Breathe Deep

Yes, the blog is currently ugly. Yes, I’ll fix it. No, I don’t know when. Yes, I’m working on some other things. Yes, this blog is going to stick around. If you don’t like my thoughts about politics, there’s always my other blogs to read (see sidebar). I think they all have RSS feeds, as well, though the url to those feeds has changed since the Switch. Also, I’m reconsidering all the ads I was running, now that I know which ones were actually paying and which ones weren’t. There won’t be as many ads (I know, I can hear you cheering from over here), and the pages are going to load a lot faster than before, I hope.

I will say, though, that I was very surprised (and pleased) to find a link to this blog from the blog of Rep. Louise Slaughter (D), one of the few members of the U.S. House of Representatives who still seems to represent us normal people… and she’s not even from my state! She has some good ideas about the future of this country, though.

As for you, Mr. Stupak, you haven’t even bothered to reply to the last 3 emails I sent, not even with your customary form letter. That tells me you need a wake up call. Whatsa matta? Too busy formulating religio-corporate world domination with The Family to pay attention to your constituents? Tsk, tsk. That could be a real handicap this Fall. You’re up for re-election again, aren’t you? Meh. It’s time for a change, methinks.

Speaking of the religious takeover of America… The U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention God or any specific religion… but if it did, it would place the United States in the company of nations like this:

• Afghanistan - “…no law shall run counter to the principles of the sacred religion of Islam…”
• Albania - “…with faith in God and/or other universal values…”
• Bahrain - “…the Qur’an has been remiss in nothing…”
• Bhutan - “Blessed with… the protection of our guardian deities…”
• Indonesia - “…the sovereign Republic of Indonesia which is based on the belief in the One and Only God…”
• Ireland - “In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred… Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial…”
• Nepal - “Nepal is a multiethnic, multilingual, democratic, independent, indivisible, sovereign, Hindu and Constitutional Monarchical Kingdom…”
• North Korea - “Comrade Kim Il Sung was a genius ideological theoretician and a genius art leader, and ever victorious, iron-willed brilliant commander, a great revolutionary and politician, and a great human being. Comrade Kim Il Sung’s great idea and achievements in leadership are the eternal treasures of the nation…”
• Pakistan - “Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust…”
• Rwanda - “Trusting in God Almighty…”
• Saudi Arabia - “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God’s prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution…”

Do we really want to be in that company of countries? Thinking back… aren’t they all constantly at war in one way or another? Umm… aren’t the average people in those countries, or at least the religious minorities, somewhat (or very) oppressed? Let’s not go there, okay?

The whole point of the founding of the United States, was to form a country that was free from religious oppression as was typically practiced in European countries. This country was not founded on any sect of Christian religion (see Article 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, ratified and signed into law by President Adams, without so much as a wisp of controversy or complaint). Revisionist rhetoric and wishful thinking does not change the fact that the founding fathers left God out of the Constitution intentionally… it was not an oversight. That article does actually say “…the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…” Ta! (emphasis mine)

In fact, you could consider any closing of government buildings, offices, or services on Sundays to be unconstitutional (or on any other religious “sabbath” - some observe the Sabbath on Saturdays, and let’s not even get into the Christmas debate here, though we well could).

What I find extremely ironic is that everything is closed down for religious observances, yet no one gets a day off to go and vote for their elected leaders. But then, we have an electorate that is civically uneducated who listens to rightwing revisionist rhetoric (it’s everywhere) and doesn’t yet grasp the idea that they can use Google to find out who’s lying, and who is paying the liars.

Meanwhile, your government wants to know what you’re searching for on Google. I wonder why??? (Don’t believe them when they tell you they’re looking for porn. And you can be sure the media won’t tell you the whole truth, because they have a good reason for not doing so.)