Thursday, September 30, 2004
Our Savior
A new documentary, timed to compete with the release of Fahrenheit 9/11, presents George to the faithful as a warrior of God.
FrankRich: The Passion of the Bush
We've had inklings of this. There was that "crusade" slip. Then the equation with the election of Kerry with the forces of evil.
Underneath all of it is a very scary scenario.
Armageddon and the Christian Right
Bush is not Jesus's man in the White House. Here's how I (a secular humanist and Sunday school drop-out) figured it out.
"...Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. "(Matthew 5:38-44)
The Bible is full of contradictions. Stories, parables, ambiguity. But a few statements stand out.
Thou shalt not kill, for example. Doing good to those that hate you. Not exactly a Bush philosophy.
I got a bit of internet humor from a friend in North Carolina that starts out:
"Things you have to believe to be a Republican today:
1. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad
guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when
Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush
needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
2. Jesus loves you but shares your hatred of
homosexuals and Hillary Clinton."
If conservatives would put their agenda out on the table, then the American people would have a chance to decide.
Is $200 billion (and counting) and over 1000 American lives preferable to economic sanctions in dealing with one of the world's dictators?
Shall we push for Armageddon in the Middle East?
Shall we cut down all the remaining old growth forests?
Do we want industry to set our standards for clean air?
Stealth and secrecy are used by this Administration to impose ideas that the public has consistently rejected. To open up huge areas to unrestricted logging, title your bill "The Healthy Forest Initiative". To secure the supply of oil in the Middle East, shake your fist and reiterate "Weapons of Mass Destruction." To force the agenda of charter schools advocates, you create a standard of failure and call it "No Child Left Behind".
That's what's wrong here. It's not just their ideas, it's way they go about it. It's the the arrogance of assuming they are above the law, that they know what's better for the American people than we ourselves do.
That's what's so scary about Bush's Jesus complex.
So where's the hope? I like Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's Daily Show. He was on Charlie Rose last night. He's the one who responded to the idea that the best guy to be president was the most fun guy to have a beer with, "I want to go with the designated driver". Last night he said (in my paraphrase) "When the Bush administration hands the American people a glass of toxic waste, they don't look to the polls to see if they want it, they look at the polls to figure out what else they can call it."
I believe in the American people. "Fool 'em once", to misquote Bush's misquote, but we won't be fooled again.
FrankRich: The Passion of the Bush
We've had inklings of this. There was that "crusade" slip. Then the equation with the election of Kerry with the forces of evil.
Underneath all of it is a very scary scenario.
Armageddon and the Christian Right
Bush is not Jesus's man in the White House. Here's how I (a secular humanist and Sunday school drop-out) figured it out.
"...Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. "(Matthew 5:38-44)
The Bible is full of contradictions. Stories, parables, ambiguity. But a few statements stand out.
Thou shalt not kill, for example. Doing good to those that hate you. Not exactly a Bush philosophy.
I got a bit of internet humor from a friend in North Carolina that starts out:
"Things you have to believe to be a Republican today:
1. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad
guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when
Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush
needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
2. Jesus loves you but shares your hatred of
homosexuals and Hillary Clinton."
If conservatives would put their agenda out on the table, then the American people would have a chance to decide.
Is $200 billion (and counting) and over 1000 American lives preferable to economic sanctions in dealing with one of the world's dictators?
Shall we push for Armageddon in the Middle East?
Shall we cut down all the remaining old growth forests?
Do we want industry to set our standards for clean air?
Stealth and secrecy are used by this Administration to impose ideas that the public has consistently rejected. To open up huge areas to unrestricted logging, title your bill "The Healthy Forest Initiative". To secure the supply of oil in the Middle East, shake your fist and reiterate "Weapons of Mass Destruction." To force the agenda of charter schools advocates, you create a standard of failure and call it "No Child Left Behind".
That's what's wrong here. It's not just their ideas, it's way they go about it. It's the the arrogance of assuming they are above the law, that they know what's better for the American people than we ourselves do.
That's what's so scary about Bush's Jesus complex.
So where's the hope? I like Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's Daily Show. He was on Charlie Rose last night. He's the one who responded to the idea that the best guy to be president was the most fun guy to have a beer with, "I want to go with the designated driver". Last night he said (in my paraphrase) "When the Bush administration hands the American people a glass of toxic waste, they don't look to the polls to see if they want it, they look at the polls to figure out what else they can call it."
I believe in the American people. "Fool 'em once", to misquote Bush's misquote, but we won't be fooled again.
