Neo-Conservatives, Christian Conservatives and US Politics

I found all this stuff after reading a chapter from Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. None of which - strangely enough! - I'd heard on the radio or seen on the TV when the Republicans and their campaigning for the Presidential Election was mentioned. Franken says things like:

Remember how I'm a nut for statistics? Well, not too many people realize this, but show biz celebrities make up just .000000001 percent of the world's population, and yet consume nearly 37 percent of its resources. For example, every day, seventeen acres of rain forest are consumed by Barbra Streisand alone.

Anyway, I reckon this is interesting stuff. Let's get to it:

Christian conservatives exercise either 'strong' or 'moderate' influence in over 40 Republican State Committees, according to Campaigns and Elections

The most powerful Republican outside the White House may be Grover Norquist, head guy of Americans for Tax Reform, who doesn't want to abolish government

Bush has managed to build a coalition of antigovernmental conservatives and Christian conservatives on Israel: the Christians support Israel because its existence (and destruction) pave the way for the Second Coming, and the neocons support Israel because it's the only 'western' democracy in the region

Rich Lowry, an editor at the National Review, called for Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift to step down - because she'd had twins

When Bush wanted to be Governor of Texas, back in the mists of time, he told a reporter that only people who accepted Jesus as their saviour could go to heaven. He kicked off his South Carolina Presidential campaign at the conservative homophobic racist hardline Christian Bob Jones University

He has cut funding for abortion charities and stem-cell research

He has said he reads the Bible every day but probably doesn't; it's just for show and those millions of neo-con Chriso-con voters

That last point is, actually, probably the most interesting for me. Aside from the Bob Jones University bit, which I'm astounded at: here's a speech which John Ashcroft (who is the USA Attorney General) gave there. Girls and guys aren't even allowed to hold hands in the uni, by the way - it leads to sin. And so does having a web-based email account and unrestricted internet access. And this place (weirdly) still offers what looks like a wide undergraduate syllabus.