t bob, My thoughts & more

Well, the filth and slime of the Republican party and their rotten and illegal election machine is in full swing.

Since Bush, theTexas twit, became president I have become acutely aware of how religion and politics are being merged in the US, something our Constitution forebade, that is until the Repubs shredded it and twisted it to serve their own political gains.

So what just happened is that the Rethuglicant party sent some 14,000 letters to legal immigrant Democratic party voters threatening them with jail and/or deportation if they voted in the coming 2006 elections. According to California state investigators the Rethug candidate who is connected with this is himself an immigrant. Talk about the repubs using vote suppression tactics, well, there it is staring us all in the face.

Remember these people were LEGAL naturalized citizens all of whom are Democratic Party voters. And the defense by the Rethugs was the Dems did it.

The entire Republikan(KKK and white supremacists and nazis') Party always blames someone else when they are caught for their obviously corrupt and/or criminal behavior. Their would be no reason why the Dems would want to deprive themselves of 14,000 votes in the Orange County, Calif. And this is supposed to be the party of God and the party of accountability. Next the rethugs will blame God for for their corrupt and /or criminal actions. Don't laugh, Karl Rove will find a way.

And the pope and the USCCB supports and endorses this, how has my religion gotten so corrupt, obviously they are so totally aligned with the Rethug party that their vision of the correct path for any religion to follow is completely warped. The Catholic church has descended into the slime pit of illegal politics with the Repub party.

I abhor the present and previous popes use of the religion to gain political power. This merging of religion and politics is an abomination unto God and man. How low will the pope go and for how long before he realizes the damage he is doing to MY America. The pope is a member of another country, the Vatican City State, and MUST not be allowed to involve himself in or exert control over US politics and policy both foreign and domestic. Unfortunately the Vatican is completely guilty of influencing US elections and policy, both domestic and foreign.

Apparently the Rev. Anthony Merceica, a Catholic priest confessed to some form of sexual involvement with Rep, Mark Foley(R-Fla, now resigned and under alocholic treatment). So this is another catholic priest pedophile that the catholic church should have gotten rid of a very long time ago, approx. 45 years ago, but obviously did not. So the priest is guilty of acting in sexually explicit ways with Mark Foley.

The priest's defense of his behavior is that (and he must have gotten this defense from the catholic church/ Karl Rove playbook of Repub defenses) was that that Foley, 13 at the time, might have 'MISTAKEN' (this is the blame it on the victim defense) the priests behavior as sexual, while at the same time claiming to be using drugs(as if that is any defense) and again at the same time admitted they both swam together naked and that he, the priest, performed 'massaging' (whatever that means) on Foley.

The other aspect of this situation is that Foley doesn't understand that this kind of activity by this priest did not make him, Foley, a pedophile and that it is absolutely no defense of his own behavior with congressional pages. Further, Foley, a catholic, is using another defense for his behavior which is that he is an alcoholic. Alcoholism, if he even is one, does not cause one to become a pedophile.

So now we not only have this unending priest/pedophile scandal which has been covered up by the catholic church forever but we also have the catholic church involvement in corrupting American politics and the ensuing damage to 300 million american citizens and the damage to 3000 dead american troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan but also the deaths of as many as 650,000 innocent Iraqi citizens via the total support of the Bush/ Repubs and their oil wars.

Then there is the matter of the lifelong devastation to the troops and their families due to the maiming and mental anguish they will carry with them throughout their lives and as sociologists report the torment that each family carries with them for, on average, the next three generations. Then there is the same three generations of damage in the personal lives of Iraqi and Afghani families. Next there is the ancillary/colateral damage that occurs in the communities where these american, Iraqi and afghani families live.

It's probably safe to estimate that many, many millions of people will bear the physical, emotional damage and societal damage caused by the Bush/ Repub oil wars and the complicity in and endorsement of the actions of Bush and his Repubs all of which accrues equally to the Catholic Church, the USCCB and the present and previous popes for their complete and total support for Bush and the entire Repub party.

Is anyone asking the pope, the USCCB(US Conference of Catholic Bishops) and the entire Catholic Church just how they are going to undo the enormous damage they have done to so many millions/ billions of human beings, all of whom are God's children.

And right now I am experiencing a profound sadness, a huge lump in my throat and the welling up of tears in my eyes. And this is in addition to my daily anger and the damage it is doing to me and my parents and members of my family who suffer just as I suffer, each and every day that this continues. I have lost almost all respect for my brother and sister for voting republican and their support of the actions of Bush and the Repub party.

I'm so glad most of my family and especially my aunt the nun has died and passed on into God's kingdom so they won't have to experience any of this. I hope they do not know what their church and their government is doing to so many human beings in this world.

There is no way in the entire history of time that hierarchy of the Catholic Church can absolve itself of these most heinous crimes against God and man. My aunt, a Domininican nun and the good Urusline nuns who educated me, never ever taught me that anything like what is going on now has any rightness to it. ALL of this is unforgiveable and an abomination unto God and man and all the peoples of this world and to our planet so generously bestowed upon us by the Almighty Creator.

A spokesperson for the archdiocese in Miami siad she was 'frustrated' by Foley's lawyers, so she is 'FRUSTRATED' and BLAMING Foley's lawyers. God please help us all is there no end to the Catholic Church's lack of responsibility in all of this.
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pause to cry and catch my breath

And now for more Republican crime

Rep. John Sweeney(R-NY) has reported/been caught/ is afraid of being caught so he reported taking money from Abramoff under seemingly illegal circumstances and for a trip to the Northern Marianas'. Was this a vacation or a trip to view their criminal and dehumanizing sweatshops or both.

And it all just never ends. It is amazing how far the Repub party and it's members will go because they are the party of god(small g) and covered with the mantle of 'righteousness'. And once again let's remember the SBC and the Catholic Church give their full support to this party and it's mindset of criminalizing God. WOW, this is all beyond imagination, I have to keep reminding myself that these two religions support and are part of all this via their support.

I am in a state of shock everyday. It gets worse at each new revelation of crime and corruption which seems to come out on an almost daily or weekly basis.

When is the pope ever going to publicly apologize for himself and the Catholic Church's involvement and support for the Repub party since Reagan became president, and which support has directly contributed to all of these events. He probably never will because he has no shame or humility. Nor does the Repub party have any shame or humility, they just continue committing crimes, both political and civil.

I sincerely believe it is God who, on judgement day, will decide who is righteous. Mere words of being 'born again' and self righteousness do not a truly righteous person make, even if there is such a thing as righteousness which could be nothing more than an artifact manufactured by the SBC fundamnetalist zealots.

In Islam there is an admonition which warns about self proclaimed and loudly proclaimed righteousness/ holiness and self aggrandizement. I am paraphrasing but that is the gist of the admonition and is one I live by, becoming even more convinced after reading about the Islamic religion over the past six years, as a result of the first Gulf War. My religion and religiosity is something personal as are my prayers. I do not go about procliaming my religiosity and praying out loud for all to hear. I think it's terribly wrong to aggrandize oneself by loudly proclaiming ones religiosity.

Ray Suarez, of PBS, in a recent interview about researching for his book, that one can live much/most of ones life in the north without ever having to divulge their religion or religious values. While in the south one only has to be there for fifteen minutes(he meant a short period of time) before being asked these things and having to explain oneself. I'm glad I don't live in the south. The constant throwing about of ones religious values is nothing more than self proclaimed self righteousness and self aggrandizement.

Only God, on judgement day, will determine who is righteous, and for any human being to do that demonstrates at least a complete lack of humility and quite possibly, at worst, claiming God-like powers and God-like knowledge. Those who claim to know the mind of God, as does George Bush, are possibly guilty of the sins of pride, blasphemy and heresy. Pride is the greatest of these... and pride goeth before the fall.

Islam reminds me that good works are necessary, while loudly proclaimed words mean very little to God. I think that is a great admonition and one we should all live by.

And finally Colorado's republican gubernatorial candidate, Bob Beauprez, has accessed a law enforcement only database in an attempt to SMEAR, a typical repub strategy, his opponent. The use of this database is strictly forbidden by law and punishable by fines and imprisonment. I'll bet neither Bob Beauprez nor any of his staff get tried or punished for this crime. And repub corruption gets worse and more numerous every day.

And once again the Catholic Church, my church, has chosen to ally itself with this kind of behavior, a crime, and Beauprez is another corrupt Catholic politician. The church should insist that catholic politicians be honest(without corruption) in their behavior but the church does no such thing. The church should neither support nor damn politicians of either political party but it supports some politicians(so catholic voters vote for them because the church tells them to do so) and outwardly condemns others just as they did with John Kerry.

The church publicly threatened Sen. Kerry, during his run for the presidency, with the loss of the Sacraments and possible excommunication and who can know how much damage they did to his presidential bid and how few catholics voted for him. So the Catholic Church has committed the cardinal sin of PRIDE by positioning itself as having a position equal to God via their judgement of him when only God can judge, not a man made institution run by a human being who in no way should ever act in a way that places itself/himself equal to God by performing a function which only God can perform.

And finally, I now look up not only the party of each political candidate that comes into the news for having committed either criminal or corrupt and slimy political acts but ADDITIONALLY make every effort to find out that persons religion. I look at every politician with a critical eye. But I am especially suspicious of and have little trust for those politicians who are Republicans and Catholics or white Baptists. And if they are from the southern confederate states I just have no trust at all for them.

These aforementioned seem to have no morals at all and will use any means to justify their ends. These people are not christians(Christ like) being full of hate, intolerance and viciousness just as are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and so many other so called religious leaders.

Jesus Christ DID NOT, NOT, NOT preach meaness, hate, viciousness or intolerance. Religions and politicians do preach these things. Jesus preached a message of love not hate and a message of life not the killing of others.