Pax Fellaship

Eamus Catuli

2009-07-28T14:04:00.004-05:00

Apparently the 2008 election and the Music City Bowl wore the life out of this blog. I bring it out of de facto retirement to greet all those Cubs fans who might be looking their favorite in-fielder.

Go Cubs!

(h/t ME)

If you need more stats on me, you can try this.

2008 is the best year ever.

2008-11-15T22:33:00.001-06:00

Enjoyed the Presidential election and all, but

VANDERBILT IS BOWL ELIGIBLE!

Go 'Dores!

Darkhorse 13

2008-11-11T14:37:00.002-06:00

My dad is my favorite veteran. He is my father, friend and hero. He is also now a published writer! The editor of Rotorcraft Professional asked my dad to write a story about his experiences flying helicopters in Vietnam.

My dad's story, Darkhorse 13, begins on page 13 of the virtual magazine here.

Thanks for serving and surviving, Dad. I love you.

Happy Veterans Day.

A Mighty Day

2008-11-04T10:51:00.002-06:00

Today, my wife and I voted for Barack Obama in Montgomery, Alabama, feeling the weight of history. We voted in a crowd of our neighbors of many hues, many ages, and disparate wealth, with a single calling to participate in this great American experiment. Today, we are not taking for granted the near miraculous possibility and duty to govern ourselves in this republic. I thank God for it.

Vote.

2008-11-03T13:35:00.001-06:00

The Russian Vote

2008-11-01T22:38:00.006-05:00

I spent three hours on Saturday morning with a twelve Russians, young professional delegates to the Open World program. They are here for 10 days to observe and experience American civil and social institutions, though this program to promote dialogue and exchange with young people from former Soviet states. These folks were IT and PR directors, a labor union officer, a lawyer, a real estate agent and other similar professionals.

I was the first presenter in their visit. I plied them with coffee and pastries, and they were good sports to endure my orientation to the Constitutional system, federalism, the Great Compromise, Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances, the Bill of Rights and suffrage. They asked penetrating and hard questions, and were exceptionally interested in the appointment of Supreme Court Justices, and the relationship of the President to Congress specifically related to the Iraq War. They do not like the Iraq War, at all.

Were it not an election week, I would not have tried to explain and explore the Electoral College, but I wanted the news to make sense to them on Tuesday. They were troubled and confused by some aspects of the Electoral College (who isn’t?), but they were keenly interested in the process.

In the final segment of the morning, I directed an election among the Russians. I told all the attending Americans to shut their opinionated traps, and asked the Russians how they thought that Obama and McCain differed on issues that were important to them.

First, they were most interested in foreign policy and these were their observations: They did not think that either candidate differs much on the American-Russian relationships. They thought McCain “rejects the ‘ugly American’ stereotype” but that he still is much more interested in American interests at the expense of the world, noting the “Country First” slogan. One suggested with consensus that because of McCain’s experience in Vietnam and in the military will make him more likely to go to war.

Regarding Obama and foreign policy, they saw Obama as “cautiously global,” and one delegate said he “intuitively believes Obama will be less belligerent.” They believe Obama will be more diplomatic and is more sensitive to diverse religions and cultures.

Second, they were concerned about the global economic crisis. The Russians believe that the Iraq War is about money and access to oil markets, not terrorism, and they agreed that Obama has a better understanding and is better educated on the global economy.

Third, they said McCain certainly is too old for the job but that Obama “may be” too young. They were quick to note that Obama is older than Dmitry Medvedev. (I did not quickly note the age of their starry-eyed autocrat in the next office.)
Fourth, one delegated noted that McCain has a reputation as a “principled man” and a patriot.

Fifth, and very interesting to me, another American, a conservative, asked them if they thought that Sarah Palin would be able to lead on women’s issues on the global stage. They demurred and eschewed. One Russian woman said that Palin will be used “like a cat’s paw.” Another said she doesn’t “sport charisma.” Another said she “sows no new ideas.” They said she will suffer condescension by others in the government and political leadership. They do not like Sarah Palin, at all.

I asked them what they thought about Joe Biden, and I learned something very interesting. They had not opinion about the man. They said they were uninformed on Biden. I expressed my interest that they had very strong opinions about Palin but feel like they know nothing about Biden. They replied and explained that it has everything to do with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Russians explained, with consensus, that after HRC lost the nomination Sarah Palin felt like a “wet blanket” and that there was no comparison between the two. To my surprise, they explained that many or most Russians hold HRC in very high regard, that she is a revered political figure dating back to the Lewinsky scandal, because, in their words, she demonstrated such grace and dignity. They described their disappointment when such a superstar lost and they seemed to be offered “just this other woman.” They love Hillary Clinton, a lot.

At the end of their conversation about the candidates, we voted by secret ballot. The indicated their votes on paper and passed them in. I started tallying the totals on the board, and we even had a “hanging chad” moment. I began the day with a discussion of Bush v. Gore in 2000, so it was not with a little delight that I had to call in two translators to tell me about the notes written on a ballot. I could read both names, Obama and McCain, with mysterious Cyrillic characters qualifying her vote. By the time four or five people had tried to make it out, by the time we identified her and inquired about her vote, we experienced a first hand ballot controversy. (It turns out that she was voting for Obama but stating her conviction that McCain would win the election.)

At the end of the day, polling twelve, young, Russian professionals, Obama won, 10 to 2.

Feel the hope, from the Urals to Siberia.

I love America.

2008-10-30T12:08:00.004-05:00

I have a pretty extraordinary week ahead of me, and it makes my patriotism well up like a spring.

On Saturday, I will present a three-hour program on American institutions, civil rights and our electoral process to a delegation of Russian college students and young professionals. This is my second year to address a delegations through the Open World Forum, a project of the Library of Congress. I get to talk with these students, all of whom were born in the Soviet Union, about the Revolution, the Constitution, amending the constitution and the electoral college. This fires me up, I mean, like an SEC football game.

(And to my friends who might be worried that I'll promote a certain candiate to the impressionable young Russians, I will not endorse a candidate or party in the discussion. Even so, their next stop after my lecture is Eastdale Mall and Wal-Mart. They'll be just fine.)

As a part of that program, I plan to remark about the extraordinary phenomenon of peaceful transfers of power from one party to another, governed by the Rule of Law and a social compact that instills confidence in losers. Then, on Tuesday, we actually get to see it happen. Of course, we might not transfer power between parties, although I suspect we might, but even so, to see one governor relinquish power to another because the Law says so, to see the people engage in a process and acquiese to the outcome, peacefully and confidently, is a mighty thing to behold.

Thursday, I will travel to our nation's capital with some colleagues on school business. There, I intend to run to the White House and do a lap around Lafayette Square and the Ellipse, first, because I'm American and it's my house and I can, second, because I want to offer a prayer of blessing on the Next Occupant. He'll need it.

Last, I will spend a night in the Shenandoah Valley with some of my best friends in the whole, wide world. I hope that we raise a glass to our preferred candidate and can celebrate half-a-lifetime, so far, of political evolution with each other.

God has blessed America. May He continue to do so.

Ocular Distance Running

2008-10-11T20:55:00.002-05:00

Today, I had the honor and privilege of a five mile run with Mike the Eyeguy, on the prettiest patch of grass in the whole of Alabama. The pace was not fast, but the conversation was full of salt and light.

Cheers, MTEG.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES!

2008-10-04T20:32:00.001-05:00

Vandy beats Auburn, stopping a 13 game skid to AU, going 5-0 since the first time since 1943, sitting alone atop the SEC East for the first time.

I'm fixing to let myself be excited.

Freedom from Fear

2008-09-26T12:33:00.001-05:00

Last night, I had the pleasure of moderating Freedom from Fear: A Candidates’ Forum on Crimes Against Women. This arose from the Montgomery County Domestic Violence Task Force and an effort among several groups to invite several candidates to address issues of domestic abuse, sexual assault and elder exploitation. I was the organizing chair, and we pulled it off with no money expended and about 6 weeks of preparation. It’s awfully nice to have a university’s worth of resources and personnel to rally for something like this.

Here is the newspaper account from today.

I was struck by the miraculous beauty of our system and culture where a group of people committed to a cause can call our candidates to appear and answer our questions, and the candidates and incumbents will and must respond. This is the great beauty of our self-governance, that we can call our representatives and judges to answer to us, and if they don’t, we fire them.

I’m awfully proud and patriotic today and can’t wait for a debate tonight.

Barack Steady

2008-09-17T13:29:00.002-05:00

New numbers from Politico.

New numbers from Ambinder.

New numbers from Real Clear Politics.

Go Electoral College! Beat the National Polls!

Also, for your consideration, I recommend this piece by Professor Doug Kmiec, a pro-life, Catholic, constitutional law professor at Pepperdine, about his heartbreaking experience before communion in April. He is a man of good will and thoughtful faith.

When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drum. . .

2008-09-12T17:02:00.001-05:00

Do you hear the people sing?

(h/t JDB!)

Rock Steady

2008-09-12T14:29:00.002-05:00

I started out the week pretty blue.

I end the week soberly optimistic:

1. "In what regard, Charlie."

2. Gasoline prices.

3. The Electoral College.

4. Ground Game.

Go 'Dores, who have a bit of ground game, too.

Go 'DORES!

2008-09-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

Vandy beats #24 South Carolina for the second straight year.

Bobby Johnson owns Steve Spurrier.

Dynamite!

Laid Back, Easy Going

2008-09-01T21:16:00.000-05:00

From Ezra Klein, via Sullivan:

In this election, Joe Biden is proving the low-key, stable, drama-free vice presidential candidate who basically does his job and stays out of the news. Joe Biden.

Hurricane Outrage

2008-08-30T23:45:00.003-05:00

Contraflow begins Sunday morning. That means that the interstate from the Mississippi Gulf Coast will run every lane northbound to accommodate people evacuating from the path of a Category 4 hurricane. This is to accommodate the mandatory evacuations from the three coastal counties. Jackson is the destination. Jackson is also the only major airport north of Biloxi and Gulfport, and I-55 will get also be the primary evacuation route for people from Slidell and other Louisiana towns.

Jackson is the staging ground for the Red Cross and most emergency responders because they are close enough to be accessible without being in the direct line of fire.

In 2005, after Katrina devastated south Mississippi, my wife went with others from our church, hotel to hotel, providing food and resources for families who were providing their own shelter, at the first safe hotels they could find north of the storm.

Tonight, Gustav is a Category 4 hurricane, and it likely will begin to make landfall the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, The Senator from Arizona and the Governor of Alaska, with their depth of knowledge in hurricane disaster preparedness, are coming to Jackson to "check on preparations." They will bring with them Secret Service and an airplane or two to the only major airport north of the storm zone. They will close intersections. They will motorcade over an interstate being used as an evacuation route. They will bring a press corps who will need hotel rooms. They will tax police resources. They will tax military resources. They will tax the attention of the governor, the mayor, the government. They will receive a "briefing" from MEMA, who surely have other things on their minds.

I thought the Palin pick was amusing yesterday.

Tonight, I am furious that any politician, from any party, in any election, would be so reckless, thoughtless and selfish as to distract from the preparations and endanger people running for their lives.

Have they learned nothing? They are terribly concerned about the perception of holding their festive convention during the storm but apparently are not concerned about actually getting in the way.

Promised Land

2008-08-29T21:45:00.002-05:00

Representative John Lewis said last night, before Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic nomination to the Presidency, that this is not yet the Promised Land, but it's "a big down-payment, a big down-payment."

I am grateful to live in a land and among a people who get better, who manifest a spark of redemption, who take a social compact and aspirations to heart and who bend our history toward justice. I praise God for an America where Barack Obama is possible forty years after Martin Luther King, who was not possible himself forty years earlier. American women struggled for suffrage for 80 years before grasping the right to vote with the 19th Amendment, and here we stand beneath a shattering glass ceiling.

This is why I am a progressive, because we can see with our own eyes, in our own lives, across the breadth of a generation, that we can get better and better.

President Palin

2008-08-29T13:53:00.002-05:00

If you just learned her name today, if you will see her for the first time at the RNC, are you ready for her to be our President?

Bob Riley and Haley Barbour have thicker resumes.

Happy Birthday, Senator. (More Horserace.)

2008-08-29T10:59:00.004-05:00

John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate this morning. From a pure electioneering, political point of view, it's an exciting, bold move. She's smart, within conservative orthodoxy (except for those windfall profit taxes on oil companies. . . ), has a line on the energy debate, shook up her own party with aggressive ethics reform and investigation, and, yes, is a woman. She's a working mother of five, with one son headed to the army and newborn with Down's. She's impressive, no doubt.

She steals some of the "historic" thunder from the Obama campaign, and I am glad that we'll make some history one way or another. She also gives undecideds a big incentive to vote GOP if they were leaning to the right but compelled by making some Big American History.

The move is very odd to me, however, for one big reason. Obama's experience is a legitimate issue, and may be the strongest, most legitimate stick the GOP have to use against him. The Democratic opponents used it to good effect, and the McCain campaign trumps him all around on personal, political and governmental experience.

Now, they can't argue about it. How can they criticize Obama's inexperience with any credibility when they say that this half-term governor of a state of 600,000, once mayor of a town of 9000, is ready to be President in a heartbeat. John McCain turns 72 today, and he just announced that Governor Palin is ready to be Commander-in-Chief because she has been the Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard since 2005.

She is a great political pick, and so far, I like her personally quite a lot. She's compelling, and she'll energize the ticket.

She also disarms McCain's main line of attack.

Participation: A Working Theology of Politics

2008-08-27T13:33:00.005-05:00

This is an excerpt from a paper I presented this summer at the Christian Scholars' Conference. This represents my current, evolving thinking through scripture and the role of Christians in politics and government. I know this is bare-boned theology, so bound up in scripture references and all, but sometimes I find good comfort in the command, example and necessary inference of the sola scriptura of frontier America. I also know this is too long for a blog post.

Very few Christians would dispute the callings, burdens and ministries owed to the sick, poor and vulnerable in the name of Christ and the glory of God. The contemporary debate occurs between those who would argue that God has placed this work only on individual disciples or congregations of Christians, not in the state, and those who would argue that this work and this problem reside with the nation-state or dominant culture where the Christians reside. This debate arises from two issues: whether Christians have any business engaging the secular state or whether Christians believe that engaging the secular state is effective to achieve the moral goal.

Romans 13 is the most direct address in the New Testament on the role of government and the governed. There, Paul admonishes every citizen and subject of the Roman empire “to submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (Rom. 13:1) Paul describes the sovereign’s governor and explains the need to submit:

He is God’s servant, agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Rom. 13:4b-7)

Paul marks a clear delineation between the governor and the governed, the sovereign and the subjects. In Rome, as in most of the world until the Enlightenment, subjects and citizens had virtually no peaceful voice in their government. Sovereigns ruled by Divine Right or force of might with total authority, or at most, with the support of oligarchical courts. The Emperor ruled, and the subjects served.

As a Roman citizen, Paul enjoyed some privileges in the Empire, but by the time of his writing, Emperor Nero ruled as a dictator with no obligation to any representative Senate. Even so, Paul describes the government in terms of righteous ministry from God, and he teaches Christian citizens to submit and to pay their dues to the State. Jesus famously replied to those religious leaders who sought to trap him with a question of taxation by the occupiers: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Mt. 22:21; Mk. 12:17; Lk. 20:25)

After centuries, Western thought captured Greek notions of democracy. Enlightenment philosophers began to criticize unreasoned, obsequious genuflection to a throne and bridled against the notion of a Divine Right. These ideas found their experimental home in the British colonies of North America, and perhaps for the first time in human history, the stark distinction between Sovereign and Subject, Governor and Governed, blurred as a new social compact became manifest. The boldest and clearest articulation of this experiment appears in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Justifying the proposed Constitution and urging its ratification, James Madison articulated the theory of American republican government in The Federalist No. 39:

What then are the distinctive characters of the republican form? . . . [W]e may define a republic to be. . . a government which derives all of its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of people; and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government, that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it. . . . It is sufficient for such a government, that the persons administering it be appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the people. . .

In Romans, Paul admonished citizens and subjects to submit and to pay rightful dues. Christ called his followers to be salt and light, to be shining lights, to glorify God and to transform the world by their presence in the world. (Matt. 5-7) Christ did not call for the overthrow of governments or the co-opting of the state to achieve spiritual ends. The apostles did not advocate for reform of the Roman state to ensure justice, although the apostles and prophets certainly do call for justice.

Paul explained that governments exist by God’s hand to administer His will. When Christ encountered government officials, functionaries and soldiers, he did not command them to leave their posts but to act justly and to love mercy.* When Paul taught Roman soldiers, even his own jailers, he did not teach them to leave the Empire’s service, but he converted them to the way of Christ.(See, e.g., Ac. 16:28-34) In Romans, he declared magistrates and functionaries to be God’s servants to administer justice and government. (Rom. 13:4-6)

In the United States of America, however extraordinarily, individual subjects are the collective sovereign. The governed govern themselves. The sharp distinction Paul observes between the State and its citizens does not exist in the United States. Rather, the roles coalesce where the people have an active, fruitful voice in their own affairs, representatives and policies. The government responds directly to the will of the people, at least regularly at the ballot box, if not more frequently as private interests press the government to move. Thus, every American, including American Christians, bears the burdens of submissive citizenship and righteous, merciful sovereignty. In matters of governance and policy, Christian Americans must abide the Rule of Law, must submit to just laws and must seek to implement just and useful governmental policies and laws.

Scripture asserts an obligation is to “do all things to the glory of God,” to approach all of the work given to a believer as if it were God’s very work. (I Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:23-25) If Americans are both subject and sovereign, then American Christians are bound to consider public policy and the role of the public, secular government as if it were God’s own work, to His glory. At the very least, Americans who seek to obey this scriptural mandate must consider public policy, law and the government as potentially just, useful, prudential, wise and effective solutions to the problems besetting neighbors in the great community.

In the instant [election], Christians must consider their roles as governed and government. If the public policy is unjust, then Christians must answer as participants in that public policy, as self-governors. If the free marketplace is unjust, then Christians must answer as suppliers and demanders, buyers and sellers, consumers and providers, individually and communally, being cautious to avoid holding the free market as sacrosanct before unjust effect. If our healthcare system obstructs basic care for the poor, entrenches illness and hastens the death for those on the economic margin of our nation, then Christians should be aware and active to remove those obstacles.

If Christians would seek to rectify an unjust policy or state of circumstance, then Christians rightly should consider the judicious use of the State to address the problem. If progressive use of government is a useful means to address the great disparity in healthcare for the working poor in the United States, the great waste of resources in a skewed marketplace and the adverse effect on the life and health of less affluent neighbors, then Christians should make good use of the available tools.

*See, e.g., Mt. 8:5-13, Lk. 7:1-10 (Jesus praising the faith of the centurion on behalf of his servant); Lk. 19:1-9 (Zacchaeus, the wee little man); Ac. 10 (Peter and Cornelius the centurion in the Italian Regiment); Ac. 24-26 (Paul before Felix, Festus and Agrippa, concluding, “Short time or long – I pray that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am (a Christian), except for these chains,” at 26:29).

Party Politics

2008-08-25T21:38:00.001-05:00

Many bemoan party politics, complaining that they turn our processes into corrupt, ugly fights. George Washington cautioned us in his Farewell Address, after the only non-partisan presidency, that we should shun political parties.

In our vibrant, messy, prosperous republican democracy, party politics have been corrupt and ugly, but they also serve as a bulwark and strength. Perhaps it is cliché, but competition does make us great, and fierce competition with fair rules generates our remarkable success in an experiment that relies more on an ephemeral social compact than the might of a sovereign.

Built into the Constitution is a separation of powers, pitting legislative, judicial and executive powers against the other with checks and balances to promote fair play, accountability and progress. The progress may be halting. The accountability may be flawed. The play may be rough, but we persevere, and our system grows more just, even in fits and starts, as we struggle with each other.

Others marvel at us, how we can thrive in peace even as we vehemently disagree and debate. We argue and maneuver and posture in the hope of winning hearts and minds and votes, instead of converting at the ends of bayonets or oppressing dissent. Minority parties rail and protest and vote, eventually waiting for the pendulum to swing them back into the majority, when they will be held accountable by a minority party, so that no one can cause too much damage in a term of office.

Instead of turning to vigilante feuds and bloodletting over disputes and power, we sue, we litigate. We compete, and if the rules and the process is fair and open, even the losers acquiesce peacefully. Our economy is based on competition, investment and smarts and hard work, to corner a market, to innovate, to profit and to win customers.

In this same spirit of competition, a free market of ideas, litigation and debate, we raise our political parties to debate, to struggle, to compete for the hearts and minds and votes of the people. The parties recruit, yes, but the parties also respond. They may look like they are responding to polls and popularity, but they may just be responding to the people and their principles and preferences.

History may declare winners, but we still are in the conversation, the debate and struggle for the great hearts and minds of our nation. Although the parties may yield to temptation and may drive us mad with bad tactics and parochial snobbery, they are our vehicles for the mighty exercise of our social compact together. We compete, and the competition makes us stronger.

Timetable

2008-08-22T15:37:00.002-05:00

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed to a draft plan to remove U.S. troops from cities by 2009 and completely from Iraq by 2012.

Isn't this announcing to the enemy our date of departure? Isn't this "cutting and running"? No, it's smart, politic, necessary and good policy for the Iraqis and the Americans.

This would seem to favor the presidential candidate who has favored withdrawal, not the candidate who is at ease with 100 years of military engagement there.

It's hopeful change, no?

The Other Redeem Team

2008-08-21T13:05:00.003-05:00

U.S. Women win gold over Brazil in China.

HOPE, all it's cracked up to be.

USA. USA.

Cry Freedom

2008-08-20T09:33:00.003-05:00

Leroi Moore died yesterday of complications from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. He played saxophone for the Dave Matthews Band since its inception. That means that I've been listening to him almost daily since 1995, first on the way to Destin with other Fellas, then live at Memphis in May in 1996 and in Nashville in 1998 and all along the way. He has helped fill my life with beauty, song and dancing, and I'll miss him.

Peace to DMB and Moore's family.

Pretty good at this stuff

2008-08-19T10:17:00.003-05:00

This is my post from May, 2006 regarding the then-fledgling presidential campaign. Of course, hubris mocks me and and dogs my every step, but I can't help feeling at least three-quarters-prescient, especially if the VP announcement goes the way I've been touting for months now.

(Elrod agrees, not that you can confirm it.)

Praying for Rain

2008-08-14T22:14:00.003-05:00

I am pulling for Barack Obama, but something just dawned on me this evening that has my blood boiling.

He's scheduled to give his acceptance speech from the Mile High on August 28.

The NCAA football season opens on August 28. Vandy at Miami (Ohio)!

It's downright un-American.

(h/t KAT)

Georgia

2008-08-11T15:59:00.002-05:00

Ambinder on the crisis in the Republic of Georgia.

We Americans all ought to be very careful not to allow ourselves to be bracketed into a conflict we do not fully understand. The enemies are not easy to identify. The allies are not easy to identify. The National Interest is not easy to identify. The Threat is not easy to identify. Our Capacity is not easy to identify, and any effort to nail down a short-term desired outcome might just set the stage for something much more interesting and attractive to the the belligerents.

More from Kaplan, whom I respect.

(Yes, I get too much news from The Atlantic, but it's got the goods. What can you do?)

PL

2008-08-09T16:17:00.002-05:00

The Opening Ceremony was phenomenal, from start to finish, just astonishing and beautiful. I was so impressed that the statist commies would endorse such lovely, passionate expressions of human dignity, solidarity, creativity and love, and to execute it with such excellence. If they were trying to re-introduce China to the modern world, they succeeded beyond any reasonably wild imagination. Well done, Dragon.

One World, One Dream inspired to me to contribute a little more to the human condition today, so I extended my run to new lengths. This afternoon, in a beautifully mild, breezy day in Alabama, I ran seven miles, a new personal long. I feel awfully good going a little longer, faster, higher.

Go, World.

(Cheers, II.)

Context is Everything.

2008-08-07T22:34:00.004-05:00

Monte Cox said that to our New Testament Survey class in the Fall of 1993. My brother, Eric, says, "Language is the only game in town." Those pithy truths are two profundities that drive my epistemology.

As this election cycle intensifies, after following it for more than a year, engaging in the rites of debate and discourse, alienating and being alienated by friends and colleagues with different points of view and party preferences, I am getting worn out.

My beautiful wife stumbled upon an old friend's blog, probably the smartest individual human we have ever know, and with whom I am proud to have been censored by a eldership of the Lord's Church. Richardson has a link to an account of a conversation between two ministers in the emergent church movement and a pastor at a Reformed Baptist Church. The pastor insisted on talking about doctrinal, propositional truths and categories, a model modern. The emergents insisted on talking about relationships, friendships, social justice and the Ministry of Reconciliation, model postmoderns. Although they left the lunch in peace, they did not leave in accord or in partnership.

I am grateful for the piece and its lucid, stark example of many conversations we've been having with people we love and with whom we disagree this year. I am learning that we do not disagree on outcomes very often, although we very often disagree about the language, assumptions, propositions and processes we use to get there. We disagree but do not know why, and because we are speaking different languages, probably won't on this side of Jordan.

Thank God for his mercy to all of us ignorant, presumptuous human beings who are stumbling around in goodwill mostly getting it wrong. He must love us a whole lot.

Buttered Biscuits

2008-08-04T11:27:00.003-05:00

Elrod (oh, if only I could link to him; you’d be so impressed) rails today about his animosity toward avian mascots in baseball, most recently scourged by Screech of the Washington Nationals. It prompts me to reflect on our recent, persuasive trip to catch our first game at Riverwalk Stadium for our Montgomery Biscuits.

For my money, there is hardly a better nickname of a professional sports organization in America. The Biscuits are the Tampa Bay Rays AA affiliate, and they are the 2006 and 2007 champions of the Southern League, including minor league powerhouses Chattanooga Lookouts, Huntsville Stars, Birmingham Barons, Mobile Bay-Bears and the Mississippi Braves. The Biscuits thumped the Barons on our outing.

Riverwalk Stadium is new and beautiful. It’s converted from an old downtown warehouse, once a Civil War prison camp and, of course, production facility for, yum, biscuits. They sell some mighty fine biscuits in there, too, with locally produced syrup that will make your children very sticky. The stadium is a block from the Alabama River, the Riverwalk Amphitheater and fountain. A railroad runs parallel to the left field wall, close enough that trains occasionally catch homeruns. It’s a great place to catch a game.

Here is my big gripe: Although the Biscuits is a great nickname, this is a preposterous mascot:

Big Mo has nothing discernibly “biscuit” about him, and he frightens my three-year-old into a panic. Riverwalk is a great stadium, but it can’t stick to a theme: rivers or railroads? You decide, and there are plenty of options. So here we have a perfectly good baseball organization, with a clever nickname and beautiful stadium but no message discipline.
Go Mutant Mastodon Riverboat Railroad Breakfast Food!

This is not unlike my bride’s first college, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Once, they were the Moccasins, with an American Indian mascot who succumbed to racial sensitivity, only to be shorted to Mocs. The Moc evolved into a Mock, and now they are the Mockingbirds, except that the Mockingbird wears a railroad hat and sits on top of a steam engine (Choo-Choo, get it?). So go Mock(ingbird) Railroad Engineers!

Update from the AL-02

2008-08-01T09:31:00.004-05:00

Sprouting up all over the district, "I'm a Bright Republican." One of the commenters says it's "dirty politics," and the GOP candidate is "irked." I think it's pretty clever.

I'm also interested in the phenomenon of a candidate running on his own personality and background against a candidate who seems to place most of his capital in party identification. Many Southerners like to say that they "vote for the man, not the party," and if that holds true in the -02, those voters probably will vote for the candidate running in his own skin.

Here's the sign.

Your Brain On Hope

2008-07-28T14:36:00.002-05:00

I'm only posting this because of the chicken, my dear friends who might be enraged by anything from MoveOn.

Change We Can Believe In

2008-07-18T21:52:00.002-05:00

Two moves from the executive branch intrigued and encouraged me this week.

First, the White House changed direction and decided to send a representative to talks with Iran and others about the Iranian nuclear program.

Second, the U.S. and Iraq agreed to a “general time horizon,” certainly not a time frame, time table or deadline, certainly not, but a “horizon” for drawing down U.S. troops , as the Iraqis are insisting. (Update: Apparently, the Prime Minister Maliki thinks that "horizon" is a lot closer than 100 years from now.)

Tough, multilateral, diplomatic engagement with enemies to exert soft-power, achieve security ends and avoid war?

Cooperating with the Iraqi government to plan for troop withdrawals?

Yes, we can.

The Alabama Second

2008-07-16T21:31:00.006-05:00

Earlier, I wrote about the bizarre phenomenon of the actual prospect of party competition in Alabama’s Second Congressional District. The national Democratic apparatus has tapped this race as a potential swing and is supporting it generously. The Democratic candidate is Bobby Bright, current mayor of Montgomery and graduate of, yes, the Jones School of Law. He beat an entrenched incumbent to become Mayor and has been reelected successfully and is generally popular, although he has never had to declare a party. Both parties courted him to run for the open seat, but he opted for the Dems because he says that the GOP offered him talking points while the Dems offered him freedom of expression and a checkbook. The Dems want the seat, even if Bright will be among the bluest of Blue Dogs. For instance, he recently won an initiative in city government to start cracking down on illegal immigration from Mexico into Montgomery, red conservative meat. He is pro-life, pro-gun, tough on immigration, budget-balancing and Christian.

(UPDATE: For example, this is how a Democrat runs for Congress in AL-02.)

After a run-off this week, his Republican challenger is Jay Love, a member of the state legislature. Love just ended an aggressive and negative run-off campaign with Harri Anne Smith, also of the legislature, to see who could out-conservative each other. Love’s slogan is “Christian. Conservative. Republican.” He will “stand up the liberals in Washington” and bring “conservative, Christian values to Congress.” His ads feature the “Washington liberals” with phantasmagoric images of Pelosi and Obama. Love is running a legitimate, very partisan campaign, hard-right, anti-tax and pro-life. He aggressively identifies himself as a Christian (the most Christian?) candidate, which is to be commended in the Second Congressional District of Alabama.

So, the district may be in play. Bright is the only possible, but very promising, Democratic option in this blood-red district, and he is running a realistic, honest campaign as a conservative Democrat. Love is running a predictable, effective, realistic and honest campaign, although negative at times. They have not really started campaigning against each other so far this week.

Besides the mere oddity of competition down here, why is this so interesting to me?

They go to church together.

I might just move my letter over there.

(By the way, I love FBC Montgomery. We have friends and colleagues who worship and serve there, and they are mighty ministers in this town. Dr. Wolf is a godly pastor and preacher, and he has even preached to us. I imagine these next few months will generate challenges there that few churches ever witness, and I pray the Lord blesses them with peace. I also hope that Dr. Wolf is gently extolling his competing members to remember the greatest commandments. If they do, this might be a constructive campaign, maybe even a witness to the world.)

Homily

2008-07-13T11:13:00.001-05:00

I am home from church this Sunday morning. J and the girls are there, but I am forsaking the assembly for some physical recovery.

I took my coffee on the front porch, sat on the swing and hoped for a reprieve from our vicious mosquitoes. Our neighborly lizard, Ally, leapt from the railing to a column and inflated her red chin, and I was already sweating.

After Face the Nation, I decided to eschew the televised preachers for some devotional time. The “denominational” folks don’t mind televising their whole services, but the Restorationists generally prefer pre-recorded, studio productions, usually with fake plants in the background. Our guy this morning started out, my friends, with a kind word about differing interpretations of a scripture. He said, if we disagree, it does not mean that either of us are being dishonest or intentionally sinful, but we might well both be wrong. Thus, we should study it, study some more and study some more, presumably until we both agree that we have it right. My friends, that’s a hard teaching and puts an awful lot of confidence in our capacity for discerning the mystery and revelation of the Creator.

Instead of hearing our good brother out, I took a Bible to the porch to let the Lord preach to me instead. The mosquitoes stayed away as I read the Sermon on the Mount. Frankly, I doubt our brother on television this morning. I don’t think we can study it enough to reach a common, full discernment, but I wish him well.

Rhetorically, the Beatitudes were a great way to lead, because I imagine the people enjoyed the truths, relaxed in the sun, sat back and felt pretty good, especially when he praised and identified them as salt and light. He had them where He wanted them.

Next comes this business about fulfilling the Law and some pretty heavy instruction on anger, lust and judgment. “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven,” but I say to myself, at least they’re in! Then, He replies to me, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Discouraging, that. “It is better for you to lose one part of your body that for the whole body to go into hell.” I imagine that they had forgotten the Beatitudes by then. They are evil, and they know it. I am evil, and I know it. Dear Lord.

He raises the stakes: “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” That’s some useful life application right there.

He said this after admonishing the disciples to love their enemies, to pray for their persecuters, to love those who do not love them, to greet strangers. Why? Because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Just before that he says not to resist the evil person who would strike them and take their things. Instead, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

If this is perfection, then I wonder if we can extrapolate a bit of discernment into the mystery after all. If this is how the Lord described the Father’s perfection, then may we conclude that God loves His enemies, His persecuters? That He does not resist the evil person who would strike Him and take His things, but that He gives to those who ask? Does He greet the evil strangers, give to the evil people, feed the evil folks who anger, lust and judge?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

When he finished preaching, the people were amazed because he taught as one who had authority, not like their teachers of the law. Being a teacher of the law, I can appreciate that.

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Independence Day

2008-07-04T14:52:00.002-05:00

I love America because we exercise an audacity to mark out unrealistic aspirations, then get to work making them manifest. Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence wrote that "all men are created equal" when such a notion was patently ridiculous in a nation of slavery, a patriarchal culture who granted suffrage and property rights to only certain classes of "men." The statement was radical and not backed up by the facts, but we got to work. Now, we might safely say that no where and at no time have more people been born with more equality and opportunity than on our shores.

John Kennedy moved the finish line to the move after we barely had achieved orbit with a monkey, and we made it. The Cold War was a good motivator, and we won that, too.

We have our fits and starts, of course, constant sin and constant redemption, new problems, new crises and new resolve amid our vigorous, impassioned disagreements. We cling to the Rule of Law, criticize politicians and continue to vote for them.

Martin Luther King preached about the arc of history and how it bends ever, if slowly, toward justice. Here we have two and a third centuries, and we get better and better all the time.

God bless America.

Ocular Fusion

2008-06-29T23:31:00.002-05:00

Today, continuing on our sojourn after the CSC, we had the great pleasure of meeting in person, in his very home, with his very family, Mike the Eyeguy. Yes, that Mike the Eyeguy, and Eyegal and sons No. 1 and No. 3. We even got to watch a little soccer together, including Spain's winning goal in Euro 2008.

The EyeFam welcomed us graciously with coffee and sweets, and EyeGal even broke out their sons' old toys to entertain our little girls, although K and B most were mesmerized by their 13-year-old, living gold fish.

Thanks for the hospitality, Dr. Eyeguy. We hope we get to see more of y'all.

Three Days in the The Life of the Mind and the Public Square

2008-06-28T22:52:00.001-05:00

My wife and I just returned from the Christian Scholars’ Conference at Lipscomb. My parents were graceful enough to watch the girls for the duration, and J is such a nerd that she thought it was actually a cool date to spend three days at an academic conference. She transformed from ultra-mom back into academic-professional, and I think she enjoyed it for a little while.

On the first day, we celebrated baby K’s 2d birthday in the morning, with ice cream and cake at 9:00 AM. Then we headed to the New Jerusalem and made a bee-line for the most beautiful campus in the land, with apologies to a certain sea-side resort. J and I even took some time to go running together throughout Vandy, then checked into our hotel in the loveliest office park in Dixie, all sweaty and stinky. We’re hardcore. We then registered at Lipscomb and basked in a thoughtful, thorough review of the life and times of Bill Frist by the Senator/Doctor himself, complete with photos of his Capitol office. After that, we took in a movie, “Hearts Divided,” with the filmmaker, Steven Martin. We got to spend a meal with Rev. Martin talking and criticizing his piece, and I hope that we all will watch his career and ministry as a documentarian.

On the second day, I enjoyed the privilege of presenting two papers in the sessions on poverty, sustainability and service learning. This young law prof was in high cotton with some serious minds and teaching ministers, and I learned much across the disciplines. We attended other sessions along the way before enjoying a meal with more interesting folks and then drinking in some gospel from one of my favorite preachers. Wallis raised the roof, and I leave with renewed energy and devotion to the good work God has given me to do as a peculiar sort of public interest lawyer, writer and teacher.

Tonight we’re back home with the girls after a good roadtrip with another friendly blogger and his academic wife. The Wisers were a pleasure, and the time with them was worth the price of admission.

Here are some parting conclusions:

1. We have a crush on Lipscomb. The school is leading the thoughts, the vision, the facilities and the work of colleges in the Church of Christ tradition. At this point, we all should look to Nashville for exciting innovation and ministry.

2. Despite our idiosyncrasies, our tradition indeed turns out some brilliant minds and generous scholars. In dialog across disciplines and among diverse schools (68 in fact), we knew we were participating in a worthy, useful, fruitful enterprise.

3. Next year, the conference again is at Lipscomb, and the theme is “The Power of Narrative,” and I’m already working on a thesis. I hope this can be a standing gig.

TWO!

2008-06-25T23:12:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Scout!

I love you.

Fair, Balanced and Classy

2008-06-12T10:05:00.002-05:00

Fox News, unhampered by decency, free from the travails of civility.

History

2008-06-03T21:36:00.003-05:00

The states ratified the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery, in 1865.

Plessy v. Ferguson established the constitutional principal of "separate but equal" in 1896, which remained the law of the land until 1954.

The next year, Montgomery experienced a bus boycott.

President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

He signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the same year a great host marched from Selma.

May we bear proper and right witness to a moment resonating in our history this very night, a moment that may take its place among all of these mighty lurches toward justice.

Yes, we can.

Memorial

2008-05-26T10:14:00.003-05:00

You have heard it said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? Ad if you greet only your brothers, what your doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48.

GO OUTSIDE (some more), or What's Your Walking Score?

2008-05-25T14:32:00.002-05:00

Gas prices are rising. Carbon dioxide fills the air. We are not energy self-reliant. We also often are not very healthy.

We should walk more.

My family and I are blessed to live in a very walkable, pedestrian friendly neighborhood. We and our neighbors walk to great restaurants, cheap restaurants, coffee shops, cinema, banks, dry cleaners, clothing shops, the Y, two colleges, lots of churches, parks, playgrounds and lots of friends. We love it dearly.

In fact, we got a 66 walking score. It's not Boston, but it's pretty good for a sprawling Southern city.

It's a beautiful summer so far.

Classy

2008-05-23T15:20:00.001-05:00

No, I mean, don't take this the wrong way, I'm just saying. . .

Regressive

2008-05-21T11:57:00.002-05:00

In 2006, the poorest 20% of Alabamans paid just over 11% of their income in state taxes. The average annual income of this group was $9,500.

The richest 1% paid 5% of their income in state taxes. The average annual income in this group was $999,400.

See more ripe fruit at this chart from Doc's Political Parlor, one of my new favorite blogs and news sources.

GO OUTSIDE!

2008-05-19T10:58:00.002-05:00

Good grief. This is the sort of thing that leads to tumbrels in the streets.

It's not the years. It's the mileage.

2008-05-12T23:04:00.002-05:00

I just started having a bad feeling about Indiana Jones. It's all the fault of the Phantom Menace.

First, George Lucas approved the script and the story, and that just doesn't bode well in light of the increasingly disappointing Star Wars prequels.

Second, although the trailers are exceedingly cool and hit the right notes, they clearly rely on on some CGI effects. Part of the great charm of the first Indy movies was the grit and guts, knowing that Ford and friends were doing their own dirty stunts. Also, Lucas relied so much on CGI in the Star War prequels, that they almost became cartoons.

Third, Shia LaBeouf. Really? Maybe he'll surprise me, but Disney-boy is gonna have to work hard. (Also, let us hope to forget the dialog Lucas gave to this poor kid.)

Maybe I'm just trying to pull a Clintonian expectations tactic, but I am wary.

Expectations

2008-05-06T21:15:00.006-05:00

The Clintons are the champion masters of raising and lowering expectations for strategic effect.

Tonight, Obama took it to them. Early in his victory speech in Raleigh, he congratulated HRC on "what appears to be" her victory in Indiana. Of course, no one had called the race. HRC is delaying her speech until the results are clearer. Most networks have it too close to call, with the Chicago outskirts still to report.

Now, what in the world was Obama doing, virtually conceding the primary?

I'll tell you what he was doing. He was smirking inside.

Even if HRC wins with 2 - 4%, she loses the expectations game, but if Obama pulls it out, if Gary and Hammond respond like they well might, Obama may finally have put her out of the game.

Yes, we can.

UPDATE (30 minutes later): HRC is speaking right now, and lo and behold, she just claimed victory in Indiana, before virtually anyone has called the vote and before Obama's strongest counties report, with only 40,000 votes separating them. That's not an expectations game. That's a reckless gamble, in my opinion. She's betting her bottom dollar, and if Indiania somehow slides to Obama, I think she's done.

UPDATE: President William Jefferson Clinton is standing behind his wife, but he is not listening. He claps when he realized everyone else is clapping. He's watching the audience over her shoulder. He's plotting and daydreaming. Whoa, he just woke up. Chelsea must have stepped on his foot. He's biting his lip. He's planning a vacation.

UPDATE: Not only do the Chicago suburbs still have to report, but so does Bloomington, home to IU. Obama may win Indiana, and if so, after that speech, she will be reaching out for a gentle resolution. They both laid the foundation tonight for a sweet reconcilation.

UPDATE: Pat Buchanan agrees, have mercy. He even talked about BC clapping at the wrong times. As I live and breathe.

Nearly Mexico

2008-05-04T21:53:00.003-05:00

I'm in Arizona, a new state for me. After a few hours, here are my first impressions:

1. Tucson seems pleasant enough, but humanity has tricked itself into living in the desert.

2. Golf courses are a worse idea in the desert than a million people.

3. Sprawl is sprawl, and I'm always surprised to find the same shopping options in every suburb from sea to shining sea.

4. Tex-Mex has transcended, and Moe's is just fine.

The Coalition

2008-04-29T20:31:00.001-05:00

(via Andrew Sullivan)

Scrappy

2008-04-25T11:34:00.002-05:00

Today, the Alabama State Bar released results of the February bar examination. First-time takers from Faulkner University Jones School of Law passed at a rate of 91.7%. That is the highest passage rate among all law schools in the state.

Congratulations, JSL grads! Turn the world upside down a little bit.

Media Narrative

2008-04-23T10:31:00.002-05:00

The question is not whether Obama can win the "big states," the states that matter, as HRC desperately squawks. The question is not whether unionized, working-class, blue-collar Rust Belt populists will vote for Obama in November, even though they voted for HRC yesterday. The question is not whether the bitter masses prefer HRC to Obama.

The question is whether they'll vote for McCain.

Yes, we can, America, so let's get on with it.

Fired up. Ready to go.

Enjoining Coercion

2008-04-09T21:03:00.003-05:00

I enjoyed a sweet touch of providence today. I accepted an offer from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law to publish my first scholarly article in the Journal of Law and Family Studies.

My paper springs from our experience in the JSL Family Violence Clinic, and I owe a great debt of affection and credit to my students who stand alongside victims of domestic abuse to counsel them on their legal options and to represent them in proceedings to obtain civil protection orders. My students are brave and true.

This paper addresses a short-coming I perceive in the law of domestic violence. My solution may not ever appear in the law, but the problem is real. If you are inclined to read it, you may download it at this link. If you do, please learn to identify the dangerous dynamic of coercive control in intimate relationships, and be ready to provide shelter and love when these hidden lives are exposed.

On the first page, I declare gratitude to the Family Sunshine Center. The Sunshine Center hosts the Family Violence Clinic, and we meet and serve our clients there. They are heroes and mighty ministers to the vulnerable and desperate, and they deserve all the support we can give them.

(And Go Utes! Thanks for the big break and for giving me a rooting interest in the Mountain West!)

A Banner in the Rafters

2008-03-30T14:29:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, a team of four students from JSL won their final round of the annual Thurgood Marshall National Mock Trial Competition. The team, coached by Professor Luevonda Ross, beat the Texas Tech School of Law to become our first ever national championship team.

Hail the Victors.

Also, our team at the National Trial Competition in Texas made it through to the semi-final round in the national tournament. These students were in the the "elite eight" from over 1000 competitors nation-wide this year.

Go Eagles.

Blue Alabama, continued

2008-03-26T16:52:00.001-05:00

CQ calls the Second District race highly competitive.

Rankings

2008-03-26T14:23:00.002-05:00

If we were discussing law schools in general and the law school where I work, I would say that the U.S. News rankings are a distraction, a novelty to sell copy, and, emphatically, that they should not be a guide to selecting or grading a school. Every school is different, serving different regions, different students, different markets and different needs in the world. Schools who commit to gaming this process corrupt the rankings and distort their own souls and missions.

Everyone in the legal academy agrees with me.

Everyone in the legal academy, including me, is a hypocrite, because we salivate over them.

As for me and my house, I must say GO 'DORES! Vandy rises to 15th in the nation. We rock, and the rag shafted us by putting Duke and UVA ahead of us. That's a ridiculous injustice.

Blue Alabama

2008-03-26T10:12:00.001-05:00

Alabama may be the scene of legitimate political movement and competition this season. Two Congressional seats are open, and the DCCC and state Democrats sense an opening, national momentum toward the party in the winter of war and recession. Of course these are socially conservative districts, but they also have a populist streak. The Democratic candidates are running that way, too.

We live in the Second District, and if it goes Blue, it’ll be national news. The leading Democratic candidate is Bobby Bright, current mayor of Montgomery. He is a very promising candidate for the slot. He’s been elected thrice for mayor in a city with much the same demographics as the rest of the district, the first time against a well entrenched incumbent. Even better, he and his wife, a retiring judge, are alumni of Jones School of Law.

If the Fifth District in north Alabama, including Huntsville, and the Second District in central and south Alabama, including Montgomery, go to the Democrats, we will know that this is a movement or at least a deft pivot for the state of American politics and party identification.

Carson

2008-03-24T21:39:00.001-05:00

Please pray for our friend, Edward Carson, and his wife, Janette. Eddie is struggling with some neurological issues, is in ICU in Houston and is awaiting surgery this week. This is a sudden onset of very scary symptoms. Carson is a brilliant teacher and writer, historian, scholar and friend. The world needs him around for a long time more. Please lift him up.

Angry Black Preacher

2008-03-21T09:01:00.002-05:00

E.J. Dionne writes a good piece on Jeremiah Wright, Martin Luther King, Obama and the Speech, and I agree with it.

Law Professors

2008-03-12T13:58:00.004-05:00

The appointment of Nick Zeppos as Vanderbilt's new chancellor is great news. Professor Zeppos was still on the law faculty full time when I was a 1L, before moving into the University's administration, all the while teaching and writing in the law school. He is a natural fit and deeply loves the University. This makes me prouder, if possible, of Vandy and its commitment to its high ideals for the academy.

This news also leads me to declare 2008 the provisional Year of the Law Professor, citing Clinton, Obama and Zeppos, so far.

Anniversary

2008-03-10T14:55:00.002-05:00

Adventure Girl,

Twelve years ago we fell in love. Seven years ago today, by the grace of God, we bound our lives together. You are the fulfillment of His promises of a full, abundant life, steeped in faith, hope and love. You are my sweet, courageous, visionary mate, friend, love and wife.

I love you. Happy Anniversary.

If we are going to discuss re-votes. . .

2008-03-06T12:27:00.002-06:00

I wonder if anti-NAFTA Ohio might have some buyer's remorse today?

I also wonder if this is foreshadowing of the way they would govern, again.

Message Discipline

2008-03-03T09:57:00.004-06:00

I don't know; maybe the union folks in Ohio will dig it. Just recently, though, didn't she criticize America for electing a guy on the basis of beer collegiality?

(AP Photo from CNN)

"The New York senator, nursing a beer from of a red plastic cup. . . was in a cheery and reflective mood before the plane flew from Cleveland to Toledo."

Seems to me, though, as if she might just be relaxing, pondering inevitability.

Pig Sooie.

Hope! Change! Audacity!

2008-02-28T16:25:00.003-06:00

A blogging friend and Harding undergrad, David Manes, is competing for a scholarship for his political blogging. He is up against some cat from Yale, so we must rise up to defeat the Eastern menace.

Manes's site is Political Cartel. He provides some more details about the competition and himself at this post. We should vote for him simply because he is from someplace called "Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania," even if he and his cohorts were not as good as they are.

Here is where you can vote for him.

He approves of this message, and I approve of this very talented thought-monger.

Vandy!

2008-02-26T22:43:00.001-06:00

Beating UT is always good.

Beating No. 1 UT is extra, extra good.

Go 'Dores!

A Short History

2008-02-20T16:50:00.002-06:00

In 1975, Bishop met Brumley in the nursery at church in Columbus, Mississippi. Bishop was a few weeks old. Brumley was about one by that time.

In 1982, Baker was finishing second grade when his family moved to Columbus, Mississippi, and Baker, wearing a corduroy blazer with elbow patches, walked into the Sunday School class for Second and Third graders.

From two years, Bishop and Baker’s 4th and 5th grade years, the three of them went to elementary school together, then went their separate ways, Bishop to Heritage, Baker to Columbus, Brumley to New Hope, until 1993.

In 1992, Baker skipped a year of high school, and in 1993, Baker and Brumley headed to the foothills of the Ozarks for college.

In the summer of 1993, Magnusson met Baker when they both were wearing t-shirts from that year’s camp at York College. They talked ‘til 3:00 in the morning about the mysteries of God, and the next day Brumley, Baker, Magnusson and a guy named Patterson decided to live together in Armstrong.

In the Spring of 1994, Baker met Thompson in an Elrod class. Brumley and Baker needed a break, so Baker approached Thompson with an invitation he could not refuse. In the Fall of 1994, Baker and Thompson roomed together, very near Brumley and Magnusson.

In the meantime, Bishop went to Mississippi State University.

Over the course of three years, Baker, Brumley, Thompson, Magnusson and Bishop by extension recognized a high calling of brotherhood and fellowship, never to be replicated on the earth. Not again, that is, until Eby introduced himself by way of political science in the waning years at Harding.

In May of 1997, nigh upon graduation into the wide world, Bishop visited the Mountain Top bearing gifts. Among his gifts were tributes from his life at MSU to the boys in the hothouse, including two bottles of SoCo. Only one bottle left Searcy.

In the summer of 1997, Brumley married Whitlow, and Thompson married Wellman. The Brumleys now have three kids. The Thompsons have one.

In the spring of 2001, Baker married Duck. The Bakers have two kids.

In the spring of 2003, Magnusson married Sweet Cream Nat Love. The Magnussons have one.

In the fall of 2004, Eby married Russell. The Ebys have one.

This Saturday, in the winter of 2008, Bishop is marrying Bolivar to complete the tribal nuptials.

Tomorrow we all begin our ascent to the moveable Mountain Top for the first time in years, assembling the complete Fellas.

It’s a beautiful day.

Welcome to the family, Joan.

Seriously!?!?

2008-02-18T08:55:00.002-06:00

If you are willing to concede 8 primaries in a row while pursuing the Guiliani-esque strategy of big state firewalls shouldn't you at least know the rules?

She says she's tanned, rested, and ready (or whatever) but sometimes it seems she is still riding that "Presumptive Nominee" train. How's that going to work out in the general election? Not too well methinks.

"While they were busy “discovering” the rules, however, the Obama campaign had people on the ground in Texas explaining the system, organizing precincts, and making Powerpoints. I know because I went to one of these meetings a week ago. I should have invited Mark Penn I suppose. (ed. Maybe foresight is an obsolete macrotrend.)
In this respect, Texas is simply a microcosm of the larger campaign dynamics. In fact, if the Clinton campaign were a corporation, the shareholders would have pretty good grounds for a derivative suit for Texas alone."

Ivory Towers for Christ

2008-02-15T12:29:00.003-06:00

Today I am attending the first Faith & the Academy Conference at Faulkner University, inaugurating the forthcoming Faith & The Academy Journal. This is the first new scholarly journal among the Church of Christ universities in a very long time. The conference this weekend features scholars from Church of Christ, Christian Church and public universities, all questioning our purposes and distinctions as Christian colleges. Dr. Mike Young, who directs the Master of Liberal Arts program, and Dr. Jason Jewell, who chairs the Humanities program, are leading and editing the effort. They aim to explore the highest and deepest meaning of our purpose as Christian universities. Their program is among the brightest lights at our school, and they are charting a new course, not only at our young college but among this greater community. Along with the law school, their programs and the journal are reaching into territory all too rare among our schools. Faulkner is new and not rich, but this is a mighty step forward in our mission and dreams.

As if that were not enough pride for one day, the honors program at Harding continues to advance Harding's greater purposes with this important program, announced in chapel yesterday with this stirring piece:

Well done, schools. Keep it up.

Higher Things

2008-02-14T12:18:00.001-06:00

"You're a teacher?!"

"Part time."

Awesome.

2007 was so boring.

(h/t KAT, soul brother, ready for the mountain top.)

Tipping Point

2008-02-13T12:59:00.006-06:00

Last week, after Louisiana, Washington and Nebraska, I pondered, “How many states can HRC afford to concede?” Such a strategy, even if driven involuntarily by financial mismanagement of a huge campaign budget, failed wildly for Rudy Giuliani. The Mayor skipped all the early, low count, primaries to focus on a big prize, but before he knew it, he was in no headline and was disappearing from the campaign narrative. Florida had not reason to vote for him when the hard-working barnstormers showed up, and he lost then quit.

HRC sat out or had to sit out the mid-sized states after Super Tuesday, beginning with Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, Maine, Virginia, Maryland and D.C. She essentially is conceding Wisconsin, too, which should be her bailiwick. Obama racks up win after win, primaries, caucuses, states, demographics and broad-spectrum voters. He now has more delegates, even irresponsibly counting superdelegates. The only legitimate trophy HRC has won is California, but her demographics from that win are jumping ship like mad. (Lest we forget, she just fired her loyal, Latina campaign manager, too.)

(She does have a spurious claim to results from the Florida and Michigan non-campaign, non-primaries, and Julian Bond, who is not complaining about minority enfranchisement in Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland and D.C.)

Last night, the narrative changed before our eyes. Tom Brokaw said, “This is the forth quarter and time is running out.” The folks on CNN, MSNBC, Politico.com, the New York Times and throughout the blogs shifted from arithmetic to momentum. They adopted Obama’s theme of more states, more delegates, broader appeal, and they rejected HRC’s theme of Big, Important States that Matter in the general election.

She has explained away every loss as driven by identity politics, unfavorable formats, bad timing or strategic dismissal. Last night, Obama beat her everywhere and in every way except among White women. He beat her in elderly demographics, among White men, all Black voters, all Hispanic voters, those with college degrees and those without college degrees, those in the working class, middle class and affluent class.

Meanwhile, the internecine squabbles in the HRC campaign are causing collateral damage. Last night was not the tipping point; the $5,000,000 loan to herself while drawing Super Tuesday was the tipping point. Math does not matter much now, because she would have to do better, now, everywhere, than she has done in any other race henceforth, except California and New Jersey.

Her only hope is to play Machiavellian hard-ball with her political debtors at the convention, who then would have to buck Obama momentum, Obama money, Obama pledged delegates, probably the popular vote and certainly the raw number of states that Obama has won. If she does that and wins, the party will be eviscerated, discouraged and discredited and doomed to an 18 state race to 51%.

On the other hand, Obama would proceed into the general election with an inspired, unified party, immense turn-out among newly self-enfranchised and active populations, raging discord among the Republicans, a huge war chest and in-roads into otherwise unthinkable Red States, like, dare I say it, Alabama.

Make no mistake, Obama can claim all of HRC’s supporters for the general election, but many of Obama’s new base are exhilarated Black voters, genuinely inspired Gen X and Y voters, independents and conservatives. These voters are not now party loyalists or committed liberals, but are moved by the candidate and his promise and Meaning, and they will not vote for HRC. They will stay home, in gloom, disappointment and disillusionment that, however naïve, politics is rotten.

She will not concede. She did not even mention Virginia, Maryland and D.C. last night, as if there was no news to address. Instead she played to her supposed firewall in Texas. She will lose Texas or split it at best. She cannot mount the ground game that Texas requires, and Ohio and Pennsylvania will not hold for her. At best she splits these last three big prizes, and by splitting, she loses the nomination.

Oh, and there’s this sort of fruit ripe for the picking.

Here also is an esteemed conservative legal scholar from our sister school, advisor to Mitt Romney, saying that Obama has the best line to Catholic votes and his own version of Reagan Democrats, whom Obama called last night, the Obamacans. HRC has no such voters.

UPDATE: Here's some good analysis, since it agrees with mine. Check out the margins of victory. How will Clinton superdelegates justify voting against that trend?

MORE: From a different voice, here is a similar view and the same conclusion.

(If I've learned anything from this election, it's that I dig Andrew Sullivan's blog.)

Momentum, Baby

2008-02-09T20:47:00.000-06:00

How many states can HRC afford to concede?

Meanwhile, Huckabee closes in on a sweep of the GOP nominee.

This is the best election year ever.

High Rollers

2008-02-06T22:25:00.000-06:00

The day after Super Tuesday, the Clinton campaign announces or admits that HRC has loaned her own campaign $5,000,000 from the family fortune. Reporters have been asking about this since last week, but the campaign did not confirm it until Wednesday.

In January, the Obama campaign raised $32,000,000, mostly from individual donors, while the HRC campaign raised $13,000,000 plus her loan.

What could have been the strategy? The Clinton campaign kept the tight financial times under wraps until today. Surely, they must have been betting against Super Tuesday, saying that if they have a strong showing in Super Tuesday, bank on a fund-raising boost, a bump in polls and never miss a beat. Instead, she got a dead-heat, lost her front-runner status, down states, down delegates and now down big in money. Several of her senior staffers have agreed to go without pay for a month, and the Clinton campaign implored contributions from its supports to meet a goal of $3,000,000 in three days.

Since Tuesday, the Obama campaign has raised over $5,000,000 and is on track for another $30,000,000 month.

Meanwhile, Clinton has to figure out how to compete this weekend in Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska and Maine, and next week in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, not to mention Ohio and 18,000 caucus precincts in Texas on March 4. That's a long haul.

I am stumped how the inevitable front-running campaign is out of money at this point.

Perhaps we continue to witness something new. The others are running campaigns. Obama is leading a movement.

Here Comes the Sun

2008-02-06T12:27:00.000-06:00

These are stories today capturing my preferred, persuasive narrative. Enjoy.

MORE and well worth the read: Sullivan identifies a problem I have pondered about HRC's insistence that only she is capable of weathering the GOP storm because she is the most cunning and strong-willed politician. The problem? If Obama survives her, then he is the most cunning and strongest politician by dint of victory.

Ambinder: Where the Democratic Race is Now.

Ambinder: Why did Obama win more delegates than Clinton?

Sullivan: Obama Won the Day

Yglesias: The Wrap Up

Daily Kos: Regarding Super-Majorities (title mine, jrb)

Dickerson: Neutralizing California (title mine, jrb).

Wilson: The Road Ahead

The Count

2008-02-06T12:26:00.000-06:00

So maybe it was an even better night than we thought. Politico.com is reporting that Barack pulled ahead in the delegate count last night. That would be some very good news indeed.

I will take it on my shoulders to deliver the Potomac Primary for Barack next week.

"We are the people we have been waiting for!"

Stars Fell on Alabama

2008-02-05T22:01:00.000-06:00

My wife and I just returned from the watch party, mock caucus/primaries and panel discussion at JSL. We are such nerds that this was only our second time to hire a babysitter. Thanks, my loving bride, for indulging a political date with a bunch of law students.

We also voted at 8:30 this morning with our daughters, for Barack Obama. Obama beats HRC in Alabama with about 56% of the Democratic vote with about three times as many votes as HRC in Montgomery. We've done our part.

JSL comes through, too. With about 100 students voting in the mock primaries, Obama and Huckabee won, matching the state outcome.

We're waiting on California. After reading and studying, I think Obama can claim victory and can win if he is within 10% of the popular vote in California and is within 200 delegates nationally at the end of the night. He does better when he has a chance to invest great time and effort in specific states, and he will have that opportunity in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the coming weeks.

One last anecdote from the day. I called another Fella, the BoP, who lives in Birmingham after work today and asked, "Is there still time to influence your vote?" He said, "Sure, what you got for me?" "Barack Obama!" "Well, it'll probably do more good to vote for him against Hillary than it would to vote for Huckabee." "Oh, yeah," said I, "Huckabee's going to run Alabama, and Obama needs your help, especially to beat Clinton." "You got it, brother! Just don't tell my parents I voted Democrat." I hope he doesn't watch the returns too closely. You're welcome, Senator.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Get Out the Vote

2008-02-05T09:54:00.000-06:00

To Christians, Romans 13 is usually the beginning of our learning about our relationship with government and the State. There, Paul draws fairly clear lines between the Sovereign and the Subject. He was addressing an audience, even if they were Roman citizens as he was, who had no question about their place in that equation. They and he were subjects, not sovereigns. Only the Emperor, to a lesser extent the Senate and those few enfranchised to engage the Senate could claim any sovereignty. The subjects, especially the fugitive band of Disciples in the Way did not have a voice in their own government.

Even so, Paul admonishes subjects to be good subjects and to glorify God in all things, even honoring the sovereigns and magistrates who ruled and persecuted them. To those in the State, the centurions, the jailers, the governors, Paul did not tell them to quit but to do their work justly and always to God’s glory. Paul availed himself of the Empire’s judicial process when he appealed from Governor Felix to the Emperor, seeking the larger audience in the biggest city and center of power to proclaim Christ and to speak a little truth to power. He lost his head for it.

In the United States of America, those lines blur a bit. In very real, useful ways, we are subjects and sovereigns. Those who would govern, even for a brief moment in history, must seek and maintain our approval for their work, and the governors bend their work toward our prevailing and diverse will. Now, we have universal suffrage and ample opportunity to choose our governors, to shape the State and always to speak to its power. The sovereign is not a king but is a people. We enjoy both roles, and we bear the double burden of being good subjects and just rulers, citizens and State. We should abide government but always remember that the government exists only at our consent.

If you live in a Super Tuesday state, vote today. Vote for God’s glory.

"US AGAINST THEM!"

2008-02-03T15:31:00.000-06:00

At Mike Huckabee’s rally on campus yesterday, that was the slogan on the flip side of the “I LIKE MIKE” signs. No one clarified the antecedents of those objective pronouns, but if “US” are bass-fishing, grits eating, SEC football loving Republicans who still get mushy over Lynyrd Skynyrd, then we can extrapolate the rest. I assume those are the “us,” because those were people he expressly addressed during the rally. My working theory was that “them” refers to terrorists who would destroy our way of life and give us Fridays off, but one of my law prof colleagues thinks that “us” refers to Christians and that “them” refers to the secular, liberal hordes. Either way, the slogan uplifts the spirit, no?

To carry that theme out a bit more, at one point the Governor said that he was running to be president of everybody, “from Wall Street Republicans, to Wal-Mart Republicans.” Then, he moved onto a different point, whereupon the law student to my right said, “And to hell with the Democrats.” The one on my left then starting yelling, “States’ Rights!” They’re hilarious, especially the HU alum sporting the Ron Paul threads.

The Governor gave a passing speech to satisfy the base and those to whom he is campaigning, although his message did not convince me that he really wants the job.
He made some headlines in Huntsville, calling out McCain and Romney, but in Montgomery he only mentioned Romney as “one of my opponents” and addressed McCain not at all. Very strange to me, Huckabee said not a thing about the war in Iraq. He talked about the threat of terrorism a little bit and segued into immigration a lot, but no war. I understand that Bush’s war is a bit of an albatross for the Republicans. Either you embrace it as McCain does or you try to deflect it or explain it, but to ignore it altogether when running for Commander-in-Chief is odd, at least, fearful, at worst.

Increasingly strange to me, the latter, former Governor from Hope reprised his line about “not allowing the federal government to tell you how to raise your children,” to thunderous applause. Although I can support the premise, my family must not be on the mailing list of the Department of Health and Human Services’s Parenting Administration, because no agent, judge or official ever has suggested to us how to rear our daughters.

Governor Huckabee seems uninterested in building any sort of coalition of voters beyond his base of white, working - to middle-class social conservatives, and he surely does not expect to win the nomination. He hustled in Alabama yesterday though, and I hope his efforts bear fruit for him here. Our university benefited from the campaign stop, so I begrudge him no Republican delegates in our fair state.

Alabama will support him, too, because Chuck repelled in from the roof of the gym, without a rope, using only his belt and shoe-laces to get him within 60 feet of the floor. But that’s all he needed.

From “US AGAINST THEM!” to “YES, WE CAN!” I direct you to this fine piece of campaign literature and humbly suggest that this is a much better way to use the Bully Pulpit:

(Thanks, ME.)

Vote on Tuesday.

Noble House of Black

2008-02-01T13:20:00.000-06:00

Belletrix Lestrange endorses HRC.

(h/t: Kile & JAW)

In other news, the latter, former Arkansas governor from Hope is holding a rally on our fair campus tomorrow. I intend to go, donning my HU gear, to behold the spectacle, unless I can land an Obama t-shirt in time.

Here is an excerpt from the email announcement to the University community this morning:

[F.U.] cannot and does not endorse a particular candidate, Republican or Democrat, but we believe this will present a wonderful opportunity for our student body, faculty and staff to witness and be a part of a “real world” event in the presidential election process. It may also bring some national exposure to the university, which would be nice.

We did not approach the Huckabee Campaign; they approached us. And, we will, of course, make our campus available to any other candidate who might wish to come here.

Oh, if only our dear alma mater could be so magnanimous.

Go Eagles.

Prescience: The South Carolina Effect

2008-01-31T10:39:00.000-06:00

From the Birmingham News: Black Voters Drifting from Clinton to Obama.

Also, watch this trend.

UPDATE: So you say the national polls aren't really interesting because this is a state-by-state race. Please ponder this shiny new poll from California, closing that gap. This one goes out to the pessimist.

(This is my favorite sport, if any of the other contributors to this blog want to write about theology or human interests, do please interrupt me. I will return to the human race on November 6 or 7.)

Endorsements and Alabama Sea-Changes

2008-01-30T09:56:00.001-06:00

Rocket City USA falls into the Obama win column.

Cullman County elects James Fields to the Alabama State Legislature. Cullman County is 96% white and once was the national headquarters for the Klan. Mr. James is from Colony, a black community established during Reconstruction as a rural ghetto. Mr. James is the first Black candidate to win his party's nomination for a state office and the first Black candidate to win a seat in Cullman. He has worked as a high-level administrator and investigator in state government and as a county commissioner. He won by almost 60% of the vote.

I have deep roots in Cullman County through my maternal grandmother, and my parents actually left the town and incurred a significant financial loss and displacement for a year or two because they could not abide racist attitudes in their intimate, non-familial community. I was very proud of my parents then, and I am very proud of Cullman County today, transcending racial identity and a harsh history to elect a talented, qualified candidate with exceptional experience in state and county administration.

Signals

2008-01-29T21:20:00.000-06:00

Today, the governor of Kansas, the honorable Kathleen Sebelius, endorsed Barack Obama for President. Sebelius is a Democratic governor in a Red State, a Super-Tuesday state.

Last night, Governor Sebelius gave the Democratic Response to the President's last State of the Union address.

Not being in the front office of the Party, I am not sure how the Party picks those who give the Democratic response to the State of the Union. I imagine, however, that Howard Dean or someone pondered the political implications of that prime-time gig, in a hotly contested election, with a floundering GOP incumbent, a Democratic Congress and the winds at the party's back, especially if McCain, disdained by much of his party, or Romney are the opponents. I imagine that someone somewhere wondered just who and how to maximize the political effect of the speech, its content and the politician to deliver it.

Someone, somewhere invited a low-profile governor of a midwestern state with a small population, few delegates and very little name recognition to step into the prime time.

Today, that same governor endorses Obama in her home state. Her forthcoming endorsement was not a mystery, and I reckon the timing is not a coincidence.

Might HRC be feeling a little isolated?

Might the party leadership be betting on a new inevitable candidate?

Might we get a woman in the West Wing after all? (Apparently, I'm just not in the loop, and maybe she's not so low-profile.)

Might endorsements and party signals start to reshuffle the superdelegate commitments?

Landslide Understories

2008-01-26T21:09:00.000-06:00

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union and still flies the Confederate Battle Flag on the statehouse grounds. South Carolina is Southern. South Carolina is Christian, conservative and still majority white. South Carolina was a bastion for the GOP and the Right.

Today, South Carolina cast its lot with a Black candidate for President.

Tonight, I’m awfully proud of the South.

Some opponents and cynics still will say, “Well, half of the Democrats were Black people, so he was bound to win.”

Here are the headlines:

Obama won by almost 30%, receiving about 50% of the vote from the Democratic primary.

Obama won 80% of the Black vote.

Here are the rich, deep, true, exhilarating notes for the night:

Obama won 55% of voters aged 45-59, HRC’s baliwick.

Now, watch this: With 99% reporting, 545,940 people in South Carolina voted in the Democratic primary, and half of them voted for Obama.

With 100% reporting last week, approximately 445,000 people in South Carolina voted in the Republican primary, handing John McCain a victory with 33%, a 3% margin of victory.

Did I mention this was in South Carolina?

In open primaries, more South Carolinians voted for Barack Obama than McCain and Huckabee combined, and they waited a week to do it.

History is afoot. Oh, Lord, do not pass us by.

Obama's Religion

2008-01-25T14:23:00.000-06:00

If you still have questions about Obama's faith, may I suggest this interview with beliefnet.com? It's illuminating.

Throwing Elbows

2008-01-22T13:30:00.001-06:00

This is worth a read and digestion.

(This, by the way, is the 200th post at this little blog. If we ever get 200 readers, I'll let you know.)

Daddyhood

2008-01-21T13:34:00.000-06:00

Dear Lord, may she always fly and laugh in a blue sky, and may I always catch her on the way down.

May she always swing higher and higher, and may I always get to stand behind her.

Amen.

(Much love and thanks to Uncle Adam.)

Today

2008-01-21T11:14:00.000-06:00

This is worthy of the occasion and the sacred space.

Obama Wins Nevada.

2008-01-19T21:36:00.001-06:00

MSNBC.

Mark Elrod.

CNN.

Daily Kos.

New York Times:

With 98 percent of the precincts reporting on Saturday evening, Mrs. Clinton had 51 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Mr. Obama. Mr. Edwards had 4 percent, a surprisingly poor showing given the attention he had devoted to Nevada. But the delegate count under the intricate rules of the caucuses appeared to favor Mr. Obama because of his support from a wide swath of the state, giving him 13 delegates compared with 12 for Mrs. Clinton.

There was no call of congratulations to Mrs. Clinton from Mr. Obama, who flew out of Nevada as the caucuses were convening. In a statement, Mr. Obama did not acknowledge defeat and noted that he had received one more delegate in Nevada than Mrs. Clinton because of a strong performance in precincts outside Las Vegas.

“We came from over 25 points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton,” said Mr. Obama, of Illinois, “because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled.”

Strategists from both campaigns, as well as the Nevada Democratic Party, were poring over the returns several hours after the caucuses concluded. If the Democratic presidential race becomes a bare-knuckle fight to the nominating convention in August, the extra delegate for Mr. Obama could prove as important to him as the momentum that Mrs. Clinton might receive from winning the most votes in the state.

If I were Eric. . .

2008-01-15T10:04:00.000-06:00

. . . not only would I be ultra-sexy and very fast, I would be able to vote in the Michigan primary today.

The MI Democrats lost their franchise with the national party when they moved the primary up, so there are no delegates at stake. Only HRC and uncommitted are on the ballot; the Dems can’t even write in another candidate.

Thus, for whom should Michigander Dems vote in the Republican primary if the goal is to elect Obama?

Daily Kos would have you vote for Mitt, just to be irritating. The idea is that by keeping Mitt alive in the primaries, their field continues to be conflicted and a mess. The conventional wisdom says that Mitt is the easiest opponent for the Dems, although I am not sure I agree, so by supporting Mitt in his do-or-die quasi-home state, the Dems get a two for one: Confound the GOP race a little bit more and support the Dems’ favored candidate.

(To my beloved conservative, Republican, Romney-supporing friends and colleagues, I disclaim the foregoing as an attempt at humor, with no ill intent toward you or your candidate. In the even that the humor doesn't strike you as funny, please remember that I laughed and laughed and laughed at John Edwards's "soft and creamy" hands. Thanks.)

The other option, of course, although less fun, is to vote for the candidate who would be the best President if the general election were to produce a Republican President. For my, money, that would be McCain, for whom I voted once already, in the 2000 Tennessee primary, against GWB, after GWB already had secured the nomination. That was my protest vote, and a fat lot of good it did.

So, if I were Eric, I think my better angels would win out, and I’d be voting for McCain today in the GOP primary.

ASI Love

2008-01-14T11:52:00.000-06:00

In recent years, I have crticized ASI plenty, especially some questionable, partisan speakers selected to take the stage at one of Harding's most prominent events. When something very good happens, then, I feel obliged to celebrate it publically. Here is the email I sent today:

Dr. Burks, Dr. Carr, Col. Reely:

You and the leadership in the American Studies Institute deserve commendation and gratitude for inviting Fred Gray as a Distinguished Lecturer this Spring.

As a prominent, public face of the University, ASI bears a great responsibility and duty on behalf of Harding’s great community, including alumni, the Church of Christ and the Kingdom we claim. Harding is called to serve and teach with excellence and courage and by inviting inquiry into the great questions and problems of Men and Nations. Mr. Gray’s refreshing invitation to address ASI advances our response to that calling.

Mr. Gray’s work and ministry has borne mighty fruit in our community and country. His devotion to the vulnerable and oppressed glorifies God, and his work before persecution and corruption reflects Christ’s mission declared in Luke 4. His work transcends the politics typical of recent ASI speakers, and he should fulfill ASI’s stated mission even more because of it. Even more, he continues to contribute to Christian education with close association, support and leadership at our School of Law, and we take pride and inspiration from him as we grow and deepen our work among the poor and vulnerable in Montgomery.

Thank you for inviting Mr. Gray to speak. Not since I was president of ASI’s student program have I been more excited about the organization. I am very proud of Harding today and look forward as ASI seeks more speakers who so embody our mission.

May God lead us all,
JRB

If you blasted Harding and its administration for Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity, I urge you to offer some encouragement for a remarkable step in the right direction.

Fact Check

2008-01-11T22:35:00.000-06:00

From the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, some good facts:

Obama's church is not a cult, is not racist, is not anti-American.

Obama is not a Muslim.

Obama was sworn into the Senate using his very own Bible, held by his very own wife.

Please don't take rumors for granted, even if you think you might like them to be true, or even if you really, really like conservative talk radio, even if you read Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal and especially if you are fond of emails from people who really don't check snopes.com.

Obama Apologies, Part 2

2008-01-05T15:57:00.000-06:00

A friend asks why I support Barack Obama for President. These are four reasons that persuade me. These are the macro-reasons, and his policy proposals also align with my preferred vision for the national government.

1. Faith and Philosophy Obama is a Christian. Not alone among the candidates, he expresses his policy ideas and guiding principles in terms of faith, not merely as pragmatic or unmoored morality. This is rarer among Democrats than Republicans, and I am exceedingly happily to find a progressive candidate who frames his policies and ideas in terms of faith. He and I agree that government has a significant role to play in addressing issues of inequity and injustice, problems of poverty and systemic bias against vulnerable and historically marginalized populations. I believe these issues are spiritual, ethical and moral, and that people of faith should use every tool as our disposal, including the state, to address them, wisely, pragmatically, prudentially, creatively and usefully. In the 2004 Convention speech, he described a distinction between private and public morality, which I believe is useful to describe government’s realistic use. Government is not very good and promoting individual morality but it is a very useful tool in addressing systemic, cultural and institutional injustice and corruption. In that speech, Obama suggested that this “public morality” is the greater role of government, and I agree.

2. Personal Narrative Perhaps I should be more interested in specific policy proposals and the ubiquitous criticism of inexperience, but Obama’s personal narrative stands for something remarkable in America and in the world. Obama is white and black. His father is from Kenya, and his mother is from Kansas. Obama’s father was a nominal, non-religious Muslim, and his mother was a secular humanist. As he worked with Christian churches in Chicago, Obama claimed Christ. He is a lawyer, the first Black editor of the Harvard Law Review, a civil rights attorney, who first devoted his career to the poor and vulnerable in Chicago’s south side. I may be maudlin about it, but this story and his candidacy is Important. Such a story only could happen in our great republic, and it represents a great turn of the wheel of history, beyond our dark past of racism and slavery, through the civil rights era, just passed racial harmony and right up to the edge of racial reconciliation. Not only will this thoroughly American point-of-view uniquely equip him to speak to our neighbors beyond his natural constituency, but it should give him a powerful means to interpret global complexity. 90% White Iowa demonstrated a dramatic rejection of the notion that “America is not ready to elect a Black Man.” This is big History in real time. I am willing to suffer some flawed policy ideas in exchange for the Meaning of the Obama presidency.

3. Partisanship and Moderation The Clinton and Bush presidencies and their accompanying Congresses, led us into a bleak season of partisan extremism. Practical and fruitful movement in our government happens best in the middle, with smart compromises and humble, tough negotiations, not raw power victories. At the risk of naiveté, I think that if we are to overcome the current stasis and escalating meanness, we need leadership who rejects those tactics. Here, Obama’s inexperience may just work in his favor, because he has not worked in the party apparatus so long as to be tainted by the hard knocks. ** I am not swooning so much to ignore the fact that Obama is a partisan and is in a party, but his rhetoric of unity and his history in the Senate makes me hopeful that he is serious about it.

4. Foreign Policy Long have I believed in engagement over isolation. I oppose the Cuban embargo as anachronistic and believe the best way to overcome such tyranny is with a flood of free market capitalism, dialogue and diplomacy. The Current Occupant promotes great and unnecessary harm by straight-arming every conceivable foe, like Iran, by demanding that they acquiesce to all our demands before we will negotiate. Where is the negotiation? We create more enemies than converts by such hubris. In virtually every crisis and with nearly every conceivable foe, engagement and dialogue will serve our national interests and security better than isolation and fear-mongering. I do not suggest appeasement or capitulation before any aggressor or dictator, but cocky bullying exacerbates extremism and others’ nationalism to no good end. Obama agrees and has committed himself to well prepared, tough, engaged diplomacy with friend and foe.

** In this space, I earlier wrote that Obama was a member of McCain's Gang of 14 as an example of bipartisanship and moderation. I was incorrect. Obama was not a part of that Senate episode.

Obama Apologies, Part 1

2008-01-03T20:55:00.000-06:00

Note: I wrote this as a Facebook note today in response to a friend's inquiry about my candidate of choice. The Iowa caucuses are closing as I write, and good Senator Obama is leading with 37% of the delegates, over Edward's 30% and Clinton's 29.6%. It's a good night.

This note is in response to the message on my Wall from Kelly who asks why I support Obama and who notes that she does not support universal health care.

First, a word or few about universal health care, a thousand and one options exist between pure free-market health care and fully socialist medical care. Neither Obama nor any other candidate is proposing Canadian- or British-style health care in which the State pays for everyone's health care with subsidies fully funded by taxation. Rather each proposes a different mix of private-sector incentives and pressures with public subsidies or mandates. We could not in one fell swoop eliminate the private sector from health care and should not, because it is profit motive that drives innovation and competitive care.

We also cannot ignore the "cost of poverty" on the entire system and every citizen. The U.S. pays much more per capita on health care than any comparable country (about $5000 per person, not taxpayer, not patient, per person), but fails to provide coverage for about 47 million citizens, including about 8 million kids. The Kaiser Foundation, among others, dispels a myth that we get substantially better health care than those in other countries with nationalized health care. In short, we're not getting a good bang for our buck.

This disparity leads me to two conclusions:
1. We pay too much for what we get.
2. We should not rest when the quality of health care (as opposed to the quality of plumbing, entertainment, etc.) depends on the ability of someone to pay for it.

The second conclusion arises from an ethical tension. For Christians, the disparity in access to health care should prompt concern over stewardship, justice, compassion and life. Regarding stewardship, companies, insurance, government and patients are not getting a sound deal for the money we expend on the services we consume. Regarding justice,the poor get substantially less access and quality to health care than others. Regarding compassion, we should not sit by in affluence while the poor suffer without care better available. Regarding life, we subject our neighbors to shorter, less fruitful lives when we neglect this plight.

A few other observations:

1. We already provide subsidized, nay socialist, health care to people over 65 regardless of wealth, to Veterans and to the very poor by way of Medicaid. These piecemeal efforts create inefficiency, caprice and strange incentives in the rest of the market.

2. Rationing is coming, if it is not already here. That is, providers and patients are already having to pick and choose services based on the ability to pay, even for insured patients. This arises from inefficient and expensive defensive medicine, as opposed to preventative care. It also arises from the costs levied on the providers who often have to foot the bill themselves for care to those without sufficient insurance.

3. We rely, perhaps unfairly, on doctors and hospitals to provide free care for the uninsured. This affects the free market as well, by forcing providers to shift the cost of indigent or uninsured care to other revenue streams, increasing the price for all.

4. For all the talk of wanting to maintain control and independence over our own care, we believe in a fiction. In the current market, we realistically receive care from options over which we have virtually no control. The question remains then, do you want health care power vested in the State or in the Insurance Company with an almighty profit motive? That's a hard call.

Obama's health care plan offers a mix of incentives and subsidies that still relies on private insurance companies, who still can profit, and on private health care providers, who still can profit. The profits might be smaller than the luxurious margins enjoyed these days, but the private sector still has incentives. Obama also would leverage the bargaining power of the government to negotiate prices with private companies, engaging the very free market that now creates remarkable innovation and care for the insured.

Stirring

2008-01-02T19:47:00.000-06:00

Happy New Election Year!

I support, endorse and laud Barack Obama. As I have written here before, I believe that he is gifted and right for the job, with sound policies, remarkable talent, charisma, language, personal narrative and faith to make an exceptional President in very tricky times.

I have a friend who dated lots and lots of girls in his day, and he declared that each one always was "different" than the others, but none of the relationships worked out, despite the girls' typical swooning over my swank brother. I admonished him one day as he despaired the loss of another hot girlfriend and pointed out to him that all of his girls were cut from the very same exceptionally cute, moderately smart, usually funny, always in a Greek house, white, Southern, WASPish socialite stock, so the outcome usually wasn't a surprise to anyone else, because deep down inside he needed something actually different and compelling on a level apart from the classic crush. Finally, he brought home a Filipino Catholic accountant with a Southern drawl, and they are getting married next month. Barack Obama is the sexy Filipino Catholic accountant with a Southern drawl that the country needs right now.

Here are my predictions for the Iowa caucauses tomorrow:

Democrats:
1. Obama
2. Clinton
3. Edwards

Republicans:
1. Romney
2. Huckabee
3. McCain

Here is what I hope to see tomorrow, the best case outcome:

Democrats:
1. Obama
2. Edwards
3. Clinton

Republicans:
1. McCain
2. Huckabee
3. Romney

Release the hounds! Let the games begin! Play ball!

Power and Control

2007-12-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

I am working during the break on my first scholarly writing since joining the academy last year. Here is a working draft of the potential thesis:

Every state provides a civil, statutory system for providing protection orders for victims of domestic violence. Conventional civil protection regimes are fixated on physical violence or refer to crimes with elements requiring physical violence. Thus, these civil protection statutes do not define “abuse” correctly to confront the reality of the phenomenon. Civil protection regimes should contemplate “abuse” beyond a reference to criminal statutes with a fixation on physical violence. Rather, these regimes should acknowledge and address the actual underpinnings of domestic abuse: power, control and oppression. By providing an injunctive remedy to victims of oppression that is not physically violent, civil protection regimes could intercept a dangerous relationship before violence occurs. At least, enjoiningng oppression would square civil protection orders with the reality of domestic violence.

Go State!

2007-12-05T15:37:00.000-06:00

This Mississippian is awfully proud of MSU and Coach Croom, the 2007 SEC Coach of the Year. This is a mark of cultural and social success and progress that transcends the Religion of Football in the South, and Mississippi State should be honored for very good work.

Go Dogs.

New PR!

2007-12-03T15:04:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, I set a new 5-K personal best in the inaugural outing of the FU Law & Running Club. With a bit of coaching from Professor MacLeod and the cammaraderie of several JSL students, I ran came in at 21:24. That is 32 seconds faster than my first race a month ago.

Congratulations to MacLeod, Bruce, Steve and Justin for a good showing on our first race.

Now, I am in a new training regime that I call Christmas Break and 85 Pounds. This morning, I ran 3.3 miles pushing a 33 lbs. almost-three-year old, a 22 lbs. seventeen-month-old in a 30 lbs. jogging stroller. That's not so bad on a straight-away, but it's a whole new workout up hills in a head-wind.

How much does West Wing haunt me?

2007-11-30T14:51:00.000-06:00

It's 2:52 central on Friday, November 30.

How long will it take a Republican operative to suggest that Hillary planted her own suicide bomber as a campaign tactic?

What better way to show how important you are to be threatened and to show what a good crisis-manager you can be?

It's the perfect campaign move!

The Bodies Buried in Pascagoula

2007-11-29T10:06:00.001-06:00

Practicing law in Mississippi (against a few of these guys) did have its moments of thoroughly interesting drama.

Alternative Affirmative Defense

2007-11-16T14:24:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday night, someone vandalized a memorial to Confederate soldiers on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol. The vandals or activists painted black-face on one of the soldiers and scrawled “N.T. 11 11 31” on the statute. That is an apparent reference to Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in November, 1831, in which he and his colleagues killed 57 white people and for which he was executed.

The Sons and Daughters of Confederate Veterans are demanding that the incident be considered a hate crime, as opposed to plain vandalism, because it is an affront and attack on “all white people” as the class of white people. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a white man, disagrees, while condemning the crime as illegal and offensive, arguing that the crime cannot be considered a threat or message to the whole of white people as a race.

The SCV says that because of the reference to Nat Turner, who killed white people, that this celebrates the murders and is an offense against us as a race. I suggest, perhaps, that this was an objection to slavery and racism, perhaps a radical objection by harking to the violent Turner, not against white people. If Turner is at the heart of this crime or statement, we might just consider that his motives had something to do with the “peculiar institution” perpetuated by white people, not white people qua white people.

I am struggling to understand the imagery. If the crime were committed by a black person, then how does painting the soldier’s face black cause an insult to the statue? Defacing the statute itself is an affront to its imagery and symbolism, but does blackness itself imply an insult? Is the speaker/vandal raising or lowering the status of a black face in relationship to a white Confederate soldier? Perhaps the message is that the South owes itself to black people and their labor and contributions, so this symbol of the South, iconoclastically white, should be every bit black as well.

Maybe the speaker/vandal is suggesting that the Confederate soldier himself was a “slave” to the system that caused his death by secession. Perhaps the reference to Turner is a call to rebel against all forms of racism, because the symbolism of the vandalism is ambiguous.

Of course, as we should remind the Sons and Daughters, this crime might have been perpetrated by a white person. Let us not jump to conclusions. If the vandal/speaker is white, what possibly could be the message? It could be any of the ideas above, but it might also be a message of shame and judgment or repentance. It might be an insult to black faces by clothing a black face in the trappings of their once oppressors.

This act was a crime, but it is a poetic and artistic statement of something. I do hope we learn who committed this speech (and why), and while they should be held accountable for defacing the property, I agree with Mr. Potok that it is not a hate-crime, because the Confederacy is not co-equal or co-extensive with the white race, because Nat Turner's rebellion is not co-equal or co-extensive with the black race and because the message is muddled.

If this vandalism is an act of aggression toward all white people, perhaps the presence of the Confederate Memorial on the Capitol grounds is an act of aggression toward all black people. That may be the clearest statement of all.

(I do not suggest that you read or heed the comments to the Advertiser article. These commenters are sad, belligerent and blind. They are not representative of the whole. Please, dear Lord, do not let them be representative of us even mostly.)

Water and Justice

2007-11-14T11:06:00.001-06:00

This is why I joined her fan club on Facebook.

Amen, JTB. Preach on.