Women Liberal Groups Neutering Men, Obama’s Attack on Education, More Christian Bullies In The Middle East & More

Conservative Congressman’s Star Power Extends Beyond Florida District

By Jennifer Steinhauer, April 28, 2011

Often, the most interesting thing about a person is the characteristic that lies beneath, that hidden thing that bobs up along the waves of time. But the most compelling part of Representative Allen B. West of Florida is his own biography, there for all to see: an African-American Tea Party activist Republican congressman and ally of hard-right Israelis who, after his beloved career in the Army ended under a cloud, defeated the sitting Democrat in a largely white, politically polarized district here and quickly became one of the right’s most visible spokesmen. ,…, His recent remarks to a conservative Christian women’s group that women affiliated with liberal groups “have been neutering American men” are the sort that tend to attract attention. “America needs strong men,” Mr. West explained, adding, “the feminist movement was a great thing to push the equality of women but that does not mean you have to make men feel inferior or degrade them.”

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Increasing Calls for Iraq War Probe of Bush Administration

by César Chelala, April 28, 201

In his just published memoirs, The Age of Deception, former chief United Nations nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei asks that George W. Bush and officials in his administration face international criminal investigation for the war in Iraq. One thing he learned from the Iraq war, he says, is that deliberate deception is not limited to small countries ruled by ruthless dictators.

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Tenn. ACLU accuses school district of promoting Christianity

(ABP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has filed a complaint accusing a county school board of violating the separation of church and state by promoting Christianity.

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Pawlenty, Bachmann, and the Right’s Ponzi Scandal

Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann sought pardons for a major campaign donor now accused of fleecing faith-based charities in a Ponzi scheme. The 2012 presidential hopefuls should answer for helping make Frank Vennes Jr. respectable, writes Michelle Goldberg.

Last week, Frank Vennes Jr., one of the more bizarre characters in the history of recent financial scandal, was indicted on fraud and money-laundering charges in a U.S. District Court in Minnesota. A former North Dakota pawnshop owner who ostensibly found Jesus while serving a prison sentence in the 1980s, Vennes emerged as a pillar of Minnesota’s conservative Christian community. Then, according to the indictment, he channeled millions into a Ponzi scheme run by the businessman Thomas J. Petters, who is now serving 50 years in federal prison. Much of the money Vennes raised seems to have come from faith-based charities, pastors, and ministers, some of who have lost their life savings.

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The forgotten patriot

One man’s actions forever married religious freedom with democracy

April 28, 2011, by James Wermuth

As Rhode Island prepares to celebrate the 350th anniversary of an extraordinary American document, its author remains all but forgotten. In the summer of 1663, against seemingly insurmountable odds, an improbable patriot living in an unlikely place changed the course of world civilization.

Through Rhode Island’s King Charles II Charter, Dr. John Clarke convinced the king to grant religious toleration and separation of church and state to a political entity, the diminutive Colony of Rhode Island. For the first time in world history, religious freedom became fundamental to democracy. The Charter’s words soon enriched other colonial charters and eventually found their way into the writings of James Madison, architect of America’s founding documents. The 20th-century historian Thomas Bicknell wrote of religious freedom, “Its clear, full, deliberate, organized, and permanent establishment in the world can now be distinctly traced to the Colony of Rhode Island … under the leadership and inspiration of Dr. John Clarke, the true founder.’’

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Truth, Justice and the American Way Not What It Was: Superman Jumps Ship

by Abby Zimet

Things must be bad. After getting flak for appearing with pro-democracy demonstrators in Iran, Superman has decided to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

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Few benefits go to front line troops 

Bursting The Defense Bubble: End The Entitlement Mentality

Steve Denning, April 30 2011

Few would begrudge all this largesse if it were bestowed on the courageous fighting men and women who are risking their lives on the front lines. The reality is that most of benefits are used to prop up the profits of defense contractors far from any front lines, often working on systems that will never be completed or built, let alone ever deployed.

In other words, the “Defense” budget is a giant subsidy or bubble benefiting firms that don’t have to worry too much about global competition. If by accident a foreign firm wins a major contract, politicians can be mobilized to reverse the decision and bring home the bacon, as when Chicago-based Boeing bested European Airbus to build a fleet of 179 aerial refueling tankers at a cost of $35 billion.

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The Corporate State Wins Again

by Chris Hedges

When did our democracy die? When did it irrevocably transform itself into a lifeless farce and absurd political theater? When did the press, labor, universities and the Democratic Party—which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible—wither and atrophy? When did reform through electoral politics become a form of magical thinking? When did the dead hand of the corporate state become unassailable?

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Voucher Vanguard: Indiana’s Daniels Is Just The Tip Of An Ominous Iceberg

America’s public school system and the constitutional separation of church and state are under relentless assault.

April 28th, 2011 By Joseph L. Conn

Yesterday the Indiana House voted 55-43 in favor of House Bill 1003, a measure that broadly funds religious and other private schools.  The multi-million-dollar program sets up a new school voucher scheme, expands a tax credit program and offers tax deductions for the costs of private education and homeschooling.

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Who Covereth the Heaven With Clouds, Who Prepareth Rain For the Earth, Who Hasn’teth A Clue

by Abby Zimet, 4.29.11

Fear not the extreme weather threatening us all, the tornados in the South, the drought and fire ravaging Texas. GOP Gov. Rick Perry – he who has called climate change “one contrived phony mess” and whose state is the biggest carbon polluter in the country – will save us with prayer. Also some help from the feds, though he wants to secede. Also a prayerful Facebook page and song. It only has eight words; I guess they ran out. But hear ye: Fear not climate change. Hallelulah.

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Donald Trump’s Lunacy Reveals Core Truth About the Republicans

He is the Republican id – finally entirely unleashed from all restraint and reality

by Johann Hari

Since the election of Barack Obama, the Republican Party has proved that one of its central intellectual arguments was right all along. It has long claimed that evolution is a myth believed in only by whiny liberals – and it turns out it was on to something. Every six months, the party venerates a new hero, and each time it is somebody further back on the evolutionary scale.

Sarah Palin told cheering rallies that her message to the world was: “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way!” – but that wasn’t enough. So the party found Michele Bachmann, who said darkly it was an “interesting coincidence” that swine flu only breaks out under Democratic presidents, claims the message of The Lion King is “I’m better at what I do because I’m gay”, and argues “there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.”

That wasn’t enough. I half-expected the next contender to be a lung-fish draped in the Stars and Stripes. But it wasn’t anything so sophisticated. Enter stage (far) right Donald Trump, the bewigged billionaire who has filled America with phallic symbols and plastered his name across more surfaces than the average Central Asian dictator. CNN’s polling suggests he is the most popular candidate among Republican voters. It’s not hard to see why. Trump is every trend in Republican politics over the past 35 years taken to its logical conclusion. He is the Republican id, finally entirely unleashed from all restraint and all reality.

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Founding father of religious freedom – The obscure founding father of religious freedom

April 28, 2011, by Michael De Groote

An article in the Boston Globe tells about the struggle of Dr. John Clarke in the 1600s to obtain religious freedom in the colony of Rhode Island. Clarke succeeded in convincing King Charles II to grant a charter that included the words, “that it is much on their hearts (if they may be permitted), to hold forth a livlie experiment. . . with a full libertie in religious concernements . . .”

The Globe article states that “For the first time in world history, religious freedom became fundamental to democracy. The charter’s words soon enriched other colonial charters and eventually found their way into the writings of James Madison, architect of America’s founding documents. The 20th-century historian Thomas Bicknell wrote of religious freedom, ‘Its clear, full, deliberate, organized and permanent establishment in the world can now be distinctly traced to the Colony of Rhode Island . . . under the leadership and inspiration of Dr. John Clarke, the true founder.”"

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Corporate America’s War on Political Transparency

by Robert Weissman

Companies that bid for government contracts should disclose their campaign spending, in order to diminish the likelihood that contracts are a payoff for political expenditures.

The Obama administration has indicated that it plans to impose such a rule, through an executive order. Ideally, the rule would prohibit contractors and lobbyists from campaign spending, but a disclosure standard is a very positive if modest step.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the trade association for big business, however, takes a somewhat different view.

“We will fight it through all available means,” Bruce Josten, the chief lobbyist for the Chamber, told the New York Times. “To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table.”

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The Robber Barons Are Back!

A well-financed right-wing propaganda machine has restored American plutocrats to national control, explains Aerik Vondenburg. April 30, 2011

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We need a guarantee that it’s safe to be gay

The separation of church and state is probably the smartest thing about a democracy. Allowing religious beliefs to determine public policy means that there will always be an “other” and that “other” will live in fear. I tire of hearing people bemoan …

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A prayer of consensus?

Many Americans believe that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state safeguards religious liberty. But when the First Amendment was ratified in 1791, it did not apply to the states and would not until well into the 20th century. …

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Forum to examine First Amendment

The leader of a national organization advocating for the separation of church and state will give the keynote speech Saturday at a free, public event designed to celebrate the First Amendment. The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United …

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Questioning Obama’s Americanism

The discredited “birther” movement is part of a pattern to paint Barack Obama as a not-real American, writes Robert Parry. April 29, 2011

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Upcoming West Virginia Graduation Ceremonies and the Establishment Clause

The United State Supreme Court has long held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment forbids school-sponsored prayer or religious indoctrination. Over thirty years ago, the Court struck down classroom prayers and scripture readings even where they were voluntary and students had the option of being excused. School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963); Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962).

The Supreme Court has also held that a school district may not require that students observe a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day where the purpose of such a requirement is that students use that time for prayer. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 28 (1985). Also, the Court has held that the school district may not require the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980).

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Obama, Congress renew push for austerity measures

Bipartisan talks are beginning on new spending cuts tied to a rise in the federal debt ceiling.

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Forget Hell: A Rebirth of Christianity

Christian reformers are challenging old orthodoxies about Hell which perverted Jesus’s message, observes Rev. Howard Bess. April 30, 2011

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Obama’s 2012 budget deepens attack on public education

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Republicans Embrace ‘Greedy Geezers’
The GOP plan to start phasing out Medicare in 2022 is a bet that U.S. seniors don’t care about their kids, writes Robert Parry. April 25, 2011

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FRC’s Tony Perkins Likens Gay Men, Lesbians To Terrorists

… Tony Perkins, the president of the Christian conservative group Family Research Council (FRC), likened gay men and lesbians to terrorists. …

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Misunderstanding Jesus’s Execution

Christian doctrine plays down a key Holy Week event, Jesus’s overturning of money tables at the Temple, says Rev. Howard Bess. April 23, 2011

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Brigham Young University ‘Censors’ Christian Artwork

But this week, “too controversial” refers not to Andre Serrano’s “Piss Christ” or David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire In My Belly,” but to “One Nation Under God,” the work of a conservative, Christian artist. Painter Jon McNaughton’s piece, which depicts Jesus …

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Tea Partiers Run to Big-Money Trough

April 23, 2011

Tea Partiers are learning the ways of Washington, lining up for donations from their big-business patrons, notes Michael Winship.

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What Does the Religious Right Stand For?

April 26th, 2011 by Wayne Besen

Conservatism has now become a country club that offers membership to those who support a handful of policy issues. To join, one has to repudiate (or refudiate) abortion, marriage equality for same-sex couples, and the idea that global warming is man made. One also has to irrationally hate Barack Obama and favor tax cuts for millionaires.

If you deviate from the “conservatively correct” prefab platform – you are out. However, if you pass the standard “issue test” you are in – no matter how libertine your actual lifestyle is. This creed of “it’s about what you say, not how you live” is becoming rather evident as the GOP presidential nomination process heats up.

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How Lobbies Distort US Politics

April 23, 2011

AIPAC and other well-organized lobbies thwart the Founders’ schemes for checking special interests, observes Lawrence Davidson.

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Religious Right and Fox News Smear Obama About Easter, Choice of Church nd His Faith with Lies and Innuendos

April 27, 2011, by God Discussion Reporter

For Easter this year, President Obama held an Easter prayer breakfast which he says will be an annual event.  He told those in attendance,…..In the United States, where there is no religious test of office, Obama’s piety over Easter was not good enough for the religious right or Fox News. 

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News Flash: Iraq War Was About Oil

New disclosures in Great Britain belie the U.S./U.K. insistence that oil was not a factor in invading Iraq, reports Ray McGovern. April 22, 2011

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Gingrich blasts secular ‘fanaticism’ at prayer breakfast
 
I counter with: there is no attack on American life more destructive and more historically dishonest than the religious Right’s relentless effort to drive God into America’s public square. Separation of church and state! Myths and fairy tales should …

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Giving War a Chance

The neocons of the U.S. news media still hope they can engineer violent regime change in the Muslim world, notes Robert Parry. April 21, 2011

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Which America do you want to live in?
 
The Religious Right, which has raised countless millions of dollars with its effort to demonize LGBT people, seems to have gained new momentum is the hate game. Taking a page right out of the Republican playbook, the Religious Right is spreading

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Why Wall Street Wins

Wall Street’s bounce-back from almost sinking the world’s economy is a story of how power works, observes Danny Schechter. April 26, 2011

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The Smithsonian’s Censorship Forum….Over Four Months Too Late
 
The work, an edited version of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly, was part of Hide/Seek, an exhibit exploring the gay and lesbian experience in American art, which had come under attack from Religious Right groups and their allies in Congress. …

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‘For the Bible Tells Me So’ documentary discusses homosexuality and religion
 
This 2007 film also considers how the religious “right” has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community. Directed by Daniel G. Karslake, “For the Bible Tells Me So” discusses homosexuality and its perceived conflict with …

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Biological Warfare: Battles Under Way In Texas And Louisiana Over Science …
 
The state Board of Education continues to be dominated by Religious Right zealots who refuse to accept modern science and seek to teach religiously based concepts in biology classes. (They also reject accepted history. Remember, these are the people .

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More Christian Bullies In The Middle East

Children of Zia

by Nabiha Meher, April 29th, 2011

Most of my on-going research is based on extensive interviews with students in elite institutions who are outside the (state-sanctioned) political and religious norm today. Intolerance in academic institutions is growing at a visibly rapid pace. Because teachers are self-censoring out of fear, students are not being properly educated and many of them know it. They fear being fired and being viciously (mostly verbally) attacked by their students like some have been many times in the past. Teachers are afraid to use the word ‘Darwin’ or even dare admit that they believe in evolution instead of creationism in medical schools! Many refuse to bring up religion or politics in critical thinking classes, which defies the senses for critical thinking relies on challenging people’s deeply rooted, deeply ingrained perspectives. We live in a country where religion and politics is in the air we breathe. It must be acknowledged and it must be challenged.

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Guantanmo Files: Innocent include Naqibullah, 14yr old captured, likely gang raped by warlords, and held without anything approaching a good reason for a full year.

The Newest on the U.S. Dungeon at Guantanamo

By Anthony Gregory
Wednesday April 27, 2011 at 10:57:52 AM PDT

The newest round of WikiLeaks revelations unearths troubling facts about the U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Operating for more than nine years now, the prison camp was originally said to be holding “the worst of the worst”—terrorists of the same moral plane and dangerousness as those who committed the attacks of 9/11. The vast majority of the 775 who have been housed there have since been released. 172 remain.

One revelation from the leaks confirms the suspicion long held by many that very few of these people were in fact “the worst of the worst.” The Telegraph reports:

Only about 220 of the people detained are assessed by the Americans to be dangerous international terrorists. A further 380 people are lower-level foot-soldiers, either members of the Taliban or extremists who travelled to Afghanistan whose presence at the military facility is questionable.

At least a further 150 people are innocent Afghans or Pakistanis, including farmers, chefs and drivers who were rounded up or even sold to US forces and transferred across the world. In the top-secret documents, senior US commanders conclude that in dozens of cases there is “no reason recorded for transfer”.

Such totally innocent people include Naqibullah, a fourteen-year-old captured and likely gang raped by warlords, and held at Guantánamo without anything approaching a good reason for a full year. Another revelation confirms the understanding long held by civil libertarians that the standards of evidence at Guantánamo were beyond shoddy.

Continue

Middle East and Wisconsin have these in common: each of the governments refuse to talk, decline to negotiate, rebuff attempts to compromise…..

Wisconsin has uncomfortable parallels with the Mideast

by Joan Chittister on Mar. 09, 2011

“What really bothered me was that one group of people was rising up in countries we call dictatorships. The other group of people was rising up in what we call a democracy. Our democracy.

And the Arabs were gaining more ground against dictators than the unions seemed to be gaining in a democracy that had won their rights for them years ago. How can that be?

The two scenes — the Middle East and Wisconsin — have one thing in common. In both cases, each of the governments in question simply refuse to talk. They decline to negotiate. They rebuff attempts to compromise. They reject the need to listen. The answer they say is “No.”

That is power talking, not justice, not democracy, not reason, not care.

And worse, at least in Wisconsin, there are clear attempts at subterfuge. In Wisconsin, the attempt is to camouflage one goal by calling it something else. To achieve one thing by naming it another.

The problem is the economy, Governor Walker insists in Wisconsin. But the truth is — and the governor knows it — that the economic concessions have already been accepted by the unions. What the unions do not accept is the effect of the law to completely repeal their bargaining rights, the union’s very reason for existence.

There is no doubt that the economic situation around the globe and here, as well, is a complex one. There is no doubt that having been duped by the coalition of institutionalized greed and conscienceless financiers, the population at large will pay the ultimate price for that kind of downright skullduggery and, in many cases, blatant dishonesty.”

Full story

Look Close At Your Water Bill….Is There A Note About Upcoming Church Event?

(NOTE: Imagine if a Muslim, Gay, or Secular Humanist organization used the city sent utility bill reminding people of an upcoming event)

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Atheist/agnostic group rebukes Warren officials for publicizing prayer event with water bills

Published: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 4:04 PM     Updated: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 2:06 AM

“Should city officials allow prayer events to be publicized through government mailings? That is the question one Metro Detroit municipality is facing after being confronted by the nation’s “largest atheist/agnostic association.” According to letters obtained by MLive.com, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is rebuking Warren officials for publicizing a National Day of Prayer event through residents’ water bills, using taxpayer money.”

Continue

Rep. Sally Kern: described gay people as a bigger threat to the US than terrorism or Islam

Sally Kern, a Jonesboro native, Baptist preacher’s wife and Republican, who became infamous years ago for her homophobia. She’s described gay people as a bigger threat to the US than terrorism or Islam. There she goes again. 

by Max Brantley on Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 11:21 AM

We’ve written before about Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, a Jonesboro native, Baptist preacher’s wife and Republican, who became infamous years ago for her homophobia.She’s described gay people as a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism or Islam.

There she goes again. The Oklahoma legislature, probably the worst in the U.S., voted to end affirmative action. Sally explained why disparate treatment of racial minorities was OK:

Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

Kern said women earn less than men because “they tend to spend more time at home with their families.”

This is a good example of why they don’t call it the Party of Lincoln anymore.

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Protecting Gay Students May Make Other Students Question Their Sexuality – Says Christians Against Equal Rights For All

(NOTE: I wonder if these people remember when the arguments they use were used against their own “race” in the USA and they were rounded up and tossed into work camps. “Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called “War Relocation Camps,” in the wake of Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally throughout the United States. Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast of the United States were all interned, while in Hawaii, where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans composed over one-third of the territory’s population, 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese Americans were interned. Of those interned, 62% were American citizens.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-American_internment#United_States_District_Court_opinions)

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Opponents pack Burnaby school board meeting

EDUCATION / Board sends anti-homophobia policy back to committee

Shauna Lewis, Vancouver, Wednesday, April 27, 2011

“Nearly 100 concerned parents and citizens, many of them members of Burnaby’s Willingdon Church and nearly all of Asian descent, crowded into the packed board room holding handmade signs that read “No to 5.45.”

The Burnaby Board of Education’s policy 5.45 aims to protect the rights of gay students. However, some concerned parents claim the draft is nothing more than reverse discrimination, an infringement of human rights and, if adopted, an invasion on parental rights.”

,…,

“….the policy would compel students to “question their sexual orientation and sexual identity.”

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Stay Mildew Free, Unwrinkled, Dry, Warm, Possibly Have Less Children All At Once….

Just came across this on my many wild rides on the inter-webs:

“A study published in 1993 found that polyester underwear reduced sperm count and sperm motility in male dogs. [source] Similar studies have shown similar results in humans and rats. The cause is not known but is believed to be due to an electrostatic field created by the fabric.”

~ Polyester http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester#Health_effects

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And these:

The danger of polyester-cotton blends – fabric flammability: “A chemist at the University of California at Davis reports that some polyester-cotton-blend clothing can burn “up to 25 percent faster’ than clothing made either from pure synthetics such as polyester or from pure “cellulosic’ fibers such as cotton or rayon.”

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How to Keep Warm in Extremely Cold Weather : “Loose polyester clothing is more desirable for keeping excess moisture away from the skin.”

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“Polyester was first introduced to the American public in 1951. It was advertised as a miracle fiber that could be worn for 68 days straight without ironing and still look presentable.”

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“The most popular and one of the earliest uses of polyester was to make polyester suits – all the rage in the 70s. Polyester clothes were very popular.”

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This one may not be based in accurate medical studies, but I couldn’t help but share this image with the thought that this is what it looks like when someone gets a shock in the “areas”:

“4 out of 11 men wearing polyester underwear showed evidence of a significant reduction in sperm count plus testicular degeneration by the 14th month. These changes were reversible once the pants were discarded……..
Egyptian doctors have designed a male method of contraception based on the combined effects of raised scrotal temperature and electrostatic electricity.”

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1972 JCPenney Woman’s Polyester Pants commercial:

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And who can forget what brought ‘polyester’ into everyone’s life:

Polyester (1981) Theatrical Trailer:

“Say NO to U.S. Tax Breaks on Illegal Settlements!”

United Progressives Endorses Petition “Say NO to U.S. Tax Breaks on Illegal Settlements!”

The petition demands an end to 501(c)(3) non-profit status for U.S. organizations that provide funding to promote the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The petition will be delivered to the Senators and Representatives of each signatory. The complete list of signatures will be included in each letter.

Please add your signature to this petition: http://www.freepalestinemovement.org/501.html

Meet the Republican Voters of South Carolina

by Vjack, 4/24/2011

If you have ever found yourself wondering whether Fox “News” and conservative talk radio are successful at influencing people, you need to meet the Republican voters of South Carolina. The video below was filmed on April 18, 2011 at a South Carolina Republican rally.

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Highlighting the scandal-ridden South Carolina Republican Party and the people who lead them into the national news on a daily basis.

Why Does Clovis High School Want to Ban After School Clubs?

by Hemant Mehta

Let’s say you’re a high school administrator who wants to make sure a Gay Straight Alliance group can’t form. (How *dare* those students act like homosexuality is acceptable?!)

At a public school, it’s illegal to ban that one group alone. So what can you legally do?

Ban every single club at the school, of course.

Continue

16 Corporations or We the People?

Trickle-Down Economics Has Failed Us

by vjack, 4/28/2011

Source: http://www.atheistrev.com/

God Is Pissed At The Bible Belt Apparently

(NOTE: Will the folks be disarmed like Bush did during Katrina, where many still have not been completely returned to their lives prior. i know Obama can’t act too quickly because all the southern white chrisitans who hate him will say its because there are black people in the south. so what should he do? disarm them? help them? maybe he should just help the white conservative christian republicans and that way they wont continue to hate him so much…oh who am kidding, no matter what he does, any natural disaster during Obama’s presidency will be scrutinized until the demise of mankind.)

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Severe Storms Continue To Rip Through The South, Causing Multiple Fatalities

By JAY REEVES and HOLBROOK MOHR, 04/28/11 03:26 AM ET

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Fierce storms obliterated large swaths of land from Mississippi to Georgia, wiping out homes and businesses, causing a nuclear power plant to use backup generators and even forcing the evacuation of a National Weather Service office.

The death toll was staggering – 83 people killed in five states, including 61 in Alabama alone, a number that was likely to increase.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city’s police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed and about 100 were in a single hospital.

A massive tornado, caught on video by a news camera on a tower, barreled through the city late Wednesday afternoon, leveling it.

By nightfall, the city was dark. Roads were impassable. Signs were blown down in front of restaurants, businesses were unrecognizable and sirens wailed off and on. Debris littered the streets and sidewalks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/severe-storms-continue-to-rip-through-the-south_n_854693.html

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Storms and tornadoes kill scores in southern US

28 April 2011 Last updated at 06:20 ET

Ferocious tornadoes and storms in the south-eastern United States have killed at least 85 people and left a trail of devastation. Alabama was the worst hit state, with 61 deaths reported. A massive tornado struck the Alabama city of Tuscaloosa, killing 15 people. Deaths have also been reported in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. States of emergency have been declared in seven states, and federal aid money is being sent to Alabama. One meteorologist described the tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa as possibly the “worst in Alabama’s history”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13217726

Christian Beach Towel

Hemant Mehta

From the book This Is a Book by Demetri Martin

A respected, mainstream theologian is seriously arguing that as long as God gives the thumbs-up, it’s okay to kill pretty much anybody.

One More Reason Religion Is So Messed Up: Respected Theologian Defends Genocide and Infanticide

By Greta Christina, April 25, 2011

“Respected Theologian Defends Infanticide.”

Why did this story not make headlines?

In a recent post on his Reasonable Faith site, famed Christian apologist and debater William Lane Craig published an explanation for why the genocide and infanticide ordered by God against the Canaanites in the Old Testament was morally defensible. For God, at any rate — and for people following God’s orders. Short version: When guilty people got killed, they deserved it because they were guilty and bad… and when innocent people got killed, even when innocent babies were killed, they went to Heaven, and it was all hunky dory in the end.

,…,

William Lane Craig is not some drooling wingnut. He’s not some extremist Fred Phelps type, ranting about how God’s hateful vengeance is upon us for tolerating homosexuality. He’s not some itinerant street preacher, railing on college campuses about premarital holding hands. He’s an extensively educated, widely published, widely read theological scholar and debater. When believers accuse atheists of ignoring sophisticated modern theology, Craig is one of the people they’re talking about.

MORE

Why the Government Could Make it Nearly Impossible for You to Get a Passport

By Digby | Sourced from Hullabaloo
April 25, 2011

Remember when Alaskan extremist candidate Joe Miller cited East Germany’s border fence as a fine example and we all laughed and laughed because their fence was built to keep their own people in rather than keeping foreign people out?

Well, the laugh’s on us. We may not be literally building such a fence, but we are creating a virtual one:

If you don’t want it to get even harder for a U.S. citizen to get a passport — now required for travel even to Canada or Mexico — you only have until Monday to let the State Department know.

The U.S. Department of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for some passport applicants: The proposed new Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of birth; and a variety of other information. According to the proposed form, “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial of your U.S. passport application.”

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I would expect nothing more: White House, US media stonewall on Guantanamo

The US government seeks to bury the revelations of ongoing human rights violations at the detention camp.

Patrick Martin, 27 April 2011

The thousands of pages of documents on US prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, released by WikiLeaks Sunday night, demonstrate the lawless character of the US government, both under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Kidnapping, torture, illegal imprisonment, subornation of perjury, defiance of international law—these are only a few of the crimes of which the top officials of the US government are demonstrably guilty.

Then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld branded the Guantanamo detainees the “worst of the worst,” telling the American public that the prisoners were all hard-core terrorists, many of them linked to the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington. The WikiLeaks documents demonstrate that the statements of Rumsfeld, Cheney and other top Bush aides were deliberate and conscious lies.

The vast majority of the 800 Guantanamo prisoners were innocent men swept up randomly on the battlefield in Afghanistan or seized by allied intelligence agencies, particularly in Pakistan, where anyone of Arab or Afghan descent was a potential cash bonanza for corrupt police officials seeking to collect American bounties. More than 100 suffered from mental illness when they were seized. Others were driven into that state by years of isolation and abuse, without any hope of release or legal recourse.

,…,

Obama gets a clean bill of health, according to the Times: “The torture has stopped. The inmates’ cases have been reviewed. But the detention camp in Cuba remains a festering sore on this country’s global reputation. Hampered by ideologues and cowards in Congress, President Obama has made scant progress in healing it.”

Actually, the torture is ongoing. Indefinite detention without prospect of either a judicial hearing or eventual release is itself a form of torture. So are the constant interrogations to which many of the prisoners are still subjected, although some of them are more than nine years removed from any association with Al Qaeda, and therefore can hardly be encompassed by the “ticking time bomb” scenario invariably cited as justification for their treatment.

The detention camp at Guantanamo should be closed immediately, and all those jailed there released or tried through a civilian judicial process in which basic democratic rights and constitutional norms are observed in full. Those US government officials, both civilian and military, who are responsible for the creation and continuation of this concentration camp should themselves be held to account before an international tribunal.

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Tea Party and Other Far Right Activists Shape a Judiciary Hostile to Environmental Protections

Radical Elements Sway Courts, Undercut Environmental Protections

By Denis Hayes, President and CEO, The Bullitt Foundation. Mr. Hayes, coordinated the first Earth Day in April 1970, and is Honorary Chairman of the Earth Day Network.

April 22, 2011

Extensive recent media attention has focused on setbacks for environmentalists at the hands of the Tea Party activists bent on limiting the ability of the federal government to protect the environment. Indeed, it seems Tea Party elements are comfortable filling our harbors with substances far more toxic than tea.

But a sea change in environmental law is occurring without out as much notice, one that is disconcerting, and calls out for heightened attention, and action.

In recent years, our courts have issued rulings undercutting the Clean Water Act, lifting deep water drilling moratoriums, expanding mountain top removal, and weakening other environmental protections.

On Tuesday, just days before Earth Day, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in American Elec. Power Co. v. Connecticut, which centers on whether a string of states can proceed with a lawsuit against coal-fired power plants to force restrictions on the pollutants they emit. The Obama administration, which continues to disappoint environmental groups, urged the Supreme Court to shut the lawsuit down, claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will eventually get around to crafting regulations curtailing emissions of carbon dioxide.

The lawsuit lodged by Connecticut, New York, California, Rhode Island, Vermont, Iowa and New York City, says the EPA is taking far too long to implement such regulations. The Los Angeles Times reports that during oral argument the justices, both liberal and conservative, seemed ready to side with the administration and the power companies, including American Electric Power, Xcel Energy, Duke Energy and Southern Co., and toss the lawsuit out of court.

It is not surprising that many environmentalists are deeply disturbed by the anti-environmental court rulings and the administration’s unwillingness to remain firm on even the most vitally important environmental issues.

From its earliest days, the modern environmental movement has taken pride in its superb litigators. In the 1970s and 80s — when the federal judiciary still aspired to objectivity and neutrality — our legal gladiators routinely won landmark cases.  In more recent years, however, right-wing extremists have successfully packed the courts with anti-environmental zealots who ignore legislative intent and scientific evidence.

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Growth of the more fanatical forms of Christianity will likely be a serious longterm threat to the freedoms of religious minorities

Diane Vera’s Counter-Evangelism Resource Page

Here in the U.S.A., the growth of the more fanatical forms of Christianity will likely be a serious longterm threat to the freedoms of religious minorities.

Christians, even fundamentalist or ultra-traditionalist Christians, are not necessarily opposed to freedom for minority religions or to the separation of church and state. Indeed, one of the reasons why we in the U.S.A. have a First Amendment — and a Constitution which does not mention God — is because a lot of Christians themselves had gotten sick of Christian religious wars and persecutions. Quite a few of the founding fathers were Deist rather than Christian, but the Deists could not have gotten their way without the help of a lot of Christians who agreed that religion was better off being treated as a private matter. To this day, there still exist plenty of Christians, including fundamentalists, who do not support the religious right wing.

Nevertheless, members of a country’s majority religion, whatever that religion might happen to be, are obviously in more of a position than anyone else to give their own religion an officially dominant status and to limit other people’s freedom of religion. And the more fanatical adherents of the majority religion are more likely, than anyone else, to support the cause of shoving their religious beliefs down everyone else’s throat by force of law. Hence the growth of religious fanaticism within the majority religion is indeed a longterm threat to everyone else’s freedom.

So, it behooves religious minorities to find effective ways to counter hardcore Christian evangelism.

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Corporate America declares war on transparency

Tell President Obama: Stand up to the Chamber and fight for disclosure: http://www.citizen.org/disclosure-petition

They want to be free not to believe

Written by REKHA BASU, 4-26-2011

When Des Moines beat out Las Vegas to host the American Atheists 37th national convention last weekend, it was a victory for the Iowa chapter’s bid to, in the words of its president, Randy Henderson, “disprove the notion that Des Moines is a Christian town.” In raw numbers, Henderson could be wrong. Most residents probably consider themselves Christian. But he was also referring to the impression Iowa voters’ gave in voting out three Supreme Court justices, following the same-sex marriage decision. It made us appear not to understand the separation of church and state.

Faith is a private, personal affair. Yet atheism is one of the last bastions of socially accepted prejudice. Henderson says there are 300,000 atheists in Iowa but strong social pressures make many afraid to disclose it. In fact, there are striking similarities between the language used by atheists and that used by gay people to describe their outsider status. American Atheists President Dave Silverman actually challenged “the ‘church-pew atheists’ to stop living a lie for the sake of tradition, come out of the religion closet and live as out and proud atheists.”

One woman who belongs to a Siouxland atheists chapter told the Register that in western Iowa, people are afraid if they disclose that affiliation, their cars or homes will be firebombed. A man said the group has been denied participation in charity fundraisers.

That’s wrong. Enforced religion can be as offensive as religious intolerance. It’s no one else’s business whether you believe in God. Yet the protests outside the convention showed we are far from really respecting that American freedom.

Unfortunately, some elected officials don’t seem to, either. …….

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Fundamentalist Christian Pat Robertson has the crazy idea that liberals want to kill babies to turn straight women into lesbians

Source: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/pat-robertson-kill-babies-make-lesbians

And Now for Something Completely Different: “Being Gay is a Gift from God”

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

LGBT Weekly

Members of the Central United Methodist Church of Toledo, Ohio are hitting the streets with a visible and vocal campaign on behalf of religious tolerance and against anti-LGBT discrimination. Perhaps most notable amongst the church’s efforts are a series of billboards that proclaim a very different message from that most of us are used to hearing from the conservative Christian right.

The billboards – large, stark, black and white and impossible to misinterpret – claim that “Being gay is a gift from God;” and according to Rev. Bill Barnard, the message is meant to remind viewers that “all persons are of sacred worth and who they are is the way God created them to be.”

Barnard and other members of the church are pushing an agenda of tolerance and acceptance amidst the current deluge of anti-gay activism pouring forth from many conservative religious groups. As you might imagine, the Central United Methodist campaign is nothing if not controversial.

Continue

The US government seeks to bury the revelations of ongoing human rights violations at the detention camp.

White House, US media stonewall on Guantanamo

Patrick Martin, 27 April 2011

The thousands of pages of documents on US prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, released by WikiLeaks Sunday night, demonstrate the lawless character of the US government, both under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Kidnapping, torture, illegal imprisonment, subornation of perjury, defiance of international law—these are only a few of the crimes of which the top officials of the US government are demonstrably guilty.

Then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld branded the Guantanamo detainees the “worst of the worst,” telling the American public that the prisoners were all hard-core terrorists, many of them linked to the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington. The WikiLeaks documents demonstrate that the statements of Rumsfeld, Cheney and other top Bush aides were deliberate and conscious lies.

The vast majority of the 800 Guantanamo prisoners were innocent men swept up randomly on the battlefield in Afghanistan or seized by allied intelligence agencies, particularly in Pakistan, where anyone of Arab or Afghan descent was a potential cash bonanza for corrupt police officials seeking to collect American bounties. More than 100 suffered from mental illness when they were seized. Others were driven into that state by years of isolation and abuse, without any hope of release or legal recourse.

,…,

Actually, the torture is ongoing. Indefinite detention without prospect of either a judicial hearing or eventual release is itself a form of torture. So are the constant interrogations to which many of the prisoners are still subjected, although some of them are more than nine years removed from any association with Al Qaeda, and therefore can hardly be encompassed by the “ticking time bomb” scenario invariably cited as justification for their treatment.

The detention camp at Guantanamo should be closed immediately, and all those jailed there released or tried through a civilian judicial process in which basic democratic rights and constitutional norms are observed in full. Those US government officials, both civilian and military, who are responsible for the creation and continuation of this concentration camp should themselves be held to account before an international tribunal.

MORE

Guantanamo documents reveal US brutality and lawlessness

WikiLeaks has released new evidence of wrongful imprisonment and torture by the US military and intelligence agencies

By Patrick Martin, 26 April 2011

A new trove of documents released Sunday night by WikiLeaks profiles more than 700 prisoners who passed through the Guantanamo Bay detention camp between 2002 and 2009. The documents demonstrate that, even in the eyes of the US military/intelligence apparatus, there was no evidence connecting the vast majority of the prisoners to any form of terrorism, let alone terrorist threats against the United States and US citizens.

The documents consist largely of Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs), short summaries of the alleged evidence against individual detainees, as well as accounts of their physical and mental health, how they came into US custody, their value as intelligence sources and their eventual disposition, if any. Along with the DABs on 704 prisoners—out of 779 men believed to have been imprisoned at Guantanamo for any length of time—there are documents providing guidelines for interrogators and other procedures at the US-run prison camp in Cuba.

The documents require careful review, but certain preliminary conclusions can be drawn immediately from the digests which have appeared in a dozen newspapers and magazines, some of which are collaborating with WikiLeaks and others which are openly hostile to the whistle-blower web site. There is also a useful summary posted on WikiLeaks itself (http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/).

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Many Believe Obama Might Be the Antichrist

Group Behind King James Bible Congressional Resolution Thinks Obama Might Be Antichrist

by Sarah Posner, April 26, 2011

Alabama Republican Robert Aderholt and West Virginia Democrat Nick Rahall have introduced a Congressional Resolution, timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, designed to express the body’s “gratitude” for the “influence” the KJV has had on “countless families, individuals, and institutions in the United States.”

The bipartisan co-sponsors were lobbied by the small non-profit Bible Nation Society, based in Corunna, Michigan, said Jason Georges, the group’s executive director. Georges said that other members of Congress, particularly the Congressional Prayer Caucus, were also interested in the KJV resolution.

The Bible Nation Society, affiliated with Immanuel Baptist Church in Corunna, was founded by Immanuel’s pastor, Douglas Levesque. At the Bible Nation Society’s 2010 Bible in Culture Conference, Levesque preached on the “Antichrist Quotient,” in which he laid out wide-ranging conspiracy theories that President Obama might be the Antichrist.

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Demon Possession and Imperalism

by: The Rev. Alvin Petty

Can the physical body be a microcosm of the social body? British anthropologist, Mary Douglas, thinks so. And history seems to answer yes to this question, also.

,…,

Now let us look at parallel demonic possessions in our society and world which illustrate dialectic or causal link between possessed individual and possessed or perceived as possessed society. Think Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, who perceived our government as taking over and totally controlling our lives or at least his life. Think of the unabomber who operated in a similar pattern as McVeigh. They were obsessed or possessed with hatred of social or government powers that they perceived as evilly destroying their lives. In their insane rage they killed innocent people.

Think Islamic suicide bombers who kill innocents by the scores because they believe that outsiders are oppressing and destroying the only kind of society and culture in which they feel at ease. Their obsessive hatred is demonic possession because they cannot cope with the changes in their world.

Now think of voices such as Rush Limbaugh or some radical politicians such as some Tea Party types or any politician who will do anything to defeat his political opponents. They feel so oppressed because their business, social, political culture and the culture of American dominance in the world is changing. In their unease with the world as it is they lash out at historically-proven ideas such as the separation of church and state and cherished democratic institutions so as to destroy them and return us to some idyllic, Edenic American past that they imagine we had. Christian fundamentalists do this too. This is American and Arab World demon possession. Make no mistake of its destructive power. (John Domic Crossan: The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, p.313-318, Harper and Collins, 1992.)

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Child Labor Supporter: Working at 11 Years Old “Not a Big Deal,” “Doesn’t Hurt Anybody”

Looking to Weaken Child Labor Laws, GOPer Says Working at 11 Years Old “Not a Big Deal,” “Doesn’t Hurt Anybody”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage hadn’t made a secret of his support for legislation weakening child labor laws. But at a town hall meeting last Friday he really made his case, in comments flagged by Maine blogger (and Daily Kos user) Dirigo Blue.

Of course, even in the process of supporting a backwards leap of about a century, LePage gets it wrong. He describes the bill affecting 14 and 15 year olds, when in fact it lowers wages for people up to 20 years old and eliminates the limit on hours a 16 year old can work on a school day.

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Always The Victim: Promoters of the bill claim that preventing the government from funding religious groups is equivalent to discriminating against religious groups

The great divide: separation of church and state

April 25, 2011 by Cole Peterson

Florida bill would foolishly allow government to fund religious institutions

Florida is attempting to pass a bill that would destroy the separation of church and state. The bill in question would remove a state constitutional provision that prevents the government from spending money on sectarian religious organizations. Essentially, they want to be able to hand out tax dollars to their favorite churches, First Amendment be damned.

Promoters of the bill claim that preventing the government from funding religious groups is equivalent to discriminating against religious groups. What they mean to say is that it’s discrimination against the specific religious groups that they approve of and wish to endorse, since it’s highly unlikely that Florida officials are eagerly awaiting the chance to hand out money to the local mosque or coven.

The U.S. Constitution clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and while it is often the case that these lines are presented as a shield to protect government from the influence of theology, it is in fact a two-way street.

Religion is protected from government interference. This is good. No one wants bureaucrats telling people what they’re allowed to believe, when they’re allowed to believe it and (and this one is important because this is the danger the Florida bill represents) granting special favor to those who happen to believe the “right thing.” The “right thing” is, of course, whatever those in power believe.

Much argument has been made the last several years over the idea that America is a “Christian nation.” Usually, the proponents of this idea use arguments that are mostly hyperbole and fiction with a bit of truth sprinkled in to make it palatable to the masses.

The Founding Fathers, for example, are often held up as having been devout Christians. Some of them were, yes, but some of them most certainly were not. Also, a few of them had an abiding distrust and dislike for organized religion, believing faith and spirituality to be strictly personal matters.

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Meet the Religious Right Charlatan Who Teaches Tea Party America The Totally Pretend History They Want to Hear

By:People For the American Way Foundation, April 20, 2011
David Barton is a Republican Party activist and a fast-talking, self-promoting, self-taught, self-proclaimed historian who is miseducating millions of Americans about U.S. history.

Newt Gingrich promises to seek his advice and counsel for the 2012 presidential campaign. Mike Huckabee calls him America’s greatest historian, says he should be writing the curriculum for American students, and in fact suggested that all Americans should be “forced at gunpoint” to listen to his broadcasts. Michelle Bachmann calls him “a treasure for our nation” and invited him to teach one of her Tea Party Caucus classes on the Constitution for members of Congress. State legislators from around the country invite him to share his “wisdom” with them. Glenn Beck calls him “the most important man in America.” Who is this guy?

This guy is David Barton, a Republican Party activist and a fast-talking, self-promoting, self-taught, self-proclaimed historian who is miseducating millions of Americans about U.S. history and the Constitution.

Barton has been profitably peddling a distorted “Christian nation” version of American history to conservative religious audiences for the past two decades. His books and videos denouncing church-state separation have been repeatedly debunked by respected historians, but that hasn’t kept Barton from becoming a folk hero for many in the Religious Right. His eagerness to help elect Republicans has won him gratitude and support from national as well as state and local GOP leaders. Former senator Sam Brownback, now the governor of Kansas, has said that Barton’s research “provides the philosophical underpinning for a lot of the Republican effort in the country today — bringing God back into the public square.” Indeed, Time Magazine named him one of the nation’s 25 most influential evangelical Christians in 2005.

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Obama Invites Christian Dominionist to Easter Prayer Breakfast

April 25, 2011 By God Discussion Reporter

On April 19, President Obama held his “second annual” Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of The White House.

Receiving a personal invitation was Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (www.nhclc.org), also known as The Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals, the nation’s largest Christian Hispanic organization.

According to Rodriguez’ press release, the President said, “That as busy as we are, as many tasks as pile up, during this season we are reminded that there is something about the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective. Everybody in this room has weighty responsibilities from leading churches and denominations to helping to administer important government programs to shaping our cultures in various ways and I admit that my plate has been full as well. But then comes Holy Week and we are reminded that Jesus took on the sins of this world–past, present and future. And Jesus offered us His unfathomable grace. This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this amazing grace causes me to reflect, to pray, to ask God for forgiveness for the times that I’ve not shown grace to others, causes me to praise God for the gift of His son and our Savior and that is why we have this breakfast because in the middle of critical national debates, in the middle of our busy lives we must always make sure that we are keeping things in perspective. I’m honored that you have all come here this Holy Week to join me in a spirit of prayer and I pray that this time here in prayer would strengthen us both individually as believers and as Americans.”

Rodriguez is the “hip” version of Christian dominionism — a term loosely referring to the collection of apostles, prophets, Reconstructionists and so forth who believe that the world should be dominated by Christians. Rodriguez is a charismatic speaker, appealing to a multiethnic, politically independent audience.

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