Okay, so you probably have already heard that Obama won North Carolina heartily and Clinton squeaked out a win in Indiana. The results (with 99% reporting) were [IN] [NC]:

Indiana Clinton 638,274 Obama 615,862 Difference 22,412

North Carolina Obama 890,695 Clinton 657,920 Difference 232,775

If you recall my post from yesterday, I said that Obama had an uphill battle here in Indiana largely due to the population here. I really hadn't expected him to win here, but I had hoped that he would.

Well, looking at the extremely small win here for Clinton (~2%), I am thoroughly pleased. Indiana performed beyond my expectations... color me impressed. In fact, Clinton's win is so small, I think it warrants a special sound:

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Now, there's more detail about her... ahem... "win" than you might first realize. Let me elaborate...

A little word from the late Hunter S. Thompson on the "End of America", which is very timely on this day of the Indiana Democratic Primary. Hunter S. was talking about the news media immediately after 9/11, but his words ring very true today.

I sincerely hope that everyone here in the state that I live (Indiana) goes out today and makes the right vote for our country. Personally, I think the right vote is Obama. He is one of only two very intelligent and thoughtful presidential candidates we've had in my life (the other was Carter), and I, for one, think we are in dire need of intelligence in the White House.

So apparently Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee thinks that it's time to amend the constitution to adhere to what he calls "God's standards". Sound too radical? Can't believe it? Well, hear for yourselves:

If you recall, I have already pointed out that the US wasn't formed as a Christian nation. It's really not something that is debatable, if you simply research and read you'll find it out for yourself.

But the real danger of many Christian conservatives like Huckabee is that they don't care. To them, it doesn't matter that the US was formed to be a nation where religious freedom was fundamental. It doesn't matter to them that there are many people who don't believe what they do. They don't want us to be a nation of many peoples and philosophies united together. Hell, the actual teachings of Christ, you know the ones about love, tolerance, acceptance, and not judging others because we're imperfect ourselves, these things don't matter to them either.

To these modern Christian conservatives it's their way, or nothing. There is no debate, no discussion, and absolutely no compromise.

We are entering very frightening times to be alive and living in America. The current power the US Government poses to covertly engage in domestic surveillance, arrest and detain without warrant, judge or jury, and harshly silence with newly created laws meant to limit free speech, is undeniably Orwellian in scope. Add to this mix the virtual powder-keg that is the growing divide between fundamentalists and the rest of us and it's obvious we need to do everything within our powers to keep people like Huckabee out of the White House.

My wife is having surgery this week. It's a moderately routine surgery, everyone assures me that it will go well, but it is not without some risk.

For this surgery, several relatives have come into town to show support. I'll be open and honest in saying I can't really see the point of them coming. One set of relatives are only coming for the day of the surgery, arriving after she's gone under the knife and departing before she returns from her medicated recovery, meaning she wont even see them. Another set came a couple of days before while my wife has been on an all liquid diet (to prepare for the surgery) and leaving the day my wife gets out of the hospital, meaning they wont be around to help during the few weeks of recovery thereafter. I guess the "support" they are giving is the kind where you don't actually do anything, but whatever. I appreciate it. Sure I do.

Anyway, one set of relatives are staunch Christian Conservatives, or more accurately, Christian Fundamentalists. They view the Theory of Evolution as an attack on their beliefs and refuse to even try to understand what the theory actually says, instead they spout the same tired and misinformed rhetoric that persons like them have spouted for decades. They make horribly off color jokes about Terrorists threatening to burn Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama while Christian Fundamentalists go door to door to collect gasoline donations (the sorts of jokes that somehow wind up offending on multiple levels including being sexist, racist, and morally reprehensible). They also sit there watching Fox News every waking moment of the day without giving a second thought to the hate and lie laden faux news filling their closed minds.

Well, I usually try my best to keep my mouth shut around these relatives, mostly because they are quite old and it doesn't do any good to debate with them anyway (save your strength for the school boards that are trying to insert Intelligent Design into Biology classes). Yet, somehow, something is invariably said that is so grating on my intellect that I have to speak up.

Last night, it was a discussion about how America is a "Christian Nation", founded by Christians, for Christians, and nowhere does it say our founding fathers felt that church and state should be separate. Well, naturally, that made my blood boil, and I had to say something.