More Kennedy Love For Obama

I normally hate 30 second political advertisements, but Caroline Kennedy has helped create one of the best I've ever seen.



Just because we have corrupted leaders like George Bush and Dick Cheney in the White House, it doesn't mean we have to give up on OUR ability to be a great nation again. It is easy to let a few demons cause us to demonize our ability to self-govern. Obama is offering the hope that "we the people" can be great again. We need leaders that can distance us from our past corruption and restore our hope in the future.

Obama: Ready Day One!

This week, Ted Kennedy turned the Clinton's spin back on them. He made the case that Barack Obama can be an effective president from "day one". Divisive tactics are not working and the Kennedy's have helped to turn the tables.

"With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion." Ted Kennedy

Rituals of Faith

I’ve become more and more appreciative for how different people cultivate their faith. Last weekend I spent time with a group of progressive mainline Christians. Next weekend I’ll be with Brian McLaren in Charlotte learning from fellow Emergent Christians who have begun to explore more ancient and creative forms of spiritual experiences. My wife, Veronica, just returned from a photography and spirituality weekend in a Trappist Monastery. She loved it. I can barely remember a “normal” church experience and I can’t say that I miss it. The truth is that I’ve never been one for rituals, but I’m beginning to come around to the idea that they have their place.

Lately, I’ve really begun to establish a more regular practice of contemplative prayer. We created a prayer room in our house. It helps to have a designated place for prayer. The cushions, candles, and incense are always right there waiting. I didn’t like the smell of incense at first, but now it moves me. My mood changes as soon as I smell it. The first time I heard a Buddhist describe their faith as “practice”, I was amazed. The notion that faith can be a tool for transformation rather than a destination is so much more satisfying than shallow anthems of idolatry and proclamations of certainty. The possibility that my own transformation process could be one small part in a larger universal transformation is even more inspiring. It took a while to catch on, but now I’m beginning to feel comfortable. I’m not as consistent as I’d like. I try to sit twice a day. In the morning I may only have a couple of minutes to take off my shoes, sit, bow a few times, and think about having a more humble attitude during my day. Every little bit helps. I usually feel different afterwards, even though the rigors of the office slowly eat away at the progress I made. At night, I usually practice 20-30 minutes. Those experiences are liberating.

One of the best resources I’ve found is an online site with free instructions for the two main types of meditation that I use called “The Mindfulness of Breathing” and “Loving Kindness (Metta Bhavana)". Give it a try. Download them to your MP3 player, pile up a few cushions, and your all set.

SC Says "Yes We Can"

One Day = $720 Million

Thanks for sharing this Jen!

Slugfest Fact Check

Factcheck.org has published the facts behind Monday night's political slugfest. I'm not happy with either candidate. However, I felt much better about Obama's remarks. Edwards could have been the clear winner if he had not decided to dive into the muck with the other two. For the last year I haven't been able to place my finger on the reason I don't like Hillary Clinton. Monday I figured it out. It is because of the "Clinton" ability to spin errant facts into emotional rhetoric. I wanted to puke.

Buying Votes

It is unclear which profession is more corrupt and broken – American Politics or American Journalism. At the end of the day, our fake public servants operate as marionettes operating at the hands of fake journalists who prey on our nation’s obsession with conflict. The corporate sponsors line up around the corner to pay for air time. More concerned with inciting riots and raising ratings rather than asking substantive questions, these fake journalists poke and prod the candidates hoping to get a violent reaction. Is this the future of the world at stake here or one of Michael Vick’s dog fights? Meanwhile, the big corporate sponsors are taking bets in the background. “Gimme 2 to 1 on the old white chick” said the insurance executive. “You’re full of Shit, he’ll rip ‘er head off and piss down her throat” screamed the Drug Company lobbyist as he throws down a roll of cash big enough to choke a horse.

The corporate sponsors and political spin doctors got their wish Monday night. Unfortunately, the lead was buried on the last page. The real story is how these candidates on both sides are trying to buy our votes. First, the Republicans bid $500 per vote which it disguised as an “economic stimulus package”. Then the Democrats realized they couldn’t come across as stingy so they bid $600 per vote. Both sides want to buy our votes by giving us a stupid tax refund. We are drowning in debt so their brilliant answer is to go deeper in debt. What? I think our politicians are watching too many late night commercials for pawn shops and pay day lenders. You have to be kidding me! That short sighted thinking is how we got into this mess.

So now our government will borrow billions from China, give us all $600 a piece so we can still afford to go down to that new Starbucks on the corner and buy a $4 cup of coffee harvested by workers in a 3rd world country getting paid $.50 a day. All of this is so that the corporate executives financing the campaigns can ensure their precious stock options at Starbucks and Wal-Mart maintain their value. Six months later, $500 of useless consumer goods are in a trash dump, our lives are still empty, and we face the reality that our paychecks are worth less than before because the U.S. dollar is worthless in the global market. All the while, China owns the 2nd mortgage on our nation. This is what happens when we build an economy based on debt and retail sales while our manufacturing industry vanishes and our only innovation is designing new financing techniques to borrow more money and make our debt look like profit.

Now we have these so-called “journalists” like Wolf Blitzer wasting our time asking Barack Obama how he feels about the opportunity to be the 2nd black president. What a complete idiot. Our society kills Martin Luther King Jr. and somehow we give Blitzer a microphone to desecrate his memory.

Healthcare For Profit

The New Christians

I was recently asked to review Tony Jones' new book for the Academy of Parish Clergy. His publisher was kind enough to send me an advanced copy. I loved the book. It will be available in March 2008 but you can pre-order it through Amazon.com. Here is the short version of my review:

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The Emergent Church is a hot topic. Its critics have been struggling to nail down its definition and paint its leaders into a corner. Discussions about these new Christians are full of rumors, misconceptions, and urban legends. However, many people feel this movement could be the future of American Christianity.

Tony Jones is the national coordinator for Emergent Village and a doctoral fellow in practical theology at Princeton University. He lays everything about the Emergent phenomenon on the table in his new book “The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier”. For anyone interested in the Emergent Church, this book is a must read. Giving the reader an inside scoop on the origins of this movement, Tony Jones has taken a big step toward answering many questions of participants and critics alike. I’d like to thank Tony for sharing his journey with us.

These new Christians began as small group of Evangelicals asking a few deep questions. As the answers produced more questions and those questions took on a life of their own, it became obvious that their friendships were much more important than their agreement on all the details. These questions are not new. Most Christians have struggled with questions of faith at some point in their life. Churches of all varieties have to deal with questions regarding leadership structure, facilities, worship models, and culture, but something different happened in this conversation. Where past generations of Christians had often come to irreconcilable differences that severed relationships and fragmented Protestantism into a million pieces, these friends found a way to see past the division and savor the conversation.

The Christian community has been watching intensely as these new Christians have held a public brainstorming session for the past decade via blogs, magazine articles, and even a few controversial books. Few concrete answers have crystallized but publishing your work for the world to see makes you very vulnerable and vulnerability creates fertile ground for change. Most pastors and executives would rather iron out all the details, conduct a few market tests, and debug all the programs before going public. These new Christians resisted that temptation and dared to take another path. The result is not simply a new denomination or a different doctrinal statement, but it is a different kind of process. They have created a theology and ecclesiology developed through collaboration and community rather than any claims of divinely appointed superiority or exclusive access to tradition. Tony Jones compares Emergent to an open source software product or an online collaboration tool such as Wikipedia.com.

“Like Wikipedia, emergent churches harbor no great fear of failure. In fact, failures are a natural consequence of innovation and adventure”
…
”However, when emergent churches open-source their worship environments, all sorts of people make themselves heard, leading to a richer experience for all, albeit one with some serious mistakes.” (p.193)

This book doesn’t gloss over the problems. Not all of the relationships made it through undamaged. For some, the questions were out of bounds and many answers spelled heresy. For the critics, the concrete answers were not materializing fast enough.

As more than a biographical sketch of Emergent, the book discloses the core values of these individual communities and provides a healthy dose of the terminology with in-depth definitions. Any attempts to heal the wounds of conflict would be futile without addressing the deep theological differences. When theology and practice become disconnected, there is a big problem.

“The emergent movement is robustly theological; the conviction is that theology and practice are inextricably related, and each invariably informs the other.” (p.104)

I suspect that this Emergent conversation may be the first glimpse into modern mainline theology for many Evangelicals. It might be fair to suggest that these young Evangelicals are just now catching up with scholars like Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Walter Brueggemann who have been willing to tackle tough theological questions and create dialogue for a long time. There is ample evidence of that trend. His friend and fellow Emergent author Brian McLaren, credits both Brueggemann and Crossan in his latest book “Everything Must Change”. However, Tony Jones is a bit critical of these scholars. He suggests that Borg, in particular, has missed the mark by rejecting orthodox beliefs in the resurrection and interpreting the bible’s miraculous stories as symbolic parables. (p.148, p.156) I feel Tony might have been too quick to make that judgment. Mainline scholars have long been the champions of fresh theological perspectives and he might be overlooking some worthwhile advocates in the journey ahead.

This conversation is happening all around the world in homes, coffee houses, bars, and maybe even a few Sunday school classes. Something wonderful happens when people are willing to become vulnerable, share their incomplete stories, doubts, and questions. These new Christians realize that the gospel is so much more than bulletproof answers to questions. The gospel comes to life during the process of accepting people who have questions to ask. For those of us interested in the Emergent journey and even those wishing to cut them off at the pass, this book offers much to learn for us all.

Ready for Change

Brian McLaren's "Everything Must Change" tour is coming to Charlotte, NC Feb 1-2. I'm going to attend along with a few friends. We have been discussing this inspiring book for the last few months and it has been a catalyst for several very deep conversations. The conference is shaping up to be an exciting moment in the life of the Emergent conversation. I'm ready!

After the conference, Brian will be involved in an interfaith dialogue on Saturday Feb. 2 at 5:30 PM with local Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities. This dialogue is open to the public so if you can't make the whole conference you may want to check out this special event.

Libertarian Support for Obama

A recent post on the Liberal Values blog makes a good case that Obama has gained support from many Libertarians who have peeked under the hood of Ron Paul's platform and found something other than a champion for liberty. I'm probably a good example of this trend. The recent information regarding Ron Paul's racist views may be the last straw for many libertarians and may send them running to the Democrats for safe haven from the Republicans who have largely abandoned liberty, free market economics, and fiscal responsibility.

As a person with many libertarian values, I've seen Obama as a type of "left-leaning libertarian" since I first read his book "The Audacity of Hope". His deep understanding and devotion to constitutional law and his choice to use free market economics as a tool for restoring justice as opposed to massive government programs has always appealed to me. He has stood in opposition to the types of government hand-outs that constitute nothing more than corporate welfare for the defense and energy industries. This side of Obama may not be getting the publicity it deserves during the more emotional and stump-speech oriented primary. It' a big reason he plays well to more educated voters who dare to dig beneath the rhetoric.

If you are an anti-war liberty minded voter who is concerned about fiscal responsibility but may be wary of considering a Democrat, then I urge you to reconsider Obama. Despite his book's title and his tendency to come across as a motivational speaker, Obama is first a foremost an advocate for the constitution. His hope is not based in idealistic charity and goodwill. His hope seems to be based on belief in this nations founding principles of liberty and justice for all.

Emergent Change

I really enjoy the podcasts presented by Emergent Village. I highly recommend the latest podcast with Don Heatley of Vision Community Church. It's a message that many in the emerging conversation will enjoy.

“I find it so sad that this beautiful elegant universe that physicists are discovering is unfamiliar to so many Christians. There is a cruel irony that the reason for this ignorance is that so many Christians are still struggling with the discoveries of science in the 19th century – people like Charles Darwin – that they are not even up to the 20th and 21st century yet. All because their allegiance is to the words (small “w”) and not to the Word of God (capital “W”).”

This echoes my own personal view that Christianity cannot become post-modern until it first becomes modern. I think many people in the emerging conversation mistakenly assume being post-modern means returning to an ancient worldview and rejecting modern science and theology. Actually, being post-modern means we embrace and come to terms with the discoveries of modernity. Once we've done that, then we are free to move past the ancient vs. modern fights that developed as a result of modernity. Now we can rediscover how the deep truths wrapped in our ancient stories, myths, symbols, and rituals can still enrich our lives in a post enlightenment world with the realization that these stories are not literally true but eternally truth-filled.

Yes We Can Change!

Obama lost by a narrow margin in New Hampshire, but he also found his comfort zone speaking about a united front for change. The exit polls showed that the majority of Clinton supporters viewed Obama as the best choice for uniting the nation, but somehow they still voted for her. I'm not sure I understand their logic. I do hope that the upcoming primary state voters will listen and take note of his gift for inspiring unity. Can we really support the best candidate for change? YES WE CAN!

Big Change for the Buckeyes

A completely different SEC team beat up on Ohio State this year. I guess Ohio State can begin getting ready to lose to Georgia next year. Congratulations to LSU. I wish Georgia had gotten a chance to play them, but it will be fun next year. The SEC is amazing.

Debating Change

Last nights Republican and Democratic debates were eye opening. The most interesting moments were the powerful words of wisdom from Ron Paul on the Iraq war, deficit spending, and monetary policy. I am baffled by the republican’s views on foreign policy and Ron Paul held their feet to the fire. He had the balls to hold a mirror up to these warmongers and fear peddlers. Thank God for Ron Paul’s voice last night! He made the rest of the bunch look like idiots. If I were not a Christian with a strong allegiance to Jesus’ message about sharing my wealth with those less fortunate, I would certainly vote for him. I used to be a libertarian before I devoted my life to the message of Christ.

I wonder where Republicans get their information about the Middle East? They are convinced that the anger of terrorists is not a product of our past involvement in the Middle East. I guess they listen too closely to their own propaganda machines. Have they ignored the complete history of our involvement in the Middle East? Have they ignored our mistakes? Don’t they know the United States made Afghanistan the mess that it is now by funding them in the cold war against Russia? Haven’t they taken a history class and learned how EVERY empire in the history of the world has self destructed by stretching its military power beyond capacity into foreign lands and spending themselves into bankruptcy through a doctrine of fear and paranoia? It seems like these candidates live on another planet. Thank you Ron Paul for bringing the debate back down to earth and exposing their ignorance on foreign policy.

Today, Fox news will host a republican debate but guess what? Ron Paul is being excluded. Why exclude the candidate who seems to win every debate? Here is a website protesting the exclusion. It is a shame that his voice will not be heard by those who need to hear it the most.

On the other side, Obama came across as very presidential. Edwards continued to speak with the most passion (maybe a bit too angry) and made another strong appeal to the middle class. Clinton is doing her best to recast herself as a change candidate. Richardson proved he had no business in the debate.

Resolutions For Change - 2008

I have a few resolutions for my blogging habits in this new year:

• I resolve to spend more time talking about my present views instead of complaining about my past. The last couple of years have been a time for critique of where I had been. I was angry at my past. I’m not any more. It is time to move on.


• I resolve to spend more time listening and understanding. Working out my thoughts alone was good for me, but it is not healthy to stay there.


• I resolve to ask more questions. When I read back through my posts from last year I realized it looked like I was more confident than I really am. That comes more from my poor writing skills. I'm really not that confident. It takes a great writer to be transparent. Unfortunately, I’m a math geek. Writing is new to me, but I hope asking more questions will soften the false confidence in my posts.


• I resolve to be more careful and tactful in my comments on other sites. I've learned that you can’t easily correct or retract comments. I've also been guilty of saying too much in places I had no business speaking.

Iowa Changed Everything

Today Iowa made a statement for change. After hearing Obama's victory speech tonight, I finally got what I needed. I wanted to be an Obama supporter from the beginning but he stumbled in the debates and he hadn't given a good speech on a national stage since the race began. Tonight he gave his most inspirational speech since the 2004 democratic convention. I think maybe the win gave him the confidence he needed to be more open and passionate. America needs hope, inspiration, and passion. I can't imagine a better candidate to restore those attributes to American politics.

Meanwhile, the Republicans proved they are marginalized and merely a one issue party. They are spitting in the wind by choosing a candidate who renounces modern science, champions a regressive sales tax, and doesn't even read the daily news. I don't think America will buy another conservative Christian who promises to revoke roe v. wade in exchange for raping the middle class and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The idea of a compassionate conservative may draw Evangelicals in the primaries, but America won't be fooled again. It is the same line that Bush used to get elected and it won't work again this fall.

Big Easy

We are back from New Orleans. The game was TOO easy. UGA destroyed Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl as expected and it seems obvious now that we should have been in the Rose Bowl. I'm sure the weather was warmer in southern California. We did get to stop in Biloxi long enough for me to win a poker tournament and pay for the whole trip. My wife is probably getting tired of planning every trip around a stay over at a casino. The upside is that she always gets to spend the day in the spa and my poker hobby pays for it.