It's probably because I'm filled with hope after a week-long Lord of the Rings marathon, but I refuse to feel less than hopeful about today.
Instead, I'm enjoying my work day. I won't be listening to the radio or watching television or checking CNN at all today because I'll probably just throw up. Granted, it's wrong to pre-judge someone, and I do pray that Obama lives up to his predecessors and does in fact "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God." We can worry about a whole host of issues, but it's much more fruitful to be proactive: to pray, fast, and work against evil than just wring our hands in frustration.
I know the confetti and shiny lights and fanatical crowds are distracting, but just for a moment, let's try to remember that $150 million is being spent on the One's coronation, despite soaring unemployment, immense debt, slow growth, and a tanking stock market. When the Bush Administration spent $40 million four years ago, all we heard was howls of distress about irresponsible spending. But today? Not a peep. Interesting.
The always-awesome Fr. Z posted a beautiful prayer written by the Archbishop of Baltimore way back in 1791. It's a good reminder that our work begins *now.* Regardless of my disagreements with him, Obama is an intelligent, clever man who is capable of greatness. Let's pray that he allows God to use his gifts for the benefit of our country and not its detriment.
There is always hope. Not hype, but hope. True hope.
"Hold your ground! Hold your ground. Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!
3 comments:
It really blows my mind that people who are otherwise very intelligent (and I know that you are) could believe and propagate such a dumb and disproved theory.
In order to believe this theory, you have to believe that the entire Hawaii Department of Health is in on this conspiracy, because they testified that the birth certificate that he posted on the Internet was genuine. You also have to believe that the Honolulu Advertiser was in on the conspiracy when they published his birth announcement in August 1961. You also have to believe that Barack Obama gave a fake birth certificate to the Cook County authorities back in 1992 when he married Michelle, and why would he do that? He wouldn't even run for office for another four years.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/27/obamas-birth-certificate-part-ii/
What's really ironic about this whole thing is that due to a (probably unintentional) loophole in U.S. citizenship law, there is much firmer legal ground to argue that John McCain was also ineligible to be president, because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone before Aug. 4, 1937. But any court would take into account not only the letter but also the intent of the law.
Still, all of this is a great argument to formally amend the Constitution to allow all people who are over 35 years of age and have been U.S. citizens for at least 14 years to be eligible for the presidency. Such a move would not only allow people like Governors Granholm and Schwarzenegger to be eligible, but might allow a future pro-life immigrant from places like Ireland, Poland, or India to be eligible as well.
Good post, Maggie. I, too, love the LOTR books and films (books were waaaaay better, of course), and the comparison is striking. I'm not saying the O is Sauron, but there are times when Washington resembles Mordor more often than not.
I think that my first post was probably somewhat harsher than it needed to be, so I'm sorry about that.
At the same time, I've been on both sides of the political divide, having grown up in a fairly liberal family and then moving more towards the center or the right largely because of pro-life issues. Pretty much the opposite of what the country as a whole has done. So, I speak from experience that trading in conspiracy theories like the Obama birth certificate or any one of a number of things about Bush is neither productive, nor does it make one feel better in the long run. There were/are a number of real reasons to be opposed to Obama (and Bush for that matter), and there is no need to dive into made-up ones.
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