Will America’s Real Enemy Please Stand Up?

Seven years ago, terrorists flew airplanes at us thinking that they could drastically disrupt the United States economic and governmental systems with their actions.  If nothing else, they hoped to send a strong signal to America that it had enemies, and that not everyone in the world approved of our way of life.

In the weeks and months after that tragedy, in spite of the country’s mourning, we proved that we would not be threatened, and we would not live in fear.  We would continue.  Markets opened, the government continued to operate, and the American way continued.  We proved, once again, that no external threat or influence could severely disrupt our way of life for long, and that we would confront our enemies wherever they lived to secure our future.

This last week, however, has unmasked a much more dangerous threat to our American way of life.  It turns out that our worst enemy hasn’t been a bunch of terrorists in a training camp half a world away, turns out the biggest threat to our very way of life has been sitting right under our noses in downtown New York City, parading around in dark suits and expensive shoes.

Continue reading Will America’s Real Enemy Please Stand Up?

Sarah is Still the Story

The republicans are no dummies.

By tightly controlling the story around Sarah Palin, with an unprecedented lack of access by reporters, two weeks after their convention – the story is still Sarah Palin.  I turn on the radio or TV and all I hear are reporters complaining about the lack of access to her and how she is still such an unknown in the race.

Whether you consider that good press or bad press, it’s press.  And she’s still getting a lot of it.

Continue reading Sarah is Still the Story

(Wo)Man Eating Lizards

Yesterday when I arrived at work, our receptionist told me a story that put me in stitches…

We regularly have outside instructors come to our offices to teach classes, and today a teacher showed up in a panic.  She came into the lobby and quickly learrned that she had made the common mistake of going to the wrong building on campus.  She turned white though when she was informed she would have to get back in her car and drive over to the other building.

See, she swore there was a lizard in her car, and that it was a foot long.

Continue reading (Wo)Man Eating Lizards

Digging a Hole and Other Childhood Memories

Years ago, sometime in my life between the ages of 0 and 6, my siblings and I did some odd things to entertain ourselves during the dog days of summer.  During this time, we lived on a farm in a rural community and had plenty of world to explore and discover around us.

Continue reading Digging a Hole and Other Childhood Memories

How Great Thou Art

I’ve been privileged to know some amazingly gifted people in my life.  One of these people is a guy name Tim.  Tim was one of my roommates in college, and I daresay the roommate that had the best net influence on me.  Tim encouraged and understood me, in spite of my personality quirks and weird sleeping habits, in such a gracious way.

Besides being one heck of a person, Tim is an amazingly gifted vocalist and composer/arranger.  This is his quartet singing one of his original settings of “How Great Thou Art.”

Enjoy!  This sends chills up my spine every time!

[flashvideo filename=/video/reprise_howgreat.flv /]

Still Remembering

To the victims of the senseless tragedy on 9-11-2001, to the heroic first responders, and to their families…

Seven years later, we still remember your loss and suffering.

I am not a huge Ann Coulter fan, but she makes a good point in this article.

Yes, President Bush has kept us safe for 7 years. I will give that to him and the fine men and women of our intelligence and armed services.

The truth is, there is a lot that goes on out of the public eye in our government.  And it really needs to be that way.

So today, in my eyes, also becomes a celebration of those men and women who work day in and day out sifting through massive amounts of data, and who do really really cool stuff with it.

Pick me! Pick me!

In Sunday School lately, we’ve digressed back to the time in our youth where it was uncool to read things outloud in class.  I mean, what’s more embarrassing for our budding egos than mispronouncing the name Kishkumen or Pahoran or Ammonihah? (come on folks… amone-aye-hah? or amun-eye-uh? pick one!)

So lately to counteract the trend of deathly silence when the teacher asks “who will read…” I have been randomly jumping up and down in my seat, waving my hand in the air while shouting “pick me! pick me!”  Totally kindergarten style!  Then I proceed to mess up every proper name, place, and punctuation in the section.

Continue reading Pick me! Pick me!