Senile, Sneaky, or a little of both?

It's not that he'd be Bush III, it's that he'd be Reagan II; Either McCain is an evil genius or a doddering old codger. Haven't we been down that road before? Yeah, say back in the eighties...

I got to meet John McCain once, it was when he first ran for the Senate in 1986. He gave a press conference at the offices of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette. He seemed a little stiff and stand-off-ish, but not nearly as smug as Jon Kyle who was running to replace him as one of Arizona’s Congressmen.

I liked that McCain was willing to buck his party for the sake of what he believed was in the best interest of the country. I considered myself a fiscal conservative and was mad as heck at the Reagan administration for letting the federal deficit and the national debt run amok. McCain was a principle supporter of the Gramm-Rudman Act, which was supposed to automatically cut spending in the event of a budget deficit.

But most of politics is smoke and mirrors. One of the authors of Gramm-Rudman, was Texas Republican Phil Gramm.

Gramm had been McCain’s senior economic adviser. He isn’t anymore. You may remember a few weeks ago that he tried to tell people that we aren’t in a recession. "You've heard of mental depression;” he said, “this is a mental recession.” Gramm said that “we have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining.”

I don’t know about you, but not only do I whine every time I fill up at a gas station, but if the price of oil doesn’t drop soon, I plan to whine a lot when it’s time to fill up the home heating fuel barrel. Coincidently, Gramm was being paid by Swiss bank, UBS to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis. McCain has been proudly campaigning on how he won’t be influenced by lobbyists.

What with the Housing crisis going on and failure and looming bail outs of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, I think it’s important to have a President who’s comfortable making decisions about the economy. McCain has admitted that “economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should”

But he has plenty of experience in dealing with issues of banking and predatory loans. Remember he was a member of the so-called "Keating Five.” Between 1982 and 1987, McCain accepted $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating Jr. and friends at the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, along with trips on Keating's jets.

But I’m more concerned with McCain’s performance in the areas of history and geography.
Just last week in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS, McCain boasted that President Bush’s “surge” in Iraq made a movement possible called the Anbar Awakening,” in which Sunni tribes united to resist Al Qaida. The problem is that the Anbar Awakening happened in 2006, whereas the American surge took place in 2007. I can’t help but remind you that Al Qaida wasn’t ever in Iraq until AFTER the United States invaded, because Saddam Hussein hated them, as do most Iraqis. Also keep in mind that it was Al Qaida who attacked us in 2001, not Iraq.

Also, has anyone told McCain that there is no Chezkslovakia anymore? How about that Iraq and Pakistan don't share a border?

At least McCain’s friends, Connecticut Senator Joe Leiberman had the decency to explain to him that Iran was training Hamas members, not Al Queda members.

Obama has utilized the internet not only to bring in millions of small dollar donors instead of relying on the conventional hand full of multi-thousand dollar donors that politicians used to, but also to establish a vast ground-roots movement, especially vitalized by young voters. On the other hand, 72 year old McCain doesn’t do the internet. I appreciate that not many 72 year old would feel the need to establish their own Facebook accounts, but too much information, education, communication and commerce take place on the web for any future President to be able to afford to be technologically illiterate.

He thinks that the media has been giving too much attention to Obama, but come on, if Barrack Obama had made the same kind of gaffes that McCain has been making- especially in say a two or three week period, wouldn't the media have eaten him alive?

There was a time when I had patience for, even a level of comfort with McCain, but I just can't seem to take him seriously anymore.

And here's another thing- (and please forgive me for using these ugly words, it's just to make a point) if it's wrong for Jesse Jackson to use the word "nigger," why is it okay for McCain to use the word "Gook?" Isn't it insanely racist against Asians?

Night Lilies

I slept but my heart was awake.

Listen! My lover is knocking:

"Open to me, darling,

my dove, my flawless one.

My head is drenched with dew,

my hair with the dampness of the night."

My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;

my heart began to pound for him.

I arose to open for my lover,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh,

on the handles of the lock...

(Song of Solomon)

Who are your choices?

Rob Hubler is a passionate progressive with lifetime roots in western Iowa’s vast fifth congressional district. He is a retired Presbyterian minister, a Navy veteran who served on submarines, a teacher of severely disabled children, and has experience working for both Dick Clark and Tom Harkin. He is a candidate that Iowans of any party can be proud to have as their representative—a serious, competent, compassionate public servant with a lifetime of service to his country and his fellow citizens.


Steve King, on the other hand, is an extreme right-winger, who shamelessly defends the dishonesty of the Bush administration and has lined his pockets with special-interest group and lobbyist money. Like Bush and Cheney, and other "chickenhawks," he never served in the military himself.He's pretty well liked and firmly entrenched in Iowa's fifth as a home town boy. He wants to deport the widows and orphans of legal immigrants and is a chief proponent of building an actual wall along the US-Mexican border, of course offering contracts to build it to his son's construction company. King said the events of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse "amounts to hazing." He's disrupted House Judiciary committee meetings on torture and the politicization of the Justice Department. He's even said that terrorists will dance in the streets if America elects a Black man president.

To find out more about Rob, visit http://www.hublercongress.com/home.html

To find out even more about Steve, visit http://www.kingwatch.org

Sweet Corn Salsa

Category:

Appetizers & Snacks

Ingredients:
1 c corn kernels, cooked
1 ripe papaya, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 dice
1/3 c diced red onion
2 ripe diced tomatoes,
1 1/2 ts minced garlic
1 tb grated lime zest
1/4 c Lime juice
1/3 c Chopped cilantro

Directions:
Any salsa is best when served fresh. If it isn’t convenient to make the salsa just before serving time, prepare and refrigerate all your ingredients ahead of time and toss together 15 minutes before serving. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except cilantro. Toss together. Refrigerate, covered, for up to 2 hours. Just before serving, toss with cilantro.

Keith O on McCain

High crimes and misdemeanors

Please, EVERYONE, Republicans too- we need to do something about this administration. Write your congressman (even if it's Steve King) and urge them to support impeachment!

House d committee member Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, that, "What this Congress does, or chooses not to do in furthering the investigation of the serious allegations against this administration – and if just cause is found, to hold them accountable – will impact the conduct of future presidents, perhaps for generations."

(The) American people have been forced to sit by while credible allegations of abuse of power mount:

• We have seen this Administration fabricate the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and allege, despite all evidence to the contrary, a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. These lies dragged our country into a preemptive and unjustified war that has taken the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. troops, injured 30,000 more, and will cost our nation more than a trillion dollars.

• We watched as this Administration again undermined national security by manipulating and exaggerating evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities and openly threatened aggression against Iran, despite no evidence that Iran has the intention or capability of attacking the U.S.

• We have looked on in horror as the Administration suspended habeas corpus by claiming the power to declare any person an "enemy combatant" – ignoring the Geneva Convention protections that the U.S. helped create.

• We have seen torture and rendition of prisoners in violation of international law and stated American policy and values, and destruction of the videotaped evidence of such torture, under the tenure of this Administration.

• We have seen this Administration spy on Americans without a court order or oversight in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

• We watched as U.S. Attorneys pursued politically-motivated prosecutions in violation of the law and perhaps at the direction of this White House.

• We watched as Administration officials outed Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent of the CIA and then intentionally obstructed justice by disseminating false information through the White House press office.

Read John Nichol's entire article in The Nation

Impeachment Hearings are the Appropriate and Necessary Next Step

posted by John Nichols on 07/25/2008 @ 2:32pm

As the House Judiciary Committee took up the question of how best to address what its chairman described as "the Imperial Presidency of George W. Bush," it was one of the ranking Republicans in the room, Iowa Congressman Steve King, who observed that, "We are here having impeachment hearings before the Judiciary Committee."

"These are impeachment hearings before the United States Congress," King continued. "I never imagined I would ever be sitting on this side when something like this happened."

King was not happy about the circumstance.

A resolute defender of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the congressman was objecting to the very mention of the "I" word.

Ted's take: Doesn't it figure, that Iowa 5th's own embarrassment Steve King is afraid of impeachment hearings? He'll be high and dry and powerless without the Neocons culture of corruption and politics of fear.

Read John Nichol's entire article in The Nation

Ted's Zuke Salsa

Category:		Appetizers & Snacks
Style:		Mexican
Special Consid.:		Low Calorie
Servings:		Plenty!

Description:
What are the best things that everybody (in Iowa) has in their garden in July? Home grown tomatoes, and zucchini! Once August comes around, you can add sweet corn. Even if you don't have a garden, your neighbors and coworkers are bound to be bringing you zucchini. Here's a great idea for using it up.

I've heard of zucchini bread, sautéed, in pasta and grilling zucchini and even using shredded zucchini in fruit preserves- but this salsa is my new favorite way of using up those big green monsters.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced onion
1 diced clove garlic
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup diced sweet peppers
1 diced Anaheim pepper
1 cup diced zucchini
1 4oz can of diced green chilies
1 tsp cilantro
1 tsp parsley
the juice of 1 lime
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vinegar
salt to taste

Stir and let sit at least an hour, maybe even overnight.


Directions:
There's only two things that money can't buy and that's true love and homegown tomatoes. If you don't have those, I like firm Romas because they're easier to dice- but most people go for those juicy Beefsteaks.

I diced up my zucchini pretty small- between a quarter inch and and eighth of an inch cubed. Zuke is one of those things like potatoes or tofu that takes on the flavor of what ever it's in. So if you need more salsa, or you like yours chunkier rather than juicy, by all means spread it out by using more Zuke!
I skinned mine first, but I bet it would at color and texture to leave it on.

The secret to making it more like salsa instead of just pico de gallo is the olive oil. The secret to making it taste like authentic Mexican is the cilantro and the lime. Mmmmmm. They're teh secret ingredient in ANY salsa.

You can certainly include sweet corn in this recipe and some people even like chick peas or black beans- but then we're getting into other types of salsa and not just Zuke. But after all cooking should be more art than science.

The Anaheim pepper gives it a kick, but don't be afraid. Anaheims are very mild and flavorful, they're nothing like cayennes, jalepenos or haberneros, not that there's anything wrong with heat, but this is an IOWA recipe.

My favorite for heat and flavor are GREEN chilies. In Iowa, stick with just one can of mild chilies- Arizonans and Californians may prefer two cans or medium or hot. Again, THIS recipe is about the Zuke, not the nuke.

For color and flavor, dice up the non-hot peppers. My first time I happened to find "sweet mini-peppers" on sale, but Bell peppers would work too, but make sure to use red, yellow, or orange. The green ones will overpower the whole thing.

Not only is this great with chips, or on tortillas or rice, but try it as a salad topping or on your baked potatoes, you'll love it. You'll go through it so fast, that you won't have a bunch of zucchinis laying around for long.

A Conversation With Barack Obama : Rolling Stone

This was a great article, they also have an excellent one about his campaign team in the same issue!

A Conversation With Barack Obama : Rolling Stone

RS: Change is the byword of the campaign and the definition of your strategy. Can you describe what change is? What does it look like? Not in policy terms, but what change you want to bring to America as a whole.

BO: "I want people to feel connected to their government again, and I want that government to respond to the voices of the people, and not just insiders and special interests. That's real change. I want us to think about the long term and not just the short term, whether it's climate change, energy policy, how we're educating our kids, what kind of investments we're making in our infrastructure, how we're dealing with the federal budget and national debt. I want us to think intergenerationally, something we used to do more of and we have lost. I want us to rediscover our bonds to each other and to get out of this constant petty bickering that's come to characterize our politics. That's not to say it's possible or even desirable to squash real policy arguments, but the tit-for-tat, "gotcha" game that passes for politics right now doesn't solve problems. I want to get beyond that."

A picture worth thousands of words

Last week a weekly magazine with a pretty small niche market made a big splash in the whole media world, including the 24/7 cable news world, the morning drive time radio world, and especially the still new and relatively untamed world of the web. The splash sent shock waves nationwide, was made by a silly drawing. Yes, a mere funny picture sent pundits and prognosticators reeling.

The cover of the New Yorker depicted Presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Oval office, dressed as Osama bin Ladin giving his wife Michelle a fist-bump. Michelle is dressed as an Angela Davis style sixties militant Black radical, complete with machine gun, camo and afro. A portrait of the real Al Qaeda leader hangs where George Washington should be and the American flag smolders in the fireplace. Describing it here in words makes it sound more offensive than the whimsically sketched caricatures really looks.

Obama expressed disappointment in the magazine cover and his rival, John McCain condemned the cartoon. The tragedy is that the uproar about it reveals that America seems to have lost their sense of humor because most of us seemed to have missed the joke.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mallory- you wrote this a couple days after it was a big deal, we’re reading it a week after that, so we’ve heard the story over and over again by now. The cartoonist and the New Yorker were trying to make fun of how many emails have claimed that Obama is really a Muslim, and that his wife is some kind of Black supremacist. That some yahoo on a Fox News morning show thinks that fist-bumping is some kind of gang sign and that some panicky extreme right-wingers think that Liberals are all flag burning America haters. We all know that they were trying to satirize Obama opponents, not slander the Obamas themselves.

Okay, okay. You get all that. And you know that I fancy myself a cartoonist too, and if you read this column regularly, it’s no secret that recent flip-flop on the FISA bill not withstanding, I’m pretty much on the Obama bandwagon. Fine. So what’s my problem?

Is it that some people don’t get that the cover was a joke about Obama’s opponents and find it offensive because they think it only serves to perpetuate the false rumors about him?

No, I understand that it seems to have back-fired. What I don’t get is why didn’t it work? Is it because since the advent of Saturday Night Live back in the seventies, our culture has been so super-saturated with sarcasm that we can’t recognize genuine irony when someone uses it? Nah… ya think? Pshaw-as if!

Or, is it that we’re so up tight and on edge that we’re suffering from some kind of Mid-Traumatic Stress Disorder that we’ve lost our sense of humor? I tell ya, it may only be a recession, but every time I drive by a gas station price sign or listen to the news, I go into depression.

Is it because we’re so polarized and passionate about our positions that we’re too freaked out to tease each other about anything political? That can’t be it, because our friends at the Republican booth at the county fair seemed to be comfortable enough to rib us about offering our kids candy as we ordered supper from the church booth across the exhibit hall.

Maybe those primaries put our teeth on edge about race. Bill Clinton lost his credibility with the Black community with as many not so subtle innuendos and back stabs as he could get in while many Hillary supporters blamed all of her problems the alleged sexism of Obama supporters. Maybe all these years the bullies on right-wing radio have been right, and progressives really are too uptight about political correctness to even have a sense of humor.

But as they say, no publicity is bad publicity. The Obamas got more attention so bad for them turned out to be good for them. The New Yorker, which has FAR fewer reads than People or US or any magazine that features the Spears sisters on the cover, got much more attention then they’re used to. So, even if they look like racist fear-mongerers instead of the Birkenstock wearing, Harvard elite liberals that they are, good for them too, right? McCain gets to look like a good guy for condemning racist fear-mongering instead of benefiting for it for once, that has to be good for him, especially with those independents in the center, right? And we all had something to talk about other than the price of gas for a week. Also good.

All I know is I don’t get it. But then, I understand that there are a lot of people who don’t always get my political cartoons either.

Up close and intimate

Summer Lillies

King decrees widows penalized

by: Douglas Burns | The Iowa Independent
Jul 21, 2008 at 14:05 PM

Congressman Steve King is now using a preposterous hypothetical that characterizes our servicemen as booze-hounds prone to one-night stands and black-out drunk marriages.

King, a Kiron Republican who is not even subtle with his beliefs that America should be populated by native-born whites, is a strong supporter of the so-called "widow penalty." More than 150 foreign-born widows and widowers face deportation because their spouses died less than two years after the marriages and before citizenship paperwork could be processed.

Congress is working to end the tragedy but King doesn't want to cut the widows a break, in large part because he questions the legitimacy of mixed-race families, believing them a product of white men wilding on foreign soils with exotic women. Read his own words:

"A soldier, man or woman, could get drunk in Bangkok, wake up in the morning and be married, as will happen sometimes in places like Las Vegas or Bangkok, be killed the next day, and the spouse who was a product of the evening's celebration would have then a right to claim access to come to the United States on a green card," King said during debate on the widow penalty, according to The Des Moines Register.

Read King's own words:

"A soldier, man or woman, could get drunk in Bangkok, wake up in the morning and be married, as will happen sometimes in places like Las Vegas or Bangkok, be killed the next day, and the spouse who was a product of the evening's celebration would have then a right to claim access to come to the United States on a green card," King said during debate on the widow penalty, according to The Des Moines Register.

Ted's Take:

"I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts." (emphasis mine)

- Malachi 3:5

That's from this book I read once. Forget what they call it, "Bibliosomething,?" Sounds like Babel. Anyway, King probably wouldn't like it, it wasn't written by a white American. Although I thought it was a big hit with the "family values" crowd for a while a few years back.

Mr. Vargas says...

Come join!

Come join my new FaceBook group!mal•toons FaceBook group

Or, if you're a cartoonist yourself, come join...Political Cartoonists of the world unite!

King acting like class clown to sabotage torture inquiry

Expect a cartoon from me on this next week!

Steve King found yet another creative way to disgrace himself and embarrass Iowans yesterday. Here are some news clips so far today: Washington Post: Washington Sketch describes King's shenanigans http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502670.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 Iowa Independent: King's Antics Block Congressional Testimony on WMD, Torture http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2590 Council Bluffs Nonpareil: Hubler to King: Let's Debate http://www.nonpareilonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19854579&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555106&rfi=6 Des Moines Register: Private Medicare is no answer for rural access (editorial) http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/OPINION03/807160346/1035/Opinion Chicago Tribune: Iowa Congressmen raise money http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-ia-congress-money,0,4105897.story Des Moines Register: Iowa FEC filing information http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/NEWS/80716025/1056/NEWS09 And, as usual, Charlie Cook pretty much nails the presidential race in the National Journal: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/print_friendly.php?ID=cr_20080712_5747

Fwd: The Last Media Tycoon

As a newspaper and magazine junkie, I thought that this was pretty interesting. Thanks Keith! _______________________________________________________________________________________
The Mapleton PRESS
504 Main St. PO Box 187
Mapleton, IA 51034
712-881-1101, FAX 712-881-1330

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Keith Dinsmore

Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Subject: The Last Media Tycoon

In the mornings, I don't consider the day to have really begun until I'm on at least my second cup of coffee and have accumulated a little newspaper ink on my fingertips. So it was more than a little disturbing to my psyche last night when I read this very good article on Portfolio.com about the new publisher of the Washington Post and her challenge of saving one of the great newspapers of the world. http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2008/07/15/Washington-Post-Publisher-Weymouth The part that bothered me most was the confident prediction by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that, in 10 years, "there will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form." Holy Gutenberg! The Apocolypse is upon us! I remember going to state and national newspaper meetings in the late 70's -- 30 years ago -- when most of the big-city publishers seemed obsessed with talk about some ill-defined "information super highway" that was on the horizon. I recall lots of hand wringing about how were they going to prepare for the forthcoming revolution. Their nightmarish scenario involved people sitting in front of their computers reading the news of the day .... for FREE!! This vision of doom caused most of them to break into a cold sweat -- or go to the bar for a couple of stiff drinks. As a struggling country publisher from Iowa in his 30's, I went to these meetings in Des Moines, Kansas City or Washington to pick up a few ideas on how to put out a better news product that people would want to read every week. Secondarily, I hoped to pick up some tips on how to sell enough advertising to keep the printing presses running and the damned papers afloat financially. I didn't give a good rip about running a local access cable TV franchise or spend any time worrying about who was going to own the cord going into everyone's homes connected to some box that let them order movies or a pizza from their TV screen. I just wanted more "pork months" and "national agriculture weeks" and graduation issues that would let me hustle a few more ads to pay the bills. As a news junkie, I absolutely love the internet (thank you, Al Gore). To have access to the news of the world in just a few clicks of the mouse is a wonderful thing. But I just gotta ask: Who the hell wants to live in a world with no newspapers or magazines?? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this insightful article about the Washington Post Co. and the brave new world we live in. But there's still something about the aroma of newsprint .... Keith

Come join!

Come join my new FaceBook group!mal•toons FaceBook groupOr, if you're a cartoonist yourself, come join...Political Cartoonists of the world unite!

Come join!

Come join my new FaceBook group!mal•toons FaceBook group

Or, if you're a cartoonist yourself, come join...Political Cartoonists of the world unite!

Crass comment cuts off debate

In case you didn't hear, last week Rev. Jesse Jackson was waiting to be interviewed on FOX and whispered his frustrations with Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama, including a pretty graphic and gruesome description of how he'd like to neuter the Illinois Senator.

It really is unfortunate that the focus from the left will be that Fox is practicing shabby journalism and that the focus from the right will be that Jackson must be a hypocrite for using such vulgar language while complaining that a Black political leader would encourage personal morality and responsibility in the Black community.

It's sad because one of the important differences between Republicans and Democrats is the emphasis of the right on individual morality (sexual orientation, drug use, abortion) and the emphasis of the left on collective/societal morality (justice, poverty, war, corporate and government responsibility, environmental stewardship).

Both are legitimate and both are important, but both sides seem to argue past each other, discount each other's concerns and even accuse each other of being somehow amoral or even immoral when in fact both camps are have deeply held "values."

As someone who majored in History at a Lutheran university, as someone who's faith and country are both very important to him, I think that these is things which we need to be able to discuss openly and civilly.

Recently a prominent Black pastor commented on this balance (or imbalance):

"My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility,"

This pastor's concern is that lecturing people that they need to be better parents or get a job or stay away from drugs or stop listening to Gansta Rap isn't needed as much as addressing the problems of institutional racism, housing and job discrimination and the failures of education and government to provide equal opportunity to minorities. You may not agree with him, but in essence, he's saying, "stop picking at the specks in other people's eyes and worry about the log in our collective national eye (Matthew 7:1-6)."

One side wants to prevent abortions, the other wants to help parents be able to afford to keep and care for the babies they have. One side wants to incarcerate young men who commit crime or sell or use drugs, while the other wants to provide a better education and a better chance for those young men to get a decent job and feel valued by and involved in something other than a gang.

One side is reactive, the other side would like to be proactive. One side wants to prohibit sin, the other wants to actively do good. Both have their own idea of how to make "Thy kingdom come."

It's a never ending debate. Way back in the 16 and 1700's political philosopher John Locke believed that all men were created equal and capable of self government while Thomas Hobbes believed that we're all selfish and in conflict and need to be governed forcibly. Both sides are partly right but both sides are missing half the picture.

Whichever side you agree with, it's about time that we recognize that the James Dobsons and John Haggees do not represent ALL Christian thinking. Not all liberals and progressives are atheists bent on debasing all our traditions. I'll betchya anything that when you die and go to Heaven, youíll be surprised by how many different political viewpoints are represented by the other people there.

Both Republican Mike Hukabee and Democrat Obama have shown that Christians are concerned about more issues than white, Fundamentalist Southern Baptist extremists may like to admit. Of course we also have to be careful to not assume that the likes of Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright represent all Black people let alone all Black Christians.

Like it or not, if Jesus were here today, he'd probably be cavorting with freaks and sinners (Mark 2:14-17). Granted that's not to say that He'd condone any of their sin, but I for one think that His grace, love and forgiveness are messier than Jerry Fawell's Moral Majority would approved of.

The new, younger faith talk focuses on helping the community (Matthew 25:39-46), whereas the traditional "family values" talk of the last 30 years or so has been much more focused on how America is going to Hell in a hand-basket (Romans 1:18-32).

It's too bad that we can't "come reason together (Isaiah 1:18)" and find out how we can work together instead of accusing each other of being bad, wrong, evil, or a tool of the Devil all the time. I know, I know, who am I to talk when I draw cartoons like last week's that throw Dr. Dobson's words about Obama back at him? But that's what cartoonists do.

That pastor who made the statement about wanting Obama to deal with "collective moral responsibility?" ... Jesse Jackson.

If only he had had the manhood to say it that way BEFORE Fox caught him saying it in such a base, offensive manor, maybe then he could've castrated the arguments of his opponents instead of emasculating his own credibility.

Conservative commentator Rod Dreher chastises FOX in Dallas Morning News

I don't know that I've ever typed these words, but here they are: I feel sorry for Jesse Jackson. Some words he uttered disparaging of Barack Obama, words that were clearly intended to be private, were picked up by a Fox News microphone on a Fox set...Fox is playing dirty here...why would anybody left of center appear on Fox, knowing that the network has no scruples about playing off-air conversations to embarrass them?

Read More

Ted's take-

It really is unfortunate that the focus from the left will be that Fox is practicing shabby journalism and that the focus from the right will be that Jackson must be a hypocrite for using such vulgar language while that a Black political leader would encourage personal morality and responsibility in the Black community. It's sad because one of the important differences between Republicans and Democrats is the between individual morality (sexual orientation, drug use, abortion) and collective/societal morality (justice, poverty, war, corporate and government responsibility, environmental stewardship).

Both are legitimate and both are important, both sides seem to argue past each other, discount each other's concerns and even accuse each other of being somehow amoral or even immoral when in fact both camps are have deeply held "values."

Recently a prominent Black pastor commented on this balance (or imbalance):

"My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility,"

This pastor's concern is that lecturing people that they need to be better parents or get a job or stay away from drugs or stop listening to Gansta Rap isn't as needed as addressing institutional racism, housing and job discrimination and the failures of education and government to provide equal opportunity to all groups. You may not agree with him, but in essence, he's saying, "stop picking at the specks in other people's eyes and worry about the log in our collective national eye (Matt 7:1-6).

One side want to prevent abortions, the other wants to help parents be able to afford to keep and care for the babies they have. One side wants to incarcerate young men who commit crime or sell or use drugs, the other wants to provide a better education and a better chance for those young men to get a decent job and feel valued by an involved in something other than a gang in the first place.

It's a never ending debate, because in the 16 and 1700's John Locke believed that all men were created equal and capable of self government and Thomas Hobbes believed that they're all selfish and in conflict and need to be governed forcibly. Both sides are partly right and both sides are missing half the picture.

That pastor who made the statement about wanting Obama to deal with "collective moral responsibility?" ... Jessee Jackson. If only he had had the balls to say it that way BEFORE Fox caught him saying it in such a base, offensive manor, he could've castrated the bullies on the right instead of emasculating his own credibility.

Mammas, don't let your babies grow up

I asked my eight year old what she wanted to be when she grew up. Without hesitation she said “farmer.” I felt pretty ambivalent. Not because she’s a girl, but because as the bumper sticker says, “crime doesn’t pay, and neither does farming.” I felt the same way the last time I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she answered “teacher.”

So, I started talking to her about agribusiness, agronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, marketing, veterinary medicine, all the different fields related to farming that she might want to consider pursuing. Especially considering how little she’s pursued helping her grandpa do farm work, let alone help her grandma work in the garden.

“Maybe you didn’t here me, I said FARMER,” came the indignant reply. Okay… a few years too soon to be a surly teenager, maybe I’ll talk to somebody else for a while. So I asked my three year old what she wants to be when she grows up.

“Um… I don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up yet,” she thoughtfully explained. Holy crap, I don’t know high school and college students who are reflective enough to admit that they haven’t made up their minds yet. This is why I’m convinced that this kid will become President some day.

Then a train drove by and she decided to change her answer, “Gwace says I can dwive a twain someday if I want to. That’s what I want to do when I gwow up.”
An engineer, fair enough. With airlines doing as wella s they are, I’m sure there will be plenty of railroad jobs when she grows up.

The last time I asked my six year old what she’s like to be when she grows up, she told me “I want to be a vegetarian, because I love animals SOOOOO much! Even though my MEAN dad won’t let me have a dog, that I promise I would take care of and take for walks and give baths, and it could sleep in MY room and it wouldn’t poop in the house, I PROMISE!”

Now, I know that she loves steak, pork chops, hamburgers, and chicken too much to ever become a vegetarian, so I’m assuming that she meant veterinarian. But she’d have to do it part time so that she could still manage her career as a pop-star like Hannah Montana or the Cheetah Girls.

When I was five I wanted to be a cowboy. Now you’d have thought that growing up in Arizona, I’d have been all over that. But here’s the thing, those boots- not all that comfortable. Definitely too much work to get on and off. Then they kind of make you walk funny. One of the reasons I’m glad I’m not a woman is that there’s no way I could do those high heels. Plus I have kind of fat calves, cowboy boots can really chafe your calves if you’re “husky.”

Then there were the hats. I don’t know, I always felt kind of conspicuous. Cowboy hats make me feel phony, like I’m putting on airs or trying too hard to be cool. And to be honest, I always believed that part of being a cowboy was real and not trying to impress anyone or fit into anyone else’s stereotypes. So forget the hat. The official state neckwear of Arizona is the bolo tie. Have you ever seen anybody wear a bolo tie since Barry Goldwater? Exactly.

Growing up in the rugged, desert southwest was great. Mountains and wilderness, cacti and sagebrush. But the only “cowboy” I knew was a guy who worked in freight at the airport with my dad, he just lived in a part of town that was zoned so he could have a couple horses and a mule (or donkey, or whatever it was).

At Boy Scout camp, I got the nicknamed “Whoa-boy,” after failing to earn my equestrian badge. It wasn’t my fault, the camp people insisted on putting me on a pigeon-towed horse named “spook” and gave his butt a swat and just expected me to know how to gallop.

This is time of year I have a huge amount of respect for the real cowboys. Those people who primp their calves with blow driers and Armor All and then lead them around the show ring at livestock shows and county fairs. They work their tails off and, like other people involved in farm related industries, they feed our country. Of course around here they’re called “cattlemen” instead of ranchers and it’s truckers who lead the herds to markets.

So whatever you became when you grew up, if you’re like me or my six year old and love a good ribeye, thank a farmer, cattleman, or trucker.

Local Interest

It's about time I wrote about something other than politics, don't you think?

These pictures were part of the 4th of July weekend kick off to Charter Oak's 60th Anniversary Achievement Days 4H&FFA Fair and livestock shows- Charter Oak Achievement Days was featured in last month's Wallace's Farmer magazine! These parents and kids work SO hard to maintain this fantastic part of our community, they really deserve our appreciation. Thanks neighbors!


Just south of Charter Oak, a line of 36 tractors form a parade through the countryside on Sunday. COU student Aaron Baughman organized a tractor ride as a 4H project for this year's Achievement Days. The caravan left Charter Oak around 12:30 Sunday afternoon south on L51 to Nelson Park Road where they rode east to Dow City and took the Kenwood Highway back to Charter Oak. In spite of the heat and the price of gas, plenty of curious onlookers enjoyed a drive out into the country so that they could watch the long line of red, green, and several orange antique tractors cut through the hills.

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One can only take so many pictures of sheep and pigs at a local fair before you have the urge to stick your face (and camera) into a flower.

The Fifth District in play?

Editorial, The Storm Lake Times, July 5, 2008
The Fifth District in play?
By Art Cullen

Four years ago, John Kerry led George Bush in the Iowa presidential voting 52-48% until the Fifth Congressional District phoned in. Bush won Iowa as a result. The reason? The state and national Democratic political apparatus wrote off Western Iowa because it was too conservative, by the numbers.

The Obama campaign does not intend to give up any ground with its 50-state strategy. Iowa is among the top swing states targeted by the Illinois Democrat. Winning the rural vote will be a key to his success, and unlocking the Fifth District is essential to that victory.

We’re told by the Obama camp that it will push to win the Fifth District. It may sound far-fetched, but Democrats Berkley Bedell and Tom Harkin proved that a progressive with common sense can win in Western Iowa.

The conservative Christian base of the Republican Party that prevails in these quarters is not energized by GOP standard bearer John McCain as it was with Bush. It’s possible that turnout could be muted in November among this key voting bloc. Obama also has been attempting to reach out to evangelicals with some success.

We were stunned with the level of organization the Obama campaign put into gear in Buena Vista County for the caucuses. That sort of organization will be on the ground this fall. Since McCain largely avoided Iowa, he does not have the same number of foot soldiers committed to the cause.

We could see Obama carrying the Fifth by winning Dickinson, Clay, Buena Vista, Carroll, Woodbury, Pottawattamie and Cherokee counties. That’s where the population is, and that’s where the most independent voters are. He might be able to compete in Crawford and O’Brien counties.

These places view ethanol in particular and the bioeconomy in general as important stepping stones into the future. Obama, by virtue of being from Illinois, is far more well-versed on the topic than McCain, who opposes ethanol subsidies.

An Obama win here is a long-shot. But McCain cannot take it for granted. If the Arizona senator wants to win Iowa, he will need to show up in Storm Lake, Spencer, Carroll, Denison and Spirit Lake to defend what should be his turf — and not just make the Sioux City airport stop. That’s going to be tough as he tries to play defense in the Rocky Mountain states and Deep South where Obama intends to bring his considerable resources to bear.

Republican despondence also may be a threat to incumbent Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron. Scoff if you will, but again recall that Harkin defeated incumbent Bill Scherle and Bedell knocked off incumbent Wiley Mayne in the post-Watergate landslide. The atmospherics may be similar this year.

Elephant Stew

Posted by Mallory's on Jan 30, '08 2:13 PM for everyone

Category:		Other
Style:		Soulfood
Servings:		3,800

Ingredients:
1 large elephant
plenty of brown gravy
salt & pepper to taste
2 whole rabbits -- optional

Directions:
Cut elephant into bite-size pieces (allow about 2 months to do this). Hold aside trunk, you can use it to store the pieces.

Put elephant in large (very large) pot; add enough gravy to cover. Cook over kerosene fire at 450 degrees for about 4 weeks, or until golden brown.

If more guest are expected, 2 rabbits may be added. However, this should be done only if absolutely necessary. Most people do not like to find hare in their stew.

I declare, yet another Independence Day

Every Fourth of July all we ever hear about is Thomas Jefferson this and Thomas Jefferson that. Oh, sometimes you’ll hear a little bit about John Adams and Ben Franklin, but it’s as if the other 56 guys who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t exist. I hear you shouting out the names of George Washington and John Hancock, but Washington was off fighting some war, too busy to even show up for the vote on the resolution to declare independence. And Hancock may not have become president of the second Continental Congress if the previous president, Peyton Randolph from Virginia hadn’t gotten sick and died (at the ripe old age of 54).

John Adam’s cousin Samuel Adams has become better known in recent years because of the premiere beers which bare his name. But in actuality while he was an excellent politician, in his time he was an unsuccessful brewer, and a poor businessman. It’s actually pretty ironic that he became such a rabble rouser for the cause of independence and “no taxation without representation” even leading the Boston Tea Party. You see, his first job was as a tax collector.

Hardly anyone remembers Pennsylvania’s John Dickinson. Probably because he didn’t sign the Declaration and in fact tried several times to stifle debate over the resolution. In fact, much to Ben Franklin’s chagrin, he split the Pennsylvania delegation on the issue. His object had always been reconciliation, not independence or revolution. He loved his country and had always been proud of his country, love her or leave her. Of course, his country was Great Brittan. Ah, a regular Benedict Arnold you say? Not at all, he served in the militia as both a private and as a brigadier general. He moved to Delaware and in 1777, while Delaware's wealthiest farmer and largest slaveholder, he free all his slaves.

So Dickinson turned out to be a decent person after all. He was so decent, that in 1781 he became the President of Delaware (under the Articles of Confederation, governors were called “president”). This was complicated by the fact that he became President of Pennsylvania in 1782 without resigning from the Delaware presidency. State presidents weren’t directly elected by the people, but appointed by the state legislatures. Needless to say, Delaware was really irked.

Josiah Bartlett was the first to sign the Declaration, after John Hancock. Bartlett served on the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. He was elected the first (and presumably only) president of independent New Hampshire, and then its first governor, under the U.S. Constitution.

Another New Hamphirean was William Whipple. He lead the successful battles of Stillwater and Saratoga against General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne. Nothing to sneeze at, but I still get a kick out of the name “General Whipple.” I imagine him ordering his troops not to squeeze the Charmin.

Speaking of grocers, they plaid a vital role in the revolutionary war. Roger Sherman started out as a humble cobbler from Connecticut. But eventually his business wasn’t limited to selling shoes, he was appointed commissary for Connecticut troops, which meant he provided groceries to military personnel. He served on the committee to write the Declaration, along with John Adams, Phillip Livingston of New York, Franklin, and of course Jefferson.

There may not have been a Declaration of Independence without Jefferson, but Congress may never have declared independence if it hadn’t been for another Virginian, Richard Henry Lee. It was Lee who actually offered the Resolutions for Independence to the committee of the whole in 1776. John Adams had tried repeatedly, but he was obnoxious and disliked, did you know that? History is stranger than mythology sometimes because this man, to whom the United States owes its birth, wound up being the great uncle of a certain Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who nearly brought about its demise.

Finally there was Judge James Wilson from Pennsylvania. You’ll remember that John Dickinson opposed declaring independence; well Wilson was the swing vote. Despite Ben Franklin’s best efforts, Wilson rode the fence so long, he got splinters. Pennsylvania was divided on the issue of separation, and Wilson refused to vote against the will of his constituents. He had spoken eloquently for independence so long as he never had to vote on it. He didn’t want to be famous. He wanted a quiet, simple life. He didn’t want to stand out as a radical. He claimed he had to consult with his constituents. He managed to stall for three weeks. Dickinson urged him to vote in the people’s best interest, which was to reconcile with Mother England.

In the end, he sided with the majority in Congress and so faded into obscurity. Sometimes swing votes are the most important.