HerbEly

John Kerry Flip-Flops on Abortion!

As a general rule, I try to ignore news stories that break just before an election. Steven Waldman's story on Beliefnet is an exception. Walddman writes

"In 1997, when Congress was first considering whether to prohibit partial birth abortion, Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota offered a compromise amendment that banned abortion for any fetuses that could be considered viable. [Text here]. Kerry voted for the amendment, which was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and liberal Democrats. [Click here for roll call.]"

Please read and ask yourself if Kerry satisfies the WSYWYG (what you see is what you get) test.

Hart Seely Breaks the DiMaggio Code

When I saw this on April 16, I wanted to post it. If the Red Sox had not won, I might have forgotten it completely. Here is the intro to Hart Seely's great parody of the Da Vinci code:

"In Dan Brown's best-selling thriller, "The Da Vinci Code," the fearless and cerebral Harvard professor Robert Langdon uses his knowledge of ancient religious symbols in a quest for the Holy Grail. His search is often interrupted by questions from his trusted partner, the intrepid and beautiful French cryptologist Sophie Neveu. In his next book, maybe Mr. Brown will take on a real conspiracy — involving an ancient sporting rivalry that resumes tonight.

Robert, who are these people chanting, "YANK! KISS! HUG!"?

Red Sox Nation, Sophie. A radical cult known for intense rites of self-degradation. Stay low, Sophie. It's their vernal resurrection. They're wearing the "Scarlet B," the mark of having betrayed the immortal Babe."

For access to the rest of Seely's NYT piece, click here ,

Pre-Election Anxiety Disorder: Old Abe’s Cure

Washington Post writer Joel Achenbach diagnoses the body politic as suffering from Pre-election Anxiety Disorder (PAD). Symptoms are evident in Charlottesville. A local nursing home found itself in bitter controversy over the showing of the film Fahrenheit 911. This anxiety manifests itself in remarks such as “I’m afraid of a heart attack if Bush wins” or “Abortion is the greatest evil facing this country”.

The political campaign has provoked this disorder amongst religious believers on both sides of the political spectrum. To return from anxiety disorder to tranquility we might meditate on the words of America’s greatest moral-political theologian: Abraham Lincoln.

Deal with Those Turkeys

My friend, Priscilla Richardson, publishes a lively newsletter. This issue helps in the practice of the fifth and sixth disciplines of workplace spirituality. Here is a copy of her recent issue. You can subscribe at her website.

This Year, Deal with those Turkeys
    Word count: 389, about a minute to read

Every year I find myself very thankful I don't have to
kill the turkey we'll be having on Thanksgiving.

But what about the human turkeys you find in every
business situation? Please don't kill them! Jail is no fun,
as Martha Stewart will be affirming in a few months in
her planned best-seller.

Pumpkin fun

Explore such exciting designs as turckers lady pumpkin, and flaming pumpkin go here. Thanks to my son David.

Political Campaigns: An Exercise in Functional Atheism?

This afternoon I was reading Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald May and ran across a definition of functional atheism: "the belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with me." For an extended discussion of its impact on leadership go here.

This presidential campaign is making functional atheists out of most of us. Here is how it happens.

I'm in Durham

doinng what a grandfather does best: holding Peter and playing with Sarah. Back on Saturday. Don't let the election controversy disturb your serenity.

Murphy's Revenge

It looks like NASA is about to relearn the lesson of the original Murphy’s law. According to this morning’s WaPo : “The Genesis space capsule that crashed into the Utah desert last month failed because four pencil stub-size gravity switches designed to trigger the release of the spacecraft's parachutes were installed backward, NASA officials said yesterday”.

The original, formulated in the late 1940’s, was an engineering proverb designed to prevent the exact failure experienced in 2004.

Presidential Debates: A Search for the Truth?

After listening to the debate last night, I ran across a zen saying and tracked it down in a previously unfamiliar blog - Mystic Cowboy . The saying, from the Third Zen Patriarch, is " Do not search for the truth. Only cease to cherish opinions. "

In terms of Ignatian Spirituality, we are all subject to “inordinate attachments”. During a presidential campaign we can become so strongly attached to a particular point of view and set of opinions, that it clouds our search for the truth. This attachment can become so strong that it begins to distort and strain family relationships and friendships.

An Argument Against the Death Penalty

We don’t usually follow murder trials in the news. However, two local men have been convicted of a drug conspiracy and may face the death penalty. One of them was a student in my wife’s school. One of her colleagues is on the jury. As a result, we are following the trial closely.

This is not an argument about guilt or innocence or the justness of the death penalty. Rather, it is an argument that derives from my April 16 posting on Reconciliation and Forgiveness .