k wrote:
] ] Family Values
] ]
] ]
] ] Yesterday:
] ]
] ] Bush introduced Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from
] ] Clive, whom he said benefited from his tax plan.
] ]
] ] Last year, because of the enhanced the child tax
] ] credit, they received an extra $1,600 in their tax
] ] refund, Bush said. With other tax cuts in the bill, they
] ] saved $2,800 on their income taxes.
] ]
] ] They used the money to buy a wood-burning stove to
] ] more efficiently heat their home, made some home
] ] improvements and went on a vacation to Minnesota, the
] ] president said.
] ]
] ] "Next year, maybe they'll want to come to Texas,"
] ] Bush quipped.
] ]
] ] Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor,
] ] said the tax cuts also gave him additional money to use
] ] for health care.
] ]
] ] He said he supports Bush's values.
] ]
] ] "The American people are starting to see what kind of
] ] leader President Bush is. People know where he stands,"
] ] he said.
] ]
] ] "Where we are in this world, with not just the war on
] ] terror, but with the war with our culture that's going
] ] on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the
] ] White House like President Bush, that's going to stand by
] ] what he believes.
] ]
] ]
] ] and today...
] ]
] ] A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual
] ] exploitation of a child.
] ]
] ] KCCI learned that the married father of four recently
] ] turned himself in to Johnston police.
] ]
] ] Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of
] ] God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30.
] ] Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
] ]
] ] Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old
] ] in the church youth group this spring.
]
] [ This has nothing to do with Bush, in the sense that I'm not
] so unreasonable as to pin the Reverend's actions on anyone but
] himself. I bring it up to point out a contrast I see all too
] frequently between moralist statements, and actual behavior.
]
] On the right, "culture war" is code for "homosexual agenda",
] it's built into that frame. Something tells me the threat to
] Rev. Hintz' marriage was not homosexuality, but Adultery.
] Adultery with a youth over whom he could assert control, and
] authority.
]
] I don't think hypocracy is necessarily as horrible as many of
] my generation do, but when you get up on stage with the
] president and decry the state of our values, you better be
] pretty clean yourself. -k]

Good point. And I'm sure this will make a great attack ad in 08. But I'll drive the nail even deeper with a personal rant.

As an individual in this society, I do try my best to understand my common man. I may not agree with someone who feels abortion is evil, or that homosexuality is evil, or that prayer in schools should be required. But I'll die supporting their ability to speak about it, propose it, and even lobby for it. I'm willing to spend the time, energy, and attention to at least hear their perspective and contemplate it.

What I'm offended by is that this is not reciprocated. I don't hear about groups aligned with these agendas willing to listen to alternatives, or even acknowledge their existance in most cases. I rarely engage with an individual who overtly sides with these issues and related issues who's willing to even listen to a rational alternative, much less engage in discussion. Hence, I don't ever get the feeling that there's mutual respect on the other side. I don't get the feeling that anything less than total conversion is acceptable. And that is extraordinarily upsetting.

Why is it that by doing the right thing (being tolerant, even supportive) puts you in a position of being abused and vulnerable? Why can't we agree to disagree and leave it at that? I don't want to make the rest of the country in my own image. Why do they?

RE: Moral values... (from atrios)