Pat Robertson. You Insensitive Bastard.

People who know me won't be shocked when I say that I fucking HATE Pat Robertson. The man is an embarrassment to everyone who chooses to call themselves Christian. He mongers hate, bilks little old ladies out of their Social Security payments (which is actually my money, but that's a rant for another day.. I gotta start keeping track of those), preaches intolerance, and in this case, shits all over the life's work of a man who, agree with him or not, has changed the face of the middle east for good or bad. I'm speaking of course of Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel, who suffered a massive stroke yesterday.

Let's take stock of the man's condition. He was bleeding inside his head. Neurosurgeons operated on him for nine hours trying to keep him alive and whatever quality of life he could have. He's in a medically induced coma in order to minimize the swelling of his brain. He's not currently able to breathe on his own because of the pressure on his brain stem.

And Pat Robertson sees this man's suffering as nothing more than an opportunity to spread his narrow interpretation of the "word of God". Sharon was primarily responsible for the process that led to the Jewish settlers' withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, a process that he (and a lot of other people) thought would be a positive step towards settling differences that date back thousands of years. Of course he had his detractors on both sides of the issue, and for every Israeli citizen mourning the situation there's a Palestinian dancing in the street. There's no black and white here, there's gray. Pat Robertson sees this concession in the name of peace as, and I quote (from the CNN article):

""He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, "The 700 Club."

"God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'" he said."

What. The. Fuck.

The man's on the brink of death and this is all you have to say? What about "I'm praying for you?" How about "My thoughts are with your family?" Or how about shutting the fuck up if you don't have anything appropriate to say?

Or how about waiting a God damn week?

It probably goes without saying that my wife has the patience of a saint. She said to me tonight "Pat Roberson needs a cockpunch."

That pretty much says it all.