Now Playing in Colorado Springs: Christians for Obama

Here's something else sure to raise James Dobson's blood pressure: an ad sponsored by the Matthew 25 Network, now playing in Christian radio in Dobson's homebase of Colorado Springs:



The Matthew 25 Network describes itself as "a community of Christians—Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical—inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor."

Sounds like pretty serious Christianity to me....

Obama Agrees with Majority (and Bush!) on Salvation

Bob Ellis frets over Senator Obama's statement that "Jesus is the only way for me. I'm not in a position to judge other people." The Democratic nominee was apparently responding to a question from Franklin Graham about paths to salvation.

Obama "doesn't even understand the most basic and foundational tenet of Christianity," Bob fumes, and thus won't appeal to too many "serious" Christians. "Serious," of course, is Bob's code for folks who agree with him that "God doesn't provide an "Oh but I'm not a Christian" excuse to get out of Hell."

Uh oh—looks like not even President George W. Bush is a "serious" Christian:

Obama's theological beliefs are clearly more liberal than those on the Christian right. But it's the beliefs of the latter that are fast becoming a minority. A new Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey of 35,000 Americans reports that 70% agree with the statement "Many religions can lead to eternal life," including 57% of Evangelicals. No less a figure than George W. Bush responded "no" when asked in 1999 if he believed heaven is open only to Christians. Those evolving, more relatively open-minded attitudes are one reason Dobson's organization has steadily lost members and revenue over the past five years [Amy Sullivan, "Is Dobson's Obama Hit Backfiring?" Time, 2008.06.26].

Looks like Bob and Dob are the ones being left behind in a hapless minority as true believers realize there's more to life and politics than wedge issues.

Thune Energy Bill: Drill More, but Whither Conservation?

I'm feeling curious and nit-picky. Thus, some questions as I read the new energy bill (the "Drill Everything" bill) introduced by Senator John Thune (and brought to my attention by Ben Dunsmoor at KELO):

1. Why give the public only 20 days to respond to the draft environmental impact statement the Secretary of the Interior gets 18 months to put together? [Section 112(c)(3)(D), page 17, line 24]
   
2. Why set a minimum acreage of 200,000 acres for the first lease sale? Is there a solid revenue reason for this requirement, or is it a way to make sure only larger companies can afford to buy into the prime drilling territory? [Section 113(d); p. 21 line 21]
3. So does Section 121's prohibition on exportation of any oil or gas produced under leases issued under this bill represent your repudiation of NAFTA and other international free trade agreements? [Sec. 121, p. 41]
4. Why, for all the text dedicated to producing more oil and clean coal (and yes, renewable biofuel from sources like algae, for which the Lake Herman energy lobby thanks you), does the bill make only two brief and general mentions of increasing energy efficiency [Section 301(b)(3–4)]?

Punching lots more holes in the ground is one way to work toward energy independence. But dependence on ever-increasing amounts of energy from big corporations and the long-distance transportation networks of industrial-scale energy may be as bad for our economic security as dependence on oil from Arabs, Russians, and Norwegians, and Canadians. The best foundation for true energy independence lies not in producing more energy but in getting by with less.

No, That's Not Your Toast Burning...

...it's Saskatchewan!

Lake Herman wakes this morning to hazy sunshine and a distinct smell of smoke. Nope, it's not the toaster, or the campfires at Lake Herman State Park, or the neighbors' burn barrel—it's smoke from wildfires all the way up in northern Saskatchewan. Canada Day fireworks getting out of hand? Nope, just forest fires.

This map from NOAA's Satellite and Information Service shows all the wildfires and areas of smoky skies on the continent. Here's the screen capture from 09:14 CDT today:
So keep those eyedrops handy... and be careful with your fireworks!

Father Gallagher -- Bittersweet Resolution?

Father Cathal Gallagher has left the building, but not the country. The Irish priest bid farewell to his tearful parishioners in Kingsbury County on Sunday, and was ready to obey the U.S. government, which had told him he had to leave the country on July 1 since immigration officials had lost his application for permanent residency. And then yesterday...

Progress! Father received a call from Senator Johnson’s office informing him of positive progress with his immigration case. Father was instructed a) NOT to leave the country, b) that consideration of his case is progressing in communication with Washington DC, and c) that he should schedule an appointment to get his fingerprints and updated photos taken in Sioux Falls on July 14 (two weeks). He was informed that this is a very positive development, although still nothing is assured at this point [update from HelpFather.com, 2008.07.01].

Better late than never. But the Sioux Falls Diocese has already installed a new priest in the Kingsbury County parishes, so, as Father Gallagher tells KSFY, "All options are open, the only option that's not open is returning to Kingsbury County."

Even in this surprise step toward a bittersweet victory, Father Gallagher remains humble:

Still shell shocked by the changing events, Gallagher tells me he is humbled by those who fought to give him this second chance. "I've done nothing to earn what came today" [Brian Allen, "DeSmet Priest Immigration Case Now Under Federal Review," KSFY.com, 2008.07.01].

Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you... and sometimes everybody gets bit.

Striking Oil Isn't All Bad

O.K., o.k., I won't begrudge these millionaires their oil strike. Oscar and Lorene Stohler of Beulah, North Dakota, are among the nouveau petro-riche Professor Schaff mentioned earlier this week. Oscar was raised in a sod house. He and Lorene grew up in the Dirty Thirties, put their four kids through college... and now, thanks to oil found two miles under their ranch, they can enjoy the rest of their lives with no financial worries.

Not that wealth is going to their heads:

The couple moved a few miles east to Beulah and paid cash for their new home, the first one they have owned. They have established trust accounts for their four children.

Lorene said the only thriftless purchase was an automatic sprinkler system for her flowers that surround the couple's new home. And Oscar bought a $1,000 ring for his wife to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

"We got enough now to buy new stuff," Lorene said, "but we like our old stuff." [James MacPherson, "Oil Is Making Millionaires in North Dakota," AP via Yahoo News, 2008.06.30]

Before I get all misty... congrats to the Stohlers for striking it rich, and for and keeping their fiscal wits about them.

---------------
p.s.: Oil joke of the morning comes from the Capitol Steps promo for their July 4th public radio special: With oil now over $140 a barrel, George W. Bush has a plan to stop those rising prices. He's going to order smaller barrels.

Promote Perry Groten to the Blogosphere

Perry Groten needs to blog. TV news is just too confining a medium for his curiosity and creativity. Who else at KELO can come up with a headline like "Our Father, Who Art Online"? (It's about GodTube.) Given his November story on atheism, perhaps Groten could bust loose and start a blog on religion. Just enough quirkiness slips into some of his reports (cf. Perry Groten, Easy Rider at the Kingswood rummage sale) that I can only imagine the wild abandon with which Groten might cover South Dakota if fully freed from the filter of KELO on-air gravitas.

Give Perry a blog, KELO... he might even get more hits than Todd!

Oil Is Blood -- Promises to the Greatest Generation

As TransCanada gets its way with the remaining holdouts and gears up to start laying pipe, and as West River landowners get set to put their faith in Big Oil to "do what they say they're going to do," I stumble upon this 1943 RKO documentary/propaganda film richly titled "Oil Is Blood."



The narrator speaks of oil, in that great old language of the newsreels, as "the blood of this toiling, fighting old world," "the blood of the mechanized legion" in the form of "the tanks that soon will smash their way to Berlin."

Behind the superimposed stats from the Documentary Channel, this interesting archival tidbit shows some footage of wartime pipeline construction, "colossal surgery to give the earth arteries, arteries of seamless steel."

The documentary notes the sacrifice Americans used to make during times of war. "We give our present for the future, for the world's future in democracy." No mention of pre-emptive war and no-bid contracts for Big Oil. And that attitude doesn't seem to fit with the reception we "environmental wackos" get today when we suggest that tightening our belts and conserving energy might be the best route to energy independence.

Also featured: endless rows of jerry cans containing "Super fuel -- America's secret weapon!" to be used "in the peace to come... in machines yet to be built and at 40 miles to the gallon." Dang, where'd that super fuel go? Our grandparents who saw this film and fought at home and abroad to bring all those goals to fruition might be disappointed with us.

McSame vs.... OBushma? Obama Backs Faith-Based Programs

Senator Obama announces his support today for continuing the policies of the Bush Administration... in faith-based initiatives:

Reaching out to religious voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — support some ability to hire and fire based on faith....

"The challenges we face today ... are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

...But Obama's support for letting religious charities that receive federal funding consider religion in employment decisions could invite a protest from those in his own party who view such faith requirements as discrimination.

...Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, criticized Obama's proposed expansion of a program he said has undermined civil rights and civil liberties.

"I am disappointed that any presidential candidate would want to continue a failed policy of the Bush administration," he said. "It ought to be shut down, not continued." [Jennifer Loven," Obama to Expand Bush's Faith Based Programs," AP via Yahoo, 2008.07.01]

No response yet from Jim Dobson or other theocrats who generally smile on such precarious mingling of church and state.

The Dems chanting the "McSame" meme against Senator McCain seem to have forgotten one key lesson from 2004: you can't win just by running against George W. Bush. You need to focus on the strengths of your own candidate. And by embracing the faith-based plank of the Bush platform, our man Barack just made wringing mileage out of the "McSame" label a little harder.

Politico's Mike Allen says Obama is actually planning to scrap the Bush program and create a new office to do the same thing, only better. Obama says he would change the faith-based programs office from a "photo-op" to a "critical" part of the White House.

So Barack Obama, the Democratic Presidential nominee, is the one talking about making God-talk more than just a photo op? Secular humanists and Bush-agelicals alike have much to chew on there.

Motongator Joe I Attendance: 987

Joe Grinsteiner—a.k.a. Motongator Joe—tells the Madison Daily Leader that attendance at the first staging of his summer country music festival at Prairie Village drew 987 visitors this past weekend. That's small compared to the festival he runs in the Michigan Upper Peninsula, which draws five or six thousand each summer... but then that event has also been going for 11 years. The performance of this weekend's festival is in line with recent one-day music festivals at the Village: Prairie Fire and Dakota Jam each generally drew a few hundred people.

Grinsteiner is determined to build the franchise here: he has signed a ten-year lease with Prairie Village. And lest you think you can do better, Grinsteiner's contract with the Village also bought him first option on any new music events seeking to play at the Village—i.e., Motongator Joe Inc. can veto any competition or at least claim a cut of the take. Looks like Prairie Village is banking on the Grinsteiners to bring in the big bucks for the next decade.

Stephanie in Madison Today, Welcoming WiMAX

Speaking of connections, Sioux Valley Energy is working toward the day where our Internet connections will be all magic. Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin comes to Madison to inaugurate Sioux Valley Energy's new WiMAX service. She'll say a few words in praise of rural broadband at a community picnic at Library Park (complimentary picnic lunch—that says "Free Food!"—starts at noon; program starts at 12:15.)

WiMAX—Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access—is clearly one of those globalist plots (the guys in black helicopters need Internet, too). It also means more signal in more places—cool!

Sioux Valley has put up its WiMAX beamer on the Madison high-rise apartment building (the only skyscraper in the county not storing grain or water). They map the signal as covering all of Madison, but my mom got hooked up a couple weeks ago, and the signal appears to reach just fine from four miles away. The Sioux Valley tech guys were a little surprised. They say they have to be careful about hooking up customers too far from the central tower, since the entire network is only as strong as the weakest connection. If one user gets weak signal, the system boosts power to reach that weak node, which draws power away from the rest of the network.

For now you still need a special WiMAX modem to pick up the signal. That equipment, about the size of a thesaurus, replaces the cable modem and roof antenna you currently need to get Sioux Valley's existing wireless signal. But you can't cruise around town and get the signal on your laptop yet: manufacturers are just starting to install WiMAX-capable chips in their computers (like the Asus eePC). So for now, the main advantages of WiMAX are less equipment in your house and $5 less amonth for service.

But in a year or two, as WiMAX becomes standard laptop equipment, you'll be able to cruise around Madison and be online all the time. Pretty soon the Internet will be as ubiquitous and accessible as TV and radio signals. Just another step toward what my wife and I keep joking about: Brain-Internet! (WiMAX chips in our heads... there's another globalist plot.)

By the way, I'm on baby patrol today, so I can't make the picnic. But if anyone else gets some good photos of the picnic and of Rep. Herseth Sandlin at the park, send them my way, and I'll post them here!

Recession? Not in Rutland: Black Studios Expanding!

My friends Michael and ElizaBeth Black are battling the bumbling economy with good old-fashioned success: They're adding staff to their business! Last night's MDL reports that Black Studios of Rutland has just added Melissa Hansen to its now five-person staff. That's a 25% staff increase! Plus, in Rutland, population 200, the Blacks now probably account for 30% of private-sector employment.

How can the Blacks be such an economic powerhouse operating from an old church in Rutland? Lots of hustle, of course, working weddings and taking senior photos all over eastern South Dakota. The Internet also helps: like lots of photographers, Michael and ElizaBeth use a blog to reach customers and update us on their best work and other fun they're having.

Making it in business means having good connections. Nice thing about the Internet is that "connections" no longer means being friends with the banker. It means good signal and the ability to reach clients everywhere who truly appreciate the quality of your work.