Washington (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping health care bill that would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years.

Reid and other Senate Democrats cited an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for the coverage and cost figures. The CBO estimates the proposal would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years, through 2019. Any effect on the deficit in the following decade would be "subject to substantial uncertainty," but probably would result in "small reductions in federal budget deficits," according to the CBO.

Great (eyes-rolled).

This book, Methland, chronicles the crank-fueled decay of a small town in Iowa, Oelwein. The top three states, in order, for meth lab busts are Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. But Missouri is the Yankees of this odious trend, with three times the number of homegrown destruction as its nearest competitor.

Let's not call it the "next crack epidemic" just yet. But as unemployment rises, so does meth use. Any church in a small town area or rural setting must include the meth industry in its local anthropology. I've heard stories of kids riding their bikes around with a one-pot backpack. I've long thought that Jesus is the only rational alternative to drug abuse. But will anyone go to our small towns with the Gospel?

This is one way to grow:

Bridging a 475-year-old rift dating back to King Henry VIII's split with Rome, Pope Benedict XVI has made the historic decision to allow disaffected members of the Anglican communion to join the Catholic church. Converts would be allowed to keep many of their distinctive traditions.

The Anglican leadership fatally mismanaged a rift. Among other things mentioned in the article, we will have married Roman Catholic priests finally. Thoughts?

(CNN) -- A man who crashed his plane in the Florida Panhandle in an apparent attempt to fake his death was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in federal prison, officials said. Marcus Schrenker was accused of defrauding investors through companies he owned in Indiana.

Marcus Schrenker, 38, of McCordsville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in June to charges of destruction of an aircraft and causing the Coast Guard to respond when no help is needed. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in the northern district of Florida. . .

Authorities believe that Schrenker hatched the plot for the January crash after investigators with the Indiana secretary of state's office searched his home and business on December 31.

He has been charged in Indiana with one felony count each of an unlawful act by a compensated adviser and unlawful transaction by an investment adviser. Authorities have said they think he defrauded investors through three companies he owns in a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Question: what makes people think they will actually get away with stuff like this? Don't people watch CSI and Law and Order? The dude was probably married and stuff and this is just a horrible thing to do to your family, bro. WOW!!

This line from a story on ABC.com caught my eye:

"I'm boycotting [Whole Foods] because all Americans need health care," said Lent, 33, who used to visit his local Whole Foods "several times a week."

Whole Foods must be doing something right to piss this guy off. The prices at Aldi's and Trader Joe's are more my style, but I have to support a CEO who publicly says this:

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction--toward less government control and more individual empowerment.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, backs up his stance by pointing to his company's excellent health benefits. He goes to list some good ideas, then throws this in:

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America.

What? I'm not sure what he means by his later use of "intrinsic," but there's more immediately gratifying quotations:

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor's Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.

Why would Mackey risk angering his socialist-leaning customer base? Is he in bed with medical companies that will collapse under Obama's Ministry of Health, or is Mackey simply acting morally?

Anyone else notice the shared epistemic issues underlying questions regarding both Sotomayor's legal philosophy and the art of biblical interpretation? It sounds like a lot of legal conservatives believe people can be objective. How does/should someone's race/gender/culture affect his knowledge?

Sotomayor's quotation being dissected is:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

I was surprised to learn that the Supreme Court ruled against the City of New Haven's discrimination. One legal professor had this to say:

...[in the past] Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience."

That's profound.

...the way people think about Ricci - and this includes the justices - is in large part shaped not by logic or law but by their attitudes about the world. In particular, it depends on whether they think it is more likely that minority candidates were simply not as good as the whites, or more likely that there was some unintended bias skewing the results. What drives these attitudes, as Holmes knew, is experience. The facts of Ricci are an inkblot in which we all see the pictures life has drawn for us.

Sounds like Sowell's Conflict of Visions. It's obvious from the way this expert framed the two visions, i.e. the racist one vs. the scientific one, which side he's on. Has he framed it well?

It seems definitely that the song being played here is "Democracy at all costs"....the "system" has become an end. Sad.

In Honduras they call it a "forced succession", outside Honduras, from Chavez (who even threatened military intervention) to Obama, from the UN to the OAS, they call it a coup. What really happened?
Simple. The former president, Mel Zelaya broke the law and the Constitution by attempting to conduct a referendum that would allow him to be re-elected, among other things. Congress and the Judicial Branch acted accordingly to defend the Constitution, and ordered the president's arrest and elected a successor.
Why isn't this a coup? By definition, a coup invalidates the current Constitution and establishes a military government. The Honduran government is acting in defense of its own Constitution.
The question remains, is it acting legally in defense of the Constitution? That is the lingering question. What is disconcerting is the lack of support that the country has from the international community. How can presidents from all over the region support a president that violate the constitution on purpose and with no remorse? Is democracy an end in and of itself? What does democracy mean anyway? What is the proper Christian response?
The implications of this for Central America are HUGE!

So painful. I feel so bad for the wife and the boys. Tough road ahead for everyone.

Thoughts?

Truly, the UK needs the Gospel:

Men who go to church regularly prefer "proper macho songs" and feel uncomfortable with hugging and sitting in circles discussing their feelings, a survey for Christian men's magazine "Sorted" has found.

These guys need to be converted, stat.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they enjoyed singing, but were more motivated by "proclamational" hymns than sentimental-type songs.

Haven't these guys read the Bible verse proclaiming "Jesus, lover of my soul"?

Men were also uninspired by church discussion groups, with many suggesting that the pub would be a much better place for interacting.

Ok, enough sarcasm. Seriously, do small groups even work?

(CNN) -- North Korea is warning the world to stay out of part of its eastern waters for 16 days, starting Thursday, saying it will hold a military drill, Japanese officials said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, as seen at Wonsan University of Agriculture in an undated photo

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, as seen at Wonsan University of Agriculture in an undated photo

North Korea's hydrographic department e-mailed Japan's coast guard Monday, according to coast guard spokesman Shinya Suzuki. Japan monitors that part of the region's waters.

North Korea plans to hold military shooting practice in the waters northeast of Wonsan, on the country's eastern coast, from June 25 to July 10, according to the e-mail, Suzuki said.

The reclusive communist nation did not specify consequences of ships entering those waters during the drill, but the dates fall within the timeframe cited by Japanese media last week for a possible North Korea missile launch toward Hawaii.

The North issued a similar notice before it tested a long-range rocket in April.

"Axis of evil" is a term coined by United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. President Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his speech.

Quiz question: looking at what is currently happening in Iraq and North Korea, was George Bush right? (HT: Tim M.)

Hmmm. . .

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive officer of graphics chip maker Nvidia, called Intel's chip pricing unfair but said his company will not seek antitrust action against the world's largest chip maker for now.

Nvidia makes graphics chips that pair with Intel's low-powered Atom in lower-priced netbook computers. He said Intel sells an Atom chip by itself for $45, but sells a three-chip set for $25 to lure business away.

"That seems pretty unfair," he said. "We ought to be able to compete and serve that market."

Last week, the European Commission fined Intel $1.06 billion euros and ordered it to change its business practices for competing illegally against Advanced Micro Devices.

Intel brushed off Huang's suggestion.

"We compete fairly. We do not force bundles on any computer makers and customers can purchase Atom individually or as part of the bundle," said Bill Calder, a spokesman for Intel. "If you want to purchase the chip set, obviously there is better pricing."

For now, Huang plans no legal action.

"I hope it doesn't come down to that," he said, adding: "We have to do whatever we have to do when the time comes. We really hope this company (Intel) will compete on a fair basis."

Article here.

Get the man a tissue so he can wipe his eyes after his nose is out of the government's...well...nevermind.

This is why fans of capitalism are very often wisely not fans of capitalists, especially after they can get the government to back them up. As Sowell has mentioned, you can't find a positive reference to businessmen in Smith's Wealth of Nations(I believe he referred to them typically as 'industrialists,' and I'd like someone to find/remind me of the quote reading something like: 'every time businessmen get together to meet, the victim is the consumer'). Sowell, incidentally, would give an 'A' to any student who could find such a reference. If intel is selling stuff for "unfairly low" prices, that's GOOD for consumers. If nvidia can't sell at that price...guess what; innovate or go the hell away, don't whine to get the justice system to prop up your shitty business skills by hobbling your competitor.

Tomorrow, Monday June 1st, we'll be live on the radio here in Guatemala City speaking about the global financial crisis from a Christian and moral perspective. We'll be on Ilumina FM 98.1 and you can listen online.

The show is at 5:30pm Guatemala time. To find out the time in your area, visit here.

If you missed it, the podcast is available for download here.

The Christian youth of Guatemala is organized and ready. No more passivity.
comunicado-asterisco.pdf

More info on the Joven Emergente website.

Wow.

(CNN) -- A 23-year-old woman suffocated her son and then buried his body beneath the sand of a playground, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said Thursday. Tiffany Toribio, 23, was arrested and charged with killing her son.

Police arrested Tiffany Toribio about 4 a.m., just hours after they said they wanted to speak to her about her missing 3-year-old son, Ty. Family members had contacted authorities, saying her son matched the description of a boy found Friday at an Albuquerque playground.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said she confessed to killing the boy soon after being apprehended.

"She placed her hand over her son's mouth and nose and suffocated him. She had second thoughts about what she did. She performed CPR on her son, brought him back to life and then decided to go forward with that original act she had started to commit," Schultz said. Video Watch Schultz describe the alleged killing »

"What makes this story especially sad is, when asked the reason why she took Ty's life, Tiffany said that she did not want him to grow up with no one caring about him, the same way that she had grown up where nobody had cared about her."

So, what do you do with this?

This has been a proud week for me as a Guatemalan. It has been a tragic week for the nation...politically, socially. On top of that, a professor of mine from college and a lady that worked there that helped me with organizing a screening of the Call of the Entrepreneur documentary at the school, where killed in a tragic airplane accident yesterday, along with 4 others.

Yesterday a fellow Twitter was arrested for his opinions on the case that has been occupying our headlines for the past week, with the complicity of local media....sold to government interests.

Why am I proud you may ask? Because we haven't backed down, we keep marching, protesting and signing a petition for justice. I am proud because this has been a cause for the entire nation against the forces of corruption and fear that have for so long kept us quiet. I am proud because we are taking our nation back, peacefully, freely and for justice.

A great time to be here!!!! God bless Guatemala!!!

Today the youth of Guatemala will take the streets to demand justice and an end to impunity and corruption in Guatemala. A new day has come. Please be in prayer for us.

Guatemala is going through a VERY tense time today. Yesterday, a very prominent lawyer was murdered in broad daylight in one of the best areas in the city. His crime...having for a client a very prominent and good business man who was also murdered a while back along with his daughter.

Knowing he was going to be murdered because of his investigation into his client's murder, he left written and video testimony in which he makes very strong accusations against the highest levels of our government.

Declaraciones de Rodrigo Rosenberg (Completo) from Prensa Libre on Vimeo.

Now, more than ever, I realize that despite what goes on, our trust and hearts must be placed on Him who is sovereign over all...even the bad guys.

Pray for us.

UPDATE: The BBC has reported the story in English here.
The lawyer's testimony translated to English is here.

From Time Magazine:
If only it were the worst thing that a Roman Catholic priest has been caught doing. The Mexican celebrity magazine TVnotas recently published 25 paparazzi photos of the Rev. Alberto Cutie, the popular Miami Beach priest famous for his Spanish-language television and radio talk shows, cavorting amorously on a Florida beach with an attractive woman. Over a three-day period, the pictures also captured him kissing her in a bar. In one of TVnotas's "in fragranti" shots [Note to TVnotas copy editors: it's "in flagrante"] the woman wraps her legs around Cutie; in another, Cutie has a hand down her swimsuit, fondling her rear end.

So the now infamous and until a short while ago much loved charismatic catholic priest was caught by the paparazzi in Miami Beach with his Guatemalan girlfriend (a mother of 2) according to the New Miami Herald (who even published her home address). Many questions arise, celibacy will be questioned and once again, Christianity comes under attack as one of its leaders falls victim to sin and also to the unrealistic expectations we many times place on imperfect men.

CBS News Video of the story here.

Meet Gaby Moreno, a very talented Guatemalan singer songwriter who resides in the US. She is singing the theme for the new NBC series Parks and Recreation starring Amy Poehler. Gaby also won the John Lennon songwriting contest a few years back.

I figured that if I was going to have my son circumcised, I needed to watch the surgery:

Are you kidding me? No. Thanks.

The medical arguments seem to equate circumcision to an early STD-prevention step, similar to HPV vaccinations for baby girls. But there's a better way to prevent STD's: find out and then teach your kid why the LORD created and is redeeming sexuality (as Anthony says, this goes way beyond "Don't have sex until...") Also, help churches and other parents with this so that your kid has some friends that get it and someone to marry in the future.

Our mission

Youth for Western Civilization will educate, organize and train activists on campuses across the nation to create a culture that will promote the survival of Western Civilization and pride in Western heritage. This movement is focused on the support of Western history, identity, high culture, and pride and opposition to radical multiculturalism, political correctness, racial preferences, mass immigration, and socialism.

Ok, so with the environment that is currently boiling up: pandemia + economic crisis + terrorism + drug related violence + weak churches, I fear a movement like this will only worsen things. Countering "multiculturalism" and "racial preferences" seem to me dangerious ideals that will only continue to foster ignorance, fear, resentment and further the cycle of violence we live in.

Fox News reported on this movement here.

Thoughts?

The Mexican news website El Milenio reported that from now on the consumption of 5 grams of Marijuana, Cocaine or Crystal is legal. This is part of an effort to battle the "narco retail" business.

What are the implications? Is this the solution? What is the proper Christian response to this?

The pandemic is growing, plus the were just hit by an earthquake 100 miles away from Mexico City. The pandemic has spread to Europe, one suspected case in Guatemala as well. Let's pray for them.

I'm sure we can draw great lessons and principles from this. Despite the fact that its hilarious!!!!!!

I have recently begun working on an organization called Me Importa Guatemala, an organization who seeks to pull together all the isolated efforts in Guatemala to move our nation from its current environment of impunity, injustice and fear to an environment in which freedom and justice drive our growth, progress and future.

I know, it sounds cheesy, but it is not until you are faced everyday with death, crime, impunity and injustice that you realize how important it is to lose your fear and indifference and actually do something.

That is what this video is about. Taken from the movie based on the Mayan civilization, Apocalypto, we have resolved to take our country back, to not let fear dominate us so that we may leave our children a nation with dignity, purpose and courage.

Name everything wrong with this true situation:

A bunch of third-graders were singing "...blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol..." in school. It got stuck in their heads upon hearing a teacher's ringtone, which interrupted the song that was playing over the cafeteria worker's radio for all to hear: "Birthday Sex".

From CNN:

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday. One adult polar bit her several times after she plunged into the moat, police said.

Zoo workers tossed rescue rings toward the woman to hoist her out and distract polar bears swimming nearby, said Goerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer.

At one point the woman fell back into the water and was grabbed by a bear before she was eventually hoisted to safety.

"They saved her life," Gebhard told CNN.

The woman was severely injured and was being treated at a hospital, police said.
It's unclear why the woman entered the bear habitat, but police issued her a citation for trespassing.

Berlin Zoo is home to Knut, the first polar bear to be born there in over 30 years. The bear became a huge talking point in Germany when his mother gave birth to him in December 2006.

CNN has the story and video here.

Why would someone do this?

I was going to post something funny for April Fools' Day, but we're already experiencing a farce that can't be topped under the Obama administration. So for a change, let's listen to someone serious, Daniel Hannan, prophet-at-large:

It's not just the brilliant content, but it's the cadence, the delivery, the flow. When will the U.S. get its own Daniel Hannan? Had he been a candidate I would have voted for Hannan for President based primarily on this video, as is appropriate these days.

It's like Raekwon said:

"Frontin' like he's sittin' on a lump,
he's sittin' on junk."

This weekend is the next round of the CONCACAF World Cup 2010 Qualifiers. Pick your winners!

1. Mexico vs Costa Rica
2. Trinidad & Tobago vs Honduras
3. El Salvador vs USA

Current Standings (after 1 game):
1. Costa Rica
2. USA
3. El Salvador
4. Trinidad & Tobago
5. Honduras
6. Mexico

The result of this election now leaves only Mexico and Colombia in all of America (the entire continent from Canada to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina) as right-wing type governments.

On Monday, the FMLN's victory over the traditional right winged party ARENA in El Salvador caused major shockwaves across Central America. Ever since the signing of the Peace Agreements in El Salvador, the FMLN (former guerrillas) established themselves as a political party but had little success until this year when they finally won the presidency. Many analysts say that this was possible because they chose as their candidate an outsider, a former CNN journalist, Mauricio Funes, that had not been part of the FMLN or any of their armed efforts to take power.

Traditionally, El Salvador has been a very strong ally of the US and one of the most (if not the most) open economies in Central America with a very dynamic business sector and the most modern and efficient banking system in the region. Let's wait and see what happens.

Has anyone been following this? Pretty good teams and great games. These are the semifinals to be played this weekend:

USA vs. Japan
South Korea vs. Venezuela

The Pope's recent visit to Africa has been quite controversial. In a very bold and brave move, the Pope reaffirmed the Church's position on AIDS, the use of condoms and marriage and the family. I applaud his effort and as Christians we need to seek to reengage in this discussion, not through cheesy morality-driven abstinence pledge guerrilla tactics, but by shining the light of the Gospel on this issue. AIDS is the result of a heart and sin issue, it is the result of a devaluation of the family, of the value and dignity of the human person and of the sense of life and the true meaning of sex. Only the Gospel can illuminate us through these dark alleys.

Just wanted to let everyone know we just moved to our new place (rented), so after 2 months of being back from Brazil, we are finishing our settling in. Its the first time we as a family live in a house....before we had lived in apartments.

Crime works in mysterious ways. To those who have visited Guatemala or any other large latin american metropolitan area, terrible, nerve shattering traffic is no surprise. In a way, we have learned to live and cope with it, and to those of us who from time to time lose patience, we resort to the musical sound of our car horn.

The latest crime prevention emais that circle around Guatemala warn us about a new gamble or game that criminals are playing while they toy with our patience in traffic. Basically what happens is that if you are unfortunate enough to be behind the car of one of these criminals during a red light, they will bet on your life and reward you or punish you depending on your patience. As soon as the light turns green, they wait to see if you honk your horn prompting them to move. If you honk your horn, they get out of the car and kill you. If you don't, then they give you money...anywhere between US$60-US$250.

How about that? Now criminals are forcing us to learn virtues........

10 years after I wrote my thesis on "Stewardship and Transcendence: Two Key Biblical Principles of Economics" to obtain my B.A. in Economics from Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala, a reporter from El Periodico, came across it as part of her research in an article published last Sunday about a small rural, indigenous town in the Northwest of Guatemala called Almolonga. (You can download my complete Thesis in English here -please bear with my mistakes in grammar and style while reading it: Thesis English.doc) I had the privilege of being interviewed for this article.

Almolonga is famous for its amazing transformation from an extremely poor rural town, to a bustling commercial and agricultural center that has been infused for more than 35 years with the envigorated preaching of God's Word. The town is now more than 90% Christian, there is no jail, only one cop works in the town and most of the old "cantinas" are now mom & pop grocery stores. The town that now worships Christ, used to worship Maximon, a mayan-catholic deity/saint who required offerings of tobacco and booze in order to bless his devout followers. More on Almolonga here and here.

This is my guy:

Yesterday, Eric Holder, US Attorney General, informed that after 21 months of anti-narcotic operations in Mexico, 755 narcos related to the Sinaloa Cartel were captured and with that, 23 tons of drugs.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of a drug war against two powerful drug cartels in Mexico (the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel) that are themselves in a war to control the lucrative drug trafficking business into the US (for consumption).

The war between these two cartels has claimed over 6,000 lives in Mexico in 2008 alone (more than those in Afghanistan during the same year) and due to this drug war in Mexico (Government vs cartels and also cartel vs cartel), the cartels have begun to fight for a new territory to dominate.....Guatemala.

The following article was written by our good friend, Fernando Coronel, a brilliant young Catholic and brave lawyer-to-be from Ecuador who will most certainly be the country's next president. Anthony and I have the privilege of knowing him from various activities with the Acton Institute.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, a leftist U.S.-trained economist, recently imposed hundreds of restrictions and outright bans on imported goods in an effort to restrict the outflow of dollars from the national economy. But this desperate move will not work. Alarmed by slumping demand for oil -- his country's largest export -- Correa's protectionist measures are leading Ecuador back to the same failed policies of the past that have condemned so many Latin American countries to mediocrity and poverty.

Correa is a member of the small club of Latin American leaders who are advancing what they call "Socialism of the 21st Century." This group includes Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. But whether they call their policies the New Socialism or the New Left or whatever label strikes a populist tone, the results will be painfully familiar. The ruinous consequences of collectivism, restrictions on individual liberty, and huge increases in public spending are easily imagined. As someone once said, these socialists love the poor so much, they do all they can to multiply them.

Read the rest here:

Bobby Jindal's response to Obama's most recent campaign speech reminded me of the film "Fireproof." Both had some good ideas mixed into cheesy approaches. Both were low-budget compared to their analogs. And both were pre-deortained to fail in our superiors' eyes because both featured something worse than racism, sexism, or dog-fighting: the Southern accent. If you can't detect Jindal's Southern-cooking, you're probably from Alabama.

Brooks is one of our betters who is so intelligent that he didn't even have to listen to the speech. According to Brooks, Jindal is a "nihilist" policy wonk. I'm not smart enough to understand that.

My favorite part of this clip is at 1:50, some woman stutters repeatedly over this tongue-twisting phrase: "the delivery was not exactly terrific." Hilarious.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Thrust into the spotlight as a Republican rising star, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been depicted as an up-and-comer capable of helping reshape the party and jockeying for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Being tapped to give the GOP response to President Obama's address elevates Gov. Bobby Jindal's standing in the party. And now, Jindal's party is putting him on a national platform, awarding the once little-known congressman the political plum of delivering the Republican's televised response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress Tuesday night.

"The speech is very important. This is his coming-out party," said G. Pearson Cross, head of the University of Louisiana's political science department, who has observed Jindal's political rise. "His speech will put a face on the name." And put a fresh face on the Republican Party.

The GOP, still reeling from election beatings in 2006 and 2008, is looking to revamp itself by rebuilding from the states up and reaching out to young voters. At 37, the popular Louisiana governor embodies that mission, experts say.

Dude, if he runs in 2016 (I'm assuming Obama is a two-termer) that would be really, really cool. Two brown presidents in a row. Jindal probably would have the hardest times among evangelicals because they tend to prefer leaders that, well, have certain characteristics. But if he won in a state like Louisiana, the Southern evangelicals might consider supporting him. At any rate, that would be so cool!!

When I saw these old WWII posters (I understand that the historical context is completely different) and compared what is going on in Latin America with the new Bolivian constitution, Chavez going on for indefinite re-elections and our president flying to Cuba to bestow Guatemala's greatest honor, the Order of the Quetzal medal, to Fidel Castro and seeing at the same time what's happening in the US with this whole stimulus package frenzy, I cannot help but wonder if we are not on the brink of falling to these extremes again.

In Guatemala we have a saying: "El que calla, otorga" ("He who remains quiet, concedes"). Why aren't we taking the streets and denouncing all these outrageous policies, acts of corruption and impunity? I have a theory.....

Part 1: Guatemala Land of Impunity - some statistics to get the ball rolling on the discussion
1. 98% of all homicide cases remain in impunity.
2. 6,338 homicides in 2008 (+137% from 1999)
3. 3% of the National Civil Police resources are allocated towards investigation
4. 18 lynchings in 2008 alone - 15 resulted in deaths
5. Child pornography WAS NOT illegal in Guatemala until Feb 17th, 2009.
6. More than 722 violent deaths of women in 2008, only 5% reach the courtrooms
7. 1 investigator for every 20,900 inhabitants
8. 92% of all fiscal offenses remain in impunity
9. 2% of all cases entered into the justice system since 1997 have been resolved
10. The public defense system has interpreters for only 7 of the 22 indigenous mayan languages spoken in Guatemala

Thoughts? (this happens in a country were 40% of the population claims to be a born again Christian)

Needless to say...with all of that, it's still the best country on Earth! The Land of Eternal Spring...there is still hope!

"I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician." (Charlie Chaplin)

It's about time we stop taking ourselves too seriously. It is only when we are bold and humble enough to laugh at ourselves, and place ourselves at the mercy of others laughing at us that we can really begin to connect in true relationship with others.

What the Doctors of Joy do in hospitals is what we should do everyday on the street. Connect, empathize, laugh, cry and look at the bigger picture acknowledging the issues but daring to look beyond to hope with a smile, knowing that in the end, everything will work out when we go back Home.

Not sure if you can get the documentary in the US (it was produced in Brazil under the title "Os Doutores da Alegria" and it has subtitles in English). Here is a PDF presentation of their work: Doctors of Joy Presentation.pdf

This past Thursday (2-5-09), El Periodico (a Guatemalan newspaper), published an interview with a "Mara Salvatrucha" gang member caught red handed killing a bus driver after he refused to pay the extorsion (or war taxes as they call them) these gangs charge in order to keep the peace in Guatemala City's red zones.

The captured gang member is Anibal Juarez Lopez. He is 23 years old but claims to have 18. He lives in a "red zone" neighborhood, does not know his father and lives with his mother. He is a member of the Salvatruchas and he learned to fire an assault rifle when he was a boy.

I will transcribe the interview in the extended section of this post so that we might reflect a bit on the situation poor, young and undeducated fatherless guys go through in this part of the world.

Friends, yesterday I was on St. Louis' NPR station discussing my experience at the inauguration.

"A discussion with three St. Louisans who attended the inauguration of President Barack Obama about their reflections on the event and its implications on racial equality in the St. Louis region."

Anthony Bradley, Ph.D.
Research Fellow, Acton Institute; Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics
Covenant Theological Seminary
Blog Host, The Institute

Sylvester Brown, Jr.
Columnist
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ed Francis
Announcer, KWMU Radio

You can listen here.

Was anyone else there? Any reflections on your experience?

Just when you thought that the video documentary "Jesus Camp" went too far, you encounter Nezareth Castillo, the now 13 year old boy from the province of Trujillo in Peru who has been for quite some time (the video posted is a few years old) a child-star preaching sensation in South American megachurch circles.

Some people call him an alien, or even a midget posing as a kid. Others, more attracted by him, call him the greatest preacher of the 21st century. When interviewed by TV Chile when he was 8 years old, he expressed his wish to continue to preach the Word of God as he grew older and later even become president of Peru.

In all the videos I've seen of him, interviews, articles, etc., not once do I see either of his parents in the picture. Not once do I see him in the company of an older, wiser man that can teach him and guide him in the hard path of ministry. Instead, I see a young boy, speaking words well beyond his age or school level, arguing evolution ala "answers in Genesis" style, mesmerizing crowds of stupified church folk that jump up and down as they witness yet another irresponsible act of sacrificing the life of a young Christian on the altar of "leaderhip" or "annointing".

I ask myself if this is not simply Evangelical Child Abuse.....or as Paul once put it...despising our youth....throwing them onto the stage without guidance, time, experience and parenting. He is now 13....and we all know what begins to happen around that time. Let's just hope that after missing out on childhood, his teenage years do not destroy his life and that the Lord may keep him from temptation, from danger and especially, from blood thirsty, money loving preachers ready to make a quick buck by parading as a circus act a young boy that is definitely gifted, but is still that, a young boy.

by New York Gov. David Paterson:

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Like many New Yorkers, I remember a time when nearly everyone smoked. In 1950, Collier's reported that more than three-quarters of adult men smoked. This epidemic had a devastating and long-lasting impact on public health.

Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a new public health epidemic: childhood obesity.

What smoking was to my parents' generation, obesity is to my children's generation. Nearly one out of every four New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese. In many high-poverty areas, the rate is closer to one out of three.

That is why, in the state budget I presented last Tuesday, I proposed a tax on sugared beverages like soda. Research has demonstrated that soft-drink consumption is one of the main drivers of childhood obesity.

For example, a study by Harvard researchers found that each additional 12-ounce soft drink consumed per day increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent. For adults, the association is similar.

If we are to succeed in reducing childhood obesity, we must reduce consumption of sugared beverages. That is the purpose of our proposed tax. We estimate that an 18 percent tax will reduce consumption by five percent.

Our tax would apply only to sugared drinks -- including fruit drinks that are less than 70 percent juice -- that are nondiet. The $404 million this tax would raise next year will go toward funding public health programs, including obesity prevention programs, across New York state.

The surgeon general estimates that obesity was associated with 112,000 deaths in the United States every year. Here in New York state, we spend almost $6.1 billion on health care related to adult obesity -- the second-highest level of spending in the nation.

Read the rest here.

Why not? We tax for everything else, right? Thoughts?

Illinois politics, what a cesspool. From USA Today:

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama's election as president.

This seems like a old re-run. Oh yeah, there's a history here:

Blagojevich, a Democrat, took the chief executive's office in 2003 as a reformer promising to clean up former Gov. George Ryan's mess.

Ryan, a Republican, is serving a 6-year prison sentence after being convicted on racketeering and fraud charges.

What kind of person is attracted to political office, especially at the state and federal level? Even if you were virtuous, would you think you could hold office and resist evil?

Wow, how do murder someone with a fork? And a knife?

By DERRICK MAHONE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

A 21-year-old Marietta man accused of killing an acquaintance with a knife and fork last month has been arrested in College Park.

Richard Smith was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of Highland Brooke Apartments at 4555 Washington Road, Marietta police spokesman Mark Bishop said.

Smith had been on the run since police charged him with fatally stabbing 42-year-old George Nelson on Nov. 15. Nelson was stabbed several times in the face, head and neck with a knife and a fork inside his apartment on Franklin Road in Marietta. Police say the suspect struck Nelson in the head and stomped on his body.

Authorities received several tips that led to Smith's arrest, Bishop said.

Police believe the suspect and victim knew each other since there was no forced entry to the apartment. A motive has not been released.

This dude MUST have been filled with rage. I mean, with a fork?

(Photo from Hurriyet Daily News)

There's a big difference between Bombay (Mumbai) and Beijing. Remember what we learned about China's state control during the Olympics?

From the NY Times:

Mumbai is a "soft target," the terrorism analysts say. Anybody can walk into the hotels, the hospitals, the train stations, and start spraying with a machine gun. Where are the metal detectors, the random bag checks? In Mumbai, it's impossible to control the crowd. In other cities, if there's an explosion, people run away from it. In Mumbai, people run toward it -- to help. Greater Mumbai takes in a million new residents a year. This is the problem, say the nativists. The city is just too hospitable. You let them in, and they break your heart.

We still have pirates.

From CNN:

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- A hijacked supertanker carrying up to $100 million worth of crude oil -- the largest vessel seized to date in an escalating regional piracy crisis -- was believed to have anchored off Somalia Tuesday, its operator said.

The Sirius Star's crew of 25, including British, Croatian, Polish, Filipino and Saudi nationals, are reported to be safe, according to Dubai-based Vela International Marine.

"Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew," said Vela President Salah Kaaki. "We are in communication with their families and are working toward their safe and speedy return."

The Saudi-owned vessel was seized on Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya in what Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called "an outrageous act."

The U.S. Navy said the tanker was now anchored off Haradhere, a village reported to be a piracy hub, 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of Mogadishu.

The incident is the latest in a series of major acts of piracy around the Gulf of Aden that have cost the international shipping industry millions of dollars and threatened a key global trade route.

Pirates?????

Pirates? Seriously?? Pirates?

Forty years after MLK was murdered, Barack Obama was elected President.

MLK had a dream and, in 1968, he said that he wouldn't get there with us but he still believed a previously articulated dream (1963).

40 years. Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. 40 years. MLK said, "So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!"

Obama won all those States. Haha!! These a just a few of the thoughts I heard from a black church I went to on Sunday. CNN reported that black churches were going to be particularly celebratory on Sunday. And, yes, the one I attend was extremely so. If you were not a black church on Sunday, you probably missed something unrepeatable.

I went to the church because I didn't think I could stomach the comments of lament on Sunday in LOTS of predominantly conservative evangelical churches with language about believing in God's "providence" and "sovereignty" "anyway." Nor would I get cornered with the question, "so, Anthony what do you think?" I just needed a break.

For similar reasons to my choice of community to watch the election results, I wanted to be with black Christians to experience the reaction and celebration. Absolutely memorable! WOW!!! It was good to be a minority in my view of baptism only (haha).

I heard on the radio from a black woman living in Mississippi who said that her white co-workers won't even talk to her.

Interesting times. . .I think the World Mag comments are beginning to set in and settle down. Thanks to all of you who sent encouraging emails.

From CNN:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel on Thursday accepted Obama's offer to be White House chief of staff.

The Office of the Chief of Staff oversees and coordinates activities and communication among various departments of the administration. It is considered one of the top positions in Washington. Some party leaders hailed Obama's pick, but others expressed concern that Emanuel would widen Washington's partisan divide.

Jim Manley, the senior communications adviser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said Emanuel is "an excellent choice." "Rahm knows the Hill, and he knows the White House. He is a brilliant strategic thinker and someone who knows how to get things done."

Manley said allegations that Emanuel is a true partisan are "ridiculous."

"Rahm understands politics is the art of compromise. He's got a deeply held set of views, but he also understands to get things done you have to compromise," he said.

But House Minority Leader John Boehner questioned Obama's selection.

"This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center," he said in a statement. . .

David Gergen, a CNN senior political analyst who has worked in five administrations, said the contrasting styles between Obama and Emanuel could help the new president get things done in Washington.

"They are obviously setting up a good cop/bad cop routine in the White House. ... Barack Obama can be the good guy," Gergen said.

Oh well, here we go. Stay tuned. . .

It looks like the next President of the United States will be Barack Obama. But I didn't vote for him. I didn't vote for John McCain, either. No, I didn't write in "Jesus," that's just dumb. I simply didn't vote. I agree with this guy:

"Nothing pretty much changes and they all just try to talk good about themselves," said Terre Haute resident Joe Sexton. "They're all just trying to be elected."

A random old man asked me this morning if I voted. People act like voting is a moral duty. From where do they get that?

(Quotation taken from: "Voter Apathy" by Jessica Hayes)

By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Florida school board voted late Monday night to keep the name of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader at a majority black high school, despite opposition from a black board member who said the school's namesake was a "terrorist and racist."

After hearing about three hours of public comments, Duval County School Board members voted 5-2 to the retain the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. The board's two black members cast the only votes to change the name.

"(Forrest) was a terrorist and a racist," argued board member Brenda Priestly Jackson, who is black. Betty Burney, the board chairman and the board's other black member, also voted against retaining the name.

"It is time to turn the page and get beyond where we are," she said. Board member Tommy Hazouri voted to keep the name and said it is difficult to know "who the real Forrest is."

The board listened to passionate arguments from those on both sides. More than 140 people crowded into the meeting room, with another 20 watching the meeting on a television in the lobby. Many urged a name change, saying the Forrest name was an insult.

"Nathan Bedford Forrest was part of the Ku Klux Klan, no matter how you put it. Nathan Bedford Forrest needs to be changed," said Stanley Scott, who is black.

But several spoke favorably of the general, saying the perceptions that Forrest was an evil man who ordered the massacre of Union troops were incorrect. June Cooper, who graduated from Forrest in 1970, said some people wanted to wipe out Southern history.

"He was a good man," said Cooper, who is White. "He was a military genius."

Wiping out "Southern history." Is that the defense, really? Wow. "It's heritage not hate," I guess. I learned years ago to be very careful around people who love "Southern history."

I still don't understand why many Southern whites wouldn't be ok with a name change at a school like this or letting the Confederate Battle flag disappear. So what? Just give it up. I feel so bad for these kids. Here's a strategy: take over the school board and change the name later. Invite other minorities to move into the district and flight will happen or something. I don't get it.

Two words (as folks back home would say): "white people"

A Republican women's club in San Bernardino County sent out a recent newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs, sparking widespread outrage and rebuke from GOP leaders and Democrats.

The illustration shows the Democratic presidential candidate's head atop a donkey's body on a bogus $10 bill referred to as "Obama Bucks." Inscribed on the money are the words "United States Food Stamps" surrounded by stereotypical African American food.

The October newsletter went out to about 200 members of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, based in Upland.

Here's what's funny. The California Republicans white folks are denying that it is racist. Ok, and 2+2=5. Our two party system is bankrupt.

Read more about racist white republicans who say that cartoon was not racially motivated here.

It's almost time for Esquire's 2008 Best Dressed Contest to end. I stumbled upon this contest a few years in my quest to understand why evangelicals, in general, are some of the lamest dressers in America (except for the hipsters in emerging or charismatic churches). I still don't get it. On the one hand, there's the subculture hippie-bohemian-unkempt and nuvo-emo look and on the subculture extreme is the "I'm an-accountant-in-small-town-America-look." (not that there's anything wrong with either extreme).

I was at a wedding over the weekend and a friend and I noticed that all these cats from this one charismatic church all dressed like total hipsters, like they all walked out of a Zegna store. It was so cool. Even the dudes in their 50s. We concluded that for some reason it has become a virtue for men not to care how they look in some circles (unless you're trying to woe a women, otherwise "no me importa.") I didn't see this in Tokyo, Madrid, Guatemala City, St. Andrews, etc. In the stores I visited in those countries you didn't really see women picking out their clothes for men. Is that just an American thing?

Many social commentators are now arguing that men are becoming nothing more than "Ken Doll" accessories for women--as intimated in the New York Times article and Details Magazine 2006 articles on how emasculated the new Ken Doll is. Too funny.

Kenyatte Nelson, 31, from Cincinnati (the black dude in the picture) says that he models his style after his dad. "[My dad] said that if you're a book and your clothes are the cover, you should dress like a New York Times best seller."

His Dad? Dads do this? I totally understand this. Like a couple of other bruthas in the contest mentioned, most of us (in my black community) learned how to dress from our fathers or by paying attention to men at church.

When I went to college, it was the first time I heard of something called, "my mom laid out my clothes for me." (which I later discovered, unless a dude gets his identity back, can turn into, "my girlfriend/wife, lays out my clothes for me.) I had never heard of this before.
Dressing like a man is something that fathers pass on to their sons. "Like father, like son" is Kenyatte's story and there's something that seems right about that. A bestowal of style and identity. That's a new dimension of formation in the journey of a boy becoming a man. We could all learn from the Italians on this one.
(Brutha TE, this post is for you. Teach your sons well my friend!)

Friends, a few years ago Republicans in Congress were fighting to get tougher restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so that those institutions would remain solvent. Democrats were adamant that those institutions should remain "as is" with even less controls. Wow, the mortgage crisis could have been prevented if Democrats were interested in fiscal responsibility. It is actually, impossible to blame the mortgage crisis on the Bush Administration while the Democrats paved the way, on purpose, for increased irresponsible lending practices. The truth hurts.

Roundtable: McCain, Obama Meet In First Debate

Listen Now

News & Notes , September 29, 2008 · The presidential candidates went toe to toe on Friday night, but who came out on top? And what can we expect from Thursday's vice presidential match up?

For insight and analysis, Farai Chideya talks with Anthony Bradley of The Institute, Charles Robinson of Charles Black Politics Blog, and Eisa Ulen

Listen here.

Wow. Very honored again to be on the show. Very honored.

From CNN:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Bad news for American writers hoping for a Nobel Prize next week: the top member of the award jury believes the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe when it comes to great writing.

Counters the head of the U.S. National Book Foundation: "Put him in touch with me, and I'll send him a reading list." As the Swedish Academy enters final deliberations for this year's award, permanent secretary Horace Engdahl said it's no coincidence that most winners are European.

"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world ... not the United States," he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

He said the 16-member award jury has not selected this year's winner, and dropped no hints about who was on the short list. Americans Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates usually figure in speculation, but Engdahl wouldn't comment on any names.

Speaking generally about American literature, however, he said U.S. writers are "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture," dragging down the quality of their work.

"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."

The US Treasury Secretary is probably in the audience at this Chinese government economic strategy meeting.

From the Boston Herald:

WASHINGTON - In the next few years, consumers could see the fruits of $25 billion in government loans for the auto industry through a broader lineup of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, new plug-in electric cars and an expansion of fuel-efficient engines.

The loans, approved by the House as part of a larger spending bill today, are intended to help the industry refurbish decades-old plants and develop advanced batteries and gas-electric hybrids. The loans are a major win for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, who lobbied for the funding as they dealt with a sluggish economy and weak sales.

Many folks aren't aware for the fact that America's auto industry (GM, Ford, Chrysler) got a $25 billion bailout loan because they make cars that no one wants. The loan was given below the radar as the $700 billion financial bailout package was being discussed. This is absolutely ridiculous. It is not the governments job to bailout companies that make stupid decisions. CRAZY!!!! And, P----LEASE, it's not the government's responsibility to provide cash for your company's research and development.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's now official: we live in a country with a centrally planned, socialistic economy. There is now little difference between how America and China "run" their economies. The Maoists have won.

September 27, 2008

I felt leaden with sadness when I heard about the picture of Obama hung in effigy at George Fox University.

The saddest irony to me was that George Fox was a devout Quaker, and Quakers sacrificed themselves and their lives because they believed slavery to be a sin against humanity and against God.

How tragic that a school given his name should be the place where blind racism and fear reveal themselves in such an ugly way. George Fox is turning in his grave.

-- Elizabeth Studer Graham, Salem writing in the Statesman Journal

It's sad concerning that the legacy of George Fox. This might, however, be not as much of a surprise if an incident like this occurred at a historically reformed or Presbyterian school because of its tradition's long history of supporting institutional racism. For more on this read: Puritan Race Virtue, Vice and Values 1620-1820: Original Calvinist True Believers' Enduring Faith and Ethics Race Claims/in Emerging Congregationalism, by Joseph Washington. Or Robert L. Dabney's A Defense Of Virginia, And Through Her, Of The South, In Recent And Pending Contests Against The Sectional Party (1867)

Incidents like this, of course, remind us that Christianity in America (regardless of race) remains one of the last places in our society where a person can be a Christian and a racist and it not be challenged too aggressively. Of course, many of you will remember various "Anthony Bradley as token negro" blogs. Speaking out on race problems in American Christianity is the certain path for a religious leader to loose his job.

Mom of Bronx 5-year-old dumped from school bus suing city in the New York Daily News

By John Marzulli DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The mother of a Bronx first-grader is suing the city for the foul-up that left her son dumped by a school bus driver alone on the street 2 miles from home.

Officials at the Department of Education are investigating how 5-year-old Jaeden Vasquez was mistakenly loaded onto a school bus by an aide on Sept. 18 when he was supposed to be walked to an after-school program next door to Public School 111.

"It's been a week and nobody has given me an explanation as to who put my son on the bus," the boy's mom, Aileen Bonilla, said Thursday. "I'm concerned that they just want this to go away and it will happen to someone else."

The boy lives across the street from his school, but rode the bus to the end of its route, where driver Kimba Ewers let him out. A good Samaritan who found him alone on the sidewalk drove Jaeden home.

From CNN: LONDON, England (AP) -- Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy will try to cross the English Channel using his homemade jet-propelled wing Friday, a day after the thrill-seeking pilot canceled his attempt due to bad weather, organizers said. Yves Rossy is shown in flight last May over the Swiss Alps.

Rossy plans to leap from plane more than 8,800 feet or a mile and a half off the ground, fire up his jets and try to make the 22-mile trip from Calais in France to Dover in England in about 12 minutes. The stunt was postponed from its scheduled date Thursday when visibility deteriorated. "It's not so safe to fly across water if you can't see," Rossy told National Geographic Channel in a live television interview Thursday. "I don't have any instruments, and I need to be able to see the landing site."

Yves Rossy is shown in flight last May over the Swiss Alps below:

From ABC News:

Students at George Fox University Still Reeling From Racially Charged Incident By JULIA HOPPOCK

Sept. 25, 2008 --

Administrators at an Oregon college are trying to get to the bottom of who hung a cardboard effigy of Barack Obama from a campus tree Tuesday. The incident at George Fox University appeared to be in protest of a scholarship program geared toward minorities.

A George Fox University employee discovered the life-size cutout of the Democratic presidential candidate hanging from a campus tree with a fishing line around its neck. Posted on the cardboard effigy was a sign that read "Act Six Reject." Act Six is a program that promotes campus diversity and urban leadership. It annually awards full scholarships to up to 10 students most of whom -- but not all -- are minorities.

Robin Baker, the school's president, said he was "shocked, dismayed and disturbed" by the incident.

"I'm upset because it's an assault to kids I love, and I'm upset because it's an attack on the very commitment I have, to try to build a place that will truly educate students in a way that will help them see the world differently," he said.

Baker strongly condemned the act during an emotional school assembly Wednesday that drew 1,200 people. Baker also addressed the 17 Act Six students that attend George Fox Tuesday night after the incident. Many were unaware of what had happened before the meeting, because the cutout was promptly removed; only a few students saw it, according to the college.

Baker said the Act Six students urged him and the school to be open about the incident and tackle it head on.

University officials do not know who hung the cutout but have urged the community to come forward with any information. Officials turned the incident over to Newberg, Ore., police, but police did not find the act to be criminal.

"We are not able to establish this as a crime. It is an expression of free speech," said Sgt. Tim Weaver of the Newberg police.

Why don't the white students want the minority students around?

If all the black parents pulled their kids out of this Christian college I wouldn't blame them one bit. Some might argue that the learned behavior of hanging a colored man from a tree to protest a program promoting diversity reveals how much progress evangelicals have not made.

Black parents sending their kids to predominantly Christian colleges must deal with huge trade offs and risks. There's no way my folks would have likely entertained the idea that I attend one of the evangelical Christian colleges. They would have been too concerned about my safety and would have questioned the possibility of my being treated fairly in class. They even had concerns about me going to Clemson. But when stuff like this happens I look pretty dumb suggesting that my younger cousins, nieces, nephews, etc., give one an evangelical school a try.

Is it like the fall of Rome?

(CNN) -- In a blistering speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed "a few bullying powers" for creating the world's problems and said the "American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road." At the United Nations, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said countries are turning their backs on "bullying powers."

And while he insisted Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful, Ahmadinejad blamed the same powers for seeking to hinder it "by exerting political and economic pressures on Iran, and threatening and pressuring" the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Those powers, meanwhile, are building or maintaining nuclear stockpiles themselves, unchecked by anyone, he said.

As Ahmadinejad spoke, the only person at the United States table was a note-taker; no U.S. diplomat was present. When President Bush spoke earlier Tuesday, however, Ahmadinejad was in the room.

"As long as the aggressors, because of their financial, political and propaganda powers, not only escape punishment, but even claim righteousness, and as long as wars are started and nations are enslaved in order to win votes in elections, not only will the problems of the global community remain unsolved, but they will be increasingly exacerbated," the Iranian leader said.

He accused the United States of oppressing Iraqis with six years of occupation, saying Americans were "still seeking to solidify their position in the political geography of the region and to dominate oil resources."

Thoughts? Is it over? Is McCain smart to suspend his campaign?

Nouriel Roubini is awesome. I found out about him from watching PBS. If you want to learn about this current financial crisis read his stuff. Roubini says,

"Last week we argued that, with the nationalization of Fannie and Freddie, comrades Bush, Paulson and Bernanke had started transforming the USA into the USSRA (United Socialist State Republic of America). This transformation of the USA into a country where there is socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street (i.e. where profits are privatized and losses are socialized) continues today with the nationalization of AIG.

This latest action on AIG follows a variety of many other policy actions that imply a massive - and often flawed - government intervention in the financial markets and the economy: the bailout of the Bear Stearns creditors; the bailout of Fannie and Freddie; the use of the Fed balance sheet (hundreds of billions of safe US Treasuries swapped for junk toxic illiquid private securities); the use of the other GSEs (the Federal Home Loan Bank system) to provide hundreds of billions of dollars of "liquidity" to distressed, illiquid and insolvent mortgage lenders;

the use of the SEC to manipulate the stock market (restrictions on short sales); the use of the US Treasury to manipulate the mortgage market (Treasury will now for the first time outright buy agency MBS to manipulate and prop up this market); the creation of a whole host of new bailout facilities (TAF, TSLF, PDCF) to prop and rescue banks and, for the first time since the Great Depression, to bail out non-bank financial institutions; the recent extension of the collateral available for the TSLF and PDCF facilities to a much wider range of toxic securities including equities and thus allowing the Fed to effectively manipulate even the stock market; and a whole range of other executive and legislative actions (including the recent bill to provide a public guarantee to mortgages for banks willing to reduce their face value)."

Question: should the government have bailed out AIG? Why or why not? What should be done next? Is the $700 of government help the right plan to prop up the company?

Amigos, after my conference was over I went over to the Bronx with one of the participants and found myself in the midst of a Puerto Rican blockparty hosted by a church!! Which could also be called "Heaven on Earth." The most warm, genuine, inviting group of folks I've been around in a while. Amazing. The pastor was brilliant. The church is meeting the needs of regular people that live in the neighborhood with an appreciation of the arts that I've never scene before.

I even got a chance to go to City Island for dinner with my new family in the Bronx, the Martinez's. Unbelievable warmth and hospitality. The world would be a better place if there were more families like this around. It's amazing to feel spliced in like you're just one of the family.

AND, of course, the Bronx is like 60% Latino. Puerto Ricans everywhere! Latin music on the radio (salsa, merengue, bachata, etc.). It was GREAT!! I've got to figure out a way to make regular visits back.

I also got to wave good-bye to Yankee Stadium. The new stadium is phat!!!

The other cool part about being with lots of the leaders in the Latino Leadership Circle is that when I mentioned Tim Keller's name many of them where like, "who?" It was great. BTW, New York is very churched, especially among non-whites. Don't believe the hype.

White privilege defined: Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, describes white privilege as "an invisible package of unearned assets, which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks" (McIntosh, 1989)

Tim Wise's article below has set off a fire storm on the internet. Whew, lots of charged stuff here! I get a good dose of "white privilege" every few months or so. The latest was over the weekend when I was at the check-in counter, literary about to speak to the agent, and this white guy just walks up and starts asking her questions. I just stood there staring at him thinking, "I must be invisible" and then I remembered "oh, it's the white privilege thing you experienced like in Atlanta a few months ago." Pastor L, I'll never forget your story about your time in St. Louis (still annoys me).

It be cool to get the Asian, Latino, and Black reflections of how white privilege functions in evangelicalism. The problem would be finding a publisher brave enough to put it out there.

A book: Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, Dr. Frances E. Kendall.

There is an annual conference on White Privilege. Angry Black Woman (with whom I'm on NPR with a lot) talked about "white privilege" a while back.

Since evangelicals don't talk about this kind'a stuff I had completely forgotten that this is now basically an "academic" discipline. Steve Nash, White Privilege, and the NBA.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege (Updated)

September 13, 2008, 2:01 pm

By Tim Wise

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "[friggan] redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their [friggan butts]," and talk about how you like to "shoot [poop]" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

From the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.

The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.

David Nammo, executive director of the lobbying group FRC Action, said summit organizers were told the boxes were a parody of Obama's policy positions but had not examined them closely. . .

While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the old image of the pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype. Obama is portrayed with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly.

The Family Research Council? I thought that was a conservative group of evangelical Christians. But, I thought that. . . oh well. Obama Jemima. "Hey massa, would yous like some waffles?" So typical.

From Black Entertainment Television News:

An all-White jury of 12 is one step closer to what you might call the opening kickoff of O.J. Simpson's armed robbery-kidnapping trial in Las Vegas. Many of those in the jury pool reportedly had strong opinions about Simpson's guilt in his double murder trial in Los Angeles back in 1995. But according to The Associated Press, they felt they could put those feelings aside while hearing evidence in this case. Simpson, 61, faces 12 charges stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room in September last year after which he and a gang of gun-toting cohorts left with pillow cases stuffed full of sports memorabilia. In the state of Nevada, kidnapping and armed robbery both carry potential life sentences. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday.

B.E.T. asked on their website: Does O.J., as a black man with all white jury, have a chance?

Interesting question for B.E.T. to ask huh? Will the glove fit this time?

From Wired Magazine:

Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit will start selling a mobile phone based on Google Inc's Android software within weeks. Woot, woot!!

T-Mobile to Be First With Android

By Charlie Sorrel
September 11, 2008 | 4:53:11 A

T-Mobile will be the first carrier to sell the HTC Dream, the first real phone to use Google's Android operating system. Both Reuters and the New York Times cite unnamed people who are "familiar with the matter" (or "briefed on the company's plans", depending which you read).

T-Mobile's German arm, owned by Deutsche Telekom, is likely to be the first to market with the Sidekick-alike bananaphone, which should surface some time this month, depending on the whims of network certification.

The Dream is an important release. While Android has much promise, only the geeks care about it. What the public wants is a cool looking phone with a kick-ass interface and great features. This is why the iPhone has been such a success. To see how little the layman cares about the operating system of their phone, check in with a non-techy friend. Next time you see Aunt Flo with her iPhone, ask her what operating system it runs."

From CNN:

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain on Friday announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, calling her "the running mate who can best help me shake up Washington."

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, here in February, will be Sen. John McCain's running mate, the campaign announced.

"She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second," the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Dayton, Ohio, rally of about 15,000 supporters, who welcomed the surprise pick of the relatively unknown politician with cheers and flags.

"She's got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today," McCain said.

Palin, 44, told the crowd, "To have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give and I promise nothing less."

Palin is a first-term governor who unseated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2006 and went on to defeat former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in the general election.

She will be the first woman to be nominated for vice president as a Republican and only the second to run for vice president on a major party ticket, after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.

Palin also will be the first Alaskan to be on the ticket for either party.

Wow! I'm still processing. Thoughts?

SOCHI, Russia (CNN) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of its presidential election candidates. Russian PM Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance in the Black Sea city of Sochi Thursday, Putin said the U.S. had encouraged Georgia to attack the autonomous region of South Ossetia.

Putin told CNN his defense officials had told him it was done to benefit a presidential candidate -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are competing to succeed George W. Bush -- although he presented no evidence to back it up.

"U.S. citizens were indeed in the area in conflict," Putin said. "They were acting in implementing those orders doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader."

Article here.

The Cold War is gettin' colder every year with Putin's influence.

After listening to Hilary Clinton preach about how government will solve all of America's social and moral problems, I thought to myself, "Where is Vladamir Putin, prime minister of Russia, because it sounds exactly like something he would say?" Seriously, if Putin spoke about government's role to solve everything, none of the democrats would really object I'd imagine.

The former Soviet Union was officially a federal socialist republic and that's exactly what you heard last night. And sadly, much of the Republican party is a softer version of the same. Both parties need help.

And by the way, "shipping jobs oversees" is a misnomer. We loose more jobs to technology than we do international outsourcing. It's propaganda. Oh yeah, and the government guaranteeing that women get "equal pay for equal work." Ok, Hilary that will happen on two conditions: (1) if when stopped getting married and (2) if women stop getting pregnant. On average never-married women earn more than their male peers. Come on people, think!!

Well, maybe we'll hear from Putin before the convention's over! I'm so glad I was on a bike while I was listening to the principles of a federal socialist republic.

Michael Guglielmucci, until recently a preacher at the popular Planetshakers youth church in Melbourne, inspired Christians around the world with a hit song, Healer. The song featured on Sydney church Hillsong's latest album and debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA charts. But the high-profile church leader was stripped of his credentials this week after he admitted fabricating his battle with terminal illness.

The deception included conducting performances with an oxygen tube in his nose and telling audiences he had broken bones and other unexplained symptoms.

DISGRACED pastor Michael Guglielmucci has finally told of fabricating a terminal cancer battle to hide his 16-year obsession with pornography.

"This is who I am ... I'm addicted to the stuff, it consumes my mind,'' he said of pornography in his first interview on Today Tonight since the story was first revealed on AdelaideNow last week.

"... I'm sick and this is why I had to come up some sort of explanation of what was happening in my body.''

The shame of his addiction manifested itself physically, resulting in him losing his hair and purging his body.

"I don't know how you can fake vomiting all over yourself night after night after night, I'm not that good an actor,'' he said.

To conceal the two-year cancer lie which he hid from his wife and family, he sent phoney emails to his loved ones from non-existent medical practitioners.

"I've been living a lie for a long time,'' he said.

"I've been hiding who I am for so long. "I can honestly say to you that the last two years have been hell for me physically, emotionally, but I never sat down and said ... let's try and fool the world.''

Today Tonight insisted that it did not pay for the interview from the man who has been in hiding and receiving psychiatric help since AdelaideNow revealed the web of lies last week.

Mr Guglialmucci, who claims to have written the hit song Healer after being inspired by God, also insisted that all monies received via song sales would be returned.

Read the rest here.

Wow.

Reggaeton, Puerto Rico, Daddy Yankee y Juan McCain. Huh???

Gasoliiiiiiina! Rompe, rompe, rompe, are you ready?

Jefe, jefe! Haha!! What if the republicans had reggeaton playin' at their convention. That would be hilarious!

Thoughts, amigos?

(CNN) -- North Korea said Tuesday it has stopped disabling its nuclear plants and will consider restoring them because the United States has not removed it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. N. Korea demolished the cooling tower at its main reactor complex in Yongbyon in June.

N. Korea demolished the cooling tower at its main reactor complex in Yongbyon in June. The communist nation said it halted the dismantling of the plutonium-producing plants on August 14, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The North "will consider soon a step to restore the nuclear facilities in (Yongbyon) to their original state," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that KCNA carried. North Korea agreed to a complete dismantling of its Yongbyon nuclear complex by October.

In return, U.S. President George W. Bush said he would lift some U.S. sanctions against North Korea and remove it from a State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The sticking point between the two countries involves verification. Washington said last week it will not remove North Korea from the terrorism list until Pyongyang agrees to set up an internationally recognizable mechanism to verify its declaration.

Dear North Korea, these are exactly the kinds of actions that explain why you all will remain on the list. Why would we take you off the list because you started to dismantle your program? Seriously?

Thoughts on Korea's nuke program?

From CNN:

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A woman who survived last week's Spanair airline crash in Madrid left the hospital Tuesday, saying she was "born again" by the disaster. Beatriz Reyes has been released from hospital after surviving the plane crash which killed 154 people.

Beatriz Reyes, 41, has been credited with saving two of the three children who survived the crash which killed 154 people. She is the second survivor to be sent home, while 16 others remained hospitalized Tuesday. The first to leave the hospital was a 6-year-old boy, apparently one of the children Reyes helped in the moments after the Spanair MD-82 airliner crashed on takeoff from Madrid's Bajaras airport Wednesday.

"I saw some kids and I got them out," Reyes said. "I think anyone would have done it."

All 18 who survived were seated in the front section of the plane, the only part not to catch fire. Reyes was in seat 5-D. She said she remained conscious throughout the crash.

"I felt a strong blow and then my stomach went up and down," she said. "That's when I knew there was an accident." She said it was ironic that she was treated in the maternity ward at Hospital Infanta Sofia in the Madrid suburb of San Sebastian de los Reyes.

"On the 20th of August, I have been born again," she said. She was returning home from a vacation in Germany when she boarded the flight to the city of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

I wonder what she really means? She's got cool glasses though. Are cool, stylish glasses illegal in the U.S. or something? You rarely see them on people.

WASHINGTON August 14, 2008--White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2042, according to new government projections. That's eight years sooner than previous estimates, made in 2004.

The nation has been growing more diverse for decades, but the process has sped up through immigration and higher birth rates among minority residents, especially Hispanics.

It is also growing older.

"The white population is older and very much centered around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "The future of America is epitomized by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future."

The Census Bureau Thursday released population projections through 2050, based on rates for births, deaths and immigration. They are subject to big revisions, depending on immigration policy, cultural changes and natural or manmade disasters.

The U.S. has nearly 305 million people today. The population is projected to hit 400 million in 2039 and 439 million in 2050.

Read the rest at NPR.

There are lots of theories regarding why whites aren't really into having kids anymore (the same holds true for religious whites as well) and many aren't certain why the magic number of one or two kids has become the norm among whites--again, white religious communities have the same low birthrates in America. But, I'll be dead by 2050 and won't see this come to pass, if current trends hold, but there isn't much that will change in terms of power structures. But I do hope to have my school loans paid off by then. That's right, those'll be wrapped up in 2038. I remember.

Here's why whites have nothing to fear in this report: whites will still, in 2050, own and control the nation's wealth and will maintain control over all of the nation's culture shaping institutions, regardless of population numbers. It was that way in 1750, 1850, 1950, and will remain such in 2050. This is not a big deal. It's just fact. We see this in South Africa and most Latin American countries where a racial minority controls all of the nation's institutions.

# Commercial surrogacy in India is a booming business, worth an estimated $445M
# Baby Manjhi is in legal limbo as her Japanese father wants to bring her home
# India law forbids a single father to legally adopt a child
# "I am very worried and stressed," the child's grandmother says

From CNN:

JAIPUR, India (CNN) -- Baby Manjhi has no nationality, no legal mother and no clear path home from India to Japan to a father and grandmother who desperately want her. Baby Manjhi, a surrogate child, has been stuck in legal limbo. Her adoptive parents divorced before her birth.

"From deep inside my heart, I want to return immediately to my own country with my grandchild," said Emiko Yamada, the girl's grandmother.

At just two weeks old, Manjhi Yamada is stuck in legal limbo -- the offspring of commercial surrogacy and a divorce before she was even born.

Some countries and parts of the United States have banned surrogacy as a money-making venture, but India legalized it in 2002. Under the practice, infertile couples are matched with local women to carry babies for $12,000 to $30,000.

It's a booming business, worth an estimated $445 million a year.

"Cheap mothers are available here. There is so much poverty. ... It's employment for them," says Dr. Sadhana Arya with India's Arya Hospital.

"You have treated the surrogate mother like an object, used her as a factory, produced something, given money for it."

But, she says, the final product "is a live child."

Arya, who is part of the team now treating Manjhi, says such pregnancies -- dubbed "wombs for rent" by critics -- can have a broader human toll. She feels especially anguished for the father and grandmother in this case.

"It is absolutely traumatic, especially for the grandmother, because they have a visa for a limited period of time," Arya said. "What happens if the period expires? How do they manage the problem? Where do they leave the baby? Where does the baby stay? Who cares for the baby?"

Read the rest here. What the video here. The Japanese mother no longer wanted the baby.

Friends, expect these stories more and more. This is a tough one. Since fathers rarely have rights in cases like this I doubt he has a chance. Thoughts?

From CNN:

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- She's the wife of a renowned evangelical pastor and one of the leaders of a Houston megachurch, but Victoria Osteen is being accused of behavior that wasn't very Christian.

Opening arguments were set for Thursday in a lawsuit that accuses Victoria Osteen of assaulting Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown before the start of a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colorado.

The lawyer for Victoria Osteen called the lawsuit silly and denied that her client assaulted Brown. Brown's attorney, Reginald McKamie, said he hopes the trial will show "that celebrity status doesn't take precedence."

Victoria Osteen is co-pastor at Lakewood Church, where her husband, Joel Osteen, preaches and where about 42,000 people flock each week. Joel Osteen's weekly television address is broadcast nationally and internationally.

Brown alleges Victoria Osteen threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast during an outburst over a stain on her first-class seat. The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member.

Story here.

Wow.

Another one?

From CNN:

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A 31-year-old Greek man accused of beheading his girlfriend with a cleaver is being treated for gunshot wounds at a state hospital in Athens after being shot by police and remains in a critical condition, Health Ministry officials said Monday.

Police said restaurant cook Thanassis Arvanitis severed the head of his 25-year-old girlfriend on the holiday island of Santorini and tried to escape in a police car. A police officer and three female bystanders were also injured in the incident that occurred Sunday in the village of Bourboulos, near the island's main town of Fira.

Following an argument, "the [suspect] slaughtered their dog and threw it out of their home and on to the street and proceeded to kill the woman ... totally severing her head," a statement from the South Aegean Police Department said.

As some have said, "I'd rather be shot than hacked to death."

Here's the story.

(Tim McLean, 22, of Winnipeg).

Tributes have started pouring in for the young man beheaded in Canada while traveling home on a bus.

The Canadian Press named the dead man as Tim McLean, 22, of Winnipeg. McLean was repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated by the man sitting next to him on a Greyhound Canada bus Thursday west of Portage la Prairie in Manitoba.

Garnet Caton, who was sitting in front of McLean, talked of a "bloodcurdling scream" when the attack began. "It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess you could say," Caton said. "I don't think it will leave me for a while."

Passengers exited the bus, and a trucker who stopped provided wrenches and crowbars to several of them so they could keep the suspect on the bus until police came, witnesses told Canadian TV.

The suspect was seized with the help of negotiators, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell said. . .

"He didn't do anything to provoke the guy. The guy just took a knife out and stabbed him, started stabbing him like crazy and cut his head off," said Garnet Caton, 26, a passenger on the Edmonton-to-Winnipeg bus.

"Some people were puking, some people were crying, other people were in shock. . . . Everybody was running, screaming off the bus. . ."

After the bus pulled over and the terrified passengers fled, Olmstead said the attacker was taunting those outside with the victim's severed head. "He came back, standing in the doorway with the head, looked at him, dropped the head and went back and started cutting buddy back up." He said when police showed up, the taunting continued.

"He come up and picks the head up and he's waving it in the window. I just smoked a cigarette with this man earlier - like, the head. He's shaking it back and forth in the window."

HS! Two-words: demon possession.

Sorry, my left-leaning friends but I'm voting for the death penalty for this perp. Sick. All the facts aren't in yet, but I'm sure we're all curious as to why no one stopped the guy from at least beheading Tim after stabbing him. Here's the rest of this pathetic story. Here's one of the Facebook groups honoring Tim. You can find more pictures of him there and his myspace page.

WARREN, R.I. (WPRI) -- The Rhode Island State Police have now charged 24-year-old James Soares (Jr.) with murdering his parents, Marian and James (Senior).

The couple disappeared earlier this month, and family members filed a missing persons report when the couple didn't show up for a family reunion. Saturday, police dug up the septic tank at the couple's home on Baltimore Avenue in Warren, and discovered two bodies.

Family, friends and neighbors had cast suspicion on James Jr., citing a rocky relationship he'd had with his mother.

I'm totally google "news-alerting" this story 'cause I'm curious about the very last sentence in the report above.

Also:

Police would not comment on a motive but said they believe Soares attacked and killed his parents July 9 with a heavy digging tool known as a grub hoe. Police said he then dragged their bodies into an in-ground cesspool at the family's home in Warren, a small town southeast of Providence. Soares lived with his parents.

A grub hoe??? That took some serious wage. At first glance, it seems like an easy murder 1 conviction. We'll see. . .

Cut the carbs, loose weight and lower cholesterol. Carbs are not your friends in our pathetically inactive American culture.

# Study compared low-carb diet, Mediterranean-style diet, and traditional low-fat diet
# Low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two
# All three approaches achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol

The story is from CNN:

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all. A diet low in carbohydrates, found in bread, improved cholesterol more than two other diets.

A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques.

A bigger surprise: The low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two. Some critics had predicted the opposite.

"It is a vindication," said Abby Bloch of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation, a philanthropy group that honors the Atkins' diet's creator and was the study's main funder.

However, all three approaches -- the low-carb diet, a low-fat diet and a Mediterranean diet -- achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol.

The study is remarkable not only because it lasted two years, much longer than most, but because of the huge proportion of people who stuck with the diets: 85 percent.

Put that bagel down! What if you did a low-fat, low-carb, Mediterranean diet?

By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 11, 2008; Page A04

The larger point of Jesse L. Jackson's criticism of Barack Obama -- if not the crude way he expressed it -- touched a nerve among some African American political activists who have been unhappy about the senator 's pointed critiques of absentee fathers and other problems in the black community.

Jackson, an Obama supporter, spent much of yesterday apologizing for a remark that was caught by a Fox News microphone and aired Wednesday on the network. Jackson was overheard saying Obama's pitch to expand President Bush's federal assistance for faith-based social service programs was "talking down to black people." He then used a base phrase to say what he wanted to do to the senator from Illinois. . .

Eric Easter, a blogger on the joint Web site of Jet and Ebony, two black-oriented magazines, wrote yesterday that some of Obama's rhetoric "smacked of calculated political expediency" in an effort to win over white voters.

The full story is here.

The question that many are raising is this: would Obama go to a low-income town in West Virginia or Montana or west Michigan and say the same thing about men there because these pathologies fall more along class lines than they do race. Remember the book Life at the Bottom explained this.

We'll have to wait and see. . .

From CNN:

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for "crude and hurtful" remarks he made about Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama after an interview with a Fox News correspondent.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized to Sen. Obama's campaign Wednesday over "hurtful" remarks.

The remarks came Sunday as Jackson was talking to a fellow interviewee, UnitedHealth Group executive Dr. Reed V. Tuckson. An open microphone picked up Jackson whispering, "See, Barack's been talking down to black people ... I want to cut his nuts off."

Jackson told CNN's "Situation Room" that he didn't realize the microphone was on.

"It was very private," Jackson said, adding that if "any hurt or harm has been caused to his campaign, I apologize."

An Obama campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, said that the senator from Illinois "of course accepts Rev. Jackson's apology."

Hey, this stuff happens. It's always good to make sure your mic is off when you're on a show and talking like that. This could happen very easily. He must have forgotten.

Well, I wonder if Rev. Jackson will be invited to the inauguration ball if Obama wins? Whew, this whole episode made me laugh soooooooo hard. Actually, is was actually pretty painful to watch.

You can watch the clip here at CNN.

I had my first column to run in an all-black newspaper a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty honored to be featured in the St. Louis American magazine as a guest columnist for my column "A Real Man Serves His Community."

The St. Louis American Newspaper describes introduces itself this is way:

A niche publication, The St. Louis American provides our readers with information that is important and relevant to them...information from an African-American perspective. Whether it's hard news, religion news, entertainment, sports, or profiles of successful local African Americans in business, health care or public service, the American provides a unique vehicle, unmatched in the Midwest, that gives African Americans a credible voice.

This will remain one of my most honored placements! The American now reaches an impressive 40-45% of black households in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Sadly, because of some media bias the black communities in most major cities have (and need) newspapers like this to present positive news stories and information about happenings in black communities in addition to items.

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution

The South has been a huge political headache for the Democratic Party for the better part of the last half century. In the last 10 presidential elections, for example, the South has been pretty solidly behind the Republican presidential nominee. . .

As part of the effort to make the 2008 national convention the greenest ever, the Democrats' catering guidelines include one that strikes at the heart of Southern cuisine: No fried food.

No fried chicken. No fried catfish. No fried green tomatoes. No fried okra. No fried anything.

The Democratic guidelines say every meal should be nutritious and include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white."

"It's the new patriotism," says Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the driving force behind the greening of the Democratic convention.

What? This is discrimination!! No southern food at the Democratic convention, then why go? Not even fried chicken (fingers)? Can you get more American? In America, Mr. Green Democrat, we treat all food equally including, frying all colors. I would totally bring a portable deep fryer to the convention! When Obama socializes health care do you think the government will make fried food illegal?

Time Magazine broke the, now familiar, story of one predominantly white high school in the Northeast experiencing increased pregnancies:

School officials started looking into the matter as early as October after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant. By May, several students had returned multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and on hearing the results, "some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan says. All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.

The question of what to do next has divided this fiercely Catholic enclave. Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006--the first increase in 15 years--Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control. In any case, many residents worry that the problem goes much deeper. The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

The girls who made the pregnancy pact--some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers--declined to be interviewed. So did their parents.

Ok, why is everyone so shocked? I think it may have something to do with the disgusting association with out-of-wedlock births and black girls. White girls don't get pregnant out-of-wedlock, right? That's reserved for historic stereotype of blacks and their "savage" and irresponsible sexuality. The fact that this is news is pathetic and reveals an obvious stereotype. This would never be news in a black or Latino high school. Oh wait, of course not, blacks and Latinos have lower moralities. It's expected, I guess. You may have heard something like this from those on the left and the right over the years, "Whew, we need to get contraceptives into the urban schools, right. Ya know, how those minorities can be! Maybe we should bus the minority kids to the suburbs where they can be around kids with better values." Oops America, you just got punk'd!

From Ashville's Citizen Times:

Two months ago, a national law went into effect dictating waistlines -- 35.4 inches for women, 33.5 inches for men -- for people between 40 and 74 years old.

The weight limits were established in 2005 by the International Diabetes Federation. The Ministry of Health makes a case that the restrictions are necessary to combat diabetes and strokes. Most Japanese citizens are insured through their employer or public health care, and the national government plans to financially punish entities that do not meet certain goals.

Like jury duty, eligible citizens receive a summons in the mail to appear for measurement. Those with too much flab -- "metabo" is the polite term -- receive dieting advice and have to come back in three months for another battle with the measuring tape.

There have been negative side effects. The enthusiastic mayor of one small town in the Mei province formed a weight-loss group -- The Seven Metabo Samurai -- with six other local officials. One of their number, a 47-year-old man with a 39-inch waistline, suffered a heart attack and died while jogging.

Wow, could you imagine if the US government fined people for being overweight? What would they do with the money I wonder?

Men's Health has some good advice on the unnecessary holding of a debt card:

According to the New York Public Interest Research Group, 89 percent of banks assess a point-of-sale (P.O.S.) fee in addition to the cost of purchases made with your debit card when you use your PIN. Fees can run up to $1.50--NYPIRG found an average of 70 cents per transaction. If you use your debit card twice a day, every day, you may hand over to your bank more than $500 a year. Don't have the cash on hand at check-out? Use a no-annual-fee credit card that you pay off in full every month.

According to Bob Sullivan, author of Gotcha Capitalism and MSNBC.com's Red Tape Chronicles, debit cards are the leading cause of the largest fee in America--overdraft fees. About half of the $17 billion in overdraft fees each year are the result of electronic transactions (like debit card purchases). For many people, having a debit card doesn't help to keep track of cash-spending instead, like all plastic, it aids spending. Avoid overdraft fees by ditching your debit and using cash or a credit card.

Sign up for a debit card that gives you rewards? For most cards, you get those rewards only if you sign for your purchase, not if you use your PIN. Call your bank and ask for a credit card with similar rewards--and no annual fee--instead.

Debit cards are linked to your checking account--cash money. If, as I found out when my debit info was swiped at a local bodega 10 years ago, someone manages to hack into your account, your cash is gone.

Read the full article here.

Thoughts y'all?

Today, as Obama speaks in Detroit, the Detroit News is publishing one of my columns titled, "Stopping Dropouts Starts At Home."

To improve America's competitiveness, Obama said he wants to spend $10 billion on childhood education. This will not work, I argue, unless there is also coordinated efforts to help kids on multiple levels including strengthening the family and other intermediate institutions. Obama's team, if they want moderates to buy into increased spending, need to also discuss how tax payer's money will be spent to develop programs outside of the classroom because a child's academic success is largely affected by what happens at home and in their community life. If asked, I'd be more than happy to work in DOE to coordinate efforts to help states develop a diversified approach that does not waste tax dollars and decrease spending in the long-run. There must be more partners (churches, civic non-profits, etc.) if we hope to increase graduation rates in public schools (esp. for minorities).

Here's an excerpt from my column in the Detroit News:

More than 1.23 million high school seniors will fail to graduate in the class of 2008, according to a new study conducted by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Now that the drama over the Democratic nominee has subsided, the presidential candidates must return to issues that threaten to hobble America in a global economy: namely, millions of future adults who are not acquiring the skill sets that will enable them to compete.

Results for the class of 2005, the most recent year available, show a national graduation rate of nearly 71 percent, an increase of about half a percentage point over the prior year. According to the report, that figure drops for historically disadvantaged groups: 58 percent for Hispanics, 55 percent for African-Americans and 51 percent for Native Americans. Males in these groups fare especially poorly.

Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Vermont lead the nation with graduation rates of more than 80 percent. The District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and South Carolina lag the nation with rates under 60 percent. Michigan is practically at the national average at 70.5 percent, but ranks 48th in the country for graduating African-Americans.

What reports overlook, and the political rhetoric during the presidential campaign will miss, is that high school graduation rates are tied to a stable family life, a sense of self-efficacy and moral maturity, rather than to money spent per pupil or the number of standardized assessments given from kindergarten through grade 12.

Read the rest here at the Detroit News.

In other news, this is my last post this week. I'm off to speak at an Alliance Defense Fund conference in Phoenix for the rest of this week.

Also, remember I have a regular Wednesday rant over at World Magazine.

(In the 1950s, kids had three cups of milk for every cup of soda. Today that ratio is reversed, meaning they get all the calories and none of the nutrients.
Photo-illustration by Anne Elliott Cutting for TIME)

What does it say about parents if their kids are overweight (with the exception of those with medical conditions that may lead to obesity).

Time Magazine has an amazingly sad article about America's pathetically fat kids. I think I might even start saying stuff to folks in public because obesity and overeating are increasing America's health care costs.

In 1900 the average weight of a college-age male in the U.S. was 133 lb. (60 kg); the average woman was 122 lb. (55 kg). By 2000, men had plumped up to 166 lb. (75 kg) and women to 144 lb. (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we've stuffed ourselves like pâté geese. In 1985 there were only eight states in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese--though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which the obesity rates were that low, and in 23 states, the number exceeded 25%. Even those figures don't tell the whole story, since they include only full-blown obesity. Overall, about two-thirds of all Americans weigh more than they should.

"Sit down on a bench in a park with a person on either side of you," says Penelope Slade-Royall, director of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "If you're not overweight, statistically speaking, both of the other people sitting with you are."

If there was any fire wall against the fattening of American adults, it was American kids. The quick metabolism and prodigious growth spurts of childhood make it a challenge just to keep up with all the calories you need, never mind exceed them. But even the most active kids could not hold out forever against the storm of food coming at them every day. In 1971 only 4% of 6-to-11-year-old kids were obese; by 2004, the figure had leaped to 18.8%. In the same period, the number rose from 6.1% to 17.4% in the 12-to-19-year-old group, and from 5% to 13.9% among kids ages just 2 to 5. And as with adults, that's just obesity. Include all overweight kids, and a whopping 32% of all American children now carry more pounds than they should. "There's no way to overestimate how scary numbers like this are," says Seeley.

Obese boys and girls are already starting to develop the illnesses of excess associated with people in their 40s and beyond: heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, gallstones, joint breakdown and even brain damage as fluid accumulation inside the skull leads to headaches, vision problems and possibly lower IQs.

Fellas, what should we do?

In this short clip, Rev. Pfleger comments here about how the descendants of white supremacists, racists, and slaver owners should own their connection. Father Pfleger also references the phenomenon of white entitlement that reigns among whites today, and why Hillary was so shocked when Obama showed up.

This is the clip that had Obama resign his church membership.

Thoughts, fellas?

From CNN:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee criticized the Confederate flag, which happens to be hoisted on the Statehouse grounds in the early primary state of South Carolina.

"I know that everybody that hangs a flag like that in their room is not a racist," Thompson said, acknowledging that others may be offended by the flag. He also said he is "glad people have made the decision" to keep the Confederate flag out of public places.

However, Thompson held a campaign event earlier this month on the Statehouse grounds, just yards from where the Confederate flag still waves along Gervais Street in Columbia.

As for Romney, he said, "that is not a flag I would recognize … that flag is frankly divisive and it shouldn't be shown."

Both candidates are front-runners in South Carolina. Both may have to answer questions about those comments next time they hit the state.

I am now a Romney/Thompson fan! That would be a wonderful ticket!! Both against the confederate flag! Awesome!

"It's heritage, not hatred" Fellas, you gotta admit that's a pretty silly (some would say "stupid") distinction. Why would you want to fly a flag that you know is going to offend people: evil maybe? I dunno?

Flying the confederate battle flag is equivalent to flying a flag of the swastika.

The Swastika--"it's heritage, not hatred"

Why are there still lovers of the racist Southern (Baptist and Presbyterian supported) confederacy? Loving the confederate South is equivalent to loving apartheid South Africa (which, by the way, was developed by Reformed "Christians").

Apartheid--"it's heritage, not hatred"

Many blacks would see it odd that there are people who are actually proud to be associated with America's pre-1965 apartheid South, even people who identify themselves as "Christians." For you blacks in the South in evangelical contexts there is some wisdom, as I was taught, to be a but suspicious of those who love Southern pre-1965 heritage.