More Macro

Here are some violets and a hot logo that I came up with for my high school Bible study class at church.

ABCNEWS.com: Sen. Hagel on GOP's Future

You have received this ABCNEWS.com mail from:

ted.mallory@gmail.com

This guy is genuinely my favorite Republican. Not only does he think for himself, but he thinks. He had some very interesting comments and perspectives on ABC's "this Week."

Sen. Hagel on GOP's Future
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4503993

Some perspective from a pastor

Wow, I really appreciated this bit of insight from a white, Republican, former Baptist minister on the inflammatory sermons of Sen. Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright;

"As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And

you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me."

- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)

It reminded me of a great quote by Langston Hughes,

Raiders of the Lost Rs

Professor Jones had just finished his lecture and was explaining to the museum curator about how a competing archaeologist had set a trap for him and taken the idol which Jones had spent months trying to procure.

“Of course, Indy, of course, you know the museum will pay for anything you have, but my friend,” Brody urged, you may have something bigger to tackle for now,” and he ushered his colleague into the college library where two very official looking men were waiting by a research table in trench coats, brief cases, gray fedora hats and dark glasses.

“Dr. Jones,” the bigger man greeted him as all four settled into library chairs, “what do you know about the ‘invisible hand’ of Adam Smith?”

“Legends mostly, it’s a powerful myth among some western civilizations, especially the oil seeking tribes of old white male elephants and war hawks in North America,” the grizzled adventurer noted, “they treat it like a deity, really, supposed to guide the ebb and flow of financial markets.”

“We’ve found evidence in the beltway of this cult, policy makers chanting an obscure incantation ‘Laissez-faire,’ and something about a great god ‘Reagan’ and cutting things call ‘the prime rate,’ does any of this make sense to you?"

“Oh, sheez ,” Jones mumbled as he rubbed his face. “Let me read you something that a very wise man once wrote,” he started as he pulled a yellowed and dog-eared edition from his leather satchel.

“…Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men…they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money-” Jones read with the help of his seldom worn spectacles.

“He, he’s ssu su-saying that they had let things get out of hand because of their own greed and materialism and then when they tried to fix it, they just did more of the same- like throwing gas on a ff-fa-fire, is that right?” asked the smaller of the two men, nervously fiddling with his own glasses.

“Something like that,” sighed the hard-boiled hero.

“Is there anything we can do? A better way? Even if it’s difficult and takes years to get back on track?” Inquired the big man. “There’s great fear of an ancient demon, the elephant and hawk tribes fear it so much that they dare not even utter it’s name, ‘Ree-Sez-Eon’ or something like that.”

This drew another heavy sigh from the archaeologist. He stood up slowly, ran his hand threw his hair, and headed for a section of books behind where the g-men were sitting.
“What is it?” asked the bigger man.

“The Rs the Rs” Jones muttered almost under his breath.

“Ah, the ARRRs,” nodded his friend Marcus Brody in recognition.

“What are these ‘ares?’ wh-what are they?” asked the little man in glasses.
Indiana Jones traced his finger along the spines of several large books until he finally found the one he needed. He slipped it off the shelf, dragging cob webs and the smell of mildew with it. Insects scurries into the dark gap left by the heavy volume.

“Here,” Jones said as he heaved the massive book in front of the two agents, opening it to the middle, a cloud of dust in it’s wake. He carefully brushed away another layer of dust with his hand and began tracing a column of paragraphs with his finger, stopping in the middle and pointing, “Here,” he said, pointing again with his finger to emphasize the discovery. Each of the men scooted closer in their seats, the one straightened his glasses while the other pulled a pair out of his coat pocket and put them on, straining to read the ancient words.

“Relief, Recovery, and Reform?” read the larger man who’d just donned his glasses.

“Yeah,” sighed Jones, as if the weight of the world depended on the words. “Relief, Recovery, and most importantly REFORM,” he repeated.

“In the first part of the century, the people practiced strange religions, ‘materialism,’ ‘unsupervised capitalism,’ ‘conspicuous consumption,’ ‘social-Darwinism,’ they were ruthless, heartless, and above all reckless cults that not only raped the land of resources but built empires on the backs of the poor and the middle classes. Ironically, the elephants and hawks held onto power by making the under-classes afraid of what they called ‘class-warfare’ and socialism, not to mention immigrants and Blacks.” He explained, “It was terrible, banks failed, unemployment skyrocketed…”

“And these three ‘R’s fixed everything?” the large man pressed.

“Well, you’re never going to have things perfect,” said Jones, “The deal was that you had to be pragmatic. The important thing was to try to make things fair for the most people, not just the people who already had it good. Of course there were also some very important pieces like collective bargaining for workers- which of course meant letting them to organize in the first place. A progressive tax structure, the idea was that we’re all in this together and the more you could handle, the more you were asked to take on. That way, it was easier for the people who actually worked for a living to save and get ahead. And then there was the biggest R of all was what prevented things like bank failures in the first place,” Jones paused for dramatic effect, and gave the g-men an intense look, “Regulation.”

"What kind of a book is this?" asked the two men it ogether.

"U.S.History, what else?" he replied.

Why do "Christmas" cacti bloom in late March?

Some more fun with the macro settings

Easter Daffodil (Macro Setting)

Doak: Following our own script, we've weakened America

You have been sent an online news article from Ted as a courtesy of desmoinesregister.com.

Article Title:
Doak: Following our own script, we've weakened America

To view the contents on www.desmoinesregister.com, go to:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/OPINION01/803230312

Message:
Outstanding Editorial in the Register today!

If al-Qaida had planted a sleeper agent whose job was to gain a position of influence and undermine America from within, he scarcely could have done more damage than Americans have done to ourselves.

The meltdown in the credit markets, a sagging economy, inflation-ravaged take-home pay and, worst of all, a bleak outlook for the years ahead did not materialize out of the blue. They are the consequences of deliberate policy choices.

Those consequences were entirely foreseeable, but Americans and their government simply chose not to heed the warnings.

Easter has its ups and downs

Night eggs

Happy Easter!

If I could be like Mike

A reader friend directed me to this story about my favorite editorial cartoonist.

I just saw it on CNN.com: Cafferty: Richardson for Obama

Powered by    * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.       All I can say is WOW!             Click the following to access the sent link:       Cafferty: Richardson for Obama*                 Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email content from any Web site. Click here for more information.   *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2008/03/21/the.cafferty.file.03.21.cnn

High time if you ask me

SANTA FE, N.M. - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a "once-in-a- lifetime leader" who can unite the nation and restore America's international leadership.

Richardson, who dropped out of the Democratic race in January, is to appear with Obama on Friday at a campaign event in Portland, Ore., The Associated Press has learned.

Home sweet home

Just after Thanksgiving we made a discovered a waterfall, not on safari, but in our dining room. This sort of thing happens to people who have 90year old houses. Iron pipes can build up blockages worse than a fat guy’s arteries.

Let me tell you something, it is impossible to overestimate how big a home project will be or how long it will take. Home improvement is like a California wildfire, it rapidly spreads from room to room and eats up everything in its path, costing untold fortunes.

As a teacher I’m always hearing about the 3 R’s, “Readin, wRitin, and aRithmetic”. When I used to teach History and I’d get to FDR’s program during the Great Depression, it was “Relief, Recovery, and Reform.” Anybody who’s ever owned a house understands that it’s neither of those. The real 3R’s are Repair, Remodel, and Refinance.”

They couldn’t get at the upstairs bathroom without tearing up the kitchen ceiling and one wall… as long as the kitchen is tore up, we may as well fix it up, it will never be so easy and it would just cost more to do it later… may as well deal with the downstairs bathroom, it’s given us so much trouble too… as long as we’re working on this other bathroom, why not put in a shower downstairs…knock this wall out… widen that, redo this.

Come to find out, our antique “knob and tube” wiring combined with our antique shredded paper insulation were a recipe for disaster. It’s a wonder that it hadn’t burned down years ago. And of course, when it rains it pours; no sooner had we decided to make the first floor bathroom into a bath/laundry room then both our washer and dryer went out. The appliance paramedics declared one dead on the scene and the other in critical yet stable condition.

Needless to say, with no bathrooms or a kitchen our house became temporarily unlivable. We started out taking the kids to the farm every other night for baths, then stayed for supper. One weekend the folks went down to see my brother-in-law’s family in Kansas and came back to find we’d taken over.

It’s certainly been a challenge for everyone to adjust to each other’s “UFOM.” That’s family counselor speak for Unified Family Operating Model (UFOM).

For example; one family may place knives and forks sharp-side-up to insure that the utensils get clean in the dishwasher, whereas another family unit may be used to placing them sharp-side-down so as to prevent severe injury when reaching to empty silver wear from the dishwasher. I’m not complaining, honest.

Empty-nesters only do dishes about once a week, once the dishwasher finally gets filled with dirty dishes. Young families sometimes run their dishwasher more than once a day. The same goes for washers and driers, which may explain the lack of longevity of ours.

Recently retired, I’m sure Marge and Allan would love to sleep in till at least eight and enjoy the paper with some coffee and get reacquainted. Instead, their houseguests are all up at six and frantically getting their hair and teeth brushed and clothes on just in time for some Captain Crunch before going off to school.

Retired people never really eat. When they do, they enjoy delicacies like lettuce and oatmeal. Whereas young families eat things like Catsup casserole garnished with Ketchup and carbohydrates.

It’s been quite an adjustment for all of us, although I have to say that it’s been easiest on those of us who are eight and under. For Beth and I, it’s been a traumatic ordeal. For the folks I’m sure it’s been an inconvenient sacrifice. For the girls it’s been a month-long pajama party and Grandma and Grandpa’s.

When we started, we thought we’d be able to move back in by the end of the month. That was February. For a while, we held out hope that we’d be done in time for Easter. At this rate, we’re planning on using our summer vacation to finish up.

I already promised my in-laws that once all the work is done and we’re back in our own house, they’re welcome to come stay with us for at least a month.

Markets low, oil high?

"...the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failures and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True, they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.

Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored conditions. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers.

They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled their high seats in the temple of our civilization (see Matthew 21:11-13). We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.

The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow-men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be values only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit, and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.

Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live."

From FDR's first inagural address, 1933- the speech where he declared we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Do you ever feel like our leaders have been trying to use fear to manipulate us?

• Fear of terrorists (trying to link AlQuaeda to Iran, even though Iran is Shi'a and hates Muhabeist Suniis like AlQuaeda)
• Fear of "the other"- blaming our economic and crime problems on immigrants desperate for a better way of life
• Fear of what is different, a black man with an Arab middle name, or homosexuals or anyone who believes differently that the most visible and vocal television preachers.
  

But fear is wrong, even in the most difficult times. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

Just some things to think about.

Frank Schaeffer: McCain's Church Hates America, Clinton's Friends Do Too -- But Let's Get the Black Guy (Or Not?) - Politics on The Huffington Post

Frank Schaeffer: McCain's Church Hates America, Clinton's Friends Do Too -- But Let's Get the Black Guy (Or Not?) - Politics on The Huffington Post

Frank Schaeffer: McCain's Church Hates America, Clinton's Friends Do Too -- But Let's Get the Black Guy (Or Not?) - Politics on The Huffington Post

But fair is fair. So where are the clips of me in Falwell's pulpit (back in the early 1980s before I dropped out of the evangelical movement) preaching to five thousand cheering white fundamentalists while I shouted; "God hates America for the murder of the unborn! We should be destroyed!"

When my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer -- and I were the guests of Jerry Falwell at Liberty Baptist College, Falwell said to us quite casually and seriously, while speaking of the "homosexual problem," that: "If I had a dog that did what they do I take it out and shoot it." And when it came to saying God was damning America he and Pat Robertson sided with the 9/11 hijackers by saying the terrorist's actions served America right and were God's punishment. Yet John McCain went to Liberty Baptist College and spoke for Falwell, in order to "mend fences" with the Religious Right. He said he no longer believed that Falwell was "an agent of intolerance." And Rudy Giuliani gladly accepted Robertson's endorsement. So much for the Republican "mainstream..."

Bishop Moore, in his 1997 autobiography, Presences: A Bishop's Life in the City, wrote that the end of the Cold War had left the United States "like a wounded rooster crowing on the top of the dung heap." Blaming "corporate greed and lust" as well as "unbridled nationalism" for manufacturing causes for war, Moore cursed America as often as he served communion.

McCain is an Episcopalian. Where are the clips of the anti-American rantings of Bishop Moore and not a few other Episcopalian pastors and bishops, next to McCain's picture?...

Okay, I'm being sarcastic, this is silly. And that's the point. From the other guy's point of view all religion and politics is extreme.

Preaching is a style of communication with its own cadences that is easy to mock and/or twist-by-sound-bite. The Clinton's smear machine, now tied to the FOX smear-machine, is playing a very dirty game. And the Clinton's know better.

Repenting for war

Dear friend,

Next week will mark five years since the United States invaded
Iraq. We all lament the suffering and violence that continue
after these five heartbreaking years, and we all share in
responsibility for a war that has been waged in our names and
with our tax dollars.

That's why I've added my name to a public statement repenting
for the Iraq war, which Jim Wallis and other Christian leaders
will be releasing next week - with the signatures of thousands
of Christians of all theological and political stripes.

Support for U.S. wars and foreign policy is still the area where
Christians are most "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2). We
must commit to put our love for Christ ahead of obedience to a
misguided government, and to ask our brothers and sisters to
join us in working for peace.

Will you join me in signing the statement?

Just click here:

http://go.sojo.net/campaign/iraqstatement1?rk=o1w9LjdqELJOW

******************************
This email is Powered by Convio, Inc.

http://www.convio.com

******************************

In order to form a more perfect union

I think he is an amazing writer and speaker. If he is elected, this speech will be in History textbooks. If he isn't, it still points out difficult realities that we as Americans need to have honest, vulnerable, and serious conversations about.

If you'd rather read the speech yourself, the Chicago Tribune has posted the full text here.

Happy St. Pat's

May your St. Patrick's day be filled with Audacious Hopes!

Happy St. Pat's

A little too much fun with PhotoShop

Irish Pub Breakfast

Category:		Breakfast & Brunch
Style:		Irish

Description:
I have a friend you visited the emerald isle for vacation once who sent me a post card with this recipe on it.

Ingredients:
Raw Oysters
1 Pint of Guinness Stout (warm)

Directions:
Drink oysters and eat beer. Yu

Happy St. Pat's

Shhhhh!

The other night I was reading a book I’d checked out of the library and I glanced at the little card in the front where the librarian stamps it. The book was published in 1990 but I was only the tenth person to check it out. The last time someone borrowed it from the library was two years before me.

Part of me felt bad that so few people seem to read in our area. Then I banished that thought with the reality that there must be a few thousand books in the library to choose from, so it’s no surprise that the book had only been checked out once every two years in the last eighteen years.

Then I felt bad that who ever does the book buying for the library would’ve picked out such an unpopular book that obviously doesn’t appeal to many people in our area.

Then it dawned on me that maybe I just happen to have pretty dang idiosyncratic tastes in books and there must be something wrong with me. Then I went back to reading my library book.

Confession is good for the soul

It’s hard for me to be hopeful. I am Winnie the Pooh’s friend Eeyore the donkey I wish I were more upbeat, but I just have so much cynicism, that I can’t overcome my skeptical, critical, bitter, melancholy nature. This drove my wife crazy at Disneyland.

I tell you this because I want to join the hope band wagon, I really do, but I have to tell you, I’ve had this tremendous fear that the forces of nature have a way of squelching hope, no matter how audacious.

That was yesterday, but today, hope springs eternal. Like a daffodil breaking through the snow, I was given a glimpse of a glimmer of that light of liberty on that torch that John Kennedy once spoke of as being passed between generations.

I received a confession from a repentant sinner that hinted that our once glorious democracy could find redemption. I received an email.

It was an email from a young Iowan living in Washington D.C.

“Can I just say that I am so disgusted with this race and so ready for it to be over?” My friend began, then the confession came, “I have gone from admiring Clinton for being such a strong, independent, and smart woman, to wishing that she would just admit defeat and give the Democratic Party time to heal before the general election.”

I hear ya, I hear ya. The now infamous "is Obama a Muslim" libelous viral email? According to the Huffington Post it was sent out, not by some right wing nut case racist, but by an Iowa county chair volunteering for the Clinton campaign.

“From what I understand from all the analysis being done and articles being written,” my friend continued, “the only way she can win is to be cunning and manipulative wooing superdelegates to her side and reinstating the Michigan and Florida delegates.”

That’s what they say. The “Delegate Math” just doesn’t add up for Hillary. She’d have to win all of the remaining primaries and caucuses by wide margins to win without Michigan, Florida or superdelegates.

I’ve tried to compare superdelegates to the Senate and legitimately elected delegates are the House of Representatives, but that may be too generous. Basically back in the 70s when the caucuses and primaries became more important to electing a party representative, the party power players in the smoke-filled rooms wanted to hold on to some vestige of power, thus 20% of the party convention delegates are uncommitted, VIPs like Senators and Governors.
Oh, don’t get too sanctimonious about it Republicans, you have them too. You just don’t call them “superdelegates.” You have 463 unpledged delegated who play the same role as the superdelegates. They are there to ensure that a tie, or at least post-third round voting, doesn’t make the party look like a joke. Of course, it’s back-firing. Superdelegates seem to be making a joke out of the Democrats and the convention is months away.

“At this point, it seems that she is out to win this for herself with no regard for what is best for the party and for the country,” my friend complained. “It's a bit disgusting.”

One conspiracy theory suggest that she wants McCain to win, do poorly for four years, so that she can run again in 2012, whereas if she concedes to Barack, it may be eight years before she can run again.

“I wish that I had supported Obama,” my friend shared with me, “and hope that I get the chance to vote for him in November, It's hard to spit those words out, but it's good for me to be reconciled with this error and the guilt I feel.”

That’s the difference between us “bleeding hearts” and people with no conscience. Do you think that the 8-10% of Hillary's voters in Texas who were just following Rush Limbaugh’s orders feel guilty? Do you think they have regrets?

The very fact that my friend, and I do consider all Hillary supporters friends, repentant or not, the fact that this friend can see the error of their ways gives me hope.

God knows if Hillary actually manages to purloin the Democratic nomination it will either turn another generation off to politics or spawn an angry change movement. How sad that the Clintons, who got started in politics to oppose the politics of usual of the Johnson/Nixon era have become what they once held in such contempt.

Worst people in the world!!!

Some fun ones

See more of my weekly political cartoons and my new feature, "Maladjusted," at http://tedstoons.blogspot.com

Lost Highway

Treasures found on a few walks on a chilly March day. See an entire gallery, including some gorgeous but dilapidated barns at http://tmal.multiply.com

Loud and Proud

We finally got around to taking team pictures for Cheerleading this year. I'm pretty happy with most of them. Like what you see? Think about me for your Senior pictures! Gotta make a buck somehow this summer.

See more at http://cheercoach.blogspot.com, better yet, you can see the entire shoot at http://tmal.multiply.com

Pro-Bono Work

I donated my Steve King Cartoon to a Democratic website dedicated to preventing his re-election; http://www.kingwatch.org/bigotry.html

I don't know about the ethics here, I figure political cartoonists are unavoidably partisan if not mercenary, right? I didn't get any money out of the deal (perhaps a counter-productive move, career-wise) but I was just so outraged by King's comments about Obama, that I'm glad to prostrate my skills for the sake of exposing his dark soul (if he has one)!

Plus, what the heck, it widens my exposure- which has to be good in the long-run.