Things Republicans Believe

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime,
unless you're a conservative radio host.
Then it's an illness and you need our prayers
for your recovery.

Government should relax regulation of business because
they are "self-regulating".

"Trickle-down economics" works.

"Free market capitalism" means firing your
workers and moving their jobs to India.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her
own body, but multi-national corporations can make
decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of
homosexuals.

The best way to improve military morale is to put
a gold ribbon on your SUV and praise the troops
in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits
and combat pay.

Sexual harassment, prostitutes, and drug use are
degenerate sins unless you say you made a mistake
and ask for forgiveness, or you run for governor
of California as a Republican.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents
won't have sex, and abstinence-only programs work.

A good way to fight terrorism is to take your shoes
off when boarding a plane.

HMOs and insurance companies have the interests of
the public at heart.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy.
Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

Global warming is junk science,
but creationism should be taught in schools.

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.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an
impeachable offense.
A president lying to enlist support for a war in which
thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named
in the Constitution, unless you want to
ban gay marriage, spy on citizens
and censor the Internet.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is
communist, but trade with
China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of
international harmony.

Torture is not really "torture", and "enhanced
interrogation" provides valuable information
to protect the country.  Just ask Jack Bauer.

Prisoners in Guantanamo should never be released,
even if they are innocent, because they must have
done something wrong to be there.

Abortion is bad but killing our young men and
women in Iraq and Afghanistan is "fighting them
over there so we don't have to fight them here."

All Muslims are evil.  All atheists are evil.
All non-christians are evil.

Elections and power are far more important than
the American people.

Remember - a Liberal is a Conservative who has
lost a job.

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Something to think about.....

10 Myths and Truths About Atheists

The best and the brightest?

From Harper's Notebook, March 2009:

"Achievetrons" -- The Harvard wunderkinds (a.k.a. "the best and the brightest") who followed President John F. Kennedy into the White House in 1961 hung around the map tables long enough to point the country in the direction of the Vietnam War. Henry Kissinger, another Harvard prodigy, imparted to American statecraft the modus operandi of a Mafia cartel. The Reagan Administration imported its book of revelation from the University of Chicago's School of Economics ("privatization" the watchword, "unfettered free market" the Christian name for Zeus) and by so doing set in motion what lately has come to be seen as a long-running Ponzi scheme. Take into account the Ivy League's contributions to the Bush administration.......imagine a doctoral thesis commissioned by the Kennedy School of Government and meant to determine which of the country's leading institutions of higher learning over the past fifty year has done the most damage to the health and happiness of the American people.

Maybe it's time for someone from Sacramento State, like me. I couldn't possibly do any worse.

The Republicans want the stimulus to fail......

The Republican mantra for 'lower taxes' is not actually a thought-out conviction for what is best for the country; rather it is a tawdry way to buy votes by assuring voters that they can 'have it all' without having to pay for it.

This has worked for them in the past, along with a call for 'smaller government' and 'strong defense'. Their main concern is to stay in power. Once there, however, they haven't a clue how to actually govern. The tax cuts contribute to massive deficits, go to the very wealthy and don't 'trickle down'; hefty contributions from the favored 'fat cats' to their election campaigns are assured. The 'smaller government' promised bloats into expensive bureaucracies, headed by cronies, that fail to effectively run, regulate or oversee the departments for which they are responsible. The 'strong defense' is a black hole of expenditures for horribly expensive weapon systems designed for the cold war. These weapons are produced by companies that have cunningly distributed their resources among the various states to insure maximum influence on their pet lawmakers.

Once in power, the conservatives also bow to their ultra-right base; they want to transform this country into a theocracy forcing all to accept their agenda.

We must further cut the Republican minority in the mid-term elections; they must no longer block or dilute what must be done for the country to thrive. Perversely, Republicans are hoping the situation will become worse before it gets better; then they can gleefully say "We told you so". They choose America's failure over bipartisan cooperation.

We cannot go back to their failed 'policies'. We must give this stimulus package time to show results and get us turned around toward a recovery.

My letter to my republican congressperson

Government jobs create lots of stimulus - see, "Dam, Hoover" for an example. There are hundreds of projects sponsored by the government which created thousands of jobs. The roads in Virginia is another example. You folks in DC live in a bubble - the majority of your constituents want the stimulus to pass. Additional tax cuts don't work - Bush proved that.

I just wish for ONCE you people down there would put partisanship aside and do what is best for the people of this country. Almost 70 million of us voted for the Obama platform - many more than voted for a continuation of the past 8 years of borrow and spend. And its OUR money, not yours. You don't have to worry - your salary is guaranteed.

I don't mind paying taxes - if they are spent to help our country. The true traitors are those who choose party over progress - who turn their back on what's best for America.

FDR proved that big stimulus spending programs work, and MOST economists agree. This is not the time to be fiscally conservative - it's too late. We must repair the damage of the last few years - budget-breaking tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate welfare, $10 billion a month on the Iraq war, corrupt and incompetent contractors like Halliburton and KBR - the list goes on and on.

Virginia went blue last election for a reason. Maybe you should consider representing a more rural area - I haven't forgotten your quashing the Virginia bridge to Maryland. You have no idea how many additional commuting hours that has cost all of "great unwashed". You listened to the wealthy in Lowe's Island, not to us regular folks.

I urge you to reconsider your negative vote. Consider this - 10th District demographics are changing rapidly, and next election you won't have as many upper-middle class white people voting for you; many of them will have joined the lower middle-class thanks to you and your Republican swift-boaters.

If you're going to send me a form letter response, don't bother. You'll just be wasting taxpayer money, and we wouldn't want to do that, would we?

Mythology, Faith, and Persecution

Persecution and genocide has its roots in religion which taught the "superiority" of one belief or faith over another, i.e. if you don't believe X, then you are evil, going to hell, no place in heaven for you, etc. This is clearly demonstrated in the open mistreatment of homosexuals based on a few lines in a book written 2,000 years ago with no basis in science. Sunni, Shia, Christian, Jew, White Supremacists, and others can all find justification for their prejudices in their "holy books".

As an atheist, I encounter this attitude each time I admit I have no religious beliefs. "How do you know what's right and wrong?" is the question I am asked. Whatever hurts another person, whether thought, word or deed, is wrong. Religion dictates arbitrary rules which are seldom followed, e.g., thou shalt not kill, unless they are "evil" and we are justified killing hundreds of thousands because a few radical citizens killed 3,000 of our people. After all, doesn't a Judeo-Christian ethos make us worth more? This thought may not be blatantly verbalized, but our actions clearly say it for us.