Common Sense for Uncommon Times - Fair and Balanced |
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Random, occasionally rambling thoughts with links to interesting, scandalous, or partisan news of the day. Fair and Balanced 
We owe the liberty and freedom we take for granted to the enlisted men and women in the armed forces. They sacrifice family, ease, and even life laboring in service to all of us. The least we can do for them is honor their devotion with dignified pay scales, decent education for themselves and their children, and reasonable compensation for service away from their families and death on the battlefield. Flag waving politicians who praise the troops on one hand and cut their pay and benefits with the other should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
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Thursday, December 26, 2002
CNN.com - Lincoln statue stirs controversy in Virginia - Dec. 26, 2002 So tell me again why it isn't racist for the Republicans to run on the Confederate Flag? posted by Dave on 10:33 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- Sunday, December 22, 2002
Daughter Tapped to Fill Murkowski Senate Seat (washingtonpost.com) I don't care whether it's the Kennedy clan or the Bush dynasty. I'm suspicious of any inherited position that isn't completely earned, and in the two I mentioned and the Murkoswki appointment discussed in this article, there is no question that some unearned credit has been given to children of successful politicians. I don't like the smell of hereditary aristocracy and the implications for a decline in meritocratic government are troubling. Nothing against current Rep Murkowski who may be a dedicated public servant, but this isn't the American way to succeed. At least, it wasn't before the Bush, Gore, and Kennedy families patented the process. posted by Dave on 10:12 PM | 0 comments link
Ashcroft's Confederate Connections Questioned He's still the biggest threat to our civil liberties that I've seen in a long time. Maybe we can throw in John Poindexter as well, but Ashcroft stands alone as a theocrat to the core. posted by Dave on 10:07 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- Thursday, December 19, 2002
Gored by the Media Bull. If you want a final word on why Gore probably decided not to run, this is it. If, on the other hand, you want a reason to be suspicious of the mainstream press, this is also your answer. It's an easy stretch from this article to a decision to start getting your views somewhere besides the NY Times and CNN. Combined with the Lott fiasco, the Gore coverage highlights the emergence of the blogosphere as a new driver of the national dialogue. The second triumph is the emergence of the voice of racialist-free conservatism. I may not agree with their philosophy, but I have to cheer their undisputed rejection of racial politics. Whether they will be happy with the electoral results of a race-free Republican campaign is probably in doubt, but their heads are collectively in the right place. posted by Dave on 8:12 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Bush's Missile Defense Fuzzy Math It's one thing to make a political point by bending the truth, but when you are literally flushing billions of dollars a year down the toilet, the least you can do is make it less obvious how bad the problem is. George Orwell would have no problem recognizing the Pentagon's latest claims for what they are. Poppycock. posted by Dave on 1:07 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Friday, December 13, 2002
Josh Chafetz, guest hosting on Volokh Conspiracy, caught William Saletan with his pants down, but he threw Paul Krugman into the same indecent position a little too quickly. Krugman's piece talked about four decades of Republican Southern strategy, and while it is possible to quibble with the duration and extent, it's risible to dismiss it out of hand as Josh tried to do. A case in point. Did the defeat of Governor Barnes and Senator Cleland in Georgia have anything at all to do with Sonny Perdue's campaign for a referendum on bringing back the Confederate flag? Is it possible to seriously argue that said flag hasn't become a symbol of racism and white power? Keep in mind this supposed symbol of historical interest only began flying over the capitol in 1956 as a direct challenge to federal desegregation efforts? Will someone ask Senator Lott, age 15 at the time, if he understood in 1956 what "opposition to federal desegregation efforts" meant as clearly as he understood it in the early 60's when he battled against segregation of his fraternity? Can one argue that the Saxby Chambliss victory party with Confederate flags waving and a Chambliss evocation of Martin Luther King's "Free at Last" speech to refer to Democratic control in Georgia was not both racially charged and a wildly inappropriate mis-appropriation of one of America's most profound speeches? Is it possible to argue that President Bush's primary win over John McCain in South Carolina was not fueled by Bush's visit to Bob Jones University and the whispering campaign that McCain had an illegitimate black child? I don't accuse Bush of personally approving these tactics, mind you, but Karl Rove is nothing if not a master of tactics and detail. I also think Bush wouldn't visit Bob Jones again (post Lott) without lecturing BJU about the perils of racism and segregation. I don't think Bush has a dog in this fight, but his handlers weren't above using a few dirty tricks (Catholic trick for Michigan...didn't work) to get him a W in the primaries. Finally, a look at fiscal reality shows that nearly all the red states are tax recipient states, dependent on the largesse of the blues for their very profound federal subsidies. (a large (720k) detailed pdf file of tax donor and tax recipient states is available). Why would they vote for tax cuts, when taxes benefit them disproportionately? Why would they vote for cuts in federal spending, when the cuts are aimed at their necks? Might it be because decades of Republican moralizing have convinced the white majorities (Lott got over 92% of the white vote) that only the Republicans support their "family values". This, in states where the vast majority of both races are regular church goers and believers. The family values might just be code, eh? Maybe that's where Krugman's wink, wink, nod, nod comes in. It's clear that a large majority of Republicans stand with Bush on the moral side of this issue. The conservative blogosphere has been nearly unanimous in denouncing Lott's idiocy, but these aren't the power brokers or the elected officials that may rely on this covert racial politicking to remain in office. When LBJ said in August of 1965 that signing the voting rights act would hand the south to the Republicans for a quarter century, he was only wrong on the duration of their hold on this region. Lott's fiasco is opening that old wound for everyone to look at. Chafetz properly fisked Saletan for going too far with his reasoning. However, Josh does himself a disservice by not looking at the real flesh and blood and bone and truth under Saletan's ornate spinning job. The blogging community was the first to stir and report on these issues, and the conservative response has been honest, candid, and occasionally brutal. Now is not the time to pull back from that clarity of thinking, but to expose the politics of race on both sides of the aisle to the light of day. Hubert Humphrey said in a keynote speech in 1948, "the time has arrived in America for the Democratic party to get out of the shadow of state’s rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!" Let's continue the bold work of the blogosphere and make Humphrey's declaration bipartisan. posted by Dave on 11:37 PM | 0 comments link
Bush's Gravy Train Cronyism Revealed in the WSJ Utterly unintentionally, Daniel Henninger exposes the Bush administration's fondness for political hacks who move to the corporate world to milk their government contacts. Cheney, Bush, Daniels, Thomas White, and now John Snow are the greed-crowned tip of the iceberg. Crony capitalism has never enjoyed such access and representation in the White House and Henninger's myopia makes this story a classic. Bill Donaldson is the exception to the rule since he founded and built a major business from scratch with two partners. Donaldson's other oddity on the Bush team? He actually served in the Marines. posted by Dave on 3:51 PM | 0 comments link
The Ways Republicans Talk About Race Joseph Crespino echoes Paul Kruman with calls for Republicans to be frank about the past four decades of racial appeals to southern voters in their party. It's time for the media to write the story about the parties as proxies for racial views that goes back to the Civil Rights era. This system is what President Lyndon Johnson understood on August 6, 1965, when he signed the Voting Rights Act and afterward said privately that national Democrats had probably lost the South for at least a quarter-century. He understood the system that produced Southern politics and the bipartisan white coalition that drove it. His insight has now come home to roost big-time in the 2000 election. Bush won the old Confederacy and the rural states of the West, which have a similar political philosophy--plus Indiana, Ohio and New Hampshire. Gore won the old Union states of the North and Northeast, plus New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington, which are more in harmony with national Democratic policies. (From Commondreams). It's not just about Trent Lott. Ask Senator Max Cleland and Governor Barnes of Georgia who both lost their jobs based in large part on a Republican campaign strategy in Georgia that relied on appeals to restore the Confederate flag to a position of prominence. Sons of the Confederacy and other vestigial groups can claim historical symbolism, but to a large number of Americans, that flag is a symbol in the same way that a burning cross is a symbol; hateful and reminiscent of the worst our society has to offer. Before I can be accused of partisanship and a hatred of the Confederacy, however, let me be clear that the Democratic party has its own share of racial dividers. Al Sharpton has a disgraceful career that began with making false accusations (which he knew were false) against white police officers in the Tawana Brawley case. Cynthia McKinney made free use of racial charges in her primary campaign against another African American woman, and Jesse Jackson made the "Hymietown" remarks that led to the apology Trent Lott recently aped. Senator Byrd of West Virginia and Ernest Hollings of South Carolina both have pasts that include racial intolerance continuing to relatively recent days. If we are going to indict Trent Lott and the Republican party for recent racials gaffes, we can't flinch from a bipartisan inspection of hate inciters at the individual level. Strong denunciations of Lott's comments from younger conservatives indicate a strong Republican rejection of this racial politics that is already two decades past Johnson's estimate of its natural death. Now is the time for the media to expose Democrats and Republicans alike who use the politics of racial hatred to win elections and stir supporters. I can't conclude this rant against Republicans (and some Democrats) without making the same positive and grateful acknowledgment nearly every blogger and mainstream journalist has made this week. President Bush is clearly a modern American free of racial hatreds. He has reached out consistenty to minorities during his career and has one of the most diverse cabinets in history. He has strongly repudiated Senator Lott's comments. Additionally, and to his great credit, President Bush has led the way in urging all Americans to remain considerate and respectful of our fellow Americans and visitors who practice Islam. He has taken a great deal of heat from religious conservatives in his party for his stance on this, but he has been staunch and unyielding in his opposition to religious bigotry. I disagree with him on nearly every policy of his administration, but on this central issue of human dignity and freedom I am proud to have him speak on my behalf. posted by Dave on 10:51 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Thursday, December 12, 2002
Seeking Huge Electricity Refund, California Is Told to Pay Instead Anybody else for California secession and a loose confederation with British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and Baja? The Pacific States of America. You read it here first. FERC just can't seem to get their shit together to render a verdict that reflects the reality of the market manipulation that took place in our energy sector. The way justice and I both see it, you draw a graph of price increases over the five years preceding deregulation and extend it to 200 and 2001. Forget all these bogus manipulated calculations. Just take a reasonable profit and cost basis which would give the generators a projected 7 or 8 billion in costs. Sincewe were billed hugely more than that, they can give us back the $18 billion they overcharged us. It would do nicely for balancing the state budget. posted by Dave on 11:22 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Online NewsHour: Essay: A Line to my Heart -- December 10, 2002 My son served in the Navy, so this moving essay connected with me in a way that many won't understand. Frank Schaeffer talks about the discovery of what it means to be the parent of an American serving his country. Perhaps even more significantly for the NewsHour audience, he rediscovered the heart of America that so many of the professional and elite classes have largely forgotten or never known. The book he wrote with his son deserves a wider audience. posted by Dave on 11:27 PM | 0 comments link
Despite Denial, Enron Papers Show Big Profit on Price Bets If Enron can't pay back California, Bush and FERC should be held responsible. The energy bandits didn't slip their leash until their boy was declared the winner. posted by Dave on 10:39 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Tim Blair demonstrates why the West will never be defeated by Islam Follow the links to a demonstration of the mix of technological power and silliness that is the hallmark of a rich society doing well. Camels, fatwas, and jihad aren't going to bring down a civilization that can play "When the Saints Go Marching In" on a race car engine. posted by Dave on 9:26 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Monday, December 09, 2002
Rove Revealed. Ron Suskind's Esquire article posted by Dave on 7:44 PM | 0 comments link
CSX prices and John W. Snow's leadership to go with his employment contract. Nice work if you can get it. I especially liked the grant of 150,000 shares at 45.38 (or so) per share. $6 million bucks as a little sign on treat for this champion of slashing jobs to get to a better bottom line. There's plenty more goodies in the contract. Here's a great line from a WAPO piece on Snow. "Later that year, Snow was part of a bipartisan group of business leaders who signed an open letter in The Washington Post calling on Clinton to offer a credible plan or a balanced budget." Let's hope Snow can recommend a similar goal to President Bush. posted by Dave on 1:24 AM | 0 comments link
American Family Association - Evangelicals trail gays and lawyers, but edge out hookers. This Barna survey must be disappointing to the handful of loving, Jesus-admiring Christians in the Evangelical movement. I have a few tips for them if they want to avoid being rated lower than prostitutes in the next survey. Rule number one. Jesus was not a member of the Republican party. You shouldn't be either. There's something unseemly about claiming to love God's son and then turning around and making tax cuts a major priority of the church. What in hell do tax cuts have to do with Christianity. Rule number two. Jesus was all about love, forgiveness, and compassion for sinners, the poor and the downtrodden. Making hatred of gays a key element of your religion appears to be an unlikely reading of the Gospels. Maybe it would work if Christianity came only from the Old Testament, but then you wouldn't be a Christian. You'd be, like Jesus, a Jew. Frankly I haven't met any Jews who make hating gays a priority, so you'd probably be out of place there as well. Rule number three. Evolution isn't religion, it's scientific theory. You can't possibly expect non-believers to think of the Bible as anything but a wonderful, allegorical work of fiction. Why should they allow their children to be exposed to creation science in the schools? If you want your kids to believe in a literal creation story, teach it to them at home and at your church. Leave everyone else's kids out of it. Rule number four. There aren't even ten commandments since many Christian faiths disagree on whether graven idols belong, or how many coveting commandments there should be. It's perfectly fine to hash this out among yourselves at church. Leave the courts out of it. The Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice is an ass for bringing the ten commandments into his courthouse. Rule number five. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. That means no prayer in the school, no nativity display in public buildings, no prayers at football games or graduation. Get over it. You are free to attend church 24/7/365 for all anyone cares. You aren't free to force the rest of us to sit still for your worship practices. Period. To each his own, and even if you are a vast majority, you still don't have the right to force me to participate. Rule number six. Sex is good. Responsible, married, adult sex may be best of all, but there will always be plenty of irresponsible, young, unmarried, sex to go around. Humans are animals and the reproductive urge is very, very strong. Stop trying to deny it. Stop trying to prevent birth control. Stop trying to prevent sex education. Stop trying to prevent condom distribution. The best way to cut down on abortions is to prevent the pregnancies in the first place. Teach your kids to abstain, if you want to. It's an important lesson in delayed gratification they may or may not listen to. Don't try to make the rest of society into sexually repressed beings. It's both futile and counter productive. Do those few things, and you'll find your standing rising remarkably. You might even pass lawyers, but I doubt if you'll catch the gays. They're just a little too friendly, too nice, too caring, and too neighborly. Sort of like Jesus. posted by Dave on 12:52 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Sunday, December 08, 2002
A contrast broght into sharp focus: Wind Turbines Are Sprouting Off Europe's Shores and Use of Renewable Energy Took a Big Fall in 2001. The next time Bush or Cheney talk about the inability of renewable energy to fulfill our energy needs, suggest that they look to northern Europe to see what a committment to sane national energy policies can produce. posted by Dave on 1:34 AM | 0 comments link
Bush, Iraq and Sister Souljah Ear to the ground Tom Friedman continues to soak up the flavor of the world's hot spots. He brings it all home in this piece about the lack of preparedness in the US to confront the many dangers that face us. Budget problems, energy problems, and focus problems continue to bedevil us and the administration has no obvious plans in sight for dealing with them. Not the cheeriest column for those hollering for attacking Iraq immediately. posted by Dave on 12:07 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Saturday, December 07, 2002
American Conservative Union: Teaching the FBI to play nice. I couldn't resist adding this strong editorial on reform of the FBI from David Keene of the American Conservative Union. It fits well with my earlier call for a blogging alternative to the FBI based on local police forces around the country. posted by Dave on 2:16 AM | 0 comments link
Minnesota native quits PR firm that represents Saudis Jim Weber, brother of Wellstone Memorial service kingpin Vin Weber, was a flack for the Saudis. Here's brother Vin in Dana Milbank's article about the sacking of the economic advisors to Bush: “My strong guess is this is painful for the president because he likes these guys,” said Vin Weber, a Republican lobbyist who is close to the White House..." What's funny to me is when Vin was spinning his "Democrats are evil despoilers of Wellstone's memory", he was referred to as "former advisor to John McCain's presidential campaign. Funny what a little distance from electioneering can do for you. Get you promoted from advisor to a losting campaign of two years ago to current "close to the White House" status. Maybe if Kavita Kumar at the Minneapolis Star Tribune had read Vin's credentials a little more closely she wouldn't have been quite so eager to print his spinning email verbatim. posted by Dave on 12:35 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Friday, December 06, 2002
Blogging to the Rescue The phenomenon of the blogosphere points directly at a cure for the FBI's reported "ignored tips for a year" problem exemplified by the Customs (not FBI) raid on a Boston software company and flight students of 9/11 fame. This solution also addresses concerns about corruption and the fabled bureaucratic incompetence in the FBI. The phenomenon is the speed and variety of paths which information can follow as it flows through the system. First, there is a network of linked trust relationships that is hugely expandable with enormous ad hoc flexibility. At the broadest level there are thousands of bloggers, some with very limited readership, but specific expertise. Within any area of interest there are recognized experts who have bigger readerships and receive contributions from many readers and who link to both narrow and general readerships. At what could be called the summary level, the Instapundits get thousands of readers but the data they choose to post has usually been filtered either through another blogger they have worked with before or traditional news media sources. This network, taken as a whole, is a perfect prototype for taking tips and turning them into a solid tool for prioritizing investigations and identifying real threats. This a-centric system (yeah, just like the Internet) for handling tips and case reports lets the investigating community establish their own expertise or suspicion affiliations that would have enough redundancy to make headquarters’ boondoggles and corruption unlikely. You could still have a failure in reporting events from the field based on corruption, incompetence, or ignorance, but once a report was entered into the system it would be exposed to the rapid critiquing, comparison with other reports, and escalation based on relevance that should quickly highlight important, potentially critical, or imminent problems. The biggest problem I see is with privacy for potential suspects, but the fetish for information management at the FBI already led directly to failure to detect the 9/11 plotters, and it's hard to conceive of a worse result from casual release of private information. If instead of brushing off the Boston reports the FBI Boston Blogging Office had entered the details into the system, some software-focused blogger or Saudi-investment blogger might have picked up the details and decided to escalate the story up the network's loose hierarchy. I see the beauty of this system as the existence of a working prototype that is already nationally distributed, focused on issues of war and terrorism, and operational today. It doesn't require specialized computers, fancy new programming, or even extensive training. Within a week, every police department in the country could have their own blogger with both public notification channels as well as private tip line email addresses and the private channels that would make up the Coposphere. I'm tired of reading about situations like the one in Boston and the early ID'ing of the snipers as potential threats while they were still living in Washington. It's time for the FBI to get taken off the case and turn over domestic security to a new organization built on existing local police, sheriffs, state police, highway patrols, and perhaps FEMA serving as overall coordinator with assistance from skilled CIA analysts. It may even be possible to incorporate the field grade FBI agents into this, but I would definitely cut out as fatally contaminated bureaucrats any FBI managers at the SAIC level and above. There's no reason there couldn't also be a parallel network of health care professionals doing the same triage with health threats all the way up to CDC. There couldn't possibly be a worse example of managing a biological attach than having Tommy Thompson hosting press conferences to display his woeful lack of knowledge. The combined effect of energizing the local forces by trusting them and removing the bureaucratic cork at the FBI would make me feel much more secure. posted by Dave on 11:30 AM | 0 comments link
Beinart bashes Kerry When your friends give you bad advice, you may be in trouble. Peter Beinart can't hold himself back from bashing Kerry for pursuing the only likely strategy for defeating President Bush in 2004. When your opponents are willing to twist your positions, ridicule your hair, and attack your undoubted patriotism, you have to take off the gloves and respond in kind. When John Kerry twists every question to answer with his Vietnam war experience he is trying building an insurmoutable wall that George Bush can't tear down. President Bush has succeeded in great part because the press has been woefully negligent in investigating his full early record. September 11 has given him even more grace and freedom from speculation, but the recent DiIulio memo, the steath corporate pork provisions in the Homeland Security Bill, and likely attempts to push Social Security privatization in the spring will open him up for scrutiny. Any potential opponent has to innoculate himself against the "weak on defense" charges that are inevitable and were seen in the Max Cleland loss in Georgia. What looks to Beinart like overkill is simply the only possible path for Kerry to take. posted by Dave on 9:56 AM | 0 comments link
The Rightward Press EJ Dionne takes a swing at assessing the bias in media today. posted by Dave on 9:02 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Thursday, December 05, 2002
Somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to put all Bush's flips, flops, and flubs in one spot. This is it. posted by Dave on 11:46 PM | 0 comments link
It's cool to be a liberal. The poetic vision of JFK. posted by Dave on 10:51 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- Wednesday, December 04, 2002
NDOL: Putting Politics First: The Triumph of Rovery by Joshua Green The DLC take on the DiIulio flap. posted by Dave on 12:45 AM | 0 comments link
John DiIulio: The future of compassion This is the man about whom much is being written. If you read this simple editorial you will get a sense that he is a partisan for the poor and a respecter of President Bush's vison of a compassionate America. Not a lot to hate here for the Republicans who call him traitor. Plenty of good ideas, however, and none of them being acted on in Washington. I guess that's the problem. posted by Dave on 12:26 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Tuesday, December 03, 2002
Imams of Inanity (washingtonpost.com) In the interests of fair play, here is Richard Cohen exposing some Useful Idiots of the Right. posted by Dave on 2:23 PM | 0 comments link
Useful Idiots in Britain to match the ones in Utah. posted by Dave on 1:33 PM | 0 comments link
Go Utah: Forget Nancy Pelosi. It's Orrin Hatch's boys and girls who are the wide eyed radicals. San Francisco based Sierra Club is staying out of the Iraq fray apart from urging the removal of any weapons of mass destruction from Saddam's control. Now a Utah chapter of the environmental group wants to follow the Greenpeace route to organizational irrelevance by taking a stand on the war. Next time someone refers to a San Francisco Liberal, I can assume they mean someone smart enough to avoid an untenable position. posted by Dave on 11:54 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Monday, December 02, 2002
TOMPAINE.com - The Perils Of Court Reporting Woodward reviewed, critically. posted by Dave on 4:37 PM | 0 comments link
RollingStone.com: News: The Press vs. Al Gore This detailed article is filled with example of press misconduct. Probably the most chilling words for me were from Margaret Carlson. I'll let her speak for herself: "Few journalists saw anything wrong with this double standard. In fact, some found it amusing. "You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator, or you look at his record in Texas," Time magazine columnist Margaret Carlson told radio morning man Don Imus at the height of the campaign. "But it's really easy, and it's fun, to disprove Gore. As sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us." Classy, huh? True professionalism at work. posted by Dave on 12:02 PM | 0 comments link
Ill Treatment The next time someone starts badmouthing Gore's upcoming single payer health care system, make sure they have read this piece in The New Republic about treating the 2.5 million uninsurd in LA. You can argue that these people don't deserve health care, but it's hard to make the case that Warren Buffet's children are more needy. posted by Dave on 9:01 AM | 0 comments link
The Saudi Ambassador and the Princess A very complete overview of the undue influence of the Saudis on President Bush. posted by Dave on 8:38 AM | 0 comments link -------------------- Sunday, December 01, 2002
Esquire:Features:What I've Learned:J. Craig Venter "Scientifically, it's far, far safer for us to take nuclear waste and bury it deep in some mine shaft somewhere than to continue dumping billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from burning gasoline and diesel. We're contaminating our entire environment now because people are afraid of nuclear energy." posted by Dave on 11:58 PM | 0 comments link
Ex-Aide Insists White House Puts Politics Ahead of Policy This can't be a surprise to anyone who watched the electorally significant selective steel tariffs, or who has watched a year long orchestration of defense activities not just for defense but for the electoral efforts of Republicans. The good men and women of our armed forces are doing a great job, but there is a very manipulative hand on the shoulder of the President. Karl Rove wasn't nick-named Bush's brain for nothing. posted by Dave on 11:50 PM | 0 comments link
A Christian speaks against imposing Biblical law on Society A pretty far afield link for me, but between the ten commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court, the issues of stem cell research, and arguments about gay marriage, the time is right for politically oriented Christians to revisit the roots of their faith to see if they have strayed too far from the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible simply does not support Christians going around trying to set up modern day theocracies. To the contrary, the New Testament instructs Christians to view themselves as "just passing through" this present world because they are citizens of a heavenly country, not an earthly one. "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:16) "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20) Yet by rallying Christians to try to set up their "land of Canaan" in the present world instead of encouraging them to wait for the coming of a future paradise that God specifically promises in the Bible, the Christian Right implicitly denies the promise and hope of heaven, one of the most essential doctrines of the Christian religion. Can any attack on our faith be more central and devastating than this? True Bible-believing Christians will repudiate such an anti-Christian agenda, believing instead that our hope is in heaven, not on earth, that the kingdom is advanced by gospel preaching, not political maneuvering, that our conduct ought to be characterized by love, not tyranny, and that homosexuals are our neighbors, not our enemies. posted by Dave on 3:40 PM | 0 comments link -------------------- |