From Selma Alabama to the White House

Sorry there have not been any exciting posts, but I have been working on the technical stuff. I finally have some pictures posted (of me, and of some daylilies) and I have indexed the blog so that it can be found on numerous search engines. Google "Bessemer" and progressive" or "Bessemer" and "opinion" and see if you get Bessemer Opinions. Let me know!

The big news from Alabama is that we had two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (and Bill) in our state yesterday for the 42 anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights. Both candidates pointed out that because of that march, they (along with Bill Richardson according to Hillary) are able to run for president today. Reports are that Obama drew the larger crowd.

My congressman Artur Davis was there and he believes that Alabama will be more purple, maybe even blue in 2008. Could be, if the candidates keep coming to our early primary state, and if Bush keeps pushing the McCain doctrine...oops...I mean the Bush doctrine, of sending more troops to Iraq and hoping they are not needed elsewhere (or forgetting that they ARE needed elsewhere, like in Afghanistan where the Taliban showed us they are still a force to be taken seriously as they tried to "get" Dick Cheney).

Meanwhile America's mayor Rudy Giuliani is trying to figure out how to explain to the Christian Conservatives why he lived with two gay men, and why he married his second cousin Regina Peruggi and about being pro-choice. John McCain is trying to convince us ...well, I'm not sure what he's trying to say by courting the very conservatives that caused his defeat the last time he ran. And Mitt Romney is going to have to explain about the Native Americans being one of the Lost Tribes and about Jesus coming here to North America. But he can at least claim to be the only top tier Republican candidate that has only been married once. And he's the Morman! Go figure. And they say the Democrats are mixed up.

Christian conservatives are underwhelmed by their choices, as reported by the New York Times and printed in the Birmingham News. http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/117239524572970.xml&coll=2

The paper says they aren't thrilled with any of the candidates, and neither am I, but for different reasons. This group includes as one of its members James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Recently he had published an opinion piece in Time Magazine in which he criticized Mary Cheney (Dick's daughter) for her pregancy because she is a lesbian. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568485,00.html .

His misuse of research and distortion of the truth is so blatant, that a web site has been created as a reference to dispute his claims. http://www.respectmyresearch.org/index1.html . Or you can find it at www.dobsonlies.com.


There are so many qualified Democrats running: Clinton, Edwards, Obama and Richardson. Any two would make a winning ticket, and in any order. I am not even going to start comparing the Democrats until we get closer to the primaries (and debates). But this campaign season is going to be fun, isn't it.