Writer and evangelical Christian Jim Wallis wrote a cautionary tale for the “secular left” on the Huffington Post, in the wake of the Democratic victory in the midterm elections. He felt it necessary to point out that the secular left did not win, we were just seen as the marginally better choice by the vast majority of Americans who let Christian morals be their guiding compass in all things.
As you can see, nice Jesus is just as intent on theocracy as the harsh Jesus that has dominated politics for the past six years.
Sorry to bust your bubble, Jim. But this vote was a rebuke on the POLICIES and LACK OF OVERSIGHT by a radical, neoconservative government. According to the polls, even fundamentalist Christians voted against their Republican reps to punish them for corruption, and for needlessly killing young American men and women overseas. This election was about GOVERNMENT, not God. But to this secular humanist, that seems to be the problem. Even the "nice" Jesusists can't seem to stomach a government that doesn't defer to their religion.
Even Jesus himself (according to the Book) said "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." The reference was to the emperor's picture on a Roman coin, and the advice was to a follower who was complaining about taxes. I have always read this as not being just about money, but about the symbol of government. The rebel Hebrew Jesus was saying to worry about the afterlife, government was a secular problem.
Let's make sure we keep government a secular, human problem. be very wary of those who would caution us to not leave their particular Christian morals out of government. One religious sects' morals are almost sure to oppress another group's freedom of belief if woven into legislation.
Churches, go forth and do your good works! But stay out of legislation. Myth and magic make bad, bad law
Friday, November 10, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
Lieberman – Why the Dems will blow it in ’06
So, Joe Lieberman will run as an independent candidate if he loses the primary. He said today, on the Ed Shultz radio show, that he will do this because he “know[s] what’s best for the state of Connecticut.”
Oh, not the voters, not the Party, not the Democratic process; Joe Knows!
Now, I share one thing with Joe Lieberman: a fractured relationship with the Democratic Party. This is a party hanging on by a thread, and continues to disappoint even my meager expectations of an opposition party to the Bush monarchists. I could respect a principled stand against the Democrats. However, Joe is lacking all principles here. He’s just a big pussy.
Lieberman knew about this challenge months ago. He knew about liberal outrage with his stands with the administration, and against the left before that. He’s had plenty of time to go independent. He’s only done it when the polling numbers have shown a serious challenge. His stance, in spite of what he says, seems to be: give me the primary or I will scuttle the Democrats’ chances for my seat altogether. (By the way, the Dems shameless murder of Paul Hackett’s campaign set the stage for this mess – way to go guys!)
What a disgusting display by a career political time-server, who wants to continue to gorge himself at the public trough. What a subversion of our system, participating in a primary, and then using his war chest to destroy the results if he doesn’t like them. What an arrogant SOB to claim that he knows best, when we know this is a case of taking his “dolly and dishes and going home” when the game goes against him. I sure hope Connecticut voters are smarter than he thinks they are.
Lieberwimp claims that he has been getting a bad rap (especially, you know, by us evil bloggers). He says that he votes with the Democrats 90% of the time. Over his 30+ year political career, this may be true. But let’s look at the outrages of the last year: Iraq – He still openly supports it, and he’s wrong. He says this shows that he is his own man (even if it shows he’s stupid!). But let us not forget that he supported domestic spying, that he voted for the changes to the bankruptcy bill (that favored credit card companies over consumers), and most heineously, supported the denial of emergency contraception to rape victims. His statement (paraphrased) was “Connecticut is a small state, they can walk to another hospital that will help them.”
This last year in politics shows that Lieberman has gone to the dark side, and doesn’t deserve liberal or centrist support. He has championed denial of health care to rape victims, the destruction of the Bill of Rights, the waging of an illegal and unprovoked war, and the subversion of democracy in his own state! Quite a record to run on.
A year in infamy, and one that should have him “bum rushed” out of the Democratic Party. Instead, prominent party big-wigs say they will endorse him, even in an independent run. And why not? They killed the Hackett campaign and subverted Democracy in Ohio, why not Connecticut? Why not just junk the electoral process altogether, anoint princes of the Democratic Party that can serve (mainly as jesters) in the court of the evil King George.
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of America’s liberal party, is spinning in his grave. Thomas Paine may rise from the dead, eat the brains of the living and puke down the front of Howard Dean’s desk and all over the lobby of the DNC’s headquarters. It would be apt, a fitting Hollywood horror-type scene to show the abhorrent disgust that liberals feel over this kind of betrayal of our values, and our rapidly disappearing democracy. Pay attention to the blogs DNC! These shows of old-boy network cowardice and cronyism are driving your base away from the Party, and will keep them home in November. Lieberpussy is just your latest failure, in a year of horrible miscues and missed opportunities. And you still don’t have a consistent message that people can hear.
Joe Lieberscum may be the final nail in the Democratic Party’s coffin. The Democratic Leadership seems to be doing all it can to commit suicide in a mid-term cycle when the stars have been aligned in their favor since last October. Look what Ralph Nadar did to Gore in 2000. And Gore was seen as just too vanilla to inspire much support, not inept, cowardly and unresponsive to their base like the Democratic Leadership is today. As liberal voters continue to see the Republican-like depths that prominent Democrats will sink to in order to maintain their hold on power, they will fail to see a difference between the two parties. They will stop grass-roots support, stop contributing cash and time, and stop caring about their government until another, more viable option presents itself.
The talk in the media about failed leadership should be about the President, not the Democrats. Talk of the corrupting of the democratic process should be centered on the Republicans’ bribe-taking, not the Democrats’ primary-fixing. If the Democrats don’t fail to win the House or Senate this fall, it won’t be because they didn’t try. They will have to be lucky at this point, especially in Connecticut.
Oh, not the voters, not the Party, not the Democratic process; Joe Knows!
Now, I share one thing with Joe Lieberman: a fractured relationship with the Democratic Party. This is a party hanging on by a thread, and continues to disappoint even my meager expectations of an opposition party to the Bush monarchists. I could respect a principled stand against the Democrats. However, Joe is lacking all principles here. He’s just a big pussy.
Lieberman knew about this challenge months ago. He knew about liberal outrage with his stands with the administration, and against the left before that. He’s had plenty of time to go independent. He’s only done it when the polling numbers have shown a serious challenge. His stance, in spite of what he says, seems to be: give me the primary or I will scuttle the Democrats’ chances for my seat altogether. (By the way, the Dems shameless murder of Paul Hackett’s campaign set the stage for this mess – way to go guys!)
What a disgusting display by a career political time-server, who wants to continue to gorge himself at the public trough. What a subversion of our system, participating in a primary, and then using his war chest to destroy the results if he doesn’t like them. What an arrogant SOB to claim that he knows best, when we know this is a case of taking his “dolly and dishes and going home” when the game goes against him. I sure hope Connecticut voters are smarter than he thinks they are.
Lieberwimp claims that he has been getting a bad rap (especially, you know, by us evil bloggers). He says that he votes with the Democrats 90% of the time. Over his 30+ year political career, this may be true. But let’s look at the outrages of the last year: Iraq – He still openly supports it, and he’s wrong. He says this shows that he is his own man (even if it shows he’s stupid!). But let us not forget that he supported domestic spying, that he voted for the changes to the bankruptcy bill (that favored credit card companies over consumers), and most heineously, supported the denial of emergency contraception to rape victims. His statement (paraphrased) was “Connecticut is a small state, they can walk to another hospital that will help them.”
This last year in politics shows that Lieberman has gone to the dark side, and doesn’t deserve liberal or centrist support. He has championed denial of health care to rape victims, the destruction of the Bill of Rights, the waging of an illegal and unprovoked war, and the subversion of democracy in his own state! Quite a record to run on.
A year in infamy, and one that should have him “bum rushed” out of the Democratic Party. Instead, prominent party big-wigs say they will endorse him, even in an independent run. And why not? They killed the Hackett campaign and subverted Democracy in Ohio, why not Connecticut? Why not just junk the electoral process altogether, anoint princes of the Democratic Party that can serve (mainly as jesters) in the court of the evil King George.
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of America’s liberal party, is spinning in his grave. Thomas Paine may rise from the dead, eat the brains of the living and puke down the front of Howard Dean’s desk and all over the lobby of the DNC’s headquarters. It would be apt, a fitting Hollywood horror-type scene to show the abhorrent disgust that liberals feel over this kind of betrayal of our values, and our rapidly disappearing democracy. Pay attention to the blogs DNC! These shows of old-boy network cowardice and cronyism are driving your base away from the Party, and will keep them home in November. Lieberpussy is just your latest failure, in a year of horrible miscues and missed opportunities. And you still don’t have a consistent message that people can hear.
Joe Lieberscum may be the final nail in the Democratic Party’s coffin. The Democratic Leadership seems to be doing all it can to commit suicide in a mid-term cycle when the stars have been aligned in their favor since last October. Look what Ralph Nadar did to Gore in 2000. And Gore was seen as just too vanilla to inspire much support, not inept, cowardly and unresponsive to their base like the Democratic Leadership is today. As liberal voters continue to see the Republican-like depths that prominent Democrats will sink to in order to maintain their hold on power, they will fail to see a difference between the two parties. They will stop grass-roots support, stop contributing cash and time, and stop caring about their government until another, more viable option presents itself.
The talk in the media about failed leadership should be about the President, not the Democrats. Talk of the corrupting of the democratic process should be centered on the Republicans’ bribe-taking, not the Democrats’ primary-fixing. If the Democrats don’t fail to win the House or Senate this fall, it won’t be because they didn’t try. They will have to be lucky at this point, especially in Connecticut.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Just How Lame?
How bad a job do you have to do, as a prosecutor, and as a Justice Department, to fail to execute a September 11 conspirator?
For a pro-death penalty administration, I’d say pretty bad.
Zacarias Moussaoui will have no cake walk. He will spend life in prison, in a seven foot wide cell, with a cement and mattress bed. And, he wanted to be executed; to become a martyr to Islam, or a distorted version that inspired 911 type blood-lust.
But let’s face it, the dude was supposed to die. This was 911, the modern Pearl Harbor, and the only conviction was a knuckle-head who missed the whole show. He was probably left behind by the real hijackers when they saw what a numbskull he was.
We know the Bush Administration wanted blood, but they muffed it. When they illegally prepped witnesses, witnesses crucial to the prosecution’s case, and got caught, they threw away any chance of a death sentence.
How lame does your Department of Justice have to be to fail to get the conviction you want from an idiot like Moussaoui?
Well, they do have some other terrorists in custody. Ones that would make an even better trial. But they can’t even convict these guys, let alone fry them. It seems that, while in military custody, these men were tortured, illegally. All of the relevant info they spilled is inadmissible in court.
How lame does your Attorney General have to be to sign off on the torturing of prisoners?
And Osama? He is free to make videos at will. We know generally where he is, summering and wintering between our heroin exporting ally Afghanistan, and our nuclear-armed and thug-run ally Pakistan. We apparently don’t have time to track him down, though. We are too busy killing people in Iraq, and preparing for nuclear war with Iran.
How lame does a president have to be to get it all so wrong?
And, how lame are we? Are we going to hand the keys to Hell’s elevator to this president by electing him another Republican congress? If not, are we going to check the Democrats by defeating incumbents like Lieberman, and Maria Cantwell, and other Administration apologists?
We, the voters will be the lamest of all if we don’t get busy in the primary season, and let our Democrats know that we just don’t want a change of parties, we want a change of government. We want a real democracy, real representation of our districts and our interests.
How lame will we be if we vote Republican, or for conservative Democrats? We will be the lamest of all. And will deserve exactly what we get.
For a pro-death penalty administration, I’d say pretty bad.
Zacarias Moussaoui will have no cake walk. He will spend life in prison, in a seven foot wide cell, with a cement and mattress bed. And, he wanted to be executed; to become a martyr to Islam, or a distorted version that inspired 911 type blood-lust.
But let’s face it, the dude was supposed to die. This was 911, the modern Pearl Harbor, and the only conviction was a knuckle-head who missed the whole show. He was probably left behind by the real hijackers when they saw what a numbskull he was.
We know the Bush Administration wanted blood, but they muffed it. When they illegally prepped witnesses, witnesses crucial to the prosecution’s case, and got caught, they threw away any chance of a death sentence.
How lame does your Department of Justice have to be to fail to get the conviction you want from an idiot like Moussaoui?
Well, they do have some other terrorists in custody. Ones that would make an even better trial. But they can’t even convict these guys, let alone fry them. It seems that, while in military custody, these men were tortured, illegally. All of the relevant info they spilled is inadmissible in court.
How lame does your Attorney General have to be to sign off on the torturing of prisoners?
And Osama? He is free to make videos at will. We know generally where he is, summering and wintering between our heroin exporting ally Afghanistan, and our nuclear-armed and thug-run ally Pakistan. We apparently don’t have time to track him down, though. We are too busy killing people in Iraq, and preparing for nuclear war with Iran.
How lame does a president have to be to get it all so wrong?
And, how lame are we? Are we going to hand the keys to Hell’s elevator to this president by electing him another Republican congress? If not, are we going to check the Democrats by defeating incumbents like Lieberman, and Maria Cantwell, and other Administration apologists?
We, the voters will be the lamest of all if we don’t get busy in the primary season, and let our Democrats know that we just don’t want a change of parties, we want a change of government. We want a real democracy, real representation of our districts and our interests.
How lame will we be if we vote Republican, or for conservative Democrats? We will be the lamest of all. And will deserve exactly what we get.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Nuclear Follies!
According to Seymour Hersh, New Yorker Magazine columnist, the United States is planning to attack Iran, and part of the plan includes nuclear weapons. Boy, if that isn’t the icing on the cake of Bush Mideast policy.
But, before we all get our panties in a twist, consider a few things:
1. Seymour Hersh is an outstanding journalist, with great sources, but has been a critic of the Bush administration for years. This is not like a revelation from Lou Dobbs.
2. Military planning should, and I’m sure does include all contingencies, from doing nothing, to evaporating entire countries.
3. Iran, although it certainly has legitimate gripes with the US and our policies, has issued some pretty inflammatory statements through its leaders, including the destruction of our ally, Israel.
4. Only an absolute idiot would drop an atomic bomb, especially in the Middle East.
Oops, wait a minute. We do have an idiot in charge of our nukes.
Hersh is no fan of the Administration, and he has made this clear in his writing over the last few years. He criticized the Iraq war from soon after the beginning, writing scathing columns about prison abuse and failed policy. But he does, after many years in the business, have good sources.
And what his sources say, according to his radio interview on NPR, is that the “brass” in the Pentagon tried to get the nuclear option taken out of the Iran contingency plans (because, it’s sheer lunacy to even consider), and Bush and Cheney said “no!” They want to threaten Iran with Nukes, and have them available for use.
Wait a minute. Available for use? Seriously?
In spite of Hersh’s anti-Administration reporting, this should scare the hell out of anyone who doesn’t want Doomsday to arrive in the 2006 tax-reporting period. Dropping a nuclear bomb in the Middle East would be, well…like dropping a nuclear bomb in the Middle East! It would be among the worst things that anyone could contemplate, if you chart out the consequences.
First, our “bomb them, kill them, and they will love us and embrace democracy” strategy has been a horrible failure in Iraq. Especially when we didn’t make the lights, water and sewers work again after we destroyed their country. It hasn’t escaped the notice of most rational people that our Mideast strategy has turned most of he world against us. Nuking Iran would make us the pariahs of the globe – sub-North Korea in standing.
Second, although we think the President of Iran is loony, nuking his country would legitimize his lunacy. The Zionist plots of infidels would have come to fruition, and no measures taken in revenge would be enough. 911 times ten, and an entire world of people that will tell us “well, you did ask for it.” The most west leaning of the Muslims will be opening terrorist training camps in response.
Finally, dropping a nuke anywhere will be letting the genie out of the bottle. If we were to use a nuke as a first-strike option, what’s to stop Israel, or Pakistan, or China, or North Korea from flinging nukes whenever they think it suits their national interest? Whoever drops a nuke first in the 21st century will not be the last. They will just get the ball rolling – the fireball that sweeps across the globe.
Great! Just what we want. Fiery, nuclear annihilation, and we will have started it.
I guess we should get our panties in a twist, a big twist. Our President is just messianic enough, just arrogant enough, just enough of an idiot to use a nuke in the Middle East. And since we elected him, we will bear some of the responsibility. Remember this at the polls in November. Remember to vote in a congress that will check the lunacy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Yikes!
But, before we all get our panties in a twist, consider a few things:
1. Seymour Hersh is an outstanding journalist, with great sources, but has been a critic of the Bush administration for years. This is not like a revelation from Lou Dobbs.
2. Military planning should, and I’m sure does include all contingencies, from doing nothing, to evaporating entire countries.
3. Iran, although it certainly has legitimate gripes with the US and our policies, has issued some pretty inflammatory statements through its leaders, including the destruction of our ally, Israel.
4. Only an absolute idiot would drop an atomic bomb, especially in the Middle East.
Oops, wait a minute. We do have an idiot in charge of our nukes.
Hersh is no fan of the Administration, and he has made this clear in his writing over the last few years. He criticized the Iraq war from soon after the beginning, writing scathing columns about prison abuse and failed policy. But he does, after many years in the business, have good sources.
And what his sources say, according to his radio interview on NPR, is that the “brass” in the Pentagon tried to get the nuclear option taken out of the Iran contingency plans (because, it’s sheer lunacy to even consider), and Bush and Cheney said “no!” They want to threaten Iran with Nukes, and have them available for use.
Wait a minute. Available for use? Seriously?
In spite of Hersh’s anti-Administration reporting, this should scare the hell out of anyone who doesn’t want Doomsday to arrive in the 2006 tax-reporting period. Dropping a nuclear bomb in the Middle East would be, well…like dropping a nuclear bomb in the Middle East! It would be among the worst things that anyone could contemplate, if you chart out the consequences.
First, our “bomb them, kill them, and they will love us and embrace democracy” strategy has been a horrible failure in Iraq. Especially when we didn’t make the lights, water and sewers work again after we destroyed their country. It hasn’t escaped the notice of most rational people that our Mideast strategy has turned most of he world against us. Nuking Iran would make us the pariahs of the globe – sub-North Korea in standing.
Second, although we think the President of Iran is loony, nuking his country would legitimize his lunacy. The Zionist plots of infidels would have come to fruition, and no measures taken in revenge would be enough. 911 times ten, and an entire world of people that will tell us “well, you did ask for it.” The most west leaning of the Muslims will be opening terrorist training camps in response.
Finally, dropping a nuke anywhere will be letting the genie out of the bottle. If we were to use a nuke as a first-strike option, what’s to stop Israel, or Pakistan, or China, or North Korea from flinging nukes whenever they think it suits their national interest? Whoever drops a nuke first in the 21st century will not be the last. They will just get the ball rolling – the fireball that sweeps across the globe.
Great! Just what we want. Fiery, nuclear annihilation, and we will have started it.
I guess we should get our panties in a twist, a big twist. Our President is just messianic enough, just arrogant enough, just enough of an idiot to use a nuke in the Middle East. And since we elected him, we will bear some of the responsibility. Remember this at the polls in November. Remember to vote in a congress that will check the lunacy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Yikes!
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