>>>>>>>>>>http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/28/gingrich-fears-atheist-country-dominated-by-radical-islamists/?hpt=T2
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I REALLY hope both Gingrich & Palin run for Prez.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>It's be the best thing that ever happened to the Dems, not that they need much help.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>There are too many in the line to be the next republican president, but the show(playoffs) should be entertaining..
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>They can get in line in 2016. You don't even have a vote but it's going to be Obama again. The primaries are 9 months away and the Republicans have nobody.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The one I would be intrigued by is Olympia Snowe. But there is no indication she intends to run and her own party would eat her alive. The hard core conservatives, the tea party types, have control of the party and are way too conservative to win a general election.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>If Mitt Romney were a Baptist Obama would be back to community organizing in Jan of 2013. ( He still may be able to engineer that - not saying he's my guy, just handicapping on his ability to look shiny and new and handsome with good hair enough to overcome the king of form over substance )
>>>>>
>>>>>Completely unelectable.
>>>>
>>>>Because he's a Mormon? I think his chances of beating Obama would be excellent. His chances of the GOP nomination probably not nearly as good.
>>>>
>>>>I think Obama is one and done if the GOP can put up any responsible adult. The problem, of course, is they seem to be very short on responsible adults and those they have are incapable of appeasing (or unwilling to pander to) the whack-job element. Any party that is even entertaining the idea of pretending Palin is a serious candidate is like the Dems who talked about Jesse Jackson.
>>>>
>>>>Amazing a country with so many talented individuals in private life has such thin gruel for politicos. Probably the best argument for limited government is the limited talent of those who want to run it.
>>>
>>>You make my point for me. The GOP does not have a serious candidate.
>>>
>>>No, I didn't mean because Romney is a Mormon. They have their wacky traditions that are out of step with modern American society but we would elect a Mormon. We just wouldn't elect a light on ideas guy as opportunistic as Mitt Romney.
>>>
>>>I don't agree with you about limited talent in government, either. Almost without exception they could be making more money in the private sector. Brainpower isn't everything, either. Your former employer hires nothing but the best and brightest and has possibly the worst record this side of the KGB.
>>
>>
>>Wacky traditions??? I resent that. The mormons I know are god-fearing people who try to do what's right in a world full of crackpots and politically correct junkies.
>>
>>You need to apologize to all the LDS on this list....
>
>I think characterizing the core beliefs of any religion as 'wacky' is out of place in that it involves "belief" and by definition a non-believer is not in a position to evaluate someone else's spiritual truth ( or even metaphor )
>
>As to the implementation of those beliefs in the real world, I can't think of a group that I'd feel safer living around or who I think I could depend on more for civic virtue.
>
>I think the huge backing of Prop 8 was unfortunate, but at least it was principle driven. ( perhaps there will be an amended revelation at some point akin to 1890 or 1978)
>
>The relief after Katrina didn't get much press, but was impressive.
>
>But the Mormons you know sound a lot like the Mormons I know.
>
>Oddly, I think if Romney is spurned for his religion, it will be by evangelicals, not the secular society.

It won't be his religion at all. He blends into the background. He doesn't excite people.

I am being hit like a pinata from all sides these days, other than Cindi and my daughters, and will just say this. I was there in the south after Katrina. I called up my volunteer group (hunger project) and asked if they had anything going. By the time they got something organized New Orleans had been evacuated and we were needed in Houston. I went and it was the best week of my life. Did anyone else here help out? I think Ken Buch and his wife did and that's it. So let's have a little credit where it's due. I did not do it for any credit. We hardly slept that whole week We blew through Texarcana at 6 in the morning, driving through the night. We gave some comfort to the afflicted and then were ordered out of town ourselves on Thursday when everyone had palsy over Hurricana Rita, the most overrated hurricane ever. We drove back through again. It was gridlock all the way to Dallas. Fortunately the driver of our car, an SUV which got outrageously bad gas mileage (I spent over $400 on gas), had a sister near Dallas. She and her husband could not have been more hospitable. We arrived in the wee hours and she made us the best mushroom omelet I have ever had. She made up the beds and it could not have been more comfortable. You go and go and go and then you have the comfort of a nice sleep.

The next time something like this happens in the U.S. I hope every one us of gets in the car and goes.