Newsflash: the Constitution protects free speech but says nothing about sexual conduct.

Rosie again misrepresents statements made by a person in reference to homosexuality to push her own agenda.

In the hot seat: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace. In this instance, she misquotes Pace – saying he said that he “believes that homosexuality is immoral so innately if you are a gay person you are immoral - you don’t even get a chance to be a good person, you are just innately bad; you are just less than, if you are gay.” She goes on to say that based on his comments “you can be a straight person who is a horrible person who is adulterous and has no morals but it is impossible for a gay person ever to be treated equal, which is the premise of this country, that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All people even the gay ones, General Pace, mister…its 2007, leave the gays alone.”

That is not what he said. His actual statement, quoted by MSNBC (See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17590518/) , was made in response to a question about the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy signed by Bill Clinton in 1994:

"In an interview Monday with the Chicago Tribune, Pace was asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage in homosexual acts.

Pace said he supports the policy, which became law in 1994 and prohibits commanders from asking about a person's sexual orientation.

"I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace said in the audio recording of the interview posted on the Tribune's Web site. "I do not believe that the armed forces of the United States are well served by a saying through our policies that it's OK to be immoral in any way.}

Pace’s comments referred specifically to homosexual acts, not people. In this way, the sexual acts are, in fact, like adultery because they occur outside of a marital relationship. He has made a factually correct statement that had nothing to do with saying all gay people are innately immoral. He was also clear that the armed forces of the United States should not tolerate any other immorality, which would include adultery amongst heterosexuals."

Of course Joy’s response is to point out that if gay people could get married then their behavior wouldn’t be like adultery so it wouldn’t be immoral. She misses the point, which is that many people, most people for that matter, do not believe that homosexuals should be allowed to get “married” and that they should not engage in homosexual behavior. Even if you allowed gay marriage, the behavior would still be immoral to many people because the natural order of things is for sexual relationships to occur between males and females.

Rosie is extremely defensive about this issue because it is personal to her. That does not give her the authority to misstate the views of others. She is absolutely stuck on the idea that Pace has said that you “innately have no ability to be a moral person if you are gay.” She compares gay people to blacks. Engaging in homosexual conduct is a behavior, not a characteristic.

When Fisher says we should see what’s in General Pace’s closet she should realize that at this point in his career, there has most assuredly been a spotlight on his behavior and a fine toothed comb examination of his entire life.

Sadly, Elizabeth has been led astray again. She loses all sight of her conservative tendencies when the women get going, trying her hardest to fit in. She chimes in with the following: “That’s what I mean. I think that he is actually I think that by putting a light on something that is other than his own sin I think that he is absolutely clouding over something of his own.” She did clarify she does not think he is a closeted homosexual but he must be covering up his own sin.

Apparently, any criticism of any person’s conduct really is a manifestation of the commentator’s own guilt about his or her own immoral behavior.

As always, liberals must refer back to Dick Cheney’s daughter as Rosie notes that according to Pace, she is immoral. Again Rosie, the person is not immoral based on her homosexuality alone. If she engages in homosexual behavior, many people would think her behavior is immoral.

Rosie, here is the point: Gay people do not have to engage in sexual behavior. They should be able to control themselves in the same way millions of heterosexuals forgo sexual relationships for lots of reasons, two of them being they are not married or they want to avoid pregnancy.

I do want to commend Rosie for mentioning the Creator in her quick lesson on the language of the Constitution. She is correct: Our rights are inalienable because they derive from God, not the government and not our fellow citizens. That being established, I now await the left’s movement to remove those words from the Constitution.

Schumer: “Probably not because usually impeachment is when you have committed a crime.”

Rosie: “Treason is not a crime?”

I just don’t know what to say about this other than Rosie may be a good comedian but her judgment is so lacking that it amazes me she has a job.

Her assertion, in the form of a question, that Bush has committed treason because she doesn’t agree with his policy is outrageous and indicative of the intolerance, and ignorance, of the left.

Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution states:

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”

One would be hard pressed to assert that the President has waged a war against the United States or given aid and comfort to our enemies.

For those who just can’t seem to get the facts straight:

Bill Clinton was impeached because he committed perjury and he obstructed justice. He lied about his sexual improprieties to interfere with a lawsuit brought against him by Paula Jones. He encouraged others to lie on his behalf for purely selfish reasons.

Additionally, he used his position of power to influence the behavior of a subordinate woman and then engaged in inappropriate behavior in the Oval Office, at times while he was on the phone with legislators discussing issues of national security. His indiscretions, while denied initially, have now been admitted. On the way to the admission, he and his followers attacked the character of every woman who raised concerns about his behavior. The same women who raised the concerns were ignored by the feminist groups, who loyally rallied behind their President. (We know that Bill Clinton was the first Black President but was he also the first woman president?)

Now Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the House who led the impeachment effort, has acknowledged, in an interview with Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson, that he too had an extramarital affair.

Rosie is on this like flies on honey. The problem: she misstates the facts to bolster her own viewpoint. Gingrich did not go after Clinton because he had an affair, he did so because of Clinton’s assault in the justice system, which culminated in the United States Supreme Court disbarring him.

To be sure, politicians, and people in general, should take their marital vows seriously. While I personally do not believe people should seek divorces unless there is abuse, a person can no longer stop a spouse from getting a divorce. If a person finds him or herself in a marriage that is beyond repair, the solution is divorce and then the possibility of a new relationship not an affair with the possibility of divorce.

The fact that several republican candidates for President have had affairs or been divorced does not mean that conservatives are indifferent to their choices. These failings will be a challenge to conservatives. Conservative tolerance of these men who have failed to meet the high standard we prefer may simply demonstrate a commitment to the notion that a person’s past mistakes shouldn’t automatically bar them from future contribution.

March 12, 2007

Richard Jeni, one of Joy’s favorite comedians, was found with a gunshot to the head. It is being called a possible suicide. Joy says he was one of the funniest guys in comedy and she was shocked that he had depression.

As an example of his tremendous humor, she quoted one of his jokes on religious war: “We’re basically killing each other to see who got the better imaginary friend.”

Joy remained completely oblivious to the truth that his lack of faith had to have contributed to his depression. This is not to say that people of faith do not suffer from depression because they most certainly do. People with faith, however, can lean on their God or Christ or higher power to help them through their times of struggle. Maybe had he found religion, he would have had a better support system to pull him through his apparent depression.

If there is no God or no higher power to whom we are accountable, what difference does anything make. As a person of faith, I am sorry Mr. Jeni lived a life devoid of the hope and peace that a belief in God brings.

Faith in God may have been the only thing that could have saved this man.

I am not really into music and can honestly say I don’t know if I have heard Pink sing, but after hearing Rosie praise Pink’s “great” song about the war, “Dear Mr. President” I had to get information so I pulled the lyrics up on the internet.

These lyrics exemplify why America is truly in trouble. The ignorance of the song writer begs a response. Unfortunately millions of young people listen to this trash and never question the message.

Let me dissect lyrics. First verse:

“Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly"

First: The President used to jog but his knees are shot. Pink could join him for a bike ride.

Second: She hit it on the head: they would have to pretend that Bush is not better than her. He has given much of his life in service, and whether people agree or disagree with his policies, he has made the best decisions he can based on the circumstances. He has been faced with some of the most difficult circumstances a President could encounter and conditions that 99% of us could never handle. She is a spoiled performer who may have worked her way up the entertainment ladder but now seems to offer society, based on this song alone, trite and simplistic emotional rhetoric designed to incite class conflict and political strife.

Third: Bush would speak honestly but his words would be irrelevant. She wouldn't listen to either his positions or his responses to hers.

Second verse:

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

First: Does Pink think the President of the United States is responsible for homelessness? The economy is booming, unemployment has remained at record low levels and millions of jobs have been created in the past several years. Liberals allege on a daily basis that our country has 12- 20 million illegal aliens because there are no Americans willing to do the work they do. Those who want to work and are able to work should have no problem finding a job. The tragic reality: most homelessness is the result of two things: drug addiction and mental illness. These issues must be dealt with on a local level. There is nothing a President can do on a micro level to solve this problem. I wonder how many homeless people Pink has helped lately- to how many shelters she has donated her hard earned money? Has she spent a lot of time serving meals in the soup kitchens? Is Pink using the plight of these downtrodden to sell music and make more money for herself?

Second: At least we can be sure Bush prays before bed.

Third: He should be proud. He may not be perfect but he is making an effort.

Third Verse:

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

First: I would be willing to bet that Pink gets hours more sleep every day than does our President.

Second: I doubt Pink spends much time crying about the things that concern most of us.

Third: When she refers to mothers, is she referring to mothers of soldiers who gave their lives fighting for freedom? Does Pink think that these soldiers would support her disrespect of their Commander-in-Chief? Does she think mothers, other than Cindy Sheehan, would support her disrespect of their sons and her efforts to use the deaths of their sons to sell her songs?

Fourth: I know the President would look her in the eye and show her the respect she does not show him.

Fourth verse:

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

First: Is her insinuation that children who are lonely grow up to be horrible, evil people like she asserts the President is? All people are lonely sometimes. People who stand up for what is right are often unpopular. Pink should know that it is often lonely for people who do the right thing because the right thing is often the hard thing. Pink most likely makes her decisions based on popular opinion because that is the easy road. Unfortunately an increasing number of Americans prefer to take the easy road and fail to consider the long term implications of their decisions.

Second: The President has taken a stand that all children have the right to an education and that those children who are being left behind should be attended to by the schools that are failing them. How shocking that a plan created with the help of very liberal Sen. Kennedy to assist the poorest children in our country would upset Pink. Conservatives criticize the President about this issue because they generally believe that local education agencies should control the manner in which education is delivered. The truth is that liberal leaders criticize the President’s plan because they don’t want inner city children to succeed in school. Their very success will lead them to the understanding that the democrats need them to fail.

Third: The people sitting in cells were generally failed by the education system and their families long before this President came on the scene. President Bush has been in a national position of leadership since January of 2001. Her blame of the President for the populations in prison demonstrates Pink’s ignorance about crime statistics. People born to single moms living in poverty are dramatically more likely to grow up to be criminals. The people going to prison today had their fates largely determined decades ago, when they were born to women trapped in a welfare system that offered them little hope. Thankfully republicans convinced President Clinton to sign welfare reform, after several vetoes, in the 1990s. The sky didn’t fall. People who had never worked suddenly found jobs and began teaching their children about responsibility.

Fifth Verse:

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

First: If Pink is speaking of abortion, the President would say that he does not have the power to take away a right that does not exist. Rights must be derived from some power. The President believes, as did our Founders, that our rights derive from Natural Law, from God. The government does not give us rights and the government can not take away a right. One would be hard pressed to say that any God conferred the right to abortion. This is an issue that should be decided by the states, end of story.

Second: The President would not hate his daughter if she were gay. This is an attempted slam against Vice President Cheney. I am sure that the President would love, unconditionally, his daughter if she were gay, just as I believe Cheney loves his daughter. That does not mean that they would condone their daughter’s choice to engage in a homosexual relationship. Loving a child is very different from approving of that child’s choice.

Third: Thankfully the President has maintained his sobriety for decades. This cannot be said for most addicts. Is her point that once a person has engaged in addictive behavior, there is no turning one’s life around?

Sixth Verse:

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

First: If she thinks the President hasn’t worked hard in his life, or that he does not work hard now, she is more ignorant that I thought.

Second: No one should be working for minimum wage with a baby on the way. Pink: minimum wage jobs are jobs intended for entry level workers, often high school students, who have no business planning on raising a family with that income. It is not the fault of the President that countless young women have made a choice to raise a child when they are earning minimum wage. If the woman had engaged in a relationship with a man who was responsible, she would have other options: A two-parent household is the best way to keep children out of poverty.

Third: If the lyric about rebuilding a house that a bomb took away refers to Iraq, she should know that not only will America spend billions of dollars rebuilding Iraq but that much of the destruction occurring in Iraqi neighborhoods is not at the hands of the United States. It is terrorists and insurgents from countries like Iran and Syria who are destroying much of Iraq.

After reading the lyrics of Pink’s “great” song, I am appalled that Rosie gave it praise on national television.

I am also glad I had never before wasted my time, or money, on Pink and her ignorant rant.

The View’s focus on depression brought a lot of great information to the women who watch the program.

Women should be aware that depression is a growing problem in society and also that women suffer from depression, 2:1, more than men.

Scientists have been able to determine, through the use of PET scans, that there are at times verifiable differences between the brains of people with symptoms of depression and those without symptoms. Additionally, pharmaceutical companies have developed many more medications to assist in the management and treatment of depression.

Fortunately, the many experts and Rosie honestly stated that medication was not for everyone but also appropriately suggested people remain open to options. People should explore all available treatment options and make decisions with the help of a doctor to determine the most appropriate course for themselves. Often people who combine medication use (whether short or long-term) with assistance from a psychiatrist or psychotherapist see the most success.

One interesting tidbit thrown out: Depression will be the number one cause of disability in the next couple of years. A question we should all be asking: Should people have the right to forgo treatment if their denial of medical intervention results in a dependency on the government (i.e. the taxpayers)?

While an individual’s depression, like many other disabling conditions, has an impact on society for a variety of reasons, the use of Social Security creates a greater responsibility on the part of the individual and the government.

When a person goes to the government seeking special assistance, to what lengths should the government go to verify their conditions or needs are legitimate? If the needy person has the ability to change their circumstances, should they be required to make efforts to do so?

The government has almost no business interfering in the personal lives of citizens who act within the parameters of the law. We should always remember the principle that one person’s rights should not infringe on the rights of another. When a person seeks benefits that require other citizens to support him, the government has at least some responsibility to protect the rights and property of those who will be forced to pay.

Hopefully, as more people come forward to share their personal stories of treating depression and other forms of mental illness, those continuing to suffer will feel empowered to seek help. If people seek appropriate help to manage their illnesses, fewer should need to turn to the government for support.

Thanks to The View for discussing this very important issue.

On HIV/AIDS:

Queen Latifah stars in a new movie, Life Support, exploring the struggle of women with HIV/AIDS.

The African American community continues to be hit especially hard by this virus, spread almost exclusively through sexual or drug abusing behavior. Black women are the fasting growing group to acquire the virus.

Interestingly, she doesn’t want to get all political but Latifah takes issue with this administration (remember, everything comes back to “It’s Bush’s fault”) because they don’t want to support groups that don’t strictly preach abstinence to stop HIV/AIDS.

She is right that HIV/AIDS virus doesn’t “care if people are Muslim, Christian, black white, gay, straight- it’s a killer.”

LATIFAH: The virus does care that people engage in irresponsible behavior because that is the only way this virus will survive. The only way to avoid getting HIV from sexual activity is ABSTINENCE!

After an interjection by Elizabeth interrupts Joy’s effort to belittle the abstinence movement, Latifah does acknowledge that abstinence does work but because people are emotional, they will engage in high risk behavior. Therefore we need to educate children and youth about how to engage in irresponsible behavior in the most responsible way possible. Brilliant!

Maybe if more people like Latifah would work harder to empower young girls to stand up for themselves and say no to the boys and men who would ruin their lives for a quick 10 minutes of mostly their own hedonistic pleasure, we could save these young women from not only HIV/AIDS but also the burden of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and the emotional baggage that generally comes from engaging in promiscuous sexual behavior.

It seems true that this is an issue that affects the African American community more than other populations: African Americans comprise approximately 12% of the American population, but just over 50% of people newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2005 were African American. The Hispanic population is approximately 13% of the U.S. population but makes up over 19% of newly identified cases of HIV/AIDS. Contrast this to the Caucasian population, which comprises 70% of the population but only 29% of newly diagnosed cases.

I think that it is possible this is really a crisis tied to socioeconomic status. While I couldn’t find statistics tied to socioeconomic status- which would probably reveal that the transmission rates are probably more equitable when comparing people of the same socioeconomic status- i.e. low income Caucasian women may be just as likely to acquire HIV as low income African American women. There are simply fewer Caucasian women living in poverty, therefore the statistics are possibly slightly skewed.

To get more information on HIV/AIDS please check out the following websites:

For general information on HIV/AIDS:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#aidsage

For data on women with HIV/AIDS:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/women/resources/factsheets/women.htm

For information on transmission to children:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/perinatal/index.htm

A couple of additional points on today’s show:

On American Idol:

Simon has a job to do- tell these people what they need to do to be the stars they hope to become. As these young people argue and act as though Simon is a fool, they are the fools. They should say “Thank you” and do some honest reflection about his comments.

On Bill Clinton and stray dogs:

Joy: Good joke comparing Bill Clinton to a stray dog who always comes back… I love when the libs go where no conservative could, at least not as a host on one of the major networks…