John, it's not cut-and-dried on either side. Everyone's in the
political game and pretending your side is clean and the other isn't is
just not true. Here are a couple of articles that prove this point.
While I am progressive, I am not blindly behind one party or another.
They both have problems, they both spin/lie/shift the facts. While you
say you want a discussion that brings out the truth, I really don't
believe this can happen. I have been in and seen several of these
debates, and what generally happens is that each side just clings to
their position more firmly. I'm not convinced by the information you
present, and I'm betting you won't be convinced by mine.
I'm sorry that I see it end way time and again. I really wish
conservatives and progressives (especially Christians) could work
together on some issues. For instance, why can't we work together to
help women so they won't be faced with unwanted pregnancies? Instead we
just try to outlaw abortion. We need to move away from entrenched
positions and think more creatively so we can truly show Christ's love
to others.
Here's some info on what other Republicans are saying. Again, I'm not
trying to villify anyone. I'm just saying we can't paint either party
with a broad brush.
Blessings--
French fries protester regrets war jibe
By Jamie Wilson / Guardian
It was a culinary rebuke that echoed around the world, heightening the
sense of tension between Washington and Paris in the run-up to the
invasion of Iraq. But now the US politician who led the campaign to
change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" has turned against
the war.
Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was
also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol
Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no
justification".
Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the
three cafeterias in the House of Representatives' office buildings ban
the word french from menus, said it was meant as a "light-hearted
gesture". But the name change, still in force, made headlines around
the world, both for what it said about US-French relations and its
pettiness.
Now Mr Jones appears to agree. Asked by a reporter for the North
Carolina News and Observer about the name-change campaign - an idea Mr
Jones said at the time came to him by a combination of God's hand and a
constituent's request - he replied: "I wish it had never happened."
Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most
vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his
office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen".
"If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this
administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some
instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the
newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."
by John Aravosis
You know you're in trouble when your spokesman has to deny you
masturbated in City Hall.
1. Jim West, the 54-year-old mayor of Spokane, Washington, is an
anti-gay, family-values Republican. He's made a career out of trying
to fire gay employees from schools and local government posts, opposing
AIDS-prevention programs, supporting a statewide ban on gay marriage,
and objecting to every gay-rights proposition he's ever laid eyes on.
Well, maybe not every one.
During a handful of recent America Online chats, West exchanged
messages with a person he thought was an 18-year-old boy. In fact, his
pen pal was a representative of the local newspaper, the
Spokesman-Review, posing as a horny teen. In the chats, published in
their entirety on the paper's website earlier this month, West talked
to his young friend about school, jobs, one-handed typing, and sucking
ear lobes. After the two consummated one exchange with a mutual
multilined "mmmmmmmmm," West told his e-buddy "u r soooooooooooo
good."
Adding to West's woes, two men now say he molested them as boys in
the 1970s, and the FBI is reportedly investigating whether the mayor
offered city jobs to young men in exchange for sex. A 24-year-old West
appointee, who first met the mayor on the chat site gay.com, says West
recently offered him $300 to swim in the nude. The staffer declined.
Undaunted and claiming he's the victim of a "brutal outing," West
refuses to step down but has taken a temporary leave of absence. On the
plus side, he now has ample time to brush up on his computer skills.
West's travails come to light as Massachusetts celebrates (or
bemoans) the one-year anniversary of gays' winning the right to
marry. Right-wing religious groups, predictably, marked the day by
decrying the "reign of madness" that's taken over the state and
warning that "traditional marriage is in jeopardy." And they're
right. But it's not the 6,000 or so gay and lesbian couples who
happily tied the knot this year who are the greatest threat to the
institution of marriage. It's the family's most vocal defenders in
the GOP.
2.Consider Don Sherwood, a congressman from northeastern Pennsylvania.
Apparently no one ever told the very married 64-year-old Republican
that love means never having to say you're choking. Last September,
Sherwood was giving an intimate massage to his special friend,
29-year-old Cynthia Ore, at his Washington, D.C., apartment. According
to police reports uncovered by the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader,
Sherwood's soothing touch caused Ore to lock herself in the bathroom,
call the police, and accuse the congressman of trying to choke her.
Sherwood admits having given Ore a rubdown but denies that anything
untoward happened; for her part, Ore is not talking to the press.
There's also no word from Sherwood's wife of 33 years and mother of
his three daughters, which just goes to show that Sherwood likes the
silent type. The GOP, however, is sticking by the Tunkhannock
Strangler. Sherwood heads up the National Republican Congressional
Committee, the chief fundraising arm of Republican representatives, and
no one is talking about asking him to step down.
Ironically, Sherwood first met Ore at a Young Republicans gathering in
1999, the same year Sherwood voted for legislation to permit the Ten
Commandments (including, we assume, good ol' number VII) to be posted
in public schools and government buildings.
3.Not to be outdone is W. David Hager, a controversial Bush appointee
to an advisory commission of the Food and Drug Administration, which
makes key decisions on women's reproductive health. The May 30 issue
of The Nation is reporting that Hager, according to his former wife of
32 years, pressured her to let him videotape them having sex and
regularly paid her for sex acts that she was otherwise unwilling to
perform ($2,000 for oral sex, for instance) until she put an end to the
practice in 1995; after that, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without
consent. Hager, a conservative Christian and close confidant to Focus
on the Family founder James Dobson, is a gynecologist who refuses to
prescribe contraceptives for single women and is the co-author of a
book that prescribes Bible reading for pain relief (Matthew 13:44-46
for a headache, Romans 5:1-11 for PMS).
No word on Hager's recommendation for the lingering pain of anal
rape.
Not so surprisingly, Concerned Women for America, a religious right,
"pro-family" lobbying organization that supported Hager's
nomination, is standing by its man rather than its women. On being told
of the abuse allegations, one CWA officer told The Nation that Hager is
"a person of character and integrity." Hager's term ends June 30,
and he is expected to be reappointed to the panel.
For their part, Republicans in the Senate are responding to the
Massachusetts marriage anniversary by holding yet another hearing on
why a federal constitutional amendment is needed to "protect
marriage." The GOP's wisemen might start by keeping an eye on their
own zippers.
http://www.radarmagazine.com/web-only/politics/2005/05/its-a-familyva...