Religion and Politics

Newt Gingrich talks bailout

I read this blog entry the other day and didn't really understand how it works, still don't, but it seems to be gaining steam.

Matt Bryant Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I'm glad I haven't had to learn how to deal with this kind of pain. The full article can be read here.

I've covered more than a dozen Super Bowls, written about college bowl games and chronicled the final Celtics game in the old Boston Garden. I've seen history, but forgotten most of it because I wasn't able to feel it.

I felt it Sunday as I watched Bryant on the field at Raymond James Stadium and, more importantly, listened to him in the media room after the Bucs defeated the Green Bay Packers. It was far from the best game I've ever seen, but it's easily the most memorable.

A day after burying his infant son, Matthew Tryson, Bryant went out and kicked three field goals, including the game-winner. Bryant then walked into the media room, looking dazed, and talked about how he played because he wanted to honor Tryson and admitted he had a running dialogue (in his head) with his son throughout the game.

You couldn't possibly sit in that room and not feel your heart coming apart. I went back upstairs and wrote my column. Ordinarily, that would have been the end of it. But you don't just move on from something like this.

Knight Rider

I watched Knight Rider, the new one, last night to see if my initial impressions were wrong about the pilot when it aired a few months ago. This show sucks. It's completely overly sexual to the point of the main guy getting his butt kicked when some girl flashes her boobies at him. Have some subtlety and maybe it would work but geez, the whole show was women in their underwear and the "hero" not being able to control himself and his urges. Speaking of the new Michael Knight, you should never dress up a male model in an Army uniform and start calling him a tough guy. I mean really, the guy was an Abercrombie & Fitch model which is almost never mistaken for a special forces operative. This show will be canned in less than three months. This is a shame since it could've been great even with a Ford instead of the TA.

Wilson Sporting Goods Customer Service (lack of)

Once again I wrote to a company expecting far too much. Please see the transaction below:

Subject

---------------------------------------------------------------
WIlson Lizard carry bag


Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (Deborah Salerno) - 09/24/2008 07:08 AM
Thank you for your interest. We do not have replacement parts available for the Lizard carry bag.

We regret we are unable to be of assist to you.

Thank you

Customer - 09/12/2008 06:21 AM

Dear Sir or Madam,

My Wilson lizard carry bag is quite nice, but a couple of pieces
need replacing. I need a new rain hood and detachable pocket; I cannot

seem to find a place where I can buy them. Any assistance would

greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Captain Dude

My name is bold as I changed it for the blog, I had my actual name in there."We regret we are unable to be of assist to you." What the heck does that even mean? I am pretty sure it means "We already have your money, so good luck with that POS bag." They also sent an email right after the submission saying they would get back to me in one business day. Please feel free to write to them if you would like to bug someone on the Internet about their crappy lack of customer service. They can be contacted at: askwilson@wilson.com

Voter Guide

This doesn't cover stuff like the economy and jobs so take it for what it's worth.
http://www.afa.net/08VG/index.html

A Friend in Need

I have posted before about an apologist friend of mine Dr. Jackson. His ministry is amazing, but has become financially difficult. I would ask that those of you who read this blog pray for Dr. J and his ministry. If you would like to do more than pray, check out his website at http://www.pointsoforigins.com/ , it's pretty cool and you can make donations to him there. More than your donations, help me spread the word and try get church leaders onboard with supporting this missionary. His work is fantastic and he's a great guy. Here's the latest from his last debate:

Sept.11,08

         Dr.Jackson debating Danny ( Senior at The College of NJ)

 Thursday night was really interesting to me because I have never been to a debate or any college club.  The club we attended was called The Secular Students Association.  The night started with the group meeting Dr. J and seeing how cool he is.  Dr. J started out with his presentation and made it clear that he was here to debate scientifically and it was up to them to look at both sides of the scientific debate and see for them how evolution can be disproved.  I think this is when the audience saw that Dr. J wasn’t there to pull any tricks or try to fool them into believing something.  He was there to show that there are indisputable facts to show that we did not evolve.  The debate then started. Although a heated controversy  may have been expected,  it was students asking Dr. J questions and his opponent trying to disprove them.  Dr. J answered the questions very precisely, which showed that it was so easy to prove evolution was wrong.   His opponent would take very long to prove his point because it takes a lot to try to make evolution make sense.  Danny though, was a very good debater.  The debate finished out great.  When everyone was done asking their questions ,including his opponent, Dr. J got to ask his question.  Dr. J asked Dan to name one of the missing links between humans and monkeys and Danny said there were at least a dozen. Dr. J said name just one.  Dan named one that has already  been disproved.  He admitted it was and could not name another.  The debate then ended and many of the students were interested in what Dr. J had to say and stayed after to ask questions.  God used Dr. Jackson to get these students to start questioning what they were just used to hearing.

Sportsmanship

I am a Denver Broncos fan. I make no apologies or excuses for why they are my team, but today I got to see one of the reasons I love this team. Ed Hochuli totally bothed a call on third down by blowing his whistle after a fumble. San Diego recovered the fumble but, because the whistle blew, Denver was given the ball back. Noting the gift he was given, coach Shanahan ran three low probability of success plays in order to allow San Dieog a shot to win. The first play was a draw play on 3rd and goal from the 10. This would normally be double corner routes, especially in a game where the corners had gotten burned all day. The second play was 4th and 3 and he ran a crossing pattern throwing to the rookie Eddie Royal. This situation normally calls for a roll out with a pitch back or cross field throw. Denver scored on that play bringing them within one point of the Chargers. In the NFL you kick the PAT and play in overtime. Shanahan instead went for two, further allowing San Diego a shot at victory. Denver converted and won the game by a single point.

Coach Shanahan showed respect for his opponents and for the botched call. He also dismisses players from his team whenever they break the law which I also greatly respect.

Moving Forward

Yesterday I resigned effective October 3rd. I will be moving to Erlanger Kentucky and working for Toyota. More specifically, I will be working for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America inc. as an Information Systems Security Specialist. There are four "ranks" at Toyota, which are specialist, assistant manager, general manager, vice president, and president. I asked to start as president and they though about it for awhile then decided I should work my way up. After a few days to ponder their decision I am glad to start at the bottom and do what I can for their team. 

This will be a difficult move since all my children were born in Knoxville, but my oldest daughter was too sweet about this a week ago. When I first told the girls, they were sad and cried about leaving the only place they have ever lived. I took some individual time with each girl so they could express why they were sad about moving. After I let them vent their feelings things were pretty smooth for a few days. My oldest walked up one night with big tears on her cheeks and said: "Daddy, I want to move to Kentucky." I asked her why and she said, " I just want you to be happy at work." That's a sweet girl.

Truly, I have a great job now and will miss my co-workers and the small company. Various circumstances have made this a place where I don't seem to belong now. Sometimes it's hard to look at a situation and realize that you are the part that needs to change or be removed in order for something to be sucessful. Fortunately, I have been in that position before which made the decision a little easier for me. I wish my current company great success and sincerely hope to work with several of them again someday.

How to be an Eco-Idiot

I stole this from a co-workers blog, I had no idea such idiocy existed.

Funny email

Please just take this for what it's worth. I got a kick out of it.

	Sarah Palin	Barack Obama
Office being sought	Vice President	President of the United States and Leader of the Free World
Full name	Sarah Louise Heath Palin	Barack Hussein Obama II
Nickname	Sarah Barracuda	Barry Obama; “The One”
Public opinion	Smoking hot in a “naughty librarian” sort of way	May be The Messiah
Age	44	48
Children	5: two sons, three daughters	2: two daughters
Religion/Church attendance	Evangelical Christian;attends Juneau Christian Center when in Juneau and grew up attending Wasilla Assembly of God	Attended Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, a “black liberation theology” church formerly led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright and governed according to theBlack Value System
Current Job	Governor of Alaska	Junior Senator from Illinois
Previous Public Jobs	Mayor of Wasilla, AK (1996-2002); President of Alaska Conference of Mayors;City Council member (1992-1996)	State Senator (1997-2004);Community Organizer
Executive Experience	Governor for 2 years;Mayor for 10 years	None
Foreign Relations experience	Governor of state that borders two foreign countries (Canada and Russia)	Chaired Senate subcommittee on Europe but never called it into session;once gave a speech to 200,000 screaming Germans
Military Affairs experience	Commander in Chief of Alaska National Guard;Son is enlisted Infantryman in U.S. Army	None
Private Sector Experience	Sports reporter;Salmon fisherman	Associate at civil rights law firm
Speaking ability	Beautifully executed initial stump speech in Dayton, OH hockey arena without a teleprompter	An enter…wait–did you saywithout a teleprompter??
Spouse’s name	Todd Mitchell Palin	Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama
Spouse’s occupation	Salmon fisherman;Former North Slope production supervisor for BP Oil	Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals;former Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago;former Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies;former Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago;former associate at Sidley Austin law firm
Reaction to spouse’s political success	Quit 17-year BP oil job when BP became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with wife’s administration	Promoted and given 160% pay raise by UofC hospitals within months of husband’s election to U.S. Senate;Employer received $1,000,000.00 federal earmark, requested by husband, after her promotion
Coolest thing about Spouse	Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmobile race champion (longest snowmobile race in the world);In 2008, while defending his championship, was injured when he was thrown 70 feet from his machine. He was sent to the hospital but still finished in fourth place	Sister of Oregon State University head basketball coach Craig Robinson
Most Courageous Moment in Public Service	Resigned in protest from position of Ethics Commissioner of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders, including the former state Attorney General and the State GOP Chairman (who was also an Oil & Gas Commissioner), who was doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.	Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators in Hyde Park in 2002
In Current Office Because…	Upset sitting Governor in GOP primary due to public support for her efforts to clean up corrupt government establishment	Republican opponent, who was leading in the polls, was forced to leave race after unsealing of divorce records exposed a sex scandal
Theme:	Change and Clean Government	Hope and Change;”Bringing Change from Outside Washington”
What they’ve done to live that theme:	Replaced entire Board of Agriculture and Conservation because of conflict of interest;Resigned from position of Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose corruption among members of own party	Selected 36-year incumbent Senator as running mate
Family Affairs	May have removed State Public Safety Commissioner as part of effort to protect sister in messy divorce and child custody battle	Often says, “I am my brother’s keeper”;Brother lives in a hut in Nairobi on $12 per year
Union affiliation	Union member, married to Union member	Endorsed by a union
Iraq and Troop Support	Formerly (pre-surge) critical of apparent lack of long-term strategy for Iraq;Visited wounded U.S. soldiers in Germany;visited AK National Guard soldiers deployed to Kuwait;Son deploying to Iraq on 9/11/08 as Army infantryman	Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators;almost visited wounded troops in Germany, but decided to go shopping in Berlin instead
Bipartisan/”maverick” credentials	Married to a non-Republican;Exposed corruption within own party;Campaigned for Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell against corrupt GOP congressman Don Young;Called out Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) to “come clean” about financial dealings that are under fed investigation	Talks about bipartisanship
Legislative Record	Passed a landmark ethics reform bill;Used veto to cut budgetary spending;Prevented “bridge to nowhere” that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.	Voted “present” over 100 times as IL state senator
How they dealt with corrupt individuals in home city/state	Exposed legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders;Campaigned against corrupt GOP Representative;Ran against and defeated corrupt incumbent governor in GOP primary	Launched political career in home of unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers (and still refers to him as a part of “mainstream Democratic Chicago”;Purchased home with help of convicted felon Tony Rezko
Guns	Lifetime member of NRA and avid hunter;video can be found on YouTube of Palin firing an M4 at a military firing range	Worked to pass legislation in Illinois that would prevent all law-abiding citizens from owning firearms
Earmarks	Opposed “Bridge to Nowhere” project;Said Alaska should avoid relying on federal money for projects;Campaigned against porker Don Young (R-AK) in 2008 primary	Secured federal earmarks for wife’s employer and forcampaign bundlers
Abortion	Pro life;gave birth to 5th child knowing that he would have Down’s syndrome	Pro-choice;only IL state sen. to speak against the Born Alive Infant’s Protection Act, which required medical care to be given to live infants who survived abortions
Energy	Believes energy independence is a matter of national security;For drilling in ANWR, which is in her state	Says Americans should “get tune-ups” and “check tire pressure”;Says “we can’t expect the world to be okay with” our use of heating and air conditioning
Environment	Chair of Alaska Conservation Commission (2003-4);Announced plans to create sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in AK	Talks about the environment a lot
Athletic prowess	Runs marathons	Has reporters tailing him to the gym

Stupid Fans

No, I don't think this lady is stupid beacuse she likes the Raiders. I think she is stupid for writing on her giant gut and thinking anyone wants to see that. Feel free to apply the same logic to all shirtless dudes. This is, unfortunately, not the bottom of the barrel though. Fans who boo their own team or players are the biggest idiots out there. People that , quite obviously, never competed at a level beyond the backyard booing elite athletes really irritates me. Vince Young was terrible Sunday and his hometown crowd began to boo him, what a bunch of losers. He doesn't want to lose and is probably harder on himself than any jackass in the stands would ever be. To sum up, I would rather see your disgusting body painted than to see your disgusting personality on display.

Revival

Yesterday I had the opportunity to teach Sunday School which I haven't done for about four years, what a blast it was! I will be sitting in next week as well as I didn't quite finish my "Biblical Submission" talking points because of all the great discussion that topic always brings out. Anyway, I have been meaning to get over to my "old" Church to say good bye to some folks and visit for awhile when I got this message Saturday:

Hello to all our friends,

 

I would like to invite you to The Church at Sterchi Hills to our revival. It starts in the morning at 10:30 A.M. The Sunday night service starts at 6:00 P.M. Monday through Wednesday it starts at 6:30 P.M. Mike Thompson,pastor of Second Baptist Church of Clinton will be holding the services. He was our youth pastor at Glennwood several years ago. We will have a nursery for each service. We would really like to see you.

You will be really blessed if you make the effort to come and hear this wonderful minister. We are located at 904 Dry Gap Pike, Knoxville

That was good timing right, I could buy that. Anyway I was kind of wavering at going and hearing about "Revival" since I grew up in the Nazarene Church and Revival meant three hours of trying to sleep in an uncomfortable chair, probably in a giant tent, while some dude screamed on stage. Sunday I got the following email:

As I write this I can hardly contain myself. I asked you to pray for our associate pastor and his wife,Siony's baby. She had so much fluid in the uterus it was becoming dangerous so they took her to U.T. hospital and they drained off several liters . This was on Wednesday a week ago. She started having a few contractions, but she went home after they watched her a while. That night her water broke and they went to the hospital. The baby was born about 2 weeks early and weighed 5 pounds and 7 oz. She had him without any medication because she was afraid it would go against the baby. They took him to surgery soon after he was born and fixed the blockage in his colon. That was the first miracle. Friday they went through his back to close the artery that goes to the heart and lungs. They had to deflate one of his little lungs to get to the artery. There was a risk with the medicine to put him to sleep and they thought he would be on the breathing machine for a few days. That surgery was successful and his little lung filled up quickly. They took him off the oxygen and he didn't have to stay on the breathing machine. He weighs the same as when he was born, not losing much weight during all this. He is ahead of schedule with almost all the things the nurses expected him to do.This is the second miracle. Even before he was born, they told Jim and Siony he would have down's syndrome. Two or three doctors told them he had down's. They got the results back from the test and Jim told us this morning at church HE DOES NOT HAVE DOWN'S. He probably did have it, but we know what our great physian can do, don't we? This is the third miracle. People are praying all around the world for Nathan and his Mom and Dad. He has a long way to go yet so please continue to pray for them. They had planned to go back to he Phillipines, but if they had been there the baby night not have made it. There is no hospital close enough that they could have gotten to soon enough because he needed the surgery as soon as he was born.

Thank you so much, my friends, please continue to pray. I feel that God has special plans for this baby.

Wow, I have been really torn up since Nathan was born just thinking about leaving the hospital without any of my own babies as they were born. That was fantastic news, and what the email author left out is that the Doctors who said Nathan had Downs Syndrome are really baffled. So I had all this news from my old friends and needed to go visit when I got an IM on Google Talk from their Minister of Music:

"Dude, I need a bass player tonight if you have the heart and time."

Ok, I guess I had ignored them long enough, I packed up my bass and an extra guitar, threw my whole family in my truck and went to Revival. Mike Thompson is the funniest man I have ever seen from the pulpit, I am so glad I went. My children even sat through it without too much difficulty. I will try and go the rest of the week, tonight definitely, and wanted to ask anyone I know who reads this to try and come too.

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Re-Post

From Father's Day 2006:

I heard a story yesterday that challenged me , it went like this:

" Down in Sulphur Louisiana there is a grave unlike any I have seen in all my years. There is a grave for an 8 year old girl with a small children's playhouse built on top of it. The father of this young lady was a construction worker who worked very hard to provide for his family. He was never aloof and spent the time he could, when he wasn't exhausted, with his family. When his daughter was 6 years old she asked her daddy if it wouldn't be too much trouble could he build her a playhouse. He responded that he would be happy to do it, as soon as the job he was working on finished up. That job ran into the next project and soon his work projects began to overlap as they so often do with all of us. Two years later, the young girl was playing ball in her front yard with a friend when their ball rolled into the street. As she ran after the ball, she did not see the oncoming car that ended her earthly life in a fraction of a second. The father of this young girl could not be consoled by the countless well wishers that attended his daughter's funeral. Everyone told him what a wonderful girl she was, and that someday he would most certainly see her again in the Kingdom of Heaven. These things he knew and took comfort in that knowledge, yet nothing could take the burden he felt in his heart that he had let his little girl down by never building her a playhouse as she had asked. The same evening of her burial he took the needed materials to the cemetery and built her the playhouse she had always wanted.
Too little, too late."

The moral of the story for fathers, and mothers, is that your time is now. Your child or children will be different from one day to the next and you will never have that time again. We are all busy, and we should always try hard to provide for our families but the one thing we can never earn more of is time.

It reminds of a time when I was visiting with one of my old Navy buddies and I began to complain about some inconsequential fact of life. He looked across the bed of his truck and said " You have everything." How very humbling that moment was for me, and something I will never forget.

Enjoy your children today.

 

Psa 127:3	Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psa 127:4	Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.
Psa 127:5	How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Newt Gingrich Throws Down the Gauntlet

McCain's Speech

Definitely not a guy who likes to stand in front of a huge crowd and try to say contrived things. People have to choose between substance and style in this election since the candidates seem to be polar opposites on that right now. What I did hear was how he came to believe in his "country first" mantra. I don't really know how to respond to the things he went through and the appreciation that a nation must extend for those sacrifices. Certainly he should not be "given" the Presidency for being a P.O.W., but what kind of perspective and experience does that give as a basis for making big decisions? I also don't really know how to feel about his reaching out to democrats and independants since no one has tried to do that for years. He definitely took the high road last night praising his opponents and the current administration for their service, effort, and willingness to take the public stage in defense of what they believe. The initial reaction from the left to the speech was "McCain is too partisan" which is a statement that certainly misses the mark. I heard praise and support for all Americans and very little party rhetoric or stumping. I think you can disagree with his issues, but not with his character and willingness to listen to all sides of an issue. The Presidential debates shoudl be phenomenal, pitting a green junior senator against a man who has seen it all. The VP debates should be equally intriguing pitting a complete conservative outsider against a career politician who has been sitting in the same office since I was two years old.

Bring it on!

The Politics of Convenience

Wow, go Bill O'Reilly! Bill normally debates intellectual inferiors like hookers and HS dropouts, but this was actually a home run for him.

OBAMA: SURGE SUCCEEDED BEYOND ‘WILDEST DREAMS’

Governor Sarah Palin

Last night I stayed up late to see what this lady was all about. The critics say she displayed why she is not qualified to be our nation's VP but I didn't see it that way. Last night she stepped out of obscurity and into the spotlight showing all of America why she was picked. While you may disagree with her on the issues you can't deny her ability and accomplishments. She is the first non-partisan person I have seen in the spotlight in a long time. She doesn't belive in left or right, she stickes to right and wrong. Naturally, not everyone will share her views on this but that isn't the point. She will not be doing or saying anything to make herself, or Republicans in general, look good or simply pandering to adoring masses. She knows what she believes in and is aware of her qualifications. The brilliance displayed by the speechwriters and RNC strategists was evident when they sent governor Palin after Barack Obama. She cannot go after Biden's experience so she was focused on the number one person on the democratic ticket. The man has no acheivements in his political career and not even a voting record to stand on. He can't even vote yes or no, let alone make decisions for a country. Barack Obama is  indeed a brilliant orator and inspiring public speaker but this is not an infomercial or motivational team building exercise. Sarah Palin demonstrated that Obama is a manufactured candidate with little substance. Her own accomplishments for outpace anything he has ever attempted and will likely continue to do so. Kudos to Mike Huckabee also, he was quite funny and inspiring pointing out that Palin received more votes as a mayor than Biden got when he ran for president.

Raisin' McCain

Ha ha.

Google Chrome

I am a pretty big fan of Google so I downloaded Google Chrome as soon as it was available to give it a test drive. I have not opened my Firefox browser for a little over 24 hours as of this posting so here are the shortcomings I have uncovered. Let's start with speed, Chrome blazes onto the screen when you execute the program based on it's tiny footprint and lightweight initial payload. It also natively handles any plugins I normally had tyo download and install with my other browsers. That's 2 points for Chrome, status quo for the other dudes. The first few hours I used the browser it was definitely faster, then it began to get slower. Running each browser tab as a separate jailed system process is a great idea, IF your machine has a swomewhat robust processor and a good chunk of RAM. My laptop is not the optimal platform for this and I began experiencing performance issues quickly. I do like that when a plugin fails Chrome kils the plugin and the browser remains resident. Today, the browser couldn't be slower and it's frustrating but that's what beta testing is for and I will resist the urge to go back to Firefox. The most frustrating thing for me is that Chrome does not seem to be capable of using live RSS feeds. I had to put all the blogs I like to read in Google reader which is not the optimal interface since I cannot comment from there. This is an issue I am sure will be resolved shortly or Chrome will disappear since blog dorks have pretty good influence these days. I have heard quite a few complaints about the UI, user interface, but that's just something to get used to. I am sure we will be able to change appearance with skins and options soon enough. The last real issue I see is the lack of configurable user options. This browser appears aimed at the less-than-average skilled home user. Nerds who like to do advanced configuration, debugging, and site testing will not appreciate the inability to get under the hood for the time being. I am sure plugins to correct this will be developed over time. 

Overall I give Chrome a grade of B+ for the concept and a C- for implementation.