August 21, 2005 4:28 PM
Reuters: "Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish negotiators all said there was accord on a bigger role for Islamic law than Iraq had before."
A secular Kurdish politician: "We understand the Americans have sided with the Shi'ites. It's shocking. It doesn't fit American values. They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state ... I can't believe that's what the Americans really want or what the American people want."
Mr. Kurdish politician is correct, it doesn't fit with American values, but he makes the mistake of assuming those values are secular like his. An 80% Christian nation, led by a hardcore fanatical believer, is destroying the most secular Islamic country in the Middle East, turning it into an Islamic republic, and then arming its opposition of thousands of years.... for what? The Apocalypse?
The President just can't admit he made a huge mistake.
America's war against secularism (08.21.2005)
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J:
This is a fantastic post. It hits the nail right on the head.
Love the new design btw ;-).
Mon Aug 22 2005 10:48 AM
Tom from Madison:
Secularism is a very practical value to hold if people of different faiths are to co-exist in peace.
It should be emphasized that secularism does not inevitably lead to a culture without values. It should lead to a search for common values to promote the common good--a live and let live attitude.
I get the idea that today's neo-cons aren't looking to find commmon values. Conquest is their goal.
Consequently what they offer is intolerance of those who don't make THEIR literal interpretation of the Bible the law of the land. They twist this into the propaganda claim that Christians are victims. They just aren't. Often the victims are non-fundamentalists whose religions are given second class status by the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Pat Robertson.
Something else to consider: 80% Christian does not translte to 80% fundamentalist. There are plenty of non-fundamentalist Christians around. My sense is these people are moving away from the Bush side as the war cost rises and the ineffectiveness of US Middle East policy becomes intolerable.
Mon Aug 22 2005 11:55 AM
Anonymous:
You keep losing election after election and STILL feel you have the mandate of the people. How long did it take to get to neverland?
Mon Aug 22 2005 1:52 PM
Tom from Madison:
OK Anonymous one,
I'll change subjects if you want to. The topic is now mandates.
No Progressives don't have a mandate, but they don't have a record of disasters based on their policies like Bush has. Whatever support Bush had is gone. The opposition to Bush still needs to make its case, but what we have now ISN'T WORKING!
Exhibit A - Gas Prices: People are noticing that gas is way more expensive than it was in 2000 when Bush indicated he would use his ties with the oil industry to bring fuel prices down. Remember?
Exhibit B - Iraq War: Heartland Republicans like Chuck Hagel are jumping ship because they CAN'T RUN AND WIN ON BUSH'S war record. Bush's constantly chaning reasons for going, lack of an exit strategy, sky-rocketing budget, and corrupt contracting add up to an indefensible war.
Exhibit C - Stem Cell Research: Frist broke ranks with Bush for reasons held by a majority of Americans including such radicals as Nancy Reagan.
Republicans looking to get elected need to run away from Bush's record on these three issues [and others].
Planet Bush is where people don't understand that reality matters! The American People will hold Bush accountable for his failure to delver peace and prosperity.
Mon Aug 22 2005 2:45 PM
Paul:
"The President just can't admit he made a huge mistake."
"Mistake" is such a negative word. Bush prefers "bold leadership decision".
Also, he requests that we refrain from using the word "quagmire". Rather we should use "stay the course strategy".
Mon Aug 22 2005 4:47 PM
Paul:
Maybe we should see if Nancy Reagan would like to join MoveOn.org and other liberal organizations which share her liberal philosophies.
She's probably already a closet card-carrying member of the ACLU. Damn liberals got their hooks into everyone.
Anonymous, we need more help from you to keep the corporate and neocon agendas front and center. Warm up your keyboard, buddy. Your country needs you!
Mon Aug 22 2005 4:55 PM
Tom from Madison:
Yesterday Pat Robertson [of 700 Club Fame] called for the assassination of the Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. He did this on the air during his show!
I have a hard time understanding how a follower of Jesus would call for the assassination of anyone. The mere existance of someone like Robertson proves how dangerous religious fanaticism is and how we need A WALL, not just a separation between church and state.
Secularism keeps the likes of Pat Robertson at bay. That's a GOOD THING!
Tue Aug 23 2005 4:00 PM
Dave E.:
Seems the love and adoration of democracy and freedom is only situational for this weasel.
Chavez was democratically elected in 1998, and his recent popularity polls put him around 70% approaching Venezuala's 2006 elections.
Robertson is a scumbag of the highest order. The fully cannonized kind; swindling a fortune built from the pennies of the helpless and hopeless.
All in the name of God.
Pat Robertson. Proud member of the American Taliban.
Wed Aug 24 2005 1:58 AM
Dave E.:
...and the more I think about it...
This was done on US airwaves. Res Communis - the people's commons. That's *our* property.
This, unquestionably, is part and parcel of something much bigger. One might not be shocked to see this happen in a nation like Taliban-run Afghanistan. But the land of the free? The world's most revered democracy? Sheesh. Religious fundamentalism is not particular to the Middle East, that's for sure.
If the FCC isn't investigating the possible illegality of this yet, it damn well better.
Wed Aug 24 2005 2:15 AM
Tom from Madison:
This FCC seems to have an odd set of priorities. They went after CBS big time for showing Janet Jackson's bare breast during the Superbowl. I would think calling for an assassination would rate a much heftier sanction.
Also, why hasn't there been more of an outcry in the evangelical Christian Community? Apparently Pat Robertson doesn't believe the 10 Commandments apply to him! Isn't there consensus that murder and Christianity don't go together?
Wed Aug 24 2005 10:01 AM
Dave E.:
I feel the exact same exasperation Tom.
Cigars, blow jobs, hollywood movies, and a peek at a boobie gets the left condemned as insidiously evil and anti-American (whatever that means) by conservatives.
BUT...
"Religious" leaders appeal for assassinations, candidates blatantly duck war service then wrap themselves in the flag, openly mocking the person you're about to have executed, telling a sitting US Senator to 'fuck off' on the floor of the Senate (cussing is forbidden in decorum rules), taking a multi-million dollar payout by your old company immediately before beginning the Vice Presidency and subsequently awarding the same company with billions in war contracts, paying off journalists to shill your policy with taxpayer dollars, breaking laws designed to protect national security for political payback, firing any and all in your cabinet who ever voiced (found to be prescient) dissent, speaking only to prescreened audiences signing pledges of non-disclosure...my fingers hurt. And on and on the list goes. You get the idea.
Bottom line: I'd take tits and a crappy movie over merciless corruption gussied up as cheap and hollow two-cent patriotic rhetoric-spewing faux-christian hypocrites anyday.
Wed Aug 24 2005 4:47 PM
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