Bear with me as I allow the montage of images in my brain to flow out onto this screen. Forgive me if it’s a little disorganized; I didn’t want to lose any thoughts. Everyday there is something different to think about, talk about, write about and pray about.
Christians
People take umbrage with my assertion that conservative principles are more reflective of biblical ethics than are liberal ones (see Update below). Why? Because they mistakenly believe that politics and faith (they actually mean “religion”) should be separate. Where do they get this idea? Mainly from the secularization of public life, one of the worst things to happen to this country.
We all have a worldview, and that worldview influences the decisions we make and how we live our lives. Your god or “higher power” may not bear the name Jesus Christ, but make no mistake that whatever code of ethics you choose to believe in, they guide every aspect of your lives. For instance, if you believe women should have the freedom to kill their “fetuses” because personal choice is a higher virtue than protecting the unborn, you will likely vote for John Kerry.
I get a fair amount of e-mail and comments from non-Christians (and a few Christians) who question my faith as it pertains to my support for George Bush. As I’ve written many times on this blog, I’m voting for Bush because, as a conservative, his policies and his worldview are, in my opinion, more aligned with biblical principles and ethics than Kerry’s.
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I will update this post occasionally with Bush endorsements around the blogosphere. The first is a funny one by Frank J. I was perusing my referrers log and decided to stop in at his site, IMAO. This post is LOL! My five year-old niece would be impressed.
You want my Bush endorsement? Read the whole blog. Seriously, I may write a magnum opus this weekend to cheer on fellow Bush supporters. This has been a very contentious and combative presidential race, but so have many others in our history. I want to assure you that the world will not end if Bush isn’t re-elected. He’ll go on, and we’ll go on.
Some of you are nervous, others confident. To every believer, no matter how you feel about this election, I offer the word of the Lord:
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Rathergate tops the chart at #1. From the Media Research Center:
The Ten Worst Media Distortions of Campaign 2004
1. Dan Rather’s Forgery Fiasco
2. Ignoring, Then Attacking, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
3. Pounding the Bush National Guard Story
4. Spinning a Good Economy into Bad News
5. The Networks’ Outrageous Convention Double-Standard
6. Swooning Over Edwards’ Image, Ignoring His Liberalism
7. CBS’s Byron Pitts Promotional Kerry Coverage
8. CBS Promotes Fears of a New Military Draft
9. Misrepresenting the 9/11 Commission on Iraq/al-Qaeda Links
10. Equating New Terrorism Warning to LBJ’s “Gulf of Tonkin”
Rathergate … CBS News had to appoint an outside two-member investigating committee to find out how and why a) Dan Rather aired a hatchet job on President Bush based on forged documents that CBS was warned about and b) CBS Producer Mary Mapes coordinated with senior Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart concerning the discredited source of those documents.
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Unrelated Addendum: I want to make sure everyone sees this. The IRS is reviewing the NAACP’s (“The Dinosaur”) tax-exempt status. In the words of Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing.” See the New York Times (registration req.) article. Also see my favorite Dinosaur post. Michael King has a few thoughts.
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One more thing…
You know what I was thinking? Idiots making videos and threatening the United States may actually help President Bush get re-elected. Drudge has the exclusive on the contents of the video. A sample:
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No time for substantive blogging today, so I’ll post JFK’s concession speech, embargoed until the election is over:
Kerry Concession Speech Takes High Road
[AP EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS STORY ABSOLUTELY EMBARGOED UNTIL SEN. KERRY ACTUALLY DELIVERS THE SPEECH AFTER THE POLLS CLOSE IN CALIFORNIA.]
(2004-11-03) — When John Forbes Kerry took the podium last night in a Boston hotel ballroom, many supporters expected him to heed the poet’s call: “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage…”
But the veteran-senator disappointed his troops one last time by taking the high road in his concession speech.
“America has spoken tonight,” said a stoic Mr. Kerry, “They have chosen strength and integrity over indecision and political opportunism. This landslide victory for my opponent–forgive me, let me call him President Bush– this victory demonstrates the essential decency and folksy wisdom of a bold and humble people. In all frankness, my candidacy was never anything more than a vitriolic hate-parade, funded by big unions, Hollywood and the trial lawyers.”
Mr. Kerry then stunned the assembled party faithful.
“Tonight I step from the spotlight into the shadow of a great and good man,” he said. “In doing so, I now join my friends Sen. Zell Miller, former New York Mayor Ed Koch and millions of anonymous Democrats who secretly betrayed their party today for the good of their nation tomorrow. As I did rhetorical battle with President Bush, I found myself respecting him, admiring him and longing to be more like him. From now on, I will say what I mean, mean what I say and act accordingly. Let me sum up now by paraphrasing my mentor, John F. Kennedy–starting tonight, Ich bin ein Bushie.”
Courtesy of Scrappleface 
Happy Friday!
Update (11/4): Attention angry liberals — I am not mocking John Kerry. This satirical piece was written before the election and by someone else.
Update II (8:29 p.m.): 1) Attention angry liberals — Before you post to this blog, please read my comment policy.
2) Attention commenters who have no idea what’s in the Bible — In regard to Christians, government and war, for your edification, please read Onward, Christian Soldiers. Some of you are under the mistaken impression that it’s “Un-Christian” to defend the country. That’s a fallacy.
by La Shawn on October 28, 2004
in General
I don’t want to do this, but I have to. Beginning around 9:30 p.m. EST, comment moderation will be in effect. If you post a comment after that time, it won’t appear until tomorrow morning when (if) I approve it. Trackbacks will be held, too. Troll traffic has multiplied, and I won’t give them the satisfaction of posting filth on this site for all to see overnight. These are concessions I have to make now that I’ve been “discovered.”
I will turn off comment moderation and enable trackbacking in the morning around 6:00 a.m. Rest easy, everybody.
Update: I started the Bandwidth Fund just in time. I’m getting a crazy traffic spike after Polipundit linked. Instapundit isn’t the only game in town!
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Do you know why it’s vital to present a united front during wartime? Because our enemies are watching. They don’t respect the Geneva Convention or reason or individual freedom or the countries that uphold such values. While we’re engaged in a politically correct war, the sharp young men of Islamofascism are on top of their game.
We cringe at words like “Islamofacist” and “vanquish the enemy” and “America’s survival”, while the enemies take advantage of the general ignorance and apathy of the American electorate. John Kerry and his minions (ABC, CBS, NYT, Washington Post, etc.) widely reported a now-discredited story about stolen weapons, and our enemies are up to things like this:
The CIA and FBI late Wednesday authenticated a disturbing new al Qaeda videotape which warns the next terror attack will dwarf 9/11.
“The streets will run with blood,” and “America will mourn in silence” because they will be unable to count the number of the dead, a man claims on the video.
Further claims on the video: America has brought this on itself for electing George Bush who has made war on Islam by destroying the Taliban and making war on Al Qaeda.
ABCNEWS obtained the tape from a source in Waziristan, Pakistan over the weekend. The network has withheld airing it, initially citing concerns over its authenticity.
One senior federal official alleged ABCNEWS is now holding back from broadcasting any portion of the video out of fear it will be seen as a political move by the network during election week. (My emphasis)
Terrorists campaigning for Kerry. How sweet. With the aid and comfort of the enemy, Kerry stumps while his Islamofacist troops put out videotapes blaming Bush for the slaughter of innocents. Real nice, Johnny K. Johnny Jihad loves you.
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by La Shawn on October 28, 2004
in General
I had a conversation with an older black man recently who no doubt lived through Jim Crow. We ended up talking about the election. He’s casting his vote for John Kerry and I’m voting for George Bush. I really didn’t want to get into a political discussion, but before I could object, he was already laying out a litany of charges against Republicans, namely the war in Iraq and the black-folks-are-too-dumb-to-vote routine.
Of course he didn’t put it that way. Sneaky white Republicans and their diabolical voter intimidation schemes. Grown, educated people are spreading rumors that Republicans are preventing blacks from voting. But the black person I happen to be talking to at a given moment never considers himself one of the disenfranchised voters. It’s always the other guy.
So I told him that unlike the white man he planned to vote for, I didn’t think blacks were dumb. I assume a certain level of intelligence from most people until proven otherwise. If anyone of any color can’t operate a voting machine, I expect him to open his mouth and ask for help. Others, like white liberals, presume that blacks just got their freedom papers yesterday and need all kinds of remedial help in every area of life. He backtracked and made clear he didn’t think blacks were dumb, either. Good. We agreed on something.
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by La Shawn on October 27, 2004
in General
I’ve decided to add a “Donation” button to my sidebar (under all those nice endorsements) in case anyone wants to contribute to the La Shawn Barber’s Corner Bandwidth Fund. Several people suggested months ago that I do this, but it felt sort of funny. It still does. All proceeds will be used for blog hosting expenses unless there’s enough for me to quit my day job and write. 
This goes without saying, but please don’t feel obligated to give me money. I may start accepting ads, too, if I can figure out where to put the code. Give me some feedback. Are both ideas cheesy or what?
According to the Washington Post (registration req.):
The arrest of 24 Latino day laborers looking for work outside a 7-Eleven in Woodbridge was intended as a crackdown on loitering, Prince William County police say. The charge, they noted, carries only a $100 fine.
But the penalty for many ended up being more severe: Eleven of the workers could not prove their identity and were transferred to federal custody. They have been put in an adult detention center in Manassas and face deportation…
Transferring illegal aliens to federal custody so officials can enforce U.S. immigration laws entrusted to them. What a novel idea! But a lawyer working for “justice” says: [click to continue…]
It must feel really special to be so smart. Most of us will never reach the heights of awareness and insight that permeate mainstream media. With sheer intellect they craft stories that educate and inform. The sort of genius that eludes most of us can be found in the precious pages of reports produced by journalists about journalists. Gee…If only I were half as smart.
Update: Someone found a link to the study (PDF) It was right on the page I was looking at.
For the benefit of people just now emerging from a cave after a long sleep, the journalism geniuses over at the Project for Excellence in Journalism have some pressing information for you. It certainly isn’t aimed at us wide-awake folk. They say:
In the closing weeks of the 2004 presidential race, the period dominated by the debates, President George W. Bush has suffered strikingly more negative press coverage than challenger John Kerry…
More than half of all Bush stories studied were decidedly negative in tone. By contrast, only a quarter of all Kerry stories were clearly negative.
Strikingly — Arresting the attention and producing a vivid impression on the sight or the mind. Adverbs are our friends.
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Is it just me, or are more Christians and conservatives defending themselves publicly and standing firm against the suppression of their views? Or are the mainstream media simply giving us more coverage?
Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina spoke to the College Republicans at Duke University about real civil rights, as opposed to special rights. From the Herald Sun:
“If you cannot have the freedom to express yourself, and agree or disagree with a professor about an issue, then I’m afraid that academic freedom is in deep trouble,” Jones, R-3rd, told an audience of about 15 in a classroom of the university’s Biological Sciences Building.
Jones, who’s from Farmville, spoke after accepting an award created in his name by the Duke College Republicans.
Second-year Duke law student John Plecnik, the College Republicans’ policy adviser, introduced the Walter B. Jones award, which will be awarded annually to “a politician, professor or protestor who best reflects his legacy” as the “chief defender of campus conservatives across Carolina.”
That a speech given to 15 people received coverage is surprising. That a speech given to 15 Republicans by a conservative Christian received objective coverage is amazing.
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This morning I wondered what I’d blog about. Before I read the news I always check the blog first to delete the inevitable troll trackbacks and comments. On my first day back from hiatus, I’ve had to delete quite a few.
But the contention has reached a new level. A few black liberal bloggers who hate me have given up all attempts to rebut my arguments, if they ever did so at all. Reasoned discussion be damned. In the beginning they at least feigned interest in my arguments; now they just don’t care anymore. They’re focused on me.
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The tough-talking Doug Giles lays it out in his latest column, “A Christian Can Be a Christian or a Liberal, But He Can’t Be Both.” Giles, a graduate of Knox Theological Seminary writes:
For the “Christian” to lean politically to the left means that he must blow off huge chunks of the Bible and replace the scripture with the make-believe notions of postmodernism’s malleable “Christ.” Only after torturing the scripture can the Christian then fit liberalism into his supposed relationship with God.
For the Christian who believes that unfeigned faith in Christ should correspond with Jesus’ high view of scripture, it is…now…impossible to believe in God and be an adherent to postmodern liberalism….
The Democratic Party’s liberalism has degenerated over the last 40-50 years in regard to its view of Christianity and Christian rights. This party, which formerly embraced and protected our nation’s great Christian heritage and teachings, no longer does so. Thus, today the Christian is between a rock and a hard place: he can either be a Christian or a liberal, but he cannot be both.
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by La Shawn on October 25, 2004
in Faith
I am humbled by all the comments and e-mail I’ve received. I am deeply touched by your concern for me and desire to see this blog continue.
I don’t plan to stop blogging. My critics would love that, but they won’t get the satisfaction. In fact, I didn’t mean to give anyone the impression that I wanted to stop blogging because of negative criticism. Why I’m blogging is the issue.
When I first started this blog almost a year ago, I didn’t know it would grow as it has. It was to be an extension of my column, but this site has become so much more. In the process, it’s taken on a life of its own and I let it become an idol. While I believe I’ve done some good things here, they mean nothing if I don’t stay connected to the One who makes it all possible.
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