McCain's True Colors: A Homophobic Jerk

There was a time some years ago when I admired Senator McCain of Arizona. His military service was above and beyond the call of duty and he seemed like an intelligent, thoughtful man. I've never been fond of Republican politics, but McCain seemed like an honest Republican, a man with principles.

But l can't find any respect left in my heart for John McCain. McCain claims that he supports gay rights. He promised that when the military told him it was ready for the repeal of the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell (DADT) law, he would support the repeal. But he simply lied! The majority of military leaders, as well as the overwhelming majority of servicemen and servicewomen in all branches, have spoken clearly: they support gay rights in the military, and they support the repeal of DADT.

So what does McCain do? He calls for more studies, committees and reports. When they arrive, he claims they didn't address the right question. He stalls.

And finally today, when the most definitive study was released by the military which concluded it is time to repeal DADT, what did McCain do? Did he take it to heart like he promised? No. He simply claimed that the report is "flawed" and that the senior military officers who put it together didn't do it right.

He's proving to be nothing more than a homophobic jerk. What's more, his actions today opposing the repeal of DADT are just the last in a long string of heartless, harsh conservative dogma that he's been reciting.

I respect people who care more than I respect people who merely happen to agree with me. I'd rather have friends who have thought about their morals and politics than friends who are knee-jerk liberals or conservatives. Well, I thought John McCain was someone I could respect, but either I misjudged him to begin with, or else McCain decided to become dishonest to his own principles for reasons I can't fathom.

Either way, I finally lost the last vestiges of respect I had left for Senator John McCain.

Hey, Sarah, what if God elects Obama?

Sarah Palin is "putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on November 4," according to AP.

Wow, governor Palin, that's so amazing, that God has selected YOU. You must be very proud. But I have a few questions for you.

How does God do this? Like, does He stuff the ballot box? Whisper in certain voters' ears until they go crazy and change their minds? Cause car accidents so that Democrats can't make it to the polls? Inquiring minds want to know!

If God decides to elect Obama, will you become a Democrat? If God is intervening in this election, and you lose, wow. That means God says you're wrong! Heavy stuff, to have God slap you down like that. Will that piss you off, or will you gracefully accept God's will?

If you and McCain win, I know God will get the credit, so if you lose, it's only fair that you accept God's message that you are WRONG about everything. Or is this one of those tricks where God gets credit if you win, but Satan takes the blame if you lose? That would make God kind of a wimp, wouldn't it, but at least you and McCain wouldn't have to convert to that evil Democratic party!

So, Governor, I look forward to your reply. You can post your responses here, or ask the Secret Service to get my home address. Or maybe ask God, you seem to be pretty good buddies with Him.

Sarah Palin and gay marriage: Hypocrisy at its worst

I find few things more disgusting that political hypocrisy. I'd sooner vote for an honest politician whose views were diametrically opposed to mine, than to vote for a hypocrite who agrees with me. Sarah Palin doesn't fit either case – she's a hypocrite whose views are diametrically opposed to mine.

What has raised my ire today? Palin thinks we need a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. This violates everything the Republican Party stands for.

The Republican Party has a long and consistent history of advocating small government, of keeping government out of our lives, of remembering that we are a federation of semi-sovereign states, each of which gets to largely control its own internal affairs.

Evangelicals like Sarah Palin go on and on about controlling government, keeping states rights alive, keeping government out of our lives, and keeping both the spirit and the letter of our Constitution. The Federal Government is only supposed to deal with national and international issues. Everything else is left to the states.

Yet, when it comes to injecting Christian morals into our lives, Sarah Palin is all too fast to abandon these principles. Instead of letting each state consider this issue, Palin wants to abandon her Republican principles (or perhaps she never had any principles to start with), and pass a Constitutional amendment that would make her conservative Evangelical views the law of the land.

Senator McCain, by contrast, is an honest Republican. Although I strongly disagree with his position on gay marriage (he's against it), I admire his principles: He believes this is a state issue, not a federal issue. Unlike Palin, he won't abandon his long-held principles about the role of the federal government, just to achieve some short-term goal.

And isn't it ironic that Palin, and not John McCain, is the one drawing everyone's attention, including mine. You don't see Senator Biden out there stealing all the attention from Senator Obama. I think that's a sad indication that McCain's campaign is in trouble.

Evangelical Christians: One-Issue Voters

Deciding who to vote for has always been one of my most difficult tasks during elections, because I never agree 100% with any candidate. As a responsible voter, it is my duty to rank the issues by importance, and try to find the candidate who will best represent my views. It's no easy task, and is often an exercise in frustration. Yet I take it seriously, because that's what makes Democracy work.

Apparently, the evangelical Christian community has a much easier solution: Vote for any candidate who is the "most Christian." Never mind the candidate's qualifications, or actual voting record, or inconsistent past ... if the candidate goes to a conservative church, and mouths the correct buzzwords, they're in.

According to this article at alternet.org (a liberal webzine), the selection of Sarah Palin brought more than pigs-and-lipstick jokes to the campaign. It brought money. Lots of it. The Swift-boaters, the ones who successfully besmirched the reputation of an American patriot, poured over 10 million dollars into McCain's campaign immediately after Palin was selected.

What's amazing is the statistics on evangelical Christians. Before McCain selected Palin, white evangelicals favored McCain over Obama by 68% to 24%. Palin's selection pushed it even further, to 71% / 21%, apparently due simply to her religion.

Do these people even think? Could they tell you the detailed positions that the four candidates hold? Or is the abortion / creationism debate all they care about? What about the trade deficit? Global warming? Nuclear proliferation? Overpopulation? AIDS and other international health problems? What about the candidates' experience, credibility, statesmanship?

I find it hard to believe that there is something in Jesus Christ's teachings that makes it clear that McCain/Palin is a better choice than Obama/Biden. All four of these potential presidents are good Christians; to an Atheist, their views about God and the supernatural are virtually indistinguishable. Yet, evangelical Christians apparently believe that being evangelical is the only qualification for the job.

That's irresponsible.

Hey Obama: Bush ALREADY Raised Our Taxes!

Hey, Senator Obama, here's a free "sound bite" for you.

McCain and Bush tell you they're cutting taxes, but instead, George Bush raised taxes more than any president in recent history. Trouble is, he's not taxing us, he's taxing our children and grandchildren.

Bush and McCain are like a guy who comes home with a big smile, and says, "Honey, I solved all our budget problems. Look at my new credit card! Now we can buy everything we need!" And when the wife raises a skeptical eyebrow, he says, "Don't worry, honey, this credit card is going to make me more productive, why, in five or ten years, you and I will be making so much money because of all the cool stuff this credit card will buy us, why, we'll pay it off, and be able to put a bunch of money in the bank!"

"But sweetheart," the wife replies, "maybe we should try just spend a little less. Maybe I could get a part-time job..."

"Nonsense! Earn and spend, stick to your budget ... I'm sick of that old, discredited liberal thinking."

Sarah Palin: The REAL Bush Clone

I try to keep this blog about religion and atheism, but this morning's news was just too much.

SARAH PALIN, not John McCain, is the Bush clone. A New York Times article has a subtitle that says it all: "Palin's sharp elbows transformed town."

The article documents how Palin turned Wasilla, a congenial small Alaskan town, into a divided community. When she arrived, the town was run by cooperation and consensus; by the time she left, her "polarizing single-mindedness" had split the town in two.

It began with the election itself, which Palin won by introducing irrelevant, polarizing, national issues into small-town politics. Abortion rights, her ultra-conservative religious views, her membership in the National Rifle Association – all of these things played a big role in her campaign, even though they are virtually meaningless when it comes to running a town of 9,000 people. "We will have our first Christian mayor," became a rallying cry for her supporters.

Personally, I just can't see how being a Christian has much to do with whether to approve a new Target store, or which streets should be paved, or whether the teachers should get a raise. And it's hard to imagine how her membership in the NRA would help, either. But help it did, to get her elected, that is.

Once elected, the fun really started. The town had been run by a non-partisan, professional city manager, but Palin turned it into an us-versus-them polarized city. She demanded the resignations from city employees who had supported her opponent in the election, something unheard of in the small town. The public works director, the police chief, the city planner, even the museum director! All were fired.

Then the real bombshell: Palin ordered that nobody was to talk to the media without Palin's permission.

Does any of this sound familiar? Palin is the real Bush/Cheney clone, not McCain. Palin's record for dividing her constituency, and for being secretive and controlling, would make Bush proud. McCain has a lot to learn from Sarah Palin if he's going to fill George Bush's shoes!

Sarah Palin: McCain is Going Down!

I applaud McCain's VP choice, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as his choice for vice president, because she is going guarantee McCain's defeat! Nice work, Senator McCain!

Sarah Palin is the worst vice president candidate in recent memory. We can ignore her utter lack of relevant experience – that's like shooting fish in a barrel. No, the real issues are her opposition to virtually every ethical advance we've made as a society over the last few decades. She opposes gay/lesbian rights, opposes abortion rights, and in spite of heart-wrenching stories last week of starving polar bears swimming 25 miles in the open ocean looking desperately for food, she opposes adding them to the endangered-species list, and instead wants to drill, drill, drill for more of Alaska's oil, so we can melt more polar ice and kill the rest of the bears.

As if that's not enough, Gov. Palin has advocated teaching creationism alongside evolution! George Bush ... well, his IQ is somewhere in the modest double digits, so maybe a basic understanding of obvious scientific facts is just too much for the poor man. But Sarah Palin appears to be an otherwise intelligent woman, in spite of her conservative agenda.

One can only hope that Sarah Palin at least believes in woman's rights and equality for all races. Given the rest of her neocon views, one has to wonder...

(Shameless commercial: It's another example of just how highly evolved and infectious the religion virus is. Only now, after years of research and thought, do I finally understand how intelligent people get infected with these ideas, and why the ideas are so hard to kill.)

As far as I can tell, Sarah Palin is a typical victim of religion's Anti-Rationalism Meme, one of religion's best tricks. The Anti-Rationalism Meme convinces "the faithful" that faith, not logic, is the road to truth. If logic and rational thought lead to a conclusion that disagrees with the Bible, then faith wins.

Anyone with an open, rational mind who visits Alaska can't help but marvel at the raw power of nature, and the overwhelming evidence against creationism. Glacial valleys that took millions of years to form, stately mountains that have stood guard for tens of millions of years, volcanos that laid down layer after layer after layer, recording history in their lava ... the evidence is all there, laid out in its raw beauty. How anyone can live in such magnificence, and still think the Earth was created just 6,000 years ago, staggers the mind.

No, sorry Senator McCain, your "surprise" choice of Sarah Palin, which you hoped would make you look progressive, is going to backfire. Sarah Palin's views on women's reproductive choice, gay/lesbian issues, and the environment, all inspired by her infection with religion virus memes, will be your downfalling.

You'd almost think the Democrats had picked McCain's running mate for him!