Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Politics

A Tale of Two Governors

by Clay Staggs

The Michael Jackson freakshow isn’t the only game in town, it seems. Just a day before MJ’s death, Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, admitted that he’d been having an affair. Not just any affair either. The governor had disappeared without telling his wife or his staff where he was going (or telling them a lie - that he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail). Turns out he had jetted off to Argentina for a rendezvous with his mistress.

Now, obviously, this is very bad. Infidelity doesn’t really go over very well with the electorate in the US (unlike France, where it’s some sort of badge of manhood). However, Bill Clinton survived it politically, so perhaps there was a chance for a man once considered to be a possible presidential candidate. Then, the news leaked out that Mrs. Sanford knew about the affair, having discovered it in a letter from the paramour to the Governor. They had separated; he was told to end the affair, and said he would.

But he didn’t. He apparently went on his jaunt to Argentina afterwards. So, today, Mark Sanford grants an interview to the AP, which results in the following:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford declared his Argentine mistress his soul mate Tuesday but said he is committed to reconciling with his wife in hopes of saving his family and what is left of his political career.

Sanford, who also admitted meeting his lover more times than he had previously claimed, told The Associated Press in emotional interviews that he "crossed lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage.

But he said he never went as far as he did with Maria Belen Chapur, the woman at the center of the scandal that has derailed his once-promising political future.

Even with the latest revelations, Sanford maintains he is fit to govern and has no plans to resign. And he insisted his relationship with Chapur, whom he met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay eight years ago, was more than just sex.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

Wow. That ought to make Mrs. Sandford come running back. The paramour is his soul mate? Are you serious? Does he really expect reconciliation by saying something like that, much less in public? Seems doubtful, no?

So, strike one potential Republican governor off the list for 2012. I say good riddance. Better to know about this stuff before the voting starts. Besides, there’s another Republican governor to think about. How about this?

Yes, indeed she is running. The whole photo shoot for Runner’s World, complete with a shot of her holding Trig, is here.

Watch out, Barry.

Culture Wars

The Inevitable Michael Jackson Post

by Clay Staggs

You knew that somebody was going to do it, so why not me?

We’ve all heard about Michael Jackson’s death. The gruesome details are really leaking out in the UK papers. It runs the gamut, too: from the ex-nanny who says she pumped his stomach on more than one occasion when he OD’d to the leaked autopsy reports that say he was bald and weighed only 114 pounds. If these leaks are to be believed, he had had no fewer than 13 plastic surgeries on his face alone. He was very clearly disturbed psychologically. To be sure, he was a talented performer. But, that has been overshadowed by his freakish behavior, drug addictions, and - let’s face it - all the allegations about his behavior around children.

So this person, who, for the last 15 years has been treated as a has-been weirdo by the press, is now the subject of unbridled grief. Elizabeth Taylor says that she can’t imagine her life without him. The US House of Representatives held a moment of silence. The city of Los Angeles says that it is expecting crowds in the millions for his memorial service.

Perhaps I’m jaded and uncaring, but this strikes me as so far out of whack as to be ridiculous. None of these millions of mourners even knew Michael Jackson. What’s more, if we’re going to mourn something, shouldn’t we mourn the folks in Iran who are dying the streets trying to overthrow the mullahs? Somehow, though, dying for freedom at the hands of religious fascist dictators doesn’t stir people’s emotions these days, but Michael Jackson does. Our culture is even out of whack in a secular sense.

I was bewildered by the whole Princess Di thing too, but, at least she was glamorous and good looking. Michael Jackson was weird and freaky looking. Why deify him? Mankind was made to worship, and since, because of the fall, we don’t worship what we’re supposed to worship, we cast about looking for a substitute. Lest anyone doubt the complete wreckage of the human soul as a result of the fall, just watch this upcoming memorial service for Michael Jackson. We’re not any different than the Israelites dancing around the golden calf. Scratch that - we’re worse.

Politics

What’s Going On In Iran

by Clay Staggs

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the political left in this country has either (a) lost its stomach for advocating freedom or (b) doesn’t even recognize true repression when it happens. Witness the events going on right now in Iran. Actually, that’s a fairly difficult thing to do now, isn’t it? There simply isn’t a whole lot going on right now in the mainstream press about it. A visitor to the NY Times website this morning will be greeted by this picture:

The associated story, at the top of the webpage, is about last night’s Fashion Awards. This while one of the most repressive regimes in the world is on the verge of being toppled. It is not inconceivable that the aversion of nuclear war is on the line here, and yet, the lefties’ paper of record can’t seem to be bothered to post a picture of the beatings and killings of the protesters.

Why is that? As I speculated above, one explanation is that they just don’t really have the stomach for the fight. After all, the Iraq affair has been a long and draining experience. None can realistically deny this. Yet, for the US, the question should be whether we care to be, if not an active agent for freedom and democracy, at least its cheerleader. What does it cost anyone here in the US, left or right, to say publicly that nonviolent protesters shouldn’t be beaten and killed by government hit squads?

I suspect that the true explanation is that the left has lost the ability to recognize true repression when it sees it. Over the last seven years especially, the left has been so engaged in trying to paint the US as some type of fascist state that they’ve lost the ability to know what one truly looks like. Well, the folks in Iran know. That’s why 2 to 3 million people took to the streets of Tehran yesterday to protest this ridiculous sham of an election. And while those protesters are beaten, killed, and the government tries its best to shut off the flow of information to the outside world, the best that President Obama can do is to say that he is “troubled” by the situation. Super weak. Can he not at least muster the decency to say that no government should murder its own citizens in cold blood for participating in political protest? Pathetic. We’ve come a long way from Reagan’s daring Gobachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

But, nature abhors a vacuum. Almost miraculously, Iranians are still able to use Twitter, and are letting the rest of the world know what’s going on, one 140-character tweet at a time. If you’re interested go here or here to read the tweets yourself. Also, as is increasingly the case these days, new media is beating the pants off mainstream media. The very best I’ve found is Michael Totten, a freelance journalist/blogger, whose posts are here at the Commentary magazine blog. Another good roundup is provided by (of all bloggers) Andrew Sullivan. Finally, if you’d like to read some interviews with some people who aren’t TV talking heads or administration shills, but instead actually know what they’re talking about, then check out Hugh Hewitt’s links here.

I hope this rotten regime follows the Soviets and Saddam right into the dustbin of history. If that happens, it will be no thanks to President Obama or the American left.

Culture Wars

Keeping our children in tune with the times…

by Jimmy Hopper

I noticed in the NY Times Book Review section that there was a new children’s book out. It is a retelling of the Paul Bunyan legend and tells the story of Paula Bunyan, Paul’s sister. The story is cited as “green and feminist.” However Paula is described as being “as strong as ten moose.”

I have no comment. This speaks for itself.