The House of Representatives, in an all-to-common fit of facist lunacy, passed a bill intended to strip the Federal courts – the co-equal third branch of our government – of jurisdiction over the Pledge of Allegiance.
“We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage,” said Rep. Zach Wamp (voting record), R-Tenn. “It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God.”
Is that a fact? It might come as a surprise to Rep. Wamp that Jesus had some very clear instructions on how to go about honoring God*:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense, make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. – Matthew 23:14
Rep. Wamp voted for the bankruptcy reform bill, which makes no exception for debts incurred obtaining medical treatment or from “acts of God.” It should be noted that while a college student, Rep. Wamp was accused of writing “hot checks.” Perhaps this was a way of supporting his cocaine habit (see below)?
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” – John 8:7
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” – Matthew 23:15
Rep. Wamp – an admitted alcoholic and cocaine addict – consistently votes against bills adovacting rehabilitation over incarceration, voted NO on maintaining right of habeus corpus in Death Penalty Appeals, and voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Luke 18:15-17
Rep. Wamp consistently votes in favor of legislation that will increase the prosecution and length of incarceration for juvenile offenders.
“Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matthew 25:45-46
Rep. Wamp has consistently voted against strengthening the Social Security “lock box” and the financing of numerous government social programs. On the other hand, he has been a consistent supporter of tax breaks and credits for large corporations and America’s wealthiest 1%.
“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:36-37
Rep. Wamp, who as a Congressman gets traditional medical care for free, voted YES on denying non-emergency treatment for Medicare subscribers who can’t meet their co-pay. He also voted YES on a bill that would require hospitals to report patients who cannot prove their citizenship to be reported to the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Finally, despite the fact that Jesus said absolutely nothing about gays and lesbians, Rep. Wamp is an outspoken opponent of recognizing gay marriage and proponent of banning adoption by gay families.
I think if Jesus were around to speak for himself, he’d ask for a more representative spokesperson than Rep. Wamp. In any event, he certainly wouldn’t want this nutcase.
* I realize that there are other spokespersons for God besides Jesus of Nazareth, but Rep. Wamp is a Southern Baptist; I’m sure that he not only believes that only Jesus has the straight poop on what is pleasing to God, but that Jesus is God. So I’m limiting this post accordingly.