They did a study on this?

Study: Money Won't Make You Happy

Campaign Tactics and Poll Workers

Just a few tips if you're running for statewide office:

1. Don't send voters spam emails. It's bad enough that you and other candidates are filling up their snail-mailboxes with unwanted ads.
2. If you do send spam email, try to edit it for grammar. (Example of what NOT to do: "As I've said many time's over the last year and half")
   
3. If you do the prerecorded spam phone call thing, try to sound like you're confident of your own name. (Example of what NOT to do: "Hi, this is, uhhh, ______.")
4. Tell us more about what you'll do if elected and less about what your late father did as a statewide official.

And to the local friendly poll workers: I'm very sorry that you were bored out of your mind all day because nobody voted, but that does NOT mean that I have 15 minutes to stand and be lectured on why I should stay close to my parents and why you like your home to be bright--I especially don't have time for that when a large dark cloud is looming overhead, the air smells like rain, my umbrella is in the car, and my dinner is at home getting colder by the minute.

Flag burning amendment?

So, what does everyone think of amending the Constitution to allow Congress to prohibit physical desecration of the U.S. flag?

I'm inclined to be opposed to it, not because I'm in favor of desecrating the flag, but because I'm opposed to unnecessarily giving the government any more power than it already has.

Oddly enough, it seems that Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Robert Byrd, Barbara Boxer, and the ACLU agree with me. Finding myself in agreement with that group concerns me, so maybe I'm missing something in my thought process here...

So, I'm issuing a plea to all my logically-gifted friends and acquaintances to straighten out my thinking on this issue, if it needs to be straightened out. Thanks in advance!

Edit: My friend Andrew emailed me his comments, since he's unable to actually get to my blog. He's given me permission to post his thoughts on the issue. Here they are:

I'm torn between the two sides of the debate. On the one hand, I would love for it to be illegal to burn the flag (or desecrate it, or whatever). On the other hand, I tend to object to such a trivial regulation being slapped onto the Constitution. I don't buy that it's free speech, but neither am I convinced that it's worth an amendment. More than anything, the whole question points out the stupidity of certain courts. It was a District Court that declared flag-burning "free speech," even though it certainly isn't the reason behind the "free speech" clause. Now, because a court has called the legislation unconstitutional, we must resort to actually amending the Constitution. Why don't we make an amendment instead that says judges who make dumb decisions can be removed by a majority vote of the Senate?

It is disconcerting to feel like I might be in the same camp as the flamin' liberals in the Senate, but with the current government's track record of gathering powers to itself, I wonder if might vote with them and against bigger government.

That'll be $.02.

C.S. Lewis

Here's a great quotation from that pants--I mean, modesty--thread on SharperIron:

I am on neither side in the present controversy. But I think the abolitionists conduct their case very ill. They seem incapable of stating it without imputing vile motives to their opponents. If unbelievers often look at your correspondence column, I am afraid they may carry away a bad impression of our logic, manners, and charity.
-C.S. Lewis, God In The Dock. p. 340 'A letter regarding the death penalty to Church Times', Dec. 1961. (Emphasis mine)

Graceful Modesty

Holly Stratton has an article here with some really good points about modesty, particularly as it relates to our own perceptions/ideas, our culture, and grace.

My favorite quote: "[My husband] went on to comment that his concerns centered on the “distractibility factor of high skin ratios.” After offering a slight eye roll over an accountant’s uncanny ability to turn every discussion into something boringly numerical, I thanked him for offering a palatable perspective." (Yeah, accountants!) =)

Unfortunately, those discussing the article in the forum don't talk much about the actual points Mrs. Stratton made; rather, the discussion quickly degenerates into a debate on the alleged evils of women's wearing pants. I wouldn't bother reading it, except maybe for this post. I think it covers enough to give you an idea of what the entire thread is like, and besides that, I'm pretty sure I agree with it. :)

Ha.

"Nation's Grandmothers Swept Up In Textile-Messaging Craze"

(From The Onion. Read with discretion.)

Josh Chandler

I did a little blog-surfing the other night and ran across this site. I don't know Josh, but I'm pretty sure my brother does, and I know that he knows the guy posting the updates. (Brandon, I met you once, but you seemed a little preoccupied with the Duke basketball game that was on TV at the time, so I won't blame you if you don't remember me.) (As a side note: Go Wake Forest!) =)

Anyway, I thought I'd post a link to the Josh Chandler Update blog so a few more people can be praying for him and his family, and that God would receive the glory for whatever happens.

God provides again...

I came home after work last night and found a copy of The MacArthur LifeWorks Library CD-ROM lying on top of my computer. Someone gave it to my dad, and he thought I might enjoy using it.

It has a ton of stuff on it, including--the MacArthur Study Bible! Unfortunately, I don't think it's the NASB version, but I suppose I can live with that. =) I'd been thinking about buying either a MacArthur Study Bible or a Reformation Study Bible, but I keep feeling guilty when I spend money since I really ought to be saving every penny I can for school expenses... but the Lord provided me with a study Bible, for free! (And I hadn't even prayed about it...) :-/

Hopefully I'll find time (between filling out loan applications and figuring out all the various types of insurance I need, and working as much as I can) to try out the CD-ROM soon. (I took Step 1 tonight--extricating the CD from the box. I hope that actually using the CD-ROM will have a more positive impact on my sanctification than wrestling with its packaging did!)

Worship

Jason Janz makes some good points in his article "My Plea to Worship Leaders."

I'd offer some comments, but it's almost 12:30 a.m. and some of us have to be at work in less than 8 hours... (And if I were smart, I'd get up early enough to vote in the primary before work.)

Ministry of politics...?

It really bugs me when politicians show up at churches right before elections. I hate the feeling that a house of worship is being used to make candidates look good. ("I'm a Christian! Vote for me!")

Unfortunately, at least one member of my church is very active in politics, so we have political candidates show up on a fairly regular basis ("fairly regular basis" meaning "before each election").

Part of me, though, is excited to see politicians in church--I suspect that many, perhaps most, of the visiting politicians are unsaved. What an opportunity to present the Gospel to them--and they're basically just showing up and asking for it. (Of course, who knows whether any of them are actually listening? I pray that they are...)

My Best Friend's Wedding...

...was this afternoon. Everyone survived, as far as I know. =) If I can figure out a way (the groom's sister says she thinks it might be possible) to post pictures and have them password-protected, I'll put a few up here. I'm not too crazy about putting pics on the web for every creep out there to see, though, so you may have to do without seeing them. Sorry.

Has anyone out there ever signed up for eHarmony? I filled out the free personality profile the other day just to see what it was like. I was surprised when I checked my "junk email" account a few days later and found that five guys wanted to contact me! I went and deleted my account, because I'm not yet to the point where I'm willing to pay a person or organization to find me dates--I'd really just filled it out to see what it was like. =)

My brother survived his first week of being a summer camp counselor. I haven't heard too much about his week yet, other than that his campers threatened to shave his legs... (Hmm, I wonder if he'll kill me for posting that???)

Gardening Update

Surprisingly, my tomato plant is still surviving in its plastic pot on the back porch. It blew over in a thunderstorm a couple weeks ago and the main stalk broke a bit, but my mom put a stake in the pot and tied the plant to it. It's been really wilted since then, but it's still alive. Look--it even has tomatoes on it!



My sunflowers decided to get tall! They're all around a foot tall right now (yes, that's a ruler propped up next to one). I'm hoping that they'll shade my peas a bit, since the peas don't like hot weather. (I planted the peas too late, but so far they're doing all right.)

And finally, a shot of the entire garden. The sunflowers are the tall plants on the left. The peas are in the middle, and the 2 1/2 rows of green beans are on the right. Five of the approximately 50 cucumber seeds that I planted have sprouted now; they're in the back of the garden, near the one really bright spot in the photo.

Kraft food&family magazine

My friend Sarah told be about this free magazine. I received my second issue this past week. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to try any of the recipes in either the spring or the summer issue yet, but some of them look tasty. I'm hoping to try a few this summer in anticipation of cooking for myself starting in mid-August!