It used to be that people got upset about the type of Bible used in “Swearing In Ceremonies”; now, a member of Congress uses Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Koran and one of the Congressmen from Jefferson’s home state of Virginia has a fit.  How can a rational person deal with an unrational person?

Virgil Goode is a cartoon, a caricature of a 19th century plantation owner, and an utter disgrace to America.  Mel Blank couldn’t do a better impression of a genteel, southern, bigot.  I had never heard of this joker before this issue came up, and frankly, I didn’t even know there were still people in Virginia who still spoke like that. 

Hey Virgil, why don’t you drag your vanilla suit, string tie wearing, miserable ass into the 20th century, NOW THAT IT’S OVER.  And try loosing the “hick-bonics” while you’re at it, you clown!

I am not an American. I just wonder, how come an idiot like Goode been elected ???

In spelling bee contest.

If GOD was spelling backward it would be what ?

DOG !

Comment #43845 by Nadder Sarshad on 12/26 at 7:26 pm declares:

We obviously need to have people elected to congress pass a test on constitution before they are allowed to collect their first paycheck.  The same test imigrants are required to take before they become citizens and are allowed to vote!

Why?  If a district has a majority of folks who wish to put an illiterate clueless, person in as their representative “Freedom” do do so is guarenteed.  That’s what the touted “system” is all about.

We obviously need to have people elected to congress pass a test on constitution before they are allowed to collect their first paycheck.  The same test imigrants are required to take before they become citizens and are allowed to vote!

GOODE: No, but I am for restricting immigration so that we don’t have a majority of Muslims elected to the United States House of Representatives

Is this a real concern?

AND if a majority of voters wish to elect Muslims to office should they be denied this right?

sounds a bit like term limits to me… “Help save me before I vote incorrectly....again!”

Ian writes:
“If “muslim immigration” is the only reason there were attacks on NYC, then would “christian immigration” be responsible for priests molesting children?”

I never said muslim immigration was the only reason for the NYC attacks. It was not a sufficient condition, but it was a necessary condition. Eliminating a necessary condition for an act makes that act impossible. Get it?

Elizabeth Sholes writes:
“Insisting the Bible is the only book upon which one can swear the oath means that a few of our past Presidents weren’t duly inaugurated.  Look it up, Mr. G.”

Neither Virgil Goode nor I ever advocated any curtailment of religious freedom. Stop putting things in our mouths that we didn’t say. All we advocate is a halt to muslim immigration. Here is the mans own words which show you to be arguing against a straw-man:

Virgil Goode v.s. Keith Ellison
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_122206/con tent/stop_the_tape_2.guest.html

“RUSH: Final question from David Asman. “Would you prohibit, Mr. Ellison—would you prohibit him from bringing a Koran into that ceremony?”

GOODE: If the voters of that district want persons that are going to swear by the Koran, that’s the choice of the voters of that district, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of voters in my district would prefer the use of the Bible if a book is used, and that is exactly what I’m going to do.

ASMAN: Well, that I may well be true, but again just to put a fine point on it: You are not, then, for prohibiting Mr. Ellison from bringing in a Koran?

GOODE: No, but I am for restricting immigration so that we don’t have a majority of Muslims elected to the United States House of Representatives.”

Come on, Ease up, we got it right! Our other choice was a Republican who a lot of us see as an enemy of the people!  Maybe you congressmen better be the ones who wake-up.

WHAT DOES VIRGIL GOODE’S CHIEF OF STAFF, JERR ROSENBAUM, KNOW ABOUT GOODE’S COMMENTS?

WHO IS WRITING GOODE’S SPEECHES & COMMENTS?

S. Jerome “Jerr” Rosenbaum, Chief of staff, office of Virgil H. Goode, Jr.

E-mail: jerr dot rosenbaum at mail dot house dot gov

Goode is a racist!

A meaningful questions for all (american) muslims, elected or not, is do they believe in a redacted version of koran that focuses on individual enlightenment and general good, and disavow “god-given” right to violence against others? If so, are they willing to espouse this view publicly and preach it.

I am no christian and don’t have to apologize for their crazy views either, but in order or priority and possible individual and public harm, the most important issue is ill-conceived sense of supremacy of muslims.

I wouldn’t want anyone to take an oath of office on a document whose content they don’t revere.  I would expect a Jew to swear the oath on the Torah, a Christian on the Bible, and a Muslim on the Quran. 

It would appear that Mr. Goode needs more than a good refresher course on the Constitution that he will be swearing to uphold when he takes his own oath of office.  He also needs a good refresher course in what it truly means to be a Christian.

If I’ve read my Bible correctly, Jesus taught that he who is without sin should cast the first stone.  That the Samaritan (a thoroughly persecuted bunch in those days) had a better grip on what God wants from us than those more “righteous” folk who passed by on the other side of the road.  And finally, that we should render unto God what rightly belongs there and to Caesar (read “government") its due.  That last admonition sounds like a clarion call for the separation of religion (church) and state to me!

I recall that when Ghandi expressed admiration for Jesus’ teachings, someone asked why he was not a Christian.  His response was very telling.  “I probably would be had I ever met one.” Mr. Goode is one of those reasons Ghandi opted to keep his admiration outside the confines of institutionalized Christianity.

The current administration, rather than recognizing that fear leads us either to paralysis or to over-reaction, wants us to be in a permanent state of fear.  Mr. Goode has bought that line whole-heartedly.

And the Earth is flat and is the center of the universe...that’s what the dadgum bible says so it must be true!  And alligators is ornery because they got all dem teeth and no toothbrush...!

Wow, and I thought in order to be elected to office you had to be intelligent.

My God’s better than your God,
My God’s better than yours,
My God’s better,
‘Cause he eats Ken-L Ration,
My God’s better than yours.

What!  I got it backwards! You mean it’s Dog not God?  Oh . . . nevermind!

PJ Goober HAS to be kidding!  What an insane world we’d live in if we purportedly have sent young men and women to die for the First Amendment only to kill it off at home. Insisting the Bible is the only book upon which one can swear the oath means that a few of our past Presidents weren’t duly inaugurated.  Look it up, Mr. G.

The idea that Muslims are ‘a problem’ comes out of sheer ignorance.  Even if there were not a single Muslim in the US, 9/11 would have occurred - we have created that enmity abroad, not here.  Muslims are exactly like other immgrants, so, Mr. G - get over it.

American Taliban!

Headless

To tell you the truth, I don’t want any Muslims elected to office demanding the use of the Koran. Also, I don’t want any Christians elected to office demanding the use of the Bible. I’m tired of all the religion in our politics, even on the left. There is a price to pay for multiculturalism and Islam is a much more extreme religion than Christianity. Look at what happened to Theo Van Gogh as an example.
Virgil Goode had a point but he had to ruin it since it was on religious grounds.

In the 60s when I was stationed in Virginia with the Army, it was discrimination against blacks and Asians.

A local judge denied a marriage license for a couple. The man was black and the women Asian. I advised the couple not to accept that. They went back and demanded a license and the case went to a different judge. When advised of the antimiscegenation law of Virginia, they called the JAG office. The JAG office contacted the judge and reminded him that the antimiscegenation law of Virginia forbade blacks and whites to marry. Since the woman was not white, the black could marry her. The license was issued to the couple.

All such laws have since been struck down in America. They were not rejected by Virginia, but by the US Constitution. It is my opinion that Congressman elect Virgil Goode is not qualified to take the oath himself. If he has already taken it, he is in violation of the very oath he has taken. He refuses to uphold the Constitution of The United States of America, therefor unqualified to serve in the Congress, or to hold any other office of trust in America. If I were a citizen of Virginia, I would challenge his qualifications in court. If I were a member of Congress, I would make an objection.

But, then we have so many Congressmen who have sold out to a foreign agent or big oil, there is probably nobody qualified, or moved to object to discrimination and prejudice, to say nothing of outright bigotry. Even our president takes his orders from Israel and fights a war against Islam. It will take a long time to get our leaders to reject the money from AIPAC and ZOA. Check out the problem Arab Israelis elected to the Knesset have in the swearing in process in that sorry excuse of a democracy.

There won’t be a Goode or Republican apology because Goode’s bigoted speech is central to Republican beliefs. The entire right wing media machine is based on racial attacks. There will not be a retraction.

Comment #43292 by Ask the NSA on 12/21 at 7:06 pm says:

If American citizens don’t wake up and recognize the bigotry and fear-mongering that has been masquerading as rational discourse, there will likely be more right-wing fascists elected to office demanding the weakening of your civil rights.

Lets be real here. Americans have the “freedom” to elect right wing facists who in turn will strip them of their rights.

BUT

Americans have been electing right wing facists since John Adams and the Alien and Sedition acts of his presidency. 

They also elected Lester Madox (Of the axe handles to chase niggers fame)(D Georgia)

Robert Byrd (Ex KKK wizard) (D WVa.)

George Wallace (segregation forever)(D Alabama)
and
David Duke (R La)
Louis Day Hicks (D Boston)
Strom Thurmond (D to R SC)
John Patterson (D Texas)
John Stennis (D. Mississippi)
Jamie Whitten (D Mississippi)
Charles Jonas.(D North Carolina )

Notice all those “D’s” Republicans are not alone in their “racism”

In response to “pjgoober” (post #43354) - Your “logic” is totally backward. If “muslim immigration” is the only reason there were attacks on NYC, then would “christian immigration” be responsible for priests molesting children?? Or would “Uhaul” be responsible for the terrorist attack on Oklahoma City, since Tim McVeigh couldn’t have done it without the truck??  Please do not bastardize “logic” with muddy thinking and purposeful ignorance.  Goode’s comments were nothing more than ignorant, isolationist, fear of the different.

Re: 43354 pjgobber, you can’t be serious.  You’re putting us on, right?  If this is NOT a joke, then please explain your logic to me.  This is Neanderthal thinking of the highest order.

Meanwhile, here’s more on Keith Ellison

Goode is a typical example of fanatics excercising an aggressive and predatory religion.

What is most sad is not Goode’s clearly stupid and indefensible remarks, but the inability of the Republican Party to condemn those remarks. Perhaps in time?

Another reason for me to think I’ve lost my mind because nobody else is saying what I’m thinking.

If you don’t believe in the book you’re putting your hand on, you may as well be crossing your fingers.

Maybe we should have them all swear on a 100 dollar bill.

Goode’s an idiot.

God bless Virgil Goode. Anyone with half a brain could have seen that September 11th would have been virtually impossible without muslim immigration. I called his office and gave my thanks. You should do the same.

When logic conflicts with the “joys” of diversity and multiculturalism, keep your intellectual dignity and side with logic.

When Christian politicians are sworn into office here in Muslim Jordan where I live, they are sworn in with the Bible while the Muslims are sworn in with the Koran.  Both holy books sit side-by-side on the table.  As an American living abroad, I can’t understand the backward thinking of some of our elected representatives.

This guy got elected in Virginia.  What might that tell you about our congressional reps in the other 49?  Forget rewriting the test for citizenship.  Come up with a test to weed out the scum and vermin before they join our venerable congress and inflict harm. Is this idiot a lawyer?  P.S. If you haven’t heard, one of the new questions on the citizenship test will be, “Who is the chief justice of the supreme court?” Have we gone mad?

as posted by: lessbread on Dec 21, 2006 6:39 PM at http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/45829/

Article VI United States Constitution
… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Goode needs a refresher course on the Constitution.

That may be the case, but considering what’s being done to the Constitution under the pretext of the Global War OF Terror, discriminating in this case seems par for the course, especially in this resonant climate of fear. 

The Myth of Islamo-Fascism gripping the masses and fueling the war must be exploded. Let’s be clear, terrorism is haunting the world, but take a closer look. At the inception of al Queda’s parent band, the Mujahidin, the master of ceremonies was none other than the new boss at the Pentagon, Mr. Gates. Al Queda is funded primarily by the number one client (Saudi Arabia) of the master of ceremonies over the just-published Iraq Study Group Report, Mr. Baker. Focus, people. Connecting these dots is not rocket science. 911 was not hatched in a cave in the Hindu Kush on a laptop and executed by a rag-tag band of fanatics.

The Straussian-Nietzchien, proto-fascist, neocons driving this madness must be shown to their cells - we can no longer suffer their strangelove insanity.

Investigate, indict, prosecute and execute — Support 911 Truth — End War OF Terror!

Is everyone in Virginia full of Macaca?

First off, I’m an Atheist but let me drop a little wisdom, from His Royal Highness, Duke Ellington,

“Every man prays in his own language. There is no language God does not understand”.

Somebody lock this Goode character up, for a long long time. He is an unabashed bigot and a unethical fool, that has no business in the government of this great country.

Another sick insecure racist Republican, using fear-mongering to further his racist political agenda.

Mr. Vigil Goode! You’re evil through and through and it is beasts like you who are bound to destroy America and make this world less safer for everyone. In my book, I am adding your ugly name as one of the enemies of freedom, democracy and humanity. You don’t belong to the twentieth century; you belong to the stone age! And it is really sad and uncomforting that I live in the
same land and time as a sick beast like you!

If American citizens don’t wake up and recognize the bigotry and fear-mongering that has been masquerading as rational discourse, there will likely be more right-wing fascists elected to office demanding the weakening of your civil rights.