I am in the process of moving this site from WordPress to another backend software. This is a process that could take hours, or it might take days. It all depends on what breaks.
Anyhow, I just wanted to warn you, in case the near future is a little chaotic. Also, I’m about to do a huge database export, so until things are up and running on the new software, any ripples y’all leave might get lost in the transition.
Update (11/20): Bleh. I got the site to where I wanted with the new software on a test server, I spent a few hours migrating everything hither and yon, I flipped the switch, and I discovered a bizarre and unexpected hosting issue that I don’t understand. I’m frustrated and super tired, so I’m going to give up tonight and tackle this over the next week. Sorry, but you’ll just have to do without me for a while.
“Every Bottle of Liquid OM is infused to the same frequency of the Earth revolving around the Sun (OM=136.10 Hz @ 432.10 Hz).” Why do I get the feeling that this came from one of those Let’s Just Make Shit Up And See If People Will Buy It meetings?
Someday in the distant future, when historians look back on the early days of the twenty-first century, one of them may very well discover this story and say, “that pretty much sums it all up, now doesn’t it?”
KFC Corporation (a division of YUM! Brands, Inc. NYSE:YUM) today became the world’s first brand visible from outer space by unveiling a record-breaking 87,500 square feet, updated Colonel Sanders logo in the Area 51 desert. […]
It took a team of nearly 50 designers, engineers, scientists (including astrophysicists), architects and other professionals working nearly three months to conceive, create and execute building the world’s largest logo. […]
The logo consists of 65,000 one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle: 6,000 red, 14,000 white, 12,000 eggshell, 5,000 beige and 28,000 black.
Even from 423 miles up, you can still see that smug look on his face.
It’s Not Dark Yet, but that travesty of a musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan will be closing after 28 performances. Didn’t take a weatherman to see that one coming.
Admittedly, the one and only reason I went to vote got positively trounced. But I had a strange feeling when I woke up in the morning, a feeling I’m unaccustomed to experiencing after an election.
I think it might be called hope.
It’s still just a glimmer, but as the day went on, it got a bit brighter. Rumsfeld out!Webb in! Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s hope.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m under no illusions that a Democratic Congress suddenly makes everything better. We’re still talking about politicians here, as flawed and as susceptible to the Siren song of power as anybody else. And as a country, we’re still in a pretty damn deep hole.
But at least it feels like we’ve stopped digging.
The truth is, the next two years are likely to be ugly. From the Bankruptcy Bill to the Detainee Act, there’s a lot of pretty awful legislation to fix, and it’s not like President Bush is going to let that happen quietly. There’s a lot that we need to know about what the hell our government has been up to over the past six years, and the Bush Administration is going to fight transparency, accountability and oversight every step of the way. It wouldn’t surprise me if at some point the Supreme Court will be asked to intervene.
I don’t celebrate the ugliness to come. But let’s be clear: an administration that claims repeatedly that laws do not apply to them, that launches a poorly planned war for reasons that at best are unclear, that hides people in secret prisons, that claims the right to tap phone lines without getting a warrant, that revokes the right of habeas corpus, that campaigns for the right to torture — that administration is just begging for ugly.
I was going to say that there is a constitutional crisis a-brewing, but that’s not quite right. It’s on. It’s been on. We just finished the third quarter of the Separation of Powers Bowl, we’re down a few rights, and the legislative starting squad is only now showing up to play.
I’d forgotten that there was something that I actually wanted to vote for:Proposition 89, which would institute a set of campaign finance reforms, including public funding for elections. In my mind, this is an appropriate use of the initiative process, as incumbent legislators are unlikely to impose electoral reforms that could threaten their electoral advantages.
Also, after yesterday’s cynicism, it was really sweet of my wife to give me some hope. Even better, it’s the kind of hope I can wear…
So, um, if there’s a particular reason why you might leave me a ripple on Nov. 6, feel free to do so here and not in the Ted Haggard post. That would just be weird.
That is all.
It’s somewhat odd that one year later, I could write exactly the same post for today.
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I haven’t had much time to write lately, because I haven’t had much time on our computer lately. My wife’s laptop was whirring and shutting down in ways that it shouldn’t have been, so it’s been in the shop for the last week and a half. And since she’s writing a dissertation and I’m not, she holds all the trump cards when it comes to using our other computer.
But she’s done for tonight, and I’ve got a backlog of things that I’ve been meaning to write about. Since it’s my day and all, and since this is my site and all, I’m going to take whatever prerogative those two facts give me and ramble for a while, sans the usual amount of crafting and editing. Indulge me if you feel like it. Move along if you don’t. You always have that choice, right?
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At this point, I’m not sure what else to say about the downfall of Pastor Haggard. It’s been very sad and more than a little surreal to watch it unfold. My heart breaks for his wife and children. And I’m ashamed to think of the Christian hate mail (which should be an oxymoron, but sadly isn’t) that is no doubt filling Mike Jones’ mailbox.
I think the thing that was most frustrating about the whole story was the carefully parsed denials that fooled no one. It was Clintonian in the worst sense.
Don’t get me wrong… this was a completely human reaction that I both understand and see in myself. I certainly can’t claim that I would have reacted much differently. And Haggard is certainly not the first follower of Christ to lie when accused. But it was still a missed opportunity to react with honesty and humble repentance instead of damage control.
Beyond that, I think that Jim’s reaction pretty much tracks with mine. Jim also links to a meditation from Gordon MacDonald (who knows a thing or two about what Haggard’s going through) that is without a doubt the best response I’ve read.
Update:
When I posted this, I’d only read a few excerpts from Haggard’s letter that was read at New Life Church on Sunday. Now that I’ve finally read the full statement, it strikes me that there’s a section at the end that’s not only moving but, well, pastoral:
I appreciate your loving and forgiving nature, and I humbly ask you to do a few things.
1.) Please stay faithful to God through service and giving.
2.) Please forgive me. I am so embarrassed and ashamed. I caused this and I have no excuse. I am a sinner. I have fallen. I desperately need to be forgiven and healed.
3.) Please forgive my accuser. He is revealing the deception and sensuality that was in my life. Those sins, and others, need to be dealt with harshly. So, forgive him and, actually, thank God for him. I am trusting that his action will make me, my wife and family, and ultimately all of you, stronger. He didn’t violate you; I did.
4.) Please stay faithful to each other. Perform your functions well. Encourage each other and rejoice in God’s faithfulness. Our church body is a beautiful body, and like every family, our strength is tested and proven in the midst of adversity. Because of the negative publicity I’ve created with my foolishness, we can now demonstrate to the world how our sick and wounded can be healed, and how even disappointed and betrayed church bodies can prosper and rejoice.
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So it’s election day again. Finally.
How is it that I love democracy and hate elections? I’m more passionate about politics than your average bear, but by the time Election Day finally arrives, I’m usually so worn out by the demagoguery and incivility that passes for campaining that it’s hard to care about my civic duty.
In fact, I don’t think I’m going to vote this year.
I guess that means I’m pro salmon and I don’t vote. There goes the movement.
Barbara Lee is going to be my congresswoman, regardless of how I vote, because it’s Berkeley. Dianne Feinstein will be my senator, regardless of how I vote, because she’s running against a man with no statewide name recognition. And that’s saying a lot, considering her opponent is a Republican named Dick Mountjoy.
I don’t feel like voting for anyone in particular for state office, even governor. And I’ve gotten to the point after six years in California that I will vote no on just about any proposition on the ballot simply because I believe it’s a stupid way to run a state with the fifth largest economy in the world.
There’s not even really any wacky Berkeley measures to vote on this time around. Well, except for Measure H, which asks if the City of Berkeley should petition the House of Representatives to start impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. Cathartic as that might be, it’s more than a little pointless. And it’s certainly not enough to get me to the polls.
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Speaking of not voting, it might be a decade or more before I’ll seriously consider voting for a Republican. Which is a shame, because I have no real affection for the Democratic Party and because I have friends and family who are principled conservatives. I don’t always agree with them, but I certainly respect their reasoning.
I just don’t see any principled conservatives in today’s Republican Party.
Honestly, if I were to start listing the ways in which the Republican Party has lost me over the last decade, I would still be typing when the sun came up. But one of the biggest reasons is that the the last six years have been absolute hell on Madisonians. Modern political parties in general — and the Republican Party in particular — are killing the part of American constitutional democracy that I love most: the checks and balances that should be inherently driven by institutional self-interest.
Well, that and their cooption of a sizable and vocal portion of the American evangelical church.
And the torture.
And…
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Damn. I’m cynical today, aren’t I? The sad thing is, I’m barely scratching the surface.
If it weren’t so late, I’d probably try to balance all of that with some hope. But I’m tired, so I’ll just leave you with some music.
Maybe elections would be more fun if they wrote campaign songs like back in the day. This one’s a little heavy handed, but it’s Rickie Lee Jones and a few guys from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, so there’s still a lot to love:
I normally enjoy watching how people find my site.
Not today.
Somehow, I’ve made it to the front page of Google or Yahoo for several of these searches. On a few, I’m even the top spot. I’m not particularly proud of this.
As the hits keep on coming, each one makes me sigh.
I’ve had somestrongthings to say about Pastor Haggard’s theology in the past. But not about the man himself.
