Waving or Drowning?

The Leadership Vacuum

I was going to post this yesterday when I read Bob Herbert's column. Then, today it showed up from Sojourners. It's time. Time to wake up. Awake is the new sleep.

"The most effective answer to this leadership vacuum would be a new era of political activism by ordinary citizens. The biggest, most far-reaching changes of the past century — the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement — were not primarily the result of elective politics, but rather the hard work of committed citizen-activists fed up with the status quo. It’s time for thoughtful citizens to turn off their TVs and step into the public arena. Protest. Attend meetings. Circulate petitions. Run for office. I suspect the public right now is way ahead of the politicians when it comes to ideas about creating a more peaceful, more equitable, more intelligent society."

- Bob Herbert, New York Times columnist. (Source: The New York Times, January 25, 2007)

Me, you... us. Lets get started.

Jet Lag

David is home from India and can't sleep. However, that means he's been hard at work uploading many of his images already. Incredible work - follow the link.

Online Confessing is Good for the Soul

At great risk to my personal reputation I need to share something with you.

A couple of Sundays ago when I was at The Meeting House, I heard something that threw my equilibrium off. Just prior to the the commencement of the service they always play a song, and this particular week the track caused a minor stir among those in attendance.

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you Pickin' on U2 - A Bluegrass Tribute.

And I must tell you, I like it. A lot.

(No doubt my friends Steve and Beth will electronically cross to the other side of the street when they see me coming now.)

Cart Meet Horse

…our “theory” of the Christian life is shaped by our “theory” of the gospel. In fact, the latter determines the former. I see lots of Christian leaders today trying to get Christians to be more active or more holy or more loving, but the gospel they preach does not lead to that kind of Christian life.
—Scot McKnight

Exactly. (h/t The Blind Beggar)

GapMinder

This will only take you a couple of minutes to figure out, and it's a brilliant way to depict data. And its from you-know-who.

(h/t to Bob)

iThink This is iFunny...

...and just a little iFrightening:

Robert on Sweating the Small Stuff

From our friend and co-conspirator, Robert...

My wife just called me, turns out we have a pretty serious leak in the bathroom upstairs and it will be pretty serious $$$ to fix.

Denise was quite upset about the whole thing but as she was telling me, I looked up at a picture I have in my office of a mother in Congo, who is HIV positive, cradling her infant son, who is HIV negative but will probably be an orphan one day (the father's name is Trudeau and he is also HIV positive). You know, ever since the Lewis Campaign, I find I can't get worked up about that stuff anymore, plumbing, snowstorms, cancelled appointments, whatever.  Expending energy on that when folks are worrying who will raise their kids when they die suddenly seems like a self-indulgent luxury.

Life is too precious to spend much of it worrying about the plumbing.

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

Here's an article from today's Globe & Mail as a follow up to my previous post on the subject. (I suspect this too will not make the American press, unless Mr. Leahy gets wind of it...)

Arar to stay on watch list, U.S. Says
Letter co-signed by homeland secretary two days before he met with Day

PAUL KORING AND JEFF SALLOT
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

WASHINGTON, OTTAWA — Maher Arar should remain on the security watch list barring him from the United States, the Bush administration says in a letter released yesterday that bluntly rejects pleas from senior Canadian cabinet ministers.

Read the rest here.

The Radical

Another one from the good folks at Inward/Outward, via Lynne:

The radical is that unique person who actually believes what he says. He is that person to whom the common good is the greatest personal value. He is that person who genuinely and completely believes in humankind. The radical is so completely identified with humankind that he personally shares the pain, the injustices, and the sufferings of all his fellow humans. For the radical, the bell tolls unceasingly, and every man’s struggle is his fight.
- Saul Alinsky, Rules For Radicals

Swimming in Dough

My troubles are over... got this email today:

Thank you for your loan request, which we recieved yesterday, your refinance application has been accepted.

Good Credit or Not, We are ready to give you a $365,000 loan, after further review, our lenders have established the lowest monthly payments.

Approval process will take only 1 minute.

Please visit the confirmation link below and fill-out our short 30 second Secure Web-Form.

If you like, I can try and put in a good word for you...