Obama & Warren: Way Too Cute

I’ve found myself since Friday posting a lot of comments on newspapers’ websites concerning the incoming President’s selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inaugural.
I’ve used phrases like “megachurch huckster,” so you know where I’m coming from. I’ve also posted my displeasure on Obama’s “transition” website, change.gov.
This is not just an [...]

The Green Church

Solar panel at St. Anselm’s, Lafayette, California is just one of the Episcopal Church’s responses to global warming and the energy crisis. We are quietly refitting our buildings all over the country, from cathedrals and seminaries to high schools and church camps. Now it’s time to be less quiet about it.
The Episcopal Church needs to [...]

Debate 2: Start of the Obama Landslide

(Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)
I watched the second presidential debate tonight online, from some outfit called hugo.com which carried the NBC coverage, including the last half-hour of analysis and reactions. Kudos to hugo, because usually the live streaming online cuts off as soon as the moderator says goodnight. (And thanks to HuffPost, which provided the [...]

Holy Roller in the White House: Palin “the Perfect Woman”

America’s Hottest Governor, according to Alaska magazine; not the smartest, not the best, just the hottest. Hillary Clinton canceled a potential appearance with her today.
The New York Times, in a report today by David D. Kirkpatrick titled “Abortion Issue Again Dividing Catholic Votes,” came up with this gem from a retired social worker in Scranton, [...]

Obama: Reminiscences of a 13-Year-Old Boy

The Democratic Convention opens tomorrow, and on Thursday Sen. Barack Obama will become the nominee for President of the United States.
I’ve already reserved my front-row seat in front of the TV at my friends’ house. We will watch history being made. For many it will be an occasion of national rejoicing.
A half-Black, half-White senator from [...]

Hilary Rosen: Why No National Conversation on Gender?

(Tim O’Brien/Mother Jones)
Today on The Huffington Post, columnist Hilary Rosen, in a piece called “Why Do We Stick With Her?”, nudges along the conversation about sexism and gender in the presidential campaign. It’s about the only sensible comment I’ve seen yet, and really does help us all a bit.
Rosen gets the question wrong, but I [...]

Hillary & the RFK Assassination

There is one thing that every African-American has worried about since Barack Obama came on the scene: that he’ll be shot.
In fact, they were initially reluctant to support him, partly so he wouldn’t get hurt.
Newspapers wrote about this, asking whether he was “Black enough.” As if 50% Kenyan blood isn’t enough.
There were also concerns [...]

Bush’s Recession: It’s Here

Sen. Barack Obama and his adoptive parents on the Crow Reservation in South Dakota May 19.

In all the back-and-forth about the Democratic primaries, superdelegates, the convention, etc., I wonder if we’re not missing something crucial: the world economy is headed off a cliff.
Ford Motor Co. is cutting production and won’t turn a profit in the [...]

W. Va. Goes Wacky

Pocahontas County, West Virginia: almost heaven.
I am predisposed to like West Virginia. It’s largely rural; that’s a good thing. It borders Ohio, my home for many years. I’ve met a lot of guys from Wheeling, Huntington and Charleston in Gay bars in Columbus and Cincinnati; nice, fun-loving people. (It’s also a state where Gay people [...]

The Sad Demise of Hillary Clinton

It’s Mother’s Day, the Feast of Pentecost, cold and windy, five days after the Indiana primary, which Hillary Clinton won by 11,000 votes out of 1,264,456 cast.
Publishing the exact number is important, because these are individuals who made up their minds and took action; Hoosiers exerted themselves, drove or walked to the county courthouse, the [...]