Appeals court assails Bush administration legal argumentation.
The three-member court, which was made up of two Republican judges and one Democrat, was particularly pointed in its criticism of the argument that evidence is reliable because it appears on multiple documents.
“The government insists that the statements made in the documents are reliable because the State and Defense [...]
I’ve been in Maine since Friday, attending the Northern New England SDA campmeeting. It’s been misty and rainy and misty again. As Bert and I would say, “The air is thick with humdiddy.” I had to go into town (2 miles) to the Starbucks next to L.L. Bean to find an Internet connection. I gave [...]
Simon Wiesenthal Center denounces leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for withdrawing statement on antisemitism.
So, I’m in Vermont, and I need to find a place with WIFI. I asked at a bookstore, and they weren’t sure. A college student working in the store didn’t even know what it was. But the proprietor thought maybe the shop next door had it. They did. Ben and Jerry’s.
We’re heading to Vermont tomorrow (Wednesday); on Friday we’ll go on to Freeport, ME, for the Northern New England Conference campmeeting (brochure). I’ll be speaking Sunday morning and three times on Friday, July 4.
Because I now have a home office, most of my books remain in boxes in my garage. I’m preparing to teach a class on young adult ministry next month at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Michigan, and scrambling to gather my notes before I go on vacation, I went to my [...]
I received in the mail today a mass mailing from Americans United for Separation of Church and State with these words on the cover: “The Religious Right wants to change the way you live in Houston.” Really? First, I’m not sure who or what “The Religious Right” is. And do “they” really want to change [...]
Should a specific deity be invoked in public prayer at, say, government meetings? Some don’t think so; they suggest public prayer should be addressed to a generic deity. Problem is, this means that some people get to pray in public as they normally do, and some people have to change the way they pray in [...]
The son and I spent three hours at the DPS today so he could get his learner’s permit. Funny thing in Texas law–my daughter, 16, can have the drivers’ school administer the written exam and file all the paperwork for her; since he turned 19 right after graduation, he has to go to the DPS [...]
We had a strong thunderstorm come by tonight … with 3/4 inch hail.
While it was going on, I was trying to recover some files. I had deleted a user account from Windows, neglecting to save the user data files — and those included lots of pictures. I asked a friend for help, and ended up [...]
Steve Knight summarizes arguments of those who say yes.
I hit my sixth anniversary as a blogger a couple of weeks ago–I began on June 1, 2002, the day my son became a teenager.
I sympathize with Kathy Shaidle for having been targeted by Canada’s Human Rights Commissions, but her diatribe against an advocate for the disabled (a “crippled dude”)–and, it seems, against the Civil Rights movement, too–leaves me at a loss for words. Is she deliberately going over the top in her satire in an attempt to provoke [...]
Christopher Hitchens responds to Pat Buchanan’s revisionism in the latest Newsweek.
While driving through Chicago yesterday I was listening to the program, “Hello Beautiful,” on Chicago Public Radio. They were interviewing Lily Koppel, author of The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal. You can listen to the interview here.
Back in 2003, Koppel, a writer for the New York Times, [...]
Christianity Today praises the liberal United Church of Christ for its ringing defense of the resurrection of the body in a court case about tampering with a graveyard.
Judge says it is OK for New London, CT, police department to discriminate against smart people.
Osama Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
George Bush wants to give Saudi Arabia nuclear power. Haaretz wrote about this last month; Congressman Ed Markey commented on it in the WSJ today.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is taking a page from the playbook of his predecessor in standing firmly for an illegal action–the raid against the FLDS community. He’s not worried about legal fine lines, he says, but he is going to enforce the law. But he’s also obliged to enforce the laws that protect us from [...]
Recently, in the town of Friendswood, Texas (south of Houston), a Muslim student was bullied. In response, the principal invited representatives from an Islamic organization to give an informational presentation about Islam. I’ve seen the PowerPoint presentation–it’s simply informative, dealing with issues students might raise. It is content that should be covered in any Social [...]
Veteran ABC sportscaster Jim McKay is dead at 86. He was the voice of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and ABC’s coverage of the Olympics (it has gone downhill each year that NBC has carried it). He is remembered especially for his coverage of the 1972 Olympics, when Palestinian terrorists kidnapped, then murdered, the entire [...]
Joel Osteen is preaching about the importance of a healthy diet … and following Biblical guidelines. Hat tip Hugo.
The two main candidates present an awful dilemma to the conscientious voter. One is in favor of torture of adults, the other in favor of unrestricted killing of unborn children.
Time to look at the other options.
The Catholic Diocese of Orange has been accused of doctoring photos.
So. I drove up to Alvarado (outside Fort Worth) yesterday for an all day meeting today. I awoke this morning with the dread realization that my bronchitis had become laryngitis.
Home now. Have to rest and prepare for some upcoming trips. I’ll be going to Andrews University next week for the SEEDS church planting conference. I’ll [...]
It may have been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, but not in my corner of Houston. My son graduated from Elsik High School on Friday afternoon (he’ll be attending Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, TX, this fall). My parents were here for the weekend. I preached yesterday, and then we had a bunch of [...]
The Supreme Court of Texas has ruled the state did not have the authority to seize children from the FLDS settlement. Children are to be returned to families and allowed to go home.
A couple of videos of Fr. Michael Pfleger preaching at Trinity UCC in Chicago (the church of Jeremiah Wright and Barack H. OBama). In one, he castigates whites who say they shouldn’t be held responsible for American slavery (which ended in 1865) because, he says, they still benefit from it. In the other, he calls [...]
