October 08, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH




IMPEACH CHENEY


THE TAX EXEMPT RACKET FOR RELIGION

Right-wingers like to whine that Christians in this country are "persecuted." It's hard to see that when you look around at all the churches, all the church programming on the media, all the attention paid to religion by the major media, and the disgusting array of tax breaks enjoyed by religion. Those of us who work have to pay more in taxes because churches get exempted. I think the "wall of separation" between church and religion that Thomas Jefferson wrote about should include taxes. Since Bush seized power, the government subsidizing of religion has only gotten worse. This article is from The New York Times at www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/business/08religious.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1160280000&en=1b166af956151524&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin:

An analysis by The New York Times of laws passed since 1989 shows that more than 200 special arrangements, protections or exemptions for religious groups or their adherents were tucked into Congressional legislation, covering topics ranging from pensions to immigration to land use. New breaks have also been provided by a host of pivotal court decisions at the state and federal level, and by numerous rule changes in almost every department and agency of the executive branch.

The special breaks amount to “a sort of religious affirmative action program,” said John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University law school.

Professor Witte added: “Separation of church and state was certainly part of American law when many of today’s public opinion makers were in school. But separation of church and state is no longer the law of the land.”

LOOKING BEYOND FOLEY

The Mark Foley scandal reveals a great deal about the Republican leadership in Congress, and it certainly reveals the massive hypocrisy by right-wing pundits. They have gone into contortions trying to place the blame for Foley on Democrats. But the Foley scandal is just part of a far larger, more massive list of Republican crimes and ineptitude. Republicans lied us into a war. War profiteers have done well while our military gets slaughtered. Iraqi civilians have died needlessly. The United States has stooped to torture and war crimes. The economy has been ransacked by Bush and his gang. Millions of us are sliding into poverty despite impressive productivity. This column by Jonathan Chait is at www.latimes.com:

If you look at the actual issues related to terrorism, it's hard to imagine why anybody would vote Republican. Just last week, Bob Woodward (whose last book, it should be noted, was eagerly promoted by the GOP for its flattering portrayal of Bush) revealed that then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was warned by CIA Director George Tenet in July 2001 of an imminent Al Qaeda attack and did nothing. It was yet another devastating indictment of the administration's failure to act on what by late summer 2001 had become massive evidence of an imminent threat. Alas, this news item was mostly drowned out by the Foley scandal. So yes, by all means, let's have a "clear reading" on the issues.