Family Values (old news)

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Who Would Jesus Torture? The Religion of George W. Bush

July 17, 2004
By Christian Dewar

In the June 21st edition of Time Magazine, the cover story is entitled, "Faith, God and the Oval Office", in which George W. Bush's
religious beliefs are contrasted with those of John Kerry. In the same edition, there is an article entitled, "Redefining Torture",
in which the origins of the use of torture by our government are traced to the highest levels of Bush's administration. Who would
Jesus torture? Apparently, Time Magazine has no sense of irony.

Around 900 US troops have been killed in Iraq. Thousands more are casualties, many missing limbs. Around 12,000 innocent Iraqi
civilians are dead. An unknown number of Iraqi conscripts and soldiers died. The "Coalition of the Willing" has sustained death and
casualties. Our "Shock and Awe" blitzkrieg has devastated the already damaged infrastructure including plumbing and sewage, insuring
that tens, if not hundreds of thousands, more civilians will die of sickness and disease. Our use of the radioactive and toxic
depleted uranium munitions will no doubt cause cancer and birth defects among Iraqis and US vets for generations to come.

Meanwhile, the 9/11 Commission has declared that Saddam did not have WMD, he was not linked to Osama or al-Qaeda, he was not behind
the World Trade Center attacks and his decimated army posed no imminent threat to the US. Oops!

If you kill one innocent human being it is murder. If you slaughter thousands, it is "regime change."

Accounts of Saddam's ability to attack us with WMD were lies. Shipments of Niger uranium to Iraq were lies. Claims that aluminum
tubes were for centrifuges were lies. Stories of drones that could attack the US with chemical and biological weapons were lies.
Assertions that Saddam had mobile trucks with WMD were lies. Who would Jesus lie to?

Bush better hope that there is no heaven, no hell and no judgment day.

Ron Reagan Jr. recently commented that while his father believed in God, he didn't wear his religion on his sleeve. While he did not
mention Bush by name, most observers assumed that he was talking about the man selected by the Supreme Court to be our president.
Bush often uses code words familiar to his critical evangelical base that fly under the radar of mainstream, moderate Christians.
Still, it does not seem to be too cynical to believe that Bush's supposed religion is simply a ploy to gain votes from the rubes
among fundamentalist Christians. Or if he is a religious man, few genuine Christians would believe that his God was the one they
pray to.

What would St. Peter have to say to George Bush once he stands before the Pearly Gates of heaven on judgment day? Has he been a good
Christian? Has he led a pious life according to the teachings of Jesus?

In the world of Roy Moore, it is more important for Christians to display their faith by placing a huge granite rock with the Ten
Commandments inscribed on it in a court room rather than to follow those tenets of Christianity. For the Bush family, patriotism is
displayed by appearing before huge American flags and wrapping themselves in red-white-and-blue bunting even as they chip away at
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Symbols trump substance any day for these Christians and patriots.

According to childhood friends, Bush used to blow up frogs with firecrackers and shoot them with BB guns. As several therapists have
pointed out, this cruelty to animals is a trait he shares with many serial killers.

Bush was embroiled in a scandal at Yale when it was discovered that he branded pledges at his fraternity with red-hot wires.

A drunken George W. Bush once challenged his own father to a fight, "mano a mano."

Several therapists have commented about Bush's sadistic tendencies and his lack of empathy. A recent book, "Bush on the Couch;
Inside the Mind of the President," written by the respected Justin A. Frank M.D., is one of many attempts to describe Bush's
inherent cruelty. The book points out how comfortable Bush is being outside the law, whether it is his two arrests at Yale, his DUI,
his apparent AWOL status in the Texas National Guard, alleged insider trading, possible perjury or his reported drug abuse.

Polls report that many of those in the Red States believe that Bush is "likable" and the candidate they would most like to have a
beer with. This about a man who mocks and ridicules those with whom he disagrees. A reporter who asks a foreign politician a
question in French was derided as being an "internationalist." A citizen who expressed his displeasure with Bush's policies was
told, "Who cares what you think?" He makes fun of bald journalists. He has cruel nicknames for aides. He calls Karl Rove, "Turd
Blossom."

During his father's presidential campaign. Dubya served as the "loyalty enforcer", the heavy who was brought in to fire or chastise
disloyal campaign aides. He once yelled drunken obscenities at reporter Al Hunt in front of his wife and young child for an
innocuous statement that he had written about his father. Unaware that his microphone was on, he called a New York Times reporter an
asshole. According to White House insiders, his conversations are laced with profanity.

Dick Cheney recently told a respected senator who is critical of his war profiteering to go "fuck yourself." Bush failed to admonish
his vice president. Is this a Christian sentiment? Who would Jesus curse?

As governor of Texas, Bush presided over a record number of executions including the mentally ill and juveniles. He mocked
born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker's plea for clemency, "Please don't kill me, Mr. Bush." Many of those sentenced to die had
incompetent attorneys, including one who slept through parts of the trial. Bush's legal counsel omitted mitigating circumstances
about many of the defendants. Bush reportedly only gave a cursory review of the defendant's legal background.

During the debates with Al Gore, Bush smirked when he mentioned the pending execution of neo-nazis who dragged a black man to his
death, even as he spurned the dead man's family who begged the governor to back hate-crime legislation. What part of "Thou Shall Not
Kill" doesn't this man understand? What of "vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord"? What of "judge not, least ye be judged"? Are there
loop holes and exceptions to the teachings of Christ or the Bible, as there apparently are in US and international law when it comes
to torturing detainees?

As a failed business man in the Texas oil business, Bush apparently unloaded around $850,000 in stock before it crashed -- A far
greater amount than what Martha Stewart realized in her insider trading scam. Bush was never exonerated, although Bush Senior's
cronies at the head of the SEC dropped the investigation. "Thou Shall Not Steal?"

As governor, Bush steered much of the University of Texas's investments to his cronies. He may well have perjured himself in a Texas
funeral home scandal. The Texas Ranger's stadium was paid for by taxpayers, although Bush and his cronies realized a huge profit at
their expense. They even created a quasi-governmental agency to condemn the soon-to-be valuable private property around the ball
field in order to buy the land at fire-sale prices.

As president, his administration has awarded no-bid, cost-plus multi-billion dollar contracts to his campaign contributors. His
father has profited from his son's wars as a consultant to Carlyle. Dick Cheney's stock in Halliburton increases in value as the
company gouges US taxpayers with inflated invoices and phantom services.

The vice president is being investigated by the SEC. He may be indicted for a felony concerning bribes by Halliburton to corrupt
Nigerian officials. Bush's good friend and campaign contributor, "Kenny Boy" Lay has finally made to perp walk. His company
defrauded California and his employees lost their careers along with their life savings. The "Golden Rule?" He who has the gold,
rules.

Around $20 billion dollars from the sale of Iraqi oil has gone missing. Oil pumped from the Iraqi wells is unmetered. Money
allocated for Iraq by the US government is similarly unaccounted for with little oversight.

Are we sure that this war wasn't about oil as ten million protesters alleged before the bombing of Baghdad began? What of the
proverb that "it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle?" Bush's tax cuts
mostly benefit the richest one per cent of US citizens as the deficit soars to record heights and social programs are gutted. This
is compassionate conservative?

What mountain would Jesus strip mine? This administration is giving away America's resources to his wealthy contributors as they
despoil the land and strip the forests. The extraction industries dump toxins and pollutants into our water. Mercury from coal mines
renders seafood dangerous for pregnant women's unborn children. Death and illnesses are directly linked to pollution. Under Governor
Bush, Houston overtook Los Angeles as the country's most polluted city.

This administration is the most vengeful in US history, as Richard Clark, Paul O'Neil and Joe Wilson, among many others, have
discovered. Turn the other cheek? If you do, this administration will punch you on the other side of your head.

Cheney voted against sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa. He opposed efforts to free Nelson Mandela. What race
would Jesus hate?

Bush seems to also harbor racist tendencies. He recently refused to address the NAACP. He opposes affirmative action. He reportedly
collaborated with Lee Atwater on the racist Willie Horton ads. Rove's minions circulated rumors that John McCain fathered an
illegitimate black child. Jeb Bush disenfranchised thousands of black voters, most of whom would have supported Al Gore. Asked by a
black woman what he would do for blacks if he became governor of Florida, Jeb Bush replied, "Probably nothing." Who would Jesus
hate?

John Ashcroft, the attorney general whose department approved the use of torture, is affiliated with neo-confederate, racist groups
like the Southern Partisan and the Council of Conservative Citizens, the uptown Ku Klux Klan.

Ashcroft is one of the NRA's strongest supporters. What about beating swords into plowshares? Who would Jesus shoot? What heat would
Christ pack?

Both Cheney and Bush fought to pass a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriages, even though Cheney's daughter is a lesbian.
What group of citizens would Jesus hate?

Some of the more strident evangelicals believe that adulterers should be stoned and that gays should be executed. They are in favor
of the death penalty. As for those innocent death row inmates, they actually believe God will sort it all out in the next world. It
is doubtful that any of these "Christians" would even recognize Jesus if he returned to earth, especially if he came back as a
black, gay or an Iraqi.

America's Best Christian (with apologies to the devout Christian Betty Bowers), John Ashcroft, also presided over many executions
while in office in Missouri. Who would Jesus electrocute? It would appear that his illegal campaign contributions amount to
stealing.

His Justice Department says that torture stops just short of organ failure. What "stress positions" would Jesus advocate? Would he
"water board" detainees until they thought they were about to drown? Would he specifically approve the use of dogs to intimidate
prisoners as Rumsfeld did? Would he sexually humiliate them, leading them naked on a leash? Would he force them to masturbate and
simulate sexual acts with one another as he video taped the proceedings? Ashcroft's god is not one most Christians would recognize
from the Bible.

Bush has called our war in the Middle East a crusade. General Boykin, who believes God placed Bush in the White House, not the
Supreme Court, says this his God is the real God, not the one worshipped by Muslims. His God helped him kill the infidels. Who would
Jesus crusade against?

It certainly is remarkable that such an insipid, callow, little man like George W. Bush, who has slaughtered thousands of innocent
civilians as surely as if he pulled the trigger himself, can be described as deeply religious by one of America's most mainstream
magazines with no sense of irony. American lemmings are now so brain washed that they believe this war criminal is a man of God. It
would seem that the God he worships is really the Viking god of war, Thor, with his thunder of ongoing, preemptive "Shock and Awe"
extending as far as the eye can see into our future.


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