Chris,

I wish I could hear a ‘good lefty liberal’ present their case for how things would be better doing things their way, in their own voice so to speak. I wish I understood better why those with such a point of view think it is a good idea. So far those that have presented the cases reference it not in terms of why it is a good thing of itself but why it ‘isn’t conservative’ or ‘isn’t republican’ or ‘isn’t what politician X I think you don’t like said’.

The best example of this that I can think of is then candidate Obama saying voting for him is a vote for ‘change’. Maybe there is an analogy to why people don’t usually like the movies of books they’ve read that required the reader to fill in the gaps based on their own perceptions and experience. Obama said he was ‘change’ and smiled broadly and people just filled in the ‘what sort of change’ with their own hopes — not specific policies.

That’s why I get a little ‘creeped out’ when ‘ordained young never married’ bishops scowl usually about ‘protestantizers’ as justification for acting like ‘vaticanizers’. It’s an invitation to scowl at ‘them’ then not pay too much attention for a reaction that misses the target just as badly — just on the other side.

well, integrity for one thing. But that’s too much to ask for in this day and age.

Harry you are quite right. Ben Shapiro pretty much summarized the situation this way:

“If you’re a liberal, you can literally get away with probable murder (Teddy Kennedy), rape (Bill Clinton), children out of wedlock (John Edwards), association with known racists and terrorists (Barack Obama), involvement with the mob (JFK), pimping out gay prostitutes from your apartment (Barney Frank) and membership in the KKK (Robert Byrd), so long as you believe in bigger government and less financial freedom.”

One sign of this is people with enough emotional maturity to rise above feeling as though laws are supposed to be make ‘us’ feel good along the lines stoning ‘them’ used to do. The message of these stunted species of politician of yesteryear is ‘better join up with us or maybe you’ll be next’.

Look at the travesty of those thugs intimidating people against going to vote in PA. They were ‘us’, not ‘them’, so ‘we’ ignored a guilty verdict and let the thugs walk. Had it been one of ‘them’ trying to keep people from voting then ‘they’ would have been in jail and fined until they lost even the penny wedged in their shoes with the sorry echo of the journalists of yesteryear in the press scowling at ‘their perfidity’ every step of the way.

But when it’s ‘us’ that broke the law, did the wrong thing, well– Barney Frank and Hot Bottom- excuses all round. Let it be a Republican in a bathroom stall with another man and ‘oh he’s got to go out of the congress’.

Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd — both KKKer’s and when Thurmond died it was all they could talk about with him gone and unable to respond. But when it was one of ‘us’, Byrd, well what a hero.

It’s really quite the sorry show and I hope the people have enough sense to vote for somebody new.

It looks like Illinois is a cesspool of corruption and depravity when it comes to politicians. Shame on both candidates!

Now, more than ever, we need men and women of character that embody Integrity, Honesty, and Courage. Individuals who believe in the Constitution, in Individual Liberty, Law and Order, in Individual Accountability, in the sovereignty of the US, and very limited government. Folks who respect America and care for and listen to those they represent. Candidates that despise hypocrisy, believe in God, and are willing to stand up for defense of innocence and truth as ideals to be nurtured and promoted.

There are many parishes in the Chicago area who do not support Giannolias’position let alone any sermon promoting him.

But we do have a dilemma before us because his Republican opponent ,Mark Kirk, is Pro-choice, does support Gay rights and has voted against marriage as defined as one man and one woman. Moreoever, he has not only lied about his military record but also his teaching record. He had the audacity to speak in congress about what he knows about the challenges of classroom Management and the possibility of being faced a student pulling a gun on you. His classroom experience amounted to one year as a Teacher Asst. in a Church pre-school.

He’s not even a certified teacher.

As Christ said, it’s not ethnic similarity, or birthright, or wealth, or reputation, or earthly power and authority, or anything else that matters to GOD except doing HIS will:

“Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48-50)

We need hierarchs who will speak openly about not supporting these people regardless of their Greek heritage. We must not commune for their own safety.

Of course. Prbabably a “Grand Skevophylax to the Exarch of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Outer Rings of Saturn and the Klingon Homeworld.”

Of course, if a priest in a ROCOR/OCA parish said to vote for Kirk, he’d have the full weight of the intellegentsia come boring down on him. With an assist from Frankie no doubt.

The deluded modern man has become addicted to the idolatry of ‘stars’ with various ‘luminosities’. The highest are the ‘megastars’ (that is ten to power six times the base unit). There are a host of ‘supermodels’, ‘pop idols’ and all sort of television, film, music, and sport ‘celebrities’ and ‘personalities’. They have become ‘role-models’ and people name their children in honor of them.

These ‘celebrities’ replaced the saints. Their lives are ardently ‘studied’ by those who promoted them in the ‘entertainment industry’, by the global television, by magazines and celebrity blogging.

A celebrity is someone who gets media attention and shows an extroverted personality.
In the 21st century, the insatiable public fascination for celebrities and demand for celebrity gossip has seen the rise of the gossip columnist, tabloid, paparazzi and celebrity blogging. (Wikipedia)

Their cohorts of fans learn about and imitate their lifestyles; the practices of alcoholism, drug-use, broken marriages, scandalous and immoral lives, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and the use of foul language and aggressive behavior. When continuously exposed to these scandalous stories they start to become common and normal. What the fans do not hear much about and do not want to learn from, are the often miserable deaths of their idols.

Alexi Giannoulias is regarded as a star on the political scene and has his small crowd of fans. He was certainly more exposed to these kind of ‘celebrities’ stories than he was exposed to the Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Otherwise he would not sell his soul so cheaply, for an infinitesimal-time interval of glory and would not lead others into the pit.

Will we see Gianoulias made an Archon in the near future?

~AE