Interesting show.



This Week's Show: God’s Country?

Evangelical Christians have been preaching politics in Ohio ahead of Tuesday’s gubernatorial primaries and face accusations of using the church as a vehicle for political advocacy.

The accusations come from another group of religious leaders who have filed multiple complaints to the IRS against two so-called "mega-churches" in Ohio.

One of those churches is led by Pastor Russell Johnson, who has become one of the most important figures in Ohio politics today. Johnson runs the Ohio Restoration Project, an organization that mobilizes so-called "patriot pastors" to deliver one-sided messages about social policy, secular laws and even political candidates.

The goal of the organization is to elect candidates who agree with conservative Christians on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

"When it came to find a leader, we found one, Ken Blackwell, who said yes, marriage is defined by the Bible as one man and one woman, and I will stand with you," Johnson said at an Ohio rally in February.

The group is specifically accused of endorsing conservative gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s Secretary of State, for the Republican nomination. Running against him is the moderate Republican candidate Jim Petro, Ohio’s Attorney General. Under IRS rules, churches and other tax-exempt charities are not permitted to endorse a political party or candidate for public office.

"They are crossing the line and they’ve become entangled in government," Eric Williams, one of the pastors that lodged the complaint, told NOW. Williams is a pastor at the North Congregational United Church of Christ, a church that supports positions like equal protection under the law for gays and lesbians.

With the election just around the corner, is the Buckeye State once again bracing for a political storm of biblical proportions? Next time on NOW.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/217/index.html








Michelle Goldberg, senior political reporter for Salon.com and Author of "Kingdom Coming"
Rightwing religious organizations have become intertwined with American politics to a disturbing degree, so that many evangelical churches and ministries now function as adjuncts of the Republican Party (or maybe visa versa). In 2004, ostensibly non-partisan ballot initiatives like Ohio's anti-gay marriage Issue 1 allowed churches to take over huge parts of the GOP's get-out-the-vote apparatus -- they ran voter registration drives and massive phone-banking operations. Bush, in turn, has used the faith-based initiative like a Tammany Hall patronage system to reward supportive religious leaders. Not all Republicans are part of the religious right, of course, but the movement has a huge degree of power in setting the party's agenda.

John McCain has learned this lesson well. In 2000, McCain tried to separate himself from the dominant block within the GOP, denouncing Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." That kind of independence didn't work out too well for him, so this year McCain is embracing the forces he once disdained, giving the commencement speech at Falwell's Liberty University and telling Tim Russert, "I believe that the Christ -- quote, 'Christian right,' has a major role to play in the Republican Party." Obviously, the history of American politics is filled with the deeply devout, but the emergence of a sectarian political party -- one that frequently casts its opponents as not just wrong but metaphysically evil -- is something new and ominous.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/217/perspectives.html










Kenyn M. Cureton, a Vice President at the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention
The short answer is: "No." The Bible teaches that civil government was God's idea (Romans 13:1). Since God created it, would he want his people to stay out of it? No. Jesus instructs: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" (Matthew 22:21). Christ-followers are obligated to contribute to government, which in America means more than paying taxes. To abandon the political arena is to disobey Christ's command to be change-agents in our culture (Matthew 5:13-16). Christians have a biblical mandate to participate in government.

Christians and churches have been vitally involved in American politics from the beginning. True, the First Amendment originally prohibited Congress from making any law establishing a particular denomination of Christianity as "The National Church," but it also protected the free exercise of our faith, including in the political arena. In that discussion, our Founding Fathers narrowly defined "separation of church and state," but never intended a strict separation of God from government. Their writings and actions clearly demonstrate this point - a point that has been lost through decades of historical revisionism and the rhetoric of secular fundamentalists. Therefore, Christians have a God-given responsibility and a Constitutional right to be even more involved in the American political arena.

You lefties honey.

A real rogues gallery to be sure. Hey, is that me?

Haven't seen hide nor hair of grig though. Hope he's doing well.

fark you and the dirty old nice girl.



Is SpaceCowboy a lefty you farking dumb ASS?

She's black or white Bush girl.

ah ha !!!

at least a lefty (if right handed)
will not shake your hand with the hand "they" wipe their butts with!!!


csh

Saw that the other night on Bathroom Tech on the science channel.

oops

that might be
maybe the other way around...

csh

The left hand is unclean.

Got an eatin' hand, and a wipin' hand. Then again that was before soap. (for the non-French among us)

Wishful thinking you your part, bozo.

More quality posts from our elitist educator.

Looks like HH is the leader of the pack.

Lookie here, sport, why don't you shut the fark up and quit butting in every time I address, directly or indirectly, judy. Mind your own farking business.

The honey has demonstrated that she can dish it out. I'll be god-damned if I allow her to hide either behind your 'protection' or her being a woman.

The only thing you accomplish by 'butting in' is to infuriate me even more.



Blow it out yer ass, dumbfark.

I ain't no elitist.

Perhaps he likes pushing your buttons...

Judy has demonstrated more than ample ability to dismiss the inane remarks of you or any other lefty. .. the fact that you consider it necessary for her or any one else to secure "protection" from your silly little "fark you" barbs serves only to emphasize your need to retreat into your ridicuously constructed save haven of hubristic bricks.

Perhaps if you had something of a sense of humor your remarks might be given a serious consideration...as it is, likely not a soul here is likely to fear the repercussion of your "furious" cowdoody.

Right on Bub!!

Why liberals are such a bore

By Scott Shore

Have you ever tried to "lighten up" around liberals? It's about as easy as getting loud guffaws from a group of 17th century Calvinists. They are the living embodiments of Dana Carvey's famous character, "the Church lady." I seriously wonder if any group of people have ever taken themselves so seriously as American liberals since the Inquisition. I recently did a Internet search for Dennis Miller's latest comments on Iraq, the Europeans, President Bush, North Korea and the babbling Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia. One of the better list of quotations was on a site that had a picture of Dennis Miller with a Swastika behind him and the question: "Comedian or Fascist -- You Decide."

The problem with these people is that they are so certain that they are always right and that the rest of us poor bumpkins have either deep character flaws, mental retardation or are closet "Brown Shirts" who secretly celebrate Adolf's birthday every year. The list of "unfunny", "politically incorrect" subjects has grown to include just about everything the weather -- and even then they are likely to segue into a discussion of global warming. The reason why there will never be a popular "liberal talk radio" station is that there's nothing funny or entertaining or satirical that liberals can say. In an era in which big government and monopolized social services are well entrenched, liberals are defending the establishment. By definition, conservatives are going to be the people who pop the bubbles of pretension and self-righteousness of the establishment.

Liberals are like the plump matron who is always outraged and eventually gets a pie in the face from Groucho Marx. I personally would like to see some kind of gag order on Jimmy Carter so I don't have to hear his self-righteous bunk and condescending smile every time the President takes an initiative. Carter apparently speaks directly with the Almighty prior to his public declarations. Conservatives exist to keep these self-appointed nannies in their place.

I once stopped a dinner party conversation dead in its tracks by saying that I thought liberals were "mentally ill." After the gasps, I defined mental illness as being out of touch with reality and failing to have a feedback mechanism to alter your opinions of the objective world. I happen to think my observation is true. When all the statistics show that higher spending on education in the public schools is inversely related to test scores and performance, you would think these people would reconsider their position.

Instead, this fact only proves to them the need for greater spending and the concept of "choice" in education is nothing short of heresy and smack of a desire to destroy education in society (as if liberal theories of education haven't already done that job). The problem with the War on Poverty is that we're not spending enough. Forget the fact that spending continues to rise at a geometric rate. Liberals have not been right on foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. This does not prevent them from continuing to believe that all international disputes are either our fault or a miscommunication. Liberal politicians will always SAY they are for a strong defense, but it just so happens that they oppose any specific action on every occasion.

What beats the hypocrisy of Senator Byrd, the man who has spent millions of American tax dollars to relocate or establish federal agencies and vital projects in the sticks of West Virginia, whining about President Bush's address to the troops aboard the USS Lincoln. I love the idea of this ex-Klanner contrasting President Bush with the image of the simple dignity of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. Does anyone doubt that had political opinion on race not changed so radically in America, the dottering senator from West Virginia would be waxing poetic over Jefferson Davis? One gets the feeling that Senator Byrd would find redeeming features to cannibals if they formed a large enough constituency. What an incredible double standard these folks have. When the youthful views of Trent Lott were brought up, the Democratic Party's whose former leader was a Klansman demanded Lott's departure. Senator John Kerry, the ultimate limousine liberal, calls for "regime change" in the US during the midst of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He then defends his right to make "quips." (I personally would defend that right since he exercises it so infrequently.) Why has everyone forgotten about Jesse Jackson's "Hymietown" remarks? Can you imagine the hue and cry if a Republicans hectored President Clinton on his overseas adventures or if a Republican had made "quips" like Jesse Jackson? What about Al Sharpton? As Dennis Miller says, "Somewhere between the "S and the T" of Sharpton, we need to think about Tawana Brawley."

Conservatives have always been funnier than liberals. There has been a tradition going from H. L. Mencken to P. J. O'Rourke to Dennis Miller of biting satire. Indeed one could go back further to Aristophanes' jibes at the puffed-up seers and pretensions philosophers of Ancient Greece (Cloud Cuckooland) to Jonathan Swift's lampooning of 18th century conventional thought. The great Samuel Johnson was a master at skewering the utopians of his age.

Besides the fact that conservatives are the ones poking fun at the social engineering elites that have created the current social decline of America, there is a second reason that conservatives are inherently funnier. A sense of humor requires some degree of awareness that certain things in this world are not understandable and that we all have imperfect knowledge. Humor is outrage sublimated by humility. Conservatives never claim that people can understand everything and lack the hubris to believe that society or the government can perfect the world. Where liberals see intractable problems that must be solved by a government program, a conservative is more likely to see irony Source

OK more like a big joke.

Nomarchy sans lubricant....................

SIDEWAYS!

Hooboy

Weve been sayin that about nomarch for years.

My God. The Jesus freak bushlovers can be counted on every time to elevate the "discussion".

by golly. Its a dirty job, but when the lenin lovers keep the discussion so low, somebody's got to do it.

You got no more God or Jesus in you than a muslim latrine \You worthless bushlovers.

Bay - here's what I mean - Miz is labeled a commie because be hates Bush and supports labor.

Supports labor?


(tsk tsk) Space lad.... you disregard the last PM I sent you you texass redneck dumbass.

(P.S. I nedd a tax/books guy and I figure, well (yeehaaw) yer from texas)

I am both labor and a businessman now. I own my own contractor/slave labor company now which consists of my gimp ass and my equally gimp ass buddy.

You forget that I'm an effete intellectual snob raised mostly in the Northeast.

Bay, see what I mean, all bushlovers are Jesus freaks and support big corporate capitalists.........

but space forgot to mention that.

Uhhh.... Did Bay take over the school marm position from pay pal judy?

By the way jt that was a very "christian" quote of yours.

Just trying to keep up with all that compassionate tree hugging tolerant liberalism............


from a self proclaimed gimp ass

jt...get right with God. Get Jesus.

preach it reverend miz, you and the reverend davis need to take it out on the road.........



Reverend miz gettin religious on us....preaching to people to get jesus.

It's alright, Miz. I'll go get Jesus. You just watch the door. Uh, gotta light? And a magazine?

Guess we'll see, wont we?


Care to sit and smoke a spell? I'd pay to see your expression either way.

What a pack of self-righteous phony motherhumpers. What a joke the evangelical movement has become. A bunch of self-centered greedy religous manipulators. Quite the pathetic display.

What Would General Jesus Do?

Maybe cast the bunshooters out of the Temple?

bunshooters?


uh oh. JT (beastmaster G) has been multitasking with Beelzerepubub (mr. fister) again.


run like hell

They used to be bunkshooters, but they're not even quite up to that.

I'll leave that up to the theological scholars at Bob Jones University.

You're just an ordinary gutter snipe jerkoff with a few letters after your name. Now run off and play with your lefty pals and stop polluting the forums. I figger you all must get off on picking nits and asking semantical questions or just sitting around saying, "this is true".





I consider Miz to be an adenoidal moron, simply because he posts like one.



If you think a politcal forum is a temple, then the meth must have got to you more than I thought.



Mizzy the Kid

I should have added that I meant the "you only manage to infuriate me more" part not as a threat, but as information. B.K. and I go back a long time. A bit of the old 'wind-up' is to be expected and perhaps enjoyed. On the other hand, in my book, at some point if one simply likes pushing one's, well, friend's buttons as such, then there's a problem.

I have no illusions as to the effect of 'fark you's. Those are for my benefit, primarily. They're 'safety valve' mechanisms.

As FJ has told you many times, you are a legend in your own mind. Your penchant for vainglory is truly remarkable. In my humble opinion, your intellect and ability to argue are mediocre, at best.

So, say what you will about my ability to make points. I've earned my stripes not just here, but in contexts where not only the IQs and the training, but also the COSTS of not 'measuring up' intellectually are signlificantly higher.

Judy once encouraged SpaceCowboy to take a course in accounting. That about sums up not only her intellectual midget status but her incredible vainglory.

In addition, how's about you let B.K. and I deal with this matter?



You've been saying what about me for years?

Spell it out, please.



Who's a Lenin-lover? Moi?

Surely you jest.



Ok, then.

And that concludes this, the latest, episode of the "B.K. - Nomarchy" daytime soap opera.

Tune in for further episodes coming to your computer some time before the end of the year.

Well, gosh...lemme look into my bag of responses...
How 'bout something you are likely to understand; can't be humorous, can't be witty, can't be insightful...ah, here it is. Even highlighted so's ya can focus your attention. First time use for me on this board.

fark off, nomarchy.

If you're the given example of such, then effete intellectual snobs from the Northeast are jUSt okay with me.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In her absence, Space, may lil bart and I welcome you to the ranks of the unclassifiable-in-two-dimensions world of the Radical Center Party?

Yes, li' bart and I are quite close on that.

I have no party.

I'm not even sure it matters that much anymore.

Still, I like to keep up with politics as a hobby.

I suspect the Radical Center outnumbers members of either party. Alas, the RCP "membership" is generally too disgusted to vote.

In short terms, this is the downfall of the American voter, the citizen. For a clear and lengthy treatment of the subject I can personally recomed a book- "Sleal this Vote" by Andrew Gumbel.

My own short respose is still one of pity.

It's very romatic to state that dissention is patriotism, that to question authority is one's highest aim.

For myself I hold to just about any shread of hope that my civil leaders will act in the best interests of my country. I ask what I can do for my country by giving my support where I think (not feel) my support is deserved.

Too many people ask what this country will do for them. Too many look fof differences rather than similarities, and become self-centered. "I want it MY way, or I just won't even vote."

It truely is pitiful.

SAN FRANCISCO
Public employee loses religious freedom case

Surprise, surprise! The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rules freedom of speech and religion does not apply to Christian.

Tehama County's social service agency struck the right balance between free speech and religious neutrality when it prohibited an employment counselor from discussing religion with his clients, displaying a Bible in his cubicle or holding prayer meetings in a conference room, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

Article

Good call.

By the way, here's the rest of the title of the article.

Tehama County's limits on evangelical Christian upheld








Seems reasonable.



Well of course you can't be witnessing to people or using religion as part of your job. He's a welfare counselor.