I recently finished reading Gordon MacDonald’s new book Who Stole My Church? I can say without reservation that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was somewhat forlorn when I finished it. Every now and then I run across a book like that – one that I wish I could keep right on reading.

MacDonald’s book is highly relevant to what is happening in many churches throughout America these days. Reading Who Stole My Church gave me a deep appreciation of the task before our churches in general and pastors on the front line of change in particular. It can be a daunting process to steer a church through these turbulent times of transition. Most churches of over 100 members are likely to have several factions, each with its own agenda and own set of expectations. Meeting the needs of all these divergent people is, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an impossible proposition.

MacDonald has written the book in a highly readable format, one that lends itself very well to the topic. Rather than writing a standard didactic non-fiction work, the author has arranged the book in a fictional setting in which the pastor of a church is facing significant friction from a cadre of older, active members who are resistant to the changes being brought about by younger congregants with a different focus. In order to gently educate these resistant members to what is going on and why, the pastor forms a “Discovery Group” which meets on Tuesday nights to dig deeply into the matter. The group also serves as a venue where these committed church members can vent their ongoing frustrations about changes in the church. The fact that MacDonald puts the book together this way makes an otherwise difficult subject highly readable and even entertaining.

The book is subtitled, “What to do When the Church You Love Tries To Enter the 21^st Century.” MacDonald well understands that the future of the church lies with the younger generation, not with the older folks, no matter how loyal and committed they might be. This view is not to downplay or trivialize the needs of the older members in a church, but instead, to break through the church’s denial system and help us all see that unless the needs of the younger people come to the forefront, the church will go the way of the dinosaur. MacDonald states:

Any church that has not turned its face toward the younger generation will simply cease to exist. We’re not talking decades – we’re talking just a few years.

The author drives this point home throughout the book, usually through the voice of the pastor during the Tuesday night meetings, but also at coffee shops, the mall, and in other settings, including conversations with his wife. MacDonald also gives voice to those in resistance to these changes and does so in a way that shows he has deep insights into the nature and legitimacy of their concerns. In one chapter of the book, one of the male members of the Discovery Group is angered because he misperceives a point the pastor was making about evangelism and missions, two subjects this particular congregant is passionate about. The two meet for breakfast and, after giving this man an opportunity to express his feelings about evangelism and missions, MacDonald, through the pastor, states that times and methods are changing. Relationships and actions are more important than programs and words:

The difference is this. We’re in a new era where people want less of your carefully scripted evangelism sales presentation and more personal demonstration of your genuineness, your authenticity. They want to see evidence that what you believe had legs – that it does something.

MacDonald goes on to stress the vital importance of developing deeper relationships with people in our post-Christian culture in order to reach them. Stressing that more is now needed than the “Four Spiritual Steps,” the author states that we have to go deeper with people and allow them to see us for who we are and let our actions, not our words, demonstrate what faith in Jesus really means.

If you are concerned about the direction your church is taking, or if you want to gain insight into the dynamics of institutional change in a religious setting, then I would strongly suggest you read MacDonald’s book. I believe the author makes a solid contribution to helping both sides of the generational divide in today’s church gain understanding into what makes the other side tick. In the end, the book helps foster insight rather than animosity – compassion rather than conflict.

© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved

Hey everyone!

• I roller bladed at the Peninsula for 6 miles with Angie yesterday! It was really fun. I almost fell over at the end but managed to make it :)
• I'm really not sure who will be the final two for American Idol... it's a tough choice. I disagreed that David Cook took the night last night though, I thought last night was not his strongest at all.
• I made banana chocolate chip bread. It was well received upon asking. Never mind, lol.
• Today I need to do some promotion for an organization I am involved with and an event coming up. Click here and go to "Celebrity Dress Up Event" to read all about it. Thanks for your support, let me know if you are interested in buying tickets as I have some that I am responsible for selling :-)

Jika Anda tidak bisa mengatakan tidak tanpa merasa bersalah karena telah merampas sesuatu dari anak Anda, berarti Anda bermasalah karena mengalah pada tuntutan tuntutan seorang anak hanya akan membuat mereka lebih sulit diatur.

Dilain pihak, mungkin Anda adalah tipe orang tua ekstrem yang lain yang membebankan batasan batasan yang berlebihan atas segala hal, dimana ini juga berdampak negatif terhadap keluarga Anda.

Sumber : Bagaimana Cara Membuat Anak Remaja Anda Terhindar dari Masalah dan Apa yang Harus Anda Lakukan Saat Usaha itu Gagal, Dr. Neil I. Bernstein, 2006

Ingin Cepat Berubah ? KLIK Disini >> sKlinik SERVOs !

Our walk through the Peace Park began with the A-Bomb Dome, one of the only buildings that survived the atomic blast on August 6, 1945. The building is a crumbling wreck of concrete and twisted iron beams. Rubble coats the floor, and the bricks that remain standing are scarred from millions of glass shards. The frame of the dome at the top of the building is somehow still intact.

Before (right) and after (left)

As the walk through the Peace Park continued, we came upon the monument to Sadako. As the story goes, Sadako was a baby who survived the bombing of Hiroshima with her family. Nine years after the bombing, school-aged Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia due to the radiation fallout since the explosion.

The monument to Sadako

There is a Japanese legend that tells how making a thousand paper cranes causes miracles to occur. Sick and stuck in the hospital, Sadako began making origami cranes with the hope of recovering from her sickness.

Sadako holding her last paper crane

Sadako died on October 25, 1955. Her classmates folded the remaining 356 cranes to be buried in her grave. They published her letters in a book that became well known around the world. To this day, children still send folded paper cranes to her monument in hopes that one day the world will be rid of atomic bombs.

Over one billion paper cranes adorn Sadako’s monument

Just a little ways past Sadako’s monument is the Peace Flame, a fire that will burn until no atomic bombs remain on the earth.

Kasey somberly stands while the Peace Flame burns under the arch

Walking toward the museum, a group of Japanese school children agreed to take a group photo with us. It was uplifting to see that their society harbors no ill will toward Americans despite the events that occurred so many years ago.

Ashes bloom in the wake of destruction

Inside the museum, a haunting chronology depicts the events that led to the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

8:15am on August 6, 1945 – one minute before the explosion

I hadn’t ever seen images of Little Boy’s destruction before visiting the museum. Ninety percent of Hiroshima was leveled and 70,000 of people died within seconds.

Only a few buildings withstood the blast

The effects of the atomic bomb are still visible today through the hibakusha: people who became ill, suffered handicaps, or died because of radiation poisoning.

Walking through the museum as an American – and as a minority in this land – was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

 
Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani has Cojones.  The entire July issue will feature black models exclusively and 17 year old Brit, Jourdan Dunn will grace the cover. 

When Franca Sozzani was asked if she feared a backlash in Italy she bluntly said: "Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don't care. I think it is not my problem if they don't like it—it's their problem." 

Upon hearing about this in April, I dismissed it as a rumor and I am pleased to hear that it will come to pass.  I wonder how such a bold move would work here in the United States.  Do you think Americans would be receptive to an all-black issue of American Vogue?

Read more...

"Louis Malle, der Mitglied der Jury ist, aber in seiner freien Zeit kein Auge vom Fernseher lässt und sich fragt: 'Was tu' ich hier? Ich muss nach Paris zurück!', ist gespannt auf das, was seine Kollegen zu berichten haben: 'Auf einem Treffen erklärten sie, dass sie das neu gegründete Comité Révolutionnaire du Cinéma oder so ähnlich repräsentieren', erzählt er später. 'Sie sagten, dass das Festival sofort beendet werden muss. Ich hielt das für eine ausgezeichnete Idee. Das ganze Land befand sich im Streik; es schien uns absurd, dass die Leute im Frack sich Filme angucken sollten, als wäre sonst nichts los, als befänden wir uns in Liechtenstein oder Monte Carlo."

Zum Artikel.

Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) lobt den Erfindungsgeist des Festivals von Cannes:

"Natürlich ist Cannes weiterhin eine kommerzielle Veranstaltung, aber eben nicht nur. Wie sonst ließen sich die spröden Wettbewerbsbeiträge etwa der Dardenne-Brüder aus Belgien erklären, die in diesem Jahr schon zum wiederholten Mal an der Croisette zu Gast sind..., oder von Atom Egoyan, der 'Adoration' zeigt? Wie käme ein animierter Dokumentarfilm über den Libanesischen Bürgerkrieg ('Waltz with Bashir' von Ari Folman) ins Wettbewerbsprogramm, der neue Wim-Wenders-Film oder ein Viereinhalbstundenwerk über Che, auch wenn der Regisseur Steven Soderbergh heißt? Und wie 'La frontière de l'aube' von Philippe Garrel, einem der Wortführer der Neuen Welle im französischen Kino, die Cannes damals überrollte?"

Zum Artikel.

In grade school I wondered what am I ever going to do in the real world?

Isosceles triangles tormented me. I looked around and decided that math was for thin kids.

I knew that the little pink biology pig I was carving up was never EVER going to be splayed open again in my presence, so ideas of medical school went into the special trash container with porcine remains.

As a field hockey player, my coach would put me in the game for short periods only if she wanted to keep the EMT alert on the sidelines.

But, at least, I managed to get through my school years without a A.C.L. rupture.

The NY Times last week had an article titled, "The Uneven Playing Field" and apparently young girls playing youth sports today are not so lucky.

And, actually, luck really has nothing to do with it. The article points out that girls physically have more vulnerabilities to certain injuries because of their muscle/fat physiogy regardless of how talented they are in a particular sport.  

Also, the article points out that the specialization of sports (choosing one that you do best) has produced youthful teammates all over the nation who are playing all the time, traveling out of state, through all seasons, and playing as if their whole identity was on the line.  Ways of playing that made me think of professional sport players like Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics (see earlier entry Sports Opera Radio).

The rub, here, is that the girls' rate of injury is off the charts.  

"If girls and young women ruptured their A.C.L.’s at just twice the rate of boys and young men, it would be notable. Three times the rate would be astounding. But some researchers believe that in sports that both sexes play, and with similar rules — soccer, basketball, volleyball — female athletes rupture their A.C.L.’s at rates as high as five times that of males." (NYTimes)

I know girls who love this game.  One of them is my grand niece. (pictured above)  When she talks to me in her kitchen about a movie, or American Idol, or anything else really, she is also doing footwork with a soccer ball at the same time.   She has talent. She loves the game.  She loves her teammates.

I sometimes go to her games and cheer her on.  (YOUTUBE)

When I played field hockey, no one came to the games other than school personnel.  They were played in the afternoon of school days.  Working parents simply could not come.  

In my case, it was a relief.

I had shots on goal, alright.  Just not the right goal.  Directionality was an issue.

I think it was that muscle/fat issue-thingy.

Years later, it appears to be an issue for the very talented ones as well.

©Pat Coakley 2008

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

What gets really odd is that this guy isn't FROM the old country.  In fact, he was born in the UK and raised in Canada.  He's probably been to the "old country" less than ten times in his life, yet it seems that he feels connected to the "old country" much more than any other 1.5 or second generation Canadian I know.   Even his wife is from the "old country," an arranged marriage.  I know other people who have had arranged marriages, but they all married people who were either born or raised here. Did his parents brainwash him?  If so, it's seriously a WHAT NOT TO DO situation.  It's parents like his that slow down the acceptance process.

*NOTE: I was mostly raised by my grandmother, but my family still hired a "sitter" to stay with me between 4 and 5:30 while my grandmother cooked dinner.*

With neither political party eager to take on the hot issue of immigration changes in an election year, reports continue to highlight problems associated with our existing system, particularly the treatment of some 30,000 people detained for violating immigration rules.

Many of these people, who do not have the protections accorded U.S. citizens accused of a crime, find themselves in facilities operated by private companies. "Detention contracts have helped turn once-ailing private prison companies into a multibillion-dollar growth industry with record revenues, healthy stock prices and ambitious expansion plans," the San Diego Times-Union reported.

Relying on such facilities saves the government money, but critics assail overcrowding and other poor conditions. After filing a Freedom of Information Act request, the New York Times learned that, according to the federal government, 66 people died in immigration custody from January 2004 to November 2007. The paper's Nina Bernstein reported on allegations of appallingly bad medical care that may have contributed to the deaths and on the difficulties families have had learning their relatives were sick or dead. The article spotlighted the death of Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who had lived and worked in New York City, making elaborate and expensive gowns, before he was sent to a privately run New Jersey detention facility.

Apparently in response to the article, a U.S. representative from California has introduced a bill that would set mandatory standards of health care for detained immigrants and require that all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.

The shortage of food in parts of the world has prompted some immigrants from New York -- particularly those from Mali and Senegal -- to send boxes of rice, sugar and tomato paste to families back home, the Sun reported. While there's not a shortage here, food-- along with energy and other goods -- has become more expensive in New York, posing a hardship for some immigrants. This month we look at the economic situation, along with the paucity of Hispanics in key positions, discrimination against Sikhs, an improvement in healthcare and other stories from the Spanish, Korean, Indian, Russian and Polish Press via our partner, Voices That Must Be Heard.

Gotham Gazette - The Citizen.

I mean, my absolute favorite part is the the fact that I have NEVER EVER seen, watched or indulged in any episode of this show...ever...never.

Look, I went to the same high school as Sarah Jessica Parker, but I didn't find this show all that interesting...

GASP?! SIGH?!

All I know is that Manolo Blahnik is happy along with every other fashion endorsement. I am not stupid, you know.

All of that clever girl banter never REALLY happens.

So, this a leads up to the World Premier of the 'Sex In The City :The Movie' in London.

And the cast showed up in high style...or did they?

Carrie Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Bradshaw

Sarah Jessica Parker showed up in her "Global Warming Sucks- Go Green" hat by Phillip Treacy and matching lettuce leaf green dress by Alexander Mcqueen, while the rest of the cast showed up in pretty normal attire.

Sarah Jessica Parker has made my Worst Hair and Sloppy Celebrity posts before.  See them here!

Hey, is anyone wearing Manolo Blahnik shoes?

If this Sarah Jessica hat is better than the movie, there are going to be more pissed off people than there were when the Sopranos went black off-the-air.

So, for all of you 'Sex" fans out there, I hope you enjoy the upcoming move. Hey, send me an email and let me know.

shesoghetto@gmail.com

The only power Cameron has is to mince about aimlessly when others pull his strings.

I found this on Youtube: It's cute and to the point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fCzI5TDeXw

And for a picture of Boris Johnson and David Cameron at their rich boy toff club.

Click Here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1542634/Cameron-as-leader-of-the-Slightly-Silly-Party.html

They both make it onto my kickintheface list.

I have learned that the term white is given to Americans of European descents that are assimilated to the “American way of life”. I have friends born in Latin America of European parents and that are not considered White, I don’t really understand why.

For some people being white means to be embarrassed or feel guilt for what your ancestors or the ancestors of other whites did. I think that is not fair. I understand that white people in the US have advantages that others don't, but they have no control over what their ancestors did 50 and 100 years ago.

I also don't agree with those that promote and practice racism of any kind. I believe that there is an inherent prejudice in people raised in the US, just by the fact of growing in such a racialized society, but it is something that people can become aware, acknowledge and overcome.

I have asked around and have concluded that acting white means that you are acting outside the racial stereotype assigned to you.

But what does it really mean to be white? And how about White privilege?

I read an essay by Peggy McIntosh, where she analyses what it means to be white, here is an excerpt. 

I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.

 

This portion brings it home to me, I hope it does to you as well. 

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

You can find the rest of her essay here

Le célèbre plasticien Claude Levêque toujours en quête d’émotions fortes s’installe chez Louis Vuitton où il espère que le visiteur retrouvera son âme d’enfant hanté par la lumière et le noir, le rêve et l’angoisse. A 28 ans, Laurent Pernot présente dans la vitrine de Christian Dior « Le Quid », un film d’animation où son personnage, à la fois Petit Prince et Peter Pan, finalement pas très rassurant…,  fait errer l’imagination entre le vivant et le mort…. Plus coloré et ludique, ouf, et merveilleusement baroque,  l’univers de Marina de Caro joue des matières et des couleurs chez Kenzo pour inventer un nouveau lieu unique et terriblement sensible, tandis que Marlène Mocquet présente ses dessins à la naïveté enfantine, si raffinée, si flous, à la limite du spectrale et du rêve dans la boutique Christian Lacroix. Le café de Flore se retrouve envahit par les photographies de Nicole Tran Ba Vang, toujours inspirée par le corps et son environnement, créant pour ce lieu magique un dispositif de miroir où le visiteur et même les habitués du lieu pourraient bien se perdre ! C’est chez Arthus-Bertrand que les réflexions sur la nature et la culture de Karen Knorr se révèlent avec sa mystérieuse série de photographies où l’artiste donne aux animaux des attitudes humaines. Ils sont une trentaine dans une trentaine de lieux !  Attention, « Il était une fois »… rêve ou réalité ?

« Il était une fois… » 6^ème édition du parcours Saint Germain. Voir www.parcoursaintgermain.com. Du 29 mai au 19 juin.

Now, we all know the trick about "I didn't really try, so it's no big deal that I didn't do so well..." My students say this all the time when they write bad papers or do poorly on tests. My question to him, why didn't you try? Do you not think West Virginia voters are important, or are you getting complacent? Are you afraid of confrontation? Afraid of appearing weak? Is this the going to be the tortoise and the hare, Senator Obama?

So back to my original mission:

 State: Colin Powell. OK, he really messed up by joining the GWB administration, but he saw his mistake and got out. He still has dignity, though, and this would be a bi-partisan appointment without taking in an ideologue.

Treasury: Still thinking...make suggestions

Attorney General: Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal. This guy is amazing! Saving either Walter Dellinger or Larry Tribe for the US Supreme Court.

Defense: Still thinking...make suggestions.

Interior: Chief Wilma Mankiller. This is not a joke. It's about time a well-respected Native American chief took the helm of this department which has a self-reported "culture of fear" that needs undoing. Its corruption is notorious, especially in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I don't know whether the chief would take it, but it would be great to have her there.

Housing and Urban Development: John Edwards has led the way with his anti-poverty platform and could do a lot of good in this position. If she does create a cabinet post on poverty, then obviously Edwards would get that spot, and it would be a good call.

Transportation: Jackie Speier is one of those people who has extraordinary life experiences. Surviving gunshot wounds in a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Speier has worked her way up in bi-partisan positions and earned a lot respect. She has experience in California with Caltrain.

Energy: Carol Browner, served the EPA under Bill Clinton for 2 terms and is well respected. She deserves this upgrade.

Education: Congressman Ciro Rodriguez has experience in education and mental health. He'd be a great pick for this post or health and human services, but I put him in education, where I think he'd really shine.

Veterans Affairs: Charles Rangel, a decorated veteran and congressman from Harlem. He has a controversial position about bringing back the draft, but it's basically an anti-war and equality measure. He certainly cares about veterans issues.

Homeland Security: General Wesley Clark here. Sound policies. Of course, it wouldn't upset me too much if we simply did away with this rather Fascist-sounding department altogether, in which case, Clark could be national security advisor.

 Unlike Obama, who seems to think he could get former presidents and vice presidents to serve under him, Clinton would show more respect. I think she'd take Gore's advice on whom to appoint to energy and the EPA, which would be prudent. But she wouldn't try to get him to take a post.

One another post I will deal with Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and Health and Human Services.

Gordon MacDonald

(from Who Stole My Church?)

Pour lui, ces films sont même d’utilité publique, puisqu’ils permettent se sensibiliser l’opinion publique (expression copyrightée par la caste bobo) aux difficultés vécues par les habitants des banlieues.

Le bobo a ainsi frissonné devant La Haine de Kassovitz, a frétillé devant Ma 6-7 va crack-er, de Jean-Francois Richet, et se retrouve tout excité devant la vidéo hype du moment, ce fameux clip de Justice signé Romain Gavras, qu’ils se passent en boucle au bureau, leur casque Momo Design au pied, et la clé du vespa dans la poche.

A chaque sortie d’un film semblable, le bobo s’empresse de se rendre au cinéma indépendant du coin (là où on passe des films d’auteur français, et pas d’affreux blockbusters américains), et communique son enthousiasme et son émotion à tout son cercle social. Des fois, quand le bobo est de mauvaise humeur car Eglantine, la cousine que tout le monde aime bien, a raté HEC de justesse et n’a eu que l’ESSEC et l’ESCP, le bobo se risquera à une remarque méprisante envers un collègue pendant un débat sur les banlieues, et lui jettera à la figure « tu n’y connais rien de toute façon. ». Le bobo enchaînera alors sur une série d’arguments tirés des films qu’il a vus, en étant absolument persuadé qu’il s’agit de la réalité de la vie de l’ensemble des personnes vivant en banlieue.

Même si cela fait partie des sujets à éviter, gardez votre calme si vous vous retrouver dans un débat sur les banlieues avec un bobo. Comme d’habitude, retenez vous de dire une vérité qui pourrait le traumatiser, comme le fait qu’il ne regarde ce genre de film que pour ressentir une émotion impossible à capter dans sa vie aseptisée, et que vivre la misère par procuration diminue artificiellement et temporairement son sentiment de culpabilité d’avoir une vie si privilégiée. Retenez vous aussi d’étaler votre mépris pour ces Kassovitz, Richet, et autres Romain Gavras (fils de Costa Gavras, pour le clip de Justice, groupe composé de Gaspard Augé et Xavier de Rosnay, de vrais experts de la banlieue), ces enfants de bourgeois en mal de sensations fortes qui n’ont décidément pas trouvé mieux que d’utiliser la misère des gens pour satisfaire les fantasmes des bourgeois et leur portefeuille.

Et si le débat venait à se politiser, retenez-vous à tout prix de dire que ces films et autres clips sont le plus gros service rendu au pouvoir en place, en alimentant le mythe du sauvage qui menace d’entrer dans les villes, les pires mesures répressives deviennent acceptables, voire nécessaires.

Empêchez vous de dire tout cela, et parlez à la place du formidable travelling utilisé dans la scène du massacre d’innocent, de la pureté des couleurs dans la scène du viol collectif, ou de l’exotisme de la décoration de la chambre dans la scène du découpage du haschisch.

World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder and the chairman of the WJC American Section, Rabbi Marc Schneier, are among the statesmen, intellectuals, businessmen and international Jewish leaders who will take part in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence on 14 May 1948.

Israel's president Shimon Peres is hosting a conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center on the subject Facing Tomorrow, which Ronald S. Lauder and Rabbi Marc Schneier, as well as US president George W. Bush and many other world leaders, will address.

WJC president Ronald S. Lauder will join a debate on Israel-Diaspora relations while Rabbi Marc Schneier was invited as president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding to take part in a panel discussion on the Clash of Civilizations or Clashes Within Civilizations. Ronald S. Lauder is a member of the official US delegation to Israel's anniversary celebrations.

At the opening of the Facing Tomorrow conference, Shimon Peres told participants and guests that Iran belonged in the past while Israel represented the future. He also emphasized the importance of discovery and science, for which Israel claims a significant role in its sixty years of existence. "This conference is the answer to Iran, it is the future that exists," Shimon Peres said in his address. The president also asserted that scientific discovery was more important than the discovery of America, because the new world had borders while science is infinite.

The website of the conference, including video coverage, can be found here.

His drum programming blew the cobwebs out of my ears and set an impossibly high standard for any electronic music that I was to hear afterwards.

I'd be at parties, and people would play really breaky pieces, to which I would always reply: " tis good, but the drums aren't as good as Aaron Spectre"

We all agreed.

The piece that I wrote for the magazine was cut by the editor, it was supposed to be a 2 page spread.

My editor was obviously thick, simply because he would have been able to scoop magazines like Knowledge and Vice, three years before they caught wind of the underground sounds of Spectre.

Aaron's style continues to evolve and despite being a hardcore legend, he is a creative genius with a nice personality to boot.

To check out his music - http://www.aaronspectre.com

His blog is really worth a read because it touches on the problems and joy's of being an independent.

He is extremely hard working and is amazing live, he plays all over all the time, so check out his tour dates.

And if you dont believe me ask that wench Mary Ann Hobbs.

Il a 53 ans et est célèbre dans le monde entier. Le plasticien allemand Andreas Gursky, connu pour ses images sur la société de consommation dévoile pour la première fois à Chaumont-sur-Loire une série sur le paysage. Une série magique. Magnifique. Sublime. Où le visiteur pénètre littéralement dans ces immenses photographies de plus de 5 mètres. Mais attention, dans cette nature vierge, quelque part, tout petit, minuscule, dans l'infini, l’homme reste présent.

 « Andreas Gursky », Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 41150 Chaumont-sur-Loire. Tél. 02 54 20 99 22. Jusqu’au 31 août. www.domaine-chaumont.fr

Confidence - hope, assurance, boldness, trust, a reliance upon

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Proverbs 8:13

In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. Proverbs 14:26

When we put confidence in ourselves, we become arrogant.  We give ourselves an undue degree of importance.  We must not believe for a moment that we have anything in ourselves to be proud of, lest we'll fall into the trap of arrogance and self-sufficiency.  We must keep our confidence in the fear of the Lord.  While we are confident in the Lord and His promises, we will always have a place of refuge.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:13-16

Il a 53 ans et est célèbre dans le monde entier. Le plasticien allemand Andreas Gursky, connu pour ses images sur la société de consommation dévoile pour la première fois à Chaumont-sur-Loire une série sur le paysage. Une série magique. Magnifique. Sublime. Où le visiteur pénètre littéralement dans ces immenses photographies de plus de 5 mètres. Mais attention, dans cette nature vierge, quelque part, tout petit, minuscule, dans l'infini, l’homme reste présent.

 « Andreas Gursky », Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 41150 Chaumont-sur-Loire. Tél. 02 54 20 99 22. Jusqu’au 31 août. www.domaine-chaumont.fr