Recently in Politics Category

By Steve Breen, San Diego Tribune, October 18, 2009

I'm self-employed. That means that I pay for the health insurance premiums for all five members of my family -- it's about 9% of my monthly gross income. But, because I'm not part of a group plan, the plans available to me aren't very good, so each member of my family has a $5,000 deductible every year.  That's a maximum out-of-pocket of $25,000 per year, plus the premiums. This year I had back surgery, so I tore through that deductible for myself in about 90 minutes on February 10.

As a small-business owner, and independent writer/speaker/consultant, I know first-hand that health care costs can be crippling, and they are a huge disincentive for entrepeneurialism, in the for-profit or non-profit world.

It goes to Andrew Sullivan, who wrote of President Obama's Cairo speech,

At its heart, the speech sprang, it seemed to me, a spiritual conviction that human differences, if openly acknowledged, need not remain crippling. It was a deeply Christian - and not Christianist - address; seeking to lead by example and patience rather than seeking to impose from certainty.

I had the good fortune of watching President Obama's speech live from Cairo this morning, and it was masterful. There is and will be no dearth of commentary and analysis over the next few days, so I'll just say this: We elected this man because of his ability to make measured speeches in tense environments, to be able to built a team that has immense loyalty to one another; and to eloquently tell us, and the rest of the world, what the United States is really all about.  In this lattermost category, he excelled today.  He reached out to the world by maintaining the very ideals upon which our democracy was founded.

During the campaign, he promised to break from his predecessor and use diplomacy instead of force to make the world a safer and more peaceful place for Americans and, consequently, for all people.  Today he delivered on that promise.

In Phyllis Tickle's latest book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why, she writes of the "centering" of Christianity. In her famous quadrilateral diagram, she demonstrates how liturgicals, social justicers, pente-charistmatics, and doctrinal evangelicals are all swirling toward the center. Many of us find it a compelling argument, and the latest data seems to reinforce her thesis.

Well, this morning, I was watching Morning Joe, as I often do with my, er, morning joe. (I actually like Joe Scarborough, although his recent defense of the torturers has left me cold.)

Of late, Joe has been hammering on the fact that only 21% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. It's a bad story for the GOP, especially as blue encroaches from the coasts into the Heartland -- Joe said this morning that it will soon be the Dixie Party, meaning that the southeastern U.S (a.k.a., the "Deep South") will be all that's left in the Republican base.

Of course, the switch of Arlen Specter really brings this home. And it was in talking about Specter that Joe said something thing reminded me of Phyllis:

So, I happened to turn the news on in the middle of the night, and I caught wind of President Obama's bad joke about bowling being like the Special Olympics. We all now what's coming: a media onslaught of replays...

In the Washington Times, Julia Duin ponders that question in her article, "Evangelicals ponder Dobson's successor: New generation looks for leader." It has been interesting watching the shift in power: Franklin Graham is no Billy Graham; the Coral Ridge Hour...

This morning, I have signed a last-minute petition supporting the appointment of Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Some on the Right are raising a stink about Sebelius's pro-choiciness, but if you take the...

In this week's edition of Newsweek, Richard Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, penned an essay, "Less Shouting, More Talking," in which he addresses the issues around Prop 8.  It's clear that he wrote it, in part, as a...

Over at Awakenings, Mike joins the chorus of which I am a part: Those who think that Jeff Sharlet's The Family is a must-read:Sharlet's writing is so good that a quick read is almost impossible. Skim this book, and you'll...

I was really, truly excited about Tom Daschle as HHS Secretary.  I think he is a fundamentally good person.  Larry Lessig agrees, but says that doesn't excuse him:Daschle, of course, is the most innocent in this guilty system. His plan...

Andrew weighs in on "Progressive" or "Liberal":Maybe I'm just anal retentive but I think that the term "progressive" is a lot like the term "evangelical." It's just an easy way for folks to compartmentalize others (and maybe even themselves) into...

Philip Clayton (who is, by the way, da bomb!) tells us:...

Over at GetReligion, Mollie dissects a WaPo story on the new Religious Left...um...er...the religious "progressives."Progressive? Is this the best descriptor for religious groups who advocate for liberal political aims? I have used the term regularly in the past and can...

Pro-Slavery vs Anti-Slavery States2000 Electoral College...

Gallup has a new map up, rating each state by religiosity.  Respondents answered whether religion is an important part of their lives, and the map reinforces some of the usual stereotypes about the religiosity of the Deep South and the...

"Come Let Us Reason Together" is the governing document of a group attempting to bridge the chasm between evangelicals and political progressives.  I signed on, not because the document is a comprehensive statement of all ways that these two groups...

Billions of words have already been written and spoken yesterday and today regarding the inauguration, everything from the Justice Roberts oath flub to Michelle Obama's ball gown.  I've got opinions, of course, but nothing particularly new to say.  So, instead,...

I'm a regular commentator on Doug Pagitt's daily radio show, The Question. (Yes, I believe that is a velour shirt.) His show runs from 10-11am Central Time on Blogtalkradio, and I join him most Tuesdays from 10:30-11:00 to talk about...

Over the past several years, on my various blogs, I've pointed to or republished the Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written to the white clergymen of that city, to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Here it is...

One of the theme's of BO's campaign for president that was most enthralling for me was the potential he holds to really bind our country together for the good of the whole.  Whether it be the massive investment into roads,...

If so, Third Way, a think tank in Washington, D.C. might be a good place to start.  I have signed their "Come Let Us Reason Together Governing Statement."  If you are interested in civility in our cultural conversations about abortion,...

God Spam has some suggestions for inauguration apparel....

A while back, I mused at the exceptionally long news cycle of the story that BO had asked Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.  That story had a lot of legs, in the blogosphere and in the...

Last night I watched The Fog of War, in which Robert McNamera reconsiders his participation in LBJ's escalation of the Vietnam War by the addition of ground troops to the campaign of air bombing approved by JFK.  Of course, there's...

Over the weekend, I wrote a post giving three options as to why the story of Rick Warren's inauguration prayer has hung on so long (and, as far as my blog reading this morning, it's not going away just yet). ...

Steve Waldman asked each of the Bnet bloggers to nominate the best spiritual or religious book we've read this year.  He'll post them all in the next week or so.I confess that I'm ending the year having read much less...

Methinks the biggest story this week is not BO's choice of Papa Rick to give the inaugural invocation.  The biggest story this week is how big this story is.  It won't go away.  I'm sure BO's people thought it might...

This morning, on NPR, Michael Pollan expressed his deep ambivalence about Obama's Ag Sec pick, Tom Vilsack.  Contrary to what one commenter expressed on my earlier post about this, I have and will continue to criticize BO when I disagree...

Well, color me astonished.  Mega-commenter A Walker shows us all that he's not just a one-trick (SSM) pony.  He's not only familiar with Walter Rauschenbush, but he favorably quotes the social gospeler in response to my Rick Warren post of...

There's a bit of an in-house dust-up here at Bnet over Steve Waldman's extensive interview with Rick Warren (VIDEO / TRANSCRIPT). Steve's posted on it a few times, as have others around the blogosphere.But here in the friendly confines of...

Let me agree with Rod, Ezra, and Matt that Tom Vilsack is a very disappointing pick by Obama for Secretary of Agriculture.  As someone who lives in corn-producing state, I've seen my otherwise level-headed governor pander time and time again...

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham gambled this week, and he gambled big.  In what is, by any measure and extraordinary piece of journalism, Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller wrote a cover story that basically says, the Bible does not define marriage...

On Fresh Air with Terry Gross, National Association of Evangelicals vice president of governmental affairs Rich Cizik admitted that his views on same sex unions are shifting.  While he made it clear that he does not favor same sex marriage,...

Many seem to think so, especially in light of works of compassion in Africa, but Andrew is not falling for it.  It seems that Rick went on Fox News and agreed with Sean Hannity that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should...

I've never claimed to be an evangelical, which will make many evangelicals happy.  However,  others do pin that term on me, including my friend, Keith DeRose.  Keith is a philosopher at Yale and a Class-A blog lurker and commenter (he...

Dr. Science weighs in on the question, Is There a Religious Left?As "Your name" demonstrates, the answer to Tony's question is "Yes".Back in November 2004, Jeff Sharlet confessed it quite clearly, talking about questions he and Peter Manseau were asked...

Not yet, according to Jeff Sharlet.  Sharlet was recently asked to contribute to a book on the supposed Religious Left, and he has posted the draft of his chapter at The Revealer (to which you all should subscribe).This is a...

Over at Presbymergent, Leon Bloder has posted an open letter to his congregation, First Presbyterian of Eustis, Florida.  In it, he urges calm among congregants who are either ecstatic or in despair over BO's election victory.  Money quote:As the Church,...

Rod, thanks for your last post; actually I agree with you: our government does legislate morality.  In fact, that's why I think that it's imperative that we seriously consider the moral implications of denying same sex couples the right to...

I am sorry to report that Stephen Baldwin is staying in the United States.  Baldwin, a B-list celebrity and convert to conservative evangelicalism, had declared to Fox News that if Barack Obama won the presidency, he would move out of...

My soon-to-be-blogalogue partner, Rod Dreher, has today questioned Barack Obama's profession of Christian faith based on a snippet of a 2004 interview in which BO refers to Jesus as a "bridge between God and man."  Of course, BO is not...

If you don't know it, getting "dooced," means getting fired for blogging something that your employer finds odious.  It's a term coined by Heather Armstrong, who now blogs full time at dooce.com.  Today, Scot McKnight blogs an email from a...

There's been lots of talk in the last couple weeks in the punditocracy about the the above question.  The talking heads seem to have come to two consensi (with, of course, notable exceptions):The United States is a "center-right" countryPBO* will...

HT: Andrew Sullivan...

So said Chuck Todd this today on Morning Joe.  Consider my hometown Exhibit A.I live in Edina, Minnesota, a quintessential suburb.  Southdale, the first-ever enclosed shopping mall was built here in 1956.  During that same era, when my mom was...

I awoke early today, as I often do.  About 4:30am.  I had hoped to sleep longer since this is a tough stretch of travel for me.  I spoke at the National Youth Workers Convention this weekend -- after 10 years...