Redeeming creation one byte at a time
Archive for November, 2004
Ricca Sloan is a pansy!
0So, I’m watching the news tonight and Ricca Sloan is demanding a recount. For those of you that aren’t in Illinois, or the B-N/Peoria area, She and another guy went head to head for the State Senate seat for Peoria and she lost by around 250 votes. So, instantly, we pull out the fact that there were ‘irregularities’ and minorities were intimidated and not allowed to vote. Right.
So have we become a democracy where if you don’t win then you litigate your way into the office. Did we not learn that lesson 4 years ago? How far have we digressed that a bunch of high priced lawyers can now decide who gets elected and who doesn’t? Last time I checked, it didn’t mean jack if you didn’t like the results of the election (I think I’m like 0-4 or 1-4 for my presidential voting so far) the fact was that the will of the people was exercised, not the will of Ricca Sloan. To me it doesn’t matter if it’s 10,000 votes that seperate the canidates or 100, the fact of the matter is is that she lost. She, and anyone else that whines about losing in an eleciton should grow up and face the results like an adult and admit you lost, not that:
- There is a vast right wing consiperacy
- You need to play the minority card to fulfill your political goals
- Tell a bold face lie about who started mudslinging first (is that even an excuse by the way, that just because someone called you a name first that it gives you a right to do that same…oh wait, maybe it was in 1st grade) and pull out the most offensive set of ads that have been aired anytime?
Ricca…cry me a river.
–pete
How do you dismantle an atomic bomb.
0The answer is ‘Love and peace’.
It’s been an unusual past 24 hours for me. If you know me, you know that this has not been the best of months; in fact, some would say I have more in common with Job than anyone else at this point (if you catch ma drift). Strangely enough, I took a spiritual gifts test and discovered one of my gifts is suffering (ha ha).
One thing I have begun to discover is how much hope lies in dispair. It’s the hope that when you’re sitting there with an awake baby that you’ve been up with for most of the night with and they just begin to close their eyes. It’s also the hope that lies in a poem by William Blake called The Echoing Green (execerpt below):
The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring,
To welcome the Spring.
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound.
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.
Simply put, it’s the hope that crap can’t last forever. More importantly, it’s that through trials, I know that God has me in his sights. I know that trials mean God’s working out my kinks and teaching me things and that I need to listen. I also know that they can’t last forever.
I also am learning the importance of community (again, if you know me, you’ll know what that means). I’m learning that to be a part of a community is to occasionally lean into it and accept its love and support and care. I’ve received that this week and for that I’m grateful, and changed; I get a picture of God’s grace and love for me and allow him to work in my life through a community. Consequently, God’s working on me to be more like him as a result and to be a better vessel for his work.
All in all, I love trials – really hard ones that make you more in shape spiritually.
–pete
Some Days…
0…are better than others. I’m facing the fact today that pretty much for the next three month’s I’m going to be perpetually tired. Usually, tied to that fact is that I become perpetually stupid as well (pardon any obvious spelling mistakes). Among the things that I become stupid about is neglecting spending time with God, and consequently misreading my life. I tend to get distracted and consequently when I go through trials, it just gets hard to gain perspective.
We started to move into the new building this week at the COB, which means that I’m reliving the first couple of years of my undergrad when I did shipping and receiving and hauled crap around all day. Woo hoo. Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually fun, but I’m struggling to get back into shape. Meanwhile, my new minted one year old is getting more and more active and I want to be in shape to play with him too. To all those people out there that thinking being in shape is for the birds….yeah, not so much.
A final note, this is not my best quality stuff; I’m literally a few days behind in getting e-mail done given that my work day around a phone and an Internet connected box is very limited (like around an hour). So, I’m put in a strange situation of being surrounded by technology but yet not able to do basic things like check e-mail or phone messages. Bear with me 
.
Talk more soon,
–pete
I want the kid in Ohio to run for president, and maybe Obama can be his vp
0One of the best moments for me yesterday came Wednesday morning hearing about voting in in Ohio. The report stated that the last voter cast his ballot at 3:55 a.m., Wednesday morning. He came out, looked at the cameras and said “I won, I stuck it out and voted”; indeed. Not only that, he was in the 18-30 set – the youth vote. Joe Scarbourough (sp?) states that the Youth will leave you at the alter every time. I think the more dangerous assumption is the new voter out there that is now disillusioned from his fleeting taste of power. I trust the people that stayed in line and voted felt that it was more important to do that then to see their man win. Regardless of who you voted for, I think the imporant thing was that you participated and flexed your muscles. But man, that really did warm my heart – coming from a guy who is moving very slowly from ‘young voter’ to ‘voter’.
I also really hope the dems front Obama in 2012, or 2016; I think he could be a killer canidate. the only reason I wouldn’t suggest ’08 is me wanting him to be a statesman from Illinois for a while.
Things I hope for in Bush’s presidency:
- To hope that Karl Rove ends up going back into the hole he slithered out of. For someone who claims morality, the fact that W surrounds himself with such heartless, souless men surprises me. Karl needs Jesus.
- That John Ashcroft gets fired. Seriously, has anyone been such a nut job since J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI director? He has no sense of personal liberty and should be relegated to mountains of tora bora for all I care. What cracks me up even more is that he could possibly be reading this.
- One thing I could only wish for is that Don Rumsfeld goes packing as well. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I can wish.
duck you’re heads, it’s gonna be an interesting 4 years.
–pete