Daniel and Obama

A friend of mine, who jumped into political cartooning earlier this week, posted this on his blog after yesterday's festivities in Washington:

Ouch.

Now, don't get me wrong — I like Obama. I think he's a great man for the job. But, at the same time, the scenes and quotes of, well, worship bug me. I couldn't help thinking of a passage I read in October of last year, in Daniel chapter 4:

17 " 'The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'

The lowliest of men. I had to laugh at the Message translation's wording: "He makes leaders out of losers." Regardless of where you think our new president is on that particular continuum, you have to remember: that's not where our hope lies.

Injustice Vanquished! (Well, OK, they still have to vote on it.)

If you're not a motorcyclist, you probably wouldn't know that Indiana started a spinal cord and brain injury fund. An admirable thing, yes. Or, maybe you knew about it, but didn't know a source of it's funding: A $10 fee added to the registration of every motorcycle. Without giving the public time to comment on it. And without charging any other type of vehicle a similar fee.

Taxation without representation isn't popular with anyone, but pissing off a stateful of motorcyclists strikes me as a a less than clever thing to do. So it's with some satisfaction that I learned, this morning, that a new bill, HB 1318, eliminating the $10 charge and replacing it with a $0.50 charge for all vehicle registrations, passed the House with a 91-5 vote. That strikes me as something I can support.

One more sign

If you know me well, you know this is strange territory for me. Yes, that's a campaign sign. Yes, that's my front lawn.

I don't normally get caught up in local politics (or any politics, for that matter) but in this instance, I knew the candidate involved, and was more than happy to give him some space on my lawn.