The Vatican’s recent snub of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is only the latest salvo in the battle between Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush. This tug of war has profound implications for both U.S. foreign policy and the critical Catholic vote in 2008's presidential race.

>

Overlapping Agendas

Things haven't always been tense between Bush and Benedict. They share similar views regarding abortion, gay marriage, and other hot-button conservative issues. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (as Benedict was known before becoming Pope in April 2005) even helped Bush secure the White House for a second term.

What does it take to be expelled from the GOP? Emptywheel nails it as always:

When David Vitter admitted to using a prostitute service, no Republicans asked him to resign.

When it became clear that Pete Domenici had asked Bush and Gonzales to fire David Iglesias because the US Attorney didn't trump up charges against Democrats, no Republicans asked him to resign.

When it became clear that Bob Ney and Ted Stevens and John Doolittle and Don Young had been paid in exchange for legislative favors (that is, had accepted bribes), no Republicans asked them to resign.

When Tom DeLay was indicted for money laundering, no Republicans asked him to resign.

But because Larry Craig wiggled his foot under a men's bathroom stall, Pete Hoekstra and Norm Coleman and John McCain have asked him to resign.

According to news reports, Florida Representative Bob Allen (Republican) was arrested last July 11 for soliciting sex from an undercover black male cop. The reason he gave was his fear of black men...

Now many will quickly ask what rational person would believe such a cockamamy story ?

But hold on, now.. READ THE REST

Do you think you couldn't possibly have anything in common with a Republican, a former Reagan White House counsel? Then read on:

When I began asking questions about what I saw going on at Colorado Springs in 2004 I never expected that the inquiry would lead me to the horrifying conclusion that our country had been taken over by people who have used our own freedoms to enslave us. But that is what happened. When I began I, like most people, was focused on the personal. I believed that what was happening at the United States Air Force Academy, the harassment of cadets and staff with unwanted evangelism, was limited in scope. As the months passed, however, I found myself forced to constantly reassess my basic assumptions. The logic of events was stark and undeniable. Promises of an open inquiry were ignored; decent and courageous people like former Air Force Chaplin MeLinda Morton were intentionally muzzled to ensure the truth would not be heard and the wrongs righted.

As a Republican and an Academy graduate I find myself in head on conflict with my own oath to protect the Constitution. As a Jew I confronted a situation through ears that still hear the cries of my people walking silently into the brick buildings that would reduce them to ash. I cannot stand still and let that happen to my country.

Watch them here:

Contact them here to help place these on TV stations.

Ask Rep. Virgil Goode to watch them and tell you what he thinks of them here.

It's not overstating the case to say that 2007 could be make or break for US democracy.

The Bush administration's cutbacks and rollbacks in 2006 were so frequent and so egregious that many Americans stopped paying attention, gave up hope or else failed to see the onslaught as part of a larger pattern.

Which brings up the f-word.

In 2007, I’ll be decreasing to two articles a month, so wanted to end the year ‘with a bang.’ The past few days I’ve been thinking about Laurence Britt’s 2003 article about the 14 elements of fascism... how would they apply to life under Bush today?

Not that they need a special time to be more whacked than what is normal (for them), but doncha think Christmas is CRAZY TIME for Reich-wing whack-jobs? Just this week as examples, we have Virginia congressman and whack-job extraordinaire Virgil Goode layin' down an anti-muslim racist screed in a letter to his constituents.

"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States" if we do not adopt "strict immigration policies."

Then, not to be out bigoted by a Virginian, NC Congress-critter and also Reich-wing Bible-thumpin' whack-job extraordinaire, Robin Hayes has suggested the solution to the Iraq war is to have our soldiers convert all Muslims to Christianity.

"Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior." (more)

Listen to your granny!

Granny Bee is now regularly featured on the
Jeff Alan Wolf Show on ZTLK.com and RadioPower.org

Granny Bee

MORE MORE MORE

Killing Conservatism
by Bob Burnett

With conservatives still reeling from their losses in the mid-term election, and President Bush's approval ratings heading for record lows, for the first time in six years liberals have something to cheer about. Rather than gloat about Bush's ineptness, or the failure of the GOP-controlled 109th Congress, liberals should focus on their opportunity to sink the conservative ideology that has dominated American politics for twenty-five years.

There are ten pillars of conservative political wisdom that liberals should attack:

Click for video

How to you smear lipstick on the worst presidency in our nation's history? Ask corporate donors and arab governments and businessmen to pony up half a billion dollars to build the largest presidential library in the country.

The most frightening aspect of this is that they're going to use part of the cash to set up a thinktank modelled after the Reagan Legacy Project, which will have as its primary goal, the re-writing of history, portraying Bush Jr. as a misunderstood genius who was only guilty of being a tad before his time.