Morning Briefing
For July 11, 2013
Friends, today is one of those days I'm putting in the entirety
of my morning post because I think we all need it and know a portion of
you will not otherwise click through to get it all. So I apologize in advance for the length this morning. But, as you all know, this is a rare thing and I only do it when I feel it is quite necessary. We need a reality check.
Erick
1. Reality Check
Two nights ago I posted my thoughts on being on radio. I followed
it up on radio yesterday afternoon. In both, I made this observation:
No one likes people who talk politics all the time. I’ve spent
an entire segment once on the fine art of browning onions in butter.
And you know what? It’s been a widely requested segment of my show for
repeat airings. People care about more than politics and, on radio, they
want to know the guy they’re listening to on the way home does too.
First, it is absolutely true — I spent 20 minutes on the radio
talking about browning onions in butter and how cookbooks lie that it
only takes 10 minutes. It has been a highly sought after segment of my
radio show. But second, people were downright offended that I’d suggest
there is more to life than politics. I’ve gotten angry emails from a lot
of people on the left and the right.
When I point out I find some things the President does, like
talking about sci-fi, endearing and find Michelle Obama to be a very
beautiful First Lady, my conservative friends go insane. While I was at
CNN they were convinced I had sold out to the liberal media. Now, at
Fox, it just perplexes them.
When I talk about my faith and my views on gay marriage or
abortion, liberals are convinced I must be lying when I say I have gay
friends and pro-abortion friends and we get along just fine and they are
wonderful people. Surely I must think they are going to hell and how
could those people be friends with me. Folks, I think we’re all going to
hell, but by the grace of God.
There are subjects I do not tackle with friends with whom I
disagree because I value their friendship far more than I value my view
on some subject that divides our ability to be friends. As a Christian,
to me evangelism and sharing my faith is much more about being a good
friend to someone, regardless of their faith or world view, than about
being right in an argument or going to some beach in Mexico to work on
my tan while I hammer a nail or two in a hut and speak Jesusese to a
total stranger.
The worst thing about America is the politicization of everything.
Why the hell must I pick a side in the George Zimmerman trial? A
17 year old boy is dead and a man who may or may not be guilty of
murder is on trial but, even if not guilty, will never again be safe
because so much outrage and so much politicization has been poured into
the trial. A 17 year old is dead. Why am I forced, as a conservative,
to cheer for the guy who took his life. And you people who support
Trayvon, how are you given a pass on seeing things from George
Zimmerman's perspective? Why should I decide on the guilt or innocence
of George Zimmerman based on the outrage of people whose politics differ
from mine? Why must a death and trial comport to a political world
view?!
While I tend to think the left is worse about it than the right,
I’m sure liberals think otherwise. But why must everything be so damn
political? The President of the United States is a good father with a
lovely wife and I disagree with both on pretty much everything. But I do
not hate them.
A lot of people on the left and the right hate each other for a
lot of stuff that in eternity really won’t matter. And here is what I
find most and what will offend many of you on the left and right — those
of you whose lives are most connected to your online personality and
bravado, your blog or your twitter account, regardless of which side of
the aisle you are on are some of the least well adjusted and most
malcontented people in the world. Consequently, you are at war at all
times and dialed up to 12 on a ten point scale of outrage about
everything from a photoshopped picture to a male politician who really
does want to save the life of a child who could survive outside the
womb.
I’m sorry, but I can’t live my life constantly fixated on the
political outrage of the day and I can’t be outraged about every damn
thing under the sun. I go out with friends and talk about stuff other
than politics, I play with my kids, I love my wife, I cook gumbo and
make fantastic ice cream, I watch a bit of TV, don’t read as much as I
should, I go to church, and I try to focus on the good in a world filled
with sin and bad and evil some people do not even want to call evil
because they might have to concede a political point.
I think the world is going to hell. But I believe in God the
Father and in his son Jesus Christ and the second coming and a judgment
and a final victory over death and sin and evil and a life everlasting
where I will walk one day beside my very real Creator. The rest? It’s
rather small potatoes in the eternal scheme of things. God is permanent
and politics and political coalitions are not.
I get why so many on the secular left, who don’t believe in a
Heaven or a Hell, get so upset about certain things and want to
politicize everything. To them this life is all there is and every
advantage, in politics and culture, is fair game to get to the grave in
first place.
But I just cannot understand why so many self-described Christian
conservatives are so angry so constantly that they get mad at the
suggestion there is more to life than politics.
Truth is, there is more to life than politics. And while you and I
can find things that outrage us and they may be different things, to
hell with you for being outraged that I’m not outraged about something
that outrages you.
While you’re firing up your twitter account or blog to tell the
world what a terrible person I am for disagreeing or not caring, in the
actual real world that exists off the internet I’m going to go build a
train with my 4 year old and fly it through the rings of Saturn before
sitting down under the oak tree in my backyard to have a scoop of
homemade ice cream with my 7 year old and play a game of catch.
You should try it. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2. George W. Bush Was Right
A day or so ago I was reading some comments here and noted
someone who stated that Republicans are supposed to be the “Party of
Morality”. Interesting observation, that. I don’t disagree with it necessarily, but I don’t think we have a full appreciation of what it means.
I think George W. Bush did. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. Amnesty, the New Obamacare
From Congresswoman Michele Bachmann:
America has long been a beacon of freedom in a tumultuous world,
and people from all walks of life, faiths and cultures come together
under one flag. We warmly welcome those across the globe who seek to
come within our borders legally and respect the rule of law.
The pressure from the political establishment and special
interests to grant amnesty to those people who crossed our border
illegally is already in full throttle, as evidenced by the Senate’s Gang
of Eight bill that grants amnesty now, border security never.
The Senate’s amnesty bill is symbolic of everything that’s wrong
with Washington. It’s a thousand-plus page bill filled with special
backroom deals to buy votes, and empty promises that won’t be fulfilled.
It’s Obamacare all over again. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. The Wave of 2014 Begins to Build
When you ask committed conservative activists if the current
Republican Party is representing their views and speaking to their
concerns, you will hear an emphatic NO. You will also hear some sort of disclaimer “with the exception of a few fighters like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Jim Bridenstine.” Yet,
when presented with the most direct opportunity to actually affect
change through low-turnout congressional primaries, which are dominated
by conservative voters, many of us apathetically rubber stamp 95% of the
incumbents with another 2-year or 6-year term. That has got to change, and it appears that it will change very soon. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5. Disrupt Mike Simpson, Support Bryan Smith for Congress
I’m told the Club got tons of submissions and recommendations for
primary challengers, and today they are putting their money where their
mouth is and endorsing Bryan Smith for Congress in Idaho’s 2nd
Congressional District against one of the worst and most liberal
Republicans in Congress today, Mike Simpson.
Bryan Smith is a constitutional conservative who fought property
tax increases in Idaho Falls and exposed fraud by the city attorney that
cost the city thousands of dollars. A practicing lawyer, he’s also
written on how John Roberts got the ObamaCare decision flat wrong.
Mike Simpson, on the other hand, has an abysmal 58% on the Club for Growth scorecard and his record is atrocious. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
6. Behind the Microphone & Something President Clinton and I Agree On
I feel odd writing about being on radio. I am a novice to a
degree, though doing well enough that I’m hosting evening drive time in
Atlanta on the top talk station in the country.
That would be WSB, which has one of the best signals, and has a
whole lot of listeners stuck in Atlanta traffic during the evening.[1]
And they have me to listen to. So I get asked all the time about being
on the radio, what it’s like, etc.
Having just gotten another such email, I figure it is time to write about being on radio. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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