{"id":48110,"date":"2014-11-14T17:40:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T00:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/14\/our-dear-friends-the-saudis.html"},"modified":"2014-11-14T17:40:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T00:40:30","slug":"our-dear-friends-the-saudis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/14\/our-dear-friends-the-saudis.html","title":{"rendered":"Our dear friends, the Saudis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Various observations:<\/p>\n

1. Geopolitics and oil dependency make strange bedfellows. Disgusting ones, even.<\/p>\n

2. American Social Liberals: This is was a real theocracy looks like. Bear that in mind next time you think ranting how having "In God We Trust" on our money is tantamount to a crime against humanity. (It's irksome on a variety of levels, but let's maintain some perspective, too.)<\/p>\n

3. American Social Conservatives: This is what a real theocracy looks like. Is this really the direction you want to take the country? (And, no, you can't just handwave "Well, that's those uncivilized Muslims," because a look at your beloved "Christian America" and its history — especially its early days — shows the same sort of thing happening far too often. Read up about the founding of Rhode Island. Read up why James Madison was so gung-ho about religious liberty.)<\/p>\n

4. American Right-Wing and Neo-Conservative Punditry: Next time you start demagoguing about the Axis-of-Evil horrors of the Chinese, or the North Koreans, or the Iranians, remember who we're busy propping up, selling arms to, and generally making foreign policy kissy-face toward across many, many US Administrations. These guys.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nSaudi Liberals website founder sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes<\/a><\/span>
\nA court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced the editor of an Internet forum he founded to discuss the role of religion in the conservative Islamic kingdom to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes, Saudi media reported on Wednesday.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Various observations: 1. Geopolitics and oil dependency make strange bedfellows. Disgusting ones, even. 2. American Social Liberals: This is was a real theocracy looks like. Bear that in mind next time you think ranting how having "In God We Trust" on our money is tantamount to a crime against humanity. (It's irksome on a variety … Continue reading “Our dear friends, the Saudis”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7489,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/22\/church_and_stat.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":0},"title":"Church and state","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Feb-05 1:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We are not in a theocracy. We are not moving toward a theocracy. We do seem to be moving toward a government and culture where majority religious beliefs (or at...","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24052,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/26\/inmates-running-for-management-of-the-asylum.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":1},"title":"Inmates running for management of the asylum","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 26-Nov-11 7:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, it seems highly unlikely at present that any of these zanies would actually get the GOP nomination -- except for Gingrich, for the moment -- but that they've gotten so much publicity (and all spent their turns with relatively high polling results) still gives me the willies. #ddtb Embedded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129897,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/23\/aspirations-for-an-american-theocracy.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":2},"title":"Aspirations for an American Theocracy","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 23-Feb-16 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"The irony of Dominionist \/ Reconstructionist theology is how thoroughly belies the unintentionally ironic accusations by some on the Right that Islam is not a religion but a political system, as it permeates all of society and dictates how it should run. The repressive Islamic societies of the Middle East\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32771,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/14\/because-there-are-always-those-just-waiting-for-a-theocracy.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":3},"title":"Because there are always those just waiting for a theocracy","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Mar-13 2:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Though they always frame their own beliefs in what is morally right or wrong as \"well, society has always\/never supported X\". \u00a0Bad sociology, bad history, bad theology, and bad constitutionality.At any rate, whenever anyone says, \"Well, nobody really wants to roll back the clock to X,\" the rejoinder should always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41960,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/11\/give-them-an-inch-and-theyll-take-a-theocracy.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":4},"title":"Give them an inch and they'll take a theocracy","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 11-May-14 11:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Christianists across the nation cheered the SCOTUS decision last week in Town of Greece v. Galloway about being able to open government meetings with an explicitly Christian prayer. After all, as Justice Kennedy, for the majority, optimistically pointed out, \"Our tradition assumes that adult citizens, firm in their own beliefs,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1637,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/02\/god_help_us.html","url_meta":{"origin":48110,"position":5},"title":"God help us","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 2-Dec-01 2:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As InstaPundit puts it about this story, \"Let's see: we're at war against religious fanatics who want to create a theocracy. What's an appropriate response? Hey, how about government-sponsored prayer!...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}