I love vacations.

Last month, we took a week and drove up to Graeagle, California. Absolutely beautiful part of the country, nestled up in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in Northern California between Truckee and Quincy at around 5,000 feet above sea level. 

We hiked, we played games, we ate lots of food. And we slept in every day. 

I loved it because I didn't pay too much attention to the news. That was because it was too hard to get a wireless connection to the Internet. I literally had to walk around with my laptop like it was some sort of metal detector, looking for some indication that I had some type of connection.

That's too much work to stay "informed." So I went through the week relatively ignorant about what was happening in the rest of the world. And I loved it.

I suspect that's what most folks do when they go on vacation. They give their minds a chance to refresh itself by tuning out the outside world, for the most part.

Is it any wonder, then, that Washington is frantically busy trying to pass so much stuff that will dramatically alter the national landscape? Just consider this laundry list of issues that could become reality by the end of this summer:

• A cap and tax scheme that will do precious little of what it promises to do (reduce carbon gas emissions) while at the same time taxing small businesses into oblivion? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_bill)
• An attempt by the federal government to take over the health care industry, insuring everyone, taxing millionaires and small businesses, while turning the world's greatest health care system into something resembling what Great Britain now suffers (http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090715/pl_bloomberg/a6fujb5nwlde_1)
• A judge who describes Roe v. Wade as "settled law," who believes that the appellate court is where policy is made, and who believes ethnicity and gender play a role in making judicial decisions is about to receive a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land (http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56B0TA20090715?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true)
• A veiled attempt to pass a "hate crimes" bill by sticking it into a Defense Authorization Act as an amendment--a bill that adds "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to a growing list of groups that are protected from "hate crimes." (Now, I always thought a crime against a person is an act of hatred in and of itself; shows you how little I know).

This last bill hits a little too close to home. Well, they all do, but this last one is particularly insidious. Let me explain how this would work:

Let's say that one Sunday morning, I or some other pastor preach from the Bible and we mention that the Bible clearly states that marriage is between one man and one woman, that any other relationship that tries to call itself marriage is wrong, and that any other sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong. If someone who is listening to that sermon goes out and commits a violent act against someone caught up in same-sex attractions or activity, not only is that act a hate crime, but I would be guilty of a hate crime as well.

What's more, the bill does not state what is a violent crime in this case. What if someone who heard a sermon decided to go and try to talk to a friend caught up in same-sex attractions, and decided to show them what the Bible says about God's forgiveness? Since the bill is targeting the thought and intentions rather than the action, that action could be interpreted as a violent act by the "victim."

Now, let's take it another direction...

Suppose I or some other pastor are led to preach against crimes against children, that those crimes are so damaging to society because of what it does to children, or something like that. Since pedophilia is not specifically excluded in this "hate crimes" bill, it can be included as a "sexual orientation." Therefore, the case can be made that pedophilia can be classified as being protected from "hate crimes." 

All of this could be completed before the summer is over; in fact, much of this could be completed before this month is over. Talk about an extreme makeover; the stuff that's going on in Washington right now could cause severe damage to our country, right down to its very core.

If you've never been active in this stuff because you're not the "political type," you might want to re-think your position. Because if you think none of this is going to affect you, just wait until you see your electric bill if the cap-n-tax bill passes. Or how "free health care" is really going to work for you. Or when the law changes to make pastors potential "hate crime" criminals.

Honestly, Congress was the one that should have taken the vacation. For about three months.