In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

It’s taken me a while I get around to finding someone who had a copy, but I finally got the picture of Barack Obama with the volunteers who worked the Virginia Beach rally this past February. Here it is!

Click for a larger picture. I’m toward the right of the group (your right).

You may have already read an AP article about a Florida man excommunicated for being gay writing his friends and family in California asking them to stand up and walk out of church services this past Sunday as leaders throughout the state read a statement from central church leadership in Salt Lake City asking Latter-day Saints throughout California to rally in support of a state marriage amendment in reaction to homosexuals being allowed to marry.

Today I joined a Facebook group called “Sign for Something” which is taking a stand against ecclesiastical encroachment in government, especially where gay marriage is concerned. There is also a website under construction at http://signforsomething.org/.

I believe strongly that no person should should be affected by the beliefs of any church unless that person submits themselves to the authority of that church by becoming a member.

And for members of a church that don’t agree with the actions of their church, they should respond by leaving. There is a growing movement of disaffected Latter-day Saints to do just this. A current thread at PostMormon.org is organizing such a movement, and believes they will see over one thousand current members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints submit their resignations in response to the church’s meddling in the politics of California. This group should also have a website up to facilitate this action soon.

In a video posted today to YouTube and at BarackObama.com, David Plouffe discussed some strengths and weaknesses of the Obama campaign now that the general election has begun. At one point in this video, a map was shown with states colored for either Obama, McCain, or as Toss-Ups based on polling data. The map was displayed to show how many states are in play and could very well be wins for the Obama.

The thing that catches my attention on this map is the fact that Virginia is colored red as a McCain state. This is a bit surprising cosidering the massive amount of support Obama has from elected leadership and grass roots organizations.

As of right now, the CNN electoral map shows Virginia as being a Toss-Up state, along with eight other states totalling 113 electoral votes.

The best I can surmise is that the contest in Virginia is close, and may be swinging to McCain a bit in central and western Virginia. It’s too easy to forget here in Hampton Roads just how much more progressive we are than a significant portion of the state. That being said, we can take some comfort in the fact that Hampton Roads represents a very significant portion of the state’s population.

The Obama campaign seems to be focusing on getting voters to the polls in November, believing that getting out the vote will lead to victory. I think we all can very easily become involved in this push by reaching out to those around us and ensuring that they are registered and that they make it to the polls.

Rich and I set out on a mythical journey to capture and devour the elusive free Chipotle burrito. We were successful!