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Evangelical Voters Deserting the GOP?

Since the 1980’s, the Republican Party has been able to count on strong support from the evangelical community.  Never was this more clear than in the 2004 presidential election, when 26.5 million evangelicals turned out– with 79% of them voting for George W. Bush. 

But all of that seems to be changing. 

Yesterday, Barack Obama expressed his desire to expand on Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives program.  The program provides public funding to religous organizations working to meet needs within their community. 

This move continues the Obama campaign’s trend of appealing to the evangelical community– a possibility made more attractive because of the skepticism evangelicals have had for John McCain.  James Dobson, a figurehead for the religous right, stated in 2007 that “I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances… I pray we don’t get stuck with him.” 

Though he has recently tried to mend his relationship with the evangelical community, McCain spent much of his political career antagonizing them.  He once called evangelist Jerry Falwell ”an agent of intolerance” and has stated that he ”would not have a problem” with homosexual marriage.  

McCain has historically been uncomfortable discussing his religous beliefs in public, unlike Barack Obama.  Obama talks openly of his faith– though it has been difficult at times because of his ties to the outspoken Reverend Wright. 

In recent years, a new “religious” movement has begun– the so-called “progressive christians” led by notable figures such as Jim Wallis, author of “God’s Politics”.  Indeed, Wallis was one of the first to defend Senator Obama after James Dobson’s recent attack (Dobson claimed that Obama was “deliberately distorting the Bible” and that the candidate relied upon a “fruitcake interpretation” of the constitution). 

Additionally, pro-Obama groups such as Matthew25.org have begun mobilizing supporters– particularly young, christian voters who have grown disillusioned with the traditional religous right.

Matthew25 describes themselves as “a community of Christians– Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal and Evangelical—inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor.  More from their website: 

“We believe that people of faith should actively participate in the political process as an important avenue for social change.

We come together as individual believers to support candidates for public office who share the values of the Matthew 25 Network: promoting life with dignity, caring for the least of these, strengthening and supporting families, stewardship of God’s Creation, working for peace and justice at home and abroad and promoting the common good.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink… ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brethren, you did for me.’

—Matthew 25:35-40″

For the last 30 years, the GOP has had a firm grip on religious voters.  Now, Barack Obama is seeking to change that– and early indications are that he is succeeding.

 

daftparrot@Hotmail.com

Happy Friday Everyone

Happy Friday to all… sorry we haven’t written much this week, we’ve been a bit overworked at work, if you will.

Again, if you’d like to contribute some articles and whatnot, let us know!  We’d love to update this site multiple times per day, but it’s going to take some additional help.  Let us know.

Have a great weekend everyone!

daftparrot@Hotmail.com

McCain Supporters: Redefining Hypocritical

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week on this page, we expressed our disappointment in Barack Obama’s decision to refuse public financing for his campaign.  Our issue was that much had previously been made of Obama’s “pledge” to adhere to federal funds and their inherent spending limits if his GOP opponent would agree to do the same. 

Since that time, we’ve gotten some emails and heard some comments from McCain supporters suggesting that Obama is a “flip-flopper”, a “typical lying politician”, etc…

To which we respond:

You’ve got to be kidding.

McCain supporters, do you really want to talk about flip-flopping?  Fine, we’ll talk about flip-flopping.  But first, let’s examine what Barack Obama initially said  about Public Financing: 

In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strengthof the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraisingtruce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fund-raising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

He pledged to aggressively pursue an agreement, and was unsuccessful in doing so.  McCain agreed to accept public funding, but could not guarantee that the Republican party would respect any sort of limit to their advertising, not to mention any of the cash-rich special-interest groups that favor McCain.  Obama felt that McCain and the GOP would disrespect the spirit of the agreement, and therefore backed out. 

Did Obama “break his word”?  Technically, no.  Did he allow the media to gloss over the details of his pledge when he made it?  Yes.  He should have clarified immediately– but he didn’t.  Hence the disappointment from many of his supporters. 

However, this alleged “flip-flop” pales in comparison to the transformation (regression?) of John McCain.

Let me preface this by saying that I’ve admired John McCain for many years.  His willingness to work across partisan lines was inspiring.  He clearly had an independent mind, refusing to respect “party lines” if he disagreed with the boundaries.  Unfortunately, his 2000 primary run was undercut by the sleazy George W. Bush campaign.  But now that McCain has gotten his long-deserved opportunity to represent the GOP in the race for the White House, he’s decided that he will do whatever is neccesary to inspire his party’s conservative base.  Take a look:

In 2001, McCain opposed Bush’s tax cuts which he alleged disproportionately favored the wealthy, saying “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.”

In 2006, realizing that he had a realistic chance to secure the GOP’s nomination, McCain changed his stance and voted to extend the tax cuts.  Interestingly, many Republicans are skeptical.  From a Washington Times article:

“It’s a big flip-flop, but I’m happy he’s flopped,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

“It looks like a further morphing of McCain into George W. Bush. He’s mailing to his list of campaign contributors, and now he’s supporting the tax cuts,” said economist Larry Hunter, a longtime Republican tax-cut strategist.

“It looks political to me. It runs counter to his whole past behavior. He’s got to appeal to the base of the party. I don’t think there is a Republican in the land who can get the nomination who voted against the tax cuts,” said Mr. Hunter, now a senior fellow at the Policy Institute for Innovation. “He’s certainly not a supply-sider. He doesn’t subscribe to the Reagan economic approach that tax cuts stimulate increased growth,” he said.      

 Interesting.  But there’s more.

In 2000,  when asked about Bush campaigning at the fundamentalist Bob Jones University, McCain said that he personally would have refused to speak there.  Instead, he’d tell them “Get out of the 16th century and into the 21st century. What you’re doing is racist and cruel!”….Instead, Governor Bush went there and never said a word. I would never, ever do such a thing.”

Now, he says he’s open to speaking at the campus because “they’ve made progress”.  Well, in a sense they have made progress: they’ve removed their ban on inter-racial dating.  But don’t get too excited, Bob Jones hasn’t lost his touch.  This is an excerpt from his letter congratulating Bush on his reelection in 2004: 

“In your re-election, God has graciously granted America — though she doesn’t deserve it — a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.

“Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.”

Clearly Bob Jones has not read the bit in the Bible about “loving your enemies”.  His “University” remains a crazed, intolerant institution.

 But now McCain is willing to speak there. 

For much of his Senate career, McCain was against the torture of detainees.  In 2006, he succumbed to White House pressure and changed his stance.

In 2002, McCain rightfully referred to evangelist Jerry Falwell as an “agent of intolerance”.  Now he’s making peace with the guy.

The list goes on, and we’re tired of it. 

The point is this:  You have to be a hypocrite of the highest order to simultaneously support John McCain and call Barack Obama a flip-flopper. 

 

daftparrot@Hotmail.com

Care For Some “Chicken Without Sexual Life”?

As you know, the Summer Olympics are being held in China this year. As the country prepares for the influx of tourists, an important task is the translation of Chinese menu items into English.

Predictably, there have been some problems with the translations.  Check out these menu items:

“Chicken Without Sexual Life.”

“Bean Curd Made By A Pockmarked Woman.”

“Ants Climbing A Tree.”

Appetizing stuff!  There’s an article at Slate.com giving some background and explanation for how these names came about, if you’re interested. 

 

 daftparrot@Hotmail.com

Mugabe’s Campaign Of Terror Proves Successful

By now you’ve all heard that Zimbabwe’s President/Dictator Mugabe’s opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, has withdrawn from the election runoff scheduled for this Friday, citing increasing violence and intimidation.  According to an article published at Scotsman.com:

Mr Tsvangirai announced his decision not to contest the run-off after scores of stick-wielding Zanu-PF supporters surrounded the venue for an MDC rally on Sunday. He said the poll would be a “sham” because voters had been told they would be killed if they voted for his party. More than 70 of his supporters have already been killed.

Mr Mugabe’s militias are now forcing terrified urban dwellers to learn – and chant – a new slogan: “WW, win or war”. Some of the militias are as young as 16; a schoolteacher from Mutare told The Scotsman she recognised one of them as a pupil.

Much has been made of this crisis.  We’ve expressed our concern previously in this space, and fortunately this situation is beginning to receive significant media coverage here in the west– but what good has it done?

In recent days, leaders neighboring countries have expressed their concern with the state of affairs in Zimbabwe.  The early consensus seems to be that more sanctions are in order. 

Unfortunately, the Zimbabwean people would bear the brunt of such sanctions– not the governing party.  The situation is perilous– inflation is out of control, and it appears likely that a massive food shortage will occur in the next 2-3 months.

The possibility remains that Tsvangirai will change his mind and participate in the run-off election.  If he were to do so and win, it would open the doors for the international community to insist that Mugabe vacate his office immediately.

However, the consequences of the run-off election would likely be horrific.  Mugabe’s thugs have killed at least 76 supporters of the opposition in recent weeks and tortured countless more. 

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that the police were “allowed” to vote early– in the presence of military officials.  These officials, of course, instructed the officers to vote for Mugabe, or else. 

The situation is grim.  No solutions appear to be forthcoming.  The international community is beginning to ratchet up their pressure, but to what effect?

This much is clear: Without a speedy resolution, the country will fall to shambles.  Floods of starving refugees will begin spilling into neighboring countries ill-prepared to assist them. 

We can only hope that Mugabe and his advisors will open their eyes to the suffering of their people and do what is best for the country before it is too late. 

Don’t bet on it. 

daftparrot@Hotmail.com

Feeling Lazy… Must Be The Alcohol?

Dear Readers,

On behalf of the entire Daft Parrot writing staff (which is one person, if you haven’t figured that out yet), we’re sorry we haven’t written much this weekend. 

We’re not very motivated.

Incidentally, our favorite cocktail of the weekend:

• 2 parts Coconut Rum (we recommend Parrot Bay)
• 1 part vodka (Grey Goose works the best)
• 2 parts Sprite.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Actually it would be pretty cool if a bunch of people sent in drink recipes… I’d feel obligated to sample them all, naturally, which would be a great excuse to drink any night of the week.  Join me in this quest! 

daftparrot@hotmail.com

Love to hate the parrot?

So we’ve had a fair number of readers thus far, and we’re happy about that.  We’re aware that some (many?) of our readers don’t like our opinions. 

And frankly, we love disagreements. 

So, Parrot Haters, how about contributing to our lust for conflict and writing some dissenting articles?  If you’re interested email us at daftparrot@hotmail.com… tell us what you want to write about and we’ll go from there. 

You’ll of course be recognized as author and get to link to your website, blog, or whatever. 

Hydrogen Powered House?

Happy Friday everyone!  Here’s some weekend reading material for you.  This article by David Biello is about a civil engineer who hasn’t paid a cent for home energy or automobile fuel for two years.  How’d he do it?  An excerpt:

Strizki’s two-story colonial on an 11-acre (4.5 hectare) plot 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of Trenton is the nation’s first private hydrogen-powered house, which he now shares with his wife, two dogs and a cat. (His two daughters and son, all in their 20s, have left the nest.) It has been running entirely on electricity generated from the sun and stored hydrogen since October 2006, when Strizki—in a project that his wife Ann fully supports—built an off-grid energy system with $100,000 of his own cash and $400,000 in grants from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, along with technology from companies such as Sharp, Swagelok and Proton Energy Systems.

The Strizki’s personalized home-energy system consists of 56 solar panels on his garage roof, and housed inside is a small electrolyzer (a device, about the size of a washing machine, that uses electricity to break down water into its component hydrogen and oxygen). There are 100 batteries for nighttime power needs along the garage’s inside wall; just outside are ten propane tanks (leftovers from the 1970s that are capable of storing 19,000 cubic feet, or 538 cubic meters, of hydrogen) as well as a Plug Power fuel cell stack (an electrochemical device that mixes hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water) and a hydrogen refueling kit for the car.

On a typical summer day, the solar panels drink in and convert sunlight to about 90 kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to Strizki. He consumes about 10 kilowatt-hours daily to run the family’s appliances, including a 50-inch plasma television, along with his three computers and stereo equipment, among other modern conveniences.

The remaining 80 kilowatt-hours recharge the batteries—which provide electricity for the house at night—and power the electrolyzer, which splits the molecules of purified tap water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is vented and the hydrogen goes into the tanks where it is stored for use in the cold, dark winter months. From November to March or so Strizki runs the stored hydrogen through the fuel cell stacks outside his garage or in his car to power his entire house—and the only waste product is water, which can be pumped right back into the system.

“I can make fuel out of sunlight and water—and I don’t even use the water,” he notes. “If it’s raining, it’s fuel. If it’s sunny, it’s fuel. It’s all fuel.”

It’s a fascinating article, I highly reccomend reading the whole thing.  You’ll note that the cost of building this system was $500,000, so this is clearly not for everyone–yet.  But it is a great picture of the potential that hydrogen based power has as an alternative energy source. 

 daftparrot@hotmail.com

Disappointed In Obama

 

 

 

 

Today, Barack Obama announced his intentions to forego public financing (and the accompanying spending limits) for the general election.

The move makes strategic sense.  The man is a fund-raising machine– his campaign smashed fund-raising records during the Democratic primary.  Not only that, but the GOP has a significant amount of money to spend during the general election while the DNC has relatively little. 

So what’s the problem?

He broke his word.  

Last year, while his campaign was still in underdog mode, Obama vowed to accept public financing if his opponent did the same.  John McCain quickly stated that he’d take the deal.   

Obama has precious little political experience.  He has a limited record for voters to study.  His electibility comes from his words, his promises, and his apparent desire to turn Washington inside out. 

But how are we supposed to know he’s not just another politician, willing to do and say whatever gets him into the White House?  There’s no way of knowing for sure– we have to trust him.  And when the man reneges on a major campaign pledge, what are we supposed to think?

An excerpt from a New York Times article:

According to aides, Mr. Obama reached his decision knowing he might tarnish his desired reformist image — he pledged last year to accept public financing if his opponent did as well — but strategists for the campaign made the calculation that it was worth it, in part, because of the potential for the Republican National Committee to seriously out-raise its Democratic counterpart. The Republican committee finished May with nearly $54 million in the bank, compared with just $4 million for the Democratic National Committee.

In other words: The Obama campaign “calculated” that it was in his political best interest to break a promise. 

Wonderful.

What are we supposed to expect when you take the White House, Barack?  You’re going to push for universal health coverage– unless you “calculate” that it’s not in your best interest? 

Don’t get me wrong– I still like Obama in this election.  But seriously, how is this not supposed to be a big deal?  It’s his first chance to put his actions into words, and he blows it. 

As of now, I’m still voting for you, Barack.  But you lost some luster today.

 

daftparrot@Hotmail.com