Philosophical Fragments
1. Obama’s approval ratings continue to decline. As stated earlier, it’s not surprising that Obama’s approval ratings are down, given the rate at which he’s been spending political capital. The three points that interest me from the latest Rasmussen poll (and Rasmussen was the most accurate on the last election) are these: only 56% of Democrats strongly approve of Obama’s performance; 76% now perceive Obama as politically Liberal, and 48% as Very Liberal; and the President was poorly graded for his reaction to the Skip Gates ‘profiling’ incident. Given the scramble within the Obama administration to respond to the fallout from his “stupidly” comment, apparently they were seeing the same polling.
2. Speaking of the ‘profiling’ incident, in what will likely be the king of all uncomfortable moments, President Obama is hosting a meeting of officer Crowley and professor Gates over beer at the White House. As CNN’s political ticker reports, the President will be drinking Bud (the better to show he is a regular guy), Crowley will be drinking Blue Moon, and “it’s unclear if Gates drinks.” Important stuff. Meanwhile, the woman who made the 911 call claims that she never mentioned race, and the Cambridge police say that the recordings of the call confirm the point. “Whalen phoned police, Murphy said, because she was aware of recent break-ins in the area,” and she could only see the two people on the porch from the back and could not determine their race. Perhaps the officer should not have arrested Gates for haranguing him, but the case for profiling seems to be growing slimmer.
3. Evidence of the Fall, items #8 and #9: Nadya Suleman’s children will be paraded in front of television cameras for $250/day each. Suleman used in vitro fertilization for all 14 of her children, and at least 3 of her previous 6 children were supported through food stamps and disability pay. The children altogether will earn $250,000, and 15% of that will be put in a trust for when the children become adults.
Also, in what appears to be another severe case of postpartum depression, a mother in San Antonio slew her own infant, rather gruesomly. We as churches need to make sure that we are fully supporting mothers through the early stages after the delivery of a child.
4. Under the Modern American Dictionary, the entry under irony is listed thus: Timothy Geithner cannot sell his house in the down market.
5. Stephen Carter, a novelist, Yale Law professor and devout Christian, offers an interesting interview, with a positive reflection on Sotomayor and a critique of Obama.
6. Newt Gingrich offers an alternative vision of health care reform. Like him or not (and it’s hard to like some parts of his personality and history), he’s an idea-driven guy and always stimulates thought.
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