April 26, 2005


Having a Calvin Ball

I think I'd like to go to this commencement ceremony. I wonder if there's a nearby airport I could tool on into, then drive over and watch the festivities...

Seems that Preznit Morally Bankrupt is giving one of his two inspirational ("hey! I am C+ Augustus and now I so rock! Everyone kisses my ass, even my DAD!") speeches at the Boat School (that's the Naval Academy) and at a small Christian college (scroll down to the story) in Michigan, except they're not Beloved Leaders kind of Christians...see they actually believe in all that "turn the other cheek" and "love thy brother as thyself" and the actual "Golden Rule" stuff.

On closer inspection, it turns out that Calvin College is not the bastion of the Christian Right it appeared to be. In fact, judging from my e-mail, it's a veritable hotbed of those other Christian values -- the ones that oppose war, work for social justice, and don't think much of the president at all.
...
Pomkala tried to help me understand where Calvin fits into the Christian spectrum: "Calvin is confessionally Reformed/Presbyterian (in other words, Calvinistic -- no surprise there, I guess), with a much more positive view of the intellect and participation in the broader culture than is characteristic of American evangelicalism, much of which is anti-intellectual (e.g. 'creation science') and escapist (e.g. the Left Behind series), not to mention morally barbaric (e.g. opposition to stem cell research; anti-gay)."
...
And what is Professor Pomkala planning to do during Bush's speech?

"As a faculty member, I'm required to attend commencement, but I plan on reading a book during the president's speech -- probably My Pet Goat."

I suspect that the folks at this college might tell Preznit Waste o' Time what Jesus might do. And in no uncertain terms, too.

Reading "My Pet Goat" during the speech. I love it.

posted by Jo Fish on 04.26.05 at 10:44 PM





Comments:

Calvin isn't what Preznit Dumbass thinks it to be, lemme tell ya bein from Michigan. Known a few people who went there in my day too.

Georgy Porgy might wanna pack a few sets of clean underoo's.

posted by: Barndog on 04.27.05 at 03:42 AM [permalink]



Uh oh, Professor Pomkala is going to get into trouble.

The unknown "Overzealous Staffer" who criminally passes himself off as a Secret Service agent at staged Bush events will probably drag him from where he's reading My Pet Goat and escort him outside.

posted by: The Oracle on 04.27.05 at 05:40 AM [permalink]



Or he can ask some "Young Republicans" to act as national security--just talk to Jay Bob Klinksomething in Colorado.

posted by: Nina on 04.27.05 at 03:37 PM [permalink]



I went to Calvin College's Iowa sister school, Northwestern College. With all due respect to Pomkala, Calvin College is pretty darn conservative. Progressives among the student body are certainly a minority...I would guess they might be a majority among faculty, however.

And to be fair, many of this nation's most archly theocratic conservatives base their notion of the Christian state on CALVINISM. Calvin wasn't exactly big on free expression or profound liberties and civil rights.

See here: http://www.reformed.org/ethics/index.html?mainframe=Jordan_judicial_laws_Moses.html

and here: Fredrick Clarkson on the worst of the theocratic lot now infecting the GOP, the Christian Reconstructionists: http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre1.html

posted by: IseFire on 04.28.05 at 01:49 PM [permalink]






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