Yesterday, Robert Bentley, the newly elected Governor of Alabama, ruffled some feathers when he spoke out and said, "So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother." The blogs and Facebook posts lit up but that didn't seem to be the whole story.

For starters, Bentley made this comment in church, not in his inaugural address. Now I know nearly nothing about the man but this seems like the poorly worded statement from an evangelical and not some sign of a biased public official. In his inauguration address, Bentley made many references to religion but seemed to have a very Christian message of equality, stating, "I am no longer the Republican candidate for governor. I am the governor of all of Alabama — Democrat, Republican and independent, young and old, black and white, rich and poor." He cited Martin Luther King Jr. and also made a comment about "our Jewish brethren", a citation that would seem to completely contradict his own "not my brother" statement.

Also, I think Bentley should be lauded if he keeps his campaign promise, which he brought up in his speech, "I will not accept a paycheck until we reach a level of defined full employment." While everyone was so busy bashing the guy, nobody noticed that he actually might be a bit of a role model in some ways.

In the end, I think Bentley made a poorly worded statement at the Church, one that people can try to use to define him but really all they're trying to do is attack the man's party rather than address his actual beliefs. Obviously, this statement should be a red flag and people should keep an eye on him but I feel like, in today's media climate, we've thrown out any sense of caution and just throw people into the fire at the first hint of trouble.

-----

Also, yesterday, Liberia's former dictator Charles Taylor's attorney compared Taylor to George W. Bush and Tony Blair, which made me wonder if people in Africa get e-mails from helpless, wealthy Americans/Brits who just need an account number so they can sneak their savings out of the country.