Fantasyland?

Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Allawi visited Washington earlier this week to address Congress. On Thursday, he stood with President Bush in the Rose Garden for a joint press conference. Mr. Allawi was totally ignored by the press.



After the Bush/Allawi press conference, John Kerry was actually asked the following question by a reporter accompanying him in Ohio:



"Allawi told Congress today democracy was taking hold in Iraq and the terrorists were there on the defense. Is he living in the same fantasy land as the president?"



I no longer use the term "unbelievable" to describe such questions from our "unbiased," "professional" mainstream media. Coming from them, this type of question is utterly believable, and will become increasingly so as the major news outlets come to terms with an increasingly certain Bush victory in November.



Mark Steyn, meanwhile, will have none of this:

It would be nice to think this was a somewhat crude attempt at irony, but given America's Ratherized media this seems unlikely. Just for the record, Allawi is not living in a fantasyland. He's living in Iraq, and he begins his day with a dangerous commute across Baghdad's ''Green Zone.'' John Kerry's regular commute, by contrast, is from his wife's beach compound at Nantucket to his wife's 15th century English barn reconstructed as a ski lodge in Idaho. Nonetheless, he's the expert on Iraq and the guy living there 24/7 is the fantasist, and he's happy to assure us the prime minister doesn't know what he's talking about. It's all going to hell, forget about those January elections, etc.

For my part, the press has a lowsy record reporting on the successes in Iraq. The talking heads concluded that a transition from the CPA to an interim Iraqi government would have to be delayed. Instead, the transition happened early. Now these same doom-sayers are predicting a delayed election. On these and most other major events in Iraq, the press have got it wrong.

Ping Pong Matrix Revolution

Amazing!



(Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)

Fortnight Reflections

Classes started on September 7th, and after two weeks

of lecture and sections, I think I've seen enough to draw a few

conclusions about my new life here at Seminary.



But before I begin, I have to tell you, dear friends, that my short

time here has already resulted in tremendous sense of confirmation,

both for my choice of school, and for this new life that lies ahead.



Now, the recap.



The Classes



There are four classes all new students take here at the seminary -- Systematic Theology I (Theology), History of the Old Testament (OT), Introduction to the History of the Christian Church (History), and The Church as a Worshipping Community (Worship). All are subjects I thoroughly enjoy, and all are being taught by excellent scholars. If I had one wish for this semester, it would be that we had more time to delve deeper into particular course topics. This is especially true for the Church History class, where the professor has had to place an emphasis on rote memorization of dates, people, and places because of the historical expanse we must cover.



History of Old Testament (OT) class was a real mind-blower for me, and our theology professor is, in a word, astonishing. We're already diving into Barth, Calvin, Migliore, and others.



My favorite class at this point is Worship. Here we examine what we as Christians do. What is this thing we call worship? Why do we do it? Who, in fact, is doing the worshipping? By its very nature, the class weaves together history, ritual, tradition, theology, and music.



We pray before every lecture. Our Worship professor always precedes his prayers with the traditional invitation "The Lord be with you."



"And also with you," we respond. That little couplet means so much to me.



Chapel services are held every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 11:00 a.m. The regular pauses for prayer and worship provide much-needed spiritual refreshment during the course of the day. To encourage students to find a local church, Chapel services are not held on Sundays.



The People



The faculty and students here are wonderful. The collegiality of the faculty was one of my key considerations when choosing Austin. And the students! They come from everywhere, with an amazing portfolio of experience. We're already establishing study groups and social adventures. I'm a member of the seminary's "Polity Bowl" flag football team. We've already begun scrimmages in parparation of taking back the Polity Bowl crown from the Episcopalian seminarians down the street.



That's it for now. Back to reading. The Lord be with you.

Kerry's Mind

Rich Lowry attempts to decode John Kerry, with "nuanced" results:

[I]f the war that he authorized needs funding, he's against it. If American troops need more body armor, he criticizes President Bush for not providing it. But if funding for such armor is in the $87 billion bill to fund the war, which he authorized and once supported but no longer supports even though he authorized it, he's against it.



If — prior to readjusting fully to the Dean surge — he is asked about the $87 billion, he believes voting against it would be "irresponsible." Later — after vanquishing Dean, and as he tries to move to the center — if he is criticized for actually voting against the $87 billion, he explains that he voted for it, before voting against it. He voted for it because it would be wrong to abandon our troops, but he voted against it because it would be wrong to support the war the troops are fighting in, which he once supported, but now opposes, even though he supports the troops as long as they can fight it without new funding.

Et cetera. You get the point.

Like you, I remember exactly where I was,

Exactly what I was doing, and

Exactly who said it first.



Fellow citizens fell to their deaths to avoid being burned.

Even so, some ran in to the buildings.

They saved many with their calm heroism.



Some were able to fight back, and they prevented further calamity at the cost of their own lives.



Like you, I will never forget, even though I would like to.

That would make it easier to see, think, and comprehend without the pain of remembering.



But we do remember, and we must.



Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jodi Comes Home

I first discovered her about a three weeks ago at the Austin SPCA. After hours of debate and consideration, I adopted Jodi today. Jodi is a 5-year old terrier mix, so she's already had a bit of training (including the all-important potty training) and she knows a few tricks.

Jodi Comes Home Originally uploaded by whatnext.

She's a sweetheart and I'm already totally in love with her.



Classes start tomorrow with Old Testament at 9:30 a.m. and Worship at 1:00 p.m. I'll file a report about my first day back to school once the lectures and induction ceremonies have been completed.

The Bat Bridge

About a week ago, I joined a small group of seminary friends to check out the much-heralded Congress Avenue Bridge bat flight. I was very excited to see my second bat flight in as many weeks. Earlier, during the long drive to Austin, my family decided to take a slight detour off of Interstate 10 to see Carlsbad Caverns and their daily bat flight. Impressive. The Congress Avenue display, however, was astonishing. Just after 8:00 p.m., the bridge expansion cracks disgorged about 1.5 million Mexican Freetails. Five to six thick streams of bats (and cubs) swarmed out in pursuit of their daily insectoid meals.

Bryce Originally uploaded by whatnext.

Of course, I wasn't able to capture any of this with my digital camera because I had exhausted the already-low battery taking pictures of several cute kids who where there for the flight.

Bryce was one of those kids. With his cherubic face, he's Hollywood material at age one.