A Night at The Grammy's

While this is a little late to the party, I have been seeing all the talk of what went on at The Grammy Awards on Sunday night.  Satanic rituals performed onstage by a woman who was raised in a Christian conservative home, the mass wedding performed by Queen Latifa, and Jay-Z and Beyoncé performing Drunk in Love together on stage.  

 I don't really expect anything different from Katy Perry.  It has been obvious for quite some time that she has rejected the values that her parents believe in.  That is her prerogative.  What I find insulting about it is the fact that she feels the need to publicly mock it, doing so in front of the artists who were there to see if they won awards for Gospel and Christian categories.  At least one artist got up and walked out.  Ms. Perry has the right to live her life anyway she chooses to do so, but somehow I have this feeling that she really isn't a devil worshipper and that wasn't done to get her own particular point of view across.  It was done to make people who are questioning their own belief systems to feel ashamed that they may have the audacity to think that Christianity is a good thing.  A person who is firmly set in a Christian lifestyle may be insulted by the performance, but they don't question their belief.  They simply shake their heads in disbelief and dismay.  

 Queen Latifa, and ordained minister of some kind, performed a marriage ceremony for 30 or so couples.  Some of these couples were of course same-sex couples.  Now, I would say this if all the couples were heterosexual.  The Grammy Awards is no place to get married.  This wasn't about making a lifetime commitment to another, it was about proving a political point.  That gay couples love just as much as same-sex couples.  I have never said they didn't.  A wedding and/or marriage ceremony is about is two people making a commitment to each other; for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, to remain faithful and loving for the rest of your lives.  Most people do decide to celebrate that commitment in front of their families and loved ones.  Others do it more privately.  The vast majority of people don't decide to do it because they want to the world to see their political viewpoint.  That makes a mockery of the thing that gay marriage advocates say that they are trying to accomplish.  Simple equality and the right to commit themselves to a person that they love.  What is so odd about it is that some of the lyrics that were being played out that night even talked about how marriage is more than a simple piece of paper.  If you want equality than stop acting like everyone in the world must approve of your marriage.  I have news for you, not everyone approves of all kinds of marriages.  There have been marriages that have been looked down upon since the beginning of marriage and that isn't likely to end anytime soon.  You don't need to me to like what your choices are in order for them to be the right choice for you.  I am never going to approve of gay marriage and that doesn't make your feelings and your commitment any less valid in your own life.  My religious beliefs tells me that it is wrong.  The sooner the activists get that the better off we will all be.  But of course, that would hinge upon it really being about just marriage, when for many it is not.  

 Now we can move on to Jay-Z and his lovely bride Beyoncé.  She was prancing around on stage barely dressed and moving her body in a salacious manner singing a song that included the lyrics "I can't keep my fingers off it baby, I want you".  You know, I don't really need to know what goes in the bedroom of any other couple.  I really don't.  It isn't something that interests me at all.  I have read two opposing views of this performance.  One from the very left leaning Think Progress that is basically saying that conservatives should jump at the chance of having this couple be the spokesmodels for marriage, because they make it look like fun.  

This may not be the vision of marriage conservatives intended to try to promote. And it’s absolutely a more aspirational, exciting good than the idea that marriage will discipline wayward men or provide support for women who can’t manage economically on their own. But if conservatives want to sell Americans on marriage, maybe they have to talk more about the bliss half of wedded bliss, to think about the desire part of making marriage desirable. And maybe the entertainment industry that Douthat’s singled out as the enemy of marriage has something to add to the case for marital happiness. If marriage is a product that conservatives desperately want to sell, the smartest thing they could do right now is to hire Beyoncé and Jay-Z as a product spokescouple.

Now I am far from the spokesperson for every conservative nor do I pretend to be an expert on marriage.  But I can think of no conservative that thinks that sex within the realms of a marriage is bad.  After all conservatives, especially of the social variety, tend to have much larger families.  Something must be going on in order for those babies to be coming along.  The difference is that we don't like talking about it publicly nor do we think that it is appropriate viewership for our young children for a scantily dressed woman making provocative movements while using euphemisms about a surf board.  I also am unclear of the conservative message that women should get married because they can't manage on their own.  Now the data is clear, the majority of children living in poverty are products of a single family home.  When you are married before you have children the chances of those children living below the poverty line decreases and not just a little.  That doesn't mean that conservatives are saying that women should get married simply because they need a man to support them.  You have a 70% chance of lifting yourself out of poverty if you follow three very simple things, graduate high school, do not get married before the age of 21, and do not have children out-of-wedlock.  The left leaning Brookings Institute didn't like these findings, but the finding are there nonetheless.  That is a far cry from saying that you must marry in order to support yourselves as women.  There are plenty of women who can support themselves and their children financially without the help of man, but that doesn't mean that they give a strong base for that child.  Two active parents is better for children to thrive.  

 I am not going to get into passing judgement on the marriage of that supercouple.  That is something that is between them.  He knew she was performer when he married her and apparently he has no issues with the whole "sex sells" part of her job.  He is obviously fine with it so it isn't up to me to say that it is wrong in all instances.  What I don't like is that being told that is what I am supposed to aspire to.  Sorry, but no.  In my relationship there isn't a great deal of jealousy going on, Thank God.  But somehow I don't think that me shaking my ass in a barely there outfit is part of the long-term game plan for a happy and successful relationship.  It also isn't the best role model for young children either.  But that is just some prudish conservative talking.  

My Post Election Rant

Obviously I am very disappointed in the results from election night.  So much so, that I really have not had the heart to even write this.  But, Kathleen Parker got me out of that and quickly too.

The truth is, Romney was better than the GOP deserved. Party nitwits undermined him, and the self-righteous tried to bring him down. The nitwits are well-enough known at this point — those farthest-right social conservatives who couldn’t find it in their hearts to keep their traps shut. No abortion for rape or incest? Sit down.Legitimate rape? Put on your clown suit and go play in the street.
Equally damaging were the primary leeches who embarrassed the party and wouldn’t leave the stage. Nine-nine-nine, we’re talking about you, Herman Cain. And Gov. Oops? You, too. And then there were Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, who never had a real shot at the nomination and certainly could never win a national election, yet they refused to surrender to the certain nominee.
Did they have a right to persist in their own fantasies? Sure. But not if they were serious about getting a Republican in the White House. Thus, for months and months, Romney had to spend his energy and, as important, his money to prevail in the primaries against opponents who had no chance and who ultimately hurt him. During that same precious time, Obama’s campaign was busy pinpointing specific voters, practically learning the names of their dogs, and buying ads in niche markets.

Wow, so it is my fault.  Not that I am even "furthest right" when it comes to social issues. I have made no bones about it, I didn't like Mitt Romney as the nominee.  I have been saying for over a year that had he got the nomination he would lose.  I didn't even think that because of his wishy washiness on social issues.  To me social issues are not really the purview of the federal government, and I don't care which side is trying to make the case that they are.  You cannot legislate your sense of morality onto someone else, it comes from within.   That said, people still want to see that you have core convictions.

I also have seen many of the more moderate republicans all across social media blaming the tea party and SoCons.  Really?  I will say it again, I didn't like Romney as the nominee.  I didn't want to vote for him.  When push came to shove, I went out and I did it.  Not only did I vote for him, I went out and worked my ass off trying to get him elected.  I spent the final six weeks of the cycle on trains, planes, and automobiles crisscrossing the country from swing state to swing state.  I spent 7 to 8 hours per day knocking on doors, then spend another few hours making phone calls.  I did this in close to freezing temperatures and pouring rain one more than one occasion.  I slept in hotel that I had to keep changing rooms because of bugs.  Don't tell me that I didn't take one for the team.

Every Tea Party minded person I know personally did similar things as well.  Americans for Prosperity, one of the tea party umbrella groups, helped get people like me out to swing states.  Do you think that Romney was their initial choice?  Not likely, but we will never know as they don't endorse candidates.  But, you still saw them working night and day on the GOTV effort.  Like me, they understood the stakes.

Now, what did the squishy middle do?  Were they there?  Did the same people who are throwing this blame around at people like me get out from in front of their computers and make the same personal sacrifices that I made?  Many of the ones that I know didn't.  They sat around posting things through social media to people who already agreed with them.  Boy, that was helpful.

One thing that was proven without a doubt is that the moderate wing of the party cannot the presidency without the crazies from the far right.  To the people who believe that all life is sacred and is worth fighting for.  I will admit that some go too far for my tastes.  I refuse to engage with people who show horrific pictures of dead babies and ask me if I think it is ok to rip babies out of their mothers wombs.  That is emotional blackmail.  But, if you think that same tactic isn't used on the left you are sadly mistaken.  They take one person out 45,000 that has some obscure sob story and then tries to pass a law that forces everyone in the country to change their life in order to accommodate their plea of the day.  While of course the opposite is true as well.  But I am sick to death of hearing that I caused the loss of the senate and I am somehow personally responsible for Romney's loss.

I was there, I was in a tightly contested county in a swing state on election day.  No kidding, they had me knocking on doors that already had literature on it.  I called and told them that this was happening.  I was told to just keep going.  I walked seven miles on election day, going door to door.  At one point I had to find a woody area so I could go to the bathroom because I knew that one of the drivers wouldn't be able to get me in time, I was so far out from the victory office.  Luckily I had napkins with me.

After returning from day of door knocking I was making calls all day.  I was calling Minnesota.  You know what, 3 out 5 calls were wrong numbers due to bad area codes.  How the heck is that my fault?  Didn't the campaign bother to update the phone lists?  Apparently not.  The campaign is denying the story of software they created for the GOTV effort, but I can tell it was true, at least in Ohio.  It wasn't working properly.

Where was the Romney campaign in Wisconsin?  Why didn't they use the popularity of Paul Ryan as the hometown boy with the all the advantages they had with Governor Walker's grassroots efforts?  They didn't put enough resources in that state.  That is my fault how?

I am sick to death of hearing that my voice shouldn't matter in the party.  That my views are somehow less important than theirs.  That I should be giving up on my principles to tack left.  Because heaven knows that is what the democrats do when they lose elections.  They moderate.

I happen to believe that we need immigration reform in this country.  But I am not willing to sell out my principles in order to get it.  The facts are President Reagan signed immigration reform decades ago, did that help bring Hispanics into the party?  No it did not.  Did the democratically controlled congress keep their end of the bargain?  If they had we wouldn't have millions more in the country.  Read the law that Reagan signed Ms. Parker.  The borders were supposed to be secured.  The law was supposed to go after employers that violated the law by giving any additional positions to illegals, oh excuse me, undocumented workers.  None of that has happened.  So I am supposed to put my trust into the democrats doing the same again?  I guess if I am stupid I should.

What people like you Ms. Parker are really saying is that my views matter so little that I should be just cast aside.  Lets also take a stroll down memory lane of the past few GOP presidential candidates.  McCain, a moderate.  Dole, a moderate, Bush I who governed as a moderate and destroyed the yacht industry while president.  An industry that all these decades that has never come back, and never will.  Thanks to his "luxury" tax thousands upon thousands lost their jobs, companies went out of business, and America, once the #1 exporter of said yachts is now the #1 importer.  The industry died and it cost the tax payers millions and millions of dollars.  Yes, that is the leadership that the right should be looking for.

President Bush 2 is the only one of them that was ran as conservative unabashedly.  He was successful not just once, but twice.  Now, he still ended up with big government polices and spent money like a drunken sailor (sorry to all you drunken sailors) that has gotten us to the point where we are now.  Above and beyond all the money and the big government policies that President Bush promoted and acted upon during his presidency, his biggest sin was acting like you are suggesting.   He rolled over and allowed the left to control the narrative.  He didn't fight back on all the lies.  He felt that the presidency shouldn't be used in that way.  While in theory I agree with him on that.  I, to have a great deal of respect for the office of the presidency, but times have changed.  We have 24 hour news cycles and cable channels that do nothing but spit out a point of view and will use lies if necessary to promote their agenda.  That must be countered and countered hard.  His refusal to do it, is a big part of the reason we even have a President Obama.  So no, Ms. Parker I reject your advice.  The protection of religious liberties matter.  I will fight for them from shore to shore in this country.  The word marriage has meaning.  If gay marriage was simply about benefits, the problems would have been solved years ago.  If DADT tell was simply about serving in the military we would not have seen people in uniforms marching in Gay Pride parades this year, even though that is clear violation of military code of conduct.  You wouldn't see gay couples suing conservative churches to perform marriage ceremonies.  They are trying to say that my beliefs are bad, that there is something inherently wrong with them.  I don't care what a gay couple does in the privacy of their bedrooms, but I do care what they are trying to do to my church.  They want tax write-offs and hospital visitation fine.  But stay out of my place of worship.

Did it ever occur to you Ms. Parker that Romney was never able to make the connection to voters?  Did it ever occur to you that he never gave a coherent reason of why he should be president other than he wasn't Obama?  Now that was more than enough for me, but for the low information voter it wasn't.  Most people don't like change just for the sake of change.  They will dance with the devil they know.  That is part of human nature.  Did it every occur to you that people in this country don't want to elect someone who is wealthy as he is?  The left, that you seem all too willing to model after, has done a great job in creating a society that wealth is a bad thing, that people with money are ogres, evil, and someone who isn't compassionate.

People in this country want conviction Ms. Parker.  Romney didn't show that he really had that.  People want real conviction because it is a sign of leadership.  Stop blaming me and put the blame where it belongs, on the left who have convinced people that anyone that dares calls themselves a republican, or gasp even worse a conservative, lacks compassion and is racist.   Look in the mirror Ms. Parker, because you yourself have bought into that argument.

The New Faces of Homelessness

Living outside of Washington, DC you see awful examples of homelessness. Within mere blocks from the White House you see people sleeping on grates. Virtually every metro station has people standing with signs asking for food and/or money. It is really quite shameful. Many homeless are mentally ill or substance abusers. You can't help anyone that is unwilling to help themselves, no matter how hard you may try.


Outside of the grocery store I used to shop at there was always a young man who was obviously homeless. I would pick him up a sandwich while I was in the store. He never appeared to be high or drunk to me nor did he ever ask me for money. A couple of times I needed help moving furniture or something else heavy and I paid him to move the things. He never stole anything and did a very good at any task that I requested. Then I noticed I had not seen him in a while and read in the paper that the homeless man who had been hit by a bus had died after a time in a coma, he is his late twenties if I remember correctly. I assumed it was him. It made me very sad. He seemed like a good guy who was just down and out, and I has always wished I had tried to do more to help him.

I have spending some time recently at the Lincoln Memorial. It is one of my very favorite views of D.C. I have been taking one of my all time favorite people with me. We talk about our day, get some ice cream, and just share some time together. I want him to have a special memory of that place that every time he goes there he remembers the time we spent together. A trigger memory as it were.

Yesterday I noticed someone who looked familiar to me with homeless please help sign written on a beat up piece of cardboard. I almost never carry cash. I am debit card girl. So, I just kept walking to my destination. I had to use the bathroom and needed to walk past her again. I noticed she was reading Atlas Shrugged. Which of course I found amusing and ironic. I looked again, and yes indeed I did recognize her. She recently started showing up at some tea party and election events that I have been to in the past few months. I went over to ask what she needed.

When she saw someone coming with children with them she moved her sign. I went and asked her why she did that and she told me that she realized that children don't always understand the very real reasons why adults are hesitant to give money to strangers. These people didn't know her story and many assume she is addict or something. I asked if drugs were the reason she was here. She explained it was simply a recession issue for her. She lost her job three years ago and could only find a job in retail sales that paid her commission. She did ok for the first two years and but then she ran out of her savings. Her job then cut her commission level in half and then cut her hours in half as well. She even said Target turned her down for a job. She simply got an email saying that they were not interested at this time and reapply in six months. Something that left her very depressed and feeling desperate.

I asked her what her most immediate need was (besides a job that pays a livable wage) and she told me she needed to do laundry. She was almost completely out of clean clothes. I didn't notice anything with her and she explained she has a car and keeps her things in her car. I asked if her car was close by and it was. I went with her and picked up her laundry. I brought it back clean a few hours later along with the food I had in the house that didn't require cooking or refrigeration. Mainly snacky foods like Lorna Doones, Cheerios and Granola Bars. I also stopped and got her a hot meal from Whole Foods.

I remember hearing about a tent city that has erected in Seattle. While Seattle seems to be a Mecca of sorts of homeless because of year round mild weather and permissive city laws, apparently it has grown since the recession has been hitting the country. It got me thinking of how many other people who have just fallen through the cracks and end up on the streets. It really is quite sad.

I also wanted to know what led her to start becoming more involved with Tea Party events. She told me that she is a conservative person but not really a joiner. She was working hard to keep her head above water when the Tea Party first started and just didn't have the time or the desire to get involved although she agreed with the basic concepts. She admitted that part of it for her is a time filler and a temperature controlled place to go for a few hours. She has never spoken to anyone that I have seen. She comes in, listens and leaves a bit early.

She explained to me that she knew this coming for a while and held it off as long as she could, but just couldn't make the rent anymore. She thought she had prepared herself but has found out that it is an incremental experience. Your life becomes about surviving today. Having enough food for today. Finding a safe place to sleep tonight. Looking at tomorrow is hard and looking at next week is next to impossible. She went through a period of depression for the first month or so but has been able to shake that off. She realized that this is her life and only she can get herself out of it. She keeps herself clean and has started filling out job applications again. She has a job interview later this week. She told me that she has been able to keep her phone turned on so can find a job. She says that is one of her biggest fears is that she will lose her phone service or her computer will get stolen. She knows she will never find a job if those things happen. She has found places that she feels safe to sleep. The hard part now is filling all the hours without getting very depressed.

I talked to someone at my church today. They have an opening for someone to help with the summer camp. It won't pay much and it is only for a few weeks, but it will help. The pastor said there are plenty of other people around and they will run a criminal background check just to be sure. My church also has a house, but presently that is being filled by a woman and her kids who were being abused and needed a safe place to stay until she can get on her feet. So I am not able to find her a temporary place to live, at least not yet.

Since I love blogging so much I told her she should start a blog and keep a record of her experience. It may help someone else who finds themselves in similar circumstances. She told me that she did start one but gave it up pretty quickly because of the depression. I told her she needed to start it up again. She told me she would. Here is the address if you want to read her story. There isn't much there, but it is interesting reading.

I am going to try to find her later today or tomorrow and tell her about the summer camp position. Wish me luck in finding her and wish her luck in her endeavor to get her life back on track. I will update you later.

And the Winner Is: Mike Pence

Mike Pence wins the straw poll at the value voters conference this weekend. 





2. Gov. Mike Huckabee
3. Gov. Mitt Romney
4. Newt Gingrich
5. Gov. Sarah Palin

The results for vice president were as follows:
1. Sarah Palin (She actually came in second due to Mike Pence winning both President and Vice President)
2. Rick Santorum
3. Paul Ryan
4. Jim DeMint
5. Mike Huckabee

Mike Pence is a true conservative, there can be no doubt about that and his speech was excellent.  Personally, I am a big fan of Mike Pence and I would love to see him throw his hat into the ring.  I am just very surprised to see Gov. Palin to come in 5th.  Michele Bachmann was originally supposed to be on the ballot but requested that her name be pulled.  It would have been interesting to see how the results would have turned out had she been on it. 

Conservative Values?

Liberals like to say that all conservatives think alike.  They do not.  The more you involve yourself in the movement that is going on the more you realize this.  I spend a great deal of time reading as much as I can about what is going on this great country of ours.  I like being informed.  I also like reading points of view other than my own.  I strongly believe that reading other points of view solidify my own beliefs, and in some instances I learn something. 

I also promised myself that I would stay true to own my voice and values.  I have met some very nice people during this process.  I have also met some not so nice ones as well.  I have a twitter follower who is brutal.  He calls me a Nazi.  Which for the life of me I cannot understand as Nazi's believe in a powerful government and I firmly believe in a limited one. 

On quite a few occasions I have been called a troll and traitor among other names.  I was talking to someone the other day that I met through the tea party movement.  She had what I believe to be her first experience with that. 

She is medical professional who has very strong views on how nurses are treated in society.  I really don't know a great deal about that topic as I have never worked in the medical field.  But, she has dedicated her life to it. 

She came across an article that someone had posted regarding Obamacare.  The article is irrelevant, but the photo that was put with the article is not.  It was a picture of nurse dressed in provocative clothing.  A stereotype that makes her crazy.  She was telling me that this is something that professional nurses have been fighting for what seems like forever.  She made a comment on the picture and how it was not only a negative stereotype it also was degrading to women in general. 

In return, she was a called a feminazi and liberal.  Really?  Since when did sexualizing women become a conservative value?  Did the same people that made these comments feel that it was OK for Newsweek to put Gov. Palin on it's cover in running shorts?  I have this feeling that the answer to that question is no. 

There needs to be some things that we can accept that we agree upon.  We should be able to agree for example that sexualizing women is not a healthy thing to do; it gives young girls the wrong impression of what they should become.  Young girls see these images and feel like the need to look like Kate Moss in order to be considered attractive.  Eating disorders among teenage girls is a serious problem in this country, and this is part of the reason why. 

People think that because I am a conservative blogger that I can never say anything positive about President Obama.  That simply isn't the case.  While I will admit that it is hard for me to find things that I agree with him on, but one thing that I really do like about the president is the positive family image he projects.  Family is the bedrock to our society.  I have no way of knowing what the Obama's are like in private, but the public image is of a man who loves his two little girls and wants to be a positive role model for them.  This is a good message that in many ways gets lost in our society; and it should not.  As conservatives, we need to promote family values and everything good that brings to our children.  While we may disagree on what constitutes a family, we can agree that family is important. 

We are never going to agree on everything.  Life would be pretty boring if we did.  But the conservative movement needs to learn to be nicer to one another and to not to revert to name calling simply because someone has a one or two viewpoints that may be different than our own.  Especially when that view point is about treating women as a sexual object instead of a human being with real emotions that deserves dignity and respect.