flywithastick said:
surplus1 - Just when has "W" invoked God in any of his doctrines? Obviously he has faith, but your equating him with fanatical Islamics such as OBL, Ayatola Khomenni, et. al. is way, way off. You just make this stuff up as you go?!
Someone, I can't remember whom, once said "Religion is the opiate of the masses." GWB is a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian. I see that as little different from the fanatical Muslims. If the likes of Par Robertson and Jerry Farwell could ever gain political control of the government, I submit it would be little different from what the Ayotollah Komeni did in Iran. Each of these "groups" has apparently decided that his own version of religion is the one that should prevail and each is bent on the destruction of the other. The methodology that they choose may be different, but the objective is the same.
No, I don't invent this stuff or make it up as I go. I just research the bakgrounds and affiliations of the players and read as much as I can. My reading includes what they say about themselves, what they say about others and what others say about them and, most import of all, the record of what they actually do. Then I form my own opinions.
Yes, I watch FOX News for I need to know their "spin" just as much as I need to know the "spin" of the others. My "problem" is that I don't believe what they say.
GWB is "such and affable fellow, ever uttering anodyne platitudes, the only way to get any real sense of him is through his record." Well, forturnately for those who care, he does have a record -- one in business that predates his adventrues in politics as well as one in politics where he was govenor of Texas for two terms, and one of religious affiliations.
In business, Bush has a record. The record of the Texas Rangers baseball team and Bush's ability to parlay his small investment into a multi million dollar fortune. Bush was a small player, but as the son of a sitting president he could lend his name to a project run by the big players. The name lender got the taxpayers of the Great State to add a big chunk of value to his business, became govenor, and made a $15 million dollar profit, on a $600K investment. It makes Hillary Clinton's adventure in commodities futures look like peanuts.
With respect to religion, what GWB actually believes is anybody's guess but his affiliation with and use of the "Christian Right" is no secret. Ostensibly Bush was "brought to Jesus" by the venerable Billy Graham, whose views with respect to Islam surfaced after 9/11. They were so "insensitive" as to require a public "explanation" of what he supposedly meant. The subsequent "clarification" was little more than a political damage control operation. IMO, Mr. Graham meant exactly what he said.
Another prominent figure in the political life of the governor/president and the Republican Party in Texas is Pat Robertson. Some say the whole party was "born again" in FTW back in '98. As former Senator Margaret C. Smith of Maine once said, "The Republican Party has been taken over by the Four Horsemen of Calumny: fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear." IMO she wasn't wrong.
Another well know affiliate of GWB (in Texas) is Fort Worth televangelist James Robison. You can do your own investigation of that nut. I don't know if Farwell also fits into the picture somewhere, but as a leader of the Christian Right, we do know what he thinks about Islam and a whole lot of other things. We also know that he, Robertson and a whole lot of their kind would like nothing better than to gain political control of this country.
Bush's appearances at that famous Southern bastion of bigotry, B. Y., during the campaign was an accident? Did you know that our President professes to belive that Jews can't go to Heaven and that only Christians are granted God's grace? Apparently Mr. Bush shares the views of the Reverend W. A. Criswell of the First Baptist Church of Dallas (who reportedly often speaks on "behalf of the Lord".) Don't know who Criswell is? Do the reasearch.l
I don't have any positive feelings about Islam myself. I think most of them are fanatics and dangerous. I just happen to think that the evangelical Christian Right is no less fanatic or dangerous. Both of these groups constantly invoke the rath of the Allmighty against each other and the rest of the "infidels", i.e., anyone that doesn't believe what they believe. In my opinion, having a president that is apparently a part of either one of them is not in the best interests of this Republic nor of mankind. I believe in secular States. Religion should have no part in government and government should have no part in religion.
While I have my own religious beliefs, they are separate from my politics and I hope that the same will remain true in my country, as intended by its Constitution.
Finally, under the leadership of governor GWB, Texas became the national laboratory for bad government. I sincerely hope that doesn't carry over to these United States. Up to now, I see nothing that would indicate that it hasn't. I won't invoke the Lord to stop it, but neither will I regret the change to escape it in 2004.
... (my weak attempt at sarcasm for the night) 
