Christian Contract with America
You may not have noticed - or had to duck and cover in your neck of the woods - but there is a "war on Christians" going on. And some of the principal defenders of the faith just had a conference with that theme. during which they passed a 10-point list of demands which, apparently flow logically from The Declaration of Independence.

You gotta love that old school King James-looking font they use for the first letter of each paragraph (remember how Christian we were when we used fancier calligraphy?). Essentially the plan calls for such Christian ideals as: better protection of free religious exercise, anywhere and everywhere and for any reason; criminalization of abortion and cloning; stomping out whatever possibility of gay marriage might still linger; plus, lowering taxes (uh..what?), protecting our national borders (because Jesus was all into that), and the enforcement of private property rights (now i'm really confused..).

Missing is any reference to assisting the poor (unless you count the child tax credit which they endorse), feeding the hungry, clothing the naked (unless you count their opposition to pornography/art), offering any assistance whatsoever to the needy outside of our borders, the encouragement of peace, or tolerance for any kind of difference (in fact one bit of legislation they push would make sure you could never be tried for a "hate crime" if your religion made you do it.)

Most peculiar to me is their pressing 2 bills I don't understand at all:

The Parental Consent Act to prohibit the use of federal funds for any universal or mandatory mental health screening (H.R. 181);
The Child Medication Safety Act, to protect children from being coerced into taking drugs in order to attend school (H.R. 1790);

And now I'm too depressed to look them up. Anybody know who it is that might be forcing our children to take drugs to go to school, or what mental health screening might be especially threatening?

And, as Kevin Drum relays via the Carpetbagger, don't assume these are a bunch of no-count freaks. In attendance are none other than Tom Delay and Senator Cornyn of TX, and 2008 Presidential hopeful Sam Brownback.