Recently in Politics Category

Recently in Utah, state Senator Chris Buttars (R-West Jordan) proposed a way to save his state up to $102 million dollars -- make the 12th grade optional. With a budget deficit of $700 million, Utah lawmakers must be scratching their heads over whether or not to embrace untraditional means to alleviate their budgetary distress -- especially when school districts in places like Kansas City, Missouri, are being forced to use draconian measures to stay afloat financially.

Senator Buttars, who has since backtracked a bit on the proposal, believes that a lot of seniors slack off in their final year of high school and just "play around." This ends up costing school districts money that perhaps may be allotted to extracurricular activities which some may deem unnecessary. So he favors a system of "accelerated graduation" that would get some students out of the system sooner. Opponents of the proposal argue that senior year is still necessary because it helps to mature the students, providing another year to excel academically, athletically, and creatively.

Just say, for a moment, that we were to take Glenn Beck's counsel seriously and flee any church or parish that promoted the idea of "social justice" or "economic justice." We'd probably have to close down 90 percent of the African American churches in this country!

You've likely caught wind of this controversy already. Beck, the fiery and often humorous conservative talk show host on the FOX News network, told his radio and TV audiences last week that the terms are code for "communism" and "Nazism." He advised:

I beg you, look for the words "social justice" or "economic justice" on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.

Just to be clear, he added:

Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!

We came across this interesting post by Australian activist Jarrod McKenna over at the God's Politics blog, which is produced by our good friends at Sojourners. In light of all that's happening in Washington this week, especially with President Obama's health-care summit today, we thought we'd post it here in slightly edited form for your reflection.

It's interesting to see Professor Cornel West, a well-known Obama supporter, offer this strong of a critique (in some ways, it's an admonishment) of the President and his performance thus far.

Fifty years ago, on Feb. 1, four black college students sat down at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. The "Greensboro Four," along with friends and supporters, returned to the counter every day for six months until the lunch counter was desegregated.

"We feel that this place here and this entire building is holy ground," says Skip Alston, Guilford County commissioner. "What took place here on Feb. 1, 1960, was very holy and ordained." 

Check out NPR's excellent report on this historic event, and find out how that Greensboro Woolworth's building went on to become the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. 

California's Proposition 8 bans marriage between same-sex couples. Now, in what he views as a logical followup to Prop 8, one California man is seeking to ban divorce in his state as well.

Defending his half-serious/half-satirical campaign, John Marcotte says, "Since California has decided to protect traditional marriage, I think it would be hypocritical of us not to sacrifice some of our own rights to protect traditional marriage even more."