You Gotta Keep the Devil Way Down in a Hole

Jesse Walker | February 3, 2010

Still upset over the devilish connotations of Mount Diablo, an Oakley man has again petitioned a federal agency to rename Contra Costa County's signature peak.

This time he wants to rename the 3,849-foot-high mountain for the 40th president of the United States -- Ronald Wilson Reagan....

[Arthur] Mijares, a devout Christian, says he believes the word "Diablo" -- Spanish for "devil" -- is "derogatory and profane," according to the federal board report. Mijares was unavailable for comment Thursday.

In 2005, he attempted to change the name to Mount Reagan, but the board, citing its Commemorative Naming Policy, told him the late president needed to be dead for at least five years before receiving such an honor. The former California governor died June 5, 2004.

Mijares argued that the devil, or "diablo," was a "living person" so that name should also be prohibited. He eventually settled on three alternative options: Mount Yahweh, Mount Miwok or Mount Ohlone.

Comment #1: I know several people who believe Reagan is the devil. In the unlikely event that Mijares succeeds, they presumably would treat the name change as a mere technicality.

Comment #2: So Diablo is a living person but Yahweh isn't? That's a surprisingly modern brand of Christianity that Mijares is peddling.

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|2.3.10 @ 4:35PM|#

Well, PD, look at the bright side. These people are obvious nutjobs and the time and effort they spend on trying to change placenames is time they AREN'T spending on even more anti-social activities, like protesting at the funerals of AIDS victims, hassling women seeking abortions, etc. As unfortunate as it is that they waste the time of various govt agencies, at least it's keeping those agencies from greater mischief, ie "blight" designations. Plus, this really serves to discredit fundagelicals in the minds of moderate voters. Mostly win.

D.R.M.|2.3.10 @ 8:07PM|#

A crank mathematician came up with a method to square the circle in 1897, and offered to let the state of Indiana use it in public schools for free if they passed a bill acknowledging it. The state House passed the bill; the state Senate talked with some real mathematicians and then killed it.

The bill never explicitly mentioned pi, but it implicitly defined pi as 3.2

|2.4.10 @ 2:39AM|#

The bill never explicitly mentioned pi, but it implicitly defined pi as 3.2

IIRC, since the proof was flawed (and presented in the bill), it actually implicitly defined pi as several different values, depending on which statements you choose to endorse. 3.2 (or something close) was one of the values.

Inquiring minds|2.3.10 @ 3:36PM|#

But what should you do when you walk through the garden?

healthscarequotes|2.3.10 @ 3:38PM|#

"Mijares argued that the devil, or "diablo," was a "living person"..."

so long as the devil isn't a corporation, i don't care what mountain he endorses.

|2.4.10 @ 9:59PM|#

What, no Mount Dew?

|2.3.10 @ 3:38PM|#

Hey, when I was a kid and Reagan was running for the GOP nomination (in 1980), I was told several times that he was the Anti-Christ: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 6-6-6.

Jesse Walker|2.3.10 @ 3:47PM|#

I've got a two-page article from a yippie newspaper making this argument at considerable length. Unfortunately it doesn't include a good Reagan-as-the-antichrist image, which is how we ended up with that photo in the post instead.

|2.3.10 @ 3:57PM|#

Nice, but not as good as JG Ballard's mock survey report effort.

|2.3.10 @ 4:00PM|#

My favorite Reagan photo of all time.

|2.3.10 @ 4:04PM|#

You were never a kid, so this is clearly a lie.

I'm actually 8.

VikingMoose|2.3.10 @ 5:59PM|#

you just think that cuz of 4 years college and four years law school (!)

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 6:49PM|#

They usually call you people doctors.

|2.3.10 @ 8:41PM|#

Pre-law, pre-med, same thing.

VikingMoose|2.3.10 @ 6:00PM|#

|2.3.10 @ 6:34PM|#

Or I lied.

Warty|2.3.10 @ 3:42PM|#

You knew it was coming

|2.3.10 @ 4:44PM|#

Christ, does anyone other than males under the age of 18 listen to that shit.

Warty|2.3.10 @ 4:53PM|#

Meet the singer. Turns out he's fucking nuts. Who knew?

Colonel_Angus|2.3.10 @ 10:35PM|#

More nuts than "Dead" from Mayhem?

|2.3.10 @ 6:33PM|#

The best part of Metalocalypse is the bloody and horrible megadeaths of metal fans shown in just about every episode.

|2.3.10 @ 3:44PM|#

I know several people who believe Reagan is the devil.

That's just silly. Just by counting the letters in his given name any good Rapture Christian can see that Ronald Wilson Reagan was the antichrist.

Maybe Armageddon has already happened and nobody noticed.

|2.3.10 @ 3:58PM|#

The Rapture occured on June 9, 1993.

If you're still here, you didn't make the cut.

(Remember to wear fireproof clothing in your afterlife.)

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 4:21PM|#

I found that movie incredibly funny.

"Mount Yahweh"

That's a stoning

|2.3.10 @ 3:47PM|#

Arthur Mijares sounds like the kind of person who gets his tits in a flutter over trick-or-treaters.

lol.

ed|2.3.10 @ 3:49PM|#

I propose that they name it after Mijares: Mount Retard.

ed|2.3.10 @ 3:56PM|#

I would add that mount retard is what Nancy Pelosi's husband does once a year.

Ska|2.3.10 @ 4:01PM|#

What the hell is Paul Pelosi doing banging Joe Biden once a year? Does Nancy watch?

|2.3.10 @ 4:46PM|#

This Delaware native thinks that's a good one.

ed|2.3.10 @ 4:58PM|#

Not only does she watch, she keeps score.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 6:51PM|#

Excellent.

|2.3.10 @ 3:51PM|#

"And on that day, libertarians and Christians came together in mourning when it was discovered that the Christians have their very own Stan Jones."

|2.3.10 @ 3:52PM|#

w00t for The Wire reference.

|2.3.10 @ 4:05PM|#

I'm kinda excited for Treme. Probably won't compare to The Wire, but it does have Bunk.

|2.3.10 @ 4:45PM|#

I betting on suck. Like the final season did, but without all the good characters from the first 4.

|2.3.10 @ 3:55PM|#

The Devil went down to California,
Looking for a mountain to steal.

Jeff P|2.3.10 @ 3:57PM|#

Christians used to protest the phrase "By Jove!"

¢|2.3.10 @ 4:04PM|#

...

Kids.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 4:18PM|#

If they make some sort of trade with New Mexico and change the the damn dumbest fucking park name ever* then I could support this.

*Poncho Villa STATE park, New Mexico.

|2.3.10 @ 8:33PM|#

What, was Hirohito Park taken?

|2.3.10 @ 4:23PM|#

Hooray, then we can get on to the renaming of these nefarious locations:

Devil's Head, WI
Devil's Lake, IL

OK I stopped, since when I googled for more, I found webpages where people actually were campaiging to rename those.

Sigh I want to just give up.

|2.3.10 @ 4:47PM|#

Hell, Michigan.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 5:18PM|#

That's what I say anytime anybody suggests I go there.

|2.3.10 @ 6:44PM|#

Oh, I thought you were talking about Detroit.

|2.3.10 @ 6:48PM|#

The Devil's Thumb and the Devil's Paw are mountains in Southeastern Alaska. Since they have both killed climbers they are probably aptly named.

Mike Laursen|2.4.10 @ 12:39AM|#

Good point. I'm too lazy to look it up, but certainly there must be somebody who has died on Mt. Diablo.

Mike Laursen|2.4.10 @ 2:23AM|#

Well, there you go ... Google hit #1, a San Francisco Chronicle story with headline: "Mom kills son atop Mt. Diablo then shoots self". Sounds like a cursed mountain to me.

Playa Manhattan|2.4.10 @ 1:17AM|#

Devil's Postpile
http://www.nps.gov/depo/index.htm

Xeones|2.3.10 @ 4:34PM|#

I'd laugh, but this clown probably votes.

Roger Murdock|2.3.10 @ 5:08PM|#

That clown could possibly serve on a jury of your peers.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 6:52PM|#

Not unless Jerry releases him from Kramer's apartment.

mr simple|2.3.10 @ 4:38PM|#

Oh sky cake, why must you taste so good?

|2.3.10 @ 5:32PM|#

I remember when some folks in Indiana proposed renumbering the proposed I-69 as I-63, in that the latter was "a more moral number",

|2.3.10 @ 5:34PM|#

I thought abstinence was good.

|2.3.10 @ 6:01PM|#

Since 3 = √9, were they trying to get to root of the matter?

Jimi Hendrix|2.3.10 @ 6:21PM|#

Now if uh, six uh, huh, turned out to be nine. . . .
Oh, I don't mind, I don't mind, uh (Well, all right. . . .)

|2.3.10 @ 6:45PM|#

But a less oral number.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 6:53PM|#

Didn't they try to redefine Pi as three or was that just an urban lagend?

Ghost of Schrödinger's cat|2.3.10 @ 5:42PM|#

The can just go to Fucking, Austria then.

|2.3.10 @ 8:35PM|#

you don't exist if I don't read this thread. Crap.

brotherben|2.3.10 @ 6:24PM|#

New Mexico changed hiway 666 to some other number due to public pressure.

In Idaho, they have a non-game fish species known for decades as a Squawfish. It is now officially known as a Pikeminnow.

John Tagliaferro|2.3.10 @ 6:55PM|#

But they still fucking have Poncho Villa State Park? Anything for Fidel, Che, maybe even Arafat in the works?

|2.3.10 @ 6:26PM|#

So Diablo is a living person but Yahweh isn't?

Jesus died...they should call it Mt Jesus

|2.3.10 @ 7:39PM|#

Isn't he like a zombie now?

|2.3.10 @ 7:03PM|#

The problem with stuff like this is that the Devil's always in the details.

aSDV|2.3.10 @ 7:41PM|#

LET HIM PAY FOR IT

|2.3.10 @ 7:47PM|#

Jesse, you said that no one could top the coroner ad.

What about Carly Fiorina's evil psychedelic cybernetic sheep ad against Tom Campbell?

|2.3.10 @ 8:37PM|#

Best takeaway from that ad:
"That sheep is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until... BAAAAH."

Nitori Kawashiro|2.4.10 @ 4:33AM|#

"That's a surprisingly modern brand of Christianity"

Here's a more appropriate link than the one provided.

|2.4.10 @ 8:22AM|#

Fucking A. Do we let people like this moron breed?

Let's rename it Mount Beelzebub. Or maybe Mount Lucifer. Heck, Mount Satan sounds pretty good.

How ridiculous.

|2.4.10 @ 12:17PM|#

I prefer Mount I Love Jesus.

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