Republican thugs

Yeah, I know that is shocking, coming from me. But this last deal over tax cuts just has me amazed. And yeah, I am annoyed with Obama. Not for compromising, but for the fact that he seems to start the negotiation after compromising. Then has to compromise from there.

Because the Republican leadership doesn't compromise. And this last deal demonstrates that they are absolutely lying when they say they care about the deficit. They don't give a shit about anything except making rich people richer. That's it. That is the secret.

Think about what they did. They looked at the prospect of continuing unemployment benefits to people struggling to pay bills, stay in houses, and, you know, put food on the table--and they said, you know what we can do here? Get richer.

So they took hostages, and would not release them unless the richest of the rich got their tax cuts. Don't possibly try to tell me that Republicans care about the working class. And don't even try to tell me that they care about the working poor. They only care about the wealthiest.

Thugs. Organized criminals.

And you know what? The Christian right will cheer them on. Today, I read a great article by our friend Greg on the "religious left" in Oklahoma. My favorite part was this story of a Norman minister who retired early over this craziness:

“Over the last several years, I have become so disillusioned about what is being pandered about as ‘Christian values,’ that I actually retired early,” he wrote, “because I did not think my congregation and others that I knew about were open to actually hear the ‘Christian message’ or even information about ‘basic human rights.’”

To make sure he “wasn’t going off the deep end,” the former minister said he re-read the prophets and the Old Testament.

“Their writings are seldom prophesies about the future,” he wrote. “Over and over, they use harsh language for the leaders and the wealthy because of their neglect of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the strangers.”

The retired pastor said the election pushed him “over the edge” this year.

“Millions in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands of people in Oklahoma have no health insurance, and the ‘Christian’ politicians brag about going to Washington to destroy the measly little progress which was made on health care this year,” he wrote."

Don't tell me the Christian right cares about the poor. In yet another story I read today, Michele Bachmann and her idiots in Congress wrote a letter to Obama complaining that he doesn't say "God" enough.

And then it hit me. Conservative Christianity is about shouting "Jesus" at the top of your lungs while you defend the powerful and well-heeled, and the torturers, and the polluters, and the abusers.