Even if you have presidential election overload ...

... you may enjoy the latest Frontline documentary: The Choice 2008. Personally, I cannot think of a single news source that provides in depth and objective information more consistently, and have recommended their online archive of documentaries to several friends and acquaintances. The latest installment interweaves biographical information on McCain and Obama, essentially ending (briefly and without much comment) at their VP picks. You can watch this program online, and it will be rebroadcast (on most stations) on Sunday, Oct. 26, and Monday, Nov. 3, 2008.

Buddy Says -- "You First Dan"

2 Questions:

1) Why is Dad wearing my shirt?

2) How many pans of biscuits will Mom have to bake to train the dogs to use the dog door.

The Morleys Wear Slippers

We spent last weekend in Chicago visiting our friends David and Nika.

Elaine likes to ride the train, so we took the California Zephyr from Denver to Chicago. I pretty much hated the train ride; it was rocky, there were very few electric outlets (which foiled my plan of watching movies all night), and I basically got no sleep whatsoever. Train travel could be great, but it’s not so great right now unless you’re taking a shorter trip or you can afford a sleeping car – which is way more expensive than flying.

Most of the weekend was spent wandering around town via long walks, bus, and train. We ate some great food ranging from David’s famous pancakes to vegan fast food (just as unhealthy as McDonald’s but without the animal products) to a giant Italian sausage deep dish pizza (that meal was sans our friends – see above). We walked through the Lincoln Park Zoo; checked out Hyde Park, including the U of Chicago Art Museum; saw some sketch theatre – Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind by the Neo-Futurists; and went the Museum of Science and Industry – which is epic.

Mostly we just enjoyed being with friends that we don’t get to see often enough.

I wish I could write something profound about friendship and how wonderful it is to spend time with people that you feel comfortable being yourself around, but the words are escaping me.

It's a Different World

This picture was taken two weeks ago, less than two hours from our house. I don't think we're in Texas anymore.

The People Formerly Known as The Missions Committee

Busy times around here. The weather is too nice. Leaves are starting to turn and the nights are cool, but the days are sunny and warm. I finally kept some fish last weekend (they were stocked rainbows, the wild browns and cutthroat are just too beautiful to kill) and we ate trout and grits before church on Sunday -- delicious.


Elaine and I are going to attend our first Church Outreach Committee meeting next week, which jogged my brain about the following link, which was passed along by our friend Laura from a guy named Brant Hansen's blog. Anyways, it's short and it's fantastic. If you are a church attender, a former church attender, or someone who knows a church attender, it's worth a read.


http://branthansen.typepad.com/letters_from_kamp_krusty/2007/06/the_people_form.html

Alpine Lake Fishing

Colorado summer happiness is a mild and sunny day, hiking past this:



To get here:



And be met with:



And to be the ONLY angler on the lake. It took an hour or so to catch my first fish, but after that, this was a regular occurrence:



Then we had a little rain shower, a little soft hail. We packed up our stuff, hiked back to the car, then went to Idaho Springs and ate a tasty pizza.

Oh Happy Day.

Is there a middle ground in the abortion debate?

Timothy Shriver writes a good piece about the abortion debate for Newsweek/The Washington Post --

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/religionfromtheheart/2008/09/pro_trig.html


Here are some thoughts of my own:


As a whole, people who believe life begins at conception are going to vote overwhelmingly for McCain this fall. Despite some earlier equivocations, McCain is presenting himself as stridently pro-life; Obama is clearly pro-choice.


But is Roe v Wade really in any danger of being overturned? As long as abortion is legal, pro-life candidates get a cache of votes from pro-life voters without having to represent any of their other interests. Would the majority of politicians that benefit from this arrangement really be anxious to give up such a strategic advantage? If elected officials cared as much about the issue as single-minded voters, wouldn’t Senators filibuster at every opportunity? Wouldn’t Representatives attach riders to every bill?


Nothing would fire up feminists like restricting women’s reproductive choices. News stories about botched back-alley abortions would flood the media. More unwanted children would further strain a safety net already full of holes.


Every abortion is a tragedy. But the best way to reduce abortion is not to reduce supply, but to eliminate demand, to change hearts and minds, to convince everyone to enjoy sex only in the context of committed, loving marriages. Barring that, there are going to continue to be unwanted pregnancies, some of which will end in abortion – legal or otherwise.


The person sitting in the Oval Office probably won’t make a big difference on these issues. John McCain would certainly be more apt to appoint pro-life judges, but there will only be incremental changes in the regulation of abortion in the foreseeable future.

Despite my general skepticism of the political process, I have the slightest bit of hope that Barack Obama could lift the level of discourse in this country. You cannot win a debate until people are actually talking to each other. If people are more engaged, if there is a greater sense of community, inclusiveness, and shared purpose, then maybe we could begin to break the vicious cycles of poverty and personal irresponsibility that feed the abortion industry.


I repeat: abortion is a tragedy. But so is militarism, inadequate healthcare, profligate energy use, a failing education system, and personal and corporate unwillingness to do more for the least of these inside AND outside our borders.