"So many right-wing Christians, so few Lions."

Anyone who thinks God cares more about homosexuality than poverty is utterly wrong.

Look, I'm a religious guy.  But even I have to raise an eyebrow is doubt when I'm told it's an abomination to wear nylon and cotton at the same time.

But then many of those who want to rely upon this text are literalists.  So I offer two options

The first -- reserve oral and anal relations for being with other men, and vaginal for being with women.  That would literally fulfill the restriction.

I don 't think that is necessary.  Simply refrain from entering the vagina of any man with whom you have sex.  Shouldn't be hard.

And if the wingnuts want to start arguing that the restriction is not intended literally, ask them who gets to decide what parts of the Bible are literal and which aren't?  Challenge them as relying upon situational ethics, something they abhor.  Accuse them of being moral relativists.  Watch their heads explode.

About Ms. Harris. Rumor in Florida has it that she was sleeping with Jeb Bush during the period of time around the 2000 election. This comes from cab drivers who overhear the gossip while taking the highs up to the airport. I did notice that she threw her arms around Jeb just after announcing that Bush had won in Florida.

I don't usually use this kind of language, but I think she is a whore who will do or say anything to get ahead.

Your omnipotent powers are an awe to behold.

Y'all used to set up much sturdier straw men before you knocked them over.  This one is really lame.

2004-AUG: U.S. Constitution question: ChristianWebSite.com conducted a poll of their visitors. This is a conservative Protestant web site and probably most of their visitors are Fundamentalist or other Evangelical Protestants. They asked the question: "Do you believe the US Constitution calls for separation of Church and State?" Response was:
bullet No 88.7%
bullet Yes: 11.2?

Also, see this for yet ANOTHER installment of the long-running series, "stereotypes about right-wingers come to life!"  That's right,  according to ChristiaNet.com and Second Glance Ministries:

"The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography," said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today's societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.

There's a nice summary of some of his tactics at http://www.loudoun.n...

A few high points:

Thoburn also recommends that Christians run for school boards, (but send their children to Christian schools). Once on the board, "The goal is to shut down the public schools, not in some revolutionary way, but step by step, school by school, district by district...."

"Run on a platform of increasing school efficiency. This means cost-cutting."

"Be an instant nice guy....be incredibly affable and friendly....You will need 'good guy' votes when you start gently pressing for...reform."

"You can't destroy the system by yourself, so don't try. You can do your best to gum up the system with a smile on your face."

"When the board proposes something you don't want, try to avoid a head-on collision. Instead, ask questions, raise doubts, appear confused ...request a study by the school's lawyer, suggest further study of the results..."

"Start pushing for larger classes and fewer teachers."

Protest if a coach is being fired just because he has produced some losing teams. ("There is nothing like a losing sports record to cool the vocal minority of sports fanatics' support of the local high school.")

"Pressure tenured teachers to quit. Make them do every crummy job that the contracts allow the board to get away with....Make it clear to them that they will never teach another B or A student, and that they will never again get a raise. Never say so publicly....The more untenured, lower-paid, recently hired teachers are employed in your schools, the lower their wages need to be."

The religious right is against public education because public schools will not indoctrinate innocent children with religious nonsense.

Florida: Rep. Katherine Harris (R) continues to hemorrhage campaign staff and behave erratically. The real surprise is that she may still win the GOP primary.

Republicans' only hope for defeating incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) (and even then, there is only the slimmest long-shot chance) is for Harris to be upset in the September 5 primary. She has polled consistently in the 30s among Republicans, with her second-rate opponents -- former Admiral LeRoy Collins, attorney Will McBride and developer Peter Monroe -- in the single digits, and about 30 percent undecided. Harris will win unless Republicans unite around one of the other candidates. Of the three, McBride is the most likely to carry the conservative mantle, but time is running out.

Here's where you can read about it:  http://www.au.org/si...

A few highlights of what the judge (Pratt) said:

“The religion classes are not objective inquiries into the religious life, comparable to an adult study or college course, offered for the sake of discussing and learning universal secular, civic values or truths,� Pratt wrote. “They are, instead, overwhelmingly devotional in nature and intended to indoctrinate InnerChange inmates into the Evangelical Christian belief system.�

“For all practical purposes, the state has literally established an Evangelical Christian congregation within the walls of one of its penal institutions, giving the leaders of that congregation, i.e., Inner­Change employees, authority to control the spiritual, emotional, and physical lives of hundreds of Iowa inmates. �

According to the court record, non-evangelical Christians were commonly referred to by InnerChange staff as “unsaved,� “lost,� “pagan,� those “who served the flesh,� “of Satan,� “sinful� and “of darkness.�

This criticism of other faiths even extended to other Christian denominations. As Pratt noted, “Testimony revealed a constant tension between Roman Catholic inmates involved in InnerChange and the chronic problem of InnerChange volunteers criticizing Roman Catholic beliefs and practices…. InnerChange’s Field Guide clearly warns that non-Christians and those who desire time to observe faith practices not included in the Inner­Change program, e.g., Roman Catholics who wish to attend Mass or Native Americans who wish to participate in the sweat lodge ceremony, may do so only if those observances do not conflict with the Inner­Change program requirements.�

Those who joined the program got preferential housing, and earlier access to parole.

Is there room in the Democratic party for disaffected Republicans? One of the reasons that I get excited about the candidacy of James Webb is that it holds promise for bipartisanship and inclusiveness- traits that I associate more with Ds than with Rs.

The last national elections have been decided by slim margins. I would like to see moderate Republican voters join us, and help us to gain that extra 1%. Over the years, extremists like Harris have succeeded in shifting the centerpoint of American political discourse to the right. I'd like to restore a more moderate centerpoint, allowing extremists to marginalize themselves.

I believe that the best way restore a more moderate center is to address the needs of the majority in the middle as a first priority. We need real services rendered for the tax base we provide, such as good public schools, effective crime prevention, strong and secure national defense, fair labor practices, and affordable health care.