It still remains a mystery to me how McCain chose Palin. The right-wing chorus of praise for her is so perfect that one wonders if they had been preparing for this all along. Who mentioned her to McCain? And was she forcefully recommended by right-wing pressure groups or did he make that choice by himself, looking to pacify them? This is important, because I'd like to know if McCain is a pawn or a cynical gambler. Either way, scary. Obviously he himself doesn't buy all that God stuff, and my gut feeling is that on issues like gay marriage he really doesn't give a sh.t. So if they influenced McCain on this, they can influence him on Supreme Court Justices. Of course the Senate would need to confirm them, but recent history has shown that the democratic senate can be pretty spineless in the face of a ruthless administration. So the overturning of Roe v Wade is not more a stretch of the imagination than the choice of Palin was. What might happen then? Will states have the final word? Also, the energy policy might be fun to watch. The high-tech surveillance of citizens and rigging of elections will also be interesting. If these people get their way, the world will watch as America hurtles off the cliff. I think I will join you in France, Steve.

'"The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," declared John McCain back in September 2007.' But wasn't the glory of the Constitution that it established the United States as a secular nation? And wasn't the whole basis of the US Constitution the acknowledgement of the failure, in the English Revolution and in New England Puritanism, of Ms Palin's ram-it-down-thy-neighbour's-throat moralism?

Voters for the McCain/Palin ticket are not stupid. Self serving, maybe - apathetic, maybe - misinformed, maybe - but not stupid. Their leaders, with the help of big oil, big business, big media, and big religion have convinced a large portion of the American people that maybe they are not so bad. For many Republicans, their lives are hunky dory and they do not want that to change, and are amoral, not immoral toward the plight of the poor. They feel they had to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, so why not everybody else. Even those with easy lives from birth believe they were somehow chosen for an easy life. And no one thinks their life is easy. The war in Iraq may be stupid, but now that we are in it, they want to win it. The really big schism for me is how self-righteous the fundamentalist Christians are. How can a fundamentalist Christian be so callous to their fellow man? SCHIP insurance for children comes to mind. How can it be that they do not seek out truth, empathy, and the willingness to let government help their fellow mankind? How can they let their leaders debase all the values and freedoms America fought so hard to keep? To set up a more fair and just system for the victims of catastrophe, the helpless and the indigent? In my opinion, that is wicked. Not stupid, but selfish wicked.

OMG is the only thing that comes to mind, separation of church and state is what this country was based on!

Bring it on! Most of us SGI members will go to prison and even die for our Buddhist practise. Maybe that's what it's going to take to get the liberals motivated enough to act up! They can't keep us all down, and if we all act up, they'll crash, and the revolution will be in good shape. All the queers, all the Buddhists, are we going [back] in the closets? How far are we going to let this go? When will we lose that one freedom too many that sends the whole thing over the edge? Because I am queer, I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, I'm a woman (who never needed an abortion but supports it), and a bunch of other radical things that put me in danger if these people get their way. I don't plan to go down that way. This far! No Further!! I'm with you Ralph Nader!!

SARAH PALIN IS A ZEALOT. HER RELIGIOUS SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL DO EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE IF SHE IS IN A SERIOUS POSITION IN GOVERNMENT.

I too had the Gidget analagy when I watched her giving the speech at the RNC. "Gidget Goes to the White House" was my thought. Her enthusiasm in tandem with her mentality is a very frightening thing. I don't trust her devotion to God any more than I would a passionate Islamist.

If this nation is a Christian nation - why did the founding fathers not restrict the influx of non-Christians or even forbid so. Coming as a legal first generation immigrant to the United States 39 years ago (yes I was baptized once and did not need to be re-born) I am finding this charade in the name of organized religion distasteful. What happened to what is written on the Statute of Liberty - last time I read i, it said "Give me your tired, your pour etc and there was no mention of hold back Jews and or any non-Christians. The United States is a MELTING POT, since when did the squabble over choice of a woman regarding her own body which only she has to live with gain more important than the economic/financial/environmental disasters that are facing the nation? A nation at war killing innocent people (we don't even know the numbers) ordered to be waged by two draft-dodgers who had "better things to do" during Vietnam? And now a new (old) WAR-MONGER and a CHRISTIAN lunatic (yes they come in female form as well) are gaining momentum. Boy am I glad to be an ex-patriot American at this point in my life....................................... in one of the FEW areas of the world where Americans are still welcome and not despised.

And so what? White women are drawn to Palin in droves. I have never been so disappointed in my gender as now. They are not voting on issues or substance or experience. They are voting because she is a woman. What was all the fighting about women's equality? So many still can't even THINK!

The Christians are the only religionists dedicated to forcing their beliefs onto others. They must be contained, and forced as necessary to mind their boundaries. I don't care what they envision as their "mission" -- their religious "freedom" ends at the point where everyone else's begins. Religious freedom is every American's civil and political right. But that's only the beginning with Sarah Palin and her ilk. She is also the worst kind of anti-intellectual -- she attributes all her ignorance to God's decisions, thereby relieving herself of the need to understand such issues as evolution, global warming, and the functions of stem cells. God knows better! We had better learn.

Undoubtedly John McCoot and Sarah Palin will be bad for our country--and undoubtedly they will be sworn in next January. The G.O.P.'s history of "winning" by any means will accomplish this--voters in black districts will be suppressed (again), Diebold voting machines will fudge the results (again), and if necessary the "Right"-leaning Supreme Court will tip the balance (again). It may be time to apply for Irish or Canadian or French citizenship, for the new, enlarged GITMO will not be large enough to hold all of us who disagree with the G.O.P.

I don't see any difference between Christians voting their views and convictions in America than gays & liberals voting their views. Why would we see it any differently than you see it? You could just as easily say "these warriors of gay rights could find themselves only a heartbeat away from their long-held goal of turning America into an ultra-leftwing ... nation." Let's be "fair and balanced here."

McCain reminds me of Dr. Evil and Palin reminds me of a Fembot! What a combination. If women vote for this ticket, say goodbye to women's rights.

The news that Palin is a right-wing fundamentalist Christian who would finish what George Bush has started is bad enough. The disrespectful title of the article is overkill. Just czu McCain's handlers are up to their usual dirty tricks doesn't mean the rest of us have to be.

John McCain has proved that he is still the irresponsible unwilling to learn person who graduated 5th from the bottom of his naval academy class of 800 cadets by gambling the future of this great country by picking an unqualified woman with extreme right wing views which are not shared by the majority of Americans. It's frightening that the press are afraid of questioning McCain because of his Vietnam experience, and Palin because she's a woman! WHAT ABOUT THE ISSUES???

We're a nation of puppets and we recognize a kindred spirit in Palin just as we recognized it in GWB. And a special thanks to all you Naderites for conspiring to hand Washington over to the puppets and their makers once again. Free thinkers? Don't make me laugh! Eight years of Bush and nobody's learned a damned thing.

There are plenty of reasons to oppose Palin without distorting her words. In fact the videotape shows that she urged churchgoers to pray for leaders to do God's will in Iraq, which is different from stating that what they are doing is God's will. She probably believes the latter, but that's not what she said in church. Anyone who prays might pray for our leaders to do God's will, whatever it may be. And anyone who reads The Ten Commandments or the New Testament knows that it isn't God's will that we invade countries that aren't a threat, nor that we slaughter thousands of innocents, as we have done in Iraq.

Better for the world and it's youth that Palin were a "Condom-Mom."

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. He's 72 and wants to be president before he dies. That leaves him a very narrow window of opportunity. Realizing that he couldn't have his "last wish"without nuts such as Dodson in his corner, McCain went way past cave in because negotiating would have required time that he believes is non-negotiable. If he dies in office, so what. He got his wish and the nation can clean up his mess. So why get upset? Are you going to deny an old man his last desire?

Regarding the comment that "white women are drawn to Palin in droves"... according to a 9/9/08 CNN article, polls show that most of Palin's support is coming from *men*. Maybe McCain's pick wasn't so ridiculous after all; perhaps he realized that many other men would be blinded by a pretty face and a nice ass, just as he was, and they'd overlook her lack of qualifications, just as he did. Not saying *all* men are like that, but it only takes a handful, in a few swing states, and the election is his.

GIVE OBAMA A CHANCE TO MAKE US PROUD AMERICANS AGAIN-TO 16:05 bob

can someone please remind these values voters that they had six years of a totally right wing executive, legislative and even judicial branch. And in the mean time, Roe V Wade was not overturned, gays are still getting married, and the Al Aqsa mosque was not destroyed to make way for the third temple. So what more do these guys want? How far to the right do we have to go before these guys get their dogmatic wet dream? And what do they hve to say about teh fact that the GOP threw them no bones in the six years they had a full court press in Washington?

"However absurd one finds all this, Palin's religious convictions should normally remain her own private concern." If someone is religious, they make the world that much more dangerous for those of us that don't believe in the great cloud being. The religious start wars, kill doctors, and deny rights based on books written by men who lived in caves. Atheists? Not so much. Moderate and liberal religious types just give ammunition to the kooks. I wish people would grow up and accept responsibility for themselves and their fellow human beings.

** Welcome to “The Handmaid's Tale”, America ** McCain is a dupe. Now he’s just along for a ride into the abyss of fundamentalist political ideology, dominionism. Palin comes "wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." She is exactly the gender traitor dominionists need to create the xian Iran of their dreams, under xian imams, xian thugs, and their corporate overlords. Have you ever read or ever viewed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood? A one sentence synopsis: “In a dystopicly polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.” IMDb.com/title/tt0099731 Atwood depicts a society in which women have been stripped of all rights in a fragment of a failed America, known as Gilead, a country controlled by christian fundamentalist terrorists. Obama PACs should buy The Handmaid's Tale, novel and DVD, by the box load and hand copies to every media person they know. Get TV outlets to broadcast it. If necessary buy time to show The Handmaid’s Tale in critical markets. Palin is a puritanical atavism directly from the pages of Atwood’s dystopia. She comes from an all-to-possible future we must avert.

Yet another reason to default McCain. But how many people are willing to think that through?

Nobody ever underestimated the intelligence of the American voter. They're easy picking for a corporate press. Tired, overworked, underpaid. ..they just want to feel safe and secure. A pretty face with a Mother Teresa demeanor and a side order of right wing nutjob will do the trick.

I really don't give a rat's ass what this creature thinks or doesn't think. The U.S. Constitution guarantees that we think for ourselves. It's called freedom of speech. The US is a diverse, polyglot nation, however much these right-wing Christian fundamentalist morons might want to change it. Be afraid, America, be very, very afraid! Don't vote for fringe lunatics who want to control all aspects of your life, including what comes out of your mouth, what you put down on paper, and what goes on in your bedroom.

All it takes is a bit of research to know just what a phony this person is, not just in politics but her own personal life. She can't be consistent on important matters. Let me see she started out Catholic, then became Pentecostal until that would be detrimental to her run for governor...now she is nothing! hmmm Let me see then she went to six different colleges over six years--to earn a bachelors degree. There is no confirmation of her attending schools in Alaska or Idaho.....hmmm Oh yes, she had five children, one severly disabled and one in crisis. Oh but being a mother is not what she wants to be now either--and she doesn't believe in birth control--for her, her daugther or you!! Oh then there are the very serious misrepresentations of her job as governor, a regular little pit bull as McCain described her--with lipstick. Well as it turns out she stands on stage and loudly proclaims how she refused money from Congress. Really, well the records show differently. That is just one. And my favorite, her firing of a public servant who would not fire he former brother in law from the State Patrol. Let me see, the last time Ii checked that would be abuse of power--and she is currently under investigation for this. Kind of makes you feel all warm and fussy, like when Cheney intimidated the CIA over Valerie Plame???? That is the last thing we need in office again, a power hungry fool!!!!! So can someone explain how this devout and publicly proclaimed person can show their face on stage and in ads when we know the truth? She is a lying hypocrite at best and certainly not someone qualified to be Vice President and so close to the Oval Office.

Respectrully here is the way I dare speak...... It is essential that our government remain secular as the constitution states. For those who don't understand you must open your eyes and take a look at those countries that are not. People are entitled to their personal beliefs. Forcing them on others is quite another matter. Continuing the absurd policies of the current President with McCain is irrational. pb

Has anyone looked into Palin's educational background? Has she graduated from college; has she taken high school civics at the very least and has she read the Constitution of the US? I think that we are concentrating on the looks and appeal of the stereotypic waitress, her alleged views on abortion, same sex marriage, etc., and have not paid sufficient attention to whether she is capable of learning what she is supposed to be doing if and when she is elected vice president or God forbid president if McCain were to die in office. We have already had at least one moron in office for 8 years who has gotten us into a great deal of trouble internationally and economically . Please consider the ability of the candidates most of all.

You can't believe the Bible is literally true and believe that aborting a fetus is murder. Genesis 2:7 says that Adam wasn't a living soul until God gave him the breath of life. Exodus 21:22 says that if two men are fighting and cause a woman to abort her child, they must pay the father for the loss of his property, the fetus. Ecclesiastes 6:3 says that unless a man has a good life and a proper burial it is better that he be stillborn. People who say they believe the Bible is literally true should read it some time, Especially those scriptures where God commands the Israelites to commit genocide, killing men, women, children and that would include pregnant women and their fetuses. I don't believe God commits murder or commands others to do so.

Christ taught us to love God; to love your neighbor as yourself and to love your enemy. The"new and everlasting covenant" is about promoting the common good, not the chosen few of the old covenant. These people are not Christians-they're Anti-Christians

Have the republicans noticed that they have completely lost control of their party? The sponsorship of McCain and Palin for America's highest office is an irresponsible, possibly criminal act, for which this country will pay dearly if they are elected. Listen to Obama please: America is better than this. Note to McCain: Constantly blowing your own horn about your POW experience does not convince anyone that you are better qualified. Lying about your opponent makes you look dishonorable. What a shame. Picking Sarah Palin makes you look like an idiot and a pawn, not a statesman. Sorry, old man.

The big dichotomy... I don't get how the party of the neocons gets the votes of the Christian right. Were those all Christians at the ENRON parties? Didn't jesus say something about turning the other cheek? The Republican mantra is not "Drill Baby Drill", but "The world is REALLY scary, you should be terrified of anyone who doesn't think like us, it might make you GAY or you might be forced to have an ABORTION". The right couldn't possible be more wrong.

These are not Christians, but ANTI-Christians. Very very insightful, since in Greek anti can mean "instead of" or a replacement-counterfeit (cf: Liddell and Scott's unabridged Lexicon of Classical Greek). These wingnut Christians are indeed anti-Christians in every sense of the Greek word. Ironically, they may represent the very Anti-Christ they claim is presented in the Apocalypsis of St. John. Just a thought, but how wonderfully ironic.

The ball is in Joe Biden's camp. Here's an exceptional occasion to kill the Palin myth! Go Joe go!

It is extremely embarrassing and difficult to be a liberal Christian minister in this day and age. There are so many Christians (like those everyone is writing about) who have bastardized the religion and made it into something it is not. I wish people would understand that Jesus was an iconoclast, speaking out against the hypocrites of his day. If we would really pay attention to what he was saying and if we endeavored to follow his suggestions for living a good life, we would understand that what the Christian right and fundamentalists are expounding are man made rules that have nothing to do with Jesus' message. I asked my husband the other day where he would like to move to if the Republicans win. So far, Canada is the favorite. I don't know if they'll take us, but we can try. Pray for the highest good for our country.

to j. andersen,(see above) unalienable rights are human rights. this republican party supports taking unalienable human rights and listing them under crimes and criminal behaviors. back to the drawing board. thanks for the history lesson. pro-life and pro-choice.

I am so damned sick of all the religious crap in our politics I could puke! This is what happens people when you don't get involved! The religious right has been working this path for decades! Wake up or you'll get what you deserve with Bush II and the sociopath.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain." A pipeline? "God's will"?!? Why are the fundamentalist Christians not coming out of the woodwork to burn this blasphemous bitch at the stake, politically speaking?

Christian Republican males will vote for McCain because, among other things, they think on some semiconscious or unconscious level that it will improve their chances of getting into the panties of women that look and think like Palin. So what if McCain's policies, combined with Palin's relgious extremism turns this country into a fascist, militant theocracy that goes bankrupt. These chickenhawks voted for the tits and boobs, and Jesus, and Bush-Mccain's machismo war machines that make them obscenely rich... so what do they care what would Jesus do if he was here again, because they believe that Jesus will forgive them of all their selfishness, greed and arrogance; as a result, they believe that when the time comes and they've ruined the Earth, they can take their wealth and power with them to heaven after they become immortal by the way of the Rapture. So in that way, the unchristian neocons that claim they are Christians, can have their cake and eat it, too... at the expense of our rights, drained us of all of our money and our very lives of course, but what do they care? Thanks to Bush in power, they got theirs.

Our Declaration of Independence does not come from Christian origins. Most of the founding Fathers were Freemasons,and Huminists, or claimed no religious belief at all. If you want to argue this passage "The laws of Nature and Natures God" is clear they are talking about "mother nature" or science "natures God" It's PAGAN all over!!

has anyone thought this woman could be the anti christ?

Saint Francis of Assisi, Italy, the Saint who was talking to the the wolf, and teach love to all creature, to the sun to the star to the moon, because all were beautiful and all of them creation of God. I really don't see any link with the appalling misbelieve of Palin and the true Christianity.

Along with books being banished, women's right set back 2000 years, faux-Christianity forced down our gullets, gay rights abolished, education bankrupted, all intellectuals, artists and dissenters best beware. They are next to be eliminated. We've seen it all before. Remember?

I am convinced that she TRIED TO CAUSE A MISCARRIAGE with her latest baby. Why else did she go out of her way to avoid medical treatment and schedule a trip to Dallas while she was leaking amniotic fluid and was obviously going into labor a month early?

John McCain is not only a war hero, but is actually a "war lover." He has supported every military move by this nation, and looks first for a power or military response to every conflict that pops up. His instant reaction to the situation in Georgia ("We are all Georgians") shows he has no appreciation for the complexity of the situation. Where thoughtful analysis is called for we get quick gut reactions...helped along by close advisors were recently paid agents for one of the participants. We see in this case that it wasn't a simple matter of the Big Bad Bear running roughshod over its neighbor...all sorts of religious, ethnic, nationalistic divisions were in the mix. There usually are two or more sides to most issues, and unless our leaders can see this we are in for endless conflict. John McCain doesn't seem to get this.

To Mr. Anderson, I am so sick of the Christians' hypocrisy:I love how Christians interpret "Creator" to mean a Caucasian-looking deity floating in the heavens as opposed to "Nature." I love how Christians seem to embrace any reference to GOD as a reference to something "above" or "different" from "Nature." Perhaps that is what eases their minds when they vote for people whose policies destroy the very "Nature"that GOD (whatever he/she/it is to an individual) obviously intended for humans to live in balance with. And if you truly believe all people are "created equal," whether by Nature, or the floating white head you envision, you should believe that "he" would not condone prejudices against those who are "different" than how you perceive yourself to be. I'm sickened by the fact that most Christians I know vote for people that are obviously immoral because of rhetoric about abortion and gay rights. Do abortion and gay rights really weigh on your day-to-day life MORE than all the other injustices we impose as a nation on ourselves, our children and other nations. Wake up! -S

'all come to my church' mindset--question is: do you really want to come to my church or do you really want me in your church??have you really thought about this??

Read Katha Pollit's excellent column about Palin in the current issue of The Nation: "Lipstick on a Wing Nut": http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/pollitt

I am so tired of the hypocrisy. The Republican machine has questioned the patriotism of both Barak and Michelle Obama. They have gone so far as to accuse Michelle Obama's fist bump as a terrorist action! Then we are told that Palin's family is hands off! So do we just ignore the information that Sarah Palin's husband is affiliated with a secessionist group and she is supportive of his involvement? This is a man who wants the state of Alaska to secede from the US! The last time this occurred, we ended up engaging in a Civil War! Is this not treasonous behavior. This smells of militia mentality. My grandfather used to say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck!

Many Religious Right activists have attempted to rewrite history by asserting that the United States government derived from Christian foundations, that our Founding Fathers originally aimed for a Christian nation. This idea simply does not hold to the historical evidence. Of course many Americans did practice Christianity, but so also did many believe in deistic philosophy. Indeed, most of our influential Founding Fathers, although they respected the rights of other religionists, held to deism and Freemasonry tenets rather than to Christianity. 1799, Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11: "...the United States is in no way a Christian nation..." Unanimously by both chambers of Congress and signed by John Adams, the "father" of the Declaration of Independence. The United States Constitution serves as the law of the land for America and indicates the intent of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution forms a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity, Jesus, or any supreme being. (For those who think the date of the Constitution contradicts the last sentence, see note 1 at the end.) The U.S. government derives from people (not God), as it clearly states in the preamble: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union...." The omission of God in the Constitution did not come out of forgetfulness, but rather out of the Founding Fathers purposeful intentions to keep government separate from religion. From the 1rst Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make NO law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” [capital letters, mine] Moreover, the mentioning of God in the Declaration does not describe the personal God of Christianity. Thomas Jefferson who held deist beliefs, wrote the majority of the Declaration. The Declaration describes "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." This nature's view of God agrees with deist philosophy and might even appeal to those of pantheistical beliefs, but any attempt to use the Declaration as a support for Christianity will fail for this reason alone. Note 1: The end of the Constitution records the year of its ratification, "the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven." Although, indeed, it uses the word "Lord", it does not refer to Jesus but rather to the dating method. Incredibly, some Christians attempt to use this as justification for a Christian derived Constitution. The term simply conveys a written English form of the Latin, Anno Domini (AD), which means the year of our Lord (no, it does not mean After Death). This scripted form served as a common way of dating in the 1700s. The Constitution also uses many pagan words such as January (from the two-headed Roman god, Janus), and Sunday (from the word Sunne, which refers to the Saxon Sun god). Can you imagine the ludicrous position of someone trying to argue for the justification of a pagan god based Constitution? The same goes to any Christian who attempts to use a dating convention as an argument against the Constitution's secular nature, and can only paint himself as naive, or worse, as dishonest and deceiving. (For a satire on using calendar words to support pagan Gods, see The United States: A Country founded on paganism. http://www.nobeliefs.com/pagan.htm

Because this column is about the reactionary religion of a key political candidate, I am sharing comments below providing an alternative perspective regarding that religion. It is not my usual practice, but in this case, it is on topic and appropriate. My comments also come full circle as they are applied to my observations of the candidate. We progressive Christians like to think that we are actually attempting to live according to the Gospels. For example, even if the framers hadn't made the separation of church and state clear, Jesus mostly certainly did. It's also crucial that we take back the word "evangelical" from the fundamentalists, literalists and millienials. Paul charged all Jesus-followers to be evangelical (from the Greek, same root as "heaven" and "angel"). It means we live by the Gospels and use our lives as examples to share the Good News. This is relevant because it is so misunderstood and misused, now by a major candidate for VP (and the media just absorbs it as if she were a theologian). It is not our job to aggressively convert or judge people, unlike the message of the fundamentalists who have hijacked this basic concept and twisted it every way to Sunday, as Sarah Palin does. We also live by the Gospels (and the New Testament), not by the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew Scriptures are in the Christian bible for context, not for instruction, but fundamentalists mistakenly give the Hebrew scriptures more weight than our own. Jesus gave us all the instruction needed for Christians, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That is not the message I hear repeated by Sarah Palin, nor does she live a life of example according to the Gospels (at least not in public). Publicly, she appears to be a true believer in the worst possible ways. And this concerns me at least as much if not more than the secular concerns I noted in my first post, which was edited by someone other than me, leaving out these concerns, and also leaving other progressive Christians wondering where the progressives were among those commenting. Elizabeth Rose, O.C.P.

""She supports the presence of US troops in Iraq as a "task that is from God." "" It is particularly useless to presume that we may act as instruments of God or that we are implementing His will. To dare presume is to try to justify not the higher calling but the inconceivable--and the misdeeds some of us would rather attribute to God. For it is mostly when we act out what we believe to be God’s wrath that we fool ourselves into believing that we are implementing his will. Only very seldom do we act out His justice, kindness and patience, to really implement His will.

This piece contains inaccurate information on the issue of same-sex domestic partner benefits in Alaska. See the articles posted to http://www.bentalaska.com/search/label/Sarah%20Palin for more accurate information on this history and Palin's involvement in it.

The republican party has successfully turned the question of McCain's age/health/competence by using Palin as his pawn. They have also turned this election back into a single issue election by selecting Palin and her ultra right wing anti abortion views. Once again this election is about THE RIGHT TO LIFE whether we want it to be or not. They are cultivating the independents and the evangelicals who wanted nothing to do with the earlier republican field of candidates. Once she was selected, the evangelicals came out of the woodwork to identify with her and to support her vehemently. McCain was dead in the republican primary race until he embraced the evangelical right wing, and then they slowly started to support him as being the lesser of all evils. Palin was the icing on the cake for them and the result is her recent popularity. It is crucial to discredit her with her own hypocrisy and outright lies and deception.

Both parties are bought and paid for. Simple as that. This is merely a "puppet show" for the global elites who enjoy watching this spectacle every four years. And yet the dumbed down American public (evangelicals & in between) again see this "election" nonsense as a sign from god that there way is the only way. If we can't secede from this miserable union (that's what the founders called for) then it's time to go country shopping. I've had enough of the falsehoods of America and just plain idiocy!

Obama, same issues are going to come up: security, anti-abortion, and anti-same sex marriage, which stated in positive language your message will be inclusive, by saying you're pro-peace, pro-choice, pro-family, pro-environment, and pro-jobs. Our family structure - our view of Government as protective and empowering - is being ransacked and looted. Look up Nonviolent Communication. The Cheney/Rove tactic has always been about fear (violence).

RELIGION HAS OFFICIALLY ENTERED POLITICS. So here we are in 2008.If Jesus could have only known we would still be talking about him,and the revised Bible that came to us long after his death.What would he say about religious leaders who use his name to promote the idea of "end times;"a final battle between the forces of evil,and the forces of our Lord and Saviour, before all the true believers are swept up to Heaven in a,,,,but wait a minute.I don't seem to recall Jesus speaking of this at all.Was it Nostredamus??Oh well,let's move on. Christians versus Christians.I call myself a Christian.I joined the Presbyterian Church when I was just a wee lad.I still say my prayers every night.But quite honestly, I do not believe in the virgin birth.I do not believe that Jesus was the only begotten son of God.I believe Jesus was a very smart and brave man who was a threat to the Roman rulers of his region of the world.I do not believe that his suffering on the cross paid anyone or anything for my sins.I believe that he was a man,a very brave man,on some sort of a mission to leave a lasting legacy that truth will always be victorious over evil.So what is truth?What is evil?Go ahead,talk amongst yourselves.For me,evil might be considered the opposite of truth. But does truth necessarily have a logical base in any religion?Not as far as I believe.Truth is truth.Religion is a shared cultural phenomenon,taught by loving parents and grandparents,to their children and grandchildren,in an effort to make some sense from all that we have,and perhaps to have some hope for where we might be headed. It is intellectually staggering indeed,to even contemplate where everything comes from.The universe,the galaxies,all of nature and man,the processes of healing and disease,all are subjects containing many mysteries.Mysteries for some people are frightening.Mysteries for others might be stimulating.For some people ,religion solves some of these mysteries.They no longer need to wonder about what happens when they die.Now they know.No need to wonder anymore about where everything has come from.Now they know. When I was about five years old,my grandfather was tucking me in bed one night,as he did many nights,and we were talking about where everything came from. "Daddy,where did the moon come from?" "Well,I believe God made it." Well,where did the sun come from?" "Well,I believe God made that also." I thought a few moments,and then asked my all-time hero,, "Well,if God made everything,who made God?" He paused and then said,"Well lots of people smarter than I am have driven themselves crazy trying to figure out that one." I guess this conversation was my first venture into philosophy.A couple of years later when I was learning about the Presbyterian structure of heaven and hell,I asked my grandfather about this. "Daddy,If God is love and forgiveness,how could he send anyone to hell forever?" "Well,no one knows what happens to us when we die.If you treat people well,and don't cheat and lie,if you live your life with a clear conscience,who knows?Where we are right now might even be heaven." Does it get any more plain than this?Many people who feel it necessary to wear their religion on their sleeve,remind me of someone who has just bought a timeshare.Have you ever had lunch with a fellow who has just recently bought a fairly expensive timeshare?He fell for the pitch.They convinced him to buy.He signed the contract,and now he "owns" resort properties all over the world.He might only have two weeks of vacation a year,but now all he needs to do is fly to some exotic location on the other side of the world,to stay for "free" at one of his luxurious spots.Okay.I'm very happy for you.It sounds a little expensive to me,but if that is what you want,congratulations!So you meet this fellow a week later, and he is still talking about this great deal he got on his timeshare.Seems like the only thing he is able to discuss!Is he still talking about it from the sheer glee his purchase has given him,or is he still talking about it because he is not certain that he hasn't been ripped off?Many Christians remind me of this fellow.Their intellectual curiosity about our entire existence is supposedly now been satisfied, because they have recently accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.Now they know that their life has no end.Amen.Praise the Lord and pass the beans.Man,I feel good! But for me,it is not so simple.Jesus is one of my heroes,even though I suspect that there have been many heroes in our history.But there are still many mysteries for me,and not one of them have been solved by my reading the Old or the New Testament.I still call myself a Christian.I believe in some form of a creator or God.I say my prayers,and especially when I am in a jam!But life is still a huge mystery to me. So now religion is entering politics with our presidential election of 2008.Perhaps if any of our candidates can find it in themselves, to be as honest as I have just been about my beliefs,it might be possible, that we might see that there are more shared truths between these candidates, about how man should treat his fellow man,and what these different religious beliefs might bring to the table of men or women charged with the leadership of the free world in 2009. But as long as these people play to the various religious evangelical and fundamentalist religious groups ,we will not see or hear this intellectual honesty.This would take real courage,real confidence. We will most probaly only hear more Christian cliches .I dearly miss the intellectual honesty of my grandfather.I wish he could tuck me into bed tonight.I wish we could discuss religion again.And history.And politics, and war and peace. To some,the story of the five loaves and two fish is an example of Jesus creating food out of the thin air.To me it is a story about a man, so touching the hearts of a crowd, that they decided to share what they had brought with their new freinds.This is the type of religion that I would like to see and hear our leaders discuss. We should never confuse truth with religion.And when any person declares that their religion is absolutely truth,it makes me nervous.Truth should be something that we try to discover under every corner of every issue.Behind every headline in every paper.Between the words of every writer and every broadcaster.Behind the sermons and lectures of any religious speaker. I would hope that my leaders,and my fellow citizens,will seek truth in fact and reality.And I hope that they seek their faith, with hope and belief.Let us never confuse religion with truth.For as one person declares their religion to be the truth,they automatically declare the other religion to be false.Religion in politics only clouds the real issues.What we should be discussing,is how to stop the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.We should be discussing who has killed more innocent civilians in the past eight years,alQaeda or the U.S. military? I suspect,and only suspect,that if Jesus were to return for a visit,these would be questions he might ask.And who knows?Mohammed might be right beside him ,demanding the same answer.

God is love, not hate. Those who hate others are far from God. Denigrating Christians because of powerful extremists is like judging Sufi Muslims by the actions of Al Qaeda. The true christian message is love thy enemy and we often fall short, but lets not pass judgment on everyone due to those who manipulate by using religion. Lets hope we can use our minds better and worship that which is good without wishing evil on others, even it is hard to do, really hard.