I found The Jesus Factor, last night’s PBS/Frontline “examination” of the role of the president’s faith in his political life, somewhat lacking in the rigor I’ve come to associate with an “examination.” In fact, it’s probably going to become part of the Christian Coalition’s voter information packet this summer. Perhaps, as long as they’re touting the president’s Executive Order for an “Office of Faith-based Initiatives” as a political coups de grace, they could have pursued that fleeting acknowledgement of the Office’s blatant bias toward Christian faith-based projects? Perhaps they could have pursued some of the discrepancies between Bush’s campaign assertion that Christ is his favorite philosopher, and his administration’s steady assault on the poor? Just some ideas.

Yesterday, I didn’t link to any of the disturbing stories about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, because the headlines were everywhere and I figured you would have encountered them already. But the BBC seems to think “The pictures did not initially cause much of a stir in America.” Perhaps I’m missing something and this story broke well before this week? In any case, Truthout.org has this more in-depth and unsettling perspective.

Hmm. Judging from the USA Today headlines here and here, there’s something for everyone in the Gallup/CNN poll of Iraqi citizens.

More proof of the insidious liberal bias in the media? “Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest owners of local television stations, will pre-empt tonight’s edition of the ABC News program ‘Nightline,’ saying the program’s plan to have Ted Koppel read aloud the names of every member of the armed forces killed in action in Iraq was motivated by an antiwar agenda and threatened to undermine American efforts there. The decision means viewers in eight cities, including St. Louis, Jacksonville, Fla., and Columbus, Ohio, will not see ‘Nightline.’”

Anyone could tell that this NY Times story about John Kerry’s “butler” was a smear, thinly veiled as a puff piece, but I could never have parsed it as well as the Daily Howler does here.

Arianna this week: “It’s a puzzling paradox: Recent polls show that voters are more worried that we are losing the war on terror, more convinced that we’re about to be attacked, and more certain that the invasion of Iraq has put America at greater risk from terrorists. And yet, these same voters overwhelmingly believe that President Bush will do a better job of protecting them from terrorists than John Kerry. Isn’t that like believing that the embezzler who just ran off with your life’s savings is the perfect guy to manage your finances?”

Regarding the PATRIOT Act: “More than six in 10 respondents to a February Gallup/CNN/USA Today survey said the law is just about right or does not go far enough, while only about one-fourth said it goes too far.” I am astonished and frightened by this. Do those 6 in 10 really understand how this law can be used?!

Shear Eye for the… oh, never mind. But Shrek cleans up pretty nice! (That’s “nicely,” in some dialects.)

The BBC launches Pet TV in May. Mark my words: three years from now, British dogs and cats will be exhibiting substandard vocabularies, stunted social skills, and epidemic obesity.

And here is a community service warning from the Humane Society to you easterners on the perils of snacking on cicadas.

I wish I noticed this earlier today. It might already be on or over, where some of you live. (LATE CORRECTION: you haven’t missed it! It’s Thursday night, Apr 29! Check your local PBS listing.) PBS’ “Frontline” program tonight is called “The Jesus Factor.” From the NYT review: “…by pulling together well-known and long forgotten incidents and remarks, the program reminds viewers that this ‘faith-based’ president has blurred the line between religion and state more than any of his recent predecessors: a vision that affects the Iraq conflict as well as domestic policy.” How timely, in view of that “loony” George Monbiot article I linked to yesterday.

And on an equally timely note, I’ve been reading Kevin Phillips’ new book, American Dynasty (along with approximately 14 other books, so progress is slowish) and last night, I finished the chapter on “The American Presidency and the Rise of the Religious Right.” The fairly non-loony Phillips (well, if you’re willing to overlook his first incarnation as a conservative Republican) writes this (page 242): “…hypothesizing the Bush coalition as a narrowly Armageddon-believing electorate - probably the first in recent Republican presidential history - helps to explain Bush’s biblical rhetoric and overt pursuit of war in the Middle East. The commitment of his supporters was insufficiently particularized. For about half of his constituency, war in and around the Holy Land was not about battle per se. It was about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

This is so loony-sounding, it’s starting to make sense (which says a lot about my thought processes). I read it three times, trying to decide if he’s kidding. Foreign policy to please the “Left Behind” contingent? “So here we have a major political constituency - representing much of the current president’s core vote - in the most powerful nation on Earth, which is actively seeking to provoke a new world war. Its members see the invasion of Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation (9:14-15) maintains that four angels “which are bound in the great river Euphrates” will be released “to slay the third part of men”. They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from Christian fundamentalists, and never mentioned the matter again.” (Pertinent to nothing, my favorite sentence is the one about “the marvellously named DeLay-Doolittle Amendment, postponing campaign finance reforms.”)