Does Virgil Goode Represent the America that Represents FREEDOM?
I live in Virignia, home of the Evangelical Theocratic Elite power players. Just up the road from me is Liberty University.One of our recently re-elected theocrats, Virgil Goode, says he got a flood of emails from constituents complaining that newly elected Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison would use the Koran, not the Bible, when being sworn into Congress next month. Ellison is a Muslim, so their thinking his taking an oath on the Bible would be more appropriate than a book the new congressman actually regards as holy only speaks to the state of mental accumen among Goode's loyal voting base here in the Old Dominion.
In response to the complaints, Goode sent out a letter. He appears to have accidentally sent it to some people who were not, as they say down here, "like minded." One such person was John Cruickshank, of Charlottesville. He turned the letter over the the C-Ville Weekly who promptly published it. I reproduce it here:
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-4605
December 7, 2006
Mr. John Cruickshank
7—— S—————————— Dr.
Earlysville, VA 22936
Dear Mr. Cruickshank:
Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.
The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.” Thank you again for your email and thoughts.
Sincerely yours,
Virgil H. Goode, Jr.
70 East Court Street
Suite 215
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
When questioned about the letter, Goode replied "I wrote the letter. I think it speaks for itself."
Indeed it does, sir. Indeed it does. And what it says is repugnant, hateful, and so contrary to the spirit, mission, and purpose of this nation that I can't believe you have not been pulled from your office and treated to good old conservative tar and feathers, and a trip out of Washington tied to a rail.
This is why the founding fathers put into the Constitution the Establishment Clause, and I ask you, sir, how it is that you can take an oath to defend the Constitution so seriously that you demand that oath be taken upon your holiest book, and yet refuse to apply those constitutional principles evenly, and fairly to all those whom you represent and who are protected by them?
Radical Religious Extremism and hate mongering disguised as partiotism are the tools of the enemy we are supposedly fighting against. I am ashamed of you, Virgil Goode, you are an embarrassment and a danger to all that this country stands for. If you cannot do the job to which you were elected, if you cannot fulfil your oath to protect and preserve the Constitution and the principles it was designed to ensure, you should resign and never more seek public office.
Here's a movie Virgil Goode mised in Social Studies class:
Don't Be A Sucker! Watch it and remember what America is supposed to be, and remind yourself that none of what is happening now is new...except that now it is successful.
Sources:
posted by Archie Levine at 12:17 PM
2 Comments:
He's scary and should probably change his name to Virgil Scaryman. Maybe he should try reading the Bible instead of just publicly placing his hand on the Good Book every couple years and waving it around as a symbol of his righteousness.
I'm sure I'll be surprised by many of the folks we see in Heaven, and, who knows, Virgil may be in that number. But then again, Jesus said, "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21 RSV) Jesus also said, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt 5:23 RSV) That one can be a bit of a pain but I'll give it a try on Virgil since I sort of think he's persecuting Christians in addition to Muslims by his misrepresentation of the Christian faith. And who knows where I would be today if people hadn't prayed for me when my own actions toward them didn't deserve such a kind response.
Until now, I hadn't noticed your religious blog link on the political blog. Now that I know it's there, I'll check it out periodically.
I've watched Virgil Goode doing some interviews on the subject of this letter, and he has used nearly verbatim the same words he used in the letter, including the little story about the muslim student. (Damned foreigners coming here and taking advantage of our schools at taxpayer expense and then taking our jobs away from us because affirmative action kept smart white American kids out!)
The fact that he is repeating the text of the letter exactly word for word in his interviews means, as they say in the theatre, the interview is scripted and rehearsed. Which makes me think that this "accidental" sending of the letter to the head of the Sierra Club in his district isn't so accidental at all. This is an orchestrated event, ala Rove, to fire up the base and fuel the anger of the neo-fascists (I don't think any other word applies, not even Conservative, and I'm no longer going to use it.)
We are contantly told by these people that we are at war, but if we are at war with the philosophy and actions that they say we are, that ideology of hate, then we are at war against them...and we'd better start acting like it. They keep saying we are fighting the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them at home. The truth is we are fighting the "terrorists" over there so we won't be able to fight the real enemies of freedom here at home.
We're at war, America, and Virgil Goode, Bush, Rove, Cheney, and the Project for a New American Century are the enemy. And, by the way, they are winning.
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