John’s many mansions
August 21, 2008 | Filed Under Election 2008 | Leave a Comment
John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions”
The other John:
Perhaps not what Jesus had in mind. . .
—-
August 21, 2008: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.
“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”
From http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12685.html
What I like about Shawn Johnson
August 21, 2008 | Filed Under Opinion and Commentary | 9 Comments
Watching Olympic women’s gymnastics is always a mixed experience. Most competitors are just kids, and in the case of the 2008 Chinese team, really, really young kids, taken from their homes and separated from their families at a very early age for years of intense training. One has to wonder how many of them–from all nations–really like what they are doing. Even Nastia Liukin, for all of her athletic and balletic grace and style doesn’t seem like a happy camper.
And then along comes Shawn Johnson who, at 16, has more poise than anyone else in the arena, and I include the silly paid professional commentators. (Maybe especially the silly commentators.) She’s the World Champion in the 2007 All-Around Gymnastics competition and she got that by a substantial margin. She also won the All-Around at the American Cup, Pan-American Games, and the US National Championships. At 14 she was the World Junior champion. In this year’s Olympics she won the Silver for All Around, the team competition, and the floor finals, and the Gold on the balance beam, bringing her 2008 Oly total to 3 Silvers and a Gold. Speaking before Beijing about Shawn’s ability in all four of the women’s gymnastics events, Olympic great Mary Lou Retton said, “She is the real deal.”
But that’s just the competitive glory. What really gets me about this kid is that she loves what she does, she has grace as a gymnast and even more as a person, and she takes sportsmanship to a high level as exemplified in her supporting and applauding her teammate and competitor Nastia Liukin who got Gold in the All-Around. [She also shows her maturity, humility, and joyfulness on her blog.] While the media goes ga-ga over characters like the 100 and 200-meter track sensation Usain Bolt whose arrogance belies a lack of self-assurance at his core (and don’t even get me started on men’s basketball with it’s multi-million dollar competitors from the NBA, none of whom even make a patch on Dara Torres’ swimcap), I applaud this Iowa kid. Even if she becomes a media darling in the coming days and weeks, I doubt very much that her character will be diminished. So kudos to her parents, her trainers, and her own amazing self and the best of luck in the future. As the People’s Republic of China failed miserably in its bid to impress the world with its hosting of the 2008 Olympics, Shawn Johnson went out there and quietly and impressively stole their thunder.
Check her out in “At home with Olympic hopeful Shawn Johnson”, an informal interview with KCCI’s (Des Moines TV) Andy Garman:
Terry, MT schoolteacher to go “Backstage with Barack”
August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Election 2008 | Leave a Comment
Barb Sackman, of Fallon, Montana, has been selected as one of the ten winners of Backstage with Barack, a national contest that allows winners to visit Barack backstage before he speaks at the Democratic convention on August 28th. Barb Sackman is a schoolteacher in Terry, MT, who, with her husband, raises wheat and cattle on their farm in Fallon.
From the get-go, I thought that having a contest like this was a bit cheesy. I hope Ms. Sackman, who sounds pretty down-to-earth, and the other winners manage to elevate the opportunity into something more than a concert backstage pass.