Waldo Jaquith offers his thoughts on Amtrak
, and I commented enough on the post to make it sufficiently my own.
Personally, if we could make rail work in America, I’d ride. Unfortunately, we’d need a level of planning that would seem positively rebellious with a side order of bacon
in order to make it realistic.
Dobson said on the radio program he must consider McCain’s record against abortion rights and support for smaller government, and added McCain ‘seems to understand the Muslim threat.’ He also indicated McCain’s choice of a running mate will be a factor.
Of his new position, Dobson said in the statement to the AP, ‘If that is a flip-flop, then so be it.’
Yes it is, Dr. Dobson.
Of course, I always thought of terrorism as something different than faith (PLO, IRA, Provos, FARC, Red Army Faction, Action Direct, and ETA for any worthwhile examples), but who am I to take issue with conflating the two?
UPDATE: Reason and Revelation take similar issue with Dobson:
We have long thought that the likes of Dobson and the political evangelical right an embarrassment to people of Faith who happen to also hold conservative political views. They seem full of self-importance that their political views are the only right views and hence also tie biblical faith into those views. It is an embarrassment because Dobson places politics on the level of theology and then derides all who might disagree with his political position. Dobson seems to raise politics to the level of Biblical belief, and hence salvation. If Dobson and other fundamentalists are concerned for salvation, they should know that politics is not the way to conduct it–evangelizing is the way in the true meaning of the word.
I don’t go as far as R&R in their critique of Dobson. While I certainly agree that Dobson’s rhetoric could stand much improvement, Obama’s question of “who’s Christianity” doesn’t present the same problems one might assume, for two reasons.
First, those of the so-called “religious left” drink their own Kool-Aid, honestly believing that evangelical Christians seek to impose a theocratic mullahcracy in America. That’s rubbish… but again, it is believed for the sake of expediency (i.e. safer than discussing real problems with a society that enforces and upholds the lowest common denominator).
Second, with the bankruptcy of the religious left cast aside, there really is an evangelistic tone that gets continuously lost in the political spectrum of the debate. Ultimately, churches evangelize new members through persuasion, and not government program. Right action can never be subsidized through faith-based programs (as big-government conservatives might have it) or through government program (as their not-too-distant religious left cousins demand).
The frightening thing is that big-government conservativism embraced by the “compassionate conservative” ideal championed by President Bush and crystallized by Mike Huckabee this year share a great deal with the neo-evangelicals of the religious left.
The only difference is in the ends, because in packaging and rhetoric they sadly share a great deal. Dobson will hopefully stick to his guns and not formally endorse, because short of a handful of evangelical and Catholic leaders within the chorus, his voice is one McCain needs to hear.
I wonder what Blog Net News’ influence rankings would have to say about this?
Short version: Linking over and over again to a specific blog posts is a quick way to up your Google rating. It’s called “Google bombing” and though the tactic is quite old, it’s relevancy is in decline as Google continues to refine it’s methodology.
Dems used it quite effectively in 2006. Is it any surprise that the handful of SWAC bloggers learned the ropes?
UPDATE: Yankee Phil hits back on the critique that SWAC bloggers might be “splogs”:
It is perfectly clear that Swacgirl is not an “artificially created” web site. It is a site dedicated to the things in life that Swacgirl enjoys. She has lots of political stuff, but she has beautiful pictures of Augusta County. She has photo displays of the many events she attends. There is not one drop of “artificial” there.
Fair point.
Nice (spam) video, Yankee (spam) Phil!
Now this is the Bob Schaffer I know and love:
It’s pretty apparent that the Denver Channel 9 reporter did not have a good handle on the crowd… still, that’s one heck of a punch to the gut. I’m surprised Dick Wadhams let Schaffer hit that hard.
(h/t to Mason Conservative)
Reason? For his participation in a con-call with LP Presidential Candidate Bob Barr… who received a grand total of three participants on his bloggers con-call
.
Now given the strength of the Ron Paul campaign, this strikes me as beyond odd. Only three?
If true, this turns the online fundraising world upside down
:
There is no winning this technical debate. (Elberse calls Anderson’s definitions “arbitrary.”) But even if Anderson is right and Elberse is wrong, the shift from hits to niches is obviously slight—we are not entering an era devoid of blockbusters. Anderson readily concedes this and points out that he’s never predicted the end of big hits. Often, though, his fans have.
It’s also clear that even in this supposed age of the Long Tail, companies that favor a slow, meticulous approach and a small catalog see enormous rewards.
Or as we might call it in a political universe, it’s all about message control.
Good article.
Apparently county supervisors have been spurred along to support the Governor’s now-failed transportation tax hike, and Republican supervisors in Fluvanna struck down a resolution advocating a tax increase.
Best news? House Republicans gave us more money for roads without a tax increase. Which isn’t reform, but it’s a step in the right direction.
