Okay, keep in mind it was AMATEUR NIGHT!  I wonder what it is about human nature that if we have some success at something early on we assume it will always be easy and sluff off on our next attempt.  Or so it was in my case with stand up comedy.  Or perhaps it is just that I have video evidence of how unprofessional I looked on the stage last night at Penguins Comedy Club.  I found it ironic that one of the bits in my act was how we “fat people” never are really aware of just how fat we really are.  Damn… I hope who ever said cameras never lie didn’t know what they were talking about!  I will put up some more professional video of this very amateur performance when it comes back from production but for now this Cyber Shot video will have to do ya.

 

            Earlier in the week there was a pretty disturbing report out of St. Paul, MN about a man beating and sexually assaulting a woman in an apartment hallway.  Surveillance tapes showed that 5 to 10 people possibly saw the attack but did nothing to help the woman; including lifting a finger to dial 911.  The attack went on for all of 90 minutes.  Examples of similar behavior have been recorded before.  Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in 1964 by a serial rapist and murderer in Queens, New York while over three dozen witnesses did nothing to help.  In 1972 a Columbia University law professor was murdered in broad daylight and bled to death on the sidewalk and in 1995 Deletha Word was savagely beaten on a bridge in Detroit while over 40 people looked on.

            There have been studies into how this could happen, how people could stand by when it is so blatantly clear that a fellow human being is in desperate need of help.  The failure to act has been dubbed the bystander effect or Genovese effect.  I often wonder what I would do if I were in the situation of those who were witness to any of those horrific examples.  No matter how certain I am that I would not allow such things to happen in my presence I guess nobody would know for sure unless they were confronted with such a situation.  Surely everybody involved assumed somebody else would do the right thing and feared getting involved themselves. 

            As I read through some of the comments on the Broadsheet post where I first learned of the tragedy in St. Paul I saw some of what I thought was bystander effect from the readers.  Some readers wanted to distance themselves from being one who would fail to intervene.  They pointed to cultural differences as a reason “those people” did nothing.  I thought about how quick we are to do that, to suggest that people who do bad things or fail to do the right thing are so different from us.  Are they?  Have we heard the cries for mercy in Darfur?  Have we forgotten about the needs of the residents of the 9^th ward in New Orleans in spite of the presidential visit to the area on yesterday’s second anniversary of Katrina?  We seem to be more worried about who will pay for health care than we are whether or not it is the right thing to provide coverage for children and the impoverished elderly among us.  I wonder how different we are from those people who closed their doors and turned up their televisions when that woman was being attacked in their midst. 

 

Jeeze Bob, Get your own dang blog!  In case you didn’t catch it, the comment section has been blessed lately by an old friend who now resides in California.  My post today (see below) is not in response to Bob’s comments here but rather the right wing spin machine in general.  That being said, Bob shared some good points and some tired ones but he put together a great argument to what I have been saying lately so I thought I would move his comments from the comment section into the light of day to share with you.  I’m glad you stopped by Bob but maybe you should stop by more often and not let things build so much!  LOL, Please extend my well wishes to the family.

 

Ah, my good friend Mr. Wilcox. It has been far too long since we have spoken, and I am sorry to say that I haven’t visited the Blog for a couple of months. And while I believe that Liberalism would be a much better world if all Liberals were as intelligent as you, I do feel the need to take offense at your most recent posting.
Maybe “Offense” is the wrong word to use. If I get the gist of what you are trying to say, is that Republicans are trying to “create” fear in order to manipulate the voting public. Yeah, I wouldn’t say that this never happens – in fact it happens far too much, BUT while the right may tamper in this kind of manipulation, the left have made it an art form.  

No? Well, if you are to believe everything the Democrats have had to say in recent elections, the Republicans want to poison your children, take away all of your civil rights, and put the elderly out to die.
Now before I go further, know that while I consider myself more conservative than liberal, I also like to consider myself open to all opinions, and I am generally not pleased with the outcome of either party. It’s just that I am not pleased more often with the left than the right (although the right hasn't been doing so hot lately).
So the left doesn’t use fear? Consider Hillary’s current campaign ad running in Iowa, in which she states “As I travel around America, I hear from so many people who feel like they’re just invisible to their government. Americans from all walks of life across our country may be invisible to this president, but they’re not invisible to me” and “if you're a family that is struggling, and you don't have healthcare, well, you are invisible - to this President.” This isn’t fear-mongering? Not to mention a little odd that she’s campaigning against someone who isn’t even running for president, but that’s a different story.
And while we’re talking about whose invisible in America, allow me to go in a different direction for a moment. Is anyone invisible to Hillary? In his book “Unlimited Access,” former FBI agent Gary Aldrich relates the rules of conduct instituted in the White House and Old Executive Office Building under the Clinton regime. According to Aldrich, staff members were to clear the hallways when Hillary was out and about. If anyone did happen to meet up with her in passing, they were not to make eye contact with her. In other words, as underlings they were to remain absolutely invisible to her. Surely Aldrich is a profiteering disgruntled agent with an axe to grind, except that this accusation was backed up by over three dozen white house staff members, including Golden Boy George Stephanopoulos.
And what about the hard working, non-political members of the White House travel agency who were fired (on trumped up charges, it was later proven) to make room for Clinton Friends. That about the White House Marine Corp Honor Guards, who had been rewarded with White House duty as a result of exemplary performance, a

What about the White House Marine Corp Honor Guards, who had been rewarded with White House duty as a result of exemplary performance, and who were pressed into service as “waiters” and “bellhops” for the Clinton guests. You don’t think these people are invisible to Senator Clinton?
I know that that has nothing to do with the whole fear thing, but I always believe that if you are going to make an accusation, you need to look in the mirror first, which Hillary obviously did not do this time.
Okay, let’s get back to this fear thing. And what about the fact that Republicans want to “poison your children”. Okay, I’m reaching back a ways for this one, but to me this has always been a classic example of liberal fear-mongering. This from the Seattle Times, shortly after Bush took office:
“Drinking water is being shut off at all 100 Seattle public schools after tests last month found traces of arsenic in the water at several elementary schools…….The federal government recently changed the amount of arsenic it considers unsafe from less than 50 parts per billion to less than 10 parts per billion. The water tested in the five elementary schools contained between 11 and 18 parts per billion.”
Here’s the real story. One of the last official acts Bill Clinton took on his way out of office was to raise the “acceptable” amount of arsenic from 10 parts per billion to 50 parts per billion. At the time, the scientific evidence that this change was needed was, at best, weak. And the proposal put severe burdens on some small towns. When the Bush administration took office, they set the rule aside and asked for a second look at the evidence. Now we can debate whether Bush was right to do so, but my first question would be this: If Bill Clinton was so concerned that our children were being poisoned, why didn’t he make this change on his first day in office instead of his last?
A couple of additional points to consider:
l Ralph Nader, not exactly a friend to conservatives, said that Clinton was “setting a trap for Bush” with this action.  The World Health Organization stated that there was no discernable reason to lower the PPB from 50 to 10
l The average bottled spring water contains between 35 and 49 ppb, more than twice the supposed “poison” water in the schools. Side note: Once the water in the Seattle schools was determined to be dangerous, they shut it off and brought in emergency bottled water (with twice the levels of arsenic.”
Need more examples? Watch CNN. Listen to Air America or Democracy Now. And yes, you’ll also find plenty of examples of fear-mongering on right wing programming as well, but if you honestly listen with an open mind, you will find the left uses fear far more often than the right.
I also want to address a couple of your closing points. First you ask us to “think about how well this last administration has done in fighting the

I also want to address a couple of your closing points. First you ask us to “think about how well this last administration has done in fighting the war on terror.” Okay. I’ll be the first to say that I’m not a huge George Bush fan, and while I think that history will prove him to better a better president than he is given credit for (Not great by any means, but not “the worst president ever” as most liberals will have you believe). Remember, there was a huge group of conservatives stating that Clinton was “The Worst President Ever” during his term.
Has he misled America? Honestly, I don’t know. Certain liberals will have you believe that he masterminded this whole “war for oil” thing, and yet at the same time they call him an idiot and functionally illiterate. Is he a great president? No, I really don’t think so. I’d even go as far to say that I think Clinton was overall a (slightly) better president, but at the same time Clinton never had to deal with terrorism on our soil to anywhere near the degree Bush did (and didn’t do so well with the terrorist not on our soil either.) I will say this for Bush and his administration: As we approach the sixth anniversary of 9/11, we have not seen another significant terrorist attack on our soil. Do you think this is an accident? Do you think Bin Laden, or whoever you may think was behind 9/11 said “There, that’s enough”.
So given the nature of the challenge, I think this administration has done a hell of a job fighting the war on terror.
You also ask “how well has this president dealt with our immigration problems”, after having earlier accusing all of the “Republican candidates stand on the stage at debates and continually tell you that the Mexicans pouring across our borders are criminals bringing drugs to sell to our children and live off of your tax dollars.” Now this is a debate in and of itself, and one which we may choose to get into later, but let me ask you this: Do these candidates really fear Mexicans? I do hear them talk of the needs to seal our borders, and yes, the majority of the illegal immigrants in this country are Hispanic, but that’s because we are bordered by Mexico. So? If we were bordered by Greece, and Greece had the same social and economical problems that Mexico currently had, the majority of illegals would be Greeks. And why not Canadians? Hey, I think we need to worry about that border as well.
Now before you accuse me of being a racist, I can honestly say that as a race, I really appreciate the Mexican and Middle American people. My two best friends in California (where I currently live) are both Hispanic, and in college Chris (The Red Hog) and I were roommates, and I’m sure he could tell you I’m not racist. But look at a couple of facts please. First of all, there are a lot of honest, hard working people in the US who happen to be illegal. But, they are still illegal. Let’s say tomorrow that you decide you would rather live in Germany. Or Australia, or France, or…… you get the picture. Can you just waltz in?  Of course not. There are rules, and in the end you may not be accepted. Does that make it right for you to go and live there legally?  Of course not.
Okay, I guess I started to debate this issue after all, so let me just say that, in response to the question “how well has this president dealt with our immigration problems”, I would have to say pretty poorly, like most presidents before him.
In closing I would like to discuss one more element of fear-mongering as I see it from the left, and that is, the need to embellish. And like I said earlier, I see this on the right as well, but with much less frequency. This weekend I watched the Michael Moore film, “Bowling for Columbine.” I know, I’m not exactly on the ball, that movie is what…. five years old? Well, I never saw it, and this weekend I did, and all in all I enjoyed it, and I think there were a few good points made, as well as a few questionable ones as well.
Now honestly, if I tried to discuss all I found out about the discrepancies in this film, I would go on for days. However, I would highly recommend that everyone go to:
http://www.hardylaw.net/ Truth_Ab...ut_Bowling.html
There are some really interesting facts here. And while it is obviously put together by a critic of Moore and his films, you would have to be blind to not see the hypocrisy in this film. And that’s a real shame, because I do believe Moore raises some interesting and valid points in this film, only to loose credibility by presenting half-truths and manipulations when I feel it was not necessary.
One more thing about this website; at the end of the website he links Moore’s own homepage, as well as a link titled “Equal Time”, giving critics of his website a chance to challenge him and his findings. Now, go find me a liberal website critical of Bush, or the war in Iraq, or any other conservative situation that does the same.
Bob Peters

 

            And now the right wing spin machine is all about what a stand up guy Sen. Larry Craig is for taking his punishment like a man and pleading guilty.  That is the difference between conservatives and liberals they say.  A Republican will accept his punishment and move on.  Yeah right.  Craig has been back tracking ever since his arrest for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis men’s room became public.  And another thing; to my way of seeing things Republicans seem to stand up and face their charges because they are caught so red handed so often.  Think Mark Foley, think Jack Abramoff, think Tom DeLay, Nick Smith R – Mi, Duke Cunningham, and Bob Ney just to name a few that come to mind in an instant. 

            If it helps my Republican friends to think they are more morally upright after they are caught being immoral more power to them.  The fact remains they continue to be caught at a high rate in a variety of really stupid activities.  You can’t escape the idea that to do some of what those accused of high profile transgressions have been accused of they need to have arrogantly assumed they were above the law in the first place.  We will give you Bill Clinton and William Jefferson for your Scooter Libby, Alberto Gonzales and Dick Cheney.  I don’t care if they plead guilty or not so long as they are convicted.  To claim that your guy took it like a man is all just too much bull shit to me.  They should have been a man in the first place. 

 

            I had one call at work yesterday to help a user resize a window and another to explain how the num-lock key works.  And I wrote a post for yesterday that I thought did a good job of explaining how Karl Rove campaigning works and with great partisan restraint I thought; but was called out by some regular readers for being too one-sided.  WTF?  Are you guys buying into the MSM reporting of the low Congressional poll ratings?  I have laughed the Congressional poll ratings off because in the first place the ratings are only slightly lower than they always are and more importantly because almost half of the Congress is composed of obstructionist Republicans.  I have to admit that one thing I truly admire about the Republicans is their willingness to stick together. 

            I have some big problems with some of the Democratic candidates for president but you won’t see me sharing those thoughts with you on these pages.  It could very well be that I will be forced to cast a lesser of two evils vote one year from this November and I don’t want to be in a position of eating my words when I have to recommend that we support a given candidate.  I have been an avid candidate for reform candidates all along and recognize fully that Washington is broken.  If we do not believe we can change the way things work in Washington then we should all just pack up our computers and store them in the woodshed. 

            It is obvious that a majority of Americans want change and action from Congress but I guess I don’t understand what people expect with the small margins the Democrats enjoy.  In the current environment of votes being set up to use against the opposite side more than to move along legislation the Congress has become mired in partisanship.  Both sides are guilty of that.  If my Senator or Congressman cast their votes in fear of being on the wrong side of an issue that lacked the votes to beat a veto I would be all over them.  If your legislators are guilty of voting their career ahead of their conscience you should be all over them.  But don’t lose faith.  Don’t think for a moment that a super majority of Democrats would not find courage to bring about the change that we are so desperate for. 

            I’m assuming that if you guys take time to come read my political rants day after day that you keep a pretty close eye on things.  If you want accountability then you have to demand it.  If you want change then you have to call for it.  If you want to see an end to fear mongering than you have to stop buying into it. 

 

            Functional magnetic resonance imaging, FMRI, allows scientists to observe which sections of our brain are used in response to specific stimuli.  One discovery from using this technology has been that emotions, fear being one of the strongest, have a greater ability to influence our decision making than logic and reason.  That being understood, in the context of how post traumatic stress syndrome works, explains a lot when it comes to understanding how anybody could still be supporting the president’s war in Iraq. 
            Recent studies in brain behavior have discovered that logic and reason are processes that we are able to store in our brain with an associative time stamp.  Most of our memories are stored in a perspective of logic and reason as we identify a situation in context of previous experiences or expectations.  We are able to attribute most of our memories to a specific time because of the way of our brain processes the information when we experience it.  Emotion on the other hand and especially strong emotion is not as readily processed with a time reference in our memory.  In essence this is what post traumatic stress syndrome is.  When the images of a frightening experience enter our head our mind is not able to differentiate the emotion in a time specific context and the physiological reactions from that fear are evoked.  Our rational mind knows that the event occurred in the past but our subconscious is reliving the experience every time we recall the incident. 

            So now you know why the 8 of the 9 Republican candidates stand on the stage at debates and continually evoke the image of 911 when talking about Iraq.  If those fearful images of collapsing towers enter your mind you are less able to apply logic and reason to the message they are selling you.  If you applied logic and reason you would question the association of Iraq to 911 when all of the intelligence now known has disconnected Iraq with that fateful day in September.  Now you know why 9 of 9 Republican candidates stand on the stage at debates and continually tell you that the Mexicans pouring across our borders are criminals bringing drugs to sell to our children and live off of your tax dollars.  Republican strategists know that fear is more powerful than critical thinking in effecting your decision making.  The GOP candidates are invoking fear and then telling you they can protect you.

            I would suggest that we all take some deep breaths and think about how well this last administration has done in fighting the war on terror, how well has this president dealt with our immigration problems, how much of the robust economy have you participated in?  Those are the questions you need to ask yourself when deciding whom to support for president in 08. 

 

            Ya know… I try to lead a good life; I try to live my life as an example for people around me but for some reason, whenever I get to feeling good about my progress in that regard I get put right smack back in my place.  Last week I received an email from the pastor at our church and he wanted to meet with me to discuss a men’s group that will be starting at our church in September.  I was pretty excited about that because I had wanted to get to know the pastor better than the receiving line after services had allowed.  I had been thinking for a couple of months that I wanted to call him and see if he ever had time to meet for lunch and this opened that door nicely.  In fact it was kind of spooky in that “God works in mysterious ways” sense because after I replied that I would be happy to meet with him he replied with, “Great, how about we meet for lunch?”  do do doo do, do do doo do. 

            So we met for lunch and talked about what we needed to talk about and I was feeling pretty good about doing the right thing and feeling like I had presented myself with the proper spiritual demeanor and all.  I wasn’t about to pretend I am something I’m not, however, as he is aware of this blog after all.  We had a nice lunch and then made our way out of the restaurant when a friend of mine came careening through the parking lot.  She saw me from a distance and started yelling, “Chris! Chris!  How are you?”  The pastor and I both stopped in our tracks and I turned and made my way over to the friend’s car and started talking to her.  Before I had a chance to introduce her to my pastor she started right in with asking if I had been doing much riding, if I had made it out to Sturgis and the like.  I told her I hadn’t, “lots going on this summer.” And she said she and her significant other (Joe) had.  “That’s great.” I said.  “Did you have a good time?” I asked.  “The wildest! “ she exclaimed, “Except Joe was pretty grouchy for most of the trip because I kept showing off “THE GIRLS” and made like she was going to flash both me and my pastor right there in the parking lot.  I nearly fainted.

            This particular friend is a very attractive younger lady and for the briefest of moments I forgot all about my pastor standing behind me.  I think I was lost in imagery of some of the sights I might have seen had I had made it out to Sturgis with them or something.  And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I was standing in the parking lot hearing all this in the presence of my pastor! Things got very awkward for a moment until, thankfully, parking lot traffic started to build behind her car.  We exchanged quick goodbyes and I slowly turned to face my pastor.  I was afraid to look him in the eye.  I needn’t have worried.  He was grinning widely and he asked me, “So Chris, have you been to Sturgis before?”  I vaguely remember stammering out some lame answer about having been out to Sturgis nine or ten times but qualified that with a fumbling excuse that the area is so big and beautiful that you can really make the trip what ever you want it to be.  He chuckled softly as if to let me off the hook and I thanked him for meeting me and made a bee-line for my truck.

            So now I’m not so sure if I will have a position on that men’s committee at my church and if I don’t it wasn’t meant to be.  Things just always having a way of working out like that for me and I guess that’s alright.  I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

 

(Profanity Warning – Please skip the first paragraph today if foul profanity offends you.)

 

Last night I was surfing the net a little and came across a link to a concert video of Ted Nugent.  As a product of the 60’s and having spent my formative years about the same time Ted Nugent’s career peaked I was interested to view the clip.  I always knew that the motor city madman was an NRA freak, (as opposed to a sportsman) but my appreciation of his music easily outweighed any political concerns I may have had.  No more.  In this video Ted Nugent holds up an M16 machine gun and urges “piece of shit” Barack Obama to “suck on” it and then screams that the “worthless bitch Hillary Clinton should ride on it.”  It made me wonder what Bill O’Reilly would say if Barbara Streisand were to go on stage and say, “George Bush is stupid.”  Cable news and talk radio would be on fire ranting about hate speech and the evils of liberalism.

Ann Coulter in talking about her book “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)” said, “What I didn’t like about How to Talk to a Liberal is that I really think the best way to talk to one is to hit them in the head with a baseball bat.  So I threw in the parenthetical If You Must.”  Mitt Romney posed for those pictures with one of his supporters where they both held up the sign that said, “No to Obama Osama and Chelsea’s Moma” and suggested that we should all lighten up; that he didn’t read the sign. 

            Colorado Republican state representative Jim Welker emailed his supporters an essay that claimed the victims of Hurricane Katrina were “immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out.”  But he was only a state level Republican legislator.  Surely a Republican of national prominence would not think along those lines.  Newt Gingrich said, "How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane.”  I guess there is no compassionate conservatism shown there.  Surely the Mother of Compassionate Conservatism would have some kind words to ease the minds of the unfortunate residents caught behind in the wake of Katrina.  “What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.”  Barbara Bush September 5, 2005.

            I know that all Republicans do not think this way but I don’t hear a lot of Republicans standing up against such comments.  In fact, since 2003 it has been a point of the GOP national committee to attack Democratic “hate speech” as a campaign issue.  In quintessential Rovian style the GOP attack machine has been very effective in painting liberals as haters and conservatives as compassionate.  It would seem obvious that both sides need to do a better job when it comes to the flavor of their speech.  I think that would be easier for Democrats than it would be Republicans.  It’s kind of hard to imagine avoiding hate speech when your campaign is built upon a Christian jihad against Islam and evicting lazy criminal Mexicans.  I do not understand how good people can support such policies.

 

 

SWMBO warned me, my daughter pleaded with me, my son laughed at me and Campus Security made it very clear that they were in charge of where you could and could not park when unloading student possessions into the dorms.  Lucky for me that meant I could back right up on the sidewalk by the door.  Campus security was abundant and helpful and that helps a Dad find comfort when he is dropping his daughter off for her first year of college.  They assured me they would keep an extra close eye on my daughter and keep her in line.  (Courtney…are you reading this?)

 

I made the most out of my trip to Iowa City on Thursday.  To keep myself busy and my mind off of saying goodbye to my daughter I visited with other parents and the campus security between loads.  Something about being on a college campus and seeing that police cruiser brought back warm memories of my college days.  One of the officers was kind enough to let me pose near his cruiser.

We got Courtney moved into her dorm just before the clouds opened up and dumped some more unneeded rain on Iowa City.  I’m going to take that as a good omen.

         

Courtney & her gear, off to college.->

 

You could vote for this guy.  Watch this video you will see why.

 

            Clearly the fact that the Crandall Canyon mine has claimed three lives while the fate of six additional miners remains all but certain is not George Bush’s fault.  That doesn’t mean that the pattern of events leading to those deaths do not merit consideration as being all too familiar.  When you consider that there were no mining deaths in the eight years leading up to the Bush administration and there have been deaths in all seven years since; it would appear to be more than coincidence.  (death from mine collapse)  So how would that happen?  What could have changed under the Bush administration that would so dramatically change mine safety?  It would seem that the problems with mine safety would be one of safety management. 

            The New York Times reported, “An internal memo drafted in April by an engineering company noted poor roof conditions (At Crandall) in March and a “large bump” that heavily damaged a tunnel section, prompting work to stop. The workers trapped on Aug. 6 were working about 900 feet away from that scene.”  The Crandall Canyon Mine has a history of safety or health citations.  The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) had issued 33 citations against Crandall Canyon already this year; many of which were declared “significant and substantial.”  A significant and substantial problem is defined as “the reasonable likelihood that the hazard contributed to or will result in an injury or illness of a reasonably serious nature.”  While the fact that these problems were noted is commendable the reality that enforcement to correct them was nonexistent fits a pattern of lax oversight by Bush appointees. 

            The Bush appointees; has there ever been a more unqualified consortium of hacks and cronies placed in important positions?  Richard Stickler, Director of MSHA is no exception.  Stickler was a former mine executive who faced extensive Congressional opposition because they felt he  would be too accommodating to the mining industry.  On two occasions Congress refused to confirm Stickler as MSHA Director because they had serious questions about the safety record of the mines he had managed.  So what did our president do?  He used a recess appointment to get his guy the job.  That’s what you do when you want to put a fox in the henhouse.

            Lax oversight that clearly has the interests of profit margins and concentration of power ahead of worker safety, environmental protection, medical services, education and even our judicial system are the legacy of the last seven years.  At what price?  I don’t know how you can convince grieving families, bankrupt pensioners, or homeless families that this change in priorities has been good for America.  Thankfully we only have 514 more days to endure this administration.  If another man with similar priorities is elected in 08 we have only you to blame.  I say "you" cuz I know I’m not going vote for anybody like that! 

 

            On Tuesday I took my son to the local community college and we made sure his registration, tuition and books were all lined up.  Today is the day I move his twin sister to college.  Courtney has worked her way to a four year full tuition scholarship at the University of Iowa.  Things are changing here at the old Red Hog homestead but I am not going to go and get all emotional about it.  Yeah….right!

 

You may have seen this story in your inbox before; even if you have I think it is worth another read.  Some say this is urban legend others claim it is true: The Tablecloth - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid.

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.  When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.  They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.  On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.  On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.  His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.  On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. 

            By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus.  She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.  She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.  Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.  "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.  The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.  When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.  The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church.  The pastor insisted on driving her home; that was the least he could do.  She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

            What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great.  At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.  One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.  The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.  He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.  He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.  The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.  He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

 

            Ya gotta love a story like that don’t ya?

 

CHICAGO, IL — Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA), the first and only Iraq War Veteran to serve in Congress, announced today his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President.   Congressman Murphy is a recipient of the Bronze Star and former West Point professor.

“When I returned from Baghdad, I saw that we needed to go in a new direction -- both here at home and in Iraq.  I am inspired by Senator Obama's call to service and believe he is best suited to bring about the changes we need in our country,” Murphy said. “Senator Obama truly wants to unite America and speaking as a former Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division, I know that he has the judgment we need to be our next Commander-in- Chief.”  

Congressman Patrick Murphy deployed twice after 9/11, first in Bosnia (2002) and then in Baghdad (2003-2004).  He also taught constitutional law at West Point.  After un-seating the Republican incumbent to represent Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district in 2006, Congressman Murphy was asked to serve on the House Armed Services Committee, and as the only freshman congressman on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  In Congress he has worked with Senator Barack Obama on the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007 to stop troop addition and develop a plan to redeploy American troops.

“I’m honored to have Congressman Murphy’s endorsement,” Obama said. “Congressman Murphy is a part of the new generation of American leaders that’s bringing a fresh voice to our nation’s capitol. He knows that we need fundamental change in our politics and our foreign policy if we want to make the progress America so desperately needs.” 

Congressman Murphy’s endorsement comes as Senator Obama prepares to address the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Kansas City, MO later today.   Obama will discuss his agenda to ensure that America’s military continues to be the strongest fighting force in the world, and to make certain we honor our nation’s sacred trust to care for veterans and their families, both commitments he shares with Congressman Murphy and a cause that has guided his work on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  

            Michael Vick plead guilty to federal dog-fighting conspiracy charges on Monday for which he faces up to five years in prison and the possible end to his professional football career.  Here in Iowa two of the top receivers for the University of Iowa have been arrested for making purchases with stolen credit cards last May.  When I hear news like that I just shake my head and try to comprehend why.  Young men with what would appear to be the world at their fingertips and they let it all slip away with some really dumb decisions.  Well it could be said that Michael Vick was a little further down the career path.  He had an all but a vice grip hold on his own personal lifestyle of the rich and famous.  Or did he? 

            There is no way for us to know what led these gentlemen seek thrills or riches outside of their, what we would assume, exciting lives.  It’s kinda sad though that they chose the paths they did.  Sports aren’t really important, not when you really think about it but a lot of people look to their teams as a dependable escape from lives that don’t have tens of thousands of lives cheering them on.  In the case of the two Hawkeye’s they are innocent until proven guilty but I’m still a little annoyed that they were close enough to trouble to have jeopardized a season that I had looked forward to all summer long.

           

            So how did the random acts of kindness go yesterday?  Did you remember to give it a try?  For my part I tried to be cheerful in all my dealings and practiced extra courteous driving.  And believe me that wasn't easy for me.  Perhaps my highlight of my driving kindness came at a four way stop sign in the early morning work commute.  I arrived at the intersection at about the same time as a young lady with big hair who was yakking away on her cell phone.  As a function of taking turns, my line then her line I should have gone first.  As the rule of law I was actually stopped first and should have gone first.  But I could tell she was in a big hurry by the way she raced up to the stop sign, nearly pushing the car ahead of her through the intersection.  Her expression was a little agitated to and even doing my best to set all paranoia aside I imagined her being greatly annoyed as she anticipated waiting the entire 8 seconds it might take for me to clear the intersection.  I gave her a smile and waved her through. 

            I’m not sure what I expected but suddenly her features changed dramatically and I received a big toothy grin and a wave of her cell phone for my chivalry.  I loved it that she reacted that way.  It let me know that she noticed and that she appreciated that simple little gesture.  I drove the rest of the way to work in a better mood than I had been and wondered if maybe she did to.  Even better, I wonder if maybe she paid it forward in some small way throughout her day.  I’m pretty sure the world didn’t change today as a result of what happened at the intersection of Glass and Wenig Roads this morning but maybe, just maybe, like a ripple in a pond, what happened their this morning will live on in ways we could never imagine.

            Don’t be shy; try a little random act of kindness today.  It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant you think it may be.  We’d love to hear about it here in the comment section. 

 

…maybe if you are a lawyer who lives in Iowa City you could offer some good free legal advice to a couple of misguided wide receivers!

 

            I grew up Catholic and now attend a Christian Reformed Church but never did manage to rid myself of the infamous Catholic guilt.  I have a lot of excuses for missing services the first two Sundays this month but none of them seemed good enough when I sat through church yesterday morning being singled out in my pastor’s sermon.  Well I wasn’t singled out literally but point by point the sermon seemed to be directed straight at me.  It never ceases to freak me out when I sit through one of those services that seem to have been prepared specifically for me.  It almost makes me think Dick Cheney having access to my emails and phone calls are insignificant compared to what the church seems to have planted in my head.  Well, actually it wouldn’t matter if anyone read my email or listened in on my phone calls but I still consider it criminal that, without a warrant, they could.  But I digress…

            The sermon revolved around John chapter 5 vs.1-15 where an invalid of 38 years was healed at Behesda in Jerusalem.  The invalid was healed in spite of his lack of faith, in spite of his asking for help and the point was not missed that the man knew not of Jesus nor was it mentioned that he was appreciative for God’s mercy.  So the lesson for us was if Jesus would help a man such as that; what glorious things might we expect if we keep God a focus in our lives? 

            And then things got creepy for the old Red Hog.  The pastor told us that we may have more in common with the invalid than we might at first imagine.  There are times when we embrace feelings of suffering or inadequacy.  He challenged us to be honest about things that get in the way of our spiritual growth by reflecting on our most significant inadequacies.  “What gets in the way of your growth, what sin or vice, what addiction, what pain, what injustice or what feeling of unfairness do you cling to the most that blocks your spiritual path?”  I felt stupid at this point because it became clear that he meant which single one of those things might be obstacles to our growth and I had been bullet pointing an obstruction for each encumbrance he had listed.  Oops!  I hope the church mind meld had not been recording during that point. 

            About the time I recovered from the conviction of the pastor’s question he had moved on and was discussing a meeting of the church leadership.  He had asked the attendees to go around the table and tell him if they knew of anybody they knew of who was facing challenges in their lives and had nobody to help them.  He wanted to get a feel if there were people they knew of who faced a difficult situation and had no family or friends they could depend on to help them in a difficult situation.  Before they made it half way around the table it was apparent that everybody knew of someone in dire straights and he stopped them.  He said, “None of those people need to face those problems alone because they have us.”  I thought about how very close that message was to what I attempted to communicate in my Saturday post.  Even if we would not do it for religious reasons we have an obligation to reach out to others in their time of need.  My problem recently has been that I was seeing that as a government role and not something that I should be doing.

            In the comment section on yesterday’s post Keith pointed out that this idea is best summarized by random acts of kindness.  Random acts are a beautiful thing and if we combine those with specific acts of kindness the world is going to be a lot better place.  I’d be interested to know of any acts of kindness my Red Hog readers might be capable of.  Please share them in the comment section. 

            I had a pretty cool weekend in blog world.  Lori of HahnAtHome.com devoted an entire post to her friend the Red Hog on Sunday.  I’m not sure the post is as flattering as I might have been able to make it but it did give me a few laugh out loud moments.  Especially the point where she said, “Chris was always bigger than me.  Never, ever get on a teeter totter with him.”  The other big blog news moment in my life was when the Angry Black Bitch finally added the Red Hog Diary to her blogroll.  AngryBlackBitch.com was one of the first blogs I read with any regularity, thanks to Lori for sending me a link.  Maybe there is something geeky about being excited to see your website linked on a site you admire but that’s okay.  That little link gave me an “I’m somebody” moment and nobody can take that away from me.  Have a great week Red Hog Readers.