intersections

Some sample language for Hillary Clinton

This morning as I was reading news feeds I came across a couple of interviews with West Virginia voters that made my blood run cold. Have a look at this...

And this...

After watching these interviews I decided I would offer Hillary Clinton some sample language for an upcoming speech in which she could demonstrate real leadership for our divided country.

Good morning, Kentucky! It's great to be with you. As you prepare to go to the polls next Tuesday let me thank you in advance for your support of my campaign.... We had a great day in West Virginia this past Tuesday and I again want to thank the good people of West Virginia for their support.

However, there were some troubling signs about that election. I've lost a little sleep over some of the things I've heard. So, as you prepare to vote on Tuesday - and I trust you will vote for me, Hillary Rodham Clinton - I want to ask you to consider WHY you are voting for me. And let me start by giving you a couple of unacceptable reasons to vote for me: because Barack Obama is black. That is an unacceptable reason to vote for me. Or because his middle name is "Hussein." Or because you heard that he is Muslim. These are all unacceptible reasons to vote for me in exactly the same way it would be unacceptible for you to vote for Sen. Obama simply because I'm a woman and you don't think a woman should be president because of sexist stereotypes.

Instead, vote for me because...[insert your policy talking points]

Friends, America needs to move past this politics of fear, racism, sexism and innuendo. [Insert reference to Obama's speech on race and quote your favorite part]

So, my Kentucky friends, when you go to the polls on Tuesday, vote Hillary Rodham Clinton. But do it because you believe in what I'm saying is best for America. Do it because you think I would be the best president. Don't do it because you're afraid of black people or because you think my friend, Barack, is a Muslim who is trying to infiltrate America. These fears are unfounded and precisely the thing that America doesn't need right now.

Thank you and God bless you!

'It is political, obviously!'*

A quick glance at the category cloud on this blog (left column) will reveal that 'politics' and 'religion' are two topics that I write about frequently. Those who know me know that I believe that the deep practice of Christian faith is unavoidably 'political'. But this statement is far from self-evident within the church and society today, whether you're talking about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in particular or the Christian church more generally.

It is easy to throw around glib phrases like "politics and religion don't mix," but what does that really mean. Tony Campolo is credited with saying that mixing politics and religion is like mixing horse manure and ice cream. It doesn't hurt the manure very much but it sure messes up the ice cream. However, Campolo's life in Christian service reveals that he has engaged in many causes that would, by most measures, be considered 'political.'
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*This is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, Nacho Libre.

No on 98/Yes on 99

/Apologies to all non-California residents while I dip into a state political issue for a minute.

So, I'm driving back to my office today after having lunch with my dad and I hear the new Yes on Prop 98 radio ad and it just drove me crazy. I hate to even send you to the Yes on 98 website, but it's the only way I can figure out how to have you hear the ad yourself. So, click here and have a listen.

The whole thing is done my children who claim ask, with tears in their voices,

"You mean we're never going to see our friends again?"

Proposition 98 is being billed as an anti-eminent domain law, but what they don't tell you on their website or anywhere is that it will effectively destroy rent control laws in California. Once a tenant moves out of a rent-controlled apartment that unit will never be under rent control again. Little by little rent control will be a thing of the past. This is one of the last safeguards of affordable housing, especially in the urban areas of California.

So, the League of California Cities, Governor Schwarzenegger, and literally dozens of other organizations (including LA Voice) have stood up to oppose this horrible proposition put forth by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. Not only this but a counter proposition has arisen - Proposition 99. You can read more about Prop 99 here, but it accomplishes many of the good things about Prop 98 without destroying laws protecting renters.

So, Californians...when you go to the polls on June 3rd (that's right, there's an election on June 3rd), please vote NO on 98 and YES on 99. Protect renters!

Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers Journal

Did any of you catch the interview that Bill Moyers had with Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Friday? I didn't see it when it aired, but I saw it online and it was very, very good. For an hour, without commercial interruption, Rev. Wright shared very personally and directly about his life, ministry, Trinity Church and his comments that have become so controversial lately. Bill Moyer probably spoke for about 5 cumulatively on the broadcast.

I have not waded into this controversy on this blog, but I have shared others places. But today I am here to say that if you have been effected by this controversy or have taken a stand on it, you really must watch this interview. He is intelligent and articulate. He is definitely not the whacko that some in the media have tried to make him out to be. I am convinced that this is a man of God!

Watch the interview here (in two parts)

Bush's SCHIP policy violates law

This is perhaps old news by now, but on Friday afternoon several media outlets, including The Hill, reported that...

The Bush administration’s limits on expansions of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are unlawful, according to Congress’s investigative arm.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unlawfully bypassed congressional review when it issued a directive to states in August alerting them that federal authorities would seek to restrict raising the income eligibility level for the program, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a report issued Thursday. [Read the whole thing here]

We have known for some time that the Bush Administration has little regard for the law - a deep irony given that the GOP has long been touted as the party of "law & order". This is just the latest example and one that touches close to me because of my work with the PICO Network to expand SCHIP coverage so that all children in America can see a doctor when they need to. Our campaign was ultimately unsuccessful last year, but we are not finished with this fight.

"Extending health coverage to the millions of the uninsured children whose families are struggling to make ends meet is at heart a moral issue and therefore should be a top priority for the next President," said Rev. Bob Stevens, Chair of Congregations United for Neighborhood Action, the PICO affiliate in Lehigh Valley, PA. "PICO urges all of the Presidential campaigns to make a clear commitment to enact bi-partisan SCHIP legislation within the first 100 days of their administration." [more]

That's gotta hurt!

Read the article here.

Tom Hayden - Progressives for Obama

Tom Hayden, author of Ending the War in Iraq and former California State Senator says,

All American progressives should unite for Barack Obama.

Read more here.

The Scandal of Jesus

By cartoonist Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Found in the LA Times Opinion section, Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008.

Things I'm thinking on Good Friday

There's a lot on my mind this Good Friday. There are so many things I've been wanting to write about but alas, so little time. So, the following are some things that are converging in my mind and Good Friday seems to provide the fertile soil for just such a convergence.

The cruciformity of our faith. The foundation of our faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus. There is no cross-less Christianity. Try as we might, we simply cannot get around the scandal of the cross. It wasn't that long ago that it occurred to me that the cross of Jesus was not just a means of forgiving my sins - a forensic act that justified me as in a court of law - but a way of life to which Jesus constantly invited his followers and would-be followers. I am frequently reminded of this cruciformity in Hollywood. There are signs of resurrection as well - lots of them, in fact - but that's a different post for a different day. For now I am reflecting on the fact that I am realizing more and more that my role is to follow Jesus - to take up the cross and follow him. That means I go where he wants me to go.

America embraces torture. Even though no one will admit it, the US government, a few weeks ago, official embraced the use of torture as a possible strategy against our enemies. When I read this story in the LA Times I felt like I was going to lose it. I thought to myself, what kind of country do I live in these days? Out of one side of our mouths we say, "We don't torture people!" and then the president vetos the legislation that would rule it out. What's worse is that the House of Representatives can't muster a 2/3 majority to override this veto. You mean to tell me that we don't have 2/3 of our elected representatives in the House who will stand against torture?

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has been trying to shine a light into this mess. Click here to learn how you can get involved in this faith-based campaign against torture. Especially during this season when we remember how Jesus was tortured and executed by the empire of his day, it is haunting to reflect upon the direction our country is headed on this Good Friday.

5th Anniversary of the Iraq war. - Earlier this week America remembered the 5th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. That this war can continue after it has been discredited at every level is an astounding fact. That it could be a political wedge issue in the current political campaign is equally unfathomable. We have now lost 4,000 American lives in this pointless war, to say nothing of the Iraqi lives. Iraqbodycount.org estimates between 82,000 and nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilian deaths due to war violence. The long term cost of the war is approaching $3 trillion.

Race in America. Who could have missed the burgeoning controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sound bytes and the speech given by Barack Obama. I personally felt that Sen. Obama's speech was an incredible example of handing a difficult issue with grace and directness - moving our country forward together on a issue that has long kept us apart. This was not more political fluff, hand waving, and disingenuous distancing of himself from his lifelong friend.

Very helpful in my own processing of these events, given that I am a white man, were the two blog posts written by my friend Melvin Bray over at God's Politics blog. You can need to read them here: Part 1 and Part 2. On this Good Friday, as we reflect on the suffering of our Lord that was our suffering, it is discouraging for me to reflect on how must suffering still remains in this country and how much blame and name-calling still goes on.

I'd better stop here and hope Sunday comes soon! We need resurrection, people!

Conspiracy confirmed: my picture is in The Tidings

My comments from the Housing LA press conference made it into The Tidings (it's at the top of the home page right now). One of their reporters, Bob Dellinger, did the best job of anyone reporting on this event. You can read his story here.