At the door of every hotel room in America, USA Today:
The president's job is not to rid the world of the Bible's Beelzebub but rather the worldly devils that afflict us. It is to properly handle the difficult issues of war and peace, to manage the domestic affairs of this great melting pot, and to ensure this country's longstanding guarantee of religious freedom — and protect its commitment to a secular government. CNN did these causes a great disservice by giving a leader of just one of this nation's religious faiths a platform to influence the outcome of the coming presidential election.
What we need in the White House is a devout believer in this nation's democratic principles, not the vicar of Saddleback.
The real scandal isn't McCain's "cheating," if in fact it happened.
Nor is the real scandal the oozing hypocrisy of shilling religion for political gain, now fully normalized in both parties and accepted by our tribunes of the people as not worthy of comment; Jesus, assuming him to be a historical figure, was quite clear how morally degraded such practices are: See Matthew 6:5.
No, the real scandal is that both candidates and both parties and the fucking Village
are robbing us of the secular framework for governance that the Framers bequeathed to us.
But don't worry! When the crash comes, the megachurches will run the soup kitchens so the government doesn't need to be involved! Sure, the Bible classes will be mandatory, but what's wrong with that?
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Great commentary, but a coupla quibbles with this part
Religion, rightly, is an important part of American society. But this nation's faith is not monolithic. We are Catholics and Jews, Protestants and Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, evangelical and progressive Christians.
Aren't some folks missing from his list?
And it's "rightly" because why?
the albinos!
they ain't makin' jews like jesus anymore
and 'leftly' just sounds funny.
It's not like Obama has gone out of his way to promote Warren
http://www.correntewire.com/illinoise
And this quote from the USA Today piece is not to be missed
I'm not sure which part of that is most disturbing, perhaps the possibility that there are several hundred thousand pastors.
I hope this doesn't become a ritual
where every four years the candidates ascend Saddleback Mountain to place their lips on the hindquarters of a televangelist.
Talk about being Rick-rolled!
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“But hysteria is all the rage these days, I guess” - gqm
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“I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat.” - Will Rogers
LOL n/t
.
EJ Dionne lurves him some Warren
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/edit...
Didn't he get the memo that this was all a con game, designed to hurt Teh Precious?
EJ is one of those media liberals
who have been helping liberals lose for decades.
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“But hysteria is all the rage these days, I guess” - gqm
x
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“I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat.” - Will Rogers
Warren on the "non-negotiable" issues
MELISSA BLOCK, NPR: Back in the 2004 election, you sent out a letter to thousands of pastors in which you listed what you considered to be five non-negotiable issues and they were abortion, gay marriage, human cloning, stem-cell research and euthanasia. Are those still non-negotiable issues for you?
RICK WARREN: Well, they might be for me. It doesn't necessarily mean they're for everybody in the nation. I have my own convictions, but I also believe in the common good. I think that's part of democracy. You have a right to promote whatever view you hold, and you have a right to try to convince me that I ought to change my mind.
MELISSA BLOCK, NPR: But would you be sending out that same list now in 2008?
RICK WARREN: I'm not going to send out any list this year, because I'm obviously maintaining neutrality in order to do what I think is best for America — and that is get these two guys to speak up in their own words. On a personal level, if I were sending out a letter today, my view hasn't changed one bit on any of those particular subjects....
EJ's Got a Lot of Company
Somerby took out Colbert King yesterday for continuing his long history of being willing to follow the media narrative to destroy Big Dems, but sitting silent in the face of St. McCain. He even did a 180 so that he could get onboard the swiftboating of Kerry ("Those who dismiss critics of John Kerry's Vietnam service as just a bunch of right-wing Republicans out to advance George W. Bush's cause don't know what they are talking about–or they are engaged in wishful thinking. Okay, I may have once thought that about the critics, too. But after poring over the large volume of e-mail I received after my Aug. 28 column, "What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam," I don't any longer.") Thanks, Colbert.
Although apparently the swiftboating of Kerry is one more thing we're supposed to get over. It's amazing how many of these wankers want to work with Democrats now that the damage is already done and the GOP brand is in the toilet. And instead of making them pay some sort of price for having fucked over Democrats, they're welcomed into the fold. I'm sure that'll teach 'em. (via Avedon)
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
The Telling Part About Warren's Litmus Test
is that it's all things he's against. Not one positive thing on the list - feeding the poor, housing the homeless, providing better healthcare, saving the environment. Nope, not one thing he wanted to make sure was going to get done to help "God's children" or make the world a better place. Just a list of things to be stopped and people to be hated.
If we're going to suck up to the religious folks can't we at least suck up to the nice ones who spend most of their time helping people instead of hating them?
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Exactly!
You've just pointed out the real and legally binding difference between the Christianists (like Warren), and those who actually believe in Jesus' teachings (or those of any stripe who believe in having compassion for others). Kudos!
BDBlue gets the brass ring. Not one issue to help people.
All the issues relate to preserving life at any cost. Well, depending on where healthcare is come January.
I love this job!
I love this job!