Alito it is!

So, Miers does the President a favor by withdrawing her nomination. Thus begins the rehabilitation of the presidency. No one knows if it will be successful, and to be truthful, not everyone believes that rehabilitation is necessary - we must stand behind the man we elected, after all. However, Bush seems to have been alienating his base - the people who elected him, so maybe rehabilitation is appropriate, if not necessary.
I have to laugh at the fatuous (I knew I'd use it somewhere along the line since the challenge, and I think this is a particularly appropriate usage) hopes of the Democrats. Chuck Shumer was already on television this morning stating how he was so 'surprised and disappointed' that the President appointed a justice who will 'divide the nation' instead of 'uniting the nation.' I understand that Miers seemed rather like one of those justices, since she was recommended by Harry Reid and seemed (although, she never made it to the confirmation hearings, so we may never know for sure) to be like another O'Connor who seemed to decide a case based on the way the wind was blowing over China on a given weekend. Alito seems to be very qualified and capable of holding his own - I am really looking forward to the confirmation hearings.
A little background for those of you who may not have looked him up yet: he has been on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990. Appointed by Bush Sr., he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. Let me repeat that: unanimously. Not only was he confirmed unanimously, but apparently, many of the Senators also made very, very approving, flattering comments about his impartiality and his ability to interpret the Constitution and how he would be the type of jurist the Americans deserve. Another very intersting tidbit - the Third Circuit is the Court through which Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 510 U.S. 1309 (1994), the case that affirmed the principle adopted by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1971), came. Judge Alito wrote the dissent in that case at the Third Circuit, his dissent was cited and quoted by Rhenquist's dissent at the Supreme Court level.
The Democrats are already discussing filibustering.
Let the confirmation games begin!

Miers...

So Miers threw in the towel. I don't know if this is for the best, and I suppose we'll have to wait and see who President Bush appoints next. It makes me wonder why? Was it the fact that she didn't seem to have the requisite number of votes? Was it the fact that her name was being smeared all over the news by both the right and the left? Who knows. The one thing I hope now is that President Bush appoints a good conservative justice!

Childhood 'Dreams'...

When I was younger, much younger, I wanted to be a veterinarian....I wanted to be a dancer....I wanted to be a singer....I wanted to be a basketball player.....I wanted at some point to be a policewoman....
Then I decided I wanted to be a lawyer.....go to school in Austin, TX.....live for the rest of my life in New York or Florida in a one bedroom apartment.....
So the lawyer part I haven't given up on, but:
I'm a bit squeamish, no anatomy for me...
I have two left feet...
I only sing in big groups...
The two left feet again...
I don't really know what happened to the police gig idea...
I became a Sooner - I now dislike anything to do with burnt orange...
Crime...
hurricanes...
I don't like to live alone...

Life happens in strange ways sometimes. I noticed something about those, though. Many of them have to do with being the center of attention (call me a sanguine ;)). I just thought it was very interesting how God has changed my dreams and my life as I've given more and more of it over. Now I dream of changing the world, of bringing justice to those less fortunate - here or somewhere else in the world. I'm excited to see whether/how God will change those dreams (I realize that they are much more abstract than a dream to be a famous singer). I don't know what will happen in the future, but what I do know and take great comfort in is that if 'my' dreams are not in God's will, as long as I place my hand in His, He will change them and make me perfectly content to be where He puts me.
What were your childhood dreams? And what are you doing now? And, perhaps the more important question - can you see how God changed your dreams?

Eternity...

I was going to write and send a very complaining email this evening. The person I was going to send this to did not know that he/she was going to receive such an email, but if he/she had known, he/she would be pleased that he/she did not receive such an email. Names have been excluded just in case I decide to send this email later (you never know). I decided not to send the email because I have a Matthew West song stuck in my head.
"I'm holding all of my life
up to the light
the light of eternity
I know what I should let go
I see what matters most
in the light of eternity
I want You to see me shine
in the light of eternity"
That's the chorus (i.e. what I have stuck in my head). What does that have to do with an email? I'm glad you asked ;). I realized as I was about halfway through the email that in the light of eternity (see, see, the lyrics...), what I was about to spend a good part of half an hour composing doesn't matter. I think the song is actually speaking of something more important than an email - probably about how we spend our lives. However, I also think that it has applicability to more than just how we spend our lives in a big way - namely, to how we spend our time and, more appropriate in my email situation, our attitudes. My attitude was one that was not glorifying to God. My attitude was not one that I would like to have for eternity, so why would I even want to have that attitude for 5 minutes (much less the half hour I would have spent on the email)? I think I'd much rather spend my time using my attitude to glorify God. So, I've decided to get rid of my complaining attitude and replace it with one that is much more cheerful (at least on the issue I was going to write about). So, I have been once again exhorted (this time by lyrics in a song) to examine the aspects of my life (the song does say, "all of my life") in the light of eternity, not in the light of the moment or in the light of this world (now there's a scary thought).
"Rejoice in the Lord, I will say it again: Rejoice!" Phil. 4:4

Moose? Mousse?

I saw this 'suggested search' on msn.com and had to laugh: "News: Moose collisions". So, I clicked on it and these are some of the stories that came up:

"Landing in Alaska? Fear moose collisions no more!"

"Airport gets anti-moose mat"

and the best headline?

"Oh deer, traffic getting hazardous" - really about a moose-car collision.

However, if you search on google for "mousse collisions", you get mostly French translation sites. How funny is that?

Okay, you've had your moose for the day.... or is that mousse?????

A story about the US tax system

"Understanding Tax Cuts"
by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D

Sometimes politicians, journalists, and the liberal left exclaim: "It's just a tax cut for the rick!" and it is just accepted to be fact.
But what does that really mean?
Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, I hope the following will help. Please read it carefully.
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay out taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Dinner for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal.
So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paide $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
EAch of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most bnefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Poetry redux

So, last night was by far the worst of the semester so far. I absolutely could not sleep. So, I got up and journaled for awhile and wrote some poetry. The last suggestion I received for poetic inspiration was the sunset, so that's what I wrote about.
Only one imagination is big enough to think up the beauty of a sunset.
My pitiful attempts fall far short of describing it adequately.

The sun whispers to me as it leaves the sky:
God willing, I’ll be back in the morning
The bright oranges speak of glory to come:
God willing, tomorrow will be as glorious
The subdued pinks murmur praise:
God willing, we will grace the sky again
The fiery reds shout in exaltation:
God willing, we will always reflect His face
I sing back into the quickly disappearing blue:
God willing, I too.


a blue sky laced with pink ribbons
the fingers of a setting sun
they reach out to grasp, to extend daylight a
little longer
but there is nothing to hold on to and slowly they fade
one final gasp of bright oranges and reds and pinks fills the sky
before the glowing orb takes
the final plunge and disappears


The water nibbles at the sun as it slowly sinks
Until nothing is left
Just the stars and the moon
Points of light in an endless sky

Okay, so it's not the best poetry I've ever written, but what does one expect at midnight?

Musings on Rocky, Coulter, and Miers

I admit, I enjoy the Rocky movies - all five of them (although, I do not advise watching all five of them in a row). However, there comes a point where it gets a little excessive. Sylvester Stallone is 60 years old. And they're going to make a 6th Rocky movie????? Ummm....okay....I will not see it in the theatre (I didn't see any of the others in the theatre, of course, I was only 9 when the last one came out and I wasn't even born when the first came out). I may see it when it comes out on video, but I rather doubt it. Each successive Rocky movie was worse than the previous (the first, obviously, in my opinion, was the best), and I can only imagine what a 6th will be like.

Ann Coulter is offensive. I knew this before, and I don't care for her because of this, but she has personally offended me. Here's the paragraph:
"The average LSAT score at SMU Law School is 155. The average LSAT at Harvard is 170. That's a difference of approximately 1 1/2 standard deviations, a differential IQ experts routinely refer to as "big-ass" or "humongous." Whatever else you think of them, the average Harvard Law School student is very smart. I gather I have just committed a hate crime by saying so."
Now, the issue of Miers to the side, Coulter seems to suggest with this comment that the average person who attends a law schools with lower average LSAT scores is less intelligent than the average graduate from a law school with higher average LSAT scores. She is wrong and I am offended by her suggestion. Some persons choose to go to a school because of other reasons than the school is a top-5 law school. One reason perhaps is that those schools are incredibly expensive to attend. Many law students do not want to spend their short lives after law school working at a heart attack producing rate to pay off loans. Many students want to get out of law school and enjoy the rest of their lives doing a job that they enjoy, not one that makes them unpleasant to be around and makes them want to pull all their hair out. I realize that Coulter's article is directed at Miers' qualifications, and I admit that the fact that she graduated from SMU does not make me want to scream appoint her to the SCOTUS; however, the belief inherent in Coulter's article does make me want to scream confirm her to the SCOTUS so that we can undermine the idea that only Harvard/Yale graduates are worthy of any respect.

On the Miers issue, Peggy Noonan has an interesting article about it. I think I actually agree with her.
Here's the other side of her argument, though, to be fair.

More on Miers: Cal Thomas also has an article on Miers (who doesn't at this point?) - his editorial article is about her faith. He makes several good points about the use of her faith by her supporters (which at this point seem to be only the Bush family and a few faithful - just pointing out what seems to be the case!).

Reflections on the weekend

So, I haven't had a very good weekend - my tires get ripped off and we lose the football game. However, I have some positive thoughts from the weekend. I thought I'd share.
"always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20 - this is the verse from the sermon this morning.
The second result of the spirit filled life is thankfulness toward the Father - a thankfulness that flows out of a full heart.
Give thanks for everything. Here's the twist that hit me this morning: not only for the good things (although those are included), not only for the things I wanted or needed (although those are included as well), but for everything. Let me say that again: for EVERYTHING. So, that includes things that I don't want to have happen.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:21.
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor...O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:3-6, 9.

I really had things put in perspective this morning during the service. Ronnie talked about how we gripe and complain, revealing our prideful carnal natures because it reveals our belief that we deserve more than we have been given. It shows how we disbelieve the truths about God - especially the truth that God provides everything that we need: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Not to mention the fact that what we deserve is hell (as Ronnie succinctly put it). So, I was thinking about it - obviously I should be thankful that, in the griefs and pains in life (that are not to be trivialized, they really do hurt), that infinitely small speck of hell is the only part of hell I will ever have to experience. If that thought doesn't make your heart overflow with thankfulness to the Father, and you are a Christian, we need to check for a pulse :).

At any rate, the weekend is over, school is back in session tomorrow for three days (woo hoo!), so this week should be great! Hope everyone else has as good of a week as I hope to (although, I guess I ought to start my outlines this week - blech).

Oh, I have one more fun story (well, fun in hindsight): I took my car in to get the tires aligned (unfortunately, something I found out this weekend is that tire places do not deliver, so we had to go get the tires and bring them back and put them on the car) yesterday morning. So, they took care of my car, and I went into the tire place to pay, and they told me that one of the trailing arms was bent, preventing them from aligning one of the tires (apparently when the kind thieves left my car up on someone else's rims, they bent it (if you look at the picture on my earlier post of just the tire, you can see the bent trailing arm - I'm assuming everyone out there knows what that is - I had no idea until yesterday)). The guy helping me (not the same guy as Friday, so he didn't know why I had bought new tires) told me all this, and I asked in a rather small voice how much it was going to cost. When he told me, I guess the magnitude of what happened hit me, and I almost started crying. Well, the poor guy got this look on his face that said: "Oh my goodness, there's a girl in the store who is about to lose it, what am I going to do?" At the time, it wasn't that funny, but in retrospect, it was really hilarious. Here I am, thinking about my tires and cost and everything, and this poor guy is trying to help me. I felt really sorry for him. Okay, that's all I've got - have a great Monday!

Fixed!

Well...a few dollars and a few hours later, my car is healthy again. It's a bit upset with me because I promised that I would wash it this afternoon, but I didn't have time, so I promised it that I would wash it in the morning. So, this story is one for the books. My wheels and tires and everything were gone when I went out to my car this morning (as mentioned in the earlier post). So, my cousin Court and his roommate came down to help me go get new tires and put them on my car (the tires and wheels you see in the earlier picture). And I am soooo thankful for their help - I certainly could not have done it myself (although Nicole and I might have been able to, I'm glad we didn't have to find out). So, they came down to Norman, and we went out to Dean's (Court's roommate) truck to go get new tires, and the truck wouldn't start. So, we went and ordered the tires. Then we decided to go to Quizno's for lunch - Quizno's was closed. So we went to Taco Bell instead. Then we went back and tried to start the truck again - no luck. So, we drove to the city to get Court's vehicle while Dean stayed in Norman and called a tow truck and had his truck taken in to get fixed. So, we finally get back, the tire place calls and tells me that my tires are ready. So, we go get the tires, come back to the apartment to put the tires on the car. Get to putting the tires on the car (and figuring out the jack that came with the car was kinda difficult, but that's another story - well, I guess it's part of this story, but I'm not going to go into that here), and realize that we didn't have the allen wrench we needed - we hadn't returned from the tire place with it - they still had it. So, for the third time, while the guys put the rest of the tires on the car, Nicole and I went to the tire store to get the allen wrench. When we got back, the guys were finished with the tires and were merely retightening the lugnuts. So, we took it for a little spin and it felt fine. I'll wash it tomorrow and take it in to have them align the tires or whatever they do with those things when they put new ones. Yay for new tires (except for the cost and the wear on me from putting them on and the distress from realizing they'd been stolen in the first place!). Yay for new tires when you need new tires!

My poor car...

This is the sight that greeted my eyes this morning. Yes, to confirm your belief - this is my car. I was awakened this morning by my roommate asking me where I had parked (keep in mind that I was planning to go to work this morning, and my roommate leaves for work just before I get out of bed). So, I told her, and she said, I was afraid of that. Teresa, they've stolen your tires. So, my first response was...what? A bit disoriented, I put my contacts in and went outside to my car to take my first look at my poor vehicle (what did it ever do to these people?). They took everything: the tires, the wheels (the rims that the car is jacked up on are not mine, they took mine), and the lugnuts - they didn't even have the decency to leave those! Although, they didn't take anything from inside the car - that's a blessing (not that there was really anything to take, I guess). So, this morning I've already talked to the police, the apartment manager, and three tire retailers. This is turning into one expensive semester! To say the least, I haven't made it into work (don't know if I will today). I am so blessed with friends, though, they're all willing to help (the ones who aren't at work, the ones who are at work are all very sympathetic, wishing they could help). I'm very thankful for that! And I've been reminded of Philippians 4:4 - "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
So, I got to thinking this morning - it could be worse! I could be in New Orleans and the entire car could be under water. They could have taken the entire car. I could not have had a car for them to take in the first place. Amazing how you can put something like this into perspective (don't get me wrong, I'm still not happy about it happening, and the thieves had better hope they never get caught - not that it's likely - they didn't leave prints and what are the odds that the police will get them with no leads? :)).
I'm also watching my all-time favorite movie, "Fiddler on the Roof" - that always cheers me up (that's why I put it in).
I guess the upshot of this entire experience is that I've got one more experience to write about and to stick in my repertoire of memories and fun stories (well, it'll be fun once I get over the shock). I'm still in shock, but I am already missing my rims - I really liked them. Plus, I had those really nice, really expensive low-profile tires on it (can't afford to put those back on - and I wouldn't want to just so someone can steal them again!). So, the car won't look quite as nice after I get the new tires on, but it'll look much nicer than in the picture above!!!!!
The moral? I don't have one - check back later.

What's Next? People paying to use a torture chamber?

I came across this story about a rather remarkable restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Across the road from Tuol Sleng (the school turned prison during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror from 1975-79), a couple of aspiring restauranteurs have attempted to re-create the atmosphere of the Khmer Rouge with their theme restaurant. I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure that I would pay to sit at a restaurant where waiters and waitresses walk through with the black pajamas that were rampant during Pol Pot's rule of the country. Not to mention the fact that the menu strikes me as a bit odd - rice-water and leaves? Not to mention that the $6 price tag for a meal is a bit high for the country. Although, I suppose for foreigners wanting to learn about the history of the country, it might not be so bad. I don't expect to partake of it any time soon, though!