Conservative Lutherans Battle back.

Well, Lutherans of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began the long road back to a scriptural church, this past week, as they met in Florida and voted to stay unified, voted not to bless gay marriages, and not to allow practicing gays to pastor a church. Had the two latter votes gone the other way, the first vote would have had no validity. The church would have split immediately.

What all these votes represent is a church finally showing its determination to remain a church based solely on the scriptures.

There has been a liberal movement afoot in the church for a number of years. Many of us, and I include myself in that number, are from the “old” church. We saw the movement away from scripture, and towards modern political correctness, as the destruction of a church... a church, which came directly, out of the Reformation and was founded on "scripture alone". Nothing could change that. Scripture is NOT politically correct.

But, in recent years an attempt has been made... and was partially successful.

Lutherans are slow to accept change and even slower to move against change they do not like... until momentum is built up. Over the past few years that momentum has been building.

Lutherans have been asked to accept so many “non Lutheran” practices in recent years that we were/are in fear of losing our church. Things like the “Historic Episcopate” which is not a part of Lutheranism. Some of us refused to accept that. I was among them.

Old Lutherans still believe what the scripture has to say about homosexuality. It is wrong, and it is a sin. As a result, we cannot bless a union of men, or women, living in what is obviously a "state of sin". Neither can we accept allowing a homosexual pastor to stand as the leader of a congregation and setting an example for others to follow.

A sharp dividing line was drawn between the Lutherans who believed the scriptures and those who did/do not. The disagreement was just that simple. But it was a disagreement, which would split the church apart... and may yet.

The past few years I have not participated in ELCA services. Instead I attend a Missouri Synod Church some 50 miles away. My tithing to the church continued, only to the Missouri Synod church, not to the ELCA Church of which I am officially a member. I simply could not bring myself to compromise on those things I felt were right... those things I felt were scriptural.

Finally, this last week, in Florida, my faith in the Lutherans was restored… partially. We still have a long way to go, and a lot to do, to regain our former position as a scriptural church. But… we are, at last, on the way.

“Here endth the lesson for today”.

“Longstreet”

What Did the Commission Know, and When Did They Know It?

Heard about “Able-Danger”, yet? If not, chances are very good that you will. The mainstream media is being dragged to this story by the "blogosphere" (as has been the case with so many stories of late).

It seems the military had a secret intelligence group know as "Able Danger" prior to 9/11 and Able Danger was keeping a eye on the would be terrorists who struck the US on 9/11. It seems this super-secret group was operating during the Clinton Administration and made known their findings (about the men who would later hijack four airliners.... and, well, you know the rest...) to the Clinton administration and somehow, nothing was ever done.

Information is still turning up on this developing story, but one of the most troubling aspects so far is the report that staffers of the 9/11 commission were given this information and squelched it, for whatever reason. If that is the case, then the findings of the 9/11 Commission aren’t worth the paper they were written on and lend credence to the theory that the 9/11 Commission was more a “get Bush” commission than it was a fact-finding commission.

Well, this will come as no surprise to those of us on the right who felt that way about the Commission from the git-go.

Many conservatives in the US were disgusted with the way the Commission went about it’s business and frankly, we decided the “end result” was already decided before the gavel dropped opening the first meeting. The little show we saw on our TV screens was more an attempt at damaging the President than it was about keeping the public informed about the work of the Commission which now appears, as we had suspected, to be deeply flawed.

There are calls, all over the blogoshere, for a commission to investigate the 9/11 Commission. In other words, “investigate the investigators”. When will this vicious cycle end? This immense game of “gotcha” is a doing much more harm than good to the nation and is, quite frankly, playing right into the hands of the terrorists.

In the days and weeks ahead, more will become known about “Able Danger” , their report, and why it was bottled up and never saw the light of day. As each bit of information leaks out, more and more names of former public officials are likely to be connected to this story. It could easily lead to the biggest scandal in a very long while.

One thing, chances are very good, the mainstream media will try, with all their might, to stir clear of this story. You see, their favorite people are implicated, to one extent or another, in the unfolding mess, which begins to smell of conspiracy.

The blogoshere will play a vital roll in seeing that this story stays alive until the entire details are known.

“Longstreet”

Ruddy or Hillary? Neither Wins the South

A poll showing Rudolph Giuliani would beat Hillary Rodham-Clinton in a head to head campaign for the US presidency in 2008 may be a bit misleading. The polled showed Giuliani would win convincingly.

As a Southern Conservative, I’m not so sure of that. You see, Mr. Giuliani is from the Northeast. It makes no difference that he is Republican, the fact remains that he is from the northeast and we simply will not vote for a “northeasterner”. Conservative Republicans will stay home on election day if Giuliani wins the nomination.

Now, the fact is that neither Party can win a presidential election, in this country, without carrying the South. Hillary cannot carry the South. Giuliani cannot carry the South… and John McCain cannot carry the south.

So where does that leave the Republican Party? Looking for another candidate, a southerner, or a midwesterner that is a conservative, believes in a right to life, and preferably the governor of a Southern state.

I make no predictions here, because I haven’t the slightest idea who the candidate will be, but If the Republican party wishes to remain in control of the Congress and the Presidency, they had better not run Giuliani, or McCain, for President. The same goes for the Democrats running Hillary. She cannot win. Neither can John Kerry.

Senator Bill Frist shot himself in the foot, recently, for the third time, and has committed political suicide as far as his plans to run for the Republican nomination for the presidency. He’s done.

Making no predictions now, but more and more the gaze of Southern Republicans is turning to Jeb Bush. The top of our wish list holds Condi Rice, then, Jeb Bush, and then, Newt Gingrich. Yep, ole Newt!

All three of these Republicans have track records, which could be useful, in a run for the presidency.

I’m not looking for a dark horse candidate coming from somewhere deep within the ranks of the GOP. I believe the candidates are already before us and we need to be paying close attention in the next few months.

My personal preferences are as listed above, Rice, Bush, and Gingrich. Even a combination of any two of those for President and Vice-President would be good… for me. But, then again, that is only me.

The campaign is just around the corner, so we had better get geared up and ready to launch our guy, or gal, as the case may be.

“Longstreet”

Democrats: Funny and Dangerous

It has been said that Liberals are hilarious when they are out of power, but dangerous when they are in power. It is a truism.

As we watch, and listen, to the “out of power” Liberals, on the national scene, they are indeed hilarious. Ted Kennedy, chief among them, is the court jester of the Political Left.

But, for a traveling comedy show one cannot beat Howard Dean as the head of the DNC.

These folks have laughed themselves nearly into oblivion. What makes them even funnier is the fact that they don’t know they are funny, or being funny. They are deadly in earnest, and yet the vacuousness of most of their arguments leads a listener, or viewer, to break out in peals of laughter, just because one must believe they meant it as a joke. Usually their argument, when there is any, is so, well… far out, that you just can’t take them seriously.

The Party itself is not really a political party. It is a conglomerate of special interest groups. Now, all these groups have their own specific agenda. None of the groups are really interested in the party, as a whole, succeeding in attaining any goals, whatsoever. They are interested only in the success of their efforts.

A gathering of this so-called party is reminiscent of a first, or second, grade class or even a daycare class… each pupil with his or her own interest and oblivious of the other interests in the same room.

Now, as a conservative, I’m in no hurry to help them organize, nor help them direct their energies in a single direction. They are just as I would have them… for my purposes. So long as they stay in their current state of utter, and total, confusion, the better we conservatives like it. The more entrenched we will become as they wander about the political landscape wondering when the Florida re-count will be finished and Al Gore announced as the winner!

They have finally talked themselves, the entire Democrat Party, into “victimhood”. They have used the argument so often they have come to actually believe it. Therein lie the seeds of their defeat and eventual destruction as a political force in the US.

They are setting themselves up for another defeat, of biblical proportions, in the presidential race in 2008. They have chosen the most polarizing figure in US politics today as their banner carrier. A sane person would see, instantly, this is a losing tactic. But they do not. They are bound to commit political suicide because they no longer have the wits to deal with reality… with the world, as it is, rather than the world, as they would like it to be.

Like a clown with a sad face they slouch across the stage of American politics, towards what end, no one seems to know.

“Longstreet”

Polls and the Mainstream Media

I recently read a poll conducted, ostensibly, to determine the level of support for the President’s handling of the war in Iraq. The results were overwhelmingly negative toward the Bush administration’s conduct of the war.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

With the MSM constantly beating the drum against the war and playing up every US loss of life, running box scores in their print publications, and in general, spewing propaganda that the war has become a quagmire, what else would you expect the public to say?

I, too, am not happy with the conduct of the war. My opinion is, however that we are not using our military aggressively enough. We are not constantly on the attack, burning, hacking and slashing as we go leaving a trail of death and destruction in our wake that will get the attention of the entire Muslim world.

At the same time, I would eschew the “Nation Building" policy now in place, in Iraq, and let them put their own country back together… if they can. I am of the mind that a country’s destruction should be a part of the payment extracted for attacking the US, period. (That proverbial “pound of flesh”, if you will.)

I want to see a poll asking the simple question: What is it about the way the President is handling the war in Iraq do you not approve of? Now that is THE question!

Anyone having ever been connected to the media understands that polls can easily be made to produce the results you are seeking. A simple slant of the wording of the question will get you any result you want. Pollsters know this... and those who commission pollsters know it… and sad to say… they use it.

Nowadays, more and more of the mainstream media are using polls to editorialize against the Bush administration. You see, a president they hate is in office and they have been determined, from day one of his first term, to bottle him up, and show him and his administration in the worst light possible.

It is a shame and a disgrace! But that is the level to which the MSM has sunk in the US.

If you want to get a balanced view of the news of the US you must go “off-shore” to a foreign news outlet to get it. That, too, is a shame.

More and more Americans are turning to the Internet for their news. The "Alternate News Source", some call it. I, myself, have found that I spend more and more time following news stories on the Internet than I do the newspapers or TV news. I get a more “in depth" coverage and I get more “accurate” and “neutral” reporting on the ‘net.

As the 2006 election approaches the slander campaign against the Republicans and the Bush administration will only increase in intensity. Watch for it. Don’t be surprised by it, and remember, you can get the news… from the Internet!

“Longstreet”

The ADF... American Defense Forces

I have a proposal to make. The creation of an elite Military Force. Call it the ADF (The American Defense Force... after the IDF… The Israeli Defense Force.)

This unit would, as the name implies, be made up of US Army Ranger qualified, and trained males in all combat positions, including war planning. Service would be mandatory for a minimum of four years and members of this elite force would be subject to recall until the age of 45. All military "support" positions would be filled by non- ADF, Regular Army personel.

Here’s the way it would work: The Commander in Chief would call in the ADF, when needed, and present them with the goal of any military offensive. From that point, neither the President, nor the Congress, would have any input into the means by which the ADF accomplished it’s mission.

This would allow for “plausible deniability” by the nation’s weak kneed leaders and allow the ADF to proceed to victory by whatever means it found necessary.

There would be no more Viet Nams. No more Gulf War Ones, and no more Iraq wars. The War against Terror would already be over.

Ahhh, ‘tis but a dream, I know… but, one with roots in reality.

I used to feel comfortable saying that Democrats did not understand military power, or the application of military power. Now, as Republicans are showing the same weakness, I am no longer comfortable with that adage. The baby boomer Republicans have joined the ranks of the crowd, which thinks nothing is worth fighting for. Never mind that some poor dogface soldier gave his life that the entire baby boomer generation could live, and prosper, in freedom. Talk about ingratitude!

My ADF scheme is far-fetched, I know, and I describe it here with my tongue fastened firmly in my cheek! But... we are going to have to do something. Americans no longer have the stomach for a fight. Trying to fight a "politically correct war", and have a large portion of our troops assigned to "Nation Building" is getting our combat forces chewed up, resulting in needless deaths of our service men and women.

Maybe Congress can work out some sort of deal to lease the Israeli Defense Forces to protect America and fight America’s wars. It has become abundantly clear our leadership can’t do it. They have clearly demonstrated they really don’t have the “stones” for it.

“Longstreet”

The Humiliation Campaign against the South

Southerners: Don’t Finance the Humiliation Campaign Against the South!

I admit, right up front, that I have not seen the new “Dukes of Hazzard” movie. I also want to assert, again, right up front, that I have no plans to see it, either.

I am a white Southern male, approaching my 65 birthday, and most of my life has been spent in the South (Southern portion of the United Sates.). After traveling and visiting some 22 states, and so many cities I don’t care to remember, I have never found a place, on this continent, which can even approach the South as a place in which to grow up, to live and to raise your family.

I mentioned that I am now, officially, a senior citizen. Having spent the bulk of those years in the two Carolinas. I can attest that I have never seen a Southern family that approaches the slovenly ignorance of the Hazzards… as depicted in the latest movie. A family approximating the movie version would be ostracized and most likely invited to leave any particular county in the South. It is for certain; they would spend a great deal of time, as guests of that county, in the county jail. We Southerners may be “laid-back” but we do not put up with trifling troublemakers resembling the Duke boys. And we do not suffer fools lightly!

So, I can only surmise that once again, we have an onscreen depiction of what Hollywood would like the remainder of the world to think the South looks like, talks like, drives like, and lives like. It’s a lie. It is a fraud perpetrated on the good folks of the South.

Even the members of the cast of the long ago TV show, of the same name, have disavowed it and spoken of their disappointment.

Folks, the movie is a joke, a bad joke, at the expense of the South. As a Southerner I resent the hell out of it.

We Southerners are still made to pay for having lost the war of Northern Aggression. The national humiliation of the South continues… and we, as a people, are fed up.

Here, in the South, there is a seething rage, just beneath the surface, at the ongoing campaign designed to further humiliate us, as a people. Very soon that rage is going to reach a boiling point and spill out with a great deal of anguish for those who so gleefully stirred the pot.

I belong to a Southern organization of men, some 35,000 strong, each with the genes of a Southern Warrior in his genetic make-up. We are not happy.

So, I would ask all Southerners not to pay money to see your heritage slandered by Hollywood. We simply cannot help finance the campaign to continue the humiliation of the South.

Look around you. Look, and listen. Observe, and you will soon see, and understand, the tension between the northern and western sates and the states of the old Confederacy is very nearly as taunt as it was in the late 1850’s. To keep pulling on those bonds, making the tension grow, is only hastening the day there is a breaking point.

In closing allow me to point out this fact: The South views the period from April 1865, to the present, as simply a “time-out”.

We would all do well to remember that.

“Longstreet”