NOTE:  The Dems are up to their old tricks, this time torpedoing our real future by going after the Mars mission.  Head’s up to Curt at Flopping Aces for keeping an eye on our real future.  Save Mars District Blitz

Is the GOP destined to repeat Pete Wilson’s fate in California and destroy itself?  Sure looks like it to me.

AJ Strata on how certain factions within the GOP are determined to destroy it.

I am going to attempt to behave myself today, even though I simply must mention the fact that there are those in SC who are now calling Jim DeMint THE CONSERVATIVE AL SHARPTON!  If you want my humble opinion, any REPUBLICAN Senator who says the following of a Republican President deserves to have the same thing done to him. “….the President has crawled out on a limb and we’re going to cut it off…”  The Palmetto Pundit also notes the following:

“…But, as the Greenville News’ Dan Hoover noted, one was quick to make peace while the other has yet to move on. And that is very dangerous for everyone.

Absent from [Jim DeMint’s] statements was anything conciliatory toward [Lindsey] Graham.
It was left to Graham to wave the olive branch in his statement, offering “a few words about my friend and colleague, Jim DeMint.”

Graham went on to say that “we found ourselves in an unusual situation. We usually agree, President Bush and I have very different views from Jim DeMint on the best way to address this contentious issue. Jim held firm to his beliefs and was a very strong advocate for his position.” [DAN HOOVER - Greenville News]…”

For those who aren’t up on SC politics, Dan Hoover is one of the most respected journalists in the state.

“…Indeed, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, seems just that in the euphoria of having been a major player in killing a bipartisan immigration bill that his South Carolina colleague Lindsey Graham had pushed, along with the Bush White House.

One of DeMint's two statements, issued after the bill fell 14 votes short on a crucial procedural vote, gushed, "We did it!"

In the other, he said those who brought the bill back after an earlier rejection was thought to have done it in, had "declared war on the American people."

Presumably, that included Graham and President Bush, among others.

He went on to talk about proponent's "heavy-handed tactics," legislation written in secret, broken promises, and so on.

DeMint even chided and challenged Bush, suggesting he first enforce laws already on the books before asking for new ones.

"The president has said that the border security measures can be implemented over the next 18 months and they can be done under current law. Now the administration needs to prove it and stop holding border security hostsage," DeMint said.

Earlier in the week, he told The Wall Street Journal that Bush had climbed out on a limb and he and other opponents were going to saw it off…”

Sorry Mr. DeMint, but I think the President of the US may be okay, even if you did try ruining his day.  You see,  he’s a bigger man than you will ever be.

Luke 7: 36-50
36:Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

37:When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,

38:and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
 
39:When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."
 
40:Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." 
     
"Tell me, teacher," he said.
 
41:"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty.

42:Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

 43:Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." 
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
 4
4:Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

45:You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.

46:You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.

47:Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
 
48:Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
 
49:The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
 
50:Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."


MY RANT OF THE DAY
Dirty Feet, Oil, And Human Decency

I’ve been putting off writing about this primarily due to time, which I never seem to have.  I had been planning to write about it today, so here it is.  Oh, no news on Rumsfeld or the kitties.  I hope they are enjoying themselves.

I was taken with this passage from Luke when it was in the bulletin insert the other Sunday, but I wasn’t sure why.  All I knew is the Pharisees reminded me of  the self-righteous way conservatives have begun to act.  The problem when someone begins to act self-righteous is the fact that their arrogance begins to show.  Jim DeMint is a perfect example of this self-righteous arrogance, allowing his bloated vanity to change him from a decent Senator into a conservative doomsday machine.  Like the planet killer in The Doomsday Machine, he devours everything in his path, spitting out the rubble and the refuse.

The problem is DeMint is only aping a few of our leading conservative bloggers like Malkin, or talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham who ooze human understanding and compassion from every pore.  Something happened on the way to the Capitol.  Evidently our celeb-conservatives have forgotten they are ‘conservatives’ – the Heirs? Of Reagan, and all that he embodies including manners and the dictum that one shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican.  The big problem – no one has ever accused Bortz, Levin, Malkin, Ingraham, Coulter, Limbaugh, Gallagher, and so forth and so on, of being a REPUBLICAN. While they wear the mantel of Reagan, they ignore who Ronald Reagan actually was.  If he were POTUS today, he would denounce them – but then, they would be denouncing him.

Have you ever walked a mile or so in very hot, dusty weather, wearing sandals?  Last weekend, at the End of the Trail, I had the great fortune to do just that.  By the time I reached my destination I was hot, fatigued, and my feet felt as though they were going to dry up and blow away!  I wanted nothing more than to be able to immerse them in cool, clear water and then slather them in my favorite lotion.
The night Christ dined with the Pharisee, the host decided that his guest, Our Savior Jesus Christ, was not important enough – not good enough – to treat him as a guest worthy of the most basic of desert hospitality,  a bowl of cool water with which to wash one’s feet, a towel, and oil to ease the tightness of being terribly dry.

A woman legend tells us is Mary Magdalene appears and bathes Christ’s dry dirty feet, then pours expensive oil all over them.  She then dries his feet with her long hair.  As an act of final humility, she then kisses his feet.  Not only is this an act of devotion that completely humiliates the haughty host, but is the devoted act of a woman who disparately loves a man.  It is an act of self-less devotion.  It is an act of humility.  It is an act of love.

What is the lesson we take away from this story?

First – we need to treat all people with honor and decency.

We need manners.

We must practice humility and kindness.

We must take care not to be rude and arrogant to anyone.

It is also a warning against ‘putting on airs’.

It is the appropriate warning for today’s out of control conservatives.

Try a little kindness and humility – if it is humanly possibly.