Pat Robertson (Wingnut for God), Pete Hoekstra(R-MI), Chuck 'Pulling the Plug on Grandma' Grassley (R-KS), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sarah Palin (Celebrity)…..all have something very much in common.

Rachel Maddow explains…..

Bashing Muslims is back in vogue…..not that it ever fell out of favor within the more imaginative far right winger groups. But I find it remarkable that 2 GOP Senators think al-Qaeda "sympathizers" now work for the U.S. Justice Department. AG Eric Holder found it remarkable too…and worthy of a guffaw.

Having already alienated women, blacks, and Hispanics…I guess the only group left for xenophobic Republicans to offend is the .6% of Americans who are Muslim.

Do we absolutely have to retrace the ugliness of the Joe McCarthy red scare days? Can't Republicans learn anything? Ever?
____________________

But if you can believe it……the new Muslim McCarthyism in the Republican Party is mild in comparison with the mighty moral warriors of the American evangelical kind.

The new "take it to Jesus" slogan for the evangelical nuts in America is Psalms 109.

Here's the new bumper sticker you can buy from zazzle.com…..

What would a person praying for President Obama on the basis of Psalms 109…be praying FOR?…..

8May his days be few;

may another take his place of leadership.

9May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10May his children be wandering beggars;

may they be drivend from their ruined homes.

Those righteous Bible believing Christians who pray FOR Obama on the basis of Psalms 109 would be praying for him to be dead and his two young girls to be homeless, wandering beggars.

These are the same folks who call the Prince of Peace and Love their Master and Saviour.

Shucks…it's all just good funnin'…..

ABC….

For many, the slogan is just a humorous way express disapproval for President Obama. It's been tweeted and retweeted by Obama critics with messages like "too funny" and "an excellent prayer for America."

See? In the minds of evangelical followers of Jesus, it's just "too funny" to pray for Obama to be dead and for Obama's children to be homeless. Humorous.

But it's those American Muslims who are threatening our nation.

Jesus.

The man in the above picture was arrested on September 15 and charged on September 25 with possession of child pornography…..

Ottawa police have issued an arrest warrant for a Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia facing child pornography charges…….

(Bishop Raymond) Lahey was re-entering Canada at the Ottawa International Airport on Sept. 15 when members of the Canada Border Services Agency pulled him aside for a secondary examination, according to a release from Ottawa police. Officers found images on Lahey's laptop computer "that were of concern."

He was released at the time. The computer was seized and police said a subsequent forensic examination of the computer revealed child pornography.

As if that's not offensive enough, consider this….

The former leader of the diocese of Antigonish is perhaps best known as the man who helped broker a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese, in some cases dating back to 1950. That settlement was approved by a Nova Scotia court on Sept. 10.

Jesus.

Just in case you missed this from last year….

In Ireland, reports into clerical sexual abuse have rocked both the Catholic hierarchy and the state.

The Ryan Report, published last May, revealed that beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children. A nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls, while government inspectors failed to stop the abuse.

On September 18, 2009…..

The UN Human Rights Council today published a written statement by IHEU on the role of the Holy See in the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, and its failure to honour its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Commenting on the report, Roy Brown, IHEU Main Representative at the UN Geneva said: "The Holy See has been heavily implicated for decades in covering up cases of child abuse carried our by its clergy and religious orders, in obstructing justice, and in failing to deal appropriately with abusers. Yet for too long it has been given a free ride by the international community because of its presumed moral leadership. Our report is the first to bring the issue to the attention of the Council. We shall be referring to our report in the plenary of the Human Rights Council next week."

The Vatican's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, responding to the report's findings that up to 5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child abuse, did the Christian thing…..and blamed others….

Children were more likely to suffer at the hands of relatives, family friends or babysitters than clerics, he argued.

Jesus.

And if that isn't bad enough, wait…there's even more….

The Archbishop also quoted research published in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper which suggested that most congregations affected by child sex allegations in the US were protestant churches while the problem was also common in the Jewish community.

'Yeah, 1 in 20 of our clergy are child-terrorizing fiends, but hey, what about those babysitters and those Jews and Protestants.'

Thoroughly disgusted yet? I've saved the worst for last.

Yesterday……………Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Chief Justice John Roberts

An American cardinal on Sunday issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at a church service that included Vice President Joe Biden, six members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of members of the legal community.

Five of the six Roman Catholics on the high court – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito – heard the homily by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo…..

What did the representative of this child-terrorizing religious cult have to say to enlighten America's vice-president and 5 other terror-cult members who just happen to be Supreme Court Justices?

Speaking at the annual Red Mass the day before the opening of the Supreme Court term, DiNardo said that people represented by lawyers are "more than clients. … In some cases the clients are voiceless for they lack influence; in others they are literally voiceless, not yet with tongues and even without names, and require our most careful attention and radical support."

Jesus.

High leaders of the United States of America, leaders of a country alledgedly fighting a "long war" against international "terrorists", seek moral guidance from a representative of an international child-terrorizing cult. A religious cult so morally depraved and so hypocritically twisted, it's representatives have the audacity to preach to America's highest legal representatives about our national morality in dealing with the "unborn", while dismissing and downplaying a scathing, yet factual, report of the cult's own centuries-old terrorization of underage boys.

It's all disgustingly maddening.

It seems that the Lake Local School district is being challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Lake Local Schools, a public school system just south of my old stomping grounds, has this sentence in their "mission statement"……….

We Value: Responsibility, honesty, respect, integrity, commitment, belief in God and religious freedom, our community, our partnerships, and every person as a unique individual with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge.

Here's what the Freedom From Religion Foundation thought of that sentence….

Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president, called the statement “shocking” and “one of the most egregious” violations she has seen of the Constitution’s language separating church and state.

Ohio.com picked up the AP story and has a lively comment section going.

If you recall, I wrote a couple days ago about the Texas Theo-cons and their Magic Book.

So now Ohio has it's own Theo-con outbreak over a non-religious group challenging a very obvious violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment in Lake Local School's official mission statement. Lake Local School officials framed the values they held, and those values include "belief in god." Those officials intend to educate all of the district's public school children with those "values" as the basis. Otherwise, why explain the values in the first place?

I can't tell you how long I've been opposing the crusades of the Theocons. Evangelical Christians, who make up a large portion of the American Theo-cons, insist that bringing god into public schools will make our children better, families more secure, communities all like Ward and June's in Leave It To Beaver.

The truth is that the divorce rates and pre-marital sex rates of all those evangelicals, who live only to serve their lord, are the same as the masses of American heathens. The reason these Theo-cons, whether trying to Christianize Lake Schools or over in Green where evangelical anti-abortionists drove out a legal abortion provider……the lesson is the same…..Evangelical Christians have nothing to offer a modern world. Evangelical Christians only have myths and superstition to offer…..their message is powerless….their credibility fading…and so in desperation, they seek to co-opt the power of the government to help them bail out a sinking ship.

Others don't see it like I do. Like, for example, these two Canton Repository online commenters….

ddpleasant

People who point out that the first ammend restricts the expression of religioin by the govenment quote the first part 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' The however neglect the second part 'or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'

Lake Township Schools is not promoting any one religion, they are expressing a belief in freedom of religion. This is an act the is specifically protect by the second part. Lake Township Schools is not congress, and it did not make a law. When the courts have ruled that against this kind of speach, in my humble opinion, I feel they have over reached.

Is it willfull blindness, or what?

This is what the mission statement says….

We Value: Responsibility, honesty, respect, integrity, commitment, belief in God and religious freedom, our community, our partnerships, and every person as a unique individual with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge.

It's like the "belief in god" part doesn't exist.

GregRoth….

Lake Township Schools is not promoting any one religion, they are expressing a belief in freedom of religion. This is an act the is specifically protect by the second part. Lake Township Schools is not congress, and it did not make a law. When the courts have ruled that against this kind of speach, in my humble opinion, I feel they have over reached.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation is an organization of atheists and agnostics who desire to impose their will on others by using the legal system to force compliance to their BELIEFS. They call themselves free thinkers but discount anyone who disagrees with their philosophy. They are antagonistic to anyone of faith in a supreme being in any religion. They call themselves free thinkers and only acknowledge those who agree with them. They use their organization to demean anyone who is of faith that that does not include their faith in a natural world without a god of any kind. They have the ear of many on the left and support much of the causes of the left in this nation. There goal is to eradicate any form of religion in this nation and impose their faith in atheism.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation tries to use its threats of lawsuits as a way of intimidating small government entities like school districts that are always strapped for funds. That is wrong. Federal and State governments have been taken to court over the use of 'God' in buildings. This group tried to stop President Obama from putting his hand on the Christian Bible the same reasons as they attack the schools. It did not work. If they had their way all expressions of religion would be eliminated. They do not understand that the First Amendment says 'freedom of religion' and not freedom from religion. The Founders never intended to eliminate religion but to allow Americans to practice freely their faith and religion as they wanted without government interference. It is that simple.

You see? It's as if the government being prohibited by the first amendment from establishing religion does not exist at all. The amendment clearly states "religion"…..not Christianity, not a Protestant denomination, not Islam, not Judaism……"religion." To assert in a public school mission statement that, "We value….belief in god", is the very essence of government establishing religion.

Here's the Freedom From Religion Foundation's…umm…mission statment….

"The nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation works to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism, and to promote the constitutional principle of separation between church and state.

Since 1978, the Foundation has acted on countless violations of the separation of state and church, and has taken and won many significant complaints and important lawsuits to end state/church entanglements and challenge the “faith-based initiative.”

Here's a couple of good videos, where Annie Laurie Gaylor from the Freedom From Religion Foundation states the facts to a theo-con.

Up until this school year, high school classes where the Bible is the focus of study have only been available in some Texas public schools.

With these types of results….

Mark Chancey, associate professor in religious studies at Southern Methodist University, has studied Bible classes already offered in about 25 districts for the Texas Freedom Network.
"Some classes promote creation science. Some classes denigrate Judaism. Some classes explicitly encourage students to convert to Christianity or to adopt Christian devotional practices," Chancey said.

This school year Texas is implementing, as Bill Maher would say, 'new rules'. The Bible will be an accredited class this year in virtually all Texas public schools.

The new Texas state law..

If, for a particular semester, fewer than 15 students at
a school district campus register to enroll in a course required by
this section, the district is not required to offer the course at
that campus for that semester.

Each school district that offers kindergarten through
grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum:
(1) a foundation curriculum that includes:
(A) English language arts;
(B) mathematics;
(C) science; and
(D) social studies, consisting of Texas, United
States, and world history, government, and geography; and
(2) an enrichment curriculum that includes:
(A) to the extent possible, languages other than
English;
(B) health, with emphasis on the importance of
proper nutrition and exercise;
(C) physical education;
(D) fine arts;
(E) economics, with emphasis on the free
enterprise system and its benefits;
(F) career and technology education; [and]
(G) technology applications; and
(H) religious literature, including the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on
history and literature.

Texas public schools theocratized…Also here….

The Wall Street Journal… goes into the details about what Texas theocons have in mind with the Bible as a subject for public school study. It seems that recommendations for implementation of Texas' new theocon law is in the hands of three reviewers….

Three reviewers, appointed by social conservatives, have recommended revamping the K-12 curriculum to emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history. Two of them want to remove or de-emphasize references to several historical figures who have become liberal icons, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall.
……

The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America's founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man's fall and inherent sinfulness, or "radical depravity," which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances.

The curriculum, they say, should clearly present Christianity as an overall force for good — and a key reason for American exceptionalism, the notion that the country stands above and apart.

"America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children," said Don McLeroy, a leading conservative on the board. "The foundational principles of our country are very biblical…. That needs to come out in the textbooks."

ABC explains here that this has to do with Christianizing all U.S. public school textbooks.

Some in the Village think mandatory Bible classes in high school is a super idea….

Newsweek's David Waters…As a source of divine inspiration, prophetic imagination and poetic wisdom, the Bible is unsurpassed.

Willis Elliott, a dean of American Protestantism, wrote, "The Bible is the scriptural foundation of the American mind, including the mind of the American military . . . The American way establishes no religion and privileges biblical religion."

Newseek editor John Meacham….You cannot understand America or its institutions without understanding the Bible and its influence. But that is a different thing from saying that the country's public institutions elevate one vision of religious faith over another.

Naturally, The Reverend is not in favor of accreditizing Bible classes in public high schools. The First Amendment is crystal clear about government being prohibited from establishing religion…..and the Bible is ONLY a religious book.

This comment from the KLTV link captures the essence of this Texas theocon nonsense….and my sentiments on the matter….

Guest: This is truly an amazing story. Requiring The Judeo-Christian Bible to be taught in school serves no purpose but to begin raising generations of people to accept a theocracy and reject and destroy American Democracy. Texas has a church on every corner for worship, and instead of spending secular time on religion, children need to be spending that time learning math, science, music, art, etc. This is not progress. If the class were an elective in ancient literature, and said class included the Qu'ran, the Vedas, etc., it would make sense for children with talent and propensities toward history, language, etc. Human intelligence has to be given a chance to evolve and this will never happen if people just plain refuse to progress. We don't worship nature anymore like, for example the ancient American Indians did; we don't sacrifice babies like the ancient Incans; we don't kill people like the ancient Celts; or animals like the ancient Hebrews; and now it's time to quit bowing down to big black rocks, statues and pictures of a virgin mother, to quit believing in sacred cows, to quit dancing around with snakes, to give up Voodoo and all primitive thinking, and evolve. Good luck, Texas, you just dumbed down.

Dumbing down for Jesus. Or, No Child Leaves His Bible Behind. For radical extremists, like Texas' theocons, this is called progress.

Let me start out today by stating the facts. Abortion is legal in this nation. The abomination known as the Hyde Amendment currently prevents government money from being used to pay directly for abortions.

These two facts are now clashing with each other in health care reform negotiations. Here's a few tastes…

ABC's Jake Tapper reports….

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, an abortion opponent, said later that "no matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn't ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life — to use their tax dollars for those purpose — for that purpose…."

Washington Post…

A group of conservative Democrats led by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) has proposed a compromise that would neither require nor forbid private insurers to cover the procedure as long as no federal funding is used; another group of Democrats and Republicans held a news conference Wednesday to call for an explicit ban on funding.

……

In their proposal to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Ryan and four other Democrats say that allowing insurers to chart their own abortion policies as long as taxpayer money isn't used for the procedures represents "a common ground solution" that effectively maintains current law on abortion funding.

…..

Backers say the bill has been carefully scrubbed for months to remove policies that might alienate either side, such as financial support for the morning-after pill.

……

But Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, said Wednesday that the bill would effectively subsidize abortion providers by increasing funding for family-planning services and would "further encourage promiscuous sex."

Perkins again…

Congress should add a provision to the legislation to permanently exclude abortion from taxpayer-funded health care or health insurance.

How many angels can dance on the end of a pin? Let's count a few….

If radical anti-abortion groups, like Perkins', had their way, all reproductive services (contraception, morning after pills, as well as abortions) would never be paid for with "taxpayer dollars." Tony Perkins tells us all we need to know about the radical nature of the anti-abortion movement in this country. The movement is first and foremost an anti-sex movement….."further encourage promiscuous sex."

If the anti-abortion radicals, those who regard an abortion doctor's assassin as a patriotic hero who was simply following his god-inspired conscience,…..if those anti-abortion forces have their way in the health reform "debate", women everywhere in America will see abortion and reproductive services curtailed.

Obama's basic plan will include an "exchange" where private health policies, as well as a public policy, will be offered to those Americans who do not have coverage from an employer. In addition, those Americans who cannot afford a plan from this exchange will be provided a government subsidy to pay for the plan chosen from the exchange.

The extremists would prohibit any health policy in that exchange from covering the cost of an abortion. You see, tax dollars would be used to pay for an insurance policy that covered the cost of abortion. Not the abortion itself…..but the insurance policy. Even this, the radicals cannot tolerate.

However, setting the radical anti-abortion groups wishes aside for a moment……just how ridiculous is the "argument" that no tax dollars should ever be used to fund an abortion?

In my opinion, pretty ridiculous.

As of 2006, there were 14.6 million government employees. Where does the money come from to pay these employees? From tax dollars. Should those millions be excluded from paying for an abortion with the tax dollars they are paid? Should those employees simply get the money necessary for an abortion from their friends or family members who don't receive their paychecks from tax dollars? Shouldn't a federal employee who opts for an abortion have to demonstrate that the money used for that abortion came from a source other than their federal employer? If not, why not?

For those who would pre-emptively argue that federal employees have earned those tax dollars by, you know, working…..and are, therefore, entitled to do what they wish with their own money……wouldn't the money, in my hypothetical, still originate from tax dollars? And wouldn't that fact deeply disturb the oh-so-sensitive, god-like consciences of the radical anti-abortionists?

In the midst of the totally insane town hall buster-uppers, the gun toters, the vile hand held signs, the Nazi-Obama equivalencies, the socialist stupidities, the death threats…..American women are in danger of having their legal reproductive freedoms further limited by the same forces who today justify assassinating abortion doctors, the same forces who would also prohibit tax dollars from being used to pay for contraception because that would encourage "promiscuity."

The folks working to limit women's legal reproductive options will stop at nothing. They are radicals, extremists. Their "conscientous rights", for some incomprehensible reason, they believe, must be guarded by all costs and means. Not, mind you, because any of these radicals have, or will, ever be forced to have an abortion themselves……they are just so easily offended if someone else does.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews is quite the narcissist. What Matthews, in essence, is all about on his daily Hardball program,…. is hearing himself talk. It's always and invariably all about Chris Matthews. He is a case study in D.C Villagerdom. He regards himself as a kind of common sense Lone Ranger (like David Broder). As far as Matthews is concerned, the left has too many whackos and the right has too many wingnuts, leaving him and a handful of Very Serious Centrist Thinkers to make grown-up sense out of all the "extremist" nonsense out there in the political universe.

In May Matthews took on Mike Pence (R-IN) about the anti-science and anti-evolution beliefs of American conservatives. Start at the 2:40 mark for the sake of today's post….

Matthews mocks the literal 6 day creation belief of Christian fundamentalists and tries to get Pence to say he doesn't believe in evolution….

"Do you believe in evolution? I don't think your party is committed to science."

Tweety offers a quick one-liner airing his 'concern' about conservative fundamentalists….

"They believe in belief itself."

What is implied is that conservative fundamentalist Christians who believe god magically created the universe in 6 literal days instead of over billions of years through evolution is "believing in belief itself." Something that Tweety, himself, being the Very Serious Centrist that he is….would never do.

On other occasions as well, Matthews, a proud Catholic Christian, has stated his firm conviction that he has no trouble following science's lead on evolution. He's very comfortable with the idea that an invisible and never seen god (for him the Christian god) created everything…..it's just that this invisible and never seen god did so over a period of 3+ billion years. Matthews "believes in that belief."

See….Matthews isn't like those fundamentalists who think an invisible god made everything in six 24 hour periods. Those fundamentalists are all silly people "believing in their belief." How wingnutty can those fundamentalist Christians be? Instead, Matthews believes in the scientific explanation of the origin of all things….evolution over 3+ billion years, THAT THE INVISIBLE AND NEVER SEEN GOD STARTED.

Being a non-believer myself, I want to take this opportunity to pointout the utter bullsh*tness of Matthews position.

Within Catholic Christianity, god (Yahweh, Jesus' Father) is believed to be all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present. Permeating the doctrines of Catholicism is the teaching that this never seen god is, unquestionably, worthy of human worship. Good Catholics, like Matthews proudly says he is, believe that this all powerful, all knowing, everywhere present god, "saved" humanity through some invisible cosmic legal transaction completed by a Nazarene preacher 2000 years ago. Matthews, when he attends Mass, has a wafer placed in his mouth which, good Catholics believe, once eaten, becomes the literal, yet totally invisible and mysterious, "body of Christ."

Matthews "believes in that belief."

Now the absurdity.

If god is all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present, and chose 3+ billion years ago to start the process of evolution…..what kind of god is he and why should this god be worshipped by humans at all?

He's a god, though all powerful and all knowing, who would sit back after sparking evolution 3+ billion years ago and watch his crowning glory,….man made in his own image,….suffer unceasingly under disease, the butchery of war and human conflict, and natural disasters. A god who has never intervened, though all powerful, to stop any of the darkest moments through which humanity has endured. Not once.

This is the invisible god Chris Matthews worships, this is the god Matthews believes in…..not the 6-literal-days-to-make-everything god….that's just stupid and worthy of mockery…..but an all powerful, all knowing, everywhere present invisible god who "made" everything by sparking evolution, and then sat back and watched the resultant quagmire of misery without ever intervening.

If you had the power and knowledge to stop your children from suffering, getting a disease, or dying……would you intervene for the sake of your children? Or, with the power and knowledge to alleviate suffering, disease and death at your command, would you sit back, like god does, and not do anything?

The point I'm trying to make is this: How self-unaware can a person like Matthews be when he mocks fundamentalist Christians for "believing in belief" when it comes to 6 literal day creation scenarios…..while simultaneously "believing in belief", himself, about an invisible, all powerful, all knowing, everywhere present, deserving of human worship god, who "created" everything over 3+ billion years through evolution but won't, or can't, lift a divine finger to end the suffering, misery and death which grips all of the "creation?"

No new taxes on California's richest cause for smiley faces.

Remember this?

"Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…"

California is adding a new line….

'So we can f*ck them over.'

Hard to believe….

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced Monday that they had reached a deal to close California's $26.3-billion deficit and begin paying all of the state's bills again, potentially ending months of partisan wrangling and a cash crisis that threatens to push California into insolvency.

Their agreement, which could go before the full Legislature within days, does not include any broad-based tax increases, relying instead on deep cuts in government services, borrowing and accounting maneuvers to wipe out the deficit.

California, self-handcuffed by it's requirement of a super majority in their state legislature to raise taxes, has decided the best way to ease their financial problems is to punish the poor and vulnerable citizens in their state. Better, I guess, to punish the many rather than ask the richest few to pay a few more percentage points in taxes on their millions. The poor and vulnerable are getting what they deserve, after all, it's obviously their fault that they are poor and vulnerable. The richest few, on the other hand, have earned their no-new-taxes, privileged treatment by government.

Keep in mind, as you read further, that California leads the nation in total number of millionaires, 662,735. That's approximately 2% of California's 36 million population.

To make sure that the top 2% isn't insulted with new tax obligations, here's who must suffer….

Tens of thousands of seniors and children would lose access to healthcare, local governments would sacrifice several billion dollars in state assistance this year and thousands of convicted criminals could serve less time in state prison. Welfare checks would go to fewer residents, state workers would be forced to continue to take unpaid days off and new drilling for oil would be permitted off the Santa Barbara coast.

Schools are expected to have to increase the number of students in classes, lay off teachers and scale back their offerings.

Fees at the state's universities were already raised in anticipation of the deal. The number of students admitted would be reduced by thousands. And university employees are facing unpaid furloughs. They would join California's 230,000-plus state workers who will continue to be forced to take off three unpaid days per month through June 2010.

Work requirements under the state's welfare program would be increased, forcing many recipients to drop out. Emergency cash grants intended for the children of families not meeting those requirements would be eliminated for the first time. Entire groups of seniors currently eligible to receive healthcare in their homes no longer would be. Those that are eligible would be fingerprinted, an effort to eliminate fraud.

Despicable is not a strong enough word to describe California's handling of their economic crisis.

Many conservatives in America, in and out of elected office, will nod their heads in complete agreement with California's choices to hurt the masses in order to protect the few from tax increases. These conservatives only hold one coin in their political pockets. One side reads, "No Taxes", and the other side reads, "Cut spending."

On the national front, conservatives and the corporate media who love them, are pulling out that coin during health care reform negotiations, flipping it over and over…..moaning and whining that the top 1 1/2%, the richest Americans, will actually have to pay a couple of percentage points more on their bloated incomes if the filthy masses are to be bequeathed with the "entitlement" of health care. The nerve of those commie health care reformers.

It's funny, in a sick, demented way, that America's conservatives claim loudly that our nation is a Christian nation. Every so often a conservative will introduce a bill in Congress asserting that America is a Christian nation or founded on Christian principles, etc, etc. What's odd is that I don't remember the words or teachings of Jesus including stuff about f*cking over the poor, weak and vulnerable so that the communities richest didn't have to endure the humiliation of sacrificing a bit of their treasures.

I suppose I could have missed that part of the New Testament, but I don't think so.

Also read this, and then this.

Over the past 30 years I've heard a lot of pious baloney about traditional values voters in those so-called Red States. A lot of pious baloney. This faux morality, for the most part, hasn't been touted by your average Red State citizen. Rather, pious baloney has been served up, mostly, by Republican politicians, their enablers, and the "Moral Majority" types like the late Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer, James Dobson, and Ohio's own Ken Blackwell.

The theme of these "values" spokespeople has been consistent. America is morally depraved, our national culture nearly as bad as ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, and if we don't wake up and smell the brimstone, god will be left with no alternative but to withdraw his "protective hand" from the United States.

The "values" portion of the "traditional moral values" message has always been about abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay rights, unwed pregnant women, pornography, and "protecting" heterosexual marriage.

The NY Times put up a new chart the other day that all "traditional moral values" proponents need to consider…….

Now, I realize that statistics and data can be made to fit pre-existing biases…..I know that. And, after all, it's the New York Times…..whose headquarters Anne Coulter lovingly wished had been hit on 9-11 instead of the Twin Towers. But it's also the same "liberal" NY Times which helped Bush/Cheney immensely in their fraud-up to Iraq. It's the same NY Times who helped Bush/Cheney coverup their illegal wiretapping of Americans, refraining from printing the story for one full year.

According to the chart, divorce rates, teenage birthrates and online porno subscription broadband usage rates are the highest in states where voters chose John McCain over Barack Obama. The Red States. The states where we have been told for decades that a majority of "traditional moral values" voters reside. States not to be mistaken for the godless (and thus immoral) regions on both the east and west coasts.

I think it's important to note that the Mormon state of Utah, followed by Sarah Palin's state of Alaska, top out the porno-usage states…..and if there's a crisis threatening "traditional marriage" in the country, the biggest threat is seen in the states whose political and religious spokespeople bash the "non-traditionalists" the loudest, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi.

This chart should be a wake-up call prompting a bit more self-awareness and reflection…..a call to humility. America is not sharply divided into two groups of states, one group full of morality, one group possessed by Satan. There's no geographic portion of the country which represents "real America" and one that represents some fake America.

It's time to retire the phrase, "values voters". It has no purpose other than to divide us along, as we now see, completely fictitious moral demarcation lines.

We are one country, the United States of America. Our national political discourse should reflect that fact.

I have mostly understood the anti-abortion movement in America as largely an anti-sex movement. One size does not fit all, naturally, and I recognize that there are many people who oppose abortion on principles other than anti-sex.

What do I mean by anti-sex?

Within the Roman Catholic faith, sexual intercourse is theologically explained as sinful. The only condition under which the church accepts the sex act as anything other than sinful is within the confines of Catholic marriage. A clear example would be why priests must remain celibate. Priests are god's middlemen whose job it is to dispense god's grace. Priests cannot have sexual intercourse, nor marry, because sexual intercourse, itself, would defile the priest rendering him unable to dispense the perfect grace of god.

There is a theological reason why marriage, itself, is regarded by the church as a sacrament. God's grace, according to Catholic theology, is freely given….but only through specific vehicles of the church. The Eucharist, baptism, confirmation, confession, etc. Marriage is one of those vehicles. Marriage is a sacrament of god's grace. Therefore, the sinful activity of sexual intercourse, completely prohibited for the preisthood, can be made "clean" and acceptable before god…..but only within the safe confines of marriage.

I must say, that's a very dark and narrow view of human sexuality….but it is what it is. The root of Catholic theology in this area, as I understand it, is anti-sex. From this root, many other branches of dysfunctional church thinking have grown. The Immaculate Conception doctrine, the celibacy of the priesthood, the lesser status of women, and important to this post…..contraception.

From Obama's White House….

As the White House readies its plan for finding "common ground" on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan's two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion.

Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.

This approach is typical Obama. Bringing all sides together to accomplish a central objective. In this case, supporting pregnant women AND helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I am a liberal, and I find this approach acceptable. Others?…..not so much…..

But more conservative religious groups working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships say they would be forced to oppose such a plan—even though they support the abortion reduction part—because they oppose federal dollars for contraception and comprehensive sex education. This camp, which includes such formidable organizations as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, is pressuring the White House to decouple the two parts of the plan into separate bills. One bill would focus entirely on preventing unwanted pregnancy, while the other would focus on supporting pregnant women.

These two anti-sex-outside-of-marriage groups want to eliminate the contraception and sex education part of Obama's comprehensive effort and only support the part that's not sinful in their eyes….

"We welcome the opportunity to seek common ground with this administration . . . and to work on behalf of pregnant women and unborn children," says Deirdre McQuade, a spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is pressuring the White House to decouple pregnancy prevention from supporting pregnant women. "But issues of pregnancy prevention are much more divisive and would only slow down much-needed assistance to pregnant women."

Catholics and Baptists, diametrically opposed to each other theologically concerning how humans gain "salvation", are nevertheless joined at the hip in being anti-sex. The Catholic hierarchy teaches that even sin-free sex under the salvific umbrella of marriage, if accompanied by contraception, is wrong in the eyes of the lord. Baptists simply believe that free and open access to contraception and reproductive education will promote sinful sexual activity outside of marriage. The common ground of these two odd religious bedfellows is anti-sex-outside-of-marriage.

Even if the "common ground" is reached by closing ones eyes to the reality of human sexual activity, even if that "common ground" denies the efficacy of contraception….it's the only "common ground" that anti-sex-outside-of-marriage advocates will accept.

It's not about the contraception, it's not about the sex education, and it's not even really about abortion……it's all about the sex.

I don't think I've ever witnessed such political party patriotism. Such dedication is rare. So absolutely stunned was I, after learning recently about the unmatched loyalty of two prominent Republicans,….that I was almost struck speechless….almost.

It has been said that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. That being the case, GOP Senator, John Ensign of Nevada and GOP Governor, Mark Sanford of South Carolina have made the ultimate sacrifice of love. Both have laid down their political lives for their party.

The three most prominent leaders of the Republican Party, Rush, Newt and The Dick, have given it their all over the years…….drugs, more drugs, housekeepers buying drugs, pissing in a cup, racist and hate-filled screeds…..adultery and divorcing your wife while she suffers from cancer while you simultaneously call for a Democratic president to resign over a blowjob……torture and lies about torture, fraudulently orchestrating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

The Big Three Leaders of the GOP have done everything they can possibly do over the years to "grab" the headlines away from those commie Democrats…..but alas…..along comes a "celebrity" president, Barack Obama, who holds the media under his messianic cult-spell. Imagine….Obama announces a press conference and…..the press shows up. I mean, how can a Party of No compete with that?

Enter the GOP patriots, Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford.

John Ensign of Nevada is a prominent Traditional Moral Values kind of guy. Ensign is/was a Promise Keeper. Promise Keepers are Jesus-loving husbands who make an extra-special display of promising to be faithful to their wives. Ensign, because he is so loyal and dedicated to god's cause here on earth…..the Republican Party…….had previously called for the resignations of fellatio-recipient, Bill Clinton, and wide-stancer, Larry Craig. Ensign, naturally, was a full-throated opponent of gay equality. Traditional marriage had to be defended at all costs and the gays were knocking on the Traditional Marriage door.

But Senator Ensign recognized the dire straits that his beloved GOP was in…..no new ideas, crushing defeats in recent elections, no apparent leaders, the threat of irrelevancy……so he decided to strap on a political suicide belt of mass distraction and lay down his political life for his friends. Man, what an explosion.

See, Ensign lived in a Virginia house owned by a group known as "The Family". This group had one purpose….bringing Jesus into his proper position of king of America. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) lived there as well as many other Jesus lovers from the world of politics.

"The Family" encouraged prayer, Bible study and group confessions. It is in one of these sessions that Ensign's close friend, employee and fellow Jesus-lover, John Hampton, pled with the group to intervene to stop Senator Ensign's relentless pursuit of Mrs. Hampton, Doug's wife. Seems like the married Ensign was cuckolding Mr. Hampton and Mr. Hampton was looking for help from "The Family" in bringing that Traditonal Marriage Value practice to an end. Ensign would not be denied his taboo cuckold flesh…..after that confession session Ensign continued the affair with Mrs. Hampton for months.

Senator Ensign stepped to the microphone the other day and pushed the button on his political suicide vest….forced to confess his Traditional Values or be outed for them. The explosion was rather large, gaining some national press attention, but not large enough to wrench the daily narrative away from that scoundrel, Obama.

Enter Mark Sanford.

Governor Sanford of S. Carolina is married and has 4 young boys….and he's a goober. He's not as sophisticated as the Promise Keeper and cuckolder, Ensign,…..but he's loyal to the Traditional Marriage Values of his Party of Jesus….and so he had also called for Clinton, and even Bob Livingston (R-LA), to resign after violating Traditional Values in adulterous affairs. Sanford was an opponent of gay equality and had used the theme "Keeping Your Word" in his 2002 campaign for governor.

After being slapped hard by his own Supreme Court over his refusal to take stimulus money from that commie, Obama…..Sanford decided he would hike the Appalachian Trail for a few days. I've heard it called a lot of things, but hiking the Appalachian Trail is even a new one for me. Now we know that Sanford was actually hiking up the dress of an Argentinian woman named Maria….to fully appreciate her "tan lines."

If you haven't heard about this soap opera yet, it's worth a read.

Yesterday, Governor Sanford strapped on his own political suicide belt, stepped to the microphone-of-apology, and pushed the button, blowing up his own political future. The Sanford explosion has just begun and, perhaps, his act will not be in vain. It took a mighty blow-up, but Sanford may have captured that prized media narrative away from our new Cult Leader President, Barack Obama.

Behavior this bizarre from zealous proponents of Traditional Marriage and Values can only be understood as "laying down their lives for their friends." What other possible explanation could there be?

Or, as Bonnie Raitt puts it, "Let's give them something to talk about."

Also…this.