Peter Rollins

I went to the Mid-Atlantic Emergent Conference with Pete Rollins on Saturday. I have a lot of thoughts, both about the conference in general as well as about his talk in specific, but for now I'm posting this 3 minute video which sums up a lot of Rollins' style and message, which I love.

Um, Castration Is Legal?

I'm not quite sure how I missed this. Bobby Jindal, mayor of Louisiana (a name we should start hearing a lot more in the next few years), signed an interesting bill into law over the summer. Apparently, certain sex offenders can now be chemically or physically castrated as a part of their sentence. The bill says,

on a first conviction of aggravated rape, forcible rape, second degree sexual battery, aggravated incest, molestation of a juvenile when the victim is under the age of 13, or an aggravated crime against nature, the court may sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration. On a second conviction of the above listed crimes, the court is required to sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration.

Jindal explained the bill,

I want to send the message loud and clear – to the Supreme Court of the United States and beyond – make no mistake about it, if anyone wants to molest children and commit sexual assaults on kids they should not do so here in Louisiana. Here, we will do everything in our power to protect our children and we will not rest until justice is won and we have fully punished those who harm them.

I mean, thanks for protecting children. But castration? Is this the Middle Ages? How can this possibly be legal?

Yes We Can

I encourage you, no matter what you think of this election, to watch our next President's speech from when he lost the New Hampshire primary. I just watched it at my office at work and, after composing myself, came here to encourage anyone who reads this to do the same.

If you can't watch it, or if you'd just rather read it, the text is here. I want to highlight two specific things he said.

All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably.

But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it’s not just about what I will do as President, it’s also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.

To those who cynically say that nothing will change, or who worry that we've made the wrong decision in all this, take comfort in the fact that it's up to you. The most significant promise this presidency has made is that you are in fact responsible for the change you want to see in this country.

At the campaign rally where I saw Obama speak, he said that his Presidency would fail if we didn't rise up and act. Anyone who worries about big government should understand this about our next President. The door is open for you to be the change that you want.

I know that many people would call me naïve for all this. I know there are cynics or realists who tell us that politics doesn't work this way, that it's not going to happen the way we think. That we've all been brainwashed and that nothing is ever going to be different. But I think they miss the point -- we've already begun to change. The results of November 4th, 2008, are just the wonderful, visible proof.

After all,

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

So to the person who wrote, "Nothing will change. Mark these words." I say to you -- I will mark them. I'll mark them in the same way we marked the words that said a black man couldn't possibly be elected President. And the words that said his lack of experience would ruin his campaign, that the timing wasn't right, that it couldn't be done.

By proving them wrong, Barack Obama sucked all of the sap, all of the naïveté out of those three words -- yes we can.

Why Obama, General Election Edition

A Baltimore Sun reporter caught me on the way out of the polling station today, and I was happy to answer a few questions. One of the first things she asked me was, "How long ago did you make your decision?" It was an easy answer for me, because today I voted for the candidate I supported from the very beginning of the Presidential primaries.

I explained why I favored Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton during that big primary race, and much of it applies to why I voted for him again today. But let me briefly explain why I voted for Senator Obama and not for Senator McCain (or anyone else, for that matter).

Why I Voted For Barack Obama GENERAL ELECTION EDITION
Or, Why I Didn't Vote For John McCain

First, the small reasons: McCain gets too angry too fast and has a history of flying off the handle. I want a President who stays composed. Experience as an argument in this race left the table the day Palin was asked to be VP on the McCain ticket.

More specifically,

• Taxes | We've all heard the numbers but for some reason people are still worried about having their wealth redistributed. Taxes are necessary, because the government is responsible for taking care of certain things. And the reality is that the richer you are, the more you can afford to help shoulder that load for your country.
  
  
• Healthcare | We're the last western country without nationalized healthcare. Our infant mortality rates are higher than most of the first world. Many of our systems are already nationalized. Other non-socialist countries are running successful nationalized healthcare programs. There's just no reason we can't find a way to provide free, good healthcare to every American.
  
  I heard Obama say, in a speech last week, "we don't need bigger or smaller government, we need better government." Why is that never an option in these discussions?
  

• Foreign Policy | It's not a bad thing that most of the world is hoping for Barack Obama to be elected President. It's not a bad thing that crowds of people come to see him wherever he goes in the world. Our image is damaged and could use a boost. We need a President who can inspire his own people while rebuilding relationships with the rest of the world, and I believe Obama can do that well.
  
  
• Vision and Inspriation are still underrated | Tucker Carlson said, "I don’t think Barack Obama approaches politics that way. It’s like look, there’s an answer, we’re all struggling to find it, I believe I know what it is, you believe you know what it is, let’s talk about it."
  
  I want a President who can get above the shit, listen to both sides, and make good decisions. I want someone who can act on what Robert Creamer said: "Leadership, more than anything else, is about mobilizing people into action. People take action when they feel empowered — when they are inspired."

I feel strongly about this, but I don't hate or disrespect anyone who voted for McCain. In the end, it's less about who we vote for and more about how we vote, and I hope I've voiced my opinion respectfully. But for those who share my hope for an Obama victory, I think Jeffrey Zeldman said it best in a short Twitter update.

All our hopes now rest with two young Hobbits.

Vote Obama

Today could be a very historic day. He won't be perfect, but he's exactly what America needs, and I'll be hoping with every cell that he's voted in by a sizeable margin. Go vote right now.