Sects and Politics

So Iowa likes Huckabee.

I did not see that coming. And that's not sarcasm. I had filed Huckabee at the bottom of the list under "candidates with a gimmick," next to Biden (I run every year! Even when there is no election!) Tancredo (Immigrants...booooo) , Keyes (You didn't know I was in it!), Thompson (gung-GUNNNG!).

To put Huckabee's big win into perspective, please know the following facts:
356,000 Iowans played Red Rover, and sent the most Republicans over to the Huckabee side. But he was 4th overall -- after Clinton (Methodist, for the record).

Obama took 1/4 of the votes (about 89,000).
Huckabee took 11.4%. Let's generously call it 12%, or 42,000 votes. At Yankees Stadium, this is the number of people playing the "Guess the Attendance" game.

But now he's out there, all over my TEEvee, and I got somethin' to say.

Here is my full disclosure, for context, and to further confuse you about what color this blog is.

• foreign-born, so I can't be president (but Britany can). I can indeed vote.
• Baptist (the northern kind. now known as American Baptist, since the war ended). 400 years on my father's side...that we know about
• 2 generations removed from Mormon on my mother's side. My name's in that vault somewhere. but then, so is yours.
• because I am an unbaptized Baptist, I am also the worst kind of heathen. But Jesus and I talk about it every day, and he is very patient
• my first presidential election: Reagan-Mondale. I was for Mondale
• I sometimes vote republican in primaries. Because I vote in Massachusetts, and I want to be in the game
• Bush is an idiot. Oh, wait, that's not what we were talking about. How did that get filed under my deepest beliefs?

So Huckabee's an ordained minister. Ordained by WHOM? I got tired of reading this, and decided to find out. From his own site, "A significant part of his adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader." In the SBC (that's the Southern Baptist Convention) a theological degree, or seminary study is not required for ordination, nor a guarantee of it.

A church community ordinates their own pastor, on their own terms.
One can consider it a kind of honor. Not everyone can be ordained.

So Huckabee is a pastor in the same way that Romney is a priest. I guess is what I am saying.

I am surprised by the people who ask are Mormons christian? I answer, "my first clue is when a religion has the words 'Jesus Christ' in their name." Ditto Christian Scientists and, dare I say, Jews for Jesus.

Mitt Romney has had to make a speech about his faith recently, I think to see if he would be struck by lightning, or turn to salt. (Some people's gods are trickstery that way.) In his remarks, he said in essence what Huckabee has said - that his faith is deeply personal to him and so... sit on it.

I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs. ~~ Romney, 12/6/07

My faith is my life - it defines me. I don't separate my faith from my personal and professional lives. ~~ Huckabee, date unknown. from his offical website.

Voters who are afraid of Romney's Mormonism might do better to be afraid of a citizenry who isn't sure who to vote for until they clarify their relationship with Jesus Christ.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" ~~ Ron Paul, 12/18/07, quoting Lewis, often attributed to Long.

When Joe Leiberman, who practices orthodox Judaism, was a vice presidential candidate, people worried whether he would work on Saturday. Probably -- but still not as shocking as our Quaker president carpet bombing Cambodia.

There was worry he would do away with the national christmas tree, which we haven't had nearly as long as women have had the vote - in fact, Americans didn't care about christmas trees until the monarchy we rebelled against married into German culture. We should probably lose it anyway, and the only federal recognition of a religious holiday. Let christians have to finagle our sacred day off like everyone else.

In all this talk of when life begins, and how old the earth is, and whether Jesus and Satan were actually brothers, or whether that was a UFO over Shirley's house , I wonder if we will get back to talking about how to put a pin in this war and bargain a little peace with the enemy. You know, the radical religious one.

Discuss

Caucus, as explained by 6th grade girls

Jessica: Ok, let me explain it.

Emily: She's going to interview us, just wait.

Lauren: Be quiet, you guys.

Jessica: I know this...

Ashley: Let her talk. She totally knows it.

Lauren: You guys....

Jessica: Ok, listen. The first big thing is that you have to have your preference, or whatever. That is the huge, the whole, thing. So you have your preference, and you go, like, This is who I like, you guys.

Emily: Yeh, and then, all of us who like that same person too...? We go and stand there, with her...? and go, We like them.

Lauren: Wait you guys, you have to have enough percentage or whatever--- [Jessica/Ashley: FIFTEEN percent!]--teen percent. I said that, shut up!

Jessica: Ok, would you just.. [rolls eyes and moans -- uuugghr] Ok. [smiles] So that's our preference group. We'll be the group, and Emily, you be the Undecided or whatever.

Ashley/Lauren: (playfully) fuh-reeeeek! [all giggle]

Emily: Shut up you guys. Ok, (affecting haughty voice) I am un-dee-SIGH-ded.

Jessica: And we try to get her to come to our group.

All (but Emily): Red Rover, Red Rover, send Emily right over!

Lauren: Oh, wait, I changed my mind.

Ashley: No waaay!

Lauren: yuh-hunh. (to the interviewer) I have 30 minutes. I can go to every group if I want. (mouths 'slut'. all giggle). So, ok, I go over to this other group (jumps left) and Emily goes with them...

Emily: (waves imaginary wand) Freak no More! (all giggle)

Jessica: And that's what you do. Only, there is like, a whole, hugh-normous, like hall. Of people. Doing it. Ohmigawd! (all shriek) Oh, my god, you guys! shut up!! Caucusing. You know what I meant.

Interviewer: But how does that decide the election?

Jessica: Because the biggest group wins. And if you go to the convention, and don't do like the preference group said, you are totally---

Lauren: ---like, shunned. or whatever.

Interviewer: So, for the national convention, this is how you pick?

Jessica: nuh-uh. It's for the county. Then they pick who goes to the nationals

Emily: Like gymnastics competition!

Lauren: no it's not, Emily

Interviewer: What if everyone just voted their heart?

[PAUSE]
Ashley: You're just gross.

Interviewer: So... why does Iowa get to go first?

Jessica: I dunno. because of... I don't know. A treaty or something. Oh, my mom's here. She's taking us to China King, on accounta Lauren got her braces off today. See ya!!

Emily: (walking away) wouldn't wanna be ya. (all giggle)

Lauren: (running to catch up) you guys....

4.5 yrs; 3904 dead

Talking with some hometown friends, all of us daughters of war veterans. 1 Army WWII (both parents) and Korea (father); 1 Air Force Vietnam; 1 Army Vietnam (in our day, it was 2 words... Viet Nam). We were talking about the War -- this one -- and I told them how another friend had asked why it is that we-the-people are not more angry about being in so deep for so long and so hopelessly.

I suggested it was because the average American didn't really have to know about it if they didn't want to. It is a thing that happens to other people, unless you actually knew someone in it -- and in the US today, you are either related to the military culture or you are not. I had told her that from my own experience, those in the culture don't have the opportunity of being "for" or "against" the war. They are simply in it.

Current count of US Deaths confirmed by the DoD: 3904. This is very specific language, because of course, the non-military dead, the injured, the forever maimed, the orphaned, widowed, and simply ruined... are uncountable.

Here are some ways to bring the war into your daily life, since you're logged in already...

Witness the magnitude
Sort through this day-by-day accounting of casualties, which attenpts to count the uncountable, and conceive of the inconceivable.
A year ago, Google had an interactive US map with markers for names, ages, and hometowns. The site is no longer active, but someone took a picture of it before it was retired.

Find your local information
View casualty info by state, then drill into your state by clicking the state name for demographic info and estimated costs.
Find an action nearby - Try Peace Action, or Operation Home Front

Read GI blogs
Remember they are young, far from home, in danger. Their blogs may be as foreign to you as yours would be to them. You wouldn't say you are "for"or "against" the life you lead. But chances are good you'll be leading it tomorrow.
Better yet, read a spouse blog.

Read Anti-War Blogs
Because they can be just as disturbing. And heartbreaking. And eye-opening.

Question Authority
Find out what your representatives are doing and let them know your thoughts. (yes, that is a Quaker site. It's my blog)
Remember your state and local reps. This is where real governing happens, especially when wars are being fought by the National Guard.

Understand the worldwide scope of living in a war zone
from globalsecurity.org: "The United Nations defines 'major wars' as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year...As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen 'lesser' conflicts ongoing with varying degrees of intensity. "

Draw in a few threads of your own
Here is a good place to start.

Day One: 2008

Some folk believe that whatever you do on New Year's Day is how you will spend the rest of the year. This tears us between goofing the day away in recreational activities we love; the "improvement" promises we made the night before, probably while drunk, and the mundane chores of every day life that you know you don't do enough, so perhaps this superstition will take some of the pressure off your own discipline.

Perhaps I will spend 2008 writing awkwardly constructed sentences.

So I missed a week there in 2007. Here is your re-cap:

While you were away from the Mill: Big Sweaty resigned.
Boo frickin' hoo, as we say around my cube. Goodbye smokebreak meeting. Goodbye morning harangue. Goodbye Howard Dean-style rally cheers when the mikes are on. Glad to have won one of the last iPods.

This kind of power vaccum usually has disasterous results. I tried to press Rock Star in our last 1:1 for the secret plans for the future, but she encouraged me to leverage my synergistic opportunities for low-hanging fruit while simonizing my verisimilitude. Or...something.

I think I will put my iPod in my ears and go back to my loom. I managed to create an 8 hr playlist of gospel music. Swing low, chariot.

Down Souff: Overnight at Dodie and Ric's, made complete by a BBQ assortment platter, FF, and slaw. Yum. Yum. The highlight of our evening was a challenge Dodie had issued that she had listed 50 phrases or terms invented by us and our cronies and I had to come up with the same 50. We overlapped by fewer than 10, cursed ourselves for forgetting the obvious, and laughed our heads off. It is so inside baseball it is not worth posting, but trust me - it was hilarious, and our mutual childhood was very very strange. I made her watch the Hot Dog movie and she had to lie down from the nosebleed.

Driving Invalid: My mother has made her complete recovery from hip replacement, down to driving and returning to work this week. The formally housebound was out on the town: 1 theatre performance, 3 church services, and a quest to find plain seltzer (4 stops, but we got it at Food Lion). Better believe I bought a gallon of it. On a whim of out-with-the-old, we blew through her closet and filled several bags and boxes for the church yard sale. My general advice, "If you are still wearing purple and teal together, just stop."

Spinster Aunt: The one thing I have going for me is a working knowledge of audio-visual toys, which puts me ahead of most of my sister's household. Then I undermine that by saying ridiculous things like "Why do this, when you could be playing a real guitar?" and "You know that the word 'you' actually has 3 letters, don't you?" I play the Boston Priss to the hilt around my niece, who (one must confess) is more girly than I was at her age, but I enjoy the look on her face when I tell her I got her a strand of pearls for Christmas and she should write her thank you notes right now while we are waiting for iTunes to download. If she could have texted them, she might have done it.

Her mother and I accompanied her and a giant pair of pants with a boy in them to the movies and lunch at Applebee's. Then I checked myself into a retirement home. And I can't get "Slow Ride" out of my head.

1 Day back: I like taking 6 days off work, coming back for 1, then taking another off. Perhaps I can get this approved as a regular schedule. Scored a great deal on after-holiday turkey breast, only to find out it was a mislabeled turkey thigh, and well, that is just gross. But I cooked it anyway and now need to find some way to disguise the last of it.

Welcome back to DrawingIn 2008. Remember that comments build community, and make my blog look popular. It's a tough market out there.