In revealing that her eldest daughter is pregnant, the Palin family released this statement to the press:

Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.

Sarah Palin is anti-abortion. What “decision” was there for her daughter to make? “Decision” implies there existing a choice. Palin and McCain would abolish that choice.

Sarah Palin is also opposed to teaching sex-ed in schools. But she is in favor of teaching creationism. The former might help a lot of kids make better decisions. The latter would help no one and belongs in religious schools and education; not in schools.

Jimmy Justice prowls the streets of New York with a camcorder, recording law enforcement vehicles violating the law:

When Republicans cry with indignation at mistreatment of John McCain, let us not forget 2004. Back then, the GOP brought new meaning to “honoring service” of a veteran and political civility. Kerry received three Purple Hearts serving in combat in Vietnam. That’s three more than Bush, Rove, and Cheney combined. This is how, in 2004, Bush’s supporters honored his service:

So, the civility bar has been set remarkably low, and so far the only thing that’s been questioned is whether getting shot down over Hanoi is a qualification for the Presidency. When Wes Clark made that observation, Bob Dole awoke from Bob Dole’s slumber. Bob Dole said this:

“The attack by General Wesley Clark on Senator John McCain’s war record and qualifications for the presidency is beyond comprehension. Clark’s absurd remarks signal further erosion in our nation’s political discourse. He should have stayed in bed Sunday morning.

It’s unfortunate that a former General who ran for the presidency on his own war record thinks it appropriate to attack a distinguished veteran and former prisoner-of-war in this way. Senator McCain’s entire life has been devoted to public service. His achievement and experience constitute unparalleled qualification for America’s highest office.”

This is what Bob Dole said in 2004 about John Kerry’s service:

And last week, former Sen. Bob Dole, the party’s 1996 presidential nominee, brought more attention to the allegations when he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “With three Purple Hearts, he never bled that I know of. And they’re all superficial wounds.”

In other words, Senator Dole, the erosion of our political discourse was helped along by the likes of you.

I happen to think that there is no set of qualifications for the Presidency. If there were, we could just us a headhunter and solicit resumes. So the question itself is a dumb one.

But gasps of righteous indignation from the crowd that wore purple-heart laden Band-Aids ring very hollow indeed.

HT The Humanist.

Some privileged scion of a Mississippi political family, Representative Chip Pickering (R) announced in August 2007 that he was not going to run for re-election. He wanted to spend more time with his family, he said. He’s all set to take a cush lobbying job when he leaves Congress at the end of the year.

Last week, he filed for divorce from his wife, with whom he has five children. I guess spending more time with the family is out of the question, now.

So, why do I bring this up? Why do I care about the personal life of an obscure and undistinguished Republican congressman?

Because he’s one of those self-righteous, moralistic imbeciles who believes that permitting gay marriage somehow harms the sanctity of the institution of marriage. He is against adoption by gay couples, because evidently a child being in an orphanage or some other institutional environment is healthier for that child than to be raised by a loving same-sex couple in a stable home. He does not think that other states should have to recognize same-sex marriages or unions performed in other states. While full faith & credit applies only to judgments, I wonder whether Mr. Pickering would have supported the rights of states not to recognize, e.g., interracial marriages back when some states were ok with them while others weren’t.

The hypocrisy, which is evident even to the most ignorant, is par for the course. There are so many politicians who proclaim their piety and traditionalism to the mountaintops. They quote from the Bible to support policies that oppress people who bother no one.

A gay marriage hurts no one. It doesn’t affect anyone else in the entire world. It will not bring a plague of locusts falling from the sky, and it won’t bring down the wrath of God, and it won’t make God cause terrorists to hijack planes and hurl them into buildings. A gay marriage won’t cause your heterosexual marriage to be cheapened. It won’t make your kids gay. It won’t hurt you in any way, shape, or form. A gay marriage doesn’t alter your political or religious beliefs any more than those beliefs alter the gay couple.

The fact that this self-righteous, pious defender of faith and family is getting divorced (I think the Bible has something to say about that, incidentally), is an actual, physical destruction of a family. It doesn’t get more direct than rending asunder a solemn oath and vow you take with your spouse and your God. It doesn’t get any worse than bringing a quiverfull of kids into the world, and then ripping the family in two.

When contacted about it, Pickering says it’s a painful, private matter and he doesn’t want to comment. No shit it’s painful. Ask your kids, Congressman. But for someone who so publicly assailed the private lives of people different from him, he should be ashamed.

If God will not be mocked, maybe it’s the hypocritical self-righteous Republican values-mongering divorcees who are doing the mocking.

Want to see the erosion of family values? Want to see the sancity and tradition of marriage be mocked and diminished? Look no further than Representative Chip Pickering.