Haircuts

Grant and I went to get haircuts today. Mondays are always "boy days." We eat breakfast together before school, then I take him to and pick him up from school and we spend some time together. Today, we got haircuts. It is pretty amazing how far Grant has come from the boy who would scream through an entire haircut to the one who really enjoys it and laughs pretty much through it because it tickles him so much. So after our haircut, we were going out to the car and it started raining. Grant said, "Uh-oh, the rain is going to make my hair grow!"

Another Grantism

I am a fan of Grape Nuts cereal. Don't know why, I just seem to crave it at times. So we have the Kroger off brand of "Nutty Nuggets." As I was pouring a bowl of "Nutty Nuggets" this morning, Grant asked me what I was eating. I said, "Nutty Nuggets cereal." He got up from the table and walked over to look into my bowl. After taking a couple of seconds to examine the contents, Grant said, "I do not see any chicken in there."

Disillusioned by Conservatives

The past 10 days or so have been very bad for conservatives politically. Rising to power as the voice of "family values," three stories caught my eye this past week which have solidified the fact that no government, no political ideology or leadership is worthy of claiming any kind of moral high ground. Politics is and will always be a hypocritical bunch of power hungry dirt bags, who will spin anything and compromise any amount of integrity to make themselves look good and the opposition look evil. Here are the three issues that reaffirmed to me the fall of the "family values" politician.

1. Scooter Libby. Scooter Libby lied. He lied to FBI officials, he lied to investigators, he lied to a court. That is against the law. It doesn't matter how big, small, or unimportant an issue is, Scooter Libby lied and is guilty. He can't blame anybody but himself. If he tells the truth, he is a free man today. What made my blood boil is listening to talk radio last week excusing his lies as silly and unimportant. The talk shows said since there was no crime charged for the original investigation, Libby shouldn't be found guilty here. Hmmm. Seems to me that I remember during the Whitewater investigation that Clinton lied under oath about an affair, which had nothing to do with the original investigation. But he lied, and he was impeached. At the time, I remember the talk shows claiming that it didn't matter that is was Clinton - that even if it were a conservative, they would feel the same way, because the law is the law. Well here we are, and those same talk shows are using the Clinton playbook to call these findings nothing. Remember the Rose Garden ceremony after the impeachment? Conservatives have staged their own Rose Gardens on the airwaves for the past week and I have had it. What happened to principle and abiding by the law.

2. Ann Coulter. If a Democrat used the word to describe a Republican that Coulter used to describe Edwards, what would the reaction be? Conservatives would be up in arms, calling for an apology. Why can't those same conservatives practice what they preach and condemn Coulter and stop hailing her as a hero? Hannity said that he isn't going to condemn her remarks until Democrats condemn remarks that their leaders have made. That's really standing on principle isn't it? It is such a childish and ridiculous excuse it drives me crazy. "I'm not going to apologize until you do!" That is not taking the moral high ground. I've had it.

3. Newt Gingrich. Newt came out and admitted that while he was pushing for Clinton's impeachment, he was having an affair. But that he was not being hypocritical, because the issue for Clinton was about lying under oath, not because of an affair. This gets us back to my first gripe about Libby. (By the way, Gingrich ended his first marriage by placing divorce papers on the hospital bed of his first wife while she was overcoming cancer. )

So what to do? How are we supposed to vote for a bunch of cheating, lying, hypocrites? Neither party has the high ground. Power corrupts, and no matter how pure one's intentions may be when entering the political game, the seduction of power and the political culture in this country darkens the hearts and blinds the eyes of every person caught within its grasp.

I think it is time for evangelicals to cease blindly supporting one party or the other. Being a Republican or a Democrat doesn't make one a better or worse Christian. But allowing a political party to corrupt one's theology and compromise one's standards weakens one's faith. It's time to take a deep breath, take a step back and re-evaluate evangelical politics in this country. It pains me to write much of this. I am reminded about what Rich Mullins said in an interview. He said that he wanted government to work, but that he thanked God for Richard Nixon because he shattered Rich's hope that government could work. Well, in the same way, I thank God for Scooter Libby, Ann Coulter, and Newt Gingrich. They have helped re-emphasize the fact that government does not work and never will...until we get to heaven.

Bono at the NAACP Awards

I stumbled across this last night right as the award was being presented. He pretty much sums up my moral values post from a couple of days ago, especially at the end of his speech. Again, Bono is the coolest.

Bono

"If you could go to lunch with one celebrity, who would it be?" I would answer Bono. He is the coolest person alive. This is a speech he gave at the prayer breakfast in DC last year. I am posting this because it is a great speech, and also, so I can practice posting videos.