Oddities for Today

The lead sentence in the article said, "Some Super Bowl viewers had their football interrupted by porn. It could happen to you, too!" (Slate, February 4) Really? How can I improve my chances of that happening?

I used to amaze, amuse, and produce consternation in my students by asking: "Since the church continues the ministry of the apostles, how is the project of raising the dead and casting out demons going in your congregation (Matthew 10:8)?"

Or, "Why do we stop praying for people when they die, since an omnipotent God would have no problem bringing them back to life here and now? Why such a God could do it before breakfast without breaking a sweat."

In church when we sing "Breathe on Me, Breath of God," I always add quietly, "Unless you had onions for lunch!"

Does this cast light on why I entitled my autobiography, Born into the Wrong World?"

http://www.frontiernet.net/~kenc/index.shtml

Hoping and Waiting: Obama Again

I still have hope for the country and the world with Obama at the helm, but not everything he has done or not done has pleased me, e. g.:

1. Rich appointees who couldn't afford a good tax accountant.

2. So many Clinton leftovers some tainted -- and too many who are so closely identified with the reigning plutocracy I thought we might tame -- you know, change.

3. A stimulus bill that includes too many liberal-loved items that should be left for later in order to concentrate on the more stimulating features needed right now -- as Alice Rivlin has suggested.

4. An Afghanistan policy that sounds too much like a continuation of the same old things -- bombing Pakistan, e.g. -- and no sign that the solution is not primarily military but requires new developmental and political initiatives -- those suggested by Fareed Zakaria, e. g. (See February 3, today's Washington Post)

5. Appointment of a Commerce Secretary whom the Chamber of Commerce will love and labor Unions will hate. See
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/3/23010/80009

6. And sometimes I wish Obama were not so damned confident about everything.

Perhaps he is thinking long-term and will be shown to have taken the right approach. I did hear him say to his critics -- look who's sitting in the Oval Office right now. He got elected by ignoring half of what I told him.

A wait and see -- and hope-- approach is called for, i. e., whether his attempt to be so post-partisan and inclusive is the beginning of a new era or a path to disappointment.