Benefits Both Short and Long-term

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/science/30tier.html

This piece combines nicely with another from across the pond with a more global perspective --

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Indeed

And the slouchers aren't so much Penn Gillette (who is a real mensch for posting this, as The Anchoress says, and a brilliant entertainer and thinker regardless), but we in the faith who so rarely offer the Good News we've been given in so winsome and inviting a way -- http://theanchoressonline.com/2008/12/20/penn-jillette-slouching-toward-bethlehem/

What a Christmas gift!

Glad To Know It

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/22/bush-cheney-comforted-troops-privately/

In the middle of the tragedy and comfort, it's delightful to imagine Melinda Doolittle and Dick Cheney chatting among 350 wounded returned soldiers at an "Idol" party (click to pg. 4 for that).

I really think the history of this last decade when viewed a few decades on along will disconcert and startle some of my friends. So much about Saudi Arabia that can't be said, and the peculiar problem of Western anti-Semitism. But if Iran is a rational state actor in another ten years from now, and Saudi's internal disasters haven't spread too widely, and Syria continues the course she's on, then . . . may we all live to happily see that outcome!

Christmas by John Betjeman

The bells of waiting Advent ring,

The Tortoise stove is lit again

And lamp-oil light across the night

Has caught the streaks of winter rain.

In many a stained-glass window sheen

From Crimson Lake to Hooker's Green.



The holly in the windy hedge

And round the Manor House the yew

Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,

The altar, font and arch and pew,

So that villagers can say

"The Church looks nice" on Christmas Day.



Provincial public houses blaze

And Corporation tramcars clang,

On lighted tenements I gaze

Where paper decorations hang,

And bunting in the red Town Hall

Says "Merry Christmas to you all".



And London shops on Christmas Eve

Are strung with silver bells and flowers

As hurrying clerks the City leave

To pigeon-haunted classic towers,

And marbled clouds go scudding by

The many-steepled London sky.



And girls in slacks remember Dad,

And oafish louts remember Mum,

And sleepless children's hearts are glad,

And Christmas morning bells say "Come!"

Even to shining ones who dwell

Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.



And is it true? and is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all,

Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,

A Baby in an ox's stall?

The Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me?



And is it true? For if it is,

No loving fingers tying strings

Around those tissued fripperies,

The sweet and silly Christmas things,

Bath salts and inexpensive scent

And hideous tie so kindly meant,



No love that in a family dwells,

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells

Can with this single Truth compare –

That God was Man in Palestine

And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.

Homelessness Service & Civic Support

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/nyregion/25shelter.html

Perhaps sadly, i find this story more interesting for the outlines of the program structure indirectly described than for the actual narrative in the foreground . . . but the foreground story is an old, old story, while the nuts and bolts rarely get much discussion in public, let alone scrutiny.

Trapp Family Today

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/25vontrapp.html

You would have to have a heart of stone to not be amused that the piano bar guy's theme song for Johannes today is "Desperado" by The Eagles, and his son, Maria's grandson's theme is Scott Joplin's "Solace."

To quote another great song, "What a Wonderful World."

The Christmas Tree That Survived Hiroshima

This may be an old story to some, but i just ran across it -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/21/international/i100310S44.DTL

First, Have a Budget

Alarming American Consumer Debt Statistics

Following is a good dose of reality regarding debt in America. These and other statistics are posted at ProgressiveRelief.com.

Consumer Debt Statistics:

* There are 1.3 billion payment cards - including credit cards, debit cards and store cards - in circulation in the United States. The average American home has 13 payment cards.
* Americans make over 1.5 trillion dollars worth of credit card purchases annually.
* The typical credit card purchase is 112% higher than if using cash.
* Over 40% of US families spend more than they earn.
* Americans carry, on average, $8400 in credit card debt.*** If one were to make a 2% payment every month at an annual APR of 15%, it would take about 30 years to pay off and include about $13,000 in interest.
* The average U.S household pays $950 in interest each year.
* About 18% of all U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) are made on bank credit cards. If retail cards and debit cards are included, the figure rises to 24%.
* 96% of all Americans will be financially dependent on the government, family, or charity at retirement.
* Almost 1 in every 100 households in the United States will claim bankruptcy.
* According to the National Association of Realtors, the average homeowner stays in his home for 7.1 years. With an 8% mortgage, he will sell his home still owing over 90% on his mortgage. If he was to continue this trend, he would never pay off a mortgage in his lifetime. Only 2% of homes in America are paid for.
* On average, Americans can expect to receive only 37% of the amount they will need to live comfortably from their retirement plan.
* Nearly half of all Americans have less than $10,000 saved for their retirement. 39% of Americans are anxious about their ability to achieve their desired retirement lifestyle.

***In Ohio in 2008, that's $8750 on 14 cards.

Worth Your Time, Better Than Doing It Yourself

http://www.citypages.com/2008-11-26/news/living-on-the-streets-of-minneapolis-for-a-week/

A young reporter takes $40 and spends a week on urban streets, in Minneapolis. Not a bad slice of life narrative; didn't spend much time talking to his cohorts, though.

Hey Ya! Charlie Brown

When i first saw this, i thought i wouldn't like it.

I did!

You might, too -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGnYw-OuCnI

Snap!

. . . To be converted is not a work for self-fulfilment because the human being is not the architect of his own eternal destiny. We did not make ourselves.

Therefore, self-fulfilment is a contradiction and is also too little for us. We have a loftier destination.

- Pope Benedict XVI

So, What Are You Allowed To Say?

If these stories represent the other side of a line, is there any ground other than "whatever" on the safe side? Because i'm not seeing it -- even if i wouldn't write the same letter the administrator at UT did, i'm horrified that this is now seen as actionable . . . and the Canadian counselor is saying, in the article's fourth para, no more than i have in public forums on a number of occasions (which is nothing on how i've challenged evangelical Christians to be accountable, but i'm sure THAT'S fine).

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=4196

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36939

One-stop Shopping for Missional

...the missional church, that is -- http://jrwoodward.net/2008/11/a-primer-on-todays-missional-church/

The Christian Century

This magazine shaped a great deal of my theological interest in ministry, and this is an evangelical article on the sort-of-centenary of what is still a major mainline Christian magazine:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2008/006/12.20.html

excerpt:

At their best, Progressives battled corruption, promoted women's rights, improved living and working conditions for laborers, cleaned up the nation's food supply, and sought to make the world safe for democracy. At their worst, they marched around with supposedly scientific agendas and told everyone else to get with the program or get out of the way. The frenzied patriotism surrounding World War I, a general inattention to racial injustice, the failed experiment of Prohibition, and the insidious legacy of eugenics are among the stains on the Progressive record.

Fact: I am baffled by this story

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/magazine/30Surrogate-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

It sure looks to me like the photographer and/or editor of the piece took a bit of upper crust cluelessness and played a more than cruel joke on her; if you read the descriptions of the surrogate in the piece, the photos are the result of someone working really, really hard to make a point.

The overall effect is really kind of Gregory Crewdson. Yikes.

Doug Adairs No More

Try not to enjoy this story too much -- i guess Bill Kurtis got out just in time.

What i don't get is that with the end of long-time local anchors, no one but meteorologists will be making regular salaries in TV news. How the heck does that work? I guess it works the same way as no one but editors making a regular, grown-up salary in newspaper offices.