The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. So I have bene doing this almost exactly three years. And boy are my arms tired! (sorry!) Having organized protests against the Republican Convention, I found I had a core of activists who needed some encouragement after Bush "won" re-"election". My carefully thought out suggestions as to where we could go from that defeat led to this more-or-less weekly newsletter.

This week I discuss the corruption and pedophilia...yes, pedophilia...that is rampant in the Republican Party. I discuss why Rudy Giuliani should reject Pat Robertson's endorsement...and if he doesn't he should be held accountable for the fanatical extremism of Robertson. I also cover election results and some local events in many states. Don't forget to visit an advertiser or two and if you want more, please visit Culture Kitchen.

Jerry Falwell, self appointed mouthpiece of God. August 11, 1933 - May 15, 2007

Jerry Falwell, sadly, didn't live long enough to experience the Grand Opening on May 28 of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.

I'm sure that he would have jumped at the chance to view animatronic exhibits depicting humans and dinosaurs living together on the Earth and the planetarium, which presents to the astronomically curious Christian a selection of "creationist cosmologies" all unfolding within the approved Biblical time span of six thousand years.

A display at the Creation Museum near Cincinnati, Ohio

Jerry probably studied this stuff when he went to school at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, but he would have relished the chance to witness the sharing of the true, biblically correct, "history" of the universe with a new generation of inquiring young minds.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal and crossposted at the Independent Blogger's Alliance.

I don't like Rudolph Giuliani. In 1993, I was 24 and living in the East Village when Giuliani defeated incumbent David Dinkins to become mayor of New York City. I vividly recall watching the police intimidate black voters that day and telling my roommate about it in horrified wonder. I didn't like Dinkins either primarily because of how he handled racial tensions in Crown Heights. I thought New Yorkers were ill served with both men that year and cast my vote for a protest candidate instead.

This is Part VI. Read:

Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

PART II, "Tempting Faith: Bush Betrays Christian Conservatives"

PART III, "Tempting Faith: Bush Admin: Christian Cons are "Nuts", "Ridiculous""

In Part IV, Kuo reveals the administration's deliberate and conscious discrimination of non-Christian and otherwise non-Bush-supportive groups.

Clearly this is the most egregious trespass (among many) to American values laid out in Kuo's book -- a clear desecration of the first amendment.

Kuo charges that "the White House's own rationale for pushing the faith-based initiative -- an effort to make it easier for churches and other sectarian organizations to receive federal social-service funding -- was bogus."

(More over the flip...)

This is Part III. Read:

Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

and PART II, "Tempting Faith: Bush Betrays Christian Conservatives"

In Part III, Kuo reveals the Administration's disdain for and mockery of Bush's conservative Christian base.

...the book includes charges that high-ranking White House officials referred to prominent conservative Christian leaders as "nuts" behind their backs,

[...]

"National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control,' and just plain 'goofy,'" Kuo wrote. He added that top political officials in White House aide Karl Rove's office referred to the leaders as "the nuts."

Read Also:

Part IV, "Tempting Faith: Bush Admin Admits Discriminating Against Non-Christians"

This is Part II. Read: Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

In Part II, Kuo reveals the knife that the administration brazenly inserted into the back of their alleged allies.

Olbermann: "Kuo cites one example after another of a White House that repeatedly uses Evangelical Christians for their votes while consistently giving them nothing in return."

Olbermann: So, how does the Bush White House keep the 'nuts' turning out at the polls? One way, regular conference calls with groups lead by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, and radio hosts like Michael Reagan. ... They did get some things from the Bush White House, like the National Day of Prayer. ... Or 'Little trinkets like cufflinks or pens or pads of paper were passed out like business cards. Christian leaders could give them to their congregations or donors or friends to show just how influential they were.'"

Olbermann: "When cufflinks were not enough, the White House played the Jesus card, reminding Christian leaders that 'He knew the president's faith' and begging for patience.

(More over the flip...)

Yet another ex-Bush White House official is coming clean on the flagrant dishonesty, shameless politicization, and arrogant self-absorption of the current administration.

This time it's David Kuo, the former number two person in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Kuo, a self-described conservative evangelical, offers the inside scoop on the administration's pursuit of Christian conservative votes even as they mocked them behind their backs.

The full story, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction (Still unreleased, his book is currently the #13 Best Seller at Amazon), will be released on October 16. But MSNBC's Keith Olberman was able to obtain a copy early and shared some of it's insights on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on October 11th.

(More over the flip...)

"Who would Jesus bomb?" has become the battle cry for those wishing to expose the dense hypocrisy of the fanatic right's militant brand of Christianity. They hate. They kill. They disregard -- and all in the name of Jesus.

Sweet Jesus, they would have you believe, was some kind of monster -- a homicidal, pathological and delusional figure bent on the destruction of all those unlike him.

Why would they make him the fall guy for their incalculable evil? Is it because he was such an unabashed liberal?

During my staunch Christian upbringing, Jesus taught me many things. Strangely, none of those teachings directed me to kill in his name, or in the name of God. Nothing I read instructed me to bash gays, subordinate women, destroy nature, convert heathens, or start wars. Nothing!

But apparently I missed some sort of biblical memo... one received by some pretty creepy characters. And here's the proof:

The terms secular, secular humanist, secular fundamentalist, secular left, and many more variations are at the center of our political discourse these days. Yet depending on who you talk to, they mean something completely different. I am not going to make any attempt to sort it all out today. However, as the discussion of the role of religion in public life moves front and center, we will have to sort these things out if we are going to know what each other is talking about. (We might even want to check ourselves and see if we, in fact, know what we are talking about.)

The other day, I posted a piece taking two prominent Democrats to task for muddying these waters and adopting one of the central "frames" (in the George Lakoff sense of the term) of the religious right. I think some of the points were lost in the blogospheric hoo ha, so let me raise them in a hopefully fun new way.  

Test your knowledge!  Here are ten quotes from a pool of 20 well-known Democrats and Republicans, and leaders of the religious right and the nascent religious left. Can you figure out who said what?

"On a TV show, Pat Robertson said -- and I quote, this is his quote. He said, 'If I heard the Lord right, the coast of America will be lashed by storms this year.' He actually said, 'If I heard the Lord right.' What? You weren't paying attention?"

-- Jay Leno (05/22/2006)

When he's not calling for assassinations of Democratically elected leaders, blaming feminists for 9/11, or doing business with murderous dictators, televangelist Pat Robertson is busy scamming well-intending Americans out of their hard-earned money.

His latest is a particularly egregious offense to our intellect as he positions himself as a would-be 'prophet' of sorts. According to Pat:

"I go away at the end of each year to pray, and if I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms."

Well, duh! How would that make this year any different from any other year?

The demonic appears most terrible when it assumes dominance in some one person. They are not always the most admirable persons, either in mind or in gifts. But a tremendous force goes out from them, and they exercise an unbelievable power over all creatures. It is in vain that the brighter part of mankind tries to throw suspicion on them as betrayers or betrayed; the masses are attracted by them." ~~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

America has lost its way. We are a confused nation, beset on all sides by fear and paranoia. After the orchestrated 9-11 attack on New York City and Washington D.C., and its follow-up anthrax attack on Democratic legislators, Americans of all stripes rushed en masse to George Bush's Fools' Gate to trade their morality and compassion for empty promises of security.

It's good to know that, in his 2008 drive to the White House, Senator John McCain will refuse to pander to the various 'evils' of electoral reality simply for the sake of a few million measly votes... or will he...

The AP reports McCain says he no longer "considers evangelist Jerry Falwell to be one of the 'agents of intolerance' that he criticized during a previous White House run."

In 2000, as he sought the Republican nomination that eventually went to George W. Bush, McCain said: "Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right."

McCain "will be the commencement speaker in May at Liberty University, the Lynchburg, Va., institution that Falwell founded in 1971."

On NBC's Meet the Press, McCain said, "I met with Reverend Falwell. He came to see me in Washington. We agreed to disagree on certain issues and we agreed to move forward.."

But what is it that McCain 'agreed to disagree with'?

On September 11th, 2001, New York City was attacked. I was there and I heard the planes when they hit, though only later found out just what those loud, strange noises meant.

One of my co-workers at the time is a Shi'a Muslim. He was horrified by the attacks. As an EMT he immediately rushed down to ground zero to help. His very first reaction was to go and help. This is typical of his personality: a genuinely moral and kind person.