Wow. The craziness is flying over comments made by Barack Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright. I’ve read reactions from people stronly opposed to Wright, and from people defending Wright (or at least giving some helpful context—Knightopia links to several more).

Some of what Wright says is clearly off the deep end (i.e., the government invented AIDS to wipe out people of color). But I think some of his comments are right on. Like the “God Damn America” comments:

“The government gives them the drugs [referring to the Iran-Contra Affair], builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people … God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.” (Seattle Times)

The ABC News story left out the last sentence, which I think helps give some context. Wright is preaching prophetically, like the prophets of old, who spoke out against injustice. I love America and the freedoms we have, but it’s not anti-American to speak out against injustice committed by America. That’s patriotic. (I wish Obama would have made that point.)

And America has some injustice going on when there are more black men in prison than in college.

Continue reading Cherry-Picking Politics: Barack Obama & Jeremiah Wright →

Apparently a number states have balked at the Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to require nationwide standards for ID cards, known as the Real ID Act. It sounds like a fairly boring story, though maybe an interesting case of state’s rights vs. national security.

Boring, that is, until you hear Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer weigh in on NPR:

“We’re putting up with the federal government on so many fronts and nearly every month they come out with another harebrained scheme, an unfunded mandate to tell us that our life is going to be better if we’ll just buckle under on some other kind of rule or regulation. We usually just play along for a while, ignore them for as long as we can. We try not to bring it to a head. But if it comes to a head we’ve found that it’s best to just tell them to go to hell and run your state the way you want to run your state.”

Hilarious. Check out Wired for more background on the Real ID debate.

After the pancake supper at church tonight (those Episcopalians aren’t very good at potlucks, but they do pancakes right) we went to vote in the Minnesota Caucus. Traffic was backed up about a mile, cops were directing traffic and we had to park in a cul de sac and walk.

Once we got inside it was crazy. We had to find the room for our specific precinct, but I think half the county was there so there were a few dozen rooms. We finally found which room we needed to be in and set off down a random hall to find it. We eventually found a packed room in the midst of caucusing.

The volunteer at the door asked me to sign in (name, address, phone number, e-mail, signature–no ID required) then handed me a scrap of paper to vote in the presidential preference poll. He pointed to a chalk board with a list of a dozen names and told me to write down my candidate and stick it in the envelope. He pointed to an crammed #10 envelope sitting on a desk.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“That’s as official as we get,” he said with a shrug.

Today is Super Duper Fat Tuesday, so if you live in one of the 20+ states holding primaries or caucuses today, you should go vote. If not, well, it’s still Fat Tuesday. So find a pancake supper or some paczkis and live it up. (Like many of our holidays, we’ve completely lost the meaning of Fat Tuesday and its connection with Lent–i.e., using up all the remaining sweets/eggs/fruit in the house in preparation for fasting during Lent. Instead we just retain the fun part and forget about the sacrifice part. Of course, this is all from a former Baptist who knows nothing about this sort of thing.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, politics.

Continue reading Let’s Have a Voting Party →

James Dobson writes about the moral failings of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and comes to the conclusion that not voting is better than picking a candidate who doesn’t completely agree with him (also covered by CNN):

My conclusion from this closer look at the current GOP front-runner comes down to this: Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any organization or party, I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision. If given a Hobson’s–Dobson’s?–choice between him and Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran–or if worse comes to worst–not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life. My conscience and my moral convictions will allow me to do nothing else.

So if I can’t have it my way, I’m taking my toys and going home. Wow. Reminds me of a certain comment about opposing worldviews. I can understand not liking a candidate. I can understand not liking both candidates (been there before). But that doesn’t mean you drop out of the process. You’ve got to compromise somewhere. That’s how people get along. That’s now democracy works. (link via Justin McRoberts)

I took my daughter voting today. Some might think that sounds similar to but not as cool as taking your daughter boating, but I disagree. I think it’s important to instill the value of voting. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you don’t vote, you have no right to gripe and complain about who’s in office. Recent presidential elections have proven that every vote matters and especially in Minnesota history has proven that third party candidates are viable options.

Of course it’s only the primary in a non-presidential election year, so it’s not worth getting that excited about. But it’s still cool.

Continue reading Taking My Daughter Voting →

A friend called me rather randomly today to ask if the state of Minnesota could secede from the U.S. It was just an off the cuff example, prompted by the realization that the U.S. has “colonies” like Saipan that some of us never knew existed (until our friend announced she was going to teach there). That prompted some speculation and eventually ended with the secession question.

It’s a fun little question, especially given our preference for freedom. If a state wants to secede, and democratically votes to do so, why shouldn’t they be able to? It seems to go along with our spreading of freedom abroad.

My initial guess was that secession wouldn’t fly. That’s part of what prompted the Civil War (among other things). Wikipedia backs me up, noting that Congress passed a law making it illegal for a state to secede. Which sounds kind of silly, if you think about it.

I realize the reasons for not wanting a state to secede. You want to keep the nation together. But isn’t it somewhat against our national character, our focus on freedom and all that, to not allow a state to jump ship if they want to?

At any rate, it’s fun speculation. The Wikipedia entry includes some details about failed secessions over the years, including states in the northeast, South Carolina, the obvious Civil War, Texas seceding from Mexico (so we’ll take a seceding state, but we won’t let our states secede?) and speculation about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan seceding from Michigan and becoming it’s own state (Ha! They could rival Wyoming for lowest everything [actually, such an act would make the Upper Peninsula the state with the smallest population by quite a margin: 328,000 in the U.P., 509,000 in Wyoming]. Plus I think there’s something in the Constitution about not taking land away from any state. Update: OK, I guess you can do it with approval from both state’s legislatures and Congress.) It’s also fun to note that Michigan traded Toledo for the U.P., which I think was a pretty good deal for my old home state.

More:

• Read my review of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.

This video of President Bush giving a speech side by side with a Bush impersonator is hilarious. I think the real Bush got some of the best zingers in.