I was driving my two year old, Ellen to the babysitter one morning when we had an interesting conversation.
“Where’d Hewen go?” she asked.
“Your sister GRACE is with Mommy, Mommy is driving her to preschool, and by the way, YOUR name is Ellen,” I replied.
“She go schoooowel? Me wan go schooowel,” she said.
“Well, I know you’d love to go to school, but you’re not old enough yet, by the way, how old are you, Ellen?” I quizzed her.
“Me five!” she announced.
“Nooo, you’re two,” I explained, holding up two fingers.
“NO! Me FWIVE!!!” she screamed.
“Honey, listen, calm down, think about it,” I reasoned (temporarily forgetting that reasoning with a two year old is about as smart as trying to train your cat to heard sheep). “Your older sister, GRACE, is only four, and you’re the LITTLE sister, you’re just two, get it?”
“Oh-tay,” she relented.
“So how old are you?” just wanting to make sure I had gotten through.
“ME TWOO!” she grinned and held up two fingers.
I smiled and sighed, apparently I’d gotten somewhere.
I love the fact that she longs to learn and has finally gotten to an age where she’ll slow down long enough to climb on our laps for a us to read to her.
We’re really fortunate that Grace loves school too. Although, many is the evening when we ask “Grace, what did you learn about in school today?” only to have her shrug and answer “things.” I thought that kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen till at least junior high.
Research has established that preschool education can produce substantial gains in children's learning and development. Christian preschools not only give kids a head start, they also lay a foundation of faith and relationships for children.
The Barna Research Institute discovered that a person’s lifelong behaviors and views are generally developed when they are young – particularly before they reach the teenage years. A person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach age nine (fourth grade). A majority of Americans make a lasting determination about the personal significance of Christ’s death and resurrection by age 12 (seventh grade).
It always boggles my mind when parents proudly proclaim that they’re not forcing their religion on their child, they want them to make up their minds for themselves when they’re old enough. Obviously these parents don’t genuinely believe whatever faith they claim to profess because if you KNOW and BELIEVE that God is real and that the Bible is true, why would you treat that knowledge as if it were merely an option, a choice. We inoculate our children with vaccines to protect them from deadly diseases, why not share with them that God loves them and wants what is best for them while they’re young too?
This is National Lutheran Schools Week. Martin Luther once argued that schools were more important than even homeland security.:
“Even though only a single boy could thereby be trained to become a real Christian, we ought to give a hundred dollars to this cause for every dollar we would give to fight the Turk, even if they were breathing down our necks,” he wrote in a sermon promoting education.
The main reason Luther encouraged parents to make sure their children received an education was so that they could one day read the Bible for themselves and thereby develop a personal relationship with God. That’s a value that Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, and every Christian can appreciate.
Many people remember that St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak once had a Lutheran elementary school, but how many realize that they still have a Lutheran school?
St. Johns Lutheran’s preschool, “Noah’s Ark” has been blest by the loving care, and instruction of Mrs. Sandy Bramley since 1981. This Lutheran Schools Week, I want to recognize Sandy for her important work. Sandy has introduced generations of Charter Oak children to Jesus and the Bible. She has started them on their life’s journey of learning and working together. Thank you, Sandy and may God continue to bless the work He does through you.
Lynn Hoffman is someone who also played a major role in Noah’s Ark for many years. If you or one of your children have been a student of Sandy or Lynn over the years, why not send them a note and let them know what a difference they make and what they mean to you?
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Not exactly a date movie
Lent was originally a period of forty days of fasting and repentance to prepare the Christian for the feast on the Easter Sunday. It was a time of reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection. Traditionally, churches baptized new converts on Holy Saturday, after six weeks of Bible classes instructing the new converts in the basics of the Christian faith.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days, not including the Sundays- because any Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It also doesn’t include St. Patrick’s Day – at least in the Catholic Church. That’s because it was a festival or feast day in the liturgical calendar.
It also doesn’t include my birthday, which is usually in Lent, but it DOES include YOUR birthday. Why? Because I SAY SO that’s why! Mu-Waha-Ha (maniacal laugh).
Okay, that wasn’t funny, it was just dumb, sorry.
Many of my students have been asking me if I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ yet. Actually, we spent several hours on Ash Wednesday (my birthday), in Omaha at the Creighton Medical Center with a developmental pediatrician who examined Grace and determined that if she indeed has dysarthria, it is part of a greater issue, either Oromotor dsypraxia/apraxia and/or motor dyscoordination. Whatever that all means. Hopefully she can qualify for speech therapy under our insurance, but an MRI would help our case. Of course, those run almost $2,000 and the insurance company will pay for 90% of it- once the deductible is paid, whine whine.
We were seriously thanking the Lord that she’s not in a wheel chair, she can think and see and hear and breath and smile. Many of the children we saw at the medical center are far worse off.
From how horrifically violent The Passion is supposed to be, we didn’t think we should take Grace. I’d hate to have my four year old frightened of Jesus. I’ve heard rumors that an elderly woman from the Dunlap area actually suffered a heart attack and died while watching that movie.
The wonderful thing about Gibson’s film (from the point of view of someone who hasn’t seen it yet) is that it moves people. It’s moved some to tears, (even macho guys) it’s moved them to think, and it moves them to discuss Jesus and religion with others.
Many of the kids in Dunlap certainly are. Naturally it’s a little frustrating for me to keep from violating their first amendment right of separation of church and state by not giving them all my opinions, but it’s thrilling to listen to them exercising their first amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
I imagine that Gibson hopes it will move people to reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection- I’m sure that’s why he released it at the beginning of Lent. My prayer is that it will move people to read the Passion and Easter stories for themselves in the Bible. And, thereby, hopefully, it will be moving them into their savior’s arms.
I read one critic who worried that Gibson failed to show any of Jesus’ eloquence, ethics, philosophy, personality and character by focusing on the brutality of His suffering and martyrdom. I’m not sure how any artist can portray a fair balance of law and gospel. Why shouldn’t we feel some shame and guilt for how much Jesus suffered for our eternal salvation? I think it was important for audiences to appreciate what WWII veterans went through on D-Day in Saving Private Ryan, and it’s imperative that audiences see what Jews suffered at the hands of the NAZIs in Shindler’s List.
But there should be a balance. Take Lent itself. It’s amazing how few Protestant Christians and un-churched people have even heard of the season. Some of us just take it for granted as another part of life. The Catholic tradition teaches that one’s faith is maintained by doing works of love and penance. Lutherans want to be very careful to never make the mistake of thinking that ANYTHING we can do could ever get us into Heaven, since our salvation was won by Jesus on the cross. Consequently, we often avoid the ideas of piety and penance as much as they can.
As an Irish Lutheran (Catholic grandparents), I can tell you that both Lutherans and Catholics are great at reflection, self-examination, (sometimes called “guilt”). Some of us are so practiced and conditioned that just a Scripture passage or a hymn can remind us that we didn’t deserve to be saved and Jesus didn’t deserve to die. However, perhaps the rest of society has become so jaded that we need a movie that dedicates 45 minutes just to the crucifixion itself.
As far as the spiritual redirection goes, my problem is that no mater how devout or dutiful I try to be, my Lenten resolutions look a lot like New Year’s resolutions. Self-centered attempts at self-improvement that eventually self destruct. For example: I drink WAY too much coffee. I intended to go cold turkey. I had such a headache the first night I thought I was suffering withdraws from cocaine or heroin. Bethany advised me to cut back to one or two cups a day, rather than a pot and a half or none at all. I took her advice. I hope God understands.
He probably will. I don’t know if during Lent we’re supposed to surrender stuff to show God how much we appreciate what Jesus did or if we’re supposed to sacrifice stuff so that we suffer a little and that helps us appreciate the suffering and sacrifices He made. Maybe we’re just supposed to reflect, self-examine, and spiritual redirect in any way that works. Since the victory is won and we know the end of the story, that Jesus rose again, maybe it’s not a matter of giving up anything.
We’re trying to read devotions together and I’m trying to be better about reading at least one chapter of the Bible a day. The goal is not to be better people or “holier” Christians. The goal is to learn more about God and what His plan is for our lives. I’m interested in seeing Passion of the Christ, but God won’t love me any less if I don’t. Besides, it’s not exactly a “date movie.” Who spends money on a babysitter unless you’re going out on a date?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days, not including the Sundays- because any Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It also doesn’t include St. Patrick’s Day – at least in the Catholic Church. That’s because it was a festival or feast day in the liturgical calendar.
It also doesn’t include my birthday, which is usually in Lent, but it DOES include YOUR birthday. Why? Because I SAY SO that’s why! Mu-Waha-Ha (maniacal laugh).
Okay, that wasn’t funny, it was just dumb, sorry.
Many of my students have been asking me if I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ yet. Actually, we spent several hours on Ash Wednesday (my birthday), in Omaha at the Creighton Medical Center with a developmental pediatrician who examined Grace and determined that if she indeed has dysarthria, it is part of a greater issue, either Oromotor dsypraxia/apraxia and/or motor dyscoordination. Whatever that all means. Hopefully she can qualify for speech therapy under our insurance, but an MRI would help our case. Of course, those run almost $2,000 and the insurance company will pay for 90% of it- once the deductible is paid, whine whine.
We were seriously thanking the Lord that she’s not in a wheel chair, she can think and see and hear and breath and smile. Many of the children we saw at the medical center are far worse off.
From how horrifically violent The Passion is supposed to be, we didn’t think we should take Grace. I’d hate to have my four year old frightened of Jesus. I’ve heard rumors that an elderly woman from the Dunlap area actually suffered a heart attack and died while watching that movie.
The wonderful thing about Gibson’s film (from the point of view of someone who hasn’t seen it yet) is that it moves people. It’s moved some to tears, (even macho guys) it’s moved them to think, and it moves them to discuss Jesus and religion with others.
Many of the kids in Dunlap certainly are. Naturally it’s a little frustrating for me to keep from violating their first amendment right of separation of church and state by not giving them all my opinions, but it’s thrilling to listen to them exercising their first amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
I imagine that Gibson hopes it will move people to reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection- I’m sure that’s why he released it at the beginning of Lent. My prayer is that it will move people to read the Passion and Easter stories for themselves in the Bible. And, thereby, hopefully, it will be moving them into their savior’s arms.
I read one critic who worried that Gibson failed to show any of Jesus’ eloquence, ethics, philosophy, personality and character by focusing on the brutality of His suffering and martyrdom. I’m not sure how any artist can portray a fair balance of law and gospel. Why shouldn’t we feel some shame and guilt for how much Jesus suffered for our eternal salvation? I think it was important for audiences to appreciate what WWII veterans went through on D-Day in Saving Private Ryan, and it’s imperative that audiences see what Jews suffered at the hands of the NAZIs in Shindler’s List.
But there should be a balance. Take Lent itself. It’s amazing how few Protestant Christians and un-churched people have even heard of the season. Some of us just take it for granted as another part of life. The Catholic tradition teaches that one’s faith is maintained by doing works of love and penance. Lutherans want to be very careful to never make the mistake of thinking that ANYTHING we can do could ever get us into Heaven, since our salvation was won by Jesus on the cross. Consequently, we often avoid the ideas of piety and penance as much as they can.
As an Irish Lutheran (Catholic grandparents), I can tell you that both Lutherans and Catholics are great at reflection, self-examination, (sometimes called “guilt”). Some of us are so practiced and conditioned that just a Scripture passage or a hymn can remind us that we didn’t deserve to be saved and Jesus didn’t deserve to die. However, perhaps the rest of society has become so jaded that we need a movie that dedicates 45 minutes just to the crucifixion itself.
As far as the spiritual redirection goes, my problem is that no mater how devout or dutiful I try to be, my Lenten resolutions look a lot like New Year’s resolutions. Self-centered attempts at self-improvement that eventually self destruct. For example: I drink WAY too much coffee. I intended to go cold turkey. I had such a headache the first night I thought I was suffering withdraws from cocaine or heroin. Bethany advised me to cut back to one or two cups a day, rather than a pot and a half or none at all. I took her advice. I hope God understands.
He probably will. I don’t know if during Lent we’re supposed to surrender stuff to show God how much we appreciate what Jesus did or if we’re supposed to sacrifice stuff so that we suffer a little and that helps us appreciate the suffering and sacrifices He made. Maybe we’re just supposed to reflect, self-examine, and spiritual redirect in any way that works. Since the victory is won and we know the end of the story, that Jesus rose again, maybe it’s not a matter of giving up anything.
We’re trying to read devotions together and I’m trying to be better about reading at least one chapter of the Bible a day. The goal is not to be better people or “holier” Christians. The goal is to learn more about God and what His plan is for our lives. I’m interested in seeing Passion of the Christ, but God won’t love me any less if I don’t. Besides, it’s not exactly a “date movie.” Who spends money on a babysitter unless you’re going out on a date?
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Wedge issues may play big role
It seems that the Democrats now have a nominee apparent. There’s already a “short-list” of possible running-mates. Former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Grahm is someone who could bring vindication for the 2000 election if he can deliver his home state.
Missouri Congressman Richard Gephart would appeal to old-style blue-collar Democrats.
I think that retired General Wesley Clark could bring broad appeal to moderate and socially conservative swing votes since he opposes gay marriage and abortion. He’d also supply extra oomf to the Kerry challenge to President Bush’s Defense policies.
There is even buzz that Kerry might consider New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Many people think she’d rather run for President on her own sometime in the next couple of decades.
The most likely choice, of course is North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
I think that a more exciting question is, what will the issues be in the fall? Well, it would be nice if they’d be things like civil rights, defense, environment and energy, health care, homeland security, foreign policy, education, deficits and balanced budgets. Fat chance.
Expect President Bush to bring out two big wedges and a red herring. Tax reform is a perennial Republican attention diverter (red herring), sure we need it, but to Bush it means more supply-side tax cuts for corporations and the top 2% of super wealthy Americans.
Then there are the “wedge” issues. Abortion and gay-marriage. They’re called wedges because they divide us. In stead of agreeing to disagree and live together or agreeing to hash it out until we come to a consensus or till one side compromises, wedge issues inflame passions and get people so worked up that they can’t think about anything else. Divide and conquer, just as good a political strategy as it is a military strategy.
Personally, I think that they’re both way to messy and way to personal for the Federal Government to mess with. You’d think that a true conservative who professes to less intrusive big-government would agree with me, but not Bush and the Religious Right. That’s ironic since these are both issues to truly be decided in the Bible, the Church and the heart, not with secular legislation.
You could call me socially conservative in so far as oppose both abortion and gay marriage, but the problem is, that much like the reconstruction of Iraq, I believe that the real battle is in people’s heart’s and minds.
I admit it, it pains and embarrasses me that Democrats keep a pro-choice plank in their party platform. The problem, as a matter of fact, is with Roe v. Wade. I think that the Supreme Court was really stretching to interpret the Constitution to include a right to abortion. Even is you squeeze the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments enough to say that the Constitution protects a “right to privacy,” what does that have to do with a human being, the baby? My point is, this is an issue for the Sates or Congress to hash out, not for the Court to have decided.
If only it was as simple as it should be. There are complications like rape, incest, and mortality of the mother. There are theological, ethical, and biological disagreements about the definition of a human life and when exactly it begins. Unfortunately, these are issues that there may never be concessions on. Congress and the FCC can’t even settle on a clear definition for decency and indecency on TV and radio, how can we hope that we’ll all agree on abortion as a nation?
It may be about to get worse. The newest issue- that could well become a wedge issue is human cloning. Last week South Korean scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a human being. They say that it is for harvesting stem cells for research and tissue production-not for reproduction.
There’s the wedge. Devout Mormon, Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah is a staunch opponent of abortion, but he is an adamant proponent of stem-cell research. Stem cells, taken from human embryos (babies) are thought to hold the keys to treating or curing such debilitating diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Some people believe that cloning for the sake of producing stem cells should be permitted for the sake of genetic therapy, organ replacement, and research. Of course the embryos created are terminated so that they don’t go on to develop into full grown adults. So the question is, is that a form of abortion? Are clones human? Are they human lives? Do they have souls? Do they have rights?
I may not think that Abortion is a privacy issue, but don’t think that privacy won’t also be an issue between cell phones, e-mail, surveillance cameras, and National security. Big brother is here and we may need a Constitutional amendment providing the right to privacy before amendments on abortion or gay marriage get fought about.
Is gay marriage wrong? I for one can’t get passed that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin, but so is drunkenness and gluttony. Jesus said that if you so much as look at a woman lustfully, you’ve committed adultery. In His time that meant you were sentenced to being stoned to death. He said that if you hate someone it’s the same as committing murder. So being gay is wrong, but so is hating gays.
We’re stuck aren’t we? That’s why wedge issues are so effective in forcing would be moderates and progressives over the fence to the radically conservative side. It’s more comfortable.
The 14th Amendment does promise “equal protection under the law.” Does that mean that a monogamous gay partner should be allowed to visit their partner in the hospital or be covered by their partner’s insurance? I don’t know for sure, but it does make us straights look stupid for trying so hard to protect the sanctity of marriage when heterosexual celeb-bratt-ties have their Vegas marriages annulled after 24 hour because they were drunk.
One thing for sure, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that’s going to fade away.
Then, there’s still war. Americans die every day in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Queda and there’s no proof of any weapons of mass destruction. Former Bush administration officials say that he talked about invading Iraq as soon as he got into office and began implementing plans to do so within a week of September 11.
Then there is the mother-of-all-wedge-issues rearing its ugly head again. In 1971 a Viet Nam veteran, with Silver and Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose the Vietnam War and asked the Senators something very controversial.
Commander John Kerry asked them, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
No military man or woman’s service to their country should ever be devalued, their lives and sacrifice is truly honorable and sacred- and I don’t think that Commander Kerry meant to say they died in vain. I believe that he questioned the policies and decisions of Presidents Johnson (a Democrat) and Nixon (a Republican) just as people today question Bush’s policy of “preemptive unilateralist.”
Carter served in the cold war on the first nuclear submarine. Ronald Reagan played a soldier frequently in Hollywood Movies. Bush Sr. served in WWII. Clinton got a deferment for college because he was accepted to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England (like West Point grad Wes Clark), of course he took a lot of heat from Republicans because he participated in protests against Vietnam.
Bush Jr. is thought to have joined the Air National Guard to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, where men like Bob Kerry, John McCain, and John Kerry suffered and sacrificed.
I have two uncles who are great friends, but Vietnam is something they both choose not to talk about. One was a medic, another fled to Canada. Almost forty years later, it’s a wedge issue that still divides families, and divides America.
What we must learn to do is to agree to disagree. Wedge issues will always divide us, but they need not destroy us. Like it or not, compromise is an integral part of our democracy. As foul as they often are to endure unresolved or un-vanquished, these differences should be the price we pay for our unity and freedom, not the levers we use to wrest power from our political opponents.
Missouri Congressman Richard Gephart would appeal to old-style blue-collar Democrats.
I think that retired General Wesley Clark could bring broad appeal to moderate and socially conservative swing votes since he opposes gay marriage and abortion. He’d also supply extra oomf to the Kerry challenge to President Bush’s Defense policies.
There is even buzz that Kerry might consider New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Many people think she’d rather run for President on her own sometime in the next couple of decades.
The most likely choice, of course is North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
I think that a more exciting question is, what will the issues be in the fall? Well, it would be nice if they’d be things like civil rights, defense, environment and energy, health care, homeland security, foreign policy, education, deficits and balanced budgets. Fat chance.
Expect President Bush to bring out two big wedges and a red herring. Tax reform is a perennial Republican attention diverter (red herring), sure we need it, but to Bush it means more supply-side tax cuts for corporations and the top 2% of super wealthy Americans.
Then there are the “wedge” issues. Abortion and gay-marriage. They’re called wedges because they divide us. In stead of agreeing to disagree and live together or agreeing to hash it out until we come to a consensus or till one side compromises, wedge issues inflame passions and get people so worked up that they can’t think about anything else. Divide and conquer, just as good a political strategy as it is a military strategy.
Personally, I think that they’re both way to messy and way to personal for the Federal Government to mess with. You’d think that a true conservative who professes to less intrusive big-government would agree with me, but not Bush and the Religious Right. That’s ironic since these are both issues to truly be decided in the Bible, the Church and the heart, not with secular legislation.
You could call me socially conservative in so far as oppose both abortion and gay marriage, but the problem is, that much like the reconstruction of Iraq, I believe that the real battle is in people’s heart’s and minds.
I admit it, it pains and embarrasses me that Democrats keep a pro-choice plank in their party platform. The problem, as a matter of fact, is with Roe v. Wade. I think that the Supreme Court was really stretching to interpret the Constitution to include a right to abortion. Even is you squeeze the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments enough to say that the Constitution protects a “right to privacy,” what does that have to do with a human being, the baby? My point is, this is an issue for the Sates or Congress to hash out, not for the Court to have decided.
If only it was as simple as it should be. There are complications like rape, incest, and mortality of the mother. There are theological, ethical, and biological disagreements about the definition of a human life and when exactly it begins. Unfortunately, these are issues that there may never be concessions on. Congress and the FCC can’t even settle on a clear definition for decency and indecency on TV and radio, how can we hope that we’ll all agree on abortion as a nation?
It may be about to get worse. The newest issue- that could well become a wedge issue is human cloning. Last week South Korean scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a human being. They say that it is for harvesting stem cells for research and tissue production-not for reproduction.
There’s the wedge. Devout Mormon, Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah is a staunch opponent of abortion, but he is an adamant proponent of stem-cell research. Stem cells, taken from human embryos (babies) are thought to hold the keys to treating or curing such debilitating diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Some people believe that cloning for the sake of producing stem cells should be permitted for the sake of genetic therapy, organ replacement, and research. Of course the embryos created are terminated so that they don’t go on to develop into full grown adults. So the question is, is that a form of abortion? Are clones human? Are they human lives? Do they have souls? Do they have rights?
I may not think that Abortion is a privacy issue, but don’t think that privacy won’t also be an issue between cell phones, e-mail, surveillance cameras, and National security. Big brother is here and we may need a Constitutional amendment providing the right to privacy before amendments on abortion or gay marriage get fought about.
Is gay marriage wrong? I for one can’t get passed that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin, but so is drunkenness and gluttony. Jesus said that if you so much as look at a woman lustfully, you’ve committed adultery. In His time that meant you were sentenced to being stoned to death. He said that if you hate someone it’s the same as committing murder. So being gay is wrong, but so is hating gays.
We’re stuck aren’t we? That’s why wedge issues are so effective in forcing would be moderates and progressives over the fence to the radically conservative side. It’s more comfortable.
The 14th Amendment does promise “equal protection under the law.” Does that mean that a monogamous gay partner should be allowed to visit their partner in the hospital or be covered by their partner’s insurance? I don’t know for sure, but it does make us straights look stupid for trying so hard to protect the sanctity of marriage when heterosexual celeb-bratt-ties have their Vegas marriages annulled after 24 hour because they were drunk.
One thing for sure, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that’s going to fade away.
Then, there’s still war. Americans die every day in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Queda and there’s no proof of any weapons of mass destruction. Former Bush administration officials say that he talked about invading Iraq as soon as he got into office and began implementing plans to do so within a week of September 11.
Then there is the mother-of-all-wedge-issues rearing its ugly head again. In 1971 a Viet Nam veteran, with Silver and Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose the Vietnam War and asked the Senators something very controversial.
Commander John Kerry asked them, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
No military man or woman’s service to their country should ever be devalued, their lives and sacrifice is truly honorable and sacred- and I don’t think that Commander Kerry meant to say they died in vain. I believe that he questioned the policies and decisions of Presidents Johnson (a Democrat) and Nixon (a Republican) just as people today question Bush’s policy of “preemptive unilateralist.”
Carter served in the cold war on the first nuclear submarine. Ronald Reagan played a soldier frequently in Hollywood Movies. Bush Sr. served in WWII. Clinton got a deferment for college because he was accepted to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England (like West Point grad Wes Clark), of course he took a lot of heat from Republicans because he participated in protests against Vietnam.
Bush Jr. is thought to have joined the Air National Guard to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, where men like Bob Kerry, John McCain, and John Kerry suffered and sacrificed.
I have two uncles who are great friends, but Vietnam is something they both choose not to talk about. One was a medic, another fled to Canada. Almost forty years later, it’s a wedge issue that still divides families, and divides America.
What we must learn to do is to agree to disagree. Wedge issues will always divide us, but they need not destroy us. Like it or not, compromise is an integral part of our democracy. As foul as they often are to endure unresolved or un-vanquished, these differences should be the price we pay for our unity and freedom, not the levers we use to wrest power from our political opponents.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Presidential race narrowing
Here’s what I see happening. Quote me or mark my words or whatever you want to do- the very fact that I’m going on record with this will probably jinx it so it won’t happen anyway:
Mass. Sen. John Kerry sews up the Democratic nomination long before the convention and chooses N.C. Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Since Edward’s is young and handsome, like Dan Quayle and a Protestant and a Southerner like LBJ, he wins over the young, the South, and the Christian non-conservatives (Black) swing voters that a Catholic from Boston like Kerry needs to defeat President Bush and Vice President Dick “Halaberton/Heart trouble” Cheney in November.
A couple of weeks ago, on February 2, Kerry won 5 of the 7 state primaries, solidifying his lead in a rapidly dwindling field of Democratic candidates. It is important to point out that at the time I write this column, he only has 244 delegates at the convention so far. He needs at least 2,161 to guarantee the nomination. 1,917 is still a long way to go.
Most of us have written of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean since he screamed after the Iowa Caucuses, but he’s got 121 delegates and Edwards has 102. General Wesley Clark only has 79.
If any of these guys can hang in there till spring, maybe they can bring enough leverage to make sure that their voice is at least hear at the convention. That’s what Rev. Al Sharpton claims to be trying to do, although most analysts don’t expect he’ll have much influence. Right now he has a whole five delegates, and that’s after coming in third in South Carolina- his big “double digits win.” That means he got 10 %.
Personally, I’d like to see Dean be able to do that. He successfully activated the party’s progressive base without flying as far to left field as Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. For whatever else anyone thinks of Dean, he is a thinker. He wrote a pamphlet called “Common Sense for the 21st Century,” an homage to Thomas Paine’s Revolutionary War propaganda, that lays out pretty clearly and simply his ideas about who America is, where we came from, and how to get back to fundamental ideas of justice, fairness, progress, world leadership, self-government, and community.
Okay, okay, I’ll give up, I know he’s out. A Time/CNN poll has Bush beating Dean 52% to 45%. I just wish that fixing foreign policy, helping education and a balanced budget were as important to other Democrats as “electability.” Are you happy? I’ll stop betting on a dead horse. But my point is, I think Dean got Kerry and Edwards to talk about the war and the deficit and that’s important.
I predict that Dean will end up hosting his own talk show somewhere and General Clark will be offered either Secretary of State or Defense. Sharpton will go back to neighborhood radical race politics in New York City or obscurity.
Dean’s pinning a lot of hopes on Michigan and Wisconsin this week and next, but the real test will be March 2, when 10 more states hold their primary on what used to be called “Super Tuesday,” including California, Georgia, New York, and Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts. By the time American Samoa has their primary on March 8, I think it will be all over.
That same Time/CNN poll has Kerry beating Bush 53% to 46% or Edwards beating Bush 49% to 48%- of course if that would happen, there’d be all this trouble over ballots somewhere like Florida, where Bush’s brother is governor and it would get decided in the Supreme court by justices appointed by Bush’s father who go duck hunting with Cheney on the weekends.
Of course, if the Army gets a hold of Osama Bin Laden in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan this spring or summer like the CIA thinks they might, all bets are off. Bush will be every body’s hero again and people will be talking about Kerry the way they talk about Dean now.
Mind you, I hope they get him tomorrow, but the massive debt and deficits that Bush has been running may do more harm than terrorism over the next fifty years. When did “conservatives” give up on fiscal responsibility? When I grew up I thought that’s what it meant to be a Republican, but since Reagan and Bush Sr. it seems like all they like to do is tax-and spend.
They accuse Democrats of being tax-and-spend liberals, but it’s who you tax and what you spend it on. I see Bush taxing working people and spending it on Halaberton and Enron.
Kerry and Bush both went to Yale, and both pledged to the infamous, secretive and Masonic “Skull and Bones” fraternity, but I’ll take the old fashioned Boston noblesse oblige over a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people" any day. (Yes I know Dean went to Yale too, what are ya gonna do?)
Disclaimer: These views were my own and do not necessarily represent those of other Democrats, this NEWSpaper, or Lyon Publishing- just thought I'd throw that at ya to cover my tushie.
Mass. Sen. John Kerry sews up the Democratic nomination long before the convention and chooses N.C. Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Since Edward’s is young and handsome, like Dan Quayle and a Protestant and a Southerner like LBJ, he wins over the young, the South, and the Christian non-conservatives (Black) swing voters that a Catholic from Boston like Kerry needs to defeat President Bush and Vice President Dick “Halaberton/Heart trouble” Cheney in November.
A couple of weeks ago, on February 2, Kerry won 5 of the 7 state primaries, solidifying his lead in a rapidly dwindling field of Democratic candidates. It is important to point out that at the time I write this column, he only has 244 delegates at the convention so far. He needs at least 2,161 to guarantee the nomination. 1,917 is still a long way to go.
Most of us have written of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean since he screamed after the Iowa Caucuses, but he’s got 121 delegates and Edwards has 102. General Wesley Clark only has 79.
If any of these guys can hang in there till spring, maybe they can bring enough leverage to make sure that their voice is at least hear at the convention. That’s what Rev. Al Sharpton claims to be trying to do, although most analysts don’t expect he’ll have much influence. Right now he has a whole five delegates, and that’s after coming in third in South Carolina- his big “double digits win.” That means he got 10 %.
Personally, I’d like to see Dean be able to do that. He successfully activated the party’s progressive base without flying as far to left field as Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. For whatever else anyone thinks of Dean, he is a thinker. He wrote a pamphlet called “Common Sense for the 21st Century,” an homage to Thomas Paine’s Revolutionary War propaganda, that lays out pretty clearly and simply his ideas about who America is, where we came from, and how to get back to fundamental ideas of justice, fairness, progress, world leadership, self-government, and community.
Okay, okay, I’ll give up, I know he’s out. A Time/CNN poll has Bush beating Dean 52% to 45%. I just wish that fixing foreign policy, helping education and a balanced budget were as important to other Democrats as “electability.” Are you happy? I’ll stop betting on a dead horse. But my point is, I think Dean got Kerry and Edwards to talk about the war and the deficit and that’s important.
I predict that Dean will end up hosting his own talk show somewhere and General Clark will be offered either Secretary of State or Defense. Sharpton will go back to neighborhood radical race politics in New York City or obscurity.
Dean’s pinning a lot of hopes on Michigan and Wisconsin this week and next, but the real test will be March 2, when 10 more states hold their primary on what used to be called “Super Tuesday,” including California, Georgia, New York, and Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts. By the time American Samoa has their primary on March 8, I think it will be all over.
That same Time/CNN poll has Kerry beating Bush 53% to 46% or Edwards beating Bush 49% to 48%- of course if that would happen, there’d be all this trouble over ballots somewhere like Florida, where Bush’s brother is governor and it would get decided in the Supreme court by justices appointed by Bush’s father who go duck hunting with Cheney on the weekends.
Of course, if the Army gets a hold of Osama Bin Laden in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan this spring or summer like the CIA thinks they might, all bets are off. Bush will be every body’s hero again and people will be talking about Kerry the way they talk about Dean now.
Mind you, I hope they get him tomorrow, but the massive debt and deficits that Bush has been running may do more harm than terrorism over the next fifty years. When did “conservatives” give up on fiscal responsibility? When I grew up I thought that’s what it meant to be a Republican, but since Reagan and Bush Sr. it seems like all they like to do is tax-and spend.
They accuse Democrats of being tax-and-spend liberals, but it’s who you tax and what you spend it on. I see Bush taxing working people and spending it on Halaberton and Enron.
Kerry and Bush both went to Yale, and both pledged to the infamous, secretive and Masonic “Skull and Bones” fraternity, but I’ll take the old fashioned Boston noblesse oblige over a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people" any day. (Yes I know Dean went to Yale too, what are ya gonna do?)
Disclaimer: These views were my own and do not necessarily represent those of other Democrats, this NEWSpaper, or Lyon Publishing- just thought I'd throw that at ya to cover my tushie.
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