DigitalRichDaily

CLOSED for Business

2011-02-20T07:50:00.004-06:00

It was about a year ago that I shut down my little consulting business, RP Business Development, to accept a full-time job offer. Here are the final words left on the "front door" of the business (i.e.- the landing page for the website that is now, as of today, turned off by my former web hosting company):

RP Business Development is no longer operating. We sold our company to the Federal Government for $127 Billion Dollars in stimulus money. Thank you for your interest, and your tax dollars. I now live on my own island near Tahiti.

Some good news- there were two new jobs created by this stimulus spending- my new private beach bartender, and my personal beach waiter/assistant/chair-boy. The bad news- the jobs are in Tahiti.

RP Business Development is now being operated as a new company called "Government Business Development" and managed by the government's Consulting Czar, DeWayne "New Paradigm" Peterson. The government is running it a bit differently- they're consulting community organizations but instead of charging a consulting fee, the community organizations get to charge the government.

Paul McCartney Nashville Show, July 26th, 2010

2010-07-27T07:27:00.003-05:00

I couldn't help but jot down the track list of last night's Paul McCartney show. What an amazing evening Michelle and I had listening to Paul and band rock out for 3 hours. Here's the rundown:

Sir Paul is on.

On the Hofner bass...
• Venus and Mars straight into...
• Rock Show straight into...
• Jet. Some stage banter and into...
• All My Loving with Beatles multimedia show, more banter and into…
• Letting Go
• Got To Get You Into My Life

On electric guitar...
• Highway by alter ego Fireman
• Let Me Roll It and then a Jimi Hendrix jam, told story about Jimi memorizing Sgt Peppers the weekend it came out and opening his show with it. And asking Clapton to tune his guitar in the middle of the show.

On piano...
• The Long and Winding Road with bizarre photos of Arizona
• 1985
• Let 'em In
• My Love, talked about writing it for Linda

On acoustic guitar...
• I'm Looking Through You
• Chiquita jam
• Two Of Us

On acoustic all alone...
• Blackbird with opening comment about 60s and civil rights
• Here Today with touching intro about John Lennon

On Mandolin…
• Dance Tonight

On acoustic guitar ...
• Mrs. Vanderbilt
• Eleanor Rigby

On Ukulele...
• Ram, then talked about how good a ukulele player George Harrison was, and told story about how George gave him one. Paul learned one of George's songs and played it for him- and into...
• Something with awesome photos of George

On Hofner bass...
• Sing the Changes
• Band on the Run with awesome vintage footage of the photo shoot for the album cover
• Obla di obla da, never heard live until this tour
• Back in the USSR Back

On electric guitar...
• I've Got a Feeling
• Paperback writer (using original guitar Paul recorded the song with) and a wrap jam

On Hofner Bass...
• Day in the Life straight into...
• Give Peace a Chance

On piano...
• Let it Be
• Live and Let Die

On Psychedelic piano...
• Hey Jude

Encore (on Hofner bass)...
• Day Tripper
• Lady Madonna
• Get Back (with a goofy Mexican kid from the audience)

2nd Encore...
• Yesterday
Then he signed the back of a girl who had a Hofner bass tattooed on her back

3rd Encore...
• Helter Skelter, final comments and closed with...
• Sgt Peppers (reprise) straight into...
• The End

Coming soon to America!

2010-06-16T16:25:00.004-05:00

I don't think its too wacky to think that this headline may someday appear in the United States- just replace Putin with the President's name (or perhaps US Rep. Bob Etheridge) and there you go. Instant future headline for some unlucky Tea Bag Party member or critical thinking dissenter.

Police seize 100,000 anti-Vladimir Putin books

Russian police seized 100,000 copies of a book critical of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that activists planned to hand out at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7833181/Police-seize-100000-anti-Vladimir-Putin-books.html

Vuvuszel Horn Sickness

2010-06-15T10:21:00.003-05:00

I tried to watch my first World Cup soccer game yesterday. I had heard about the vuvuszel horn craziness, but I hadnt ever heard one. After 10 minutes of watching the game and hearing the constant buzz of the horns I started to feel a bit dizzy and stick to my stomach.

No more World Cup for me.

Here's an interesting article from The Guardian/UK:

World Cup 2010: BBC may offer vuvuzela-free matches

South Africa defends plastic horns which have sparked global debate over loud drone and are selling out in Britain

The BBC was investigating the possibility of transmitting an alternative "vuvuzela free" version of its World Cup coverage tonight, as the fierce debate over the buzz of the horn looked set to be heading for football grounds all over Britain.

As players, fans and coaches weighed in on whether the loud drone of the plastic horns was an annoying irritant or joyful expression of African culture, South African organisers hit back and encouraged visiting fans to export them back to their own countries.

At the same time, fans in Britain have been snapping up the horns at the rate of one every two seconds and suppliers claimed the UK had been gripped by "vuvuzela fever".

"Vuvuzelas are here to stay and will never be banned," said Rich Mkhondo, a spokesman for the local World Cup organising committee. "People love the vuvuzelas around the world. Only a minority are against vuvuzelas."

And yet again... I'm in the minority.

The Coming Dictatorship

2010-06-14T07:41:00.002-05:00

Before you play this video, first imagine a new world, a new Peoples Republic of America. Then, imagine you or someone else walking down the street with a video camera running. Suddenly- like in North Korea- a powerful party leader sees you and gets in your face. Who are you? What are you doing? You must tell me! Show me your papers!

Now play this video and realize what this country is coming to... this was posted on YouTube on June 14, 2010, and shows a United States congressman who is obviously acting out his fantasy that he and the federal government have absolute power over the masses.

If he's not thrown out on his ass by the people of North Carolina and the members of the US Congress within 30 days, you'll know its too late to save the country.

Interesting Quote of the Day

2010-06-13T15:21:00.002-05:00

Interesting quote of the day:

"During an interview on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, Rabbi David Nesenoff, known for exposing Helen Thomas’s anti-Semitic views, informed viewers that, up until now, he has considered himself to be a liberal Democrat – who even opposed the Iraq War and supported Barack Obama – but now asserts that...

"I have to really reevaluate liberal and conservative and really find out where I stand because I think I've been a little blind."

Return to Sender from the Blue Dog Democrats

2010-03-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

Last night I took a few moments to write a heart-felt NON-FORM LETTER email to Kristen Hawn, communications director for the Blue Dog Coalition.

I really did pour my heart out about my concern regarding the massive, intrusive, liberty-killing, overspending piece of legislative poop called ObamaCare.

I begged them to hold strong to their earlier stated objections to this legislation and expressed desire to start over and write meaningful legislation that addresses the real problems of health care portability, tort reform and bringing competition and the free market back into the medical care business.

This was the response I awoke to this morning:

___________________________________

From: postmaster@mail.house.gov [mailto:postmaster@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 9:09 PM
Subject: Undeliverable: A dad, wife and four girls

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

dog, blue

The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message later, or contact the recipient directly.

Generating server: hrm12.US.House.gov

bluedog@mail.house.gov
___________________________________

Thank you US Government. I expected nothing less.

If I Were President

2010-03-15T06:22:00.003-05:00

My 8 year old girl R completed a 1st grade school project, “If I Were President.” It’s a 7 page packet with lead-ins for each panel, and a space for her to add her thoughts and ideas. In 2040, please consider her as you vote for US President.

If I Were President by R

If I were President, the first thing I would do is:
Help everyone. But I would not take money from the rich and give it to the poor. Because the poor did not earn that money.

If I were President, I would eat:
good things like broclie, corn and beons.

If I were President, I would travel to:
Hawaii and Montana.

If I were President, I would have a pet:
dog and cat named Bella and Nickey.

If I were President, I would pass a law that: There would be no bullying! (I guess they don’t teach 1st graders yet that Presidents don’t pass laws).

If I were President, I would help: everyone. (Not just ACORN and the unions. OK- that last bit was mine).

Final Comments: I don’t think I would like to be the President. I think it is too much work! I mean, I would love to help people, but it would not work.

Carrie Underwood is no Paul McCartney

2010-03-04T06:10:00.003-06:00

I’m a huge Paul fan. Huge. If I ever got to meet him I’d for sure lose my cool and start babbling on and on like an idiot peppering him with comments and questions that would ID me as a crazed fan in an instant. I loved this and that song! What did you mean when you wrote this line? What was it like writing and performing with John Lennon? Could you sing ‘Michelle’ for me right now so I could record it on my phone and show my wife? And on, and on…

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with Carrie Underwood as part of a project at work I’m involved with. I knew who she was- I’m not living under a rock- but I had never listened to a song by her, nor spent the last 30 years memorizing all her music, learning it on guitar and piano, and trying to imitate her voice and delivery style. For one reason at least… she wasn’t even born 30 years ago. To me- she was a famous singer that I knew little about and I was thrilled that she was part of our project. End of story.

So when I got to meet her, it was like meeting anyone else- simple and honest conversation. Where are you from? Tell me about your family. What’s going on in your life? What’s next for you? It was great getting to know her, learning she’s a neighbor (has a place right down the road from us in Leipers Fork and her main home is up the road a bit farther away), and sharing about our respective favorite music, people, places and food. Later in the week there was a party for the folks on the project and I even got to sit next to her and ended up harmonizing on a song when the party shifted from chit-chat to group sing when a couple guys got out guitars. It was Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.”

She is a lovely person, wonderful voice, great spirit- and now I’m a fan. Started listening to her music and it’s amazing. I’ve been missing out. But- If I get the chance to hang with her again, I’m afraid I might come off a bit different now. And of course I’ll want pictures with her and for her to sign my shirt with a sharpie.

High School Food

2009-12-08T11:20:00.003-06:00

I know school food is bad, but this is what's on the menu today for Franklin High School in Franklin TN:

Beef Sticks, Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes, Green beans, Gravy.

Beef sticks and nuggets? Disgusting. What happened to good old Salisbury Steak?

Buy Me Some Hope

2009-12-06T13:00:00.003-06:00

Just fooling around trying to get creative with a Facebook profile pic, I Bing'd (aka Googled, but using Microsoft instead) "Obama Hope" looking to find the ubiquitous Hope poster image.

While I did find that, I also found this fun image:

And here's my new Facebook profile pic. I know- It's not perfect, but know this- I'm am not a designer... and this took me 3minutes.

Kiss Your Butt Goodbye

2009-12-01T08:16:00.004-06:00

On April 3rd of this year I wrote a post entitled “Revealed” which talked about the really stupid things some people say after someone dies, especially words that attempt to shed light on character that, in death, is evident to be completely opposite from the flowery words offered up.

Below is an article regarding the unfortunate passing of Solange Magnano, a former Miss Argentina. In it there is a quote from a close family friend, Roberto Piazza, that truthfully, honestly, and directly speaks what needed to be said. Mr. Piazza seems to have his head on straight, and I wish Ms. Magnano would have sought his counsel before deciding to undergo the knife to enhance her hindquarters.

And if he did have the opportunity to speak into her decision prior to the procedure, I wish she would have listened. Article below…

Ex-Miss Argentina dies after cosmetic surgery
Monday, November 30, 2009
(11-30) 17:37 PST BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) --

A 38-year-old former Miss Argentina has died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery on her buttocks.

Solange Magnano, a mother of twins who won the crown in 1994, died of a pulmonary embolism Sunday after three days in critical condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.

Close friend Roberto Piazza said the procedure involved injections and the liquid "went to her lungs and brain."

"A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind," he said.

Magnano's burial Monday was shown on Argentine television.

Dr. Gonzalo Cortes y Tristan said she arrived at his hospital with an acute respiratory deficiency. Her condition deteriorated until she suffered the embolism.

Email Sweetness

2009-11-30T07:21:00.005-06:00

Coffee in hand, ready for a productive day of work this morning, I opened this email from my 11 year old daughter A and a good morning quickly became an awesome one...

From: A
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009
To: digitalrich
Subject: happy thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving..........late thanksgiving. i just want to thank you for everything you have done for me. you have no idea how much you have impacted my life. you are very special to me.....thanks!

and my reply...

From: digitalrich (aka Daddy)
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 7:21 AM
To: A
Subject: RE: happy thanksgiving!

Thank you sweet heart. You have no idea- until you have children of your own- how deeply mommy and I love you and your sisters. Bigger than the whole universe.

Love always, Daddy.

Fraudulent Charges... Again

2009-10-24T09:11:00.003-05:00

A couple months ago while doing my routine Saturday morning bill paying, I stumbled upon a charge to my debit card I didn't recognize. A couple hundred bucks charged at a motorcycle and moped store in Belgium. Figured pretty quick it wasn't me.

I called it in to my bank (SunTrust), and the automated voice instructed me to send a letter to them outlining the details and they would look into it. Within a few weeks the charge was reversed.

This morning it happened again. Same place, this time for $305.55, on a different SunTrust account (my business credit card). This time when I called and was instructed to write a letter, I pressed zero and spoke to a live person.

"No. I will not write a letter. I didn't do anything here- you were the ones that either let my data get hijacked, or processed a fraudulent charge for some other reason. YOU write ME a letter and fix it."

They said ok- they would send me a letter that I could sign and return and would take the charge off. Stupid bank.

Eighth Annual Leipers Fork Chili Cook-Off

2009-10-17T15:38:00.021-05:00

A couple Saturday's ago I was mowing the yard in the early afternoon and I smelled what I thought was the annual Leiper's Fork Chili Cook-Off wafting through the air from nearby "downtown." I was mistaken. It was just the wild onions in my yard.

I thought for sure I missed it this year, just like last. Although, truth is, we didn’t really miss it last year. We showed up late, all six of us, and most of the chili was gone. And even if it wasn’t, we had forgot to bring cash to the cash-only event.

My disappointment was fueled further when a friend mentioned a couple days later that the cook-off had happened already. Turned out it didn't. While we did miss the Heritage Day event on Oct. 3rd, the Cook-Off wasn’t until Oct. 17th. And that day is today.

It was a perfect day for a chili cook off- 45 degrees, cloudy, with a stiff wind blowing and rain barely held back. The place was packed, with far more people then I recall seeing the last few years.

I paid my $5.00 (I was all by myself- Michelle was taking L, A and R to make-up piano lessons, and K had no desire to go), grabbed my spoon and voting ticket (to be dropped off in a numbered bin representing my vote for "people's choice" award), and hit the circuit.

Here's my booth-by-booth rundown of the contest:

Booth #1: One of my favorite Puckett's staff members and his wife-to-be were sitting under a canopy of white with wedding bell decorations. They're getting married NEXT weekend and were competing for the $1,000 grand prize to help with expenses. Their chili was very traditional, very meaty, with a moderate amount of spice.

Booth #2: These guys win the award for best staging. They were decked out in cowboy attire, and even had a "set" framing their spicy offering. The best part of the chili was the huge pieces of jalapeño peppers. Other than that bit of solid food, the rest was too soupy for me, and even reminded me and my tasting neighbor of minestrone.

Gotta love it when someone uses a 2" by 4" to stir the chili.

Booth #3: Wow. If Booth #2 got the prize for staging, booth #3 wins my vote for performance. A trio of folks decked out in wacky clothes and spooning out "Pork in the Fork" chili. It was solid, chunky, but not spicy enough for me.

Booth #4: Definitely unique- a traditional chili base, loaded with organic ground beef and full of tomato tastiness and a secret ingredient- locally roasted ground coffee beans. They offered it in mild and spicy, and I tried both. Hands-down my favorite chili of the day easily winning my vote for "People's Choice."

Booth #5: With a banner proclaiming "Cajun Salsa Chili" I was prepared for a spicy feast. I was half right. Incredibly spicy and demanding some quick hydration (made possible by the bottles of water they were selling), it almost had my vote. The down side for me was too much salsa-taste, and too little meat.

Booth #6: Owls Hill Nature Center offered a surprisingly (and sort of disturbingly) sweet chili. The best way I could describe it would be "desert chili," if of course such a thing existed.

Booth #7: These super nice and enthusiastic people ladled up some very veggie chili. There might have been meat in there somewhere, but I either didn’t luck into some in my tiny cup, or it was ground into minute pieces.

Booth #8: Two very nice ladies were offering very traditional tasting chili with a bit of various peppers thrown in. Good, solid, everyday chili... but it didn’t light me up.

Booth #9: Well... this one threw me for a loop. I got my little cup of "chili" and downed it in one gulp. And I almost spewed it out all over the people standing around me, many looking like they were about to do the same thing. Turned out it wasn’t chili at all. It was salsa. The sign that said "salsa" and "chips," should have clued me in.

Booth #10: No show.

Booth #11: Soups on! Great people that seemed to really be having fun talking it up with everyone, but the chili was a bit too much like beef and vegetable soup for me.

Booth #12: Touting themselves as "Cheeseheads" from Wisconsin, I got my little cup with what I thought were stringy pieces of cheese (wouldn’t you with the banner they had?). Turned out to be spaghetti. I'm a big fan of Chili ON spaghetti, not spaghetti IN my chili.

Booth #13: Another salsa booth. I learned my lesson from booth #9 and didn’t chug it or use my spoon. Took a few chips, dipped away, and LOVED IT. Darkish salsa, moderately spicy with a roasted tomato flavor. Well done.

You can spot the music-themed booth. The lady on the left spotted my old Gotee Records sweatshirt and asked if I knew Todd Collins (former A&R gent from the label). Yes I do.

And finally, Booth #14: These were great folks taking the time to pose for a photo. Their sign said it all- stove top chili. And it tasted just like mom used to make. Mmmm.

Here's a few more random photographs from today's festivities:

And my favorite picture of the day... the classic "Cowboy on a Cell Phone" shot.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed the run-down. Until next year!

Bug Zapper

2009-06-08T05:55:00.002-05:00

I finally did it… I bought one of those campy creepy bug zappers for the back porch.

I’ve always wanted one- just something about that crackle and pop indicating a pesky gnat, moth or some other flying thingy just got juiced. I had no intention of buying one when I went to Lowe’s yesterday, but it was on special, on the power isle, and I just couldn’t resist.

The thing that pushed me over the edge to lay down the $45 for the “Stinger Outdoor Ultra Insect Killer” was the packaging. More specifically, the call-out box that informed me:

“How it works: A 40 watt ultraviolet black light excites insects and lures them into the electric grid, where they are electrocuted and fall harmlessly to the ground.”

Something about the brutality and compassion all rolled into one just moved my heart.

I Want Obama To Fail

2009-05-24T06:42:00.004-05:00

You cannot go head to head with Obama until you take him down. Take him down, make him pay, and then we can have a conversation.

We will take to the streets right now, we will delegitimize Obama, discredit him, and do whatever it takes, but never accept him!

We certainly don’t want him to succeed too much.

I certainly hope Obama doesn’t succeed.

Republicans aren’t particularly thrilled that the recession appears to be one the wane. One top Republican advisor said privately, ‘No questions, it’d be easier for us if things were bad. That’s the dilemma of being in the opposition. You have to hope for the worst.’”

I don’t care for the way the Obama administration conduct themselves. I think as Republicans, we don’t want to see anything nice to happen to the Democrats, and you don’t want them to have progress.

I think Obama is a loser.

You know, God bless him, bless his heart, Obama is a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.

And on the war on terror, these last words…

Even if the military escalation in Iraq showed signs of progress, efforts by Obama to stabilize the country have been a complete failure.

Let me be clear- There is NO military solution in Iraq, and there never was.

My guess is that a few things are running through your head if you’re still reading this post all the way to this point. First, that I really hate Obama, and second, that I am not able to string together sentences and paragraphs into a coherent post. You'd be wrong on both accounts.

Before you get too angry at me, or leave nasty comments on how I should, as an American citizen, accept Mr. Obama as my president, that he’s the leader of all of us now, that I should accept the will of the majority that elected him, that my spouting off about Obama is un-American and counterproductive, even treasonous, know this…

The words above are not mine. Including the post title. They were spoken by others about George W. Bush. To read them correctly, wherever you read OBAMA, replace it with BUSH. And wherever you read REPUBLICAN, replace it with DEMOCRAT, and vice versa.

Now, read the post again from the top, and be aware of who spoke these words (in order of appearance above):

Nancy Pelosi
Jesse Jackson
Bill Press (Democrat pundit on CNN)
James Carville
The Philadelphia Inquirer
John Stewart
Nancy Soderberg (Former Bill Clinton aide)
Harry Reid
Nancy Pelosi
Barrack Obama
Barrack Obama

Enjoy reading the post again, and challenging your perspective of those who want Obama's agenda (not the person, or the office, or the country) to fail.

Counter Culture

2009-05-13T09:29:00.003-05:00

I think I am. I think I’m rock solid counter-culture.

The evidence?

1. I not only didn’t vote for Mr. Obama, I’ve actually not listened to a complete sentence he’s uttered since taking office. While not voting for him isn’t counter-culture (you may recall 60 million people voted against Obama), I think not listening to him read his teleprompter counts for something.

2. I’ve never watched a single episode of any reality TV show. No survivor, no Great Race, Biggest Loser, or anything else. Ever.

3. I cant stomach pop culture heroes or celebrities. On my short list of things I would get rid of if I ruled the world, celebrity shows and rags would be pretty high on the list.

4. I’ve never watched a full episode of American Idol. I’ve seen bits and pieces, and its just too painful to watch.

5. I believe in and support a few no-brainers: a secure border and immigration law, low taxes, a reduced federal government (by 50% or more) and reduced state government (by 30% or more), an end to most entitlement programs, the privatization of social security, and much more. Don’t tread on me baby.

6. I put God, family and country ahead of everything else.

7. I believe the United States of America is this worlds last great hope for personal liberty, peace and security…. And its about 60% gone as we’ve come to know and love it.

Wow

2009-05-08T14:52:00.005-05:00

My little girl is getting not so little anymore. K is growing up fast, and she's developing several skills and talents. Among them is an eye for a solid picture, as well as editing digital images to pull out complex colors, shading and texture. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy.

Calling The Kettle Black

2009-05-07T06:16:00.005-05:00

For more than 25 years I’ve been sitting at the intersection of faith and entertainment. I approached this joining of two “roads” when I became a huge fan of Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill and Keith Green as a teenager. These three gents did an amazing thing- they joined contemporary music and melody hooks to social commentary and faith messages in a way that challenged and grew me- heart, mind and soul.

This affected me deeply in various ways. It helped mature my faith, made me more self-aware as a follower of Jesus and how I relate and treat others, and also lit a flame inside of me to join in a movement. A growing chorus of artists and fans that were excited to engage faith and the arts at the same time.

I taught myself guitar and piano, and started to write songs. My goal early on was to follow in Keith Green’s artistic footsteps- piano-based pop/rock with lyrics that delivered a compelling and challenging message. As those skills developed it lead me to participate in a rock band during high school and land a gig handling all the music at a Christian youth camp. Fortunately it became clear to me early on that I wasn’t a good enough musician or vocalist to make writing and performing my vocation, but I knew music would remain a key part of my life.

There is no shortage of people that criticize faith-based music and film. One of the chief complaints, from inside and outside the church, is that the art is second rate, and becomes unpalatable when a “message” is shoved into a song or film and spoon fed to the listener or viewer. Another common refrain is that music and film should be more subtle, gently weaving a great story that may have a moral or thickly veiled message that we can draw from. And from outside the church, besides those types of comments, we also hear things like “I hate Christian movies- too preachy, always shoving values and morals down our throats.” And multiple variations of that, far too many to outline here.

There’s also great criticism of the marketing and promotional machines that are Christian music and film companies. That these folks put to much emphasis on packaging and marketing “MESSAGE” versus “ART.”

I’d like to point out a few items that have come to my attention in the last month- namely that some of these same types of people that despise faith-based music and film for using the arts to push a “message” or “agenda,” are genuine, good old-fashioned bona fide hypocrites.

---------------------------------------------------
From the NY Times, May 1st 2009:
“Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus“ by John M. Broder

WASHINGTON — The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is “global warming.” The term turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes, according to extensive polling and focus group sessions conducted by ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm in Washington.

Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.”

EcoAmerica has been conducting research for the last several years to find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives. A summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations by someone who sat in this week on a briefing intended for government officials and environmental leaders.

Environmental issues consistently rate near the bottom of public worry, according to many public opinion polls. A Pew Research Center poll released in January found global warming last among 20 voter concerns; it trailed issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing the influence of lobbyists. “We know why it’s lowest,” said Mr. Perkowitz, a marketer of outdoor clothing and home furnishings before he started ecoAmerica, whose activities are financed by corporations, foundations and individuals. “When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.”
The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. “Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.” In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.”

“Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology,” said the e-mail account of the group’s study.

Robert J. Brulle of Drexel University, an expert on environmental communications, said ecoAmerica’s campaign was a mirror image of what industry and political conservatives were doing. “The form is the same; the message is just flipped,” he said. “You want to sell toothpaste, we’ll sell it. You want to sell global warming, we’ll sell that. It’s the use of advertising techniques to manipulate public opinion.”

And, Mr. Luntz and Mr. Perkowitz agree, “climate change” is an easier sell than “global warming.”
---------------------------------------------------
And now to wrap this up, I present to you a few bit of “art” that recently graced the airwaves in an effort to shove a message and morality down our throats:

Watch just the first 2 minutes:

And here we see some of the priests and priestesses preaching the message:

And this is just downright painful to watch. Please- give me a tacky toupee-wearing sleazy televangelist over this tripe... at the end of the clip there's even a segment on confessing eco-sin. Do these people realize they have created a RELIGION?

The Things I Look For In Friends…

2009-05-03T08:58:00.004-05:00

Ten things I look for in guy friends:

1. Guys that mow their own lawn

2. Guys that would rather go out and play sports (even poorly) than sit and watch them (even excellently) on TV

3. Guys that would skip an important meeting to fulfill a family commitment

4. Guys that know how to run a good war (via board game or Xbox/Playstation)

5. Guys that, whether single or married, don’t ogle at or comment about other women and their physical assets while I’m around

6. Guys that greet with a hug rather than a handshake

7. Guys that have a dream and vision for their family

8. Guys that are engaged in politics and debate passionately, fairly, and never use pre-canned talking points

9. Guys that like very, very, very spicy food

10. Guys that care about the real dangers and threats to their family (kids peers that influence towards the bad, drugs, alcohol abuse, drunk drivers, predators, wealth that leads to indifference and selfishness, lack of passion, laziness, hyper-sexualized culture, and much more) versus the conjured threats (global warming, carbon, rising sea levels, fossil fuels, swine flu, etc)

And This Is The Problem With News...

2009-05-01T17:47:00.004-05:00

It's been raining like crazy this season in middle Tennessee, but you won't see this headline:

DROUGHT NOT A PROBLEM IN TENNESSEE

What Causes Global Warming?

2009-04-30T14:57:00.004-05:00

THE SUN.

And I can prove it. Every single morning.

Had Enough of Tripe

2009-04-24T15:49:00.004-05:00

For the last six months I've been trying to unsubscribe to Pew Research email newsletters. The old unsubscribe process was impossible to navigate- I had to remember my user name and password (I forgot both), and without one or the other I couldn't get off the list. They finally changed their system where I could click a link in the email and go to a simple unsubscribe box. Finally.

This is a screen shot of my final comments to the fine folks at Pew.

I Can See (Susan Boyle) Clearly Now

2009-04-17T09:08:00.005-05:00

First Paul Potts. Now, Susan Boyle. The electricity that shot through the Britain’s Got Talent audience in the hall for both performances is undeniable. But why?

Why do tears come to my eyes when I watch these? You can actually see people crying (including the judges) during Paul Potts performance. Why?

I have a theory.

It’s spiritual.

We see the outward, we see the broken and sometimes unattractive appearance of a person, and we expect little. When people see an attractive person, it is proven that all sorts of unearned positive attributes of the person is assumed. They’re attractive, smart, have it all together, probably have money and possessions, hang with the right crowd, and are someone anyone should get to know and hang with.

On the other hand, when people see Paul Potts or Susan Boyle, maybe there are some other attributes, not so positive, assumed about them. This is human nature. This is how people see the sum total value of another person all too often.

What happened when Paul and Susan opened their mouths and the songs filled the room? They also filled hearts. They filled spirits. The empty space in so many had a bit of life poured in.

Are Paul and Susan the best vocalists anyone’s ever heard? Of course not. Is it unusual to hear a great singer on Britain’s Got Talent or American Idol? Absolutely not. Then why the worldwide phenomenon for both these video clips? Why the tears, the inspired hearts, the dropped jaws?

Because- for a moment- we saw Paul and Susan as God sees us all. Beautiful and yet broken. Stunning and yet flawed. Lovable but still prone to despise others. He sees in us immeasurable value and potential, and for a glimmering moment, too quickly forgotten in our every days lives as we pass by everyday people, we saw Paul and Susan… and ourselves… through the eyes of God.

1980’s Technology at School

2009-04-14T09:27:00.002-05:00

Last night I helped my daughter A with her homework. She had a worksheet with several math problems (the word problem kind- the one’s we all love so much).

We got to the last problem and we hit a bump. The set-up was that some girl (I think her name was Sally), surveyed her class to find out what kinds of appliances each student had at home, and how many of each appliances there were amongst all the students.

The results were in a pictograph, with each appliance listed, and a light bulb icon indicating 4 such appliances at a students home. 3 light bulbs next to washing machine meant 12 washing machines at the homes of the students.

There were two appliances little 10 year old A was confused by. Food Processor and Walkman. Both elicited a “what’s that?” question.

Well, sweetie, a food processor is like a, umm, well it’s a sort of machine that chops up food like carrots or tomatoes for salads or cooking.

And the Walkman? I tried to explain it was like a radio you walked around with and also played cassette tapes. Which of course led to “what’s a cassette tape?”

Final response I gave to her? A Walkman is sort of an old-fashioned iPod from when daddy was a kid.

Faith Like Potatoes

2009-04-05T08:07:00.009-05:00

Funny title. Amazing movie.

Please take a moment and check out this important film- the story of Angus Buchan. An ordinary man, a broken and desparate farmer, and a an encounter with God that is changing lives in Africa.

Click here for the Faith Like Potatoes Movie Site

Click here for the Faith Like Potatoes Tangle.com Page

Click here to bring this movie to your church/organization

Revealed

2009-04-03T06:24:00.004-05:00

I ran across an article in New York Daily News that really unsettled me. I think our society has sunk to such a low point that it can not see clearly through the mud and muck that it finds itself swimming in.

Just recently a horrible crime occurred. A well known and respected man was living a double life. During the day he was a radio newsman in New York- one of the top radio markets in the world. Off hours it seems he might have been a bit off course in his life.

Seems this gent had a thing for young boys. He apparently trolled for illicit relations on Craigslist and made plans to connect with and pay $60 to a 16 year old kid for a night of drug induced rough encounters.

The next morning the reporter was found dead in his bed, bound and sporting 50 knife stab wounds to the neck. Tragic, and very sad. So very sad that this man lost his life.

However, what really unsettled me were the words that poured out about the reporter- words that if thought about, reveal either careless emotional outpouring that glorifies someone in their death, or a detachment from of what is good, right and noble in how people live their lives.

A close friend of the slain man said “I really wish people knew George the way we knew George.”

My immediate response was- I really wish YOU knew George the way we all found out George really was so that maybe you could help him. Or get him to someone that could help. I mean, here’s a 47 year old man chasing down young boys for sex. Ugh.

Or this statement: "We are devastated by the loss of George. He was truly a caring person who loved and was loved by all he met. He loved New York and its people, particularly his Carroll Gardens neighborhood. The outpouring of support by his friends and neighbors is a blessing to us and a testimony to his character."

OK- was totally tracking with this throughout the entire first sentence. Yes, loss of life is always devastating. But then it goes sideways with the very next words- “he was truly a caring person.” Really? I mean, REALLY? Caring in how he was like a wolf consuming young boys?

And then- “the outpouring of support…is a blessing to us and a testimony to his character.”

Come on now- could not a few better words be found? Testimony to his character? His character turned out to be on display in his bed the day he was found dead. Internet listings for sex with kids, bound and stabbed in bed, drugs in the house.

Click here to read the articles:
March 25th story
March 26th story

Why I Don’t Care About Global Warming

2009-04-02T06:48:00.004-05:00

I know in this political climate, those are fighting words to many people. But here’s the rub: man-made global warming is NOT a fact. Period.

And if there is natural global warming (which I am 100% certain has happened in the past, and will happen again if its not happening now), or cooling, what can we puny humans do about it? Zilch. Nothing. Nada.

The earth HAS been cooler. There is no doubt. And the earth has been warmer as well. Heard the stories of people worrying about glaciers and ice caps on mountains melting that have been there for “millions of years” only to find caves showing ancient drawings and signs of human habitation?

For those most worried and active in the fight to stop manmade global warming, we find something important under the surface. A need to matter. A need for purpose. A desire to “do something.” Those things are noble and good when applied to the REAL WORLD. Really now, who is AGAINST clean water, or clean air, or fair housing, or … name your cause.

I'm for all those things- and I dare you to find anyone around you that doesn't care about the earth, or want clean air and water.

But for many people, they live for this. It's a constant journey to somehow and in some way prove to those around them that they matter. For the rest of us- and this is what really drives some people nuts- we DO have purpose.

We love others- our families and neighbors. Don’t you think the thousands of people that took off to Indonesia after the tsunami had purpose? I’m not talking about the government people or celebrities that had meetings or “raised awareness.” I’m talking about the people that went to lift debris off of bodies, and distributed food and clothing. Or those that responded to Katrina. Our church alone sent dozens of people dozens of times to the region to give direct aid. Paid for out of OUR WALLETS- not government tax coffers.

We have purpose in our spouses or children. Trying to grow a family of honor and dignity, of caring and loving. Purpose in our work to better the lives of our family and communities. Purpose in worshiping a loving God (which is of course the chief purpose of mankind).

When we stack up the real needs around us- immediate needs- what does it REALLY mean to turn our lights off for an hour on Saturday night to save the world, then fire up the ole 72” flat screen and watch 24 or American Idol on the Tivo? Give me a break. Al Gore here in Nashville didn’t even turn his lights off for a measly hour.

I turned all our lights ON. And guess what? The world was still around at 9:30PM last Saturday.

Want to change the world? Want purpose and a cause that has eternal impact? Praise your daughter or son. Hug your wife. Give food to a beggar. Volunteer. Go on, or support, a mission’s trip. Support a child through World Vision or Compassion. Give more than the 1% of earning the Obama’s donate.

Is it any wonder that so many people apathetically view the fear mongers that nightly parade on the news, or daily haunt the halls of congress with their constant search for purpose, virtually holding signs that say “The End is Near! We need Carbon Credits and Limits on Green House Gases! And more taxes!”

And they’re the ones that call Christians nuts.

Have You Ever Wondered….

2009-04-01T06:01:00.003-05:00

About toll roads? Aren’t they, in some way, proof that government is inherently greedy? I mean, we only really need the government to take care of a few basic things such as:

1. Establish Justice (courts and laws).

2. Insure domestic tranquility (police and laws that protect and serve the citizenry).

3. Provide for the common defense (armed forces to protect the BORDERS).

4. Promote the general welfare (provide common use infrastructure such as roads and parks).

5. Secure the blessings of liberty (by not being tyrannical like King George in England, and get the heck out of the lives and ways of the citizens so that they may prosper).

So back to topic- toll roads. When you think about it, government only really has to do a couple things- and providing common use roads is one of them. Yet toll roads exist. And they happen to exist in just about the exact places the population happens to need incremental roads to handle heavy traffic.

Then of course there are the toll roads that lead to toll bridges and toll tunnels and various other toll booths. Roads, bridges, tunnels- these are about the ONLY things government does right (besides armed forces and police), and then it charges EXTRA beyond our unbearable taxes?

To be in alignment with the onerous income tax code, what the toll extracting evil government should do is double all tolls immediately, and only collect it from every other driver so that half the drivers are supporting the other half.

A Bird In Hand Is Better Than Two Stuck In Your Grill

2009-03-31T07:59:00.002-05:00

I never cease to be amazed by the suicidal dives and swoops birds take in front of my speeding hulking Suburban Z71.

They swoop in from the left or right, mere feet in front of my truck, and I always check to see if the idiots made it through the other side.

I have to watch, since the truck is so big, and I always have the music cranking, so I wouldn't feel or hear anything if they didn't make it.

When I don't see a clear escape happen I know what I'll be doing when I reach my destination- on more than one occasion I've had to peel cute little birdies off the grill.

Yesterday on the back home from a post office run a bird got whacked by my truck. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the feathery lifeless lump in the road.

This morning on the way to the gym I looked to see if it was still in the road where I hit it. As I looked- whack! A bird hit my antenna and ricocheted onto my window, then fluttered up and over my roof and into the windshield of the car behind me.

Stupd birds.

Daniel Hannan- My New Hero

2009-03-25T14:08:00.003-05:00

Wow. This guy unloads both barrels on the UK Prime Minister. Holy Cow. I don’t know much about this gents politics, but his willingness to stand up and speak boldly and plainly about the WASTE that is government, and the pressure the wasteful, inefficient and unproductive government sector is putting on the productive private sector to soak up wealth in the form of more taxes and fees to then feed to unproductive segments of our society is deserving of long sustained applause. It’s also a call to arms.

Oh- one other note. Notice he doesn't need a teleprompter.

Thank you Westhaven

2009-03-17T05:53:00.003-05:00

I live about 10 minutes west of Franklin TN in a horse farm community called Leiper’s Fork. Or at least I used to. I mean, used to be 10 minutes from Franklin. Now it’s 15-20 or more.

We moved here for the serenity, land, creeks and rivers and wildlife. A stable plot of land to live on that I never had growing up- my father was in the air force and we moved about often always living in military housing.

The commute from our country home to the places we shop, meet and do business (Franklin, Cool Springs and Brentwood) has always been a quick drive away using Highway 96. The 55MPH speed limit (meaning of course everyone drove 60 or 65) allowed quick access to the “outside” world.

A couple years ago a new development/sub-division popped up nearby called Westhaven. It’s a lovely area packed tightly with semi-custom built homes and a promising close community feel ahead as they begin to attract little shops and stores to the area. With this development, and the increasing population from this future town-within-a-town, has come a new speed limit on Highway 96 that runs parallel to Westhaven.

Franklin city has deemed it necessary to drop the speed limit to 40MPH. Now, as I drive this stretch for several miles, seeing little more than trees, cows, a few other cars, and an occasional hawk flying by, I am pained by the creeping speed that adds valuable minutes to my commute.

As for the benefit to Franklin there is no doubt. I would estimate its paying for the new downtown facelift with revenue from speeding tickets. As locals struggle to adjust to the new ridiculously low speed limit after a generation of 55MPH or greater on the road, the local police now hang out there more frequently that the local donut or coffee joints. It’s not uncommon to see 2 cars pulled over driving one way on the road, and 2 more on the way back in the afternoon.

I must admit- to anyone outside this area that deals with real traffic issues and commute times (my sister drives an hour and a half each way to work), these paltry 5-10 minutes must sound absolutely ridiculous.

Sickness Comes On Horseback

2009-03-16T06:00:00.003-05:00

… and departs on foot. An old Dutch proverb. And a truth we’re living in our family right now.

The sickness began more than a week ago. The youngest feeling tired and wanting to go to bed early. A fever the next morning. Continues fever for a week. Flu. My wife with a very bad case of sinus infection.

Then the fevers, ear infections, missed church and school continued. And to one degree or another its all still here in the household.

It’s been a very bad week and a half around here. And I have personally evaded all the bugs. I hope I make it through unscathed.

AWOL

2009-03-15T07:21:00.003-05:00

I’ve been absent without leave from my blog for several weeks now. Very simple reason… anger and frustration with what’s going on around me. And…

My wife complained that my blog’s gone too political. I take that feedback very seriously because she and my four girls are the only readers I write for. So… I haven’t had much to say that isn’t politically tinged…

My heart and mind has been filled with awe (in the bad sense) and anger at what is happening before my very eyes. Our economy is teetering, our taxes will increase dramatically, my friend (a policeman) has mentioned increases in local suicides, people have lost half their wealth/retirement, the flow of friends and acquaintances letting me know they lost their job and to keep an eye out for them for new opportunities has now hit about 2-5 per week.

How quickly things change. And I doubt this is the change anyone hoped for.

The latest example to me of how insane things have got is the thousands of people protesting government cuts in NYC and California. Loud are the screams when the slop in the public trough dries up. But not to worry- Congress is dipping their ladles into our wallets and future right this very moment and are ready to spread a fresh heap of steaming wealth into the old wooden, cracked and broken trough.

Economy?

2009-02-21T19:32:00.002-06:00

Here's our nearby regional super mall center court on a rocking prime-time Saturday night.

We're in trouble.

To All My Valued Employees...

2009-02-17T22:01:00.004-06:00

...There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job.

What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for -- it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, Race, creed, religion, etc.

Please vote who you think will serve your Interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story.

This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is the back story.

I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's.

My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button For me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby.

You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't.

The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?

Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don't understand; to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine.

Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.

You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don't forget the backstory: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you "It's the economy Stupid" I'm telling you it isn't.

If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me in South Caribbean sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Signed, Your boss,

Michael A. Crowley,
PE Crowley, Crisp & Associates, Inc.
Professional Engineers 1
906 South Main Street, Suite 122
Wake Forest, NC 27587
_______________________________________________________________

There Is A Time For Everything…

2009-02-16T06:00:00.005-06:00

What a wonderful group of verses from Ecclesiastes. It had special meaning for me this past Friday. It continues…

“…and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”

We moved into our Leiper’s Fork TN home in the spring of 2003. The builder hired a group of stone masons to create some wonderful dry stacked stone features around the house. A couple of beautiful floor to ceiling stone fireplaces, a massive stone chimney, and a good portion of the front of the house with a stone wall.

The results of all that stone work, besides the beautiful architectural structures created, lay in piles down by the creek. Mounds and mounds of stone shards and pieces, some piles three feet high, discarded at the creek’s edge. They were the bits and pieces left over as large stones were chipped and shaved to fit just right without grout or mortar. The massive weight of the stones that fit together perfectly create the stability and strength to support each additional stone above.

One of my favorite parts of the stone work is the keystone’s in each of the fireplaces. Loose stones held up by hand in an arch while the master stone mason fits in the keystone (the architectural piece at the crown of an arch which marks its apex, locking the other pieces into position).

Several years ago I found a discarded stone shard half buried in the yard. I was on lawn prep duty the summer after we moved in to remove all the rocks and stones I was hitting with my lawn mower. There was something about it that struck me. It was amazingly well formed, having been chipped away from a larger stone and breaking off in an almost perfect angles. It was a bit larger than an iPod shuffle, and almost as smooth on five of the six surfaces.

I stuck it in my pocket, and later set it down on the brick retaining wall on our back porch.

There it sat for almost six years. I remember seeing it every once in awhile, picking it up and feeling its smooth surface, and then setting it back down. If we had a pond I would have tried to skip it on the water.

A few weeks ago Michelle and I hired by brother-in-law Josh to do some work around our house. Little things have been slowly breaking, chipping or falling apart. We also had a nasty leak in a pipe running down between our closet wall in the master bedroom and the drywall was soft and wet. Time for some fix-it work.

Josh and I walked the house, inside and out, and wrote down every little thing that had to be worked on. Paint chips, dry-wall cracks, loose crown molding, doors that didn’t close properly, window and bathtub caulking, and much more. Amongst the long list was grout/mortar repair work on our front stone stairway.

The stone repair work was the last thing Josh worked on. He found some grout that was close to the original color and set about filling in all the old grout that had disintegrated and fallen away. He did a great job and it looked wonderful except for one spot. At the very top of the stone stairs, in the corner, was a gap where the grout had fallen out. I asked Josh to fill it in, but he said it wouldn’t stay. The gap was too wide and deep, and there was nothing there to support it. He could put some in, but guessed it would come out within a few weeks or months.

He said if I had a rock or something that would fit in there he could make it work, but doubted we would find just the right size and shaped rock to fit in the gap.

It hit me. While I hadn’t seen or touched that stone on the back porch in a year or two, it came to me in an instant. My memory of what it looked like seemed to match the gap in the stairway. I told Josh I might just have the right thing and went out back to get the stone.

I handed it to him and he gently fit it into the gap. If a jeweler had custom cut that rock to fit the gap with diamond cutting instruments it would not have fit better but for a tad bit of extra length. It fit the width and the height perfectly, and blended into the color scheme of the rocks on the stairway- which are slightly different than the rest of the stonework around the house.

The job was done, and I couldn’t help but think about that little bit of discarded stone. Thrown away by a master craftsman because it was useless in his eyes, and picked up by someone else and held, waiting, until the just the right time.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 quoted above, there is a line in verse 5: "a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them."

As this world seems to crumble and press around us, as we wonder if tomorrow will find us without a job or income, and in some cases, a home, how wonderful it is to know that God has a place for us. A use, in his time. And if we are willing to surrender to Him, to allow Him to fulfill His plan for us, we may find that we fill the gap or complete the work in someone else’s life to His glory.

Obama Supporter Failed

2009-02-10T07:39:00.003-06:00

Christians take a bold step when they affix a fish on the back of their car.

They tell the world they are believers, and the world watches closely. Mainly to see if they cut other drivers off, speed, flip birds or in other ways act hypocritical (which is just one of the reasons I don't have one).

Obamians take the same risk. The true believers that have Obama08 stickers on their cars are telling the world they believe in Obama, and follow in his ways and teachings.

This morning, about 20 minutes ago, a true believer pulled out in front of me. There on his dirty Mercedes Benz station wagon back window was his badge of belief: Obama08.

He was speeding AND had at least two grossly under inflated tires. Isn't this in violation of the dear leader's directive to solve our foreign oil dependance by driving the speed limit and properly inflating our tires?

And it was belching exhaust.

What about the dear leader's insistence that we get tune-ups? Also, he had a back light out and blew through a red light.

At least he didn't have a fish on his bumper too.

Don’t You Hate Those Sappy Email’s From Family and Friends?

2009-02-09T14:49:00.005-06:00

I sure do. But, my Uncle Tom hit me with this one and tears welled up. I’m so thankful for the men and women in uniform that serve this country. God bless them all!

Largest Re-enlistment Ceremony - Ever
I'm sure you already know about this. It was shown over and over on TV, right?

OK, so maybe it wasn't shown over and over, but surely it was shown on TV at least one time, wasn't it ?

This was the largest re-enlistment ceremony ever held in military history. The ceremony was held on the 4th of July, 2008 at Al Faw Palace, Baghdad , Iraq . General David Petraeus officiated. This amazing story was ignored by the 'mainstream' media.

For those who have been in the Al Faw Palace, you'll have a better appreciation of the number of people crammed around the rotunda supporting the re-enlisting soldiers.

American men and women volunteering to stay longer in Iraq, so that when we leave, the new democracy will have a chance of surviving, is the exact opposite of what the media wants you to think about Iraq. If only a bomb had killed 5 civilians in a marketplace - now that's the kind of news the media is eager to tell you about.

A pizzeria in Chicago donated 2000 pizzas that were made and shipped to Baghdad , and were delivered on the 4th.

The media did report that 2000 pizzas were sent to Iraq on July 4th... The only part they left out of the report was the event for which the pizzas were sent.

I can't help but wonder... What would the opinion of Americans be if they weren't getting such obviously biased 'news?'

Pass this on and we will do the work for the Media

Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler Was Right- We’re In Big Trouble

2009-02-04T06:21:00.003-06:00

Here’s an interesting quote that rubs up against every fiber of my being, my whole lifetime of being taught, and believing, that democracy is an almost perfect form of government:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury.

From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy,

...always followed by a dictatorship."

- Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler

So there it is.

We have reached the tipping point. I truly believe now, for the first time in my life, America’s greatest days may be behind her.

As anecdotal evidence, I put forth these advertisements flooding the internet (see image).

We’re in big trouble.

My Kingdom For An Empty Middle Seat

2009-02-03T07:10:00.004-06:00

The week before last I jetted west to work out of my LA office for a few days and took the last direct Southwest flight from LAX to Nashville Friday night.

I checked in online the previous day (right at the 24 hour mark to make sure I got an “A” boarding pass), and with A35 in my hand was confident I would have an empty seat beside me to spread out and get some work done during the 3 1/1 hour flight.

I had confirmed the flight had about 20 or so empty seats, and my standard strategy in these cases is to find another large person in an aisle seat and secure the window seat near him/her. For strategically thinking Southwest frequent flyers that have to work on the plane, there is quite a bit of thought put into seat selection:

1. If you can hold it, always take the window seat so you’re not getting up constantly for others to go bathroom, and you’re not forever getting wacked in the side by people passing by and their luggage.

2. Confirm whether the flight is full. If it is, look for a couple already seated in aisle and middle seat that are thin. Take the window.

3. If the flight isn’t full, look for a single person seated in the aisle seat that is the LARGEST person available, thereby creating a very small space for the middle seat and encouraging boarding passengers to “keep on walking.” DO NOT take a window seat in an empty aisle, as a couple may board knowing they will have to have an aisle and middle seat between them, and choose your row.

4. Once seated, place your backpack or carry-on in the empty middle seat while moving both your feet under the seat in front of the middle seat. For boarding passengers that might be thinking about taking the middle seat but are too timid to ask if the seat is being saved you increase the chance they will “keep on walking.” Also, by reserving the under seat space in front of the middle seat with your feet, you have a place to put your carry-on when seating is done and still keep all your leg room in front of your window seat.

My strategy tends to work well unless there is some unforeseen circumstance that throws a stick in the spokes. And that’s what happened on that fateful flight home.

Just before the door closed a group of 4 men boarded the plane. They were all friends, and all very drunk. They stumbled down the aisle laughing and talking wildly while looking for seats that where near each other. All that was left were middle seats, and they settled on my general area.

The largest amongst them claimed the middle seat next to me, and plopped his big sweaty and drunk body next to mine. There were empty middle seats (next to much smaller/thinner people than I ) in front of me, behind me, and across from me. But no- he had to pick my row.

For 3 ½ hours I was treated to loud drunk story telling, the smell of whisky and sweat, and a sickeningly hot and wet body pressed into mine while I tried to read a few scripts. Horrible, horrible flight.

Rejoice Obama Supporters!

2009-01-28T06:53:00.003-06:00

Your wildest dreams for a new and glorious world are coming true.

Executive Order Day 1: Free the prisoners!
SUBJECT: EXECUTIVE ORDER -- REVIEW AND DISPOSITION OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT THE GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE AND CLOSURE OF DETENTION FACILITIES

With this order Obama declares Guantanamo Bay be closed in a year. Hooray. When asked by a reporter what would happen to the prisoners there, Obama looked like a deer in the headlights. He turned around and asked his aide, so- what will happen to the prisoners? The answer? Umm.. we’re working on a process.

How gratifying to know that the government is working on a process. Meanwhile, Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi who was released from Guantanamo Bay just recently carried out a suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, killing at least seven people. We can look forward to much more of that type of great news coming in 2010! Yeehaw.

Executive Order Day 1: Treat enemy combatants and terrorists BETTER than the police treat our own citizens. It’s a new day people! Hope-n-Change is on the way.
SUBJECT: EXECUTIVE ORDER -- ENSURING LAWFUL INTERROGATIONS

This order greatly reduces the options US forces have to interrogate enemy combatants and terrorists. We are reduced to only using the Army Field Manual outline for interrogation (designed to be fair and honorable with enemies during times of war that are from a recognized foreign government that would typically be a co-signer of the Geneva Convention). Now, local, state and federal police forces have MORE options and power interrogating US citizens than we have in interrogating terrorists.

Executive order day 3: Your tax money and mine to pay for more abortions. Yay!!!
SUBJECT: MEXICO CITY POLICY AND ASSISTANCE FOR VOLUNTARY POPULATION PLANNING

This executive order reverses US government positions (stated in acts or orders from 1961 through 2003) that domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (like Planned Parenthood) that receive your money and mine (code words Obama uses is “that receive federal funds”) can not use them for abortions (code words Obama uses here are “voluntary family planning”).

He not only frees up our money to pay for abortions IMMEDIATELY, he also directs the Secretay of State (Hillary Clinton) to IMMEDIATELY notify all organizations that get “grants” (our money) that these conditions have changed, and to “start-yer-killing.”

Executive order day 6: Put the final stake in the heart of the auto industry, just in time to then use our money to try to revive them. Take that Michigan!
SUBJECT: STATE OF CALIFORNIA REQUESTS WAIVER UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT

This order reverses Bush’s position on not allowing California (and several other states) from imposing their own locally brewed wacko positions on man-made global warming and the impact of automobiles. Now these states will get to set even more of their own stringent requirements on auto makers resulting in increased red tape, manufacturing and retail costs for autos.

The good news? We still have 1,452 more days of this kind of Hope-n-Change to look forward to.

So That Men Are Without Excuse

2009-01-25T07:15:00.004-06:00

This weekend I took the family to see "Inkheart." It was a fun and adventurous romp with only two mild language issues and a scary scene with a monster named “The Shadow.” I predict great success for this film since it can be watched by entire families from 7 or 8 all the way up. Very few of those anymore that are safe enough for the little ones, and interesting enough for the teens and parents.

Before the movie started we saw the trailers of upcoming movies and I was especially fascinated by the new Disney movie “Earth” produced by a new imprint called DisneyNature. It comes out in April on Earth day and follows one year in the life of various creatures around the globe.

As the trailer played I recalled the verse from Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

I was mesmerized by God’s handiwork. Honestly, from the opening comment by narrator James Earl Jones that in all the known universe there is only one planet that can support life, to the final eye popping views of the creation around us, I thought only of Him.

How? How is it possible to see the vast glory of life on this planet and not realize, or at least ponder, that this world is not random.

Stephen Moore: The End of Prosperity

2009-01-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

I read a great article in The Limbaugh Letter and wanted to post a particularly interesting segment from an interview of Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal editorial writer and author of the new book, The End of Prosperity. A timely message as we begin a journey with a president and congress hell-bent on taxing us into prosperity:

“The 1990’s was a great decade. Our book (The End of Prosperity) describes when Reagan came in with a new kind of supply-side pro-free-market philosophy- turning around, by the way, the worst decade of the century other than the Great Depression, which was the 1970’s.

Amazingly , the left is rewriting the history of the 70’s: “If only we hadn’t had Reaganomics, we could go back to those wonderful years of the 1970’s”- when we had gas lines and 25% mortgage interest rates and 14% inflation.”

In any case, Reagan did two things. He cut tax rates very significantly from 70% all the way down to 28%. And he slayed inflation. The inflation rate went from 14.5% down to 3%. We had the greatest boom for 25 years in the history of civilization. No country had ever seen anything like what happened in American from the early 1980’s through 2007. We created $40 trillion dollars of net new wealth over that period. It was an awesome experiment in prosperity.

Now, Bill Clinton’s tax increase did hurt the economy, The evidence is that in the first two years in the Clinton Administration, the economy actually slowed down. But once you had the Republican Revolution in 1994, once you had the combination of Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey running the Congress, then Clinton moved back to the right. That’s when he gave his speech, “the era of big government is over.”
We had welfare reform, we had the capital gains tax cut, we balanced the budget. Those were all pro-growth Regan ideas.

But a lot of the economists that I talk to in the Obama camp look at that period and say, “Look, we can raise taxes through the roof and its not going to hurt the economy.”

That’s a very dangerous idea at a time when the rest of the world is going the other way. China, Sweden, India, my goodness, Russia has a 13% flat tax. How are we going to compete with them with a 40% income tax? It’s a really dangerous idea to be talking about raising taxes right now in the face of the worst economy we’ve had in 25 years.”

Batman, The Joker and Beelzebub

2009-01-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

We started a new series in bible study class that should be quite interesting. We’re studying about the origin, nature, purpose and plans of the great adversary- Lucifer.

Of the many big unanswered questions about Lucifer, this one stands out most to me: Does he know he is bound to lose? And if so, why does he continue to fight and destroy? And if not, was he all that smart to begin with?

Inside that question in the most interesting part to me- if he knows he will lose, why does he continue to destroy and fight? We went round and round on that one in class Sunday.

While a few lines from a movie script are certainly not important literature from which to build a lens and see a subject clearly, I did find this line from Batman: The Dark Knight to be spot-on in describing the nature of Satan (in the movie’s case, referring to The Joker):

"And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand. Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

Very interesting… some just want to watch the world burn. I think that rightly describes a certain spirit or essence we find in chaos and anarchy. A common thread that I think originates out of the pure evil and destructive nature of the evil one and flows through certain people that revel in destruction.

Self-destructors, those who sabotage important and precious relationships, arsonists, anarchists that want the world to somehow collapse and devolve for the pure enjoyment of it all.

Here’s a list of names attributed to Satan in the Bible. Its interesting to see how many are related to destruction (list found on abecedarian.org):

Abaddon (Revelation 9:11 )
Abaddon is the Greek form and Apollyon is the Hebrew equivalent. These words mean 'destroyer,' 'destruction.' This title stresses his work of destruction; he works to destroy the glory of God and God's purpose with man. He further works to destroy societies and mankind.

The Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10 )
The Greek word for "accuser" is kathgor, which refers to one who brings condemning accusations against others. In view of Job 1 and 2, this is also an attempt to malign the character of God and His plan.

The Adversary (I Peter 5:8)
An opponent (in a lawsuit); specially, Satan (as the arch-enemy)

Angel of Light (2 Corinthians 11:14)
One of his purposes is to make men as much like God as he can, but always without God. So, he will copy as much of God and His plan as he can, but he will always either distort, pervert, substitute or leave out those key ingredients of truth that are vital to the plan of salvation and sanctification through Christ

Apollyon (Revelation 9:11 )
A destroyer (i.e. Satan)

Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24 Mark 3:22 Luke 11:15)
Three possible spellings of this word each have a different meaning: (1)Beelzebul means "lord of the dung," a name of reproach. (2) Beelzebub means "lord of the flies." Either one of these are names of reproach and are names of uncleanness applied to Satan, the prince of the demons and uncleanness. (3) Beelzeboul, means, "the lord of the dwelling." This would identify Satan as the god of demon possession. This spelling has the best manuscript evidence behind it.

Belial (II Corinthians 6:15 )
This name means "worthless" or "hopeless ruin." The epitome of worthlessness, hopeless ruin and the source of all idolatry and religion which is also hopeless or futile.

the Devil (Matt. 4:1, 5, 9; Eph. 4:27; Rev. 12:9; 20:2)
"Devil" is the Greek word diabollos which means "slanderer, defamer." This accentuates his goal and work to impugn the character of God.

Dragon (Revelation 12:9 and 20:2)
Probably from an alternate form of derkomai (to look); a fabulous kind of serpent (perhaps as supposed to fascinate) or the Greek word is drakon (as in draconian) and refers to a "hideous monster, a dragon, or large serpent." This word stresses the cruel, vicious, and blood thirsty character and power of Satan.

the Enemy (Matthew 13:39)
From a primary echtho (to hate); hateful (passively, odious, or actively, hostile); usually as a noun, an adversary (especially Satan)

the Evil One (John 17:15; 1 John 5:9)
The Greek poneros means "wicked, evil, bad, base, worthless, vicious, degenerate." It points to Satan's character as active and malignant.

Father of All Lies (John 8:44)
A falsifier; Using his network of deception through demonic forces and duped people, he promotes false doctrines in the name of God.

god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4)
god is used generically and refers to Satan

King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4)
Confusion; Babel (i.e. Babylon), including Babylonia and the Babylonian empire

King of Tyrus Ezekiel 28:12)
A rock; Tsor, a place in Palestine. Satan is the false rock. Christ is the true Rock.

Little Horn (Daniel 7:8)
A horn (as projecting); by implication, a flask, cornet; by resembl. an elephant's tooth (i.e. ivory), a corner (of the altar), a peak (of a mountain), a ray (of light); figuratively, power

Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12)
The Hebrew word for Lucifer (KJV translation) is literally "the shining one." This name draws our attention to his pre-fall condition and to the nature of the cause of his fall - pride; the morning star: Lucifer (the king of Babylon). Satan is the false morning star. Christ is the true morning Star.

Man of sin (II Thessalonians 2:3)
Satan was the first to sin. See Ezekiel 28:11-19

That Old Serpent (Revelation 12:9 and 20:2)
old = original or primeval
serpent = (through the idea of sharpness of vision); a snake, figuratively (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan

Power of Darkness (Colossians 1:13)
"shade" or a shadow (literally or figuratively [darkness of error or an adumbration])

Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2)
prince = a first (in rank or power)
power = privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence

Prince that shall come (Daniel 9:26)
A commander (as occupying the front), civil, military or religious; generally (abstractly, plural), honorable themes. See II Thessalonians 2:3-4 and Revelation 12:7-9

prince of Tyrus (Ezekiel 28:2)
a rock; Tsor, a place in Palestine. Satan is the false rock. Christ is the true Rock.

Prince of this world (John 12:31)
prince = a first (in rank or power)
world = orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally])

The Proud One (Isaiah 14:12-14)
The five "I wills"

Rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12 )
Rulers = a world-ruler, an epithet of Satan
darkness = shadiness, i.e. obscurity (literally or figuratively)

Satan (Job 1:6-9; Matt. 4:10)
The title "Satan" occurs 53 times in 47 verses in the Bible. The primary idea is 'adversary, one who withstands.'

Serpent (Genesis 3:1; Rev. 12:9)
Properly, to hiss, i.e. whisper a (magic) spell; generally, to prognosticate

Son of Perdition (John 17:12, II Thessalonians 2:3)
Ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal) also to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively

the Tempter (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5)
To test (objectively), i.e. endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline

the Wicked One (Matthew 13:19)
Hurtful, i.e. evil (properly, in effect or influence) figuratively, calamitous; also (passively) ill, i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, i.e. derelict, vicious, facinorous; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural) guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners

Institutional Racism Is Dead… Long Live Equality!

2009-01-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today Barack Obama is sworn in as the next president of the United States of America. And with this, we must declare institutional racism dead.

Sure, there’s still racism that exists. Blacks that hate whites and Hispanics, Hispanics that hate blacks, whites that hate non-whites. But when it comes to our institutional public life, we must recognize its dead.

There are non-white city council members, school superintendants, mayors, governors, representatives, senators, business leaders, and now a US president.

So, all the institutional racism ambulance chasers (the so-called “Reverend” Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and their ilk), please go find a real job and leave us alone.

One last thing on this subject. Am I the only one that sees the massive mixed message about race and Barack Obama?

I was rasied by my parents and the church to look beyond a person’s skin color- that we are all God’s children and loved by Him and deserving of respect and kindness from all. So, growing up and now in adulthood I really don’t give a rat’s behind about skin color. I take to heart Rev. King’s words: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

And so I do, or at least try hard to do just that. And yet this political season is all about race. And the celebrations are all about skin color. “Finally, for the first time, a black president.”

I’m confused. Totally.

As If…

2009-01-19T08:26:00.003-06:00

John McCain is deluded.

After running a depressing, dismal and drifting campaign for president where anything appearing to be associated with vision was left on the curb, he now forms a political action committee and expects to draft all the people that signed up on his site and donated money?

McCain has always been a goof to me. Yes, I donated money to his doomed campaign, the first time I’ve donated money to a political organization in my life. But I did in in SPITE of Johnny, not because of him.

I did it because he did the one smart and bright thing in his non-descript political life- choosing a core conservative for his running mate.

And then the lackeys and goons on his staff hog tied Sarah and scripted her every move and word. John seemed to do his best work since leaving the military dedicated to handing the election over to Barry. It seems even more obvious now that Barry and Johnny are cut of the same cloth- they’re now buddy-buddy plotting the spread of wealth, wasteful spending trying to alter the sun’s impact on earths climate, and increasing taxes. Woohoo!

This is the email I got from Johnny (the last one as I immediately clicked on the link to take me off the goofballs email list), along with a few added comments:

From: John McCain [john@countryfirstpac.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:52 AM
To: digitalrich@gmail.com
Subject: Putting Country First

My Friend, (Will he PLEASE stop saying that? Does anyone else find this annoying and condescending?)

In the time since the 2008 presidential campaign ended (mercifully) I have had a chance to reflect on many things (none of which include the obvious- that I should never have been the candidate and I have no idea how to lead a nation).

And as I said on election night, I truly cannot adequately express how indebted I am to you (I can- $500 as well as wasting about 6 months of my life), my entire campaign team (losers) and my running mate, Governor Sarah Palin (this is the ONE AND ONLY reason you were even CLOSE in the election).

The road was a difficult one from the outset (because you made it so by being ON the road). Yet, your faith (we had/have NO faith in you Johnny), your support (was not for you… it was for Sarah) and friendship (what?) never wavered (yes it did).

Just as I have proudly served my country for more than half a century (minus the time you were out of the military. Since then, you’ve been serving yourself and your state) I am as committed as ever to helping see our mission through (please, don’t be). So to continue the movement (Johnny- there is NO movement associated with you other than AWAY), I have decided to launch a new grassroots organization called Country First (this will fall flat on its face, if it ever even stands up).

Today, I'm asking you as a friend and supporter (I am neither) to renew your commitment to our common goals (There was nor is any commitment to renew) by becoming a Charter Member of Country First with an online contribution (nope). Country First will allow us to strengthen our Party (that YOU destroyed), better define our Republican ideals (there are no longer any republican ideals. There are conservative and liberal) and message (there is no clear nor compelling republican message), recruit and back strong, dedicated candidates (any associated with you are not) and continue our efforts to bring real reform to government (puhlease…One of the things I look forward to with your loss is never having to hear you say… “I know their names and I will make them famous.” Why couldn’t you just do it as a senator?) by always putting our country and the noble ideals she (shouldn’t that be capitalized?) stands for first.

Together (nope), we can make government more responsive to today's problems (I don’t want government more responsive. I want it LESS responsive and present in the lives of Americans. Please just focus on protecting our borders, empowering our military, building roads and bridges and then GO AWAY) and more answerable to the people (exactly NOT what you are about). That's why I hope you will become a Charter Member of Country First and support our cause by following this link to make a generous contribution of any amount today (will never happen).

With your help we can work to elect these new leaders to Governorships, Statehouses, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and beyond (all of which will be running FAR AWAY FROM YOU). Once in office they will become fierce advocates for limited government (sure), economic opportunity (spread the wealth), personal responsibility (Orwellian double-speak) and strong national security.

On Election Night last year, I called on all Americans not to despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America (and no one was listening to you), because nothing is inevitable here (what the heck does that mean?).

Today, I am asking you to join Country First to continue fighting for the worthy cause of revitalizing both our democracy and our Party (what worthy cause? You never clearly defined it. You flubbed it all Johnny). Our goals will never be realized if your voice falls silent (They won’t fall silent. But you still won't hear them because you either choose not to, or you’re far away from those speaking truth).

You are the best hope for our country's success (yikes- If I'm the best hope, we're in more serious trouble than I thought). Please stay in this fight with me (you never really fought. You just sort of sat in your boat and floated down the river); our country needs your service now as much as ever. I know that together (without you) we can make a difference - we already have (what?).

Again, I thank you for your unwavering friendship and support (consider me wavered. Permanently when it comes to you).

Sincerely (you're anything but sincere),
John McCain

Please visit this page if you want to remove yourself from the email list. (the best words in the letter)

4 Lunches, 2 Days and Spilt Milk

2009-01-16T07:27:00.002-06:00

This week has been quite busy. The kind of week that wreaks the same havoc on my workload as a vacation week. You know the drill- out of the office (either on the beach or in constant off-site meetings morning till night) and knowing there’s an ever growing inbox, snail mail stack, unreturned phone calls and ignored to-do list.

It’s been so crazy trying to fit various meetings in, several of them with out-of-town contacts, that I’ve had to schedule two days with two lunches. On Tuesday it was an 11:30AM lunch at P.F. Changs in Cool Springs (Chicken chopped salad) and then a 1:00PM at Franklin Mercantile (chicken noodle soup). Yesterday it was an 11:30AM lunch at Bricktops in downtown Nashville (Chicken chowder soup) and a 1:00PM at J. Alexander’s in Cool Springs (Thai Kai Salad). I probably put 500 miles on the Suburban this week. The only good thing about that was when I filled it up with gas yesterday it only cost $49 versus the $150 it would have cost just a few months ago.

A funny thing happened while at the lunch meeting yesterday in J. Alexander’s. While waiting for my out-of-town lunch guest I ran into a couple of folks I know. Friend1 (which coincidentally had been one of my lunch meetings on Tuesday), and his father, Friend2. They introduced me to Acquaintance1 (the sister of Friend1 and daughter of Friend2) and her husband, Acquaintance2 (the brother-in-law of Friend1 and son-in-law of Friend2). We chatted for a few minutes and I mentioned I was waiting to meet with a guy named Darren that I had never met face-to-face before. I joked about having to do the whole “Hi, are you Darren?” routine with each guy that walked in the restaurant. They were escorted to their table and I continued to wait.

Darren showed up a few minutes later and after a minute or two of small talk the buzzer in my pocket went off and we were taken to our table. Of course it was right next to the Friend1 and 2’s table. Friend2 saw me and said to my lunch meeting “Hi! You must be Darren.”

Darren was stunned to have been recognized in a strange town by someone he had never met, and was completely confused about what was going on. We sat down and I explained.

As we chatted business through lunch I happened to glance to my left just as Acquaintance2 (the husband/brother-in-law/son-in-law) knocked a full cup of half-and-half off his table. You know those little metal miniature jugs that get filled to the brim with creamer? Seems they had finished with lunch and it was coffee time. The creamer thingy hit the carpeted floor with a soft thud and creamer shot out of it like a stick of dynamite in a shallow pond. Creamer ALL over Friend2’s leg and shoes (the father/father-in-law). No on at the table noticed except of course for Acquaintance2. He looked down at the huge mess all over the floor and his father-in-law and a horrified look came over his face. He looked around his table to see if anyone noticed and no one did. He straightened up and resumed drinking coffee and glanced my way. He saw me looking at him, and the mess, and his eyes went wide. He was caught. But did nothing.

A few minutes went by (while the creamer soaked into Friend2’s pants and shoes and the floor) and the waiter for their table appeared. He gave them the check and then noticed the spilled creamer. He pointed it out and the table was surprised. Acquaintance2 said nothing. Friend2 wondered if maybe he had knocked it off himself, or a passing server had. The mess was cleaned up with no one the wiser but me.

Plastic Poop Problems

2009-01-09T06:00:00.006-06:00

Sometimes I wonder if my kids have lost their minds. Can children get so creative, so involved in play and the imaginary worlds they build, that they actually cross over into complete wackness?

And so begins the story of The Velveteen Poop Dog.

A couple years ago when R-girl was about 5 years old, we bought her a little plastic dog covered in that cheap velveteen material meant to feel somewhat like fur. It came with play food to give to the little pup that also ended up on the ground after the dog did it’s business.

It was a novel idea. You load the little food pellets into the dog’s mouth, and when an appropriate amount of time passes, you lift his little tail and the pellets, looking exactly the same as when you put them in, drop out the little dog’s rear end and hit the ground with little plops. Voilà. Dog poop.

Like most toys, it broke quickly, and little R-girl complained that her dog had diarrhea.

“What?” I asked.

“She has diarrhea… when you put the food in her mouth it comes out the butt right away.”

Apparently the lifting-tail mechanism had broken and now the food pellets made a quick trip from the dog mouth to popping out the dog butt in about ½ second, no digesting, no slowing down, no relaxing glass of wine to help the meal settle. Just- plop.

R-girl asked me if I could fix it but I couldn’t. It’s one of those non-serviceable toys (as in, you have to destroy it to get it open).

She came up with her own solution- a doggy diaper held tight with a pony-tail holder.

ABC Not-For-Families Channel

2009-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

We have all but abandoned ABC Family Channel, though there might be a few old films and shows that run there we still catch, but its dangerous if you have young children.

The promotional spots they run for their newer trash programming are packed full of fun family sex, drugs, alcohol and rock-and-roll baby! Woo-hoo!

The tagline for their network says it all … “ABC Family… a new kind of family.”

As in, "we don’t want any of that stupid freedom-inhibiting namby-pamby, modesty, personal responsibility, restraint, purposefulness, careful consideration of friends and acquaintances crap."

"No way, man, we want SEX! Sex for all! And frat parties with lots of beer! Watch the new show GREEK! And check out The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Viewer Discretion Advised)! Yes, more sex and alcohol! Cool!"

These people at ABC Family are not only evil in their programming choices, they’re stupid and actually very out of touch. I caught a television ad for the DVD collection of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and if you buy it now, ABC Family will throw in a free digital download of the new album by Jesse McCartney.

First of all, no self-respecting real American teenager would be caught dead near a physical CD, much less a digital version on their iPod, of Jesse McCartney. He’s so 2002.

Secondly, if an American teenager DID want a digital copy of Jesse McCartney, or any other artist, they’d just steal it from a peer-to-peer site or rip it from a friends CD. As if.

“ABC Family… a new kind of pandering degenerate channel. With stupid marketing ideas. Watch us! We’re sorta like MTV now, but with crappy music, shows and promotions.”

Mixed Messages From The Cafeteria

2009-01-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

Each weekday I get an email update from my daughter K’s high school with various news items, alerts and events for parents to be aware of.

This was the headline of yesterday’s daily update:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Tuesday Jan. 6th, 2009

FROM THE CAFETERIA: To help with New Year’s resolutions to be healthier, the cafeteria will be helping out.

Very interesting.

I’m not aware that the student body en masse took such a pledge, but maybe they did. Or perhaps it was the school principal or the cafeteria manager? Or maybe the county school commissioner? In any case, it had my attention. The headline was followed by the “meat” of the story:

We are no longer frying anything. All of our fries will be baked.

Interesting. So far, so good… I guess. Baked French fries? What would that be, exactly? Are those also known as baked potatoes? I guess if Lays can bake potato chips, our high school can bake french fries.

The next item in the story confused me though…

We will no longer have individual salt & pepper packets. This is a small part that we can do to help out.

Ok. No individual salt and pepper packets. Perhaps they got this particular item in the wrong update and it was meant for next years “Global Warming Solutions from the Cafeteria” resolution. Looks like the old prank of loosening salt shaker tops may make a come-back.

And finally, right after the health pledge from the cafeteria comes the regular section where they indicate what's on the menu in the cafeteria for that day:

“Come join us for lunch: Baked potato bar, Nacho bar, Pork Patty, Double Cheeseburgers, Green Beans, Cornbread, White Beans”

Oops. So much for healthy new year resolutions from the high school cafeteria.

Picture and Story 13: Shake It If You Need Help

2009-01-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

The entire DigitalRich Crew is enduring great sickness right now. It started with L getting a stomach virus and spending some significant quality time with her porcelain friend- John.

At one point she took a couple blankets, a pillow, her Nintendo DS Lite and a book into the bathroom to save time on the multiple trips she was taking there.

We don’t have one of those bell-hop type table bells/ringers, so A came up with a unique plan for L to notify us if she needed anything while in the bathroom. Just shake the maraca and we’ll be by to check on you.

Nicole Kidman Ruined My Plans

2009-01-05T06:00:00.002-06:00

The Good Cup in the Grassland area (no-mans land between Brentwood and Franklin TN) has been my favorite go-to place to have a great cup of coffee and business meeting and escape the insanity of the local Starbucks scene. Could a Starbucks shop BE ANY LOUDER???

I actually think they designed the walls and ceilings to bounce back 150% of the noise from the milk steamer, clanked metal utensils and the insanely loud chit-chat and cell phone conversations from the sea of neighbor tables in order to get customers in and out quickly and turn tables and profits.

Now The Good Cup may be off my list soon for two reasons. First, even though I signed up for the email list to get news and updates from my favorite coffee shop, they failed to notify me that they decided to keep the shop closed after New Years day through the 5th of January. I scheduled two meetings there yesterday morning, and when my first meeting showed up at the same time I did, we stood together staring inside the shop with our hands cupped on the glass around our eyes wondering what was up. Closed. We had to caravan about 8 miles to nearest (non-Starbucks) coffee shop to have our meeting, and on the drive there I had to call my next meeting and let them know about the change of venue.

What exactly would The Good Cup use their email list for if not for notifying their loyal customers about changes in normal operating hours?

Secondly, it seems that two of our local celebs (and neighbors) have made it their regular morning hang too. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have taken a liking to The Good Cup’s exceptional lattes, chocolate espresso bean muffins and homemade sausage biscuits and breakfast quiches. I don’t blame them- they have great taste. This has, however, resulted in a massive increase in morning business and celeb spotters (GREAT for the owner- God bless her and I’m glad for her… but bad for the regulars), and, having to start the last couple of business meetings standing against the wall waiting for a spot to open up.

I guess I’ll have to scope out a new spot for caffeinated morning meetings.

Things Must Be Bad

2009-01-04T06:00:00.001-06:00

On Friday while running some errands I happened to glance over at the “Vacuum Cleaner Repair Shop” that has been located in a run-down strip center in Franklin TN for at least as many years as I’ve lived here- since 1994. In all those years I have never actually seen anyone entering, exiting, inside or parked outside of said shop. I always wondered how they stayed in business, and also wondered- who gets vacuum cleaners repaired anymore?

How strange that on that day, as I glanced at the little shop for probably the five thousandth time (its right in my line of sight as a make a regular turn on or from the road to my house) I saw a few cars in the parking lot, and a couple walking into the store (emerging from a shiny black Cadillac Escalade SUV wearing leather Tennessee Titans jackets).

Then, as I drove by listening to Fox News on XM Radio, a news segment came on about how the tough economy is forcing people to adopt the old saying from the WWII era- “Use It All, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Go Without.” The reporter went on to say that more and more people are now repairing old appliances like toasters and vacuum cleaners instead of replacing them.

Bizarre coincidence or a message from beyond?

Anthology Again

2009-01-03T11:35:00.000-06:00

1995-1996 were very good years for Beatles fans. During that time period the Anthology series was released consisting of 3 double CDs sets plus a 5 DVD set capturing most of the Beatles key developmental moments as they wrote, practiced and fine tuned their most endearing and enduring hits. A few rare live performances and finished alternate version tracks are included.

I’ve written previously about converting our entire CD collection into digital files on our home network so we can easily play them on various laptops and devices around the house, or burn a full album or mix CD quickly if we want a throwaway CD for the car. As a result, our CD collection is ensconced in a series of banker boxes tucked into the back of a closet. The one time any of them are liberated is during Christmas when Michelle wants the actual CDs for Christmas music in the great room during the holidays. While digging through the collection to find the “Christmas CDs” box I had to fight through several “Beatles CDs” boxes. I opened one and saw the Anthology collection and pulled them out to put in the truck.

So over the last few weeks I’ve been going through all 6 CDs over and over again while running about town on errands. As I listen to these in order it absolutely amazes me how The Beatles grew and evolved themselves as artists, and crafted the songs through the development process to be works of art. The greatest example from the Anthology Series would be Strawberry Fields where we get to hear the song progress from a skeleton into a full and lush version similar to the final most people are familiar with.

Its a treat to hear various phrases and words that ended up cut or changed in the final version, and to hear the craftsmanship that went into the lyric and melody writing as a song moved through the writing and rough stages into the final version. Its like “hearing” a house being built, one plank and brick at a time.

Looking Back In Thankfulness

2008-12-31T08:42:00.002-06:00

As the new year readies itself to hurl unexpected twists and turns into life, I cant help but think back over the last year with love and thankfulness to all that made an impact in my life over the last 12 months.

Pardon me while I write this stuff down for me. For my recollections some distant time in the future. Its rather personal, and I would assume completely boring for anyone else, so you can leave now.

My Father (the heavenly one), for sustaining me, providing for my family and me, and for continuing to love me despite my failures, mistakes, sin, selfishness, anger and shortcomings. It never ceases to amaze me that there is nothing I can do that would make Him love me less, or more.

My wife Michelle, for her love and thoughtfulness. For caring so amazingly well for our children, me and our home. For the overtime hours she always works in managing the household, cooking, cleaning, taxi driving, grocery shopping, errand running and a million other things. She is an amazing woman and I am completely blessed to have her.

For my four beautiful girls. They are growing in grace and loveliness, with kind hearts and thoughtful minds, smart, funny, witty, musical, artistic, athletic, and so many other adjectives that I might exhaust the English language. I love them dearly and they have added so much to my life.

My parents, for always loving me even when I’m a sarcastic irritating jerk. For helping out just in the nick of time, and for loving my family so well.

My co-laborers, Steve, Lisa, John, Bob and many others, that are patiently and kindly teaching me a new business. And especially Steve for being such a great friend and supporter. I love him dearly and pray for him and his family as often as I can focus long enough to do so.

And of course my extended family and friends, for always being there for me and my family, for good times, impromptu coffee hang sessions, and fun celebrations and gatherings. They all mean so much to me.

As the new year begins, I can think of really only one resolution that matters- that I slow down and take the time to be thankful and express it to those around me as the year progresses, and not wait until Dec. 31st of next year.

And Another Thing…

2008-12-29T06:30:00.001-06:00

A couple days ago I posted on a recent article in the UK Telegraph proclaiming “2008 Was the Year Man-Made Global Warming was Disproved.”

I’ve been dwelling on this for these few days and I have some thoughts to drop here on this post. I’m no scientist, heck, I can barely keep up with the gurus of smart that fill the pages of dying dinosaur newspapers spouting opinions (disguised as news) about the state of our climate and how all of us common folk need to get rid of our big cars, air conditioners and Christmas lights and start living in caves to save the world.

However, I do have something that I would like to share with anyone that might stumble upon this post- common sense.

Our lives and our world exist in the physical realm of time and space. And that existence is made up of, I would argue even built upon, cycles. The seconds pass and make up minutes. The minutes pass and make up hours. And so on. While one could argue that the length of time passing and the names for those increments are man-made, it really doesn’t matter. They add up to a couple cycles that are most certainly not man-made… the day and the year.

So much of our existence is based on the day and the year. The day, the time it takes the earth to rotate on it's axis provides regular times of day and night, times for working, eating and sleeping. The days add up to a year- the time it takes the earth to travel around the sun. So much of our existence, our sense of time, and our collective memories, knowledge and experiences are based on the sun. The sun is where it’s at. The source of our heat and light, keeping us warm, growing our food, providing energy and the very foundation of life, and time itself through the constantly repeating cycles.

It’s no wonder that man has marked the passage of time by the repeating seasons and “movement” of the sun across the sky.

But it seems that somehow the little human population down here thinks that the year is the ultimate cycle. The clock re-set. We see all the little cycles inside the year. With hours passing we see tides change, with days passing we see work and rest cycles, and with weeks and months we see all sorts of cycles within our bodies and in the world around us including harvesting cycles, lunar and heavenly body cycles, even women’s bodies enduring their monthly cycles.

And with each passing year we see and feel the world changing, including the climate, all within the repeating cycle of the seasons within a year. Here in Nashville we see temperature swings of over 120 degrees. From 10 below in the depth of winter, to 110 degrees in the hell of August. But no one’s freaking out about that climate change, are they? Why? Because we know it’s a cycle. We have lived enough years to know that on the coldest day in winter when the sun seems to have permanently disappeared behind thick clouds and ice covers the ground where we need to grow food that all will be ok. Summer is coming. The world is not ending.

Isn’t it also, then, logical to assume that there might, maybe, possibly, be a cycle beyond a year? Perhaps 5 or 1o years? What about 100? Or 1,000 years? If we mark a day as the time the earth rotates, and a year by our trip around the sun, what about the time it takes us to rotate around the center of the milky way? Might some galactic cycles impact the sun and its heat?

What if the earth has heating and cooling cycles that last 100 or 500 years and we’re in the middle of one now (by the way, it looks like we might be in a COOLING cycle rather than a warming cycle)?

Let’s look at the housefly. A disgusting little creature that has a life span of about 7-10 days. During a year, taking out 3 months for winter, there might be as many as 25 generations of flies in and around your house. Those same 25 generations in the human world would take about 1,000 years.

Now imagine if flies could think and talk. By about late September or early October panic starts to make its way through the fly community. Word is that the days are getting shorter and the air seems to be getting colder in the morning and evenings. As far back as anyone can remember (even going back a dozen generations or more), no fly has had to worry about cold. There’s always been plenty of warm sunlight to warm plenty of large manure piles, proving plenty of fun and nourishment for all the brother, sister and cousin flies. What they can't possibly know is that even though winter will soon arrive ending those warm summer days, the spring will arrive again, and after that, summer. The cycle will continue, and the flies need not worry about cutting down on their flight times or trying other silly tactics to save the world from climate change.

Greenland was once, well, green. Mountain caves once sealed under ice and snow for generations and now exposed due to “global warming” show signs of ancient dwellers. The cycles continue, the world moves on, and each of our lives are but a flash in the pan.

"Have you not been paying attention? Have you not been listening? Haven't you heard these stories all your life? Don't you understand the foundation of all things? God sits high above the round ball of earth. The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas— yes, like a tent canvas to live under. He ignores what all the princes say and do. The rulers of the earth count for nothing. Princes and rulers don't amount to much. Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted, They shrivel when God blows on them. Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind." Isaiah 40:21 from The Message

Scary Santa

2008-12-28T07:44:00.004-06:00

Here's my late Christmas post for the season. I was bopping around the internet reading news stories and found quite a funny collection of snapshots showing young children reacting rather badly to being plopped onto Santa's lap and left there with a huge stranger dressed in bright red with a giant white beard holding on to them against their will. It's amazing to me that anyone gets a good picture of a kid with Santa.

Here's a link to the collection:

Scared of Santa!

I posted my favorite one above. Hilarious. I imagine the only better picture would be one of John and Kate plus Eight with all eight kiddies losing their minds at once.

How Insignifcant Man Is

2008-12-27T22:39:00.004-06:00

Love this article from the UK Telegraph. I've touched on the topic of man made global warming before (here, here, here, here, and here), and am a firm non-believer. A warming athiest so to speak. The news keeps rolling in, doing far more damage to the globabl cultist than that silly Darwin has ever done to dislodge what we are hard-wired to know- there is a God.

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved
Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph.

By Christopher Booker
Last Updated: 5:51PM GMT 27 Dec 2008

The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation" , reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day".

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists, cheered on by their army of media groupies such as the BBC, that the last 10 years have been the "hottest in history" and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to "natural factors" such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted (although they plaintively assure us that this cooling effect is merely "masking the underlying warming trend", and that the temperature rise will resume worse than ever by the middle of the next decade).

Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a "scientific consensus" in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world's most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that "consensus" which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world. As we saw in this month's Poznan conference, when 10,000 politicians, officials and "environmentalists" gathered to plan next year's "son of Kyoto" treaty in Copenhagen, panicking politicians are waking up to the fact that the world can no longer afford all those quixotic schemes for "combating climate change" with which they were so happy to indulge themselves in more comfortable times.

Suddenly it has become rather less appealing that we should divert trillions of dollars, pounds and euros into the fantasy that we could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 per cent. All those grandiose projects for "emissions trading", "carbon capture", building tens of thousands more useless wind turbines, switching vast areas of farmland from producing food to "biofuels", are being exposed as no more than enormously damaging and futile gestures, costing astronomic sums we no longer possess.

As 2009 dawns, it is time we in Britain faced up to the genuine crisis now fast approaching from the fact that – unless we get on very soon with building enough proper power stations to fill our looming "energy gap" - within a few years our lights will go out and what remains of our economy will judder to a halt. After years of infantile displacement activity, it is high time our politicians – along with those of the EU and President Obama's US – were brought back with a mighty jolt into contact with the real world.

I must end this year by again paying tribute to my readers for the wonderful generosity with which they came to the aid of two causes. First their donations made it possible for the latest "metric martyr", the east London market trader Janet Devers, to fight Hackney council's vindictive decision to prosecute her on 13 criminal charges, ranging from selling in pounds and ounces to selling produce "by the bowl" (to avoid using weights her customers dislike and don't understand). The embarrassment caused by this historic battle has thrown the forced metrication policy of both our governments, in London and Brussels, into total disarray.

Since Hackney backed out of allowing four criminal charges against Janet to go before a jury next month, all that remains is for her to win her appeal in February against eight convictions which now look quite absurd (including those for selling veg by the bowl, as thousands of other London market traders do every day). The final goal, as Neil Herron of the Metric Martyrs Defence Fund insists, must then be a pardon for the late Steve Thoburn and the four other original "martyrs" who were found guilty in 2002 – after a legal battle also made possible by this column's readers – of breaking laws so ridiculous that the EU Commission has even denied they existed (but which are still on the statute book).

Readers were equally generous this year in rushing to the aid of Sue Smith, whose son was killed in a Snatch Land Rover in Iraq in 2005. Their contributions made it possible for her to carry on with the High Court action she has brought against the Ministry of Defence, with the sole aim of calling it to account for needlessly risking soldiers' lives by sending them into battle in hopelessly inappropriate vehicles. Thanks not least to Mrs Smith's determined fight, the Snatch Land Rover scandal, first reported here in 2006, has at last become a national cause celebre.

May I finally thank all those readers who have written to me in 2008 – so many that, as usual, it has not been possible to answer all their messages. But their support and information has been hugely appreciated. May I wish them and all of you a happy (if globally not too warm) New Year.

Two Thumbs Down For A Christmas Story

2008-12-24T07:27:00.003-06:00

I realize what I’m writing here, about a movie treasured by millions, may cause great anger and resentment from most people that happen to read this. I get the feeling, based on comments I’ve heard, that the movie “A Christmas Story” is a treasured Christmas favorite that has touched the hearts and funny bones of millions of people, and to criticize it is akin to standing in the midst of a Code Pink rally with a “Support our Troops and Make Our Country Safer! Win the War on Terror!” sign.

I can’t stand it.

I don’t know how, or why, but I totally missed this film growing up. It came out in 1983 (I was a junior in high school), and I don’t remember a thing about it. Last Christmas, some 25 years after its release, my family was visiting my sister Carla and B-I-L Josh’s house for Christmas dinner. When my sister found out I hadn’t seen the movie (she was absolutely aghast. Not only had I not seen it, I had NEVER heard of it), she suggested we all watch it together.

And so the movie started, on their killer new giant HD TV. I awaited a magical Christmas movie experience that I assumed would rival classic holiday films like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or “Miracle on 34th Street.”

30 minutes in and I started to check the news on my Blackberry. That’s a bad sign. I also read up on the film and how popular it was (checked IMDBPRO.com to see its StarRating, comments, etc. It did seem that millions LOVED this movie).

I endured it, if only to be able to say I had seen the whole thing, and I was left wondering why. That pretty much sums it up. Why. Why do people like this movie? Why was it considered such a classic? Why do people think it’s funny? I just don’t get it. Its no “Elf.”

Will Apollos Now Water?

2008-12-20T07:56:00.005-06:00

I watched a very interesting video clip last night of Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame). I’ve always enjoyed watching and listening to him, and find his often brash but humorous approach to various subjects refreshing.

I’ve also often cringed at his tirades about Christians during his atheism or faith oriented monologues. Why does he always seem to find, along with most others that are critical of followers of Jesus, the fringe representatives of the faith?

He certainly has been “fortunate” enough to run into a plentiful supply of religious wackos to provide him context for his critical thinking about those who profess to follow Jesus.

And that’s why I found this video clip so interesting…

So a stranger shows up at Penn’s show and hands him a Psalms version of the bible. They exchange a few kind words, something that probably happens to Penn a dozen times a day over the last 20+ years (doing some quick math, that would be about 87,600 short conversations with fans), and this one exchange is somehow impactful enough to get a spot on Penn’s video blog on Crackle.com?

And Penn states so matter-of-factly in the blog “I know there isn’t a God.” Well, let’s explore a bit of scripture that I think pretty accurately covers this incident:

“ …We each carried out our servant assignment. I [Paul] planted the seed, Apollos [contemporary of Paul’s traveling the region preaching about Jesus] watered the plants, but God made you grow. It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.”

-1 Corinthians 3:5-7 (The Message)

Let’s call this stranger at Penn’s show “Paul.”

And Paul has most certainly planted a seed with Penn. Now who will come to water him? I suspect somebody will as this encounter and resulting impact in Penn’s life is not chance in my opinion. These types of encounters and discussions happen countless times a day all over the world- we just happen to have a little window into this because of the platform Penn has to share about what’s going on in his life.

A few observations from the video clip:

The stranger, Paul, seems to have made a real impact on Penn for a few reasons. He was kind and reasonable (Penn refers to this as “sane,” calling him that 3 different times), he was polite (2 times), he looked Penn in the eye (that’s a strange one, isn’t it? Three times mentioned), he seemed to “care about me,” was honest, and a good man (2 times, with the second preceded by "very, very, very”).

A few times Penn seems to be struggling to find the right words, which is not something common for such a rapid-fire fluid communicator.

The most amazing moment in the clip is when Penn all but urges, firmly, Christians (at least those that are “good” people that are also kind and polite- as in, the sane ones) to hurry up and get out there and spread the Good News. Time is running out. There’s a huge truck bearing down on the people of the world and everlasting life or death hangs in the balance.

Who would have ever thought God would use Penn Jillette to prompt believers to get out there and fulfill the great commission?

“How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you, and this [eternal life] is more important than that. ”

- Penn Jillette, 12/8/08

Don’t Make Me Your Escape Goat

2008-12-18T09:38:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite bits from Friends was when Joey said “…this is all a moo point.” Unlike some language purists and English professors that get their panties in a wad when people abuse the language, I find it endearing and hilarious. I’ve been guilty myself of mixing metaphors and assaulting analogies.

I know and love my own Joey. A friend of mine just can’t help but have these jumbled word and thoughts pour out of him, and I LOVE to hear them. I never correct him, preferring to keep the opportunity to hear them again in a phone call or meeting. The down side is I find myself actually disengaging from the meat of the conversation and keeping my ear out for the next misused word or phrase.

Some of my recent favorites:

“I’m telling you, they way they’re talking about this project its all gonna get blamed on me. They’ll make me the escape goat and move on to the next thing.”

Yesterday it was this…

“I just said some things that were cuff, whatever popped into my head.”

And while he hasn’t used the classic Joey line exactly, he has said…

"The whole thing is a mute issue. No one wants to talk about it.”

Love him.

Confirmation, Finally, For John And Revé Walsh

2008-12-17T09:11:00.004-06:00

In 2006 I had the distinct pleasure of working for 3 very fine people. Julie and Bill Clark (Julie is the founder and creator of The Baby Einstein Company) and John Walsh.

Together, Julie, Bill and John launched a child safety company named The Safe Side, focused on creating fun and informative safety videos for kids.

During that time I worked closely with Julie and Bill to launch the company, and communication with John was infrequent. Mostly faxes to his home as he doesn’t like to use email.

On one occasion I was able to spend some quality time with John during an extended dinner at the hotel we were all staying at in Washington DC. We were attending the annual National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Hope Awards benefit and congressional breakfast where John was keynote speaker.

During dinner he shared all about the horrible experience he and his wife Revé went through in the immediate aftermath of Adam’s abduction, the challenges he faced working with local law enforcement, and his certainty, though the police would not confirm it, that Ottis Toole was responsible for the crime. The announcement yesterday by police that the case has been closed and Ottis Toole confirmed as the abductor and killer of Adam is a much needed “period” to the awful chapters to date in their life. John said yesterday though that there’s not really closure. His mission and life’s purpose is still ahead of him.

I will never forget that dinner with John- It was heart wrenching listening to him recount the details (I kept thinking what I would have done had it been one of my four precious kids). Both the pain he showed as he told the story, and the determination that flowed out of him to have the case closed and to do everything he could to prevent another family going through what he went through was very motivating. I left that time together wanting to brandish a sword and chop something or other off every child abuser I could find.

Who’s That Girl?

2008-12-16T09:03:00.005-06:00

Last week Franklin High School’s choirs put on a “Winter Performance” (winter of course being code word for CHRISTMAS). We dropped off our little K-girl and headed to dinner while the choir prepared for the evening.

I took Michelle and the three other girls to dinner at our favorite Thai spot- Chlay’s. We always enjoy seeing the owner Suwane (most people call her Pam) and catching up on family news.

After dinner, and placing an advance to-go order that we would pick up for K-girl on the way home after the concert, we headed down the road to Franklin High School. We took our seats and awaited the beginning of the show, Sony HandyCam at the ready of course.

I was a bit shocked. While I was certain we had dropped off little K-girl, what I saw on stage and on the viewer screen was not her. I saw an amazingly beautiful young woman. Absolutely gorgeous (she gets that from her mom for sure), and looking way to mature for my little girl.

It took me a full 5 minutes to recover. Flashing through my mind were images of a newborn K-girl crying at the bright hospital lights and then settling down as I shielded her eyes. Our little toddler pointing at everything in sight and awaiting the proper word and intonation from her mom or me. The stunning 5 year old trotting off to kindergarten with barely a glance back at us. And the uncoordinated and goofy tweenager starting to struggle with increasingly hard homework and the intricate web of life I call the female social structure.

She’s growing up way to fast. It’s no longer years and years ahead of us having this precious person in our daily life… we’re down to months now. About 32 of them. Oh man, this is starting to get real hard.

When Anchors Float

2008-12-15T06:56:00.002-06:00

I sense that the world is experiencing a sudden awareness that in this physical realm there is nothing of substance to anchor oneself to. At least this latest generation is learning this lesson that has been learned for countless generations before.

The worldwide economic situation is unstable. Fear is rising. The super-rich are becoming distraught as billions of dollars of their wealth disappear. The average American is also now very concerned as neighbor’s homes are foreclosed, 401K values slip even further below what seemed for sure to be the floor in October, and the illusionary safe-haven of home value becomes a vaporous cloud.

Automakers on the brink, schools in shambles, the treasure of the next generation being squandered on the silly gamble of throwing good money on top of collapsing companies and industries. Things appear to be getting dire.

What are you anchored to?

What in this world can possibly provide stability and safety? Is it your home? Values are dropping and stray embers or bad weather can take care of that false stronghold in a moment. Not to mention your home owners insurance company may be on the brink of insolvency. Is it your wealth? Last week the world learned a respected and seemingly honorable financial giant was actually running a giant Ponzi scheme and $50 billion dollars disappeared overnight. Is it your family? Your wife or husband, parents, kids or friends that provide love and companionship? Any of us could be gone in an instant. Then what?

What are you anchored to that could possibly hold you steady during the storms of life?

The Lost Generations

2008-12-14T20:33:00.008-06:00

This past Friday the last of three generations of family members passed away.

I had the pleasure of getting to know and spend time with Great Grandma Clara, Great Uncle Raymond, Grandfather James and Grandmother Dorothy, Grandfather Antony and Grandmother Astrid and Great Uncle Richard.

My Great Uncle Raymond was the last of those family members, on both sides of my family, older than my parents that was still alive.

He was such an amazing link to the past. A true world traveler, merchant marine during WWII and beyond through retirement. He told stories of ports of call from the USSR to China, the Horn of Africa to Alaska, Australia to Thailand.

My parents rushed down to Florida to be with him. The hospital reported that he was only a few days away from leaving us. On Friday my sister Natalie flew down from the DC area and arrived just an hour or so after he died.

He was a good man. Kind, loving, dedicated to the family, and always there to help out in many ways.

I have such great memories of staying in his guest house as a kid in Miami, of Christmas Eve orange picking when his grove was hit by a freeze, of hanging out at his lake house in Umatilla FL and watching for the ever elusive alligator that haunted the neighborhood.

He will be, is, greatly missed, and I mourn for the lost generations of wisdom and experience from our family.

One of the things I loved most about him was his cool and calm demeanor and deadpan style. It was nearly impossible to tell when he was being dead serious, or when he was delivering the heapingest pile of BS you ever heard but were convinced it was true because of the delivery.

Even in his final years, well beyond 80, he cracked me up. Just recently he got a traffic ticket in Florida for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

The policeman pulled him over and asked for his license and registration then asked Uncle Raymond if he knew why he pulled him over.

Uncle Raymond: “Yes.”

The policeman: “You didn’t come to a full stop at the stop sign. Didn’t you see it?”

Uncle Raymond: “Yes.”

Policeman: “Well, why didn’t you stop?”

Uncle Raymond: “If I’d seen you, I would’ve."

12 year old Raymond Dennis at his childhood home on
Brasher Avenue in Nashville. He's holding his dearly loved "Buck the dog."
The date is September 1936, and he has his whole life ahead of him.

Shocking Information About Women’s Restrooms

2008-12-12T06:15:00.000-06:00

A few years ago while enjoying a family dinner at one of our favorite area restaurants, J. Alexander’s, I had to excuse myself to make a quick trip to the restroom.

While there, I took a few moments to get caught up on the news. No, I wasn’t relaxing on the porcelain throne reading through the newspaper often tucked into the space between the toilet paper roll and the wall in men’s public restrooms, I was actually standing in front of the, umm, urinal (I can’t find a nicer word).

Conveniently placed in front of the “P” spot (an imaginary little dot straight ahead on the wall in front of urinals where most men stare intently so as to not even CHANCE a stray glance), are various pages of the newspaper. Stall 1 is page 1, stall 2 is sports, stall 3 is business, and so on. Take your pick.

Not every bathroom is the same. Some have a collection of advertisements in front of the P spot (cigars, pick-up trucks, gas grills, sports tickets, all the manly stuff), and some even have televisions tuned to ESPN. A guy doesn’t need to know how many rating stars a restaurant has to judge the quality of the joint- what really matters is whether they care enough to provide something in front of the P spot.

Back to the story… when I came back to the table I told my family about an interesting story I had just read. My wife and girls were fascinated. “Where did you just read the newspaper?” asked one of them. I explained to them about how most men’s restrooms often have reading material in various places. They were flabbergasted and had never heard of such a thing- even my wife. I was amazed that they hadn’t- it was just so normal for men. We just assume women have the same thing in their restrooms.

My wife said once in a while, rarely, there’s one of those mini billboards with multiple ads on the back of the stall door, but that’s about it. Michelle and the girls had no idea there was reading material in front of men’s urinals and they thought it hilarious.

Well… fast forward to last week. I learned something about women’s bathrooms that I had never known, and I would guess a good number of other men don’t either. To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement.

Here it is- it is not uncommon for women or girls to get locked or trapped inside a stall and have to crawl on the floor under the door. Yes, you heard it right.

It turns out, according to my wife and confirmed by all four of my daughters…and two other women I checked with, that every so often women get inside a stall, lock the door, and then can’t get it unlocked. It’s sort of the bathroom equivalent of not being able to get a jar lid open in the kitchen without help.

While it’s more common in young girls, it happens occasionally to older kids and adults as well. I was told also that every so often a woman will go to open a stall, find it locked, notice there’s no one in it, and know exactly what happened- “Oh. Someone got stuck in there and had to crawl out under the door.”

My wife said one of the most horrible experiences she’s had (not including the incredible incident that took place at a gas station this summer while on our family road trip) was when she got trapped in a stall whose walls and door came down to within an inch or two of the floor. Horror.

Team Lifting at Target

2008-12-09T11:57:00.000-06:00

Last night Michelle and I went Christmas shopping to wrap up most of the final gifts on our list. Afterwards we debated and disagreed on a spot for dinner. Back and forth we went- Thai, Chinese, Alexander’s, Logan’s and more. In a fit of frustration I suggested McDonalds and Michelle agreed. I headed that way until she realized I was serious and called me off.

We ended up at the local pub for a burger and beer. I was so hungry at that point I could care less where we ate.

Our shopping excursion was at Target and we about broke the bank. One of the items we bought is classified by Target as a “team lift.” This means 2-4 people, depending on the weight of the item, are required by company policy to help lift the item off a shelf or sales floor. This particular item listed the proper number as 3.

I asked for help getting the large and weighty item off the shelf and to the front of the store for check-out. A petite clerk answered my call from help (one of those “I need help” buttons in the aisle at Target I love so much. I’m working up the nerve one day to push the button and when help arrives, ask them for career advice). She saw what I wanted to buy and went to get more help. In a few minutes the petite clerk arrived with a flat-bed cart and one other short female clerk.

Now this items weighs at least 250 pounds. As they leaned in to lift it up I jumped in to help.

“Sir, you can’t lift this, it’s against store policy- we’ll take care of it”

So there I stood… a large and relatively strong man, watching as two little ladies struggled with everything they had to lift the item. I felt like a union boss or a construction supervisor.

As they lifted it (well, it sort of fell off the low shelf as they grabbed on for dear life to keep it from falling on them and ending their short lives) I noticed the back was totally scratched up. I asked for the other one that was behind it.

They had to move the original one they removed from the shelf nearby and lean it up against a wall while they struggled to get the second one on the cart. After several minutes and just a few life-ending close calls, they succeeded.

These girls have a great future in commercial and residential moving.

Digital Fur

2008-12-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

This morning I changed my Google home page theme. I’ve had Coldplay “Viva La Vida” as my theme since early this past summer and it just starting getting old. I opted for the new “theme of the day” selection knowing each new morning I’ll have a little surprise to look forward to.

As soon as I clicked “add this theme” my new iGoogle page was redesigned by Dolce & Gabbana… out with the Coldplay, in with the leopard skin. Imagine that- a fancy European designer yet again exploiting animals for profit.

It looks interesting, and though I don’t like it much I know it will be gone tomorrow. What I’m wondering though is this… how do extremist animal rights people view digital animal products?

I’ve seen leather texture files for designers, and of course all kinds of other images online. I did an image search on Google (“animal skin textures”) and got over 200K pages. What is a radical to do?

I see a whole new fundraising angle for PETA here. Imagine, hiring Chinese or Russian hackers to use Photoshop and airbrush blood on various image files at photobucket.com, shutterstock.com or istockphoto.com. Keeping tabs on celebrity blogs and sites and launching huge protests if Lindsay Lohan or Rosie O'Donnell use a zebra skin border on their blog. They can place banner ads on various sites and seek donations to help stop the gratuitous use of animals on the internet and in print. Let the cash continue to roll for PETA folks!

We Are Now Dog People

2008-12-05T09:15:00.000-06:00

I grew up with dogs my whole life. I can barely remember the ones from my early years- Chocolate (killed by a neighbor with a shotgun when he messed in his yard once too often), Smoky, a Dalmatian, and then Daisy. Our cute cocka-poo.

She was followed by Ringo that on well beyond the time I moved out from home.

And that was it, for more than 20 years, until a few weeks ago.

We have a tradition where each of our girls gets to choose their heart’s desire for their 13th birthday gift (you can read more about that here), and L chose a dog. We spent several months thinking about the breed to get and finally found a cute Yorkshire Terrier pup.

I fought it off for along time… fearing the dog-smell and inevitable messes around the house, but I finally gave in.

Our new little girl, Bella, has already found a place in all of our hearts, despite her insistence to not use the facilities outside.

One Of The Many Reasons I Despise Government

2008-12-04T09:43:00.000-06:00

Check out this lame story:

City To Cut Back On Plowing Snow On Side Streets
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday that city crews will cut back on plowing side streets this winter in an effort to save money. The mayor said the city will only plow side streets during weekday union business hours this winter, rather than during overtime hours

But as CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports if there's one city service Chicagoans demand, it's outstanding snow removal.

"I expect for the streets to be cleaned for my tax money," said Chicago resident Sarah Lockhart.

"That's the kind of spending we need to maintain," said Chicago resident Madeline Norris.

"That's not an area I'd like to see services get cut in because it would affect a lot of people," said Chicago resident Howard Williams.

Despicable. This government blackmail is becoming more and more common. Find the essential services the community relies on and limit or cut back on the service, crying poor all along the way and whining about needing more tax dollars. All the while, spending away on non-essential services (and new government cars, desks, office improvements, Barack Obama’s multi-million dollar block party in Chicago, pay raises, extra vacation days and new Blackberry’s for the whole government office gang).

Imagine how this would go down at home:

My wife calling me on my new iPhone while cruising in the 2009 F-150 truck I just bought headed to a Titans game, club level, with the flatbed packed with steaks and imported beer for the big pre-game tailgate party:
“Hi sweetie. I’m at Kohl’s with the girls and wondering if we have enough money in the checking account to get a new jacket. Little Sally’s winter coat from last year is too small."

Me, responding to my wife in Kohls:
"Honey- things are real tight right now. When I checked Quicken this morning I noticed we were over budget on clothes. I think you should hold off for a month or two, and also you might want to cut out your weekly lunch with your friends. We should build up enough in the clothes budget to maybe get her a light jacket by March or so."

It’s A Small Internet After All

2008-12-02T09:18:00.001-06:00

I’ve never been a big believer in coincidences. The world is just too vast, and the chances of any one thing happening or not happening at a certain time too many. When something aligns, or a chance encounter or random thought enters the mind, I really believe it means something. There’s some prompter or power at work.

I was taught at an early age that if an old friend or a family member comes to mind during the day, stop and take a moment to pray for them. Appreciate what they mean to you, and even reach out to them if you can (quick email, text or even a Facebook poke).

That worked the other way around just recently. A bizarre thing happened last week. I got an email from a guy named John who contacted me after visiting this blog and seeing my profile picture:

From: John
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:35 PM
Subject: you look familiar

Young man, your picture on your blog reminds me of an old USAF buddy from Brooklyn. But, that was back in the early 1960's. I haven't seen Richard and his wife, Marilyn since August 1970.

Happy Thanksgiving.

John

Well- my dad’s name is Richard, he was indeed in the Air Force, and his wife, my mom, is named Marilyn. And the time frame fit. Wacky.

I forwarded the email to my dad and he confirmed he knew John. The next step for me was to find out how John found my blog and recognized by picture:

From: DigitalRich
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 9:06 AM
To: John
Subject: RE: you look familiar

Hello John. You found the right guy. My dad is Richard and his wife is Marilyn. I sent your message to him and he confirmed he knows you. I’d be very interested to know if this was a total coincidence and how you found my blog and recognized me as looking like my dad. Did you just stumble on the blog, or did you search for my dad and find my blog? Please let me know!

Rich

And his response blew my mind…

From: John
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:47 PM
To: DigitalRich
Subject: RE: you look familiar

Rich:

I've been working 12 hour night shifts over the four day holiday and was getting bored because all work activity in the three state area that I control natural gas was non-existent. Soooooo. I was digging around for music to stream on the internet and started with http://www.tropicalglen.com/ and http://www.theradio.com/. The older music started me thinking about my early days in USAF and one of my good friends, your dad knows him, Sonny Jackson, used to like gospel (he hailed from Alabama - Georgia border. Somehow I ran across a site that had some DVD’s for sale for child protection sponsored by John Walsh. John's son was kidnapped from the Hollywood Mall in Fl about 5 miles from where I lived after the Air Force, so this caught my eye. I was just surfing and all of a sudden, the past is looking me in the eye. You look a lot like your Dad, your uncle, and your grandfather as well as I can remember. Your mom is in the mix too.

Where are you? California? Tell your dad that Terry and Mary Ann Lambert just sent me a post card. They visited the duplex that they and your parents used to live in right after they were married in Naranja, FL.

God Bless and have a wonderful holiday season.

John

Unbelievable. In 2006 I worked for John Walsh (of America’s Most Wanted fame) and helped him and Julie Clark (Baby Einstein Founder) launch a kids safety video company. I wrote a few posts about child safety and those got dinged by John’s Google search… he then visited my blog and saw my photo without knowing my name.

How crazy is that?

How To Build A Willow Tree Crèche

2008-12-01T08:17:00.004-06:00

Well… it’s not a perfect replica of the famous (and pricey) Willow Tree Crèche, but it will certainly do as a great inexpensive backdrop to your Willow Tree Nativity set or any other nativity set in need of a rustic looking stable.

I actually think my version is better for a couple reasons: 1) It's larger, providing more space for various characters. 2) It's cheaper!

I’m posting this because I’ve noticed a good amount of traffic hitting here from Google searches with the search terms WILLOW TREE CRECHE BUILD. Last year I wrote a post about the crèche I built for my wife Michelle (Project Crèche Complete!). I didn’t give any detailed instructions or show photo’s, so I figured I’d do it this year in hopes of helping anyone that needs it to avoid the $75-100 cost plus S&H and build their own for up to 90% less.

First I should give you the bad news and good news. The bad news I’ve already mentioned- its not exactly a Willow Tree Crèche. The good news? It’s EASY to make and very inexpensive. I don’t have much experience in woodworking- this was only my 4th or 5th project. It cost a grand total of $30 and I got enough material to make 3 Crèches (so far I’ve made one for us and one for my mother-in-law).

Here are the detailed instructions:

Using any kind of wood you like (I used pine- cheap and easy to work with) create a base, backstop, platform, backdrop, crossbeam and Roof. Read through the instructions below carefully to make sure you get enough wood and other materials to complete the project.

BASE. This is the foundation of the crèche where all the remaining pieces (and the nativity set) rest upon.

1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 20” wide, 10” deep and ¾” high (fairly standard height for a plank of pine from Home Depot or Lowes).

2. Using a miter saw (or miter angle on your table saw) cut the length of the front of the BASE at a 45 degree angle.

3. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth, especially the front sharp angle resulting from the 45 degree cut- I sliced my finger pretty badly on my first crèche.

4. Stain all surfaces except the bottom to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

BACKSTOP. This is a lip at the back of the BASE that creates a slightly raised line along the width. I actually didn’t have to create this since the BASE I used was a discarded shelf that had this lip/backstop already on it.

1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 20” wide, ¾” deep and 1 1/8” high.

2. Fasten along the back of the BASE with nails ensuring smooth edges matching the bottom and two sides of the BASE.

3. Drill two ¼” holes, all the way through the BACKSTOP, for dowels (make sure you’re drilling down into the 1 1/8” height), 7” from each end.

4. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth.

5. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

PLATFORM. This is similar to the BASE, but smaller and rests on top of the BASE providing a higher elevation to lift up the main nativity set characters.

1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 10 ¼” wide, 8 ¾” deep and ¾” high.

2. Using a miter saw (or miter angle on your table saw) cut the length of the front of the PLATFORM at a 45 degree angle (just like you did for the BASE).

3. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth, especially the front sharp angle resulting from the 45 degree cut.

4. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

BACKDROP. The all important back of the stable creating the backdrop for the amazing scene of the birth of Jesus. There are actually 7 pieces to the BACKDROP- backdrop base, backdrop lip, beadboard paneling, 2 columns and 2 dowels. NOTE- It is important to have the BACKDROP be able to disconnect from the BASE and FOUNDATION to make it easy to store the Crèche flat during the year, so don't glue or affix the final BACKDROP to the BASE beyond just dropping the BACKDROP dowels into the holes in the BACKDROP/BACKSTOP. This will make more sense after you watch the video at the end.

Backdrop Base
1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 10 ¾” wide, ¾” deep and 10 ¾” high/tall.

2. Drill two ¼” holes, about 1” deep, for dowels on the bottom of the BACKDROP, 2 ½” from each end of the edges. IMPORTANT- prior to drilling holes, make sure the hole placements will match up with the dowel holes drilled into the BACKSTOP.

3. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth.

4. Stain just the two outside edges, left and right, to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

Backdrop Lip
1. This is similar to the BACKSTOP created for the BASE except it will be sitting on it’s side as compared to the BACKSTOP, creating a lip sticking out towards the front of the crèche.

2. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 10 ¾” wide, 1 1/8” deep and ¾” high. Fasten along the back of the BASE with nails ensuring smooth edges matching the bottom and two sides of the BASE.

3. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth.

4. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

Beadboard Paneling
1. Using light wood beadboard paneling (found at Home Depot or Lowes) cut a piece to the following measurements: 7 ¾” wide, 9 5/12” high.

2. Sand the outside edges (but not the front surface) until smooth.

3. Stain just the front surface to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

Columns (make 2 of exactly the same piece below)
1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 1 ½” wide, ¾” deep and 9 5/12” high.

2. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth.

3. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

Dowels (make/use 2 of exactly the same piece below)
1. Cut a ¼” wide dowel to 2” long.

ASSEMBLING BACKDROP. Now that you have the 7 pieces comprising the BACKDROP, you’ll assemble them into a single piece:

1. Lay the Backdrop Base down on it’s back and arrange the 2 columns (on the two opposites sides) and beadboard paneling (in between the columns) to ensure they tuck smoothly under the Backdrop Lip, are flush to the Backdrop Base sides.

2. Sand or trim cut to fit if it’s not. NOTE- there will be a gap below the columns and beadboard paneling where the Backdrop Base will be showing.

3. Place the PLATFORM on top of the BASE. While holding the Backdrop Base together with the columns and beadboard in place, ensure the assembled piece will sit flush on top of the BASE, BACKSTOP and PLATFORM. Sand or trim cut if necessary.

4. Using wood glue, glue the 2 columns and beadboard paneling in place to the Backdrop Base. Let dry.

5. Glue or fasten firmly the two 2” dowels into the holes in the Backdrop Base.

CROSSBEAM. A simple strip of wood that will sit on top of the BACKDROP (resting also on the two columns) providing some additional depth to the BACKDROP.

1. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 12 ½” wide, ½” deep and ¾” high.

2. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth.

3. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

ROOF. You’re almost done! These are the last two pieces. Two simple pieces of wood that will lean together (or you can glue/fasten them) creating an illusion of a roof.

1. Make 2 of exactly the same pieces.

2. Cut a piece of wood to the following measurements: 7 ½” long, ¾” wide and 1 ½” high.
Using a miter saw (or miter angle on your table saw) cut a 45 degree angle on both ends creating a trapezoid.

3. Sand all edges and surfaces until smooth. Ensure the two pieces lean together and balance/stand.

4. Stain all surfaces to desired color (SEE NOTE ON STAINING AT THE BOTTOM).

5. If you prefer, you can affix the two roof pieces together with glue or a framing nail. I didn’t connect them and just lean them together on the final crèche. While they fall down easily if the crèche is bumped, this is a delicate connection and for ease of storage its better not to affix them.

STAINING. This was actually the one part that I was most afraid of. Sure, I can paint- can’t everyone? You buy a gallon of interior, a roller and drop cloth, and whammo- slap the paint on the wall. But special effects and finishes? Frightening. Fortunately, the folks at my neighborhood Woodcraft Store helped me. They had a display from “General Finishes” paint products that allowed me to easily spot the look I wanted and what materials I needed to create the look. In my case, I wanted an old barn-wood look (slightly grayish with black and dark highlights) and the chart showed exactly what I needed to do. The instructions below are for the color I chose, but you can finish any way you like.

1. Purchase 1 pint each of "EF Products by General Finishes, Buttermilk Yellow Water Based Milk Paint" and "General Finishes Pitch Black Water Based Glaze Effects." I’ve made two crèches and have only used about half of each of the pints I bought.

2. Test the following on a few pieces of scrap wood (the same wood you’re building your crèche out of) to make sure you get the technique / look right. I can’t emphasize enough how inexperienced I was, and how easy this is. Once you get it right, repeat on the final pieces of the Crèche.

3. Using a lint-free cloth (code words for old t-shirt cut into multiple easy to handle pieces roughly 5” by 5”) and starting with the Buttermilk Yellow paint, dab directly into the paint can getting about as much paint on the cloth as you need for the piece you’re working on. For a big piece like the BASE or PLATFORM that might be about a tablespoon or two, much less for smaller pieces.

4. Hand-rub the paint over the desired surfaces of the piece you’re working on. Be sure to rub and dab deeply into the rough ends of cut wood that is across the grain.

5. Allow to dry (at least a full hour, best if it’s two).

6. Using a fresh cloth, and using the Pitch Black Glaze Effects paint, dab directly into the pain can getting a small amount (much less than the initial coat of yellow). Hand rub over the dried Buttermilk Yellow painted piece and watch the magic of yellow and black creating a rustic old barn-wood grey look. (NOTE- Pay special attention to painting the beadboard and make sure you get the yellow and then black paint deep into the beadboard grooves.

7. Allow to dry (at least a full hour, best if it’s two).

You’re finished! Wasn’t that easy? Now, check out this video to see how easy it is to set up the completed Crèche each Christmas season:

Whether you actually used these instructions to build a crèche, or just read through this far and watched the video for the fun of it, I hope you found this interesting and helpful. If you have any questions or need something clarified feel free to email me.

An Amazing Animator

2008-11-27T07:33:00.001-06:00

Over the last many years (almost 2 decades actually… time is flying by) I’ve been connected in one way or the other to kids entertainment. Children’s music and kids video primarily, having sold, marketed, packaged, funded or helped in development.

I still troll about online looking for new and emerging entertainment products and keep a special eye out for unique or innovative filmmakers, animators, story tellers and other creative types. As a quick aside, check out http://www.crackle.com/ for some interesting new online shows. I have to admit my favorite is “The Roadents,” a series of animated shorts about two guinea pigs traveling cross-country in a 1983 Winnebago.

Back to the post. Last week I came across a very interesting and exciting animator out of Spain, Carlos Lascano. He uses 2D and 3D hybrid animations, live-action content and other techniques to create a surreal environment that pulls you into a new reality. The emotion he evokes with his drawings and without a word of dialogue is impressive also. I hope you enjoy these four projects I’ve embedded from his site.

Are Worship Leaders Performers?

2008-11-26T09:21:00.002-06:00

The purpose of a worship leader and worship band should be, in my opinion, to produce a beautiful background symphony to our personal and corporate praise to God.

On a few occasions I get distracted by what appears to be a Bono wannabe performing during worship. I find my mind wandering, wondering what in the world the goofball is trying to do or be, and then- times up- and I realize I never did enter into a focused time of worship.

I found this great quiz on a neighbor blog (http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/) that I thought perfectly captured the essence of the distracting worship leader.

I’m guessing any score above a 30 is troublesome. Enjoy.

Does your worship leader…

1. Have a faux hawk hair style? (+1)
2. Have more product in his hair than your wife? (+1)
3. Have Rob Bell style black rimmed glasses? (+1)
4. If the glasses are not prescription, but just for effect add (+2)
5. Attend the Catalyst Conference? (+3)
6. Perform at the Catalyst Conference? (+10)
7. Own Puma, Vans or Diesel sneakers? (+2 per pair)
8. Wear jeans on stage? (+1)
9. Wear designer jeans on stage? (+2)
10. Wear Wrangler or Rustler jeans on stage? (-3)
11. Have a goatee? (+2)
12. Wear one of those Castro revolution looking hats? (+2)
13. Drink coffee on stage? (+1)
14. Drink some kind of coffee you did not know existed? (+2)
15. Bring a French Press on stage and make his own coffee during service? (+5)
16. Have a handlebar mustache? (-3)
17. Play Frisbee but hates getting all "sweaty?” (+1)
18. Have a haircut that covers one of his eyes while singing? (+1)
19. Own a white belt? (+2)
20. Own suspenders? (-3)
21. Wear a scarf with a t-shirt? (+1)
22. Wear a winter knit hat even in the summer? (+2)
23. Ever cover My Chemical Romance songs? (+3)
24. Drive an Audi or VW, silver of course? (+2)
25. Use the words, "postmodern, relevant" or "emergent?” (+2)
26. Cringe a little when people say the "H word?" (Hymnal) (+3)
27. Ever said some form of the phrase, "That song is so 1990s?” (+1)
28. Own a Grizzly Adams red and black flannel shirt? (-2)
29. Have a child named after a fruit, color or number? (+2)
30. Reference Norwegian punk bands you've never heard of? (+2)
31. Wear a tie? (-1)
32. Wear a tie as a belt? (+2)
33. Look as if he might exfoliate? (+2)
34. Have a man bag or European Carry All? (+2)
35. Bring said bag on stage with him? (+2)
36. Have a tattoo? (+2)
37. Have a visible tattoo? (+4)
38. Wife accompany him on stage and play tambourine? (-4)
39. Have experience playing in a punk new wave band? (+2)
40. Know the names of all the people on the scripted MTV show, "the Hills?" (+3)
41. Refuse to drink anything but Vitamin Water? (+2)
42. Cause your wife to ever say, "he needs a barrette for his hair"? (+2)
43. Have a nickname with "the" in it, as in "the edge?" (+2)
44. Own every Nooma video? (+2)
45. Have a soul patch? (+3)
46. Refuse to play barefoot on stage until he gets a pedicure? (+2)
47. Refer to California as "the left coast?" (+2)
48. Currently subscribes to Dwell or Details magazine? (+2)
49. Own a pair of lady jeans? (+2)
50. Twitter you from his iPhone? (+2)
51. Have a toddler that dresses cooler than you? (+2)
52. Wear graphic t-shirts over button down, long sleeve shirts? (+2)
53. Ever say "we got a hot mic here"? (-4)
54. Shop at the Gap? (0)
55. Shop at Urban Outfitters? (+2)

The highest possible score is 107.

Prospek’s March by Coldplay

2008-11-24T14:00:00.001-06:00

Coldplay is not just one of my favorite bands of all time (primarily for amazingly simple yet haunting melodies, words that MEAN something, and an undeniable coolness that transcends most other rock/pop bands), they also are living the new way to succeed in the music business.

Its rather simple, really. I call it a rock/pop 12 step program:

1. Work tirelessly to craft memorable and sweeping melodies and hooks.

2. Build a solid foundation of repeating phrases and hooks that make it easy to quickly remember and hum/sing a song even after the first time you hear it.

3. Play cities, towns and venues of all sizes. Not just the big halls- play in the 500-2000 seat halls too.

4. Get to KNOW your fans. Talk to fans regularly. Hit them with emails and newsletters- not just to sell stuff, but to inform us of the music, the tour, free downloads, new pictures, media appearances, and more.

5. Provide a regular flow of new music. THIS IS THE BIGGIE. Don’t go up to the mountain or ivory tower, get inspired once every couple of years and then slowly bless the fans with 10-12 mediocre songs with one good cut every two years. Feed us intravenously. Keep it coming. New tracks trickling throughout the year. New mixes, new music videos. KEEP IT COMING!

6. Build your song structures in such a way as that average people that play guitar or keyboards can learn and play them easily. They are a sub-sub-core of the fan base and will stay with you for years.

7. When appearing on television or in other media be REAL. Don’t by coy, try to fake humbleness, poverty or being like the average guy. Embrace your talent, celebrate with the fans, give freely.

8. Keep lame celebrity type diarrhea of the mouth comments about politics to an absolute minimum.

9. Embrace a real cause that has a decent chance of making the world a better place. By the way, this does NOT include anything that has to do with global warming or PETA.

10. Let all the members of the band contribute and shine.

11. Write lyrics that make people wonder, think, feel, hurt, move, cry, and live life.

12. Show the people you LOVE what you do and you’re having fun.

Check out the NEW Coldplay EP “Prospek’s March” released today. It's truly brilliant.

Incidentally, it's released only a few months after their brand new full-length "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" (masterpiece), and just a few short weeks since the last new single and other bonus cuts they've put out.

Genius, these Coldplay guys.

The Day Reba McEntire Used My Bathroom

2008-11-18T21:58:00.004-06:00

I initially posted this on October 28th, the day after Reba was filmed on location on the DigitalRich Ranch shooting the new Brooks & Dunn music video for Cowgirl's Don't Cry, but I think Google Alerts popped up in her manager's inbox and some feelings were hurt.

I was asked to take this down for a few weeks. I've noticed some news stories since the CMA Awards about Reba performing with Brooks & Dunn and some YouTube behind-the-scenes stuff about the shoot, so I figure it's safe to repost.

************************

Today was the day. It all started about a week ago when an unassuming young gent named John knocked on our front door. He asked my wife if he could come in and take a few pictures of our house. He'd heard we had a nice and spacious living area and they wanted to see if it would work for a new Brooks & Dunn (w/special guest Reba McEntire) music video.

Michelle came downstairs to my office to get me, and I did the proper vetting. I asked for his business card, what production company he was with, etc, etc. We let him in and he took a few pictures and left. I wasn't sure we'd hear from him again, but he emailed me a few days later.

He told us he wanted to stop by the house with the director to look around and we said ok. About 10 people showed up and walked around the kitchen area talking about possible shots. They ended up wanting to shoot the scene here and John contacted me the next day with their offer. I countered with double what they offered, and we settled for 1/2 way between the two numbers.

The advance crew showed up today about 10:00AM and got to work. The most important thing to get done first seemed to be set-up for catering. The tables went up, along with about 35 chairs or so. Unfortunately they picked the coldest day so far this season and eating outside was just a bit frosty.

While the catering guys were hard at work, the rest of the crew started arriving and used part of our land as a make-shift parking lot.

They started to set-up the production trucks, generators, outside lighting (shining into the kitchen), and other necessary work to get the right look inside.

Then it was lunch time. Catering provided a rather tasty rice-stuffed chicken breast, salad with all the trimmings, wild rice, and broccoli and for dessert a rather tasty Boston cream pie.

Here we see the piano room, after everything that was not needed in the great room was moved into it to make room for the interior lighting and camera. I wasn't aware they were going to do all this. It was a bit of a shock, but they were very careful.

Here you can see one of the lighting set-ups and the camera in the edge of the great room looking into the kitchen and dinette area. Reba arrived about this time and they used our master bathroom to do her make-up and touch up her hair. This was unforseen, and of course was the one room my wife DIDN'T clean up before the shoot.

And here is the second interior lighting set in the dining room looking through the foyer into the dinette. The young girl there is an actress that played Reba's character's daughter.

And, finally, the money shot. Here is Reba's character answering the phone, ostensibly getting horrible news, and her daughter seeing her mom distressed comes over to hug her.

And we're done. The crew left by 3:30PM after packing up everything and using digital pictures they took prior to the shoot to make sure everything was put back in its place. We did a walk through with a couple staff guys to make sure all was ok. We told them it was, they left, and then my wife realized they took our fruit bowl (making its screen debut in the photo above).

I called John on his cell and they rushed it right back over.

It was a very interesting experience, but if there is a next time, I'm not coming down off my number.

Watch the video here: "Cowgirl's Don't Cry" by Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn

More CMT Music

More CMT Music Videos

Brave Girl

2008-11-14T06:41:00.000-06:00

This morning started with my regular cup of coffee, and morning internet news read to check on the state of the world around me. One of the sites I check had a link to a great story about a girl outside of Chicago with liberal mom and a conservative dad that was brave enough to find out what happens when you swim upstream in popular culture (and public schools).

Enjoy the read… it is enlightening and fast one that will leave you thinking.

Tolerance fails T-shirt test
John Kass, November 13, 2008 (Chicago Tribune)

As the media keeps gushing on about how America has finally adopted tolerance as the great virtue, and that we're all united now, let's consider the Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment.

Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.

She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching "inclusion," and she decided to see how included she could be.

So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker:

"McCain Girl."

"I was just really curious how they'd react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters," Catherine told us. "I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be."

Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain's name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.

"People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn't be wearing it," Catherine said.

Then it got worse.

"One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed," Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.

But students weren't the only ones surprised that she wore a shirt supporting McCain.

"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said.

If Catherine was shocked by such passive-aggressive threats from instructors, just wait until she goes to college.

"Later, that teacher found out about the experiment and said she was embarrassed because she knew I was writing down what she said," Catherine said.

One student suggested that she be put up on a cross for her political beliefs.

"He said, 'You should be crucifixed.' It was kind of funny because, I was like, don't you mean 'crucified?' "Catherine said.

Other entries in her notebook involved suggestions by classmates that she be "burned with her shirt on" for "being a filthy-rich Republican."

Some said that because she supported McCain, by extension she supported a plan by deranged skinheads to kill Obama before the election. And I thought such politicized logic was confined to American newsrooms. Yet Catherine refused to argue with her peers. She didn't want to jeopardize her experiment.

"I couldn't show people really what it was for. I really kind of wanted to laugh because they had no idea what I was doing," she said.

Only a few times did anyone say anything remotely positive about her McCain shirt. One girl pulled her aside in a corner, out of earshot of other students, and whispered, "I really like your shirt."

That's when you know America is truly supportive of diversity of opinion, when children must whisper for fear of being ostracized, heckled and crucifixed.

The next day, in part 2 of The Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment, she wore another T-shirt, this one with "Obama Girl" written in blue. And an amazing thing happened.

Catherine wasn't very stupid anymore. She grew brains.

"People liked my shirt. They said things like my brain had come back, and I had put the right shirt on today," Catherine said.

Some students accused her of playing both sides.

"A lot of people liked it. But some people told me I was a flip-flopper," she said. "They said, 'You can't make up your mind. You can't wear a McCain shirt one day and an Obama shirt the next day.' "

But she sure did, and she turned her journal into a report for her history teacher, earning Catherine extra credit. We asked the teacher, Norma Cassin-Pountney, whether it was ironic that Catherine would be subject to such intolerance from pro-Obama supporters in a community that prides itself on its liberal outlook.

"That's what we discussed," Cassin-Pountney said about the debate in the classroom when the experiment was revealed. "I said, here you are, promoting this person [Obama] that believes we are all equal and included, and look what you've done? The students were kind of like, 'Oh, yeah.' I think they got it."

Catherine never told us which candidate she would have voted for if she weren't an 8th grader. But she said she learned what it was like to be in the minority.

"Just being on the outside, how it felt, it was not fun at all," she said.

Don't ever feel as if you must conform, Catherine. Being on the outside isn't so bad. Trust me.
- John Kass

This type of thing will get worse.

Feeling Like An Outsider In Your Hometown

2008-11-13T13:04:00.001-06:00

This morning I made the 5 minute journey to Hillsboro Elementary and Middle School for the annual thanksgiving lunch for parents and their kids.

For a mere $5.00 you get a Styrofoam plate with scoops of turkey, stuffing and gravy, green beans, a roll, chocolate milk and a mini-pumpkin pie. And each year I take one bite and throw the rest away. At least you get to spend a few minutes with your kids during the school day.

Like most schools, we have to sign in as visitors when visiting and get a little VISITOR sticker so we don’t get stopped by the school police officer (who has actually busted my wife once for forgetting the sticker and sent her back to the office).

After lunch, I stopped by Puckett’s for some lunch. The kind I could actually eat. It’s halfway between the school and home and is a frequent stop for a bite to eat, some groceries, or a fill-up at the gas pumps out front.

I took the chance to have a nice draft beer with my meat and two (brats with onions and peppers, mashed potatoes, green beans) since I work out of my home and my company policy, which I wrote, does not address consuming alcohol during the work day or on company property.

When I finished I stood up to throw away the trash and couldn’t spot the large garbage can that usually sits between the dining area and grocery store at Puckett’s (If your ever in the Nashville area, make the trip to Leiper’s Fork or Franklin for a burger or pork BBQ platter at Puckett's - it’s worth the trip for the food and ambiance). I stood there for a second looking for what had become of the garbage can when the gent sitting next to me offered some kind help:

“The garbage is right over there next to the drink station.”

And then the truly perplexing question this nice guy asked:

“Do you need directions anywhere?”

Hmm. I answered no, and headed out to the car. I was confused for a second as to why I was asked this question but quickly forgot about it. As I pulled into my garage a few minutes later and unbuckled my seatbelt, I noticed the sticker still on my shirt. Visitor.

Fall Blues?

2008-11-12T09:56:00.000-06:00

“SAD” is a pretty humorous acronym for seasonal affective disorder. Obviously a forced one. SAD is known by its more popular names winter depression or winter blues. It’s a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter, repeatedly, year after year.

This morning after my normal racquetball set of 4 games against Gary, I came home to brew some coffee and start the work day. I had a few minutes with Michelle and apologized for being “poopy” the last couple of weeks.

She said she thinks I have SAD since I get like this every fall. Really?

I asked her if she was joking and she said no- that I get kind of down and cranky this time every year. I just don’t see it, but it’s true that those kinds of things are rarely recognized by the person exhibiting the behavior, so I’m taking to heart her suggestion.

I’ve spent a few minutes thinking about what this might be… what is going on in my head that might be repeating each year? What it might be I think is time. A simple yet eternally complex thing that is all around us but can never be seen, touched, captured, stopped, or changed. It’s just moving along some massive linear path pulling us along in a giant wake.

The ending of another year, and the change and death that accompanies it (trees, leaves, bright hot sunshine, grass, etc) probably triggers a deep process in my mind. A recognition that this life is fleeting.

I remember the intense joy fall would bring as a kid. It signaled Christmas break from school, coming snowstorms and free days, lack of responsibility and a freedom that children just can’t seem to understand and appreciate until it’s slipped from their fingers by the time they hit high school. Fall was Halloween, candy, Thanksgiving, friends, tackle football in the yard, bb-gun hunting in the woods trying to walk quietly over oceans of fallen leaves, and no more mowing the lawn for 5 or 6 months. Oh. Fall.

Now at forty-two fall signals different things. It still has a good side for sure… Halloween is about watching the kids enjoy it. The postponement of yard work is nice, and the relaxing days of Thanksgiving and Christmas week are certainly ahead. But there is a down side now.

Fall makes me remember my kids are getting older by another year, and they will be out of the house faster than I can imagine. It reminds me of loved ones no longer here, of the temporal nature of this life. It’s flying by so quickly.

I guess as I sit here and free-flow type out my thoughts I would beg to differ with Michelle. While I would agree that I may have seasonal affective disorder, I don’t think it’s really a disorder. I think it’s rather normal to pause, remember and reflect- and with that will always come sadness and joy. And I don’t think its depression. While my mood is certainly altered, it really is best described as somber and thoughtful. With a dash of crankiness thrown in to be honest. And it passes.

As I see life move by, it also causes me to think about the Author of this life. The one Who is always there with me as I recall life and its joyous and sad times, and Who is preparing me in ways I can see and others that I don’t yet recognize, for the life to come.

Last Words

2008-11-11T07:35:00.001-06:00

I’m a fan of quotes, all kinds of quotes, and especially those that illuminate and underline truths that are self-evident if we just took the time to slow down and think.

I sort of collect them- I even have a word file that catalogs hundreds of quotes that made an impact on me, and still do when I read over them. I wanted to catalog them on the blog and back in 2006 posted them. Links to those quotes are in the label section under, you guessed it, “Quotes.”

I have the priviledge of serving as a pre-screener for the 2009 Nashville Film Festival. My responsibilities consist of screening dozens of films (my specialties are feature-length, animation, shorts and young filmmakers) and commenting on several criteria including writing/story, talent, directing, production value, etc. The screening ends with a thumbs-up (yes, lets show it in the festival) or a thumbs-down (nope, not this year). My screening notes are added to the larger group of pre-screeners and consensus rules the outcome for each film.

This morning I wrapped up the final film in this, my third, batch of projects to screen. Near the end, one of the supporting actors had this to say while laying in her death-bed and recalling the broken relationship with her daughter:

“Oh Inga, my Inga. Fire in my kiln. My love would want to stay and finish my work and heal all the cracks and grazes and imperfections in my love until I have made it perfect. Maybe even just a part of me, the part I gave to you.”

It struck me as beautiful this wonderful cool crisp fall morning… as the world around me prepares to die, and make ready to live again.

Ch-Ch-Changes

2008-11-10T14:15:00.000-06:00

To quote David Bowie, “Don’t want to be a richer man…ch-ch-changes.”

Change has begun. And we can see it right before our very eyes.

Right after the election, Barack Obama’s new website for his “Office of the President-Elect” www.change.gov, listed this new agenda item for his leadership plan:

“Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.”

As the writers of a popular political blog (www.sweetness-light.com) wrote, “Someone should tell Mr. Obama that…the Constitution now forbids involuntary servitude.”

And here is the referenced Constitutional amendment:

Amendment XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Suddenly late last week the agenda has CHANGED on www.change.gov. It CHANGED to:

“Obama and Biden will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year, and will establish a new tax credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.”

The change? A realization that involuntary servitude is not cool (or legal. President Lincoln made sure of that), the elimination of the concept of volunteerism (now you get paid for the service, $4,000 A YEAR for 100 hours of service- a rate of $40/Hour).

By the way, how is that paid for? Short answer- hold onto your wallet.

NEWSFLASH! Oh, wait…it CHANGED again. Late Saturday night the entire Agenda on www.change.gov disappeared.

Its gone. Bye-bye. C-U-L8-R. It’s been replaced by a generic agenda that essentially says… “stay tuned… change is coming.”

Great.

Is It Christmas Tree Time Already?

2008-11-09T08:01:00.000-06:00

Last night we had a family gathering celebrating my B-I-L’s birthday. Dinner at Macaroni Grill (with a couple glasses of their half-way decent house Chianti), and then back to my sister’s place in Spring Hill for cake and presents.

When we pulled into their neighborhood I was a bit taken aback to see a couple houses with Christmas lights up around the house.

The real shocker was to see a full Christmas tree up with lights and trimmings inside one of the houses.

Really? On November 8th?

It’s still nearly 3 weeks before Thanksgiving. Just a bit past a week since Halloween.

I don’t frequent malls, but I suspect this homeowner even beat Sears and JC Penny.

Words That Irritate

2008-11-08T06:02:00.001-06:00

Just over a year ago I wrote a post about verbal pet peeves- the phrases I hear people say that DRIVE ME CRAZY. How interesting to read a news item today that covers the same subject, from Oxford. I seem to keep pretty good company.

Enjoy- it's a quick read:

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases
A top 10 of irritating expressions has been compiled by researchers at Oxford University.
By Charlotte Bailey

The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet and other sources.

The database alerts them to new words and phrases and can tell them which expressions are disappearing. It also shows how words are being misused.

The book's author Jeremy Butterfield says that many annoyingly over-used expressions actually began as office lingo, such as 24/7 and "synergy".

Other phrases to irritate people are "literally" and "ironically", when they are used out of context.

Mr Butterfield said: "We grow tired of anything that is repeated too often – an anecdote, a joke, a mannerism – and the same seems to happen with some language."

The top ten most irritating phrases:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

I must admit I've recently used six or seven of these.

Who Is John Galt?

2008-11-07T16:28:00.001-06:00

Hooray!

After more than 20 years of wishing and dreaming it finally looks to be a reality. One of my favorite books of all time (and one of the most influential in my life) is in pre-production:

Atlas Shrugged.
http://www.baldwinent.com/prod_atlasshrugged.html

Rumored talent for key roles? Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. If that happens, there will finally be a movie they do that I'll want to see.

Here’s the synopsis of the book’s character JOHN GALT:

John Galt is the heroic main characters in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, although he is absent from much of the text. Instead he is the subject of the novel's oft repeated question: "Who is John Galt?", and the quest to discover the answer.

As the story is revealed, Galt is discovered to be a creator and inventor who embodies the power of the individual. He serves as a counterpoint to the social and economic structure depicted in the novel. The depiction portrays a society based on oppressive bureaucratic functionaries and a culture that embraces the stifling mediocrity and egalitarianism of socialistic idealism. He is a metaphorical Atlas of Greek mythology holding up the world and namesake for the title Atlas Shrugged.

An engineer by trade, Galt's actions include withdrawing his talents, 'stopping the motor of the world', and leading the 'strikers' (in this case the captains of industry) against the 'looters' (in this case the mob rule of strikers and the common man). The storyline unfolds by exploring rumors and legends about the identity of the Galt. The Galt's actual identity is learned only after a prolonged search by Dagny Taggart. She is the female heroine of the story, with whom Galt has a romantic relationship. Galt is also referred to in the story as the Mystery Worker.

The son of an Ohio garage mechanic, Galt left home at age 12 and began college at Patrick Henry University at age 16. There he befriended Francisco d'Anconia and Ragnar Danneskjöld. All three of them double-majored in physics and philosophy. They were the cherished students of the brilliant scientist Robert Stadler and the brilliant philosopher Hugh Akston.

After graduating, Galt becomes an engineer at the Twentieth Century Motor Works where he designs a revolutionary new motor powered by ambient static electricity with the potential to change the world. Like Ellis Wyatt, he creates what many had for years said was impossible. When the company owners decide to run the factory by the collectivist maxim, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", Galt organizes a successful labor strike (but this time getting employers, inventors, businessmen and industrialists to go on strike against statist laws that violate their rights), proclaiming his promise to stop the motor of the world. Galt begins traversing the globe, meeting the world's most successful businessmen, systematically convincing them to follow in his footsteps; one by one, they began abandoning their business empires (which, Galt convinces them, were doomed to failure anyhow, given the increased nationalization of industry by the government). This strike forms the backdrop of the novel as the mystery which protagonist Dagny Taggart seeks to uncover, with Galt as her antagonist (the novel was originally titled The Strike).

Secretly, these captains of industry, led by Galt and banker Midas Mulligan, create their own society—a secret enclave of rational individualists living in 'Galt's Gulch', a town secluded high in a wilderness of mountains in Colorado. Taggart accidentally finds the town—and a shocked John Galt—by crash-landing a light aircraft while pursuing Quentin Daniels.

Since everyone across the country is repeating the phrase, "Who is John Galt?", it is natural that many people have attempted to answer that question. The phrase becomes an expression of helplessness and despair at the current state of the novel's fictionalized world. Dagny Taggart hears a number of legends of Galt before finding the real John Galt and eventually joining his cause, and learning that all of the stories have an element of truth to them.
- From Wikipedia

Of course I also learned that this story has been bouncing around studios and filmmakers for more than 20 years with many false starts. Based on current political affairs, my guess is it will make it this time.

How Wireless Printing Ruined Christmas, But Makes For A Nice November

2008-11-05T06:11:00.002-06:00

I am a boy at heart. And boys love toys. And I have plenty.

Not the kind of toys many other men have like snowmobiles, jet skis or hunting and fishing gear. Mine run a bit more techie.

I have a collection of no fewer than 8 digital music players. I sit at a desk with 3 computers, 6 monitors, 2 printers, 3 scanners (including a flat bed, negative and print scanner), video and music editing software suite, the latest Blackberry (I don’t want an iPhone, so I got the Blackberry and an iTouch), tons of woodworking tools, a commercial grade mower for my 11 acres, cameras, and so much more crap it sometimes makes my head spin.

My wife dreads Christmas and my birthday. She has no clue what to get me.

What brings me the most joy though are the little things. A leather journal, a fountain pen with an old fashioned ink well, a coffee/cream mixer or a cool innovative miniature stapler. Yes, I can be as weird as the next person.

This Christmas she thought of the ABSOLUTELY PERFECT Christmas present for me. The problem was that when she bought it online she printed out the receipt on the wrong printer. It printed wirelessly on one of my office printers downstairs and I found the receipt.

Telescoping BackScratcher. $10.00. 100% perfect, and 100% me.

I told her I found the receipt and we decided I’d get my gift early.

Yes.