Category Archives: General

Family, General

Happy new year!

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Now that’s original, isn’t it?

Well, December brought an end to a whirlwind of projects at work. All were successfully finished up, and then came some welcome time off. Convalescence. Ahhh, wonderful.

We had a really nice Christmas enjoying family, friends and church. The rest brought recovery from illness; everyone but Kenny and I had come down with something in the days leading up to Christmas. We made many modest gains on projects around the house; cleaning, improving, and organizing.

We saw a few movies: *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* with the older kids, and today a BBC version of *The Silver Chair* (production quality was a bit of a let down for the kids after the aforementioned… we’re so spoiled). Helen and I saw *A Lady in the Water,* which was pretty good, but the idea that the penultimate authority rested in beings of pure evil took away something for us. We all saw *Elf*, which was pretty good, enjoyable, formulaic tripe. The snowball fight scene was fun. We also rented but have not yet watched *The Gospel of John* which was done a couple of years ago, starring the guy who plays Desmond on *Lost*.

Seems like a lot when I type it out, but it was spread out over a few days. We actually didn’t watch much TV. Well, we did watch *The Incredibles* about 47 times, too.

I’m almost done with Doris Kearns Goodwin’s *A Team of Rivals* (the book about Lincoln I’ve mentioned before). It’s fantastic. It’s wrecking my life because I can’t put it down. Lincoln was a stunning man.

Looking forward… well, I’ll resume my Greek classes; I teach the first month of our church’s adult Bible study, a 52-week class on fundamental theology; some organization; some financial improvements; I don’t know what else…

And I did, on Christmas Eve night, [light a “Strike-Anywhere” match with just my thumbnail.](http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/12/18/i-wont-rest/)

Anything special happening in 2007 for you? Any resolutions?

Faith, General

A Thanksgiving thought from Johnny Dollar

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More [proof](http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Yours_Truly_Johnny_Dollar_56_00_00_Thanksgivingmessag.mp3) I was born in the wrong era; a nice message from my favorite old time radio drama. [Click here to listen.](http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Yours_Truly_Johnny_Dollar_56_00_00_Thanksgivingmessag.mp3)

In case I don’t get to posting this week, have a happy Thanksgiving. :)

> Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
(II Cor. 9:15)

Family, General, Politics

Gasp.

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Sorry to leave my severe finger wagging at the East Side Review on top for so long. I’ve been buried. Sometimes work is work, and so work has been. And we had a head cold take a few of us down. And diagramming Greek is just *not* taking hold in my head. And I’m teaching this month. And… and… and…

So get out and vote. Republican. Or stay home. :)

By the way, [Obi Sium](http://www.siumforcongress.com/), who is running for Minnesota’s 4th, has finally appeared in the media. He’s running radio ads that **rock**. You gotta vote for him.

General

Another big multinational seeks a tax haven

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Dave Downing comments on it [here](http://www.downingworld.com/DW10-06.html#A101706).

U2! I don’t blame them. I would, too, if I had anything worth moving to a tax haven. After all…

> The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted.
> U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sutherland, 1965

I think Bono is a sincere man with a passion to make things better. Look at [PRODUCT(RED)](http://www.joinred.com/home.asp). A very cool idea. But it’s a different take on things; using the capitalist system as opposed to forcing donations through a government-based system. I hope it works well. Get your [(RED) iPod here](http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/red/). :)

I like capitalism because it accounts for Man’s nature. We like to have things for ourselves. It’s not that “greed is good” (per the movie *Wall Street*) but that self-interest is reliable. U2 isn’t being greedy by seeking a tax haven. They are just acting in their own best interest.

General, Politics

My attempted followup with KSTP-TV reporter Jo Ann Bemoras

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[1]: http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/07/26/it-seems-the-maplewood-city-council-attention-has-waned/
[2]: http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/08/22/maplewood-politics-the-press-and-the-tube/

Back about the time when the [KSTP-TV story which concerning the Maplewood City Council](http://www.kstptv5.com/article/stories/S17813.html?cat=1) aired, I became [more][1] and [more][2] curious about the way TV news is done. I sent the following note to the reporter of that story (after having exchanged emails once before on the topic).

It went unanswered. But given that the [Minnesota News Council has upheld a complaint against that very report](http://newscouncil.news-council.org/index.php?p=28), I thought I would post that email here, as I still have some of the same wonderings. *I* thought it was a nice letter. Follow the link to read it.

Continue reading My attempted followup with KSTP-TV reporter Jo Ann Bemoras →

General, Politics

Technology, Politics, and the ‘Ethic of Discovery’

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[1]: http://www.garagelogic.com/lexicon.htm
[2]: http://www.garagelogic.com/mayorsoffice.htm
[3]: http://www.markkennedy06.com/

There’s a local radio personality named [Joe Soucheray, who acts as the “mayor” of a mythical town called Garage Logic][2]. Friday afternoon he had some discussion concerning the blogger who fed illicitly gained information to the Amy Klobuchar (DFL) campaign for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton.

He was bothered by the blogger’s intrusion into [Republican candidate Mark Kennedy’s][3] ad company’s website, but as he discussed the issue I felt like he was misunderstanding some of how the web works. I emailed him something like the following. I thought I’d throw it up here, too. For kicks.

One particularly annoying part was some local commentator noting something like the blogger wasn’t so much “wrong” as simply having a modern “Ethic of Discovery”. So I started with that. Click the link to read on, or just move along. :)

Continue reading Technology, Politics, and the ‘Ethic of Discovery’ →

Family, General, Greek Class, I Crack Me Up

They’re gone.

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All of them. They piled into the minivan for their various Wednesday night church activities. I offered my benedictions and walked into the house, letting out a cheer that made Helen and Kenny and Bunny the bunny all jump.

The whole house to myself.

The plan is to finish my Greek study. That’s always been the habit on Wednesday nights, though it was usually at a coffee shop after I’d dropped off the kids. But now *they* all left and *I* got to stay.

So the coffee’s brewing. How can I study Greek if I don’t have my coffee? (Didn’t the schoolmaster say that in *The Wall*?)

General

Life is returning to normal

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I’m almost caught up on sleep. I still haven’t completely unpacked from Phoenix, but I’m close. My Greek work is progressing well. Work is an enjoyable challenge. Teaching Sunday School has gone well. The kids have retained most of their appendages.

But, the nicest thing this week was being reminded that thirteen years ago this week I got to get married to my Lovely Bride. Thirteen years. And she still hasn’t caught on that she’s too good for me.

Some new comments up. There’s an especially long thread on [The Lord’s Supper – Part 1](http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/03/15/71/). I have some stuff I want to post on the [Re-Envisioning Baptist Identity manifesto](http://www.kpmartin.com/2006/06/23/re-envisioning-baptist-identity/), too.

And other stuff. Argh. Not enough time. TTFN.