Thursday, October 26, 2006

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Stay The Farce

In a desperate acknowledgment that the Neo-Conservative occupations of both the US and Iraq are in Clear and Present Danger of simultaneous collapse this election cycle, The White House has held a series of High Level Meetings about Iraq. The impression one gets is that The Best and The Brightest have been called in to try and convince George W. Bush that the war in Iraq and the Republican majority can be lost.

The best they have come up with is to state publicly that America needs a new slogan in order to accomplish whatever our goals actually are in Iraq.

Three words (Stay The Course) have been the sole strategic and tactical guidance implemented by the Neo-Conservatives for almost 3 years. These words were fine for the early stages of the Iraq occupation but the conflict has evolved.

I am just a cowboy, so I don’t have our leader’s sophisticated framework of comprehensive situational awareness in the war on terror. Sometimes I think it is all just A Great Game. I can’t really call up the ironic historic timeline of Iraq. To me there is just a blur starting with a woman and man eating a Pomegranate, through some motorcycle guy named T.E. Lawrence and some kind of Arab League and a bunch of Young Turks, and then something called ARAMCO and on and on, all ending up with forward elements of the 3rd I.D., a Marine Expeditionary Force and a sand grounded 101st Air Assault Division overthrowing a savage dictator originally empowered by the CIA.

No, I am obviously not qualified to have a strong opinion about U.S. adventurism in a place that my children already call:

“Viet-Sand”.

But I do think the Time Is Now for us to Up the Ante and use four or even five words to fight the Iraq war. I realize it sounds radical, but I am frustrated by our stagnated cycle of dysfunctional leadership.

I say we need a complete sentence.

Thanks,

A.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

SIN TO WIN



Well I went to church on Sunday, I was feelin’ blue.
Saturday night sat down beside me, in the very last pew.
- Ambulance Brothers


Bush and the Republicans rose to power on a platform of religious fervor. The "values" message has been extremist in it’s zeal, but there is a confusing contradiction between their words and their actions. Almost any unchristian act is acceptable, provided it furthers their power and is backed up by properly coded words extolling "family values". The Reagan Revolution has devolved into a surreal pendulum between Sunday Morning Christianity and Saturday Night Sinfulness.

The Sunday Morning Christians of the GOP go to church once a week and say they believe in Christ’s Path. They refresh their dented faith for an hour, set an example for the kids and show the voters they are “clean”. Once they leave the church, however, they carry their political flag forward using acts and deeds that are the very definition of what Christ died to protest.

Rove’s Republicans take the Jesuit doctrine that “The Ends Justify the Means” one step further into the American Democratic experience: They made it heroic to push the limits of Christian behavior in pursuit of more power, more money and more glory. If the ethos of the Republican Party can be boiled down into one of their own simpleton-minded talking points it would be this:

SIN TO WIN.

It worked well for a time, mostly because nothing unifies like prejudice. Being judgemental against other population groups is as easy as it is unsophisticated. It drives the fearful masses like a blizzard drives cattle across the prairie. Now, however, the Republicans face serious election year blowback from the faithful. They built a national chorus of judgmental speaking but it was to polished. The reality of their actions could never match their promise of perfection. Christians are more than mildly concerned. It is suddenly late in the evening of W.'s Presidency and the date that brought him would like to dance.

… Lest ye be Judged


Under the current leadership Republicans openly proclaimed themselves to be the Party of Christ. But lately they are acting like the Party of Caesar. On Sundays they gleefully rouse the pitchfork and torch crowd, under the guise of Christ’s Path. But on Saturday night they trade, sell, conspire, deal, abuse power and ignore truths in a way that would make even the Romans bow in awe. (See "The Party of Dog" entry below.) They define themselves at every issue and every contrived moral crisis by what they are against. They proudly destroy any people (christian or otherwise) who disagree with them or any idea that threatens their power.

I have enormous faith in my heart. I believe Christ walked the earth. I have only ever wanted to ask him one thing: How can so many intelligent people be so loyal to you with their words and yet so sadly faithless to the key details of behavior that you died to espouse? I see the fish icons and the W. bumper stickers on rows of SUVs at the churches in our neighborhood each Sunday. I see them on the road on Monday and I wonder:

Why don’t you drive like a Christian?

I was raised to believe that Christian ethics are very, very simple: You determine what is right and what is easy. You do what is right and not what is easy. You suffer the discomfort, or rewards, of your choice as God has chosen for you. You move on down the path.

I was a Reagan independent. (I also recall that Reagan defeated a devote Christian.) I am sad that the GOP has grown away from Reagan's gentle but resolute faith in Americans. They turned the party into a vitriolic marketing machine that brands faith in Christ like pro sports brand cheap beer. The Republicans of this era carry the same great cross of the ages before them in their march. They wave the same large, crisp flag of patriotism. But the only devotion they show in their deeds is to make sure that someone else is riding the cross this time up the hill.

Thanks for letting me try and share my thoughts.

A.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Foley's Paradox

Being a Gay Republican is like being a Jewish Nazi:

(Your people won't forgive you in this world, and your God won't forgive you in the next.)

A.