A Great Review of "Sith"

Check out this review of Star Wars: Episode III - Return of the Sith.

A Quick Photo

This photo was manipulated pretty substantially in Photoshop. The picture was taken with an extremely cheap Concord 3-megapixel camera.

This Filibuster Thing...

I simply can't get the truth about this. Here's a clear-headed way to evaluate this.

1. Define a consistent court level to discuss. So decide if you are talking all nominated judges or federal appeals court etc. But be consistent. Over and over I see one group referring to federal appeals court nominees and the other side refers to judges. There's something fishy here.
   
2. Don't focus on just filibusters, that's only a tool, think in terms of nominees who never got a vote because of any tactics the opposing party used.
   
3. Then define a number of nominee vs. which ones actually got a vote. This will give you a ratio.
   

By approaching it this way you can see which party is lying most about this issue and you'll gain some clarity.

Does anyone know where I might find that kind of information?

Fade

I watch a beautiful day fade.
I want it to stay.
Dark clouds roll in,
Rain begins.
I want it to go away!
For that, I'll have to wait,
And wait, and wait, and wait.

Simpsons vs. King of the Hill

No, this is not going to be some kind of geek debate about which is better. You know, the kind of geek test where you go up to a suspected geek and ask, "In a battle, which would win, the Enterprise from Next Generation or the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series?" By the way you know someone is a true geek when they respond by saying, "It depends on who is the captain of the ships." That was the response of Ed, our I.T. guy. We almost passed out from laughing that time.

No, this is something I recently noticed. I watch reruns of the Simpsons followed by King of the Hill almost every night. While my wife reads to relax before bed, that's what I do. Last night I had an epiphany about these two shows.

The characters on The Simpsons seem to find meaning and solace in religion. The Simpson family is mostly protestant Christian, except for Lisa who is a Buddhist. Abu is a Hindu, Crusty the Clown, reconciled with his Rabbi father which eventually lead to his Bar Mitzvah. Of course Ned Flanders is a devout Evangelical, maybe even a Fundamentalist. Many times the problems they face have an element of faith as either the solution or part of the problem.


On the other hand, King of the Hill is mostly based on psychological issues. Hank has a disfunctional relationship with an abusive father. Peggy uses false bravado to hide her doubt and fear especially regarding her size 16 1/2 feet. Luanne is dealing with the death of her true love and Bobby has to deal with the vagaries of pubescence. All of these are deep-seeded psychological issues.

I guess it could be said that the shows represent two different world views. One that says a God exists and he, she or it is helpful in times of stress and other that says, we have problems to face and through science, family and friendships we can deal with them.

Just a thought. If you think I'm crazy let me know.

Filibuster Summary

This is a nice little summary of the ridiculous behaviour of our esteemed leaders.

The Low-Lights of Today's Filibuster Action :: Alan Stewart Carl :: TheYellowLine.com

Perelandra Review

Here's a great blogger review of C.S. Lewis' book Perelandra.

Book Review :: Catez :: Allthings2all.blogspot.com

Interesting Essay

Here's an interesting essay from economist Walter Williams. He takes the position that letting the government take care of the elderly actually thwarts the motivation of our younger people to help our parents and grand parents. I think I agree.

Ripping off the system :: Walter E. Williams :: Townhall.com.

Humility

Sometimes, I'm surprised by how we use our belief system to our own advantage. Whether it's our political system, philosophical perspective or, sadly, even our faith we find a way to elevate ourselves, don't we?

Religious people are always in danger of adopting an attitude that says, "I have been called by the creator and I have found the truth, you haven't so I'm better."

Atheists take a different approach. They seem to believe they have a superior intellect. They haven't been deceived by superstitions and myths. They are superior to the gullible, inbred fools that have.

Conservatives believe only they are strong enough to stand fast and not be manipulated by every fad and whim of society. They are the retaining wall that keeps society from crumbling to pieces.

Liberals believe they are special because their minds are flexible and able to quickly embrace new thoughts and concepts. It is only they who will lead society to a new utopian existence.

What's missing is humility. But what is humility? I always thought it was lowering yourself to those around you. But recently I have come to the conclusion that it is actually lifting others up to be equal with you. After all, the Golden Rule is not, "Do unto yourself as you do unto others." It is, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We naturally think highly of ourselves. We should also think highly of others.

A Rerun

I thought I'd replublish a poem I wrote about 8 or 9 years ago. Soon, I'll build a link to the things I've written in the past, some of it is no longer accessible from the new site.

I Walk

I walk. I walk fast and hard
With death behind me and
youth in front I walk.
Past houses, ten, twenty,
one hundred, two hundred.
They say some houses are haunted,
they're wrong, they all are.
Haunted with stories seeking
to be told but held fast
With fences, chain link,
picket, split rail.
With walls,
brick, stone, wood.
And still I walk.

I walk past a house
with its ghost
on the porch,
Head in hands,
coffee cup at feet,
Beagle looking up,
face wrinkled with worry,
Ears pricked up
with anticipation
Is it a hangover?
Did she walk out?
Too many hours at work?
A tough decision?
And still I walk.

I used to throw current events
on porches never seeing faces.
I walked then for
seven dollars a week.
I walk past a house,
where an old man
used to give me a red pop
for a paper.
And still I walk.

I walk looking over shoulder,
is death catching up
or am I gaining on youth?
"Hey, hey you, can you help me?"
A ghost hails me from her porch.
"Can you help me
bring in some furniture?"
Can't she see I'm in a
life or death race.
"I have MS,
do you know what that is?"
"Yes, I do I…"
"It's Multiple Sclerosis."
She didn't hear me.
"I've had it since
I was twenty two.
That's my son.
He doesn't have it thank God.
I'm one of five girls.
God. I'm glad I had a boy,
do you have a cigarette?
God, I could use a cigarette.
Crap, that's my mom pulling up.
Jesus I hate her."
I wait,
the furniture never shows.
I look from the porch
down the street
and see that death
is catching up
And youth is pulling away.
And still I walk.

I walk past old men
sitting on rockers.
They wait for death and
have said good bye to youth.
And while they wait they laugh
and play cards and drink beer.
And still I walk.

I walk past a childhood friend's house.
We walked apart one day and
never saw each other again.
And still I walk
and walk
and walk.

Priorities

This morning I ran across an article from the Boston Globe that told of a high school senior that did not receive her diploma because she choose an advanced placement biology class over a phys. ed. class. Check this out:

Though Isabel Gottlieb is a good student, a trumpet player in the school band and holds varsity letters in three sports, she discovered last fall she was one gym class shy of having enough credits to graduate next month.

She asked for a waiver, but the school wouldn't budge, telling her instead she had to drop a class to take gym.

"Why would I drop an AP biology class to take P.E.?" the 18-year-old said. "It's just not on my priority list."

The missing credit wasn't caught by the school last spring when Gottlieb's schedule was set. The class in question is called BEST, or Building Essential Skills for Tomorrow, and is required for all Bow students to graduate.

At the Seattle high school Gottlieb attended before moving to Bow before her junior year, gym requirements often were waived for students in varsity sports. But those waivers aren't something Bow High School is willing to accept.

At first I thought this was another example of our obsession with sports over education but once I saw what the program was called I realized it was more than that. Again, here's a public school believing their job is not to educate but to shape the thinking of students. Here's how the program is described on the Bow High School website. Notice that the program is listed as optional.

BEST 12 - The Senior Year (Optional)

This elective experience is designed to ready seniors for the world ahead of them. Students will be presented with material from various community resources discussing a variety of topics. Topics range from law as it pertains to the transition from adolescence to adulthood, to financial information on credit cards and purchasing/leasing vehicles. Students will participate in a variety of traditional and individual sport activities, adventure based education, and fitness activities throughout the course of their fourth year.

I find nothing more irritating than someone who can only follow their policy, even when it clearly violates their prime objective. Or could it be that the administrators of Bow High School don't believe their prime objective is to teach.

Mental Pictures

I've been reading Malcom Gladwell's latest book, Blink: The Art of Thinking Without Thinking. The basic concept of the book is that 1)we can make decisions with far less information than we think, 2)more information sometimes leads us to the wrong decisions, and 3)intuition is actually a process of "think slicing" information stored in our subconscious.

I said all that, to say this, I'm watching Brilliant Minds on Discovery Science, and the narrator just said something I found interesting. He said that Newton and Einstein looked at problems the same way, they had intense focus and used simple mental pictures to answer complex questions. I've always felt drawn to Occam's Razor. I'm convinced simplicity is no vice but a great personal value that we should try to develop.

Rachel

I don't really have anything to say today, so instead here's my latest photographic efforts.

Waiting @ The Bus Stop

My bus stop on 4th Street, Cincinnati, OH.

Superiority

My greatest disappointment in my journey of faith has been observing how often a system of faith (a denomination) is used to elevate one group over another.

Baptists believe they are superior to Methodists, Presbyterians believe they are superior to Pentecostals. It's sad. The best we can do is to quietly seek the truth. When we find it, it should change us and then those around us.

Focus

It's been a few good days. Friday I had my review and it was pretty positive. Saturday I gave a presentation to the Northern Kentucky Craft Guild and that went very well. Today I caught an earlier bus and got to work early. My diet is going well even though the weight loss has slowed.

But yesterday my brother, the pastor, gave an interesting talk. It was on the verse in Matthew where Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a man who finds a treasure in a field, then re-buries it and sells everything he has and buys the field. I've always thought about this story as being a discussion about the value of the treasure. That's the way I've always heard it explained. That was really the core of what my brother spoke about. However, It dawned on me that it is also about letting go. This guy who found the treasure could have just taken it and then kept his other stuff too. But he didn't want to take a chance on losing the treasure by having his ownership questioned. He was willing to let go of all the other stuff. It's really a story about focus. The value of the treasure made him focus on it.

That's my word for this week. I want to be focused on the most important stuff and be willing to let all the other stuff go.

William Shatner Is My Hero

I just heard a song by William Shatner called "Common People." Gees, this guy just keeps cracking me up. His character Denny Crane on Boston Legal is a hoot and now I hear this song that's just hilarious. I'll buy it on ITMS and post a sample here when I get a chance.

It just goes to prove that if you are persistent and patient you can go from a joke to cool. Maybe this seems relevant to me cause I just received my first birthday card this year and on the envelope it had a big "45" on it.

If Captain Kirk can be born again cool then maybe, just maybe there's hope for me.