God, what a conservative!

God is not some sort of limiting, controling, watch you with the rule book teacher that demands you behave or you'll get smacked. God is a lifestyle that is meant to liberate and enhance life not control and prevent you from doing things. I'm not saying there isn't stuff that your not supposed to do. What I am saying that we are motivated by Gods love not to do them and motivated towards action by love, not prohibited and fettered by consiquence. We are not restricted by our faith we are liberated to live the life we are intended to live. One of my teachers said that the world was created to maximize people's opertunity's expeince by doing or recieving self sacrificing love. Its about what you can do and what you do do, not what you don't do or can't do.  Next person that tells me that women on stage in a church service in a play taken verbatem from the bible  is wrong because women should silent shouldn't be able to talk because I'm a man. Just saying. 

Oh goodness, the stock market risky???? When did that happen?

What the heck, my friends, what the heck. People seem to think of the stock market like a bank account with really great interest.  Its risky, some of its less risky than others, but it's still risky. I have a friend who made the incredible sum of 248 dollars today, and he's complaining he's going to lose it tommorow, ouch. All that money. Gonna set him back a ways. Its like everyones expecting someone to guarantee the money they risked carry absolutely no risk. Its like little kids playing a board game, no ones alowed to win because that wouldn't be fair. 

President Obama's first term ( As I know it to be ;)

First, he was elected by America because he is almost the complete opposite of Bush. He's young, ambitious, smart, willing to try anything, emotional politician. People liked that because he could articulate what people want in a president (not what they need, but want). We want our presidents to be able to promise us they are going to be the knight in shining armor that are going to save us from the big bad ugly corrupt politicians. 

Second, He was elected by his party because they found a messiah like character whom they know doesn't have the experience to run a small gas station. They intend for him to be a rubber stamp of whatever they want to do with the nation. Biden's a leash, not an add on of experience, they want to make sure they have someone whispering in Barry Obama's ear telling him what to do. 

What’s going to happen-

-Obama, in the next two months and four years is going to get a quick and dirty education on the way government actually works, the reality of foreign policy etc, etc. 

- He's going to develop a back bone that his party is going to find troublesome. He will be no rubber stamp. If he delivers on his promise to “change" politics as usuall, he must.

-His party's going to revolt. They elected a yes man and they (hopefully) are going to get a president. Consequently, and no doubt inspired by Mrs. Clinton Inc. , the civil war that ensued right up to primary night will spill over into congress. 

-for four years we're going to have a president with approval ratings through the roof with a congress who's approval ratings are going to be in the negatives. 

-Next election, should he be re-elected, which he will be unless he does something stupid as all the real players are dead in the water ( Huckabee, Guiliani) , he will have to deal with a republican congress, its traditionally the way this thing works

-Reagan, that great demi-god of conservatism, did his best work with a democrat congress, who’s to say Barry Obama won’t do the same? By then He'll have some hair on his chest, know how to work the machine to get what he wants. Change? Sure, just probably nothing significant in this four years. 

God

This is inspired by a guy I saw over fall break. I guess you could say I've been strugling with the idea of were christians fit in the world, how we're to participate in it. It seems that we are called to help and to heal, to spread the good news, not vote for some smoe running for office. Then again it is a government by the people and for the people. So the people make the rules. 

It is the piercing beauty of

A crumpled, worn-out,

Smashed up, wrung out black man,

Twitching leglessly in his

Wheelchair under the overpass

That is the greatest

Momunment to and most ghastly

Burlesque caricature of

The idea that God exists.

I should not be able to

Be wrenched by love

For this little bit of wind-blown

Litter of the human race, to be

Guilty of a chaingeless pocket,

A need to flee this worn pavement

For somewere far away by midnight and

Cannont help. Yet how can God

Do this, to him? What makes 

Him less worthy than I

Of two legs, a strong back, a sound mind?

Then,perhaps, thinks my mind,

It is society and I walking hand in hand

That bears the inditement for this crime.

Yet still, I would rather have

My arms,legs, and mind

Then hand them off to him.

Even though I have a family 

That would suround me with

A vast bulwork of love. And he,

I suspect, had none. God, 

I call you to acount,for

This crime.

Politics

ok, so I'm sure everybody's at least heard about Palin, Mcains running mate and the whole media "scandel" that surounds her. Personaly I think their all just pissed. This is a Carl Rovian move if there ever was one. Take the enemies idea's and make them your own. The democrats have traditionaly been much more vocal about women's rights and impowerment then just about anybody else ( as aposed to Republicans generaly cave manish attitude). So what does McCain do? He picks a women. An aparently acomplished, profesional, very republican women for his running mate. Inexperienced sure, but at least its inexperience with a belief statement. Obama's just inexperience with a dream. I will take someone who tells me what their going to do over nice sounding rhetoric any day.

Comeing at ya from Mc OS X

So I just got my new macbook. Can't say I'm horribly impressed with Mac Os yet. I've only really used safari and I had that on my old computer. But it does feel cleaner. Whether that's because I have yet to get crumbs and grease on it or because it lacks the Microsoft logo I'm not sure. I do miss the fact that I understand how to use windows ( it has Vista Enterprise) . Stardate 8979789

Batman

So I can't say it was the most amazing movie I've seen in a long while. It was certainly good, but not jaw dropping. In fact, I would argue that Batman Begins is much better. Heath Ledger acts every body off the stage besides Freeman and the Butler dude. The story is interesting, but lacks a focused psychological intensity I was personally looking for. Its not a bad flick, but I think they made it to big. They should have focused in on Batman and the Jokers struggle, stayed away from big explosive action scenes in favor of psychological terror. But whatev. Go see it, You'll enjoy it.

Kinky Honeymoons

The following is a short rant about a conversation I had regarding the fact that I ( theoretical of course) would have trouble taking faux lepord spotted undergarments with any degree of sincerity, in short if the future mrs. brm ever were to say, show up in said garmets I would laugh at her, and if there was any leather and wips/ handcuffs I would laugh, then go through the necissary paper work to obtain a devorce ( I'd wake the town clerk up in need be) all while laughing very very hard. Being kinky or seductive is not what sex or your damn &**&^&*^& honey moons about. Second the most "seduced" I've been by the few women in my life has rarely been a planned event ( as well as not haveing anything to do with what they were wearing for that matter), in fact setting out to do something ( like say, french kissing) generaly led to uncontrolable peels of laughter. Anyone who can take themselves seriously in fake dead animal prints needs to be shot, and anyone that is overweight and female should not tell a very pictoral guy ( moi), in a self righteos manner that implied ownership of said garments, that I'd better inform my intended of that fact or there'd be consiquences. Being single was frankly a very beutiful thing at that moment. Bitch.

Irony

Try decrying communism and the capitalist greed that keeps the U.S from being a theocracy that's sole purpose is helping poor people at the same time. You might get tongue tide. But then, it doesn't seem to stop some.

Met Mrs. M's mom the other day. Made the mistake of saying she was a hard teacher assuming that that meant to the both us that she was good teacher. Did some hurdle jumping to get out of that one.

Prayers and Cojones

So, we're needing y'alls prayers right now. We're having some difficulties. Nothing wrong with the business side of the op, good planing, straight talking, get things done sort of gal ( whose could switch facial expressions with the sis and no one would nottice a differnce). Leadership comeing out the wazoo in that area. However, our problems seem to rather relational and metaphysical. Short ansers is a decided need some more cojonical fortitude in said area.

A revalation

To much like Tiffany,
In form an function,
Like Leah, but not
the real article,
And the other two,
I'm not sure,
If either of you,
Have enough brains,
to remember, your own
names.
Nuff said.

Refreshingly Adult

So I just spent forty minutes to an hour holding a discussion with this women ( chick or girl didn't seem to cut it) about her grad/undergrad degree in Athletic training. It was nice to have a person to person chat that was just that. Nothing more. refreshing.Needs lime ( joke).

Brandon's creepy walmart guy, well and alive in Borders in Colorado

So I swooped into Borders for some internets and books, which is stupid cause I already have a freakin' load of books with me. Anywho, I breeze over to the coffee counter grab some tea and get ready to pay. Dude at the register has a voice higher than my sister. Then I remember the creepy walmart buy from Moberly. Total of my tea comes to 2.09. I only have ones and tens. 91 cents change. Damit!

Heya sports fans! its official, its hit facebook.

Sorry for the flippancy. Its a self defense reflex that happens when I talk about my emotions to just about anyone. Other than my slightly frazzled emotional state, tours going good. We head out Sunday, and I get to go to Walmart tomorrow. Yay! Ok so thats not much to be excited about.

Single, everywere but Facebook and California

So, due to personal reasons best summed up in the statement : I'm an immature, non-comital bastard that needs some time to grow up ( and distance sucks, a lot), I decided to break up. Only way to do this at the time was the uber cowardly way of breaking up over email. Needless to say California responded badly. I understand, but I really think this is the right decision. I'm sad, but don't really have the time to be sad, so its been actor face extrodinare. Anywho, the stupid mall won't let me access facebook because its under the category of personal and dating. Stupid security policy. So, I'm single. Every were but facebook and California. I miss California.

Shite'n the little guy

Guess whose at it? feckin' freezer.

Policy Change

So normally I make it a point to disagree with everyone, but today I will say I'm agreeing with my brother. We had some discussion over sermons and such that I mostly don't remember, but one thing I remember agreeing to , maybe, is that a sermon should be, well, a sermon. For instance, say you decide to preach on worship ( which by the way is the worst topic to preach on, specifically when you define worship as the song service/church service, as for the most part the new testament says jack about that, so your just reading a book about stuff I already knew and I'm bored, how do people respond to the fact that the 1800's was one of the first times people started worrying about church attendance????), you've got to be really clever to actually preach something that isn't on the level, of oh say, an bad adult class. Yes a boring, pointless, meandering look into were we got our traditions of order of worship. I am currently not dreading going to church. Nope not at all. You can obviously sense my excitement.

Warning

This has not aged in the old moleskin and its 2:49 ( Just got back from Iron Man, so you can guess what three cords are running through my mind) a.m. Unlike most my poems I actually have a title for this one:
The Chess Board

I have stared into the eyes of your demon,
Seen its face,
Souls twisted,
To its own purposes,
As you twist yours to its,
Only one stands betwixt you,
A black knight,
A knight who smiles into the blackness,
You see, he does not fight fair in these battles,
Never has,
So, for awhile I am here,
What is the difference between help,
And fix it?
Where is the line drawn,
between,
A listening ear,
and a shrink?
I,
Am,
Afraid,
I cannot,
do,
both,
Can I?

Expidition Report

On discovering a shower that had not the look,
Of a Lion, three weeks starved,
Moral Improved,
Eyes have been opened wider than imagined,
Do you really need all those?
(reference meds)
Wider still,
Your wasting contact solution! ( paraphrase)
Ouch!
Still,
Moral was improved.

coded message from the front

My mother would clean,
My father would fix,
And I will try not to count the days.

My Dad is Starbucks

Howard Schultz, owner of Starbucks said "we earned customers' trust by speaking to their hearts as well as their heads" (Koehn, Nancy F. Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' from Wedgwood to Dell Boston. Harvard Business School 2001p 207). In describing Schultz's experience with Italian Barista's that were to become Schultz's business model, Koehn says "…All of them provided an inherently social experience—one that offered people community, comfort, and some sense of extended family." If you walk in my dad's store the first thing that you will notice is probably and employee, half the time it's my dad, saying hi ( because it's "harder to steal from a face than a store" ), then you'll probably notice the signs. My dad collects signs, and decorates his store with him. If it's the Christmas season the store is decorated, to a certain extent much like our home windows and balustrades, with garlands and cheesy window stickers. You'll probably see that neighbor that you only see at the store and stop and chat for awhile ( yes, yes they do).Then off course you'll notice the prices, heck, next to lighting and the floors, that's the first thing I notice when I walk in a grocery store ( admittedly my dad's store is well lit, and we do our best to keep the floors clean, something that most Discount Food stores don't do) , which are low. The service is friendly and all the signs are homemade ( in fact it's the only way to get customers to read them ). We have customers that come to the store not because we're cheaper ( we are) , closer or whatever, but because half the time you'll find my dad out front, doing stuff way below his pay grade, chatting with the customer. My dad does exactly what Starbucks does, just for the opposite reasons. Starbucks offers service, atmosphere and community to justify the expense, while my dad offers service, atmosphere and community ( I'm not sure if this is a grand scheme or an just an after affect of who he is could be both) because he has an inferior product most of the time, a product that requires, to a certain extent, trust to sell. Take that Starbucks (and everybody out there who think theatre major can't talk business).

Harsh Quote of the Week

"Ford had married a little girl, clinging and winsome, and had liked it well enough till he met a grown woman."
Its the same person, but kinda like split personality's. Nothing so psychotic but perhaps a little more subtle. Someone ( I have a pretty good fix on who) "taught" or rather she ( the g/f) was intelligent enough to discover that by acting like a little girl was the only way she could be heard. It's sad, because as Tonto would say ( admittedly I'm putting words in his mouth) " She is much women." But its been brought up, and I have a great faith in her thats its something we can work on. There's some environmental elements, but theres steel in that girl ( as in the industrial material), and its more that she needs to let it come out more often as apposed to it just not being there.

Farm Wisdom

Hick [hik] A person who puts a standard shifter nob on a automatic transmission ( commonly seen on Grand Pre's, Buick's, and Mini-Vans) . See also: wannabe. Habitat range: Midwest, though can be found in most suburban centers, common identifying characteristics ( see above) : "You can take a hick out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the hick" as well as a southern accent that has the ability to appear and disappear, at whim.

Dr. Uncommon Sense: " One postulates that they (Hick's) admire the Redneck. They seek to emulate the toughness and extreme regionalism eschewed by the Redneck. One theory suggests they are compensating for something, possibly a decided lack of personality. Though a lack of intelligence has also been sighted in numerous cases."

Dedicated to the Lambda girl I and a friend rode with to a service project. I believe there were two GPS units ( one in the dash and another was the kind that mounts on the window). We got lost. However, my friend made the correct guess that road we past ( twice) was the road we were looking for. But locals are more trustworthy than a GPS unit. So we had to stop and ask directions, Twice. Then we got a call from someone who'd made it to the service project. He told us the road my friend ( and the GPS) had suggested was the right one. We finally arrived. Not saying it wasn't interesting, or that I don't have a highly developed enjoyment of driving random places ( I blame this on my father, and random Saturday morning road trips). As well as the fact that the two of them ( Lambda girl and my friend) have wildly divergent idea's as to what constitutes good music and so the dial of the radio changed almost as often as it does when me and my sister drive somewhere together. Not to mention the Lambda girl was a wealth of information of clubs and local bars ( irony makes me happy). But having experienced the real redneck on occasion, and for a portion of my childhood driven to school with the "real" item, I can categorically say She was not "it". A funny story: Her outrage at the suggestion my friend hadn't gone to church last Sunday ( misplaced because he had) far outmatched her outrage at random males who asked her to dance, and then tried to grind ( which ,to her credit, she enforced her personal no fly zone). She was fun, and an interesting study in Midwestern psychology, but not the real thing. She was pretty, and not a bimbo. But since she felt males were attracted to the redneck "bimbo girl" thing, she played the part. quote from Fool's Gold ( good movie, watch it):
"Stall for time."
"I need you to act like a bimbo."

The Great Debate

Ok, so my girlfriend is currently looking for a clinic to give her the second stage of the Gardasil Vaccine. Havening heard rumblings of "This vaccine will make girls immoral" and not knowing anything about the Cervical Cancer Vaccine, I decided to do a little research. The Mayo Clinic had a page and I read it. I can't say I'm as enthusiastic as the gynecologist was that wrote the page, but it seems to make sense.I wouldn't want to be the parent who has to take his daughter to the doctor for treatments that may remove her ability to procreate and may not work. I just couldn't look myself in the mirror if ( granted I don't have kids so I can't say for sure) I'd not gotten my kid a vaccine because " It will lead to immorality" and now she's dieing because of it. Admittedly, the cause's of cervical cancer ( which doesn't affect that many according to the mayo clinic page, only something like 10,000 women, which compared to the general population,301,130,947, is definitely not the staggering number the page claims it is) the vaccine protects against do seem to be lifestyle related. HPV is generally thought of as a sexual transmitted virus. One can reason that if one is not sexually active than there is no need for said vaccine. Two rebuttals to this argument, first I'm vaccinated for all the types of Hepatitis, yet my current lifestyle choices more or less protect me just as much as the vaccine does, but heck, there's more than one way to catch a disease, so I'm covered. Second, we don't know what mutations the virus will go through in the future. It may become more viral, and easier to catch. Last but not least, protecting yourself from disease does not promote immorality. Vaccine's are amoral. Morality is a personal decision. You decided whether or not to live morally.

The Quest for Black and White

Over simplification. The idea that things are one way, or the other, with no middle ground. That questions must be answered, not asked. This is the Quest for Black and White. It seems human beings like simple answers, we want things to be one or the other. In fact, it’s almost necessary for human life to continue. Red on the stoplight must mean stop, or horrendous car accidents will occur. Green must mean go, in order that we all don’t sit at intersections for the rest of our lives. However, some questions are not so simple. For instance, is stealing wrong? Well, generally, yes. What about if you can save someone’s life by stealing? Say you have kids, and there starving? Is the reason your kids are starving because your lazy, and stealing is easier than working, or did you get laid off, because someone else is willing to do your job cheaper, or a machine can do your job, better, faster, and cheaper?

This idea of oversimplification carries over into all steps and walks of life. When I was a kid, my mom used the threat of “washing my mouth out with soap” if I said a word I wasn’t supposed to. Does this mean even if I hit my hand with a hammer? What about if I broke my leg? A Chapel speaker recently talked about the danger of words. Certainly there are dangers in words, you can hurt a key relationship irreparably with them. They can even, and do start wars.

However, with this talk of the “Power of Words”, why is there never a discussion of the danger of the absence of words? Couldn’t absence be just as horrible? Lack of accurate criticism can leave a person unprepared for life, or more practically ,the final draft of a paper. Couldn’t a lack of healthy self deprecation lead people, organizations, country’s to take themselves too seriously?

By way of illustration, A friend of mine is thinking about going to a country in Africa with Wishing Well this summer. “To dig wells?” I asked him, “No to film a documentary” was my friends reply. Ok. My thought was, does anyone really (at least at Oc) not know about the need for clean water in Africa? You actually would have to go out of your way not to see at least a part of Wishing Well and various related organizations presentations, literature, and t-shirts ( especially these). So, does anyone really need to be educated? Isn’t the need for clean water? For thirsty kids, parents, aunts, uncles, third, fourth and fifth cousins?

But, is that not an oversimplification? Isn’t it possible that this documentary might reach someone who’ll decide to go and help, as opposed to the “old” documentary? Or couldn’t a rich donor be particularly moved by the new documentary to donate large sums of money? Couldn’t this documentary bring more clean water to thirsty children than one team that only dug wells?

Do we hear this questions being asked? Does the man behind the pulpit say that criticism is healthy, that jokes about oneself keep our view of ourselves from becoming skewed? Is there a public forum for debate ( not over whether or not a certain group, does this or that in Africa) but the ”helpfulness” of said action? Does even asking such questions help, and not impede people being helped?

Sometimes questions are just meant to be asked, because, there is no answer. Or the answer is complicated. Such as, couldn’t criticism help a person do a better job or destroy the persons will to do the job. And is a badly done job, better than a job not done at all? Is a thirsty child being given a bottle of water, better than no children being given any water, at all?

Keeping questions in mind, letting them influence both how we deal with other questions, and our specific actions related to a specific question must therefore be the goal. Perhaps we can achieve this, perhaps we cant. Maybe if we stay with black and white, life will be easier, there will be more doing less thinking. But, is it any good to do, without thinking?

Pointless repatition of facts

Ok, So the Duck is blogging it from a class, about the Bible, specifically Acts. Quick Thought: Memorizing events is pointless. Learning why the Writer of Acts gave them to us is important. There were hundreds of people who died for the Church, why does it mention Steven first, beyond the fact that he might have been the first martyr? I mean the dudes greek, mighten that be important, as a Jew, Jesus died at the end of Luke? A greek dieing for a dead Jew? hmmmmmm....anywho got to go, hell is over. Leave some witty degrading remarks, preferably unrelated.

good timeing

So right after I post about not havening a phone, I go to the doctor. So tomorrow their going to call my g/f and tell her when my appointment is next week to get the pins taken out of my hand because I don't have a phone. Even if I had skype they couldn't call me.

So its been awhile...

So the only thing longer than this post-less streak is probably my non-calling streak brought on by my non-renewal of skype (yet). Not havening money coming into the semester meant no phone till I got payed. Well, now I have some bling, but it'll be a little longer before I renew cause I need to figure out how much money I need for ( hopefully) a post school trip to California. So right now I'm existing with no phone, thankfully the g/f is pretty understanding about me giving important people her phone number. Only problem with that of course is that if she goes somewheres out of touch ( no internet) and I get an important call, well, I won't get the call. The suggestion of a room phone sounded like a good idea at first, and then I figured out that a couple things. First, the people I would call would require a phone card, which I don't have, and skype is cheaper anyways, so if I'm going to plunk currency down, I'm going with skype. Second, no one really benifts from this phone. I'm not in my room a whole lot. The g/f suggested it as a good idea, which it would be, if her cell phone wasn't long distance. well here's to internet communication!

iDiot version2.0

So my sister was waxing philosophic about a tea bag I'd just taken out of my cup of tea. Something to the effect she thought it wasn't meant to be used for just one cup. This in NO Way insinuates I'm incapable of doing something as simple as making a cup of tea with screwing up. Nope. Not at all. On the more positive note, my family has a gift for being incredibly insulting without realizing it. Which makes it all my fault for being insulted. Yep.

Stupidly Smart

First post of the new year, ba da da de dum! So my school, in their effort to keep us all good boys and girls, has once again out done itself in , in idiocy. So the dorm I live in has a lobby. This lobby is usually open 24/7. Not this semester. In their effort to keep "untoward" things from happening on couches in front of glass windows ( untoward here equaling the sins off: sitting to close, putting your arm around your girlfriend, and horror of horrors heads being lane on shoulders, ahhhh, you're making babies!!!!!) after supervisors sign out for the night. So no offense, but this means that say, you want to hang out/watch a movie with your g/f (God Forbid). You have to find someplace un-OC supervised in any way. Which generally means alone time for you the g/f. The places to do this are few and far betwixt. All of the are dark. So, by forcing me out of your well lit, highly visible thorough fair, Oc, ( were all I wanted to do was talk) you've now forced me to rely on the places you can't control my behavior at all, places generally reserved for making out ( gasp, you'd think you were young and in love or something). Way to be. Glad you got my back. Snifff...I love my college.