Me thinkee I likee this guy...

Keith Ellison broke a lot of firsts for Minnesota. Its first black Representative in Congress, he's also the first ever Muslim elected to Congress.

A minor blow-up occurred when he revealed he'd have his picture taken being sworn-in on the Q'uran and not the Bible. Turns out lots of Congressmen don't swear in on the Bible, but the clod who started all the fuss isn't backing down.

Well that's not the only reason he's caused a stir. He blew off a reception with President Bush to go to an AFL-CIO reception instead. And why? I'll let the man speak for himself:

"It was not a close choice; it was easy to make,” Ellison said, adding quickly that he would have attended the reception had there not been a conflict. “The intent was not to disrespect the presidency,” Ellison said. “Would it have been better for me to say ‘screw you’ to the AFL-CIO? To tell the organization that represents people who work so hard in this country every day on low wages with either no insurance, or expensive insurance that they can barely afford, who are sending their kids to die in a war that we don’t know why we're fighting? I’m suppose to tell them no, I’ve got to go hobnob with Mr. Bush? No."

But he's not a gloomy naysayer about America. I think this sums up what's to love about this land:

“America is an 'overcomer' nation. Nobody’s born perfect. All we can ever do is overcome. And America overcomes every time … You can talk about how racist, sexist, homophobic and all that America is, but the noblest ideals of this country shine through consistently. What could be better than that?”

I like this guy. I'm going to keep my eye on him.