School Prayer

Justin and I had an interesting argument (we tend to do that occasionally) yesterday about school prayer.  Apparently, some girl, somewhere in America (I tried to find the story, but I couldn’t) was stopped during her address at her graduation for talking about Jesus.

Justin said he saw nothing wrong with her invoking the name of the Lord.

I beg to differ.

Let me preface this by saying that I’m a Christian, I go to church often as I can, I’m going to Heaven when I die.  And nobody can tell me any different.  I also believe that whether you’re Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Catholic, Jewish, or whatever, you have an equal chance of getting into Heaven.  There won’t be any barbed wire and barking dogs to separate us when we get there.  No need to act like there will be while we’re here.

But bringing religion into high school graduations is a step over the line.  Granted, there’s the likelihood that the great majority of people in the crowd had no problem with it.  But that’s not the issue.  The issue is that some people may have had a problem with it.  America was built not only on majority rule, but on minority rights.  There’s no need to step on the minority’s rights when it comes to religion.  If the people in the audience wanted to hear a sermon, they could have went to church.

Now, at this point in our argument, Justin added that, “Well, they didn’t have to stay in there and listen.  They could have walked out.”  Well, this was a high school graduation, so chances are everybody was there to see one of their children/grandchildren/etc. graduate.  They really were a captive audience.

I posed the following hypothetical to Justin:  Suppose, at our graduation, our valedictorian got up at expressed her love of Allah, her believe in multiple nature gods, declared she had no belief whatsoever in any god, or so on and so forth.  Justin didn’t like the sound of that.  He said he would take it as a chance to minister to them.  But I asked if he didn’t think he would be upset that his graduation, something that happens only once in his life, was turned into a Jesus-bashing meeting.  He didn’t like that, either.

So, basically, when it comes to shows of religion in school, I’m for the moment of silence, I’m for voluntary prayer (to a degree–after some point it becomes basically compulsory), but I’m strongly against any kind of prayer over the p.a. system, prayer to a captive audience who may not want to hear it, or expression of any kind of religious belief to a big group of people if it may offend some of them.

-Neal

UPDATE: Justin’s account of what was said differs with my accounting of it.  He says: 1-He wouldn’t care if someone expressed their love of Allah, etc. 2-He wouldn’t use it as a chance to minister to the person. 3-He says he wouldn’t have any opinion if a graduation was a “Jesus-bashing” meeting.  SO, you have both sides of the story here.

College

Right now, I’m in the library of Virginia Highlands Community College, for my second full day of classes.

Expect a full story later in the day.

-Neal

Build a Campaign Message Around This…

I’m a big Merle Haggard fan.  And Merle Haggard is no fan of George W. Bush (which makes me like him even more).

Merle has moved significantly to the left in recent years.  Here’s his most recent video, which hits all the highpoints of what the Democrats should be driving home in the November elections.

Merle Haggard – “America First”

Enjoy.

GOP Hypocrisy Has No Limits

After the terror scare in the UK, the Republicans will no doubt use homeland security as a major campaign issue yet again.

But, then we happen to come across this on Yahoo! News:

“While the British terror suspects were hatching their plot, the Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to divert $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new homeland explosives detection technology.”

So, I guess what we have here is just another example of GOP double-talk.  Talk big on homeland security, then cut the funds.  You can find similar stories on veterans’ issues, education, agriculture, workers’ issues, and the list goes on.

The Republican party; Hypocrisy Personified.

-Neal

Best MLB Manager?

I’m sure with Ned Lamont beating Joe Lieberman in the primaries in Connecticut, and Jim Webb soldiering on here in Virginia, I can fulfill, albeit late, F.T. Rhea’s desire for an “echo-less” blog post.  That being said…

Okay, so who is the best manager currently in Major League Baseball?  I’m undecided on whether it’s Frank Robinson (Washington), Bobby Cox (Atlanta), Jim Leyland (Detroit), or Ron Gardenhire (Minnesota).  I lean, however, toward Leyland.  He’s turned a really bad team into the best team in baseball.  But, with Robinson, he was one of the best players baseball ever had, and in all his managing time, he’s never really had a really good team to work with.  You can’t overlook Cox’s record with the Braves, leading them to 14 straight division titles.  Ron Gardenhire has produced a winning team this year that will be in contention.  That, and he’s entertaining to watch (like Bobby Cox).

Thoughts, or your own picks?

LeftyBlogs?

Question:  I recently added this new site to LeftyBlogs for Virginia.  My last couple posts on here haven’t shown up on LeftyBlogs, and I wonder why.

 So now, the obvious query:  Anybody got a solution to this?

Ned Lamont Is The One

Very recently, I was supporting Joe Lieberman for U.S. Senate in Connecticut.  I can no longer in good conscience support him in this primary.

One of the things my grandpa taught me was “Never change horses in the middle of the creek.”  Well, I’ve never rode a horse, and if he wanted to cross a creek, he just walked through it.  I eventually understood this phrase to mean that you don’t change your mind on important things, even if it’s in your best interest.

But another thing he also taught me, very importantly, is that you must do what your heart tells you to do.  And that’s what I’m doing.

I’ve done alot of reading and alot of listening, and I have come to the conclusion that Ned Lamont is the only candidate in the race for U.S. Senate in Connecticut who has the right stance on the Iraq War.  Couple that with his other progressive stances, and I think we’ve got a winner.

Joe Lieberman has done alot for this country, and for our party.  But he’s wrong on the Iraq War issue, and the degree to which he is still unable to fully admit his mistake, I can’t believe he is the best candidate in this race.

If you’re reading this, and you’re from Connecticut, I urge you to vote for Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate.

It’s Got To Be Lamont…

I’ve made a switch in the Connecticut primary.  I’m now backing Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman for the Tuesday election.  I’ll be explaining later today…

-Neal

Can We Get This Show On The Road?

I’m a big supporter of Jim Webb, and everybody knows that.  But I’m getting frustrated with the situation we’ve got here.  In Jim Webb we have a great candidate.  Just the kind of candidate the Democratic Party needs to defeat Republicans.

But in the Jim Webb for Senate campaign, we have serious problems.  I don’t fault any one person.  I fault a lack of money, a lack of planning, and a lack of visability.

The Kaine campaign in 2005 was always one step ahead of Jerry Kilgore’s people.  Tim Kaine assembled one of the best campaign staffs I’ve seen.  And Harris Miller’s staff earlier this year was almost as good.  Those folks knew how to run a race.  These folks should be highly involved in the Webb campaign.

The way some of my blogginh colleagues talk, this election is a slam-dunk already.  I hate to say it, but it’s anything but.  If the Webb campaign can’t get its’ act together, it’s going to get more and more one-sided as we come closer to November.  And, frankly, neither our state, our party, nor of country can afford to have George Allen in the Senate any longer, or have the Republicans in control of the Senate.

It is vital that the Webb campaign get a huge shot of cash to help it out, and that Jim Webb start campaigning more vigorously.  A look at his website would lead me to believe he’s taking it pretty easy when it comes to campaigning.  Right now, the only event listed is on August 3rd in Virginia Beach.  Then the next event listed is a full 10 days away.  And, since the August 13 event is actually a series of statewide house parties, I doubt anybody who comes out for those isn’t already solidly in the Webb camp.

Many of the events that have been on the schedule recently (wit ha couple exceptions, yes) have been in Democrat strongholds.  That doesn’t help a whole lot.  Where are the events in Lynchburg, in Martinsville, in Bristol (!!!!), in Winchester?

There’s no need for me to mention the recent debate between Webb and Allen.  It’s my belief that more Virginians could quote, word for word, “Casey at the Bat” than could tell you anything about the debate.  It was like it was top-secret.  Both campaigns claimed a big victory, so I guess your point of view on the debate depends on who you’ve already decided to vote for (which has all the nasty characteristics of a vicious circle).

I don’t speak for the Bristol Democratic Committee, but I can speak for myself and relay what individual members have said.  What they’re saying, and what I’ve been saying here, is that the Webb campaign needs to get its’ act together now, get in every part of the state (I would strive for all the independent cities and 2/3 of the counties), walk around on the street and talk to people, go sit in coffee shops, do what ever it takes to get the message out.

This race won’t be decided among the blogosphere, the religious right, or the party faithful in general.  This race will be decided in McDonalds, Wal-Mart, NASCAR stadiums, high school football games, and church socials.  Let’s beat George Allen to them.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new and (sort of) improved Neal 2028!

I had been considering switching over to WordPress for a long time (as you can see by my last post on this website).  I think I’ll like it better than Blogger and I think it’ll look better and more “professional” in the long run (and that’s what we’re all going for, isn’t it?).

I’d appreciate any advice anybody can give, like how I edit the html on the side (to add the LeftyBlogs thing or add a picture link to something, for instance).

I’ll be getting a new picture to put on the top of the page, to replace the ink pen picture.  So, yeah, look forward to that.

My first real post will be coming a little later.

-Neal