Jerry Falwell writing in the Conservative Voice online:
While I am a strong supporter of the State of Israel and dearly love the Jewish people and believe them to be the chosen people of God, I continue to stand on the foundational biblical principle that all people — Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jews, Muslims, etc. — must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to enter heaven.
If, unlike my friend Cathy, you haven’t been involved with exposing abstinence education for the evil, judgmental, pregnancy- and STD-producing sham that it is, the name Claude Allen might not mean that much to you.
On the other hand, it should.
Claude, also hailed as the New Clarence Thomas, was until recently George Bush’s chief domestic policy advisor. Shortly after Democrats blocked Allen’s nomination for an appeals court judgeship, Bush appointed him to his staff. Bill Berkowitz summed Allen up nicely.
Careerwise, Claude Allen has come a long way from honing his political chops as the first African American aide to Jesse Helms, North Carolina’s long-time rabid right wing Senator. But he hasn’t moved very far from the politics or ideology of his former boss…Now, after nearly four years serving as Tommy Thompson’s Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, Allen has been promoted…
In a recent piece for the LA Weekly, veteran journalist Doug Ireland described Allen as “a notorious homophobe, a ferocious enemy of abortion and an opponent of safe-sex education who for years has been one of the AIDS community’s principal enemies.” Allen is also an outspoken opponent of abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, and a champion of abstinence-only sex education programs.
When Allen announced his resignation last month — citing the old chestnut about spending more time with his family — speculation was far and wide but not even Wonkette could anticipate the ridiculous reality.
It’s possible Allen left on his own accord, but the abruptness makes it rather unlikely. We have no clue, actually, why the hell he’d be forced out, especially now, when one might think Bush would want to refocus on “morality” in preparation for a midterm election which has thus far looked pretty lousy for the party…
But hell. He’s a morality-issues Christian-right Republican. So he’s probably a drug-addicted gambling gay adulterer with illegitimate children. But if anyone has proof (or a different theory, or idle speculation), we’re dying to hear it.
Oh, so close! But truth is stranger than fiction, Wonkette.
When Democrats criticize President Bush, Republicans accuse them of hating the president, which is the same as hating America. Writing for the ultra-rightwing website Human Events Online, GOP propagandist Robert Novak chronicles the growing tide of Bush-hatred among Republican members of Congress:
Republican congressmen are tired of being bullied and ignored by a heavy-handed executive, and they are playing hardball with their President. Given his unpopularity, many of them find it useful to distance themselves from Bush anyway. In short, Bush has little leverage left within his own party, and his transformation to lame-duck status is all but complete.
Republicans in Congress is are arraying themselves against their Dear Leader across the board:
Ports Deal: [Language] de-funding the ports deal will be written into the upcoming emergency supplemental [by the GOP congressional leadership]. This would be some real intra-party hardball—Bush would have to veto funding for Katrina, homeland security and the troops, or else suffer the undoing of a deal he has promised will go forward.
And…
Budget: Another Republican rebellion is breaking out on the budget front, where independent-minded Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is taking on the administration for its budgeting proposal. Bush’s budget zeroes out the so-called “Crime Victims Fund,” which is funded through criminal fines, fees and forfeitures, and thus pays for itself. Coburn is accusing the administration of playing a “budget shell game” by zeroing out the fund in order to make room for more spending elsewhere, but planning to restore the fund later.
Coburn’s hearings, set for today, will include a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. They are significant because they could be politically damaging for Bush if anyone notices them. More and more conservatives seem emboldened nowadays to snipe at the President, whose poor efforts at reaching out to Congress have not helped his overall cause.
And…
Katrina: [The] administration’s inert posture and opacity with respect to the Katrina rebuilding process is all the more baffling. The White House has done little to get its act together and work with members of Congress on the reconstruction… Moreover, through its curious inflexibility and inaction, the White House has again incurred the wrath of conservative Republicans in Louisiana’s congressional delegation, including Sen. David Vitter (R) and Rep. Richard Baker (R). Even in matters as small as the itinerary of visiting congressmen, FEMA proved inflexible, drawing criticism from conservative Rep. Bobby Jindal (R).
Members of the Baptist Church led by Rev. Fred Phelps of Kansas say they will continue protesting at the funerals of service members killed in Iraq despite new state laws intended to preventing them from disrupting the grieving families:
“We obey the law,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a lawyer and member of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, a fundamentalist congregation headed by her father, the Rev. Fred Phelps.
Church members have outraged mourners across the nation by showing up at soldiers’ funerals with signs that read “God Hates Fags” or “God Made IEDs,” a reference to roadside bombs.
Church members contend that soldiers are being killed for defending a nation in which gays and lesbians are accepted.
God’s in the White House: In a move that is intended to either a) establish a theocracy in Washington, or b) consign faith-based initiatives to the dustbin of incompetency, yesterday George Bush signed an executive order calling for the establishment of a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security.
I am not making this up, here’s the link. The austensible purpose of this order is to “to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet America’s social and community needs.”
Within 45 days from the date of the order, the secretary of DHS, Michael Chertoff, is supposed to appoint a director in consultation with the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (or WHOFBCI director in White House speak), put together appropriate staff, administrative support, and other resources to meet the center’s responsibilities.
Sounds like crony time!
Bush did end the order with this caveat: “This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”
Well, that’s a relief!
The United States Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….”
And yet, in Bush’s America:
Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state’s official “majority” religion.
House Concurrent Resolution 13 has is pending in the state legislature…
The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.
The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”
State representative David Sater of Cassville in southwestern Missouri, sponsored the resolution, but he has refused to talk about it on camera or over the phone.
Bill O’Reilly has gone off the deep end — again. Earlier this week, he threatened a caller to his radio show who had the temerity to mention Keith Olbermann’s name on O’Reilly’s air:
O’REILLY: Orlando, Florida, Mike, go.
CALLER: Hey Bill, I appreciate you taking my call.
O’REILLY: Sure.
CALLER: I like to listen to you during the day, I think Keith Olbermann’s show —
O’REILLY: There ya go, Mike is — he’s a gone guy. You know, we have his — we have your phone numbers, by the way. So, if you’re listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we’re going to turn it over to Fox security, and you’ll be getting a little visit.
HILL: Maybe Mike is from the mothership.
O’REILLY: No, Maybe Mike is going to get into big trouble, because we’re not going to play around. When you call us, ladies and gentleman, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable. Fair?
HILL: That’s fair.
O’REILLY: So, just — all you guys who do this kind of a thing, you know, I know some shock jocks. Whatever. You will be held accountable. Believe it.
We’ll be right back.
A bizarre town is taking shape in Southwest Florida, built by Domino’s Pizza C.E.Nutcase Thomas S. Monaghan. Monaghan will rule his town according to Tali-Catholic-ban guidelines.
The pizza magnate, raised by
wolvesnuns in orphanages, is bankrolling the town called Ave Maria with millions of dollars, calling its construction “God’s will.”Stores won’t sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies won’t carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels, he said in a speech last year to the Boston Catholic Men’s Conference…
The town is being built around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in four decades, which Monaghan also founded.
The community…will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center. It will encircle a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, standing nearly 65 feet tall.
So Jesus will be hanging just overhead at all times, in case anyone starts thinking about doing anything that might lead to a need to prevent pregnancy. Of course, some people are wondering if it’s constitutional to do all this banning of perfectly legal activities.
“This is country club Christianity,” said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, which opposes the church’s bans on abortion and birth control.
Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, agreed.
While Simon notes there are religiously homogenous communities across the country, none can “wield governmental power along the lines of religious principle.”
The folks in charge of Florida are currently punting.
“The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment,” [Florida Attorney General and candidate for governor Charlie] Crist said Tuesday. “If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge.”
Gov. Jeb Bush, at the university’s recent groundbreaking, lauded the development as a new kind of town, where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens.
And I just love it when that happens. Meanwhile Monaghan has no qualms, but all the self-assurance of a true religious fanatic and extremist.
“I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don’t want to be on the sidelines,” Monaghan said in a recent Newsweek interview.
No worries there, Tommy. You bought a seat in the front row.
Oxymoron — military ethics: Where do the Pentagon’s military officers go after their retirement from active service? Many go to work for big defense contractors as liaisons between the contractors and the people who sign the contracts on Capitol Hill.
For instance, one of the more notorious cases involved Darleen Druyun, a high-ranking Air Force procurement official who was in charge of overseeing Boeing Co. air tanker negotiations at the same time she was applying for a top Boeing job. Talk about padding your resume!
She pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and in 2004 was sentenced to nine months in prison.
The Senate unanimously passed a plan last November to officially identify former Pentagon officials who go to work for defense contractors as part of the $491.5 billion defense authorization bill. But somewhere in the House-Senate conferences of December, the provision disappeared, quietly, without a peep of conscience.
Congress Daily offered this insipid insight that’s one for the “Duh” file: “The removal of the provision from the defense bill that would have required the defense companies to report the names of former members and military officers to benefit from government contracts signals the problems likely ahead in changing ethics rules for both lawmakers and lobbyists.” (emphasis added)
The provision would have required companies with defense contracts over $10 million to name former defense officials or military officers who received compensation from the contractors in an annual report to the Pentagon. Now that doesn’t sound too egregious, does it?
Contractor disclosure apparently got scrubbed after the Pentagon raised objections, according to one top Senate staffer involved in the talks.
The department apparently felt “there were too many people covered” by the provision, and there also was resistance by the House during a short conference meeting prior to the lawmakers’ departure for the Christmas holidays.
In the fiscal free-for-all that characterizes the Bush administration, such week-kneed attempts to inject an iota of ethics into the self-enrichment process will undoubtedly continue to fail. All hail the Commander-In-Thief!
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.”
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 2006Taking 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 ….
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
