A Rant

This is one of the main problems I have with Republicans:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal courts would be barred from striking the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag under a bill passed on Thursday by a House of Representatives split largely along party lines.
The Republicans in control of the chamber rejected Democratic claims that the measure was an unconstitutional bid to limit the power of the federal judiciary and an election-year ploy to rally social conservatives. It passed on a vote of 247-173.
Spurred by a celebrated but ultimately failed court challenge to the pledge in California, the bill is expected to die in the U.S. Senate without a vote as the U.S. Congress draws to an end this year. But that did not dampen Republican enthusiasm.

It doesn't matter if the word "God" is in the pledge or not. If people believe in God they will say it while reciting the pledge, if not they won't. Like the gay marriage issue or flag burning, in the whole scheme of things, it just doesn't matter when compared to the war on terror. If two gay men wish to be married it really is of little consequence, marriage will not end and America will go on.

Exhibit A I'll use to prove my case is this money-grubbing, non-God fearing asshole:

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart apologized Wednesday for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically.
A complaint was filed with a Canadian broadcasting group, and Swaggart said his Baton Rouge-based Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has received complaints from gay groups over the remarks made on the Sept. 12 telecast.
In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay marriage when he said "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry."
"And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died," Swaggart said to laughter and applause from the congregation.

On Wednesday, Swaggart said he has jokingly used the expression "killing someone and telling God he died" thousands of times, about all sorts of people. He said the expression is figurative and not meant to harm.
"It's a humorous statement that doesn't mean anything. You can't lie to God - it's ridiculous," Swaggart told The Associated Press. "If it's an insult, I certainly didn't think it was, but if they are offended, then I certainly offer an apology."

I'm shocked that this would be an insult: "And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died,". The sheer mendacity of that statement is shocking. That Swaggart fellow would have been a hell of a Crusader or a deft assistant to Torquemada. For that matter, Jimmy ought to join the Taliban. I know that their are folks that watch this guy and believe what he says, but this is what the media is waiting to pounce on. This guy is as bad as the idiots at Indymedia or Moveon.org.