South Carolina's Next Senator

South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott.  The soon-to-be appointed African-American senator, replacing Jim DeMint who is off to head the Heritage Foundation.

Directly from the horse’s mouth:

On gays:

I also support traditional marriage, and spoke out against the President’s decision to no longer allow the Department of Justice to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.  I absolutely believe in keeping the institution of marriage as one solely between a man and woman.  We must not allow the government to distort the meaning of marriage and instead, focus on building stronger families across America.

Agreed. Government needs to stop distorting the meaning of marriage and focus on building stronger families across America – like in the 9 states and the District of Columbia, where same-sex marriage is legal. 

On immigration:

Strict immigration reform is a top priority in Congress.  Strengthening and enforcing immigration laws not only serve to help our distressed economy, but to address national security concerns.

Because after all, they are taking away our jobs and robbing our kids.

On guns:

As Americans, we have the right to defend ourselves, our families and our property, and the federal government should never interfere with this right. I’ve cosponsored more than half a dozen bills protecting the rights of gun owners, including the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act and the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

That’s right.  More than half a dozen bills.

On healthcare:

I support common-sense reforms that include increased competition and choice of plans to lower costs, protecting the sacred doctor-patient relationship, ensuring those with preexisting conditions have access to affordable coverage, expanding health savings accounts, and enacting medical tort reform which will save us billions by decreasing “defensive medicine.”  These market-based, patient-centered improvements are the key to expanding access, increasing coverage, and providing quality, affordable health care to all Americans.

Competition and choice.  Competition and choice.  Competition and choice…

On abortion:

I cosponsored two pro-life bills which have now passed the House of Representatives, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Protect Life Act. I also supported legislation, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, to repeal part of the national health care reform law that violates the freedom of religion granted to us by the First Amendment. Government is already overreaching into our homes and businesses; it can’t be allowed to do the same with our faith.

In case you missed it, the Protect Life Act is the one that would allow federally-funded hospitals that oppose abortions to refuse the procedure, even in cases where a woman’s life is at stake,

The post-November 2012 face of the Republican Party.  The new face seems a lot like the old one. 

Except, for the obvious.

Guns, God and…

money, to complete the metaphor – so to say.  Or in other words, why there will never be meaningful gun control in this country.

Former Arkansas Governor (and more-than-one-time Republican Presidential nominee wannabe) Mike Huckabee on last Friday’s school shooting tragedy in Newtown, CT:

"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News, discussing the murder spree that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, CT that morning. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?" 

Law enforcement has released few details on the alleged gunman, but Huckabee suggested that the separation of church and state may have spurred his rampage.  

"[W]e've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability -- that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment," Huckabee said. "If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that."

And the so-called backtracking:

Speaking on Fox News on Monday, Huckabee clarified that he didn't believe an increased religious presence at Sandy Hook could actually have directly prevented that particular shooting from taking place.

“I’m not suggesting by any stretch that if we had prayer in schools regularly as we once did that this wouldn’t have happened, because you can't have that kind of cause and effect,” said Huckabee. "But we’ve created an atmosphere in this country where the only time you want to invoke God’s name is after the tragedy.”

I only understand 2^nd amendment rights in a purely intellectual light.  The thought of being anywhere near a gun, makes me shiver.  And I only understand the concept of god, as a purely intellectual concept – I was religious studies minor in my youth.

So while the spiritual side of me is trying to understand god coming into a classroom and stopping a shooting, the intellect can only see a bunch of folks trying to co-opt headlines for the purposes of pushing their version of religion, on me.