George Washington and Thanksgiving

Author Paul Johnson, in his book on George Washington, says that Washington sanctioned the first amendment because he opposed the government setting up a national church like the Church of England.

However, he would have been horrified to know that the first amendment was used to eliminate religion, and especially Christianity, from public life. He saw the Christian religion as underpinning civilized society.

Johnson pointedly observes:

An America without religion as the strongest voluntary source of
morality was to him an impossibility.

It is significant that the day after the House of Representatives passed the
First Amendment, on September 25, 1789, it also passed, by a two-to-one
majority, a resolution calling for a day of national prayer and
thanksgiving, and asked Washington to appoint the day. The Resolution
reads: ‘We acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favours of
Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peacefully to
establish a constitutional government for their safety and happiness.’

Appointing the national holiday of Thanksgiving, Washington replied, in
words equally significant: ‘It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the
providence of Almighty God, to obey His Will, to be grateful for His mercy,
to implore His protection and favour... That great and glorious Being who is
the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that ever will
be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him an sincere and humble
thanks for His kind care and protection of the people.’ (pp. 102-104)

Narnia: Up from the church basement

Columnist Cal Thomas makes a few good observations about Christians' engagement with society, particularly in the realm of the arts:

"This is an important film because it offers a better strategy for Christians and conservatives than Hollywood-bashing."

"Most conservatives and Christians, rather than advocating for better movies, have been content to boycott films, make really bad ones, or criticize what was being produced. This approach has had minimal influence on the film industry and has contributed little that was positive to the culture wars."

He applauds the new "Chronicles of Narnia" film for being a wonderful movie that appeals to the spirit without pedantically spelling out a gospel message.

Can we applaud Christians for making really good films, music, art, etc, that are not explicitly "Christian?" To skillfully portray biblical values and worldview and then leave it up to the viewer to decide what they are going to do with the message?

Absolutely! Wow, I think we need so much more of that. A subtle communication of the values we believe in and the implications for our lives. Isn't that how non-Christians have shaped culture for decades? Not with overtly anti-Christian messages, but with TV shows and advertising and movies and music that are thoroughly humanistic and hedonistic. Though churches may still be teaching orthodox doctrine, the media of our society have captured people's hearts and shaped our opinions.

Let's patronize this movie and clamor for much more entertainment like it.

Thanksgiving - the rest of the story

Chuck Colson gives us some background on the life of Squanto, who befriended the Pilgrims and paved the way for the first Thanksgiving celebration.

"Who but God could so miraculously convert a lonely Indian and then use him to save a struggling band of Englishmen? It is reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph, who was also sold into slavery—and whom God, likewise, used as a special instrument for good."

High on Sky High

I left the movie theater with that kind of euphoria I got from the original Matrix and the older Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

My two boys were busily repeating their favorite lines.

I was wondering if I just saw my favorite movie of the year.

The recipe for Sky High's success? It was funny, adventurous, romantic, family-oriented, and extremely likeable. With clear-cut good guys and bad guys in a teenage-drama setting, it managed to be a fantasy film that was very human and not too cartoonish.

I loved it, my family loved it. Ranks up there with 13 Going On 30 and The Incredibles.

K!Mberly stars!

My beautiful talented wife is a guest star at a special Arts Festival Gala tonight.

She is even more fun and creative and delightful today than when she captured my heart on our first date 264 months ago tonight.

By the way, that night we ate Chinese food and went to a play. The ride since then has been wonderful, and it keeps getting better...

Segregation - the rest of the story

This article points out that neither governments nor businesses are wholly good. Both need checks and balances because, ultimately, people are behind all of them and people are not always good. In fact, they are mostly good when it is in their interest to be good. Otherwise, they will tend to exploit for their own advantage unless restrained by an outside influence.

"It was politics that segregated the races because the incentives of the political process are different from the incentives of the economic process."

Pride & Prejudice - Review

We really loved the A&E miniseries version years ago with Colin Firth. Now I'm looking forward to seeing this version.

"Along the way, it serves a continuing banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. In its final minutes, it makes you believe in true love, the union of soul mates, happily-ever-after and all the other stuff a romantic comedy promises but so seldom delivers. For one misty-eyed moment, order reigns in the universe."

Ahhh... I love movies like that.

Gartner: Ignore Vista until 2008

I expect I'll be ignoring Vista long after that. After migrating through every Windows itineration (except ME - was that an itineration?) from 3.1 to XP, I became a switcher this year, and am enjoying the Mac OS for several reasons, but primarily because - IT WORKS!

"The majority of improvements in Vista, the update scheduled to arrive in 2006, will be security-related and most of this functionality 'is available via third-party products today,' Gartner analysts said in a research note published on Friday."

Zorro Redux

We really loved Zorro a few years ago. Great drama, great characters, good action, good romance, a happy ending. And gorgeous actors. Very well done.

So we were disappointed after watching Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles in the current movie. Still very pleasant to look at, but gone were the drama and character development. The action had turned into A-Team like stunts, lots of bodies flying around in a cartoonish way without anybody ever getting hurt.

The precocious son of Zorro has become a focal point of the movie and the parents have devolved into good-natured but somewhat bumbling heroes. It reminded me a lot of another Banderas movie, Spy Kids, but not as original or endearing.

It still managed to entertain, but was not memorable.

The Case of Behe vs. Darwin

My experience has been that academics are some of the most closed-minded people I've met.

Rather than exploring for truth, they seem bent on lining up evidence to prove their conclusions. So it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of the scientific community were actually wrong, and had followed the crowd rather than actually following the evidence.

"Denton argued there was little physical proof of Darwin's evolutionary theories, despite widespread support for his conclusions. Behe began to wonder.

'I checked research papers, and I was shocked to find that none of these things had been explained,' Behe said. 'I came to realize that a pillar of my thinking [in believing Darwinism] was supported not by evidence but by sociological factors, what other people think.'"

Rocky never dies

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, on Sylvester Stallone, 59, planning to film Rocky VI: "Historians are calling it irrefutable proof that mankind has officially run out of good ideas."

If You Play With Fire . . .

You're gonna get burned, baby! Ouch!

UCLA spotted Arizona a 31-7 halftime lead, then a 52-7 fourth quarter lead. Their miracle comeback this week mounted to only 7 points, losing badly, 52-14. Spanked! I mean totally routed! Ouch again! Mama!

In the previous three comebacks in four previous games, it seems the Bruins were getting more and more daring, falling behind by greater and greater margins. We thought no way they'd come back against Cal, then we knew they had lost to Stanford. Still, they told us to just believe.

But look at the stats. Like that '98 team that couldn't stop an opponent, every running back was having a career day against the Bruin defense this year. So it's no surprise Arizona rushed for 320 yards! Even though they had (up till now) the last-place running game in the Pac 10.

Meanwhile, the Arizona rushing defense, who was next-to-last in the Pac 10 (behind guess who?) somehow held UCLA to a measley 85 yards rushing on 35 attempts.

Man, do we need some help on the offensive and defensive lines! Let's put as much recruiting emphasis as we can there.

Turnovers and big plays had saved UCLA so far this season, but not this weekend. Arizona had a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown, two of the staples in the Bruins perfect record up until now.

Ouch! The letdown is even more painful after you've started believing.

How Little We Know

It's fascinating to read about discoveries in science. And it's amazing the conclusions we make from our limited knowledge.

In this story, we are told "The Big Bang, the explosion believed to have created the universe, is thought to have occurred 13.7 billion years ago. About 100 million years later, hydrogen atoms began to merge and ignite, creating brightly burning stars. Just what these stars were like wasn't clear."

Then later in the article we are told "'That's why this (study) was so exciting — for the first time, we're looking at potential evidence of how the first starlight was produced and when it was formed,' Loeb said."

I'm not dissing it, but I bet that our conclusions will change in another decade after we've made more discoveries "for the first time."

Get Smarter with New Handsets

All the choices in new "smart" phones makes me feel dumber.

I like my gadgets, but differentiating the options is getting too difficult for me. It seemed like new handphones just came out last week, now there's a news release about new designs?

Yikes, they all have more and more features, so what's the difference!?

Fireworks Promised on 'West Wing' Debate

The first few season of the West Wing have been my favorite TV show. Intelligent, fast-paced dialogue on dramatic issues with great characters.

However, I tuned into one episode of this season's show and didn't like it at all. The only holdover character I saw from earlier seasons was Josh, and all the shots were on the campaign trail with the two candidates. One of my favorite aspects of the series has been the rich decor of the West Wing offices - beautiful places that would be fun to work in.

I guess the show hasn't done so well since Aaron Sorkin left two years ago, and now they are resorting to gimmicks like this live show this week. Sounds fun anyway, if not the high-quality of past seasons:

"'We could get it completely wrong. You might be able to only hear Alan Alda and not hear Jimmy because the mikes don't work (or) the camera goes out; some crazy thing happens with the equipment. Certainly, the actors can lose their way.'

'There's just nothing more fun to watch than that kind of train wreck. If I wasn't involved with the show I'd be turning it on just to see: OK, how do they screw up,' he said."

The Function of Leadership

A quote from the book "The Leadership Challenge" -

"Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." - Alan Keith

Are you focused on making something extraordinary happen? That alone is great. Are you creating ways for others to contribute? That is leadership.