Well, it doesn’t look too good for a national Mike Huckabee campaign… i think i’ll sort that out in the morning, but from what i can tell, he’s pulled the plug… i didn’t really watch the results coming in tonight, but what i did watch is American Idol, and i decided to blog the show…

EIGHT MEN OUT…

(JOHN)-LUKE MENARD: i don’t like this guy’s voice at all… it just doesn’t even sound real… and not in a good way… it just sounds so plastic and fake and like a little girl is up there singing it… and i think he’s in danger of a-go-go-ing home… Randy says his timing was off and it was a little corny, but a-ight… Paula was so surprised that she can’t put her words together… she actually sounds like that political commentary guy on SNL last week… Simon didn’t like it either and thought it was “girlie”…

DAVID ARCHELETTA: thirsty AND he has to go potty… i hate when that happens… aw, now he has a new most embarrassing moment… it should disappear quickly, ’cause this kid’s the BOMB, right?… i know this song… i like that he’s playing the piano… Phil Collins?… yeah… that’s it… much slower arrangement… it works pretty nicely… now he’s standing and finishing up nicely… his voice is a little girlie, too, but he’s so young it’s alright… Randy thinks it was like a concert… Paula wants to shrink his head again?… perfectly imperfectly perfect for this competition?… Simon says it wasn’t as good as last week and it was a little gloomy…

DAN-UEL NOREAGA: TMTH? please… i can’t stand it when people actually talk like that… Tainted Love?… UGH… tainted love… well, the judges may like it because it’s up beat, but his vocal is very shaky… i’m not quite impressed… more showmanship than substance for me, dawg… Randy says, there’s good and bad – pitchy and shy? Rhianna did this song?… Paula says the he’s a bright light, sensitive and spicy… and he looks fabulous… SImon says what the heck?… it was horrible and “absolutely useless”… HATED IT… yeah, dawg…

DAVID (no comment) HERNANDEZ: i’m going to try to ignore the news stories that were flooding the web today… he sang really well last week… and his voice has a nice tone to it today… so these are 80s songs… isn’t this a girl song?… yeah… Celine, right?… what the… i mean, he did alright, but, jeesh, sing something manly, dawg… Randy says he overshot some of the notes… Paula says he has the best vocal of the group… Simon says that he should’ve had more soul, but he’s safe…

MICHAEL JOHNS (JACOBJINGLEHIMERSCHMIT):everyone knows that the kangaroo is supposed to win the fight… i feel like running down a school hallway… could you describe the ruckus?… okay… so he’s singing Don’t You Forget About Me, the theme song to The Breakfast Club… and HEY HEY HEY HEY… oooooooh… he’s alright… he’s not as good as he’s been… and now he’s pretty much just yelling… at least it’s pretty close to singing, but it’s still yelling… he should be self, but i don’t know that it was my favorite… Randy said he loved it dude, Paula said that she’s glad he’s defining who he is… Simon liked it, didn’t love it, thought it needed more soul…

DAVID COOK: hello? wow… it’s so far removed from Lionel… this is such a creepy song… well, the video was creepy and it has tainted the song for live… i get that he wants to be the “real” rockstar, but i really don’t get this arrangement… and i don’t think that his vocal is all that good to be honest… and if he talks trash to Simon again, he should be gone… Randy thought it was brilliant, Paula thinks that he’s a shining star and Simon thinks he’s brave and he loved it… oh well… maybe i missed something…

JASON (FIDEL) CASTRO: okay, his voice is weird when he talks… oh no… not Hallelujah… isn’t there a rule against that?… well… you know, i love this song and i’ve only really heard it sung well by three people… Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and Kevin Max… but i have to say that, despite the breathiness, this is really, really good… very safe though, he didn’t go for any big notes on it… maybe he would’ve fallen apart… Randy says that it’s a high level of difficulty, but he worked it out… Paula says… i don’t know what she’s saying… something about being unique… Simon says that it was absolutely brilliant…

CICKA-CHICKA-CHIKEZIE: i’ve pretty much wanted this dude to go home since week one… since then, he’s done pretty well though… and this is starting out pretty well for him… it’s a pretty boring song for me though… oh dear… when he starts going off, he’s like way off… right?… ouch… i didn’t like it… Randy said it was a tough song choice… Paula said he switched it up and that his vocals were really good… Simon says why the heck are you singing a Whitney Houston song?… not a smart move…

tough call to see who goes home this week… i’m gonna go with Jacuzzi and Luke…

MORE IN THE MORNING

I’m about done for now… i’ll be back with more tomorrow… if you want you can check out my latest interview posted over at theTRu… this time with Othello…

peace… love… bdg…

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i can’t believe it’s Wednesday or that it’s so late on Wednesday… i’m going to cover a bit and cover it quickly so let’s get getting…

THE ICE STORM COMETH…

well, last night it took me over two hours to get home and i passed by an accident count in the double digits… these silly people driving too fast in icy rain… what are you thinking? so many cars on the side of the road… i sincerely hope they’re alright and that they remember not to do that again… this morning everything seemed pretty much resolved even though it was still below freezing outside and icicles adorned pretty much everything in sight…

OVER AND OVER AND OVER

at least that was pretty… the results from last night’s voting also hung like the icicles as the pundits described the life of my boy Mike’s chances dripping away… in fact… McCain’s camp actually send a memo over to Huckabee’s camp asking them to give it up, citing mathematical impossibilities… i heard people in the media call Huckabee “a professional irritant”, “an annoyance” and many other non-flattering terms, but, as silly and unprofessional as that all is, at least they’re talking about him somewhat…

IT’S ALIVE!!!!!

Bill O’Reilly, someone i can handle in small doses (usually the 3 minute Talking Points podcast), was pleading the case of Hillary Clinton the other day… yes, that Hillary… addressing the Senator’s complaints that the media has turned against her and has been unfairly representing her and her family… she was also concerned that the media outlets had already handed over the Democratic nomination to Obama despite it continuing to be a tight race… sounds to me like the monster Dr. Frankenstein built in years past has come to life and turned on its master… and, might i add, how hypocritical of O’Reilly, not only to chime in on Hillary’s side, but also to complain about “secular” media doing to Hillary exactly what he and Fox News have done to my boy Mike for the ENTIRE CONTEST…

CHEESEHEADS, ROLL OUT

Next up for my boy Mike is Wisconsin… i think he can take the state and gain some momentum going into the big block of contests on March 4th… as far as whether or not he should give up and leave the election, i say, in the words of General Anthony McAuliffe, “Nuts!”… later this week, i’ll talk more about why i like Mike…

NUTS!

speaking of which… Jericho is back on the air and i missed the premiere yesterday… i’ll watch it online or on demand later this week… pretty bummed about missing it though…

CLEMENS…. SEE?

The Rocket testified in congress today and it’s really not looking too good for Clemens… i said before that i lean towards the side of believing him over McNamee, but there is this nagging notion of motive… and then Pettite reportedly said that Clemens had admitted it to him… i just don’t know… i did work out a scenario where McNamee has motive though… it involves years of blackmail, a bluff, and a battle of wills… regardless, now that they’ve both testified to opposing accounts under oath, one of them is pretty much screwed… and Clemens never had a very good screwball…

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 6-11

Day One

I’m not sure how the conversation entirely went, or if Joshua really explained the full battle plan to his people, but he managed to convince them all to follow him… and they set out on day one of the week-long plan of attack… i’m sure that everyone was pretty antsy and i imagine that there was a lot of whispers after they got back to camp that night as they all tried to figure out what happened… and why they didn’t yell at all, why they didn’t attack at all, why they were sitting back at camp again…

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg…

Chapter 6: Master of the Board… again

the next section of this chapter hits you like a cold wet sock across the face… or, like the reality it’s asking you to face… the reality that you’re not actually the master of the board… we’re not in control of our lives and by pretending that we are, it’s more than a lie, it’s more than disillusionment, it’s even more than sad… it’s dangerous, it’s destructive, it’s really, really depressing… this chapter is something of a downer so far… ha!

AND IT JUST DON’T STOP

Okay, here’s the links from last time… the Mr. J Interview and a walk TRu of How Great Thou Art… looking at the old calendar, i see that i have some more interviews coming up with Kevin Max, Poems, and more including some year in re:TRu stuff too… also tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and they’re announcing the Dove Nominees, so i might talk about that, too…

peace… love… bdg…

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It’s a whole new ball game as they say… some big news headlines today to talk about but, if you’ll indulge me for a brief second… i’m excited that i was on the radio today… kind of… i sent in a letter to the Tony Kornheiser Show yesterday because they, like many othe media outlets, are completely dismissing Mike Huckabee and, actually, more than dismissing… they’ve pretty much marginalized him as the one person in the WORLD who can stand up on two legs, speak and yet still believes that evolution is a farce…

Despite having opposing viewpoints on a lot of things, though, i love the show and thought i’d take a second to write in and defend my boy Mike a little bit… sure enough, at the very end of today’s show, my letter was read and, it went over alright i guess… they liked the joke i broke the ice with and i think i made as much of a point as can be expected from a letter on the radio… it was just cool to hear that i “made” the show… i was seriously like a little kid with ants in my pants waiting to see if i’d get quoted…

okay, on with the show…

ROMNEY’ED!!!!!!!

the huge news today is less than an hour old as i write this… Mitt Romney exited the race today while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC (not to be confused with Tupac)… clearly there’s a hidden agenda here or something… taking some parting shots, Romney noted that hanging in the race would merely weaken the Republican party and delay a national campaign that will be needed to defeat the Democrats who are still knotted up in a hotly contested race for the nomination…

Funny, i thought that the strength of any party was the diversity and the freedom to evaluate and choose for themselves which candidate was best… clearly, these statements were barbs at my boy Mike, as an effort to get Huckabee to do the “honorable” thing and quit as well… after all, staying in the race makes you “a part of aiding a surrender to terror”…

I had planned to take some time today to talk about why i don’t like Romney, but since that’s something of a moot point now, i’ll just list some bullet points that i’ll revisit later if necessary…

1. Romney sounds more like a Democrat than any of the other candidates, screaming for change while launching attack ads

2. It seems to me that the Presidency is just another goal. I want a candidate looking to “marry” the job, not one who’s just looking to notch his bedpost.

3. He seems entirely insincere, like a slick-talking robotic snake oil salesman… (this is further cemented in my mind by the fact that he’s “suspending” his bid rather than quitting… this means he gets to keep collecting donations and holds onto his delegates which i expect him to use as poker chips further down the trail…)

anyway… the big question is, NOW WHAT? will Mitt’s supporters jump over to Huckabee’s camp, or will they split their loyalties between Mike and McCain or will they all go to McCain?… well, kids, i sure hope they check ou tmy boy Mike and that they start taking him a whole lot more seriously… i’m voting in five days and i’m voting for my boy Mike… you should too…

THE PAT*STERISKS

speaking of sore losers and bad role models… How about them Pats?… a week or so after filing for trademark rights to the term “19-0″, the Pats are licking their 18-1 wounds… while the Giants were partying in the streets of NYC, the Pats were throwing pity parties…

First Coach Bellichick spends the last play of the Superbowl in the tunnel sulking and brooding, then the two biggest stars, Tom Brady and Randy Moss, immediately withdraw from the Pro Bowl… talk about being a bad loser…

in related thoughts, the 2007 Patriots can no longer be considered the best football team ever, because they didn’t win the Superbowl and that means that technically, they weren’t even the best team of the year… a lot of people think that this is unfair, but it’s the same standard of measurement used for all claims of greatness… it’s what keeps Dan Marino out of contention for the greatest QB ever and it’s always been that way…

SUPER GREAT AWESOME REALLY COOL

and now, speaking of greatness are the greatest Superbowls of my time… as i’ve said before, i feel pretty confident that this year’s game will rank in my top three soon, but i’m still processing it right now and i’m not sure exactly where it will land, but these games are the games it will needs to beat…

NUMBER THREE: Superbowl XXII (1988)

Redskins 42, Broncos 10… i know what you’re thinking… dude, it was a blowout… how was this a great game?… well, you start with the Broncos jumping out to a quick lead… like the first play is a deep pass for a touchdown quick… then you look at the Redskins facing a 10 point deficit in the 2nd quarter and dropping 35 points on the Broncos in one quarter… that’s still a record, by the way… and you add in the fact that Doug Williams (WHO?) led them at QB and Timmy Smith (WHO?) ran for over 200 yards and that, my friends is a great game…

NUMBER TWO: Superbowl XXV (1991)

Bills 19, Giants 20, Norwood Wide Left… 1991 was going to be the year for Buffalo Bills’ fans… the K-Gun was in full effect and they were pretty much unstoppable on offense… unless of course they didn’t have the ball… i remember laying on the floor watching this game, still halfway thinking about the winter retreat that i had just come back from with my youth group… i couldn’t believe that he missed that field goal…

NUMBER ONE: Superbowl XXXIV (2000)

Titans 16, Rams 23, Kevin Dyson 1 yard short… This was the first Superbowl i was married for and i remember having my two closest college buddies over to watch it in our apartment… it snowed pretty well during the game, too… well, in Virginia… this was such a great game though and it came down to the very last play and the very last yard… amazing drama and will always be one i remember…

So there you have it… i’ll admit that some games are tainted in my opinion because of outside circumstances and other games, before, say, the Bears/Patriots game are beyond my memory… i would love it if the NFL released a DVD set of all the Superbowls, but i’m guessing that will be outrageously priced and even then, i’d be watching the games out of context, so the rankings wouldn’t be as true as these are… anyway… that’s fun, what are your three best Superbowl games/memories…

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 3-5

A plan?!

okay, we’re all so familiar with this story that it almost makes sense to us… but think about it for a second or two… imagine if General Petraeus were to announce that the new strategy to end the war in Iraq was to pull out the troops, march around the Iraqi border, blow some tumpets and start shouting… you would think that he was absolutely insane… so you see? God’s plan sounds pretty insane… knowing how to fight, understanding strategy and preparing to lead his troops into battle, Joshua had to be scratching his head after hearing this… there’s a new paragraph starting with verse 6, but i like to think that it was a long, dramatic pause…

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg…

Chapter 6: Master of the Board…

this chapter is actually about resigning as master of the board, but the first bit here is a tale of Caesar Augustus and his rise to power… and the extent to which he controlled the entire world… Ortberg mentions that the concept of “Pax Romana” which is the global peace that was born out of the supreme domination of the Roman Empire and i think that there’s a lot of people who see the US as trying to fill that role… unfortunately, at least as of yet, there hasn’t been and Pax de America or anything like that… and, of course, if you know any history or logic, you understand that it only lasts for so long…

ON WE GO WITH THE SHOW

i interrupted the work i was doing elsewhere at theTRu to get this post typed up, but later tonight, there will certainly be some more new items to peep over on the front page… specifically a Walk TRu and a bonus interview with Mr. J Medeiros… i say bonus, because i did it via email… okay… later folks…

peace… love… bdg…

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so this is supposed to be my day off from the old blog, but i didn’t write yesterday and i’ve been so inconsistant that i figured, hey, why not?… in fact, this is going to be a SUPER entry (hopefully not in length, but in quality and topically)… i actually just got finished watching the Superbowl again… i’m sure that i’ll end up watching it at least once or twice more this week because that’s the kind of guy i am… and it was one of the greatest Superbowls of all time (within the realm of my memory)… i haven’t decided quite yet where it ranks, but i’ll talk a bit about some of the others in a bit… i also plan to talk about what most people care most about when it comes to the Superbowl… the commercials…

Of course, i’d be remiss if i ignored the fact that this is SUPER TUESDAY or, as i’ve heard it called elsewhere SUPER DUPER TUESDAY… i don’t know, that just seems a little much… if it’s not SUPA DUPA FLY, it’s just excess… so, i’ll continue my political talk as well… as well as continuing with the Book and the other book and drudging up some peeps for theTRu…

and now, in between darts and rounds of Zuma, let’s dig in…

SUPER BOWL XLII (THAT’S 42)…

What a great game… a truly GREAT game… i watched some of the pregame stuff while i was doing a little bit of work and the littles were doing a little bit of resting… we then headed over to our home fellowship group party at about 4, settled in, ate wings and played some Wii before the kickoff… this was my first time playing Wii and i managed to win once at baseball, and go 1-1 on bowling… pretty fun, but i don’t see myself clamoring all over people trying to track down my own Wii anytime soon… i’m just not that kind of guy…

Then the players tromped out onto the field and Jordin Sparks, with whom i was largely unimpressed with in the past, belted out an absolutely beautiful version of the National Anthem… a version that may have been up for sale on iTunes before the game actually… (it was featured on the front page DURING the game)… and the kickoff ensued…

The Giants opened up with a spectacular TEN MINUTE DRIVE that only put three points on the board, but totally set the tone for the game… The Pats drive back calmly as the teams feel each other out and, with the help of a pass interference call in the end zone, the Pats open the 2nd quarter with a touchdown… 7-3 and it stays that way for a while as both teams zero down on their opponent…

Spectacular defense marks the bulk of the remaining minutes capped at the end of the half with a sack, fumble and turnover from Brady… 12 men on the field, a crucial decision to go for it on 4th and 13 instead of attempting a field goal and defense remains the big story through the third quarter… why did they go for it on 4th and 13? well, they have a huge ego and because three plays before that, facing 3rd and 13, they got 14 on a pretty simple little screen play… also, the field goal would’ve been about 49 yards, matching the longest that their kicker had made all year…

And then there was the FOURTH… amazing quarter that generated three touchdowns and all the nail-biting drama of an epic gridiron chessmatch.. all the way down to the wire and, in the end, we learned again that it is defense that wins championships, a fact that should be no surprise to the Patriots, who in 2002, marched into the Superdome with the task of shutting down “The Greatest Show on Turf”…

AND NOW A WORD FROM SOME SUPER SPONSORS

Lots of commercials from the game and many of them were quite forgettable… some of them, we all wish that we could forget, but here’s my short list of favorites…

CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE

okay, i’m going to have to come back to ranking the games another time… i’m running out of time and space… and i want to touch on Super Tuesday… first, i want to roll back the clocks and take a look at what i posted in the old blog back on November 13th, 2006…

05. Change
Change seems to be the vehicle that all the democrats campaigned on… that and some very bitter acts of name calling and mud slinging… and this approach to campaigning clearly worked as the government has changed hands… but here’s the thing about change… it’s great in theory and it’s a perfect platform on which to run… hey, no one is really content in life today, so why not promise change? . . .
[however] the “change” that was promise is unlikely to flesh out into anything substantial… “

And what do we hear touted left and right in the campaigns and debates so far? Change!

MORE CHANGE?… when the 110th Congress took office, it was the first time in 12 years that the Democrats (a.k.a. the Change touters) controlled both branches… at that time, a poll showed that 68% of Americans were optimistic about the changes and about 50% were confident that Congress would accomplish a lot of those changes… right now, well, at the time of last week’s State of the Union Address, the approval rating for the 110th Congress was 18%… that’s almost half of the President’s 32% rating… how’s that change working out for you? i’d guess not so well…

VOTE VOTE VOTE…

21 states are up for grabs today and that’s enough to make or break a campaign… i’m kind of sitting on the sidelines right now waiting and hoping that Huckabee is still on the ballot and in good shape come next week when i get to vote… but this morning, as i was praying, i had impressed upon my heart the reminder that no kings or authority is given except that which is within God’s will… and part of His plan… UPDATE: Mike Huckabee has won West Virginia, Romney cries foul play (of course)…

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 1-2

Fear, Trembling and a Reminder…

Jericho was so terrified of the Israelites that they sealed themselves off from the world altogether… verse one says that no one was allowed to come in or go out… that’s pretty extreme… and apparently not the best defense mechanism… i don’t want to stray too far from the main point, but this strategy seems to be the on adopted by many Christians… many of us seem so terrified of the world around us that we try our darndest to shut everything else out… but we’re not given a spirit of fear…

Anyway, then God points to the status of Jericho as a reminder of His promise to deliver Jericho to Joshua… but how?…

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg…

Chapter 5: Untie Your Ropes (continued)…

The rest of the chapter talks about some of the things that some of our Bible Heroes had to untie and let go of in order to fulfill their calling… Moses had to shed his need for security, David had to overcome the nay-sayers (including his own brothers)… Ortberg also talks about the concept of detachment, which simply means living like there is nothing more important than our relationship with God and shedding all encumbrances that would hinder the development of that relationship and he reminds us that sometimes we have to untie these “ropes” every day…

AND WITH THAT, YOU GET EGGROLL?

here’s a few new things from theTRu… An interview with Foolish Things and a new Left to Write… plenty more coming…

peace… love… bdg…

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Have you missed me?… i’ve been pretty tied up with work and errands… and i’ll tell you what, i love holidays and all, but it really screws up your sense of schedule… anyway, with all the illness going around, it’s added to it all to of that and made me perform at like half speed… in fact, it looks like i have a writer’s strike beard going on and i think i’m going to have to get shaving soon because it’s all itchy and stuff… eh, don’t mind me, it’s the congestion talking…

So the big news during my absence has been that Fred Thompson dropped out of the presidential race and i guess some people are now reporting that he was only really testing out the waters so that he might be picked as a running mate… sounds like a career underachiever to me… why would you brag about that?… anyway, the other big news is that Heath Ledger is dead… no joke, or recurring joker character in the new Batman movies… the questions surrounding his death include whether or not it was a drug overdose and how Mary-Kate Olson ties into the whole thing…

yeah, i’m doing no good here, so why don’t we move on…where did i leave off last time… that’s right disillusionment…

RON-PAUL-UTION…?

so it seems like everywhere i go these days, there are Ron Paul banners strewn about on the side of the road or banner ads everywhere or even worse, the moronic online militia posting negative comments about every other candidate, talking conspiracy theories and basically being a nuisance… now, keep in mind, i don’t think that everyone who supports Mr. Paul is a moron, it’s just those who refuse to accept the strengths of other candidates and the weaknesses of their own…

In fact, Ron Paul has a lot of good things to say and it’s no wonder that he’s been able to amass such a following… when it comes to the economy, he certainly seems to know his stuff… and with the recent shift in focus at the debates to key in on economic matters, it looks to favor Paul for as long as they let him talk…

However, Paul seems to be one-dimensional in that regard and is more like Bill “It’s the economy, stupid” Clinton than the Ronald Reagan persona he tries so hard to embrace… if it is just about the economy, then Ron Paul is probably a great choice… but it’s not just the economy… people listen to you when you talk about the economy and people like it when you promise to fix the economy because the average person becomes short-sighted when it comes to money… we, as a nation, are so willing to sacrifice ethics, safety, moral responsibilities, our family, and just about anything on the promise of prosperity…

Look back at Bill Clinton’s time as president and you can see what happens when you just focus on the economy… by the end of his term, we as a nation had experienced the most publicized and morally bankrupt trial of a man’s infidelity… our military was depleated and, despite rolling with the good times throughout his presidency, the country was in a recession… the point is not that we shouldn’t focus on the economy – because i think that we’ve overlooked basic, common sense business practices as a nation for far too long – but the tunnel vision can only last for so long before everything collapses…

Ron Paul’s statements about foreign policies and other practical issues really show a lack of depth and understanding that’s necessary to be in such a high position of authority which outweighs his positive statements about the economy… bottom line, it’s more than just the economy, stupid…

FOOTBALL

Another set of good to great games last weekend… the Patriots managed to shut down the Chargers pretty well… even with Darth Vader trying to manipulate the force from the sidelines… and the rootin’ tootin’ Green Bay Packers, led by Yosemite Brett Favre couldn’t overcome the elements and knock off the Giants, who are apparently sponsored by Franks Red Hot, hot sauce… of course i’m disappointed that the Pack didn’t pull it off, but they were totally outplayed for the whole game and it’s only fair that they win…

this means of course that the Patriots and the Giants will be in the Superbowl down in Arizona and it’s going to be…. eh, an okay game at least… i’ll talk more about it later on…

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Monday was Martin Luther King Day and i have a few things to say about it… first is that there was apparently an MLK patio sale at a local store… i know this because The Tony Kornheiser Show is back on the air and Tony was ranting about how inappropriate it was to advertise a patio furniture sale and attach the name of someone who assassinated to it… His argument was that of all the things that Martin Luther King Jr stood for in his life, patio furniture sales shouldn’t be his legacy in pop culture… which is fine, except he continued to say that it would be okay to have President’s Day sales, Christmas sales, etc… if i’m not mistaken, Lincoln was assassinated and that guy they named Christmas after, too…

Anyway, little boy, who is in Kindergarten, learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. in school… now, i’m not sure all that was said during the lesson or lessons, but he told me that King was a good man, who told people to love everyone and that he had a dream before he was “killed by the bad white man”… interesting to say the least…

i guess my problem overall is that he’s in Kindergarten… he doesn’t have any concept of race… and he shouldn’t… he’s innocent in that regard… as he should be… i see this as a subtle attack on innocence and maybe i’m just being a little overprotective – again, i don’t know what the lesson was about – but i have a dream where kids aren’t taught from an early age that race is an issue only to be taught later on that race isn’t supposed to be an issue… it’s already not an issue… just let us all be neighbors… i’m probably rambling…

GHOST IN THE MACHINE (part eleven)

Long time readers will appreciate this… this time, it’s my laptop… my trusty, faithful, german shepherd of a laptop… except that it’s been acting up in most every way imaginable… first it started acting slow… i figured that it was because i hadn’t shut down in quite a while… well then i got it all rebooted and such and my browser kept freezing… and freezing… and freezing… so i ended up having to uninstall, reinstall, shop around and now i’m splitting time between different browsers… in the meantime, i’ve gotten my email migrated and lost my filters and address book… so i’m still in the process or rebuilding all that… my other computer is actually acting worse, but i’ll save that for another day…

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 5: 1-12

This is a difficult subject to talk about… but it’s part of the covenant… they’re across the Jordan, God’s been faithful and they’re all in good spirits, preparing to start battle against all the countries that lay ahead… and at the big pep rally, Joshua says, it’s time to get circumcised… then it explains that this was the next generation and that they hadn’t been circumcised in the desert because of all the disorganization and disobedience… now they’re all caught up with their end of the bargain, recovering from the surgery during the time that is afforded by the fear of the Amorite kings… and, having been cleansed, they can celebrate passover and enjoy the food of the land…

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg…

Chapter 4: Master the Inner Game…

This chapter talks about the two distinct games that we are playing… an inner game and an outer game… the outer game is what we get credit for, but it is simply an outpouring of the inner game… Ortberg says that the possibility of mastering the inner game is the biggest reason that we even play the outer game… everything external is wasting away despite our efforts to stave off the effects of aging, but i think we need to recognize and embrace the relationship between external and internal, physical and spiritual, temporal and eternal… doing that isn’t easy, especially in a world that likes to compartmentalize everything… props to Ortberg for the Dorian Gray reference… great book there…

BEFORE YOU BREAK MY HEART

Here’s the stuff from last time… a concert review, an interview with Chris Rice and aWalk TRu for Night Owls 4…

Newer postings include an interview with Ronnie Freeman and a new iTRu-nes Playlist…

COMING SOON

the weekend… man, writing in the blog really winds the clock down… but yeah… i’ll shave, i’ll get better and i’ll talk about more stuff… on theTRu, i’ve got a WalkTRu, Left to Write, and more in the works…

peace… love… bdg…

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well, this is going to be a quick one because it’s been a long week filled with ups and downs… pretty draining and hard to keep the right end up… but since the football games are now tomorrow… i wanted to weigh in on that and a couple other things… i will say that this three-day weekend has some great timing… amen and amen…

GOING GOING GONE (PART TWO)

Also while i was gone… (i got so carried away that i forgot)… the Procussions have decided to call it a day… Mr. J and Stro will continue to do some solo projects and what not, but, having cited a number of reasons in a MySpace Bulletin, Mr. J said that the group was pretty much through… i’m trying to set up an interview with Mr. J, but nothing’s come of it yet… i’ll let you know…

IT’S PLAYOFFS, BABY

Four teams remain… two BIG games tomorrow… here’s how it will play out… SPOILER ALERT…

Patriots host the Chargers… Randy Moss is in a world of anxiety and confusion because of all these allegations… but it doesn’t matter… Moss doesn’t even matter, really… there are so many weapons on the field that it’s just too easy for the Patriots… i think the Chargers will actually put up something of a fight, but will end up losing by 20 points or so…

Off to the tundra… where the red hot streaking Giants march in to face the calm and amazingly veteran Packers… expect snow, wind, freezing temperatures and a Packers win, baby… yeee ha!

AND I’M OUT

i posted up a concert review, an interview and a new Walk TRu and boy am i tired… more details later, but for now, peep theTRu.

COMING SOON

interviews, walkTRus, Ron Paul… more…

peace… love… bdg…

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i spent a good deal of time on the floor today… we didn’t have a couch in the family room because we had a new one scheduled for delivery today… i worked from home… yadda yadda yadda… this new couch is way more comfortable than the floor… i guess there’s not much point to that story…

ROCKET… YEAH-AH…

well, i forgot to talk about Roger Clemens yesterday… i forgot a lot of things actually, but i meant to talk about Roger and, at the risk of being sports-heavy, we’re starting there… Roger Clemens was named in the infamous Mitchell Report a week or so ago… He was the biggest name on the list of baseball players named as having used steroids and/or other performance enhancing drugs while competing in the Major Leagues… much like many other players, Clemens vehemently denies these allegations even though they’ve been brought to light by his trainer…

i grew up watching Roger Clemens dominating the pitcher’s mound… i clearly remember when The Rocket and Doc (Gooden) were the best pitchers in the world… and watching all these mighty heroes of my youth get picked off one by one to this steroids hunt has been slightly disheartening… i want to believe all of them when they say that it’s not true… but the reality is that many of these cases are in fact true…

having said that, i believe Roger Clemens when he denies having used steroids… i do not believe Barry Bonds, but i do believe Roger Clemens… first, Barry Bonds monstered up over one off-season and his stats really took off for a short period of time before he began regularly falling prey to nagging injuries… Clemens was pretty consistent throughout his entire career, both in body type and performance…

Second, all hitters decline with age, while pitchers who stay healthy can remain dominant late into their careers… Nolan Ryan anyone?

Finally, and perhaps most convincing for me, when you listen to Clemens argue with reporters and such, he’s repeatedly said things like, “my accomplishments on the diamond are not who I am”… he’s achieved many milestones during his career, but he seems to understand that they don’t measure up to the worth or value of his life… they don’t define him… Bonds on the other hand seems very much defined by his accomplishments… i’m just saying that someone with that perspective, who is more concerned about his reputation as a man than his trophies as a player seems more believable…

WIN OR GO HOME (PT. 3)

On to the Sunday games… and the first contenders are the Chargers and the Colts… i know what you’re thinking… you’re thinking this will be a close game… you’re thinking that the Chargers beat the Colts this year and that they have a good chance to win this weekend… well, you’re thinking some crazy thoughts, because they’re TOAST… come on… the Chargers almost lost to the Titans last week… the Titans have NO offense and their defense managed to shut the Chargers down, keeping them scoreless in the first half… if you give the Colts the first half as a headstart, they’ll be up by 3-4 touchdowns… Colts win big here…

WORD OF THE DAY

Eph. 1:19b-22

More Power… this power is the power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead… and raised all the way to His rightful position of authority… This authority that extends from the beginning of time throughout all of eternity… This power puts everything under His feet and appoints Him as the head of the church… here’s why we need to understand this power: as the church, we’re supposed to be the fullness of Christ… His resurrected body…

AND WITH THAT…

we’re moving on… i left my book at work and since i worked from home today, i don’t have it with me… you can check out the latest of my interviews at CCMMagazine.com… this one is with The Scribbling Idiots…

peace… love… bdg…

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well, it’s Saturday and i usually get pretty mad at myself if i do any work on Saturday, but my schedule is still all screwy right now because of the holiday, random days off and general lack of sleep and structure… so, i’m letting today slide because i haven’t updated much this week and i’ve done some planning for the month and it looks pretty full and exciting and i can’t wait to get right to it…

the first step unfortunately is sending out a bunch of emails and phone calls and that may be one of the most monotonous parts of getting work done… it is a necessary part of the job, though, and even though it sucks up a couple hours and leaves me feeling like i haven’t accomplished anything, i’ll bury my head and fingers into these keys and send send send… but first…

POWDER PLAY

It snowed in Buffalo on New Year’s Day… i know this because, well, i suppose it’s pretty safe to say that it always snows in Buffalo on New Year’s Day, but i saw it snowing on TV… while i was watching a hockey game… an outdoor hockey game between the Sabres and the Penguins… i had heard about this game a month or so ago and thought it was kind of a silly idea, much less to be on New Year’s Day, which is traditionally dominated by Bowl games…

HOWEVER, as i was flipping through the channels, it drew me in and i watched a bit of it and enjoyed it thoroughly… well, as thoroughly as i enjoy any NHL game on TV… and it seems that lots of other people did as well… drawing twice the average crowd and double the ratings of the Stanley Cup finals… i think they should it more often… one big downside though is that the fans in attendance are really far away from the action whereas they’re normally right on the glass… they can solve this by expanding the ice to fit the entire field… that’s right HUGE HOCKEY!!!! that’s what i want to see…

RIP-PING MAGAZINES

is it just me or is the printed magazine starting to die off completely?… i know that newspapers and magazines all took big hits with the rise of internet publications and blogs and all that fun stuff… but it seemed that the traditional magazines just had to adjust their business model a bit and they ended up doing alright… lately though, it may have caught up with them… at least three magazines to which i subscribed have recently shut down entirely… others i know of are really struggling to balance their budgets… have we finally reached the breaking point for print magazines? i hope not… print magazines pay better for content than online stuff, but also, i just love holding that i’m reading in my hands…

LAST YEAR (PT. 1)

since i’m still taking my time, dragging my feet with the end of the year charts and such, i thought it might be cool to share my top 25′s as reported by Last.FM… i don’t know that it’s entirely accurate since i wasn’t reporting my iPod usage for a lot of the year and that’s my primary player and there are a few other quirks to it all, but they’re pretty good lists… today, my 25 Most Played Albums of 2007…

1. K-Os – Atlantis – Hymns for Disco

2. Family Force 5 – Business Up Front…

3. Matt Wertz – Everything In Between

4. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere

5. Jon McLaughlin – Indiana

6. The Almost – Southern Weather

7. The Fray – How to Save a Life

8. Switchfoot – Oh! Gravity.

9. Neon Horse – Neon Horse

10. Mae – The Everglow

11. Aerosmith – Young Lust: The Best of…

12. Jonezetta – Popularity

13. Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight

14. Ok Go – Oh No

15. Adam Watts – Sleeping Fire

16. 4th Avenue Jones – No Plan B

17. John Waller – The Blessing

18. George Thorogood – Greatest Hits

19. Hawk Nelson – Smile, It’s the End of the World

20. K-Os – Joyful Rebellion

21. TobyMac – Reinventing Diverse City

22. Mike Farris – Salvation in Lights

23. Deas Vail – All the Houses Look the Same

24. Robbie Seay Band – Give Yourself Away

25. Matt Wertz – Somedays

Some of those will probably show up on my best album of the year list, but some of them obviously can’t… either way, it’s an interesting batch of albums…

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE

yes, i know, no word of the day or in other words… i’m watching the 4th quarter of the Skins game with my mouth wide open right now and it’s getting late (yes, i’m watching a recording)… but you can check out my interview with The Afters by hopping over to theTRu right now and we don’t have to say goodbye just yet… but i’ve got those emails to write…

peace… love… bdg…

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ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE

So, it’s the holiday season and the visitors have begun trickling in… the house is full and it’s a little crazy and it’s difficult – even moreso – to keep things organized, including thoughts… and i normally don’t do updates on Saturdays, but i’ve been pretty off and on this week and i’ve got a few moments to myself here… so, just a quick one, alright?

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 3:6-7… part of me wants to just finish up the chapter today, but i know i’m going to be pretty short on time, so i’ll just focus on these two verses and mainly just the latter… Joshua tells the priests to take the ark of the covenant and lead the way and they do… we already knew they would, so that’s kind of just the facts, ma’am, just the facts…

But, i love the comment here in the next two verses… God’s telling Joshua that he’s going to use the events of this day to exalt Joshua in the eyes of Israel, cementing him as their leader and proving before all men (and women) that God is with Joshua just like He was with Moses… this fulfills the promise that He gave Joshua back in the beginning of the book…

IN OTHER WORDS

Brief sidetrack from the usual program today because, well it’s for a number of reasons, but most specifically, i finally finished reading Relentless, by Robin Parrish and i wanted to share a few thoughts about it…

this book took me a while to get into and i blame it primarily on the fact that it’s HUGE… well, 443 pages and my copy is the big old hardcover… that and, to be honest, i was a bit impatient with the set up… about the midpoint of the book, though, it really took off and i was pretty hooked until the end… the scope of the plot expanded and strengthened which really added depth to the characters and the story itself… very impressive overall, i’m glad to have read it and i’m happy to call Robin at least an acquaintance…

now i’m ready for Fearless, which i imagine i’ll finish by 2010…

FOOTBALL…

here’s how distracted i’ve been… i’m just finding out now that the Steelers won on Thursday… i probably knew, but i didn’t really pay attention to it… here’s my picks for the rest of the games which i’ll likely have a harder time watching…

Cowboys over Panthers

Bengals over Browns

Colts over Texans

Bills over Giants

Lions over Cheifs

Jags over Raiders

Saints over Eagles

Packers over Bears

Cards over Falcons

Bucs over 49errs

Titans over Jets

Dolphins over Patriots

Seahawks over Ravens

Redskins over Vikings

Chargers over Broncos

BEFORE I GO

i just finished up some interviews… probably the last of the year and i’ll be turning them in shortly after i finish this up… after that, i don’t think i’ll have much time for anything until after Christmas… i have just noticed that my interview with The Washington Projects found its way onto CCM’s frontpage… and, oh hey, i’m a featured blogger… looks like i’ll have to try a little harder to post before Christmas…

COMING SOON

i’ll talk about the next great American band…. i’ll talk about The Clash of the Choirs… i’ll definitely talk about football… i might talk a little about politics… i’ll talk about Christmas music… and i’ll post more interviews, reviews and features at everyone’s favorite website called theTRu…

peace… love… bdg..

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