Politics

So what would a conservative Mennonite care about mere earthly politics? And why?

Do I Remember?

Either I’m sure I remember or I’m not sure I actually remember.

  1. John McCain said he would veto earmarked, pork-barrel bills.
  2. John McCain recently voted for the earmarked $700 billion bailout bill.
  3. Barack Obama said he wouldn’t do something or other regarding financing for his Presidential campaign.
  4. Barack Obama did indeed do that something or other.
  5. Barack Obama flunked “tests” that Dan Quayle was hounded and mocked about.
  6. Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to run for President.
  7. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden didn’t resign from the Senate though they ran (or are yet running) for President or VP.
  8. Hillary said repeatedly she wouldn’t run for President.
  9. The media was very supportive of John McCain during the primary season.
  10. Joe Biden declared Obama someone who shouldn’t get on-the-job training in the Oval Office.
  11. Al Gore’s poll numbers in 2000 were pre-reminiscent of McCain’s in 2008.
  12. A Gerald Ford foreign-policy-type observation cinched the noose around his campaign.
  13. We were warned years ago about fluoride being put in water with the intent of making the American populace meek, mellow, gullible, and ripe for overthrow.

Do you think I remember? Or not?

PS: This list has been in Expansion Mode for several days. Time to post it.

Welcome to Today

Some morning headlines, that’s what’s here.

OK, your turn: When you want to read good news, which site(s) do you go to?

Persecution Headlines

Before the headlines, a story I meant to post a couple of days ago: 3,000 Christians flee Iraq’s Mosul

Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, political and religious officials said Saturday.

Some 3,000 Christians have fled the city over the past week alone in a “major displacement,” said Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, the governor of northern Iraq’s Ninevah province. He said most have left for churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in nearby Christian villages and towns.

“The Christians were subjected to abduction attempts and paid ransom, but now they are subjected to a killing campaign,” Kashmoula said, adding he believed “al-Qaida” elements were to blame and called for a renewed drive to root them out.

Political and religious leaders interviewed said the change in tactics may reflect a desire on the part of extremists to forcibly evict all Christians from Iraq’s third largest city.

Now the headlines:

Now go do the right thing.

In Other Developments…

Here are three items to distract you from the economic wasteland of the week.

First up:

One + One = Two

Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions through the courts.

The ruling comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first time the issue will be put before voters in a state where same-sex couples are legally wed.

[…]

Civil unions and a similar arrangement, known as domestic partnerships, are offered to same-sex couples in Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon, Hawaii, Maine, Washington and the District of Columbia.

Read it all

A Survey to Light Your Face

Reboot!

Well, actually boot is more accurate:

If given the choice, a new poll reveals, 59 percent of Americans would sweep Capitol Hill clean of the current batch of senators and representatives to elect an entirely new Congress.

“If given the choice”?! What’s that supposed to mean? Every two years they get the choice to sweep the House! Anyway, back to the article:

Only 17 percent of those polled said they would be willing to keep the current Legislature.

Rasmussen Reports conducted the national telephone survey on the heels of Congress passing a widely unpopular financial bailout bill, revealing a significant amount of voter dissatisfaction with the nation’s current legislators.

The polling firm records a mere 30 percent of voters approved of the bailout, while 45 percent were opposed, and yet Congress passed it, leaving behind some highly critical voters.

Wow! Seventeen percent. But will they actually vote that way? I suspect not.

That aside, though, let’s hear it for Congress: They actually voted against the polled wishes of the electorate. Sometimes it seems the Congress can’t win. If they vote by the polls, they’re castigated for that. If they vote contrary to the polls, they’re accused of disregarding the will of the American people.

Two more items from the story:

Further, less than half (49 percent) believe the current Congress is any more capable than a group of people plucked from the phone book, and nearly a third (33 percent) think the phone book congress would do a better job.

Despite the Legislature’s dismal 11 percent approval rating, Rasmussen Reports pointed out that 90 percent of Congress is likely to remain following this November’s election.

Oh wait. Get a load of this:

Rasmussen Reports dug into history to reveal that for well over 100 years after the U.S. Constitution was adopted, congressional turnover in national elections averaged about 50 percent. Following the New Deal era, however, those numbers began to decline. Since 1968, no national election has managed to muster even a 10 percent turnover.

So there you are.

Private
Above all, love God!