Yesterday, on All Things Considered I heard a great commentary by Ian Wrisley, a minister, about his feelings re: Ten Commandments displays at government buildings. I thought it was very insightful, picking up on a point that many Christians seem to overlook; when the government adopts religion, it doesn’t promote faith: it promotes government.

Winner: Anheuser-Busch

The ad was a “Thank you” to our troops, it featured an airport full of people applauding as troops, presumably returning from the Gulf, got off their plane. Where are the troops who are missing arms and legs? Or the casket draped coffins?

Whether you opposed the war or supported it, the ad was in bad taste. Anheuser-Busch was exploiting the image of our armed forces to sell beer.

Runner-Up: Fox
For using “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as the “theme music” for a Super Bowl promo spot. Catholic or Protestant, on the actual Bloody Sunday (January 30, 1972) over a dozen protesters lost their lives when fired upon by occupying British army soldiers. In 1998, Tony Blair opened a new inquiry to try to determine the truth of what happened that day–the new report is scheduled to be issued in 2005. Using it to promote football is just in bad taste.

Honorable Mention: Las Vegas
“What happens here, stays here?” Do they really want that to be their slogan?! It conjures images of dead mob informants, rotting in the dessert. Or soulless husks debased by gambling or alcohol addictions. I mean, c’mon, how “Leaving Las Vegas” do they want their image to be??

“Mr. Martinez, Republican of Florida, made his debut speech on the floor in both English and Spanish, telling Hispanic Americans that Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s nominee to be attorney general, is ‘one of us.'”
Now which “one” do you suppose he really meant? Rich? Republican? Shady member of the Washington power-elite?

…no, seriously. He’s cool. Check out some highlights from his conversation with Darren Johnson.

Yeah. Uhhh… Sure, dude, whatever:

Kerry Says He’s Not Ruling out Another Run

He couldn’t beat monkeyboy, and he thinks we’d support him against someone who is actually likeable, like, oh, say John McCain? Or Rudy Giuliani? Puh-lease.

[I received a letter today from MoveOn.org, asking me to sign a petition to try to get Congress to investigate the election. This is my response. -Ed.]

Dear MoveOn,

I think it’s time to move on. Seriously.

Were there voting irregularities in the 2004 election? There almost certainly were. Were these irregularities worse than other elections? Probably not. Electioneering has a much longer tradition in America than the 2004 presidential race. I live in Chicago, where we have a fine tradition of that.
But no manner of outcry from the liberal half of the country about voter fraud or rigging the election is going to change the outcome. No magic scandal is going to cause the party that now holds the executive, legislative, and is working towards the judiciary from reigning for another four years. It’s crying over spilt milk.

We now have a critical choice before us: we can spend our money, our time, and our energy engaged in bitter disputes about the perceived wrongs of this election or we can turn to the future. I vote for the future.

If we put this election behind us and took the energy many are now expending trying to challenge it, and instead, focus on making our message clear, reorganizing the leadership of the DNC/DLC, and getting back to the core values that we all believe in–there is no limit to what we can accomplish!

Or we can spend then next four years mired in the past, wallowing in our own self-pity, and watch as the Republicans gain even more control in the House and the Senate and as the religious right joins forces to try to inflict their will on the 48% of American’s who didn’t give a “mandate” to Bush and his policies.

The right has its sights set on the future and here we are, trying to fight them in the past.

I’ve supported MoveOn in the past and I had hoped it would continue to be an organization dedicated to forward thinking and change.

Seriously: move on.

Some folks at the University of Michigan have developed some more 2004 Election maps that help put the “mandate” in perspective.
[Via Rain Man]

Maybe there is a god after all?!
Update: The CNN story is here.

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt……If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.”

Thomas Jefferson
1789 letter on the passage of the Sedition Act