The 10 Craziest Things Rev. Jerry Falwell Ever Said

The 10 Craziest Things Rev. Jerry Falwell Ever Said

10. "The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."

9. "The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

8. "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"

7. "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers ... AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

6. "Nothing will motivate conservative evangelical Christians to vote Republican in the 2008 presidential election more than a Democratic nominee named Hillary Rodham Clinton - not even a run by the devil himself ... I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. She has $300 million so far. But I hope she's the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't." --at a "Values Voter Summit"

5. "Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them."

4. "Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America."

3. "He is purple — the gay-pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay pride symbol." –from a "Parents Alert" issued in Jerry Falwell's National Liberty Journal, warning that "Tinky Winky," a character on the popular PBS children's show, "Teletubbies," may be gay

2. "You've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."

1. "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" --on the 9/11 attacks

US conservatives block cancer vaccine for girls

US conservatives block cancer vaccine for girls | * 12:22 14 May 2007 | * NewScientist.com news service | * Jim Giles

Plans to vaccinate young girls against the sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer have been blocked in several US states by conservative groups, who say that doing so would encourage promiscuity.

Advocates of the vaccine point out that the jabs work against human papillomavirus (HPV) - which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer - and are safe.

The latest data from a large clinical trial of Merck's cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, found it offered 100% protection against cervical, vulval and vaginal diseases, caused by HPV (types 6, 11, 16 and 18) and 98% protection against advanced pre-cancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18 (New England Journal of Medicine: vol 356, p1915).

After around three years of the four-year trial, almost all girls who received the vaccine before being exposed to HPV 16 or 18 appear to be protected. Those who had already been exposed to the viruses received little benefit, but by vaccinating early on, perhaps at 11 years of age, most girls could be protected. ...
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However, attempts to introduce compulsory vaccination programmes at the state level have run up against opposition. Four states – West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi and New Mexico – have rejected vaccine programmes. In Texas, governer Rick Perry suffered embarassment last month when his order requiring schoolgirls to be vaccinated was blocked by the state Senate. Only one state – Virginia – has so far passed a law requiring vaccination. ...

Study: Abstinence classes don't stop sex

Study: Abstinence classes don't stop sex | By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 13, 7:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, according to a study ordered by Congress.

Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes that were reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes. And they first had sex at about the same age as other students — 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. ...

U.S. Air Force Academy ... turning into a taxpayer-supported Evangelical institution ..

The Crusaders | “The Christian Taliban is running the Department of Defense” | By ROBERT C. KOEHLER | Tribune Media Services | May 3, 2007

Sixteen words may be all that stand right now between the apparatus of government and the Founding Fathers’ worst nightmare. And those words are starting to give.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”
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When George Bush, in the wake of 9/11, puffed himself into Richard the Lionheart and declared he would lead the country in a “crusade” against terrorism — you know, crusade, as in slaughter of Muslim infidels — turns out . . . oh, how awkward (if you’re on White House spin duty) . . . he may have been speaking literally.

What’s certain, in any case, is that a lot of people in high and low places within the Bush administration — and in particular, the military — heard him literally, and regard the war on terror as a religious war:

“The enemy has got a face. He’s called Satan. He lives in Fallujah. And we’re going to destroy him,” a lieutenant colonel, according to a BBC reporter, said to his troops on the eve of the destruction of that undefended city in post-election 2004.

“I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol,” Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jerry Boykin notoriously boasted a few years back, speaking of a Muslim warlord in Somalia. And by the way, George Bush is “in the White House because God put him there.”

And, of course, just the other day, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who conducted the first official investigation into Pat Tillman’s death, opined that Tillman’s family is only pestering the Army for the, ahem, truth about how he died because their loved one, a non-believer with no heavenly reward to reap, is now “worm dirt.”

Until I read the newly published “With God on Their Side” (St. Martin’s Press), Michael Weinstein’s disturbing account of anti-Semitism at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I shrugged off each of these remarks, and so much more, as isolated, almost comically intolerant noises out of True Believer Land. Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do . . .

Now my blood runs cold. Weinstein, a 1977 graduate of the Academy and former assistant general counsel in the Reagan administration, and a lifelong Republican, has devoted the last several years of his life to battling what he has come to regard as a fundamentalist takeover of the Academy, turning it, in effect, into a taxpayer-supported Evangelical institution. He charges that the separation of church and state is rapidly vanishing at the school, which routinely promotes sectarian religious events, tolerates the proselytizing of uniquely vulnerable new recruits and, basically, conflates evangelical interests and the national interest. ...

U.S. Army Colonel: Pat Tillman is Atheist Worm Dirt

U.S. Army: Pat Tillman is Atheist Worm Dirt | By ELAINE FRIEDMAN | HumanistNetworkNews.org | April 25, 2007
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Mary Tillman, Pat's mother, testified that she was "appalled" by comments from Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, an officer in Tillman's unit, that implied the family was not at peace with Pat's death because they are atheists who believe their son is now "worm dirt."

"When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don't believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt" Kauzlarich stated in an interview with ESPN. ...

Overturning precedent: "painfully awkward observation: All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic"

Did Justices' Catholicism Play Part in Abortion Ruling? | By Robert Barnes | Washington Post Staff Writer | Monday, April 30, 2007; Page A13

Is it significant that the five Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure also happen to be the court's Roman Catholics?

It is to Tony Auth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He drew Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. wearing bishop's miters, and labeled his cartoon "Church and State."

Rosie O'Donnell and Barbara Walters hashed out the issue on "The View," with O'Donnell noting that a majority of the court is Catholic and wondering about "separation of church and state." Walters counseled that "we cannot assume that they did it because they're Catholic."

And the chatter continues, on talk radio and in the blogosphere. In the latter category, no one has stirred it up quite like Geoffrey R. Stone, former dean and now provost of the University of Chicago's law school.

He posted an item titled "Faith-Based Justices" on his school's blog and on Huffington Post. The post was mostly praised by liberal readers at Huffington Post, but set off a free-for-all back home in Chicago on the faculty blog.

Stone's argument was that the decision in Gonzales v. Carhart repudiated the court's previous abortion jurisprudence and offered flimsy reasoning for upholding the federal ban on the procedure opponents call "partial birth," when seven years ago it had rejected a Nebraska law that was "virtually identical."

"What then explains this decision?" he wrote. "Here is a painfully awkward observation: All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic. The four justices who are either Protestant or Jewish all voted in accord with settled precedent. It is mortifying to have to point this out." ...

Government funded: "The presenter and supervisor (must) possess an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ."

Putting Stop into 'Stop and Think' | By cyncooper | Sat May 05, 2007 at 01:38:27 PM EST

Let me ask a simple question. Does the following condition from a contract have religious overtones to you? "The presenter and supervisor (must) possess an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ."

Did you even have to stop and think about it?

It's only one of several clauses from the contract of Stop and Think, an abstinence-education-only program, but that didn't stop the federal government from awarding it taxpayer dollars. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is stepping in.

On May 2, 2007, the ACLU wrote to the Department of Health and Human Services to demand an immediate investigation into the awarding of funds to "Stop and Think" and entities associated with it.


Evidence strongly suggests that this funding violates the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Anticipating that your investigation will confirm our own, we request that you take the steps necessary to remedy this misuse of public funds. If HHS does not satisfactily respond to these requests by the end of this month, the ACLU will consider all necessary and appropriate measures to remedy the situation, including legal action. ...
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First, the government is doing virtually nothing to seek accountability and to assure that our dollars are not going to evangelical efforts; this is an outrage in itself, letting wolves roam through the henhouse freely until someone blasts a whistle on the top of a tower. ..

Second, the groups getting these funds are overtly Christian evangelical organizations, in this case, crisis pregnancy centers founded as Christian ministries. Since the funds are going to groups that are in a position to violate the separation of church and state, that alone demands a higher level of scrutiny. Grants to these organizations trip buzzers automatically and the government should have systems in place to demand not merely separation, but firewalls, high ones, with strong rules. ...

The third frustration is that, under the current state of the law, challenges generally can be brought only on a case-by-case basis when Establishment questions arise, limiting the ability of outside groups to take action. ...

[Republican] Catholic [convert] Candidate Denies Evolution

Friday, May 04, 2007 | Catholic Candidate Denies Evolution

Absolutely surreal. When asked who did not believe in evolution, three of the ten Republican candidates for president raised their hands: Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback. Now, Brownback is a Catholic convert from evangelicalism, and a darling of the right. Clearly, some of his evangelical mode of thinking has not left him.

As I discussed recently, there is no inherent conflict between faith and evolution, as long as boundaries are respected. Therefore a person of faith should not castigate scientific findings about evolution that are accepted by all but a handful of quacks, and a scientist should likewise refrain from arguing that evolution proves the absence of a Creator (it proves no such thing). Way back in 1950, Pope Pius XII declared that there was no opposition between evolution and the Christian faith. While Pius was tentative, Pope John Paul II stated very clearly in 1996 that "new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis." Cardinal Schonborn, who has reflected a lot on the topic, sums it up: "I see no difficulty in joining belief in the Creator with the theory of evolution, but under the prerequisite that the borders of scientific theory are maintained." And Pope Benedict recently voiced similar thoughts: "The question is not to either make a decision for a creationism that fundamentally excludes science, or for an evolutionary theory that covers over its own gaps and does not want to see the questions that reach beyond the methodological possibilities of natural science."

The title of John Paul's 1996 address was "Truth Cannot Contradict Truth", which is quite apt. ...

real motivation for opposition to the just-passed hate crimes bill ... [Christianist right's] objection is entirely to the inclusion of homosexuals ..

Friday, May 4, 2007 | Hate Crimes and Double Standards, Ctd. | 04 May 2007 07:16 am

My suspicion about the real motivation for opposition to the just-passed hate crimes bill is borne out by the responses and statements from the Christianist right. It is clear from this article, for example, that their objection is entirely to the inclusion of homosexuals. It is also clear from the White House's statement that it concurs. Money quote:

"The administration favors strong criminal penalties for violent crime, including crime based on personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion or national origin."

Why no reference here to the characteristic at issue - sexual orientation? If the White House claims that such protections are already in place, and it supports them, and its only objection is a matter of federal and constitutional propriety, why not say so explicitly? We all know the reason why. The naked anti-gay animus fueling this is also apparent when you read Dobson's quote:

"We applaud the president's courage in standing up for the constitution and the principle of equal protection under the law. The American justice system should never create second-class victims and it is a first-class act of wisdom and fairness for the president to pledge to veto this unnecessary bill."

But that is an argument for the repeal of all hate crimes legislation, not just this one. And yet Dobson raises no such objections when it comes to race or religion. Maybe now his position is clear on the principle, he'll elaborate some more. I'd dearly love to see Focus on the Family come out strongly against hate crime laws designed to protect, say, Jews, Mormons and Christians. But somehow I doubt it, don't you?

Here is a painfully awkward observation: All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic. ...

Our Faith-Based Justices (35 comments ) | READ MORE: Congress | 4/20/2007

In Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, upheld the constitutionality of a federal law prohibiting so-called "partial birth abortions" (properly described as "intact dilation and evacuation" or "intact D & E") despite the absence of an exception to protect the health of the woman. Gonzales reversed an earlier decision, Stenberg v. Carhart, in which the Court had held a virtually identical state law unconstitutional, primarily because it failed to include an exception to protect the health of the woman.
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What, then, explains this decision? Here is a painfully awkward observation: All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic. The four justices who are either Protestant or Jewish all voted in accord with settled precedent. It is mortifying to have to point this out. But it is too obvious, and too telling, to ignore. Ultimately, the five justices in the majority all fell back on a common argument to justify their position. There is, they say, a compelling moral reason for the result in Gonzales. Because the intact D & E seems to resemble infanticide it is "immoral" and may be prohibited even without a clear statutory exception to protect the health of the woman.

By making this judgment, these justices have failed to respect the fundamental difference between religious belief and morality. To be sure, this can be an elusive distinction, but in a society that values the separation of church and state, it is fundamental. The moral status of a fetus is a profoundly difficult and rationally unresolvable question. As the Supreme Court has recognized for more than thirty years, when the fundamental right of a woman "to determine her life's course" is at stake, it is not for the state -- or for the justices of the Supreme Court -- to resolve that question, and it is certainly not appropriate for the state or the justices to resolve it on the basis of one's personal religious faith.

In 1972-73, I had the privilege of serving as a law clerk to Justice William Brennan, then the Court's only Catholic justice. It was in that year the Court decided Roe v. Wade. Justice Brennan struggled in that case, as he struggled in earlier cases involving such issues as school prayers, to separate his personal religious views from his views as a justice. He joined the decision in Roe because he believed in the separation of church and state and because he was convinced that his religious views must be irrelevant to his responsibilities as a justice.

As the Court observed fifteen years ago, "Some of us as individuals find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but than cannot control our decision. Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code." It is sad that Justices Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito have chosen not to follow this example.

Supreme Court Upholds Late Abortion Ban: Judicial Activism Run Amok: first in American history made up of a majority of conservative Catholics

Supreme Court Upholds Late Abortion Ban: Right-wing Judicial Activism Run Amok | By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted April 18, 2007.

Last year, in defending his decision to vote for the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, Senator Bill Nelson (D-NE) said that it was based, in part, on Alito's "pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the court."

Today, Nelson and the 18 other Democratic Senators who voted against the attempted filibuster of Alito reaped what they sowed. The new court -- the first in American history made up of a majority of conservative Catholics -- upheld the 2003 ban on so-called "partial birth" abortions, a made-up term that's become a hot-button issue for social conservatives, but is largely based on junk science and flies in the face of medical "best practices." It will go down as a text-book case of right-wing judicial activism, with the justices essentially overruling the medical community.

In upholding the ban, the Supreme Court overturned a critical legal principle that's guided courts for almost two decades: that any restriction on abortion must have an exception for the life and health of the pregnant woman.

That principle was the key to the landmark decision, Stenberg v. Carhart, which overturned a similar ban in Nebraska. Stenberg, while split five to four, was not a wishy-washy decision. The majority found that Nebraska's law violated the constitution as interpreted in both Roe v. Wade and the 1992 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

The Supremes made two important findings in that case. First, the Nebraska ban didn't have an exception for cases when the health of the mother might be threatened. Second, the court found that the ban on "partial-birth abortions" (a term coined by abortion foes that appears nowhere in the medical literature) was too vague and, as such, placed too great a burden on a woman's right to determine her own care.

It's worth noting that Alito cited Carhart in 2000, when, as a member of the Third District Court of Appeals, he voted to strike down New Jersey's ban on late-term abortions. "The New Jersey statute," he wrote, "like its Nebraska counterpart, lacks an exception for the preservation of the health of the mother. Without such an exception, the New Jersey statute is irreconcilable with [Stenberg]. What's more, Alito supported the court's finding that "the Nebraska [ban] applied, not only to the "dilation and extraction" or D & X procedure, but also to the more commonly used D & E procedure." In other words, Alito agreed that the ban could apply to all sorts of otherwise legal abortion procedures. ...

Supreme Court upholds partial birth abortion ban ... 5-4, with all 5 Catholics voting as a block

Supreme Court upholds partial birth abortion ban | Michael Roston | Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007

In a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court upheld a 2003 federal ban on so-called "Partial Birth Abortions," in what has been described at the SCOTUSBlog as "the first-ever decision by the Court to uphold a total ban on a specific abortion procedure."

Justice Anthony Kennedy led the majority with Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
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Kennedy believed that the law offered enough opportunities for women to have "safe medical options," other than so-called "partial-birth abortions."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a lengthy dissent, slammed the majority's decision for what she said applauded "federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists."

She added, "For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception protecting a woman's health."
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Religious Affiliation of the U.S. Supreme Court

Religious Affiliation	Justices	% of Justices in this religion	% of U.S. Pop. in this religion
Christian	Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Souter, Stevens, Roberts, Alito	78%	76.5%
Protestant	Stevens	11%	53.0%
Catholic	Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito	56%	24.5%
Episcopalian *	Souter	11%	1.7%
Jewish	Breyer, Ginsburg	22%	1.5%

Rudy Speaking At Pat Robertson's Regent U. Tomorrow

Rudy Speaking At Pat Robertson's Regent U. Tomorrow | By Eric Kleefeld | bio

Just to remind you about a must-see campaign event, Rudy Giuliani is set to give a speech tomorrow at Pat Robertson's Regent University. It'll be yet another test of his ability to glide past the social conservatives who dominate GOP primaries — or at least to get them to overlook his support for abortion, gun control, gay rights and cross-dressing.
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Also interesting: How will the press cover it? Not well, if this coverage in The New York Sun is any indication:
Mr. Robertson, of course, has a record of intolerant, racist, and just-plain-nuts statements rivaled only by Mr. Falwell. Surprisingly, however, he's spoken in favor of Mr. Giuliani's candidacy, saying he'd make "a good president."

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States ...

Theocrat of the Week | By Frederick Clarkson Sun Apr 15, 2007
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Disgraced former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore.!

Mr. Moore, Our Distinguished Panel of Judges note, is so vain, he still calls himself Judge, as do his cult followers, although he was thrown out of office years ago. ...
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... Moore believes that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is ineligible for the seat to which he was elected for the sole reason that he is a Muslim. Moore called on Congress to prevent him from being seated.

Mr. Moore bases his claim on two main ideas: One is that because some radical Islamic clerics think being a Muslim is incompatible with being an American Member of Congress, therefore it is. Quoting one of them, Moore declares: "While we certainly disagree with Idris' radical extremism, he at least knows what Islam is all about!"
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... all matters related to the oath of office, is covered in Article 6 of the Constitution:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Texas may require schools to carry elective on Bible

Texas may require schools to carry elective on BibleLegislation calls for an 'objective and nondevotional' course. | By Lianne Hart, Times Staff Writer | April 15, 2007

HOUSTON — The Lone Star State could become the first in the nation to require all public high schools to offer an elective course on the Bible.

Hearings continued in the Legislature last week on a bill that calls for school districts in Texas to offer a class on "the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments eras" if at least 15 students sign up.

The bill was written by state Rep. Warren Chisum, a West Texas Republican who teaches Sunday school at a Baptist church. He said the course would not treat the Bible as a "worship document" but would promote religious and cultural literacy by "educating our students academically and not devotionally."

The bill, which says the class is to be taught in "an objective and nondevotional manner," does not provide funding or training for school districts and teachers. ... [Sunday school is good enough ... ed]

Abstinence education grew 17-fold — from $10 million in 1997 to $176 million this year — when the Republicans controlled Congress

Abstinence groups try to keep education fundsSome Democrats want more spending to go toward comprehensive sex ed | April 10, 2007

WASHINGTON - Abstinence-only educators say there's more to their programs than the "just say no" mantra of the anti-drug movement.

But that's just what they're saying to Democrats looking to curtail a program that grew 17-fold — from $10 million in 1997 to $176 million this year — when the Republicans controlled Congress.

Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation promoting comprehensive sex education instead of abstinence-only curriculum. They want to send money to schools that stress abstinence while also instructing students about the health benefits and side effects of contraceptives. ...

thousands of capable Christian right cadres remain, waging the culture war from inside the White House, federal agencies and Republican congressional

The Press Discovers Pat Robertson's Real Influence (Thanks to the Other Monica) | By Max Blumenthal Mon Apr 09, 2007

When Monica Goodling's name erupted into the news last week, the mainstream press discovered suddenly that Pat Robertson's Regent University exists. Not only that, the press learned that it has made a deep footprint in George W. Bush's Washington.
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The Christian right is far more than a pantheon of charismatic backlashers with automatonic followers of "old men and women." It is also a sophicated political operation with a coherent long-term strategy. Goodling may be out of a job, but thousands of capable Christian right cadres remain, waging the culture war from inside the White House, federal agencies and Republican congressional offices. Together they will continue to inflame conflicts that were previously unimaginable.

Anyone insisting in spite of continuously mounting evidence that the Christian right is going to simply shrink into oblivion because the Democrats control Congress, or because evangelical leaders are prone to scandal, should learn from Goodling's example and take the fifth.

Four top staff voluntarily demoted themselves, fed up with [33 year-old] Paulose... earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses ...

Exclusive: Shake Up at the U.S. Attorney's Office | Last Edited: Thursday, 05 Apr 2007, 9:35 PM CDT

MINNEAPOLIS -- It’s a major shakeup at the offices of new U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose.

Four of her top staff voluntarily demoted themselves Thursday, fed up with Paulose, who, after just months on the job, has earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses and dressing down underlings.

Deputy U.S. Attorney John Marty is just one of the people dropping themselves in rank to simply a U.S. Attorney position. Also making the move are the heads of Paulose’s criminal and civil divisions and the top administrative officer.

The move is intended to send a message to Washington – that 33-year-old Paulose is in over her head.

Paulose was appointed before the 8 U.S. Attorneys were given their pink slips, but she has deep connections to the scandal.

She was a special assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, worked as a senior counsel for deputy attorney general Paul McNulty and is best buds with Monica Goodling – the assistant U.S. Attorney who recently took the Fifth rather than testify before Congress. ...
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The move is intended to send a message to Washington – that 33-year-old Paulose is in over her head. ...

33 out of 34 : Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution: only Turkey ranks lower

Evolution fares poorly in Newsweek poll | By: Steve on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 PM - PDT

The latest Newsweek poll included a variety of interesting questions about Americans and religious matters, including the not-surprising fact that 91% of the public say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. But perhaps more importantly, Newsweek also asked poll respondents about modern biology.

Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Seventy-three percent of Evangelical Protestants say they believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years; 39 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of Catholics agree with that view.

These poll results come just a few months after an international study was conducted to measure which countries were the most accepting on evolutionary biology. Of the 34 countries involved, the United States ranked 33rd. Only Turkey ranked lower.

This is not at all encouraging. ...

“Everyone knows [Thompson’s] conservative ... “[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression.”

Focus On The Hysterics: Dobson Throws A Fit Over U.S. News Report | March 30th 2007

Yesterday’s “Wall of Separation” noted that James Dobson of Focus on the Family had questioned the religious commitment of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Dobson charged that Thompson, a Tennessee Republican who is thinking of running for president, isn’t really a Christian – even though Thompson belongs to the ultra-conservative Church of Christ.

“Everyone knows [Thompson’s] conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” Dobson told U.S. News & World Report. “[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression.”

Dobson went on to praise former House Speaker New Gingrich (a thrice-married serial adulterer), leading to speculation that Gingrich is Dobson’s favored candidate for the Republican nomination in 2008.

Dobson must now realize how intolerant and rude his comments sounded because he’s trying to deny he ever said them.

A “clarification” issued yesterday by Focus on the Family asserts that U.S. News reporter Dan Gilgoff failed to accurately quote Dobson.

“In his conversation with Mr. Gilgoff, Dr. Dobson was attempting to highlight that to the best of his knowledge, Sen. Thompson hadn’t clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him,” read the statement. “Dr. Dobson told Mr. Gilgoff he had never met Sen. Thompson and wasn’t certain that his understanding of the former senator’s religious convictions was accurate. Unfortunately, these qualifiers weren’t reported by Mr. Gilgoff.” ...

Why do Republicans Christianists continue to ignore Jesus?

Thursday, March 29, 2007 | Why do Republicans Christianists continue to ignore Jesus?

In today's news:

(T)he West Front of the Capitol took on the atmosphere of a down-home revival Wednesday, as roughly 40 members participated in a “call to prayer for America.”

But before they could recognize the power of prayer and ask Americans to pray for their country five minutes per week, members and spectators alike had to clear off the steps as Capitol Police inspected an unattended suspicious package.

Undeterred, they relocated to the West Lawn, where the regularly scheduled revival continued, sans amplification. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., assumed the duty of flag bearer.

Shouting to be heard, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., the founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, referred to the “enormous power in prayer.”

He asked “those will join with us to agree to pray for five minutes per week for our country. As these few become thousands, we will build a spiritual prayer wall around America 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Mike McIntyre, RD-N.C., then encouraged the crowd to visit PrayerCaucus.org and sign up for a five-minute block of time to pray for the country.

That's right. Republicans have gone out on the steps of the Capitol to pray and set up a web site for you to publicly declare your promise to pray. All this, despite Christ's specific admonition against such things:

(W)hen thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. -Matthew 6:5-6

Of course we all know it's really an e-mail net for fundraising, which makes it all even worse.

150 Graduates from Pat Robertson's Regent University in Bush Administration

About Regent University

The nation's academic center for Christian thought and action
It's more than a description of Regent University, it's a way of life. As America's premier graduate school dedicated to combining quality education with biblical teachings, Regent continues to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world.
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* Nation’s first Assistant Secretary of Labor, by Presidential nomination and U.S. Senatorial confirmation, Lisa Kruska (Gov '88)
* Virginia’s 40th Attorney General, Bob McDonnell (Law '89)
* Louisiana State Senator, Sharon Weston Broome (Com '84)
* National Middle School Principal of the Year, Sharon Byrdsong (Ed.D. candidate). National School Board Association Black Caucus’s Educational Leadership Award and National Milken Award Winner, Doreatha White (GLE '01). Virginia’s Preserve America History Teacher of the Year, Molly Gunsalus (Edu '01)
* Four School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship Alums serving as university
presidents
* Screenplay writer for The Ultimate Gift released nationally, Cheryl McKay (Com '95)
* 150 graduates serving in the Bush Administration

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Dr. M.G. "Pat" Robertson, founder and president of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), had an inspired vision to establish a graduate-level institution that would train men and women for the challenge of representing Christ in their professions. In 1978, Robertson's vision materialized, as 77 students began classes.

report ... that the Bush administration has given 98.3 percent of the faith-based foreign-aid money to Christian groups ...

Democrats inspect faith-based initiative | 2 call for probe to determine use of taxes | By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | December 4, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Two leading Democrats on the House International Relations Committee said they want to investigate President Bush's faith-based initiative to determine whether taxpayer funds are being used to reward Bush's Christian conservative supporters and whether the faith-based groups are using the funds to help gain converts.
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Representative Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said last week that she wants the committee to follow up on an October report by the Globe that the Bush administration has given 98.3 percent of the faith-based foreign-aid money to Christian groups and to examine whether faith-based groups are using taxpayer funds to help their proselytizing efforts.
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The Globe reported that Bush has doubled the percentage of US foreign aid dollars going to faith-based groups and that the president systematically eliminated or weakened rules designed to enforce the separation of church and state. As a result, some faith-based providers attempted to recruit members immediately before or after providing government services, and others favored Christians over Muslims.
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Calling for a review of whether the faith-based initiative has violated the separation of church and state, she said wanted to examine whether "people are being required to participate in faith-based prayer service. Are people being steadily convinced or subtly pressured to participate in organized religions activities in terms of the funding?"

Bush was unable to win congressional approval for the faith-based program even with Republicans in control of Congress, so he used executive orders to implement the program ...

US Airways denied them passage on any of its other flights and refused to help them obtain tickets through another airline.

Six Muslim Leaders Removed in Handcuffs From US Airways Plane After Praying in Airport: Broadcast - 11/29/06 - Democracy Now!

After their release, US Airways denied them passage on any of its other flights and refused to help them obtain tickets through another airline. Two of the imams joins us in our firehouse studio

AMY GOODMAN: The president of the organization, Omar Shahin, was one of the six imams removed from the plane. He joins me here in the studio in New York, along with Ahmad Shqeirat, an imam at the Islamic Center of Tempe, Arizona, who was also removed from the plane. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!.
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IMAM OMAR SHAHIN: ... We left the conference hotel to the airport, six of us, ... So, we went and got our boarding pass, as usual. And they promoted me to first class, because I’m an elite member.

AMY GOODMAN: You’re an elite member at US Airways.

IMAM OMAR SHAHIN: With US Airways. Then we went through the security, as normal. Then we went to the waiting area, waiting for our flight. And by then, the sunset time, as Muslims, we pray five times a day, so we decided -- three of us decided to pray that time. Why not six of us? In order to avoid any more attention from people. We picked a very quiet area. We did not bother anybody. We did our prayer in a very quiet lower voice.
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We went to the airplane individually, not together. I sat in my place, first row, first class, which is suspicious also. After that, I found out that they are suspicious of this, too. We noticed that there was a delay in the flight. The airplane is not taking off for almost 45 to one hour.

During that time, I moved from my seat, and I went to Imam Marwan Sadeddin -- he’s a blind guy -- offering him my seat, because he’s a blind old guy. He was very tired. So, he said, “Thank you, Imam Shahin. I don't want -- you, being tired for the last three days, go back to your seat, relax and enjoy it.” I went back to my seat, and I wait. Even the passengers were asking, “What's going on? Why?” I said, “I have no clue.” I did not know that time that we were the problem.

Then, after that, we noticed that the policemen showed up, two of them, to the plane. And they left the plane. Then increasing numbers of policemen showed up and went to the end of the plane, and they start removing the imams one by one from their seats. We did not argue with the policemen. We just complied totally and fully. ...

R-Kan Senator stalled Michigan judge nomination over her appearance at a lesbian commitment ceremony says she attended as a friend

Same-Sex Marriage Questions Stall Judge | Oct 26, 9:43 PM (ET) | By SAM HANANEL

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Michigan judge whose nomination to the federal bench is stalled over her appearance at a lesbian commitment ceremony says she attended as a friend, not to give legal sanction.

The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff to be a U.S. District Court judge is on hold because Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is not satisfied with her response to questions about her views on same-sex marriage, a spokesman for the senator said Thursday.

Neff's status has been in limbo since last month, when Brownback placed his procedural hold - using a technique that allows a lone senator to stall a nomination. Brownback wanted to know whether there was anything illegal or improper about the 2002 ceremony in Massachusetts and how Neff's actions might shape her judicial philosophy.

In an Oct. 12 letter to Brownback that was released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Neff said a minister presided over the ceremony and she insisted her attendance would not affect her ability to act fairly as a federal judge.

"The ceremony, which was entirely private, took place in Massachusetts, where I had no authority to act in any official capacity and where, in any event, the ceremony had no legal effect," Neff wrote.

She said her family had lived next door to one of the women, Mary Curtin, for more than two decades and considers Curtin part of the extended family.

"When Mary and her partner, Karen Adelman, asked me to participate in their commitment ceremony by delivering a homily, it was not different from being asked by my own daughters to be part of an important event in their lives," Neff wrote.

Neff declined to answer Brownback's questions on whether the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage or civil unions, saying it would be improper to address questions that might come before her as a federal judge. ...