Southern Baptists and Torture

The Southern Baptist Convention, a leading voice among Religious Conservatives has announced that the United States should not engage in torture under any circumstances and that the practice of "waterboarding" is torture.

This is a huge deal. The SBC has the ear of the GOP, and could provide the necessary push Republicans leaders in congress to change their stance and disavow torture as un-American and un-Christian. With the help of conservative Christian voters, the United States could move toward truly bipartisan anti-terror legislation.

I don't normally agree with the SBC on much, but on this issue, we see eye-to-eye.

Every state...

...has two Senators, right?

Wrong.

Not Minnesota.

Minnesota currently only has 1 Senator, Amy Klobuchar. This is because since the very close election held in November, there have been two recounts AND a very lengthy legal challenge. Every time, the result has been that Republican Senator Norm Coleman lost the election and Democrat Al Franken won. Yet five months after the elction, Minnesota is still under- represented in the US Senate.

Is this right? NO.

Tell the GOP to stop playing games with Minnesota's representation and allow Senator Franken to be seated:
chairman@gop.com

Principles!

Aside from a snow day (in Georgia), nothing too exciting has happened in my own life. Therefore, I will fall back on one of my favorite blogging topics: politics.

My target...er, topic today is Governor Sonny Perdue. Our illustrious leader seems poised to block the sale of alcohol on Sundays in stores once again. The bill finally looks like it has a snowballs chance in hell of passing through both the state senate and house, a first. But Perdue, with his deeply conservative Baptist background has publicly acknowledged that he will not sign the bill because it violates HIS religious principles. The bill itself does not legalize Sunday sales, it only gives local communities the option of allowing such sales. Public surveys show that nearly 70% of Georgians support Sunday sales. That number is likely higher in places like Atlanta, Buckhead, parts of Gwinnett County, and Athens. Despite such strong support for the measure and a variety of vastly different religious perspectives in this state, Perdue seems likely to impose his strict Baptist views on the entire state. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. You?

Hold Your Horses...

I write today because I am frustrated by things that I read online where people have totally given up on President Obama after less than a month. People...it's been like three weeks! Give the man a chance before you condemn him. Has he done a perfect job? NO. Could anyone (including John McCain) have done a perfect job? NO. But he has accomplished quite a bit early on, despite some really nasty politics by some on the far right. Giving in to the Rush Limbaugh / Sean Hannity / Anne Coulter rhetoric this early in the administration is only going to do two things: 1. Drive everyone further apart and 2. Cause the GOP to hemorrhage moderates even faster than it already is.


Another good way to save the GOP? Start looking towards moderates to lead the party. People like Arlen Spector (R-PA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in the Senate, who had the guts to go against party leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and vote for the stimulus bill to help Americans. Otherwise, the GOP may quickly become the party of only the very conservative and only the Deep South.

And while we're speaking of the stimulus...
Let's talk about Georgia's Junior Senator, Johnny Isackson. Isackson, like nearly every Republican in the Senate fell into line with Mitch McConnell and voted against the Stimulus bill. But not before he increased the size of the bill by 15 million dollars in tax incentives for people who are rich enough to flip houses. So our Senator can add unnecessary spending that does not help the average Georgian at all, but he cannot vote for the final bill that as a whole would help Georgians get jobs and make more money. Congratulations, Johnny, that's great legislating right there. Let's all remember this when we got to the polls in 2010.

Elections

I know I sort of promised a second post yesterday, but I was just too tired to update last night. Elections took 3 and a half hours, but I'm very pleased with the results (for the most part). I think the fraternity will be very successful in 2009. I'll be in the thick of things, as the Recording Secretary.

However, the election I'm more concerned about tonight is Georgia's run-off elections. Overall, it was a disappointing night. I don't want to be a bitter, sore loser, but I really feel like most Georgians did not take time to educate themselves before going to the polls today. The loss of Jim Martin to Saxby Chambliss is not all that surprising. He was still a little too liberal for this solidly red state. What I was more suprised about was the loss of Jim Powell to Lauren "Bubba" McDonald in the PSC race. I feel that this race was largely decided by the fact that McDonald had an "R" next to his name on the ballot and Powell had a "D". I find this an atrocious way to vote. Nearly all of McDonald's campaign contributions came from people connected to the utilities that the PSC regulates. Can you say conflict of interest? None of Powell's funds came from anyone connected to a utility. He refused to take any. McDonald is so far in the pockets of the utility companies that the Republican who currently holds the PSC seat publicly endorsed Powell and chastised McDonald. Yet, we see who Georgians elected. To further prove my point that it seems that voters didn't take the time to research the candidates, the third statewide race, for Court of Appeals, was won by Sarah Doyle, the more liberal of the two candidates. However, as a non-partisan race, there was no "R" or "D" next to the names, and voters likely picked her because she came first on the ballot.

You may wonder...what exactly is my point in all of this? I'm not entirely sure, so I couldn't tell you. I guess my hope is just that in future elections people will take time to educate themselves about the candidates before they go vote. And my other point to summarize this whole thing is that the Georgia Democratic party better be looking VERY seriously at who they want to groom for a Senate run in 2010. Johnny Isakson is up for re-election then, although he may not run again (instead, choosing to try for the Governor's mansion). The Democratic Party could take control of that seat if they pick a serious, MODERATE Democrat to run. I'm not talking a Vernon Jones or Mark Taylor. I think a good choice would be Cathy Cox, the former Georgia Secretary of State (not to be confused with Kathy Cox, the current Georgia Secretary of Education, best known for her appearance on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"). Anyway...that's just my thoughts.

Yours?

Sad, but true!

So I was sitting in European History (1660-1870) yesterday watching a movie because my professor is out of town at a conference and I was a tad bit bored, so I started making a list. First I listed all the states. That wasn't too hard because I can think about it geographically and just go west to east (although things get a little hairy in the northeast). Then I listed all the capitals. That wasn't hard either...I had to learn those in fifth grade. After that I decided to see what I REALLY knew. So I listed all the governors/govorner-elects I knew. Then all the Senators/Senator-elects I knew. Those were some short lists.

Here's all the governors/governor-elects I could name:
Perdue (GA)
Perdue (NC)
Crist (FL)
Riley (AL)
Richardson (NM)
Jindahl (LA)
Kaine (VA)
Schwarzenagger (CA)
Palin (AK)
Sebelius (KS)
Perry (TX)
Pawlenty (MN)

Here's all the Senators/Senator-elects I could name:
Stevens (AK) ---although this could turn out to be Begich
Merkley (OR)
McCain (AZ)
T. Udall (NM)
M. Udall (CO)
Hatch (UT)
Landrieu (LA)
Coleman (MN)
Obama (IL)
Lugar (IN)
Sessions (AL)
Isackson (GA)
Chambliss (GA) ---although this could turn out to be Martin
Hagan (NC)
Webb (VA)
Warner (VA)
Biden (DE)
Clinton (NY)
Liebererman (CT)
Kerry (MA)
Sanders (VT)
Shaheen (NH)


Only 12 governors and 22 senators! Sad, but true.