Mark Byron

Good Clean Fun

Both Get Religion and Rob Stewart comment on this ESPN piece on outgoingly born-again basketball phenom Dwight Howard; the 6'10" high schooler is expected to be a high lottery pick, possibly #1 overall, when the NBA draft goes down this summer.

The question the ESPN piece ponders is how a outspokenly Christian player will fare as an pitchman when sneaker folks seem to be looking for hip-hop-style street cred.

It may take divine intervention for this year's preps-to-pros phenom to make anywhere near the kind of off-the-court money that LeBron makes as a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That may have as much to do with the fact that James continues to command the media spotlight and among sports' richest endorsement deals, totaling an estimated $135 million. But perhaps more to the point, sports marketing experts are divided over whether Howard's message of faith will be a hard sell for companies looking for a player to pitch their products, no matter the wholesomeness of his religious convictions.

Normally, naughy sells better than clean, but you could see Dwight Howard bringing in good money, assuming he becomes a major NBA star. Here are some strategies that could work.

(1) Pitchman for conservative brands- The ESPN piece posits Chick-fil-A as a possible client. The Never on Sunday folks would make a natural client. In the south, there are competing Christian media stores; Lifeway and Family Christian are two that come to mind. Lifeway could add to their market share with a charismatic athelete plugging them.

(2) Pitchman with niche brands that have no significant persona at present. While Nike and Reebok are stuck in the gritty street cred marketing mode, a second-tier brand might decide to go after a family-friendly persona. I could see such a off-brand (New Ballance comes to mind) come up with a Good Clean Fun campaign. Here are a few ads in my GCF campaign

A:Howard plays pick-up with his church homeys, talking Christ-flavored trash.

"May God show you mercy, for I'm sure not."
Howard goes crossover and scores game winner; flips ball to member of losing team.
"New game. Y'all take it out. The last shall be first."

B: Game footage with Howard talking about God wanting us to have fun and not being a killjoy.
C: footage of Howard doing his on-court thing to some good CCM (Mary Mary's Shackles or Point of Grace's Got to Be Time come to mind).
D: Shots of Howard practicing and hitting the weight room with voice-over of him reciting 1 Corinthians 9

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

That will sell to the two-thirds of the population that don't aspire to be gangstas. Crazy enough to work. Good Clean Fun.

Plan B

Things are looking up. If the MVNU job falls through, I've got an offer to come up and interview up at Nyack College after Easter. The department chair at Nyack seems to be a very nice lady (after finally making contact after a few rounds of telephone tag) and the Christian and Missionary Alliance base of Nyack is a tad more up my alley than the Nazarenes, but I'm a small town (albeit a rather sophisticated small town in Dow Chemical's HQ of Midland) Michigan kid; metro New York seems to be almost a foreign country, whereas small-town Ohio seems closer to what I grew up with.

The Virginia chapter of the Peanut Gallery was ragging on MVNU's standards earlier today, but the people there seem nice and the primarily-graduate-level teaching load plays into my strengths as a encourager rather than as a motivator. I seem to work better with older students who know what they want; given that they want to learn, I can help them get through a lack of math background or difficulty understanding a concept. The Nyack post would be a blend of traditional and non-traditional classes, while the MVNU one will focus on graduate and non-traditional undergraduate classes.

Younger students have a greater tendency to be apathetic. In my traditional-program Financial Management class, I've got a lot of D and F students who aren't getting the material but aren't beating down the office door to get a better handle on things; I don't know how to encourage them to give a darn. In my non-traditional classes, students who are struggling are launching off E-mails and phone calls looking for help on stuff they aren't getting.

Thus, the MVNU job seems to be a better fit geographically and academically. The Nyack call gives me the confidence to be myself next week, knowing that there's another opportunity around the corner. Intellectually, I understood that there was a Plan B if MVNU fell through, but now, I have a concrete Plan B.

Midday Musings

I know it won't be something I'll be watching, but Dr. Zapalski wanted me to alert you to tonight's South Park episode; they're going to see The Passion. Given their propensity to be a slaugherhouse for sacred cows both left and right, it would promise to be a target-rich environment. If you like that crew, it would likely be a good one.

_____________

On a more serious note, I was thumbing through MVNU's lifestyle guidelines; one that gave me a little bit of pause was

We don't expect you to be perfect at MVNU, but we do expect you to do your best to abstain from and be truthful with us regarding:

•consuming, trafficking in, or being in the presence of alcoholic beverages,

I haven't consumed any in over a decade (maybe one or two glasses of wine just after coming to the Lord 19 years ago) but will go to restaurants that serve alcohol; Olive Garden comes to mind. It might be good for my budget to avoid them, since the places that do serve tend to be ones that are a bit more expensive. However, there are some classes of restaurants that seem to always serve; I don't know of an authentic Tex-Mex place (no, Taco Bell doesn't count) that doesn't have some south-of-the-border beer available.

The other thing that comes to mind is that both my folks and my in-laws have been known to have some adult beverages in the house. My parents will occasionaly have a six-pack in the fridge which will typically last for a couple months; not exactly lushes. I'll do my best, but that doesn't include disowning my folks. Skipping the boozy restaurants I'll accept, albeit a bit grudgingly.

_________

Soft money's always going to be a problem; it's hard to prove coordination and even harder to disprove it. I haven't seen a lot of Republican soft money yet, but MoveOn has been all over the Florida airwaves the last six months or so.

The funny thing that I've noted is that the hard money's flowing bigger than ever. Watching Jeopardy last night, we say two Kerry ads and a Bush ad. In late March. This is Florida, mind you, but it's still March. Seven more months of this slog.

A while back, Britney in a church service was news. Doesn't seems to have made a difference. Yet.

_________

Shucks, there goes the D-Rays hopes at an undefeated season. They had a one-run lead early today.

________

I should have more sympathy, but that's a real small violin playing at the news of AI being out for the year (at least the regular season, and without him, the post-season's all-but-gone),

Who Took My Can of Whuppin'? I'll Count to Three. One....

That is one tough-looking dame in that BBC picture; they had to scrounge to find just about the least-flattering shot. I'll open up the Peanut Gallery for alternative captions to that picture.

The news from yesterday is that she's going to be allowed to testify to Congress. Normally, folks on the White House payroll that aren't confirmed by the Senate aren't required to give testimony before congress; the Bush team decided to make a one-time exception while pointing out that it is only an exception. The current White House has played hardball on this concept, fighting to keep a lot of Cheney's meetings on energy policy off the record and away from congressional snooping and leaking.

I think that this will be a net plus for the administration. Rice versus congressional Democrats seems like a battle of wits with very lightly-armed men.

Edifier du Jour-James 1:2-5(NASB)

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

No pain, no gain. When we go through tough times, we turn more to God, for we need help getting through them. We tend to be more self-centered if all we get are good times, for we think we're the master of all we survey then.

I'm reminded of a Kathy Traccoli song, How Would I Know, that has this chorus

How would I know You could deliver
How would I know You could set free
If there had never been a battle
How would I know the victory
How would I know You could be faithful
To meet all of my needs
Lord I appreciate the hard times
Otherwise how would I know

By going through the occasional (hopefully only occasional) rough patch, we know that God's got our back and will see us through. That allows us to be bolder and less cautious as we advance His kingdom.

Job Hunting Update

Here's what passes for news.

Delta College in my hometown has acknowledged that I sent a resume.

Nyack College's department chair e-mailed me two weeks ago that she'd be calling and has (as far as I can tell) not yet done so.

I've crossed off Indiana Wesleyan (super high workload all at night/Saturday; "What social life?") and Malone (I talked with them late last week, and, well, I'm not a good fit with where the dean's at).

I have an itinerary for the Mount Vernon Nazarene trip.

Thursday 4/8

Morning-Meet with provost, meet with president, meet with HR benefits lady, meet with faculty, give sample lesson in Intermediate Financial Management II.

Afternoon-Lunch with search committee, campus tour from Admissions lady, meet with seach committee again.

I've got some tentative plans to hook up with Kevin on Friday, getting a tour of the state capital and grabbing lunch.

I've never met any of my blog buddies before. Amy Welborn sent me some Betty Crocker coupons when she posted a notice that she was giving them up to a good home (my mother-in-law does them) and I got a snail-mail letter from reader Richard Shuford plugging an Eastern Nazarene opening. However, I've yet to meet a fellow blogger in the flesh.

Edifier du Jour-Hebrews 13:10-14 (NASB)

10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
14 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

If The Passion was close to being a realistic portrail; there was a truckload of blood shed inside the city courtesy of the scorging, and less blood shed on the cross proper.

It was good that I didn't tackle this until now, for we had a Jews for Jesus guy come to chapel and walk through the Passover seder. This part that reminds me a bit of the Easter egg hunt was striking-I'll just quote this site, which comes close to what I heard this morning-

During the Seder (Passover Meal) a very interesting ceremony takes place.
Three matzot crackers (bread) are placed in a bag of fine cloth.

These 3 pieces of bread represent the Trinity....
the Father, His Son Yeshua, and Yeshua's Holy Spirit.
The matzah-bread in the center---the one representing Yeshua-Jesus ---is then broken in two.

The larger of the two pieces is called the "afikomen".
Afikomen generally means "after supper", connoting dessert --- saving the best for last.
This dessert-bread---- this which is to be rewarded last--- is now wrapped in excellent cloth and hidden away in the house to be found later, after the Passover Meal....after REDEMPTION.

It is without leaven, is broken, wrapped in a cloth, burried (or at least hidden) and brought back in time for redemption. Not a bad metaphor.

Works

I'm coming in a bit late to l'affair James 2:14 , but I think a few conservatives are heading off on some less-useful tangents. Willian Sulik points out Dubya's charitable side, giving a example for the rubric that conservatives tend to be generous with their time and money, while liberals tend to be generous with other people's money.

La Shawn Barber goes further with that meme-

James gives guidance on how individuals, not governments, can evaluate their faith to determine whether it's living or dead. It is the personal works of believers that James has in mind in this passage. It wasn't addressed to Caesar.

If Kerry were a Christian, he'd know that the biblical standard of the test of faith doesn't rest on whether poor people exist or teenagers are killed in the streets. Using taxpayers' money isn't a work of faith.

What you do as a professing Christian, i.e., using your own money or time to feed the poor, would be considered "works." Does Kerry see the distinction?

Yes, but our political actions are works as well. We can have a direct impact on people's lives by giving money and our time to charities and/or directly to the needy; that can be simple things like giving a car-less person a ride to church or to an appointment.

We can also have an indirect impact on people's live by voting for people who will expand the commonweal and advocating policies that do likewise. If we're generous in the personal but selfish in the political, that's not living a godly life. We need to vote on economic issues in ways that helps the community at large rather than our own pocketbooks.

OK, I hear the liberal side of the Peanut Gallery saying "Amen, preach it, Brother Mark!" However, I've got a cold shower coming your way.

Larger, more intrusive government isn't always the answer. We don't measure godliness on how much money we're spending on K-12 education or on how much money we're spending on health care. We need to look at whether that extra spending/regulation is doing more harm than good. That will be an extension of our walk with the Lord, voting on how this society is organized. For most people who aren't pundits, that will be a much smaller part of our lives, but a part nonetheless.

One of the problems with economics is that godly people will reach different conclusions. Eileen and I split on raising the county sales tax to fund indigent health care earlier this month. She was looking more at the benefits (working at a school with a lot of poor kids helps lean her that direction) and I was looking more at the cost, both direct to the taxpayer and indirect (encouraging the country commission to play heart-tugging games with the budget).

Was Eileen sinning when she voted for the package? Was I sinning when I voted against the package? I think neither. Both of us were looking out after the best interest of the county, but had differences of opinion on what the best interests are.

Kerry was out of bounds by implying that being an economic conservative is a sinful application of one's faith. He seems to be assuming that Bush is for smaller government and lower taxes (than Kerry would like) because he's either personally selfish or that to get power, he has to sell out to tax-haters. There is a third option that Kerry (and many others on the left) doesn't seem to leave room for; that Bush might think that low taxes and smaller government actually helps the little guy while it helps the big guys a lot.

I'm not an economic conservative because I want to maximize my take-home pay. I do so because I think that is the best general policy for maximizing the commonweal. Most expansions of government are counterproductive and that the taxes need to finance them do more harm than the spending does good.

For instance, I'm not opposed to the Medicare drug benefit in general; we can debate the best way of delivering that and how to share the cost between seniors of difference income brackets and with the rest of us, but I think taking care of our elder's health care fully is a worth endeavor that would make the country a better place.

Just like we are to test the spirits and accept the ones that praise Jesus, we're to test economic policy and to accept the ones that expand God's kingdom by giving us a richer life. Sometimes that may mean plugging for smaller government and sometimes that may mean plugging for larger government. We can't assume that smaller government is always better or always worse; there are some good programs and a lot of lousy programs.

Yes, our politics is part of our walk with the Lord. He's calling us to use our head as well as our heart.

All Geopolitics is Local

At least this weekend. There were local elections in France and Turkey; the big play was how Chirac's party got it in the teeth, getting 37% of the vote to a unified left's 50%; PM Raffarin might be scapegoated as a result.

That may not be a bad thing, for things may have to get worse before they get better in France. From the vantage point of American "neocons" who like free markets, democracy, human rights and the spread of same, there isn't a dixième's de Euro's worth of difference between Chirac and the socialists. If the left takes over in the next national election and drives the country further into stagnation, France may be ready for a free-market party of the right once Sabine Herold gets old enough to stand for the legislature.

However, the Turkish elections may be more important, as the ruling Justice and Development Party managed to do well. The JDP might be a model for a civilized Islamic party in other countries, more like American theocons than the hard-core sharia/jihad parties that pop up elsewhere where Islamic countries have democracies. Combine the JDP and the strong possibility of a functioning democracy in Iraq, and one can see where the thugs in the Arab League are sending for an extra order of Depends.

The Dreaded MOTO

I remember one Monday Night Football game back when Howard Cosell and OJ were both on board. After a certain Cosell pontification, OJ cracked back-"Howard, you have a firm grasp of the obvious." Another football pundit on a pregame show of old would refer to "the dreaded MOTO" or Master of the Obvious.

This Bob Herbert column is a classic MOTO on the subject of taxpayer-financed stadiums. Hand a liberal this issue, and the stock response is along the line of "Why are we spending [fill in cost] to help fat-cat sports businessmen build luxury boxes for other fat-cats to sit in when we don't have enough money to fund [fill in project(s) of choice]?" The variables to fill in here are (1) $300 million for a new NYC stadium for the Jets and (2) schools. Not that it's not a valid question (non-jock-sniffing conservatives would be prone to agree that it's a waste of taxpayer money), but if I had a dollar for every column of that ilk I've seen, I could pay my rent this month with it. The latest edition didn't exactly advance the genre.

Contrast that with the Safire column on the corruption in the Oil-for-Food program. It has a more novel analysis than the Herbert piece, although it does have a parallel in that both have favorite punching bags (big business and the Axis of Weevil respectively) on display. I'm not quite up to making a grand statement that liberal columnists recycle the same boilerplate, filling in the proper variables, while conservative columnists tend to use a bit less boilerplate and more novel thought, but this is one example that would back that up.

Edifier du Jour:Deuteronomy 23:3-6 (NASB)

2: "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD.

3: "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD,

4: because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

5: "Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.

6: "You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

I remember the morning that I was given my pink slip last month; the first person I talked to as I was getting out of the car was another faculty member who'd also been given the right foot of disfellowship that week. His encouragment spiel (cheer up; you'll find something better than your job here-he appeared to be prophetic there, the spots I'm getting are better) finished with his reciting the saying on a secular friend's coffee cup-"Don't let the bastards get you down."

If you'll excuse the venture into somewhat course language, that's exactly what this verse is about on two different levels, first literally and than figuratively. I'm not sure why the harshness of a multi-generational ban on out-of-wedlock people, but people raised by people who didn't have the best moral values might not be the best influence on folks.

The final verses are a reminder that God makes things meant for bad and can turn them around. In Baalam's case, he couldn't help but deliver a praise rather than a curse. In my job case, the thing the Devil tried to use to get me depressed and out of acadame may well give me a better job with higher pay than had I been allowed to stay at Warner.

60 Minute Rice

I had to borrow that Fox News crawler for the headline. It looks like 60 Minutes, after airing the Clarke piece last week, is giving the administration equal time, letting Condi Rice on tonight. The current stink is whether she can be compelled to testify before a congressional 9/11 committee; the White House is claiming executive privilege. I’ll be interested in seeing how that comes out; we’ll be en-route back to Florida at that time.

Mo' Morning Musings

Interesting Orlando Sentinel piece on the Tragic's T-Mac and whether he'll be around long enough to become the league's all-time leading scorer.

My parents call this a "Darko sighting"-

Detroit played a little more defense in the third, outscoring New York 23-18 to increase their lead to 90-67. They led by as many as 27 in the fourth.

The fans began chanting for Darko Milicic with nine minutes to play, and he almost immediately entered the game. The No. 2 pick in last summer's draft finished the game, but did not score and was called for a defensive three-second technical foul.

It reminds me a lot of the Bad Boy era, where Chuck Nevitt, a gangly 7'5" center, was their twelth man. When garbage time (when the game is in hand and teams empty the bench) arrived, the chant at the Silverdome was "Chuck-eee, Chuck-eee." Now, the arrival of garbage time is marked in Motown by "Dark-ooh, Dark-ooh."

Here's the Untener obit.

Morning Musings

This is the "I've been on vacation and missed some stories" edition.

We're winning some battles; while everyone was focused on the Clarke stuff, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act got passed the Senate, 61-38. I've yet to see a roll-call on who voted for the bill-the Senate web site seems not to have the list. I'd be interested to see who the thirteen Democrats were who voted for the bill, and which of the 36 Democrats are up for reelection.

Things look good for the Pledge of Allegience case; even Souter was going after Newdow; even without Scalia, they'll have five votes to overturn, although they might opt to go a squirmy route of saying that a non-custodial dad doesn't have standing to micro-manage his daughter's life when the custodial mom is cool with the Pledge.

This is interesting; a Mach 7 unmanned plane. 5000MPH. I think the bigger application might be in a missle thing that can hit a target from a distance real quick. Let's say we know where [insert bad al Qaeda guy] is located; he's at Building X for an hour for a meeting. We don't have a fighter in position to get their that quick, but we do have a plane flying a thousand miles away with our Speedy Gonzales Tomahawk. Fifteen minutes later, that meeting has a unwelcome visitor.

Edifier du Jour-Psalm 47:1-6 (NASB)

O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.

2: For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.

3: He subdues peoples under us And nations under our feet.

4: He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.

5: God has ascended with a shout, The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet.

6: Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

No great words from me today, just thanks that God has lifted a depressed, overwhelmed feeling from me.

Evening Musings

I'm coming near to the end of our stay in cloudy, chilly Michigan; it's a bit of practice for our trip up to Mount Vernon in a week and a half. We spent the day relaxing and talking with a couple who Eileen knew from her metro Houston Presbyterian church who happened to move up to Midland. I had to bite my tongue at times with our limosine-liberal hostess (DaVinci Code on the coffee table wasn't good for starters), but we had a pleasent visit.

Somehow, I have one team through to the Final Four from my brackets-UConn stomped on Alabama. Despite having my St. Loius bracket decimated (I picked an MSU-Kentucky match for tomorrow), I'm leading the No Nothings with Illinigirl in hot pursuit. Oklahoma State and Duke are my other two Final Four picks still standing.

Kerry things the White House is doing character assasination on Clarke? You ain't see nuthin' 'til you see this Lileks daisy-cutter of a fisking. No, daisy-cutter isn't fair, for this is far more precise but yet leaves an unrecognizable corpse.

This hasn't hit the news yet, but the bishop for this area of Michigan, Kenneth Untener, died of leukemia this afternoon. I don't have a link yet [update 9AM 3/28-here's one from the Freep], but here was a pre-mortum from last month. He was a likable liberal who was open to the charismatic wing of the Catholic church; my Methodist dad used to hang with a Tuesday night charismatic Catholic group at St. Bridget's. My more conserative Catholic freinds in the area didn't care for him much; I pray that a guy who's open to the Holy Spirit yet is more old-school gets the post.

Edifider du Jour-Hebrews 13:5-6 (NASB)

5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"
6 so that we confidently say,
"THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.
WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

I took comfort in those two verses when Eileen and I were reading them; I'm in a holding pattern waiting for my next job to come in and having only six weeks left of my current one, feeling a bit helpless.

However, God's got our back. The one thing that they didn't cover in the "whole armor of God" passage was anything for your backside. As long as we're moving forward, God will be looking out for the stuff sneaking up on our backside.

Parallel Asymmetries

One of the things about the Sheik Yassin killing that is troubling is that is smells a bit like an assasination, something civilized armies don't do. I recall when the US did something similar in Yeman, taking out a key al Qaeda guy with a missile fired from a Predator, I commented-

This seems to be a good thing, but it reminds me of the Israeli tactic of firing on key terrorists with missiles when they get a clean shot. Half military maneuver, half assassination. I'm not sure if we quite have the stomach for such tactics in the long haul.

Well, when we're fighting a terrorist group who doesn't have standard bases and armies, standard military tactics don't work. If they fight like mass murderers rather than armies, we have to fight back like SWAT teams. We have to use new forms of warfare to counter them.

One way is a blast from that past-take out the leader. In pre-modern warfare, before communications easily allowed generals to run things from well in the rear, it was often a sound tactic to take out the leaders if one got a clean shot at them. History's repleat with generals who were killed in battle, like Stonewall Jackson or Wolfe.

It may be nasty to do a military hit on the enemy's leaders, but it is effective. If we have a worldview that allows for a military option, such tactics might be called for and be godly, as Jarhead Joe :-) points out .

Edifier du Jour-Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (NASB)

14: "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,'

15: you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.

16: "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'

17: "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

18: "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19: "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

20: that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

Somehow, I can picture the constitutional convention writers having this verse in mind. Our leaders are supposed to native-born (hence the inability of Ahnold to become president given the current constitution), not take the job for financial gain and be a humble man of God. Most kings are going to want to do the opposite, doing their own thing and getting lots of horses (or cars, boats or planes, depending on the era) women and bling-bling.

A godly system of government should create true civil servant-leaders. When things work, we get just that; when they don't work.... "We get Bush" "We get Clinton".... pipe down, both of you. We get a system where people are looking out after #1 rather than the public at large. We may disagree on what the public interest is, but we need people in office who are diligently seeking God and the public interest.

Ding, Dong, the Warlock's Dead

Josh Claybourn has got himself in a bit of hot water over this post noting the demise of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who has a Separated at Birth resemblance to Lord of the Rings evil wizard Saurman. He went on to do an Israeli remix of some Tolkein script on Saurman's demise.

Josh and Bene have been trading barbs over the issue; there must be some soft of bad blood between two of my better blog buddies. However, Bene wasn't the only person offended; Rev. Mike is one of the other offendees. I wasn't offended; I even approvingly linked to the initial piece, albeit with a bit less glee in his passing.

I think one of the questions that comes to mind, and what probably is offending some of my blog brothers, is whether it is appropriate to take joy in someone else's death, even if it is a terrorist mastermind. Another example recently was Kathy Shaidle's headline on the death of Lord of the Dance lyricist Sydney Bertram Carter-"We've missed our chance to kill him" (thanks to Get Religion for the link, although you're dissing my praise girl Ms. Zschech). That song was lame, but not quite a capital offense.

This makes blogging a bit hard; the humor that makes things flow a bit better doesn't work as well when war and death is the topic. The shoot-from-the-lip attitude that makes for a good blog becomes a bit tacky when we're dealing with death. Josh is a bit over-the-top pointed and opinionated, and this isn't the first time that he's ticked people off. He even ticked me off a couple of years ago when he used some rap lyrics verbatim.

Where you draw the line between humor and propriety is a fine art. Draw it too tight and you have dry, unreadable prose. Draw it too loose and you become too irreverent. I'm largely in Josh's camp on this one, but I can also see where others would think he went over the line.

Bene, keep being your sensitive, reflective self; you're a good check on our more juvenile natures. Josh, keep shooting from the lip and using your humor. We need both types to make things interesting and informative.

[Update 11AM 3/26-I did a little editing of the first paragraph to better reflect Josh's intent after getting an e-mail from him.]

[Update 10PM 3/26-For the more sensative amoung us, I was trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek with the title, more making fun of the sentiment rather than agreeing with it]

Adult Versus Youth Culture

Davie D links to this Weekly Standard piece on youth culture.

But it does take money to be "adult" as defined by Epstein. It takes more money to wear a suit to a ballgame than a replica jersey. It takes money to own a house. It takes money to support a wife. It takes money to enjoy wine and cigarettes. It takes money do any of those things that Epstein defines as adult pleasures.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of wearing suits or owning houses but a culture of action that seems to pervade youth and the wanna-be-young. Adult culture traditionally seems to revolve around relationships and conversation while modern youth culture seems to revolve around action, activity, novelity. The trend is to hang out in packs, minimizing the one-on-one aspects of relationships other than sex. Parents can inadvertently encourage that; fearful of dating and premarital sex, they feel safer if kids are going out as groups rather than as duos.

I used to bemoan the fact that I didn't have much of a social life as a high-schooler. I had one close friend that I'd hang out with, playing cards or Risk, and shoot the breeze about the issues of the day, whether they be politics, geopolitics, sports or music; I'd have been a lurker (at least) in blogs had they existed in the late 70s. In 20/20 hindsight, that sounds more "adult" than the boozy dance party, even though it looked immature at the time.

My twin fears in this area is how to show youth a more conversational, less hyperactive, mode of socialization and how to wean them off of the night-life paradigm once they're in it. It takes money to party, more that being an adult. You can be an adult more cheaply than being a youth, as it's something you can do in an apartment and as a single person, although both homes and spouses are civilizing factors.

I'd look to extend the virtues of small-group fellowship to kids, getting them into closer relationships that encourage accountability and spiritual and emotional growth. You may have to have some funzy stuff to get them in the door, but they need to see that there's more to life than fun and games.

Morning Musings

Clarke's impression-"[M]y impression was that fighting terrorism in general and fighting Al Qaeda, in particular, was an extraordinarily high priority in the Clinton administration. Certainly, there was no higher priority[.]"

That seems to be the issue, whether the administration seemed to be as interested in terrorism. Since the more multilateralist Clinton folks weren't in the regine-change market, interest in getting rid of bad eggs like Saddam was seem as detracting from the interest in clamping down on terrorism. One of those bad eggs was the Taliban/al Qaeda coalition government in Afghanistan.

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This might be a bit premature-Blair going on a state visit to Libya. However, Blair's the good cop to Bush's bad cop, so it's in character.

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A libertarian dream has arrived out in Cereal State North (a.k.a. Oregon); a marriageless country. Benton county's stopped issuing marriage licences until they get a clear ruling on the same-sex stuff.

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How many politicians in the US does this apply to?

Edifier du Jour:Deuteronomy 15:7-10 (NASB)

7: "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;

8: but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

9: "Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,' and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.

10: "You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

This is something our churches generally do a lousy job of. We've become so accustomed to handing off the job of caring for the poor to the government that we forget to do the job ourselves. Yesterday at this time (or close to it-7AM), I was down at a men's prayer meeting at The Open Door, a evangelical-oriented homeless shelter, that gives down-on-their luck guys a place to live while they find a job and get the seed money for an apartment; they also have a seperate facility for women. Even in Sparkle City (a.k.a. Midland) we have a few poor folks.

It takes getting over a bit of snobbery to be comfortable in a prayer circle with a guy in a grubby sweatsuit, but that's what God's calling us to do, to reach out to the lowly folks in society. Check out verse 10, those of you who aren't thrilled with the idea; God will bless those who look after the poor. Sounds like a deal to me.

Often the trick to doing such help is to start doing it. Once you realize that they're people, too, rather than some lower class of lifeform, your heart will head in their direction. They aren't the lazy bums of conservative lore nor the helpless victims of liberal lore, they're people "down on their luck" in need of some help, be it resources to tide them over, job skills, or the need to kick a substance abuse habit. Love and encouragement are very helpful, too, and that's where the Church comes in; government functionaries can provide the physical needs if given authorization, but they're not as good at meeting the emotional and spiritual needs of people.

That's why we should, where possible, be helping out personally. It's not enough just to write a check; someone has to be there to help.

School Carnival Bleg

My sister wound up being in charge of a school carnival where they have various activities like cake walks, bean bag throw, ring toss, baseball, basketball and football throws, the duck pond, face and fingernail painting, etc. There are about twenty unique stations, when weeding out dupilcatates or big kid/little kid versions. They're giving away prizes that come from sucess at the various games; the more prize tickets, the better the prizes you can get.They also have premium stations for hair-wrapping, make-your-own-kareoke-tape and make-a-button-with-your-picture for $3 or 12 tickets.

What would you expect a per-kid ticket sale to be, if tickets were going for $.25/event? I've Googled on it and am drawing a blank. We're in a reasonably middle-middle to upper-middle-income clientele. They're giving away six per kid free. I'd guess about five per kid, or an additional $1.25.

If you have any experience running such a beast, chime in.

Unbundle of Joy

This EU decision on Microsoft, fining them €497.2 million, is a mixed bag. They're making Microsoft unbundle their Media Player in order to avoid a repeat of IE's bundling running Netscape off of the field and give Real Player a better shot of survival; that's a good thing. That's something our anti-trust folks didn't have the chutzpah to do, and I'll give the EU credit if they can make Microsoft play nice.

The bad thing is that it gives the EU a half-billion euros to play with and give the precedence of big fines on US-based companies if they don't play by EU rules. This will possibly give the eurocrats more confidence to try and extend their regulatory network worldwide; that's a bad thing.

Who do you distrust more, Micro$oft, or the EU? The EU, but I don't have to boot up EU Windows every day.

Bye, Bob

Despite the ragging it gets from us on the right, NPR delivers a good, albeit left-slanted, set of news programming; their Morning Edition program is typically on my car radio on the way into work. The voice of ME for the last quarter-century has been Bob Edwards; he's being kicked upstairs to "senior correspondent" status as of the end of April. Orrin Judd and Lee Anne Millinger both have appreciations of Edwards. Lee Anne sayeth-

They explained that Edwards will be a senior correspondent, but that the morning news show needs “new ideas and perspectives.” NPR seriously misreads its audience at that early hour. What people want when they are blindly stumbling out of bed, making the coffee, somnambulating on the morning commute, is a soothing, familiar voice to ease them into the day’s fresh hell. Bob Edwards does that for me. I’m sure I’m not alone.

No you're not. NPR isn't the Morning Zoo, and it's not supposed to be. It moves at a slower, more thoughtful pace. My favorate Edwards thing was when he used to bring on old Dodger(?) announcer Red Barber on Friday mornings to talk sports. Not a "new idea and perspectives" things but a thoughtful look in our past.

That's what NPR's newsfolks do best; a long-form look at things. Sometimes their 7:40 social pathology pieces (they always seem to have a piece looking at a problem {and, of course, the lack of government funding} just after the bottom of the hour) are too sickeningly liberal, but if you put the proper red-shift on to adjust for the ideological Doppler effect, it's good listening to a news junkie who wants to learn about the world while driving.

As a fellow Michigander, Lee Anne might appreciate this analogy-Ernie Harwell; the radio voice of the Tigers since Hector was a pup. He was let out to pasture by the execs in the early 90s, thinking his homey aphorisms were past their freshness date; the fans called for his return and he came back a year later, staying for another decade.

May the same happen with Edwards, hopefully sooner than a year.

Edifier du Jour-Deuteronomy 11:17-21 (NASB)

18: "You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

19: "You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

20: "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21: so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

We don't talk about God and His work and His word enough. We fall pray to too many American idols like sports, music, current events (guilty as charged), gossip, etc.

Talking about God outside of a church setting doesn't come naturally to most of us, but it's an art that we're called upon to master. That's part of the Holy Spirit's ministry, to make God talk natural to us, as natural as talking about last night's Pistons game; we can't do that on our own.

20-20 Hindsight

I'll leave the character assassination of Richard Clarke to others; I find that blaming-the-messenger game a bit too easy to play, even if the book is a fine whine made out of some premium sour grapes. I'd rather skip the ad homs and address the core issue; was the Bush administration sitting on its hands about al Qaeda?

The administration seems to say no; Powell was defending the case on Capital Hill today and Condi had a good piece in the WaPo defending the early Bush administration. If we take Rice at face-value, the administration was working towards an offensive against al Qaeda, but was just getting the needed intelligence and equipment (like Predators) on-line in the summer of '01.

Should we have gone after al Qaeda sooner, as Clarke and others are now saying? Yes. However, we wouldn't have had the political or geopolitical capital to do so had we been given a prophetic word that we needed to do so.

Let's rewind the tape to February 2001.

Michigan Musings

There's been a shortage of free ice cream due to being on a vacation sked. I've got broadband at my folks' house, but not too much "I-time" for blogging. I've been getting most of my blogging done in the early morning while Eileen's still asleep.

Edifier du Jour-Deuteronomy 8:17-19 (NASB)

17: "Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

18: "But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

19: "It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

Before we get too cocky, remember that God gave us the skills we use to prosper, and He can take them away.