When it comes to being a total opportunist, I would say it is Lawrence O’Donnell, more than Levi Johnston, who is “dipping his bread into the gravy while it is still hot”.

“He is running for mayor of Wasilla. I don’t know why his views on evolution, abortion of the Middle East matter, at least at this point.”

I’ll tell you why.  Because school teachers in Wasilla may someday find themselves facing elected officials who want to ban teaching evolution in the public schools, or some other idiocy, and the mayor may just be able to sway things their way.

Just a forinstance.

Tobysgirl: you forgot that the right wing religious freaks fear questioning the most,how dare we, the uneasily deceived, question their vile ways and actions against nature and mankind. After all God forbid Adam and Eve(Steve) to eat from the tree of knowledge. That is why the sheeple still think that the rib taken by God from Adam really made Eve, when in fact science has been able to take a single cell, much smaller than a whole rib and has created an identical genetic copy of the original donor(Adam) and not a different life form and a different gender as well.

I went to high school and one teacher made a comment about the difference between man and woman and some 11th grader said that man had 1 more rib than a woman had. And this was back in the 60’s. Yep! Them keep breeding them dumber all the time. Truly scary times ahead for America and the few people still able to think for themselves rather than have others do it for them. Guess that explains why I am an “organized religion” dropout. Too opinionated for their liking and especially from a woman to boot!

He is running for mayor of Wasilla. I don’t know why his views on evolution, abortion of the Middle East matter, at least at this point. What is more disturbing is that he is doing so, not apparently, out of a genuine interest, but as star of a new reality television show.

Gil Guadia, by the reckoning of fundamentalists, I, too, am an atheist, though I don’t consider myself one. After a neighbor sent me an incredibly stupid email about not being able to mention God at a high school graduation, I found the Freedom From Religion Foundation and have become a member. I believe that all truly religious people want our civil life to be free of religion or what passes for religion. Amusingly, an Episcopal priest I know emigrated to New Zealand to leave behind the theocracy he saw the U.S. becoming.

The mail that FFRF gets from so-called religious people is unbelievable. I believe what passes for religion is essentially a social agenda, and one without any decency or compassion, so they have to bring in something called god to give it supposed legitimacy. They are sick people who love the thrill of self-righteousness as they have sex with children, cheat, lie, and steal. To be called an evil atheist by such people is a compliment indeed.

I saw this interview and found it embarrasing—he is the future of American culture - like was predicted in Mike Judge’s satire Idiocracy - Of course if Sarah Palin can run for any kind of political office, that leaves the barn door wide open for every species of airhead.

Tobysgirl,

Thank you so much for not calling me an evil atheist (even though I am one) but it hurts to see it in print.  It is always a pleasure to read that someone else—atheist or theist—understands that there is widespread contempt for the intellect, science, research, study and scholarship, because these are seen by many as signs of arrogance and disrespect for god, the church, religion and the Bible.

Gil Gaudia, I’m not sure in what circles in the U.S.A. there is not disdain for intellect, and I include our so-called universities in this generalization. There can be no respect for intellect in an institution which promotes Larry Summers.

That’s why all this screeching about “failed American schools” would be so amusing if it weren’t purely for the sake of destroying teachers’ unions. Americans have little interest in education, critical thinkers are not rewarded in any way, and an ignorant populace serves the oligarchy very well.

Yes, right-wing religion fears thinking, imagination, dreaming, creativity, and sees them as the work of the devil, revealing the twisted sickness at the core of all fundamentalism. However, I’m always reluctant to interpret Biblical passages without scholarly readings of language, history, etc, so I’m not sure about the passages you cite.

I can’t believe anyone would take Levi Johnston seriously for a moment! He’s cute (if you like ‘em dumb) and as thick as a brick.

Well, yes,  he does seem to be honest, but is an honest fool what we want in politics?  Why does there appear to be a glorification (in some circles) of ignorance and a disdain for the intellect?  Could it be because of a reverence for biblical sayings like: “Proverbs 28: 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” or “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool – Mathew 7:26”?

If so, maybe that explains the conservatives’ love of people like Palin and Levi.

The celebration of the mediocre never surprises me.