I thought of some catchy trademarks:

-“Blow that trunk Elephant!”
-“Lowering taxes and your pants!”
-“I’ll show you my gun if you show me yours!”

Anyone else see this becoming a multi-million dollar industry?
Lemme know if your interested.

ENTERIK: Thanks. I’m using blog comment boards to try and better say my progressive political beliefs in a way that doesn’t sound high falutin’. I think there is a solid moral core that liberals share even though they usually focus on different issues. The tough part is saying it out loud and frequently enough to be common sense. Freedom to marry and equal rights under the law are just two of the many coherent principles.

Preston Powell: If nothing else this scandal, as well as others, does nothing but taint the whole “family values” bullshit they’ve been pushing on America since the rise of Reaganism.

ENTERIK: Ronald Reagan was just the first great rabble rousing general in what had been an insurgent cultural war started at the beginning of the Nixon presidency. The conservatarian message machine of the wealthy really started in 1971 with the Powell Memo. Any relation? For decades the wealthy elite have bankrolled institutes to wage their proxy war against the American citizens. Bamboozling them to vote against their own interests.

Preston Powell: I believe we’re living in a moment where we’re witnessing Conservatism dying a slow but deserving death.

ENTERIK: I wish I could let myself feel triumphant about recent conservatarian troubles, but I know that no matter how many of these regressive conservative front men are outed for gay sex or corruption, that the message machine of big daddy Warbucks will continue to scam work-a-day Americans.

Part of me wonders, if the recent wave of Republican scandals isn’t their Night of the Long Knives? Think about it. Bush and the Republican Congress executed the wealthy conservative game plan to a tee. They cut taxes. They shifted federal money to war profiteers. They turned a blind eye to abuses in the subprime and credit market. The limited bankrupsy for the poor. All that and more than I care to put down in one post. It has been a full scale assault on everything progressive in America. They have reaped obscene profits and we the people have paid for their greed. We the people are beginning to wake up from our terror coma to see the wasteland around us. Republicans know they aren’t going to winin 2008, so it is time to clean house. They need social conservative votes to get their 51% but they can’t call themselves the party of traditional conservative values if they allow gay sex and corruption from their mouth pieces, so purge. In four years, they’ll come back squeaky clean, blame the Democrats for trying to clean up the mess Republicans made, then start the cycle all over again. Now maybe I am a cynic, maybe it’s not as bad as I fear, but what if it isn’t? The writer Elbert Hubbard once said, “Responsibility is the price of freedom”.

Preston Powell: It’s been a long time coming, that’s for sure.

ENTERIK: Too long but we can’t take things for granted anymore. I think progressives have a natural advantage over the wealthy message machine because we can tell the truth, our goals are their interest. We don’t need to mislead the people to act against their interest. And progressive ideas just plain work better. What we need to do is emphasize those very American moral values that for the bedrock of our policies and issues.

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

So let’s make hay while the sun shines.

Craig voted for the failed measure July 14, 2004. He also has opposed allowing gays or lesbians in the military and voted against extending civil rights protections to homosexuals in the workplace.

Last fall, however, after Rogers’ report, Craig issued a statement saying he would vote for an amendment to the Idaho Constitution on the November ballot that bans both gay marriage and civil unions.

I think it’s damning because he’s basically been caught trying to please everyone and succeeding in disappointing everyone. His politically correct ‘love the sinner’ type act won’t cut it for anyone who really supports the freedom to marry and equal rights under the law. His actions speak louder than his words. If you’re homosexual you can count on Larry Craig to vote against your constitutional rights.

He is talking about marriage being a religious contract between a man and a woman. But churches get the authority to conduct legally binding marriage ceremonies from the State. That is why you have to register church weddings with the city. That is why justices of the peace and ship captains can conduct weddings. There is nothing about modern State sanctioned marriage that requires religion. If you want the rights and obligations of marriage provided by the State, you must be recognized by the State. Nothing about those grants of power to churches require a man and a woman.

But what about marriage as an ideal? I would say it is the realization of love through a lifelong public commitment. The ideal marriage is enduring, joyous, flourishing, a home with children. It’s a roller coaster like the standard catholic vow says,”To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ’till death do us part.” What part of that requires a man and a woman? None of it. Where is the sanctity in defining marriage being only between a man and a woman?

And it is the sanctity of his own marriage that Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig has damaged most and should have most concern for. He has plead guilty to a charge for anonymous gay sex behavior. I don’t care if he is gay or just bicurious. His behavior is inconsiderate of the sanctity of their marriage and he shows reckless disregard for the risks of anonymous sex in the era of AIDS.