iowa

Obama won Iowa. David Brooks from the New York Times summarizes best here.

I listened to Obama's speech last night and was inspired. You can watch it here.

I listened to Huckabee's speech and I now understand why he's gaining momentum. He's just downright likable. You listen to him and understand that even if you don't agree with his policies, you agree with his personality. Of course, voting for someone who is likable is what started this mess: many of us (myself included) voted for Bush Jr. in 2000 because he was "likable."

if you build it they will come

The latest poll from Iowa has Obama leading Clinton and Edwards. Can't wait to see what happens on Thursday.
Link

I've heard all sorts of statistics about how winning the Iowa caucus doesn't mean much in terms of who eventually wins the nomination. Remember Howard Dean?

It's a bit unnerving to think that two small states (Iowa and New Hampshire) tremendously impact the outcome of our presidential election system. Or is it? Check out this article at the economist.

obama

Nearly four years ago, I unenthusiastically endorsed John Kerry for president. Many of did likewise, but in the end, a "anybody but Bush" mentality ended depressingly, much like the candidates themselves. I wasn't excited about the last election as much as I was anxious to see a president (Bush) I didn't much care for, ushered into presidential retirement, where he could make plans for his library in Texas.

This year (almost), I'm excited for an election, mostly because I'm excited to back a candidate: Barack Obama. What do I like?

1. He's handsome. Handsome candidates win elections.
   
2. He's honest, at least by politician standards. When asked if he "inhaled," his answer (which cleverly also attacked Billary), "of course I inhaled. That was the point."
   
3. Oprah likes him.
   
4. I like his strategy on energy. He supports developing alternative fuels, but also specifically draws attention to the fact that Corn-based ethanol is a bad idea.
5. His "inexperience," which is currently being criticized by the Clinton and Edwards camp, is refreshing. If "experience" in Washington is what has produced the malaise of the last 8 years, I'm not impressed.
   
6. He opposed the Iraq war before he opposed it.
   
7. His ability to articulate a message makes me suspicious I could once again watch a State of the Union address.
   
8. I'm hopeful his background lends well to a better, more moderate, foreign policy, where diplomacy is once again a focus.

Election Reflections, Part 1

As a Wisconsin resident, I voted yesterday on a marriage amendment and also on the death penalty.
The marriage amendment actually bans two things: gay marriage and civil unions.
The death penalty amendment doesn't actually go into law, but is rather a advisory vote for the legislature. Whatever that means. I voted 'no' for both ballot initiatives. Both passed. Marriage amendment received 59%, death penalty received 55%.

Interestingly, I most live in a strong morally conservative county, Saint Croix. In Saint Croix county the marriage amendment received 61% support and the death penalty received 63%.

The death penalty result surprises me. Given results across the country, I'm not surprised by the results of the marriage amendment, but I didn't think the death penalty would receive as much support as it did. My guess is the only reason it passed was because it was quite specific about when the death penalty could be applied: only in cases of 1st degree murder where DNA evidence confirms the guilt of the accused.

family values

In this year's election, the land of cheese, land of my nice suburban home, will allow voters to decide if they want to add an amendment to the constitution which would guarantee the definition of marriage as a contract between "one man and one woman." I'll vote no. Even if it means gay sex in my front yard and men marrying dogs.

First, let's get a few things clear: I'm a religious person. I'm a Christian. The Bible is my holy book. I'm not a big fan of the protestant doctrine of Solo Scriptura, but even if I was, I'd be more than happy to argue that God/Bible (the difference sometimes blurs), has little to say about homosexual marriage. I do not believe homosexuality is a sin. Saying so is like saying being single is a sin: God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve...therefore being single must be sinful, right?

The term Sodomy offends me. The term refers to the events at Sodom, as documented in Genesis. Most people assume the "sin of Sodom" refers to homosexuality. No. No. No. No. No. For God's sake NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Don't believe me? How about some scripture: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49). Strange....sexual acts aren't in the list. But forgetting the poor and needy is....damn scripture....how did that verse get into the bible....

But even if I did have moral qualms with homosexuality, for the life of me I'll never understand why people get so upset by it, so motivated to make sure to prevent homosexuals from getting married. Even if homosexual marriage were legal, there is no law which would force your church to marry people. What's the big deal? Do you really believe making gay marriage legal will increase the number of homosexuals? And cynically, it's about time the gay community joins the rest of us. 50% of us will suffer divorce. Divorce lawyers everywhere should campaign for making gay marriage legal.

Proponents of preventing homosexual marriage value narrow scriptural interpretation over well attested scriptural tolerance and compassion. Did you know that a gay couple isn't guaranteed the right of hospital visitation, or terminal medical decisions, or inheritance? Can you, o heterosexual reader, imagine going to the hospital and being told you had to leave the bedside of your beloved because visiting hours were over?

I will vote no this fall, even though I worry the issue is somewhat of a moot point. Given the results of so many other states, I doubt Wisconsin will fair any better. I just wish more people would see the gay marriage initiatives for what they really are: just another ploy by republicans to increase turn-out at the polls. Sigh.

Get your buttons and t-shirts here.

And for some more good stuff, watch some Jon Stewart on the issue:

fear and anger

For Rebekah:

Faithful preachin' don't pay reader Rebekeh commented on the link I posted about the ridiculous number of Iraqi's killed in the war. She asked me to read this.

Here's the low down- A bunch of liberal hacks from Johns Hopkins claim 650000 Iraqi civilians have died since the war began. A bunch of conservative hacks from the Wall Street Journal (predictably) wrote an article about how the liberal hacks are stupid because they aren't conservative hacks.

Look, I don't care. The point is that a shitload of innocent Iraqi's have died. Does the number really matter? Even President Bush estimates the number to be 30,000. 30,000! Just think about it.

And what are our excuses....I mean justifications....I mean.........reasons for the war?
1) WMD
What about North Korea and Iran?
2) Saddam is bad
What about the dudes from North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Columbia....
3) Saddam killed his own people
What about Darfur?
4) Oil (this is the liberal hack favorite)
I'm not buying it. Iraq doesn't export much oil.
5) War on Terror.
Give me a break. That's like saying we need to fight a war in Spain to fight the war on Taco Bell.

Have I missed something?

Honestly, honestly, honestly, I can't think of any good reason for the Iraqi war. I really can't. It's pointless.

I've written about this topic before. Read more here.

Life is simple when we can make clean distinctions between good and evil. We're good, especially when compared to the bad. And to prove how good we are, we demonstrate our power, our wrath. This is the Iraq war, in a nutshell. Don't fuck with us. We're America. We're the good guys. We have the biggest guns. Saddam dared play coy with the President of the United States, Bush 43.

It makes me sad.

saved?

I need to get saved. Mac Hammond says so. Watch the YouTube link below. First, Michelle Bachmann talks about how it's God's will that she runs for U.S. Congress, and that God wants nothing more than prevent women from marrying women, men from marrying men. I'd hope God has better things on God's mind...call me a crazy liberal...people dying in wars, children dying of hunger, crazy men walking into schools and shooting kids..........

Mac Hammond, pastor of Living Word Christian Center, addresses his congregation after Ms. Bachmann's speech and says: He says "I don't want any more letters about Church and Politics don't mix. If that's your opinion, you need to get saved." If Mr. Hammond is right, I don't want to be "saved." I think politics and religion don't mix well. I think history proves me right.

This is why, if I lived in the 6th district, I wouldn't vote for Ms. Bachmann. When political canidates start talking about God's will, I get nervous.

And please, please, know I'm not crazy about Patty Wetterling as a canidate. I'd like to vote for John Binkowski. However, the "wasted vote" ideal comes into play, only because Ms. Bachmann makes me so trepidatious with her "God's will" comments.

stewart

The Daily Show, where everyone should get their news. Especially during election season. I haven't been watching the Daily Show in a while, but I plan to ramp up my viewing as they ramp up their coverage of InDecision '06.

where's osama?

650,000 iraqi's dead because of the war. O, and by the way, I couldn't find this story on Foxnews. So I was curious - I went to news.google.com and did a search. At the time of the writing of this post, 219 newspaper websites are carrying the story, but not "fair 'n balanced." We wouldn't want to ruin the myth, er...truth, would we?

jesus and the aclu

Bumper stickers amuse me. If it were safe, I'd take pictures of my favorite bumbers while driving. However, considering I already talk on my cell phone, drink coffee, change songs on my iPod, and yell at the kids while driving, it believe it behooves me to abstain from adding yet another distraction.

Alas, it saddens me to not have a picture of my new favorite bumber. Yesterday while driving home from The Gap, I passed a car with a Jesus! bumper sticker placed immediately to the right (co-incidence? Jesus is a republican) of a sticker with ACLU circled with a line through it.

I'm still a bit naive. I didn't realize so many Christians had it in for the ACLU. Until I got home and browsed the web. Holy smokes. I even found a website that proclaimed "ACLU - Jesus Christ lives. Get over it!"

I like Jesus. And I don't mind the ACLU. Any group which expresses concern about the Patriot Act and files lawsuits against the government for conducting warrantless wiretapping is just fine with me.

greg

New York Times, reporting on Greg Boyd.