Politics

Dr. George Tiller from Wichita Kansas, a physician who performed legal late-term abortions, often when a woman's life or health was at risk, was shot and killed in church this morning. This is the most recent in a very long history of attacks and murders of physicians who perform abortions. I have read varied comments on varied blogs today where people have been suggesting that this was a good thing.

I've been thinking a lot about Proposition 8 - both before the election, and after it. In truth I have mixed feelings about the whole gay marriage thing (for example, how it happened that lesbians went from thinking it was an institution of patriarchy to something we wanted,) but that's a different post for a different time. I'm saddened, of course, that a lot of people in California voted to add a discriminatory amendment to the consitution.

There is a conference happening now (appropriate to the date, I guess) sponsored by Evangelicals for Human Rights: "A National Summit on Torture: religious faith, torture, and our national soul". Accompanying that conference was a poll (PDF) of southern evangelicals on torture. The findings are deeply disturbing.

The brou-ha-ha around Jesse Jackson's comments about Obama, and how he

I was having fun for a while. Interesting crop of candidates on the Democratic side for once, more than one that I really liked. It looked like there was going to be an interesting contest, one that would be about issues, and not flinging daggers back and forth. I'm not having fun anymore. Hillary Clinton is playing dirty. She is more interested in being President than in rising above the fray, and being honest.

Tuesday is SuperDuper Tuesday, where a bunch of states vote in primaries. One of those states is my own, Massachusetts. For a while, I was, ironically, supporting Edwards. Mostly because I really, really don't like Hillary, and I felt like Obama is young, could use more seasoning before being president, and Edwards would have made a great president. (Actually, my dream ticket was Edwards/Obama - 16 years of bliss.) Anyway, now that Edwards has dropped out, I'm going to support Obama wholeheartedly. One thing, though.

It's interesting to think about the press, and the bias the press has, especially in this time. What the press says, and how it says it, is pretty darned important - it's the way that most people get their information about politics, and the presidential campaigns. I've been thinking some about the Obama/Huckabee victories in Iowa, and what people are saying about it. In particular, I've been interested in the whole issue of how faith is playing out - Obama's faith, Huckabee's faith, and the faith of voters.

The results from Iowa are in: Obama wins big, as does Huckabee. Edwards comes in second among dems. Hillary Clinton does really badly. I'm happy. I'm not a Clinton fan, honestly (she's too hawkish, too corporate-friendly.) And, as far as I am concerned, Mike Huckabee is probably the republican to beat. Hat tip to Cranky/Happy Cindy for what coverage to follow.

• Ron Paul is a Republican candidate I almost can support. Almost, but, utlimately, not. He's right on so many issues, like getting out of the empire business entirely, and on limiting the government's ability to spy on us. But he's anti-choice, seems like he wants to eliminate the social safety net, and has some other stands that I have a hard time with. There is so much to like ... and so much to dislike. Sigh.
• Pat Robertson endorsed Rudi Guliani. Huh?

I'm at the US Social Forum in Atlanta, GA right now. I arrived on Tuesday, and have spent the last couple of days as part of the tech team, helping work on the technology infrastructure. For the next few days (I'm leaving on Sunday,) I'll be doing my sessions, and going to others.