September 12, 2008 – In a new attack ad against John McCain, Barack Obama attempts to paint John McCain as being old and out of touch with modern technology. The ad makes the point that McCain first went to Congress in 1982, but then goes on to say, “Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn’t. He admits he still doesn’t know how to use a computer, can’t send an e-mail…”

The ad concludes with a picture of McCain and George Bush and the announcer saying, “After one president who was out of touch, we just can’t afford more of the same.”

Of course, the reason that John McCain has never learned how to use a computer is because of his war wounds. When he was shot down over North Vietnam in October 1967, he was struck by debris from his own plane while ejecting, breaking a leg and both arms. His captors refused to give him proper medical attention; they merely tossed him into a cell with other prisoners, expecting him to die. His fractured bones had to heal, unset, while he was subjected to periods of brutal torture. That, Mr. Obama, is why John McCain doesn’t use a computer and doesn’t send emails. His shoulders and elbows lack the flexibility required to use a keyboard.

The Obama ad is beneath contempt. It’s as if Republicans had published newspaper and radio ads during the 1940 and 1944 presidential campaigns, charging that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a “couch potato” because he didn’t jog or play tennis… even though they were aware that Roosevelt was a victim of polio and was confined to a wheelchair.

Of course, Republicans didn’t do that. The Obama ad should be judged accordingly. Viewers should consider the source.

March 30, 2008 – Before a crowd of supporters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Barack Obama addressed the problem of teen pregnancies. He said, “I've got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old.  I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby…”

By now, everyone in America is aware that Todd and Sarah Palin have a five-month-old baby son, Trig, who is a “special needs” child. The Palins knew well before his arrival that their son would be born with Down syndrome, but, for them, abortion was not an option… as it is with so many other parents in similar circumstances. The Palins decided to have their baby and to do whatever was necessary to care for him. The American people are also aware that the Palins’ seventeen-year-old daughter, Willow, is pregnant and that she and the baby’s father plan to marry before the baby is born.

The Palins’ highly-publicized, highly personal family crises remind me of an event that took place in Ekaterinburg, Western Siberia, on Sunday, February 20, 1994.

I had been hired by the United Methodist Church to act as alter-ego/traveling aide for Dr. Dwight Ramsey, the Methodist official with responsibility for delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Russia and all of the republics of the former Soviet Union.

On my first trip to Russia with Dr. Ramsey we were assigned to deliver 13,000 units of DPT vaccine to Ekaterinburg, the capital city of the Ural Region of western Siberia, where thousands of children were suffering terrible epidemics of diphtheria and bacterial meningitis.

It was one of the saddest places on Earth… a city so polluted with industrial waste that three out of four children were born with birth defects, a city so radioactive with nuclear waste that we were forced to wear radiation monitors at all times, a city so beset by violence that as many as forty people a day were murdered in the streets. For our own safety, Dr. Ramsey and I slept among the patients on the second floor of a regional eye hospital.

While there, Dr. Ramsey asked me to assist him in conducting a Sunday school class at the city’s newly-established Methodist congregation. The class was made up mostly of elderly women, and as Dr. Ramsey spoke to them about the many ways in which God loves us and cares for us, a very feeble old woman rose to ask a question. She wore a long, tattered dress and heavy boots, her face was deeply lined, and her long gray hair was covered with a babushka, tied tightly beneath her chin,

As Pastor Lydia Istomina translated her question, she wanted to know, if God is such a kind and merciful God, why does he allow so many children to be born with physical deformities? Then, as Dr. Ramsey stared down at his folded hands, formulating his response, I asked if he would allow me to answer the woman’s question. He nodded his assent.

As I recall my words, I said to the woman, “Yes, we know that many of God’s children are born with terrible deformities… handicaps that those of us who are not so afflicted might consider to be abnormal. But who are we, mere mortals, to decide what is normal and what is not? God does not grade us on our physical beauty or on our physical capabilities. He does not grade us on whether or not we are all alike, physically; he grades us on the basis of what is in our hearts.”

The woman smiled, satisfied with the answer, and took her seat.

Since Barack Obama apparently feels that an unwanted or unintended child… even a completely healthy one… is somehow a “punishment” for an unwed mother, I wonder how he would have answered the question posed by that old Russian woman. I’m pretty sure I know how Sarah Palin would have answered.