Bush - Man of God?

“Phantom!

I was not talking economics. I was talking about the place that religion holds in the society.

Within an hour of my house, I could visit a Buddhist temple, Muslim mosque, Jewish synagogue and any number of Christian churches.

There is competition for believers. And we all know that a competitive marketplace creates efficiencies for the consumer.

I think that's one reason we have such a religious population. The faiths have to compete.

If you live in Poland or Belgium, it's a different story. Historically, both have been one-church kind of places. Either you are Catholic or you aren't religious. The same is true for other countries.

So, the separation of church and state has created a free market for religion and a greater depth and breadth of belief.

Separation of Church and State = Stronger Churches”

““Whoa, dude. Just because we don't (aren't supposed to) promote any one religion doesn't mean the idea of religion should totally be condemned.”

Ding ding ding! We HAVE a winner! I don’t like the trend that’s been going on where Christianity is being singled out as the only unacceptable religion. The PC Police not only WON’T speak out against radical Islam but they try to foster the idea that we need to be more “sensitive” to Islam as a whole. Well, when they become sensitive to everyone else and start policing their own adherents I’ll put forth the effort myself. I heard a report from somewhere that a school had a Muslim woman come in for an assembly where she discussed with the children exactly why Muslims don’t like us. And this is within a system where Jesus is a dirty word. If public schools are like this now I can’t imagine what they’d be like when any child I had would be ready to go. The only time a child of mine would ever step foot in a public school is if they were using the gym as a fall out shelter.”

“No 'anti-religion' platform will work during our lifetime in America.

Why?

The unwritten requirement to hold political office in America is that being Christianity, or professing to believe in a fantasy-God is is a requirement to getting elected in America.

... and we wonder why our politicians or so bad?”

“Sheesh! Don't get your whitey tighties all wadded up boys. There is nothing even remotely anti-religious here in this story. It Bush's ( your friend in God)Inaugararion for Pete's sake. They don't want crosses displayed. So what?

Nasty liberals might use them for nefarious purposes like slinging eggs.

Aren't Christians....especially Protestants supposed to eschew religious symbols. What's the big hubbub? Sounds like whining and bleating. Toughen up yee Christian soldiers. As long as ya got your bible, yourself and God ...you're set. Knock yourself out and worship in private all you want.”

““Huh. I thought liberals liked freedom. Guess not.”
Nigal
5:03:10 PM
1/12/05

"Erik Stanley of Liberty Counsel said he doesn't think the intent of the Secret Service is to ban a religious symbol."

The Secret Service must be a hotbed of liberals, eh Skippy?”

“Mathew 5 - puts out some very tough challenges. 5-42 is especially hard. What does the right wing have to say about Matthew 5. TT's cartoon raises some interesting questions. Funny how much the right wants to talk about things in the old testament and how much they ignore some of the big challenges posed by what the New Testament tells us Jesus said.”

“Interesting piece on NPR this morning:

People are paying $2,000 a night for hotel rooms for the Inaugural.

One hotel is offering a presidential special: $150,000 that includes a private jet flight to Washington and two actors who will pretend to be Secret Service agents assigned to protect you (and presumably a marimba band to play "Hail to the Chief" when you enter your suite).

One woman from Texas wanted to rent a fur because she didn't want to lug hers on the flight. She paid a $15,000 deposit for the fur she rented (PETA???).

People in cowboy boots and high heels will walk about three blocks from the parking area to the ball in the DC Armory.

Oh yeah, lots of money going down.”

“Well said ped.”

“So Ped, all conservatives acknowledge Jesus?”

“"The list of items prohibited from all event sites includes weapons of any kind, aerosols, supports for signs and placards, packages, coolers, thermal or glass containers, backpacks, laser pointers, bags larger than 8 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches and "any other items determined to be a potential safety hazard," the Secret Service said"


umbrellas and strollers are also prohibited items. Let's pray for rain.”

“I do feel sympathy for this Mahoney guy. He and his followers worked hard to get Bush elected and reelected. Yet the first things out of Bush's mouth are social security and tax reform. Oh, and expansion of No Child Left Behind.

It would be a bitter pill to swallow to support the guy and see how little his actual agenda includes the concerns of rightward Christians.”

“The latest news is that the SS has relented and will allow crosses at the inaugural...












...Iron Crosses!”

“Talking about MILF one minute, than Jesus the next. Red State values I guess.”

“Ha!”

“Mark - that's good stuff.”

“LMAO!”

“Everyone enjoys farts!!”

“dats tarded”

“"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."

-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.”

“A former White House official said yesterday that President Bush has failed to deliver on his promise to help religious groups serve the poor, the homeless and drug addicts because the administration lacks a genuine commitment to its "compassionate conservative" agenda.

David Kuo, who was deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for much of Bush's first term, said in published remarks that the White House reaped political benefits from the president's promise to help religious organizations win taxpayer funding to care for "the least, the last and the lost" in the United States. But he wrote: "There was minimal senior White House commitment to the faith-based agenda."

Analyzing Bush's failure to secure $8 billion in promised funding for the faith-based initiative during his first term, Kuo said there was "snoring indifference" among Republicans and "knee-jerk opposition" among Democrats in Congress.

"Capitol Hill gridlock could have been smashed by minimal West Wing effort," Kuo wrote on Beliefnet.com, a Web site on religion. "No administration since [Lyndon B. Johnson's] has had a more successful legislative record than this one. From tax cuts to Medicare, the White House gets what the White House really wants. It never really wanted the 'poor people stuff.' "

continued...”

“V, you need to get a life.”

“Ah, it's good to warm by the fuego!!!

What's that vIoLiN, "liars and crooks"??”

“I didn't read the article, but if true, how sad.”

“Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were having breakfast at a restaurant. The
> attractive waitress asks Cheney what he would like and he replies "I'll
> have a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit."
>
> "And what can I get for you, sir?" she asks George W.
>
> He replies, "How about a quickie?"
"Why, Mr. President," the waitress says, "how rude. you're starting to act like Mr. Clinton and you haven't even been in office for second term yet!

As the waitress storms away, Cheney leans over to Bush and whispers, "It's pronounced 'quiche.'"”

“got to remember that one..good one”

“For some reason I thought of Buddha Bear when I read that one joke.”

“Hmmmm, a nice gray box.”

“Looking at elderly porn again, geo?”

“This is good!: http://www.returnfalse.com/video/leno_president.mov

Free iTunes download: http://www.saddle-creek.com/bands/brighteyes/ click 'downloads' tab
last edited: 10/15/05 6:11:39 AM”

“What's missing from the White House Christmas card? Christmas.

This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy "holiday season."

Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."

Religious conservatives are miffed because they have been pressuring stores to advertise Christmas sales rather than "holiday specials" and urging schools to let students out for Christmas vacation rather than for "winter break." They celebrated when House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) insisted that the sparkling spectacle on the Capitol lawn should be called the Capitol Christmas Tree, not a holiday spruce.

Then along comes a generic season's greeting from the White House, paid for by the Republican National Committee. The cover art is also secular, if not humanist: It shows the presidential pets -- two dogs and a cat -- frolicking on a snowy White House lawn.

"Certainly President and Mrs. Bush, because of their faith, celebrate Christmas," said Susan Whitson, Laura Bush's press secretary. "Their cards in recent years have included best wishes for a holiday season, rather than Christmas wishes, because they are sent to people of all faiths."

That is the same rationale offered by major retailers for generic holiday catalogues, and it is accepted by groups such as the National Council of Churches. "I think it's more important to put Christ back into our war planning than into our Christmas cards," said the council's general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman.

But the White House's explanation does not satisfy the groups -- which have grown in number in recent years -- that believe there is, in the words of the Heritage Foundation, a "war on Christmas" involving an "ever-stronger push toward a neutered 'holiday' season so that non-Christians won't be even the slightest bit offended."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/06/AR2005120601900.html”

“This PC attack, you have to use the word Christmas - you have to elevate Christmas above the other year end holidays is such annoying BS.”

““This PC attack, you have to use the word Christmas - you have to elevate Christmas above the other year end holidays is such annoying BS.”

I disagree Ped. I don’t think it’s right that someone should have to water down their holiday out of fear of offending someone who celebrates one of the other holidays. If you are a Christian, then by Jesus, you tell people Merry Fukcing Christmas.

The day someone tries to force Happy Holidays on me rather than Happy Chanukah is the day they get a militant Zionist boot up the ass.”

“Oh, btw- Happy Chanukah ya big Heb!”

“Thing is people are bashing businesses and government people for not mentioning Christmas. Businesses want everybodies holiday money, so they say "Happy Holidays." Why give them grief for not making Christmas the headline thing in their ads.

I think Christmas displays are fine. If its on government property, make sure there is space available to mark other religions' holidays. If the only thing any one puts up is a Christmas Creche, that's fine. I can't see resenting other people celebrating their holidays. Putting pressure on people to start making Christmas messages more prominent is what bugs me.

I had a Jewish parent and a Christian parent. The christian side of the family was far more religious and got me to church pretty regularly, whereas temple mostly for when family members or friends had some special event), but I happily embraced both sets of holidays until I became a pagan so I could have even more. (Of course, Nigal, since my mom was the Christian parent, that makes me just as much a gentile as you according to the very orthodox.)”

“But the stores are only going for the Christian dollar. I don't know any Jews that give gifts other than small nick nacks. The comercial orgy surounds christmas.

"(Of course, Nigal, since my mom was the Christian parent, that makes me just as much a gentile as you according to the very orthodox.)”

Your mother wasn't Jewish? In the words of Grandma on American Pie III..."[sniff, sniff] GOY!! GOY!!!". LOL! So was your dad's side reform then?
last edited: 12/07/05 1:37:36 PM”

“I wouldn't mind Christmas so much if it weren't three frick'n months long!”

“WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush, already facing the lowest approval ratings in history, is coming under fire from former supporters over what they call his "ineffectual and incompetent" use of prayer for national guidance and assistance.

"Every time the president is criticized, he insists that the nation is in his prayers," said the Family Research Council's Bob Jensen. "That may be, but it's becoming more and more clear that these prayers are either too infrequent, too brief, or not strongly worded enough to be effective."

Jensen added: "This nation deserves more than a president who just pays lip service to prayer. It deserves a president who demands that his prayers get real-world results."

Despite assurances from the president that he "prays every day" for the nation's interests both at home and abroad, the mounting crises of recent months—escalating gas prices, the botched Dubai port security deal, ethics scandals, and the rising death toll in Iraq—have left many unimpressed with the effectiveness of his devotion.

Francine Gundersen, an Iowa mother and churchgoer, says she voted for Bush but is now having doubts about his commitment to prayer, particularly with regard to Iraq, where her son, P.F.C. Jason Gundersen, has served since June 2004.

"Bush says he prays for the soldiers' safe return, but if that's the case, where is my son, Mr. President?" she said.

The White House Office of Communications, which has denied any wrongpraying, released transcripts of Bush's inner dialogues with God from May 12 through Oct. 22, 2005 and tried to paint the president as "very close" to the Almighty, saying he speaks with Him "regularly."

"The president spends many hours each day alone in quiet contemplation," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "These allegations are, quite simply, absurd. The president is as strong a prayer as any who has occupied the White House."

In an interview on Fox News, Vice President Dick Cheney defended Bush, saying the president puts as much energy into prayer as he does into domestic policies.

"Half the time, I can't even get him on the phone because he's busy praying for the American people, the same people who are now so quick to criticize him," Cheney said. "If something's wrong with those prayers, I would suggest that it's perhaps the fault of a supernatural entity. But it's not the president's. He is doing his duty."

While newly released portions of White House prayer logs show that Bush's praying has actually gone up in recent months, critics are seeking to subpoena the documents in their entirety to determine the strength of those prayers.

The harshest criticisms continue to come from members of the president's conservative base, who insist that the proper devotional words must be used in prayer.

"There is a real possibility that the president misrepresented the number of times he invokes Jesus' power each day in accordance with the strict guidelines of scripture," said Henry Holbrook, senior fellow at the Intercession Institute, a leading conservative prayer tank. "Is he clasping his hands together tightly enough? Is he using the proper forms of the pronouns 'thine' and 'thou'? What about the verb 'hast'?"

Susan DiDomenico of the National Prayer Task Force said her organization is seeking "full disclosure" of any and all prayers Bush may have skipped or manipulated to seem more effective or holy.

-- theonion.com”

“WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush, already facing the lowest approval ratings in history, is coming under fire from former supporters over what they call his "ineffectual and incompetent" use of prayer for national guidance and assistance.
"Every time the president is criticized, he insists that the nation is in his prayers," said the Family Research Council's Bob Jensen. "That may be, but it's becoming more and more clear that these prayers are either too infrequent, too brief, or not strongly worded enough to be effective." Jensen added: "This nation deserves more than a president who just pays lip service to prayer. It deserves a president who demands that his prayers get real-world results."
Despite assurances from the president that he "prays every day" for the nation's interests both at home and abroad, the mounting crises of recent months—escalating gas prices, the botched Dubai port security deal, ethics scandals, and the rising death toll in Iraq—have left many unimpressed with the effectiveness of his devotion.
Francine Gundersen, an Iowa mother and churchgoer, says she voted for Bush but is now having doubts about his commitment to prayer, particularly with regard to Iraq, where her son, P.F.C. Jason Gundersen, has served since June 2004.
"Bush says he prays for the soldiers' safe return, but if that's the case, where is my son, Mr. President?" she said.
The White House Office of Communications, which has denied any wrongpraying, released transcripts of Bush's inner dialogues with God from May 12 through Oct. 22, 2005 and tried to paint the president as "very close" to the Almighty, saying he speaks with Him "regularly."
"The president spends many hours each day alone in quiet contemplation," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "These allegations are, quite simply, absurd. The president is as strong a prayer as any who has occupied the White House."
In an interview on Fox News, Vice President Dick Cheney defended Bush, saying the president puts as much energy into prayer as he does into domestic policies. "Half the time, I can't even get him on the phone because he's busy praying for the American people, the same people who are now so quick to criticize him," Cheney said. "If something's wrong with those prayers, I would suggest that it's perhaps the fault of a supernatural entity. But it's not the president's. He is doing his duty."
While newly released portions of White House prayer logs show that Bush's praying has actually gone up in recent months, critics are seeking to subpoena the documents in their entirety to determine the strength of those prayers.
The harshest criticisms continue to come from members of the president's conservative base, who insist that the proper devotional words must be used in prayer.
"There is a real possibility that the president misrepresented the number of times he invokes Jesus' power each day in accordance with the strict guidelines of scripture," said Henry Holbrook, senior fellow at the Intercession Institute, a leading conservative prayer tank. "Is he clasping his hands together tightly enough? Is he using the proper forms of the pronouns 'thine' and 'thou'? What about the verb 'hast'?"
Susan DiDomenico of the National Prayer Task Force said her organization is seeking "full disclosure" of any and all prayers Bush may have skipped or manipulated to seem more effective or holy.”

“Holy Crap!!!”

“Bigfoot needs to 'prey 'for him.”

“What's the source for this hogwash?”

“http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46938

Is it any wonder why Limpy didn't include a source?
last edited: 5/04/06 5:32:26 PM”

“limpy, why do you hate america so, with your unpatriotic satire? i'll pray for you”

“Kill da messenger for a mastah.”