And we wonder why?

This video and the article that follow were both on CNN's main page today. It is rather ironic no? Well actually, no it isn't. There is a great deal of common sense to it. It seems to me that morality and common sense often run together.


Out-of-wedlock births hit record high
Nearly 40 percent of babies born in the United States in 2007 were delivered by unwed mothers, according to data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 1.7 million out-of-wedlock births, of 4.3 million total births, marked a more than 25 percent jump from five years before.

Statistics such as these, which include for the second year in a row a bump in teen pregnancies, after a 14-year decline, leave Sarah Brown concerned. She worries about the children born to unwed parents -- about the disadvantages they often face, including increased likelihood of poverty and greater high school dropout rates. See the number of out-of-wedlock births by race and age »

"I wish people spent as much time planning when to get pregnant, with whom, under what circumstances as they do planning their next vacation," said Brown, the CEO and founding director of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "The stigma [of out-of-wedlock births] has eroded, and these numbers made me feel perhaps it's disappeared altogether."

Adsense, Nonsense

So I went to add a new post and saw a new tab at the top of the blog screen entitled "monetize". Curious, I clicked on it to find out that it is Google Adsense.
The information says this:

How much will I earn through this program?

The Google ads you are able to display on your content pages can be either cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-1000-impressions (CPM) ads, while AdSense for search results pages show exclusively CPC ads. This means that advertisers pay either when users click on ads, or when the advertiser's ad is shown on your site. You'll receive a portion of the amount paid for either activity on your website.

To be honest, I am surprised that it has taken them this long. Advertisers are tricky sons of guns. The question now is, which will be the first friend to sell out...Hah.

Miracle.

You may or may not have seen this yesterday but it really made me smile and also marvel at the creativity and abilities God has given us. It really is amazing.

Heather McNamara the cutest 7 year old you've ever seen had a baseball sized tumor that was in her stomach and was threatening her life. Tomoaki Kato, the lead surgeon on the team had to remove six vital organs - the stomach, pancrea, spleen, liver and small and large transplantations- and chill them so that the tumor could be removed. Kato said that the surgery was so risky that the girls father was prepped to be a live organ donor in case the girls liver couldn't be salvaged. Kato's team fashioned a pouch from intestinal tissue to hold food before it moves into the small intestine. The surgery took 23 hours and Kato was so exhausted after the surgery that he collapsed on a couch and slept for 6 hours.

Heather said she's feeling fine and can't wait to get home. She's missing her sister, Stephanie, 10, and a Pomeranian named Angel.

"I love to play with my dog," she said.

Wrote a little reviewski

New U2 is, well U2. Unpredictable and better with every listen. Here is my review, long but there is a lot to be said about it.

U2- No Line on the Horizon
By: Mark Wampler

There is a pulse throughout No Line On the Horizon that is a little upsetting — a bit agitating. Perhaps it’s how confident the band comes off on their 12th studio release, Adam’s throbbing and relentless bass and Larry’s militaristic drumming that holds the group together like mortar. Rolling Stone’s review of the album describes Larry’s drumming as “so sharp and hard all the way through that it's difficult to tell how much is him and how much is looping (that is a compliment).”
It’s the harshness of the synths and the urgency in Bono’s voice that commands attention - Edge’s guitar tone is rough, un-sanded and fuzzy. This album is not going to be digested in one sitting; it is too harsh and different, almost unfriendly at first. In a sound only U2 can fashion, No Line is almost erotic (a description that will make sense if one can imagine Bono’s passionate writhing during live performances being manifested into sound) and definitely mysterious. “I was speeding on the subway / through the Stations of the Cross” Bono sings in “Moment of Surrender,” an apt description of the tension contained in the albums content - ultra-modern in its sound, yet saturated with ancient themes of God, love and redemption.
Melodically, No Line seems to take cues from eastern ragas, where a central tonal drone is established and then built upon like the foundation of a building. Its accompanying images are towering skyscrapers and frantic, huge metropolitans. “Lights flash past / like memories,” Bono chants in “FEZ-Being Born.” “A speeding head, a speeding heart.”
“No Line on the Horizon,” the opening track flies at you like a swarm of infuriated bees — rough and frantic. One will have to decide if they like being attacked by the sheer forcefulness of Bono’s vocals. With as many “oh’s” as words in the song, it’s easy to picture it being a big sing along during U2’s upcoming tour, tens of thousands of fans straining to match Bono’s soaring falsetto.
But for all of his forcefulness, the experimental and edgy (no pun intended) nature of the music has given Bono a back seat on this album. The questioning and soul searching that seemed to permeate Atomic Bomb has taken a back seat on this album. Bono seems to have found his voice again, more confident, assured. “I was born / I was born to be with you,” he opens the track “Magnificent”, a beautiful tribute to his Creator.
On “Moment of Surrender” Bono turns into an eager and reflective R&B singer which is entirely appropriate given the subject material: “At the moment of surrender / I fall to my knees,” he sings. It’s easy to picture a full-choir backing Bono and Edge in the chorus a la’ Springsteen. “It’s not that I believe in love,” he sings, “but love believes in me,” a line that works because Bono has said it so many times before. Edges guitar solo on the track has a hushed, voice-like quality. It takes a close listen before it is certain that it’s a guitar and not a soft vocal line, a fascinating effect.
If you’ve heard “Vertigo” the single off U2’s Atomic Bomb, then you’ve heard “Get on Your Boots,” the first single off their new album. “Get on Your Boots” is a better track but carries the same formula. “Let me in the sound / let me in the sound…” Bono chants a capella over Larry’s drumming in a line that will stick in your head for days.
The intro to “Stand up Comedy” sounds straight from the Zeppelin catalog. It has a non-linear structure, once it’s over it’s hard to tell exactly where it is that you’ve been. With a simple three-line chorus, “Out from under your beds / C’mon, ye people / Stand up for your love.” It also contains what could be the most bizarre lyric of the album, “Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.”
“White Snow” starts off with a beautiful lullaby-like organ but carries an eerie resemblance to “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” and is the weakest track on the album. One can’t help but wait for Bono to burst out in “Rejoice, Rejoice!”
The song that could easily have been the first single is “Breathe” a complex mixture of accessible pop elements, harmony and that signature huge U2 sound. It is Bono’s best and most unique performance on the album. In it, one can discern definite hip-hop influences as Bono practically freestyles the verses. “I can breathe / breathe now,” Bono and Edge sing in the chorus, stretching out the syllables in the word breathe, with stunning harmony.
“Cedars of Lebanon” is a brilliant cap to the album but ends so abruptly it’s startling. It has a haunting chorus that simply repeats in a ghostlike melody “return the call to home, return the call to home.”

Yes. To this.

Today has brought me an unspeakable amount of yes and awesome, ubiquitous joy in my soul. I have found the most potentially life-changing combination of delicacies that are to be found on this great earth.
May I present to you:



This is a winner. (like Fred's slacks) Perhaps the best cup of coffee that I have ever drank. And I am not one to stir sensationalism. This coffee has the deepest, most intense full body that I have ever had. And I was awed and stupified. I had the Kenyan version, can't decide if I want to try the Papua New Guinea kind. Probably will. Please, do yourself a favor and go to Caribou and pick these babies up. I cannot tell you how deadly this combination is.


Kenya Obsidian Excursions: Kenya gives Obsidian its hallmark silky, smooth body. Roasted to dark perfection on its own, Kenya exhibits bittersweet chocolate flavors with hints of blackberry and currant spice that mingle through a velvety body.

Papua New Guinea Obsidian Excursions: Papua New Guinea accentuates the berry flavors and fruity high notes of Obsidian. This coffee exhibits beautiful herbal notes suggesting delicate floral and high fruit flavors. All delivered with a buttery creaminess that will leave you wanting more of this dark-roasted beauty.

I am a

new love of quiet.
I just vaccumed the house. I have never seen a dog who sheds so much. Rather frusturating. My week was pretty good. How could it not be with these lovely objects? We wanted to brighten the place, we are so ready for springtime. And who can resist a blueberry pie? It was actually really good too, I am not just saying that because my wife made it.

Worry

I am going through a pretty rough period here in life at the moment.
The honest truth is that I feel like a lot of my good friends and my wife
are plugging towards this good goal of graduation and the workworld while I
am still taking pointless classes with no real direction or course for when I graduate.
I am not sure that I really want to be a journalist, thinking maybe I should have
majored in education, etc etc... I just have a lot of fear and doubt. And its paralyzing and is really getting to me.

Perfect love casts out all fear John says in the Scriptures.
How I long to claim that.

Money

I found this to be quite interesting in the Wall St. Journal a couple of days ago:

Starbucks Corp., which built a coffee empire on its premium image, wants to convince customers that its drinks aren't that expensive.

The Seattle-based company is training its baristas to tell customers that the average price of a Starbucks beverage is less than $3, and that 90% of Starbucks drinks cost under $4.


The article said that the company is preparing for the long-term economic fall that is being widely predicted throughout the world. Several months ago, Newsweek carried a cover story titled "The End of Affluence".

I think as Christians, this time of reflecting on money and priorities, such as Starbucks Lattes is a thing that needs to be encouraged. It is a time to realign the values of those around us in to the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of wealth that we have known for so long. As a newly married man, I have been needing to really watch myself and my desires for success and a good paycheck. Let us trust in the Lord and use this time to have some good conversations with our own soul and of our fellow humans around us.

Faith

Yesterday the New York paper ran a headline that said "Obama's Pledge to Reform Ethics Faces an Early Test." In the article, the writer said "But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Mr. Obama has proved willing to compromise."

There was a letter to the editor in today's paper that says: "I am an independent who embraced Barack Obama's candidicy with great enthusiasm... I go not by what people say, but what they do. Unfortunately in this case, it is starting to look like business as usual. I am very sad. I did not think that I would be disappointed so soon after the glow and the promise of the inauguration."

He is very sad- a candid and honest insight from this reader. He put his trust in Obama, and he has been let down.
I bring this up not to criticize Obama, but for an entirely different reason. The system always fails.
And we have the best government in the entire world. That is why, as the old hymn says, our hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Everything else, will fail. Jesus, the Lord, is risen.

Funny

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Obama Inauguration

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

MLK

I covered the Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast up here in Manhattan for the university paper and had a cool experience. The speaker was Dr. Al Brinson, a man who grew up in the King family and was a lifelong friend of King. He shared stories about his own personal struggles in the civil rights movement.


Brinson shared a story of an intimate moment with Dr. King as they drove home from the airport together after King had become nationally known. “I had been going through all these things that I knew deep down inside that one day I was going to enter ministry but I had never acknowledge it to myself or to anybody else.” Brinson was hesitant, unsure of how to bring the topic up in front of King so he just started, “I have some things on my mind and I don’t know how to begin to talk about them.” King looked at him and he said “‘Albert I know what you want to talk about and I’ve known this all along. None of us is ever good enough, if that were the case I’d need to go home now.’” "God always uses people in spite of them, not because of them."

I thought that was some cool words from a major figure of history.

He said people were pointing to them the whole drive and he could read their lips: "That's Martin Luther King!"

Wow.

A 13-year-old California girl has set the bar for text messaging, racking up 14,528 texts in one month. Amazing. That is one text every two minutes (not counting sleep time) and a 440 page statement from ATT. Amazing. The girl has said that she is not allowed to text after dinner time any more. Goodness no.

A Week.

Well it has been a very busy week since my last post, namely because of the last post. We had a 111 question test yesterday after only 3 days of class. Tell me how that works. The class is great but there is far too much to summarize. What I have found really interesting is not so much jazz per se, but just that time period. There were over 200 clubs in Kansas City at the time. Tom Pendergast, the "boss" of Kansas City had turned it into basically a huge organized crime factory. At the heydey of his rule, over 60 policemen in the force were ex-convicts. How weird and scary is that? But just to picture the time period of dance halls, big Cadillac's and pretty girls all in black and white. I don't know, it's just a cool thought.

On another note, I played dominos for the first time in my adult life yesterday and that is a very fun game. I love how simple it is, you don't really have to think all that much, but there is still strategy and competitiveness. Kind of a funny story about that- my aunt and uncle brought from Salina my Grandma who is from Texas down to see us several days ago and as they were leaving, my aunt held up this disc looking thing that she had found in her car. None of us had a clue as to what it was. I'd never seen it in my life. Well so when we played domino's my friend took that same looking disc thing out of the box. It is to "house" the dominos so that they have a kind of path. How weird is that? I need to call my aunt and tell her I figured it out. Also have been playing a bit of backgammon. Can never go wrong with such activities.

Jazz

In one day I will start my History of Kansas City Jazz course at Kansas State. I am super excited. I got my textbook today and skimmed through it a bit. It is as much social history about Kansas City as it is actual jazz history which is really cool. The author says that his goal is not to give a straight jazz history book, but to "develop a social, economic, and political overview of pre-World War II history in the Mid West through the development of jazz." Pretty cool. It is basically an oral history of Kansas City, with a bunch of strange cats and hip birds talking about the scene. One kid, 16 years old, told his mother he'd come back to school once the circus band he was playing with circus got done. He ended up making his way out to Kansas City and bumming around as so many musicians do. Well his mother ended up hiring and sending a private detective to find him and drag him back to school. The kid is now 60 and telling all his stories in this book. How awesome is that? What's really nuts though is that jazz is a new enough art form that a lot of the original players are still around. My dad, who plays the trombone around town in the jazz scene, sometimes will say, oh yeah he's still playing or he's still around. I asked him about Jay McShann today, one of the founding fathers of the swing era, especially that funky KC Swing, and he said he still plays around town occasionally. It's cool thinking that he's been able to be a part of that and passed a little down on to me. Mike Metheny who is the brother of Pat Metheny, one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, or for that matter, one of the best straight up guitarists of all time, sometimes plays in one of the band's my pops is in. Crazy stuff.

A good friend of mine had the pleasure a couple of months ago of spending time with one of the great jazzers of Kansas City. I am hoping that through this class I will be able to do my own, in a sort of way. The history of the jazz mecca that Kansas City was in the 20's and 30's has been dying for a long time around here, the very place it all happened. I am excited to learn a bit of my town's history. Go check out the joints, and grab a beer down at 18th and Vine once all is said and done. I'll be like a sort of unofficial tour guide I hope.

Holiday Cheer.

Man, you know, I probably shouldn't have been so gleeful at this moment, but I really couldn't help myself. I went to Barnes and Nobles here while I am in town to get the best journal in the world (which I am sure will be presented here later) and got a kick out of these two people as I was walking in. The guy had the kind of slick comb over that Zack from Saved By the Bell used to sport, real broad shoulders, a white turtleneck sweater. The woman had a latte, big heels, big hair, and big lipstick. Towncenter stereotype was going on here. When I was walking in, I saw them walking around the car, trying every door with very puzzled looks on their faces.
"All I did was wash it yesterday" the woman said. Washed the car in 3 degree weather? Impressive. Anyway, apparently the security system malfunctioned, and wouldnt let them in their car. When we walked out of the store 30 minutes later, they were in the lobby making phone calls. I know I shouldn't be so smug, but c'mon, this 30,000 dollar car was to smart for itself and wouldn't open. My little Scion was happily opening its door to us, while the other guy, much more majestic and expensive, was a little confused, just like its owners. I am sure they ended up having to get it towed. A bit of redemption for all of us... Hah. C'mon, you know its a little satisfying.

Lifes Movements

I have been terrible at updating my listening and books section. Sorry. I will try to do a better job. I have been doing a lot of thinking on Christianity and its role in society. I am reading Tony Campolo's Letters to a Young Evangelical, to simplify my often very convoluted thinking and it has been wonderful to see a bunch of different facets of the Christian life laid out in such short and simple letters. While Campolo is not a huge influence on my thinking, it is a good introduction to some big topics- abortion, gay marriage, Iraq War, Islam, etc.
To go a little deeper, I have started George Weigel's Against the Grain. He is a prominent Catholic thinker, known for his conservative positions and articulate presentations. The book is a collection of essays that he has written over the period of 15 years. I think the Catholics have a lot more substance to say on the issue of a Christians role in society than evangelicals. They have so much rich history and church theology to draw on. Not pitting the two against the other, but, I think it is significant how intentional the Catholic church tries to be about this issue.

I also heard the Messiah on NPR for the first time this year. Every year I am amazed by how masterful and lovely that work is. My dream is to go to a European cathedral to hear it performed live during a Vespers service with a magnificent choir. Wow. I might give You Tube a chance to make my dreams first though... Hah

Update

Well, Praise Be, we made it through the semester and through finals. After a treacherous drive from Manhattan amidst the impending ice doom, we made it back to Kansas City. We'll be here for about a week, eating, hanging out with family, going to book stores, and seeing friends. I love this time of year. I am looking forward to sitting back and simply being- although today I did feel a bit lazy. Davie loved her first snow, she has given up trying to eat it and now just enjoys jumping around in it.

Grace and Peace to you.

Mark

Vatican Forgives Lennon for "more popular than Jesus"

Saturday's edition of the Vatican's official newspaper absolves John Lennon of his notorious remark, saying that "after so many years it sounds merely like the boasting of an English working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success".

I saw this on the news today. Thought it comical. I think Lennon was half serious and half kidding when he said this, but either way, I find it a really funny statement. He said:

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

And when he said this, people in America blew up. There were literally "Beatles burnings" where kids at the behest of their parents usually, came and put everyone Beatles in a huge bonfire. I watched a documentary on Lennon this week, and when I saw old footage of those burnings I was very pained. I want some of those records! How cool would all that stuff be.

Hilarious

I just got this letter in the mail and thought that the awesomeness of it must be shared. There are great things going on here in such little space.
First, who gives a rats behind about free turkey? We are talking about thousands of dollars here, and free turkeys are the payoff? Don't most car places give away like flat screens and stuff? Free turkey? Has all of the marketing department caught tremedndous Thanksgiving fever?
Second, what economy are these people living under? Their lenders have billions of dollars to lend!? That is outrageous! The government doesnt even have billions anymore. It must be on a different planet than the one I am living on because where I am from, all major economies are in a recession, and most emerging economies do not have billions of dollars to lend. Is China their lender?

The Finest of Furs

SO,handmade dog sweaters for Christmas to everyone!! I cannot believe our dog. This is just after we brushed her yesterday as well.