Lions and Eagles

I'm going to do something different this time. In the past, I've looked at the candidates at the order they appear on my sample ballot. (If you haven't looked at your own sample ballot, you really owe yourself a visit to the Georgia My Voter page .) This time, I'm changing it up a little. Three-candidate races are actually interesting, so I'm going to give them top billing. Two-candidate races, not nearly so interesting, they get pushed down. One-candidate races get ignored altogether, as I have in the past. Last of all, as always, I will look at the proposed constitutional amendments and ballot referendums. Interesting races  For Governor  BRIAN KEMP Republican  STACEY ABRAMS Democrat  TED METZ Libertarian  I’m tired of playing the Red and Blue game. The only thing Kemp had going for him was that he wasn’t Cagle. Other than that, his appeal is strictly "good old boy" Trumpian.  The only reason to vote for him is if you don't like Democr...

Today was the first ever national test of the system which can send Presidential Alert notices to almost every cell phone in the country. We've joked about it, which is good. We've also wondered, do we need to be worried that this could be abused? Is the ability to send a national, “no opting out” text message too much power for a President known for rash tweets?  One thing to ask is whether there is a law from Congress that allows the Executive Branch to implement this system and strictly controls its use. And in fact, there is just such a law. This is from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015:  Except to the extent necessary for testing the public alert and warning system, the public alert and warning system shall not be used to transmit a message that does not relate to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster or threat to public safety.  Okay, good. As long as the President keeps to this rule, and onl...

Written to a friend: Good sir, you've done good, and you have done it well. To answer your questions: We are definitely called upon to love and serve those in need. Opening up to people in a very personal way, getting into their lives and letting them into your own, is scary and difficult, and it makes you very vulnerable. But it's the only way to truly know what they really need. There are some people out there really are just looking for a handout, and giving it to them does no good. There are others who really do want a way out of their situation, but for some reason or other they just keep hurting themselves. And then there are the folks who have just had really bad luck. It takes getting to know a person to know whether what they need is simple material help, or a new perspective on how to get past their stumbling blocks, or whether the best love for them is tough love. It's a calling that we all have, that most of us fail at least sometimes, but some are blessed w...

I know that it's super last-minute, but I've finally got my voting decisions for tomorrow's Republican primary. First observation: Negative campaigning via Google. As I was searching for Hunter Hill, the top link was a “sponsored” page on Clay Tippins’s website criticizing Hill. Searching for Geoff Duncan and Rick Jeffares gave me “top links” to pages paid for by David Shafer. Interesting. For Governor L.S. "CASEY" CAGLE EDDIE HAYES HUNTER HILL BRIAN KEMP CLAY TIPPINS MARC URBACH MICHAEL WILLIAMS I am leaning strongly towards Hill in this race. Here's an article of interest . The top contenders are Cagle (currently At. Governor), Kemp (currently Secretary of State), and Hill (state senator, former Army). Cagle lost my support especially over that Delta issue. While I appreciate the sentiment of supporting the NRA and the second amendment, I am disgusted by the pandering and the threat of using government power to force others...

Yes, it's another Reddit DebateReligion post. In this case, I'm answering a fellow who put forth the idea that God is too "big" to care about our sin, and that demanding a sacrifice to pay for it would be a sign that God is brutal. Here's my answer: If one of my daughters starts wilfully ignoring household rules and basic manners, and starts bugging her sisters, how does it possibly affect me? Why would I expect an apology? The disobedient child's disobedience disrupts the whole household. It reflects poorly on the parents. If my two daughters are fighting, I can't just sit idly by. The form of my intervention may vary from scolding, to temporary separation, to punishment. I've had to take stuffed friends away at night, and from their reactions you would think that I was crucifying them. Certainly they don't think that any punishment is fair when they are going through it. But then, I'm the one with the greater perspective here. We don't...

Yes, it's another Reddit "debate religion" question that I felt driven to take on. And here's what I had to say: I've known people who have been healed of poor vision, breathing troubles, and other ailments from prayer alone. I also know folks just as faithful who have prayed and not been healed. Here's the thing: God is not some genie, you rub a lamp and get your wishes granted. Prayers are not magic incantations, they are conversations and petitions that may be granted, or not. As Gandalf said of himself, do not take God for a conjurer of tricks. In the Chronicles of Narnia, it was often remarked that Aslan isn't a tame lion, after all. No one I know who is really practiced in prayer for healing ever promises 100% results. There are people who make that sort of promise, and they are generally hucksters. It's no contradiction to believe that there are both real healers and fraudsters, any more than it is a contradiction to believe that there are b...

Here's another train of thought inspired by reading atheists on Reddit . "If God is so all-powerful, surely He can prove His existence to me! I might believe if there were any evidence!" Let's be real, atheist friends. I respect you, but I don't think you're giving enough credit here to the human capacity for skepticism. And skepticism can be both good and bad at times. There was at least one time during Jesus's ministry when an actual voice from Heaven told a crowd, "I am the Lord, this is my Son, listen to what he has to tell you." And some in the crowd said, "Meh, thunder." So, even presented with direct proof, people came up with alternative explanations. Can you honestly tell me that if I were to show you a sign from God right now, out of the blue, that you wouldn't look for a hoax behind it? Of course you would, and it's sensible to do so. With photoshoppers and video manipulation neural networks producing more impressive ...