DO WINGNUTS BELIEVE IN SEPARATION OF WINGNUTTERY AND ... WELL, ANYTHING?

I doesn't surprise me that you can't even adequately explain the concept of separation of church and state to most right-wingers, much less persuade them that it's a good and necessary aspect of a society like ours. That's because right-wingers simply don't believe that anyone is entitled to any space where they, the wingnuts, can't barge in any time they please and impose their beliefs -- religious or secular.

A couple of examples: R. Lee Ermey, the former Marine whose acting career took off in 1986 after his breakout performance as a drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, appeared last month at a benefit in Indianapolis for the Marines' Toys for Tots program. Now, you might imagine that this wouldn't be a venue at which it would be appropriate to engage in a political rant -- c'mon, it's Toys for Tots, for Pete's sake! But, as you'll see in the clip below starting at about 2:30, Ermey doesn't agree that politics should be off-limits at this or (presumably) any other venue:



... I gotta tell you, folks, we're having a big problem this year. The economy really sucks. Now, I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably had a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they're not gonna quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I think we should all rise up and we should stop this administration from what they're doing, because they're destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us, and that's exactly what they're doing, and I'm sick and damn tired of it, and I know you are, too. But I know that the Marine Corps is gonna be here forever, and this administration won't. Semper Fi....

Ermey has now apologized on his Web site for the remarks -- possibly, as Mediate speculates, only because he wants to save a piece of his career:

John V. Moore, the man who originally ... uploaded the video of Ermey has pointed out on the website Windy City Watch that ... Ermey is a spokesman for GEICO. A few months ago, GEICO fired voice actor Lance Baxter AKA D.C. Douglas for being critical of the Tea Party and Freedomworks. Not only did they fire him, they fired him for a political outburst on his own free time.... Will they now fire Ermey?

I'm sure Ermey will still get work no matter what -- he's in everything from the recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels to the Toy Story movies. (Hey, I thought right-wingers were all blacklisted by liberal-fascist Hollywood -- what happened?)

*****

Meanwhile, down in Florida, there's this:

Something called "The Obama Prayer" has landed a Manatee County corrections sergeant in hot water. According to an internal affairs report, Sergeant Matthew Neu highlighted a verse in a bible that reads, "Let his days be few - and let another take his office."

... one of his co-workers, Sergeant Martha Nash, ... says a copy of her bible was on her desk and inside that bible was a handwritten note that said "Obama Prayer." She says at first she thought it was probably something positive until she took a closer look.

The verse that Sgt. Neu admits to circling in that bible is from the book of Psalm: Chapter 109 Verse 8 which reads, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

Nash said "she felt whoever left the note wanted the president dead and that the supporting verses after that verse support that." The following verse reads, "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

But Sgt. Neu told investigators it was not a threat on the president. In the report, he admits, "Maybe it was not in good taste." He says it was never intended for Nash.

He adds that the desk where he left the bible is shared by several co-workers and that there was a stack of bibles on the desk. A stack of bibles that the chaplain hands out to inmates and other employees....

Neu has been suspended for approximately three days.

Here's the thing: why are you scrawling your opinions in any book that's not your own possession? I don't care if it's the Bible or a cheap paperback of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- it's not yours, idiot.

But no. People like Neu -- and Ermey -- have boundary issues. You simply aren't entitled to a prayer, or a charitable contribution, that's free of their opinions if they get a notion to impose them on you.