Author: jason

Giving Up Chocolate

Giving Up Chocolate

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From an email:

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, ‘If I give you this money, will you buy chocolate with it instead of dinner?’

‘No, I had to stop eating chocolate years ago’, the homeless woman told me.

‘Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?’ I asked.

‘No, I don’t waste time shopping,’ the homeless woman said.. ‘I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.’

‘Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?’ I asked.

‘Are you NUTS!’ replied the homeless woman. I haven’t had my hair done in 20 years!’

‘Well, I said, ‘I’m not going to give you the money. Instead, I’m going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.’

The homeless Woman was shocked. ‘Won’t your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I’m dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.’

I said, ‘That’s okay. It’s important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and chocolate.’

What I Did for Earth Hour

What I Did for Earth Hour

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Earth Hour? “What’s that?” you say? Well, as best as I can figure from spending less than thirty seconds on the site (to which I won’t link :), it’s an organized effort to get people to turn of their lights for one hour in an attempt to save the Earth from us evil humans. Seeing as how I reject the current anthropomorphic global warming scaremongering going on, I celebrated something different: Human Achievement Hour, which is a counter-effort to “salute the people who keep the lights on and produce the energy that helps make human achievement possible.”

So what did I do? I left the light on in the kitchen (though, to be honest, I forget it was on and was just too lazy to get up and turn it off), left my thermostat set to a comfortable temperature (just like our president does), and watched a movie on blu-ray (Get Smart) on my giant LCD TV while a fire burned amongst my gas logs. All of this AFTER I watched Bolt on the same TV with my boys as we ate the popcorn we popped in the microwave oven in the aforementioned brightly illuminated kitchen. It was a great evening.

I can imagine that some of you may be upset with me and other who celebrated Human Achievement Hour. “Don’t you care about your planet?” some might scream at us, given the chance. I would guess that most of us do, but here’s the cool part. We were able to enjoy the fruits of the human labor we celebrated guilt free because of all the Earth Hour celebrations (truth be told, though, this Saturday evening wasn’t really all that different from any other, but that’s another story). At any rate, since all the warm-mongerers were reducing their consumption, I was able to maintain status quo on mine with a net neutral environmental impact (the existence of which I’m granting solely for the sake of argument). If there’s anything I’ve learned from Al Gore, it’s that I can maintain the lifestyle I choose guilt free as long as someone else is making some sort of sacrifice in my stead. Think of it as Environmental Indulgences. If it’s good enough for the Pope of the Church of Man’s Ruining Everything, then it’s good enough for me.

Obama and Stem Cells

Obama and Stem Cells

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Today, President Obama rescinded President Bush’s ban on federal funding for expanded embryonic stem cell research. Adam Keiper, in a post on The Corner, made some really interesting points regarding the policy shift. One of the most interesting parts of the analysis was this question that Keiper asks of the President:

What counts as a purely “scientific decision”? What issues can we possibly decide on scientific grounds alone — that is, without also inquiring after the kinds of important ethical, political, and economic concerns that President Obama denigrates as mere “ideology”? On what future issues will the president claim that science dictates a policy and trumps all other concerns?

If we’re not going to let ideology play a role in determining what happens in the name of science, why not allow unrestrained animal — or even human — testing? Is vivisection on the table then (no pun intended)? History has clearly shown that restraints must be put in place, or some very cruel, and, yes, evil people will push that laissez faire attitude as far as they can. If Obama envisions a scientific world untethered by any sort of ideology, whence comes morality in some respects, then he’s opening a Pandora’s Box that we will rue for decades.

Stem cells can cure a lot of things, just not the stem cells the President is pushing. Given the success of adult stem cells and the resounding lack of success of embryonic stem cells, the President’s decision is anything but non-ideological. It’s misguided, deluded, and infanticidal.

Obama and Abortion

Obama and Abortion

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To everyone who thought that there are more important issues than abortion in the last election… To everyone all caught up in hope and change, willing to put aside such a HUGE moral issue for this country for a pipe dream… Thanks. First the Mexico City policy, and now federally funded embryonic stem cells. More dead babies, but at least an “honest” man is in the Oval Office right? Oh, and thanks for the $800 billion dollar boondoggle. My grandchildren thank you.

What does change under Obama mean?

What does change under Obama mean?

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Why, more abortions, of course! But we’re not supposed to focus on that, right? We’re supposed to worry about the economy and things like that. Worry about people losing their jobs, not defenseless babies being ripped apart in utero! If he had a pastor, I bet he’d be proud…

Congrats to Obama

Congrats to Obama

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I was going to be a wet towel and describe why I’m not excited about today, but decided not be a jerk. I’ll save those thoughts for another, more appropriate day. For now, even though I didn’t vote for him, he is my president (I’m looking at you, Al Gore fans) and I’ll pray for him as I’ve done his predecessors. Best of luck, President Obama, and congratulations.

To Karate Class!

To Karate Class!

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On Monday nights, I have karate class. After years studying, then years away, I’m excited to be back in it. My boys have picked up on that excitement. As I was leaving for class, Andrew said he wanted to go to watch my class. Noah also wanted to go to… “see Daddy dance.” Nice. 😛

At class, things didn’t quite go as planned. Monday night was the night where the instructor decided to explain, in detail, what we were doing, which is fine, but probably more information than a five year old needs to hear. We learned about using an ippon nukite (is that spelled right? 🙂 to gouge an eye, and how a certain step in our kata (heian nidan?) is breaking an attacker’s elbow. Good stuff, in theory, but, again, not for a five year old. Angela quickly herded the boys into another room to play.

When we got home, as I was putting Andrew in bed, I talked to him about how he’s not to do anything unless and until he’s had formal training. Andrew asks, “You mean like the thing where you take one finger and poke someone in the eye?” as he pokes me in the eye! In the words of my brother, “he’s a natural!” 😎

Props to Oklahoma State

Props to Oklahoma State

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I never thought I’d say that, but there it is.  For the longest time, my impression of Oklahoma State football is that the only thing they care about is beating Oklahoma.  If they go 1-10, they’re happy as long as that 1 is Oklahoma.  In fact, a few years ago, after Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma, I overheard a Cowboys fan at a wedding say “At least we knocked Oklahoma out of the national title game.”  You stay classy, Stillwater!

Things seem to be changing up the highway, though.  Or maybe the obnoxious vocal side is getting drowned out by the more level-headed.  Either way, I like what I’m seeing.  In the run up to the Bedlam game, an OSU player was shown on TV lamenting how Oklahoma State is often treated as a “step-child” to the state’s big football powerhouse, and that they (Oklahoma State) are aiming to be more than that.  And they appear to be succeeding.  They’ve done exceptionally well this year, and good on ’em for that.

The second good sign is the closing two paragraphs from this article:

“The good thing,” Oklahoma State defensive back Andre Sexton said, “is that the Big 12 South is going to be represented well. I think we’ll have a team in the [national] championship game, and whichever team it is, they will be good.

“I’ll cheer for either one of them. Everyone should.”

Rather than cheering against OU out of spite (and I’ll confess I’m guilty of the reverse on occasion), he comports himself in a very sportman-like manner.  And he’s right.  The Big 12 South, or at least most of it, has been well represented in Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, and, yes, Oklahoma State.  While painfully aware that OU fans aren’t free from being spiteful (I sit by some of those week after week each fall), it’s good to see the non-spiteful, aiming-for-something-bigger-than-a-Bedlam-win contingent getting louder and more visible.  If we can silence the annoying on our side a bit more, Bedlam will be a lot more enoyable all around. 🙂

By the way…

By the way…

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I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but, along with some friends of mine, I’ve been blogging for a while over at Pilgrim’s Progress.  We try to restrict our discussions to pro-life discussions, the intersection of public policy and faith, and similar matters.  If that sounds at all appealing, feel free to check out and subscribe to our feed. 🙂