Month: February 2007

Religion and the White House

I’ve been sitting on this since Friday morning. I’m glad to finally get to post it.
NPR has two stories on faith and religion in the White House.
The first talks about the role religion will play in the race.
The second talks about the hurdle former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney may face as a Mormon.
Here are some poll results from NPR’s website:
Public Opinion Polls Weigh Faith and Politics
Los Angeles Times / Bloomberg
June 2006
Percentage of 1,321 respondents who said they could NOT vote for the following presidential candidates because of religion:
* A Mormon candidate: 37%
* A Jewish candidate: 15%
* A Muslim candidate: 54%
* An evangelical Christian candidate: 21%
* A Catholic candidate: 10%

December 2006
Percentage of 1,489 registered voters surveyed who could NOT vote for one of the following, even if they were presidential candidates nominated by the respondents’ party and even they and the respondents were in general agreement on most issues:
* A Mormon: 14%
* A 72-year-old: 14%
* A woman: 4%
* An African-American: 3%

Newsweek
December 2006
Percentage of 864 registered voters surveyed who would NOT vote for the following for president even if they were qualified for the job and nominated by the respondent’s party:
* A Mormon: 25%
* An African-American: 3%
* A woman: 8%

NBC News/Wall Street Journal
December 2006
Percentage of 1,006 adults who said they were very uncomfortable or have some reservations about voting for a presidential candidate who is:
* Mormon: 53%
* Jewish: 19%
* An evangelical Christian: 54%

ABC News/Washington Post
December 2006
Percentage of 1,005 adults who said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate for president who is:
* Mormon: 35%

Fox News/Opinion Dynamics
December 2006
Percentage of 900 registered voters who said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate for president who is:
* Mormon: 32%
* Protestant: 6%
* Roman Catholic: 10%
* Jewish: 10%
* A member of the Christian Coalition: 24%
* Muslim: 45%
* An atheist: 50%
* A Scientologist: 53%

Percentage of 900 registered voters who said they be less likely to vote for Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon: 24%

Source: Compiled by NPR from searches of the iPOLL Databank provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut.

Barack Obama

Oh and Barack Obama announced his campaign for President today. I’m excited to see what happens. He reminds me of a black Jed Bartlett. I hate that I have to point out his race but at the same time I’m really excited to think that America may finally approve of someone other than a white man in the White House.
I posted on Obama’s faith back in October after I read a transcript of a speech he gave earlier in the year. Seems even more pertinent now.
I still love this quote:“I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.”

Starting all over again

So back in March of 2005 I decided to start a blog.
I researched, I did lots of reading and decided Blogger was my best bet. And for nearly two years it has served me well.
But recently Google decided to make some changes to their software. They made some updates. That’s fine I said. I was excited to see where they would go with their new system.
I tried to migrate over to Blogger Beta right away.
But I was denied. I was told my blog would have to wait.
Sure it was frustrating, but I’m not going to pout. I just kept on keeping on.
I even made some changes to my template and changed my blog, Stranger in a Strange Land, (which will now be referred to as SSL 1.0), from a two column template to a three column template.
Then I get word that “Blogger Beta is dead. Long live the new Blogger.”
Ok. Great, now I can switch to the new Blogger.
Not so fast I was told.
We’re still not ready for you. Ok. I’ll keep pushing along using the old Blogger.
But then Friday morning, everything changed.
I went to login and was told I had to make the change. All right I thought. They’re making me change, they must be ready for me to use the new blogger.
Fat chance. I was still told they weren’t ready. The worst part of it is — they won’t let be back to my old site or login.
Sure its still there floating on the Internet, but I have no way to access SSL 1.0.
So, thus begins SSL 2.0 Beta.
I have none of the old posts (yet), but I have a new domain, new look, new feel and maybe a new direction.
Some have told me they only want to read “personal” entries. Some have told me they only like keeping up with politics on my blog. Others have told me they like the technology. But thanks to a new “back-end” powered by WordPress 2.1 there are categories on the right hand side of the screen and you can pick and chose what you want to read about.
It won’t hurt my feelings if you skip over certain posts.
Really. I’m being honest here.
But to be sure you’re up to date, please update your bookmarks with the new URL for SSL 2.0 Beta: www.casadeblundell.com/jonathan.
For those of you who have paid attention and subscribed to our RSS feed, powered by feedburner.com nothing changes for you — unless you want to take a look at our new site and watch the progression as SSL 2.0 Beta moves into completion.
Also within the next month we expect to launch casadeblundell.com with a new website for mine and Laurie’s wedding. We’re also considering a new blog and site for Laurie at: www.casadeblundell.com/laurie — but more on that later.
So for now, sit back, relax and be thankful that you subscribed to our RSS feed or someone was nice enough to tell you where we moved to.
Let me know what you think. Drop me an e-mail to my new address: jonathan (at) casadeblundell (dot) com.
Take care and God bless.

Oh and shameless plug here: This transition has been about as smooth as it can be. A new domain, spam filters, hosting, FTP and everything else I need less than $200 a year. Zip me an e-mail and I’ll let you know how you can get the same setup.

Upset with Blogger

I’m a bit upset – I’ve had trouble logging into Blogger all morning.
I tried to migrate to the new Blogger months ago. While it was still in Beta.
And all the time I’ve been told, “Sorry. We can’t migrate your blog now. Please be patient. We’ll let you know when you can.”
Well, now when I go to log in I don’t have an option. I get stuck in a constant loop that tells me I must log in to the new Blogger.
Yet when I do it I get the same message again. Somehow I was able to log out of my Google account and access my Blogger dashboard (for now). Either way I’m hearing WordPress or someone else calling my name.
If you’re a regular reader here now would be a good time to subscribe to the RSS feed (or e-mail subscriptions) to be sure you don’t miss any of the action in case I move to a new server/domain at casadeblundell.com overnight.
Anyone else having problems?

Upset

I can’t log in and use my Blogger account (I’m sending this post via e-mail).
I tried to migrate to the new Blogger months ago. While it was still in Beta.
And all the time I’ve been told, “Sorry. We can’t migrate your blog now. Please be patient. We’ll let you know when you can.”
Well, now when I go to log in I don’t have an option. I get stuck in a constant loop that tells me I must log in to the new Blogger.
Yet when I do it I get the same message again.
I’m hearing WordPress or someone else calling my name.
Anyone else having problems? 

--  Jonathan Blundell <\\><  orangenoiseradio.com jdblundell.blogspot.com one21media.com

Wacky uses

Mike Mc found a wacky use website today while doing some research.
Here’s a couple wacky uses on the site:

  • Clean a toilet bowl. Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl. Let the real thing sit for one hour, then brush and flush clean. The phosphoric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china, according to household-hints columnist Heloise.
  • Condition hair. To give your hair a great shine, pour a can of Coca Cola into your hair, working it in well, then rinse your hair with water.
  • Kill slugs or snails. Fill jar lids with flat Coca-Cola and set in the garden. Slugs and snails, attracted by sweet soda, will slither into the jar lid and be killed by the acids in the Coke.
  • Repulse deer. Drill a hole in a wrapped bar of Irish Spring Soap and, using string, hang it around crops. Deer mistake the smell of deodorant soap for humans, and flee.
  • Lubricate furniture drawers and windows. Rub Irish Spring Soap on the casters of drawers and windows so they slide open and shut easily.
  • Soothe a sore throat. Add a tablespoon of Smirnoff Vodka to glass of warm water and gargle. The alcohol helps numb the sore throat.
  • Remove grass stains from clothes. Rub the stain with a clean cloth soaked in Smirnoff Vodka, then rinse thoroughly.
  • Attract fish. When sprayed on fishing bait, WD-40 covers up the scent of human hands on the bait to better lure fish, according to USA Today. The WD-40 Company receives hundreds of letters from consumers confirming this use, but prefers not to promote WD-40 as a fishing lure since the petroleum-based product could potentially pollute rivers and streams, damaging the ecosystem.
  • Prevent grass clippings from clogging up a lawn mower. Spray WD-40 on the underside of lawn mower housing and blade before cutting the grass.

    • Ok… you’ll have to visit the site to read the rest.