It's a New Day

Martin wasn't dreaming for nothing:

Obama picks Warren and the people are outraged

Today there is an outrage over President-elect Obama's choice of Pastor Rick Warren to do the Inaugural Prayer.

But, let's not forget that this is Barack Obama! This is the man who uneasily weaved and worked his political-talk through the LOGO Forum on GLBT issues. He is against gay marriage and cites his religion and historical tradition to support his opposition.

So, it comes as no surprise to me when he picks a religious leader (who I actually respect in a lot of ways) who does not fully support a lot of gay issues (which is where I respectfully disagree with him). Pastor Warren does support partnership rights for gays that include insurance and visitation rights but does not support gay marriage. He cites his religion and historical tradition for his opposition to gay marriage. Sound familiar?

In the interview where he states his support for equal rights, Pastor Warren somehow equates gay marriage to incest and polygamy which is ridiculous and where I vehemently disagree with him.

So, folks, Barack Obama is not the change you want him to be - at least not for everyone. I'm glad that Andrew Sullivan is dishing out the rallying cry for our country in saying that "a civil rights movement needs to realize that no politician can deliver for us what we have to deliver on our own."

I know that Sullie was specifically speaking about the gay rights movement, but the same should go for people who make education their movement or fair labor practice or global poverty or anything.

Barack Obama is not the deliverer. You are the change. Work for it. Work hard.

And, in defense of Barack Obama and his decision - one can be friends with and work with people that we tremendously disagree with and not have their beliefs affect what we do.

Just sayin'.

Barack Obama Way

Wendy and I have been confused by some reports we're hearing of things being named "Barack Obama" something-or-other.

Isn't it way too early?

Granted, he is the first African-American president-elect in our history! That's pretty neat. Yes, he has a good story. But, he hasn't done anything as President yet!!!!!

A Long Island Elementary School is now known as Barack Obama Elementary School. Couldn't they wait four years to make sure he actually turns out to be OK?

In a small town in Spain, the main avenue is being renamed Calle Barack Obama. Umm, why?

Babies are being named Barack Obama. Please don't do that yet!

I voted for him and hope, for the good of our country, that he does an amazing job. But what if he's terrible? Do you want to take the chance that you named your baby after a terrible President? I wonder how many little George W. Bushes are running around the country....

I'll say this, I like Obama's VP and cabinet picks so far. I can just see the day when we need to send someone to resolve some issue with some foreign wannabe. Who do we send?

How about, National Security Advisor Jim Jones? Badass!

Not a cabinet pick, but definitely on the Obama team, Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry? He just might tase you bro!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? She won't take no one's crap!

And wait, if we really, really have to - if you step up to the US we might just have to unleash Vice President Joe Biden. We might as well give you a head start running. You done gonna get schooled Biden-style!

So, he has done that well. He picks a good team.

I have nothing but high hopes for our President-elect and I try to pray for him and his family every day. But, really, he hasn't done anything yet. Stop naming stuff after him please. Especially the babies. It's way too early.

One conservative blogger put it this way:

Imagine a child getting a trophy for just showing up for a little league baseball game.

Amen to that. I remember having to play a whole season before getting my plastic trophy. Sure, I sucked, but I played. He hasn't even started playing yet!

And, so, as I often like to do, I ask that you pray. Pray for our President-elect, our Vice President-elect, and their team. Expectations are high. I pray they're able to meet them.

We got to pray just to make it today

Our President-elect isn't going to Church. The reasons make sense but I would like to think he's at least in heavy-duty prayer mode right now. When you're about to step up to the biggest job in the world, getting some guidance and putting in some extra prayer time can only help. From Politico.com:

Obama skips church, heads to gym

By JONATHAN MARTIN & CAROL E. LEE

President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.

On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners.

"Because they have a great deal of respect for places of worship, they do not want to draw unwelcome or inappropriate attention to a church not used to the attention their attendance would draw," said the aide.

Both President-elect George W. Bush and President-elect Bill Clinton managed to attend church in the weeks after they were elected.

In November of 1992, Clinton went to services in Little Rock, Ark., on the three weekends following his election, taking pre-church jogs on the first two and attending on the third weekend a Catholic Mass with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, with whom he was trying to smooth over lingering campaign tensions.

In the weeks after the contested 2000 election, Bush regularly attended services at Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, and Al Gore was frequently photographed arriving at and leaving church in Virginia.

On his first day as president-elect, following weeks of Florida recounts and court hearings, Bush went to church with his wife, Laura. They attended an invite-only prayer service on Thursday, Dec. 14, at Tarrytown United Methodist Church. About 300 people attended, including top campaign staff and visiting clergy. During the service, the Rev. Mark Craig, senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, told Bush, "You have been chosen by God to lead the people."

Obama was an infrequent churchgoer on the campaign trail, though he did make a series of appearances in the pews and pulpits of South Carolina churches ahead of that heavily religious state's primary.

The issue of where he worships is, of course, fraught. For about two decades, Obama and his family attended Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. But, with the public disclosure earlier this year of incendiary sermons at Trinity by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama and his wife, Michelle, in June resigned their membership in the large South Side congregation.

At the time, the then-Illinois senator said that he didn't want his "church experience to be a political circus" and expressed regret for the unwanted attention members of the congregation had received, noting that some reporters had taken church bulletins only to call sick members and shut-ins.

During the campaign, Obama returned to Chicago to attend the South Side's Apostolic Church of God on Father's Day Sunday to give a speech aimed at the black community on the importance of fatherhood and family.

A number of Washington, D.C., churches of different denominations and traditions are now competing to become the spiritual home of the new first family. The Obama aide said the family "look[s] forward to finding a church community in Washington, D.C."

(Photo courtesy of The St. Petersburg Times)

Harlem kids play lacrosse

My former school in on Time.com this week:

Lacrosse 110th Street

By Caitlin Moscatello / New York Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

At New York City's Future Leaders Institute in Harlem, students, who previously hadn't even seen a Lacrosse stick, are learning the game.

Caitlin Moscatello for TIME

"If we're integrated, then why aren't there any white kids here?" That's what seven-year-old Jahseem Maxwell wanted to know, when his second-grade teacher, Lindsay Korn read to the class from Toni Morrison's Remember (which includes a brief history of integration). Despite the historic U.S. election occurring on the same day he asked his question, the world outside his classroom at the Future Leaders Institute just off Harlem's Malcolm X Boulevard didn't seem much different from the 1950s reality described by Morrison.

Peter Anderson, the school's director, has made the same observation. The townhouses on the blocks alongside the school sell for up to $3.5 million, but he knows the children in those homes won't be coming to his school, where 96 percent of the students are black, and more than 70 percent qualify for reduced or free lunch programs. According to Anderson, some of the students live in homeless shelters, and about half are raised in the projects, mostly by single parents.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the 24 children in Korn's class had never seen a lacrosse stick before she introduced one. The predominantly white sport popular at Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic universities requires two things New York City public schools don't have: money and fields. But given the election, it was, after all, a week of firsts. "All of our students were excited about the election," said Anderson. "For us educators, Obama's victory means that when we tell these students that they can do anything, it's not hyperbole." And so, on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon, 35 middle-school students showed up to learn how to play lacrosse.

Nevermind that they'd never seen a lacrosse game, much less played in one; Anderson believes in giving students a lacrosse stick and the chance to play their way to a better education. "Ideally, I want to see about 60 percent of the kids who started with us at go on to boarding schools or private schools," says Anderson. Enter Korn's father, Rick, a former player who helped coach his own son to the Division-I level; Bob Turco, a Harlem-born lacrosse coaching legend who played his way to Washington and Lee University in the '70s; and Ross Turco, Bob's son and former high school All-America and D-I player who now coaches at Peddie, an elite boarding school in Hightstown, New Jersey. The well-connected trio, along with the school's director of advancement, Michael Pages, have volunteered to hold practices twice a week, using donated equipment.

"This is about your will," Bob Turco said to rookie players as they gathered around him on the school's small turf playground. "Your will to accomplish something you don't understand and just say, 'I'm going to prove I can do this.' " With the backdrop of classic Harlem brownstones behind them, the students split into lines and learned basic skills, such as passing and scooping the ball, while Turco called out instructions. "I never see them listen to anyone like this," said Anderson from the sidelines. "This is really something."

As the school director's vision unfolded in front of him, the line between the impossible and the inevitable seemed to fade for the second time in a week. Many of the students had come to school Wednesday after going to the voting booths with their parents, while others had stayed out late to listen to Obama's victory speech broadcast over loudspeakers near 125th Street. That same day they wrote letters to the president-elect. "I want to change things, too", wrote Fortune Nbumbo, 7. Tatiana Jones, 9, told Obama, "You open the door not just for me, but for everybody." For the students at FLI, the definition of leadership is clearer than it's ever been, and the playing field, even if it's a patch of turf between two brick walls, is slowly leveling out.

Protests outside the Mormon Church

I found this article on The New York Times website. There have been numerous protests by gay rights activists outside Mormon churches, including one in NYC last night. According to the data, Mormons were big funders of the Yes on Prop 8 vote.

I think, however, that protests outside a church, any church, will do little more than to get media attention at this stage. First, although the Mormon church actively sought to pass this piece of legislation, it's not the New Yorkers that voted in favor of Prop 8. I even wonder how much funding came from NYC?

Second, although I am disgusted by the vote, I don't think protesting outside a church is going to change anyone's mind inside the church. The Yes on Prop 8 campaign was not entirely truthful, but that's how political campaigns are run. They raised more money than our side and obviously ran a better campaign.

And, finally, I think a big reason this piece of legislation passed was due to the silence and lack of commitment by the Obama-Biden campaign. Towards the end of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and Joe Biden both mentioned in almost a whisper that they opposed Prop 8. But, they did nothing to campaign against it. In a sad way, they probably felt they couldn't. The major presidential candidate who is already being labeled as too liberal would have difficulty shaking off that label if they actively campaigned against Prop 8. 59% of Catholics voted for Obama in California. But 64% of Catholics voted FOR Prop 8. Weekly church-goers who voted for Obama, supported Prop 8 with an 84% of the vote. 70% of African-Americans who voted for Barack Obama, voted Yes on 8. Read more here and here.

So, I don't think protesting the churches will actually get us anywhere except on TV and it may help to build the anti-gay marriage coffers in the long run. Instead we should focus on building a campaign for the next proposition, for the next court battle, try and get the President-elect's support, and raising more money now.

Gay Activists Rally Outside Mormon Temple in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Carrying signs reading ''Love not H8'' and ''Did you cast a ballot or a stone?'', a large crowd of gay-marriage supporters gathered outside a Mormon temple to protest the church's endorsement of a same-sex marriage ban in California.

The rally Wednesday night outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple came hours after gay couples exchanged vows for the first time in Connecticut amid cheers and tears of joy.

The milestone did not ease the sting of a major loss for gay-marriage supporters last week. Gay activists planned protests across the country over the vote that took away their right to wed in California.

In the Upper West Side of Manhattan, demonstrators chanted ''Shame on you!'' outside the temple. Leaders of the Mormon church had encouraged members to support passage of California's Proposition 8, a referendum banning same-sex marriage.

''I'm fed up and disgusted with religious institutions taking political stances and calling them moral when it's nothing but politics,'' said Dennis Williams, 36. ''Meanwhile they enjoy tax-free status while trying to deny me rights that should be mine at the state and federal level.''

Church spokesman Michael Otterson said that while citizens have the right to protest, he was ''puzzled'' and ''disturbed'' by the gathering since the majority of California's voters had approved the amendment.

''This was a very broad-based coalition that defended traditional marriage in a free and democratic election,'' Otterson said, referring to the numerous religious and social conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8.

Organizers of the rally estimated at least 10,000 people participated. Police said they could not give a crowd estimate.

Gay-marriage advocates said they were planning nationwide demonstrations this weekend in more than 175 cities and outside the U.S. Capitol. A Seattle blogger was trying to organize simultaneous protests outside statehouses and city halls in every state Saturday.

Earlier in Connecticut, Jody Mock and Elizabeth Kerrigan emerged from Town Hall in West Hartford to the cheers of about 150 people and waved their marriage license high. The couple led the lawsuit that overturned the state law.

''We feel very fortunate to live in the state of Connecticut, where marriage equality is valued, and hopefully other states will also do what is fair,'' Kerrigan said.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 10 that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a 2005 civil union law designed to give them the same rights as married couples. A lower-court judge entered a final order permitting same-sex marriage Wednesday morning. Massachusetts is the only other state that allows gay marriages.

Connecticut officials had no information Wednesday on how many marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples. According to the state public health department, 2,032 civil union licenses were issued between October 2005 and July 2008.

Like the highest courts in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the California Supreme Court ruled this spring that same-sex marriage is legal. After about 18,000 such unions were conducted in California, however, its voters last week approved Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment.

Gay rights groups said Wednesday they may ask California voters to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage if legal challenges to Proposition 8 are unsuccessful.

The California vote has sparked protests in several states, many targeting Mormon churches. Some have been vandalized.

Activists also are aiming boycotts and protests at businesses and individuals who contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8.

There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

It's the last thing we needed, but I guess we did it. Somehow we voted another Irishman into the White House. God help us all:

Obama supporters wander aimlessly

An old political friend sent me this. Hilarious!

Letters to President Obama from Fourth Graders in Harlem

A teacher at my old school is blogging at the Huffington Post and posted letters to Barack Obama from her fourth graders. Having taught these kiddos as their reading teacher, I'm proud of them and miss them dearly. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Dear President Obama,

I am so happy you are our new president! And it is not just because you are black, it is because you have some great ideas! And I wanted to be a singer, dancer, and actress but you open new doors for me. You open the doors for everybody. Now I think that now I can be the first female black president! And we went from black people not being able to vote and that changed and then black people never got a chance to be president but you changed that. And for that, it is like you are my and the whole world's hero!

Love (a 9 year old),
Tatiana

P.S. I won't put TV before homework.

Dear President Obama,

I want to say you are the bomb. I love all your speeches. Even my grandma does. I feel sorry for your grandmother but she's there up in heaven watching over you. When you get to the white house you will have our help.

I'm so happy that you are becoming president. Can you make a change about the cops? They need to pay more attention at the Lincoln Tunnel.

Write back.

Your friend,
Asia

Read the rest here.

And so it is

What happened tonight is incredible.

This is a great country and I hope Barack Obama will be a great President.

Pray for him.

My vote

[This probably sounds somewhat disjointed and lacks the substance I really wanted to include but I blame it on Saturday Night Live's Monday night programming.]

Tomorrow I am waking up at 6am, throwing on some sweats and heading to my polling site. I will vote.

My decision on who to vote for did not come easy this year.

I am a fan of John McCain. I've wanted him to win in the past and was hoping he would earn the Republican nomination this year. He did, but under a different persona. The McCain of 2000 was someone who the Republican Party wanted to see torn apart. The McCain of 2008 became the flag-bearer for his Party. The guy who rassled with the evangelical right in 2000, buddied up to them in 2008.

I was initially excited by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin. I thought it was brilliant. And, in some ways, it was. She had a record of independent reform, incredible approval ratings in Alaska, and she's got charisma. Unfortunately, she turned out to be like any other politician - bending the truth on her record and a bit of a shady record on managing state employees. She also lacks the economic and foreign affairs knowledge I would hope a candidate for the office should hold.

During the Democratic primaries, I did not support Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I found out only after he cleared the last hurdles that I was a closet Hilary Clinton supporter all along. There are many issues where I disagree with Barack Obama - gay marriage (which I fully support and he does not), global warming, immigration, and Social Security. There's something in my gut that doesn't trust Obama - something about his inexperience and centrist babble. I think I'm actually more of a supporter of Joe Biden than I am of Barack Obama. Sure Joe says silly things every other day - but he knows his stuff and says what he means (even when he doesn't mean to do it).

In the end, my vote goes to someone I can't entirely 100% support - Barack Obama. But I give my vote with the hope that all the talk, all the hype, and all the expectation is something he can live up to.

At my school today I took a very informal poll asking, "Who do you think will win the Presidential election tomorrow?" as part of our Social Studies lesson on Election Day. Approximately 100 Kindergarteners and First Graders participated with the following results: Obama 53% - McCain 47%.

Tomorrow, remember to vote. Vote with hope. And then pray.

Lance and Me

I hope to some day have a beer with Lance Armstrong, until then I'm glad to be a Team Livestrong Runner. For those of you who do not know, I finally feel ready to run a Marathon again. I've signed up for the NJ Marathon on May 3, 2009. I will be running and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

November's Men's Health has a story on 20 Heroes of Health and Fitness that includes Lance Armstrong. How could you not?

(Side note: The cover of the issue spotlights Barack Obama as one of the 20 Heroes on Health and Fitness. Although not a political piece, I think their timing is suspicious. Plus, it's a weak piece - basically naming him a Health and Fitness Hero simply for being fit even though he's a busy guy and being an inspiring guy. I might have to write them a letter.)

Back to Lance. The article focuses on his work through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They use their $40 million budget to improve the lives of people living with cancer.

"I'm surprised almost every day that this country isn't more appalled at the devastation cancer creates. Not every few days, but every friggin' day, 1,500 Americans die from this bastard of a disease," Lance is quoted as saying in the article.

I agree with Lance and would love to see more prevention and screening education in the US. That's why I'm running for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

If you'd like to help, please go to my fundraising website and donate what you can. Prayers are also welcome.

(Photo courtesy of Time.com)

Update: I did write Men's Health a letter voicing my disappointment for putting Barack Obama on the cover as a Hero of Health & Fitness.

McCain wins the funny vote

Last night my kickball friends and I had a fundraising party at a karaoke bar. I think we raised about $700 for The Children of Peru. Our big draw was the singing.

Last night was also the Alfred E. Smith dinner that raised $4 million for Catholic Charities. Their big draw was John McCain and Barack Obama.

Next season we need to invite John McCain! He was hilarious at the dinner! They both had good lines, but McCain's writers did a much better job. Check it out for yourself.

This is McCain, Part 1:


McCain, Part 2:



Obama, Part 1:


Obama, Part 2:

Time for some campaignin'!

Pretty good song (via Snatchko.com). If video doesn't work on the blog, use this link,
http://www.jibjab.com/view/247088

Hilarious Photos at JibJab | Funny Stuff at JibJab | Hilarious Jokes at JibJab

Include the third party candidates in the debates!

The first 1m 18s of this video helps explain, albeit with heavy editing, the difficulty I face in choosing either McCain or Obama. They do differ on some issues, but both will say what they need to say to their audience to get a vote.

Of course, I wouldn't necessarily vote for Nader, but I would LOVE to see the third party candidates included in the debate!

What it feels like to be denied

I have posted before on the subject of denying Communion. I disagree with the Catholic Church denying anyone Communion. I think the Church should accept everyone, "flaws and all."

Here's the account of someone who was denied. Doug Kmiec is a conservative Reagan Administration official who has publicly supported Barack Obama. As a Catholic, he believes that Obama cares more about "life" issues including poverty and human rights and believes that Obama's abortion reduction agenda will do more to help the issue than the Roe v. Wade opposition.

April 2008. On that day the children were not with us [at church]. It was only my wife Carol and myself. I turned out to be the subject of the homily. Without warning or prior conversation, this blue-collar kid from Chicago had somehow given offense not just to this priest who stood before me, but in my memory, which was now running at top speed, to all those watchful religious eyes: to the good Franciscan sisters who watched the Kmiec brothers play basketball beneath the convent window; to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who instructed us in black-and-white from the old 6" Philco as we sat upon the living room couch; to my school days pastor who, on May 7, 1959, distributed Communion to me for the first time; to the Bishop whose hands confirmed my membership in the body of Christ in 1963; to Brother Konrad Diebold, F.S.C, the Christian Brother who led us in prayer in high school chapel....A litany of saints, these splendid women and men of the cloth. ...

These men of faith were generous of heart, conduits of the Holy Spirit and always inclusive. Taking time to talk, to encourage, to share happiness and to comfort sadness. Most of all, supplying the gifts of faith, hope and love. A faith that carries us through this life in exile we don't always fully understand or appreciate. A hope for a destination that in all of its unknown quality one knows is a sublime contentment and peace freed of this world's anxieties. A love that didn't depend upon status, intelligence, or even how much we were able to put in the collection basket. We were accepted as we were--flaws and all.

Until that evening, when all was revoked.

Suddenly the life-long chain of liturgy was broken into pieces. The priest--the priest who had just joined with us in the prayer of the Rosary was now red-faced shouting. I thought. Talking about me. I had cooperated with evil. I had? I had killed babies? My heart was black. I was giving scandal to the entire church. I had once been a leader but now I forfeited any semblance of respectability or leadership. The good father grasped tightly the edges of the ambo, the unusual name given to the lectern in the Catholic Church. No faithful Catholic would ever contemplate doing what I had done. I was dead to the Holy Mother Church.

My wife held my hand tightly. We looked at each other in disbelief. Here was someone in the vestments of the priesthood who had called us to have our prayers be heard, who recited the Kyrie with us, asking the Lord's mercy upon us, now seemingly merciless, telling me and the many there assembled that I was unworthy. I was to be publicly shunned and humiliated. My offense? Endorsing Senator Barak Obama for President of the United States.

The irony of ironies was that my motivation for the endorsement was entirely Catholic. No, Obama doesn't share the Catholic faith, but he certainly campaigns like he does. As reflected in his book, the Senator is focused on the human person, on the common good, on the social justice of economic arrangement. All is so very Catholic.

It was time for Communion. Notwithstanding the indictment of the homily, I did not think of myself as unworthy of receipt of the sacrament--at least no more so then pre-Obama endorsement. Communion in the Catholic tradition is indeed sacred. We believe the bread and the wind is transformed--transubstantiated--into the body and blood of Christ. I have often watched my parish priest focus his gaze with reverence upon the bread and the wine during the offertory to gain some appreciation for the significance of the divine person whose presence on can scarcely grasp....

But I was not to receive the Eucharist that evening. The couples who stood in line before my wife and myself received the body of Christ in their hands or on their tongues and returned to their seats. My wife received. My hand outstretched, the priest shook his head from side to side. Was that a no? It was Judgment Day, and I hadn't made it. LSAT Insufficient. Inadequate GPA. Do not pass GO...go directly to Hell.

Right there I was letting down every priest that had shared the faith tradition with me. I imagined my late mother, who seldom returned home from the factory until well after midnight, so that we could afford the tuition at the Catholic school, hanging her head in shame. All the traditions--prayers before meals, May alters and rosaries, novenas and indulgences, the pilgrimages to ten churches on Good Friday--all had somehow been zeroed out. Catholic identity theft, stolen right there by our Lord's faithful servant, Father _____. I won't tell you his name because he doesn't represent the Church's thinking. Indeed, Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, who a month or so later investigated the incident "for the good of the Church," said it was important to call what happened "shameful and indefensible."

I was grateful for the Cardinal's apt description, though like an insurance payment long after suffering a bodily injury, I must say at the moment on that evening, I was the one who felt without defense and entirely shameful. Right there in that moment every Catholic good deed and good thought and good wish of love of neighbor that I once had seemed inconsequential and insufficient. Like a child feeling unfairly disciplined, but disciplined nonetheless, I pleaded with empty hand outstretched: "I think you're making a mistake, Father." His red complexion redder now, betraying righteous anger. His stretched hand over the top of the Ciborium, the container for the consecrated bread as if I was going to grab a handful and make a run for it, and then the pronouncement: "No, you are the one who made the mistake."

From the back of the Communion line someone shouted out, "Are you judging this man, Father?" I was grateful for the intervention. Will the Last Day be like this? One friend making an appeal for another? The response was cold: "He has judged himself and been found unworthy."

With no further appeal possible and with my wife exiting in confusion, tears, and offended embarrassment, I returned to my place along. My place? Did I have a place any longer? Was I expected to leave? The double significance of losing the body of Christ--of not having ingested and no longer standing among "the body"--was suddenly all I could think of. Condemned for announcing to the world that I intended to vote for a man who I thought lived the Beatitudes. A black man; a caring man; a talented man. A man different from conservative self and yet calling me to find the best of that self. A man who, in so many ways, asks to care for the least advantaged as he seeks the public responsibility to carry with him, as if it was his own burden the plight of the marginalized and unemployed worker, the uninsured, the widowed mother grieving over a son lost in Iraq. Their hurts, far worse than mine. It was wrong to be damned; to be excluded from the grace of the sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all I could think was the old Tolstoy folk wisdom "God knows the truth, but waits."

As of this writing, I have successfully kept the name of the priest and his religious order out the public record. Every expert in Canon Law who has examined the question and concluded under Canon 915 that the denial of Communion was unauthorized and inappropriate. After the event became public, Cardinal Mahoney called the priest into his office, and several months after that meeting, Father ______sent Carol and myself a letter of apology. The letter is thoughtfully written and the apology accepted. Perhaps there was a Providential hand at work using the two of us to teach a lesson to a larger congregation. The lesson? Any Voter Guide even hinting at a Catholic duty as a matter of faith and morals to vote against Senator Obama is seriously in error.

I'll close like I closed my original post, with Mark 2:17:

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Thanks to Deacon Greg Kandra for posting this.

A pig is a pig

A good friend of mine sent me a message pointing out that John McCain has used the "pig"-line before:

Drawing comparisons between New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's current healthcare plan and the one she championed in 1993, Arizona Sen. John McCain joked Thursday, "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig."

My response:

The HUGE difference is that I hold Obama to a higher standard. I want to believe that he is different. But he's showing me that he isn't.

McCain is way off message right now and the Democrats should ride him on it. Instead, they're stooping to the typical political jabs.

I have to add, another difference is that Obama's remarks today come shortly after Sarah Palin made a reference to herself as a pitbull with lipstick. Regardless of whether Obama was speaking about "the message" or the "messenger," it is just more of the same on the campaign trail.

I keep hoping for better.

Please Mr. DJ

Stick to the issues.

I've been making the case that the Democrats should not be going after Palin for her inexperience. It takes them away from their message and the Republicans can make strong arguments in return; getting us absolutely nowhere.

Today, I have to come down on the Dems for another reason: Name-calling.

Don't do it. Please. It gets us nowhere and the message is lost. And, you may be losing the election with it.

On the same day that Barack Obama defended Palin's faith and unveiled a plan on Education Reform, he said the following:

“There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick.”

Later he went on to add, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change,'" Obama continued, "it's still gonna stink after eight years."

He also called Sarah Palin a "moose shooter."


The Republicans, with Sarah Palin playing the role of wildcard, have re-branded their message and now speak of "the change." Genius! Steal the message.

So now the Dems are pissed, nay, furious! and revert to making smart remarks. They try their hands at wit. But here's where they start to lose everything they've built.

Barack Obama built his campaign around change. Bringing us hope. Trying to keep the higher ground.

But now that John McCain is stealing that message and wrapping it around an elephant-agenda, Obama is derailing the campaign by taking shots an McPalin. Please Barack, don't take the low road. Don't.

Unfortunately, the Democrats have already lost a handful of people in Middle Small-town America due to Palin's entrance. But now they're going to lose another handful due to their poor choice of words. Handful by handful, in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, they are starting to lose this election. I didn't think it could happen, but it is.

When I was in Ecuador back in July, my family there was asking me if Obama was going to win. I told them that unless he got caught stealing money from charity and puppies, he was a sure thing. I may have been wrong.

Once again, go after McCain-Palin on the issues. Go after them on their record. Force them to talk about the economy. Keep it positive and on message. Please.

In defense of (in)experience

All day on CNN.com I've seen commentary on why Sarah Palin is a mistake. I've also read attack after attack on her lack of experience. Are you serious?

Why would you even bring that up? I feel like telling the Democrats to "shush" and keep it quiet. The moment the Democrats attack her on her lack of experience, they can turn it back on Obama. Yes, she's a heartbeat away from being President. But, she's not running for President! On the other hand, Obama IS running for President. And he has less experience than she does!

She was elected into her City Council in 1992. He was elected for the first time to the State Senate in 1997. Five years later! She has five years more experience than he does! If Democrats claim that she doesn't have experience, he certainly does not!

And, if you want to discuss the quality of experience, you lose also. She has executive experience as a Mayor and a Governor. Obama has experience as a US Senator, but let's not forget that he voted "Present" in the Senate over 100 times (not making a decision on legislation one way or another) and that half of his time as Senator has been spent campaigning for President.

MEMO TO THE DEMOCRATS: DO NOT ATTACK SARAH PALIN ON EXPERIENCE!
If you want to chip away at her, go for her conservative stance on issues. Point out the differences and why you think she's wrong. Get Biden to run circles around her during the debates. But, do not attack her on experience. That's the wrong way to go.

I was right!

Today is a great day for the United States of America. First, because I was right! And second, because of progress.

On Wednesday I made my guesses for the Top 3 possibilities for McCain's VP:
http://bapcog.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-top-3-guesses-for-mccains-vp.html

I chose Sarah Palin because she's conservative enough so that McCain won't lose as many votes to Bob Barr or the Conservative Party and she brings youth and a fresh face to the ticket.

Plus, she's a woman. Now, I know that John McCain is not dumb enough to think that Hillary Clinton's supporters will vote for Sarah Palin simply because she's a woman. If he wanted that, he would have chosen somebody more towards the center, a moderate Republican. Sarah Palin is not a moderate.

However, just as with any political election, there's a whole bunch of people out there that vote for superficial reasons. And, I know for certain (because I know some of them) that there are people who will now vote for John McCain simply because he has a woman on the ticket. Nothing to do with her qualifications, all about the gender. They are few but they do exist.

Smart move by John McCain today. And, oh yeah, I was right! But so was my friend, Paul Snatchko! (and to be honest, I've been hearing about Palin from his blog for months).

On to progress: As of noon today we know that unless something catastrophic happens in the next few months, come January 2009, we will have a biracial President or a female Vice-President or perhaps even an African-American female President. Now, isn't that something?

It's taken a long time, from the Civil War to the Suffrage movement to the Civil Rights movement to the Equal Rights Amendment all the way to 2008. And we're here. A place where no matter what happens, history will be made this November.

Congratulations to Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and Cynthia McKinney for being a part of history.

And now, who will Ledesma endorse? Stay tuned.