January 2025 - Fires!

In January, LA burned. 

Okay, not all of it, but good portions of it thanks to the dry weather and extremely strong winds. A few people I know did lose their homes, but no one I’m super close to. The fires did get very close to one friend I know from my home town. 

Naturally, this made for a lot of long stressful days. 

Early on, one of the smaller fires was sort of near my condo. The evacuation warning zone was a couple of miles from me. 

There was one fire about half a mile from me one night. Part of a building about half a mile from me burned. The fact that this is all that burned with how strongly the winds were blowing is a testament to how excellent the firefighters are. 

The third week of the month, everyone who reports to my director was in our office in town. And a new fire broke out north of town. It made parts of the meeting very chaotic as people were going to gather things in case they needed to evacuate. Fortunately, everyone and their stuff was okay. But we did cut the last day short.

I was glad when the month ended with the fires mostly out and a little rain to help. Fortunately, it was a minor blip for me, but lots of people are going to have to spend a long time recovering from this.  

20 Years

Hard to believe it has been 20 years.  Memories of the day are still so vivid to me.

I had just flown home from the second Trixie Camp.  We were in Williamsburg that year, and I flew home on 9/9.  Some others had stayed in Williamsburg a few extra days and got stranded there.  Others had gone to New York City.  Yes, they were all safe, but it was still scary.

I was home that morning getting ready for work when I got a call from my friend asking me if I had the TV on.  When I said no, very confused, he said I should turn it on.  Being in So Cal, the second plane had already hit by the time I turned the TV on.  I watched the coverage for a few minutes in complete shock.

Yes, I still went into work.  Yes, I got a few things done while also searching the news for the latest.  And trying to make sure my friends who were supposed to be traveling that day were all safe.  That evening, I actually did go look at an apartment I would move into in about a month with the friend who had called me that morning.  Then I went home and watched as much news coverage as I could handle before putting in my DVD of Toy Story.  I needed something fun to take my mind off all of it.

I also think back to how united we were as the United States at the time.  And I look at how divided we are now.  It saddens me that there is so much hate, so many calls for those we disagree with to lose their jobs and be shunned in society.  I pray we can find common ground again without another horrific day like this to bring us together.

Left Coast Crime 2020

I find it funny that my last post here was about being strangely productive.  Then I proceeded to not post anything for almost two months.  Actually, it is because I have been so busy I haven't had time to come back and post, but that's a post for another day.

Right now, I'm going to talk about Left Coast Crime 2020.

With the Corona virus beginning to break out in the states, I was surprised that it wasn't cancelled early.  But it was still scheduled as of March 11th, so I headed down.  It took place in San Diego, and I was looking forward to spending some time with fellow mystery lovers.

However, March 12th was a strange day.  For one thing, it was rainy and cold.  The first real rain we'd had since December.  Then, the major bookseller decided the risk to their employees was too great, so at the last possible moment (the books were on the tables to be sold), they backed out of selling books.  Panels were constantly changing since people were cancelling left and right.

But I still managed to have some fun.  I got books signed by most of the authors I brought from home.  I was able to talk to a few friends while maintaining a distance from there.  Still, the entire thing felt surreal somehow.

And I had a panel to moderate.  When I registered, I'd volunteered to moderate a panel if they needed me, and they put me on one for culinary cozies.  Right up my ally, right?  One of the authors cancelled week of, but I had three of the original four panels, and no new panelists.  I consider myself very lucky.

The panel went well.  The authors were engaging and interacted well with each other.  I had way way more questions than I needed for a 45 minute panel, but that was okay.  I'd rather that than the other way around.  The audience was engaged.  I was happy with how it went, and plenty of people said they thought it went well, which made me happy, too.

It was right after the panel that the word came down that San Diego County was banning all gatherings of a large size, so we were shut down effective that evening.  Fortunately, the hotel was willing to not charge me for the rest of my reservation, so I packed up and headed home, going into work the next day.  I stopped in Oceanside for dinner at the Pit Stop Diner, which was fun.

I'm glad I went.  Yes, part of me is disappointed things turned out as they did, but with everything going on in the world, I certainly understand it.

Toxic Coworkers (Or My Thoughts on the Trump Putin Press Conference Yesterday)

We’ve all had them.  The coworker you know better than to trust.  Oh, they may appear nice to the rest of the company.  Or they may not.  Either way, you know that no matter what you do, it will provoke them and the end result is you will be in trouble.  Maybe they will tattle on you to your boss.  Maybe they will passive aggressively react in such a way that you look like a heel.  Maybe you’ll be lucky and it will be both.

Here’s the thing – you know better than to provoke them.  You know the only way to deal with them is to smile to their face, keep your head down, do your job, and then go home and complain to your friends/roommate/significant other about them and their behavior.  If things are bad enough, you look for a new job.

These thoughts have been going through my mind since I watched and read the transcript of the press conference yesterday after the meeting between President Trump and Putin.  Yes, I can see what people are upset about.  But I think there is much more to the story.

Before I go further, I realize that I am really wasting my time with the following words.  Those who disagree with me right this second are going to think I’m an idiot.  Those who agree with me right this second are going to click away nodding their heads in agreement.  All I ask is that you read the following with an open mind and think about it.

First of all, we need to have a good relationship, at least on the surface, with Russia.  They are a major power in the world.  Unless we want to go to war, then we can’t embarrass them on the world stage.  And I for one don’t want to go to war.  We also need their cooperation with other situations in the world.  Given that, what would have been gained if Trump had stood next to Putin and said what everyone is claiming he should have said.  Putin would have gone home and done everything he could to make the world unstable.  Granted, he will probably do that anyway, but it would have been worse if Trump had attacked him at the press conference.  It would have ruined our relationship with them for a generation or more, and the entire world would have paid the price.

These press conferences are nothing but theater.  Everyone knows not to believe a word that comes from them.  Again, now back to the situation with the toxic coworker.  You are tasked with presenting something to your company’s board with said coworker.  When the time comes for you to stand up and make the presentation, do you act like you get along, or do you start complaining about everything this person has done in the past?  You act like a grown up and pretend that you get along.  The truth may be very different, but you smile and act like you are a team working for the good of everyone.

That is what we saw yesterday.  Trump, a businessman, knows this.  What he directs our country to do in the weeks and months to come will be much more telling than an hour in front of the media.  That is what he truly believes.

I get it.  I read mysteries.  I love the moment when the main character confronts the villain and says “Here is the smoking gun.  You are guilty.”  Unfortunately, that doesn’t work well in real life, especially with so much at stake.  We still have plot holes and/or red herrings in this investigation, and Trump brought some of those up in the press conference.  One thing we learned yesterday that got drowned out in the cries of treason was that Putin has agreed to allow us to interview the Russians who have been indicted.  That is HUGE!  Yes, it will be on Russian soil and he isn’t turning them over to us for trial.  But it is much more than I ever expected us to get.  I doubt we will learn anything useful from it, but it is something.  And it is something that Putin would have backtracked on in a heartbeat if Trump had acted differently during the press conference.

In some ways, Trump’s statements during the press conference remind me of Mark Anthony’s speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.  Caesar has just been murdered, and Mark Anthony gives a huge speech in which he turns the mob from believing Brutus that Caesar deserved to be killed to riling them up to kill the assassins.  And how does he do it?  “I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke.”  “Brutus is an honorable man.”  The truth was, he was speaking to disprove Brutus because he felt that Brutus had acted dishonorably, but he knew he couldn’t do it outright.  He had to be subtle and work behind the scenes.  That’s the situation that Trump is in.  Yes, that means he attacked the FBI, but there are still holes and flaws in the investigation.  How is it bad to acknowledge them?  He said one thing.  Only time will tell if he truly believes it or not.

There are other reasons I am having a problem taking this all seriously.  First is the fact that many of the people who are upset about this and calling for major action against Trump are the same people who have been calling for this for almost two years now.  On a scale of one to ten, the fact that Trump woke up this morning is a twenty-five, and any time he opens his mouth on anything we should be impeaching him.  In that climate, it is hard to take them seriously when they get upset by the latest thing he does.

These are the same people who were acting like Chicken Little just last summer when Trump got in the Twitter war with Kim Jong Un in North Korea.  Yet somehow, we didn’t get into a real war with them.  In fact, there was that infamous summit in the spring.  No, we haven’t gotten much out of it, but it makes me roll my eyes when the exact same people are now acting like Chicken Little over what happened yesterday.

Another reason is the history.  For the last 20 years, we’ve had Presidents who I’ve felt have treated Putin better than he deserved.  Please follow this link and read it carefully and thoughtfully.  I’m not going to retread all this well documented history.  But look at how Presidents Bush and Obama treated Putin and then read the comments quoted from Trump at the press conference yesterday again in the context of that history and the questions that were asked.  Again, those quotes in context are at the same link.  It provides a different context, one we aren’t getting on the news right now.

As long as I'm providing links, this essay says what I'm thinking better than I'm saying it.

Do I think that Russia, under Putin’s direction, attempted to meddle in the last election?  Yes.  Is this something we should take seriously?  Yes.  Is this something that could have been stopped by one press conference yesterday?  No.  As the cliché goes, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.  If Trump is going to deal successfully with his toxic coworker Putin, he can’t attack him on a public stage.  It’s what he does behind the scenes that tells the real story.

Do I like what he said yesterday?  No.  But then again, I haven’t liked what Presidents have said in Putin’s presence for the last 20 years.  Trump is no different than them.

The Politics of Football

Yes, I’m chiming in on something sports related.  And something political.  But, being me, I’m doing it a couple of days late since the biggest arguments over this were over the weekend.  But I have thoughts swirling in my head that I need to get out.  Warning, this will be long and will go back a few years.

Normally, I don’t follow sports, but I have started to enjoy football.  I’ll take any football game, but it is more background noise; I have it on while doing other things and often even have the sound down.  I joined a fantasy football league with some friends, including several former roommates.

I blame this softening to my roommate Daniel.  He’s a huge football fan.  Back when he was my roommate, Tim Tebow was the quarterback for Florida.  (See, I couldn’t tell you which college or university in Florida it was.  I’m still not a diehard sports fan.)  It was his senior year, and he’d go on to win the Heisman Trophy.  Then he’d be drafted to the Denver Broncos as their backup quarterback.  When Peyton Manning got injured, Tebow managed to lead the team to some playoff victories before the team was eliminated.

However, Daniel, who was a fan of Tebow in college and a Broncos fan, didn’t think Tebow made a good NFL quarterback.

And then Tebow became controversial for kneeling.  After his team scored a touchdown, he’d briefly kneel on his own on the sidelines while the rest of the game was going on to give thanks to God.  The man had always been under scrutiny for being an outspoken Christian, and this just brought things to a boil.  There were calls for him to be fired.

Tebow was eventually traded and then cut from his new team.  However, Daniel’s perspective that Tebow was having a hard time making the transition to NFL quarterback kept playing in my mind.  Could the controversy surrounding him have helped with him losing his NFO job?  Sure.  But I submit that if he’d been winning games, he’d be a starting quarterback somewhere.

Fast forward a few years.  I join the fantasy football league with Daniel and some other friends.  Being the Northern California native I am, I snag Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers as my quarterback.  And I didn’t win a game all year.  Now, I’m not blaming it all on him, but I had a front row seat to his performance as a quarterback.  He’s okay, but not all that great.  Lesson learned, I let auto draft help me in the future.

But I kept an eye on the 49ers as they continued to struggle.

Then Kaepernick started his protests last year.  It started with him sitting on the bench during the anthem, only kneeling when his lack of standing was called out.  And he became controversial.  And yet, he never became a great quarterback.

The calls for his firing started from some of the same people who had been defending Tebow.  And those who called for Tebow to be fired were defending Kaepernick.  And I watched the 49ers lose games under his leadership.

And here is where I feel sorry for the NFL as a whole.  Kaepernick was let go from the 49ers.  And immediately, people started to call for the NFL to be boycotted.  Could the controversy surrounding him have had something to do with his being let go?  Yes.  But I guarantee you that if Kaepernick were winning games and leading his team to the play offs consistently, he would still be a professional quarterback.

You’ll notice I said the exact same thing Kaepernick and Tebow.  While they were controversial in their own ways, they weren’t playing at levels that justified having them on teams.  If they were, they would still have jobs.  It’s as simple as that.

Yet, people were calling for the NFL to be boycotted this fall because Kaepernick lost his job.  Sorry, but if you aren’t good at your job, you will lose it.  That applies to sports just as much as the rest of life.

This is when those defending Kaepernick cited the First Amendment and his freedom of speech.  He absolutely does have freedom of speech, but let’s look at the First Amendment again.  “Congress shall make no law….”  It says nothing about a private company.  And it says nothing about a job when you aren’t very good at your job.

Of course, freedom of speech issues seem to be everywhere these days.  People are defending it or trying to take it away from others.  Yes, riots against a speaker are trying to take away someone’s freedom of speech.  You can disagree, but they still have the freedom to speak even if you disagree with them.

So I do support his right to speak, and he has a platform to speak.  I happen to disagree with what he is saying.  Remember, this started because of his support for the Black Lives Matter movement.  The statistics don’t back up the movement.  Not to say that the perception doesn’t mean anything, but when we look at facts, this movement started from the news media blowing something out of proportion and then fed into perceptions.  Instead of trying to get to solutions, we started having protests.

But Kaepernick still has the right to speak up on this whether I disagree with him or not.

I am bothered by the means he chose to do so, however.  As an American, the flag and the National Anthem mean something to me.  I try to show them respect, although I probably fail at times.  The flag stands for Kaepernick’s right to speak his mind on any topic he wants, for one thing.  And it is clear in our society that we get that flags stand for something.  Over the summer, we’ve had how many discussion on what the Confederate flag stands for and what statues stand for.  Those who want statues taken down say that his taking a knee isn’t a huge insult and those who defend the statues are the most offended.

My feelings on the flag and the anthem were solidified back in the 90’s by Adventures in Odyssey.  For those not familiar with it, this is a radio drama done by Focus on the Family, so it is conservative in bent for sure.  They invented some ways for the kids in modern time to go back and experience history, both Biblical and American.  (They were imagination enhancing computer programs, but they were really just plot devises.)  This particular episode sent two kids back to the battle during the War of 1812 when Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”  They are by his side during the long night when the British are shelling the fort, and they watch for the flag to still be flying, meaning that the fort has not surrendered to the British.  It really showed me just how powerful a symbol the flag is.

Last year, one of the highlights of my day as a tourist in Washington DC was seeing the flag that inspired the song in the Smithsonian.  Thinking again about the story and where the American flag has flown over the years moved me to tears.

So, while I support Kaepernick’s right to speak his mind, I was off put by his actions.  And, frankly, I am a little surprised that the NFL didn’t step in last year.  After all, they threatened to fine players on the Dallas Cowboys who wanted to honor Dallas police officers who had been shot in the line of duty by a sniper.  And they refused to let players honor the victims of 9/11 on Sunday, September 11, 2016.  So why they couldn’t have told Kaepernick to find another way to make his point is beyond me.  And if you are upsetting the people you are trying to reach with your message, maybe you should find another way to speak your mind that will help build a bridge.

Flash forward to this weekend.  I missed what started the entire controversy this particular weekend, but I certainly heard about Trump’s tweet calling for the NFL to fire any player who refused to stand for the anthem.  Now, while I find kneeling for the anthem to be disrespectful, let’s go back and look at how the First Amendment begins again.  “Congress shall make no law….”  Okay, if we want to split hairs, Trump is the President and wasn’t making a law.  But the meaning of the First Amendment is clear, and Trump overstepped.  Period.  End of discussion.

So, honestly, I was left feeling unsettled this weekend.  I find the practice of kneeling disrespectful since it is our country’s tradition to stand at attention.  (Ironically, at other times kneeling show great respect, like kneeling before a king.)  The way the practice has been growing over the last few weeks in other sports and even in kids’ leagues is bothering me.  Yet, I can understand why players felt compelled to do it this weekend to stand up to Trump.

Of course, then there’s the Steeler’s player, a former Army Ranger, who did stand and was made to feel so foolish that he apologized today for letting his team down.  He shouldn’t have had to do that.  It was his choice, and he should have been allowed to make it.  And to answer another comment I saw, the people in the stands booing the players that were kneeling wasn’t racist.  It was their free speech back to the players showing their free speech.  It’s not perfect by any means, but it is part of living in a free society.

But this entire weekend has saddened me yet again.  I saw so many knee jerk responses with very little time for anyone to think things through.  I’ve probably gone overboard with this post (which is currently just over 1500 words), but there is a lot of complexity and hypocrisy on both sides.

I’m also thinking about an observation my brother made in his sermon this Sunday about how easy it is to get people to protest things today, but how hard it is to get people to actually do something productive to make a difference.  I honestly feel like this entire issue, which has been building for the last year, is the perfect example.  Nothing has truly come of this but bad feelings and calls for boycotts (which we do at the drop of a hat).

And lost in all of this is any effort to try to see the other side or try to get along.  Everyone knows they are right, and posts things that only inflame those they disagree with while reinforcing the belief on their side that they are right.  If we want to find a way to get along again as a country, we need to stop talking in memes and think.  Listen to each other.  Think about this story in the context of other stories that have happened in the last year.  5 years.  10 years.  No we can’t solve everything in one day, but at this point, I don’t think that the majority of the country is even trying.

And that saddens me most of all.

As does the fact that something that could be used to bring us together and help us relax and forget about politics for a while is now a political football.

Thoughts on Last Night

Like many, I am shocked by the results last night.  I’m still trying to process my thoughts on where we are in the country.  I’m hoping by talking through some of my thoughts, I can figure it out.

I’m sure most of you reading this know me to be a conservative Christian.  As a result, I was in the Never Clinton camp since day one.  She is the most corrupt candidate we’ve ever had run for President.  Oh, I know she has never been convicted of anything.  That’s how much power she has.  You only need to pay attention to what has been coming out in the last few months to realize that.

Of course, that presumes that you’ve been watching any news media that would report it.  The news media has proved their bias so blatantly this election cycle it would be funny if there still weren’t people out there who refuse to see it.

But as a conservative Christian, I was also firmly in the Never Trump camp.  That man has made my skin crawl long before he ran for President.  The revelations about him in the last few months were as shocking to me as the revelations about Clinton.  In other words, I expected them.  It is sad that any human being would treat any other human being that way at all ever.  There is no excuse for it.  There is no defense for much of what he has said and done in the past and during this campaign, and I will not try to offer any.

For the first time in my life, I actually voted for a third party candidate.  I could not in good conscious vote for either of them.

Yet I am happy with the results today.  I am happy because voters seem to have seen through the lies that Secretary Clinton has been telling for years and the way that much of the media tried to cover it up for her.

On the other, I am scared.  I don’t trust Trump.  I don’t trust him to be a responsible adult.  Considering he was a Democrat until not too long before he decided to run, I don’t trust him to actually do any of the things he says he will do, and I worry he will do the opposite.  And I’m very upset by the racist incidents that I’m already hearing about.  It is very wrong, and there is no excuse for it ever.

If there is anything good that can come from this, it’s that once again we will have a news media that looks closely at what the President does.  We had that from 2000 to 2008, but we haven’t had that for the last 8 years.  Heck, I’m looking forward to descent and questioning the President being patriotic again as it was at the turn of the century instead of racist as it was for the last 8 years.

Which brings me to the biggest point from all of this.  There have been calls for healing and moving forward.  I’m all for that.  BUT IT MUST COME FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE!!!!!!  No, I don’t mean lie down and let President Trump do whatever he wants.  Believe me, I will oppose him when he says or does something I don’t like.  And I expect there to be plenty of that.

However, I have seen lots of hate coming from the liberals on my Facebook and Twitter feeds.  And I do mean hate.  Name calling and devise language will not help anyone or anything right now.  If we are going to move forward as a country, we have to stop looking at each other as baskets of deplorable and actually sit down and listen to each other and get to know each other.  Yes, Trump has said racist and sexist things.  But that doesn’t mean his supporters are racist or sexist.  It might just mean that they looked hard at Clinton and didn’t like what they saw.  It might be a vote against her as much as or more than a vote for him.  But how will you know that if you scream, shout, and threaten to leave the country instead of trying to find out why your friends voted for him?

It’s actually been very interesting.  I have seen very few gloating messages from my conservative friends.  Yes, I’ve seen some, but compared to the shock, horror, and anger coming from my liberal friends, it has been mild.  Of course, the mature comments I have seen from other liberal friends have given me hope that we can sit down and discuss our difference like rational adults.

Because we need to have many adult conversations about things that are happening in our country and in our world.  Trump is not going to have them or start them.  The news media certainly isn’t going to allow them to happen.  Those who aren’t invested in one side and invested enough in conflict to keep things going.  That means it is up to us.  And that starts with listening to your friends who disagree with you instead of labeling, name calling, and stalking away.

Earlier this year, I listened to the audio version of The Silencing by Kristen Powers.  Yes, she is a Fox News contributor.  However, she is a liberal.  She is a liberal I respect because she is willing to call out liberals when they are wrong, but she has logical reasons for her liberal beliefs.  I don’t always agree with her (in fact I rarely do), but I respect her because I can tell she has thought through what she is saying.  All that to introduce this book, which talks about how the illiberal left is trying to shut down those who disagree with them in our country.  Honestly, I think a lot of what is in this book might be why we saw the results we did last night.  And I’m already seeing it play out anew in the last 24 hours.  If you are interested, here is my review.  I challenge you to read the book (or listen to it like I did) and think about it.  It is possible that someone disagrees with you, has good reasons for it, and isn’t a racist or sexist or any other ist or phobe.  And until we are willing to realize that about each other, we are not going to move forward as a country.

At this point, I am rambling.  We are in for an interesting next four years.  But I do hope that we stop and listen to each other instead of just writing each other off because we disagree.  If that happens, there will be no healing and the divides in our country will only be worse the next time we go through this.

One last thought before I go.  As a people, we need to be praying for our leaders, even and especially when we disagree with them.  But when we agree with them, too.  Our hope is ultimately in God, not in who the President is or isn’t.  And He can change hearts and minds more than anything we say on the internet or face to face can.

An Announcement

I’ve been giving it some serious thought over the last few months, and I have reached a very important decision.  Given the current state of politics in America, I have concluded the only solution is for me to throw my hat into the ring.  Yes, I am running for President of the United States.

And here is my first campaign promise.  I promise to become corrupted by the power.  I will give the biggest and best jobs to my friends.  (Look at that, an honest politician!)

Here is my platform:

In order to increase the job force, work days will be lowered to six hours a day.  This will create the need to hire more people to do the work that is currently being done.  Those extra two hours a day will be used exclusively for reading.  If you do not wish to read, you may continue to work your full eight hour shift.  Those who regularly read mysteries will get an extra half hour off.

The Trixie Belden Mysteries series will be required reading in all third and fourth grade classes.  To help facilitate that, all 39 original books will be reprinted, and new books will be published written by people who love this characters picked by me.

Ultimate Frisbee will be made the official sport of the United States.  All other sports at all levels will be disbanded immediately and those resources used to promote this sport.  Former professional athletes will not be allowed to play professional ultimate.

The first Saturday of every month will be Disney movie day.  Every resident of the United States will watch at least one movie released by Disney Studios or a subsidiary they own.  (This includes Pixar, Lucas Film, and Marvel Studios.)

The 25th of every month will be observed as a partial Christmas day.  While it will not be a holiday, all radio stations will play Christmas music for that day.  Christmas movies will be shown on TV.  No gifts for Christmas are to be exchanged except in December.  However, Christmas decorations are appropriate to be displayed if you so desire.

To help facilitate physical fitness, all those who wish to participate in mud runs will have a one run credit on their taxes each year.

I am still working on the rest of my platform.  Feel free to post suggestions.  Naturally, I reserve the right to accept and claim credit for or reject your suggestions.

Thoughts on Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty

I’m sure by now that everyone is sick and tired of the Phil Robertson controversy.  Yet here I am to talk about it.  And what I have to say will probably offend just about everyone at some point, which is why I feel I need to weigh in.  Both sides of this controversy are right and both sides are wrong.

Now before we get too much further, I should point out that I have no love for Duck Dynasty.  In fact, I can’t stand the show.  When my roommate has the show on, I have to leave the room.  So I’m not coming at this as a fan of the show.

So, what did Phil say?  He had the nerve to paraphrase the Bible where it talks about homosexuality being a sin.  That got people up in arms, and A&E fired him over it, which then got Christians up in arms.

Let’s start by taking a look at what he said.  The verse he was paraphrasing was I Corinthians 6:9-10, and it says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexuals offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  For those of us who believe the Bible, it’s pretty clear.  Homosexuality is a sin as defined by God.  Believe me, I have heard all the verbal and mental gymnastics people try to go through to explain this and similar passages away.  If it weren’t a matter of life and death, or Heaven and Hell, it would be laughable.  It is very clear what the passage means.  You can call us hateful all we want, but this and other passages make it pretty clear how God feels on the matter.

But here is where I am going to shine the spotlight on my fellow Christians.  Why is Homosexuality the sin that dare not speak its name?  Look again at that list.  All sex outside of marriage is there.  And Paul goes down to some pretty basic sins.  While in the passage, Paul is talking about some people who weren’t living to God’s standards, he drills down to some basic sins.  Yet in today’s church, this is the one we focus on.

Think I’m exaggerating?  I can remember in the 80’s and 90’s when Christians would get upset with any depiction of a couple living together outside of marriage on TV.  Now, most people I know love Friends and The Big Bang Theory.  Those shows are full of off color jokes and sex between unmarried couples.  And before I start to sound like a high and mighty person, I’m right there with you.  I was laughing at a Big Bang rerun just last night, and I have the entire Friends series on DVD.  I’m not trying to throw stones, but why is this the cultural issue we are so fixated on right now?  And heck, while I laugh at those two shows, I get uncomfortable when a gay character shows up on a show I like or in a book I’m reading.  I’m right there with you.

And this is one place the Christian culture needs to change our outlook.  Yes, we need to call out sin, but we need to do it in a loving manner.  Look at Jesus.  He called everyone to repentance.  Those who were “sinners” of His day, he spent time with and loved.  He was hardest on the religious leaders.  Yet today, we seem to be the exact opposite.  We are hardest on those who are lost, ready to judge and write them off, and we tolerate sin in ourselves and others who are saved.  We need to remember that we are all sinners who have been saved and stop judging others because of their particular sin.

So let’s go back to the passage and a point I was sort of making a few minutes ago.  Look at that list again.  Are you not on it yet?  Then let’s bring in a few more sins from the Bible.  Lying.  Disobeying parents.  Still not there?  We can go to Jesus’ comments from Matthew 6 about how looking at a woman and lusting after her is committing adultery in your heart.  Or how you can murder someone in your heart.  I know I’m on this list  of sinners who will not inherit the Kingdom of God by now even if no one else is.

But Paul doesn’t stop with the verse I’ve already quoted.  He goes on in verse 11 to say, “And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  See.  We are all sinners.  And the penalty for all of our sin is death.  It’s not just homosexuals who will be sent to hell.  It’s the sexual immoral of all kinds.  It's the liars.  It’s those who disobey their parents.

Still, Paul continues by talking about what Jesus did for us.  And that’s what we are celebrating this Christmas - the beginning of that sacrifice.  God is completely just and holy and can’t abide our sin.  But He also sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin.  And what Paul is ultimately saying and really trying to communicate is that, while we need to call sin sin, we need to be compassionately calling people to repentance.  And there is no sin that is beyond God’s grace and mercy.

So let’s move on to the Freedom of Speech issue.  Actually, it has been refreshing to hear some of my liberal friends making the same statement I’ve been making for years.  While there is freedom of speech, we aren’t protected from the consequences of our actions.  In fact, the only thing we are protected from is being arrested for our speech by the government.  I’m actually going to paraphrase something that my friend Eric posted this morning.

1. Phil Robertson was free to say what he said.

2. The gay and lesbian community was free to respond and get upset.

3.  A&E was free to fire him as a result of what he said.

But this is where some people seem to stop, and there’s one more reaction here.

4. Christians are free to react to A&E firing Phil.

Yes, every person I just named above has freedom of speech.  And every person named above was right to exercise it.

The problem is that once again we are talking past each other.  Each side is so intent on making their point, they aren’t willing to listen and consider what the other person is saying.  Yes, I have seen name calling over this, even by people on my friend’s list at Facebook.  Just saying “Because Freedom of Speech shut up” is not helping anything (yes, I’m paraphrasing).

The entire point of freedom of speech is the ability to talk through these things.  However, if things are so nasty that one side stays silent, that’s not freedom of anything but power, intimidation, and bullying.  (Yes, I just said that.  Honestly, I have found some of the most intolerant people are those who preach tolerance and are anti-bullying.)  If you are going to convince anyone you are right and they are wrong, you have to engage calmly and rationally.  I know that never happens on the internet, but that should change.  Yes, I’m tilting at windmills here, but we could change that one person at a time.  If you stop name calling but engage in rational debate, truly listening to the other side, then you’ve done your part.  You are the only person you can control, but you are responsible for your own actions.

But back to the freedom of speech point.  While I certainly do agree that the government has done nothing to Phil, the fact that he has lost his job does have a rather chilling effect on free speech.  It will make others think twice before they say something.  There is nothing the government can or should do about it, but it is chilling and should be considered more rationally by those who love free speech.  Don't be so quick to dismiss someone losing their job for an unpopular opinion just because you happen to disagree with them.  The next time that happens, it might be you.

Okay, now I’m going to steal from my friend Karen.  I already noted that I’m not a fan of Duck Dynasty, but I do find it funny how many people are defending the show who would decry it’s equivalents like Real Housewives or Jersey Shore.  Yes, this family is Christian, but does that necessarily make it any better?  Oh, I get the concept of a guilty pleasure.  I watch some shows that are trashy, too.  But let’s not pretend this is anything other than what it is – a reality TV show where some savvy people are living in a fishbowl to make millions off of other people watching them..

Having said that, I do have a new respect for Phil Robertson because he took a stand despite the blowback he knew would come.  And now the rest of the family is standing with him.

Of course, the results should not have been a surprise.  Jesus predicted that the world would not tolerate those who stand with Him. John 15:18 says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."  And remember that they killed Him.

Still, it always amazes me when Christians react to the world behaving like the world.  The world doesn’t believe the Bible.  Therefore, we shouldn’t expect them to live by the Bible.  It’s really that simple.  I’m not saying we turn our back.  We are called to be salt and light.  But we need to be salt and light to a world that doesn’t believe like we do.  And we need to remember that when we engage them.  Just falling back on the Bible is not the way to do that.  (And yes, I know I spent half of this post on Bible verses.)

So where do we go from here?  As far as Duck Dynasty, I don’t care.  While I do have a new respect for the family, I still don’t want to watch the show.  But we as Christians need to rethink how we engage the world around us and look for the specs in our own eye before we attack the planks around us.  And everyone needs to take a deep breath and a step back before they engage in conversation, really wrestling through all the implications of what their actions and the actions of others mean in the bigger picture.

Boston

I had a very busy weekend, so I had other things I had planned to blog about today.  But I just can’t seem to focus on them.

The last couple of years, I’ve started following runners and running organizations on Twitter, so this morning I was seeing all kinds of posts about the marathon as people were getting ready for the start.

I was just checking Facebook really fast before I came back from lunch when I saw the news about the bombs going off in Boston at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  Naturally, I switched over to Twitter to try to get some more news on the issue.  It’s been several hours now, and I’m still in shock.

While I would never qualify for Boston (I’m just not fast enough and never will be), I couldn’t help but place myself in the race.  Based on my half marathon time, I figure I would be somewhere in the 5 to 5:30 time if I ever ran a marathon.  So in other words, I’d be right in the blast zone.  That sobered me up pretty quickly.

Of course, another part of me wonders why the bombs went off when they did.  Did they get delayed somehow?  I mean, Boston is the best of the best.  By 5 hours, the majority of the field should have finished.  For maximum casualties, the bombs should have gone off sooner.

But that doesn’t help those who died or those who were injured.  As I write this we know nothing.  I’m sure in the next 48 hours, we’ll have motive and suspects if not people actually arrested.  And then we can pick about who did this and why.

But it still saddens me.  This is a day that is supposed to be fun.  There is a huge sense of accomplishment for even finishing the thing.  And now someone has gone and ruined it for everyone to make some kind of point.  But who makes that point by killing others?

Of course, there are people who are trying to politicize it.  And that just makes me sick.  I mean, we know nothing.  How can you point the blame to anyone or speculate who is behind it without any proof?  That’s not reporting.  That jumping to conclusions.  And anyone with half a brain knows better than to do that.

Still, this is a sad day in our nation.  I am proud of the people who are banding together and jumping in to help.  I will be praying, and if there was more I could do, I would.

The Day After

I know I don’t talk about politics much on this blog.  Frankly, I like to have a place to go where I’m not thinking about it.  But right now, the day after the election, that’s what is on my mind, so I will share a little about my feelings.

I actually felt like I had more invested in this one than some of the other ones recently.  Maybe that’s because this summer when I wasn’t working, I was spending more time watching Fox News than I had in the past.  And maybe that’s because I was counting on Romney winning and fixing the economy to get myself a job.  My hopes for that are now dashed.

Which brings up the point I keep trying to remind myself of.  My hope should be in God.  He is in control no matter who the President is.

Of course, there were some major issues with the campaign.  Firstly, for the second election in a row, I was excited by the VP choice but not at all by the top of the ticket.  I’m a tea party person, and I would love to see someone like Ryan actually get the nomination.  That would truly be telling.

And I don’t think that Romney ran a good campaign.  He seemed to think that the American people would see through the lies that were told about him.  And I believe they could have if they had been presented with the truth.  The problem is, they have to hear the truth, and they never did that.

The polls were looking good late in the cycle, and I started to put my hopes in them.  I’d given up months ago.  If I’d kept that attitude, last night wouldn’t have been so crushing.  Again, where is my hope.

But I think this election cycle is going to further erode the Main Stream Media.  Why do I say that?  Because, if anyone is paying attention, they know just how much the media has been covering for Obama.  To start with, we can look at the Libya attack on 9/11 and how little it has been covered.  If the Republicans pursue this like they should, the media will have to start covering it.  And depth of our debt and how shaky our financial cliff really is is another thing that hasn’t been covered like it should be.  If the media starts doing their job, maybe the rest of the country will wake up to just how biased the media really is and why I only trust Fox News.

Okay, okay, so I’m being too rosy.

Frankly, I am weary of politics and weary of the fight at the moment.  I’m staying off Twitter and Facebook for the next few days because just the little bit I saw turned my stomach.  The glee and harshness of the victors was shocking to watch.  Obviously, they don’t know how to be gracious winners.  I’m not sure I can be a gracious loser, so I will stay away rather than put myself in a spot where I say or do something I will regret.

And yet, I want to start fighting back against those who are blindly following the other side.  The fact that people tell me Social Security will be there for me shocks me.  Obviously, they aren’t paying attention or only listen to one side of things – meaning they only listen to the Main Stream Media.  Again, when the truth starts coming out, I think many people will be shocked by the lies they’ve been told or the truth they haven’t been told.  And I’ll be there to point that out to them.

But for now, I need to let myself recover a bit.  Off to enjoy some mindless entertainment until my heart and my brain have sinked up on one message.

God is in control!

Camping on the Rapture

So, this weekend was the rapture. Can’t you tell by all the people who disappeared? Yeah, same here. And as much as people have been mocking it (it was brought up for fun and for serious discussion at church Sunday, too), overall the situation makes me sad.

I can remember back in elementary school, we used to listen to shows on Family Radio all the time. They had biographies of Christians on, a show where they read a book aloud for half an hour a day, and several kid’s shows on Saturday mornings. Those were my Saturday morning cartoons growing up, and I still think about them with fondness.

I can remember the first time Harold Camping tried to predict the rapture, and it killed me. I heard the ties to Family Radio. We’d stopped listening to it by that time, and honestly I can’t remember why. Probably just got too busy to keep up with everything, but maybe my parents heard some rumblings of his teaching and so we stopped. Honestly, I’d forgotten all about him until these new predictions came out.

Here’s the thing – right in the Bible, Jesus says that no man knows the time of his second coming, not the angels nor Him. And He warns us not to listen to anyone who claims to know when that second coming will happen. So, for a man to claim to have figured out when this will all take place is the height of arrogance.

How did Camping hit upon the date? I actually found a pamphlet lying around the gave the explanation. Honestly, I don’t remember the details, but he started taking numbers and squaring them or multiplying them by each other (or both) and starting from certain dates, he came up with May 21st. As I was sitting there reading it, all I could think is how gullible you’d have to be to believe it. Yes, I said it. Anyone who believed him was gullible. The numbers and dates were completely random and made up. There was no logical reason for picking those numbers and those computations. Oh, he had reasons why he picked them, but there are just as many compelling reasons to pick another number or another date.

Another things that got me was that the numbers he got where hidden in the Bible. Really? We’re still going with the hidden in the Bible nonsense? Now I will admit that my reading of the Bible in modern times and English misses much of the nuance and historical context of when it was written. I’ll also admit that I am too much of a surface reader on anything, including modern books. But of the things I am missing in the text of the Bible, I know there is no secret code. I’ll make it easy for you, God doesn’t work that way. His ways are not our own. But when he tells us “No man knows the day or the hour,” He’s not going to turn around and hide clues to the day and hour from us. That makes God out to be duplicitous, and that’s not how He is.

Now I will freely admit that it is possible to miss something in scripture. Look at the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who completely missed who He was. It’s one reason why I don’t get too hung up on end times prophecy – my guess is we’ll only fully understand it after the fact. The main purpose of prophecy is to remind us that God is still in control. It is also to remind us to live holy and Godly lives. We are not supposed to know specifics; if we were, God would tell us.

And now that Camping has been proved wrong, what is his response? “It was metaphorical and the physical return will be in a few months.” What hogwash! Either you got it right or you have no clue what you are talking about. And yet people will continue to mock Christians because he keeps making predictions.

Yeah, it bothers me when people lump me in with Camping. But it is even worse when they then tune me out when I start talking about Christianity because of what a nut job says. So Camping is turn people away from God by his false prophesy.

Yes, Harold Camping is a false prophet. In the Bible, God made it very clear that any person who claimed to be a prophet had a one strike and you’re out policy. If one thing he predicted didn’t come to pass, he was to be killed immediately. Kinda cuts down on the nut jobs or fame seekers, doesn’t it? This is Harold Camping’s second false prediction (and I want to say third, but I’m a little fuzzy on that). So clearly, he is not to be trusted on anything. Keep in mind I don’t think he should be killed; many of the Old Testament punishments we don’t follow any more. But he should lose his platform and followers. And yet people will believe his new date and everyone will be ready to mock Christians again when it comes and goes.

But I just keep coming back to Jesus saying that “No man knows the day or the hour.” Harold Camping has claimed to know now and in the past, and nothing has come of those claims. I can only trust one of those men, and I will trust the one who so far has been proved right – Jesus.

Thoughts on Bin Laden's Death

Sunday night, I was at my friends’ house watching a movie when I hopped on Twitter for a moment and saw the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. As I kept reading, I kept seeing responses from people to this historic news.

Frankly, part of me was still trying to figure out how I felt about it. And now almost two days later, I’m still in that boat. Part of me is glad. This is a man who was the leader that people were following on 9/11 and on previous attacks against America. Yet he is now residing in Hell for all eternity. He deserves to be punished for his crimes. He must face justice. But the idea of anyone residing in Hell for all eternity makes me sad. There is a finality to death that makes any unbeliever’s death sad. After all, I deserve hell just as much as Bin Laden.

Having said that, I can understand those who were celebrating. We’ve been after him for 15 years. This has been a long goal of our country. Seeing a goal completed is a reason to celebrate. However, even some of that went too far for my tastes. Rioting or near riots? Burning him in effigy? The guy is already dead, and that’s the way that the Muslim world celebrated 9/11. We should be better than that.

Now, I am not a supporter of President Obama at all, but I will give the man credit for the hard decisions he made in how this operation was conducted. He made a good call that could have also been a complete disaster. It turned out well. As one commentator said, no matter what else happens during his Presidency, he can always rightly claim that he was the man who gave the order to kill Bin Laden.

But there is so much more credit to go around. How about the men who actually went on the mission. They risked their lives. And I am going to say it – what about President Bush? Just because Bin Laden wasn’t capture on his watch doesn’t mean he wasn’t trying. It is sounding like the strike this weekend was the results of years of intelligence that started under his watch. I’ll go back even further. As I said, we’ve been hunting this man for 15 years. That would be back under President Clinton. I’ve heard the rumor that there was a chance to capture him back in the 90’s that Clinton turned down. I’ve never seen proof of that, so I am going to say that this weekend was the result of a policy that started under Clinton. I’m willing to give that policy some credit, too.

There is lots of time to sit back and analyze this and figure out what went right and what we could have done different earlier to catch him sooner. I hope as that comes in we will not use it to entrench our side and point fingers at the other. Yes, everyone got something right and something wrong. Is it too much to ask that we accept blame and praise in equal measures and try to learn something from all this?

Sadly, I fear the answer is yes. Sunday night I was already seeing responses from people who wanted to rub it in that President Bush hadn’t caught Bin Laden. The body wasn’t even cold, and we were already using it for political points? Still others could only react, “I wonder how the Tea Party will spin this in their favor.” In that kind of political environment, can we really expect anyone to admit they made a mistake or give their “opponent” some credit. Sadly, I fear that won’t be the case.

I also saw people saying that now we can bring our troops home. Remember, we are fighting terrorists and Al Queda, not just Bin Laden. He was the leader, but I’m sure there are others ready to take his place. This is a big milestone in the war, but it is not the climax. Until there aren’t people out there training to kill us, we need to be hunting down terrorists.

Ironically, this all happened on the day before Rudy’s birthday. Rudy is my friend who was killed in Afghanistan. And maybe that’s why this didn’t leave me rejoicing as much. I have seen the cost of this fight.

So yes, a very evil man is dead. The world is a better place because of it. Less evil is a reason to rejoice, but the fact that a man is dead should sadden us some. This is a time for sober rejoicing and not wild abandon or speculation.

The Passing of a Hero

I took a couple of days off work last weekend.  Had a good time relaxing and doing fun stuff with friends.  But that will be another post.

Saturday night, I got a call from my friend Kurt letting me know that a mutual friend, Rudy, had been killed in Afghanistan.

I got to know Rudy when he was in the jr. high youth group at my old church.  He was always ready to joke around and have fun.  But he could also be serious very quickly.  My fondest memory of Rudy is his constant hugs.  Every time he saw me, he'd give me one.

I haven't been to that church for 3 or so years now, so I've lost track of him outside of Facebook updates.  I knew he was a combat medic in the Army.  I knew he was in Afghanistan, but I didn't know it was his first tour.  In fact, I thought it was his second tour.

What's amazing is how connect I truly still am to that church.  I heard about it Saturday night, but I was talking to people who also knew him at my new church Sunday morning.  A co-worker was also talking about it this morning.

This makes the war and the war effort much more real for me because I now know someone personally who gave his life for my freedom.  No, it doesn't change my opinion of the war at all.  But it does ground it in reality for me.

Yes, I am sad, but my heart breaks for his family, including two younger siblings.  It's them I'm really praying for.

Unbelievable Weekend

Sadly, I'm not talking about my weekend.  I'm talking about what happened in Arizona.

Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who reads mystery novels.  I just can't imagine what would drive someone to take a gun and shoot into a crowd.  That is completely a totally messed up.  The stories coming from Arizona are so sad I can only watch a little bit of the news at a time or I completely break down.

Fortunately, I have political hacks to take me to the other extreme, boiling mad.  The bodies weren't even cold - heck we were still getting conflicting reports about whether Congresswoman Giffords, the main target, was alive or not - when Liberals started using this as an opportunity to blame Palin.  Okay, so she had this woman in her sights for the last election.  Really?  That's what led this guy to pick up a gun and kill six people?

As it turns out, that's not the case.  This man is a seriously sick guy who needed help.  I will be shocked at this point if Palin had more than a passing presence in his world.

But that hasn't stopped some in the media.  They seem insistent on blaming her and talk radio for driving the hateful rhetoric in this country.  Right.  And all those people wishing Bush would die?  All those who have dreamed about killing Palin?  The list of hate coming from the left could go on and on.  In fact, it does.

What I love most are the pieces I was reading on Sunday that basically said, "We know this guy is a nut job, but that doesn't mean that Palin is any less responsible."  Never let the facts get in the way of a chance to attack your opponent.

And that's what really bothers me most about this whole thing.  On Saturday, when we should be finding out facts, praying for those affected, and mourning as a nation, instead we were treated to hateful rhetoric from those who wanted to use this for political gain.

Not to mention the idea of personal responsibility.  Back in the 90's when conservatives wanted to tone down movies and violent video games, we were preached to on the left about personal responsibility.  Now that they can score points against the right, they'll apply personal responsibility to Palin and talk radio but not to those who actually pulled the trigger.

Much has been written about this by those better able to do so than me.  I suggest you take a look around and think critically about what you are reading.  To me, this paragraph from Glenn Reynolds best sums up what I saw this weekend:

To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?

I hope everyone involved thinks long and hard about that before they try to make political points from a horrific tragedy again.  (Yeah, I live in a fantasy world.)

What Ever Happened to Differences?

Warning, I am about to go on a rant.

An author I am friends with on Facebook posted a link to this article this morning talking about negative reviews of classics.  Even though I am not posting much on Amazon any more, I am still reviewing regularly at Epinions.  And after all those years reviewing at Amazon, I am still curious about what is said about things over there.

As I expected, the author of the piece picked some truly horrid one star reviews to mock.  And I will also admit I don't see much point in some of them.  Heck, the read more like rants of people who were forced to read the book than honest reviews by someone trying to point out the good or bad of something.

However, having left some negative reviews of "classics" (both books and movies) and getting some nasty comments in response (I had people joining Epinions to tell me how wrong I was to dislike The Dark Knight), I couldn't help but feel sorry for the people being mocked.  And let's admit that was the entire point of the article.

But then I started reading the comments.  I was blown away by the snobbery expressed there.  Most of the responses were by people saying, "Any idiot can leave a review" (which is true) "and the fact that people are expressing their lack of intelligence shows what is wrong with this country."  Heck, some of the commenters I read concluded that all these people must be stupid GOP TeaBaggers.

Which I found ironic considering how at least one person commented on how the Internet has allowed people to say things behind anonymous user names they would never say to someone face to face.  Exhibits A-E were on the same page as that post.

Now, in all fairness, there were some people bringing up the point I would have made there if comments were still open.  And since comments aren't still open there, I am going to make it here.

Some of the comments read like teens letting off steam after having been forced to read the book for English class.  And I read some "classics" that were pretty bad.  I also read some books for school I enjoyed.  Many people said they reread stuff they hated in school and loved it as an adult.  Opinions can change.  There's nothing wrong with that.

But the thought the kept entering my mind was, what ever happened to differences of opinion and freedom of speech?  Just because a book is a classic doesn't mean that every single person on the planet will love it.  It doesn't make the book any less valuable.  It doesn't mean that person is an idiot.  It just means they didn't like the book.  Shrug it off and move on.

But what scared me more was the underlying idea that these people shouldn't be allowed to post at all.  No, no one actually came out and said it.  But I felt several of them felt they should have just kept their opinion to themselves.  That's just wrong.

Now I will sometimes read negative reviews of something I loved (or the other way around).  Sometimes they help me shape what I think about the book a little better.  And sometimes I just shake my head at how the person missed the point or didn't see how horrid it really was.  Yes, there are times when the review just seems stupid to me, and some of the reviews posted are more on the stupid level than the thoughtful review level.  But I never feel like a review should be taken down just because they disagree with me.  There may be other people out there who will benefit from knowing not every person on Earth liked the item in question.

You know, if you don't like something, give some thoughtful reasons why.  Don't just name call or call for them to shut up.  Your response shows as much about you as it does the person who left the original comment.

Super Bowl Thoughts

Yeah, I know. I'm actually talking about sports on my blog. But I have some thoughts on the game and the ads yesterday, so I thought I'd share.

First off all, I can't believe the Saints won. I don't follow sports at all, but I have roommates who do, so I knew enough about the teams to figure the Colts had it in the bag. And they did for the first quarter. I was actually getting bored at that point until the Saints really picked things up in the second quarter. From there, it was pretty much their game. So congrats to them.

Now, on to the most important thing, the Super Bowl commercials.

My favorite has to be the Doritos commercial featuring the anti-bark collar. I was laughing pretty hard at that one. And I also enjoyed the Betty White playing football Snickers commercial, mainly because I'm a fan of Betty White. The Denny's ads were pretty good, too.

But on the whole, I found the ads to be disappointing. They were trying too hard. They weren't funny, weren't original, weren't worth the money spent. That's especially true of the ad I bought for the US Census.

And what was with all the guys in their underwear? I am not comfortable with equal opportunity. (Of course, I'm not a fan of seeing women in their underwear in commercials, either.)

And I am still shacking my head over the controversial Tim Tebow ad. Honestly, if you saw the ad without knowing the story behind it, you'd miss the anti-abortion message until "Celebrate Life" and the fact that it was sponsered by Focus on the Family came up at the end. If NOW had kept their big mouths shut, it wouldn't have been more than a blip on the radar. Instead, it was talked about for more than a week as people called on CBS to censor the ad. With all the controversy, I honestly expected an in your face statement, and it just wasn't there.

Gee, maybe you should actually try watching something before you attack it?

Amazon May Have Gone too Far This Time

I have been reviewing on Amazon for 9 years this month. I've actually been getting very tired of how they are treating reviewers these days. It's very hard to get your review seen unless you are one of the first few reviews. And the new ranking system they introduced a year and a half ago really hurts you if you get negative votes. I've been reviewing up a storm since then, and I've dropped about 50 places. Yes, it's an ego thing, but it does hurt.

I may be about to drop a whole heck of a lot more places. I may be about to walk away from Amazon to only review at Epinions.

Why? Not because of anything they've done to me, but because of what they did this weekend with Macmillan.

If you aren't in the know, Amazon and Macmillan got into it over the price of books on the Kindle. Macmillan wanted the prices of new books that have just been released to be set around $13-$15, with a decrease in price over time and as cheaper versions of the book come out. Amazon wanted to keep the price at $10.

When Macmillan refused to give in, Amazon pulled all the books by Macmillan authors. That would include Kindle and paper copies.

I'd actually noticed this before the story hit over the weekend. An author I like has a new book coming out tomorrow. I was looking at the page, and saw that they didn't list the publication date any more. I was confused but thought maybe it had been delayed. I remembered his publisher today and put the pieces together. Ironically, they are still honoring my pre-order. The book was mailed today (while the DVD set also coming out tomorrow and shipped with a faster speed hasn't been.)

Over the weekend, we got two responses. Macmillan's CEO gave a reasonable sounding explanation. Amazon, however, sounded like a spoiled brat, even saying the Macmillan had a monopoly on their books. (Right. And Amazon doesn't have a monopoly on the Kindle.)

Apparently, Amazon pulled something similar in the UK with a publisher over there, too.

I realize I have given Amazon lots of free publicity over the years with my reviews. I've been fine with that. But if this is how they are going to act when a publisher doesn't give in to their demands, I'm getting close to being fed up.

After all, the reason I started writing those reviews was the help the authors. And if their books could be pulled on a whim, I'm not helping them. I'm better off sticking with Epinions (where I get paid for my work).

Now, that's not to say I think Macmillan is completely right here. Many people have been complaining about the price increase at Amazon. People are used to a $10 price, so if you are suddenly going to raise it, they will complain and boycott.

But I don't get Amazon's unwillingness to let Macmillan try and fail. After all, if the price is too high, no one will buy it. As they play with a price, they'll find the spot where they make enough to cover the costs. That's how a free market system works. But I get the feeling that Amazon is so worried about getting their market share now and becoming a monopoly, they don't care about anybody else.

Now, Amazon claims they've backed down, but all the authors I've checked who are published by Macmillan still have their books unavailable as of this writing. If Amazon has truly backed down, they should have been restored by now.

Now, I'm not saying I won't write another review for Amazon. I'm going to give this some time and see what I think. I do know the two reviews I had planned to post there in the next couple of days aren't going to happen. They'll be Epinions exclusives.

But I am certainly leaning toward not only not writing any more over there, but taking down all my reviews. I will certainly make them the seller of last resort instead of first resort for upcoming book purchases.

If you want to read some more articles on this, here are a couple of good ones:

All the Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed This Weekend
Why My Books are No Longer for Sale Via Amazon
And for more on the laughable monopoly claim, check out Nabisco Has a Monopoly on Oreos.

Is Something Burning Out There?

Well, fire season seems to have started early this year. And once again, we've got to have a major fire outside of town. I can remember when we went years without a big one that threatened everything, but that's not the case any more.

If you've been hearing about the Station fire, that's the one that is affecting me.

Fortunately, it isn't affecting me too much. It is burning on multiple fronts, but the one closest to me is buring north east instead of south west. Odds are it won't make a run for town.

However, the smoke and ash have been bad today. It's been overcast all day, and not with moisture. And a couple of times after going outside I've found ash in my hair.

On the plus side, the humidity is higher today than it has been. We've been having very hot and very dry weather for the last week. It's still very hot, but not nearly as dry. Not deep south humid, either, of course, but better for fighting the fire.

Also in the plus column is the lack of wind. Yesterday, we were having 20 mph winds, but those are the first "bad" winds we've been having since the fire started. And compare that to the 60 mph winds we have had when the Santa Annas get started during the more traditional fire season of mid-fall, and even those aren't bad.

I'm really hoping that this will mean a better "fire season" later this year. With all this are already burned, how can it not be better? Unfortunately, there is still plenty of area to burn, so we'll see if it actually is better or not.

What Are We Owed?

I realize I am a fanboy. Get me started on Babylon 5 or Trixie Belden, and I can go for hours. (Just ask anyone who knows me.)

But I like to think I have some balance or perspective on things.

What brought all this up? This week saw the release of the second season set of Pushing Daisies. I loved that show and am bitterly disappointed that it was canceled. But I do understand that it tanked in the ratings, so I'm not surprised. After all, television is a business.

Yet reading comments from others at Amazon made me shake my head. (And no, they weren't reviews.) One person said that since ABC canceled Pushing Daisies, he had canceled ABC and would never watch them again. Um, so what happens when they have another good show on the air? You'll just skip it?

Then there was the one coming up with the theory that the government should sponsor one show a year that is excellent TV and not doing well in the ratings. That way, it would continue to be made. And the network would have to air the show. Yeah, that's the ticket. Government bailout of struggling TV! But only as long as the show was too good to fail. (As if the government bailouts we've seen this year weren't bad enough.)

Now I am currently working on tracking down a copy of the new comic book for The Middleman, the one with the unfilmed season finale in it so I can find out how that show ends. And I will do the same if they continue Pushing Daisies in comic book form. I would love for both those shows to continue in TV form. But if people aren't watching, it doesn't make any sense.

That's one reason why I review. It's yet another way for me to spread the word about the great shows (and authors) I love in hopes they'll become successful. But if people don't tune in, oh well. I did my best, and I got to enjoy the show while it aired. Hopefully the next show I find I love does better.

Stunned

I was going to post about my camping trip this weekend today, but I just can't now.

This morning came the news that Farrah Fawcett died. Yes, it was sad news, but not unexpected because of her on going fight with cancer. I must admit I'm only really familiar with her work on Charlie's Angels. Okay, so maybe not the best she did, but I enjoyed the show and her work on the first season.

But now comes news that Michael Jackson has died as well. I am at a complete loss as to what to say.

Maybe I should start by pointing out I have never been a fan. In fact, I don't know if I have heard any of his songs all the way through. I could name a couple songs, but that's about it.

But I grew up in the 80's. I may not know his songs (or know I know them), but my childhood was full of references to him. I followed his career with at least a passing interest as a result.

And I was always jealous of the Disney attractions he built at his house. On the other hand, I think Captain EO is the only attraction that was at Disneyland when I was going that I never actually saw.

Obviously the last few years haven't been good to him. Honestly, I've felt sorry for him, whether or not the charges were true. Either A) he needed serious help or B) people were trying to take advantage of him.

It's a funny feeling I always get when a celebrity dies. Whether I knew them or not, followed their career or not, I feel saddened. Michael Jackson especially bothers me because he has always been a huge presence in my life.

I know their families will be much more affected by all this than I am. And my thoughts and prayers go out to them.

But for me, now, this is still a sad day.