Americans need "liberation"

Saying that U.S. citizens are oppressed by their own government, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez promised Friday that he would not visit the United States again until Americans "liberate" their nation.

I suppose those of us who have become slaves to politics are oppressed, but who is going to listen to a guy who is best friends with a tyrant? Oh, I guess half the American people listen to Bush, who is great friends with the Saudi tyrants...

Who cares if Chavez doesn't visit the US? I'm not losing any sleep over it. Although if he decides to start limiting oil exports to the US, we are in trouble. It'd be bad for his economy, but he's an ideologue.

More religious absurdity...

Muslim converts face discrimination

A uniform is a uniform is a uniform. What is wrong with wearing the uniform hat instead of the hijab? If she doesn't like washing buses, she should get another job or wear the uniform. Could you imagine what would happen if Barry Bonds converted to Islam and refused to wear the Giant's hat over his kufi?

I do not feel bad for the guy who refused to take off his kufi for his merchant marine license. The kufi is not even a requirement of the Muslim religion. He must have missed something when he converted.

American Muslim converts seem to miss the message. If they were to visit real Muslim countries, with the exception of the Islamo-fascist states of Saudi Arabia and Iran, they would better understand the religion to which they converted.

It is one thing to practice religion. It is another to be cracked out on God.

Learning to think like a terrorist

Cathy Lanier had to think like a terrorist and come up with a way to kill a few thousand people at a picnic in San Luis Rey. The virtual town in California, repeatedly cursed with smallpox epidemics, explosions and attacks on its nuclear power plant, is part of her new education: The commander of special operations for D.C. police is earning a master's degree in the fast-growing field of homeland security.

Cathy Lanier must be a terrorist. After all, she is learning to think like one, right? Remember back when John Kerry said we must fight a smarter and more sensitive war? Learning to think like a terrorist is along the same lines. Rightwing pundits jumped on him for the comment, so, shouldn't they jump on Cathy Lanier and all of those who are majoring in terrorism studies? I mean, the rightwing hatred for higher education should provide enough incentive to go after these people! After all, you shouldn't try to understand your enemy. That's anti-American!

On the flip side, doesn't government funding for these new programs mean some degree of governmental control over them? I mean, Rumsfeld and Co. want total control over Volkland Security. There will be little academic freedom, I'm sure. And you'll have those ignorant kids claiming that their professors are terrorists for teaching Sayed Qutb, just as they claim their professors are Communists for teaching Marxism.

I say kudos to Cathy Lanier and all of those who have gone back to school to learn about this topic. Learning to think like a terrorist will enable them to stop attacks before they happen.

Now if only we'd inspect those containers...

Burrito mistaken for a weapon

This country is so paranoid!

Religious groups want girls to get cancer

And the absurdities just keep coming...

While I'm on the evangelical absurdity topic, here is an interesting theory about evangelical manlihood... reminds me of the Greek warriors.

Just found another:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and all UW schools may be denied access to birth control if a bill proposed by State Rep. Daniel LaMahieu becomes law.

A question

How do you appoint a well-known corrupt convict as minister of the most corrupt industry when he cannot even enter the neighboring country without being arrested?

What is truth but a LIE! (to the GOP)

GOP rewrites amendments to contain flat out lies which make Dems look like they support sexual predators, even though the bill contains nothing about sexual predators. Why should a taxi driver who does not know the reason he is transporting someone be punished for taking a teenager to a place where she plans on having an abortion. If the guy doesn't know about it, HE SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED! The abortion issue is another story.

This is despicable. The GOP grunts have no morals whatsoever. The staffers who rewrote these amendments are the future criminals of the GOP. If there is any respect for truth and America, GOP Senators will fire these staffers and spread the word around that these people are worthless to American society so they are unable to get similar jobs somewhere else.

Air America

Air America's CEO Danny Goldberg refutes Brian Anderson's attack on Air America Radio
"Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In," Commentary from April 18.

What is more interesting is this letter from some conservative.

Anderson, in attempting to explain why conservative radio is so popular while liberal radio is not, misses a significant point.

Conservatives see every issue as black and white. Liberals see issues in shades of gray. Black and white is fun. Gray is boring.

Martin A. Brower

Corona del Mar

Life is not black and white. You have to be stupid and blind to reality to think that. If it were, there would be no problems in the world.

Dems- get a plan!

John Zogby, in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor

On the election outlook for Democrats next year:

"You could make the argument they [voters] are rejecting Democrats ... because if there is a Democratic program, it is not getting out there. They have become the Just Say No party. They have enough juice to offer a spirited defense on Social Security... [but] what they are not coming back with is a program that seems to matter to a majority of people. "

Daily Kos posted an outline awhile back:

Consumer and Taxpayer Protection
Consumer credit protection
Consumer credit protection to keep American families away from the bankruptcy courts. We will regulate the credit card companies and place strict limits on the interest they can charge. We will ban deceitful lending practices.

Progressive tax reform
We will pass true tax reform (as opposed to Bush's Orwellian tax reform) that determines income tax brackets based on total income from all sources, and eliminates shelters for the very rich. We will maintain exemptions for families with children, for family farmers, and other deserving groups, but we will eliminate corporate tax shelters. Large corporations pay taxes like everyone else. It's time the rich learn to play fair. True tax reform is necessary to balance the budget.

Energy Independence
Government support of alternative energy sources
It's time to ween this country off foreign energy sources. We will provide sizeable tax credits and other subsidies for start-up companies in alternative energy--particularly wind and solar--which are in plentiful supply and can quickly replace our current reliance on dwindling fossil fuel supplies.

Government support for energy research
We will aggressively increase government funding for energy research. America needs to have state-of-the-art energy capabilities to meet our growing needs and the realities of the 21st century.

Integrity of the election processFederal Standards.
We will pass meaningful federal standards for voting machine technology, including the addition of a legally-binding paper trail or receipt. We will create an oversight committee with teeth and will create federal laws requiring nonpartisan voting boards and administrators.

Federal funding for federal elections.
We will provide federal funding for all candidates for the House of Representatives or Senate in a plan similar to Colorado's successful experiment in publicly-funded elections. It's time to give ordinary Americans a chance to compete for elected office on even footing with the rich. With a more egalitarian House and Senate, the needs of ordinary Americans will be met more completely.

Integrity of Government
Get the special interests out of Washington
We will increase government restrictions on lobbyists and reduce the influence peddling and corruption in Washington.

Balance the budget
Bush and the Republican congress have saddled our children with impossible debt. We will write a balanced budget amendment requiring the federal government to pay as it goes. We will allow a deficit only in times of war, with war clearly defined as being openly declared by congress. To reduce the burden on working Americans, we will balance the tax code so that the rich and the most powerful corporations pay their fair share.

Openness and Accountability
We will strengthen the Freedom of Information Act and require that all government business save requisite defense and homeland-security-related measures be a matter of public record. Bush's closed-door dealings will be a thing of the past.

Outlaw misuse of government funds
We will require that all government contracts be awarded through competative bidding, and we will outlaw the current presidential practice of billing the government--and American taxpayers--for unending campaign expenses.

Corporate Reforms
Credit Reform
We will place limits on interest rates for credit and loan companies, and tie them to within a few percentage points of federal rates. We will outlaw deceptive and bait-and-switch practices.

Media Reform
Corporate bias and interest must in all cases be divulged clearly and honestly. The current political sympathies of the controlling editorial body of any paper or media outlet with national distribution must be a matter of public record.

Health Insurance
Health insurance costs have skyrocketed and it's all largely of Republican deregulation. We will work to limit the rising costs of health insurance.

End outsourcingWe will eliminate all existing financial incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas, and will require U.S. companies to keep a majority of their jobs in the U.S. if they wish to maintain their U.S. registration.

Education
Return control of schools to local school boards
We will increase government funding, and stop government meddling, in local schools. We will decrease the frequency of tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act and increase the amount of time students spend learning useful information.

Don't punish our children
We will remove punitive fiscal measures for poorly-performing schools, and will instead require increased government oversight and teacher and administrator re-education for failing schools. You can't teach our children by closing their schools.

Increase the quality of public education
De-emphasize test-preparation and emphasize critical thinking. Pure memorization is no preparation for life in the workforce.

Environment
Restore the power of the Environmental Protection Agency
Under Bush, the EPA has been gutted of its oversight abilities. Irresponsible corporate lackeys have been installed at all levels. The Bush EPA even proposed a corporate-sponsored plan to test pesticides on American children. It's time to restore the protective role of the EPA. It's time to start cleaning up our environment again.

Support research in clean energy
It's time government took a proactive roll to further our energy independence and promote clean energy. Wind and solar can help ease the rising costs of crude oil. Government-funded research will kickstart a transition to clean energy.

Health Care
Health Reform
We will form a research group to find the best way to provide health care to all Americans. We will look seriously at a national health plan, but will never sacrifice the quality care that Americans have come to expect. Health care is a civil right, and a Democratic congress will treat it as such.

Social Security
Meaningful Social Security Reform
To ensure the continued solvency of Social Security, we will eliminate the cap on social security taxes. All Americans will pay social security tax from now on. It's time to stop making middle class and poor families carry more than their fair share of the burden.

While I believe most of these are worth developing, I have to disagree with a couple. Outsourcing is one. Without outsourcing, the US will fail to keep up with global competition. The best story about outsourcing is one that I saw during the election. A woman had just lost her job due to outsourcing and was complaining about how awful it is. The funny thing is, she worked at HONDA, and the plant had moved to her town from Japan several years earlier. She happily took a job that someone else had lost. We need to be sensible about this, Dems. There should be restrictions on outsourcing. If a company comes into a town and subsequently becomes the town's economy, it should be required to somehow compensate the town for their losses. Someone much smarter than I can work out the details.

Also, we need to focus on helping small businesses. Small businesses are operated by individuals. They will adversely be affected by the bankruptcy bill. If we can win over some of the small business owners, we can draw some of the gop base to the Dems.

We also need to limit media influence over politics. There is no way that a newspaper should be allowed to endorse a candidate.

A lot of the Kos plan seems to be reactionary, still. Exactly what Zogby was saying. Stop criticizing, start planning.

Transparency in the US

There is none.

HA HA HA! Checklist of what Abdullah and Bush did at the Ranch

This is funny.

Let's send them to the back alleys!

Records Show DeLay, Lobbyist Daily Contact

Democrats triumph!

DeLay is going downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Republicans on the committee say they will launch an investigation of DeLay's handling of overseas trips and gifts as soon as the impasse over the rules is broken. The Washington Post reported last weekend that Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff charged DeLay's airfare to London and Scotland to his American Express card in 2000.

Awww... more gop troubles

HA HA HA! Even Frist hasn't escaped the wrath of the religious right/GOP! The Washington Times article (of all places!), Frist angers conservatives by distancing from DeLay, reports

"What Bill Frist said shows where his heart really is -- he is not a part of our conservative movement," Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican, said in reaction to Mr. Frist's speech.

Awwwww....

Activist judges, indeed...

The New Donkey has an excellent post on the wingnut interpretation of "activist judges."

...sounds to me like ol' Tony is demanding activist judges who will ride roughshod over the law, over precedent, over constitutions and democratically elected legislatures, to do what ol' Tony believes God has instructed them to do. Just as his buddy Tom DeLay thinks ethics rules don't apply to "our team," Perkins seems to think the rule of law doesn't apply to "our judges." Amazing, ain't it?

Support your local business establishments!

One of the few drawbacks of going to a Nats game is the lack of pre- and post-game watering holes around the stadium, which forces us to buy more $5 beers at RFK. To reduce the burden of having to succumb to corporate greed at the ballpark, go for a pre-game happy hour at establishments along the blue/orange line. The Washington Post has a great "going out guide" complete with an interactive map of the establishments. You can just ride into Capitol South or Eastern Market from work, hop off for a bit, and then hop back on to go to the game.

This sums it all up!  courtesy of the washington post

Jack in the House

JackintheHouse.org explores the world of GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff who spent years trading money for influence in the halls of Congress. The site provides a road map to Jack Abramoff’s unscrupulous back-door deals with ethically-challenged Members of Congress and provides a means for visitors to urge the Chairman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to take action against those who have worked for Jack’s interest, rather than the public interest.
JackintheHouse.org is a project of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

You know, the guy who paid for DeLay's golf vacation in Scotland!

Root, root, root for the home team!

Go Nats!

What Iraq is really like, as opposed to the wingnut press reports

Representative Jim McGovern(D-MA) went on a trip to Iraq to see what was going on over there. Seems like he found a lot of things wrong with the place. He asks the following questions in today's editorial in The Nation:

If things in Iraq are so much better, why are we not decreasing the number of US forces there? Why is the insurgency showing no signs of waning? Why are we being told that in a few months the Administration will again ask Congress for billions of dollars more to fight the war? Why, according to the World Food Program, is hunger among the Iraqi people getting worse?

I think the American people have a right to know. Why are we being lied to, or at least deceived?

Lieut. Gen. David Petraeus, tasked with overseeing training of Iraqi security forces, informed us that 147,000 Iraqis had been trained. That sounded good to me. Perhaps we could start reducing the number of American forces, I suggested. But upon further questioning, General Petraeus conceded that less than one-fourth of the 147,000 were actually "combat capable." Why didn't he say that to begin with? I asked--respectfully--our military and diplomatic officials what the gap was between the Iraqis we have trained and the number we needed to train in order to draw down the number of US troops. I could not get a straight answer.

This is the type of "truth" we hear. Of course, the statement "147,000 Iraqis had been trained" makes us believe that things are all good. After being bombarded with questions, the real truth came out of the general. "less than one-fourth of the 147,000 were actually "combat capable." More misinformation:

During the morning of our visit, US military officials crowed about a recent operation in which Iraqi security forces had killed eighty-five insurgents. By the afternoon, when more reports came in, it was unclear how many insurgents had actually been killed and whether the Iraqi security forces had exaggerated their own actions.

And finally, when we could have straight up truth, we aren't allowed to hear it:

Our young men and women in uniform are performing their difficult duties extraordinarily well. Indeed, the only honest and direct responses I got from any American in Iraq were from the soldiers. They told me they had been instructed by their superiors not to share any complaints with visitors.

Some of the soldiers are on their THIRD tour in Iraq now. Why aren't the flagwavers out there trying to get them home? They are always screaming, "SUPPORT THE TROOPS! (TM)" but they never support the troops by writing to their Congressmen or protesting to get them home.

The presence of dissent is a good indicator that a democracy is working. So where is it in the USA?

And Bush continues to spit in the mainstream's faces

Bush will be giving a graduation address to Calvin College, a small Christian college with 900 seniors in Grand Rapids. I understand the Naval Academy, as he is Commander in Chief, but he is sending a deliberate message by choosing Calvin, a place with little thinking and a lot of indoctrination.

Christianity is one thing. Evangelical is not Christianity. He isn't even appealing to the majority Christian population with this move. How about speaking at Notre Dame, a university that actually teaches thought rather than propaganda (I googled "nazi propaganda" and the first site that came up was from Calvin!)? Nope. This is deliberate. The question is, why? Is it because he is losing the evangelical vote for his refusal to agree that Spongebob Squarepants is a threat to national security?

Bill O'Reilly has no clue (duh!)

Is O'Reilly really this stupid? He totally does not get the point of LA Times' editorial As a Protest, What a Bust. The point of the editorial is to show how insane this country has become in terms of being offended. The righties are always complaining that the left is too PC, but we aren't the ones that see statues as sexual objects. I mean, when Johnny Ashcroft covered the statue of justice, was he aroused by her breasts? Why else would he be offended? Here is how the Times editorial began:

Quote, "The College of Cardinals elected an ultraconservative pope earlier this week, under a ceiling replete with genitals, breasts and buttocks that apparently gave no offense. Good thing Michelangelo painted his Sistine Chapel masterpieces in Rome and not Venice — California, that is."

Here is what O'Reilly said about it:

Now, in trying to make a connection between the art of Michelangelo and the perceived small mindedness of some in Venice, Kinsley labels the new pope an extremist and sets up a disrespectful non sequitur by referencing the Catholic Church, which he apparently sees as a puritanical outfit. Remember, the church has nothing to do with the statue controversy. The cardinals in the Sistine Chapel have no relevance whatsoever. Yet Kinsley chose to put a negative spin on the conclave to make a foolish point about a foolish issue.

What Kinsley is saying is that art is art. By saying "ultraconservative" in describing the new pope, he is underscoring the idea that if the holiest man on the planet is not offended by the Sistine Chapel, why are people up in arms against a statue of a torso?

O'Reilly went on to say

Now if Kinsley had referenced Islam or Judaism that way, he might be out of a job right now. But denigrating a Christian religion for absolutely no reason is perfectly acceptable at the L.A. Times. Now, I guess I could be overreacting, but I just think this is outrageous.

Kinsley did not denigrate Christianity. If anything, he was praising the pope for knowing what true art is and not seeing a painted naked torso as a sexual object.

I don't think O'Reilly read the rest of the article. Then again, I don't think O'Reilly reads anything, period.

Thomas Friedman has a point

I grew bored of Friedman's columns saying the same thing over and over and over again, but I think us Dems would be wise to learn a few things from Tony Blair.

Dems do need to embrace free market ideas, but with deliberate caution. We don't want unbridled capitalism turning America into a corporate state (worse than it already is.) Last time that happened, the fascists started a big war that killed a lot of people. My idea is to focus on small and medium enterprises, you know, the ones that are run by individuals or a few people. That way we don't have to dirty our hands with corporate greed.

I remember when Blair first won office. It was the February right after Clinton started his second term. We celebrated that night, convinced that the world had taken a turn for the better. Somehow, we got off track and let the wingnuts take over.

Bush admin eliminating international terrorism report

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

I feel really safe!

And that other US religion- libertarianism

Turns out no taxes is a bad thing!

Evangelicals take steps toward destroying America

2 Evangelicals Want to Strip Courts' Funds

Taped at a private conference, the leaders outline ways to punish jurists they oppose.

There have been debates going on about Islam and Democracy, and some say the two aren't compatible. I say that there must be more debate on the compatibility of Christianity with Democracy. We only have to look to the dictatorship of the Vatican to see the lack of democracy in the Catholic Church.

The type of America that people like DeLay and Frist want is not a democracy.

Some see Virgin Mary in underpass stain

I think these people have been out celebrating 4/20 today.

Doesn't Mary deserve better than this?

Some Republicans are capable of independence

I grew up with George Voinovich as my governor. I haven't always been a fan, but at least he's been one to listen to both sides. I hope the GOP doesn't try to trash him now like they do every time one of their own fails to toe the party line.

See Ohio Senator Again Clashes Over Bush Pick

DeLay Slams Supreme Court Justice

"We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."

1. The Constitution of the United States gives the Senate the power to ratify treaties, which the president makes. When a treaty is ratified, it becomes law. So, when Anthony Kennedy is making decisions based on international law, it IS constitutional.

2. DeLay needs to get with the times if he is criticizing someone for using the internet. Has he never used the internet? Does he not know that much of the information available in libraries is on the internet? Does he even know what the internet IS? Does he not realize that most of the legal system is online, and that LexisNexis is a valuable legal resource? This comment just shows the guy is losing it.

For the record, Kennedy was appointed by St. Reagan.

Joy Tempered by a Wish for a Third World Pope

Latins and Africans have had mixed reactions with the announcement of a German being appointed as Pope, and why not? Those areas of the world are the places where Catholic practice is at its highest. The church is growing fastest in Africa, where traditional rituals that are similar to Catholic rituals make it an easy conversion. Catholicism is a religion that is practiced locally with a mix of indigenous tradition and Roman ritual. Take Ireland, for example, and the story of St. Brigid. It is one of the reasons that the church has been so powerful over time.

If the church under an orthodox pope will not let the locals adapt their own traditions to the religion, they will just go away, and that is not good for a church which claims it is experiencing a "crisis of faith" due to declining numbers.

Americans are divided, too.

The Patriot Act in Action

This is how we treat guests to our country:

Sir,

My name is X, the Executive Director of the Y Business Association and also a show host on Nile TV international in Cairo.

I have been invited by the Center for Corporate Citizenship in the US Chambers of Commerce to participate & share in the “2005 Partnership Conference: Corporate Citizenship & Globalization” on May 19th – 20th, 2005.

After calling the Consular section in the US Embassy they gave my office a number Z and told them that this is my CASE number! Anyway an appointment was given for the 11th of May. After a few calls we managed to set the appointment for today, the 19th of April at 8 am.

Eight am was the time I was outside of the Embassy and the man at the gate told me to wait in a long line in front of the Embassy. I told him my appointment was eight am and he replied that all are waiting with appointments.

Unfortunately I will not stand in line for entry into the US, a country I have visited many times and a culture which I am, in a way, a product of and proud of being so.

Sir, I have always admired what the US stood for, especially the fact that it respects human dignity and it is therefore with much disappointment and displeasure to inform you that this is not what I saw today.

I respected the fact that the process now dictates that all have to go for an interview and did so by going on time, and since there is an appointment given then I would expect to be respected the way I respected your system.

I thank you for your attention and wish that the American image and way of life would not be tarnished by such trivial issues that eventually make their mark among people.

Thank you, Patriot Act.

An example of Christian terrorism

This is just for those who refuse to believe that there are terrorists other than Muslims...

The fighting [on the Uganda-Sudanese border] features rebels who call themselves the Lord's Resistance Army and who speak earnestly of the import of the Ten Commandments, but who routinely hack up civilians who get in their way. To add to their numbers, the rebels abduct children in the night, brainwash them in the bush, indoctrinate them by forcing them to kill, and then turn them - 20,000 over the last two decades - into the next wave of ferocious fighters seeking to topple the government. Girls as young as 12 are assigned as rebel commanders' wives. Anyone who does not toe the line is brutally killed.

It's a shame that the victims don't get any attention. Perhaps if they had some oil?

Terrorism slows reform trends

"We are concerned and puzzled by this double talk on the part of the United States," Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa said in an interview. "If we do fight terrorism, we are told, 'You went too far.' If we don't, we are told, 'You have not done enough.' "

Where is the proper balance between democracy and security? What is too far?

How about encouraging civil society to take a stand against the terrorists rather than arresting the brother of a friend of a sister of a husband of a son of a cousin who may be linked to terrorism? If you strengthen civil society and give the people more of a voice, aren't they likely to hinder the progress of terrorism and turn in the people who are known to them as practicers of violence?

Real Moral Values

Another Moralist Misses the Mark

The only thing I have in common with George Will is a love for baseball. Now, he is blaming European secularism for the soon to be declining population of Europe.

What the West owes Iranians

The Grand Inquisitor Part 1

I'm wondering...

The question that the Christian right in this country should be asking is, "Why are they (the left) not religious?" or "What is their (the left) beef with God?"

I don't know why the right just assumes the left are all atheists.

What I also don't understand is how the real religious people aren't seeing that they are being used by people like Frist. If he is so religious, why isn't he doing something about the economic disparity in this country? You know, do something Christian, like helping people out of poverty...

I think the religious right, before it tries forcing its beliefs on people, needs to undergo an internal evaluation of itself. Does it really understand Christianity? All the hatred spewing from it points to no.

More Conservative Disconnect

What the ??? I'm not "offended" by the words, but it just doesn't make any sense! Limbaugh is so full of hate that he can't even put out coherent thoughts. This is just bizarre...

The Movement Towards Theocracy Continues...

Frist to join anti-freedom group

The telecast also signals an escalation of the campaign for the rule change by Christian conservatives who see the current court battle as the climax of a 30-year culture war, a chance to reverse decades of legal decisions about abortion, religion in public life, gay rights and marriage.

"As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and organizer of the telecast, wrote in a message on the group's Web site. "For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."

If you are anti-abortion, don't have one.

If you want to pray in public, go ahead and do it, but don't force everyone else to do it as well.

If you don't like gays, that's your prerogative, but don't try to take away their rights just because you don't like them.

If you think that marriage is in danger, maybe you need to see a marriage counselor for your marriage.

You are not being robbed of your "Christian heritage." You are trying to force others to be Christian. You are not forbidden from practicing your religion. You can pray all you want. You want prayer in school? Your kid is allowed to pray, make him do it to himself. You want a picture of the ten commandments? Fine, hang one up in your house. If my tax dollars are paying your salary, you better not have it up in public. Don't like that? Get another job.

Why are you wingnuts so defensive? Maybe you should take a step back and figure out why you are spiritually uneasy.

Democracy in the Mideast

Why not?

The list.

The Sacred vs. the Profane

The battle going on in the US right now between the liberal left and the religious right results in a lot of rhetoric but little analysis. Are we seeing a fundamental philosophical shift in the mindset of the country, or are we experiencing a sort of sheepish phenomenon in which neither side has any philosophy at all? Baaaaa…

The past couple of decades has seen a series of ideological movements, all of which built on or contradicted existing ones. The spirit of the French Revolution aroused the idea that everyone can be anyone and that all men are created equal. From there we had the industrial revolution, communist revolution, fascism, existentialism, and Islamism, among others. Freedom has, in essence, given man the opportunity to be free from God, who, according to Christian fundamentalists in this country, is an oppressive, brutal dictator Who will send you to Hell for disobeying Him. Nevermind that Christ the philosopher rebel preached peace and love and forgiveness.

Back in the day, the church was an enforcer of intellect. Monasteries were centers of learning and progress. Today, the church in America seems to hinder intellect, as the religious right has no basis in rationality for some of its beliefs. There is no meaning behind the silliness of calling cartoon characters gay, for example. It’s almost as if this kind of fundamentalist Christianity in this country is more of an irrational paranoia, a kind of mental derangement rather than a belief system. I may have a fear of crime when I am walking home from work, but it is based on rationality, for I see crackheads on a daily basis and I see news reports on shootings three blocks from my house.

Perhaps the most anti-Christian movement was the existential movement. Camus made not-believing in god his religion. The anti-Christian rhetoric of the existentialists was not new, as Nietzsche had also made anti-Christianity an intellectual movement as a sort of precursor to the existentialists. However, the aftermath of the existential movement sparked a religious revitalization that we are witnessing today in the Islamic Revolution.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, it’s no secret that the father of modern jihad, Sayed Qutb, was well versed in the Western existential movement. He was disgusted with materialism that he saw while living in the West, and he is search for meaning in life led him to a fiery version of Islam, a sort of anti-Christ in the realm of capitalism.

Read National Review’s article on Camus and 20th century clarity.