Turns out John McCain went looking for Rev. bigot John Hagee’s endorsement.

Also, turns out Hagee is a much nicer man than we first thought:

Interviewed by Deborah Solomon, Hagee refused to discuss his statement that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for a gay rights parade in New Orleans, calling it “so far off-base.” He claims, “Our church is not hard against the gay people. Our church teaches what the bible teaches, that it is not a righteous lifestyle. But of course we must love even sinners.“

Yes. And hell froze over last night too. Say and do ANYTHING to get the Independent vote.

(HT: ThinkProgress / Citizen Crain)

Bush is such a tough act to follow. After all, he has said God speaks to him. Has Huckabee ever made such a claim? I mean, if he isn’t on God’s speed dial list of friends, should the Religious-right even be wasting their time with him? They are so under-represented in this country. I feel a good crying jag coming on. Excuse me…

GOP front-runner John McCain, in a bid to prove his conservative credentials, tongue-teased the collective scrotum of the Christian-right on Wednesday.

“I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there’s areas we can agree on,” McCain said at a news conference in a Phoenix airport hangar before he flew here.

The Rev. Jonathan Falwell, son of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell who made the religious right a political force when he founded the Moral Majority in 1979, disclosed Wednesday that he had a telephone talk with McCain within the past 24 hours. Falwell, who succeeded his father as pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchville, Va., said he wasn’t ready to endorse a candidate but wanted to hear more from the Arizona senator on the issues.

“I look forward to seeing what McCain’s plan is to unite the party,” Falwell said, “and to see what he has to say in the coming days on the social agenda.” He also expressed interest in hearing more from McCain on national security, the economy, Supreme Court nominees, and “how to protect human life and traditional marriage.” (Emphasis mine)

Unite the party? Just “the party”, Jonathan? Not the whole country? Pitting Americans against fellow Americans… how friggin’ religiously charitable of you!

McCain can have you and your ilk.

If a Huckabee presidency doesn’t scare the bejeebus out of you, then you obviously don’t know of him all that well. And what better way to get to know someone than through the company they keep?

Jay Cole: A Baptist minister based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with a right-wing radio talk show:

• - when Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas, it was Cole who persuaded him to arrange the release from prison of a convicted rapist, Wayne Dumond, who had become a born-again evangelical in prison.
• - Cole: “To date there’s well over 139 prophecies that have come to pass exactly as the Lord says. Mike believes those things. Anyone with any Bible knowledge would have to say that this looks like the time. We’re so close to the Lord’s return.”
• - Cole compared the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the Ku Klux Klan. “As you know from history, their original intent–[Mormon founding fathers Joseph] Smith and Brigham Young–was to take over the United States of America,” he said. “They weren’t just far behind the KKK in their efforts.”
• - Cole: “If you think communism’s bad, just think what the Islamics are doing,” Cole warned. “Those people have no–they’re just not human. They’re just not human.”

John Hagee: Head of a Pentecostal congregation in San Antonio, Texas, with 18,000 members and the executive director of Christians United for Israel, a national lobbying group that organizes against a two’state solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis and in favor of a military strike on Iran.

• - Hagee’s zealous support for Israel is kindled by his belief that Jesus will one day return to “biblical Israel” to usher in a kingdom of Heaven on Earth. “As soon as Jesus sits on his throne he’s gonna rule the world with a rod of iron.”
• - Hagee: “[H]e’s gonna make the ACLU do what he wants them to. That means you’re not gonna have to ask if you can pray in public school…. We will live by the law of God and no other law.”

Tim LaHaye: Co-author of the bestselling Left Behind pulp fiction series, which tells of the coming apocalyptic battle between followers of Jesus and forces of Satan.

Paige Patterson: President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, an outspoken believer in End Times theology as well. Patterson is one of the chief organizers of the right-wing takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Chuck Norris: A B-level action movie star. (enough said)

Huckabee, too liberal???

It’s true what they say. If (liberal) Jesus stopped in for a visit this afternoon, the Christian-right would have him back up on a cross by morning.

Huckabee Aims for Evangelicals in SC

Propelled in Iowa by evangelicals’ support, Mike Huckabee is trying for a repeat victory in South Carolina, where religion is woven even more tightly into the fabric of life.
[...]

Some evangelicals are wary of Huckabee, believing he is too liberal on issues such as poverty, health care and the environment. Page, while not endorsing anyone, dismissed those criticisms, calling Huckabee a “caring, genuine, humble person.”
[...]

Jessie Davis, a 27-year-old mother of three from Inman, S.C., held her youngest, 8-month old Abbie, in her arms. Davis said the No. 1 thing that attracted her to Huckabee was “Christian values.”

“He’s going to ask God what do before he asks somebody else,” Davis said after the rally. “God designed everything. He knows how it’s supposed to work.”

Another email I received for your reading enjoyment. The recipient list was huge. And what’s worse, I recognized nearly every name on it!

Good Read and Think About it!

For those of us who spent time in the military, believe in our military and support the men and women of our military, read on…………. ~

John Glenn (DEMOCRAT) said this —– It should make you think a little:

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That’s just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq .

When some claim that President Bush shouldn’t have started this war, state the following:

Read more »

An email I just received. Be prepared to pull your hair out!

Please think and pray

——-Original Message——-

Who is Barack Obama?

Very interesting and something that should be considered in your choice.

If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts…this is very scarey to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States…better heed this and pray about it and share it.

We checked this out on “snopes.com”. It is factual. Check for yourself.

Who is Barack Obama?

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita, Kansas. Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia.?

When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocate to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, “He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.”

Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that that he is not a radical.

Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best.. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta.

Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegience nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy.

The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than At the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!

Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?

I’m going out of town for a few days, but wanted to dash off a quick post based on my comment to Buck’s post today on Romney’s speech. Buck rightly noted that Christian fundamentalists aren’t liable to be won over by it. However, the AP story and video excerpts give the misleading impression that Romney is a champion of the separation of church and state, when he’s anything but.

You can read the text of Romney’s speech here, or if you prefer, read and listen to it at NPR here. Crooks and Liars has the video, and John Amato’s post also features several superb links well worth checking out.

One of them, to People for the American Way, links the video and transcript of JFK’s speech on his Catholicism. I’d also recommend Digby’s post yesterday on JFK’s speech.

TS at Instaputz notes Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez‘ reaction to the speech, and certainly “It’s a sad day indeed when Ramesh Ponnuru is the voice of reason.” However, contrary to Goldberg and Ponnuru’s take, the failure to mention agnostics and atheists was not an “oversight.” This speech was extremely calculated, and agnostics and atheists were referred to, albeit obliquely. It’s just that Romney was attacking them.

Romney had two aims here, allaying fears of the general public by invoking the separation of church and state (as the AP account runs with) and pandering to the religious right. But he overtly and implicitly attacks non-believers throughout the speech, as someone who was actually defending the separation of church and state would not do. As Steve Benen notes, it’s “the anti-JFK speech.” Check out Romney’s speech and compare it to Kennedy’s. Kennedy speaks about the separation of church and state as well as bigotry. In sharp contrast, Romney says (after his initial blather about the evils of Communism and how “Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us”) that:
Read more »

About time there was some oversight to these groups! Their list of ministries under review isn’t large enough though. I would add Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Oral Robert’s ORU, and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.

Regardless of what direction this investigation takes, I’m doubt anything will come of it. But I’m sure we’ll hear calls for respect of separation of church and state.

Questions surround TV preacher inquiry

Evangelist Benny Hinn, raises his hands in prayer

Among the many conservative Christians who feel misunderstood by the general public, the six televangelists under investigation by a Senate committee are an embarrassment.
[...]

“We’re not representing any of the parties involved, but when I see a senator charging into organizations, wielding this kind of budget ax and laying bare religious figures and expenditures, huge constitutional questions are being raised,” said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious liberty legal group founded by James Dobson of Focus on the Family and other influential evangelicals.
[...]

ll the ministries preach a form of Word of Faith theology, known as prosperity gospel, which effectively teaches that God wants believers to be rich. The ministries have said separately that they are committed to following the tax laws, but it is not known whether they will all comply with Grassley’s request by the deadline.
[...]

But Grassley irked some religious leaders when he quipped about the lifestyles of the preachers under investigation, saying Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey, not a Rolls Royce.

In a story by the AP Thursday, 2008 presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani disavows longtime friendship with ex-police commissioner Bernard Kerik. Worried that recent federal criminal charges brought against Bernie might tarnish his candidacy, Rudy gave his ‘pal-o-mine’ the old heave-ho.

Some friend Rudy is!

In a related story, God endorses Rudy this week. Well, not directly. He did it through his earthly protégé, the divinely-unhinged Pat Robertson. It’s all the same thing, right?

Wait just a minute. This doesn’t make sense! God tapped Rudy on Wednesday, then Rudy kicks Kerik to the curb on Thursday? For heaven’s sakes why? I thought snagging the most supreme of endorsements meant you were a shoe-in for the presidency?! Having God on your team means you can do no wrong, doesn’t it? It worked for Bush! Bush could invade a sovereign nation illegally, bring about the deaths of hundreds of thousands of it’s citizens, and would still retain high regard of many Americans. (Actually, I think he done it once)

Chilling thought for the day: Imagine a country that followed a separation of church and state ideology… where it’s politicians and leaders had to abide by laws instead of relying on the God / Pat Robertson connection. What an absolute mess that would be!

Tuesday, election day here in Kentucky. About time to kick that crooked bum Ernie Fletcher to the curb. Fletcher is trailing democratic opponent Steve Beshear by double digits going into the booths.

I read something interesting regarding Fletcher this morning. He ordered the Ten Commandments to be displayed in the state Capitol yesterday. It seems that a federal judge ruled that a previous injunction in a separate court case did not apply to the display erected in the Capitol. Got to get that Christian-right pumped up! Anything for a vote.

If this were simply a case of an incumbent trailing badly in the polls, doing whatever it takes to garner more votes, I could understand. Turns out though that his opponent isn’t much better. Also catering to God’s chosen few, “Beshear cited his religious upbringing and ran television ads showing him in front of a church in western Kentucky.”

I guess it’s where you (or rather, ‘I’) live…

What would become of the Republican party without the huge block of religious voters they pander to? They’ve strayed so far from their original conservative ideology that the only thing propping them up has been the “family & morals” crowd… and, of course, big business.

This may get ugly. (Depending on your point of view, that is)

‘This Is Not a Bluff’

Land says he has told Romney that if the former Massachusetts governor wants to win support among evangelicals, he needs to deliver a “JFK-type speech.”

A Christian political leader on the threat of a third party.

Christian conservatives want more respect. They were instrumental in propelling George W. Bush to power-twice-and now they’re feeling neglected. At a “Values Voters” summit in Washington last week, leading evangelicals gathered to speak out and take a straw poll. The survey showed how unhappy they are with the twice-divorced, pro-choice Republican front runner for the presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani. He got less than two percent of the overall vote. (Some Christian activists have threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani wins the GOP nomination.) Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the straw poll of 5,775 conservatives, which included voters who have been able to cast online ballots since August. But many evangelicals are uncomfortable with Romney’s Mormon faith. That may have factored in the voting of people who actually attended the summit: Romney lost that tally by a wide margin to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

Jeffrey Bartholet and Eve Conant, Newsweek

Newsweek

From an AP article titled “Giuliani tries to reassure conservatives“:

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, speaking Saturday night at a dinner in his honor, said he too believes starting a third party would fail. He pledged to vote for a minor-party candidate if both Democrats and Republicans nominate a candidate who supports abortion rights.

While Dobson said it was too early to talk about choosing “the lesser of two evils” - he didn’t mention Giuliani or any candidate by name - he made clear he would not make that choice.

“The only problem with that is it when you choose the lesser of two evils, you’ve still chosen evil,” he said. “And that leads to compromise, and I tell you, I can’t do that.”

AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski

Considering the past position of GOP front-runners on the issue of abortion, it would appear Mr. Dobson has painted himself into a corner. No matter how much Giuliani or Romney try to comfort the Religious-right with promises of conforming to their ideology, their history on this and other pressing anti-’values’ issues simply can’t be ignored.

Some pointers for the GOP front-runners: Rudy, when you attempt to placate these religious whackos with promises of an outright ban on abortions, do so while waving a clothes hanger in the air. They’ll know you mean business. And Mitt, you should drive around town in your pickup truck, with a baseball bat hanging in the back window and dragging barbed wire from the rear bumper. Then, when you tell these nuts you’re against gay marriage, they’ll believe you… and love you!

Bill Moyers had Jeremy Scahill on Friday night and it was a great interview. If you missed it, you can read the transcript or watch the video here. It was a great interview and Jeremy Scahill provides some chilling facts about the privatization of our military. He talks a little about Hurricane Katrina and the use of Blackwater in New Orleans and how Eric Prince sent his guys there before they had a contract. He also states he ran into some Israeli private security contractors at that time. James Reiss, a wealthy inhabitant of uptown New Orleans and chairman of the city’s Regional Transit Authority, brought in an Israeli private security company by helicopter to guard Audubon Place, the gated community in which he lives. As Scahill points out, the rich hire mercenaries and the poor suffer.

In other mercenary news:

• » Afghanistan is now cracking down on private security contractors. Echoing a growing problem in Iraq, Afghan authorities have started to crack down on lucrative but largely unregulated security firms, some of which are suspected of murder. Two private Afghan security companies were raided this week, and at least 10 more contractors - including some protecting embassies - will soon be closed, police and Western officials told The Associated Press. The government is also proposing new rules to tighten control over such companies _ including some Western contractors _ amid concerns they intimidate Afghans, disrespect local security forces and don’t cooperate with authorities, according to a policy draft document obtained by AP.
• » Tomorrow the U.S. and Mexico are to announce a counternarcotics plan that calls for increasing U.S. anti-drug aid to Mexico, now estimated at $44 million a year, to $1.4 billion over two to three years. It will probably involve U.S. private security contractors training Mexican troops.
• » Last week the U.S. rejected a U.N. report that said the use of private security guards like those involved in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians amounted to a new form of mercenary activity. Although the use of mercenaries is discouraged in international rules of conduct of war, the hiring of foreign soldiers by one country for use in a third is specifically illegal only for the 30 countries that ratified a 1989 treaty. The U.S. and Iraq are among the many countries that never signed the accord.

One of the things you have to remember here, and that Scahill pointed out, is that our use of private security firms is putting our tax dollars right back into the pockets of politicians. Primarily the Republicans. Primarily the religious whacko republicans. There’s just something very very very wrong with this.

Eric Prince is a freak. A religious nut who has his own private army and who pumps millions of dollars back into the religious right’s coffers. I don’t know about you, but that scares the shit out of me. This year the Iraqi people suffer at the hands of Eric Prince’s mercenaries. Next year, it could be us.