Obama blasts religious right for "hijacking" religion

Now THAT'S what I like to hear.

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.

"Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us," the Illinois senator said.

"At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design," according to an advance copy of his speech.

"There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich," Obama said. "I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version."

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Roadside bomb kills 7 US troops in Iraq

7 more dead. Too bad Bush and the career-obsessed generals at the Pentagon refused to send our troops the IED-proof vehicles they begged for years ago. Bush and the generals were too cheap to spend the money. But they didn't have any problem complaining about the carnage the IEDs were doing, and blaming them on Iran. Awfully convenient that their own malfeasance gave them the troops deaths they needed to try to justify a war with Iran. Awfully convienient. Read the rest of this post...

Tyson to limit doping of chickens

Considering the reach of such a big food producer, this is pretty good news. Consumers have had it with the excessive antibiotics and problems associated with them - that were of course never supposed to impact humans - so this is a step in the right direction. Maybe next they can start thinking about the steroids that make American chickens the size of turkeys here in France. The difference between a chicken in France versus the US is not unlike Barry Bonds when he first started playing baseball in Pittsburgh compared to what he has looked like in recent years. Let's hope this new change from Tyson continues and consumers help move the process along. Read the rest of this post...

GOP is doing conservative talk radio's bidding in immigration debate

Talk about your fringe special interests. The party of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck? Yeah, that'll win independent votes. Read the rest of this post...

Even the flag on their uniforms is a lie

The war based on a lie, whose progress updates are a lie, run by a bunch of liars, now has one more lie to add to the mix: The flags on our troops' uniforms say "Made in USA," but they're really "Made in Thailand." I'm sure the White House will simply hail this as Thailand's contribution to the ever-shrinking Coalition of the Willing. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning

Bob Geiger has his weekly compilation of the week's best editorial cartoons. Always a fun read for a Saturday morning.

Also check out Bob's response to Fred Thompson who, while preparing for his next role as a GOP candidate, criticized Harry Reid and "fringe elements of the blogosphere." Fringe blogger Bob gives "a taste of what this middle-aged, suburban husband and father did to undermine our national values." Dastardly deeds like mowing the lawn and going to his kid's Cub Scout meeting.

The poem of the week is actually a series of poems for summer. They'll get you in the mood for the season.

I'm heading out for a run. Read the rest of this post...

Democrats seeking fairness with taxes

The private equity crowd would like everyone to believe that they are taking enormous risks and providing such a great service and incurring great risks that they deserve to pay only 15% instead of the standard 35% taxes. Nonsense. Their value is highly overrated to most everyone other than themselves and the benefits are limited to their own banking accounts. Private equity is great and it helps to keep money moving that can lead to new jobs and tax dollars, but to have such a delta simply is not fair.

With a similar debate happening in London, the other major international financial center, it should be interesting to see how both countries address this issue. Naturally, the private equity crowd is crying the same pitch, that they need to stay competitive or else that market will pack up and leave. Sure, I hear Germany, France, Sweden and Japan are cheap places that are rolling out the benefits for private equity and can't wait to slash taxes for a small group and maintain high taxes for everyone else. Right.

It's about time Congress starts addressing excesses such as this. There is just too much pressure on average American families to overlook discrepancies in the tax code like this. Moving back to the traditional American value of fairness is perfectly reasonable. Some will try to spin this as class warfare but that is just the same old spin and rubbish that they always say when they are asked to pay their fair share. What we have now is anything but fair. Congressmen Rangel and Levin are correcting what needs to be corrected. Read the rest of this post...

Brown distances himself from Blair and Iraq failures

Then again, who could possibly say anything positive about the way the pre-war intelligence was abused or the way post-war Iraq has collapsed into chaos? While it is a move in the right direction to hear him set plans for separating intelligence from politics, it is annoying that Brown is avoiding moves to study those failures. How can the public have faith that the process will change if politicians fear reviewing the problems of the past? An apology is a nice gesture, but it's only a small first step. After the spin and the lies, some honest transparency would be a welcome addition to the process. Read the rest of this post...