Hostage Negotiations & Punting

Over the past several days I've heard a lot of talk about punting on second or third down in reference to the tax-hostage situation President Obama is trying to resolve. I first heard of the concept of punting on second down over two years ago when a friend, Conrad, used it in reference to the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. That was a truly disastrous play that might continue to haunt us for another generation.

I'm more inclined to liken the current situation to the end of a half where a promising game has gone increasingly awry. The clock is winding down and instead of trying for a touchdown, President Obama runs a play to get to his kicker's preferred hash marks for a field goal try. The fans are outraged. Some are calling for the coach to be replaced. The try can be blocked (Minnesota Viking fans don't need to be reminded of 1998 and sure bet field goal tries). Three points is obviously less than six, but a lot more than zero.

Folks, there's still another half to play (fortunately or unfortunately).

Dress Codes and Perception

Yesterday I saw a couple of nuns walking across the campus in full habits. This isn't particularly remarkable given that it's a Catholic university, but it got me thinking (which might be fraught with peril). Whenever I've heard discussions of dress codes and the supposed "tyranny" of certain styles of dress that privilege modesty, it's usually been in the context of oppression. I asked myself if it was a sign of oppression that Catholic nuns go about in habits that obscure all but their faces.

Safe and Respectful Distances

If those behind the Park51 Muslim community center (Cordoba House) project decided to relocate it on Mars, I doubt that it'll make a whit of difference. Most of the opponents of the project aren't concerned about its proximity to "Ground Zero" (that's a convenient excuse), they're incensed that freedom of religion also applies to Muslims in the United States.

In the past few months there's been vocal opposition to mosques and Muslim community centers in Murfreesboro, Tennessee 750 miles from "Ground Zero", Sheboygan, Wisconsin 732 miles from "Ground Zero", Temecula, California 2404 miles from "Ground Zero", Staten Island, New York 10 miles from "Ground Zero" and Florence, KY 575 miles from "Ground Zero".

Communities on both coasts and locations in between are not reacting out of respect for 9/11 families, but out of plain and simple intolerance with a dash of political opportunism thrown in for good measure.

Role of Dieties

"Debating" with friends generally helps crystallize my thoughts and clarifies what questions need to be asked or answered to resolve outstanding issues. In a recent discussion about faith I ended up with the following question:

What does God do?

I Might be Back

Hopefully, I'll be back to regular blogging next week. My blogging hiatus was necessitated by a summer course I have been teaching.

Thanks to John McCain: Alaskans

It just occurred to me that the people of Alaska should really be grateful to John McCain for saving them from Sarah Palin. By thrusting her into the national limelight (probably one of the most irresponsible political acts this side of the 2003 Iraq invasion) he raised her profile and afforded her the opportunity to abandon the project of ruining Alaska in order to cash in on her newfound celebrity. The more we learn about her, the more nightmarish it becomes to imagine how much carnage she could have wrought in Alaska.

I still have faith, which I hope is not misplaced, that a plurality of Americans (real Americans) will never elect her to anything. She's punched her ticket as a former half-term governor and that's a great resume for Republicans and nativists. How it plays out for them is their problem. The Alaskan people (and moose) have been spared.

Hypocrisy Thy Name Is ...

I vaguely remember that during the interminable health care debate Republicans keep admonishing the Democrats for pursuing the reform effort in the face of popular opposition (we could parse how popular that opposition really was in terms of those who thought the reforms went too far and those who reckoned it didn't go far enough). This week they're opposing debate on financial regulations in the face of overwhelming public support for the proposed reform measures.

I know we're not a direct democracy (like Switzerland), but whatever happened to the will of the people? A few weeks ago, Republican leaders professed that crafting public policy should be subjugated to the vagaries of public opinion polls (when it benefited the health care industrial complex). This week polling doesn't matter in the interests of the financial industrial complex. Apparently, consistency is for wimps.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Mitch McConnell (and the Republican leadership).