IrnBru001's blog

The Conservatives' "Secular Problem"

2007-03-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

From Bill Scher, blogger for the Campaign for America's Future. An interesting post looking at the religion in politics issue from a different perspective.

A good quote:

Lots of ink has been spilled about how Democrats and liberals suffer from a "religion problem" -- a perceived hostility towards Christianity and religion in general. But Pew Research Center exit poll data from the 2006 midterm elections shows the opposite.

Democrats crushed Republicans among secular voters, broadly defined as those who attend church seldom (favoring Democrats 60% to 38%) or never (67% to 30%). Republicans retained strong support among those who attend church more than weekly. But among those who only go weekly -- the larger portion of the religious vote -- the Republican lead shrunk from 15 points to 7.

Read the whole thing here

More from Iraq

2007-02-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

More letters from Iraq

The people of Iraq are interesting. Many work here on the compound in a variety of positions. Some were previously employed here prior to the war, some since the war. It is rather sad to hear the man working as a translator was previously a college professor but can no longer teach now. He
described to me the University is technically still open but most of the faculty and students are too frightened to attend. Then last night I heard the militia again attacked the University and killed more staff. I have not had a chance to talk with him yet today.

The people working here are generally friendly. Most greet me with "Hello Mister". I respond back, or sometimes first, Kafahoulek (which basically means How are you today and is a standard greeting). They are a poor people, most wear the same clothes each day. Some of the men have suits, but
seem also to wear the same everyday. The clothes are clean and well cared for. Self pride in a land of chaos. I know food is limited, especially milk. Gasoline seems generally plentiful, but the gas stations are apparently run by the militias and present risks for the citizens each time the fill
up. Still seems to be a number of cars, not in good shape but run well and I have heard there is a thriving and fairly efficient underground market for auto supplies.

I watch the workers here at times. The living quarters here were once probably nice but now quite run down. I have heard many say the decay began to be very bad about 10 years ago, with the war adding more. Interestingly, most of the Iraqi's, and staff whom have been here for awhile, very
clearly point out, the first two years after the war, life was relatively stable and improving. the last two years, things have gotten much worse. Many theories.

The workers obviously take some pride in their work and attempt to run a good business. How many times can one clean a carpet though which should have been several years ago discarded? Cleaning with limited supplies and poor equipment, making do with creativity and effort. Again, self pride in a land which has lost so much. Impressive and sad at the same time.

Dance Monkey Dance

2007-02-25T20:11:00.000-05:00

More Iraq Letters

2007-02-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

From my friend in Iraq, the links I added myself

I was awaken a few nights ago by an odd combination of sounds. The first was a rooster crowing, although it was not yet day light. A relatively normal sound but overlayed was the sound of helicopters and machine gun fire. A combination of sounds that just really should not be.

Many of the officers here are "third country nationals". The U.S. and Britain are first country, other countries with actual military units here are second country. Third country then are those here with no formal military presence but supplying private security officers and contractors. (I believe that is the set up).

Everyone is badged and ID'd. Several from South Africa and New Zealand. The New Zealanders refer to themselves as "Kiwis" after their native bird. (Maori natives from New Zealand have a unique custom with each other of shaking hands while touching forehead to forehead). A complete melting pot. I have been impressed though as these officers are educated, experienced, friendly, well spoken, and quite honor bound. They are here to work hard and accomplish a task. Hearing of their own countries plights and pluses has been an experience.

Americans have a very centric view of themselves, Americans/we
are clearly not the only "civilized" people but we may be some of the more unrealistic. I also noticed passing through one checkpoint, the Gurkha tribesman manning that checkpoint are some of the most respected and feared fighters in the world; as has been the case for centuries.

The world is a complex place, in many ways and definitely more so than any previous conflict, played out in the stage of Baghdad. Sitting in the parking area of one major crossroads point, easily officers from 20-30 countries pass through every hour. An experience and an education.

Iraq Letters

2007-02-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

Interestingly enough a good friend of mine just went to Iraq. He agreed to supply me with a few updates during his time there, which I will post on this blog. This will be his thoughts, as a civilian, of what he sees and feels during his stay in Iraq.

IrnBru001,

Just thought I would drop you a note to say hello.

Life in downtown Baghdad is quite interesting. The base is kind of a tense place but functioning like it is suppose to I guess. The contrasts here, well the best word is surreal. As an example, driving in from the Baghdad airport to the base, wearing body armor and a helmet, riding in this heavily armed convoy of 4 vehicles, each vehicles with rifles pointing out the windows and the lead has a machine gun pointing out the back, driving through bombed and destroyed roads and buildings: then seeing on the side of the road an Iraqi woman walking holding hands with a small child and a man riding a bicycle with her (which made the officers in the convoy nervous), apparently just trying to live in the middle of chaos. Just doesn't seem to fit together, which I guess is the definition of surreal. An image I probably will not soon forget.

Overall, my role is going well, and I am staying safe.

I too am Spartacus

2007-02-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

The Edwards blogger thing is unfortunate. I'm a big fan of Pandagon, I even tried to write their wikipedia entry, but some rightwing-nuts deleted it.

Haven't read Shakespears's Sister as much but I've enjoyed what I've read.

I think its clear the media is at fault here. As long as they consider conservative talking points news worthy this stuff is going to happen.

What I'm not so clear about is how to feel about Edwards campaign. I mean they should have had a better understanding of the blogosphere before hiring bloggers. Pandagon is very unapologetic, snarky, and honest about their views. That is what has made Pandagon such a great blog.

It is clear that the public and the media still isn't ready to "take the gloves off" when dealing with the topic of religion. They still want to treat it as special and unquestionable. That is too bad.

Until we are able to discuss and criticize these institutions openly and critically, those who do question we be ostracized.

Al is Running!

2007-02-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

This falls into that "things I find online" category

2007-02-16T23:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Darwin Day!

2007-02-12T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Darwin Day a celebration of the life and works of Charles Darwin.

Want to know how you can celebrate?

Well here are a couple ideas:

Take the day off! (thats what I've done)

Join or renew you membership to a secular, atheist or pro-science group. Some good ones include: Center for Inquiry, American Atheists, Campaign to Defend the Constitution, or Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Go to a Darwin Day event

Buy a Darwin Fish for your car

Watch Richard Dawkins on CNN give Paula Zahn the smack down!

Read one of the great works of Charles Darwin

Spread the good cheer with this "Darwin Day Card"<center><br /><h3>Happy Darwin Day!</h3><br /><br />From <a href="http://www.irnbru01.com/">IrnBru001.com</a></center>

Or if you're in DC like me join me with a visit to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History

Enjoy the day, having evolved so far we deserve it!

More on the CNN story.

2007-02-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

Richard Dawkins is appearing on CNN in response to the outrage cause by the clip I referred to below.

He will be appearing on the Paula Zahn show Monday the 12th (which is Darwin Day btw) hopefully to give voice to our outrage. I believe he will be on the 8EST show.

Here is part of the horrendous segment, for those who are too lazy to click the other day's link : ).

If I ever seem militant its things like this that cause it.

2007-02-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

Everything about this makes me sick

A MUST WATCH

Wow... I think I have a new favorite blog

2007-02-06T17:08:00.000-05:00

Dwindling In Unbelief

Found this from a great Jesus' General post. Dwindling In Unbelief is from Steve Well, the Editor of the Skeptic's Annotated Bible/Quran/Book of Mormon, which is the best annotated version of the Bible (and Quran and Book of Mormon) I've ever found. I really have been waiting quite a while for a print version.

Dwindling in Unbelief's newest post is this great video featuring Richard Dawkins.

Minimum Wage Clear Senate

2007-02-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday a bill increasing the minimum wage passed in the senate. The two bills from the House and Senate are different, and these differences will have to be resolved. Both bills do raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $7.25/hour over 26 months, however the Senate version includes tax breaks for small businesses.

A great step in the right direction. It will be interesting to see if the House will be idealists and reject the added tax cuts. More interesting would be if Bush vetoed it, but with so much support behind the bill (only three wingnuts voted against the Senate bill), its unlikely to get vetoed.

So congrats fellow Americans we're finally getting a raise!

Conservatives Try to Destroy the Minimun Wage

2007-02-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm about week late on this one. Still worth posting because, its extremely telling, and there is a good chance you didn't know it happened.

The 100 Hours agenda is now in the hands of the Senate.

Madame Speaker Pelosi and the house democrats stood together passing clean, strong and progressive bills. Accomplishing this in the Senate is where the campaign faces its toughest challenge.

Already we've seen the right-wing conservatives demanding us to "Stay the Course"... or worse.

Bob Geiger and the AFL-CIO Blog broke this important story.

Two weeks ago 28 ultra-conservative Senators attempted to completely eliminate the minimum wage.

Brazenly ignoring the clear demands of the voters, they didn't just try to stop the much needed minimum wage increase, they wanted to destroy the federal minimum wage all together.

It is time working America gets their long over due raise. No, it's past time and we need to make that clear.

As Senator Jim Webb so eloquently stated in his rebuttal to President Bush's State of the Union....

Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action.... If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.

So the same goes for Senator Republicans. Follow the will of the people, or we will be showing you the way.

State of Delusion

2007-02-01T17:54:00.000-05:00

Great new video from CAF

I know my blogging has been too light these weeks. I have at least two posts in my head and will try to get them out later tonight!

finally!

2007-01-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day for the American worker and the American economy, as the House passed a long overdue raise in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

Bill Scher

Who supports more troops?

2007-01-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

From Jesus' General

How it unfolded: Swearing in on the Quran

2007-01-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

Newly elected U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) was sworn in on January 04. The right wing fundamentalists were up in arms when they heard what was going to happen. Rep. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress, wanted to use the Quran, and not the Bible, for his unofficial swearing in ceremony.

As I blogged early, my thoughts on this idea were mixed. As I stated the right wingnuts response was horrible, screaming of intolerance and fundamentalism.

My reservation were rooted in my deep belief in a secular society, regardless of the faith. But Rep. Ellison, handled the whole "controversy" with grace and class.

At this unofficial swearing in Rep. Ellison used a copy of the Quran once owned by the, great champion of Separation of Church and State, Thomas Jefferson.

The Wall of Separation provided a great quote from Rep. Ellison from the event.

“The very foundation of our nation, the authors of our Constitution impressed, is religious freedom, and the use of Jefferson’s Quran shows that the founders not only knew of the Quran but also used it,” Ellison said during his swearing-in ceremony.

While I still hope that some day, even in purely ceremonial, yet political events, we no longer feel the need to insert our personal religious believes. As the paradigm of American politics and society now stands, there would have hardly been a better out come.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T03:21:00.000-05:00

More video cause I'm not feeling the muse.

This one is timely and from Pam Spaulding of Pandagon and Pam's House Blend

Al Franken in 2008?

2006-12-31T16:06:00.000-05:00

From Google video:

Minnesota born Al Franken became politically minded when he was just a boy growing up with such role models as Hubert Humphrey, a champion for civil rights before he was even born. As an adult Franken became a member of the Democratic Farmer Labor Party supporting Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone up until his death in 2002. Franken contemplates his place amongst other showbiz types who became politicians if he were to run for office

John Edwards Announces His Campaign for President

2006-12-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

Its too soon to say who'd I support in the primary but I'll be watching Edwards closely.

Saddam is dead

2006-12-29T22:56:00.000-05:00

This blog, isn't and nor am I, an expert in international politics but I feel I should say something. Saddam was a horrible dictator and I am glad he is now gone. I do fear of this being a martyrdom for the extremist homegrown terrorists in Iraq. I also don't support capital punishment, for many reasons, which are not as simple as it might seem (I'm not a hippy ;).

But I do hope, for our servicemen and women, including my brother, and for many innocent Iraqis this will be a turning point. Turning towards the better.

I am glad he is gone.

"The Great Risk Shift" & Health Care for All

2006-12-29T22:09:00.000-05:00

The Campain for America's Future recently hosted an event with Professor Jacob S. Hacker touting his new book The Great Risk Shift.

Hacker's new book, The Great Risk Shift, describes the "assault on American jobs, families, health care and retirement" by corporations eager to off-load costly responsibilities. Beyond analysis, Hacker describes new progressive policies to reverse the great risk shift and forge a new social contract for economic security and opportunity.

Here is the highlights video

Short and great to get the gist of it

For those why are really interested (and you should be) here is the full video of the event.

Center for American Progress

2006-12-27T19:14:00.000-05:00

New Ads from the Center for American Progress

I wonder if these are getting TV play too. It's only 25 secs so I doubt it.

Swearing in on the Quran?

2006-12-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

The right wing fundamentalists are up in arms over the fact that Minnesota congressman-elect will, in his unofficial ceremony, swear in on the Quran and not the Bible.

Now it's clear that the wing-nut outrage over this is nothing more then bigotry, and ethno-religious centrism. It isn't however clear what the appropriate response should be.

This is a tough issue for a committed secularist. How do I resolve the conflict between wanting a tolerant multi-cultural society, with my dislike of mixing religion and politics?

I am, on the one hand, disgusted and un-shocked, by the reaction of those on the extreme right. This is not a Christian country, and shouldn't be, but many don't realize the desire, by some, to make it one.

On the other hand it bothers me that any public official, Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise, would take an oath of public office, regardless how ceremonial, on a religious text. There is, as enshrined in our constitution, no religious test for public office, let's not add one.

It is fine that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison is Muslim. There is no reason why a Muslim would be any less (or more) qualified to served as an elected official. As a democrat, and a Minnesotan, I'm thrilled he is in office. I would however prefer religion stay in the heart, and home....not in politics.

If this is truly to become a multicultural society, as I hope it will, we should be separating religion from politics entirely.

Public School teacher: Jesus or eternal damnation

2006-12-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,” Paszkiewicz was recorded as saying. “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered you pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.”

Yuck. Yet its the student, who has exposed this anti-American fundaments, who is getting the threats.

In this tale of the teacher who preached in class and the pupil he offended, students and the larger community have mostly lined up with Mr. Paszkiewicz, not with Matthew, who has received a death threat handled by the police, as well as critical comments from classmates.

Greice Coelho, who took Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class and is a member of his youth group, said in a letter to The Observer, the local weekly newspaper, that Matthew was “ignoring the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gives every citizen the freedom of religion.” Some anonymous posters on the town’s electronic bulletin board, Kearnyontheweb.com, called for Matthew’s suspension.

The First Amendment does not give special right to Christians. The teacher, in the public school system, is acting as a employee of the state. He is using his position of authority to establish a religion in a public place.

The First Amendment, in fact the American ideal, it to prevent the tyranny of the majority, especially in religious contexts. To forget this is un-American.

Ny Times via The Wall of Separation

2006 Weblog Awards

2006-12-15T15:49:00.000-05:00

It's a little late in the process, but you can still vote today.

Here are my recommendations for the 2006 weblog awards.

Best Blog - Daily Kos

Best Individual Blog - Glenn Greenwald (this is the hardest choice there are a number of good blogs in this category)

Best Online Community - Daily Kos

Best Liberal Blog - Pandagon (again a hard choice I read all of them on a regular basis)

Best Centrist Blog - The Moderate Voice

Best LGBT Blog - Pam's House Blend

Best of the Top 250 Blogs - Feministe

"pushing a particular virulent worldview down the throats of people who are helpless to argue against it,"

2006-12-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

Guess who the quote is referring to, The US Military or Al Qaeda?

Unfortunately it's drawing a comparison between the two. From Yahoo, via TomPaine.com

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has suggested there is a core of Christian extremists in the U.S. Military and the Pentagon.

These empowered Fundamentalists (IMO they get this label for trying to undermine the separation of church and state) are "using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity"

Maybe the "there are no atheists in foxholes" saying is actually true. True because our service men and women are being forced to become Christians.

More Dorkiness Less Machismo

2006-12-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

G4 Tv is messing up. Instead of being a safe haven for nerd, geeks, and dorks, they are trying to become a second Spike TV. I don't know why they are doing this. I've always seen dorkdom and the uber-macho as opposites. The kids getting beat up and those doing the beating.

This new faux-ad is indicative of this change and the problem.

Via Jessica at Feministing

Don't appeal to a stereotypical idea of manliness, appeal to our nerdiness! We have a Spike TV, and we still need something to watch when the internet is down!

This sucks.

2006-12-04T10:36:00.000-05:00

This sucks.
If any thing should be socialized and internationalized it should be the internet.

The War on Christmas

2006-12-02T23:40:00.000-05:00

This stuff amuses me. I've never understood this extreme paranoia the right-wing has. This notion that they are a persecuted minority and that the big scary secular progressives are out to destroy America.

Though it doesn't seem as bad as it was last year, the talking heads are still talking about it.

From MediaMatters:

On the November 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly continued to hype the so-called "war" on Christmas by claiming that retailers Best Buy and Crate & Barrel are "still ordering their people not to say, 'Merry Christmas,' " and that the stores "will fire" employees who do. O'Reilly also asserted that "ordering" employees "not to say 'Merry Christmas' " is "the worst kind of fascism you could possibly have." In fact, representatives of both stores have denied having policies that forbid employees to say "Merry Christmas" to customers.

Inclusiveness is fascism?

If Billo had done any research, say called the stores for a clarification, he would have found the facts. But he of course doesn't want the facts he wants to feel persecuted. Wants to legitimize the paranoia of this listeners.

I can understand why he does it. It sells. There real question is "Why are the fundamentalists so paranoid that they buy it?"

Robert Borosage's new post

2006-12-01T11:39:00.000-05:00

The co-director of the Campaign for America's Future has a new post up on DailyKos.

When the first woman Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, takes office, it will mark a new day for Congress. Pelosi will drive new rules through the House to help curb the corruptions of the DeLay Congress. She has Democrats prepared to pass her "100 hour program," anchored in bread and butter, common sense issues - raise the minimum wage, halve interest rates on student loans, negotiate lower drug prices, revoke subsides to big oil and invest in renewable energy. A broad range of progressive groups will mobilize across the country to insure this agenda passes to the Senate with public support at its back. This will mark a sea change from the corrupt, corporate lobby-driven agenda of the DeLay congress.

Read the rest here

"CNN's Dangerous Blowhard"

2006-11-28T12:44:00.000-05:00

Man is that an accurate title.

Glenn Beck is a CNN Headline News "anchor". I've disliked him for a while now. There are a lot of reasons not to like him. As Jeff Cohen at TomPaine.com says, Glenn Beck is "a loudmouthed, factually-challenged, occasionally funny know-it-all." He is of the O'Reilly mold, where facts don't count and you can win an argument by yelling louder.

Then there is the now infamous "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." question he asked of representative elect Keith Ellison, the first muslim elected to congress.

But the thing that really bothers me about him is that he always seems to be on! Wikipedia says his show airs nightly at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, repeating at 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.. That would explain why seems that everytime I'm looking for news I run into him.

I guess I should stick to blogs.

Happy Feat "Anti-Human" Propaganda?

2006-11-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

Haven't seen it, probably won't but this seems a little far fetched. Actually it screams of a persecution complex that is all to common in the right-wing fundamentalist camp.

Read more about how penguins hate America

Makes me wonder what we would have heard about other seemingly innocuous films or children's entertainment if the right-wing noise machine had been in full swing for longer.

Post Election

2006-11-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted any "post election" stuff. I spent the night in Rochester watching the election results come in. It was big night of democratic wins for the Rochester area.

For national stuff Bob Borosage of the Campaign for America's Future and Stan Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research have a video discussing a poll showing the progressive wins in this election.

The poll, ad examples and the full video from the event at here

To those who say back alley abortions don't happen

2006-11-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

Unsafe abortions in the developing world kill 68,000 women a year, research suggests

The article does say that this number includes both legal and back alley abortion. It doesn't say what percentage of these fatalities come from what.

"The most effective way of eliminating this highly preventable cause of maternal illness and death, would be to make safe and legal abortion services available and accessible.

"A second, more immediately achievable, goal is to prevent unintended pregnancies in the first place through improved contraception use."

Seems pretty clear that what ever the number of these come from legal, yet still unsafe, the conclusion is making contraception widely available, abortion legal and improving safety, is the way to lower this number.
Though the fundies draw a different conclusion

The burden of the study is clearly to promote the killing of more unborn babies in poorer countries, regardless of the fact that women do not want abortions

Paul Tully

Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

Read the whole article

The War on Xmas Starts Eairly this Year

2006-11-20T11:23:00.000-05:00

It's bad enough that the Xmas sale season seems to start around Labor Day. Now the being anti Christian-bigotry is anti-Christian bigotry crowd is starting the culture war early. It not even Thanksgiving and the right wing noise machine is screaming about people destroying Xmas.

onegoodmove, on the Daily Show, on the O'Riley Factor

Facts for 2006

2006-10-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Netroots "canvassing"

Richard Dawkins on the Colbert Report

2006-10-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

Richard Dawkins was on the Colbert Report last night promoting his new book The God Delusion. He did well. Got booed by the audience, which just reaffirms how intolerant America is of Atheists. An Atheist gets booed even on a show like Colbert. The book should be interesting, Dawkins' work usually is. I like how the book had a reflective cover. I wonder that was done to "show the god delusion". God created in the likeness of man. Anyways buy the book and watch the video on onegoodmove.

UPDATE: Here it is on YouTube

David Kuo's Interviews

2006-10-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

Crony Conservatism – Corruption Putting our Children at Risk

2006-10-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

The spin and damage control has already begun. This morning conservative pundits, are trying the same tired old strategy. When in trouble, blame it on “the gays”. As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council states, "…when you hold up tolerance and diversity, this is what you end up getting." Saddening, but unsurprising that even in the face of such an outrage as a Congressmen using his position of power to prey on our children, zealot conservatives go into attack mode blaming everyone but those at fault.

Despite arguments that a repressive and intolerant ideology, that is radical moral conservative, made a breeding ground for this behavior (another case of ‘priests syndrome’) there is a legitimate and very real responsibly that falls on the shoulders of the republican leadership. Once again, instead of looking out for those whom they are to serve, the Republican power machine only protected their own interests.

This GOP leadership has taken care of itself only, and failed the American people time and time again. This has consequences for America. Due to the corruption and cronyism in the conservative elites there is increased terrorism, hundreds of thousands stranded in the Gulf, kids priced out of college, senior citizens unable to pay for their medications, an continued demand on foreign oil….

In each case Republicans have put the interests of the few, their friends, major donors, business partners, above the needs of the many. Republican’s sold out our senior citizens to the Pharmaceutical industry. They raised student loan rates for the profit of creditors. They let political a crony handle important emergency relief services. Sold the War in Iraq to the highest bidder, or prevented bidding at all to ensure profit for their own. And now, allowed an unknown number of perverse sexual advances on congressional pages, because they covered up for their fellow representative instead of bringing him to justice, at the first sign of impropriety.

The foundation of this Republican Party, shown time and time again, is not the needs of the people or the best interests of the country, but the rich, big business, and their cronies. It’s time for those in power, who continue to perpetuate this corruption, to step down.

This was a good entry!

2006-09-24T19:04:00.000-04:00

Cool Magic Trick!!!

2006-09-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

This is my magic trick. I make a donut hole dissapear. All I've used is one donut hole, my cell phone and this website: www.nodonuthole.com

Video from yesterday's Straight Talk Live

2006-09-03T09:59:00.000-04:00

As promised the video from Straight Talk Live

Katrina

2006-08-29T12:59:00.000-04:00

One year ago Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. I was living in Rochester, MN at the time, far away from the waters. I watched the news and saw the tragic response to Katrina. The response as others have pointed out was not an accident. It was not a surprise. It was a direct expression of the conservative governing strategy of Bush and the "my goal is to cut government ... down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub"-republicans in Congress.

Soon after landfall I moved to DC. The area was still a mess and people were still trying to relocate. I took a train out to DC and on the way meet two people who were trying to escape the city. They had gone to a couple other places already and were looking for a new home. Going to live with one of their mothers if I remember correctly. They had nothing with them from New Orleans except the cloths there were still wearing.

The storm was a horrible event, the response was the disaster.

Lots of people are talking about the event today. Campaign for America's Future has a bunch of stuff up on the new Straight Talk Live. No video yet this week but it's coming : ).

A Letter to the Editor

2006-08-22T10:30:00.000-04:00

Joe Loserman

Lamont's upset victory sends a clear message.

Voters are turning against the failed policies of the Bush administration,
and the Congress that has rubber stamped them - particularly the debacle
in Iraq.

Lieberman says he wants to go to Washington to "get things done." But
he's already been getting things done. He's the champion of the Iraq war,
corporate trade deals, capital gains tax cuts, off-the book stock options,
privatization of Social Security, and political interference in Terry
Schaivo's private tragedy.

In refusing to heed the verdict of the voters, Joe Lieberman just doesn't
get it.

As Joe has done in the past he'll put his own selfish desire to stay in
the Senate above all else.

"Holy Joe" made a sports analogy in his "concession" speech last night.
But Joe this isn't the first half of a match. It's the play offs and
there is no double elimination.

Joe hasn't just turned against the Democratic party, he has turned against
Democracy.

New Videos from Campaign for America's Future

2006-08-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

Take Back America

2006-06-02T17:17:00.000-04:00

From CAF: If you like what you see, register
to come and be a part of Take Back America 2006 yourself.
This year's conference kicks off one week from next Monday (June
12^th - 14^th, 2006). GO »

I'll be there will you?

What is a Progressive?

2006-05-19T15:51:00.000-04:00

From CAF: If you had 30 seconds (roughly 100 words) to answer the question, "What is a progressive?", what would you say? Share your answer with us, and you could win a trip for two to Washington DC, for Take Back America 2006 (June 12-14th), the year's largest gathering of progressives. GO »

Essembly

2006-02-27T17:33:00.000-05:00

There is a new social networking site on the block but this one won't help you find a 45 year old stalker boyfriend.

Essembly is a social networking site specifically geared for politics and ideas. The site uses "resolves," which are simple statements on one side of an issue, and has people vote on whether they agree, lean-agree, lean-disagree or disagree with the issue. Then your votes get compared to the votes of other individuals to see if you are ideologically similar or not, sorta like OkCupid finds matches.

One of the good things about this site is that they are actually working with real organizations, like the Campaign for America's Future that I talk so much about, so that these organizations can have a real and organized presence on the site. The site is a bit addictive, more so even then MySpace! At this point the site is by invite only as it's still in a beta form. I have a couple invitations I could share, but you'd have to ask nicely. Either way keep an eye open for the site and I'll post about it again as it develops.

Defining Progressive Free Trade

2006-02-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday there was an interesting debate put on by the Campaign for America's Future. The discussion was between two leading Democratic thinkers and authors, Gene Sperling and Jeff Faux. The debate was entitled: Defining a Progressive Economic Strategy for America's Future. Gene Sperling was Clinton’s national economic advisor and Jeff Faux was the founder of the Economic Policy Institute.

I was there and found the debate interesting but a bit over my head. I'll let you make your own decisions about their arguments.

Transcript of the debate (PDF)

Wal-Mart must pay workers $172m

2005-12-23T12:34:00.000-05:00

Clips:

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been ordered to pay $172m (£99m) in compensation to workers who were refused lunch breaks.

It ordered Wal-Mart to pay $57m in general damages and $115m in punitive damages.

BBC NEWS

Clear Channel Helps Wal-Mart Hide its Devastating Business Practices

2005-12-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

There is a new twist in Campaign for America's Future’s Wal-Mart slogan campaign. Clear Channel, the owner of the billboard on which the winning Wal-Mart slogan was to go, has rejected the billboard content. The CAF email is below and it explains what happened.

The winning billboard slogan is Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time. Rejecting the ideal of free market capitalism, as well as freedom of speech, Clear Channel decided to side with the interests of cronyism and partisanship once again to deny the Campaign for America's Future’s billboard.

Clear Channel doesn’t get much text on the blogosphere and I think that should change. Clear Channel, as you may know, makes no efforts to hide its political and corporate bias. The example are numerous (link , link , link , link) Its also has close ties to the republican party including holding "patriotic rallies" which in fact were little more then pro-bush rallies. source In the 2004 election Clear Channel gave “$42,200 to Bush, vs. $1,750 to likely Democratic nominee John Kerry”. Worse yet is that Clear Channel’s “executives and Clear Channel's political action committee gave 77% of their $334,501 in federal contributions to Republicans. That's a bigger share than any other entertainment company….” source . Would it also surprise you that on 12.06.2004 the AP press reported that Clear Channel starting using Fox News Radio as its “primary source of national news”?

Clear Channel is a shining example of the money hungry, biased MSM, and it time we start talking about it.

The email:

Dear IrnBru001,
Clear Channel Censors the Truth about Wal-Mart!

Displaying clear political bias, Clear Channel has censored our progressive community's fact-based message about Wal-Mart. Censorship of facts cannot be tolerated in a free society. One man, Bob Sadler, has claimed the license to silence our voice. Please, send him an email and demand that he support freedom of speech and tell him not to censor facts about Wal-Mart. GO»

After allowing us to reserve a billboard less than a mile from Wal-Mart’s World HQ, Clear Channel has refused to accept our ad, censoring the message that you selected about Wal-Mart. Bob Sadler, Clear Channel’s Fort Smith, Ark., division president, unilaterally made the decision. To try to rationalize his censorship, he forwarded a copy of Clear Channel’s official content review policy which stated:

"I wish I could offer objective guidelines for reviewing copy, but I can’t. Frankly, I think these kinds of issues need to be viewed the way Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart approached a very controversial pornography case many years ago: "You know it when you see it."

This is outrageous. Our ad isn’t pornography. It is a clear statement of the truth about Wal-Mart. Mr. Sadler is suppressing free speech out of fear of offending Wal-Mart.

Clear Channel owns more billboards than any other company in America and over 1,200 radio stations nationwide. It is simply outrageous that they would use this power to suppress speech -- even a message that we are prepared to pay for. We have to let Clear Channel know that their censorship is unacceptable. Please send an email to Bob Sadler, the man who rejected your billboard, and demand that he not suppress speech to placate Wal-Mart.

http://www.ourfuture.org/No_Censorship.cfm

Clear Channel has a distinct right-wing political bias. Right after the 2004 elections when emotions were still running high, Clear Channel sponsored a billboard with an image of President Bush next to the words “Our Leader.” In addition, the company’s political action committee gave 75% of its donations to Republicans from 2000-2002, and Clear Channel’s founder, Lowry Mays, a close friend of the Bush family, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans. [1]

Clear Channel executives are entitled to their own political views, but the company must not be allowed to suppress views that conflict with right-wing ideology on its billboards. Billboards are a public media. Clear Channel owns more of them than any other company. It cannot be allowed to leverage its ownership for partisan political purposes, or to suppress the truth.

The ability of a major communications corporation to censor information clearly infringes on the marketplace of ideas. One man, Bob Sadler, has claimed the license to silence our voice. Please, send him an email and demand that he support freedom of speech and tell him not to censor facts about Wal-Mart.

http://www.ourfuture.org/No_Censorship.cfm

As you know, “Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time” isn’t just rhetoric, it's reality. Within the first five years of Wal-Mart’s arrival in nearly 1,800 U.S. counties, an average of four small businesses, one mid-sized store and one large store go out of business. [2] And, rather than generating substantial new business, Wal-Mart takes 84% of its business from existing stores, closing down stores on Main Streets across America. [3]

No one censors Wal-Mart’s multi-million dollar ad campaigns. No one stops Wal-Mart from painting its workers as happy, without noting that they are paid so little that most can’t afford health care for their kids.

Wal-Mart’s market power should not be able to suppress the truth. The billboard we submitted is grounded in fact -- facts the American people and Wal-Mart executives need to know. Please, send an email to Bob Sadler and tell him that the message on our billboard isn’t just rhetoric, it’s a harsh reality that needs to be exposed and corrected.

http://www.ourfuture.org/No_Censorship.cfm

We pledge to you that Clear Channel will not stop us from getting your message out. We are now pursuing legal options against Clear Channel. In addition, we’re going to develop alternatives to take the message that Clear Channel censored across the country. We’re going to enlist more allies in challenging Clear Channel and in getting this important message out. Please, forward this email to friends and family, point out this injustice and encourage them to take action in this first step of that effort.

http://www.ourfuture.org/No_Censorship.cfm

Thank you so much for all you do.

Sincerely,

Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

[1] G.R. Anderson Jr., “Clear Channel Rules the World.” City Pages. Vol. 26, Issue 1263, February 16, 2005.

[2] Emek Basker, "Job Creation or Destruction? Labor-Market Effects of Wal-Mart Expansion", By , University of Missouri, Review of Economics & Statistics, February 2005, http://www.missouri.edu/~baskere/papers/

[3] Thomas Muller and Elizabeth Humstone, "What Happened When Wal-Mart Came to Town? A Report on Three Iowa Communities with a Statistical Analysis of Seven Iowa Counties", National Trust For Historic Preservation, 1996. Quoted in "Store Wars," PBS http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/chat_transcript.html

Petition to Filibuster PATRIOT Act

2005-12-09T14:50:00.000-05:00

People for the American Way have an important campaign to stop the PATRIOT act from being reauthorized.
House and Senate leaders are very close to reauthorizing the PATRIOT act allowing this civil rights catastrophe to continue. PFAW have organized a petition to pressure our senators to filibuster the signing of this act.

Sign the petition here

From the PFAW email:

If passed:

the Justice Department will retain the authority to investigate American citizens without judicial oversight, a power that is invoked more than 30,000 times each year.

the government will still be able to search individuals' private property without notifying them.

authorities will still be able to search citizens' library records, medical records, school records, and financial records virtually unchecked by the judiciary.
The Senate has an opportunity to take a stand for one of Americans' most cherished traditions --the right to be free from government intrusion.

Article: A History of (Pro-Life) Violence

2005-12-01T12:27:00.000-05:00

This was a good article so here is a quote and a link

The problem is that unborn children eventually get born and must live in the actual world. In this sense, "pro-lifers" are like the baby daddies of the spiritual world: full of promised love for the abstraction, and nowhere to be found when the kid shows up. They don't want to deal with the fact that some children in this country grow up starved of love, and warped by poverty.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/28838/

Wal-Mart Slogan Contest UPDATE

2005-12-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

The finalists have been named! As I first blogged, Campaign for America's Future is having a contest to find the best Wal-Mart slogan to put on a billboard very near Wal-Mart corporate office in Bentonville AR. The finalists have now been named and now we get to vote on our favorite of these ten finalist to decide which one goes on the billboard. Vote here!

The ten finalists are:

Wal-Mart: A Living Wage is Worth the Price. Always!

Made in America by Wal-Mart (They say “The final design for this billboard would show deserted, boarded-up American downtown overlaid by the slogan: "Made in America by Wal-Mart" “)

Wal-Mart: Profits for China, Foodstamps for Americans!

Wal-Mart: Prices so Low, They Hurt – Everyone!

Wal-Mart: Could YOU live on $8.23 an hour?

Wal-Mart: Where Low Prices Cost Taxpayers Billions!

Wal-Mart: Our Employees Pay MORE So You Don’t Have To!

Wal-Mart: Made in China for $0.18 an Hour

Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time!

Wal-Mart: I’m smiling because I am a government-sanctioned monopoly

I’m a little sad my suggestion didn’t get picked “Wal-Mart: King of the “We’d like to pay you less but legally we can’t” wage” but it is a bit long.
Vote here!

WAL-MART SLOGAN CONTEST

2005-11-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

The efforts to cause change at Wal-Mart have just stepped up a notch.Campaign for America's Future is having a contest where you get to submit a slogan to be placed on a billboard near Wal-Mart’s headquarters. This is part of the ongoing efforts of many organizations to fix Wal-Mart. The DC premier of WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price was last night (I didn’t get to go). It seems like it went very well, no confrontation with Wal-Mart execs trying to video tape the movie but…. Also there are many house parties to screen the movie coming up. There is also list of screenings if you want to find one in your area.

From the site:

Take Action to Fix Wal-Mart

Below are five ways to help confront the hidden high costs of Wal-Mart's deceptive "low-price" image, and stand up for America's workers, family businesses and communities.

WAL MART SLOGAN CONTEST

Send a message to Wal-Mart's executives and shareholders through our Wal-Mart slogan contest! Submit the winning slogan, and we'll publish it in two key spots:
A prominent billboard located one mile from Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters, and A highly-trafficked website in time for the holiday shopping season.

Please submit your slogan today, and help expose the truth about Wal-Mart!

Contest Rules & Guidelines

Your slogan should expose something true about Wal-Mart in a creative way. Remember, this is meant to be thought-provoking not obscene or slanderous! (ex. "Wal-Mart: Poverty Wages for Workers. Always!")

The shorter the better. Remember, this needs to fit on a billboard!

You can submit as many slogans as you like before 11:59pm EST, on Friday November 25th — "Black Friday," the largest shopping day of the year.

We'll announce 10 finalists the last week of November. Everyone will be invited to vote online to select a winner in early December.

Other Wal-Mart actions:

Find a screening of WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price near you

Purchase a copy of WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price

Write your member of Congress to co-sponsor legislation that will keep Wal-Mart from passing taxpayers the buck on healthcare.

Write your local government to find out what subsidies Wal-Mart is given and demand that those subsidies end.

Write a letter to the editor of your local news media to help further expose the high costs of Wal-Mart's low price.

Frist supports giving CIA prisons free authority to do what ever they want to prisoners

2005-11-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

This is a scary article. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is only concerned about suppressing whistleblowers and not about the legitimate issues raised by those whistleblowers. He supports turning a blind eye to possible crimes committed in the secret CIA detention centers. Read the whole article its scary: link

Delay's dirty money

2005-11-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

Campaign for America's Future is doing another cool campaign. Now they are doing a petition drive to try and force those who took money from ARMPAC to give the money to help Katrina survivors. It’s a great idea. It is another way to let our representatives take a side, to prove if they stand with the people, or they stand with Delay and his web of corruption.
Two links for this campaign.
One to sign the petition: link
…and two to see who took money from ARMPAC and who has given it to help Katrina survivors: link
I highly recommend signing the petition if you want to help erode support for Delay

ARMPAC for those who don't know is the PAC that Delay set up and it the focus and source of Delays money laundering indictments. Also here is some more info on ARMPAC from Wikipedia.

Dick and Don's Cabal

2005-10-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

The recent indictments of "Scooter" Libby are finally bringing to light the tangled web of corruption that exists at the highest levels of the Bush Regime. Most people realize that Rove and Dick Cheney are also deeply involved in these crimes; however they are not the only ones complacent in these scandals. TomPaine.com has done the research and drawn a detailed map showing the true extent of this web of corruption.

As cool as the image is I've decided not to show it here it was taking up lot of bandwidth and slowing the site down. Find it here!!!

It's time for massive resignations and firings. It's time for impeachments. This is not a spot on a dress this is perjury, war, lies, deceit, conspiracy and cover-ups.

Katrina Survivors to DC UPDATE

2005-10-27T11:11:00.000-04:00

I blogged about this a couple days ago (link) so I thought I'd give an update.

The Campaign for America's Future, along with Voices for Working Families, ACORN, AFSCME, and SEIU, succeeded in their campaign to bring Katrina survivors to DC to speak to the press and our elected officials regarding the failures of the response and rebuilding efforts in the affected regions. 12 individuals from the effected region, many more then the 5 who were hoped for, spoke to the press and our countries leaders on Tuesday, October 25 2005.

I won't try to summarize the events, as other have already done so. The Campaign for America's Future has a great page summarizing the events here . They also have links at articles written about the event, participant bios, and videos from the events.

Juror lied about purchasing a newspaper during deliberations: conviction, overturned

2005-10-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

I read an "Express" article brief this morning on the Metro. It was about a man, who was convicted of murdering his wife, by a judge, not a jury. The reason for the trial by judge was that his first conviction, handed down by a jury, was overturned when a video tape revealed that a juror read the news coverage dealing with the case.
I completely understand why we do not want jurors getting information about a trial from any source other then sworn testimony. There are rules about what evidence can be admitted in a trial, and there are good reasons for these rules. Nevertheless it is a bit disturbing that press reporting is considered so biased and tainted that a juror's exposure to it necessitates the overturning of a conviction. The news is supposed to report FACTS! This issue so clearly illustrates the problem with the main stream media (MSM). The MSM is no longer considered a safe, reliable unbiased source of information. It is now considered a factor that taints the truth, so much so, that exposure to it poisons the mind against what really happened concerning a particular event.
I think it’s fair to say that the cause of this decline in press accuracy can be attributed to the role of money and advertising in the media. It is clear the new role of the media isn't to report facts (or news) but to entertain and do anything to maintain an audience so that they can advertise to them.
I would normally post the link to the article I'm referring too, but I'm boycotting the post for the rest of the day!

Faith-Based Discrimination

2005-10-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

I've often said I will never support the Salvation Army. This usually gets me looks of disgust from anyone within earshot, even from those who are also non-religious. The reaction is usually something along the lines of, "The Salvation Army has nothing to do with religion, it’s just a name! It's there to help the poor!"

My response is that I will support charities that help the poor but don't force religion on them. Or sometimes I'll say, "What does god have to do with helping the poor? Can't we help the poor without needed to bring religion into it?"

I've always felt a little bad about my stance that I won't help charities that have a religious foundation. I've wondered if what everyone tells me is true, that they are just religious people doing good deeds. Well in that case of the Salvation Army, I know that my stance was justified.

Enter the AlterNet article:

As part of President Bush's "faith-based initiative," US taxpayers gave the Salvation Army's children services division $47 million this year -- 95% of its total budget. Several Salvation Army employees refused to take the Salvation Army's pledge "proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord," reveal which church they belong to or identify gay co-workers -- and were summarily fired.

Read the rest of it here.

Not only does this point out the truth that Bush's "faith-based initiative" is exactly what it first seemed, a blatant violation of church-state separation by having tax payer funded religious discrimination, but also that my fear of religious charities was justified, especially regarding the Salvation Army.

The author of this article makes a good point. Over 95% of Salvation Army's children services division monies come from tax payers’ dollars. How then is it nothing more then a government organization under the guise of being an independent charity?

But there is bigger issue that angers me about “faith-based charities.” For me, the bottom line is to question the purpose of charities. If the point of a charity is to help those in need, then religion has no need to play a role. A religious ideological backing or having religious people working for charities do not make it a better charity. The only reason to add the faith element is to promote a religious belief, which distracts from the main point of the charities which is to help people.
It’s fair to say that I fully support the separation of church and state, but that I also think there should be the complete privatization of religion. Religion, in my opinion, should be a private matter. It should be in the heart, mind, home and church. We do not need and should not have religion interaction with the public sphere. Now I don't mean to say people can't be motivated by religious beliefs to do acts in the public sphere, but we don't need those acts trumpeted as religious acts. The reason to do these acts is because they are the right thing to do, not because it gives you the chance to "prove" your religiousness to the world.

People always get mad when atheists quote the Bible, but I'm going to do it anyway. I was raised as a Christian and know a bit about the Bible. There is a passage that I think summarizes my feelings on this issue and it comes from Matthew, Chapter 6:

Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005-10-24T10:15:00.000-04:00

There is a new movie coming out by Robert Greenwald, the director of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, entitled Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. From the website:

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop.

The website where you can order the DVD or even host (or find a local) screening is http://www.walmartmovie.com/index.php. Or if you live in the DC area there is a premiere you can attend and tickets for the premiere can be found though the Campaign for America's future at http://ga3.org/caf/events/walmart/details.tcl.
I can't afford to buy a ticket to this premiere so I can't go, but if you want to buy me a ticket let me know!

collage essay on separation of church and state

2005-10-23T19:13:00.000-04:00

This is a collage essay I did for Composition 151 back in college (yes I do mean collage and not college) . The idea of this essay was to focus on the juxtaposition of segmented portions of text to tell a story. I used quotes to expose the idiosyncrasies and the propaganda of the Religious Right and the Christian Coalition.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-Amendment I
The Constitution of the United States of America

"Our nation's foundation was laid upon the bedrock of Biblical truths, truths clearly evident throughout our founding documents."

-Christian Coalition

The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.

-1797 Treaty with Tripoli
Signed by President Adams

"I founded the Christian Coalition as a pro-family citizen action organization to impact public policy on a local, state, and national level, to teach Christians effective citizenship, and to promote Christian values in government."

-Pat Robertson
Christian Coalition President

"Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State."

-The U.S. Supreme Court, 1947

"They have kept us in submission because they have talked about separation of church and state. There is no such thing in the Constitution. It's a lie of the left, and we're not going to take it anymore."

-Pat Robertson

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."

-Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-16-93

"The national government ... will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality."

-Adolf Hitler

"The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. And that's what's been happening."

- Pat Robertson
The 700 Club, Dec. 30, 1981

"The purpose of the 1st Amendment was not to create the idea or principle of separation of church and state. Instead, the 1st Amendment reinforced the meaning of the separation of church and state principle as it was embodied in the unamended constitution."

-Jim Allison

TV preacher Pat Robertson's Regent University is soliciting support with a full-page ad in U.S. News and World Report that features a bogus quotation about the Ten Commandments supposedly uttered by James Madison.

The ad, which appears in the April 9 edition of the magazine, is centered around a large-type assertion at the top of the page attributed to Madison. "We have staked the whole of our political institutions," Madison is quoted as saying, "upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

The ad gives no source for the statement, and with good reason: It appears nowhere in the writings of Madison. It was debunked years ago by Madison scholars and even many Religious Right leaders have admitted that the quote can't be substantiated.

In 1993, the curators of the Madison Papers at the University of Virginia were asked if they could verify the quote. They replied that they could not. Wrote Curators John Stagg and David Mattern, "We did not find anything in our files remotely like the sentiment expressed in the extract you sent us. In addition, the idea is inconsistent with everything we know about Madison's views on religion and government, views which he expressed time and time again in public and in private."

-Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State

Another popular misquotation by the religious right has Madision saying that religion is the foundation of government. David Barton, in his book The Myth of Separation contains a popular version of that this quotation, on page 120:

Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe . . . Religion . . . [is] the basis and foundation of government."

This isn't the only form of the quotation. Here are some other variations:

" . . . Religion . . . [is] the basis and foundation of government."
"Religion . . . [is] the basis and foundation of government."
"Religion [is] the basis and foundation of government."
"Religion is the basis and foundation of government."

I would say the most honest form is the first and second, because they do indicate it has been extracted from something else, the third gives such an indication as well.

The last two forms are the least honest. However, all forms are incorrect, because Madison never said anything like this.

The first clue that something is wrong here is that these pages turn out to correspond to Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance, a document written in support of separation of church and state.

I will use capitals to indicate the words Barton selected to arrive at his newly created false quote:

Because finally, 'the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his RELIGION according to the dictates of conscience' IS held by the same tenure with all his other rights. If we recur to its orgin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consider the 'Declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as THE BASIS AND FOUNDATION OF GOVERNMENT,' it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or rather studied emphasis.

-Jim Allison

"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."

-James Madison

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."

-Pat Robertson
1993 interview with Molly Ivins

"The remaining part of the clause declares, that 'no religious test shall ever be required, as a qualification to any office or public trust, under the United States.' This clause is not introduced merely for the purpose of satisfying the scruples of many respectable persons, who feel an invincible repugnance to any test or affirmation. It had a higher object; to cut off for ever every pretence of any alliance between church and state in the national government. The framers of the constitution were fully sensible of the dangers from this source, marked out in history of other ages and countries; and not wholly unknown to our own. They knew that bigotry was unceasingly vigilant in its own stratagems, to secure to itself an exclusive ascendancy over the human mind; and that intolerance was ever ready to arm itself with all the terrors of civil power to exterminate those, who doubted its dogmas, or resisted its infallibility."

-Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

"Prayer should be a freedom, not an outlawed practice that places it in violation of our constitution. When prayer was a freedom prior to 1963, our schools did not have the drugs, immorality and violence in the measure they now experience. It was the power of prayer that protected and provided the moral tapestry for students, teachers and parents."

-www.truthbroadcasting.org

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith...We need believing people."

-Adolf Hitler

"The crucial role of education is to provide young people with the information and methods they need in order to learn how to think independently. Education has liberated mankind from the shackles of myth, superstition, and unchallenged tradition. But the prevailing trend - from both the "progressive" left and the religious right - is to reverse this development, by enshrining feelings over facts and faith over reason."

-Robert W. Tracinski

"When I said during my presidential bid that I would only bring Christians and Jews into the government, I hit a firestorm. `What do you mean?' the media challenged me. `You're not going to bring atheists into the government? How dare you maintain that those who believe in the Judeo-Christian values are better qualified to govern America than Hindus and Muslims?' My simple answer is, `Yes, they are.'"

-Pat Robertson

"The New World Order,"

"Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."

-John Adams

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

-Thomas Jefferson

"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."

-John Adams
"A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America"

-Amendment I
The Constitution of the United States of America

Sources

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State http://www.au.org/

The Anti-Pat Robertson / Christian Coalition Site http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7027/patrobertson.html

The Christian Coalition
http://www.cc.org/

The Freedom Forum
http://www.freedomforum.org/

Truth Broadcasting Company
http://www.truthbroadcasting.org/

Google Print and digital information

2005-10-20T14:24:00.000-04:00

Google Print is a project started by Google to scan books from five major libraries (Stanford, Harvard and Michigan university libraries, the New York Public Library and the Bodleian library in Oxford) to create a search engine that can provide searched results based on the content of the scanned books. This project is now the focus of two law suits, one from book publishers and the second from the Authors Guild. The claim is that the scanning of these books violates copyright laws.

I completely disagree. First Google Print is not going to provide copies of these books, only allow searches to be preformed on the content of these books. I do not see how this would violate copyright laws, and I do not understand why there objections to this plan. It would allow people to find books relevant to a particular topic in a much better fashion then the current electronic card catalogue system. This if anything would only increase the demand for particular books. How is this a bad thing? How is this copyright infringement?

Second I think Google SHOULD be able to provide complete copies of the books for reading online. Our copyright laws are outdated, obsolete, and a hindrance to progress in our new digital age. How would an electronic library that contains electronic copies of books be pragmatically any different then a "real world" library? The answer is it wouldn't be any different. It is a newer way to provide information and the media world needs to catch up with the times.

Information should be FREE to ALL people. To allow books to be printed, placed in a library but NOT allowed them to be digitized is an unfair and unethical business practice. This practice amounts to creating a monopoly for a sector of the information industry. If libraries are allowed to provide free searches of books contents then Google must be allowed to provide its own product to search the contents of books. The fact that Google has a BETTER system to search for book contents should be considered a positive not punished and purported as a negative that infringes on copyright.

On the issue of digital media there are a number of online libraries that, for a fee, allow users to read books online. This is the WRONG approach to the new front of information on the web. This hampers the spread of information and doesn't accurately digitize the library institution. Online companies should be able to buy a number of digital copies of books from publishers, or buy a number of licenses of a particular book, and then like a library, provide the books for FREE to the public. Now there still might be only a limited number of copies a particular digital book able to be "checked out" to users, but this should all be done as a free service to the public. We should fund digital libraries in the same was public libraries are now funded. In fact we should move much of the funds from public libraries into public digital libraries. Digital libraries have many advantages to analogue libraries, including convince, less costly, less of a harm to the environment, and easier to maintain. This would reinforce the fact that information should be FREE.

Lastly I have stated I think information should be free several times in this blog and I wish to say a few remarks to support this claim. Before the age of computers this was actually the view represented by institution of information dispersal. Libraries, radios, used book stores, and universities all reflect this idea that information should be freely available to all. With the invention of things like computer, the internet, and even to some extent copy machines we have moved away from this noble view to one of consumerism and information for profit. It is an ugly trend and I would suggest is extremely troublesome to the future of the world and the education of the masses. The older system of information dispersal suggests that the information itself didn’t have monetary value but only the METHOD OF THE DISPERSIAL. To elaborate if you wanted to have your own copy of a book you needed to pay for the dispersal of that particular information in a form that could be owned. If you only wanted to read the book you have always been free to go to your public library and read that book. The difference is how the information is dispersed to the reader, on one had there is personal ownership of the book a physical thing, and the second is getting the information from a source that is simply dispersing the information NOT personal ownership of that information. In internet is just that a source dispersion information but NOT personal ownership. In you wanted to download a copy of the book to your computer then the libary loses its right to that licenses and is no longer able to dispers that particular copy. If you wanted to print the book off your printer this should be free, as you are putting up the cost of dispersal yourself, the printing costs. Some how the argument was made that the convenience of new digital means of accessing and reproducing information is an undermining factor to the creative information industry. But this argument can only be made if you first assume that information should have monetary value, a claim not supported by the pervious institutions.

"Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man."

2005-10-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

This is a must read article! This is about comments made by Colin Powell's right-hand man at the State Department, Larry Wilkerson. He finally opened up and discloses his true feelings about this administration extreme failures.

Great quotes include:
"It's hard to sell [manure]," Wilkerson said
"Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man."
he had viewed Condoleezza Rice as "extremely weak."
"we have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran, and generally with regard to domestic crises like Katrina."

Link to article

Sending Katrina survivors to DC!

2005-10-14T02:48:00.000-04:00

The Campaign for America's Future is trying to bring Katrina survivors to Washington, DC. The idea is that their voices need be heard in DC, in the media and in front of politicians. Us bloggers can say how bad the disaster planning was, and how bad the republican's plans to rebuild the area are, but the voices of the victims is more likely to be heard. The individuals who are going haven’t been named yet, and I'll be interested in seeing who is chosen.

What is also impressive is that The Campaign for America's Future started a fundraiser yesterday asking for ONE dollar and they have already raised $ 17411. Very impressive especially since I'd never have thought asking for a buck to work. Their goal seems to be $20,000.

Here is the link if you want more info: Link

The New Contract with America

2005-10-12T02:06:00.000-04:00

As I discussed in a blog entry the 11th anniversary of the contract with America was the 27th of September. Robert L. Borosage has released an article for a real contract with America....

Full article: http://www.ourfuture.org/onmessage/borosage/20051024_boro_cwa.cfm

Teaser:

Robert L. Borosage

A Real Contract with America
10/24/2005 | Source: The Nation

Lethal incompetence and indifference in Katrina's wake. Republican House boss Tom DeLay indicted--twice. Senate Republican leader Bill Frist under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Casino Jack" Abramoff's cynical cesspool of conservative corruption. Stagnant wages and rising prices. Quagmire in Iraq. Have Americans had enough? Will Katrina and corruption threaten the right's hold over Congress and open a broader challenge to the conservatism that has dominated our politics over the past twenty-five years? It's possible--but only if Democrats can make themselves a compelling force for change.

1994 and the Gingrich Revolt

The last successful effort to nationalize Congressional races in a nonpresidential year came in 1994, when Newt Gingrich and movement conservatives unfurled their Contract With America and shocked themselves by gaining fifty-four seats to take control of Congress, ending forty years of Democratic rule. That election offers pointed lessons for Democrats hoping for a similar reversal...

New conservative court and the Right to Privacy

2005-10-05T15:15:00.000-04:00

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade or it is severally limits a woman's ability to have an abortion what will the public's reaction be? In most polls I've seen the majority of the people in the country support a woman right to choose, at least in some form. Will there be a moderate revolt if the Supreme Court swings far to the right? Thing could get a lot worse if this court goes as right as it seems to be going. Could this be a chance for the democrats to start winning more races as moderates experience first hand their rights getting striped away? Is this possible a chance to do what the democrats have needed to do for a long time, mainly take a proactive stance their progressive issues...?

If this does happen, if there is a moderate revolt to the repressive Supreme Court, we need the democrats' to be able to take advantage of this. We must start working NOW! We need to have our issues out in the public eye, already given to them as a better option, ready for when things get bad. We need a massive progressive movement to amend the constitution to include a Right to Privacy, explicitly! I'm willing to bet an over whelming majority of American (especially right wing libertarians) would support a constitution amendment to codify the individual's right to privacy in issues of the family, marriage, health care, education, speech, etc. Not only would a Right to Privacy amendment protect things like a woman's right to choose, sodomy (read with broadest meaning without the pejorative stigma), euthanasia, medical use of "illegal" drugs, etc. but it would also help over turn many of the provisions of the Patriot act. It's time for progressives to start actively campaigning for a constitution amendment codifying the Right to Privacy. The Right to Privacy is now only a right protected by a moderate Supreme Court.

With the rightward swing of our government it time for Democrats to go on the attack. We will no longer be able to rely on the Supreme Court to overturn laws that were protected with the broader readings of the constitution in the past. It's time to make our rights more specific. We need to take the wiggle room out of the constitution if we want to protect our right. The Republicans have been trying for years, we need to catch up.

A Woman, At Least... but is that good enough?

2005-10-04T14:31:00.000-04:00

I read this article this morning and I got a bit angry. I think the kind of sexism depicted by the author of this article gives support to the precieved ugliness of the word feminism. This article gives almost NO consideration to Miers actual qualifications for a justice! It argues that her being a woman is good enough. It seems like reverse discrimantion and quota-ism in its worst form.

But I want to know what the rest of the progressive world things.

I first found the article at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051004/a_woman_at_least.php

"Republicans took comfort in passing a revised Endangered Species Act"

2005-10-01T02:02:00.001-04:00

How evil do you have to be to take out your political toubles on dying species? The weeks been bad for the House Republicas but at least they get to kill some animals and destroy the enviorment....

Read the article I'm refering to here.

Ok so I understand the republicans want to put business and economic issues before environmental issues, but to take pleasure is getting to roll back the endangered species act? That I think actually shows an important aspect of the conservative facade. It shows that while they defend their action in a variety of ways, including economic necessity, their real motivation is actually very sadistic.

I can only hope that this quote was simply the fault of shitty reporting, but I'm not so sure given other things I've read this morning on this issue.

"This was the first test of our conference," and its ability to put together legislative victories without Delay’s leadership, said Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.). "Clearly, we're not in turmoil."

When knowing things like this I think it clearly shows that the compassionate in compassionate conservatism is just a political ploy. The bigger problem is why don't the republican masses get out raged over this? Do republican in general really hate the environment too? Or do they really believe this is for the greater good of economic progress? And if so how can they believe it given the issues surrounding this story?

The (Broken) Contract with America

2005-09-27T16:29:00.000-04:00

Eleven years ago today, Congressional Republicans gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and signed the "Contract with America." They pledged to "restore accountability to Congress" and "to end its cycle of scandal and disgrace...."

I have to admit I was only 12 when the "Contract with America" was signed (and I wasn't following politics much, unless you count my SNL "Bob Dole in is '96" tee-shirt) but it had to have been as hard not to laugh at the idea as it is now.

I mean its true that the Republican's are a lots of things: they are the party of inclusion, compassionate conservatives, the representatives of wholesome American values, the party endorsed by every member of the Holy Trinity, and last but not least the only true Patriots in this hell bound country... but accountable? Accountable to whom? I mean that part has to be a joke right? On how many number of issues do the republicans take the extreme minority opinion, the opinion which is not accountable to the American people? Woman's reproductive rights, euthanasia, assault weapons, the war in Iraq....

And the "end its cycle of scandal and disgrace...." part?

The Campaign for America's Future has two great campaigns relating to this issue. First they are the group that alerted me to the whole anniversary with their The Broken Contract with America Campaign. They also have some great rap sheets for our more "accountable" and scandal-less congress people here

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of other groups focusing on this issue. If any of you find other links on this issue add them as a comment!

Application for employment

2005-09-23T17:44:00.000-04:00

So you'd like to work from the Head Start program?
- Oh yes very much so.

Why in particular are you interested in working in the Head Start program?
- I love children and I think it's very important that all children have a fair shot at a quality education. I want to make sure that even those children with less financial means are able to participate in quality pre-school.

Good Good. You sound like a perfect candidate.... I just have one more question. You are Christian correct?
- Well no I was raised and am agnostic.

Oh I'm sorry you are not qualified to help these children... I would suggest you try looking in to hell. I think they have a spot reserved for you.

Our Republican representatives and a few "democrats" are placating the religious right again. A bunch of progressive groups have posted links to this story today. I first read it on http://www.tompaine.com/ 's newsworthy section. American's United for Separation of Church and State (http://www.au.org/)followed quickly with a press release of their own.

I fail to understand how a person's faith has any baring on that personal ability to work for an organization like Head Start. Is a Jew or an atheist really going to be unable to help the Head Start children receive their needed support?

The argument given is that some faith-based groups get government money for their work with the Head Start program and it would be an abomination for these faith based groups to have to hire some one of a different faith.

First of all let's just get rid of public tax dollars going to religious group.... that solves this and a number of other problems, not to mention it doesn't violate the constitution.

Second if these religious groups are so bigoted and intolerant that they cannot work with someone of a different faith why should they be allowed to provide a service to the general public? If the KKK wanted to start their own Head Start program there would be public outrage. No one wants any taxes dollars to go to intolerant and bigoted groups at all, no matter what good they might be trying to do. These groups have to provide support to the children regardless of the kid's faith. It is arbitrary to say faith matters in one part of the program and not another.

Lastly Rep. Virginia Foxx is quoted as saying "This is about our children, and denying them exemplary services just because the organization happens to be a religious one is just cruel." But that isn't what the argument is about. Much to my personal displeasure that has already been decided, religious groups are allowed to participate with government money in the head start program. This argument is about these religious groups to express their own bigotry with government money, by not hiring any one doesn't agree with them. It's called a straw man argument it is a fallacy.

Hopefully the Senate will stop this... cause the Supreme Court with our new judges will be no help by that the issue comes to it.