It’s an election year, so expect to see more events such as the “War on Christians and the Values Voter 2006” conference today and Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where religious conservatives are rallying grassroots Christian soldiers with apocalyptic visions of “savage and accelerating” attacks on Christians by Hollywood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the judiciary and the liberal media.
It’s no surprise that Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is one of the main speakers at the event. He’s shown that he knows who punches his political meal ticket. But by peddling this brand of culture war divisiveness and paranoia, he risks undermining his crossover appeal down the stretch.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The good news: For now, a court in Afghanistan is in no rush to execute Abdul Rahman, ordering prosecutors to do a mental health evaluation of the convert to Christianity. The bad news: Such clashes of democratic freedoms and Islamic law surely will continue to occur in our Muslim ally countries, most notably Iraq.
When they do, the Bush administration must be more clear and swift in condemning this kind of violation of religious freedom. If such cases become the rule rather than the exception, the American public’s already waning support for continued deployment of U.S. troops in these countries could vaporize.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is getting tarred as a lefty on immigration, with Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., last week even calling Brownback “an extreme opponent of getting tough on illegal immigration.” But as part of the bipartisan effort in the Senate Judiciary Committee to craft a sensible immigration reform bill, in contrast to the Tancredo-backed House version, Brownback is dealing with reality. “No bill before the committee proposes blanket amnesty. . . . Border security is our main priority. We are working to merge the best of several proposals, and hopefully we can all agree that we must protect our borders, enforce the law, provide legal means for people to work in the United States, and fix a broken system,” he said. That may not play well with the right-wingers who’d rather pretend undocumented immigrants aren’t already here and contributing to the economy, but it finds Brownback on the right side of this crucial issue.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
An article in The Weekly Standard recounts the efforts of state Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, to prevent Kansas from becoming the first state in the country to own and operate casinos. “We need to stand up and say enough is enough,” Wagle told author Matthew Continetti. So far, it’s working. The plan Senate leaders had hoped would pass this session was defeated earlier this month. But the article suggests the odds are against Wagle long term, in part because gambling is proliferating in so many other states. “The gambling industry has insinuated itself into American culture and politics to such an extent that, if games were suddenly banned, the fiscal footing of many state governments would be undermined.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
An Iraqi company is capturing our capitalistic spirit. The Iraq Insurance Company appears to the first company in the world to offer an off-the-shelf life insurance policy specifically covering terrorism attacks, The New York Times reported. The rider covers “1) explosions caused by weapons of war and car bombs; 2) assassinations; 3) terrorist attacks.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
With talk of a White House staff shake-up increasing, John Dickerson of Slate looked back on the staff changes that have already occurred in the administration:
“There have already been so many departures from it that they can be broken up into categories:
– I can’t work here: Colin Powell, Rand Beers, and John Dilulio
– I can’t work here; I’ll tell you why in print: Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, Christie Todd Whitman
– My job is done here: George Tenet, Tommy Franks, Paul Bremer
– I can’t work here because I’m going to court: Scooter Libby, Claude Allen, David Safavian
– I can’t work anywhere: Michael Brown.”
Dickerson goes on to argue that if the White House does shake up its staff, it would probably be more of a P.R. move than a sign of significant changes to come.
Posted by Melissa Cooley