Instruments of Darkness

Some disturbing posts are up at Kos dealing with the mobilization of fundamentalists. Senator Bill Frist is leading the troops, and the scope of his crusade is becoming more and more clear. Starting with the "The Battle of Schiavo," it's been a non-stop assault on judges-- even conservative Christians appointed by Republican presidents-- and more inexplicable claims that the only acceptable America is one dominated by a single branch of a single religion. We've seen the attacks on science and choice simmering for decades, but for the first time Christian fundamentalists feel confident enough in their political power to actually make a move on a national level. I hate to say "I never thought it could happen here," but we're staring it in the face.

From the NYT editorial:

Senator Frist is to appear on a telecast sponsored by the Family Research Council, which styles itself a religious organization but is really just another Washington lobbying concern. The message is that the Democrats who oppose a tiny handful of President Bush's judicial nominations are conducting an assault "against people of faith." By that, Senator Frist and his allies do not mean people of all faiths, only those of their faith.

It is one thing when private groups foment this kind of intolerance. It is another thing entirely when it's done by the highest-ranking member of the United States Senate, who swore on the Bible to uphold a Constitution that forbids the imposition of religious views on Americans.

Read the editorial, then skip over to Kos for the posts on Frist's Cleansing War over the last day.







(Nice how they use ' filibuster' as a four-letter word here-- surely a coincidence that it comes at the time of the so-called nuclear option. And they don't point out that it was GOP stalwart and Southern Baptist Strom Thurmond who "abused" the filibuster to block civil rights.)