Happy Turkey Day

by: admin

Thu Nov 26, 2009 at 10:59:44 AM CST

Are you ready for Black Friday? Is that a racist term my wife asked me last night? Any thoughts. I have no answer, I'm sure the answer is in a Chris Rock routine.

Here's a good story, appropriate for Thanksgiving, that a friend sent me

Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship

It sounds like the start of a joke: a rabbi, a minister and a Muslim sheik walk into a restaurant.

The three say they became close not by avoiding or glossing over their conflicts, but by running straight at them.

But there they were, Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie and Sheik Jamal Rahman, walking into an Indian restaurant, and afterward a Presbyterian church. The sanctuary was full of 250 people who came to hear them talk about how they had wrestled with their religious differences and emerged as friends.

They call themselves the "interfaith amigos." And while they do sometimes seem more like a stand-up comedy team than a trio of clergymen, they know they have a serious burden in making a case for interfaith understanding in a country reeling after a Muslim Army officer at Fort Hood, Tex., was charged with opening fire on his fellow soldiers, killing 13.

The Growth of the Progressive Electorate Update

by: admin

Fri Oct 30, 2009 at 11:22:02 AM CDT

Wow - We are closing in on another record month here

Also note these factoids

- we have almost 400 donors on our Act Blue Page

- Our feedburner number is growing daily

- we now have 859 registered users

If you are lurking - join in the comments and diary writing.  

Thursday Evening Thoughts

by: admin

Thu Nov 27, 2008 at 22:52:10 PM CST

I just learned that Harvey Milk died 30 years ago on this day. Here is a very thoughtful diary about Milk at Daily Kos .

Until the last few years, I knew very little about Harvey Milk. In fact I had never even heard of Harvey Milk and his courage until college. Even then, he was only a blip in the political science classes and sociology classes that I took. Really I learned little about Harvey Milk then and more about the Harvey Milk school in New York for gay high school students.

Later my knowledge of Harvey Milk became the fact that he was a gay city councilman (Board of Supervisors) shot by another member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I'll admit, I'm a pretty intellectually curious person and always ready to learn about new events or people in history that I've just learned about. However, as a straight male I never thought that there was a Harvey Milk story that would interest me. I had assumed that Harvey Milk being a gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was nothing really all that unusual.

Boy was I wrong. Harvey Milk was a trailblazer of very historical proportions. Harvey Milk was a Jackie Robinson of sorts. Harvey Milk is one of the most known and unknown icons of the 20th century depending on who you are talking with. From what I am learning, I think that Harvey Milk's importance has been narrowed in scope. Yes, he is a martyr for gay rights and gay issues. But he's also someone that showed how neighborhoods can affect city politics. Milk had a lot to do with cities across America moving from at-large representation to district and neighborhood representation.