From my regular column at Liberty for All!
http://www.libertyforall.net
The Republican Party has sold itself body and soul to its Christian Right supporters. They pretend to be Christians but behold their deeds: (for those of you speaking to Christians, I supply questions)
Once upon a time, it was Americans who were rigorous in obeying the laws of war, and depraved foreign enemies who tortured prisoners. Under Republican leadership, it is Americans who torture. William Fisher, on antiwar.com, writes "the ACLU has disclosed a Sept. 14, 2003 memo signed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo A. Sanchez, then senior commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, authorizing 29 interrogation techniques, including 12 that "far exceeded limits established by the Army's own Field Manual...the Center for Constitutional Rights...said "at least 26 prisoners who died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 were likely the victims of criminal homicide". And these techniques were downgraded from those in use at the Guantanamo Gulag, because in iraq we might encounter prisoners of war.
How many prisoners would Jesus torture?
In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, the Soviet Air Force bombed Pecs, Hungary. They were justly condemned for their deeds. Last year, the Republican-commanded US Air Force bombed city-center targets with 500 and 2000 pound bombs. Those weapons destroy buildings, or, in crowded Iraqi cities, sections of city blocks, places not evacuated of bystanders.
How many cities would Jesus bomb?
The basis of our Constitution is the separation of powers. The courts do not write laws. The Congress does not tell the Judiciary how adjudicate single cases. Now in the Schiavo matter, the Republican Congress obsequiously complied with the demands of their religious wing, and tried to tell judges how to rule on a single case. Now House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said of the judges in the Schiavo case: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior." DeLay rejects the Constitution, and rejects his sworn oath of office to defend that Constitution.
When would Jesus break his sworn oath to his own Father?
America once believed that each man and woman should be tried for his or her own misdeeds, if any, not be made to pay for the crimes of their neighbors or relatives. Now Republican bulletin boards are regularly filled with denunciations of central asians as ragheads, Islamofascists, and terrorists, all because Osama bin laden--who is an Arab, not an Afghani--resided in Afghanistan.
Who would Jesus hate?
Once upon a time, Americans condemned countries that attacked their neighbors without provocation. At Nuremberg, we took German leaders who committed the Crime Against Peace, and sent them to the gallows they had richly earned. Recently, a Republican member of Congress, while attending church, suggested that Syria should be attacked, by bombing Syrian cities with atomic weapons. Syria has not attacked us. It has not threatened us.
The Congressman was roundly applauded. Apparently his Church was largely empty of Christians.
How often would Jesus slaughter innocents by the city?
Once upon a time, Americans believed that only depraved foreign dictators would kidnap people and torture them. Now, under the practice of rendition, our own government kidnaps people from the streets and flies them to foreign dictatorships so our spies can have them tortured.
Which disciple would Jesus have made his torturer, so he could say his hands were clean?
Once upon a time, Americans believed that truth was the light that cleansed the world. Now (with further thanks to antiwar.com ), someplace, the Pentagon has a hidden set of Abu Ghraib photographs, of which Donald Rumsfeld told Congress said "acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman", Senator Saxby Chambliss said his "stomach gave out" and NBC News described "American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys." The Republicans in Congress and their equally guilty Democratic allies are hiding those photographs, hiding them so that Americans will not know the truth and think ill of it.
How often would Jesus have hidden the guilty's deeds, that their crimes would not be known to the world?
The Republican Party rejects the ways Americans have followed for two centuries. It advocates ANTICHRISTian ideas: Torture. Slaughter. Hatred. Oathbreaking. Protection of Evil. The Republican Party stands against the beliefs for which Americans have spoken and litigated and fought and died since 1776.
Fortunately, America has alternatives.
The Democratic Party justly loved by many readers.
The Libertarian Alternative of Peace, freedom and prosperity.