In the Bible there were seven plagues. We need to add a new one - Bush.

Totally brilliant. 'Nuf said.

RE: twoblueday January 7th, 2008 9:12 am

"This nation does not have the resources to make everyone whole after natural disasters, and the government does not have the obligation."

If we hadn't wasted approaching a trillion dollars trying to commandeer Iraq for its oil we would have the resources, and with the military here instead of 'over there', the manpower & equipment to ameliorate the effects of ANY natural disaster.

As for the second part of your statement, that is a very selfish self-centered attitude. By that same logic we should just euthanize the sick, infirm, & aged because they no longer have anything to offer YOU.

For all of you who post about this being a Christian country you are being beguiled. If it were a Christian nation wouldn't there be a cross somewhere on the Great Seal instead of a Star of David? The Great Seal is on the reverse side of a one dollar bill. Take one out and look at it (unless the policies of this administration of neo-CON Fascists has laft you bereft of any). Look on the right side of the bill at the 13 stars above the spread eagle & connect the dots. Now see if you can find as obvious a Christian symbol ANYWHERE on the bill.

Everything I Know I Learned I learned in the book "Dune"....

"when politics and religion ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows!"

A possibly obnoxious addition:

Let's see, from ezeflyer we have:
"15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity)."

I'd like to add, "or born again!"

This is a Riot! I Love it.

I feel like I fell from a thousand feet onto the deck of the Titantic...sideways and somebody asked me what I thought about the ocean,sunset and rich people.
You've heard of the "haves" vs the "have nots"? I am one of those "have nots".

Having
a conversation with A Republican ,(s)he gets angry to the point of irate beligerance if you tell them you don't vote,all your reasons get lost somewhere between don't and vote. Try and look for a cue to stop.
a conversation with A Democrat , (s)he gets defensive and makes excuses with how great the country used to be before there were Republicans.Be careful of the flying pointing fingers.

Having a conversation with a fanatically religious christian is like a mini- conversion once it ends, you just know you're damned and if you're lucky the long term side affects go away soon.

If only wry sarcasm could make a better world.

One further observation:

"If you live in an area that's prone to a natural disaster like a fire or a flood or an earthquake or a hurricane, you shouldn't expect the federal government to take care of you when your neighborhood gets destroyed. Next time you'll think more carefully about where you're going to settle down."

You know, "even a blind dog sometimes finds an acorn." Because our national leaders are megalomaniacal self-dealing fools does not mean they are always wrong. This nation does not have the resources to make everyone whole after natural disasters, and the government does not have the obligation. That's my view. While the quoted material was intended to point out some government failing, all it points out is the simple truth.

I've spent countless hours on CD, reaping cathartic pleasure from the rants and posts of far more gifted thinkers and writers than I. I thank you all for them, and applaud the persistent efforts of those of you who actually hector and cajole your representatives on a regular basis. May your efforts bear fruit, for the betterment of us all.

I cannot also help but wonder how much (if anything) most of the rest of us are really doing to better their lot in life in the face of the crushingly obvious corruption and greed now subverting our collective experience. I suspect that for many of us - myself included - all we really do is pour out our frustrations on sites like CD and countless others like it. Sad to say, letters and emails to representatives probably have no chance whatsoever of seeing the light of day, let alone of being read.

Sites like CD may be the only outlets we have that allow us to feel important, or that our individual opinions make a whit of difference in the end. I suspect someday sites like this will also be taken away from us, in accordance with one nefarious bill or another. Much like our constitutional system of checks and balances. The cows have left the barn, folks.

I had a female terrier many years ago. Several times a year, she would mysteriously disappear into a row of bushes in a remote corner of the yard for days on end to suffer through one of her peculiar false pregnancies. Unfortunately, the particular bushes she chose were completely infested with fleas (we were never able to successfully fumigate them). So there she would lie, getting eaten alive, until her false pregnancies mercifully ended.

I had the weird thought that spending countless hours impotently railing against the machine is not unlike voluntarily holing up under a flea-ridden bush, hoping for something that simply will not occur.

I may sound like I am throwing in the towel, or quitting the good fight. Perhaps it's necessary to insert the mandatory "I've been a fighter all my life" qualifier. It's true, I have. But I am so tired, and uncertain that any such efforts will make the slightest difference.

Enjoy it while it lasts, friends. May 2008 be a year of spending less time in front of the computer screen, and getting out more. I for one admit that I have been addicted to the sheer outrageous drama of our times, and CD and all my other bookmarked op-ed sites have been my sirens. But, I still feel that something is being lost, as 'enlightened' as I may believe myself to be.

Heyzhou

Please allow me to cross-post:

First of all, I am a fifth grade teacher, so I know a bit about NCLB. I've posted most of this before, so bear with me if it's old hat to you.

When we were first introduced to NCLB by a PhD. from the state department of Education, I listened along with the rest. In the Q. and A. period following, I replied, "I understand our (teachers') responsibilities, but what are the responsibilities of the students and the parents?"

She replied, "None. It's all up to you."

Wow! A child's education is all up to me, or I get fired. If they choose not to read, I get fired. If the parents won't help, I get fired. Some program.

Let's apply this standard to a few other professions. If a smoker refuses to quit and gets cancer, the Doctor gets fored and the Hospital loses money. If a drunk driver refuses to quit driving, the police officer gets fired, and the department loses money. If illegal immigrants enter our country, the Border Patrol in the area gets fired, and the district loses money.

Absurd? Yes. But you get the drift. As a teacher, I can encourage a child to read, but I can't FORCE her. Why should my school district get penalized?

But wait, there's more!

The canonized tests compare this year's fifth graders in my school to last year's fifth graders. That use to be called "apples to oranges." Worse yet, we teachers have been clammoring for a glimpse of the test results, but we are denied. Our curriculum coordinator tells us that there is no way to disaggregate the data. WE CANNOT USE THESE TESTS TO EVEN MONITOR OUR OWN TEACHING.

I'll change. Just tell me what I can do better. I'll make the change. So will my collegues.

For now, we are all teaching to the tests. That's the reality in Bush's Republican America, 2008.

Weep for your country. Then get mad enough to demand a change. School boards are the MOST receptive of all political entities. They just won't listen to teachers.

Nobody does.

Thanks for the great satire, Neal. Embarrassing how many posters here have responded on the merits as if you really were listing things that you've learned. At least a few understood.

Let's take a wild leap and imagine that the man called Jesus, son of Mary was able to manifest --- in its Fullness at the human level --- The Infinite Soul. (G-O-D)

Just as Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha/The "Awakened One") did in his time and place, and Sri Krishna in his.

This kinda thing just don't happen much on dis here planet. Very rare. Extraordinarily precious.

Now can you imagine the unbearable poignancy and compassion these entities must experience when they see what has been done in their names? Wooooeeee!

Well, Golly! Ain't we a young and dense species!

What's it gonna take? The extraterrestrials having to set us straight? We're doing all this crap to ourselves, fa' Gawd's sake.

My sense is that the majority of the ET species currently present and accounted for on our lil' planet, would prefer that Homo Sapiens Sapiens not Waste itself and go down either with a whimper Or a blaze of "glory." They're even willing to help out. But NOOOOO......! Goverments couldn't possibly allow this. Why, they'd look All Wimped Out.....

Jesus H. Christ - the writin's on de wall, Yo!

Oh yes, and about the ETs ("Neighbors," not Aliens, don't be a dumbass): It's more or less like the situation of gay people in the 80's: "We're Here! We're Queer! Get used to it!"

*Not talkin' bout the ET's gender here, Dawg.

Its time for humanists to assert their minority rights. As a deeply religious Unitarian-Universalist atheist, I will be damned if I will stand by and watch while a minority of idiots insist that Copernicus was right all along, and burn science at the stake. Take a lesson from people of color and demand equal the representation as provided for by the laws of the country you live in. You have a right not to use gods in your life, and a right to object to the liars who claim to have knowledge of gods. Oppose stupidity around the lunch table and in daily conversation and let your secular humanism toward your fellow man shine. Object loudly to claims that we need gods to run our lives, assert that morality is a biological phenonmenon and show how valid community building and love of self and others can be realized in the complete absence of religious dogma. Don't even think about voting for a nut like Giuliani or Huckabee or Romney who wears religion on his sleeve, and be deeply suspicious of any Democrat who even mentions god - he or she is probably a liar who wants your vote. Above all, tolerate religion as we tolerate the mistakes of children and nurture their fantasies as they grow into responsible adults. Some folks take more time to learn to think critically than others -- but that doesn't mean they get to be in charge while they're doing it.

The elite uses what is handy to stay the elite. Bu$h the inferior would have conducted virgin sacrifices to get to be the leader if that was necessary. Shotgun Dick would think of the idea and turd blossom would use it as a campaign tactic if that would work. Christianity and the naive followers of certain so called religious leaders were easily herded sheep.

War Presidents in Bu$h the inferior's mind are popular presidents. Shotgun Dick and turd blossom said we can make that work for us so they told him this and made him one at all costs. Then they covered the track by making up reasons to trash the constitution and hide their finger prints.

Jesus had nothing to do with this mess and is not talking to Bu$h the inferior based on the actions taken.

hakori January 6th, 2008 9:07 am: "It's not ok to make fun of Christianity, or any other religion..."

Yes, it is. It's okay to make fun of me, it's okay to make fun of you, it's okay to make fun of blind black handicapped lesbians and rich white male athletes. It's okay to make fun of anything and anyone anywhere.

It's okay to exercise your inalienable right to free speech. That's what makes it a right, and what makes it inalienable. People might make fun of you for the things you say when you exercise that right, but that's their inalienable right, too.

I make fun of religion all the time. How can one not? It's hilarious that people over the age of four believe in their imaginary friends, and a total scream that the majority of Americans do.

God doesn't whisper in Bush's ear - Satan does! This is the only explanation for all of the deception, for Satan has been called "the deceiver" and Bush mis-spoke when he called himself "the decider". He really meant to say "deceiver". There is nothing even remotely Christian about the man. As a child he blew up frogs with fire crackers, as an adult he executed scores of prisoners in Texas, mocking their pleas for clemency. To err is human, to forgive divine. We can surely tell which camp W is in.

Jesus Christ!

Just for the record, the consensus among the most skilled and knowledgable biblical scholars that:

1) the words of Jesus that appear in the 4 gospels were cherry-picked in the centuries after his passing - in the interests of politics. 2,000 years ago, as the rapidly growing new phenomenon called "Christianity" battled for ascendancy within the Roman empire, the name of the game, even then, was "spin."

A strong candidate for "gospel-ectomy" were Jesus's teachings on the validity of reincarntion (Hillbilly pron. 'rein-tar-nation.')

2) With no printing presses, monks copied the gospels by hand for centuries. Careful research has shown that these many pious individuals exercised their own poetic license in generously adding and subtracting stories as they saw fit. Expressing their own aesthetic sense, countless, nameless scribes have given us the gospels one reads today.

Summary and conclusion:

BushCo sucks. And any republicans who believe in both Bush and Jesus Christ are morons, or at best, idiots.

Or perhaps I am being a bit too judgmental, harsh, and insensitive.

P.S. When it comes to the "wrongdoing" of Jesus's "devout disciples" in Bush and Co., I'm guessing we ain't seen nothin' yet.

PSS. Lordy, Lordy! As Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."

X

I like Peace Candidate's take. I haven't seen asterisks by any of the Ten Commandments in the Bible I own. Under what conditions does God permit adultery? None that I know of. Under what conditions can I bear false witness? None that I know of. Under what conditions am I permitted to kill according to the Ten Commandments? None that I know of. It does not say, "Thou shall not kill unless..."

Wouldn't it be something if every soldier who professes to be a Christian refused to kill? Would they commit adultery under orders? Worship another god for the state? Bear false witness because of a command from a superior? In doing ANY of these they would be bowing down before a false idol... namely, the state.

Now I am not one to advocate blind obedience to the law. Notice that in the cases where Jesus was accused of breaking the law he was doing so in a transformative way and almost exclusively for social uplift.

Will Christians follow their Prince of Peace or the Masters of War?

John Freeman January 5th, 2008 8:38 pm

"They founded themselves in concert with an Emperor and with his authority burned and destroyed centuries of knowledge..."

John, their "priests" emptied the 1000 libraries of the Roman Empire of 1500 years of history, literature, art, science, medicine, and philosophy - they were PAGAN writings. Like the Popul Vu. Because of THIS after the 6th century collapse due to the 'nuclear winter' created by Krakatoa - there was no bottom. It took 1000 years to 'rediscover' concrete, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. With those libraries intact we would have recovered in a third of the time. Lesson:

Never let a Xrstian into a Public Library unless you have a taste for a 7th century life style and life expectancy. Of course, living as a toothless, illiterate peasant in a feudalistic warlord society, who would want to live past 40? That is the world that flat-earth, knuckle walking Xrstians want for Everybody - complete with Inquisitions. Don't doubt it for a minute. Xrstianity is the single most genocidal religion is the history of the human species. Beyond argument.

Pieces of 8.

Thanks Neal, can we get this engraved on America's Tombstone?

EZEflyer, get these 17 articles nailed to the Church Door (you have room for 48 more), just don't lett'em catch you doin' it.

Peace.

Thanks for putting into words the disturbing feelings I have carried with me about what I am Supposed to believe.

If Obama is the answer, why hasn't he objected to government sanctioned torture? Expressed no intent to repeal the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act? Or figured out a way to get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and keep them out of Pakistan? Why has he shared his political bed with K Street lobbyists? And, why oh why, hasn't he upheld the Constitution as a Senator, demanding accountability from the Bush Administration and demanding impeachment hearings? In fact, as a freshman Senator, Obama has made history in the number of times he has FAILED to even cast a vote on behalf of his constituents. Obama is a superb politician, delivering riveting speeches of hope which lack both substance and detail! If he is an illusion as a candidate, what would he be as President?

EZEFLYER, your Jan 5th 2:36pm post, should be cast in bronze and set up near the Linclon Memorial as a National Monument.

For any of you experts that are dealing with the question of religion,God, etc in our lives. Before you wax poetic about Christianity either pro or against. Maybe it would help if you read it for yourselves. And then lived it. Then you could make honest assessments about Jesus, Christians,etc. not something you heard might be in the Bible or some prejudice you have. Do you want to know where wars come from? The Bible explains that as well. "From whence come wars and fightings from among you? come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? James 4:1 KJV In the case of Bush our nations dependence on oil brought us to Iraq. Lust or over-desire is what causes the president to start wars,the accountant to embezzle,the man to break fidelity with his wife to sleep with the waitress,or the man to lure children into his car with candy. I believe the bible has the answers if a man is willing to read it! Bush will be judged by his actions as will all of us! If you think their wont be a day of reckoning for all the broken and destroyed lives your kidding yourself!

It's not ok to make fun of Christianity, or any other religion, but it is ok to ridicule the rabid radical right in this country or any other country. Religious extremism is the root of many ot today's problems. The Christian zealots who preach hate, intollerance, bigoty and judgement are insane just like the rabid religious zealots who fly planes into buildings. They are SICK! If someone has a problem with that statement....TOUGH! Thinking people know this, but too many are afraid to say it. RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM IS A DISEASE! Zealots base nothing they believe in rationalism, logic or reality. They believe they have THE answer to life and the after life. If you don't fit their cookie cutter idea of what's right, then you are nothing. They are a cancer growing on our democray. They have to be beaten at the polls or our way of life is over.

They should call this thread, "Calling All Fruitcakes." The original piece was satire, folks, and there seems to be a serious irony shortage here.

It is significant that the shortest sentence in the NRSV Bible is "Jesus wept." Perhaps he had a premonition of what the masses would do to his teachings...Christendom is not authentic Christianity (read Kierkegaard for more on this)...I like SK shudder at the thought of being a real Christian...but the challenge is a worthwhile one to take up..but all these self proclaimed "believers" do nothing but rub Christs name in the dirt...

#
cybro4 January 5th, 2008 2:01 pm

"All this noise about Christians…
Could anyone please tell me what the shrub has done that actually has some semblance of the purported teachings of Christ?
Just curious."

Don't know about the teachings of Christ, but George did start two wars for no good reason. Look up the history of religion and you'll find a lot of wars that have been fought because of it.

Lobo Gris

cybro4 January 5th, 2008 2:01 pm: "All this noise about Christians… Could anyone please tell me what the shrub has done that actually has some semblance of the purported teachings of Christ?"

Gladly. Matthew 10 reads, in part: "Never think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. No, I have not come to bring peace but a sword! For I have come to set a man against his own father a daughter against her own mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be those who live in his own house. Anyone who puts his love for father or mother above his love for Me does not deserve to be Mine, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me, and neither is the man who refuses to take up his cross and follow My way. The man who has found his own life will lose it, but the man who has lost it for my sake will find it."

You can't be a christian and be an honest man. (sorry Bob Dylan)

Many of the christians of today would crucify Jesus if he acted and said the same things that were written about int he bible.

Oppression rules, and everybody else follows the fools. But who exactly is the fool? The leader or the followers?

so it goes

I've studied this problem on and off for 20 years, here's my take:
1) When any religion becomes the religion of Empire.
2) Probably all religions/mythologies have an esoteric/mystical/specialist aspect, and a debased/xenophobic "volk" side which emphasizes the ethnic over the spiritual, the field of space-time instead of the transcendent (read Joseph Campbell and his predecessors).

If Christ were alive today, I'd certainly follow him. I suspect that many would re-crucify him. Indeed, it is possible that the deeper meaning behind the Gnostic teachings is that the crucifixion, kingdom of God, and resurrection are ongoing things, self-evident and based on our day-to-day conduct. This Play is not to be reduced into mere crass historical events, but rather references something wholly transcendent of space-time.

It's cute and funny and is not unlike racist, ethnist, and gender stereotype smears so popular as a substitute for thoughtful analysis.

As has been pointed out above by some other posters, The "Christianity" of GW Bush is no more "Christian" than the "Islam" of Osama bin Laden or President Ahmidinijad, or the Judaism of extremist West Bank squatters and the Apartheid policies of their government.

Ditto for any Bhuddist practitioners within the military junta government of Myammar (formerly Burma when a British colony and a name still preferred by the very brave Ahn San Sui Ky and her followers)

Don't you just know that the "swiftboat" crowd are trying to figure out how to call Barack Obama a "nigger, Islamofascist, liberal, humanist, traitor without being so obviouos in the labeling? Hillary is "that bitch", Dennis Kucinich is "the Munchkin moonbat who believes in UFO's", while John Edwards is "queer" because he got an expensive haircut and Ann Coulter says so. What a waste of bandwidth!

Religion (spirituality) is incompatible with corporatism (materialism).

Materialism to the extent that it seeks to exclude the spiritual is EVIL.

The embodiment of EVIL is Auschwitz. Auschwitz was about PROFIT (Mammon). Auschwitz was a slave work camp created for a the profits of a German chemical corporation. Spiritual Jews (the intellectuals) were gassed because they were not materially useful to the Nazi Masters. The Nazis pulled the gold-filled teeth from the skulls of the gassed corpes, the only thing that the Nazis considered materially valuable. A system that values human beings only for their material benefit to owners is Auschwitz.

It's time to turn the Christians against the System.

It's time to destroy Auschwitz.

Thy Kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done!

Christianity is worse than it looks on the surface, it is likely this religion is one of the largest frauds ever put over on humankind. They founded themselves in concert with an Emperor and with his authority burned and destroyed centuries of knowledge including that of the Inner Mysteries that were a part of what the Gnostic Christians had taken from the pagan. Read 'The Jesus Mysteries' for a lay version of the research. It was certainly an eye opener for me. When we wonder why Christians seem so unthinking, it is because they are literalists in their faith. Thinking is not in it.

MarcAl,

Amen brother. Oh wait, strike that.

This is about as accurate a FOX news mantra as I have seen. The only thing left out is that women are bad, especially any successful one.

America is a christan nation. Please read Deuteronomy ch. 20 verses 15-17. I am not a christan and hold no convictions for the bible. But I am a historian and know why the great slaughter of Indians took place. and why we have went to war countless times in the name of the christian god, to secure "the land which the lord thy god doth give thee.

Provided George Bush isn't as stupid as he looks, his christianity is nothing but a dirty trick that all too easily went down with the true believers thirsting for divine justice. His only God is Oil. And if this ain't so, if he himself is one of the wacko's, then he is just a puppet safely in the hands of his vice Dick.

Bush the Christian is responsible for, conservatively, 100,000 deaths including his wars, executions, and those left to die by his policies. Christianity is a bloody, murdering religion by any measure. Millions have died in the name of Jesus, but despite this reign of blood, the world is becoming less religious. Our greatest current danger is that the war between Islam and Christianity will plunge us into another worldwide orgy of killing and another dark age. We are on the brink.

DANIEL DAVID

"a real balanced Christian in the White House" - His/her religous affiliation should be completely irrelevant and preferably unknown. What matters is how s/he skippers the ship of state, how s/he improves the lot of its citizens.

Man, these religious fundies are a tiresome, odious lot!
Who let them out of their cages?

It'd be nice if Republicans could enjoy this irony too ......... but then they wouldn't be Republicans, would they?

What's interesting is the number of people thinking that if you're not religious or if you don't believe in god...then you have no reason to be good and therefore aren't. I try to be a decent, honest individual yet don't believe in god. It's interesting that people think I'm a standup person, but are truly amazed when they find out I'm a non-believer. Crazy...and common...like our planet.

Since 1/20/01, I've realized I'm an atheist.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

and vetoing U.N. resolutions against 666

So Comarc, I suppose you never make generalization about say, Republicans?

This was sent to me by a (former?) Republican friend.

To be a Republican you need to believe:

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him , a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Viet Nam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our
business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in
perpetuity).

16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.

17. Support hunters who shoot their friends and blame them for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.

Its amazing how narrow and closed most minds are. And I'm not talking about Republicans. Mention the word "Christian" on CD, and watch the closed, narrow minds make the same idiotic comments.

As usual, any attempt to talk about a billion or more people by referring to them with the same stupid stereotypes is just pure BS. The world is full of individuals. Start dealing with them that way instead of trying to talk about 'christians' as if you could say anything at all that would apply to a billion or more individuals all at once.

Just stop this nonsense of talking is such crude stereotypes where you think you can describe a billion or more individuals with crude think so shallow and short it can fit on a bumper sticker. Usually you can't describe a single individual that way.

Anytime you see anyone who's trying to talk in stereotypes like this, realize that they are trying to BS you. For instance, if you think any of the above has any semblance to reality, then go to the School of the Americas protest and get your mind blown by the Christians you'll meet there.

BTW, I'm not a Christian. Just a free-thinking who realized a long time ago that anyone thinking in talking in stereotypes is an idiot to be ignored and avoided.

He missed the part about there not being any environmental problems at all, just too many regulations. Oh, Yes, and that we have the best medical system in the world that's on the verge of curing all disease. And that we're not running out of oil... and... the part about just saying.. NO.

just don`t let God kick the two bit Pinocchio studs in the ass on their way out !

Smell (and love) the sarcasm.. great article.

All this noise about Christians...
Could anyone please tell me what the shrub has done that actually has some semblance of the purported teachings of Christ?
Just curious.

Brilliant satirical writing. What is scary is when you really think about these ARE the mantras that are repeated ad nauseum, every day by both the conservative hate radio machine and, in different forms, by the mainstream media. And the most effective propaganda techniques are those simple mindless slogans repeated endlessly.

God speaks to the president- but he is not listening.
"THOU SHALL NOT KILL"
"Thou shall not steal or covet they neighbors oil...

The religious wrong have no idea what real Christianity is, and they clearly have not read anything Jesus said, or their reading comprehension is severely lacking.

I'm very happy knowing that, finally, Americans have come to the realization that the crap, lies and distortions started by Reagan, continued by Republicans and perpetuated by neocons is a ruse for their benefit and a disaster for everyone else.

Is a balanced Christian one who doesn't believe the hundreds of really head-rattling nutty things in the Bible, or one who has also learned enough to keep his mouth shut about all that bizarre stuff he believes until it's time to choose his cabinet?

I heard that voice! Get thee away from me Satan.

Was this a comic experiment article?

We don't need any Christians, or any businessmen in the White House. We need people who are honest. We've got all the laws any country could have. What we need is honest politicians who can follow the law. Not because God tells them to or because it's good for business. But because it's the smart and the right thing to do. It's too bad that our current political system has nothing to do with honesty and everything to do defending religion and making money.
Hoa binh

President Jackass has made it way too easy to belittle christianity. The christian god is not the god of America, no matter what the Pledge of Allegiance sez. I wish they'd all just shut up about their gods and make appointments to see them at church or in their prayers. Their churches have no goddamned business in my state.

Making fun of Christianity is not a plan. What we should hope for is merely getting a real balanced Christian in The White House. Yes, Barack fits that bill.

It's time to change Gods.

The problem isn't Christianity, the problem is fundamentalist religion. It doesn't matter whether one is Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu, extremist religion is the issue. America's brand of Xianity is fundamentalist as a whole. Obviously there are churches and denominations that aren't but the core of the Christian right is evidently fundamentalist. This means that anyone seeking office and claiming to be Christian in America is probably trying to cuddle up to the evangelicals. I don't think America needs some whacko "Christian" in office again. Most people that publicly and loudly profess religion don't follow any of the positive parts of any religion and therefore should be treated with great suspicion. Its the 21st Century, personal religious belief is personal and not political, we ought to keep it that way.