Chris Hayes' segment on The NRA mosh-up at the Houston Hilton and the death of 2 year old Caroline Sparks is "definitely worth the watch" (c double italics)
and yes, of course, it goes without saying that we are sad for her parents .. that said, the remark of Caroline's mother in that they 'were comforted' because they know 'she is in a better place with the Lord', also is very saddening .. it is so disparaging, because it is just so silly .. the gun culture is not healthy for the USA, the fairytale culture is not healthy for the USA either .. repeat .. Christopher Hitchens covered that as honestly and as intelligently as anyone could ..
If Caroline is with God now, it goes without saying that God took her there. No way out of that.
Quite a speakers list .. Hannity, keynote at lunch .. then Palin .. Cruz .. Perry .. Jindal .. Santorum .. and the book signings (smell $$$$$ in that, eh) .. Oliver North, John Bolton Ted Nugent, Glennda, and Santorum again ..
updating -- the "Product Review: Bleeding Zombie Target by Zombie Industries" YouTube in the post to which this is a reply (about 85% of the way down) has been removed by the wimp who'd posted it now that it was getting wider attention -- the following includes some of the highlights of that one (as does, to a smaller extent, the second last item in the post, the "Gun rights radicals embrace paranoia over American majority" Maddow segment):
*
Awful Zombie Obama Gun Targets Bleed When Shot
Published on May 7, 2013 by TheYoungTurks
"At its Houston, Texas, convention this weekend, the National Rifle Association asked one of its vendors to take down a target dummy resembling President Obama.
The business, Zombie Industries, sells "life-sized" torso targets that bleed when shot during target practice. Among the targets displayed are "Bobo," a creepy-looking clown, "Terrorist," an Osama bin Laden look-alike and "Nazi."*
Zombie Industries is selling a life size shooting target that bares an uncanny resemblance to President Obama. As a video with a father teaching his son to shoot the president, it even bleeds. The company also sells a target shaped like a woman called "The Ex." Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
As controversy erupts over zombie targets resembling President Obama that were on display at the NRA convention, Rev. Sharpton discusses the fringe groups in America and the ways in which the president seems to be vilified by so many.
The Radical Brazilian Priest Who Was Excommunicated
by LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO - July 24, 201311:45 AM
[ audio ] 4 min 22 sec
Roberto Francisco Daniel, widely known as Padre Beto, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church for his views on gay marriage and other hot-button issues. The former priest says the church must adapt to a changing world. Denise Guimaraes/AFP/Getty Images
His name is Roberto Francisco Daniel, but he goes by Padre Beto. He sports an ear clip, and a rosary around his neck that dips into an open-necked patterned shirt. In short, Padre Beto looks cooler than your typical priest.
His decision to become a Catholic priest came late, he says. He was 28. He'd been to college, worked, and he wasn't a virgin. He says he thinks that's why he has a different way of looking at church doctrine.
"When I came back to Brazil from Germany in 2001 and became a parish priest, I naturally included my views in my homilies," he says in Portuguese. "I don't think that there are some things people can't hear or that shouldn't be discussed."
In fact, it wasn't only in church that he discussed his opinions, but also on YouTube and on the radio. He was popular; he was gaining a following. The problem: What he was preaching went against church doctrine.
"What really shaped my views was what I heard in the confession box as a priest," he says. "I had men who came to confess who were homosexual, who had tried to live a life according to the church. They got married, they had children, but they found themselves in a terrible situation, thinking that they were sinners. It was hell for them."
They were living a lie, Padre Beto says, in order to comply with their faith. And, he says, that can't be right.
"The Catholic Church is one of hypocrisy, and because of what I heard in the confessional, I decided to engage in the debate," he says.
Padre Beto not only believes in gay marriage, but is in favor of divorce and of open marriages where either party can have an extramarital affair as long as both spouses agree.
"The Catholic Church has to change. We know now because of scientific discovery a great deal about human sexuality, for example," he says.
How can we, he says, in this day and age, expect people to be chaste before matrimony?
"I would have young people in their 20s confessing as if it were sinful that they had sexual relations with the person they were going to marry before they said vows," he says. "Sex is the most natural thing in the world. How can someone get married without first knowing their partner sexually? That's absurd nowadays."
The Pope's Visit
Against this backdrop, Pope Francis has received a rapturous welcome in Brazil, and on Wednesday he led the first public mass of his first international trip. In a sermon, he spoke of helping the young turn away from what he called the "idols" of "money, success, power, pleasure."
But there have also been protests. Dozens of activists supporting gay marriage demonstrated in Rio de Janiero on Monday. Same-sex unions have become big issue in the region.
The percentage of those between the ages of 15 and 29 who describe themselves as Catholic in Brazil has , and Brazil's main religion is facing a growing challenge from evangelical Christians.
An Excommunication
Padre Beto was repeatedly warned by the church to stop making his views public, to recant and repent. Things had become so tense he had decided to resign his ministry. But his superiors beat him to it.
In April, without warning, they convened an ecclesiastical hearing where he was informed that he was excommunicated.
"It never even crossed my mind that they would excommunicate me," he says.
Padre Beto says he fell afoul of the ultraconservative elements in the church who were outraged by his opinions. He says, though, that since he's been stripped of his priestly duties he's gotten a lot of support from the community.
He is still a devout Catholic, he says, who stands by his priestly vows. But in many ways, he is now freer to voice his opinions. He has a book coming out soon, and he continues to post his sermons on his YouTube channel — only now instead of a cassock he's wearing jeans.
"I feel at peace with myself," he says. "I never went back on my beliefs."
No one's asked him yet, but he says he hopes soon to be able to preside over a gay wedding.
"I will do it with a great sense of peace," he says, "because where there is love, God is present."
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