Voting to Bring Together Church and State - A Republican Faithfest

A long time ago at the birth of a country far, far away; esteemed political leaders, the founding fathers, men of different faiths, crafted the worlds most vibrant form of government with a careful separation of church and state.

For 200 years, elected officials, again of varying faiths, respected the diversity of their citizens religious beliefs and governed along secular paths leaving religious faith as a personal matter for each to follow within their own beliefs.

George W. Bush has deliberately broken the words of our forefathers and allowed religious groups that mirror his beliefs to act as an extension of the Bush federal government. Not since the United States of America sought independence from Great Britian and the Church of England has this country come so close to establishing a defacto state sponsored form of religion.

"As discontent with the Republican Party threatens to dampen the turnout of conservative voters in November, evangelical leaders are launching a massive registration drive that could help counter the malaise and mobilize new religious voters in battleground states.

The program, coordinated by the Colorado-based group Focus on the Family and its influential founder, James C. Dobson, would use a variety of methods — including information inserted in church publications and booths placed outside worship services — to recruit millions of new voters in 2006 and beyond."

Ironically, those who should be most concerned with this arrangement are political conservatives, or what used to be a conservative in the sense of focusing on minimizing the role of government in our day to day lives. The government is now in your church.

Growing up, church was a place where my family went to listen to the words and songs of our faith that inspired us to be more loving human beings, to help others, to act with humility and tolerance for the greater good. Apparently this is no longer the focus of some forms of Christianity.

"The nation’s top ten Religious Right groups raked in nearly half a billion dollars collectively. (Some organizational budget figures are from 2004, and some are from 2005. The collective total is $447,368,625.) These groups are well organized, well funded and have specific [political] policy goals."

Wouldn't real Christians use a half a BILLION dollars in ways to help America's poor, our children, and our senior citizens live better lives rather than using it as a war chest to lobby political leaders?

This is not what God intended. This is not the type of government created by the founding fathers.

Americans must renew the call of the first Americans over 200 years ago and insist on the proper separation of church and state with a renewed respect and tolerance for Americans of all religious faiths. Give us strength.

You're Weekly Increase in Gas Prices

How much higher can the price go?

Lets revisit, from the latest news items backwards to our recent past the litany of reasons we've been given for why gas prices must go up, yet again.

- BP (foreigners) gunked up the Alaska pipeline and can't clean it without shutting down the entire pipeline. Hope it doesn't inconvenience a continent. We're snaking it as fast as we can.

- Israel and Lebanon are bombing the crap out of each other and the U.S. won't step in and stop the fighting. Middle East tension = increase in gas prices. Question: When the f*ck isn't there tension in the Middle East?

- There is a bill before Congress for off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. You won't let us drill off-shore you pussy environmentalists. Gas Prices go up.

- Drilling in the Alaska still not permitted? Gas prices go up.

- Energy demand from record heat wave. Electricity and natural gas are somehow remotely related to oil production, a surge in any energy use means...gas prices go up.

- Its hurricane season. Gas prices go up.

- Tension in the Middle East. Gas prices go up.

- Its summer and we know you will drive more. Gas prices go up.

- North Korea sneezed and tried to launch a rocket or two at the same time somewhere near Japan. Japan uses energy, Japanese cars are popular in the U.S.; therefore, gas prices go up.

- More killing in Iraq and tensions in the Middle East (we know, this happens everyday, but its our stop-gap reason for raising gas prices when we can't come up with a rationale tied to a current events).

- etc., etc., etc....

Do a Google search for "gas prices go up" and you get 89 million hits. Some of our favorites: What happens if gas goes up to $5 a gallon? Why doesn't Bush care more about the American middle class getting squeezed by high gas prices?

"Before I talk about energy, I do want to share with you some thoughts about the war on terror."

A one track (and rather small) mind, or as they say in Texas - a one trick pony.

Perhaps a more visionary President, rather than linking a tax-cut for the estate taxes of the wealthy to the increase in minimum wage would have combined it with an energy relief act to hold fuel prices down for the middle class? Guess we'll never know. So its a contest, which runs out first - your money or the crude oil?

Oh, Madge (sigh). Madonna has Jolie-Pitt Envy

Madonna wants into Africa. She feels she can help. She identifies with the plight of children and the poverty of the country of Malawi. It's a spiritual thing.

Apparently, its a telepathic thing as well because this all consuming outreach effort is being organized without her ever setting foot in Africa.

While noble deeds, particularly in forgotten corners of the world, should probably be accepted regardless of the motivation, apparently if you are an international entertainment figure helping others only holds an appeal if there is a touch of the exotic. Why help the poor in London, Los Angeles or Detroit when you can be seen as a great (white) hope to the poor (black) huddled masses in a destitute swath of Africa?

While this may sound cynical, it is only so in comparison to the experiences of thousands of volunteers from relief agencies around the world who work for years in parts of these countries as unsung, and unpublicized heroes. They help others without needing to see their gestures reflected back upon them to affirm that they are more than just light-weight public figures. At the same time these volunteers are working with children and families trying to encourage a sense of dignity for self, and for country, something that is rather difficult to do when help arrives in the form of a savior-celebrity from a foreign land.

Its often said that its not what you do while people are watching that is important, its what you do and how you behave when no one is watching that offers a truer window into your soul. When a clebrity is on a mission it seems like someone is always watching, at just the right time. Because when the camera's are rolling for Angelina, or Oprah, or now Madonna, they rarely show the whole picture:

"A Western security force has effectively taken over the small African nation of Namibia. A beach resort in Langstrand in Western Namibia has been sealed off with security cordons, and armed security personnel have been keeping both local residents and visiting foreigners at bay. A no-fly zone has been enforced over part of the country. The Westerners have also demanded that the Namibian government severely restrict the movement of journalists into and out of Namibia. The government agreed and, in a move described by one human rights organization as ‘heavy-handed and brutal’, banned certain reporters from crossing its borders.

However, this Western security force is not a US or European army plundering Namibia’s natural resources or threatening to topple its government. It is the security entourage of one Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the celebrity couple better known for living it up in LA than slumming it in Namibia."

While Madonna may want to "get in on a good thing" in Africa, a modern day equivalent of ladies from the gilded age who wanted to be on the board of the local museum or opera company, if she is really looking to help others in ways that are equally meaningful then take a short walk through some of the poorest neighborhoods in London or Detroit. Does she really just want to pull a "Lohan"?

Lindsay Lohan is so excited about her charity trip to Africa, she's trying to convince all her celebrity pals to join her.

The actress will go to Kenya with chariorganizationion The One Foundation to visit local schools and clinics and help draw attention to AIDS and poverty in the East African country. Lohan can't wait to make a difference and has been ringing around her friends to persuade them to go as well. She says, "I'm really excited because I'm planning a trip to Kenya with The One Foundation. BONO introduced me to it.

"I'm also trying to get other people on board - in fact, I only just told KATE BOSWORTH about it last night. I want to set up orphanages for underprivileged and abused children. That's the main thing I'm focusing on in my time off."

Madonna, step off your high horse and out of your gilded cage and leave your PR assistant behind. If you are at a point in your life where your children and your religion have inspired you to help others, then pursue it with a pure heart. It's one thing to be trying to stay ahead of the trend curve to remain popular and relevant in the entertainment industry professionally, but when that obsession extends into works of charity it begins to seem almost...desperate.

Bill O'Reilly Quote of the Day

Because its a classic and he's such an ass:

"You would basically be in the shower and then I would come in and I’d join you and you would have your back to me and I would take that little loofa thing and kinda soap up your back… rub it all over you, get you to relax, hot water… and um… you know, you’d feel the tension drain out of you and uh you still would be with your back to me then I would kinda put my arm — it’s one of those mitts, those loofa mitts you know, so I got my hands in it… and I would put it around front, kinda rub your tummy a little bit with it, and then with my other hand I would start to massage your boobs, get your nipples really hard… ‘cuz I like that and you have really spectacular boobs…

So anyway I’d be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda kissing your neck from behind… and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and I’d put it on your pussy but you’d have to do it really
light, just kind of a tease business."

Alledgedly

Mel Gibson and his Real Father?

How does Mel come by his deep, dark views on Jewish people and Israel. One picture may be worth a thousand words. Separated at birth?

But my words might be colored, tainted since I'm not one who is particularly gifted in bigotry, racism, homophobia, or convinced of an absolute correctness of one religion for the whole world -I'm no Christian dominatrix. Take it from some of Mel's people, the righteous souls over at Fox News:

"I believe that breathless revelations now about Gibson are designed for sympathy only. But he’s not going to get it.

For one thing, Gibson has not — I repeat in capital letters HAS NOT — entered into a serious rehab program for alcohol of any kind. He’s going to AA meetings, but he has not checked himself into a 28-day program at a place like the Betty Ford Clinic or Hazelden.

The director of such a program was quoted yesterday by wire services commenting on Gibson’s choice of rehab. This guy is right in Malibu at the Promises center. If Gibson were serious about his drinking or his apology, he wouldn’t have to travel more than a couple of miles to make it happen. The fact is he just isn't."

I'm back from my sabbatical and look forward to your comments and e-mails.

Your "Reality" Life

There are hundreds of reality shows being broadcast into America's living rooms, oh hell, these days you have to include bedrooms, kitchens, minivans, and iPods as well. Worldwide 1577 reality shows have been created.

What was a summer novelty has turned into a survivor. And what have they wrought? Are they just innocent entertainment fodder? Yes, but with a further reaching effect.

Their breadth - everything from UPN to PBS, from ESPN to the Food Channel, as well as the depths to which they will plumb casting any D, E or F-list celebrity or person of trivial fame for these shows has created the universal condition whereby everyone now believes that their life, no matter how mundane, should be broadcast on television for all the world to see. What if we found out "reality" was closer to Jim Carreys' Truman Show?

It extends beyond the medium of television. Fame more than accomplishment, cruel tragedy rather than heroism insures interest in a published biography. Youtube (Broadcast Yourself!) uploads hundreds of independent films...didn't they used to be called "home movies" on the internet. Every day millions of bloggers log into their personal sites posting articles under the wildest of illusions - that they've done something or written something worthy of investing the time to read their post and that, in fact, people can find it.

All of this of course is occuring with our own soundtrack, iPod buds choreographing our expressions, our walks, our distractions. Internally we can feel just where the camera should go if there was one, looking just over our shoulder.

People who grew up with the internet or iPods, that whole digital revolution, are the first generation that spend more time in the electronic environment than they do in the natural environment. So we are definitely going to try and launch social-marketing campaigns that encourage people to just unplug, just to pull out of the virtual electronic environment and try to live more than half their lives in the real world.

Where do you live? What have you accomplished that is so worthy of our attention?

Is Jon Stewart Just a One Trick Monkey?

Leading up to the 2004 election The Daily Show with Jon Stewart struck a political nerve with a younger demographic that typically is too distracted to give a shit about national politics or world events. For making that connection Stewart is to be applauded, and for his creativity in establishing an outlet for legitimate 'fake news' he's been hailed as a media wunderkind.

But none of this may have been possible without George W. Bush - his punching bag. And frankly, while one would think you can never grow tired of watching George getting his comeuppance nightly by Stewart; we have. Times have changed in this age of the 24/7 news cycle, regular years have now become like dog years, we pack 7 years into 1 and in general, have trouble focusing on ANYTHING for longer than a week.

The White House has mastered this, and Jon Stewart knows it as well.

"Politicians have caught up. They understand that 24-hour news networks: they don't have time for journalism. They only have time for reporting. They only have time to be handed things and go, 'this is what I've just been handed by the administration.' And they read it". (Bill Moyers Interviews Jon Stewart, July 11, 2003)

So why on skewering Bush has Stewart "stayed the course". Well, for one thing its easy, cheap laughs, perfect set-ups. But its not 2003-04 anymore, its 2006, 14 dog years have passed by since the election and America, both the young and the old, have realized that these are now different times. While 7 out of 10 Americans may strongly dislike Bush, there is a realization that not much can be done about it. America has become the New Soviet Union. Bush is our Putin. We're stuck with him, we're being controlled and manipulated, and we just have to wait this thing out. The legal and journalistic systems aren't working, even 'fake news' isn't much of a relief anymore. We're in a bunker and you're teasing us John.

Not since his role in "Death to Smoochy" has Stewart faced such a career defining moment because, lately, it feels like the Daily Show is just hanging in there, waiting. Waiting for the midterm elections in the fall, waiting for a juicy Republican scandal, something, anything. Its the question a comedy show that relies on real news to feed the fake news never wants to have to answer - can they still be funny when all of the Bushisms are no longer easily picked low-hanging fruit, or worst yet, just boring.

There was that infamous Crossfire moment:

"I thought you were going to be funny," Carlson said toward the end of the interview. Stewart responded, "No, I'm not going to be your monkey.

Yet now we seem to have arrived at that monkey-moment. You can only stir the pot so many times with your followers and when there is no reformation, no revolution, no perceptible change, they change the channel.

Where will the RINO'S go? Lost Moderate Republicans

Republicans in Name Only (RINO's), its what the more devisive, conservative, overtly religious part of the Republican Party calls the more moderate members of their party. It is not a term of endearment. "Failed Republicans" is used interchangably by the same conservatives. But in 2008, it may be that this relatively silent majority within their party begins to fight back, or one by one ends up leaving the party altogether.

"I'm absolutely fed up with the conservative Republicans," said Richard Meidinger, a retired physician in Topeka. "All the abortion stuff, gay marriage stuff doesn't belong in the legislative debate."

This perception of a growing division within the RNC spurred along by the possible nomination a more moderate leaning John McCain that increases the divide is a scenario that the Democrats hope to exploit to their benefit in 2008. Assuming of course that they come up with a moderate candidate of their own - Billary? Mark Warner? Al Gore? In other words, it could shape up as an election that is a mad rush to the middle and (finally) away from the extremist ends of the political spectrum.

Of course, this is all based on the premise that moderate or centrist voters are willing to take either party back, and that at this point that they even care which party a candidate belongs to anymore. Not necessarily a sure bet.

Other voices are beginning to emerge, and other political realities may begin fracturing the parties beyond matters of ideology. For example, if Joe Lieberman loses the Connecticut Democratic Primary, he could end up running as an independent out of political necessity. If the Republican party takes a dive off into the deep end and goes towards a more conservative presidential nominee that appeals to a far right-wing base do you really think John McCain will bow out gracefully when 2008 could be his last remaining shot at the presidency? Even Newt Gingrich is returning back from the political graveyard willingly sucking up to any presidential hopeful (from either party) that might conceivably put him on the ticket as VP.

While no one, no one, really has a clue who the nominee's will be for 2008, what has begun to stir even before the 2006 midterm elections is an unrest in the American electorate that wants to regain some control over their elected leaders from the party machinery of both the Republicans and the Democrats. There has been too much corruption, too much failed leadership, too many lost opportunities, and too much debt piled onto our children to leave our future in the hands of these political hacks.

Others have said it better than I:

Let the present, long-running duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats end. Let the invigorating and truly democratic partisan flux of the American republic’s first century return. Let there be a more or less pacifist, anti-business, protectionist Democratic Party on the left, and an anti-science, Christianist, unapologetically greedy Republican Party on the right—and a robust new independent party of passionately practical progressives in the middle.

One of the core values will be honesty. Not a preachy, goody-goody, I’ll-never-lie-to-you honesty of the Jimmy Carter type, but a worldly, full-throated and bracing candor. The moderation will often be immoderate in style and substance, rather than tediously middle-of-the-road. Pragmatism will be an animating party value—even when the most pragmatic approach to a given problem is radical.