Are evangelicals getting ripped off by their political leaders?

Mainstream Baptist and Street Prophets diariest Old33 point out the now famous "conservative" Tucker Carlson come-to-Jesus moment:

"the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power."

Yesterday a discredited evangelical altruist, "Dr." K. A. Paul, met with Dennis Hastert to ask him to step down.

TPM Muckraker asks: "But why did Hastert give a guy like Paul half an hour of face time to hear what plenty of other people have been more than happy to tell him?

Apparently this guy, who according to Houston Press has connections to Republican bigwigs, also claims credit for getting Charles Taylor to step down. (Apparently Condi Rice disagrees.) But "Dr." Paul, who spends more money on jet fuel for his 747 than on "his" orphanage, got 30 minutes with Hastert yesterday. I wonder how the average evangelical activist feels about that? From Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney (who got Paul rolling in the US) to Pat Robertson's Diamond Mines to Ralph Reed hangin' with Abramoff, things look unscrupulous at the top Right.

JSpot comes out swinging on the minimum wage and the politics of the romance novel.

Noting the recent report point out that 665,000 Iraqis have died due to the American invansion, Chuck Currie nails it: "instead of liberating the people of Iraq our policies are killing them off."

Metacentricities likes Christian Alliance for Progress' voter guides, Michelle writes: "a good attempt (and hopefully successful) to reframe the debate about "values voters" and to really lay out what Christian values voters really should be caring about, like poverty, health care, and anti-violence."

And now here's an FPL plug of Pastor Dan plugging two JSpot bloggers on FPL. Um, it must be interesting.

Muslim Wake Up wonders about Pakistan's Musharraf diss of American troops in Afghanistan.

Over at CrossLeft, leming writes on "a personal odyssey - developing my progressive activist mission and message."

Sojo's God's Politics blogger Diana Butler Bass wonders: 'What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror?'

City of Brass tells the rednecks to leave the Sikhs alone.

Definitely visit Talk to Action to see the church-stormin' fella hired by the GOP to hype candidates in red-state churches. Clarkson quotes Beliefnet:

"The Republican National Committee is employing the services of a Texas-based activist who believes the United States is a "Christian nation" and the separation of church and state is "a myth.'"

Danny Fisher, an American Buddhist Chaplain wishes Desmond Tutu a happy birthday.

And now that Focus on the Family James Dobson refuses to hold his friends accountable for Foley preying on kids, it's starting to look like children might become all American again. The Rev. Deb Haffner points out the difference and Provoke Radio's got a show on all God's children:

Jill Wrigley and her husband Michael Sarbanes are both lawyers by profession who have chosen to spend their careers in the non-profit sector. But it is what they do outside their jobs that is the real story. Living "intentionally" in a blighted city neighborhood, they have developed an important and compassionate ministry not only to their 3 children who are special in their own right, but to all the children in the neighborhood.