While we don’t normally offer negative comments on other blot posts, there was a guest post on The Hayride Wednesday (Nov. 6) written—or ghostwritten, would be my guess—by one Ray Griffin, a member of the Republican State Central Committee from the 105th District, which encompasses all or parts of the parishes of Jefferson, St. Charles and Plaquemines.
His post on The Hayride consisted almost entirely of ridiculing Riser’s opponent in the Nov. 16 runoff for the 5th District congressional seat, Vance McAllister. He first sniped at McAllister as a “wealthy, self-funding political novice.”
Actually, we find it somewhat refreshing that a candidate is willing to sink his own money in a run for office as opposed to sucking up donations from special interests who will own the candidate after his election. PACs and fat cat donors seem to be at the root of the nation’s political dilemma today.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/11/some_of_gov_bobby_jindals_dona.html=
Griffin also snorted his derision at McAllister’s self-proclaimed aspirations to parlay his hoped-for congressional seat into the presidency. While McAllister may be a bit premature in getting the cart way out in front of the horse, his disarming candor is certainly refreshing in light of Jindal’s continued ridiculous contention that he already has the job he wants when everyone who has not been in a coma for six years knows the presidency is Jindal’s own burning obsession.
Griffin, of Lafitte, in Jefferson Parish, is listed as an agent and officer of Cochiara Corp. in Lafitte on the Secretary of State’s web page but is designated as not in good standing for failure to file an annual report. The last annual report filed was on May 24, 2012, records show.
He is also an officer and director of Ray Griffin, Inc., an active corporation about which there were no details furnished.
Griffin also worked as an intern in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s 2004 congressional campaign, drawing a total of $1,654 in intern fees and travel reimbursements.
So now we have a campaign flunky turned entrepreneur turned political pundit.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong that—if he did indeed pen the article. But even if he allowed his name to be used for an author written by, say, someone like Kyle Plotkin, it still would not be nearly as egregious as Sen. Rand Paul’s experiment in plagiarism; at least Griffin, if he did use a ghostwriter, was a party to the ruse.
So, just to put things in perspective, here are three images of Griffin, the Riser shill:
Hey, boys just want to have fun, right?
What continues to disturb us even more, however, besides the obvious contrivance of Jindal’s orchestrating the retirement of Rodney Alexander by offering him a lucrative state position so that Riser could inherit the office (the election being only a pesky formality), is Riser’s continued association with two former board members of New Bethany Home for Boys and Girls in Arcadia.
Tim Johnson, son-in-law of New Bethany administrator/owner/minister Mack Ford, and his son Jonathan Johnson have both been active in the Riser campaign. Their motivation is obvious: for the past decade, Jonathan Johnson worked as State Director for Alexander. He is working in the Riser campaign in the fervent hope that he will continue in that same capacity once upon Riser’s coronation…er, election. And Tim just wants what is best for Junior.
Ford, the patriarch of New Bethany, has been accused by several former female residents, of beatings and rapes, dating back to the mid-1970s and continuing until the early 1990s.
No formal charges have been filed because (a) the Bienville Parish Sheriff’s Office denies that any of the victims ever appeared at his office to file a complaint and (b) because an assistant district attorney claims that the district attorney’s office cannot initiate an investigation.
Determined to see justice done, several of the former residents have indicated to LouisianaVoice that they will be appearing in person in the near future to file formal charges against Ford.
Even though the home has been closed down for more than 20 years, Ford still receives monetary support from various Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) churches from around the country. Several former IFB ministers are currently serving prison sentences for sexually abusing church members, mostly women.
Oddly enough, because of the IFB philosophy that women must be totally subservient to men and because the ministers instill the belief among their congregations that they are anointed by God and thus, infallible, whenever sexual abuse of women is exposed, it is the women—and often young girls—who are required to stand before the congregation and apologize for their sins of tempting men just as Eve tempted Adam into original sin.
Even more disturbing is a book by IFB members Michael and Debi Pearl. The book, To Train Up A Child, is nothing more than a manual for child abuse, i.e. beatings.
The Pearls were not the first, however. Ministers Bill Gothard and Richard Fugate were two of the first IFB leaders to preach “breaking the will” of children. The two wrote What the Bible Says about Child Training, a book used by Bob Jones University (BJU) in its child psychology classes. One of Mack Ford’s daughters attended BJU.
Among other things, Fugate recommends a balloon stick, a willow or peach tree branch, or a blackboard pointer of one-eighth-inch wooden dowel for toddlers up to 15 months in age. After that, the instruments only get thicker—up to one-half inch in diameter.
For nursing mothers, Pearl recommends pulling infants’ hair when they bite. “An alternative has to be sought for bald-headed babies,” he wrote.
Fugate writes that babies should not be spanked through a thick diaper, but bare-bottomed. A child who is strong-willed “will require more frequent and more intense whippings,” he said. “Such a child is likely to require enough strokes to receive stripes or even welts. Parents should not be overly concerned if such minor injuries do result from their chastisement as it is perfectly normal.”
Child beatings (and some IFB children have died at the hands of their “disciplinarians,” by the way) and total dominance over women are not the only characteristics of IFB. Among other things, IFB ministers teach that the word “sex” is hidden in the animated twinkling stars of The Lion King and that Azrael, the cat on The Smurfs cartoon, got its name from one of Satan’s top demons of the same name, and anyone who brought a Smurf doll into his/her home was inviting demonic possession.
One more thing: Thursday (Nov. 7) was the 95th birthday of the Rev. Billy Graham.
How is that relevant, you ask?
Well, before his rise to prominence, Graham spent a semester at Bob Jones College in Tennessee (before it relocated to its present location in Greenville, S.C.) and Jones was his mentor.
But Graham, who rejected the Doctrine of Separation, began to distance himself from Jones, who believed if conservative and liberal Christians joined forces it would compromise the word of God. The rift grew to such an extent that in 1995, Bob Jones III told 1,000 employees that, “Billy Graham has done more damage to Christianity than any other person in the 20th century.”
BJU, which teaches its students that accreditation is not important “because Harvard University is not accredited” (it is, of course), rejects any governmental interference while at the same time accepting federal student aid and enjoying tax exempt status.
These are examples of the beliefs of those to whom Jindal, Superintendent of Education John White and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) President Chas Roemer wish to turn over the education of our children through vouchers and charter schools.
And Neil Riser is Jindal’s boy.
Louisiana Voice 