Count Your Blessings

People are always asking me, hey Glenn, why are you so happy?” I say, “why not, everything is going my way.” Now that right-wingers control every branch of our government I can squirrel hunt with my fully automatic AR15 and the NRA owns Congress. My people control the media and all of talk radio by employing only real American patriots. Don’t misunderestimatate our power. This country was created to divide, not unite all peoples; after all, how are the wheat and chaff going to be separated if everyone has the same rights and is treated equally? We all know the rich and powerful deserve tax breaks and power because God preordained it. It’s right there in the B-I-B-L-E. These days only right-wing fundamentalist Christians are allowed to govern our country the way it was meant to be in the beginning. Pretty soon all those Godless ACLUers and secular humanists will be imprisoned for trying to force true science and Constitutional rights equally for everyone. Come on, give me a break. The day that homo’s, Haitians, Jews and Godless liberal Democratics get control of this government is the day our Lord will return and destroy the earth with nucuular fire and brimstone.

We should all thank God every day that we have the privilege to pay $3.00/Gal. for gas to fill up our 45 Gallon 454 V8 Suburbans. Without oil companies being allowed to make a profit where would this country be? The God-fearing Wal-Marter Walton family deserve every penny they make by buying all that cheap Chinese junk and selling it to poor heathen liberals who just want to live off the public dole. The Walton family is doing us a favor by shutting down wicked liberal American companies.

We have a president who is as close to a King as this country has ever seen and he knows that God directs his every move. That is why he can’t be wrong or questioned about anything. If God told him to lie about reasons to start an unnecessary war and kill thousands of people including women and children, that is good enough for me. After all, most Americans are too liberal and agnostic to understand the ways of the almighty, but not our “King W.” He follows the word of the Old Testament God to the letter and if the democratics and liberal freedom loving citizens don’t like it they can burn in hell.

What this country will soon have is a government that will take away jobs from the unworthy, personal freedoms, retirement benefits and health care assurances to make people get back to relying on the Lord for every simple need. They will force families to keep their relatives corpses alive on life support until they wither away in agony and make abused wives and little teenage girls who have been raped have children they don’t want. Now if that’s not Pro-Life what is? We have leaders who realize that forced prayer in school is basic to our religious freedom and lying, cheating and killing is the price we pay for our liberty. It’s so good to have honor and dignity back in the White House.

God is in His heaven and all’s right with the world.

Remember bush saying that he was "going to restore honor and dignity back to the White House?" What a joke! 50,000 dead and hundreds of thousands mamed. I'm really proud to be an American today. With this kind of honor we need Nixon back to restore some integrity to the White House, after all his crime was only about breaking and entering then lying. Nothing compared to this.

If God told "w" to choose Miers, why is he withdrawing her nomination? Was God wrong or did "w" misinterpret his dreams?

Maybe he misinterpreted what God told him about, taxes, spending, faith-based departments, and going to war in Iraq. Once you start down that road of using God as an excuse for your own arrogance and unquestioned authority where does it end?

Why has bush politicized religion in America? We are becoming very close to a theocracy because the majority religion feels they should control everyone elses views on religion. That is the exact opposite of why this country was started.

The republicans have no one else to blame for any issues in this country because they have control of all branches of government. Some on the right are starting to complain about the Congress and how they let spending get out of control while "w" tries to reign them in. What a joke. None of those spending bills could ever have become law unless "w" signed them. He is just as complicit in all of this as anyone in Congress. Why does the right feel the need to defend bush on every issue as though he is incapable of being wrong on anything? They act as though he is a King and should not be questioned. I don't recall them saying that about Clinton when he was president. They are so hypocritical about their politics it is comical. We should respect the office of president but not neccessarily everything any president does. This is not a monarchy. It is our civic duty to question our leaders. They are our servants and they need to understand that. It is not unpatriotic to point out that our leaders have lied to us. The patriots are the ones who do question their leaders.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Theodore Roosevelt

Do you think anyone who has been convicted of Treason against the United States should be executed? Personally, I am against capital punishment but, Treason is one of those abhorant crimes that most people feel death is necessary and should apply.

I know Treason is not as bad as lying about having sex but lying to start an unecessary war and kill thousands? Come on. Give traitors a chance. After all, how bad can lying Republicans be?

If Bbush/Cheny and all their minions at the White House are convicted of Treason in the CIA-Valarie Plame outing how do you think they should be executed? Is hanging appropriate or would the electric chair be more appropriate?

I have been having an online debate with a right-wing anti-science evangelical and he insists that evolution is completely wrong and unGodly. He says that schools should only teach "entellijunt desine" for students to be well informed on the proper place of God in science. I was speechless. What do you say to that kind of logic and grammar? This is but one more example for the "separation of Church and State" don't you think? If this is an example of the majority of the evangelical base voting population, no wonder we have "w" as our president.

What's wrong with being a secular humanist as our country's founders were? They, for the most part, were devotely religious men but didn't want the government to impose religion on its citizens. How else do you explain the "no religious test" clause in the Constitution? How else do you explain the fact of the separation of Church and State? Being secular is in and of itself fine. Our country was based on a secular civil government. Being a humanist means you beleive you have a responsibility to serve all humans and to try to make life better for society.

Why is being a secular humanist such a dirty word to evangelicals? It's not because secular humanists have no religion because that is patently not true. Many secular humanists are devotely religious. The problem is that they don't believe the same as evangelicals and their interpretation of scripture and religion are not the same as right-wing evangelicals. Most right-wing evangelicals can not accept the fact that others differ in their beliefs. Right-wingers want to force their personal beliefs on everyone through government laws and decrees. That is essentially, in its purest form, a Theocracy. They don't accept others personal and private decisions concerning, religion, health matters and morality. They think only they have all the answers and those beliefs should be put into the law of the land. They believe they speak for God and the proper interpretation of scripture because only their views are correct. They want to impose their views and beliefs on others because they don't respect the rights of others to live and believe the way then want. Doesn't sound like the real American ideal does it? Sounds like radical Islam doesn't it?

God help us.

Well, it appears that the American public and especially the extreme right are starting to see what "w" has done to this country and it is getting ugly. His base of support, which has always been the evangelical right, is livid with him and his pole numbers show that. What is the result of his devinely inspired policies? An unending and unjustified war. Debt, deficit and financial disaster; rejection of real science for superstition and religion based non-evolution science; No capture of Bin Laden, the one actually responsible for 911; Less security from disasters and terrorism; religious bigotry; more hatred of America by rest of world and enemies of America. Pathetic cronies appointed to high government offices and the supreme court are exposing his failed policies. He is beginning to look more and more like his father. He started out trying to placate the right-wing and ended up being dispised by them.

Hell knows no fury like a right-wing evangelical scorned. Congress has given bush every far right idealogical wet dream they wanted but it is still not enough. Once they get what they want on one issue they are never satisfied and always want more. Why havn't the public and political parties realized that these extremists can never by satisfied? They won't be happy until we have a Theocracy in America. Even though we are progressively becoming more and more like a Theocracy, the evangelical right-wing is never happy. It is just like the exposure of fake and hypocritical right-wing fundamentalist preachers. After many of them have been exposed and discrdited there is always another one in the wings ready to take his place just like drug pushers. As long as some people want the product and lies of a religious utopia (or drugs in the other example) they are selling, there will always be people gullible enough to bye what they are selling. Right-wingers are always happy to accept a new polical savior as they did with Reagan and Bush but in the end they always turn on them. The separation of Church and state was created by our founders for just this reason, to prevent religious extremists from taking over the secular government and forcing their theocracy on all American citizens. When will they ever stay out of the personal lives and religions of others? The idea of "freedom of and from religion" is a distant dream. What will it take for America to see the error of what the extremist have done? Evangelical Republicans must be stopped before they do any more harm to our Constitution.

You don't hear much from the bush conservatives these days about the Character issue do you? That's all they could talk about seven years ago when they had a stroke over Clinton having sex in the White House and then lying about the personal matter in a trumped up legal case. Why the difference? One is a Democrat and the other, a Republican. The rules don't apply to Republicans. "w" can lie adnauseum about everything from Sadaam to Separation of Church and state and it doesn't seem to matter. He has caused the death and maming of almost 15,000 of our soldiers and countless thousands of Iraqi women and children but the character word never seems to come up. His lies on causes for war, the economy, Supreme Court Justices, debt, treason by exposing CIA operatives and others too numerous to mention add up to a pure example of contempt for the Constitution and the American people. When will the hypocrisy end? God help us.

I'll be back after the weekend. I intend to get high on my "Cholesterol." from pizza, peanut butter and pop then sing at Church Sunday morning. Wish you could be there.

Love ya!

Bye

"w" says the reason he chose Harreit Miers for Supreme Court Justise is because of her faith and religion. If that is true he just admitted to violating the Constitutional principal of separation of Church and State (Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.")not to mention violating the civil rights laws by allowing an employee privliges based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. If Miers were Jewish, Muslim or Atheist (Secular Humanist), what chance do you think he would have with Congress by saying he chose her for her religion? If he were a manager in industry or government he would be fired for admitting to this.
This guy is so out of touch with the reality of Constitutional law and principals he doesn't even realize he admitted to commiting a crime under the Constitution and has given his opponents a basis for impeachment. Could he get any more pathetically ignorant? I think he must be drinking again.

Can you say High Crimes and two misdemeanors?

Are Cheney and Bush to be indicted over Plamegate? Treason anyone? Finally the truth of this corrupt administration and the lies that led us to war may come out. Santa Clause coming early this year?

And Abraham beseeched the Lord,"If I find one honest Republican, will you spare the United States?"

And the Lord said to Abraham, "I will spare the United States, if you can find one honest Republican."

This makes Watergate look like an overdue DVD from the video store.

Harriet Miers, should she be confirmed to the Supreme Court, will be the resident evangelical Christian. She shares her religious background with George W. Bush, whose claim to have chosen her based on "knowing her heart" has as much to do with the born-again faith he shares with her as with her long service in his inner circle. This choice might have left secular conservatives perplexed or downright dissatisfied, but is an obvious crowd-pleaser with the Christian right. Above all, it reflects the importance of Christianity for Bush, widely described as the most devout president in history.

But as we brace for more battles over abortion rights, gay marriage, stem cell research and so forth, it's time to ask just how Christian the supposedly pious Bush administration really is. Because what happened in New Orleans, and what has been happening in Iraq, raises serious questions about whether Bush & Co. deserve to be called Christian at all.

Natural disasters are often labeled "acts of God." Those who take the expression literally may think that God is punishing our sins (a belief shared by some Christians with those Muslims who think Katrina is Allah's reprisal), or they may struggle to reconcile the idea of an infinitely good God with the devastation he brings upon us. But you don't have to take the expression literally to feel that natural disasters call into question the meaning of life. They cut us down to size, and challenge us to rise up again. They make us mourn for the dead and reach out for the survivors. If we do believe in God, even just a little bit, they are a true test of our faith, and an opportunity to do what we preach: to give, to comfort, to assist.

Wars are acts of man, yet all too often are fought for a "holy" cause, painted as deeds of "infinite justice" or "crusades" of good vs. evil. But it's when we look at the victims that faith is truly tested. A religious person will have the chance to show all his horror, regret, compassion, forgiveness. In war, many parents will lose their children, a sacrifice so profound that it is more than a human being can be expected to bear; a sacrifice that is, in fact, made by God -- the Christian one -- and proof of godliness. (In one of the harshest and most controversial biblical tales, Abraham is ready to sacrifice his son before God, as he believes God asked him to do, but God stops him before he goes through with it. However one wants to interpret the tale -- whether it's about obedience or misunderstanding -- the point is, God doesn't actually want to impose on a parent the loss of a child.) To those who suffer such a loss, we have a chance -- and an obligation -- to offer utmost solidarity.

The administration's lethargic and callous response to the call after Hurricane Katrina, just like the president's coldheartedness toward Cindy Sheehan, suggests that the people who govern us are as willing to invoke Jesus as their guide, their inspiration, even their "favorite philosopher," as they are firmly unwilling to behave anything like Jesus.

"What would Jesus do?" has been a favorite slogan of the Christian right. It's a rhetorical question, meant to display lofty concerns and stake the high ground. It's not meant to be answered; in fact it's usually not even asked in relation to the things Jesus cared about.

It's time to put that question to better use.

Should a nation rush into an unprovoked war whose justification is weak at best, and fraudulent at worst? What would Jesus do?

A mother mourning the death of her son in that war asks for a chance to speak to the president about her grief, and to have her questions answered. What would Jesus do?

Thousands of men, women and children are left behind in the flood with no food, drinkable water or medical aid. What would Jesus do?

Would Jesus rush to war, or neglect to interrupt his vacation to meet the mother of a dead soldier, or abandon the people of a ravaged city? Would he promote tax breaks for the rich, undercut education, support the death penalty?

The answers are painfully easy. We know what Jesus would do, because he did do it, or talked about it in no uncertain terms. Jesus was for peace, for the poor, for the afflicted, for the children, and against the death penalty -- of which he was a victim. Anybody who denies this, or who argues that it's possible to be a good Christian without adhering to these basic positions, is basically betraying Christ.

We could ask some harder questions. Would Jesus really frown upon homosexuality? Would he seek to prolong life at all cost, even when in the form of a persistent vegetative state? Here many believe the answers are in the affirmative, or at least much more uncertain. But homosexuality existed in Jesus' times. And what Jesus had to say about it was, in one word, nothing. Unlike poverty, it just wasn't a concern. As far as pulling the plug, being a Christian means to believe that life doesn't end with the physical death of this body, on this earth. That's when a far better, everlasting life begins. (The one legitimately complex issue is abortion, and one can see a case for Jesus being generally against it; still, it is not something he directly spoke about.)


The American Christian right has hijacked Jesus Christ. It has made him into a brand, a logo, a bumper sticker. It celebrates his suffering on the cross, but largely neglects what he had to say. It prefers an Old Testament God, a "Jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children." It elevates success to proof of God's favor, and washes its hands of responsibility for the poor. It combines a self-righteous vision of Americans as the chosen people with shrill intimations of imminent apocalypse, to justify indifference to the rest of the world and to the planet itself. It sticks to the letter of the Bible with arbitrary selectiveness, so that it can endorse creationism and condemn homosexuality while acknowledging that (contrary to Old Testament wisdom) the earth is in fact round, and slavery is not OK.

It's a twisted, schizophrenic form of religion that mirrors the most reactionary form of Islam. (Not by chance, both the Christian right and conservative Muslims are at odds with women's rights, and fiercely homophobic.)

A lot can be said about the theological fallacies and over-simplifications of the Christian right. Take the way it reads the Commandments. What, for example, does "not to take the Lord's name in vain" mean? Is it a prohibition against using the word "God" in casual conversation? Or does it forbid Christians from going to war in the name of God? And what about "love thy neighbor"? Does it refer to the guy next door, who shares our tax bracket? Or is it about all of our fellow humans, whether similar or different? In fact, is it not an exhortation to love precisely those who are different?

Most important, though, is how Christians actually relate to Christ.

Jesus was a poor man. He started a movement of the poor, for the poor. This isn't socialist revisionism: This is what the Gospels say. Jesus defied authority, and spread a message of hope, tolerance, inclusion.

He said:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ... For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

He also said:

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Moreover:

You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

And of course, he said:

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. (...) Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.

Does this sound like the voice inspiring this administration? Or the voice they go out of their way to ignore?

Last month, President Bush said that Hurricane Katrina exposed the problem of persistent poverty in this country. But why did the problem need to be exposed in order to warrant his concern? Was the president not aware of it before? And what about poverty in the rest of the world -- a problem that the Bush administration stubbornly refuses to make a priority, which in fact its policies greatly exacerbate?

To hold a president (or a justice) up to such a high standard as the teachings of Jesus would be unfair, if it weren't the president himself who claimed to act in Jesus' name. It's time for Bush, the Republican Party and the Christian right to be confronted with their failings as Christians. If there is a worthy measure of anybody's religious commitment, it has to be how it's expressed in action. It's not how you talk the talk that makes you a true Christian. It's the deeds you do -- and those you don't.

Liberals have let the right claim Jesus for themselves. But the legacy of Christ is far too precious to be left in the hands of the hypocrites who use it to justify war, bigotry and injustice. It is time to reclaim Jesus -- not to start another religious party, but to free him from the one that's hogging him as their poster child. It's time not just to ask "what would Jesus do?" but to actually listen to the answer.

It's about poverty. It's about peace. No true Christian can have anything more important in mind.

It's time to rescue Jesus from the kidnappers amongst us who wear the mantle of right-wing political hypocrisy.

"w" seems to be just like the boy who killed his parents then pleaded for mercy because he was an orphan. He brought all his problems upon himself. Instead of following Jesus' teachings, he choose to follow Satan's; greed, death and pride.

I pity his situation when the Lord comes to ask him; did you follow what I sent my son on earth to die for? Most every action "w" takes is contradictory to what Christ stood for. Don't believe me? Read about exactly what HE said in the gospels. As for me and my family, we chose to follow the Lord, not a political party.


Based on "w"s appointees, like Mike Brown of FEMA and the clown who is now at the UN as our ambassador and countless others plus Miers for the supreme court it appears that the only critera he uses to chose someone is how loyal they are to him and if they share his religious viewpoint. No competent people need apply. If his goal is to make Reagan's comments a reality "that government is not the solution" and to always look to commercial firms to administer government services, he has been successful. He could not have chosen any worse people for governmental positions to assure that citizens despise the government. His father was just about as bad. Remember Clarence Thomas? Bush I said, "Thomas was the most qualified person in America for the job." Now "w" says, "Harriot Miers is the best person to sit on the Supreme Court. Give me a break.

His next big appointment will be to replace Alan Greenspan. My suggestion is that he appoint the assistant manager at my branch bank because he is a reformed alcoholic who now tells others what Jesus stands for - "w"s policies. But first and formost he has Bush and "w" stickers all over his car, republican ties, cuff links, and GOP tattos plus a large picture of "w" right above his desk at the bank. The perfect Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

You have probably not heard much about Ashley Smith's new book. She is the woman in Atlanta who was confronted by Brian Nichols, the four time killer of police, bystanders and judge, in her appartment. The right-wing media (Fox, Rush and many others)as well as most Christian conservatives praised her for relying on God to get out of that situation alive. She even read him some of the book, "The Purpose Driven Life" it was told, which was to have made him see the error of his ways and give up. How anyone would follow the precepts of the author of a Purpose Driven Life is beyond me. That guy believes that it never rained on earth until it is mentioned in the Old Testament. So much for the scientific fact of clouds and evaporation. That is one of the reasons he is a darling of the religious right. Every fundamentalist literalist can do no wrong in their eyes regardless of the facts.

As Paul Harvey says, "Now the rest of the story." She apparently made him more than pancakes that day. She pulled out her stash of Crystal Methamphetimene and chopped it up for him to partake. Apparently she had a drug problem and was using again.
This had not been advertised until now.

When this came out you didn't hear many right-wingers say anything about it because it was contrary to the way they had spun the story. She wasn't the sweet little white virgin Christian girl who allowed God to take over the situation. No, she took matters into her own hands. She got the dude stoned on crank. The book also makes reference to the sexual side of the story. He asked her if she had ever dated any black guys and she said no. He took off his shirt, hung it on the bedpost of her four poster bed and she said, "She didn't see an ounce of fat on his buff body and wow, I guess they do work out in prison." The book doesn't go on to say she had a sexual encounter but they didn't say she didn't either. Maybe that will be in the next book. Sex & Drugs. The only part of the story missing was the Rock and Roll pancakes.

She was very lucky that she was not killed or harmed in any way and I am glad everything worked out for her. Maybe drugs do have a beneficial function in our society. Right-wingers need to acknowledge their exageration of the story which is typical of their embellishments on so many other issues and stories. You always have to listen to what they say or write with a grain of salt.

Why are conservatives so terrified of admitting the truth about politics, religion, sex, evolution, and on and on? Don't they know the truth will set you free!

Word is that "w" and Cheney are the primary sources for telling jounalists about Valarie Plame being a CIA agent and of course they lied about Iraq every step of the way. That is called Treason! High crimes and major misdemeanors as discribed in the Constitution. I know that doesn't reach the level of having sex in the oval office but still treason is treason. I wonder how long it will be before the "I" word comes out? It will be a cold day in hell before the Republican Congress Impeaches bush or cheney though. This is the most corrupt administration and Congress in our history.

Have you heard this one?

Bush was in an important meeting last week when Rumsfield leans over to Bush and whispers, we lost 5 more Brazilians in Iraq yesterday. Bush pauses then whispers back, "How many gazillions does it take to make a Brazilian?"

That just about sums it up, don't you think?

Impeach bush/cheney now before they screw anything else up. Hastert couldn't do any worse.