I don’t think Gov. Jindal will be able to make headroads into reforms on those topics anytime soon and may actually side with the Feds on issues of continued Hurricane Recovery, hurting our section of the state.

Then I of course would have to share with you posts from people like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbugh, James Dobson, Paul Weyrich, the Values Voters Coalition, Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, Tony Perkins and the like–”good christans” all by your definition and equally idiotic, bone headed, moronic, attention-craving and bigoted. And all that gets us nothing except the polarized disfunctional country we now live in.

Surprised? Sit down–I also think there are christians out there whose lights make even the deepest agnostic hope there is a heaven– just for them. I am not certain, but one or two might even be in politics.

I am certian, however, that I am against turning our country into the kind of intolerent theocracy some of those pundits claiming to be social conservitives would have, even if they would only do it to gain personal power from the dominionism believing robo-faithful. People who think they know better than others are keeping cash in the freezer, on golf junkets with PAC committies, on speed dial with hookers and making dates in the men’s room. I am not interested in a social conservetive agenda. If you are, vote that way. I, however, feel like a LOT of folks– Move it back to the middle, or move on.

But what the hell are you actually all exercised about?

Exactly. Case closed.

“Look, I have met true christians. They work in those soup kitchens, man hospitals, build houses and help the poor. And they spend their time in church, not in the voting booth. They object to War–especially foolish ones fought to make old men feel they have the only faith that matters or those old men can make a quick buck off of it.

“They try to educate young people about they bodies and relationships and don’t hide behind the foolish notion that “abstanence education” will put an end to pregnacy, STD’s, and AIDS. They don’t worry about who someone is sleeping with/loving/f*cking as long as those folks are all of legal age and they aren’t sleeping with/loving/f*cking THEM.”

First, why is it you insist upon conflating social conservatism with support for Bush’s idiotic war, or even Bush himself? Yes, some have imbibed of the Kool-Aid, while others haven’t.

Acknowledging that, however, would really screw up a good stereotype and force you to actually practice that “open-minded” spiel that you preach.

Furthermore, you seem to equate “true” Christianity with Christians who are willing to be mere enablers — those who will try to ameliorate people’s awful choices (in addition to people’s plain bad breaks or systematic injustice) but will just STFU on pointing out sin’s corrosive effects on everything in our lives.

Trouble is, folks who bleat the most about “free expression” do a 180 in about .5 seconds on that issue when a Christian who actually believes all that sh*t begins to freely express. Then the bleat becomes all about the awfulness of those “authoritarian Christianists forcing their values” on the rest of society.

You’d think there was an army of Catholics, Baptists and evangelicals threatening to detonate nukes in every major Amerrican city. And several apiece in L.A. and San Francisco.

It seems to me that what passes for “progressive thought” pretty much became both comical and irrelevant in this country the moment — sometime in the mid-’60s, I reckon — it decided “f**king is an entitlement” and then hardly could talk about anything else.

That has led to a “movement” that resembles nothing so much as it does a wild-eyed lynch mob, screaming for the heads of those who “oppress” them and confusing a stream of F-bombs and crude slurs for legitimate political discourse. And all the while considering itself “progressive,” “tolerant” and “open-minded.”

You can dispute this, but then I’d have to post uncensored excerpts from the Democratic Underground, the Daily Kos, Shakespeare’s Sieter and the like. I’m not sure Editor B would consider that a particularly edifying use of his bandwidth.

Come to church with me this Sunday in Charlotte, NC.

Get real, anti-religious bigots. The paintbrush you use to color all U.S. Christians is comical. But this isn’t a real diverse bunch here (politically/socially/religiously), so you’re safe. You can all nod in approval and pat e/o on the backs.

Favog, once again–What does my saving my soul have to do with health care or employment?

Look, I have met true christians. They work in those soup kitchens, man hospitals, build houses and help the poor. And they spend their time in church, not in the voting booth. They object to War–especially foolish ones fought to make old men feel they have the only faith that matters or those old men can make a quick buck off of it.

They try to educate young people about they bodies and relationships and don’t hide behind the foolish notion that “abstanence education” will put an end to pregnacy, STD’s, and AIDS. They don’t worry about who someone is sleeping with/loving/f*cking as long as those folks are all of legal age and they aren’t sleeping with/loving/f*cking THEM.

Most importantly they believe their God blessed them to live in a country that was founded by a bunch of folks escaping from intolerence and/or persecution of one form or another and their loving, forgiving God [remember him] would not want them to promote intolerence. Especially by excluding huge chunks of the popluation because they are black, red, brown, gay, poor or just NOT christian enough for them. And they should do this by deed, not words. Most of the so-called voting religous right/Values voters/social conservitives don’t fit those parameters, not at least the ones I have seen or have been expossed to.

Still, I guess they might exist. As Eleanor once said– “In a world where carpenters get resurrected, everything is possible.”

And nothing is more disingenuous than your anti-discrimination plea. Do you know how the Baptist church got the “Southern” in its name? It’s because it split from the American Baptist church during the Civil War; it was a church that favored slavery. Simply put, it is a church predicated on bigotry. And it is a church that has always been on the wrong side of history, such as being against Civil Rights and being the sole church in favor of the Iraq War. (Where is the shame over that decision?) I defy you to find me one Southern Baptist church with a single mixed-race, black-white couple in it. So, really, just save your breath about your “concern” about discrimination.

And, congratulations, you great pervayer of equality on the inclusion of an epithet in your post.