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Joe Biden Is Our First Catholic Vice President

Brett Singer — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:00:00 GMT

For obvious reasons, Barack Obama being the first African-American President of the United States is getting a tremendous amount of attention. But we have another first: Joe Biden is our nation's first Catholic Vice President.

When I've mentioned this fact to people, they often express surprise. To those such as myself who are not of the Christian faith, it's easy to forget that for many people, the differences between Catholics and Protestants are serious. I'm not going to get into what the differences are simply because I don't feel comfortable doing so, mostly because I don't know very much about the topic. (True story: in college, I saw a friend with schmutz on her forehead. I went to wipe it off; she jumped back and became very annoyed with me. It was Ash Wednesday. Somehow, despite growing up in New York City, I had never heard of Ash Wednesday before. I was embarrassed, but at least I never did that again.) The website religionfacts.com has an interesting chart. Some highlights: Catholics include the apocrypha as part of the Bible, Protestants don't. Catholics are "Free to do good or evil", Protestants are "Free only to do evil." (There's something to chew on for awhile.)

Anyway, when I point out to people that the U.S. has only had one Catholic President in its entire history (JFK), the idea that it has taken this long to have a Catholic VP isn't as big a surprise.

For some Catholics, Biden doesn't quite cut it. There's even a blog called "Catholics Against Joe Biden." It shouldn't surprise you that the authors of said blog were less than thrilled with Joe's history making victory.

So what's the big deal? Why just one Catholic out of 44 Presidents of these United States? According to Answers.com:

Even though Catholicism is the largest denomination in the United States, making up about 26% of Americans, it has not been looked upon favorably by all the other protestant Americans. Throughout history there have been fears of Catholics and the believe [sic] that the Holy Father, or the Pope might have control over American politics if a Catholic were to take power. There have been many attempts to block Catholics from office and even limit their right to vote in early American history.

So if we elect a Catholic, then the Pope is in charge. Interesting theory. Kind of like the "if we elect Barack Obama, he'll enact some secret liberal agenda." Well, not quite. But surprisingly similar. (I'm not equating the Pope with a secret liberal agenda, only the notion that somehow electing a President means that we're actually getting some sort of shadow government.)

Again, I want to point out that this is not a topic (Catholicism) that I am well versed in, but I thought it was interesting enough to point it out. If anyone has any additional info they want to add, please do so.

Also interesting is the fact that Obama, "won a majority of the Catholic vote" (AP). John Kerry did not – despite being a Catholic himself. (The general consensus is that Catholics paid less attention to which candidate shared their religious beliefs and more attention to the economy this time around, although that's a difficult thing to gauge, of course.) And Peter Steinfels, writing in the New York Times, said that, "Anyone constructing a list of the big losers on Tuesday would probably include the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops." And a Google search for obama catholic vote has over 350,000 matches. Clearly it's a big issue for a lot of people.

Do you think that the fact that Joe Biden is our first Catholic Vice President is significant?

Image: commonwealmagazine.org

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Slideshow of Malia and Sasha Growing Up

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:30:00 GMT

I can't believe I'm saying this, but on Day 4 of my post-election elation, I think I may be started to get fully satiated with hope and change. I'm not sure I can stand weeping one more friggin' tear of joy. Still, I can't help myself from sharing some of the sweetest baby photos I have ever seen. That they happen to be of the Obamas' daughters, Sasha and Malia, is almost beside the point. These girls are just too precious. And seeing photos of a First Family exhibiting such genuine closeness and joy is pretty inspiring.

The Huffington Post has posted slideshows of 10-year-old Malia and seven-year-old Sasha growing up in the political limelight over the last four years. They will be the youngest kids in the White House since JFK's presidency. Here a few highlights:

Photos: Huffington Post

Disaster Girl Strikes!

Kelly Mills — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:32:00 GMT

No one can look more terrifying than a kid. Demon-children make the best monsters, maybe because there's something so terrifying about looking innocent but being heartless. Like Disaster Girl. She scares me.

Okay, now Disaster Girl is actually a picture of a kid with a Mona Lisa-like smaile and sinister expression near a fire. Now folks have photoshopped her into many tragedies, documenting her reign of terror. There's a couple here, but you should totally check out the full gallery. And maybe even make one of your own. Mwah ha ha.

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Another 8 year old on the terrorist watch list

Brett Singer — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:00:00 GMT

So remember the 7 year old kid who had the same name as someone on the terrorist watch list?

Here's an 8 year old kid who has the same name as someone on the terrorist watch list.

This time, we have video of the boy and his mother testifying before Congress.

"Since 2005, when James was 5 years old, the Robinson family has had to deal with the delays and hassles of having a son who has been consistently misidentified when traveling."

Despite her experiences, Denise Robinson is "a strong proponent of the watch list" and feels that we all have to "accept some inconveniences" in order to keep our country safe from terrorists. However, she thinks the list has been "mismanaged." Considering the fact that, without looking, I found two examples of children who had been detained multiple times because their names appeared on the list, that could be the understatement of the year.

7 year old on terrorist list

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7 year old on terrorist list

Brett Singer — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:30:00 GMT

A 7-year-old boy was detained at JFK airport in New York because his name was on a terrorist watch list. More accurately, his name is the same as someone else who is on a terrorist watch list. The fact that he was, you know, 7, didn't factor into the decision to keep the entire family in a locked room for an extended period of time.

Twice.

On two occasions, Alex and his family were kept in a holding room upon arrival at Kennedy International Airport from London because his name apparently matched a name on the list.

Alex was born in 2000.

“They hauled us out of the line and into a holding room,” said Ms. Harris. “It’s 8 o’clock on a Saturday night and they said, ‘We have to call Washington to have him cleared.’ And I’m like, ‘Just who do you suppose is available in Washington at 8 o’clock on a Saturday night?’ ”

It took more than two hours before Alex, a United States citizen like his parents and twin brother, was free to go. That was in late 2006. Six months later, the family arrived again from London, around 11 p.m.

Again, Alex was detained, his mother said, even though she carried his birth certificate and Social Security card.

“I said, ‘Look at him. He’s clearly not a terrorist. He’s 7!’ ” she said.

I'm all for fighting terrorism, but if this doesn't prove that a lot of the effort being expended is misplaced, I don't know what does.

Source: NYTimes, Image: ACLU