The Missouri State House of representatives has passed an "intellectual diversity" act designed to preserve "intellectual diversity" at state universities and colleges.  This certainly sounds like a laudable goal.  That is, until one reads the actual language of the act, which mandates that schools take steps to "include intellectual diversity concerns in the institution's guidelines on teaching and program development and such concerns shall include but not be limited to the protection of religious freedom including the viewpoint that the Bible is inerrant."  (my emphasis)

I have been been following the various diaries on this site and others conjecturing about the psychological nature of Bush the Lesser.  While these are potentially informative in understanding what motiviates this administration and what strategies might be effective in opposition, it seems to me that they miss a more basic point...over 60 million Americans voted for this person in 2004 and his approval ratings continue to include at least 30% of the electorate.  Understanding the current President's dysfunctionality does not explain why so many Americans voted for him.  Personalizing our current sorry situation around the failed leadership of this administration in many ways precludes defining sustainable alternatives.

This diary provides an attempt to analyze why attacks on gay and lesbian people resonate so profoundly with the fundamentalist community.  It is written from the standpoint of a gay person living in a state very much dominated by fundamentalist political views.  This is an update of an essay I wrote for a website for gay Christians some years ago.

This diary may not be particularly topical (it is not about the "ridiculousness and danger" of anything, which seems to be today's obsession).  It is intended to be the kind of diary that held my attention on Kos, one about ideas with political and social implications.  

I don't offer any particular prescriptons here, just thoughts on why this particular campaign seems to succeed year after year for the far right.

Sitting at home on a day off, I got to wondering, why on earth is NATO interested in having the Republic of GEORGIA as a member?  I mean, Georgia is pretty far from the North Atlantic and just barely in Europe, yet there is our preznut saying they should be admitted forthwith. Even the NATO secretary general seems to agree.

Now I'm not expert on this so I did some surfing.  In the spirit of sharing, what I learned is below the fold.  

This is not a diary about current events, nor is it about the manifold things wrong with our current government.  It is not even a document about activism.  Instead it is a document about what I believe in and what I think most Americans believe in.  Call it one liberal's agenda.  For too long the founding principles of our nation have been hijacked by non-believers. I believe it time and past for those revolutionary principles to be reaffirmed for the profoundly liberating agenda they endorse.