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Website of the Week
For those who are gluttons for listening punishment, here is my official myspace musician page.
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last modified May 11, 2008 at 18:16
David Aikman, author of Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power, is interviewed by Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review Online. Here is a juicy sample:
Lopez: Many of the Christians are elites — scientists, intellectuals. How did that happen?
Aikman: Several of the Chinese students and scholars studying in the U.S. and other foreign countries become Christian. Many of these also returned to China and meet up with colleagues of similar professional attainment who were holding private Christian meetings. Those attending these meetings then began to invite others. Word spread that Christianity "worked," that is, that people who were Christian were genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and that prayers often produced remarkable physical healings from difficult illnesses.
But another factor has been a very open-minded approach by many Chinese intellectuals into such phenomena as the remarkable historical primacy of Western civilization around the world. How could this happen? What were the core principles of Western civilization that enabled it, time and again, to correct itself rather than plunge into cyclical and eventually permanent decline? Many concluded that it was Christian ethics and the dynamism of a faith based on a profound hope in the future and a belief that history was not cyclical, as Buddhism and even Confucianism proclaimed, but linear, and with a specific end goal.
Finally, Christians in the fine and performing arts have shown that there is a way out from the often-nihilistic cycle of modernism and postmodernism. This can be very attractive to artists who would prefer a hope-filled universe in which to develop their creative skills.
I'm sure that most of you have heard about PETA passing out the shock comic "Your Mommy Kills Animals" to kids with their fur-wearing moms attending The Nutcracker all across the country. Well, apparently PETA is pretty proud of this comic, displaying it prominently on their site. So go check it out and see the stupidity for yourself.
If a PETA person were to attempt to hand something like this to one of my kids, I think that individual had better be thinking about their own "ethical treatment". This comic is just ridiculous and maliciously written to portray junior's mommy as a "vicious killer".
Thanks to Worldmagblog for linking to this compelling piece by Robert Fisk, a columnist for The Independent of Great Britain. Fisk describes his first meeting with Saddam twenty-five years ago and discusses why, even in captivity, his name still continues to exude power over some Iraqis.
In the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq this year, we journalists -- and all praise to Paul Wood of the BBC for his part in this -- got our hands on videos of some of the most pornographic violence any of us would be able to stomach. For 45 minutes, Saddam's security police whipped and beat half-naked Shiite prisoners in the courtyard of their "Mukhabarat" headquarters.
They are covered in blood, screaming and whimpering. They are kicked and their testicles crushed and pieces of wood forced between their teeth as they are pushed into sewers and clubbed on the face.
The videos show that there were spectators, uniformed Baathists, even a Mercedes parked in the background under the shade of a silver birch tree.
I know, I know, USC is not playing in the Sugar Bowl. It's a joke, because USC has all the sports media love, as far as the national championship goes.
Carl Dubois, a sports writer for the Baton Rouge Advocate, has a humorous article making a similar case. Here's an excerpt:
Remember the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl between LSU and Oklahoma? Seems like it was only yesterday. Still, we're glad we videotaped it so we could take a look in awe and wonder. ...
7 p.m. -- Brent Musburger: "You're looking live at the ADT National Championship Trophy, which will be awarded after the game to USC, because we just think it is the best team in all of college football."
7:01 -- Gary Danielson: "Sit back and enjoy these USC highlights as you see the Trojans march through sometimes-fierce resistance of Pac-10 teams, some with 11 players on the field at once."
7:06 -- John Saunders: "Back here in Times Square, we should point out, in all fairness, that USC is not playing tonight. After a commercial timeout, we'll tell you who will be."
7:10 -- Musburger: "You're looking live at LSU senior defensive tackle Chad Lava Lamp ... Chad La Voilà ... Chad Laval ... LaValliere ... Laviolette ... La Bohème ... La Vo-Lay ... Frito-Lay ... LSU defensive tackle Art Vandelay."
7:12 -- Danielson: "Jason White. Tommie Harris. Derrick Strait. Teddy Lehman. Brent, Oklahoma is the best team in the history of college football -- except, of course, for USC."
...
In honor of the Lord of the Rings third installment The Return of the King, here are three interesting perspectives from NRO.
Jonah Goldberg - Trilogy Prize
Steve Beard (not Treebeard, mind you) - Tolkien and Civilization
Joseph Pearce - Grading Jackson
Ah, what the heck. Here's Roger Ebert's (always the contrarian) review. After all, Tolkien didn't stop with the trilogy either.
Lauryn Hill blasts the Pope and the Catholic church:
Hill, 28, launched her diatribe in front of an audience of 7,500 guests at a packed Paul VI hall, used by Pope John Paul II for indoor public audiences.
"I'm not here to celebrate, like you, the birth of Christ, but to ask you why you are not in mourning for his death in this place," Hill said, reading from a prepared statement as she came on stage for her performance as part of a all-star gala concert.
"Holy God has witnessed the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy," she added, calling on the hierarchy to "repent".
Today, we went to a local nursery and bought our Christmas tree. God blessed us in that all trees were half-price. Sweet....totally!(a little Finding Nemo reference)
So, this afternoon, we adorned the tree with the ornaments...ones passed down, given to us when we were married or had our children, or ornaments that Kat and the kids have made. The tree has become a display of the unity and uniqueness of our family and changes character as our family changes character.
When I was growing up, we would go out into the woods about a week or two before Christmas and pick the fullest fir that we could find. Usually, it had a huge gaping space that had to be turned toward the wall. One year, we had a tree that must have been 11 or 12 feet tall...in a ten foot room!
For me, Christmas has always been about family. I have 8 brothers and 2 sisters. I realize more and more that the joy that I have with my family is a direct result of God making us a part of his family through Christ. What a comfort and grace to have physical brothers and sisters and to share that kinsmanship in Christ!
I hope everyone has a great Christmas season. I'll still be posting in throughout the holidays, but it's never to early to share the love. 
Today was the last day of my MBA program. Now I just have to await my final grade. Let the suspense begin!
First off, ahem! My Tigers are in the Sugar Bowl and will be playing for the National Championship against the Oklahoma Sooners.
Well, sort of. If USC beats Michigan in the Rose Bowl, then the AP poll could declare them to be the National Champions regardless of the outcome of the BCS Sugar Bowl. Thus, they would share a co-championship with the BCS winner. The Coaches Poll is required to recognize the BCS Winner as the National Champion.
Confused yet?
I won't go into the BCS bashing. It obviously needs to have a four-team playoff series using the BCS bowls as the Great Saban has said already.
I think that had Notre Dame beaten Syracuse and Hawaii won against Boise State allowing USC to remain in front of LSU in the BCS, the media wouldn't be raising such a hullabaloo about a USC/Oklahoma matchup in the Sugar. Also, I think the whole issue will be moot after Michigan spanks USC like an ugly space monkey in their own back yard. Then everyone will realize the sad truth that USC is just a bit overrated in the AP and Coaches polls.
Isn't this fun?
If you don't like college football, skip this bleg, but if you eat it up the way your chubby second-cousin gobbles up thanksgiving turkey, then read on.
The #3 LSU Tigers, also known as MY Tigers, are taking on the #5 Georgia Bulldogs this weekend. In Georgia. Possible national championship contention on the line. Razor thin difference between LSU's #3 and USC's #2 BCS rankings. Potential 12th win of their season. Yes, folks, this is good.
If you read my satirical bleg on the BCS (see "BCS Melee"), you will understand how crazy this BCS thing has turned out to be. LSU not only has to win but root for Syracuse over Notre Dame, so that USC's strength of schedule will diminish, possible giving my Tigers the bump into the #2 spot.
Check out the fun, and please, enjoy!
Who said this in a recent interview?
"Today the West is the only military power, and within the West there is the incomparable supermilitary power of the United States,
and today we ask if it should be possible, looking to the future, to intervene as exporters of democracy and freedom in the whole world."
"The only territory really occupied by the United States is that in which the soldiers who died for our freedom lie."
a.)Colin Powell
b.)Tony Blair
c.)Silvio Berlusconi
d.)Jacques Chirac
e.)None of the above
(click link for answer)
According to insider experts at BCS Headquarters, Oklahoma has such a commanding lead in the BCS that even if they lose the Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma's strength of schedule points will keep them in the number one position regardless of who they play.
USC's head coach Pete Carroll said that "this stinks to high heaven" and threatened to carry out a "down the ball on every play" protest if not corrected.
Nick Saban, LSU's head coach said that he "doesn't care a whit about the BCS" and that all the "BCS talk is 'mental clutter' interfering with preparation for our game with Georgia" which is "not a big game, by the way".
One theoretical way (according to our BCS actuaries) that the winner (other than Oklahoma) of the BCS Championship Sugar Bowl could be number one in the BCS, depends on the outcomes of the bowl games prior to the Sugar Bowl. If Big 12 schools lose their bowl games, then Oklahoma's strength of schedule may fall just low enough to tip the scales.
In other news, the New York Times still asserts in their poll that TCU is the number two team in the nation followed by the lowly Vanderbilt University, who was given quality points for the integration of the Athletics Department into the Student Affairs Department. The NYT poll also said that it refuses to rank LSU in the top ten due to its "Former Slave State Penalty". Vanderbilt University avoided this penalty by meeting the minimum threshold for liberal professors, students, and "Hate Bush" rallies.
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