Quick Update and Future Post Previews

Been a busy couple of weeks here in the burbs…

• work is a handful right now, and Lent is right around the corner.
• We discovered an awesome and simple artisan bread recipe in Mother Earth News. It has endless variations and is very, very tasty! We are making pizza dough out of it tonight. Give it a try.
• The last frost is just around the corner, so garden planning is in full swing. My seed potatoes will be here any day now, and we need to get seedlings started for everything else. And of course, those beds still aren’t built.
• I have all the stuff I need to rework my container soil from last year, and really need that done this weekend.
• I have decided to build a fence around the back yard, but have to file paperwork with our HOA for approval. I figure why pay someone else to do this when I can do it myself.
• I have been thinking a lot lately about the so-called Benedict option. Rod Dreher writes about it in his book Crunchy Conservatives, and several blogs have spoken of variations on the theme. It has me thinking about what intentional community building might look like. What if like minded folks covenanted to all move to a neighborhood together, buying several houses on a block or  large plot of land, and turning into an intentional community? Not sure…but it has my interest…

A Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Living

Tanya Gold offers a sobering yet humorous look at how to survive in post-apocalyptic Britain. The good news is that you can survive off the land, even if you are more accustomed to urban life. Than bad news is that – in a real TEOTWAWKI situation – we are probably all screwed anyway, regardless of how much bushcraft we know! Should you be one of the lucky few who make it, see her “Fun Things You Can Do After the Apocalypse” section!

Cursory Thoughts on Inauguration Day

• I love pomp and circumstance, and I think the fact that we have our first Black president deserves a lot of pomp and circumstance. It is historically significant to say the least, and that fact has not been lost on me.
• I like the fact that Obama selected Rick Warren to give the invocation. Why? I am no Warren groupie, but Obama said from the very beginning that he was going to reach across the ideological spectrum as a sign of his commitment to unity. I think Warren symbolized this commitment, and was pleased to see that Obama did not change his mind when political pressure seemed to increase. And let’s not forget that Bp. Gene Robinson was part of the festivities yesterday, and I understand that PB Schori was part of the service this morning. The fact is that we are going to have to learn to live one another, and I respect him for sticking to his guns. With that said, I found his use of the Pater Noster in that situation…well…odd…
• Aretha Franklin brought a tear to my eye.
• I am glad he used his full name. Hussein! Sounds scary! I am glad he didn’t back down there. What a stupid conversation to have about his name anyway.
• Obama’s speech was good. Actually, I thought it was really good. There is a little doubt that the guy can hold an audience and that he is pretty masterful in delivery. The speech itself was an appropriate blend of sober assesment and a call to believe that things can change. I don’t know what I will do during state of the union addresses now since i spent the last 8 years listening for Bush-isms.

• With that said, I found this passage oddly discomforting:

“What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”

The question about the size and scope of our government is a legitimate question that must alwways be asked. I don’t think the question is going away, no matter how much BHO wants it too.

• Rev. Jospeh Lowery is such a part of civil rights struggle and of Atlanta history. I was so glad that he gave the closing prayer. Updated to say that I just read his prayer. I was in a small group when it was delivered. Atrocious, racist, and garbage.
• All in all, not a bad ritual beginning.

Stay Awake Folks

Not to poop on the revelry of inauguration day, but I think it is interesting that the mainstream press has failed to report that a Joint Resolution has gone before the house that would repel the 22nd Amendment. For those of you who have forgotten the 22nd Amendment, it reads as follows:

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

The current resolution, H.J. Res 5, reads as follows:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 6, 2009

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

---

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article–

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.

Hmmm…interesting timing.

The Naked Pastor on Church Growth

Here.

Face it, David is one funny dude and welcome to fill in for me any time!

A Government Agency is Corrupt? No Way!

Unless you talk to the scientists at the FDA, who are saying that managers have forced them to change their scientific findings. Better yet, some of these corrupt managers have been promoted! Read it all here.

Encourage Obama to Keep His Promise Regarding GMO Foods.

Obama said he would call for mandatory labeling of all GMO foods. Encourage him to keep his promise by signing this petition.

Hat tip to Punkgardener.

Eating Squirrels and the Macho Jesus

Two articles from the NYT caught my eye. The first is on the trend being seen in Great Britain that has folks eating squirrel meat. I find it fascinating because the article seems to suggest that there is some form of exoticism in doing so. Considering I have squirrel meat in the freezer (yes, from ones that I shot), I don’t find it so odd. Hat tip to Homegrown Evolution for pointing this one out.

So while I was on the website of the liberal elite, I found an interesting article about Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. As a mission developer, I find the notion that his church started a little over a decade ago in his living room pretty cool, especially considering there are now like 7,000 in attendance. I also like the fact that tattooed freaks like me aren’t banned. Like Mark, I do object in some ways to Jesus being treated like a proto-hippy.

At the same time, I can’t get with him on some of his other stances. Calvinism sucks (sorry Presby-Reformed readers), and I am not so sure that being faithful means taking a giant dump on women or dehumanizing gay people.  Isn’t this the same dude that blamed Ted Haggard’s homosexual affair and meth use on Ted’s wife? Classy.

Want a beer swilling, foul mouthed pastor with a real punk rock attitude? Try this one.

Hatred of the Suburbs

Interesting Wall Street Journal piece here.

Every time I hear a snotty urban dwelling hipster speak ill of suburbia I am reminded of Mike Ness speaking of suburban LA on the live Social Distortion album, “We have winos, junkies, pimps and whores” too.

I think I have more to say on this, maybe specifically dealing with Atlanta’s ITP (inside the perimeter)  and OTP (outside the perimeter) cultural  paradigm.

Epiphany Prayer

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.