Day: February 28, 2006

We Are Winning the War On Christians

Buck Banks

Wagers of sin: We’ve got ’em on the run and we are winning the war on Christians! Actually, I did not know we were waging a war on the God-jockeys until I received an e-mail from Rick Scarborough of a group called Vision America. These folks are so afraid of us lefties that they are holding a conference in the holy city of Washington, D.C., March 27-28.

Here’s what Scarborough gives as proof there’s a battle a-wagin’:

A war on Christians rages across the America. By attacking Christians, the left intends to destroy the remnants of Judeo-Christian morality.

Here’s what I mean by a war on Christians:

  • Christmas symbols and greetings are purged
  • A federal judge bans “One Nation Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance recited by school children
  • A Navy chaplain is told he can’t publicly pray in Jesus’ name
  • Removal of Ten Commandments monuments
  • Move to stifle religious expression at the Air Force Academy
  • Christians arrested for peacefully praying at a “gay pride” rally in Philadelphia
  • Federal appeals court says parental rights stop at the schoolhouse door
  • Homosexual “marriage” established by judicial decree in Massachusetts
  • Blasphemous “Da Vinci Code” movie comes out in May
  • Churches are burned down in Alabama

So I’ve been invited to attend Vision America’s The War on Christians and the Values Voter in 2006 conference, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington. There, I’ll supposedly be given “the knowledge and strategies to fight back effectively.”

The left intends to eliminate God-based morality from our government to achieve its goal of cultural Marxism in a secular state.

They’ve certainly lined up an impressive array of Christian soldiers and wingnuts for the conference, including Sen. Sam Brownback (R, Kansas), Sen. John Cornyn (R, Texas), Congressman Tom DeLay (R, Texas), Gary Bauer (failed 2000 presidential candidate and president of American Values), Alan Keyes (failed serial candidate), con-columnist Phyllis Schlafly, radio wingnut Janet Parshall, Christian activist and radio talker Janet Folger, rightwing radio talker William Greene, and TV preachers Ron Luce and Rod Parsley.

As if that lineup wasn’t enough, there are panels addressing different aspects of the war with titles that are just hilarious:

Christian Persecution: Reports from the Frontlines

The Gay Agenda: America Won’t Be Happy

The ACLU and Radical Secularism: Driving God From The Public Square

Hollywood: Christians Through A Distorted Lens

The Judiciary: Overruling God

The Media: Megaphone for Anti-Faith Values

Jews Confront The War on Christians and the Values Voter in 2006

Taking Our Faith To The Ballot Box

The left intends to eliminate God-based morality from our government to achieve its goal of cultural Marxism in a secular state.

They get extra credit for cleverness. Anyway, it’s relatively inexpensive to go, and there’s actually a marriage benefit. Registration for individuals is $149; for married couples, $259; and for students (without meals), only $50.

If you go, tell me how it went. I’m curious about the War on Christians, but I don’t want to get too close and end up as collateral damage ….

Credit Where It’s Due: Bush Says Osama Helped Him Win in 2004

Trish

Loyal to the end: A new book says Bush credited Osama bin Laden for helping him win the 2004 election, but stops just short of saying Bush asked his old family pal to do it. CNN reports that Bush felt like the tape, released the Friday before Election Day Tuesday, was a little slice of serendipity for himself and his handlers.

“I thought it was going to help,” Bush said

Bush said there were “enormous amounts of discussion” inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called “an interesting entry by our enemy” into the presidential race.

Bush’s comments in the Washington newspaper were excerpts from the new book “Strategery” by Bill Sammon, a longtime White House correspondent.

“What does it mean? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt?” Bush told Sammon of the bin Laden tapes…

“I thought it was going to help,” Bush said.

“I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn’t want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush.”

Not that anyone would attempt to manipulate the voters by tugging on those fear strings, or by issuing a deluge of elevated threat level warnings as the election approached about acts and people that never proved to have any substance.

Pensito Review: Off the Wires

Buck Banks

Saudis Say 4 Militants Killed in Raids
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi authorities announced Tuesday that four of the five militants killed during police raids a day earlier in the Saudi capital included the kingdom’s top terrorist and three other members of the al-Qaida terror group. Nice shooting, guys. Okay, now you can take over our seaports.

Prosecutors: Saddam OK’d Shiite Executions
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Saddam Hussein’s trial resumed Tuesday with the former leader’s defense attorneys ending a month-long boycott of the proceedings. When they asked the judge if they’d missed anything he replied, “Opening arguments, presentation of evidence and closing arguments, but you’re just in time for the sentencing and execution.”

Iran Says It Opposes Nuclear Weapons
TOKYO – A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency shows there is no proof Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday in Japan. Right, and didn’t you guys recently say the Holocaust didn’t happen, either?

Rio’s Carnival Parade Pays Homage to Women
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Thousands of plumed dancers kicked off a second night of parading Monday in Rio’s pre-Lenten carnival. The Porto da Pedra group opened the festivities with 3,720 dancers who delighted the 70,000 people packed into the Sambadrome stadium. Interesting homage — nothing like putting women in huge feathered headdresses, pasties, sequined thongs and high heels, and watching them jiggle all over to demonstrate your appreciation.

Poll: 72% in Military Favor ‘Cut and Run’

Jon Ponder
Almost 90 percent of the military believes the Bush lie that Saddam was behind 9/11

According to the new Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll, just one in five troops — 72 percent — agrees with President Bush that the United States should stay “as long as they are needed” in Iraq.

There is a terrifying number in the poll however: Almost 90 percent think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11, most don’t blame Iraqi public for insurgent attacks.

Happy Birthday, Jack Abramoff — Republican Icon

Jon Ponder

Some people might make the case that the person who most embodies the modern Republican Party — dishonest, fear-mongering and in the pocket of corporate interests — is President George Bush. I would propose that the real GOP icon of our time is Jack Abramoff, a man who put his self-interests above those of everything else, including his country and even the political party that welcomed, encouraged and enabled his corrupt activities.

Here is his record of achievement, which you will agree is emblematic for today’s GOP:

  • Conspiracy Washington, DC (2005), pled guilty 3-Jan-2006
  • Mail Fraud Washington, DC (2005), pled guilty 3-Jan-2006
  • Tax Evasion Washington, DC (2005), pled guilty 3-Jan-2006
  • Wire Fraud Washington, DC (2005), charge dropped
  • Conspiracy Miami, FL (11-Aug-2005), pled guilty 4-Jan-2006
  • Fraud Miami, FL (11-Aug-2005), pled guilty 4-Jan-2006

Abramoff turns 48 today. If he is ever sentenced for these crimes, he’ll like get out of prison around his 78th birthday.

Panel: GAO Underestimated Cost of DoD’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy by Almost Half

Buck Banks

Queer accounting: A University of California commission whose members include a former Defense secretary has challenged the methodology used by the Government Accountability Office to calculate the cost of the Defense Department’s homosexual conduct policy, reports GovExec.com.

The UC-Santa Barbara commission accused GAO of underestimating the cost of replacing military service members discharged under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The widely criticized policy allows homosexuals to serve in the military so long as they do not disclose their sexual orientation and bars the military from asking.

The February 2005 GAO report found that the overall cost to recruit and train replacements for the 9,488 service members separated from fiscal 1994, the year the policy was implemented, through fiscal 2003, was $190.5 million. But the California commission reported that the actual cost was $363.8 million.

Aaron Belkin, chairman of the commission and an associate professor of political science at the University of California, called the figures used by GAO “loopy.” More specifically, they were too low and inconsistent with previous figures used, he said.

‘In assessing the cost of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we shouldn’t shortchange the taxpayers or the brave service members who are directly affected by this failed policy.’

The 29-page report from the UC commission, which included former Defense Secretary William Perry, now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, six professors and five military experts, said that GAO relied on “unrealistically low estimates” provided by the service branches.

Using publicly available figures on the cost of basic training and initial skills training, the commission estimated the cost to train replacements at $252.4 million, $157.3 million more than the $95.1 million figure reported by GAO.

Not surprisingly, the GAO is standing by its numbers despite the fact that the commission’s cost estimate is nearly twice the GAO’s. What is even less surprising coming from a Bush administration official, is the tack taken by Derek Stewart, director of GAO’s Defense Capabilities and Management division. He downplays the cost of DADT as being a drop in the bucket of the overal defense budget.
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