My neighbors to the northwest in Minnesota have elected an articulate, by all appearances caring and patriot, Muslim to Congress. Congressman-elect Keith Ellison will use the Koran in his swearing-in ceremonies, just like Christian legislators use the Bible and many Jewish legislators use the Torah.

Future Ellision congressional colleague Virgil Goode, a Virginia Republican, has had this to say...

"I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way....The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," he said. "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America."

Rep. Goode has every right to his uninformed, pig-headed, racist opinions. He even has the right to crawl out from under his pointy hood and express those opinions. But he must also be held accountable for what he says and what his moronic diatribe reveals about his character for leadership in the US Congress.

In short, Rep. Goode has shown himself to be an ignorant hate-mongering moron and if the Republican Party doesn't openly and swiftly condemn his statements and the position they represent, it will once and for all reveal its utter moral bankruptcy.

To say that Goode will not find himself on Santa's "Good" list is an understatement. For him to recieve coal in his stocking would be an insult to coal.