NK Nuclear Test

Is anyone surprised by this? It was only a matter of time. From the accounts I have read so far, the only question is "WWCD?", that is: "What Will China Do?" North Korea Zone has an interesting post speculating that China will, in fact do nothing of substance, that the Chinese have too much invested in the North Korean economy (such as it is) to risk utterly destroying it, and that they prefer an impoverished, but politically stable, North Korea on their border to a united, democratic Korean peninsula or the chaos resulting from a popular uprising. This view has a great deal of appeal to me, especially given China's lethargic response to the NK missile tests earlier this summer. Time will tell...

NBC=Nearly Brain-dead Company??

Honestly, if network television is going to broadcast VeggieTales, is anyone surprised that the overt references to God will be edited out? And is anyone surprised that this is controversial? I really don't know whether to be more shocked that NBC actually picked up the lovable Veggies, or that Veggie fans (or more appropriately, their parents) are surprised that the episodes were edited.

A Long Time Ago...

...I made my last post. I knew that it had been a while, but I did not think it had been so long (not that I have any real readers, but if there were any, they would be rather annoyed by the delay).

Anyway, I wanted to post tonight because I wanted to talk a bit about an issue at our church. The pastor announced today that he will be visiting another church in the same state next week in view of them calling him to serve there. This was unexpected in the church and has created some undertandable turmoil. My wife and I are wrestling with the issue on several fronts. There is the immediate and personal question of whether this particular man should leave this particular church at this particular time, but it is largely academic since only he can make that decision for himself.

The more interesting and more important question is when any pastor should move to a different church. I guess I became a bit jaded on this issue a few years ago when talking to a friend who described for me the "ministry career path" in which a man moves from a small (usually rural) church, perhaps as a youth or music minister, to progressively larger (and wealthier) churches until finally reaching the pinnacle, the urban mega-church, complete with television and radio ministries, speaking engagements and book deals. This sounded very matereialistic to me, and I have never really recovered from the impact of this paradigm-shattering realization. Since that time, any movement of a minister has raised in my mind questions of motive. I suppose that ultimately it is not my place to question the motives of another man, but at the same time, the pastor is under the authority of God and is accountable not only to Him but to the people God has entrusted to his care. As one of those people, I feel a certain responsibility to the other members of the congeregation as well as to the pastor himself to help ensure that he is appropriately exercising the authority of his position.

More damaging, perhaps, than the move itself is the gossip that will certainly follow in the weeks to come. I believe that this is where the challenge lies, as our congregation struggles to understand the change without turning into more of a rumor mill than is typical for a church in America.

Growing Recognition?

I am the first to admit that I am far from an expert in the international media. However, it can be safely stated that there is not a lot of support for the American version of the GWOT. It is possible that the recent arrests in Great Britain have changed some minds. This editorial in the London Daily Telegraph recognizes that the Muslim terrorists are not motivated by the desire to change government policy, but rather to overthrow the government (in this case, the British one). This line says it all:

"Do as we say, or the extremists will plant more bombs," is not a form of argument acceptable in a democracy. Until that point is understood by all elements of the Muslim community, we cannot hope to eliminate the terrorist fringe within it.

If only this opinion would become more prevolent, we might be able to end this war quickly, afterr all.

A New Perspective

This will unfortunately be a short post, but I wanted to throw this out to the two or three of you who actually read this. Here isan article which brings together two of my great interests, religious faith and the pursuit of the Global War on Terror. Intellectually taking on Islam...on its own terms...might just be the key to unlocking the power of that "peaceful majority" of Muslims who do not get excited about killing innocent women and babies with suicide bombs. I will revisit this issue when I have more time.

Worth a Read

Sometimes, you read something that just makes you feel good to be an American and especially to be in the US Armed Forces. This is one of those things. (h/t to Blackfive...my hero).

Murtha Sued

Not that I expect much to come of this, but Rep John Murtha is being sued by one of the Marines accused of murder in Haditha, Iraq. No matter what the outcome of the investigation, and it appears that it is not going well for the accused, Murtha's comments were out of line and should not have been tolerated.

Psy-Op by Hezbollah?

Amid recent reports that various enemies of ours are getting more competent at manipulating the mass media, here is an intriguing story about how Hezbollah is allegedly manipulating the (willing) world media. Personally, the only thing I find surprising about this allegation is that it is being reported on at all. I have long felt that we are pitifully unsophisticated in our dealings with the international press, preferring secrecy to telling our side of a story. In an age when many people's opinions are formed in seconds via soundbites and pictures flashed in between episodes of "The View", we need to get better at presenting the truth, or at least our version of it. We cannot count on even the American press to do it for us.

A Great Idea

Here's a fantastic idea: Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, TX is planning to bill Mexico for services rendered to indigent Mexican nationals. Mexico is, of course, crying discrimination, but since the hospital is also charging other countries as well as other counties in Texas, I don't see what is discriminatory about it. Maybe we should do this for welfare, as well...