Sarah Palin took on the old boys' club in Alaska

She did it with her family right behind her.

The big thing you have to remember about Palin is that she's a woman of her word.

Oh, yes. And, she's an expert on energy.

Also, if you're even slightly thinking about voting for Palin's opponents, and you consider yourself to be a Christian, be assured of this: a vote for Obama damns you to hell.

Momma said there'd be days like this...

Admit it. At one time in your life, you've done something comparable to this.

Mann's Chapel

Mann's Chapel, the oldest church in Vermilion County of Illinois, was built in 1857. It's famous enough to warrant a Wikipedia entry.

You may ask, what's so special about Mann's Chapel?

Let's take a closer look at the steeple, shall we?


And now, a peek inside the church:

the neighbors' Halloween decorations

Last December, I posted several pictures of different Christmas scenes that my neighbors had constructed on their property. Since so many more people are decorating their homes for Halloween, I thought I'd take several snapshots and put them up. Here's one of a very close neighbor to my in-laws:

(don't) bring your problem children to Nebraska

I met with countless children during my years as a crisis therapist for a hospital. More often than not, I thought that the kid I saw had a lot of internal struggles and problems, but would behave much better if the mother and father knew how to "parent" better. If the kid was in a better environment (i.e., if he had different parents), the problematic behaviors would be greatly diminished.

Apparently, that was thinking of the folks in the great state of Nebraska when they designed a "safe-haven" law. I mean, why else would parents leave their 16-year-old boy at a hospital designed as a "safe-haven" zone, if there weren't some behavior problems? All that will soon change, however, when Nebraska switches to only accepting children younger than 4 days old.

The new law won't take effect until January, so you can still threaten to drive your incorrigible teen to Nebraska if she doesn't shape up.

diva with head of red

Why wait to catch up with someone at high school reunions when you can just "google" them and become a "friend"on Facebook?

You know, it's pretty surreal to surf the web, stop at Wikipedia, and uncover the scoop on someone you went to high school with. She's done some pretty interesting things these past 18 years.

General Colin Powell names his pick to be the next U.S. president

If you've paid attention to politics, Powell's endorsement really shouldn't come as a complete surprise. Yes, he's a Republican and a military man, just like John McCain. But, he's pro-choice and a self-described "fiscal conservative with a social conscience." He sees a vote for McCain as a backward step, and a vote for Obama as a leap into the future.

I've never had the opportunity to see in person - let alone meet - the former secretary of state, but my wife has. During his book tour of 1995, Powell made a stop at the most essential bookstore in Dayton, Ohio - Books & Co. I knew he was coming to town and would begin signing books at 5:00 PM, but I couldn't go to meet him because I was scheduled to work from 4:00 PM to midnight that evening. My wife was able to leave her work early enough to join the line, meet the general, and get a book signed.

playing games at school doesn't mean that education isn't occurring

Creativity is essential in teaching and treating children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as this article about a school in Decatur, Georgia, makes clear.

What makes the Community School unusual is not its student body — plenty of schools around the country enroll teenagers with an autism spectrum disorder. But, like about only two dozen schools in the country, it employs a relatively new, creative and highly interactive teaching method known as D.I.R./Floortime, which is producing striking results among T.C.S.’s student body. (D.I.R. stands for developmental, individual differences, relationship-based approach.) The method is derived from the work of Stanley Greenspan, a child psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry, behavioral science and pediatrics at George Washington University, and his colleague Dr. Serena Wieder. D.I.R./Floortime can be effective with all kinds of children, whether they have developmental challenges or not. As applied by T.C.S., it is an approach that encourages students to develop their strengths and interests by working closely with one another and with their teachers. The goal for students is neurological progress through real-world engagement.

With the skyrocketing diagnoses of A.S.D.’s in recent years, parents and school systems are challenged as never before to find techniques to keep these teenagers engaged, productive and nondespairing. Boys with A.S.D. (they outnumber girls four to one) who were difficult to console, to teach, to restrain at age 4 or 8 can be nearly impossible for parents and teachers to manage and to steer at 14 and 18. While a 25-pound toddler’s tantrum is wearying, a 150-pound teenager’s tantrum is dangerous. Puberty and young adulthood take many of these young people unawares.

How best to serve this population remains a subject of debate, because autism is a “final common pathway” diagnosis, meaning children arrive here from different points of origin, are troubled by a wide variety of issues and respond to different strategies. “You meet one child with autism and, well, you’ve met one child with autism,” says Linda Brandenburg, the director of school autism services at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland. Given the wide range of expression in autism and related disorders, there is no one-size-fits-all intervention. “We now know that there are several different models that seem to work — some more behavioral, some more developmental, some more eclectic,” Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, director of the Yale Child Study Center, told me. “What we really need to be doing, what the law says, is design programs around the kids rather than force kids into a program.”

Don't ask Joe Biden how many letters are in the word "jobs"

"it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things."

Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin:

Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came, essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere, the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow, unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S. Truman. Of the Marshall Plan, of containment. Little Harry was big. He had magic. You have to give people time to show what they have. Because maybe they have magic too.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

Governor Palin only has a few weeks left to show us her magic. I would suggest she use a news conference to show she can talk to reporters of different stripes, not just those who work for Fox News. What do you think, Peggy?

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

"I went in there one day, and in the drawing room I found Emily reclining in the arms of a man."

Emily Dickinson had a secret lover!

It's now widely assumed that that man was Judge Otis Lord, a widower of her father's generation who proposed marriage to Dickinson late in his life and hers (she died in 1886 at the age of 56) only to be affectionately rebuffed. "Don't you know," she wrote coyly but decisively, "that you are happiest while I withhold and not confer?" Yet the notion of Emily Dickinson making out in her living room is so foreign to our conception of her that her autumnal tryst with Judge Lord has never become part of the popular lore about her.

Will you read her poetry in the same way again? Is it better to think of her as an old spinster longing for the beauty of romantic companionship but never finding it? Is it disappointing to think that she wasn't so different from all us romantic fools?

I bet that if Emily Dickinson had been a fan of '80's pop songs, this one would have been near the top of her favorites list:

Two sure signs that October is here

Every store and produce stand keeps lots of these in stock:

Royal Donut, where smiley-face iced cookies can usually be found, starts making these:

for those who think I wholeheartedly support Barack Obama...

... I can assure you that I don't. Mainly because of this. I just don't see how someone can claim to value a human life, and casually consent to letting people kill an unborn child.

What kind of America do we want our beloved nation to be? Barack Obama's America is one in which being human just isn't enough to warrant care and protection. It is an America where the unborn may legitimately be killed without legal restriction, even by the grisly practice of partial-birth abortion. It is an America where a baby who survives abortion is not even entitled to comfort care as she dies on a stainless steel table or in a soiled linen bin. It is a nation in which some members of the human family are regarded as inferior and others superior in fundamental dignity and rights. In Obama's America, public policy would make a mockery of the great constitutional principle of the equal protection of the law. In perhaps the most telling comment made by any candidate in either party in this election year, Senator Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights, replied: ''that question is above my pay grade.'' It was a profoundly disingenuous answer: For even at a state senator's pay grade, Obama presumed to answer that question with blind certainty. His unspoken answer then, as now, is chilling: human beings have no rights until infancy - and if they are unwanted survivors of attempted abortions, not even then.

Anybody know of a great candidate for president whose name isn't John McCain or Barack Obama? I'm open to suggestions.

MORE: JT, take it away.

I don't watch "The Office"

I know - that's practically the same thing as saying "I don't breathe oxygen" to some of you out there. It's one of those shows, like Heroes, that I'd probably enjoy if I watched it, but for some reason or 'nother, it's not on my viewing list.

Maybe I'll watch it if someone tells me that it includes lots of scenes like this:



My inner geek finds it absolutely hilarious.

the irrationality of Bill Maher

Looks like the main star of Religulous isn't all that "rational" himself.

On Oct. 3, Mr. Maher debuts "Religulous," his documentary that attacks religious belief. He talks to Hasidic scholars, Jews for Jesus, Muslims, polygamists, Satanists, creationists, and even Rael -- prophet of the Raelians -- before telling viewers: "The plain fact is religion must die for man to live."

But it turns out that the late-night comic is no icon of rationality himself. In fact, he is a fervent advocate of pseudoscience. The night before his performance on Conan O'Brien, Mr. Maher told David Letterman -- a quintuple bypass survivor -- to stop taking the pills that his doctor had prescribed for him. He proudly stated that he didn't accept Western medicine. On his HBO show in 2005, Mr. Maher said: "I don't believe in vaccination. . . . Another theory that I think is flawed, that we go by the Louis Pasteur [germ] theory." He has told CNN's Larry King that he won't take aspirin because he believes it is lethal and that he doesn't even believe the Salk vaccine eradicated polio.

Anti-religionists such as Mr. Maher bring to mind the assertion of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown character that all atheists, secularists, humanists and rationalists are susceptible to superstition: "It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and can't see things as they are."

Cedarville is growing

Despite past controversies (or perhaps because of them?), Cedarville University continues to expand. Ten new majors and five new minors will be added to the curriculum next fall.


Communication Arts

• Journalism
• Intercultural communication
• Comprehensive communication
• Media communication
• Organizational communication
• Political communication

Exercise and Sports Science

• Allied health
• Sport management (minor)

Language and Literature

• Asian studies (minor)
• French (minor)

Music, Art and Worship

• Worship

Science and Mathematics

• Chemistry Education
• Environmental science
• Actuarial science (minor)

For a history of Cedarville University, go here.

Palin abused her power

While the Alaska governor was busy questioning Senator Obama's "associations," she was being questioned about her own activities. The report is out:

Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to try to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, an investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded. The inquiry found, however, that she was within her right to dismiss her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who was the trooper’s boss.

And this is someone whom the evangelical community is supposed to embrace wholeheartedly? If you're going to ask people to look closely at the actions of others, you better have your own house in order. Twigs and logs in the eye, and all that.

Yes We Carve

What will your pumpkins look like at the end of the month? Perhaps this place can give you some good ideas. Or you could check out here.

Quote for the Day

"It's the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel. If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel, I can say to him any and every time that he should kiss my backside... Once I debate about what I have done and left undone, I am finished. But if I reply on the basis of the gospel, 'The forgiveness of sins covers it all,' I have won."

Martin Luther

To: the "lurker" pastor who has known me for the past 17 years

Yeah. You know who you are. You should visit here, because it's for you and all the guys like you, including our mutual friends in Naptown. After you've been there, come back here and let your very first comment on this blog be to tell me what you think.

AND: Read this, too.

True Woman

My mother-in-law is attending the True Woman Conference in Chicago this weekend. Tim Challies will be live-blogging. With speakers such as John Piper, Janet Parshall, and Joni Eareckson Tada, the conference should be an intriguing event. You can't sign up now to attend since all tickets have been sold, but the conference will be streamed live on the web.

does height make a difference when it comes to the presidency?

This chart shows that America tends to vote for the man who is taller and/or heavier. The more there is of a man, the more America likes him for the presidency. I guess it's better for us to have a president who has enough weight to make a difference when he throws it around.

You do realize who the taller man is in this election cycle, don't you?

No, we didn't ask for your opinion about the debate, Roger...

...but I'm always glad to read it.

Film reviews for "Religulous"

Bill Maher's film Religulous is being touted as a comical-serious examination of the beliefs and practices of religion, with particular attention paid to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. According to the film's site, Maher is "known for his astute analytical skills, irreverent wit and commitment to never pulling a punch." You can go here for the film trailer.

Baltimore Sun

Maher's subject in Religulous, and it's a useful one, is religion as it is actually practiced in the suburbs, the country and the streets. He's an agnostic, not an atheist. His goal is to proclaim doubt about the mysteries that surround our mortality (such as what happens at death), and thus promote rationalism. He leaves certainty to true believers. He doesn't ponder what faith can do except summon a vision of the afterlife or provide an alternative to nothingness for the jailed or destitute.

Beliefnet

Early on in the movie, Maher makes a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. Good choice. It's actually one of my favorite places to visit. But the Raleigh that Maher visits in the movie looks nothing like the Raleigh I know. His entire visit seemed to consist of a trip to a tiny chapel at a truck stop where a few truckers meet for church. They obviously didn't know who Maher was, or what his shtick was, and they quickly become offended when he peppered them with questions about the credibility of the gospel they passionately believe in. Watching that scene, I had only one thought in my head: If you want to pick on someone your own elitist intellectual size, Duke University Divinity School is right down the road!

And that incident more or less sums up the problem with this movie. There is plenty to satirize about religion. There is plenty to debate about religion. But Maher spends time offending those believers of all faiths who are easily offended or fearful and never engages with believers who aren't afraid of clever banter, witty one-liners, and cheap shots. Not only is there not much sport in that, but, come to find out, there's really not much entertainment value in it, either.

Cinematical

Religulous will not inspire any person of faith to give up their beliefs, of course -- and whether you see that as a demonstration of unyielding devotion or unthinking dogma will, again, depend on your point of view -- but Maher and Charles, to their credit, seem to be focusing their film more at challenging non-believers than believers. Maher's big finish for Religulous is tonally very similar to the way he closes out his HBO show Real Time -- a stern, serious discussion that follows the jokes like serving broccoli after dessert -- where Maher's line of argument is that non-believers need to step up, speak out and be heard to try and change the course of public opinion, that religious 'moderates' need to see their behavior as dangerous, enabling complicity that helps empower radical elements which cannot go unnoticed or unchallenged in an age where, as Maher puts it, "We learned to precipitate mass death before we got over the neurological disorder of wishing for it." And Maher also -- in his own words, in his own way -- conveys the conflict felt by every non-believer who would like to believe in a just, kind and loving god but can't. Religulous is full of contradictions -- it's a funny film about some depressing things, it's a lighthearted tour through terrorism, injustice and intolerance. But those contradiction and challenges are, ultimately, what make the film linger uneasily in your mind, reaching past comedy and confrontation to challenge the audience with a fierce and forceful prayer that there might be no god.

Newsday

You don't need to believe in God to take issue with Bill Maher's Religulous, a quasi-documentary that mocks religion as ridiculous, crazy, even dangerous. It's a nasty, condescending, small-minded film, self-amused and ultimately self-defeating. Its only accomplishment is to make atheists look bad - and in this political climate they didn't need Maher's help with that.

San Francisco Chronicle

In the end, Maher reveals his serious intent, to put forth the idea that not just fundamentalism but religion in all forms is a danger to the survival of civilization. Agree or not, that's a serious idea, but the obnoxious interviews and the zany treatment undercut it. Certainly, if his intent was to persuade anyone of his view, well, fat chance of that. (If anything, Maher is obnoxious enough to make people want to get religion.) In the moment, the message of "Religulous" is that everybody who believes in God is stupid, cowardly or intellectually dishonest. That's a sentiment better expressed in a single wisecrack, not a feature-length documentary.

Biden & Palin

The Vice Presidential Debate of 2008 has come and gone, and it wasn't as painful as everyone feared it might be. Palin spoke in coherent sentences, and Biden didn't make any ridiculous statements. Okay, Karl Rove and Sean Hannity thought Biden made ridiculous statements, but that's neither here nor there and both candidates had difficulty staying completely factual.

I'd say Biden technically won the debate, but Palin gained some ground that had been lost after her interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric. The polls have shown that Obama has a lead over McCain, so we will have to see if this debate made any kind of difference. Palin showed she has substance, but we have a month to go before we know how that translates into votes.

Go here for a transcript.

Don't Vote!

Seriously. You should make all your decisions based upon what Forrest Whitaker, Jennifer Aniston, and Jonah Hill tell you. I mean, you're reading about them in OK and US Weekly anyways, right?

Doh! Now I'm gonna have carbonite sickness!

I'm not a fan of The Simpsons, but I think the opening credits here is just fantastic.

From Sankara Stones to the Ark of the Covenant to the Holy Grail to the Crystal Skulls

Peter Chattaway on the spiritual (in)significance of the Indiana Jones series.

Banned Books Week

Were you aware of such a thing? Well, there is, and it's this very week. I've read only one of the "10 Most Challenged Books of 2007" - Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass.

the hope of the evangelical on Election Day

Scot McKnight has an absolutely excellent piece about the eschatology of politics.

Where is our hope? To be sure, I hope our country solves its international conflicts and I hope we resolve poverty and dissolve our educational problems and racism. But where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on November 4? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? If so, I submit that our eschatology has become empire-shaped, Constantinian, and political. And it doesn’t matter to me if it is a right-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Republican wins, or a left-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Democrat wins. Each has a misguided eschatology.

As they say, read the whole thing.

AND THE WHOLE WORLD HAS TO ANSWER RIGHT NOW, JUST TO TELL YOU ONCE AGAIN...: What's BADD?

Does the MSM want Obama to win the presidency?

Professor Althouse believes it does. And so do I. Absolutely.

Is Jesus Enough?

That's the question Brant Hansen has had on his mind.

My name is Brant, and I'm on mind-altering drugs. And that is both the best first line, ever, on this blog, and -- distressingly --it's also quite true.

Read the rest, please.

will Palin step down?

Some conservative people, like Brooks and Frum, think John McCain's choice for the vice presidency doesn't have the chops for the job, even if she does consider herself to be a pitbull.

"Sarah Palin has many virtues," Brooks wrote in a recent column. "If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she'd be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness."

Maybe the brashness is what McCain likes about her. But brashness isn't always equated with good decision-making skills. And we don't need someone on the job who counts her state's nearness to Russia as something akin to having international experience.

AND: I guess we don't have to watch the debate tonight, because we already have a declared winner.

the most famous drugstore in America

Have you been?

meeting with the presidents

Recently, my step-father-in-law attended a reunion of his squadron from the U.S. Air Force. The reunion was held at the base in Rapid City, South Dakota. Guess who he and my mother-in-law were able to see when they were there?



The presidents were gracious enough to grant an audience, up close and personal.


Question: if plans were made to add a fifth face to the monument, whose would you suggest? I would vote for FDR, for leading the country through the Great Depression and the majority of WWII.

the similarities between a hockey mom and a pitbull

We all know how they're different, but they are the same in that neither have the ability to answer a question.

I'm no fanboy of Andrew Sullivan, but I think he's right to question this. If she's as unafraid as a pitbull, why isn't she talking to the press more?

Apparently, thousands of women are experiencing hysteria because Sarah Palin could be the next Veep

Senator McCain's selection of Governor Palin of Alaska as his running mate, which was hailed in some quarters and met with skepticism in others, is sparking intense reactions from some New Yorkers, who report being driven to fits of rage and even all-consuming panic.

All of my women friends, a week ago Monday, were on the verge of throwing themselves out windows," an author and political activist, Nancy Kricorian of Manhattan, said yesterday. "People were flipping out. ... Every woman I know was in high hysteria over this. Everyone was just beside themselves with terror that this woman could be our president — our potential next president."

Thanks, Josh Gerstein, for bring to mind an old psychological term. You know what I immediately think of when I hear the word hysteria?

This:

"you don't win any apologetic merit badges by demanding a 7-day creation when the point of that story has nothing to do with a calendar week."

You in fact should take at least one demerit for doing so -- and you will, from those you are seeking to evangelize."yeah, but!" comes the response for many, if not all, of you loyal readers. "Yeah but what about the word 'day'? Don't we need to get very interested in how the word 'yom' is used in Genesis 1 so we can finally put to bed how old the universe is?"

Frank on the point on Genesis 3. He started here.

Shiver me timbers!

It's that time of year again...

Happy morning!

If Salvadore Dali made commercials, they would surely look like this, for Folgers coffee (my dad loves it! the coffee, not the commercial):

Conrad Heyers examines the language of Genesis

Careful consideration of Genesis 1 in its historical and theological context indicates that it uses a very different kind of narrative form and linguistic usage than those used in modern natural histories. Much of the controversy over creation and evolution is, therefore, inappropriate and misleading.

Read.

Was the universe "born" in 4004 BC? I can guess what my nonChristian friends who stop by here would say, but what about my Christian friends (and family)?

What would my name be if Sarah Palin was my mother?

Spoon Archer Palin.

What would your name be?

devastation, in pictures

Ike.

Hope believers can believe in

Believers for Barack. I'm thinking they're probably younger, nonfundie types of believers.

(HT: LaShawn)

what they said about Elvis

That's the real trick, isn't it? Knowing the line between dangerous and too dangerous, and vowing not to cross it.

Farm Bird

Bipolar disorder

Not just for adults. James, the focus of this New York Times article on the growing prevalance of bipolar disorder diagnoses among children, was declared to be bipolar at age 8.

birthdays and sunsets down on the farm

We had the privilege of enjoying a down-home sunset when we attended the birthday party for The Wife's uncle. He has a farm in Vermilion County, Illinois, where he grows mostly corn and soybeans. He turned 80 years old, and his daughter and two sons decided to throw him a surprise celebration. My mother-in-law baked and iced the cake, while The Wife added the decorations.

Obviously, The Wife's uncle is one of John Deere's biggest fans. Yes, that's him in the lower right corner.

Why do people stay when they know a potentially devastating hurricane is coming?

A hurricane isn't like a tornado, which can be extremely destructive but often comes with only a few minutes' - or even seconds' - worth of warning. Earthquakes can happen with no warning whatsoever. Hurricanes develop over the ocean, and often take several days to reach land. People are able to watch the hurricane strengthen or weaken as it comes toward them. They can track the storm through the TV or the Internet. If weather forecasters and reporters and saying that there will be a large amount of damage, why do the people who should be able to evacuate (not those why stay because they have no resources or transportation) decide to stay?


Newsweek talked to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and an associate dean for Columbia University. He was asked about those people who voluntarily chose to stay despite warnings:

I heard an interview this morning on NPR with someone who was electing to stay in Galveston. This was a guy, his family and extended family, that were moving into a masonary building to ride it out. They are strong-willed, independent individuals who I think relish the idea of riding out something most of us would consider to be too dangerous to remain. However, this is an evacuation with several days' warning.

We just did a study on evacuations under scenarios of disasters without warnings. We are very concerned about disasters that occur without warning when we have to do evacuations in real-time—in essence, immediate—for example, an earthquake or a terrorist nuclear attack. We found about two thirds of people with children would not comply with official orders to evacuate until and unless they were able to retrieve their children from school or day care. If we have two thirds of the population with children that would not comply, what we would have is evacuation chaos and an absolute breakdown of disaster response in circumstances that provided no warning. Under those circumstances, unless we got much better at having well-developed disaster plans that parents were comfortable with, we can anticipate extreme chaos as public officials would be unable to stop parents determined to get their kids.

But of course, the storm hit last night, a Friday night heading into the weekend. People could have left the previous night, especially if schools and businesses were closed yesterday due to the hurricane. It's not like they were waiting around waiting for school to end.


I think there are a variety of reasons:

1. People have lived through some bad weather before and they think, I survived. Nothing's going to happen to me this time.
2. People listen to the reports and think, It can't be as bad as they say it will be.
3. Some people are just plain stupid.

"I’d denied it ever since I was a kid."

I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, ‘I’m still gay. I know I am.’ And I just got to the place where I couldn’t take it anymore … when I was going through all this darkness, I thought, ‘Just end this.’"

Gospel music singer Ray Boltz has come out as a gay man.

(HT: JT)

If you're going to run a compaign on "straight talk," it needs to be honest talk

Because, you know, character counts.

AND: Will we get some straight talk about this?

Ike comes to Texas

Take time out of the day to pray for those in Texas.

the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one... or even Sharpay

Only Chattaway can compare the High School Musical movies with the Stark Trek films.

I think the worship team at my in-law's church will be doing this on Sunday

(H/T: Frank Turk)

send them to Iraq

In his highly praised documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore is shown chasing several people in Congress and asking them if they were sending their children into the military to serve in Iraq. I wonder what he thinks about Sarah Palin sending out her son.

the special music at my in-law's church last Sunday

Tom Brady out

Tom Brady, arguably the best modern day quarterback, is out for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. Since I am a Colts fan, I am bound to hate the Patriots, but I take absolutely no pleasure in this news. Hopefully Brady will have a full recovery and be back for another season. This severely hurts the Pats' chances of performing well in the playoffs, if they make it there.

Happy birthday, Ben Linus

My favorite character on Lost turns 54 today. Okay, Michael Emerson, the man once known as Henry Gale, turns 54. In his honor, you should hang out on an island, manipulate everybody around you, and visit creepy guys in rocking chairs.

"Slacker Uprising"

Michael Moore's film Slacker Uprising is being released online for free - "this is being done entirely as a gift to my friends." The film's original title was the more humble Captain Mike Across America. Well, maybe it's not entirely a gift.

You can sign up here to get it through your email.

one major difference between being a mayor and being a community organizer? the money

I guess Governor Palin is taking some time off so she can learn how to answer the tough questions, and no doubt she'll be asked about this. Of course, she moved on from governing a small town to governing a state, so her past hasn't dictated her future.

UPDATED: Palin has agreed to an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson - they will meet later this week.

Equus vs Ursus horribilis

It's a rematch of Super Bowl 41 when the Indianapolis Colts take on the Chicago Bears in tonight's game at the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium. Tune in tonight at 8:15 ET/7:15 CT. I may live in Illinois now, but I remain a fan of the Colts. True Blue fans know where to go.

UPDATE: Ugh. For us Colts fans, it truly was horrible.

I want to mourn the loss of all the crabgrass and dandelions, and tell them that we love them!

When tree-huggers get weepy.

(HT: In the Agora)

a thought about McCain and this "Country First" business

During the Republican National Convention last week, many people raised signs that read "Country First." McCain talked about it during his speech last Thursday, how he puts America first because America "saved" him. (Did America actually "save" his immortal soul, or merely prolong his mortal life on Earth until the inevitable comes?) McCain said that he refused to leave the Hanoi Hilton before others who had been there longer than him, simply because they were fellow Americans. The audience clapped and cheered as he talked about how he has - and will - always put his country first.

I have to ask: Is "Country First" something that should be not only shouted from arena floors, but also practiced in public and private lives? Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." If we are to live as citizens of Jesus' kingdom, is it permissible to say, "Country first?"

I don't need to ask Obama into my heart. I just need to ask America.

God as a woman

A feminine view of God.

(HT: BHT)

panorama shot of the Republican convention

No matter what you think of McCain/Palin, this shot looks pretty cool.

an interview with Joe Carter

Justin Taylor interviewed Joe Carter about the current state of Evangelical Outpost and his new venture at Culture 11.

"Want to buy some illusions? Slightly used, second-hand..."

They were lovely illusions,
Reaching high, built on sand.
They had a touch of paradise,
A spell you can't explain...

I think both conventions should have featured Marlene Dietrich singing this song. Pity she's no longer available.

Does Fox News Channel's Greta Van Sustern know her ABC's?

As some dude from Idaho was talking about casting their delegates' votes for John McCain, Greta asked, "Isn't Arizona the first state alphabetically? Where's Arizona?"

Greta, ALASKA comes before ARIZONA if we're doing things alphabetically. L before R. I think you need to give your kindergarten teacher a phone call.

RELATED: Nice speech, Governor. I bet you know which state comes first alphabetically.

Don LaFontaine, a voice out of this world

I will not suffer a woman...

When you're a man, it's easy to say a woman shouldn't have authority over men.

there will be blood

Speaking of Daily Kos, this is the biggest reason why it should disturb you.

Westville Labor Day Parade 2008

Just like last year, The Wife and I took the kids to the Labor Day parade in downtown Westville, Illinois. Even though it was 94 degrees and we forgot to bring lounge chairs, we still had an enjoyable time.

We couldn't believe all the celebrities we saw, like the Fazoli's Tomato:

And this famous captain:

no love for the Joker in Japan

The Japanese don't seem to care for The Dark Knight. Maybe the next Batman movie should showcase this dastardly, more-evil-than-Satan-himself feline.

Sarah Palin, the Republican choice for Veep

McCain thinks she's good enough, and evangelicals are sure to like her. Palin's own mother-in-law, not so much.

"I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh. "People will say she hasn't been on the national scene long enough. But I believe she's a quick study."

Not quite a ringing endorsement. It also doesn't help that Palin is like a lot of travelers - she's got some baggage.

RELATED: Andrew is writing about this stuff? When did his blog start looking like Perez Hilton's?

AND: Need proof that feminism is dead? Read this post over at Daily Kos. Yeah, let's all peruse and think about and examine and publicly discuss - on the Internet for the world to read, mind you - the body of a 16-year-old girl. It's not like that kind of thing hasn't already been in our brains.

I'm talking to the man in the mirror, and he's turning 50

Can you believe it? Michael Jackson is 50 years old! Well, most of him is. I don't think his nose is a teenager yet. Anyway, here are some photos to look at. Don't stop 'til you get enough.

the passing of a friend

It's truly a strange thing to not really think about someone for nearly two decades, then to hear of his passing and be unable to stop thinking about him. One of my friends from high school, Heath Hartline, recently went to be with the Lord after a brief battle with colon cancer. You can read his obituary here. The picture exactly portrays how I remember him - a smiling, friendly guy.

God rest you, Heath.

a truly historic day

It's a day where we remember this speech, given two score and five years ago...


And, it's a day where a man of African descent accepts the nomination of a major political party for the presidency of the United States.

the 28th Olympiad

I've been preoccupied with many things to devote much time to blogging these days, but I do want to reflect back on the Summer Olympics. China did exactly what it wanted to do: provide incredible venues for the Games, give us some ceremonies to remember, and totally dominate the medal stand. I can't say that I'll think back fondly on the closing ceremony (BTW, wasn't that Jackie Chan singing with that boy band?), but I can't imagine how London can top what Beijing was able to produce for its opening ceremony. I have to point out, however, that China could have done so much more by showing a willingness to be "open," instead of silencing dissenting voices and arresting those who dared pray.

But we must return to the opening ceremony. 2008 drummers in unison? That fantastic scroll? That perfect-looking girl lipsynching to the words sung by some buck-toothed girl? Those enhanced fireworks displays? The host nation may be a Communist, but the opening ceremony incoporated much of China's cultural, historical, philosophical, and (yes) religious history. Will London attempt anything like that, or will we just hear a lot of music by the Beatles, the Who, and the Stones? If the closing ceremony in Beijing gives us any indication, we'll be seeing lots of umbrellas and double-decker buses four years from now.

Many of the athletes became household names, but none more so than Michael Phelps of the U.S. and Usain Bolt of Jamaica. Phelps dominated the first week, winning eight gold medals in as many events. If you want to know how to beat somebody by 0.01 seconds, Phelps shows you how. He's the current cover-boy of Sports Illustrated, striking a pose similar to the one made by Mark Spitz in 1972 when he won a mere seven gold medals. If Phelps was the god of the waters, then surely Bolt was the god of the air. Every time he ran in a final, he won a gold medal and destroyed the world record. Apparently, he also has the power to improve a few Hollywood films. I had to stop and think: how fast can someone really run?

The U.S. team sports did very well. There's been much talk about the supposed "redemption" of the basketball team, but I have to think that they were fairly lucky to beat Spain out for the gold this time. I am much more impressed by the men's water polo team, who secured a silver medal when they weren't even supposed to get very far. I am much more impressed by the men's volleyball team, who won gold for a coach who had lost his father-in-law just as the Games were getting underway. I am much more impressed by both beach volleyball teams, who knew what it was like to turn golden while wearing skimpy clothing in the Beijing sunlight (well, the women wore skimpy clothes...). I am much more impressed by the men's gymnastic team, who lost two of their star players - the Hamm brothers - just before the Games began but were still able to secure the bronze medal (thanks largely to this dude's efforts).

Anyway, thanks, Beijing. We've seen how China does the Olympics, and now it's the Brits' turn.

Obama finally makes his choice

The world finally knows who Barack Obama wants to be a mere heartbeat away from the presidency. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. It seems a bit odd that America's first biracial presidential candidate, a self-proclaimed 'citizen of the world,' would pick the same kind of person that so many others have done: a white guy. Picking a woman would probably have pleased the many Hillary supporters, but then again, they may have been unhappy with anbody whose name wasn't Hillary Clinton.

I guess Obama reallly didn't mind being called "bright" and "clean," huh?

Speaking of interesting choices, Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz (which is still on my bookshelf, unread), will be praying this coming Monday night at the Democratic National Convention. He gave an interview about his agreement to pray here.

Driscoll on Harsh Language

Question: Does the Bible exhort believers to always speak as God speaks?

LOLBush

Hilarious.

you mean, he's not Bach?

If they handed out medals for guest-blogging, Frank Turk over at Justin Taylor's place would get the gold for this piece on Christian bookstores. Go read it now and you'll understand the meaning of my title.

the difference between summer & winter

I look at these guys and I think, There's no way I could be an Olympian.

Then, I look at these guys and I think, Yeah, maybe I could.

a collapse at Arches National Park

One of Arches' arches has collapsed.



Thanks to Ann Althouse for this info - she has a photo-tour of her trip to the park. I visited Arches National Park with my parents and grandmother in the early 1980's.

fried bananas foster cheesecake

That's the signature food of the Indiana State Fair this year, and it's free of trans fat. Three fried cubes of cheesecake, accompanied by ice cream and caramel sauce. The bargain price of $4. You're always expected to pay outrageous prices for fair food. I wonder how that tradition got started...



I digress. Back to the cheesecake. I liked the creaminess of the vanilla-flavored cheesecake, coupled with the layer of bananas foster. The creamy ice cream and fried cheesecake went very well together. Whipped cream would have made the dessert even more enjoyable. That, and if it was $2 instead of $4.

You can make your own dessert with this recipe.

donkeys at the Indiana State Fair 2008

The family and I had enjoyable time at the fair last night. The weather was pleasant and the crowds weren't crushingly overbearing. We were able to hear a few songs from Carrie Underwood's concert, including "Jesus, Take the Wheel." Our daughters didn't become bored and they didn't complain of tiredness. All in all, a good night.


The Cute One was fascinated with the donkeys. We went through the horse barn and she petted a few. After we left to enjoy an elephant ear, she begged us to return to the horse barn.

the Games have begun!

Did you watch the opening ceremony? If you didn't, you missed quite the show, so here are some photos for you to enjoy.

faith and science

See? They can go together. On a wall, at least. Notice that Mother Teresa's head is both higher and bigger than Einstein's. Was the artist trying to say something by positioning them this way?

From the outside of this downtown Indianapolis store.

McCain, Obama & pop culture

Entertainment Weekly, the go-to mag for all things related to pop culture, interviewed both presidential candidates. John and Barack offered some intriguing revelations. Among them:

• John "kind of like(s)" Dexter, "although it certainly has a macabre side to it." When the star of the show is a serial killer who only kills bad people, it's going to be more than just a little macabre. (I must confess: I like it, too.)
• Barack and Michelle must not have too many date nights that involve dinner and a movie. The last film he saw in the theater was Shrek the Third.
• On their iPods: Frank Sinatra and Sheryl Crow (for Barack); ABBA and Usher (for John)

Steven Curtis Chapman on "GMA"

I LOVE THE SMELL OF SHEEP, HORSES, AND COWS IN THE MORNING

One of the best things to do during an Indiana summertime is to visit the State Fair. This year's fair is being held from today through August 17. I think you have to visit at least one day if you're going to call yourself a Hoosier.

The American Idols Live! Tour isn't stopping at the fair like it previously has - they were here last month. The fair will offer a good amount of entertainment, including some Idols of yesteryear like past winner Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Bucky Covington, and Chris Sligh. Sorry, no Sanjaya...

I plan on attending this Friday, and I'll post a few pictures for you. If you, too, plan on visiting Friday, here is what you will see.

NOBAYHMA

Evan Bayh says he wasn't asked to join the ticket.

Joey Cheek denied China visit

Joey Cheek, one of my favorite athletes from the 2006 Winter Olympics, planned to go to China but has been told his travel visa has been revoked.

The Team Darfur co-founder had planned to fly to China on Wednesday to join dozens of Beijing Olympics athletes who plan to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan... Cheek, a speedskating gold and silver medalist at the Turin Winter Olympics, had planned to attend the Beijing Games to help draw attention the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Cheek released a statement:

I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur. Team Darfur’s main efforts have been to advocate for an Olympic Truce for Darfur, and to raise awareness about the crisis and ask for lasting peace on behalf of the children of Darfur.

The Olympic Truce captures the spirit of the Olympics: around the Games, the world should come together to work for peace and speak out against conflict. The Chinese government’s efforts to suppress athletes, even those who are competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, who speak about essential human rights issues, is a violation of that core Olympic spirit.

The 2008 Olympic Games begin this Friday, August 8, in Beijing, China.

What IS the best way to stuff $90,000 into a freezer?

Because sometimes, it's really important to know.

You better be careful if you go to Montauk

You never know what may wash up on shore.

Pierre Berès, 1913-2008

I occasionally peruse the obit section of the New York Times, and I was intrigued by this one on Pierre Berès, a book collector and seller. He died last Monday at the age of 95.

“We have lost a legendary figure in the world of art, collecting and publishing,” said the French culture minister, Christine Albanel.

Mr. Berès had already staged a memorable exit from the world of books in 2005. Closing the store he had run since the late 1930s on the Avenue Friedland, near the Arc de Triomphe, he put his collection of 12,000 books up for sale. In a series of six sales at Drouet, the auction house, spaced out over two years, records fell as bidders lined up for treasures like the first edition of Rimbaud’s “Season in Hell,” inscribed by the author to Verlaine.

The sale realized more than 35 million euros. Mr. Berès headed off to retirement in his modern villa in St. Tropez, but not before making a final grand gesture. Unexpectedly, he removed from the sale and donated to the French nation an edition of “The Charterhouse of Parma” that included Stendhal’s revisions, undertaken after he read Balzac’s criticisms of the novel’s opening pages.

I've always been intrigued with the idea of owning a bookshop. Berès excelled in acquiring and selling desirable rare books. I guess if you're going to retire from the bookshop world, 35 million euros is a good number to live on.

Mr. Berès excelled at creating a personal mystique. “I do not seek, I find,” he once proclaimed, cryptically, about his uncanny knack for turning up rare editions.

What's your personal mystique? If you have one, would other people say it is "excellent?" If you're going to live a life, you might as well make it an interesting one.

what Christian civility isn't

One of my reasons for blogging springs from a desire to speak my mind. I always hope to be respectful of other people's opinions, but that doesn't mean I must agree with them. The blogosphere is notoriously uncivil at times, even among bloggers who name the name of Christ. I hope to take Richard Mouw's teachings on Christian civility to heart.

Christian civility does not commit use to a relativistic perspective. Being civil doesn't mean that we cannot criticize what goes on around us. Civility doesn't require us to approve of what other people believe and do. It is one thing to insist that other people have the right to express their basic convictions; it is another thing to say that they are right in doing so. Civility requires us to live by the first of these principles. But it does not commit us to the second formula. To say that all beliefs and values deserve to be treated as if they were on par is to endorse relativism - a perspective that is incompatible with Christian faith and practice.

From page 20 of Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World.

"I have become a symbol of America..."

John McCain brings the presidential campaign to new heights (or the lowest depths?) with a new ad, attempting to use Barack Obama's own words against him:



In your mind, did McCain succeed? I think it's a risky move. McCain has tried to show Obama's recent European trek as a negative: Europeans like him, so this proves that he'll be a terrible president. I can't see how being liked and/or respected in Europe is an automatically negative thing. I have problems with Obama for other reasons, most notably his horrible views on prolife issues, but not because he's a celebrity.

Sitemeter woes

I have a Dell computer. Because I have a Dell, I have Microsoft. Because I have Microsoft, I use Internet Explorer. Because I'm linked to Sitemeter through this blog, I haven't been able to access it (or any other blogs powered by Blogger) because Internet Explorer and Sitemeter have been having... problems. So, for the past few days, I haven't been able to blog.

Things seem to be better now. Criminy, Internet Explorer can suck at times.