"The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria (Actually, the adjustment criteria are here). Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!

God-o-Meter blogger Dan Gilgoff is Beliefnet's Politics Editor. A former political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, he is author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War."

The GOD-O-METER

Like Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, Stephen Colbert so completely inhabits his creation—the arch-conservative blowhard host of The Colbert Report, his Daily Show spin-off hit—that he rarely breaks character. As Colbert's new book, I Am America (And So Can You!), is published, Vanity Fair gets a revealing interview with the real thing: a master comedian, forever altered by family tragedy.

The Man in the Irony Mask

That's a lovely lady, and a good interview. Steven Colbert is always so funny, even when the material is so very serious.

Stephen Colbert Interviews Naomi Wolf

According to a 2005 report of the International Centre for Prison Studies in London, the United States—with five percent of the world’s population—houses 25 percent of the world’s inmates.

Because America is so freaking intolerant of anything that the majority considers 'deviant' and what is OK is getting more and more and more narrow.

Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?

Do what? DO WHAT?
UG

The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Well. You just said it better than I ever could have. I saw that, and surely tilted my head like a dog hearing a siren. WTF.
I always said "The courts are the hope of the country." Lately I dunno about that. They are like a stacked deck.

Judge dismisses civil suit in CIA leak scandal | Politics | Reuters

Shortly after 9/11, Senator Bob Graham, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for “a symbiotic relationship between the intelligence community and the private sector.” They say you should be careful what you wish for.

... As it happened, the dot-com bubble had burst shortly before 9/11, cutting loose a generation of technology entrepreneurs who, when the government came calling, were only too happy to start developing new data-mining algorithms and biometric identification programs.

There is nothing inherently wrong with all this.

The problem is that the “symbiotic relationship” has turned decidedly dysfunctional, if not downright exploitative.

Don’t Privatize Our Spies

"68% of self-identified republicans do not believe in the theory of evolution."

3 Republican presidential candidates do not either. Just interesting facts from a recent Gallup poll. I'd not seen this in the news, but I heard it on the Colbert report and thought I'd check it out to see if it really was true.

I'm kinda floored that people reject the theory to the extent they do in the US. It seems it is getting worse.

68% of Republicans don't believe in evolution

I'm in the Bible belt, and sometimes I feel like it is on WAY too tight and I'd like to see its grip loosened some.

That said, I have been made absolutely SICK by churches preaching politics and telling members how to vote. I think it is an abuse of power and an atrocity to God myself, but that is just my opinion.

How, I am a homeschooler. I run a homeschool group in NW Georgia that is SECULAR and INCLUSIVE. Strange, but it turns out it is also mostly liberal.

But, simply because I homeschool that makes me some sort of social suspect. Today I got this email, which I am encouraged to forward.
I won't be going. I did forward it, in CASE anyone would want to go - we do have some Christian families in the group.

I took my child to help campaign for a couple of candidates - one national and one local. I am proud that homeschoolers are so political, and I encourage it - don't get me wrong.

But I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder - how much of this sort of thing is directly or indirectly supported from church funds that are nontaxable? 50.00 for a week wouldn't touch food for my growing boy.

I was very pleased to see the IRS go after one televangelist that told his congregation that if they voted for x candidate they were voting for the devil. It happens all the time. I shake my head.

Do people not see that sort of political pressure from a religious authority that is supported by tax free money is WRONG? There IS a law against it for a reason!

Well, I have a heretic heart, true. However, as an American citizen, I think it is about time that the IRS start watching religious nontaxed institutions for conformance with the law.
If you're going to tell people how to vote and have political camps, it is time you paid taxes. (That goes for liberals too!)

Just a rant. Sorry. Here's the email. I really don't know how they are funded and I'm not accusing them - it is just it makes me WONDER. They could be legit. I only wonder because I saw so much of this and I feel like it is exactly how the far right took control of America.

Forwarding without endorsement.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Political Camp for Georgia Homeschoolers

It is my pleasure to invite you to a special opportunity which is coming to Northeast Georgia in about a week (June 13-19). Dr. Paul Broun (respected Athens physician and conservative leader, www.paulbroun.com) is hosting a Political camp designed to teach teens about grassroots campaigning and aid in his special election bid for congress. Students will be trained in grassroots political tactics and strategies and given hands on experience during a week of positive fun and Christian fellowship under the over sight of noted teen/homeschool leader Tim Echols (www.teenpact.com). Food and housing is all covered at a cost of only $50 for the entire week. I hope that you will be able to join us.

Please direct any questions that you have to:
Georgia Project georgiaproject@gmail.com

Paul Sellers
Georgia Project Director

P.S. Please forward this to any homeschoolers who might be interested, thanks!"

A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a Justice Department official with knowledge of the case.

Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.

Whoops! Who could have seen this one coming? At this rate? Anyone. Find a henhouse and figure whoever George has put in charge of it is a fox raiding it.

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/27/2007 | Justice Dept official resigns over investigation connected with Abramoff