Satirical Soliloquy

I've just discovered satire and it's a romp! Here's my intellectual confession - I've never read any satire...any. It has always just seemed out-of-reach for me, something I wouldn't really relate to and therefore not appreciate. But last week I picked up No Way To Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley only because Buckley wrote a guidebook on Washington, D.C. that I enjoyed during my trip there last month (Washington Schlepped Here: Walking in the Nation's Capital). It's a riot in a very reserved, tongue-in-cheek way. Sort of a quiet riot, I guess. Anyway, Buckley has opened my eyes to satire. Does this mean I'm going to start reading The New Yorker and shopping at Highland Park Village? I kinda doubt it. But I might buy a smoking jacket.

Landis Lampooned

Guess my previous post about Floyd saving the tour was a little premature. But they still don't have solid evidence. For now, I'm choosing to believe the Flandis.

But even if the B sample confirms the A result, Landis is not necessarily guilty of taking an illegal performance enhancing drug to boost his testosterone. Some riders can prove that they have an elevated Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T:E) level, if they undergo an endocrine test performed by a credible doctor. Landis said he will use Spanish doctor Luis Hernández, who has helped other riders prove a high T:E count. "In hundreds of cases, no one's ever lost one," Landis told SI.

In 1999, Colombian rider Santiago Botero was able to prove his elevated testosterone levels (over four times the allowed limit) were natural. His doctor at the time was Kelme's Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.

Landis is looking for other answers too. He is allowed to take cortisone for his degenerating right hip, although he said during the Tour that he had only had a couple of injections this year. But he also told SI that he'd been taking daily doses of a thyroid hormone to treat a thyroid condition. Even if either of these can explain his high T:E ratio, Landis realises that it will be hard to convince people. "I wouldn't hold it against somebody if they don't believe me," he said.

-cycling news

Stuggling for Posts

I'm having trouble with Blogger lately. Is anyone else having this trouble? In any case, I just wanted to fight through it long enough to give you a couple of links to great stuff.

Russ's blog has a post about a new book I've got to get on Spiritual Disciplines. I have this love/hate relationships with spiritual disciplines. I love them when they draw me closer to God, but I tire of them quickly. Then they stop bringing me into his presence and just start being a chore and then a lose them for a while and then, after a while, I rediscover them and love them. Russ has some good insights about the disciplines as well as some "How did he read my mind" insights about growing up Southern Baptist. Read the post here.


This blog is from some guy that Steve knows. I don't know him but his blog is genius.

TdF Wrap-Up

This Tour de France started with a drug scandal and a weakened field. It could have made a lot of would-be watchers tsk-tsk and turn their heads. But for Landis’ exploits, this might have become an anonymous tour, given fringe fans reason to abandon the sport, and left American cyclists with an “at- least- we- did- such- and- such” taste in their mouths. I don’t think Landis was thinking about any of that when he attacked in Stage 17. I don’t think he was thinking about anything beyond his embarrassment, his ambition, and his team. From what I’ve read about him, Landis likes to keep his thoughts narrowed to those things. But without realizing it, Landis might have saved the sport this year. Or, at least, he turned a bad year for the Tour into a good year for American cycling.

Outside has an excellent profile of Landis that reveals some of his quirky, bold and simple personality.

That personality was also revealed in the way he handled his disgrace on Stage 16. The press conference, if you could call it that, showed something about Landis’ character but also something about the character of cycling. What other sport would ever see one of its star players address the press sitting alone on the steps of his hotel villa? If that were the NFL, we’d have had Drew Rosenhaus repeating “next question.” If it were the NBA, fines would fly. MLB? Forget about a major leaguer sitting on his front porch and chatting for free. The only other sport where something like this might happen is NASCAR. Cycling has its problems, but its athletes are accessible and its personalities are genuine.

Cycling News revealed that Eddy Merckx bet on Landis the day he lost 10 minutes. He got 75-to-1 odds.

Forgetting the World Cup (or trying to), America has done herself proud in international sporting events this year. We won more medals in the winter Olympics than expected. And yesterday there were two huge events in the world of sport, both in Europe and both won by Americans.

Message of Romans

I love reading Romans in the Message. It seems to be the book where Peterson's paraphrase most dramatically enlivens the text for me. Here's how Peterson handles Romans 12:1-2

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Mid East Musing

Every so often when something erupts in the Middle East like it is now I can’t help but racking my brain to try to think of something that we could do – some way to help. As if there’s something that the brightest minds in diplomacy haven’t considered. I know there will always be conflict in the Middle East and I probably don’t have much to contribute. But I can’t help but wonder about options.
I had an idea this morning. When I worked at the newspaper, I covered something called the Ulster Project. It’s a week-long camp in the U.S. attended by Catholic and Protestant teenagers from Northern Ireland. It’s a way of exposing young people to people and viewpoints different from their own and pre-empting any indoctrination they might receive in the future that includes hate against another group. It’s a neat program. Of course, it has its limitations. Parents who send their teens to the Ulster Project are probably the same parents who would protect their kids from involvement in “the troubles’ anyway. But I still like the idea.
Is there a way to do something like that in Arab nations? Imagine Arab and Jewish teenagers at camp together! Wow! There are big problems with this – how are you going to get kids to take part? There are financial and huge cultural barriers. Kids would be taking a big risk aligning themselves with something like that. But if militant Islam can recruit and brainwash young men to carry out suicide attacks, is there a way for peace-loving people to recruit and educate those same kids? Or possibly just reinforce peaceful principles in kids who won’t be recruited by militant groups but who might turn out to be the next generation of leaders for their countries? How do we get to them? And how can they be protected once they do take part in something like that?
Anyway, just thoughts. I just bang my head against the Muslim/Jewish thing now and again and thought I’d share.

Sanitized Insanity?

Yesterday, I read this description of a local attraction - Legacy Town Center in Plano - provided by the city itself:

One of dozens of faux downtowns popping up across the country, spurred by a demand for urban living scrubbed of the reality of city life. A careful mix of retail, residential and office space built with traditional materials such as stone and brick, Legacy looks like a city but has neither panhandlers nor potholes. Legacy Town Center is built in a contemporary style, with hints of Frank Lloyd Wright. Its use of brick and limestone give it an old-time veneer. Retail buildings have been built a different heights to make the town center look like it’s evolved over decades with more than 1,500 apartments and town houses, some 80 shops and restaurants, two mid-rise office towers and a Marriott Hotel.

Someone tell me: isn't there something a little out-of-balance about this? Is this how our society thinks? This doesn't make me want to visit Plano. It kinda makes me feel sorry for the people there who are apparently all clean and rich and and safe and comfortable and - to use the city's word - feaux.

You Know What Today Is?

Today is the day that the peleton's route turns skyward toward the high mountains where men dance on the pedals of anger and the roads lie on the hillsides like pieces of discarded string. Today, the Tour reaches the Pyrenees.

Scintillating Debate

How come all the really interesting disputes happen on Steve's blog? Oh well, here's one that I've spent considerable time banging my keyboard over, and I figured "Why waste all that typing?" So log on people! And speak out!

Breaking News: Landis is One Hip Wonder

Read the VeloNews story.

Floyd Landis's reputation as the toughest guy in the peloton took a quantum leap Monday when he announced that a degenerative bone condition is causing so much pain he will undergo hip replacement surgery "sooner than later."

Landis said he will be able finish the 2006 Tour de France, where he sits second overall, but added that the pain has become so excruciating that surgery could come as soon as this summer.

Matt. 23:11-12 (Message)

Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

720 Dunk

If this isn't doctored video, this represents an enormous leap forward in dunkology for all of humankind.

Friday Fun

This week brought the sad news that Pat and the Wild Hanlons were eliminated from Treasure Hunters, a new reality show that I’m hooked on. That’s too bad. I was seriously considering launching a website called PatHanlonIsMyHomeboy.com. At one point in last week's episode, the mullet-wearing redneck donned a bandana outlaw-style, over his mouth and nose for no apparent reason. The world needs more Pan Hanlons. But alas, when you’re dumb as a post, it’s hard to keep pace in a game about riddles.

A couple of notes on OLN’s Tour de France coverage:

• Looks like L.L. Bean has provided two matching blazers and three matching shirts for Phil and Paul’s wardrobe. On Day 2, they wore the same thing and I’m pretty sure Phil wore the same shirt two days in a row.
• OLN is the king of promos. They run so many of those on-screen teases that they run them over their own graphics.

Here's a funny read (thanks, Steve) about a book series that is on my To Read list: the Pocket Guides Theological Issues series.

Did you know George W. and 50 Cent share a birthday? Yesterday, one turned 60 and the other 30. You think they shared a party as well? Maybe a backyard BBQ or a trip to Chuck E Cheese?

Yahoo! has launched a new thing called Yahoo! Answers. You post a question and anyone can give you an answer/advice. To kick things off, they recruited Bono to ask his big question. Answers are many, varied, and interesting. Enjoy.

It's Hard To Be Lawless

Here's part of today's reading that got me thinking. (Have you noticed the new addition to this blog? The lectionary at the right of this page updates itself every day!)

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that god’s Spirit is in them - living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end, attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on god.

Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.

Romans 8:3-8 (Message)

As much as I understand this concept mentally, I still have a hard time living it. When I sin – every time I sin – I tend to hide from God for a few days until things “blow over”. I find it almost impossible to face God for a while after I sin. That leads to this whole mindset that I’ve been in for years – that things have to go right for a while before I can feel really comfortable praying, worshiping, etc. I have to have a winning streak before I can feel good about my relationship with God.
But at its core, that is living under the law, not under grace. When I fail, that is exactly when I should run to the Lord.
I understand Romans. I know the logic well. I don’t put it in practice very well, though.

Fourth & France

You've got to feel good for Matthias Kessler. After his solo attempt failed Monday, he came right back and tried it again yesterday and this time got the win. Gutsy.

On the other hand, my fantasy TdF team is not doing well. Boonen is my sprinter and he's riding like a dummy - can't time anything. After Basso was DQd, I picked up Valverde and how he's out with a broken collarbone. This Tour is loosing big names every day (also yesterday we lost Freddie Rodriguez and Erik Dekker). This may come down to who can stay upright for 21 days.

Took the kidos to watch fireworks last night. The show wasn't very good and Bethany was terrified by the noise, but it was still a good feeling to watch them with the family. Our Independence Day included friends, burgers, cherry pie, Soussa, and fireworks. What else could you ask for?

Instruments of Righteousness

I have come to have a very gnostic view of the flesh, and a verse in Romans that I read this morning is making me rethink that. I always think of my flesh as bad. Its desires seem to have no use in the kingdom. They only sustain life so that I can use my heart and mind for the kingdom. Obviously, my hands and feet - those parts of me that can do labor - can be useful. But my stomach? My libido? Sleepiness? Wouldn't I be such a better Christian if I had no need for food or sleep or sex?

Romans says no.

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make
you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of
wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from
death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under
grace.

Romans 6:12-14

"Present your members to God as instruments of righteousness." Not to get too graphic here, but I think that means every part of me - every hormone and hunger and hair - can be an "instrument of righteousness."

TdF Stage 1 Report

A couple of images from yesterday's Tour de France Stage 1 (Yes, there's another off-beat, global sporting event we all need to pay attention to.) For a complete report on the Tour, visit www.velonews.com.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I'm glad Georgie finally gets to wear yellow.

Thor, God of Blood.

Both Velonews and OLN reported that what caused the cut on Thor's arm was a plastic fan sign. Sure looked like a lot of blood for basically a paper cut. He had to have stitches. I know they were doing close to 40mph, but still - that couldn't have been a plastic #1 finger could it? In any case, looks like those fan signs are going to be banned.