Religious groups & voter's guides

It's not just Focus on the Family distributing voter's guides this year.

Sojourners: Voting Issues Guide (PDF); Election Action Guide (PDF); more resources are here

Catholics United For the Common Good: Catholic Voter Guide

Focus on the Family: "I Vote Values" site

As The NY Times notes,

Focus on the Family’s state affiliates plan to register voters and distribute voters’ guides in churches this year in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee: all states where Republican candidates favored by religious conservatives are on the ballot. [...]

“We’re not doing candidates,” [said Jim Wallis of Sojourners]. He added: “The principle comes from Martin Luther King Jr., who never endorsed a candidate, not once. He made them endorse his agenda. We want to create an agenda with a social movement behind it that holds politicians accountable.”

Catholics United for the Common Good, which is affiliated with the Catholics in Alliance group, is compiling “candidate evaluations” for many of the senate races, using 25 criteria important to Catholic voters, said Chris Korzen, the group’s director. But they do not plan to distribute paper copies, only to post it on the Web.

I think it's good that more than just FotF is doing this...from skimming the Sojourners' stuff, they appear to be saying (I'm paraphrasing) "Christians care about:

• reducing or ending: poverty, violence, unplanned pregnancies, capital punishment, genocide, and torture;
  
• increasing: human rights, justice, election reform, clean air & water, and clean & renewable energy."

I can't even disagree too much with their stuff on strengthing marriage & family. I DO suppose they have to have something in there about THAT. I can grouse about how "Our society should commit to policies that promote education and action on reducing teen pregnancy, strengthening marriage and family formation, in-home parenting coaching and support" could be abused in all sorts of ways. But it's harder to disagree with "encouraging responsible fatherhood, preventing the abuse and neglect of children, and reducing and preventing domestic violence"? And while I'm not sure that "Strengthening families must become a personal and national priority" I do think it should be done "without scapegoating gays and lesbians for the breakdown of the family." (Tangent: has the family "broken down" or is it merely continuing to evolve?)

Reminder - Vote!

The Washington State primary election is tomorrow, September 19. Note it's also the final election for some judicial candidates (there's an additional judicial voter pamphlet too).

If you have a mail-in ballot, get it mailed. All mail ballots must be postmarked or delivered to a designated ballot drop-off location no later than tomorrow.

If you vote in person, polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Can’t remember where you are supposed to go? King County residents can look it up here.
  
• Bring your ID. According to the state's site you can use photo ID, such as a driver's license, state ID card, student ID card, or tribal ID card; OR your voter registration card; OR your utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or a government check. (I take my voter card, partly so I can confirm I've got the right precinct & candidates.)
  
• Mail-in people can also vote in person, if they want.

The state voter's guide is on the web. Your voter registration card tells you which districts & such you are eligible to vote for (or you can look it up here).

Not registered to vote? It's too late to register for the primary, but you CAN register for future elections - including the general election in November -at the state's web site.

grrr

How do they make those foil-wrapped Advil packets so hard to tear open?

And why don't I go straight for the scissors when my wrists are sore instead of trying to rip them open?

Kirk, JFK, and two in a bed....

Watching the newly remastered Star Trek ep "Balance of Terror" on Saturday I reflected that...

1. Yes, the show really was good - 60s cliches and day-glo colors notwithstanding
   
   and
   
   
2. Kirk seemed to be, well, kind of Kennedy-esque.

So today I notice an Op-Ed in the NY Times by former Star Trek writer, now BSG creator, Ronald Moore:

“Star Trek” is often reduced to kitsch: Kirk’s paunch, Spock’s pointy ears, green-skinned alien girls. But it was more than escapism and rubber-suited aliens. It was a morality play, with Capt. James T. Kirk as a futuristic John F. Kennedy piloting a warp-driven PT-109 through the far reaches of the galaxy. ( ... )

Jim Kirk may have beat up his share of bad guys, but you could never imagine him torturing them.

(Yes, I added the bolding.)

Meanwhile in the Health section, we find researcher Paul Rosenblatt wrote a book about sleeping together - yes, sleep - that looks at the common and often humorous issues couples face when sharing a bed. The quote that made me chuckle:

In researching his book, Dr. Rosenblatt said even though many couples said they slept better alone, they still shared a bed. “When I asked why, they looked at me as if I’d asked them why they keep breathing,” he said.

Also interesting: "There are thousands of studies on sleep and even more on marriage and relationships, but only a handful on couples sleeping together."