To preface any remarks I might come up with here, I have to say that I am a Christian, probably what you’d have to call the Christian left, and I watched with interest the other night about half of both Obama’s and mccain’s appearances at Saddleback Church with Pastor Rick Warren. After listening to some of the commentary that followed, I have to admit to a level of naitevete (spelling?) that periodically reminds me of the importance of humility. As I watched Obama, I thought this showing would bring many Christians to realize what a good man he is. Then I listened to mccain, firing back answers almost before the question was completed, and thinking it was a real advantage to be sitting back stage listening to the questions ahead of time, but even despite that Christians would be able to see through this incredibly dishonest and phony politician. Upon digesting the few commentaries I’ve heard since then, I can see that the things that have been so disturbing to me for the last 8 years may not be coming to an end after all. My thoughts about Obama; very thoughtful answers, honest answers even though some of them were obviously not what the “religious right” was looking for, I thought the people would be able to appreciate that after all the lies of the last 8 years it’s refreshing to hear someone try to actually say what they think, HONESTLY. Then mccain; well, I discovered that he was supposed to be sequestered, but wasn’t; said he didn’t hear the questions ahead of time – but obviously he did – how else could he be answering them before the question was finished being asked – but mostly, his answers were disengenuous at best – yet evidently the people sucked it right up. The solution to the energy crisis: DRILL, DRILL, DRILL!!!! When I heard the audience break into applause after that, I realized the caliber of people he was talking to – a ridiculous, but totally politically expedient answer. HOW LONG WILL THESE PEOPLE ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE MADE OUT TO BE FOOLS BY THESE REPUBLICANS???? And his story about the cross in the prison camp. I knew I had heard that story before I just couldn’t remember when, and then I was reminded this week that he had told the story before, only it was about someone else. Then, while listening to Air America (I wish some people in the mainstream media would listen to them, and at least try to confirm some of their reporting) – I heard the same story, only this time it came from a book by Alexander Solzhenitzyn, a Russian novelist . The bottom line, mccain sat in front of a bunch of willing dupes and lied to them about his “Christianity” in order to pander to their Christian values. This guy appears to me to be more willing to lie than gw bush, and that, to me, is beyond scary. I’m saying all this because it really grieves me that the “base” for these lying republicans are Christians. And I don’t blame or criticize my Christian friends, because I believe they are getting a constant barrage of propaganda from people that they should be able to trust, and they have no idea where these people are really coming from. There is a strict right wing movement in our country that, yes, is made up of a bunch of radical Christians; although I have a hard time accepting war mongering as something that “Jesus would do.” It is very hard for me to understand how anyone that is a Christian can take an honest look at the republicans in power and not get sick to their stomachs. Which kind of gets me to what I think is most on my mind today, and that is the length they will take to stay in power. This should be something any American who believes in our constitution should be worried about. I am presently reading a book about Blackwater, which I have written about previously both here and in attempts to get op-eds published at newspapers (unsuccessfully of course), and I’m even more concerned about them than before. This private, right wing, militia emerged from a group of people who seriously were considering, during the Clinton years, armed resistence to our government. Now they have the largest private militia in the world, they have huge stockpiles of weapons, amunition, planes, helicopters, and some of the roguest “fighters” in the world, recruiting from countries all over the world, including our sworn enemies. They are providing “security” for bush administration personell, other “important” people in Iraq, and now other foriegn governments while running training facilities for military, police, and other gun related businesses across the US. They are a multi-billion dollar government contractor at this point, and my question is, what are they going to be doing once bush and his cronies are out of office and the contracts stop coming in (many of their contracts have been no-bid government contracts tied into their connections to bush, cheney, and the companies they represent (halliburton, KBR, etc). These guys are right out of the extreme right wing of the republican party and I don’t think they are going to go away quietly. Most people know that they have murdered countless Iraqi civilians with no accountability whatsoever – and I guess it doesn’t matter because Iraqi civilians don’t seem to be that important to us. At the beginning of the Iraq occupancy Paul Bremer declared that Iraqi laws did not apply to Blackwater and the other “security” forces in Iraq, and it turns out that American law does not apply to them either. Talk about your rogue army! These people don’t think twice about lying about their actions and they thumb their noses at the American legal system like it doesn’t (and unfortunately they’re right) affect them. Iraq has tried to kick them out of their country, without success and they continue to operate pretty much as an entity unto themselves. The owner of Blackwater is part of a group that includes Dobson of Focus on the Family, Roberson, used to include Falwell before he died, and many other right wing Christians that I have to wonder where do they justify the war mongering from the Bible? The truth, at least in my eyes, is that all of these people are billionaires that are willing to do or say anything to keep their “things” going. They have crossed the line, as far as I’m concerned, trying to gain power through manipulation of their base and the political system. By siding with people like bush, cheney, and mccain they are saying that telling the truth is not important. Tonight, I saw an email from one of my friends who is a republican and is getting all the “stuff” about Obama that is being circulated amongst republicans – messages trying to scare people away from Obama along with hiding the fact that mccain can’t fight the campaign on issues – and unfortunately the propoganda is so overwhelming that I think people are buying it. And after listening to pundits criticizing Obama for being precise and thoughtful in giving answers to Pastor Warren as taking too much time to answer, I just have to shake my head, and CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THIS COUNTRY IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION. Not only were mccain’s answers on Saturday too spontaneous for me to believe him when he says he didn’t have the questions ahead of time, he obviously did, they were disengenuous and full of lies. If we are stupid enough to vote mccain into office there are only two things that I am sure about, contractors like Blackwater can heave a sigh of relief at the thought of four more years of pilfering the American taxpayer and we can expect four years of MORE LIES!!!!!!