Jimmy Carter Leaves His Church

Jimmy Carter left his church after many years because he cannot abide by the rampant sexism in the Southern Baptist Convention.

For those who discriminate against women and blame it on God, his words are a firm rebuke which, interestingly enough, has barely been reported.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/losing-my-religion-for-equality-20090714-dk0v.html?page=-1

This Day, 40 Years Ago

This day, 40 years ago, July 20, 1969 the first people set foot on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin departed "The Eagle" and walked around on the moon.

I was 14 years old and watched in live on television.

Many years later I met Neil Armstrong at the funeral of a dear friend of his parents. He came back to his hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio to attend the funeral of this very fine woman. I was officiating at the funeral and was quite honored to meet him. He grew up at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Wapakoneta and, years later, I spent 11 years as the Pastor of that congregation, so I heard a good deal about his 'growing up' years from people who knew him in his youth.

Neil Armstrong was, and is, a very quiet, very private, very decent, very intelligent, very courageous person. He was the first person on the moon and he set the pace for all the others. He could have gone off the deep end and we could be using all sorts of products he chose to endorse and listened to him on all sorts of subjects or been to a "First Man on the Moon" theme park or some other foolishness. Except Neil Armstrong did not exploit what he did. He was an astronaut who was doing his job, and one of many who was responsible for landing on the moon. His quiet dignity is something that ought to always be treasured.

In the news footage remembering Walter Cronkite, two images stand out. One was the sheer pain of announcing the death of President Kennedy and the other was the smiling delight and exhilartion speaking about the moon landing. It really WAS that exciting!!!

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins were literally strapped to their seats in a small capsule on top of a large guided missile----a huge bomb, if you will. They were catapulted into the sky and travelled at 66,000 mph to the moon. The calculations to get there were done by hand (they hadn't yet invented the calculator) and an error of 1 degree would mean that they would have been lost in space forever. The moon, which is about a quarter of a million miles away from the earth, is a target that, with that distance in mind, would have been difficult to hit.

The astronauts were incredibly brave and brilliant minds led them to their destination. They were able to photograph the earth from a distance and an angle and a view never seen before----reminding us how small our world is in comparison to the universe.

It was a great a momentous day in the history of the United States and a day that, I think, is worth remembering.

Mike Lupica's Column

I find myself very much agreeing with Lupica on this column. I know a lot of people will focus on Lupica's comments about the gun. That's a political statement that you can agree with or disagree with. To me, the crux of what Lupica is saying comes in these words:

That this pillar of his community and the pride of Mount Olive, Miss., was another guy in sports who thought women are supposed to be perks of the job.

How often have we seen this? Men abuse girls and women in sports and think there are no consequences? Star athletes who have never been accountable for any of their misdeeds end up tragically facing something far worse than they anticipated?

Lupica's column says it well:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2009/07/11/2009-07-11_lupica_mcnairs_life.html#ixzz0LGRcwdQb&D

Top Ten Reasons Sarah Palin Resigned!

Top Ten Reasons Sarah Palin Resigned

10. She was jealous of all the attention Governor Mark Sanford was receiving.

9. She was so excited about beating Rod Blagojevich for the Sitting Duck Award she figured this was a great time to cash in on her status.

8. She was jealous of all the attention Carrie Prejean was getting so she wants to run for Miss California in the Miss USA pageant next year.

7. She wants to host her own late night talk show opposite Letterman and tell jokes about him too.

6. She couldn’t think of any other way to get on the news tonight.

5. She got confused with her dates and got April Fool’s Day and the 4th of July mixed up.

4. The midnight sun made her a little goofy.

3. She wants more free time to go flying with Putin.

2. She was jealous of all the attention Michael Jackson was receiving.

1. They told her that as the Governor of Alaska she was not allowed to live in Hawaii.

Monday Musings

Today Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. My hope for him is that he has a very long life to fully enjoy the accommodations provided for him so that he can reflect on the ahem, ‘joy’ that he brought into so many people’s lives.

His assets have been completely seized with his wife being given ONLY 2.5 million dollars. If she didn’t know about this scheme I’d be surprised and, being the generous soul I am, I’d be happy for her to enjoy similar accommodations to her husband. As for as I am concerned, the 2.5 million dollars she received is about 2.5 million more than she ought to.

One person you have to admire is Jenny Sanford. She is (rightly) mad as hell and she is perfectly capable of letting people know that she’s angry. She has been, in my opinion, up front and delightfully blunt as to her feelings and thoughts. I do believe she’d like to save her marriage, but she will not allow herself to be victimized by this. She is a really strong, brilliant woman.

The Mets have been devastated by injuries. I think if Marv Throneberry was still alive they might sign him... Yes, it’s that bad. And if you don’t know who Marvelous Marv was, you aren’t a true baseball fan.

Iran decreed that the recount proved that the Presidential election was valid. The Ayatollah Katherine Harris has assured everyone that the election was properly held and all the votes were properly counted.

An autopsy of Michael Jackson showed that he weighed 112 pounds, had excessive scarring from badly done plastic surgeries, and he had lost mostly all of his hair. I have no words....

Pet peeve term: “Reverse racism.” Racism is racism no matter which direction it comes from. There is no such thing as reverse racism; there is only racism. If you hate another race, you are a racist. Period.

Pet peeve term: Decimate used as if it means devastate or totally destroy. To decimate a people is to kill 10% of them or to destroy 10% of a place. This word is so misused that people do not know what it means any longer.

Pet peeve term: Disinterested when a person means uninterested. A person who is disinterested is a person who is impartial and neutral. A judge is disinterested. The judge has to make judgments based upon law and fairness and now on how the judge feels or thinks about a situation. Uninterested is having no interest in something.

I truly do not understand Justice Clarence Thomas. In the recent strip search case on a school strip searching a 13 year old girl in Arizona searching for Advil, the court ruled 8-1 that this was an improper search. It is a convergence of law and common decency. At least it was for 8 of the justices; Clarence Thomas ruled that it was okay that they did the strip search. His opinion, in my mind, makes no sense whatsoever. None. Zip. I do not understand how he came to the decision he came to. I even read when he wrote and his logic defies my imagination. If for no other reason, common decency and common sense can tell us that this was wrong. Wrong!!!!

Pope Benedict decreed that bones in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome are definitely the bones of St. Paul. He said scientific data helps prove discovered bones belonged to apostle St. Paul. "Tiny fragments of bone" in the sarcophagus were subjected to carbon dating, showing they "belong to someone who lived in the first or second century," the pope said in a homily carried on Italian television. "This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle St. Paul," Benedict said in Sunday's announcement.

Maybe they are and I am just being cynical, but I am hard pressed to embrace that dating bones and making a declaration as to who the person was is credible evidence. If Paul was living on a deserted island and they found the bones, I’m all ears. But Rome?

I am guess that the dental records weren’t available.

This kind of stuff annoys me. I am a huge fan of St. Paul and think his letters and his witness are peerless. Trying to ‘prove’ his bones appears to be a trite and potentially comical endeavor in our approach to this great man. It is moments like this that often make Christians look silly.

Authorities arrested former Gainesville Mark Musselwhite and charged him with public indecency last weekend after state Department of Natural Resources officers found him sitting nude at his Rabun County campsite.

Officers had received a complaint about a naked man walking along a nearby road earlier in the day, but the 43-year-old Musselwhite said he was not the same man.

Musselwhite, a Republican, was elected to the Gainesville City Council in 2000, where he served for six years, including a stint as mayor. He lost a bid for a state Senate seat in 2006.

At least there were no concealed weapons charges....

Elliot Spitzer was on television this morning giving his input on financial decisions, regulations, etc. There is a really evil joke in here somewhere concerning a very aggressive guy who went after ‘escort’ agencies with vigor and became a client----and from what they said, a nasty client. And now he’s on television as an expert. Wow.

Random Musings

I am not going to mention ‘he who should not be named.’ I’m tired of all’ he who shall not be named’ on the news.

I have no idea on what we should do (or not do) concerning Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a nutcase, a lunatic, and a liar. Other than that, he’s probably fine. I suspect that they never even counted the votes; he was the choice of the ‘Supreme Leader” and that’s about all that one needs to know. The good news is that there is great unrest in the country. I am not sure we can be helpful. Our credibility in Iran, long term, is bad. I suspect there are some issues nations need to work out for themselves.

I have a creeping sense that nothing significant is going to change concerning health care. It won’t be until price controls are in place and malpractice limits are given, than any progress can be made. I don’t really think anyone has the testicular fortitude to actually make the difficult choices on this.

The ‘family values’ crowd is not doing very well these days. Unless I have misconstrued, however, and forgotten what families they ‘value.’ Of late, it’s looking like the Hefners, the Flynts, and the Gucciones...

I watched Mark Sanford the other day and actually did feel for him. Seriously. In listening to him and his wife, it is obvious that there is a deep and painful chasm in their lives. I also suspect that these people are, at heart, good people. This saga does not have a happy ending. I strongly suspect that by summer’s end he will not be the Governor of South Carolina and that the Sanford marriage is over. It is painfully obvious that his heart is elsewhere. It is painful to watch.

Speaking of painful to watch: Jon and Kate. Let’s see, Jon has hired a shark for an attorney and is looking at $3000.00 a month apartments in New York City. Why do I get the impression that he is no longer going to be on the show and that his desire to be with the children is all talk? I suspect that he is going to vanish from the lives of his children----and this is horrible. Dreadful. Despicable. I hope I’m wrong about him-----but I doubt I am.

Sarah Palin has been engaging in a battle of wits with virtually everyone these days. I feel badly for her going into all of these battles unarmed...

Bernie Madoff has to forfeit EVERYTHING. So, raise your hand if you feel badly for him? .....I don’t either.

NBC showed President Obama going to a 5 Guys for burgers. It was filmed like this was spontaneous. Sure.

The Mets gained ground on the Phillies while playing very badly. That means that the Phillies played worse. The NL East is stinking up baseball.

The best all time political ‘excuse’ for misconduct still belongs to Senator Larry Craig and his ‘wide stance.’ Before that it was Bill Clinton’s parsing of ‘is,’ but Craig’s line belongs in the annals of great political bogusness.

The Problem with Anecdotal Evidence and Labels

There is a problem with anecdotal evidence and labels. It seems that people who love labels seem to love anecdotal evidence. Using anecdotal evidence is like this. One makes a statement and gives examples of how that statement is played out. An example, "There is a war on Christmas in America!," and you give three examples of events that are, or appear to be anti-Christmas. What did this prove? It proved that there were three events that were, or at least appeared to be anti-Christmas, no more and no less.

Often people make judgments based on these statements and the anecdotal evidence that goes with them. What people often fail to grasp, however, is that most of these statements are hypotheses and a hypothesis, no matter how well argued, is not a fact until it has been proven. Anecdotal evidence, no matter how compelling, is not really proof.

Of late the usage of the label 'socialist' is on the rise. There are lots of anecdotal statements to this effect. Interesting thing, however, Atlantic did some research and discovered that this might be overstated. As the chart indicates, .21% of business assets have been nationalized leaving 99.79% of business assets in the hands of the free market.

I do not know if we are moving in the right direction or not. I do know this, however. Having one group of people yelling "Socialist!!!" all the time and offering no viable alternative plan is not going to help the discussion. For one, it's a use of a cheap label (sigh!) and, additionally, it is untrue.

My great rant on all of this does not come down to debating direction; I think that debating direction is important. What my rant really is comes down to the incessant need for people to place labels on ideas and thoughts with little thought as to what is actually being discussed.

I am linking the article from Atlantic.

http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/conor_clarke/2009/06/what_socialism_looks_like.php

David Letterman Apologizes

David Letterman apologized. He gave a real live apology----a good one and a real one.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/06/15/2009-06-15_david_letterman_apologizes_for_palin_joke.html

Sarah Palin professes herself to be a devout Christian. A significant part of Christianity is the issue of reconciliation and forgiveness. Letterman owed her a sincere apology----he went way over the top in his comments. He gave a half-hearted apologia more than an apology last week, but today issued a real live apology and took the entire blame. He came around and did the right thing.

This is an interesting moment for Sarah Palin. Her faith is now being put to the test. The right thing to do, spiritually, is accept the apology in the way it was given, sincerely, and move on. We shall see if her faith commitment is real or political rhetoric by her response.