proposed Republican policies. Basically, if you're not aware, there's been a bit of hype surrounding Paul Ryan's budget plan, as the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found it would have a massive negative impact on low income Americans. The budget favours the more affluent American, by offering substantial tax cuts to the rich.

There are sceptics who believe that the nuns are just doing this to disregard recent criticism from the Vatican, who launched a "massive crack down" in April on US nuns for their social activity and failure to attack things like gay marriage, female ordination, abortion... blah blah blah (I don't think it wise for me to get started on this subject). But the nuns are saying that's not the case, and that they just got the message (from God) that they were to show their dismay at Paul Ryan being such a bad catholic.

Anyway, the Republicans don't seem to be taking this very seriously (or perhaps they're taking it a little too seriously- I mean, how threatening can a group of nuns actually be?!), and it was during a radio interview with Republican Iowa representative Tom Latham, on the WHO's Mickelson show last week that Jan Mickleson declared that these nuns should be pistol whipped.

The whole radio clip is below, but if you can't be bothered to listen to it, the basic story is that Mickleson is greatly opposed to this nun protest and thinks they should be stopped. In the interview he casually asks Latham, "Do you guys, do you have any power to pull the nuns on the bus over and pistol whip them?", to which Latham then replies, "It's always fun to be on your show!" and the pair laugh together! What fun!

Mickleson also brings some metaphorical violence to the table, when he speaks of what the nuns have said about Paul Ryan: “They say he is evil, they say he is fake Catholic,”, “They’re the ones that threw the first punch.”- Probably says more about how he deals with things, doesn't it?



Anyway, I'm split on this one. I'm not a big fan of nuns. Neither do I care for Republican Americans. I obviously support the message the nuns are spreading in terms of the Republican policies being absurd, and that low income families should be given more of break. But I'm not particularly bothered about whether Paul Ryan is a "fake" Catholic or not, which I suspect is the real reason behind these protests. That, and their feelings of invincibility from the wealth of public support they received after their face-off with the Vatican. This being said, I don't really think they deserve to be pistol whipped for this, if I'm honest.

Now, if you are after my opinion on American politics, I think it's pretty obvious that I would set myself in the Democratic camp; but not being an American citizen, that is neither here nor there. If you don't know much about American politics (I'm not really sure why I do?!), here is a little look at a comparison of Democratic and Republican stances:





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Obviously it is for you to make up you own mind about politics, I am not trying to influence you, la la la... But this story really made me think about how much I disagree with A LOT of the Republican values. It's not actually that dissimilar to the Catholic religion: both inherently disagree with abortion... both quite adverse to homosexuality... both spend a lot of time talking about God...

I remember when I first started becoming interested in American politics, how surprised I was to learn that there are a huge number of celebrities who are very happy to publically associate themselves with, and support, the Rebpublicans. Here's a little look at some:


I mean, there are the obvious ones...





Mel Gibson

The Actor is widely perceived as a conservative Republican. Gibson is a Catholic. He released a statement in March 2005 condemning the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo, and has criticised stem cell research.














Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in 2003.












But there are loads more. Here's just a selection:








50 Cent

50 Cent once said, “I actually like Bush. In some ways, I’m the George W. Bush of hip hop– nobody likes me, but I’m still gonna run it for the next four years.”









Vince Vaughn

Vaughn was an outspoken supporter of Ron Paul's presidential candidacy both in 2008 and 2012.





Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

In 2000, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson did a speech at the Republican National Convention.



Sarah Michelle Gellar

Registered Republican.





Jessica Simpson

Simpson endorsed Bush in 2004.




Adam Sandler

Registered Republican and he donated $2,100 to Rudy Giuliani's 2008 Republican campaign.



Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper said, “When I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn’t already a George Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched.”



Britney Spears

In 2002 said, “Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes, and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”





Kelly Clarkson

Clarkson said, "I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican Party in 2012 he's got my vote. Too bad he probably won't."





Johnny Ramone

Registered Republican.









Anyway, that's just a few, there's a massive list of celebrities who are very open about their conservative Republican stance- others that I could mention being Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris and Kid Rock. But I'm not sure they're as much of a shock...!

I mean, perhaps this isn't at all news to you, and perhaps I am the only one who is surprised by the fact that celebrities are so open about their political views. Especially when they seem so archaic and not at all progressive, la la la... ;)

I guess one explanation of why Americans vote Repbulicans into power is because MORE THAN HALF of them have "no doubt" that God is real. According to a recent survey of international data conducted by sociologist Tom Smith, more than 60% of people in the United States when asked if they "know that God really exists and…have no doubt about it," 60.6% of Americans said "yes". Therefore, with that level of faith, it must be easy to place all your trust in a politician if they're making reference to God, who you have NO DOUBT is real and holds the ultimate power....

I guess we'll see what happens in November. Doesn't really matter who gets voted in anyway, as they're all just puppets of the Illuminati... JOKE ;)

I'd like to leave this post on a funny quote from Russel Brand actually, that summed up the last election for me:

'Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black President. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be President for eight years? We were very impressed. We thought it was nice of you to let him have a go because, in England, he wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors.'

Anyway, save myself getting into any (more) bother I'm going to end it there!

L.

UPDATE:

Nun's response: