Anti-atheist bigotry is becoming a bipartisan pastime in this presidential election. Obama has called for an expansion of Bush's hate-based initiatives to divert federal funding away from inclusive charities and towards religious ones.

John McCain is not willing to be outdone in pushing for discrimination against people like myself. (Baltimore Sun 7/17/08)

CINCINNATI - Appearing before some of his presidential rival's most ardent supporters, Sen. John McCain urged delegates to the NAACP convention yesterday to support school vouchers as a way to improve education in largely black, underperforming school systems.

McCain acknowledged that he will have difficulty making inroads among black voters. But he used his speech to the Baltimore-based civil rights organization to criticize the education views of his Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and to argue that the country needs to move away from "conventional thinking" with regard to public schools.

"Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as 'tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice,'" said McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. "All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?"

As far back as 2001, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) did an excellent job a few years back of debunking claims by the corporate media and militant Christian fundamentalists that vouchers improve educational achievement.

Of course, the main agenda behind vouchers is attacking atheists' civil rights and church/state separation. Sleazebag politicians love using us freethinkers as whipping boys and girls.

In McCain's push, corruption also plays a role (surprise, surprise). John McCain clearly sees vouchers as a way to use tax money to buy support from preachers and religious school administrators. "Keating Five" McCain is one of the most corrupt politicians in the history of the Senate, and the vouchers patronage scheme is no different.

It should also be noted that "Keating Five" McCain's anti-union crack is further evidence of how he is bought and paid for by wealthy and corporate interests. I guess a kept man like him doesn't want to upset the gravy train.