Perhaps, LW, you will draw upon some wisdom offered by R&B singer Al Wilson, in a 1968 song called, "The Snake."

On her way to work one morning, down the path alongside

the lake

A tender-hearted woman saw a poor half-frozen snake

His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew

"Oh well," she cried, "I'll take you in and I'll take care

of you"

"Take me in oh tender woman, take me in for heaven's sake,

Take me in, tender woman," sighed the snake

Now she wrapped him up all cozy in a coverture of silk

And then laid him by the fireside with some honey & some milk

She hurried home from work that night & as soon as she

arrived

She found that pretty snake she'd taken in had been revived

"Take me in oh tender woman, take me in for heaven's sake,

Take me in, tender woman," sighed the snake

She clutched him to her bosom, "You're so beautiful," she

cried

"But if I hadn't brought you in, by now you might have died"

She stroked his pretty skin again & then kissed & held him

tight

But instead of saying "Thanks," that snake gave her a

vicious bite

"I saved you!" cried that woman, "and you bit me even, why?

And you know your bite is poisonous & now I'm going to die"

"Oh shut up, silly woman," said that reptile with a grin

"You knew durn well I was a snake before you brought me in."

LW -- he has shown you who he is -- & you have chosen not to believe him. And I'm afraid that from this point forward, you are no longer a victim -- you're a volunteer.

I find that I am almost always in agreement with Cary -- but not this time. I, too, am a long-time atheist. I had religion and its purveyors figured out a long time ago, and it isn't a pretty picture. When I was raising my daughter, I saw protection of her fragile, suggestible, developing brain as my highest calling. You could not have forced me send her to bible camp if you had had a gun to my head. Nor would I ever have allowed her to attend church with friends or acquaintences -- not even once. Church and religion stand in opposition to every principle I hold dear. There is nothing benign about religion. It is poison -- pure, unadulterated evil.

Please accept the suggestion of another poster here and rent the documentary "Jesus Camp." Then, go onto Amazon or run over to your local book store and purchase two books by Sam Harris, "The End Of Faith," and "Letter To A Christian Nation." Then, read them both, cover to cover. You will be forever changed. I believe Harris' books will open your eyes to all of the various issues involved here and will equip you with the knowledge necessary for you to be strong and sure in your convictions. And never again will you have to wonder how you should handle this type of challenge. Finally, send the kids to horseback riding camp, or cooking camp, or fishing camp.

Your post read, in part,

"I disagree with Sarah Palin on just about everything, but she's earned the right to her own opinions. She smart, she's politically savvy, she successfully juggles her career and her kids, and apparently she can deliver one heck of a speech."

I'd like to respond, here, to a couple of your assertions:

In your post, you state that Sarah Palin is "smart." Well, let's review, shall we?

Palin is an evangelical Christian who believes that the universe was created six thousand years ago; that would be, uh, let's see -- hang on while I get my calculator -- about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue.

You additionally assert that Palin "successfully juggles her career and her kids." Hmmmm . . . again, let's look at her record.

In what can only be a direct reflection of her support for "abstinence-only sex education," Palin is now mother to an unwed, pregnant teenager. And, while there is a wide variety of criteria upon which a woman's success as a mother might be judged, I can tell you from personal experience that checking the box next to "unwed, pregnant teenage daughter" was not among the motherly "successes" to which I aspired.

Sarah Palin is a nitwit. And were she just a garden-variety nitwit who stayed at home & tended to her unwed, pregnant teenage daughter, I'm sure I couldn't care less about her obvious lack of brain power.

Unfortunately, such is not the case. Rather, Palin aims to bring her stupifyingly ignorant evangelical Christian zealotry to Washington, D.C., where, should she ever land in the oval office, she would work overtime to ensure that EVERY American public-school child be taught "abstinence-only sex education," creationism as a legitimate alternative to evolution, and a host of equally preposterous positions typically advanced by the boneheaded Christian nutbags of the lunatic fringe variety.

So please spare me your bullshit platitudes about Sarah Palin's "smarts" & "successes," & refrain from the lectures on how "I disagree with Sarah Palin on just about everything, but she's earned the right to her own opinions." The truth is that she & her feeble-minded ilk present the single most terrifying threat posed today to the future of this country & to the rights, privileges & freedoms currently taken for granted by America's asleep-at-the-wheel citizenry.

And make no mistake. Should McCain & Palin emerge victorious in November, those opinions, to which she has so "smartly" & "successfully" earned the right, will be employed by Palin and her fellow Christian pinheads in single-minded pursuit of the recasting of America as a Christian theocracy.

The time has arrived to WAKE THE FUCK UP & FIGHT THE THEOCRACY, before the Kool-Aid drinkers are in control of every aspect of our existence. Gary Kamiya not only didn't go too far in his criticism of Sarah Palin, he didn't go far enough.