Last Day of The Divine Appointment Blog Tour

Today is the last day of the blog tour for The Divine Appointment. The great folks who are members of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance have also been mentioning The Election in their blog posts.

I appreciate everyone's participation and support. It's been a fun tour!

Supreme Court Ruling Racial Diversity

The U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings today that will impact school desegregation issues nationwide. The decision restricts how schools may attain racial diversity. In the written opinion, Justice Roberts stated that "[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." You can read an AP arcticle here. A blog about the supreme court can be found here. The importance of President Bush's appointments to the supreme court is discussed here.

The issue of racial diversity in schools is extremely important in our local community (Jackson TN) since we are in the throes of determining how to end a decades old desegregation lawsuit. It will be interesting to see the impact these recent supreme court cases will have on our local litigation.

Jerome

Blog Tour for The Divine Appointment

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is conducting a blog tour about my new book, The Divine Appointment. I appreciate everyone's participation in the tour and hope everyone enjoys the book.

Jerome

Roundup of Presidential Campaign Headlines

Late last week word began to circulate that Fred Thompson planned to finally announce his intentions to seek the republican nomination at a news conference in Nashville tomorrow. Speculation now is that he will only announce that he plans to open his national headquarters in Nashville. We'll see how this plays out. He may still make a formal announcement tomorrow but most are betting against it.

The latest polls have Fred Thompson leading in Nevada. This without even actually announcing that he is a candidate. Michael Barone has this recap of how the polls have moved over the last several months.

Stuart Rothenberg has John McCain's presidential aspiration on its death bed. Robert Novak reported at the end of last week that McCain's people were pleading for money before the end of June. McCain has sent out a SOS because he wants the quarterly financial report to look better than is anticipated. His goal was to raise $10,000,000 in the second quarter and he is falling short. If the polls referenced above are accurate, McCain needs something big soon or he will effectively be out of the race. Money will start flowing to the candidates that republican votes believe have a chance of winning. The ole electability litmus test.

Rudy Guiliani is planning to speak to conservative Christians at Regents University. He likely won't address his position on abortion and gay marriage but he does need to start making some headway among Christian conservatives. Catholic leaders are already expressing their disappointment over Guiliani's stance on abortion.

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance will be conducting a blog tour on my new novel, The Divine Appointment. If you would like a copy, you can order one here or here.

Jerome

President Bush Should Veto Stem Cell Bill

President Bush should veto recent legislation passed by the democratic controlled congress that would provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. He has vowed to do so and I hope he follows through on that promise as he did when similar legislation was passed by the congress last year.

As I've pointed out in this post there are many other promising scientific advances that would provide the same or greater benefit than do embryonic stem cells without the destruction of life.

Also, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is running a blog tour on Relunctant Runaway by Jill Nelson. I hope you get a chance to pick up a copy.

Jerome

It Was Bound to Happen

GOP rivals will attempt to deflate the Thompson campaign, according to Politico. Even now they are digging up dirt, or so the story goes. That's just the way political campaigns operate. We'll see who fires the first shot across the Thompson bow. And you can rest assured that should Thompson win the nomination, the democratic nominee will fire many more.

Jerome

Thompson Closing in on Guiliani

New poll numbers are out and the soon-to-be-candidate Fred Thompson is closing in on Guiliani's lead. Here are some numbers. Rasmussen has Thompson in a tie with Guiliani. These poll numbers has Thompson in second place among the GOP field.

George Will asks whether Fred Thompson's bubble will burst like the dot come craze of the 1990's. Is Thompson all charm and no substance?

Then there is this recurring question of whether Guiliani can win the nomination? In order to do so he'll have to win over the conservative Christians in the republican party.

And if John McCain's campaign is out of money, then will the republican primary come down to a horse race between the late starting Thompson campaign and the pro-choice campaign of Rudy Guiliani? So far it doesn't seem like and second tier candidates such as Mike Huckabee can gain any traction.

Jerome

Stem Cell Politics

Federal funding for stem cell research is back in the news. Congress is considering two bills that concern stem cell research. Here is a detailed report of the pending legislation. This report is co-written by Senator Norm Coleman who is the author of the HOPE Act discussed below. One of the bills passed the senate yesterday and is cleared to go to the president. It was sponsored by Senator Harry Reid and would provide federal funding for embyonic stem cell research. The other bill is called the HOPE Act. It would provide funding for non-embyonic stem cell research. It is currently hung up in committees. Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma is a co-sponsor of the HOPE Act and is a proponent of adult stem cell research and stem cells from cord blood. He has a plethora of information about stem cell research on his website. Also, Bradley Hughes has this article on the Family Research Council website about adult stem cell research. It is an informative read.

I urge you to contact the White House and urge President Bush to veto the embyonic stem cell funding bill like he has done in the past. I also urge you to contact your senators and representatives and urge them to support the HOPE Act.

Jerome

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

This week the blog alliance is conducting a blog tour of These Boots Weren't Made for Walking by Melody Calrson. I hope you get a chance to pick up a copy.

Jerome

Donate to Fred's Campaign

I received an e-mail link today to this website. If you are interested in supporting Fred Thompson's campaign, then you can sign up here and donate. There is also a way for you to download a "donate widget" to your website. Yesterday I saw my first Fred Thompson 2008 bumper sticker.

It is amazing at how even though Fred Thompson was not at the debate, his shadow covered it. All of the news commentators talked about Fred Thompson's absence as much as they did teh content of the debate.

My new novel The Divine Appointment released yesterday and if you are interested in ordering a copy you can through Grace Abounds or Amazon.

Jerome

Supreme Court Vacancy?

This exclusive report from ABC News states that the Bush administration is preparing for a supreme court vacancy this summer. Could there be one? I posted several months ago about a rumor that Justice John Paul Stevens might retire. This article mentions him as well as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as potential retirees. If one of them were to retire, it would make for an interesting summer.

And this is a good segue into the release of my new novel, The Divine Appointment. The storyline revolves around the political battle over a supreme court appointment. The release date is June 5 but it is already available online both here and here.

Jerome