Worst Person of the Year for 2011_ Rick Perry

Like most bloggers, I have probably committed over 2,000 copyright infringements, if one wants to be extreme and petty about such matters, but I do kind of wish I had enough loot to copyright the term: Execution Happy Evangelists.

The term not only applies to Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas and Republican presidential candidate, but also Gov. Bob McDonnell, the GOP governor of Virginia. Both have risen to prominence in state politics by exploiting their perceived righteous view of the world by proclaiming themselves to be good Christians. Yet, neither sees the contradiction, not only with their theological views, but also with their limited government ideals as executions are, in addition to being a human rights violation, quite expensive (estimates range, but it is widely believed that each execution costs $2 million).

So far Perry has overseen the executions of 234 Texas inmates. There are several that have been cited as wrongful executions, meaning the person sentenced to death may not have killed the person they were found guilty of murdering. The one that clearly stands out the most is the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in 2004. Willingham was executed for killing three of his daughters by arson, but many fire experts both within the Lonestar State and from the outside found the initial investigations to be faulty.

The Willingham case was the subject of a "New Yorker" article by David Grann entitled "Trial by Fire," which was also the title of a PBS/Frontline documentary of the same name about the execution.

Perry has also been scrutinized for his shady political wranglings and dubious business deals from several magazines, including "The Atlantic," "The New Republic" and "Rolling Stone."

Though Matt Taibbi, one of America's most liberal and outspoken journalists, is not known for objectivity in his pieces for "Rolling Stone," he made a valid point when he said that Perry's highly controversial deal with Merck to have sixth grade girls in Texas get STD vaccines was a definitive breech with the Texans who elected and re-elected him (amazingly enough, Perry is now in his third term).

In a more sanguine piece by Alec MacGillis in "The New Republic," the author cited just how contradictory Perry is in his anti-government crusade and his own record in Austin. Among Perry's shady dealings was one in which he signed a deal for a nuclear landfill, and allowed damaging deregulation for col-fire power plants. In addition, Perry worked with UBS Bank to raise revenues from the deaths of retired Texas teachers.

Perry has also allied himself with radical evangelists in The New Apolistic Reformers who think abortion is murder and that the Democratic Party is possessed by Satan. He has also called social security an illegal Ponzi scheme.

And, at a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Perry made a bold declaration that the death penalty was effectively the only way to reduce homicides in America.

So, for the second year in a row, we are choosing an Execution Happy Evangelist as our Worst Person of the Year.

Last year, our choice was current Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, who is an advocate for allowing guns on campus even though Virginia Tech has seen two horrific school shootings in recent years.

With the Iowa Caucuses happening tomorrow, we certainly hope Perry performs dismally so that we don't have to fear the possibility of another inept, immoral Texas politician in the White House.

Correction: We Meant Philip, Not Paul

Since I spent many years working as a journalist where I covered many things like Winston-Salem, NC, city council meetings (I didn't actually work in Winston-Salem, but it seems like a good generic city to plug in for this entry), I go through great lengths to make sure I don't post misinformation here, even if it's about Republicans.

But, I did flub yesterday when I said that my friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight said that the Apostle Paul's tomb was discovered near Denizli, Turkey, recently. As it turns out, it was Apostle Philip's tomb that was discovered. So, to make up for it- especially for all my Catholic friends, I will wish Pope Benedict well as he visits Madrid, Spain, over the next few days. And, hopefully, I will not have to retract and say that he is actually going to Valencia (another city in Spain).

Turkey, which happens to be my late father's country, has been in the news a lot lately. In addition to the discovery of Philip's tomb, the following things have happened there either fairly recently or within the last few days as have been reported in Turkey's two English-language newspapers, "Hurriyet Daily News" and "Today's Zaman:"

1) Israel has refused to apologize for the raid aboard the Marmara flotilla, which killed many Turkish activisits who were attempting to give humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

2) Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Syria's Bashar Assad to stop the violence against residential protestors throughout Syria, which caused a major influx of refugees into Turkey.

3) Aziz Yildirim, the president of Istanbul soccer power Fenerbahce, has been arrested and charged with match-fixing, a scandal which is involving many teams. Melih Gokcek, the current mayor of the Turkish capital Ankara has also been pulled into the mess as he was once the president of the soccer team Ankaraspor.

4) As of yesterday, Turkish military planes attacked PKK (Kurdish Worker's Party) terrorists in northern Iraq. The PKK guerillas have struck Turkish military headquarters with attacks in the Hakari province in far southeastern Turkey.

All of this is occuring as many religious Turkish people are celebrating the Ramadan holiday!

And, I should retract the statement that I was going on hiatus.

Oh well, we tried!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Angelina Condemns Koran Burning Project

It may not be often that a liberal movie star like Angelina Jolie would agree with a leading member of the U.S. military brass like Gen. David Patraeus, but they are on the same page when it comes to being against the Rev. Terry Jones' dubious plans to burn copies of the Koran at his radical church in Gainesville, Fla., this weekend.

Jones has said that he is going to burn the Korans to protest Sept. 11th even though virtually the entire Muslim world, including an imam from Iznik, Turkey, who I spoke while visiting his historic village just days after the terrorist attacks, condemned the events of 9-11.

"The Gainesville Sun" (gainesville.com) tweeted that the star of "Salt" was agast with the news of Jones' proposition.

Jolie, 35, said the following to members of the media about the Koran burning project in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she is visiting after a trip to nothwest Pakistan where the movie star talked to refugees of the recent horrific flooding that occured in that region:

"I have hardly the words that somebody would do that to somebody's religious book."

Jolie's trip is part of her mission as a goodwill ambassador for The United Nations' refugee agency. The U.N. has issued a $460 million pledge to help the flood victims.

The Koran burning project, which has also been condemned by Vatican officials, has been the buzz of Twitter and other chatrooms/discussion boards.

On Twitter, Nathan Tabor, a Christian conservative activist in Winston-Salem, NC, asked his followers on Twitter if they thought the Koran burning project was a good idea or not.

The film critic Roger Ebert, also on Twitter, compared Rev. Jones to Satan for his actions.

I will simply add my two cents and say that as the son of a Muslim immigrant, I think Rev. Jones is a 'budala,' that's the Turkish word for idiot.

Rev. Jones is with the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, which contrary to its name is not a progressive religious organization. His efforts also come as Muslims around the world are concluding the month-long Ramadan holiday.

Ironically, the actor Terry Jones, as a member of Monty Python, appeared in the highly controversial 1979 satire film "Life of Brian," which was considered to be blasphemous by many Christian groups at the time.

Eid Mubarak (Happy Ramadan) To All Our Muslim Friends

Since there has been a lot of bickering about a Muslim group trying to build a mosque in central Manhattan in the shadow of where the Sept. 11th tragedy took place, I thought I would voice my support for the greater Muslim community in the United States.

Though I haven't talked much about this, I was a Muslim as a child. My late father Mehmet Gokbudak was from Turkey, and this was simply the way I was raised.

After his death on my 13th birthday from a heart attack, I began to openly question and sincerely doubt God's existence. My views have more or less remained the same since that awful personal event in 1983 as I now see myself as a human secularist.

And, while I equally disdain all forms of radical or fervent fundamentalism, whether they originate in a church, synagogue or mosque, I have respect for those Muslims who merely wish to practice their faith and try to make the world a better place for themselves and those around them.

Thus, I wish the Muslim community a Happy Ramadan season. The holiday lasts for 10 days, and it is approaching its final stages this week.

The image I have chosen is that of the beloved Turkish shadow pupetts Karagoz (the one with the beard) and Hacivat. Though the characters are secular in nature, they symbolically represent the cultural divide in Turkey between the intellectual urban-dwellers (Hacivat) and the rural common man who generally tends to be more religious than secular (Karagoz).

The divide has remained in tact since the characters were developed centuries ago during the Ottoman Empire. Greece has a similar shadow puppet named Karagoisi, which has actually recently caused a mild cultural/political rift between the two countries who almost went to war over an uninhabited goat island in The Aegean Sea in the 1990s.

My friend Ugur Celikkol of Bursa, Turkey, and his family run a semi-annual Karagoz festival in Bursa which has attracted tourists from other parts of Turkey and around the world. It is generally held around November.

Closer to home, The Divan Cultural Center in Cary, NC (Raleigh), is sponsoring many Iftar meals which are given when the sun goes down during the Ramadan season. We imagine there will be plenty of good lamb and rice at the table for those in attendance!

UPDATE- According to "The Hill," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is opposing President Barack Obama's support of the mosque project in New York. Many political insiders suspect that this is for political reasons as Reid faces an election this November. His opponent Sharon Angle has been dubbed a right-wing quack even from non-partisan observers.

Actual Bojangles Sign a Friend of Mine Saw

There is widespread speculation that the breakfast fast food chain Bojangles, based in Charlotte, NC, is run by evangelical Christians or at least partisan Republicans (many of the restaurants in the Roanoke, Va., and Martinsville, Va., area have promoted Republican candidates for local, state and national offices).

A friend of mine in the Roanoke Valley saw this actual sign at a Bojangles in Vinton, Va., on Easter Sunday. I think even if you are an evangelical you will find this amusing:

"He is Risen. Egg Biscuit 89 cents."

A bit much, isn't it?!

Quote of the Week-Hugh Hefner

Today's quote is from "Playboy" magazine's founder Hugh Hefner. To complement Heff, we have a quote from one of his arch rivals, feminist Gloria Steinem.

Here is today's quote from Heffner:

"The major civiling force in the world is not religion, it is sex."