young liberal proud's blog

Toward the begining of March, I emailed these questions to one of the featured bloggers on this site. If any of the featured bloggers would like to take the time to answer these (and perhaps some follow up questions) I would feel much obliged.
Please help.

The questions are as follow:
What roll do you think that religion has on U.S. elections? What are some of the positives and some of the negatives of said roll?

What do you think of John McCain’s recent support from far-right Anti-Catholic speaker John Hagee, or of the much publicized Reverend Wright controversy?

Why do you think that televangelists like Pat Robertson managed to become popular despite their bigoted manner of looking at things?

Do you see the “Christian Right” as being as powerful a force as it is sometimes portrayed?

Can you give me a bit of history about the Institute for Progressive Christianity and Crossleft.org?

What are the goals of the IPC?

What exactly is your involvement with Crossleft and the IPC?

Do you think any one political party really fits Jesus’ message, and how do you think Christ would face the issues we as a nation now face?

Are there other organizations similar to IPC or Crossleft for those of us who are interested in religion or politics?

anyway, thank you for your time

Often times when confronted with the cesspool that is modern politics, I am reminded of a line from one of the Star Wars movies. "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." It isn't quite thunderous applause that bothers me as I write this, but rather a 68-29 Senate vote. The Senate has passed President Bush's FISA Bill, complete with Mr. Bush's protection for his precious telecoms. Once again, our spineless Senate has given the Sith Lords in the White House exactly what they have asked for. Once again, politicians who were elected on the premise of standing up to Bush are doing his bidding. But there is, to continue the Star Wars metaphor, a new hope, and that is the House of Representatives. And Mr. Bush doesn't like the threat these Jedi pose.

"People are wondering why companies need liability protection. Well, if you cooperate with the government and then get sued for billions of dollars because of the cooperation, you're less likely to cooperate." President Bush said.

And, of course, businesses cooperating with our government can be a very good thing. But what about when it isn't? What if our government was asking these companies to break laws? What if this was just another overstepping of the powers allotted to Mr. Bush? And why would these corporations have to worry about being sued "for billions of dollars" if they hadn't broken the laws?

Bill O'Reilly- It's been long established that Billy boy isn't fond of what you'd call "facts." He lives in a magical kingdom I call "Bizzaro Billy Land." Bizzaro Billy Land is a world were homeless vets don't live under bridges, were the George Polk Award is the same as a Peabody, were U.S. soldiers massacred Nazis at Malmedy, and were it's ok to sexually harass your producer.
And in Bizzaro Billy Land, Barack Obama never gave a plan for fighting terrorism or paying for his health care plan. The fact that Obama has clearly explained these things here in the real world means nothing. Because Obama doesn't visit Bizzaro Billy Land. Instead of fighting Obama staffers, maybe O'Reilly should have been, I don't know, LISTENING TO THE SPEECHES BEFORE HE OPENED HIS MOUTH! Only a suggestion.

For perhaps the hundredth -if not the thousandth or millionth- time, our Commander in Chief has illustrated that he has no comprehension of the art of compromise. He and Congress are in one of their weekly stalemates. You know the ones were he says what he wants, the Congress offers another solution, and Bush holds his breath until he gets his way.
President Bush has already appointed something along the lines of 30% of the judiciary. But take heed, America, new Bushies are on their way.
Bush is venting frustration with the Legislative Branch again. It seems they have the hubris to demand compromise from the Executive. The Senate is refusing to vote on 180 of his nominees, including two dozen for the federal branch.
"Some have been waiting for more than a year," said Bush. "As a result, careers have been put on hold, families have been placed in limbo and our government has been deprived of the service of these fine nominees."

is Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace of Fox News went on The Daily Show with John Stewart on Super Tuesday. How fitting, a living joke of a journalist being interviewed by a comedian. Wallace came on the show in order to try to sell us on the new Fox contributor -one Karl Rove, I don't know if you've ever heard of him. Wallace might have reached the pinnacle of his stupidity during this interview by suggesting that Senator Edwards is a "demagogue." That's unbiased journalism right there. By the way, Chris, a demagogue is someone who exploits fear for political purpose. You know, what you guys at Fox News do every day.

Later, on Fox, Wallace would praise Rove for his analysis. Wallace ignored the fact that Rove's analysis was wrong. Among other things, the Dark Prince claimed that McCain was beating Obama and Clinton in national polling. McCain is actually losing to both Clinton and Obama in most national polls.

Yesterday, February 5th, was, of course, Super Tuesday.

But, as the historian Howard Zinn has pointed out, elections have the habit of distracting us from larger issues.

Yesterday was also the aniversary of the following speech:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-C3svWjJUY

That would be correct, Dear Reader.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations, in which he laid out the case for war with Iraq.
Mr. Powell, of course, has since criticized this administration's disastrous policies. It seems that he, like the rest of this nation, was mislead by guys he thought he could trust.
In related news, this is an exchange between Press secretary Dana Perino and a reporter:

Q Dana, today is the fifth anniversary of Colin Powell's U.N. presentation on Iraq. I'm wondering whether you think the intel reforms that we've seen since then make a repeat of that kind of blunder impossible.

"Some character who refers to himself by the name of Heavy Fed posted the names and profile pics of anti-Ron Paul people here on Myspace, including those who are on my friend list. (I am unsure why I was not seen as important enough to make this list, I've been pretty critical of Paul in the past)
"This was an invitation to be spammed, harassed, and threatened," said one of the people who was featured on the list, one of my myspace friends who calls himself "SocialistUS."

This was not the extent of the harassment. Heavy Fed went on to post the street address of one anti-Ron Paul man, a guy whose only crime, as far as I can tell, was having a different view from that of Heavy Fed. A few Ron Paul supporters are actually threatening the life of this man. There was a rumor circulating on Myspace that either the man or his girlfriend had become the victim of some ill fate or another.

Of course, spamming is a common trick of those who take their support for a cause or candidate to the extreme. Many groups have been hacked by members of the fringe. These actions are irresponsible, to say the least. Resorting to threats of violence and childish internet pranks is further proof that a cause is wrong. Hackers with to much time on their hands and egos they do not deserve do nothing to make a case for their cause.

Many conservatives on the fringe are more angry than usual lately. And it's not the usual suspects (the Clintons, the Kenedys, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, welfare recipiants, ad nauseum)
No, the recent uproar on the AM radio dial and on Fox News is directed at one man. This man's name is John McCain.

If you go on Rush Limbaugh's website (I suggest you don't) you'll find a picture of John McCain, Rudy Giulliani, and Govenor Schwarzenegger of California. Above this photo is the caption "McCain chooses to surround himself with liberals." Limbaugh has been very public in his criticism of McCain, and he's not the only one. Fringe right-wing collumnist Ann Coulter has publically said she'd vote for Hillary Clinton before McCain. Michael Savage has said McCain is "not qualified to be president." Many on the right feel that McCain is far to liberal for their tastes -he has, after all, signed a controversial immigration bill with Ted Kennedy, and he did pick up an endorsement from the New York Times, the most hated paper in the eyes of the AM Talk Radio crowd- and are outraged that he is well on his way to becomming their party's nomination.

John’s Comments- Bush’s Effect on the Union
Category: News and Politics

As most of you probably know, Monday was President Bush's final State of the Union Address. And befitting Bush's history, he received an opportunity to move toward bipartisanship and unity, to undue some of the wrongs he has been guilty of in these long years since the contested elections that swept him into office. But, alas, words like "unity" are only catch phrases to our commander in chief.

Compare bush's statements to that of his democratic counter. Bush attacked the democratic opposition for earmarked bills. He explained why he used his veto power like a spoiled child -holding his breath because the appropriations bill did not go his way.

Compare Bush's speech -with its empty rhetoric, partisanship, and hyperbole- to that of Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. The Kansas Governor called for unity, saying that she would give her speech as an American, not as a Democrat. Because she, unlike the president, understand that if we are going to get anywhere in this country, it is through that dreaded word "compromise." And that sometimes being an adult means compromising with people you dislike, people you disagree with, or people who are just plain wrong.