The Final Christmas Present

Well, although the actual day of Christmas is past and we have yet to have New Year's Day, this is when we Iowans look forward every four years to that final christmas present: the caucuses.

Honestly, these things are probably more watched by anyone else than they are by we who live in Iowa. I mean, being first is cool and all, but, come on, is it that big a deal? Oh, Barry surprised everyone in 2008 in the caucuses, but he surprised everyone everywhere, right Hil? And, who remembers Mike Huckabee as a serious politician (me, I still want Fred Thompson or Alan Keyes to come around, sentimentalist that I am).

This year, it stinks.

Few people have decent campaign ads. That is up this year from like almost no one. The pattern has been negative slam ads for so long that the presentation of a sincere and dedicated politician now shows up for the oxymoron that it is.

All of them are in Iowa. Them, in this case, includes every Republican and media representative conceivable plus a couple of wild cards. Local news even showed the Japanese news agency who moved a crew in a month ago for the duration. I almost never see them, which is probably just as good. The attitude on the air is mostly one of overly courteous condescension and patronization. I now know how disabled people feel when others yell at them, inferring that they are hard of hearing, and particular speak slowly using small words, again inferring that "disabled" always includes mentally challenged. {Hey, I'm disabled, but my hearing is as good as it could be after all of those Springsteen concerts and I got a 1540 combined on my SATs, for heaven's sake}.

It's kinda like Boise State feels when all the coastal conferences stick up their noses. Hey, we like it here people, and we are really pretty good at what we do. Can Diane Sawyer grow corn? Does Scott Pelley leave the evening news and cultivate his beans? David Letterman doesn't have hogs at his place in the country, does he?

So, a week from today, we will have the final Christmas present for this season. It will be that incredible vacuum toward Illinois and points east that is left as all of the politicos and pundits emigrate, en masse, to New Hampshire. That will be followed by a massive influx of quiet, fresh air.

Thanks for the present, folks.

The Iowa Caucuses

The media blitz has now officially moved to Iowa for the next 3 weeks. Then, of course, there will be this massive sucking wind moving to the east instantaneously following the completion of our caucuses. Until then, though, the attention of the [liberal] media is focused on Iowa.

If they could be more condescending I don't know what it would look like. This time around they are treating us like real hicks. I think they fail to realize that the polls everybody keeps quoting are far from scientific and far from representative of Iowans in general. I know my wife and I hang up whenever we get called. Even the questions they ask are either insulting or leading (would you vote for Newt Gingrich over Barack Obama? Well, yes, but I would vote for a black mamba over a bushmaster, too).

The condescension is downright insulting. Eastern liberal media (Candy Crowley) skewered Herman Cain for not speaking the language of Washington politics. Too bad we cannot skewer the eastern liberal media for not speaking heartland English. What the political reporters believe to be the middle class, and, indeed, what may be the middle class in Washington, D.C., is far from the true middle class in Iowa. People work. People are honest. We think it's fine that Tim Tebow thanks his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; hey, if he was thanking Allah, the Easternites would tell us we HAVE to let him do that - but with Obama's war on Christianity firmly implanted in what passes for their brains the attitude for the goose is 'way different than the attitude for the gander.

Probably what most irks me about this circus is their continually telling us how we are all rising to back Newt Gingrich. Are they serious? Where have they been for the last year when everyone around me has been talking about Ron Paul? Didn't they notice that Michelle Bachmann is still hanging around Iowa with a smile on her face? Why do they think Perry and Romney are still dumping millions of dollars of ads into this hickville? The answer, of course, to the actions of the media is that they are a part of the re-election plan (remember the "committee to reelect the President, aka CREEP?). Obamites truly believe that Iowa Republicans are stupid and gullible enough to go for Newt Gingrich if led that way, and Barry Hussein himself knows that Newt would have a hard time beating his way out of a wet paper sack, let alone being able to beat the worst president since Buchanan (we are now talking poll numbers FAR worse than George H.W., who really wasn't that bad, or James Earl, Jr. Personally, I would jump at the chance to re-elect Jimmy to another term over Obama.

And, as I point out, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I will likely make an effort to caucus with the Republicans; there is no opportunity to caucus for my Constitution Party as we are not yet of sufficient size in Iowa. There will be the opportunity to vote for our candidate who has not been selected yet - we wait until the convention, a somewhat unique and misunderstood process in this day and age.

Well, that gets my juices flowing for the week. If I blog later this week it probably should be and likely will be about what we all should REALLY be doing for Christmas. Think about it.

So, This is Christmas ...

... and what have you done?

John Lennon had some really good thoughts. I am sure that politically and religiously he and I are quite different. Pretty much know that for a fact. Yet here is a point on which we agree: it's Christmas; what have you done?

Everyone who reads my blog (both of you? if that many) knows that I stand for, primarily, two things:

1. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8, Authorized [King James] Version). And,
2. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. (James 1:27, The Message)

That being said, I always enjoy the 3rd day of the month because I read Proverbs 3 and get to read some of Sol Davidson's best work:

Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.

Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil!

Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.

Yep, those words, too, come from The Message. I have just recently been parallel reading The Message with my New American Standard Bible and English Standard Version, and while yes, it is a paraphrase and represents someone's interpretation of God's true word, like I care? All scripture is profitable, good or bad (yep, long discussion there, skip it for some other time) and while some versions offer what are respected as more literal translations, others proffer the guts of the Word.

Paul brings us these thoughts in Philippians 1:

15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;

16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;

17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

21 ¶ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

(New American Standard Bible). Or, if you wish:

The Message

15 It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world.

16 One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help.

17 The others, now that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them.

18 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going

19 because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done.

20 I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit!

21 ¶ Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

But, I digress, sort of. The point is that we are really best served, as I read it, by thinking about good things and by doing good things for those in need while shielding folks from the slings and arrows of this outrageous world. I don't mean you have to go out and wash the faces of occupy protesters who have been pepper sprayed; hey, myself I would follow up the pepper spray with CS gas and a high-pressure fire hose like I've seen them on the news doing in Japan. But,

when you have an opportunity to do what you believe Jesus would do, you ought to do it

As my son-in-law was very recently discussing, this falls in the category of orthopraxy, if you are so disposed in vocabulary. You do what you think Jesus (or God) is telling you to do. This gets to be really obvious in the actions of most organized religion at this time of year as food banks finally get above the meager level of donations and as homeless shelters and charities find coffers with contents for a change. I think if you are gonna do what John and I are thinking, though, you need to come into the zone of what has, since the 70's, been called performing random acts of kindness all year long.

I went to the dentist for my checkup. When I inquired, she grabbed a case of Colgate toothpaste and gave it to me to take to the homeless shelter.

I have a friend at HyVee who stocks the personal hygiene shelves. When I was there the other day, she was stocking toothbrushes and gave me a handful of Oral-B's to take with the Colgate.

I found a dozen good-sized packages of dental floss on eBay for $5.00 including shipping. That was almost a no-brainer.

Again on eBay, I found a new-old-stock box of 1/2 gross (that would be 72) disposable razors, mixed men's and women's (like your hairs know the difference anyway) for $12 including shipping. I thought about saving them for myself.

w00t! had Snuglis for $3 each, $5 total shipping. Limit 3 as usual. As nice as they look in the recliners on TV, I bet they will be worth more in the shanties down by the river.

These people did not become poor and homeless by choice. They may have become as they are due to choices they made - but, like don't we all make bad choices in our lives? They string some together, they fail to learn from them, they do not, as we see it, follow the Word (yet who are we to know if they have even heard the Word, and, no, giving them a pocket Bible is not what I am talking about here). But, unless they are mentally questionable I do not believe they willfully look to wearing castoffs from Goodwill living in shacks made of scrap metal and cardboard in the bushes by the river when the temperature is -5 Fahrenheit.

Widows do not become so by killing their husbands (well, in most cases, and if they do that is another set of questions). Orphans do not choose, likewise, to lose their parents. My Bible tells me that God gave the earth to Satan as a playground to roam in, and God, while not punishing people through His actions, allows Satan to do bad things to good people for reasons I do not understand but I do accept. Likewise he allows ostensibly good things to happen to people, as I believe it, so that the good may be shared with those who need good to offset the bad in their lives.

So, here is my bottom line. Do something good. If you are fresh out of ideas and don't want to carry that can of pickled beets that you know you'll never eat to the donation bin at church, if you want to do something more, consider these:

1. End Human Trafficking - target of Natalie Grant, so you get to look at her beautiful face and hear her phenomenal music when you check the website at The Home Foundation and move on to Abolition International.
2. Give away water - if you had to walk for an hour to get your daily water out of a high-turbidity river of questionable fecal content you might be quite willing to donate to and through charity: water. They have some great pictures of clean water, a new picture every day. Make clean water a reality, not just a picture.
3. Fight Group B Strep - There is a vaccine that is in trials. I lived in the days of polio and my brother was a Polio Pioneer. Those days are almost forgotten and are happily forgettable. But, this spring I followed as a good friend's 3-month-old daughter succumbed to Group B Strep. I cannot imagine how it felt to watch progressive MRI's as a normal baby's brain was, bit by bit, literally eaten away by bacteria. Flesh-eating bacteria taking an arm or a leg would be welcome by comparison. [I believe there is a special place in heaven for these sufferers, children and parents, and a special reason God chose them for the role. That does not make it any easier to watch].

There are many other worthwhile organizations and causes out there. Hey, there are even several more that I actively advocate and support. But, for this year, when the question comes out "So, what have you done?" these are what I answer. I probably will continue to advocate them for next year and maybe longer - I will go where God leads me.

Will you?

Manipulation beyond manipulation

I just heard on the 5:00 news about how good the Cain baloney is for Newt Gingrich. Here is the real agenda. Newt Gingrich? Do the media really think by manipulating with their magic wands they can get the Republicans to nominate a man who should not even be running and doesn't have a snow ball's chance of beating B Hussein Obama? Come on, now!

I think it's the same logic that makes them not even mention Ron Paul. There's a man of principal who has had the same fundamental and conservative views for years (instead of waffling the way Mitt does). They didn't even mention Ron when they went over the results of the Iowa Republican Straw Poll last summer, and HE FINISHED SECOND. All the media could mention was that Bachmann finished first and whoever it was finished 3rd. Paul finishing second? Apparently not news.

Come on people. Wake up, and tell the media to wake up.!!!!

Ignominy

I'm getting tired of the news media. Since the media are 90% liberal Democrats, according to statistics I heard in the last presidential election, their slants, leanings and ravings should not be surprising. Since I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I'm past the stage of chuckling and into deploring the way these supposed grownups are acting.

I think I pointed out before some of the columns about morality, which point out that immoral actions are always what the other guy or the other side does. I remember Gary Hart, who I personally knew and thought was a really nice guy, lost a chance to run for Presdient because, as a married man, he spent a weekend on a schmantzy boat named Monkey Business with a leggy, smiley blonde (Donna Rice, truly a real looker and herself a pretty nice girl). Even had he been an inveterate philanderer, he would have been much better than who we ended up with as a Democratic candidate in my opinion. Who really remembers Fritz Mondale? And, can you tell me who did run against Reagan's election in 1988?

Then, though, the "our side is ok but let me tell you what they did" attitude came in. The Clarence Thomas hearings with Anita Hill, for example. Compare those to President Clinton, the Oval Office, the blue dress and his cigar. I mean, Hollywood could not write that script, yet he survived.

Now we witch hunt Herman Cain. Having no substantial political reason to eliminate him from the race, the media rely on the old rumor mill. OK, let's say he DID have a 13-year affair and is lying about not having it. Is he guilty? According to the legal precedent, remember, "that depends on what your definition of is is." Folks, either it doesn't matter and candidates should be allowed to run even if they have colored personal morality (that is NOT a racist remark, by the way), OR we should dumped Clinton way back when. Personally, I would just as soon leave all this personal life stuff out of the election emphasis. It's not like they're gonna be successful at hiding it anyway once it is just casually mentioned. Let us discuss it in the Iowa caucuses, let's see what "We the people" think about this, not we big business, we Wall Street or we the news media.

And, by the way, I think it's the wrong thing to do, but if he wants to have an affair, what business is that of mine, anyway? Only if it threatens national security or turns into blatant hypocrisy. That's my bottom line.

Crowds and Control

It's not an issue of "crowd control." It really never has been as I have seen it. It is an issue of "crowds" and "control", or, more aptly, expressing control over and in the presence of crowds.

I was in Chicago the summer of 1968. We lived there. Dad worked across the street (literally) from Grant Park. The crowds in the park conflicted with Mayor Dailey's absolute control. Dailey won. Whether the crowd could have been controlled in any other way is immaterial; Dailey's control was the issue.

I went to school with Bill Schroeder. He sat next to me in Western Civ in the spring of 1969. I graduated from Colorado School of Mines that May, Bill transferred his ROTC scholarship to Kent State. The issue was not to control crowds; the issue was exerting control in a protest situation with multiple, equally unpopular viewpoints. The governor won by bringing in the National Guard. We all lost because of the failure of anyone to be able to control the [real and probably justifiable] fear in the hearts of the National Guardsmen. Bill was, as I understand to this day, merely on his way to class and not at the front lines. But, .30 caliber 165-grain military rounds travel 2-1/2 miles with lethality. Wherever that one came from, it landed lethally and Bill became one of the 7. He was neither a crowd nor a controller, and the results didn't control anything but really threw a lot of things out of control.

Pepper spray, CS gas, tasers, ultrasonics, rubber bullets - all kinds of non-lethal but painful and potentially debilitating ordnance are out there. They are frequently used by those in control to profess their control over crowds. The actually percentage of the time that the crowd needs to be controlled, or in which the methods achieve actual crowd control, is probably miniscule. Every time they are used they are an attempt by someone to back up their statement that, as of now, they are in charge.

You know what? It may work, it may not work. I also had a classmate who had been in the Marines and was given a medical discharge when they found a heart murmur in the physical before his match to become light heavyweight champion of the Marine Corps. Ernie used to go into one particular bar on West Colfax on Saturday night and assert his control over anyone who wanted to take him on. Anyone who questioned that Ernie was in charge quickly found out that the left was usually enough and the right, if called into play, controlled anyone.

Until one Saturday night. The big guy at the bar wasn't paying attention to Ernie, so Ernie walked up, punched the African American in the back of the neck, and said "I'm talking to you (derogatory)". Whereupon the gentleman took another drink of beer, casually turned around, and said "Now I'm gonna have to hurt you, white boy!" This was the mid 60's, and Ernie had just picked on one of Sonny Liston's sparring partners. I have never seen anyone so beaten without having serious injuries or broken bones - just devastatingly black, blue and painful all over and bleeding from a couple-dozen places.

So, what is the point of my rambling for today? There ARE times that violence is necessary in response to violence; this is the structure of "just war." Not to open that argument, just to make that statement. Yeah, I know that for a lot of you war is never justifiable; but, if it is, this is the root.

As I was brought up, we were taught to respect authority and the laws or we would suffer consequences. The consequences were generally corporal punishment. I have always believed that opposing authorities attempting to control situations may result in consequences that I do not want to be on the receiving end of. However, I also know that if the government is destructive of the ends of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish the government by such means as they may muster, including peaceable assembly and demonstration. Here is the rub - if the assembly violates previously established laws like curfews or park hours or whatever, government may choose to exert its control over the assembly. It is the use of excessive or extreme means to control the assembly, the transition to the boasting of controlling, that becomes dangerous. Then, "authority" transcends justifiable action OR, more importantly in the current situation, something happens to the guys on the front line. There are two kinds of officers here spraying pepper spray. One kind are the Tackleberries of the world - joined the force to be able to shoot big guns. The other kind is the scared soldier, the evolutionary relative of the Kent State Guardsman. Both are likely to invoke ordnance that, to a logical, removed bystander/observer, is not necessary. For the front line, it is necessary. In retrospect, or on the other side, it's excessive.

So, what is the bottom line? I don't think there is a bottom line. Demonstrators need to be ready to accept the consequences, such as those may become, whether they are justifiable or expectable. Look at history, know what can happen. Authorities, if that is a reasonable name, need to consider careful their exercise of that authority and the means by which they choose to do so. The post-event yelling and crying from both sides can get out of hand with little constructive results; but, neither demonstrators or authorities want to see non-constructive results.

So I guess my bottom line is that there must be better ways. A better way for each side. I just don't know what that is. Anyone have ideas?

James 1:27 (The Message) Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

This is a guideline for our time. Occupy Wall Street protestors need to understand this includes them. They are not reaching out, they are sucking from. Accepting vs. sucking away from. There is a big difference.

Joe Paterno

During my academic career, I was on the research faculty of The Pennsylvania State University. Considering he was coaching at Penn State when I was still in diapers, Joe Paterno was already a fixture in those mid 70's when I was there.

My oldest two kids know there are African lions, mountain lions, and Nittany Lions. I've had ice cream from the Campus Creamery. I hit my hand while splitting wood and had to go to the hospital for an X ray to see if I had broken it on a Saturday afternoon during a home game. To get to the hospital, you had to drive past Beaver Stadium.

The doctor in the emergency room was wearing an Orange Bowl watch.

Anyway, I have taught at 4 universities and 1 college over the past 35 years (not the whole time, just some of the time). And, I feel somewhat qualified to make a comment or two about the Paterno situation.

I think the Board of Trustees is running scared. I think they are dishonoring Mr. Paterno if not outright disrespecting him. So far, I have not heard any allegations of wrongdoing by Joe. Oh, yeah, he himself admitted he probably could have and should have done "something more." But his inaction did NOT violate any rule or law of which I am aware. Action, had he taken it, would have been in response to something within. If you get right down to it, even, taking action might have been against University policy, and from what I have heard would have been based on third party hearsay.

If ifs and buts were candies and nuts we'd have a jolly Christmas. There is a big if and but game that could be played. The bottom line that I see is that in response to some definitely wrong actions taken by other people who may or may not have been under Joe's supervision, and by the people up the line to whom Joe duly reported what he knew, Joe Paterno has been thrown out with the rest of the dirty washwater. A coach that got away, allegedly, molesting children for years would obviously have been really good at hiding what he did; Joe Paterno has not been shown to have had first-hand knowledge of anything.

He should have retired a couple of years ago. He didn't. I don't think that was necessarily out of any personal vanity but out of a love for PSU and in the firm belief that he would be spending the rest of his life doing for the school what he had spent the prior rest of his life doing for the school. It is inconceivable (yes, I do know what that word means) to me that Joe Paterno could willingly and knowledgeably do anything to the detriment of The Pennsylvania State University. He was, and is, a dedicated, honorable and committed man of impeccable integrity. Now, he has been slammed by a handful of people who are not nearly up to being his peers, without having any charges that have been publicly acknowledged (by the board or by Joe), apparently without having any witnesses for or against his actions. And, in typical Paterno fashion, his response is: that's their decision, I shall live with it.

Now I heard they're going to take down his statue.

This whole thing is a malevolent aggregation of excrement, and it stinks to high heaven. Coach Paterno deserves better. We should give it to him.

Emerging Church

OK, there are now two areas of primary interest for me. One is what I am, for lack of a better title, calling 127, after James 1:27: " Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." This is probably the same thing that Andy Stanley calls "How To Be Rich".

They're probably pretty much one and the same. Both are challenges to behave as did the Pope played by Anthony Quinn in "The Shoes of the Fisherman" and give our redundant resources to the needs of the world. This is clearly the true Christian religion as far as I am concerned.

Church Is Flat The Relational Ecclesiology of the Emerging Church MovementThe second cusp of my followings is what is known contemporarily as Emerging Church. I know what I mean by this, but have yet to come up with an adequate and succinct definition to share with others. My interest goes as far back as the late 1990's when I began to have run-ins with post modernism, kind of highlighted for me for the first time by Don Matzat in 1998. Recently my curiosity was piqued by a tweet from Jay Bakker regarding a new book, The Church Is Flat: The Relational Ecclesiology of the Emerging Church Movement.

These are the two areas I plan mainly to be addressing.

Finally, I have moved bag to google blogging from wordpress. I had forgotten about my old Google blog, but thought I would ressurect it to link it with Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.

See you all online.