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Links in this episode:
The Onion Radio News
Hagee column
Hagee on Hurricane Katrina
Hagee sermon
Sue Johanson retires
This argument's a gas
Transcript:
This week on Reality Cast, I'll have an interview with David
Nolan about the Catholics for Choice's new report on Bill Donohue and the
Catholic League. Also, a review of John
Hagee's teachings in his reactionary San
Antonio church, a tribute to Sue Johanson, and a
wingnut who has a refreshingly honest understanding of his own inability to
argue a point.
Ah sweet! Fellow podcasting fans, if you didn't know, The Onion now has satirical news reports as short podcasts. It's called The Onion Radio News. You can subscribe on iTunes, just like you can with this podcast.
- insert onion radio
The failure of many of us to have the exciting sex lives we'd like to have is a constant source of humor at The Onion, and usually hilarious.
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A few weeks ago on this podcast, I did a segment exposing the politics of Rod Parsley, a minister that's influential on the McCain campaign in the same way that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is on Obama's. You know, in interest of keeping it fair. And I followed it up with a column about another powerful minister that's not getting nearly the news coverage that Wright is, Pastor John Hagee. Then I realized, oh yeah, Hagee's got all sorts of audio out there to clip from so I can get the word out to you guys on what a scary dude he is, so back to that subject here on the podcast.
Hagee is a scary dude because he's the head of the Christian Zionist movement here in the U.S. that wants the government to make decisions about our relations with Israel to be decided on Hagee's interpretation of Biblical prophecies. Yeah. Well, that's outside the scope of this podcast, but don't worry, Hagee is as obsessed with sex as the rest of the wingnutteria. Here he is in 2006 talking about Hurricane Katrina.
- insert hagee 1
Yeah, he really thinks god is cruel enough to kill people to make Hagee more comfortable about that homosexuality thing. Interestingly, this belief lets government officials who did not do enough about the hurricane off the hook.
Of course, the Hagee church practices demon exorcism, and you can guess about how progressive and feminist a practice that is. Here's an example of a Hagee disciple church practicing this.
- insert hagee 2
Yep, witchcraft. You also can get rid of lust and cancer by casting out demons. Whether or not that works is never questioned.
Some more clips of Hagee being political.
* insert hagee 3
I like this part, because wingnuts are always trying to recast religious dogma they're shoving down our throats as if it were secular wisdom. But once they think you're not listening, suddenly, the interest in science, evidence, or reality goes out the window.
* insert hagee 4
Yeah, well I've been saying that there was no secular reason to be anti-sex, and Hagee agrees. I guess we just don't agree that the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state should be honored.
* insert hagee 5
Actually, you can't duck out into the nurse's office and get an abortion in between classes. You can probably get a tampon, which is probably why Hagee is confused. It's true that they'll let any old girl menstruate without getting her parent's permission.
I like this quip from Hagee.
- hagee dishwasher
If a man's hand toucheth a dishrag, then his balls shrivel up and fall off his body, so sayeth the lord.
If we're going to start exposing the political speech at the pulpits, all I'm saying is let's be fair about this.
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- insert interview
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Sad news: Sex education guru and Candian grandmother Sue Johanson is ending her show "Talk Sex with Sue Johanson". She's in her late 70s and the show is on really late at night, so she's slowing down a little bit. Still, in her 70s, Sue has more energy than most of us combined.
Still, it's a sad day. She was fresh, fun-loving and genuinely interested in helping people, a complete 180 from your average abstinence-only speaker, who has more than a little glint of misogyny and sadism going on. For sex educators the worldwide, she has been a role model. She understands that you can't really educate about sex sticking to the dry biological or safety topics, but you have to really be comprehensive and talk about fun and play and pleasure, too. So you could learn anything from how to use a condom on her show to how to use a sex toy. Watching her was like getting sex advice from your grandmother, and I mean that in the best possible way.
- insert sue 1
I could have really used the information in this next clip in high school. I was terrified of getting an STD from a toilet seat. There seemed to be some ironic karmic humor in the idea of a virgin whose prom date possibilities were iffy getting some vile STD without having any more fun than peeing usually is.
- insert sue 2
Don't worry. I did have a date to the prom. And I did not get a disease from a toilet seat.
Sue also had a lot of relationship and dating advice.
- insert sue 3
When I first saw her show, I was so startled at the combination of the grandmotherly vibe and the blunt sex talk, I just howled with laughter watching her show. But then I got to really listening to her and I thought she was a really great educator, exactly the sort of person I'd feel comfortable asking anything of.
- insert sue 4
In case you were worried about that.
She talked about the pleasure issues and clarified places where people were confused, but she also covered safer sex issues and health care. Here she's talking about the IUD versus the pill.
- insert sue 5
After last week, with the playing all those scary anti-choice abstinence scolds that call themselves educators, it's nice to hear someone who thinks that your body belongs to you, that pleasure is good, and that sex should be as healthy as possible. Sue will probably still be doing some sex education in schools as she's always done, but she'll be a sorely missed presence on TV. We need many more out there like her.
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And now for the Wisdom of Wingnuts. I liked this recent video from a guy ranting about how global warming and the war are non-issues to him as long as women have rights.
- insert ranting ro
What's cool about it is that he realizes he's got no argument, so he just farts in the camera. There's a refreshing honesty to that, because most anti-choicers have deluded themselves into thinking they can argue a point.
