It is my belief that we must work through this very dark time in our history. It is science, education and enlightenment versus fear, superstition and propaganda. I also believe that the neocons and religious right will ultimately fail and that our country will have a deep, permanent scare on our history to reflect on and to remind us the next time people of faith are compelled to lead our country. What I don’t know is how much damage we citizens will have to suffer before we are finally jolted into action. To those currently in power, we are the unsaved, those who will be left behind and literally the Grapes of Wrath. In simpler terms, part of the 1.2 billion people slain by the sword of Jesus.
That’s the worst case scenario.

To bisucithead - I’m NOT what you would call an evangelical christian (I tend not to believe in fairy tales) but I know the bible well enough to know that you don’t seem to know what you are talking about.  The bible, in all it’s foolishness, was actually pretty specific when stating when Jesus would come back to the earth…
Mark 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
Mat 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Of course, that didn’t happen and the word of Jesus himself prooved to be false but that won’t sway a true believer.  Ever since, preachers have been scaring their followers into obedience by saying it’s gonna happen SOON!!!  And to try to say that isn’t a common belief or is not commonly tought now is to simply ignore the truth.  You cannot watch any of the current religious programming in America without hearing some bigot proclaim that Jesus will be here soon!!!  Look what’s going on in the middle east, they say.  The signs of the appocalypse are all over the place!!!  Rejoice - we’re all gonna die soon!!!! What rock do you live under to believe that this isn’t constantly being tought by many of the most vocal preachers and swallowed hook line and sinker by any boob within earshop?

Conservatives and reactionaries in Europe were always able to capture the support of about one third of the working class through religious appeals.  Religion serves to make people forget their real interests—material ones and social ones—in favor of imaginary interests with the Blue Fairy in Heaven.  In America the reactionaries have used religion even more successfully.

Somethings up, he thinking about appointing Delay to the OMB. He obviously doesn’t care, and this is a sign of that.

Kevin Phillips, who used I respect greatly, is way off base with this notion. I’m what you would call an evangelical Christian but certainly no Bush supporter. People are not “waiting on the second coming of Christ”. The Bible teaches us that no one knows when this will occur. So, why would we not plan and save like everyone else?

Frankly, accusing a religious group of screwing up the economy sounds alarmingly like some of the claims by Hitler about the Jewish community in pre WWII Germany.

In my old age I have one fond fantasy left to me that would truly bring me happiness. My fantasy is that these fundamentalist jokers are right just once and that the rapture occurs. It would lift them all out of here leaving me and the rest of the world in peace. They would then find out that what they wished for is hellish (Can you imagine what a punishment it would be to be stuck in eternity with these narrow minded bigots?) and what was left here would be heavenly as they would be gone. That’s my fantasy and I’m sticking to it!

Relgion is essentially a belief in magic. Magic does not and will never exist. To have “faith” means to “shut up and don’t ask any more questions.” We are finding out through historical research, that Christianity, in fact all religious beliefs and dogma were created by political/human “committees,” who determine what people are to believe about “god.” Relgions are essentially about blackmail, and hate speech, and use god/Allah/Jehova as a “thug” to keep people in line...and state: That if you don’t believe like me, you are going to “hell,” etc. Quantum physicists know more who or what “god” is, than all the preachers, mullahs, rabbis, etc. that have ever existed. It is time for humanity to study “reason” and not religion. If there is to be one single religious belief...it is “God is logic.” That is the only conclusion one can come to in the 21st century.

To Susan G.-you are the first person who said what I have said(quietly most of the time) and known for over 25 years...why would anyone bring a child into this world?...it looked bad then, it looks horrible now...just shows one how much we are just as much products of instinct as those other creatures we “know” we are so much better than…

legacy

how many years does it take to determine the legacy of a president?
what is the role of history in how it determines what is important?
How has Clinton’s legacy developed or changed since he has left office?
G.W. is unique over all previous presidents and we can not afford to wait for historians to judge his legacy
When we look back in ten years we will all say,
G.W. was the first Nazi president.
we are all living in post world war I germany

Thanks to truthdig, I bought and read AMERICAN THEOCRACY by Kevin Phillips. It is simply amazing and dead-on accurate. Over the past 7 years I have seen and observed the state of our irrational populace. Phillips does an amazing, extremely well researched, and very persuasive analysis of the Christian Radicals who support and who comprise this incompetent government with it’s Biblical end of-times, Armegeddon views towards economic, social, and foreign policy.

Radical religion, oil, and debt: Indeed like the past empires of the Spaniards, the Dutch, and the British these will be our nations downfall as Phillips argues.

A few years ago, I knew this country was headed for trouble. Living through all this, and seeing it with my own two eyes, I never realized how fast it was moving towards an inevitable crash thanks to a delusional voting public. Phillips perfectly analyzes and backs up his thesis that things indeed are going down and extremely quickly.

This book along with Sam Harris’s END OF FAITH go hand in hand.

Thanks again, Mr. Phillips and truthdig.

And now they want to bomb Iran. The hornets nest is already open, they want it to collapse: The end times will definitely be here then. This is really a crazy and dangerous era, in which we live.

I think that it has been shown throughout GWB’s presidency that he is criminally insane.  By the way, he likes to torture people and he thinks that God talks to him.  We used to think that indicated someone who is “off their rocker” and wouldn’t be allowed to occupy the White House.  But now, with the corporations in control, there doesn’t seem to be anyone, save Senator Feingold, who will try to take steps to remove the BushCo’s regime.  I’m sure glad that I never had any children and I feel sorry for those of you that do.

Tobysgirl is right on.  If I may quote a current TV show; “You can’t fix stupid.” There should be IQ tests to determine whether or not a citizen is allowed to vote.

Like the man who formulated Nixon’s southern strategy that turned the Republican party into what it is tiday, there has been nobody that has been correct on the political scene as he.
He saw the Reagan revolution coming and then saw that the Republican’s were going to the other extreme and he realizes what most don’t- the country is in the middle it is not Limbaugn or Ted Kennedy.

The human world is becoming more and more chaotic; I don’t think anyone who is observant would disagree too readily with that. And when chaos reigns, people—most of whom are not thinking, not conscious—turn to the charlatans, the grifters, willing to exploit their gullibility. I firmly believe that people who are waiting for the Rapture are not quite sane, and if you know anything about mentally unbalanced people, you cannot argue with them or engage in a rational discussion. I read Moyers’s comments about the Rapture index. Unlike him, I have not had “hope” for a long time for the human future, but then I am not as comfortably situated in life. But not having hope does not mean that one gives up on living a decent, responsible, ethical life, doing the best one can to make the human world a better place. What pains me is what we are doing to this beautiful planet, but I know that once we are gone, it will begin to heal.

If his book is anything like his interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now (Link TV) it will be well worth reading. If anyone here has read it, let me know what you think. Phillips says, in as many words, that Bush doesn’t have the IQ to tackle the many issues confronting the U.S. today, that impeachment isn’t the answer and suggests the possibility of having a coalition government finish up his failed job as president.

Yet, aren’t we supposed to be stewards of this magical gift from God, the only planet with life?  Bill Moyers called this the Rapture Index.  Crazy!!

christians have also ignored their impact on the planet.  rather than think of our planet as a delicate environment, they think of it as a playground for them until they get to heaven.