An unknown guy from South Carolina won the Democratic Primary there.  He basically paid the filing fee, and ran an almost unknown campaign, and by some freakish chance won.  You can read the whole story on Yahoo.

I personally love stories like this.  There is something deep within me that loves when a dude like Alvin Greene wins an election, or upsets the societal expectation.  There is probably a lot that goes into my feeling, but I think a big part of it my slight tendency towards being anti-establishment.  For some reason, I just love when someone who seems to be otherwise an underdog goes up against the big time player and comes out on top.

A bit about Greene:  Unemployed, Military Veteran, Lives with Parents, Ran almost no campaign.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention he has a pending felony charge.  

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While legislators’ political decisions are often made behind closed doors, the repercussions are played out in the public arena, particularly via pop culture. Since drafting and signing the most stringent immigration law in decades, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer are now galvanizing symbols.   Before SB1070 passed, they received all kinds of local political pressure after a (white) rancher, Robert Krentz, was shot by a suspected coyote/smuggler/drug dealer.  And the state feels utterly unsupported/protected by U.S. agents who have set up checkpoints 60 miles from the border.  Yet, after the bill was signed into Arizona law (it is slated to take effect in August), Pearce and Brewer have turned Arizona into a recurring gag on the Colbert Show.   

Back in 2007, director Robert Rodriguez’s bloody, R-rated trailer for Machete looked like a joke.  But now Rodriguez indicates a feature version starring Robert De Niro as a race baiting Congressman, Danny Trejo as a vigilante, and Cheech Marin as a shotgun wielding priest will have a timely September theatrical release.  On Cinco de Mayo, Rodriguez leaked a special preview trailer to Ain’t It Cool News.

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One of the things I HATE...YES HATE...is when we think we know something that we really have no idea about. 

I HATE that conservatives love to HATE Obama and consider him the end of America. 

I HATE that liberals HATED Bush and considered him the end of America.

On those notes, a friend of a friend attended President Obama's Easter Prayer Breakfast on April 6th and sent his speach along for me (and others) to read.  You can read it if you want at the White House Press Page, but I thought I would post some very interesting chunks.

I don't know that I like Obama and I don't know that I don't. But I do know that much of what he said is down right true and frankly not even being said (let alone) preached by many of the people who should know better...

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Mark and I bought our house about seven years ago.  It's a very old house, and not a lot of repairs have been made since it was built, so it has had a fair share of issues.  One of those issues was the main sewage line in our front yard.  Tree roots had intertwined around the pipe, and were growing and blocking the passage of water.  Every couple of months, this sewer line would get so backed up that our toilets and showers would start draining slowly.  The whole house would stink.  We had a plumber come out and diagnose the problem.  He could snake the drain out to the main line for about $250.  Or we could repair the main line completely, for $5000.

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Over the weekend I tweeted and updated my facebook status with the simple statement: Muslims killing Christians in Nigeria followed by a simple question: Will we respond like Christ or like humans? It’s always interesting what captures people’s imaginations and provokes response.

After a year of conversations on facebook, I was still amazed at the response the simple status update received. Feel free to check it out here: http://bit.ly/auO0bH

Reflecting on responses, the following points are worth of mentioning:

1) There is no emotion like religious emotion.

Wars over the centuries have demonstrated that religions are frequently front and center in every war. Religious emotion is a product of two things as I see it. First, it is an indicator that people genuinely care. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t get so upset.

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Last summer I had the chance to travel the country with my wife to interview influential thinkers and actors in the areas of the social gospel and Christian humanitarianism.  On one occasion I sat down with Tony Campolo, one such influential thinker and author of Red Letter Christians, in his office outside of Philadelphia. 

Our conversation touched on numerous topics that didn’t make the final cut for the book (Humanitarian Jesus).  One of those topics was health care reform.  What follows is a rather un-edited snippet of the interview on that topic:

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After spending a glorious Sunday afternoon watching the best Ice Hockey game ever (and I've seen many), I posted a tongue and cheek comment on my facebook page, indicating that Canada had both the gold medal and health care.  The comments that ensued were a reminder that Christians are as deeply divided and entrenched on this issue as everyone else.  We're red Christians and blue Christians - big government Christians, and small government Christians, and we're good at pushing each other's buttons.  I'm pretty certain though, when the comments were done being posted, nobody had changed their minds, or changed anyone else's mind either.  Perhaps the only thing that happened was a little bit of grace and charity was lost.  

All this leaves me wondering if there's value in the dialogues between blue and red Christians.  I think there can be, but only to the extent we hold these truths to be self-evident:

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Several weeks ago, Google announced that because of a "highly sophisticated attack" on the e-mail accounts of Chinese dissidents, that the company would no longer filter Google search results in that country.  As search engines are required to agree to this stipulation in order to operate in China, many suspect that this will lead to Google's eventual withdrawal from the country. Because of the size of China's population (and what this means for Google's market share), Google's increasing entrance into other product markets (operating systems and cell phones), and the increasing importance of China as a world power, this announcement was almost entirely unexpected. And despite the view articulated in the Business Week article linked above, although there may be some business considerations for the decision, when Google announced the decision, the reasons articulated had nothing to do with profits, but were about people.

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This weekend, I finished reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I will make a confession: this book will linger with me for a long time--it's an amazing experience and if you allow yourself the time to get lost in its 19th century world for a while, this book could change your perspective on leadership in the 21st century. Growing up in Northern Illinois with regular trips to Springfield, I encountered Lincoln's heroic status at a young age and as I have grown older, I am simply more appreciative of Lincoln not simply as a leader, but also as a man.

The New York Times, in November of 2005, published the following words in regard to the book by Goodwin and more specifically in regard to Lincoln the leader:

"How did he do it? Goodwin deals with this question better than any other writer. Part of the answer lay in Lincoln's steadfastness of purpose, which inspired subordinates to overcome their petty rivalries. Part of it lay in his superb sense of timing and his sensitivity to the pulse of public opinion as he moved to bring along a divided people to the support of "a new birth of freedom." And part of it lay in Lincoln's ability to rise above personal slights, his talent for getting along with men of clashing ideologies and personalities who could not get along with each other." (the full article can be found here.

Let's reflect on the lessons as identified by this New York Times writer, but let's do so with an eye to faith and leadership in the 21st century.

1) "steadfastness of purpose"--instead of caving in to public opionion or trying to be trendy and relevant, Lincoln seemd to focus his energies on leaving a legacy. And I believe we'd do well to mimic his example.

2) "inspired subordinates to overcome their petty rivalries"--how many times have we seen teams split up or churches fall apart due to 'petty rivalries'? The phrase seems to haunt the present relationships being exhibited in Congress as well.

3) "his talent for getting along with men of clashing ideologies"--this may be one of the single most needed traits of leaders in a globalized era. Now, how will faith leaders within Christendom prioritize what's essential over and above what's not essential? Who will not only lead God's people, but who will also "get along with men of clashing ideologies," so that Christians can press forward with what's important instead of devouring one another in partisan debate?

Of course, there are many more lessons to draw and Team of Rivals is worth its own seminar or college class. For whatever reason, the world seems devoid of leaders who are willing to put a higher purpose above petty debate and rivalry. If you have a leadership role in any organization, do yourself a favor and read Goodwin's book. You won't be sorry and you may find yourself challenged to imitate Abraham Lincoln over a 100 years after his death.

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While some may question whether a national prayer breakfast blurs the line between church and state, it is one of the rare non-partisan events that has attracted presidents from both parties. It dates back to the days of Dwight Eisenhower. While the organizers might be specific in their religious convictions, the event itself celebrates America’s civil religion. How appropriate that President Obama would call for a renewed civility. He suggested we can challenging each others’ policies without questioning people’s motives. “Surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith or for that matter, my citizenship.”

The cynic may consider that a political ploy designed to rescue plunging poll numbers. Yet, the depth of our national problems requires some setting aside of partisanship. We can agree on the need to alter our political discourse, to move forward in economic recovery, to get out of the nightmarish wars abroad.