By Diane SilverOn this sleepy Monday after Thanksgiving, it's time to shake the cobwebs out of the brain and take a look around. This morning we offer both the good and the awful of politics. First up is a note of possible Kansas pride. Second is yet more on one of the state's enduring shames.
Apologies to Kathleen Sebelius for putting her in the same post as Fred Phelps.
First the fun. Steve and Cokie Roberts name Kansas' recently re-elected governor as the best bet to become president in 2008. The well-connected columnists note that our governor fits all five of their rules for winning. Hat tip to WE Blog for the link.
So who fits all of these rules? What about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, a Democrat who won re-election by 17 points in a deeply red Midwestern state? A gun-owning, budget-balancing mother of two sons who grew up in Ohio (where her dad, John Gilligan, was a Democratic governor), she moved to Kansas for grad school and married into an old Republican family (her late father-in-law succeeded Bob Dole in Congress and served 12 years). You heard it here first.This morning we're also treated to the Topeka Capital-Journal's up-close-and-personal view of Topeka's Phelps family watching a new film about themselves. The documentary was the result of a year of work by Ryan Jones, a senior at the University of Kansas.
Two things stand out in this portrait of a popcorn-munching Phelps clan.
First, there is the bone-chilling moment when one of the family's children speaks on camera about "wanting to kill gays." The watching Phelps respond by erupting in delighted laughter.
Also of interest is the fact that the patriarch of the family, Fred himself, was not present at the gathering. Perhaps the rumors of Fred being ill are true.
The film, by the way, looks like it's worth seeing. It will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union at KU. The viewing is free.
3 comments:
I so love the way this nation does! I have to laugh all day today as I watch the emails from across the nation that picked up on the lie of the Topeka Capitol Journal. Oh - yes, they corrected it today, but we knew when we read it that you freaks were just dying for the day that you could pretend that you actually had one of us suggesting that we would kill "gays". For your edification, here is the exact exchange with the six-year-old child. FYI the discussion at this point in the film was about the mean things that those little children see from the streets of this nation. The ways that they are mistreated for standing peacefully on the public right of way warning their fellow countrymen to STOP PISSING OFF GOD! So here is the exchange:
Ryan Jones to the six-year-old Noah - How does that make you feel when people say those mean things and do those things to you?
Six-year-old Noah - I feel mad . . . I feel mad enough to kill them, but I can't kill them, God has to cast them down to hell.
EXCELLENT - such clarity of thought for a little guy - that is a dog gone complex issue for a little guy, but he got it! That answer by that child shows the evil that you have done to this little flock of slaughter and it shows the mercy of God in keeping us. He understands anger and he understands that God is our Avenger! Good stuff!
Noah is perhaps representative of something positive to come from from the Phelps klan. At the tender age of six he is able to recognize the honor and compassion of Christ as well as the responsibility of simple civility in explaining that he doesn't have to act upon his feelings.
Pray to the lord that he never makes the mad leap of logic that he MUST kill them in order for -his grandfathers god- to cast them down to hell. Amongst his kin, with their venom , anger, and hate, I fear it could be a very very short leap. I will pray for him. Just as I pray for his wayward mother and grandfather.
geb,
Thanks for the comment. Those are very wise words indeed.
Post a Comment