Debbie Downer Commencement Speech by Rep. Kevin Cramer

It’s graduation time in America.  I remember my graduation like it was yesterday…give or take ten or twenty years.  I also remember my commencement speaker.  Such a powerful speech that still sticks with me today.  I’m often reminded of that speech about…

give me a sec…

about….leadership!  I’m sure there was something in there about leadership.  I’m also 65% sure there was something in there about leaving my mark on society.  I have no doubt that there was a cool Billy Joel or Don Henley quote finishing up the commencement speech given by….

give me a minute….given by….

Moving on.

Speaking of a commencement address, turns out Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota gave a doozie of a speech to the University of Mary. I feel like I’m missing the “land” at the end of Mary.  It’s just University of Mary.  I was reading the Huffington Post and this story caught my attention.

See, Rep. Kevin Cramer decided not to go the tradition route of pumping up the new grads with a speech about leadership and making a mark on society, he thought he would spice things up with a real upper speech about mass murders, moral decay and abortion!  Let’s give a big graduation party foul to Rep. Cramer.  Way to bum every out dude.

It’s one thing to suck all the joy out of our new grads as you send them out into the world, but your depressing one/two punch doesn’t even make sense.

From Rep. Cramer’s speech,

“Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned abortion on demand,” he said in his speech at the University of Mary on May 4. “And we wonder why our culture sees school shootings so often.”

What the?  Alex, I’ll take massive overreach resulting in nonsense for $100.  

I would have changed this up slightly Rep. Cramer.  How about this..

“Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanction abortion on demand (as well as movies on demand – shout out to Time Warner).  It’s because of this that you were a planned and wanted pregnancy.  Go thank your parents, make a lot of money so that you can afford to put them up in a wonderful retirement home. Congratulations Graduates of 2013! Now let’s party!

See its has a slightly more positive and uplifting tone.  Not quite so much Debbie Downer.  

You said it was no wonder the Huffington Post criticized your speech since it was a liberal blog.  Well this blog also tends to lean-to the left.  So much so that sometimes I have been known to fall over when writing it.  You said you “were  trying to convey a message centered on speaking the truth about today’s culture.”

When it comes to graduates, they have their whole lives to figure out the truth about life.  No need to feel obligated in a commencement speech to provide them with harsh truths.  Next time focus on inspirational messages.  They are going to need all the inspiration they can get to make it through the hash reality this nation is going to give them.

Then again, I’m just a blog writer who leans to the left and tries not to fall over.  What do I know?

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Stop with the GCG Already! I need my sleep.

First an apology,  I know I have been writing a new post almost every day.  It’s 5:30 a.m. and I can’t sleep.  See, the past week it’s been a trifecta of my issues all at once – G.C.G. I call it.  Guns, Contraception and Gay Rights.  It’s been the perfect storm hitting all at once.

Enough with my hot button topics already!  If you ran into me these days you would say, “Girlfriend needs her beauty sleep.”  I admittedly look a little rough.  I blame current events and my new low carb diet.

Ok..we move on to the C of my G.C.G.

Contraception – A judge ruled that Emergency Contraception must be sold over-the-counter to females 15 years of age and older.  I’m convinced he watched an episode of MTV’s Teen Moms before making this ruling.  EC was only available to girls with a prescription prior to the ruling.  The judge ruled that since EC was available to females under 17 with a prescription that the FDA was overreaching its bounds having EC available only with a prescription.  The judge found the extra step unnecessary for minors with such a time sensitive product (EC has to be used within 3 days of unprotected sex).

As quick as I was throwing the confetti and pouring the drinks for my Emergency Contraception Celebration Party, the Justice Department issued a statement late yesterday that they were going to appeal the ruling.

Quick get the vacuum, party is over.

Obama, seriously?

From the Justice Department,

“The Court’s Order interferes with an thereby undermines the regulatory procedures governing FDA’s drug approval process. A drug approval decision involves scientific judgment as to whether statutory and regulatory factors are met that warrant deference to those charges with the statutory responsibility to make those decisions.”

Um..that’s a whole lot of lawyer speak.  However, there has been no proven scientific evidence stating that females 17 years of age and younger shouldn’t take EC.  In fact, EC can be given to females 17 years of age and younger WITH a prescription so what’s the difference?  Females 17 years of age and younger can READ which is the only requirement to taking EC correctly.

Parents quick cover your eyes- 30% of 15 and 16 olds are having sex.

Now opponents of having EC available to minors are worried about serious effects which are (brace yourself)

• Nausea
• Headaches

They are also concerned that minors won’t understand that EC doesn’t protect against sexually transmitted diseases.  This may be more of a shout out to stop states from cutting school funding so we can continue to improve our literacy rates.  It says it doesn’t protect against STDs right on the box.  Oh that reading thing…we can’t expect our teens to actually read since they are spending all that time having sex.

Raise a baby they didn’t intend on having we are fine with.

Read a box warning them about STDS…well that’s another story.

There are far more dangerous drugs on our drug store shelves that teens can get their hands on.  This is nothing more than a political hot button topic that is hurting females.

Shame the Justice Department for attempting to overturn this important ruling.

Hester Prynne Comes to #KSleg

The 70 page abortion bill was debated in Kansas today.  The abortion bill was so broad that it our lawmakers actually spent time debating if it would be ok for parents who worked for family planning clinics to volunteer at their children’s school.

Of course we all know a sex education expert  teaching sex education is out of the question.  However,  our KS lawmakers took it one step further debating if it was o.k. for parents to volunteer at schools doing things like…bring cupcakes to school for children.  Not condom cupcakes, just plan, old-fashioned cupcakes.

So to end the debate, it was agreed that the people who work in family planning clinics will for now on have to wear a large A across all articles of clothing whenever they are in public.  The state of Kansas will provide the large A’s to the family planning workers.  The “A” stands for – abortion provider.

I’m just kidding on the last part – the “A” part. Although I feel bad for giving them the idea.  The rest I’m not kidding.  They did finally allow the bill to be amended so that family planning workers could volunteer at their kid’s school.  (the horror)  They can’t teach kids about sex.

The bill is likely to be passed and will soon become the most restrictive abortion legislation in the nation.  Our new state motto: Welcome to Kansas – Knocked up? Not Ready? Sucks to be you!

I know the KS representatives are patting each other on the back, but before you throw yourself a huge kegger celebrating your success, I just want you to pause for a moment and think about something…

Just because you take access away, doesn’t mean the demand goes away.  Women will still seek abortion.

Where will they go?  Not to the back alleys of the 1950s.  They will go online. They will go to the same place that women living in highly abortion restrictive  countries go to find abortion pills go.  http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/07/11/abortion.pills/index.html

They will order unregulated abortion pills and they will die.  The stats from this story are alarming.  1 in 10 women taking abortion pills ordered online end up needing surgery due to complications.  

They can go to this pharmacy where you can “buy one and get one free.”

http://www.realpharmacyrx.co/abortion-pill.html?osCsid=63abe75314858e2b04d0440db06191fe

This is truly disturbing.  Instead of making sure women are safe and supervised by a physician when seeking out an abortion in a medically supervised environment, politicians are now driving women to websites like these for a “buy one get one free” abortion.  I’m sure if women were seeking out self injecting Botox, our government would be all over to make sure it was safe and regulated.

I honestly understand why people don’t want their tax payer money going towards abortion.  As much as I disagree, I get it.  Is there no room for compromise?  Is it too late?  I don’t want to see Kansas women having to seek out websites like these for their abortions.  I don’t want women risking their lives doing a procedure on their own when they should be medically supervised.  Abortion is a safe procedure.  Why drive women to websites like these?  We keep saying things like abortion is only ok if the life of the mother is at risk.  If women are seeking abortions from websites like these, aren’t their lives at risk?  Doesn’t this qualify?

I can’t come up with anything funny to write about, because it just makes me sad.

Kansas – Don’t do this.  Don’t leave our women in Kansas in a desperate situation.  Don’t force them to seek out dangerous alternatives when they can have safe alternatives here in Kansas.  We can leave taxpayer money out of it.  Just leave them alone.  Let’s not leave women a “buy one, get one free” abortion option.  

 

Plan B OK for Teens – First Obama’s Re-Elected and Now This?!

That swoosh you heard today wasn’t winter’s cold breeze blowing through the trees, it was the collective gasp from Christian conservatives all over the United States when a major pediatric group said this, “Emergency contraception should be available, and it should be available over the counter,” Dr. Cora Collette Breuner, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told HuffPost. “Education should be provided in the pediatrician’s office …”

For someone like me who has spent the better part of my career in family planning, this is music to my ears.  Hold it..did she say “over-the-counter”?    Whoa…I can’t even get my Sudafed for my winter sniffles over-the-counter without photo ID for fear of a major meth concoction that I may be cooking in my minivan.  Do you really think our kiddos are ready to check out at CVS with Plan B?

I will have to digest the over-the-counter part, but I think I like where this is headed.  While the Christian Conservatives are currently unconscious from the mere thought of Johnnie and Suzie having intercourse and then riding their scooters to the local Walgreen’s for some EC, let’s discuss shall we?

First, those ignorant of the difference between EC and RU486 – they are not the same thing.  EC does not cause abortions so chill out.  That’s right, chill out and educate yourself.  This has been a very common misunderstanding since…well since the beginning of this entire debate.  EC is very safe and effective if taken correctly.  It prevents the egg from implanting in the uterus and if you are pregnant, it will NOT CAUSE AN ABORTION!

For all my liberalness, I am struggling a bit with the over-the-counter part just because I want kids to be educated before they take this medication. It’s not like popping tictacs.  Although with EC, time is of the essence and there is not time to be wasted if you want it to work correctly.  If it stays by prescription only the only saving grace is we can all get EC with Obamacare since we will all be covered.  This of course, thanks to Obama’s re-election.

Thanks Dr. Breuner.  It takes a hell of a lot of courage to make this statement.  Now someone go wake up the Christian Conservatives, because this is happening!

A New Diet Called The GOP

Diet Update – Add Dennys and Jimmy Johns to the GOP Diet Plan

I don’t know about you, but I am not happy about my weight.  It seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to cook the healthy balanced meals for my family that I want.  Not to mention the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables just keeps going up.  Like most Americans, I often rely on fast food or convenience chain-restaurants to feed my family.  What’s the result?  Ever increasing clothing sizes, less energy and sluggish health.

Now it’s time for a change.

That’s why I’m putting my family on the new diet – The GOP Diet!

The G.O.P. Diet stands for Get Off (the) Pounds.

It’s the latest thing to come out of Washington.  It’s so easy to follow.  Just follow the conservative outrage.  Just a few easy steps and you will find the pounds simply melting away.

Firs step is simply watch the news.  Yes, that’s right.  Sit yourself down in front of the TV or computer and just watch the headlines.  It seems that every day a CEO of a major restaurant chain is coming out with an outrageous statement regarding Obamacare or some “liberal agenda”.

Take for example the CEO of Papa John’s pizza chain.  He is threatening to lay off employees instead of cover their health insurance when Obamacare kicks in.

From now on, I don’t eat any more Papa John’s pizza.  Think of all the calories I’ll save and all the pounds I’ll lose!  It’s that easy.  No tricky diets to follow or complicated meal plans.  Papa John’s CEO lives in his mega mansion, but refuses to cover health care for his employees and I save hundreds of calories by not eating his pizza.

Zane Tankel, owner of over 40 franchize Applebee’s also has said he won’t hire, because of Obamacare.  http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/11/applebees-ceo-zane-tankel-says-he-wont-hire-because-of-obamacare-video/

Hey Zane, here is a win-win.  Calm down Zane (love the name BTW), because I’m not eating at your establishment anymore.  The win in all this, is I’ll end up looking fabulous by not doing so!  We all know your menu is calorie heavy, the stuff I end up ordering anyway – wings, spin dip and mozz sticks.  No more for me!  It’s so simple people.  Join me and we will all end up dropping our BMI’s in the process.

Chick-fil-A – don’t like gay marriage?  It’s on the GOP diet plan.  No more Chick-fil-A for me!

The only exercise required on the GOP diet plan is the occasional protest outside of a Chick-fil-A for marriage equality.   The complete diet plan is always changing so you never get bored.  It changes daily and will guarantee to be added to as more greedy CEOs come out claiming their “bottom-line” will be severely affected by Obamacare.  Their message will probably come from their multi-million dollar mansions as they Skype this message in from their private putting green.

The plan is so simple – follow the conservative outrage and the pounds simply melt away!

I’ll update the new diet as we hear more.  In the meantime, to follow the GOP diet, remember, no Papa John’s pizza, no Applebee’s from Zane’s franchises and no Chick-fil-A.

Here’s to a skinnier Democratic Party!

Rep. John Bradford KS – A Few Lessons About Facebook

Dear Rep. Bradford,

First, congratulations on winning your campaign in the KS House 40th District!  Now that you are a public figure, things are changing a bit.  I’m sure you learned a few lessons about being a public figure when you ran for office.  I was reading KSHB 41′s website and noticed you are coming under fire for your Facebook page.

According to the article you said, ”I don’t think I would ever put anything on there that was intentionally offensive to anyone,” he said.

Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/political/newly-elected-kansas-politician-possibly-violating-facebook-rules-over-posts-about-the-president#ixzz2Bikmt5W4

Like any concerned citizen would do, I went ahead and checked out your Facebook page for myself.  To me, like our glorious American system lays out,  you are innocent until proven guilty in this country.

https://www.facebook.com/john.bradford.752

I’m back after a quick browse and I have a few observations. I get that our politics don’t match.  No biggie here.  I’m all about building bridges now that the election is over.  This isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican thing just some constructive criticism so please take it as it is intended.

1. You posted this video:  

I watched the whole video.  It starts with some disturbing video of the Holocaust.  It is narrated by a sweet, young child’s voice equating Nazi Germany and mass genocide of 11 million people with not balancing the US budget and lying by American politicians.  Like I stated before, I’m no PR expert, but people can be a bit sensitive when it comes to equating mass genocide and anything that has to do with balancing a budget.  I am happy to include myself in this category.  I’ll just sum this up as a “teachable moment”.  No problem.  Everyone has to learn sometime.

2.  Another article about Nazis.  This one about Hitler Youth.  This time it’s FEMA:  http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2012/10/homeland-security-graduates-first-corps-of-obamas-brown-shirts-homeland-youth-2503808.html

From what I gather from this article, FEMA hired and trained a group of people that were in the age range of 18-24.   This article from a source called “Before It’s News” equates this new group of FEMA graduates with Hitler Youth.

Rep. Bradford, just between you and me.  Here’s another great “teachable moment” Rep. Bradford – Just an FYI,  Nazi Germany and the Holocaust was a horrible scar on history.  People take offense to it.  There is also a delete button on your Facebook page so you can actually delete posts.  Once someone educates you that mass genocide can be offensive, you can actually delete offensive posts.  I know..right…it’s amazing.  It took me a while to figure that out as well.  It’s that little tiny x at the top right of the box.  I wasn’t posting Holocaust stuff, more like Honey Boo Boo jokes that weren’t really funny, but I have hit the delete button more than once in my life.  Don’t even get me started on all the silly stuff I’ve put out on Twitter.

3.  Finally there is this great pic.  I’ll just recognize this as a difference of opinion on gun control.  Just remember we seem to have a bunch of mass shootings made easier with weapons like these.   Right or wrong (mostly right) people also can be a bit  uptight about “funny” pics like these as well.

I hope you have found this little Facebook 101 sensitivity training helpful.  Remember, no Nazi jokes, no genocide jokes and no mass shooting jokes and you should be fine.  I’ll be sure to remember to stay away from Honey Boo Boo jokes just to be safe.

I’ll leave you with this catchy phrase I just made up..”If you don’t want to take the political heat, just remember to hit delete.”

Your new Facebook “friend”,

Aimee

Pro-Life Candidates Get Biggest Message From Campaign

So it’s over.  50% of the country is celebrating and the other 50% is trying to figure out what the hell happened.  Let the campaign analysis begin.  Mittens lost.  Did Obama out campaign him?  Did his own party blow it for him?  Was it Sandy’s fault?  Christie’s fault?  The flag pin’s fault?  My fault?  Mitt was so close.  He was never close really.  I guess it depends who you ask and who you want to believe.

The one thing we can all agree on as a nation is the whole campaign system is broken. The good news is it goes well with our broken economy.  Kinda like the shoes matching the belt.   The reality is it isn’t changing anytime soon.  So here is my big take-away from this whole thing.

A very strong and direct message was sent to the Pro-Life Movement yesterday.  Now that this election is over, I feel like I can lay it all out here.  See, we all know what Akin said.   I think he never really believed that the female body had a way of “shutting the whole thing down” when it came to pregnancy.  I believe extreme Pro-Life candidates like Aiken who said OUTRAGEOUS things about women’s reproductive systems were really saying, “I am pro-life in all cases even rape and incest.”  They just didn’t have the real guts to lay it out so concretely.

Instead of just saying that, they knew that it would be highly unpopular with moderate Americans.  So they started tap dancing to try to cover-up these extreme views.  In fact, there was more tap dancing around this than the talent portion of the Miss Glitter Pageant of Toddlers and Tiaras.  The more they danced the worse it got.  By that time you had statements like Akin’s and Mourdock’s who had just justify pregnancy somehow so they blamed God or excuse me, said pregnancy from rape was what “God intended”.

What once was a movement that seemed unstoppable, the Pro-Life movement, suddenly came to an abrupt stop or at the very least hit an enormous speed bump.  It wasn’t that people reacted to how stupid these statements were and didn’t vote for these candidates.  That conclusion is far too simplistic. I believe there was also a reaction to the intent of the statement – the statement being abortion in all circumstances, even in times of incest and rape was unacceptable.  The American people stopped this type of candidate.  To be perfectly clear, I’m not saying the American people all became pro-choice and everyone now has a Planned Parenthood bumper sticker on their car, but they certainly sent a strong message that pro-life in all circumstances regardless of how the pregnancy occurred did not appeal to them.

As I sit in KS, or as Fox News abbreviated it last night – KA – the hub of Pro-Life extremism, I sit satisfied that what used to be the unstoppable Pro-Life movement finally received a strong message from their own party.  There are limits.  The American voter has limits.  Abortion in all circumstances is not something the American people ultimately believe in.  Abortion in times of rape and incest and in times when the mother’s life is at risk is something the American people find acceptable.  Akin’s loss was more about his intention behind his stupid statement and not just based on his statement alone.

Time will tell if the GOP will take this message to heart and really try to change things before 2016.  I have some ideas about changing the whole campaign  system.  For example – the primaries?  That process sucks if you are the running against an incumbent.  Lengthening the presidential term.  Four years isn’t enough.  Look at how long FDR had to get us out of the Great Depression.    Don’t get me started on the Electoral College.   Somebody in charge of this stuff give me a ring if you want some ideas.

In the meantime, the campaign is over….now what?  Ping-pong anyone?

7 Stages of Voter Grief

It’s the day before the election.  I am like most Americans – Republicans and Democrats and even those rare few who are “undecided”.  I’m gearing up to vote tomorrow and then sit and anxiously watch the returns come in.  Today I am going through a wide range of emotion on the last day of this crazy campaign cycle.  I’m calling it – the 7 stages of voter grief.  See if you can relate:

Stage 1 – Shock and Denial

Tomorrow it’s all over?  It can’t be all over!  What will I do with all my free time?  Maybe I’ll take up a new hobby like knitting or extreme couponing?  It can’t really be all over.   Surely this can’t be it.  There will probably be an extension anyway.  Hello, can anyone say hanging chads?

Stage 2 – Pain and Guilt

What if Obama doesn’t win?  What kind of country will I be leaving to my children and grandchildren?  I’m on an emotional cliff right now, because this country is hanging on a fiscal cliff.  The point is we are all on some sort of cliff.  This according to the 1.5 million emails I have received this election cycle.  Everyone  tells me it’s urgent and it’s up to me to vote their way make the death spiral it stop.  It’s all resting on my shoulders.  The fate of the nation is all on my shoulders people.  If the country spirals out of control tomorrow, it is my fault, because they told me so.  Somebody pass the antidepressants.

Stage 3 – Anger and Bargaining

Who the hell are you guys to put all of this on my shoulders anyway?  If it wasn’t for you politicians always placing blame on each other maybe we could get something done in Washington.  If Washington wasn’t just one campaign cycle after another maybe this country could actually move forward instead of always playing politics as usual.  You career politicians can suck it.  I just may not vote so there!

Stage 4 – Depression, Loneliness and Reflection

What difference does it make?  Will my vote even count tomorrow?

Stage 5 – The upward turn

Yes, my vote counts!  Every vote counts.  That is what makes America great!

Stage 6 – Reconstruction and working through

I believe that not only does my vote count, but I am part of the solution.  As JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”

Stage 7 – Acceptance and Hope

I will vote tomorrow!  I will vote and I will believe in hope and change (again).

My weekly list: hybrids, eyebrow waxing, Pro-Life and Julia Roberts

So I’m sitting in a coffee shop writing my blog. This is a first. I feel so cool just by association.  I’m really just killing time waiting to meet some friends for dinner.  Of the six people in here on a Friday night, I could have birthed about 4 of them.  This is just fueling my fire and now Adele just started to play.

Perfect time to get a few things off my chest.  When I was thinking about what to write, there were too many things swimming through my brain to limit it to just one subject so I thought I would compile a Friday list of things.  Strap in..it’s going to be a wild and random ride:

1.  My liberalmobile lied to me.  A few months back I gave up my gas munching SUV for an environmentally friendly hybrid.  My sky-blue baby even has a little earth on the dashboard that lights up with an ivy halo when I reach peak environmentally friendliness.  You can only drive one of these if you are a card-carrying member of the Democratic party.  Now I find out that Hyundai lied to me about gas mileage.  It was an “oversight” said Hyundai.  Sure – if I forget to pay my car payment this month, I’ll blame it on an “oversight”.  Now, Republicans tell me again how government oversight is a horrible thing for businesses?  Turns out I will be getting a refund for false advertising.  Damn those government regulations.  Those bad, bad government regulations that keep businesses honest by making them actually tell consumers the truth.

2.  This little study that came out earlier this month that studied if women were given FREE birth control – that means access to any birth control, including IUDs and implants what would happen.  Turns out the abortion rate GOES DOWN.  Did you read that – the ABORTION RATE GOES DOWN.  My blood pressure continues to escalate when I try to figure out how people can be pro-life and anti-obamacare.  I absolutely, positively don’t get this one.  Check out this incredibly cool video below.  I hope people watch this before Tuesday and vote these radical, pro-life extremists OUT of office.  They just don’t make any sense!

3.  This is a random one, but one that the ladies out there will understand.  I have been getting my eyebrows waxed since I was 14 years old.  Yes, 14 years old.  These days, eyebrow waxing for preteens is something we only see on Toddlers and Tiaras.  We are outraged when we see it now, but remember, this was the 80s when seat belts were just becoming mandatory and cold medicine for kids was given in mass quantities, sometimes even just to put Jr. to sleep.  Anyway, my mom told me at the time that the more years I had it done the less it would hurt.  That’s right – the more years I had it done, the less it would hurt.  It has been 26 years later and it still hurts like hell.  She lied.  I”m still working through this.  It never gets any easier.  As much as I love my mom, I’ll admit I’m still kinda pissed.

4.  This election is almost over.  If I’m getting tired of it and I’m a political addict, you know it’s been bad.  I’m already looking for things to fill my time after Tuesday.  I’ve decided to go on a spiritual journey.  That means I’m getting ready to join a synagogue.  I’m thinking my spiritual journey will be like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love.  I’ve never seen the movie, but I fantasize that my journey will take me to far away places where I will meditate with Russel Brand, eat gourmet meals with Gwyneth Paltrow and pray with people like Madonna.  The realistic journey is I will get my tush down to the local synagogue and pray.  This should be interesting.  More to come with this one.  It definitely can’t hurt and if anything may help me to be a little more pleasant and possibly a little less eccentric.  God, I hope you are listening to this.  Get ready.

Have a great weekend.  Remember to vote.  Please vote for Obama, but if you must vote for Romney – we can still be friends.  Just vote.  One thing is for sure, Tuesday night I will either be cheering or sobbing, but the world will keep on turning.  Wednesday will still come far too early and we will get up and get on with our lives putting one foot in front of the other.  America will survive and the same issues will be debated for generations to come.

Who is more Christian the GOP or Dems?

Politics in this country are as polarized as ever.  People are unfriending each other on Facebook, because of political posts that are pissing each other off.  This I don’t understand. I view politics just like any other hobby.  I don’t unfriend people, because of their crafting hobbies.  Suzie is posting 50 things to do with pipe cleaners AGAIN I think I’m going to have to unfriend her.

I think with all of my armchair political analysis I have drilled it down to why our nation is so polarized and hostile these days.  Steve Fitzgerald, a KS State Senate candidate summed it up perfectly,  ”The contention that I said that one cannot be Catholic or Christian and a Democrat is not an unreasonable summation of what I actually said,” Fitzgerald said. “My actual message was fix the party or leave.”

And there you have it my friends.  Judgement that used to only be reserved for God is now a full contact sport for some politicians.  Vote and believe like me and go to heaven.  Don’t and go burn in hell.  You can’t get much more politically polarizing than that.  It goes much deeper than unfriending on Facebook.

Take for example the campaign for US Senate in Missouri.  I just heard yesterday that the Duggars are campaigning for Todd Akin.  Think about that for a moment.  Are the Duggars known for their massive knowledge about public policy?  No.  Are they known for their sophisticated  understanding about government?  Nope again.  The Duggars are known for their radical practice of Christianity and expertise at home hair permanent waves.  The last time I watched an episode of the Duggars it went like this:

The Duggars decided to doggie sit.  The Duggarettes thought it would be super fun to feed the doggie cheese.  Doggie gobbled up cheese and crapped all over the floor.  Mommie Duggar said no-no to baby Duggars.  The end.

With that we have the official endorsement of Congressman Akin for Senator of Missouri.  Based on?  Help me here… Based on nothing more than their faith.  You mean Todd Akin couldn’t have said to Jim Bob, “Thanks man, you keep cleaning up those rental properties with help from your own child labor, I’ve got this thing.”

You might be thinking to yourself, “What does a Jewish girl know about Christianity?”  Well, turns out, I went to a Southern Baptist College.  I did my share of reading the Bible.  Other than kicking ass at the New Testament category on Jeopardy, it gave me a general understanding and appreciation for Christianity.  Here is what I know.  One party cannot claim a religion.  Christianity is complex and very personal.  If one party can claim it, because of their views on abortion, the other party can claim it because of their views on helping the poor in our country.  I don’t think Jesus would have suggested the poor in this country pull themselves up by their boot straps.

I’ve always found it perplexing when a candidate says that God told him/her that he/she should run for office.  If they don’t win what is the message from God – you’re a loser?

Let’s take an example from our Founding Father’s and Separate Church and State.  Don’t unfriend me on Facebook, because of my political views and I won’t unfriend you because you love scrap booking.  One political party isn’t going to heaven and the other party isn’t going to hell.  This is not all good vs. all bad.  Tone down the hatred and the absolutes that is something that is definitely not religious.  Let people define themselves and their faith.

Now excuse me while I gather my arsenal so I can declare my war on Christmas.  It’s coming up on the season.