There has been much talk in the news lately about religion and politics.  Evangelicals don’t want to vote for Romney because he’s Mormon, a former govenor of Utah held secret meetings on how to incorporate Mormonism into state policy, Huckabee once gave a speech to fellow Baptists on taking America back for Christ, blah, blah, blah, blah. 

Well, anyone who knows me knows that I have got something to say.

In 1620 a group of Separatists, now known as Pilgrims, founded the Plymouth Colony. The reason they did this was because the religious majority back in England - the Religious Right of their day - had declared them undesirables and persecuted them accordingly. In other words, they didn’t have the right to pray and worship as they believed. The majority religion forced their beliefs and their prayers on them. So, the Separatists left in search of Relgious Freedom from the majority.

Also, in the 1600’s after seeing the evils of violence and persecution, a young soldier named William Penn joined the Religious Society of Friends - another group not approved of by the religious majority in England. In 1681 King Charles II granted Penn a large tract of land in North America in rememberance of Penn’s father, not because King Charles II had any affection for William. William Penn founded his colony, now known as Pennslyvania, on the very Quaker principles of religious freedom and tolerance.

Today, the so-called Christian Right completely ignores that this country was, in fact, founded on freedom of religion and tolerance for other religions. They claim that because Christianity is the majority religion in the United States, that they have the right to force their brand of Christianity on everyone else. They completely ignore the fact that under the umbrella of Christianity is a wide and diverse group, many of whom don’t want prayer in public school. They completely ignore the fact that many of the more recent court cases involving prayer in public school were filed by various Christian groups who didn’t want a different brand of Christianity forced on their children. Do they imagine that a Quaker or a Mennonite would want someone from the Assembly of God teaching Christianity to their children or vice versa? No, it’s better to leave religious instruction to parents and the churches of their choice.

The Religious Right fails to offer any real evidence that not having a state-sanctioned teacher lead prayer in public school infringes on anybody’s religious freedom. Last time I checked, students did have the right to pray individually and to assemble if that’s what they wanted to do. On the flip side of that, non-Christians also have the right to pray and assemble, which really seems to drive the Religious Right crazy. Because, you see, the Christian Right doesn’t really believe in freedom of religion - except for themselves. All other religions are "undesirable" and must be supressed, which if exactly the kind of thinking the Founders came here to get away from.

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Take a week off because of holiday and family sickness, and the whole world goes nuts on you!  While I was away last week Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan.  This is something I do not understand - the need to blow up/kill people you don’t agree with.  I don’t like Hillary Clinton, but I"m not going to try and blow her up!  Unfortunately, I have recently discovered that my state doesn’t have a democratic primary - no wonder the candidates don’t come here - so, I can’t vote against her in the primaries.  However, IF she makes it to the general election, I can do my part in the democratic process and vote against her.

Then, after it was all over I heard Ron Paul on television talking about it, and I was stunned how much I agree with him.  He said, "It’s their country.  Let them sort it out for themselves."  Seriously, someone said the international community won’t let terrorists take over the country, but as far as I can see, they already did.

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Pakistan’s freedom fighter Benazir Bhutto was gunned down while waving at her supporters from a car. She was the prominent leader for the voice of change in Pakistan accumulating many supporters and enemies over the years. This chain of events threw Pakistan into chaos and threatens the stability of the whole government only 12 months days elections. Could this mean for a more unstable middle east? Pakistan is a nuclear nations…the international community will not let terrorist topple the fragile government. What are your thoughts??

Read the whole story on Yahoo 

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Boom!  Ron Paul and his supporters set a record for raising the most money in a 24 hour period ever.  They raised six million dollars on Sunday, and those are just the processed credit card receipts.  There’s still other pledges coming in! 

Sunday was also the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

I don’t like Ron Paul, but he definitely has the potential to make the election a lot more interesting.

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The king of Saudi Arabia pardoned a rape victim who had been sentenced to 400 lashes and six months in jail.  That’s right, I said a rape VICTIM, not the offender.  Because in Saudia Arabia, if a woman is raped, she must’ve been asking for it.

This case sparked international outrage and focused attention on how badly Saudi women are treated.  Saudi women are amoung other things are considered to be in the custody of either their husband or father.  This particular woman met a male photographer in a public mall, which is what she did that some how justified raping her. 

The woman’s husband has been very verbal and outgoing in his support/defense of his wife.   

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A very bored Icelandic teenage called the White House, convinced the White House that he was the president of Iceland, and managed to schedule a call with President Bush.  Unfortunately, he was found out before he got to talk to the Shrub.  I would have paid good money to have heard THAT conversation.  I wonder if I call the White House and claim to be President of Virginia, if they’ll let me give Bush a piece of my mind?

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Okay, Joe Biden didn’t really say that, but he might as well have:

Are you telling me a president who is briefed every single morning, who is fixated on Iran, is not told back in August that the tentative conclusion of 16 intelligence agencies in the United States government said they had abandoned their effort for a nuclear weapon in ’03?” Biden said in a conference call with reporters.

“That’s not believable,” Biden added. “I refuse to believe that. If that’s true, he has the most incompetent staff in … modern American history and he’s one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/biden-bush-either-not-truthful-or-incompetent-on-iran-2007-12-04.html

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I know I don’t usually talk about the Republican candidates for President.  I’m pretty unabashed in my Democrat leanings, and the ongoing Clinton - Obama war is just so entertaining.  But, recently, members of the media have tried to goad Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, into making negative comments about Mormonism and Mitt Romney.  Proving himself to be a class act, Huckabee refused to take the bait:

"I don’t think it’s relevant to the presidency. I really don’t," he said. "You know, I get all these questions about somebody else’s religion. I only want to address the ones about my own, and I think some of those get a little bit almost unfortunately laborious because, you know, we ought to be talking about education and health care and energy independence and all these other things."

Perhaps Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be sliding in the polls if she took a lesson from Huckabee.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_po/huckabee_religion

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This has come to the attention of the general public because of the movie ‘Awake.’  30,000 people a year are mentally alert during surgery.  They are physically paralized, but feel every cut and hear everything around them.  I’ve known about it, and am choosing to blog about it, because it happened to me when my son was born.  Because of the way my spine curves, having an epidural and being awake during my c-section was not supposed to be an option.  I was supposed to be under general anestesia.

Read the rest of this entry »

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A Japanese Court ordered Toyota to pay compensation to the widow of an employee that courts ruled was literally worked to death.  The deceased had logged more than 106 hours of OVERTIME  in the month before his death.  Toyota tried to wiggle out of paying the compensation by claiming he’d only worked a mere 45 hours overtime, which is why it went to court, and we get to read about it. 

Working people to death is apparently a serious problem in Japan.  In the fiscal year 2005-2006 the labor ministry received 315 requests for compensation from families’ who had a loved one worked to death. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071130/od_nm/overwork_dc;_ylt=AhwQWscfuOg5WTGtj.Xp7QHtiBIF

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