The Far Right's War on Christianity and Everyone Else Who Is Not Them

Maybe Thomas Jefferson was on to something when he said; "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity; it has made one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites"



In case you didn't notice, the fools are at war with Christianity in America.

While between 80 and 90% of Americans consider themselves Christians of one sort or another, there is apparently a widespread belief that American Christians and Christianity are being persecuted - despite their control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of national government and many state and local governments.

Apparently,some people still think that in addition to churches and private homes and private organizations, the religion of the majority must be allowed to decorate government institutions (such as public schools and libraries) and pray in public secular venues, so that people of all faiths can be included (like it or not) in the celebration of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If they are not allowed to put their religious symbols in public spaces shared by those who do not follow their religious beliefs, they are "being persecuted."

This bigotted attitude reaches the very heights of wishful martyrdom and shows a fundamental ignorance of the US Constitution. Advocating a separation of church and state - the founding principal establishing true religious freedom by keeping religion and government apart - has now become the "War against Christianity."

The theocratic Christian right seeks to establish dominion over American society. And I don't make this stuff up. Rev. D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries, calls on his followers to exercise dominion over every aspect of human society. At a "Reclaiming America for Christ" conference in February, 2005, Rev. Kennedy sent fans into deliriums when he stated,

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ whatever the cost(italics added). As the vice-regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors - in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

Twenty-five years ago, Christian dominionists targeted the Republican Party as the vehicle by which they could politically empower their religious agenda. At the same time, a cabal of GOP strategists targeted Christian fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches to expand the Republican Party power base. It was an unholy and unwholesome alliance.

But this is not about traditional Republicans or even about conservative Christians. It is about the manipulation of people of faith for political power. It is about the rise of dominionists in the U.S. federal government. And today's hard-corps Christian right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts, changing the laws and rigging the rules. The target is not just the Democrats, but democracy itself. It doesn't get any more dominionist than this.

The fanatical Right is no longer satisfied with worldwide war on the Muslim world; it is now invading the world of the less fanatical American Christain.

As Barry Goldwater prophetically said,"Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives."

It is past time for decent Christians to "stand up".

What is it about folks on the Christian right who preach the Good Book but who are really, really bad? You know, guys like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert and Ted Haggart, who never flinched at taking their pious flocks’ money but always managed to set aside a little for some out-of-town sweet young tenderloins?

That got me thinking about other Christian conservative holier-than-thou folks. Their perversions have been routinely reported in various national news media, so I don't have to make anything up. Their commonality is that they are most often Republican Conservative Christian activists who have preached "Christian family values" while performing unspeakable acts of perversion - usually illegal - often with minors - frequently with their own family members. So much for family values from the Christian religious right.

Now, I am not saying that there aren’t perverts who call themselves Democrats. But somehow the conservative Republican Christo-fanatics are true and certain holy hypocrites - along with being perverts. When a political party presents itself as the Party of God ("Hezbollah," in Arabic) - whether it is Republicans in Georgetown or Shiites in Iran - one can be absolutely certain that something obsessive or kinky is being hidden by all of that religious puffery.

Consider the child rape scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church over the past few years and you will realize that this is an alarming national problem. The fact that child rape is even more common among Protestant clergy than among Catholic priests is truly horrifying.

Then when one counts the number of members of the Christian Republican Anti-gay and anti-choice Police that have been arrested and sentenced for perverse acts with children, the observer realizes that Christian religion and conservative Republican politics are truly a dark, moist hiding place for perverts and scoundrels of all stripes - perhaps in larger numbers than anywhere else, a dark, moist place for growing vermin of indescrible evil.

The worst thing one can do with a dogma is provide it an empire - the empire of politics and religion in the Party of Fear.

Racism Revealed in Republican Candidates' Stand on Immigration

The Republican Presidential candidates, like Tom Hudson of the Placer County Republican Central Committee, all believed they could employ Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy of playing the disguised race card using undocumented workers as their racial scapegoats to play to the basest part of the already very base core of the Republican Party ... pure racists.

However, the Southern Strategy did not work this time because many Republican businessmen are suppressing their racism in favor of their bottom line. They hate paying workers fair wages more than they hate Mexicans so they are rejecting their racist Presidential candidates in favor of having workers available they can exploit.

Long Live the Republican Party, America's current Nazi Party equivalent.

Are They Ready for Democracy?

It's frequently said that Islam is poorly adapted for democracy. When you consider sacred verses, there does seem to be a good case for incompatibility.


"...totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys;" or,

"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods,' don't give in or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must surely put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death and then the hands of all the people."


Any religion that believes that its enemies should suffer total destruction, family genocide and livestock eradication, or that anyone not following the faith not only should be, but MUST be killed by you certainly does not seem fit for democracy. The thing is those quotations didn't come from the Qur'an - they came from the Bible.

Anyone who doubts that Christianity can be just as violent and intolerant as Islam is ignorant of both history and current events. Christianity is filled with holy wars of conquest and the murder of innocent populations - and many of them not comfortably in the distant past.

Everyone who thinks the Ten Commandments should be posted in every school and courthouse ought to be reminded about God's Army, an armed Christian militia rebelling against the Buddhist military government of Myanmar. Under the Christian banner of establishing a "government based on the Ten Commandments," God's Army has killed more than a million people - far more than al-Qaeda has. God's Army is infamous for its forced conscription of child-soldiers.

For anyone building a case for the basic incompatibility of Christianity and democracy there are scriptures to prove it. You can find far more violence, far more intolerance, and far more destruction from God in the Bible than you will ever find in the Qur'an - if only because the Bible is longer.

But it's not that one religion is better. It's not that one religion is more violent. It's that theocratic democracy is an impossibility. That's just as true for Christianity as it is for Islam

Ninth Anniversary of the Fellatio Impeachment

Nine years ago this week, in December of 1998, the House of Representatives - through a bill authored by serial adulterer Henry Hyde (R-Dead) during a lame-duck session of Congress where Speaker and serial adulterer Newt Gingrich* (R-Gadfly) - who started up with a mistress while his wife was in the hospital with cancer - had to hand over his speaker's gavel to Ray LaHood (R-IL) during a floor debate marred by the infidelity scandal and resignation of House Speaker candidate and serial adulterer Bob Livingston (R-LA) -voted to impeach the President of the United States over a blowjob.

Impeachment was initiated, insisted on and voted on by Republicans who now allow Bush's immoral and lawless administration free rein to run roughshod over the U.S. Constitution without a hint of oversight.

Won't some loyal American please perform oral sex on Bush so the Republicans will act? Larry Craig, David Vitters or one of the prostitutes Vitters used?

_____________________

*newt note: Anne Manning has confirmed "a relationship" with Newt while he was married to Jackie Battley. "We had oral sex. He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, 'I never slept with her.'" Kip Carter, Newt's former campaign treasurer, was walking Newt's daughters back from a football game one day and cut across a driveway where he saw a car. "As I got to the car, I saw Newt in the passenger seat and one of the guys' wives with her head in his lap going up and down. Newt kind of turned and gave me this little-boy smile. Fortunately, Jackie Sue and Kathy (Newt's daughters) were a lot younger - and shorter - then." In March of 2007 it was revealed that Gingrich was having an affair while serving as Speaker of the House. This affair occurred at the same time Congress was investigating President Clinton.

GOP Self-Interest Is the Greatest Threat to Survival of U.S.

The greatest threat to the survival of the United States is not Iran, North Korea or even al- Qaida. It is the Republican Party.

President Bush's policies have turned the last great superpower into the world's biggest joke - only no one is laughing. He has disregarded global warming, squandered the treasury with lack of oversight and rampant cronyism and destroyed habeas corpus, the integrity of voting and the rule of law. The list is endless. He has politicized all branches of government.

All Republican presidential candidates (except Ron Paul) are using fear to be a tougher Bush-like president, with no thought to the well being of the U.S., only the Republican Party. Bush's Orwellian doublespeak blinds Republicans to the destruction the GOP has caused - eliminating any desire to change it.

Bush has lost all credibility as a leader and the U.S. is drifting aimlessly in a rapidly changing world. For the U.S. to survive, it must elect a Democratic president (the worst Democratic candidate is many times better than the best Republican) and increase the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. The U.S. cannot stand another age of Republican insanity. How long can the GOP defy the Constitution?

Oop! They Did It Again!

Britney Spears' 16-year old sister, high-school junior Jamie Lynn Spears, announced that she is 12 weeks pregnant by her boyfriend. It seems they've been going at their active relationship for 3 years, since Jaime Lynn was 13. He's a 19-year-old pipe layer; a deer-hunting, dirt-bike-riding, former high school class president.

Mom Lynne Spears is furious. Apparently, Jaime-Lynn sold the joyous announcement to OK! celebrity magazine for $10 thousand and Mom Lynn Spears' book on Christian parenting, due out in the Spring of 2008, has been indefinitely delayed. The loss to the abstinence only movement will be immeasurable.

You can't make this stuff up. So, Republican family values voters: how's that ' teaching abstinence only' thing coming along? Of course, if Mama Lynn were a TRUE Christian, she'd march Jaime-Lynn and her inseminator right out to the soccer field, tie a sack around them, bury them up to their necks and let the whole trailer park congregation stone them to death.

"I'm telling the kids Zoey 101 has been canceled." says Arden VanNatten of Schenectady, New York. "I hope Nickelodeon does the right thing and cancels the show. She is a role model for young girls."

Reverend Jedd Clampet of the Lewis Carroll Family Values Coalition announced, "Parents of really ripe, luscious teenage daughters like Jaime-Lynn are encouraged to lie with... er, lie to them."

Also, Rev. Clampet should probably be kept away form "really ripe, luscious teenage daughters like Jaime-Lynn" for their mutual protection. The frustrations of the abstinence only policy probably extend to the Reverend.

This Scapegoat Finds a Real Goat

Republican candidates for president are at best an undistinguished lot. When the administration was deceitfully beating the drums for war against Iran, they outdid each other being the most bellicose. When the NIE report concluded Iran had stopped enriching uranium in 2003, they all concentrated on vilifying immigrants for destroying our health care system, trading one lie for another.

Now Bush and the Republican candidates are attempting to obfuscate the truth of the NIE report, as they did with Global Warming, by creating a faux-debate in people’s minds where no debate exists. They cannot refute the truth, so they create a debate around the truth.

If our health care system is broken, it is NOT by immigrants. Republicans have broken it by giving it to corporate America, whose goal is to increase profits not improve health care. Republicans’ goal to privatize the US for personal profit does no individual any good service ever because it enriches only corporate America.

Republicans, vilifying immigrants as the cause of our broken health care system, are laughably tragic. It is nothing more than Republicans employing Lee Atwood’s Southern Strategy of creating a scapegoat to take the focus off themselves, the real perpetrators.

GOP's Current Southern Strategy Will Fail

The Republicans’ current Southern Strategy of creating hatred of undocumenteds by saying immigrants (Mexicans) come here for our health care system is beyond ludicrous. The Lie is if immigrants did not come here for our free health care, it would work beautifully and privatization would be legitimized. Our health care system is catastrophically broken primarily because it is privatized, a for-profit system run by corporations, that exist for profit not quality care.

Most immigrants have free, accessible health care at home; they come to the US not for health care but to work because Republican employers unlawfully exploit their labor by hiring while demonizing them. Immigrants do the dangerous and dirty work for a pittance and are here because of employer exploitation. Republicans’ Southern Strategy failed against Blacks; it will fail against hard working, reliable Mexicans.

The Party of Fear needs a new Lie with which to frighten voters into voting against their own best interests by supporting the vested interests of corporate America, represented by the Republican Party. Republicans exploit Evangelicals and Fundamentalists and Mexicans for their profit. So far the Republicans have been able to fool all the people all the time. Will the voters allow them to continue?

This Scapegoat Finds a Real Goat

Republican candidates for president are at best an undistinguished lot. When the administration was deceitfully beating the drums for war against Iran, they outdid each other being the most bellicose. When the NIE report concluded Iran had stopped enriching uranium in 2003, they all concentrated on vilifying immigrants for destroying our health care system, trading one lie for another.

Now Bush and the Republican candidates are attempting to obfuscate the truth of the NIE report, as they did with Global Warming, by creating a faux-debate in people’s minds where no debate exists. They cannot refute the truth, so they create a debate around the truth.

If our health care system is broken, it is NOT by immigrants. Republicans have broken it by giving it to corporate America, whose goal is to increase profits not improve health care. Republicans’ goal to privatize the US for personal profit does no individual any good service ever because it enriches only corporate America.

Republicans, vilifying immigrants as the cause of our broken health care system, are laughably tragic. It is nothing more than Republicans employing Lee Atwood’s Southern Strategy of creating a scapegoat to take the focus off themselves, the real perpetrators.

Right Wing Evangelicals Got It Wrong

The racism and me-firstism of the religious right in their treatment of undocumented workers is an outrage against the teachings of Jesus. Every Republican candidate for president tries to outdo the other on discriminating against Mexican undocumented workers who are in the US because employers, mostly Republicans, want their cheap labor but not their fellowship.

Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself. He did not say to love only right wing Loonies like yourself, and hate those who are not as well off as you, who do not have the same color skin as you, who come from a country poorer than yours. He did not discriminate as conservative Christians do.

Jesus would vomit if he could see what conservatives have done IN HIS NAME. Jesus taught the prophets to teach us to love God unconditionally and to love thy neighbor as thyself ... no equivocation, no quibbling, no discriminating. Jesus was a straight talker unlike many of his current evangelical followers who do not seem to understand his teachings.

The US Constitution guarantees freedom of religion which includes the right not to believe, which many of the current band of intolerants have ignored or forgotten or never knew. Bigotry and racism have no place in the teachings of Jesus.

Republicans Gotta Have Someone to Hate

Horace Mann wrote, "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."

Immigration is racism writ large - the "Southern Strategy" reanimated to stoke fear, resentment and loathing (not against African-Americans who are now protected from such rank hatred openly expressed)but against our brown American neighbors from the south.

Bigotry against minorities is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by the Republican base (and the basest of Republicans). The targets change as each previous target minority has won its civil rights. This season the attack is not only on gay Americans, but also even more against Mexicans, thinly veiled under the pretense of "illegal."

Gotta have some minority to hate! Gotta have have some group that supposedly threatens the White Christian Male social fabric of America by having the audacity to want to be treated like humans. The Cross has replaced the Lynching Tree as a symbol designed to create fear in the dispossessed.

But what if one of those (insert minority here) moves next door, or marries your daughter, or wants your dangerous low-wage job, or prays to a different God, or gets on the same elevator as you? How can the Constitution be amended to keep us secure from this terrorism? Let's use the Cross in place of the Lynching Tree.

Republicans gotta have someone to hate to prop up their eternal emptiness.

Bush Disregards the Truth ... Again

It’s a shame the headline, “Stunning reversal on Iran,” in no way reflects the President’s words or deeds. Although he probably knew of Iran’s lack of an Iranian nuclear weapons’ program for months, his rhetoric has continued to reflect threats against that nation. His desire to attack Iraq is terrifying to me and all reasonable people. The only thing between this man and another war is whether or not he will impose his power as the “decider.”



It is not enough that the National Intelligence Estimate has revealed that Iran ended its nuclear weapons development program four years ago Our power hungry president wants to make sure that Iran does not have the knowledge to build weapons, His bombastic words even after knowing Iran had no program are more the words of a madman than a president. On Oct. 17 of this year he made the ominous statement: “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.” PREVENT THEM FROM HAVING THE KNOWLEDGE!!!!! Doesn’t he realize they already have the knowledge, as does anyone else with access to the internet? It is not enough to control Iran’s actions. We must also control their thoughts!



As far as I can see, the only way to avoid World War III is to elect a Democratic president and Congress rather than the rabid warmongers who echo Bush’s words.

Are You Saying All Mexicans are Lazy and Stupid?

Are you implying that Mexicans are lazy and stupid and criminally inclined and lackadaisical about establishing honest government?

As for taking a stand for responsible government, haven't you heard about Mexico's overthrow of the French puppet Emperor Maximilian in 1867 and the ousting of the colonial Spanish government in 1821? Haven't you heard of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920?

Remember, that was the revolution that President Wilson sent Gen. Pershing to invade Mexico from the north and the US Marines to invade and occupy occupy Veracruz to secure American oil and Chase Manhattan and Brown Brothers investments? Remember that revolution? The revolution that killed more than 1 million women and men and children of a population of 15 million Mexicans? I'd call that self-determination in a quest for good government. Wouldn't you?

And what about the Zapatistas and their struggle for Mexico's indigenous people against the American-equipped, CIA-schooled federales? I'd say the Mexican people have fought quite a lot for their future - despite our best efforts to subvert them.

As for breaking another country's laws and ignoring national borders, you probably forgot that North American military forces have illegally invaded Mexico four times; in 1846, 1905, 1914, and 1917. It would be nice for Mexico if we stopped meddling in their politics and kidnapping their citizens from their own country. And I'd say you are terribly ignorant about American history. I'd say you know virtually nothing about our manipulation of Central America. I'd say you don't know what you're talking about. I'd say you should learn the subject before you shoot your mouth off again. Go smoke a cigar with Subcommandante Marcos. Learn.

George W. Bush Employment Resume

This individual seeks an executive position. He willbe available in January 2009, and is willing torelocate. RESUME GEORGE W. BUSH 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20520 EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Law Enforcement: I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 fordriving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty,paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" andis not available. Military: I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. Irefused to take a drug test or answer any questionsabout my drug use. By joining the Texas Air NationalGuard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam. College: I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.I was a cheerleader. PAST WORK EXPERIENCE: I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland Texas , in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn'tfind any oil in Texas. The company went bankruptshortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in asweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oilindustry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was electedgovernor of Texas. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oilcompanies, making Texas the most polluted state in theUnion. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angelesas the most smog-ridden city in America. I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to thetune of billions in borrowed money. I set the record for the most executions by anygovernor in American history. With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida,and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, Ibecame President of the United States, after losing byover 500,000 votes. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT: I am the first President in U.S. history to enteroffice with a criminal record. I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuingcost of over one billion dollars per week. I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankruptedthe U.S. Treasury. I shattered the record for the largest annual deficitin U.S.< face="Verdana" size="2"> history. I set an economic record for most private bankruptciesfiled in any 12-month period. I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a12-month period. I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in thehistory of the U.S. stock market. In my first year inoffice, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs andthat trend continues. I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are therichest of any administration in U.S. history. My"poorest millionaire," Cond oleezza Rice, has aChevron oil tanker named after her. I set the record for most campaign fund-raising tripsby a U.S. President. I am the all-time U.S. and world record -holder forreceiving the most corporate campaign donations. My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one ofmy best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over thelargest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history,Enron. My political party used Enron private jets andcorporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S.Supreme Court during my election decision. I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburtonagainst investigation or prosecution. More time andmoney was spent investigating the Monica Lewinskyaffair than has been spent investigating one of thebiggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided overthe biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refusedto intervene when corruption involving the oilindustry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline pri ces in U.S.history. I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminalsto be awarded government contracts. I appointed more convicted criminals to myadministration than any President in U.S. history. I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, thelargest bureaucracy in the history of the UnitedStates government. I've broken more international treaties than anyPresident in U.S. history. I am the first President in U.S. history to have theUnited Nations remove the U.S. from the Human RightsCommission. I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S."prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refusedto abide by the Geneva Convention. I am the first President in history to refuse UnitedNations election inspectors (during the 2002 USelection). I set the record for fewest numbers of pressconferences of any President since the advent oftelevision. I set the all-time record for most days on vacation inany one-year period. After taking off the entire monthof August, I presided over the worst security failurein U.S. h istory. I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. afterthe World Trade Center attacks and less than a yearlater made the U.S. the most hated country in theworld, the largest failure of diplomacy in worldhistory. I have set the all-time record for most peopleworldwide to simultaneously protest me in publicvenues (15 million people), shattering the record forprotests against any person in the history of mankind. I am the first President in U.S. history to order anunprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the militaryoccupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against thewill of the United Nations, the majority of U.S.citizens and the world community. I have cut health care benefits for war veterans andsupport a cut in duty benefits for active duty troopsand their f amilies in wartime. In my State of the Union Address, I lied about ourreasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies onour British friends. I am the first President in history to have a majorityof Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggestthreat to world peace and security. I am supporting development of a nuclear "TacticalBunker Buster," a WMD. I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bringOsama Bin Laden to justice. RECORDS AND REFERENCES: All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are nowin my father's library, sealed and unavailable forpublic view. All records of SEC investigations into my insidertrading and my bankrupt companies are sealed insecrecy and unavailable for public view. All records or minutes from meetings that I, or myVice-President, attended regarding public energypolicy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable forpublic review. I specified that my sealed documentswill not be available for 50 years. PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW! "Of course the people don't want war. But after all,it's the leaders of the country who determine thepolicy, and it's always a simple matter to drag thepeople along whether it's a democracy, a fascistdictatorship, or a parliament, or a communistdictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can alwaysbe brought to the bidding of the leaders. That iseasy. All you have to do is tell them they are beingattacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack ofpatriotism, and exposing the country to greaterdanger." -- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials You forgot to mention:
The atrocities at Abu Ghraib
Bailing on the Kyoto Treaty
Massive wiretapping of US citizens without a warrant
Approval of Torture
The stolen 2004 election
Deliberately leaking Valerie Plame's CIA cover, an act of treason
Katrina and "Heck-of-a-Job" Brownie.
The gutting of the EPA
Taking National Guard troops from their jobs, families and the states they were supposed to protect in order to send them to combat duty in Iraq.
This resume needs touching up.

The GOP Must Be Voted Completely Out of Government

The greatest threat to the survival of the U.S. is not Iran, North Korea or even Al Quaida. It is the Republican Party. Bush’s policies have turned the last great super power into the world’s biggest joke … only no one is laughing. He has disregarded global warming, squandered the Treasury with lack of oversight and cronyism, destroyed habeas corpus and the integrity of voting, and the rule of law ... the list is endless. He has politicized all branches of government.

All Republican presidential candidates except Ron Paul are using fear to be a tougher Bush with no thought to the well-being of the US only the Republicans Party. Bush’s Orwellian doublespeak blinds Republicans to the destruction the GOP has caused, eliminating any desire to change it.

Bush has lost all credibility as a leader, and the U.S. is drifting aimlessly in a very dangerous world. For the U.S. to survive, it must elect a Democratic President (the worst Democratic candidate is many times better than the best Republican), and increase the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. The U.S. cannot stand another Age of Republican Insanity. How long can the Constitution defy the GOP?

Trent Lott Gossip

I'm sure that by now you've heard the 'real' reason Sen. Trent Lott (R-MR) recently resigned. Lott is trying to avoid fallout from his very own gay boyfriend scandal involving a homosexual San Antonio "professional escort" named Benjamin Nicholas. There are rumors that Nicholas had even worked on Lott's staff (pun intended). In any case, it was a big surprise to everyone, straight or gay. I mean, OMG, what self-respecting homosexual would wear a rug as awful as Trent's?

But like 73% of the Florida Republican Legislative Caucus, and at least 68% of Republicans serving in the US Congress, Trent Lott was no self-respecting homosexual - he was a closeted, self-loathing homosexual. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Many Republican closet queens are way more motivated than heterosexuals when it comes to persecuting homosexuals. A look at the voting records of Trent Lott, Larry Craig, Mitch McConnell, Mark Foley, David Dreir, Ed Schrock, and Lindsey Graham give proof of that. But it makes Republicans look like hypocrites. The voters need to understand that although the GOP has many closet homosexuals in the party, they hate themselves just as much as the rest of the GOP hates them.

BTW, Trent Lott’s brother-in-law - millionaire Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs - and Lott’s nephew have both been indicted on federal bribery charges. Again, Lott denied there was any connection between the family indictments and his decision to retire — just another coincidence, he said.

Bush's Abramoff Coverup Could Protect Him and the So Far Unindicted Congressman John Doolittle from Prosecution

White House cites security

PETE YOST; The Associated Press
Published: December 2nd, 2007 01:00 AM


WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is laying out a new secrecy defense in an effort to end a court battle about the White House visits of now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The administration agreed last year to produce all responsive records about the visits “without redactions or claims of exemption,” according to a court order.
But in a court filing Friday night, administration lawyers said the Secret Service has identified a category of highly sensitive documents that might contain information sought in a lawsuit about Abramoff’s White House visits.
The Justice Department, citing a Cold War-era court ruling, declared that the contents of the “Sensitive Security Records” cannot be publicly revealed even though they could show whether Abramoff made more visits to the White House than those already acknowledged.
“The simple act of doing so ... would reveal sensitive information about the methods used by the Secret Service to carry out its protective function,” the Justice Department argued.
“This is an extraordinary development and it raises the specter that there were additional contacts with President Bush or other high White House officials that have yet to be disclosed,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that filed the suit.
White House spokesman Trey Bohn’s response referred to the Secret Service, saying, “We have nothing to add to the USSS position as stated in the court filing.”
Sensitive Security Records are created in the course of conducting more extensive background checks on certain visitors to the White House.

Has Bush Decided YOU are a Threat Yet?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004802.php

Congressional Report Assails Bush Executive Order on Iraq Insurgent Funding

By Spencer Ackerman

November 29, 2007 Over the summer, we reported on an under-the-radar executive order issued by President Bush allowing him to freeze or seize the U.S-based assets of anyone, potentially including U.S. citizens, he deems to threaten "the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq" or who "undermine efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq."The executive order was written so broadly as to alarm civil libertarians, who feared it was a back-door attempt at criminalizing the antiwar movement -- which Bush could conceivably argue posed a threat to Iraq by seeking to end the U.S. military presence -- or even unwitting donors to insurgent-linked charities. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, Molly Millerwise, told us not to worry: "Be assured that the individuals and entities we add to this list are in full faith acting in an aggressive, violent and reckless way in financing the insurgency," she said.Earlier this month,the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said: actually, maybe you should worry. It released a report exploring "the contrast between the executive order's broad language and its narrow aim" and questioning why the Treasury Department hasn't released a list of eligible Iraq-related targets for the order.While CRS credits Millerwise with indicating that the order will cause the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to primarily go after foreigners, it criticizes the order's "piggybacking potential":The issue is whether the executive order's application to anyone who provides "support" for a designated entity might affect U.S. persons inadvertently involved in some form of assistance, such as arranging transportation for, selling consumer goods to, or providing routine legal assistance to an entity that becomes blocked under the executive order. Could U.S. persons find themselves designated under the authority of the executive order and thereby have all of their assets subject to blocking whether or not the assets have any nexus with the transaction of any blocked entity or with any foreign entity?The report says we can't answer that question until OFAC releases a set of regulations covering how to implement the order. Nothing so far appears to be forthcoming, despite Millerwise's comments to TPMmuckraker creating what CRS calls an "expectation" that OFAC will document its rules for implementation. It's also not clear whether interest from a particular member of Congress prompted the report -- and, if so, which member.(Via Steve Aftergood, who observes, "the potential application of the order appears to be technically unlimited since it includes a recursive clause that has no defined endpoint." In other words, you can be targeted under the order even if you're X Degrees of Kevin Bacon away from an insurgent-related financial transaction.)

Bush's Permanent Militarization of the U.S.

While I was reading the debate about pulling out of Iraq, I remembered that back in 2003 there was much blogging about permanent military bases in Iraq. So I researched a bit and got some of the more up to date news about them. While congress and Bush are talking about pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, congress is spending billions of our tax dollars for fifteen "enduring bases." On three differenct occasion Bush or Rice have said the US had no plan to built permanent military bases in any country. Now Dana Perino says we are building them now in Iraq, which adds up to ONE MORE BUSH LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Most Americans don't realize that we now have recently-built, city-sized, permanent military bases with swimming pools, multiple bus routes, neighborhoods, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts and other fast food restaurants, car dealerships, shopping malls, fitness clubs, bike trails, apartment complexes, golf courses and even more. Balad Air Base 50 miles outside Baghdad, handles the daily air traffic you would normally see at Chicago's ultra-busy O'Hare. Balad is, in fact, the second busiest airport, military or civilian, in the entire world. It even has its own airline for in-country routes, a fleet of 250 planes. And while you're waiting for your flight to board, you can grab a snack at Subway, Pizza Hut, 24-hour Burger King, Popeye's, or a Starbuck's knock-off called "Green Beans" that serves up triple lattes.

One of the bases is at the new U.S. embassy inside Baghdad's Green Zone, nicknamed by impious Iraqis, "George W's Palace." It's about the size of Vatican City, has its own apartment building complexes (six of them) and its own power generators, water wells, drinking-water treatment plant, sewage plant, fire station, irrigation system, Internet uplink, secure intranet, telephone center (Virginia area code), cell-phone network (New York area code), mail service, fuel depot, international food courts and supply warehouses, vehicle-repair garage, and workshops - and even it's own anti-missile system. This two billion dollar-plus project is the most imperial embassy on the planet, not exactly the perfect signal of a sovereign and independent Iraq or a temporary American presence. These are permanent mega-cities costing billions with populations of 50,000 or more. The average American should at least know that they exist.