Remember in the bad old days of the Bush years when just holding a sign criticizing the president's policies was unpatriotic and got you put in a free speech zone, on the terrorist watch list or even jailed?
Well it's a whole new ball game now, isn't it?
Today you can call for the president's death and even show up at his rallies openly carrying loaded weapons and not be arrested.
Pray for Our President Psalm 109:8
This sign
recently appeared outside a local liquor store in Wahoo, Nebraska.
It refers to the biblical prayer, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office." The very next line in the prayer is, "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."
The quote cannot be separated from the Biblical context: it is is a pro-death message. Quite apart from the inappropriate and unpatriotic nature of the imprecation, this message speaks volumes about the proprietor's willingness to misuse the Bible and Christianity for political and secular purposes.
All real Christians should be appalled.
I knew the owner of this store was a smug right winger when I saw him wearing a "The US was founded on God and Guns" t-shirt. But I wonder about the judgment of a man who would display such a sign to attract customers. This is a man with access to plenty of alcohol and guns, no less.
Whether or not one likes, tolerates, or blatantly disapproves of the direction President Obama is taking this country, to wish anything sinister on him is an even worse direction to be heading.
At minimum, we should boycott any establishment that would ask us to conspire with God to kill the leader of our country.
To invoke sacred texts in calling others to wish death upon a fellow human is religious fanaticism, plain and simple. This is exactly the same technique used by the 9/11 terrorists. And yet Psalm 109:8 has been appearing all over the US as a call to action, prayerful action, but action nonetheless, to bring about our president's demise.
It is completely within anyone's free speech right to display a sign like this. The ACLU would, in fact, defend this proprietor's right to do so, just as it would defend his right to carry a gun. That's because their brand of conservatism -- the conservation of the constitution -- is politically and religiously blind, even if this fanatic's is not.
As my friend Tim says, "I'm all for free speech. Else how are we going to know who the idiots are?"
Update on sign status as of Thursday, May 13, 2010:
I sent a letter to the editor about this sign to the town's newspaper (a weekly). The letter was published on Wednesday, May 12, and the following day a friend noticed that the sign was changed. The new sign says to come in for free samples.
"Anyone who thinks they are too small to have an effect has never been in the dark with a mosquito."