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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>(Apologies in advance if this appears twice – the original
send seems to have disappeared into cyberspace around 3:30 PM, something
I’ve noticed more and more of since Adelphia became Time
Warner/Roadrunner.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hi Keely & Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Thanks for your comments and for bringing the newest Kirk pack
of lies to light.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Not everyone is familiar with Wilson’s blog, so
here’s a link to the post in question:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a
href="http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=4678&Data=3003#posts">http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=4678&Data=3003#posts</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Once again, Wilson is counting on the adage, “If you tell
a lie – or in this case, a pack of lies – enough times, people will
believe it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I like to think this community is too smart to fall for that old
trick, but given some of the comments I’ve seen here in the Viz from
otherwise intelligent folks, it seems my optimism might be a tad bit . . . too
optimistic </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;
color:#1F497D'>L</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>But, again, Wilson depends on folks being <b>willing </b>to
swallow his lies and spin hook, line, and sinker </span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D'>L</span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>
For me, the question remains <b>why</b> so many people are so willing to
swallow such a load of bull?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Saundra Lund<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good
people to do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>~ Edmund Burke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2007
through life plus 70 years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt,
or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written
permission of the author.*****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>keely emerinemix<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Sunday, October 28, 2007 9:44 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Vision2020] Wilson on "religious bigotry"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Visionaires,<br>
<br>
I can't help but comment on the irony of Moscow's most well-known bigot calling
for the defeat of City Council incumbents Ament, Lamar, and Pall on the basis
of "religious bigotry." One would expect that anyone as
familiar with the practice of true bigotry as Christ Church Pastor Doug Wilson
would hesitate to elevate mere neophytes to the masterful status he himself as
reached, but his "Blog and Mablog" shamelessly instructs his Moscow
readers to do the right thing simply by voting against the incumbents, who,
Wilson says, deserve defeat because of their orchestrated campaign of unfair
treatment of his flock.<br>
<br>
Wilson is indeed a man of many contradictions. He denies that he is a
racist, an unabashedly sexist patriarch, a virulent homophobe, and an
unnecessarily divisive, bitter presence in our community, and yet consistently
demonstrates more fluency in the language of bigotry than in the language of
the Gospel. He is an affluent, powerful and greedy consumer of white,
Calvinistic male privilege and all it offers, and nonetheless bleats the
wailing lament of the truly persecuted when the marketplace of ideas rejects
his. Appearance is everything to this Oxfordian pretender and hearty man
of chest, and yet little of his public persona and behavior can be taken at
face value. His blog is a proper venue for his political counsel; I
couldn't possibly care less if he preaches politics from his pulpit, as I
understand Christ Church has chosen to not take advantage of the tax-exempt
status afforded houses of worship. It's not the platform from which he
speaks that angers me. It's the continued "running with
scissors" approach to community engagement that I object to every time I
see tales of woe cut from whole cloth while shards of truth flutter impotently
to the ground. It seems not too much to ask that Moscow's most
well-known pastor simply deal with the issues head-on, acting with integrity
and honor, and his position as well as the public nature of his Blog, even if
intended for his followers only, requires that he avoid even the appearance of
deception. <br>
<br>
But deception often exists long before out-and-out lying ever makes an
appearance. Counting on the desire of his flock to prove themselves
worthy of his approval, and taking advantage of their belief in his
unassailable wisdom coupled with a heavy dose of political naivete, Wilson
exhorts his congregants and supporters to remember that all of the incumbents
are anti-religious, anti-Kirk bullies. Families peppered with the demands
of young children and busy schedules no doubt appreciate the helpful mnemonic
he's devised to help them remember the right way to vote. Simply combine
"Lamar" with "Ament" and you get -- oh, this is goooood! --
"LAMENT." (An aside -- one wonders why he didn't go whole hog
here by suggesting that a liberal council would be a "PALL" on the
City of Moscow . . . ). His helpful voter's guide then lists several
instances of "religious bigotry" that he insists spews forth from the
incumbents. The list includes, of course, Aaron Ament's regrettable
"Education-free zone" and "Androids" comments regarding New
St. Andrews, and then continues with the NSA-in-the-CBD boondoggle and a host
of lesser-known offenses that together make a compelling case for a wholesale
clean sweep in City Hall. That is, if they were founded in truth and
integrity. <br>
<br>
They're not.<br>
<br>
Wilson and I agree that Ament's remarks were intemperate.
"Poorly-chosen," if you want to be polite.
"Stupid," if you don't. Where Wilson and I part company --
indeed, where he departs from the Biblical standard of bearing truthful witness
-- is in his delineation of the current Council's alleged and intentional sins
against the Gospel, or at least that part of it Wilson convinces his flock he
represents. An example might be Wilson's story of the Council's
insistence that NSA provide a specific number of parking spaces outside of the
immediate CBD for students and staff. He knows that suggesting that
"no other business" in the central business district suffers under
such extreme hardship is disingenuous at best; no other business on Main
Street, much less in the CBD adjacent to it, is comprised of nearly 200
staffers or students. Indeed, the assumption that schools can only
function by attracting large numbers of students -- numbers greater, say, than
the number of ladies getting perms at the Plush Brush -- is a key argument for
why they ought not be permitted in major pedestrian-oriented retail
zones. He insists that the foaming-at-the-mouth religious bigotry
of Pall and Ament is what led to the removal from the CBD two
years ago of the Atlas School for Boys. (Tom Lamar, who joined the
council too recently for the Kirk to fully suffer from the flex of his
anti-Christian muscle, would've been in on it all, too, Wilson supposes. This
is because liberals are icky, mean-spirited haters of all that is good and
decent; I'm paraphrasing, of course, and in doing so I'm likely granting Wilson
too much). This experiment in under-the-radar, world-changing classical
Christian education illegally, not to mention secretly, occupied part of the
NuArt theater, a violation of code made more egregious not only by Wilson's
foreknowledge, but also by the safety risk posed to children studying in
second-floor rooms not designed or outfitted as classrooms. Atlas and its
supporters shrugged, but the City didn't. Fire safety, occupancy loads,
zoning, liability, access -- these things aren't the stuff of proper municipal
oversight to Wilson. They're simply the thorn in the side of good
Christians everywhere who want only to educate their children as they see fit
-- the law be damned, it seems, as it would be in the most literal sense
according to a Wilsonian eschatological and social worldview. And, of
course, he makes much of the boarding houses vs. party houses debate that
occupied much of Moscow's summer, although it's not really a debate, not
"apples and oranges" as much as it is "spatulas and
carburetors." The boarding house prohibitions focused on the
integrity of city code-protected neighborhoods; the party house issue speaks to
the "public disturbance" aspect of living in community. Any
overlap here is simply another bit of irony in an argument already dripping
with it. <br>
<br>
Wilson's litany of complaints against the liberal incumbents is far too lengthy
for me to fully analyze here, and I'd invite Visionaires to examine it on Blog
and Mablog. Wilson's appreciation and analysis of fiction is evident
there in his disgust over the revelation that Harry Potter's Dumbledore is into
the "guy-on-guy" thing, but I'd remind the good pastor that something
higher than civic honor requires that he correctly identify fiction from
nonfiction in his political commentary. Dumbledore isn't real; his
"sins" make no difference whatsoever in any of our lives.
Ament, Lamar, and Pall, on the other hand, are real, and leveling accusations
of vehement religious bigotry against them is a kind of fiction that makes a
great deal of difference in the lives of every one of us who call Moscow home.<br>
<br>
keely<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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