Did God Elect Bush in 2000?

"God is the one who chooses our rulers."Katherine Harris, Florida senator-wannabe

There is an old college campus joke about the exclusiveness of some sororieties. It was that Kappas speak only to Pi Phi's and that Pi Phi's speak only to God.

Well, apparently God speaks only to Republicans, or so Katherine Harris seems to indicate. Are we to assume that her bizarre rulings as Florida's Secretary of State in 2000 were governed by God? Well, I guess that explains it.

Note to Republicans: old biblical saying - you reap what you sow. She's your bitch now. Deal with it.

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is "a lie" and God and the nation's founding fathers did not intend the country be "a nation of secular laws."

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will "legislate sin," including abortion and gay marriage.

Harris made the comments -- which she clarified Saturday -- in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which interviewed political candidates and asked them about religion and their positions on issues.

Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

Electing non-Christians a 'legislative sin'
"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said.

Her comments drew criticism, including some from fellow Republicans who called them offensive and not representative of the party.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, who is Jewish, told the Orlando Sentinel that she was "disgusted" by the comments.

Harris' campaign released a statement Saturday saying she had been "speaking to a Christian audience, addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government."

The comments reflected "her deep grounding in Judeo-Christian values," the statement said, adding that Harris had previously supported pro-Israel legislation and legislation recognizing the Holocaust.

Harris' opponents in the GOP primary also gave interviews to the Florida Baptist Witness but made more general statements on their faith.

Harris, 49, faced widespread criticism for her role overseeing the 2000 presidential recount as Florida's secretary of state.

State GOP leaders -- including Gov. Jeb Bush -- don't think she can win against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November. Fundraising has lagged, frustrated campaign workers have defected in droves and the issues have been overshadowed by news of her dealings with a corrupt defense contractor who gave her $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

Does "Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar" Count?

The U.S. News and World Report, hopefully with tongue-in-cheek, reports that George Bush and Karl Rove are having a reading contest, and that Dubya is winning.

From U.S. News:

George W. Bush a bookworm? White House aides say it's so. The born-again president's literary interests start with the predictable, such as his daily readings from the Bible. But he also enjoys books about Abraham Lincoln, his political hero, and, of course, yarns about baseball-in a past life, he was, after all, the managing partner of the Texas Rangers. Staffers say the president is actually engaged in an informal contest with White House senior adviser Karl Rove to see who can read more books this year. The latest score card has Bush ahead 60-50.A sampling of the president's reading list so far this year, according to White House aides:

Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky

American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin (a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, an inventor of the atomic bomb)

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (about the late all-star Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder)

Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power by Richard Carwardine

Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural by Ronald C. White Jr.

Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky (discussing how polio affected the United States in the mid-20th century)

The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Are you kidding me. George Bush reading anything outside of the Bible is barely believable. I mean, this guy is notorious about not even reading his briefing notes each morning. He wants them read to him. Bush did not even read the famous CIO memo "Isama Bin-Laden Intends to Attack the U.S." prior to 9-11. He also had that one read to him (to which led to his response, "Thanks, you have covered your ass. Now get out of here.")

Take "Salt" for instance. I loved the book, but it is chock full of more minutia than one would ever want to know about the world's love affair with this necessary spice. Would Bush sit down and wade through this - hardly. And he read Camus. Hell, he would find Paul of Tarsus challenging, much less a French existentialist.

And "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women" by Geraldine Brooks? I would sooner believe in Santa Claus than George Bush having this by his bedside.

Stop Terrorists - Insist on Plane Barefootedness?

Why do I find this so significant in understanding why Homeland Defense is the worst concoction of bureaucracy that has ever been created.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's new order that all airline passengers put their shoes through X-ray machines won't help screeners find a liquid or gel that can be used as a bomb.

The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press.

The Transportation Security Administration ordered the shoe-scanning requirement as it fine-tunes new security procedures.

And people wonder why Joe Lieberman lost . . .

Actually, there are a lot more reasons why Wimpy Joe lost than his fervent support of the war. It was the way he supported it. This is also a man who likes to characterize himself as a moral moderate (remember when he called out President Clinton for being immoral in the White House?). And then there were his unmerited attacks on many of his party who opposed President Bush's policy In Iraq. And he seemed delighted to be the poster boy of the Bush Administration and Right Wing pundits. I won't even go into "The Kiss." If Joe is looking for a specific moment when Connecticut voters decided to take him down, it was then.

Essentially, Joe Lieberman is a demagogue and a tool of the Bush Administration. And he needs to spend more time talking to constituents that standing alongside George Bush waiting for another kiss. The tide has moved in, and Wimpy Joe is getting his drawers wet.

60 percent of Americans oppose Iraq war

Wednesday, August 9, 2006


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday.

And a majority of poll respondents said they would support the withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops by the end of the year, according to results from the Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last week on behalf of CNN. The corporation polled 1,047 adult Americans by telephone.



According to trends, the number of poll respondents who said they did not support the Iraq war has steadily risen as the war stretched into a second and then a third year. In the most recent poll, 36 percent said they were in favor of the war -- half of the peak of 72 percent who said they were in favor of the war as it began.

Sixty-one percent, however, said they believed at least some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Of those, 26 percent said they would favor the withdrawal of all troops, while 35 percent said not all troops should be withdrawn. Another 34 percent said they believed the current level of troops in Iraq should be maintained.

Asked about a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, 57 percent of poll respondents said they supported the setting of such a timetable, while 40 percent did not and 4 percent had no opinion. Only half the sample, or about 524 people, was asked the timetable question.

The Bush administration has maintained that setting a timetable or deadline for withdrawal would only help terrorists.

Americans were nearly evenly split on whether the U.S. would win the war in Iraq. Forty-seven percent of poll respondents either said the United States would "definitely win" or "probably win." Another 48 percent either said the United States could not win, or could win -- but will not win.

The poll was conducted August 2 and 3. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, and plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for questions asked of half-samples.