G-G-G-lobal W-W-W-arming

Now, I believe that global warming does exist. I know this big report recently came out in which all these scientists agreed that global warming is indeed a fact and that humans are to blame. But, as we sit here with record low temperatures in parts of the nation and lots of snow, you gotta wonder. Just seems like it would make it hard to have a global warming discussion when you are freezing your booty getting to work.

An Evolution v. Creation Debate

At IU South Bend today was a lunchtime debate on that well traveled subject of evolution v. creation. The event was sponsored by the campus Anthropology Club. A panel consisted of 3 faculty on the evolution side and 2 on the creation side (actually, one of those was a non-faculty who leads the Campus Bible Fellowship group).

Nothing new came out. I mean, what really could? The science faculty had all their data down as to why evolution clearly wins over creation. The creation advocates had all their reasons to why it's a matter of believing God's word. Both sides did an admirable job. The debate could have gone on all day without either side ever coming to a consensus. Although I believe the evolutionists were a little prickly at times and borderline scoffing, while the creation advocates got a little preachy.

Oh well, like I said, not much new to report on this topic. The debate continues. After it was over, everyone was invited to have a piece of cake in honor of Darwin's 198th birthday. I wanted to ask, "Was it created or did it just randomly appear while we weren't looking?" But I didn't.

A Great Kid's Film (but don't take the kids)

I saw "Pan's Labryinth" recently. It's been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film and some technical awards. If you've seen the advertisements or poster art, it may seem like a children's fantasy along the lines of Harry Potter or even Lord of the Rings.

It does indeed appear that way for the first few minutes. But trust me, it is NOT a kids movie. I am sure there are parents that have taken their kids to see it and have had to deal with their nightmares. If you have yet to see the film, then you will clearly know you're not watching Nickelodeon when the interrogation scene with the rabbit hunters takes place early in the film.

A very original film. Combines two storylines: Children's fantasy and 1940's Spain after the Franco revolution. Uh, what's that again? Yep, that's the two main storylines. Kind of hard to describe. But I absolutely loved it. Yes, it's subtitled. But like I will always say, if a book is good, you don't want to put it down. If a subtitled movie is really good, you forget you're reading subtitles. Both storylines are very well done and neatly intertwined. You never tire of either one.

This probably should have been nominated in the Best Picture category. It really is that good. Just don't take the kids. For the adults, you'll have some squirm moments too.

Winter Jam

This past weekend, Dorene and I went to the Winter Jam concert in Fort Wayne with 2 other adults and 10 youth from our church.It only costs 10 bucks to get in, so it's a good deal. A good mixture of bands, designed to appeal to several age groups.

The first group was "Sanctus Real," a group I really like, that has sort of flown under the radar. They've been around a while, but haven't really gotten all that big. They only played 3 songs, so they were on and off way too quick. I wanted to hear much more of them.

Next up was the hard-driving sound of "NewSong." Okay, just kidding. They were okay. Didn't play all that long and I was kinda bored by them anyway. Then, at the end, the band launches into some brief riffs of "(you make we want to) Shout" and "Sweet Home Alabama." Not bad.

Then came "Hawk Nelson," and they were easily the crowd favorite and were definitely the group I enjoyed the most. A sort of pop/punk sound that I really liked. They had a lot of fun out there on stage and didn't get all "worship moment" on us. Sometimes musicians should just play and not talk, because when they try to talk and be all profound, it just doesn't work. These guys just played and had a blast. Kind of reminded me of early Newsboys (before the worship genre got ahold of them and made them take it down a couple notches). I'll be keeping my eye on "Hawk Nelson" and checking out more of their music.

Steven Curtis Chapman came on next. I hadn't seen him since 1993 and have not really been a huge fan. But he actually did pretty good. Did some very amped-up versions of "The Great Adventure" and "Dive." But, what I really liked about him was his band. His guitarist was his 17 year old son and his drummer was his 15 year old son. The other guitarist and keyboardist were not related to the Chapman's but were brothers. They in fact have their own group, "The Following," which played a song as Steven Curtis briefly left the stage. I was impressed that Chapman has changed with the times. He wasn't just changing his style for today's youth, he was changing it for HIS OWN youth. I like that.

The comedian John Morgan came on, with his dead-on impression of George W. Bush. Now, the Coliseum was full, and I'd say that a sizeable portion were Republicans. But the response to this comedic bit was tepid at best. It just isn't funny anymore. Morgan said something about "you mess with the U.S.A., we mess with you." That whole bravado thing just doesn't cut it for me anymore. He also tried to equate himself as in tune with Christians, but with all the scandals that have taken place with Republican lawmakers, this just didn't resonate either.

The evening then closed with Jeremy Camp. Yikes, I didn't like him at all. He got the biggest cheer when he came on with his Peyton Manning jersey, and many seemed to like him a lot, but I found his set very boring. Ended the evening on a whimper. But overall, for $10.00, not a bad deal. Dorene said it was too loud. It was indeed loud, but it's never TOO loud.

Zimbabwe Loves the Bears!

Remember after a championship game when the players are all given hats and shirts commemorating their victory? I've always wondered, hmm, if they printed these for one team, then they had to be printed for the other team, too. Where do these alternate reality shirts and caps end up at?

Turns out, they all head out to Africa. They really do. The NFL donates them to World Vision, under the stipulation that they are sent far, far away. Which they certainly are. There are several countries that they can be sent to (Sierre Leone being a recent one) and evidently this year's country is Zimbabwe. It just kind of strikes me as funny that somewhere in the African plains, people are running around with shirts and caps that say "Bears 2007 Super Bowl Champs" or "Patriots 2007 AFC Champs" or "Seahawks 2007 NFC Champs."

A Season Complete

Wow, it's now official. The Colts are Super Bowl champs! Peyton Manning has the monkey off his back (and Rex Grossman's monkey just grew to King Kong size proportions).

Last night's game was not the most exciting game I've ever watched, especially after the game that got the Colts to the Super Bowl. The Bears couldn't really get anything going. The Colts didn't do much better, but they kept the Bears offense off the field for a very long time. They came through when they needed, and their running game did very well, which was critical in the rainy weather.

Several in our church gathered at a home to watch the game. Vast majority were Colts fans. There was one lone Bears fan, who we almost had to scrape from the ceiling after that opening kickoff. We watched on a big screen t.v., but it was within the NFL policy. It's always fun watching the game with a crowd, and as is the usual custom, the commercials can be just as entertaining. Although, not a whole lot of standouts last night.

A far cry from previous church sponsored Super Bowl parties I've attended. At Scottsdale Bible Church in Arizona, hundreds packed the church's auditorium. The MC was an NBC commentator who attended the church. One year, the half-time guest was Kevin Johnson. At the time, there was no bigger local sports celebrity than Kevin Johnson. Another half-time guest was a rookie golfer from Arizona State University who had just finished his final round at the Phoenix Open. A guy by the name of Phil Mickelson who we figured we'd hear more from in the future.

At Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend, we didn't have the half-time celebrities, but it was still a very big gathering. During half-time (in Arizona and here) was a ministry-oriented moment.

Last night, well, was a little different. Much smaller crowd. So, we watched Prince perform. I must say, he did a very good job, and you had to love the light-up marching band.

The NFL Party Poopers

A church down in Indy wants to have a Super Bowl party. They are going to show the game with a projection screen TV. "Oh no you don't," says the NFL. The policy dictates that mass showings of the game can only be shown on a screen no more than 55 inches big. Way to go NFL! Way to squash that local team spirit!

The pastor of the church says they'll abide by the law, but is frustrated because now the only place to see the game with a large crowd would be at bars, which he states are obviously not appropriate places for children. Click here for the story.

Not sure what the NFL is worried about. The church I used to attend used to show the game on a large projection screen (to a very large crowd). It was always a lot of fun. During the halftime, they would have a brief outreach oriented moment. To my knowledge, no wardrobe malfunctions ever took place.

Catching Up on Some Authors

In the past few months, I've read novels by some authors that I had abandoned for some time. I read lots of their earlier stuff, then stopped at some point because their novels began to disappoint. But I've gotten reacquainted with 4 different authors with mostly positive results:

John Grisham: "The Innocent Man" is his first non-fiction work. It reads like a novel and the fact that it is true makes it all the more fascinating. In Iraq, the rule is that Saddam Hussein had to be executed within 30 days of the guilty verdict. It's a good thing we don't have that law here. The title of this book says it all, and if you are poor and cannot get good representation, then you just may be on your own in our criminal courts.

Stephen King: "Cell" is his latest novel to hit paperback and the first I've read of his since "The Stand." That could be why I had problems with it. The premise is intriguing. Some signal comes through all the cell phones turning people into zombies. A group of survivors are compelled to travel to Maine for some reason. Sort of similar to "The Stand" in which most of the population is wiped out and the few survivors are compelled to travel to Colorado. I didn't finish this novel. Something about it just didn't hold my interest. The characters weren't all that interesting, and despite the great set-up, it just didn't seem to do much with it.

Michael Crichton: "State of Fear" could be called the flip side of "An Inconvenient Truth." Basically, Crichton is saying, through a fictional story, that the whole global warming thing is a piece of crap. He makes some good arguments and the story itself is very good (which most of his are). Not sure why I stopped reading his novels. It's a little preachy at times but still a good read.

Dean Koontz: "Velocity" isn't his latest, but it's the one I decided to read to reacquaint myself with Mr. Koontz. His earlier novels were great, particularly "Twilight Eyes," "Lightning," and "Watchers." But at some point, I began having trouble getting through one of his novels. This is the first I've read in about 15 years. The plot is simple. A guy gets a note that if he calls the police, someone will die. If he doesn't call the police, someone else will die. The choice is his. In Koontz novels, lots of people do indeed die and the killers are usually pretty ferocious. But in the end, the hero comes out just fine. I really enjoyed this and will probably go back and begin reading some more of his that I missed.

Cleaning House Keeps the House Clean

A profound statement, I know. But, with our house being up for sale, we have to keep it in a state of cleanliness and order because we've had instances where we have a showing with just two day's notice. So, we need to have it in "show mode" almost constantly. We've found that doing a little bit of cleaning throughout the week helps keep it this way.

Mom, I guess you were right (which I know will promp a big DUH!!!). Spending a couple hours a week actually does make a difference. Yes, I know you've been saying this for a long time. Dorene and I both admit that it has been nice living in our house and having it clean basically all the time.

Now, if and when we move into our new house . . .

Cameron Gets Annexed

Since Saturday night, Cameron has been at Uncle Stu and Aunt Joyce's house. Since he was born, he has only been away from us for two nights in a row at the most. We've called every day to check on him to see if he's ready to come home or not. But each time, nope, he wants to stay. He's having a blast and just doesn't want to leave.

Finally, on Tuesday, he said he wanted me to come get him. Well, sort of. He said he wanted me to drive to Ohio to take him to Grandma and Grandpa Dennie's house. He would spend the night there, then I would drive back down and take him back to Uncle Stu's house.

Dorene talked to him last night and he was crying and crying and crying . . . .because he was going to have to come home today. Dorene's mom is going to pick him up and mom and dad's and for once, Cameron may not be happy to see his Grammy. We're very excited he's had such a good time and actually very surprised he stayed that long. I am sure that he'll be asking us the minute he comes home when he gets to go back.

By the way, the reason Cameron gave for not wanting to come home? "Anna's there."

Bush on the Air

I watched parts of the State of the Union speech, but that was about it. These tend to be glorified campaign speeches where they basically announce their plans to right every wrong and make the world a better place. Then the next day, all is forgotten.

One thing that I always find very irritating is the constant applause and standing ovations for every little thing that's said: "I want (applause) to tell you (applause) that (applause) last night's episode (applause) of "My Name is Earl" (raucous applause) was the greatest ever (standing ovation)." You then always have someone in the audience that is pointed out for some great deed they've done or accomplishment in their work. Last night it was the subway hero from New York and the founder of the Baby Einstein book/video empire. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Justices just sit there with hands folded.

Saw another politician live and in person today. Joe Kernan, former mayor of South Bend and former Governor of Indiana was on campus to speak at a program sponsored by our Career Services Office. He seems like a really nice guy. Not the most powerful speaker in the world, but very down to earth very real. Didn't sound all that political.

Waiting to Exhale

I am still worn out from last night's game. To quote some dialogue from Seinfeld, "I'm speechless. I am without speech."

What more can you say? The Colts finally broke through, and what better team to do it against than the Patriots. They had to play flawless once they fell behind 21-3, and they did. But it was one of the most exhausting experiences I've had watching a game.

School's out on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday (or so I thought)

For the past 20 years, I have not worked on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. In Arizona where I worked, we had the day off even before the holiday became official. In a state university where I have worked for 15 years, of course the day is going to be honored. Same for the public schools. The South Bend Community School Corporation has always recognized the day, as did Veritas Academy, where Anna went for Kindergarten and First Grade.

So, I just assumed that as a student in the John Glenn School Corporation in North Liberty, Indiana, she would have the day off. Evidently not. We talked to family friend in the corporation on Saturday who confirmed that yes, no day off for this corporation on MLK. I was totally dumbfounded. I had just assumed that this was a day that all school corporations would want to take off and would truly want to honor King's legacy.

But that's not the case here. I am not sure why. I'm sure they have their reasons and that there are some powerful community leaders who are likely very critical of Dr. King and how he wasn't all that people say he was, yada yada yada. But, that's not the point. I've heard the arguments about how "white people" don't get a holiday, which is a load of you know what. We get the other 360+ days of the year. I think we can afford one day to honor an African-American leader.

No, we didn't pull Anna out of school that day. I'd never use my kid as a pawn in something her parents are trying to have changed. Plus, we didn't attend any MLK events that day, so we couldn't use that as an excuse. I was pleased to hear that her teacher was using the movie "Ruby Bridges" as a teaching tool that day (very good t.v. movie about a little girl desegrating a school in the south). In addition, it could be that many teachers want the holiday, but it's an adminstrative issue.

If anyone is ever unsure what the civil rights movement was all about, I highly recommend the documentary "Eyes on the Prize" and it's follow-up, "Eyes on the Prize II." This gives a very comprehensive overview of the movement and is excellent.

One thing that has always fascinated me is just how recent it really is that we officially treated blacks as second class citizens, even though the civil rights movement is often treated as ancient history. But, had Martin Luther King, Jr. not been assassinated, he wouldn't even be 80 years old yet.

All is Well

"24" and "American Idol" are now back on the air. All is well with the world now.

I think that Chloe could possibly get knocked off this season of "24." This is a show that doesn't play favorites. Anyone can die (and usually does). If not her, then maybe Curtis or Audrey. But you never know what's going to happen, and that's why it's such a good show.

Not too many talented people in Minneapolis for American Idol. A couple singers were okay and maybe they can punch it up in the next round. One of my favorite parts of the show is the second round, when they have to get in groups of 3 or 4 and perform. Lots of backstage politcs going on as they try to position themselves to make the final cut. Last night Simon mentioned an upcoming ABBA night. Can't wait for that one, because ABBA is one of my all time favorite groups. We'll see how much "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," and "Take a Chance on Me" get butchered.

Starbucks Challenged

I don't drink coffee. Not at all. In fact, I've never even tasted a drop of it. Just never cared to. I get my caffeine fix via Mountain Dew and other soft drinks in the morning.

My wife is addicted to Starbucks. I'm usually not with her when she gets one because this is her treat. But recently, we went through the drive-thru at a Starbucks so she could get her fix. Now, I've never ordered at Starbucks before. When I want a drink, I go through the drive thru and it's basically, "large Pepsi" and that's it. But ordering at Starbucks was much more complicated. After a brief orientation session as to what she wanted, we made a couple dry runs before approaching the drive-up speaker. What Dorene wanted, was, quote, a "venti decaf sugar-free cinammon dulce latte." That's a total of 14 syllables for a beverage (which, by the way, costs much more than my large Pepsi).

Well, when I started into the order, I botched it by the time I got to "sugar free" and had no idea what I was ordering. Furthermore, I started laughing and Dorene was busting up. The person taking the order probably figured we had already had one too many lattes. I finally got the order out right. But from now on, Dorene is on her own at Starbucks and needs to do the ordering herself.

Colts, uh, Win

The Colts really make you nervous, don't they? When is that Peyton Manning offense going to kick it into high gear? Yes, a win is a win and they are in the AFC Championship game, but they don't let you relax. But a game with nothing but field goals? I did think the Colts final drive was a masterstroke of clock management, but they still made you sweat it out.

I'm hoping the Patriots beat the Chargers today because then the Colts get to play at home.

Have Mercy on Me, But I Don't Like This Music

For years I have tried to become a fan of Christian band, MercyMe. They are by far one of the most popular bands around, and their CD's sell very well. They hit it big with "I Can Only Imagine" and have never looked back.

But, I just don't get all the fuss. I still call their debut album one of the most painfully bland albums I've listened to. I rented it from the library multiple times, trying my best to become a fan. But, their music just doesn't do it for me. It all sounds very much the same, and just has nothing memorable to it (quick, name three of their songs; you can't do it, can you?).

I finally broke down and bought the latest MercyMe recording, "Coming Up to Breathe." I listened through it once (fast forwarding most of the way), and now it sits somewhere buried underneath some empty drink cups in my car. More of the same blandness I've come to expect from them. Why are they so big? I just don't get it.

Their music sounds like a continuous Phil Collins loop. I know I'm onto something there because I was told that at their recent concerts, they opened with "In the Air Tonight" and closed with U2's "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." So, even the band themselves admit they aren't very original. If I have to give them any credit, it's that their Christmas album is pretty good. But then again, those are covers of other songs.

For Christian bands that hit it big, I say more power to them. But for this group, I have to conclude: overrated in a big way. Y'all keep buying their CD's, though.

Soccer Takes America by Storm, part XXXIVXIVIX

Big news in the world of soccer. David Beckham, who is basically the Michael Jordan of soccer, is coming stateside to play for Major League Soccer. So once again, we'll be treated to stories of how THIS is the biggest news for soccer in America and how we'll finally all embrace this global sport.

Not gonna happen.

Bush's Surge

I just can't buy into it. I don't see how adding 21,000 more troops is going to change anything in Iraq. In the short term, it may indeed have an effect. But at some point, the troops leave and then things go back to how they were. I remember several years ago when the national guard went into Gary, Indiana when their murder rate was leading the nation. The murder rate dropped during the time the Guard was there, but when they left? Yep, things went back to how they were.

Iraq is a bit bigger than Gary, Indiana. The insurgency is so entrenched, that they'll probably just go into hiding for a while. Or, they may continue to strike, which will really be a devastating blow because it'll show how all the military might in the world can't effectively battle guerilla warfare in the streets. Nor will Iraqi civilians be any safer. If anything, it could get even worse for them. It's mind boggling how many Iraqis have died since the "liberation." Yeah, I agreed wholeheartedly when we went in. But now, I just want the troops to come home.

Good luck to those in the Bush adminstration trying to sell this plan. Let's see how the new Congress deals with it.

Cowboys, Colts and Ohio State

I wouldn't want to be Cowboys QB Tony Romo right now. He had a great year, coming out of nowhere and taking the Cowboys into the playoffs. All he had to do was catch a snap and hold it there for the kicker. It was a kick shorter than an extra point. That's it. If the kick is good, then the Cowboys go ahead and likely win the game. But he fumbled it. Not because of a bad snap. He caught it just fine but couldn't put it down on the ground. Romo-mania is on hold for now. I read that 5 fans greeted the Cowboys on their return to the airport. Dallas fans don't like to lose.

The Cowboys are the team I have rooted for the longest. I loved watching them during the glory Tom Landry "America's Team" days. They were very much loved and very much despised during those years. But you had to appreciate the teams of Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, "Too Tall" Jones, Randy White, "Hollywood" Henderson, etc. They were quite the team. But then things started to fall apart. Landry was unceremoniously fired after Jerry Jones took over the team. That was bad enough. So who do they hire to replace him? Jimmy Johnson, coach of the much-despised University of Miami. Yeah, yeah, he won the Cowboys a couple of Super Bowl titles, but I never liked him as a coach at Miami, and didn't like him as coach of the Cowboys.

Finally, he left. Luckily I wouldn't dislike the next coach, because the only coach I disliked more than Jimmie Johnson was Barry Switzer from Oklahoma. But they would never, oops, wait a minute, they hired Switzer. You gotta be kidding! Yes, Switzer brought them another Super Bowl title, because this was during the Troy Aikman and Emmit Smith heyday. But it was hard to root for them during this time because those two coaches I just didn't care for. The only one left to bring in that I don't care for would be Steve Spurrier.

As for my other team, the Colts need to play much better against the Ravens than they did against the Chiefs if they expect to advance to the AFC Championship. I'm hoping the Patriots can knock off the Chargers, because I feel better about the Colts playing them then heading to San Diego. As for the NFC, the Saints are a great story and I'd like to see them keep going. Around here, all anyone talks about is 'da bears, who I really think are going to 'da lose next week, despite their 14-2 record.

I can't say I'm that excited about watching Florida-Ohio State tonight. It just doesn't hold that much appeal. I'll periodically check-in to see the score and stick with it if it's close in the 4th quarter, but it just doesn't hold much interest for me. If Florida wins, that could cinch the move to a college playoff.

Do the Math: 2 is Less than 7

This week we took on the duty of babysitting our pastor's kids, while he and his wife attended a pastoral conference in Florida. Our pastor has 7 kids. Add our two kids to the mix, and we were watching 9 kids. Add one of Anna's friends into the mix last night, and we were watching 10. We should have added a couple more then we could have had our own "Cheaper by the Dozen"scenario.

Dorene stayed at the pastor's house the whole time, because it would have been too big of an operation to move to our house, and their house has more room. I was back to work this week so I would stop by in the evening, but then go back home to take care of our dog and cats, which I can confirm is much easier than watching 9 kids.

It actually has gone quite well. The pastor's kids are all very good and well behaved, and very fun to be around. They have Sara, Matt, Rebecca, Hannah, Lydia, Andrew, and Wesley. Sara is 15 and one of the most delightful teenagers I've met. She's a huge help around the house and last night brought Dorene a mint mocha from Starbucks, so she scored some huge points there.

But as Dorene was saying, any thoughts of ever having more kids has now gone completely out the window. She likes our numbers at home. Just our two kids, that's it. We can possibly add another dog, but that's as far as we'll go.

Notre Dame Keeps the Streak Alive

Last night, the Notre Dame football team made it 9 in a row! That is, 9 years in a row that they've lost a bowl game. Once again, they did it in typical fashion, by getting totally blown away.

For a much better performing Notre Dame team, turn your attention to basketball. Last night, Dorene had won free tickets to the Notre Dame v. Louisville game. So, her dad and I went to see the Irish take on Rick Pitino's bunch. Louisville played pretty bad, Notre Dame played excellent and beat them by 17 points (although at one point, they were up by almost 30). They only have one loss on the year, so this could be a good season. We'll see if Notre Dame fans can make the switch, because the basketball team just doesn't always get that much attention.

The Boys from Boise

If Florida beats Ohio State next Monday, can the BCS with a straight face truly crown them national champs while an undefeated Boise State sits there empty handed? I think maybe it is indeed time for a college football playoff.

Boise State won the game of the century against Oklahoma, but they won't receive consideration because their schedule was too weak. If Ohio State wins, then they are the champs and it's probably case closed. But if Florida wins, then the only undefeated team left standing is Boise State. Why shouldn't they be national champs? So what if their conference is weaker. They won on one of the gutsiest calls of all time, by going for the win instead of the tie. Give 'em the trophy. They are the "Hoosiers" of this football season.

Christmas 2006

We finally completed our Christmas tour for the year (well, almost, we still have one more delayed one to go).

This year, for our family Christmas, we stayed at a motel in town. Anna and Cameron just love going to motels and we had talked about this for a long time and they were very excited. We packed up everything after work on Friday the 22nd and headed to the Comfort Suites. We had dinner, swam for a while, then went back to the motel room to open presents. We decorated the room with lights and had our own spread of snacks and drinks. It was a lot of fun and this is a tradition we plan to continue.

We got up on Saturday and headed to Fort Wayne and Steve and Pam's house for Christmas #2 with my family. We had our usual paltry spread of food and drinks (yeah right, no one leaves hungry after one of our gatherings). Mom made her Cracker Jack, which I hadn't had in about 20 years. Pam made her famous beans and dad had his famous turtles. We then had our "dirty" gift exchange, in which you have the option of opening a gift or "stealing" one that was opened before your turn. My family was fairly nice and not too many gifts changed hands (and there were alliances at work to trade gifts).

Steve and Pam had houseguests that night, Allan, Carolyn and baby Conner. Actually, Carolyn wasn't there, she had to work, but dad and baby were there and it was great to have them as part of our gathering. Steve and Pam are going the extra mile and then some to give them a place to live while they get back on their feet. For many years, having a baby in the house would be Steve's idea of some sort of inner circle of Dante's Hell. So them agreeing to take this couple in was certainly admirable and a major disruption of a lifestyle they are used to.

We left Fort Wayne and returned home. We got the kids to bed fairly early because this was the night Santa would visit. Anna is not so sure about this whole Santa thing. She's convinced dad is involved somehow. Cameron, however, is very much into it. He was easily convinced that he had to get to sleep so Santa could visit. When they woke up the next morning, Santa had indeed come and they got to open their Santa gift and go through their stockings. Thus ended Christmas #3.

We spent the next few days at home. Didn't do much at all, just hung out with the family. Had a few of the pastor's kids over for the afternoon to play with the kids. Otherwise, just took it easy.

On Thursday, we headed down to Kentucky for Christmas #4. Dorene's parents have a cabin at Lake Cumberland. We spent two nights there, and then the third evening Dorene's brother, Rob and his wife, Connie, came over. Also present were niece Shon and her new husband, Aaron, along with their child, Jace. Rounding out the guests were nephew Sam and his looooong time girlfriend, Brittany. We also did a "dirty" gift exchange and Dorene's family is much more ruthless than mine. Gifts got stolen and stolen and it seems just about everyone had their hands on at least two different gifts. I started out with a basket full of Ale-8, which is Kentucky's official soft drink. This isn't just some passing fancy, Kentucky folks are passionate about their Ale-8. Go out to breakfast, and people order up a bottle. It's basically a type of ginger ale. Nothing all that great, but boy do people go crazy over it. I like it okay and figured a basket of it would be nice to take home. But no, Shon's husband steals it, despite my cries of, "But I'm from Indiana and can't get this stuff up there." Didn't matter, my desperate pleas went unheeded. Like I said, Dorene's family much more ruthless with this exchange. I ended up with some bath towels and Dorene ended up with, I'm not sure what. But it was a blast and we don't get to see Robert, Connie, Sam and Shon very much, so we really soak up the time we have with them. Cameron absolutely had a meltdown when we had to leave. He loves his Uncle Robert and wanted to go home with him.

We came home late on New Year's Eve. Got home just in time to see the ball drop in Time's Square. Ooh, yuck, I have to go back to work on Tuesday. Dorene gets another week off (sort of, we'll get to that later).

This weekend, we'll have Christmas #5 at Dorene's parents. No, our kids are not spoiled.

Mel Gibson, Drunken Racist, Perhaps, But Quite a Filmaker

I went to a late showing of "Apocalypto" the other night. This being the latest film from Mel Gibson and his first film released since his drunken anti-Jew rant a while back.

Say what you want about Gibson the person, but Gibson the movie director is really good. This movie would not be for everyone. For one, it's completely subtitled, so if you don't like reading your movies, you may not like it. It's also pretty violent. Remember, Gibson directed "Braveheart" and "Passion of the Christ," so he tends to keep the blood flowing. It's also about the ancient Mayans, something that doesn't exactly pop up in movies very often.

The movie starts out a little slowly, and has some kind of bizarre scenes talking about mating rituals and guys laughing at another guy for eating testicles and, well, it's kind of strange. But then, the movie kicks in as soon as the bad guys come to the village. From this point on, the movie is very intense and does not let up until the final scene. And that's no joke, it remains very intense all the way through. The final third is another take on the whole "Most Dangerous Game" scenario. It's all very well done. Does it add up to much? No, it doesn't, nor does it give a whole lot of insight into the Mayan culture and all that. But as an exercise in non-stop action, it more than fits the bill.

One quibble. In one scene, one of the Mayan warriors says the "F" word. Did that word exist back then? Also, in another scene, there is a line spoken that is a very famous line of movie dialogue. Was that intentional? No one else in the theatre reacted to it, but it stuck out to me. Just kind of weird these two very contemporary moments in a movie about an ancient culture.

Dorene's Christmas Concert

Tuesday night was Dorene's Christmas concert at Warren Primary Center. This year was different because for the first time since becoming a teacher, Dorene was doing a program with elementary kids instead of middle school.

As usual, Dorene put together one heck of a program. I, of course, am a little bias but she is one of the top directors in the South Bend school corporation. But, she really puts on a great program. It's never one of the cheesy little affairs, she goes all out. This year, she received tons of accolades from her principal, who said that in the days following the program, she received a non-stop stream of visits and phone calls from parents praising the program. But of course, Dorene only puts on the best. The thing is, those accolades mean nothing to her. Of course they are nice, but it isn't what drives her. Okay, yeah, a big part of it is confidence (she knows she's good!).

This year, the 3rd and 4th graders put on a full-fledged production called "It's Christmas, Carol." It's a modern day retelling of, well, of course you know what it's about. For the lead was this little dynamo named Autumn Martin. I mean, wow, she was really, really good. Tons of lines, lots of stage movement, even a solo. She nailed every bit of it. This is one talented girl and just a delight to watch on stage. She has a little sister, Jenna, that was part of the 2nd grade choir (prior to the above production were a couple songs by the kindergarten choir and 1st/2nd grade choir).

After the production was over, the evening ended on a rather poignant note. Dorene had all those that have family serving in the military stand and be recognized (there were a lot). Then, we had a powerpoint presentation of a marine sergeant named Matt Martin who is stationed in Iraq, which was done as a tribute to all those that will be missing family members this holiday season due to military service.

You see, Matt is Autumn's dad, so he couldn't be here that night to see his little girl wow the crowd. There were pictures of him in uniform and then several photos of him with his wife and two girls. You know, sort of puts the war in a little bit more perspective when you have this kind of connection. Seeing pictures of Autumn and Jenna cuddled up to him like he's the greatest person on earth, I just pray that Matt is able to come home safely to be with his little girls someday. Autumn is just one year older than Anna, so I can relate in a big way. Initially Dorene was going to try and do a live hook-up with him, but he was to be off on a mission that day, so it wasn't possible. Like I said, puts everything in a little more perspective when you can put a face on the soldiers over in Iraq and wonder, like pretty much all of America, why they are still there and is it all worth it.

The gymnasium was packed out for the program. For the spring, Dorene will have to move the program to the high school auditorium. She's set the bar way up there now, so people will certainly come in the spring with high expectations, which Dorene will deliver on.

The Christmas Program at our Church

Yesterday, we had our children's Christmas program at church. Dorene and I directed the musical called "Touch of an Angel" (no, not the t.v. show, that's touched BY an angel). A fairly typical kids program with some light drama and upbeat songs.

It went over very well and the congregation was really appreciative of it. One of the highlights was when the shepherds came in with the "sheep." In this case, the sheep consisted of our son Cameron, and 5 other kids ranging from 1 - 4. They were supposed to crawl up the center aisle. Cameron instead did a full sprint like he was a cheetah and lept up onto the stage. The littlest one, Wesley, just sort of lagged behind and eventually got up on stage, after a few pauses to dance to the music. All in all, it was a typical small church production void of the glitter and gloss of a mega-church.

But there was another highlight which trumped the others. The first two rows were full of family members of one of the kids in the cast. The entire family is unchurched but they came out to support their daughter. The daughter is one of Anna's classmates from her previous school. We have been picking her up every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening for church. She loves coming and her parents are very open to it. They've never attended themselves, but hey, you never know. Doors get open and God can work wonderful things once the opportunity is presented.

(un)Typical Playground Talk

Anna told us she was recently talking to a couple boys during recess. The boys were saying how school was so boring. Anna then proceeded to quiz them over Latin definitions. Why she thought they might find this a fun recess activity, I have no idea. The Latin word for toes is evidently "pess." Now, of course, these being elementary school boys, they thought she said something else that they thought was naughty. Anna came home and asked us if "P-I-S-S" is a bad word. We told her that it's not a word she should use and absolutely do not tell Cameron.

We also told her to maybe stick to talking about candy and Nickelodeon on the playground.

Hey, This is Work!

Cameron has been taking horseback riding lessons for the past month. After his first couple lessons, he started bugging me about buying him a horse. He was really enjoying it and this went on a for a couple weeks, "when you gonna buy me a horse, I really want one."

However, by last week, he had changed his tune. His instructor (Julia) does what I think is a very good thing. She doesn't just saddle up the horse and let him ride. She makes him fetch the bridle, the saddle, and all the other straps needed. She has him brush the horse and clean out his hoofs. In other words, all the work that goes into getting a horse ready, Cameron has to be involved with. Julia says some instructors will just do everything for the pupil, but she believes otherwise, and I think that's a good idea. It's never a bad thing to teach a little responsibility and exactly what is involved in something like this.

So, on this day, as Cameron was climbing on a stool and struggling with both hands using the brush, he said, "Daddy, PLEASE don't buy me a horse!"

A Wacky Football Prediction

Okay, it's gonna be Ohio State v. USC for the national championship, right? Well, it certainly looks that way now. But I think something is going to happen this coming Saturday to really mess that whole scenario up.

I believe that UCLA is going to beat USC in the season finale at the Rose Bowl. UCLA opened the season 4-1 and then lost 4 in a row. They have now won 2 in a row, including a big win against Oregon State, the only team to beat USC this season. I think the timing is right for a UCLA upset. The Rose Bowl will be packed, although in a sense it'll be a home game for both schools.

But for UCLA, this is their Super Bowl. They aren't headed to a bowl game of any sort at this point in time. Win, and they keep their cross-town rivals out of the national championship picture, and then at least get a shot at a lesser bowl, such as the Saltshaker Bowl or something like that.

In the past five years, USC has beaten UCLA by a combined score of 221-86. So either I come across looking like quite the prognosticator or this will forever doom my chances of getting a job as a bookie in Las Vegas. My predicted final score is UCLA 31 - USC 28.

A Political Fast

I recently finished a book entitled “Tempting Faith.” The author is David Kuo, who spent a few years as the number two in command of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Bush White House.

Kuo left the Bush White House disgusted and disillusioned by his experiences there. He said that while the Faith Based Initiative was a cornerstone of Bush’s campaign, it was never something that came to much fruition. Hardly any monies were put into it, nor did Bush and his advisors care to. In other words, it was a great idea to get them elected, but that was it.

Prior to joining the White House, Kuo also worked with William Bennett, and did speechwriting for, among others, Ralph Reed and Pat Robertson. An interesting passage talked about how speeches were tailor made for the evangelical audience. For example, a candidate may say, “There’s power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.” To a mainstream audience, that probably sounds a little weird. To a fundamentalist audience, it probably got a huge ovation. Now, of course, speechwriting 101 dictates that you throw in things to connect to your audience, so this isn’t totally unusual, but does highlight how Christians also can be taken advantage of in the political arena.

Kuo closes his book by calling for a “fast from politics.” He does not mean that we stop voting or that Christians in politics start submitting their resignations. He just calls for us to stop being so focused on everything political. Spend more time studying the Word and less time trying to get others elected. Quit giving money to groups like the Family Research Council and give it instead to charities that are out there actually helping those in need. Stop arguing with those on the “other side” and find some common bonds (Kuo admits his guilt on condemning anything and everything associated with the words Democrat and Clinton). Kuo gives some interesting statistics. By the year 2008, a Republican would have been in the White House for 20 of the last 28 years. The vast majority of judges have been appointed by a Republican, as well as 7 of the 9 justices on the Supreme Court. Congress just tilted the other way, but the House was under Republican rule for 12 years, and the Senate has gone back and forth since Reagan took office.

So, have we really accomplished that much by being so involved in politics? Kuo thinks that is certainly up for debate. He cites Billy Graham as one who was very involved with politics, but then a bad experience in the Nixon White House caused him to get back to what he was truly called to do, and look at the respect he has garnered throughout the years. Same for Rick Warren, one of the biggest names in evangelical circles today, but you don’t hear his name much in the political arena.

I’ve taken Kuo up on this whole fast thing. Since the election, I’ve basically stopped watching the political talk shows and listening to talk radio. When I do check back in once in a while, I find out I haven’t really missed much. I still keep up on the headlines, but as for commentary and analysis of why “they are wrong and we are right,’ I’m sort of taking a break from that.

Maybe that’s why I actually had time to finish reading this book.

A Late Night Emergency

Last night, Dorene had to leave at about 11:30 p.m. to meet with a couple people from church. She was out all night and will likely be tied up all day today.

The reason? The stores opened at 5:00 a.m. this morning for Christmas shopping! Yes, my wife is one of those crazy ones that was in line this morning at the crack of dawn to get those bargains. However, she took it to another level. Her and her friend Marcie, and Cheryl (our pastor's wife), figured it would be a good idea to get out there extra early and scope out everything. So, they stayed up all night at Wal-Mart to stake their claims. Yes, they stayed up ALL NIGHT!

I have already heard that she got some good deals on some Play-Do.

What Was Kramer (not) Thinking?

Wow, did you see that clip of Michael Richards totally losing it at the comedy club in Hollywood? I thought maybe he just let slip a racial slur and that was it. But no, he was using the F word and N word quite liberally. When I watched the clip (easily found on YouTube), I was kind of waiting for the moment when it turns out it was just all a performance piece (he was involved in an infamous Andy Kaufman meltdown that was indeed staged). But there was no punch line, just the site of this guy on stage yelling out racial slurs.

He can't say he was drunk like Mel Gibson. He can't say that "the tape didn't tell the whole story." I mean, it's all there. He's yelling at two blacks and saying how he's lucky they aren't being hung upside down with a fork stuck in 'em, like they would've been 50 years ago. He then went on David Letterman via satellite and that had to be one of the most uncomfortable moments I've ever watched. He was just so uncomfortable, and then his apology went off in a different direction and he started talking about Hurricane Katrina (ah ha, it's all Bush's fault!). Pretty lame. Not that Michael Richards really has a career to worry about, but he'll have a hard time recovering from this one. Of course, I'm sure he's doing okay collecting those royalty checks from Seinfeld being in syndication and the DVD sales.

Go Big, Go Long, Go Home!

Thus, in a nutshell, according to a recent Pentagon report, are our three options for dealing with the situation in Iraq. We go big by sending in a lot more troops to end the insurgency once and for all. We go long by reducing the number of troops but committing to be there a while. Or, we just go home.

I think that by going big, we just send more troops in to fight a battle that military might has no chance to win. This battle of trying to secure neighborhoods and going house to house just isn't ever going to work. If we go long, then we're just leaving more of our troops exposed to the insurgency.

I say, let's go home! Bring 'em all back. Yeah, yeah, I know the whole "that region will be flung into chaos" theory and that we'll be more unsafe than ever before. But I really don't think that will happen. Yes, there will be civil war, and the long-suppressed Shiites will be very cruel to the Sunnis. Maybe it'll all divide up like Yugoslavia did. It'll get pretty ugly at first. But our presence there, whether big or small, is always going to be a detriment.

We've failed there, plain and simple. It's not going to get better, it just isn't. Maybe 'W' will decide to be a hero and bring everyone home. Maybe the Democrats will stop being scared of being called unpatriotic and vote to end the war. I don't care about who gets credit for it, let's just bring the troops home.

Lesson Learned?

One good thing about the Republican massacre at the recent elections is that they know they now need to change leadership. No more bringing out the old school leaders like Trent Lott. Nope, they now have the opportunity to . . . wait, what's that? They DID bring back Trent Lott?

Oh, never mind.

Another Undefeated Season (thus far) for the Colts

Like they say, it's deja vu all over again. This season the Colts are sitting undefeated at 9-0, so the talk again turns to, "can they do it?"

Last season, they teased us at 13-0 before losing at San Diego and then dropping another game before dropping out of the playoffs. So, which is better, go ahead and lose now and get it out your system or go for the undefeated season. Hey, you gotta root for the 16-0. They still have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, their two toughest games are at home, between Philadelphia and Cincinnati (and those two teams are struggling). Their road games are against Dallas, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and Houston. Those should be easy games, but for each of those teams, they will be gunning for the Colts because their seasons are gone, so this would give them a chance to redeem themselves.

If the Colts are 15-0, then guess who they end against? Yep, they play at home against the Dophins on New Year's Eve. So, they could go for history by playing the last team to go undefeated. That could be quite the game.

Undefeated or not, it'll all be for naught if Peyton Manning can't get the Colts to the Super Bowl this year. We've seen what they can do in the regular season, but it's time to take it to that next level.

The Mid-Term Elections, Part III: Post-Script

So, the predicted Republican bloodbath did indeed come to pass. I actually thought it was going to be much closer, but it wasn't. The message was loud and clear. People are tired of the current leadership and want change. I think this is well and good. My prediction that the Republicans would hold on to the House wasn't wishful thinking, it was just what I thought was going to happen. But the Republicans did everything possible to ruin things the past few years, and now they can sit back and decide how they can return to power. It could be a while. Republicans today feel like Democrats did in 1994.

I was at Republican headquarters last night watching the election returns, and it wasn't exactly an upbeat evening. We heard about a dozen concession speeches, from a variety of local and state candidates. The final concession speech was from Chris Chocola, who got creamed by Joe Donnelly, in what was expected to be a very close race. Funny thing though, I don't think there was any love lost with Chocola. Not exactly a resounding ovation when he took the stage. He gave a brief speech where he gave the usual thank you's to the volunteers, his wife, etc. Then he simply left. At that point, the entire room fell totally silent and people started to leave, now knowing that the Republicans were well on their way to losing just about everything. I didn't vote for Chocola, although I kept that little tidbit silent since technically I was an invited guest of the Chocola campaign.

One bright spot was that Jackie Walorski held on to her State seat, so she can continue to annoy B. Patrick Bauer (she got a huge ovation, obviously a star within the Party). Bauer handily beat my candidate Kevin Mitschelen. Kevin got 32% of the vote, which with everything against the Republicans this year, was not a bad showing. Mark Souder also won fairly easily and didn't get swept up like most of the other Indiana Republicans in the House.

Now Bush has a choice. Be stubborn and have a miserable final two years, or return to his Texas governor's style and reach out to the other side, which he was very good at doing (that was his whole "uniter not divider" thing). Clinton had to do it, and that's what saved his presidency. It could be quite the ironic footnote if it's the Democrats who end up saving the Bush legacy. But if Bush wisens up, he could have a very productive final two years and could leave office on quite the high note. It's his call.

The Mid-Term Elections, Part II: Election Day

I must say, I am glad we’ve finally arrived at election day. Weeks of hearing about all the different polls, and listening to spin after spin after spin as to who will come out victorious has gotten a little old. Time now to just turn it over to the voters and watch Tim Russert and his dry erase board telling us which races to keep an eye on as the night progresses.

The race I’ll be watching is one that is very much under the radar. This is the race for Indiana State Representative, District 6. I was campaign treasurer for Kevin Mitschelen, who decided to take on B. Patrick Bauer, who has been in office since Nixon’s first term. Our first campaign meeting took place in Kevin’s living room and we took it from there.

It was refreshing working on this campaign, especially in light of what has been a truly nasty campaign season. This was grassroots campaigning at its finest. At any time, there were about 8-10 of us involved. We met every other week to plot out strategies and decide how to spend our money. This was not a big time campaign. For the pre-primary report I had to submit, we reported a total of $100.00 in contributions. No, I didn’t leave out any zeroes. It was just one hundred dollars. For the last report, our grand total that we took in was about $7,200, which is about the cost of having two pictures taken with President Bush when he was in town campaigning for Chris Chocola.

The way we spent our money was something I’m proud of. When we got a $25.00 contribution, we were ecstatic. We truly pinched every penny we had. There was absolutely no waste and I will be sending a letter to all our contributors outlining where their money went. Sometimes a check was written to pay for stamps, sometimes to pay for some business cards and flyers. Our biggest expense was for yard signs. Then there was the $27.50 to pay for pizza for volunteers going door to door. This past weekend, in our last door to door effort, we ran out of campaign literature, having used every piece we had printed.

If Kevin has a good showing against Pat Bauer, it is because he truly earned it. Every day before work, he got up and distributed literature door to door. Every weekend, he was out, sometimes pulling his kids in a wagon, going door to door. He was truly out there meeting those in his District. Do I think he can win? No, Bauer is too entrenched to take him out. But we’re hoping we can shake him up a little (for him to lose would be sort of like Ted Kennedy suddenly getting ousted). If we have a good showing this time around, then this may bode well for Kevin in the future.

Kevin is the real deal. He is a committed Christian first, and then politician. We made it a point not to go negative on this campaign, and we didn’t. I’ve known Kevin for many years. He met his wife the same place I met mine, at a single’s group at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend. Kevin ran for a county office 8 years ago and then decided to take a break before venturing out there again.

Another real deal is Jackie Walorski, who is running for reelection for Indiana State Representative. I heard her speak at a Missionary Church a few years ago and she is absolutely phenomenal. This was before she ran for office, so it wasn’t a speech to appeal to the evangelicals. She talked about her and her husband’s experiences in Romania, which they have had a real heart for. Her husband is a long-time friend and colleague of Dorene’s, as both are local music teachers. Keep an eye on Jackie, I believe she’ll go national one of these years. Her campaign was one of our biggest contributors (a whopping $500.00).

It’s been fun. This is politics as it should be. Spending the people’s money wisely, not attacking the other candidate, and truly getting out there to meet the people. We had a fundraiser, and it cost all of $15.00 to come (not one of those $500 a plate fundraisers). The Republicans have really messed things up in Washington. But there are still some good ones out there. I haven’t given up on the party that I’ve been associated with for so many years, but I do think they need a wake-up call.

So tonight, I’ll be with Kevin and the rest of the volunteers at GOP campaign headquarters in downtown South Bend watching the returns. Chris Chocola will be there, along with his hundreds of staff and volunteers. But sometime during the night, as the national returns are coming in, there will be local results scrolling across the bottom of the screen. When we see that name “Mitschelen” come up, win or lose, it will be a proud moment for all of us that we gave it the best shot we could, and that we can walk away feeling good about the kind of campaign we ran.

Say it ain't so, Ted

Here we go again, another prominent evangelist taking a fall. This one's a little different. Not a certified wacko like Swaggart, Roberts, et al. Not this time. Ted Haggard is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a very prominent organization and also pastor of the mega New Life Church in Colorado.

At first he denied everything and it looked like that maybe this was a smear campaign against him with the upcoming election.

But no. Ted has admitted to buying meth from a gay escort and receiving a massage. He's denied any relationship with the escort and says he didn't use the meth, only that he was tempted (insert your own Clinton "I didn't inhale" joke here).

This isn't good. Nope, not at all. There will probably be much more to come, and it won't be pretty.

You sir, are no Comedian

Some people just aren't funny, and when they try to be funny, it just get's worse. That was basically John Kerry's problem. I know he wasn't intentionally slamming our troops. He had a joke that one of his staff wrote out, and he botched it in a big way. Then, to make things worse, he goes on the air and goes with the right wing conspiracy defense and brings up Rush Limbaugh. Dude, Rush isn't running for office.

I was watching David Gergen on CNN, and he basically said Kerry should shut up and "go dark" until after the election. Furthermore, he said had Kerry immediately apologized, the story would have gone away, but his ego wouldn't let him do it.

This isn't Dukakis in the tank, but it did give significant unwanted diversion from the issues the Democrats would prefer to be talking about. I still feel the Republicans will hold onto a very slim majority in both houses. Today, I sent an e-mail to my fellow co-workers urging them to keep me in their thoughts next Tuesday as I attempt to save the Republican Party from extinction. Of course, I received several sarcastic replies.

The Mid-Term Elections, Part I

We're at T minus one week until the 2006 midterm elections. If everything pans out as being reported, then the Republicans will definitely lose the House and quite possibly the Senate. What exactly will happen? I can't say I really know for sure, but here is what I think:

Since the Republicans are expected to lose, I'm not sure they are in that bad of a position. If they end up losing the House, then the news coverage will reflect that everything panned out as it was expected to. I for one think it could be a very good thing for the Republicans to lose. It would give them a chance to start afresh in 2008. The Republicans in Congress have been a disappointment of epic proportions. Even my mom is disgusted, and when you have a solid Republican like her disgusted, then you know you're in bad shape.

It's really the Democrats that have the most to lose. What if they DON'T win the House? It's been practically pre-ordained that they are going to win back the House. Oh the finger-pointing that will take place if that doesn't happen. But you never know. Their whole campaign is basically based on "We're not the Republicans." That could put them over the top this time, but they are a party deeply divided, so once they get in, who knows what'll happen. I know polls have the Democrats leading, but polling data in 2002 and 2004 turned out to be less than reliable.

If the Democrats do take over, I hope they do a great job. I'm not a hyper-partisan in that I hope things go bad for them (as many of my fellow Republicans would indeed to). Republicans have done a horrible job and deserve to be out of power. I feel sorry for Nancy Pelosi, because she is going to get hammered as the new Speaker if the Democrats get in. She'll be under intense pressure to have hearing after hearing and go after everyone, maybe even begin impeachment proceedings. I doubt the intense partisanship ends if the Democrats take over, but if it did, and they were the reason, more power to them.

I think that the party that can redefine itself stands the best chance for victory in 2008. For the Republicans, that means showing a wee bit more concern about the environment, health care, the poor, and not giving every break conceivable to the corporations. Also, not using abortion and gay marriage as the measuring stick for whether or not someone is worthy to hold office. For the Democrats, they need to quit being so afraid to talk about God on the national stage. Recognize that sometimes, character does matter, and that there are a host of moral values that people actually do consider important. I know you try to be as inclusive as possible, but if you tick off a certain segment, then just live with it. If you are anti-war, then don't just say it, vote it too! I don't think anyone is unpatriotic for being against the war in Iraq. I have much more respect for someone that says "bring 'em all home" and votes that way, than for someone that says that in a speech but then votes the Bush line when it comes to crunch time.

My prediction? The Republicans maintain a very slight hold on the House and the Senate, which will make for an upcoming two of the nastiest years in recent political history. It could actually open the door for an independent candidate because the partisanship will reach an all-time low.

The Fitted Sheet Monopoly

This past weekend we spent a lot of time getting our house cleaned up so we can sell it. My parents came up for a few days and were a huge help. My mom is great at getting things truly clean. Our definition of clean is completely different. What we say is clean, my mom would say is dirty, and so forth.

She also organized our linen closet, with every towel and sheet folded perfectly . . .even the fitted sheets. Now my method of dealing with these are to crumple here, crumple there, and stuff in the closet. But that's not how it looked on this day. There lay our fitted sheets perfectly flat and square.

How could this be? She demonstrated and said that "Chaney Bergdall's wife" had shown her how to do this. Wow, flashback, flashback, flashback. I remember one day while I still attended Huntington College that Steve and I had lunch with the Bergdall's. He was a professor at the College. At Steve's request his wife came down the stairs with a fitted sheet to demonstrate. So, it appears she is the nation's sole expert in this task.

Now, the way she showed us, and the way my mom showed us, was to do a fold here, a fold there, and voila, a perfectly folded sheet. But, that's pretty much like my brother Stu explaining the "simple" steps to repair a transmission. Yeah, you can show it to me, but I'll never be able to do it.

So, at least for now, people looking to buy our house will see perfectly folded fitted sheets in our linen closet. But, we need to sell quickly. Once we have to wash the sheet currently on our bed, it's back to the "crumple" technique.

House for Sale!

It's now official. The realtor came to our house yesterday and posted a "for sale" sign in our yard. Now, we have to get the thing ready to show. My oh my, I haven't ever sold a house before. There's a lot to do. My parents will be coming up this week to help us get ready, and we're very glad to have their help because there is so much we have to get done. We purposely had the realtor push things along so as to push us along. It's like I'm writing a paper and it's due this week and I haven't started the research (not to worry, I always got an A or B on those assignments).

My wife had mixed feelings about having a sign up in our yard. She really wanted to sell it through a classified ad or word of mouth. You see, we have a very grumpy old neighbor. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing a "for sale" sign in our yard. Dorene would have rather sold for less to prevent that from happening. But, I had to tell her that we simply couldn't sell our house for less purely out of spite (as much fun as that would be).

So, our neighbor will be greeted with a glorious sight this morning when he steps outside and sees the sign in our yard. So, now all we can hope for is a family to move in with 8 kids and 5 dogs who care absolutely nothing about mowing the yard.

Painting the Dennie Way (or at least this particular Dennie)

We are in the process of fixing up our house as we are looking at moving in the near future. Part of the fix-up includes doing some painting, which I totally dislike doing with a passion. It is very time consuming and especially when it comes to doing the trim, it takes forever. Then comes the clean-up. I think it takes longer to clean the rollers and brushes than it does to do the actual painting.

Now my dad, he can paint a room in about 5 minutes. He can do the trim without putting up any tape and still come to the edges perfectly. When it comes to clean-up, the rollers and brushes basically look like you just brought them home from the store when he's done.

So, I have come up with a new solution to the clean-up issue. We now go to "Big Lots" and get a pack of 2 rollers for only 89 cents. We also pick up paint roller trays for only 79 cents each. So, when it comes to clean-up, we just simply throw the roller and tray away and there you go, clean-up completed in less than 30 seconds. The next time we paint, we just open up a new roller and get out a new paint tray (so yes, we buy about a half-dozen at a time).

I'm sure my dad would not subscribe to this clean-up procedure, although my brother Steve would probably encourage me to patent it because I know he'd think it's a good idea.

It's Not Easy Being a Cardinal's Fan . . .It Really Isn't!

Wow, the Cardinals really blew it last night. I've been a fan of theirs since I was a season ticket holder during their first season in Phoenix in 1988. It's been almost 20 years of futility.

Last night was a chance for them to really take it to the next level, and for about 3 1/2 quarters, they did. The undefeated Bears didn't look all that good, and in fact, they weren't. Their offense sputtered all night. But when your defense and special teams can score 3 touchdowns, well, you don't need much more than that.

There was a bright spot in that Matt Leinart did very well and it looks like he has the poise to be an NFL star. But, we Cardinals fans have gone through this before. The last time was when we got Jake Plummer. He took the Cardinals to the playoffs, but as soon as his contract expired, he bolted to the Broncos, where he is doing very well. Hopefully, the Cardinals owners (probably the worst in the NFL) will do what it takes to keep Leinart around. We'll see.

But for now, another season down the drain as they are at 1-5. Yes, they have lost 3 games by very narrow margins. Yes, they could easily be 4-2. But, we have gone through this many times. If ever there was a snakebit organization, it is this one. Once again, it's wait until next year. If Leinart continues to have a good year, then next year truly could be special, and there's always a chance they could click and make a big run this year to the playoffs, but they'd have to pretty much win 9 of their last 10 games.

Anyway, the Suns open their season soon.

Sports Roundup

Baseball Playoffs
The Tigers are in. I watched their game 4 victory and it was pretty exciting. I will likely be rooting for them in the World Series. They are probably the best story of this post-season since just 3 years ago they lost about 119 games.

I hope the Mets beat the Cardinals, because I've never cared for the Cardinals. I'm not really sure why, I just don't like them. Can't help it.

The Other Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals, my team, supposedly has a home game tonight against the Bears. Well, I tell you what, I once attended a "home game" in Phoenix when they played the Bears and I felt like I was in the minority. It was Soldier Field West, because you have so many transplants from the midwest leaving out in the desert. So, expect a lot of cheering tonight when the visitors score.

Coach Dennis Green finally went with Matt Leinart and he hasn't done too bad so far. He could definitely be the future for this organization. Or that is, the latest incarnation of the future for this organization, which has one all of one playoff game in the last 40-50 years.

Hank Williams, Jr. v. Pink
I like Pink's intro to Sunday Night Football. Obviously trying to mimic Hank Williams, Jr. who set the standard for football mania. It's pretty catchy.

NHL Hockey
Just kidding, I could care less about hockey.

Something That Won't Ever Get Old

I love my job and I love my family even more. Every day, the transition between the two is typically the highlight of my day.

When I walk in the door, a flurry of activity happens. Anna comes running up to me yelling "DADDY" and gives me a big hug. Right behind her is Cameron, who does the same (usually wielding one of his toy guns or swords). Then comes Daphne the Dog, who jumps up and down wildly, like she hasn't seen me in a week. Somewhere in the midst is Dorene, who doesn't jump up and down but is always of course glad to see me come home. Then there's Gracie the Cat. She just sort of raises her head and looks at me as if to say, "Yeah, who made YOU king?" then goes back to sleep.

No matter how my day went, good or bad, it's always so comforting to have such a home life to return to. That greeting I get as I come in the door will never grow old and I hope I'm always the dad and husband (and even pet owner) whose arrival is always delightfully anticipated.

The Return of Bob Seger

One of my all time favorite artists is back with his first new CD in about 10 years. I just love Seger's music and I've listened to him longer than any other artist. Nothing fancy about his music, just, as his signature tune says, good "old time rock and roll." No angst-driven songs, just fun music.

Growing up, Seger was the perfect music to listen to while driving around in a pick-up truck. Of course, I drove a Toyota Tercel, so maybe the effect wasn't quite the same. His two live CD's, "Nine Tonight" and "Live Bullet" are two of the best crank it up rock CD's ever. I would love to have seen him in concert during his heyday (something I'm jealous of my sister-in-law because she did get to see him back in the 70's).

His new CD has several good songs,plus a duet with Kid Rock, which I really like. Kid Rock's music contains a lot of Segeresque type songs, and his "Live Trucker" CD cover is a direct homage to the "Live Bullet" CD. Although I liked Kid Rock's CD, there were a few too many instances where he used words that rhymed with "trucker" (if you know what I mean). Speaking of Kid Rock, did you see him on Country Music Television performing with Hank Williams, Jr? That was really good!

Thank you Bob Seger for coming back. You've been missed.

We Were Actually Missed

Today in the mail I received a copy of the "homework" for next week's Sunday School lesson. The note simply said "we missed you" and gave us the study questions over the passage in Ephesians we'd be studying.

We attend a small Wesleyan church of about 90. Prior to that, we kept finding ourselves stuck in mega-churches of several hundred and a couple times in churches of about 200-300.

This is the first time in 11 years that we have ever received any kind of note, call, etc. that our presence on Sunday morning was missed.

And we wonder why our true desire was to be in a small church all this time . . .

The All-American Yard Sale

This past weekend, we participated in that very American institution, the yard sale. We are planning on moving out of South Bend in the near future, so it was time to unload a bunch of stuff (i.e. junk). That, we did by the boatloads.

I'm not sure why, but we had a non-stop stream of traffic into our little subdivision from 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. We really didn't expect to do much business, but we did. Got rid of a lot of kids toys, some furniture, and clothes, clothes, clothes.We had sent the kids out to grandma's house because there would have been too much drama when they saw we were selling one of their toys that they played with once in the last.

As the day went on, I kept going in the house and bringing out what I thought was true 100% crap, and it immediately sold. Wow, never underestimate the garage sale crowd.Meanwhile, my wife, much more bold than I am, told everyone that came that our house was for sale, too. Me, I might have mentioned it once, but Dorene was in full-scale salesman mode. Sure enough, a few people even said they were interested and she took them back in the yard and even into the house (even though it was a disaster).

If we sell our house due to having a yard sale, then both Dorene and Cameron are to thank. Cameron had told us we should sell our house at the yard sale. We both thought, hmm, that's not a bad idea. I know the housing market it down right now, but hey, someone out there is still wanting to buy a house, so why not us be that someone that sells to them?

Fox turns 10

This week is the 10th anniversary of Fox News, an event which for many is probably a sign of the end times. One thing for sure, Fox has definitely made its mark, whether it's a positive one or not, really depends on who you talk to.

The biggest complaint about Fox is that they are not "fair and balanced" like they promote but instead lean very much to the right and are a mouthpiece for anything Republican. Well, la de frickin' da! No kidding! Y'all just now figuring that out?

What is wrong with that exactly? Sorry, but I can't make excuses for people not smart enough to figure things out on their own. If they take everything they hear from the television media as the end all truth, then that's their problem.

Click over to CNN. Larry King is very much liberal (although this came through much more on his radio show). Click over to MSNBC. Keith Olberman pretty much has a daily rant against Bush and Bill O'Reilly. Of course, what does O'Reilly care since his show kick's Olberman's butt on a daily basis. Click over to HBO and Bill Maher. Enough said . . .and that is all just fine.

Go back in time. Remember when Dan Rather went after Bush I about Iran-Contra? Was that a "liberal" hit job? No, it was a very legitimate question, even though Rather has never exactly hidden his liberal leanings. Was it biased when Edward R. Murrow used his show to go after Sen. McCarthy? Absolutely.

Yeah, so Fox is going to present a more partisan view. So what. You always have the option of switching channels. Will Fox ever change? No way. Their ratings double that of CNN and triple that of MSNBC. That really is the bottom line. If people stop watching, they'll have to change their format. If people don't want to hear Rush Limbaugh anymore, he'll go off the air. There is liberal talk radio
out there, called "Air America" and it has some pretty good stuff on it. Problem is, you typically can only find it on some alternative Mongolian bluegrass station out of Butte, Montana.

Just don't watch it people! Ah, this is where it gets a little humorous. Some of my Democrat co-workers were talking about how much they hate Fox. They especially hate Bill O'Reilly. One said, "Yeah, just the other night, he was talking about . . ." Stop right there! So, what you are saying is that you hate the guy, but you still watch? That was indeed the case. Fox's ratings are huge, and I'm sure that a great deal of that comes from those that "hate" them. So, for all of you out there that wish Fox would go away because you don't like watching them, you are the ones that are keeping them going. You just can't stay away.

Personally, I don't watch Fox all that much. I mainly just don't like the personalities very well. O'Reilly just isn't that interesting to me. Hannity and Colmes used to be good, but it seems like every time you turn them on they have Ann Coulter or Dick Morris as guests. I channel surf the news, checking out just about every station. But for those that like to just watch Fox 24/7, more power to them, it's their choice.

World Series Predictions

I predict that I don't really care who wins this year. In the American League you got the A's, Yankees, Tigers and Twins. In the National League you got the Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres and Mets.

I guess the best story would be New York v. New York, although that happened back in 2000 and it was a pretty boring series. San Diego v. Minnesota would probably be the lowest watched Series in history.

No, it doesn't matter how you slice it, there is no compelling story this year. The last two years you had the Sox teams ending nearly 100 years of futility. This year, I guess the Padres could finally win a World Series for the first time in their history. I think they began sometime in the 60's. So, yeah, Go Padres (I guess).

Sean Penn and a Donkey

The new Sean Penn movie, "All the King's Men," opened this past weekend. It was an early Oscar contender and Penn himself was seen as an early candidate for Best Actor. This was one of those period pieces that Oscar loves, with a flamboyant performance at the center.

As it turns out, the movie only made half of what it was expected to. The number one movie over the weekend? "Jackass, Number Two."

Insert your own "sad-commentary-on-the-state-of-America-when-a-movie-filled-with-hits-to-the-groin-outgrosses-a-serious-adult-intellectual-period-piece" comment here.

I personally like Sean Penn. Check out "Bad Boys," a very underrated prison flick from the early 80's(not the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence movie and featuring one of the all time great payback scenes, featuring a pillowcase and some cans of pop). He just needs to not take himself so darn seriously all the time. He should go on SNL and resurrect Spicoli. It would probably be the biggest sustained applause of all time for the show if he appeared as that character.

Another Losing Season for the Cards . . .Maybe

Once again, the Arizona Cardinals were the subject of all kinds of pre-season speculation that this could be the year they broke through. A new stadium, the signing of Edgerrin James. Everything seemed to be falling in place.

They started 1-1 and this past Sunday they hosted the Rams. They were losing 16-14 and the Rams just had to run out the clock. But, they fumbled at their own 30, giving the Cards a golden opportunity . . .which quarterback Kurt Warner (hmm, a former Ram's quarterback) fumbled away a couple plays later. So, now they are at 1-2, needing to do something to get back on track.

The answer? Get Matt Leinart in there now. So what if he's just out of college and hasn't taken a snap yet in the pros. He won the Heismann and won two national titles for USC. Let's give him a shot now and see if he turns out to be one of those Heismann winners that makes the transition well or goes the way of so many others before him.

Hmm, Someone's Worried about their Legacy.

Wow, did you see Bill Clinton go off on Chris Wallace on Sunday? Chris asked the simple question of did he do enough to catch Bin Laden. Clinton just went off, pointing his finger, reaching over and tapping on his notes, getting almost right in his face. Then, things got really strange as he launched into how this question and whole interview was some sort of conservative hit job and how Chris Wallace was doing the bidding of Fox News. Talked about how Wallace had this smirk on his face. Man, he was really upset.

Yo, Bill, it was a very legitimate question. You might want to stay out of the kitchen if you can't take that kind of heat. I also thought it strange that Clinton based his entire 8 years of combating terrorism solely on Richard Clarke's book. I don't know how many times he said, "Just read Clarke's book, it's all there." It was like watching a celebrity on Leno hawk his new movie.

He somewhat indicted himself when he said, "I tried 8 years and failed; they (Bush) had 8 months and couldn't do it." So, what you are saying is that Bush should have done in 8 months what you couldn't do in 8 years?

I've always felt, and the 9/11 Commission concurs, that there was plenty of blame to go around. Hindsight is so 20/20. Blame Bush I, blame Clinton, blame Bush II. Fact is, we just didn't think something like this would ever happen. We'll see if we learned or not. Some say we're safer, some say we're not, there's more terrorists now, there's less terrorists, yada yada yada.

Why did this get Clinton so riled? Does he truly believe all this right-wing conspiracy stuff that Hillary also liked to spout? It was strange seeing him reduced to a liberal version of Rush Limbaugh as he talked about how all the conservatives are out to get him. Sounds to me like someone is very worried about his legacy getting tarnished. If he truly didn't do enough and is feeling guilty about it, then an interview on Fox News should be the least of his worries.

Student beats the Teacher

Last night at the South Bend Table Tennis Club, a torch was passed. A.J. Brewer is the top rated 13-year old in the nation. He has been playing table tennis for years under the tutelage of Dan Seemiller, himself a former champion on the national and world stage.

A week earlier, Dan had told us that A.J. was training in China with some of the world's best. He indicated that when he gets back, he may have a hard time beating him. "I don't know if I'm ready to lose to a 13-year old, but that's how it is."

Well, last night was the first time A.J. ever beat his coach in match play. Although others were playing that night, all eyes fell on this contest to see if pupil would finally overtake his teacher. Dan is still nationally ranked at 24, so he's no slouch, even at age 52. He didn't exactly go lightly on A.J. It was obvious he wanted to win and played each point like he meant it. But on this night, A.J.'s youth and dedication won out.

The last time Dan lost to a youngster was to Mark Hazinski. Mark was also coached by Dan and he played on the 2004 Olympic team. So don't be surprised if by 2012, you'll see another Olympian from the South Bend Table Tennis Club.

Now, if Dan could just help me in returning those heavy spin serves . . .

The Saints Come Marching Back

There is a lot of hype over the New Orleans Saints' return to the Superdome on Monday night. They are undefeated, and the whole city waits in anticipation of this game, which will signal a rebirth of the city.

But does everyone see it that way? Do those that left after Katrina and never came back really care that much about this team? Our Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs grew up in New Orleans and he said his parents vowed to never, ever go back. Do those that are still waiting for FEMA money to rebuild their houses really care if the Saints win on Monday night? Maybe they wish some of the $185 million spent on repairing the Superdome had come their way.

A moment to watch on Monday night. The coin toss will be from George Bush, Sr. I wonder what the reaction will be and if fans will take out some of their frustration with W on his father. But then again, seeing how history illiterate many people are, maybe lots of people will hear the name George Bush and just assume it's W.

20 Seconds of Fame

As I began to leave the stadium after the conclusion of the Notre Dame v. Michigan game this past Saturday, I looked down and saw this woman running at full speed toward the tunnel, evidently chasing down a player. I thought, that sure looks like someone I know. Sure enough, it was Michelle, one of our former student workers at IU South Bend who has been interning with NBC Sports. She gets to roam the sidelines and hopes to someday be a sideline reporter. On this day, she was chasing down one of the Michigan players for an interview.

Michelle attends IU Bloomington now. I e-mailed her and asked her if she did indeed catch up to the player to pull him back for an interview. She said she did, although she said players were running everywhere and she was just praying that she didn't get run over. Her mom, who works here at IU South Bend, said that there was about 20 seconds on the NBC coverage where you could see Michelle running after the player.

By the way, Michelle is a big Steelers fan and she (and her mom) severely taunted me when they beat the Colts. I told her that I hope someday she ends up interning with the Colts and has to chase down Peyton Manning for an interview after they beat the Steelers.

Meanwhile, at Notre Dame stadium, I had my own "Rudy" moment. "Hey, I know her, that's Michelle! She's so little!"

Massacre at Notre Dame

In what has become a yearly event now, I get to take in a Notre Dame home football game once a year thanks to my former roommate Peter, a high school counselor in nearby Goshen, Indiana. This year, I was surprised when he asked me to go the Michigan game, which was already being built up as the game of the year. Notre Dame was ranked #2 and Michigan #11. These two teams have quite the history between them and not a whole lot of love to spread around either. Tickets on the street were going for $250.00 and sometimes more. In retrospect, Michigan fans who bought overpriced tickets got their money's worth. Notre Dame fans who did the same are wishing they had stayed home and mowed the lawn.

As with any Notre Dame home game, part of the excitement is just getting to the stadium. We parked at a shopping center lot a couple miles away and made the walk in (parking a couple miles away gives you free parking; parking closer to the stadium ranges from $20.00 - $40.00).

As you make your way to the stadium, you pass through "party row." Tailgaters all over the place and beer absolutely flowing like Niagra Falls. If you saw someone with a Pepsi can, they looked out of place. But there is quite the buzz level with so much activity going on outside the stadium. You also had some of your more creative vendors selling t-shirts not fit for family viewing (the nicest ones said "Muck Fichigan").

We hung around outside and watched the band march in. Hundreds of fans line the path leading to the stadium to watch them come in. We finally made our way to our seats and settled down for the game. This was quite possibly to be the year that Notre Dame would once again rise to the top and win the national championship. Quarterback Brady Quinn was also an early favorite for the Heisman Trophy. The crowd was absolutely pumped up leading up to kickoff. Then, an unfortunate thing happened. The game began.

At the forty second mark, Brady Quinn threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. That set the tone. Brady's Heisman and Notre Dame's national title hopes were gone before people settled in to their seats. By the time it was over, Notre Dame had lost 47-21. That just doesn't happen in their home stadium and certainly wasn't supposed to happen this year.

Not a pleasant day for Notre Dame fans. One of the fans sitting behind us summed up the day nicely for the home crowd: "That was a big pile of suck."

Missing the Point in a Big Way

We attend a church of about 90. It's a Wesleyan church in South Bend right across the street from a very large church. But, we absolutely love it. It's the size we have been looking for, especially after spending too much time in borderline mega-churches.

Our kids love it too. There may be only 4 or 5 kids in their Sunday School class, but they don't mind it one bit. Lately, some friends of ours started coming. Marcie comes and brings her two daughters, Tatum and Caylin. They love it too. They had been attending a church but Marcie was disappointed at their lack of attention to kids programs. She brought this to the attention of the pastor and I thought his response was absolutely stunning.

He indicated that, yes, they used to have a kids program before, but it just turned out to be a babysitting club. They decided they would go after the parents first and then bring the kids in. Wow, what a backwards way of thinking. First of all, it's not babysitting if you are teaching unsaved kids about God. Of course, if all you are doing is just babysitting, then that's your own fault. Secondly, I don't know of any kids or youth program anywhere that doesn't have a great deal of kids whose parents do not attend that church. Kids and youth programs can be huge outreach ministries, and its through the kids that you can reach the parents. Sometimes vice versa, but not always.

In the church I grew up in, we had a fabulous Wednesday night program. But I'd say about 95% of the kids that came did not have parents that attended our church regularly (and that number may be conservative). But that didn't matter. We had the kids there, and we reached out to them in a big way. The church my brother attends in Fort Wayne does a huge outreach to youth in the area and probably 99.99% of those kids do not have parents that attend there. Imagine if their leadership decided that they didn't want to just "babysit" anymore? That would never happen but it just outlines how this other church in South Bend totally missed the point.

How sad that a church is basically writing off such a vital ministry. By the way, how did Marcie get interested in coming to our church? Our dinky little church put on a fabulous Vacation Bible School that her kids still talk about and that really impressed Marcie. She was surprised just how much the church cared about the kids. I'm so glad I attend a church that does indeed care about the little ones.

Fatherly Advice from Brad Pitt

Okay, I know. Brad and Angelina Jolie are not married, and Brad just said that they wouldn't get married until "everyone that wants to" can. In other words, when gay marriage is legalized. So what advice could be culled from this guy?

Well, I read part of an interview and one thing he said struck me as very true. He said how much he enjoys just being laid back and just letting the kids "be kids." He also said that you need to give kids a heads up before you jerk them out of something. You should always say "You have three more minutes." That part is very true.

When we are at a park, or a playground, or anything like that, our kids (like any kids) do not like it when it's time to leave. However, whenever we say "you got three more minutes," we leave without incident. No tears, no whining. Much more simple. Actually, we say "five minutes" but that's okay. What's wrong with doing that parents? Relax a litle, let your kids have a good time and then end it all on a good note. I always dislike it when I see parents march up to their kids that are having a blast at something and yank them away with no warning. I'm telling you, the five-minute warning works. In fact, if you say five minutes and take them away in two, it doesn't matter, there still is no fuss.

Good job, Mr. Pitt.

Democrat Christians?

Okay, I use that title in jest. Republicans and many evangelical churches would lead you to believe that Democrat and Christian are two words that just aren't compatible. I have never truly felt this way, but I've certainly heard it preached. This basically started in the 70's and gained huge momentum once Reagan was elected. The basic assumption was that if you were a Christian, you just had to be a Republican. No way around that. Like I said, I never bought into that and tend to get a little irritated by the Falwells, Robertsons, etc. that promulgate this notion. Even though I've never met a Christian that's also a Democrat. JUST KIDDING!!

Problem is, the Democrats have done an absolutely horrible job of convincing otherwise. They have gift-wrapped every morals-based issue and handed it to the Republicans. After the 2004 election when it turns out moral values was a key factor in how people voted, Democrats were stumbling over themselves trying to convince everyone that they too attended church and believed in God. They are always at the front and center when it's time to separate church from state, they are always at the front and center promoting gay marriage. They ridicule Dan Quayle and the whole "family values" way of thinking. Of course this would make people like Karl Rove giddy and they take advantage of this. Democrats don't even try to court the evangelical vote. They just write that whole population off (which to me has always been a colossal mistake).

This year, Democrats may finally be seeing the light. Criticize Howard Dean all you want, and maybe his motives are truly political, but he sees the advantage of the evangelical vote. So does Barack Obama. Both have taken flack for it.

But I think this year, more than ever, Christians are ripe to be swept up by the Democrats. BUT, and this is a BIG but, the Democrats on a national level have to want to go after them. They can't keep being scared to death to mention "God" in a public forum. This has always seemed particularly odd to me, why they continue to let themselves be run over by the Republicans on this issue.

Like I said, the Democrats have a huge opportunity. Let's see if they take advantage of it or not. Meanwhite, check out www.faithfuldemocrats.com, which is a website featuring blogs and commentary on the whole "Democrat Christian" ideal. Just launched today. I'm looking forward to reading more.

The County Fair

Last night on the CBS Nightly News, the last segment was on county fairs and how in some places they are a dying breed as competition from amusement parks and just other activities in general are causing attendance to dwindle. In addition, only 2% of Americans are farmers, so not many people are even involved as far as showing animals, etc.

This past weekend, we went to one of the old time county fairs, located in Van Wert, Ohio. The first time I was there was 1991. Fifteen years later, it looks exactly the same. I imagine that 15 years before 1991, it also looked the same, and maybe even 30 years before that. A few booths may have gotten moved around, but the Fiske Fries are probably in the exact location they've always been. I'd have to consult my mom, she'd know. I know the Rager's sausage sandwiches have probably never moved.

Nothing all that special about the fair from this city boy's perspective. But there is a certain nostalgic flair to it that is easy to appreciate. No matter what's happening in the rest of the world, the Van Wert County Fair will always stay the same.

Dorene and myself aren't really all that big of fans of this fair. Maybe it's because we didn't grow up going to it, so there's no connection that way. My parents weren't able to go with us this year, so maybe that's part of it, because we missed hearing my mom's stories of old when she attended.

Our kids enjoyed the fair quite a bit. I was surprised that they enjoyed climbing on the tractors as much as anything. They also enjoyed looking at all the animals. They didn't really care that much about the carnival rides, which was fine by us since these rides are put together in 5 minutes. But we were glad to not hear a constant refrain of "more rides" and "more food." The tractors were probably a highlight. On one tractor, Cameron started pulling all the buttons and levers and one time the tractor suddenly began to start. He looked at me and said, "oops" because he was surprised as all of us. He made Uncle Steve go on every last tractor, as did Anna (who I wouldn't have thought would have enjoyed this as much as she did).

Profanity and 9/11

CBS is rebroadcasting the documentary 9/11 this month. This is an excellent documentary and contains footage taken inside the south tower after it was hit as rescue workers moved in (and footage inside that tower as the other fell). One of the most hard-hitting images isn't an image, but a sound. You occasionally hear loud booms on the soundtrack. We're told this is not debris falling, but bodies of those that have jumped from the upper floors.

Well, the American Family Association is complaining to CBS that the documentary "contains a tremendous amount of hardcore profanity." They say it's a slap in the face to the FCC after the fines they levied in the Janet Jackson incident. The AFA states that if the documentary is allowed to be aired and there are no complaints, then the network will just keep pushing the envelope.

Perhaps the AFA should keep their focus elsewhere, such as the umpteenth boycott of Disney World. This isn't exactly manufactured profanity. It's real life.

I wasn't there in the midst of the chaos and horror of September 11, but if some people let loose with some profanity, I think I could understand that.