Returning from Bees to Blog

I’ve been away from my computer for the better part of a week. I can’t remember the last time that happened! There were two reasons for my absence. First, bees are beginning to swarm in my area and I was called to catch one such swarm. Second, my wife returned from a week-long vacation with her mother and I devoted a couple of days to time with her.

A couple of interesting stories emerged while I was “away,” including the testimony before Congress of former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey. Who knew that former Attorney General John Ashcroft could ever be seen as a defender of the Constitution? And exactly how bad does a Bush program have to be for Ashcroft to be against it? The whole sordid affair reaffirms both why Gonzales is not fit to serve as Attorney General and how very corrupt the Bush administration actually is.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also announced a plan that would prevent President Bush from using recess appointments, something the president has done far too often in an effort to subvert the Constitutional practice of Senate confirmation. Apparently, Bush will have to now play by the rules in letter and spirit.

Tom Goldstein over at Scotusblog offered up a nice analysis of the effect the 2008 presidential election will have on the Supreme Court. It is worth a read.

Finally, the Washington Post ran an article detailing the commencement speech given at Liberty University by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. (Is it just me or do you also want to include a “[sic]” after the “Liberty” in “Liberty University” every time you read it in print?) The piece read in part:

In a speech heavy with religious allusions but devoid of hints about his presidential ambitions, Gingrich drew applause from the graduates and their families in the school's 12,000-seat football stadium when he demanded: "This anti-religious bias must end."

"In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive," Gingrich said, deriding what he called the "contorted logic" and "false principles" of advocates of secularism in American society.

"Basic fairness demands that religious beliefs deserve a chance to be heard," he said during his 26-minute speech. "It is wrong to single out those who believe in God for discrimination. Yet, today, it is impossible to miss the discrimination against religious believers."

Joshua Micah Marshall over at the Talking Points Memo blog effectively took Gingrich to task for his truly out-of-touch viewpoint.

Impossible to miss? It can't be that impossible; I have no idea what on earth he's talking about. Religious beliefs don't have a chance to be heard? Since when?

I'm hard pressed to imagine what country Gingrich and the 12,000 people who applauded his worldview are living in. Out of the 535 members of Congress, 50 governors, the president, vice president, the Bush cabinet, and nine Supreme Court justices, there is exactly one person -- not one percent, just one guy -- who does not profess a faith in God. If polls are to be believed, less than 5% of the population describes themselves as non-believers.

In the last presidential election, one candidate announced during a presidential debate, "My faith affects everything that I do, in truth.... I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith." This was John Kerry, the more secular candidate of the two.

As for "discrimination," the New York Times had an interesting report last week showing that so much public money is now going to ministries, religious groups are hiring lobbyists to get more.

In our culture, religion is common in the media — I can’t remember the last month Time and/or Newsweek didn’t feature religion as a cover story — almost exclusively in a positive light. In sporting events, celebrating athletes routinely express their religiosity. At awards ceremonies, entertainers routinely “give thanks to God” from the outset, usually to considerable applause.

Gingrich sees all of this and believes an “anti-religious bias” dominates U.S. society. I have no idea why.

I’ll leave you with those today in case you’ve missed them. Sadly, there is never a lack of grist for the mill whether I’m at my computer or not.