May 15, 2007

The Rev. Jerry Falwell found dead in university office. Cause uncertain. DEVELOPING... [newsfilter]
posted by fuyugare 17 years ago
  • D'oh! Dear tracicle, can you remove that spurious ell from his name? Merci d'avance!
  • "Heart challenges"? Aren't we calling them "heart attacks" or "strokes" anymore? We have to make them sound nice and soft, now? "As serious as a heart challenge" doesn't have the same ring. Hell, my heart gets challenged every time I do the Wentworth steps... I have nothing to say about Jerry. He wasn't someone I had any affinity for nor agreed with on most issues, but I'm sure he touched a great many lives. I extend my condolances to those who will miss him.
  • That is very nice. Now he can finally be with Jesus.* * assuming, of course, that Jesus is in hell
  • Feel Well Fallwell!!!!!!!!
  • Well, I guess he DOES fall well.
  • *cues Dead Kennedy's Moral Majority* I'm indifferent to this news. But yeah, my condolences to his family and friends. You call yourself the Moral Majority We call ourselves the people in the real world Trying to rub us out, but we're going to survive God must be dead if you're alive
  • Who was Jerry Falwell? I've never heard of him. Was he as brilliant as Fred Phelps?
  • If you are asking seriously, dng, you should read his Wikipedia entry. Perhaps I shall follow up my inexcusable misspelling of his name with an inexcusable pun and summarise him as a neocon genesis evangelical. Pat Robertson will now have to do a double shift, though I doubt he is nearly as strident in his gay-bashing.
  • I'm with dng... who is this person? Very much out of my sphere. Waits for inexcusable pun from fuyu
  • Founder of the "Moral" Majority and everything else fuyu said.
  • Just read on the AP story that both his father and grandfather were 'militant atheists'. Huh. Paging Doctor Freud, paging Doctor Freud...
  • I liked him when he was in the Spice Girls.
  • Someone wake me up when there is some real news.
  • It will be interesting to see the reaction from American politicians. He was a hateful bastard; will anyone be willing to say so?
  • Someone wake me up when there is some real news. Fine, here's some real news.
  • I will. But I don't have a very large constituency to worry about offending.
  • Charlatan - A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money or advantage by false pretense. Enjoy Hell Jerry.
  • Just read on the AP story that both his father and grandfather were 'militant atheists'. What war was it that the atheists fought?
  • The secularist war on family values. Duh.
  • Good.
  • Is it safe for me to say the world is a better place, now?
  • AOL News Headline: Christian Right Loses a Hero Evangelist Jerry Falwell Dies He Mixed Religion, Politics
  • I'll bet he feels pretty foolish right about now.
  • Tinky Winky finally gets his revenge.
  • I do wish his family and anyone who will grieve for him well. I also would like to think that some truths have been shown to him.
  • When asked if he would attend the funeral, Mr. Squarepants declined to comment.
  • As once was said, "The Moral Majority is neither." The fat, hypocritical, hate-spewing windbag will not be missed in the Queso residence. Here's to hoping he will not be replaced. And that Fred Phelps is next on the list in a far more painful and embarrassing way.
  • I'm holding fast to the ideal that "Any man's death diminishes me..." Condolences to the family. However, this man spewed a great deal of hate and caused much pain. Many of the things he did were unconscionable. I don't think the world as a whole will miss him.
  • From a comment 2sheets left over at the blue: There were times that Dad's pranks bordered on cruelty. One of his oil-company workers, a one-legged man he nicknamed 'Crip' Smith, complained about everything. Dad and Crip's co-workers got tired of the old man's bellyaching and decided to take revenge. One morning Crip called in sick and Dad volunteered to send by lunch to his grateful but suspicious employee. Dad and his chums caught Crip's old black tomcat, killed it, skinned it, and cooked it in the kitchen of one of Dad's little restaurants. They called it squirrel meat and delivered it to Crip on a linen-covered tray. When Crip returned to work the next morning, Dad and his co-conspirators asked him how he liked his meal. They knew he would complain even about a free home-cooked lunch, and when Crip called it "the toughest squirrel meat" he had ever eaten, they were glad to tell him why. http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000403.html Ummm.... bordered on cruelty?!
  • BORDERED???
  • (x-posted) So he was on the vanguard of the politicization of evangelical christianity in the 70s and 80s. He was the patron saint of a group of people who are continually reminded that they are under attack from The Enemy (nevermind who this enemy is, suffice to say that the war is permanent), and who firmly believe, in the deepest and most sincere corners of their hearts, that all would be well, if only they were in charge. He was one of the great demagogues of their movement, this ever-under-attack group who want power, influence, feeling that each one of them, though small and fragile and singular have plugged themselves into the Winning Team and will reap rewards for it. He was one of the great hatemongers of this group, the more politicized each one in the group is, the more hateful they tend to be -- after all, are not the idealists, like all True Believers before them not comforted in the infallibility they feel when they renounce their critical thinking power to That Which Is Above? -- and the more frightened they also are of their chosen Other. He was a forceful leader. Charismatic. Larger-Than-Life and hob-nobbing with the very rich and powerful who could grease the skids for their revolution to return their society back to some golden era that never actually existed, and they love him for it. You can see it over at Free Republic or LGF. He was their champion. A champion for those for lust for power over others, who long for those very awful others to face retribution for their wrongs, a champion of bile and bitterness, champion of persecution, segregation, apartheid and punishment. He was the champion of a segment of society who is motivated out of nothing less than total, abject, paralyzing fear which was ingrained in them from the start, that fear of punishment eternal, and somehow, mainly because it is much more convenient and gratifying, they have their fear molded into a lust for power temporal. If you believe in God, understand this: God will have nothing to do with this modern Pharisee, this venomous snake whose product was nothing more than bile and power pipe dreams. And those who followed him, those benighted dreamers who hang their hat on Avarice and call it Glory, well... God will have nothing to do with them, either. Unless and until they repent and learn what the message of the Gospel was truly about. But for me, I don't believe in God. So all this man was was a fearmonger, a demagogue, one who padded his pockets and the pockets of hundreds of cronies on the backs of the poorest, most fearful group of believers who only wanted to feel a tiny part of the power of the winning side. And it is those people whom he has fleeced over the decades that I pity. For their hatred enabled his, which in turn spurred theirs on further. For their fear enabled his riches, and their desire for power which brooks no discussion has brought themselves into a deeper spiritual poverty than inhabited their coldest nightmares. Would that all of the hatemongers, of any side, never achieve the status or the influence of Falwell. But I know better. Another head will sprout in his place. And they already have, with names like Reed and Dobson.
  • I do wish his family and anyone who will grieve for him well. I also would like to think that some truths have been shown to him. That's about the best one can say, I think, and an honest send-off that nevertheless retains its class. I'm holding fast to the ideal that "Any man's death diminishes me..." Very strange! That line from Donne has been circling in my head since this was posted. I kept reciting the poem to myself in the car on the way to the post office. A fine ideal, very hard to live by.
  • Maybe this is a sign that the rapture is starting. Jesus is coming Quick everyone look busy
  • Except for the first line, that's a haiku, there.
  • Rapture, yes. I wish for the pious, the righteous to be swiftly taken away.
  • Except for your first line and, lack of a second, Your post is haiku as well.
  • Jesus is coming Quick everyone look busy Heh, I said coming
  • The body ceases Well after the soul has rot Others take his place
  • Jerry Fallwell's dead? How nice for those left living- The world is better.
  • sorry, plz replace 'better' with 'improved' kthx
  • Listen when he speaks for he holds the burps in well -sadly, not the farts.
  • The fat man goeth His greatest challenge was that He had not a heart
  • The Rev. Jerry Falwell found dead in university office. Finding them was the easy part. Now let's see if he can raise them.
  • Squeegee, pliz.
  • Flipped past Fox news last night and was drawn like someone who can't look away from a car wreck to about five minutes of the masturbatory eulogizing going on there. Realizing I wasn't close enough to a bucket to spare the carpet, I quickly flipped away.
  • But, TUM, why worry about the carpet when the cats have already polka-dotted it? Well-played, bernockle!
  • Oh, com'on TUM. It'll be fun. I'll pop the popcorn, you bring the buckets.
  • You people are fucking disgusting bigots. When Kurt Vonnegut died, everyone shat their pants in liberal grief. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kurt was a microscopic cultural presence when you compare him with Jerry Halliwell. R.I.P. Ginger - you were the best damn spice girl of them all.
  • I think I just peed my pants a little.
  • Jerry certainly had nice boobs.
  • So who is Jerry Vonnegut anyways - besides a fat, spicy resurrecter with nice boobs?
  • The Fat Spicy Resurrecter is my favorite sausage sammich.
  • He dead now and buried under the lard mountain.
  • *Laughs at fuyugare's joke* As a human being, I'm sure people will miss him. As for his philosophy, which it's important to remember a whole lot of people share, I find it petty and repugnant. At some point the moral majority leaders will be people from the 80's, and we will have TMNT and GI Joe illustrating Scripture. The parallels are obvious. Just replace Dimension X with Hell.
  • *Laughs at fuyugare's joke* His philosophy was petty and repugnant. At some point the moral majority leaders will be people from the 80's, and we will have TMNT and GI Joe illustrating Scripture. The parallels are obvious. Krang and Satan both have five letters after all. It's hard to imagine that the moral majority will outlast it's founders though.
  • Pez - my guess is that there are some people lined up to claim his legacy... in a church that big, he had to have a bunch of pretenders to the throne, and I wonder how much they'll ratchet up the rhetoric to show the faithful how faithful they are to the wisdom of Falwell. I'm not sure his death will change things for the better.
  • Even if he weren't so totally headed to hell for his hatefullness, wouldn't it be fun to see him squeezing his rich fat arse through the eye of that needle? (I really am trying to be civil/adult/respectful about his death, but having just read a 'retrospective' of his slimy life, I'm absolutely filled with unseemly rage at the horrible things he's done in the name of religion.
  • I thought this guy was the Fat Spicy Resurrecter.
  • The thing that gets me about Falwell and his ilk: somehow, it's always about money. I noticed the 700 Club pushing for levels of "membership" (for hundreds of dollars) to take advantage of the publicity generated by JF's departure. As George Carlin once pointed out, God sure is bad with money, he seems to always need more of it. Sadly, there are dozens of hatemongering greedheads waiting in line to take his place. Jesus Christ would be HORRIFIED by the stuff done in the name of "Christianity".
  • What gets me is that the top leaders of any major religious organisation must know that they are are mongering for power (including financial power), and that the religion is for them simply a means to that end. Their dishonesty is what goads me more than anything else.
  • Well what gets me is God is behind all of this shit. Listen, Heavenly Father: just leave us the fuck alone, OK? We're not your little babies anymore - we're young people with free will and we can drink and listen to rock and roll and wear our hair the HOWEVER WE WANT. Stop pestering us, you sad old square.
  • What gets me is an expensive dinner with good champagne.
  • What got me was ze French accent.
  • Wow! You're easy, TUM. I expect dinner, champagne, AND a movie.
  • *makes reservation for TUM, Bluehorse champagne-sodden dinner theatre threesome.*
  • I find it unsettling that I finally get the nerve to openly reveal my secret desire to have a threesome with Bluehorse and TUM, and it happens in the Jerry Falwell death thread. Whodda thunk.
  • You have a death wish?
  • Two questions: TUM, shall you hurt him, or shall I? Before or after the movie?
  • *rolls up movie listings section of newspaper*
  • *smokes movie listings*
  • Depp's not here, man.
  • And I haven't seen that pete guy for ages.
  • I haven't seen any recent updates on the matter. Is Falwell still dead?
  • HE HAS NOT RISEN! And here you were, expecting it. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha He's still a jerk.
  • Falwell made the world in seven days; even if he is a jerk you don't have to be so mean about it. By the way: I heard he's releasing a xian rap CD with Tupac and Biggie.
  • NoNoNoNoNo... It's not Tupac, it's MC Hammer (MC stands for Mitzi Christ, Jesus' younger sister). I hear Pat Boone wrote it.
  • I'm so going to hell for my hypocrisies in this thread. I'll say hi to Jerry for ya'll! *smacks self Stop it!
  • I am currently rendered speechless after starting a plethora of comments....none of which quite covered it.
  • The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent Good Christian boys shouldn't be watching "Fight Club". Of course, they shouldn't be planning to bomb people, either.
  • hmmmm, gasoline and detergent We will clean and PURIFY your souls with FIRE!
  • Gasoline and detergent might be what Koko's hoodie needs.
  • My hoodie needs you all to SHUT UP.
  • reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. See, here's the problem with that logic . . . if you stop protesters with a bomb, see, it . . the disruption has already . . . okay, see when you blow things up it . . ohhh pfftthhbhtthbbhth!
  • What's the point of protesting at a funeral service? They wanted him brought back to life?
  • Perhaps they just wanted to wish him well.
  • Maybe they're protesting his death? As in a "God is unfair" or "the Grim Reaper unfair to living" sort of thing?
  • Maybe they should just bake him a cake.
  • Can we just let him go, people?
  • that website looks eerily familiar
  • there is an eerie familiarity in that website.
  • eerie familiarity is oozing out of that website
  • Mr Boniface: Good evening. Tonight on "It's the Mind", we examine the phenomenon of déjà vu, that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've lived through something before, that what is happening now has already happened tonight on "It's the Mind" we examine the phenomenon of déjà vu, that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've... [looks puzzled] Mr Boniface: Anyway, tonight on "It's the Mind", we examine the phenomenon of déjà vu, that strange - ["It's the Mind" opening titles again, then back to Mr Boniface, shaken] Mr Boniface: Good evening. Tonight on "It's the Mind", we examine the phenomenon of déjà vu, that strange feeling we someti... mes get... that... we've lived through something - ["It's the Mind" opening titles again, then back to Mr Boniface, visibly shaken] Mr Boniface: Good... good evening. Tonight on "It's the Mind", we examine the phenomenon of d-d-d-d-d-déjà v-v-v-v-v-vu. That extraordinary feeling... quite extraordinary... [trails off; the phone rings and he picks it up] Mr Boniface: No, fine thanks, fine. [a hand reaches in and sets a glass on the desk; Boniface drinks and the hand exits] Mr Boniface: Oh thank you. That strange feeling we sometimes get that we've lived through something before. [phone; he picks it up] Mr Boniface: No, fine thank you, fine. [hand comes in as before; he jumps] Mr Boniface: Thank you. That strange feeling we... [phone] Mr Boniface: No, fine thank you, fine. [hand with glass] Mr Boniface: Thank you. [jumps and yelps] Mr Boniface: Look, something's happening to me. I-I-um, I think I'd better go and see someone. Good night. [exits and boards the psychiatrist milk float outside] Milkman: Oi, haven't I seen you somewhere before? Mr Boniface: No, doctor, no. Something very funny's happening to me. ["It's the Mind" opening titles again, then back to Boniface in the studio, nervously biting his nails. He sees the camera, screams with terror, and runs outside to the float] Milkman: Oi, haven't I seen you somewhere before? Mr Boniface: No, doctor, no. Something very funny's happening to me. [a few minutes later, outside Dr Cream's office, Boniface jumps off and runs inside] Dr Cream: Ah, come in. Now what seems to be the matter? Mr Boniface: I have this terrible feeling of déjà vu. [outside, he jumps off the float, looks about, puzzled, and runs inside] Dr Cream: Ah, come in. Now, what seems to be the matter? Mr Boniface: I have this terrible feeling of déjà vu. [outside, he jumps off the float, more shaken, and runs in] Dr Cream: Ah, come in. Now what seems to be the matter? Mr Boniface: I have this terrible feeling of déjà vu. [outside, he jumps off the float, looks about, scared, and runs inside as the show ends]
  • Nooo!!!