Site Meter Reports

It's been a reasonably busy week here at the old blog, now over 6 years old. About 3,750 pages were viewed--that's about 1,000 more than "visits." Even so, that's not an indicator of readership, because Google or Yahoo any number of other crawlers might find my blog and so it shows a "hit list" but the searcher might choose 2 entries above it, read that and never get to mine. And the search engines might pick up words randomly on the page like something from the quote at the top, a line from poetry, and then a recipe causing some real head scratching. This past week my blog on Neal Boortz's story (fictional) on the Carrington Automotive Enterprises was picking up 20-30 hits per 100, or about 40 a day, and something on guy paper dolls I did years ago was grabbing about 15 a day (100 is a free service and so that's my ideal price range, nor do I pay to see who is visiting--but many do). The first week in November my issue three (guest blogger) was very popular--wish I'd written it! The Carrington story is zipping around the internet via e-mail and it's very good. It's an illustration of small business taxes and just how easy it is to be called "rich" in Obama fantasy land of redistributive wealth. At least one of my anonymous readers, probably John, just goes bonkers that it's not a REAL example of a REAL Sub-S corporation. There's a lot of truth in fiction, parables, myths, legends, fables, morality plays and fairy tales--maybe moreso that the evening news. In order to disagree with the truth, some go after the genre. Like the conversation with my shoulder pads when it was finally time for them to go. Honest, I really don't talk to my clothes.

I'm happy for her, but. . .

My daughter stopped by last night to drop off some magazines. I'm thrilled that she's dropped 4 dress sizes because she was dangerously close to being a diabetic and has a full range of other endocrine problems including thyroid cancer, Hashimoto's and metabolic syndrome. We can't do much with the genes we were given, and the endocrine system can get out of whack causing severe problems. She was always beautiful at any size, but I'm thrilled she's healthier--the labs are all back to normal. And it's all been through a very disciplined exercise program. Thyroid medication and diets did nothing for her. Exercise did. She's switched to an exercycle (mine, since I wasn't using it) after an injury, but is ready to return to the treadmill in her basement. For some people it's diet, some it's exercise, some it's both. The point is to get healthy and hit a balance.

However, when she told me she thought she'd need a size 8 pair of jeans next, I had flash backs to 23 years ago when she used to borrow my clothes. In her senior pictures she's wearing one of my dresses and one of my suits. I don't think kids dress up for school photos anymore, but in the 80s they still did that.

This morning I took my closet apart, rearranging summer and winter clothes, hanging by color, storing some, pitching others, but was really looking for a size 8 Tall pair of Bill Blass jeans that I'd never shortened, and then "outgrew" so they'd been hanging around feeling blue. After an hour and not finding them, I decided I'd given them away. Then moved my hand to the back of the closet and found them--still with the tags. I have on the other pair (shortened, Easy Fit, "antiqued"), but I'm more than happy to donate to the cause of good health.

Spreading a big TARP over a sink hole

From Forbes.com: - the $700,000,000,000 bailout will most likely fail according to the government's auditor Neil Barofsky. Some programs, such as $50 billion in mortgage modification subsidies and incentives, were not designed with any reasonable opportunity for a return to taxpayers. . . As of Wednesday, the Treasury said it had received repayments of $73.02 billion and had collected dividends, interest and warrant sale profits totaling $13.03 billion. How did we get here?

Remember how TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program, had to be RUSHED through with no thought or the world as we know it would come to an end? But never waste a crisis. Obama's thuggery has stolen our freedom and our economy . When the state controls the owners of business you have Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. When it owns the business you have post-1920 USSR. Are these the "progressive" choices you want--national socialism or communism? Didn't we fight this in WWII and even longer in a Cold War in Europe and some hot spots in Asia called Korea and Vietnam? Why did we ask such a sacrifice of generations of our military if we would just give it all away in an election?

And it continues unabated. Our elected Congress is being pressured to rush health care bills, rush climate change bills, rush anything called eco- or sustainable or green, rush confirmation of cabinet, czars and judges so only socialists and/or communists get a seat at the table, rush, rush, rush. Or Obama's plans could collapse. So far, he's won all the battles; his plan is working, folks.

Housing program doesn't work so give them even more money

USAToday reported in October on a money black hole (under Bush and predecessors) so Obama has decided it just needs more money

Federal funding for a housing counseling program carried out by local non-profit groups such as ACORN has more than tripled since 2002, even though it has been criticized by government auditors for failing to show results.

President Obama's budget calls for a 54% increase next year — $100 million in all — for the program, which helps people buy or refinance a home, prevent a foreclosure or find rental housing. The Senate agreed, while the House of Representatives suggested $70 million; final negotiations over the bill are pending.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been unable to provide much proof the program works, according to government reports, despite an increase in funding from $20 million in 2002 to $65 million last year." Link for details on the failures.

It's very hard to ever defund a "poverty" program, and even harder if it is for the "working family" or "low to moderate income" even if the program doesn't work. For instance, after forty plus years and billions of dollars for Head Start, studies show after a year or two in school, most gains are lost due to the children's home environment. It would be political death to NOT vote for the Head Start fantasy. Same with the "right to home ownership" dream which both parties claim and Bush really loved. At its worst it did nothing more than push already economically fragile people into debt beyond their wildest dreams; and at best, it funneled them into foreclosure workshops and refinancing failures. Either way, the agencies, groups, churches and nonprofits keep their own staff employed.

Yesterday it was announced that NeighborWorks America (created by Congress) received almost $5 million from HUD to provide training for housing counselors through its various agencies, so it would seem the first payouts are forthcoming.

"Today NeighborWorks America announced that it received $4,860,802 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will support training and certification opportunities for thousands of counselors from HUD-approved nonprofit counseling agencies, as well as nonprofit housing counseling at local NeighborWorks organizations. Link to details

It's a revolving door, but it keeps the staff of foundations, non-profits, churches, and government offices employed. With unemployment at the highest levels since Jimmy Carter days, now is hardly the time to hand out tax dollars to training classes for luring people into mortgages.

Finally, some transparency!

At last Obama is being absolutely clear and transparent in this move of the trial of 9/11 perps to New York where they can enjoy all the rights and benefits of citizens.

Attorney General Eric Holder made official Friday morning what was reported by the media for hours beforehand, the Obama Administration's intention to bring the alleged 9/11 conspirators who've been held at Guantanamo for years to trial in New York. . . Holder said five defendants would be tried in New York. Besides KSM, they were Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Mohammed and the four others are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

They've already had a trial and pled guilty. There's no doubt of their guilt--we all know and they know and are proud of what they did. So why would Obama do this?

That's where it's so transparent. This allows terrorists a global stage to bring their case to the world--a way for Obama to again tell the world what a terrible, awful, yucky country we are--they are probably getting bored with his monotonous presentations, so here's his opportunity to pass the baton to some jihadists. Also, it allows him to put George W. Bush on trial. See? Has there ever been a move more transparent than this one?

It's very clear
Obama's here to stay,
Not for a day
forever and a year. . .
Have you noticed? He doesn't even try to hide what he's doing anymore. It's so pathetic. His poll numbers are in free fall, but it doesn't matter.

New Yorkers don't want this; 9/11 families don't want this; sensible, safety minded Americans in the rest of the country don't want this. They know it's wrong, that it violates all our laws and common sense. It doesn't matter. Obama has taken control.

We're probably the only country in the world whose Congress and President cheer wildly a bill which would put its citizens in jail for not buying health insurance, and then turn around and give away our most treasured rights and military intelligence to committed, non-citizen terrorists who want to destroy us.

Friday Family Photo--Niagara Falls 1963

Yesterday there was a review in USAToday of a debut historical novel by a Canadian that's had some good reviews, The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan, although what interested this reviewer the least, the historical and scientific aspects of the Falls, would probably interest me the most.

The other day while looking through some photos to use as painting references, I came across a fat envelope of black and whites that had never been put in an album, nor identified. I remember the trip well. First we drove from Champaign Urbana to Kalamazoo to my brother's wedding, then on to Detroit, to Niagara Falls then into Canada, down through New York state, and to our final destination, New York City. It's a huge stack of photos from my husband's Boy Scout box camera mostly of the weird 1960s contemporary architecture and canyons of streets and the skyline of New York (without the twin towers of WTC which opened a decade later). I don't think there were any photos of the wedding, although those might be in an album, because I do have some of baby brother and beautiful bride. If I wrench the camera out of his hot hands, we might get a photo or two of people, but usually, we have mounds of photos of buildings--with many left over as unusable that are never thrown away. If there are photos of us together, someone has probably sent us a photo. But I did find two--this one of me standing in front of the Falls (I probably just stepped up) and one of me in a canopied I.M. Pei building in Detroit.

This trip was miserable for me. Our only child Stanley had died a few months before, I think I was crying every night in strange motel rooms and was not impressed with the scenery, the buildings, or the history. That's not a hump on my back--I'd lost so much weight that my clothes didn't fit. I couldn't wait to get home. It may sound odd, but seeing new sights and places is even more a reminder of the loss than being around the familiar ("I say, "There is no memory of him here!"/ And so stand stricken, so remembering him!" St. Vincent Millay). I probably sulked most of the trip and wasn't a good companion for my wonderful tour guide. And it's still hard to get people in his photographs 46 years later.

We visited Niagara Falls again in 2004 on a group tour with other architecture devotees (we do Frank Lloyd Wright and anyone or thing else interesting along the way). There have been so many tall buildings (casinos and hotels, I think) built along the river that it has changed air currents, and the Falls seems to be in a perpetual fog that doesn't lift. It was terribly commercial in 1963, and even more so in 2004. But still magnificent and impressive.

President Dithers

Ten months and he's still studying Afghanistan! Now he's decided they have corruption and that changes the game plan. Why? We've got loads of it in our own government, and it never stopped us before! We've got Barney Frank who assured us everything was fine in Fannie Mae, and Timmy Geithner who couldn't figure out his taxes so he just didn't pay them, and bunches of people from Chicago knee capping everyone and taking names, threatening news outlets. We've got eco-lobbyists and rich marxists camping out at the White House. This whole Afghan dither thing is so blatantly political I would think even his most loyal, boot licking supporters would have it figured out and show some concern for the lives of our military and those of our allies. Or on a good day, perhaps they could show a little caring for the people of Afghanistan who must really be confused by a President who says victory isn't necessary, especially since a year ago he said this was THE WAR. Giving speeches to our military 3 days in a row first at Ft. Hood, then Arlington, and today at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska do you suppose he ever got an inkling what war is about? Apparently not. The speeches looked like they were given through clenched teeth and drawn from a heart of stone.

Obama is terrified of offending his far left base. Or maybe the Chicago goon squad he brought with him to DC. Whichever, he won't do anything to offend them for fear of losing support for health care (which he just had to rush through with no one seeing it) or cap and trade so together they can kill all our economy. He just had to rush rush rush the stimulus package or something really awful like 9% unemployment could happen, again without anyone knowing what was in it. And it has all sorts of surprises that had zip nada zilch to do with stimulating the economy, but which affect health, taxes, and especially energy. Little bombs of excrement that his closest advisors tucked inside and none of our elected representatives got to debate.

But he must deliberate even longer on Afghanistan and not let it detract from his war on our economy.

Media starts to report on health care costs

Maybe it's just because Fox is cleaning their clocks, or perhaps there are just too many lies to ignore it any longer.

"Could it be that the press is finally catching on to the fact that the Democrats’ health care reform bills don’t decrease costs? New York Times columnist David Leonhardt rips up the House bill in a column today. He writes, “Making the medical system more efficient is, in short, about saving lives and giving Americans a long overdue raise. It is arguably the single most important step that the federal government could take to improve people’s lives. And the bill that the House of Representatives passed last weekend simply does not get it done.”

The Politico also gets in on the act, writing “Barack Obama ran for president on a promise of saving the typical family $2,500 a year in lower health care premiums. But that was then. No one in the White House is making such a pledge now. It’s one of the most basic, kitchen-table questions of the entire reform debate: Would the sweeping $900 billion overhaul actually lower spiraling insurance premiums for everyone? No one really knows. …. [MIT health economist Jonathan] Gruber, the favorite economist of the White House, said the bill “really doesn’t bend the cost curve.” … Reminded that Obama demanded a bill that lowers health care spending, Gruber said: “That is what he would like to do. But he’s not doing it.””

And ABC News corrects the Democrats’ claim that insurance company profits are responsible for increasing health insurance costs. ABC News reports, [T]he companies’ profits still represent a miniscule percentage of the $2.5 trillion Americans spend every year on health care. “Insurance company profits in the large picture have very little to do with the overall rising cost of health care,” said health care expert Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.” Link

St. Algore the Green

“I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It’s probably my favourite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytising,” Gore tells Newsweek.

Right. Someone might think you were a Christian instead of just a eco-capitalist.

HT Lookinferlearning via Soylent Green

Thank you President Bush

Hillbuzz is not a blog I follow, but this essay, from a former Bush detractor is very touching and so true. After commenting on his strength after 9/11 and his quiet visit last week to Ft. Hood to comfort the troops, he comments:

"Thank goodness George W. is still on his watch, with wonderful Laura at his side. We are blessed as a nation to have these two out there…just as we are blessed to have the Clintons on the job, traveling the world doing the good they do.

And we are blessed to have Dick Cheney, wherever he is, keeping tabs on all that’s going on and speaking out when the current administration does anything too reckless and dangerous.

Cheney’s someone else we villainized and maligned in the past who we were also wrong about. There has never been a Vice President, including Gore, Biden, or Mondale, who was more supportive of gay rights than “Darth Cheney”. There has never been a Vice President more spot-on right about the dangers facing this country from Islamic terrorism.

We live in strange, strange times indeed.

We are now officially committed fans of George W. and Laura Bush. We are fans of Dick Cheney. Our gratitude for them makes us newly protective of them, and the continued role they play in this country."

Strange times indeed.

Looking back at the origins of FHA

The right margin of this interesting article from Woman’s Day about an early FHA backed mortgage is missing because my grandmother who clipped it was interested in the quilt pattern on the other side (Star and Ring). From the clothing and hair styles, I’d place it about 1948 because the husband isn’t in uniform and those drapes look familiar.

FHA has had an interesting history. On the one hand, it allowed generations of Americans to own their own homes, but the unintended consequences are it contributed mightily to our current recession brought on by the collapse of the housing market.

It was created in 1934 during the Great Depression because housing loan periods used to be much shorter with a final balloon payment, and when the economy failed, many people lost their homes. But there were also some fairly stiff standards on the quality of the home, a modest down payment and the ability of the buyers to pay. After 25 years or so, politicians decided this was unfair to African Americans who were being left behind in the decaying inner cities as whites moved out to newer housing stock (like in the picture of the Knudsen family home near Washington D.C.).

So that’s how we got all this “creative financing” with the seller, instead of the buyer, providing the down payment, but not really, because it actually came from a non-profit organization like a church or community group (think ACORN) which got the money from the government. In 2000, these types of mortgages made up less than 2% of FHA insured mortgages. By 2007, that percentage jumped to 35%. And I guess you know the rest of the story.

“The FHA’s standard insurance program today is notoriously lax. It backs low downpayment loans, to buyers who often have below-average to poor credit ratings, and with almost no oversight to protect against fraud. Sound familiar? This is called subprime lending—the same financial roulette that busted Fannie, Freddie and large mortgage houses like Countrywide Financial.” WSJ, Aug. 11, 2009

To be fair, conventional loans during the same time period were also requiring nothing down, so there’s plenty of blame to go around when mortgage lenders, non-profits dependent on government grants, home flippers with venture capital and politicians collude.

But this is just a reminder that more government interference in the housing market is not necessarily a good thing. The current housing credit of $8,000 for “first time buyers” (and there’s tremendous fraud in this) is costing us taxpayers something like $48,000 for each one.

Incidentally, Dorothy Ducas, the author of the Woman's Day article had a very interesting career and would make an interesting topic for a thesis if it hasn't been done.

A generation raised to expect breakfast

The man in front of me at Panera's today (fabulous bakery items, in case you've never been there) was buying a delicious selection of breakfast goodies--dense in calories and nutrition. In jest I said something like

"You must be really hungry today."

"These are for my employees. I love to see their smiles and they work harder."

"How nice," I replied. "All I ever got was a paycheck for working hard."

When we were out of earshot of others, he explained in hushed tones the real reason.

"I'm a contractor and I've learned that most of my mid-20s employees grew up getting breakfast, lunch and snacks provided to them by their schools. They have no idea how to feed themselves and they expect to be fed by whoever is in charge. When I give them a job to do, they say, 'But we haven't eaten yet.' "

Most are on food stamps and they come to me from an agency. If I want them to work, I have to feed them."

I'm still in shock. What have we done?

Fascinating radio lead in

While driving to the coffee shop this morning, the radio announcer provided the lead in to two news stories, but by putting them in one sentence, he created a startling word picture.

"A stench returns to a Cleveland neighborhood and the President still hasn't made a decision on Afghanistan."

Stench indeed. And the smell of politics is overwhelming that of the dead bodies hidden by a serial killer of women. He'll sit on it until he gets his way with health care, endangering the lives of our military and Afghan allies. The man has no shame.

Cite your sources, please

Today I was reading a passage about Leo Tolstoy in the book A Faith and Culture Devotional. Parts of the book are used in an on-line guide, so this link is to that. I have the print copy. (It's a wonderful book in case you're looking for Christmas ideas.)

The passage about Tolstoy’s treatment of his wife Sophia and their children was used to show how a quest for holiness and perfection may backfire in the lives of those nearest and dearest.

“There is so little genuine warmth about him; his kindness does not come from his heart, but merely from his principles.… no one will ever know that he never gave his wife a rest and never—in all these 32 years—gave his child a drink of water or spent five minutes by his bedside.”

But Philip Yancey, the author of the essay on Tolstoy, provides no citation. Yancey is an editor of Christianity Today and should know better. Oh well, now we have the internet and it shouldn’t be that tough to track down, right? Wrong. I spent about 45 minutes (it was an interesting search) and still don't have the exact source. I did find a wonderful source at NPR with photos of Sophia and a new book about the family, but not that passage. However, I kept finding this same quote in numerous sources, all without a citation. It was like trying to track one of those viral e-mails or an urban legend.

Eventually I revised my search and found a partially scanned copy of Sophia’s autobiography with extensive notes at the end about the battle of the diaries. I looked through it quickly, and I’m guessing this popular legend about Tolstoy's family life came from her book, translated and published in 1922. Autobiography of Countess Tolstoy [Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy] By Sofʹi︠a︡ Andreevna Tolstai︠a︡, translated by S. Koteliansky and Leonard Woolf. 1922.

However, in reading the extensive notes at the end (more interesting and complicated than my original quest), it is easy to see that wives of famous people (Mary Lincoln comes to mind) don’t fare well at the hands of male historians and biographers. They seem to grasp that although she was caring for 9 children when Lev decided to go on his spiritual quest and give away all their wealth and possessions, and that several of her 13 children died, and there were family squabbles enough to populate several large Russian estates, she was the one who was crazy. Go figure.

Did she say what I think she said?

"On Tuesday, that heavy task [of facing grieving Americans] fell to President Obama. At a memorial service five days after the largest mass killing on a U.S. military base, he reached for words of sorrow and solace, then summoned determination." Ann Gerhart, WaPo, Nov. 11

Yes, I think she just called it. He's a cold, cold caricature of a caring person, of a decent, warm human being. He reached, couldn't find it, so he just went on with banalities. As a eulogist and comforter, he flunks. That speech combined with his bizarre behavior last week at the news conference in which a stunned nation waited while he just announced more wealth redistribution and gave shout outs, have pretty much confirmed that we've got President Robotic Obama in office. Nothing will detract him from his agenda or his focus on himself.

Atlantic and NYT, ever the apologists, ever the big O cheerleaders, swooned over this cold collection of dead words and slipped in their own spittle.

Take back America in 2010

It's up to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UZkvkLmkYVg

Veterans Day

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I've told the story of how my parents, who were very young children, heard about the end of WWI. Because WWII was the defining event of their young married life, I'd never thought to ask them about WWI, until. . .

"I didn't hear about WWI memories until sometime in the early 1990s. I had interviewed my father for an oral history to include in a family recipe collection for a reunion of the descendants of his parents who had died in 1983. I had interviewed my mother about her parents' personal library for two articles I wrote. Both recalled in their 80s the first Armistice Day (now called Veterans' Day) even though they were 5 and 6 years old. I imagine they listened in on adult conversations and caught the fear and dread that gripped their communities. My mother's father who was 44 was registered for the draft. And although I haven't seen the record, I would assume my father's father, who was a much younger man, did too. There were no radios or television, and newspapers would have been too slow. So the plan was to ring bells when word came to the nearest town that the armistice had been signed. The church bells would be rung; then each farmer would begin to ring the bells they used on the farm; then the next farmer a few miles further away would hear and begin ringing his bells. Both my parents had exactly the same memory of that first Armistice Day--hearing bells tolling throughout the countryside from all sides. The war was over."

Armistice Day now honors all Veterans, living and dead. On this day I think I've shown photos of Uncle Clare, and Uncle Russell (Joe) and Dad, so here's a photo of Uncle John, Dad's brother. Dad's brother John was inducted into the Army in December, 1942. He served with glider troops in North Africa and Sicily. In England during preparation for the invasion of France, he served as glider instructor. He took part in the invasion of Normandy and was wounded then and again in Belgium. He was discharged in June 1945. Uncle Russell, Dad and John's younger brother (probably still a teen) served in Sitka, Alaska, and then was with the first wave of Marines who stormed Iwo Jima and was wounded; he was awarded the Purple Heart. Dad's cousins Andy, Bill and Phil were in the Army serving in Europe, Philippines and Korea; his cousin Wayne and brother-in-law Glaydon (Gramps) were in the Navy and served in the Pacific; cousin-in-law Harlan served in the Army in New Guinea and the Philippines; brother-in-law Johnny was in the Coast Guard; brother-in-law Charlie was also in the service, but I don't know the branch. Another brother-in-law, my mother's brother Clare, was in the Army Air Force and died in the China, Burma India Theater in 1944. Dad served on the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan. Not bad for a farm kid who had probably not been further away from home than Chicago and never learned to swim. All but two of these men were from the same town and all are deceased now. [Service records and photos of over 400 men and women for a town of less than 3,000 appear in "War Record of Mount Morris" edited by Harry G. Kable, 1947.] Even the town band was part of the National Guard and served in the Fiji Islands. (From a blog I wrote 11/10/05)

Best carpet spot cleaner I've found

A bottle of glass cleaner--can be Windex, or just a blue or green knock-off. We have a cat. Hair balls and vomited dyed cat food (that's for owners since I think cats are color blind). The first time I grabbed a bottle of window cleaner it was because it was handy. In my office and our lower family room/laundry room level we have very tightly woven, expensive commercial carpet that could serve a busy theater lobby it's so good. This stuff cleaned it like a dream and left no light spots. So the next time she tossed her cookies on the white living room thick shag, I tried it on that. Works like a dream.

Today I'm taking a bottle with me to exercise class with a heavy cloth (paper towels are OK, but can come apart and then you're cleaning up paper pieces). The carpet in our fellowship hall is disgusting. People are very careless with food and coffee spills, and I think I'll try some spot cleaning. I've made no progress after a year+ of complaining about the pink soap dribbling and staining the white counters in the ladies room. I even brought one of the pastors in to show him. Our maintenance staff must not notice the pink stains turning gray. It's useless to remind people to be cleaner and cautious because of the flu if the rest rooms and carpet look grubby, don't you think? I'm a visual person. The visual environment counts too!!

Sensitivity vs. stupidity; fairness vs. foolishness

Apologists and victimologists for Nadil Hasan who can only find evil motives on the Christian far right could benefit from Eugene Robinson's column today. He says there's a difference between being sensitive and being stupid, and apologists are actually hurting American Muslims by refusing to see that the military had plenty of warning about this guy and dropped the ball.

• He had told people of his serious doubts about U.S. military campaigns
  
• He made no secret of his reluctance to serve in Afghanistan
  
• Army doctors told their superiors of their concern about his divided allegiance
  
• Fellow officers had complained about his anti-american rants
  
• He was possibly a follower of a radical cleric.

And if you've been following the story you know there were more speculations, some being investigated, others being buried.

If you disagree, please contact Mr. Robinson, eugenerobinson@washpost.com

How to understand what's happening

to the Christians in the United States. Lutherans are in grief and shock--well, maybe not those who think only the local congregation matters. But the August "Church Wide Assembly" which approved gay pastors and marriage after 20 years of nibbling around the edges, for some reason, surprised some (not me). Here's one of the best explanations I've read by David Housholder to catch you up, just in case you're not a Christian, or you only show up for weddings, funerals and Christmas Eve.
Full document here.

"There are two emerging Christianities.

1) One is a postwar liberal movement with roots in the 19th century social gospel, liberal German theology from that same era, and flavored with a shot of very resilient Marxism. This faction has firm control over most mainline Protestant North American denominations, colleges, and seminaries. Their preaching is cool and reflective and nuanced.

"Let us then go forth brothers and sisters to renew our efforts to establish justice and peace throughout God's creation. For the sake of the greater Gospel and the Christ who was crucified."

2) The other was born around campfires on the mission field and the songs of slavery. Its piety is "warm to hot," expressive, potent, and unpredictable. There is a supernatural vibe to the body language and speech. It is a high-touch world of prayer and laying on of hands. It can be found in storefront churches full of immigrants in any major world city."

These two, writes Housholder repel each of like two poles of a magnet--in some ways they gain identitiy by NOT being like the other and each sees their group as an upgrade over and against the other. They are mutually patronizing. When I (Norma) used to be on Usenet (all text) for a writers group, the Christian groups were the most vicious and snarly so I never joined any of those groups. Liberationist or charismatic or dispensationalist, it made no difference.

The fault line is not whether gays are saved by the work of Jesus Christ (Christians can't work their way to salvation), but whether they can be pastors in committed relationships or can be married in the church. In the good old days of theological splits and snipes, writes Housholder, traditional family morality was upheld by both groups (even as our divorce rates soared). Now that is gone. The Protestant denominations are unraveling. Yours too, in case you aren't there yet, there is a study group or task force planning to take you for a free and painful ride until the crash at the end.

All the king's horses and all the king's men will not be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. A community cannot be held together with two sets of rules on the big-ticket issues. There may be more understanding and consensus on the abortion issue than this one which goes to the heart of biblical revelation from Genesis to Revelation.

The grand coalition of North American Protestantism has unraveled, he says. Liberals will retain control of the mainline denominations, Housholder predicts, and the conservatives will either 1) stay and keep quiet, 2) leave the mainline world and join a non-denominational group, or 3) be visionary and creative.