VLOG - "Advent - On the Cusp of a New Beginning"

Latest VLOG post here.

KO Special Comment - "The Lessons of Vietnam"

For folks without cable.

Civics class is back in session.

A Cornucopia of Thoughts This Thanksgiving Week

TOMKAT
Let me get this straight -this past weekend, as all hell is breaking loose in Iraq, the lead story in the press is that Scientology Boy and his new Stepford Wife sealed their nuptials with a "never-ending kiss" in an Italian castle.

Granted, I could care less that Tom and Katie are married - live and let live, I say.

But this disparity in press coverage highlights the continuing issue we live with - as long as we can approach the issues around war at our convenience, and not have it front and center all the time, our appetite for it will linger far longer than it should. It already has.

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O.J.
Late word today that Fox has canceled the O.J. "special" "If I Did It," and the follow up book of the same title. From a network that enjoys the sensational, I'm really surprised they canned it. One can only imagine the pressure brought to bear on NewsCorp and its affiliates. That's a good thing. Besides, I don't need the Juice to tell me how he might have done we already know how he did it.

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It's called "Thanksgiving," Stupid
Get ready, every weatherperson will do it. As they give us the Thanksgiving Day forecast, they won't call it "Thanksgiving." No, they'll call it "Turkey Day." Turkey day is not a holiday. Thanksgiving is. How can we be in a posture to give thanks when we fail to use the right name because we'd rather be perceived as cool? Of course, one usually does not put the words "cool" and "weatherperson" in the same sentence unless talking about the forecast.
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That's it for me until next week. Time to be with family. To give thanks for our life together and the stories to be remembered. May your Thanksgiving offer you the same.

Definition of an Idiot - Or, "Prove to Me, Sir, that You're Not a Bigot"

This piece of work is Glenn Beck.

He recently "interviewed" Rep-elect Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota.

The gentleman from Minnesota is also Muslim, a first for the House of Representatives.

So Mr. Beck, in his interview makes the following statement:

"What I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."

How is this guy even on the air? CNN should be ashamed.

Between him, and the propaganda machine over at Fox - make no mistake who the terrorists are.

Vlog - "Beliefs or People?"

SightSpeed does not yet have embed capacity. So until then, hit this link to another videopost.

A Vicarious Life

I cringe when I witness parents living vicariously through their children.

You know, parents at their kids' sporting events literally losing their minds.

Coaches who talk to kids like they're pros. And coaches who belittle their own children (who happen to play the high profile positions -hmm, wonder how that happens) to the point of everyone's discomfort, because they dropped the ball or missed the tackle.

Parents whose praise to criticism ratio is slanted way too far on the latter end of the scale.

Parents who can't let kids be kids because they themselves haven't quite yet grown up, or there's something that has passed them by in their youth that cannot be relived or reclaimed no matter how hard they try.

I don't know, maybe the parent longs still to be validated -

or young, again -

or somehow have their spawn reach glorious heights not because they did in their own, but precisely because they didn't.

I never really understood it.

But when I look into the eyes of my 14 year old - I find it difficult to not think of my life at his age. An age that was very, very good. A time of adventure, quite a bit of fun, discoveries of varying kinds to pursue (now would be a good time to remind you that I am a P.K.).

When I look at Andrew I have to be careful that I'm looking at a young man I've loved and reared, and not myself when I was 14.

I find that I want him to know the kind of things I did (well, some of the things I did), the music I listened to (and still do), my performance in school , and when the time comes, what it means to be serious about a girl - and, when the time comes - what answering God's call for your life looks like -

And I have to ask myself , "why?" Why do I want him to know this?

So that he'll like me? No.

So that he'll think his old man is cool? There's nothing I could say to help make that happen.

Within each of us is the longing to share our stories - it's our motivation in the sharing that is the variable.

And maybe that's the thing - what I need to do is not convince him I was 14 once, but be ready, when the time comes, to share my life with him (in all it's faults and failures) at his initiation, and let him be the man he's becoming.

Democracy Alive

VideoBlog Initiation

The link below will take you to my first video blog post using Sightspeed.

I can't tell if it's that I think the whole thing is cool, you know, that maybe life is actually becoming like Star Trek and we'll all communicate by seeing and talking to one another even though we're far apart - or, maybe it's just one more technofad that will come and go.

Either way, now that I'm in this thing called the "blogosphere," I might as well use what's out there to do or say something.

So, give it a look - pretty boy I'm not. But I think there will be times to use it.

And, if ever you want to video chat, hit the SightSpeed Icon and if I'm online we can talk, face to face.

VideoBlog Post 1

KO's Special Comment - "Who Owes the Apology?"

In the wake of diversionary tactics that often cloud what is, in the end, essential in matters of determining the future of the republic,

the monopoly of power and it's perpetuation at any cost,

and finally, the debasement of all that is noble in democracy,

I offer this embed video of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night. It comes via YouTube.com and is offered in two parts.