It’s a good idea to look beyond emotions when it comes to politics. There are certain words when used that can cause an individual to not fully process what’s actually being said. George Will from Newsweek asks some good questions…Click Here.

I’ve been reading a lot about the politics surrounding the upcoming Olympics in China this year and decided to finally put some of my thoughts down. This is a bit lengthy so if you would like to receive it via email instead of reading it on my blog let me know.

Free Tibet?
If you’ve driven around your town in the last 20 years you’ve probably seen a ‘Free Tibet’ sticker on the back of someone’s car. If you’ve tuned into the news in the last decade you’ve probably heard a Hollywood star such as Richard Gere, lament about the injustice done to the Tibetan people. If you’ve been reading the news lately you’ve heard about the ‘Chinese crackdown’ in Tibet. The rallying cry for some time has been that the Chinese have been enacting horrible injustice by occupying the Tibetan region since the late 1950’s. As a result the Dalai Lama has become a revered individual around the world and the practice of Tibetan Buddhism has become a popular therapeutic religion in many western countries. (more…)

Jess and I just watched a great film called ‘Himalaya‘. It’s shot in a restricted (no tourists) region of Nepal and focuses on the life and culture of the Tibetan people. It totally brought us back to our experiences there. One of the great things about the film is that none of the actors had ever acted before. They were all real people from the area and so while there is a script, it’s more like watching a documentary than a Hollywood production.

I’ll share some more of my thoughts about the culture soon, as they tie into some of what I’ve been thinking in regards to the Tibetan clashes in China recently.

The 30 Hour Famine was great and I think really impacted our students who participated. No food and lots of activities made for a long but very worthwhile weekend. My beautiful wife has posted some of her thoughts on our family blog which I agree with and are worth reading, so I won’t say much more.

Starting tomorrow I’ll be spending over 24 hours with 40+ teens who will be going without food for 30 hours. What was I thinking?!

I’m in a bit of a music rut as of late but thought I’d share what I’ve been listening to anyways.

Indie
Matt Costa and Brett Dennen

Blues/Soul
Marc Broussard and Keb Mo

Hip Hop
Lupe Fiasco

I’m all for getting the troops home but I read an interesting thing about a recent debate between Clinton and Obama.

“Clinton and Obama both said that as president, they would execute promises to begin the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, even if their military commanders advised otherwise.”

That feels ‘off’ to me. Thoughts?

When we moved to Spokane - which is approximately 400 miles from the ocean - the only positive thing I thought about being that far from the coast (I love the ocean) was not having to deal with stupid Seagulls. They are the rats of the air and have been my nemesis since I was a young lad. I have many Seagull stories which I won’t bore you with, but if you don’t know already, understand they are right up there with ticks and mutts from the pound who bite, named Penny (long story) on my short list of things I disdain. So imagine my surprise when we moved here and I saw seagulls everywhere! Lakes, rivers, parking lots, underneath my desk (not really). Apparently there are so many lakes in Washington that they just hop from the coast, going lake to lake.

One thing you may already know about birds in general is that they are impossible to hit with a thrown rock. I’ve been trying for years and I’ve only managed to hit a bird once in my life and that was with a set of keys in Hawaii. A lucky shot.

Today, as we were enjoying the beautiful sun at lake Coeur D’alene a handful of seagulls landed about 30 yards in front of us on the water. They immediately started singing their beautiful Seagull songs which sound something like a frog being stepped on by a little girl who is repeating the same word over and over. By instinct I picked up a rock and aimed it at the most repetitive of the bunch. Also by instinct, before I released the rock, the whole lot of them started to fly away. I was able to slightly adjust my fastball enough and as it hurtled through the air it ended with a never before heard, ‘thump’!

I had hit a Seagull on the fly.

For the next several minutes I exclaimed to Jess how that was the ’single best throw of my life’. Sure I had gunned some guys down in my baseball playing days, threaded the needle with a football from time to time, but this was something else entirely. A Seagull on the fly! Today was a good day.

It’s nearly 70 degrees out, the boats are cruising lazily on the inlet, and we’re heading to the park on the lake!

(After singing ‘Shout to the Lord’ and omitting Jesus name they sung the song again last night as it was originally written. It’s weird that they would sing the same song two nights in a row and it’s interesting that they would include Jesus the second time around.)

So when I came into the office this morning the conversation de jour was that the song ‘Shout to the Lord’ was sung on American Idol last night with all the participants. I’ve personally sung and heard this song in every country (11) that I’ve ever been to. I thought, “Wow, that song is a very Christian song to be on American Idol.”

Well I looked it up on Youtube and found the video. They did a pretty good job of singing it but…totally edited out the name “Jesus”. Can you say, “Chicken”? Are they worried about offending people? If so, don’t sing the song at all because even with the edit it’s pretty obvious what the song is about.

The original song starts, “My Jesus, my shepherd…” Give it a listen and you’ll hear that they skip the “Jesus” part.