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A stretch, at best

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Columbus — Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday that the party’s presumed presidential nominee has a lot in common with Jesus Christ.

“John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross,” Everhart said as she began the second day of the state GOP convention. “He never denounced God, either.”

Everhart was praising McCain for never denouncing the United States while he was being tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“I’m not trying to compare John McCain to Jesus Christ, I’m looking at the pain that was there,” she said.

McCain might have his better points, but I don’t think this is an appropriate correlation to draw at all. While I’m sure that he endured far more than most of us ever will, I still don’t think it was comparable to what Jesus endured for you and for me.

All this statement does is serve to show that Republicans will do everything they can to manipulate the religious vote based on even the flimsiest of analogy and allegory. Republican voters, and certainly evangelical voters, deserve better than this.

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Talk about your bad timing: Hillary required to testify in November

From the Talking Points Memo:

In the landmark civil fraud case against Bill Clinton in Los Angeles, where the former President is charged with defrauding a Hollywood dot com millionaire to help Hillary Clinton obtain more than $1.2 million from him for her 2000 Senate campaign, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz ruled on Friday, April 25 that Hillary Clinton would not be required to testify in a sworn deposition as a material witness in the case until AFTER the November election!

While Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Al Gore, Ed Rendell, Barabara Streisand, Cher, Stan Lee, Brad Pitt, Mike Wallace, Larry King et al may be called to testify and be deposed starting in May, Hillary alone has been protected from explaining her role in her husband’s fraud charges.

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Obama Maybe Mispoke About Mistaken Aid’s Misrepresentation

Did he or didn’t he fill out the questionnaire is the question from Politico.com:

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion — positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he has projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire , his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize[d] his position.”

I’m starting to see a dangerous trend from the good Senator. Fox News needs to ditch the “Obama Watch” counter they’ve been running and add an “aid blame” counter. How many times has he blamed a lack of knowledge of what’s going on in his campaign for a misstep or mistake? If he can’t keep up with what’s happening in his campaign, can he be expected to keep up with the world once he holds the most powerful job on the planet? Would Hillary get away with replying to a hard question with, “Gee, I don’t know. One of my aids must have done that.”

I think we all know the answer to that.

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Reverse-psychology works every time. Or does it?

Mike Gallagher only wanted you to believe he predicted an Obama win on Tuesday:

You may recall that I predicted an Obama victory yesterday in Pennsylvania. Naturally, I didn’t believe he would win. But I wanted to trick Democrats in Pennsylvania into thinking that I did. I wanted to send them into the voting booths and vote for Hillary just to prove me wrong.

Sigh. Not a whole lot to say about this, but it does strike me as a bit childish to pull this "I just wanted you to think that’s what I was thinking" stuff at this point in the game. In the world of talking heads we live in, it’s not too much to ask that you simply admit when you’re wrong. It’ll be forgotten the next day anyway.

No Comments | Posted in » US Politics

Powerful video

Great questions…why can’t we vote? Call your representative. If you’re in the Fightin’ 33rd here in Tennessee like me your rep is Jim Hackworth: rep.jim.hackworth@legislature.state.tn.us, (865) 482-2455.

No Comments | Posted in » TN Politics, Videos

Abortion Art Not a Hoax

Of course I don’t expect that news outlets are going to go back and redact their redaction, but here’s the truth from Yale’s new artistic treasure, Aliza Shvarts:

According to a statement released by the University today, Aliza Shvarts ’08 was never impregnated. She never miscarried. The sweeping outrage on blogs across the country was apparently for naught.

The supposed senior art project of the Davenport College senior was a “creative fiction,” a Yale official said Thursday afternoon as students on campus and bloggers across the country expressed colossal outrage over what Shvarts described as a documentation of a nine-month process during which she claimed to have artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking “abortifacient drugs” to induce miscarriages.

“The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body,” Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky said in a written statement e-mailed to the News this afternoon.

But Shvarts stood by her project, calling the University’s statement “ultimately inaccurate.”

Click here to read the rest.

No Comments | Posted in » Abortion

Can’t ask, so don’t tell: Updated

Various news outlets this morning are reporting on San Fran’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that Roommates.com can’t ask if you’re straight or gay when you fill out their profile page on the site:

To inquire electronically about sexual orientation would not be different from asking people in person or by telephone if they were black or Jewish before conducting business, the panel said in an 8-3 ruling that partly overturns a lower federal court decision.

“If such screening is prohibited when practiced in person or by telephone, we see no reason why Congress would have wanted to make it lawful to profit from it online,” 9th Circuit chief judge Alex Kozinski wrote. “Not only does Roommate ask these questions, Roommate makes answering the discriminatory questions a condition of doing business.”

Since when did “homosexual” become a race? Have homosexuals, on the whole, ever been denied the right to vote? Have they been forced to the back of the bus? Do suicide bombers attack them in the market place? Did Hitler exterminate 6 million of them?

Secondly, some liberals are so racist and bigoted that they can’t see straight (no pun intended). They say that homosexuality is no big deal, but then absolutely freak out—we’re talking take it through the courts freak out—when someone asks if they’re homosexual.

What I mean is that homosexuals will often say that they’re proud — they’ll go to a gay pride event, they’ll hang a multi-color lei from rear view mirror, etc — but when you ask them outright their orientation they suddenly become angry and view it as discrimination.

I don’t think it’s an unfair question to ask if your potential roommate may or may not be attracted to your gender. You can ask male and female, and this pertinent question exists because of sex. It is called your “sex” after all. In simpler times I would know it was inappropriate, as a man, to consider a woman as a roommate for sexual reasons. Today, that’s simply not enough information to make the decision. Is it unreasonable to want to know this? Is it any more discriminatory than asking your gender these days?

I’m expanding on this because I received a call from a friend of mine who was confused by the tone of the message, so let me say two things: 1.) ALL liberals are not anything, any more than ALL conservatives are anything. I don’t want to insinuate that all liberals are racist bigots just as I don’t want anyone to insinuate that all conservatives are racist bigots, and I don’t want to fall into the name-calling trap that many of my conservative friends do; 2.) I’m not ant-homosexual. I think homosexuality is a sin, but I also think fornication, envy, and drunkenness are sins, too. I’m not rejecting the person or that person’s rights as defined by the laws of this country. What I DO reject is special consideration and special treatment and special laws.

The bottom line for me is that giving homosexuality the same protection and classification as race is a consideration that isn’t merited by the evidence.

No Comments | Posted in » Musings

Watch Your Back, Woodson

Look’s like Sen. Woodson has some competition this year:

Republican state Sen. Jamie Woodson will have no opponent in the GOP primary for re-election to her 6th District seat, but she will face a Democrat, Gary Farmer, in the November general election, based on petitions filed with the Knox County Election Commission by today’s noon deadline.

If a Democrat fills her seat he might support expansion of Pre-K programs, engage in progressive causes, grant millions of tax-payer dollars to PBS, spend tax surpluses on foreign-language school expansions, rehash failing funding formulas like BEP 2.0 to benefit pet projects, give per-gallon tax subsidies to oil companies, and introduce legislation that limits the free speech of bloggers.

Hopefully Woodson will win so we’ll have a Republican who will support expansion of Pre-K programs, engage in progressive causes, grant millions of tax-payer dollars to PBS, spend tax surpluses on foreign-language school expansions, rehash failing funding formulas like BEP 2.0 to benefit pet projects, give per-gallon tax subsidies to oil companies, and introduce legislation that limits the free speech of bloggers.

My fingers are crossed for you, Senator.

No Comments | Posted in » TN Politics

A Good Friday to Give

I just came across this article as I went through my daily reads regarding the “science” of the Bible’s advice that it’s better to give than to receive:

The researchers started by asking a sample of 632 Americans, 55 percent of whom were women, to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 5, the higher the number the happier.

Then they asked the participants to report their annual income and estimate how much they spent on paying bills, buying gifts for themselves, buying gifts for others and giving to charity.

The first two were considered personal spending and averaged $1,714-a-month, the second two were termed “prosocial” spending and averaged $146-a-month.

“Personal spending was unrelated to happiness,” said the researchers. “But higher prosocial spending was associated with significantly greater happiness,” they found.

Not content with that, they then studied 16 employees of a company in Boston, asking about their happiness one month before and six to eight weeks after each received a profit-sharing bonus from their employer.

In the second interview they also asked about personal and prosocial spending and once again those who spent more on others were happier.

“The manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the amount of the bonus itself,” the researchers found.

Finally, 46 Canadian students were asked to rate their happiness and then each was given a random envelope containing money, ranging from $5 to $20. Some were instructed to spend it on themselves, others were told to buy a gift for someone else.

At 5 p.m. that day, they were called together again and asked to rate their happiness.

The amount of money had no impact on happiness, but those assigned to buy something for another person reported greater happiness than those told to get something for themselves, the researchers said.

It struck me as I read this that I am definitely happier when I give. It also struck me, quite profoundly, how much I’ve received. Not only do I have a wonderful, beautiful wife, three healthy children, and work that I enjoy, I’ve been granted the opportunity for salvation. If anyone ever exemplified what it means to give it was Jesus. John 15:13 puts it this way:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

My giving, whether it’s to my church or to another charity, has very little to do with my inherent goodness. But I recognize how much I’ve been given—I’m not talking money here—and feel that the only way to truly be happy is to try and live my life the same way that Jesus lived His.

Don’t get me wrong. I fall short many times, and I wouldn’t dare say that I’ve accomplished the task. And I know that this article is talking about money, but I can’t escape the fact that Jesus was always giving. He gave of His time to the children. He gave of His wisdom to Nicodemus. He gave of his resources to the crowds that followed Him. He gave healing to the sick. He gave forgiveness to the sinner. And He ultimately gave His life to those who required it of Him—you and me.

Maybe you believe, and maybe you don’t. That’s a decision that you’ll have to make on your own. To believe that there was a man, God robed in flesh, who lived, died for you, and rose again takes some faith. But can I challenge you today that maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t take as much faith as you think? We live in a nation governed by people we never see, can never talk to, and who make decisions we don’t understand. Yet we have faith that the roads will still be there tomorrow, that the mail will run, that we’ll be safe … in short, we have faith that the unseen will do their jobs.

Today is Good Friday, the day we mark the crucifixion and death of Jesus. What better day to ask yourself about what you believe? About where you put your hope and faith? The only thing you have to give is some room in your life. Room for God to deal with you about His plans for you. Room for Him to change your mind about some things that maybe you misunderstand. And room for Him to give you the greatest gift you’ll ever receive. You have to give, but today is a good Friday for it.

No Comments | Posted in » Musings, Religion

New Comic: Vast Wright-Wing Consipiracy

This makes two comics in two weeks! I’m feelin’ mighty proud. Hop on over to the web comic and check out the newest Stranger than Fiction offering tackling Sen. Obama’s speech yesterday regarding race relations.

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Rush makes a good point…

“…if anyone needs a lecture on race relations it’s the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, not the American people.”

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

My Pastor

From Obama’s speech:

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

Actually, Senator — no. My pastor loves his country, prays for its leadership and preservation, and served in the U.S. military during Vietnam. He has never called for God’s damnation to fall on the country. He has never called any president, Republican or Democrat, a “C student sitting the White House”. He votes. He encourages his congregation to get involved in the process, regardless of party affiliation … I could go on, but I digress.

If you want to make excuses for your pastor, that’s fine, Senator. Just don’t drag mine down in the process.

3 Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Obama Speech: First Thoughts

If this is how he deals with a single topic, can you imagine how long his State of the Union speeches are going to be?

Zzzzz….

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Let’s Talk About Obama’s Christianity: Part 1

Earlier this week much was made about Hillary Clinton claiming to have felt the “presence of the Holy Spirit” thanks to a link on the front page of Drudge. I would urge those who scoff and mock to remember Mr. Obama’s June 2006 speech to Call to Renewal’s Building a Covenant for a New America conference. In the speech he talks about his “conversion” experience (not insinuating anything there… non-believer converting to believer is all I’m saying):

But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.

The talking heads have made Hillary sound crazy for claiming to have felt the presence of God, but I must tell you that as a Christian I have absolutely no doubt. Hillary, as wrong as she is on so many issues, is still human and has that “measure of faith” that we’re all given by our Creator. He is real, His Spirit is real, and His presence can certainly be felt — just as Mr. Obama claims to have felt it. I sincerely hope that Hillary not only feels it, but will someday allow herself to be led by it.

That’s issue number one.

Reading the speech I just mentioned in its entirety, however, raised a second issue. How Mr. Obama feels about literalists — those of us who believe that the Word of God isn’t just allegory and hyperbole, but rather that we were created by God, that Noah built an ark, and that Moses parted the Red Sea.

In speaking about the contest in 2004 against Alan Keyes for the U.S. Senate seat he now inhabits Obama discusses a claim that Keyes made that Jesus would not vote for Obama. He talks about how he was given advice to let it go and forget about it, but that he wanted to respond more harshly:

But what they didn’t understand, however, was that I had to take Mr. Keyes seriously, for he claimed to speak for my religion, and my God. He claimed knowledge of certain truths.

Mr. Obama says he’s a Christian, he was saying, and yet he supports a lifestyle that the Bible calls an abomination.

Mr. Obama says he’s a Christian, but supports the destruction of innocent and sacred life.

And so what would my supporters have me say? How should I respond? Should I say that a literalist reading of the Bible was folly? Should I say that Mr. Keyes, who is a Roman Catholic, should ignore the teachings of the Pope?

Unwilling to go there, I answered with what has come to be the typically liberal response in such debates - namely, I said that we live in a pluralistic society, that I can’t impose my own religious views on another, that I was running to be the U.S. Senator of Illinois and not the Minister of Illinois.

I must say that on first reading it doesn’t seem like much, but when you realize that he’s confessing how he felt was the truthful and more intuitive way for him to respond, there’s reason for pause. Can it be that Mr. Obama feels that a literalist reading of the Bible is folly? That the Pope, whose teachings he referenced in the same breath, should be ignored? I can’t say for certain, but it looks that way to me.

I know his next words are “unwilling to go there” but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t believe it. It simply means that he wasn’t willing to make a mistake that could hurt his Senate chances.

Mr. Obama may call himself a Christian, but if you listen to his words — all of them — you quickly gain the sense that he certainly isn’t a Christian that is committed to full Biblical Truth. He believes, and has even intimated this, that he is able to pick and choose what parts of the Bible to believe, and that his faith is enough to make him a Christian. Allow me to set the record straight — faith alone does not make you Christian. You must act on that faith in a way that is in line with Biblical truth. Mr. Obama says he believes in Jesus, but it’s important to note that belief doesn’t make him a Christian, either. That’s right— I said that if you believe in Jesus that isn’t enough to save you or to make you a Christian:

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?… Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone… Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?…Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only… For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2)

More shortly…

1 Comment | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race

Believe it or not… a new comic

I just posted a new Stranger than Fiction comic — the first in nearly 10 months. 10 months. I couldn’t believe that number was right at first but looking at the last post with its oh-so out of date reference to Giuliani as the GOP front runner I was forced to admit that I’ve been woefully neglectful of the comic. So go check it out post-haste.

No Comments | Posted in » 2008 Presidential Race