I'm starting to wonder if the Republicans are secretly taking money under the table from Hillary in order to lose the election. Yet again, when a national televised debate aired, this time for the African American community, all the major top-tier candidates, with the exception of Mike Huckabee, decided against attending. Did we really need to give black voters another reason to hate us? Now of course, the Republicans choose not to attend the LOGO debate, which I thought was a move lacking in any intelligence whatsoever. However, gays are use to getting treated like plague from the GOP, but at least in the past the Republican Party at least went through the motions to pretend to want the black vote. The Republican Party is not anti-black in fact a lot of the economic policy offered by the party would help the average African American, but try telling that to the voter in Detroit and you realize it's just wasted breath. The African American community votes 8% for the GOP candidate in presidential elections, the gay community 25%, Hispanics 40% but all those numbers may very well drop as their treatment from our party ranks from shabby to hideous. We must realize the power of a collected minority will very much determine who will get the majority on Election Day. Leaving that aside for the moment, the six that did show up did a horrible job but they weren't the ripest of the crop to begin with. Mike Huckabee, a very good man and overall "winner" for the night came across as pandering. His answer while the nicest in tone were ultimately empty rhetoric. Ron Paul, while interesting is a limited candidate. His answers about foreign policy are very cold and sadly rooted in racism. On the positive side, I finally figured out who Sam Brownback reminds me of... Mr. Rogers, without actually being likable. Then there were the three, who ironically sat to the right of the stage. Each one had the opposite of attention deficit disorder, an attention fixation disorder, if you will. Every question answered by Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, and Alan Keyes somehow lead to blaming Hispanics, shaming those who don't support the war in Iraq and bashing gays respectively. While Duncan Hunter is just a mess he now needs to drop out immediately if he is to retain the slightest inkling of respect in the House. He received the award for stupidest line of the night when he said that about the death penalty "We need it for deterrence. We need the Charles Mansons of the world to think "I might be put to death, so I really don't want to kill this victim".  My problem isn't with the death penalty, which I wish existed in all fifty states and would be sped up but with the slight problem of trying to apply logic to the insane. Tancredo and Keyes are much more sinister. Much as Bush Sr. dumped David Duke from the Rs, we must do so with Tancredo and Keyes, together with their hateful xenophobia and homophobia they make the perfect candidate for Klan Leader not President. The fact that we would even allow them up on stage, makes me embarrassed to call myself a Republican.

                                      

Occasionaly, as you fellow bloggers now, you come across a blog that perfectly says everything we think in an extremly eloquent way and of course we hate them for beating us to the punch. I had such a recent experience with an amazing blog, called Sense In Politics http://senseinpolitics.blogspot.com/ run by a young Republican named Matt. He's another Christian person with a moderate look at how our government should deal with gays. His recent post said exactly what I thought when watching a favorite film of mine, "The American President".

     What The American President Can Teach Us

Over a year ago I saw a movie that has become a personal favorite ( as well as a favorite of my very conservative parents). It is called "The American President." Although most people, like my parents, gush over the love story between a widowed Chief Executive (Michael Douglas) who falls for a smart, pretty lobbyist (Annette Bening), I like it personally because of the message it does create.

The political issues discussed in the movie are, as expected, coming from a liberal viewpoint. But what impresses me is the high level of logic and intelligence they use to discuss such issues as flag burning, and gun control.

In my mind, what makes it worth seeing again and again is the speech the president makes at the end of the film. He makes an eloquent explanation of American freedoms that will make even the most jaded conservative or liberal stop and think. He challenges Americans to live up to what they stand for. Quote: "You want freedom of speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man who's standing center stage and shouting at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." In the rough and tumble of politics and almost violent disagreements, it is hard to remember to show civility to those with whom we disagree.

We all talk about how great our country is and how thankful we are for the freedoms we cherish. But we can, at times, forget that there are others in this country called America who might choose a worldview or lifestyle which we would find unacceptable. We are intimidated by their seemingly political and cultural clout and we feel that our way of life is being threatened. So we seek to put up walls to protect ourselves from it.

I am speaking of traditional vs. gay marriage. Those of us who hold to traditional marriage see the crumbling of the social fabric and instead of looking to see where we went wrong we looked for a scapegoat. So we blame the gays and lesbians for killing the 'Leave It To Beaver' culture in America, when in reality it just draws attention from where the problem really is, human nature. But we blame our problems on them and create a wedge in our nation to 'rally the base' to win elections, not unify the country. Again, a quote from " The American President" is so appropo: speaking of his opponent, he says, "He is interested in two thing only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections." So true! Human nature doesn't want to face it's problems because it'll cause us to look inside ourselves and see what we did wrong.

I have a big problem with the Evangelical base that I'm a part of. We are falling into the same trap that this fictional president warned about. We are so afraid of what man, in this case gays, can do to us and traditional marriage. So we act sinfully and treat them with contempt. Now, we can still believe that their lifestyle is a sin, but we are also commanded by the Lord Jesus to love all people, not just the ones we are comfortable with. It takes out of our comfort zone to love a lesbian relative as Jesus did. But that is what true love is all about.

I hope that the next generation of activist evangelicals grows up and realizes that same sex couples are still Americans and they are still entitled to our respect and their civil rights like you and I are.

Any way, watch the movie, I think you'll find yourself agreeing with him and hope it'll put a burn in your heart to change American politics.
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I urge you to please make any comments of his post on his site. And of course you can always to talk to me if you wish. Matt's blog is on my blogroll and I urge you to visit him often.

With my opinions, as they are, the candidate I should be supporting, logically, would be Rudy Giuliani. He is after all a candidate who brings a moderate perspective to the social issue of our time, that being of course, abortion. He is a man who realizes that not providing at the very least civil unions to gay is discrimination, and who most importantly I could trust to protect me from terror in these tumultuous times. Republicans and Democrats across the country are playing a high stakes version of political poker. How much to the left or right their respective candidates can go while still winning the big hand next November. Rudy Giuliani is considered the safe choice in conservative circles, yet I finally figured out why he very well isn’t, on September 11^th of all days.
                                       
Oh I’m sure you’re expecting the cliché responses, about how his moral stands would cause a third party nomination robbing the GOP of votes. Or, the other major one about how his personal life won’t play well with the public. (Side note: Giuliani would look like Ward Cleaver compared to the soap opera that is All My Clintons). Those are some valid points, of course, but really it came to me when watching Nightline late at night. On 09/11/2007, I was expecting a heartfelt memorial of the events that happened six years ago. Instead, Nightline deemed a smear piece of Rudy Giuliani more acceptable. In the piece, it questions every single aspect of his performance on that day, with nefarious former firefighters blaming Giuliani for the ills of their lives. (They have already made the commercials). Of course, to those of us in the GOP, it’s quite clear they are being used for very vicious political purposes. But much like the Swift Boat Veterans managed to kill John Kerry’s military service and turn what should have been an attribute into something the campaign had to go on the defense about, such will be the case with Rudy Giuliani and 9/11.  Perhaps it was inevitable in these day when the quote “all is fair in love and war” now must include political elections. And in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 4 to 1, a Republican who isn’t Michael Bloomberg is bound to make some enemies, many of whom where more than happy to be interviewed for the piece. Rudy is a good man, a wonderful leader, and unfortunately a doomed candidate. Something to think about when going to the polls to pick a nominee in the coming months.

There is no television show that gets more beat up from the liberal establishment than "Leave It to Beaver". The show has always been a favorite of mine, brining up a false nostalgia for times past and a way of life that never existed. The show and those in the Christian Right support a nuclear marriage. I couldn't agree more with those sentiments. A Christian marriage with a loving husband and supporting wife is an excellent example of an American marriage. But make no mistake, while their marriage is more than acceptable, they don't represent the state of morality in marriages today.

Las Vegas, in which tackiness and doomed marriages seem to be in a race to see which can exceed the other, is the perfect example of the death of the Christian marriage. Any place where Brittany Spears seeks to get married for six hours, reaches a whole new level of trashiness. Under the influence of god knows what, people get married at 2 a.m., in a ceremony presided by an Elvis impersonator. And with a hangover the next day, they sign the papers to get the whole event annulled, making a mockery of any possible respect the state of marriage holds. Can any one say that the sight of two loving lesbians in an actual ceremony of commitment is any worse than what is already done?

That is just with the ceremony itself when actually dealing with a marriage, commitment holds no meaning for half of those who enter in them as they end in divorce, usually for petty and selfish reasons. And while divorce use to be a big no-no in the modern American church, even the most conservative churches, are actually (wisely) advocating divorce with the three As, adultery, abuse and addiction. Some of Christian faith hyperventilate over the thought of two men getting married, while sitting in their pew next to a wife beater and his victim who made sure to wear long shelves to cover her bruises. Standards of morality in marriages are not stipulated by the physical characteristics or church attendance of those who enter into them but by an actual dedication to the values espoused by the Bible.

We have to ask our selves what marriage is defined by. Christian marriages between loving straight couples are done in the presence of God, and God is the head of that marriage. Government secular marriages are a legal commitment that are ruled under man's law and zero moral standards, in that gays must receive the same rights as those who enter into secular marriages. Those who would claim doing so would threaten Christian marriage are under the illusion that the power of God is vulnerable to the lack of American standards. Any couple that has a true commitment to Jesus Christ and to each other are not defined by the principles of man by their love and respect of God.

                     

While trying to get to sleep last night, my thoughts kept going to the event that has defined us all, September 11th. After tossing and turning for two hours unable to escape the horrific images of that day, I went downstairs started typing. What follows is below: 

                   This is an epic battle, without a written end
            And we realize, the hell of war can find no true friend
                Nineteen men started this six years ago today
            They've learned now, that freedom is not kept at bay
            In our enemies' souls, hatred and evil no know depth
              Armed without a white flag, we solemnly do accept
                  This is an epic battle, without a written end

That silly song about the Craig scandal, a few posts ago, started the structure but by the end of writing the only thing they shared was word choice for the first rhyme. The only two hopes that come to mind, now as I write, are that of wanting my future children to realize the loss and human tragedy of that September morning and to never forget war is not defined by country vs. country but rather by idea vs. idea. 

With the recent entry of Fred Thompson this week, we can say with some finality that all the presidential candidates have entered the arena. Now the question posed to both sides is “What is your number one priority?.” Democrats who have been out of the White House for what will be eight years, have now let their fears of a 2004 repeat subside and have history and diversity on the mind. How else to explain the undying adoration towards Clinton and Obama, along with the ignoring of John Edwards who had all of the Beltway GOP quivering in 04 and some rightfully in the 08 race. However since this is a conservative blog (laughing shall now commence), my advice is meant for the Republican Party. Our party is grasping onto theological stands whose believers are dying every day in churches across the nation. One Christian fight that we can still go on fighting, is the war over the unborn. There is a real possibility of reversing Roe vs. Wade (if polling of youth is to be believed). 
                                                                       
However if we fail to gain Justice Stevens’ seat on the Supreme Court, we will lose this fight. We will be lucky even with a conservative justice, if the other justices will not consider the time past since Roe as legal precedent much as Rehnquist did with his reverse Miranda ruling. To do that we need to start asking the question the Democrats so blissfully ignore “Who Can Win?” The answer lies in one man, John McCain. The nominees of a Thompson, Romney, and Huckabee will be conservative but will most likely never see the light of day, as they will likely lose against the Democrats. Those who support Giuliani must realize his justices will be a roll of the dice on social issues much as it was with the Senior Bush (remember David Souter, who brought new meaning to the term "a log cabin republican"). I’ve been waiting my whole life as a federalist, to see Roe Vs. Wade reversed, and having the States regain the power they constitutionally deserve, which was robbed from them in 1973. However if we continue to demand party purity, then the reversal of the legal ruling that sentenced millions of children to death will forever remain a fantasy.

I was shocked by the uproar that CBS's Kid Nation has garnered in conservative circles. If anything those with conservative ideas should love this show. When I first saw the previews for the upcoming program, I thought it was mild if anything else. It's a cute idea, but after Survivor, Big Brother, The Apprentice, this is an extremely family friendly version of reality television. However some in conservative circles such as Matt Drudge have said "you have to be really sick to watch something like this...to enjoy children going through pain". Being a child not so long ago, let me assure you, speaking for modern suburb kids, we really are kind of lazy. Obviously there are exceptions but by and far, we might spend an average of 20 minutes on chores, if we have any at all. And as for the chores we do, putting dishes into dishwasher (or if we feel medieval, actually hand wash them), taking out the garbage, and feeding the dog are so pathetically easy, farm kids across the nation rightfully hate us. Some have argued that the children were "unsafe" and had only 15 year olds to protect them. For most children being on your own, means not having a cell phone. We have created a PC- padded environment for our children and we wonder why they are so lacking in many life skills. America now has a generation that plays baseball not on a field but on an X-Box. As for pain, the last time I was hurt was stubbing my toe a month ago, my brother got stung by a bee, one sister had a headache, and the cute little one felt quote "fatigued" her words not mine. Real work requires a strong effort and it's not always pain free. To see modern day children learning to deal with actual challenges, is a needed reminder to those watching of how good we have it. If it makes your kids a little more grateful for all they have, it might be the best show on for your family in quite some time.

Watching the Larry Craig story continue my mind reverted back to an old child's song, sung by Lambchop, a cranky PBS puppet who taught millions of children the symptoms of menopause. My revision of it, is as follows

                                  "This is the story that never ends, 
                                  Yes, it goes on and on my friends
        Some people started arguing about it not knowing what it was,
             And they'll continue talking about it forever just because..."

                                          

Yes that special senior Senator from Idaho, Larry Craig, is clinging on to his fifteen minutes harder than a washed up reality TV star. After a long, sad history of homosexuality the saga continues with the Senator now saying he will fight to keep his seat, causing Republicans to double up on their daily Tylenol dosage. 

The idea of Larry Craig having an evil twin is beginning to hold credence. One is a man who has men claiming to have had sex with him. The other is a respected anti-gay politician who claims to support family values. One is a man who got arrested and pleaded guilty to soliciting a male officer. The other claims that the event never happened and that he wasn't thinking when he pleaded guilty. (Note: If the senior Senator from Idaho can't get a fair trial what hope is there for the rest of us?) One is a man who announced his retirement within a month. The other is now fighting for his seat and could actually prevail. If anything Senator Craig's consistency makes John Kerry look like John McCain. Whether or not Larry Craig is guilty or innocent (have you ever...ever...rubbed your hand on someone's bathroom stall never mind three times) is irrelevant. Senator Craig should be a man of his word and resign no later then the date he set.  What really should be noted though is the conservative idea, one I hold very dear, you are responsible for your actions and the consequences they may wrought. No one made the Senator plead guilty and while he was under political pressure, Mitch McConnell did not hold a gun to Craig's head and make him read a statement aloud, (Although I wouldn't put it above him).

Senator Craig, your political career is dead; please let this story die with it.

In Washington D.C., there are only three ways to leave office each one exhibited by a GOP politician this past week. You can leave due to self destruction, which is the most common, as our country's capital invites every vice imaginable. Exhibit A: Senator Larry Craig who left due to the now infamous bathroom solicitation guilty plea. Senator Craig and Senator David Vitter (R-LA) who said he also used prostitutes (female) are one and the same, except due to the seemingly indestructible virus of homophobia that lingers in the Republican Party, it claimed only Craig as it's victim. It is worth mentioning however that in Washington D.C., a scandal is not defined by what you do but what you get caught doing. For everyone that screams moral outrage, a skeleton or two remains in their closet, quite literally in Senator Craig’s case. The second is being tarred and feathered for something the person never did, but the days of responsibility such as Harry Truman's "the buck stops here" have been replaced with blame being thrown around like a hot potato.
          
Exhibit B: Atty. General Alberto Gonzales, a fine man who left due to the relentless thirst for Republican blood by the Democratic party and the lack of support by the GOP, due to his moderate legal thought and a substantial part of the party's dislike of Hispanic people. The US attorney firings were legal and fair, but apparently PR should be priority one of the Justice Department instead of our laws and safety. Gonzales resignation sets a dangerous precedent for future cabinet officials. The last and most rare exit is the retirement of a politician with grace and an admirable record of service to their country. Exhibit C: Senator John Warner of Virginia, who announced his retirement Friday with humility, warmth and charm, is the standard to which all who serve should achieve. With a love for country that few can match, he voted from his heart and mind instead of the latest poll numbers while still be smart enough to know how to play the game with his own high ethics as a line he never crossed. The Senate and America has been better to know this great man who will be missed.