Presidential Election, part i

[caffeine]

I read yesterday that Huckabee's National Security Adviser is the Vice-Chairman from Blackwater. Yep, the same no-bid, not responsible to anyone mercs private (for profit) army currently operating out of the US. They are the ones currently accused (note, not proven nor indicted) of shooting civilians in Iraq. They are also a major campaign contributor to Bush.

Huckabee is also one of the candidates that does not believe in evolution and when pressed for an answer was at the height of political double speak and changed the subject. The problem with the subject change is that he started blaming the media for prying into his private religious beliefs (and those of other candidates). Except that he and the other candidates opened the can of worms by openly and heavily courting the evangelical movement, which I think makes the question fair. You know, really, he can believe whatever he wants to believe. However, we have seen the fundamentalist movement get in the way of science from stem-cell research to the HPV vaccine.

Strike three for Huckabee is that he said, "...we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards..." Um, FUCK NO. The biblical god (the one to which he is referring) is all over the map when it comes to standards. Old Testament, New Testament, mixture, Jesus' standards, what? Don't forget that sexism and slavery are standards of the Bible. Now, unless you hear voices in your head, god has not changed those standards in almost 2000 years (well Council of Nicea was ~300CE, so 1700 years). Any deviation from the Bible is a particular sect's dogma.

At this point, I feel it necessary to quote the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I am pretty sure "amending the Constitution so it's in God's standards" is in clear violation of the First Amendment.

Comments

<sarcasm>

[rosencrantz319.livejournal.com]

How unamerican!

[tokenfanboy.livejournal.com]

His supporters sounded pretty scary in the clips I saw after Iowa as well. I'd count that as another strike as well.

[davidkingsley.livejournal.com]

Technically, any amendment to the Constitution is constitutional, but it will go against the original purpose of the First Amendment.

At first, I was OK with Huckabee not believing in evolution, as long as he didn't say that he was trying to get creationism and intelligent design taught in public schools, in part because he leans left on fiscal issues. He was saying the right things, like how he would be President of all Americans and not just Christian Americans, unlike Mitt Romney, who said that you cannot have freedom without religion and that he would not have a Muslim in his cabinet because they represented too small a minority. Now, Huckabee looks like just another theocrat.

[kniblet.livejournal.com]

Oddly, he sounds so reasonable when he's not speaking about religion. And that's why he's really scary.

[dibsy.livejournal.com]

Or when he's speaking economics, gun control, reproductive rights, healthcare or gay marriage.

But he does come across as a nice and reasonable guy, which is why he is so scary, and such a threat. I can really see him as having a good chance of becoming president, especially as so many mainstream pundits have written him off. Just like they did with cuntwad war-criminal scumbag Bush.

[mightyj.livejournal.com]

As a strong believer in the separation of church and state I didn't need to go any farther than Huckabee being an ordained baptist minister. That knocks him out of consideration in my book; the rest is just icing on the cake.