HOW LONG, O LORD. For those of you who think I may have taken somewhat of a long time to get through the Bible Studies in Isaiah, consider this about John Calvin. He began a series on the book of Acts on August 25, 1549, and ended on March of 1554, preaching it every Sunday.

IS KERRY'S BOAT SINKING? Tradesport.com shows Bush ahead 58 percent to 42 percent. The Iowa Electronic Market has Bush at 55 percent to 45 percent. The same survey showed them even two weeks ago. I know it is still early in the game, sincer there are still September and October to go. It will be interesting to see if the President gets any bounce from the convention to increase this lead.

Speaking of the convention, isn't Rudy Guliani a great speaker? He seems so comfortable and even happy while speaking. He reminded me of Hubert Humphrey, whom they used to call the Happy Warrior.

TWO SIDES OF A COIN. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

BEING THERE. I had a really good time the other night, and have not written about it. The College Daughter came through town and spent the night. She was, unfortunately, on the way home from a funeral. Nonetheless, she was home for the first time in several weeks and I was grateful for the opportunity.

A friend from school met her at our house and we all had dinner and lots of fun. I don't have a nick name for this friend at this point. You have to love him, however. In addition to being a great guy, he brought me two, count them, two bags of coffee from his trip to Costa Rica.

Opera Boy was there, also, having come by to mow my yard again. God's grace is abundant! We asked him to stay for dinner, also. He needles the College Daughter a bit, but I think it was all ok. The Baby was there, having just returned from her trip. We all sat around the dining table. The Little Woman cooked a big meal. It was wonderful.

We then made the ritual trip to Starbucks and introduced everyone in our group to all our friends working at Starbucks.

I wish we could do it all more often. As the weeks blow by and we all attend to our business, it is harder and harder to connect, especially in person. Yet, I find my heart yearns for it. I could change the words to the old Neal Sedaka song to "growing up is hard to do". It is so, both for the grower, and the growee.

THE KILLING FIELDS. U.S. District Judge Richard C. Casey has declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional. He is the second district judge to do so. Louise Melling, director of the ACLU Reporductive Freedom Project said they were thrilled. Judge Casey said the procedure is gruesome, brutal, barbaric, and uncivilized. Attorney General Ashcroft said he will appeal.

It is interesting to see the word play here. The Washington Post put the words "partial birth abortion" in quotation marks and said it was the term used by opponents. The medical term is intact dilation.

The other fun phrase is the ACLU's "reproductive freedom". That would imply freedom to reproduce, wouldn't it. Instead, it is freedom from reproduction for the mother. And that sounds better still than free to die on the first day outside the womb, for the baby.

In addition to killing for sexual convenience, we have killing for political gain. Augusto Pinochet lost his immunity from prosecution today as the Supreme Court of Chile ruled against him. Pinochet ruled from 1973 to 1990, and was known to "disappear" his enemies. There was also some miscellaneous torture and kidnapping of dissedents.

More current, in the killing, is the Islambouli Brigade, which claims credit for downing two Russian airliners full of civilians. They used Hexogen evidently. Hexogen is one of the most powerful military explosives. It looks like flour or sugar.

In 2003, Nikita Sergeevich Chekulin, the former acting director of the Scientific Research Institute of Russia alleged systematic theft and resale of 5 tons of Hexogen from the military.

Two young Russians have been detained in Gorny for trying to sell 8 kilograms of Hexogen for $50.00. That is enough to blow up a multi-story building or a city block.

So, when folks say it is important to take custody of weapons and chemicals when governments fall, we know it is true.

Edmund Burke said "There is no safety for honest men but by believing all possible evil of evil men."

I believe.

KASUAL KIBBITZ OF THE KERRY KAMPAIGN. The Los Angeles Times poll shows President Bush ahead. That is a big one for a strongly Democrat paper.

Is it my imagination, or is John Kerry laying low (seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go?)? The whole Vietnam strategy has become a mess for him. I do not know why someone who opposed the war publicly and vehemently, and for political capital, would run on a platform of having fought in the war. Nonetheless, it has become a quagmire for him. I thought he was doing well in representing himself until this issue exploded. Even without much support in the big newspapers, the story has made the rounds and left him looking like someone who manufactured his service and his story.

It also appears that anothe flip flop has occurred. Mr. Kerry voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. This was not a popular move, as both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed it and President Clinton approved it by signing it into law. That put Mr. Kerry in a very small minority.

Mr. Kerry later came out against the Federal Marriage Amendment. He is counted as a big supporter of the homosexual lobby. But, he recently visited Missouri and had his finger in the air. You know, to check which way the wind is blowing. Missouri recently passed a law defining marriage as a heterosexual event. Mr. Kerry told people in one speech that he would have voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment if it had made it to a vote.

This is a silly thing to do. Everyone knows his stance on the issue. Why pretend otherwise? Missouri might have a few voters that will not hear his real views, but surely the "show me" state has newspapers that will point out the inconsistency.

This kind of stuff makes Mr. Kerry very vulnerable to attack by the Republicans. It also makes his credibility sink in regard to other statements (Christmas in Cambodia) and policy positions (fighting terrorism).

It appears that Mr. Kerry is still shooting himself in the foot. The question is whether America will give him another award for it.

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS. Whenever a big campaign starts, the Democrats always accumulate show business people to help them. I think this shows a preference for style of substance. I think it also shows they think Americans are superficial and will care what an actor or musician thinks about the economy or national defense. I guess they think singing and analyzing world events are transferable skills. I think most Americans, excluding permanent Leftists, some kids, and celebrity worshippers think it is funny.

Evidently, shock rocker Alice Cooper agrees. He said, "If you are listening to a rock star in order to get your voting information on who to vote for, you are a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons."

Thanks to Mike for the quote.

I remember a good example. The Little Woman always thought Val Kilmer was very attractive. One night he was scheduled for the Late Show. She had to watch. Well, old Val came out and sat down. The poor fellow cannot even speak in complete sentences or follow a train of thought. He is so used to speaking from a script, a spontaneous conversation was just too taxing. The Little Woman was disappointed, and won’t watch Val in a movie any more.

Maybe Val will show up soon at a Democrat rally, just after Bruce Springsteen sings, and tell us who to conduct world affairs.

Hopefully, it will be from a script.