Song of the Post: Lead Me On by Amy Grant

Waiting for the train
Labelled with a golden star
Heavy hearted boarding
Whispers in the dark
Where are we going–is it very far?

Bitter cold terrain
Echoes of a slamming door
In chambers made for sleeping, forever
Voices like thunder in a mighty roar
Cry to the Lord.

Torture is acceptable. I can’t believe it, but in talking with several people, the idea that America tortures isn’t shocking any more. They’ve lost any moral outrage–in fact, approve. The biggest complaint they had was that Obama should not have embarassed the country. Not “torture is immoral.” Just “He shouldn’t embarass us.”

Dick Cheney says it’s ok to torture, so it’s ok. It’s like some insane combination of the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram experiment .

There’s an image I can’t get out of my head. You see this guy being tortured at one of the extraordinary rendition sites. He’s your typical Middle Eastern man, and he’s face down on the floor, being kicked and punched and spit upon and taunted. He turns toward the camera, and it’s suddenly obvious the person they’re torturing is Jesus…

…and they know what they’re doing.

Song of the Post: Everything You Know Is Wrong by Weird Al Yankovic

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn’t matter

Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong

Yesterday, Fox News came up with yet more proof that Barak Obama is the most evil man in the world:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid writes in a memoir that President Obama told him he “has a gift” when it comes to public speaking, a comment that could be interpreted as bragging.

Shocking! I think that’s pretty conclusive, don’t you?

I would have ignored it, but Fox put it in the subhead of the article. If you read the rest of the article, you don’t see anything more in the article about it. There’s no analysis of the ethics of how to speak about your abilities. There’s no mention of either of the two highest-ranking Christian luminaries–Pope Benedict XVI and Pat Robertson–saying anything about this comment.

It’s just a dig at Obama designed to subconsciously affect your opinion of the man. Fox News is about manipulation.

On the other hand the Obama team did screw up with the flight over New York for a photo op. I think Letterman said it best last night when he noted “This is the sort of screw-up we’d expect from the Bush administration.”

Song of the Post:

• Barber’s Adagio for Strings

Go look on iTunes. Barber’s Adagio for Strings is on wedding music albums. I’m not kidding. It’s on wedding music albums!

For crying out loud, people! If you’re going to have Barber’s Adagio for Strings at your wedding, don’t get married. Break up now and be grateful you escaped with your life.

I was thinking about an exception for people who met at the movie Platoon or the symphony, but no. You still don’t do it.

Same thing goes if your mother-in-law plans on listening to  it on her iPod during the wedding. Maybe even moreso.

Songs of the Post:

• Barber’s Adagio for Strings (with helicopter sounds, if possible)
• Galop Infernal from Orpheus aux Enfers
  

(One after the other or concurrently–your choice. )

Many religious conservatives complain mightily against situation ethics and relativism. “If something’s wrong, it’s always wrong” they would say. “They’re the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions!” These are the same people who are explaining that we need to torture terrorists because they might have information that would be useful.

Morality is absolute–depending on the situation.

If it’s something you object to, the prohibition against it is absolute. If it’s something you really, really want to do, then morality is relative.

Song of the Post: Albuquerque by Weird Al Yankovic

And as luck wouls have it, that’s exactly when I ran into the girl of my dreams
Her name was Zelda
She was a caligraphy enthusiast with a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches
I’ll never forget the first thing she said to me.
She said “Hey, you’ve got weasels on your face”

Went to the doctor’s. I’m 27 lbs. less than the last time I went to see him. For anyone, that’s something, and for a diabetic, it’s major.

He was like “That’s nice.”

And they wonder why diabetics are so frackin’ non-compliant with their medical regimines. Sigh.

Song of the Post: Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls
(tip of the hat to Matt Crouch, who got it into my brain where it won’t get out….)

I don’t want the world to see me
Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I’m contemplating a rather large purchase from Kubota–the Lightroom Workflow is the one that interests me most, but there are others I’m tempted by. I did get a nice refund, but I might want to hang onto it.

If I do get the set, I’ll need to start getting real photography jobs that pay.  Given what I’m paid at the church (for which I work willingly, I might point out), a second job is becoming a must.

I’ve got the skill. Even with all the doubts that run through my mind (art doesn’t have “wrong” or “right” answers, not an easy concept for a geek), I know I could do it. But will I do it? Do I have the drive?

That reminds me. I owe Funky some pictures…

Song of the Post: Gifts and Curses by Yellowcard

I see your face with every punch I take,
and every bone I break, it’s all for you.
And my worst pains are words I cannot say,
still I will always fight on for you.

Just sitting here, thinking about the three Pittsburgh police officers who recently gave their lives. In 1995, three Pittsburgh firefighters who died at the Brycelin Street fire on Valentine’s Day.

Once, I was one of them, a City paramedic. I did it for over 11 years.  I got out before the damage to my body was too great. My friends seem to think I stayed too long, not getting out before there was permanent damage to my soul. But I got out alive.

Strange thing, that. It feels weird. I lived and others didn’t. I’m not sure why. It could have been me. Maybe it should have been.

But it wasn’t. I’m still here.

Now what?

At work, I got a letter offering me a subscription to American Photography for free because of what I do in my job at the church. Am I really their audience? Well, given how I use photography in my work, maybe. I went ahead. The magazine would be sent to my work address.

Yesterday, the first issue showed up. One of the secretaries who helps me out a lot brought it to me and joked “You have this come to the church?”

The bikini-clad model on the cover of American Photography was out of place. The model was decent, but not exactly how one dresses for church.

Now, I don’t have a problem with bikini-clad models. Had it not been in the church office, my first thought would have been “How did the photographer accomplish the lighting?” What did you expect? I’m a happily married nerd.

But this felt out of place. Worse, the secretary didn’t care, but chances are someone would. My job is to help strengthen the church, not create a new controversy to struggle over. Someone with a problem in that area might stumble. Someone concerned about appearances might get upset. Those concerned with the sexualized images of women foisted upon society would be offended.

Today, I’ll call the publisher and ask if the subscription can be moved to my home. If so, fine. If not, I’ll ask them to cancel it.

Is that overkill? Probably. Working in a church, the question is not “What are my rights and what can I get away with?” The question is “What works toward the common goal of bringing glory to Jesus Christ and strengthening His church?

That’s what I face with this blog as well.

Song of the Post: Viva la Vida by Coldplay

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

When I started blogging in 2004, I was self-employed. Anything I wrote, I had to live with. I was ok with that.

Fast-forwarding to May of 2007, I volunteered to take over the newsletter at church. I stepped up until they found a new Director of Communications. The predictable happened and I wound up with the job.

Suddenly, I was not the only person affected by what I said on UnSpace. I represented the church. All the “The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone” would not keep people from confusing the blog with where I worked. I stopped blogging and hoped no one would connect me with UnSpace.

There was UnSpace, hanging there in the un-space of the Internet, rotting. Google dropped me from their search, and not just because I wasn’t updating much. I’m completely gone from Google.

That bugged me.

So UnSpace is back. Different. Aware of the audience, if there ever is one again. Maybe some posts will be passworded… We’ll see.