The title of this post will probably lead you to think I am off on my favorite topic again. You couldn’t be more wrong … but WAIT … there’s more.
Actually, the title of this post is taken from an article by William Kristol in the NY Times. If you are a Barack Obama fan, you may hate this article. If you have been wondering what people find so exciting about Barack Obama, this may explain it. I just find it scary.
I am moving along in my study of 1 Corinthians. It looks like my original estimate was correct and I will not finish until next month. I’m finding so many applications for today’s world in this book! I was a little discouraged that it was taking so long to get through this study, but found a new perspective. One pastor I know took three years to preach/teach through Romans, which is approximately the same length as 1 Corinthians. Another pastor spent eight years in Romans. 
That makes my 9 months of (almost) daily work in 1 Corinthians seem about right.
I debated back and forth about ordering the books for 2 Corinthians. I thought “Who studies like this other than pastors?” The answer to that is “me”. I am making up for all the time I wasted on frivolous reading and all the years I could have gotten a better understanding of what I have always believed even though I didn’t always live like I believed. Better late than never, as they say.
I was excited to hear about a new book coming out by J. I. Packer (thanks to B2W) and pre-ordered my copy. I also splurged and got a book by Paul Barnett that I have been wanting for a while. Then I decided to exercise some control and stepped away from the bookstore. 
The DNC is busy trashing McCain while another report shows that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are contributing heavily to various super delegates. Yeah, tell me about the change.
Democrats Try to Trap McCain on Finances
ARGH!!!
Ralph Nader is running again. It’s not a surprise, given recent comments. Sadly, much of what Nader says is true. Even more sadly, much of what he says will be dismissed. Barack Obama labeled him “just a perennial presidential candidate”. Hillary says he “prevented Al Gore from being the greenest president we could have had, and I think that’s really unfortunate”. I think it is really unfortunate that neither of them are addressing the issues Nader raises.
I haven’t posted a picture of Asher in ages … he’s not a baby anymore!
He’s getting ready to move to a new home and be a big brother … we are expecting an addition to the family in July. We’re celebrating lots of birthdays in the next weeks … Stephanie just turned 13 and Samantha’s birthday is in April. Busy times.
I don’t usually have a lot of sympathy with the view that we must limit the ability of people to litigate against institutions. But every once in a while ….
In addition to Super Tuesday results, the Wednesday St. Paul paper carried an article about a lawsuit brought by parents against their doctor and a local hospital. Since the hospital in question is “my” hospital, the one where all my children were born and where I am treated when hospitalization is needed, I was curious to see what it was all about. Hang on to your hats, folks.
It seems a mother indicated to her doctor during prenatal visits that she wanted her male child circumcised. This was done in accordance with the mother’s statement. After the procedure, the mother complained that the doctor had not gotten her consent to do so. It is questionable, but understandable that she would have wanted to reaffirm her decision. However, the parents brought suit. The lawyer for the parent claimed the doctor had removed the “most erogenous” tissue. He also stated that it is his goal to hold doctors and hospitals accountable and that he stands firm against the practice of circumcision “in the interest of genital integrity”.
It’s not enough that we have all the euphemisms designed to bypass e-mail filters. No! Now we have to be concerned with genital integrity as well. 
Am I the only one who thinks that an abrupt departure from Iraq could start renewed and violent hostilities against Israel? Nature (not to mention civilizations) abhors a vacuum and rushes to fill it. The vacuum left by our precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be filled by Al Quaida and other terrorist organizations. It is possible that Syria and Iran would step in to take control in Iraq. Israel would stand alone as the only democracy in the region. Already under attack, their situation would be immensely worse if the US left the area. The Bush administration has already put Israel under duress with their Middle East policy (IMO). Democrats, get a clue.
I’m still not endorsing any candidate, but my thinking has coalesced as to those I cannot support. I am not supporting any current office holder running in the presidential race. My reasoning is simple. These people were elected to do a job. The amount of time they have devoted to the presidential race is nothing less than dereliction of duty in regard to the job they currently hold. You might argue that such a thing wouldn’t happen if they were president because there is no higher office they can aspire to. I respond that if they cannot be trusted in the smaller job, how can we trust them with the highest one?
Further, I am greatly dismayed by the stated purpose of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to immediately begin pulling troops from Iraq. Those of you who have known me for a while know that I was persistently and consistently against the war with Iraq. As far back as the election of 2000, I warned that Bush’s intent was to go back to finish the job begun in the 90s by his father. Most people thought I was a little nuts on the subject. It doesn’t make me feel better to have been correct. I said then, and I say now, that it was Vietnam with much higher stakes. Anyone old enough to remember (and this certainly includes Hillary) knows the disastrous consequences of our pullout in Vietnam. Now we are talking about doing the same thing again?
There are other aspects of both Democrats that trouble me. I feel that both aspired to their current offices only as a springboard to the presidential race. There is something wrong with that, IMO. Hillary still can’t say she was wrong to vote for the original war authorization and has elegant, if specious explanations for doing so. Barack still hasn’t given a good explanation for his “present” votes in the Illinois legislature. Both have missed votes in the senate while they were out campaigning. They haven’t been faithful to the public trust.
Nope, no endorsement and no vote for current office holders in this primary season.
Joe at The Evangelical Outpost is responsible for much loss of sleep last night. Not only did he post the link captioned in the previous post, he also posted a link to the Super Bowl commercials. I only watched the last two minutes of the game, but I sat and watched the videos of all the commercials. Most were pretty inane, but a couple made me chuckle and one was outright hilarious. My favorite was the Budweiser Teamwork commercial, although I really laughed at the Doritos Mousetrap one.
View them all here
I found this link on Evangelical Outpost. But click on it anyway … it is not what you might fear!
If Rube Goldberg designed web sites …
(hint: move your mouse over the cup)
Well look at that … we made the Google front page. Of course, due to Google’s rotation policy the article may be gone before you go to look. Still, its unusual for the frozen chosen to get a spot on national news. Here are a few of the stories for your reading pleasure:
FACTBOX: Minnesota and its presidential caucus
