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Is anyone else getting the sinking feeling that the Democratic National Convention has so thoroughly accepted and promoted the Republican frame of ideas that it’s paving a smooth path for next week’s Republican National Convention?

I just got done looking through 101 pages of speeches - the speeches made from the beginning of the Democratic National Convention through about 6:00 PM this evening.

As I read, I noticed a pattern. Again and again, the people giving speeches spoke on a very limited number of issues, making the same kinds of statements with the same kind of language. As the speeches progressed, I saw that a number of very important issues were barely present at all.

Take, for example, the problem of torture of prisoners by the American government. The word torture was mentioned only once.

What about the problem of habeas corpus, revoked under the Military Commissions Act of 2006? Habeas corpus wasn’t mentioned even once. Neither was the Military Commissions Act.

What then, about the constitutional crisis provoked by President George W. Bush’s programs to spy against peaceful, law-abiding political dissidents without any search warrants or any other judicial approval. Warrantless wiretapping was never mentioned in any of these speeches, however - in any form. Neither was surveillance. The word spy was used once, in a quick reference in just one speech to the use of National Security Letters to secretly intrude into the personal lives of Americans under the Patriot Act.

So, when it comes to the attacks by George W. Bush against the liberty guaranteed to us by the Constitution, the Democrats in Denver have been almost completely silent. Do they intend to repair the damage done to our Constitution done by Constitution? I’m not sure. In all those 101 pages, the Constitution was mentioned only twice.

Something else, however, got an awful lot of mention. In the same amount of time, the Democrats speaking at their national convention in Denver mentioned God 53 times.

Will the Democrats confront the effort to destroy American freedom? Will they examine and stop the dark practices our government is conducting in dark places? Apparently not. They’re too busy with their old time religion.

I just saw a three-in-one convincing argument against genetic engineering. It was a hybrid of Melissa Etheridge and Donny and Marie Osmond, singing a medley of God Bless America, Born in the USA, and The Times They Are A Changing… with the lyrics begging senators and congressmen to please heed the call conveniently left out, of course.

Was she a real rockin’ mama in the USA, or frankenfolk?

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Well, he is, you know.

Another faith-based bludgeon from last night’s Democratic National Convention came from Hillary Clinton, who declared in closing her speech:

“That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.”

So, there is no chasm, no barrier, no ceiling that can stop those who seek rise through the ranks of government - except if you don’t have faith in God? People who don’t worship Hillary Clinton’s God will be kept out of public office?

Practically speaking, as long as the Democratic Party and the Republican Party join together to discriminate against nonreligious Americans, yes, we will be kept out of power.

Hillary Clinton has spent the last year and half talking about how important it is to put a woman in the White House in order to show that discrimination against women is coming to a close. It seems that Senator Clinton doesn’t mind a little discrimination against groups other than women, though.

It is a sign of historic injustice that there has never been a woman President of the United States. It is a similar sign of injustice that there has never been a President of the United States of non-European descent.

In the same way, it is also a sign of injustice that there has never been a non-religious President of the United States. Hillary Clinton and the leaders of the Democratic Party show no interest in ending that injustice, though. On the contrary, they seem happy to use that injustice in order to accumulate power for themselves.

Senator Clinton seems to believe that it is Americans’ duty to teach their children that religious belief can be used as a test to exclude people from public office. I won’t be teaching my children that. Instead, I’ll be teaching them what Article VI of the Constitution says our real duty is when it comes to those who seek public office: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

The use of official prayers at a political convention damages the integrity of both the political convention and the prayers. Opening and closing the political convention with prayers converts the occasion into a religious ritual that excludes people whose beliefs don’t fit those expressed in the prayers. The prayers become politically partisan, imagining that a divine creator of the entire universe has a particular political agenda, and needs to use human preachers to lecture us about that ideology.

The closing prayer for last night’s events at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, provided by Christians Jin Ho Kang and Yoougsook Kang, showed how small a political prayer can imagine the supposed ruler of the Cosmos to be. These preachers imagined that God had given them a message to give to the political leaders at the convention. They presumed to declare that all the delegates had come to Denver because they were “heeding God’s call to justice.” They said that God was trying to send a particular message to voters about who America’s leaders should be: “We hear your call for this nation to wake up to a voice that longs for leadership to be relevant to a new day.”

In closing, Jin Ho Kang and Yoougsook Kang made a further declaration of the purpose of the Democratic National Convention: “May the work of this convention provide hope for all people of God in the nation.”

Hope for the people of God? What about the rest of us? What about the millions of Americans who are not “people of God”?

I guess as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, we can all go to Hell.

Those people who wonder why it’s a negative thing to mix religion and politics, and what’s wrong with having official prayers in the public sphere, need to think about the message of last night’s Democratic Party prayers.

In the public square, prayer is not healing. It is not unifying. In the public square, prayer is used as a weapon to divide. These prayers are a tool of discrimination, sending the message that if you’re not with God, you don’t belong in this Country.

This week, the Democratic Party is spreading the message that the United States of America is a place where religious citizens will be lifted up into a place of special privilege, and the rest of America will be left behind.

I read this morning that the Republican Party has appointed former Ohio Secretary of State and former candidate for Ohio Governor Ken Blackwell to be Vice Chairman of its Platform Committee, the committee dedicated to writing the 2008 platform for the Republican National Convention.

Who is going to be leading the effort to write the platform for the Republican Party in 2008? Who is Ken Blackwell?

Ken Blackwell said being gay is like being an arsonist.

Ken Blackwell said he believes in the literal truth of every word of the Bible. I imagine this includes the bit in Exodus 21 where God says that if a male slave won’t leave his wife and family after being freed, he should have his ear run through with an awl and returned to slavery in perpetuity.

Ken Blackwell ruled in favor of the Diebold corporation on an election matter while holding Diebold stock.

Ken Blackwell proclaimed his mission as a politician to save God from the heathen secularists.

Ken Blackwell used the power of his office as Secretary of State to keep one of his campaign opponents off the ballot.

And now it seems Ken Blackwell filtered in half a million dollars for his campaign for state office from the Ohio State Republican Party when by law that money was earmarked for federal candidates only.

Law, schmaw. Ethics, schmethics. Corruption, schmorruption. Privacy, schmivacy. Jesus, schm… no, Jesus gets no schm from Ken Blackwell; he gets a big kiss and a seat in government.

This is the man the Republican Party considers to be a moral exemplar. This is the man the Republicans have picked to write their party platform. This tells you a great deal about the moral status of today’s Republican Party.

What marketing dunderhead decided that the envelope of Barack Obama’s latest fundraising letter should read:

“James, This Time Will Be Different…”

Oh, I don’t disagree with the “James” part. Jim is short for James, after all. They got my name right. But who thought it would be a good idea for a presidential fundraising letter to read:

“This Time Will Be Different…”

This is the classic line of the lover who has done wrong, begging, begging to be let back in, promising the moon. It’s the line of the used car salesman who’s sold one too many lemons. It’s the line of anyone who has done someone else wrong and is looking for easy redemption.

“This Time Will Be Different…”

That’s what you say, Barack Obama. But what do you mean? Do you mean that this time you won’t support the FISA Amendments Act? Do you mean that this time you won’t promise to engage in warrantless wiretapping when president? Do you mean that this time you won’t endorse the empirically unsupported practice of diverting government money to churches? Do you mean that this time you won’t shove a plank into the Democratic Party platform that tells Americans how important it is for them to be religious? Do you mean that this time you won’t flip flop on offshore oil drilling? Do you mean that this time you won’t shove convention protest into a cage in violation of free speech and free assembly rights?

… no. I just opened the letter. By “this time will be different,” you meant that this time I would “rush a generous contribution — of $545, $820, $1090 or even more” to your coffers.

I tell you what, hon: I may have been jilted, but I’m not stupid. Why don’t you enter a constitutional rehab program, reread the First and Fourth Amendments, develop a new platform, and then come by and ask me again? Until you do, I can’t believe you. Besides, I can still smell the beery morning-after stench of intoxicating power on your breath, and there’s that lipstick from those hussy authoritarians still on your collar. Clean up your act, then call me again… but not today, Barack Obama. Not when you show up on my doorstep looking like this.

I wrote two days ago about the alleged killing of 76 civilians by the US military in Afghanistan. Now, the death toll is up to 90 civilians, including 60 children.

Of course, that’s just what a United Nations investigation reported. You could still choose to believe the United States military. The Pentagon first claimed that it had killed 30 people in the attack, and all of them were Taliban militants. Then it claimed that 5 people of the 30 people it killed were civilians.

There’s an issue in this story that goes beyond the question of whether the American military is slaughtering innocent people in large numbers in Afghanistan. It’s an issue of basic competence. If the American military believes its operations are having an impact that is in fact vastly different from what the actual impact is, how can it effectively implement the tactics of war? If the Pentagon keeps on reporting changing, incompatible versions of events, how can it expect to gain our trust?

Our nation’s military comes out of these events both bloody and bumbling. That’s a dangerous combination.

John McCain has come out with an TV commercial suggesting that Hillary Clinton PUMA supporters ought to support John McCain… because Hillary Clinton has endorsed Barack Obama. It calls Hillary Clinton passed over… with a prime time television speaking slot, and another slot for Bill Clinton.

Sure, it all makes sense. In a Republican kind of way… kind of like how the Iraq War makes sense.

Atheists don’t agree on much of anything, except that they have the right to disagree and disbelieve. Atheists do share in common a belief that they ought not to be made second class citizens in punishment of their disbelief. Sadly, the Democratic Party no longer supports the idea that non-religious Americans should not be excluded and discriminated against. Throughout the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Democrats have been excluding nonreligious Americans from access to party leaders. The Democratic Party is on the verge of enacting a platform that makes the Democrats a religious party in favor of government funding of churches and other religious organizations.

It’s a small silver lining, but now atheists do share one thing: The need to come together for the sake of mutual defense. We don’t have a political party that will speak up for our rights. We need to speak for ourselves.

And so, a podcast speaking out on this very subject.

The first four minutes are nothing special. Start watching after minute 4.

Sure, it was hammy, with more than a little Music Man. But he got people to listen. Brian Schweitzer turned a nice speech into great theater. A little bit of theater can actually accomplish something if it gets people to do something.

Somebody needs to hand a note to each speaker at the Democratic National Convention. It should read:

STOP YELLING.

On the back it should read:

Really, we mean it. Stop yelling. You probably think that by yelling you’re communicating excitement and importance and emphasis, but what you really communicate is that you are a rabid weasel. You think you’re commanding attention, but what you really see is people wincing or smiling that uncomfortable smile to mask the thought “stop.” Excitement, importance, emphasis and attention are variables. Let them vary. Accept that not every word of your speech is equally precious. Don’t shout it all out.

A shout only grabs attention if you shout occasionally in a departure from some other mode of speaking. Otherwise, people will ignore you as much as if you whispered, because, well, you’re hurting their ears, folks. Save your shoutiest shouts for the moments when you really, really have something important to say. Something that draws everything else together. Some capstone moment that you build to (see “variables”). The rest of the time, try talking. Don’t worry, everyone will hear — that’s what those microphones are for.

They could charge a lot more money for a Twister game if they called it the “Twister Pilates Exercise System.”

People could have a lot more fun doing exercise if they turned pilates into a game like, oh, say… Twister.

The whole falling on top of other people bit would just be a bonus.