Worldwide Prayer?

When's the last time anyone heard about this happening (not that it hasn't happened, we just don't necessarily hear/think about it)?
I'm watching Apollo 13 on the History Channel - very good movie, and since it's on the History Channel, they of course have the commander of the mission, James Lovell, commenting on the history of the mission. Well, here's an interesting tidbit: during the movie, they comment on the fact that the near tragedy united most of the world in prayer - the president of the United States asks for the people to pray for the mission and, get this, the Congress of the United States passed a resolution asking that the American people pray for the men in space (gee - I wonder if that is a violation of the Establishment Clause). The Pope led thousands in prayer before St. Peter's Basilica. An amazing event - not just because of the miracle, but because of the outpouring of prayer. So, someone had the idea to analogize that incident to the war in Iraq - here's a short comment I found discussing what happens when the world unites in prayer to merciful God (I actually found it when I searched for something about the Congressional resolution, so it wasn't my idea to find something about the War in Iraq and link it to Apollo 13). I'm not sure that I like the end of the article, but I think it gives some good things to think about.

Update: What I like about the History Channel is that after any movie it shows, there's a show about whatever the movie was about. The one after Apollo 13 is about the restoration of the rocket used to get the Apollo spacecraft beyond the atmosphere. Well, here's an interesting factoid: in the command module - there is less technology than in your typical cell phone! How crazy is that?

First Day Back

Well - here's a happy thought - after this semester, I will be halfway through law school. Here's an almost happier thought - after last semester, I am 5/7ths of the way done. I think the first one sounds better when you think that law school is only three years, so that's only one and a half years left. Ok, that's enough about that.

Today was the first day of the second year of law school. I'm not really ready to work full time without going to school, but I feel very ready to be finished with school. School would be better without the finals. I don't mind the classes so much. Speaking of the classes - criminal procedure is going to be very interesting - all about the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments to the Constitution and how they 'protect' your average American citizen - sorry those of you who are not citizens - you're not as protected. Here's a factoid from today's class that everyone might be interested in - the Fourth Amendment - the right not to be unreasonably searched or seized has only applied to the states since 1949. And only since 1961 have the courts excluded the evidence gathered from these illegal searches from trials in the states! The exclusionary rule (as it's called) has applied to the federal government and federal courts since 1914. There's your trivia for the day.
Professional Responsibility may be a little different - it should be fun to learn all the ethics governing this great profession I have decided to join.
Ok, I have class really early in the morning and three classes, so I'm going to leave this post here. Hope everyone has a really really good Tuesday!

Tearjerker moments that shouldn't have been

Warning: this is going to be more like a journal entry than any of the previous posts (except the very last paragraph - if all you want is what I usually write, skip to that) - an opportunity to vent more than anything. No complaints - remember - you have been forewarned; and forewarned is forearmed.

Today is one of those days, when coupled with yesterday, that proves the old saying about life being full of hills and valleys. For the most part. Allow me to explain. Yesterday was a day of good news and great energy, etc. Today, on the other hand, was one of the most frustrating, tear inducing days I've experienced in awhile.

The day started off fine, I got up early and made it to work on time and really had an uneventful first couple of hours. However, in the middle of the morning, I got an email that changed the entire tenor of the day. This email announced that one of my classes would no longer be taught by the same professor as scheduled. This change caused a change in syllabus and a change in textbook, not to mention rendering moot the two hours last night I spent reading the assignment in the other book. The bookstore is supposed to get the new books in by Monday (a good thing since the class is Monday afternoon, wouldn't you say?), and someone has provided photocopies of the first two weeks assignments just in case. Unfortunately, there are no photocopies of the supplement to the textbook readings (I don't know if they just hadn't created them or if they were just all gone), and so I will have to scramble around between classes on Monday to get everything done before that class. Fine and dandy - although, inexplicably, frustrating enough to make a person cry.

Then, on my big project for the afternoon - preparing jury instructions for a trial in September - I couldn't get the formatting to cooperate. Raise your hand if you hate wordperfect as much as I do. That program never cooperates with me when I need it to. I'd rather use Word any day of the week and twice on Mondays. Another aggravating moment that, once again, inexplicably induced tears of frustration.

Orientation was running rather late this evening, so I sat through a couple of boring speeches I didn't intend to sit through. Even the professors got to leave early from that! Also, grades from the summer semester were supposed to be posted by 5:00 this evening, but guess what was occurring around that time? Yes - the administrative confusion that is system maintenance. Why any sane person would schedule system maintenance at the same time that a few scores of students were wanting to check their grades is beyond me.

To top the evening off, once I returned home, I got stuck on a website because I couldn't find the answer for which I was looking. Is it really so difficult to answer a simple question about how much a computer costs? Apparently, unbeknownst to me, it is. All they really want to tell you is how much you would have to pay per month. They don't want to tell you how much you would end up paying for the computer if you actually took them up on the monthly payment option - I guess it's the same when buying a car. Stupid interest rates and my seeming inability to do simple math in my head combined to make that another near teary experience.

Probably what I need is a couple of hours around people so that I can recharge my cheerful batteries. I know this sounds weird to some people - but being around people usually energizes me - it's certainly better than sitting around and reading my law school assignments!

On the bright side, though, grades were finally viewable and I did pretty well in a class I thought I had failed (shush all you people who keep telling me I'll do fine - this means you, Kevin and Nicole). So, I suppose I should have written this post before I checked that grade so the frustrating moments (which also included reading a confusing case about enemy combatants and my second legal profession assignment - the details of which I have spared you) would have been fresher in mind than the recent elation at the sight of another grade.

On a completely unrelated note, I am going to steal a page from Holly's book and point everyone to a couple of new links on the sidebar of this blog. First, Miss Mandy Kay - Mandy - if you're reading this, I promise I'll email back soon, and I too am unfortunately apparently addicted to this whole blogging thing. Everyone check out her livejournal - she puts some pretty insightful stuff on there. (Mandy, I especially liked "The List" - I laughed and thought it was pretty good) Second, I'd like to point out the link to Richard Posner and Gary Becker's blog. If you don't know who Posner is, he's an appellate judge on the 7th circuit and writes some very good opinions - if he weren't too old, he probably would have made a good addition to the Supreme Court - he's usually very logical and clear. As far as Becker goes, I don't really know who he is, but he writes some pretty good stuff on that blog. They always incite interesting commentary. And, my final pointer is to check out this article by Cal Thomas, always an insightful commentator. I don't have it linked on the sidebar, but you could get to it through two different links that I do have on the sidebar, so I think it should be part of this paragraph.
Alrighty then, everyone have a wonderful weekend, I'm still singing Green Day songs!

GreenDay

Ok - I think that how much the concert rocked was inversely proportionate to how much I disagree with their politics and their moral choices. In other words - it was awesome! Both GreenDay and Jimmy Eat World (or J.E.W. as we affectionately call them ;)) were great. All the band members knew how to play to the crowd and were great showmen! The ringing has just left my ears and we were pretty far from the stage! Ok, though, the point is - it was great - I wish Oklahoma could get more bands to come to the state.

Public Schools

And we wonder why people want to take their children out of public school??? Phyllis Schlafly is one of the most logical people I think I've ever read, and what she discusses here, in her commentary on the NEA and unconcerned parents, is appalling.

Monday

Usually Mondays don't bother me - they're just the first day of another God-given week. However, given today's rather dreary weather, I thought that the lyrics to Breaking Benjamin's "Rain" were stunningly apropros:

Rain rain go away
Come again another day
All the world is waiting for the sun

In other news...

So, anyone who knows me knows that I have a younger brother (I've quit calling him my little brother since he turned 18 and got taller than I am - those events, incidentally, did not coincide - the second happened much earlier than the first) who is a near genius. Well, here's (I say here, but I guess I should say above because I can't quite figure out the picture thing on this and I don't have the time or the patience to work on it right now - it's being very contentious) his latest project:

This is a Lockheed P38 Lightning (don't ask me what that means - call him and ask him - or better yet, find him online and ask him - actually - he may not know either, so better to just look it up on your own). He has created the entire thing from scratch - pattern and everything - it's pretty amazing, although it's not nearly finished.

The first picture is the path he took to get to this point, what I affectionately call the 'airplane graveyard' (and the amazing thing is that I didn't even get all the planes/helicopters/and certainly not any of the RC cars in this picture!):

Anyway, I just thought this was all cool, and you can check out some of his other stuff on this website. I'm not sure everyone will be able to get there, but if you can, I suggest you check out the artwork pictures!

Man and Woman He created them...

Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." If male and female were the same, He wouldn't have used two different words to describe them. It's nice to know that scientists are finally jumping back on the bandwagon and recognizing that there are differences between the sexes that are not explained by the psychological tendency of parents to give dolls to girls and trucks to boys or to paint girls' rooms pink and boys' rooms blue. Studies: Differences between the sexes matter.

Dostoevsky

I am in the middle of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's (one of my favorite authors) The Brothers Karamozov, a story about a Russian family, and I found this short passage that I thought I'd pass along. One of the brothers, Alyosha, is a novice in the Russian Orthodox Church, and he is having a discussion over dinner with one of his brothers, Ivan, about the existence of God. Ivan claims that he accepts the existence of God but cannot accept the existence of the world God created because of the suffering of children (of which he gives several fairly graphic examples). Here is part of their exchange:
"'imagine that you yourself are erecting the edifice of human fortune with the goal of, at the finale, making people happy, of at last giving them peace and quiet, but in order to do it it would be necessary and unavoidable to torture to death only one tiny little creature, that same little child that beat its breast with its little fist and on its unavenged tears to found that edifice, would you agree to be the architect on those conditions, tell me and tell me truly?'
'No, I would not agree,' Alyosha said quietly.
'And are you able to allow the idea that the poeple for whom you are construcing the edifice would themselves agree to accept their happiness being bought by the unwarranted blood of a small, tortured child and, having accepted it, remain happy for ever?'
'No, I cannot. Brother,' Alyosha said suddenly, his eyes flashing, 'just now you said: 'Is there in all the world a Being that could forgive and have the right to forgive?' Well, that Being does exist and It can forgive everything, everyone, man and woman alike, and for everything, because It gave Its innocent blood for all things and all men. You have forgotten about It, but on It the edifice is founded and this it is that people will exclaim to It: 'Just and true art Thou, O Lord, for Thy ways are made plain.'"

Another opinion on Stare Decisis

"It is a maxim among these lawyers that whatever hath been done before may legally be done again, and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and general reason of mankind. These, under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities, to justify the most iniquitous opinions."

----Jonathon Swift

lawful: (adj.) compatible with the will of a judge having jurisdiction
----Ambrose Bierce

Update:
Just in case anyone has forgotten: Stare Decisis is from the Latin meaning "To stand by things decided." The idea behind stare decisis is that courts are bound to follow the precedent they set (specifically the Supreme Court because all the other courts are legally bound to follow the SC's decisions - but the SC is only bound by stare decisis to follow its own decisions). Stare decisis has engendered such decisions as Planned Parenthood v. Casey (where the SC decided that since Roe v. Wade had been decided, they couldn't overturn the right to abortion). The reasoning behind stare decisis is that there should be stability in the law - people should know what the courts will allow and what the courts will not allow. There's a quick and dirty summary of it for you :).

Oklahoma Quarters

Ok, this was too funny not to share. It's from Kate Moore's blog.

Screwtape takes on the Blogosphere

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted anything, but I think that everyone who reads this knows that I've just started a new job that keeps me busier than the last and I don't have as much time to enjoy the internet (so I haven't run across as many editorials as usual). However, in my short downtime this afternoon, I did run across this very interesting site. Knowing my fondness for C.S. Lewis, no one will be surprised that I decided to link to it. Screwtape Letters is my favorite of his books (so far at least), so when I ran across Screwtape's First Letter on the Blogosphere, I had to let everyone else read it! Here's the excerpt that I found first, just to whet your appetite in case you don't have time to read the entire thing at the moment (the excerpt below is from Evangelical Outpost):
"Screwtape Returns -- Aaron from two or three found a new "letter" in which Screwtape instructs Wormwood on how to deal with his subject now that he has started a blog:

'It seems your charge has started what the human vermin call a "blog." This presents new issues that you can use to bring him down, but you must be careful because like with anything the danger is always there that he will use it to glorify the Enemy.
We can eliminate the danger from many of these "bloggers" from the beginning by focusing them on anything but their faith. Lead him to start a political site, a humor site, a blog about his cat, anything but a site that presents the Enemy's plan. We must keep them on either end of the extreme. The easiest way is to simply keep him away from speaking about Him.'

Aaron says, "if you are going to copy someone, copy a genius." Personally, I think C.S. Lewis would be flattered by such a worthy homage."

And, while this is linked in that post, I thought I'd include a link to another 'Screwtape Letter' floating out there in cyberspace.

On a personal note, here's the only thing I don't like about C.S. Lewis: have you ever prepared yourself to write something and then discovered someone has already written it and done a much better job than you could do yourself? That's how I feel every time I read something by Lewis. That's writer's jealousy for you (forget writer's block - this is a bigger problem!)!

And now for something completely different...

First, as to the title of the post - I really like Monty Python.
Ok, the months, no, weeks, no, days (no, maybe no one's been waiting for it) of waiting for my promise of some original poetry to come to fruition are over! I can feel the excitement out there. I have decided to allow the world to read a couple of my poems. Usually, I wouldn't do this, but I did promise (sorta) and I feel like it.
The first I wrote a few months ago, when I was thinking about 'the only thing to fear is fear itself' and I was wondering if I believed that statement. Out of those musings came this (I've been working with rhyme, and I'm not really sure that it works all that well for me):

Fear

The only thing to fear is fear itself
Someone once famous said
You live your life fearing other things
You live as though you’re dead

It’s meant to fill us with courage
With solidarity and love
To give us strength when orders come
From way up above

But what about the darkness,
Spiders, heights, and snakes
What about those courage abandons,
Us it forsakes?

Is it okay to be afraid,
To live in doubt and dread
Not if you have My voice inside
Your heart and inside your head

Fear not, for I am with you
Your courage I will be
Your Rock, and your Fortress
If you’ll come sit with me

Set your mind on things above
Things you cannot fear
Set your heart on what’s in store
Lest things of earth grow too dear

These things rot and turn to dust
And soon shall pass away
And some the thieves can come and take
From you even today

Ok, the second poem developed out of some rambling thoughts I had after someone mentioned that every time we sin we drive the nails deeper into Christ's hands (I'd give credit where it's due for that comment, but I really can't remember, sorry). I was playing with repetition at the time (I like playing with various poetry techniques).

In a perfect world…

Here there should be no shame
But every time I fall I feel the stares
Of a thousand little gloating demons
Waiting, just waiting until I fall no longer to rise again
Waiting until I finally give up
Waiting until I scream: why hast thou forsaken me

Here there should be no guilt
But every time I fail I feel the stabs
Of a thousand little pitchforks
Poking me
Prodding me to give up, to give in
Prodding me to forget why I should care
Prodding me to scream: why hast thou forsaken me

Here there should be no sin
But every time I see temptation I bite into the apple again
And hear a thousand little voices in my head
Murmuring to me
Whispering that no one will ever know
Whispering that it won’t hurt anyone, anything
Whispering that thou hast forsaken me

Here there should be no pain
But every time I fail I see Your Son
A thousand drops of blood fall as He hangs
Drowning my justifications
Suffocating my selfishness
Suffocating my scream as I hear Him
whisper: why hast thou forsaken me

Ok, I'll consider posting more poetry at some point in the future, we'll see. Now I'm going to go take a test, wish me luck!

Poetry for the day

I found some poetry that I thought was pretty good, so I decided to post it.

"The Cowboy" by Julie Redick pays tribute to President Bush:

They call him a cowboy, as they attempt to hide
From all their own failures, for they let the threat ride.
Terrorism building, zeroing in from all sides.
Selling out the country for political pride.
For eight years they played with our country's life.
"Leave all to the cowboy, he'll buckle under the strife."
Now they seem to have forgotten that autumn day
When their failures came to life in a horrific way.
Tearfully but firmly, the "cowboy" began to sing
Hymns for 3,000 souls that had suddenly taken wing.

There is more they've forgotten in their attempt to deride:
Those "cowboys" before him that we once hailed with pride.
Those men who risked everything for good over bad.
Founding Fathers and others--the best that we had.
Sons, brothers, fathers and husbands went forth
Taking up arms to bravely ensure democracy's worth.
Risking everything they had for liberty & freedom
For the cowards of today the right to spout all their venom.

So, they call him a "cowboy," and thank God he is.
He rides strong, firm and high in that saddle of his.
Most of us will never forget his words of that day
That are etched in our memory as he had his say.
"We will not forget, falter or fail."
Thus our fight for freedom will never pale.C
all him what you will--Our Constitution you enjoy.
Just remember all our heroes have once been cowboys;
Cowboys who shed blood to keep everyone free.
Starting with a call for Independence by decree.
Never backing down from all the Hitlers among men
Who would seek to undermine what we have always been.

Freedom and liberty started with the dreams of a few
Who then passed it down as a precious gift to you.
If you have the courage to defend all you enjoy.
Then set your course remembering
all our heroes have been "cowboys."

This one I jut thought was funny (luckily it includes the context!).
On a lighter note, in December 2001 anti-American polemicist Robert Fisk of London's Independent got mugged by a gang of Afghans at a refugee camp in Pakistan. Although his attackers obviously were after his property--he acknowledges that they repeatedly "grabbed my bag"--he wrote a column insisting that they actually were politically motivated and that they, like him, hated America. That prompted this limerick by Tom Spaulding:

There once was a writer named Fisk
Who opined at "great personal risk"
Till a teed off Afghani
With the strength of my granny
Kicked his "what used to be kissed"

And just one line from the last poem on the page, probably my favorite line out of all the poems: "It's better fought and lost than never fought."

If you want some more fun and thought provoking poetry, check out the website: A Day of Poetry for the War

Hope in Africa

Ask me for the hope for Africa, and I won't show you the G8 conference or the Live8 concert. Instead, I'll point you to this article which explains from whence the hope for Africa comes. While both the G8 conference and Live8 concert are good things, there is only One True Hope for such destitution.

Grammar Sense

Ok, I found this article this morning, and being a fan of correct grammar, thought I'd pass it along. It even includes two of my favorite goofs: irregardless and I could care less

This, on the other hand, is an awful idea. If this proposal is half as bad as it sounds, we're in trouble if it passes!

Unwholesome Talk

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people" - Eleanor Roosevelt.

I've never thought much about gossip. Oh, there are the little catty things people (especially girls) say behind other people's backs that usually get back to the person they've been said about and cause huge rifts in seemingly stable friendships; but, lately, my definition of gossip has been expanding. I was involved in a conversation today where the two other people talking were discussing people I didn't know, had never met, and would likely never meet in ways that were not flattering. However, much to my chagrin, I found myself not only listening, but, at one point, actively participating, sharing my own story. Just because it is true does not exclude it from the sphere of gossip. Just because what I said was true does not whitewash the fact that I said it in a fairly meanspirited sense. And, just because the people I was talking to didn't know the persons I was talking about does not clear me from the taint of shame for saying it. I think I am a little too cavalier about what I say. James put it this way: "the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:6) That's a pretty stinging indictment. When you put it that way, maybe I really should 'hold my tongue' more often, as my mother used to say. Although, I'd like to tweak the old saying, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," a little. Because sometimes what you need to say or what someone needs to hear is not exactly nice, as I tend to think of the word. Telling someone they've done a subpar job is not nice, but they need to hear it so they can do a better job next time. Maybe the saying should be something more along the lines of: "if you can't say something with a spirit of love, don't say anything at all." That should take care of church discipline and the little things we have to say. Of course, I think that once again the Bible has beaten me to that punch. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it might benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29. This is a verse I happen to struggle with, not because I don't believe it is true - it seems rather like a command to me and makes perfect sense. Rather, I have a tendency to read the part about 'building others up' as 'making others happy.' Biblical rebuke aside, telling people what they want to hear without becoming sanctimoniously self-righteous can be very difficult. It is a constant battle with pride to know you are right about something, yet avoid telling someone in a way that, not only are they going to be offended, but I am also going to be 'puffed up' as it were with the knowledge that I am right about what I am talking about.

Humans are interesting creatures - full of contradictions; but Christians are supposed to be new creations. It is really unfortunate that the old self continues to war against the new self. Ok, this whole thing started with gossip, so let me circle back around to that. My point, I guess, was that I have almost subconsciously slipped into an attitude of not caring about my words. I used to have this idea that when a person was judged by God, all the words that person had ever said would be spread out across the sky. I really don't know where I got that idea or whether I have completely abandoned it even, but it used to really scare me. The thought of all the words I have ever said here on this earth spread across the sky actually does still give me the creeps. It also makes me want them to be the right words, words I put some thought behind instead of just the trivial, chatty talk that comes out of my mouth so often. Okay, well, I'll wrap it up and leave it there, not because that's all I would have to say on the topic, but because I've bored everyone who is reading this to tears by this point :). Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!
"Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." Ephesians 5:4

Hope Springs Eternal

There is hope in our fight to free the East. This is a pretty inspiring story about Afghanistan's progress, even though the end is arguably not yet in sight.

From The Best of the Web Today (Friday's article - so, I guess, the Best of the Web Friday!):
"One liberal who makes sense, though, is Slate's William Saletan:
Bin Laden's whole game plan is to turn the people of the democratic world against their governments. He thinks democracies are weak because their people, who are more easily frightened than their governments, can bring those governments down. He doesn't understand that this flexibility--and this trust--are why democracies will live, while he will die. Many of us didn't vote for Bush's government or Blair's. But we're loyal to them, in part because we were given a voice in choosing them. And if we don't like our governments, we can vote them out. We can't vote out terrorists. We can only kill them."
I like this as well, from the same source:
"[M]ake predictions that can't possibly be wrong. With that in mind, we're going to go out on a limb and predict that Chief Justice Rehnquist will retire at some point, unless he dies first."

Just a few thoughts to keep everyone busy today

Tragedy in London

Tragedy struck London today as 4 bombs went off in various parts of the city. Unfortunately, the incident has a more widespread impact than just on the people of London. It is important for all people of free nations. Undoubtedly, the attack will instigate a cry to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan from the people of Britian and the US, just like the bomb in Madrid. The argument is that the only reason the terrorists (I will not call them insurgents, call a chair a chair) are striking out is that we have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan when those nations have merely been minding their own business and living peacefully with their neighbors. Interesting argument that holds no water. Hopefully we will not bow to the wishes of people who believe that force is the only way to convince anyone that their point of view is correct. These people are murderers.