We take great risks when we try to imply that things said in religious settings have a particular meaning in secular context. They might \'translate\' well, then again, they might not.

I do not know what Sarah Palin intends when she refers to God\'s Will within the context of her religious practice, but discernment of God\'s Will is something that religious practitioners spend a lot of time on. The sound bite, in many cases, is an insufficient means of determining what a practitioner may actually intend, however useful it may be as a political hammer.

For example, Christians will recognize these words of Gamaliel (Acts 5:38-39, NIV): “Therefore in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men: you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Christians working to discern will also encounter the matter of God\'s Perfect Will and God\'s Permissive Will.

Again, I do not know what Sarah Palin intends by “God\'s will.” I do regret that it has become a political football.

One final note: According to this article, (http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/149/obama.html) Barack Obama was trained in community organizing by Greg Galluzzo, of the Gamaliel Foundation (http://www.gamaliel.org/). Greg as I recall it, is a former Jesuit.

It is a small world.

I\'ll say this much - the speech last night was a home run for the GOP\'s purposes. So was the Guliani oration that preceded Palin, who rocked the house.  It was just what the country club Republicans ordered: messianic miltiarist proto-fascistic arch-plutocracy posing as the anti-elitist populist voice of the snowmobiling/pickup truck-driving/game-hunting/church-going/child-producing heartland.  All of it wrapped in an ominous aura of subtle white nationalism and appealing in an inverted and vulgar way to class, a topic that scares elite Camry- driving Democrats down to the bottoms of their $150 sandals. Priivileged white academic and other coordinator class liberals are shaking their heads in morbid disbelief here in Obamanism\'s ground zero town (Iowa City).  They refuse to take the Republican machine and its appeal to many ordinary citiizens -- and the Democratic Party\'s role in creating that appeal - seriously.  They will roll their eyes and issue sighs of exasperation when and if the proto-fascists retain executive Superpower. But they\'ll pay little price for their latest failure - the costs will fall mainly on the shoulders of less privileged others further down the socioeconmic and racial food chain. This election is very hard to call.

It\'s easy to miss this stuff when you live in Alaska. There was a fair amount of it discussed before she was elected, but then after the election she\'s been pretty tame in office. The usual budget cutting crap of needed social programs , despite sitting on a huge suplus thanks to oil prices, but without the crazy stupid things Murkowski and othersdid, so she gets an 80+ approval rating. Also, she at least appeared to say no the the good-old-boys, Republican and Democrat, by sticking to a gas line process that Conoco thought it could spend its way out with full page ads and lots of lobbying. She ended up giving the contract to a Canadian company. So she has the appearance of a no-nonsense, stick-to-the-process politician. Plus, despite her very conservative beliefs, I don\'t remember reading much about her pushing any legislation with a socially consevative agenda (besides the usual starving of programs throough budget cuts).

Frankly, despite her wacky statements about the war, I\'d trust her as president more than McCain. But who knows.