Another Veto in the Works?

The House passed an expanded "hate crimes" bill that adds to existing Hate Crimes legislation extended coverage to people victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Naturally the Rethugs are up in arms, and Baby Doc is threatening another veto -- which would be only his third -- if it comes to his desk.

They are falling back on that tired old "special rights" argument that was patently absurd in its infancy and hasn't gotten better with age. It's all bullshit pandering to the American Taliban, and our old pal James Dobson, of Focus on the Family (aka Focus on the Fetus) -- or, as Rachel Maddow and Randi Rhodes call it, Focus on Your Own Damn Family -- is right in the middle of it.

The real purpose of the bill is "to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality".

In other words, it's another one of those horrible liberal/godless-atheist plots to prevent Xians from their "free speech" rights.

I guess so, if your definition of "free speech" extends to murdering the Matthew Shepards of this world.

Which, when you get right down to it, is what they want. They want to set up their Xian theocracy based on "biblical principles" -- which means, first and foremost, the slaughter of homosexuals.

Their bible contains a lot of pretty scary shit, and you need to lay hands on a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, which spells out in terrifying detail and accuracy what these fuckers are really up to.

Dawkins' thesis is that belief in god is a psychiatric condition, a psychological delusion that has resulted in more murder, starvation, genocide, child abuse, dehumanization of women, etc, than anything else in the history of this world. And when you take a look around at the likes of Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and the rest of their cohort of evil minions, you can't help but think we're very close to a religious meltdown in this country.

That's why I am proud to support Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I urge you to get involved in these organizations as well. It will take a concerted effort from what I suspect is an angry but committed minority of non-believers in this country to roll back the fundo inroads these assholes have made into our secular democracy.