Archive for November 10th, 2008
An excerpt from The Audacity of Hope, where Obama tells of his first meeting with President George W. Bush.
“Obama!” he said, shaking my hand. “Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours – that’s one impressive lady.”
“We both got better than we deserve, Mr. President,” I said, shaking the First Lady’s hand and hoping that I’d wiped any crumbs off my face.
The president turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president’s hand.
“Want some?” the president asked. “Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds.” Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt.
“Come over here for a second,” he said, leading me off to one side of the room.
“You know,” he said quietly, “I hope you don’t mind me giving you a piece of advice.”
“Not at all, Mr. President.” He nodded. “You’ve got a bright future,” he said. “Very bright. But I’ve been in this town a while and, let me tell you, it can be tough. When you get a lot of attention like you’ve been getting, people start gunnin’ for ya. And it won’t necessarily just be coming from my side, you understand. From yours, too. Everybody’ll be waiting for you to slip. Know what I mean? So watch yourself.”
“Thanks for the advice, Mr. President.”
“All right. I gotta get going. You know, me and you got something in common.”
“What’s that?” “We both had to debate Alan Keyes. That guy’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”
I laughed, and as we walked to the door I told him a few stories from the campaign.
PoliticalWire.com
November 10th, 2008
The Secret Service traditionally has given pithy, private names to those whose lives they protect. The monikers are a throwback to a time when electronic communications were not encrypted, and they no longer serve a security function. Still, they give an occasional peek at the players’ personalities, in addition to serving as great trivia questions.
President-elect Barack Obama: Renegade
Michelle Obama: Renaissance
Malia Obama: Radiance
Sasha Obama: Rosebud
And then this article provides additional code names:
Vice President-elect Joe Biden: Celtic
Jill Biden: Capri
President George W. Bush: Tumbler
First Lady Laura Bush: Tempo
Bill Clinton: Eagle
Hillary Clinton: Evergreen
Chelsea Clinton: Energy
George Bush: Timberwolf
Barbara Bush: Tranquility
Jimmy Carter: Deacon
Rosalynn Carter: Dancer
November 10th, 2008
A mom creates a new lunch bag each day for her kids.
Link
November 10th, 2008
Using simple colors to present the Gospel is the most effective way to share the greatest story ever told, without using words! GospelShoe has integrated basic colors – black, red, white, green and gold – into two popular shoe designs, making it easy to share your faith, whether you wear them yourself or give them away to people in need.
GospelShoe.org
November 10th, 2008
A freaky bicycle accident that involves an impalement.
Link
November 10th, 2008
WASHINGTON (BP)–No Southern Baptist members of Congress lost their seats in voting Nov. 4.
Both senators and all 23 representatives who are members of Southern Baptist churches and were on the general-election ballot gained victories.
Six Southern Baptists who are in the current Congress will not return to office, however.
Full Article (with a complete list of Southern Baptists in Congress)
November 10th, 2008
A few examples:
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He can speak Spanish
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• His house in Chicago has four fire places
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
Telegraph.co.uk
November 10th, 2008
1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science
Link [Thanks, Nathan!]
November 10th, 2008
WACO, Texas – When Amy Jones received her law degree from Baylor University, her playful service dog Skeeter got the same honor.
As Jones got her juris doctor degree on Saturday, Skeeter received an honorary law degree.
“Amy has busted through brick walls, and Skeeter has been faithfully by her side every step of the way,” law school Dean Brad Toben said. “Skeeter has become a part of our community and part of our family here at the law school.”
Jones has used a wheelchair since a 2002 skiing accident left her a quadriplegic. Two years after the accident, she was paired with Skeeter, a black Labrador retriever.
Full Article
November 10th, 2008
Now that Barack Obama has officially won North Carolina and all of the electoral map is filled in (save Missouri, kind of), we were inclined to look at which of the pollsters and prognosticators called the election right.
First, we can look at Nate Silver, a new prognosticator to the political scene. The baseball statistician turned Electoral College map savant really was the belle of the election ball, living up to his website’s tag line: Electoral projections done right.
While Silver never did any of his own polling, he analyzed all the pollsters’ findings and spit out every voting model possible. Ultimately, he said Obama would win by 52 percent to 46 percent. In the end, Obama won 52 percent to 46 percent in the popular vote.
Full Article
November 10th, 2008
For 31 years, hundreds of people who went to services at Lexington’s First United Methodist Church were drawn by the music program run by Albin C. Whitworth.
The performances often featured works by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Handel sung by a choir of more than 100 accompanied by Whitworth on a massive pipe organ.
Although the size of some mainstream Protestant congregations in Lexington has declined in recent years, the 1,800-member First United Methodist thrived and was especially popular for its all-music service every fifth Sunday.
Now members of the West High Street church say it is suffering from a painful division after the September firing of Whitworth, 70.
The numbers of those singing in the choir have dropped from more than 100 to about 30, members say. And Sunday attendance at the downtown church dropped by nearly 200 from mid-April to mid-October, according to church bulletins.
Full Article
November 10th, 2008
- Tis the season . . . It annoys WifeGeeding when the Christmas displays come out too early. So when she was gone this weekend I decided to put up the tree and decorate the rest of the house. You only tease the ones you love.
- I spent most of Saturday afternoon talking to Bible Scholar George, who is also a recovering Baptist. It’s was great being able to talk about theology at a very deep level for several hours. He’s also a Republican, so we also had to talk politics. Even though we differ in opinions, it’s great to talk about things civilly.
- When I worked at Fidelity (who just announced layoffs btw) I often had to have conference calls with India. It’s always interesting dealing with another country, because you have to inform each other of upcoming national holidays. I was reminded of this as I was on a conference call with the friendly Canadians of West Jet just the other day. We had to let them know about our Thanksgiving, which is on a different day than their Thanksgiving.
- It’s fun listening to Canadians talk, and I bet they enjoy listening to our southern drawl as well. They did seem a bit envious of our 70 degree weather.
- What happens to the McCain-Palin plane after the election. Link
- An interesting article on the future and past presidential limos. Link
- Everything you ever wanted to know about presidential transitions. Link
- BIlly Graham is no longer counseling presidents . . . but will pray for the new guy. Link This article also mentioned that he’s a registered Democrat.
- I saw a news story last night where an Arlington, TX man is so upset over the outcome of the election that he is flying a black flag with an upside-down American flag underneath it. Part of me wants to say get over it, and part of me is delighted he is exercising his first amendment right even though I disagree with the message. Yea democracy!
- There was also a story of FBC Dallas’ anti-gay sermon with protesters. Both sides probably tire of each other, but once again it’s great having free speech.
- I’m surprised by the amount of emails that are forwarded to me that are so over the top in believability. They range from a Billy Graham prayer to the bashing of Clinton. I don’t know why people feel so compelled to forward them to me, and I’m surprised they don’t take the time to see if the message has any validity. Often I’ll look up the subject matter on Snopes.com and reply back with the link that disputes the message.
- Speaking of Snopes, I had to look up if RFK was somewhat prophetic saying a black man could be president in the next 40 years. Link
- You’ve heard of wedding albums, how about a divorce album? Link
- How to remove a McCain bumper sticker, although I’m pretty sure it will work for all bumper stickers. Link
- Interesting new YouTube features. Link
- Sundays are weird when your football team doesn’t play.
- There aren’t as many Peyton Manning commercials as there use to be.
- Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers gotta hug.
- I wonder how many folks get that last movie quote.
- I did see a funny Big 10 football coaches commercial that made me laugh. It’s Joe Pa at the end that cracked me up. Video You just gotta love an old guy with spirit.
- Photogallery – Presidential children through the years. Link
- Pictures of presidents on their first and last day in office. Link This stuff always interests me. I can’t decide if they are at a particular stage in life where the aging process is more noticeable, or if its the stress of the job that causes the rapid aging. It’s probably a combination of the two.
- Do they still have World Fairs? I always hear certain cities of the past hosting them, but I don’t recall hearing of any in my lifetime. Are they as big as they use to be?
- My dad has been dead for over ten years now, but every now and then I will catch myself saying one of his old catch phrases. Recently I said something was as dry as a popcorn fart.
- The evolution of Al Pacino’s voice. Link
- Build your own hover shoes? YouTube
- An interesting interactive map comparing the 2004 and 2008 elections. Link
- Fire ants create their own lifeboat. YouTube I’m impressed.
- Peas are my favorite vegetable.
- I thought a Spirograph was a fun toy.
November 10th, 2008