More from "The Daily Show"

I loved "The Daily Show" from the beginning with Craig Kilborne. But it became a better show and a more important show with John Stewart. Here's a snip from Thrusday October 30's episode.

Happy Halloween!

In one of my former lives, I managed a bar in the Westport district of Kansas City, Missouri. The holiday I hated worse than any of the others was Halloween. New Years Eve was amateur night, real partiers went to someone else's house. St. Pat's was a zoo, but it was also like preparing for the Olympics, you knew it was going to be stupid and took months getting ready for it. Still, Halloween was something else.

On Halloween, people would dress up like someone else to be stupid. People would say to the bouncer, "C'mon, don't you recognize me?" The only thing to say in response was, "No, and wasn't that the idea of the costume?"

I guess it did make for some interesting mug shots. Be safe tonight. In the mean time, here's a bit of classic Warren Zevon found by Char.

The Man I Don't Want To Be, Part II

The American General Election is less than a week away, we are in the home stretch which means one thing, we will soon be seeing ads for Christmas toys instead of politicians. (Insert rimshot here!)

As a Democrat, I was disappointed when Al Gore lost the election in 2000. Still, I didn't want to poo-poo George W. Bush just because he is a Republican. I didn't want to be that guy. I didn't want to be the uber-partisan who slammed the other guy because he was from the other party.

When W. made his speech from Ground Zero in NYC, I was proud of him. He was so presidential that day-and I had hope for his presidency. So when the Gulf War broke out, I wanted there to be WMD's. I wanted it badly! Alas, the mastermind of 9/11 is still alive and well; and our final justification for the war in Iraq is "Sadam is a bad man."

As true as "Sadam's badness "may be, it took a very slippery slope to make that justification for war. A war being fought years after Sadam's death. A slope that felt like a slide on a hot summer day wearing shorts...it burned going down and felt real uncomfortable after getting to the bottom.

I remember the '68 election from my "Weekly Reader" in the second grade. I am old enough to remember Watergate. Iran-Contra was my college years. Bill's trouser issues are familiar to all of us. Now once again in my life, I may have faith in the government, but little faith in the men who run it.

To heck with "values based voters," give me a "values based politician."

The Man I Don't Want To Be

This comes from the blog of Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA):

[We] have masterfully exchanged the intimating visual of bullet-filled weaponry with the divisive use of vocabulary and verbal jousting.

Here are just a few examples from good folks that have crossed my "desk" and what I think are the implications:

SHOT: "We are striving for Biblical faithfulness."
READ: "Our reading and interpretation of the Bible is the right one and, not only is your interpretation wrong, you probably are not even faithful in your reading."

SHOT: "We are loving, thoughtful and welcoming."
READ: "You are only driven by hate and ignorance . . . and you probably REALLY like injustice."

Gosh . . . when those those are the first shots fired why wouldn't we just be one meadow full of unicorns and butterflies? ...[We have] become a people that are more concerned with being right than being faithful.

One of my dearest friends from Seminary and I come down on opposite sides of the question of ordaining Gays and Lesbians. We deal with this by not talking about it much. On the tree of our faith, we share a taproot which is fed by the living water of Jesus Christ. When you begin with that, you can go a long, long way together.

Still, with all of my might and with all of my hope, while I would never have Bruce's dialogues with another human being--God knows those very thoughts have crossed my mind (one being spoken by me, the other being spoken of me). I know they are both contrary to my calling and my vocation as a child of God. Nevermind being an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament, this betrays my vocation as a child of God.

Through humility, through prayer, through discipleship, through fellowship with people I agree with and people I disagree with, through the Word and work of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit; I hope and pray that I may be saved from being the @sshole it is all too easy for me to become.

By the Lord our God, it is a fight worth fighting.

More Political Whoops

I do love The Daily Show on Comedy Central, this from Thursday October 23rd.



You got to admire the equal opportunity offender.

Don't tell me you didn't see this coming...

News outlets (including Time Magazine) are reporting that large companies hurt in the recent economic downturn have come to the government teat for some of that sweet, sweet milk.

Duh.

Let me recommend a movie...

If you have never seen the Johnny Knoxville movie "The Ringer" I recommend it. It is a very sweet movie about a man who tries to fix the Special Olympics. By the way, if this premise doesn't offend you, I haven't explained it well enough. It is about a man who tries to fix the Special Olympics.

Don't worry , it's really a sweet movie and was made in full cooperation with Texas Special Olympics. The DVD extras really bring out this partnership; and the bloopers are outrageous!

It was shot in Austin and San Marcos, Texas and in one scene, the lead character played by Knoxville goes to make confession. The exterior of the church where Knoxville makes his confession is actually the chapel at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary where I went to seminary.

What I loved about this scene is knowing that I preached in that chapel three times. If you want to see what it looks like, follow this link.