From his home in Boise, Idaho, Adam Graham and his wife Andrea comment on American society and politics through essays, poems, stories, and good old fashioned blogging.
Email him: adam AT adamsweb DOT us
Jim Hansen was resoundingly defeated in his bid for Congress in my district. Well, I don’t like Simpson, I’m proud to say I didn’t vote for Hansen, who today writes:
My friends in the Peace Coalition reminded us that Idaho’s congressmen have refused to acknowledge the biggest moral error of our generation and again voted to extend the threat to thousands more US service men and women, their families and our communities. Not to mention, of course, expanding the threat to thousands of families in the middle east and America’s moral standing in the world.
Of course, the fact is that should the US troops withdrawal immediately as Hansen, the loss of thousands upon thousands of Iraqis will commence immediately thereafter.
He then concludes:
I encourage you to participate in a gathering put together by the Idaho Peace Coalition to Respect Fallen Idaho Soldiers, Support Troop Withdrawal, and DEMAND Idaho’s Congressmen to take their heads out of the sand and end this occupation.
Emphais mine. It’s the same old story. Our troops are the occupiers, not liberators, and certainly not heroes. (If this is an occupation.) But given that the US has said they’ll leave should the Iraqis ask, this is the darnedst ocucpation I’ve ever seen.
Stacy Harp over at Persecution Blog has an incredible story of God’s power in Pakistan.
On May 7th anonymous letters were delivered to churches and Christian homes in the towns of Charsadda and Mardan, Pakistan. The letters demanded that the Christians close their churches and convert to Islam within the next ten days. While some of the letters did not specify what would happen if the Christians refused, others threatened bombings or execution of all Christians.
Christians throughout Pakistan responded to the threats by observing ten days of fasting and prayer, beginning on 17th May, the date that the ultimatum ended. At the time of writing there have been no reports of coming from Pakistan that any of the threats have been realised. The authorities have condemned the threats and called for the protection of the Christians.
At the same time as the letters were being received, other Pakistan Christians had also received threats. In Peshawar two Taliban-style militants put a gun to the head of a junior staff member at the Pakistan Bible Institute. They threatened him, saying “We hear you are converting Muslims”. Thankfully they were disturbed and fled before they carried out their threat.
Pray with Pakistani Christians that God will protect them from harm. Pray that their faith in God to protect them will be a witness to those who wish them harm, that the one who is with us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
Also, Mark Galli has an interesting piece on Christian education that raises many interesting questions. It doesn’t answer them, but if we an open our hearts to thing, we may find solutions.
With the Dems, it’s all hat, no cattle on spending reform as this video illustrates. All but one of the House Committee Chairmen in the new Congress was in Congress prior to 1994 and they’re picking up right where they left off with pork and big spending.
Good to see old time Rockie Walt Weiss will be representating the club at the Draft this year. I like Weiss as a person. It’ll be interesting to see how he does. He had a couple great managers (Lou Pinella in Oakland and Bobby Cox in Atlanta) and came up in an A’s Organization that brought up some fine talent. How will that translate on draft day? We’ll see. Though, it’ll probably be a decade before we know how good or poorly Weiss did.
Rarely is Barry Bonds accused of having much class, but his response to media attempts to bait him into controversies with his brother and Hank Aaron showed a degree of class:
Bonds’ youngest brother, Bobby Jr., recently made it known he’s upset that neither Selig nor Aaron plan to be present.
Asked yesterday about his brother’s comments, Barry Bonds said, “I love my brother.”
Then he added: “Bud is his own man – just as I’m my own man.”
And what about Aaron?
“I’ve never spoken personally to Hank Aaron, I’ve only heard from the media, so I really can’t answer that question at all,” Bonds said. “Hank Aaron has been in the game a long time, he’s well-respected by all of us, we all love him and admire him and I’ll leave it at that.”
Very good. Meanwhile Keith Olbermann stated on the Dan Patrick show that if Bonds/McGwire/Palmerio don’t get in, there’ll be one steroids user in: Pud Galvin, who used monkey testosterone.
Sorry to scandalize those who thought there was no “monkey business” going on in baseball prior to the 1990s, but each era had some time of cheating or unfair advantage on players of other eras. (hat tip: Baseball Crank.) The idea that after the fact we’re going to say that a player should be punished for “cheating” by doing something that wasn’t against baseball rules at the time is patently absurd.
Good news on the Community College front. The Kathryn Albertson Foundation came through with a nice check to support the effort:
An ebullient Gov. Butch Otter joined other community college supporters today to announce that the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation is donating $10 million to “help jump-start” the new Western Idaho College in the Treasure Valley. Joe Scott, chairman of the foundation, called the creation of a new community college “truly a historic moment for this valley and for our state,” and said in a statement that the foundation “believes so strongly in a comprehensive community college for the region of the state that we have decided to invest $10 million immediately toward that goal.”
Community college backers won last week, when odds and the two-thirds “supermajority” law were stacked against them. They identified voters who figured to be on their side. They gave sympathetic voters a form requesting an absentee ballot. Then supporters worked the phones, making sure the people who requested a ballot actually voted. The $200,000 absentee ballot drive worked so well that other campaigns — and candidates — are certain to try to emulate its success, undeterred by the spendy sticker price. So well, too, that the state should get in on the act itself.
Vote by mail was one of the many good ideas that got discussed (and tabled) during the 2007 legislative session. It deserves support next time…
Voters are more likely to participate in an election if they can study the issues and fill out a ballot at their leisure. The experience of going to a polling place on Election Day — a communal event where we share participation in democracy with our neighbors — is an important tradition of American politics. We’d never want to see that go away. We also recognize that it isn’t for everybody.
For some 13,500 people in Ada and Canyon counties, driving to a polling place to cast one vote on a single issue didn’t fit their May 22 schedule. It shouldn’t have to, either. Idaho should give citizens the option of how they exercise their right to vote.
I have to wonder if the geniuses at the Statesman have read the vote by mail bill or if they’re letting some of the new out of state talent write their editorials.
For one, the community college campaign showed that anyone who wanted one could obtain an absentee ballot, so if the Statesman’s aim is that anyone who wants to can vote by mail, that’s already the case. Secondly, the Statesman urges that we hold onto election day voting, but the Vote by Mail bill (H.94) they urge us to reconsider actually authorizes the elimination of election day:
34-2601. AUTHORIZATION BY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. With express
authorization from the board of county commissioners, the clerk of the county
board of commissioners shall conduct all primary, special, and general elections entirely by a vote by mail system. The board of county commissioners shall give the county clerk at least ninety (90) days’ notice before the first election to be conducted entirely by mail.
Note the word entirely (emphasis mine).
Third, the Statesman fails to note that absentee ballots are not all mail-in. I went and voted early on Monday. Other than me wanting to get the Truth and Hope Report done on time, there was probably no need, but still when I voted I had to sign the absentee ballot line, but both Andrea and I voted like normal, just a day early.
I like what the Idahoan had to say about school funding:
Idaho schools rank No. 2 in efficiency
He goes on to give a devestating resposne to the “throw more money at it” crowd writing:
The theory, then, is that the more money you spend on public schools, the better education kids will receive. That ignores the obvious, such as the fact that the cost of living and per-capita income is higher in New York than it is in Idaho. Therefore, the comparisons are meaningless. Of course, then there’s this: If spending more really equates into a better education, then why are New York test scores so much lower than Idaho’s? Why does Utah, which spends the least on public education, produce better results than almost every state in the nation?
Jana Jones, the former chief deputy superintendent of public instruction, was asked this question in a debate last year with Tom Luna, then the Republican nominee for superintendent. Jones answered, “Well, Utah’s the only state where that’s the case.” So, in other words, Utah spends less, but it’s results don’t matter because it’s only an anomaly not worth investigating.
As someone who is going to be left to deal with mess of Social Security (thanks to self-centered baby boomer politicians) I explain why we should fix Social security now.
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