You won't believe this.

So here's the deal. . . .

Things like this make me want to walk away from organized religion forever. I'm not sure I'd even offer a glance back as I headed out into the unknown.

-Just so you know-

If you're affiliated with the lcms in any way, you might be aware of the divisions between the conservative and liberal thinkers in the chuch. (Sound familiar?) Whatever your thoughts are on the issue, here's a new chapter in the war. At the recent National Youth Gathering, the president of the synod, Gerald Kieschnick, gave a sermon during a worship service. Now, bear in mind, this was a worship service with 35,000+ people. The average age had to be somewhere around 16 or 17. During his sermon, President Kieschnick brought his wife and grandchildren onstage to help make a point about the importance of family. His wife quickly said she was excited to see all the youth from across the nation, and how each one of us would have a chance to be used by God to reach others in our lives. (or some version of that.)

Now, I told you all that so I could tell you this. . . .

There's a lot of people who are pretty upset about Kieschnick's actions over the past couple years. But now they're arguing this sermon at the youth gathering, saying he had a woman preach and how he wants to eventually ordain women in the synod. Yeah you heard me. People are upset that a pastor's wife was allowed to address a crowd of 35,000 youth and simply say she was proud of them.

I was at the national youth gathering, and believe me, I had my problems with some of what went on. None of which had to do with any women onstage, or the lack of readings taken from the book of concord. Check out some quotes taken from the first website I link at the bottom of the post. This guy is a sophomore at Concordia University in River Forest:

"On another night Bob Lenz, director and founder of Life Promotions Inc. spoke to us. Bob Lenz is well known for his high involvement with ELCA ministries. He is NOT a Missouri Synod Lutheran, which is my first concern"

"Much of the hymnody were songs that are not in our Synodically adopted and approved hymnals (Worship Materials), which begged the question, why are we using them?"

"I did not see much value, if any in the presence of non-Lutheran outreaches and ministries, such as many of the Contemporary Worship bands, and Christian Music corporations, in addition to Life Promotions and other pan-Christian (and in some cases pan-Lutheran) groups"

"The sectionals, for the most part were also very helpful to many of them, granted Bob Lenz, David Benke and other individuals which are not necessarily in accord with historic Lutheranism spoke, but apart from those who were clearly divisive because of their pasts many youth found benefit in attending the sectionals."

Here are a few sites to draw your attention:

1. More of the sophomore at Concordia River Forest giving his insight at insyderhomielc.com
2. Hardcore conservative Lutheran atWorldmag (Check out an archived post about the Kieschnick thing here


I could care less about someone being Lutheran. I could care less if they join my church or add their name to some list. I don't care if someone knows that lutherans came from Germany, or who martin Luther is, or what the explanation of the third article of the apostles creed means. I don't care if they took the plastic cover off of their catechism, or if they know what happened at the council of Nicea. I don't care if they know why the pastor wears a collar, or why the hymnal is blue. I don't care if a high school kid at my church has ever seen a book of concord, or if he knows what my title 'DCE' means. What I do care about are people knowing the truth about the existence of God, and the way he did whatever it took to be in relationship with us. . . . . . . . . . . .oh yeah, hooray lutheranism.

-Peace-

Fun times

So I added a 'storied posts' section on the sidebar. Hopefully keep an easily accessible account of stories and favorite posts.

This Sunday a young girl from our congregation came up to me, as she so often does, to give me a hug and tell me all about her week. She's one of those innocent 5 year olds who could ramble on for hours but still manage to keep your undivided attention. My fiance was out of town that Sunday, and upon noticing, the young girl turned to me with a serious face and asked. . . ."Where's wife?"

Community?

Checking out the Drudge Report I came across a link to the following story. Titled, Man Lay dead in bed for two years, the Toronto Star reports the story of a man who died in bed of apparent natural causes. Because all his bills were being paid by an automatic withdrawal, and a pension check was deposited monthly, no apartment management was aware of the mans death. Check the article here.



Which makes me think. . . . .

What does this say about our communal lives? A man died and no one knew for two years. His neighbors didn't question his absence. The postal service didn't ask about the filled mailbox. Family had lost contact years earlier.

From the article:

"Marcel Baril, executive director of the Family Centre in Winnipeg, called the situation bizarre and sad. "It's odd that we live in a society where technology can take care of our affairs like that, even if we passed away two years ago, and nobody's noticed.""

I think it's more an oddity that a man was living such a non-communal life that no one noticed his 2-year absence. How many people live lives similar to this man? What were his last days like? How long did he live in solitude? How many others walk the earth not knowing relationship?

What Kerry Supports

Here's a list of groups John Kerry supports.


The KKK
The Nazi Party of America
The American Communist Party
The North American Man Boy Love Association


I mean, given his own rational he obviously supports anything he doesn't openly condemn. At least, that's what he and his crew are saying about Bush.

Bush has called for the Swift Boat ads to be stopped along with others run by independent groups, and said Kerry should be proud of his war service.

But Bush stopped short of condemning the group or its specific accusations that the Democratic presidential candidate lied about his record in Vietnam.

The Kerry letter, signed by at least seven Democratic senators who have served in the military, calls on Bush to "recognize this blatant attempt at character assassination, and publicly condemn it."

"Call on this group to cease and desist," they wrote.

Cleland said Bush "owes it to every soldier and veteran in the nation to stop condoning their smears through his silence."
reference

I guess I'll start making my list of things I condemn, so I'm not inadvertently supporting something I don't really want to support. . . . .this will take awhile.

Cooper Time

No one has said it this well.

And I couldn't agree with Alice Cooper more.

Check out what the rock-legend had to say to the Edmonton Sun last Friday in response to rock stars campaigning for John Kerry.

"To me, that's treason. I call it treason against rock 'n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics," says the 56-year-old Cooper, who begins a 15-city Canadian tour on Aug. 20 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick.

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

John Kerry: 2 Things

So in the political arena, I don't mind differing views. I'm not one who simply hates opposition. On the contrary, without opposing views we become sloppy in our own thinking. We must be challenged in our beliefs if we want to know truth. In order to make rational decisions we have to be allowed to hear all sides. For instance. . .I don't really like Al Sharpton, but at least I can respect him for holding fast to his beliefs. Trust me, if Sharpton were elected president, we know what kind of policy changes he'd be making. He's a guy who tells you what's on his mind. Crazy as it may be, at least he's not a liar. You know what he stands for, and by voting him into office, you know what you're getting yourself into.

What I do mind, however, is a slipshod, wavering ideology. So I bring two things about Mr. John Kerry. The man who wants to be your next commander in chief.

Number 1:
Taking a cue from Michael Moore, John Kerry has, in the recent weeks, decided to take a stab at President Bush by commenting on his Sept 11 actions in that Florida classroom. Kerry even went so far as to say:
Had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something he needed to attend to," reference
So we have John Kerry taking a stab at the president's actions on that fateful day, saying he would have 'attended to' the situation faster and more effectively.

Now you might be asking, as I did. . ."How did 'ol John react on Sept. 11th?"
Glad you asked. . .here we go.

From
The Washington Post
"On July 8, Kerry recalled for CNN's Larry King his actions that day. He was in a meeting in the office of Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) when he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center on television, while standing next to fellow senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). "And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table, and then we just realized nobody could think, and then, boom, we saw the cloud of the explosion at the Pentagon." "

Now, if you recall on that day, there were about 40 minutes between the second trade center attack and the attack on the pentagon. So by his own words, Kerry claims that he and fellow senators sat for 40 minutes "unable to think." Thanks John, that clears up a lot for me in November.


Number 2:
Remember how John Kerry has been badmouthing President Bush all these weeks? Remember how he's been attacking his every move? How nothing Bush does could possibly be the right thing. How Bush is the last person in the world suitable for the job. Remember how John Kerry rips into Bush's every move without thinking. . .(see number 1 above for further detail)

Recently President Bush received intel on more possible terror alerts. Well, as you can imagine, Kerry and his pal Howard Dean hit the campaign trail shouting about how the terror alerts were made up by the evil conservative party to make Bush look a little better. How do you think President Bush responded? He thought it would be good for a man who might be the next president to be briefed on the situation. He offered John Kerry a secure phone line while on the campaign trail so that he could be made aware of the situation. Sounds respectable to me.
Now what's Kerry's response to the offer? He turns it down. You see, Kerry was a little busy campaigning against the man who just offered him an inside view of the most recent threats against our nation. (That's you and me.) He was a little busy with his campaign events to spend any real time listening to real information. He finally got a secure line setup while his bus was parked in one place during a softball game in Taylor, Michigan. Seems after the phone call, Kerry kept his distance from Howard Dean. Smartest move I've seen the man make thusfar. Check out this msnbc article for more detail.

My problem with Kerry isn't that he's not Bush, which is the main reason most on the left consider him their newfound god. My problem is that he points the finger without offering any new insights. He talks about doing things 'differently' in Iraq and against terror. Well John, what do you mean by 'differently'? The only solution he's offered up has actually been to send more troops to the middle east to fight terror! A fact most on the left don't seem to acknowledge. Sure he's talking about UN troops and other nations helping out, but he's not talking about stopping a war, he's talking about revving it up.

Vote for John Kerry. He's the man who sat unable to think for 40 minutes on sept. 11th. He's the man who wants to send an additional 15,000 troops to Afghanistan. He's the man who didn't care about terror intel as much as he cared about softball. He's the man who votes for things after he votes against them. He's the senator who missed 89 percent of Senate votes this year. He's the man who didn't cast a single vote between March 25 and late June. He's the man who's wife said she joined the democratic party out of spite. Sounds like the position of opposition has a great frontrunner.


By the way. As a senator, it's his job to vote for his constituency. If you were absent from work 89 percent of the time, would you still have a job?

Things as they happen

Word up.

A quick recap of the past weeks happenings.
Last week I was in Orlando at the LCMS National Youth Gathering with our kids. It was a great time. I got to see lots of old friends from camp and college. It was good for our group to have some extended time together as well.

Monday I saw Napolean Dynamite with some friends. Dark humor masked in a light-hearted film. And funnier than anything I've seen in awhile. You'll either love or hate this movie. No inbetween. If you're not familiar with the dark humor genre here's a tip. When you see the movie, laugh at how crazy and absurd things are. That's the point. Just like the Cable Guy or Punch Drunk Love, the joke is absurdity. Trust me, you'll have a much better time if you go into it knowing that.

I've been reading Into the Wild, a Jon Krakauer book. I had it recommended years ago and never got around to it. Good stuff, though. Highly recommend it. I picked up another of Krakauer's books for when I'm done. Into Thin Air. I enjoy Krakauer as an author mainly for his writing styles. I listend to Under the Banner of Heaven on tape after Thomas let me borrow it awhile back. Ever since then I'd been meaning to read more of Krakauer's books, but you know how that goes.

New post over on the AM Radio if you're interested. Also check out this blog. It's written by a soldier currently in Iraq. I forget where I got the link, but it's well written. I just started skimming it, though, so forgive me if it turns out it sucks.



-Peace out-

Mike Check

OK OK,
I started another blog called The AM Radio to rant political, but I couldn't resist adding this to my site.
 
If you haven't heard about Linda Ronstadt's to-do over in Vegas, you really should check it out.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the quick word. 
'Ol Linda was finishing a set over at the Aladdin Casino and Hotel.  The president of the Aladdin is William Timmins.  For an encore, Ronstadt said she wanted to dedicate the song 'Desperado' to Michael Moore.  Upon hearing this, some cheered, while the majority of the crowd booed.  Some people even began throwing drinks on posters of Ronstadt and such.  Timmins, in quick managerial fashion, decides he didn't hire Ronstadt for her political discourse, and has her removed from the hotel after the concert is finished.  Linda doesn't make a stink, in fact she's reported as keeping quiet during her removal. 
 
Now, of course, Michael Moore and his supporters are crying all kinds of foul at this move.  Moore has this to say on his site:
 
What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.
 
Moore also goes on to say that every American loves the song Desperado.  I disagree. . .I like it, but I don't think I really love it.  Ok back to the point.
 
Crying foul on the first amendment is becoming such a joke these days.  Moore seems to have no idea that a freedom of speech gives Timmins the freedom to allow, or disallow, anything he wants in HIS HOTEL.  The first amendment disallows the government from taking action against, or disallowing speech.  I gotta tell ya, if Ronstadt got up and promoted terrorism and Timmins had her leave, I don't think this would be much of an issue.  But Michael Moore sees censorship as anything or anyone disagreeing with his views.  Hey Mike, why don't you ask some Iraqis about real censorship.  Under Saddam, your hands would have been removed, at best, for the movie you made.  Thank God you and I live in a country where we can make a movie like F9-11. 

 

All in all, though, Timmins didn't hire a political speaker for his audience.  He's a casino president, and he's charged with keeping thousands of money spenders happy.  He didn't put Ronstadt on stage to speak her political mind, he wanted her to play some tunes.  And just like any good boss, when the employee doesn't do his/her job, pink slip city.  And by the way, don't you love how Moore spins the info to suggest that Timmins had Ronstadt thrown out of the casino without pay and beaten up in an alley?  In actuality, Timmins had Ronstadt escorted out, probably for her own safety, and simply told her that she would never be playing his casino again.  Sounds like a good business man to me.  Imagine that, he expects people to do the job they're hired for. . . .what a communist.

Heading Out

Well, it's been awhile. . .

I had trouble getting online for the past couple weeks. Connection is down at work, and comcast seemed to be keeping my home connection down for about a week. What a whip.


I've been in some conversations regarding the state of the church lately. One in particular via emails with an old friend Eddie. He just finished moving back to Austin, so he's been posting about as much as I have lately. Hopefully soon I'll post more on the topic. I got the ball rolling awhile ago with this. More to come soon.

I think I'll post over at The AM Radio soon. Lots going on with the upcoming elections, partisan politics, and of course, the infamous Michael Moore.

That's not how we do it!

Been awhile. . .

I've been involved in some discussions on other blogs and emails about this thing we call the church. Everything from the right and left and inbetween. My dissatisfaction with the church at large, as we now see it, continues to grow. Not as a vile thing that needs to be spit out, but as a loving thing that needs to be nursed back to health.

Overall, I wonder if our histories and traditions have taken precendence to our reason for existing. How many people leave this place called church agreeing with Marx that religion is simply an 'opiet for the masses"? I do my church dance on Sunday morning, go home with a good feeling, and that's that. I start to imagine God smiling on me because I sit in a pew, listening to some feel-good music while I stare at the pretty artwork. What the hell has happened to God's people? Are we so numb to the existence of our loving God that we reduce his actions in this world to a pretty building? "Welcome to God's house!" the visitor sign reads. "Wow, I guess this is where god lives. . .we should come visit more often. . . like, maybe every sunday morning! Yeah, that'd be a good idea!"

Do you remember the time before Constantine? I don't, but this is what I know. In 313 the Emperor of Rome, Constantine, made Christianity legal. Before that time christians huddled in homes to praise God for loving them. They read their bibles in secret. They shared the good news, the truth about a saving God, to their family and friends with the threat of death always at their door. When Constantine made Christianity legal, it was a huge turning point. Churches went up and people no longer had to worship silently in their homes.
Sounds great. Sounds wonderful. But fast forward about 1700 years and what do you have? You have people who leave all this god-stuff at god's house and go home and get on with their lives. Church became a building, instead of a life. And the message of truth begins to mean so much less. I begin to do the church dance.



I thought I'd share a few quotes that have been sticking with me the past week or so.


"Emerging leaders sense not only change coming to our churches, but the critical need for change. In many churches it has already arrived. The emerging leaders of those churches are beginning to reshape and rethink church and the Spirit of God is doing wonderful things. But there is still a growing restlessness in many hearts and minds. People are emotionally pacing back and forth waiting and longing for change in the church to finally arrive."
Dan Kimball - Emerging Worship


"We don't display our respect for and loyalty to our fathers and mothers in the faith simply by repeating their words (although their words bear repeating). Instead, we go farther by imitating their example, by doing as they did: bringing (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) resources from the gospel story to bear on the new situations that face us today, situations that have come to fruition in part because of the success of the gospel in undermining the status quo of the past again and again."
Brian D. McLaren - The Church in Emerging Culture

I'm Not Ashamed

CPH - (Concordia Publishing House)

Ok, so I like CPH just as much as the next guy. . . .hahahah, wait, no I don't.
(This post might be funny for you, but will be especially funny if you're a 20-something youth worker.) Here's the deal. CPH is horrible. I have an entire file cabinet dedicated to resource companies. Can you guess how many files are for CPH material? If I had my way there wouldn't be any, but I keep a current catalog handy just in case someone from my church wants to comment about how I never use CPH material. Just so I can ask them to point out what items are so great that I should be using tbem.

Here at St. Paul, we're gearing up for VBS next week. At our church this is a huge thing. We're a small church of about 400 people, but we'll see about 250 kids for VBS, most of whom aren't involved in our church otherwise. I get pulled in as a music leader for VBS, which is fine for me. I like leading music, and I think I'm kind of good at it. With that being said, let me, please oh please, run down some of the music/lyrics that CPH has graced us with in this years CPH VBS Curriculum, Construction I.N.C.

No it's not Spongebob, or is it?
Leave it to CPH to write a song titled "Here I Stand" (Subtitled, "No I don't have a Luther Complex, go away)
Lyrics in this gem include "Here I stand by grace alone. . . .Through faith alone."
Now, don't get me wrong, theologically I think CPH puts out great stuff, but this is a song supposedly written for 3 year olds to sing. Give me a break.

It reminds me of last years VBS theme song that included this line: "He was missed by the shepard who knew that he often had wandered." It was in a fast song too. The teachers could barely get through singing that line.


About a year ago I was in a meeting with local DFW-Lutheran church workers when someone mentioned that CPH wanted to start marketing themselves to other denominations, not just Lutheran. You know what happened? The room burst into laughter. The only reason any of us use it is because we're told we have to use it. I'm sorry to offend, but the stuff is generally horrible for youth materials. I feel sorry for my friends in ministry who are in churches that force CPH on them like it's pure gold. Some churches are so locked in that they won't use a resource unless it has that CPH stamp. What a load. Companies like Youth Specialties and Group are amazing for youth materials. Why? Because they're written by youth workers who know what kind of things will work and what kind of things kids will just laugh at and go back to their XBOX's. Oh wait, that's what I do too. . .

Do what you will.

I think my least favorite place to go on this planet is inside a christian bookstore. Today I went to Mardel, where I was pleased to see books such as:

What Would Jesus Eat?

Woman, thou art loosed: Recipes from T.D. Jakes

And of course, my personal favorite. . . .
The Makers Diet.
This one you've got to see. The cover looks oddly like the South Beach Diet books.


I just hate going into a place where WWJD bracelets abound, (for only 99 cents now!) And picking out a bible cover is like picking new jeans from A&F. What a bunch of crap. . .

The purpose driven lifeguard.

Several of my high school summers were spent working as a lifeguard for the city. I had my training, got my red swimsuit, and off I went. I liked the jobs. They were mostly fun with little hard work. I was always nervous, though, whenever I watched the pool. I always had an uneasy feeling about me as I scanned the swimmers, thinking that at any moment someone was sure to start drowning and need my assistance. I always feared what I would fail to see.
It’s an odd thing being in the life-saving business, and I guess lifeguarding is the closest I’ll ever get to being a medical professional. You see, when you’re the lifeguard, you’re the end-all life-saving guru within the fence. Sure you might have to call 9-11 for big emergencies, but you’re trained to pull a dying body out of the deep end and bring them back to life. But here’s the kicker . . .You aren’t the only one who can do this job, but you are the one the people have designated to save lives. Most groups of people are able to watch each other and know when someone’s in trouble and needs help. (It doesn’t take a genius to see when someone is drowning.) The lifeguard, however, is assigned the task of watching over others, and ensuring that the life-saving goes off without a hitch. It’s not that other people can’t do it, it’s just that some people think it’s best for one person to be selected as the lifeguard.

Now, I told you that so I could tell you this:
One afternoon at the pool, I’m sitting on the stand scanning the pool. It’s hard to see directly below you on a lifeguard stand, and typically the lifeguard will tell swimmers to stay out of that area. Anyhow, across the pool, underneath a lifeguard stand, I notice a young girl who is in obvious trouble. She is swimming with a friend who is right by her side. Her friend, a capable swimmer, could easily reach out an arm and pull the girl to the ledge, as it was only a few feet away. Instead of helping, the friend begins to climb out of the pool and taps on the lifeguard’s foot. Looking up, the girl tells the lifeguard that her friend needs help and points her out. The lifeguard, upon noticing the helpless girl, leaps off the stand and reaches out......




I hate to do this, but...
Normally I would want to just lay out a story and let the reader dig for themselves. This time, however, I want to add direction to the thoughts. I’ve had church tradition on my mind lately, and I wonder how many things started as merely good ideas, but have now snowballed into necessities for ‘true worship.’

A few quick things

Came across a couple sites that caught my eye. Nothing serious, just for fun. . .

See an aerial view of wherever.

The moon landing.

HTML Crazy

Haven't said much in awhile. I was gone for a couple days, and lazy once I was back.

So when I got that new template up a couple weeks ago I went a little nuts editing and rewriting. Along the way I'm sure I screwed a lot of things up, but hey, it was fun. I went ahead and scrapped what I had done to pick up one of bloggers new templates. It's cookie cutter, but it gets the job done, and I'm less likely to mess things up.

Thanks to an inadvertent recommendation from Adam I wanted to try hosting a picture over at image shack and this was about the only funny picture I could find on my computer. It's especially funny when you know the people in it.

Thus sayeth Disney

So the New York Times brings out a piece yesterday telling more about Disney's refusal to distribute Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. The article isn't too long, but here's a few things the writer has to say:

"A company that ought to be championing free expression has instead chosen to censor a documentary that clearly falls within the bounds of acceptable political commentary."

The writer ends the piece by saying "it is clear that Disney loves its bottom line more than the freedom of political discourse."


-Maybe Disney's goal isn't political discourse.
-Maybe Disney's goal is entertainment for their paying customers.
-Maybe Disney can choose to market whatever they want.
-Maybe I should make a movie and demand Disney distribute it.
-Maybe Michael Moore shouldn't worry because there are many other companies who will gladly distribute his film.
-Maybe you remember how no one said a word about a movie called 'The Passion of The Christ' that no one would distribute. Where was the NY Times writer when that happened?

In reference to something else

I read a post on blaugustine earlier today that got me going. Check out the article titled "Fighting for Civilization". It's just a response to the recent actions by American soldiers in prisoner camps. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Anyhow, check out the article; this was the response I posted:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Those who compare these atrocities to the actions taken by an entire regime belittle the magnitude of horror imposed upon people in other nations. Our country does not condone the actions taken in that prison and the guilty are being punished. Comparing that to a country that openly allowed and utilized things far worse is simply wrong. Bush haters will use this to try and show corruption; which is ridiculously unjustified. We have a leader who has openly stated that these actions are not condoned by this country, and action is being taken to ensure these kinds of things don’t happen again.
Were these actions wrong? Of course.
Has Bush been working to ensure they don’t happen again? Yes.
Shouldn’t we be pleased the government is taking steps [to] right the wrong?

Nah, you all are right. The actions of a few moron prison guards represent our entire country. We should just nuke ourselves and get it over with. Oh wait, but if we take the actions of a few and let them represent the whole, then we have to take this much further:

Radical Islam now represents all Muslims
Michael Moore represents all liberals
PETA represents all animal-lovers
The Crusades represent all Christians
Hugh Hefner represents all men
And Pam Anderson represents all women.

I guess you are all right. That was much easier.
------------------------------------------------------------


Please oh freakin please do not ever let an action in the name of [fill in your cause] construe your image of [fill in your cause].

As simple as I could imagine

Once in 3rd grade a friend of mine named Brett didn't want to play anymore. We were at recess so I went and complained to the teacher that she had to make Brett play with me. She just suggested I play with another group. What a horrible teacher.

Later that same school year, I tried to trade a 'How to Draw people' book with a kid from another class for his pencil holder. It was one of those cool ones that had compartments for everything. He wouldn't trade and I was mad. How dare he not make the deal with me? Didn't he see how great the deal was? I'm sure that guys in jail by now.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having the right to choose what or whom to publish/produce/support is not censorship. It is not a trampling of any speech freedoms. It is, in fact, an example of just how free our speech really is. Mike, you can say all you want about censorship. We know, however, that our choices make us free. Even if, from time to time, someone chooses against you. Welcome to our America Mike. You have to earn the right to be heard. And even then, it's our right not to listen.

Oh how times are changing

I changed things a few weeks ago, and I wasn't really satisfied with how the blog looked. I think now I'm getting closer to a template that I really enjoy. Things I'll still change soon:

- Text all over the place. It still looks a little hard to read.
- Mess around a little more with the toolbar section on the left.
- Eventually I'd like to host the site elsewhere, so I won't be under bloggers regime

Other than that, welcome to the newness.

Only so I don't forget

Tonight, upon reviewing the Lakers/Spurs game, Charles Barkley had this to say:

[In refernce to Karl Malone's age]


"my name is Charles Barkley, I used to be a great basketball player. Now I'm just a fat-ass guy"


followed by another great oneliner:

"Sports are not for old guys. . . this ain't baseball"


Sir Charles is my hero.