Evangelicals for Mitt

One of my buddies forwarded this to me. I felt it worth posting:


Mitt Romney Not Our Pastor-in-Chief Nancy French Wednesday, May 23, 2007
By Nancy French

There's a question I'm often asked by my closest friends and casual
acquaintances alike: "How could a committed Christian like you support a Mormon for president?"

I get that question a lot as co-founder of the Evangelicals for Mitt
organization - especially now that Rev. Al Sharpton has apparently
taken it upon himself to question the validity of Mitt Romney's faith.

In fact, the news that I'm supporting Romney for president recently
brought one of my Christian friends to tears - she couldn't understand it.

The mainstream media often seems as incredulous as my friend. They maintain that Romney has no chance in the Bible Belt, due to the differences between the Mormon faith and mainstream Christianity. But my emotional friend's reaction notwithstanding, the media have it wrong.

Let me explain why. To paraphrase Jerry Falwell, I wouldn't want Gov. Romney as my Sunday school teacher, but that's not the office he's running for. The fact is, we're not electing a Pastor-in-Chief. Voters who care about traditional values are smart enough to keep that in mind.

In countless conversations with Southern evangelicals, here are the
questions asked most frequently:

Can Evangelicals and Mormons really work together and trust each
other? The fact is that in spite of our theological differences, Christians and Mormons are already political allies. In fact, if Mormons weren't consistently more conservative than their evangelical neighbors, Al Gore would be America's president now - instead of his newfound role as the earth's "weather psychic."

Does believing "Mormon stuff" make Romney gullible? All religions
require a leap of faith that appears silly to outsiders. If a reporter questioned me about my religion, he'd raise an eyebrow over my belief that Noah was a floating zookeeper, that Jesus was the best sommelier in Galilee, and that he paid taxes with coins from a fish's mouth.

No one belongs to the Church of the Scientific Method, so religion falls outside normal reasoning. Gov. Romney's beliefs certainly require faith - including his quite miraculous notion that Jesus is his personal Savior. In my experience, evangelicals loathe religious litmus tests, ever since Democrats tried to disqualify Christian and Catholic judges because of their beliefs. And as far as gullible goes, well, don't forget: Mitt Romney has two Harvard degrees.

Is America ready for a Mormon president? If someone asked me whether I'd support a "former alcoholic," a "divorced Hollywood actor," or a "Southern Baptist," I'd pick the "Baptist" every time. However, when actual names are associated with the traits, I'd pick the former alcoholic (George W. Bush) or actor (Ronald Reagan) over the Baptist (Bill Clinton) faster than you can say "Lewinsky."

The point is, individual personalities matter. As America learns more about Gov. Romney, his political triumphs will overshadow his religion. For example, after brazen judges legalized homosexual "marriage," he stopped Massachusetts from becoming "gay Las Vegas" by refusing to marry out-of-state gay couples.

He also erased a $3 billion dollar debt without raising taxes, and has forcefully advocated pro-life positions. In other words, the question isn't whether we're ready for a Mormon, but are we ready for this Mormon.

What about Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee? John Mark Reynolds wrote that "my faith in the holiness standards of Baptists survived Clinton and my belief in their sanity survived Carter, though that was a closer call." But Gov. Huckabee doesn't deserve to be tainted by the dubious political legacy of recent Baptist leaders - i. e. Clinton's moral failure, Carter's weak foreign policy, Johnson's social programs, and Gore's use of the word "lock box." Evangelicals evaluate candidates on their political merits and don't vote for the "most Christian" person on the ballot. (Note the Oval Office absence of Alan Keyes.)

Doesn't theology matter? Of course it matters! If a candidate belonged to the "Church of Killing Canadians," to use an absurd illustration, voters would rightly ask whether he planned on invading Canada and stealing their moose. Some theologies do lead to flawed political decisions. But Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity have common moral and, therefore, political values.

In fact, the only difference between a Mormon and a Presbyterian at a cocktail party is the Mormon isn't getting a chardonnay refill. Perhaps someone less scandalous than Ward Cleaver is just what a Mark Foley/Ted Haggard fatigued nation needs.

How many "first ladies" will Mitt bring to the White House? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gave up polygamy in 1890. In fact, the polygamists and their bun-wearing wives on Dateline are as realistic a portrayal of Mormons as mountain-dwelling snake handlers are of evangelicalism. Romney's been married to the same woman for 38 years - while Rudy Giuliani walked down the aisle three times, John McCain twice, and Newt Gingrich three times. As Kate O'Beirne recently noted, the only
GOP frontrunner with one wife is the Mormon.

Are you really a Christian? Please: I've eaten countless unidentifiable casseroles at potlucks and I've sung "Just As I Am" 73 million times. I just so happen to support Mitt Romney for President - in spite of our theological differences. I happen to think it's more "Christian" to give the man a fair shake, than to pave the way for candidates without a commitment to social issues.

I'm apparently not alone - donors in Tennessee gave more money to Romney than any other candidate. Plus, he beat all current GOP candidates in straw polls in Memphis, Washington, D. C., and even Greenville, S. C. He's also garnered endorsements by prominent evangelicals like Jay Sekulow, Mark DeMoss, and Hugh Hewitt.

Most importantly, though, the mere mention of his name makes the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the mainstream media break out into hives. That, of course, is enough to make any evangelical put aside theological differences, and take notice.

Nancy French is co-founder of www. EvangelicalsforMitt. org and the author of "Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle"

No ice cream for a month

As of June 12th, I have vowed to myself not to eat ice cream for a month. Reasons:

1. It makes me fat.

2. It makes me feel bloated.

3. It has become an addiction. I am eating way too much of it.

4. It's an exercise in self-control, which I have very little of when it comes to eating.

5. I need a reason to post a blog.

==================================

As of July 12th, I will resume eating ice cream again. Reasons:

1. It's yummy.

2. It's addictive.

3. My self-bargained month will be over.

4. I am going to die anyway.

Will Carter on Immigration

A friend of mine wrote the following:

While Washington D.C. dithers over immigration "reform," the illegal invasion of America continues. I live and work at the "front lines" of this invasion, doing the work most Americans won't do: I teach in California, holding class in the same rooms where my father attended high school some fifty five years ago.

But the "old" school is hardly recognizable today. Whereas 87% of my father's class was "white" and exclusively English-speaking, fully 97% of the present student body is "brown" and mostly Spanish-speaking.

Those distinctions would be inconsequential, but for other differences.

A disturbing number of my "main-stream" students cannot count. Simple math is an impenetrable mystery for them. Even with a calculator, they cannot sum or subtract, multiply or divide. For these, numbers remain mostly meaningless.

This may be attributed, to some extent, to language deficiencies. (I cannot count in Cantonese, for that matter!) But our school district recently lost its lawsuit demanding that our students be tested in Spanish rather than in English. And administrators must now be quietly rejoicing, for had they won their suit, the results certainly would have been doubly dismaying. For, remarkably, much of our population is largely illiterate in either language.

Coming as they do from mostly impoverished, largely illiterate homes -- sometimes bypassing elementary education altogether – many never adequately learn to read or write. Consequently, textbooks (and written tests) are virtually incomprehensible to them. Classwork and homework (at grade level) remain uncompleted and the majority of students, freshman and seniors alike, cannot cobble together a cogent, coherent sentence, let alone an essay.

By allowing such gross inadequacy to persist in our public schools, we have created a culture in which mediocrity and ignorance have prevailed and become the norm; failure and apathy are now entrenched; and half our student population drops out or "transfers" before graduation. Were it not for rampant grade inflation and the "dumbing down" of core curricula, the drop-out and failure rates would be even higher. The results of standardized tests, administered over several decades, have borne this out.

We have imported a "servant-class" nation of often hard-working, usually congenial, but mostly illiterate peasants who fled, understandably, from corrupt and despotic regimes under whose reign these foreign-born brothers and sisters have had little hope of prospering and for whom mere survival has become a challenge. Yet the children of these immigrants, born here and abroad, lack understanding. They have been raised in an impoverished environment which has pragmatically accommodated lawlessness and political corruption.

What wholesome culture can arise among those who lurk in the shadows of illegality? who thrive in anonymity or depend upon pay-offs, bribes, and false (or stolen) identities for survival? Failure to assimilate affords criminals protection from accountability, especially when cities (like the one in which I work) institutionally provide "sanctuary" for those who reside here illegally.

The consequences of lawlessness and illegality may seem trivial to some, insulated as they may be by wealth and privilege. Yet the average American citizen suspects that a disproportionate number of crimes are being committed by illegal immigrants living and working "under the radar." For most of us, it is obvious that the quality of "domestic tranquility" has deteriorated in recent years. Crimes of violence; vandalism; theft; uninsured, hit-and-run and drunken driving; depressed wages; higher taxes; growing slums; overburdened social systems; and plummeting academic scores all correspond with increasing numbers of "undocumented workers."

For thousands of illegal immigrants who murder, maim and plunder in our midst, Mexico and beyond remains a refuge of "last resort" to which one may furtively retire to avoid accountability for one's crimes committed here. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of such criminals, here illegally, never make it to the border and rot in U.S. jails at taxpayer's expense.

Two illegal aliens that aren't in jail -- one age 29, the other age 24 – raped my foster daughters last year. With the help of the police one Sunday morning, I apprehended them, hiding, half-dressed, in a child's closet in my neighbor's house. In the presence of these officers, the men admitted their guilt, apologizing for having sex with the 15- and 17-year-old girls. I left the scene, confident that the perpetrators would be taken into custody and held accountable for their crimes.

But I was mistaken. Imagine my surprise when the police told me they had let the rapists go! They didn't even finger-print or photograph them! "Why?" I asked. "We didn't know the men had had sex with them, or that the girls were underage," the officer said. "But you were there! You heard their confessions! They admitted it right in front of you! The girls came out of the bedroom half naked!" "We don't speak Spanish," the officer told me. (Apparently, the police are trained well enough to say, "Salgan de alli! Manos arriba!" but that's about it.)

Both girls were Latinas. A rape kit was administered to the 15-year-old. The 17-year-old was already pregnant – with her third child conceived in foster care (another monumental scandal of which Californians are utterly unaware). But the perpetrators were long gone, allowed to simply walk away. "Why don't you go pick them up?" I asked. "We don't know who they are or where they live," the police explained. "They had no identification. No address." The police couldn't even talk to them. So they let them go.

Over a hundred years ago, when my ancestors came to this country (legally), they embraced America's culture, celebrated her holidays, learned her common language (English), called themselves "Americans" (not "hyphenated" Americans), waved the American flag, abided by America's laws, and assimilated into American society.

The current crop of immigrants (particularly from Latin America) doesn't seem to be doing that. They wave foreign flags, speak a foreign language, and demand U.S. rights even as they break U.S. laws. They come to this country largely illiterate and often illegally, undereducated and unprepared to assimilate into American society. Meanwhile, they overwhelm our social services, lower our school's academic performance, and radically change our way of life. Perhaps that "change" is more evident in the classroom than anywhere else. But it is a profound change, nonetheless.

While Americans have compassion for those striving to come here in search of a better life and while we sympathize with those suffering poverty and lack of opportunity elsewhere in the world, still, it is inappropriate that the legitimate needs and concerns of native Americans (meaning those born to Americans or who are otherwise naturalized citizens of the U.S.) should be now suppressed and ignored in favor of illegal immigrants. It is wrong that Americans are now compelled, under the guise of "political correctness," to keep silent in the face of this radical transformation of American culture, even the loss of American sovereignty. Anyone who speaks up or dares speak out against the current invasion is immediately branded a racist, a bigot, or a xenophobe.

I, for one, do not consider it racist, bigoted, or xenophobic to cherish one's heritage, to uphold the rule of law, or to protect and retain the American way of life. It is not incumbent upon us as Americans to give up what we hold dear simply because others want it for themselves or seek to destroy it. However, should we chose not to defend what is ours or protect what it means to be American, we shouldn't be surprised to wake up one day to discover that the America we know is gone.

Art

The need for art.

I get caught up in being an adult: child rearing, career, household duties, calling, … the list could go on.

I forget how art can soothe me, or give me dimension.

Here is some art I like.