On the South Side

I have a warm spot in my heart for the Political Conventions; for either party. They both hold special meaning for me because of my father. Politics is something he’s always been interested in and he’s shared that interest with me since I was a boy. I remember watching the conventions as he would explain the whole thing to me. It all seemed so mysterious then. Of course, it actually was a bit mysterious back then as opposed to now where there is no drama to speak of. I also remember playing a board game with him called “ Landslide .” It was a regular game where the object was to collect enough electoral votes to become President. This further educated me in the ways of America’s Politics. During this political season, he and I often will sit for hours discussing and debating the candidates; what they should do or say, what they should emphasize or minimize about themselves. “If it were me, I’d blah, blah, blah.” Followed by, “Oh, no, are you crazy? He should blah, blah, blah.” ...

My #1 fan, Marty, is still recovering in the hospital. She would have jumped in to the Catwoman game with both feet. We're all thinking and praying for you Marty. Get well soon and get back online where you belong.

OK, if you haven't read some of the reviews for Catwoman I'll just tell you they're all bad. But, is the movie worse than the title of these reviews? I think we can do better. I'm going to list some of the ones I've seen and your job is to come up with a better one. Brush with Catwoman may cause a bad reaction Catwoman far from purr-fect Catwoman: From housecat to Hallecat Catwoman: Purr-fectly dreadful Catwoman makes viewers want to claw their eyes out Catwoman is declawed by director's style, goofy story Catwoman is a catastrophe This cat lacks bite Film should be fixed Fails to purr Catwoman coughs up a hairball Catwoman: No amount of kitty litter could save this stinker Kitty litter Fur doesn't fly Ewwww, who spilled the litter box? Catwoman stinks Like claws on a chalkboard Catwoman uses up all of its nine lives in about 35 minutes Catwoman claws its way to bottom of litterbox All of these are actual titles of actual reviews from the past day or two...

I don't know...my thoughts are all over the place tonight. We're not walking tonight because the humidity and temperature are just unbearable.  My thoughts are with Marty tonight as she heads into surgery tomorrow morning. We'll keep praying for you, Marty. When I last wrote, I talked about my Spider-man Coin and a friend sent me a link to one for sale on Ebay. I did bid on it, but it eventually sold for over $50.00, and I'm not quite ready to spend that much. Maybe later. If you're wondering what I've been up to, well... just re-read the last couple of month's blog entries and you pretty much got it. The coffee houses are over for the season. We'll do something in December for Christmas, but other than that, we won't do another until January. In August we go to Pensacola, in September it's Bellerive Day, October the Church Bazaar and November it's Thanksgiving. This will be our fourth year in a row that we've vacationed in Pe...

For your reading pleasure tonight: Read this: (This was written by a Democrat and it was written before the Iraqi War.) The Pentagon's New Map And then read a review on the book here: Michael Barone Let me know what you think.

When I was twelve or so years of age, my best friend Chris Stift and I sent away for two solid bronze Spider-man coins. They were a bit bigger that a Kennedy dollar and each coin had a serial number etched in the side. The front of the coin showed Spider-man hanging from a wall and the back had just his face, but split in two; one side Spider-man, the other side Peter Parker. Above that was the inscription, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I carried that coin with me in my pocket wherever I went. I managed to keep it with me for over twenty years before I lost it. People would always say, “You should put that away before you lose it.” But I loved having it. I’d had it in my pocket since I was a boy. Do I now wish that I’d put it away? No, I just wish I had it back in my pocket. One day I was showing it to a grade school teacher of mine, and upon reading the back, he snorted, “Someone should have told that to Nixon.” I responded, “Whatever.” He shouldn’t debase ...

"Mountains" by Emily Hudson 

Is that so much to ask? Yes, as it turns out, it is a lot to ask for. Why? Because all people were, are and will forever be sinful. Before I came to see the world through the Christian lens, I did not like this concept. It's not that I "like it" now of course, it's just that I see it as a hypothesis that explains the whole of human history better than any other. People are bad. Some people are real bad and some people are hardly bad at all. But, all of us have the potential to be real bad. Given the right or extreme circumstances, we all are capable of terrible things. Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein were human beings just like you and me. People that rape young girls and boys differ from us in no fundamental way. Are the "sick?" Sure they are. But we're all sick. But I digress. I'm taking the occasion of the holiday to write briefly on freedom. I've made comments here and there on the subject, but I want to take the time tonig...