Politics and Culture

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The irony is not lost on Gilbert Mayor John Lewis.

The town that celebrates Constitution Week with much fanfare is now trying to wade its way out of an embarrassing controversy over First Amendment protection on religious freedom.

The issue began over a notification sent by town staff to a seven-member local group, all members of the Oasis of Truth Church, to stop meeting at home, citing the town's land development code, which states:

"religious-assembly uses are not permitted in single-family residential structures."

The group contacted the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, a self-described legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations, which subsequently appealed the town's cease-and-desist

Those deferring to the founders' intent on constitutional matters should not support the constitutional challenge to Gilbert's anti residential church law. The constitution just wanted to prevent a state church like the established Anglican church in Britain. States did in fact have religious tests for office and prohibited certain worship. By making this a federal issue, conservatives undercut themselves. Instead, residents of Gilbert should just change the law.

1. McD is more stiff than Obama. It might come off as refreshing after a year of Obama.

2. I hate the anti-partisan lie whether it's from a Republican or a Democrat.

3. He quotes the Bible. Nice contrast.

4. Good move mentioning the Christmas bomber. More contrast.

5. The faux SOTU atmosphere instead of the usual office is weird. Who are those people: friends? The applause is both more vigorous and more staged.

6. Nice conservative rhetoric. Simpler. Not a huge hit, necessarily. Who knows?

7. Another contrast: McDonnell listens and does what the people want. Obama does what's unpopular.

Man, did I call it or what? Spending freeze, baby.

http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/asymmetric/2010/01/19/asymmetric-advice-for-obama-and-republicans-after-scott-brown-1

I don't mean to brag, but while lefties were urging Obama to lead a socialist Pickett's charge, Obama, who must be a regular reader- probably subscribes to my RSS on his Blackberry's Viigo- goes with my instinct.

Obama wants to subsidize women leaving the home. These are the kinds of policies that chap my hide. Specifically, I hate when the government picks winners and losers. My wife stays at home to take care of our 3 kiddies. What's in this proposal for her? In effect, my wife's subsidizing our neighbor, who works.

It's like the thing I get in the mail for reduced electricity and gas rates. If I fill it in, I'm cheating. If I don't, I pay for cheaters or, at least, my rates go up to pay for somebody else.

Obama:

Don't do anything. You can pass health care reform, but just reform the broken stuff. Don't build a new system from the ground up, in three months, based on a book by a college professor, supported most fervently by graduate students in sociology. Don't do anything on education; I guarantee it will make things worse. Don't fix immigration. Avoid any bill containing the adjective "comprehensive." Don't give speeches. Don't declare war on the culture. If we want the culture changed, we'll do it ourselves. Just go home, host Easter egg hunts, play basketball. Leave us alone.

Republicans:

Don't do anything. Don't gloat. All victories in a democracy are temporary. Don't declare a revolution. Please don't say anything about ethics or "the tone." Roll back the dumb stuff. Say "no." We don't want new stuff. No new wars, taxes, forms, programs. When you get back in power, just go about slowly scaling back government. Start with a freeze perhaps. People like the word "freeze." It makes them think of how they handle their own money, "OK, we'll eat out twice a month, but no more, and we won't order soda."

We live in a great and prosperous country. People want to be left alone to watch 24. Let them. Be like the guy who monitors the water meter. The less we notice you, the happier we are.

Culture battles only cross people's lives in schools and on TV. One's local and the other's market-driven.

According to Janet Napolitano, the system is designed to work, thusly:

When a passenger, who may or may not have been a suspected terrorist, gets on a plane and wants to blow it up, the government counts on a faulty bomb trigger mechanism and one or two heroic passengers to prevent disaster.