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Friday, June 6, 2008
License-plate religion…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“While I do, in fact, ‘believe’ - it is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one’s faith ought to be in how one lives one’s life … If God is working in one’s life, (that) will say what no license plate will ever say.”
- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, explaining why he refused to sign a bill creating a Christian-themed license plate that says “I believe.”
Unfortunately, the bill became law anyway, because Sanford refused to use his veto power to prevent it. He took the Pontius Pilate approach, you might say. As a result, South Carolina Christians can now boldly proclaim their faith on government-issued license plates. Thomas Jefferson would cringe at the thought.
And if I recall correctly from my Bible-reading days, so might Jesus himself. He didn’t think much of ostantatious displays of fervor.
“When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,” ” he said in the Sermon on the Mount.
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In praise of “Smoltzie”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Even after 18 years in Atlanta, I wouldn’t call myself a Braves fan. Baseball loyalties that are built early in life and run deep can’t be changed easily. At least not in my case.
I am, however, a John Smoltz fan. When I came to town, Smoltz was the young flamethrower on a bad Braves team, overshadowed by Tom Glavine and later by Greg Maddux. During his 20 years with Atlanta, we’ve had the chance to watch his whole career arc through to revered baseball elder, an opportunity that is rare in modern-day baseball. And throughout that time, through injuries and personal setbacks, he has been a thorough professional, always seeking excellence within a team concept.
I suspect our politics are very different — the only time I’ve ever written about Smoltz was to criticize something he had said about gay marriage, and I never felt right about dragging him into that debate. But political differences are only one aspect of life, and their importance is too often exaggerated. Out of my handful of best friends, several are very conservative, and for a while there, they gave me unending grief about the virtues of the Bush administration. These days, not so much, but that’s another story….
If this shoulder injury is a career-ender for Smoltz, he should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer five years from now. He already is in my book.
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They terrorized their own people…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A long-delayed committee report — promised but never delivered when Republicans ran the Senate — has documented the deception, exaggerations and outright lies employed by the Bush administation to terrorize this country into backing the invasion of Iraq.
“WASHINGTON — A new Senate report gives a fresh shot of adrenaline to the election-year debate over the Iraq war. President Bush and his top officials deliberately misrepresented secret intelligence to make the case to invade Iraq, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The panel put a new spin on old charges, comparing claims made in five speeches by top Bush administration officials with intelligence reports. The committee says officials wrongly linked Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks and al-Qaida; claimed Iraq would give terrorist groups chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, and said Iraq was developing drone aircraft to spread chemical or biological agents over the United States.
None was borne out by intelligence.”
Of course, administration officials then compounded that deception with gross incompetence in actually running the war they forced upon us. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice — the history books will not be kind to them.
