2006 = 1958?
October 31, 2006
This interesting article compares the election of 2006 with 1958 when Eisenhower was president. Niall Ferguson’s thesis makes a lot of sense. We’ll find out how apt his comparison is an another week or so.
Niall Ferguson: 1958 and today’s GOP
A better analogy may be 1958, when the Republicans lost 48 House seats (giving the Democrats an unassailable majority) during Dwight Eisenhower’s second term.
The parallel is especially intriguing because it was a combination of security concerns and economic woes that did the damage then. There had been a severe recession in the winter of 1957-58. But it was foreign policy that was on many people’s minds. The previous year, the Soviets had successfully launched their Sputnik satellite, causing consternation among Americans, who had assumed their country had a built-in technological advantage in both the Cold War and the space race. Civil war was raging in Cuba; Fidel Castro was just a few months from victory. And in July, a coup d’etat had overthrown King Faisal II of — guess where? — Iraq, the prelude to the Baathist takeover of power in that country in 1963. American troops had been dispatched to Lebanon in response.
How much of this is Democratic wishful thinking and how widespread is the nation’s disillusionment with Republican foreign policy we are about to find out.
Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
Dave, struggling to be apolitical.
Philippans 3:17-21
October 29, 2006
3:17 Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. 3:18 For many live (about whom I often told you, and now say even with tears) as enemies of the cross of Christ. 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven–and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 3:21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
Paul’s life is transparent, revealing the Christ living in him. I will never achieve such transparency, but that is my goal. It’s encouraging that Paul sees such examples in others besides himself. At the same time, we are reminded that there are also lots of bad examples around, and discernment is called for.
We are citizens of heaven first and foremost, Paul says, and we can confidently await the return of the Lord of heaven who will remove the pain of living in the world while not being a true part of it. Maranatha! -sdg-
A long summer ends
October 28, 2006
My year has but two seasons, summer and bummer. Last night, my summer reached its climax as the improbable St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in five games from the Detroit Tigers. Today bummer has arrived, and I am slipping into semi-hibernation until the Boys of Summer begin spring training next March.
I am writing from a comfy bedroom in our third-floor condo apartment at the Lake of the Ozarks, looking out over a chilly lake sunrise; not chilly for me in my wimpy comfort, but undoubtedly bracing for those hardy souls in their bass boats zipping around the lake at 50 mph and 42 degrees. After they get the bass wide awake and mad, and after the sun warms the air a bit, and if I can overcome my sloth, I may hit the water for an hour or two of fishing. And, who knows?, I may catch a fish or two.
But it ain’t like it’s summertime anymore, not season-wise nor lifetime-wise, a not altogether unpleasant fact that occurs to me fairly often these days. The Lord has already blessed me with more summertimes than I deserve, but I still look forward to the beginning of another summer.
And another long season of major league baseball.
Dave, thinking deep thoughts this morning.
Shoreline color
October 27, 2006
At the Lake of the Ozarks, fall colors are subdued in the Oaks that line the lake, but there are splashes of color here and there. Yesterday the bass were pretty shy, but I had my camera with me. Here is what I admired from my watery perch on an overcast day.
At the mouth of McCoy Branch Cove, near The Falls condo at the 2-mile marker.
Across the mouth of the cove near our condo apartment home at the lake.
Front yard of a lakefront home.
Falling leaves
October 25, 2006
This has not been a very colorful fall in our neck of the woods, but there is a single maple tree just down the street from our house that always puts on an early and brilliant display. Neighbor Bob Weirather snapped this shot for our enjoyment.
Pride of Baltimore
October 19, 2006
More than two years ago I started construction of Pride of Baltimore II, a 1/64 scale model of a fast sailing schooner of the type known as a Baltimore Clipper. The original Pride ruled the waves from 1805 to 1815, the precursor of the Clipper ship era of the 1850s.
An authentic replica of the original Pride was launched in 1977 and sailed on May 1, 1977, from Baltimore. On May 14, 1986, the Pride of Baltimore was lost at sea along with four crew members. A best-selling book, Pride of the Seaby Tom Waldron tells the story of the Pride’s last voyage and survival at sea.
The keel was laid for Pride II in May of 1987, and she put to sea in 1989.
Here is my version with the hull partly painted.
Dave, an armchair sailor not too worried about seasickness.
Philippians 3:12-16
October 18, 2006
Keep Going Forward
3:12 Not that I have already attained this–that is, I have not already been perfected–but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 3:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 3:14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 3:15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. 3:16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.
Paul states the obvious; that he is not yet like Jesus, but he knows beyond any doubt what is his goal and standard. I can identify with this. I have no trouble identifying my goal, but the devil is in the details. I yearn to be able to put the past behind me and reach out for what is ahead.
An important part of this passage is the warning about thinking I am really pretty good, even perfect in some things. Such thinking will certainly result in God’s severe check, and I definitely don’t want that! On the other hand, I am to be aware of my spiritual progress to some extent and to live up to it. -sdg-
Swagger stick to cane
October 11, 2006
In the summer of 1955, Marilyn and I found ourselves living in a small house in Lampasas, (Deep in the heart of) Texas, a short commute from Fort Hood. I was a shavetail 2nd Lieutenant with a Maintenance Officer MOS, and the Department of Army, in its wisdom, cut orders assigning me to Headquarters Company, Maintenance Battalion, First Armored Division (Sir! The Big Red One! Sir!).
Since armored divisions in those days still thought of themselves as cavalry, the duty uniform consisted of heavily creased and starched green fatigues bloused into spit-polished combat boots, topped with a lacquered and polished olive-drab helmet liner with, in my case, a shiny gold bar front and center. As I strode down the company street, I held a swagger stick in my left hand, leaving the right free to return salutes from smirking enlisted personnel or to salute officers of greater rank, which meant in my case all the other officers. What a figure I did cut!
My swagger stick was fabricated from a replacement jeep antenna stolen from battalion stores. For some reason I can’t remember exactly what it looked like, but it was about eighteen inches long and polished bright. A fashion piece, as it were, which brings me to walking canes.
On my morning walk I was pondering the background pain in my right hip, when I remembered an elderly gentleman I used to jog by on Harrison Street who walked using a cane. He was truckin’ right along. Maybe at some point I could use a cane to prolong my walking days. Some research was called for.
When I got home I politely asked Mr. Google what he knew about walking canes. The answer was “a lot.” Canes apparently evolved from ceremonial staffs, carried as a symbol of office and status of chief. Western European males in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries “wore” decorative canes as fashion accessories, the distant cousin of my swagger stick. They are also used in many cultures as orthopedic aids, and I learned all about how to use them to favor an aching hip, rules for going up and down stairs, and all sorts of useful stuff.
One of these days I may find myself strolling down the boulevard, twirling my cane. Then I will pick myself up and use it as an orthopedic aid. Sigh!
Dave, hoping to keep on truckin’ for a long time yet.
Philippians 3:1-11
October 7, 2006
3:1Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is not a bother for me, and it is a safeguard for you.
3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 3:4 –though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things–indeed, I regard them as dung!–that I might gain Christ, 3:9 and be found in him, not because of having my own righteousness derived from the law, but because of having the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness–a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. 3:10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
It’s as if Paul suddenly realized that he had written this before, and he wanted his readers to know that his only concern was to protect them from the false teachers in their midst.
The false teaching in mind was from the “Judaizers” who were insisting that Gentile Christians must be circumcized to be allowed into the inner circle with the Jewish Christians. This could easily lead, if it hadn’t already, to a system of first class and second class Christians.
Paul’s answer is straightforward and compelling, for he himself is a circumcised Jew. He now regards his Jewish assets as liabilities that can only keep him from serving the risen Lord. His only goal now is “to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death.” Sterling Jewish credentials don’t figure at all in reaching his goal. His example in such selflessness is the risen Christ. -sdg-
Echo of Genesis - WSJ.com
October 4, 2006
I’m not sure if a subscription to the WSJ is needed to read this, but I hope you can, especially if you enjoy speculating about the cosmos and reading silly limericks.
Yesterday, John Mather and George Smoot won the Nobel Prize in Physics for providing “increased support for the Big Bang scenario for the origin of the universe.” Of course, they richly deserved the prize. But so did George Gamow and his students, who made their stunning prediction back in 1948 but never got the Nobel.
Gamow was one of the principle architects of the Big Bang theory, the seminal idea that the entire universe began in an unimaginably hot explosion, which blasted the stars and galaxies in all directions in an expanding universe.
Oh, yes - the limerick:
So why did the Nobel Prize committee ignore Gamow? Some have argued that no one could take him seriously because he was an amateur cartoonist who wrote children’s books (e.g., the classic “Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland” series, which were the first to inspire generations of schoolchildren, myself included, to the wonders of quantum physics and relativity). Others have said it was because he was too colorful a figure, notorious for his practical jokes. He once added physicist Hans Bethe’s name, without his permission, to a paper written by him and his student Alpher, so it could be called the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper. He was also famous for his silly limericks. He once wrote: “There was a young fellow from Trinity / Who took the square root of infinity / But the number of digits / Gave him the figits; / He dropped Math and took up Divinity.
Dave, wishing he could have studied quantum physics under Gamow.
