Pamungkas said the ritual, which involved killing a snake, a black crow and a goat, deployed “Haitian-style voodoo” because “Indonesian black magic does not work on foreigners”. Smearing his face with a mixture of his own blood and that from the slaughtered animals into which broccoli and sugar cane was also cast, Pamungkas offered prayers to “Satan, who will bring disasters on Bush’s visit”. “My curse will make him bloat like broccoli. Bush will feel unease during the visit,” he said. Asked if he was confident the hex would work, Pamungkas said: “I’ve put voodoo curses on white men in Indonesia before, and they all died.”
This is news? Didn't somebody on Daily Kos do this on Election Day?
One of my favorite scenes in all of cinema is in one of the Indiana Jones movies, the first I think, when some grand, scimitar-wielding assassin leaps in front of Indy inside a souk, does some whoop-de-do presentation with his sword as a prelude to chopping the American to bits. Indy, unperturbed, laconically pulls out his revolver and blows the dude away.
Nevertheless, I can't honestly say I don't believe this stuff can work. If you want to disbelieve in it with ease, don't hang out with exorcists, or talk with people intimately familiar with the occult. I'll be praying for the president's safety, though I would have done so the minute he got there, given how jihadi-infested Indonesia is. I wish he weren't going, frankly.

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All religions are (for the lack of a better term) crap. Stand on your own two feet.>
Rod's a nutter, alright. Might as well believe in salt over the shoulder and breaking mirrors.
I'm sorry; I forgot we're supposed to be very respectful and deferent towards all superstitious beliefs. My mistake.>
My curse will make him bloat like broccoli."
Heh, I think Mr Pamungkas's core beliefs revolve more around the power of publicity (and the weak-mindedness of its gatekeepers, of which Mr Dreher is emblematic.)
Broccoli, yep that's a common cultural touchstone in a tropical country, a vegetable that thrives in cool, fog-shrouded coastal areas such as Northern California. Broccoli rots, turning brown, squishy and shrivelled.
So Gee, why ever would a publicity hungry idiot mention broccoli in a curse on the Bush family, and be ignorant of any of the properties of broccoli? That's almost as blatant a publicity maneuver as finding some way to associate popular supermarkets and trends in organic eating with political conservatism.>
My God, you American have big mouths. No brains, all mouth. Blah, blah, blibbity blah...
Here's a thought: Why don't y'all shut up until you have something important to say? Take my word for it...the rest of the world actually works that way.>
It's funny I see no difference between voodoo and your begging for sky god favor. Or perhaps that was your point? It s hard to tell when you re being ironic on purpose.
Tell me, if your god was going to kill Bush / let Bush die (same thing when you're omnipotent) would your prayers stay his celestial hand? Do you have the power to change your god s mind?
It's all the same; magic words to maintain the illusion that you have a say in the uncontrollable universe we call home.
It s cute when cavemen did it, now days not so much.>
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