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Howard Dean told the Boston Globe about how Jesus is a role model for him, and how he will start to talk about it now that it is time to start campaigning in the south.

He acknowledged that he was raised in the "Northeast" tradition of not discussing religious beliefs in public, and said he held back in New Hampshire, where that is the practice. But in other areas, such as the South, he said, he would discuss his beliefs more openly.

He figures that those Southern bumpkins with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks like to hear the God-talk, so he had better start talking.

The Globe says that Dean described himself "as a committed believer in Jesus Christ." But then it describes what that means in these practical terms.

• Dean’s mother was Catholic, but he was raised Episcopalian.
• Although he learned he could get strength from religion, their family did not read the Bible.
• As an adult, he left the Episcopalian Church not because of doctrinal reasons, but because the church he was attending opposed a public bicycle path running across the church property. He felt "it was hypocritical of me to be a member of such an institution."
• After leaving the Episcopalian Church, he joined the Congregationalist Church, again not for doctrinal reasons, but because according to Dean, in that denomination "there is no centralized — almost no centralized authority structure — and I like that."
• He married a Jewish woman who did not convert to Christianity because "both felt strongly about their respective religions." They did consider both becoming Unitarians as a middle ground between Christianity and Judaism, but then decided that "our religions mattered enough that we didn’t really want to change."
• They allowed their children to pick whether they wanted to be Christian or Jewish, and both children chose to follow Judaism.
• To this day, he doesn’t attend church very often. But he does pray every day.
• Dean explained that Jesus is an important role model for him. He said, "Christ was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind. He fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything . . . He was a person who set an extraordinary example that has lasted 2000 years, which is pretty inspiring when you think about it."

To sum up: Dean believes religion his religion is important, but it didn’t rise to the level of influencing his choice of wife. It isn’t important enough that he raised his children to believe it to be the truth and the only way of salvation. But perhaps that isn’t surprising because the Christianity he described is nothing more than walking In His Steps, so to speak. It is not a matter of truth and salvation. It is simply being nice to other people and allowing public bike paths.

The article also notes that Dean has already spoken to a black South Carolina church, and that he spoke "in a rhythmic tone notably different from his usual stampede through policy points." I’ve heard audio tapes of Al Gore speaking in black churches, and he would do the same thing, mimicking the black preachers. But strangely, the congregations seem to enjoy it and don’t see it as pandering. I’ve always thought that if a Republican would do the same thing, they would be accused of being racists and pandering for the black vote. But I digress.

But in its own way, this is pandering to the Southern Christian voter. Dean has made a political calculation that he needs to win in the South to become president. And to win in the South, he needs to talk about his Christianity. But in his talking, he reveals how little he believes, how little truth and doctrine mean to him, and how inconsequential things are deciding factors for him in where and how he worships. It is not a matter of heaven or hell. It is just one option among many equally valid options. In other words, in talking about his Christianity, he reveals that he is no Christian.

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An article by Doug Basham exemplifies what passes for rational discourse from the left these days. It is nothing but insults and anger. Basham might have some good points to make, but it is lost in his tirade. Any charges he makes are just thrown out with no context or explanation. They are just unsupported allegations. The impression you get after reading him is that he is a person who has completely lost control and given free reign to his anger. Rather than convincing others of the rightness of his point, he has just driven people farther away by his rantings.

For months, those of us who care more about our country than we do our party; who care enough to do the research past the CMM (Corporate - *read conservative* - Mindless Media - *read Faux News, Newsmax.com, and "conservative" talk radio*); who have refused to be intimidated with idiotic charges and accusations of being anti-American, unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops - we have said this war with Iraq will not make us one iota safer from terrorism. Why? Because Iraq is (or at least was) a secular nation that has acted more as an ally in our war on terror than an enemy. Hussein saw radical Islamic fundamentalism as big a threat to his dictatorship as apparently his western dictatorial counterpart (that’d be Dumya) sees it to his, and promptly stomped it out whenever it reared its ugly head.

Got that, all you mindless Republicans who follow Dumya rather than seek the good of the country?

And why should those of us who pay attention be surprised? This mirrors how Ronnie "I don’t swear and I love everyone who has AIDS" Reagan and the first Bush liar saw Saddam/Iraq, when they were providing them with what the second Bush liar would later refer to as "weapons of mass destruction" — AND - provided them even after they knew he/they had used them, dropping them from American made helicopters. But today in George W. Bush’s America, no-one in the administration and scant few in the "liberal media" (filthy conservatives favorite lie) care to revisit the good old GOP days.

Doug, while your at it, you ought to throw in some Nixon and Ike insults to. You wouldn’t want to leave anyone out, would you? At least you included me in your insults. I’m pleased to know that I am a filthy conservative, since I have noticed the liberal slant in the mainstream media.

And so what happens today? A member of this administration comes right out and ADMITS the administration lied… and that the Iraq war has NOT made us safer from terror. Oh yeah. Perhaps you caught the admission? It came from Homeland Security’s own Tom Ridge. Mind you, he didn’t use those exact words. No, instead he raised the moronic, color coded, terror warning alert, using words like "threat indicators are perhaps greater now than at any point since Sept. 11"… and "extremists abroad are anticipating attacks that will rival or exceed the scope of those of Sept. 11". To those of us who have and continue to pay attention, there is no difference. A rose by any other name … Obviously, the invasion of Iraq has not made us safer from terrorism, therefore, Bush lied and our soldiers died. Period.

Funny. I’ve read other articles with this same tone that suggested that Bush knew before hand about the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 but did nothing to stop them. Howard Dean mentioned these theories the other day, though he afterwards asserted that he didn’t believe it even though he freely repeated it. So, the administration warns people of known threats and the left is angry. If they don’t warn everyone and an attack does happen, the left is angry. But that is a catchy little phrase, there, Doug: Bush lied and our soldiers died. Is it original to you? Maybe one of the Democratic candidates for President might want to pick up on that one.

But to your fundamental point, Doug. You really believe that if we ignore the terrorists and leave them alone, they will leave us alone. Let’s call that the Ostrich Theory, for lack of a better term. President Bush disagrees with the Ostrich Theory. Actually, September 11 proves the Ostrich Theory wrong. We had ignored the terrorists for decades, and they still carried out this attack on American soil. Ignoring terrorism does not make us safer. Putting the terrorists to flight, destroying them and those who support them, does. As in any war, there will be times when each side is on the offensive and when they are on the defensive. But unconditionally surrendering to terrorists, as you suggest in your Ostrich Theory, is not the solution to stop terroristic attacks on our nation.

But, as a mindless conservative minion, fill me in, Doug. What is a coherent summary of your argument against liberating Iraq?

So let’s recap, particularly for those mindless, conservative minions who continue to swallow this administration’s offerings without even tasting, let alone chewing … over 450 American soldiers dead; thousands of innocent Iraqis dead; new reports of upwards of 11,000 wounded U.S. soldiers and medical evacuations from Iraq; troops suicide rate alarmingly high, even for wartime; oil wells given the "protect first" priority; Cheneyburton overcharging the American taxpayers and yet still serving our soldiers dirty food from even dirtier preparing facilities; reports of soldiers not being paid for weeks and being refused medical care; UPI’s Mark Benjamin’s illuminating articles on how poorly returning soldiers are being treated at Fort Stewart and Fort Knox; soldiers not being properly equipped and families having to purchase equipment here in America and ship it overseas; Bush banning the media from covering dead soldiers return to the country they died serving (apparently, funerals don’t meet the "free speech zone" requirement); Bush’s refusal to attend even one of their funerals; his "form letters" of condolence to the dead soldiers families; the story of the seventeen 1991 Gulf War POW’s who were tortured in Iraq, and eventually won a settlement against the government of Saddam Hussein — Bush trying to overturn their settlement, claiming he needs the money to rebuild Iraq … and all this for what? FOR WHAT?!

Did you have a problem with your caps-lock getting stuck there or what? It is funny how we went from the conservative controlled press above to whining about not allowing the press to be present when the bodies of American soldiers are returned to the states. Bush does not allow them to be present on the Air Force base when the caskets are unloaded because of how the press used that footage to discredit his father in the previous Gulf War. It was what many considered an offense to the memory of the fallen servicemen when the press used these pictures to score political points, and so President Bush barred the press from being present to do it again. It is odd that the conservative press would have to be stopped from doing such things when they are already his lackeys and do his bidding.

But note, the rant is a disconnected stream of unsupported claims. Most of the charges I am not familiar with, so I can’t evaluate them. I do know a little about not allowing the press to use the images of American soldier’s caskets to build support for abandoning Iraq.

There probably is a good case to be made about how the contracts in Iraq are profiting the large corporations more than the Iraqi people, but you wouldn’t know if from Doug’s rant.

A raised terror alert? And the possibility of attacks "perhaps greater now than at any point since Sept. 11 that will rival or exceed the scope of those of Sept. 11"? For this?! Can there be any doubt (save sycophantic, boot licking Bush apologists) among rational thinkers how much we’ve been lied to and deceived over this Iraqmire debacle?

Sycophantic, boot licking Bush apologists. Clever. I wish I was a rational thinker like you, Doug. Perhaps then I could abandon the use of logic and resort to name calling like you do. But I digress. I really didn’t understand your point about the media being controlled by conservatives. Could you please give us an example?

And what do you want to bet the "liberal media" - instead of holding George W. Bush accountable for his "the war with Iraq has made American safer from terrorism" lie, will not even verbalize the connection between that lie and the raised terror alert? The same "liberal media" who beat the Iraqi war drum for months leading up to its inception; the same "liberal media" who gave us a 2-3 day Saddamathon following his capture without ever once stating that Saddam’s capture in no way changed the fact that Bush lied and our soldiers died. Yes, that "liberal media."

Thanks for the example, Doug. I don’t agree with you on that, but it is good to know where you stand. I will give you credit for one thing. At least you didn’t degenerate into foaming at the mouth and saying Bush was Adolf Hitler. Whoops. I spoke too soon.

Color me cynical, but quite frankly? I wouldn’t be surprised if der Bushler got a bump in approval ratings after this latest terror alert raising. Why? Because he’s doing so much to "protect der homeland." Welcome to George W. Bush’s America. Sickening. Welcome to GOP Nation. Sick.

You have an opportunity to throw these filthy, lying, dangerous usurpers out into the streets on their worthless a**es in 2004. For the sake of your nation and what it used to be and still can be… I suggest you do just that - while you still can.

Glad to see you got your caps-lock fixed, but now your question mark shows up in the middle of a sentence.

Thanks for warned us that there is only one more election. I assume you mean that after Bush wins in 2004, he is going to appoint himself dictator for life, and we won’t be able to get rid of him. That was a nicely insinuation. Not logical, but for a mindless person like myself, it could scare me into voting for one of the "anybody but Bush" candidates running for the Democratic slot.

Thanks, Doug, for you little lesson in rational discourse from the left.

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