Conan, interesting that you mention that passage from Matthew.

I referenced the Gospel of Matthew in a post I wrote earlier today concerning the conflagration of religion and politics in America. It is interesting then that Joan Walsh chooses to approach this same topic (mine is even more partisan, and certainly more opinionated -- I do not need to keep up the pretense of fairness; check out the posting by clicking my signature).

I think Big Religion in America is a criminal racket and its leaders should be locked up under RICO prosecutions.

This has nothing to do with my feelings about the core dogma of Christianity itself, which surely to a person not one mega church pastor is a practitioner of. The philosophy of the religious right bears no resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount.

Personally, I think God should be tried and executed for war crimes, but since he doesn't exist, maybe we should be focusing our attention on real war criminals Cheney and Bush.

That however is an unpopular opinion, and were I running for president, I would keep it to myself. In fact, I would be God's beer mate (see also: George Bush).

Now, God doesn't exist, that much is clear, but He helps people sleep at night while committing atrocities. I'm not just talking about genocide and rape, but the sin of being an idiot.

Barack Obama needs to get out in front of this and be God's pick-up basketball pal. Why? Because according to Bill Clinton, Obama is not a Muslim "as far as he knows."

Joan Walsh, who claims the mantle of Catholicism (Irish Catholicism -- poor put upon Joan..), sleeps at night in spite running with the most underhandedly passive-aggressive Clintonian talking points and now, lacking direction from Mark Penn, is taking them from Karl Rove. Is Barack religious enough Joan? Are you concerned? Too religious? He just can't win.

I think that sums it up. He can't win, according to you, no matter what he does. He's running in the national election now, which means he has to convince the stupid to vote for him. Now you may not yourself be stupid per se, Joan, but when the stupid read that you are concerned, they too become concerned. So Barack has to go out there and shuck and jive. "I'm a Christian, honest!"

Some people will believe anything. Barack Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, a black radical, he's too black, he's too white. (He's an atheist, I'd like to believe). There is an invisible man in the sky who created you and has a list of things you can and can't do and if you break his rules he will make you burn and suffer forever. But he loves you. And he needs your money.

The problem, by the way, with a Christian Nation is that it makes anyone who isn't Christian a second class citizen automatically. Nevermind that this class system, and others, have existed in America for a long time, it should not be. But it is. Jews, Muslims, Atheists are all second class and can expect less privilege and protection from Government, less ability to hold office. The rich and the powerful enjoy immunity from prosecution. If the president does it, it is not illegal. Largely, all these things are true.

Should Obama have the courage to say, "you know, I'm an atheist and religion is bullshit; America is racist and George Bush should go to jail"? Well, I don't know if he thinks or believes any of those things. I do. I wish a politician could stand up and speak for me and say those things. That politician would have a short career.

Thank you for sharing your concerns, Joan. I thought I would share some of mine. Let the healing begin.

Crazy in the head, crazy in the bed.

I reject the Holy Spirit.

Yes brothers and sisters, say it with me!

We evolved from other Primates! The world is billions of years old! Oil is not infinitely replenished! Jesus is never coming back!

I hope you realize that I, for one, will dig into Joan not because her sex organs are not on the outside of her body but because she engages in intellectually confused, daft exercises like the article on which we are commenting.

Some may be sexist, but there is plenty of ammunition for those who choose to look past Ms Walsh's chromosomal X-yness.

Cheers. There is no God.

And anyone who has ever listened to the Drive-by Truckers knows it.

Despise Rachel Maddow?

Despise?

Despise???

Wow. I see you are concerned.

I for one am thrilled! Go Rachel! Er, Dr. Maddow that is. My father and step-mom just discovered her too, and they are thrilled. Everyone I know is thrilled. This is great news for the amorphous sludge that is regular cable TV punditry. A diamond in the rough, a pearl before the swine as it were.

Also, I hope she has you on her show, Glenn.

Once again, congratulations Dr Maddow. Look forward to seeing your show!

Come on, is this how we show our gratitude to a calculating, shrill, partisan who ran a deplorable campaign?

(After all, we elect Republicans who do this.)

When Governor Clinton's wife was still preparing for Wal*Mart's full on assault on labor, Joe Biden was already a respected senior senator.

Your gal never had it. This is karma.

I don't always agree with Biden, but I have always liked him. And he is extremely smart and capable.

What the hell has Hillary Clinton ever done to earn anyone's trust??

Glenn,

I'm sure you are aware of the AP piece that went out criticizing Obama for his choice of Biden. Regardless of what you or I think of Senators Biden and Obama, don't you think that the news analysis shouldn't be written by someone who was courted by the McCain campaign for a senior communications position?

I slapped together a brief blog about the item, in my sig.