D-Day, Eisenhower's Mom, and Tribute

Its always quite moving for me to watch the D-Day memorials and festivities, especially on the special anniversary events that are staged at the memorial in Normandy every 5 years. It was a good show today, 65 years after the invasion.

I love visiting the official Presidential Libraries. They are an incredible way to learn about our history and leadership. President Eisenhower's Library is located in Abilene Kansas.

This statue of Ike is in the middle of the Eisenhower Center, which is in the middle of a wheat field, which is in the middle of Abilene Kansas, which is in the middle of nowhere.

The statue is perched upon a pedestal that has 5 sides, each one boasting official Seals of different offices this man would earn. He would become a 5 Star General, Chief of Staff of the US Army, Supreme Allied Commander, Supreme Commander of NATO, and President of the United States. Not a bad resume for a kid who grew up in the middle of nowhere.

The house he grew up in is still there, and it remains furnished mostly the way he would have remembered it. His mom lived there until a few years after the war, and they have kept the house the way she left it. There is something very interesting about seeing the roots of a person who would grow up to do amazing things.

My favorite thing in the house is a rocking chair, perched next to a radio. Its likely that this is exactly the place that Mrs. Eisenhower would sit and listen to news reports of her son's activities. In particular, she would have sat there listening to reports of D-Day, 65 years ago today.


Ike's mom, Ida, had seven sons, with Ike in the middle as the third child. All of them were successful in their own right as leaders in various institutions. Shortly after D-Day, Ida was asked by reporters on the porch of this house about the events of June 6, 1944 and the success of the invasion. When asked "Are you proud of your son?", she gave one of the best mom answers she could give. "Yes, I am very proud of my son. Now which one are you referring to?"

I love that.

Now that I am a parent, I can imagine even more how amazing and surreal it must be to see what your kid actually accomplishes. Few accomplish the things Ike did, but each kid can accomplish great things in his or her world. I am also strangely moved in a new way as I watch the D-Day festivities today and look at my newborn son, and realize that sacrifice of that day was for his freedom as well as my own.

Its a moving day, and I appreciated the ceremony today. But with respect to contemporary speakers, there is still no tribute better than President Reagan's in 1984.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. - President Ronald Reagan, 6.6.84

It is truly a different era that we live in today. Full of doubt and threats greater than any day in the last 65 years in my view. But I believe and pray that rising from our doubt, we will soon have a renewed hope.

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Blogging Angst

Angst - |a ng (k)st; ä ng (k)st| noun
a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general. (from whatever dictionary is loaded onto my MacBook)

I have angst. I've had it for nearly a year. Its not the worried or stressful or hand-wringing kind of angst. Its not causing me to lose sleep and its not creating distraction in a detrimental way. Its not the kind that results in not trusting God. But there is a constant angst in me caused by discernment which seems to be suggesting some very big things are afoot.

I appreciate this definition above because my angst is "unfocused." I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it is related to the human condition and the state of the world in general. That's a big subject. And there are very big things going on. I believe a lot of people have this same angst right now.

I think this angst is somehow related to the fact that while I believe most people have this angst to some degree, and most people also believe that most people share this angst, it doesn't seem like anyone knows how to effectively discuss and respond to this angst over these big things going on, and the people who should be talking about these big things going on don't seem to have a clue that big things are going on. Someone needs to address this angst in a productive way. It seems to just linger, like a storm visible off shore threatening to create destruction, yet promising to relieve drought; but the weather channel won't acknowledge its presence.

Are you following me? If so, it can only be because you have this angst too. I think this angst is emotional and spiritual. There are big things going on.

Why am I telling you this, my faithful yet dwindling blog audience?

I think this angst of mine is the biggest block to my blogging. Because it is unfocused, it is difficult to even know where to start working it out. Every day, I have something I feel like I could blog about, but its difficult to get started because of focus - where do I start? It gets overwhelming and time consuming. My blogs could easily be thousands of words on a subject, whatever it is, and I don't have time to type all of that. This makes it especially hard to blog on serious subjects where I want to be thorough. If you know me, you understand that I can be a bit wordy (I recently preached a sermon that clocked in at an hour and six minutes. Take that Rob Bell!)

Another block is that some of my readers are people from my church where I pastor, which means some readers will take very seriously things I have to say about serious matters. So I need to becareful to post disclaimers, indicating whether my thoughts are strong conviction or mere speculation or commentary, especially when dealing with unspoken angst that many people are feeling but not expressing. Have no fear, remaining faithful readers, I'll still post some fun and an eventual exhaustive explanation about why Lost is the best show on TV.

I have some angst that Lost is not going to end well next year, but that's another issue.

Why am I inspired to blog now all of a sudden?

Well, another blogger, another pastor, found a way to express some of the angst he is feeling about changes coming to the church world. This is only a part of the angst I feel, but its relevant to it and a good place to start. Even if you aren't familiar with church terms or how church works, the issues discussed impact our culture significantly, whether you go to church or now. This relatively unknown blogger posted an article was picked up my major news magazines and websites and has caused a lot of buzz, especially in church circles. So I thought I would use his articles, entitled The Coming Evangelical Collapse to spur some writing of my own. We'll see if this works...

Disclaimer: These articles will cause you to think about your angst. Also, I don't necessarily agree with all of what is written, and my perspective is more optimistic - the changes he suggests are coming will lead to very good things in my view. But change is a comin', and I don't mean the political slogan tomfoolery we think of currently.

You can read all three parts at the link below. Feel free to comment on my blog if you wish to express your angst. I'll use this to inspire some blogs in the coming days.

If I can keep it short...

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-original-coming-evangelical-collapse-posts

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PS: "Tomfoolery" was not in my MacBook dictionary. A moment of angst about whether I should have stayed with a PC soon followed, but was quickly resolved.

Yes, I Am the Guy - Here's the Answers to your Questions

Yes, I am the guy.

If you don't know what this is about, then don't worry about it.  If you do, keep reading.

It will matter more to you if you live in the UK anyway.  I am posting this because I am getting inundated with email and I don't have time to respond to all of it - so I'm thinking people may get what they need here...

If you do know what this is about, here are the answers to the questions I have been receiving today.  I hope this will suffice...

1. Yes, I am the guy.

2. Yes, the company later contacted me.  They were rude and inconsiderate as usual, and offered absolutely nothing.  Not even an apology.  I thought might get some kind of discount coupon on an oil change or something.  Nope.  Nothing.  They told me that they "forwarded it to the engineering department."    I was surprised to learn that such a department actually existed.

3. Yes, I did send it to all the people listed as copied at the end.  They received it via US Mail.  None of them responded.  However, I imagine I was investigated and my phone was tapped, and there may have been some restraining orders against me I was never made aware of.  This happened before the 2000 US election, so I was covering my bases.

4. I eventually "sold" the car; but I had to barter it actually.  Seriously, I traded it to some kid for a bunch of cell phones and other items that I could sell on eBay.  That is absolutely true.  (The cell phones were legit, I checked into it, just in case you bought one from me.)

I considered donating the car to a local radio station for one of those fundraisers where people give $50 per swing for a chance to take a baseball bat to the car.  Apparently, there is much fun in that and much money to be raised.  But the radio station decided they needed a more well built car that could sustain more hits so they could raise more money for their charity.  They figured my car would only earn them about $175 before it collapsed or disintegrated, so they went with another make, a Yugo probably.

5. The car never did explode while it was in my possession, unfortunately.  However, the kid I sold it to never changed the registration and the car was impounded and resided in some police lot for months.  I spent a considerable amount of time with the impound lot and the Department of Motor Vehicles trying to convince them that it was no longer my car and I am not paying for its impound.  Can you believe it?  Just when I think I'm out, they keep pulling me back in!  Eventually, they left me alone.  For that kid's sake, I hope he never got it out of impound either, and is now, as one person suggested, being used as a doorstop or paperweight somewhere.

6. I currently own one Honda Accord and one Toyota Corolla, both made in the USA by American workers in an American factory in the great states of Ohio and Tennessee.  They have had zero mechanical defects and all of the paint is still shiny and still on the car.  I have written the current US government informing them of my opinion on which US auto maker should NOT be saved by a federal bailout.

7. I estimate that by the time I paid for repairs and paid off the debt accumulated in part because of my crucible with this $13,000 vehicle, it cost me over $50,000.

8. Yes.

9. There was a class action suit, but it fell apart because there were so many problems with the car, they couldn't establish a consistent pattern of failures which, for whatever reason, was necessary for a successful suit.  My story was not unique.

10. No, never again.

Again, if you don't know what this post is referring to, just let it go, I'm not going to explain it.  I'll post something else relevant soon.

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Scott Clifton Furrow - Chrysler Neon Complaint Letter UK telegraph FARK

Truth - Independent from Ideas

I have much to write about concerning issues observed during our recent election. Mostly, I an troubled with how unconcerned we are about what is actually true, and how reality governs what actually happens. I recently made this statement in an email conversation with a similarly concerned person in my church:

"With the decline of investigative journalism, the politics of scientific funding, and the corruption in the education system, “truth” is left to be revealed only by consequence rather than wisdom and aforethought. Sadly, the Church has not risen above the culture in these matters, and the truth remains hidden until it wreaks havoc with people and the nation."

I'll write more on this, particularly on the role of the Church in society at a later date (read: as soon as I have time to get my thoughts together on this.) Below is a video someone sent me that illustrates this point to some degree. Looks like Peter Schiff took a lot of heat for being right.



Truth - "conformity with fact, or reality."

Reality - "something that exists independently of ideas concerning it."

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Obligatory Lost Announcement

LOST - Catch up by January 21, 2009...

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Election Predictions 2008

[Please note: This is not an endorsement of any candidate and does not necessarily indicate how I have personally voted or what I think about issues. This is simply a prediction from a retired political hack, based on polling data, personal contacts, and a really big guess.]

Well, a lot of pressure this year, as some of you know, this political hack got all 50 states correct in 2004. This year, its much harder to tell. Too many wildly varying polls, too many undecided voters, and too many unknowns. But, most simply, incumbent parties lose in difficult economic times. Any Democrat would likely beat any Republican for that reason alone this year. Obama’s get out the vote efforts are well funded and likely better this year than McCain’s, and that will make the difference in close states, and perhaps turn some unexpected states blue such as Georgia. Because of overwhelming victories in highly populated states, such as California, Obama will win the popular vote, regardless of whether or not he wins the Electoral College and the Presidency.

Early signs that I am way off: If McCain wins Virginia and North Carolina, then be ready for a closer election than my guess here. If McCain wins New Hampshire, then we could be seeing a Dewey Defeats Truman moment.

We could also see a tie. There are several scenarios in this election where a tie is possible, especially if John McCain wins New Hampshire.

Whever there is no majority winner in the Electoral College (270 votes needed to win), the election decided in congress, with the house voting for the President and the Senate for VP. Lots of great scenarios there, including realistic possibility of the House voting for Obama for President, and the Senate voting for Palin as Vice President, creating an Obama/Palin Administration.

Before the financial crisis that has given Obama the huge advantage, I was actually set to predict this situation with a tie, 269-269.  There has never been a tie, and there hasn't been an election decided by the congress since 1824.

Ignore exit polls, early Pennsylvania and Florida returns, and anything at all reported on MSNBC.


Predictions:

Electoral Votes (EV)
Obama – 379 McCain – 159

Popular Vote:
Obama 54.2% McCain 45.6%

MAP: Click here to see my predictions on a map.

State Numbers:

State - Winner - Electoral Votes - Popular Vote Margin

AL – McCain EV: 9 - +19%
AK – McCain EV: 3 - +21%
AZ – McCain EV: 10 - +8%
AR – McCain EV: 6 + 5%
CA – Obama - EV: 55 +18%
CO – Obama - EV: 9 +7%
CT – Obama - EV: 7 +15%
DE – Obama - EV: 3 +28%
DC – Obama – EV: 3 +28%
FL - Obama - EV: 27 +2%
GA – Obama - EV: 15 +2%
HI – Obama - EV: 4 +39%
ID – McCain - EV: 4 +38%
IL – Obama - EV: 21 +20%
IN – McCain - EV: 11 +4%
IA – Obama - EV: 7 +9%
KS – McCain - EV: 6 +18%
KY – McCain - EV: 8 + 14%
LA – McCain - EV: 9 + 10%
ME – Obama - EV: 4 +12%
MD – Obama - EV: 10 + 22%
MA – Obama - EV: 12 +19%
MI – Obama - EV: 17 + 9%
MN – Obama - EV: 10 +8%
MS – McCain - EV: 6 +14%
MO – Obama - EV: 11 +3%
MT - McCain - EV: 3 + 6%
NE – McCain - EV: 5 +21%
NV – Obama - EV: 5 +4%
NH - Obama - EV: 4 + 5%
NJ – Obama - EV: 15 +14%
NM – Obama - EV: 5 +7%
NY – Obama - EV: 31 +22%
NC – Obama - EV: 15 + 1%
ND – McCain - EV: 3 + 5%
OH – Obama - EV: 20 +3%
OK – McCain - EV: 7 +22%
OR – Obama - EV: 7 +17%
PA - Obama - EV: 21 +4%
RI – Obama - EV: 4 +21%
SC - McCain - EV: 8 + 5%
SD – McCain - EV: 3 + 6%
TN – McCain - EV: 11 +21%
TX – McCain - EV: 34 + 7%
UT – McCain - EV: 5 +23%
VA – Obama - EV: 13 +7%
VT – Obama - EV: 3 + 19%
WA – Obama - EV: 11 +14%
WV – McCain - EV: 5 +11%
WI – Obama - EV: 10 +11%
WY - McCain - EV: 3 +22%

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Dodgers Cubs Dillemma Follow Up

So, people keep asking me, did I feel bad for the Cubs that they were swept by the Dodgers? (See post below)

Answer:

No.

Go Dodgers!

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