Now that William Rehnquist has died, President Bush will have to appoint a new Chief Justice to the Supreme Court. He's having a hard enough time with John Roberts, but I can only imagine the mayhem when he tries to elect a conservative for Chief.

Why is everyone so opposed to Bush?

I actually understand that some people hate war. I almost even understand, since most people in this country are misinformed, that they may think it's kinda pointless (even though I stronly believe it is not).

First off, let me make one thing clear: Hurricane Katrina is NOT Bush's fault. Some people have actually had the audacity to blame this natural disaster on him. Um... hello?! If Kerry had been elected, pretty sure I wouldn't have blamed a natural disaster on him! I'm sorry, but how stupid can you be?

Or maybe you don't think the hurricane itself is Bush's fault, but you feel you have to blame him for something. As one woman on the news declared, "I'm never going to vote for George W. Bush ever again!" Um, newsflash! First off, she's a moron because most 10 year olds have enough understanding about civics and government to know that she couldn't vote for him again anyways, even if she wanted to. He could run for VP, but most people base their vote on the Pres anyways. Secondly, this woman is a moron because nothing concerning this disaster is Bush's fault.

I have some Bush- hating moderarte relatives that suggested a notion last night at dinner. They suggested that it's President Bush's fault that some people were not evacuated. First off, he's got a whole country to deal with, and that's not his main job. There are other people who are responsible for making evacuations happen. Secondly, he actually called LA and told them that the evacuations needed to be happening! (I'm not sure about MS and AL.) And if you have been watching any of the coverage of Bush visiting these people, he's hurting, so much. It kills him to see his citizens hurting like this. He's kind and compassionate. He doesn't just sit back and do nothing.

You don't have to like Bush. I have friends and relatives who don't and we still get along well. What drives me so crazy is when people hate him to the point that they blame everything on him.

Does anyone else remember 9/11? How much we all loved Bush as he visited Ground Zero, mourned with hurting families and firemen and police... most everyone in the country respected him. There wasn't an angry mob of people blaming the terrorist attacks on him and holding him personally responsible. When he declared that we would fight those that had done this to us, we all cheered.

Then he takes action, and the war in Iraq begins, and all of a sudden he's a bad guy. Oh how soon we forget... our country was attacked! Are we so wrapped up in not hurting others that sometimes we forget that fighting for our freedom is important? If we stand by and let everyone walk all over us, we will fall as a nation, and it won't be pretty.

I was watching Little House on the Praire last night... ha ha... I know... and Laura's parents were talking to her about pushing down a girl who had been pushing everyone around at recess and been mean to Laura. Laura took a stand, she said, "we can't keep doing things your way." She knew the Christian principles her mother had taught her, and every time this mean little girl pushed her down, she got back up again and defended her position again and again. Then she got sick of it, and took the initiative to push the girl to the ground, and there was no more trouble from the snob girl. And while her parents chided her to not do it again, her father told her mother that he had no problem with what she had done; that she had stood up for herself, and that was the right thing.

All that is to say that justice is important. We can, and should, defend ourselves. Granted, we shouldn't pick a fight over every stupid thing, but we can't be doormats either.

Our nation is forgetting this. Our nation has forgotten the price of freedom. And our nation has far strayed from its roots. Our founding fathers wanted a nation that could be independent of others, and offer the people freedom in religion, speech, etc. They felt people should not be oppressed. Now people take this as "we can't hurt anyone's feelings." We're so worried to oppose anyone, to challenge anyone, because it may make them unhappy. It may offend someone if I pray to God in school. But isn't that my freedom of religion? I'm not making any one else pray to my God.

This nation is falling fast. Our morals and values are quickly going down the drain. Once again, I bring up that Bush will be appointing the new Chief Justice soon. How much do you want to bet that this is going to be dragged out for months and months as people do everything they can to find something wrong with someone who... heaven forbid... may stand for God's values in the Bible?

What makes me sad is not only that non- Christians are getting more hostile about all this, but that even Christians are becomming desensitized to the importance of standing strong for Christ. I know a lot of you are good Christians who want to follow Christ, but you're thinking that, realistically, this nation is never again going to accept a conservative leader, and so comprosing on a couple of things doesn't bother you. Maybe I'm entirely too black and white and idealistic, but I must stick with what I believe. As long as I have the choice to, I will only support canidates with conservative moral values. I would vote for a financial Democrat with Christian values before I voted for a financial Republican with atheist values.

Ironically, the song "Socially Acceptable" by dc Talk is currently playing on my iPod. It's about the decline of our culture in this nation. We are starting to accept things that are not ok, once again, because if we don't accept it, it may hurt someone's feelings.

By the way, there is a difference between hurting someone's feelings and opressing someone. If you lie to me, that'll hurt my feelings, but it doesn't opress me. Telling a woman that she cannot murder a child is not opression, it's hurting her feelings that someone dares to tell her that she already made her choice as to what to do with her body, and now she must pay the consequences.

Whatever religion you are, whatever political party, just remember, you can't spare everyone's feelings. It's not realistic. Stand up for what you believe in. If someone doesn't like what you say, that doesn't mean you shouldn't fight to defend it. Where would we be if the colonists were that apathetic?

I fully realize that most of the country doesn't think like me, and that they never will. I fully realize that in this next election I may have to choose between the lesser of the two evils, but I sure hope I don't have to. But even if I do... I have to remind myself that God is bigger than the man in the White House. So here I am, now preaching to myself: God is in control of it all.