Eartha Kitt rocks Halloween

I'd rather be burned as a witch, then never be burned at all!

This is why I love Halloween time. Check out this musical montage showing off some Eartha Kitt. Enjoy!

Five years after Wellstone's death

It's weird...it seems like every year on October 26, I post some sort of reflection about the life of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died five years ago today in a plane crash (along with his wife and daughter, three campaign workers and a pilot).

My favorite Wellstone words still stick with me today: Never separate the life you live from the words you speak. It's a challenge I still find difficult to live up to today, as I imagine most people even tangentially involved in politics do.

Though I'm not crazy about politico.com, they have a nice piece today on Wellstone's legacy, five years after his death. For me, I recall a Senator who called me up on my cell phone when my mom had her stroke, and listened to me burst into tears. I recall a Senator who marched with me in Stillwater, MN during one of the ugliest parades I've ever been in (people actually started spraying the Senator with a hose!). And I recall a Senator who told us during the campaign: “The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

So on this day, it seems only appropriate to remember Wellstone's words, that the future belongs to those with passion. As Mark Twain once said, "Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." That was Wellstone. And that's what I remember every October 25.

Pro-life politicians and their culture of life

Cross-posted at Bring it On!

Pro-life Politicians and a Culture of Life

I meant to write about this last week, but Republican Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-Michigan) went after the group Catholics United in an opinion piece in the National Review, because Catholics United had the audacity to ask the question: Is it pro-life to vote against S-CHIP?

Is it pro-life to vote against health care for children? That’s an easy answer – no. But tell that to Rep. McCotter, who voted against the S-CHIP legislation and by default, voted against health care coverage for millions of children. I wonder if this is another example of a “pro-life” politician failing to recognize that life exists beyond the moment of birth?

McCotter went full throttle on Catholics United, calling them false prophets, characterizi ng them as the devil, and saying that they were committing a sin by suggesting that “pro-life” politicians shouldn’t have voted against S-CHIP. Clearly Catholics United struck a chord with Rep. McCotter.

And for good reason: for far too long, “pro-life” politicians have been able to get away with voting for war, voting against health coverage, voting to scale back social programs for the poor, and voting for education cuts, while failing to recognize that these votes cut against the grain of the “culture of life” they supposedly champion.

McCotter’s mad because someone called him on his hypocrisy – that he may label himself pro-life, but his definition of “life” ends at birth. As a devout Catholic who publicly tosses around his faith, McCotter should know that a definition of life that fails to encompass health care for children is not only incomplete, it’s contrary to the own social teachings of his faith.

More BIO posts

Just cross-posting here the two most recent Bring it On! posts that are live.

1. Mitt Romney proud of Bob Jones Endorsement

2. Peaking inside the religious right's playbook

I don't know what it is with me and the sports metaphors lately....

One. Disgusting. Commercial.

Uh, this may be the weirdest commercial I've ever seen for anything. And it's for All-Bran, a cereal I distinctly remember being in my grandmother's cabinet right below the coffee pot.

Enjoy. Or not enjoy. You decide :)

Really...

So I know I haven't been blogging much lately...at least here. I have been contributing regularly as the new religion moderator over at Bring it On! You can check out a series of my recent posts here.

In the meantime, here's a funny ass clip from Saturday Night Live. I know! A funny ass clip from Saturday Night Live...and it's not from the 1970s! (BTW, I find the phrase funny ass to be pretty funny.)

To Seth and Amy and their take on the Sen. Larry Craig scandal..."Really"....