Owner: the mindful mission URL:http://www.mindfulmission.com Join Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:34:02 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: One white, middle-class male's attempt to reconcile the deep inequalities of the world. the mindful mission looks at the intersection between faith, politics, culture, and justice. Site statistics:Click here
Post Election 2006-11-08 17:04:36 So the elections are over...kind of...
I rushed home from work last night and watched CNN, Comedy Central, WGN (local Chicago station), and Fox News for a few hours. And things started to look good. And then things started to look better. And then things started to look great.
Here is a recap of good and bad:
Bad: The worse news of the day came from Wisconsin, where they approved a recommendation to reinstate the death penalty. They also approved a ban for gay marriage, along with six other states (though Arizona became the first state to have the opportunity to pass a similar ban and not do so). Fortunately the death penalty vote was only advisory, meaning that legislation would still need to be passed.
Other than that...very little bad news...
I guess you could say that the Lieberman win wasn't so great, but I can deal with that. I don't hate Lieberman as much as others. I cannot stand his support for the war in Iraq and his blind support for President Bush. Bu Read more:Election
Ms. Speaker 2006-11-08 17:34:42 Is anyone else really excited about having the first female Speaker
of the House?
Never before has a woman been in such a powerful position this country. One could argue that Condoleeza Rice is at a similar "power" level, but lets be honest. Nanci Pelosi is not going to be the third in line to the Presidency. That is cool.
Of course, it is sad that the United States is so far behind other nations in terms of the success of women in politics. But again, this country is taking baby steps.
Just another piece of good news from yesterday...
Election Coverage 2006-11-08 17:26:10 My election coverage last evening consisted of my clicking through four different channels:WGN (local Chicago station)
CNN
Fox News
Comedy CentralWGN was typical, slightly conservative but fairly unbiased and very good local coverage.
CNN was good, fairly unbiased and reasonable.
Fox News was a joke. I have no idea how they get away with calling themselves "Fair and Balanced" at all (actually, do they still do that?). You could see the disappointment on their faces and in their language. They used phrases like "we" instead "the Republicans." And this was coming from hosts, not pundits like CNN's Carville or Begala. It is one thing to have a partisan pundit give their input, it is a whole different thing to present the actual news with a clearly biased tilt. But should we expect anything else from Fox News?
Comedy Central's special election coverage was brilliant as always, featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, along with Dan Rather as a guest. Great stuff from th Read more:Election
, Coverage
Rumsfeld Out 2006-11-08 20:14:15 Post-election casualty #1: Donald Rumsfeld
is out.
You can watch the video here.
It is about time.
Will there be any other post-election casualties?
Organic Power 2006-11-08 21:58:21 Tester has won in Montana!
Tester is an interesting one, and one that I know little about. This is the description of him from dKos:One of the people accused of being a "conservative" Dem, yet he's against flag burning amendment, against an amendment banning gay marriage, against the Patriot Act, and against the war. He's an economic populist, social libertarian, pro-choice Democrat. He may be one of the very few senators who actually lives paycheck to paycheck. He's an organic farmer.Very cool. A Senator who is not extremely wealthy. Who grows organic food. A social libertarian. Anti-Iraq War.
But the coolest thing I must repeat. He is an organic farmer. And now he is a Senator. That is cool. Read more:Organic
More Election: Minimum Wage 2006-11-08 21:34:04 Here is some more great news that came out of yesterday's election.
The voters of the United States overwhelmingly want an increased minimum wage. Minimum
wage increases were approved in Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio. And most of these states the vote was not even close:Minimum wage hikes won in every state they were on the ballot, winning by a resounding 76 percent in Missouri, 73 percent in Montana, 69 percent in Nevada, 66 percent in Arizona, 56 percent in Ohio and 53 percent in Colorado (latest totals).That does not include counties and cities passing similar resolutions, like the one that I voted for here in Cook County.
But it gets better. President Bush has said that a minimum wage increase is one area where he may be willing to cooperate with the Democratic leadership on:President George W. Bush on Wednesday said increasing the national minimum wage is likely an issue on which he could cooperate with Democratic leaders in Congress.I have written ma Read more:Election
, Minimum Wage
Webb Wins Virginia 2006-11-09 18:27:08 Jim Webb has won in Virginia
!!
The Senate is now controlled by the Democrats.
Banishment Laws 2006-11-09 21:11:39 I have written about my disagreement with banishment laws before. Banishment laws are those that restrict certain criminals (most often sex offenders) from living in certain places. Often the laws say something to the effect that one may not live within 2,000 feet of a school, park, or daycare centers.
These laws are terrible and make little sense.
TChris has some thoughts over at TalkLeft:Banishment laws turn a problem into someone else's problem. More importantly, they inhibit rehabilitation, increasing the likelihood that the banished offender will return to crime. Keeping offenders under close supervision near their friends, families, jobs, and treatment providers is a better way to protect society from recidivists. ... Laws that tell sex offenders not to live within 1,000 or 2,000 feet of parks, schools, and day care centers amount to banishment from urban areas.TalkLeft has more details here.
This week a California judge granted the temporary restraining order based on a l
Moderate Dems 2006-11-09 21:00:31 Many people are claiming that the reason that Democrats dominated this election was because they ran more conservative candidates. Gary Bauer claimed this in his post-election spin:In order to win, they ran moderate candidates, many of whom embraced conservative values, such as the right to life and the sanctity of traditional marriage.But is this really true?
There is no doubt that some of the candidates that the Dems ran were more conservative than the party platform. But was this a trend among the winners? Or an exception?
Both Ezra and Kos dealt with this issue better than I can, so I give you them:
From Ezra:So is Shuler rightwing? Seems like a tough case to me. Sherrod Brown? Liberal as they come. Defeating South Dakota's abortion ban initiative? Passing Missouri's stem cell initiative? All those progressives who toppled liberal Republicans in the Northeast? Somebody think they won in the blue bastions with roaring conservatism? Meanwhile, the most conservative of the seri Read more:Moderate
Interesting Election Data 2006-11-09 20:49:30 From Amy Sullivan:Yesterday, the God Gap all but disappeared. Americans who attend religious services on a weekly basis voted 51 percent for Republican candidates and 48 percent for Democrats, a statistically meaningless difference. Nationally, Democrats made modest gains among two important groups of religious voters--they matched Bush's 2004 advantage with Catholics (52-47) and improved upon Kerry's 21-point deficit among evangelicals. (The exact percentage of the evangelical vote isn't known because, for some inexplicable reason, not every state's exit poll appears to have included a question to identify such voters.)Is the blind blind support that Christians have given Republicans ending? Read more:Election
2006-11-10 15:13:04 This is from a few days ago, but it is still unbelievable:Chris Matthews, Norah O'Donnell, Chuck Todd and Howard Fineman just now on Hardball all agreed with each other that the difference between the states where Bush's approval is rock bottom and the states where "they love this guy" is -- wait for it -- that the states that don't like him much "don't like religion."How did they know? How did they know that I don't like religion?
I always knew why I didn't like Bush, but I never thought the great folks at Hardball would find out...
Unbelievable...
Scribe Jamboree 2006-11-10 17:01:34 Here are some great posts from The Daily Scribe
:
Arbitrary Marks has some not-so-political election day observations.
Jill, at jvoices, takes a look at Borat and the controversy around it.
Reb Chaim HaQoton takes a look at the real sin of Sodom:If one actually pays attention to Chazal, one might conclude that the long tradition of equating the sins of Sodom to sexual depravity is not warranted and probably unfair to the sexually depraved.The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted passages in the Old Testament, and is continuously used as a justification to hate homosexuals. Go find out the real sin of Sodom.
Nathan Colquhoun links to two great posts:
Tim Challies' post of Ted Haggard
A $10.5 million advertising campaign to improve church attendance?. Nathan asks this:I wonder if Jesus would launch a $10.5 million advertising campaign if congregations started to dwindle. Better yet, I wonder if Jesus would ever have stored up that much money
Review Me 2006-11-10 18:50:23
Go take a look at ReviewMe.com, a new advertising site from the makers of Text Link Ads.
ReviewMe.com is a site designed to assist blogs in increasing traffic to their sites. Instead of text links or image links, they instead have bloggers review sites that may be relevant to their readers. The cool think is that I can choose what sites to review. I don't need to review anything that I am not interested or don't like. In turn, many of the sites that I would be interested in will also probably be interesting to you - my readers.
ReviewMe.com appears to be a great way to gain advertising revenue while still being allowed to be very selective in what content you give your readers. If I can write book reviews for publishers that send my books, I can write site reviews for websites that need help in increasing their traffic. I will always let you know if I am being paid to review a site. But I will also only review sites that I believe that you would be interested in.
And for
Friday Random Ten 2006-11-10 18:21:52 I haven't done a FridayRandom
Ten for awhile, so here you go:Down, from Don't Tell the Band, by Widespread Panic
Last Exit, from Vitalogy, by Pearl Jam
The Thunder Rolls, from Double Live, by Garth Brooks
Memphis, Tennessee, from Live at the BBC, by The Beatles
Shiggiaon, from Live at Joe's Java, by The Psalters
Chota, from Ozomatli, by Ozomatli
Just Remember, from ...Somewhere More Familiar, by Sister Hazel
World Spins Madly On, from Say I am You, by The Weepies
Kings and Queens, from Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, by Aerosmith
Soda Pop, from Coast to Coast Motel, by G. Love & Special SauceWell that was pretty random.
Election and Criminal Justice 2006-11-10 17:32:21 As you know, one of my clear passions is reforming the criminal justice system and ending the death penalty. So it would make sense to take a look at how the election impacted these areas.
Few politicians run on a platform of reforming the criminal justice system in a positive way. Almost all politicians want to be seen as "tough on crime," meaning in turn that they refuse to support an end to the death penalty, they refuse to reconsider mandatory minimums, etc. They are deeply afraid of not being seen as tough on crime, so they succumb to to political pressure of supporting certain policies that sound good but actually do very little good.
As I have already talked about, the recommendation to bring back the death penalty in Wisconsin was approved. The good news is that there are some who don't think the law as any chance of passing.
But there was some positive news in this election cycle. Capital Defense Weekly gives a summary of the news:For the second election cycle in a ro Read more:Election
, Criminal
, Justice
Call me a conservative 2006-11-10 20:52:24 If the recent class of Democrats are considered conservative
, count me in:Yes, I'm a "conservative Democrat" and I agree with the upcoming agenda I've seen floating around here and there: oversight hearings on Iraq and spending, raising the minimum wage, nationalizing health insurance for everyone under 25 as Howard Dean suggested on The Daily Show, using skillful diplomacy as a first resort and military force as a last one, restoring the checks and balances of the Constitution, outlawing torture, re-legalizing habeas corpus.And here is another look at the "conservative Democrat" agenda:* Supporting renewable and alternative energy sources (biofuels, bitches!)
* Raising automobile mileage
* Pro-choice
* Protecting public lands
* Country of origin labels for food imports
* Affordable health care
* Enforcing immigration laws for immigrants and employers
* gun rights
* A plan to end the war in Iraq
* Increasing the minimum wage
* Repealing the Pat
US Condemns Everyone By Not Condeming 2006-11-11 20:15:05 You have to love when the United Nations decides on an action and everyone agrees but the United States:The United States on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution urging an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and condemning an Israeli attack there that killed 18 Palestinian civilians.Why should anyone listen to them?
They didn't listen to anyone in the lead up to the war in Iraq.
And an even bigger question... why do they refuse to condemn killing civilians when Israel does it, yet jump up and attack "terrorists" for killing civilians?
By the way...I cannot wait until John Bolton is no longer the United States Ambassador to the UN!
Sunday Worship - Jesus Are You Real? 2006-11-12 15:51:11 Jesus Are You Real?, from Mason Jennings [hat tip welcome to the story]Jesus are you real
did we make you up
is salvation what you want
or is faith enough
do you know where I’m bound
you know who I am
are you just a word I use but I don’t understand
Standing like a statue in the sea
in a little truck stop in Tennessee
and bombs are crashing down
in waves on a giant TV screen
and I am struck I cannot move
to make it stop what can I do
people are dying in their beds
while this flag flies over our heads.
Jesus are you stronger than a loaded gun
I’m beginning to believe you’re not
the only one strong enough to show your love
strong enough to give strong
enough to go through hell
strong enough to live and all night long
and all i do is doubt you god
all i do is love you god
all i do is question you
what else can i do
this world was never solid ground
the past is coming back around
all i do is search for you,
what else can i do?
and when i say i search for you
i me Read more:Sunday
, Jesus
Feingold Out 2006-11-13 17:03:31 This will disappoint a lot of people.
Feingold
rules out 2008 run for president:Sen. Russ Feingold will not seek his party's presidential nomination in 2008, the Wisconsin Democrat told the Journal Sentinel on Saturday.
"I never got to that point where I'd rather be running around the country, running for president, than being a senator from Wisconsin," Feingold said in a phone interview from Madison.Feingold was the darling of the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party. He has been adamant about his anti-Iraq War sentiments and was seen as a possible alternative to the moderate/hawkish views of Hillary Clinton.
One thing that scares me about the coming presidential campaign is that Democrats will see last week's election as a need to move to the center. This is simply not true. One of the things that I like about Feingold running for President was that he would help pull the conversation to the left. He would not allow moderates to hijack the dialog.
Someone like Oba
Why Do I Read This? 2006-11-13 16:51:32 Here is another misogynistic gem from Mark Driscoll:All of this has led this blogger to speculate that if Christian males do not man up soon, the Episcopalians may vote a fluffy baby bunny rabbit as their next bishop to lead God’s men. When asked for their perspective, some bunny rabbits simply said that they have been discriminated against long enough and that people need to "Get over it."Did you catch that progression? Males, Females, Fluffy Bunnies.
Because females are clearly one step closer than males to being fluffy bunnies.
Of course...Driscoll is the same one who reads thinks the Bible says that pastors must be "masculine" and "manly." I think he found it in 1 Misogyny 3:1.
Why the heck do I read this guy?
Prison Sucks 2006-11-13 17:19:28 Check out Prison
Sucks.com:Prisonsucks.com is a clearinghouse for useful, verifiable statistics about the crime control industry. Too often prison activists use statistics that are out of date, provided without citation or simply wrong. One of these days the public will start listening to prison activists, so let's be prepared to win without being sidetracked by arguments over defective statistics. In some cases, the numbers we need don't exist. In others, the facts exist but activists don't know where to find them. Now you do. Start at prisonsucks.com.As I have said before, few politicians are willing to stand up and want to change the "tough on crime" culture that really is not tough on crime. Instead is a political culture that punishes instead of rehabilitates and has little positive impact on society.
PrisonSucks.com takes a look at this system - a prison system that is less about justice and rehabilitation than about appearing to be tough on crime.
Presidential Candidates 2006-11-13 17:11:13 The NY Times, in their article about Feingold deciding not to run for President, lists who they think will run:U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York is widely considered the front-runner for the nomination. Others considering or positioning themselves for a run include U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic nominee; former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the vice presidential nominee two years ago; U.S. Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joe Biden of Delaware and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.So lets see, here is our list:
Hillary Rodham Clinton
John Kerry
John Edwards
Evan Bayh
Joe Biden
Bill RichardsonInterestingly, there is no talk about Obama.
Kerry has absolutely no chance in winning a primary or presidential election. So I have a hard time taking his candidacy seriously.
HRC? Moderate. Edwards? Moderate, put places large emphasis on economic equality. Bayh? Moderate. Biden? Richardson? Moderate.
Th Read more:Presidential
, Candidates
No Google Adsense 2006-11-13 19:01:11 I dropped the Google
ads...they were worthless. I made very little money ($1.23) over the past 3-4 weeks, so it definitely is not worth it.
I am going to continue to find other ways to create revenue that are not invasive and do not get in the way. Hopefully you will all be patient with me! :)
In the meantime...if you are buying anything via Amazon for Christmas gifts (or for anything else), go through my Amazon Store. You pay the same price, but it helps me out! Read more:Adsense
, Google Adsense
mindful mission design 2006-11-14 18:35:12 I am looking into starting an official design
business with a friend of mine, but in the meantime, check out my new venture:
mindful mission design
I will design and/or host your website/blog at affordable rates. And I will have fun doing it.
Contact me if you are interested.
Slowing Down 2006-11-15 17:26:32 Things are busy.
I am tired.
I am slowing down on the blog for a few days. No break, just slowing down a little bit.
If anything exciting happens, feel free to comment about it. Read more:Slowing
Protesting Driscoll 2006-11-16 03:39:48 Wow...people are going to be protesting Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll for his chauvinistic, misogynistic, and sexist comments.
The protest is being organized by People Against Fundamentalism. Rose Madrid-Swetman also has an open letter to Driscoll addressing his recent statements and bad theology.
Adam has thoughts here.
Andrew Jones has thoughts here.
Scott McKnight has thoughts here.
I am not sure what I think about Christians protesting Christians. It would seem that there was a better way. Yet at the same time, Driscoll has refused to meet with the People Against Fundamentalism group, which makes true confrontation a little difficult, eh?
What I do appreciate is that people are willing to stand up against the hateful and hurtful comments that Driscoll makes towards and about women. This is something that is badly needed. I have highlighted some of the "worst of" comments from Driscoll of late, but take a look at this:I have sat in the room with him and been told "If yo
On Faith 2006-11-16 15:23:24 This is a pretty cool project: On Faith
[hat tip Smijer]. The project is a collaborative discussion on faith and religion from Newseek and the Washington Post, bringing in numerous voices from all across the spectrum. From conservative Christian Al Mohler to religious historian Karen Armstrong to Islamic scholar Akbar Ahmed and a bunch of people in between and outside of that spectrum.
This is kind of like what The Daily Scribe hopes to be, except they have a bunch of big names (and a big brand) to drive traffic to it.
I haven't been able to spend much time looking through it, but it seems quite interesting.
As Smijer says:
Seriously, a lot of good could come from something like this... which is reason enough to think it won’t last long.
Woohoo! 2006-11-16 19:47:28 I defended my master's thesis last night, had to make a few revisions, which I did late into the night.
But the thesis was approved today!!!!
What a relief.
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