GOP WEAKENED SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE AND NOW IT COMES BACK AND BITES ONE OF THEM IN THE ASS-- RHODE ISLAND PAPIST SLIMEBAG ATTACKS POOR RUDY

You've probably noticed that I'm not exactly a fan of disingenuous and authoritarian Republican presidential wannabe Rudy Giuliani. But if Giuliani wants to removed the Roman Catholic Church's tax exemption, I'll back him on that.

Most decent people who think of the Roman Catholic clergy probably first think of craven child molesters but raping young children is just incidental to the sick and perverted agenda and policies of the Church. More to the heart of what's wrong with Roman Catholicism, Inc. is the hierarchy's unrelenting quest for power and utter disregard for the U.S. Constitution, which they have always tried to subvert.

Today's NY Times is reporting that Giuliani is being attacked by a member of that hierarchy for his relatively moderate position on women's choice, a position in line with the vast majority of Americans and of American Catholics. "In a column in The Rhode Island Catholic, the diocesan newspaper, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin compared Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, to Pontius Pilate, who, Bishop Tobin said, allowed Jesus to be executed though he personally did not believe him guilty of anything." No one knows how many-- if any-- young children the vile and homophobic Tobin has molested in his career but what is known is that he has decided to interfere in American politics.

“Rudy’s preposterous position is compounded by the fact that he professes to be a Catholic” Bishop Tobin wrote. “As Catholics, we are called, indeed required to be pro-life, to cherish and protect human life as a precious gift of God from the moment of conception until the time of natural death. As a leader, as a public official, Rudy Giuliani has a special obligation in that regard.”

“I can just hear Pilate saying, ‘You know, I’m personally opposed to crucifixion but I don’t want to impose my belief on others,’ ” he wrote.

The Catholic hierarchy, on the other hand, does want to impose their beliefs on others. Remember, of course, the a dozen so-called "bishops" attacked John Kerry in 2004 in order to help Bush win the presidency. Child molesting and extremist priests in California were telling Roman Catholic parishioners that if they voted for Kerry they would spend eternity in hell. But the Roman Catholic Church continues to be one of the most profitable slumlords in America and they pay no taxes on their web of businesses and investments throughout America. You know what? If Giuliani pledges to end tax exemptions for the Catholic Church-- and other right-wing churches that support politicians-- I could see myself considering voting for a Republican for president for the first time in my life.

I'm no fan of Christopher Hitchens but last night I went to the L.A. Public Library to watch Hitchens talk about his new book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He may be is wrong about many things but he was right on about the overwhelmingly destructive nature of organized and predatory religion. I'd love to see him have a public conversation with an intellectually perverted lowlife like Tobin.