User talk:Astoron

SHOW STYLE AND SUBSTANCE - A Critique
In a nutshell, Ms. Parshall's radio show revolves around the discussion of the virtues of conservatism and the vices of liberalism i.e., the view that liberals are wrong on most issues and conservatives right about any issue, more so on "moral" issues. So you will hear her badmouthing the liberals on any given day her show is on.

For all the talk of high moral values, Ms. Parshall seems like an unapologetic and uncritical mouthpiece of President George Bush and everything right-wing. She almost never discusses the well known cases of fraud and corruption that has plagued the George Bush administration even from a moral/ethical point of view.

It seems that she would like nothing less than to get her religious beliefs enacted into public policy. To this end, she portrays her beliefs as superior to any liberal ideals. By implication this means that conservative ideals are much better than liberal ideals - a common theme in conservative talk shows across the country.

Even though she claims to be pro-life i.e., protecting life, she says or implies from time to time that guns are not the root cause of gun violence every time there is such and as such she is not pro-gun control. It is almost like saying that drug addiction has nothing to do with drugs and one could conclude therefore about why there should be any control on illegal drugs if drugs are not the root cause of drug abuse?

The fact is that the price of the second amendment is that innocent people get killed from time to time and yet the conservatives stubbornly keep perpetuating the idea that gun control will not solve the problem behind gun related violence.

For many years, it was also noted that every time Martin Luther King's birthday would come around, she somehow finds any other topic to discuss than mention anything much about the national figure who is Martin Luther King Jr. In fact, she somehow gets around to discussing "heroes" of the South or Confederacy like General Lee or talk about gun rights at one time on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was being commemorated.

She frequently contradicts herself on many topics like the role of religion in government. Even though she keeps saying that religion should not be the defining issue in judging the qualifications of a certain politician, she says that religion in many ways (i.e., Christianity) should be the "corner" stone by which a candidate should definitely be judged. She therefore says that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are definitely on the wrong side of the Pro-Life (pre-life) issue. And even though she says that no one is perfect, she keeps singling out liberals and democrats or those on the left for being on the wrong side of any issue, despite the fact that under conservative leadership, America has been decidedly mismanaged almost in every single area.

She frequently (ad nauseam) talks about why someone's "worldview" is important when it comes to holding an office in government and by implication promotes the idea that a "Christian" worldview (i.e. her version of Christianity) is safer and preferable and as such, promotes the idea that Christianity is the preferable religion for any candidate to have as they are the ones she would rather vote for and not really based on other qualifications, but primarily religion, even though the American Constitution does not promote such idea.

She also criticizes Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan as something that will cost the U.S. taxpayers upto $800 billion if enacted without addressing the issue of why the U.S. is currently in such an economic downturn and without presenting any other credible “conservative” ideas of how to how to fix the current economic woes.

Global Warming: She believes like many conservatives that there is really no global warming and that climate change is the result of the Sun getting hotter. She promotes the idea that human actions have no serious consequences on the environment and avidly promotes the idea of getting rid of malaria instead in the third world countries as a better way to use resources. On the other hand, she believes in the now discredited "Curve Ball" who duped or misled the west into believing the existence of WMD in Iraq. She also believes that CO2 helps green the environment faster and as such that there are positive sides to more "CO2" released by human acitivity into the environment.

Government Role in reducing poverty: Ms. Parshall promotes the view that the government should not be in the business of eradicating or reducing poverty as it indirectly raises taxes, but then promotes the idea that Churches should be involved in the business of reducing poverty and tacitly promotes the idea that George Bush's "Faith Based Initiatives" (a government initiative) are a better way to handle the poverty issues in America. To this end, one can hear the non-stop solicitation of funds on the radio network she is on to help with evangelistic efforts (among other things) in the poorer countries.

United Nations Role: She regulary criticizes the Untied Nations as being ineffective and something that supposedly undermines U.S. sovereignty. She does not propose any other workable alternatives to the U.N. in terms of how to mediate conflicts among the nations for which the U.N. was primarily established for by the U.S. itself.

She also criticizes the Church that Barack Obama goes for having many types of theologies that are not based on the Bible without addressing what those specifics are that are allegedly in opposition to the Bible. She comes across as someone who has the corner on what the right theology or the right form of government is – all based on the idea of no abortion, no sex before marriage, low taxes, no gay marriages, school prayer, and the right to bear arms despite the fact that whenever the conservatives were in charge, these ideals were never able to be enacted. In fact, by all accounts, government only became bigger under the conservative watch.

Christianity in the Public Square talk: She often says that for Christianity to matter, it has to be practiced in the government and in the public square in the particular places she prefers like in the appointment of judges who will promote through legislation the right-wing agenda of no abortion and abstinence among other pet issues. While this may be laudable, for true Christianity to really matter in the public square, it cannot be legislated or coerced but practiced by example as the Bible truly prescribes. History bears out this truth.