One reason for slow employment growth is the low number of jobs lost during the 2001 recession, Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview Thursday. Productivity gains are also to blame and those should be reaching a limit soon, he said.

Unemployment reached 10.8 percent in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan and was as high as 7.8 percent in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush.

Huh. You’d think the world was coming to an end...5.6%?!

Jesus said, in Matthew 19:5 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’

Wife=woman.  Pretty simple, basic, and unalterable.  Jesus didn’t say two men, two women, or a man and a she-goat. 

Also, ‘two become one’ also refers to two people becoming one physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.  The two become a family.  That is the sacremental basis of marriage.  And, the two parents, combined, forming the child...again, two becoming one. 

There is a lot of symbolism as well, but the sanctity, as well as the definition, of marriage is here.  In fact, it could be said that there is a better argument for polygamy than for same-sex marriage here. 

What is clear?  A man and a woman become one.  Inherently, same-sex unions are proscribed, as is incest.  This doesn’t even go back to Leviticus, or forward to Paul, where the subjects are addressed in greater detail. 

Matthew 19:5 - and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’.

Pretty clear.  This is my moral take on same-sex marriage.  The push for same-sex marriage (championed by Andrew Sullivan) is more of an attempt to morally legitimize his sexual orientation.  Homosexual sex is recognized as a sin by most traditional religions on the planet.  It is recognized as a distinctly selfish act, geared towards physical and emotional self-pleasure.  It has no constructive use, other than to satisfy internal desires (the same goes for masturbation and casual sex).  There is no moral benefit for a man to have sex with another man, and no biblical support for the act.  The same goes for casual sex and masturbation.  Because of these unalterable facts, Andrew Sullivan holds traditional Judeo-Christian values in contempt, because they declare that the way he satiates his sexual and emotional needs is immoral. 

Therefore, he wishes to LEGISLATE the moral code, by creating “same sex civil MARRIAGE”.  Not “civil UNION”, because that carries no weight in a moral sense, but “civil MARRIAGE”.  He wants the law to read that same-sex marriages are equal to traditional marriages.  He wants that because our society tends towards thinking that if something is LEGAL, then it must be CORRECT, and, therefore, RIGHT.  That is also why the term ‘marriage’ is required.  If all marriages in this country became ‘unions’, then the institution of marriage suffers.  He doesn’t want to draw down traditional marriage to something equal to a sales contract.....he wants to raise up homosexual marriage to the level of traditional marriage.....

....Andrew Sullivan wants to make homosexual marriage a Sacrament.  He wants it to be on a moral par with traditional marriages.  The Bible doesn’t allow it, so he wants to call the law (that currently mirrors the Biblical standard) “immoral” and “bigoted”.  This appeals to civil libertarians, but skirts the main thrust of his goal. His actions are focussed on making the people who support traditional marriage look like they are closed-minded bigots.  That will turn people to his side, because no-one wants to be called a bigot.  That’s the worst thing you can be. 

But the people that oppose same-sex marriage AREN’T bigots...they are religious, centered people, conservative in word and deed, raising families, usually making a quarter of what AS makes, and 60% less than the average homosexual makes.  They say the Pledge, work hard to pay their taxes, and want to pray and live without Leftists tellign them that they are wrong for doing so.  That is why the Religious Right sprang up so strong in the late 80’s and the early 90’s....it was a response to the current shift in society, which dictated that simplistic, moral stances (i.e. homosexuality is wrong) were based in bigotry and hatred. 

However, most of these people really don’t care what goes on behind closed doors.  They just want to be able to live, learn, pray, and teach their kids what they believe to be right and wrong.  Andrew Sullivan doesn’t want that.  Neither do the people that support same-sex marriage...they say you are wrong to do that.  You are closed minded if you do that.  You are socially and intellectually inferior if you do that. 

As Orwell said, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

That’s my ‘religious’ take on the same-sex marriage issue.  Thanks for any commentary.

Here we are, with my comments in bold:

THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION: Suddenly, the real reason for Moscow’s resistance to toppling Saddam Hussein seems clearer. And the Bush administration’s coddling of Putin more baffling. I guess the damage Putin can still do is greater than the damage Russia has already done. Like Pakistan.

Didn’t we already know this? Like, two years ago, at least?  Putin’s guys just killed a terrorist leader a couple days ago.  Add to that the fact that we have been giving Putin a hard second look for a while, and AS is stretching a bit here.  Especially since he said this in 2001. 

AN ENGLISH “PASSION”: Here’s an article you would never read in America, but it does capture something about some people’s response to Mel Gibson’s movie:
[A] group of us went to see the first showing of The Passion of the Christ. I am afraid to say that I was late, and, as I entered the foyer of the Odeon West End, a man with an earring broke off from his mobile phone call and said: “It’s all right, Mr Johnson, you’re in time for the Crucifixion.”
Yes, I intend to rent “The Life of Brian” soon. In today’s fetid culture wars, it may help me stay sane. One always has to look on the bright side of life, doesn’t one?

More Bashing of The Passion, and the people that view it. 

THE CASE AGAINST BUSH: I have to say I haven’t read a more persuasive one than Will Saletan’s.

Is there any doubt that Sullivan has completely turned because the same-sex marriage issue? 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “My days here are numbered because I dared to speak out against the Bush administration and say that the religious agenda of George W. Bush concerning stem cell research and gay marriage is wrong. And that what he is doing with the FCC is pushing this religious agenda. And also the fact that the guy takes more vacation than any President ever. It’s time for him to leave. Having said that pushed me off the air in six markets.” - Howard Stern, venting. I have no idea whether Stern is being paranoid or not. Since I don’t really function before 10 am, I don’t have much exposure to him. But I like his spirit; and I do think that Howard Stern and Howard Stern listeners are not people the president needs to alienate in an election year. And it says something about the fragility of the Republican coalition that he feels he has to. Bush is doing his damnedest to make it hard for anyone who isn’t a paid-up evangelical to support him this year. Why?

Now Sullivan is saying that Stern’s removal from Clear Channel is proof that BUSH is doing wrong?  Talk about rationalization and hate.

This is proof that the man has gone off his rocker.  He turned on the same-sex issue, and now everything that Bush does is wrong, evil, or immoral. 

The only constant that Andrew Sullivan has shown is a hatred and a dripping contempt for those among us who are religious conservatives.  If that describes you, then you are no better than Hitler to him.  I think that his psychology must be fascinating.  He blasted the pro-Hussein and anti-American protestors for blasting Bush on his policies, and comparing him to a fascist, and Sullivan himself is doing the same thing. 

I gotta stop reading his blog.  He drives me nuts.