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Arizona Blocks Westboro Baptist Church

January 15th, 2011

What is it about the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) that always captures media attention? They are of course the “church,” (and I use the term beyond loosely) that we all love to hate. Personally every time I see these ghouls on television I marvel that people like this actually exist! They’re like caricatures of real Nazis from the nineteen thirties and forties only thankfully, significantly less intelligent. This past week they announced plans to picket the funerals of the six Arizona shooting victims, including the nine- year old little girl! Fortunately the state government moved quickly to protect the grieving families and prevent this inbred congregation from showing up. How is it that a group of people who presumably call themselves Christians can be so obsessed with death and destruction? What gospels are they reading? A peek at their vile website (something I don’t recommend by the way), reveals their hatred for everyone. They’re anti-Semitic, anti-White, anti-Black, anti-Hispanic, anti-Catholic, anti-gay, anti-Republican, anti-Democrat, anti-American, etc. etc…. Who do you support? The answer is of course no one, except maybe death itself. I’m racking my brain and I can’t think of any place in scripture where Christ treated anyone with this kind of cruelty… even the ones who killed him. Hey WBC, I’m not Baptist, but I am Christian, and I think I can speak for my Baptist friends and say “Change your conduct or change your name!”

The new Arizona law was signed into effect by Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday. It passed both the state house and senate unanimously and went into effect immediately. The law of course could not address the extremist group directly but applies to all such protests. From what I understand the new law makes it illegal to picket or protest any funeral from within three hundred feet of the cemetery beginning an hour before and ending an hour after the service has concluded. I’m no attorney but this seems like a very reasonable guideline. It’s actually rather insulting that it’s even necessary. Who other than this group would want to protest a funeral for any reason? I would love to see other states including Texas follow suit with similar legislation. Perhaps this is a way we could protect the grieving families of lost soldiers. Until then we can continue to do what citizens of Tucson and other cities have done, namely surround the loved ones with signs and support… and real prayers.

Reince Preibus is the New Chairman of the Republican Party

January 14th, 2011

Two years ago Michael Steele became the chairman of the Republican Party. Prior to that, he served as the Lieutenant Governor of the state of Maryland. In 2006 he ran for the U.S. Senate against Democrat, Ben Cardin. Steele was narrowly defeated but in 2009 became the first African- American, chairman of the GOP. The honeymoon between him and the Republican National Committee (RNC) wasn’t terribly long however. In his two year term he proved a particularly controversial and sometimes awkward leader. Months after his election, Steele frustrated and angered grassroots republicans when he relegated commentator Rush Limbaugh to the roll of an entertainer. The comment seemed to many an effort to move himself and the party away from the Conservative host. The chairman apologized to Rush days later and attempted to distance him from his own comments.

But this was not Steele’s only problem. On numerous occasions he made statements which frustrated other members, including predicting his that own party would not take the House last November. Perhaps his biggest failure however was the fact that the GOP currently owes more than twenty million dollars. Many of those in his party blame Steele for turning off major donors. Certainly the average Republican saw Steele as simply a career party man, more interested in chairmanships and brand names, and less concerned with the party’s ideological platform. This in a political era where the electorate is desperate to reboot a political system it sees as rife with corruption. Personally I suspect some of these judgments of Steele’s performance may not be entirely fair, considering the victories last fall.

Replacing Steele is Reince Preibus. Preibus was the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, and is a relatively young man (at thirty- eight) with a name that sounds like a Roman consul. He has promised to work to win back some of the big donors who’ve backed away from the GOP, raise a lot of necessary funds and reestablish the party’s conservative credentials. Truth be told I (and I suspect more Americans), know very little about the new Chairman. But I agree that his party does in fact need to renovate its platform, a process I think started last November. I for one didn’t dislike Steele, but I agree that it is in fact, time for the Republican Party to return to its conservative roots. At the end of the day, only time will tell whether or not Preibus is able to fulfill his promises. If he does he will prove himself a more effective leader then his predecessor.

February 2011 shows at the Cowan Center

January 14th, 2011

The Cowan Center presents new Broadway shows and musical performances. February brings different entertainment and shows. Many tickets are available for you to buy about two to three weeks prior the performance. All tickets are on sale at the UT Tyler box office right outside of the Cowan Center.

The Color Purple will be preformed at the University of Texas in Tyler on February 3rd and 4th. This Broadway performance has been nominated for eleven Tony awards and the jazz, blues, gospel music has been nominated for a Grammy. The story of “The Color Purple” is an inspiration story of a woman who gains courage, finds love, and discovers her unique voice. This is a “feel good” play with moving musical pieces. This is a great show to celebrate the power of love.

“Mamma Mia! Here we go again! Oh, Oh…” the moment I started writing this paragraph the song rang through my head. The well-known Broadway show became even more well-known during the release of the movie Mamma Mia starring Meryl Streep in 2008. This story is about a daughter who wants here real dad to walk her down the aisle at her wedding but there is a big problem; she has three possible dads. The performance will come to life through colorful costumes, fun background sets, and great musical talent. The fun and light hearted musical would be a great new place to bring a date and enjoy a fun evening. The performance will be that the Cowan Center on February 28.

Gladys Knight brings a Vegas show to East Texas. Her amazingly strong voice has become legendary. Many of her songs have climbed the charts to make it to the top. She will be performing February 17. Her voice will blow you away. Her musical gifts have resulted in her winning seven Grammy Awards. Sing along to her popular song such as “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “Men.” This performance by the “Empress of Soul” will be one that should not be missed and one you will soon not forget.

Your Baby Can Read

January 13th, 2011

So I will take this chance to come clean about something, I ordered the package for “Your Baby Can Read” after watching it advertised on the television. If I had waited for a few months I could have gotten the same package from Wal-Mart for about a third of the price. I felt pretty silly when I walked down the children’s educational aisle and saw the package sitting there with a huge yellow sticker on it that read “AS SEEN ON TV!” The commercial is pretty convincing with “home video” of eight month olds recognizing words such as “clap” and “arms up”, and three year olds reading whole books out loud. As I called to order the package I had sit and listen through a whole spill of how I can get a free cruise (free after you pay for the out of country costs, taxes and have to listen to people talk about buying a time share for a couple hours). After my phone call was passed through half a dozen people I finally was able to order my product. It wasn’t long before the box turned up on my door step. The package included books, movies, and flash cards. After about a year I can not say my kids can read. You are suppose to sit your child in front of the provided movies, on the movies they will display a word, sound out the word, and show what the word is. An example of this is the word “dog” (on the First Step video) the word “DOG” is displayed across the screen and then sounded out “D-O-G” and finally the children are shown a picture of a dog. After you children have sat through the first video enough times, you will then show more difficult videos with harder words. My children did not like these videos. The movies are boring, there is nothing to keep a young child’s interest. Stick subtitles on Dora the Explorer and you kids will focus more on those words. The flashcards somewhat keep my children’s attention, that is if I make it fun enough. Like play matching games, do silly voices, and act out what is on the card. I also really like the books that can with the package. My kids liked to flip the slabs and see what will be under the words. The “Your Baby Can Read” lessons are suppose to start at an early age. They recommend that you start sitting them in front of the movies and showing flash cards at only a couple months old. It was probably the fact that I did not make my children watch the videos that they were not interested in that my children did not really learn anything from the videos. I do not see why it is so important for a three year old to read, I just say kids should be kids, out playing and discovering new things. I do like the books and flash cards and will probably use them as my kids get older and start pre-school, as spelling words. I did not get moneys worth from this product. The way that “Your Baby Can Read” works is just through children memorizing words and not really learning how to sound out the letters and use them properly. I do not think that this is the most effective way to teach little children.

Tucson Memorial Struck an Odd Note

January 13th, 2011

Last night I found myself moving from room to room, television to television trying to catch what I could of the Tucson memorial service while my son watched something else at the same time. The event started out in what was to me a very unusual way. Carlos Gonzales, professor at a local university offered a brief history of his family and their Arizonan heritage, and then pronounced a “Native American blessing” over the proceedings. Now I actually found the story of his family and how they helped to settled Arizona kind of interesting. However, the subsequent blessing was unusual and seemed out of place. His entire presentation was irrelevant to the purpose of the proceedings. Now before my readers jump all over me, I’m not insulting the man’s beliefs, I just don’t think they fit with those of most of the attendees or victims of Saturday’s tragedy.

A number of speakers followed including the aid who helped to save the life of congresswomen Giffords; and who modestly insisted that he wasn’t a hero. Of course the president’s speech was the main event of the evening. There was much speculation leading up to the event about whether or not the president would politicize the moment. Most commentators predicted correctly that President Obama would largely resist the urge to use it as an opportunity to score political points. Instead he praised the victims, extolled American values, encouraged free debate but called for civility on all sides and challenged the country to live up to the hopes and dreams of nine year old victim Christina Taylor Green. It may surprise some, but I thought the Prez delivered a fairly good speech, it was a bit too long, but otherwise it was for the most part non-partisan.

What did bother me, (and I think maybe the president as well), was the overall tenor of the event which struck me as highly unusual. The crowd as I understand it, was largely made up of college students, who treated the event like a campaign stop or a pep-rally. There was no sense on somber reflection or piety at all! Nor was there any real nod to the faith of the victims. And while I don’t know about much about the religion practiced by most of them, I do know that at least one, (Federal Judge John Roll), was a devout Catholic. Yet I saw no Christian expression of faith or grief. The closest the event came to that was when members of the administration read or quoted scripture. But there was no Priest, no Pastor, and no Minister; only a “medicine man” offering a pronouncement that no one seemed to understand.

I don’t pretend to know what all of this says about the American people. What concerns me is that it seems to point to an increased loss of dignity and decorum on the part of the average citizen. I fear that as a people, our ability to discern what is respectful and meaningful is on a downward spiral. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I saw no evidence of reverence or refection in last night’s “memorial service.”