Idiot alert

Most people are not aware of who Dennis Prager is, but he tries to tout himself as the thinking man's conservative (he was a fellow at Columbia University-- although as a certain friend of mine is aware, that is really just a clown college). He hosts a radio show and writes columns and while he is not nearly as bombastic as Rush Limbaugh, he certainly has a lot of influence.

That is unfortunate, because he seems to be a huge fan of lead paint cocktails. In one of his latest columns he gets real angry at one of the Democrats' newest congressmen- Keith Ellison. The crime? Rep. Ellison is a Muslim. Prager lambasted Ellison because he imagined that when Ellison was sworn in as a representative he would pledge to be loyal to the US with his hand on the Koran and not the Bible. He compared being sworn in with a Koran to being sworn in with Mein Kampf.

The problem? Well, for one, US representatives are not sworn in with any religious text. The other, well...there is this thing we call the Constitution and it makes a very clear point:

Article VI. - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

What is funny is that when I saw what Prager had to say, I knew immediately he was full of it. Yet, to the conservatives? He is some sort of genius. It almost makes you feel bad for them.