News and Record Blows It Again - Again

After an initial pathetic excuse for journalism in last Saturday's paper regarding SE High School's wrestling program and MRSA, followed by an even more provocative piece by a second reporter Tuesday, which just added to the appearance of a vast cover up, the News and Record followed with a more positive article Wednesday where pieces of a statement made by the principle were referenced, along with other positive comments regarding the coaches and the wrestling program. So, things were going in the right direction. Then the two families that started the whole mess went to News 2, who ran two stories on the same issue also without doing any better a job of due diligence. Oddly, their online piece was pulled mid morning Wednesday. I wonder why?

I understand that News 2 ran a more balanced piece today. Someone told me that. I missed it.

Then today the News and Record ran a kind of philosophical editorial about how MRSA laws and practices are just so terribly confusing. They should have run an editorial about how their reporter had been so irresponsible. They didn't. Shame on you N&R. You blew it. You messed up. I think you know it. Just say so.

Actually the regulations about MRSA are spelled out on the GCS web site and they really aren't very confusing. The N&R seems confused about different rules regarding school attendance as compared to athletic participation. Duh. Is this hard to understand? Maybe it has something to do with the fact the wrestlers are engaged in serious bodily contact while wrestling, and that bandages can come off the sweaty body of a wrestler during a match.

This isn't rocket science.

And for those who want "the facts," well, the school district cannot release the facts regarding student medical issues. They can't tell you if a student has or doesn't have some disease. Neither can the principal or the coach. There are federal laws and local regulations that are designed to protect the privacy of students. I'm glad those laws are there.

Now, if I were a journalist there are a few questions I would like answered. Why did the N&R reporter tell me on the phone that he had been under pressure to release the story for the Saturday morning paper, even though he had not yet talked to key people involved? Pressure from whom? Why?

Is it true as has been asserted (but not reported) that one of the students involved said several days before the article was released that an article was going to be released? If that is true then it makes it look like the N&R had much of the week to do their due diligence and did not. It may not be true. I'd like to know. Wouldn't you? What did the N&R know, and when did they they know it? (or think they knew it!)

Is it true that the student who was diagnosed with MRSA Thursday was back in school Tuesday? I understand that that is true. So, does he have MRSA? Does he not? I'd like to know. Was he cured? Was there a false positive Thursday? Has he been cleared to wrestle as well as to attend school? There is no way to find out, at least for me. Normally I would say this is nobody's business, except that the News and Record article has defamed the integrity of a coach and a school as regards this student. So, one is curious. I am.

Another question I have is this. In the first article about this matter on Saturday Feb 2, it says: "Doctors diagnosed the MRSA infection Thursday night in Tyler Rush, a 16-year-old sophomore on the Southeast wrestling team, his mother, Sheila Rush, said Friday." But MRSA takes 48 hours to culture. Did the family get a culture back on Thursday from an earlier doctor visit? You cannot diagnose MRSA on the spot. The time line is confusing to me. It makes me wonder.

While I am at it. MRSA is not Ebola. Is not TB. It is serious and can be fatal if untreated like many other bacterial infections such as Haemophilus or Strep B. But MRSA is not considered a communicable disease per se. It cannot be spread in the air. It can't be spread at a water fountain. It can be spread only by skin to skin contact. As far as regular life goes, a good bandage is sufficient. The school's regulations make perfect sense.

It's time for the News and Record to issue a public apology to the principal and coaches at SE High, instead of some philosophical refection about how confusing this all is. That sounds like an excuse or rationalization for poor journalism to me.

As a Christian I believe that in the end my reputation is in God's hands. I cannot control what others say about me no matter how ridiculous. So there is a limit as to how passionately I should care about my own reputation. But I am called to care a lot - a whole lot - about my neighbor's reputation.

The ninth commandment says that we are not to bear false witness against our neighbor. The flip side of this is that we are to work to uphold the integrity of our neighbor's reputation. It takes a lifetime to build a good name. It can be taken away in a moment. This is serious business.

Journalists need to consider this more before they besmurch the good name and reputation of a committed local teacher, coach, athletic director, and principal, and start printing unfounded allegations brought by a third party.

I am waiting for that apology.

The News and Record Blows It - Again

After printing a defamatory article regarding a local coach and local high school on Saturday morning without having done due diligence in checking the facts first, the News and Record had an opportunity to make things right. But they didn't. They made things worse still.

The headline today (in the online version of the article anyway) reads: "Coach declines to respond to charge he ignored staph."

The staff writer, Robert Bell, chose to sensationalize the matter even more by framing a headline, and a story, around the appearance of stonewalling and further cover up. In other words, the follow up creates the appearance that the parties that should have been thoroughly interviewed in the first place are now stone walling the media, hiding behind their lawyers, or whatever.

The back story remains unreported. The back story in this case is absolutely key. I think that it is the common experience of most people involved in sports that there is always drama on the fringes. One parent has it out for a coach for whatever reason, talks to other people who are unhappy for whatever reason, and soon enough gossip is flying around like nobody’s business. This is true in recreation league sports. It is true in school sports. There is always some kind of drama and some kind of backbiting behind the scenes. It’s amazing anyone agrees to coach anything.

A cautious and thorough investigation would have revealed all this, but it is too late now.There are two problems that make getting to the truth at this point very difficult.

First, now that the original story has been printed, and accusations have been made, the issue potentially has become a legal one. If what was printed Saturday were true, the coaches and principals could be victims of lawsuits, civil or criminal, or, they could be forced into a position to file lawsuits.

Second and trickier still, the only way to refute the charges in an unambiguous manner is to present detailed medical information regarding the various students. But that would be a direct violation of federal HIPAA laws.

Let’s imagine that a women suffering from paranoid schizophrenia with delusional issues calls the paper and says that on Thursday at 2:00pm I sexually assaulted her in my office. Let’s say that on Thursday at 2:00pm there was no one in my office but me. Let’s say that the paper calls me and leaves me a voice mail, and I don’t return the call before print deadline. So they run an article about how a local woman claims to have been sexually assaulted by a pastor in his office. Even if I had gotten the voice mail and returned the call I would not be able to talk about the person’s medical history. I could only say it didn’t happen. I could not verify that it didn’t happen because we don’t have cameras up in our office (maybe we should). My reputation would be in the toilet. People are ready to believe almost any kind of sordid news story. Once the story was out I would be in touch with a lawyer and I would not be saying anything else. I have no idea what would happen to me.

The News and Record has let itself get caught up in a personal vendetta. I am not meaning to imply that the parties are mentally ill. I simply needed to illustrate how something like this could play out in my situation. The comparison has to do with personal medical information and it is handled. Whatever medical diagnoses these students had, and when they had them, well, the coaches cannot tell that to the paper. It is against the law.

By letting itself get caught up in a personal grudge the News and Record has soiled the reputation of a good man and good coach, and called into question the commitment of a school and school system to student and public health. It all seems more fitting for the National Inquirer than our local paper.

The school principle (who is also an extremely good man with the highest personal integrity) and the wrestling coach of SE High have submitted a joint statement to the media relations folks at Guilford County Schools. As far as I understand things, that will have to do for now.

It remains the case that there is no basis for any of the claims that have been made.

An overwhelming percentage of parents and students who are involved in the program at SE High and who are more than aware of the standard practices to protect student and public safety, and who know the character of the coaches and principal at SE High, will have a chance to speak their mind. But as a media issue, because the News and Record jumped the gun, the detailed facts of the case will not be able to be brought to the public eye.

I am extremely disappointed in the quality of reporting of our local paper as revealed by this whole business. It seems that truth is quite secondary to sensationalism. That disturbs me. I am not going to cancel my subscription because I like the Sudoku puzzles too much, but I will take a more cynical posture toward anything I read henceforth. You should too.

I Love February and March

I went on a long walk today. I love this time of year, so pregnant with possibility. It's a busy time outside. Despite the cold of January past, as days continue to lengthen, and as temperatures become a little more mild, life seems to start to break out all over. Have you noticed the tufts of wild onions are popping up in people's lawns. I saw a few dandelions in bloom today, as well as favorite common Spring wildflower Lamium, that purple flower that shoots up with a tuft of beautiful blue/purple flowers in a whorl around the stem.

I saw a blue bird pair building a nest while on my walk, and a bunch of crows squawking and chasing a hawk. Tree buds seem slightly swollen. Buds are fascinating.

This can be a hard time for birds that gather seed and berries, as well as those who feed on insects. Food sources are in short supply. It's a good time to "feed the birds, tuppence a bag."

Take a walk, take a break, and open you eyes and ears to all that is around you.

The News and Record Blows It

You know, you wish and hope, do you not, that when you open up your paper on a Saturday morning (or any other morning) that what is reported by a local reporter has some connection to the truth. But after this weekend, and a phone conversation I just had with a reporter, I no longer can believe that that is the case.

I just got off the phone with a reporter from the News and Record named Ryan Seals who authored an article printed Saturday morning about a "cover up" of MRSA (that nasty staph infection going around) by the wrestling coaches at SE High school. Yes, it is true, one of the students on the wrestling team had been diagnosed with MRSA. The public needs to know that. But the rest of the story, the whole "cover up" theme, was not time sensitive and needed to be checked out first - and I mean really checked out. I tried to to make a point with Mr. Seals that he had not done due diligence in corroborating his story, especially when the integrity of multiple people was at stake, and especially still when dealing with a public health matter as serious as MRSA. He kept insisting that he had done everything he could reasonably do to fact-check for his article. He believes he did. But he didn't come close. And that is scary to me.

I am sitting here astounded, flabbergasted, flummoxed, by the sheer immaturity and naivite of this young reporter. He alluded to pressure on him to get the story out. Hmmm. I'd like to know more about that.

So, the gist is that a complaint has been made by a couple of sets of parents regarding the coaches at SE High School. There is a significant and ongoing back-story about these families and their relationship to the coaching staff at SE High which bears directly upon the charges being made.

So, highly inflammatory charges are made by a person calling the paper regarding another person and the reporter believes that calling a few people late on a Friday afternoon and leaving messages which are not returned before the deadline amounts to doing "everything that could be done" to verify the story.

Does he have any concept of the work cycle of teachers and school employees? Does he have any concept of real life? How many people to whom you send an e-mail or leave a voice mail call you back immediately? So Mr. Seals calls and leaves messages (of which some of the parties have no record) and he believes he has done due diligence? Is this the journalistic standard of the News and Record? Or do they enjoy ruining people's lives as a hobby?

The basic charge in the article is that the coaches at SE were telling students with MRSA to cover up their sores and to wrestle anyway. But this does not make any sense. Students cannot wrestle with bandages without the referee checking what's under the bandage. There is no evidence whatsoever that the coach said any such thing. It makes no sense for him to say such a thing. To do so would not only be a breach of every kind of ethics, but criminal negligence, or worse. But again, wrestling matches do not work in such a way that that is how a sore would be covered up anyway. It is totally ridiculous. If a coach wanted to fool a referee he would have his wrestler take off bandages and hope the referee did not see any blemishes.

The coach, Mr. Jim Cox, is a long standing public servant who has taught for over thirty years, and coached wrestling for the better part of his career. His son works with him at the school as well. They follow a strict guideline - if anyone has a blemish, as much as a zit - they are given a form and cannot wrestle until a doctor has seen the blemish. This is standard procedure and has been followed faithfully at SE and probably every other school in the county. There is no evidence that such procedures were set aside.

What really gets my goat is the flimsy and cavalier attitude regarding the facts in a story that could ruin a reputation and a career as well as cause widespread lack of confidence in our school system, all because of a personal grudge carried by a member of the community against another. The paper ought to have the ability to know the context of such charges before running with them.

I am further bothered because I have known and been associated one way or another with many different coaches in different sports over the course of the last several years as my daughters have been actively involved in sports at NW High School. The folks that coach sports work long hours for very little extra pay, if any, and deserve the benefit of the doubt, which means a real attempt to check facts, and not a witch hunt like this.

I know this goes out late on a Monday. In my case I have actually talked on the phone to the primary subject of this blog piece. I wouldn't think of writing a story about him without so doing - no matter what pressure I was getting.

I will write more tomorrow, after the News and Record's follow up story. I hope this won't be a N&R cover up of a bad story. Be ready reporters. I am going to be all over you on this.

Oh, and I have a new lead. I am told that students spoke as far back as last Tuesday about an article to come out in the paper. I really hope that is not true. Don't you Mr. Seals?

Best Play Ever

Forget "The Catch." Forget "The Immaculate Reception." Last night's fourth quarter pass and catch between Eli Manning and David Tyree ranks as the single most amazing, game-changing, unlikely, and fantastic play I have witnessed in 40 years of watching professional football. I mean, Manning should have gone down. It should have been a sack. But he pulled away from grasping and tugging arms, swung out of the pocket to throw an off balance 30 yard pass to David Tyree, who at full extension and with a Patriot defender all over him, caught the ball with the tips of his fingers, trapped it against his helmet, and then pulled it into his arms as he fell backwards, his body bent back over the defender underneath him. It was simply amazing, the stuff of which football legends are made. I suppose we will get to enjoy it in "best of" football stories for the rest of my life. I feel for New England, the perfect season thing gone, but I was a rootin' for the Giants and Eli. What a game!

For Real, Is John McCain Eligible?

I know others have written about this, but...

Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the Constitution does state: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the same time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

John McCain was born in 1936 to American parents stationed at the Coco Solo air Base, an American base in the Panama Canal Zone. Wikipedia calls it an "air" base in one place and a "submarine" base in another place. Was it a navy air base? At any rate, the base was inside of the Panama Canal Zone. As best as I can understand the Panama Canal Zone was never considered to be American soil, and was always a kind of rented property in the nation of Panama itself run by the Panama Canal Company.

So, McCain was born on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Has there ever been a court decision or legislative act that says directly that American military bases are American soil as pertains to matters or citizenship? Yes, children born to American parents on a US military base are citizens, but that is only one part of the total picture. Are children of non citizens born on military bases considered citizens? If a pregnant person who is a citizen of another country were to be visiting a friend on an American military base, and if she were to go into emergency labor, and have a child on the base, would that child be an American citizen? If not then American bases are not the same as American soil as pertains to citizenship.

But citizenship per se is not the question here.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 addresses the question of who exactly is a citizen. Unfortunately the act rules includes racial restrictions, restrictions which have finally been eliminated over time. But the part of that act germane to the question of John McCain is the part that involves citizenship for Americans born "abroad." As the Act states, "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens." This Act was replaced by The Naturalization Act of 1795, but the provision quoted above was not changed, including the phrase "natural born citizen." The Act determined that children of Americans born abroad were Americans, but this not necessarily make them eligible to be president.

The Fourteenth Amendment also has language regarding citizenship, but does not speak directly to John McCain's situation. It says, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

There have been a couple of court cases which touch on the issue tangentially, but never one which has addressed the matter directly. It seems that according to the wording of the Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the Constitution that John McCain may not be eligible. An "Act" such as the Naturalization Act of 1790 does not carry the authority of a constitutional amendment, does it? I am not a lawyer obviously.

Mitt Romney's father George Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1968 (losing to Richard Nixon) was born in Mexico. I am not aware of his eligibility having been challenged.

So, it seems to me that John McCain's status is questionable. I don't think it should be, but I think that it is. I wonder if anyone has a plan to go to court over his eligibility if he wins the nomination? It would be scummy thing to do but who knows?

This interests and concerns me because I was highly involved in the candidacy of Charles "Pug" Ravenel for Governor of SC in 1974. He won the Democratic nomination only to be ruled ineligible later by the state supreme court by virtue of not meeting a residency requirement. Though he had lived out of state he had kept property in SC and considered it his home state. It was his Democratic opponents that did him in. The Democratic Party did not recover and the Republican candidate won the nomination.

Despite the wording of the Naturalization Act of 1790, it seems to me that the non amended wording of the Constitution itself could be a problem for McCain. Is someone out there just waiting to pull this card, either before or after the nomination?

I would like to see us amend this part of our constitution, maybe as suggested by Orin Hatch in 2003:

SECTION 1. A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.

SECTION 2. This article shall not take effect unless it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States not later than 7 years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress (CITE).

Hatch’s proposal never got any traction but it seems worthy of consideration to me.

For the record, though I am not a big John McCain fan, I think that if he isn't eligible to be president no one should be. But there is that pesky constitution...

Some Scenes from South Elm

South Elm on a January Afternoon

Looking north from outside The Guilford Building, 301 S Elm, Greensboro, NC. For more photos of Greensboro and Guilford County look here.

200 Years and Climbing

I saw a billboard on the way to the office today that said something about the 200 year anniversary coming up. It inspired several reflections.

1. The decision even to have a Greensboro was one born out of significant political upheaval on the county level. Whenever we think things today are just not as civil as they used to be, well, we need to read our history. I think the opposite is true.

2. Being downtown I would say that I have more of a heart for this city than I have had in my 18 years here. But I find this to be a bit of a puzzling town in many ways.

a. I think that for a county seat and a "planned" city especially, the manner in which Greensboro was originally laid out was really poor from a practical and aesthetic standpoint. I think this is because so few people were really invested in the new city. It was brought into being simply and purely to have a central location for a courthouse. Most of the people lived in other communities. So what did they care.

b. I've driven quite a lot the last two years through small southern towns that are county seats, and there is definitely a common pattern of a square containing the courthouse with streets on all sides providing for the possibility for shops and businesses and the like. Many of these old squares are making a revival. They are often quite beautiful. Our forbears put our courthouse in the middle of an intersection.

c. In addition, there was little to no provision for wide streets, open spaces, churches, or cemeteries, those things which tend to make many downtowns more pleasant. It is hard for me not to think of my home city and how wonderfully well laid out it was and is - but it was a state capital. Oh Columbia.

3. If it had not been for John Morehead's political acumen in getting the railroad to travel through Greensboro, I think Greensboro would to this day be little more than a Wentworth, and Guilford County more like Rockingham or Caswell County economically. Because of the railroad, Greensboro came to prosper, and yet that prosperity was built, as it were, on top of a city not well planned for prosperity and growth.

4. Which brings me to the present. This city has paid the price for a lack of planning, but does it need to continue in its old patterns. Given its rather extreme sprawl and chaotic exurban growth, it seems that planning is more important than ever. Is it too late? I don't think so. But if we're going to "plan" can we not stick to our plans?

5. Given everything working against downtown prospering, it is especially pleasing to me to be down here and watch the renewal take place, a little here, a little there, every day. I may not be a native son, but I'm pulling for you Greensboro.

It's Been a While

Wow, I can't believe it. I am actually typing in a Blogger text editor! It's been a while.

I write from my new perch on the fifth floor of the Guilford Building, looking north out of my window at the brightly sunlit JP and Wachovia buildings a few blocks north, listening to Jackson Browne's "These Days" and typing on my new Dell "Vostro" laptop. It's not too bad a gig that I have really.

Any other bloggers down this way? Maybe we could have coffee or play pool over at The Green Bean.

Comments machine gun style here - probably just repeating comments of others.

Thank you Joe Guarino for your excellent article on abortion in the News and Record. I think you were 100% on target. I appreciate the kind and respectful way you have of addressing a very hard and divisive issue. And thank you to the News and Record for printing a piece which I suspect the editorial staff would not agree with.

Wow, huge thanks to David Craft and all the others who helped raise public interest in the Haw River State Park project. I am grateful to all the parties who worked out the deal, but don't think any of it would have happened without all the signs and all the letters and e-mails. The people still have power. Go people!

I'm trying to feel sad about Terry Grier leaving, but I'm not. I don't know him. It's not personal. I'm glad the "drama" is ending. Now why is it that we continued to employ a person we knew was looking for a bigger/better job? I am hoping the School Board can take back the reins. I wish we could put an end to EOG focused teaching.

And I wish the federal government would get out of the education business. I think education is one of the few issues where everything works better the more local the decision making is. I wish we could redivide our huge county wide district into smaller and more local districts, along different lines than before the merger maybe. We could divide the tax revenues evenly but have smaller districts for decision making. I wish. A pipe dream.

I've been amused by all the hoopla surrounding John Edwards' comments about the homeless veterans, and Bill O'Reilly's replies. My personal experiences from working with homeless people in another place and time, talking to people who work with the homeless now, and reading about the issue, have all led me to believe that the vast majority of homeless people do in fact suffer from mental illness or substance abuse. I hate to see these neighbors "used" by any politician or journalist. I also don't think it is any more tragic for a veteran to be homeless than anybody else. The bottom line is that these people are human beings, they are our neighbors, and most of them are not going to get better. Good economy, bad economy, they, the homeless, these dear people, will always be with us. And regardless of mental illness or alcohol or drug abuse or both, these neighbors need friendship, need to know someone who cares about them and that someone cares about them, need to know someone who will miss them if they die, need someone who will help them find a warm dry place to sleep and a hot meal to eat. And that "someone" is you, and me - all of us really. I wish we could come together and support a few more people full time to care for and advocate for the homeless, not to absolve the rest of us, but to help us.

I am so tired of Bill Clinton. I wish he and Hillary would just go away. He, they, are demeaning not just the office, but even the process of obtaining the office. It's embarrassing.

Because of the abortion issue I don't know if I could ever vote for Obama, but I like him very much, and respect his candidacy. He is inspiring to me. The speech after the Iowa win - wow! We need an inspiring president. It would also be nice to have a president who can speak a complete sentence. It's hard to get excited about any of the Republicans right now.

I saw several movies over the holidays that I liked a lot. We rented a movie called "Once." If you like music, you just might like a movie about how music happens. This is a cool movie. You'll end up buying the soundtrack, so keep that in mind. There is a fair bit of Irish street language, but that is what it is. We also rented and really very much liked "Reign Over Me." I am a huge Don Cheadle fan, and this movie was interesting and engaging at many levels. When the similarly entitled song played at the end I almost wept, because it is one of my favorite songs of all time, and was such a perfect ending for the movie. The title explains the movie pretty much. I like Adam Sandler more and more. We rented "The Kingdom." I had seen it already but liked it even more the second time. Despite the bad aim of the Islamic radical dudes, I think the movie is deeply thought provoking and moving. I saw "Dan in Real Life." Great flick. Very intriguing love story, and family story. Steve Carrell was perfect. I went to see "No Country for Old Men" with my brother and a few of the older kids over Thanksgiving. It's dark, violent, funny in places, creepy, and generally not a real inspiration. Thus I liked it. The bad guy is seriously bad. Tommy Lee Jones is his usual excellent self. Finally, we rented and saw "Bridge to Terabithia." Wow. Great flick. Just keep tissues handy!

Go Ringo.

Well, better get back to work.

Joel

A Moment's Joy (An E-Letter to My Congregation)

Today I did not have a lunch appointment with anyone, so I walked over to Cincy’s for a quick lunch of chili salad. I took my sermon materials and enjoyed the quiet and the time to read and ponder the passage from Sunday. I thought a lot about Mary “treasuring up in her heart” the things she had heard. I’ll have more to say about that Sunday.

This has not been a “fun” week. I am trying very hard to get my office life in order, which has meant hours and hours of very detailed data work and such. I’ve enjoyed my times of fellowship over lunch this week with some of you, and my time alone today.

It’s kind of nippy outside today. I had been listening to my iPod the last ten minutes or so at Cincy’s, and on the way back I decided to play a Lucinda Williams song called “Blue” as I waked back to the office. Heather had mentioned the day before listening to this song on her birthday iPod while studying at the UNC library. Heather and I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Lucinda play this live back in September at the Carolina Theatre (see review).

Anyway, so I was walking south on South Elm, on the east side of the street, approaching my building, the Guilford Building. When I got to the corner of Washington and Elm, the sun, already sinking into the southwest sky, was beaming directly down on that corner and on the building behind me – the one with all the Virginia Creeper growing up the south side, where the frame store is. I stopped. I stood. I kept standing there for maybe ten minutes soaking up the sun and the view and the music. I was thinking, “This is my little corner of the world, where I work and live.” The view down South Elm, and especially down both sides of the opposite corner of S Elm and Washington, was really lovely. The sun was warm on my face. It felt really great. At Cincy’s I had been pondering the works of God that Mary had treasured in her heart. Now I was treasuring many things in quick succession. I heard a train even over my iPod music and was able to look to my left several blocks to see the train cross over Washington Street going south and bending west around and behind The Depot, and then see it cross S. Elm two blocks down. That was cool.

Often when I listen to music I “translate.” Between the music itself that I was listening to, and the words “as translated” into my world view, I was just feeling an upwelling of joy. You wouldn’t think a song entitled “Blue” would do that, or the other Lucinda song I listened to (“Ventura”), or even the other song I sang to myself after I turned off the iPod - John Denver’s “Sunshine on My Shoulders.”

Here is the chorus to “Blue”:

Blue is the color of night
When the red sun
Disappears from the sky
Raven feathers shiny and black
A touch of blue glistening down her back

The melody is so beautiful, and the imagery so vivid, pointing me to the beauty of God’s creation, and even on a downtown street corner there was enough of that to notice and be thankful for.

Here is the chorus to “Ventura”:

I wanna watch the ocean bend,
The edges of the sun in
I wanna get swallowed up
In an ocean of love.

I felt that way in that moment – swallowed up in the ocean of God’s love, with sun beaming down not upon an ocean but a city block.

And of course, here is the famous line from John Denver, which I was feeling pretty intensely myself:

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high

And that’s how I felt standing there at the corner of South Elm and Washington, happy, joyful, blessed, swallowed up in God’s love, attentive to His presence and Lordship even over that one little corner of one little ordinary town.

You just never know how God will bless you.

Photo of the Day - November 27, 2007 - Alleyway Mural, S. Elm

One of the many pleasures of hanging around downtown are the many and various murals. Hope to document them all eventually.

Photo of the Day - November 26, 2007 - Poor Little Butterfly

See my other pictures on Flickr here.

Photo of the Day - November 21, 2007 - Downtown

The JP Building reflected off First Citizens. I like the abstract effect.

View my Flickr photostream here.

By Design, Not Default

My good friend Mack Arrington has started a new blog called By Design, Not Default. Check it out. He is new to Blogger and to blogging.

Strange Goings On

Odd things are happening at our house as we approach the holidays.

photo of the Day - November 12, 2007 - Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio, Florence Italy, late March 1978. The most wonderful, beautiful, fascinating, romantic, historic, interesting bridge I have ever seen or walked upon. I LOVED Florence! See some more pictures of Europe here.

Ohoto of the Day - November 10, 2007 - Blood Orange

This picture was taken while sitting atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa in late March, 1978. My fondest memory of that time was singing our own version of "Favorite Things," being able to laugh at our many travel woes, and remember the good times.

Check Out my Flickr Photostream here.

Photo of the Day - November 9, 2007 - Anna Running

This was taken at the very beginning of the 4A regional Cross Country meet at Tanglewood on October 28. This was first attempt at a pan type shot with my new camera lens. Northwest girls won the meet. The girl in blue went on to win State the next week. She is an amazing athlete. But in the regionals she came in second to another runner. Anna came in fifth.

Photo of the Day - November 8, 2007 - Pooped

In May 1976 Bill, Beau, David, and I set out on what would be a 600 mile bike ride around the state of South Carolina, starting from Clemson where we all attended school. This picture was taken on the second day, on the ride from Ninety Six SC to Columbia SC. There were a lot of hills between Ninety Six and Batesburg where this photo was taken, and we were pooped! Our travels took us from Clemson through Anderson to Ninety Six, from Ninety Six to Columbia, from Columbia to John's Island, then a day riding around the Charleston area (and over and back on the old Cooper River Bridge - in traffic!), then from John's Island to Beaufort (pronounced Byoofirt, the "beau" as in "beautiful")), from Beaufort to Hilton Head, from Hilton Head to Savannah, and then from Savannah back up to Columbia. On the ride back to Columbia we wimped out and hitched a ride in a pick up for about half the 130 mile distance! Sissies.

Check out my Flickr photostream here.

I Agree With Obama

I think Obama is right.

Prayer for the City

Last night in a prayer group that I am a part of we spent a fair bit of time in prayer for the new city council and mayor. (I joked before we prayed that only one person I voted for actually won!) Anyway we prayed in particular for Mayor Yvonne Johnson, that she would be an instrument of unity and peace for the council and for the city. We prayed that despite party affiliations or philosophical differences about government that the new council would unite around the key matters that face our city, and that God would lead the council to know and agree upon what those most important issues were. We prayed for God's hand of protection against the ever present temptations that come with power. We prayed for a new spirit of cooperation and openness between the council and the press and the citizenry in general. We prayed for a new era of humble mutually deferential servant leadership. We prayed for the walls of division that plague our city to be torn down. We prayed for the good of the city.

On a personal note, politically speaking, if we were to sit and compare notes, I would imagine that I am more of a social and fiscal conservative than Yvonne Johnson. Like, duh. I have never met her, but through seeing her and reading about her through the various media I have always liked her. I hope and pray that her own expressed goals of developing consensus around key issues will come to fruition. I think she is a good person for the job (even though I voted for Billy - here's to ya big guy!) and I have high hopes for a new period of life in a new city council.

Almost Heaven, Downtown Greensb'ro

OK, I am more or less settled in to my new office, and I have to make a public confession - I LOVE IT DOWNTOWN!

I have lived here in Greensboro for 18 years and frankly it has never felt like home for me. It's my kids' home, but not mine. I live here, I want the good of this city, but it's not MY city.

Every time I hear the train whistle as it crosses S. Elm (and what's with that little spur up to the New and Record - that's kind of cute. I can see that train right out my window. The other I have to open the fire escape door to see)., every time I look out my window at the cranes over the Old Wachovia Building, and every time I go out the front door onto the street, well, it feels like home. For the first time really. And that's kind of cool. I hope soon to stat posting pictures of downtown. And maybe David Wharton could give me an architectural tour!

I would move down here in a New York minute.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city,
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there...
You can forget all your troubles; forget all your cares, and go
Downtown -- things will be great when you're
Downtown -- you'll find a place for sure
Downtown -- everything's waiting for you

Tony Hatch 1964
Sung by Petula Clark

What About Bob

My friend Bob Knorpp has a blog called Practically Drowning, and just wrote a great piece on the Hollywood writer's strike. It is a call to alternative ways of creative expression, including podcasting.

Photo of the Day - Friday October 26, 2007 - Young Maple

Was just thinking about Spring for some reason. This is a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), taken April 1, 2007.

See Flickr Photostream

Photo of the Day - Thursday October 25, 2007 - Steps out of Fisher Park East

Check out my Flickr photostream here.

Photo of the Day - Wednesday October 24, 2007 - Cross Country at Hagen Stone

My ten year old daughter Madeline took this picture with my little Canon A85 digital. I think it's a great shot - has a Chariots of Fire thing about it. Taken at Hagen Stone Park, Guilford County, NC. That's our Anna in the front of the pack! She went on to win in a somewhat slowly paced race. Next week...Regionals...

Catch my Flickr photostream here.

Who(m) Should I Vote For?

I’ve been thinking about the various blog posts a few weeks back after the rather low turn out for the primary election, as well as trying to figure out where I am coming from as far as local politics and the upcoming elections.

Local elections seem always to have a relatively lower turn out. I think voters think that generally local politics don’t impact their lives as much. I also think that things are pretty good here overall, because of or in spite of local politics I don't know, and that is a voting disincentive.

I think that there also may be a sense, here and elsewhere, that the real players in local politics are not even the elected officials. Here in Guilford County it seems that the two most powerful people are employees – Terry Grier and Mitch Johnson. And of course there are the moneyed people putting together the deals in the back rooms as with everywhere else. Our mayor isn’t even a real mayor; he’s more of a figurehead. Maybe Billy would shake things up a little, even as a figurehead. At least he’d always have the “Billy Pulpit!”

For myself, there has been a sense of growing cynicism over the years. I have found our local governments to be rather childish generally, and dominated by special interests, including developers on the one hand and the Skip Alston crowd on the other. I have a friend who refers to the council members as real estate whores. You might find that sort of thing said in the prophetic books of the Bible – maybe there is something to it.

It seems we’re paralyzed by the politics of race and the politics of development.

I wish real estate folks and developers should recuse themselves from many of our important votes.

But look at the present slate, it is filled with developers and real estate people. Are these the only folks with enough time and money to serve on our councils, or do they have secret back room meetings where they choose who will run to represent their collective interests each election cycle?

All that being said, I think the city and county have done well regarding downtown and regarding recent corporate decisions, especially out at the airport with Honda and now Skybus. I wonder if those things would have happened without the infrastructure created by the Fed Ex project.

There are two or three issues that dominate my concerns looking ahead at the new election.

First, I want to see real transparency in local government. I am tired of the childish hide and seek games. If the city council had released information in a timely manner we may have come closer to resolving the whole Wray affair; or we would have already long concluded that we couldn’t resolve it. I think all of the incumbents should be kicked out.

Second, I want to see our county develop in a planned and orderly and environmentally friendly manner. Who amongst all of our developer politicians is going to allow that? I’ve seen some good signs from Joe Wilson, but otherwise I think sprawl and all the problems that go with it will continue until we have folks looking after the interest of the whole and not the interest of the most recent development project.

Third, I want to see our gang problem addressed. Public safety and security is the primary purpose of government, and we are dropping the ball. Unfortunately I don’t really trust the city to properly allocate money given for police to help with gangs, and anti gang units are known for corruption. It’s a nasty business.

Fourth, I want to see us address the problem of both the chronically and acutely homeless. They can’t panhandle, and now they can’t loiter. I mean, what are they supposed to do, walk in circles all day? Seems we need 2 or 3 more shelters with options for longer stays, group homes, easier access to subsidized medical care, including mental health care, employment assistance, and the option of being committed somewhere if their human life is at stake.

Fifth, I think way too much money is going into brick and mortar for schools, and way too little money for teachers. There is not a brand spanking new building in the world that can compete with well paid highly qualified teachers in terms of educational quality. Less money for superintendents of various kinds, less money for buildings, and more money for teachers. We need to incentivize our best college students into teaching.

Sixth, I would like to see the city "just say no" to annexation against the will of the annexed. I know the state allows for this, but it strikes me as so fundamentally undemocratic that I think we should decline the privilege.

Seventh, I personally would like to see more school choice, especially vouchers for those in the least well performing schools, and if not vouchers more magnet and charter schools.

Eighth, though as a white person I doubt I will ever adequately appreciate the damage done to communities, families, and individuals over time by slavery, Jim Crow laws, and general racism, I would like to see us looking to the future together and not the past. I’m tired of the race card being always held in the hand, ready to pull out. I think it results in dumb decisions being made out of fear.

Ninth, is the Heart of the Triad really ever going to be something? I am not sure that Triad regionalism is the right way to go. I think a Metro Guilford approach is smarter, taking advantage of the real population and transportation patterns that we have already.

Tenth and finally, and this is like, duh, of course I would go for this, but I’d like to see a tree ordinance. Developer scare tactics about how this will suddenly make housing unaffordable are just that – scare tactics. There is a significant economic, aesthetic, environmental, and quality of life downside to the loss of our tree canopy. I think I heard Joe Wilson address this too. What, a real estate person with a heart for trees? Ah, life can be good.

Well, maybe you can remind me of the ten things I haven’t thought about. I always leave out something in any top ten, as when I left David Gilmour off my list of top ten favorite guitar players. What an idiot!

Please also tell me who you think I should vote for, given 1 through 10 above.

Photo of the Day - Tuesday October 23, 2007 - Protect Haw River State Park

Madeline and I saw this on Church Street just south and across the street from the pedestrian bridge connecting Fisher Park and Aycock neighborhoods. I think it is the coolest Haw River Park sign I have seen yet!

For my Flickr photostream, look here.

Picture of the Day - Monday October 22, 2007 - Leaf and Stream, Fisher Park

Sunday afternoon my daughter Madeline spent an hour walking around Fisher Park taking pictures. She loved walking in the creek - I hope the water is OK there. We have a lot of pictures - the beauty of digital cameras! Fisher Park remains my favorite park in town. Can you name the group that had a song "Leaf and Stream" without looking it up. It's on an album in my top ten favorites of all time, but it's a little obscure. The leaf is from a Tulip Poplar. There is some scummy stuff on the water's surface that looks like dust on the camera lens - it isn't. The water wasn't exactly flowing hard!

Evolution and Racial Variety

There is an interesting article in The Independent today regarding comments by the famous Dr. Watson (of Watson and Crick fame) regarding differences in intelligence between African and other peoples.

I am not writing to defend his conclusions, and I doubt them to be true. I am writing to illustrate the intellectual pickle in which proponents of evolutionary theory find themselves.

Dr. Watson writes:

"There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

He is exactly correct, and this is indeed the huge elephant in the evolutionary room that no one seems capable of addressing. If we embrace the evolutionary origins of human beings, we are left having to conclude exactly the principle Dr. Watson concludes. We cannot have our evolutionary cake and eat it too. It is absolutely possible, given the assumptions of evolutionary theory, that such intellectual or other variations could exist across the diverse variety within our human species, much as they exist across other species. And to say so does not make Dr. Watson or anyone else a racist. In fact, to embrace evolutionary theory regarding human origins you pretty much HAVE to agree with the principle stated above, or you are letting your personal moral or political sensitivities override the principles of the science you embrace. And you are revealing fundamental ignorance regarding evolutionary theory.

If scientific research proves that it isn’t in fact the case that such variations exist, it still does not undermine the possibility that such variations could exist. But the politically correct powers that be will destroy anybody whose science leads them to that conclusion.

As for me, I rest in the fact that all human beings of every race and gender were created in the image of God and find their fundamental equality in that reality.

Ultimately, given time, after the truth of God-given human equality has had opportunity to overcome sin-based prejudices (even amongst "Christian” peoples), this age old Judeo Christian view of human origins will provide the principles that will lead to policies of equality. On the other hand, if our politics find grounding in principles of evolutionary understandings of human origins (which must require or teach no principle of equality whatsoever), eventually some sort of race-based differential of policy will result. At the present moment, culture wide, our human equality assumptions are invalid to the extent that they are rooted in evolutionary principles.

There was another side item in the article on Dr. Watson. As the article said:

“In 1997, he told a British newspaper that a woman should have the right to abort her unborn child if tests could determine it would be homosexual."

I mean, the hypocrisy and inconsistency behind the objections to this comment are too numerous to mention. So, we can abort a healthy child for any reason, and that is not objectionable? We can abort a child because it is not of the preferred gender (and studies have shown conclusively that the vast majority of abortions done due to gender have resulted in the abortion of female babies) but not because of predicted or supposed sexual preference? We can abort children for being imperfectly formed? That is the most terrible reason of all.

So, predicted sexual preference above and beyond all others is the one reason we can’t abort a child. Talking about unusual and exceptional rights given to one sub group of the society. Wow. Now THAT’S discrimination!

By the way, I don’t think we should abort children for any of these reasons, because I believe that all children, whatever their race, gender or predicted sexual preference, are human beings made in the image of God.

Twenty Ways to Leave More Water

1. Put bricks or a filled gallon milk container inside the back of your toilet.

2. Don’t shave if it requires water to do so. Those of us who shave in sink or shower, let’s all agree not to shave until the drought is over! How about a united “body hair is good” declaration. Eventually we’ll go back to normal.

3. If you have two toilets, have a “pee pot” and a “poop pot.” The pee pot can be flushed once or twice a day. the other you may want to flush more often.

4. Don’t run the water whole you’re brushing your teeth. In fact, do a dry brushing until the rinse stage. You can even get used to the no rinse effect if you try.

5. Just let the car be dirty. Even if you normally take it in to the car wash, that uses a lot of water. Make a game out of how many dumb things you can write in the dust on your car while you wait for rain. Just don't write "wash this car please;" that is lame.

6. Wear jeans and other heavier clothes that can be worn for a week or so without washing. If we all smell like Europeans for a while, so what?

7. Have some of those important work clothes dry cleaned instead of laundered. You won’t get starch that way but it still beats cleaning at home, and uses no water.

8. Buy drinking water that is bottled somewhere not in the south.

9. Take shorter showers. Period. You can do it. Your teenage daughter can do it. Your teenage son can do it. Give the teen age kids a timer, and if it goes off before they're done, turn off the water (or at least the hot water :-). That will teach them to hurry.

10. Just let the grass die. We have to re-seed it anyway so who cares really.

11. Collect the water that runs while you wait for it to heat up for use on your plants. For that matter, use some of that mildly dirty water from the shower or bath or sink to water your plants as well. They can handle it.

12. Make sure you have a low flow shower head and a low flow toilet – you may as well do this now since it’s a good idea for the long haul anyway.

13. "Just say no" to the garbage disposal – throw the food bits in the trash can or put them in a compost heap. It takes a lot of water to use a disposal.

14. It will rain eventually. Get a rain barrel for capturing water from your down pipes for when that happens. That may seem extreme, but it's kind if cool. Use the water as soon as possible on your plants to avoid mosquitos from laying eggs in your rain barrel.

15. If you have the money, buy water saving appliances, as in low flow dishwashers, front end washing machines, etc.

16. Drain the pool. Just do it. You can survive a season without your heated pool.

17. If you have a just a few dishes to wash, wash them in the sink with just a tad of water, running the faucet only to rinse.

18. Some landscape plants are worth saving. Use water as gathered above, or, if you must, use a drip hose, and add lots of mulch around the most important plants.

19. Don’t hose off anything. Brooms and wipe cloths work pretty well.

20. Whatever boneheaded local officials managed to leave us with a lake full of water with no way to treat it, vote them out of office.

Gooooooo Gamecocks!

It's not often I get to say that around here. I pull for NC against everybody BUT Clemson and South Carolina. I may end up eating dirt, but I'm hoping for a good thrashing of NC at the hands of Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks of South Carolina Saturday. Hey, anybody that's still whining about Spurrier's Duke team running up a score deserves to get whooped.

Not that you'd care, but I grew up a Tar Heel fan. My dad graduated form North Carolina in 1950 or 51 . He was a betting man, and we watched or listened to every North Carolina game there was, no matter the sport. It is one of my great memories that my roommate and I went over to my parent's house in March 1982 to watch the famous win against Georgetown. Finally the drought (since 1957) had been broken. My dad was ecstatic! And I was happy too.

Going back in time, I was all Tar Heel in the 1960's, even growing up in Columbia, SC. then one day the South Carolina basketball team came to my basketball league banquet, in 1968 I think. I met Skip Harlika and several others, and started to pull for South Carolina more. Then came Bobby Cremins, John Roche, Tom Owens, John Ribbock, Brian Winters, John Riker, Kevin Joyce, Mike Dunleavy, and Alex English in quick succession, and I was hooked!

I was planning to attend North Carolina for college starting in the fall of 1975. I had been admitted, and expressed my intent. Then my dad sat me down at Christmas 1974 and told me we couldn't afford out of state tuition. I had not applied to any in-state school. Oops. I didn't want to go to college in my home town, so I applied in a hurry to Clemson, and that's where I went.

I loved Clemson, and consider that really to be my undergraduate college. It is really a super place to attend undergraduate school. But after five semesters I felt I had to resolve some major issues of faith, so I took a semester off and went to study at a place called L'Abri Fellowship in Greatham England. When I got back I felt disconnected from my friends at Clemson, and was behind in my program, and I sort of wanted just to finish undergraduate school ASAP. So, I took 21 hours a semester and two sessions of summer school and graduated from South Carolina in August 1979.

That's the story of how I am a Clemson fan, a South Carolina fan, and a North Carolina fan. I always pull for Clemson or SC against NC, NC against anybody else, and Clemson against SC, unless SC has more to gain by a win.

The greatest live sporting event of my life was the Clemson-South Carolina football game in November 1977 at South Carolina, which Clemson won in the waning moments. I'll write about that later.

For now, for this weekend, "Gooooooooooooo Gamecocks!"

Going Downtown

I was standing with a friend outside the Guilford Building at the corner of Washington and S. Elm, and taking in all the sounds and smells and people rushing to and fro, and thought, "This is going to be good."

We had just been looking at a small double office looking north on the fifth floor, and had had a great conversation with the owner/manager.

It was Bell South that got this whole thing started. My current three year lease with them ends at the end of the month, and we had to make a decision as to what to do about phone and internet service. Being a charter member of CABS (Citizens Against BellSouth) or now, CATNATT (Citizens Against "The New AT&T") may have contributed to an openness to look elsewhere, but mostly it was an unexpected call from my friend to come check out the place he had found.

I'm excited as I anticipate working and walking and eating and talking along Elm Street in Greensboro. I've been working by myself with few people around for a long time and that has contributed a bit to my malaise of late.

Though as the crow flies the Guilford Building is farther from my house than my present office, it's actually a closer drive, given the more direct route. And I may even be able to take a bus to work sometimes since the Depot is almost next door to the Guilford Building. There is a stop on Lawndale a couple of blocks from my house. I haven't ridden a city bus since Vancouver. Maybe I'll even ride my bike! Or get a scooter.

So, if any of you blogger folk are downtown, maybe I'll see you around.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I am posting today after my retirement Monday, I listened to Ed. I stepped back without feeling guilty (and have gotten more exercise - even started running), and today I had time and interest to post. My second flip flop this season. Oh well.

I'm Voting for Billy

Billy, when you get enough money for signs, give me one, or sell me one.

I think a Billy Jones candidacy would juice up these local elections quite nicely.

Billy, I can already see you on channel 13! You would would be WAY more fun to watch than Mr. Holliday, or Yvonne Johnson.

Ann Coulter, Jews, and Christians

There are few people who speak less tactfully and more controversially than Ann Coulter, and I certainly don’t wish to be on her bandwagon. Over at the Daily Greensboring Beth has featured a very controversial quotation by Ann Coulter in an interview with Donny Deutsch.

I think the interview must have been connected to promotion/discussion of Coulter’s new book. In the course of the interview Coulter speaks about Christians as “perfected Jews” and says that Jews need to become Christians to be perfected as Jews. She uses language to the effect that Christians are “on the fast track,” whereas Jews “have to obey laws.”

Ann Coulter is no theologian, and not a very good popular speaker on the subject of Christianity. There are many things about what she says that are just not right. For example, Gentile Christians are certainly not perfected Jews. In the language of the New Testament, Gentile Christians may be thought of as “spiritual Jews,” or as the “true Israel of God.” And whereas that language may be irksome to Jews it doesn’t make Gentile Christians into perfected Jews.

And it also true that Christians see the Old Covenant as pointing to and being fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth in his person and ministry. It is of the essence of Biblical Christianity that Jesus in his person and work is the fulfillment and completion of the Old Covenant. He is viewed as the promised "anointed one" or "Messiah" longed for by the Jews of Jesus' day. That’s what makes Christianity Christianity. Uh, "Christ" means "Messiah." Is this some sort of secret? Jews and Christians then, and Jews and Christians today, don’t agree about Jesus. Jews think Christians are wrong. Christians think Jews are wrong. Muslims think both are wrong. Duh.

The fact that Jews and Christians disagree about these things does not make any one of them anti the other in the sense of being “anti-Semitic” or “anti-Christian” or whatever, in the prejudicial sense of the word. It means that as neighbors and even as friends we disagree about ultimate issues. And that is fine.

What about ethnic Jews who become Christians? Yes, Christians would say that in a real sense that they are perfected. Remember that Christianity arose out of Judaism. Not only was Jesus but all the disciples and apostles were Jews. Christianity's roots were and are in the word, life, and history of the covenant between YHWH God and His people Israel. Thus, Christianity was from the beginning a kind of “Jewish cult,” claiming that in Jesus, its leader, a very big new thing was happening in the history of God and His people as a fulfillment of all that had come before.

If a person believes that Jesus of Nazareth is who the New Testament Bible says that he is, and that Jesus did what the Bible said that he did, then obviously Christians are right to want Jews to become Christians. Given that set of premises, that would be the right thing to desire.

And if those premises are not right, and Jesus isn’t who the New Testament says he is, then obviously Jews should be concerned for Christians whose leader (a Jew) would have been justly condemned for blaspheming their God.

It does not offend me one bit if a Jew in his heart of hearts is worried over my fate, since I would be in his eyes following after a false messiah and believing all sorts of terribly wrong things about God. I hope he would be worried for me. I hope he would try to convince me otherwise. He perhaps would and should want me to convert to Judaism. He should want me to do that, well, if he is Jewish because he thinks Judaism is true, rather than for some other reason.

Ann Coulter has a way of putting things that creates offense even if the content and intent of her words are not inherently offensive. I think her words are more shallow and kind of pathetic than anything.

For one thing, the idea of Christians “having a fast track” and Jews “having to obey rules” is simplistic beyond belief. Christian discipleship is grueling as well as joyful, and there are more than enough commandments right from Jesus’ own mouth to keep Christians striving their whole lives with all of their hearts to be obedient to Him. Rather, in New Testament terms, Christians would say that they are not (or are "no longer" if they are converted Jews) “under Torah.” They would say that even Jewish believers in Jesus are no longer “under Torah.” They would even say that Jews who become Christians must no longer be “under Torah.” This means that the Torah is no longer the operative center of the godly life, or of the Christian life – Jesus is. To submit to part of Torah would be to submit to it all, which puts the person back under the Torah’s curse, whereas, it is believed by Christians, Jesus suffered the covenant curse for His people (the Jews) and also opened up access to their God to Gentiles.

But you can see that these are nuanced and complex arguments. I could write volumes just trying to explain what this does and does not mean. To reduce this stuff to slogans (and bad slogans at that) as Ann Coulter does I find to be offensive to reason, to neighborliness, and to the seriousness of the issues.

But look, if you are a Jew, I think it would be totally appropriate for you to think that I, as a Christian, am wrong. That does not offend me. I hope that together we can stick up for each other’s rights for free assembly and free expression, for life and liberty and pursuit of happiness, even as me may otherwise disagree about these ultimate matters.

For the Children's Sake

Betty Ruffin wrote in a letter to the News and Record today a piece called Preserve Haw River Park for Our Children's Sake.

She cites Richard Louv’s book "Last Child in the Woods, Saving our Children from Nature Deficit-Disorder" as on of the reasons to protect the open space/integrity of the Haw River State Park.

Louv is right; his book is dead on. Ruffin is right; the rubber meets the road with issues like Haw River State Park.

Without quoting or even thinking about Louv’s book, I made a similar argument in my letter to the County Commissioners. One can belittle the “for the children’s sake” argument, but preserving and protecting the few remaining pieces of open land and good forest that we have is something we can and should do for our children, and for their children.

A Gore Candidacy?

I don’t see it. Why ruin the luster of a Nobel Peace Prize with the down in the dirt messiness of what may well be an ill fated presidential campaign? And would Gore really add much to the implementation of policy consistent to his own cherished climate change views, compared to what may come from a Clinton or Obama presidency? I don’t see it. He has his place in history now. Were I he, I would use the credibility and heightened status of a Nobel Prize to rise above the fray and be an international statesman for the issue. To enter the campaign to me would smell of opportunism, and would cast a shadow upon the sincerity of his climate change work.

I may be one of a small minority who may wonder, "Why a “peace” prize?" It is only speculation at this point as to how much global warming may impact world peace, and it is also only speculation as to whether any policies we may endorse will impact the warming trend anyway, not only because we are not sure of the level to which human caused CO2 emissions are responsible for the warming, but also we not sure how much they can be significantly reversed no matter what we do, particularly given China and India's industrial growth.

Either way, and being sympathetic to Gore for the sake of argument, I think his status as a Nobel Prize winner gives him more impact in the world if he is outside of American presidential politics, maybe a role not unlike that of Bono.

White Collar Blues

My body was made for motion, not for sitting here all day at my desk. I should be hunting buffalo, walking behind a plow, riding a horse, building a barn, or felling a tree and digging up the stump.

But I’m here. Most of my friends at this moment are in the same position. Sitting. Body systems rebel. Veins, arteries, intestines, muscles, bladders, hearts, and lungs thrive with bodily movement and hard pumping blood. Sitting here, the whole body just gets clogged up.

Most of my friends cannot afford to do what they would really like to do. The rugged manual labor they desire cannot pay for mortgage, car, braces, clothes, and college. There is tragedy here. The economic system has us in its claws, and it won’t let go.

Vocationally, my brain is pitted against my body. My work is largely mental. I exercise dominion through thought - studying, writing, talking on the phone, praying, doing paper work, conversing at a restaurant. Frankly, I have great job. But my body gets the short end of the stick.

The paper piles up. It is my enemy. How do I love this enemy? It reproduces at night when I’m gone. One pile becomes two, two becomes four, and the tension builds. I end up carving out an entire day to attack the piles.

“You need more exercise,” the doctor says. “Your blood pressure is too high, your cholesterol is too high, your weight is too high.”

Fine, doctor. But when? Do I take time from my wife, my kids, or my employer? How do I do it all? How do I fit it all in, doctor?

I don’t want the never ending cycle of antibiotics for prostate infections, laxatives for constipation, aspirin for headaches, and antacids for indigestion. I don’t want to be flabby and sleepy from inactivity. I want to be strong, vigorous, and awake. I want to be energetic and productive.

I don’t want to die when I’m fifty five from clogged arteries. I don’t want to spend my last years undergoing chemotherapy for bowel cancer. I want to see my five daughters grow up. I want to know my grandkids, and maybe even my grandkids' kids. I want to have the wisdom of years. I want to keep learning how to be a good pastor, that is, if being a pastor doesn’t kill me.

Why can’t exercise be a part of my work? Why do I have to “find the time” to do it?

I know. Whining won’t help. I’m being a baby. I’m singing the blues, the white collar blues. I should count my blessings. I have a great job. It really couldn’t be better. I am stimulated, challenged, and encouraged. I am appreciated, loved, and valued. I have the rare privilege of actually wanting to attend the church that I pastor. There is no group of people I would rather be with.

But I still don’t want to croak from plaque build up. I still don’t want to have the muscle definition of a wet noodle. Where will I find the time to carve out an hour and a half a day to exercise? I don’t have the time. I don’t have the time not to. I must. Somehow.

I’ve been trying to walk/run four miles as many days as possible. Granted, it’s not felling trees and hunting buffalo, but it’s a start. I’m working on filling up several other hours of my week with similar activity. I hope it works. It has to.

I need to follow my own counsel. I need to remind myself that I too live in a fallen world. What are paper piles but modern day versions of thorns and thistles? Did I really think God would grant Joel Gillespie a personal exemption from the curse?

Though the system seems to have me by its claws, it has also brought good things my way for which I am very thankful, things like this computer, like the medicine that healed my daughter’s bronchitis, like electricity and phones and a warm place on a cold night, like angioplasty...

And maybe we can go buffalo riding in the New Heaven and New Earth. I hope so.

See 'Ya Around

I am the most fickle blogger I know. I have to stop being fickle. I turn 50 and I can't manage to do anything well it seems! Anyway, to all of you out there, just thought I'd say Sayōnara. I am going to be signing off today, probably for good. I'll give it a week or so before I make the sight go invisible. Just need to put my energies elsewhere. It's been fun, despite being off and on for me, and I appreciate you all. Maybe I'll see you around the city. Joel.

On Dobson, Guliani, and Being Pro-Family

Having spent some time distancing myself from Dobson and company this week, I will now come to their defense, well, a little.

Ed Cone noted today that James Dobson had issued a statement to the effect that he and other “pro-family” leaders would look elsewhere if a Republican presidential nominee could not take a clear position regarding the sanctity of human life.

Ed goes on to take issue with Dobson and Co’s use of the “pro-family” rubric or designation.

James Dobson, along with many others, including myself, believe that human life is sacred and that it begins at conception. Sacred human life includes the lives of the weak and infirm, the handicapped, the homeless, and the mothers of unborn children – all human life.

I myself would or could never ever vote for a person who actively advocated for abortion rights.

In one sense, if we’re talking about abortion it might be better to call Dobson, the Pope, and anyone else who holds this view “pro-life” rather than "pro-family." Yet, if one views unborn life as human life, and as sacred, he would consider that yet-unborn life as part of the family of whoever was bearing the child. So, there is an overlap between these designations. Would a person be considered “pro-family” who advocated for infanticide-rights? I doubt it. I would suspect that most folks reading this, even if they didn’t agree with the comparison of abortion and infanticide, would grant the point that being “pro-infanticide rights” might not be consistent with being “pro-family.”

Well, pro-life folks believe that abortion is a form of infanticide. So, if being pro-infanticide rights would not be considered pro-family, then to a pro-life person, being pro-abortion rights would not be considered pro-family either.

But the rubric of “pro-family” is broader than just the issue of abortion. It includes views about marriage, about marriage and divorce, about the relative intrusion or non intrusion of the state into essential family issues. Obviously Ed and others who may be more supportive of abortion rights, gay marriage, and no fault divorce (I don’t know Ed’s view on that issue) may indeed have wonderful families and care a lot about families. They may even be pro-abortion rights or pro-gay marriage because of the way that they are, in their minds, pro-family. And, as can be easily pointed out, there are many things which bring harm to children (even unborn children), and to others who are weak and defenseless, which are not on the radar of pro-family groups like Dobson’s.

So it might be better to change the rubric to “pro-traditional family,” or something like that, and it would be better yet for pro-traditional family advocates to be more broadly and consistently pro-life and pro-family and weigh in on issues where the lives of children and needy adults are at stake, even economic issues whereby families are torn apart due to extreme financial pressure or lives are lost due to unavailability of health care.

This is where I part somewhat with Dobson, because I would like to see pro-traditional family advocates be more consistent and not cherry pick just the abortion or gay marriage issues. Many issues impact human life and impact families.

As to voting for Guliani, that will hard for me as well. I may take some comfort in the nuanced manner in which he has taken his abortion position. It appears that he is hiding behind the courts, and that he might prefer to address the issue through the appointing of more strictly constructionist judges. I have yet to discover his view on partial birth abortion, an issue where legislation has made a big difference. I could never vote for a person who supported the rights of women and doctors to abort partially born babies, or to allow babies who have survived abortions to die – even if you held a big gun to my head. Go ahead and shoot. It won’t be happening.

But for Dobson and all to support a third party candidate will almost certainly give the election to the Democrats. Maybe Dobson would prefer this – it would certainly give him lots of debating and fundraising grist for four to eight years, and it would allow the American public to become re-energized as they see the impact of a Democratic president and congress with respect to these issues. I think it may be foolish however for the pro-life cause since, all things considered, even Guliani will be more sympathetic to Dobson’s issues than the average Democrat, or Hillary Clinton, especially in the naming of judges. It may be a cynical gamble for them to abandon the Republican nominee.

I agree with Ed that this may be just bluster when the rubber actually meets the road. We’ll see how high minded these folks are when faced with a likely win by a serious and consistent abortion rights advocate on the other side.

Picture of the Day - October 4, 2007 - Highway 61, Revisited

A Guilford County NC Farm, May 2006, off Highway 61, SE Guilford County (enjoy it - these scenes are disappearing fast!)

Confessions of a Lazy Carnivore

I appreciated Sarah Beth Jone's piece today entitled "Tabletop activism: the case for conscientiously raised meat." You should check it out.

Sarah Beth is not making an argument for vegetarianism. Rather, she addresses the primary health and ethical concerns about the way we raise, treat, and feed animals. In doing so she offers advice on how to be a responsible and morally conscientious omnivore. I completely agree with her. But I confess that it is so hard to DO everything that I think is right and best.

I wish I could afford a Prius: I can't. I wish I could afford solar panels on my house: I can't. As far as making the best decisions as a consumer, well, I can barely stay on top of things in my life as they are. I am one of those guys who is terrified of grocery shopping, and to avoid getting lost in the dark back alleys of the grocery store I grab what's close and run.

But I want to be the ethically responsible omnivore that Sarah Beth writes about. I do believe that the manner in which the meat industry for the most part raises cows and pigs and chickens is unconscionable. Even a cow deserves a life consistent with his "cowness." And (of course, blah blah) I believe that we humans have a special responsibility toward the well being of our fellow creatures.

The manner in which cows are fed and medicated is also a concern. The corn that is fed to cows results in nice marbled juicy meat, that is, fatty meat. Add this to all the antiobiotics and hormones cows are forced to eat and what is left is meat that is NOT nearly as good for us as meat could be.

I have always been burdened by one other matter. It takes an unbelievable amount of corn to feed cows so we can have marbled meat. Cows have bacteria in their systems which allow them to digest cellulose; they are made to eat grasses which we cannot eat and digest. So we feed them corn, which could be used to feed people, and keep them from eating grass, which people cannot eat. Something does not seem square about that.

I want to be what Sarah Beth writes about, a conscientious omnivore. If only I can find time in the schedule to get out to the farmers market to buy that meat which is better for me which allows for a better life for the cow.

Joel

Picture of the Day - October 2, 2007 - Baseball on My Mind

"Minor League" or pre-Little League, Satchel Ford Baseball League, Columbia, SC, app. 1967. I was nine years old.

Na Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na

Ed Cone yesterday referred to an article by Steven Thomma on "the waning power of Christian conservatives." This follows much ballyhoo from different quarters about John McCain's comments about having a Christian verses a Muslim as president.

I wanted to express a few thoughts as a theologically conservative Christian and as a Christian pastor. I do not claim to be an expert on these matters, but here are a few thoughts.

I have never been comfortable with the idea (and reality) of evangelical Christians as a "voting block." Why?

First, there is no clear biblical direction as to what a government or government policy could or should look like, and to pretend that there is is just silly. For example, there is no inherent reason why biblical Christians should want a government of size "A" and opposed to size "B." The Bible does not direct us as to the relative power of the federal government as opposed to the states. It does not tell us at what level we should be taxed, just that we are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Thus, there is no reason evangelicals could not hold varying and diverse views on these matters. I'm tired of self appointed evangelical gurus telling me how to think and vote.

Second, the evangelical political gurus have cherry picked what issues I as a Christian should care about. I do care about abortion and gay marriage, but I also care about the environment and how we help the poor and needy amongst us. I don't like how theologically conservative Christian citizens have let the evangelical radio and TV gurus tell us what issues should concern us as. Who elected them?

Third, I think that the over-focus on these things has been a perversion of the mission of Christianity, and of the church. There is a saying, often used to disparage Christians, that goes something like "he is so heavenly minded he is of no earthly good." Well, I have never met that guy. The Christians I know who are the most earthly good are in fact the most heavenly minded.

Christianity is inherently an eschatological religion. It looks down the long (or short) corridors of history to come, and it sees the return of Jesus, the resurrection, judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth. It looks behind the veil of the present and sees Jesus enthroned at God's right hand, and as "Lord." In the one sense, it lives and breathes on the hope of what is to come. In theother, it sees past the fading and transient issues and geopolitical realities to a greater and more abiding reality. The Christian whose hope is a living hope is free to give of himself or herself in radical way because the really big issues of life have been settled, and he can let go of pride and greed and self interest in order to love and serve others. The Christian who sees beyond the transient shadows of the moment is more able to "set his mind on Jesus" and thus become more like Him. This ultimately is more transformative of present life than anything else.

The fact is, as much as we may love our country, it is just one of the nations of the earth that come and that go. Christians have a longer and deeper perspective - or should.

The Christian Coalition has also steered Christians and churches away from their primary mission, which is that of making disciples, of growing in personal and community holiness, of loving our neighbor, and in seeing the gospel of Christ go to the four corners of the world. The "voting block" thing perverts the purpose of Christians and of the Church. No, I am not saying that caring for our communities and the issues we face together with our neighbors is unimportant. Christians are also citizens and they should care - and they have a right to care. I am saying that doing that as a "voting block" is not the best way to so care.

Fourth, over-identification of the evangelicals with any political party or theory has eviscerated the Church's prophetic and moral voice. It has rendered the evangelical Church incapable of speaking with power to the injustice, the greed, the immorality, the corruption, the idolatry that underlies much of the right and left. Although I am very glad for any progress for example that can be made through laws and court decisions regarding the rights of the unborn, I also realize that nothing will work to lessen abortion as much as a conviction that it is just wrong. As much as I wish local councils and assemblies would step back and not let the greedy "add house to house," and thus either disenfranchise the poor or destroy the beauty of God's world, ultimately it will be inner moral conviction that persuades and changes decision making more than anything. In gaining the power of being a political voting block Christians have given over their moral voice.

Fifth, in adopting a certain vision of the United States as some sort of inherently Christian nation, either in its founding or in its Constitution, the evangelical voting block machine has lost its rational and historical credibility. Yes, it may be the case that the Constitution was meant to give us freedom of religion and not freedom from religion, yet, the historical revisionism of the Christian right has come to match that of the left in sheer lunacy and idiocy.

I am a Christian. That is more important to me than being an American, then being (more or less) a political conservative, than being a southerner, than being any other thing. But I am also a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Greensboro, state of North Carolina. As such I have as much right and responsibility to speak to issues, to care about how structures and policies impact me and my family and my neighbor, AND to vote, as does anyone else. I will do that to the best of my ability, even as I seek to love my neighbor in even more important ways personally and face to face. I don't need James Dobson or James Kennedy or Pat Robertson to tell me how to do that.

So as far as the Evangelical voting block thing goes, all I can say is...

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye.

Joel

My Top Ten Favorite Guitarists

Here is my answer to the CA's fun post about favorite guitarists. I don't pretend to know who is really best or most important, these are just my favorites, well, this week! Sorry guys, no Van Halen in my list.

1. Carlos Santana
2. Duane Allman
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan
4. Jimi Hendrix
5. Jimmy Page
6. Terry Kath
7. Eric Clapton
8. Mark Knopfler
9. Chuck Berry
10. The Edge

My Baseball Play Off Hopes - a Great Lakes Series

These are not predictions, just what I'd like to see:

American League

The Angels defeat the Red Sox 3 games to 2
The Indians defeat the Yankees 3 games to 0

The Indians defeat the Angels 4 games to 2

National League

The Cubs defeat the Diamondbacks 3 games to 2
The Rockies defeat the Phillies 3 games to 1

The Cubs Defeat the Rockies 4 games to 3.

World Series

The Indians defeat the Cubs 4 games to 3. Or...
The Cubs defeat the Indians 4 games to 3. (I can't decide)


And I am afraid that I will actually see something quite different.

Photo of the Day - October 1, 2007 - Butterfly Bush Flower Cluster

From our butterfly garden, fading away now in the drought.