There seems to be some confusion on the site on the place of the Bible in the Western world.  The feeling being that the Bible is either not important to understanding Western literature or that the Bible itself is not a fundamental part of the Western Canon.  Two statements have made me want to write up this little essay.  The first is "that the Greek and Roman pantheons beat out Christian mythology as a guide for understanding Western literature" and the second that "the Bible and Christian religion are Middle-Eastern in origin."   I know, two commenters, out of 100,000 plus registered users, does not warrant this amount of work.  But, it has been awhile since I’ve written anything so what else am I going to do on a Christmas night.

I suppose I should include a disclaimer before I start.  I am in no way qualified to write any of this.  I do have a BA in History, but then so does a million other people who couldn’t get a real degree.  And I am an Atheist, so don’t actually believe any of the supernatural parts of the Bible.  I think it should be taught in English classes and History classes, because I think it is necessary for understanding later historical events and the literature that was written in reference to the book.

The US Department of Defense has a summery of what it considers Donald Rumsfeld's accomplishments over the past six years.  It is full of errors, lies and wishful thinking.  As well as irrelevance and bad math.

Overall: A multinational coalition has liberated 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq,...
 
Liberated 31 million Afghans from Taliban control and destroyed Al-Qaeda sanctuary – ...

Liberated 26.7 million Iraqis from a brutal dictatorship and turned over sovereignty of the country to an Iraqi government in 16 months.

How does 26.7 and 31 equal 50?  It doesn't, so they can't even get the most basic facts right, that would in fact, be in their favor.  This is the group that is fighting the wars abroad?  No wonder it's chaos over there.

Elections in Idaho are usually about hope for the impossible and a solid Republican victory in November, but this year is different.  We have a great group of people running and the Republicans are all vulnerable, both because of their own issues and because of the national mood.  We may surprise everybody on a number of levels this year.  

I've heard good poll numbers in the Congressional race in the first district and the Governor's race might actually be a race this year.  It's very exciting, but what's really getting me excited is what I'm hearing on the Radio.  Anti-Republican, pro-Democrat talk coming not from Air America or NPR, but from the Alternative Rock/New Music station, 100.3 the X.

Yesterday, Monday, September 11th, Larry Grant hosted an event for people to come out and meet him as he runs for the 1st Congressional district office.  The meeting occurred at his campaign headquarters in Caldwell, Idaho.  About a half hour outside of Boise.  

He got a fair number of people to show up, looked like between 50 and 60 people.  A fair number of people for a Monday evening event for Democrats in Idaho.  There was a lot of excitement in the crowd for Larry's campaign.  We talked about Larry's new commercial(it should be on the net soon) and the new poll showing him ahead of Bill Sali(22%-14%), of course with a huge undecided majority of 64%.

Pictures and more over the breach.

I spent the day volunteering for Larry Grant's campaign for Idaho 1st Congressional district.  Normally I do data entry putting people into various databases so that other people can then use the information I have input for furthering the cause of getting a democrat elected to Congress from Idaho.  Lost cause, I know.  Well most of the time, but this year is different.  We have an opponent who is batshit insane conservative who even the Republicans in Idaho don't like and a great moderate candidate with a solid reputation and native Idaho roots.

More in a bit.

There have been a number of diaries lately that have talked about what we are doing to change the political landscape of this country.  This is a topic that pops up once in awhile and usually devolves into minor flame wars wear one generation calls the other lazy and ineffective.  Not fun flame wars.

I once asked what was enough in a diary.  All I had done at that point was donate what little money I could.  They said that if that's all you could do then that is good.  But, here we are again discussing what is enough.

Some people are clearly doing a lot such as PsiFighter37 who has done a lot in the Lieberman/Lamont primary and has reported all kinds of good on the ground stuff.  Others, such as myself, have not done as much.

I always wondered where the idea of liberals as being out of touch elitists came from.  It didn't apply to anyone I knew and it didn't apply to anywhere I lived, but now I know.

Sometimes this is too easy.  I want the opposition to make sense and be honest and to have leigitamate differences in viewpoint so that I can have a good vigerous debate.  But, I can't because they are just too stupid to tie their own shoes.

Here's Jonah Goldberg's USAToday editorial found from the Poorman

"For example, on Day 24 of the war in Afghanistan, Apple wrote, "Like an unwelcome specter from an unhappy past, the ominous word 'quagmire' has begun to haunt conversations among government officials and students of foreign policy, both here and abroad. Could Afghanistan become another Vietnam?" Apple pondered. "Echoes of Vietnam are unavoidable." For some, the echoes stopped suddenly when the Taliban fell a few days later."

I love this quote so much I may make it my sig.
from Ted Nugent:

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Then you have this story of a man exonerated after 18 years for a rape he didn't commit.  Nugent would have killed this guy.  

Ok, Ted Nugent has just finally admited what we have all know all along.  The gun nuts who always claim the second admendment as the reason why they fight so hard for gun rights actually don't care about the constitution at all.  They only care about guns and killing people. Here's what that nut said.

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Hunter had this diary about how the US is lying about nuclear intelligence.  North Korea gets all the blame while Pakistan is most of the problem.  Now while we are obsessed by the tragic case of Terri Schiavo, Bush is busy supplying brand new F-16's to Pakistan and telling India to quit it's whining.

I know that the constitutional issues involved with Terri Schiavo are important and that the blatant exploitation of her situation by the religious zealots is something to focus on.  But Bush ratcheting up the potential for warfare between two nuclear states that have a history of warfare is far more important.

We on the left tend to get sidetracked by issues to the exclusion of other issues too easily, such as Josh Marshal and his focus on Social Security.  We need to refocus our efforts on the other things that are going on in the world in addition to the Repubplicans efforts to self destruct in Florida.