POLITICUSUSA
The conservative demand for heroes is more intense than ever. There can never be enough dead heroes, Reagan, McCarthy and others, and living heroes seem even more in demand to judge by the quality of those being put forward, like Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, and by his own reckoning, Glenn Beck.
Glenn Beck is a Mormon in evangelical clothing who has co-opted the Christian narrative for his own purposes. He is preaching what he obviously does not, and cannot believe given his Mormonism. Are mainstream Christians aware of this disconnect between Beck and his message? This has been noticed by some on the Religious Right. Some, but not enough.
A civil war among evangelical Christians has broken out over some evangelicals’ participation with Glenn Beck’s Rally conservative rally in Washington this weekend, but as evangelicals are on the defense about setting aside their spiritual conviction to join Beck on what they see as a shared political agenda.
The idea of divine right died out a long time ago, when god fled the political scene, only to be resurrected in the New World and in a new century with George W. Bush's claim that God - not the American people - chose him to lead America. Then there is the Bush crusade against terrorism, and yet nobody epitomizes the spirit of the past better than former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.
Now that the last US combat brigade has driven into Kuwait, it is an appropriate time to look back at the Iraq War and to reflect on how it matters a great deal who we elect as our leaders. There are lessons to be learned, and we owe it to future generations to heed them.
While endlessly professing their undying love for all things constitutional, the document, the Founding Fathers, strict constructionist judges, conservatives also hate the Constitution and are willing to throw it out in favor of a document founded on bigotry and religious intolerance.
Today’s conservative Christians, who now dominate GOP ranks, are telling us the same thing of the United States, that our nation is the successor to Rome, a new Rome of god’s design. A new City of God. Since there is no evidence to support the “City of God” model, conservatives have decided to invent some. They have taken to the task with great relish, willingly abandoning not only our own 200 years of history, but every single year since the 13th century, including the only real bright spots, the very secular Renaissance and Enlightenment periods.
Just when you deal with one bit of insanity, along comes a recent CNN article on Congress debating the biblical stance on immigration. It gives me cause to wonder what would be transpiring in those hallowed halls were we talking about the Heathen stance on immigration.
Not content to leave it at abuse of his girl-friend, Mel’s rant is peppered with racist remarks reminiscent of his other anti-Semitic rant. Sigh. Mel is also, too, being investigated by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in connection with domestic violence charges. I fear this means he may soon run for office on the Republican ticket, as abusing one’s partner is all the rage right now among the GOP
In the world of Sarah Palin, accusations are confessions and should always be taken thusly. Palin's outrage over the email hacker was simply one finger pointed outward while four more pointed back at herself. Palin has not only hacked a colleague's computer, but was also a party to harassing Levi Johnston's sister into getting rid of online photos during the campaign. But Palin's harassment of the Johnston family apparently did not end there. It seems that in 2008, Sarah Palin and the McCain campaign had Mercede Johnston's computer wiped clean of all photos.
No attempt is made by Christian fundamentalists, who are hopelessly mired in the medieval thought-world, to actually understand Islam. Their purpose instead is to demonize it. The old crusader mentality is alive and well on the Right and marching in lockstep with that ancient persecution complex should anyone raise an eyebrow at their absurd claims.
