New Year 2009

New Year 2009 has already arrived in some quarter of the world. Given the tumultuous annum that has passed, it is little wonder that most revelers are apt to bid it good riddance.

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Pax Plena regulars will note that I am normally one to make a few New Year's resolutions, and based upon my list from January 2008, I am glad to report that I kept the bulk of them.  On the other hand, the list was so abstract in retrospect, that it would have been difficult not to keep at least some of them. I hope to make this year's list more concrete.

Alas, the list is a still a work in progress.  In fact, I may put its release on hold until tomorrow when I have things better sorted out.  For those in a similar fix, it may be helpful to consider a few suggestions from Uncle Sam. 

After all, we have less than three weeks before the social engineers take charge, and make the government suggestions mandatory.

But between now and midnight, whatever your time zone, please enjoy the rendition of Auld Lang Syne from 'LostmyChops.' For those interested in a brief history of the song, see this column from the Trinidad & Tobago Express.

And as always, from Pax Plena to you, Happy New Year.

The Politics of Purity

Ideology, quite naturally, serves a logical limitation of one's worldview. Its greatest asset is that it provides a system of thought that allows individuals to craft an expansive, inner framework of thought by which one can see the world, and navigate its problems.

Of course, the troubling thing about ideology is that it narrows an infinite plain of thought to a veritable circle. As Chesterton remarked, "A circle is perfect and infinite in nature; but it is fixed forever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller."

Today we see a similar malady of circular thought affecting GOP leaders.

Consider the following excerpt from a recent post on the RNC Chairman's race from The Hill:

Those conservatives who want to purge the party of centrists consider any perceived ideological impurity enough to virtually brand one a traitor, and the ranks of such conservatives within the national committee appears to be growing.

Still, Steele and other candidates warn the party needs to widen its base of voters and not drive potential supporters away, as it has done in the past

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While the piece was written with a bit of stylistic flourish, the post correctly identifies the problem with political purity: it eliminates room for any of the contradictions that make up life's reality.

In truth, life and politics both take place in shades of grey. One is no more a traitor for rejecting a portion of a political agenda than one is a heretic for not fully ascribing to the tenants of one's faith. Since the GOP is seeking to expand its demonstrated, limited appeal, for Republicans to purge centrists (or evangelicals) defies logic.

The past two election cycles have proven that conservatives as a lone unit cannot deliver enough votes to produce a winning, political majority. It follows, then, that the Republican brand must expand its appeal to the bulk of the American people. Parodies like 'Barack the Magic Negro,' and headlines describing the 'purging' of party of moderates retard this necessary objective.

Unfortunately, conservative activists could well be successful in completing their ideological purification. And their final solution is a fierce operation, indeed- as I learned in another venue when I humbly submitted that stem cell research had scientific merit, and was consistent with a pro-life view.

But this potential success will be bittersweet. For if the GOP appeal is curtailed any further by party zealots, this will have the effect of creating a permanent, political minority.

To be sure, it will be a pure one. But it will also be a losing one.

As the RNC Chairman's election draws near this winter, party activists would do well to heed the lessons of the American Revolution. The various factions of the party should hang together rather than seeking to purge one another.

Political division among our ranks, vis-a-vis comity among the Democrats, will only lead to all GOP factions politically hanging separately.

Racism In The RNC Chairman Contest

Pax Plena has been relatively quiet as I enjoy the holidays on our family farm back in Oklahoma.

But the item below from 'The Hill' leaves a sour taste in my mouth that demands a couple of points.

According to 'The Hill', RNC Chairman candidate, and former Tennessee GOP Chairman, Chip Saltsman, mailed RNC members a Christmas parody CD containing the track 'Barack the Magic Negro.'

As a former supporter of Gov. Mike Huckabee, it is extremely disappointing that his campaign manager would stoop to such low-class tactics. The RNC Chairman should inspire Republicans to embrace a higher ethic. He should challenge Republicans to embrace diversity. And he should restore moral credibility to a party that is badly in need of a moral clarion.

Saltsman's ploy fails across the board. While the move has been dismissed by supporters as 'humor' (in fairness it was released among a CD of political parodies), this explanation is unacceptable. There is no justification for racism.

To wit, any candidate who would deliberately use a song with such loaded language, in a contest that will potentially shape the future of the GOP, is obviously ill-prepared to lead the party.

The problem is that Saltsman, among others, doesn't get it. Republicans must broaden the appeal of the party beyond its base of whites and evangelicals. Offending the sensibilities of blacks, and the majority of Americans who have opted to elect the first black President is not the way to shepherd the party back into the majority.

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Airport Lessons of Christmas & Grace

The Fodder family tradition is to open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve after our church's Christmas Eve service. We typically follow this up with a large lunch on Christmas Day for family and friends in the Walters area. Some blogs made a big to do about Christmas liturgy and the like, but for the Fodder house Christmas is very much a free-for-all. In fact, this year my younger sister suffered a collateral injury to her eye when our Mother threw a box at her during our annual wrapping paper war. For those curious, this generally involves balling up discarded wrapping paper and hurling it in the direction of the nearest family member. (Not to worry. She is fine, though her pride is a bit tender). Suffice it to say, while we all love Jesus, liturgy has never been a big part of our present-opening. This seems to suit us just fine.

While I enjoyed the scene Wednesday night, in the midst of the festivities, it struck me how I nearly missed the entire event. Earlier in the day, I spent a portion of Christmas Eve watching hundreds of travelers scurry between gates, at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, MO. Though the weather delayed my initial departure from Indianapolis on Tuesday, an unfortunate happenstance with American Airlines further jeopardized my return home to Oklahoma the next day. I consider myself a fairly experienced traveler, but nothing is more demoralizing than the prospect of spending Christmas away from the ones you love.

According to my best investigative and analytical abilities this is what happened: Airlines routinely oversell flights around the holidays. They bank on some passengers either a) not making the flight, or b) never getting on the plane at all (some folks get stuck due to inclement weather, miss connections from other places, etc…). For those passengers who purchase their tickets close to the date of travel (i.e., me), airlines do not assign a seat because they operate on the assumption that you will fill the seat of the passenger who did not make the flight. Thus, it may follow that you receive a ticket 'confirmation' of purchase, but that you do not received an 'assigned' seat. Simply put, a confirmation is NOT tantamount to the seat assignment which begets a boarding pass, which actually ensures your spot on the plane. For passengers who receive an ‘unassigned seat’, they remain in limbo until just before take-off. Naturally, since I re-scheduled my departure due to the inclement weather only the day before, this was the position I found myself in upon my arrival in St. Louis.

For the first couple hours of my wait, I sat in the Burger King food court absolutely fuming at American Airlines. Their shady business practice of overselling flights upsets every ethical notion of good business that I have. I spent the better part of an hour looking-up the various routes I could take in filing a formal complaint against them. When this proved fruitless, like a good lawyer, I contemplated the many potential claims I could file instead. Truth be told, it was probably my pathetic state alone that would have been the real basis for the dignitary tort claims I had conjured up. Of course, rational thinking is rarely the mark of an angry person.

But somewhere amid the frustration, and litigation strategy, the intersection between Christmas and Grace became a very tangible concept to me; a reification, if you will. After a quick update on Facebook, I received two phone calls from friends in the St. Louis area. One inquired as to my status while en route to a family gathering. The other offered to put me up for the night, and even welcomed me into an evening with friends for Christmas movies, and drinks. These friends of mine had no special incentive to note my stop-over in the STL. They clearly had other things going on. Yet, still, they took the time to check on a weary friend, and traveler on Christmas Eve. In a situation where concern was neither owed nor expected, they opted to reach out. Even after I received my boarding pass, and was safely en route to Oklahoma City, I realized that their respective acts of friendship were really a lot like the act of grace that provided a place for our Lord’s birth.

The odd symbolism of the Christmas narrative is that ultimately the story finds its Genesis in the subsequent passages about Jesus’s death on the cross. The innkeeper’s grace provided the place for the Christ Child’s birth. But it was the same Child’s death on the cross years later that would make the birth and its circumstances meaningful. In other words, grace begets grace. And this message is by far the most important point we can consider. After all, the centrality (or non-centrality) of Jesus’s death is bigger than any debate we can consider in the course of our existence. It may be intellectual fun to consider the pros and cons of stem cell research, abortion, “Happy Holidays” v. “Merry Christmas”, and even the appropriate church response to a wayward pastor like Ted Haggard, but all of these pale in comparison to the eternal question of whether one believes that Jesus came to die for one’s sins.

Sadly, the church does not do a very good job of keeping these points in perspective. It is, of course, much easier to wander off and become a ‘crusader’ for our respective causes. This takes little effort, and even less talent. But then again, it has always been more fashionable to critique the sin of others, than it is to admit the sins in one’s heart. But the message of Christmas and the message of grace both remind us that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

So, as Christmas 2008 becomes one for the annals of history, I will remain indebted to my friends for helping me see that the message of Christmas and the Gospel’s message of Grace are really one. As the world inches toward 2009, their good example reminds me that the hope of the Christmas Season is that through the Baby of Bethlehem, through Jesus, God sees us as we are meant to be, rather than as we are. (Rom. 8.1).

Song of the Week: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The phenomenon of winter, unknown to me in Tucson, has made an important, unexpected appearance late in the year 2008. My vacation in the Midwest hamlet of Bloomington, IN has proven to be uninoculated from the disease.

This afternoon, my flight to Oklahoma City (via St. Louis) was scheduled to depart from Indianapolis, IN early this evening. Bloomington, IN where I have been on holiday is some 45 miles due south of Indy. As my trusty navigator guided us on to Bloomington's I-37, we were greeted by a complete traffic standstill.

The roads were so icy, not even the sand trucks could pass.

Appraently, this is why:

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The good news is that I am re-scheduled to depart tomorrow afternoon- God willing. And, of course, there are very few places in America that I would prefer being 'wintered in' at the moment than Bloomington, IN. I have had a terrific trip.

Suffice it to say, the Song of the Week from Vincente Minnelli's 1944 classic, "Meet Me in St. Louis" hits close to home on a variety of levels. Naturally, Judy Garland's haunting version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is easily the best. I remain hopeful that I will be able to share a Christmas post with you from my Oklahoma home. But until then, please enjoy this Pax Plena Song of the Week.

And in case I should not make it back, do have a Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

To my Jewish friends and readers, I realize that I am a day off, but here's wishing you a Happy Hanukkah!

This ecumenical Failblog is for you.


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Airport Follies

With a flight from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City looming, this is not the headline I wanted to see emblazoned atop the Drudge Report.

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Grace, Christmas and the Problem of Sin

A thousand apologies neglected readers. With Christmas approaching, I find myself in bucolic Bloomington, IN enjoying the finer points of the Monroe Country town square, and the smell of Snickerdoodle cookies baking in the oven. While Bloomington is a far cry from the festivities of Rockefeller Center, suffice it to say, the Christmas spirit is alive and well here, and this makes for a pleasant holiday. That my company here is most agreeable goes without saying.

Anyway, plans for my annual Christmas post are in the works, but in the mean time, I thought the Fox News story about 'disgraced' pastor Ted Haggard was worth commending for your attention. For those who may not recall, Ted Haggard is the former President of the National Association of Evangelicals and Senior Pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. In November 2006, he was outed by a former male prostitute who claimed that Haggard paid him for sex and drugs.

The article is a short read. The searing part of the interview appears below:

"The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more," he says.

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I can never condone Mr. Haggard's behavior (though homosexuality is no 'worse' a sin than any other sort of sexual immorality, including pre-marital sex) but something about Mr. Haggard's fears-come-true strike me as being utterly antithetical to the Gospel's message of grace and the hope that Christmas brings.

My thoughts on the story are disparate, so I will withhold comment (for now), and leave the article for your consideration. Lest you worry, I plan to corral my thoughts on the matter in time for my Christmas post.

More to come...

Obama's Biggest Fans

The photo below is the No. 1 mug shot of the year according to The Smoking Gun.

Lessons from Presidents

Just to show how far afield my thoughts are from law school, I found the GQ article on Presidential style to be wonderfully entertaining.

Democrat though he is, I have to say, FDR's fedora is quite fetching. 

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Lolcat of the Week

I ask myself this question all the time...


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Why McCain Lost

Sen. McCain's interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos was hailed as a scolding by The Politico.

For those still interested in the campaign postmortem, it strikes me as a stunning example of why Sen. McCain lost handily.

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Bradford Wins Heisman

Moments ago, in a crowded Dallas shopping mall, my family and I watched Oklahoma's Sam Bradford win the Heisman Trophy.

Bradford is the first Native American to take home College Football's top honor.

On behalf of Pax Plena, here's a hearty congrats to Sam Bradford for making Oklahoma proud!

Faith in Action

As my friends in law school know, suffering through the midst of exams, it can sometimes be difficult to see God at work amid trying circumstances. I feel their pain. My final exam of the semester takes place in three hours.

But the story below puts a lot of things in perspective...

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OU's Sam Bradford Favored to Win Heisman

USA Today had an interesting write-up about Oklahoma Sooner's Quarterback Sam Bradford yesterday. According to the national daily, Bradford is the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman trophy- the most prestigious award in college football.  Apparently, the LA Times agrees.

First, that Bradford is the favorite to win the award is news to me. Most of the sports opinion writing that I have read seems to favor Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

But lost in the discussion of passing yards, and quarterback efficiency ratings is the little noted bit of history that USA Today managed to bring out so well: If he wins, Sam Bradford will be the first Native American to take home college football's top honor.

The paragraph below pretty much sums up what a Bradford win would mean to Native Americans across the country, and particularly in my home state:

But it's in places like this little town an hour's drive west of Norman, at the edge of Oklahoma's Great Plains Country, that each touchdown pass, each win, each TV close up of Bradford's 21-year-old face resonates loudest.

This is Native American land, home to seven western Oklahoma Indian tribes, where life is hardscrabble and optimism and inspiration can be scarce. Anadarko's Riverside Indian School, the nation's oldest federally operated Indian boarding school, doles out both to some 600 students from 25 states enrolled in fourth grade through high school. Its football program has struggled and was dropped for a couple of seasons, but restarted this year and drew more than 40 boys who suited up for the varsity team.

Their inspiration is Bradford.

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Typically, I make it a point not to buy into the racially colored glasses from which the politically correct among us are so apt to look. I'm a guy, after all, who considers Taco Bell fine Mexican cuisine, and have been known to chuckle at the old Frito Bandito commercials, rather than recoil from their insensitivity.

That said, there would be something special about Bradford taking home the Heisman.

As a Native American kid growing up on the dusty plains down in Cotton County, I can distinctly remember the empty feeling of my first day of school when I noticed how few of my classmates actually looked like me.  It was a feeling that would come back to haunt years later when a significant other's parents disapproved of my ethnicity.

In those days, my Father used to threaten to send me to the Indian boarding school mentioned in the article whenever I got a bit wise for my own good.  Looking back on it, I cannot imagine that he would have actually followed through (certainly not when I consider all the things that my younger sisters have gotten away with), but there was something about the hopelessness of the place that would cause me to 'sober up', as Father was apt to say.  What made the school depressing was not really the quality of education, or anything scholastic.  What made it depressing was the perception some of my would-be classmates had of themselves.  

Make no mistake, the challenges facing Native American communities are real: poverty, alcoholism, gambling, suicide, for decades these have been the headlines that come to mind whenever Native Americans have entered the National, political consciousness. Add instances of racism to the mix, and it is not difficult to see why some Native Americans would have an image problem.  These social issues will not magically fade away should Sam Bradford win the Heisman trophy.

But if Bradford did win, Native American youngsters would have a new, obvious role model by which to consider themselves.  The message to them should not be that playing college football is a fast ticket to success.  (The odds of playing big-time college football, much less winning a Heisman trophy are slight).  But the message could rightly be that race is no barrier to excellence.  Bringing home this reality to Indian Country would do far more for Native American self-image than a thousand government programs with the same goal.

My Heisman ballot is not worth the back of the envelope on which it is written, but here's a solid, Heisman Trophy vote for Sam Bradford on behalf of Pax Plena.com.  Best wishes this weekend.  Thanks for making a grateful state proud. 

Six Words to Inspire America

The always propitious folks at Freakonomics floated the inquiry below:

If Barack Obama’s inaugural address could be just six words long, how would it read?

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The task is too charming.

My humble suggestion: "And You Thought Carter Was Bad..."

Any suggestions?

Just Friends

Sadly, the webcomic below accurately sums up the plight of most law school relationships.

Obama's Liberal Problem

(Viz Ex Deserto)

The left's rabid reaction to some of Sen. Obama's cabinet selections was inevitable.

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But I have to say, it is quite the relief to see the other side infighting instead of us.

This is not to say that the GOP is in the clear. In fact, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan recently addressed the GOP split between 'traditionalists' and 'reformists' in crafting a political way forward. That said, I think it is still safe to conclude that Dems coalition has always been much more at odds.

Rockwood Comics

My new friend Chris from The Daily Okie passed along the comic strip below from Brian Lundmark's Rockwood Comics. 

Lundmark's webcomic is an Oklahoma-based operation that publishes pithy, timely webcomics every other day. The Lundmarks are also the stars of the internet craze, Wedding Thriller Dance video.

The latest comic is especially on point given Oklahoma's recent ascent to the BCS National Championship game against Floridia. My readers from the Sooner state will take great satisfaction at their hard-earned gloating rights for the next year. Meanwhile, I expect my good friends from Texas will doubtless remain steadfast in their support of the Longhorns until to the 'bitter' end. There's something for everyone. Enjoy!

Justice, Clarence Aaron & Mandatory Sentencing Laws Gone Bad

There was a point in time when I thought that mandatory sentencing laws for certain crimes was a good idea.

But stories like the one below about Clarence Aaron shake the foundation of the entire house of cards. The Aaron fiasco in a nutshell appears below:

A junior at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Aaron was convicted of conspiracy to distribute 24 kilos of crack cocaine in 1993. He refused to plead guilty and to testify against his co-conspirators. His partners, career drug dealers, flipped on him and testified against him at his trial.

Mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines on crack charges were harsh, and he was sentenced to three terms of life in prison. In 1996, a court denied his appeal.

Aaron tried to get the federal court to re-sentence him this year based on changes to the drug laws in 2007 that made some sentences less harsh, but the judge ruled there was nothing that could be done.

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At the time they are enacted, mandatory sentencing laws seem like a good idea. Crime is getting out of control. Judges are too liberal (viz., soft) in their sentencing. Finally, the legislature is going to pony up, and get tough. Let's codify the punishment to fit the crime, forcing judges to comply. Win, win for everyone.

And this works- until cases come along that require trial court discretion like the Clarence Aaron matter. Aaron was a low-level flunky in a drug deal gone bad. What he did was undeniably wrong, but his real crime is that he lacked the good sense to rat out his buddies. Now, he risks spending the rest of his life behind bars on a mandatory sentencing technicality.

The problem is that incarcerating him any longer than the 15 years he has already spent in prison is a waste of tax payer dollars (not that anyone cares about wasting tax payer money these days).  No reasonable person could say that Aaron's punishment fits the crime.  But the bigger issue is that it serves no purpose since guys like Aaron are not the criminals that the Kingpin statutes were designed to punish.

Besides, if the system is looking for crooks to lock-up for life, I can think of much better candidates.

Lolcat of the Week

This should be me after my Evidence final. Alas, Water Law calls.

3 exams down. 1 to go.


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Oklahoma Sooners, Big 12 Champs

A hearty congrats to the Oklahoma Sooners on capturing the 2008 Big 12 Championship!

The Sooners bested Missouri 62 - 21 up in Kansas City, and will move on to the BCS National Championship against the Florida Gators.

In scoring 62 points on the evening, the Sooners have become the first team in NCAA history to score 60 points in 5 consecutive games.

From a loyal Oklahoman to the rest of Sooner Nation, Boomer Sooner!

Are Your Stem Cells Pluripotent?

For those of the scientific ilk, we have an interesting conversation thread going on over at Ex Deserto discussing the stem cell research debate.  Check it out here.

My bioethicist friends can correct me if I am wrong, but the answer to the headline above reads along the lines of a good law school exam: "yes, but..." 

Most adult stem cells are not pluripotent (able to develop into the form of other cell types), but embryonic stem cells are.  So, the answer is yes, at one point your stem cells were pluripotent, but now they are mostly not.  In fact, your stem cells were also once totipotent (having total cellular potential), but this only occurred when you were conceived. Apologies to those who were eating dinner while reading.

Don't Trade on Me?

The story below is a bit cold on the wires now, but according to the Associated Press, Sen. Obama is considering CA Democrat Xavier Becerra for the post of United States Trade Representative. 

According to the AP:

Becerra was elected to the House in 1992 from Los Angeles and sits on the Ways & Means panel that oversees trade issues. He voted for NAFTA but later said he regretted the vote. He opposed giving the White House fast-track negotiating authority in 2002 and led opposition to the 2005 Central American Free Trade Agreement, citing what he called "sub-par labor standards."

I realize that expecting logic of the Obama Administration is a bit naive, but wouldn't it make more sense for Sen. Obama to appoint a USTR who actually supports trading with other countries?

Unbrokenhearts Redux

Sunday afternoon I made a rather glib post about the Unbroken Heart Company. Readers may recall that the Unbroken Heart necklace was a prime target of yours truly, written-off as a 'terrific idea for the perpetually single,' and 'a gift that serves as a constant reminder' of one's pain.

This morning, I received one of the most impassioned defenses of a company, and its philosophy as any I have ever received. While I cannot agree with some of Ms. Bonner's political inclinations, it is difficult for me to take issue with the premise of her company.

Ms. Bonner's thoughtful comment appears in full below (though formatted to fit the page):

Dear Tory,

My name is Catherine, and I am the owner of unbrokenheart. I read "About You" on this blog page and came to the conclusion that you are actually someone that I would probably call my friend. Anyone who likes Randy Travis has to be a good guy. The irony of it all is that I agree with almost every opinion you have...except of course...your opinion about the unbrokenheart.

Tory, I totally respect your opinion, and yet I would only request one attempt to help you understand the concept. A reminder that lest the broken heart comes without mend, it is depression that will ultimately win. A mended heart can never represent defeat, it stands for one's strength, integrity, and refusal to be consumed in grief.

Jesus actually speaks of healing broken hearts many times in the New Testament, and it was His words that actually inspired the concept of the unbrokenheart. One verse is from Psalm 147:3
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." I truly believe that God does heal broken hearts Tory...and sometimes whatever it is that broke our heart deserves to be remembered and cherished and not forgotten.

The unbrokenhearts are not just worn by people who lost a boyfriend...they are worn by parents who have lost a child, adults who have survived a heart attack, and so many other reasons that I won't list here now. I only know that there are many different kinds of broken hearts and each one is unique, and it should not be judged how best a person chooses to recover from it. At the end of the day, if it helps, that is all that matters.

I wish you a beautiful holiday season Tory, and I appreciate the time you have taken to read this.

Catherine

It is, of course, all too easy to poke fun at the lovelorn, or the doe-eyed couples that seem to gorge the airwaves during the Christmas season. After all, broken hearts among teens, and even among twenty-somethings are almost the rule of relationships, rather than the exception. But it is another matter entirely to consider the broken hearts of those who have lost their life's spouse, a young child, or one of America's finest on the field of battle.

Indeed, Ms. Bonner's observations of a loving God's view of the broken heart could not be more on point: God does heal broken hearts. To wit, the central premise of the Gospel is that Jesus came to die for the sins of a fallen world in order to heal the rift created between man and God. Though our hearts may be broken, and blackened with sin, Jesus brings healing and hope. For this reason we ought not let our hearts be trouble (John 14.27). It is this message of hope that ultimately informs our central understanding of the Christmas season.

The Unbrokenheart Company is certainly a for profit venture (Pax Plena is, obviously, no foe of capitalism), but it is worth noting that the company's home page includes a 'featured products' section that highlights a number of items whose proceeds benefit several fine charities, including the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, Support Our Troops, Fight Against Breast Cancer, Feed the Children, and the Best Friends Animal Society.

While my post from Sunday was written with an opaque sense of wryness, Ms. Bonner's comment is a lucid reminder that some hearts are truly broken. And for these, the hope for a mend could be all that they have.

Deep in the Broken Heart of Texas

Sour grapes abound this week after the Oklahoma Sooners earned a trip to the Big 12 Championship after battling their way into a three-way tie with the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech.

Given the Texas outrage, it is pretty safe to say that there are many a broken heart down Texas way. In the world of College Football, no matter how big and bright the stars are all is dim when your arch rival does good.

Fortunately for UT, they have an entire cheering section from most of the major sports outlets to help them cope. Crow normally tastes better when shared with friends.

The Oklahoma Sooners have their tickets reserved for Kansas City, MO, and probably the BCS National title game down in Miami, but sports writers across the land are already trying to drum up support for a Texas Longhorns national championship.

An excerpt from the UT Press shops (more commonly known as Sports Illustrated & the Associated Press):

NEW YORK (AP) -- The best chance Texas has to be crowned national champion this season likely lies with the members of the media who vote in The Associated Press college football poll.

The Longhorns are the latest team to feel slighted by the Bowl Championship Series, though the twist this time was coach Mack Brown's team has the Big 12 to blame as much as the BCS standings.

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The problem with the analysis is, well, Texas has no reason to feel slighted.

SI's Bill Trocchi sums up the feud pretty well in his weekly, online column 'The Sweep.' Trocchi reminds readers that placing such a myopic focus on the head-to-head match-up between Oklahoma and Texas would tacitly penalize the Sooners for beating Tech by 44 points, and ignore the fact that Tech beat Texas.

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The fan comments that follow the Trocchi piece are pretty hilarious as well.

Rush 'Hearts' Hillary?

Mr. Limbaugh has to have some hidden, tacit, 'evil', super-genius motivation behind his recent support of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presumptive nomination to be the next Secretary of State.

There has to be.

But for now, I cannot see it--except to say that Rush Limbaugh 'hearts' Hillary Clinton.

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On the other hand, we did learn an interesting fact about our President-Elect from the CNN piece:

Obama himself seemed to give a nod Monday to the pair’s policy disagreements during the 2008 primary season. 'I assembled this team because I'm a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions,” he said at the event where he named Clinton as the leader of his new national security team.

I am glad our President-Elect believes in strong personalities, and strong opinions. Agnosticism on this point would not serve him well.

Newsweek: Can Obama Create a Transformational Presidency?

No.

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Newsweek: Is Michelle Obama the Next Jackie O?

No.

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Throwing Social Conservatism Under the Bus

Note: My latest post at Ex Deserto is reproduced below.

Throwing Social Conservatism Under the Bus
by Tory

John Derbyshire of the National Review observed that "The under-the-bus metaphor is getting a bit threadbare." Yet, its applicability to a number of political situations make it  too delicious to forgo.  The latest candidate for speed-bump is the socially conservative base of the Republican Party.

Last week, erstwhile conservative Kathleen Parker stoked an inferno of outrage among evangelicals with her latest Washington Post column titled "Giving Up on God."  In the piece, Ms. Parker opines:

Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they've had something to do with the GOP's erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University's Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can't have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting.

Having ever the penchant for linear thought, Ms. Parker's fix for the GOP is to oust social conservatives lest America oust the Republican Party.  Though her concerns seems a bit tardy given the November returns, apparently, Republicans stand a better chance of winning elections through diminishing their ranks by one-third.

While I disagree with her perspective, I suppose I understand Ms. Parker's point of view: blacklisting social conservatives is quite fashionable of late, and every failure begets a patsy.  Under different political fortunes, I might be inclined to dismiss Ms. Parker's harangue as the unfortunate missive of a wayward pundit.  But Ms. Parker's perspective is not an unfamiliar one in some quarters of the Party of Lincoln- albeit with varying degrees of contempt.

Indeed, on these very ramparts, some my estimable colleagues have already honed their leadership focus on fiscally conservative, reform-minded governors (here, here, and impressively here).  Meanwhile, the stock of social conservatives seems to idle somewhere around the level of shares from Bear Stearns.  Gov. Huckabee is 'done.'  Gov. Palin is a veritable 'cheerleader.'  That both have 'limited appeal' goes without saying.

A few thoughts.

If we can glean one lesson from the 2008 elections it is that political talent can be found in even the most sundry places. While it is true that recent Presidents have hailed from America's statehouses, Sen. Obama's victory shows that this need not be the case. Though it is certainly in vogue to applaud the states for being 'laboratories of democracy,' and to dub their governors 'political scientists' as a result,  I see no reason why Republicans should winnow the talent pool so early in the game. Assuming Republicans need not seek leadership from governors by default, it makes sense for the party to consider the wide array of political talent available- including Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin.

While the argument has not been made on Ex Deserto, Ms. Parker's plot to exorcise social conservatives from the GOP has certainly been met with enthusiasm in some quarters. But a sub-text of Election 2008 is that culture and traditional values still matter to most Americans. The simple example is that voters in Arizona, California, and Florida all amended their State Constitutions last month to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman (viz., traditional marriage). According to Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson, this makes "traditional marriage 30-for-30 when people are given the chance to decide the issue."  Of course, California, and Florida both went for Sen. Obama, meaning that at least some social conservatives opted to vote Democrat rather than Republican.

So what?

Well, the results of Election 2008 indicate that traditional values are timeless; that they remain important to most Americans; and that they transcend the Republican Party itself.  As Gov. Huckabee famously said, "I do not spell G.O.D., G.O.P."  The bottom line is that Republicans need social conservatives to win, and social conservatives need the Republican Party as a platform for defending the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, and traditional values. Such notions have no sympathy from the far-left elements on the other side.  Karl Rove said it best, "Winning requires addition, not subtraction."  Following Ms. Parker's advice would reduce the Party's appeal rather than broaden it.  Ignoring Gov. Huckabee and Gov. Palin's socially conservative voices in the agenda setting process would have the same effect.

Lest I seem to be giving social conservatives a pass, a large part of problem is not a socially conservative agenda itself, but the fact that most social conservatives appear judgmental rather than principled.  Like many issues, the matter is one of message as opposed to substance.  Being pro-life means caring about the lives of ordinary Americans--not because government has the solutions to their every problem, but because we are morally obliged to provide leadership and solutions to these key issues.

Pro-life supporters cannot rail against abortion, and then cease to care about a child's education.

We cannot rally against state-sponsored health care while ignoring the soaring cost of prescription drugs, and the fact that millions of Americans remain uninsured.

We cannot sing the praises of the free market while ignoring the fact that poverty abounds.

We cannot ratchet up defense spending, and then ignore our woefully underfunded aid agencies.

We cannot laud the benefits of free trade and then turn a blind-eye toward America's blue-collar workers who are losing manufacturing jobs by the thousands.

We cannot say that traditional marriage is a part of God's natural order, and then live our lives in a manner that undermines the environmental sustainability of everything God created.

The observations above apply as much to the Republican Party generally as they do to social conservatism particularly.  Unless our positions deviate from the tired status quo, and begin to reflect our pro-life, conservative priorities, we will continue to lose elections.

Returning to politics, almost all of the policy incongruities above were mentioned by Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin during the 2008 Election.   These ideas were especially popular among young voters (ages 18-29) who broke for the Dems by a margin of 2-to-1.  It is simply bad politics to isolate the lone, Republican voices who actually connected with the next generation of American voters.

It is also bad politics to so narrow the appeal of the GOP through purist 'franchisee' policies, and nebulous 'core principles.' As I explained in my introductory post the GOP tent needs to get bigger not smaller. One area where the GOP should seriously reconsider its ideological rigidity is immigration. Republicans simply cannot afford to isolate America's burgeoning population of Hispanic voters by advancing an unrealistic policy on immigration. During the GOP primary, many candidates were of the mind that America should lock-down its southern border a la Ft. Knox, and round-up all of the illegals and send them home. Yet, it was never explained exactly how we would round up some 20 Million illegal immigrants in America, and ship them all back to Mexico.  Such overly-rigid positions ostracize the otherwise socially conservative, Hispanic families that would have a natural home in the Republican Party.  The same can be said for Blacks, Native Americans, and Asians. This is where Ms. Parker gets it right.  America is an increasingly diverse Nation, but the GOP has not honed its message to make our conservative ideas relevant to the new pluralistic reality.

In sum, until Republicans get serious about confronting our policy hypocrisy, and expanding our base, and making our big tent more hospitable to the folks who have never been inside, we will continue to lose elections. Though Ms. Parker surely disagrees, social conservatism is one of the tools by which we make the big tent bigger.  Exorcising social conservatives from the GOP is to mistake the prescription for the malady.

Bob Stoops v. Mack Brown

I am a little surprised that the brewing feud between Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, and Texas Coach Mack Brown is getting only scant attention from the various sports outlets.

In brief, Coach Stoops was given the opportunity to conduct a 'politicking' interview during Texas's showdown with Texas A&M last Thursday. The idea was to give Coach Stoops the chance to make his case for why OU should represent the Big 12 South in the Conference championship. Being the gentleman competitor that he is, Mr. Stoops declined out of impropriety.

[Link]

This genteel manner was not returned by Texas. Coach Mack Brown pounced on the opportunity to distract from Oklahoma's match-up with Oklahoma State, and opined ad nauseam, explaining why his team was better, and why the Longhorns should represent the Big 12 South in the Conference championship.

But for anyone still confused about the difference between the Oklahoma and Texas coaches, the sour-grapes press release below out of the Texas locker room explains it all.

This presser was made after the BCS announced that Oklahoma would represent the Big 12 South in Kansas City instead of Texas:

I’m really disappointed for our kids that two teams we beat this season will be playing faor the Big 12 championship. I’ll try to explain it to them, but most importantly, my message will be that you’ve done enough to put yourself in position to play for the conference championship, you had a great season and there still is a lot out there for you to play for.

[Link]

The simple summary of the above is that there is no sorer loser in the Lone Star State than Mack Brown.

Granted, the BCS system is far from perfect. But if given its druthers, Texas would have sports fans forget about their loss to Texas Tech while asking them to remember their victory over Oklahoma.

When one considers other factors such as the strength of schedule, recent number of points scored, and wins against the Top 25, Oklahoma easily bests Texas in each category too. There was no perfect way to settle the matter short of a playoff. But for now, the better team has won.

Here's hoping Mack Brown takes up coaching, and leaves the whining and politicking to others for the rest of the season.