Category: news item

  • The McLane Bailout Plan

    I’ve listened to all of the ideas. The $700 billion bailout is just over the top stupid. While the housing market is screwed up, bailing out bad businesses isn’t the right way to do it.

    Why not just let all of those people in crappy deals refinance in FHA fixed rate mortgages? Seems like offering folks an easy way to refinance to a bond-backed fixed mortgage would be a lot less expensive and pour trillions of US bases dollars into the economy.

    My other idea is to split the $700 billion equally among my friends. So, if you want a cut of the $700 billion just leave a comment declaring me your friend and I’ll let George know, ok?

  • Lifeway, you need to change your mind

    Let’s speak some truth here. This just isn’t right. I hope that they stop treating this magazine as if it were porn… hidden under the counter. What is this 1927?

    What do you think? Did this story shock you or do you think the magazine is inappropriate?

    HT to Mark

  • Quick Note to Investors

    The sky isn’t falling. As all of that money pours out of Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other financials today… just be reminded of one thing. That money is leaving one place and going somewhere else. As you know, there’s a bull market somewhere. It’s not like all of those investors are taking that money and putting it in their savings account.

  • Take that James Dobson!

    Tired of judges being attacked, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has created a video game to teach children how the justice system works. 

     

    “In recent years I’ve become increasingly concerned about vitriolic attacks by some members of Congress, some members of state legislatures and various private interest groups … on judges,” O’Connor told the Games For Change conference on using gaming technology for social improvement and education.

    “We hear a great deal about judges who are activists — godless, secular, humanists trying to impose their will on the rest of us,” she said. “Now I always thought an activist judge was one who got up in the morning and went to work.” story link

     

    I wonder if Focus on the Family will come out with a counter-video game about how former judges are the scourge of the earth?  Wouldn’t that be delicious?

    This story caught me off guard and I just find it funny. While I’m not a huge fan of James Dobson, I love what he teaches about raising kids. Like many other evangelicals I just wish he’d stop saying “activist liberal judges” any time someone puts a microphone in front of his face. 

  • What do you do with a dead moose?

    dead moose in my yardLast night I got hooked on a Discovery Channel show called The Alaska Experiment. I found it fascinating that they could take a few people from all over the lower 48 and they would not only survive in the wild of Alaska, some of them did quite well. 

    Then this morning Kristen sent me a link from an Anchorage paper, it’s hilarious. It helps answer the questions, “What do you do when a moose dies in your yard?” It turns out you can just list it on Craigslist. 

    You could use it for dog food or stuff it and put it (in) your front yard, bear bait, whatever. If you live in the Lower 48, this might be your best opportunity to get a free Alaska moose. I don’t really care; I just want it out of my yard.

    It turns out that about 50 people were willing to come and remove the dead yearling. My favorite response, “I want it. But I can only take a haunch. I got only a small knife and a bicycle.”

    In the last two weeks, as people have learned we are moving to sunny San Diego, they’ve said things like “It’s going to be awesome to not have to deal with snow and wintery weather.” As the TV show proves… humans are very adaptable. We know that thriving in any situation, location, job, church, school, or sports team has 100% to do with our attitude and 0% to do with circumstances beyond our control. It doesn’t matter where we live… we will adapt to the culture and climate for the betterment of the kingdom.

    Every location has positives and negatives. What are some of them for where you live?

  • Figure Skating vs. Ice Hockey

    figure skating under attackIn nearby Plymouth, Michigan the local government is discriminating against figure skating. That is, according to some angry moms. The story is that the local government has decided that since hockey pays 300% what figure skating pays for ice time, they are creating more time for ice hockey. [news story]

    A couple of thoughts. (Feel free to add your own in the comments)

    1. It’s not discrimination, it’s economics. I’ve not heard the ice skating parents say a thing about “we’ll pay what hockey pays to keep the program alive.”
    2. This is hockey town, not figure skating town. The only figure skating legacy Detroit has is Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding. (video reminder)
    3. Why is this even a news story? Clearly the Detroit media must have something more important to cover? I can’t believe that this story is still on the news… who are these parents?
    4. Let’s state the most obvious solution. Battle it out. Hockey players vs. Figure skating moms. That would be a cool fight.
    5. Isn’t this really teaching what we all already know? The remote decision makers in the family switch past figure skating as quickly as possible before their wives notice. All of these young figure skaters should just play hockey… thus creating a highly attractive core of women out of Plymouth, Michigan who truly know what men want: Hockey.

    I’d love to have your thoughts!

  • Happy Birthday Megan

    Happy Birthday MeganIt’s hard to believe but my oldest child turns 7 today. Six was a good year to her. She has finished most of first grade. She is learning like crazy. She just got baptized. She has a lot of friends. She is in love with Webkinz.

    Megan loves animals, especially her cat Lovely. While Lovely is a pretty grumpy cat to me, she is super gentle with Megan… who is a bit rough with the feline.

    Turning seven is a big deal. As I look forward to the next 12 months for her I can foresee a lot of changes, a lot of exploration, and a lot more learning. Megan is just about the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet. Gosh, I love that kid.

    A couple of Megan tidbits from a daddy perspective—

    1. Megan was born on the ideal day. Kristen and I were meticulous in planning the pregnancy. In our family, it’s against the rules to have a June baby as nearly every day is taken. And I didn’t want to have a baby while I was in school, so I needed to make sure she was born after finals and before mid-August. And Kristen didn’t want to be pregnant for a sweaty Chicago summer, so that left a window of May 12 to May 30th. In fact, we circled May 12th on the calender and did some math to.. um… time everything out. Yes, I’ve been known to make a plan and stick to it! So while Megan was technically “late” according to the doctor, she was born on the date we planned out many months before.
    2. On November 20th, 2000 I journaled this about getting started with a family: We finally made an agreement to get started the first time we met your cousin Ryan. I instantly fell in love with his “McLane-ness” and I absolutely had to have one, my very own McLane. For some reason I was convinced that any children I had were going to look just like mommy’s family. (Jacob in particular.) But as soon as I saw little Ryan crawling around his grandparents yard I knew I was ready. He was just too cute and way too stubborn! Let’s just say that prophesy has come true. Megan is all McLane and she is slightly stubborn.
    3. Megan was a boy. At least she was a boy 3 times in ultrasounds. (Friends of ours ran an ultrasound school and used Kristen’s belly as a lab rat. It wasn’t until Megan was about 5 minutes old that I made the observation and went over to Kristen… “Our boy doesn’t have a piece.” [direct quote!] In fact, on the video taken immediately after she was born you can hear us calling her Paul. (We’ve had our kids names picked out since we were dating!)

  • What is Billy Ray Thinking?

    hannah montanaLike a Nascar race we’ve all watched Hannah Montana and asked the same question: Will this girl be able to survive the weight of pressure she’ll face? Will her Christian upbringing be enough to keep her out of the tabloids? Will her famous daddy help her avoid doing something really, really stupid? Or will she turn out just like Christina and Brittany and all the other child pop stars gone weird. (Can you say, Michael Jackson?)

    Sadly, the 15 car pile up is happening currently and we’re all there to watch. With cameras ready, daddy present, and handlers encouraging… 15 year old Miley Cyrus took off her top and posed for Vanity Fair. (The 13 year old boys version of Playboy.)
    And every sick, perverted 40 year old man in the country will take notice. The white hot $300 tickets to her show will now start to “go Brittany” as grown men try to get close to her. Sure she wasn’t naked. She didn’t show anything. But it was a very seductive and sexual pose.

    My honest reaction is simple. If a man in my church allowed his 15 year old daughter to be photographed like that… much less for a national magazine shoot… I’d call the police. Seriously. It’s sick. To quote Juno’s dad, “Next time I see that kid I’ll punch him right in the wiener.”

    It’s not too late Cyrus family. Admit your mistake now and vow to guard your daughter’s body and heart into the future. Fix it now… the public will only want more. Commit to stopping this.

    Thoughts?

    p.s. I was going to post the pictures here. But I decided I didn’t want the nasty men looking for kiddy porn on my site.

  • “My Dad is Pretty Beast-Like”

    allen kietaWhen Allen Kieta’s dog wouldn’t stop barking he knew something was wrong. So Allen, armed with a phone, went to check out his house he knew something was seriously wrong. This is scary for anyone. But put yourself in Allen’s shoes… he’s blind!

    The intruder knew Allen was blind but the intruder didn’t know that he was an accomplished high school wrestler.

    “I opened the bathroom door and just ran into him. I had him pinned in the laundry room and just kept pummeling,” said Kieta, a former wrestler in high school.

    He said he grabbed the intruder by the belt and dragged him into the kitchen, where he put a knife at the man’s throat and tried to dial 911. link

    In an interview with the today show Matt Lauer asked Allen’s daughter, “Are you surprised by what your dad did?” She thought about it and said… “No, my dad is pretty beast-like.”

    I wonder if my kids think I’m pretty beast-like?

  • Shout to the Lord on AI

    Shout to the LordI missed this, but there is plenty of talk about it today on blogs. During American Idol last night the cast sang Darlene Zschech’s classic modern worship song, Shout to the Lord. (The song has it’s own Wikipedia page, you know it’s big!)

    Here’s the video for those who missed it.