My inauguration speech

Check out this inauguration speech generator. Here's the speech that I profoundly put together: (I put my words in bold)

My fellow Americans, today is a goofy day. You have shown the world that "hope" is not just another word for "rose", and that "change" is not only something we can believe in again, but something we can actually communicate.

Today we celebrate, but let there be no mistake – America faces collosal and muddled challenges like never before. Our economy is lackadaisical. Americans can barely afford their mortgages, let alone have enough money left over for frogs. Our healthcare system is subsequent. If your pinky toe is sick and you don't have insurance, you might as well call a engineer. And America's image overseas is tarnished like a tractor mountain. But leaping together we can right this ship, and set a course for Maine.

Finally, I must thank my whimsical family, my nonchalant campaign volunteers, but most of all, I want to thank Walter L. Wilson for making this historic occasion possible. Of course, I must also thank you, President Bush, for years of influencing the American people. Without your panoramic efforts, none of this would have been possible.

So many words

I just finished watching two debates in New Hampshire. Four Democrats, six Republicans, lots of words and at times, not much was said. It was fascinating to watch the exhanges between candidates, to see their facial expressions, and to watch the body language. I was surprised at the amount of mud slinging that took place in the Republican debate and then how relatively little there was during the Democratic debate. One of my least favorite parts about politics is how they mock each other. Just tell me what you believe. Convince me to vote for you based on what you believe not by slamming your opponents.

Thoughts from the Republican debate:
- I'm not keen on sending home 12 millions illegal immigrants so they can get in the back of the line and try to get into the US legally. I don't pretend to have the answers, but that's one that I don't like for sure!
- What about the economy? The poor? Unemployment? Where was the talk about these issues?
- If I had to choose today to vote for a Republican, it would be Huckabee because he seems to be the most compassionate.

Thoughts from the Democratic debate:
- Change, change, change - while I agree that we need change, we also need to do more than just throw the word around. What do you think needs to change? How will you do - specifically? I liked how Clinton pointed out that change takes work, hard work. It's not going to happen overnight, for the most part. Clinton also noted that change is hard, change is possible if you're prepared to do what needs to be done.
- Richardson had a number of good quotes. He's very passionate which I liked. He admonished everyone to remain positive and said that "I've been in hostage negotiations more civil than this." Amen!
- Obama had an interesting quote about Iraq: we should be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. Words to chew on...
- I wasn't too keen on all Edwards talk about fighting for the middle class. While I appreciate his passion and talk about how it's personal for him, I have to ask, what about the lower class? What about the poor? I realize he's talking about a shift from a focus on the rich but I hope we don't lose sight of the poor among us.
- One of my favorite moments was when Obama admitted to flipping between the Republican debate and football.
- If I had to choose today to vote for a Democrat, it would be a really difficult choice. On the one hand, I really liked Richardson's passion and they way he kept bringing up the economy, education, health care and other issues. On the other hand, I really like Obama's message of change.

It's still anyone's game...

Modern slave trade

Did you know there are 27 million slave in our world today? 80% are female and 50% are children according to the U.S. Department of State's "2005 Trafficking in Persons Report." Slavery exists today in countries all over the planet, including the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, up to 17,500 new victims are trafficked across our borders each year. It's tempting to want to dismiss these numbers or diminish their importance. You might even see people refer to "slave-like conditions" because so many people want to believe that slavery was abolished for good some 200 years ago.

Global poverty is one of the major contributors to the problem as it increases the number of victims a slave trader has to choose from. And thus, slaves become more easier expendable as the pool is so large. You and I may even be contributing to the problem as we go about our lives. Kevin Bales, a pioneer in the fight against modern slavery notes, "Slaves in Pakistan may have made the shoes you are wearing and the carpet you stand on. Slaves in the Caribbean may have put sugar in your kitchen and toys in the hands of your children. In India they may have sewn the shirt on your back and polished the ring on your finger."

How are we to respond to the rise of modern slavery? What should the church be doing to mobilize its members into action? Just as evangelicals such as William Wilberforce and Elizabeth Heyrick rose up to fight slavery in the 18th & 19th centuries, so too we ought to make known the plight of these slaves and fight for their freedom!

An interesting quote....

To truly be pro-life "means far more than opposing abortion. It also means doing everything in our power to keep people alive, so they might respond to the grace of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that means working with people you disagree with. With AIDS killing 8,000 people a day, saving lives is more important to us than political alignment." - part of a statement released by Saddleback church in reponse to criticism that Rick Warren received when he decided to have Senator Barak Obama speak at the Saddleback AIDS Summit yesterday.

There is a great post on Out of Ur, the Leadership Journal blog about working with people you disagree with.

Sanctity of ALL life

"I am pro-life." If you heard this statement made, you would probably assume this person is against abortion. But why is that? When did this statement come to refer primarily to abortion? If you are "pro-life" shouldn't that mean that you value the sanctity of ALL life, not just that of an unborn child? And how far does that extend - war, euthanasia, capital punishment and perhaps other issues?

I am not in favor of abortion, but am I truly "pro-life"?

Our nation has a National Sanctity of Human Life Day. George W. Bush notes that "When we seek to advance science and improve our lives, we must always preserve human dignity and remember that human life is a gift from our Creator. We must not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it. America must pursue the tremendous possibilities of medicine and research and at the same time remain an ethical and compassionate society." Does our society truly value the sanctity of human life? When you consider our practices in war, abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia, it would seem not.

What, if anything, does the Bible about the sanctity of life? I'm not sure these are all directly related, but here are some that come to mind:

• Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• Deuteronomy 30:19 - This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life...
• Job 10:8-12 - Your hands shaped me and made me... Did you not clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.
• Job 31:15 - Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
• Psalm 51:5 - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
• Psalm 95:6 - Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
• Psalm 100:3 - Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
• Psalm 119:73 - Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.
• Psalm 138:8 - The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands.
• Psalm 139:13-16 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
• Isaiah 44:2 - This is what the Lord says — he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you...
• Isaiah 44:24 - This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: "I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself..."
• Isaiah 46:3-4 - Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
• Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Do these verses point to the sanctity of life? I don't know. This seems to be a complex issue with more questions than answers.

Politics: Challenge at the Polls

How are we to choose a candidate to vote for? By party? By issue? I'm quick to disregard the first option but the second is much more difficult. There are so many issues to take into consideration and there will never be a candidate that perfectly lines up with your beliefs.

Some of the issues that have been rolling around in my head lately are:
Embryonic stem cell research
Environmental concerns
Earmarks in the federal budget
Education
Welfare
Poverty - local & global
War in Iraq & war in general
Appointment of judges (and their lasting legacy on moral issues)
Gun control
Hunger - local & global
Riders (on bills presented to Congress)
Immigration

The list could go on and on. Given the above list of issues and the plethora of others that could be added, how does one prioritize the issues? Should a candidate who is pro-choice rank above a candidate who is supporting the use of public funds for embryonic stem cell research? Or perhaps it's more important to choose the candidate who wants to overhaul the No Child Left Behind program than the one who wants to rid the federal budget of earmarks? On what basis do you prioritize the issues and decide which candidate to vote for?

On November 7th, I'm supposed to go to a polling place and decide between two Congressional candidates from the 6th district here in Illinois - Peter Roskam (R) & Tammy Duckworth (D). I recently attended a forum where Roskam & Duckworth were asked questions about a variety of issues and sort of gave a summary of what they thought. The problem is that they were too busy mud slinging to really give a good picture of what they believe and I left thinking that it's just sport. When did opponent bashing become a regular part of politics? When did it become the norm to do more trash talking about your opponent than telling the public what your own views on the issues are? Is this really what the public wants to hear?

Perhaps in this election it is more important to vote by party. This election has the potential to change the majority leadership in Congress. Perhaps I should vote for Duckworth so that Democrats might have the majority. And then there's the presidential election to consider. It's highly likely that the next president will be a Democrat. In that case, a Republican Congress could balance things out or make it very difficult for the president to accomplish anything. So which is better?

To make matters worse, it is very difficult to find solid, objective material on any one candidate. I want to be an educated voter but where will I get that education? Certainly not from watching television campaign ads! And where does my faith factor into all of this? In some circles, the sincerity of your faith is questioned if it becomes known that you are a Democrat or would vote for a Democrat. What does Scripture have to say about the issues at hand that might guide our decisions at the polls? And thus I arrive at the end of this post with a vast number of questions and few, if any, answers or insights.

People say its our privelege as citizens of this country to vote but personally I find it to be a chore and a headache.