Congratulations. The republicans have finally taken control of the New York State Senate after the evil democrats’ long tyrannical reign over New York State. The new republicans promise a bipartisan effort to move forward and eliminate the old corrupt ways of democrats doing business behind closed doors and keeping certain people out of the process. After a long and terrifying period of the democrats’ old stagnation politics and back-door deals, we are free at last, free at last.

If this doesn’t sound familiar, then maybe you haven’t been living in New York any time in the last 70 years. Republicans finally get a taste of their own medicine and suddenly they are the party of reform and bipartisanship. I’m not buying it, and neither should any liberal. Democrats gain control for a few months, and immediately the republicans are up in arms as if they haven’t been playing the same games for decades.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any democrat; we are just as much to blame for the coup as they are. What have democrats really accomplished in their short time? I’ve heard a lot of bickering, not a lot of transparency, and very little progress on important civil rights issues or health care. I am talking to you Mr. Brian Foley. We didn’t elect you to put up with this nonsense. What happened to change and progress? You let them distract you, just like we always do. Democrats never fail to fall apart when it counts, and this late attempt to stop the coup is just the epitome of their attitude towards getting things done.

But, maybe giving the minority party more power will be a good thing in the long run. I think it was certainly a good thing to give the long-standing republicans a scare. Now they know New York is liberal enough to beat them and they may have changed their attitude as a result. The current rhetoric is nonsense, but I hope democrats can learn something from this. Keep the bickering behind closed doors, and make unified decisions in a transparent manner. Republicans will continue to do whatever they can to hold on to power. Appreciate it as part of the democratic process and never stop pushing back.

The Catholic Church continues to deny their crimes against children, or otherwise downplay child rape within their community as isolated and insignificant. As a young Catholic, this was one of my first signs to me that there is no god. When I first heard about priests raping young boys, my eight year-old mind immediately thought that no god would allow this to happen. I realized that there probably is no god when the priest in my own church di not denounce the acts and pray for the children, but rather he played the victim card and accused the media of exaggerating the reports.

This problem is far worse than a few clergymen fondling genitals, this is a mass of people blindly defending and supporting an organization that condones and practices child rape and abuse. My family denounced the acts, but also assumed that the incidents were isolated. They continue to monetarily support the Catholic Church’s mission to cover up their crimes. I am deeply ashamed of my family’s position on the matter, but I try not to think about it.

Bill Donohue

This week a report was released on the rape and abuse of 127 girls in Ireland, Bill Donohue continued to minimalize the incidents as the “culture of life,” an absolutely despicable attitude which permits and enables the crimes to continue. We should be questioning the moral integrity of Bill Donohue and every Catholic who defends and supports the church on this matter. Rather than responding to Donohue, I will link to PZ Myers who has already written a beautiful response: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/the_catholic_league_downplays.php

We deserve a better moral standard than this. When people ask me why I oppose religion, I point out these repeated incidents. I couldn’t care less how many homeless people they feed, because any secular organization could do the same humanitarian works. I only hold organizations to the same moral standard that I hold myself. I don’t need an eternal supervisor to tell me that child rape is wrong, but apparently their god finds it to be excusable anyway. I cannot have respect for any member of such an organization, and I hope they will soon recognize the same thing that I did as an eight year-old; these acts are inexcusable, and no proper moral standard to live by.

Is it someone who cheats on his wife? Is in bed with lobbyists? Flip-flops? Is out of touch? Was involved in a major scandal?

Pick the qualities you think would make the worst possible candidate. It might help you make up your mind in November.

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