The blast in India was caused by RDX (Royal Demolition eXplosive). It is very explosive and considered one of the most powerful military explosives. So, this was not a crude bomb used by local trouble makers.

If you go here, you can see a satellite picture of the U.S. during the blackout. It looks like a monster ate part of the country.

There have been over 11,000 deaths in France due to a heat wave. Liberals should be shouting, that's more than during the war! That's what I call a quagmire.

The Sioux Falls School District in South Dakota told a teacher she could not meet with students in a Christian club. Teachers were allowed to meet with students in other clubs. The teacher sued and won. Chalk up one more instance of our governmental entities taken anti-Christian stances.

The Shiites may now be turning on themselves. The struggle for power continues. In America, we make speeches. In Iraq, they make car bombs.

Our local Fort Worth City Council is showing signs of multiple personality disorder. First, they say they will not increase the tax rate. That means, they can collect enough money to pay the bills. Then, they say, we are going to raise fees. That means they cannot collect enough money to pay the bills. Finally, they say they are going to float some bond issues. That means, they cannot collect enough money to pay the bills today, so they hope they can collect enough in the future to pay today's bills plus interest. This boils down to it being politically expedient to say no new taxes, but disingenuous by raising fees, which are just taxes with another name. Then, you push projects out with bond issues so that peopel don't realize how much money you are spending.

Astronomers say tonight Mars will be closer than any time in the last 60,000 years. Those guys have an incredible memory.

Rachel Lucas posted about the Justice Department crime statistics. They show a substantial decrease in crime. I hope it's true. Rachel makes a good point when she says the numbers show her nothing at all. The reporting of crimes suffers from a lack of standard procedure. It also suffers from manipulation by those reporting the crimes. An increase in crime creates an increase in law enforcement budgets. A decrease in crime helps someone get their contract renewed. Here is an example of how crime reporting varies. Suppose a Frenchman comes into 7-11 and points a gun at the fellow working there and takes the cash. He then goes outside, pulls a woman out of her car, and drives off. He has an accident, causing injuries, and drives off. He is finally caught and arrested. If you want to have high crime statistics, you charge whim with aggravated robbery, theft of the automobile, and leaving the scene of an accident. If you want low statistics, you just report the aggravated robbery and omit the rest as part of the scheme. So, it is a little hard to know, when all you have is the statistics, what is really going on.

Just so you know, the obstructionist democrat senators from Texas are still hiding out in New Mexico like a bunch of sulking children.

You know, when you click on "Go" instead of post and publish, it doesn't work very well. Sorry, but my last several posts are floating around in space somewhere.

France's representative says it does not want to be held to "one clear cut" position. France would rather wobble and spin, depending on what will benefit them at the time. I wonder if they would consider Hamas a terrorist organization if it was bombing school buses of French children, instead of children of Jews.

France vaults back into first place on the shame of nations list. France is not trying to undermine us by maintaining that Hamas is not a terrorist group. Ok, when you stop laughing continue reading. Just hold your sides and the pain will subside. Here is how they reason. France says only the military wing of Hamas participates in terror. Of course, only the military wing of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. France's leaders are making it into a cartoon nation. If the EU doesn't kick them out soon, Europe will become the laughingstock of the world.

A court in Vietnam gave a Frenchman 20 years for smuggling drugs. He appealed. The appeals court gave him life! We're not the only ones who don't like the French. Thanks to Mike for the story.

Is there really such a thing as a Norwegian Elvis impersonator? Evidently, because he broke the record for singing Elvis songs for over 25 hours. It might explain why the Brazilian guy opted for the vasectomy over ear surgery.

Next time you fret over your health care, consider this. A man in Brazil went to the doctor for an ear ache and came out with a vasectomy. That is called trusting your doctor too much.

Ben Domenech and Mark Byron have interesting posts on the graying of the evangelical movement. There are many great leaders who are getting old and some who have already passed. It always makes us worry that no one will be left to lead. But, God will raise up leaders and he will carry on his work. There was no one in Egypt to lead the Israelites, but God had prepared and chosen Moses for the work. When all the leaders of the early church seemed to be set, God brought out Saul to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. Have faith! No plan of God's has ever been thwarted.

Baylor continues to be in the news. The athletic director decided he could not stick it out until his replacement was picked. So, he hit the road. How would you like to be going to start there in the fall with this dark cloud hanging over the campus? I think dark days are ahead for Baylor, as their reputation plummets, their finances suffer, but they raise tuition.

I have spent the day moving the College girl into her new apartment. I am blogging from Aggieland on the college ethernet. We rented a cool, new Mercury Mountaineer, a pretentious Explorer, and drove it down, loaded to the gills with $1000 worth of new stuff the Little Woman bought for her. Aargh. Several college friends showed up and carried it all upstairs. There we moved around the furniture, dumped all the stuff, then took all the kids to dinner. What a great group of young adults. It gives me hope for the future. Then, it was off to the grocery store for, get this, 200 dollars worth of groceries! More aargh. Now they are putting in shelf paper, and I have escaped to the computer.

Good News\Bad News: The Bad News is, a Danish bishop has reinstated a Lutheran priest who does not believe in God. The Good News is, that prompted 158 priests and theologians to present a written protest.

The big news today is the bombing of U. N. headquarters in Iraq. The U. N. folks seem surprised that people would bomb them. After all, they only want to help, right? Surely it could not be that terrorists are unreasoning brutes who would kill people just because they are not Arabs. Maybe the U. N. will find some way to blame it on the U. S.

This is not to say it is not a tragedy. It is. It is also not to say that those responsible are not despicable murderers who should be hung. They should.

I’m back at it today. I took off yesterday to celebrate the 30th anniversary with the Little Woman. We went to Granbury and went through the old shops and looked at historic houses and bought stuff. Then we came back to Cowtown for dinner at Del Friscos, the best steak in town. It was great. I also bought her a diamond anniversary ring. She seems quite pleased. (And, yes, we were married at birth.)

Tomorrow we take College Daughter back to school and move her into an apartment. She and the Little Woman are trying their best to put me into bankruptcy, spending hundreds of dollars on stuff for this apartment. I should never have agreed to this. In fact, I should make her stay home. If I don’t want her to leave, why should I have to pay for it?

Speaking of unsettling things, tonight I meet my mother’s boyfriend. It is my nephew’s birthday party, and mom has decided that is a good time for the premier. She is 70 and my dad passed away a couple of years ago. It is very hard to explain to the kids. They see this as an attack on their memory of their grandfather, whom they adored. So, this should be an interesting evening. Remember the Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times”. Don’t tell my mother I blogged this.

Jemaah Islamiyeh and Mr. bin Isamuddin are trying to create an Islamic state that will ecompass Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and part of the Philippines. They do not plan to do this by elections, by the way. They plan to take it over by terror and fighting, whether the people of those places want it or not. Then, they plan to kill everyone who objects.

The U.S. war of terror is having success, also. The CIA arrested Riduan bin Isamuddin. He planned the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Indonesia, murdering a dozen people. He also helped plan the 9-11 attacks on the U. S. He is a member of Jemaah Islamiyeh. He planned to bomb the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. Our president and 20 or so other world leaders plan to be there. Thanks to the CIA for busting this guy, and to the President and his administration for keeping the heat on terrorists around the world. Every arrest like this saves untold numbers of lives.

I see my last post did not get posted. I’ll try again.

Isn’t it interesting how much more motivated the Saudis are to find terrorists now that they have suffered an attack in their own country. Since the May 12 bombing in which 26 were killed, including the son of the deputy governor of Riyadh, the Saudis have been cleaning up. They have conducted more than 15 raids, finding networks of sleeper cells they did not know about before. They have found arsenals of weapons and car bombs. They have foiled plots for future attacks. They have arrested 200 people and killed more than a dozen others. It’s good to see some action from these boys.

The fact that 90% of people who returned to church named the preaching as the factor that lead them to choose a particular church shows again the hunger of people for real, biblical preaching. I think you could start a church in the middle of a field, put in a preacher that would preach an expository sermon after diligent preparation every Sunday, and you would build a big church. Pandering to people who don’t like church won’t get you there. You evangelize the unconverted. Then you disciple the converted. Part of that discipleship process is the disciplined preaching of the Bible. When that fails, the church begins to fail.

A survey of people who were "unchurched" and returned to church shows something that may go against the grain of much current thinking on how to attract church members. What do you think were the two biggest factors in their return to church? Was it snappy, contemporary music? Was it modern facilities? No. The biggest factor was the pastor's preaching as the factor. The second biggest factor was the doctrines of the church. Worship style was way down the list.

Much of contemporary church thinking comes in a package called “user friendly” churches. That is, making the church seem non-threatening. That often means making the church seem as non-church as possible. That is why you see new church buildings looking like shopping malls. It is also why you see bands instead of choirs, casual clothes, drama, and other stuff to make the church look “with it”.

This approach ignores the sad fact that people that are not with it cannot look like they are. Ask any teenager. How do they react when mom or dad tries to dress like a teenager? They don’t like it.

This study may also point out what is wrong with the mainline denominations, which have become more and more liberal. Since we have been talking about the Episcopalians, we can mention that they lost a million members in the 1990s, their decade of evangelization. How could that happen? Maybe it is because Christians do not like their doctrines and their preaching.

Speaking of the Episcopalians, some of their priests and bishops are taking a strong stand against the denomination leadership after the bishop’s vote. For example, the Reverend Steven Randall of Maryland denounced the vote for the gay bishop fro the pulpit and vowed that he would no longer obey his bishop. He said “I really believe the evil one is out there blinding a lot of church leaders and some have just totally sold out, and there’s just a lot of pressure by society around us and in newspapers to conform.” He sounds like the new Martin Luther, and may have the same amount of job security. He has also told his congregation they will quit sending money to the denomination. That will probably get him in more trouble than anything. I admire his courage.

The Reverend David Roseberry of Plano, my neighbor to the East, said “There are things in the Bible that are not up for a vote.” Amen. I am sure there will be others, and I applaud their courage and their obedience to the Bible.

Thunder is rumbling outside my office window. That is an unusual sound in the middle of the afternoon, in August, in Fort Worth. Rain drops are sprinkling the window ledge. We are having a wonderful break from the heat of August. After reaching 109 just a few days ago, 90 feels cool, and anything lower feels chilly.

Last night we sat in front of Starbucks with Mike and Jill, watching multiple thunderstorms roll in. Lightening sparked across the sky repeatedly. The temperature began to drop. We could smell the sharp ozone smell of coming rain. Then the showers fell and we received a wonderful rain. It was more entertaining than television.

A fascinating article by Zuheir Abdallah is called "Why Do Arabs Hate the West, Especially the U.S.". Abdallah is a columnist for the London paper, Al-Hayat. He has some interesting things to say to his Arab brethren. Abdallah says that Arabs hate “the West”, including the United States for reasons including the Crusades. He goes on the remind Arabs that they invaded Europe long before the Crusades. I would like to remind those same Arabs, and Mr. Abdallah, that the United States was not even in existence at the time of the Crusades. Now I know that, if you hate someone, you feel like you don’t need logical reasons. But this is going a little far. How can you hate a country for something with which it had nothing to do?

Could I just remind you that the Crusades originated in Europe and, especially, with the Pope, who is in Vatican City, effectively Rome. That is why they call it the Roman Catholic Church (that and the fact that they tried for years to continue the Roman Empire in the Church, but that is another blog.) If you guys are mad about the Crusades, leave the U.S. out of it. We weren’t there. Absolutely no Americans fought in the Crusades. You heard it here.

Abdallah points out another sad fact. Arab fascism and radical Islam have hindered the progress of Arab nations. While most nations have made tremendous progress in the last 50 years, Arab nations have often regressed. To divert their people from the truth of responsibility, their leaders blame the mystical West. (It always sounds like Tolkein when these guys talk. It is "the West" who keeps us down. It sounds like one of the elves saying “I must go to the West”, although better because you know they don’t intend to kill someone when they get there.)

Maybe there is some hope that Arabs will wake up and smell the coffee. Few countries make significant economic progress without freedom and democracy. The liberal Arab states have done better economically than the radical ones, except for those in charge. The sad fact of Communism and Fascism is that the leaders always live really well and the common men suffer tremendously. In a democracy, there are always rich and poor, but everyone has a chance. That is why America is full of success stories, and why immigrants, including millions of Arabs, come and work and thrive. Our society is full of immigrants who came here not even speaking English and rose to own homes and businesses, send themselves or their children to college, and even get rich. Even people from "the East". How many people have moved to Saudi Arabia, Iran, or other radical Islamic countries and accomplished that? I’ll bet not many.

I recently read a book by Anglican Kenneth Leech called We Preach Christ Crucified. I read it before I knew of the pending election of Bishop Robinson. A quote from page 10 of the book is relevant. "A church which owes its origins to the cross cannot, if it be true to its nature, be the slave of worldly norms and stereotypes."

You should go to Townhall.com and read the article from the 5th generation Episcopalian on the election of homosexual bishop Robinson. You'll feel his pain and you'll appreciate his grasp of scripture.

The College Daughter called last night from Colorado. It is only a few days until she comes home. Although she will only be home a few days, I cannot wait. I miss her intensely. I feel my eyes sting as I write this. She is ready to come home. The conversation was full of “I love you” and “I miss you guys so much” and “I am so ready to come home”. I said just come today.

The Bible says children are a gift from the Lord. Mine certainly have been. The have all three been special in their own way, and all three of us are close in different ways.
The College Daughter is three quarters of the way out of the door. She still likes to talk to Dad, though, and seeks his advice. She is very earnest in seeking advice, so I am very careful about what I give. It has been wonderful to see her mature into the Godly young woman she is. I miss the girl, of course, but the young woman is wonderful to know. I know that many proud moments are to come with this special young woman. Unfortunately, those must replace the many intimate moments of time together that I had with the girl.

Robert Sloan is having a tough year. The President of Baylor University recently had opposition at a meeting where one out of control alumnas even called him a Fundamentalist. At Baylor, that is like being called Hitler. Now, the basketball program has been revealed to have major NCAA violations. The Patrick Dennehey fallout has not stopped at the death of a basketball player on his way out, but has shown other problems. Coach Bliss resigned. That makes two resignations in the face of trouble for him. The Athletic Director resigned also. The list of violations is mostly payments to players of various types. They euphemistically said one payment came from a third party. Read alumnus.

Sloan deserves credit for reacting promptly and seriously. He has put the team on two years self probation and told any players who want to leave that they will release them. He said "You know integrity involves both adherence to your core principles and core convictions, and it involves accountability. We have failed with regard to adherence to our own deepest convictions, but we will not fail in this other very important dimension of integrity, and that is accepting responsibility and holding ourselves accountable." That is an admirable statement. It is a shame that the athletic department did not have the integrity, and the third party, to obey the rules. But, at least Mr. Sloan has the integrity to refrain from any cover up, and to deal with the problem straight up. Well done, sir.

Baylor cannot seem to escape these problems. They were on probation from 1986 to 1988 for illegal payments and other things. They were on probation from 1994 to 1999 for having coaches to school work for players. There were federal criminal convictions handed out. So, after only 4 years of being off probation, they are on again. The NCAA has not acted yet either. How far do you have to go before you get the "death penalty" as SMU did?

College athletics, being mostly a farm club for the professional leagues, are full of pressure to succeed. Alumni are often desparate for their alma mater to be a sports winner to boost their own self esteem and for bragging rights. You would like to think that a christian university would do better, but they haven't even done as well as the average secular university. This may have something to do with Baylor's feverish desire to escape their image as a little Baptist college and become a major player.

So, once again, instead of leading the ethical and moral charge, we have the supposed Christians making news for their moral failures. What a year this has been! Almost every newspaper has an article about child abuse in the Catholic church, the we have the Episcopalians elect a homosexual bishop, now we have the Baptist college breaking the NCAA rules and having one player murder another. Remember that old hymn that says Lord send a revival and let it begin in me? We should send the words out to all the Christian organizations.

The bright spot, as I mentioned, is Robert Sloan's actions. Ironically, he will probably take a lot of heat for the problem. My only recommendation is to put a fundamentalist in the athletic department.

So, here is the final Hall of Shame List for this week. Number 1 is Bishop Robinson for turning the Episcopal world upside down while acting like he is a bystander to the whole issue. Number 2 is Royce West, Texas Obstructionist Senator who made the inane comment about beginning to fight while he was running and hiding. Number 3 is Svend Robinson for his anti-Christian remarks and for being Canadian. All three spots on the country list go to Canada this week.

It’s clear that football player Jeremy Shockey is no Episcopalian bishop. He called Dallas Cowboys Football Coach Bill Parcells a “homo”. That, of course, was to show much more manly he is than the coach. I guess he is mad at Parcells for leaving New York an now coaching a rival team. Because certainly Shockey would never leave this team for another team would he? Especially not for more money. Right.

Here is more proof that Canada is descending into Hell. A member of the Canadian parliament, speaking at a meeting of homosexual activists, called the Catholic Church’s defense of traditional marriage “unbelievable”. Svend Robinson then made fun of born again Christians, saying “did they have to come back again as themselves?” It is clear that Canada is rapidly becoming an atheist, proactively anti-Christian country.

James Lileks has had server problems for a few days. Although he is in Minnesota, his server is in Texas. James, it is probably because it is well over 100 degrees in most places in Texas and everyone has heat exhaustion.

Robert Bauer’s post yesterday shows how conservative Episcopalians are reacting to the bishops.

There are also more dollars in the California deficit than there are members in the Episcopal church. That deficit now stands at $38 billion. That is billion with a "b" folks.

There is more fallout for the American Episcopalians. The bishop of the Nigerian Anglican Church calls the election “a satanic attack on God’s church”. Maybe the American bishops should listen to this man. The Nigerian Anglican Church has 17.5 million members. The American Episcopal Church is down to 2.3 million. There are more Mormons than Episcopalians in America.

The Terminator is in the race for governor in California. A lot of other folks are, too. That may actually help Schwarzenegger. He name identification and personal fortune will generate votes. The vote will be thoroughly split if there are many candidates. Several democrats have now filed also, which is bad for the governor. It both splits the Democrat vote and signals that the party does not think he can win.

Gary Coleman is also running. I would like to see him and Arnold debate, as it would be a take off on his movie, Twins. They could tour together and call it Twins II.

Ben Domenech, Virginia Anglican and erstwhile blogger, also thinks this will destroy the Anglican communion.

The Fallout begins. The leader of the Anglican Church of West Malaysia says they may have to cut ties with the American church over the ordination of Bishop Robinson. Australian Archbishop Peter Jensen said Robinson would not be welcome in his diocese and even urged church members to withhold contributions. Jensen says the teachings of the American church have become compromised. The All India Catholics Union rejects it also. Fox News reports that “Melbourne's conservative Archbishop Peter Watson refused to comment on the decision, referring to an earlier statement on Robinson's pending election where he said the American church "has turned its back on our unity and must bear responsibility for the pain and disunity that will be felt throughout the Communion."

Well, they’ve done it. The Episcopalians voted in an openly homosexual bishop. While there is dancing and who knows what else going on in the homosexual community tonight, Bible believing Christians all over the world cringe. For the bishops who voted for this, I give you 1 Corinthians 6:9: Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals…shall inherit the kingdom of God. For Bible believing Episcopalians, I give you Matthew 15:14: Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. You also have my deepest sympathy and prayers as you decide what to do from here.

Canadians used more violence to express disapproval of a Justin Timberlake than to protest the beating death of one of their citizens. Now, I don’t blame them for being upset at having to listen to Cry Me A River when they were expecting the Guess Who or the Rolling Stones or other classic rock acts. What were the promoters thinking here anyway, that the 50 year old rock fan might have brought his 12 year old daughter with him? Anyway, the Canadians haven’t done anything but whine about the Iranians beating a journalist to death, but they actually threw things at Justin Timberlake. Maybe that’s because they weren’t worried about Justin throwing anything back.

Wow, that was fast! The Bishops have cleared Robinson from all charges. That must mean that the charges were spurious. I hate that. See the earlier post for why.

This is better for all concerned. This way the Bishops must vote the issue up or down on the merits. Vote for the Bible or vote for Robinson. Expect a vote around 6pm.

Royce West is a democratic state senator for the Great State of Texas. He is lounging around a hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with other folks of the same stripe prevent democracy from working in the Texas Senate. He has also been standing too close to the exhaust pipe of his car. He quotes a famous patriot of the American Revolution, and says he has yet begun to fight. That is an understatement, Royce. Running and hiding isn’t fighting. It’s cowardice. It’s obstructionism. So, Royce moves to the top of the Hall of Shame list so far this week, topping the Reverend Robinson. But, it’s a day to day battle.

The democrats need to change their name, for they clearly do not believe in democracy. They should be called the Obstructionist Party. Say hi to my Aunt Ida while you are whining and dining in Albuquerque.

So, people are starving in Africa at the rate of thousands per day while their governments are refusing free food and cheap food. Of course, no matter what might be objectionable about such food, it is less objectionable than no food. Starvation is just not that much fun. But, the nations do not want to jeopardize their trade relations so they abide by the wishes of the EU, which mostly wishes to oppose the U.S.A. wherever possible, especially when the French make the decisions.

The Pope, however, is concerned about starvation. Expect a major announcement soon supporting genetically modified food. Maybe he’ll also throw in something about how stupid it is to kill people by starvation to tweak the nose of the United States. Maybe France will ship them large shipments of organically raised snails.

Last minute allegations of improper conduct have stalled the vote on Glen Robinson for bishop in the Episcopal Church. This creates a conundrum. You want the complaint to be legitimate. Otherwise dishonest means are being used to fight an honest battle. Sort of like the Texas Democrats. But, if the complaint is genuine, you hate to think of the consequences for the victim and the church.

The Catholics are in the news also. The Pope intends to weigh in on the genetically modified food issue. In case you don’t know, the European Union opposes the sale of genetically modified food. This is largely because the largest seller of the product is the United States. There is little scientific data to support claims that such food is dangerous. Where this becomes very important is Africa. Because the EU opposes genetically modified food, and is a big trading partner of many African nations, they have pressured poor nations in Africa to reject genetically modified food, even when it is free.

The Swedes, of all people, are publishing reports that evidence has surfaced showing Iraq had WMD as late as last year. That would be poetic for Hans Blix, wouldn't it.

A lot of people are anxiously awaiting the vote of the Episcopalian Biships on whether Reverend Robinson becomes a bishop. Many think that, since the deputies voted 2-1 in favor, that it is a done deal. However, the conservatives are threatening a split, which gives the bishops something to think about.

I guess you couldn't hope that they would vote by considering the verse that says preserve the unity of the fellowship in the bond of peace if they will not consider the verses that plainly condemn homosexuality. Not to mention 1 Timothy 32-4, that requires the bishop to be above reproach, and the husband of one wife.

Robinson himself continues to provide interesting quotes that attempt to place himself in a passive, peaceful role in the process. He says, ''While I rejoice with my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and all those who are working for full inclusion . . . we are also very aware that this is a troubling moment for many people in this church,'' he said. ''If people choose to leave this church, and I pray daily that it will not happen . . . it's because they've chosen to leave, and not because I've asked them to, wanted them to, or made them.''

If you work to change the whole character of the church, from one that follows scripture to one that forsakes it for political correctness, you can hardly say you did not make the followers of the Bible leave, for how could they stay and be part of a body that does not believe in it? They are practically commanded to leave by 2 Corinthians 6:14, that says do not be bound together withunbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowhsip has light with darkness? Verse 17 is telling: Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.

Rachel Lucas has a good report on presidential candidate John Edwards. Although he is a multi-millionaire, he is delinquent in his property taxes. The man is worth up to 30 million, money he made as a personal injury plaintiff's lawyer. If that isn't an argument for tort reform, what is.

Well, Sunday is drawing to a close. I almost always hate to see it end. It was a good day all told. We had a good crowd in Sunday School and grappled with a hard chapter of Isaiah. After class, a fellow told me he was really struggling and needed people to pray for him. He feels God is telling him to make some changes in his life. In response, he is giving up some status items, such as a big house and a country club membership. I admire his willingness to do this. It is harder to adjust down than up.

Cliff Lea came to preach at the worship service. He had been an assistant pastor here before leaving to pastor a church in Corpus Christi. I guess that makes him a leader of the Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi. As usual, his sermon was interesting and challenging. The music was inspiring, although the sound system was a challenge.

Then it was off to lunch at my favorite hamburger place, Chapps, with friends. The usual suspects were there: Mike, Jill, Martha, all from Sunday School. Then the Smiths joined us, recovering from their niece's wedding yesterday. The Little Woman was there, and the Baby. We had a great visit to go along with the hamburger. I appreciate how my friends indulge me by coming to favorite places. Those would be Chapps and Starbucks.

I did make it to Starbucks with the Baby later. The Little Woman went to work. I couldn't muster much energy for anything until about 10:30, then went and walked a mile and a half. Now I'm on the computer trying to cool off enough to go to bed.

As much as I continually miss my kids as they grow up and leave, it is nice to have the time to visit friends over meals or coffee (or juice in some cases). I'm not sure why they put up with me. Whatever the reason, keep up the good work guys and gals. I love you all.

Have you noticed that the fashion in teenage girl pants imitates your old plumber? My last trip to Starbucks brought me into contact with a group of girls with gravity defying low rise pants and shorts. I thought of the old plumber bending over the sink, especially since some of the young ones were not really thin enough for the style. Here is a tip. If your tummy hangs over the top of the shorts, you don't look that good in them.

David Heddle expresses some skeptism about missionaries. He doen't really say, and it would be interesting to know, what nurtured this uneasiness on his part.

Tourism is down 50 percent in France, due to Americans staying home. Heh, heh.

In addition to President Bush, the Catholic Church has come out strongly in favor of traditional marriage and in opposition to gay marriage. This is causing difficulties for their gay members, some of whom are reacting strongly. This seems to point out that either the Church was not making its position strongly before, or gay Catholics were not paying attention. You can read their side at www.andrewsullivan.com.

Evolutionary psychologists are citing a survey that appears to show that men are naturally more promiscuous than women. The idea is that the desire for more sexual partners is a product of evolution. Some men, of course, like this, for it means they can say I can’t help cheating, I’ve evolved this way!

Predictably, other psychologists and others concerned with women’s rights denigrate the study and claim men are more affected by culture and society and can learn to control themselves. Does this sound familiar?

This is the same argument about homosexuality. Homosexuals and their supporters claim they are made this way and cannot help it. Therefore, we must accept it. But, since support of homosexuals is now politically correct, as opposed to male promiscuity, no one is rushing forward from the scientific community to debunk the theory. If you do, people call you names, such as homophobe or fundamentalist. So, I guess it makes those on the other side of the male promiscuity issue malephobes and female fundamentalists.

I think is shows that science has become as polluted by political correctness as the press.