Goode v. Ellison, rounds 1 and 2.

Yesterday, Rep. Virgil Goode (R - VA) was revealed to the world as an unabashed bigot, writing a vicious letter against Muslims to his constituents in response to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison's desire to have his photo-op "swear-in" done with a copy of the Qur'an instead of the Bible. Goode has since refused to apologize.

The right-wing has misrepresented the swearing-in issue; members of Congress are not sworn in on ANY book - Qur'an, Bible, Torah, etc. All this hoopla and drama is over a SYMBOLIC ceremony - in no way official - that new representatives typically do to have an official-looking picture to present to their people.

Goode repeatedly mentions restricting Muslim immigration in his attacks on Ellison; it's too bad, though, that Ellison's family has been in America since the mid-1700's - he converted to Islam in college.

I just hope the fact that so much anti-Muslim sentiment - including the right wing attacks on Barack Obama (coincidentally, a Christian) we've seen recently - is coming just in time for Christmas. Boiling hatred at the celebration of the birth of the "Prince of Peace."

Oh, wait, I forgot; to the NeoCons, Jesus is the "Prince of Profits and Prejudice." Sorry, I'll try to remember better next time.