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.... Cross-posted on Cristo Lumen.
In a desperate attempt to hang on to their ever shrinking numbers for the mid-term elections, Republicans in Congress are pandering as fast as they can to the Christian wingnuts of the far right in order to get them to vote for the GOP this fall. They're trying to accomplish this by bringing forth every divisive, repugnant and unchristian measure they can from the wish lists of those who are working tirelessly to turn this country into a unamerican fascist theocracy.
It's very obvious why the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to revive an effort to enact a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Republicans are getting their arms vigorously twisted by the religious right. They have begun threatening the Republicans that they will stay home in November if progress is not made on banning abortion, same-sex marriage and flag burning.
A poll conducted in March by four groups representing evangelical Christians found that 63 percent of so-called "values voters" -- the evangelicals who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage -- believe that, in the words of the poll, "Congress has not kept its promises to act on a pro-family agenda."
So, between now and November, you can expect to see these "values" issues trotted out by Republicans in Congress to convince the religious right they are still on their side.
It's not like like the GOP has anything else to run on. They can't run on national security, not with Iraq in a bloody civil war. They can't run on ethics, not with the growing list of indictments filed against GOP members of Congress. They can't run on the economy, not with $3 a gallon gasoline, rising interest rates and stagnant wage growth.
No, all they have left is the hope that voter turnout will be low and the most extreme members of their constituency will show up to vote.
(my emphasis)
Here's more info on the summer offensive (and I do mean offensive) that the Christian Right has in store for America.
According to the Washington Post, part of the Republicans' attempt to recover from the mess of, well, everything they've touched will be a hot summer full of wedge-issue nonsense: Worried about conservatives sitting out the November elections to protest spending, White House and top congressional officials are planning a summer push for legislation on abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research to excite social conservatives.
Oh joy.
And the hot summer's already begun at the state level. A couple of weeks ago, Louisiana's legislature debated a bill that would "allow" students to pray in schools (they already can as long as a teacher doesn't lead them). That got killed, and now we have this (via Newsweek):
Fresh from a bruising federal court fight over the teaching of evolution, Georgia marched back into the culture wars last week when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill allowing Bible classes in public high schools.
There are two competing curricula in this mess. One is by a group of mainline churches about the philosophy of the Bible. I have no truck with that. The other is one developed by the "National Council for Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, backed by a long list of conservative evangelicals, including Pat Robertson." Oy.
Oy, to say the least.
There's a reason they work so hard to get kind of junk passed into law. It's far easier to convince people they should support discrimination against gays and lesbians and hate judges who interpret the Constitution to protect civil rights and liberties such as the right to privacy, if you have first convinced them that gays and judges are out to destroy their faith and religious freedom. This is a long-term strategy, and in this election year, it is clear that the cries of "victimization" and "persecution" are an attempt to gin up the Republican Party's right-wing base.
This is just another in a looooooong disgusting line of cynical attempts to manipulate religious fundamnetalists as part of the GOP's cultural civil war on America designed simply to further their own selfish, power-mad desires for greed and control.
WHY do these people HATE America... and Christ so much????
Personally, I think God's got a special place in hell for those who've twisted and distorted his message into this kind of self-serving, hateful garbage.
This and more can be found on my very own Christian Leftist blog of progressive spiritual revolution and liberal redemption >>>>> here.