We're in the middle of an election year, and around this time I'm always thankful for the invention of the mute button. I remember hearing about anatomy of a political campaign:

Step 1: I am [insert name], and I am running for [insert office].
Step 2: I want to serve in [insert office] because I [love my state/love my country/can work for the people/my family is in the business/have few other qualities that merit my employment]
Step 3: I am different from [insert opponent's name] because I [insert advantage over opponent]
Step 4: My opponent says that I am [going to raise taxes/soft on the war/inexperienced/on drugs], but [she/he] is [incorrect/lying/misquoting me/also on drugs].
Step 5: You can not trust my opponent for office because [she/he] is [funded by extremist groups/drunk most of the time/agrees with the President/disagrees with the President/sits outside your child's school with a telescope].
Step 6: [Opponent's name] is [The Antichrist/Hitler/Going to ruin your life/The worst thing to happen to this state/Ugly].
Step 7: My opponent ran a good campaign and I want to congratulate [him/her] on [winning the election/serving the community/being cool about that house egging last night].

As an aside, I think it is brilliant for Minnesota Public Radio to put their pledge-drive towards the end of a political campaign. As people dive for the dial when the local ads kick in elsewhere, I'm guessing they see an upswing in giving.

The story of the shooting in the Amish communities are showing a lot of people the world of the Amish - a world that we possibly know only through jokes and cultural stereotypes.

Still, the story of the Amish community that suffered these deaths is one that I can't get out of my head.

After Monday's killings, the grandfather of one of the slain girls went to the home of Roberts's father, consoling and hugging him, pouring forth a love and innocence of the kind remembered of the girls in the school. "He extended the hope of forgiveness that we all need these days," said a Roberts family spokesman, the Rev. Dwight Lefever of Living Faith Church of God. "'God met us in that kitchen."

- Yahoo News

The oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates.

- ABC

I guess I'll just make a suggestion and ask that you read all about this, and read about the Amish response. I know that there are criticisms of the Amish way of life that other Christians have. I'm guessing a few of them are quite valid. However, in this case they're all fading out. Right now, all I can see is Christ in these people.