{"id":606,"date":"2011-07-14T10:34:09","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T14:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=606"},"modified":"2011-07-14T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T14:34:09","slug":"obama-the-arab-world-obese-children-another-christian-kerfuffle-and-bristols-memoir-the-morning-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2011\/07\/14\/obama-the-arab-world-obese-children-another-christian-kerfuffle-and-bristols-memoir-the-morning-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama, the Arab World, Obese Children, Another Christian Kerfuffle, and Bristol's Memoir: The Morning Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the News<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0I\u2019ve been relatively pessimistic about Republican chances in 2012, but a GOP victory is increasingly plausible. \u00a0Pickups in Congress could be substantial. \u00a0From Rasmussen<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A generic Republican candidate earns the highest level of support yet against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup.<\/p>\n

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that the generic Republican picks 48% of the vote, while the president gets 43% support.\u00a0 Three percent (3%) favor some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided\u2026The GOP candidate has now outpolled the president in seven-of-10 surveys conducted weekly since early May\u2026.<\/p>\n

Republicans hold a six-point advantage on the\u00a0Generic Congressional Ballot<\/a> for the week ending Sunday, July 10. Republicans have led on the ballot for every week since June 2009, with leads ranging from two to 12 points.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We should never underestimate the power of the GOP to screw things up. \u00a0And the debt-ceiling issue is explosive; handled wrongly, it could do serious damage to Republican prospects. \u00a0But there\u2019s no doubt the opportunity is there. \u00a0One wonders whether Obama\u2019s worsening poll numbers will entice others, like Rick Perry, into the fray.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Across the Arab world, opinions of the United States and Obama are down:<\/p>\n

President Obama has failed to live up to the expectations he created in the Arab world, according to a new poll released by Zogby International and the Arab American Institute Foundation. The poll also noted that most Arab countries view the U.S. less favorably today than they did during the last year of the Bush administration.<\/p>\n

When President Bush left office, 9 percent of Egyptians had a favorable attitude towards the United States. After Barack Obama was elected, that number jumped to 30 percent. But today, only 5 percent of Egyptians surveyed said they have a favorable opinion of the United States and its president. Similar figures in Morocco, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates illustrate that the initial optimism in the region has been eclipsed by a widespread sense of disappointment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3. \u00a0A Harvard professor says<\/a> that in the most extreme cases of severe childhood obesity, when the child is facing imminent health risks, when the state has first attempted counseling and supporting the family, it may be necessary to remove the child from the parents\u2019 custody. \u00a0Am I the only one who is not outraged by this idea? \u00a0In the vast majority of cases I believe it would be much more in the interest of the child to work with and through the parents. \u00a0But if the parents refuse to do, or prove incapable of doing, what is necessary for the child\u2019s health, might a temporary loss of custody sometimes be better?<\/p>\n

My first instinct is to oppose the state taking custody of someone\u2019s children, but we hardly blink when a child is taken from a parent who is subjecting their children to a variety of risks \u2014 whether the parent is a prostitute whose clients sometimes abuse the child, or the parent is a druggie who leaves the child unattended while high, or etc. \u00a0Why not in this case? \u00a0The professor was pretty careful to frame the issue around extreme cases, severe obesity, imminent health risks, and only after other forms of intervention have failed. \u00a0Seems reasonable to me. \u00a0What am I missing?<\/p>\n

In the Pews<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Another day, another Christian kerfuffle. \u00a0Joy. \u00a0Mark Driscoll invited followers on Facebook to tell their best story of an \u201ceffeminate anatomically male\u201d worship leader (the post is now deleted). \u00a0I know what he\u2019s talking about, but it was thoughtless and insensitive. \u00a0Rachel Held Evans \u2014 who has long been critical of Driscoll \u2014 rather leapt to the attack<\/a>, condemning Driscoll for his \u201cbullying\u201d and inviting others to do the same. \u00a0Evans\u2019 attack went viral. \u00a0Some<\/a> agreed in criticizing Driscoll, but argued that Evans\u2019 response was not exactly a sterling case of Christian charity either. \u00a0Driscoll then provided some of the context<\/a>, and admitted that the Elders in his church rightly rebuked him for his \u201cflippant\u201d comment and for not addressing real issues with real context and real context. \u00a0Evans replied<\/a> that \u201cour message was heard,\u201d and provided (was she too chastened?) much of the grace that was lacking from her initial response.<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re all learning together, I suppose.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0At The Resurgence, Five Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church<\/a>. \u00a0They are: (1) Make sure your faith is something you only live out in public, (2) Pray only in front of people, (3) Focus on your morals, (4) Give financially as long as it doesn\u2019t impede your needs, and (5) Make church community a priority\u2026as long as there is nothing else you want to do.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Our own Nancy French<\/a> describes what it was like to co-write Bristol Palin\u2019s memoir.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the News 1. \u00a0I\u2019ve been relatively pessimistic about Republican chances in 2012, but a GOP victory is increasingly plausible. \u00a0Pickups in Congress could be substantial. \u00a0From Rasmussen: A generic Republican candidate earns the highest level of support yet against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[90,1351,109,138,167,1325,1328,268,299,312,337],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arab-world","tag-barack-obama","tag-bristol-palin","tag-controversy","tag-election","tag-election-2012","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-mark-driscoll","tag-nancy-french","tag-obesity","tag-rachel-held-evans"],"yoast_head":"\nObama, the Arab World, Obese Children, Another Christian Kerfuffle, and Bristol's Memoir: The Morning Report - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the News 1. \u00a0I've been relatively pessimistic about Republican chances in 2012, but a GOP victory is increasingly plausible. \u00a0Pickups in Congress could\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2011\/07\/14\/obama-the-arab-world-obese-children-another-christian-kerfuffle-and-bristols-memoir-the-morning-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama, the Arab World, Obese Children, Another Christian Kerfuffle, and Bristol's Memoir: The Morning Report - 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