Introducing, NeoMugwump!

I decided to create a new blog called NeoMugwump. So, if you want to know what thoughts (or lack thereof) are tumbling out of my head, please go to the new site and enjoy!

Watch This Space

Vacation time is almost over.

As most of you know, I've been taking some time off from blogging since being let go from my job in mid-November. After the emotional experience I had, blogging was the last thing on my mind. I'm still looking for work, but I think things are looking up and I've noticed that I'm regaining an interest in blogging again.

The world hasn't stopped since I've blogged. With the GOP dealing with the lobbying mess and the Dems implosion during the Alito hearings, it looks like I have a lot to comment about.

So, look for me to be blogging again in the next few days (not weeks). I don't expect to be writing at a frenzied pace. I don't even know if I will be blogging at this site or get a new blog with a new name. But I will blog.

See you Sunday or Monday.

Update on Ford

A good friend reminded me that I probably should update the goings on concerning Ford and ads in gay publications. Last week, Ford reversed it's earlier decision to drop advertising in gay publications. You can read about it here. After a meeting with several gay rights organizations, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign, Ford decided to not only advertise it's Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications, but all of its brands. You can read Ford's statement by going

here.

This was a good decision by Ford. As I said earlier, in a time when the Blue Oval is fighting for its survival, it needs all the potential customers it can get. Kudos to Ford for reaffirming its commitment to tolerance and fairness.

Note:I made a mistake in the previous post about Ford. I said that Ford was dropping advertising in gay publications, save Jaguar and Land Rover. That was incorrect. In reality, Ford did not advertise it's entry and mid level brands in gay publications, but did market it's higher level brands like Volvo and the two formentioned. Ford's statement last week indicated that now all Ford brands will advertise in gay publications. Sorry for the mistake.

Have You Driven a Ford Lately? Maybe You Shouldn't

Unless you've been living in a cage, you know that the American auto industry is in a bad fix. While Chrysler is doing well with the help of it's German friends, Ford and GM are struggling. A lot of this is self imposed, with both companies placing too many eggs in the Truck/SUV market and not enough in cars. Both companies need to start making good cars and getting people to buy them. And they can't afford to be choosy about who buys them, they just need a lot of green coming in.

So, I'm a little perplex about Ford reaching an agreement with American Family Association. My friend Randy Stern reports that Ford will pull advertising from gay media such as the Advocate (high-end brands like Volvo and Jaguar are exempted) and in exchange, the American Family Association won't boycott the automaker.

Hmmm...last I checked, there isn't a big market of Christian bigots chomping at the bit to buy Fords. There is however a large GLBT market that is willing to buy cars and this silly move by Ford will only give them more impetus to by a Toyota or Honda over a Ford.

Ford really isn't in a position to be dissing an important market that could save it's behind. I doubt that the American Family Association is going to start steering their people Ford's now that they aren't advertising in those nasty gay publications.

A few years ago, the Steven Spielberg movie Schindler's List, the movie about the Holocaust made it's network debut. Ford bought up all the advertising for the broadcast so that it could run nearly uninterrupted. It was a bold symbolic move for the automaker, because it's founder Henry Ford was a known anti-semite. In it's own way it was trying to make up for the past.

I applauded Ford then. I condemn them now for bowing to the modern day version of anti-semites who treat gay people like vermin all in the name of Jesus.

If Ford decides to do this, then they deserve to go out of business. I know that this gay man won't buy a Ford and I will urge others to do so.

On "Vacation"

I wanted to write something so that people know I'm still around. Since I was let go of my job on Veteran's Day, I've been taking a sort of vacation from blogging. I've been using most of the time to of course look for work, do some PR work arts group, do work for the church I'm co-pastor at and spend time with my boyfriend.

In that time, I haven't blogged much, nor have I kept up with other blogs that I used to follow religiously.

And you know what?

I don't miss it.

I don't know what that all means, and no, this is not a post about me giving up blogging to take more walks. (Anyway, it's about 10 degrees outside, so no walks for me.) However, I wonder how important blogging is. I mean, when you are trying to find ways survive, you have to wonder how important it is for people to know your views on Tom Delay.

When I started blogging three years ago, I wanted this to be a place where moderates could gather. I hope it is. But blogging is too much a place where people only hear what they want to hear.

Does blogging really change anything? I dunno. Can moderate bloggers make change? I dunno. I beginning to think what is more important is acutally getting involved in something. I just don't know if blogging is going to spur some movement.

Then there's the need to constantly publish something and to get noticed by other bloggers. I can't speak for others, but I have to admit that I've had that feeling of needing to share something and hoping another blogger would mention it. Looking back, it seems like I was caught up in this need to be noticed, to feel good about me.


I'm not going to stop blogging, but it won't hold the same passion it once did. After losing my job, I've learned that family, friends and in my case the love of a good man are what's important. Blogging about the latest scandal doesn't hold a candle to that.

I will be blogging on a more regular basis at some point (probably when I'm employed again). For now, I'm just going to stay on vacation. Don't worry; you will see a post every now and then. I've got to write "postcards" from vacation.

Rhymes with Witch

It never ceases to amaze me how low my own party can go at times. Look at these words from junior (in more ways than one) congresswoman Jean Schmidt, a Republican from Ohio addressed to Pennsylvania Congressman
John Murtha:

The fiery, emotional debate climaxed when Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she received from a Marine colonel.

``He asked me to send Congress a message - stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message - that cowards cut and run, Marines never do,'' Schmidt said.

Democrats booed and shouted her down - causing the House to come to a standstill.

Okay, so this newbie who has never been in conflict, had the gall to call a man who has severed in two wars has two Purple Hearts, and goes to visit wounded Iraq War veterans weekly, a coward?

There are words for women like her, but this is a family blog and I won't use those words.

You don't have to agree with an immediate withdrawl from Iraq-I don't. But you have to respect his words because he knows of what he speaks. Murtha is a Marine and knows war. If this guy who isn't a Michael Moore/MoveOn lefty, says that we should consider getting out of Iraq, maybe the Bushies should listen. Anyway, if the Bushies were paying attention, they would see Murtha wasn't saying we should totally cut and run:

Murtha offered a resolution that would force the president to withdraw the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq ``at the earliest practicable date.'' It would establish a quick-reaction force and a nearby presence of Marines in the region. It also said the U.S. must pursue stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

Unlike a lot of leftists, Murtha isn't saying we should just leave Iraq to it's own fate. He seems to be saying we shouldn't be in the line of fire and stay close by just in case. Bush should have taken this up, even if he didn't agree with it. The current Bush Administration plan is not really a plan. What does it mean to stay the course? How long will we have to be there? What is the criteria that would tell us it is time to go? The Administration has no answer.

Instead, the President and his companions tar those who don't agree with them. It reminds me of some of the history I've heard about President Johnson who would go after those who disagreed with him on Vietnam.

The Administration should be creating a plan to gradually get us out over time. But to do that means "defeat" in their eyes, so the Bushies stay the course and keep handling the war badly and smear those who don't agree with them.

Monkeys could have handled this better.

On Science and Theology

And God stepped out on space,
And he looked around and said:
I'm lonely--
I'll make me a world.

So begins the poem "Creation" by James Weldon Johnson. This poem was Johnson's wonderfully intimate re-telling of biblical story of creation found in the book of Genesis. This past Sunday, the associate minister of another congregation I'm a part of did an interpretive dance to the poem as it was read by the pastor. It was a wonderful telling of how lonely God was and how God solved that by creating...well, creation.

As a Christian, I believe that God created the world. My concern for the environment stems from the fact that I believe this is God's world and all who consider themselves Christians, must take care of the earth. I can't prove that God created the world; since my belief is faith. That doesn't make it any less important-faith, whether it's faith in the Christian God or Allah, or Buddha or Vishnu. Faith isn't something that can be proven, but simply believed. What it doesn't make it is science.

Charles Krauthammer has a dead-on column in today's Washington Post about the latest battle concerning "intelligent design." Proponents of this "theory" conclude that the universe is so complex, that it had to be designed by an intelligent being. Hmmm, what could that being be?

In some way, all Christians believe in Intelligent Design, in that we believe God had a role in creation. But that isn't science, that's theology and the proponents know that. Christians are free to believe that God created the world. We live in a free country that allows us to believe whatever we want. But we don't have the right to force our beliefs on others and it is repulsive to disguise a theological viewpoint as science.

Believing in evolution isn't anti-Christian. It is a well proven theory that shows us how we came to be. However, evolution can't explain the why. That is where religion comes in. I know that humans evolved over time. That's science. Theology tells me we were created in the image of God and that we are loved by this God.

The problem is that those on the religious right who are pushing intelligent design aren't really so interested in the "how." They really aren't interested in science. And that's dangerous. Science can and has helped us combat deadly diseases and find ways for us to stop polluting our planet. Science helped created drugs that help me not succumb so easily to my clincial depression and helped my mother beat breast cancer so far. Science can do good and it is not against God. Simply focusing on the "why" and ignoring science can lead to disasterous results. For example, people who contract HIV/AIDS are viewed as being punished by God instead of seeing this as a result of unprotected sex and pursuing the need for safer methods.

In the end, I think Republicans would be wise to step away from this. Both President Bush and Senator John McCain have said that Intelligent Design should be taught to give kids "both sides." I think this is dangerous. As much as I like McCain, I hope when he runs again in 2008, he drops that promise. ID is fool's gold and in some cases, I think it is poison. It's time for the GOP to be the party of faith and science again. One can be a devout believer and a rigorous scientist. Kudos to Krauthammer for reminding us.