It is odd for an Atheist to be defending religious freedom. I have a very negative opinion of all religion, but I have a strong, well, faith, for lack of a better word in the idea that everyone should be allowed to practice or not as they choose. Neither I nor anyone else should be the arbiter of what others find comfort or direction or confidence in. We can argue about the basis of it, we can argue about the outcomes but in this nation, we all have the right to have our religious freedoms.

As the outbreak of Islamophobia has grown so has the hysteria from the Right on this issue. In Murfreesboro TN, where the construction site of an Islamic center was the victim of suspected arson, the Wingers have really lost their minds. Last week they were in court arguing for a judge to issue an injunction saying the zoning commission was wrong to allow the building of the Center. Their primary argument? That Islam is not a religion, but a political movement. From the Tennessean:

Mosque opponents say that Islam is not a real religion. Instead, they argued in a Rutherford County courthouse last week that the world’s second largest faith, with its 1.6 billion followers, is actually a political movement.

Opponents say local Muslims want to replace the Constitution with an Islamic legal code called Shariah law. Joe Brandon Jr., a Smyrna attorney representing a group of mosque opponents, argued that the proposed mosque is not a house of worship. He said the Rutherford County Planning Commission erred on May 24 when it approved the mosque.
Brandon wants Chancellor Robert Corlew of the 16th Judicial District to issue an injunction stopping the mosque.

“Shariah law is pure sedition,” said Brandon in his opening statement Monday.

Noted Conservative Hack Jonah Goldberg posted a little article tearing into the idea that the Supreme Court is the place where we define what is and is not constitutional. He is defending the new radical Republican talking point that all legislation should have a constitutional justification attached to it. This is the Tenther’s (folks who think that the powers of the Federal Government are completely enumerated in the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment gives all other powers to the states individually) favorite meme.

They would use this thinking to end the Federal minimum wage, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. All the big Tea Party faves have this idea, with Joe Miller, Sharon Angle and Christine “I am not a witch” O’Donnell really leading the charge.

This idea is nuts on the surface but it is packed full of nutty goodness as you get deeper as well. The whole push for “constitutional fealty” by the Right is a ruse and always has been. The reason that they want to return to so called original intent it so wipe out two centuries of case law that does not suit their radical agenda.

If you’re a Liberal or Progressive or just a vanilla Democrat who has been thinking about an electoral rout this fall, congratulations, you’re a member of the elite. I can’t really estimate how many of us there are, but the fact is that most of the nation did not really start paying attention to the 2010 election cycle until after Jerry Lewis brought his Labor Day telethon to a close.

Sure there was lots of polling that said people were pissed at the government, who wouldn’t be when there is nearly 10% unemployment and things don’t seem to be getting measurably better for millions of people? The “Throw the Bums Out!” sentiment is always strongest before the vast majority of the people start paying attention to the actual candidates they have to choose between. That is part of why the generic ballot polling is almost useless. We don’t get to pick between Democrat and Republican, we get to pick between two (or occasionally more) real people who speak and have a record we can judge.

This is where the political rubber meets the road. For all their structural advantages (bad economy, large majorities some of which are from very conservative districts, midterm election without the White House) the Republicans should be looking at a sweep. The thing is they still have not learned the lessons of the 2006 and 2008 elections. Americans don’t want rabid conservatives; they want some representation that will solve their problems. This leaves the Republicans out in the cold.

A rundown of tea party candidates–don’t ya wish you could?

I am tired down to the ground of these Tea Party women.

I don’t really have a lot of use for conventional wisdom. In the first place it is not really very wise, more like moderately informed. Second relying on it makes one intellectually lazy. When you have this back log of anecdotal evidence which shows a patter, you tend to rely on that pattern. This leaves you open to making a prediction that misses the new variables and then being surprised by the result. The 2002 elections where a little like that. That CW (admittedly supported by 100 years of history) was that the Republicans would lose some seats in first midterm of the Bush 41 presidency.

We all know that the results not even close. The combination of the 9/11 attacks and the Republican continued fear mongering and, frankly, some pretty shrewd political maneuvers led them to re-take the Senate and widen their majority in the House. If you look at the indicators, the CW says that Republicans should be able to win many seats in both the House and Senate this year.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

For the fist time the President has a higher disapproval rating than approval. The generic Congressional ballot is giving the Republicans a slight advantage of 1.8%. The unemployment rate is persistently in the high 9% range and nothing, even a massive jobs bill (which is not going to happen) is going chance that before election day. All of these things are conditions that could lead to a rout like we saw in 1994.

However, the Republicans have a gigantic problem. They are ugly. I am not talking about their personal appearance, but the face of what they represent. One of the knocks (and the knocks are legion) against the Republican Party is that they are mean and heartless. They were able to move this meme to being strong and tough during the early days of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The thinking was that we needed warriors, and warriors are hard men and women, they aren’t always going to take the time to be nice, they are defending the country after all.