The Liberals Won't Take It Anymore

The right wing of America enjoys winning their victories by attacking those on the left. You've heard their talking points; The lefties want America to be defeated because they hate it. They want soldiers to die because they hate them, and so on. It's the simplistic way the right wing wins, inspire fear and hatred in their base. Those who aren't educated enough about the world to understand it's not so simple after all.

The left does not wish to see America "defeated," and they defenintely don't want to see Islamic fundamentalists win. We're the party who opposes religious fantaticism, Christian, Islam, any religion, we certaintly don't want to see a world governed by Islamic fundamentalism.

Those on the right see the world in black and white. The was made apparent in President Bush's "you're either with us or with the terrorists" speech back in 2002. If you don't see eye to eye with the way our leadership is fighting Islamic fundamentalists, they you obviously want Al-Qaeda and their lackeys to win.

The genius of the left (and some on the right like Ron Paul) is that we know the world isn't black and white. The world isn't that simplistic. It's not our way or their way. Those on the left still believe that our leadership isn't perfect and are not right all the time just because they make decisions to oppose our enemies. We are not required to stand by our President, even when he's wrong because we don't want him to look "weak" to the world. Just because our leadership acts against terrorists or "enemies of America" does not make him infalliable. Our leadership made a blatantly wrong decision on Iraq, a decision that the left (and some on the right) would argue was counterproductive toward our fight against Al-Qaeda. Perhaps there is more to this "war on terror" than military might. Perhaps dropping bombs from planes or rolling tanks through the desert aren't the only ways to fight terrorism.

Those on the left see little difference between the Islamic world and the world the right wing wants America to live in. Both are authoritarian to totalitarian where there would be little dissent or criticism of our leaders. Both inject religious doctrine in our society. Both force their populations to live under the microscope of their governments, who track every move you make and word you say. The right wants to bring "freedom and democracy" to the Middle East, but want to sanction warantless wiretapping, elimination of habeus corpus and oppression of dissenters in the United States. They want to free these countries from the hardline Islamic sharia law that allows them to oppress women, execute homosexuals, and force Islam into every aspect of society, but the same people want to force prayer in public schools and legislate archiac biblical laws oppressing homosexuals and women's rights.

The right likes to think they're strong because they act like warriors. They think supporting military action against anyone who disagrees with us is warrior-like. They see weakness as wanting dialogue and not war. They see the American military as a means to scare Islamic populations into supporting our side. They see the American military as a means to show strength and bravery, The truth is, it was the right that has inspired the cowardly insecurity that has enveloped our nation since 9/11. We cower at the first threat of an attack. We live in a world where a panic ensures in ourselves if we see an Arab-looking man get on the subway with a backpack. We live in a society where we have to get molested before we get on an airplane. We live in a nation where we're ready to give up basic rights that we had for over 220 years because of a bunch of cave dwellers. We survived more dangerous threats; Fascism, Communism, Anarchism, a Civil war, without having to give up our basic freedoms. The right uses the military and war as a cover to hide their fear.

No matter who the Republican nominee is next year, whether it's Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, or John McCain, expect their campaign strategy to focus around the slogan "Vote Democrat and Die." Expect them to paint the Democrats as Anti-American, cowardly, and "against us" because they're not "with the President." Expect it to work.

Giuliani: "I Don't Always Agree With Myself"

I always knew Rudy was two-faced, but I couldn't imagine they constantly debated each other.

The best defense for being called a flip-flopper;

I'm really two people.

Which one is running for President Rudy?

Coulter: Jews Need To Become Christians

Jews of the world, Ann Coulter says you need to be perfected.

Just another example of how this bitch is a Nazi in a miniskirt.

Religous Right Wants Third Party

I hardly thought they would endorse Giuliani. I figured this would happen.

Still, I don't think they're stupid enough to split the conservative vote and throw the election to the Democrats. All GOP candidates struggle at best against all the Democrats, splitting the vote would almost certainly guarantee them a win.

Or Giuliani would have to suddenly find God, for find some reason to oppose abortion and gay rights and explain his flip-flopping (9/11 made me pro-life.) Either way, Democrats win.

The End Of The Religious Right?

They will always exist, but I knew the day would come when they would be no more organized politically as white supremacists or communists. That day seems to be coming closer.

And our wonderful SECULAR nation breathes a sigh of relief.

Now It's Convenient To Defend the Gays?

Newt Gingrich's laughable rational to why the President of Iran shouldn't have spoken at Columbia;

“I think it is an outrage for the university to lend its prestige to a dictator whose Government executes homosexuals, tortures and kills journalists, lock up students”

Yeah Newt, we shouldn't kill the gays, we should just make their lives so miserable that they wish they were dead, right?

What Seperates Clinton and Vitter?

Read into what Larry Flynt says;

"I very seldom get a chance to get a big one, and sometimes I have to go bottom feeding. We have a criteria, and that is if someone is living a life contrary to the way they are advocating -- their personal life -- than they become fair game."

Clinton never went front and center, arguing that moral issues were the main issues, that traditional marriage is sacred and government should protect it. Clinton was a sinner, admitted he was a sinner (after a period of time) and didn't waste his time preaching morality.

Vitter did. He advocated protecting "traditional marriage" all the while he wasn't practicing what he preached.

Clinton was immoral and that was bad enough, but Vitter is not only immoral...he's a hypocrite.

If Clinton should've resign for his sins, then Vitter should as well. (Let the record show I don't think either one committed anything henious enough to resign, but I'm calling on Vitter to practice what he preached.)

Rudy: Not For Catholic Conservatives

Catholic Conservatives are lining up in hopes of bringing down GOP front runner Rudy Giuliani.

No matter how much of a hero you are, the Religious Right will destroy you if you don't endorse their middle ages philosophy on the world.

This is why I don't want to be President.

Jerry Falwell (1933-2007)

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the face of the religious right since the 1980's has died.

While I vehemently disagreed with his politics, and did not have a very positive opinion of him, a man, who for better or worse, was an inspiration to millions had died.

He deserves to be mourned.

Religion in America: An Observation

Apparently 90% of the country believes in God, according to Newsweek. That's probably the same as how many people think the sky is blue or the world is round. God-belief is widely considered an obvious thing, which is automatically put in everyone's head. It is rarely, if ever questioned, because God-belief is something people feel better just accepting as true. It is acceptable for a person to question or even doubt the existence of God. What one may see as signs of God's existence, such as nature or certain miracles, may be just seen as coincidences to others. However, even today, many who may question or even doubt God's existence may not admit to their skepticisms due to the unpopularity of agnosticism, having said that, I am far from being an agnostic. I cannot imagine what life would be like without a God to believe in, but I'm not a person of organized religion either. I think the theory that Americans believe in God ergo are religious is rather erroneous. While that may be true of a large number of those who believe in God, I think there is an underrepresented, underestimate minority who believe in God, have spiritual believes, but do not adhere to certain organized religions. These people are not the stereotypical Evangelical types you see on TV at large gatherings raising their hands and singing.

One point that interests me is that half of all Americans discredit the theory of evolution. It's a nice story to think God created the earth in six days or that Adam and Eve existed and we all descend from them, but those theories are aesthetically impossible. I think there is some mixture of the theory of creationism and evolution. I tend to lean more toward the theory of evolution, but with the help of God.

Another interesting point in this article I found is that Americans are becoming more accepting of agnostics or atheists, 47% according to this poll, with just under half saying they know someone who is atheist or agnostic. This makes me feel better. It makes me believe there is a growing "Live and Let Live" attitude in this country which I've long criticized the Republican Party and Evangelical Christians for rallying against. I ceased attending church about four years ago (I was raised Catholic,) because I was tired of their "Go out and change people who disagree with the Pope" attitude. I am an American first, Christian second (actually, I am a Christian like ninth.) My belief that in America everyone has the right to his or her beliefs and their own opinions trumps what I see as the church's belief of "We must force everyone to adhere to our ideology." I began to feel that under the Republican majority, that attitude was being killed off. Now, this leads me to believe we Americans have become "Live and Let Live" people again.

I am very critical and very open about my criticism of organized religion for its apparent attempts to stage a coup on this democracy. It shouldn't make a difference what presidential candidate Pat Robertson or James Dobson endorses. They are not political figures, they are religious figures. They do not belong in politics. This is not just my belief; this was the belief of our founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. They were all spiritual God-believers, but purposely left a certain religion out of the American government for a good reason. There is a quote, which had been attributed to President Madison; though there's no proof that he said it. Nevertheless, whoever said it, said a mouthful;

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries"

A New Democratic Era.

It was only a few years ago when it seemed the Democratic Party was on the brink of complete collapse. Former Senator Zell Miller (D-Georgia) said in 2004 he believed the Democrats were going the way of the Whigs.

My, how times have changed.

Pew research now says 50% of the country identifies itself as Democratic or leaning toward the Democratic Party, while only 35% say the same about the Republicans. That differs drastically from 2002 when the two parties were tied in voter identification.

If this is in fact true, the Democratic Party has regain an absolute majority again, putting an end to the Conservative majority that has existed since before I was even born, going back to Ronald Reagan's 1980 election.

Does this mean the beginning of a new Democratic majority that will itself last as long, maybe longer?

We may have to wait until 2008 to find that out, but early signs look promising for Democrats. The population appears to be less socially conservative, fiscally conservative, and hawkish. They appear to be adapting more liberal ideas on the economy and on certain social issues. All this plays for a Democratic majority.

If this continues, Republicans like Rudy Giuliani are the only ones who will be competitive nationwide.

An Atheist in Congress

Religiosity is an issue no more if you wish to run for federal office...we at least if you're planning on running in the California 13th district. The district's incumbent, Congressman Pete Stark, admitted today that he is, in fact, an atheist. Stark told the Associated Press that he is "a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being."

Stark has been in Congress since first being elected in 1972, so essentially there's been an atheist elected since then. I believe there are probably more, but they refuse to admit it and pretend to believe in God to appease the obsession in this country over religion. Personally, I think it's worse to fake your beliefs to win votes than to lose votes telling the truth.

Anyway, I believe in God personally and can't imagine living a life where you just didn't believe in it, but I don't think it makes you a less caring person or a person to be less respected. I firmly believe the fear people have of allowing atheism to exist (and this goes with homosexuality as well,) is fear they will have family members who will come out as atheists themselves. You hear "protect the children" as arguments for everything. It's not protecting the children, it's sheltering them.

If a person chooses to be atheist, that is their choice, it doesn't make them any less of a person. This doesn't make Congressman Stark any less of a humanitarian, any less of a caring, hardworking representative of the people.

Luckily, I highly doubt Stark will pay for his beliefs at the polls. He represents a district where George W. Bush only got 28% of the vote in 2004. He is, one of what I call the "Liberals By The Bay," which includes the ten Democrats (sans Ellen Tauscher,) whose districts border San Francisco Bay and who are to the left of the majority of the country.

Leave It To The Evangelicals

The Republicans finally had a chance to get a candidate who would win in a landslide and abruptly halt the party's free fall.

Leave it to the evangelicals to try to screw it up.

The rousing support Mitt Romney received at CPAC this weekend gives me poise to believe Giuliani may not have the support of the right we thought he did. I'm not crazy about Giuliani, but I'm sure the evangelicals are not going to let the man who wins everybody's hearts run away with the election if he doesn't believe our government should force gays into the closet, force woman back into corsets and give guns to kids.

Because those are the most important issues right now...there's no war gone haywire, there's no healthcare crisis, there's no immigration problem, no, gays, guns and abortion, that's what we should be concerned with.

The Gay Purge MUST Stop

Today, I can across an e-mail sent by the so-called American Family Association, you know, the group that fights to protect families, so long as they are white, middle/upper-class, married, male, female, two children, two cars, living in a house families.

The e-mail was sent to oppose to upcoming gay rights fight that is looming on Capitol Hill. Specifically against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation. This appeared in the e-mail:

"Employers will be forced to hire homosexuals."
"Landlords will be forced to rent to homosexuals."

It is sick and disgusting that we still live in a country where ANYONE would think this is OK. If somebody said "Employers should not be forced to hire African-Americans or women" we'd be disgusted, why is this any different.

The AFA and other social conservatives are looking to purge America of homosexuals, it's that simple. They are out to persecute LGBT Americans. Just last week in Detroit, a very BLUE city, a 72 year old man was beaten to death after being asked if he was gay. (He was.) I fear what would happen if people like the man who beat this guy to death, were elected to office.

It is not the anti-gay lobby like the American Family Association that causes people like this to exist, but they encourage bigotry, homophobia and hatred toward LGBT Americans by supporting the idea of stripping rights from them. They make it OK to hate LGBT Americans. They call themselves Children of God, but God teaches love and these people hate more than they love.

And if supporting the ENDA or the hate-crimes legislation means that I will "force" landlords to rent to homosexuals and "force" employers to hire them, then I am firmly behind it, and all of you who believe that prejudice against LGBT Americans is perfectly justifiable should be ashamed of yourselves. You are NO different that the racists who hosed down African-Americans in the South in the 1960's, no different that men in fundamentalist Islamic countries who oppress women. You are just as bad.

And that's my opinion...a harsh one, but I am not apologetic over it.

Children Should Not Be Kept Ignorant

A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a suit by two families who wanted to stop a Massachusetts town and its public school system from teaching their children about gay marriage, court documents show.

Oh God forbid we teach our children about gay relationships, God forbid they should become accepting of homosexuality, God forbid we don't keep reality from them so we can teach them the hatred and bigotry that we believe.

I am so sick of people saying if we teach our children to accept homosexuality, then they will try it and become gay. Can we be anymore ignorant. Oh, and don't argue with me that to teach our children about homosexuality violates your religious beliefs. Religion doesn't teach ignorance, if you disagree with what the schools are teaching your kids, you have every right to teach them your ideas in the comfort of your own home. If they don't side with you, that's their prerogative, not the school's fault and not society's fault.

Our government (through which our schools are funded) does not endorse religious beliefs, and that includes the Christian belief that homosexuality is wrong. If you believe otherwise, teach your children in your home...or send them to Christian schools.

Religious freedom does not mean we can legislate religion to MAKE YOU happy

The End of an Era?

Good Riddance I say

Religion has no place in American politics...Despite what Katherine Harris says, Seperation of Church and State is NOT a lie. It is explained thoroughly by our founding fathers.

Just listen to the quotes of Thomas Jefferson, a huge critic of theocracy, and James Madison and George Washington. None of them believed Christianity had any specific place in the government of this land.

The truth is, the Religious Right whom Jim Wallis says is dead was an ignorant, bigoted, hateful bunch which made Christianity look bad (sort of like how terrorists mar Islam, but to a lesser extent.)

With the defeat of the Republican majority in 2006, some elected figures of the Religious Right went into retirement; such as Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Representatives Jim Ryun of Kansas, John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel of Indiana, Melissa Hart and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota and the notorious Katherine Harris in Florida, whose joke of a Senate campaign went down in flames. Representatives Jim Nussle in Iowa and Bob Beapurez in Colorado both lost gubernatorial campaigns they should've done better in. Ohio Gubernatorial candidate and the state's leading preacher Ken Blackwell lost his election by over 20%. In referendums, the Religious Right were surprisingly defeated in some areas; Missouri voted to fund stem-cell research, South Dakota rejected an all out ban on abortion, and Arizona became the first state to reject a ban on gay marriage.

The days of endless debate in Congress over banning gay marriage, restricting abortion, and forcing the Bible into public schools are over. What is the future? Wallis says this;

Evangelicals — especially the new generation of pastors and young people — are deserting the Religious Right in droves. The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, engaging issues like poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur and the ethics of the war in Iraq. Catholics are returning to their social teaching; mainline Protestants are asserting their faith more aggressively; a new generation of young black and Latino pastors are putting the focus on social justice; a Jewish renewal movement and more moderate Islam are also growing; and a whole new denomination has emerged, which might be called the "spiritual but not religious."

What Wallis is noticing is correct. There is less of a social conservative attitude among young people. The younger generation, my age and younger, are more supportive of gay rights and do not believe in the literal explanation of the Bible. However, most of all, I've noticed the younger crowd does not believe in the rigid structure of religion that our parents and grandparents believed in. The younger crowd is more in touch with the spritual, personal relationship with God, rather than a communial relationship.

The younger crowd focuses more on helping others rather than excluding others. It is true that Darfur is a big issue among the young crowd. Less than a year ago, I was still in college and Darfur was something everyone was talking about and everyone knew about it. If our politicians today don't solve the problems in Darfur, we will...unfortunately it would be too late by then. HIV/AIDS is a huge issue for us, because unlike the preceeding generations, we dont see it as a "gay disease" or a "sinful disease," rather an epidemic that has been ignored by our parents.

When considering American politics...the "dead Religious Right" obviously was closely tied to the Republican Party...social conservative and elite. Now, the younger crowd's religion is probably more liberal than conservative...economic fairness has always been a Democratic strength, as has the environment, helping the poor, and pacificism. Could this mean the new religious younger crowd will strengthen the Democratic Party?

If the Republican Party isn't careful, they're going to find themselves on the wrong side of the populace once my generations enters ours 30's.