Politics

Nuclear power is happy power.

I just read through the energy plans of John McCain (The Lexington Project) and Barack Obama (New Energy for America). I was surprised by both.

Obama’s is deeper than I expected it to be.  That says more about my expectations than the plan, though. McCain’s, however, is thoroughly impressive. If you put the two side by side and were honest with yourself, I don’t think even the strongest O supporter could reasonably disagree. Unreasonable disagreement is always a possibility.

The candidates have a few goals in common: development of alternative energy, regulating speculation, increase fuel economy, develop clean coal, and a few others. But they differ in some profound ways, even where their goals seem the same. (continue reading…)

"How can I win with just one voter?"

Some subpar reasoning from one of the prominent leaders of Emergent and progressive evangelicalism:

“I’ve only met one person in my travels in recent months who has said he is voting for McCain, and that was because he was an admittedly single-issue voter,” Mr. McLaren said. “Nearly all the vocal people I’ve met are enthusiastic about Obama. Based on the people I’m in front of as a speaker, I’d never guess the poll numbers are as close as they are.”

This is a pretty limited perspective. It would be like me saying, “I’ve only met two people in all my travels who were actually born in China.  Based on the people I talk to, I’d never guess there were a billion Chinese people walkin’ around.” Unfortunately for me, there are, in fact, a billion Chinese people.  And unfortunately for Mr. McLaren:

While national polls show Mr. McCain to be neck and neck with Mr. Obama, a survey from the authoritative Barna Group shows that Mr. McCain holds a commanding lead among evangelicals, with 61 percent to Mr. Obama’s 17 percent.

I find it hard to believe that he thinks he’s speaking in front of a representative sample of evangelicals.

Washington Times via Between Two Worlds

There’s a movement afoot (how often do you get to use that word?) whose leaders like to repeat a particular statistic over and over.  I’ll pause and let you try to figure it out, as you list everyone who fits this description in your head.  Okay. Here’s a smattering of statements from the group in question:

“…there are more than 2,000 verses of Scripture that call us to express love and justice for those who are poor and oppressed.” Tony Campolo

“The religious right wants to say there is only one or two issues that reflect our values, but as Rick would say, I’m sure, poverty, if there is 2000 verses in the Bible about the poor, that becomes a religious issue, as well.”  Jim Wallis

“He [Rick Warren] became fond of repeating that the Bible has 2,000 verses dedicated to the poor…” Time Magazine, link via GetReligion.org

I’ve always been a bit skeptical about this.  I’ve heard this stat repeated dozens of times, but never have I found any references to accompany it.  I’ve actually been searching the internet for it periodically, with no luck.  If anyone has the list, let me know.

My issue isn’t that I don’t think caring for the poor is important.  It clearly is.  The problem I have is that these leaders are making care for the poor through politics the focus of the Christian mission. But that’s not what the Bible is about. As Gary DeMar said in The American Vision, the philosophy “takes verses that are directed at individuals and turns them on their head and gives them a political twist.” (continue reading…)

This is Olbermann's dream come true

I was about to turn the Olympics off tonight, but Bob Costas was about to interview President Bush, so I left it on. I was pretty impressed throughout by the President’s answers.  He didn’t seem like the guy I’ve seen in other interviews and press conferences; he was clear and on message.

I was particularly impressed with his answers when Costas repeatedly pushed him about confronting Chinese President Hu Jintao about human rights conditions in the People’s Republic.  Pres. Bush didn’t get flustered at what seemed a friendly but intense volley on the issue. (continue reading…)

Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark

I’m reading a long article in the NYT Magazine, so long that I may not finish it tonight - and I came across this from Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark:

When I met last month with Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark who at 39 is already something of a national sensation, he told me that he had just finished reading, belatedly, Obama’s memoir “Dreams From My Father.” He said passages about Obama’s youth in Hawaii had reminded him of his own experience with subtle racism in the affluent, mostly white suburb of Harrington Park, N.J. “You know, what it’s like growing up every single day and having people ask to touch your hair because they’ve never seen hair like that,” Booker said. “To have the entire class laugh and giggle when somebody pronounces ‘Niger’ as ‘nigger.’ The constant bombardment of that kind of thing really affects your spirit, and it’s every single day. Like when people want to come back from a vacation and compare their tan to yours and joke about being black.”

I had this discussion with my wife a couple of weeks ago when a friend of ours made a big deal about not understanding how I comb my hair.  I was pretty angry about it later and she didn’t understand why.  I had trouble explaining it to her, because she couldn’t step into it.

In school I dealt with it because, well kids are stupid - I was too.  But I didn’t think I’d have to deal with a 23 year old going on (and on) like that.  It’s hard to keep my mind right sometimes.

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