Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Who Are We?

Harvard professor, Samuel Huntington, wrote a very eurocentric book some years back entitled: "Who Are We?" Looking at essential "American"  characteristics, values, and ways of identifying ourselves.  

Rather than consider that book, lets take a look at the recently named roster for the US National Soccer team that will be traveling to South Africa this summer to represent this country in the most popular sport in the world. More in depth article

This is America (names in parenthesis are the club team that player is currently playing for)
Viva Estados Unidos! ...que viva!

The roster:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)
Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Bolton, England), Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Hull, England), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Robbie Findley (Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca, Mexico).

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Braves WIN! Huge come back

About as improbable as it gets. Way to go Brooks Conrad.  And Jason Heyward had just struck out the batter before.  Wow!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

21st Century Reenactment of Genesis 3:8-19

Check out the story of Adam and Eve, the serpent and God, from Genesis 3:8-19

This story of Creation is timeless for many reasons. People may question the "facts of the story" (legitimately so), but no question about the intent of the story. We love to blame others for our actions. Save face! Save money! Protect our pride! Avoid punishment and lawsuits! Fool God (go ahead, try it). The woman YOU gave me made me do it (adam delivers a one two punch). The serpent made me do it.

And yesterday we see this scenario played out for the 10000000000th time (fat finger may lead to too many zeros...).

Before Sen. Jeff Bingaman and the rest of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, some higher ups from those (evidently not) responsible for the oil spill testified under oath.

Lamar McKay, the head of BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) U.S. unit (I know that alphabet soup has British Petroleum in it),
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) Chief Executive Steve Newman, whose company owned the rig that BP leased, and Halliburton Corp.'s (HAL) chief safety officer, Tim Probert, whose company performed cementing work on an oil well.

Maybe there will be a cooperative effort to recognized the devastation caused each group taking responsibility so as to save time and money, and then working together to help limit the devastation caused on the Gulf.

Let's listen in: NPR story.

Oh, Genesis 3 all over again. And yes, paradise has been lost.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Oil Slicks in my driveway

The stains and spots in my driveway from oil leaks are ugly, they don't go away, rather become more prominent month my month. Maybe I should get that leak fixed.

I can't imagine the devestation the oil spill will cause to harmless wildlife who have evolved on the Gulf Coast for centuries. It makes my stomach churn to think of the suffering that will be caused. What a shame that for our convenience and addiction to petroleum wildlife must suffer in this way, not to mention the people whose lives depend on this wildlife, and I'm not talking about those who will have to pay more money to eat oysters.

A book that looks interesting, as well as a NYTimes op-ed writen by the same author may be found here.
Rather than getting the leak fixed on my car, maybe I'll sell it, encourage people to use less energy fueled by petroleum in their day-to-day lives, and lobby for new energy policies. What do you know: our own NM senator, Jeff Bingamen is Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Sounds like a good place to start.

Tony Campolo in It's Friday, But Sunday's Comin' suggested that a true follower of Jesus wouldn't drive a BMW (noting that hundreds of kids could be fed and given an education for the amount that a BMW costs). I wonder what Jesus would think about us driving anything gas consuming vehicle at all?