This afternoon I came across a frightening article about the man who just might be our next president. Read it here.
Extremists in any direction tend to be scary, but someone who’s enthusiastic about abortion just wigs me out.
Sorry to State the Obvious, But….
Has anyone noticed that our terribly underfunded education system has been in crisis for years?
How ’bout a stinkin’ 700 billion dollar bailout?
In the Bible, when David wrote, “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3), I think he’d been reading the newspaper.
Makes me grateful that Jesus paid the highest price ever for our bailout!
Waiting for This Headline
With everything that’s happening in our nation’s economy, I keep checking the news websites but I haven’t yet seen the headline I’m expecting any moment, along with its ensuing story. It would look something like this:
Distressed Economy Has Surprise Effect On Fight for the White House
McCain Campaigns for Obama While Obama Pledges to Vote for McCain
Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama met this afternoon to debate their merits as candidates for the highest office in the land. After months of intense campaigning for the presidency, both men now claim that the other is better suited for the job.
An anonymous source close to Obama was overheard saying, “A person would have to be out of his mind to actually want to take the helm at this point in our nation’s history.” The senator himself declined to verify or refute the quote. He said simply, “Our country is at a point where we need a man who understands the intrinsic value of money, a man who is not quite sure just how many houses he owns. In this kind of housing market, after all, ignorance is bliss.”
Obama’s comments were not kindly received by his supporters, as evidenced by his monthly campaign contributions slowing to a trickle of a mere 65 million dollars for the month of September.
For McCain’s part, the senator told Associated Press reporters, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The economy is just not my strong point. I even stated publicly just a short time ago that our economy was sound, healthy and strong. You know the rest. What our country needs at this critical junction is a leader who can inspire people to believe, ‘Yes we can’–even when they can’t.”
Both senators said that if elected, their first move would be to offer government-subsidized salary increases to the CEOs of the country’s largest and wealthiest corporations. Representatives from both camps stated that if elected, their candidate would add pork to the first legislative bill that landed on his desk, aimed at eliminating all federal spending on education and diverting it instead to fund banks who specialize in mortgage refinancing for homeowners with bad credit.
The two men will lock horns on the debate floor tomorrow night, but the subject–scheduled to be national security–is expected to change. The new topic? Why the other candidate is the one best suited for the job.
- with reporting from Butch Erdeconomy in Washington and Denny Seeitcoming on Wall Street
Happy Birthday Jazlyn!
Today my little niece turns 10. It won’t be too much longer before I can’t call her “my little niece” anymore. Hard to believe it’s already been a decade since she arrived.
Happy birthday, Jazlyn!!!
A 9/11 Thanks
Once again we mark the anniversary of a date in our nation’s history that will never be just another date on the calendar. The only other day I know of that is marked simply by its date is July the Fourth (we even capitalize “Fourth”). As we reach another “nine-eleven,” let’s be sure to thank the emergency personnel who daily risk their lives to save ours. To all the police, firefighters, and other rescue workers out there: THANK YOU!
It’s also a good time to honor Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer, who gave His life to save us. THANK YOU!!!
It’s Rick Warren’s TIME
Today when my issue of TIME magazine arrived in the mail, it was a surprise to see Rick Warren’s mug on the front. The cover blurb says: “The Purpose Driven Pastor – Rick Warren – America’s most powerful religious leader takes on the world.” You can read it online here.
The article’s writer, David Van Biema, is gentler than most of Warren’s critics. I guess this might be because most of Warren’s antagonists are either jealous Christian leaders or venomously anti-Christian angry people, and Van Biema appears to be neither. But even so I found myself highly irritated by the end of the article. I know I should be more patient and gracious, but I can’t stand watching people who are working hard to make the world a better place get attacked by people who find it easier to shoot down someone else’s dream rather than chase after their own. Van Biema writes of Warren:
“Is he oversubscribed? I ask him how many countries there are in the world. Of course, he knows: ‘There’s 195 countries.’ I think, 195 countries, and so far, even one seems to be a challenge [referring to Rwanda].”
He goes on to conclude by comparing Warren’s upcoming appearance with Barack Obama and John McCain as his “coronation,” then compares him to King David and suggests that the real trouble begins after the coronation. Maybe Van Biema was just trying to come up with some angle for his story, as his writing really isn’t convincing. Still, it’s a weak and cynical angle.
Actually, I couldn’t help laughing at the startlingly premature judgment of Warren’s PEACE plan. So there are 195 countries, and after only a couple years he hasn’t already fulfilled the plan on a global perspective? My, my–it’s obviously doomed to failure. I’m glad that Warren and other people who have changed the world for good refuse to listen to the naysayers who find destruction easier than construction.
Having said all that, there were some entertaining parts of the article, brought on by a secular writer’s unintentionally humorous depictions of Christian concepts. They’re easy to spot by the quotes, as in a shift away from “sin issues,” or his father was a “church planter.” After putting “church planter” in quotes, Van Biema defines the term as a “serial church founder.” My friend Daryl, who’s a church planter, called while I was reading the article. I couldn’t resist informing him that he’s a serial church founder. He said it made him sound like a criminal.
Even though the article could have been better, it’s still an informative read. I would only say to Rick Warren: Press on, brother, and pay no attention to the little minds who would have you abandon your noble intentions to trade them in for pessimistic self-absorption.
And the Nominee…
Looks like Barack Obama is going to be the first biracial major-party nominee for President. This is shaping up for an interesting November! It’ll really be interesting when we see who the picks for VP will be….
Democratic Delegate Toy
For any political junkies out there, CNN.com has a pretty cool toy you can play with. It’s a graph with the remaining states that have not yet held their Democratic primaries. You can slide the scales around to see how the outcomes in each state would affect the overall delegate count.
In playing with this, I found that even if Clinton crushed Obama 75-25 in all the remaining elections, and also claimed the remaining unpledged superdelegates 59-41, Obama would still be on top by four delegates. And those are all extremely unlikely scenarios. I hadn’t realized just how far behind Clinton was!
Anyway, have fun playing with it. You can find it by clicking here.
MLK
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This one seems especially significant because the span of time since his death is now longer than the span of his life.
A few years ago Carolyn, my dad, and I visited the museum in Memphis that’s located where he was killed. It’s a civil rights museum, but obviously has a lot of stuff connected particularly with the perverse events of April 4, 1968. Parts of it are really creepy, like the vintage cars that are still parked in the motel parking lot. They’ve preserved the room that Dr. King stayed in, and you can look inside it and see out onto the balcony where he was killed. The museum itself does a fantastic job of displaying the history of the civil rights movement. As someone who was born shortly after most of these events, it helped me understand what it was like to live through them. If you’re ever swinging through Memphis, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Above is a picture of some of Dr. King’s colleagues pointing to the place where the gunshots came from. I’m afraid that Dr. King’s dream also died an untimely death, or at least has had its realization significantly delayed. Forty years later, we’re still pointing the finger at each other. It seems from my perspective that we live in a more hostile age than any in recent memory. Rather than working toward peace and unity, we’ve splintered our society by refusing to associate with anyone who is imperfect or differs from us in any way. Why can’t we just admit that we’re all messed up, and realize that if your strengths are my weaknesses and your weaknesses are my strengths, we’d be a whole lot better if we’re on the same team?
By the way, it’s strange that even though the men in this picture immediately and unanimously identified where the shots came from, King’s killer managed to escape overseas and was not caught for two months.
WOO HOO!!!!!!
The new sign is up! YES!!!! (Okay, so we need to fix the panel inside–but who cares? It’s up!)
Here’s John taking the plastic off the top of the sign. Either that, or he’s just playing.
Here’s the spot in the grass where the sign was lying (or laying or whatever) for three months:
