LowerCaseRepublican

I said certain demographics of the Christian Right like "God Hates f**s" Rev. Fred Phelps and Jerry "I think the ACLU, feminists, homosexuals etc. are behind 9-11" Falwell do a dis-service to the actual teachings of Christ. I do not hate Christians -- I hate the ones that bastardize a good religion in the name of justifying their bigotry. This is from an article "No Longer a Christian" by Karen Cobb. I was told in Sunday school the word "Christian" means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the “christian ” media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell Christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of our nation's killing. There are reminders to pray for our “Christian” president who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to destroy. Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was conceived by an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, “It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those who curse you.” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5: 3-9) He said, “All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control.“ He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. He responded with “Father forgive them.“ He explained that in Christ there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave or free male nor female. He explained that even to be angry is akin to murder. He said the temple of God is not a building, but is in the hearts of those are called by his name. He was called "the Prince of Peace." His final days were spent in prayer, so that he could endure what was set before him, not on how he could overpower the evil government of that day. When they came for him he was led away and didn’t resist his death sentence. This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious Christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns and villages be leveled to bring freedom and peace to the people. They proudly boast this country’s superiority, suggesting God has blessed our nation. Today, as I listened to a popular Christian news network, I was reminded that in the last days, even God’s elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13). When the religious media moguls preaching prosperity spout their rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty Jesus described of a rich man’s ability to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24) (http://www.4religious-right.info/rr_economics.htm) Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to the Lord, and he will say “I never knew you.“ (Matthew 22). They will have a form or godliness but will deny the power (II Timothy 3:5) to move mountains through prayer. (Matthew 17:20). Jesus explained that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were the victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral damages we are protected from in the “liberal” nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with the shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family members now understand His radical love and that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense. The solutions to the social issues used to manipulate good, decent people have no resemblance to how Jesus responded to the social concerns of his time. He never once mentioned the “right to life” the year he was born King Herod ordered the execution of all babies. (Matthew 2:16). He knew that passing laws does not change the heart. As a follower of his teaching I believe in the right to life, including the children in Iraq who stumble onto land mines, cross the street at the wrong time, or who are snugly tucked within the warm bellies of their wounded or grieving mothers as US fighter jets fly overhead. These are living, breathing children. The killing of these little ones are never even reported, and our tax dollars pay for these bombs. I believe in the right to life for those in the United States who are unwanted and impoverished. I believe in the right to life of the naive kid who was promised by the recruiter they could choose a desk job and still get their education paid or could see the world or could accelerate their life or could play a very realistic video game from a cockpit. I've worked at a shelter, and I know first hand the reality of unwanted children. I know the reality of this right wing rhetoric when week after week I begged and pleaded with people to give up only one night every three months to sit with these unwanted living children for a few hours while the overworked house parents had a night off. Of the few I found, many changed their minds when they discovered that they would need to wear rubber gloves to change the babies diapers. These “believers” stand on the street corners holding right to life signs and then vote against medical assistance for the mothers and their unwanted children creating an impossible existence for them. The few of these abortion activists who might adopt some of these unwanted children generally want the white and the healthy. The ones with hydrocephalous, tracheotomies, emotional/ mental problems and communicable diseases along with their life long medical expenses can be someone else’s problems. I cringe as many christians vote for policies that deny help to the poor in our own county, who vote to support the war and military strength, assuring the latest weapons are developed and that the heavens will be dominated by the military of the United States. We develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter skulls , split the earth (http://www.raven1.net/emr13.htm) and silently destroy a body as a thief in the night. Studies are even now searching for the frequencies to override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies are a reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon will target a specific nationality (http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981116/1998111619.html ).I weep as the waters Jesus walked on become contaminated with uranium. (http://www.greendove.net/resources3.htm) I grieve as the missiles fly through the atmosphere on the continent where Jesus rose into the sky, defying death and the grave and where the Holy Sprit first descended. I cry out at the horrors of war and the indignity of the prisons so close to where He took captivity captive. So I am no longer a Christian if Christianity has become what is presented to us by our Christian president and Christian media. I cannot support the right of the United States and Israel to develop and use the most heinous weapons ever imagined. I want no part of a temple built on the blood of the innocent. The sheep have been lead astray by the teachings of prosperity and misinterpretation of the final battle between good and evil. Many no longer can recognize the voice of the good Shepherd. Some “good Christians” even work at weapons facilities. It is not a stretch to say that a woman who tightens a last rivet on a shiny new missile just off the assembly line might be the same woman who licks the gold star on the attendance chart in morning Sunday school. The missile could be launched by the kid in the youth group who reads the invocation and it will find it’s destiny at a “target of interest” which might or might not have been a result of good intelligence. The collection plate circulates children are taught to love their enemies and bless those who curse them. The statements and lifestyle of Jesus are difficult for me to understand. What would he say to evil dictators? This God would not justify 15,000 or more deaths. Even the wrathful jealous God of the old testament spared whole cities for a few righteous souls. For Christians, to support mass killings as a way to prevent future deaths is not at all like Christ. He would not say,"When I am talking about war I am really talking about peace," like the self professed Christian President proudly states. Who but God has the right to determine what price a people should pay for their freedom? The religious leaders on the airwaves today respond to the voices of the few brave peacemakers who dare to speak out. They say that pacifism is insane, and that it doesn’t make sense, but what is forgotten is that logic and faith are separate entities. I believe in the example of Jesus and his admonition to love your enemies and bless those who curse you . Do I understand how this works on the global scale? Do I know what Jesus would say to all the world’s leaders? No, nor do I totally understand how the example of Christ’s life and his message of love works in the world today. That’s why I need faith. Am I always correct in my assessments and actions? No, that’s why I need grace. Am I brave and unafraid? No, that’s why I need the perfect love that casts out fear. Some put trust in Chariots and some in horses but I will remember the name of the lord our God--the Prince of Peace. Perhaps politics has no place for imitators of Christ. Who will show the face of Christ to the world? Who will speak His radical message? I hear from these so called imitators of Christ that the pacifists are a collection of kids, hippies, socialists and communists who haven’t got a clue. Some of us, however, have come to our beliefs as a result of careful and prayerful study of the scriptures and admonishment from our elders. Many are Mennonite, Amish, Quaker and other Anabaptists, whose ancestors did not resist their torturers and were drowned, burnt at the stake and flogged for their pacifist stand. They truly followed the example of Christ, and their resistance against the catastrophic effects of the merging of church and state cost them a great price. Churches today have signed onto the government plan and have agreed to look the other way in exchange for tax free privileges. The true message of Christ still exists to some degree in the quiet of the land to peacemakers, but sadly these good people have been deceived by the angry words from a righteous sounding religious media majority broadcasting in cars and trucks and tractors all over our land ironically preaching the “good news of war for peace“ and convincing 24-7 “liberal“ bashing. I suspect there are many who share my sorrow at the loss of what it means to be Christ-like, but our voice is seldom heard. The blaring rhetoric drowns out the still small voice of the mighty God. Peace used be the opposite of war, Conservative used to mean the tendency to conserve resources. Liberal used to mean kind and generous, and Christian used to mean like Christ. So I am no longer a Christian but just a person who continues trying to follow the example of Christ. I’ll let him call me what he wants when I see him face to face. Until then, I will pray that someday people like me will be able to reclaim the meaning of Christ’s identity, and the world will see the effects of the radical message of Christ‘s love--the perfect love that casts out fear.

Michael Moore isn't an official campaign assistant to the Dems every year. Bush openly courts Robertson, Falwell and the rest of those dingbats having breakfasts with them etc. And as Paul Krugman said when discussing Moore with Bill O'Lie-lly, despite of some of his more outrageous moments, I see a guy who deep down loves his country.

It's not that Bush per se is a bigot, just certain demographics of the Republican party that he actively tries to court like the Christian right are.

Never said it was...but I think it is part of the War Party's fault [everybody who is pro-interventionalist/imperialist] that cuts across both political parties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/weekinre...003a79efbe25be2

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/2004...55605-6954r.htm I am very surprised the Moonie Times came out with this story. From the antiwar.com blog -- "Newly declassified documents revealed the United States planned as recently as 1998 to drop nuclear bombs on North Korea if the country attacked South Korea. As part of "scenario 5027," 24 F15-E bombers flew simulation missions at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina to drop mock nuclear bombs on a firing range between January and June 1998..." Indeed! Swell thing it is for the people of NK that Jong-Il decided not to invade. Instead, he decided to develop nukes himself. Some random, probably useless thoughts: Hasn't the US nuked enough people in that region? Why does the plan use the annoying word "scenario"? Why would those F-15E "Strike Eagles" need bombing runs? What with the awesome destructive power of the modern nuke, you're going to destroy the entire civilian population anyway, no matter where the damn things land. Who cares if you miss the mark by a few dozen feet? I'm no scientist, but wouldn't the fallout from those bombs damage South Korea significantly as well? (Including the 30,000 US troops along the border with the North) The UPI report goes on to say: "The declassified documents also said the U.S. had kept nuclear weaponry in South Korea until at least 1998, despite officially claiming it had withdrawn all nuclear warheads in 1991." Yet another reason the "crazy" Kim Jong-Il would want nukes of his own. So, in a very significant way I guess, the US, in its tireless efforts to "protect" the South, is actually responsible for creating a good deal of the danger that exists in the region.

I just hope they follow Arlen Specter's advice to pick a non-zealot for any possible SC seats that open up. And as for a President appointing judges that will tow the line -- Earl Warren was appointed by Eisenhower and was a pretty liberal justice. The justices in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (the Pledge of Allegiance justices) were installed by Nixon. Roe v Wade is not going to be touched in the next four years.

Happy birthday.

That's better than Antonin Scalia, IMO. Not much better but a little bit.

Cheat, quit with your facts. We all know that it's a leftist conspiracy when they admit that e-voting machines got busted giving thousands of votes to the President when there were only approx. 700 voters in a precinct. But I'm sure that didn't happen anywhere else. It's only Democrats who do that sort of stuff.

Nuke, it's not a leftist theory when Dick "I starred in Farenhype 9/11" Morris believes it is. Let's see. E-voting machines made by staunchly Republican company. CEO states that he will deliver votes to the President. Numerous counties finding additional votes to Bush being given that outnumber the voters in the county and have major discrepancies with the exit polls. It's worth investigating if not for voter fraud but for simply the integrity and usage of e-voting in further elections.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/06/...tain/index.html Someone stole the battle plans but they aren't being changed?

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm And to quote one of PA's favorites, Dick Morris, "Exit Polls are almost never wrong," Morris wrote. "They eliminate the two major potential fallacies in survey research by correctly separating actual voters from those who pretend they will cast ballots but never do and by substituting actual observation for guesswork in judging the relative turnout of different parts of the state."...""This was no mere mistake. Exit polls cannot be as wrong across the board as they were on election night. I suspect foul play."

http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/

Let's look at a map of population in areas as well as proportions of the US population that voted for Kerry and the other more liberal candidates vs Bush and the other more conservative candidates (like Peroutka) In the map that winodj posted from before shows just that and that the country is more purple (mixture of red counties and blue counties) than a "bleeding of deep red". Take off the partisan hack glasses.

Compared to the Christian right's "I believe in the Bible therefore everybody must deal with the tribal BS that is employed in a book that the US is not even found on" theology. Incest is illegal because it is family members having sex. You are creating a straw man argument to justify a bigoted agenda. Gay marriage is not two family members marrying. Lest we forget homosexual sex is legalized so gay marriage is not about sex -- but nice try at misdirecting the debate. If Americans wish to protect the sanctity of marriage, they could very well start by denying marriage licenses to certain prominent Republicans. Dubya's own brother, Neil, recently completed a messy divorce from his wife, Sharon. Adultery played a factor. Then there are Republican icons Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, with one and two marriages ended via affairs, respectively. In short, until the pro-marriage folks do something about their own, who have been wiping their backsides with their marriage vows, they have absolutely no business talking about anybody else's marriage threatening whatever sanctity that the institution of marriage may still possess. Straight or gay couples can make and honor marriage vows is upholding the sanctity of marriage. Period. And let's go Biblical if you'd like: If we insist on placing ourselves under the old law, as Paul reminds us, we are obligated to keep every commandment of the law (Gal. 5:3). But if Christ is the end of the law (Rom. 10:4), if we have been discharged from the law to serve, not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit (Rom. 7:6), then all of these biblical sexual mores come under the authority of the Spirit. We cannot then take even what Paul himself says as a new Law. Christians reserve the right to pick an choose which sexual mores they will observe, though they seldom admit to doing just that.

Jas, it was the legality of two guys kissing that swung the election. The Christian Right came out in force to make the leading nation in the free world codify discrimination via the FMA and let's not forget their pipe dream to get rid of Roe v Wade.

From the company: In setup and ballot preparation, a single Windows 9x/NT database produces all of your election materials, programs machines and prints ballots -- eliminating human errors in design, spelling and typography. We're entrusting democracy to Windows and Bill Gates' crap?

Black pen absentee ballot.

Taking the tangent further, Rumsfeld could and should be held accountable after memos supporting and advocating torture techniques were found sent with DoD approval.

Nuke, you so readily believed it with Clinton when there was less evidence. Its quite possible that Bush had this happen given there is actual testimony and the facts to back it up. Take off the partisan hack blinders.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11012004.html

Heads, I am laughing my ass off at that quote in your profile.

Right, it is a win but not the "mandate" being discussed.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=226539 Israeli media is reporting he is brain dead but the PM is denying.