Two things...

I don't often watch the local news, but it was on today. Two thing caught my attention.

The first was a poll (it was unclear if this was a national ABC poll or a local one) claiming that only "7% of Americans think schools should close because of swine flu". I don't know what that means: schools with documented cases should stay open? schools with no cases but in a state with cases? schools in states with no cases? I also don't know something else that I think may well play a huge role in such a result: how would people respond if they were told that they could stay home with their kid without losing their job, or even being docked?

The second thing ties into the front page of today's Washington Post, which had a huge story, carrying over inside, about local black churches hoping for the president to join them:

the city's scores of predominantly black churches, which are in the mix for the first time. Their pastors and members are asking: Will Obama choose one of us? Like so many choices the first family is making in this city, the search for a church has spurred discussions about the state of race relations and a hot competition for its mark of approval. Will the Obamas affiliate themselves with a black church, which could signal that they are still comfortable making their spiritual home one that is predominantly African American?

Well, I don't care if he goes to a black church or a white one or a thoroughly integrated one. What I do care about is, will he join a church like "the Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ, a church that is theologically liberal and not opposed to same-sex marriage" or will he join a church led by one of the many black pastors out in force today and all over the evening news, protesting the District's possible decision to recognize the legal marriages of same-sex couples from other states.

That position is mean-spirited and hateful. Pure and simple. If a couple moves here from Iowa or Massachusetts or elsewhere to work in the government, why should they suddenly become somehow unmarried? Nobody is asking those pastors to marry couples in their churches - actually, nobody is, with this motion, asking anybody in DC to marry anybody - and they're also perfectly free to despise and drive out any gay couple foolhardly enough to try to worship their god. What business is it of theirs if the civil government decides that someone they wouldn't marry is, in fact, married? The government does that to churches all the time.

If Obama picks a local black church, I hope he has the sense to steer clear of the hatemongers and choose those who reflect the love of the god they worship.