Pay attention, Hillary...Howard shows how it's done

From the Washington Post:
Click the link above to read the whole article and see this great picture (by Tony Talbot of AP) of Howard Dean campaigning for Matt Dunne.

Howard Dean, in comments to reporters in his home state, said Sen. John Kerry had committed "a blooper," but the reaction had given Democrats an opportunity to highlight what they describe as the Republicans' weaknesses on the Iraq war.

"Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen," Dean said at the state party's campaign headquarters.

"I think we want to focus on the president's intemperate rhetoric in saying to vote for a Democrat is a vote to help the terrorists win," Dean said. "That's clearly untrue and that's exactly the reason why President Bush is a failed president."

See, Hillary...was that so hard?

Oh, and by the way--bad Democrat! No nomination for you!

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Reclaiming our Puritan roots

This is outrageous (hat tip to Brian at Plunderbund). From the Washington Post: Abstinence message goes beyond teens

The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

Of course I've got nothing against abstinence--I think it can be a positive choice and no one should ever be ridiculed for deciding to wait until marriage. What disgusts me is that this has nothing to do with public health but is about pushing one group's ideology as Jason Wagoner noted in the article. There are *so* many causes that could benefit from "millions of dollars of federal money", but this is where our current government's "values" are.

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Open Thread

listener's grandbaby, dressed up for Halloween.

Update: Some links for Samhain from Street Prophets

Samhain with children
Ancestor feast- All invited!
Samhain: the Halloween before there was a Halloween
A Ritual of Samhain

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Why I'm Not A Republican, Part 3

This is the third part in a continuing series of posts examining why I am not a Republican, even though many people feel like I belong in that camp. Part I outlined the most obvious reasons and Part II dealt with Republicans' misplaced perspectives on Family Values. When I have completed this series I will revisit each issue and propose legislative solutions that are faithful to the Bible and progressive in their orientation, but today I want to speak on the most significant problem that White Evangelicals have against Democrats:

ABORTION

I am Pro Life, I believe that human life begins at conception. This is something that would be expected of an Evangelical Christian such as myself, but the interesting thing is that my Pro Life stance has next to nothing to do with Christianity - the Bible is mostly silent on the question of abortion. Most of the Biblical passages that are used to support the position that human life begins at conception actually speak - in context - to God's foreknowledge and sovereignty, not to the nature and character of the baby in the womb:

• Psalm 139:13-16
  
  
  For you created my inmost being;
  you knit me together in my mother's womb.
  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
  your works are wonderful,
  I know that full well.
  My frame was not hidden from you
  when I was made in the secret place.
  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
  your eyes saw my unformed body.
  All the days ordained for me
  were written in your book
  before one of them came to be.
  
  
  Some would argue that this passage refers to the personhood of the unborn baby, but the writer is speaking of God's foreknowledge, as the writer himself concludes in verse 16.


• Job 3:11
  
  
  Why did I not perish at birth,
  and die as I came from the womb?
  
  
  Here, clearly Job acknowledges that he was alive before exiting the womb, but the most ardent supporter of abortion will admit as much - this passage has no impact on the abortion discussion.


• Jeremiah 1:4-5
  
  The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
  
  
  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
  before you were born I set you apart;
  I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
  
  
  Again, this text speaks to God's foreknowledge, not Jeremiah's human existence prior to being born.


• Luke 1:39-45
  
  At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
  
  Now this passage comes close to making a case for opposing abortion, the problem is that most every Christian will affirm that Jesus was no normal baby, so trying to prove a point based on the Zygote Jesus would be stretching it at best. As for John the Baptist who leapt in his mother's womb, he was heading into the third trimester and there is no debate about the humanity of a baby in the late-second or early-third trimester, so again this passage doesn't have much impact on the abortion debate.


• Exodus 21:22-25
  
  If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
  
  This passage actually does indeed speak to the issue of abortion. If a woman miscarried as a result of two men fighting then the one who caused the miscarriage would have inflicted upon him whatever harm came to the baby - eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise, life for life. Some would say that the penalty is inflicted based upon what happens to the woman, not the baby, but if that were the case then there would be no need of mentioning the pregnancy in this passage. This passage of Scripture is referring to the baby and it treats the baby as a human being. The problem, of course, is that the passage assumes that the baby is formed such that an arm could be identified, a wound could be discerned, a tooth could be found, and that would be well after conception. This passage does little to refute the logic of Roe v. Wade, and is thus pointless in the current abortion discussion.

The reason why I am Pro Life is because from the moment of conception there is no ontological difference between that baby and a full-grown adult besides growth and development. There is no point after conception where the baby "becomes" human, she is human from the moment a human genome is created - at conception - and as such it is just as wrong to kill her as it is to kill a full-grown vagabond by running over him with your car. No one else might ever know about the death of such an unknown individual but it is no less wrong. Ontologically, a human being is created at conception and the same laws that apply to killing any human being have to apply across the board to all human beings, be they newly conceived or terminally ill.

So how in the world could I vote for a Democrat? Simple - abortion is not a voting issue for me.

Say what?

If over a million children are being murdered every year with the approval of the government then abortion is not a voting issue, it is an overthrow the government issue. I don't think that too many people were impressed at Nuremburg when people said that they voted against the holocaust. When it comes to opposing abortion there is no middle of the road - either it's the murder of over a million children a year, every year, or it's not. Either it is an evil practice that has to be eliminated immediately, by any means necessary, or it is merely the elimination of unwanted bio-matter. There is no middle way on abortion, yet suburbanites lack the courage of their convictions to actually do something about it. Soccer moms hate that babies are being slaughtered but they have to get Becky to practice - they'll just vote Republican and feel better about themselves for having struck a blow for the "good guys."

Let them comfort themselves with the ashes of Slavs, Gypsies and Jews from Auschwitz, because that's the end result of their voting - death and dismemberment. The Republicans have appointed ten (10) of the last twelve justices to the Supreme Court, and Republicans have appointed every Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the last 50 years, but Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land. If the Republican Party was serious about ending abortion then they would have done it by now, but they are more interested in milking the issue than solving the problem.

But even if Roe v. Wade were overturned abortion would still be legal in America - the red states would immediately ban abortion and the blue states would immediately legalize abortion, leaving the purple states to fight it out. The GOP in purple states like Michigan and Pennsylvania tend to be more moderate, and concentrating the abortion fight in those battleground states - sending the money and volunteers that the national party craves to the state parties - would strengthen a wing of the GOP that they have spent a generation trying to eviscerate. The GOP has no interest in killing the goose that lays the golden campaign contributions and they have no interest in resurrecting a dead wing of their party so they will keep abortion legal for as long as they can milk contributions from those who are long on expectations but short on personal commitment.

And yes, the Democrats do the same thing from the other side of the aisle.

And if you stop to think about it, both parties are full of male-bovine fecal material on the issue of abortion. It is the Republican Party which believes that government has no place in the private affairs of citizens. It is the Republican Party which believes that the government that governs least governs best. It is the Republican Party that should be articulating the Pro Choice argument, yet they take the opposite position. Why?

The Democratic Party seems to have no problem with the idea of creating a new branch of government to save some helpless creature against the wiles of the powerful, so why is it that the Democrats are absent when the most helpless of all needs someone to stand up for them? It is the Democratic Party which believes in an active government that protects the disenfranchized against the decision-makers. It is the Democratic Party which believes in protecting the least of these even if that means limiting the options of others who already have that which the least of these are trying to achieve - LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - yet Democrats side against the most helpless of all, unborn babies. Why?

The answer in both instances is the same - constituency.

When abortion became a big issue in the 60s and 70s the feminists and others who were pushing for abortion on demand were already solidly in the camp of the Democrats, so the Democrats ignored their governing philosophy and adjusted to accommodate the desires of their core constituency. The Republicans were beginning to welcome a flood of Southerners who were abandoning the Democratic Party in droves after Lyndon Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act through Congress and signed it into law, and the Southern Baptists were (and are) among the most committed in their opposition to abortion, and the Republicans weren't going to alienate their new constituency by maintaining fidelity to their governing philosophy so they adjusted to accommodate the desires of their new constituency. Political parties are about winning elections, not philosophical consistency, so they focused on what was important to winning elections - their constituencies - and they've ensured that the gravy train of money and volunteers continues to flow by keeping Roe v. Wade on the books and blocking any initiative that would decrease the demand for abortions.

"They" being Democrats and Republicans.

When it's all said and done, both the Democrats and the Republicans are full of crap regarding the issue of abortion - neither party has any interest in ending abortion, and those who claim to viscerally oppose abortion have no intention of actually doing anything about it other than sending the Republicans millions of dollars and hundreds of volunteers. Nothing is going to change when it comes to abortion - I give you the last 30 years as proof-positive - so for me, at the end of the day, abortion is not a voting issue.

Two tears in a bucket...

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Songs for Democracy

As I commented at the end of the last thread, I really am about to turn in, but I've just gotta post this first. Thanks to Abbey at As Ohio Goes, I just discovered this song by Victoria Parks entitled Bye Bye Blackwell. I think it will give many here a much needed smile.

I first heard Victoria sing at the Rainbow Push Ohio event I attended in September. There she sang "My Vote Don't Matter Anymore", which was inspired by one of the stories she heard during the public testimonies on election irregularities that took place in Ohio after the 2004 election.

We stood in lines outside three hours, maybe four
A rainy November second, Two-Thousand-Four
All across our nation, too many to ignore
We turned out in numbers they'd never seen before

I should know dear,
I've been voting here
since the second world war
My name is Amos Connelly
Now they're telling me
My vote don't matter anymore

Read more about the song here, and listen to it here.

Never again...

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Alex P. Keaton returns to Columbus

Demetrius and I first moved to Columbus (to attend graduate school) at around the time the 80s sitcom Family Ties was wrapping up its seven year run. I remember our new neighbors telling us that the show supposedly took place in Columbus, Ohio, and that local stores like Lazarus (now Macy's) made sure that the characters could be seen carrying shopping bags bearing their names and logos. That little factoid had slipped my mind until I read at Pho's Akron Pages that Michael would be coming to Columbus today for an event with Sherrod Brown. Thanks to my incredibly patient husband being willing to come with me (I *hate* trying to parallel park), I was not only able to attend the event, but this time I've actually got pictures.

Actually, the reason I asked Demetrius to come along was because of the event's timing. When I first RSVP'd via Sherrod Brown's campaign site, it looked like the event would be from 11 to 12, so I was just planning to go to the event on my own once D came back from dropping Daughter in Ohio off at school. Then I got a reminder about the event saying that it was at 10 to 11, and it made a lot more sense to just go together after dropping Daughter off at school.

We arrived at about quarter to 10 at the building housing Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. We found a parking meter with a two hour time limit, but that seemed like it would be plenty of time. Nearly an hour and a half later, it was clear that it was *not* enough time, as Michael J. Fox and Sherrod Brown had not yet taken the stage. Demetrius had to run out to move the car and pump more money into the meter, thankfully getting back just as the program began. I was actually concerned that he might not be allowed back in, as the event was packed, with plenty of people who had been unable to find seats in the auditorium standing near the door. There were also bits of commotion from time to time as people in wheelchairs tried to get situated in the audience.

Turns out there was a section in the back of the auditorium that was labeled as reserved seating for people with disabilities.

But camera from the news had set up there.

One of the women sitting behind us said that the law building had been constructed before current accessibility standards were put in place. Professor Colker, who is a specialist in disability law, had used money from an award she won to pay for that seating area, and that she'd be furious to see what happened today.

There was also this guy wearing a shirt with the word REPUBLICAN in large letters on the front, who was clearly amused by the situation, and we wondered if and where he was planning to blog about it.

Once the program finally got under way, it moved along very quickly. We heard first from Dr. Wendy Macklin about the need for new sources of stem cells for research. She explained that stem cells come from the inner cell mass of blastocysts which are about 150 cell embryos, generated in in vitro fertilization clinics. Of the many embryos generated in these clinics, some will result in pregnancies, but many won't. Those that are not used sit in liquid nitrogen for sometimes years. In the past, these have been used to generate cell lines. We can use cells that were generated as cell lines before August of 2001. Initially there were about 22 cell lines, and of those, only a small number are usable, and those have been grown on mouse feeder cells in a variety of ways. Those are not likely to be useful for tranplantation in any way. Dr. Macklin said that even though getting new lines of stem cells would be unlikely to lead to a cure for any given disease immediately, it would be a huge boon to this area of research. For just one example, it would allow us to investigate how to "tweak" cells in the nervous system in other parts of the body that have been degenerating from a particular disease.

There were a number of people on the stage who were suffering from some type of disease or disability that could potentially benefit from stem cell research. Only one of them was scheduled to speak, but Sherrod Brown made a point of acknowledging the children by name. That was a nice gesture because, as tired as I had been getting of sitting and waiting for this event to begin, I could only imagine how restless the children were getting by the time things finally started.

After Wendy Macklin, we heard from Tanner Barton, an 11 year old boy from central Ohio talked about juvenile diabetes and how it affects his daily life. He's in 6th grade and is a competetive gymnast and swimmer. He went on to detail what is involved in constantly checking and maintaining the right blood sugar/insulin balance. The constant need for monitoring sometimes disrupted his practices and made him wary about sleeping away from home. He also related a recent experience that made him realize that he must be sure to get up early on days when he has an exam--so that he can have enough time between breakfast and exam time for his blood sugar to reach the optimal level.

Finally, it was Michael J. Fox's turn to take the stage. He started by saying that we need people like Sherrod Brown in Washington, so that science can reclaim its place in American society. It's part of what makes us great, along with our love and compassion for our citizens, and the desire to do the best thing for them. He thanked Tanner for sharing his experience with diabetes and said that it must be important for a guy his age to tell people what his life was like. Fox said, "Guess what? That doesn't change." At 45, you still want to share what your experience is like--it's a natural instinct. Michael congratulated Tanner on the beautiful job he did speaking about living with diabetes, adding, "I will use you as an inspiration."

Michael said that "this is kind of a coming home for me in a weird way", because Columbus is the home of Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties. He commented that he was recently asked what his character (a conservative teen who admired Ronald Reagan) would think of him campaigning for stem cell research. Michael quipped, "First of all, he'd be happy I'm wearing a tie..." and added that he thinks Alex would say it's the right thing to do. Sherrod Brown voting for the stem cell research enhancement act--to expand federal funding of stem cell reasearch--was the right thing to do--but Mike DeWine voted against it. He said, "A vote for Sherrod Brown is a vote for hope of a better quality of life for millions of Americans." Michael noted, as he has recently on television, that he is supporting candidates who support all stem cell research (regardless of party) Limiting this research is short-sighted, and Michael said that he has every confidence that research will improve the lives of people suffering from numerous diseases. The majority of the House and the Senate, and over 70% of Americans supported expanding funding for stem cell research, but Mike DeWine sided with President Bush in voting against potentially life-saving research. Sherrod Brown will stand on the side of hope, supporting stem cell research in the Senate as he has in the House of Representatives.

He went on to comment on the Limbaugh flap. "This past week I had a little run-in with some less-than-compassionate conservatives. I guess I'm not supposed to speak with you until my symptoms go away--or maybe I'm just supposed to go away." But he said that he's not going to go away, and neither are the millions of Americans and their families who live with debilitating diseases. We're going to make the diseases go away with the support of people like Sherrod Brown.

Michael J. Fox: I'm asking you to stand up for America's continued leadership in health, science, and medicine, and what is right for the hundreds of millions of Americans who have or are touched by debilitating diseases. Bush and DeWine's policies have been a rejection of the promising future of medical science. "Well, forgive me for this, but it's time we 'get back to our future'!"

This was greeted with laughter and applause for Michael, who received at least two standing ovations during his brief appearance on state. He ended by asking those in attendance to please vote for Sherrod Brown for Senate.

It was a very moving experience to see Michael J. Fox speaking to a packed auditorium about this difficult issue. It also made me have some rather uncharitable thoughts about Rush Limbaugh needing a visit from the Karma Fairy. Heck, *I* don't want to be seen in public if I'm feeling under the weather and not happy with the way I look. I can scarcely imagine the courage it would take to appear on camera, on stage, while not having the level of control over my nervous system that most of us take for granted. Especially someone who has been in show business--I would think that makes one more image conscious than the average person.

Michael J. Fox certainly *could* have chosen to live a private life with his family and friends, far from television cameras, not subjecting himself to the mockery and asinine speculations of the likes of Rush Limbaugh. There is no guarantee that expanded stem cell research would benefit him personally. I admire his courage in speaking out so publicly on this issue, and doubt I could ever be nearly that courageous myself, were I in his situation.

I'm almost positive that Mr. Limbaugh couldn't.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO MY CONGRESSPERSON by listener

NOTE! I handed this letter to Bernie on Sunday at a campaign rally, along with three pages of information and links (see my two previous threads!). I also spoke with one of his staffers about the situation.


Having trouble getting that letter started? Here's one I wrote, which you could retool to say something in your own words and adding your own notes about how you know Charlie, or know of his integrity. Thanks so much for your support!


Hallo Bernie,

I am a long time supporter who, even with the Election looming, needs to bring to you an urgent concern relating to civil rights and election fraud.

Long time Dean supporter and activist, Charlie Grapski, a doctoral student who teaches at Florida State University, was arrested on May 1st while investigating election fraud in Alachua, Florida. Grapski is charged with felony wiretapping for taping a conversation with a public official in a public place. The tape was confiscated and is being held by the State's Attorney, William Cervone (see below #), but if listened to the tape would prove that Charlie had the official's permission to tape, and more. Town officials seeking to quell Charlie's efforts restricted his movement in Alachua so much that he had to drop out of his bid for the Florida House. He has been repeatedly harassed and some of us fear for his safety. I include below lots of information. The editorials by the publisher of the High Springs Herald, I feel, are especially helpful.

Please have your staffers check this out to your satisfaction, and I hope you will call Florida State's Attorney, Bill Cervone #, asking that the tape be released, charges against Charles Grapski be dismissed, and that an investigation of the election fraud which officials have partially admitted to be undertaken, so that real justice is honoured. Enough is enough! It would also help if you could call Judge Peter Sieg+ asking him to lift bond restrictions. I can personally vouch for the integrity of Charlie Grapski, who is well known to many people nationally, through DemocracyFest events and blogging.
With all Gratitude, (listener)
Vermont

# State’s Attorney Bill Cervone: Not only does the recording of the incident in question prove that Clovis Watson was openly recorded at City Hall with his knowledge and consent, but it also proves that Watson's account of the incident on the arrest report contains false statements about what occurred. (More on this below, with contact information)

+ Judge Peter Sieg: As it stands, Charlie cannot even legally visit friends, go to a store, eat in a restaurant, or attend public meetings. This ban is an egregious violation of his civil liberties. (More on this below, with contact information)

[Note: I included three pages of information, basically what was given in the two previous Charlie Threads.]

Questions may be addressed to:
Michael Canney 352-671-1991
Carol Thomas 386-418-3791

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HOME FROM THE CAMPAIGN RALLY (Proud Vermonter Alert!) by listener

On a blustery Sunday morning, well over 100 Vermonters packed the Underhill Town Hall to hear the candidates speak, just nine days before the Election. I'd heard only that Bernie Sanders (I-US Senate) and Scudder Parker (D-VT Gov) would be there. Bernie was unable to attend a recent Rally in my town of Jericho and felt so bad about it that he offered to come today. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only Bernie and Scudder had come to be with us, but everyone else came too! Peter Welch (D-US House), Matt Dunne (D-VT Lt. Gov), our town Reps (D-Bill Frank) and (D-Gaye Symington, who is also Speaker of the VT House) were there, along with the fine candidates for VT Senate and State's Attorney from Chittenden County.

As he made the rounds before the speaking began, and came by my table, I thanked Bernie for being a co-sponsor of the National Nurse legislation, HR 4903. He had been about to shake my hand but gave me a hug instead! (He gives soft, sincere hugs.) Without missing a beat, he said "That's an issue we need to do a lot more about!" I gave him my "I support the National Nurse" button. I also gave him a letter with information and links regarding Charlie Grapski's situation in Florida, and he was happy to take it. On the envelope I had written "URGENT CONCERN Re: Civil Liberties and Election Fraud" and when he spoke he mentioned Civil Liberties, which helped me feel heard.

Gaye introduced Bernie, and I learned for the first time that my Rep. got into politics by hosting a dinner for Bernie's campaigns in '92 and '94, where she heard herself remark "to do that I would have to run for office myself." { ! } How many of you have had that sort of moment ~ especially in the wake of Howard Dean's influence? Oh, Howard, what you got us all into! ;-)

When Bernie spoke, his first issue was Healthcare. How I wished National Nurse Teri Mills could be there to hear him! Bernie has a huge lead in the polls and Peter Welch has a strong lead, so we feel pretty confident (not complacent, mind you; we have memories!) that they will win. At one point, Bernie said something about looking forward to the day when Bush and Cheney have to raise their hand and testify under oath ~ wild applause! ~ I turned to Peter and said, "That's going to be a good CSPAN day," and he laughed. We laughed, but mostly we spoke of serious things. Scudder was perhaps the most serious of all, articulating the ways Jim Douglas has done little and even taken credit for things, like the healthcare legislation that he actually fought against. Scudder got loud standing ovations! All it takes is for people to meet him. Sitting next to Peter, listening to Bernie speak, I felt deeply moved and encouraged for the future that very soon our Vermont delegation will be: Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders in the Senate and Peter Welch in the House. I was so sorry I'd forgotten to bring my camera, but the son of a friend had his digital camera along, so hopefully we'll have some soon to embellish this post.

Candidate after candidate, from Bernie to Peter to Scudder to Matt, spoke and it was more than simply energising. It had been raining when I arrived, with a cold wind brewing, and now as I looked out the window I saw a fully involved snow squall. This is Vermont, after all. But inside, the warmth was palpable. The unified message, which received numerous standing ovations, is that when Pat, Bernie and Peter are in office in Washington and Scudder and Matt are in office in Montpelier, Vermont will lead the nation: healthcare for all persons regardless of their employment status, bringing our troops home and caring for them when they get here (even if Washington doesn't), strengthening our ties around the world, strengthening our economy, and leading the nation as regards renewable energy and sustainable resources! Vermont is not afraid to lead, and I believe we will be better equipped to do so after this election. Bernie and Peter plan to come back to Vermont after the election and have town meetings with us.

I have attended several debates and rallies, but something was different today. This message has grown and developed in recent months and is clearly more than rhetoric. It is fresh hope, not just for us here in Vermont today, but for all our children and for the whole nation. It's going to be AMAZING!!!

Bernie is going to be on NPR on Election night, maybe as early as 8:20pm, reporting on our early election returns. Be sure to tune in.

So here I am, totally enheartened for the first time in ever so long.
I can hardly wait to help count the vote here in Jericho!

♥ ~ listener

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Why I'm Not A Republican, Part 2

This is the second part of my examination of my partisan preferences and why I stand solidly in the Democratic camp, despite the observations of many that I ought to be elsewhere. Part One touched on the most obvious reasons, but now I'd like to delve into the heart of the matter. On many issues I have substantial agreement with the Republicans, but the way that they approach the issues and the way that they prioritize the issues makes the Republican Party an incredibly inhospitable place for people with some progressive convictions.

Family Values
I affirm the ethical system that is commonly referred to as "Family Values" at every point, however I do not believe that it is the job of the government to enforce that ethical system. Our laws reflect all of our values, and I certainly believe that every American has the right to work toward persuading a majority of their fellow citizens to support laws that reflect their views and values, but I have a serious problem with people dragging the name of Jesus Christ into secular politics, as I have noted on several occasions (An Evangelical View On Progressive Politics; Religious Right And Wrong; Theocracy, Rapture, And You; Pharisees, Sadducees, & Scribes; et al.).

I especially have a problem with this overwrought focus on the family. I believe that the family is a practical and valuable entity, but the United States of America is organized around the individual - not the household - and unless one advocates a one-household-one-vote Constitutional Amendment (which would likely repeal the 19th Amendment in the process) then it is impossible to logically assert the family as the primary organizing unit of society. Paychecks are cut to individuals, not families. Criminals are individually punished for their crimes, not their entire families. Individuals are elected to office, hired for jobs, and sued in court, not their families. American society is based upon the individual, and how those individuals interact with each other should be of little interest to the government - every small-government conservative should affirm that without question, as I have already noted.

But does the fact that America is organized around the individual mean that Christians should simply shut up and say nothing about the value of families? Hardly, but valuing the family unit is not among my highest priorities and it ought not be among the highest priorities of Bible-believing Christians. Why not? The priorities of Christians ought to match the priorities of Jesus Christ, and Jesus commanded us to focus on His kingdom, saying, "...the pagans run after [material] things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." The things that we ought to prioritize are the things that will transcend this life, things that are eternal, like the salvation of men's souls. When we take an eternal view of secular politics is it abundantly clear just how futile all of this talk about families really is: there are no families in eternity, just individuals.

Say what?

Consider this discussion between the Sadducees and Jesus:

That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"

Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

If there is no marriage in eternity then why are we so pressed about families here and now? When people try to redefine marriage into something that it has never been then we should certainly resist them, and when people try to equate moral turpitude with the union of one man and one woman we should certainly say No, but this is not an issue that requires any kind of priority. Marriage was instituted for the benefit of mankind - "It is not good for the man to be alone" - mankind was not created for the purpose of marriage. Marriage is a means to an end, not an end unto itself, much like the Sabbath. Who cares if three men want to call their intimate relationship a marriage - what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? It certainly does not conform to God's revealed design for mankind and a Christian should certainly reject it, but reject it and move on - it's not that big of a deal and it's certainly not important enough to make me vote Republican, although some progressives really make me think twice about it.

Part III
In Part III I will begin to examine the following topics and explain why I can't vote Republican:

• Abortion
• Welfare
• Warfare
• Taxes
• Labor/Minimum Wage
• Energy (q.v. Exxon Profits and GM Losses)
• Education
• Civil Liberties
• Seperation of Church and State

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MORE ON HOW TO HELP CHARLIE GRAPSKI from listener

Just reading through the list of titles in the archives below will knock your socks off~!

Many thanks for every letter sent, every blog post posted, every donation, every prayer/good vibe. ♥

Please post this around the blogs!
http://www.firedoglake.com/
http://www.americablog.blogspot.com/
http://www.democrats.org/blog.html
http://www.crooksandliars.com
http://www.blogforamerica.com/
http://www.dailykos.com/ (and please recommend)

Letters to the Editor:
Gainesville Sun
email to: voice@gvillesun.com
High Springs Herald
Independent Florida Alligator

For background information see the Timeline of events at http://grapskidefense.org/

High Springs Herald News Archives

Use both the date and some key words. There is no fee.
March 30 - 'I have a long memory,' Lewis tells business that won't display his signs
April 8 - Lewis vs. Irby in Alachua city elections Tuesday
April 11 - Lewis defeats Irby in close Alachua election
May 7 - State House candidate arrested in Alachua City Hall
May 7 - PHOTO MONTAGE of arrest
May 15 - Grapski back at City Hall as allegations mount
May 18 - With county official now involved, situation heats up in city of Alachua
May 18 - Stop the games; show Grapski the documents (Herald Editorial)
May 18 - Grapski has produced no evidence (Letter from Bud Calderwood
May 25 - As mayor, I am outraged by Byerly’s comments (Letter from Jean Calderwood)
May 25 - Grapski's arrest a wake-up call (in response to May 18 letter)
June 1 - Calderwood avoided issue, attacked me personally (Letter from County Commissioner Mike Byerly)
June 8 - Judge: Grapski can speak at city meetings
June 15 - Alachua accuses Grapski of again illegallly taping a city employee
June 15 - With Grapski, is this really happening?
June 23 - Action & Reaction: Lawsuit alleges specific illegal actions by Alachua officials
June 23 - Alachua needs to investigate its elections, drop charges against me, Grapski (Letter from Michael Canney)
July 6 - Except for his home, Grapski now banned from Alachua
July 6 - Commisioners gave themselves pay raise without allowing residents to comment
July 27 - Grapski no longer a candidate for state House
October 12 - State Attorney's Office decides to officially charge Grapski in incident involving Alachua city manager
October 20 - Alachua admits to not considering some election ballots
October 20 - Grapski, who sued over elections, still unhappy with being banned from the city

Alachua Police Department mismanagement / misconduct
April 20 - Report: Police officer bites, batters woman (Hired by Clovis Watson, former weightlifting buddy)
May 11 - Alachua police sergeant charged with battery quits (Hired by Clovis Watson, former weightlifting buddy)
May 25 - Fired once, facing new allegations, officer remains (Hired by Clovis Watson, former weightlifting buddy)
June 15 - 'Non-existent' records appear, prompting investigation (Public records violations)
June 29 - Alachua officer accused of lying on application terminated (Hired by Clovis Watson, former weightlifting buddy)

Gainesville Sun news archives
March 23 - Open-records advocate joins race to House
April 30 - Lawsuit challenges Alachua election results
May 2 - House candidate accused of illegally taping meeting
May 3 - Editorial | 'Alachua Gotcha'
May 3 - Editorial cartoon on Clovis Watson's arrest of Grapski (link is to our site, Sun site no longer links to cartoon)
May 11 - A peculiar matter of spelling
June 10 - Complaints filed against Grapski, another man
June 17 - Suit alleges misconduct during Alachua election
June 23 - Heated words exchanged in Alachua at rally regarding election dispute
June 24 - Alachua manager switches parties and blasts Democrats
June 30 - Judge (nearly) bans political candidate from Alachua
July 1 - Looks like a witch hunt
July 22 - Let the races begin: Candidates qualify to run for office
July 29 - Commotion about Watson's resumé leads to 'e-mail wars'
October 10 - Grapski supporters protest charges

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What Do You See?

Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

John 10:22-30

Who is Jesus? One thing that I have learned is that the way people answer that question speaks more about themselves than about the person and character of Jesus Christ. German Liberals of the 19th Century gave up their belief in the authority and veracity of Scripture so they went about their Quest For The Historical Jesus, and it just so happened that the Jesus they "discovered" looked a whole lot like a 19th Century German Liberal. There have been several such "quests" since then and every time, without failure, Jesus comes out looking a lot like the ones on the quest.

This is not limited to ignorant scholars in ivory towers - common, every-day folk do the same thing all the time. When I hear right-wing Republicans talking about Jesus it is amazing how their Supply-Side Jesus seems to fit right in with right-wing Republicans, and when I hear left-wing Democrats talk about Jesus it is amazing how Jesus seems like a Birkenstocked dude who'd be perfectly at peace within the realm of left-wing Democrats. Someone once said that in the beginning God created man in His own image and man has been trying to return the favor ever since. I especially find it humorous when people decry "annoying absolutism toward the delusional" while they themselves display and annoying absolutism toward the delusional. Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand" while someone else says, "Jesus is not the way to eternal life. All Life is Eternal." Who should we believe? The Creator of the universe or some guy with an opinion? For the Christian it is not about our opinion, it is about the Word of God, the very words of God. It is not my opinion of Jesus that determines that which is really real - my opinion is irrelevant - it is Jesus' own words that reveal who He is and what is the nature of eternal life. Jesus is the one who gives eternal life according to Jesus, the question is whether or not you trust Him.

Do you trust Him?

What do you see when you look at Jesus? Do you see an idealized version of yourself or do you see the risen Savior? Do you see a good man or the Creator of the universe? Do you see someone who would put the Republicans in their place or the One who will judge all of the world? What do you see when you look at Christ? Do you see the One who suffered that we might be reconciled back to the Father? Do you see the One who laid down His life so that we might have eternal life? Do you see the One who is the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God? What do you see?

My Lord and my God.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who wants you to see Him as He truly is,
May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

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CHARLIE GRAPSKI ACTION ALERT! What You Can Do

Special note: Howard Dean is scheduled to appear on Face the Nation tomorrow morning

by listener


Photo by Ron DuPont, High Springs Herald
Click here for a video montage of Charlie's arrest.

URGENT ACTION ALERT - CALL FOR SUPPORT
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR "SPEEDY TRIAL"

OCT. 5: STATE ATTORNEY PROSECUTES CHARLIE GRAPSKI,
IGNORES EVIDENCE OF MISCONDUCT BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS

CHARLIE PREPARING PRO SE DEFENSE,
DEPOSITIONS SCHEDULED FOR THIS WEEK

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The Ad Hoc Committee for the Legal Defense of Charlie Grapski (Grapski Defense Committee for short) needs your help NOW!

DONATE: At least $5,000 is needed for immediate legal expenses such as depositions, transcripts and filings. Donations can be made online at www.grapskidefense.org

or checks can be sent to: Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Charlie Grapski, PO Box 190, Alachua, FL 32616.

VOLUNTEER: Volunteers are needed who can help with legal research and trial preparation, publicity, media, blog and website work.

WRITE and CALL: Your phone calls, letters, emails and faxes can make a difference. This is a political trial and as such it will be fought in the court of public opinion as well as in the courthouse. Below you will find contact information for the State Attorney, the Circuit Judge, and local newspapers.

BLOG: Post this story (or write your own) on your favorite political blogs, and send it to reporters and writers interested in stolen elections, public corruption, electoral reforms, etc.

Michael Canney told me that he or Carol, on the scene, would be happy to answer your questions:
Michael 352-671-1991
Carol 386-418-3791

More info coming in an upcoming thread. For background information see the Timeline of events at www.grapskidefense.org.

Meanwhile, please begin blogging and making space in your schedule to
write letters, etc.. If you can contribute, please do!
---
Update for anyone who is interested, this is from DFA-link: DFA-Link Group Blogs will be down on Sunday morning (10/29) for scheduled upgrades.

Also, here's the link to Subway's GOP-er's Lament on YouTube, as animated by Rick Uhl.


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Saturday Comics

Oxycontin Overload
Faking Symptoms
Titanic Deck Chairs
Family Values
Monkey Business
Because It Works
Phased Withdrawl
Rabid Diseases
Bedfellows
Spiked Kool-Aid
GTFOHWTBS
Exercise In Futility
Plan Of Action
Obama!
Banzai!
New Slogan
The Cabal Guy

And my favorite for today: Trickle Down Economy



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Friday night Charlie update

Update from today - before I go to sleep (exhausted) - yesterday I filed several motions with the Court and served them on the State Attorney prosecuting me (Geoffrey Fleck). He would not meet with me and had me leave them with the desk - even though I stated I was there also to coordinate setting depositions before trial. After all - I have been denied the powers the state has had for the last six months to actual question witnesses in my defense. But he still refused to meet or discuss this with me. So I set the depositions without him. I then got subpoenas for ten individuals - including the Evidence Custodian of the State Attorneys office - you know - to find out what happened to my recorder and recording when it was seized and where its been since and who has had access to it, etc. You know - to establish the chain of evidence.

So after filing a motion to dismiss (stating that no actual violation of law is alleged in the charge ... and that's true!), a notice of appearing pro se, a motion for speedy trial, and my list of witnesses - I also submitted a notice of taking depositions and began serving the subpoenas including that to the State Attorney's office.

Today - Geoffrey Fleck filed a Motion for Protective Order - to protect the State from "the abuses of this defendant" (me). Abuses? Filing motions and serving supboenas for depositions! I guess its abuse to actually try and defend yourself from bogus charges in this country now.

Just figured I'd let you guys in on the update.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I know that Connie and Carol get very excited when the mail comes (or special delivery) and certainly I cannot even put into words my appreciation for all of your help.

Charlie
Charlie Grapski | Homepage | 10.27.06 - 9:32 pm

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The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror to parody Iraq war

I was just thinking that it was about time for the annual Simpsons Halloween special, Treehouse of Horror, and hoping I could manage not to miss it this time. Then, just a few minutes ago in the open thread at Daily Kos, I saw a comment that Treehouse of Horror will be "must see" this year. The comment links to this piece in Raw Story:

Simpsons Pitch Tent in Anti-War Camp

Anyone who thinks Hollywood is run by a liberal cabal won't change his mind after watching The Simpsons' annual Halloween special. The episode, which airs Nov. 5, concludes with an Iraq war satire that may rank as the most pointed political statement the show has ever made. In the segment, aliens invade Springfield to prevent mankind from obtaining "weapons of mass disintegration," but their mission, called "Operation Enduring Occupation," turns into a quagmire. "You said we would be greeted as liberators!" accuses one alien.

An article from Monsters and Critics adds this piece of dialog, which explains the image below (which appears in the Raw Story article).

'I'm starting to think 'Operation Enduring Occupation' was a bad idea,' one character says, to which the other replies 'We still have the people`s hearts and minds,' as he holds up a heart and brain.

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Open Thread

Instead of the usual Cute Overload picture, how about this for a change of pace? It's Howard Dean at an event at UCLA with Phil Angelides.

Yeah, I thought you might approve. :)

More pictures from the event can be found in this Elections 2006 slideshow on Yahoo.

Oh, and by the way, the sleazy scare tactic ads against Ohio's Issue 2 have hit the airwaves. I've got a post about that at Buckeye State Blog.

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Update from Charlie's defense committee

Note from Renee...I have zero time to do anything about this today, but am front-paging Donna's comment before leaving for work. (Here's a link to yesterday's Charlie diary.)

Got this from Michael Canney of Charlie's Defense committee:

Dear friends of Charlie,

Things are heating up here for Charlie, and for those in the Defense Committee. It turns out he is going to be defending this criminal case PRO SE on a aggressive very fast track schedule.. We will need help with two things: We need to raise $$$ for DEPOSITIONS (they have to be set NOW due to "speedy trial" timetable) of Clovis Watson, APD Chief Robert Jernigan, Mayor Jean Calderwood, and two others, as well as other legal expenses. And we need help with PUBLICITY from bloggers and folks who know how to get the story into the media. Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated. I welcome your advice and suggestions, and please use this information however you can (editing or re-writing is fine).

Thanks,

Michael Canney
Alachua
352-871-1991
chicoverde@cox.net

Also: Carol Thomas 386-418-3791
Email Charlie Grapski: grapksi@grapski.org
donna in evanston | 10.26.06 - 9:36 am
http://www.grapskidefense.org

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David Korten on the way we measure wealth

This is a continuation of my transcript of David Korten's talk in Columbus on October 14. Part 1 can be seen here.

David Korten: Modern societies have, for more than 50 years, defined progress in terms of economic growth, and we've been highly successful at growing our economies. Since 1950, global economic output has increased by some seven times, and made a great deal of money for a few people.

Now, there's another side to this story. The Living Planet Index is a measure of the health of the world's fresh water, ocean, and forest ecosystems. That's the life support system of the planet--and arguably the foundation of all real wealth. Think about it, if there's no life support system, there's no life. And if there's no life, the whole concept of wealth loses its meaning. Now this index, as you can see, has declined by 37% in the past 30 years.

We see here the divergence, showing the indicators we use to convince ourselves that we are making progress and getting wealthier, and the true index showing that as a species we are collectively getting rapidly poorer. This difference, of course, creates massive distortion in our public policies.

Now, the good news in this, at least from the perspective of the planet, is that the species responsible for this devastation will be gone long before the index reaches zero.

Now consider, as we are depleting this planet, that 85% of what remains of our planet's life support system, is currently expropriated by the more fortunate 20% among us, to support often extravagant and wasteful lifestyles. Meanwhile, the poorest 20% struggle for survival on slightly more than 1%, and the middle 60% get by on 14%.

One of the many lessons that I learned in my years abroad is that much of what we call development is actually a process of expropriating the land and water resources on which the bottom 85% depend for their livelihoods, in order to make way for the dams, mines, shrimp farms, agricultural estates, golf courses, suburban sprawl, and shopping centers that primarily benefit the top 20%. Now to put this in simple language, conventional economic growth indicators in fact measure the rate at which productive resources of the poor are being transferred to the rich, and converted to garbage.

Now, it's an extraordinary thing that we measure our progress, not by our well-being, but by the throughput in our economic system, which is basically the rate at which we are throwing things away.

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Sim Kerry revisited

Someone (nordy, I think?) asked recently whatever happened to Sim Kerry. The answer is that I no longer have a Kerry Sim on my computer--that being one of the things that disappeared during a system reinstall. But since the junior senator from Massachusetts has reminded me again how much of a schmuck he is, I figured the least I could do is link to some of the old episodes of the Tragic Tales of Sim John Kerry.

Just what motivated me to pull the Sim Kerry links out of mothballs, you ask? Or, maybe you don't, but I'll tell you. It was a story I first heard about at Firedoglake last night:

Talk about feeling the pressure: John Kerry spokesman David Wade seems to have heard quite enough from netroots who think his boss ought to be dipping deeper into his 2008 campaign war chest to help Democrats win now. "Cowards can hide behind anonymous Web sites," Wade tells the New York Times, "but Democrats out in the country, party leaders and real netroots activists know how hard John Kerry has fought to win these elections."

That excerpt is from a an article in Salon, but the FDL post links a few other sources as well, including FDL's TRex's own previous comments about how he won't be "going into battle" with John Kerry again. Read more here.

Update: I just saw this conversation with John Kerry by Blue Mass Group, and in all fairness needed to update this post with a link.

Another update...this thread is probably a good place to link to the Sim-inspired designs Demetrius recently created at Cafe Press.

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Charlie, on how we can help now

From one of yesterday's threads...

...the urgent need for help is getting the word effectively spread around the net and then working on getting a list of people who will send emails (such as to the State, the ACLU, and most importantly - national media). If there is a good bloggers response say to Keith Olberman, sending him a concise message to look into this, I think he, for example, would pick up the story.

Update: I have been in touch with the ACLU today and they are looking into it. I am hoping that they will take it up. They didn't think I would ever be charged in this case.

Thanks again for everyone's messages of support.

Charlie
Charlie Grapski | Homepage | 10.24.06 - 3:24 pm

And this is from the 23rd, but the current thread seems to be a good place to front-page the appeal...

From http://grapskidefense.org

URGENT CALL: Bloggers Committee for the Defense of Charlie Grapski needed
Submitted by Ad Hoc Committee on Mon, 2006-10-23 17:41.

Are you a blogger? An internet user? Do you have a mailing list or a website?

If so we need your help putting together a Blogger's Committee to help with disseminating information throughout the internet and blogosphere and to help with online campaigns such as media contacts and story updates.

If you are interested and concerned about this issue please send an email to carol@grapskidefense.org.

This issue is relevant to all citizens around the U.S. and we need your help to get this story out and keep it alive. Charlie is trying desperately to help us by standing up for our rights and fair elections; now he needs our help in spreading his message and assisting in his defense.
Grapski Defense Committee


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Keith Olbermann's comment on the Republican campaign of terror

If you haven't watched this yet, you should. Seriously.



You can read the text of the special comment here. I can't choose just one piece to highlight here. It's 4 pages long, but worth reading, especially if you aren't able to view the video.

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Why I'm Not A Republican, Part 1

As Judgement Day draws nearer (November 7, 2006) I think it is an appropriate time to revisit my political affiliation. When I talk to Republicans they often comment that I don't sound like a liberal, and they're right. When I talk to Democrats they often note that I don't sound like a liberal, and they're right. In fact, one of the very few things that my Democratic and Republican friends could agree upon is the fact that I think and sound much more like the people who constitute the Republican base than those who constitute the Democratic base. So why is it that I am a Democrat, and a partisan one at that? It's really not that complex:

NIGGER PLEASE
One doesn't have to actually utter the word "Nigger" to convey the thought associated with the word, much the same way that saying that a woman has Ann Coulter tendancies would be calling her a female dog without uttering the appropriate word, or commenting about the foreskin on a man's neck would convey the meaning without uttering the appropriate word. America's Pac, a Republican group that claims to be attempting to refute the belief on the part of the Republican Party that they cannot attract the Black vote, recently aired an ad that featured the following dialog:

Amos: If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos,' you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked.
Andy: That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed."
Amos: Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican."

Now the ad doesn't actually name the speakers Amos & Andy, but they might as well have. The fact that someone alligned with the Republican Party would think that minstrel advertising would appeal to Blacks reveals either their contempt for Blacks or their absolute ignorance of Black culture. Based on the Republican Party's track record I would tend to believe the former, but if it is pure ignorance then it also shows their contempt of Blacks in that they didn't even bother to check with their target audience to see if it would be effective or offensive. Personally, I think they couldn't care less about Blacks and our votes - they simply want to show White suburbanites that today's Republicans are not Trent Lott racists since they do Black outreach. WTF ever.



SPIC N SPAN
Of course, Republican bigotry is not limited to Americans of African descent. A Congressional candidate in California named Tan Nguyen (Republican, of course) mailed out a letter to 14,000 Latino residents of Orange County which falsely claimed that immigrants could be subject to criminal penalties if they voted in a federal election and that anti-immigration groups would be able to access a federal computer system containing the names of those who vote in October and November. Aside from the fact that no such law or database exists this naked attempt at vote-suppression is normal for Republicans, be it through purging felons from the voting files (and anyone with a name similar to a felon, sorry Mrs. Jackson - I am for real) or through installing fewer voting machines in urban precincts than in suburban precincts or through opposing every initiative to make voting more accessible and verifyable. Mr. Nguyen operated in accordance with the Republican playbook, he just neglected one minor detail - you have to use shadow groups to do your dirt (e.g. Swift Boats or Club For Growth or America's PAC). Obviously, the County GOP has asked Mr. Nguyen to withdraw from the race, feigning righteous indignation at their candidate who had about as much chance of winning in that district as Barney Frank would have winning in Mississippi. SSDD.



PART 2
There are also substantive issues (not that the GOP's bigotry isn't a substantive issue) wherein I signifigantly disagree with large swaths of the Republican Party. That will be the subject of Part 2, issue by issue, coming Saturday.

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Sex-obsessed Republicans: Bad for Ohio, bad for America

This evening I was over at Plunderbund and saw this post by Brian. It addresses Jerome Corsi's histrionics about Ted Strickland's "radical sexual agenda". Quoth Corsi:

Until recently, Strickland’s advocacy of a radical sexual agenda has been relegated to a whisper campaign in Ohio. Ken Blackwell is unjustly criticized for attempting to out Ted Strickland on the truth of his sexual politics.

His huh-waah? You know, it's just a hunch, and I don't have the freetime or the necessary software. But I'll bet if you counted the occurances of the word string "sexual"--as a stand alone word, or with various suffixes or prefixes, it would be found *way* more often on conservative/Republican blogs than on liberal/Democratic ones.

Brian notes that The fact that Blackwell has brought in the “big gun” in Corsi to attempt to smear Strickland on a daily basis shows exactly how desperate Blackwell is. Here's something that boggles the mind, though. What sort of person does Ken Blackwell's "dirty work"? After all, we've seen how low Ken Blackwell *himself* is willing to go, in his recent NAMBLA-obsessed debate performance, and posting Bill Cunningham's slanderous remarks about Strickland during a Fox "News" interview on his official campaign web site.

So, what kind of man does dirty work that Ken Blackwell doesn't want to do himself? Media Matters gives a little background on Corsi, the co-author of the Kerry-bashing book "Unfit for Command" here. Be forewarned--it's pretty vile stuff.

And this same walking sack of hate is also the co-author of Blackwell's book, "Rebuilding America". As described in The Carpetbagger Report, the book is "a blueprint for a new War on Poverty," which calls for an "ownership society."

Ownership society...where have I heard *those* words before? Oh right--that's a Bush expression, isn't it? And I think it's a fairly safe assumption that Blackwell, if he were somehow elected governor, would show every bit as much "Christian compassion" in policies affecting the poor as the man he helped elect, twice, has done.

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Why WE must have the Power

Quick note from Renee, in between grading papers and trying to figure out what I could possibly pull together for dinner, seeing as how Demetrius is still outside (brrr!) working on the car--please do check out the comments from the Grapski Defense Committee as well as from Charlie in the previous thread. And please help spread the word.

Below is part of the speech our US Rep candidate for IL 16th district gave at his recent fundraiser. Dick Auman's is totally a grassroot campaign. His race has not been recognized as one that can get national support. Dick has excellent politics, too bad it is so difficult to get honest people like him into office.

I want to share some ideas with you this evening about what is at stake on November 7th and why I think this election is one of the most critical in my lifetime. I want to begin by reflecting on the vision of a small number of men who 219 years ago saw George W. Bush coming.

From the perspective of the 18th century, these men saw President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney coming over the horizon of the 21st century. That, ladies and gentlemen, is extraordinary vision. These men knew George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in their bones. They knew what unchecked power looked like. They knew that there are some, who, given some power, crave more. They knew that that craving can become insatiable, that there are those who can never get enough.

So, in the document they drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, in Article One of the Constitution, they created first the House of Representatives, the peoples’ house and then the senate to check the power of the executive. They saw George W. Bush and Dick Cheney coming and they took steps to limit the damage they could do.

Unfortunately, they didn’t imagine that the people elected to check their power would include the likes of Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, and Bill Frist. They didn’t imagine that those charged with the responsibility to check the power of the executive would prostrate themselves before that executive thereby selling out the very people they went to Congress to represent. For all their vision, our founding fathers did not imagine the chief executive of our country being manipulated by a flimflam man named Karl Rove nor did they imagine a vice president with a defective conscious having the kind of power George Bush has allowed him to wield.

And, perhaps, they did not foresee our country’s foreign and domestic policies being driven by radical, right-wing ideologues who demand absolute fealty to Party and President at the expense of the institution and the people they were elected to serve. Yet, our founding fathers made sure that even faced with the kinds of assaults upon our democratic values that we have witnessed in recent months, democracy in the United States of America would prevail because they saw to it that the real power in this country would reside with the people.

When I decided to run for a seat in the Congress of the United States, I didn’t need the permission of any elected official or party leader. I didn’t need the permission of Rahm Emanual. I didn’t need the permission of Governor Blagojevich or Michael Madigan or Emil Jones.

I needed only the permission of the people. I needed the permission of 841 citizens, 841 residents of the 16th Congressional District, and, in the end, over 1500 people gave me their permission to have my name on the ballot. The people spoke and the government had to respond by placing my name on the ballot. That is something to celebrate in the United States of America.

We the people have the power to change the direction of this country, and we must.

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How do we ensure the integrity of absentee/early voting?

The questions Renee raises about what happens to the ballots when you vote early are EXTREMELY important ones to ask.

This is the key to how the election was stolen in Alachua.

There were many aspects of what the City's election officials did to tamper with the election so as to ensure the outcome to James Lewis for his 40th consecutive year on the commission - but the most problematic, and what I first observed and thus was able to see there was a problem, was with the "early votes" and the "absentee votes."

In Florida, as in most places, there are two possible ways of voting PRIOR TO election day: 1) Early Voting; and 2) Absentee Ballot.

But in Alachua - what they did was to (mis)use the absentee ballot process AS IF it were early voting. They had no official (and there are statutory procedures for this) early voting. But they "encouraged" people to vote "early" - through the use of absentee ballots.

The Supervisor of Elections, who was the Deputy City Clerk (under the Clerk - Clovis Watson - in one of his several jobs), was "in control" of all of the absentee ballots and the process.

They were kept in his office. And thus he could take ballots out, put them in, and do whatever he liked with them.

Thus in order for this part of the election to be proper - you had to TRUST Alan Henderson (the Deputy Clerk) and to BELIEVE that only Alan Henderson could access that box of absentee ballots.

What we learned in the Alachua election - is that neither one of those two assumptions necessary for the fairness of the election could be relied upon.

So the question has to be - how do you ensure that this kind of thing cannot happen in your local elections.

Remember - elections are stolen locally - not nationally.

Charles Grapski

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Sunday afternoon roundup

I've seen a lot of people encouraging the "vote early" option, and have thought that's probably a good idea. But I also have wondered what happens to those ballots, and how we can be reassured that boxes of those ballots aren't "disappeared" somehow. There's an article in today's Columbus Dispatch addressing that very issue:

Absentee ballots under 2 locks, 2 keys

Security cameras are pointed at doors to rooms housing blank ballots, ballots addressed to voters and ballots that have been returned. Two cameras watch elections employees as they fill voters’ absentee-ballot requests.

There’s a partisan division in keys to the double-locked door of the returned-ballot room. Damschroder holds the Republican key, and Deputy Director Dennis L. White holds the Democratic one.

One privatization plan we could all support by modernesquire

From Buckeye State Blog, outlining all of the things Ken Blackwell plans to privatize, and ends with the suggestions that it is Mr. Blackwell himself who needs to be "privatized".

If you haven't seen the ad Michael J. Fox did for Claire McCaskill, you can see it here, along with the reaction of Huffington Post blogger James Boyce. The article is entitled "What would Jesus do, a**hole?" Only without the asterisks.

Also, I highly recommend reading After Pat’s Birthday, an open letter from Pat Tillman's brother, Kevin.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

(Click to read the rest.)

And since I'm never going to get Demetrius in the habit of plugging new designs he's made at Cafe Press, I just want to add a link to our store. Go have a look-see. There's an e-mail address on that page, so if you don't see what you're looking for, you can make a request.

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Character Matters

Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Matthew 5:33-37

As we approach election day I am reminded of the fact that one thing that I absolutely cannot stand is mealy-mouthed politicians trying to play both sides against the middle, cowards who lack the courage of their convictions. This was my biggest problem with the junior senator from Massachusetts, the whole "I voted against it before I voted for it" thing. Triangulation was a useful tactic for Bill Clinton in many regards because he genuinely was a middle-of-the-road politician, he genuinely held positions that could appeal to both the Left and the Right, but it is at best disingenuous for a pure progressive to try to portray themselves as a middle-of-the-road moderate or for a conscientious conservative to try to say that they are a mainstream moderate. In both instances the politician should state what they believe forthrightly and stand up for it if they truly believe it.

I understand the political reality that President Andrew Sheppard pointed out - the problem isn't that they don't get it, the problem is that they can't sell it - but Jesus commands those of us who are called by the name of Christ to let our "Yes" be "Yes" and our "No" be "No." We are to deal with our neighbors with integrity, with love, and with the character of Christ. You do not deceive those whom you love; you do not obfuscate your intentions with those about whom you care - you deal with such people respectfully and clearly state your intentions, your thoughts and your beliefs honestly. Love has very little to do with politicians getting elected - they often appeal to hatred because it seems to be a more effective motivator in getting people to the polls - but we are called to live a life of love, dealing honestly with everyone, such that when we say "Yes" everyone knows that we don't mean "Maybe" - we need not define the meaning of the word "Is." Deception is of the evil one, and when he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

White Evangelicals appear to be awakening from their self-induced slumber as it pertains to the Republican Party. Since Roe v. Wade there have been 9 Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices and abortion-on-demand is still the law of the land. Every year the Republicans seem to push another tax cut through Congress at the expense of great political capital but no political capital is spent on the agenda of social conservatives - a little speech of Terri Schiavo here or a ballot initiative on gay marriage there, but the GOP leadership hasn't done anything substantive for the social conservatives within their coalition, and White Evangelicals are beginning to understand that they are being pimped by corporate lackeys within the Republican Party.


We are commanded to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God not as some arbitrary limitation on our activity but for our own good - when you deal in integrity it is obvious when people's intentions toward you are less than noble, when their "Yes" means "Probably not" and their "No" means "You never know." November 7th will be a day of reckoning for the Republican Party, a time to reap the harvest that they have sown, but the lesson that all of us need learn from this is that when we say that we are going to do something then we need to follow through, and when we say that we won't do something then we need to stand firm on our convictions. When we try to stand on someone else's convictions - "Read my lips, no new taxes" - we inevitably fall. Hopefully the Democrats have learned that lesson.

Hopefully.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who wants you walk in integrity,
May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

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