US Senator Tim Johnson hospitalized
Tim Johnson, a United States Democratic Senator from South Dakota… was transported to George Washington University Hospital by ambulance, where he was diagnosed with a congenital arteriovenous malformation and underwent brain surgery. He is currently “recovering without complications” but it still being monitored.
Currently, the US Senate is controlled by the Republican Party; however, when the Senate reconvenes after the recent midterm elections the Democrats will have a one senator majority. Under the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, state legislatures can give their governor the power to appoint someone else to take over, but this power can only be used in cases where the senator vacates his seat. Historically, this applies to death or resignation, but serious illness does not count.
Should Johnson die or resign, the Republican governor, Mike Rounds, will likely appoint a Republican in Johnson’s place. This would bring the Senate to a 50-50 tie for organizational purposes and give Vice President Dick Cheney the tie-breaking vote, thus letting the Republicans control the Senate. This appointment would last until the end of Johnson’s term, in 2008.
1 Comment
Wired has an interested article in this issue called The Church of the Non-Believers. There’s quite a lot in there that I like, but I’m starting to get really tired of the examples that atheists (or at least, anti-Christians) use to show that Christianity is evil.
I’m not saying I’m a supporter of religious fundamentalism, and I’m certainly against most of the craziness that’s happening down in the states when it comes to Ted Haggard not wanting fags to marry and talk show hosts reprimanding Michael J. Fox for faking dyskinesia so that we can all slaughter babies *. Far from it. But I hate it when that’s the only Christianity that’s ever examined by critics. If you went to the church that I attended when I was younger, you’ll see boring, gentle folks that truly care about one another, singing slightly off key but genuinely believeing what they’re singing. They put their $20 on the collection plate so that the church can replace a leaky roof and so that the ethiopian child they’re sponsoring can go to school, not to bribe God into getting them a promotion. For most of the people at my Church, they’re there for community, and because they know their faith makes them better people.
I’m glad I went to Church when I was younger, and I plan to take my kids to church when I have them. I’m NOT going to take them to one of those new-fangled youth churches that turn Jesus into a spectacle. I’m going to put them into the cutest clothes I can find and they will wriggle in their seats because the sermon is boring. They’re going to go to Sunday school and learn the joy of helping other people, whether they like it or not. That’s what religion as I knew it used to be like. But of course, you won’t see that in a Michael Moore documentary, you’ll just see the bucktoothed kids with the rat tails talking like tape recorders about killing Muslims.
* For the record, I’m for gay marriage and stem cell research, the latter of course within reason.
6 Comments
Any others? I am just eating this up.
1 Comment
Chris Dodd
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Joe Biden
Bill Richardson
Hillary Clinton
Mike Gravel
John Edwards
Rudy Giuliani
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Mike Huckabee
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson
