Not even sure that's a word, but President Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives program is clearly a violation of Church and State as outlined in the US Constitution.  I stand by this group of like-minded taxpayers that says, "Hey, this isn't what our tax money is for."  Somewhere along the line President Bush forgot this (on purpose) and started weekly meeting with closet homosexual and drug user Ted Haggard in order to find "moral" guidance for the USA.  Guess that failed.

And so should faith-based government sponsored religion.  We should have both freedom of and from religion and I should not be paying for these programs sponsored by the federal government promoting religious activity that I don't agree with.

There is plenty of precedent to block this.  Unfortunately, now this is in front of the Supreme Court it is far from certain that they will uphold the law.  We have 2 Bush toadies in there now (Alito and Roberts) and their collective historical record shows that they side with religious groups frequently.  We shall see...

See this article:  Faith-Based Initiative Challenged in Court

This story has, thankfully, made it to most papers and stations, but here is the Washington Post's story about the enforcement of the 2006 Military Commissions Act and essentially enforcing a dismissal of the US Constitution first put in place by the Bush Administration:

Guantanamo Bay Detainee Rights Ignored

From this article:

"We are pleased with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) and dismissing the consolidated Guantanamo detainee cases for lack of jurisdiction," Erik Ablin, a department spokesman, said in a statement.

Shayana Kadidal, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents hundreds of Guantanamo detainees, said defense attorneys will petition the Supreme Court "as quickly as possible." He said the decision grants government officials broad latitude in its treatment of detainees and gives detainees no legal way to address it.

"This decision allows the president to basically do what he wants to prisoners without any legal limitation as long as he does it offshore," Kadidal said. He said that his clients at Guantanamo have experienced "disgust and exasperation at the American legal system" and that their "feelings of desperation" now will only grow.

Washington lawyer David Remes, who also represents Guantanamo detainees, said he is disappointed by the decision but not completely surprised. He expects the Supreme Court to hear the case.

Wow, "we are pleased," indeed.  This is a travesty.  Hiding detainees without charges, dismissing habeas corpus and hiding behind the facade of Guantanamo Bay as "foreign soil."  A farce.  We need Congress and the Supreme Court to uphold the constitution of the USA and stop the madness.  Do we live our lives in fear of imaginary threats so much that we ignore basic human rights and law?

An Italian court indicted 26 US citizens along with a few Italians for the abduction of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in 2003.

Indictment of CIA Operatives

I suppose it takes countries outside of the USA to handle crimes that the USA commits. Though Congress has switched sides somewhat, still no one seems willing to tackle the hard stuff. Criminal acts have been committed and continue to be committed at Guantanamo and other secret locations around the world. Why are we as a country unable to confront our own demons? Things are seriously wrong and there's a whole hell of a lot of rotten in DC.

Both Germany and Italy (ironically former members of the Axis of 'evil' in WW2) seem to be able to call a crime a crime. Why can't the USA? They even seem to be able to criticize themselves: EU nations Guilty of Assisting in Extraordinary Rendition.

Instead, the USA puts on its happy face and tries to sweep the badness under the metaphoric rug. We have legalized the illegal through the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Military Commissions Act). Who even can say what takes play at gitmo and others sites? Independent Investigative Body for Guantanamo.

I think of all the good that could be done here. Right-wing Christian American ought to pick this up as a righteous cause? Seems absolutely more worthwhile and just than spinning about abortion and gays. But if Congress can't confront it, I suppose we need to pressure them to do it. Story of Extraordinary Rendition.

Take Action to Fix the Military Commissions Act

There was a great interview with Chris Hedges, author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America on Democracy Now, with Amy Goodman. I'll put it on my list of reads in the next couple months, but the summary of what he says in the interview is intense and frightening.

See or Read the interview: Chris Hedges' Interview With Amy Goodman

Mr. Hedges makes the distinction between the old style Christian fundamentalist or evangelical and the new "dominionist" movement as demonstrated so well by Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Pat Robertson and exemplified in suburban America by the mega church phenomenon. It only further makes concrete in my mind that Christianity and/or region are not the problem. Nor fundamentalist ideas, true fundamentalism, of trying to segregate from the secular world. Though I might find it insular or disturbing,ultimately it only affects the one who is removed.

Instead, it is the combining of right-wing, unthinking religion with corporate and political interests. Authoritarian rule. The desire for a Christian state by whittling away at Separation of church and state, infiltrating school and other public institutions and demonizing any ideas that might differ from their own.

It's amazing the inroads that this movement has made over the last 25 years. Look at Kansas and the teaching of evolution, which only recently swung back in favor of science in public schools: Kansas School Board Vote to Remove Criticism of Darwin. The President of the United States, until recently (scandal and all), meeting once each week with one Ted Haggard of Colorado Springs. A tendency to believe that we do not have to act for change or question because god is on our side, a feeling that one should be happy with a lot in life.

Read it and see for yourself. I'll do the same. But I keep reading the same thing over and over - American Christianity becoming a monolith of authoritarian thought and ignorance. Is this the height of religion? I think not and truly believe that Jesus had/has a lot more to teach than what we see demonstrated by his self-proclaimed "prophets." God save us.

Some things are too wrong to stay silent about.  Now, when the Senate (including some in the GOP) wish to have a debate on the direction of Iraq, Republicans stand behind a flawed presidential policy.  Why?  Does anyone ask them that?  They filibuster the debate - not too long ago I recall them criticizing their counterparts for threatening a filibuster.  Let's call them what they are:  cowards.  Cowards, craven, yellow and fearful of the consequences of their actions.  You have some saying that their initial vote to go to war in Iraq was a mistake (Sen. Edwards, Senator Edwards Admission in 2005).  Yet those currently trying to block debate in the Senate provide no justification and have no moral or ethical ground to stand on.  They simply refuse to debate.

Fine.  Fear-based policy decisions are no strangers to the Bush administration and those who follow them.  Fear of speaking out, terror of being labeled unpatriotic, of being a terrorist supporter.  The so-called War on Terror is an ideal, a spin-phrase used to justify military action.  The 'War on Terror' is not a true war - it should be a police action against violent criminal activity.  Last I checked 'Terror' was not on the map of the world.  But the War in Iraq is a war.  Despite the president declaring it's end years ago, we are still at war.  And, now, we are embroiled in a civil war that we helped to foment.  What sense in sending more troops if you cannot justify and quantify success?

When do we leave?  What constitutes "we gave it our best shot?"  Nobody seems willing to answer these questions.  This when recent reports continue to confirm that the USA's entire reason for invasion was inherently flawed and incorrectly tied to the nebulous War on Terror.  See this article:  Links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq unfounded.  And I quote, "An unclassified summary of the full document is scheduled for release today in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which Levin chairs. In that summary, a copy of which was obtained from another source by The Washington Post, the inspector general concluded that Feith's assessment in 2002 that Iraq and al-Qaeda had a "mature symbiotic relationship" was not fully supported by available intelligence but was nonetheless used by policymakers."

The Bush administration and its supporters use and abuse misinformation to pursue goals that are truly un-American, unpatriotic and have ruined any shred of moral high ground the USA ever had.  Do we continue to press forward?  How much do we, as Americans, want to live our lives in fear of a possible terrorist attack instead of planning our best to protect the homefront and doing intelligent police work to prevent it.  Instead, we slide into unethical wars, torture, spying on American citizens and cronyism.

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld and those who follow them are bad for America.  They've committed criminal acts and plunged the USA into moral ambiguity and unintelligent decisions that we will live with for decades to come.  If ever there was a reason to impeach US officials, this is it.  Impeach Bush

Veterans work through fear and fight back for what's right:  Veterans Group Speaks Out

Stalling intelligent discussion in the Senate but pressing forward in the House:  Senate stalls Iraq vote, More on the Senate Block

Washington Post Article-German Abduction

That this is still happening, with the allowance of USA allies, is a fact.  What happened to the rule of law?  International Law?  Habeas Corpus?  Apparently these things no longer apply to the monarchy of the USA.  Does anybody remember Latin America in the 1970s and 80s?  Desaparecidos (the disappeared)?  Argentina, Chile and other countries could teach us a lot about the dangers of what we are doing.

The Disappeared