Fortunately for us, it doesn’t look like any of them would reach the U.S. mainland. Phew, I was getting a little nervous because I’m on the west coast. [Source]
Tag Archives: politics
Beginning of the Great Revival
So my roommate (who’s from China) has tickets lined up for a free screening of Beginning of the Great Revival, a star-studded film about the historical events surrounding the formation of China’s Communist Party. Does this make up for not being able to go to China this year? First time in a long time that I’ll be celebrating July 4 in America.
I Hate the Hate
I don’t post about politics (or religion) often, but…
–as seen on: salon.com
“Whatever you might think of Islam as a religion and culture should have little bearing on how you relate to a person who is Muslim.” ~Jim Peterson in the introduction to The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross by Nabeel Jabbour
–via KM.
Obama meets with tech business leaders
President Obama was here in the Bay Area having dinner last night with some important people.
It must be pretty awesome to be there taking these pictures. Check out a Q&A session with Pete Souza, official White House photographer.
Anyone recognize the people at dinner with the President?
Joe Wong at RTCA Dinner
Thanks to Hsin for the link.
I, Too, Sing America
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed -
I, too, am America.
- Langston Hughes, born this day in 1902. If only he could have lived to see the White House today.
November 4, 2008
Illustration by Patrick Moberg.
My Glass Booth
I almost titled this post: Barack, the baby killer?
But before I get into that, check me out:
There’s a little quiz at glassbooth.org that helps you find out which presidential candidate most closely aligns with you.
I don’t usually post about politics much here, probably because I’m not much of a political person. But for the presidential election, I can’t decide which is the lesser of evils. Both candidates are far from perfect. As you can see, I’m pretty evenly divided. Of course, I can’t say anything about the validity of that quiz, but it’s fun to try out all the neat election tools out there.
Practically every one around me is probably going to vote for Barack because I live on the left coast. My friend and I were watching the debate last night and we were discussing the topic of abortion as it came up between the 2 candidates. I know many of my friends are fervent Obama supporters, but I don’t know if I can hang with his stance on abortion. Of course, I don’t know if I’d go for John McCain either since my current situation would allow me to benefit more from Obama’s tax plans. Might as well call me Jen the Plumber. Check out Obama’s Tax Cut Calculator.
Anyhoo, I’ve learned that in every single vote related to the issue of abortion, Obama’s favored abortion, its legality and even the killing of children who survive abortion. (As an Illinois state senator, four times he voted “no” on the Illinois Born-Alive Infant Defined Act, which would protect babies born alive after failed abortions.)
In a 2007 speech he made for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Obama said,
We know that a woman’s right to make a decision about how many
children she wants to have and when— without government interference—is
one of the most fundamental freedoms we have in this country. . . . I have worked on this issue for decades now. I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught constitutional law. . . So, you know where I stand. . . The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.
So before fixing the economy, helping the poor, and protecting the environment, he’s going to make sure that abortion stays legal. He wants to allow 16 year olds to have abortions without parental consent, where these same 16 year olds can’t even be given aspirin without permission?
During the debate, my friend, who is in her 2nd year of med school, was talking about how there may be legislation requiring doctors to perform abortions. If they decline, they may lose their licensing. Wouldn’t it make a little more sense to allow doctors to refer their patients to someone else if they themselves do not agree with this procedure? What is this world coming to?
Oh, and Obama supports late-term abortions too. Infanticide or not?
“Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 18:21)
Too complex. Too many things to think about. All I know is that I would never want to run for president.
Free Tacos for Stolen Bases
Get a free taco for stolen bases during the World Series.
Fun Political Paraphernalia
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“April 4th, 40 Years Ago
Update (April 5, 2008): Everyone’s knows of his “I Have a Dream” speech, but check out his very last speech in Memphis, the night before he was killed. Part one and part two, which is especially powerful and moving.
Photo Credit: Trikosko/Library of Congress
April 4, 1968- Dr. Martin Luther King was shot dead at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning and heard a story of Robert Kennedy delivering news of MLK’s death:
It was supposed to be a routine campaign stop. In a poor section of Indianapolis, 40 years ago Friday, a largely black crowd had waited an hour to hear the presidential candidate speak. The candidate, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had been warned not to go by the city’s police chief.
As his car entered the neighborhood, his police escort left him. Once there, he stood in the back of a flatbed truck. He turned to an aide and asked, “Do they know about Martin Luther King?”
They didn’t, and it was left to Kennedy to tell them that King had been shot and killed that night in Memphis, Tenn. The crowd gasped in horror.
“For those of you who are black and are tempted to … be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling,” he said. “I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.”
Many other American cities burned after King was killed. But there was no fire in Indianapolis, which heard the words of Robert Kennedy.
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.”
Two months later, Robert Kennedy himself was felled by an assassin’s bullet.
Remember history and learn.
Religion of nones
San Francisco Chronicle (USA), Dec. 4, 2003
http://www.sfgate.com
By Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Growing numbers shed organized church for loose spiritual sensibility
Kellee Hom was raised in the Roman Catholic Church but never imagined she’d become a religious none.
No, not “nun.” That’s “none,” as in “none of the above.”
Hom is among a growing number of Americans who simply answer “none” or “no religion” when pollsters ask them their religious affiliation. Some “nones” identify themselves as atheists or agnostics, but the vast majority believe in God, pray and often describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”
“My sense of God transcends all the different religions,” said Hom, a clinical supervisor at Asian American Recovery Services in San Francisco, which helps people with substance-abuse problems. “It’s an energy.”
Nones are one of the fastest growing religious categories in the United States.
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