Althletes and the people who don't like them.

I just saw the video of the fights in the Pacers and Pistons NBA game. I am truly SICK of the ego and irresponsibility of these athletes. Personally I think they should be thrown off the team. I know, I know, the money. They are just above it all because of the money they generate.

More personal stories. Before you know it, it is going to sound like I have had an pretty exciting life. Which, comparatively speaking, I guess it was. ANYWAY, I had a best friend in college that dated a well known football star at the University of Texas. We went to the game one day and then went back to his very lush apartment to wait for his greatness to arrive. She had rushed to the store and brought back tons of food and a case of beer. She told me that this is what he requires after the game. "Hmmmm.....I thought." So he comes in with a few of his fellow football players. If there were more egotistical big headed self involved jerks, they would have to be in Hollywood. Without so much of a thank you, he and his cavemen wolfed down the food and drank the beer and proceeded to assume that I and the other 2 girls with us were there for their express pleasure. I guess they figured we came with the food and beer. My friend Debbie made it clear that we were her friends and not football groupies. That didn't seem to matter. Before finally leaving totally disgusted, I had literally pushed 2 of them off of me and poured a glass of ice water over the head of another. (You do not want to know why)

A year later I dated an old boyfriend from high school who was a baseball player at Northeastern Louisiana University. I went to one party with him and his baseball buddies and they pretty much had the same...ummm....... demeanor.

I am not saying all athletes are like this. I know there are many wonderful guys for every one Kolbe Bryant. But this culture of glorifying our sports figures to the point of almost worshiping them is out of control. You can see it even in kid's sports. These parents think their little Johnny is gonna be in the big leagues and everyone, including little Johnny knows it.

I have 2 children who are very gifted athletes. I have no idea if they have what it takes to play in college or beyond. But this is the LAST dream I give them. I tell them I am proud of them. I tell them to keep doing their best. But the last thing I would want is to create this impossible dream in them that only one in a million achieve. And many of those you wouldn't want to live next door to, much less have as a family member. Yet I see parent after parent push this dream on their kids. The sports world, even on a elementary level, is too competitive, too obsessive, and too much. Period.

Our friend 2Slick has an interesting post about his involvment in giving out millions to the Iraqi people. It explains it and has an excerpt from a book coming out Eric T. Holmes that quotes 2Slick.

In the book Mr. Holmes describes the 101st Infantry Division "giving project" (my personal name for it):

"In the course of combat operations and searching for weapon caches the 101st came across large amounts of Ba’athist cash. They immediately turned right around and spent the money in the local economy for humanitarian efforts. During 2003 they seized and spent $178 million. Other units are now continuing the program."

"Captain 2Slick served with the 101st in Mosul during the first year of the war. He’s a Black Hawk pilot by trade, who personally spent $2.7 million in support of higher education in Mosul. After serving with his unit in Iraq, 2Slick is now serving in Kuwait. “I honestly believe that we are losing the information campaign here. As soldiers fighting this war, we have an obligation to get the word out about what's really going on over here.”

Now go read more at his site.

Protesting.

I seem to be in the "personal stories" mode. One of the previous posts had many comments on protestors. I have actually been a protestor. Let me tell you about my first time.

I had 2 small babies in the late 80's. I was involved in the pro-life movement through my Church. I had counseled at a pregnancy crisis center called Birthright. Birthright has offices all over the country and has been around since the 60's. It is not political, but it offers resources to mothers with unplanned pregnancies. Everything from Lamaze classes to Doctor appts. To diapers to formula. I was a busy young mother at the time also involved with the Nurturing Network, a crisis pregnancy organization that focused on helping single pregnant women in college. Finding jobs, college transfers, and shelter.

"Operation Rescue' was in full swing at the time. If you don't remember, it was the summer Rev. Flip Benham went to abortion clinics all over to protest. The protestors would go slack as they were arrested just as those did in the civil rights and peace movements of the 60's. Of course, that is not how the media portrayed them at all. It just so happened that I had a lovely 18 yr old babysitter from my Church named Mary. She told me she was joining Operation Rescue in Dallas that summer. I was very concerned. To be honest I have always found protests silly. I never see them change things. Perhaps they did have an impact in the 60's, but now they seemed like the 'lefts' way of getting on TV. But this wasn't the left by any stretch of the imagination.

So the next Saturday morning I drove over to Dallas to show support for Mary. I expected wild rantings from "those evangelicals" screaming "murderer!" and the like. That was the media had led me to believe. But what I found was a peaceful display of young mothers with children. Grandmothers, and few young men. The abortion clinic was surrounded by policemen on horses.

I sorta wandered around chatting with different people, looking for Mary. What I didn't know was that Mary had snuck into the abortion clinic as a 'patient' and was counseling the girls there not to go through with the abortions.

A couple of interesting things. There was LOTS of media. One cameraman started kind of following me around. I guess because I was speaking to many of the people and he wanted a good shot of something, because nothing exciting was going on. I spoke to a Hispanic grandmother who had been praying the rosary. She pointed to one of the policemen on a horse and said "That is my nephew." She smiled at him and did a little wave. He kinda smiled back and shook his head. "I kid him that one day he will have to arrest me." she giggled. I smiled. "You do this often?" I asked. "I come every Saturday and silently pray the rosary." she answered.

Scary stuff. These people.

Then a very strange thing happened. Suddenly from the 2nd story balcony of the abortion clinic they brought out a 9 foot purple paper mache woman. Her arms were attached with elastic and they had sticks glued to the back of her hands so she could wave back and forth. Some woman from the balcony shouted that she was the goddess of something ( I couldn't understand her and I never found out what goddess, seems the reporters there weren't that interested in finding out) I turned to the cameraman that had been following me and said, "Aren't you going to film that???" He looked reluctant..."I guess so" he said. "YOU GUESS SO???? THIS isn't newsworthy???? THIS isn't interesting enough for the local news????" I said.

He filmed it, but I never saw it on any news station or written up in the newspaper. It occurred to me later that the station may have told him to only film that which made the pro-lifers look nutty, not the other way around. I just can't explain it any other way.

Finally, Mary and 2 other girls were arrested along with Flip Benham, he was arrested for stepping onto the property. THAT made the news of course. Mary was a straight A student, very active in school and church activies. She had no arrest record. The judge threw her jail for 3 months. Mary spent the summer before going to college in jail. We wrote each other and her attitude was wonderful. She looked at it as an opportunity to share her faith with the other women in jail. Her outlook and tenacity and faith made me remember my own 18 yr old summer spent combing the beaches of Hawaii, surfing, and trying to find the cutest guy with the best tan to take me dancing. Feeling pretty shallow in comparison, I decided to go to a few more protests ( not with Operation Rescue, just local prayer vigils in front of abortion clinics ) Nothing exciting or even confrontational ever happened. Once a security guard asked one of the young men with us why we were doing this. The young man answered "Have you seen a 6-12 week old fetus?, the heart is beating, brain waves can be detected. They don't do abortions before then." The security guard said "you're lying." "Go look it up yourself." said the young man.
We never saw the security guard there again. Maybe he did look it up.

An interesting thing also occurred that summer. Norma McCovery (Jane Roe of the infamous Roe v. Wade case) became a Christian, later a Catholic and denounced all things to do with the pro-choice movement. She became adamantly pro-life.

Those of us in the movement knew of her conversion. But none of us called the news outlets. We felt it was personal for her and it wasn't our place. At the time I was an avid caller into talk shows and I had to BITE MY FINGERS to keep me from calling it in sometimes when they were discussing the pro-lifers. Months later a reporter noticed her at a pro-life center and asked her what the hell she was doing there. That is when the story became news. She said that the pro-choice movement never did anything but use her. Making her lie at the beginning of Roe v. Wade and say she was raped.
But the pro-lifers never did anything but help her.

I didn't do anymore protesting. I felt my concern was with helping the young girls who found themselves pregnant and alone.

I have mixed feelings about protesting. I feel that it is so watered down now that no one really pays attention. I also feel that too many spend their time protesting thinking that that makes them a better person. Well, holding up a sign that says "I'm sorry" and taking a picture of yourself doesn't help mankind, I can tell you that for sure.

In case your wondering. Mary graduated from college. She is a teacher and a happily married mother of 3.

I still call her my little ex con.

Thanksgiving

I want to tell you about a little boy who was born in 1931. He was born to a poor 15 yr old girl who was married to an older man in the rural south. As you might imagine, it was not an easy childhood. Having a young unsure mother and a overbearing mean father along with no money brought feelings of anger out in the little boy often. When that happened his father would beat him. His mother would cry, but there wasn't much she could do.

Finally his father left them, divorced his mother and remarried. This was uncommon in the 40's and humiliated his mother and left the little boy feeling even more feelings of anger and abandonment. The small glow of rage that had been smoldering for many years, began to grow.

Luckily for his mother, she found a sweet man to marry and they began a family. By this time the little boy, growing into a teenager was rebellious and uncontrollable. Feeling it for the best, His mother and stepfather sent him to a boarding school. His mother had 2 more babies. Feeling left out and alone, the boy turned his anger outward. He started fights. He found enjoyed fights. They let a little bit of his rage out.

When he graduated high school he returned home and spent his weekends going to bars, getting drunk and getting into fights. He enjoyed the feeling of rage and anger as he pounded at someone. He enjoyed the taunting, the final insult that led to the fight, but most of all he enjoyed the fight. It didn't take a psychologist to figure out that the fight gave him an outlet for his resentment and rage.

This went on for almost 2 years, until one night everything changed. Sometimes people actually do have one specific moment in their lives when life grabs them and shakes them and nothing is ever the same.

The boy (he was called Sonny) ,was now a man of 19. He was doing his usual drinking in a favorite bar. He started his usual fight with some other redneck over the usual nothing. The fighting began, then Sonny knocked the other man into the bar. As the man fell his head hit the corner of the bar. The man fell to the floor, blood was everywhere. People rushed over. A man knelt down by him and then looked up at Sonny and said "he's dead."

In that moment, Sonny saw what the rest of his life was to be. Prison. He saw the bars and the cot and the cold hard floor. He closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the frozen fear that washed over him. He wasn't sure how long he stood there with his eyes closed. But someone shook him and he looked up. They said, "He's not dead, just a a bad gash to the back of the head."

Sonny didn't remember the rest of the evening. Back then no one called cops over some honkey tonk fight. He didn't remember getting home. He only remembers laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. He remembers thinking and thinking. He remembers that he understood how close he came to having no life at all. And that is when he made a decision.

He decided that not only was he going to have a life, he was going to have a damn good one.

That week he joined the Army. He made sergeant quickly. He worked hard and was focused. After his stint in the Army. He took his G.I. bill and enrolled in college. He studied hard and graduated. He wanted to go to law school, but he needed to work to save some money. He sold insurance. During this time he met a beautiful young girl, appropriately named Joy. He knew within a week that she was the kind of girl he wanted to love and to be the mother of his much wanted children. A week later they were married. This guy had gotten real good at making decisions by now.

He got into Law School. He worked all day as a security guard at a train station, where he could easily study, and he went to law school at night. He and Joy had 2 sons. He became a lawyer. Then they had a daughter. He had many other successes in his life. But the personal ones are the most significant. He forgave his father and even had a relationship with him. His mother had become widowed at an early age, and he took care of her and became very close to her. He also loved his little brother and sister very much. But even more than all that, he became a remarkable person. He made a lot of money and he gave it to anyone who needed it.

Because of his childhood,he felt little boys needed an outlet for their aggressiveness, so he became a Golden Gloves boxing coach. He sponsored his son's little league teams and any other team that couldn't afford one. He gave money and land to The Boys Club. He headed up fundraisers for the Crippled Childrens charity through his civic clubs. His generosity was unlimited. He was never famous or held high office. But when he died too young, at the age of 53 ,the funeral home did not have enough rooms to hold the flowers, despite his wife asking for donations to other charitable funds. There were 11 police cars and 11 police motorcycles leading the hearst to the cemetery.

He was not perfect. But he was a loving and wonderful husband and father. I know. Because he was my father.

When I was 17 I had a boyfriend who came from a poor family. Keith stole some engine parts from the gas station where he worked to sell for extra money. Instead of forbidding me to ever see him again, Daddy got Keith out of jail. He got the arrest off his record. He managed to find him a scholarship to the local Jr. College and gave him money to get started. I began college farther away and my Daddy waited patiently for the relationship to end, and it did.

What my father taught me most of all is that life is a decision you make. Every day you decide whether you will be happy or not. My dad had nothing but rage fueling him growing up. He could have let that rage ruin it all and he almost did. But that fateful night he decided to turn it all around. He decided to be a wonderful husband, father, friend, and public servant.

He chose love over hate.

He was a senator in the state legislature and then ran for Circuit Clerk of Hinds County. After the first time, no one ever ran against him again. He always ran uncontested. He was asked many times to run for Governor, but I would hear him discussing it with my mom. He didn't like the meanness of politics and he didn't want to spend time away from his kids. So he never did.

He was not a religious man. When we were young he took us to church, but when I was 12 and joined the Baptist church because of the youth group, he and mom stopped going. When I questioned him about it later. He told me, "I am Christian, but I don't like how churches focus on things that I don't see Christ focusing on. When I read the Bible I saw Christ asking us to do 2 things, love God, and help one another. So that is what I did."

My father died before I finished my spiritual journey (which is never finished, I suppose) and I wish that I could have shared with him how fufilling I have found my Church and how much it has taught me about Christ. But I figure, because of the love he gave me, because of the childhood of security and affection that I had, I started from a whole different place than he did. He climbed the mountain from the bottom, digging in and sweating his way up. I was placed gently toward the top. My climb was so much easier by all that he gave me.

He has been gone for 20 years now, but I am still thankful for him. Still thankful that somewhere out there is a man with a big scar on the back of his head. Still thankful for the decision my daddy made all those many years ago.

Citizen Smash has some pics of demonstrators and counter-demonstrators in San Diego. He describes the 'protestors' as: "religious pacifists mingled with anarchists; communists selling newspapers for a dollar each; anti-capitalist vegans holding up a banner advertising a “yeast-free” bread shop; a woman -- made up to appear like a victim of multiple gunshot wounds -- lay supine on the sidewalk, draped in an American flag."

Their counter demonstrators were veterans and other proud Americans, proud of our military. And then the Marines arrived.....

"They arrived without warning, easily identifiable by their short hair and strong physical bearing. They eyed the protesters warily, but visibly brightened when they spotted our counter-demonstration. These Marines were on weekend liberty from infantry training at Camp Pendleton, and for many of them, this was their first trip into downtown San Diego."

Go check out the pics. Just do some comparing. Look at our young strong oh so cool (can I say hot?) Marines and the pitiful display of humanity that the left produced. Not to be mean. I'm just saying..........

Remember the famous European line "We are all Americans now" after 9-11?
Well, it seems that line has changed a bit after 11-2 to "We are all blue Americans now."
That is the last line of this article anyway.....to which I say....well, I can't really say what I want to say because this is a nice clean blog. But the 2 words your thinking right now.....that's it.

My dog dug up and chewed up my phone cable out back (so my DSL was out as well) So I have been unable to get on the internet.
Did you miss me??.... Huh?..... Did ya?...;-)
On the good side I got tons done, including some Christmas shopping. On the bad side I experienced I.W. (Internet Withdrawal) which included the cramping of fingers from not typing and extreme stress brought on by not being able to rant.

Did I miss all the jokes about the Clinton Library looking like the biggest mobile home ever? Because that was my very first thought when I saw it.

I tend to avoid all things Clinton. I can't bear to hear him speak, so all I did was read the excerpt from his interview with Peter Jennings. Here are some thoughts:

Clinton on Iraq: "I did believe that the administration made a mistake going to war when they did, and that's what alienated the world. Most Americans still haven't focused on this."

I wonder if the rest of the world has focused on the fact that WE WERE RIGHT. Not only finding weapons strewn thoughout Iraq, the plans to renew the nuclear weapons program, and the mass graves of women and children, but now we know the corrupt collaboration the U.N. had in the food for oil program scamming all of us, but especially the Iraqi people. And now we know how Saddam paid the families of suicide bombers. With food for oil money. A scandal of historic and world wide proportions. Keep in mind this would still be going on if not for the U.S. invading Iraq.

Clinton has just a tad more to say about Iraq: "You know, I don't follow it on a day-to-day basis. I'm not there. I'm concerned about it."

Alrighty then....

Clinton on how the heart surgery changed his life: "You know, I find birds that I used to know, I'm more alive to just the pace of daily life than I used to be, and I'm very grateful for things that are easy to take for granted."

Why do I get the feeling they changed the word "birds" from "chicks?"

Clinton on Bush as a politician: "It's like saying to the moderates, the swing voters, I will give you everything Bill Clinton did with a smaller government and a bigger tax cut.Wouldn't you like that? You get the same results with lower taxes. I mean, he's very good."

Everything except an affair with a 22 yr old white house intern, lying to the wife, and the nation. Also, no being disbarred, no being held in contempt, no $90,000 fine, and...oh yeah... no impeachment. Everything but that.

Just one more quote from Clinton : "And still, [there's] not any example of where I ever disgraced this country publicly."

See above.

SondraK....good one. Funny goodbye pic to the *stars.*

Some interesting notes from this weeks U.S. News and World Report (the actual magazine)

Nadwan Waed, 22, a Iraqi soldier says his fellow soldiers are as "charged up as their American counterparts." Waed says, "It's good the Americans are here because we need someone strong. I hope that someday we can do it ourselves."

Cool.

Another interesting tidbit describes Sgt. Jamie Gomez. Listen to this soldier's job. He had $300,000 in American greenbacks shoved into his backback to start outreach efforts to civilians. The team is authorized to pay for destroyed houses and cars, up to $2,500 a person. They are also paving the way for contractors to attempt to upgrade the water and medical facilities, as well as the damaged power plants.
Another soldier is loaded with bags of Jolly Ranchers candy to give to children.

Should I, at this point, make a wisecrack about mean selfish Americans? Nah.

I just realized that after being 'instalaunched" (or whatever you call it) by Glenn Reynolds, I think I have blasted him in about 3 recent posts. I really didn't plan it that way.
I appreciated the link, but I gotta say what I gotta say.

The Politburo Diktat has his take on the marine killing the insurgent story. It is more of a 'look at it from your own point of view' thing.

Here is Arlen Spector spinning the wheels to get chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Spector says: "The president is well aware of what happened, when a number of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter said.
"And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning." (considerations meaning 'no pro-lifer need apply')

I would go on about how I don't think we should cower to democrats threatening to filibuster extremely qualified nominees because of the democrats pro abortion views, but Republican Sen. Alexander from Tenn. said it well:

"It would seem to me and others it'd be inappropriate to be issuing that kind of warning to the president of the United States," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told CNN Tuesday. "It sounded like Senator Specter might have a litmus test, and I don't think the Judiciary Committee should have a litmus test."

Condi Rice as Sec. of State... I like the sound of it.

Hostage aid worker Margaret Hassan is believed to have been killed. On Sunday, U.S. Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman on a street in a Fallujah during the U.S. assault on the insurgent stronghold. There was also a tape of the killing sent to Al-Jazeera TV. She had been the long time director of CARE in Iraq. Not only do these mutant idiots kill those who help them, but they don't seem to grasp the obvious. YOUR BEHEADING AND KILLING ISN'T WORKING!!! % &**#!!!!!!!!

Fox News reporting:

WASHINGTON — The father of a teen who died after taking an abortion pill says new safety warnings added by the government aren't enough to protect women. Because a third death now has been linked to RU-486, the Food and Drug Administration (search) should bar sales of the abortion pill, said the grieving father.

Many other problems with the pill have included reports of serious bacterial infection, bleeding, ectopic — tubal — pregnancies that have ruptured and death. The fatalities including a death from sepsis, a severe infection.

As always, Planned Parenthood gives us a statement showing it's deep concern for women:

"All of us need to understand that no procedure, no medication is risk free," said Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Don't even get me started.

This is the face of our soldiers. This is the guy who goes into battle. He faces situations that you and I can't even imagine in our nightmares. This story about the marine shooting the insurgent in Fallujah is getting me in a mood again. So buckle up.

Are we surprised that it was a NBC reporter? Was it just day before yesterday that we saw in an e-mail to a soldier from a reporter covering the war from NBC how much disdain the reporter showed for the military?

We are talking about Iraqi insurgents who think nothing of strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up even their own people to try and get at our soldiers.

The most ironic and disgusting thing is that YOU KNOW that if this insurgent had killed this marine the very same media would have been decrying the death toll of our military in Fallujah.

I cannot explain to you my strong feelings about the military. Although my father was a sergeant in the army during the Korean war, he never served in Korea. He trained soldiers and it was long before he was married and had kids and I don't remember him ever talking about it much. I was a small child during Vietnam, so I don't remember anything personally about that war either. I don't have friends in this war, although I have gotten to know some of these fine soldiers over the internet through other friends. I have never owned a gun. I am the kind of person that nurses baby birds back to health rather than let them die. I hate violence of any kind. But I have also always had a profound sense of right and wrong. There is just something so noble to me about men and women willing to put on a uniform and fight and risk their lives so that I can drive around with my kids to a baseball game or a movie feeling safe and free.

Maybe I just have always known who to be grateful to. Maybe I understand history enough to know that war, although a terrible thing, produces freedom and keeps evil from overcoming this world.

When I look at the soldier above, I see all soldiers who leave those precious loved ones to fight for us, for you and me. I get a FIERCE grateful heart for them.

Could I leave that little boy shown above? Do I have the unselfish heart of nobility to leave him and fight for what I know to be right? I can't answer that question. I truly can't. But I thank God every day that that father and thousands like him have that unselfish noble heart and I am SICK of the MSM and some snotty reporter like Hockenberry sneering at these brave men and women and tearing down their sacrifice, every chance they get.

If you have not heard the whole story. This marine had just lost a buddy to a insurgent faking being injured and then killing the marine when the marine went to attend to him. (Because that is what marines do) The marine in the film who shot the insurgent, had also just recently been shot in the face, although not badly, thank God. This unit had been fighting for 8 days straight. So if this media of ours thinks they are going to twist things to make that young man look like some kind of cold blooded killer instead of protecting himself as he SHOULD have, then they can just know that there is a new media out here. We are not strong, we are not vast, but we ARE LOUD! And we will not allow the spin that the MSM wants so badly to put out there. There will be truth. There will be accountability. Our military does it's own investigations. It always has , and always will. Soldiers know what is expected and know the rules of engagement. But that is not the accountability I am talking about. Within the military, that is a given. I am talking about the media. You will not be able to run stories based on your version of the so called "truth." Not anymore. The whole story will be told and there isn't a damn thing you can do about.

So get used to it and start being the kind of journalist and newsmakers that have some kind of integrity again.

We will be watching.

I'm in a mood today so watch out.

This time it isn't at the lefties. I noticed from the start of my blogging that the "big time" bloggers, those who get the most hits and attention ( and you know who you are ) were all Republican, or some kind of converted libertarians. And that's fine. But then came all this "Jesusland" stuff. The vile and hatred of Christians from the left made it obvious why Bush had won. I read many many well known blogs defending us Christians, making fun of the left and it's moronic image of Christians. I appreciated that, really I did. These blogs were glad we were on their side. But it seemed at the beginning of the defense of us, you always said "I am not religious but,....." And that is fine too. Because Christian faith in and of itself cannot be forced. It must be freely chosen or it is no faith at all.

Stick with me here, because I DO have a point.

I heard a story on Rush today. He was playing an audio of Tina Brown's show. The audio had Tina talking about a piece she wrote regarding a dinner party before the election in New York where she and the elite among us were discussing how to beat Bush. Suddenly a waiter serving them boldy stated, "Well, I am from the suburbs and I am voting for Bush." I had to laugh. Can you imagine their faces? I would love to have seen it..... "The peasant speaks!!!! How dare he! Off to the dungeon!!!"

The point of Tina's story was that the democrats had to come up with a strategy to win over the voters from the suburbs, "the little people," if you will. You know, the ones who do their own yardwork and wash their own clothes. THOSE people. Rush pointed out that this is the elites problem. You don't figure out a strategy for these people. You have to know them. You have to know what their values are. You have to know what they believe.

Now where am I going with this? The same can be said of many of the conservative bloggers about people of faith. Powerline, Glenn Reynolds, LGF, Wizbang and the rest. You don't know or understand Christians (or those of deep faith from other religions) too well, or you wouldn't dismiss our concerns on social issues. The idea of Arlen Spector as head of the judiciary committee doesn't bother you a bit, yet it horrifies us. Another 'moderate' supreme court judge seems fine to you. Good God! Look what the moderate ones have brought us so far. If all you seem to care about are the economic issues, then we become the Republicans the democrats imagine us to be, greedy and self involved.
This is what we, people of faith, care about on social issues:

Listen up class. Look at the board.

1) Abortion. Yeah, you are all mostly guys and you don't care. Your use to it ..blah blah blah... Well, we are sick of 4000 unborn children being destroyed everyday in this country, so sick of it that we are even willing to compromise. How about giving us what just about every reasoned American agrees on...First trimester only, unless the life of the mother is in danger, parental consent for minors, 24 hour waiting period, and informed surgical consent. What??? You didn't know that abortion is the only surgical procedure in the country where there is no informed consent? Where a doctor is not required to tell you about the procedure beforehand. You didn't know a 13 yr old could get an abortion and her parents need never know??? That's because you haven't been paying attention. That's because you don't give a damn.

2) No gay marriage. Not because we hate gays, not because we are homophopic. We have gay friends and relatives we adore. And I shudder at what the fashion industry would be like without them. ;-) We don't want marriage re-defined. It is the foundation of our society and it's hard enough to keep it together as it is. It opens the pandora's box of unions and we all know it. All issues of rights regarding property, inheritance, children ect.. can be handled legally and we all know that too.

3) Pornography. Yeah, your guilty of looking at it. We know. Your a grownup, you want to look at it, go for it. But the internet is in our homes and our kids are seeing things you wouldn't want to expose your dog to. We want it restricted, we want it mandated and required that all pornography sites must verify that an adult is the one looking at the website. I don't give a rat's butt about credit card and privacy issues, I care about our children. And they are being damaged beyond belief by what Johnny next door is pulling up on his computer and showing your 9 yr old, while at your house your nice safe computer software and firewall sit idle.

4) Faith based iniatives. Being the sister of a recovering alcoholic, I know a little about this. I believe and most studies show that recovery programs that are run by people who do the work out of love for God's children, and not a government paycheck, do a MUCH better job at helping and sustaining the recovery of the addicted person. These iniatives work better at helping those in welfare programs and homeless programs for the same reasons. Welfare was suppose to be a stop gap program, not the billion dollar fraud industry it is today. You don't stop the vicious cycle of poverty by rewarding it. Yes, there are many job training programs that work well run by the government, but when it comes to personal responsibility, the Church and other faith based programs teach those who are struggling with life how to be strong. A government check does the opposite.
The government should have a role in helping those TRULY in need, the elderly poor and the impoverished children. But those addicted, in need of fatherly guidance, in need of clothing and food, in need of caring and shelter. These can be addressed by people of faith or even those just willing to help mankind out of love from their own atheist heart. The transition cannot happen overnight, but DANG..... let it begin.

This, blogger boys, are why we are called "compassionate conservatives."

The left has resisted these programs because the people needing help might....Actually.....Become.....CHRISTIANS!!!!! OMG!! THE HORROR!!!!
And here is the big secret of Christians.... shhhh...... don't tell......*whisper* We actually spend most of our time ministering to those who need help in soup kitchen, need programs, nursing homes, and pregnancy crisis centers ect... We don't sit around rubbing our hands together trying to figure out how to blow up abortion clinics or make signs saying "God hates fags." IN FACT, (now this is a super secret!!!) WE are as HORRIFIED by those people as the left are. (Don't tell. What would the left write about if they knew?)

But you knew that, right? Now, all we asking is a little payback here. We waited in line hours to vote for the man that best represented our values. Maybe you don't give a flying squirrel about them, but we do. We gave what you wanted, we had your back, now you have ours. Got it?

Good.

The 'sorry' (and I do mean sorry) pictures that have been going around the net of the misguided people who are taking pictures of themselves holding signs apologizing for America to the world, have provided much fun for some conservative bloggers to umm.. change the words on their signs a bit. One example from Mudville here......Heh.

Well the whole 'sorry' thing seems to have started here, with Mr. Sorry apologizing even for us who think that the U.S. apologizing to the world is like parents saying "I'm sorry" to their children for their presents at Christmas. Here is what Mr. Sorry states on his site:

"Some of us -- hopefully most of us -- are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us -- hopefully most of us -- are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't."

*will pause so that you may go puke*


The following is a list of a few things that maybe people of the world should be saying "thank you" to America for. (noting that many many do) And also something Mr. Sorry might think about before he starts a self righteous campaign of smug false enlightenment.


Since World War II, the U.S. government has given well in excess of $500 billion (not adjusted for inflation) in foreign aid. Last year, our government distributed more than $20 billion to 130 countries.

We are the most powerful country in the world, yet we never invade to take more land or impose imperialism. Instead, we have used our military might to liberate. Nazi Germany, North Korea, Soviet Russia, Hussein's Iraq, and Communist Vietnam are among the nefarious states we sought to prevent from increasing their totalitarian control over others. The world is a better place because America, and not some other country, is the sole superpower.

The impact on modern medicine from America is incredible. This year, like 45 of the last 60, an American won a share of the Nobel Prize in the field of medicine. Americans cured polio and tuberculosis, developed vaccines for hepatitis B and yellow fever, pioneered modern chemotherapy, and produced the CAT scan and MRI. Our generosity in fighting AIDS worldwide cannot be matched.


Americans have given the world movies, the telephone, the television, the computer, the Internet, the airplane, the VCR, and a host of other machines and devices that have vastly improved the quality of life on the planet.


How many hundreds of other things have I missed that America has given to the world? The billions of dollars in private charity donations? The millions of volunteers that give their time to other countries to educate and help? Come on guys...I am sure you could give me several other examples.
These aren't just small gifts we give to the world either. These are historical, life changing, and world changing gifts that last generations into the future of our world.

So Mr. Sorry and his ragtag band of left wing sorry sign holders can cry me a river. This world, by any measure, is a better, safer, more humane world because of America.

This is my sign to the world"

"GOD BLESS AMERICA,
because God knows, it blesses you."