Mary Sizes the Coat

Monday we paid our first visit to the medical school. As I have mentioned, the University of Rochester Medical Center is across the street from Mary's house, so we have been most aware of its physical presence since we arrived. For one thing, the ER helipad is on top of a building across and just a bit to the north of us, and we hear the copters landing from time to time. For another, there is a little grove of trees on the hospital side of the street across from Mary, and there smokers come from the nearby medical buildings to take a break. We see people smoking who appear to be employees, and even a few patients out there in their hospital gowns. It seems anomalous to see such people at a world famous medical center. On the other hand, there are relatively few when you give the matter some thought, given all the people who occupy the nearby buildings.

In any event, Mary had some registration chores to address, and so all three of us walked the half-mile or so south along Crittendon, until we crossed the street and found our way into the back entrance of a spacious atrium that greets visitors to the school. Mary led us to the admissions office, then to place where people issued her an ID, complete with a nice new photo and bearing her name and the descriptor "Medical Student." She held the ID tightly in her hand until we returned home, shy about attaching it to her shirt, maybe not quite believing it. It was such a proud moment.

And another proud moment came a few moments later, as we made our way to the bookstore, where she was to be fitted with THE WHITE COAT. A pleasant clerk greeted us, and said "Congratulations!" when Mary told him the purpose of her visit. (We are hearing a lot of that from people around here, when they learn Mary is entering the med school.) I snapped a couple of photos, as you can see. Mary pointed out to us privately that it's really not a coat but more of a jacket. You get the full length white coat when you graduate. It was white coat enough for me.

This was not the official ceremony, of course. Once the coat was fitted, she gave it back. She won't see it again until a ceremony that will take place a week from Friday, at the end of orientation week. (How I wish Carol and I could be there, and the entire rest of the family.) The coat will have her name embroidered on it, plus the legend "daughter of Paul and Carol, sister of Macon, Kellsey, Walter, Morgan, aunt of Aidan and Honor, Felicity and Nautica." Congratulations to all of us!

Unpacking

Mary found a Rochester vegetarian blog connected to the UR ("University of Rochester") website, and it had a list of recommended restaurants. We found one of them Saturday night for dinner, an Indian restaurant, the Tandoor. After entering we were greeted by an Indian lady. As she lead us to our table, we walked by two couples enjoying their dinner, both also apparently from India. I heard a snatch of conversation about medical things as I walked by, and guessed they were doctors. I knew we were in the right place.

The owners were proud of their kitchen, because there was a large picture window on the wall that separated the dining area from where the cooks were busy at work. Two of them were Sikhs. As I stood in front of the glass looking in, one of the men made bread, first shaping the dough into what could be taken for the beginnings of a small pizza, and then placing it into an unusual sort of oven set on its end, with the round opening facing up. In fact, it seemed more like a very large bowl, sunk down into the counter surface, so that the cook placed the dough down in it, using two special tools, long rods of metal with hooks on one end. The oven is called a tandoor, thus the name of the restaurant. The kitchen was spotless, and the people working in there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

This was our second dinner at an Indian restaurant on this trip, and I relished the egg-plant based dish I ordered, and, of course, the freshly baked bred, called Naan, believe. I am going to have to learn the names of these dishes and their ingredients, so I can describe them better. But we greatly enjoyed our dinner.

We ate our dinner in an area of Greater Rochester that Mary calls "the sprawl," a suburban area with large and small shopping centers and malls south of the city proper. Here is where Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, BB&B, etc., live, and here is where we make many visits as we help Mary get her apartment in shape for the next four years. The UR Medical Center and the University of Rochester itself, to which the medical center is adjacent, are on the south side of town, so there is quick (about 15 minutes or less) access to the sprawl further south and all its shopping from Mary's apartment.

Sunday morning, however, we drove to the west of the city proper, looking for Parkminster PC, where a friend of Mary's from Davidson is a member. We found it in a pleasant suburb in time for its 9:30AM (summer schedule) service. It reminded us a lot of MSPC. The people were friendly, the size of the congregation maybe two or three times ours, and the architecture familiar. Before the service began, the pastor came over to where we were sitting, and introduced himself, which we appreciated. There was a good mix of generations, a good praise team, and the pastor preached a solid sermon entitled "A Severe Mercy," a grown-up sermon, actually, about the Christian life and its serious challenges. This church looked like it might be fine church home for Mary.

I did mention the familiar architecture of this church, and so I must mention a feature of its interior that was plainly different from home. As one walks through the wide doors of the church from the parking lot, to the right is a very large cloak-room. It has no doors, one simply walks into this large area. It is lined with racks, places to hang one's coat, set one's hat, and doff one's boots. We had none of those things on, of course, but let me tell you, these people are ready for the winter. Poor Mary! From the equator to the North Pole in one year! But the church, as I indicated, had a warm and friendly spirit. That should help.

As we finished our visit to PMPC about 11AM, we decided to drive over to the center city area. Mary had been to a coffee shop called "The Spot" on an earlier visit, and thought she would be able to find it again. We drove around downtown some before we found it, and so I got a pretty good look. It is impressive. Downtown is clearly past its prime, the days when Eastman Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lamb were roaring, but it is just as clearly very far from dead. In fact, it seems to be in a measured state of renovation. The streets were clean, the empty buildings, not in overwhelming number, were not neglected at all but seemed to offer their readiness for another life.

"The Spot" was such a place, in fact. "Coffee shop" does not do the place justice. It is a converted, downtown Chevrolet car dealership, located on a street corner not far from the Eastman School of Music. One walks through the double doors straight into the former, two story high, showroom, in the center of which is set a very large coffee bar, and along the sides of which are tables and counters populated with folks taking advantage of the good coffee, muffins, and free wireless. It is the sort of place thousands of Starbuck's managers across the world dream of as they sleep through the night, most of whom unaware that such a place actually exists . . . in Rochester.

The urban neighborhoods of Rochester through which we drove as we returned to Mary's house seemed friendly, the houses not so big as well kept and unpretentious, with trees everywhere and lawns green with summer's plentiful rainfall. (Mary said that the mansions are elsewhere in the city.) This is a nice place.

Mary's Rochester House

We woke up Saturday morning just outside the Rochester City limit at the Hampton Inn, and did a vegan forage through the Inn's complimentary breakfast buffet. A vegan forage under such circumstances is a challenge, but not impossible. It is remarkable how much food such an attractive spread offers, one full of sugar, bleached flour, and animal protein. No wonder we Americans just can't resist. Even the oatmeal came in packets with heavily sugared flavoring of one sort or another. I settled, on the other hand, for some Cheerios, with a little moo juice, and a banana, plus a slice of whole wheat toast with a thin peanut butter spread. (Get off this; tell us about Rochester.)

Over to Mary's house we repaired, the truck just squeezing into the driveway that runs around back to an old, wooden two car garage, where Mary will keep her car. There were three big items of concern for me, as, for some strange reason, her two young male friends from Bryn Mawr did not follow us up. As I mentioned, Mary's apartment is on the second floor, up a flight of stairs that take an abrupt 90 degree right turn at a tiny landing before continuing up to Mary's level. The stairs are just wide enough to accommodate comfortably people going up single-file, even six-feet and taller people if they watch their heads. But we had a sofa, a chest of drawers with bookcase (from the boys' room at home), and a nice old dresser that Mary had bought at a second-hand furniture store at Bryn Mawr and painted. We saved those items for last, and we got them up with surprising ease. It's helpful to marry and produce strong women.

Mary's apartment is fun. You step off the stairs onto a small hallway. Immediately to the left is the kitchen, which is big for such a small apartment. It's at the SE corner of her house (which faces north). The kitchen has two windows, one on the south side and one on the east, so there is plenty of light during the day. It is large enough that it could handle a very small table, and whoever lived there before must have had one there, as there is a sort of chandilier hanging down from the center of the ceiling. A generous amount of cabinets line the north and east walls above a goodly spread of counter space. The oven is a gas one, which I understand good cooks like. Mary and her mom are great cooks.

Back at the top of the stairs, if we take almost a u-turn to the right, we see a narrow door. This leads to Narnia. No, wait, to somewhere even better: through that door and to the right, up more narrow stars we find an attic, clean and well lighted, having more windows facing west. Here, as we unpack below, we stow empty boxes, suitcases and so forth. In the distant past, the attic must have been another bedroom, for, oddly, there is a second door at the foot of the attic stairs, but this one takes you into the bath room, which makes sense if one occupies the attic bedroom and does not want to enter the the hallway at Mary's level.

You come into the bathroom at Mary's level by taking a quick right at the top of the regular stairs. It's a good size too, and appears to have been renovated some over the last few years: it has one of those plastic bathtub/shower modules, which is fine, although the built-in soap shelves and towel bars are upside down, as Carol noticed. (That one we have not yet figured out, unless somehow the space requirements required the workmen to install the panels that way.) There is an odd sized cabinet at the foot of the tub module, which is very deep and actually pretty functional. The medicine cabinet works well too.

Back in the hallway at the top of the stairs, instead of taking a hard right to the bathroom, a less hard right takes you into the living room. This room is also very well lighted, with three front windows, side by side, that face north toward the hospital complex, and on the west side, a single window. The room is somewhat narrow, but not uncomfortably so, and has at the SW end a narrow door to a serviceable closet that runs behind half of the south wall of the living room. We put the sofa along that wall, and you can sit there, look out those front windows, and see the lush trees on the median of Mary's street and still more trees that line the north side of the street, along the south side of the hospital complex. At the east end of the living room we set up Mary's dining room table, and at the west end by the west window, the chest and book case from the boys' room. Along the north side, will go Mary's Ikea chair, and a stuffed chair that was already in the apartment. The living room works well too.

Back out to the little hall-way, we walk straight to the end (it doesn't take long) and turn to the left, into Mary's bed room. It's on the SW corner of the second floor, and so it is well lighted too. Her new bed, her new chest, and her new desk, just fit, and there is an adequate closet too, adequate because there is an attic and other closets elsewhere.

I think Mary will be very comfortable in her new house in Rochester.

Packing up Bryn Mawr, Traveling to Rochester.

Whew! Here it is already Sunday evening, and the events of the past few days are piled so, one on another, that it seems like a continuous stretch, with now and then a pause for food and naps. Let me see whether I can remember exactly what happened. Or approximately, anyway.

Sometime maybe two or eight months ago or perhaps it was just this past Wednesday, Carol and I drove up to Ft. Lauderdale airport to catch a SW Airlines flight to Philadelphia, arriving in mid-afternoon. Mary was there to pick us up, and around to her Byrn Mawr neighborhood we went. She had dealt with her last exam of her last course (bio-chem) just the previous Monday, dispatching it deftly. (Nothing but A's during her entire of "post-bac" year, with an A minus here and there. Jane Austen would have been proud of her.)

Mary had already had made good progress packing up her apartment, and Carol and I plunged into the fray. We took time out to go out to dinner at a good Chinese restaurant nearby with one of her friends, and then back it was to her apartment where we worked until well after 10.

The next morning, we were up early. (You know how Carol is.) Fortifying ourselves with oatmeal, fruit, and muesli, again it was to work. At lunch time we broke for "The Santa Fe Burrito" and had not exactly Tex-Mex, veggie burritos, which were great, and then over to a nearby gas-station to pick up the U-Haul truck Mary had reserved. The truck looked really big to me, but then I thought that if Mary's apartment in Rochester didn't work out, she could probably sleep in it for a least three or four weeks without a problem.

According to our carefully pre-arranged plans, we went straight to Ikea, I driving the truck through Philly expressway traffic,with Carol in the co-pilot's seat, offering encouragement, and Mary leading in her car. At the Ikea, we dropped off the truck in the parking lot, and Carol and I joined Mary in her car. From there we made our first visit of the trip to a Target at another shopping center about a mile away. I don't remember whether we bought anything at the Target or were simply doing the initial check-in with those folks, because that Targets have turned out to be our home away from home since then.

After the Target check-in, it was back to Ikea where we bought several things for Mary's Rochester apartment (mainly a bed), although the real purpose of the trip was to have a cheap Ikea frozen yogurt cone, notwithstanding our general prohibition of all things dairy. (We do make exceptions, if it's really important.)

By the time we got back to Mary's apartment, parking the truck in the far reaches of the apartment house parking lot, it was time to clean up for another night on the town with some more of Mary's friends, this time to an Indian restaurant in "Center City," which is downtown Philadelphia. We had eaten at this place on our last visit and had enjoyed it. It did not let us down this time either. We capped off dinner with an Italian Ice at a place across the street, hewing to the vegan line this time. After dropping off Mary's friends, it was back to her apartment and we continued packing till nearly mid-night. Bewitching hour was noon the next day, when we were to be out of there.

Promptly at 5AM Friday morning I rolled (literally) off the air mattress, got dressed, and went down to the parking lot and brought the truck up to the basement entrance of the building. Mary had reserved a spot for our loading process, and the facility allowed good access for that task. Then it was up from the truck to Mary's fourth floor apartment, then back down to the truck with the dolly, time after time, as Carol and Mary worked on cleaning up the apartment.

The two young men whom we had taken to dinner the night before had volunteered to help us load, and Mary went to get them at 9AM. By then a lot of the easier stuff was in the truck, and their arrival meant we had some great help with the heavier pieces of furniture. Just about 11:30AM the truck was completely loaded and I was in the shower. The truck turned out to be just the right size to pack comfortably. If it had been much smaller, I would have had to take extra time to squeeze in everything, and we would not have made the noon deadline.

Carol and Mary had done a marvelous job on the apartment in the meanwhile, especially turning the kitchen into "sparkle city." Carol was putting the finishing touches on the bathroom as the management people came up to see how we were doing. They took a quick look around and offered Carol a job on the spot. They were about to leave, when I just had to insist that they look at the oven, to which Carol had devoted great effort. They were amazed. I am sure no one has ever left an apartment as spotless as Carol and Mary did.

We went to Bruegger's for lunch (hummus on whole-wheat with lettuce tomato and onion - not bad) and off we drove to Rochester. Mary leading the way in her Corolla, my driving the truck, and Carol co-piloting with me. It was REALLY a long trip. There was lots of construction on the highway, plenty of one-lane slow-downs, and the weather was rainy. As my dad would say, it was "teed-jus" and that to an extreme.

But there were moments of relief. We drove straight north from Philadelphia, up to Scranton, and then into New York. The drive grew more and more scenic, until, by the time we reached the state line, the hills were rolling and verdant, with prosperous farms in the valleys. After a lifetime of associating "New York" and "urban" as if the two shared the same genetic code, distinguishing the former only by its neon letters, the country through which we drove was a very pleasant surprise.

We neared Syracuse about supper-time. Not far off the by-pass Carol had discovered that there stood an L.L. Bean outlet store. Notwithstanding our single-mindedness about getting Mary to med school, we veered off track suddenly, finding that store in a nice shopping center that even had a Mediterranean restaurant. To shoppers like Carol, an LL Bean store of any sort would be a great visit, and an outlet store is the equivalent of Disney World. As for me, I would have given anything to get out of that truck for awhile, even though I knew we would be getting into Rochester, still 80+ miles away, pretty late.

The final stretch of interstate seemed endless, but some time after 10 we arrived. We had transported a futon bed of one of Mary's friends from her Bryn Mawr program and who is also going to URMS, so our first stop was a giant med-school apartment building on campus. After we unloaded the bed, we went by Mary's new living quarters (to which I will henceforth refer as her "house," even thought she occupies the top floor of a small, formerly single-family residence that has been converted to a duplex) just to check it out. We spent the night in a nearby Hampton Inn, however, thus continuing a tradition of spending the first night of trips north to school at this hotel chain.

The next morning, we drove over to Mary's house and the unloading began. (More later.)

Aging Yuppies Consider Obama Care

ObamaCare will depend on restraint in using expensive procedures, and may say no to some that are deemed unnecessary. Perfect fit. We aging yuppies are bred to restraint, honor economy, and will certainly take less for ourselves for the sake of the greater good.

ObamaCare will look askance at unhealthy habits, may put a tax on high-sugar, high-fat foods, and may even penalize people who abuse themselves. Aging yuppies have always been careful of their bodies, with a wary eye on fast-foods, and we use only the safest sex. After all, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Good! Another great fit!

ObamaCare may bring down the costs of drugs, because we will buy them all from Canada. Another perfect fit. This is great, because we aging yuppies know all about drugs, especially the ones that are imported.

Go ahead ObamaCare. We will love you! After all, we are the ones who fought in the Good War and understand sacrifice . . . No, wait, that was Dad and Mom. Actually, we didn't fight in any war at all, if we could help it. But we did protest. Does that count?

And we know deprivation: there was the Great Deprivation, that period of our youth before we had cable and had to use floppy disks. We can handle ObamaCare.

Bring it on!

Time to Buy Gold?

If anything, the current recession has put money in the pockets of gold dealers.

The Wall Street Journal reports a near doubling of bullion sales in 2008, and fears of a prolonged recession, coupled with inflation anxiety has had investors rushing to acquire the gleaming metal for their portfolios.

This begs the question - is gold really a “wise” investment during times of recession? In a series of recent posts, R.D Norton examines the price movements of gold in times of economic downturn. Although he finds that gold prices tend to fall during recessions, the trend is not uniform. Often, prices spike amidst inflation worries as economies begin to regain health. But what about post-recessionary prices? The chart below illustrates this story from an investor’s angle: if you, as an investor were to buy $1 worth of gold in August 1971 (the date when the United States officially repudiated its obligation to redeem dollar claims on gold), how much is that dollar worth now, when adjusted for inflation?

For the sake of comparison, the chart also shows the value of the same dollar when invested in an S&P 500 index fund over the same time period. (This excludes any fees that might have been charged to the investor).

In 2009, the long-term investor who purchased a dollar of gold in 1971 would find that his investment in gold performed better when compared to the stock market (more precisely, the S&P index fund).

However, consider the case of investors who gave in to the buying frenzy and invested in gold during times of recession. Buyers in the 1980’s peak still haven’t recovered their investment. Those who bought gold during the upward trend in late 1981 realized a near permanent loss on their holdings. Buyers during the 1990’s recession waited nearly 16 years to break even. While there have been some exceptions (for instance, the recession in 2001) in general, over the last four decades, buying gold during or even right after recessions has been a case of “buying high, selling low” for the average investor.

In comparison, buying into market-indexed funds may seem like a less risky choice. Historically, gold has always had higher volatility of returns when compared to the S&P 500 index (a standard deviation of 5.5 percent over this time period, as opposed to 4.5 percent on the S&P). In almost all post-recessionary cases (once again, 2001 being an exception) investors managed to preserve wealth and benefit from gains as the economy regained traction.

For investors who focus on the long term, gold is a wise bet as a store of wealth. However, those who are looking to time their gold purchase and capitalize on short-term gains do not fare as well.

-Written by Shafayat Chowdhury of the American Institute for Economic Research.

(As you can tell by now, I love the information that the AIER publishes.)

Marriage Proposed to Lulu

This was on the graffiti wall at church this morning! (That's thunder in the background. It was about to rain.)

Last night, over 200 young people were at Catalyst. In addition to the art work, the gathering held a break-dancing "battle." Some of the break-dancers had come in earlier from a cruise ship, where they had been hired to entertain the passengers. They brought with them young people from families that had been on the cruise. I cannot imagine what those vacationers thought when they arrived at a Presbyterian Church to see a "battle." They also heard Joe Stigale present the Gospel, as he does each week. At the end of his presentation, Joel called for a decision for Christ. My friend Austin Carr, who was there, said that many hands went up and many prayed with Joel the decision prayer.

And someone proposed to Lulu. And she accepted.

(Here's another video on Catalyst.)

Carlos and Caryn Back to Niger

Carlos and Caryn and their two young children will be returning to the Republic of Niger Tuesday. They are Wycliffe missionaries and have been home getting well from the terrible sieges of malaria they had suffered in that country, especially Caryn and the children, undergoing further training, and raising funds to go back. Visiting our church this morning, Carlos said that there is war in the north part of Niger, so they will not be returning to the place where they had been working before. The family will be based in the capital city, and Carlos will travel from time to time to the war zone, where the Berber people-group (the Tagdal language) among whom they had worked are located. He said that he would not travel where there is any danger, although he gave a rueful smile when he said that.

He also said that he is beginning a PhD program in linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. ("Why there?" he asked rhetorically, "Because it is free.") I guess one is able to do that via the internet and visits to campus from time to time.

Carlos is not certain exactly what shape his work will be taking. He has to get back over to Niger to see. Here is a family who deserve our admiration, prayers, and support.

Killings for "social, cultural, and family reasons" in Canada, in the US

Also known as "honor killings." Commentary on the Canadian killings here.

But there are people on our side of the border who also do killing for "social, cultural, and family reasons." No headlines this week about those people, however, except here.

May we talk about the relative scale of the problem of such killings among Muslims and of the problem of similarly motivated killings among Americans, the differences being that the latter are sanctioned by the US Supreme Court and supported indirectly by our government and, soon perhaps, directly by our government? But at least we are not refugee Afghan Muslims. What a relief that is.

Abby Carr Wows Them in NY

She fought hard on the ball, never backing down, never giving in.

She set up her teammates with perfect passes and always knew where to be when they set her up on a run. She played with confidence and composure.

Striker Whitney Palmer figured the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues' latest signee was another star Division I college player.

She was wrong: Abby Carr is a 16-year-old who won't graduate from Miami Springs (Fla.) High School until December.

"I didn't believe them when they told me that she was 16," said Palmer, entering her junior year at the University of Oklahoma. "When she came out to practice, she wasn't afraid, she knows she can come out on the pitch and play at any level."

-Read the entire article from the Times Herald-Record, "serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills."

ObamaCare as "Stealth Care" as far as Abortion is Concerned

The health care reform bills now being finalized in Congress are going to end up mandating the federal funding of abortion without even mentioning the word -- unless Congress explicitly excludes abortion. And that’s what we have to urge them to do. Otherwise, we will end up with a health care reform bill that will expand abortion more radically than anything since Roe vs. Wade.

Read the entire post from Priests-for-Life here.

And about those pro-life Democrats.

"Our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans."

Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, on why attendance is low at White Sox games. Both Chicago teams are hovering near the 500 mark so far this season, according to World Magazine's July 18 issue. The implication is that the Cubbies aren't having attendance problems.

ObamaCare and Abortion

This is an email from Marie Bowen of Presbyterians Pro-Life that Carol received today.

I am writing with an URGENT call to action today. Presbyterians Pro-Life ordinarily does not focus on political action, but pending healthcare legislation will so vastly increase abortion's threat to preborn human life that we felt we must contact you about it.

Please join Presbyterians Pro-Life in a webcast TONIGHT, July 23 at 9 PM Eastern (6 PM Pacific, 7 PM Mountain, 8 PM Central.) It is critical that pro-life Christians become informed about the far-reaching effects of the bill being considered now in the Congress.

This webcast will explain the harmful effects of this legislation and will equip you with simple ways to take action. There is no cost for the webcast. Registration is easy. Simply click on the 'Stop the Abortion Mandate' link at the bottom of this email and follow the instructions. Even if you are unable to attend tonight, I would encourage you to register to receive updates by email as this bill progresses through Congress.

Make no mistake: the "health care reform" proposals being pushed by Washington bureaucrats and abortion industry lobbyists -- if enacted in their current form -- would represent the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.

This is the strategy that Planned Parenthood and the billion-dollar abortion industry are now using in an attempt to implement the cornerstones of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA.)

These measures could mandate that virtually every American be forced into a health plan that includes abortion coverage -- and require honorable medical providers to violate their consciences and perform abortions or risk losing their jobs.

And to make matters even worse, because these would be federal mandates, state laws that now restrict abortion will probably be overturned!

In the face of rising health costs, we are being told that a universal government health care program is the answer. Certainly we want our government to be responsive to the real needs of those who are hungry and sick, but do we want political solutions that mandate abortion?

How will we respond? PPL intends to uphold the sanctity of preborn human life. Our Christian convictions about life are based on scriptural principles that teach that life is precious to God and that Christians are called to care and nurture.

Presbyterians have a long history of involvement in government. The Washington Office exists to equip Presbyterians for advocacy. Although I don't always agree with the views they support, I do agree with this statement on their website: Reformed theology teaches that because a sovereign God is at work in all the world, the church and Christian citizens should be concerned about public policy.

I hope you will join pro-life leaders of many organizations in tonight's webcast and learn more about the health care plan being proposed in Congress. You will be equipped to take action and influence your legislators to reform healthcare in a way that does not violate the sanctity of preborn human life or the Christian principles of care for the weakest among us.

To sign up for TODAY's webcast go to Stop the Abortion Mandate now!

Don't forget to pray for your legislators and for God to guide them as they seek to reform our health care system. Ask God to give them wisdom and moral clarity and to encourage those leaders who are pro-lfie to speak out eloquently.

Thank you for caring enough to join us tonight!
Yours in Christ for life,

Marie Bowen
Presbyterians Pro-Life

Do you feel sick to your stomach? I feel sick to my stomach. Our tax and premium dollars funding abortions? Christian physicians being required to perform abortions? (Or any physicians for that matter.)

Assault on Seniors

Since Medicare was established in 1965, access to care has enabled older Americans to avoid becoming disabled and to travel and live independently instead of languishing in nursing homes. But legislation now being rushed through Congress—H.R. 3200 and the Senate Health Committee Bill—will reduce access to care, pressure the elderly to end their lives prematurely, and doom baby boomers to painful later years.

From "GovernmentCare's Assault on Seniors" by Betsy McCaughey in today's WSJ.

(Another good reason, I would say, to quit smoking, start exercising, and reduce or eliminate animal protein from one's diet.)

Veggie Meals for Kids: a Real "Happy Meal"

The American Dietetic Association has updated a key policy to include vegan diets in its advice that a properly planned and balanced diet can be healthful not only for adults but also for all children, from infants to teens. A vegan diet means no animal products whatsoever (including eggs, cheese and yogurt, for example).

-From Tuesday's Miami Herald, and an article entitled "Dietitians be Flexible and Veg Out."

Search "vegetarian children" on Amazon for a number of interesting titles on this subject.

PS - Three months a vegan at this point, and I feel great!

CPI Decrease, Yes, but Attributable to Decrease in Energy Prices

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 1.4 percent, before seasonal adjustment, during the 12 months ending in June, according to data released this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 12-month rate of price change was also negative in March, April, and May - and the rate of decrease has accelerated each month. The major factor is the sharp decrease in energy prices compared to their level a year ago. Even though energy prices rose more than 7 percent in June, they were still 25 percent below their level in June 2008.



-From the American Institute for Economic Research

Hmmm. CPI goes down because energy prices are down (presumedly because of the economy being in recession.) But the CPI will turn around when we begin to emerge from the recession and energy prices will go back up. If the recovery is robust, price increases generally will be robust, and at the least we will have demand-driven inflation. But that sort of inflation will probably be on top of the inflation driven by our deficits. Yet, as I understand the left, it is not important for us to have a national energy policy that will develop our own oil and gas reserves. I presume, then, we are to deal with the increase in energy prices by driving tiny cars produced by GM and Chrysler-Fiat.

Health Care for Poor People in Miami-Dade

The health care debate seems to be waged on the assumption that poor people are going without health care. This article from the Miami Herald, which highlights the present cash crunch at our public hospital, nationally ranked Jackson Memorial Hospital, shows that in Miami-Dade at least, there is a place for poor people to go for treatment. Financed by higher charges to paying customers and our local sales tax, JMH has been offering these services for many years.

We had a secretary at our office who was a single mom with a child. We have good medical coverage for our employees at no charge to them. Our plan offers coverage for the rest of the family, if the employee will pay for it. This lady chose not to pay for coverage for her daughter. Instead, she relied on a special Florida program that provides medical coverage for children who are from families who are uninsured. (I don't know what the eligibility requirements are of this program, Florida KidCare. We paid the secretary pretty well.)

The point is that people are getting medical care in a sort of patchwork pattern. I am sure it could be more efficient, and maybe some people are missed here and there. But medical services are being delivered to a lot more "uninsured" people than I think the debate gives the present system credit for.

So Bad!!!

Sunday can be the Cruelest Day

I know it is not supposed to be, and as it dawns there is still the joy of week ending. But as it grows older, the work week and everything left to be done looms larger and larger.

Here is scripture for such a Sunday afternoon:

Isaiah 40: 27 - 31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Philippians 4: 4 - 9

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

A Stroller Full of Toys

When Carol and I lived in New York City the second year of our marriage, we subscribed to the New York Magazine. One cover I will never forget was that of a baby stroller not carrying a baby but brochures for trips to Europe, a Walkman and other consumer electronic devices, tickets to Broadway shows, and the like. The point was, of course, that instead of spending money on raising children, young marrieds were putting their dollars into "stuff". (Back then, we got married. We divorced, but we got married again. We divorced. We remarried. Again and again. We were so moral.)

The still-new birth control pill and, later, outright legal abortion, kept the ankle-biters out of the way. More and more young people left off the marriage rituals (really, what's the point?) and then some of them avoided having to deal with the opposite sex altogether (it can be quite trying) and made their unions with a partner who mirrored themselves. We can condemn these people all we want, I suppose, but without assigning a very high value to having children (through procreation or adoption), does it really make that much difference?

Mark Styne writes in the National Review Online:

For much of the developed world, the "credit crunch", the debt burden, and the rest are not part of a cyclical economic downturn but the first manifestations of an existential crisis.

The existential crisis to which he refers are the aging populations in the developed world that have not reproduced themselves. Michigan, where health care is now the leading economic sector, may well be a straw in the wind. As Michigan goes, so goes the country?

17th Century Nun's Prayer

Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself, that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessing cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a Saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

AMEN

Carol and I attended Georgia Nelson's funeral service early this afternoon. One of her daughters-in-law read this prayer; it was framed and hung in Georgia and Cliff's bedroom. We learned something more of Georgia in finding out that this was a favorite of hers. We learned that she knew herself pretty well. Georgia and Cliff were members of our church from the time we first joined it.

So Much for a Quick Recovery - But We Knew That

Homeowners’ equity fell to 41.4 percent of the total value of household real estate at the end of the first quarter of 2009. This percentage has decreased sharply since the end of 2005. It first fell below 50 in the fourth quarter of 2007 – marking the first time that homeowners’ mortgage debts exceeded their equity in their homes since 1945, when the Fed’s data begin.

-from an article by Kerry A. Lynch written for the American Institute for Economic Research

It was, of course, the equity in American homes that powered our consumer-spending driven economy. That equity reflected the inflated prices of those homes, as new buyers entered the marketplace and drove up those prices. Many of those new buyers were armed by the government's easy money policy that permitted substandard loans. The loan money was then recycled, thanks to the creative and completly unregulated greed of Wall Street, through its packaging of those substandard loans and selling them to the world. The world bought those loans, because they were insured by the likes of AIG.

As the graph indicates, the equity is in a state of free-fall decline.

My idea is to place a giant laser in space, and direct it back at the East Coast so as, first, to cut away Washington DC, using the belt-way as the cut-away point. Then we do the same with Manhattan, using the East and Hudson Rivers as our guides there. This will allow both pieces of real estate to float east, across the Atlantic, where they can be joined with Europe. Those people on that real estate will be happy, and the rest of us left behind will be happy. Then, maybe we will have half a chance of fixing this mess.

UPDATE:

While we're at it, take a look at this graph regarding Michigan's unemployment.




Thanks to theblogprof by way of Instapundit.

The Word on Harry Potter

" . . . a callow student with prodigious wizard gifts and little discernable personality."

Now and then the New York Times gets it right.

UPDATE: Did Rene Rodriquez see the same movie?

Also: They are showing this thing at the IMAX in 3D already.

The Stimulus

How could this happen [i.e., the economy being worse than you think] when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.

-Mort Zuckerman today in the WSJ. Zuckerman is the Chairman and CEO of U.S.News & World Report. He is also a frequent panelist on the McLaughlin Group program on NPR, which Carol and I watch often. He usually sits to the right of Mr. McLaughlin, which makes him to the left of the viewer. This is appropriate, because that side of the two sided panel is the pro-Democrat side. He is a wise man, but completely missed the mark on Obama.

Heroism Along US 27

We know the place below Clewiston where this accident took place. Makes you feel good to read about these young men and their coach.

UPDATE: Sad.

Go, Dawgs!

In the House, there is more chaos. Commerce committee Chairman Henry Waxman has delayed the health care markup he had planned for this week, giving the administration and House leaders a chance to win over balky Blue Dog Democrats.

-Michael Barone, describing Chaos on Capitol Hill.

Michigan's Largest Employment Sector is now . . .

Health care. And it's not doing very well, according to a front page article in the WSJ.

"Augmented Reality"

This NYT article today discusses technology developments that would allow one to look through the camera feature on his iPhone and see notes on the various objects within that view, restaurants for example. Or, in medicine, projections of the x-ray on the body of the patient under examination.

Palin May be on to Something

The Washington Times reports that she may campaign for "conservative" Democrats. In my layman's view, there is no way that the Bush/McCain approach will fly ever again - the Republican party really showed us its all about big government. Obama is more of the same, much more, but of the same. Time for a third way, and my thinking is that it will come out of the Democratic party. Whether it will come all the way out into a third party remains to be seen. But Palin as the vanguard for this movement is a fascinating idea. She seems to inspire such fear and loathing in the sectors that have brought us to the sorry pass in which we find ourselves that she could be on to something very important.

Fertilizer Bin for the Dove Avenue Plantation

Banana plants are voracious eaters. I bought fifty pounds of a special banana mix fertilizer, and we're looking for a bin to keep the stuff in. Carol had this idea. My idea was this one.

Cap-and-Trade vs. Carbon Tax

If the federal government is to regulate carbon emissions, then a carbon tax, under certain important conditions, is much more attractive than the cap-and-trade scheme, at least according to this economist. He makes a lot of sense to me.

Happy Birthday, Calvin!

In the rise of your university education . . . in the decentralized . . . character of your local governments . . . in your championship of free speech, and in your unlimited regard for freedom of conscience; in all this . . . it is demonstrable that you owe this to Calvinism and to Calvinism alone.

-Abraham Kuyper, in his Lectures on Calvinism given at Princeton Seminary in October 1898, as quoted by John Piper in "America's Debt to John Calvin" in the July 4, 2009 issue of World Magazine.

The 13 Articles of Faith

Yesterday, I met with a friend who is a Jewish lawyer and a man of faith, albeit that of a Conservative Jew. I remarked to him that I had attended recently a funeral at a Reformed temple and that the rabbis who officiated, although they said sympathetic things about the decedent and attempted to be comforting to the mourners in their loss, at the same time seemed absolutely intent on denying that the decedent had an immortal soul and that there was at least a possibility of her spending eternity with God. I said to my friend that the only mention of an after-life came during the eulogies from family and friends, where people gave heart-felt witness to their hope of the decedent being in heaven and their seeing her again some day.

My friend said, in so many words, that the rabbis there weren't really rabbis in his opinion, and that being a Jew included the belief in one's immortal soul. He referred to Moses Maidmonides, and his 13 Articles of Faith. He saw belief in those articles as an indicator of whether one is really a Jew. For him, it seemed a sort of litmus test, not unlike our Apostle's Creed. Among the 13 is the belief in the resurrection of the dead.

As I considered the 13 Articles, I thought how close we Christians come to being inside the circle my friend and Maidmonides would draw around true Judaism. Or maybe I should say how close to salavation through Jesus Christ are those who are inside that circle. In discussing with Van last Sunday the matter of where righteous Jews are with respect to salvation (yes, I know that no one is "righteous, not even one" but you know what I mean), he said he was loathe to say that they are not saved, but he would absolutely affirm that if they are (and we hope that they are, surely) then it is only by Christ's blood that they are.

I like that expansive view of God's grace through Jesus Christ. It makes me no less adamant about sharing the Gospel, about the need to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But it gives me the sort of hope that enables me to share the Gospel with anyone without an underlying suggestion of severity and self-righteous judgement.

(On the trip that Mary, Carol and I took to Spain in 2007, we visited Maimonides birthplace, Cordova, and toured an ancient synagogue there.)

From "a remote fishing village 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle"

Sarah Palin comments on her withdrawal speech of a few days ago.

People keep comparing her to Ronald Reagan. That's fine, I guess, but if we have to search for a male-actor metaphor, I say it's John Wayne.

David Booth talks about Retirement and Investing

Just to let you know we are keeping an eye on this subject.

Miami Cop-turned-Doctor partners with the Miami Rescue Mission

From the Miami Herald. A great story. Our church has supported the Miami Rescue Mission for many, many years. My childhood church, Central Baptist, was a big supporter of the Mission. Now this doctor, a son of the Cuban diaspora, teams with the Mission to do good with the Mission's recently opened medical clinic.

It's 4th of July Weekend. What do Vegans Bar-B-Que?

(Those are fresh pineapple slices on the right. Marinated in balsamic vinegar)

How Goes the Plantation?

Compare.

UPDATE: Last night I heard something in the backyard. It awakened me from a deep sleep. I walked out on the porch and looked over at the banana plants. Something was being sprinkled on them that reflected the moonlight. The plants began to turn in their beds, began to spin, the leaves like so many rotors on a helicopter. I felt just the slightest lurch and the entire lot was being lifted up. And up. And up. Soon we were moving across Miami Springs, the plants still spinning. We circled downtown and then came back, settling back in the blank space that we had left at 1190 Dove. It reminds me of what happened to our camper years ago, when the Magic Chicken took us all for a ride while we were on a camping trip.

The Kindle, its iPhone App, and a Free Francis Schaeffer Book

It's probably not news to anyone carrying an iPhone that there is a free app available that will turn the device into a Kindle. (And it will do it for the iTouch too.) I have had the Kindle 2.0 for several months now, and I have enjoyed it. I am still not sure that it is worth the initial cost, however. And certain kinds books I still prefer to read in hard copy, for one or more reasons.

For example, if it's a book I think Carol would like, then I would prefer to have the hard copy so I can give it to her. The same goes for books that I think other people among the kith and kin might like too.

On the other hand, certain reading seems very good to have available "inside" the Kindle: I really enjoy the WSJ showing up every day on it, and I like it for certain kinds of reference books, although there is still a limited supply of those kinds of books available in eBook form.

But if one already has an iPhone (or an iTouch), one bypasses the entry cost imposed by the Kindle device. So why not use the iPhone for those kinds of books that you are ready not to have on your bookshelf for Dad to borrow when he's in town?

Francis Schaeffer is a beloved writer with some of the kin and maybe some of the kith too. Amazon is offering without charge in eBook form Schaeffer's No Little People. (Obviously a title selected before the Hobbit craze, and a little unfortunate, don't you think?) The book is a series of his sermons.

There are a number of free eBooks out there, and I have downloaded several. One source of information about eBooks that will let you know about the latest free eBook offer is Books on the Knob, , which describes itself as a blog that deals with Bargain reads, book reviews, the Amazon Kindle and some games, technology and computers tossed in now and then. This is where I heard about the Francis Schaeffer offer.

UPDATE: On Kindle and the iPhone, take a look at this title.

Sammie Died Today

She was 98 years old, and full of feist. The widow of an Eastern Air Lines radio man, she'd lived in the same house here in Miami Springs for probably 60 years. She always sat in one of the back pews of the church. She was quite deaf these last several years. I would walk by her and say, "Hi, Sammie!," and over my shoulder I would hear her say, "Oh, the big lawyer's too proud to say hello to an old lady." I would turn around and say, "Sammie, I said hello, you just didn't hear me. And I don't see any old lady anyway." She would be smiling at me, and I thought to myself, "If you know she can't hear a thing, why did you just throw a hello at her and walk by? She may be right, you know." But that smile told me that she knew that I just forgot. Again.

She was good friends with my mom, and they played bridge. She only stopped driving three weeks ago. Snap. Another link to Mom, to Eastern Air Lines, to Dad, to my growing up in Miami Springs, to the past, goes. She joins that "cloud of witnesses" and gets her hearing back today. It's really Independence Day for her. Trade in that tired old body for a new and perfect one. Not bad.

She wouldn't have anyone live with her, nor would she move to Epworth. Her daughter lives three hours away, near Vero Beach. But Sammie let Corina help her, another lady at our church who is a CNA ("Certified Nurse's Aide"). Corina would come by several days a week, drive her a bit, fix her meals, help her bathe. just enough assistance to let her continue to live by herself.

This morning we were in the church parking lot, decorating Rick's pick-up truck for the church's "float" for the parade, when Liz, the church secretary, came out to tell me that Corina had been calling Sammie's house and not getting answer for the last 24 hours (and you get no answer when you call a deaf person). She had gone by her house this morning. The paper was still in the front yard, the door was locked, and Sammie didn't answer the door. Corina didn't have a key, but Liz had one in the church office and Corina was coming to the church. Would I go back with Corina and see what was going on? I knew that nothing was going on, because I was sure Sammie had gone on. Everybody knew that right away.

We got in, and Corina went into Sammie's bedroom, and she was under the covers and not breathing. We called 911, the police came, the EMT people. I went into Sammie's little kitchen, Thursday's paper was open to the crossword puzzle, and it was half completed, the pen laid down right beside it. Did Sammie get up in the middle of it, feeling poorly, and gone back to bed? My guess, anyway. The crossword puzzle was being solved answer after answer - not like I do them (when I do them). I fill in an answer here, then I stumble through several questions, and may come up with an answer there. Then I get frustrated and quit. Sammie was answering that crossword puzzle, answer by answer. She was sharp.

I really get frustrated with our little church. What exactly do we do for the Kingdom, I ask? We barely hold ourselves together. We've been barely holding ourselves together for years and years and years. Our "programs" limp along; the preacher is a good guy, but not near a spellbinder and not good at organization, just a man of God, loves his family, tough in a quiet way, but just not bringing them in, you know. But Carol and I have been there now since 1973, God led us there a couple of months before our baby died, and those people were there for us. And we've had the privilege to see the generations ahead of us move through middle age and beyond. And beyond, and find ourselves middle aged now, and young people coming up behind. It is a wonderful thing in rootless South Florida to have this community that the Holy Spirit has bound together so wonderfully. I'll see Sammie again. I'm happy here right now, but I'll see Sammie and the rest again. It will be great.

"Brave Republicans" Who Voted for the Climate-Change Bill in the House

But the fact remains; the climate bill never would have made it out of the house, if it weren’t for eight brave Republicans: Reichert (WA) Bono Mack (CA), Castle (DE), Kirk (IL), Lance (NJ), LoBiondo (NJ), McHugh (NY), Reichert (WA), Smith (NJ).

-According to this person.

Here's a more interesting analysis of the voting. All but one of those Republicans were from districts that went for Obama during the Presidential election. Such bravery!

My guy Walt Minnick voted against it. Minnick represents a district that went for McCain.

He Shines in All That's Fair

Carol and I saw Pixar's "Up" last night. What a charming movie! And what a remarkable example of God's Common Grace, coming as it does from Hollywood to a theater near you.

Maybe Not So Much an "Infomercial"

President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face.

The probing questions came from two skeptical neurologists during ABC News’ special on health care reform, “Questions for the President: Prescription for America,” anchored from the White House by Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center, said that elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if it’s not provided by insurance.

Devinsky asked the president pointedly if he would be willing to promise that he wouldn’t seek such extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan he’s proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get.

The president refused to make such a pledge, though he allowed that if “it’s my family member, if it’s my wife, if it’s my children, if it’s my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care.

-From this discussion of the President's appearance on ABC tv last week to discuss his health care proposals.

At least credit the President for honesty on this issue. The fact is this: there is a scarcity of health-care services. If that were not the case, then they would all be free. So is the question, then, how are we distribute those scarce resources? If that is the question, then we could answer, "To those who need them," but this begs the question. How do we know who needs them? With government health care, those scarce resources are allocated by the government. Government will make the decisions and not "the market," another name for "the people." Government is not good at allocating resources.

But even the question - how are we to distribute scarce health care resources? - is not exactly right. The question assumes that the quantity and quality of health care services is fixed. ("Quality" is another way of describing "quantity" when one deals with "services." A "service," in the technical sense of that word, should the mean the "quality" provision of resources, because if it isn't, it is no service at all, but something that displaces true service.) The fact is that the quantity of health care services is not fixed; it is dynamic. A health care system that does not increase the health care services pie is a bad health care system. One that shrinks it, is worse than bad.

The fact that Obama's children may get better health care services than everyone else within a five mile radius of the White House is not necessarily bad. In a way, rich people are "early adopters." They lead the way in assessing new ideas coming into the health care system. The rest of the market, if it is a free one, will go to work on standardizing what Obama's kids get and then reducing the cost so that the rest of our kids will have a better chance of getting that treatment. The problem with the health care reform that the left-wing Democrats appear to propose is that it will suck the freedom out of that market.

And it is worth mentioning that the general attack of the left-wing Dems on the free market threatens health care. As they lard our economy with regulation, taxes, and government debt, they take the oxygen out of the market place everywhere. By doing such great harm to our economy generally, the left-wing reduces any chance that health care services will grow to meet demand.

"Definitely Ideal for Senior Citizens or those with Disabilities" BINGO!

I am abandoning my Palm Treo as my mobile phone. It does a good job of synching Time Matters, but it is awful as a phone. At least so it is for me, as one who is increasingly challenged by electronic devices (not to mention . . . life). The little keyboard is simply too small for my fingers, I have difficulty making calls when I want to, I inadvertantly make calls when I don't want to, and I am always challenged when a call comes in about how, exactly, one answers the phone. You also have to take the battery out of it to turn it completely off. I am going to keep it as an old fashioned PDA, but good-bye to the phone "capability."

So, what is my new mobile phone? The new iPhone? Blackberry?

The Pantech Breeze. As CNET reports:

The Pantech Breeze is definitely ideal for senior citizens and those with disabilities . . .

It has BIG KEYS. That's the main thing. And the keys "click." It turns off on its own. It has three buttons at the top for speed dialing. There is a button dedicated to "answering" a call. There is a button dedicated to "ending" a call (which I once knew as "hanging up" but I am carrying a card around that reminds me that "ending" means "hanging up." The only difficulty with the "ending" key is that its symbol is in the color red, so I can't see the symbol. But I will remember it as the "blank" button.) I think this will work for me.

This phone has other interesting features. Chief among them is that when I am next with my children, I will be able to take the phone out when they are with their friends, and be able to embarrass them. I hope to first do this at a Starbucks or a Whole Foods Store.

The CNET review of the phone linked to above has the phone in white. Mine is in gray. That just seemed right to me.

My Friend's New Ferrari

The other night after a business meeting, a friend who was a participant took me out the street to show me his new Ferrari. I don't know how much those things cost, but it looked very expensive. My friend is "doing well" in his business, and I am happy about that.

But as I looked at the car, I thought about alternate uses for the money that went into the car. Immediately a prayer lept to my consciousness. "Lord, I thank you that I am not like my friend."

Ooops. (See Luke 18:9-14)

As I read Steve's last email, I thought about how much it takes to feed that boy about whom he writes. Probably about what it costs me to park my car for an hour downtown here. I live in the same never-never land as my friend with the Ferrari.

Out of which land the Lord is continuing to call me. Sometimes I listen.

Steve's Most Recent Email

Steve Peifer's most recent email is the following, entitled "Fear." All of his emails are good, but this one really struck me.

Recently Korean missionaries were targeted in a country north of here, and several were killed. All of them were known by our students whose parents work in that country. None of our students' parents were killed, but the game you can play with yourself that it is all ok and you aren't in danger being here, came unglued. The next day you could tell every kid that was from that country; the fear was all over them. Their parents were in danger, and that was the reality of the choices they had made to share the gospel.

I was at one of the schools I work with in the valley, and I was trying to film the students about using computers, and it wasn't coming together. After three tries with three students where I could get nothing but a yes or no out of them, I asked the computer teacher why they were acting like that. She told me that there was no food in most of their homes, and school was ending soon, and that the lunch at school was the only food they got in a day.

Then she asked me, very gently, if I had ever been hungry.

I told her no, I had never been hungry.

She told me that if you had ever been hungry, and you knew you would be again, it was the worst feeling you could imagine. The fear would grab a hold of you and not let go.

The reason the children were not helping was because they were wrapped up in the fear of being hungry.

I thought about this all weekend. On Sunday, my daughter had asked if we could go into town and watch the Hannah Montana movie. (Ben threw up in his mouth when I asked him if he wanted to go) As we sat in that awful movie, with her sitting eagerly at the edge of her seat, I thought about the unusual path that it took for us to have a daughter.

Having a daughter has helped me face all the awful things I've seen in Kenya. Love is the only thing that can help you face fear. And love is the only thing that makes you want to fight for those who don't have a voice or a chance.

I'm so grateful that love is greater than fear.

Your pal

s

More about Steve here.

I think I was right with my Iran solution.

Four years ago I proposed that our bombers fly over Iran, dropping thousands of iPods. My idea was that the Western culture soon thereafter would so infect the country that the mullahs would be overthrown. Something like that may be actually happening. See this opinion piece in the WSJ.

The problem with my idea was that it assumed that our government would undertake this program. Of course it didn't, wouldn't, couldn't, whatever. But the market undertook the program with similar although more extensive and advanced communications technology.

Now let's wait for the rest of the dictatorships to morph into something tolerable. Maybe we won't have to wait long unless, as China is doing with Google and Yahoo, the tyrannical governments figure out how to seize the viral information systems.

Governor Sanford of South Carolina

Good grief! And I thought that he was one of the good guys! What a disappointment.

Bernie Kosar's Journey

With Carol's mom, we attended the 1984 Orange Bowl Game when Bernie Kosar led the 'Canes, coached by the great Howard Schnellenberger, to an upset victory over the Cornhuskers and the national title. Kosar declared bankruptcy recently, and the Herald spotlighted his troubles in this article on Sunday. Here is a morality tale of a good man pulled down by a special sort of hubris. I think he will get back up from all of this an even better man. The article hints that he may have spiritual resources.

"Advancing a Dependency Agenda"

A good discussion of the health care matter by George Will.

The Father Metaphor

The Bible makes liberal use of metaphors to show God's truth. Jesus as a Shepherd comes to mind. Hosea's unfaithful wife as a metaphor for wayward Israel. And there's the Church as the Bride of Christ. What strikes me today is the "Father Metaphor." Jesus, when asked by his disciples about how they should pray, begins "Our Father . . . " So, we have God as Father: that could be quite a metaphor to confront for those of us men who have children.

For the Father Metaphor, I think, works both ways. The standard use of it is that the Lord God, in his great love for us, is like the perfect human father. That metaphorical use works for us who have had good fathers, as we try to understand God's character. (But what of those of us whose earthly fathers were not good fathers?)

On the other hand, maybe the Father Metaphor works the other way and would apply regardless of how our earthly fathers measured up. That is, God, in his relationship to us is the true father. In the reverse metaphor, God as father is the reality, but the relationship of us men to our offspring is something else. The ideal of our relationship to our children should be like the way God fathers us. God's love for us, then, is the standard to which we are to be held in respect to how we treat our children. Maybe that's the hidden point of the "Our Father . . . " metaphor.

So when I think of myself as a "father" on this Fathers Day, it is a challenging and disturbing thing, at least in part. How like the Father am I? In this respect "Fathers Day" presents us dads with a challenge as well as a celebration, or so it seems to me.

Sizing up Western New York

We were talking to Sam and Lisa Reyes at our church a week or so ago. They and their four children have been part of our congregation for the least five years, while Sam was doing an ENT residency at the University of Miami Medical School. Sam went to the University of Buffalo Medical School and met Lisa during that period - she was a med student too, and her family is from Buffalo. Now they are moving back to Buffalo, where Sam will join an ENT group there. We hate to see them go, but we were talking to them about the sights in their part of NY, as Mary will not be far away from Buffalo when she goes to the University of Rochester medical school.

Sam and Lisa said that they were avid campers in NY and their favorite place to go was Letchworth State Park. The park looks very attractive, and it's not far from Rochester.

They also said that on almost every camping trip to Letchworth, they were sure to make a visit to the Valley Inn in Warsaw, NY, where there's a great chef. The Valley Inn is a bed-and-breakfast, and looks like it would be a great jumping off place to Letchworth State Park if one were not intending to camp.

Healthy Journey Onward

Going here tonight with some friends.

Important Goat Information

Here. Thanks, Glenn.

Now, what was your problem again?

Blind young pianist wins Van Cliburn Piano Competition.

More Fun in the Sun (SoBe), Opening Coconuts . . . and then Done :(

Fun in the Sun!

The Crandon Park Beach on Thursday and the Everglades today.

OH, Gross!

So, my children, my adorable children (see the pictures) have been dealing with pin worms. Did you know that this is one of the most common worm infections in the U.S.? Did you know that the human is the only natural host, so the worms don't usually spread to animals? Did you know that the eggs, which are microscopic, (thus explaining how you could pick them up without knowing it) can live on things for like 2 whole weeks!!!!! UGH!!!!!!

Did you also know that you have to wash the bedding every 3 to 7 days for at least 3 weeks (and every time you wash the bedding or the clothes, you must wash on hot (good-bye rich colors) and that you must wash everything 2 or 3 times on hot with soap before drying them). Sheesh!!! I already do laundry all week long. Now, laundry is ALL I do all week. Even with these precautions, it is common to get reinfected and to have to go through everything AGAIN.

yuck, Yuck, YUCK!!!!!

In case you were wondering, I am not enjoying this particular common childhood illness.

Cleverness

Entropy is the tendency of everything going to hell

Entropy isn't what it used to be.

Entropy: Not just a fad, it's the future!

Geologists rock your world.

Geology: Subduction leads to Orogeny.

Gravity isn't MY fault--I voted for velcro!

Gravity... not just a good idea: It's the law.

I like angles, but only to a degree.

If the Earth is the size of a pea in New York, then the Sun is a beachball 50m away, Pluto is 4km away, and the next nearest star is in Tokyo. Now shrink Pluto's orbit into a coffee cup, then our Milky Way Galaxy fills North America.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy.

Little Johnny was a scientist. Little Johnny is no more. For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.

May the torque be about you.

Nature abhors a vacuum. So does my sister's dog.

On the sixth day, God created the platypus. And God said: let's see the evolutionists try and figure this one out.

Particle physicists are always trying to hold a meeting, but whenever they decide on a place, the time changes.

Photons have mass!? I didn't even know they were Catholic...

Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.

More here

Jackie Bueno Sousa Has a Good Answer for Judge Sotomayor

And this wise (at least now and then, I hope) old white man appreciates that answer.