Proposal

Here's one way to propose:


From Found Magazine. Original posting here.

More Muslims in Congress than Atheists

Andre Carson just was elected to Congress in a special election for Indiana's 7th district. The Democrat will fill the vacancy left by the death of his grandmother, the late Rep. Julia Carson.

Carson will be the second Muslim serving in the U.S. Congress, joining Minnesota's 5th district Rep. Keith Ellison, who was elected in 2006. Now there are more Muslims in Congress than atheists. The only known atheist in Congress is the ever-entertaining Pete Stark of California's 13th district.

As of the beginning of 2007, according to the Washington Post, Congress had two Buddhists, two Unitarians (one of which is also the atheist, Rep. Stark), five Christian Scientists, six "unaffiliated," six UCC (United Church of Christ), 15 Mormons, 17 Lutherans, and 43 Jews. The remainder of Congress are from the Christian denominations listed in order from largest to smallest: Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians.

According to one survey of Americans, Atheists, Agnostics, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus all have roughly the same number of adherents, each being between 0.4% and 0.5% of the population. Jews and Mormons are both about 1.3%. A full 13.2% in this survey, however, claim "No Religion"--whatever that means.

New quote of the day

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, always has something "interesting" to say. Actually, he has made it clear that getting attention is all that matters.

This quote is about the Vagina Monologues. It's great he supports the play, but you know the below phrasing wasn't accidental:

"So I stand before you, a vagina-friendly mayor."

Pelosi dismisses Obama and Clinton shared ticket

Here's the end of a recent interview with Nancy Pelosi. When she pauses it's clear she is wishing she didn't go there, but then decides to finish her thought anyways. I think it is safe to say that Pelosi is a bit irritated with the Clinton campaign. Earlier in the interview (shown in full here) she discusses the need for both campaigns to realize the Democrats have to be able to win in November and to cool down. She says in the middle: "There's a lot at stake; the presidency for sure. We must have a Democratic president, but how these races proceed can have an impact as to whether we will carry the Congress of the United States for the Democrats as well. And so that is my responsibility as Speaker of the House."

But the best part is the last 25 seconds:

pelosi by krs601

Quote: Failure of abstinence-only

Quoted in the Associated-Press article, Study finds 1 in 4 teens has a STD, Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood places a large part of the blame squarely where it belongs: abstinence-only sexuality "education" that leaves young people unequipped to protect themselves.

"The national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure, and teenage girls are paying the real price."

At what point do policymakers return to sanity and go forward with public health programing that dispenses information instead of mere, abstinence platitudes?

• Those in Minnesota should check out the Coalition for Responsible Sex Ed, a coalition of groups and individuals passionate about making real change to lower the STD/STI and pregnancy rate of Minnesota teens.

Muppet Moment: Shoop Shoop

Attorney in AG office put on leave

UPDATE: The Star Tribune is running an Associated-Press piece right now on the lawyer being placed on leave.

Breaking news from the MinnPost.

Eric Black opens:

"Amy Lawler, the assistant attorney general quoted in a MinnPost story Friday about upheaval, fear and retribution in Minnesota Attorney General's Office (AGO), was placed on administrative leave Monday night, in apparent retribution for speaking to MinnPost."

Lawler was told she was being put on leave because she went to the media about an ethics concern when she should have filed a complaint with the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board instead.

What surprises me after reading Black's original story in the MinnPost last Friday was the lack of further media attention. There seems to be a lot of dysfunction in the office of Attorney General Lori Swanson. As far as I can tell, the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have yet to cover any aspect of this story. Searching on their websites, none of the local news stations have looked at the matter. Not even Twin Cities Public Television public affairs programs Almanac and Almanac at the Capitol. Only Minnesota Public Radio has given the matter attention, running a piece by Tim Pugmire last week.

McCain running mate possibilities

Buzz continues on the running mate question for both Democrats and Republicans. I'm a little tired of the games from the Clinton campaign, with their Obama-can't-be-a-commander-in-chief-but-will-take-him-anyways message.

On the Republican side, McCain will be making a careful choice. He must get a running mate who will placate the social conservatives, but not scare off everyone else. (That's why Senators Brownback and Coburn are unlikely.)

First, I'll dispense with the usually suspects:

• Former Governor Mike Huckabee (Arkansas): Huckabee would be better positioned if he had dropped out earlier, but still is a possibility. His occasional habit of not being an iron clad economic conservative could be a sticking point, especially because even McCain acknowledges that is not his strong point either.
• Former Governor Mitt Romney (Massachusetts): Definitely has a strong conservative economics credentials. Although he was a moderate-to-liberal on social issues in a past life, he was somewhat effective in assuring social conservatives he was "born again" in the metaphorical sense at least.
• Governor Charlie Crist (Florida): Is likable and from an important state. Some rumors about his sexuality are floating out there. Setting that aside, he has the metrosexual look, which maybe a problem for Republican voters. (Yes, I used that term which I despise: metrosexual.) It's an open question how the social conservatives would receive him.
• Governor Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota): Pawlenty has several things going for him: he's young, is a true social conservative, he's from a state that could be made competitive (although it only has 10 electoral votes). On the negative side, he's not as popular in Minnesota as the national press made him out to be. He won the first time by a slim margin in a three-way race and won reelection by a mere 1 percent against an angry baffoon. Still, popularity in the state may matter little. It's the overall resume.
• Governor Mark Sanford (South Carolina): I don't know much about Sanford. He looks like a bona fide conservative, although like McCain, he occasional rankles some of his allies. Geographically, he would have little to offer.
• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: Rice is liked by a lot of conservatives, but her spot on the ticket would underscore the horrible judgment that got us into the Iraq War. Plus, social conservatives are suspicious of her position on reproductive rights. If McCain somehow thought the election would ONLY by on national security, not the economy or any burning social issues, AND that voters would have a different mindset on the wisdom behind the Iraq War, she'd be a good choice.

Other possibilities:

• Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Texas): Hutchinson has generally run as a moderate Texan Republican and her votes on social issues has been of the moderate to conservative part of the spectrum. She may or may not be good enough to social conservatives. She is a decent campaigner and fairly likable. Her presence on the ticket may make it safe for many centrist voters to go with McCain even while they are nervous about his temper and hawkish ways.
• Senator Joe Lieberman (Connecticut): The selection of Lieberman would encompass a whole different strategy. McCain would be betting that he could make up enough additional centrist votes to account for the loss in social conservatives who'd stay at home. If Clinton and Obama slug it out enough and fracture the Democrat party, Lieberman may entail a certain amount of logic for McCain.
• Governor Sarah Palin (Alaska): Palin is a reform-minded conservative who has been mentioned as a long-shot. Last week, she told constituents she is pregnant and will have her fifth child in May. Even though she has a record of returning to work after giving birth, that might put a damper on her long-shot chances.
• Governor Matt Blunt (Missouri): The 38 year-old governor is a recent veteran and a bona fide, bona fide social conservative. He'd placate social conservatives, but is probably too conservative for centrist voters. Plus, his short tenure as governor hasn't been a raging success.
• Former Senator Zell Miller (Georgia): The then Democrat Senator Miller came out to support George W. Bush's reelection and spoke at the Republican National Convention. His name has come up here and there as a potential McCain running mate. But he's old and doesn't bring much. The only advantage is that by comparison, McCain would seem like a gentle, emotionally stable guy.

We're still a few months off and who knows what will happen. First and foremost, what the Democrats end up doing over the next few months will probably impact McCain's calculations.

Stupid! Stupid!

UPDATE: Another reason he's stupid. The guy who took on Wall Street and all sorts of financial-related crimes, is targeted because of his own financial actions. It seems like his suspicious wire transfers led a bank to tip off the feds--starting the whole investigation. Shouldn't the former prosecutor been even a bit more clever?

This is a guy I thought a short while ago could be a good VP pick for Obama (despite his support of Clinton). I also thought he could run for president in 4 or 8 years. How can a person be so dumb?

• Spitzer is linked to prostitution ring

And then there were two

• Ciresi says he's dropping out of the U.S. Senate race

I guess his campaign really never took off. He says he's dropping out to avoid "an unnecessary floor fight" at the June DFL convention. As things were going, it is arguable whether he was going to be able to even last past the first ballot with so few committed delegates. It will be interesting to see if this helps Al Franken or allow further attention/support to coalesce around Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

My musings on the Senate race from last week are here.

Separated at birth?

Whoa! I just noticed this. Don't these two pictures bear some similarity?

Gov. Eliot Spitzer

An Asian Elephant

News Topic: Elephants

Today's random news topic deals with elephants. All are from the last couple of days.

• Wild elephants hold up Sri Lanka vote - Not Tamil Tigers, but real elephants want to stop the democratic process in Sri Lanka. (The AFP stock picture accompanying the article shows African Elephants, which do not live in Sri Lanka.)
  
• A jumbo wish of a senior citizen in Bengal - A man wishes to adopt a wild elephant. He has already made accommodations at his guest house.
• Kerala govt. direction on elephant rules - "The Kerala government on Saturday directed officials concerned to strictly implement laws under The Captive Elephant Management Rules following a rise in the number of incidents involving elephants participating in temple festivals becoming wild, causing hardship to people."
• Trees, ants and elephants: Balance gone bad in Africa - A lesson on ecology.
• The big story: Thailand - "Elephants are the symbol of Thailand and you can’t go without being lured into a park (in this case the Mae Taeng Elephant Park) to watch them paint pictures, dance, and play football better than Bafana bafana."
• More than 75 years later, circus still packing 'em in - I'm all for informal language, but it's a bit much to shorten "them" to "'em" in this southwest Missouri paper nicknamed the Misleader.