You know the scene from the move "The Blues Brothers", the 1980 comedy about two ne'er do well blues musicians "on a mission from God" to save an orphanage:
Jake and Elwood Blues are stuck in traffic waiting to cross a bridge. A cop walks by and they ask what's going on:
Jake: Hey, what's going on?
Officer: Ah, those bums won their courtcase so they're marching today.
Jake: What bums?
Officer: The f***ing Nazi party.
Elwood: Illinois Nazis
Jake: I hate Illinois Nazis
The Blues Brothers then do what we all would love to do in the same situation by revving up the 440 cubic inch engine of their retired 1974 Dodge Monaco police interceptor known as "the Bluesmobile" and chasing those Illinois Nazis off the bridge forcing them to jump ignominiously into the river below after which the counter-protestors all cheer and clap.
In the real world we can't run the "Illinois Nazis" off the bridge with our cars but we ought not to be afraid to stand up and tell them to sit down and shut the hell up already - we ought not to be afraid to tell them that we've already heard enough of their intolerant crap.
We've recently seen at least three particularly obnoxious examples of this type of intolerance in the ongoing 2008 Presidential campaign - one of which was directed at a Republican candidate - Mitt Romney - and two others against Democrats - John Edwards and Barack Obama.
In the case of Mitt Romney, the religious right have become so obsessed with establishing a "Christian" theocracy in this country (in spite of all of Jesus' teachings to the contrary) that they felt the need to call in the "Jesus Police" on Governor Romney now that he is running for his party's nomination for President.
As reported in the Orlando Sentinel recently (
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/elections/orl-romney1707feb17,0,7800076.story?track=mostemailedlink) , one such member of the self-appointed "Jesus Police" stood up and publicly chastised the former Republican governor as "a pretender who doesn't know the Lord" while he was in the Central Florida area visiting with voters in the Villages.
Well, excuse ME, but the last time I checked, this country was still run by the United States Constitution, not some zealot's very particular interpretation of the King James Bible.
According to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution: "No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Governor Romney's choice of religion or even a lack thereof, then, is NOT a legitimate reason to decide to vote either FOR or AGAINST him. It just shows how out of hand things have become within the Republican Party that the former Governor should have even felt the need to defend his religious choices to such right wing religious zealots in the first place.
If this is how you feel about either religion or politics, then you would do both God and Country better service by refraining from participation in either activity.
In the case of Barack Obama, right wing obnoxious talking head Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly referred to him in recent times as Barack Obama Osama - a blatant attempt to smear him by gratuitously tying the Senator to Osama bin Laden merely by using the fact that their two names rhyme. Never mind that there is no logical or factual basis for this slander on Limbaugh's part - Limbaugh did it just to be malicious.
I hereby urge Senator Obama to put his Harvard law degree to good use by filing a slander lawsuit against Rush Limbaugh for defamation of character and make him finally pay dearly for slandering people over the years.
In the case of John Edwards we've just heard foul mouthed obnoxious right wing talking head Ann Coulter call him "a fa**ot" at the recent CPAC convention on television in front of the audience after being introduced, coincidentally by Mitt Romney (who by now probably wishes he had at least wore an EPA haz-mat suit while doing so).
This latest bizarre comment of Ann Coulter shows just how bitter, angry, disturbed and delusional she has become - that she would claim that John Edwards who has been married nearly the last 30 years with 4 children to the same woman is a homosexual - Are we even to even take her comments seriously? Or is it merely more ad-hominem rantings from a very angry very disturbed person?
Any real conservative would know that what adults do in their own bedroom is really nobody else's business, not the government's -and certainly not Ann Coulter's - Yet in Ann Coulter's warped little mind, this f word and homosexuality are probably her ultimate insults - a very nasty little word from a very nasty little person intended to hurt people whose politics she doesn't like.
To Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and all you "Jesus Police" out there, I say: You are the very unfortunate price we must pay for freedom of speech in this country and we've long since paid enough.
We've heard enough from you so sit down and shut the hell up already!
Your hateful words really have no place in a country that prides itself on the notion that "all men are created equal" and begins its Constitution with the phrase "We the People". It's long since time for you apologize, sit down and shut up already.
To the right wing media and particularly to right wing organizations out there, I say: Stop handing these hateful little people a megaphone and putting them out in front of your parade.
They do your cause no good service and only make you look like a bunch of nut jobs - not "fair and balanced" as you claim to be. If you have a choice between George Will and Ann Coulter for your next show, let's all agree that you'll book George Will - OK?
This country deserves a serious discussion of the candidates and a serious discussion of the issues not more childish hateful name calling - let's all act like grown-ups this election cycle.
Disgusted,
Doug D.
Orlando, FL
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