Religious Left, Gitmo, McCain, Condi, Embassy in Hell and Good News on Saving the Internet.

The folks that don't interpret Jesus' words as a mad dash for power and money are back. And it's about time.

What better way to counter the "Holier Than Thou" attitude of the Religious Right, than with those who actually are?

But anyway, they're back, they're mad and they're going after the insufferably self-righteous Religious Right.

Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide
swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of
political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and
anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and
clergy members.

"As religious people we're offended by the idea that if you're not with the
religious right, you're not moral, you're not religious," said Linda Gustitus,
who attends Bethesda's River Road Unitarian Church and is a founder of the new
Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture. "I mean there's a whole
universe out there [with views] different from the religious right. . . . People
closer to the middle of the political spectrum who are religious want their
voices heard."

Just as the Pentagon starts it's PR campaign to try to put make-up on a pig, Gitmo starts falling apart. Prisoners start fighting with guards and the commanding officer says,

"This illustrates to me the dangerous nature of the men we have detained here,"
the detention center's commanding officer, Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, told
reporters in a teleconference, describing Thursday's attack.

I think that any of us that had been locked up without access to the justice system and tortured for four years would start getting a little hostile. Plus, the UN is calling for the U.S. to shut Gitmo down for human rights violations.

But don't worry, the Pentagon will still spend your tax dollars to convince the 29% that will believe anything, that Gitmo is a fun place to be.

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- A U.N. anti-torture panel Friday called on the United States to close its prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to
expressly ban controversial interrogation techniques, and to halt the transfer
of detainees to countries with a history of abuse and torture.

John McCain might be hot stuff at Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, but when he ventures outside of Right-Wing Fantasyland, his sucking up to the extreme right is coming back to haunt him.

NEW YORK - Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting
record) received a cantankerous reception Friday at the New School's
commencement, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs
and raised protest signs and a student speaker mocked him as he sat silently on
stage.

The Madison Square Garden crowd cheered loudly as Jean Sarah Rohe said McCain
"does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded."

Hillary, are you sure you want to keep creeping towards the right? Hell, even Condi's getting the same treatment at Boston College.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Plans by a prominent Boston Jesuit school to award U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice an honorary degree are stirring protests by some students and faculty
who say her support for the Iraq war contradicts
Catholic teaching.

We're building a $592 million embassy in Baghdad. But we're keeping it a secret, for security reasons. And just like every thing else the Bush Administration has done, it will probably cost two or three times as much and the whole world already knows about it. But if you happen to be one of the right people, it will be a great place to visit.

When the complex is completed by June 2007 - this one apparently is on schedule,
unlike most construction projects here - it will be an American oasis in the
heavily fortified Green Zone, away from the fear and lack of services that
permeate the rest of Baghdad. Among the 21 buildings will be a recreation center
to rival any in the United States with, among other amenities, a pool, gym, food
court, beauty salon and, of course, a recreational area that will be called the
American Club.

Shhhhhh! It's top secret.

And some good news on the save the internet front.

Consumers Union, Consumer Federation, Free Press, MAP and U.S. PIRG Support
House Judiciary Committee’s Effort to Protect a Free and Open Internet
WASHINGTON - A coalition of leading consumer and public interest groups
today welcomed the

“Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006,” a bill introduced in
the House Judiciary Committee that would offer meaningful protections under the
law for Network Neutrality - the guiding principle that ensures a free and open
Internet.