As Long As You Are Republican & Accept Jesus Christ As Your Personal Savior, You Are Free To Think & Believe As You Please.

COULTER: No, we think — we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn’t really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we’re all sinners —

COULTER: No, no, no, no, no. I don’t want you being offended by this. This is what Christians consider themselves, because our testament is the continuation of your testament. You know that. So we think Jews go to heaven. I mean (Jerry) Falwell himself said that, but you have to follow laws. Ours is “Christ died for our sins.” We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian is not offensive at all.

Do I Believe In The Bible? Believe In It? Hell, I've Seen It.

The odds are 3:1 that faith & belief are not the same.
There ". . . is a conflict between two visions of the Christian life--one that emphasizes believing and one that emphasizes relationship. Within the earlier paradigm or way of seeing the Christian life, believing has been central--believing in God, believing in Jesus, believing in the Bible, believing in Christianity, believing in the creeds, and so forth. Within the emerging paradigm relationship, not believing is central. It is a relationship with God as disclosed in the Christian tradition, but the Christian tradition itself is not the object of belief. . . .
. . . the original meanings of the English words believe and believing are relational. They do not mean agreeing to accept dubious or problematic propositions to be true. They don't even mean believing divinely revealed propositions to be true.
To relate this to the four meanings of faith . . . originally the word believing covered all of these meanings. It was synonymous with faith in all of the senses I've described. Thus, in the Modern Period we have suffered an extraordinary reduction in the meaning of believing. We have reduced it and turned it into propositional believing, believing a particular set of statements or claims to be true." Faith, Not Belief by Dr. Marcus Borg This article was revealed to me by Peter, The Big Fisherman.

Happy Indigenous People's Day. Real Italians Celebrate It.

"Endless testimonies ... prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives. . - . But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians...." Bartolome' de las Casas
"If Columbus had been expecting to land in Korea instead of India, the North American native peoples would today be known as Koreans. " S.H.E.

We're Number One! Aren't We? It Don't Get Any Bettern This. Does It?

"There’s a nice piece in the Washington Post called the '5 Myths About Sick Old Europe.' . . . Europe has a better economy, better jobs, and, of course, there are all those cradle to grave citizen benefits (which Sicko barely touched on) over which Americans are sick to death with envy. . . . Europe has happier, healthier, and more productive citizens. Here in the miserly USA, we are not even close." From Europe is Better.

Click Here For Our Strategery for Catching Up.

Kids Strike Back-Veto Bushites' Photo Ops

GOP COMES OUT. Mitt To Consider Craig As Running "Mate." "We're All Log Cabins On The Inside" Exclaimed Romney

"When an elephant stands on its hind legs, it's usually for mating purposes.”"NGblog Who designed the GOP logo?

"[Male elephants] engage in same-sex bonding and mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate interactions, such as kissing, trunk intertwining, and placing trunks in each other's mouths. The encounters are analogous to heterosexual bouts, one male often extending his trunk along the other's back and pushing forward with his tusks to signify his intention to mount. Unlike heterosexual relations, which are always of a fleeting nature, those between males result in a 'companionship', consisting of an older individual and one or two younger, attendant males. Same-sex relations are common and frequent in both sexes, with Asiatic elephants in captivity devoting roughly 45% of sexual encounters to same-sex activity.^"

Mandela's Alive. Bush is Brain Dead.

Women Have Suffraged Enough

“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women. It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it’s the party of women and ‘We’ll pay for health care and tuition and day care — and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?’”

The Beattitudes-Red Letter Edition

Bush/Dobson/Robertson Republicans are clambering to put them old ten commandments on everything (including courthouses). Yet you never see them showing much interest in displaying the Beatitudes, which are supposedly Jesus own words in the Sermon on the Mount. Of course if you read what Jesus supposedly said, its easy to see how it might make this current crop of republicans slightly uncomfortable. (Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted, Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled, Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God,

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you)

I wouldn't mind seeing the one about blessed are the merciful being posted in all of our courthouses. That is pretty good stuff.
Thanks to Sammy, who was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Man without a Country. http://books.google.com/books?id=T7J-Xg2bYKAC&pg=PP1&dq=inauthor:Kurt+inauthor:Vonnegut&sig=wjUk9QSCUiQTKzsejuDY7KzTl6Q#PPA68,M1

Onward Christian Soldier-Bush Vetoes Children’s Health Insurance Bill.

"But it (the Clinton health care proposal) would do two important things. First, it would end the disgrace of America’s being the only advanced capitalist democracy on earth that does not guarantee health care to its citizens. Second, with any luck, it would create a slow-motion showdown between private and public health insurance. Given that private insurers spend around fifteen per cent of their budgets on administration—much of it devoted to keeping the sick off the rolls and, failing that, figuring out ways to avoid paying their medical bills—while Medicare spends two per cent, it ought to be an interesting and instructive contest." Hendrick Hertzberg,
Ghostbusters, New Yorker, Oct. 1, 2007.

35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25:35-40 (New Living Translation)

"'I believe in private medicine, not the federal government running the health care system. I do want Republicans and Democrats to come together to support a bill that focuses on the poorer children,' the president said, adding the government's policy should be to help people find private insurance." G.W. Bush, Oct. 3, 2007, following his veto of the SCHIP expansion bill.

See, Bush Vetoes Children’s Health Insurance Bill By DAVID STOUT

See, also, Jonah's Today's News and Matthew 25: 35-40Thanks to Jonah & Sammy for the tips.

Is The Pope Catholic? Nuns Aren’t Unless They Proffer Phallic Prayers.

“Sister Mary Theresa Dionne, one of the excommunicated nuns, said the group still plans to live in the convent, which it owns. 'We want to do God’s will, and we believe we are Catholic,' said the 82-year-old Dionne, the assistant superior of the convent. 'Even though they say we are not Catholic, this is not true.' . . . 'If you had asked me who are the people least likely in the state to commit heresy, I might have mentioned them,' said Hebert, who later choked up when discussing the excommunication. 'They are very orthodox, solid ladies who love God and love Jesus Christ.'" 6 Army of Mary nuns in Hot Springs excommunicated BY HEATHER HAHN

The Catholic Church is good at nothing if not chauvinistic misogynistic nitpickery. God knows that the Church leadership doesn’t have anything else to worry about now that poverty, war, & injustice have been eliminated from this world.
Sing it Luke!

Sooner or Later, We'll Have A Downright Moron in the White House. H.L. Mencken 1920

“The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre - the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
H. L. Mencken, Evening Sun on 26 July 1920, in an article entitled Bayard vs. Lionheart (and reprinted in the book On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe).
Thanks to the Judge for the tip.

50 Years Ago in Little Rock the School Board Had Voted to Integrate.

"For three weeks in September 1957, Little Rock was the focus of a showdown over integration as Gov. Orval Faubus blocked nine black students from enrolling at a high school with about 2,000 white students. Although the U.S. Supreme Court had declared segregated classrooms unconstitutional in 1954 -- and the Little Rock School Board had voted to integrate -- Faubus said he feared violence if the races mixed in a public school." 50 Years After Little Rock, Part One: Retelling, Revisiting and Reliving the Crisis at Central High By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

See also, 50 Years After Little Rock, Part Two: Where are They Now? How the Little Rock Nine Have Fared By: Monica Lewis

Virgil believed that the "Negro" children children had the right to go to the same schools as whites, but he didn't like Ike's sending federal troops to our soil. Virg thought he could still remember when the bastards had burned our crops. Virgil was one confused little kid. His lack of knowledge didn't deter him from arguing with whomever had mistaken views. My, how things have changed.

What's Wrong With This Country? Marsha Blackburn & Her Ilk Are Right Up There.

Virgil despises talking heads from either party. He has been trying to become more tolerant, but he simply cannot abide Marsha Blackburn, the RNC's yip dog ho. Thanks to David Shuster for nailing her.
Shuster: "Let's talk about the public trust. . . .What was the name of the last solider from your district who was killed in Iraq?"

Blackburn:"The name of the last soldier killed in Iraq uh - from my district I - I do not know his name -"

Shuster: "Ok, his name was Jeremy Bohannon, he was killed August the 9th, 2007. How come you didn't know the name?"

Blackburn: "I - I, you know, I - I do not know why I did not know the name..." . . .

Shuster: "But you weren't appreciative enough to know the name of this young man, he was 18 years old who was killed, and yet you can say chapter and verse about what's going on with the New York Times and Move On.org." . . . "But don't you understand, the problems that a lot of people would have, that you're so focused on an ad -- when was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody? I mean, here we have a war that took the life of an 18 year old kid, Jeremy Bohannon from your district, and you didn't even know his name.
David Shuster interview with Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

See, Also, MSNBC asks about "GOP hypocrisy?" in denunciations of MoveOn but silence on Limbaugh's "Senator Betrayus" comments

Planning for Defeat

"The Petraeus-Crocker testimony is the kind of short-lived event on which the Administration has relied to shore up support for the war: the “Mission Accomplished” declaration, the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam’s capture, the transfer of sovereignty, the three rounds of voting, the Plan for Victory, the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Every new milestone, however illusory, allows the Administration to avoid thinking ahead, to the years when the mistakes of Iraq will continue to haunt the U.S. The media have largely followed the Administration’s myopic approach to the war, and there is likely to be intense coverage of the congressional testimony. But the inadequacy of the surge is already clear, if one honestly assesses the daily lives of Iraqis. Though the streets of Baghdad are marginally less lethal than they were during 2006, sixty thousand Iraqis a month continue to leave their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration, joining the two million who have become refugees and the two million others displaced inside Iraq. The militias, which have become less conspicuous as they wait out the surge, are nevertheless growing in strength, . . ." Planning for Defeat, How should we withdraw from Iraq? by George Packer in The New Yorker

This Is It!

Bruce: “We should have had a pirate party.”

Barb: “Missed it.....guess I'll be walkin' the plank!”

Bruce: “We all are. the only question is how long is it?”

Bush is a Pissant Pimp & The White House is the Pissant Hilton.

"...Mr. Bush, you have hidden behind the General's skirts, and today you have hidden behind the skirts of 'the last question' at a news conference, to indicate once again that your presidency has been about the tilted playing field, about no rules for your party in terms of character assassination and changing the fabric of our nation, and no right for your opponents or critics to as much as respond.

That, Sir, is not only unAmerican -- it is dictatorial.

And in pimping General David Petraeus, Sir, in violation of everything this country has been assiduously and vigilantly against for 220 years, you have tried to blur the gleaming radioactive line between the military and the political, and to portray your party as the one associated with the military, and your opponents as the ones somehow antithetical to it. You did it again today, Sir, and you need to know how history will judge the line you just crossed." Keith Olbermann

Thanks to Dr. Steve & Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Human Beings, Gasoline, Gunpowder, & a Sense of Entitlement.

"Do you see this fine thing? Do you admire the humanity in it? Because the Human Beings believe everything is alive. Not only Man and the Animals but Water, Earth, Stone...Things that come from them. Like that hair. The Man from whom this hair came is bald on the Other Side because I own his scalp...This is the way things are. But the White Man—they believe everything is dead. Earth. Animals. People. Even their own people. If things keep trying to live, White Men will rub them out. That is the difference." Old Lodgeskins on Humanity and the White Men...

"In Alaska… state officials continue to allow airborne gunners to kill hundreds of wolves. Easy targets against the snow, hundreds of wolves have been shot from above or chased to exhaustion and then killed by aerial gunners who land and execute them at point-blank range."
TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT CLICK HERE.

Thoughts From Rev. Sandi

To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past,

to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come,

to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain

you are giving back—

in many ways, it is a feast fit for a king.

The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton

at the end of the feast is you. Frederick Buechner

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.

And try to love the questions themselves.

Do not seek the answers that cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is to live everything.

Live the questions now.

Perhaps you will then gradually without noticing it,

Live along some distant day into the answer. Rainer Maria Rilke

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,

but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield, but to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,

but hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone;

but let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure. Tagore

Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem-The Bold Thady Quill

Here's one of the verses left out of this vocal:

In the year ninety-one before Parnell was taken,
Thade was outrageously breaking the peace
He got a light sentence for causin' commotion,
And six months hard labour for batin' police.
But in spite of coercion he's still agitatin'
Ev'ry drop of his life's blood he's willing to spill,
To gain for old Ireland complete liberation,
"Till then there's no rest for me" says bold Thady Quill

For the full song click here.

See, Hurling, Camogie & Shinny For More on Thad Quill.