Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: USA. Lo spettro della "nazione cristiana"

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Theocracy_Alert/061105Turner/061105turner.html
Onward, Christian theocrats: The Yankee Taliban on the attack
By Tamara A. Turner
Online Journal Guest Writer
June 11, 2005-There's no escape: religious moralism and promotion of
Christianity are everywhere.
Turn to classical music on your radio and you'll be treated to an ad
recruiting for a fundamentalist congregation in exurbia. Switch the dial to
a news or talk station and you'll hear the latest diatribes against loose
women, depraved homosexuals, treasonous liberals, and godless secular
humanists.
Evangelicals like Randall Terry, founder of anti-abortion Operation Rescue,
are endeavoring to accomplish nothing less than replacing the U.S.
Constitution with biblical law. Intrinsic to their aim of creating an
American Taliban is eliminating the separation between church and state, in
tandem with a host of other freedoms and protections.
"Our goal is a Christian nation," says Terry. "We are called by God to
conquer this country."
For corporate interests who must hold down the wages and conditions of
workers and stifle dissent at home in order to compete against the European
Union for world markets, the religious right is a literal godsend. It
provides them the ideological cover they need to advance their objectives.
The Wall Comes Tumbling Down
The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment begins, "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. . . ." Thomas Jefferson famously called this the "wall of
separation" between church and state.
The wall has never been absolute. U.S. religious organizations, for example,
enjoy tax-exempt status, worth an estimated $185 billion in annual revenue.
Their combined assets now exceed $331 billion; one can only imagine what the
fisherman of Galilee would think.
Today, however, religious extremists brazenly assert that the constitutional
separation of church and state is a myth-"a lie introduced by Satan and fost
ered by the courts," according to Rick Scarborough, head of a group of
"patriot pastors" and a close ally of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
The new crusaders are gaining ground in their efforts to openly shape public
policy. They dominate in the executive and legislative branches of federal
government, and their influence everywhere is spreading.
  a.. Bush's "faith-based initiatives" pour billions into religious groups,
although these organizations cannot supply even a fraction of the social
services formerly provided by the government itself. The $20 billion
allocated to them for the next 10 years is less than what the federal
government used to spend annually on Aid for Dependent Children alone.
  b.. The faith-based groups can refuse to hire gays, employ only
Christians, and deny social services to anyone who won't participate in
daily prayers and Bible readings-discriminatory practices defended by the
Justice Department although countless lawsuits are pending.
  c.. "Pro-choice" John Kerry and zealot Rick Santorum are joint sponsors of
a Senate bill to legalize pharmacists' refusal to fill prescriptions for
birth control and emergency contraception that "violate their beliefs." Four
states already have such laws; in other states, pharmacies restrict women's
access to these drugs by not stocking them.
  d.. The House approved a bill making it a federal crime to avoid parental
consent laws by taking minors across state lines for an abortion. Senate
approval is expected.
  e.. Abstinence-only programs are the only sex "education" for which
federal money can be used, even though teenagers in these programs have the
highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases.
  f.. Teachers in a dozen states cannot legally mention evolution unless
"creationist" or "intelligent design" theory is presented as equally valid.
  g.. In April, a Washington state bill to prohibit anti-gay discrimination
was defeated for the 29th time in as many years. Microsoft Corporation
dropped its long-standing support for the bill under threat of a boycott by
a local evangelical preacher. (A backlash caused Microsoft to reverse course
two weeks later, after the bill had already died.)
  h.. Although same-sex civil unions are now legal in a few states,
right-wing appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court are pending.
Partnership for Power
What is the relationship of the religious right to reactionaries who don't
fly under the banner of God? The convictions they hold most strongly in
common include opposition to the rights of women and sexual minorities,
contempt for unions, hatred of socialism, and reverence for "free
enterprise," private property rights, and authority. And these two
components of the right wing grow cozier every day.
Fundamentally, the goals of the right wing are economic, and their sights
are now set on the judiciary. As legal theorist Richard Epstein asserts,
"There are many blatantly inappropriate statutes that cry out for a quick
and easy kill"-including the minimum wage, Social Security, and laws
governing the environment, occupational safety, and child labor.
Two of Bush's now confirmed nominees for lifetime federal judgeships, who
have invariably ruled in favor of business, are Janice Rogers Brown and
Priscilla Owen.
Currently on the California Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown is an African
American with a long record of rulings against affirmative action and
anti-discrimination laws. She assails the New Deal of the 1930s, which
created Social Security, as "the triumph of our socialist revolution."
At an April meeting of Catholic legal professionals, Brown tagged opponents
of Bush's nominees as atheists and secularists hostile to religious
traditions. This witch-hunting intimidation tactic, reminiscent of
McCarthy-era red-baiting, is becoming standard for religious rightists and
those currying their favor.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, for example, attacked Senate Democrats
trying to block Bush's nominees as "against people of faith" in a videotaped
address to an April 25 rally of right-wing churches in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the same speech, Frist specifically went to bat for Priscilla Owen, a
Texas Supreme Court judge elected with the help of donations from large
corporations including Enron-obligations she consistently repays from the
bench.
It's worth noting that this April gathering of Christian marauders prompted
hundreds of other religious folks in Louisville to hold a counter-rally.
Window of Opportunity
The religious right is gaining steam because the troubled capitalist system
needs its help and cover.
Polls show that the majority of Americans believe the economy is getting
worse, and with good reason. Over the last three years, while corporate
profits have shown an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent after inflation,
wages and salaries have grown less than a tenth as fast. Outsourcing and
layoffs have eradicated better-paying jobs; unemployment is rampant; the
Iraq war, at $4 billion a month, is draining U.S. taxpayers; and the social
safety net is in tatters.
People are fearful, and they want answers. The religious right defends
corporate interests by deflecting people's anxieties onto scapegoats and by
providing moral justification for inequality, sexism, racism, homophobia,
and poverty.
And, should the system's crisis worsen, the religious right offers the
potential to rally a mass movement around a program for fascism-capitalism's
weapon of last resort.
Canadian communist writer David Lethbridge notes that in 1930s Europe,
"religion and fascism formed a united front of terror: a cross in one hand,
a machine gun in the other." Despite the USA PATRIOT Act-era devastation
Bush and his cohorts have wreaked on civil liberties, that reality is not
yet ours today. But to guarantee that a fascist movement does not arise
again, now is the moment for opponents of the political agenda of the
Christian right, especially other religious believers, to unite and take
action.
This article was originally published in "Freedom Socialist newspaper".

 wrote in message
Cut
America Saudita.
Soffrono di un pauroso gap culturale, come tutto l'occidente del resto.
Quindi ci si aggrappa ai salvagente.
Purtroppo il salvagente e' di ferro e trascina sotto, il recente funerale
Khomeinista di Karol, la beatificazione a furor di popolo, fanno venire i
brividi alla schiena.
Il Cristianesimo e' rantolante, ma l'orrendo vuoto ideologico occidentale lo
risucchia su dalla tomba.
Una ideologia di fantasmi puo' portare a incubi.
Semplicemente a mio avviso la semplicistica monetizzazione del reale frutto
del culto di mercato finisce per devastare l'universo spirituale.
E' un po quanto successo in URSS, devastazione spirituale e umana, porta
allo schianto della societa' civile che implode sotto vuoto.
Verra' il giorno in cui il valore verra' sganciato dal valore monetario, la
moneta e' un mezzo non il fine, semplice constatazione.
Solo dei miserabili si baloccano con il danaro, il lusso, il potere che ne
deriva, dei poveretti, le persone ricche lo usano ma non ne diventano
schiavi.
Noi attualmente stiamo viviamo la schiavitu' monetaria, in quanto diamo
estrema importanza al danaro, lo evochiamo ed aspettiamo tremando il giorno
in cui non ne avremo a sufficenza per poterci rispettare sa soli.
Qua i predicatori sguazzano, e da terrorizzati senza visione e futuro puoi
aspettarti di tutto.
Orrendo scoprire che l'occidente e' materialista e vuoto come l'ex mondo
comunista, ancor piu' orrendo sara' scoprire che il salvagente Cristianita'
( ma vale anche per Ebraismo e Islam ) e' ancor piu' vuoto e delirante.
Seve un nuovo movimento religioso, altrimenti lo spazio verra' occupato da
fanatici, fascisti, gente mentalmente malata, e dai sempre presenti
leccapiedi e criminali di contorno.
Gia successo in Germania negli anni 30.
Saluti Cad Ali'

 Gia successo in Germania negli anni 30.
Ma più che da una crisi di valori anche in quel caso du una crisi
economica (e post bellica) a fare da humus.
Sai com'è? Con il soldo in tasca sono tutti ragionevoli, tolleranti
e pacifici...quando però il soldo incomincia a scarseggiare e la gente
deve iniziare a lottare che si creano i "clan", gli schieramenti,
le ideologie più estreme che prendono forza.
Non di sol pane vive l'uomo...ma sol di companatico vive benissimo
Ciao! 


Non a caso gente come Evola e Nice proprio in quegli anni scrivevano libri
come " la crisi del mondo occidentale", crisi di valori.
Qua' spiego la semplice nozione di cultura.
Un popolo puo' trovarsi, capita, con problemi economici anche gravi, se ha
basi culturali e spirituali valide supera la crisi in modo razionale, se non
le ha' qualcuno ne prende il posto, se le inventa e tenta di superare la
crisi in modo irrazionale.
Successo in Germania sta per succedere a mio avviso negli USA.
Saluti Cad Ali'

 e sia condiviso.
??
Io non mi devo giustificare di nulla
Il resto per ora lo taglio ma lo leggerò più tardi
Ciao! 


Se tu vivessi nella zona bene di Medellin ne avresti bisogno, ogni giorno.
Facile diventare razzista e fascista.
Noi viviamo nella zona bene del mondo.
Voglia o no ne abbiamo bisogno, magari non ogno giorno.
Non si vive di solo pane, levatelo dalla mente, serve anche altro.
Ti do due esempi ai limiti.
I professionals dei quartieri bene di Boston dopo aver mosso soldi tutto il
giorno si rifugiano nella loro villa con tutti i confort e religiosamente si
mettono al computer per le mail, fine della giornata, fine yawnn...
Allarme antifurto e security in azione.
I neretti del centro africa dopo aver sbarcato il lunario nelle baracche con
gli altri dei loro ( senza sfiancarsi ci mancherebbe ) vanno nella balera e
tirano fino alle cinque di mattina, qualcosa combinano di sicuro.
Nessun fastidio non hanno niente da perdere.
Chi se la passa meglio?
Se fai caso i brasiliani scuri di pelle sono della stessa razza e fanno la
stessa vita.
Saluti Cad Ali'


#_Saddhu!...Saddhu!...Saddhu!
G.