In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the assembled multitudes that they should avoid ostentatious displays of their own generosity, piety, and stuff, then shares a model prayer. As prayers go, it's a good--no, great one, and has come to be known as the Lord's Prayer. It's in Matthew 6, right after Christ talks about loving one's enemies, that humdinger that closes Chapter 5.
According to Tea party rallies faithful to get involved with 2012 election, a report by Carolyn Lange in the West Central Tribune, the fourth annual Kandiyohi County tea party rally has turned that wisdom on its head. Lange reports:
Starting with an opening prayer that called President Obama the “liar in chief,” the fourth annual Kandiyohi County tea party rally Monday night in Willmar featured a lengthy line-up of fire-brand speakers that encouraged participants to get involved with the 2012 election to oust Obama and Minnesota Democrats. . . .
. . .During the nearly three-hour long rally there were speeches about the desire to repeal Obama’s health care act, protecting gun rights, stopping abortion and the importance of family, faith and free enterprise.
A far cry from forgiving others as one has asks for forgiveness, but so far as Bluestem can tell from the article, a perfectly robust expression of the meeting's sentiments.
Unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was there, in fine form, telling the assembled (who filled an entire room in the Kandi Entertainment Center after renouncing meeting outdoors like those dirty hippies in the Occupy Movement):
Emmer said if he was now the Governor in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Minnesota would “make Wisconsin look like the poor ugly step-child that they are.”
Because nobody gets enough total recall, mass protest and duct tape on capitol marbles, one supposes.
Curiously, some of the dirty hippies we know who pine for total revolution share Emmer's wistful yearnings for a Emmer governorship. If only we had more radical.
Other elements of the faith were shared over hours of fellowship:
Speakers also mocked renewable energy and those involved with the “Occupy” movement for being “politically impotent.”
Conservative radio talk show host, Scott Hennen — who is from Montevideo and now broadcasts from Fargo — said the federal budget is an immoral fiscal mess that makes Obama a “fiscal child abuser” because the debt will be passed onto future generations.
Hennen is a leading authority on immoral fiscal messes. Lange doesn't note whether or not Hennen shared his financial abuse of the congressional campaign of pilgrim child Lee Byberg. As BSP reported last week in Freedom Force Communications expands lucrative arrangement with Byberg campaign:
Gilmore noted that " Scott Hennen has been paid over$35,000 by candidate Lee Byberg over the last two years."
Lee Byberg's Q1 2012 FEC report lists new payments to Freedom Forum Communications. The campaign paid FFC $10,000 for a new website design, with $4000 monthly web services fees ($12,000 total) following the design, $7000 for fundraising and $7000 for administration/salary/overhead. That's $36,000 in three months; the campaign spent a total of $91276.64 for the quarter.
Thus, we see that 2012 payments over the course of three months eclipsed those spread over two years.
Reading those figures, one friend of Bluestem who leads a large organization prayed that Byberg never be let near the U.S. Treasury, since no one pays that much for web design and monthly service.
Another nugget in the Lange article:
Kurt Bills, who is the GOP-endorsed candidate to run against Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also spoke at the rally. Bills, from Roseville, is currently serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
That endorsement will come as a surprise to the other two candidates for the GOP-endorsement, as well as those faithful being selected for the Republican state convention in May, where the U.S. Senator candidate will be endorsed.
Some might argue that invective in an opening prayer and mean-spirited humor about our Badger neighbors are a form of hypocrisy for professing Christians. On the contrary, Bluestem finds those utterances to be completely authentic expressions of the gospel and the spirit of the Tea Party Movement.
Image: Emmer berates a badger. By Avidor, who took some liberties in the depiction of the badger.
Where can I get a copy of the Jesus Big Idea poster in this article?
Editor: I have no idea if it's in print; as a meme, it's all over Facebook.
Posted by: Rduckham | Apr 17, 2012 at 10:03 PM
Bills is from Rosemount I'm sorry to say.
Posted by: Jeff Wilfahrt | Apr 18, 2012 at 07:29 AM
What is it with Minnesota Republicans and insulting our neighbor states? Matt Dean just flapped his lips to attack North Dakota's State Capitol Building (http://www.startribune.com/local/148233265.html), which to my eyes is a perfectly good building reminiscent of St. Paul's City Hall -- and everyone knows that that edifice, particularly its interior featuring the Vision of Peace, is simply stellar.
Posted by: PhoenixWomanMN | Apr 20, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Carolyn Lange should be required to have a refresher course in journalism. Getting Bills city of residence incorrect and stating he is endorsed by the GOP makes one wonder if she checks out her facts thoroughly. But this seems to be her modus operandi. Maybe she thinks she is a NYTimes reporter who state their error corrections on the Want Ad page.
Posted by: Bobk | Apr 23, 2012 at 02:29 PM