Some libertarians just like to whine

Leon H. Wolf says conservatives have a right to be conservatives and attend conservative meetings. This will come as a shock to Melissa Clouthier and GOProud, my guess:

Many conservatives (including myself) live their lives surrounded by combative liberals, whether in the work place or in our social circles. We are constantly on the defense of our principles. The very reason we attend CPAC is that it is healthy once a year to be around like minded individuals and recharge our batteries for the fight in the upcoming year. It is not the Free Exchange of Ideas and Debate Club Conference. It is the Conservative Political Action Conference.

For more reality read on.

We are all Islamophobes now

Damn.  I missed Rod Liddle’s excellent speech (hat tip Andrew Bolt):

My speech expressed a profound dislike of the ideology of Islam because it lends itself to a) homophobia, b) the subjugation of women, c) anti-semitism d) viciousness towards so-called apostates, e) authoritarianism and f) a somewhat medieval approach towards crime and punishment. And then there’s the barbarism of female circumcision, forced marriages and the notion that those who are not Muslims are not quite human, that their lives are worthless. These last three manifestations of Islamic thought are not universally present throughout the Islamic world, for sure. But the ideology facilitates them, offers them a weird sort of legitimacy.

Oh, well. I’m sure there’s more from where that came from, but not on the BBC, mind you.

My new opinion piece is posted

“Why Is There a C in CPAC?” The Patriot Post (Chattanooga, Tennessee), January 31, 2011. Read more.

A suspicious resignation

From the charming Tim Blair:

This is ridiculous. Tasmania has a population of around 500,000. It’s approximately equal to that of Melbourne in 1890. Yet Tasmania’s now ex-leader – who has only been in parliament since 2004 – says he can’t run the joint and be involved with his young family at the same time. Maybe the Bartletts just needed another trip to New York.

My new opinion piece is posted

“Perhaps Gay Marriage Is an Economic Issue, Mr. Barron,” The Patriot Post (Chattanooga, Tennessee), January 14, 2011. Read more.

Weddings or dress ups?

Headline:

The Grand Pantomime: There Is No Such Thing as Same-Sex Marriage

Subheadline: 

Same-sex marriage is a fiction. Even if everyone believes that the fiction is

Stuart Schneiderman who has taught English literature and practiced psychoanalytic psychotherapy states:

If they want to make their marriage real, they must consummate it. And that means that the meaning of marriage lies in the possibility of procreation. A marriage unconsummated is not a marriage. It is nullified, as though the ceremony had never happened.  

To become real, a marriage requires the possibility of conception.  It does not require conception. Failure to conceive has never been grounds for nullification.  Older, presumably infertile, couples are allowed to marry because if they had performed the same act in the past they might have conceived a child. 

From its inception, the institution of marriage has always granted male/female couples the presumption of fertility.  A couple that can never, between themselves, perform the generative sexual act cannot be married, regardless of what the state and the courts say.

He concludes:

Most people know that same-sex couples are not really married. Some of them are too polite to say so. Others are being cowed into going along.

After all, it’s just a harmless illusion, so why not just go along? 

Not to be too dramatic, but what happens to us when we are forced to accept that reality is what we say it is? What happens to us when we believe that we can change reality by controlling what people say and how they think? 

All of a sudden, this does not feel quite so harmless.

Well someone had to say it.

State Dept. removes “father” and “mother”

“How will gay marriage demands affect average Americans?” I hear left-liberals ask. Well, they already are. Exhibit one (passport applications): “The words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.”

Big Brother has spoken.  “The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” explained Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. This year, they’ll become “Parent One” and “Parent Two.”

Christian voters no doubt will wonder why Obama, a self-professed Christian, isn’t defending the f-word and the m-word, but because Democrats are experts in newspeak, radical “gay marriage” supporters have applauded the decision.

Control the language and you control the people, so forget the Bible’s command to honor thy father and mother.  And it raises a dilemma: What’s honorable about referring to dad as “Parent One” and mom as “Parent Two”?

Perhaps though Obama’s kitschy “hope and change” slogan applies to language too. Or as Ann Coulter asserts: “Liberals never, ever drop a heinous idea; they just change the name. ‘Abortion’ becomes ‘choice,’ ‘communist’ becomes ‘progressive,’ ‘communist dictatorship’ becomes ‘people's democratic republic’ and ‘Nikita Khrushchev’ becomes ‘Barack Obama.’” 

Update: I’d say the Democrats have been getting calls. Christopher Weber from Daily Politics reports: “The agency said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ordered that ‘mother’ and ‘father’ remain on passport forms and paperwork that documents the birth of a child to Americans overseas.”

What a mess. Even the timing (just before Christmas) has been acknowledged by the left-leaning Washington Post: “The announcement of the change was buried at the end of a Dec. 22 news release, titled 'Consular Report of Birth Abroad Certificate Improvements,' that highlighted unrelated security changes.” In other words, they failed to sneak it through.

CPAC fight: Ryan Sorba vs. Greg Gutfeld

A war of words…

On one side of the ring, we have Fox News talk show host Greg Gutfeld. He believes that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) needs to accommodate gay marriage-friendly groups like GOProud. On the other side, we have Ryan Sorba, Chairman of the Young Conservatives of California. He advances the position that CPAC must emphasize time-honored traditional family values. Republican libertarians (a minority) tend to favor socially-liberal gay activists whereas socially conservative Republicans (a majority) are more influenced by religious views. Obviously, this leads to heated debates over political matters.

Ryan Sorba argues…

“…I condemned the Conservative Political Action Conference last year (re: David Keene and Lisa De Pasquale) for bringing a cardboard box pro-sodomy organization called GOProud to the event.” But: “Then I got booed offstage by a bunch of Ron Paul hippies for being too conservative…which was nice because that was on my ‘bucket list.’ In all seriousness though, with ‘conservatives’ like them who needs Perez Hilton?” He argues: “In my forthcoming book, The “Born Gay” Hoax I attempt [to] re-educate the sodomy zombies, like Greg Gutfeld! They don’t call his show RedEye for nothing you know.”

Greg Gutfeld argues…

“They're here, they're queer, and the Family Research Council refuses to get used to it. Nor would the Concerned Women for America, love them. [Laughter] As a result, both groups are refusing to attend the DC-based Conservative Political Action Conference this February, due to the fact the righty group GOProud has been invited, because they're evil sodomites...” Gutfeld also refers to their supporters as “like-minded gay-haters.” Apparently, leaving CPAC means you’re hating on homosexuals.  He also asks, “What should CPAC do about these conservative moralists who just can't believe that gays have a right to be there?”

Them fighting words…

The CPAC-related debate, however, now looks more heated. From the Ryan Sorba Twitter account:  “@greggutfeld never been into riding hobbits. Bible's condemns it. night. 10:19 PM Jan 7th via web… @greggutfeld how many people have become famous riding on your back? 9:27 PM Jan 7th via web… @greggutfeld I was born straight, as all are -called a penis. Stop hiding behind your Gregologue and debate Ryan Sorba live! bak bak bak 7:57 PM Jan 7th via web.”  There is clearly a satirical undercurrent in all of this – and some people are enjoying the boxing rounds, my guess.

More fighting words…

From GregGutfeld: “@RyanSorba we ALL know what you ride, champ. one day your prince will come. in the meantime, keep waxing…. 10:48 PM Jan 7th via web.@RyanSorba only one trying is you! Night. 9:33 PM Jan 7th via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to RyanSorba @RyanSorba I won't let u ride to fame on my back. 8:43 PM Jan 7th via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to RyanSorba.” Believe it or not Mr. Gutfeld is a forty-six year old Roman Catholic professional, and if that’s too much to process, consider this….he is very good at drawing unicorns.

My new opinion piece is posted

"Not all gay activists support gay marriage," The Daily Caller (Washington D.C.), January 4, 2011. Read more.