There have been suggestions that Obama should choose Hillary as vice president for a ‘Dream Ticket’. It would actually be more of a nightmare. Clinton would be constantly defying Obama, making deals behind his back, and in effect running her own parallel government. She’s much too outspoken to remain in the background. Edwards would probably be his best choice.
News and Politics
California may have cost Florida the election
I must be the only one who isn’t happy about California legalizing gay marriage.
We have a marriage ‘protection’ amendment on the ballot here in November. This decision in California is a dream come true for the amendment’s supporters. It will energize their base with the fear of it happening here and help them get out the vote. This means a much bigger Republican turnout.
Although Obama is already expected to lose Florida, this will almost certainly guarantee it and by a much bigger margin.
California could have done us (and the entire country) a big favor if they had waited until after the election to make this decision.
It's over
There’s no way Hillary Clinton can get the nomination, and most of her advisors and top Democrats recognize that. She’s officially entered the “psycho ex-girlfriend” stage. She’s starting to sound delusional when she talks about winning. At this point it’s clearly about her ego, not wanting to do what’s right for the country. The best thing she could do is concede graciously and put her support behind Obama.
The Bible Riots of 1844
An item at Daily Kos shows that politicians whipping up religious hysteria are nothing new. Like the modern Religious Right, ultraconservative Protestant leaders of the nineteenth century insisted the United States was a “Christian nation.” Only one catch: by “Christian” they really meant “Protestant.”
There was actually rioting in Philadelphia caused by tensions between Protestants and Catholics. At the time, Protestant religious doctrine was part of the daily school activities. The school day began with the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, readings from the King James Version of the Bible, and often group singing of Protestant hymns. In addition, the Bible was frequently used as a textbook in spelling classes and to teach other secular subjects.
Bible reading occurred “without comment.” The teacher simply read a set number of verses – usually 10 – without elaborating or interpreting them. Most Protestant groups found the practice acceptable, but Catholics considered the practice alien and heretical.
Some textbooks had a clear anti-Catholic bias. One even referred to the pope as the anti-Christ. Catholic clergy finally began planning a protest.
In 1842 Philadelphia bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick approached the Board of School Controllers to ask that the blatantly anti-Catholic books be removed. Kenrick also requested that Catholic students be permitted to use their own Bibles – the Douay version – during morning devotionals.
In February 1844, a rumor started that a school director in the heavily Catholic north Philadelphia suburb of Kensington had ordered a teacher to suspend Bible readings. In reality the director, Hugh Clark, had merely suggested a temporary suspension of the devotionals to a principal who complained that allowing Catholic children to leave every morning was disruptive. In Clark’s view the religious exercises could be resumed once a plan was worked out that allowed the Catholic students to leave peacefully.
Another school director, Henry Moore, a strident evangelical Protestant, began whipping up hysteria. A series of rallies were quickly organized to “save the Bible” (does this sound familiar?).
Pennsylvania’s leading anti-Catholic political unit, the American Republican Party (ARP), quickly added a plank to its platform reading, “Resolved, that the Bible, without note or comment, is not sectarian – that it is the fountainhead of all morality and all good government, and should be used in our public schools as a reading book.” Most “Save the Bible” rallies were organized by the ARP.
The conflicts boiled over into full riots, in which several people were killed.
Unfortunately politicians are still exploiting religious differences for their own benefit.
What we've learned from this presidential campaign
Things I have learned during this campaign season (Via Daily Kos):
- In a race that includes a former First Lady of the United States and a multimillionaire Republican senator rumored to share up to eight residences with his wife, the black guy from Chicago is unforgivably elitist.
- Racism in America is caused primarily by black Chicago preachers.
- The guy who keeps getting confused over the relationship between Iraq, Iran, and al Qaeda is the foreign policy expert.
- The guy who goes to campaign stops on his wife’s private jet aircraft is the most down-to-earth.
- The guy who changed his stance on tax cuts, Roe v. Wade, immigration, gun control, the confederate flag, torture, public financing, and his own anti-earmark rhetoric is the “straight talker”.
- People in the heartland don’t like it when you call them bitter, but they do like it when you explain to them that they’re too dumb to understand issues more important than whether or not they like to be called bitter.
- Arugula is the measure of a man.
- Bowling is the measure of a man.
- Orange juice is the measure of a man.
- Flag pins are the measure of a man.
- Success in Iraq consists of any reduction in violence, except when violence increases that’s good too.
- A recession is only a recession if you call it one.
- Bill Kristol, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Karl Rove, Maureen Dowd, David Brooks, David Broder, Charles Krauthammer and Bob Novak are all intensely interested in giving advice to the Democratic candidates because they just want to be helpful.
- There are people in this world dumb enough to believe every one of these things.
Things I don't care about
These were the front page stories in today’s Sun-Sentinel:
- Dancing with the stars
- Miley Cyrus
- the Dolphins’ personnel changes
None of which I care about in the least. The Dolphins’ hirings, firings, and trades was also the lead story on the evening news. I guess there’s nothing more important happening in the world. Nobody died in Iraq. Food is abundant in Haiti. The economy is booming.
McCain & Hagee
With all of the concern about Obama’s association with Rev. Wright, almost nothing has been said about Rev. John Hagee’s endorsement of McCain.
- Right-wing pastor John Hagee says vile, despicable things about patriotic Americans…the worst being that Catholics are part of a church that is a “great whore,” that “all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews,” and that God damns America with hurricanes because gay Americans plan parades.
- Oh, and Hagee says God wants us to destroy Iran ASAP.
- John McCain actively seeks Pastor Hagee’s endorsement and gets it.
- When John McCain accepts Hagee’s endorsement, he doesn’t include a list of the pastor’s statements that he finds unacceptable. No, my friends, he accepts the whole Hagee package with no ifs, ands, or buts.
- When McCain finds out that Hagee thinks God damns America because of gays, Catholics, Muslims and others, McCain is shocked…shocked! But he continues to praise Pastor Hagee and cherish his crucial endorsement.
- Instead of turning the controversy into a teachable moment—with, say, a groundbreaking speech on religious diversity and equality for all Americans—McCain, the straight-talker, continues to weave and waffle his way through the Hagee controversy, hoping that the media will give him yet another free pass. (Most of the media comply in exchange for some excellent barbeque behind McCain’s bus.)
- When gently—ever so gently—pressed about Hagee’s statements weeks later by journalists, a visibly agitated McCain blurts out that, hey, at least he wasn’t my pastor for twenty years!!!
I’d love to see these questions asked of John McSame in a debate:
- If John Hagee was your pastor for twenty years, would you have left the church over his anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic and America-damning comments?
- If yes, why do you continue to accept Hagee’s endorsement?
- If no, why not?
(via Daily Kos)
A disgrace
Last night’s Democratic debate was one of the worst examples of molehill politics so far in this election cycle. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous decided that Americans are more interested in Obama’s “Bitter” remark, Rev. Wright, Clinton’s trip to Bosnia, and whether a candidate wears a flag pin than issues like Iraq, the economy, and gas prices. They didn’t even touch healthcare or the environment.
David Byrne: Come The Revolution
David Byrne writes:
What will happen when half the country is unemployed, with no medical insurance, stuck in a sheet rock house miles from public transportation? Theyâll be ripe for religion or revolution if you ask me. Bibles and bullets. Will they still support the billions a day spent in Iraq? I donât think soâeven now they donât. One would expect theyâll be pretty pissed off watching the rich and famous party endlessly and continue their glamorous lifestyleâor maybe not. Surprising to me, those being duped and exploited by banks and entrepreneurs often envy their âbettersâ?âthey want to be that person in the Beemer or Lexus, and will mortgage everything theyâve got to have a symbolic piece of it. Instead of anger and action we get envyâthe bane of every outside agitator, union organizer, and young revolutionary.
Bibles and bullets: Doesn’t this sound a lot like what Obama said, which the pundits have blown out of proportion? Instead of addressing the real problems and trying to do something about it, politicians would rather exploit hot button issues. with the mainstream media as their lapdogs.
Molehill Politics
Elizabeth Drew has a perfect term describing the state of the current presidential campaign: Molehill Politics. Instead of talking about real issues, Clinton and McBush are jumping on Obama for what he said in one speech, and that’s the top story in the news.
I don’t believe Obama said anything wrong. He’s absolutely right and this is a perfect example of what he was talking about. The government has failed most of us. Instead of talking about how to change it, they try to distract everyone with fake issues.