A man I have come to admire and who comes across as one of the kindest people on earth is Trevor Romaine. He has a blog which is excellent. If you haven't yet accessed it you need to.
I lifted this from his website. He's too humble to shill for himself. So I'll take on the task. He will be on Fox and Friends. Spread the word.
From his website:
Trevor is a friend of Fox Trevor will appear as a featured guest on the popular morning show "Fox & Friends" on May 24th. The interview will cover his experiences working with kids as well as his current and upcoming book and video projects. Check your local cable provider for channel and time.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Friday, May 20, 2005
Napoleon Dynamite
After reading repeated posts by Julie on a movie I had never heard of, Napoleon Dynamite and when she made her father sit down to watch it and since I am a few years shy of her dad's age I thought I would give it a shot. Rented it. Peggy and I.
I enjoyed it. I have to admit to a generation gap. I always try to identify with the characters in a movie, play or opera. That's their job. I was a nerd, geek, still am. Like being one. Keeps my edge.
If you are under 30, hated high school, felt picked on, left out, this movie is for you. On the other hand who didn't? I will recommend it to Adam, Michael and Megan.
My recommendation probably will meet with the Oh Yeahs. Peggy works in a large middle school, 6-7-8th graders. I asked her to take an informal survey. Find out how many kids even KNEW of this movie. She talked to about 30.
READY?
100% In fact she couldn't find ANY who hadn't seen, loved and most could do a credible Napoleon imitation. (not the dance which was the second best part next to the wedding song)
So, Miss Julie, arbiter of the cultural youth market, I bow. Was this ever in theaters? Or, did it go direct to DVD. Or was I out of town the week it ran.
On the other hand, generationally speaking, do you understand Office Space?
I enjoyed it. I have to admit to a generation gap. I always try to identify with the characters in a movie, play or opera. That's their job. I was a nerd, geek, still am. Like being one. Keeps my edge.
If you are under 30, hated high school, felt picked on, left out, this movie is for you. On the other hand who didn't? I will recommend it to Adam, Michael and Megan.
My recommendation probably will meet with the Oh Yeahs. Peggy works in a large middle school, 6-7-8th graders. I asked her to take an informal survey. Find out how many kids even KNEW of this movie. She talked to about 30.
READY?
100% In fact she couldn't find ANY who hadn't seen, loved and most could do a credible Napoleon imitation. (not the dance which was the second best part next to the wedding song)
So, Miss Julie, arbiter of the cultural youth market, I bow. Was this ever in theaters? Or, did it go direct to DVD. Or was I out of town the week it ran.
On the other hand, generationally speaking, do you understand Office Space?
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Confession Time
I hate to admit this. It seems unamerican. I have about 6 weblogs I read daily. And in a pinch 3 or 4 more I visit from time to time. That does not include the Fargo Forum Blog and The Wall Street Journal Blog.
I hereby confess. I like Adrianna Huffington's new blog. It was a brilliant play. Better than I first thought. It features clever writing from witty people who ask questions that can be asked and don't just hammer their left wing dogma alone.
We (those of us who think more center and right than they) could learn from them.
I need to give credit where credit is due.
I hereby confess. I like Adrianna Huffington's new blog. It was a brilliant play. Better than I first thought. It features clever writing from witty people who ask questions that can be asked and don't just hammer their left wing dogma alone.
We (those of us who think more center and right than they) could learn from them.
I need to give credit where credit is due.
Why Intelligent Design Matters – Hitler and Darwin
I grew up with Jane Ahlin. She writes for the Fargo Forum. She’s a smart woman. I respect her opinions. I differ with them much of the time. She wrote a column for the Forum on Intelligent Design and Faith. You should read it. At first blush it seems rational and logical.
But I will assert it is wrong in its basic assumption: What you believe is a matter of faith and matters only to you.
It matters to the human race.
I am a student of genetics and evolution, two degrees, BA in Botany and a BS in Horticulture. I am well familiar with all the arguments for and against evolution. I do not approach the arguments as methodology for God’s intents without the core question coming up soon. Plants and animals evolve. Of that there is no doubt. The humble willow is one of the fastest changing species on the planet. They adapt, interbreed, reorient and become new varieties at breakneck speed. All willows are hybrid.
Intelligent design isn’t about willows, The issue is MAN!
Were we created or are we a blood and bone willow tree in essence? The real question at the core is, does man have a divine nature breathed into him by God? Or are we simply the latest iteration of a constantly changing panoply which will become something else given enough time?
As a Bible student I divide the first two verses of Genesis into two times.
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
AND
2. the earth was without form and void……..
I won’t get into a teaching about the time period represented between verses one and two represented by the AND. I can demonstrate from scripture that there was a significant time lapse there. Something happened at AND. The fossil record backs it up.
Then, after the AND, the creation story happens culminating in the ultimate creation MAN. Likeness of God, breathed into by God, fellowship with God. Divine nature imparted. And the fall.
It doesn’t matter if you determine in your heart that God uses adaptive change (evolution?) to create and modify plants and animals. I don’t believe that. I do believe that God created as he said he did in his book. After their kind. Read the Genesis account again.
Where the crunch comes is if you somehow believe that we are little more than hairless ascended apes without divinity in our being. If we are willing to accept that belief we are then willing to accept as OK the killing of invalids (Terri Schaivo), aborting of babies we don’t want, and genocide of races we consider less than human.
That’s where HITLER and DARWIN come in. I heard a lecture in the last year given by Richard Weichart. And I have read this essay in this regard written by an orthodox priest. If you are willing to evaluate all sides please read them.
What we believe matters. It is not an innocuous act of faith or lack of it. It is a matter of life or death. We are all getting older; we are all at risk of disease or accident that could put us at risk of being eliminated for Darwinian reasons. I mean it’s better for the species isn’t it. That’s what the Terminal Timmy article was all about.
I don’t put my faith in my back pocket to consider how God does what he does using whatever means he decides to use. He’s God after all. In the end, God will be proven right and every man a liar. Romans 3:4. That’s what the bible says. I guess I’ll believe him on this side of the veil. I’d hate to get to the other side and find out I was deceived.
But I will assert it is wrong in its basic assumption: What you believe is a matter of faith and matters only to you.
It matters to the human race.
I am a student of genetics and evolution, two degrees, BA in Botany and a BS in Horticulture. I am well familiar with all the arguments for and against evolution. I do not approach the arguments as methodology for God’s intents without the core question coming up soon. Plants and animals evolve. Of that there is no doubt. The humble willow is one of the fastest changing species on the planet. They adapt, interbreed, reorient and become new varieties at breakneck speed. All willows are hybrid.
Intelligent design isn’t about willows, The issue is MAN!
Were we created or are we a blood and bone willow tree in essence? The real question at the core is, does man have a divine nature breathed into him by God? Or are we simply the latest iteration of a constantly changing panoply which will become something else given enough time?
As a Bible student I divide the first two verses of Genesis into two times.
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
AND
2. the earth was without form and void……..
I won’t get into a teaching about the time period represented between verses one and two represented by the AND. I can demonstrate from scripture that there was a significant time lapse there. Something happened at AND. The fossil record backs it up.
Then, after the AND, the creation story happens culminating in the ultimate creation MAN. Likeness of God, breathed into by God, fellowship with God. Divine nature imparted. And the fall.
It doesn’t matter if you determine in your heart that God uses adaptive change (evolution?) to create and modify plants and animals. I don’t believe that. I do believe that God created as he said he did in his book. After their kind. Read the Genesis account again.
Where the crunch comes is if you somehow believe that we are little more than hairless ascended apes without divinity in our being. If we are willing to accept that belief we are then willing to accept as OK the killing of invalids (Terri Schaivo), aborting of babies we don’t want, and genocide of races we consider less than human.
That’s where HITLER and DARWIN come in. I heard a lecture in the last year given by Richard Weichart. And I have read this essay in this regard written by an orthodox priest. If you are willing to evaluate all sides please read them.
What we believe matters. It is not an innocuous act of faith or lack of it. It is a matter of life or death. We are all getting older; we are all at risk of disease or accident that could put us at risk of being eliminated for Darwinian reasons. I mean it’s better for the species isn’t it. That’s what the Terminal Timmy article was all about.
I don’t put my faith in my back pocket to consider how God does what he does using whatever means he decides to use. He’s God after all. In the end, God will be proven right and every man a liar. Romans 3:4. That’s what the bible says. I guess I’ll believe him on this side of the veil. I’d hate to get to the other side and find out I was deceived.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
I know these Creeps
When I was in college at NDSU among the people I met were students and professors some of which thought they were above question. Some became politicians, some lawyers and many went into journalism. These were men and women which never took your question seriously except as it served their needs. These egos in flesh would not tolerate being questioned or countered. Now that I'm nearly 40 years beyond that time I keep running across them. Several are in the clergy. Lawyers and Politicians ranks are full of these know it alls.
Once when one of our sons was in for an eye exam, I questioned the doctor how he could determine that our boy was nearsighted without an exam that included "Read the Chart" (which he couldn't do because of his age). Instead of explaining that technology had made it possible to look at the back of the eye and make an accurate determination I was upbraided for even questioning him. I'm a doctor! We never went back.
When I get that from a pastor or other clergy I RUN! Jesus WELCOMED questions. So did Socrates.
So, when I saw this report of Journalists upbrading Scott McClellen of the White House yesterday my past flashed before my eyes. I know these people who look down on the rest of the world. Most retreat into ivory towers of journalism's Main Stream Media. Their demise can't come too soon. (not the media, the arrogant jerks that populate much of MSM)
RUN for your lives from these people. They are dangerous and totally unaccountable. It's their unaccountably that makes them dangerous and unworthy of your participation.
Once when one of our sons was in for an eye exam, I questioned the doctor how he could determine that our boy was nearsighted without an exam that included "Read the Chart" (which he couldn't do because of his age). Instead of explaining that technology had made it possible to look at the back of the eye and make an accurate determination I was upbraided for even questioning him. I'm a doctor! We never went back.
When I get that from a pastor or other clergy I RUN! Jesus WELCOMED questions. So did Socrates.
So, when I saw this report of Journalists upbrading Scott McClellen of the White House yesterday my past flashed before my eyes. I know these people who look down on the rest of the world. Most retreat into ivory towers of journalism's Main Stream Media. Their demise can't come too soon. (not the media, the arrogant jerks that populate much of MSM)
RUN for your lives from these people. They are dangerous and totally unaccountable. It's their unaccountably that makes them dangerous and unworthy of your participation.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
You Retire You Die
In the Wall Street Journal Marketplace Section May 5, a story of executives who in their 80’s are carving out a future. They are driven by the truth or fiction of the above statement.
So, in spite of the fact that younger men wish that these old dudes would just step out of the way I say, lead on. Life's paramount quality measure still means that:
1. You have a purpose (something to do) every day
2. You have something to hope for
3. You have a significant trusted person you can share it with.
That is all anyone can ask no matter their age.
- Kirk Kerkorian 87 is trying to buy control of General Motors
- Sumner Redstone 82 is firmly at the helm of Viacom
- Ralph Roberts 85 stepped down 3 years ago as Chairman of Comcast
- Hank Greenberg 80 just left AIG but plans to work 20 more years
- Warren Buffet 74 CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (Forbes 400 Richest)
- Rupert Murdock 74 of News Corp (Fox News)
So, in spite of the fact that younger men wish that these old dudes would just step out of the way I say, lead on. Life's paramount quality measure still means that:
1. You have a purpose (something to do) every day
2. You have something to hope for
3. You have a significant trusted person you can share it with.
That is all anyone can ask no matter their age.
Rent this Movie or forfeit a Pound of Flesh
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world!
At least old Will was. Shakespeare that is.
I rented and recommend Merchant of Venice from our local video store. It’s the 2004 version with Al Pachino as Shylock the Jew. I never really understood it well until I saw it. I have seen and read the play in other forms. This really brings out the full richness of the work.
After watching it I read the play again in bed last night. It meant so much more to me than it ever had before. I saw things in it I never saw before.
Even if you’re NOT a Shakespeare buff, rent this one. You won’t be sorry.
At least old Will was. Shakespeare that is.
I rented and recommend Merchant of Venice from our local video store. It’s the 2004 version with Al Pachino as Shylock the Jew. I never really understood it well until I saw it. I have seen and read the play in other forms. This really brings out the full richness of the work.
- Shylock’s anger is about his daughter. I never really grasped the depth.
- Antonio and Basanio are not father son which I always thought.
- Basanio really loves Portia.
- Portia is very wise even in the way she deals with her husband.
- The passion is wonderful.
- Shylock’s speech on being a Jew is rattling and essential.
- Shylock’s comeuppance in the end is just and not just. Merciful and not so.
After watching it I read the play again in bed last night. It meant so much more to me than it ever had before. I saw things in it I never saw before.
Even if you’re NOT a Shakespeare buff, rent this one. You won’t be sorry.
Monday, May 16, 2005
I have it from an Anonymous Source...........
I have it on good authority from an anonymous source that the editors at Newsweek magazine are actually aliens from the planet Nibiru. I also understand from a highly placed source that they regularly eat little puppies, kittens and spotted owls as part of their daily diet. A person from inside has told us that reporters from Newsweek are all illiterate and that the magazine’s content is written by hundreds of monkeys who hammer away on old Alder typewriters until enough legible text is generated to publish the next week.
That’s the kind of reporting MSM pejoratively looks at the on line news world (Blogs) as doing. It gives me great joy to see them once again trapped by their own hubris (and bias). Responsibility for documenting sources hangs on all of us.
I don’t want them to go away. I want them to hold the rest of us accountable. That’s a two way street. So, as the liberal left always quotes the only Bible verse they know, (Newsweek), let those who are without sin cast the first stone.
That’s the kind of reporting MSM pejoratively looks at the on line news world (Blogs) as doing. It gives me great joy to see them once again trapped by their own hubris (and bias). Responsibility for documenting sources hangs on all of us.
I don’t want them to go away. I want them to hold the rest of us accountable. That’s a two way street. So, as the liberal left always quotes the only Bible verse they know, (Newsweek), let those who are without sin cast the first stone.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Tsunami Money You Gave Swirling Down the Drain
When the Tsunmai hit in Asia last Christmas I made a prediction. The money people generously gave would be lost or stolen or never produced. I hate when I'm right.
In today's Sun Times of Chicago Mark Steyn has a brilliant article about Robert Bolton's confirmation to the impotent UN. It's worth the read. Below is a key excerpt.
Bolton would have no problem getting nominated as U.N. ambassador if he were more like Paul Martin. Who? Well, he's prime minister of Canada. And in January, after the tsunami hit, he flew into Sri Lanka to pledge millions and millions and millions in aid. Not like that heartless George W. Bush back at the ranch in Texas. Why, Prime Minister Martin walked along the ravaged coast of Kalumnai and was, reported Canada's CTV network, "visibly shaken." President Bush might well have been shaken, but he wasn't visible, and in the international compassion league, that's what counts. So Martin boldly committed Canada to giving $425 million to tsunami relief. "Mr. Paul Martin Has Set A Great Example For The Rest Of The World Leaders!" raved the LankaWeb news service. You know how much of that $425 million has been spent so far? Fifty thousand dollars -- Canadian. That's about 40 grand in U.S. dollars. The rest isn't tied up in Indonesian bureaucracy, it's back in Ottawa. But, unlike horrible "unilateralist" America, Canada enjoys a reputation as the perfect global citizen, renowned for its commitment to the U.N. and multilateralism. And on the beaches of Sri Lanka, that and a buck'll get you a strawberry daiquiri. Canada's contribution to tsunami relief is objectively useless and rhetorically fraudulent. This is the way the transnational jet-set works when the entire world is in complete agreement and acting in perfect harmony. Unlike more "controversial" issues like the mass slaughter in Sudan, no Security Council member is pro-tsunami. And yet even when the entire planet is on the same side, the 24/7 lavishly funded U.N. humanitarian infrastructure can't get its act together.
In today's Sun Times of Chicago Mark Steyn has a brilliant article about Robert Bolton's confirmation to the impotent UN. It's worth the read. Below is a key excerpt.
Bolton would have no problem getting nominated as U.N. ambassador if he were more like Paul Martin. Who? Well, he's prime minister of Canada. And in January, after the tsunami hit, he flew into Sri Lanka to pledge millions and millions and millions in aid. Not like that heartless George W. Bush back at the ranch in Texas. Why, Prime Minister Martin walked along the ravaged coast of Kalumnai and was, reported Canada's CTV network, "visibly shaken." President Bush might well have been shaken, but he wasn't visible, and in the international compassion league, that's what counts. So Martin boldly committed Canada to giving $425 million to tsunami relief. "Mr. Paul Martin Has Set A Great Example For The Rest Of The World Leaders!" raved the LankaWeb news service. You know how much of that $425 million has been spent so far? Fifty thousand dollars -- Canadian. That's about 40 grand in U.S. dollars. The rest isn't tied up in Indonesian bureaucracy, it's back in Ottawa. But, unlike horrible "unilateralist" America, Canada enjoys a reputation as the perfect global citizen, renowned for its commitment to the U.N. and multilateralism. And on the beaches of Sri Lanka, that and a buck'll get you a strawberry daiquiri. Canada's contribution to tsunami relief is objectively useless and rhetorically fraudulent. This is the way the transnational jet-set works when the entire world is in complete agreement and acting in perfect harmony. Unlike more "controversial" issues like the mass slaughter in Sudan, no Security Council member is pro-tsunami. And yet even when the entire planet is on the same side, the 24/7 lavishly funded U.N. humanitarian infrastructure can't get its act together.
Be Ignorant - Be Famous
In today's Chicago Tribune Perspective section the front page is dedicated to the Bible as a political weapon. I will link it but you might have to subscribe (It's Free) to read it.
In the article the author who was an Episcopal Bishop says some of the dumbest things I have ever read. I am coming to the conclusion that people that attend seminary shouldn't be allowed to interpret the Bible. They never read it. At least this man never has. Otherwise he wouldn't be as ignorant in his allegations against the Word of God (which he doesn't think the Bible is).
My conclusion is he is trying to get on the lecture circuit in his retirement. The only way to do this is to say something reassuring to unbelievers lost in their sin and controversial to believers. If I stood up and said, "I believe the Bible is true and I trust it's counsel for my life" I will receive a collective yawn. I certainly won't get press on the front page of the Tribune's perspective section, a 10 minute interview on NPR and Today Show with Katie Couric.
He will gets lots of lectures among liberals. I hope he gets saved. You see, when I apply the 10 point test, he doesn't make it. He is NOT my brother in Christ.
In case you want him to come scratch your itching ears or if you just want to keep your distance I will identify him:
John Shelby Spong, the retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, N.J., is the author of the recently published "The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love" from HarperCollins and other books and essays on belief.
More Heresy can be found on his website.
www.johnshelbyspong.com
In the article the author who was an Episcopal Bishop says some of the dumbest things I have ever read. I am coming to the conclusion that people that attend seminary shouldn't be allowed to interpret the Bible. They never read it. At least this man never has. Otherwise he wouldn't be as ignorant in his allegations against the Word of God (which he doesn't think the Bible is).
My conclusion is he is trying to get on the lecture circuit in his retirement. The only way to do this is to say something reassuring to unbelievers lost in their sin and controversial to believers. If I stood up and said, "I believe the Bible is true and I trust it's counsel for my life" I will receive a collective yawn. I certainly won't get press on the front page of the Tribune's perspective section, a 10 minute interview on NPR and Today Show with Katie Couric.
He will gets lots of lectures among liberals. I hope he gets saved. You see, when I apply the 10 point test, he doesn't make it. He is NOT my brother in Christ.
In case you want him to come scratch your itching ears or if you just want to keep your distance I will identify him:
John Shelby Spong, the retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, N.J., is the author of the recently published "The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love" from HarperCollins and other books and essays on belief.
More Heresy can be found on his website.
www.johnshelbyspong.com
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