When Kansas Republicans effectively took control of the State Board of Education away from conservatives in the Aug. 1 primary, the rest of the country took notice. Thomas Frank (in photo), the Mission Hills native who wrote "What’s the Matter With Kansas?" — a best-selling condemnation of conservatism’s unfulfilled promises — asked in The New York Times last week: "Could the conservative uprising in my home state finally have run its course?" With regret, Frank concluded that hasn’t, in part because "Seen from the streets of Wichita, the rightist rebellion of Kansas seems to fulfill that most romantic of American political traditions: the uprising of the little guy." Our editorial on today’s Opinion pages suggests that as big as the election was for Kansas, it seems more like a pendulum swing for one governmental body than a political sea change for the Kansas GOP.
Today’s pages also include a roundup of excerpts of national commentary written about the state board change, from Chuck Colson to The Washington Post.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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29 Comments
For the most part all the Religious Right and Neo-cons did was take advantage of the old, “sqeeky wheel got the oil”.I was told by an aunt that had been an aid in Washington. That our officals often set waiting to hear from those that elected them. To form an opinion. But it is generally only those on the edge that take the time to write or call.
So they hear from the R.R. and look to the general public to see what the rest of us are saying. When they do not hear anything from us they go with the views they hear.
The forces of evil are still moving and unless we the majority make sure they are not the only ones. They still have the power to effect change.
Hi writerdog,
I can accept a nation that gets by on its own amazing resources. We give up some things. we gain some tthings.
There will always be changes in the public morals. As somethings do need to be changed for the better. It is a shame that the changes sometimes go to far one way or the other though.
Writerdog,
Are you saying that the “religious right” are the forces of evil?
Gee, I would have liked to have read it, had my paper arrived.
Is anybody else out there not getting their paper like they’re supposed to.
This is about the third Sunday in the last four we didn’t get one . . .
Let me answer that for WtrD, Nathan.
YES!
When you all successfully substitute the non-science, non-religious “intelligent design” for basic science in our schools, when you demand and get laws to discriminate against homosexuals, when you deliberately dumb-down sex ed so that students cannot know basic facts about human biology (like contraception and the effectiveness of condom use to prevent STD’s), that’s evil.
Inculcating ignorance is evil.
And that’s what the religious right does.
Oh, yeah, your ilk also believes that Israel has to kill all the Arabs so that the “end times” can happen.
So you cheer Israel on every time it bombs a hospital.
That’s evil.
When Ben Sciortino and Dave Unruh lose their races this fall, it will have nothing to do with evolution!
I read the U.S. rated about 32nd in ranking for countries that didn’t accept evolution. Turkey was either just before us, or after us, because they are nearly as religiously radical as our conservatives.
I read the U.S. rated about 32nd in ranking for countries that didn’t accept evolution. Turkey was either just before us, or after us, because they are nearly as religiously radical as our conservatives.
Nathan, would you agree the Devil could use even Christians to bring about his will on earth? Unwittingly and made to believe that in some fashion they are actually doing God’s will. There by they are a force for evil, look to the witch hunts, the inquisition examples of people that were righteous Christians who thought that they were doing good things in the name of the Lord. Yet were they? Murder, torture was that God’s will? The Religious Right said it is a mandate from God, quoting the Bible chapter and verse but the Devil can quote the Bible. That proves nothing as to it being a mandate from God, was slavery a mandate from God?
The Religious Right has a mandate, but it is not from God once they went from simply expressing their view of God’s word to organizing to invoke their view of God’s will. They lost their way, turning from God to follow a man and his weak understanding of God’s will. The battle for the soul is not with the world it is within. The sin to be vanquished is within you not the world. Taking sin from the world does nothing if the sin lives within. The claim that you would be endorsing homosexually by allowing gays to marry is a falsehood. Homosexually is an abomination to God, so unless you are God you have no privilege of finding it an abomination. Nor a right to judge it a greater sin then that which lives within you.
To stand against the sin within other is to judge their sin greater then your own, who among us is so righteous that we have that standing with God? Again where the Religious Right has gone wrong is they do not express God’s word but attempt to invoke God’s law on the non-believers. God’s law is for those that believe. God’s command is to be righteous in your life not to make the world righteous in your view.It is not the world that need to win the approval of God in order to gain entry to heaven. Daniel had the protection of God in the Lions den. God did not change the Lions to Christianity, he change Daniel to the protection of God.
By their actions the Religious Right have give yet another reason for the non-believe to turn from God.In that light, could they not be called a force for Evil?
I think Satan would love the irony.
Oh, yeah, your ilk also believes that Israel has to kill all the Arabs so that the “end times” can happen.
So you cheer Israel on every time it bombs a hospital.
Smear tactics at its finest.
Writerdog,Yes, Christians do make mistakes. Christians have been making mistakes all the way back since Ananias and Saphirah. (Acts of the Apostles) Every Christian claims to be a sinner even after conversion, none of us ever say that we’re perfect. Well, none of us with an ounce of humility anyway. Yep! It’s not easy walking in the ways of the Lord, why even yours truly gets pissed every now and then, but we believe in a little thing called forgiveness which I’m glad God has in abundance but which we as a people generally are found lacking. You wanna end all the wars and the drama around the world? I have the answer, and its surprisingly very simple: just forgive each other. Stop clinging onto past grievances put them aside because the past doesn’t matter anymore, you can’t change the past, all we can do is strive to change ourselves and the world around us for a better future.
This is the whole paragraph from the op/ed piece Rhonda quotes:
“Seen from the streets of Wichita, the rightist rebellion of Kansas seems to fulfill that most romantic of American political traditions: the uprising of the little guy.” This “pseudo-populist offensive” against the elites of medicine, journalism, the judiciary, science and education, Frank wrote, “is, after all, the prevailing rhetorical mode of the national Republican Party, from the commander in chief down to the lowliest Internet troll. They talk this way because it works.”
I think Frank, as usual, has it nailed. I also think I have some nominees for the “lowliest internet troll” he mentions above.
A musing inspired by Nathan:There’s religious right, and then there’s Religious Right. Sometimes there are layered meaning behind the words. But I guess to literalists there are no such things as subtlety, that everything has to absolute with no shades of gray. There are times when logic is inadequate and intuition must be employed. But, that’s a feminine trait, not the masculine image of “God’s Warriors.” Nor there are such things as cultural and linguistic differences that may influence how logic be interpreted.
I agree substantially with Colson on this – we are discussing the controversy at least (and yes I know that I’m refering to the non-scientific dialog that’s taking place in the general populace.) http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/2006/08/talkin-points-081406.html
Okay, one more time.from Pat Hayes at Red State Rabble:
Saturday, August 12, 2006Judgement DayAccording to Agape Press, that ever reliable fount of news from a Christian source, Kansas state school board member Connie Morris has undergone a period of deep introspection following her loss to Sally Cauble in the Republican primary.
After Connie’s dark night of the soul, she’s concluded that the “lying liberal media” is responsible for her defeat.
“The media assassinated me,” Morris contends. “They did everything they could to ruin my character, my reputation. I wish I could go through all the stories to tell you how they were either blatant lies or gross misinterpretations of the facts,” she says.(In this sense, all the stories Morris wishes she could tell are much like the evidence for intelligent design. Often alluded to, but never enumerated.)
It wasn’t just the media, either. Opponents of Kansas’ recently enacted science standards worked, she says, to derail her campaign.
“We just had a lot coming against us,” explains Morris, including “a lot of well-funded, loud, obnoxious, rude people who have no ethics and morals, and they don’t bat an eye at lying and manipulating the truth.”
Moreover, says Morris, liberal opportunists don’t mind “slandering people and harming their families and their reputation and their business and their communities and their state. It’s a shame,” she adds. “It’s a shame, and I feel bad for them when they face God on Judgment Day.”
Although four born-again Christians remain on the State Board of Education, Morris believes the newly empowered liberal majority will waste no time adopting new science standards. In January, she says, when the new members are sworn in, the Board will likely rescind the existing standards and adopt new ones that “let government schools teach children that we are no more than chaotic, random mutants.”Although Morris undoubtedly numbers Red State Rabble among the loud, obnoxious, rude people who have no ethics and morals, and who don’t bat an eye at lying and manipulating the truth, we’d like to take a moment to thank her for her public service. After all, without sweet, sweet Connie, RSR would not exist.
Hello lyn g perry.Welcome to the forum.
Thanks, Tracy. The kindest word I’ve received! lol Appreciate the passion on WE Blog and hope to jump in from time to time. lgp
As far as the controversy about evolution, I would like to refer you all to a link where an internal memo describes the political agenda of the Discovery Institute (the main propoents of creationism disguised as “Intelligent Design”). This link exposes how concerned the religious right is when it comes to “scientific controversy” (excuse me, while I choke a minute):
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/can-you-say-hidden-agenda.html
OMG HOW FUNNY!!!!!
Tracy, thanks for posting that!
eheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh
Connie had a dark moment of introspection and decided… hehehe… wait for it… hehehe…
IT WAS THE LIBERAL MEDIA’s FAULT.
hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee
To borrow from Tracy, “and may I say this about evolution? BILL CLINTON” he heee heeeeeeeee heeeeee
OMG, I needed that laugh this morning.
Oh, it couldnt be she is a lying piece of crap who defrauded the state by filing fraudulent travel vouchers. heheh. Oh no, THAT couldnt have mattered.
heheheh. Liberal media. Bill Clinton. Gay marriage. Immigrants.
hehehe. Any more to add to the generic blame list?
I KNOW personal responsibility couldnt be involved on the blame front. Nope.
Bill Clinton. Liberal media. Gay marriage.
heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh
AND WHERE IS CINDY DUCKETT THIS MORNING????????????????????????
I guess she musta missed church yesterday and didnt get enough “motivation” to defend her beliefs here?
hehehehehehehehehehehehhehe
cowardly is as cowardly does
Steven: I don’t know if the “wedge” document is real, but it does sound genuine. As you might expect, I don’t disagree with the ideas presented in the document. I do disagree with the interpretation of the document in the accompanying article, especially in regard to establishing a theocracy.
As I stated in an earlier thread, Intellgient Design theory is not going away. And you don’t accomplish anything without a plan.
Wonder what new name Intelligent Design/Creationism will come up with to try to fool everybody?
Dennis, “The I Was Never No Stinkin’ Monkey” theory.
Yeah. I like that.
JM, you just took over the lead, pushing doug to a close second,in the one-liner olympics.Tip of the hat to JM.
“And you don’t accomplish anything without a plan.”
Man, Outlander, I don’t know where you work, but I could show you many things at my place of employment that demonstrates administrative planning is what usually messes us up – big time.
It’s quite possible that God provided the mechanisms for change and got out of the way — like many a good manager.