I find it intriguing that many right-wing evangelicals claim to be superior Patriots but when it comes right down to the essence of the Constitution; they reject its founding principles. Case in point is the election of U.S. representative Keith Ellison,from Minnesota. He is apparently the first Muslim to become a Federal official who refuses to take his oath of office using the Bible. He instead insists on using the Koran, which is his religion’s holy book. Many right-wing media types, conservative politicians and fundamentalist evangelicals are crying blasphemy. They claim that only the Christian Bible may be used for this purpose. Why, because they insist on forcing their views of religion on other citizens of this country who follow a different religious tenant. How dare they think their religion is equal to anyone else’s? What about someone who is an atheist or Satanist? Do they have the same right to express their views at the beginning of a Company Dinner, a public event or to put up a holiday display of their religious icons in the public square or courthouse? When our founders wrote the Constitution they had these exact situations in mind. England had no religious freedom. Read the Constitutional mandate concerning the 1st Amendment’s no establishment clause. Also read Article VI concerning oaths where it states, “No religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any office or public Trust.” Ours is a secular government, not a theocracy. The only requirement any public official must make is to uphold the Constitution, not a religion. Anyone who insists that only their religion should be ensconced in U.S. public policies doesn’t really believe in the Constitution. He believes in a theocratic dictatorship. Our founders didn’t want that. We should follow the example they gave us by upholding the principles of the Constitution.

The conflict between religion and science has eviscerated any connection between rationality and honesty in modern spirituality. Virtually all evangelical literalists insist that the earth is less than 10,000 years old and that man is a direct descendent from a literal Adam and Eve. They cling to the old fundamentalist narrative of the scope’s monkey trial in Tennessee during the early nineteen hundreds. Why is it that conservative evangelicals feel so threatened by science and the facts that emanate from it? They are quick to accept the modern miracles made possible by scientific discoveries but have a disconnect when it comes to any discovery that appears to contradict their narrow view of religion and the Bible. In a more enlightened time this would be called by its true name; superstition. Superstition has no place in the modern world of the most advanced society on the planet. It is comical how conservative evangelicals reject global warming as a scientific fact and how Neanderthal politicians take advantage of Southern fundamentalist paranoia. They rail against science for being wrong and anti-God but when a scientific discovery supports one of their religious views they are the first to use science as the proof of their correctness. The hypocrisy of their arguments never seem to register. When it comes to issues such as stem-cell research to environmental science the superstitious evangelicals need to stand back and let the intellectual giants who have given us our modern quality of life do what they do best; grow the body of knowledge for the benefit of humanity. Regressive religious demagogues need to keep their primitive views of the scientific world within the walls of their Churches and their indoctrination centers they call “seminaries.” A hundred years from now we will look back on this period of our country’s political history as the age of superstition and anti-intellectualism. Bad science should not be used to defend religiously-motivated beliefs. Those who refuse to accept the truths of science will become an endangered species just as Darwin predicted.

How long will it be before (Rumsfeld's Sugar Daddy) "Big Time" "Go F**k Yourself" Dick Cheney has to resign for health reasons? Wink, Wink. He and Rove are out of sight. Expect both to be gone by the first of the year.

Once upon a time, there was a President who went around his country telling cheering crowds a week before the election that his party would win. He ridiculed his opponents about prematurely measuring their new offices for curtains, and with laughing bravado reminded his audience how his opponents had expected to win the White House two years earlier, but look who's there now.

And he and his crowds laughed and laughed.

Moral: When you joke about your opponents measuring for curtains, you may discover that it turns out to be curtains for you.

Once upon a time, the Republican Party liked to pretend it was the party of morals. It convinced many people of this because "the party of morals" sounds noble and holier than thou. When they talked about morals, however, they really only meant sex and ignored the morality of keeping people out of poverty, providing an education to children, making sure everyone's health care was ensured and tolerance for their fellow men and women.

And then it happened that they weren't really as moral on those few things they preached about either. Their moral leaders got caught heavily gambling, abusing children, covering up that abuse just to win votes, lying about felony drug use and prostitution and about what they hypocritically preached to others was deviant. They were indicted for bribery, indicted for putting defenders of America at risk, and convicted of illegal influence. And for all their morality, they allowed a city to be wiped off the map and did little to help the destitute.

In fact, it was revealed that all their claims of morality were just a cynical effort to win the blind support of those who they actually called "nuts" behind their backs. They ignored their faith-based promises. And in the end, they lost much support by these people who would have otherwise followed them into the fires of Hell.

Moral: If you want others to see you as holy, make sure that your morals aren't full of holes.


So Bush stuck with Rumsfeld as the war they started and failed to properly prosecute unraveled in front of their eyes. Young men and women dying isn't enough to rethink their failed policy, but losing their cherished Congressional majority is what finally scares them into action? What else would you expect from cowards?

Well, according to Falwell, Robertson and many other evangelicals, God was going to take care of this election and make sure that his will would be done. I guess God is a liberal democrat, for stem-cell research, anti-war and torture, pro-abortion in some cases, pro-gay rights, and for separtion of Church and State. If it wasn't God's will it wouldn't have happened.

Have right-wing Christian evangelicals learned anything from the result of the election? In politics, when you lay down with mangy dogs you get fleas. They shouldn't allow politics to denigrate their religion and let corrupt hypocritical war mongering conservatives make their Savior appear to be a greedy partisan blood-thirsty deceiver. That is why our founders created the concept of separation of Church and State. Don't try to make my God a republican or democrat. God is beyond any man-made political concept. To say otherwise is to demean the sovereignty of the one we worship. God is not on any political party's side and God certainly doesn't need politicians to defend or represent her. Let's get back to what our founders intended; a secular civil government which guarantees the freedom of and from religion.

My favorite analogy of the election was the comment Andrew Sullivan made. He said, "this is not an election, it is an intervention." How true that is for bush who has been in denial for the last six years. The first sign that he is beginning to see soom reality is that he has fired Rumsfeld and will sign the minimum wage bill. Alcoholics and drug addicts are always the the last to acknowledge they have a problem.

Finally, the arrogant radical neocons have been rebuked. Reason and moderation have once again won out. It's time for responsible grown-ups to take over governing. Bush and the Repus have proven they can't govern. They controlled all branches of government and lost both the war in Afghanistan and the illegal one in Iraq. They tripled the national debt, destroyed much of the Constitution and made us less secure from terrorism. They deserved what they got. Bush will not be able to strut around in his arrogance and play King with no limitations. Accountability and the balance of power are once again part of our governing process. Let the healing begin. Bush's legacy is set in concrete now. He is a total failure and his years in power were a complete display of incompetence. This election was the ultimate repudiation of Rove's dirty election tactics and Bush/Cheney corrupt methods of governing as a single party. Let's see how they do when they have to answer to an equal branch of government. Our country works best when we have divided government. One keeps the other honest. Investigations and impeachment should be coming but I think the Dems, unlike what the Repus did with Clinton, will resist and look to the future to correct all the errors and treasonous activities this administration has brought on our country. The dark days of this coven of right-wing fundamentalists has come to an end. Thank God! Let the real Christian Americans govern our secular Republic like it was intended.

The Current Occupant of the White House, who is two years and three months away from retirement, was quoted last week as saying, "They can say what they want about me, but at least I know who I am, and I know who my friends are." A pathetic admission of defeat for one who has owned all three branches of government for the past six years -- did he seek power so that he could attain self-knowledge? If so, the price is too high. The beloved country endures a government that merges blithering corruption with murderous incompetence.

Congress, which once spent an entire year investigating a married man's attempt to cover up an illicit act of oral sex, has shown no curiosity whatsoever about a war that the administration elected to wage that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands and led our own people to commit war crimes and squandered hundreds of billions of dollars and degenerated into civil war. The contrast is deafening. Republicans haven't tolerated much dissent in their ranks, the voice of conscience has not been welcome, and now the herd finds itself on the wrong side of the river. It's discouraging seeing so many people go so wrong all at once. It makes you question the idea that each of us has unlimited potential for good.

Washington is a city where a bill to relax air-pollution standards would be called the Clean Air Act and a bill to protect government officials from war-crimes prosecution would be called the Military Commissions Act, and so a man's statement that he knows who he is and who his friends are needs to be taken as meaning the opposite, a cry for help. You come to office as a uniter and you wind up doing the opposite. You stand for American values and you wind up defending torture and the waste of resources. Knowing who you are is a minimal adult requirement, and you don't get there by being an object of attention. Retirement is recommended. The sooner the better. Garrison Keillor