Americans United for the Separation of Church is sounding the alarm on the Republican "faith based" initiatives. This initiative completely violates the Constitution, particularly since to date ONLY Christian organizations have been given money.

There is no ambiguity in the line our Founding Fathers drew separating Church and State. Our Founding Fathers were very outspoken in their ideas. For example, Ben Franklin very specifically gave his opinion of government funding of religious institutions:

I once stated that Earth In The Balance was Al Gore's soul on paper. This book is then his heart, and it is well worth the read.

In Al Gore's magnificent treatise on government and the excesses of presidential power that he delivered a year ago, he used the phrase, "the consent of the governed." He called those of us who are the governed to seek within us the same spirit that steered our forefathers through the tossed and stormy seas of great change to birth a nation to now guide us to a new "golden age." His words were daring, bold, brave, visionary, and at the same time reminiscent of that very spirit that first saw us fighting an empire and changing the course of history. They were words that made me proud for the first time in a long time to be an American.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal on Saturday, September 23rd when the interview took place.

Thom Hartmann is a dynamic voice for the aggrieved middle class. After one commercial break on a recent broadcast, the national radio host proudly declared,

"Welcome back to the Thom Hartman show where our talking points come from Jefferson and Madison, not some right wing think tank."

He then asks, "Will the next election be hacked?" as he promotes Bobby Kennedy, Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone magazine that examines fraudulent vote counting to the benefit of Republican candidates.

Talkers Magazine noted,

"There's a buzz growing around nationally syndicated talk show host Thom Hartmann, whose nationally syndicated daily program is drawing high marks by those who are on the lookout for talk radio's `Great Liberal Hope.'"

On Friday, Clammyc offered us a smorgasbord of clammy goodness with his excellent diary, "This country has become an effing disgrace". In response, I attempted to bake up an addendum to his message "Don't Blame America: This country has NOT become an effing disgrace". My Diary essentially argued that the dismay associated with the US in recent years -- the hatred, the scorn, the frustration -- is more appropriately directed toward the scoundrels who have dismissed all that upon which this country was founded -- those who have pissed on the Constitution, f****d the founders, and sh*t on the people.

In essence, the hatred and disgust should be targeted squarely toward the neocon Bush Cabal, not the United States of America as it is meant to exist.

As support I went straight to the founding fathers, asserting that the neocon's agenda is so grossly anti-American, that they are left only with the option to destroy the principles upon which our country was founded in order to concoct a perceived sense of validity for their effed-up agenda:

More accurately, the powers that be have effing disgraced this country.

I totally agree with the message of this post over at DailyKos -- "This country has become an effing disgrace", but there is one thing that I'd like to make a tad more clear -- that this country Rocks!!!!

That's right! America ROCKS!!!

And the disgrace through wich we and the rest of the world are currently suffering are largely the result of a relatively miniscule power-band of effed-up neoconservatives who have wound their way to influence and power through decades of focused climbing -- politics, journalism, think tanks. The evidence is clear.

My apologies, but it had to be done... feel free to add some of your own favorite portraits and quotes... ; )