MINISTER OF RANTS

HOW HOT IS MY RIDE?

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CHEESES! It's at LEAST 94 in the SHADE!

We fell by the LAST CHANCE GARAGE and decided to take this HOT! '68 (Plymouth Roadrunner) SUPERBIRD for a CRUISE...

BEEP, BEEP!

MEL PASSIONATELY DOES THE GIBSON GROVEL...

Actor Mel Gibson, apparently sobered up and chastened by his lawyer and other handlers, apologized to any f***ing Jews yesterday who may have taken offense from his booze-fueled rant in police custody Friday night:

I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.

(Has anybody heard whether he still thinks he owns Malibu?!)

This Just In:
The ABC-TV network has pulled a miniseries about the Holocaust it was developing with Mel Gibson's production company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Maybe in BIZARROWORLD, Mel Gibson was developing a series about the Holocaust! Didn't his daddy insist says there WAS NO Holocaust!

WHY DIDN'T THE UN OBSERVERS MOVE?!

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SERIOUSLY!

Shouldn't someone ask the question: With Hezbollah installation (AKA Israeli targets) all around them - why did the unarmed UN observers sit there like - well - like ducks?

First - they weren't "sitting" - they were playing volleyball. There are probably few suitable areas to set-up a new volleyball court in war zone...

From: LIFE OF RUBIN

"I Think Kofi Needs an International Time-Out."      

I'm so serious, don't you think it's about time? I don't know a single thing about the U.N.'s guidelines for it's leadership, but can the U.S. bring up a resolution to censure the Sec-General? I think he needs a political slap in the face. People like him who have no one to answer for feel like they can do and say whatever they want.

  This guy, who is so blatantly and obviously an anti-semite is actually telling the word that he thinks the Israeli's specifically wanted to kill those U.N. workers. Stop for a second, and think about what that means. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, thinks the Israeli government has it in them, that they could be so evil, that they would actually want to murder 4 Innocent civilian's who were there on a mission of peace. He thinks the Israeli government would murder 4 unarmed men who had nothing to do with this conflict , so to speak.

Do you have any clue how serious that is? Are we just caught up in the moment over the actual story to really concentrate on the seriousness of his charges?

  Worse of all, now after evidence has come out that Hezbollah was using this U.N. post as a shield, Kofi still presses on with his claim. What's even funnier is that this isn't the first time Hezbollah has used the U.N. in their terror efforts. It's not the first time Hezbollah has done something so unthinkable. Like using their own people as shields, transporting themselves in ambulances. Setting up rocket launchers near hospitals and mosques.

Wouldnt it be easier to assume this was connected to Hezbollah doing something wrong. Then to assume the Israeli's are cold blooded murderers? Isn't there anything we can do to censure him or something? I'm dead serious, we need to do the same thing we do to our children when they don't tell the truth or they do something wrong. We tell them it was wrong, send them to their room, and they can't come back out until the understand what they did and apologize. Which in Kofi's case would be never, which would be the best case scenario for everyone.

Kofi's Story Unravels - July 27, 2006    

             

      Great piece in the NY Sun about some details that are coming out which dispute Kofi Annan's outrageous and as yet unretracted claim that Israel deliberately targeted a UN outpost in Lebanon, killing four UN peacekeepers.

An apparent discrepancy in the portrayal of events surrounding the deaths of four unarmed U.N. observers in Lebanon threatens to unravel Secretary-General Annan's initial accusation that Israel "deliberately" targeted the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A Canadian U.N. observer, one of four killed at a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam on Tuesday, sent an e-mail to his former commander, a Canadian retired major-general, Lewis MacKenzie, in which he wrote that Hezbollah fighters were "all over" the U.N. position, Mr. MacKenzie said. Hezbollah troops, not the United Nations, were Israel's target, the deceased observer wrote.

A UN spokeswoman is denying the allegation - even though there are e-mails that back up the claim that Hizbollah was using the UN post for cover, and the UN declined to present evidence to back up their denials of the claims...

Read the Jerusalem Post Editorial...

DAY 17 - ISRAEL'S REAL WAR ON TERROR...

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Israeli intelligence ups estimate of Hizballah stock of Zelzal-2 missiles whose 250km range covers Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Friday, July 28, 2006, 1:56 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli army chiefs fear that Hassan Nasrallah, having received the nod from Tehran Wednesday, will start firing them at central Israel over the weekend.

Although the Israeli air force has destroyed some of these missiles which carry a 600 kilo payload, several dozen still remain. Thursday night and Friday morning, July 28, Israeli bombers struck Hizballah locations in the northern Beqaa Valley where the Zelzal-2 missiles are stored.

DEBKAfile’s military sources add: The Israeli army discovered the 3.5-on, 8.46 meters long missiles were stored in buildings with strengthened floors and walls to carry their weight, their roofs removed and replaced with makeshift coverings such as branches and twigs. These coverings are dense enough to block the missiles from the view of Israeli aircraft but are easily removable to enable the rapid launch of the Zelzal from inside the building where it is stored. The warning by Israel’s generals about the Zelzal’s deployment also applies to the Mohajer-4, a pilotless aircraft packed with explosives. In November 2004 and April 2005, this Iranian drone penetrated Israeli airspace undetected.

DEBKAfile reports a war council in Damascus chaired by Syrian president Bashar Assad, attended by Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah and senior Iranian official Ali Larijani ...

Daniel Pipes writes in the Jerusalem Post:
Arabs Disavow Hizbullah - July 26, 2006
The current round of hostilities between Israel and its enemies differs from prior ones in that it's not an Arab-Israeli war, but one that pits Iran and its Islamist proxies, Hamas and Hizbullah, against Israel.

This points, first, to the increasing power of radical Islam. When Israeli forces last confronted, on this scale, a terrorist group in Lebanon in 1982, they fought the Palestine Liberation Organization, a nationalist-leftist organization backed by the Soviet Union and the Arab states. Now, Hizbullah seeks to apply Islamic law and to eliminate Israel through jihad, with the Islamic Republic of Iran looming in the background, feverishly building nuclear weapons.

Non-Islamist Arabs and Muslims find themselves sidelined. Fear of Islamist advances – whether subversion in their own countries or aggression from Tehran – finds them facing roughly the same demons as does Israel. As a result, their reflexive anti-Zionist response has been held in check. However fleetingly, what The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh calls "an anti-Hizbullah coalition," one implicitly favorable to Israel, has come into existence... Continued: Daniel Pipes

MORE UPDATES

ISRAELI ATROCITIES?!

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WAR IS ALWAYS AN ATROCITY! Any general worth his ribbons will tell you that war MUST ALWAYS be a last resort. But once you make the decision to prosecute a war, you have to destroy the capability of the enemy not only so that they cannot continue to fight - but in order to seriously forestall their ability to fight again.

I oppose the war in Iraq because it is an unnecessary war - a war for EMPIRE - a war for OIL! However, the reason we are LOSING in Iraq is because our troops are constrained in many ways from initiating actions that might result in collateral damage. Strictly from a military point of view - it is damn near impossible to pacify a war zone when you have to pull your punches.

Israel has the moral authority in this conflict with Hezbollah (and Hamas) because of the history of Arab belligerence and aggression since 1948 and because the terrorist organizations must be destroyed in their areas of operation. The Lebanese government has provided a safe harbor for Hezbollah for too long.

It's unfortunate that civilians are being maimed and killed - on both sides. Is it fair to ask - are the Lebanese citizens - like the Iraqis, the Iranians, the Syrians, and like the Germans and Japanese of 70 years ago, perhaps less than "innocent" of the evil that their governments do? Apparently enough of them demonstrate allegiance to Hezbollah so that it dominates their fledgling "democratic" government.

Hezbollah is the main political party and military organization representing the Shia community, Lebanon's largest religious bloc. Founded with the aid of Iran and funded by it, Hezbollah follows the distinct Shia Islamo-Fascist ideology developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran - that is totalitarian global dominance - and "Death to Infidels".

Furthermore - Hezbollah is regarded by the Iranian and Syrian governments, as a legitimate resistance movement. It's an official political party in Lebanon, where it has participated in government. The civilian wing of Hezbollah participates in the Parliament of Lebanon, taking 18% of the seats (23 out of 128) and the bloc it forms with others, the "Resistance and Development Bloc", 27.3% in the Lebanese general election in 2005. It is a minority partner in the current Cabinet.

I see many parallels between Israel's incursion into Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah and the USA's massive bombing campaign and invasion of Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban and al Quaeda. The Taliban government was determined to have provided a base for al Quaeda's terrorist operations, including the attack on America on 9-11-01; Lebanon, despite the much-touted "break" with Syria, has continued to permit Hezbollah to operate autonomously within its borders - (and don't forget Hamas - the "democratically-elected government of the PA) ...

ISRAEL'S DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE - "THE ARITHMETIC OF PAIN"

From: Jewish World Review July 20, 2006
Arithmetic of Pain
By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
Jewish World Review

There is no democracy in the world that should tolerate missiles being fired at its cities without taking every reasonable step to stop the attacks. The big question raised by Israel's military actions in Lebanon is what is "reasonable." The answer, according to the laws of war, is that it is reasonable to attack military targets, so long as every effort is made to reduce civilian casualties. If the objectives cannot be achieved without some civilian casualties, these must be "proportional" to the civilian casualties that would be prevented by the military action.

This is all well and good for democratic nations that deliberately locate their military bases away from civilian population centers. Israel has its air force, nuclear facilities and large army bases in locations as remote as anything can be in that country. It is possible for an enemy to attack Israeli military targets without inflicting "collateral damage" on its civilian population. Hezbollah and Hamas, by contrast, deliberately operate military wings out of densely populated areas. They launch antipersonnel missiles with ball-bearing shrapnel, designed by Syria and Iran to maximize civilian casualties, and then hide from retaliation by living among civilians. If Israel decides not to go after them for fear of harming civilians, the terrorists win by continuing to have free rein in attacking civilians with rockets. If Israel does attack, and causes civilian casualties, the terrorists win a propaganda victory: The international community pounces on Israel for its "disproportionate" response. This chorus of condemnation actually encourages the terrorists to operate from civilian areas.

While Israel does everything reasonable to minimize civilian casualties — not always with success — Hezbollah and Hamas want to maximize civilian casualties on both sides. Islamic terrorists, a diplomat commented years ago, "have mastered the harsh arithmetic of pain. . . . Palestinian casualties play in their favor and Israeli casualties play in their favor." These are groups that send children to die as suicide bombers, sometimes without the child knowing that he is being sacrificed. Two years ago, an 11-year-old was paid to take a parcel through Israeli security. Unbeknownst to him, it contained a bomb that was to be detonated remotely. (Fortunately the plot was foiled.)

This misuse of civilians as shields and swords requires a reassessment of the laws of war. The distinction between combatants and civilians — easy when combatants were uniformed members of armies that fought on battlefields distant from civilian centers — is more difficult in the present context. Now, there is a continuum of "civilianality": Near the most civilian end of this continuum are the pure innocents — babies, hostages and others completely uninvolved; at the more combatant end are civilians who willingly harbor terrorists, provide material resources and serve as human shields; in the middle are those who support the terrorists politically, or spiritually.

The laws of war and the rules of morality must adapt to these realities. An analogy to domestic criminal law is instructive: A bank robber who takes a teller hostage and fires at police from behind his human shield is guilty of murder if they, in an effort to stop the robber from shooting, accidentally kill the hostage. The same should be true of terrorists who use civilians as shields from behind whom they fire their rockets. The terrorists must be held legally and morally responsible for the deaths of the civilians, even if the direct physical cause was an Israeli rocket aimed at those targeting Israeli citizens. LEBANON - A TERRORIST SAFE HAVEN

  

MORE from ALAN DERSHOWITZ in Jewish World Review:

 ... Israel must be allowed to finish the fight that Hamas and Hezbollah started, even if that means civilian casualties in Gaza and Lebanon. A democracy is entitled to prefer the lives of its own innocents over the lives of the civilians of an aggressor, especially if the latter group contains many who are complicit in terrorism. Israel will — and should — take every precaution to minimize civilian casualties on the other side. On July 16, Hasan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, announced there will be new "surprises," and the Aska Martyrs Brigade said that it had developed chemical and biological weapons that could be added to its rockets. Should Israel not be allowed to pre-empt their use?

Israel left Lebanon in 2000 and in 2005. These are not "occupied" territories. Yet they serve as launching pads for attacks on Israeli civilians. Occupation does not cause terrorism, then, but terrorism seems to cause occupation. If Israel is not to reoccupy to prevent terrorism, the Lebanese government and the Palestinian Authority must ensure that these regions cease to be terrorist safe havens.

DA REV, GOY ZIONIST - APOLOGIST FOR ISRAELI AGGRESSION...

O where o where to begin? With Israel's "unjust occupation"? GOSH! If the Arabs aren't careful, the Israelis will GRAB ALL their LAND...

Mmmm, maybe we should jump right into the current flare-up in the Middle East.

I'm sorry, it appears the Israelis have responded to aggression on two fronts with massive, punishing bombing and artillery barrages designed to take out the weapons and troops of the Jew-killing thugs that started this horrific conflict. And the Israelis have gone so far as to destroy infrastructure in Lebanon - admittedly, a client-state of Iran and Syria - just 'cuz Lebanon has provided a continuing base of operations for Hezbollah in violation of a UN order they agreed to  years ago.

As long as leaders in Europe and fringe-leftists in American academia posit moral equivalency between Islamo-Fascism and Western Civilization's adherence to liberty and democracy - there will continue to be concern for Israel's response to aggression. I'm sorry - but I find myself in agreement with Prime Minister Olmert that the only proper response to totalitarianist hordes is to use all means at hand to destroy the threat.

I'm sorry - I >>>shudder<<< to report that Israel has requested early delivery of an order for state-of-the-art missiles that can target a pin-point and the US is rushing shipments as this is being typed. The US has sold Israel "bunker-buster" bombs of the type we used to destroy many of the tunnels & caves in Afghanistan. Forgive me - but, if this proves to be the case, I find myself agreeing that the administration is doing something RIGHT for a change!

So help me -I can't back off my rational conclusion that the #1 priority at this crucial time is to support Israel in dismantling the Hezbollah war machine. I love PEACE as much as anyone, I would expect, but I'm afraid that if "world opinion" interferes before Israel completes the task, not only will Hezbollah live to fight another day soon - but Syria and Iran will be further encouraged in their support for terrorist organizations determined to destroy Western Civilization.

Y' know what? I think THIS - not Iraquagmire - is the "WAR on TERROR"! War is hell - it's even worse if you don't give it everything you have.

Let Israel be Israel! There I said it...

BLOGGIN' THE ISRAELI WAR ON TERRORISM...

WHAT TH' ____?!? Da Rev wandered in off the street & found hisself in an interesting blog in Jerusalem... Allison Kaplan Sommer - Yes, Friends, there are some totally clueless individuals out there floggin' their 'puters. Here's a poster from France - and my response...

From "Thibeault":

Hey
I am french
i must say here in France the media are almost neutral.
And i can't understand that today 2006 people are still dumb enough to make war.
The Hezbollah may not be a good thing but is it a reason to begin a war??
I truly support all the victims israelis or libanese .
Peace mates and come on u'll see the end soon
==================>>>

Rant, Rev, Rant!

"The Hezbollah may not be a good thing but is it a reason to begin a war??"

You're French! CHEESES! Are you just BEGGIN' for a slapdown? Look up Vichy in your French history texts and read about what can happen when people think "making war" is dumb!
 
Sometimes a sovereign nation has to take a stand in order to defend its citizens - and to degrade the capabilities of the terrorists. If it makes you feel better about this awful war - you can substitute "IRAN " SYRIA quot;; font-weight: normal;">" in place of "Hezbollah". Feel better?

Minister of Rants - Goy Zionist

WHO FIRST NAILED ANN COULTER FOR PLAGIARISM? It was none other than Blogger *RUDE PUNDIT* - A F*CKING YEAR AGO!!

REMEMBER! And give props to the uninhibited blogslinger Rude Pundit -
who first called out Li'l Annie No-Fanny last year for liftin' entire lots of other people's original work product. He's doggedly pursued Coulter in her columns - and RUDELY beat everyone to the punch in exposing her blatant plagiarism in her latest screed, "Godless":

"Why Ann Coulter Is a Cunt... - The Plagiarism Edition:"

...Sometimes beating up on Ann Coulter is about as easy as making a nervous little dog piss itself. One tiny "boo" in the right direction and that bitch is swimming in her own fluids.

Owooo! Y' GOTTA LOVE IT when he talks RUDE like that!
ANN, SHOWN WITH REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE / ACTING PRESIDENT - WHO HAD NO IDEA WHO SHE WAS. HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS THERE!

Here's this morning's careful account of Coulter's plagiarism:
COPYCATTY COULTER PILFERS PROSE: PRO
By PHILIP RECCHIA @ New York Post On-Line  

July 2, 2006 -- Conservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in the leggy blond pundit's "Godless: the Church of Liberalism" after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.

He also says he discovered verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column, which is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers, including the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sun-Sentinel and Augusta Ga. Chronicle.

Barrie, CEO of iParadigms, told The Post that one 25-word passage from the "Godless" chapter titled "The Holiest Sacrament: Abortion" appears to have been lifted nearly word for word from Planned Parenthood literature published at least 18 months before Coulter's 281-page book was released.

A separate, 24-word string from the chapter "The Creation Myth" appeared about a year earlier in the San Francisco Chronicle with just one word change - "stacked" was changed to "piled."

Another 33-word passage that appears five pages into "Godless" allegedly comes from a 1999 article in the Portland Maine Press Herald.
Meanwhile, many of the 344 citations Coulter includes in "Godless" "are very misleading," said Barrie, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in pattern recognition.

"They're used purely to try and give the book a higher level of credibility - as if it's an academic work. But her sloppiness in failing to properly attribute many other passages strips it of nearly all its academic merits," he told The Post. Barrie says he also ran Coulter's Universal Press columns from the past 12 months through iThenticate and found similar patterns of cribbing.

Her Aug. 3, 2005, column, "Read My Lips: No New Liberals," about U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, includes six passages, ranging from 10 to 48 words each, that appeared 15 years earlier in the same order in an L.A. Times article, headlined "Liberals Leery as New Clues Surface on Souter's Views."

But nowhere in that column does she mention the L.A. Times or the story's writer, David G. Savage.

Her June 29, 2005, column, "Thou Shalt Not Commit Religion," incorporates 10 facts on National Endowment for the Arts-funded work that originally appeared in the same order in a 1991 Heritage Foundation report, "The National Endowment for the Arts: Misusing Taxpayers' Money." But again, the Heritage Foundation isn't credited.

"Just as Coulter plays free and loose with her citations in 'Godless,' she obviously does the same in her columns," Barrie said.

Coulter did not respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Susannah Cahalan

Rev. Art Rants:
"INTELLIGENT CONSERVATIVES" (c'mon, it's not NECESSARILY an oxymoron) must not read Coulter's "stomach-churning, cringe-inducing, bowel-releasing journey into the dark, dank, garbage-stinking recesses of a deranged demi-brain" - as Rude Pundit so aptly put it...

Those guys at the Heritage Foundation surely would have recognized their own thoughtful opinions if they had spotted them while giving even a cursory reading of Coulter's "Godless". It appears that Coulter appeals to the Republican "base" - which needs no characterization from me - except to say, they're the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR among folks who wrap themselves in the conservative mantle, the flag and the Ten Commandments.

If Coulter had honestly identified her sources in the book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism", she might have had to choose a more relevant title, such as "LITANY: Smart, Pithy Conservative Commentary - Edited by Ann Coulter" - but then the book would probably be lucky to break the top 200 @ Amazon.com...

BUT WAIT! MAYBE SHE'S NOT REALLY ANN COULTER!

Da Rev is still investigating the rumor that the skanky 'ho' who appears ubiquitously on our TV screens is a clone of the original Ann Coulter - a barely fleshed-out stick figure design, robotically-programmed (which might explain the rampant scanning and filching of other people's texts!) At this point in time, THIS is only a RUMOR, but if you read it somewhere in the blogosphere 3 TIMES - it's probably TRUE!
THE REAL ANN COULTER WAS EATEN BY AL SHARPTON - YEARS AGO!!

LI'L KIM'S LONG TAEPODONG FIZZLES

Fred Kaplan wagged in SLATE:

"... It's like a bank robber who gets everyone's attention by firing his gun at the ceiling—and a little flag with the word "Bang!" pops out of the barrel."

Q. What do Kim Dung Il & Rash Limbo have in common?

A. They both have trouble keepin' their missiles up more than 35 seconds after launch!
(Is this the LAST joke about Limp-baugh's "PFIZER-RISERS"?!  Da Rev, shameless "piler-onner",  can't say for sure...)

WHEN SECOND HAND SMOKE HURTS THE WORST

Me sainted Mum smoked from the time she was 14 'til she croaked from lung cancer at the age of 62. Most of those years she smoke a couple packs a day. Camels 'til the '50s, then Winston filters.

My Dad smoked at least as much as Mom when I was growin' up. No, the second-hand smoke didn't kill me. My first-hand "Bogarted" Marlboros & Winstons, as well as more exotic herbal substances over a ten-year period didn't kill me, either.

The thing is - my Mom didn't stop smoking during the 9 months I was floating en utero (I was conceived the summer leading up to Pearl Harbor. From the time I was 12 years old I have suffered chronic bouts of asthma - many of them life-threatening.

You know I resist a lot of intrusive, seemingly overprotective "nanny state" regulations. However, the more we can do to convince Moms to toss the cancer sticks during pregnancy, I think, the better. And, Mom, Dad, please - can't you do that in the garage? Some of us in this house are TRYIN' to be NON-smokers!

KOKOPELLI - RUB MY BELLY

I was reading in my Dayton Daily News last week about a store that sells Native American (mostly Navajo) jewelry and artifacts. The owner emphasized the "spiritual" aspects of many of the products she sells and mentioned strange visions and feelings that customers experienced when they enter her establishment. So I checked @ Wikipedia for the little flute-player god whose name and likeness grace the signage on her store.

Kokopelli was the humpbacked flutist god worshipped by the Pueblo Peoples of the Anasazi, the Hopi and many other Ancient American tribes. According to Winnebago legend, he would detach his penis and place it in a river in order to have sex with the local girls who bathed there (Whoa!!)

Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women (for this reason, young girls are often deathly afraid of him). Kokopelli also presides over the reproduction of game animals, and for this reason, he is often depicted with animal companions such as rams and deer... I can't read any further )))...blush...(((

We ambled over to The Last Chance Garage just in time to take this BEAUTILITARIAN '42 PLYMOUTH WOODY down off the rack and out under the clear, sunny afternoon skies for a cruise...

Good fortune. COMMENT! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...

GOD REJECTS VEGETARIAN FARE!! ...plus - AMERICAN FLAG DOOMED?!

QUOTE / UNQUOTE
"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said, 'This is mine,' and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society."  - [Rousseau]

"Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees." - [Boris Marshalov]

"You know, you almost got to be a homosexual to be recognized in the entertainment industry anymore." [Jerry Falwell, founder and chairman of the Moral Majority Coalition, on how to get ahead in Hollywood] (Media Matters)

AMERICAN FLAG DOOMED… Wonkette

UN FORCES TO ROUND UP ALL FLAGS  BY JULY 4, SET THEM ON FIRE… JANE FONDA AND BARBARA STREISAND GET GAY MARRIED IN FLAMING STARS ‘N’ STRIPES-THEMED CEREMONY… KOS TO BLAME…
DEVELOPING… 

"CLASS WAR"? BRING IT ON...
"Yeah, I'm talking 'class war' as a solution to poverty and rising inequality." -[Barbara Ehrenreich] in Slate "IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS?"

Congress weighs estate-tax break for wealthy
Christian Science Monitor  

By Mark Trumbull and Gail Russell Chaddock

BOSTON AND WASHINGTON – More than $40 trillion in personal wealth is expected to change hands in America during the next five decades, as baby boomers and their children transfer wealth to heirs. Congress has to decide how big Uncle Sam's share will be.

Republican lawmakers hope to permanently reduce the estate tax this summer. The move could allow more of that $40 trillion to escape the tax.

Those who stand to reap the big gains are billionaires, millionaires, and their heirs. But every taxpayer has a stake in the outcome. An estate-tax overhaul could affect the nation's social structure and the tax burden on ordinary Americans for years to come.

"The revenue involved is not trivial," says Joel Slemrod, a University of Michigan economist. "What makes it more important, though, is this is by far the most progressive tax we have. [A large reduction] would certainly change in a substantial way who is bearing the tax burden."

And - "Any drop in estate-tax revenues has some effect on virtually all Americans," he adds. "Either they're going to have to cough up more taxes or see a decline in what the government provides." ...

Rant, Rev - Rant! ECONOMIC FAIRNESS...
THAT's the issue on which the Dems need to hammer away to clear the decks in the next two elections. IGNORE the WMDs - "Weapons of Mass Distraction" - gay marriage and flag desecration amendments! We MUST elect representatives who will RESTORE economic democracy to this country - beginning with restructuring tax codes for progressivity. It's unconscionable that wage workers continue to vote in ignorance for representation bought and paid for by the wealthy elite. EVERY tax loophole for those whose income does NOT come from wages - must be made up in one of three ways:

1) increased tax burden on middle-class wage-workers;
2) cuts in programs, services and/or entitlements that primarily impact the middle-class wage-workers;
3) Spiraling national debt to maintain an era of comparative "good feeling" and continuing wars for empire for an indefinite period of years until financial collapse and the end of the Republic.

YOU CAN TAKE THE HEROIN OUTTA THE HILLBILLY -
but...
From  Wonkette:
Rush Limbaugh Busted for Inadequacy,
Nervous Mocking Laughter Echoes Thruout Blogosphere

Ahem… What WAS Rash Limbo doing in the Dominican Republic - the single man's paradise where the pimps are reported to roam free - with a bunch of Viagra pills that had someone else’s name on the bottle?  

BLOGGING THE BIBLE @ Slate is David Plotz's musings as he reads the Bible thoughtfully for the first time. He finds some surprising things that made him wonder and I was goin', "Hmmm..." right along with 'im:

GENESIS
First murder—that didn't take long. I never realized there was a vegetarian angle to Cain and Abel. Cain offers God the fruit of the soil as an offering, while Abel brings the choicest meat. God scorns Cain's vegetarian platter, so Cain jealously slays his brother...

more GENESIS
This chapter makes the Jerry Springer Show look like Winnie the Pooh. The Sodom business is worse than I ever imagined. Two male angels visit Lot's house in Sodom. A crowd of men (Sodomites!) gathers outside the house and demands that the two angels be sent out, so the mob can rape them. Lot, whose hospitality is greater than his common sense, offers his virgin daughters to the mob instead. Before any rapes can happen, the mob is blinded by a mysterious flash of light. The angels lead Lot, his wife, and daughters out of the city, and God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with brimstone. Lot's wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. (... What of all the innocent children murdered in Sodom and Gomorrah? What of Lot's innocent wife?)

But the chapter's not over. After the attempted mass gay rape, the father pimping, the urban devastation, uxorious saline murder, it looks like Lot and his daughters are finally safe. They're living alone in a cave in the mountains. But then the two daughters—think of them as Judea's Hilton sisters—complain that cave life is no fun because there aren't enough men around. So, one night they get Lot falling-down drunk and have sex with him. Chapter 19 poses what I would call the Sunday School Problem—as in, how do you teach this in Sunday school? What exactly is the moral lesson here?

EXODUS
Ignoring Moses' entreaties for the Israelites, God distracts the prophet by saying He wants to grant Moses' wish that he be allowed to see God. God says He can't let Moses see His face, because "man may not see Me and live." (Um, let's just ignore how this contradicts the description of them meeting "face to face" just a few verses ago.) God has Moses stand in a rock crevice. God then carefully arranges Himself so Moses can see only His back. (As one e-mail correspondent put it to Plotz, this is the scene when God "moons" Moses.)

STAR TURNED OUT...

Salon - The Fix: 

On Tuesday, Star Jones made her long-expected announcement that she will be leaving ABC's "The View" in mid-July, but what looked like it was going to be an amicable split has turned icy. Jones, in an interview with People that appeared online after the show aired, announced that she found out that her contract hadn't been renewed and decided to leave the show early. "I feel like I was fired," she told the magazine -- which, as it turns out, is basically true.

"The network decided long ago not to renew her contract," Barbara Walters, the show's driving force, told Lowdown yesterday. "There are very strong reasons why [ABC execs] felt she had lost the audience. I had then decided, along with [executive producer] Bill Geddie, that whatever she wanted to say - that she had a new job, that she was starting a new chapter - we would back her up." Now, a source tells People, the network has asked Jones not to come back at all: "ABC has asked her not to return to 'The View' tomorrow morning." (Lowdown, People)

Da Rev never watches The Kaffeklatsch - er - The View. I find Rosie O'Donnell to be ALMOST as obnoxious and boring as STAR - except Ms. Jones-Reynolds is a RELIGIOUS BIGOT. She's said that atheists shouldn't be able to run for office... Not only that - skinny or fat - she's REFUGLY!!

Ah, it's a beautiful summer day here in Metro Fairborn. We moseyed out to the Last Chance Garage and fired-up this CHERRY '48 PLYMOUTH CONVERTIBLE!

Good fortune. COMMENT!! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...

 

 

 

 

"WILL WORK FOR FOOD" - AMERICAN GREETING...

"WE CAN'T MAKE IT HERE ANYMORE" goes the song...

For a lot of reasons, there's disparity. But we KNOW the reason the divide between rich and poor is GROWING! Oh, YES, we do!

Isn't  composer James McMurtry singin' his song for some o' the clueless but fortunate few hereabouts and everywhere else y' go in this country?

... I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food, will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans, let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes

They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is, that's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind, if you're listening at all
Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone, tell us all why

"HOLD ON!"  says the  SELF-MADE MAN.
"Everybody  has an equal  shot at the AMERICAN DREAM!"

 

Uhmmm - MAYBE NOT!

UNLESS the SELF-MADE MAN has an ancestor who was bound in SLAVERY prior to 1865, or had ancestors who were deprived of equal access to education and public services, decent housing choices and opportunities for employment, home and small bidness loans, etc., the SELF-MADE MAN surely must recognize that All of US don't start out on a level playing field.

He surely must realize that upwards of 50% of homeless males are vets. While the SELF-MADE MAN won't let anyone forget HE'S a vet - obviously his experiences in service to his nation have not left him wandering through the mean urban streets talkin' to his SHOES!

There but for fortune go you and I, Brother. And Brother SELF-MADE MAN - you have been fortunate to have a mental/emotional equilibrium that has served to enable you to provide for your needs and the needs of others you care about. I congratulate the SELF-MADE MAN on making good use of his "talents" - as his Jesus taught - but I have read that his Jesus also counseled against the sins of pride and ostentatious piety.

IF we all were to concur with the predominate conservative rhetoric splashed about in wing-nut blogs and talk shows, magazines and in the people's own gummint buildings - then what?

IF we were all able to convince ourselves that the homeless have brought their situations upon themselves through making wrong choices in life - what then?

Would we then ignore their human needs and let them rot where they fall?

If the sight of homeless people on our streets makes us uncomfortable, will we find comfort by averting our eyes and ears from their presence - even as their numbers increase toward a point of socio-cultural crisis?

LET JUSTICE ROLL! is an organization sponsored by the United Church of Christ (UCC) to raise awareness concerning the minimum wage (which is hardly even that):
UPDATE - Senate Defeats Democrats Minimum Wage Increase
Reuters - Wednesday 21 June 2006

    Washington - The US Senate on Wednesday defeated a proposal pushed by Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage in increments from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour by January 1, 2009.

    Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, unsuccessfully tried to attach the proposal raising the wage for the first time since 1997 to a defense authorization bill that is expected to be passed by the Senate soon.

    While a majority of the Senate, 52 senators, backed the move to increase the minimum wage, it failed to win the 60 votes needed for passage under a procedural agreement worked out earlier.

...The battle to increase the federal minimum wage is once again a topic for ranting on the Right. Senator Edward Kennedy has offered an amendment in the Senate to the Department of Defense authorization bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, a $2.10 increase from the current stagnant wage floor. Last week, a House sub-committee passed a minimum wage increase amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill in a bi-partisan vote, but the House leadership refused to allow the bill’s consideration by the full House...

The current minimum wage has failed to keep pace with the increased cost of living over the years. Stalled at $5.15 an hour since 1997, a person working a full-time minimum wage job will earn $10,700 in a year, nearly $6,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of three...
 

Henry Ford paid his auto workers $5. an hour, which was WAY above the
prevailing rates of the day. He reasoned that if he paid his workers enough so that they could AFFORD to BUY a Model T, he'd sell more Fords, gain brand recognition and have more loyal, productive workers. It proved to be good bidness for Ford, the workers and the nation.

Has raising the minimum wage has EVER CAUSED inflation or INCREASED UNEMPLOYMENT or the CLOSING of significant numbers of small bidnesses? That's the argument of the ag'iners. I believe it IS true that when the minimum wage goes up, most other wage workers benefit also.

The CLASS of people opposed to raising the minimum wage is the wealthy elite whose income is from investments. While the workers who get raises pay more income taxes as a result - the elites are exempted from paying taxes on much of their income.

When the wing-nuts wave a red herring (which is beginning to become increasingly offensively odiferous, by the way) of a $20. / hour minimum wage to try to discredit the proposal for increase, they are attempting to avoid the relevant facts of the argument. There's NEVER BEEN an outlandish raise of the sort and there NEVER WILL be - so that rotten fish should be buried for good...

WHO WAS THAT MAN?!

Da Rev ran across this poem on Garrison Keillor's EXCELLENT "Writer's Workshop" website: Poem: "Who Was That Man?" by Paul Bussan from A Rage of Intelligence: Poems. © PSB Publishing. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

As I read "Who Was That Man?" it made me think... so I came up with a list of movies. Read it and see if it reminds you of some, too!  

I love those movies
About a stranger
Who rides into town
On the back of a horse,
And proceeds to start
A chain of events
That makes each person
Take stock of their lives,
So that after he's gone
Everyone's better
Or worse for the wear
Than they were
Before he arrived.

Audie Murphy's hired gunslinger (John Gant) in "No Name On The Bullet";
Clint Eastwood's "avenging angel" in "High Plains Drifter";
"Shane"; "The Lone Ranger"; "Batman" ...

Remember - the character is a "stranger".

Welcome to The Last Chance Garage!

We don't SEE many o' THESE 'round here...

Hot Summer Days call for a jog over to the Last Chance Garage and a cruise in this 1960 Studebaker Silver Hawk.

Good fortune. COMMENT!! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...

IT'S TUESDAY - 060606!! DO YOU SUFFER FROM HEXAKOSIOHELEKONTAHEXAPHOBIA?!

APOCALYPSE AGAIN?
THE END IS NEAR, AND IT'S TIME FOR A DEVILISH TUESDAY...
From American Atheists  

If you suffer from **hexakosiohelekontahexaphobia** - the fear of the number 666 - Tuesday would be a good time to stay in bed.

As Boston Herald writer Laura Beckham Falcone notes, "Whatever you want to call it - Satan's calling card, Beelzebub's area code, the number of the beast - it freaks out even the most secular of souls. Many folks are fearful of Tuesday, when the calendar will read 06/06/06."

The reference is to a passage found in the Book of Revelations stating: "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six."

...Scholars have found references to a different number, "616," but 666 has endured the test of time, and today is widely considered "the number of the beast” or the “Antichrist”.

...In early colonial America, the most popular book was a collection of poetic verses by Michael Wigglesworth titled, "The Day of Doom." Wigglesworth (1631-1705) graduated from Harvard and was appointed a minister in Malden, Massachusetts. He excoriated the Puritans for their "backsliding" and proudly identified himself as a "Fool for Christ." His 224 ballad stanzas warn of an imminent day of judgment ("doom") following the return of Jesus. American history became punctuated by other outbursts of apocalyptic angst.

William Miller (1782-1849) was a freethinker-turned-sectarian preacher (I HATE when that happens!) who predicted the apocalypse for his own times and galvanized a huge following. Despite this classic failure of prophetic insight, the Millerite movement was reincarnated into a cluster of new sects including the Jehovah's Witnesses. That organizational thread wound through the decades to the formation of the Branch Davidians and the conflagration at Waco, Texas.

Today, belief in a coming apocalypse is astonishingly pervasive. The bizarre has become main stream even in the United   States, a country founded on important Enlightenment principles affirming reason, science and critical inquiry. A Time Magazine/CNN poll revealed that 59% of respondents believed that the events described in Revelation would come true shortly. Nearly one-quarter said that the Bible "predicted" the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

 

…Many speak of bizarre events such as the "Rapture," where chosen believers literally fly off to heaven before a period of persecution they call the "Tribulation." …There have been claims that strident apocalyptic views drive White House foreign and domestic policy, and may even affect the votes of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.  …After moving out of the White House, Ronald and Nancy Reagan changed their address in the fashionable Bel-Air neighborhood of Los   Angeles from 666 St. Cloud Road to 668.

 

He's Baaaaaack - Damien Returns Tuesday. 06-06-06, will also mark the release of what 20th Century Fox hopes to be a summer cinematic blockbuster, the remake of the '70s thriller

"The Omen." Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner, the 1976 version featured the birth of the young Antichrist and his antics as a satanic toddler.  It was the ultimate "kids are hell" horror flick. Murders and what a reviewer described as "unholy situations" follow. The film web site is @ Heed The Omen ...

Meanwhile, End Times huckster & wingnut Tim LaHaye's latest book, "The Rapture" is being promoted on his web site with an ominous "06.06.06 - Will You Be Ready?"

 "I don't think that people understand that 666 is not a good time," LaHaye told reporters. He describes the harbingers of an upcoming "period of tribulation" that foreshadows the pesky deeds of the Antichrist, the persecution of Christians by a one-world government, and the rise of a global church led by a "false prophet."

GLOSSOLALIA: THE GIFT OF GIBBERISH

So what is glossolalia - or SPEAKING IN TONGUES?!? To me it sounds like a bunch of made-up words, spoken in such a way that they sound as if the speaker is using a real but unrecognizable language. Color me SKEPTICAL...

Bible 411  quotes from an article in the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation entitled “An Ethnological Study of Glossolalia” by George J. Jennings, March 1968. He mentions that glossolalia is practised among at least seventeen non-Christian religions of the world, a fact noted by Bible 411 with the wry comment “Certainly we wouldn’t attribute Glossolalia in these heathen religions to the work of the Holy Spirit.”

There ya go, Hoss: When Christians babble a bunch of unintelligible phrases it’s because they are infused with the HOLY GHOST, but all those other folks are nuts, and maybe heathens!  As a matter of fact, if someone close to you starts speaking in an "unknown tongue", you should have them checked - SOON.  Often  speaking in gibberish is  a symptom of schizophrenia - and they have meds for that.

Da Rev has attended Pentecostal services and witnessed the phenomenon - along with layin' on of hands and "healing" by the preacher. This guy wasn't Benny Hinn, but he had a definite flair for that particular type of show-biz.  

 As a party turn, Da Rev has been known to toss off a plausible facsimile of the phenomenon, incorporating the phrases, “neenie-rocka, neenie-rocka” and “abba-dabba-dabba aerostar”. Of particular note for sheer entertainment value, try to catch the well-known sleazey televangelists, like Jimmy "I HAVE SINNED!!" Swaggart or the Robert "NOBODY SEEN ME STEAL NOTHIN'!" Tilton babbling away on-screen. Jimmy goes into a trance and begins dancing like those Indians in the western movies gettin' ready to attack the white men, and calling out, "She-Hepzibah, she hobba bobba..." At one point I swear Ol' Crazy Bob Tilton exclaimed, “Kowwabunga Dude” – a cry made famous by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

WELCOME TO DOOMSDAY

By Bill Moyers           

There are times when what we journalists see and intend to write about dispassionately sends a shiver down the spine, shaking us from our neutrality. This has been happening to me frequently of late as one story after another drives home the fact that the delusional is no longer marginal but has come in from the fringe to influence the seats of power. We are witnessing today a coupling of ideology and theology that threatens our ability to meet the growing ecological crisis. Theology asserts propositions that need not be proven true, while ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. The combination can make it impossible for a democracy to fashion real-world solutions to otherwise intractable challenges...

It's a SUNNY day! Just perfect for loadin' up the kids & headin' for the beach... if spartan little SUV can MAKE it!

Yeah, the Czechs merged it with VW - BUT...

Good fortune. COMMENT! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...

JEB SMOOCHES THE SWIFTIES! plus WOULD JESUS SUPPORT AL GORE?

CHEESES, JEB-BOY, ARE YOU AS OBTUSE AS YO BIG BUBBA?

(Click on any image to ENLARGE IT)
In Salon.com:

"The president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, sent a letter thanking the "Swifties" (Right-Wing Funded "Swift Boat Vets" opposed Kerry's presidential election - full story ) for "their willingness to stand up to John Kerry."

Excerpt from Jeb's letter:

As someone who truly understands the risk of standing up for something, I simply cannot express in words how much I value their willingness to stand up against John Kerry.

Peter Daou comments @ Salon.com:

So let's get this straight: the value of "standing up to" (i.e. smearing) a man who volunteered to risk his life for America "cannot be expressed in words" because, like service to the nation, it "speaks volumes about what matters most." Yes it does, in the twisted view of America's far right, where vilifying war heroes like Murtha, Cleland, and Kerry is a noble cause. And slandering those who are disgusted by Abu Ghraib and Haditha is laudable. And sitting behind a computer cheering on and "supporting the troops" while they lie dead and dying in the streets of Baghdad is respectable. And impugning the integrity of the majority of Americans who want the troops to come home is commendable. Yes, it's a great mission to slime a decorated veteran.... in the twisted view of people whom Al Gore calls "renegade rightwing extremists."

JESUS WOULD SUPPORT AL GORE!

I don't care how much  the members of "GAWD's Own Party" try to stake a claim through his heart - as mythical heroes come and go - you could do worse than to emulate Jesus the (alleged) Carpenter.

Ah, come on. Read the Beatitudes. Jesus was a LIBERAL, seeking to empower the weak, the poor, the voiceless. Jesus urged the wealthy to share with the poor. He even supported paying one's fair share of taxes to the gummint.

 One could choose a worse role model than the literary figure Jesus. I support most of his purported teachings and admire his exemplary life - except for the BIGGY - that would be his crucifixion. As I have often stated, the Jesus of the Gospels who, as the only guileless human ever (unless you count his mum), sacrificed his own life to attone for the misdeeds of all the other humans ever. Rightly or wrongly, the principle of altruism arises from this example of perfect and complete self-abdegnation.

I propose that the impetus to altruism undermines the inherent right to individual autonomy recognized, articulated and enumerated in the founding scriptures of this great secular republic. The altruist ideal is complete selflessness - and consequently, all its proponents are collectivists. Among the non-human animals we recognize an instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individual but contributes to the survival of the species. But I believe that humans have proven time and again that because they can reason, when they think for themselves about what is best for themselves civilization progresses.

Examine the underlying philosophy that drives the anarchists and Marxists and even the jihadists that oppose everything Americans have accomplished and represent. The collectivist mindset thrives in authoritarian institutions such as religious hierarchies and anti-democratic governments. Altruism is anathema to individual liberty.

Back to the Beatitudes, to the words and other examples of Jesus, though, which admirably demonstrate the quality of not putting yourself first but being willing to give your time or money or effort for others. It's a life option. If you perceive that giving something of yourself is a good thing for you to do, you may CHOOSE to contribute - sacrifice even.

If that puts me and Jesus on the same page, he MUST be a liberal...

SWIFTBOATING OF AL GORE BEGINS...

A series of television advertisements, launched by a think tank called the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argue that carbon dioxide emissions are a sign of American productivity and progress. All the usual right-wing propaganda machines are preparing the attack campaign against Gore...

(Click on any image to ENLARGE IT)

HADITHA - IS IT THE IRAQ OCCUPATION'S "MY LAI"?
FromWaPo:  

...troops shot men, women and children at close range in retaliation for the death of a Marine lance corporal in a roadside bombing. The two investigations - one into the incident and another into allegations that military personnel tried to cover it up - began this year after news reports challenged an early military statement that the civilians were killed in the bombing. Iraqis who say they witnessed the violence in Haditha have said People familiar with the case say they expect that charges of murder, dereliction of duty and making a false statement will be brought against several Marines.

May 31, 2006 BUT WAIT!
Files Contradict Account of Raid in Iraq

 

By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID S. CLOUD  in NYT

WASHINGTON, May 30 — A military investigator uncovered evidence in February and March that contradicted repeated claims by marines that Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last November were victims of a roadside bomb, according to a senior military official in Iraq.

So - it's been covered up by the participants since November and by gummint investigators since February. Will this rival My Lai for thoroughly damaging a war effort? At least it appears that it rivals the Abu Ghraib scandals for embarrassment, media attention and public outrage.

How could this happen? These are MARINES - the best-trained soldiers in the world! From what I hear military veterans saying, the problem was a breakdown in leadership. An underlying cause is probably burnout due to lack of timely rotation from battle zones. Nevertheless, there can be no excuses when Americans commit atrocities in foreign countries. The soldiers who joined the massacre must face the most severe consequences for their aberrant behavior.

But what about the Commander-In-Chief and Secretary of Defense? Should any responsibility for this incident and others be laid at their doors? After all Bush/Cheney and Rumsfeld are the officials who signed off on this fiasco of incursion and occupation of Iraq as part of a megalomaniacal (but poorly conceived and executed) continuing global state of war (ostensibly against "terror"). And the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the murder of civilians at Hadaitha and across Iraq were not only predictable, but they are a sure sign that more is to come.

LIBERALISM, A HATE CRIME?

That's the assertion of a conservative e-mailer. Yup. In the past this guy's argued against the concept of "hate crime" legislation and Da Rev has agreed with him. (COMMITING the crime should have legal consequences - NOT "thinking" about it. Hate ain't illegal - acting on it may be.) Anyway, here's some of the rant from his end and mine:

Liberalism = Hate Crime  

Liberals have long tried to portray themselves as "loving and caring for people", "loving democracy", and "loving freedom", but if we take a closer look at what they do, (something Liberals hate to have done to them), a different picture emerges.

Liberals are a fountain of hate.
Try to practice religion, and Liberals will take you to court, make you take down your Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and other religious holiday symbols and decorations. Try and sing religious songs, and they'll call the cops and have you arrested.

Try to raise well-behaved children, and Liberals will demean and debase your efforts (through TV and films), and, if they catch you, arrest you for child abuse (spanking or yelling), indoctrinate your children (mandatory sex ed classes and readings), or restrict/eliminate your parental authority (school administrators and councelors versus parents).

Try to express your views, and you will be shouted down in public (Rice and McCain), stripped of your job or failed in your classes (Summers and various students), or arrested (hate speech).

Oppose a Liberal position, and you are labeled a homophobe, sexist, fascist, nazi ........(long list of nasty names).

The disguise is wearing thin however, and people are beginning to see that Libeals, rather then "caring", really only care about power, and their divine right to wield it.

Rant, Rev, Rant:
Really, can't you wingnuts organize your thoughts a little better?

The US Constitution requires that religion and gummint be kept separate. Is it a "liberal" document? Were Jefferson and Madison "liberals"? It's open to debate, but I'll wager they would call themselves "libertarians".

 Most of your rant deals with social and cultural differences which must be respected one for all and all for one in a democratic country. However, like it or not, folks will take sides on all these issues and they may not always speak well of each other. Do you really think those libertarians who helped found the republic would agree that such social and cultural issues should be mandated by gummint - at ANY level?

It appears the Bible may be the primary source of your moral direction. You're welcome to it. Should the Bible set the rules for everyone in American society - by law? Then Sharia Law in Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan and Sudan is something you would support, right?

In this SECULAR, PLURALISTIC country a whole bunch of people don't believe in YOUR Bible and they don't HAVE to. Why can't you Christianist zealots content yourselves to keep your OWN commandments holy and teach your OWN children to do the same without trying to force your interpretation of a very controversial book on the population as a whole?

If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one.

If you don't believe in same sex relations, for GAWD's SAKE - don't let your thoughts wander in that direction.

You don't have to approve of what other believers do, but you have to let them do it, as long as they don't violate your rights or person. Ain't that AMERICA?!

E Pluribus Unum, Bubba

WHY DOES THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVE ITS SILK UNDIES ALL IN A WAD OVER THE DA VINCI CODE?

The Church is much like a gummint - whose first cause is always to perpetuate its grip on power. It's the nature of the beasts, governments which we usually perceive rationally and church hierarchies which manage to fool so many of us so much of the time.

Like the fierce survival instincts of any animal, including the human, an institution develops an agenda complete with a plausible cover story to inspire loyalty and instill fear, sometimes all at once. Does BUSHCO mimic the RC or vice versa?

WILL THE HISTORICAL JESUS PLEASE STAND?

Was Jesus a good carpenter? Can you imagine how much a table or chair measured and cut by Jesus would be worth at Sotheby's?

Was Jesus literate? I know he confounded the clerics in the temple at the age of 12. But could he read and write? Why do we have no examples of his world-changing philosophy writ in his own hand?

How did Jesus and his entourage keep body and soul together? Did ANYBODY have a job? My reading of the Bible leads me to conclude that Jesus and his disciples were supported by wealthy men and women. Lazarus, his sisters, Mary & Martha, Joe of Arimithea, and not least, of course, was Mary Magdalene, who contributed to the cause, however she obtained her money.

I bring these points up for discussion only. I am convinced there is no more an historical Jesus than there are a gang of mutants (X-MEN) who band together to defend civilization.

Will the HYSTERICAL Jesus please stand?!

WHO’S THAT AMERICAN IDOL?
Never heard of ‘er…

I avoid reality shows like a plague. I occasionally shout answers @ the screen during Jeopardy or Millionaire, but game shows aren't really reality, not REAL reality.

Back in the Eisenhower '50s I used to enjoy Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Never missed it. I saw Pat Boone win.

I played guitar in an instrumental calypso trio and I accompanied a girl singing group appearing on the same episode of a talent contest, "Rising Generation" (local TV, Channel 7). I had to play offstage behind a girl group 'cuz they were black and I guess the producer was uncomfortable integrating the soundstage. The girls won and my name wasn't mentioned.

And, in the '70s, I participated as a singer (photo) in a week-to-week country music talent search by a fly-by-night outfit, again, in Dayton. I came in second. The guy who won was very talented. He also had three times as many friends and family applauding wildly in the audience.

I guess the main reason I don't watch such programs is more due to my disenchantment with what passes for mainstream popular vocal entertainment these days. I'm turned off by the emphasis on vocal histrionics and show-off choreography to the detriment of musical and lyrical content and ability.

WHO ARE THESE "CENTRIST" DEMOCRATS?
What? They're FOR the War? Then I guess i can't call myself "centrist" anymore...

I expect my PARTY (that's the Dems) to provide a substantive alternative to the neo-con agenda-gospel of continuing global war for empire. Principled Democrats, Republicans, Independents and, certainly, libertarians can oppose the foolhardy Iraqi incursion and still support increased resistance to global jihad, I would hope.

In many ways the world is faced with a hegemonic impetus to fascist-totalitarianism that presents a danger not unlike the global Soviet ex