USA: the Republican island in the Democrat ocean

Forum posts

• 5 November 2004, 15:31

  The french view is wrong. So wrong because europeans have got to be the most self-absorbed narrow-minded bunch in the whole world. First of all more than half of the popular vote went to the republican party, not only in terms of votes cast for the presidency but also in the house of representatives and among the governorships. In the larger world, it is europe that is a democrat in a republican ocean. Most of the world hold traditional values, regularly go to a house of worship, and don’t expect the government to do everything for them. Europeons really need to get out more and get in touch with real people instead of hanging out at bars, brothels and/or private beaches.

  • 6 November 2004, 01:23

    See also ( of the fraud ) :
    http://www.blackboxvoting.org
    CONSUMER PROTECTION FOR ELECTIONS

  • 7 November 2004, 17:06

    > USA: the Republican island in the Democrat ocean

    IT IS THE OPPOSITE IF YOU LOOK AT THAT MAP:

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13470_Bush_286_Kerry_252

• 5 November 2004, 16:23

  I voted for Kerry and feel he lost fairly. I am so proud that he conceded without trying to fight because it saved our faith in democracy. Even though I am a Christian I think abortion is bad, the one issue I had to contest. My neighbor voting for Bush did not make me hate her. All this crazy talk about conceeding to Canada and starting a revolution scares me just as much as terrorism. Since the election day I wake every day fearful with the pit of my stomach in my throat. What’s wrong with being a Christian who wants peace? Wants the average american to have the american dream? I will back the president in hopes he’ll lead towards peace because without a leader as Americans we have nothing. What choice do I have. Just leaving America is giving up on patriotism. I guess peace loving liberals are patriotic after all. I can’t join the army after age 36. Just join volunteerism, involvement and hope. Why is the north so different from the south. Do Christians in the north’s values not count either? What about our fears of terrorism more real because we are so vulnerable at the coastlines. I hope Bush does change our morality do away with abortion and pronography and gay marriage, but please don’t give up on peace. Please give to the poor. please continue to share with those terrified of the elections outcome so that we aren’t living in constant fear of terrorism, endless wars and threats of terror cells within this coountry. Pray for us please. you know the story.

  • 6 November 2004, 04:11

    It’s not about caving in to terrorists, it’s not about wanting a lack of morality, and it’s not about hating Republican voters. It is about wanting the freedom of choice as individuals over our lives that a democracy is supposed to allow. It’s about not shipping jobs overseas and destroying the economic foundations of the middle class and impoverishing millions of Americans. It’s about having every citizen’s vote count and be counted fairly. It’s about killing people in defense only. It’s about not having a dead sterile planet with a runaway greenhouse effect. It’s about getting off Mid-East oil and onto domestically produced energy where the money spent on energy stays at home and the Arabs can worry about their own security if they want to blow each other up all the time. It’s about not having our constitutional rights shredded and our media controlled by the government. You can’t take on terrorists effectively by blowing up countries, you have to go into the shadows after them and root them out directly. Iraq is becoming a huge recruiting drive for the terrorists. We were told Iraq was being attacked because they had weapons of mass destructions and were on the verge of attacking the US. That is what Bush and his crowd said. You can’t hide that, you can’t make us forget that, and we are not going to let you forget that. It was pure bullshit. The weapons Saddam had are millions of tons of outdated conventional bombs that were considered obsolete by the countries that sold them to him. We should be busy destroying those, but at the rate we’re dealing with it it will be a hundred years before it’s done. We put Saddam Hussein in power in the first place, and then we used him as a surrogate for the real terrorists, and by the way we’ll get the oil if the Iraqis ever stop blowing up the pipeline. Oil that will pollute our skies further and feed our addiction.

  • 6 November 2004, 22:17

    Greetings and Blessings:
    I read your statement and completely empathize with your sentiments. I agree that it is important to remain unified in this nation and to acknowledge that the choice which a majority of Americans has made is valid, regardless of the obvious need for significant electoral and voting reform. The biggest challenge we face in America is retaining unity while continuing to move forward. America is the prized child of the Enlightenment. The history of the Modern Period since the Eighteenth century is that of liberating individuals from political tyranny and economic oppression. America has moved slowly in that direction since its inception in the Enlightenment, and this is why it is imperative to continue. I feel that the present American administration is reactionary rather than truly conservative and that the truly good ideas still come from America’s progressive community which is alive and well, I assure you. The "conservative" right in America are truly not conservative but have become the idealogues. I don’t feel that Kerry lost because he was a bad candidate or that he campaigned poorly or that he was wrong on the issues. Quite simply a slim majority of Americans were more comfortable with the other candidate. In fact, I feel that Kerry did a remarkable job against an incumbent wartime president. In American history there has never been such a close challenge to the tenure of a wartime incumbent. Hat’s off to Mr. Kerry and to the very positive example of Americans he presented on the world stage...none of us will ever forget his debate performance. Rove’s strategy of energizing the party’s evangelical base and playing on the fears of Americans to avoid "changing horses in midstream" was difficult for Kerry to overcome. Moreover, the economy was not that bad...not good, but better than that experienced under incumbents who lost.

    As a progressive Christian college professor I feel a little like a blue raft in a sea of red. I feel that I have the most positive impact, however, by teaching in a Christian university. The conflict of philosophies and belief systems which I experience with both colleagues and students are myriad. The fundamental conflict in Christian education lies in the opposing paradigms of Christian faith and the Enlightenment world view. The Enlightenment world view is a closed set, whereas the Christian world view believes, rightly, that God can and does intervene in world affairs. We pray to God and he answers our prayers. God has a plan for us. The Bible tells us his plan. It’s great overriding theme is God’s redemption of Man through our Lord Jesus, the New Covenant. Many Enlightenment thinkers, including nearly all of America’s founding fathers, respected the nature of God and his role in our lives, but they also recognized the human mind as being divinly created. As teachers, it is our job to get people to use their minds, hopefully for the glory of God. We get into trouble, however, when we lose our objectivity. God allows us to objectively choose between good and evil on a daily basis.
    Fortunately, as Christians we are sealed by Christ’s blood and as Paul states, we have the "mind of Christ", meaning that we are given the discernment provided by the Holy Spirit. For me, discernment is not just a mystical sensation,
    but requires study, analysis, thought and recognition of obvious and documented fact...all activities which require cultivation of the mind both in terms of how we gather information and how we process it. Everyone gathers and interprets information differently. Using the various gathering faculties of intuition and sensation, and the processing ones of logic and feeling we make our way through our daily lives and our interactions with others. We form our values, we choose our careers,
    and we foster our families and communities in these ways. We even make political choices. These myriad choices and activities determine who we are and who we will become in relation to God and our fellow man.

    This brings me to the political element of our discussion. First, I do not think that, as Christians, it is our responsiblity to judge others, but to love. That is Christ’s commandment. Jesus did not say, "Judge others." So I try not to. I do, however, participate in the political process in our nation and form my views based on my Christian worldview. My
    political views differ considerably from many of my Christian peers. As you may know, I supported John Kerry because I felt that he was the most qualified man for the job. I also felt that he was a moral man. When you look carefully
    at his life, what is apparent, contrary to the belief of many, is his integrity. Time and again, he risked his life and position to protect the downtrodden. As a boat commander in Vietnam, he risked his life to pull one of his crew from the water, this under heavy fire. He was injured three times, with both bullets and shrapnel which he still carries around with
    him. He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three purple hearts. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked Senator Kerry, not for his lack of valor, but because of his anti-war activities after Vietnam. Since I lived during those times, I can tell you that our society was divided over that war. Many protested the war, and even my father, a Korean vet who
    experienced heavy combat behind Chinese lines in the early fifties, would not have allowed his sons to go Vietnam. I feel that Senator Kerry was courageous and, by protesting the war, was looking out for the soldiers by trying to find a way to get them home. He had seen many die there, including his closest friend. He could easily have used his wealth and
    social position in Boston to live a comfortable life and avoid the war and a future life in politics. He chose, rather, the Catholic virtues of Charity to govern his life’s choices and mustered his considerable intellectual gifts in a life of public service...admirable.

    I do not support all elements of the Democratic platform. I do, however, feel that the Democratic platform does a better job of addressing my Christian world view, especially regarding the needs of the poor. Most Republican administrations ignore the poor and the policies of the current administration have sent millions more below the poverty line. While
    the Bush administration has consistently crafted tax breaks for multinational corporations (150 billion was just signed last week on air force one), it has doing nothing to increase wages for working class Americans. The average wages of working men and women have steadily decreased under the present administration and the Bush administration has
    done nothing to stop it. In fact, they have not even addressed it. Is this the way for a Christian to behave?

    In terms of health care there are now 55 million uninsured in the United States. Americans pay 3 times as much on health care, per capita, than any other industrialized nation. Nevertheless, our nation has an average mortality rate which is 10 years lower. Every time the Democrats bring a health care proposal to congress, the Republicans label it as "socialized
    medicine", which it is not. While nothing is accomplished in the area of health care reform, the poor die at a much higher rate than the rich.Is that righteous domestic policy? Kerry’s plan was not perfect but it would have insured 25 million more Americans, including children. I am not suggesting that every idea the Democrats bring to the banquet is perfect,
    only that the Republicans do not even entertain the need for reform. My University, a Christian one, does not even offer me, as an adjunct professor, the OPPORTUNITY to buy health care. I would be happy to pay my own premiums if I was part of a group plan which I could afford. As an independent person, I cannot afford health care because of pre-existing
    condition. I love my job, however, and that makes it all worthwhile. It’s just that I believe that charity starts at home.

    Republicans have really dropped the ball on the environment. Whenever groups challenge the current administration on environmental issues, they are labeled as "environmentalist wackos". It is immature for Christians to call people names. During his first week in office, Bush undermined a plethora of environmental reforms, many which actually began during
    earlier Republican administrations, including Nixon. These reforms went through years of studies by scientists and professionals and decades of committees and public meetings before they were finally signed during the Clinton
    administration. I find Clinton’s personal morals deplorable, but he was a better steward of the environment. In contrast, Bush’s own EPA appointee resigned early on because she could not stomach the reversal of environmental regulations which were being dictated by the white house.While 99% of the worlds top scientists insist that global warming is a very
    serious threat to the world’s food supplies, the Bush administration and it’s anti-scientific, anti-enlightenment mindset actually DENIES the existence of global warming in the same way that the vast majority of his constituents deny obvious fact and emperical evidence. Of course, if this administration actually encouraged factories here and abroad (especially China) to better control their emissions, their corporate contributors would cry foul. Meanwhile, little kids
    who live in choked apartments near power lines (because that is all their parents can afford) develop cancer at high rates. The poor, once again, are the victims. Bush has done nothing but deny the existence of this problem. Is this the way a Christian should behave?

    Next, there is the Bush energy policy which is tied to his environmental policy. Bush wants to drill in the Alaska Wildlife Reserve even though it is apparent that the oil resources there will take over a decade to extract and that there still won’t be enought oil to sustain America. What we need is a new comprehensive energy policy which will encourage entrepreneurship in fledgling new technologies. Instead, our taxdollars actually subsidize these wealthy oil companies in an attempt to keep prices down, but the prices never come down, especially in sunny and Republican San Diego. Meanwhile, "No Child Left Behind" goes underfunded. This program should be called "No Oil Company Left Behind".

    Abortion. Because of his stand on family planning and abortion, 52,000 more abortions have occurred on Bush’s watch than on Mr. Clinton’s. Abortions were reduced under the Clinton administration by 22% largely because of programs which gave financial aid to young pregnant women who otherwize would not be able to afford to keep their child. These programs were eliminated by the Bush administration under the pressure of unenlightened Christians. In third world nations such as Africa, funding and other assistance to provide counselling and family planning, including birth control, has been discouraged (to put it mildly) by the Catholic church and eliminated completely by the Bush administration. It is important for American Christians to know that in Africa, and many other third world nations, women have fewer personal and civil rights. If they are raped, or forced to have their genitalia mutilated (a common practice in Somalia), they have no political recourse. In short, unlike American women, they do not "own" their bodies. It is inhuman and immoral for an American Christian to support the Bush policy in this area. By the way, today, still, in November 2004, women in Iraq are still subjected to honor killings by male family members They are killed and peersecuted, even now, in jails in Iraq, for falling in love or having an affair with the wrong person. So much for "freeing" the Iraqis.

    And then there is War. We can call this the "killing policy." Mr. Bush is one of the bloodiest presidents in recent memory. I’m not saying that Clinton was clean on this. During his administration, one million Africans were savagely killed with machetes during the uprisings in Rwanda and Clinton did not lift a hand. In Darfur, we have a similar problem. 10,000
    people die there each month from starvation and oppression and Mr. Bush has not lifted a finger. Is that the way a Christian behaves? Then there is Iraq. While the Pope condemned this war, millions of Catholics continued to vote for Mr. Bush because of his stand on abortion. This seems to be a contradiction. Moreover Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction...they DID NOT. Bush’s own appointees have documented this as FACT. Nevertheless, 75% of Bush supporters are convinced that they did. This is not a rational position for Christians or anyone to have. They deny this fact, I believe, because they love Bush so much as a president that they view him in a messianic way and forgive him for all his lies. "Bush is a Christian, he would not lie to us." I, too, love Bush as a Christian. I just don’t think he should be president. We can do better and allowed a superior candidate, possibly a legendary one, slip through our fingers because large blocks of Americans on both sides of the aisle are misinformed and irrational. I feel that Christians are still
    sinners, and lie all the time. I know, because I am also a sinner. This denial of rational fact and logic is where Christian fundamentalism is at fault. It reveals that vast numbers (but not all) of Christians are so deeply anti-intellectual, anti-enlightenment in their thought processes that they cannot accept an obvious truth. The immorality, of course, is not just the lies, it is that 100,000 Iraqis, including families, women, children, have died because of this lie. This is not the way a Christian should behave. By the way, the fundamentalist zealots who have been unleashed by the invasion of Iraq are now bombing Christian churches in Iraq, such as Chaldean churches. This never happened even under the evil dictator Hussein.

    I have yet to mention the American servicemen and women who have died and been seriously injured in Iraq. I am proud and honored to call them Americans. Large numbers of them are from poor, rural America. They all joined because
    they love their country. Large numbers love their president. But large numbers also come from small towns where they could not find work. Large numbers of reservists enlisted because of the promise of guaranteed pay and educational
    benefits. Their service has been extended and difficult and they were sent into battle without an adequate or carefully crafted plan. Again, Bush’s anti-intellectualism at work. His own military leaders said that there weren’t enough troops or an adequate exit strategy. His own father, with 500,000 troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq, refused to go into Baghdad
    because there was not a clear exit strategy, as senator Kerry cogently pointed out during the debates. Moreover, Bush and his commanders overextended our troops in the Iraqi conflict. I call it a "conflict" because the war ended over a year ago when Mr. Bush arrogantly announced its conclusion on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier...I believe it was
    off the coast of San Diego. Not the act of truth and humility I would expect from a Christian president. I remember that event vividly because a former student died in a helicopter accident in Northern Iraq around that time. He had
    turned his life around and was proud to be a Marine. I can tell you, the war was not worth his death. This overextension of forces has resulted in America’s inability to contain Korea or Iraq who are genuine threats and have and are developing nuclear weapons. We are actually LESS safe because of the Iraqi conflict. Obviously 59,000,000 Americans do not care about these facts and are, themselves, anti-intellectual. They come from all parts of American society and from both sides of the aisle.

    These issues point out a "gap", as Bush likes to say, between his words and his actions. Mr. Bush is a Christian. He certainly talks the talk. But like with all of us he does not always walk the walk. Based on the moral grounds I have discussed above, I could not bring myself to support him during the recent election. Instead, I voted for a Catholic, a
    Christian man whom I felt had revealed and acted on strong moral convictions throughout his life and who was more capable and better prepared to be president. I voted for the level-headed, calm pragmatist, rather than the reactionary idealogue The fundamental crisis in our country right now is the rift in the American population between the intellectuals and the anti-intellectuals. It is accute in the Christian community. It goes back two centuries and was first revealed during the Scopes monkey trials when Bryan argued against Evolution. Today’s version of this debate is over stem-cell research. As Christians, each of us faces this same inner debate: faith vs reason. As I have discussed, I believe that faith comes when we let go of control. By letting go of this control, Christ is able to take over. Control, however, should not be confused with the careful use of reason. Control is actually a misuse of reason. Reason and logic are not in themselves evil attributes. Nor are acknowledging obvious facts. Christ has given us this faculty of reason and logic to use for his glory. It is one of his gifts to us and should be cultivated and cherished.

    Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

    Blessings in Christ, Steve Schlichtenmyer

  • 6 November 2004, 22:20

    Greetings and Blessings:
    I read your statement and completely empathize with your sentiments. I agree that it is important to remain unified in this nation and to acknowledge that the choice which a majority of Americans has made is valid, regardless of the obvious need for significant electoral and voting reform. The biggest challenge we face in America is retaining unity while continuing to move forward. America is the prized child of the Enlightenment. The history of the Modern Period since the Eighteenth century is that of liberating individuals from political tyranny and economic oppression. America has moved slowly in that direction since its inception in the Enlightenment, and this is why it is imperative to continue. I feel that the present American administration is reactionary rather than truly conservative and that the truly good ideas still come from America’s progressive community which is alive and well, I assure you. The "conservative" right in America are truly not conservative but have become the idealogues. I don’t feel that Kerry lost because he was a bad candidate or that he campaigned poorly or that he was wrong on the issues. Quite simply a slim majority of Americans were more comfortable with the other candidate. In fact, I feel that Kerry did a remarkable job against an incumbent wartime president. In American history there has never been such a close challenge to the tenure of a wartime incumbent. Hat’s off to Mr. Kerry and to the very positive example of Americans he presented on the world stage...none of us will ever forget his debate performance. Rove’s strategy of energizing the party’s evangelical base and playing on the fears of Americans to avoid "changing horses in midstream" was difficult for Kerry to overcome. Moreover, the economy was not that bad...not good, but better than that experienced under incumbents who lost.

    As a progressive Christian college professor I feel a little like a blue raft in a sea of red. I feel that I have the most positive impact, however, by teaching in a Christian university. The conflict of philosophies and belief systems which I experience with both colleagues and students are myriad. The fundamental conflict in Christian education lies in the opposing paradigms of Christian faith and the Enlightenment world view. The Enlightenment world view is a closed set, whereas the Christian world view believes, rightly, that God can and does intervene in world affairs. We pray to God and he answers our prayers. God has a plan for us. The Bible tells us his plan. It’s great overriding theme is God’s redemption of Man through our Lord Jesus, the New Covenant. Many Enlightenment thinkers, including nearly all of America’s founding fathers, respected the nature of God and his role in our lives, but they also recognized the human mind as being divinly created. As teachers, it is our job to get people to use their minds, hopefully for the glory of God. We get into trouble, however, when we lose our objectivity. God allows us to objectively choose between good and evil on a daily basis.
    Fortunately, as Christians we are sealed by Christ’s blood and as Paul states, we have the "mind of Christ", meaning that we are given the discernment provided by the Holy Spirit. For me, discernment is not just a mystical sensation,
    but requires study, analysis, thought and recognition of obvious and documented fact...all activities which require cultivation of the mind both in terms of how we gather information and how we process it. Everyone gathers and interprets information differently. Using the various gathering faculties of intuition and sensation, and the processing ones of logic and feeling we make our way through our daily lives and our interactions with others. We form our values, we choose our careers,
    and we foster our families and communities in these ways. We even make political choices. These myriad choices and activities determine who we are and who we will become in relation to God and our fellow man.

    This brings me to the political element of our discussion. First, I do not think that, as Christians, it is our responsiblity to judge others, but to love. That is Christ’s commandment. Jesus did not say, "Judge others." So I try not to. I do, however, participate in the political process in our nation and form my views based on my Christian worldview. My
    political views differ considerably from many of my Christian peers. As you may know, I supported John Kerry because I felt that he was the most qualified man for the job. I also felt that he was a moral man. When you look carefully
    at his life, what is apparent, contrary to the belief of many, is his integrity. Time and again, he risked his life and position to protect the downtrodden. As a boat commander in Vietnam, he risked his life to pull one of his crew from the water, this under heavy fire. He was injured three times, with both bullets and shrapnel which he still carries around with
    him. He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three purple hearts. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked Senator Kerry, not for his lack of valor, but because of his anti-war activities after Vietnam. Since I lived during those times, I can tell you that our society was divided over that war. Many protested the war, and even my father, a Korean vet who
    experienced heavy combat behind Chinese lines in the early fifties, would not have allowed his sons to go Vietnam. I feel that Senator Kerry was courageous and, by protesting the war, was looking out for the soldiers by trying to find a way to get them home. He had seen many die there, including his closest friend. He could easily have used his wealth and
    social position in Boston to live a comfortable life and avoid the war and a future life in politics. He chose, rather, the Catholic virtues of Charity to govern his life’s choices and mustered his considerable intellectual gifts in a life of public service...admirable.

    I do not support all elements of the Democratic platform. I do, however, feel that the Democratic platform does a better job of addressing my Christian world view, especially regarding the needs of the poor. Most Republican administrations ignore the poor and the policies of the current administration have sent millions more below the poverty line. While
    the Bush administration has consistently crafted tax breaks for multinational corporations (150 billion was just signed last week on air force one), it has doing nothing to increase wages for working class Americans. The average wages of working men and women have steadily decreased under the present administration and the Bush administration has
    done nothing to stop it. In fact, they have not even addressed it. Is this the way for a Christian to behave?

    In terms of health care there are now 55 million uninsured in the United States. Americans pay 3 times as much on health care, per capita, than any other industrialized nation. Nevertheless, our nation has an average mortality rate which is 10 years lower. Every time the Democrats bring a health care proposal to congress, the Republicans label it as "socialized
    medicine", which it is not. While nothing is accomplished in the area of health care reform, the poor die at a much higher rate than the rich.Is that righteous domestic policy? Kerry’s plan was not perfect but it would have insured 25 million more Americans, including children. I am not suggesting that every idea the Democrats bring to the banquet is perfect,
    only that the Republicans do not even entertain the need for reform. My University, a Christian one, does not even offer me, as an adjunct professor, the OPPORTUNITY to buy health care. I would be happy to pay my own premiums if I was part of a group plan which I could afford. As an independent person, I cannot afford health care because of pre-existing
    condition. I love my job, however, and that makes it all worthwhile. It’s just that I believe that charity starts at home.

    Republicans have really dropped the ball on the environment. Whenever groups challenge the current administration on environmental issues, they are labeled as "environmentalist wackos". It is immature for Christians to call people names. During his first week in office, Bush undermined a plethora of environmental reforms, many which actually began during
    earlier Republican administrations, including Nixon. These reforms went through years of studies by scientists and professionals and decades of committees and public meetings before they were finally signed during the Clinton
    administration. I find Clinton’s personal morals deplorable, but he was a better steward of the environment. In contrast, Bush’s own EPA appointee resigned early on because she could not stomach the reversal of environmental regulations which were being dictated by the white house.While 99% of the worlds top scientists insist that global warming is a very
    serious threat to the world’s food supplies, the Bush administration and it’s anti-scientific, anti-enlightenment mindset actually DENIES the existence of global warming in the same way that the vast majority of his constituents deny obvious fact and emperical evidence. Of course, if this administration actually encouraged factories here and abroad (especially China) to better control their emissions, their corporate contributors would cry foul. Meanwhile, little kids
    who live in choked apartments near power lines (because that is all their parents can afford) develop cancer at high rates. The poor, once again, are the victims. Bush has done nothing but deny the existence of this problem. Is this the way a Christian should behave?

    Next, there is the Bush energy policy which is tied to his environmental policy. Bush wants to drill in the Alaska Wildlife Reserve even though it is apparent that the oil resources there will take over a decade to extract and that there still won’t be enought oil to sustain America. What we need is a new comprehensive energy policy which will encourage entrepreneurship in fledgling new technologies. Instead, our taxdollars actually subsidize these wealthy oil companies in an attempt to keep prices down, but the prices never come down, especially in sunny and Republican San Diego. Meanwhile, "No Child Left Behind" goes underfunded. This program should be called "No Oil Company Left Behind".

    Abortion. Because of his stand on family planning and abortion, 52,000 more abortions have occurred on Bush’s watch than on Mr. Clinton’s. Abortions were reduced under the Clinton administration by 22% largely because of programs which gave financial aid to young pregnant women who otherwize would not be able to afford to keep their child. These programs were eliminated by the Bush administration under the pressure of unenlightened Christians. In third world nations such as Africa, funding and other assistance to provide counselling and family planning, including birth control, has been discouraged (to put it mildly) by the Catholic church and eliminated completely by the Bush administration. It is important for American Christians to know that in Africa, and many other third world nations, women have fewer personal and civil rights. If they are raped, or forced to have their genitalia mutilated (a common practice in Somalia), they have no political recourse. In short, unlike American women, they do not "own" their bodies. It is inhuman and immoral for an American Christian to support the Bush policy in this area. By the way, today, still, in November 2004, women in Iraq are still subjected to honor killings by male family members They are killed and peersecuted, even now, in jails in Iraq, for falling in love or having an affair with the wrong person. So much for "freeing" the Iraqis.

    And then there is War. We can call this the "killing policy." Mr. Bush is one of the bloodiest presidents in recent memory. I’m not saying that Clinton was clean on this. During his administration, one million Africans were savagely killed with machetes during the uprisings in Rwanda and Clinton did not lift a hand. In Darfur, we have a similar problem. 10,000
    people die there each month from starvation and oppression and Mr. Bush has not lifted a finger. Is that the way a Christian behaves? Then there is Iraq. While the Pope condemned this war, millions of Catholics continued to vote for Mr. Bush because of his stand on abortion. This seems to be a contradiction. Moreover Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction...they DID NOT. Bush’s own appointees have documented this as FACT. Nevertheless, 75% of Bush supporters are convinced that they did. This is not a rational position for Christians or anyone to have. They deny this fact, I believe, because they love Bush so much as a president that they view him in a messianic way and forgive him for all his lies. "Bush is a Christian, he would not lie to us." I, too, love Bush as a Christian. I just don’t think he should be president. We can do better and allowed a superior candidate, possibly a legendary one, slip through our fingers because large blocks of Americans on both sides of the aisle are misinformed and irrational. I feel that Christians are still
    sinners, and lie all the time. I know, because I am also a sinner. This denial of rational fact and logic is where Christian fundamentalism is at fault. It reveals that vast numbers (but not all) of Christians are so deeply anti-intellectual, anti-enlightenment in their thought processes that they cannot accept an obvious truth. The immorality, of course, is not just the lies, it is that 100,000 Iraqis, including families, women, children, have died because of this lie. This is not the way a Christian should behave. By the way, the fundamentalist zealots who have been unleashed by the invasion of Iraq are now bombing Christian churches in Iraq, such as Chaldean churches. This never happened even under the evil dictator Hussein.

    I have yet to mention the American servicemen and women who have died and been seriously injured in Iraq. I am proud and honored to call them Americans. Large numbers of them are from poor, rural America. They all joined because
    they love their country. Large numbers love their president. But large numbers also come from small towns where they could not find work. Large numbers of reservists enlisted because of the promise of guaranteed pay and educational
    benefits. Their service has been extended and difficult and they were sent into battle without an adequate or carefully crafted plan. Again, Bush’s anti-intellectualism at work. His own military leaders said that there weren’t enough troops or an adequate exit strategy. His own father, with 500,000 troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq, refused to go into Baghdad
    because there was not a clear exit strategy, as senator Kerry cogently pointed out during the debates. Moreover, Bush and his commanders overextended our troops in the Iraqi conflict. I call it a "conflict" because the war ended over a year ago when Mr. Bush arrogantly announced its conclusion on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier...I believe it was
    off the coast of San Diego. Not the act of truth and humility I would expect from a Christian president. I remember that event vividly because a former student died in a helicopter accident in Northern Iraq around that time. He had
    turned his life around and was proud to be a Marine. I can tell you, the war was not worth his death. This overextension of forces has resulted in America’s inability to contain Korea or Iraq who are genuine threats and have and are developing nuclear weapons. We are actually LESS safe because of the Iraqi conflict. Obviously 59,000,000 Americans do not care about these facts and are, themselves, anti-intellectual. They come from all parts of American society and from both sides of the aisle.

    These issues point out a "gap", as Bush likes to say, between his words and his actions. Mr. Bush is a Christian. He certainly talks the talk. But like with all of us he does not always walk the walk. Based on the moral grounds I have discussed above, I could not bring myself to support him during the recent election. Instead, I voted for a Catholic, a
    Christian man whom I felt had revealed and acted on strong moral convictions throughout his life and who was more capable and better prepared to be president. I voted for the level-headed, calm pragmatist, rather than the reactionary idealogue The fundamental crisis in our country right now is the rift in the American population between the intellectuals and the anti-intellectuals. It is accute in the Christian community. It goes back two centuries and was first revealed during the Scopes monkey trials when Bryan argued against Evolution. Today’s version of this debate is over stem-cell research. As Christians, each of us faces this same inner debate: faith vs reason. As I have discussed, I believe that faith comes when we let go of control. By letting go of this control, Christ is able to take over. Control, however, should not be confused with the careful use of reason. Control is actually a misuse of reason. Reason and logic are not in themselves evil attributes. Nor are acknowledging obvious facts. Christ has given us this faculty of reason and logic to use for his glory. It is one of his gifts to us and should be cultivated and cherished.

    Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
    Art4passion@hotmail.com

    Blessings in Christ, Steve

• 5 November 2004, 18:44

  Actually the elitist liberal Democrats are the extreme minority. Bush just won the election by almost 4 million votes, and he did it on values. You don’t negotiate with people who are trying to kill you unless you are weak. Bush won because many moderate Democrats realize the extremists of the Michael Moore crowd would weaken America. If France’s only sense of identity or self purpose is to obstruct America from defending itself, then you are playing a very dangerous game.

  Nobody likes war and nobody likes death, but sometimes ways of life have to be defended. That is why police carry guns. They don’t negotiate with criminals.

  Maybe if Muslim terrorists caused a 9/11 event in downtown Paris you’d feel differently. Or maybe not, maybe you’d cave like Spain, who tried to "earn a pass" with the terrorists, but is finding they are still being targeted. Appeasing terrorism and the "rage of the Arab street" is a policy of failure and weakness, the same way appeasing Hitler was.

  • 5 November 2004, 20:27

    So true what you said of the Spaniards caving in to terrorists when 200 were murdered back in March. They recently caught a whole mess of terrorists planning whole new attack on Spanish soil. It seems that appeaser Zapatero did not prevent further attacks by caving in to the terrorists. Too bad for the spaniards. I hope they realize their grave mistake.

  • 24 November 2004, 11:43

    Here is the truth. Bush is an elitist. So is Kerry. All our leaders are. This is why we need a cleaner voting system...to keep them in check. Bush is the type of guy who was born on third base but thinks he hit a triple. If you are a working person, drawing a modest salary, how can you relate at all to a man who never held a job. He was handed all those CEO positions by his rich Wall Street uncles (look it up if you don’t believe me). Average working class Democrats are no more elitist than average working class Republicans. In truth, the Democratic party has become a subsidy of the Republican party. Both receive huge donations from their corporate sponsors. Frequently, underinformed, but well-meaning folks like yourself try to equate liberalism with socialism (these are two very different things) and left-leaning folks try to equate conservatism with fascism (again two very different things). We need both ideologies to survive and to PROGRESS into the future. The problem we are facing now is that the Republicans have made a "conservatism", in the true sense, a dirty word. They have way too much power. They have become closely aligned with corporations and these are same multinational corporations are the ones which don’t give a damn about the American worker. They would just as soon give the manufacturing jobs to those nice folks in outher countries who work cheaper. By the way, much of the rhetoric regarding the primacy of "private enterprise" and creating a "moral society" and "integrating church and state" is the same as that which elevated Hitler to power. This brings be to the main point of your comment. Liberals are not weak. The true liberal movement in America gained its footing during the New Deal years of F.D.R. (who, by the way, joined Britain, France, and Russia in the defeat of Nazi Germany). F.D.R. was elected initially in 1932 after Hoover (a Republican) mismanaged the economy so badly that America was plunged into depression. I do not blame Hoover completely for the fiasco, however, as the seeds of depression were planted before his tenure due to the hording of wealth by unregulated corporations (sound familiar?). You mention values. I recommend that you read my other comments, entitled, Christians and the Enlightenment (you can look it up). You seem to have a diffused understanding of "values", blending an aggressive warlike vision with moral imperative. By the way, France is our ally, as is most of Western Europe. We need them, they are our best friends. They are not trying to obstruct America. When we went into Afghanistan, Europe supported us. They backed off on Iraq because they knew that attacking Iraq would actually make America (and Europe) less safe in the long run. What will we do without Europe on our side with the rapid expansion of the economies in Asia. By the way, China doesn’t need us anymore. Do you know who their largest tradintg partner is? It’s not the U.S., as you might think, but rather, EUROPE. As Bush spends our tax dollars and kills hundreds of thousands in Iraq for our "safety", the wealth of his friends at Halliburton, the wealth of the Bush family defense contractor friends, and his popularity contest, the deficit grows...and grows...and grows. As the deficit grows, our lenders (1/3 of our debt held by China and Japan) lose confidence in our markets resulting in a devalued currency. Our products sell cheaper overseas, but still not as cheap as the Asian products. If our products are cheaper, so is the value of our currency. Right now, the Euro is trading at 1.31, a record. It is quickly becoming the standard currency over the dollar. So much for your swaggering W making America strong. If you don’t believe me, ask the chairman of Merrill Lynch. In a board meeting today, he stated that America is heading for an "economic armageddon". So much for their "bullish" attitude. I hope you understand all this, I simplified it for you. Now, go out and play with all your brownshirt friends (if you know what that means).

  • 24 November 2004, 12:12

    An intelligent posting -and as for the person you are replying to (I get the impression there are only one or two of them that post on Bellaciao. they probably do the rounds of political sites and think they’re ’sure givin them liberals hell’ ). I’m sure it goes right over their heads, but they give a glib nonsensical insult, and I can imagine them sniggering like Beavis and Butthead thinking they’re clever.

  • 24 November 2004, 15:35

    Your truth is really left of center, and therefore not the truth. If our presidency is such an elitist institution, how do you explain Bill Clinton and Ron Reagan, who did not come from money at all? As for Bush’s appointments to CEO positions, you must be making it up. He founded his own company and named himself CEO, which is a normal thing to do, and his company wasn’t even successful. He then bought the Rangers franchise but he was one of several general managers.

    Our relationship with Europe, needs to be re-examined. I don’t think France while Chiraq is head of it, is our ally. He has not proven to be so. He has been obstructionist. In fact I would really consider him an enemy. Bush is adopting the smarter strategy of reinforcing ties with leaders who want to work with him. You can’t have an effective team if members want to ambush your efforts. The politics aside, the business community of both America and Europe will remain healthy because there is no way capitalists on both sides of the pond will allow politics to get in the way of making money. I also think Bush is smart to start cultivating relationships in Asia and Latin America. Their economies, especially China and India are starting to really take off. We would be stupid not to take advantage of it. That is where our future growth will come from. I am confident that these cultivated relationships will benefit us in the sense that new types of jobs will be created and that is exciting. If there is one thing about our economy, it forces companies and workers to be flexible and agile to anticipate new conditions. I am confident that US workers will be able to adapt.

    Bush had not wanted to work with the Europeans during the fighting period of the war against Afghanistan was because he saw how wide the military gap was and because he saw how inefficient it was working with various groups where english is not the first language. Bush rebuffed European help and I thought that was badly handled because when we did need their help they groused about having to do peacekeeping duties. I also just want to remind people that there were many European voices who said that we were going to fail and eagerly anticipated it and the many deaths of American soldiers. They were so wrong and I am so glad that they are wrong. They will be proven wrong in Iraq as well. The critics would prefer for some reason to see Iraq fail to see an American failure instead of working to see how the Iraqis can become a democratic society. I do feel democracy is a universal desire and not a whites only club.

    As for our economy our debt is only 5& of gdp. Do you know how low that is compared to other countries in europe? And if you do want to listen to someone of authority regarding the economy, why would you listen to a Merrill Lynch CEO who only looks at our economy from the stock market point of view and not Greenspan who is infinitely more knowledgeable about our overall economic conditions? He has expressed concern regarding the deficit but he is nowhere near hysterical like so many people are.