An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed the lack of unity among Evangelicals around immigration issues.  Apparently, our Christian friends are unable to find consensus on this topic - some favor Christian compassion while others believe that law breakers should be punished ...

Tony, how much speaking out have you done about white collar crime which destroys hundreds of thousands of lives every single day?  How about the President's illegal activities -- have Evangelicals united around that?  Or any other crimes -- poaching, dumping, rape, molestation, tax evasion ...

This issues involves a lot of Hispanic Evangelicals who oppose punishing poor undocumented workers.   It  comes down to how you interpret the Bible -- crack down on law breakers or help strangers .... now which was a parable that Jesus used?  Hmmm...

This is an interesting non-debate because it really brings to light that there are two issues that connect the Evangelical community - gays and abortion. 

Guess what Jimmy Dobson?  You can proclaim immigation an issue that doesn't define an evangelical, but I'm guessing the 2006 elections will prove different as the Evanglical voting block splits on this very front burner issue.

Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Frankel writes a passionate op/ed in today's Post-Gazette.  Frankel, a Democrat and long time progressive ally of the LGBT community, examines the potential damage the marriage protection amendment will do to the gay AND unmarried straight communities. Including senior citizens.

The impact could be far reaching - health insurance coverage, foster care and adoption, hospital visitation, domestic violence protection, pension security --- for unmarried HETEROSEXUAL families. 

The right wing is trying to whip Pennsylvania residents into a frenzy just before the spring primaries.  This is not about a threat to marriage, it is a about a threat to incumbent Republicans.  If it was not acceptable for the state legislature to secretly vote themselves a pay raise, is it any more acceptable for them to hurry up to amend the constitution? 

The wingnuts deny the plausibility of these drastic outcomes.  But they cannot guarantee anything. One need only look around at other states to determine where this path may lead us -- it ain't pretty.  Frankel lays it out nicely. 

Read his piece.  Then make a note to yourself to pick up your phone on Monday and call your legislators.  Tell them that the amendment is unnecessary and that you don't want to write discrimination into our constitution.  This ball is fueled by politics. Once it rolls, it will only gain momentum.  Now it the time to take action.