I watched last Saturday’s “forum on faith” at the Saddleback Church in California, hosted Rev. Rick Warren, and it was pretty obvious that McCain, who was questioned after Obama had an unfair advantage.

McCain got some notice that Obama did not.

NBC political reporter Andrea Mitchell reported Sunday that Obama aides thought McCain “may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”

She was right.

A Republican pastor plus his “God-Smooching” crowd…..Please!

The so-called evangelicals follow some of the most racist and bigoted Ministers (pastors) in the United States, who freely advocate American wars based on Biblical mandates, rant hatefully against Islam, and argue that natural disasters occur because God hates gay people.

Pastor Warren might not utter the same, but he and his congregants belong to the same cesspool — a snake pit of the most racist vipers in America, who have and continue to use Religion (Christianity) to persecute others who do not think like them.

The entire Republican establishment is permitted actively to lavish them with praise and court their support without the slightest backlash or controversy.

To me, Religion is a disease, an affliction that is the catalyst of 90% of the world’s problems.

Comedian Bill Maher says: “Religion as brain disease,” “Christians have neurological disorder,” ……”I think religion is a neurological disorder…. When you were a kid and they were telling you whatever you believe in religion, do you think if they had switched the fairy tales that they read to you in bed with the Bible, you would know the difference? Do you think if it was the fairy tale about a man who lived inside of a whale and it was religion that Jack built a beanstalk today, you would know the difference? Why do you believe in one fairy tale and not the other? Just because adults told you it was true and they scared you into believing it, at pain of death, at pain of burning in hell.

My friend at afriqueonline.com says: God doesn’t exist. He never did . . . he never will. Wake up . . . grow up . . . and get over it! Religion is a fairy tale for adults, a scam run by priests, ministers, rabbis, nuns, witch doctors, bishops and popes so that suckers will pay for their big houses, fine clothes and BMW’s. As scary as it might sound, you alone are responsible for what happens in your life, not some imaginary spook living in a paradise in the sky . . . not some evil goblin living underground in a fiery pit . . . You!….[read more]

I agree with both, and it pains me to admit that my own dear mother is hooked to Religion like a junkie on crack-cocaine.

I rejected Religion (All Religion) at the age of five. At first my mom could drag me to church by force, but when I got bigger later in my teen years and she got older, the best she could do was scream at me (poor mama).

But don’t get me wrong — she is the best human being on earth and so are many other evangelicals — those who are not bent in shoving religion down my throat.

My early rejection of religion has not prevented me from knowing what’s right and what’s wrong — several decades later.

Now, back to ReTHUGlican McCain.

The New York Times and so many others reported that John McCain was not sitting in what Pastor Rick Warren referred to as “the cone of silence” while Barack Obama was questioned during Saturday night’s Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.

McCain staffers told journalists that the Republican candidate was in a motorcade on his way to the church when Obama was on stage, but heard none of the questions.

Several times the pastor allowed McCain to “Stump” as if in a town-hall meeting, a luxury that was not accorded Mr. Obama.

After this charade, as usual, blood-sucking right-wing snakes(pundits) rushed out to toast McCain’s victory over Obama.

Rick Warren is just another lying and conniving “give GOD 10% of your wealth” pastor. I bet you he discussed every question with McCain before conducting the forum.

That had to be the case — judging from how relaxed the bumbling McCain was on Saturday.

This was a setup!

God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters

Special Comment on McCain: Olbermann chastises McCain: Grow up!
Senator is acting like a child, needs immediate attitude adjustment

Popularity: 16% [?]

Writes: Njogu Ndungu

The issue of leadership and governance in Africa raises more questions than answers. It is tragic that many leaders have failed in their duties. It has been argued in a maxim that a country gets the leaders it deserves. Africa’s case is, however, mind-boggling. It is shrouded in mystery, political intrigue and an unrivalled trail of governance accidents.

One wonders what ails our leaders, making most selfish, merciless, greedy, corrupt, power-hungry and human rights abusers. Ideally, leaders should be caretakers or stewards who steer the people towards collective prosperity.

But on attaining power, most African leaders become ‘deities.’ They seek to be worshipped by the people they lead. They consequently lose touch with the electorate and do absurd things with far-reaching consequences.

One common method the leaders use to cement their god-like status is acquire lengthy titles and other symbols of honour to separate themselves from the masses.

Several literary writers have examined this “power syndrome.” And they have few kind words for this “worship-me-disease” that mostly infects leaders in the Third World.

Congolese writer, E B Dongala, in his short story, The Man satirises a rogue leader in an unnamed country. Dongala sarcastically describes the leader in countless names of adulation, such as invincible, infallible and worthy of great honour. One description reads: “the-beloved-father-of-the-nation-the-supreme-and-enlightened-guide-the-commander-in-chief-of-the-armed-forces-and-beneficent-genius-of-mankind.”

The same leader is further described as “the founding father of the nation, the president-for-life, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and beloved father of the people.” Although these generous praise names are satirical, they still reflect reality, where one leader holds so many titles and posts.

It is despicable that a leader would hold so many posts in a country that has talented, educated and able-bodied people. Leadership by a sole individual only results in grave mistakes, which translate into misery for the ruled majority.

Chinua Achebe in A Man of the People also talks of the numerous praise names for a Prime Minister character. They include “the Tiger,” “the Lion,” “the One and Only,” “the Sky,” and “the Ocean.”

Achebe says in one of his short stories that most Third World leaders use their office to amass wealth and honorary degrees among others. Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in Wizard of the Crow, too ridicules rogue leaders. He narrates about a character named, the Ruler, who has no other name. He says “The Ruler had sat on the throne for so long that he could not even remember when his reign began.”

Many African leaders dread leaving office and cling to power, at the expense of the masses.

Ngugi gives the Swahili words like “Mtukufu Rais”, which depicts the leader as worthy of praise. This is then changed to titles like “Mtukufu Mtakatifu,” (His Holy Mightiness) which is both wild and untenable.

Power, the maxim goes, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Despots, oligarchs and autocrats have ruined many countries around the world.

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka laments in his memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, on the abuse of power by the late dictator Sani Abacha. In mourning the execution of fellow writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995, he writes: “Power had mounted the head of the dictator; it needed its periodic nourishment in blood.” Soyinka describes Abacha as “a monster (that) had reduced (Nigerians) collectively, into a plantation of slaves.” He says leaders drunk with power have little regard for human life because they kill and maim with glee.

Africa’s leadership tragedy deserves serious attention. Leaders should realise people who give them a chance to lead them do so because they hold them in trust.

These lessons offered by our writers, thinkers and philosophers should be taken seriously. It is a privilege to be a leader, and leaders should put self-interest behind the agenda of the people who elect them. Any person who negates this rule is unworthy of holding any leadership position.

Leaders must endeavour to offer selfless services and not pursue personal interests like wealth, power and honour at the expense of the people they are supposed to lead.

Popularity: 10% [?]