March 2007 Archives
Saturday March 31, 2007
"A loss of faith"
This New York Times story speaks for itself. It is about a senior Bush official who is speaking out because of his loss of faith in the president. I know of what he speaks. Even now when I say or write things that are critical of President Bush or the administration it is from a sense of sadness and not from anger. It is the sort of thing I hate doing because it is the sort of thing I simply don't want to be true. But these things are true and Matthew Dowd deserves nothing but empathy, respect, and credit.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 8:12pm
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Perfect holy week art?
So, imagine this - an "artist" has created an "anatomically correct sculpture" of Jesus crucified. Yes, fully naked, out of chocolate as if on a cross. I am generally pretty laid back about such things - artists should be able to do whatever it is that artists want to do. I may object, I may be horrified, but art and art and art should be as free as art can be. As such, let this "artist" do what he wants.
If art is free to express itself, however, so to the public is free to declare judgment. It must declare judgment because art is open to all critiques. And so with this piece of "art" I think it can be freely said that it is simply absurd... but not surprising.
In some ways it is actually the perfect piece of art for holy week because it reminds all of those who follow Jesus of how he was mocked and ridiculed, how he was scorned and beaten, how he was humiliated... and all because of his love for us. Those are good things for his followers to remember. Jesus' story isn't nice, it isn't neat, it isn't comfortable. It is the opposite of all of those things. In so many ways we want a sort of "chocolate Jesus" of our own - one that is sweet, one that demands little from us, one that we can mold into our forms - perhaps politically conservative, perhaps liberal, maybe happy with just a few of our dollars given to the poor every now and again, perhaps content with those who simply say they love him and then lead lives little different from anyone else.
Instead of having religious/political leaders getting all amped up over this "art," they should be spending time facing the real and very challenging Jesus found in the Gospels and encouraging others to do the same. I know that is what I need to do.
If art is free to express itself, however, so to the public is free to declare judgment. It must declare judgment because art is open to all critiques. And so with this piece of "art" I think it can be freely said that it is simply absurd... but not surprising.
In some ways it is actually the perfect piece of art for holy week because it reminds all of those who follow Jesus of how he was mocked and ridiculed, how he was scorned and beaten, how he was humiliated... and all because of his love for us. Those are good things for his followers to remember. Jesus' story isn't nice, it isn't neat, it isn't comfortable. It is the opposite of all of those things. In so many ways we want a sort of "chocolate Jesus" of our own - one that is sweet, one that demands little from us, one that we can mold into our forms - perhaps politically conservative, perhaps liberal, maybe happy with just a few of our dollars given to the poor every now and again, perhaps content with those who simply say they love him and then lead lives little different from anyone else.
Instead of having religious/political leaders getting all amped up over this "art," they should be spending time facing the real and very challenging Jesus found in the Gospels and encouraging others to do the same. I know that is what I need to do.
posted by
J-Walking
@11:04am
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Friday March 30, 2007
More of this!
From today's New York Times, news of new thinking to help the poor. The concept is simple - encourage poor families get out of poverty using financial incentives to get them to do the things that will help in the process.
Under the program, which is based on a similar effort in Mexico, parents would receive payments every two months for family members meeting any of a series of criteria. The payments could range from $25 for exemplary attendance in elementary school to $300 for a high score on an important exam, city officials said.
...To be eligible, families must have at least one child entering fourth, seventh or ninth grade and a household income of 130 percent or less of the federal poverty level, which equals roughly $20,000 for a single parent with two children.
Interestingly, the funding for this pilot program is coming from private and not from public sources.
Likening the payments, known as conditional cash transfers, to tax incentives that steer people of greater means toward property ownership, Mr. Bloomberg said that the approach was intended to help struggling families who often focus on basic daily survival make better long-term decisions and break generational cycles of poverty and dependence.Is this controversial? Yes. Is it guaranteed to work? No. But it is worth doing at every level. Let's have lots of very controversial programs to help the poor. Let's start arguments and disagreements. Why? People pay attention to arguments and if arguments are the only way to draw attention to the poor, let's have bunches of them.“In the private sector, financial incentives encourage actions that are good for the company: working harder, hitting sales targets or landing more clients,” the mayor said in an announcement at a health services center in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
“In the public sector, we believe that financial incentives will encourage actions that are good for the city and its families: higher attendance in schools, more parental involvement in education and better career skills.”
posted by
J-Walking
@ 9:26am
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Thursday March 29, 2007
A bit more of the light hearted...
After Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow and deep discussions of life and faith and meaning, I find myself in the need of some levity...and so, this. A friend sent it to me as justification for his changing positions on various issues. Hysterical.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 5:05pm
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Thursday March 29, 2007
A good speech...
Last night's speech by President Bush was a great one.
posted by
J-Walking
@ 2:30pm
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Thursday March 29, 2007
Republican cluelessness...
...A long article about Republican fears for meltdown in 2008 is found here at thepolitico. What I find most striking about the article that talks about Republican drops in money raising, in candidate recruitment, and general chaos is this -...
posted by
J-Walking
@ 1:23pm
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Wednesday March 28, 2007
Jesus has to be horrified...
...at man's cruelty to his creation. But we should also applaud what one company is doing to change things. Along these ends, a book recommendation - Matthew Scully's Dominion....
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J-Walking
@ 4:09pm
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Wednesday March 28, 2007
Ooops
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust - even for a million dollar Ferrari...Why is this worth looking at given Iraq and Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards and Darfur and on and on? Because there is actual eternal significance here....
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J-Walking
@ 1:38am
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Tuesday March 27, 2007
perspective
From a faithful reader:When my little girl's cancer returned after 2 years - I can say I was very angry with God. I was angry with doctors, with my husband (he was very convenient and I was pissed), with my...
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J-Walking
@ 1:19pm
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Tuesday March 27, 2007
No, no, no, no, no...
White House spokesman Tony Snow has cancer that has spread to his liver. This hits close to home. Four years ago I was working in the White House when a brain tumor hit and four years ago a young White...
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@10:49am
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Monday March 26, 2007
Listen to Elizabeth
Today at a Cleveland appearance, Elizabeth Edwards,She said her greatest hope is that the thousands of people who sent her emails and letters of support will redirect their kindness and concern to families in their own communities who are receiving...
Monday March 26, 2007
Questions for Sen. Sam Brownback?
Wednesday morning I will be interviewing presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback. Let me know if there are questions you would like asked (email or comments box). Thanks....
Monday March 26, 2007
60 Minutes, the Edwardses and Katie Couric
I know something of 60 Minutes. I've been through the hours of interviews and have talked to a team of producers, and have watched myself on air after edits and splices and with a voice over. It is an odd...
Sunday March 25, 2007
The way it should be...
...would that it didn't take cancer to have such things happen:Just one day after John and Elizabeth Edwards announced that Mrs. Edwards' cancer has returned, they've phoned another prominent Washington figure who's had his own run-in with cancer.An Edwards adviser...
Sunday March 25, 2007
A good way to live...
“We made the choice to live,” Mrs. Edwards said. “We don’t want to do it surrounded by a veil of tears.”...this from an article appearing today.That choice is a conscious one and the right one. It is a choice...
Saturday March 24, 2007
and Tony Snow too...
Little noticed in the news is the fact that White House spokesman Tony Snow is having surgery on Monday for a growth in his abdomen. Snow had colon cancer two years ago. He needs our prayers as well....
Friday March 23, 2007
The (Need a name) Award - first nominee
Ok, so here starts the (Need a name) Award for behaving most like Jesus would want people to behave. "Samaritan" is fine but I've heard it used too many times... Regardless, here is the first nominee:Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five...
Friday March 23, 2007
Do not mourn Elizabeth Edwards
I've noticed the articles appearing on websites discussing the statistics with people who have stage IV breast cancer - which Elizabeth Edwards apparently has. Walking through the airport last night on my way home I glimpsed one of the evening...
Thursday March 22, 2007
The other side
Emails are flowing in from people wanting to let the Edwards know that people are praying for them. The notes are beautiful. But since I don't really know the Edwards, may I suggest sending your notes to them. Here is...
Thursday March 22, 2007
"Real Family Values"
From Andrew Sullivan:What I saw in this press conference was the reality of family values - not the rhetoric, not the divisiveness, not the politics, just the reality of an actual family dealing with real issues. We all face such...
Thursday March 22, 2007
Cancer is Not a Political Issue
"My MRI is on Thursday," I said to Elizabeth Edwards a month ago."I go in for my next round of appointments in a couple weeks." she said."Has everything been clear up till now?""Yeah," she said, knocking on wood and saying,...
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Cherokee Wisdom
"Cherokee Wisdom"One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,...
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Passionate prayer
A friend gave me a book entitled The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer a few years ago. He gave it to me again last fall. I started reading a few weeks ago and have been blown away by...
Monday March 19, 2007
Perspective.
I am sitting in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. I've just finished an amazing weekend as part of the first class of "Peter Jennings Fellows". There is much more to say about that in days to come. But this...
Sunday March 18, 2007
Everyone should hope this is true...
...no matter anyone's position on the war in Iraq, everyone should hope this poll is true: Most Iraqis believe life is better for them now than it was under Saddam Hussein, according to a British opinion poll published today. The...
Saturday March 17, 2007
Dancing With My Father
From a dear friend:"All my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown. The moon rolls through the nighttime, until the daybreak comes around. All my life's a circle and I can't tell you why-the season's spinning around again, the years keep...
Friday March 16, 2007
Big "religious" political gathering coming... would Jesus show up?
Ahhhh, to not be surprised. In October there will be another "Washington Briefing" held by the Family Research Council and several other "pro-family" groups:As we face powerful attacks on our values, there is no better time to stand with FRC...
Thursday March 15, 2007
A different Jesus documentary
A new documentary on Jesus is out - this one making The Case for Christ's Resurrection:...experts explain new discoveries that will substantiate the claims that Jesus resurrected from the grave nearly 2,000 years ago. Among the many methods, the specialists...
Thursday March 15, 2007
LA
A quote from a writer friend in Los Angeles, "LA is one of the few towns that will pay you to dream." What she means is that with the TV and film business in LA, what you imagination is what...
Wednesday March 14, 2007
The firings
I generally try and stay away from general politics - things that don't touch issues of compassion, poverty, and faith. It is both because general politics is increasingly uninteresting to me and because if I were to start talking about...
Wednesday March 14, 2007
Our Yertle economy
I watch news of secondary mortgage companies collapsing and stock market chaos and world stock market volatility and the continued reality of worldwide poverty and only one thing comes to mind - Yertle the Turtle. For those who might not...
Tuesday March 13, 2007
Evangelicals finding their voice
Conventional wisdom would probably be that the National Association of Evangelicals should be tucked in a corner sucking its thumb with a "please don't hit me" sign over it. In just the last few months it has endured seeing its...
Tuesday March 13, 2007
A prayer thought...
...from Richard Foster in his book, Prayer.The truth of the matter is we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives - altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will...
Monday March 12, 2007
The interesting Sam Brownback
It would be a mistake to glance at Sen. Sam Brownback (R- KS) and his upstart campaign for president and think, "ahh, just another fundamentalist running for president." Yes, he opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. But - and this is...
Monday March 12, 2007
Does grace go there?
Roy Ratcliff is an ordinary minister of Jesus Christ with a little church in Wisconsin called Mandrake Road Church of Christ. It is small enough to not even have its own website. But a story today reminds us that being...
Sunday March 11, 2007
Anne Frank and "The Secret"
A little story this morning tells the tale of a 150-year-old Chestnut tree that is about to be cut down. Sad news that such a grand tree will fall; sadder news that the tree is the one Anne Frank wrote...
Saturday March 10, 2007
Google leads again
Here's to hoping that more American corporations begin to see their employees - and their responsibilities and debt to them - more like Google does. Well done Google. Looking for a blogger? ;-)...
Saturday March 10, 2007
Two things I wish I'd said on Maher
The experience last night on Bill Maher's show was...memorable. I'll eventually find and post youtube or transcript or something. There are two big things I wish that I had said; first, that so long as we demonize and hate our...
Friday March 9, 2007
The "other" African genocide
James Kirchick reports on the "other" African genocide - the one going on in Zimbabwe. While millions of Americans are spending $16 to buy The Secret, people are living on mice in Zimbabwe:Less than ten miles from Zimbabwean President Robert...
Friday March 9, 2007
Cure cancer? End poverty?
World Community Grid is an initiative backed by IBM and others to create a massive "computer grid" for select projects that benefit mankind in a variety of ways. Your role? Allow the time your computer's unused time to make small...
Friday March 9, 2007
HBO's BIll Maher Show
I'll be on Bill Maher's show tonight on HBO with fellow panelists... Roseanne Barr (!) and Dana Milbank of The Washington Post. Tune in....
Friday March 9, 2007
The mystery
The beauty of a cross-country flight is the wonder of no Internet connections. As such, I was able to start to dig through old emails. Whenever you dig, you find gold and I found this from a dear friend last...
Friday March 9, 2007
Newt and Dobson...
...forthcoming today on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio show, Newt Gingrich acknowledges and says he has gotten on his knees to seek God's forgiveness for, the extra-marital affair he was having while simultaneously leading the charge against President...
Thursday March 8, 2007
Do I agree with Pat Buchanan?
I don't know. Honestly. However, this column of his is very interesting....
Wednesday March 7, 2007
Rudy meet Richard but listen to Bill
Richard Land, public policy head for the Southern Baptist Convention, took some swipes at Rudy Giuliani saying:"I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land said. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think...
Wednesday March 7, 2007
Thank you
Thank you for your prayers and kind notes yesterday. Ick of a day. Lying here in this little hotel room, however, I did have the advantage of in-room movies. Why, exactly, one can get movies in your hotel room months...
Tuesday March 6, 2007
The truth...
...about blog posts yesterday and today. I am sick. I seem to have a lovely combo of the flu mingling with my last two days of chemo and about that enough said. There is so much I would love to...
Monday March 5, 2007
Pray for New Life Church
Word out of Colorado are cutbacks at New Life Church. Lost in all the "big" news about Haggard is the big and very hurt church that still lives in Colorado Springs everyday. They need our prayers....
Monday March 5, 2007
Bono goes editing
Bono will be guest editor for a July issue of Vanity Fair focusing on Africa. “Hey, I’d meet with Lucifer if I thought it would do any good,” Bono said of his commitment to helping alleviate suffering in Africa. That...
Sunday March 4, 2007
The Dobson letter
Below the full text of the letter from 25 evangelical leaders requesting the dismissal of Richard Cizik, VP of Governmental Affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals. It is an extraordinary letter that shows how scared the old line evangelical...
Sunday March 4, 2007
Wondering...
A church that I very much like, run by people I very much like, here in DC, has women in the church on a "prayer and fast" Tuesday. The purpose of the fast is to pray for the nation, for...
Saturday March 3, 2007
"my tumor"
This from a reader:Praise God for his faithfulness and loving kindness - to both of us. Though you have a tumor in your brain that is discernible by doctors we all have tumors. I have mine, and it eats at...
Friday March 2, 2007
Is John Edwards for real?
I believe John Edwards. I believe his passionate statements on behalf of the poor. I believe that the faith he says animates him is real. I believe that he has made quiet and selfless trips to care for the suffering...
Friday March 2, 2007
My faith, my health
So I sit here waiting for a phone call; a doctor’s phone call to tell me about the state of my brain and the small tumor invading it. I slipped into the MRI machine yesterday evening for an hour and...
Friday March 2, 2007
Our daily bread
Another quote from N.T. Wright on a different topic:Jesus is... the one who would encourage us to pray not only that God’s kingdom would come on earth as in heaven, but also that God would give us this day our...
Friday March 2, 2007
N.T. Wright on "Jesus' Tomb"
My favorite NT scholar but more importantly one of the world's most respected NT scholars, Bishop N.T. Wright, has weighed in lightly on the James Cameron documentary and accompanying book.Dr Wright dismissed the claims, saying that every few years someone...
Thursday March 1, 2007
What will the boy bring?
Kim and I are starting to be a bit concerned about our prospective baby boy (codename: Jumbo) due in June. Consider last night at 3:00am. I'm sleeping. Kim is sleeping. Somewhere in my subconscious I hear quiet words said, "Dear...
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