In preparation for the Christmas season, beginning tomorrow (December 1), The Ward View will feature daily Advent posts.

We’ll include both the sacred and the secular.

And we’ll celebrate the reason for the season.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  ~ Luke 2: 8-11

“That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”

There’s been some discussion around the Virginia Political Blogs over the past few weeks about the moderation of comments. You can read some of the messages at SWAC Girl and United Conservatives of Virginia.

I’m pretty open about what I allow to be posted here. And let me clarify that yes, it is what I allow.  This is my site. My house. My rules.

If you can’t live by that, then move right along.

I’m certainly open to the debate and I love a good snark. But what I won’t allow is profanity. Thus, I deleted a comment on this post just tonight.

That said, there will be times when I either won’t allow comments on a post, or when I’ll delete a post because an issue has been beaten to death. But if your posts are rational and free from profanity, you shouldn’t have to worry.

What also prompted this is that this afternoon, I mistakenly deleted two posts by JTERP on the above mentioned post. That was nothing but my own clumsiness and the awkwardness that comes with using WordPress.

JTERP if you read this, you’re welcome to come back and post. It was not my intent to delete your prior posts.

Â

Tonight’s “Ohfercryinoutloud” Award goes to none other than Senator-Elect James H. “Jim.”

Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange The HillAt a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t.

We’ve known all along that Jim Webb was going to implode. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would start before Christmas.

Like it or not Mr. Webb, George W. Bush is the Commander in Chief.Â

You need to brush up on your protocol.

And your manners.

Webb should be glad he wasn’t asked the question by John Kerry or Charles Rangel. It probably would have gone something like this:

Kerry/Rangel:Â “How’s your stupid son?”

Webb: “KaPOW!”

I’d buy tickets.

And our Award runner up…

Over at Raising Kaine, Notso Phriendly Jaime has this George Allen and his team will not be charged for attacking Mike Stark. (get yer own links)

Well, like DUH! Neither the Senator NOR his team were charged because they didn’t do the attacking. They were not the aggressors. In fact, Stark was a repeat offender.

But, facts haven’t concerned the Webbites throughout the course of this campaign. There’s no reason to think they’d be concerned with them now.

In fact, Jaime talks about “outright lies” but links back to this post that is chock full of “outright lies.” Here’s one of the biggest:

I think that the biggest losers yesterday (besides Mr. Allen and Mr. Bush, who certainly did not win any new voters-the same people who were going to vote for him before paying him for food at a science museum are going to vote for him) were the citizens and commuters of Richmond, VA. Our busiest streets and parts of I-95 and I-64 were shut down for long periods of time, and traffic in and around the city was horrible. The DMV was shut down for over 4 hours, which prevented the customer service to over 225 people. The Science Museum was closed all day. Many people with annual memberships made phone calls to demand their money back due to the closing of the museum for political reasons.

I’m not sure where that information came from. But it’s not correct.  There were not “many” calls to the Museum to cancel memberships. The only complaints the Museum received were regarding the campaign signs on Broad Street. And, when they asked the Allen campaign to do so, the signs were removed.

How do I know? I asked The Science Museum.

It’s amazing.

Even in victory, the Webbites can’t recognize the truth.

UPDATE: Sounds like Webb showed up with the intent of being a jerk.From The Washington Post: In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate’s Limits
At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia’s newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall.

Webb won race by 9,329 votes

Richmond Times Dispatch

The state Board of Elections yesterday officially certified the results of the Nov. 7 election. Webb edged Allen by four-tenths of 1 percent. Webb, making his first bid for elective office, took 1,175,606 votes, or 49.6 percent of the vote, to Allen’s 1,166,277 votes, or 49.2 percent.

Bolling Endorses Ed Gillespie for Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia

To remain the majority Party in Virginia we must recommit ourselves to our conservative principles and values, we must offer a positive vision for the future of our state, we must once again become the Party of issues and ideas, we must reconnect with voters in the Northern Virginia suburbs and we must reach out to the changing face of Virginia.

I have spent a great deal of time in recent weeks talking with Ed about the future of our Party, and I am convinced that he is the right person to help lead our Party into the future. I am confident that Ed Gillespie will make a great Chairman for the Republican Party of Virginia.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Sen. John W. Warner is edging closer to seeking election to a sixth term in 2008, reiterating that experience in the Senate is needed with the nation at war.

 Â

Allen to address State GOP meeting

Allen will speak to the largest GOP fundraising event of the year, the annual Advance, at The Homestead in Hot Springs. His remarks will be similar in vision and outlook to his speech on Nov. 9, Griffin said; Allen conceded then. “He’s going to talk about our shared record of achievement,” she added.

ELSEWHERE…

‘Nativity’ Booted From Ill. Holiday Fair

CHICAGO (AP) - A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film “The Nativity Story” might offend non-Christians.

Dems’ Energy Answer: Snake Oil
Investor’s Business Daily
Energy Policy: Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to put energy independence at the top of next year’s agenda, but his party is pushing the same solutions that have failed for decades to make a dent in oil imports.

Nancy’s choice
By Robert D. Novak
Saturday, November 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, on the heels of being rejected in her choice of majority leader, is being urged by prominent Democrats to avoid further embarrassment and not name Rep. Alcee Hastings as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Transcript from one of my favorite episodes of Satursday Night Live. (If anyone knows where to get the video, I’d love to know. Thanks.)

Jane Curtin: This past Thursday was the Great American Smoke Out, a day that everyone in America was encouraged to stop smoking cigarettes for a twenty-four hour period. Here to comment further is Update health correspondent, Roseanne Roseannadanna.

[Applause as we pan over to Roseanne Roseannadanna, a loud Latino woman who chews gum and has a lot of frizzy hair.]

Roseanne Roseannadanna: Thanks a lot, Jane! Thanks a lot! A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey writes in and says: “Dear Roseanne Roseannadanna, Last Thursday, I quit smokin’. Now, I’m depressed, I gained weight, my face broke out, I’m nauseous, I’m constipated, my feet swelled, my gums are bleedin’, my sinuses are clogged, I got heartburn, I’m cranky and I have gas. … What should I do?” … Mr. Feder, you sound like a real attractive guy! … You belong in New Jersey! … [applause]

But I know exactly what you’re goin’ through ’cause once, I, Roseanne Roseannadanna, quit smokin’. And to get back in shape, I had to join one of those fancy-shmancy health clubs. You know, the ones where it’s real expensive to join but it’s worth it, ’cause you get to see a lot o’ people that you don’t know naked! … Like, some people got those bulgy-bulgy thighs, the ones that get chafed just ’cause they’re always scrapin’ against each other. … And there’s other people there that got these funny belly buttons. Like, some go in and some go out or it’s like a hole or it curls around or it’s like a little knob on it, like a door. … Some of them got a little piece of their sweater still in it! … Some of ‘em look like a little star or a shell or a clam. Or some, you don’t what they are! … But, personally, I, Roseanne Roseannadanna, don’t like to walk around with no clothes in front of other people! Not that I don’t got a great body. … But why should I waste it on a bunch of fat ladies in a health club?

Anyway, they got this sauna there which is a little hot room where you go to sweat like a pig. … So, I go in there but before I sit down, I put this clean towel on the bench ’cause there’s a lot of people in there and you don’t know where they been! … So, listen to this. Who do you think is sitting next to me but Dr. Joyce Brothers! … That very smart pixie lady who thinks she knows everything. But what this nude psychologist doesn’t know is that she had this little teeny tiny ball o’ sweat right here, hangin’ off the tip of her nose! … It was just hangin’ there! It wouldn’t fall off! … Like, if she turned her head, it didn’t fall off, if she stood up, it didn’t fall off, she scratched, it didn’t fall off, and when she picked a little piece of sweater out of her belly button, it didn’t fall off! … That little sweat ball just wouldn’t fall off! … So I yelled at her. I said, “Hey! Doctor! Flick that sweat ball off your nose! … What are ya tryin’ to do? Make me sick?!” She–

Jane Curtin: Roseanne!

Roseanne Roseannadanna: What? What?

Jane Curtin: [coolly] What do health clubs, sweat and saunas have to do with cigarettes?

Roseanne Roseannadanna: Well, Jane. It just goes to show ya! It’s always somethin’! If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Either you smoke or you have a sweat ball hangin’ off your nose! … It’s just like the song we used to sing on Thanksgiving when I was a little girl. Everybody would come over to my house lookin’ all pretty and cute and everything. My mother would make a turkey with stuffing and for dessert we’d have the traditional Banana Roseannadanna cake. … Before we ate, we’d bow our heads. [to Jane, who merely stares at her in disgust] Bow your head, Jane. Come on, bow your little head. Come on. Jane, bow your head. Bow your head now. … [Jane reluctantly bows her head] We’d bow our heads and we’d all sing.
[singing]
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing
Please look down upon the Roseannadanna household
Bring peace to our fathers, good health to our mothers
And please don’t make me sweat like Dr. Joyce Brothers! …

[Jane’s head pops up, wide-eyed with disgust]

Roseanne Roseannadanna: [cheerily] Amen!

Jane Curtin: That’s the news. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Clive Staples Lewis

1914 - 1963

Aldous Leonard Huxley

1894 - 1963

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1917 - 1963

Â

I was five years old. We didn’t have the television on, so we found out when my brother came home early from school. I didn’t understand much of what it meant.

We’ll never know if JFK would have followed his party to the extreme left.  We can only speculate as to what a full term and even a second term for John Kennedy would have been like.

I don’t think JFK would either recognize or approve of the Democrat Party today.  Here’s his Inaugural Address in full. Decide for yourself:

Â

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Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom–symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning–signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe–the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans–born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage–and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge–and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do–for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom–and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required–not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge–to convert our good words into good deeds–in a new alliance for progress–to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support–to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective–to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak–and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course–both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.

So let us begin anew–remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms–and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah–to “undo the heavy burdens … and to let the oppressed go free.”

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again–not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are–but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”–a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility–I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.

Â

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Ordinary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You’re the glue that holds everyone together.

Â

On a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific, there’s apparently a small cadre of leftist bloggers who haven’t heard the news. Forty years from now they’ll run into Thurston and Lovey Howell and ask “Is Webb still leading in the polls?”

I mean honestly, these people are still angry and still attacking. Can you imagine what it would have been like if they had lost?

Senator Allen is trying to pick up the pieces and wrap things up in the Senate.

Senator-elect Webb has moved ahead with advancing his Marx and Engels inspired agenda. See: Class Struggle
American workers have a chance to be heard.

In other words, they know the election is over, and they’re getting on with business.

Not so for a couple of Virginia bloggettes. Consider:

Jennifer Allen’s “Dirty” Book: What Would Her Brother Say?

And from last week.

George Allen’s sister writes sexy stuff; proves she doesn’t know what a comb is
Did you people not get the news? The election is over. Jim Webb won.

I said for years that Republicans in Congress knew how to win elections, but never managed to figure out how to lead. In the end, that’s what lead to the election results.

But one has to look no further than the circus that is the Democrat quest for Congressional leadership to realize they have yet to figure out what it means to win.

What’s the point of bringing up Jennifer Allen’s books now? It’s not going to change the results of the election. And, if we were to believe the left-o-snipes (and we do not) George Allen is supposedly “finished.”

Jim Webb was attacked for words he had written. Not for words from his sister, his son or his labradoodle.

When Jennifer Allen (and likewise Lynne Cheney and Scooter Libby) run for office, their books just might be an issue.

But the party of Billy Carter and Hugh Rodham really doesn’t want to play the naughty sibling game.

So what’s the point?

All through out the campaign I referred to the lefties as the “All Hate. All Lies, All We Got” campaign.

I thought in winning they would get over it.

But, apparently, I was wrong.

Jim Webb couldn’t even let it go in his ludicrous victory speech after Allen’s concession. Webb talked about his promise to avoid negative campaigning and actually had the giblets to call on the President (the President?) to stop the negative campaigning.

Keep talking Jim. Please.

What’s fascinating is watching the Democrats implode before they even take office.

Quite frankly, I hope they push ahead with Impeachment proceedings, I hope the follow Charles Rangel’s push for the draft, I hope they advocate immediate withdrawal from Iraq, and I hope they push for the tax increases that are near and dear to their hearts.

Because, the sooner they do that, the sooner the American public wakes up with the night sweats screaming “Dear Lord, what have we done?”

We had hopes Preciousssss, yes we did. We had hopes of More Hobbitses…

But alas, according to The One Ring, it doesn’t appear that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will be making the movie(s).

See this letter:Â Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh Talk THE HOBBIT

We have always had the greatest support from The Ringers and we are very sorry our involvement with The Hobbit has been ended in this way. Our journey into Tolkien’s world started with a phone call from Ken Kamins to Harvey Weinstein in Nov 1995 and ended with a phone call from Mark Ordesky to Ken in Nov 2006. It has been a great 11 years.

This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor. We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects.

She says so right here. And it’s a good thing, heaven knows she spent most of the last year being angry at George Allen. She could use a good laugh.

HL takes a look at this article in the Dallas Morning News:Â Whose soul is saved, and who gets roasted?
Sure it’s a fascinating opinion, but God didn’t take an opinion poll when He created the world and the path to salvation.

HL says this:Â Suffice it say, though, she proudly stands next to the folks who don’t want to make “doctrinal claims” that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior is forever doomed to perdition.

Yes, as the article noted, the argument starts with John 14:16: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” But Jesus was merely explaining to Thomas how one finds the way to where Jesus was going.

First, typos are not by far the unpardonable sin (I’d surely be doomed), but the verse is John 14:6 not 16.

That said, I’m no theologian, nor do I play one in the blogosphere. So let me turn to one of America’s leading Biblical teachers to explain why HL has that verse wrong.

John Piper says:

If We Reject Him, We Reject God
Jesus is the litmus test of reality for all persons and all religions. He said it clearly: “The one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). People and religions who reject Christ reject God. Do other religions know the true God? Here is the test: Do they reject Jesus as the only Savior for sinners who was crucified and raised by God from the dead? If they do, they do not know God in a saving way.

That is what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Or when he said, “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:23). Or when he said to the Pharisees, “If God were your Father, you would love me” (John 8:42).

If we would see and savor the glory of God, we must see and savor Christ. For Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). To put it another way, if we would embrace the glory of God, we must embrace the Gospel of Christ. The reason for this is not only because we are sinners and need a Savior to die for us, but also because this Savior is himself the fullest and most beautiful manifestation of the glory of God. He purchases our undeserved and everlasting pleasure, and he becomes for us our all-deserving, everlasting Treasure.

Desiring God Ministries

I don’t want to get into a theological debate here. But I also find interesting the scriptures HL quotes:

Mark12:28-31

Matthew 6:1-5, Actually she means Matthew 7:1-5

Matthew 6:15-16, Actually she means Matthew 7:15-16

She describes Matthew 25:31-39 as “the Heart of the matter.”

First, we’ll forgive her for the wrong references. That’s easy enough to do in posting. But I think she jumps to some wrong conclusions.

Interesting that she points to the verse about judging, when over the course of the last few months, she has judged George Allen to be: a big bully in his youth, a Big Fat Liar, a big old fake, the coward who hides behind his wife and mother’s skirts, Goober Allen, George Felix “Macaca-Bubba-Goober” Allen, Sen. George Allen, Racist-VA, Virginia’s racist fighting dude ranch hero, horse’s ass…and the list goes on.
Well, at least she wasn’t being judgmental or anything.

Like I said in the post that got her chuckling, What I find most fascinating here is that HL and I can look at the same basic set of facts and come to completely different conclusions.

She uses the Scriptures quoted above to imply that Democrats are more generious, more compassionate. I simply don’t find that to be the case. We already pointed out that

Republicans on the other hand, are willing to give freely as long as it’s our choice to do so. In fact the Generosity Index 2005 shows that in a rating of all 50 states, the first 25 most generous states in terms of per capita giving are traditional “red” states. You have to get all the way to number 26 for a blue state, New York, to appear on the list.

But, it goes beyond that.

I’m not a Republican because I am a Christian. Certainly everything I do is influenced by my faith. That’s my identity.Â

HL on the other hand seems to agree with Hillary:

“I have to confess that it’s crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian.” - Hillary R. Clinton, source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, page A-10, March 1, 1997

Then there’s the recent push by the Christian left who say “Jesus was a Democrat.”

Let’s get it straight. Jesus was neither a Democrat, nor a Republican.

In trying to pin one of those labels on him we make the same mistake of his followers who were looking for the Messiah to come in might and overthrow the Roman Empire. That just didn’t happen.

Actually, Jesus was quite apolitical. But that’s for another post.

I do not join with many on the right who imply that you cannot be both a Christian and a Democrat. Nor do I accept Senator Clinton’s opposite view.

It’s just not that simple.

Granted, when I first jumped into the political fray full time, now over 20 years ago, I believed we were on “God’s side.” When we lost the congressional race on which I was working I was devastated. In fact my faith was shaken a bit.

I still held some of those views when I moved to Washington, DC. I worked for a conservative policy organization and many there shared my same philosophy.

But, a funny thing happened. The wife and I found our way to an Interdenominational Church on Capital Hill. We were Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Catholics, and Mennonites, and Methodists and…well, you get the idea. It was a fascinating place and at times, equally frustrating. Because the founders of the church wanted very much to reflect the diversity of the body of Christ, we determined everything by consensus. Business meetings were a nightmare.

We left there in 1994 during the middle of a budget meeting. I think they’re just about ready to take the vote.

That said, what I discovered there was a whole world of people who loved Jesus with all their hearts, and gasp, voted for and even worked for Democrats. It was an eye opener.

I have a good friend who has traveled and worked internationally for most of his life. He knows more languages than I can even name. He is politically far to the left. Yet I consider him a brother and a mentor.

The fact of the matter is, I believe it’s possible to be both a Christian and a Democrat.

For the life of me, I don’t see how they do it. But I don’t doubt their sincerity or their faith.

I frustrate many of my compatriots on the right for thinking this way. I disagree with them in other areas as well.

For example, I just don’t do protests. Just after our oldest son was born, we marched in the March for Life in Washington. It was a unique experience. But I don’t think we made an impact. I think we made more of an impact a few months later when we went and helped organize and clean at the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Or when we went and served food to the homeless at a shelter down under I-395. We did that on several occassions, and we made sure we took our 2-year-old with us. He’s 17 now, and just this past summer went on his third short-term mission.

Just yesterday, the Mrs. and I found ourselves in an awkward situation in Sunday School when we challenged the American Family Association’s latest Wal-Mart boycott.

I have two thoughts on boycotts:

1) I don’t have time to keep up with everyone I’m supposed to hate. It’s not good stewardship of my time.

2) Wal-Mart is in the business to make money. Money is neither gay nor straight. As “Queer as a Three Dollar Bill” is an expression, not a monetary denomination. Wal-Mart doesn’t care who is buying their products, as long as they’re buying.

Now, where I differ with the left in terms of compassion is simply that I am adamant that it’s not the government’s job. It’s my job. It’s the job of the church.

The government already spends far too much in terms of welfare, and handouts and other programs. Back when I was doing policy in DC, the Reagan Administration put out their “Up from Dependency” report about the welfare system. At that time, the government was spending enough money that they could have written a check for $18,000 to every family in America whose income fell under the poverty level.

My first real job out of college was as a case worker at our local Department of Social Services. I did that for three and a half years. I saw first hand that the vast majority of our tax dollars “dedicated” to the people were not getting there. And they certainly weren’t reaching my pocket either.

The vast majority of those dollars were, and continue to be tied up in the beauracracy. And that’s the fault of Democrats and Republicans alike.Â

I have been a lifelong Republican because I believe in the principles of limited government, limited spending. I am dismayed that in many respects, my party no longer follows those ideals.

Sometimes I do get frustrated trying to reconcile my faith with my political views. I simply do not fit neatly into the Republican column. At the same time, I would be even less comfortable on the other side of the aisle.

In the end, my faith simply tells me that a Sovereign God has everything under control.

I don’t understand it. I can’t figure it out.

But I guess that’s why it’s called “faith.”

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