Category: news item

Just to update a post from yesterday. In the middle of the night, UAW and GM reached a deal that sent 70,000+ workers back to the production lines today.

As with all negotiations… when both sides leave thinking they’ve won… it’s a good thing.

A couple of people who live outside of Michigan have been asking me about the effects of the UAW strike against General Motors.

I guess I have two points that I think of when things effect the auto industry.

1. It obviously effects the local economy. While the church isn’t full of UAW employee’s at GM, it does have a trickle down effect as suppliers and other businesses who serve these employees. We don’t know yet if this will be substantial but I’m watching it for obvious reasons.
2. It highlights why the Detroit area needs to find additional industries. It’s clear that areas that have lived on a single industry for the last 100+ years need to diversify.

If the strike continues beyond a couple of weeks, obviously the ministry side of things will kick in. But for now, I’m like everyone else… just watching and waiting for news.

Making it’s rounds this morning is the story of Dan Rather. The former CBS news anchor is suing his former employer for $70 million and saying that he was forced into an apology he didn’t mean. Story

Here’s the deal. It doesn’t matter if the original story was true or false anymore… though Rather is wanting to use this opportunity to "vindicate" his position that the story was true. Perhaps you remember the story… Rather cited allegedly forged documents in saying that our current president was a poor performer in the Air National Guard. His point seemed to be, in the story, that if George W. Bush was a bad Air National Guard member he is a bad commander-in-chief. Even if those stories of a very young Bush were true the story was a low-blow and he should have apologized. What’s the point in dragging up a story from 30 years ago to attack someone? It was an attack story, he got busted, and he apologized.

That is, he apologized until he got fired. Apparently Rather thinks he has a right to a $24 million contract. Viacom, CBS’s parent company doesn’t think so. In their opinion, for $24 million they can put whoever they want as the news anchor. Just like they had the right to fire (and compensate, by the way) Dan Rather as their news anchor, they have the right to hire Katie Couric as their news anchor.

What is this really all about? It comes down to… "What does I’m sorry mean?"

(more…)

As each year passes it seems a little further in the rear view mirror. But for this generation, for me and my family, September 11th 2001 was the day that changed our world more than any other.

View a slideshow from the New York Times

The operative phrase is "We will not forget."

Here are two articles I am cooking up that are due next week.

1. Yesterday I did a phone interview with Erwin McManus. I’m writing two pieces out of the interview. One is a review of his Crave DVD for small groups and the main piece is going to be about his creative process. If you aren’t familiar with McManus, check out the links. He’s the lead pastor at one of the most innovative and create church communities on the planet, Mosaic.
2. Next week I am turning in an article to Simply Youth Ministry about coordinating teaching messages across ministries in a church. This will be my second article over at SYM, check out my first one, "Left for Dead by the Church."

Sometimes, writing comes naturally to me. I can sit down and pound out a lesson or article (or even a policy!) in a couple of hours. As a matter of fact, in the right mood I can write several different articles simultaneously and it all comes rather easy. I can’t explain it, it just flows out of me and I try to capture all the ideas as fast as I can.

That’s not how I’m feeling right now. I know I’ll get stuff done and I know it’ll be good. But the process is a lot different between "high writing" moods and "normal" writing modes.

I know people read my blog from around the country, so you may not be aware of my geography. I live in a small town that was once rural but is now semi-suburban Detroit. I live "in the village" meaning that my house is in the oldest part of town. (Our house dates to 1871)

One of the long time institutions of Romeo is just across the street from our house… Fred’s Market.

Here’s a story about the retirement of the store’s owner, Paul Ruggirello. Paul is a fine man. He knew Kristen and I before we even moved in. I went in and introduced myself shortly after buying the house and Paul said, "So, you are Mr. McLane. I understand you are a man of the cloth." We’ve had many good chats and I will miss his companionship. There have been many times we’ve had a party and I’ve dashed across the street to pick up a last minute item. He is one of the few places in the world who offers store credit… and he’s even offered me the keys to the shop "just in case" I needed something. Truly, there are few men like this in America today.

Paul has assured me that the family who has bought Fred’s shares his values. Paul has had many opportunities to expand the store and make it less "family  based." Sure, it’s a liquor store. Sure, he sells lottery tickets. She he sells his fair share of cigarettes. But he has never taken advantage of people. He’s just your friendly, helpful, humble, store owner. I hope that the new owners are at least a shadow of Paul.
He will be missed. I know its odd, but Paul and Fred’s Market are one of the great assets to our neighborhood and I will miss his presence.

If you are in Romeo in the next few days, drop in and thank Paul for his service to this community.

Tonight a big thunderstorm blew through the Detroit area. While I’m happy to report that Romeo wasn’t hit too hard, (from what I’ve seen) some communities to the west of us were hit hard. A town about 25 miles west of us, Fenton, has some heavy damage.

As the Detroit area seems to flood easily… it’s been a messy night.

I’ve now encountered several people who have been tempted by the Nigerian Scam or 419 or it’s official name, the Advance fee fraud. Here’s how it looks:

You receive and email that says, "My husband is dying of cancer in London, he is a rich oil executive from Nigeria. I am in need to transfer $40,000,000 to a US Citizen upon his death. Blah blah blah."

Why does something that looks so much like a scam fool so many  very intelligent people?

1. People aren’t very sophisticated internet users. I hope that doesn’t come off as rude, but the average internet user isn’t as sophisticated at sniffing out a scam via email as they would be in their mailbox at home.
2. This capitalizes on something in our culture. We all would like to believe that we can get rich quick. We want to get something we haven’t earned… heck, some of us secretly hold out hope that they are really royalty and it’s just a matter of time before the truth is known and we assume our throne!

The reality is that the Nigerian scam is just that… a scam. The money is never going to come. You aren’t going to get rich. All you’ll ever do is feel foolish and support gangs of scammers in foreign lands. Again… this isn’t something I know about in theory, it’s something people here in Romeo are tempted with.

In light of this, here is a great article from Back to the Bible that addresses this from a spiritual angle. I love this quote.

While
true Christians may stop short of extortion and robbery, the pursuit of wealth
can easily become the focal point of their lives. Our society, especially in
the United States,
encourages us to make the acquisition of money and things all-important. According to Nancy Beach, director of programming
and a teaching pastor at Willow Creek
Community Church
in South Barrington, Illinois,
"In the United States alone, the advertising
industry spends over six billion dollars a day. The result is that envy is
pervasive, and far too many of us live in a perpetual state of longing."