Dr. Dean....Please issue a Theocon Terror Alert

[democrank]

I`m serious. Dr. Dean should issue a 50-state Theocon Orange Alert then have the DNC spring for a few big rigs full of duct tape. We need protection from these people. They`re everywhere and they`ll continue to pile up, given Frist`s Fanatics Unite telecast on Sunday.
It`s a big contest now...Who`s the purest?...Who loves Jesus the most?...Who`s willing to fight the heathen family next door?...Who`ll vote to keep the faithless Democrats out of office?

The obscene Terri Schiavo food fight was bad enough but then we had a 24/7 pope watch. Now we have the Blessed Mother showing up on a concrete slab in an underpass, religious reality shows, Catholics Against Kerry, and the corporate media offering air time to every pious pudit they can find. Enough already. It`s so typical of our culture...some mindless newsreader chooses Topic A and Americans follow along like their lives depend on it. Great. Now we can spend the next few months blabbing about who belongs to The Chosen and who doesn`t. The pope story was important but it wasn`t the ONLY story. I know that for sure because I`ve been following a site that lists the dead and maimed in Iraq. I`ve also been following the hell in Sudan, just for starters.

I`m not sure who invented this newest contest (people of faith vs. those others) but I am sure that there are plenty of folks who are vying for inclusion to those top slots that count. It`s like a double whammy. Not only is it divisive but it takes our minds off any news dangling under the radar. It`s almost laughable. Republicans invent the contest and even Democrats sign up. Hey! No time to talk about fuel standards or stem cells when you`re busy proving you can win a faith contest.

The Sham-O-Meter should be gyrating in red over all this foolishness. Faith is a private choice and a personal issue. It doesn`t belong on Capitol Hill or plastered on our flag. It shouldn`t be a litmus test for patriotism. For all the idle celebrations over the deep, deep faith in this country, something just doesn`t add up. How many homeless veterans do we have? How many children were hungry last night? How many innocent death row inmates have we killed? How many seniors are riding to Canada for medicine they can`t afford? How many Gay people have we ostracized? Whose grandchildren get to pay off the national debt? Who would Jesus bomb?

[coloradodem2005]

1. Amen.

We need to expose these people for what they are.

[gumby]

2. The Culture War began its current incarnation

in 1979 when Paul Weyrich, Vigurie, Phillips and McAteer met with Jerry Falwell to form a religious/political bloc. They planned to make abortion the keystone of their strategy because it could divide the Democrats. "Moral Majority" was created, and the rest is history.

The Religious Right infantilizes social consciousness. In fact, the RR is actually opposed to social justice because acts like feeding children "usurps the authority of the family." Getting all emotional about the 10 Commandments or abortion or homosexuals lets its members feel religiously superior while letting them off the hook about important issues that actually determine how a compassionate, democratic society should function.

The RR are infantilized fanatics. Compassion, logic and democracy are their enemies.

[madfloridian]

3. Here you go...he already issued one.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/18/dean.schiavo.ap/

"This is going to be an issue in 2006, and its going to be an issue in 2008 because we're going to have an ad with a picture of (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay saying, 'Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?"' Dean said in West Hollywood, California.

Dean, answering questions at an Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality event on Friday, went on to say: "The issue is: Are we going to live in a theocracy where the highest powers tell us what to do? Or are we going to be allowed to consult our own high powers when we make very difficult decisions?"'