Friedman: Wake Up Call

This man is pretty much always right, as far as I can tell, and right now he's becoming a serious doomsday prophet!
In Thomas Friedman's latest NYTimes column, "Anxious in America", he makes the case that rebuilding Iraq will not be the big issue in the next election - it will be rebuilding America. He's been writing a lot recently about our pathetic oil dependence and need for alternative energy development, including a recent column "Mr. Bush: Lead or Leave" that really lays it out.

His latest column details many ways in which America is on the wrong track right now: low savings rates, high consumer debt, food prices soaring... and then one paragraph jumped out at me:

"My fellow Americans: We are a country in debt and in decline — not terminal, not irreversible, but in decline. Our political system seems incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big opportunities. We are the ones who need a better-functioning democracy — more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of nation-building. It is our political system that is not working."

He gives lots of concrete, specific examples to back up his assertions, and concludes with:

"If the old saying — that “as General Motors goes, so goes America” — is true, then folks, we’re in a lot of trouble. General Motors’s stock-market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with Toyota’s $162.6 billion. On top of it, G.M. shares sank to a 34-year low last week.

That’s us. We’re at a 34-year low. And digging out of this hole is what the next election has to be about and is going to be about — even if it is interrupted by a terrorist attack or an outbreak of war or peace in Iraq. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait another year to get started. Vote for the candidate who you think will do that best. Nothing else matters."

Scary, but quite possibly true. As prophets go, this is a man that I listen to.

Dance with Matt

This video is the ultimate in beautiful randomness - placing it squarely into my favorite category of things in life: "Who thinks of these things?!" Gotta give this guy some credit - 42 countries in 14 months. (Be sure to move the cursor off the picture after you hit play so you can see the bottom of the screen.) Enjoy!


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Memories

Reading The Sheila Variations usually leads to me finding something she wrote that I want to copy, and today is no exception! In "You Can't Take it With You" she lists favorite memories that she'd like to take with her when she dies.

Here are a few of mine. I would love to hear other people's too...

* Long weekend in Newport RI in '94 with my friend Rachael and a bunch of people we had never met & never saw again, but who adopted us because one was a friend of a friend and we were coming through town

* Playing yard games with the neighborhood kids on summer nights when we were young - something I didn't consciously appreciate until some girls from school who lived a few blocks away wandered down one night & commented on how cool it was that our block all hung out & played together

* Halloween parties my senior year ('85) dressed as the Robert Palmer back-up band with my 3 best friends

* Graduation day the first year I taught seniors ('05) at Patrick Henry HS - seeing the blessing in each one who made it to the finish line

* Visiting U Penn and Columbia last spring with my daughter who was trying to choose between them after being accepted to both - being so incredibly proud of her every day

* Watching my 3-year-old nephew climb on my dad's tombstone & knowing the God holds us all and life goes on...

Wombat Wisdom

I couldn't find the code to embed this here so you'll have to trust me and click on the link:

"All is One" Wombat

Just do it.

10 Reasons to Believe in a God Who Allows Suffering

10 Reasons to Believe in a God who Allows Suffering
from Mandilakhe Dabula
via Auntie Mo and Melissa Borgmann:

1. Suffering comes with the freedom to choose.

2. Pain can warn us of danger.

3. Suffering reveals what is inside our hearts.

4. Suffering takes us to the edge of eternity.

5. Suffering loosens our grip on this world & life.

6. Suffering gives us opportunity to trust God.

7. In suffering, God suffers with us.

8. Suffering is lesser than God's comfort.

9. In times of suffering, we find one another.

10. God can turn suffering around for our own good.

From my own experience:
- It is true that pain serves a purpose in life! It warns us to pull hands away from hot stoves and hearts away from bad relationships.
- It is true that sometimes we hold negativity in our hearts, which causes suffering - but that suffering reveals what we need to let go of.
- It's true that pain helps us focus on what matters - not things of the earth, but trust in God.
- And it's absolutely true that God can use our suffering to make us stronger, healthier, and better able to do God's will on earth.

I do not know what suffering this South African young man has endured, or where he found these words, or why he sent them on. It doesn't matter. I am blessed to read and ponder them today.

The More Things Change...

Mitch Pearlstein has a hilarious little quiz in the Strib today: eleven quotes by presidential candidates about change. From Bush to Obama to Nixon to Kennedy, you can't tell them apart.

Examples:
2. "My fellow Americans, something new, something different has happened. It is the end of an era and the beginning of a new day."

8. "This nation is daring and decent and ready for change... My fellow citizens, we can begin again."

Same message? The first is from Hubert Humphrey in 1968 - the second is GW Bush in 2000.

The more things change...

Right Living

Wise words from Henri Nouwen:

Right Living and Right Speaking

To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. What we live is more important than what we say, because the right way of living always leads to the right way of speaking. When we forgive our neighbors from our hearts, our hearts will speak forgiving words. When we are grateful, we will speak grateful words, and when we are hopeful and joyful, we will speak hopeful and joyful words.

When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages - one with our words and another with our actions - makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life.

I really try to live by "do the right thing" - but sometimes a reminder is nice! Nouwen's words help me focus on what's important: consistency of thought and action. Living my beliefs.

All good. :)

Prayers Needed

With all the flooding in the Midwest right now, we are clearly doing a better job taking care of people this time than we did with Hurricane Katrina. I'm not sure why yet - I suspect it's a state issue (high-tax, high-service blue state) but who knows. The StarTribune article today reported one FEMA official saying there was much less need for temporary shelters because of people sheltering others in their homes: "It's evidence of that neighborly Midwestern grit out there." Interesting!

25,000 people left homeless in Cedar Rapids by the flooding...

Somewhere between 2 million & 5 million acres of crops destroyed...

20 levees breached already, with 30 more at risk...

The entire town of Winfield, MS was flooded out...

Prayers needed!

What's up with the Question Marks????

I don't think of myself as someone who is generally confused or unsure - more people would probably call me confident & opinionated - but as I was scanning back, I noticed three entries in a row with question marks in the title. What's up with that????

Am I carelessly being like those women who can't make a statement without raising the pitch of their voice at the end of the sentence for approval? I hope not!!!

Classroom of the Future?!

How's this for cool? An economical use of resources - the Classroom of the Future brings a tech-advanced space to the school via flatbed truck. So a district might invest in one and share it among schools - or share with other districts.

It has:
* a stage and a small-cinema-sized screen for presentations and performances
* work space for 15 students to explore music and filmmaking
* adaptability for additional needs as technology improves!

Bravo, future thinkers!

"Nerd Girls" - a Step Forward?

It sounds stupid, but according to Newsweek, "Nerd Girls" is actually a group of female engineering students at Tufts University who are trying to break down the stereotypes and claim both science brains and femininity at the same time.

Apparently it's working - junior Christina Sanchez says being a computer whiz and a sexy girl is no big deal: "Just because I get dressed up Saturday night, that doesn't mean I won't do better [than a guy] on a test on Monday."

Amen, sister!

I was stunned, though, that the older woman in the article quoted saying "I hid my passion for all things scientific and focused on pursuits that were allowable" is only 38! Younger than me! When did Gen X become the prior generation???

Still, gotta give credit to the young ones coming up - if they do it better than we did, that's as it should be! :)

Race No Longer a Political Tool?

Paul Krugman has written a great column, "It's a Different Country," about the use of race as a tool of political division. He makes the case that without it, much of the right-wing agenda makes no sense.

Example: fear of "Big Government" which of course was a Reagan staple & has been used to divide and conquer ever since. The reality: Americans support the biggest domestic programs: Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Reagan used to imply that the problem with big government was money wasted on "them" - welfare queens, etc. But Clinton's reform of the welfare system blunts that argument significantly.

Krugman's basic argument is that if Obama wins in November, it won't "transform America" so much as it will show that American has already been transformed.

Given the recent racism I've seen from Fox media surrounding the Obama campaign I'm not so sure... but we'll see!

"I'm Voting Republican..."

OK, this is certainly superficial - and maybe even mean - but it's also worth seeing and thinking about...!

It's Come to This...

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but apparently since they can't attack his platform or positions, folks are just attacking Obama with lies. The campaign has created an official "Fight the Smears" page on its website to debunk the lies as they circulate.

I'm sad that it's even needed, but at least modern technology allows the truth to catch up! (What's the old phrase: "A lie makes it half way around the world while the truth is lacing up its shoes?!")

Check it out!

She's Many Things, but "Baby Mama" Is Not One of Them

Wow. I knew that the race would get ugly, but so quickly?!

Apparently, Fox News referred to Michelle Obama as " Obama's Baby Mama" - seriously. I got this from an Andy Ostroy post on Huffpost which, while opinionated, has always been accurate as far as I've seen.

Holy $%^&#!

America, we're about to get to know ourselves really well in the next 5 months...

18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

"18 million cracks in the glass ceiling..." a great metaphor for 18 million voters who were intentional about electing a woman to be Commander in Chief! I am sorry to see Hillary's campaign end, but I am proud of her, and of America.

We've come a long way, baby.