Ted Haggard Redux, Paranoid Colorado Republicans

Ahhh, geez. Every time that Colorado Springs is in the national news, its over something sordid and embarrassing. Ted Haggard is the subject of an HBO documentary airing later this month, and he has interviews on Oprah and Larry King scheduled. This ticked off a young man who was involved with Ted while he was top pastor at New Life Church, membership over 10,00o people and a tax free gravy train for the current pastor Brady Boyd. Instead of waiting for the young man's public statement, Mr Boyd went ahead and gave an interview with the Associated Press.

"Boyd said an "overwhelming pool of evidence" pointed to an "inappropriate, consensual sexual relationship" that "went on for a long period of time ... it wasn't a one-time act." Boyd said the man was in his early 20s at the time. He said he was certain the man was of legal age when it began.

Boyd said the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly.
Boyd said a Colorado Springs TV station reached him Thursday to say the young man was planning to provide a detailed report of his relationship with Haggard to the station. Boyd said the church preferred to keep the matter private, but it was the man's decision to go public.

Anticipating criticism of the settlement with the former church volunteer, Boyd said Friday that it was in the best interests of all involved. He would not name the volunteer or the settlement amount.
"It wasn't at all a settlement to make him be quiet or not tell his story," Boyd said. "Our desire was to help him. Here was a young man who wanted to get on with his life. We considered it more compassionate assistance — certainly not hush money. I know what's what everyone will want to say because that's the most salacious thing to say, but that's not at all what it was."
He said that "secondarily, it's not great for our church either" that the story be told. Boyd said Haggard knew about the settlement two years ago."

So Ted had other gay relationships, well, duh. He has had others in the past, is going to have more. The trick is to see if he can integrate it with his family life, if all parties can be accepting of it as a lifestyle. What is interesting is that New Life Church paid the kid not to go public with his story so that it wouldn't embarrass a hypocritical church, and now those agreements are being broken for the sake of 15 minutes of fame. New Life should have disbanded years ago. By  banning their founder instead of practicing Christian acceptance, and fostering a climate where violence and death can occur, Brady Boyd shows what can happen once you let the lizards take over...

So, Barack Obama has ordered the closing of Guantanamo. The question is where those folks will go if they have been tried and convicted. Nobody has approached the state of Colorado if they would be willing to house any of them. A television station asked the governor if he would be willing to consider taking any of them and he said yes, he would.

Suddenly, our Republican lawmakers are having a hissy fit, passing around and signing petitions to protest this non-event. The Rocky Mountain News reported this hysterical quote: "The type of terrorists these would be, I'd be ill at ease if I lived in Florence or Canon City or Pueblo West," said Republican Sen. Ken Kester of Las Animas. "I don't think we need 200 or 300 terrorists in Colorado. They will infiltrate the other convicts that are there."

Is this part of a talking points list made up by the state RNC, or did they all have this drug induced fantasy at the same time?

I'd like to suggest that these guys stop trying so hard to be the opposition, it just makes them look foolish and tools like Ken is doing. Save your energy for something real, when it actually happens.