Happy New Year

I hope you are all having a great New Year...hopefully you are not here

Epiphany

The other night, during candlelight service it hit me. Elisa and I were celebrating our 20th Christmas together. It really does not seem like that long. She has such joy at this time of year (and apparently this is not a new thing..)


...and while I tend to be a little bit of a Grinch, she keeps me from going completely bonkers.

Gratuitous baby picture

The title does warn you that randomness will occur...



Shawn with his bundle of joy Maddie....cutting teeth is a difficult process, but it is easier if you have a baseball to chew on.

Memories of Christmas

All the elements were there...

The Roast
The Plated Dinners
The Table
The Guests
The Goddess who made all of the food
The House Decorated for the holidays
The Father-in-Law
The Gifts
The Goof

First Night of Hanukkah

It is amazing how little I know about Hanukkah.

Blessed

Just returned from the 10 P.M. candlelight service, as usual, it was quite wonderful. All of the traditional songs, and an excellent message on a very basic concept. Jesus...the King of all kings came to give salvation...he was bringing something...which stands in stark contrast to most kings, who tend to take...hmmmm...I honestly had never thought of it that way.

Elisa has once again outdone herself this season. The house is beautiful, and of course I will be eating far too much good food over the next few days.

We are truly blessed.

An Old Favorite Revisited

Last night while watching 20/20, I watched their segment on the music from A Charlie Brown Christmas....So today I had to go get it. I bought it today with one of the many Starbucks cards I received from my students. I listened to it while I wrapped my wife's Christmas presents, and I am beginning to believe that maybe it should become the official Christmas album for America.

Be on the lookout

Big Guy making poor animals pull him over extreme distances

Quick....someone alert PETA

Common Sense or unnescessary search?

My vote is common sense.

The newest big story is the FBI's monitoring of Mosques. Now, if the story is to be trusted, they never entered into any property. The went on to property (in about 15% of the searches), but not inside structures. It is unclear whether they were looking for actual nuclear weapons, or materials for a Dirty Bomb.

This type of search appears to be similar to those conducted utilizing parabolic microphones. While these type of monitoring are an interesting topic for discussion, it is hard to make a case that they should be prohibited for use by law enforcement, considering the nature of the threats that are faced today.

Shopping again

I had to shop again today (I wasn't quite finished finding my wife's gifts)...but today was much better. We traveled down to Pomona, and I shopped the Pomona Antique Row.

No trouble parking, no crowded stores...and quiet....blissful quiet.
Dinner at the Old Spagetti Factory in Rancho Cucamonga, and a short trip home...and I am now finished shopping for her.

Christmas shopping....Christmas controversy...ahhhhh

I love my wife...and if I could, I would give her the world...but right now, I so don't want to shop again....ever.

My fellow Americans....please, please be polite.

On the current Christmas Controversy...it really does seem to be getting out of hand. I ( and yes, this is my personal preference) really don't care if a salesperson says "Happy Holidays," or "Merry Christmas"....I am just happy if they are polite.

This is just wrong

I guess that will teach him to not run over Grandma.

A trip around the blogosphere

This evening is a quiet one...Elisa is working on yearbook pages for her school, and there is nothing earthshaking on television. So I decided to take a little trip around the blogosphere, using the "next blog" button in the upper right hand corner. Waynos World had the most amusing post, with his read the twelve days of Christmas, found a thought provoking post on the "Tookie" case at Global Cipher, and a web site to track Santa at Travelling Santa.

If you choose to take a similar journey, be warned...it can be a bit odd. But it is an interesting trip.

Christmas break begins

Politics are not all that life is about....

The Holiday season has begun with a very nice time with our friends Maggie and Jeff...we have known them for more then 20 years, and have celebrated a few Christmas holidays (one in Bermuda where Jeff was stationed), and we continue to have great times together.



This morning Shawn and Teresa came over for breakfast, and they of course brought along their little bundle of joy Maddie

The Latest Big Story

Is this one on the President's authorization of NSA wiretaps on terror suspects and overseas calls from terror suspects. The timing of this story is...well....suspect...coming just one day after the successful Iraqi elections (suspect, because the NYT has stated that have had the story for over a year).

While I cannot honestly say that I wish I could discuss it with my students on Monday (I am exhausted, and Christmas Break started Friday), this is a situation that is very worthy of discussion.

The key elements of the discussion revolve around the 4th Amendment...

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

...in this instance, the entire crux of the discussion appears to be the interpretation of the word "unreasonable." The original article pointed to two cases where attacks appear to have been stopped...one on the Brooklyn Bridge...so unreasonable it does not seem.

Secondly, is the issue of National Security as dealt with here...

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases or Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
Article 1, Section 9

First, this is not an issue directly covered under Habeas Corpus...but then again...neither are wiretaps or Al Queda...

Lastly is the issue of the FISA Warrants

EAVESDROPPING INS AND OUTS [Mark R. Levin]
Some brief background: The Foreign Intelligence Security Act permits the government to monitor foreign communications, even if they are with U.S. citizens -- 50 USC 1801, et seq. A FISA warrant is only needed if the subject communications are wholly contained in the United States and involve a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power.

If you are interested in the minutia of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, this link might be of some use.

This entire issue is clouded by the fact that we do live in a vastly different world....

Iraq Elections a Success

Even CNN is calling yesterday's Iraqi elections a success. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq site details what actually took place, while sites like Iraq the Model and The Mesopotamian provide excellent coverage from a unique perspective.

Final numbers are not yet available but according to BBC about 70% of eligible Iraqis (or 11 million voters) turned out to choose their new government.

God seems to be zeroing in

Well, for the second time in just over two months, a major quake has rattled Pakistan....this time on the Pakistan border, where speculation has been that OBL is hiding out. Hopefully casualties will be minimal, but I cannot honestly say that I would be heartbroken if a few caves in the region collapsed and took out a certain someone.

Voting has begin

The elections in Iraq have begun. Interesting coverage will be available at several sites, including: Blackfive, Major K, and A Soldier's Perspective.

I will add more as they become available.

I would also recommend reading Michael Yon's posts on earlier elections in Iraq.

Additional sites from Iraq
Live in Iraq
A Family in Baghdad
The Mesopotamian
Iraq the Model
Iraqi Vote (Details out-of-Country voting)
Pearls of Iraq
Baghdad Treasure
Kurdistan Blog

Narnia update

Just got back from seeing the new Narnia movie (our school took 300+ people to the 9:30 A.M. showing), and I thought I would blog a few lines. I must admit I have never read the Narnia books (strange, but true)...but after seeing the movie, and being assured by many who have read the books that the movie is a fairly close representation, I am boggled that anyone missed the the Christian implications of the books. My guess is that those did not get the obvious symbolism, were complete ignorant of basic theology.

Follow-up-December 10, 2005

We all have those people in our lives who push us, challenge us, and generally keep us in a state of flux. For me that is Joh Watson, resident sage at AVC. Jon has basically led a one man campaign at our school to develop a serious evaluation, by our students, of the issues of worldview and apologetics.

Despite having graduated from a pretty solid Christian college, and having spent my first two years there studying for a possible career in the ministry, I had almost zero experience with either worldview or apologetics. So enter Jon, who upset my very comfortable existence by forcing me to examine many of my core beliefs and seriously analyze why I believed as I did.

The journey continues, but because Jon has done all of this, yesterday's Narnia really hit home, and got me to thinking...but not just about the movie. Let me see if I can lay out how I have processed my thoughts on this.

I am becoming more and more aware of just how little knowledge most of us possess. Our knowledge of the Bible is waning, our grasp of theology is dwindling, and we are mostly adrift on issues like Philosophy and History. Many in our nation seem to think that we are dangerously approaching an abyss of a theocracy in America. I just do not see any danger of that any time soon....but I understand where the idea is coming from. In his article The Falseness of Anti-Americanism. Fouad Ajami stated...

"The United States lends itself to contradictory interpretations. To the Europeans, and to the French in particular, who are enamored of their laïcisme (secularism), the United States is unduly religious, almost embarrassingly so, its culture suffused with sacred symbolism."

To support that position Ajami cites these findings

"According to the June BBC survey, 78 percent of French polled identified the United States as a "religious" country"

To many in Europe, and a growing number of people here in the U.S., that "religious" nature is the problem. I was smacked hard with even more compelling evidence of the lack of real understanding our America's true nature when I read about the backlashand outrage that was emerging about the release and marketing of the Narnia movie.

A comment like

"Most British children will be utterly clueless about any message beyond the age-old mythic battle between good and evil. Most of the fairy story works as well as any Norse saga, pagan legend or modern fantasy, so only the minority who are familiar with Christian iconography will see Jesus in the lion. After all, 43% of people in Britain in a recent poll couldn't say what Easter celebrated."

raises a few simple questions...is that a good thing? If they do not have that knowlegde, what else do they not know? How can they intelligently discuss issues of faith, if they have no idea what Christian faith is based on?

Polly Toynbee continues...

"Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?"

...ummm...sorry, but did she say "repugnant?" Interesting choice of words. It appears that Ms. Toynbee might be among the 43%.

She goes on to state...

"Why? Because here in Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America - that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right."

Did she see the movie? While I might admit that Mr. Beaver did have a certain likeness to Karl Rove...I find it difficult to link anything in the movie to Republicans....much less anything that appeared "warped, distorted neo-fascist."

"Muscular" Christianity is also an interesting term. Contrast that with the title of Lewis' pinnicle work, Mere Christianity. I have on many occasions run into this apparent lack of knowledge of what Christianity really is while discussing issues on various messge boards, and reading more and more of what is being written in media today.

So, what is my point in all of this
We are currently operating in a world that seems increasingly hostile to Christian Theology, and yet is increasingly ignorant as to what that theology is. Either we must do a better job getting out the truth, or we risk America becoming a nation of theologically ignorant citizens....

Anyone can predict after the fact...

...and while hindsight is more accurate, I thought I would put my predictions out there, and let the chips fall where they may.

1. Next week's election will have a turnout right at 65%, higher then both the January and October elections due to Sunni participation.

2. 20,000-30,000 troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of March and 1 year from now troop levels in Iraq will be 10-20% of what they are now.

3. At least one example of a "Blackwater-like" incident, this time with locals turning against the insurgency, will take place in some town we haven't heard of yet.


Feel free to comment or challenge...or post your own predictions.