OK, folks, I usually avoid the political here, but I’ve been annoyed enough that I feel I just want to get it out there.

I have sat by why Republicans dressed themselves up in their Sunday best and made party affiliation a spiritual issue. I’m tired of Obama bashing from the pulpit. I’m concerned about the next generation who still think that it is their God given duty to vote for anyone with an (R) after their name.

First, let me go on a side rant…

I am against abortion. If you know me, that’s not a surprise. I find the thought of it repulsive and even more so now that I have a child of my own. I am willing to take any legal means necessary to prevent it. If the situation arose, Lisa and I have decided we would adopt to keep an abortion from happening. Yeah, we’re that serious (and if you know anyone…).

But I do not consider myself a part of the “Pro-Life” movement.

This movement has myopically focused the entirety of the American Christendom on just one issue. Yes, it’s a huge issue. Yes, it needs to be discussed and debated. Yes, there should be some sort of political action against it. But this is not the only issue we as Christians should care about.

Quick quiz to annoy your “Pro-Life” friends – What’s the Pro-Life position on AIDS in Africa? What’s the Pro-Life position on Zimbabwe? Sudan? Iran? How about poverty and malnutrition in the U.S.? South America? Mexico? What did the “Pro-Life” movement do during Katrina? These are all issues of life, yet none of them are in any way concerns of a “Pro-Life” movement.

Get a new name or start caring more.

Sorry about that, back to the main point.

If there is one.

So, yeah, Republicans = holy.

That.

So, yes, abortion finds many friends in religion. It’s fair, we should be there. We as Christians should be concerned about it, we should be active against it. But it is not the only issue.

Gay marriage, another Republican plank, also finds friends in the religious community.

So, therefore everything the Republicans do must be right. I mean, they got those two issues correct, right?

Right?

Not right.

It impresses me that the Bible has much more to say about the poor than almost any other subject, yet these are the people most ignored by the supposedly religious Republicans. Indeed, the Bible says if a man does not work he should not eat. Sloth is never to be rewarded. However, punching someone is also discouraged. But some hippie came along and said if anyone hits you on one cheek you should turn the other. If they make you walk a mile, we should offer to go two. If they need a coat we should give them the shirt off our backs, too.

Ours is a religion of excessive giving. We should gladly give away all that we have, even at the risk of being taken advantage of.

And while I agree that the church should be the major player in charity, there are just two problems with that…

First, we don’t. Simply stated we’ve had the chance for years and we just haven’t. This is why the government stepped up in the first place. This is one of the biggest things I struggle about at our home church. The mortgage simply eats everything and there’s nothing left to give at the end of the month. Shows where the priorities are.

Second, even if we did, I’m not sure we could handle the scope of the problem. I’d be interested to know how much money goes out in financial aid and how much each of us, as an individual church goer, would have to pay to cover even the portion of it we would admit is needed.

One more thing that just puts me over the edge with the current Republican party is this warped sense of rights. Currently, the big concern is that our rights are somehow being taken away by this “socialist” government.

Really? How so?

Has this government tapped your phone yet? Were they the ones that decided everyone needs to take off their shoes at the airport? No fly lists..was that them? Guantanamo? Avoiding of the judicial system by creating a system that allows search warrants to be issued by the executive branch?

Nope, they’re threatening to help poor people get health care. Bailing out banks that regulators simply failed to regulate for the past decade. Propping up an automotive industry that neglected the world wide economy.

Which of your rights are being violated by this?

Any party that invades a sovereign nation (needed or unneeded) and takes a stand on women’s reproductive rights (that I agree with) while obviously perverting the Constitution with the Patriot Act and its interpretations and expansions has no business complaining when they perceive their economic rights are infringed. You can’t have it both ways.

Especially if one of your own signed the first pieces of it into law last year.

Besides, I remember a previously mentioned hippie encouraging his followers to give to the government what was asked of them and give to God what God asked of them. And, yes, that a direct reference to taxes. This is the same government he knew was going to kill him and feed his followers to lions. Makes Medicaid seem like a pretty good deal, don’t it?

Oh yeah, while we’re on the topic of finances…worried about excessive taxation and deficit spending? A valid concern, to be sure.

It would be even more valid if the only time in the last 30 years we reduced the deficit was under any of the Republican presidents. Yep. Clinton. Only one. Did a lot wrong, but reduced the debt. Not a single Republican has done that since Ford/Nixon.

And, yes, tax rates appear to go down during Republican reigns in office. For instance, from 1981-2009 the lowest tier has gone from 14% to 10%. The only raise to that was in 1988 (Republican). However, in the same time period the tax rate on the highest bracket has gone from 70% to 35%, only having gone up in 1993 (Democrat). And, need I remind you, the bulk of the last stimulus package went to people in the higher tax brackets. Pretty easy to see who got the bigger breaks, eh? Not to mention the fact that with a 7% increase to the highest tax bracket (and tapering off until the bottom bracket) Clinton turned around the deficit spending of his predecessors. I’m sorry, but the numbers seem to indicate Republican suck at finances.

Please never use the phrase “Tax and Spend Democrat” again. K?

Also, I’m going to have to go down the moral high road for a second. Democrats do get it easy. No question. See also Kennedy, Clinton, et al. But part of the reason for that is the fact that Democrats don’t pretend to be the moral authority for the country. A Republican and a Democrat can take part in the exact same act (possibly even together. That has not yet been tried and would be interesting to say the least) and the Republican is going to come out smelling worse just because he is associated with the party that attempted to found the “Moral Majority” (which turned out to be pretty much neither). Scandal sells, hypocrisy (no matter how tenuous) sells better. The Republicans have courted the religious vote by branding themselves as God’s party, so when things go bad they shouldn’t be surprised if it gets shoved back in their faces. Yes, they’re human (well, at least politicians), but if they want to fly high, it’s best they check that their wings are made from more than wax.

And another aside: Palin. Let’s forget for a moment her biggest qualification for VP is briefly running the most socialist state in the union (live here, get free money we take from big business!). Let’s ignore her laughable concept of foreign policy (Bush Doctrine: look it up). Let’s even put aside her ignorance over the role of the Vice President (doesn’t vote in the Senate except in ties. Sorry). She was the worst form of pandering a party has put forth in years. She was very Christian, I’ll give her that. McCain needed someone to help balance his perceived image there. But she was still a bad choice. Just because you love Jesus doesn’t mean you’re fit for the job. And she was a woman, something the Republicans should be congratulated on. But coming right on the heels of Hillary’s defeat it just seemed tacky. Kind of an “us too!” move that bypassed many serious contenders in an attempt to court the feminist vote that wouldn’t touch Palin with a 10 foot pole. Whatever tactic resulted in her being selected was flawed to say the least and insulting to say it more accurately. Rant off.

I’m going to throw a few out there just shotgun style. The poor in Africa: Republicans have no plan, let’s hope someone else does since there are 2-3 million kids over there with AIDS/HIV right now. Environment: if you’re religious, check out the first bit of Genesis. Tending and keeping the garden was our first job, not protecting big business and special interest groups. Same sex stuff: it’s not the worst sin, stop acting like it is. Think about a Republican coming back after an affair. Now imagine it was with a man. Why is it different?

Listen, at the end of the day, I don’t care who you vote for. You have your issues, I have mine. But please, take a minute and think about what is happening before you automatically assume everything the Democrats do is wrong. I’m writing this because, in fact, I am highly conflicted. I agree with Republicans about many things, but then I agree with Democrats about many things. At the end of the day they’re both wrong and they’re both right. The biggest problem is blindly following either. The two party system only works as long as people are polarized in one direction or the other. And by “works” I mean keeps the Republicans and/or Democrats in power with no hope for real progress.

I know this post came down especially hard on the Republicans, and maybe I’ll do a post later on my problems with Democrats, but I felt like I just needed to swing things the other way for a moment. My hope, my prayer is that we could see more parties forming coalitions on issues so that we could have meaningful dialog across the board instead of the posturing that defines our government today.

And, for Christ’s sake (literally, not swearing) keep your politics out of the pulpit unless you’ve got a dang good piece of scripture to back yourself up.

Not a bad night. Contractions are harder and more frequent. Petosin starts at eight. Baby some time later.

So we’re here and the process is in full effect. Lisa is on the first round if meds that will get her ready for round two. Round two will comence at eight tomorrow morning. And, for the record it does not look fun. But for now it’s good night and see you in the morning.

Yeah, I don’t really know. There are books that tell Lisa what to bring, but not me. But as far as I can figure, here’s the important stuff…

Extra socks.
Actually, an entire change of clothes.
iPhone to keep everyone up to date.
iPhone to keep Adam entertained.
Toothbrush and that kind of stuff.
Nutty bars.
Pop tarts.
Pepperoni rolls.
Lisa and her bag.
Lots of camera gear.

You might have to install some stuff, but here’s a virtual tour of where our baby’s going to be hangoing out.

via. Photosynth

That’s right, I’m going to be a dad.

Tomorrow.

3/9/09.

That is 6 days early and all, but it works out for the best.

Lisa’s doing ok. She’s got some pretty bad swelling in her feet and hands and is actually getting a bit of carpal tunnel in her wrists (all normalish, as much as these things go) but her fluid levels are good and she’s feeling alright otherwise, it’s just time to have this baby.

The baby right now is tipping the scales at around 8 lbs, give or take 14 oz (seriously. That’s some margin of error). He has a good strong heart rate and moves well considering he’s stuck in what is effectively a wet, undersized sleeping bag mad of Lisa.

The only catch is that, indeed, he does not want to come out. Knowing Lisa’s family history, the doctor figures we’re going to have to induce anyways, so it’s better to induce at 8 lbs than 11 lbs and so, here we are.

Schedule wise, we’re going in tonight (Sunday) and the process will start. Sparing details here, tomorrow morning there will be some drugs introduced that will get the show rolling in earnest. Depending on any number of factors the little guy will be arriving sometime Monday afternoon/evening/night/Tuesday morning.

For following the progress, we have options. First and easiest will be online. I Twitter. you can find me at twitter.com/adambartlett . There’s an rss feed for those of you who are down with the tech, but that gets complicated. So for that reason my twitter account will be feeding my facebook account for the next few days. Anything I say there should appear on facebook within a few minutes. If you can handle the lag, it’s a lot easier. I will be using my blog just for longer entries if needed. There is also phone calls and email if you prefer (more after the fact than during, of course), so let me know. I will try and check email/comments between now and then, so if you want in on the list let me know who you are and how you want me to get ahold of you. Please leave numbers/addresses since I might not have all of you memorized.

As for visiting, sorry, but no. Probably. We’d rather tell everyone no and then if Lisa feels up to it invite folks over. If we invite you, congrats, you win. If we don’t invite you to the hospital, it doesn’t mean we don’t like you or we like other people better, it just means we didn’t invite you over. It’s not an infinitely large room and we have to draw arbitrary lines somewhere. Sorry. When we’re home and settled we’ll try and work something out.

Well, that’s all I got. I have to go to church and tell everyone there. This shouldn’t publish until after then, so, I’m kinda sneaky like that. Talk to you all soon. Wish us luck.

“Jack Kennedy almost ruined the hat industry of America by appearing headless…i mean hatless…” – Tom Brokaw talking about the reappearance of hats on the inauguration stage.

.25 inch – Anxiety stage. Moderate panic from base personnel who just moved up here. Everyone starts watching for cancelations/delays
.50 inch – Hoarding stage. Since snow has been known to make travel difficult, most residents head to the store and buy the necessities. The necessities, in case you were wondering, appear to be toilet paper and beer.
.75 inch – Skid stage. Confused about how to drive in this strange substance that seems to show up unexpectedly the same time every year, Daytonians begin to fill up the ditches with abandoned cars that left the road of their own accord. Of course, sometimes they leave the road because of someone else’s Accord fishtailing across 4 lanes of I-675 and taking them out. If it is early in the morning some schools may begin to call delays and cancel morning kindergarden (note to self: sign up kid for morning kindergarden).
1 inch – Panic stage. Most of the time the snow has stopped by this point. If you see an inch, though, how far is it going to go? This uncertainty causes many schools to cancel or, if they are already in session, let out early. Some workplaces may also send an email to their employees to head home “before it gets too bad out there.” Further instilling this dread is the weather guy constantly breaking in to your “regularly scheduled program” to show traffic cams blinded by the snow, occasionally with some flashing lights half obscured by the flakes stuck to the lens. You can tell he’s starting to get a little too excited.
2 inches – Barricade stage. At this point it is really, really snowing. At least by Ohio standards, anyway. Many residents will decide nothing outside is worth risking their lives on two inches of powdery death. Besides, they already have toilet paper and beer, so what else do they need?
3 inches – Adventure stage. Most people are locked in at home, but for a few foolhardy examples of too much bravado and testosterone. The 4WD crowd has come out in force and are celebrating their vehicles’ ability to run at 70 MPH in spite of the weather. This short-lived high will soon be replaced by the realization that “four wheel drive” does not always equate to “four wheel stop.” Luckily the ditches have already been padded with a collection of other, smaller cars to lessen the blow.
4 inches – Historical stage. All local channels have been taken over by the weathermen who have been waiting for this moment since the end of tornado season. They are there to make sure you understand that a.) you should stay home, b.) you should keep your eyes on the crawl at the bottom to see if your events have been canceled and will remain canceled, c.) that this radar picture is from the “Channel 4 Super Ultra Radarmatic Precision Mapperizer 5000 Network,” d.) that they in fact are the Miami Valley’s best weather team even though they’re reading the same report that NOAA sent every other weather guy in the area and e.) this is the most snow that the Miami Valley has seen on the first Wednesday after the first full moon of January where the date is even since 1952 so it is “truly an historic event.” For the record,
5 inches- Blizzard stage. At this point it is officially a blizzard. Not really, but everyone who “lives through it” will sure talk it up later. Five inches of snow will dominate the talk around the office cooler for a good 2 weeks. In other news, the kids home from school/soccer practice/piano lessons/guitar hero tournaments/whatever are starting to get bored and, thus, annoying.
6 or more inches – Acceptance. At this point everything and anything that can be closed will be closed. With no one having any reason to leave their house, the roads slowly empty (except for the cars in the ditches, they’ll be there for a week or so). With the roads empty the snow crews decide there’s no real point to continue. With the road crews gone, the weather guy gets to say “treacherous” with increasing frequency. And every time he says it, one more person decides to stay home, thus fueling the process anew. The roads will be a disaster for at least 24 hours. On top of that, people start to run out of beer.