Rev. Danny Fisher

The Guardian considers the pressure building on the United Nations to act on the military junta ruling Burma–the country they see as “effectively…the world’s biggest prison.”

As I said in a post from earlier this summer, I will not be endorsing a presidential candidate or political party at this blog. It is my right to do so–as long as I don’t do it in a church, dharma center, or temple–but it strikes me as icky. It seems to me that the church and state are not all that separate when a clergy-person endorses a political candidate for office, especially when they leave the “Rev.” or whatnot in front of their name. At any rate, it makes me uncomfortable and I won’t do it.

That said…I’ve got some things to say about news items emerging from the Republican National Convention. I’m not going to suggest who you ought or ought not to vote for, but I am going to make some critical observations about a particular political party and their 2008 presidential ticket.

1. I really don’t like what presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin of Alaska said about the Iraq War being a “task that is from God.” Or what she said about it being “God’s will” to build a natural gas pipeline across Alaska. Heck, every time she said “God” I was pretty bothered. I’ll let the great Welton Gaddy tell you why it’s such a big problem.
   
2. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the official poverty rate in 2007 was 12.5 percent, which means that about 37.3 million Americans live in poverty. It’s bad enough that John McCain doesn’t know how many homes they own and thinks “middle class” means making less than $5 million a year, but for his wife Cindy to wear an outfit valued at $313,000–$313,000–while he pontificates about the opposition party’s “elitism” is supremely disturbing. The gross and callous disparity between rich and poor in this country has rarely been as clear.
   
3. Hypocrisy and bullshit are part and parcel of American politics–whether you’re on the right, the left, or somewhere in the middle. Really, though, the amount of it coming from the right-wing is pretty staggering. I’ll let that genius/American hero Jon Stewart tell you more…