Children of God.

I must go. Enjoy!

2009-02-19T16:36:00.004-05:00

Dear Readers,

I started this blog over one year ago to try to spotlight some of the peacemaking, acts of love, charity, and positivity that often go unnoticed - with a religious twist. It has since evolved to also include random thoughts or cool things I've read. Unfortunately, the time has come for me to focus on other work.

My friend Adam-Who-I-Still-Think-Should-Become-A-Rabbi joined this blog a couple of months ago and posted a few times. That led to our new adventure, Worship, Gotham!

I am leaving Children of God, in part, to focus on our work on Worship, Gotham! (and, as you can see by the lack of posts, we've got some serious work to do).

But, I am also looking forward to my own writing. Earlier this year my wife and I went to dinner with our friend Mary. She asked us if there was anything we wanted to accomplish before we turned 30. I've never put an age-goal for accomplishments or activities but it did get me thinking. I want to write a book!

I will use the handful of minutes that it took me to blog here to write (books?) instead. I don't know yet the format that this writing will take. There's a children's book I wrote that I once submitted to a publisher and was rejected - perhaps I should go back, rework it, and forward it to other publishers. Maybe I'll write the great Latino American novel I've always wanted to write.

Whatever the case, you can rest assured that in all that I do, in all that I write, there will be hope, there will be love, and there will be God.

I highly recommend the following blogs in the meantime (I check these daily):
Between the 'Burgh and the City - an old NYU friend, Paul Snatchko, blogs about faith, politics, and more.
The Deacon's Bench - Deacon Greg Kandra ponders the world with great insight.
Vision-Mission-Passion - Dr. Barry Kolb, Wendy's uncle and LCMS pastor in Texarkana, writes about church life and sports.
Magdalene's Egg - an ELCA pastor talks sex, religion, and politics.
The American Muslim - Robert Salaam writes about religion, politics, and social issues from the American Muslim perspective.

Do you see a trend?

So, with a heavy heart and excitement for the future, I take leave.

Enjoy,

Christian Alberto Ledesma

One of things I can't quite grasp

2009-02-09T14:29:00.003-05:00

Indulgences. They're back!

Yes, one of the most confusing teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are making a comeback. And, no they're not getting any less confusing.

Thanks to Deacon Greg for pointing out this terribly simplified piece about indulgences. To his credit, Paul Vitello does his best to make a piece about indulgences readable. However, this topic should really get more in-depth analysis.

Read the article here.

My favorite quote from the article:
The good news is we’re not selling them anymore.

Happy Birthday to us!

2009-02-08T05:45:00.002-05:00

I'm 29 today. My wife, Wendy, turns 28 today. We seem to be getting better looking and wiser every year.

Yes, my wife and I share a birthday. We're special like that.

Happy Birthday to us!

We give thanks to God for giving us this much and pray that he allows us to hang around for quite a bit longer.

a little kiss

2009-01-29T12:41:00.003-05:00

I've had trouble posting anything recently because my focus is on my running. As most of you may know, I am running the NJ Marathon and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I've been so focused on my running and health - and so far, knock on wood, doing really well - that blogging is down a few steps on the list. In all, my running is taking an hour or two or three out of my day.

But, I'm still surfing the web and finding inspiration. This one comes via Deacon Greg Kandra and tells a great story:

A woman who doctors believed could remain comatose indefinitely recently
revived after her husband asked her for a kiss.

Just ten days after giving birth to her son, Telford, Shropshire resident
Emma Ray suffered a heart attack and collapsed while shopping with her husband,
Andrew. Andrew performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, after which she
was taken to a hospital where doctors were able to restart her heart.

“She could wake up the following day, she could wake up in a month, or you
may be left with a sleeping beauty,” Andrew Ray said a doctor told him,
according to the Daily Mail.

Andrew went to great lengths to try and rouse his 34 year-old wife from her
comatose state, playing recordings of their baby son Alexander and of their
daughter Ella and songs from their wedding reception.

“I would speak softly to her, clasp her hand, pinch her fingers, all the
time telling her I loved her or begging her to wake up. By the time I asked her
to kiss me I was approaching my wits' end,” he told the Daily Mail.

He bent over his wife’s hospital bed and said “Emma, if you can hear me,
please just give me a kiss.”“'What happened next was beyond my wildest dreams,”
he told the Daily Mail. “She turned her head towards mine, puckered up her lips
and gave me a little kiss.”

“I couldn't believe it. My heart felt like it was going to leap from my
chest –it suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted.”

Doctors who witnessed the kiss were astonished by her response.Emma ray
continued to drift in an out of consciousness. Her brain had been oxygen-starved
after her heart attack, resulting in short-term memory loss.

She was eventually allowed home but requires ongoing rehabilitation for the
brain damage.

“The recovery is awful because I have so little memory,” Emma told the
Daily Mail.Her husband said he was grateful his wife had survived.

“She can walk quite well holding hands now, and at least our kids still
have a mother and I still have a wife,” he said, according to the Daily
Mail.

Holocaust denier re-communed

2009-01-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

I haven't written for almost a week due to work, a high volume of running, followed by extensive exhaustion, traveling, and more running. This has been going around for a day or two. I'm disappointed:

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Jewish officials in Israel and abroad are outraged that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to lift the excommunication of a British bishop who denies that Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers.

The pope's decree, issued Saturday, brings back into the Catholic Church's fold Bishop Richard Williamson and three other bishops who belong to the Society of Saint Pius X.

The liaison for Vatican-Jewish relations -- Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity -- said he was not consulted.

"It was a pope decision" he told CNN in a phone interview. "I have my opinions about it, but I do not wish to comment on a decision made by the pope."

The Society of Saint Pius X was founded by Archbishop Lefebrve, who rebelled against the Vatican's modernizing reforms in the 1960s, and who consecrated the men in unsanctioned ceremonies. As a result, Pope John Paul II excommunicated the four in 1988.

Within the Catholic Church, many Vatican analysts suggests that in an attempt to heal one rift with ultra-conservative church members, the pope is risking creating a wider gap with those more liberal groups that have fully embraced the changes and reforms.

The church's decision to lift the excommunication comes a few days after a Swedish television aired an interview with Williamson in which the 68-year-old claimed the Nazis did not use gas chambers.

"I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against -- is hugely against -- 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler," he said in the interview, which appeared on various Web sites since its broadcast. What do you think?

"I believe there were no gas chambers," he added.

He added: "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them by gas chambers."

Prosecutors in Regensburg, Germany, where the interview took place -- and where the pope once taught -- are investigating Williamson's comments on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. Holocaust denial is treated as a crime in Germany.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, who now heads the society, distanced himself from Williamson's position. He told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that Williamson was responsible for his own opinions.

Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee called the move by the Roman Catholic Church "shameful."

By "welcoming an open holocaust denier into the Catholic Church without any recantation on his part, the Vatican has made a mockery of John Paul II's moving and impressive repudiation and condemnation of anti-Semitism," he said.

Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, also expressed disappointment at the pope's decision.

"The decree sends a terrible message to Catholics around the world that there is room in the church for those who would undermine the church's teaching and would foster disdain and contempt for other religions, particularly Judaism," he said. "Given the centuries-long history of anti-Semitism in the church, this is a most troubling setback."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called Williamson's remarks "absolutely indefensible."

He said the Vatican's decision to accept Williamson was part of its desire to normalize relations with the ultra-conservative group, and had nothing to do with the bishop's personal views.

But Rabbi Rosen dismissed as meaningless the Vatican's claim that the decision to welcome back Williamson did not mean the pope shared his views.

That explanation "does not resolve the question of how can the pope or the Vatican -- committed to fighting anti-Semitism which the late Pope John Paul II called "a sin against God and man" -- embrace someone who denies or at least minimalizes the Holocaust.

The move has the potential to set back Jewish-Catholic relations, which was strained by Pope Pius XII. The Pontiff during World War II, he is accused by some historians of failing to speak out against the Holocaust.

"While there are still hundreds of thousands of living Holocaust survivors amongst us who carry the scars of the Holocaust in them, to accept back a Holocaust-denying bishop raises questions if the Vatican under Pope XVI has learned the lesson of the Holocaust," said Amos Hermon, who heads the Task Force Against Anti-Semitism at Israel's Jewish Agency.

Some theologians say the decision by the pope -- who said he wanted to unite the Catholic church -- could be counter-productive. "This is not so much an act of grace as a surrender," Vatican analyst Marco Politi told The Times of London.

Pope Benedict was seeking reconciliation, "but the new era has begun with a lie. The pope has made a openly declared and unshakeable anti-Semite a legitimate bishop," Politi added.

The pope has twice visited synagogues, in the U.S. and his home country Germany, but recently stated, according to The Times, that dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims "in the strict sense of the word" was "not possible."

After his 14th birthday in 1941, Benedict -- then called Joseph Ratzinger -- was forced along with the rest of his class in Bavaria, southern Germany, to join the Hitler Youth. However his biographer John Allen Jr., said Ratzinger's family was strongly anti-Nazi.

It's a New Day

2009-01-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

Martin wasn't dreaming for nothing:

Happy Birthday, Martin! and, thank you

2009-01-19T15:34:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.!

May each year that we celebrate, bring us closer to your dream.

My friend, Paul, posted King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. A great read.

World Religion Day?

2009-01-13T21:49:00.003-05:00

I never knew there was one, but apparently this Sunday is World Religion Day. And the Baha'is are going to celebrate:

Baha'i faith celebrates 'oneness' of religions

Milwaukie woman is a national leader in the Baha'i faith

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, January 13, 2009

World Religion Day is coming up this Sunday and if you have ever wondered what that is all about, Erica Toussaint can tell you.

The Milwaukie resident, a member of the Baha'i Faith, said the Baha'is began World Religion Day in 1950 as one of the observance days to “heighten public awareness of the concept of one common faith,” a major component of the Baha'i Faith.

On Jan. 18, Toussaint will meet with her local Baha'i Faith group, and on that day their prayers will focus on “the oneness of religion with God.”

There are 600 Baha'i Faith members in the greater Portland area, she said, divided into 22 communities; Toussaint belongs to the NW Clackamas County Baha'i community, with about 25 members.

The Baha'i Faith takes its name from its founder, Baha’u’llah, an 18th century prophet born in Iran, Toussaint said.

Baha’u’llah “means glory of God in Arabic,” she added.

The basic tenets of the Baha'i Faith are a belief in “the equality of women and men and the essential oneness of all the world’s religions. Baha’u’llah believed that all [religious] founders, all messengers, were all great teachers, including Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus and Muhammad. [They were] all inspired by the same God to educate humanity to bring together the unity of mankind,” Toussaint said.

There are a few things that distinguish the Baha'i Faith from other religions, she said, the first being that there are no clergy, and there are few established churches.

“Everyone is responsible for his or her own service — this is an independent investment of faith, we have no congregational mentality,” she said, noting that Baha'is pray together in “devotional meetings that are neighborhood based,” usually in other members’ homes.

Fast growing religion

There are about 160,000 Baha'i Faith members in the United States, and that number is growing so quickly that the National Spiritual Assembly “took a step back to systematically figure out how to welcome new believers. We then embarked on a 25-year-devlopment program world-wide.”

That led to the training process that is currently underway to form children’s classes and classes for junior youth, ages 12 to 14.

Baha'i roots

Toussaint said her Baha'i roots go back to 1912, when her grandfather, then a Unitarian minister, heard the son of Baha’u’llah speak about the Baha'i Faith.

“He became a Baha'i and had one child, my grandmother, who became a Baha'i, and then my mother, who became a Baha'i. My mother made sure I had every opportunity to study every religion, so when I turned 15, I formally became a Baha'i,” she said.

Toussaint attended Milwaukie schools, and noted that she was the only Baha'i in high school, and “took pride in being different.”

She did not think when she was a teen that there would be so many of the Baha'i Faith in the area, she said.

Toussaint added, “I think people are looking for unity. I am a Baha'i, because these teachings are deeply spiritual, clearly moral and make so much sense. It is a practical way for all mankind to truly live as brother and sister. I practice these teachings in order to experience the commonality and richness of the human family.”

Baha'i Faith members elect nine-member councils locally, regionally and nationally to guide followers, Toussaint said, and communities meet once a month to “pray, consult and hear from the local council.”

She noted that founder Baha’u’llah used the number nine, the highest single digit, “symbolically, as a sign of unity.”

Toussaint is beginning her ninth year on the nine-member National Spiritual Assembly, to which she was elected in 2000.

“We all knew a long-serving member was retiring, but when my name was called I was overwhelmed. The Baha'is have a great deal of respect [for the National Spiritual Assembly board] because they govern with love and vision."

For more information about the Baha'i Faith visit the Website at www.bahai.us.

Oh, the things you'll do for Jesus

2009-01-12T06:44:00.001-05:00

I found this in the NY Daily News this morning:
Taking a leap (and dive) of faith in Greek tradition

BY LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, January 12th 2009, 5:21 AM

Now that's faith.

Paul Apostolakis braved the frigid, whitecapped Hudson River Sunday in his lifeguard trunks to retrieve a gold cross thrown in by the Rev. John Romas of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

The diving ceremony off Pier A in Battery Park was part of an annual church ritual that commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

Whoever retrieves the cross is thought to have good luck for the year.

"Like Father tells me, I do this for God, and he's going to be there for me," said Apostolakis, 20, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

The deep-freeze dive has been a tradition since St. Nicholas was founded in 1916.

The church, which was located on Cedar St. in lower Manhattan, was destroyed on 9/11.

Its temporary home is at Sts. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Brooklyn.

Three men who'd planned to participate in the cross dive backed out, leaving Apostolakis as the sole swimmer.

The Rider University student is a member of the school's diving team and has fished the cross out of the water at four previous celebrations.

"It wasn't as cold as the other years," he said modestly. The air temperature Sunday afternoon was 30 degrees, according to AccuWeather.com.

His mother, Pauline Apostolakis, watched proudly from the shore.

"He likes to keep tradition," she said.

Ein Keloheinu!

2009-01-10T17:59:00.003-05:00

Last night, Adam and I went to Shabbat Services. You will be reading about our trip at Worship, Gotham! soon.

In the meantime, enjoy the Ein Keloheinu as done by a Harlem Gospel Choir from one of my favorite movies, Keeping the Faith:

Anyone up for a little B'nai Jeshurun?

2009-01-09T12:32:00.003-05:00

We have posted our upcoming schedule on Worship, Gotham! so that anyone interested in joining us on our visits through the holy city of New York knows where we'll be each weekend. So, far we've just listed tonight's visit but hopefully we'll set up the schedule in advance so you can plan accordingly.

Still, if you're looking for a good time tonight, Adam and I will be trekking to Shabbat Service at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun. We will be attending the service at 7:30pm.

Join us!

Throw the baby away

2009-01-09T06:24:00.005-05:00

Christian wades into a controversial topic:

I recently had a conversation with someone about Down Syndrome. The issue of "making a decision" during the pregnancy came up. They said that it might be best if the baby didn't make it to term. I whole-heartedly disagree. Everyone deserves a chance. Did you know, by the way, that about 92% of the pregnancies diagnosed as Down Syndrome end in an abortion? I'm not here to judge a couple or an expectant mother going through this. The news must be devastating and I can't begin to imagine what that is like. I'm just deeply saddened that the Down Syndrome babies don't get a chance to live.

Then, I was reading CNN.com this morning and read about a "cancer-free" baby being born in the UK. Essentially, the baby was created in-vitro, tested for the the gene linked to breast and ovarian cancer, and implanted when it cleared the test.

If the embryo had been found to carry a cancer-linked gene, she probably would have been discarded. Disgusting:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The first child in Britain known to have been screened as an embryo to ensure she did not carry a cancer gene was born Friday, a spokesman for University College London told CNN.
Genetic screening allows lab-fertilized embryos to be tested for genes likely to lead to later health problems.
The baby girl is the first child in Britain known to have been screened as an embryo to ensure she did not carry a gene linked to breast and ovarian cancer.
She was screened in a lab, days after conception, for the BRCA-1 gene. People with the gene have a 50-80 percent chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer in their lifetimes.
British newspapers have dubbed the girl the "cancer-free" baby.
"This little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life," said Paul Serhal, a consultant at University College London Hospital and Medical Director of the Assisted Conception Unit.
"The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."
Yet not everyone is thrilled with the idea of testing embryos for genes that could cause health problems later in life, a process known as preimplanatation genetic diagnosis.
"This is not a cure for breast cancer," said Josephine Quintavalle, co-founder of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, which describes itself as group that focuses on ethical dilemmas related to reproduction.
"This is simply a mechanism for eliminating the birth of anybody (prone to) the disease," she said. "It is basically a search-and-kill mechanism."
She opposes the procedure because embryos found to carry disease-causing genes often are discarded. She says that is essentially murder.
"They will be destroyed," she said. "They will never be allowed to live."
Doctors in Britain and elsewhere increasingly test embryos for genes that are certain to cause illnesses such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's Disease.
What's different about the girl born Friday is that she is the first infant known to have been tested in Britain as an embryo for a gene that is merely likely -- not certain -- to cause disease.
In the United States, geneticists are free to test for any condition for which they can develop a probe -- and they're free to look for genes that are certain to cause diseases as well as genes that merely may pose problems later in life.
Quintavalle opposes any form of in-vitro fertilization where embryos are "killed," she said. But she is particularly troubled by the idea of screening an embryo for the BRCA-1 gene because carriers of the gene do not always develop the disease, and the disease is not always fatal.
"The message we are sending is: 'Better off dead than carrying (a gene linked to) breast cancer,'" she said. "We have gone very much down the proverbial slippery slope."
Peter Braude, one of the top British experts on the genetic testing of embryos, said he understands the ethical objections but focuses on the benefits.
"There has always been a vociferous group in opposition," he said. But "there are people who can benefit and I think they should be allowed to do so."
In fact, he argues that the procedure actually prevents abortions because it takes place on a three-day old embryo in a lab. Only embryos that lack the defective gene are implanted.
"I don't think you can equate eight cells in a dish to an embryo or a child," said Braude, head of the department of women's health at the King's College London School of Medicine.
For many couples, the alternative to testing an embryo is to conceive a child naturally and test the fetus weeks or months into a pregnancy. Some couples opt for an abortion when such testing reveals a defect.
Diagnosing an embryo genetically typically involves fertilizing an egg with a sperm in a lab, testing the resulting embryo and implanting it in the mother if no defects are found.
Braude agrees that testing for diseases that may not be fatal -- or may not manifest themselves for decades -- raises thorny ethical questions.
"How serious does it have to be before you throw away an embryo?" he asked. "Are you prepared to throw away a 16-week embryo for Huntington's, which will not manifest until age 40?"
In Britain, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority determines the conditions for which geneticists can test. It has approved testing for more than 60 conditions since it was established in 1990.
The authority approved testing for the BRCA-1 gene in 2008.
Dr. Mark Hughes, who founded a genetics clinic in the United States, said he likes the idea of an authority that regulates what tests can be performed -- the system in place in Britain -- but believes that parents who want to test for genetic abnormalities should be allowed to do so.
At his Genesis Genetics Institute in Detroit, Mich., Hughes carries out about two tests a month for BRCA-1 or BRCA-2, a related gene.
"The couple is the best one to be making these decisions, because they live with these diseases," he said.
"When it hits your family over and over again, many couples are saying: 'Enough of this. Let's prune this out of our family tree forever.'"
He rejects the notion that parents will use genetic testing to remove all imperfections from children.
"You can get up on your high horse and say people are looking for perfect children, but let's give these families more credit," he said. "They just want one that has a fighting chance of not having a disease."
Hughes said he doubts genetic screening will ever be used to test all babies. That's partly because it costs the equivalent of about $11,755 -- 8,000 British pounds -- to screen embryos.
It's also because the process is very complex.
"It's gotten easier to do now than it was 19 years ago," when Hughes did his first test for cystic fibrosis, he said. "But it has not exploded, not burst onto the medical field like some technologies do.
"No one would use these technologies for a trivial reason. It's too much effort," he said. "Not just the money -- it's so many hoops to jump through for a couple that would prefer to make their baby on vacation rather than in a clinic."

Worship with us!

2009-01-07T00:16:00.000-05:00

Adam and I were joined by two friends this Sunday when we attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

My thoughts on the visit are available at Worship, Gotham!

On a related note, our friends, the follower of Meher Baba and the lapsed Catholic, seemed to enjoy their Worship, Gotham! visit. If you'd like to join us sometime, let us know.

Worship with us!

The American Muslim on Gaza

2009-01-06T08:11:00.002-05:00

I hadn't realized that The American Muslim had already posted his own thoughts on Gaza last week. Excerpts here:

It’s not just the Israeli’s whom we Muslims should be focusing on. I have received email after email giving notice of planned protests, denunciations, etc. and quite frankly I have to admit I’m a little disappointed to put it mildly. Why is it that every time something happens in Gaza we Muslims can’t see the 800 pound Gorilla in the room?
Allah (swt) knows that I am not denying the brutal onslaught on the Palestinians committed by the Israeli government, but Allah (swt) also commands me to use my reason and to be patient before I react in pure unadultered emotion as some of us are.
Many innocent civilians have been killed in the latest flare up. Over 300 dead and over 1000 wounded Palestinians at this point, and I think at most 5 Israelis have been killed or injured. So of course the disproportionate nature of victims prove that this is a heavy handed response, but the keyword that we fail to acknowledge as we
condemn Israel is the word response.
What are the Israeli’s responding to? That is the question we Muslims never ask. We love to deal exclusively in the effects of a situation but rarely engage in the causes behind them.
We have to call Hamas to account here. They are not the victims. They refuse to deal in a manner in which is honorable, peaceful, and justified. They fired rockets in Israel, they broke the cease-fire, and the cowards purposefully ensure that they do so from civilian compounds so that when the Israelis respond the amount of civilians that are killed are maximized.
Let’s be realistic, if Israel had in mind that they wanted to kill Palestinians indiscriminately they would just do it. They obviously have the capability and the so-called Muslim world wouldn’t do anything about it. It’s all a game these countries play. No one actually cares about the Palestinians or Muslims around the world suffering until Israel does something big enough to give them a stage for political posturing.
If we really wanted to pontificate in a meaningful way we would reign in Hamas and
call them to account for the role they played in the deaths of all the innocents on both sides. These thugs who claim to represent a noble cause are anything but. If they were really warriors or Mujahadeen as they play on TV they would face the Israeli Army in battle directly and not involve civilians. The same goes for all the other so-called clerics and groups that have issues with the West and Israel. No true Muslim would purposefully target civilians and other non-combatants, but that’s not how these thugs act is it?
. . .
In war there will always be collateral damage and it is unfortunate, however we
have to critically look at this people, would the level of deaths be so high if Hamas didn’t use civilian dwellings as bases of operation? If you fire a rocket from an apartment building for example and are fired upon in return obviously everyone in the building is now in danger and at risk of dying too.
This is the major problem that we fail to acknowledge, protest against, and pontificate against. Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the other groups do this on purpose. We are all pawns in their game. They are the true murderers, they set our people up so they can be killed. They use Mosques, homes, schools, etc. to draw fire against the innocent and to them the blame for the dead should be placed.
I can’t stress this enough, Muslims wake up, wake up you sleeping giant! We will never advance any goal or ideal as long as we are blind to those who do us harm within our midst. It is perfectly normal, virtuous, and right to mourn the dead Palestinians and call Israel to account for their heavy handed response to the thugs called Hamas, but it is not normal, virtuous, or right to continue to be silent about the Israeli civilians who are killed and live in a state of fear also. It is not normal, virtuous, or right to continue to be silent about how Hamas set the Palestinians in Gaza up to be killed, these deaths were intentional on their part, and if we really cared about justice in the Middle East we would acknowledge their role in the bloodshed as well.

Rabbi Andy Bachman on the Gaza situation

2009-01-05T23:54:00.001-05:00

Rabbi Andy Bachman posted his thoughts on the Gaza situation:

As Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip moves well into its second week, most of us watch from the sidelines or a distance with a heavy, heavy heart over the loss of innocent life. No one deserves to die who has not brought death on to him or herself, least of all an innocent child. So to be fundamentally clear: even those of us who support Israel’s efforts to break Hamas and seriously damage its ability to torment Israeli towns with terror mourn loss of every innocent life and grieve with those families. In addition, our hearts go out to those terrified by bombs dropping in homes,
on streets, in mosques.
But Israel’s war, I believe, is a just war.
When Israel pulled out of Gaza, tearing deeply at the fabric of its own society to uproot families there (a disengagement I strongly favored and still do) the entire world was able to see if it chose to look that Israel was willing to risk the unity of the
nation to take fundamental steps toward peace. The Hamas leadership took the
exact opposite steps, took no risk, brutally murdered its own in waging violent
and bloody civil war with the Palestinian Authority, and continued on its self-destructive path of trying to wage existential war against Israel. Never has it seriously addressed Israel’s justified existence; never has it accepted
Israel’s RIGHT to exist; and never has it seriously sought to make peace.
Rather, it has embarked on a hundred years plan, to wear down the psyche of the
Israeli population with terror, kidnapping, and the selling of a religio-fundamentalist viewpoint that completely de-legitimizes any Jewish claim to the land.
It’s truly depressing.
. . .
And, I’d point out to people willing to read the situation: the West Bank is relatively calm, not only because of security but because the PA was defeated by Hamas in
Gaza and the PA has given tacit approval to Israel’s operation. Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia–each of whom bear as much as or more responsibility for the continued statelessness of Palestinians by not working harder in partnership with Israel for peace (how did all those weapons get into Gaza?)–have given Israel tacit and at time explicit approval for these operations.
Israel will continue to be portrayed as illegitimate; blood-sucking; heartless; amoral; genocidal; racist–you name it. It’s a rhetoric that has lost most of its meaning, sadly, because for years and years people are more comfortable talking and pontificating than holding leadership accountable not only in Washington, DC or on the college campus but in Gaza City and Ramallah.
Remember Ehud Barak’s quote: If I were a Palestinian youth, I’d fight the occupation, too. That is the man who is leading Israel in this war. Despite war’s brutal reality, when Hamas wakes up from its delusional nightmare that Israel has no place in this world, it will in fact find an incredible capacity for making the necessary sacrifices as a nation to live in peace.

Read the entire text here.

The good Lord needed him now

2009-01-03T11:43:00.002-05:00

A friend forwarded this article about the recent tragic passing of a priest. He died trying to help others and this piece is, as my friend said in the email, a celebration of his service:

Grief for 'the Flying Priest'
By Jonathan Mummolo
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Michael C. Kelly, the pastor at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, had a number of techniques for bringing people into the flock.
There was his disarming sense of humor, reflected in the signs he put on the doors of the confessional booths, which read, "Your Name Here." There was his knack for attracting attention, such as when he'd ride his homemade airplane-style bicycles through town, earning him the nickname "the flying priest." And there were his everyday actions, parishioners said, which exemplified the message of giving and self-sacrifice ubiquitous in his sermons.

Kelly, 53, died this week doing one final good deed. While driving to the funeral of another priest, Kelly pulled over in the Hamilton area about 9 a.m. Wednesday during a fierce wind storm to remove a fallen tree from the road so no one would get hurt. That was when he was struck and killed by another falling tree, authorities said.

To the mournful congregation of more than 1,700 families, Kelly's act was the exclamation point on the end of years of devoted service.

"The angels swooped down and carried him off," said a damp-eyed parishioner, Ruth Showalter, outside the Loudoun County church yesterday. "That was him. He got out there for people."

Kelly's father, John F.J. Kelly, put it another way.

"The good Lord needed an outstanding priest," said Kelly, 80, of Foneswood, Va. "He needed him now."
. . .
He walked several paths before finding his calling, congregants and relatives said, serving in the U.S. Navy — where he attained the rank of boatswain's mate, 2nd Class — studying history at what was then Mary Washington College and later working alongside his father as a private weapons and security consultant for the military. He was ordained in 1995, but his love of the military and history never faded. He was a Civil War reenactor, playing the part of a Union soldier from a Massachusetts unit known as the "Irish Brigade."

His gift, parishioners said, was his ability to combine those experiences into a powerful message and manner. In the confessional booth, congregants said, he had a gentle demeanor, encouraging people to "be merciful on yourself." When called for, he could be firm, and he often repeated the slogan "Improvise, adapt and overcome" — a popular saying among Marines — to those facing challenges. After preaching, he implored churchgoers to "continue the march."
. . .
Kelly, who also served at St. James in Falls Church, St. Ambrose in Annandale and Sacred Heart of Jesus in Winchester, had a reach that extended beyond the walls of the church's gleaming white building. Around town, he was famous for riding bicycles that he crafted to look like World War I and II-era fighter planes and appeared with them in parades.

In the afternoons, he would often ride from his residence at the church and wait on the corner for passing school buses full of waving, giggling children who lit up when they saw the flying priest.

"All the kids would be waving, waving waving," said Janice Rees, a staff member at the church. "You'd see the occasional pickup truck full of workers heading home, looking curiously, like, 'What the heck was that?' "
. . .
In a homily last weekend, Kelly, whose funeral is Tuesday, cited a Bible passage that conveyed how giving "completes" an individual. Although they were shocked and saddened, those who knew him said the way he died was not a surprise.

"You never had to ask for help," said parishioner Sheila Cowling of Leesburg. "He was there."

Read the whole story here.

Happy New Year! (and Jesus getting circumcised day!)

2009-01-01T20:08:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! And, as the Title of this post says today is also the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ! I never heard of that, but it's true. So, umm, reflect.

This year my resolutions list includes some things that may be considered impossible but since resolutions are almost always forgotten after a month or two, I figured why not?

Here's my list:
1) Complete the NJ Marathon in May and raise $1132 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
2) Become a superhero.
3) Complete the Urbanathlon.
4) Lower my cholesterol naturally.
5) Travel to and explore the Pacific Northwest.
6) Double our 2008 contribution to charity.
7) Complete 100 consecutive push-ups by July.
8) Save twice as much money as we saved in 2008.
9) Write and finish a book. Any book. Seriously.
10) Hang out with my family more often.

Herod - Just in time for Christmas

2008-12-24T13:02:00.008-05:00

Since tonight is Christmas Eve, I thought I might pass along this (sort of) Christmas-related National Geographic article about the King Herod from the Christian gospels.

The article centers around recent archeologist's excavations that have shed some new light on Herod as a person, his political career and his affect on life in Judea at the beginning of the Common Era:

An astute and generous ruler, a brilliant general, and one of the most imaginative and energetic builders of the ancient world, Herod guided his kingdom to new prosperity and power. Yet today he is best known as the sly and murderous monarch of Matthew's Gospel, who slaughtered every male infant in Bethlehem in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, the prophesied King of the Jews.

Apparently, even soon after his death and before the rise of Christianity, he was hated by a significant part of populace of Judea:

The condition of the sarcophagi fragments confirm that Herod remained vilified even in death: Hammer marks reveal that the sarcophagi were intentionally destroyed. The one made of pink limestone received particularly savage treatment, and was broken into hundreds of pieces. This damage apparently occurred about 70 years after Herod's death, when Jewish fighters occupied Herodium during two brief, ill-fated rebellions, called the First and Second Jewish Revolts, against the besieging Romans. "They viewed Herod as a Roman collaborator, a traitor to the faith and political independence of the Jews,"...."They weren't just looting. This was revenge."

Though, with final requests like the following, that's not all that surprising:

During his last illness he devised a scheme to plunge the entire kingdom into mourning when he died, ordering his army to imprison a crowd of leading Judaean citizens in the hippodrome in Jericho, and to massacre them when his death was announced.

Clearly, not someone you would want to sit down and have a beer with.

An angel brings hope

2008-12-23T12:34:00.006-05:00

Congress has a whole lot of religious folks but do they have angels?

Last night I got a scary phone call from my mom, on her way to the hospital, because somehow my cousin had fallen on a clothing pole at work and it had gone into his eye.

By luck, a miracle, or an angel, the pole missed anything major. There was no damage to his eye, brain, skull, nerves, or blood vessels. He ripped up his eye lid and required stitches but, overall, an incredibly lucky guy.

It seems this girl in the Charlotte area may have had some angelic intervention:

Photo captures image of an 'angel' in Charlotte hospital
In dark time, mom of Mint Hill teen sees light of
hope

By Jane Duckwall - Special Correspondent to the Charlotte Observer
. . .
What originally seemed like a bad cold nearly killed her. “She was on life-support from the moment she got there,” her mother said.

That was Sept. 21. Over the next six weeks in the hospital, Chelsea faced one threat after another: pneumonia in her left lung, then her right lung, then sepsis, blood clots, staph infections, E. coli, a collapsed lung and feeding problems.

In late October, doctors met with the family to discuss “a plan of action,” Colleen said. One of the decisions she had to make was whether she would take Chelsea off the ventilator. Earlier, doctors had removed Chelsea from the ventilator several times, but had replaced it when the struggle to breathe became too difficult for the teen.

But a family meeting Oct. 31 was a turning point. “At that point, the family… agreed that when she did come off the ventilator again, (they) weren't putting it back in,” Colleen said. “Whatever happened, would happen.”

On Saturday, Nov. 1, “they took her off the ventilator and she did good,” her mother said. “She was breathing on her own.”

The next day, “her stats went down,” and doctors put her in an oxygen mask.

But over the next few days, Colleen noticed her daughter “wasn't getting better. Things were kind of lingering.”

And Chelsea, who had been having anxiety attacks and crying throughout her hospital stay, was having more of them. “I said, ‘She's been through enough,'” Colleen remembers. “I said, ‘Can we just take her mask off? She's been through enough.'

“I wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to do. And I really felt like I've had her for 14 years, and if it's time for her to go to heaven, then I know she'll be healed.”

The mask didn't come off immediately, though. They waited until family members had a chance to come to see Chelsea – perhaps for the last time.

On the afternoon of Nov. 5, as family and friends prayed about the decision, a nurse practitioner called Colleen's attention to a monitor showing the door to the pediatric intensive care unit.

“On the monitor, there was this bright light,” Colleen recalls. “And I looked at it and I said, ‘Oh my goodness! It looks like an angel!” Colleen pointed her digital camera at the monitor to take a photo of the image, but the “first picture wouldn't take.” She tried again and succeeded. The image gave her a peace that stayed with her when hospital staff removed Chelsea's oxygen mask.

And then, “when they took the mask off of her, her stats went as high as they've ever been. “Her color was good, and the doctors and nurses were amazed,” Colleen said. “The nurse practitioner who saw the image in the monitor said, ‘I've worked here 15 years, and I've never seen anything like it.'”

Chelsea was removed from intensive care on Nov. 14 and went home three days later.Her mother believes it was a miracle – attended by a very real angel bathed in light at the door to the pediatric intensive care unit.
. . .
On Christmas Day, Chelsea will turn 15 – another miracle considering all of the medical trials she's faced, according to her mother.

“I'm learning,” Colleen Banton said, “that every day she's alive is a miracle.”

Read the full article and see the pictures here.

Religion in Congress

2008-12-23T00:26:00.007-05:00

A few days ago the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a study on the religious affiliations of the incoming members of Congress.

One of the more interesting, though not unexpected, findings of the study was how much more religious Congress is compared to the rest of the U.S. population:

Members of Congress are much more likely than the public overall to say they are affiliated with a particular religion. Only five members of the new Congress (about 1%) did not specify a religious affiliation, according to information gathered by Congressional Quarterly and the Pew Forum, and no members specifically said they were unaffiliated. By contrast, the Landscape Survey found that individuals who are not affiliated with a particular faith make up about one-sixth (16.1%) of the adult population, making this one of the largest "religious" groups in the U.S.

Also interesting is the disproportionate representation of some religious groups. Most notable among these is a group that is dear to my heart:

Among the nation's smaller religious groups, one group stands out in terms of its numbers in Congress: Jews, who account for just 1.7% of the U.S. adult population, make up 8.4% of Congress, including just over 13% of the Senate.

The United States' slowly emerging religious diversity is also apparent in the study. While the overwhelming majority of Congressmen are Christian or Jewish, the study shows that the 111th Congress will feature two Muslim Congressmen and the first two Buddhist members of Congress.

Articles that aren't so depressing

2008-12-22T23:22:00.009-05:00

I just realized that most of the postings I've done so far center around the dismal economic situation in the world. Just to show that I think about things other than the financial crisis, I figured I'd share some non-finance related articles.

On Sunday, the New York Times ran an article discussing the difficulties the holiday season holds for interfaith couples. Here is an excerpt:

In 1970, 13 percent of married American Jews were in mixed marriages; by 2001, 31 percent were, according to the National Jewish Population Survey done by United Jewish Communities. And that rate has risen steadily; between 1996 and 2001 (the last time the survey was conducted), nearly half the Jews who married — 47 percent — married outside their faith. While most mixed families find their own way through the holidays, a small but growing number like the Gawleys, mainly in urban areas, have joined interfaith groups.

In a totally unrelated article, the Wall Street Journal discussed the business of selling the bible:

It's an astonishing fact that year after year, the Bible is the best-selling book in America -- even though 90% of households already have at least one copy. The text doesn't vary, except in translation. The tremendous sales volume, an estimated 25 million copies sold each year, is largely driven by innovations in design, color, style and the ultimate niche marketing.

There's Scripture as accessory, wrapped in hot pink fake leather or glittery psychedelic swirls -- or sporting a ladybug on the cover for no particular reason other than it's cute. There's Scripture as political statement: A new Green Bible, printed in soy ink on recycled paper, highlights passages with an environmental theme.

See, I do think about things other than the fact that the world is ~~entering the worst recession that any of us have ever seen~~ going through a little financial difficulty.

Church Closings

2008-12-22T22:38:00.006-05:00

I know I said that I would stop with the finance related posts, but we all knew that I was probably going to do at least one or two more. So here it goes:

In yet another sign of the current financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports that churches across the country are being forced into bankruptcy because of falling donations:

During this holiday season of hard times, not even houses of God have been spared. Some lenders believe more churches than ever have fallen behind on loans or defaulted this year. Some churches, and at least one company that specialized in church lending, have filed for bankruptcy. Church giving is down as much as 15% in some places, pastors and lenders report.

In an interesting aside, the article discusses the considerate reaction of one Presbyterian Bishop to the bankers that foreclosed on his church:

Last February, the church couldn't meet its monthly interest payments. The lender, Talbot Bank, a unit of Shore Bancshares Inc., foreclosed in August, seeking $950,000, including principal and unpaid interest. It was one of five properties Talbot foreclosed on this year, but the only church, says W. David Morse, a vice president at the bank.

At the auction's end, Bishop Johnson shook hands with Mr. Morse. "These people are not Wall Street bandits, for crying out loud," the bishop said of his bankers. St. Andrew's congregants will likely stay in the building for several more weeks while the bank seeks a buyer.

Though, as is to be expected, some of the people involved in the foreclosure process weren't so happy about what they had to do:

The transaction gave James C. Andrew, the auctioneer, some pause. He was married in the building in 1997 when it was a Catholic church and his two children had been baptized there. "I'll probably wind up with coal in my stocking for Christmas," he said.

Just another sign of how bad things are out there.

St. Nick

2008-12-22T12:39:00.005-05:00

I was watching Religion & Ethics Newsweekly on PBS this weekend and saw this piece on St. Nicholas, the original Santa Claus.

Here are some excerpts from the program:

St. Nicholas was a real person — not a fairy, not someone who’s flying through the sky with reindeer, but an actual person who lived and worked and died and had a full life. He had a Christian life because he was actually a bishop, a pastor.
. . .
He came from a very wealthy family. His parents died at an early age. His uncle was a priest.
. . .
Nicholas rose to leadership in the early church and was named Bishop of Myra, a city on the southern coast of what is now Turkey. During a time of persecution by Roman Emperor Diocletian, Nicholas was imprisoned for his outspoken faith. He was eventually released and continued his ministry until his death on December 6 in the year 343.
. . .
He was known for his generosity and his good will because he was very rich. He literally, by the end of his life, gave away all of his fortune. Many stories talk about the fact that he was so generous that he became known as the Gift Giver.
. . .
One of the most famous stories involves a poor family who couldn’t afford marriage dowries for their three daughters.

The parents were going to have to sell them off into slavery or into prostitution or whatever, and Saint Nicolas came by the house at night and dropped off three bags of gold coins.
. . .
Some legends say he secretly tossed the bags of gold through an open window, and one landed in stockings or shoes that were drying by the fire, thus launching the tradition of the Christmas stocking.
. . .
If you look at the name Santa Claus, you will see its “Santa” means saint, and “Claus” is simply an abbreviation from the “Nicholas.” But the reality is he became a secular image.
. . .
Church leaders emphasize that Saint Nicholas’s generosity was motivated by his Christian faith. The saint was following Jesus’ commands to love others, help those who are suffering, give sacrificially, and to do one’s good deeds in secret. They say Nicholas is a reminder that Christmas is really about the coming of Jesus.

May your stockings be full!

Happy Hanukkah!

2008-12-21T23:30:00.005-05:00

Whether you spell it Hanukkah, Chanukah, Chanukkah or whatever, I wish all of my fellow Jews a Happy Holiday!

For those of you who are not familiar with the holiday, it commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following a successful revolt in the second century B.C.E. in Judea by the religious/military organization known as the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire. The Maccabean revolt was started in response to efforts by the Seleucid King, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to force Jewish assimilation into the greater Greek culture by outlawing Jewish religious practices. As part of this religious persecution, the Temple was converted to a temple to the Greek Gods. This conversion is what necessitated the re-dedication when the Temple was recaptured by the Maccabees.

For a more detailed account of the holiday, Wikipedia actually has a fairly comprehensive discussion.

One interesting quirk of Hanukkah is that while the story appears to be a celebration of the struggle against assimilation, the observance of Hanukkah, since it comes out very close to Christmas, has probably been influenced by Christian culture more than any other Jewish holiday. Just as an example of this Christmas influence, gift-giving, for the most part, isn't really a Hanukkah tradition and was only adopted by American Jews so their kids wouldn't feel left out at Christmas-time.

I realize that almost all religious traditions have been influenced by other cultures, but I still think it's strange that people would choose to transform a holiday celebrating a violent struggle to preserve traditional culture in the face of a dominant societal influence into an imitation of the Christian holiday that occurs at generally the same time. This is especially odd since the story of Hanukkah is far more interesting than the holiday that current American culture is trying to force it to become. Celebrating the religiously fueled violent overthrow of an oppressive regime and the subsequent purging of outside influences on the holiest site in all of Judaism seems far more exciting than celebrating Christmas' wimpy little brother.

On the other hand, with Christmas' wimpy little brother we get gifts. That's more exciting than any story I could ever tell.

God chooses the least

2008-12-21T13:41:00.008-05:00

Yesterday Wendy and I started our Christmas shopping. Hopefully this doesn't become a Ledesma family tradition!

To rest our weary feet we stopped by the Angelika and watched Slumdog Millionaire.
The movie literally makes you cry and cheer. It's painful and brilliant. You can read some review excerpts at Rotten Tomatoes. It is the best movie I have seen all year.

As we sat and watched the credits roll at the end of the movie, I wondered about the $12.50 per ticket and two and a half hours out of our shopping day we spent watching the movie. Was it worth it?

Absolutely! And then some.

But, because the theater was so crowded and slow to exit, we had more sitting and thinking time and I thought this, When we die, as I believe, we go to Heaven (hopefully) and we enjoy in the goodness of God and the company of passed souls. While there, good and dead, will I think that my time spent on this movie was worth it?

And the answer was YES! That's how good this movie is.

The main character is a "slumdog," a "meek," a "poor," a "least," and he dares to dream, find a better life, and love. I love underdog stories and, remember, God repeatedly chooses the least.

In today's Gospel the angel Gabriel goes to a young woman named Mary and says, "Do not be afraid!" He explains what her role in history will be and when she presents her doubt he reminds her that "nothing will be impossible with God." And she believes and the rest is history.

In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal Malik survives the slums by having no fear and believing. It's simple but it's powerful. It's a great story and perfect for the holidays.

You should see it.

Penn meets a "sane" Christian

2008-12-20T23:16:00.002-05:00

It's not often you get to see Penn of Penn & Teller at a loss for words, but you can see it here:

As The Anchoress points out, one of the core messages from this video is what Penn says himself, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that?”

Thanks to The Anchoress via Deacon Greg for pointing this video out.

Another Christmas Carol

2008-12-18T23:13:00.004-05:00

I was debating posting this, but since we started with the Christmas music I figured I might as well.

Please enjoy "The Twelve Days of Bailouts":

Also, the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article about the federal government's plans to bail out Christmas.

I promise, after this there will be fewer finance related posts.

Straight No Chaser for the Holidays

2008-12-18T21:04:00.004-05:00

Last year I was watching this video repeatedly:

It turns out this group, due to their success on YouTube.com, got a record deal and cut a record:

Nicely done gents!

Update: Due to copyright issues now that they have a record deal, the old YouTube video is no longer available. Damn shame too! Here's a recent performance of theirs,

Obama picks Warren and the people are outraged

2008-12-17T19:26:00.010-05:00

Today there is an outrage over President-elect Obama's choice of Pastor Rick Warren to do the Inaugural Prayer.

But, let's not forget that this is Barack Obama! This is the man who uneasily weaved and worked his political-talk through the LOGO Forum on GLBT issues. He is against gay marriage and cites his religion and historical tradition to support his opposition.

So, it comes as no surprise to me when he picks a religious leader (who I actually respect in a lot of ways) who does not fully support a lot of gay issues (which is where I respectfully disagree with him). Pastor Warren does support partnership rights for gays that include insurance and visitation rights but does not support gay marriage. He cites his religion and historical tradition for his opposition to gay marriage. Sound familiar?

In the interview where he states his support for equal rights, Pastor Warren somehow equates gay marriage to incest and polygamy which is ridiculous and where I vehemently disagree with him.

So, folks, Barack Obama is not the change you want him to be - at least not for everyone. I'm glad that Andrew Sullivan is dishing out the rallying cry for our country in saying that "a civil rights movement needs to realize that no politician can deliver for us what we have to deliver on our own."

I know that Sullie was specifically speaking about the gay rights movement, but the same should go for people who make education their movement or fair labor practice or global poverty or anything.

Barack Obama is not the deliverer. You are the change. Work for it. Work hard.

And, in defense of Barack Obama and his decision - one can be friends with and work with people that we tremendously disagree with and not have their beliefs affect what we do.

Just sayin'.

Charities Hurt in Fraud

2008-12-16T23:58:00.006-05:00

As if things weren't looking dark enough in a world where parents are naming their kids after Nazis, we now learn that last week's arrest of Investment Manager Bernard Madoff, who was charged with operating a ponzi scheme that could end up costing investors upwards of $50 billion (yes, that's a b), is having a devastating effect on charities across the country. The Wall St. Journal reports (subscription needed) that Jewish charities are being hit especially hard:

Mr. Madoff was a central player in Manhattan's close-knit world of Jewish charities, serving both as a direct contributor and portfolio manager for individual foundations. Many of his clients are also a main funding source for charities, acting as the key donors who provide large checks necessary to keep them running.

"In the Jewish world, we've just taken a major, central player, and introduced fear and uncertainty all over the system. It's like finding out your brother is a murderer" said Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, which studies Jewish philanthropy. Dr. Tobin estimated the total amount of such giving in the U.S. to be as much as $5 billion annually.

In the most extreme cases, organizations affected by the alleged fraud are closing their doors.

NPR also gives an overview of the devastation.

Kids you should put on the prayer list

2008-12-16T17:54:00.004-05:00

I read this in the NY Daily News today. Apparently a couple of dumb@$$M)+#@&)(%@$ named their three of kids after Nazis - including a three year old named Adolf Hitler. And, of course, they act surprised when people are shocked to hear their child's name. And, oh yeah, they live in NJ.

It pisses me off simply because these kids have stupid parents and it's not their fault. Pray for them please.

Here' are highlights:

Adolf Hitler Campbell is the middle child of three kids given Nazi-themed names by their parents, including a dad who denies the Holocaust occurred and decorates his home with swastikas.
. . .
Adolf has two sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie. The latter, just eight months old, was named for Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler.
The bizarre names came to public attention after a local ShopRite declined to provide the Holland Township, N.J., family with a cake inscribed "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler."
"Other kids get their cake," Campbell complained. "I get a hard time. It's not fair to my children. How can a name be offensive?"
. . .
The parents insist they are not racist, although they don't believe in mingling the races.
And Heath Campbell claims he doesn't understand why people are shocked when they hear his son's full name.

Here's the full text.

Worship, Gotham! begins

2008-12-15T21:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Adam and I went to church. Yes, I took the guy who I hope will someday become a rabbi to church. And he liked it!

Some of the highlights of what he wrote over at Worship, Gotham!

To kick off Worship, Gotham!, Christian and I thought that it would be best to start with a place that was familiar to at least one of us. We decided to go to Trinity Lutheran Church, a Lutheran Church in Astoria, Queens that Christian and his wife regularly attend. Part of the thinking in choosing this church was that since we already had a network of people that we knew around us, hopefully I would feel somewhat comfortable even as I, the religiously ignorant Jew, found myself in the middle of a traditional Lutheran service.

. . .

As for the actual theology that was expressed in the service, to be honest, I am just as confused about Lutheranism and Christianity now as I was before the service. In terms of general Christian Theology, I am still confused about the basic idea of the Trinity. Shortly before the service began, I had the opportunity to read the Athanasian Creed (which is accepted as truth by all Lutheran Churches and by many other Christian Denominations) for the first time and this only confused me more. Apparently, Lutherans, and Christians generally pray to three distinct concepts that are in fact one. The Creed states:

We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.

. . .

I assume the idea of how three beings are actually one has been flushed out by countless theologians. The general idea seems to be that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all distinct, but yet at the same time are one. How this actually works out is still confusing. This might seem like basic Christian theology, but my knowledge of Christianity leaves a lot to be desired (the correction of this problem is one of the main points of Worship, Gotham!).

. . .

In all, even though there is still a fairly large amount I don't know about Lutheranism, I think today was a success. First, I got to meet a bunch of good people. Everyone at Trinity was amazingly welcoming and friendly. Before I even entered the Church, when I was standing outside trying to figure out if I was in the right place, a member of the congregation came up to me and made sure I was OK and assured me that the doors were open and I was welcome. When I got inside, this friendliness continued. Within minutes after I walked in and sat down three people came up to me, introduced themselves, and welcomed me. Secondly, I got to experience my second Lutheran service and my first traditional Lutheran service (the first involved electric guitars and a rock band and was a totally different experience).

Lastly, I managed to get out of bed before 1 pm on a Sunday, which is amazing for me. All in all, it was a good Sunday.

So we have to work out some theological kinks but that's what this whole Worship, Gotham! thing is all about. Read his whole piece here.

Next up, more church! Especially for me. As part of this journey I'm probably going to be pulling double church action on Sundays. In the morning with Wendy and later in the day with Adam. Hey, you can never get enough God.

It's Brutal Out There

2008-12-13T19:15:00.006-05:00

Times are tough. Thousands of people have lost their jobs across the country and with the likely demise of one or more of the big three, thousands more will soon be in pain. In all this, New York City has probably been hurt worse than most places.

It seems fitting that at times like these, religion is experiencing a revival. When things are this bad, the only thing left to do is pray. Check out this article in the New York Times on the upswing in attendance at houses of worship across the country.

I guess this means we will have a lot of company for Worship, Gotham.

The Chronicles of a Fast

2008-12-12T12:30:00.014-05:00

Jesus said in Matthew 6:16-18, "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Today I start a 48 hour fast. It's self-imposed and non-religious so you will see me look rather sad. I'm not going to hide it. There is a religious component to it, though, in that my fast ends with Communion on Sunday.

My first and only 2-day fast came about three years and a half years ago as part of the beginning of triathlon training. It's a way to force yourself to rest, cleanse, and jumpstart your body. During those two days I was on the couch a lot and slept a lot. I remember being very quiet and grumpy, and I don't remember much else. But, I felt like brand new when I came out of it. This time I'm doing as part of my pre-training for the NJ Marathon in May.

This weekend I'm going through it again, but this time, I'm updating on the blog every now and then to have a written record of what it feels like to go through it. My memory is hazy on the first one, so if I hated it, I have no idea.

As of 11:00am, my last solid food was a banana. It was delicious.

I will, for the next 48-hours, limit myself to water, herbal teas, and vegetable broth. Then, on Sunday morning, Communion!

I don't know if there will be any spiritually enlightening moments during this time, but if there are, I'll write them down.

I will warn you, though, that a hungry Christian is often a mean, grumpy Christian. So, if you happen to run into me this weekend, run away!

(Photo of Fasting Buddha at the Wat U-Mong temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand courtesy of astanhope)

The record of the fast

2.5 hours - Had some vegetable broth. It did a good job filling the belly. Not hungry, but my mind knows that solid food is two days away . . .

4 hours - I smell doughnuts. Everywhere.

5 hours - Every conversation I've had seems to involve food. Someone just said, "Let's go get food!" Bah!
7 hours - I'm hungry now. Took a nap. Going out to try and be social.
12 hours - I was able to not be too grumpy tonight by having another cup of broth. Food is everywhere. I see it, I smell it, I hear about it. Going out and being social helped from just staying ont he couch and thinking about food all the time. Going to go read in bed and sleep. Tomorrow will be a harder day.
20.5 hours - I woke up not hungry. I'm thirsty but not hungry. Today I'd like to go help at a fundraising sale at church. We'll see if I have the energy and character to pull it off.
23 hours - I napped for a while then took a nice long hot shower. I'm not hungry but my usually short attention span is much shorter.
25 hours - My mind feels muddled. Foggy. Going to go out for some tea and broth. Then try and help out at church. Saw a news piece on Kids Against Hunger - puts things in perspective. Still I kinda crave chicken mcnuggets.
30 hours - I spent a few hours at church helping with a Christmas sale. I felt like really tired. Going to have some veggie broth and take a nap. Not hungry. I long for the memory and taste of food but not hungry. I think this fast has gone better than the one I did 3 years ago because I've tried to keep myself busy. TV is the devil. Especially McDonald's commercials.
33.5 hours - Clarity achieved. All of a sudden I'm thinking clearly, my mind is fully . . . functional. More water, some tea, and some broth. Yet, Chicken McNuggets are still on the back of my mind. The power of advertising at its best.
38 hours - Wendy and I went to the movies to see Nothing Like the Holidays. Great cast, good movie. But, like many things latino, there was lots of food involved. Every other scene involved food. So, now, though I'm not hungry, I do miss food. And I do miss the feeling of satisfaction that a good meal brings. I also miss the simple energy that you get from eating. So, just 10 hours left. Eight of those hours will be me sleeping. I see the finish line.
46 hours - Slept like a baby but woke up feeling weak. I don't think I've ever felt this weak. Hopefully I don't faint. I have to watch what my first meal is. Has to be something simple yet enjoyable. A bagel? Mmmm.
46.5 hours - I feel sooo weak. Tempting to break fast now just to get some energy and not feel like I'm going to pass out. Read up on it and my first meal after Communion should be fruit. The carb should come a couple of hours later. I think I might order some pizza from across the street for dinner. But, no worries, it's like the healthiest pizza ever.
49 hours - I had Communion and it was wonderful. It was wonderful in the way that Communion should always be with the extra bonus that it was the first solid food in my mouth for 49 hours.
51 hours - after some fruit I went out and had brunch. Probably ate more than I should and I think I got a food/sugar rush. Will take it easy for the rest of the day. Hopefully the physical benefits are noticeable this week.

And thus ends my fast.

God is Thinking of Joining the Teamsters

2008-12-11T23:06:00.005-05:00

Staying (though some might argue that we were never there) on the subject of Jews, I thought I'd throw out this article from the City Journal regarding a movement within the Conservative Jewish Community to interpret halakha to encourage certain labor practices among Jewish businessmen (there might be a couple).

For those of you who are not familiar with the magazine, it is a periodical that is affiliated with the right leaning Manhattan Institute, so the article is slightly biased on whether this is a good idea or a bad idea. However, it does suggest that there is some dissatisfaction with this movement.

Maybe this means that the rise of Religious Left will cause scores of libertarians to flee to more pro-free market Churches and Synagogues. Who knows, but the article is definitely worth a read.

Once a Jew Always a Jew?

2008-12-11T06:41:00.004-05:00

I had a friend who played his saxophone in the shabbat service for a local Jews for Jesus congregation. I happened to be in the same building for a teacher's workshop and dragged my good friend, Bob Who-Is-Allergic-T0-Religion.

When we got there, what struck me was how Jewish the Jews for Jesus tried to be. I simply didn't expect people to greet me with a kind "Shalom." Bob ran away after a couple of Shaloms and I couldn't stay much longer than that because of our workshop, but their setup looked like a small Jewish congregation.

The debate as to whether they are Jewish or not isn't a huge one, but it's still one that brings up a few issues:
- can you believe in a Messianic figure and be Jewish?
- what about the Lubavitch folks who believe Schneerson is the messiah? Are they Jewish?
- what about the halacha which states that once a Jew, always a Jew no matter the conversion?
- and finally from the Christian perspective, perhaps a Christian clergyman can chime in, are Jews for Jesus Christians?

From the Dayton Jewish Observer:

Area rabbis: 'messianic' Judaism not Jewish

The Dayton Jewish Observer/November 2008

By Marshall Weiss

The Cherish The Gift Of Faith advertising spread appears each Saturday in the Life section of the Dayton Daily News. Subtitled "A Listing of Worship Opportunities In The Miami Valley," and adorned with a cross as part of its heading, the two-page spread features display ads from area churches, listed by denomination.

Several months ago, an ad appeared under a new heading: Jewish. The ad, which has run every Saturday since, reads, "Beth Simchat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue invites Jewish Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) & Gentiles with a Jewish Heart to Shabbat Worship Services Saturdays 10:00 AM."

Thurlow Adams, who refers to himself as "Rabbi Tzion," placed the ads on behalf of his six-year-old, 30-member congregation, which meets rent-free in a room at East Dayton Baptist Church in Kettering each week.

A mechanical drafter by day, Adams says he's pleased with the response from the ad.

"I ran this ad in the Dayton Daily News just to reach out to folks who were looking for a Messianic Congregation," he says.

Each week, according to Adams, six to 10 people attend his Shabbat service. The only members with Jewish lineage, he says, are himself, his wife and two grown children, and one other woman in the congregation.

"The rest," Adams says, "are folks from a non-Jewish background who are believers in Yeshua, believers in Jesus and they just have felt and believed that there was something missing in their not being connected to the continuity of Judaism."

But according to Rabbi Judy Chessin, senior rabbi of Temple Beth Or, a Reform congregation in Washington Township, and chair of the Dayton Synagogue Forum, there is nothing Jewish about a "messianic" synagogue.

"When an individual chooses Jesus as their Lord and savior, they have become Christian," she says, "because that's the fundamental viewpoint of Christianity: that Jesus is Lord and savior, and Jews believe the Messiah has not come. It's as simple as that."

Rabbi Hillel Fox of Beth Jacob Synagogue, a traditional congregation in Harrison Township, concurs.

"Every single branch of Judaism agrees that 'messianic' Judaism is beyond the pale of Judaism," he says. " It is clearly Christian belief camouflaged to look like Jewish belief for the sole purpose of trying to convert Jews to Christianity."
. . .

Judaism's main movements - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform - agree that "messianic" Judaism is not Judaism. But the question of whether a Jew who adheres to another religion is still a Jew differs among the movements.

"The question is: is it a conversion to choose the theology of another faith?" says Chessin.

The answer depends on each Jewish movement's beliefs about halacha, or Jewish law.

According to halacha, if you are born a Jew, you are always a Jew, even if you convert to another religion. Even so, Chessin says, the convert would not be considered part of the Jewish community.

Fox says that for most Jews who convert to another religion, should they choose to return to Judaism, they would not have to go through a conversion within traditional Judaism.
. . .

Within Reform Judaism, which does not adhere to halacha, Chessin says, "once you convert to Christianity, you are no longer a Jew." An individual returning to Reform Judaism would have to undergo a conversion.
. . .

"One of the pitfalls for us is that we Jews don't understand," she says. "And when we run up against these people or missionaries or our children are approached by 'messianic' Jews on campus, the kids are not equipped to give the information, clear and straight, that if you believe in Jesus as the messiah, you are Christian. It behooves us not to bury our heads in the sand or run away, but actually become educated in this kind of thing and know that it is false advertising to say they are synagogues."

Read the full text here.

(Photo courtesy of nytimes.com)

Now it Gets Good

2008-12-10T21:31:00.006-05:00

Christian's introduction seemed really formal and very television like, but what he says is true. After criticizing him repeatedly regarding the content of the blog, I feel the need to grace this fledgling project with my presence.

I have to admit that I'm a little new to this whole blogging thing, so I ask all of you (and by "all of you" I mean all three of you, since I would be amazed if more people than that actually read this thing) to bear with me for a few posts so I can get into a good groove. After that, I promise to wow you with new theological and philosophic insights that will shock and amaze.

In this "starting out slow" vein, check out this article on Slate discussing research that suggests that your typical believer in God is nicer than your average atheist. It was fairly interesting and seemed like a good way to jump into this "God Blogging." I promise that subsequent posts will have a little more analysis than "it was fairly interesting" but for now, that will do.

Oh and to expand a bit on Christian's introduction. Not only did Christian and I work together on the Science Newsletter in Junior High, I was the Editor-in-Chief. I know what you are thinking and it's true...I rock.

Aren't you glad I joined this project?

Welcome Adam Who-is-not-becoming-a-Rabbi!

2008-12-10T18:57:00.004-05:00

My friend, Adam, who inspired the beginning of our project called Worship, Gotham!, is now officially a writer on this blog.

Welcome, Adam!

Our history is a long one and goes as far back as working together on the Junior High School Science newsletter. Did I mention we were really cool back then?

Adam hails from Brooklyn, comes from a Conservative Jewish background, and seems to be intrigued by religion. I'm hoping his intrigue will someday translate into his becoming a rabbi but, for now, we'll just pray for him.

So, look out for postings from "Adam Who-is-not-becoming-a-Rabbi" (the pseudonym he chose for himself) and please make him feel at home.

Also, stay tuned for what is sure to become the coolest project ever!

(Image courtesy of Observer.com)

I run to add another day

2008-12-09T21:23:00.002-05:00

About four and a half years ago I started running, and soon after decided to run a marathon. I started running because the doctor kept telling me that with my high cholesterol and family history of heart disease, I was looking at a heart attack and possibly death by age 55. I started running to prevent that. Since then I've done my best to keep up my physical activity, never great at it, but I have become fitter than I was before 2004.

I have seen first-hand the effects of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes in my family. They're all terrible diseases, and in many cases, preventable. I run to prevent. I run to raise money to prevent them. I run to add another day.

Right now I am pre-training for the New Jersey Marathon in May of 2009 and I'm raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. This article I found on Reuters.com explains why this is so important:

Cancer to pass heart disease as No. 1 killer
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cancer is on pace to supplant heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death worldwide in 2010, with a growing burden in poor countries thanks to more cigarette smoking and other factors, global health experts said on Tuesday.

Globally, an estimated 12.4 million people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year and 7.6 million people will die, the U.N. World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said in a report.

"The global cancer burden doubled in the last 30 years of the 20th century, and it is estimated that this will double again between 2000 and 2020 and nearly triple by 2030," according to the report.

By 2030, 26.4 million people a year may be diagnosed with cancer, with 17 million people dying from it, the report forecast.

In men, lung cancer was the most common form in terms of new cases and deaths, while breast cancer was the most common type among women in new cases and deaths, according to the report. More men than women get cancer and die from it.

"This is going to present amazing problems at every level in every society worldwide," the IARC's Peter Boyle said at a news conference.

In the near term, cancer is expected to bypass heart disease as the leading killer globally in 2010, American Cancer Society Chief Executive Officer John Seffrin said. Cancer currently accounts for about one in eight deaths worldwide.

Trends that will contribute to rising cancer cases and deaths include the aging of populations in many countries -- cancer is more common in the elderly -- and increasing rates of cigarette smoking in poor countries.

Some rich countries have made progress in cutting cigarette smoking, which causes most cases of lung cancer as well as many other illnesses. In the United States, the most recent figures show that for the first time since records have been kept less than 20 percent of adults were smokers in 2007.

However, cigarette companies are finding new customers in developing countries. Seffrin noted that 40 percent of the world's smokers live in just two nations -- China and India.

Decades ago, cancer was considered largely a problem of Westernized, rich, industrialized countries. But much of the global burden now rests in poor and medium-income countries.

Many of these countries have limited health budgets and high rates of communicable diseases, while cancer treatment facilities are out of reach for many people and life-saving treatments are seldom available, Boyle said.

"There are more deaths in the world from cancer than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined," Boyle said.

At the same time, progress against cancer has been reported by authorities in such places as the United States and Europe.

For example, health authorities in the United States reported last month that cancer diagnosis rates are now dropping for the first time in both men and women and previous declines in cancer death rates are accelerating.

They attributed the progress to factors such as regular screening for breast and colorectal cancer, declining smoking rates and improved treatments.

Cancer-prevention opportunities exist in countries of any income level, Boyle said, noting that many types of cancer are caused by individual behaviors such as smoking.

Some other "modifiable risk factors" for cancer that Boyle cited included alcohol consumption, too much exposure to sunlight, lack of physical activity and obesity.

Help fight the good fight. Donate if you can.

Congratulations to NET!

2008-12-08T20:02:00.003-05:00

I'm watching the first official hour of NET!

Congratulations to Deacon Greg and everyone at NET for their launch! Best wishes for the success of good TV.

I wonder if they'd be interested in Worship, Gotham! . . . .

Worship, Gotham!

2008-12-08T17:37:00.001-05:00

For the last two hours, I've been suffering from what I think may be my first-ever migraine. Advil hasn't worked and I hate bright light right now. But, through the pain, I received an email that got me excited and, if only for a few seconds, made me forget my pain.

My friend Adam Who-Is-Hopefully-On-The-Path-To-Becoming-a-Rabbi, sent me the following email:

Dude,
We've gone to Hare Krishna prayer worship, I've taken you to
Reformed temples, you've taken me to Catholic and Lutheran Church. Now
that I've got some free time (and I feel like I need to learn more about
different religious services since I am reading my History of Religion book and
don't understand the differences between religions), do you want to do a tour of
the most impressive houses of worship services in NYC? I figure we should
re-hit Catholic and Reformed Jewish (just for St. Pats and Temple Emanu-El), but
I am more curious about other religions and denominations of Christianity.
The Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Ba'hai and the like will take some time to research,
but just off the top of my head we will need to go to Trinity Church for
Episcopalian, Jewish Theological Seminary for Conservative Judaism and Society
for the Advancement of Judaism for Reconstructionist Judaism.
Let me know if you are interested.
Adam

This is the kind of email that makes my day.

I long for the days when I had easy access to various religious services, leaders, and scholars. When I was a student at NYU I was the Vice President of the Newman Club at the Catholic Center. In addition to the regular Newman Club meetings and Sunday Mass, I had access to the Islamic Center just across the hall, met a few times with the Rabbi at the Bronfman Center, hung out and talked religion with Ba'hai friends, went to Buddhist meditation days, attended ecumenical services with other Christian groups, and broke bread with the children of Abraham.

Adam sent a follow-up email saying that perhaps going to the "impressive" houses of worship may limit our experience and I agree. We should go to the places where the rabbis, imams, pastors, gurus, etc will spend time with us, teach us about their religion, and let us ask questions.

This will probably require arranged meeting times, etc. But, if you happen to be a religious leader and are reading this, your services would be greatly appreciated as we set forth to explore the religions of NYC.

Worship, Gotham! <-- that's what I've decided our series is going to be called. I could see this becoming a great television show, a sort of lay God Squad. If only we had access to a camera and production studio . . . .

The pre-training inspiration and confidence building begins

2008-12-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

Team BadAss: Eric Harr

2008-12-06T10:14:00.003-05:00

A long time ago, in a blog far, far away, I named professional athletes to Team BadAss. These are the professional athletes that embody what a professional athlete should be.

Today, I'll just do a quick intro of one the members of Team BadAss Eric Harr:Eric Harr was a guy who had fallen out of shape, was overweight, and working at a law firm in the Virgin Islands. He decided to sign up for a triathlon to help get him back into shape and ended up doing pretty well (finishing ahead of some pros).

Harr decided he was going to do something that few ever have the courage to do, follow a big dream. He decided, after just one race, that he was going to become a pro. He left his work, trained, ate well, trained some more, and by the end of his first year as a "pro" triathlete he was ranked #6 in the world.

Since then Eric Harr has continued racing, reported health segments on television, written a few books, given a ton back to charity, started his own online magazine, and raised awareness for global poverty and national obesity.

Here's a guy who had the balls, yes I said it, the balls to leave his profession for something many of us can only dream of. Granted, he can probably thank genetics a little, but still. How many of us have dreams that go un-pursued?

He dreamed big, made it, and is giving back.

Four years ago when I decided to dream big and run a marathon with no previous running experience, I bought Eric Harr's The Portable Personal Trainer. It's a small pocket sized book with health and fitness tips. Now that I'm training for another marathon and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, I pulled out the book and flipped through it.

The first tip is to not only dream big, dream huge! "It's time to demand more from your body," says Harr on page 11.

Done!

(I think that means that I should go for a run today...)

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-05T23:29:00.001-05:00

An old friend posted this on Facebook. I love it:

Do it!

Where do Communion wafers come from?

2008-12-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

When I was little I used to think that the Pope, at the Vatican, had a big wafer-making factory and distributed them accordingly. I was off by about 4138 miles.

They're made in Rhode Island. Watch!

Hat tip to the good Deacon Greg, who has been getting a lot of press for his Mad Men-like ad blitz for the new NET channel!

the fifth sentence of the 56th page...

2008-12-03T19:20:00.003-05:00

...says, We all know how possible perpetual chastity actually is in reality, and just how few people actually do take this vow freely and deliberately!
- From Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions.

There's always those chain emails and now Facebook things that people always try and get you to do. Well, I saw this one a couple of days ago and didn't do it. I hardly ever do any of them. But, I've seen some pretty hilarious ones recently. So, I stood up, looked for the book nearest me and opened up to the 56th page and read the 5th sentence.

But, wait, I took it one step further. I took the sentence, pasted it into Google, and did an Image search. This is what I got:
What are the cosmos trying to tell me?

I would be king and you would be my queen

2008-12-02T21:04:00.002-05:00

We could be heroes. Just for one day.

Wendy and I were watching TV tonight and I somehow started humming Heroes, by David Bowie, during a commercial break. She sang along, but a different version, the Moulin Rouge mashup.

In any case, I went to look for a David Bowie version and for some unknown reason typed in www.heroes.com. Turns out it's a website dedicated to heroes, real and fictional. It's a fun place to look around if you get a chance. One of their home page stories features Marco Martinez, a former gang member who has received an award for bravery from the Marines.

Read on:
Former Gang Member Receives the Navy Cross

From a gang member to Iraq War hero, and the first Latino Marine fighting in Iraq to receive the Navy Cross, the nation's second-highest award for bravery.When former Marine Corps Sergeant Marco Martinez looks back on his life as a "gangbanger" in New Mexico, he believes he was one step from going over the edge.

Here is a young man who once sat in a car with a gun on his lap, waiting to kill a rival gang member.A few years later, Marco Martinez is ignoring intense enemy fire to save two fellow Marines from almost certain death.

"I was basically a leech on the side of America's body, sitting there, sucking blood out, not doing anything productive. Finally, when I joined the Marine Corps, I understood what it was to be an American," said Marco. You do not have to spend much time with Marco to realize that is his true belief.

On April 12, 2003, Marco, serving with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, responded to a call to reinforce a platoon that had been ambushed. Under fire, Marco moved his team into supporting positions to assault the enemy. He eliminated two hostile fighters on the initial attack after his squad leader was wounded by a grenade blast. Marco took control and led the assault into the area where the ambush had began. Marco and his outnumbered men cleared a nearby building held by enemy fighters. As they entered another area, they took stronger small arms fire from the hostile forces inside. Marco and his men fought their way through the building into a courtyard, where the Fedayeen continued to engage the Marines from a garden shed.

Marco saw that the enemy had left a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher and two rounds on the ground on their way to the bunker. As his team provided cover fire, Marco ventured into the open and grabbed the RPG launcher and sprinted behind a palm tree. The hostile forces targeted Marco – but his assault had allowed his men to safely evacuate the wounded Marines. While the rest of the team took care of the injured men, Marco single-handedly attacked the bunker. Dodging bullets, he ran up to the shed and threw a grenade into the building, killing four enemy forces and ending the firefight.

...

"I really thought I was going to die, and I was at peace with that, because I had done so many things beforehand, where I might have died over misinterpreted glances, colors, girls," said Marco.

...

Despite his humility, the Navy Cross is something that's awarded to only a relatively few people. As a Marine colonel once said, you don't "win" the nation's second-highest military honor; you earn it.

Read the full story here.

And enjoy some Bowie while you're here:

And, upon Wendy's request, some Moulin Rouge:

Make me an instrument of your peace

2008-12-01T22:26:00.002-05:00

'Cuz you can never have enough:

Barack Obama Way

2008-12-01T17:55:00.004-05:00

Wendy and I have been confused by some reports we're hearing of things being named "Barack Obama" something-or-other.

Isn't it way too early?

Granted, he is the first African-American president-elect in our history! That's pretty neat. Yes, he has a good story. But, he hasn't done anything as President yet!!!!!

A Long Island Elementary School is now known as Barack Obama Elementary School. Couldn't they wait four years to make sure he actually turns out to be OK?

In a small town in Spain, the main avenue is being renamed Calle Barack Obama. Umm, why?

Babies are being named Barack Obama. Please don't do that yet!

I voted for him and hope, for the good of our country, that he does an amazing job. But what if he's terrible? Do you want to take the chance that you named your baby after a terrible President? I wonder how many little George W. Bushes are running around the country....

I'll say this, I like Obama's VP and cabinet picks so far. I can just see the day when we need to send someone to resolve some issue with some foreign wannabe. Who do we send?

How about, National Security Advisor Jim Jones? Badass!

Not a cabinet pick, but definitely on the Obama team, Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry? He just might tase you bro!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? She won't take no one's crap!

And wait, if we really, really have to - if you step up to the US we might just have to unleash Vice President Joe Biden. We might as well give you a head start running. You done gonna get schooled Biden-style!

So, he has done that well. He picks a good team.

I have nothing but high hopes for our President-elect and I try to pray for him and his family every day. But, really, he hasn't done anything yet. Stop naming stuff after him please. Especially the babies. It's way too early.

One conservative blogger put it this way:

Imagine a child getting a trophy for just showing up for a little league baseball game.

Amen to that. I remember having to play a whole season before getting my plastic trophy. Sure, I sucked, but I played. He hasn't even started playing yet!

And, so, as I often like to do, I ask that you pray. Pray for our President-elect, our Vice President-elect, and their team. Expectations are high. I pray they're able to meet them.

The Pope says, God has time for us!

2008-11-30T20:22:00.002-05:00

With my belly better, I searched for other perspectives on the beginning of Advent (something a little less doom'n'gloom). The Pope today challenged us to make room for the Lord in our lives:

Having returned from his pastoral visit to the Roman parish of St. Lawrence Outside-the-Walls, Pope Benedict XVI prayed the Sunday Angelus with 15,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. In his words to the faithful, the Pope challenged them to be mindful of how the Lord comes into their lives and to make room for him.

Before the praying the Angelus, he noted the beginning, with the First Sunday of Advent, of a new liturgical year. "All of us say that 'we don't have time' because the rhythm of daily life has become, for us, frantic...God gives us his time. We have always little time; especially for the Lord we do not know or, sometimes, do not want to find. Well, God has time for us! This is the first thing that the beginning of the liturgical year makes us rediscover with always new marvel.”
Pope Benedict then explained that God gives us his time “because he entered into history with his word and his works of salvation to open it to the eternal, to make it become part of the history of the covenant. Time is already in itself a sign of God's love: a gift that like every other thing, man is in a position to value or, to spoil; to understand, or to neglect with obtuse superficiality."
...
The liturgical season of Advent celebrates the coming of God in two moments, the Holy Father explained."First it invites us to reawaken the expectation of the glorious return of Christ; then, as Christmas approaches, it calls upon us to welcome the Word made flesh for our salvation.

“But the Lord comes into our lives all the time,” Pope Benedict reminded the faithful.
Turning to today’s Gospel reading, he said, “Jesus' appeal therefore comes very much at the right time and in this first Sunday it is again proposed with force: 'Be watchful!' Jesus directed these words to his disciples, but also to 'everybody else' because each one will be called to answer for his existence at a time known only to God. This entails the right detachment from earthly things, sincere repentance for one's own errors, active charity towards one's fellow man and especially a humble and trusting faith in the hands of God, our tender and merciful Father."

Read the rest here.

Awaiting Emmanuel

2008-11-29T19:01:00.002-05:00

Tonight I find myself curled up on the couch again for the third or fourth time this week. At first I thought I had caught one of those pesky stomach bugs that 5 year olds spread so well. But, after an analysis of my eating habits this week, Wendy and I may have discovered the culprit: eggs. For some reason my body is reacting terribly to eggs. We think.

In any case, this has blessed me with hours of TV watching and internet surfing time. As a news-junkie, I've spent a good amount of my intestinally-sponsored free time watching CNN and reading stuff on the BBC website. None of it seems good.

Yesterday, a man was killed due to the greed, lack of compassion, and disgusting behavior of Long Island Walmart shoppers.

The death toll in Mumbai has hit 195 dead and about 295 injured. And, there are still bodies uncounted.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue with deaths mounting daily.

The conflict in Darfur has no end in sight, with little being done internationally to help.

Riots kill hundreds in Nigeria and the Congo might erupt in all out war.

Thailand is shut down and falling apart.

New York City is on the lookout for a possible terrorist plot.

And the Dalai Lama says sex can only mean trouble.

No the news is not good today.

Which brings me to Advent. Advent is the season of waiting and preparing for the birth of our Messiah in our Church year. Basically it's the four weeks that lead up to Christmas. Tomorrow begins Advent.

As we decorate and shop, as we make travel plans and listen to cheery-Christmas music 24/7, as we wish that we get that Nikon camera we've been longing for (hint, hint) and eat ourselves into obesity, we should stop, take a look around us and take in what's happening.

There are blessings in abundance, yes. I cannot complain, I've been blessed tremendously. As I sit here whining about my belly aches, I look next to me on the couch and there's a beautiful lady bringing me tea.

But, in this time of cheer and blessings, also remember those who have not. Remember those who are going through less-than-cheery moments in history. And remember that although there is tremendous progress and change happening in the world, the images from the video below are eerily similar to images on the news today:

As we await Emmanuel, I sometimes wonder... we've been around for 2000 years since Jesus was born. What have we done with our time?

(Note: sour stomachs leads to depressing posts)

Victims of Mumbai

2008-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

This attack in Mumbai reminds us of how far from peace any of us really are. Over 160 lives were senselessly lost. It pisses me off, especially since I have no answer for it. Here's a piece from the NY Daily News on a young rabbi and his wife who were killed in the attacks:

Hope turns to despair for Brooklyn family of Mumbai rabbi and wife held hostage
BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM, MIKE JACCARINO AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Hope for the rescue of a Brooklyn-raised rabbi and his wife turned to despair Friday on word that the couple were found slain - along with three other hostages - at a Jewish center in Mumbai, India.

The deaths of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, were confirmed by the Chabad Lubavitcher organization a day after their infant son, Moshe, was spirited out of the building by his nanny.

"Today, he became an orphan," said Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky.

Grimly, the rabbi revealed that Holtzberg called New York as the center was being invaded and warned them, "The situation is not good."

"Then he was cut off," Krinsky said.

Fighting back tears, another rabbi who had been in almost daily contact with Holtzberg called his slain friend "a mensch."

"Tuesday we put the finishing touches on opening a new branch in Bangalore," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky. "He was the nicest gentleman you can imagine. Never saw him without a smile."

In Crown Heights, relatives were plunged into mourning.

"That's it, it's over," the rabbi's cousin, Abraham Holtzberg said, when he got the unwanted call. "They say there is no one alive."

Exhausted from three days of hoping and praying, Abraham Holtzberg said the couple will be buried in Israel. He said Rivka Holtzberg's parents are in India and already taking care of Moshe, who turns 2 on Saturday.

Mayor Bloomberg also condemned the "senseless and barbaric murders in Mumbai."

"We have lost two New Yorkers," he said. "This is a tragic loss for the Lubavitch community, and for our entire City."

Both Bloomberg and Krinsky singled out the couple's Indian nanny, 44-year-old Sandra Samuel, for praise. "Moshe was heroically rescued from that hell by his nanny," the rabbi said.

Moshe's parents were still inside the center when Indian commandoes staged a daring raid early Friday to save them.

Relatives said their death was a tragic ending to what had been a love story, one that began with an arranged marriage shortly before they moved to Mumbai five years ago.

"They lived together, they died together," said a relative who was too distraught to give his name.

Holtzberg was born in Israel. His parents, Frida and Nachman Holtzberg, moved the family to Brooklyn when he was 12.

The third of seven children, Holtzberg was blessed with a photographic memory and quickly rose to the top of his class at a Crown Heights yeshiva. He later studied in Argentina and served the small Lubavitcher communities in Thailand and China before moving to India.

Rivka Holtzberg was also born in Israel. Her parents, Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg and Yehudit Rosenberg, still live there.

A Thanksgiving homily from Deacon Greg

2008-11-27T05:45:00.000-05:00

Deacon Greg posted his homily for Thanksgiving. I think it's a beautiful message. I tried to quote some excerpts but you have to read the whole thing to really appreciate it, so I hope Deacon Greg doesn't mind me reposting it all here:

A priest I know likes to say that Thanksgiving is one of his favorite holidays, and not just because of the food.

The church is always filled, he says, and the great thing is that people come to mass today not because they have to…but because they want to.

He makes a beautiful point. There are no rules saying any of us has to be here this morning. I’m sure a lot of people have other things to do -- trips to make, turkeys to stuff, tables to set. Somewhere, there’s a football game waiting to be watched. In the middle of all that, going to mass isn’t required. This isn’t a day of obligation.

Rather, it is a day of opportunity.

It’s an opportunity to think back on what we have been given…and to give something in return: thanks. Actually, “thanks” is too small a word. We are here to give gratitude. They should call this day “Gratitude-giving.”

We are here to honor, with grateful hearts, what God has done for us.

Very often, in our prayer lives, we spend so much time on our knees, asking for things. Pleading. “God, help me pass this test.” “Keep me from throttling my teenager.” “Help me find a job.” “Protect my son in Iraq.”

The scripture tells us to ask and we shall receive, and to knock and it will be opened. So we ask, and we knock.

But what happens then?

In Luke’s gospel today, 10 people are cured by Jesus of leprosy. Only one comes back to say thank you. Tellingly, the person who comes back isn’t Jewish. But neither was St. Luke. Luke is the only one of the evangelists who was not a Jew. And his gospel was written for those, like himself, who were the outsiders, the foreigners. Christ’s message, Luke tells us, is meant for everyone.

But in the gospel story, not everyone comes back. Only one, a Samaritan, returns to give glory to God. We don’t know what happened to the other nine. Maybe they had turkeys to stuff or football games to watch.

Implicit in this episode is the idea that something is missing. Giving thanks is a vital and necessary part of our relationship with God.

All the lepers were cured. But only one, the one who gave thanks, was saved.

And that is because thankfulness, we discover, is a measure of faith. A measure of our dependence on God, and of our own humility.

But sometimes thankfulness can be hard to express.

Most of us know someone who is having a difficult time this Thanksgiving. The woman who is spending her first holiday as a widow. The father who lost his job and is worried about where he will find Christmas gifts for his children. Those friends and neighbors who are hurting or alone.

Where are the blessings for these and others who are feeling, in a particular way, burdened, afflicted, cursed?

The simple, indisputable fact is this: every breath is a blessing. Every sunrise. Every snowfall. “Bless the God of all,” Sirach exclaims, “who has done wondrous things on earth.” Incredibly, we are part of that wonder, part of God’s continuing creation in the world. And what a blessing to be able to say that!

The German mystic and philosopher, Meister Eckhert, once wrote: “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that will suffice.”

That is why we are here: to pray those words, and to make them matter.

So taking a cue from Meister Eckhert, let’s make this something more than a holiday, more than an excuse to have a second slice of pie and take a long nap in front of the television.

Make this very day a kind of prayer. Beginning here, and now.

As the day unfolds, carry that prayer with you. Live it. Give it. This is, after all, a day for giving -- giving thanks. It doesn’t have to end when you say grace over the turkey. In fact, it doesn’t have to end tonight -- God’s gifts certainly won’t. Every beat of your heart affirms an unmistakable mystery: God has given you life. Extravagant, wonderful, painful, challenging life.

Let’s strive to remind ourselves of God’s blessings, wherever we find them, however they come to us. And to give thanks for them, every day, in every moment.

I want to conclude with a little tradition from my wife’s family. Every Thanksgiving, her dad asks one of the kids at the table to read aloud George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation from 1789.

It includes this beautiful sentence:

"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

That author’s magnificent work – truly the greatest story every composed – is continuing. He has made us a part of it. And that is reason enough for us to be here, on this day of opportunity, not obligation, to tell Him how humbled, and happy, and grateful we are.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving! And remember to pray today!

(Photo courtesy of the NY Times)

Profane Bird in the Freezer

2008-11-26T16:39:00.003-05:00

I borrowed this from Wendy's Uncle Barry, a pastor in Texarkana:

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly open the door to the freezer, the parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

When Rabbi Shlomo Amar says pray, you pray!

2008-11-25T16:00:00.002-05:00

My friend Adam Who-Should-Now-Seriously-Consider-Becoming-A-Rabbi had the following link from The Jerusalem Post on his Gmail Chat:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404824005&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel's chief rabbis are concerned with the direction that the global financial crisis is taking. So, they're calling for a special day of prayer this Thursday. As one who fervently believes that prayer works, I think everyone should add a prayer to their list on Thursday. When you're saying thanks over dinner with friends and family, say a little prayer for a quick and easy end to this financial crisis:

The country's chief rabbis are calling for a mass prayer rally Thursday in the hope that heavenly intervention will stem the global financial crisis.

With Jewish philanthropists reeling and Israeli businesses preparing to make major layoffs, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar have decided that this Thursday, the first day of the Jewish month of Kislev, will be a special day of prayer.

"Education and Torah institutions are failing to make ends meet, and many are in danger of closure," wrote the two rabbis in a statement. "Factories and businesses are firing workers, and many household heads are no longer able to support their families. Therefore, we call on the public to pray one hour before mincha [the afternoon prayer] on Thursday in synagogues across the nation."

We got to pray just to make it today

2008-11-24T21:59:00.002-05:00

Our President-elect isn't going to Church. The reasons make sense but I would like to think he's at least in heavy-duty prayer mode right now. When you're about to step up to the biggest job in the world, getting some guidance and putting in some extra prayer time can only help. From Politico.com:

Obama skips church, heads to gym

By JONATHAN MARTIN & CAROL E. LEE

President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.

On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners.

"Because they have a great deal of respect for places of worship, they do not want to draw unwelcome or inappropriate attention to a church not used to the attention their attendance would draw," said the aide.

Both President-elect George W. Bush and President-elect Bill Clinton managed to attend church in the weeks after they were elected.

In November of 1992, Clinton went to services in Little Rock, Ark., on the three weekends following his election, taking pre-church jogs on the first two and attending on the third weekend a Catholic Mass with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, with whom he was trying to smooth over lingering campaign tensions.

In the weeks after the contested 2000 election, Bush regularly attended services at Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, and Al Gore was frequently photographed arriving at and leaving church in Virginia.

On his first day as president-elect, following weeks of Florida recounts and court hearings, Bush went to church with his wife, Laura. They attended an invite-only prayer service on Thursday, Dec. 14, at Tarrytown United Methodist Church. About 300 people attended, including top campaign staff and visiting clergy. During the service, the Rev. Mark Craig, senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, told Bush, "You have been chosen by God to lead the people."

Obama was an infrequent churchgoer on the campaign trail, though he did make a series of appearances in the pews and pulpits of South Carolina churches ahead of that heavily religious state's primary.

The issue of where he worships is, of course, fraught. For about two decades, Obama and his family attended Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. But, with the public disclosure earlier this year of incendiary sermons at Trinity by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama and his wife, Michelle, in June resigned their membership in the large South Side congregation.

At the time, the then-Illinois senator said that he didn't want his "church experience to be a political circus" and expressed regret for the unwanted attention members of the congregation had received, noting that some reporters had taken church bulletins only to call sick members and shut-ins.

During the campaign, Obama returned to Chicago to attend the South Side's Apostolic Church of God on Father's Day Sunday to give a speech aimed at the black community on the importance of fatherhood and family.

A number of Washington, D.C., churches of different denominations and traditions are now competing to become the spiritual home of the new first family. The Obama aide said the family "look[s] forward to finding a church community in Washington, D.C."

(Photo courtesy of The St. Petersburg Times)

Christ the King Sunday

2008-11-23T20:16:00.004-05:00

Today is Christ the King Sunday. An old college friend, Paul, posted today's Gospel and reminds us that Christ is sometimes found in the neediest:

From Matthew 25:

Jesus said to his disciples:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.

"And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’

"Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

"And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

"Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’

"He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’

"And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

City to Faith-based Shelters: Stop!

2008-11-22T12:42:00.002-05:00

I've been hearing about this for a while now but didn't think they were going to actually do it. I don't quite understand the rationale but apparently NYC is ordering churches to stop providing beds to homeless people. Here's the story I got from 1010wins.com:

NYC Churches Ordered Not to Shelter Homeless

NEW YORK (AP) -- City officials have ordered 22 New York churches to stop providing beds to homeless people.

With temperatures well below freezing early Saturday, the churches must obey a city rule requiring faith-based shelters to be open at least five days a week -- or not at all.

Arnold Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit that serves as a link with the city, says he had to tell the churches they no longer qualify.

He says hundreds of people now won't have a place to sleep.

The Department of Homeless Services says the city offers other shelters with the capacity to accept all those who have been sleeping in the churches.

Leaving Soccer to Become a Priest

2008-11-21T23:49:00.002-05:00

It's an all-soccer weekend for me. The MLS Cup is on Sunday and I've been wearing the NY red Bulls scarf everywhere. So, here's an article just for Adam-Who-Is-Destined-To-Become-A-Rabbi, an article about Soccer and Religion!

Faith-Based Initiative
For Chase Hilgenbrinck, a Professional Soccer Career Was a Dream. But Priesthood Was a Calling.

By Kathy Orton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 20, 2008; E01

Chase Hilgenbrinck sat in his apartment in Chile, clutching the phone, full of nervous energy. He was about to make a call that would change his life forever. After spending more than two years agonizing over his decision in solitude, Hilgenbrinck finally decided he was ready to tell someone of his intention to become a priest.

That September 2007 day, the first person he called was not his mother, father, brother or girlfriend, but the vocations director of the Peoria, Ill., diocese, a man he had never met.

"I was nervous on the phone," Hilgenbrinck said. "I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth."

Father Brian Brownsey was thrilled to receive the call. It's not every day a professional soccer player phones to say he wants to join the priesthood.

Though many professional athletes have gone into ministry, usually with Protestant churches, most do so after their careers have ended. Few leave during their prime. Hilgenbrinck, a 26-year-old defender, had signed his first MLS contract earlier this year after four years of playing professionally in Chile. He had made it, achieving a dream he'd had since childhood. And now he was leaving it all behind to serve God.

Starting with his seventh-grade teacher, people had been telling Hilgenbrinck that he should become a priest. He was flattered, of course, but he really didn't think priesthood was for him. He wanted to play soccer.

Hilgenbrinck was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family in Bloomington, Ill. He and his brother Blaise were altar servers at Holy Trinity Church and attended Catholic schools through junior high. When it came time for high school, they had a decision to make: attend the Catholic high school with their friends or go to the public high school where they could continue their budding soccer careers.

With his family's support, Hilgenbrinck chose soccer over his religious education, a decision that contrasted with the one he would make more than a decade later. He believed the public high school provided him with the best opportunity to earn an athletic scholarship to college.

"That's what my future was at that time," Hilgenbrinck said.

Clemson offered him a scholarship and Hilgenbrinck picked the Tigers mostly because he felt their program would prepare him for a professional career. The ACC is widely considered the best soccer conference in the country, and Clemson is usually one of the stronger teams.

It wasn't only his soccer career that took off at Clemson. Being on his own for the first time, Hilgenbrinck discovered new depths to his Catholicism. He became actively involved in the Catholic student organization. As a freshman, Hilgenbrinck volunteered to lead his teammates in a prayer before each game.

"I grew up Catholic, but it was an inherited faith," he said. "I believed because my parents believed. . . . It was [at Clemson] that I didn't have to be there [at church]. I didn't have to believe anything. It was then that I really made the faith my own. I would say that's the first step toward what I am doing today, although at that time I still didn't feel that I was called [to be a priest], nor did I want to be."

With no offers from the MLS after college, Hilgenbrinck headed to Chile on a one-way plane ticket, hoping to catch on with a team there. At first, he was miserable. Homesick and lonely, he turned to the one constant in his life outside of soccer, his faith.

"That was really when I saw Christ as a friend more than this godly figure that I can't touch," he said. "My faith now became not just something that I should do and what I started to enjoy, but it was now my rock."

With more free time on his hands than he knew what to do with, Hilgenbrinck set a goal of reading the entire Bible. He read books on Catholicism, particularly those by Scott Hahn and Karl Keating that his parents gave him. He also prayed regularly.

"It started out a lot with me doing all the talking and me trying to say everything that I needed to get out," he said. "But it was in the silent times of prayer, whenever I shut up, it was like, 'Okay, now feel this.' . . . This idea of the priesthood kept permeating my heart. It was just there all the time."

The way he describes it, Hilgenbrinck's call to the priesthood came gradually. It is not like he woke up one day and God told him to become a priest.

"No miracles happened here," he said. "It was just I felt that way, and it progressively got stronger every single day for two years."

At first he resisted. He did not want to be a priest. All he could think of were the negatives. To begin with, he'd have to give up soccer. But that wasn't even the biggest obstacle for him.

"I can't be married," he said. "I can't have kids, and that was scary because I'd always envisioned myself as a married man."

Besides, he loved playing soccer. He was doing well with his team in Chile, Nublense. He figured he could just wait until his career was over before he had to make a decision. Then he read Hahn's book, "Rome Sweet Home" and came across the line, "delayed obedience is disobedience."

"That just spoke to me so clearly," he said. "Not only as just something I was reading that helped me along, but I took that as a sign because I was really struggling with that at the time. . . . That definitely gave me the strength to say, 'Okay, I'm not going to wait until my career is over.' "

In time, all the barriers he put up fell away, and Hilgenbrinck realized he was destined to become a priest. But before he told his family and friends, he wanted to make sure the church would accept him. He called Brownsey and began the extensive application process, which included written exams, essays, background checks, fingerprinting and evaluations by three psychologists.

"They do want to make sure they're making the right decision," he said. "Obviously, with the scandal that we've had in the Catholic church in the past few years, that mistake doesn't want to be repeated. So there's going to be a rigorous screening process for anybody who really feels called to this."

When he finally broke the news to his parents -- he had not wanted to get their hopes up until he was sure the church would accept him -- they were shocked.

"It probably took me, it seems like a long time, but probably 20 seconds before I even said anything," Mike Hilgenbrinck said. "I think [his first words were] probably 'Oh my gosh, Chase, I'm so proud of you.' We're so supportive of that decision. It's just an honor that one of our sons was chosen by God to become a priest."

Even as he was pursuing the priesthood, Hilgenbrinck had not given up on his dream of playing on an MLS team. He signed a contract with the Colorado Rapids in January, but was cut for salary cap reasons. Then in March, the New England Revolution brought him in for a tryout. The team offered him a short-term contract, one that lasted only until midseason.

Hilgenbrinck had been wrestling with whether he should tell the team of his intentions or keep quiet. When the Revolution made its offer, he saw it as another sign. He appeared in four games, starting one, before telling the team in early July he was leaving for the seminary.

"I will say it's a bit unusual to hear that from a player," said Mike Burns, the Revolution's vice president of player personnel. "It's not the norm, that's for sure."

Burns said the Revolution would have happily kept around the left-footed left back.

"He was just a guy you could depend on," Burns said. "He was a consummate professional both on and off the field. He came to play every day and gave you everything he had."

Snuggled into the Catoctin Mountains near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg is a quiet, contemplative place. The 200-year-old school, the second-oldest Catholic university in the country, educates lay students as well as future priests. Hilgenbrinck will spend the next six years studying philosophy and theology with the other 22 first-year seminarians.

His arrival created a bit of a fuss around the usually staid seminary. Though he has received more media attention than any of his classmates, Hilgenbrinck has been welcomed by them unconditionally, according to Monsignor Steven Rohlfs, the seminary's rector.

"He's very popular with the men, and they consider him just one of the guys," Rohlfs said.

"It's too early to tell [if Hilgenbrinck will make a good priest], but he has all the external signs of it. He has a desire to want to do what God wants him to do. He's prayerful. He's energetic, and he has a pleasant personality and is a hard worker."

Hilgenbrinck's days are too hectic to allow him time to lament the void left by soccer. When his schedule allows it, he trains with the Mount St. Mary's team. He competed in the Rector's Cup, a soccer competition among the seminaries. But it's not the same as being on the field with an MLS team.

"Yes, of course" he misses soccer, he said, wistfully. "I definitely do, and getting to the point that I was at, playing professionally, that was always the dream, where I wanted to be."

Nonetheless, Hilgenbrinck appears content and at peace with his decision. He says he has no regrets about becoming a priest. Nor would he have wished his journey to this point would have gone differently.

"I feel very blessed to have lived the life that I have leading up to this point, and in no way would I trade it to do even what I am doing now," he said. "I feel blessed that the Lord allowed me to fulfill my dreams before pulling me into His plans for me. Not only is His will perfect, but His time is perfect as well. The timing of my call was meant to be exactly when it happened."

Harlem kids play lacrosse

2008-11-19T06:26:00.002-05:00

My former school in on Time.com this week:

Lacrosse 110th Street

By Caitlin Moscatello / New York Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

At New York City's Future Leaders Institute in Harlem, students, who previously hadn't even seen a Lacrosse stick, are learning the game.

Caitlin Moscatello for TIME

"If we're integrated, then why aren't there any white kids here?" That's what seven-year-old Jahseem Maxwell wanted to know, when his second-grade teacher, Lindsay Korn read to the class from Toni Morrison's Remember (which includes a brief history of integration). Despite the historic U.S. election occurring on the same day he asked his question, the world outside his classroom at the Future Leaders Institute just off Harlem's Malcolm X Boulevard didn't seem much different from the 1950s reality described by Morrison.

Peter Anderson, the school's director, has made the same observation. The townhouses on the blocks alongside the school sell for up to $3.5 million, but he knows the children in those homes won't be coming to his school, where 96 percent of the students are black, and more than 70 percent qualify for reduced or free lunch programs. According to Anderson, some of the students live in homeless shelters, and about half are raised in the projects, mostly by single parents.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the 24 children in Korn's class had never seen a lacrosse stick before she introduced one. The predominantly white sport popular at Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic universities requires two things New York City public schools don't have: money and fields. But given the election, it was, after all, a week of firsts. "All of our students were excited about the election," said Anderson. "For us educators, Obama's victory means that when we tell these students that they can do anything, it's not hyperbole." And so, on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon, 35 middle-school students showed up to learn how to play lacrosse.

Nevermind that they'd never seen a lacrosse game, much less played in one; Anderson believes in giving students a lacrosse stick and the chance to play their way to a better education. "Ideally, I want to see about 60 percent of the kids who started with us at go on to boarding schools or private schools," says Anderson. Enter Korn's father, Rick, a former player who helped coach his own son to the Division-I level; Bob Turco, a Harlem-born lacrosse coaching legend who played his way to Washington and Lee University in the '70s; and Ross Turco, Bob's son and former high school All-America and D-I player who now coaches at Peddie, an elite boarding school in Hightstown, New Jersey. The well-connected trio, along with the school's director of advancement, Michael Pages, have volunteered to hold practices twice a week, using donated equipment.

"This is about your will," Bob Turco said to rookie players as they gathered around him on the school's small turf playground. "Your will to accomplish something you don't understand and just say, 'I'm going to prove I can do this.' " With the backdrop of classic Harlem brownstones behind them, the students split into lines and learned basic skills, such as passing and scooping the ball, while Turco called out instructions. "I never see them listen to anyone like this," said Anderson from the sidelines. "This is really something."

As the school director's vision unfolded in front of him, the line between the impossible and the inevitable seemed to fade for the second time in a week. Many of the students had come to school Wednesday after going to the voting booths with their parents, while others had stayed out late to listen to Obama's victory speech broadcast over loudspeakers near 125th Street. That same day they wrote letters to the president-elect. "I want to change things, too", wrote Fortune Nbumbo, 7. Tatiana Jones, 9, told Obama, "You open the door not just for me, but for everybody." For the students at FLI, the definition of leadership is clearer than it's ever been, and the playing field, even if it's a patch of turf between two brick walls, is slowly leveling out.

Why the NY Red Bulls will win

2008-11-18T17:33:00.004-05:00

I know a lot of folks in our country don't follow futbol (soccer). But that's their loss, really.

This Sunday the NY Red Bulls will play the Columbus Crew in the MLS Cup (the Championship game of United States soccer).

The NY Red Bulls had a less than mediocre season, but somehow just made the playoffs in the 8th spot. They've played well in the playoffs, picked up some momentum, and had ludicrous amounts of luck to make it to the Finals.

The Columbus Crew is generally a better team, but one the Red Bulls beat 2 games to 1 during the regular season.

AND, the NY Red Bulls have Danny Cepero at goal. I believe Danny is the reason they made it this far.

Danny Cepero was thrown into the position of goalkeeper on October 18th due to the first choice goalkeeper's suspension for using illegal substances. That game was against... oh yeah, The Columbus Crew!

And, wait, Danny Cepero scored a goal in that game. Yes, the goalkeeper scored a goal!

Watch:

So, on Sunday, at 3:30pm EST you'll find me wrapped in my NY Red Bulls scarf, glued to ABC, watching the MLS Cup, and cheering on the soon-Champion NY Red Bulls.

You're invited to join me, otherwise, leave a message.

(Photo courtesy of gettyimages.com)

After a day full of tragic stories...

2008-11-17T12:44:00.003-05:00

...sometimes you need to take a break and watch Justin Timberlake in spandex and high heels:

Enjoy!

One year ago today...

2008-11-16T09:18:00.007-05:00

I lost an old elementary school classmate.

This is a class picture of us in the 1st Grade. I'm in the second row, third from left, wearing the red sweatshirt. Sam is seated in the front row, third from left, wearing a red sweatshirt.

I remember Sam being full of energy and crazy ideas. He grew up to be a professional skater and computer engineer.

A group of us, including Sam, met for a reunion back in the Spring of 2007.

We all said we wanted to meet up again as a group, to hang out more. A couple of people were able to, but most of us couldn't get our act together to actually make it happen. Time passed.

Then, a year ago, I got an email from my classmates telling me that Sam had died in a bicycle accident on the Manhattan Bridge. That week we met up again for his memorial service.

The picture above is a pic from our reunion back in the Spring of 2007. Sam is the one in the hat, looking cool.

It's sad. He was 27 years old.

Today we all remember Sam in our own way.

The New Star Trek Trailer

2008-11-15T19:57:00.002-05:00

It looks better on the big screen, but here is the only version I have found so far. I can't wait!

Walking the drive-through

2008-11-14T23:52:00.007-05:00

Wendy and I went to see Quantum of Solace tonight. It was a good "in-between" movie. It was basically a vehicle to help Bond work out his demons from the last film. I'm looking forward to the next one.

I think the Star Trek trailer before the movie was worth the price of admission alone! I'm excited. (can't find the trailer online but will post it as soon as I find it)

But, this post is really about sharing the camera phone pics I took of Wendy and a random woman standing in line at the McDonald's drive through.

We waited a couple of minutes to get some ice cream for Wendy.

Then, she and the woman behind us decided to crouch down and pretend they were driving cars. I couldn't get a picture quick enough but this was my attempt.

Protests outside the Mormon Church

2008-11-13T06:31:00.005-05:00

I found this article on The New York Times website. There have been numerous protests by gay rights activists outside Mormon churches, including one in NYC last night. According to the data, Mormons were big funders of the Yes on Prop 8 vote.

I think, however, that protests outside a church, any church, will do little more than to get media attention at this stage. First, although the Mormon church actively sought to pass this piece of legislation, it's not the New Yorkers that voted in favor of Prop 8. I even wonder how much funding came from NYC?

Second, although I am disgusted by the vote, I don't think protesting outside a church is going to change anyone's mind inside the church. The Yes on Prop 8 campaign was not entirely truthful, but that's how political campaigns are run. They raised more money than our side and obviously ran a better campaign.

And, finally, I think a big reason this piece of legislation passed was due to the silence and lack of commitment by the Obama-Biden campaign. Towards the end of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and Joe Biden both mentioned in almost a whisper that they opposed Prop 8. But, they did nothing to campaign against it. In a sad way, they probably felt they couldn't. The major presidential candidate who is already being labeled as too liberal would have difficulty shaking off that label if they actively campaigned against Prop 8. 59% of Catholics voted for Obama in California. But 64% of Catholics voted FOR Prop 8. Weekly church-goers who voted for Obama, supported Prop 8 with an 84% of the vote. 70% of African-Americans who voted for Barack Obama, voted Yes on 8. Read more here and here.

So, I don't think protesting the churches will actually get us anywhere except on TV and it may help to build the anti-gay marriage coffers in the long run. Instead we should focus on building a campaign for the next proposition, for the next court battle, try and get the President-elect's support, and raising more money now.

Gay Activists Rally Outside Mormon Temple in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Carrying signs reading ''Love not H8'' and ''Did you cast a ballot or a stone?'', a large crowd of gay-marriage supporters gathered outside a Mormon temple to protest the church's endorsement of a same-sex marriage ban in California.

The rally Wednesday night outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple came hours after gay couples exchanged vows for the first time in Connecticut amid cheers and tears of joy.

The milestone did not ease the sting of a major loss for gay-marriage supporters last week. Gay activists planned protests across the country over the vote that took away their right to wed in California.

In the Upper West Side of Manhattan, demonstrators chanted ''Shame on you!'' outside the temple. Leaders of the Mormon church had encouraged members to support passage of California's Proposition 8, a referendum banning same-sex marriage.

''I'm fed up and disgusted with religious institutions taking political stances and calling them moral when it's nothing but politics,'' said Dennis Williams, 36. ''Meanwhile they enjoy tax-free status while trying to deny me rights that should be mine at the state and federal level.''

Church spokesman Michael Otterson said that while citizens have the right to protest, he was ''puzzled'' and ''disturbed'' by the gathering since the majority of California's voters had approved the amendment.

''This was a very broad-based coalition that defended traditional marriage in a free and democratic election,'' Otterson said, referring to the numerous religious and social conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8.

Organizers of the rally estimated at least 10,000 people participated. Police said they could not give a crowd estimate.

Gay-marriage advocates said they were planning nationwide demonstrations this weekend in more than 175 cities and outside the U.S. Capitol. A Seattle blogger was trying to organize simultaneous protests outside statehouses and city halls in every state Saturday.

Earlier in Connecticut, Jody Mock and Elizabeth Kerrigan emerged from Town Hall in West Hartford to the cheers of about 150 people and waved their marriage license high. The couple led the lawsuit that overturned the state law.

''We feel very fortunate to live in the state of Connecticut, where marriage equality is valued, and hopefully other states will also do what is fair,'' Kerrigan said.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 10 that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a 2005 civil union law designed to give them the same rights as married couples. A lower-court judge entered a final order permitting same-sex marriage Wednesday morning. Massachusetts is the only other state that allows gay marriages.

Connecticut officials had no information Wednesday on how many marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples. According to the state public health department, 2,032 civil union licenses were issued between October 2005 and July 2008.

Like the highest courts in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the California Supreme Court ruled this spring that same-sex marriage is legal. After about 18,000 such unions were conducted in California, however, its voters last week approved Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment.

Gay rights groups said Wednesday they may ask California voters to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage if legal challenges to Proposition 8 are unsuccessful.

The California vote has sparked protests in several states, many targeting Mormon churches. Some have been vandalized.

Activists also are aiming boycotts and protests at businesses and individuals who contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8.

A Priest who disagrees with the Bishops on Prop 8

2008-11-12T14:29:00.002-05:00

Lots of Point/Counterpoint today. From the LA Times, a story on Father Geoffrey Farrow who recently came out as a gay man and spoke against Prop 8:

Gay priest is true to his faith, at odds with his church

Steve Lopez
October 26, 2008

So who is this Catholic priest from Fresno who stood up and spoke out against Proposition 8, putting his career on the line? As a gay man who finds the church's views on homosexuality so objectionable, why has he been a priest for more than 20 years and subjected himself to such moral conflict?

After reading my colleague Duke Helfand's story about Father Geoffrey Farrow and his recent career-suicide from the pulpit, I was curious.

Farrow agreed to meet me for lunch in the middle of a schedule that's gotten very busy since he became persona non grata to his employer. He's been asked to appear all over the state for rallies against Prop. 8, which would amend the California Constitution to say marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Father Farrow, who was suspended by his bishop two weeks ago, strolled into the lobby of the Kyoto Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles wearing the collar.

"I'm still a priest," he said over lunch, though he fully expected to be disciplined for speaking to his congregation about Prop. 8 and wouldn't be surprised if he's ultimately fired.

For the moment, he's staying with friends in Los Angeles. Farrow, 50, doesn't know what he'll do after the election. He was suspended without pay and said his medical benefits run out at the end of the month.

Farrow, who lived in Cuba until the age of 4, grew up Catholic in Florida and knew as a teenager that he was gay. He dated girls "to keep up appearances" but was miserable about it, and he began questioning his faith.

"If God is omnipotent, why is there evil in the world?" he asked himself as body bags returned to the U.S. from Vietnam.

He looked into agnosticism and atheism, neither of which offered the answers he wanted. In his first year of college in Florida, he studied philosophy, read Cicero and mused on the meaning of history, civilization and the nature of God.

"I have a hunger for the transcendent," Farrow said. "This is too precise," he said of man and the universe, "to be a coincidence." And so he became a believer, once more, in the church he had been "carried to in diapers."

When I told Farrow that as an agnostic, I don't understand that leap, he described God as love and faith as trust.

"Trust is fundamental of all human relationships," he said. "Part of the attraction of the relationship with that person is that you're always familiar with them and yet always discovering them."

I love and trust my wife, I said, but she's real and doesn't need to prove that she exists.

"Precisely," Farrow said with a smile, as if I'd described his relationship with God.

When his family moved from Florida to Redondo Beach in the 1970s, Farrow, still closeted as a gay man, joined St. John's Seminary in Camarillo.

Is it possible, I asked, that becoming a priest was a way of avoiding coming to terms with his sexuality? Farrow had, after all, once prayed to God to "please make me normal, please make me normal."

"That's a valid question," he said, but he believes he was addressing his spiritual rather than sexual identity in becoming a priest.

Wasn't it a suffocating compromise? I asked. He had given himself over to a church that has, despite moderating its views in recent decades, condemned homosexuality and marginalized gays, even though in Farrow's opinion a sizable percentage of priests are gay. Farrow conceded that he has considered church teachings "monstrous," especially given the history of violence and suicide victimizing gays. But he said he has always believed in the church, if not in the men who led it. It's like loving a family member despite a falling out, or loving your country even as you doubt its leaders.

"I'm not happy with the current administration," Farrow said, "but I haven't shredded my passport."

I asked if he'd had any relationships while serving as a priest.

Yes, he confessed. He seemed near tears and stopped short of sharing the details. But he said it had ended.

I wondered again how anyone could go through such an ordeal and remain committed to a church that considers it a sin for a gay person to act on biological urges. Whom do you even talk to for help? I asked.

"There are a lot of clergy who deal with this," Farrow said, telling me many priests in the Fresno diocese are gay. "You speak to each other."

But that's a form of silence as well as hypocrisy, and Farrow was increasingly troubled by his double life. Not long ago, he saw a woman crying in a church hallway and asked what was wrong.

"My son just came out to me," she said. "I was having a dinner party and I told him he couldn't bring his boyfriend."

"Do you know what you just did?" Farrow asked her. "You just told your son he was not as important to you as your dinner guests."

Farrow then had his epiphany when he was asked by a Prop. 8 supporter in Fresno to speak up in favor of the measure. He knew he couldn't and that in fact he had to do just the opposite.

"I am morally compelled to vote no on Proposition 8," he told his congregation, saying he had to break "a numbing silence" about church prejudice against homosexuals.

Among the critics in his own parish and beyond, there are those who quote the Bible to condemn homosexuality and gay marriage.

"The Bible is not a book, it's a library written over 15 centuries," Farrow told me, suggesting that Christianity has and should continue to evolve. "People who approach scripture in a literal fashion are attempting to manipulate God himself."

To Farrow, condemning gay and lesbian marriage is as offensive as the condemnations of interracial marriage not too many decades ago.

" 'Think about the children,' they said, and they're doing the same with this," Farrow said indignantly. "If a child is raised in a home where he's loved, that's a good home."

So why not just quit his job rather than wait to get fired?

Farrow said he still sees the church as home, and believes his new mission is to force this issue whether he's wearing a collar or not.

"They said I've caused scandal to the church," he said. "I think the real scandal is the thousands of gay and lesbian children who feel abandoned by the church of their baptism."

When he was in seminary, Farrow interned as deacon at St. Vincent's Medical Center and worked with terminally ill patients. As the end nears, Farrow told me, people say the things they never could utter. They are "more alive than ever . . . because they realize the futility of fear." He found them all contemplating the same questions.

"Were you true to your conscience? Did you do what you felt was right?"

And one more.

"What do you have in the end but the love you gave away?"

California Bishops on Prop 8

2008-11-12T14:26:00.003-05:00

This is an excerpt of the statement the Bishops of California put out back in August:

A Constitutional Amendment to Restore the Definition of Marriage

"Only the rock of complete and irrevocable love between man and woman is capable of acting as a foundation for a society that can be home to all human beings."
—Pope Benedict XVI, addressing the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, May 11, 2006

The issue before us with Proposition 8 is "marriage"—an ancient, yet modern, human institution which pre-exists both Church and government. Marriage, history shows us, is intrinsic to stable, flourishing and hospitable societies. Although cultural differences have occurred, what has never changed is that marriage is the ideal relationship between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation and the continuation of the human race.

On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the current law defining marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. This radical change in public policy will have many profound effects on our society, because it

Discounts the biological and organic reality of marriage—and how deeply embedded it is in our culture, our language and our laws and ignores the common understanding of the word marriage; and because it diminishes the word "marriage" to mean only a "partnership"-a purely adult contractual arrangement for individuals over the age of 18. Children—if there are any—are no longer a primary societal rationale for the institution.

As teachers of the faith, we invite our faithful Catholics to carefully form their consciences. We do that by drawing on the revelation of Scripture, the wisdom of Tradition, the experience and insights of holy men and women as well as on what can be known by reason alone.

Crystallizing the teaching on marriage, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1603, 1604) proclaims:

God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.

With all this in mind, we, as bishops, offer counsel to our Catholic people in California in their response to this radical change in California's public policy regarding marriage.

First, same-sex unions are not the same as opposite-sex unions. The marriage of a man and a woman embraces not only their sexual complementarity as designed by nature but includes their ability to procreate. The ideal for the well being of children is to be born into a traditional marriage and to be raised by both a mother and a father. We recognize that there are parents who are single and we laud them for the great sacrifices they make in raising their children.

Second, we need to recall that marriage mirrors God's relationship with us-and that marriage completes, enriches and perpetuates humanity. When men and women consummate their marriage they offer themselves to God as co-creators of a new human being. Any other pairing-while possibly offering security and companionship to the individuals involved—is not marriage. We must support traditional marriage as the source of our civilization, the foundation for a society that can be home to all human beings, and the reflection of our relationship with God.

Third, we need to remember that we are all children of God possessed of human dignity and that each of us is created in God's image. Protecting the traditional understanding of marriage should not in any way disparage our brothers and sisters—even if they disagree with us.

Fourth, we must pray and work for a just resolution of this issue which is so important to the well being of the human family.

Fifth, as citizens of California, we need to avail ourselves of the opportunity to overturn this ruling by the California Supreme Court. On the November general election ballot, there will be Proposition 8 which reads: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." That language simply affirms the historic, logical and reasonable definition of marriage—and does not remove any benefits from other contractual arrangements.

The American Muslim on Prop 8

2008-11-12T14:16:00.004-05:00

Here's an opinion from a blogger I follow, The American Muslim. I agree with most of his piece, though I do think the wording of "civil union" v "marriage" has to be resolved. "Civil unions" though affording the same rights is not the same as "marriage." And yes, wording does matter.

Remember that "separate but equal" afforded African-Americans the same rights and access as whites. But it was not enough and it was not OK.

Read on:

Ordinarily, I don’t speak on GBLT issues. It’s not that I don’t have an opinion, but I never figured how it could pertain to my blog’s intent, however, I have changed my attitude and included my scope to include any and all issues out there. Which brings me to this prop 8 ruling.

I have to admit, I do see things from the GBLT perspective. I believe that this whole debate is a civil rights issue, not in the vein of the civil rights movement as many GBLT groups claim, but one nonetheless.

As an American, I have a hard time accepting that one citizens tax dollars should afford them more rights than anothers simply because of their beliefs and or sexual orientation.

I believe everyone regardless of ideology or background should be afforded equal rights across the board.

However, there has to be compromise on both sides.

I understand the faith communities points well as I too adhere to what my scripture tells me about same sex relations. BUT I believe that members of faith communities are being a wee bit hypocritical in their lopsided application of said scriptural mandates. If we are to be so anti same sex relations, then we should be just as harsh for adulterers, criminals, liars, etc.

We cannot have it both ways picking and choosing our hot-button issues at the moment swatting at gnats using our religion as a tool to propagate against those things that make us uncomfortable.

I believe scripturally that we have to afford people the CHOICE to be who they want to be no matter how sinful we as individuals may believe them to be. God Alone is the Ultimate Judge.

Now as it relates to our Republic, we have to make up our minds as to what we want. Do we want a Theocracy or a Democracy? If we want a Theocracy than we should expect to govern as such. That means shutting down all bars, clubs, etc. Shutting down Hollywood and ensuring swift punishment to all who fornicate, steal, cheat on their spouses, collect taxes, etc. Then we have to pick one religious law over anothers? Will we be a Christian Theocracy where divorce and re-marrying is illegal? Or an Islamic Theocrary, Judaic Theocracy, etc.

But if we want a Democracy than we have to accept that our laws must represent all people no matter their differences and as long as they do not commit any crimes.

Marriage has religious implications, but who has the monopoly on that word in the faith community? When we use that word which faith group has the unique right to define what that is? Does it involve a Priest, Rabbi, or Imam? This sacred rite, should not be confused with the legal rights that are given afterwards. Even after your ceromony you still have to have a license issued by the State. No religious leader can issue you a license, only the state can. Some people just go straight to the state and forgo religious rites alltogether. Is there a legal difference?

This is where I believe there can be compromise. I believe the GBLT community should leave the word “marriage” alone. Go straight to the legal heart of the matter and fight for a civil union. I mean the whole point is to get the same legal rights as a heterosexual couple right? Who cares if us religious folk don’t agree with the “sanctity” of what you legally want to have. I don’t agree with many things that are legal, some don’t agree with my disagreement, but that’s what America’s all about. We don’t have to agree on anything ever, but as long as we have the same rights, we can agree to disagree.

And that is something I think we can all agree with.

Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

2008-11-12T06:17:00.003-05:00

I usually think Keith Olbermann is a kook, but his commentary on Prop 8 makes sense.

I don't think he'll be winning any points from the religious conservatives but his argument on love is a good one. Essentially: Just give people the same chance to love that you have!

There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

2008-11-11T06:44:00.002-05:00

It's the last thing we needed, but I guess we did it. Somehow we voted another Irishman into the White House. God help us all:

Tony

2008-11-10T17:51:00.003-05:00

I'm a sap, I know. So, it should come as no surprise when I say that I teared up watching this short film from The Responsibility Project on Deacon Greg's blog:

Enjoy!

The most popular bus driver in NYC

2008-11-09T09:40:00.003-05:00

Here's a great story of a man who fought his demons and won. David Abramski was a drug-addict living on the same block I once lived on but managed to turn his life around and is now the most popular bus driver in New York City. Congratulations David!

Meet New York City's most popular bus driver

By PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

NYC Transit bus driver David Abramski, formerly homeless, is recipient of award for being most popular driver.

David Abramski found redemption behind the wheel of a city bus.

For a decade, he begged for spare change outside stores and at subway stops to buy booze and drugs.

He scavenged garbage cans for food and slept in a homeless encampment in a train tunnel beneath Riverside Park.

Today, the 51-year-old is a dutiful civil servant, an NYC Transit bus driver who was just named one of the fleet's most popular operators.

"It's a great honor," he said. "I never expected it."

Last year, 21 riders - all unaware of Abramski's personal journey - wrote or called the agency to praise his good-natured treatment of passengers. No other bus driver got as many commendations.

Abramski "is so pleasant, he makes up for all the rude ones," one woman wrote. The praise prompted NYC Transit President Howard Roberts to give Abramski an award at the agency's headquarters.

Abramski, still remembered on the West Side by his street name "Hollywood," is soft-spoken but brims with youthful exuberance.

In the mid-'80s, Abramski was a 29-year-old bicycle messenger and musician with rock-star dreams. He lived in a single-room-occupancy hotel on 107th St. that charged $80 a week for a shared bathroom and kitchen.

The only child of strict parents, he rebelled early and often, he said. He started smoking marijuana at 14 and branched out from there to crack, which was then ravaging the city.

"That's a killer," he said. "I went downhill from there. Whatever savings I had - I think it was something like $600 - went like that."

He was soon evicted for nonpayment of rent and moved into Riverside Park, which teemed with the homeless, many of them drug addicts, alcoholics or mental patients.

After being caught in a police "scoop" of the homeless, Abramski went underground. A ventilation shaft in the park led to a freight tunnel and a concrete ledge 20 feet above the tracks.

"I was a mole person for a while," he said. "I made camp under there. We had a little community."

Daniel Entin, director of the small Nicholas Roerich Museum near the park, had many conversations with Abramski, who, he recalled, would discuss politics and spoke French with another employee.

"He was different than everybody else," Entin said. "You meet people on the street, and some are bitter and aggressive. He was always open and friendly, even loving with people."

The gap between the wayward son and his mother eventually narrowed a bit and, one day, he was invited to move back to her upper West Side home if he quit drugs. At age 40, Abramski was ready to change.

"I had finally hit my bottom," he said. "You couldn't go lower than living under Riverside Park in a tunnel."

A substance abuse program wasn't necessary, Abramski said, thanks to a series of harsh winters. He opted to spend weekends underground, surviving on stockpiled food - without drugs.

"I figured if I could live without it for a couple of days, I could do it," he said. "I could stop."

Turned down for several jobs, Abramski resumed working as a messenger. After about two years, NJTransit hired him as a part-time bus driver. A year later, he landed a job with NYC Transit, where he just marked his eighth year.

In June, Abramski married his girlfriend, Barbara Alice. The couple lives in Union City, N.J., with their dog.

"Now, I'm the boy my mother and father always wanted me to be," he said. "Nice and clean-cut, upstanding, with a job."

Obama supporters wander aimlessly

2008-11-08T13:47:00.001-05:00

An old political friend sent me this. Hilarious!

Prayer for the Unemployed

2008-11-07T18:29:00.001-05:00

Deacon Greg posted this Prayer for the Unemployed. Pray:

O Saint Joseph, we pray to you for those who are out of work, for those who want to earn their living or support their families.

You who are the patron of workers, grant that unemployment may vanish from our ranks;

that all those who are ready to work may put their strength and abilities in serving their fellowmen and earn a just salary.

You are the patron of families, do not let those who have children to support and raise lack the necessary means.

Have pity on our brothers and sisters held down in unemployment and poverty because of sickness or social disorders.

Help our political leaders and captains of industry find new and just solutions.

May each and every one have the joy of contributing, according to his abilities, to the common prosperity by an honorable livelihood.

Grant that we may all share together in the abundant goods God has given us and that we may help underprivileged countries. Amen.

-- Catholic Prayerbook

Letters to President Obama from Fourth Graders in Harlem

2008-11-06T21:23:00.002-05:00

A teacher at my old school is blogging at the Huffington Post and posted letters to Barack Obama from her fourth graders. Having taught these kiddos as their reading teacher, I'm proud of them and miss them dearly. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Dear President Obama,

I am so happy you are our new president! And it is not just because you are black, it is because you have some great ideas! And I wanted to be a singer, dancer, and actress but you open new doors for me. You open the doors for everybody. Now I think that now I can be the first female black president! And we went from black people not being able to vote and that changed and then black people never got a chance to be president but you changed that. And for that, it is like you are my and the whole world's hero!

Love (a 9 year old),
Tatiana

P.S. I won't put TV before homework.

Dear President Obama,

I want to say you are the bomb. I love all your speeches. Even my grandma does. I feel sorry for your grandmother but she's there up in heaven watching over you. When you get to the white house you will have our help.

I'm so happy that you are becoming president. Can you make a change about the cops? They need to pay more attention at the Lincoln Tunnel.

Write back.

Your friend,
Asia

Read the rest here.

Law never trumps love

2008-11-05T19:25:00.002-05:00

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
-Dalai Lama

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
-Jesus in Matthew 7:12

And so it is

2008-11-04T23:13:00.003-05:00

What happened tonight is incredible.

This is a great country and I hope Barack Obama will be a great President.

Pray for him.

God bless

2008-11-04T22:38:00.004-05:00

How about the fact that there may be millions of children in the US who grow up with a Black President. And to them that'll be totally normal. That's pretty incredible.

God bless the next President (whoever that may turn out to be)!

My vote

2008-11-03T21:10:00.004-05:00

[This probably sounds somewhat disjointed and lacks the substance I really wanted to include but I blame it on Saturday Night Live's Monday night programming.]

Tomorrow I am waking up at 6am, throwing on some sweats and heading to my polling site. I will vote.

My decision on who to vote for did not come easy this year.

I am a fan of John McCain. I've wanted him to win in the past and was hoping he would earn the Republican nomination this year. He did, but under a different persona. The McCain of 2000 was someone who the Republican Party wanted to see torn apart. The McCain of 2008 became the flag-bearer for his Party. The guy who rassled with the evangelical right in 2000, buddied up to them in 2008.

I was initially excited by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin. I thought it was brilliant. And, in some ways, it was. She had a record of independent reform, incredible approval ratings in Alaska, and she's got charisma. Unfortunately, she turned out to be like any other politician - bending the truth on her record and a bit of a shady record on managing state employees. She also lacks the economic and foreign affairs knowledge I would hope a candidate for the office should hold.

During the Democratic primaries, I did not support Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I found out only after he cleared the last hurdles that I was a closet Hilary Clinton supporter all along. There are many issues where I disagree with Barack Obama - gay marriage (which I fully support and he does not), global warming, immigration, and Social Security. There's something in my gut that doesn't trust Obama - something about his inexperience and centrist babble. I think I'm actually more of a supporter of Joe Biden than I am of Barack Obama. Sure Joe says silly things every other day - but he knows his stuff and says what he means (even when he doesn't mean to do it).

In the end, my vote goes to someone I can't entirely 100% support - Barack Obama. But I give my vote with the hope that all the talk, all the hype, and all the expectation is something he can live up to.

At my school today I took a very informal poll asking, "Who do you think will win the Presidential election tomorrow?" as part of our Social Studies lesson on Election Day. Approximately 100 Kindergarteners and First Graders participated with the following results: Obama 53% - McCain 47%.

Tomorrow, remember to vote. Vote with hope. And then pray.

New York's Holy Day

2008-11-02T09:35:00.002-05:00

Today is one of New York City's Holy Days: Marathon Sunday.

Today, over 30,000 come from around the world to run 26.2 miles through every borough. World class champions and everyday first-timers are all out there at the same time, running the same race.

As they run down 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, they're introduced to churches, synagogues, mosques, and an international crowd that has no rival. The noise they will hear as they hit 1st Ave in Manhattan for the first time, will give them a boost of energy that will hopefully last 'till the end.

On Marathon Sunday almost 3 million New Yorkers and visitors hit the streets to support the runners. People from around the world and different faith backgrounds supporting runners from around the world and different faith backgrounds.

On Marathon Sunday, everyone is a New Yorker, and that's all that matters.

God bless New York City today.

Praying for those elected

2008-11-01T21:00:00.003-04:00

George Weigel wrote a piece in the Denver Catholic Register suggesting that we pray for those elected. Please do.

Praying for those to be elected

There will be much to ponder, once this interminable electoral cycle comes to an end. Why has so much of the campaign seemed like a prolonged episode of “American Idol,” with candidates trying to sell their personal “narratives” rather than their ideas and policies? Why did Pastor Rick Warren, rather than talented, veteran journalists, raise the questions that many Americans would like to explore in considering their new president: questions of the candidates’ character, compassion, intellectual roots, and moral depth? What does the non-stop cable news cycle do to our national ability to pause and think seriously?

Earlier this year, at the height of the primary season, a senior producer in the network news business told me that, while a political junkie, she was appalled by what she had experienced within many campaigns: the carefully crafted, poll- and focus group-driven manipulation of the electorate’s emotions, in what amount to a variant on the sleazier forms of advertising. Isn’t there something more to running for president than appealing to consumer tastes? And then there’s the media’s own fixation with “gotcha,” which further fuels the vacuity of political conversation and debate.

Truth to tell, campaigns are rarely pretty, if you’re interested in ideas rather than spasms of feeling. 1960 is supposed to have been an exception—our age’s answer to Lincoln and Douglas—but few today remember that Kennedy and Nixon spent an inordinate amount of time during their debates arguing about two rocks off the China coast, Quemoy and Matsu. Still, these past two years seem, at the moment, to have been singularly devoid of a serious exchange of ideas, and singularly dominated by sound bites.

So, with the end in sight, let me suggest that it’s time to pray: to pray for the candidates, because whoever is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, is facing a world of trouble; to pray for ourselves, that we refrain from tribal voting and make wise and prudent choices; and to pray for our country, that we grow up a bit more in the years ahead.

Read the article and the Litany of St. Thomas More here. And pray.

Happy Fall Harvest $#!+$!!!

2008-10-31T06:20:00.002-04:00

Due to political correctness my school will not be celebrating Halloween today. We will be celebrating a Fall Harvest Festival. The leadership of our Parents Association decided that we might offend someone if we called it Halloween.

!+@&#_$*^!!!!

Anyway, Happy Halloween!!!!

Teachers Union Facts

2008-10-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

Considering I'm deeply involved with the teacher's union, I probably shouldn't give these folks any extra attention. But, it's too interesting.

My Gmail ads popped a link to Teachers Union Facts. Among the items on the website is a contest they tried to hold to give $10000 to really bad teachers to quit their jobs.

Not much else there but still an interesting website. I wonder who funds it?

Wazzup guys for Obama

2008-10-29T21:01:00.007-04:00

I found this through the NY Daily News. Anheuser-Busch wants this ad pulled but they are apparently legally powerless to do so. The ad is somewhat strange but it's almost like seeing old friends...

First, the original ad:

And now, the Wazzup Guys for Obama ad:

Enjoy!

No on Prop 8!

2008-10-28T18:29:00.004-04:00

I've been following the debate on Proposition 8 in California. The proposition would basically amend the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.

I support a 'No' vote on Proposition 8!

I'm sure my publicly stated opinion will bring in commentary and emails from all sides of the argument. And, I invite them.

I will remind you that not long ago laws prevented interracial marriage. Arguments were made that such a marriage would harm our nation's children and bring about the end of society as we knew it. The arguments were disgusting. I am sad to say that the same arguments are being made again regarding same-sex marriage. Those arguments are disgusting.

This is a civil rights issue/state issue. There is no just reason that two people should not be allowed to celebrate their love through a legal union. It's simply wrong to treat people differently.

I am a supporter of The Human Rights Campaign, the biggest GLBT civil rights organization in our country. If you can spare a minute or two, please visit their website for more information.

Here are some ads urging voters to vote NO on Prop 8:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere! - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I'm in the elite!

2008-10-27T22:31:00.004-04:00

This from our favorite Lutheran pastor, Father Anonymous:

Brian Williams asked John McCain and Sarah Palin to define "elite," and here's what they came up with: a mistake and two zip codes.

Palin's answer, which she repeated several times in the midst of some unrelated bluster, was "anybody who thinks they're better than everybody else." McCain's answer was "I know where some of them live ... the nation's capital and New York City."

As the good pastor puts it, Hooray! Check out the video here.

We are New York effin' City!

2008-10-24T07:50:00.003-04:00

I am disappointed by my city today. The City Council voted in favor of extending term limits, against the popular referendum that set them. With the vote, the City Council give the mayor and themselves the possibility to keep their jobs for another four years.

Personally, I'm pissed off. The argument the mayor is making that this offers the city a greater choice is ridiculous when you take into account the power and bank of the incumbent. Especially when the incumbent has $100 million dollars of his own money to spend on a campaign.

As innovative and successful as I think this mayor has been, I think this move places him squarely on my "Return to Sender" list. I thought I'd support him, but his continued argument about choice shoved me to other side.

Many have been arguing that in this time of financial crisis we need this mayor. It's the same argument people made to try and extend Rudy Giuliani's term back in late 2001. We needed Giuliani to get us through the aftermath of September 11th. Turns out we did just fine. We are New York effin' City! We will be fine!

I'm looking forward to the campaign against the mayor and his city council pals.

Term Limits should be overturn by the people

2008-10-23T00:04:00.001-04:00

In a few hours the New York City Council will vote on whether to extend the term limits. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seeking to extend his stay as mayor through an election for a third term next year.

I am a fan of Michael Bloomberg. He has been an innovative mayor and, in my opinion, done a decent job. I can't say I'm a fan of his education policy or his Chancellor of Education, but for the most part, I've been a Bloomberg supporter.

On the other hand, I am not a fan of term limits. Although it gives new voices and ideas a chance at bat, I believe in the natural term limit that is an election. Essentially, if you suck at your job, you don't get reelected. I do think we need to change the rules a little so that the incumbent doesn't have such a lopsided advantage over the challenger - but that's for another day.

In our current situation, the term limit law was passed by voter referendum. The mayor, through the City Council, is trying to pass legislation that overrides the voter referendum to change the term limit law. It is within their legal rights to do so. But, is it right?

Here you have a city legislature and a mayor who are going to overpower the will of the people so that they may keep their jobs. Don't do it!

I wrote a letter to Mayor Bloomberg expressing my disappointment in this maneuver. I suggested, as others have, that the city vote in another referendum early next year to overturn the term limit law. Let the people overturn it, not the politicians.

Here was his response, in what I am sure is a mass email reply to anyone expressing their concerns (my comments are in bold):

Dear Mr. Ledesma: (he called me Mr. Ledesma!)

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about term limits. (Anytime.)

In recent weeks and months, I've listened to many different New Yorkers with lots of different opinions on the issue of term limits. (Including two letters from me.) But as Wall Street has entered its worst crisis since the Great Depression, and our economic situation has become increasingly unstable and worrisome, the question for me has become far less about the theoretical and much more about the practical. And that means asking a very basic question: Is it in the best interests of the City to give voters more choices in next year's election? (Good question. Would you be giving New Yorkers more choices by giving them the opportunity to vote for the incumbent or would they have more choices by giving others a chance to run?????)

I understand that people voted for a two-term limit, and altering their verdict is not something that should be done lightly. The City Council - a democratically elected representative body - has the legal authority to change the law, and if it does so, the final verdict would remain with the City's voters. On Election Day, it will be up to the people to decide which candidates have earned their vote, and which have not. (I am afraid that the people of this City will turn on the mayor and not reelect him based on the change in term limits. He'll go from being a decently popular mayor to being a despised one.)

I've always supported term limits, and I continue to do so. (He's not acting like it.) But I also don't want to want to walk away from a city I feel I can help lead through these tough times. If the Council passes an extension of the term limits law from two to three terms, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership - and then to decide if I have earned a final term. (Again, I'm afraid they might say no!) Whatever the Council decides, I'll remain focused on doing my job and finishing this term as I began it: by working day and night for New Yorkers and the City I love.

Thanks again for taking the time to write. (Anytime.)

Sincerely,

Michael R. Bloomberg (What does the 'R' stand for, by the way?)

Mayor

Here's the thing, I actually think that if the term limit law went to referendum, the people of NYC would actually extend the term limit law in order to keep Bloomberg around for another term. But, the people of NYC also do not like to be f%$*ed over. They will react and it won't be pretty for Bloomberg.

I'm disappointed by the mayor, the Council Speaker, and my own City Councilman on this issue. Based on the likely candidates for mayor next year, if Mayor Bloomberg is given the chance to run again, I will vote for him.

However, I will have no problem in trying to kick out the City Council members who vote to pass the extension. This is our democratically elected body. I will, democratically, help to kick their @$$es to the curb. I'm looking right at'ya Peter Vallone, Jr.!

9/11 Paid Holiday?????

2008-10-22T05:50:00.000-04:00

I heard about a town giving its police force a paid holiday on September 11th last night on the news. I only heard the headline and changed the channel so I had assumed it was a local police force - perhaps on Long Island, NJ, or Westchester. But, it turns out it's Peadbody, Massachusetts (population 48,000).

I understand the connection, they're cops. But on that Tuesday morning, 7 years ago, the cops of the NYPD and Port Authority were not on a holiday. They were working. They did their jobs. In fact, there were countless police officers, firefighters, and other service personnel who were off-duty that day and ran to the scene to help. You honor these people by taking the day off????

Really, Peabody, Mass.?

Maybe I'm off-base here, but knowing how crazy, disgusting minds work, wouldn't you want your police force at the ready in case there's a copycat twisted terrorist out there? Think Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma on the second anniversary of the Waco seige.

It's our duty to remember the people who died and suffered that day. But, we must remember that the day started just like any other. People went to work - all of them. It was a devastating day, but one we must honor through remembrance of those who were taken from us and gratefulness towards the people whose everyday job it is to look after us. I don't think having the day off is the right way to observe that Holy Day.

VOTE NOW: Healthcare for all?

2008-10-21T07:53:00.003-04:00

My friend Xavier is an actor, comedian, and filmmaker out in LA. He submitted this video for CNN's iReport Film Festival and is a semi-finalist. Take a look.

Then, go to the Ballot Page and vote!

Voting ends at 11:59pm, October 22nd. Vote now!

(Having trouble posting the video so just click on the links for now).

Lance and Me

2008-10-20T18:08:00.004-04:00

I hope to some day have a beer with Lance Armstrong, until then I'm glad to be a Team Livestrong Runner. For those of you who do not know, I finally feel ready to run a Marathon again. I've signed up for the NJ Marathon on May 3, 2009. I will be running and raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

November's Men's Health has a story on 20 Heroes of Health and Fitness that includes Lance Armstrong. How could you not?

(Side note: The cover of the issue spotlights Barack Obama as one of the 20 Heroes on Health and Fitness. Although not a political piece, I think their timing is suspicious. Plus, it's a weak piece - basically naming him a Health and Fitness Hero simply for being fit even though he's a busy guy and being an inspiring guy. I might have to write them a letter.)

Back to Lance. The article focuses on his work through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They use their $40 million budget to improve the lives of people living with cancer.

"I'm surprised almost every day that this country isn't more appalled at the devastation cancer creates. Not every few days, but every friggin' day, 1,500 Americans die from this bastard of a disease," Lance is quoted as saying in the article.

I agree with Lance and would love to see more prevention and screening education in the US. That's why I'm running for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

If you'd like to help, please go to my fundraising website and donate what you can. Prayers are also welcome.

(Photo courtesy of Time.com)

Update: I did write Men's Health a letter voicing my disappointment for putting Barack Obama on the cover as a Hero of Health & Fitness.

The Sarah Palin Rap

2008-10-19T09:34:00.004-04:00

Sarah Palin was on Saturday Night Live last night. She opened the show and had this piece during Weekend Update. I think they could've done more but her people probably kept her from doing something too silly or offensive.

Here is the rap Amy Poehler did on Sarah Palin's behalf. I wish they had let her do this on her own! BUT, they might've lost some votes. Oh well! Something to note for possible undecided voters, she seems to be able to move to a beat:

That's so gay!

2008-10-18T09:05:00.003-04:00

"That's so gay!"

That phrase was the topic of conversation recently. I'm glad to see that celebrities are getting into it.

Check out Hilary Duff's ad:

Now check out Wanda Sykes' ad:

I love Wanda Sykes!

A funny line from the hearing on Term Limits

2008-10-17T18:26:00.003-04:00

From the NY Times:

Michael D. D. White, a lawyer who blogs at The Huffington Post, was the next up. Referring to the two-minute limit on testimony, he said, “I’d like to have my limits extended to five minutes, please.” When Mr. Felder politely declined, Mr. White said, “You don’t like the rules being changed in the middle of the game.”

I think the New York City Council Hearing on Term Limits is the best show on TV right now. Major props to NY1 for their non-stop coverage.

McCain wins the funny vote

2008-10-17T06:30:00.002-04:00

Last night my kickball friends and I had a fundraising party at a karaoke bar. I think we raised about $700 for The Children of Peru. Our big draw was the singing.

Last night was also the Alfred E. Smith dinner that raised $4 million for Catholic Charities. Their big draw was John McCain and Barack Obama.

Next season we need to invite John McCain! He was hilarious at the dinner! They both had good lines, but McCain's writers did a much better job. Check it out for yourself.

This is McCain, Part 1:

McCain, Part 2:

Obama, Part 1:

Obama, Part 2:

Poltical joke of the day

2008-10-16T17:49:00.002-04:00

I'm watching the New York City Council Hearing on Term Limits and wondering how some of these people get elected into office.

Speaking of political jokes, I got this funny joke from Wendy's Uncle Steve via email:

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.

'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the senator.

'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening Dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

'Now it's time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.'

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. 'I don't understand,' stammers the senator. 'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.

What happened?'

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were campaigning.

Today you voted.'

From the NY Daily News: You can't sue God!

2008-10-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

No praying on the Almighty! Judge tosses suit against God

By Rich Schapiro
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The Lord has one less thing to worry about.

A Nebraska judge tossed out a state senator's lawsuit against God, ruling the Almighty can't be sued because his heavenly address is a bit out of reach.

"There can never be service effectuated on the named defendant," Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk wrote in his decision on Tuesday.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers sought a permanent injunction against the Holy One to prevent him from unleashing natural disasters that cause "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

The Omaha senator, who doesn't have "an atom of religion" in his body, said he decided to target the Lord to prove a point that "every lawsuit must be allowed to be filed."

His suit was prompted by two attempts by the Nebraska Legislature to limit "frivolous lawsuits."

Chambers, who is planning to appeal, said courts already acknowledge God's existence by invoking His name during oaths, so He doesn't need to be served.

"The court must recognize the consequences of that acknowledgment - that God is all-knowing," Chambers said. "God does have actual notice."

The working poor grow in numbers

2008-10-14T22:09:00.002-04:00

A friend posted this link on Facebook. This is worrisome and reassures my choice in joining the fight by registering with the Working Families Party:

Working poor problem getting worse

Jobs paying below poverty line rise 4.7M in four years

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - The number of U.S. jobs paying a poverty-level wage increased by 4.7 million between 2002 and 2006, according to a new analysis of census data released Tuesday.

A report by The Working Poor Families Project, based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, found conditions worsened for the working poor in the four years ending in 2006, as the number of low-income working families increased by 350,000. The project is funded by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce and C.S. Mott Foundations.

The report defines a low-income working family as those earning less than twice the Census definition of poverty. In 2006, the most recent year for available data, a family of four earning $41,228 or less qualified as a low-income family.

The number of jobs with pay below the poverty threshold increased to 29.4 million, or 22 percent of all jobs, in 2006 from 24.7 million, or 19 percent of all jobs, in 2002.

"The real surprising news, the alarming news, is that both the number and percentage of low-income families increased during this period," said Brandon Roberts, co-author of the report. "This was a time when we had solid and robust economic growth."

An increase in poverty "is not just a new phenomena over the last six months," he said.

Poverty-wage jobs increased in part because 2.5 million new jobs paid poverty wages; additionally 2.2 million jobs that paid greater than poverty wages in 2002 became poverty-wage jobs by 2006, as pay failed to keep up with the cost of living, Roberts said.

In two states, Mississippi and New Mexico, 40 percent of working families were low income in 2006, according to the report.

In 11 other states, at least 33 percent of working families were low income: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

The number of low-income families rose to nearly 9.6 million, or 28 percent of the total population, in 2006 from 9.2 million, or roughly 27 percent, in 2002, according to the report. The number of children in low-income families rose by roughly 800,000 during the same period, climbing to 21 million from 20.2 million.

During the period, the number of working families spending more than one-third of their income on housing grew to 59 percent from 52 percent.

The report sought to address what it called myths about low-income families. For instance, it found 72 percent of low-income families work, with adults in low-income working families working, on average, 2,552 hours per year in 2006, the equivalent of one and one-quarter full-time jobs.

It also found that 52 percent of low-income families are headed by married couples; 69 percent have only American-born parents; 43 percent are white and non-Hispanic and only one-quarter of low-income families receive food stamp assistance.

on the way back from Madison...

2008-10-13T16:17:00.002-04:00

We were on the plane, one of those under-50 seaters that feels like a bus with wings, when a helmet hit my elbow.

A tall tattooed woman excused herself for hitting me and tried to work her bags full of clunking gear into the overhead compartment. Her jacket said Gotham Girls Roller Derby. She looked badass.

It turns out Wendy and I were sitting across the aisle from Queens of Pain Captain, Suzy Hotrod. The plane felt that much smaller with all these tough looking women on board. There was some sort of comfort in knowing that if something happened to the plane, these ladies could put it on their collective backs and roll it safely to NYC.

I didn't have a chance to talk to any of them. They looked tired from a weekend full of whatever they were doing in Madison (my guess: beheading Midwesterners and eating live cattle).

In any case, were were on the plane with celebrities. Cool.

(Photo courtesy of manicpanic.com)