H. Res. 888

Speaking of abominations, herewith submitted is H. Res. 888, which was introduced in the House of Representatives last month by Republican Randy Forbes of Virginia. One of its co-sponsors is Wisconsin's own Paul Ryan. Naturally, all but one of the 31 co-sponsors are Republicans. And of course the lone Democrat, Mike McIntyre of NC, is among the most conservative in Congress.

Who else would attempt to foist this blatant exercise in historical revisionism on the country but a gang of conservative Republicans.

Following no less that 75 "whereases," H. Res. 888 resolves:

That the United States House of Representatives rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation’s public buildings and educational resources.

The irony-infused trouble is that the body of the resolution — a recitation of "such history" as Rep. Forbes and Co. have deemed to concoct — is itself a litany of removed, obscured, and purposely omitted facts and context. Quelle surprise.

Chris Rodda of the blog Talk To Action takes a closer look at just 14 of the statements in the resolution. Many of them can be fairly characterized as outright lies. For example:

"Whereas in 1795 during construction of the Capitol, a practice was instituted whereby `public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11 o'clock';"

This one originated in an article by David Barton entitled "Church in the U.S. Capitol":

"Significantly, the Capitol building had been used as a church even for years before it was occupied by Congress. The cornerstone for the Capitol had been laid on September 18, 1793; two years later while still under construction, the July 2, 1795, Federal Orrery newspaper of Boston reported:

"City of Washington, June 19. It is with much pleasure that we discover the rising consequence of our infant city. Public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11 o'clock by the Reverend Mr. Ralph."

This was the entire notice, exactly as it appeared in the Federal Orrery:

"CITY of WASHINGTON, June 19.

"It is with much pleasure that we discover the rising consequence of our infant city, Public worship is now regularly administered at the capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11 o'clock by the reverend mr. Ralph, and an additional school has been opened by that gentleman, upon an extensive and liberal plan."

In 1795, the Rev. Ralph was preaching in a converted tobacco shed at the foot of Capitol Hill that was being used as an Episcopalian church, not in the Capitol Building, which was barely under construction at the time. In this notice, the word "capitol," with a lower case "c," was referring to the city, not the building.

David Barton is a fundamentalist Republican activist from Texas masquerading as a historian whose distortions and lies are well documented and he's even been caught red handed making shit up.

Chris Rodda's entire piece is well worth a read for a flavor of what this confederacy of revisionist buffoons is up to.

A cc: Paul Ryan wouldn't hurt either, 1st District residents.