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Born May 18, 1953; got saved at Truett Memorial BC in Hayesville, NC 1959. On rigged ballot which I did not rig got Most Intellectual class of 71, Gaffney High School. Furman Grad, Sociology major but it was little tougher than Auburn football players had Had three dates with beautiful women the summer of 1978. Did not marry any of em. Never married anybody cause what was available was undesirable and what was desirable was unaffordable. Unlucky in love as they say and even still it is sometimes heartbreaking. Had a Pakistani Jr. Davis Cupper on the Ropes the summer of 84, City Courts, Rome Georgia I've a baby sitter, watched peoples homes while they were away on Vacation. Freelance writer, local consultant, screenwriter, and the best damn substitute teacher of Floyd County Georgia in mid 80's according to an anonymous kid passed me on main street a few years later when I went back to get a sandwich at Schroeders. Had some good moments in Collinsville as well. Ask Casey Mattox at www.clsnet.org if he will be honest about it. I try my best to make it to Bridges BBQ in Shelby NC at least four times a year.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Conflating Moyers with Ringgold Georgia, John Killian and Politics

Doing this Blog in Purple today cause President Bush is coming to my alma mater Saturday May 31. Just learned today he did not go to his own daughters' Graduation at U Texas cause he feared it might cause a commotion, but he is bringing the Scott McClellan show to Furman. I hope he stays for the whole shebang.

But I digressed. Trying to make sense of our democracy and I have parked on these two notions, wondering if the world of John Killian will ever understand Barack OBama.
Or to put it another way as my old friend from Gardendale used to sing along with me and our friend Pearl: "Who do you know in Ringgold Georgia?"
I was up to Trenton last Friday as a matter of fact; one thing that got me thinkin about all this.
Before www.jeanniebabbtaylor.com , there was www.jeanniebabbtaylor.blogspot.com where I tripped up on this the other day about her run for the Georgia House. She was clearly the better candidate as you will see at the blogspot site, but she lost.

Here is some of what she said in November,2006:


It is my sincere hope that my campaign has had a positive effect on the community as well. I hope that other people, especially women, will be inspired and be willing to step out. The majority of voters are women, yet we are grossly underrepresented in our own government, with 85% of all elected officials being male. Women need to take a more active role in government. We all do. Whenever there are two names (or more!) on the ballot, we have a small victory. Without two names, we have no democracy at all.It is not an easy thing to "put yourself out there" as people say. There is no other phrase to describe what it is like when you put your name on the ballot. Your private life is gone. Anonymity is gone. Even the general courtesy practiced toward women in the South, is gone.People will say and do all sorts of things, when you run for office. If you run on the Democratic ticket, you will be called a "librul baby killer" even if you can list the babies you have saved by name, and even if you have so many children people ask if you're Catholic. People will judge you by the color of your sign, the decorations on your parade float, the way you write your name -- and virtually ignore the issues you've grown hoarse discussing. And in the end, too many people will look only at the "D" or "R" beside each candidate's name. End quote

At www.johnkillian.blogspot.com my friend the leading spokesperson for Baptist fundamentalism in Alabama--I do not say that as a pejorative cause you can't call anybody who signs BFM 2000 anything but one--is handicapping and endorsing candidates for state offices.
Me and John Yoder and Will Willimon and Jim Evans think he is wrong about Jeff Sessions on Immigration Reform--I imagine Matthew Morgan differs with Killian as well--but apparently we are in the minority in this state. But the question is now in the lap of Bob Terry, Rick Lance and Jay Wolfe as I have laid out Miguel De La Torre for Sessions and Killian at his blog.

Which brings us to ordained Baptist minister Bill Moyers, press secretary for LBJ. Moyers wrote me a note late 1987 saying People like me make a difference. My HS Advanced Comp teacher said: "No need to wish you success, it's a given."
Well the jury is still out half way into my 50's, but like the motto for South Carolina says:
Dum Spiro, Spero.

Moyers disturbing thoughts for Killian and Sessions and Richard Jackson and Paige Patterson and all courtesy of my friend Bruce Prescott's blog:

As it turns out this is not exactly the quote I was looking for as it seems to have evaporated from Prescott's blog, but it'll do till I find the other.
From Moyers--easily googled up at alternet of May 17 if you want more:

""Edward R. Murrow told his generation of journalists: "No one can eliminate prejudices -- just recognize them." Here is my bias: extremes of wealth and poverty cannot be reconciled with a genuinely democratic politics. When the state becomes the guardian of power and privilege to the neglect of justice for the people as a whole, it mocks the very concept of government as proclaimed in the preamble to our Constitution; mocks Lincoln's sacred belief in "government of the people, by the people, and for the people"; mocks the democratic notion of government as "a voluntary union for the common good" embodied in the great wave of reform that produced the Progressive Era and the two Roosevelts. In contrast, the philosophy popularized in the last quarter century that "freedom" simply means freedom to choose among competing brands of consumer goods, that taxes are an unfair theft from the pockets of the successful to reward the incompetent, and that the market will meet all human needs while government itself becomes the enabler of privilege -- the philosophy of an earlier social Darwinism and laissez-faire capitalism dressed in new togs -- is as subversive as Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the Revolution he had once served. Again, Mary Lease: "The great evils which are cursing American society and undermining the foundations of the republic flow not from the legitimate operation of the great human government which our fathers gave us, but they come from tramping its plain provisions underfoot."
Our democracy has prospered most when it was firmly anchored in the idea that "We the People" -- not just a favored few -- would identify and remedy common distempers and dilemmas and win the gamble our forebears undertook when they espoused the radical idea that people could govern themselves wisely. Whatever and whoever tries to supplant that with notions of a wholly privatized society of competitive consumers undermines a country that, as Gordon S. Wood puts it in his landmark book The Radicalism of the American Revolution, discovered its greatness "by creating a prosperous free society belonging to obscure people with their workaday concerns and their pecuniary pursuits of happiness" -- a democracy that changed the lives of "hitherto neglected and despised masses of common laboring people."
I wish I could say that journalists in general are showing the same interest in uncovering the dangerous linkages thwarting this democracy. It is not for lack of honest and courageous individuals who would risk their careers to speak truth to power -- a modest risk compared to those of some journalists in authoritarian countries who have been jailed or murdered for the identical "crime." But our journalists are not in control of the instruments they play. As conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and networks, and profit rather than product becomes the focus of corporate effort, news organizations -- particularly in television -- are folded into entertainment divisions. The "news hole" in the print media shrinks to make room for advertisements, and stories needed by informed citizens working together are pulled in favor of the latest celebrity scandals because the media moguls have decided that uncovering the inner workings of public and private power is boring and will drive viewers and readers away to greener pastures of pabulum. Good reporters and editors confront walls of resistance in trying to place serious and informative reports over which they have long labored. Media owners who should be sounding the trumpets of alarm on the battlements of democracy instead blow popular ditties through tin horns, undercutting the basis for their existence and their First Amendment rights.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Fox and Robert Redford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itCoj6DL_Mg

Well not exactly, but I did have great chat with Brett Morgen this morning in Trenton, Ga who I had not seen since he showed his early documentary in Collinsville, Alabama in 93, Blessings of Liberty. We saw Billy Ray Cyrus the next day in Bham.
Brett was in rare form, in these parts to film a Flat Rock Truck Driver as part of a corporate documentary Brett is doing to promote a New Truck. Said he had traveled 4500 miles in last 10 days or so.
Maybe if I could get back in the Lyberry he could come back to town and show Chicago Ten and we could have a conversation. In meantime I'm hoping he can go down the street there in NYC and have lunch with Matthew.
Brett remembers Matt's brother John well, but Matthew only vaguely. He does remember the Youth choir in Blessings of Liberty and the Footsteps of Jesus.

Brett also was subject of an interview on NPR's Fresh Air back in February you can easily google up.
It is my understanding his Chicago Ten has been picked up by PBS series Independent Lens and can be seen in most parts of the Country later this year.
In meantime, big hint here for Stasha to pick it up for the Video Hut in Collinsville.
Brett said he drove through Collinsville for about five minutes on Weds. Lot has changed he said, noticing the revitalization of downtown, at same time lameting the loss of the clock.
We had a photo opp.
Hope to have it up for you on this site sometime next week so keep checking for a few days.
He has three kids now, two boys and a girl. Things look like they are going pretty well and I applaud his successes since 92.
Fun chat. Wish we coulda talked all day.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Proud of this Furman Senior/Update may 22

The Chronicle for Higher Ed has done a story on Furman and the Commencement at
http://chronicle.com/news/article/4509/should-furman-u-faculty-be-forced-to-attend-bushs-commencement-speech
The comments there are some of the most articulate to date; a lot of them from Furman alum, some hinting from current staff.
I hope any future stories that occur will get the thoughts of Baxter Wynn, brother to former chair of the SC GOP (now on staff at FBC Greenville); and former Furman proff Charles Kimball, now at Wake Forest. Both should have a good take on the Christian Fundamentalists who hosted Anne Coulter on campus recently and appear to be driving the revolt against the faculty.
My friend Randall Balmer weighed in May 12 with an opinion piece at Religion Dispatch you can easily google up.
Sfox, FU'75
Baron Hill, Obama delegate and US Congressman from Indiana, also Furman grad could be good interview as well.


Angel Cruz, a biology senior set to graduate on May 31, said she felt compelled to gather student signatures."It's our duty to voice our opinions about what we're thinking," said the 21-year-old Burnsville, N.C., native. "It is a political statement. He picked a southern school that's traditionally very conservative."Admitting that she considered dropping out of the effort when she learned her name had been submitted to the White House as an outstanding student whose accomplishments Bush might work into his speech, Cruz said she's glad she kept working on gathering more signatures."I want to be respectful and keep the honor in graduation and honor my fellow graduates and honor Furman," said Cruz, who won a grant to work in El Salvador after graduation. "We need to voice our opinion and let it be known how we feel about these things."

The above is from an AP Story.
Furman Conservatives are taking a lot of heat in the comment line of a story about President Bush doing the Commencement Speech May 31
A story went up this afternoon, May 20, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

And here are some other links:


Click here to view the faculty-led "(W)e Object" letter.
Click here to view the Furman Web site page with commencement information.

Press clippings:

"President Bush to speak at Furman graduation," Greenville News

"Professors object to President Bush's imminent arrival," The (Furman) Paladin

"Furman professors, students sign statement opposing Bush visit," Associated Press (similar stories in Spartanburg Herald-Journal, The (Columbia) State, The (Charleston) Post & Courier, MichaelMoore.com, Myrtle Beach Sun-News, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Yahoo! News, Niagara Falls Review,

"Bush visit riles profs at Furman," Greenville News, Dan Hoover: "Somehow Bush escaped blame for the recent cyclone in Myanmar."

"Furman faculty deserve praise," Greenville News, letter to the editor by Stan Crowe (Furman English faculty member and signer of "(W)e Object" letter): "In a way that no doubt seems laughable and clumsy (for what, really, can they do), a good number of Furman faculty members are gesturing in the direction of ideas like truth, honesty, justice and compassion. I applaud them for it."

"Faculty dissent offends graduate," Greenville News, letter to the editor: "Any protest at an occasion honoring the university’s raison d’etre would be inappropriate, self-centered and childish. Commencement day belongs to the graduating class of Furman University, not to its faculty."

"Righten the ivory tower with free-speech power," Post & Courier, Frank Wooten: "College professors have a free-speech right to propagandize for the left — and to say 'We Object' to graduation speakers. And college students have a free-speech right to freshly challenge their professors' stale left-wing dogma — and to tell them to mind their manners."

"Despite woes, president is welcome," The Times & Democrat: "Bush’s problems aside, let’s be real. With more than 2,600 students graduating, the vocal 200 are by no means the majority -- and most students will remember fondly that a president addressed them at commencement.And according to The AP, they were the not-so-silent majority in speaking out on an internal message board. 'We underwent a tremendous amount of criticism, with students saying, ‘Don’t you dare ruin my graduation,'' [professor Carmela] Epright said."

"Faculty behavior isn't a surprise," Greenville News letter to the editor: "Faculty members, please put your opinions aside for the day. Do not embarrass Furman students, family and alumni."
Fox Greenville video

"Hundreds at Furman: Don't let Bush objectors skip graduation," Associated Press

"Furman student group slams foes of Bush speech," Greenville News

Monday, May 19, 2008

Elvis Pressley, Lee Atwater, and The End of the Southern Strategy

Just gonna go with the links today as I think the point is pretty self evident.
Point is the state I was born in, Tennessee, where My Grandfather Fox and the Helton's were raised in staunch Lincoln Republicanism, where Aunt Stella and Aunt Hazel and Free Barnard's wife worked for the Republican party in Alcoa; Tn Republicans can do better than this and I think Archie Manning and Peyton and will tell them soon if they don't find a better way than hazing Michelle Obama.
In the meantime, Cynthia Tucker, one of the ten best products ever to come out of Alabama--I would put Condi Rice about 22, in the 2nd tier--has Lee Atwater's number; and Marshall Frady's great friend Will Campbell--I have been in Campbell's presence on four separate occasions, once in chapel at Emory in the presence of my Dad and another Baptist preacher when Campbell called Ronald Reagan a "goddamned liar"; Will puts it all in perspective.
He is the hero of Pacers from UBama of which Sammy Clanton was one time state president and was on stage with Tyler Coker and Vivee Monteagudo in 97 or so; which would make it five times I have been in Will's presence.
I think Tyler and friends should get Will's new DVD for the Collinsville High School Library.
Check out these links and see what you think.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucas/20080517/cm_ucas/republicanssouthernstrategyhaslostsomeofitssheen

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10494

IN the ethicsdaily.com article click on the word paper when it starts talking about Elvis and it will take you to Will great lecture of 95 at the University of Mississippi.
Even fans of Rick Bragg, and we do know what cornerstones we are talking about here, we'll like Will's musings on Elvis cause Campbell talks in language we can all understand; even the language of the Kingdom of God though I think I heard John Morgan the preacher say he would take Francis Schaefer over Brother to a Dragonfly.
Little something here for the poltroons and everone.

Monday, May 12, 2008

What is the Soul of a Man



Blind Willie Johnson, The Soul of a Man:

Won't somebody tell me, answer if you can!Want somebody tell me, what is the soul of a man
I'm going to ask the question, answer if you can
If anybody here can tell me, what is the soul of a man?

I've traveled in different countries, I've traveled foreign lands
I've found nobody to tell me, what is the soul of a man
I saw a crowd stand talking, I came up right on time

Were hearing the doctor and the lawyer,
say a man ain't nothing but his mind

I read the bible often, I tries to read it right
As far as I can understand, a man is more than his mind
When Christ stood in the temple,
the people stood amazed
Was showing the doctors and the lawyers,
how to raise a body from the grave

New comment Moderation

I am going back to comments by bloggers only as too many grotesque and shadowy folks were taking advantage of my generosity to anonymous commenters.
The remainder of this spring, summer and fall, I hope to attract more substantive and virtuous discussion on the Presidential race; as well as possibly share my views on the two year anniversary of my churching, instigated by about five women who flourish in their unchristian and flimsy crusade.
There will be others matters discussed as well.
God will take care of them in due time; look here for occasional truths on the matter two years in purgatory now.
Or maybe the community will do the right thing, and like Larry McSwain called for at two Rivers, redeem themselves in the Land of Light and transparency.
It's not much of a secret who the wicked are. What is sad is otherwise good folks let them get away with it.
Bible says let them who are without sin cast the first stone. Doesn't seem to phase the rock throwers in this matter.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Of cudgel and cupboard, Obama and Bonhoeffer

Got my Report from the Capitol Today, the newsjournal of the Baptist Joint Committee Church State Watch dog group.
Brent Walker had a great piece on proper lens to view political candidates when it comes to the idiosyncracies of various preachers in their lives.
Brent said:

"
Learning something about candidates’ faith helps us to get to know who they are, understand what makes them tick, and examine what their moral code is like. A free and fluid discussion in the public square about a candidate’s religious convictions is not out of bounds and can enrich the public discourse during election season.
But it can also serve as a cudgel.
It is vitally important that the discussion about a candidate’s religion goes somewhere. It is not at all helpful — and is often hurtful — to have a theological discussion isolated from policy and governance. There must always be an inquiry launched and close connection made about how candidate’s religious views impact his or her public policy position or leadership style. Otherwise an examination of a candidate’s religion is little more than spiritual voyeurism and violates the spirit if not the letter of the clause banning religious tests."

I Like is use of the word cudgel.
Earlier, Tuesday week ago at Samford's Beeson divinity school, Tubingen, Germany Bonhoeffer Scholar Johannes Schwanke in reply to a question posed by me after his magnificent address on the Fragment stages of Bonhoeffer's Pilgrimage said he, Schwanke, refused to put Bonhoeffer in a "cupboard."
I didn't understand what he said at first and when I asked him again, the word sounded pitch perfect in my ear for the point he was making.
Even so easily googled articles by Damon Linker on Charles Marsh "The Idolatry of America" at the New Republic, April 23 Print issue; and yesterday's effort by Robert Parham at ethicsdaily.com open up the discussion widely to review the way Richard Land and Timothy George of the Rove/Bush administration have abused the righteous sentiments of Middle America in this discussion.
In particular George's abuse of the Barmen Declaration--a point I tried to make in Sunday School at Collinsville Baptist Church in regard the pastor's former proff Paul Simmons and how George thinking was a precipitator for Simmons dismissal--George's prostitution of the Barmen Declaration is unconscionable.
Parham undergirds such an assertion in this article of yesterday.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10451
I concede Linker takes the measure of Marsh and how we can never get anything done in this world if we get too otherwordly; even so lot hear to think about.

An aside, I do wish the snits, the anonymous commenters on this blog who have become mosquitoes on the ass of my discourse at this blog would take a hike on this discussion.
I was gonna take something of a holiday here on Mother's Day weekend, as my Mother had many disappointments, but I think she would applaud my ruminations here.

Stephen Fox
With apologies to another great woman in addition to Momma, my HS Advanced English Teacher who wrote in my annual:
No need to Wish you Success, it's a given.

Well not exactly in my case, but strong words for you to consider above in this righteous political moment in America and for that I do not apologize.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Interesting analysis of Southern Indiana

The environs of Baron Hill's US Congressional District, Hill of the Furman class of 1975 which includes Furman trustee, Anniston native, Dudley Reynolds, CEO of Alabama Power.

from
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/may/07/clinton-claims-victory-obama-captures-nc/

Vanderburgh County was supposed to be the place Obama made his stand in Southern Indiana, but when the votes had been counted Tuesday night, he fell short by a count of 20,324 votes to 19,031.
Dr. Robert L. Dion, a political scientist at the University of Evansville, said Vanderburgh County has more of the elements that play to Obama's strengths than any other county in the region.
"If you were to expect Obama to win a county in this part of the state, it would be Vanderburgh," Dion said.
"Evansville is the biggest city south of Indianapolis, it has two colleges — three if you count Ivy Tech — and the most substantial minority population in the region."
In addition, Dion said Obama appeared to make an all-out push to win Vanderburgh County. He made two visits to Evansville, and his wife, Michelle, made one.
"He showered the area with direct mail and TV ads and had a first-class voter turnout organization," Dion said.
Obama also had the active support of Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel and several Vanderburgh County legislators. Several key party leaders and aides to Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., supported him publicly or privately.
So what went wrong?
Dion said Obama "probably did wring every vote out of Vanderburgh that was available to him," but the county's more rural, older and lower-income outlying areas did not perform as well for him as the city.
"You hate to look at it like this, but if you saw a woman over 50 on a modest income coming out of (a polling place), it's a good bet she was a Clinton voter," he said.
"You probably saw the same breakdown as in other states, along age lines, income, education, race, gender."
Southern Indiana not kind to Obama
The rest of Southern Indiana wasn't any kinder to Obama than Vanderburgh County.
His largest margin of defeat was in Knox County, where he lost by roughly 3,200 votes, 6,407 to 3,260. Gibson County voted 5,524 to 2,676 for Clinton, who held a rally on the Princeton town square last week. Obama did not make an appearance there.
In Warrick County, he lost 8,080 to 5,500. Posey County also handed him a defeat, by a margin of 3,845 to 2,973.
He was closer in Dubois, Pike and Spencer counties, where he lost 5,472 to 4,463; 2,467 to 1,077; and 2,505 to 1,617, respectively.
As Obama's chances to snatch victory from apparent defeat in Indiana hung in the balance late Tuesday night, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" to assess the situation.
Mayor Weinzapfel talks to Larry King
"The polling I had seen showed Sen. Clinton up by five points or so heading into the last weekend," said Weinzapfel, who endorsed and campaigned with Obama.
"I thought Sen. Obama did a great job, built some momentum over the last four or five days, repudiated Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright, got an endorsement from Congressman Baron Hill, (former national Democratic Chairman) Joe Andrews' switch (from Clinton to Obama) and then of course, that opportunity to fixate on a specific issue with the gas tax," Weinzapfel told King.
"I think (Obama) got a lot of traction heading up into the election.
"I think if it was up to the Obama campaign, they could have used a couple more days and made sure that this is a clear-cut victory. But we're still hopeful that results in Lake County are going to put Sen. Obama over the top."

Here is what Karen Tumulty of Time Mag said about Hill on PBS Newshour Monday night May 5, before the Primary vote.

KAREN TUMULTY: You know, the most interesting one, I thought, last week was the Congressman Baron Hill of Indiana.This is a congressman, a freshman, who has one of the most difficult races in the country come this fall. And he is, despite the fact that -- with some political peril, endorsing Barack Obama. And I think that it is a vote as to who he believes should be at the top of the ticket to help his own race.End of Quote

You can google up a profile of Hill in the Winter 08 Furman Alumni Mag.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Charlotte Observer Endorses Barack OBama for POTUS

Carlyle Marney's hometown newspaper, or the paper in the town where he did his finest work has endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States.



http://www.charlotte.com/opinion/story/608888.html



EDITORIALS
Time for a change
In the Democratic primary, we recommend Obama
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AP
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., addresses supporters at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Do the Democrats need a restoration of the past, or is it time for a change? We think it's time for a change. We recommend a vote for Barack Obama in Tuesday's primary.
The choice between Sen. Obama and Hillary Clinton is not easy. She is indeed ready to be president on day one. After two terms with her husband in the White House and almost eight years in the Senate, she knows how things work. Smart and tenacious, she offers a progressive agenda. There are many reasons to think she'd be a good president.
There are arguments against her as well. For example, many Democrats won't forgive her for voting to authorize President Bush to use force against Iraq. We don't fault her on that. She understood the need for firmness to force Saddam Hussein to admit UN inspectors to ensure Iraq wasn't building weapons of mass destruction. She received assurances that force would be used only as a last resort. She isn't responsible for the debacle in Iraq; President Bush is.
Concerns about Clinton
Yet we're troubled by, to cite a few examples, these aspects of her presidential campaign:• Many of her supporters seem intent on depicting Sen. Obama as the Jesse Jackson of 2008, a leader who appeals to an ethnic minority but not to the broader electorate needed to win.
• She sometimes exaggerates her influence and experiences, as when she claimed she "helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland" and said she ducked under sniper fire in Bosnia.
• Florida and Michigan were stripped of national convention delegates after breaking party rules by scheduling their primaries too early. The candidates didn't campaign in them. Yet after Sen. Clinton did well in those states, she pushed to change the rules and count the votes. That's a cynical, self-serving effort to corrupt the selection process.
• Her tendency to tell voters what they want to hear is disturbing. Her proposal to suspend the federal tax on gasoline this summer is campaign gimmickry, not leadership. Her assertion that she was a critic of NAFTA from the beginning is simply unbelievable. The record shows she was an ardent advocate of the trade deal.
Some Democrats accept that as just the way the political game always has been played. Perhaps it is. But is that the best Americans can expect? We think not.
Is Obama ready for the job?
As to Sen. Obama, he's one of the most powerful, effective speakers to seek the presidency in years. He offers a different vision of politics. Is he ready for to be president? His relative inexperience is reason for concern. He has been a U.S. senator for three years, an Illinois state senator for eight. He has no executive experience.
Experience is important, but it's no substitute for good judgment and the ability to assemble and wisely use capable advisers. George W. Bush had six years' experience as governor of a big, complex state, yet his administration has made some of the worst decisions in recent history.
Sen. Obama is a man of uncommon intelligence. He's a graduate of Columbia University with a law degree from Harvard, where he was editor of the law review. He bypassed lucrative job opportunities to become a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor Chicago neighborhoods plagued with crime and joblessness.
In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to win a Senate seat. His record there is not extensive. It is impressive.
His first law -- cosponsored with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. -- ensured greater citizen access to information by creating a searchable online database on federal spending.
Early in his term he attracted the attention of Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who at the time chaired the Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Lugar invited him on a trip through the former Soviet Union, inspecting projects to decommission Cold War-era weapons. The two worked together to pass legislation to control the spread of weapons. Sen. Lugar later observed that Sen. Obama has "a sense of idealism and principled leadership, a vision of the future. At certain points in history, certain people are the ones that are most likely to have the vision or imagination or be able to identify talent and to manage other people's ideas. And I think he does this well."
Sen. Obama's legislative achievements are few, but that's no surprise. He's near the bottom in seniority. Republicans ran the Senate his first two years there, so Democratic proposals rarely went anywhere. Nevertheless he has helped shape the national debate on immigration, energy and some other important issues. He sponsored or co-sponsored the bills that made up what the Washington Post called "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet."
A change for the better
He has made missteps in his first national campaign, such as failing to quickly and firmly reject radical statements by his former pastor. But in the campaign, as in the Senate, he has shown the ability to learn.
Nominating Sen. Obama would send a powerful message to the world. He's the son of a white mother from Kansas and an absent father from Kenya. His personal story would make it plain that America is changing for the better. His appreciation of the need for international cooperation is a welcome change from the Bush administration's know-it-all, go-it-alone tendencies.
Many N.C. Democratic leaders recognize his strengths. State Treasurer Richard Moore and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, the party's leading candidates for governor, have endorsed him. So have U.S. Reps. David Price, Mel Watt and G.K. Butterfield as well as Harvey Gantt, a former Charlotte mayor; Jim Phillips Jr., a Greensboro lawyer who chairs the UNC Board of Governors; and state Senate majority leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville.
Early in the campaign, Sen. Obama said, "We want a politics that reflects our best values. We want a politics that reflects our core decency, a politics that is based on a simple premise that we stand and fall together."
Yes, we do.


End of Observer:
I wonder where Tony Rand goes to church in Fayetteville and is his political ideology was shared by Mark Olson.
I would not be surprised if their views aren't similar.

My friend John Killian, whose distant relative Boston Killian way Mayor of Collinsville in my Grandfather Jordan's Day has this fascinating blog up over the weekend:

http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2008/05/conservative-democrats-for-obama.html

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Local choir infested by Birchism/Furman Grad endorses Obama

I came across a right wing blog today by a man who is gaining influence in the religious and civic life of my Mother's hometown. It flies in the face of everything my Grandmother and Grandfather Jordan stood for; and though my name is in some dispute, it would be a travesty to let such small mindedness wrapped in smarmy Jesus talk hold sway.
I would hope Matthew Morgan could bring Bishop Willimon to counter such foolishness, but I have been disappointed before and left standing alone while business goes on as usual.
So I will address it indirectly for a while; maybe some folks will take a look at the following and hopes that the higher lights in the area, will begin to understand the hope this possible next governor could bring to the State.


From

http://www.newsweek.com/id/112835

And I quote:
As the circle gets wider, more people want to tap into it. Obama's success at bridging ethnic divides inspires African-Americans to reach higher, says Davis. "Until our generation, it was assumed the highest we could aspire to was to be a member of the House," he says. "Now that ceiling has been lifted." Davis himself is planning to run for governor of Alabama in 2010, and he hopes that a president named Obama will campaign for him. That would be a masterstroke.

Hard to conflate the hope from this Newsweek article with the Birchism of the choir member I saw today. But if he is right, then we should know so Matthew, Russ Beene and I can apologize and worship the Third Revelation.

I shook hands with Artur Davis at an event sponsored by the son in law of a former President of the Alabama Baptist Convention a few months ago at Samford. Davis is a sharp fellow; I was impressed as it appeared were some of the wisest Christians in the state.
But maybe my local acquaintance is right and I have been duped. Maybe Annie Lucas Brown can help us navigate this one cause I can't see how she'll feel comfortable at the New Library Dedication with this local Christian in the inner circle in these parts.

Inspiring news just in; fellow Furman grad, now US Congressman from the Inidana 9th has endorsed Obama.
I think I'll stick with the alma mater over the Local Bircher on this one

Here is a profile of Baron Hill of Furman class of 73, same as current President Shi:

http://www.furman.edu/fumag/winter2008/baronhill.html

And the Chicago Sun Story just a few minutes ago:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/923562,super043008.article