Arizona Diamondbacks News
I'm still a little angry with Kurt Schilling for moving to Boston, but you'll notice that Boston has beat the Yankees each time he's pitched for them so far this year!
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Prayer for our troops
May 6- National Day of Prayer
May 16- 23- International Prayer Week
May 30- Pentecost
PLEASE SEND THIS ALONG, DON'T STOP, GOD DOES ANSWER PRAYERS. WHEN YOU PRAY FOR OTHERS IT MEANS YOU INTERCEDE ON THEIR BEHALF. IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME.
> > >
Subject: Prayer Request
A prayer request from Cathy Mitchell. Her husband, Tony, is an Air Force Commander in Afghanistan. She received an urgent email from him this morning.
It said, "We need Christians to pray, pray, pray." Please pray for God's protection of our troops and HIS wisdom for their commanders. Pass this on to as many as you
think will respond. Considering the increase in terrorist
activity in Iraq, this prayer is more urgent than ever. PLEASE.
..pray always for our military men and women.
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I
ask this in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior. Amen"
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground, air and navy personnel in every area of the middle east. There is nothing attached... This can
be very powerful....
Just send this to all the people in your address book. Remember, you will be blessed too!
Do not stop this prayer chain, please... Ofall the gifts you could give to anyone in the US Military, be it Army, Navy, Marines or National Guard, Prayer is the very best one... Amen!
May 6- National Day of Prayer
May 16- 23- International Prayer Week
May 30- Pentecost
PLEASE SEND THIS ALONG, DON'T STOP, GOD DOES ANSWER PRAYERS. WHEN YOU PRAY FOR OTHERS IT MEANS YOU INTERCEDE ON THEIR BEHALF. IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME.
> > >
Subject: Prayer Request
A prayer request from Cathy Mitchell. Her husband, Tony, is an Air Force Commander in Afghanistan. She received an urgent email from him this morning.
It said, "We need Christians to pray, pray, pray." Please pray for God's protection of our troops and HIS wisdom for their commanders. Pass this on to as many as you
think will respond. Considering the increase in terrorist
activity in Iraq, this prayer is more urgent than ever. PLEASE.
..pray always for our military men and women.
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. I
ask this in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior. Amen"
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground, air and navy personnel in every area of the middle east. There is nothing attached... This can
be very powerful....
Just send this to all the people in your address book. Remember, you will be blessed too!
Do not stop this prayer chain, please... Ofall the gifts you could give to anyone in the US Military, be it Army, Navy, Marines or National Guard, Prayer is the very best one... Amen!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Keep Noah's Ark Afloat- PLEASE!
As many of you may already know, Sandy has told the board of Education (Russ Maack, Steve Beeck, and Hoss Reddick) that she intends to step away from being our preschool director after this year.
This puts us in a pickle if we want to keep Noah's Ark open since the state deadline for filing for license renewal is June 1. Part of her reasoning is that she'd like to have one full time job instead of two part-time ones.
Her current salary is something like $300 per month. All of this comes from tuition funds, essentially Noah's Ark is "self-supporting," receiving virtually nothing from St. John, except the us of the building and just more than half the heating costs.
I feel that Sandy is a professional deserving at least $15 per hour. I consider Noah's Ark a major mission of our congregation. Sandy has brought the Gospel to hundreds of children. The preschool should also be a major way of reaching the young family (20-40 yr olds) age group that we need to grow and remain viable as a congregation.
Because St. John will be paying the interim pastor half of Pastor Gebhardt's current salary, I believe that we can not afford to let Sandy get away and Noah's Ark sink. I think it would be completely prudent and financially feasible to invest in our preschool.
I believe that the congregation should add at least $500 to the $300 that Sandy is currently receiving, bringing her up to $800 per month. over 10 months, this will cost St. John only $5,000 per year.
Rent or mortgage payments for most of us easily exceed $400 per month and utilities can cost any where from $50-150 per month. I don't know what the Bramley's financial situation is like or how much her other job pays, but I was ashamed to find out how little Noah's Ark pays her and that St. John doesn't contribute anything!
If Sandy's reasons for retiring have nothing to do with compensation, but are more personal- just being ready to retire, wanting to spend time with her own grandchildren, etc. we certainly need to honor her. But if that is the case, then I BEG you to pray that God will miraculously raise up a new preschool director for Noah's Ark between now and the end of May.
If you think that any of my ideas are viable, please pass them on to anyone you think should see them (elders, council members etc.)
In Christ,
Ted Mallory
________________________________________________
St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Charter Oak, IA
Mission Statement:
Offering with open arms
the love of Jesus
Purpose Statement:
St. John Lutheran Church exists to offer God’s Word and Sacraments and to prayerfully...
• love God through worship and praise
• and joyfully serve others with love
• build each other up through love and fellowship
• reach out with the Gospel message of God’s love and salvation
• encourage growth in and study of God’s Word in truth and purity
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Letter about the old days
Ted,
"Bob's Charter Oak had an ice house, I guess I'm not sure what one of those would be."
I'm surprised you didn't think of an "igloo".
It just goes to show you that, regardless of how much education you get, there's more to learn. Everyone should know that an "ice house" is where they store the blocks of ice. The ice was harvested from a lake and shipped by rail (that's railroad train) for storage in the ice house.
Normally it's just below ground level where it's packed with sawdust. In the summer you went there for ice to make ice cream and, of course, the "ice man", with his team and wagon, delivered ice to the homes. The homes had a sign in the window which told him how much to bring in. He carried in the appropriate block and installed it in the "icebox". Of course the houses were not locked. The sign in the window was standard and we still used them when students at the Univ. of Iowa. They were about 12" square with diagonal lines from corner to corner which left "V" shaped sections where choices of quantities were designated such as 15, 25, 35, & 50 lbs. The numbers were printed in a manner so that the bottom section gave the requested number while the top section would "read" upside down, and the side sections were each lying on their sides.
"Bob's Charter Oak had an ice house, I guess I'm not sure what one of those would be."
I'm surprised you didn't think of an "igloo".
It just goes to show you that, regardless of how much education you get, there's more to learn. Everyone should know that an "ice house" is where they store the blocks of ice. The ice was harvested from a lake and shipped by rail (that's railroad train) for storage in the ice house.
Normally it's just below ground level where it's packed with sawdust. In the summer you went there for ice to make ice cream and, of course, the "ice man", with his team and wagon, delivered ice to the homes. The homes had a sign in the window which told him how much to bring in. He carried in the appropriate block and installed it in the "icebox". Of course the houses were not locked. The sign in the window was standard and we still used them when students at the Univ. of Iowa. They were about 12" square with diagonal lines from corner to corner which left "V" shaped sections where choices of quantities were designated such as 15, 25, 35, & 50 lbs. The numbers were printed in a manner so that the bottom section gave the requested number while the top section would "read" upside down, and the side sections were each lying on their sides.
Thursday, April 15, 2004
The taxman cometh
Why do they say that you should “beware the ides of March?” I think we should beware the ides of April. After all, April is the cruelest month.
Maybe the best thing about April 15th is that it’s the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). You remember Leo, he invented the bicycle…and the helicopter, the submarine, parachutes, machine guns… architect, engineer, pop singer, ring a bell? Maybe you know him better as the man who painted The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.
Of course, for all his contributions to art and science, da Vinci was no above scandal and suspicion. He had a habit of borrowing cadavers from the local morgue so that he could dissect, study and draw them. He kept hundreds of notebooks, all written backwards and in latin. Many people feared that he was some kind of occult wizard, actually he was left-handed and wanted to avoid getting an arm full of ink. Then there were the allegations about his young male assistants which made da Vinci sort of the Michael Jackson of the Renaissance.
This is the day in 1970 when, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division withdrew from Vietnam as part of troop withdrawals announced by President Nixon. That’s good if you wanted our boys to come home or if you thought that Presidents Johnson and Nixon were wrong to commit so many U.S. troops to Vietnam for so long. But maybe it’s bad if you feel like we were cutting our losses and leaving the South Vietnamese at the mercy of the Communist North.
This is the day in 1912 when at two in the morning, the H.M.S. Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.. The massive ship, carrying 2,200 people, had struck an iceberg two and half hours before, and survivors weren’t rescued by another ship for more than another hour. Brrr.
In my opinion, the worst thing to happen on this day was that this was the morning, in 1965 that President Abraham Lincoln, died from a bullet wound inflicted the night before by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Just six days after Robert E. Lee surrendered the Southern army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, ending the American Civil War.
One conspiracy theory says that this led to even worse things. The internet-fringe claims that that’s why April 15th is “Tax Day.” See, in order to pay for the Civil War, Lincoln issued war bonds. Those bonds were known as “1040 Bonds,” because they were supposed to mature in 10 or 40 years. To collect the interest on these bonds, a “1040 form” was instituted and by the newly created office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, predecessor to the IRS.
A different theory is that originally, income tax was paid mostly by the wealthy. The “fiscal year” ends June 30, but the super rich, as everybody knows, spend their whole summer vacationing. So, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue figured, "we should make sure we collect early, before they leave town."
The Sixteenth Amendment permitting both corporate and individual income taxes was ratified on February 3, 1913. March 1, 1914 was the first filing deadline. They changed it to March 15 in 1918, leading to a dumb St. Patrick’s Day joke- “how can we be expected to celebrate the wearing of the green, when just two days ago they took it all away from us?” Thank Jack Benny for that one.
It got backed up to April 15 in 1955, so, so much for the Lincoln theory.
Various states have levied income taxes ever since 1789, originally to pay for Revolutionary War debts.
I would have loved to have seen whether or not Johnson’s “War on Poverty” would’ve been more effective if $25 billion a year wasn’t being siphoned off to pay for the war in Vietnam. Just one Hugh’s helicopter used in Vietnam cost around $1 million, enough to pay for sixty-six low-cost two bedrooms houses.
The cost of the war in Afghanistan is already around $20 billion. Some estimates put the price tag on the war in Iraq at $100 billion or more.
Since 1913, taxes have been the major source of revenue for the federal government. No President, including Lincoln, has been able to cut taxes during war time- until now, President Bush Jr, has cut them twice. Mostly for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. And we wonder why we’re running such massive deficits.
Ben Franklin once said “… an unjust peace is to be preferred before a just war.”
Because we have two kids, part of the Bush tax-cuts was a tax credit on each child. What a nice help. We could’ve applied it to our child care cost, since we can’t afford for either of us to stay home, we both need to have jobs to get by. Guess what? The state of Iowa taxed our federal tax break. I understand, Iowa has a revenue problem right now, but does Iowa understand that I have kind of a revenue problem right now too?
In 1789, Ben Franklin wrote a friend in a letter that “Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Maybe the best thing about April 15th is that it’s the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). You remember Leo, he invented the bicycle…and the helicopter, the submarine, parachutes, machine guns… architect, engineer, pop singer, ring a bell? Maybe you know him better as the man who painted The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.
Of course, for all his contributions to art and science, da Vinci was no above scandal and suspicion. He had a habit of borrowing cadavers from the local morgue so that he could dissect, study and draw them. He kept hundreds of notebooks, all written backwards and in latin. Many people feared that he was some kind of occult wizard, actually he was left-handed and wanted to avoid getting an arm full of ink. Then there were the allegations about his young male assistants which made da Vinci sort of the Michael Jackson of the Renaissance.
This is the day in 1970 when, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division withdrew from Vietnam as part of troop withdrawals announced by President Nixon. That’s good if you wanted our boys to come home or if you thought that Presidents Johnson and Nixon were wrong to commit so many U.S. troops to Vietnam for so long. But maybe it’s bad if you feel like we were cutting our losses and leaving the South Vietnamese at the mercy of the Communist North.
This is the day in 1912 when at two in the morning, the H.M.S. Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.. The massive ship, carrying 2,200 people, had struck an iceberg two and half hours before, and survivors weren’t rescued by another ship for more than another hour. Brrr.
In my opinion, the worst thing to happen on this day was that this was the morning, in 1965 that President Abraham Lincoln, died from a bullet wound inflicted the night before by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Just six days after Robert E. Lee surrendered the Southern army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, ending the American Civil War.
One conspiracy theory says that this led to even worse things. The internet-fringe claims that that’s why April 15th is “Tax Day.” See, in order to pay for the Civil War, Lincoln issued war bonds. Those bonds were known as “1040 Bonds,” because they were supposed to mature in 10 or 40 years. To collect the interest on these bonds, a “1040 form” was instituted and by the newly created office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, predecessor to the IRS.
A different theory is that originally, income tax was paid mostly by the wealthy. The “fiscal year” ends June 30, but the super rich, as everybody knows, spend their whole summer vacationing. So, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue figured, "we should make sure we collect early, before they leave town."
The Sixteenth Amendment permitting both corporate and individual income taxes was ratified on February 3, 1913. March 1, 1914 was the first filing deadline. They changed it to March 15 in 1918, leading to a dumb St. Patrick’s Day joke- “how can we be expected to celebrate the wearing of the green, when just two days ago they took it all away from us?” Thank Jack Benny for that one.
It got backed up to April 15 in 1955, so, so much for the Lincoln theory.
Various states have levied income taxes ever since 1789, originally to pay for Revolutionary War debts.
I would have loved to have seen whether or not Johnson’s “War on Poverty” would’ve been more effective if $25 billion a year wasn’t being siphoned off to pay for the war in Vietnam. Just one Hugh’s helicopter used in Vietnam cost around $1 million, enough to pay for sixty-six low-cost two bedrooms houses.
The cost of the war in Afghanistan is already around $20 billion. Some estimates put the price tag on the war in Iraq at $100 billion or more.
Since 1913, taxes have been the major source of revenue for the federal government. No President, including Lincoln, has been able to cut taxes during war time- until now, President Bush Jr, has cut them twice. Mostly for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. And we wonder why we’re running such massive deficits.
Ben Franklin once said “… an unjust peace is to be preferred before a just war.”
Because we have two kids, part of the Bush tax-cuts was a tax credit on each child. What a nice help. We could’ve applied it to our child care cost, since we can’t afford for either of us to stay home, we both need to have jobs to get by. Guess what? The state of Iowa taxed our federal tax break. I understand, Iowa has a revenue problem right now, but does Iowa understand that I have kind of a revenue problem right now too?
In 1789, Ben Franklin wrote a friend in a letter that “Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Advancing historic principles and ideals
I love to use this column to talk about those things that you’re not supposed to talk about, sex, politics, and religion. Well, two out of the three anyway.
Some people think that politics and religion don’t mix. How can they not? Religion, by definition is what is most important to you, what determines your values and helps you make decisions. Politics, at least in America is who leads and how we influence our society.
Let’s face it, they’re gonna mix. The key is which influences which. Ideally, your faith influences your politics, but you have to be careful not to make your politics into your religion, making your party affiliation too important a part of your sense of identity is a form of idolatry.
The Bible is God’s Word, therefore it is inerrant, infallible and dependable. Neither major political party’s platform is God-breathed, they’re put together by human beings and are therefore imperfect.
That last paragraph is very “theologically conservative,” or “orthodox” in church-jargon.
Plenty of people can’t understand how I can call myself a Christian and remain a registered Democrat. That blows my mind. I mean, I can understand why some Christians would choose to be Republican, why can’t they accept that some Christians may disagree with them on a myriad of issues and that God’s okay with that?
What tactful language should we use to talk about our distinctions? Republicans and Democrats? NeoCons or “Righties” and Progressives? Conservatives and Liberals? None of those labels really work because none of them is clear enough, black and white enough.
Case in point, I strongly believe that massive deficits are grossly irresponsible. That’s a fiscally conservative point of view.
Meanwhile I also think it’s irresponsible to not have any regulations whatsoever on automatic weapons. I happen to think that’s socially conservative- but right-wing Republicans would accuse me of being a liberal for wanting to protect my family from gun violence.
Now, I get that many people identify themselves with the Republican party because it appeals to their religious convictions, their “family values.”
The values of “the right” include personal responsibility, personal morality, living a pious and righteous lifestyle. Traditional families, opportunity, justice, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, free-market competition, defending our way of life, not forfeiting our sovereignty to outside forces, and support for Israel based on what some consider false interpretation of Bible prophecy.
I totally admire and respect most of those values, heck, I share some of them. But please, my dear Republican friends and family members, please allow me to suggest that Democrats actually have values too, and some of them are acceptable:
The values of “the left” include social-responsibility, social-morality, social-justice, fairness, progress, moral leadership in the world, self-government, and community.
The right has literally turned liberal, compromise and tolerance into dirty words. I appreciate that no one should have to compromise their principles, but democracy is about balancing diverse interests, and sometimes pragmatism, practicality and reality require compromise.
I appreciate that we shouldn’t tolerate sin, terrorism, or perversion. But God wants us to tolerate people who are different from us, and people who we disagree with. Jesus ate with the prostitutes, lepers and tax collectors. Jews of His day didn’t even associate with Romans or Samaritans.
I hear you asking, “what about homosexual marriage, what about abortion?” You know what, I’m a Democrat, but I’m not an advocate of gay marriage, but I don’t think we should discriminate against gays or demonize them or allow violence against them.
I’m a Democrat, but I consider myself pro-life. I’m much more comfortable than many liberals with bans on partial birth abortion and the Lacy Peterson law. Safe, legal, but rare.
But I know Democrats who say that they’re pro-choice, not because of feminism or privacy, but because of poverty. They say that they support Roe v. Wade because they hope to reduce unintended pregnancies. That may be misguided, if like me, you consider the baby a life, but as misguided as it is, I can respect it. When you’re a public school teacher you see hundreds of kids who are neglected and abused, their so-called families are plagued with divorce, adultery, drug and alcohol abuse. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe than any child is an accident, God loves each and every one, but Republicans would have to agree that not everyone should be a parent.
I may disagree with my pro-choice friends, but I can try to understand that their opinions are just as based on compassion as mine are. Years ago the GOP tried to distance themselves from the religious right by referring to themselves as a “big tent” with room for everybody, but my experience has been that the Democrats are the real party is a party of inclusion. They respect my individual conscience on difficult issues like abortion.
Former Republican Senator Bob Dole wanted to put inclusion into the 1996 GOP party platform:
“While the party remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing its historic principles and ideals, we also recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal conscience like abortion and capital punishment. We view this diversity of views as a source of strength, not as a sign of weakness, and we welcome into our ranks all Americans who may hold differing positions on these and other issues. Recognizing that tolerance is a virtue, we are committed to resolving our differences in a spirit of civility, hope and mutual respect.”
Unfortunately the Grand Old Party declined Dole’s proposal, it was adopted in 2000 as part of the Democratic Party Platform.
So, how can I be a Democrat and call myself a Christian? Because the historic principles and ideals the Democrats advance are the same as these in Psalm 146, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
No, I will never say that you can’t be a Christian and be a Republican, but I wish that people will stop writing me off as stupid and illegitimate or less of a Christian because I’m a Democrat. We both love our country and what what’s best for it, we just have different notions of what that means. Last time I asked Him, Jesus was still an independent.
About the author: Ted Mallory teaches journalism and art at a public high school in rural Iowa and serves as a youth counselor at his St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak, Iowa. Ted lives in Charter Oak with his wife Bethany, and their two daughters. Bethany & Ted taught for seven years at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Senior High School.
Some people think that politics and religion don’t mix. How can they not? Religion, by definition is what is most important to you, what determines your values and helps you make decisions. Politics, at least in America is who leads and how we influence our society.
Let’s face it, they’re gonna mix. The key is which influences which. Ideally, your faith influences your politics, but you have to be careful not to make your politics into your religion, making your party affiliation too important a part of your sense of identity is a form of idolatry.
The Bible is God’s Word, therefore it is inerrant, infallible and dependable. Neither major political party’s platform is God-breathed, they’re put together by human beings and are therefore imperfect.
That last paragraph is very “theologically conservative,” or “orthodox” in church-jargon.
Plenty of people can’t understand how I can call myself a Christian and remain a registered Democrat. That blows my mind. I mean, I can understand why some Christians would choose to be Republican, why can’t they accept that some Christians may disagree with them on a myriad of issues and that God’s okay with that?
What tactful language should we use to talk about our distinctions? Republicans and Democrats? NeoCons or “Righties” and Progressives? Conservatives and Liberals? None of those labels really work because none of them is clear enough, black and white enough.
Case in point, I strongly believe that massive deficits are grossly irresponsible. That’s a fiscally conservative point of view.
Meanwhile I also think it’s irresponsible to not have any regulations whatsoever on automatic weapons. I happen to think that’s socially conservative- but right-wing Republicans would accuse me of being a liberal for wanting to protect my family from gun violence.
Now, I get that many people identify themselves with the Republican party because it appeals to their religious convictions, their “family values.”
The values of “the right” include personal responsibility, personal morality, living a pious and righteous lifestyle. Traditional families, opportunity, justice, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, free-market competition, defending our way of life, not forfeiting our sovereignty to outside forces, and support for Israel based on what some consider false interpretation of Bible prophecy.
I totally admire and respect most of those values, heck, I share some of them. But please, my dear Republican friends and family members, please allow me to suggest that Democrats actually have values too, and some of them are acceptable:
The values of “the left” include social-responsibility, social-morality, social-justice, fairness, progress, moral leadership in the world, self-government, and community.
The right has literally turned liberal, compromise and tolerance into dirty words. I appreciate that no one should have to compromise their principles, but democracy is about balancing diverse interests, and sometimes pragmatism, practicality and reality require compromise.
I appreciate that we shouldn’t tolerate sin, terrorism, or perversion. But God wants us to tolerate people who are different from us, and people who we disagree with. Jesus ate with the prostitutes, lepers and tax collectors. Jews of His day didn’t even associate with Romans or Samaritans.
I hear you asking, “what about homosexual marriage, what about abortion?” You know what, I’m a Democrat, but I’m not an advocate of gay marriage, but I don’t think we should discriminate against gays or demonize them or allow violence against them.
I’m a Democrat, but I consider myself pro-life. I’m much more comfortable than many liberals with bans on partial birth abortion and the Lacy Peterson law. Safe, legal, but rare.
But I know Democrats who say that they’re pro-choice, not because of feminism or privacy, but because of poverty. They say that they support Roe v. Wade because they hope to reduce unintended pregnancies. That may be misguided, if like me, you consider the baby a life, but as misguided as it is, I can respect it. When you’re a public school teacher you see hundreds of kids who are neglected and abused, their so-called families are plagued with divorce, adultery, drug and alcohol abuse. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe than any child is an accident, God loves each and every one, but Republicans would have to agree that not everyone should be a parent.
I may disagree with my pro-choice friends, but I can try to understand that their opinions are just as based on compassion as mine are. Years ago the GOP tried to distance themselves from the religious right by referring to themselves as a “big tent” with room for everybody, but my experience has been that the Democrats are the real party is a party of inclusion. They respect my individual conscience on difficult issues like abortion.
Former Republican Senator Bob Dole wanted to put inclusion into the 1996 GOP party platform:
“While the party remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing its historic principles and ideals, we also recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing views on issues of personal conscience like abortion and capital punishment. We view this diversity of views as a source of strength, not as a sign of weakness, and we welcome into our ranks all Americans who may hold differing positions on these and other issues. Recognizing that tolerance is a virtue, we are committed to resolving our differences in a spirit of civility, hope and mutual respect.”
Unfortunately the Grand Old Party declined Dole’s proposal, it was adopted in 2000 as part of the Democratic Party Platform.
So, how can I be a Democrat and call myself a Christian? Because the historic principles and ideals the Democrats advance are the same as these in Psalm 146, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
No, I will never say that you can’t be a Christian and be a Republican, but I wish that people will stop writing me off as stupid and illegitimate or less of a Christian because I’m a Democrat. We both love our country and what what’s best for it, we just have different notions of what that means. Last time I asked Him, Jesus was still an independent.
About the author: Ted Mallory teaches journalism and art at a public high school in rural Iowa and serves as a youth counselor at his St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak, Iowa. Ted lives in Charter Oak with his wife Bethany, and their two daughters. Bethany & Ted taught for seven years at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Senior High School.
Thursday, March 11, 2004
If I were a Supreme Court Justice
The following italicized questions are being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1) Whether the policy of Petitioner ELK GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT that requires teachers to lead willing students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words “under God,” violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
If I were a justice on the high court, this is how I’d reply: There are two important parts to this question. First, should the teachers lead willing students. The Court already agreed in 1935 that unwilling students couldn’t be forced to recite the pledge. No one was forcing Michael Newdow’s daughter to recite the pledge at Elk Grove School.
Second, the First amendment prohibits the establishment of religion, in modern language, they didn’t want to endorse any one Christian denomination. Government is prevented from establishing religion, not from recognizing that there is an unnamed, undefined supreme being of some sort.
That’s why the ACLU helped the Lutheran single mother from Minnesota who sued a public school in Mississippi that required her children to participate in prayers and religion classes led by Southern Baptists. Mormons would lead prayers in Utah, Unitarians in Vermont, Catholics in Boston, Jews or Moslems in New York, perhaps Branch Dividians in Idaho. Faith is something that should be handled in the home or the Church, not by government agencies like public schools.
The Pledge is a public creed. It reminds us what our flag represents, freedom, justice, and unity. Even Michael Newdow seems to agree with the rest of the values and sentiments it contains, otherwise why would he call the movement to have the words “under God,” removed an effort to “restore” the pledge?
2) Whether a non-custodial parent of a minor child has standing in federal court to challenge the policies of a public school district … when the non- custodial parent does not have legal authority to direct either the education or the religious education of the child?
In my opinion, No. Michael Newdow does not have custody of his daughter. As a matter of fact, she is not an atheist like her father. What’s more, her mother, Sandra Banning and Newdow aren’t divorced, they were never even married.
A petition to disbar Michael Newdow was filed in Northern California for “misusing his authority as a member of the State Bar of California by filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits, violating the rules of professional conduct and lying to the courts under oath”.
Oddly enough, Dr. Rev. Michael Newdow is actually an “ordained minister.” In 1977, he received “ordination” by the Universal Life Church, whose sole teaching is “Do what’s right.” You can be ordained too. If you go to their web site, fill out the ordination form, a pop-up ad instantly presents a credential for you to print out and begin using to conduct weddings and funerals for whoever will pay you.
In 1997, he started his own religion, the First Amendmist Church of True Science (FACTS). This “religion” claims that there is no god, and it’s sole purpose is advocating the separation of Church and State.
How sad if 265 million Americans have to forfeit two words from our Pledge of Allegiance because one man is bitter that he can’t control the child he sired outside of marriage.
3) Whether a public school district policy that requires teachers to lead willing
students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words “under
God,” violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as
applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment.
I assume this refers to the due process clause:
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
I assume Newdow thinks that the state or school district can’t require teachers to lead Pledge recital if, in his mind, the Federal Constitution prohibits it as a form of respecting or establishing a religion. Which religion? Agnostics concede the possible existence of a god, but don’t worship on as members of a religion. What if as a public school teacher, I wanted to hang up “Passion of the Christ” movie posters or listen to Christian rock CDs in my classroom?
Shouldn’t I be allowed to do that since the First Amendment also says that the government can not have any laws or policies that prohibit the free exercise of religion? Student’s wouldn’t have to pay attention to it any more than I have to notice the things they wear and listen to even if they’re Satanic, occult, sexually suggestive, or promoting drugs or alcohol?
The great comedian Red Skelton had no idea what a prophet he was when he said “Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too?”
1) Whether the policy of Petitioner ELK GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT that requires teachers to lead willing students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words “under God,” violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
If I were a justice on the high court, this is how I’d reply: There are two important parts to this question. First, should the teachers lead willing students. The Court already agreed in 1935 that unwilling students couldn’t be forced to recite the pledge. No one was forcing Michael Newdow’s daughter to recite the pledge at Elk Grove School.
Second, the First amendment prohibits the establishment of religion, in modern language, they didn’t want to endorse any one Christian denomination. Government is prevented from establishing religion, not from recognizing that there is an unnamed, undefined supreme being of some sort.
That’s why the ACLU helped the Lutheran single mother from Minnesota who sued a public school in Mississippi that required her children to participate in prayers and religion classes led by Southern Baptists. Mormons would lead prayers in Utah, Unitarians in Vermont, Catholics in Boston, Jews or Moslems in New York, perhaps Branch Dividians in Idaho. Faith is something that should be handled in the home or the Church, not by government agencies like public schools.
The Pledge is a public creed. It reminds us what our flag represents, freedom, justice, and unity. Even Michael Newdow seems to agree with the rest of the values and sentiments it contains, otherwise why would he call the movement to have the words “under God,” removed an effort to “restore” the pledge?
2) Whether a non-custodial parent of a minor child has standing in federal court to challenge the policies of a public school district … when the non- custodial parent does not have legal authority to direct either the education or the religious education of the child?
In my opinion, No. Michael Newdow does not have custody of his daughter. As a matter of fact, she is not an atheist like her father. What’s more, her mother, Sandra Banning and Newdow aren’t divorced, they were never even married.
A petition to disbar Michael Newdow was filed in Northern California for “misusing his authority as a member of the State Bar of California by filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits, violating the rules of professional conduct and lying to the courts under oath”.
Oddly enough, Dr. Rev. Michael Newdow is actually an “ordained minister.” In 1977, he received “ordination” by the Universal Life Church, whose sole teaching is “Do what’s right.” You can be ordained too. If you go to their web site, fill out the ordination form, a pop-up ad instantly presents a credential for you to print out and begin using to conduct weddings and funerals for whoever will pay you.
In 1997, he started his own religion, the First Amendmist Church of True Science (FACTS). This “religion” claims that there is no god, and it’s sole purpose is advocating the separation of Church and State.
How sad if 265 million Americans have to forfeit two words from our Pledge of Allegiance because one man is bitter that he can’t control the child he sired outside of marriage.
3) Whether a public school district policy that requires teachers to lead willing
students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words “under
God,” violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as
applicable through the Fourteenth Amendment.
I assume this refers to the due process clause:
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
I assume Newdow thinks that the state or school district can’t require teachers to lead Pledge recital if, in his mind, the Federal Constitution prohibits it as a form of respecting or establishing a religion. Which religion? Agnostics concede the possible existence of a god, but don’t worship on as members of a religion. What if as a public school teacher, I wanted to hang up “Passion of the Christ” movie posters or listen to Christian rock CDs in my classroom?
Shouldn’t I be allowed to do that since the First Amendment also says that the government can not have any laws or policies that prohibit the free exercise of religion? Student’s wouldn’t have to pay attention to it any more than I have to notice the things they wear and listen to even if they’re Satanic, occult, sexually suggestive, or promoting drugs or alcohol?
The great comedian Red Skelton had no idea what a prophet he was when he said “Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too?”
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Noah’s Ark still afloat with Bramley at the helm
I was driving my two year old, Ellen to the babysitter one morning when we had an interesting conversation.
“Where’d Hewen go?” she asked.
“Your sister GRACE is with Mommy, Mommy is driving her to preschool, and by the way, YOUR name is Ellen,” I replied.
“She go schoooowel? Me wan go schooowel,” she said.
“Well, I know you’d love to go to school, but you’re not old enough yet, by the way, how old are you, Ellen?” I quizzed her.
“Me five!” she announced.
“Nooo, you’re two,” I explained, holding up two fingers.
“NO! Me FWIVE!!!” she screamed.
“Honey, listen, calm down, think about it,” I reasoned (temporarily forgetting that reasoning with a two year old is about as smart as trying to train your cat to heard sheep). “Your older sister, GRACE, is only four, and you’re the LITTLE sister, you’re just two, get it?”
“Oh-tay,” she relented.
“So how old are you?” just wanting to make sure I had gotten through.
“ME TWOO!” she grinned and held up two fingers.
I smiled and sighed, apparently I’d gotten somewhere.
I love the fact that she longs to learn and has finally gotten to an age where she’ll slow down long enough to climb on our laps for a us to read to her.
We’re really fortunate that Grace loves school too. Although, many is the evening when we ask “Grace, what did you learn about in school today?” only to have her shrug and answer “things.” I thought that kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen till at least junior high.
Research has established that preschool education can produce substantial gains in children's learning and development. Christian preschools not only give kids a head start, they also lay a foundation of faith and relationships for children.
The Barna Research Institute discovered that a person’s lifelong behaviors and views are generally developed when they are young – particularly before they reach the teenage years. A person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach age nine (fourth grade). A majority of Americans make a lasting determination about the personal significance of Christ’s death and resurrection by age 12 (seventh grade).
It always boggles my mind when parents proudly proclaim that they’re not forcing their religion on their child, they want them to make up their minds for themselves when they’re old enough. Obviously these parents don’t genuinely believe whatever faith they claim to profess because if you KNOW and BELIEVE that God is real and that the Bible is true, why would you treat that knowledge as if it were merely an option, a choice. We inoculate our children with vaccines to protect them from deadly diseases, why not share with them that God loves them and wants what is best for them while they’re young too?
This is National Lutheran Schools Week. Martin Luther once argued that schools were more important than even homeland security.:
“Even though only a single boy could thereby be trained to become a real Christian, we ought to give a hundred dollars to this cause for every dollar we would give to fight the Turk, even if they were breathing down our necks,” he wrote in a sermon promoting education.
The main reason Luther encouraged parents to make sure their children received an education was so that they could one day read the Bible for themselves and thereby develop a personal relationship with God. That’s a value that Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, and every Christian can appreciate.
Many people remember that St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak once had a Lutheran elementary school, but how many realize that they still have a Lutheran school?
St. Johns Lutheran’s preschool, “Noah’s Ark” has been blest by the loving care, and instruction of Mrs. Sandy Bramley since 1981. This Lutheran Schools Week, I want to recognize Sandy for her important work. Sandy has introduced generations of Charter Oak children to Jesus and the Bible. She has started them on their life’s journey of learning and working together. Thank you, Sandy and may God continue to bless the work He does through you.
Lynn Hoffman is someone who also played a major role in Noah’s Ark for many years. If you or one of your children have been a student of Sandy or Lynn over the years, why not send them a note and let them know what a difference they make and what they mean to you?
“Where’d Hewen go?” she asked.
“Your sister GRACE is with Mommy, Mommy is driving her to preschool, and by the way, YOUR name is Ellen,” I replied.
“She go schoooowel? Me wan go schooowel,” she said.
“Well, I know you’d love to go to school, but you’re not old enough yet, by the way, how old are you, Ellen?” I quizzed her.
“Me five!” she announced.
“Nooo, you’re two,” I explained, holding up two fingers.
“NO! Me FWIVE!!!” she screamed.
“Honey, listen, calm down, think about it,” I reasoned (temporarily forgetting that reasoning with a two year old is about as smart as trying to train your cat to heard sheep). “Your older sister, GRACE, is only four, and you’re the LITTLE sister, you’re just two, get it?”
“Oh-tay,” she relented.
“So how old are you?” just wanting to make sure I had gotten through.
“ME TWOO!” she grinned and held up two fingers.
I smiled and sighed, apparently I’d gotten somewhere.
I love the fact that she longs to learn and has finally gotten to an age where she’ll slow down long enough to climb on our laps for a us to read to her.
We’re really fortunate that Grace loves school too. Although, many is the evening when we ask “Grace, what did you learn about in school today?” only to have her shrug and answer “things.” I thought that kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen till at least junior high.
Research has established that preschool education can produce substantial gains in children's learning and development. Christian preschools not only give kids a head start, they also lay a foundation of faith and relationships for children.
The Barna Research Institute discovered that a person’s lifelong behaviors and views are generally developed when they are young – particularly before they reach the teenage years. A person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach age nine (fourth grade). A majority of Americans make a lasting determination about the personal significance of Christ’s death and resurrection by age 12 (seventh grade).
It always boggles my mind when parents proudly proclaim that they’re not forcing their religion on their child, they want them to make up their minds for themselves when they’re old enough. Obviously these parents don’t genuinely believe whatever faith they claim to profess because if you KNOW and BELIEVE that God is real and that the Bible is true, why would you treat that knowledge as if it were merely an option, a choice. We inoculate our children with vaccines to protect them from deadly diseases, why not share with them that God loves them and wants what is best for them while they’re young too?
This is National Lutheran Schools Week. Martin Luther once argued that schools were more important than even homeland security.:
“Even though only a single boy could thereby be trained to become a real Christian, we ought to give a hundred dollars to this cause for every dollar we would give to fight the Turk, even if they were breathing down our necks,” he wrote in a sermon promoting education.
The main reason Luther encouraged parents to make sure their children received an education was so that they could one day read the Bible for themselves and thereby develop a personal relationship with God. That’s a value that Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, and every Christian can appreciate.
Many people remember that St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak once had a Lutheran elementary school, but how many realize that they still have a Lutheran school?
St. Johns Lutheran’s preschool, “Noah’s Ark” has been blest by the loving care, and instruction of Mrs. Sandy Bramley since 1981. This Lutheran Schools Week, I want to recognize Sandy for her important work. Sandy has introduced generations of Charter Oak children to Jesus and the Bible. She has started them on their life’s journey of learning and working together. Thank you, Sandy and may God continue to bless the work He does through you.
Lynn Hoffman is someone who also played a major role in Noah’s Ark for many years. If you or one of your children have been a student of Sandy or Lynn over the years, why not send them a note and let them know what a difference they make and what they mean to you?
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Not exactly a date movie
Lent was originally a period of forty days of fasting and repentance to prepare the Christian for the feast on the Easter Sunday. It was a time of reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection. Traditionally, churches baptized new converts on Holy Saturday, after six weeks of Bible classes instructing the new converts in the basics of the Christian faith.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days, not including the Sundays- because any Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It also doesn’t include St. Patrick’s Day – at least in the Catholic Church. That’s because it was a festival or feast day in the liturgical calendar.
It also doesn’t include my birthday, which is usually in Lent, but it DOES include YOUR birthday. Why? Because I SAY SO that’s why! Mu-Waha-Ha (maniacal laugh).
Okay, that wasn’t funny, it was just dumb, sorry.
Many of my students have been asking me if I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ yet. Actually, we spent several hours on Ash Wednesday (my birthday), in Omaha at the Creighton Medical Center with a developmental pediatrician who examined Grace and determined that if she indeed has dysarthria, it is part of a greater issue, either Oromotor dsypraxia/apraxia and/or motor dyscoordination. Whatever that all means. Hopefully she can qualify for speech therapy under our insurance, but an MRI would help our case. Of course, those run almost $2,000 and the insurance company will pay for 90% of it- once the deductible is paid, whine whine.
We were seriously thanking the Lord that she’s not in a wheel chair, she can think and see and hear and breath and smile. Many of the children we saw at the medical center are far worse off.
From how horrifically violent The Passion is supposed to be, we didn’t think we should take Grace. I’d hate to have my four year old frightened of Jesus. I’ve heard rumors that an elderly woman from the Dunlap area actually suffered a heart attack and died while watching that movie.
The wonderful thing about Gibson’s film (from the point of view of someone who hasn’t seen it yet) is that it moves people. It’s moved some to tears, (even macho guys) it’s moved them to think, and it moves them to discuss Jesus and religion with others.
Many of the kids in Dunlap certainly are. Naturally it’s a little frustrating for me to keep from violating their first amendment right of separation of church and state by not giving them all my opinions, but it’s thrilling to listen to them exercising their first amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
I imagine that Gibson hopes it will move people to reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection- I’m sure that’s why he released it at the beginning of Lent. My prayer is that it will move people to read the Passion and Easter stories for themselves in the Bible. And, thereby, hopefully, it will be moving them into their savior’s arms.
I read one critic who worried that Gibson failed to show any of Jesus’ eloquence, ethics, philosophy, personality and character by focusing on the brutality of His suffering and martyrdom. I’m not sure how any artist can portray a fair balance of law and gospel. Why shouldn’t we feel some shame and guilt for how much Jesus suffered for our eternal salvation? I think it was important for audiences to appreciate what WWII veterans went through on D-Day in Saving Private Ryan, and it’s imperative that audiences see what Jews suffered at the hands of the NAZIs in Shindler’s List.
But there should be a balance. Take Lent itself. It’s amazing how few Protestant Christians and un-churched people have even heard of the season. Some of us just take it for granted as another part of life. The Catholic tradition teaches that one’s faith is maintained by doing works of love and penance. Lutherans want to be very careful to never make the mistake of thinking that ANYTHING we can do could ever get us into Heaven, since our salvation was won by Jesus on the cross. Consequently, we often avoid the ideas of piety and penance as much as they can.
As an Irish Lutheran (Catholic grandparents), I can tell you that both Lutherans and Catholics are great at reflection, self-examination, (sometimes called “guilt”). Some of us are so practiced and conditioned that just a Scripture passage or a hymn can remind us that we didn’t deserve to be saved and Jesus didn’t deserve to die. However, perhaps the rest of society has become so jaded that we need a movie that dedicates 45 minutes just to the crucifixion itself.
As far as the spiritual redirection goes, my problem is that no mater how devout or dutiful I try to be, my Lenten resolutions look a lot like New Year’s resolutions. Self-centered attempts at self-improvement that eventually self destruct. For example: I drink WAY too much coffee. I intended to go cold turkey. I had such a headache the first night I thought I was suffering withdraws from cocaine or heroin. Bethany advised me to cut back to one or two cups a day, rather than a pot and a half or none at all. I took her advice. I hope God understands.
He probably will. I don’t know if during Lent we’re supposed to surrender stuff to show God how much we appreciate what Jesus did or if we’re supposed to sacrifice stuff so that we suffer a little and that helps us appreciate the suffering and sacrifices He made. Maybe we’re just supposed to reflect, self-examine, and spiritual redirect in any way that works. Since the victory is won and we know the end of the story, that Jesus rose again, maybe it’s not a matter of giving up anything.
We’re trying to read devotions together and I’m trying to be better about reading at least one chapter of the Bible a day. The goal is not to be better people or “holier” Christians. The goal is to learn more about God and what His plan is for our lives. I’m interested in seeing Passion of the Christ, but God won’t love me any less if I don’t. Besides, it’s not exactly a “date movie.” Who spends money on a babysitter unless you’re going out on a date?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days, not including the Sundays- because any Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It also doesn’t include St. Patrick’s Day – at least in the Catholic Church. That’s because it was a festival or feast day in the liturgical calendar.
It also doesn’t include my birthday, which is usually in Lent, but it DOES include YOUR birthday. Why? Because I SAY SO that’s why! Mu-Waha-Ha (maniacal laugh).
Okay, that wasn’t funny, it was just dumb, sorry.
Many of my students have been asking me if I’ve seen Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ yet. Actually, we spent several hours on Ash Wednesday (my birthday), in Omaha at the Creighton Medical Center with a developmental pediatrician who examined Grace and determined that if she indeed has dysarthria, it is part of a greater issue, either Oromotor dsypraxia/apraxia and/or motor dyscoordination. Whatever that all means. Hopefully she can qualify for speech therapy under our insurance, but an MRI would help our case. Of course, those run almost $2,000 and the insurance company will pay for 90% of it- once the deductible is paid, whine whine.
We were seriously thanking the Lord that she’s not in a wheel chair, she can think and see and hear and breath and smile. Many of the children we saw at the medical center are far worse off.
From how horrifically violent The Passion is supposed to be, we didn’t think we should take Grace. I’d hate to have my four year old frightened of Jesus. I’ve heard rumors that an elderly woman from the Dunlap area actually suffered a heart attack and died while watching that movie.
The wonderful thing about Gibson’s film (from the point of view of someone who hasn’t seen it yet) is that it moves people. It’s moved some to tears, (even macho guys) it’s moved them to think, and it moves them to discuss Jesus and religion with others.
Many of the kids in Dunlap certainly are. Naturally it’s a little frustrating for me to keep from violating their first amendment right of separation of church and state by not giving them all my opinions, but it’s thrilling to listen to them exercising their first amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
I imagine that Gibson hopes it will move people to reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection- I’m sure that’s why he released it at the beginning of Lent. My prayer is that it will move people to read the Passion and Easter stories for themselves in the Bible. And, thereby, hopefully, it will be moving them into their savior’s arms.
I read one critic who worried that Gibson failed to show any of Jesus’ eloquence, ethics, philosophy, personality and character by focusing on the brutality of His suffering and martyrdom. I’m not sure how any artist can portray a fair balance of law and gospel. Why shouldn’t we feel some shame and guilt for how much Jesus suffered for our eternal salvation? I think it was important for audiences to appreciate what WWII veterans went through on D-Day in Saving Private Ryan, and it’s imperative that audiences see what Jews suffered at the hands of the NAZIs in Shindler’s List.
But there should be a balance. Take Lent itself. It’s amazing how few Protestant Christians and un-churched people have even heard of the season. Some of us just take it for granted as another part of life. The Catholic tradition teaches that one’s faith is maintained by doing works of love and penance. Lutherans want to be very careful to never make the mistake of thinking that ANYTHING we can do could ever get us into Heaven, since our salvation was won by Jesus on the cross. Consequently, we often avoid the ideas of piety and penance as much as they can.
As an Irish Lutheran (Catholic grandparents), I can tell you that both Lutherans and Catholics are great at reflection, self-examination, (sometimes called “guilt”). Some of us are so practiced and conditioned that just a Scripture passage or a hymn can remind us that we didn’t deserve to be saved and Jesus didn’t deserve to die. However, perhaps the rest of society has become so jaded that we need a movie that dedicates 45 minutes just to the crucifixion itself.
As far as the spiritual redirection goes, my problem is that no mater how devout or dutiful I try to be, my Lenten resolutions look a lot like New Year’s resolutions. Self-centered attempts at self-improvement that eventually self destruct. For example: I drink WAY too much coffee. I intended to go cold turkey. I had such a headache the first night I thought I was suffering withdraws from cocaine or heroin. Bethany advised me to cut back to one or two cups a day, rather than a pot and a half or none at all. I took her advice. I hope God understands.
He probably will. I don’t know if during Lent we’re supposed to surrender stuff to show God how much we appreciate what Jesus did or if we’re supposed to sacrifice stuff so that we suffer a little and that helps us appreciate the suffering and sacrifices He made. Maybe we’re just supposed to reflect, self-examine, and spiritual redirect in any way that works. Since the victory is won and we know the end of the story, that Jesus rose again, maybe it’s not a matter of giving up anything.
We’re trying to read devotions together and I’m trying to be better about reading at least one chapter of the Bible a day. The goal is not to be better people or “holier” Christians. The goal is to learn more about God and what His plan is for our lives. I’m interested in seeing Passion of the Christ, but God won’t love me any less if I don’t. Besides, it’s not exactly a “date movie.” Who spends money on a babysitter unless you’re going out on a date?
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Wedge issues may play big role
It seems that the Democrats now have a nominee apparent. There’s already a “short-list” of possible running-mates. Former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Grahm is someone who could bring vindication for the 2000 election if he can deliver his home state.
Missouri Congressman Richard Gephart would appeal to old-style blue-collar Democrats.
I think that retired General Wesley Clark could bring broad appeal to moderate and socially conservative swing votes since he opposes gay marriage and abortion. He’d also supply extra oomf to the Kerry challenge to President Bush’s Defense policies.
There is even buzz that Kerry might consider New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Many people think she’d rather run for President on her own sometime in the next couple of decades.
The most likely choice, of course is North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
I think that a more exciting question is, what will the issues be in the fall? Well, it would be nice if they’d be things like civil rights, defense, environment and energy, health care, homeland security, foreign policy, education, deficits and balanced budgets. Fat chance.
Expect President Bush to bring out two big wedges and a red herring. Tax reform is a perennial Republican attention diverter (red herring), sure we need it, but to Bush it means more supply-side tax cuts for corporations and the top 2% of super wealthy Americans.
Then there are the “wedge” issues. Abortion and gay-marriage. They’re called wedges because they divide us. In stead of agreeing to disagree and live together or agreeing to hash it out until we come to a consensus or till one side compromises, wedge issues inflame passions and get people so worked up that they can’t think about anything else. Divide and conquer, just as good a political strategy as it is a military strategy.
Personally, I think that they’re both way to messy and way to personal for the Federal Government to mess with. You’d think that a true conservative who professes to less intrusive big-government would agree with me, but not Bush and the Religious Right. That’s ironic since these are both issues to truly be decided in the Bible, the Church and the heart, not with secular legislation.
You could call me socially conservative in so far as oppose both abortion and gay marriage, but the problem is, that much like the reconstruction of Iraq, I believe that the real battle is in people’s heart’s and minds.
I admit it, it pains and embarrasses me that Democrats keep a pro-choice plank in their party platform. The problem, as a matter of fact, is with Roe v. Wade. I think that the Supreme Court was really stretching to interpret the Constitution to include a right to abortion. Even is you squeeze the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments enough to say that the Constitution protects a “right to privacy,” what does that have to do with a human being, the baby? My point is, this is an issue for the Sates or Congress to hash out, not for the Court to have decided.
If only it was as simple as it should be. There are complications like rape, incest, and mortality of the mother. There are theological, ethical, and biological disagreements about the definition of a human life and when exactly it begins. Unfortunately, these are issues that there may never be concessions on. Congress and the FCC can’t even settle on a clear definition for decency and indecency on TV and radio, how can we hope that we’ll all agree on abortion as a nation?
It may be about to get worse. The newest issue- that could well become a wedge issue is human cloning. Last week South Korean scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a human being. They say that it is for harvesting stem cells for research and tissue production-not for reproduction.
There’s the wedge. Devout Mormon, Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah is a staunch opponent of abortion, but he is an adamant proponent of stem-cell research. Stem cells, taken from human embryos (babies) are thought to hold the keys to treating or curing such debilitating diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Some people believe that cloning for the sake of producing stem cells should be permitted for the sake of genetic therapy, organ replacement, and research. Of course the embryos created are terminated so that they don’t go on to develop into full grown adults. So the question is, is that a form of abortion? Are clones human? Are they human lives? Do they have souls? Do they have rights?
I may not think that Abortion is a privacy issue, but don’t think that privacy won’t also be an issue between cell phones, e-mail, surveillance cameras, and National security. Big brother is here and we may need a Constitutional amendment providing the right to privacy before amendments on abortion or gay marriage get fought about.
Is gay marriage wrong? I for one can’t get passed that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin, but so is drunkenness and gluttony. Jesus said that if you so much as look at a woman lustfully, you’ve committed adultery. In His time that meant you were sentenced to being stoned to death. He said that if you hate someone it’s the same as committing murder. So being gay is wrong, but so is hating gays.
We’re stuck aren’t we? That’s why wedge issues are so effective in forcing would be moderates and progressives over the fence to the radically conservative side. It’s more comfortable.
The 14th Amendment does promise “equal protection under the law.” Does that mean that a monogamous gay partner should be allowed to visit their partner in the hospital or be covered by their partner’s insurance? I don’t know for sure, but it does make us straights look stupid for trying so hard to protect the sanctity of marriage when heterosexual celeb-bratt-ties have their Vegas marriages annulled after 24 hour because they were drunk.
One thing for sure, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that’s going to fade away.
Then, there’s still war. Americans die every day in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Queda and there’s no proof of any weapons of mass destruction. Former Bush administration officials say that he talked about invading Iraq as soon as he got into office and began implementing plans to do so within a week of September 11.
Then there is the mother-of-all-wedge-issues rearing its ugly head again. In 1971 a Viet Nam veteran, with Silver and Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose the Vietnam War and asked the Senators something very controversial.
Commander John Kerry asked them, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
No military man or woman’s service to their country should ever be devalued, their lives and sacrifice is truly honorable and sacred- and I don’t think that Commander Kerry meant to say they died in vain. I believe that he questioned the policies and decisions of Presidents Johnson (a Democrat) and Nixon (a Republican) just as people today question Bush’s policy of “preemptive unilateralist.”
Carter served in the cold war on the first nuclear submarine. Ronald Reagan played a soldier frequently in Hollywood Movies. Bush Sr. served in WWII. Clinton got a deferment for college because he was accepted to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England (like West Point grad Wes Clark), of course he took a lot of heat from Republicans because he participated in protests against Vietnam.
Bush Jr. is thought to have joined the Air National Guard to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, where men like Bob Kerry, John McCain, and John Kerry suffered and sacrificed.
I have two uncles who are great friends, but Vietnam is something they both choose not to talk about. One was a medic, another fled to Canada. Almost forty years later, it’s a wedge issue that still divides families, and divides America.
What we must learn to do is to agree to disagree. Wedge issues will always divide us, but they need not destroy us. Like it or not, compromise is an integral part of our democracy. As foul as they often are to endure unresolved or un-vanquished, these differences should be the price we pay for our unity and freedom, not the levers we use to wrest power from our political opponents.
Missouri Congressman Richard Gephart would appeal to old-style blue-collar Democrats.
I think that retired General Wesley Clark could bring broad appeal to moderate and socially conservative swing votes since he opposes gay marriage and abortion. He’d also supply extra oomf to the Kerry challenge to President Bush’s Defense policies.
There is even buzz that Kerry might consider New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Many people think she’d rather run for President on her own sometime in the next couple of decades.
The most likely choice, of course is North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
I think that a more exciting question is, what will the issues be in the fall? Well, it would be nice if they’d be things like civil rights, defense, environment and energy, health care, homeland security, foreign policy, education, deficits and balanced budgets. Fat chance.
Expect President Bush to bring out two big wedges and a red herring. Tax reform is a perennial Republican attention diverter (red herring), sure we need it, but to Bush it means more supply-side tax cuts for corporations and the top 2% of super wealthy Americans.
Then there are the “wedge” issues. Abortion and gay-marriage. They’re called wedges because they divide us. In stead of agreeing to disagree and live together or agreeing to hash it out until we come to a consensus or till one side compromises, wedge issues inflame passions and get people so worked up that they can’t think about anything else. Divide and conquer, just as good a political strategy as it is a military strategy.
Personally, I think that they’re both way to messy and way to personal for the Federal Government to mess with. You’d think that a true conservative who professes to less intrusive big-government would agree with me, but not Bush and the Religious Right. That’s ironic since these are both issues to truly be decided in the Bible, the Church and the heart, not with secular legislation.
You could call me socially conservative in so far as oppose both abortion and gay marriage, but the problem is, that much like the reconstruction of Iraq, I believe that the real battle is in people’s heart’s and minds.
I admit it, it pains and embarrasses me that Democrats keep a pro-choice plank in their party platform. The problem, as a matter of fact, is with Roe v. Wade. I think that the Supreme Court was really stretching to interpret the Constitution to include a right to abortion. Even is you squeeze the 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments enough to say that the Constitution protects a “right to privacy,” what does that have to do with a human being, the baby? My point is, this is an issue for the Sates or Congress to hash out, not for the Court to have decided.
If only it was as simple as it should be. There are complications like rape, incest, and mortality of the mother. There are theological, ethical, and biological disagreements about the definition of a human life and when exactly it begins. Unfortunately, these are issues that there may never be concessions on. Congress and the FCC can’t even settle on a clear definition for decency and indecency on TV and radio, how can we hope that we’ll all agree on abortion as a nation?
It may be about to get worse. The newest issue- that could well become a wedge issue is human cloning. Last week South Korean scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a human being. They say that it is for harvesting stem cells for research and tissue production-not for reproduction.
There’s the wedge. Devout Mormon, Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah is a staunch opponent of abortion, but he is an adamant proponent of stem-cell research. Stem cells, taken from human embryos (babies) are thought to hold the keys to treating or curing such debilitating diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Some people believe that cloning for the sake of producing stem cells should be permitted for the sake of genetic therapy, organ replacement, and research. Of course the embryos created are terminated so that they don’t go on to develop into full grown adults. So the question is, is that a form of abortion? Are clones human? Are they human lives? Do they have souls? Do they have rights?
I may not think that Abortion is a privacy issue, but don’t think that privacy won’t also be an issue between cell phones, e-mail, surveillance cameras, and National security. Big brother is here and we may need a Constitutional amendment providing the right to privacy before amendments on abortion or gay marriage get fought about.
Is gay marriage wrong? I for one can’t get passed that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin, but so is drunkenness and gluttony. Jesus said that if you so much as look at a woman lustfully, you’ve committed adultery. In His time that meant you were sentenced to being stoned to death. He said that if you hate someone it’s the same as committing murder. So being gay is wrong, but so is hating gays.
We’re stuck aren’t we? That’s why wedge issues are so effective in forcing would be moderates and progressives over the fence to the radically conservative side. It’s more comfortable.
The 14th Amendment does promise “equal protection under the law.” Does that mean that a monogamous gay partner should be allowed to visit their partner in the hospital or be covered by their partner’s insurance? I don’t know for sure, but it does make us straights look stupid for trying so hard to protect the sanctity of marriage when heterosexual celeb-bratt-ties have their Vegas marriages annulled after 24 hour because they were drunk.
One thing for sure, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that’s going to fade away.
Then, there’s still war. Americans die every day in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Queda and there’s no proof of any weapons of mass destruction. Former Bush administration officials say that he talked about invading Iraq as soon as he got into office and began implementing plans to do so within a week of September 11.
Then there is the mother-of-all-wedge-issues rearing its ugly head again. In 1971 a Viet Nam veteran, with Silver and Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose the Vietnam War and asked the Senators something very controversial.
Commander John Kerry asked them, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
No military man or woman’s service to their country should ever be devalued, their lives and sacrifice is truly honorable and sacred- and I don’t think that Commander Kerry meant to say they died in vain. I believe that he questioned the policies and decisions of Presidents Johnson (a Democrat) and Nixon (a Republican) just as people today question Bush’s policy of “preemptive unilateralist.”
Carter served in the cold war on the first nuclear submarine. Ronald Reagan played a soldier frequently in Hollywood Movies. Bush Sr. served in WWII. Clinton got a deferment for college because he was accepted to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England (like West Point grad Wes Clark), of course he took a lot of heat from Republicans because he participated in protests against Vietnam.
Bush Jr. is thought to have joined the Air National Guard to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, where men like Bob Kerry, John McCain, and John Kerry suffered and sacrificed.
I have two uncles who are great friends, but Vietnam is something they both choose not to talk about. One was a medic, another fled to Canada. Almost forty years later, it’s a wedge issue that still divides families, and divides America.
What we must learn to do is to agree to disagree. Wedge issues will always divide us, but they need not destroy us. Like it or not, compromise is an integral part of our democracy. As foul as they often are to endure unresolved or un-vanquished, these differences should be the price we pay for our unity and freedom, not the levers we use to wrest power from our political opponents.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Presidential race narrowing
Here’s what I see happening. Quote me or mark my words or whatever you want to do- the very fact that I’m going on record with this will probably jinx it so it won’t happen anyway:
Mass. Sen. John Kerry sews up the Democratic nomination long before the convention and chooses N.C. Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Since Edward’s is young and handsome, like Dan Quayle and a Protestant and a Southerner like LBJ, he wins over the young, the South, and the Christian non-conservatives (Black) swing voters that a Catholic from Boston like Kerry needs to defeat President Bush and Vice President Dick “Halaberton/Heart trouble” Cheney in November.
A couple of weeks ago, on February 2, Kerry won 5 of the 7 state primaries, solidifying his lead in a rapidly dwindling field of Democratic candidates. It is important to point out that at the time I write this column, he only has 244 delegates at the convention so far. He needs at least 2,161 to guarantee the nomination. 1,917 is still a long way to go.
Most of us have written of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean since he screamed after the Iowa Caucuses, but he’s got 121 delegates and Edwards has 102. General Wesley Clark only has 79.
If any of these guys can hang in there till spring, maybe they can bring enough leverage to make sure that their voice is at least hear at the convention. That’s what Rev. Al Sharpton claims to be trying to do, although most analysts don’t expect he’ll have much influence. Right now he has a whole five delegates, and that’s after coming in third in South Carolina- his big “double digits win.” That means he got 10 %.
Personally, I’d like to see Dean be able to do that. He successfully activated the party’s progressive base without flying as far to left field as Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. For whatever else anyone thinks of Dean, he is a thinker. He wrote a pamphlet called “Common Sense for the 21st Century,” an homage to Thomas Paine’s Revolutionary War propaganda, that lays out pretty clearly and simply his ideas about who America is, where we came from, and how to get back to fundamental ideas of justice, fairness, progress, world leadership, self-government, and community.
Okay, okay, I’ll give up, I know he’s out. A Time/CNN poll has Bush beating Dean 52% to 45%. I just wish that fixing foreign policy, helping education and a balanced budget were as important to other Democrats as “electability.” Are you happy? I’ll stop betting on a dead horse. But my point is, I think Dean got Kerry and Edwards to talk about the war and the deficit and that’s important.
I predict that Dean will end up hosting his own talk show somewhere and General Clark will be offered either Secretary of State or Defense. Sharpton will go back to neighborhood radical race politics in New York City or obscurity.
Dean’s pinning a lot of hopes on Michigan and Wisconsin this week and next, but the real test will be March 2, when 10 more states hold their primary on what used to be called “Super Tuesday,” including California, Georgia, New York, and Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts. By the time American Samoa has their primary on March 8, I think it will be all over.
That same Time/CNN poll has Kerry beating Bush 53% to 46% or Edwards beating Bush 49% to 48%- of course if that would happen, there’d be all this trouble over ballots somewhere like Florida, where Bush’s brother is governor and it would get decided in the Supreme court by justices appointed by Bush’s father who go duck hunting with Cheney on the weekends.
Of course, if the Army gets a hold of Osama Bin Laden in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan this spring or summer like the CIA thinks they might, all bets are off. Bush will be every body’s hero again and people will be talking about Kerry the way they talk about Dean now.
Mind you, I hope they get him tomorrow, but the massive debt and deficits that Bush has been running may do more harm than terrorism over the next fifty years. When did “conservatives” give up on fiscal responsibility? When I grew up I thought that’s what it meant to be a Republican, but since Reagan and Bush Sr. it seems like all they like to do is tax-and spend.
They accuse Democrats of being tax-and-spend liberals, but it’s who you tax and what you spend it on. I see Bush taxing working people and spending it on Halaberton and Enron.
Kerry and Bush both went to Yale, and both pledged to the infamous, secretive and Masonic “Skull and Bones” fraternity, but I’ll take the old fashioned Boston noblesse oblige over a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people" any day. (Yes I know Dean went to Yale too, what are ya gonna do?)
Disclaimer: These views were my own and do not necessarily represent those of other Democrats, this NEWSpaper, or Lyon Publishing- just thought I'd throw that at ya to cover my tushie.
Mass. Sen. John Kerry sews up the Democratic nomination long before the convention and chooses N.C. Sen. John Edwards as his running mate. Since Edward’s is young and handsome, like Dan Quayle and a Protestant and a Southerner like LBJ, he wins over the young, the South, and the Christian non-conservatives (Black) swing voters that a Catholic from Boston like Kerry needs to defeat President Bush and Vice President Dick “Halaberton/Heart trouble” Cheney in November.
A couple of weeks ago, on February 2, Kerry won 5 of the 7 state primaries, solidifying his lead in a rapidly dwindling field of Democratic candidates. It is important to point out that at the time I write this column, he only has 244 delegates at the convention so far. He needs at least 2,161 to guarantee the nomination. 1,917 is still a long way to go.
Most of us have written of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean since he screamed after the Iowa Caucuses, but he’s got 121 delegates and Edwards has 102. General Wesley Clark only has 79.
If any of these guys can hang in there till spring, maybe they can bring enough leverage to make sure that their voice is at least hear at the convention. That’s what Rev. Al Sharpton claims to be trying to do, although most analysts don’t expect he’ll have much influence. Right now he has a whole five delegates, and that’s after coming in third in South Carolina- his big “double digits win.” That means he got 10 %.
Personally, I’d like to see Dean be able to do that. He successfully activated the party’s progressive base without flying as far to left field as Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. For whatever else anyone thinks of Dean, he is a thinker. He wrote a pamphlet called “Common Sense for the 21st Century,” an homage to Thomas Paine’s Revolutionary War propaganda, that lays out pretty clearly and simply his ideas about who America is, where we came from, and how to get back to fundamental ideas of justice, fairness, progress, world leadership, self-government, and community.
Okay, okay, I’ll give up, I know he’s out. A Time/CNN poll has Bush beating Dean 52% to 45%. I just wish that fixing foreign policy, helping education and a balanced budget were as important to other Democrats as “electability.” Are you happy? I’ll stop betting on a dead horse. But my point is, I think Dean got Kerry and Edwards to talk about the war and the deficit and that’s important.
I predict that Dean will end up hosting his own talk show somewhere and General Clark will be offered either Secretary of State or Defense. Sharpton will go back to neighborhood radical race politics in New York City or obscurity.
Dean’s pinning a lot of hopes on Michigan and Wisconsin this week and next, but the real test will be March 2, when 10 more states hold their primary on what used to be called “Super Tuesday,” including California, Georgia, New York, and Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts. By the time American Samoa has their primary on March 8, I think it will be all over.
That same Time/CNN poll has Kerry beating Bush 53% to 46% or Edwards beating Bush 49% to 48%- of course if that would happen, there’d be all this trouble over ballots somewhere like Florida, where Bush’s brother is governor and it would get decided in the Supreme court by justices appointed by Bush’s father who go duck hunting with Cheney on the weekends.
Of course, if the Army gets a hold of Osama Bin Laden in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan this spring or summer like the CIA thinks they might, all bets are off. Bush will be every body’s hero again and people will be talking about Kerry the way they talk about Dean now.
Mind you, I hope they get him tomorrow, but the massive debt and deficits that Bush has been running may do more harm than terrorism over the next fifty years. When did “conservatives” give up on fiscal responsibility? When I grew up I thought that’s what it meant to be a Republican, but since Reagan and Bush Sr. it seems like all they like to do is tax-and spend.
They accuse Democrats of being tax-and-spend liberals, but it’s who you tax and what you spend it on. I see Bush taxing working people and spending it on Halaberton and Enron.
Kerry and Bush both went to Yale, and both pledged to the infamous, secretive and Masonic “Skull and Bones” fraternity, but I’ll take the old fashioned Boston noblesse oblige over a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people" any day. (Yes I know Dean went to Yale too, what are ya gonna do?)
Disclaimer: These views were my own and do not necessarily represent those of other Democrats, this NEWSpaper, or Lyon Publishing- just thought I'd throw that at ya to cover my tushie.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Milestones in Language development & aquisition:
Or “more kids say the darndest things”
“No! No Gwacie! Gimme it baaack!” Ellen, the two year old protested. Struggling to get the toy, comb, condiment, whatever it was back from her four year old sister Grace at the dinner table. I don’t really remember what it was they were fighting over, because my wife Bethany and I were so excited.
“Yeah Ellie! You got your sister’s name right!!!” we cheered and clapped. If you remember from a few columns back, Ellen thinks that Garce’s name is “Hewlwn.” We’ve been working to correct this for some time.
The parenting books all say you’re supposed to reward positive behavior with such praise. We’ve applauded Ellie’s proper use of “the big girl potty” so much this way that now when we flush the toilet she claps for us, as it “Yeah Daddy (or Mommy), you wen powddy by yosewf!”
The victory didn’t last long. We decided to play a game of point-to-the-family-member-and-ask-their name. It didn’t go all that well.
Parent: Points to me, “What’s HIS name?”
Ellen: “Daddy!”
Parent: “Yeah!!! great job,” points to Bethany, “What’s HER name?”
Ellen: “Mommy!”
Parent: “Hurrah! Wonderful, you’re so smart,” points to older sister, “What’s HER name?”
Ellen: “GwHelwen!”
Parent: “Noo-o, no, sweety, her name is ‘Gracie.’ GRAY-SEE. Sigh.” In desperation, points to Ellen herself, “Okay, then what’s YOUR name?”
Ellen: “ummmmm… I ME!”
Well, at least she’s mastered the use of personal pronouns. She’s starting to repeat lots of what we say, that’s been a lot of fun. We missed many of those typical toddler benchmarks with Grace. Those of you who know her, know that she’s pretty hard to understand much of the time. At the risk of embarrassing her years from now or “airing my dirty laundry in the press,” I’d like to try to explain it to you.
Grace suffers from what is called Dysarthria. Dysarthria is a speech disorder that is due to a weakness or in-coordination of the speech muscles. Speech is slow, weak, imprecise or uncoordinated. It can affect both children and adults. "Childhood dysarthria" can often be a symptom of a disease, such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or Bell’s palsy. Grace does not have any of these.
By the way none of those are forms of mental retardation. I say this because many of us might mistake them for forms of autism, Down’s syndrome or severe mental or learning disabilities. They’re muscle, nerve, or speech problems, not problems with intelligence or learning abilities.
A child once asked me if Grace was “retarded.” I held it together and didn’t cry or lash out in anger, instead I did my best to explain what Dysarthria is, but I took a long walk alone to wrestle with God when I was done.
Someone recently asked if we planned to hold Grace back from kindergarten since she was so behind. We were dumbfounded because as far as we or her teachers and doctors can tell, she’s right where she needs to be. Recognizes her name, knows her colors, counts to twenty, gets dressed by herself, starts the VCR by herself… We’re just getting stated on zipping up her coat though.
Besides, there are more forms of intelligence than math or language. Harvard Education Professor Howard Gardener teaches that there are multiple forms of intelligences.
You know how they say that if you lose one of your senses, you’re others become more acute? Like how blind people have really good hearing? Well, I think Grace has compensated for some of her weaknesses with other strengths. I know I’m biased as an Art teacher, but I think she’s got spatial intelligence ("picture smart"). Grace loves to paint and cut things out. She experiments with neutral colors and cuts out “hair-styles” and beards and hats for people.
There’s bodily-kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart"), not Grace’s area, but that would be consistent with Dysarthria since it has to do with muscle and nerve development. This would be Ellen’s area. This chick loves to jump off of high furniture and land on her feet and she loves to throw balls. Although, in Grace’s imagination, she’s come up with her own basketball league- the Dinosaur league. The boys are the “Sharp-tooths” and the girls are the “little foots.” You have to see the cartoon movie “Land before Time.”
There’s also musical intelligence ("music smart") Grace loves to sing and dance, but obviously the speech and coordination things hamper this.
There’s Intra-personal intelligence ("self smart") too many of us think we have this but don’t. And of course there’s interpersonal intelligence ("people smart"). I’d like to think Grace has this, she’s usually pretty sensitive and compassionate and a fairly decent judge of character.
In both adults and children, Dysarthria can result from head injury or stroke. As far as we can tell, Grace’s Dysarthria is a result of trauma in the womb.
She had her umbilical chord wrapped around her neck, making matters worse, she got stuck in the birth canal during labor. Unfortunately the policy of the HMO in California where she was delivered was to encourage natural child-birth as much as possible and to discourage Caesarian sections whenever possible.
Of course, we haven’t been able to convince our insurance company that this is what caused it, and we seem can’t get ample proof from the HMO to satisfy them. They’re policy is that they’ll pay to get help if it was caused by trauma, but not if it’s a “pre-existing condition/congenital condition.” But, in theory, she’ll grow out of it and eventually her speech will improve at least somewhat. And so far, she’s made friends easily and hasn’t had to endure any cruel teasing from her classmates. Of course, she might not tell us if she had, we might not understand, literally.
If you’d like to learn more about Dysarthria you can visit these websites, http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/dysarthria.htm, http://home.ica.net/~fred/anch10-1.htm
I know this column has gotten long again but I feel bad that it’s also gotten pretty somber, so I’d like to leave you with a couple more Ellie stories. One Sunday we sat in the balcony at church, “Grammy Mawdge,” is an organist. We had the hardest time convincing Ellie that there weren’t “Monstaws” living behind the organ pipes.
Last Sunday Ellen noticed the stained glass window in the back of Jesus praying at Gesthemane.
“He sad, he cwying,” Ellie noticed.
“Yes, He is, why do you think He’s sad?” I asked her.
“He want His mommy,” she explained.
“No! No Gwacie! Gimme it baaack!” Ellen, the two year old protested. Struggling to get the toy, comb, condiment, whatever it was back from her four year old sister Grace at the dinner table. I don’t really remember what it was they were fighting over, because my wife Bethany and I were so excited.
“Yeah Ellie! You got your sister’s name right!!!” we cheered and clapped. If you remember from a few columns back, Ellen thinks that Garce’s name is “Hewlwn.” We’ve been working to correct this for some time.
The parenting books all say you’re supposed to reward positive behavior with such praise. We’ve applauded Ellie’s proper use of “the big girl potty” so much this way that now when we flush the toilet she claps for us, as it “Yeah Daddy (or Mommy), you wen powddy by yosewf!”
The victory didn’t last long. We decided to play a game of point-to-the-family-member-and-ask-their name. It didn’t go all that well.
Parent: Points to me, “What’s HIS name?”
Ellen: “Daddy!”
Parent: “Yeah!!! great job,” points to Bethany, “What’s HER name?”
Ellen: “Mommy!”
Parent: “Hurrah! Wonderful, you’re so smart,” points to older sister, “What’s HER name?”
Ellen: “GwHelwen!”
Parent: “Noo-o, no, sweety, her name is ‘Gracie.’ GRAY-SEE. Sigh.” In desperation, points to Ellen herself, “Okay, then what’s YOUR name?”
Ellen: “ummmmm… I ME!”
Well, at least she’s mastered the use of personal pronouns. She’s starting to repeat lots of what we say, that’s been a lot of fun. We missed many of those typical toddler benchmarks with Grace. Those of you who know her, know that she’s pretty hard to understand much of the time. At the risk of embarrassing her years from now or “airing my dirty laundry in the press,” I’d like to try to explain it to you.
Grace suffers from what is called Dysarthria. Dysarthria is a speech disorder that is due to a weakness or in-coordination of the speech muscles. Speech is slow, weak, imprecise or uncoordinated. It can affect both children and adults. "Childhood dysarthria" can often be a symptom of a disease, such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or Bell’s palsy. Grace does not have any of these.
By the way none of those are forms of mental retardation. I say this because many of us might mistake them for forms of autism, Down’s syndrome or severe mental or learning disabilities. They’re muscle, nerve, or speech problems, not problems with intelligence or learning abilities.
A child once asked me if Grace was “retarded.” I held it together and didn’t cry or lash out in anger, instead I did my best to explain what Dysarthria is, but I took a long walk alone to wrestle with God when I was done.
Someone recently asked if we planned to hold Grace back from kindergarten since she was so behind. We were dumbfounded because as far as we or her teachers and doctors can tell, she’s right where she needs to be. Recognizes her name, knows her colors, counts to twenty, gets dressed by herself, starts the VCR by herself… We’re just getting stated on zipping up her coat though.
Besides, there are more forms of intelligence than math or language. Harvard Education Professor Howard Gardener teaches that there are multiple forms of intelligences.
You know how they say that if you lose one of your senses, you’re others become more acute? Like how blind people have really good hearing? Well, I think Grace has compensated for some of her weaknesses with other strengths. I know I’m biased as an Art teacher, but I think she’s got spatial intelligence ("picture smart"). Grace loves to paint and cut things out. She experiments with neutral colors and cuts out “hair-styles” and beards and hats for people.
There’s bodily-kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart"), not Grace’s area, but that would be consistent with Dysarthria since it has to do with muscle and nerve development. This would be Ellen’s area. This chick loves to jump off of high furniture and land on her feet and she loves to throw balls. Although, in Grace’s imagination, she’s come up with her own basketball league- the Dinosaur league. The boys are the “Sharp-tooths” and the girls are the “little foots.” You have to see the cartoon movie “Land before Time.”
There’s also musical intelligence ("music smart") Grace loves to sing and dance, but obviously the speech and coordination things hamper this.
There’s Intra-personal intelligence ("self smart") too many of us think we have this but don’t. And of course there’s interpersonal intelligence ("people smart"). I’d like to think Grace has this, she’s usually pretty sensitive and compassionate and a fairly decent judge of character.
In both adults and children, Dysarthria can result from head injury or stroke. As far as we can tell, Grace’s Dysarthria is a result of trauma in the womb.
She had her umbilical chord wrapped around her neck, making matters worse, she got stuck in the birth canal during labor. Unfortunately the policy of the HMO in California where she was delivered was to encourage natural child-birth as much as possible and to discourage Caesarian sections whenever possible.
Of course, we haven’t been able to convince our insurance company that this is what caused it, and we seem can’t get ample proof from the HMO to satisfy them. They’re policy is that they’ll pay to get help if it was caused by trauma, but not if it’s a “pre-existing condition/congenital condition.” But, in theory, she’ll grow out of it and eventually her speech will improve at least somewhat. And so far, she’s made friends easily and hasn’t had to endure any cruel teasing from her classmates. Of course, she might not tell us if she had, we might not understand, literally.
If you’d like to learn more about Dysarthria you can visit these websites, http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/dysarthria.htm, http://home.ica.net/~fred/anch10-1.htm
I know this column has gotten long again but I feel bad that it’s also gotten pretty somber, so I’d like to leave you with a couple more Ellie stories. One Sunday we sat in the balcony at church, “Grammy Mawdge,” is an organist. We had the hardest time convincing Ellie that there weren’t “Monstaws” living behind the organ pipes.
Last Sunday Ellen noticed the stained glass window in the back of Jesus praying at Gesthemane.
“He sad, he cwying,” Ellie noticed.
“Yes, He is, why do you think He’s sad?” I asked her.
“He want His mommy,” she explained.
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