Keywords by David Yonke

Quote of the Day:

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands -- and then eat just one of the pieces." -- Judith Viorst

Tomorrow is E-Day, finally. I am so tired of all the political attacks and rhetoric and ill will that I will just be glad when it's over. The die is cast, let's roll it and see where it lands. I think most people are weary of this incredibly long campaign. As one person put it yesterday, I'm "poli-ticked off."
A friend of mine was in town for a wedding (more about that in a minute) on Saturday and he lives in the Chicago area. He said he has not seen one political ad on TV and hardly any candidates come to Chicago. I knew we were getting the mega-dose being in a swing state but I didn't realize how big the difference was. Campaign ads are on the air almost constantly. Candidates or prominent supporters hit town every other day.
For local journalists, especially at a time when newspapers are cutting back on staffing, it's been exceptionally tiring.
I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. There's not much more I can do at this point, except cast my vote tomorrow. I have no interest in voting early, but I saw on the news last night that people waited in long lines to vote two days before the election. I've never had to wait long at my polling place. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
Whatever your preferences are, just be sure to vote!
* * *
About the wedding: I was a groomsman at the wedding Saturday night of Ken Leslie, a friend who has devoted a lot of time and energy to helping the homeless. He and his bride, Norma, got married under a big tent at the "Tent City" project downtown, an outreach Ken started years ago to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless and to provide services to them including eye, dental and medical care as well as food.
It was a most unusual wedding, to say the least, but a perfect setting for Ken and Norma. A Catholic priest participated in the ceremony as well as a Foursquare Gospel minister and a pastor of a nondenominational Christian church.
Lots of homeless people were in the seats and cheered Ken on, knowing him so well from his volunteer work.
* * *

Last Thursday, I met Elie Wiesel and covered his lecture at the University of Toledo. He is one of my heroes, as are all the Holocaust survivors I have met. Professor Wiesel, who turned 80 recently, was most gracious and invited me to visit him any time I'm in New York City.
He gave a terrific talk about what humanity has learned or failed to learn from history. We have made many mistakes but there are some positive signs.
I was glad to see that the auditorium was completely full, with an overflow area set up to accommodate more via closed circuit TV. But the downside is that someone complained to me that they got to the hall with their children an hour and a half before the lecture and were turned away. I feel terrible for the woman and her children, but I realize it's hard to anticipate the turnout for an unticketed event like this. The auditorium seated 1,600 so this was a huge crowd.
Here are links to the articles I wrote in advance of his speech and the reporting on his lecture.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Nov. 3, 2004

My brother John, who lives in Tampa, was in Ohio last week for a brief visit. I drove to Canton to meet him and his friend Keith at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where we spent much of the day on Friday -- Halloween.
I had never been to that hall of fame before and it was an interesting place to visit, even for a non-hardcore football fan like myself.

Here are a few photos from the visit.

The hall of fame with the football-shaped dome.

John and I outside the hall of fame.

An early football "helmet" with nose guard, from the late 1800s.

The Hall of Fame Gallery, where bronze busts of all the inductees are displayed.

A bust of one of my all-time favorite players, having grown up on Long Island: Joe Namath.

A sculpture of a football player on display.

Me, John and Keith holding helmets during a presentation on the evolution of football helmets.

"Crazy Legs' Hirsch, a great football player and apparently also quite a dandy. Look at that hair!

John under the football dome.

Soaking up the rays of an overhead "Hall of Fame" light.

* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Nov. 3, 2004

One of the most interesting terms coined in the last decade was "affluenza," the "disease" in which people are negatively affected by having too much material wealth.
I saw a TV news magazine report on it years ago, I think it might have been on 20/20, mostly focusing on children growing up today and how they have so much and don't even realize how blessed they are. They expect it all, and they expect to have even more in the future.
The cover article in the Nov. 10 edition of Newsweek, written by Robert J. Samuelson, addresses this issue in a way that ties in the economic strife our country has experienced of late.
The headline is "The Economy: A Darker Future for Us All." Samuelson reviews the economic factors that led to the stock market's roller coaster plunge and said the primary culprit behind it all is the rise and fall of double-digit inflation.
When inflation hit 13 percent in the early 1980s, Paul Volcker and the Fed combated it vigorously, and the result was a consumption boom. The economy prospered as people saved less and spent more.
"What's clear now is that prosperity bred bad habits," Samuelson writes. "The present crisis, though usually attributed to dubious 'subprime' mortgages, really traces its origins in the widespread optimism unleashed by disinflation."
In other words, Americans got into the consumer mindset more than ever before, fueling business success and driving stocks through the roof as heavy investors switched from bonds to stocks. The Dow climbed from below 1,000 in 1982 to 2,500 in 1989 to almost 11,500 in 1999.
In 2006, Samuelson says, household debt was 134 percent of personal income. "Sooner or later, consumers had to retrench."
That's where we are now. The affluenza bubble has burst. People are not spending so much. Businesses are tightening up. People are losing jobs or afraid of losing their jobs so they're not buying cars or redecorating their kitchens.
The article spells it all out pretty clearly but doesn't get into the spiritual side of this. We as a nation have put our trust in money. We have kept our eyes on the advertisements. We have sought peace in material acquisitions.
I haven't read John Ortberg's new book, but when I interviewed John Tesh he said he was reading it. It's titled When the Game is Over it all Goes Back in the Box. . That puts a spiritual light on our materialism. Tesh said that if your life is all about acquiring things, you've missed the point.
U2 also looks at this spiritual-material dichotomy with the song, "All That You Can't Leave Behind," which at times has brought tears to my eyes. (Incidentally, it contains one of my favorite lyrics, which doesn't exactly fit this message but it's about heaven and it's so powerful: "I'm packing a suitcase for a place/none of us has been/A place that has to be believed/to be seen." Think that one over!)
At the same time, I often think about my friend Craig Wagner, now Brother Francis, who quit his job at the newspaper to beome a Benedictine monk. His whole day revolves around prayer and serving others. He doesn't own anything as an individual, it's all the community's.
Another friend, Steve Dailey, also quit his job as a computer tech at the newspaper and he his wife Beth, and their two children left Toledo to serve as missionaries in the Philippines, where today they feed 800 impoverished children every day.
We don't have to take vows of poverty or drop out of society and move to the Third World to live meaningful lives but we do, as a nation, need to get our priorities straight.
Our next president, whoever he may be -- and we'll know all too soon -- will "sit at the eye of this storm," Samuelson said. He concludes that it will require the right balance between the past and future "to advance American affluence."
I don't think that should be the goal, however. The goal should be to live within our means as a country, find alternatives to fossil fuels, promote peace, and stop trying to find the meaning of life as a nation and as individuals in consumerism and militarism.
That's more than any president could accomplish.
* * *
I wanted to share a little joke Elie Wiesel told in his lecture at the University of Toledo last week. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor said that Jews believe the Messiah is yet to come to earth, while Christians believe he has already been here and will come again. The answer, Wiesel said, is simple: Wait for him to come and then ask him if he's been here before.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Nov. 4, 2008

As we watch the election results come in, here's an interesting election note:
My daughter Cara went to college in Australia and keeps in touch with her friends Down Under. One of them recently was fined $940 for not voting.
How's that for motivating people to get to the polls?
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Nov. 4, 2008

Few writers could spin a tale as compellingly as Dr. Michael Crichton, the medical doctor turned author who created such phenomenal best-sellers as "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain" as well as the TV show "E.R."

It was sad to hear that he died of cancer Tuesday at age 66. I've read a dozen of his books and always marveled at his ability to get you to turn the page. His characters weren't the deepest and dialogue wasn't always the sharpest but the plots were always so compelling. He had a knack for using technological advances as a scare tactic in a way that highlighted the double-edged sword of scientific discovery. His exploration of the ethical and moral implications of new technology is a lasting legacy.
I reviewed his book "Next" in December 2006 and concluded that the theme was powerful, about genetic mutation, but that the plot was fuzzy and the characters undeveloped. I'm sure that really hurt the feelings of an author who has sold tens of millions of books. I wonder if he even reads reviews?
Interestingly, Dr. Crichton's first few novels were written under the pseudonym of John Lange, because lange is German for tall. Crichton was 6'7".
The world has lost a great writer and thinker.
* * *
Finally, the endless presidential campaign is over, Barack Obama is our next president. I hope he's up for the task. His backers are confident he is, but as I've said previously, whoever moves into the White House on Jan. 20, 2009, is going to face a maelstrom of troubles.
I think Obama's lack of experience is going to be problematic, although he's a quick learner. He sure ran an impressive campaign, and raised double the campaign money than McCain.
I hope he surrounds himself with qualified, veteran people. That's the mark of a good leader, especially one with so many responsibilities as the President of the United States.
One thing that bothers me is the way people are almost delirious about his race. While it's a great thing that racism is finally being overcome and the election of an African-American is definitely a historic moment in American history, a person's race should never be the main or sole reason to vote for him or her. I think some voters were too preoccupied with the racial issue to pay attention to more important election criteria.
* * *
Speaking of President-elect Obama, he spent four days at Maumee Bay State Park near Toledo preparing for the final presidential debate, which gives me the chance to digress and mention that I played golf at Maumee Bay yesterday.
My son-in-law Matt and my friend Fred and I enjoyed the perfect weather -- 75 degrees in November, amazing for Ohio. Matt and Fred played well but I didn't score that great, although I didn't expect to since I haven't played much golf this year.
My father used to say that playing golf is like shaving, if you don't do it regularly you look like a bum. Words of wisdom.

I particularly enjoy it when I can walk a course instead of riding a cart. It's such a great rhythm and flow when you walk a golf course and get to soak in the ambience, the green grass and the shady trees and the animals scurrying by -- saw a huge white tail deer yesterday, lots of Canada geese, and, since I spent so much time in the tall rough, a few snakes.
I didn't know until I called about the course that the clubhouse closed for the winter on Nov. 2. The course is open, however. You put money in an envelope, write your name on it, and drop it in a box. And get this it's $10 all you can play now. It would be great to get out there again before the snow flies.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
November 6, 2007

I was listening to Tripping the Light Fantastic, an old Paul McCartney live album, and between songs Sir Paul said something that showed his love of language:
"Anyone here an F major?"
That's one way to interpret the phrase.
The ambiguity of the English language is what made his question so funny. The other way to interpret it is: "Anyone hear an F-major?"

OK, maybe it didn't sound as punny to you as it did to me and Sir Paul.
* * *
I've been off for a week but working very hard on a personal project. It's not easy to push yourself to excel and to accomplish goals. When I tackle something like this, it makes me marvel at the great athletes and musicians of the world.
We sit on our couches or in the stadiums or concert halls and watch them do their thing and often don't realize the tremendous dedication and hard work that goes into their achievements. Yes, they have natural abilities, but they also don't just sit around watching TV and eating ice cream all day and night. They are disciplined to the utmost.
So many people with tremendous talent have wasted their skills because they don't have discipline. On the other side, many people with modest talent have risen to the top because of their dedication and discipline. Wade Boggs is someone who fits that category. He was a low draft pick out of Tampa, my old hometown, and worked so hard at the game that he became a top hitter and a good fielder who enjoyed great success in the major leagues.
There was wisdom in a T-shirt I've seen that had an illustration of a basketball player and a saying that went something like this: "While you are watching TV, somebody, somewhere, is out there practicing and getting ready to beat you."
There are many examples of people who have frittered away their formidible skills, like Ohio State's Maurice Clarett and Art Schlicter, and some who have made fatal mistakes, such as musicians Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.
I heard about John Daly the other day and couldn't believe how low this golf phenom has sunk.
He hit the ball longer than anyone I've ever seen and won two major golf championships and a ton of money and then lost everything because of alcohol and gambling.
He admits to losing $80 million at casinos -- that's $80,000,000. I remember an article in in S.I. when he said Calloway Golf agreed to pay his debts and sponsor on condition he got professoinal help with his gambling addiction. He did but said he still gambled, only with restrictions. If I remember right, Daly he said he limits himself to betting no more than $30,000 at a time.
He's been divorced four times, got in trouble with police for domestic violence, and said he once ran 17 red lights in a row, explaining: "I ran this one red light and pretty soon I'm like, 'F--- it', and just kept goin'."
An Arkansas TV crew recently interviewed him on a golf course. Daly still has that full sweet swing but what a sight: he was playing in jeans, no shirt and no shoes, his huge belly hanging out. The reporter mentioned that Daley was recovering from surgery on a torn muscle in his stomach.

Here's a link to the interview with Daly.
No matter what, I'll never let my skills devolve like Daly has. But I have a long way to go to reach my personal goals. I pray daily (no pun intended) that God will help me make the most of the talents and experience He has given me.
* * *
Did you know George Orwell's real name was Eric Blair? He had trouble getting his work published because it was too political, so he wrote under a pen name and became a literary legend. He lived an ascetic life, forsaking material wealth, and died at age 46 of tuberculosis.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
November 8, 2008

I am already excited about the new U2 album now being recorded. It should be out early in 2009. Few bands have been able to tap into the spiritual and cultural world and create such a brilliant and meaningful combination of commentary and entertainment.
Many of their songs hit me like sermons.
Of course, U2 will always be known for their 1987 breakthrough album "The Joshua Tree" and such classics as "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "With or Without You." But there is much more to this mighty band. Every one of their discs has produced some fantastic songs that are both musically brilliant and lyrically powerful even if they don't make the singles charts or get airplay. "Playboy Mansion" from "Pop" is one such song; "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is another.
I think one of the reasons they are so successful is that they were childhood friends. They grew up together, became rich and famous together, and stuck it out through good times and bad together. That is the kind of bond and interpersonal chemistry you don't find very often in the cutthroat music business.
The last time U2 came out with an album of new material was late 2004, with "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." It went on sale on a Tuesday and I went the store to buy it at 12:01 a.m., the first time I'd ever done that for a new album. I guess you could say I was pumped for it.
I put the CD in my car stereo and headed west into the farmlands of Fulton County to crank it up. I thought it would be better than blasting the new disc at home and waking everyone up... and listening on headphones is not my favorite way to hear music. Listening to music in the confines of your own automobile as you're zipping along the highways and byways is one of modern life's true pleasures.
So here I am, around 12:30 in the morning, cruising blithely along the backroads in my classic Saab 900, when somewhere in the middle of the third song, "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," I heard and felt a loud "Thwap".
Something hit the car. I got out and checked and saw that some moron had thrown an egg. No harm done but it knocked me out of my reverie.
That's my pleasant memories of my first experience listening to "Atomic Bomb." Touching, isn't it?
* * *
So on we go to 2009 and the next album. Here's what Bono had to say on the band's official website, www.u2.com., about the new songs:

'We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop.' Bono has been talking to U2.Com about how the songs are shaping up for the new record and plans for 2009 to be their year.

‘This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again, ‘ explains Bono, calling in from a break in recording sessions in the south of France. ‘ We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth's atmosphere until he's taken a slice of the moon!
'It's been fun, it's been maddening... there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009.'

The band have been writing and recording the follow-up to ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ since last year, and the feeling is that they’ve hit a creative groove so there are no plans to stop. Everyone, he says, is excited about where the recording is taking them.

‘When we set out on this record it was Larry who came up with the plan not to have a plan. He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of…’

It’s an idea that’s paid off. Following sessions in Morocco, in Dublin and through the summer in France, the band have written ‘fifty or sixty’ tracks. And counting.

‘We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein,’ he explains. ‘It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we've found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?

For now, they’re keeping a promise they made to themselves when they started writing: ‘We said to each other that if we got to the great place then we wouldn’t stop…’

So the writing and recording continues and while they now know what shape most of the album will take, they're not leaving the studio just yet.

‘We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don’t want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album. It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point ?’

They have no doubts that it will be as important a release for U2 as any. ‘It’s a brand new chapter for us, and everyone we’ve played the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure.

‘The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby.’

He also mentions that the recording in Morocco was the first time the band have worked in a studio open to the sky: ‘On that track you can hear the sound of a swallows nest close to the building - it’s beautiful.’

Longtime collaborators Danny Lanois and Brian Eno have joined the band at different times, and, more recently, Steve Lillywhite – usually a tell-tale sign that a record is nearly done. ‘Steve has that ear for a top line melody and a good hook.’

But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.

‘I’m always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now', if it was just up to me they’d be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we’ve been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we’re going to start making an impression very early on …’
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
November 8, 2008

I received an email with these notable quotes today and thought the compilation was good enough to share with you, no matter your political persuasion. Hope it helps you decompress from all the election stress. -- David

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do
read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

My father, Ferdinand, was drafted into the Army in World War II and served in Europe during the war. He rode an amphibious "Duckboat" onto the beach at Normandy on D-Day and also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
I have three brothers who were in the Navy, including two who were in Vietnam during the war.
I have so much respect for our military veterans and wish them all the best on this Veterans Day. We owe our freedoms to you and we are grateful.
* * *
I went to see my primary care physician this morning and, thank God, he gave me a clean bill of health. I've gained a little weight since my last checkup, he pointed out. I do need to do something about that.
I'm going to set a goal of losing 20 pounds. Since it's the end of 2008, should I call it an Old Year's Resolution?
I once got a comment about my weight more from an unlikely source: Julio Iglesias.
It's true! I was backstage at his concert in Toledo and he came out of the dressing room looking for me, gave me a hug and poked me in the belly and said, "David, you need to exercise!"
Julio was a world-class athlete, by the way, playing goalie for Real Madrid, one of the top soccer teams in the world. He was severely injured in an auto accident and started strumming a guitar to help regain motor skills. That led to his music career. So when Julio says I need to lose weight, it's coming from somebody who knows about being in shape.

Here we are backstage at the Stranahan Theater. It's not the best photo because Julio's eyes are closed and I'm looking to the side, but Janet is all smiles.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
November 11, 2008

This story is almost unbelievable, but it has been widely reported by the world's media. The people responsible for this should be brought to justice and face punishment.
The punishment for this poor girl appears to have been ordered by Islamic militants based on their twisted interpretation of Sharia law, or a law based on Islamic teachings.
As I've said before, religion can bring out the worst in people.
Fortunately, it also can bring out the best. Here is a worst-case scenario.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in Kismayo rang unanswered Saturday.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it

I wrote that article on Bob Larson and his new reality TV show, The Real Exorcist, before the show premeired on the Sci-Fi channel Oct. 30.
There have been some interesting developments, as you can see in the video above.
For one, I've gotten lots of emails from people who say they are suffering from demonic oppression or possession and need help. I try to connect them with Bob Larson's ministry.
I did get one nasty email from someone who loathes Larson and claims he's a charlatan using his ministry to enrich himself. I expected more. He is definitely a controversial figure and attracts critics like a lightning rod attracts lightning.
While I was on vacation last week, I got a call at work from the Rev. Roger Miller, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Maumee, saying he was going to be on CNN thanks to my including him in my article on Larson/ (It's not the first time one of my stories led to CNN coverage.) Unfortunately, I didn't check my voice mail in time and missed Rev. Miller's call and the CNN segment, but I sure hope it went well.
Thanks to Pastor Miller for passing along this link to the segment, which is also posted above.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
November 12, 2008

I have been asked to take the Food Stamp Challenge, which is to try to eat for a week based on how much money a poor person gets in food stamps -- or $23.
If more than one person does it, you can pool your money with other family members or roommates which theoretically makes it a little easier. But if I do it, I'll be on my own.
The challenge is from Toledo Area Ministries, which tries to raise awareness of what life is like for our nation's poor.
I'm probably going to go ahead with it next week... Stay tuned.
* * *
At the other end of the financial spectrum, travel writer, television host and author Rick Steves is in Toledo tonight for Authors! Authors!
I'd love to see him, and am hoping I can get there despite some other things I should do. I really like Steves' shows on European travel and have bought some of his books and videos. He gets off the beaten path and always has great appreciation and enthusiasm for local culture.
* * *
Our book club met last night and we discussed Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. Nobody liked it. They wanted to get off the subject asap and talk about other things. They felt Miller is a whiner with nothing positive to offer, he just airs his gripes about the church.
That may be true, but young people love the book. It has sold more than a million copies, which shows that it is connecting with people.
I think it's a generational thing. Fans of Blue Like Jazz are typically college age and grew up in the church but are put off by hypocrisy and self-indulgence. They either (a) avoid church altogether now or (b) attend an alternative kind of church.
What we need to learn from Miller's writing is what is important about church and what is not important; what is it about a church that promotes Jesus and spirituality and what is it that throws up barriers and turns people off?
Society is going through an upheaval, and Blue Like Jazz offers a view from inside a generation that feels alienated by "religious" people and disappointed by church as usual.
* * *
This is blog entry No. 400.
Thanks to all you readers out there in the great blogosphere. Your interest is what keeps me interested in keeping this going.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
November 12, 2008

It was rainy, gray and cold in Toledo yesterday but I had a full day that included two fascinating interviews during the work day, followed by an amazingly entertaining presentation in the evening by travel writer Rick Steves.
My first interview yesterday was with Kim Phuc. If you're like me, the name at first did not ring a bell. But a photo did.
She is the little girl whose most horrorific life experience was captured in a photograph that has become an indelible reminder of the Vietnam War.
Kim was 9 years old when Americans dropped napalm on her village. She was burned over 65 percent of her body and ran down the road, naked and screaming from the pain of the burns.
Today, she is 45 years old and a devout Christian. Kim is coming to Toledo this Sunday to speak at Liberty Baptist Church on Jackman Road.
I spoke with her from Toronto, where she lives, and she said that for years after the attack she was so filled with anger and bitterness and pain that she felt hopeless and wanted to die. She prayed to Buddha and numerous other gods and kept asking, "Why me?"

Good question; tough question. At age 19, she was in a library and picked up a copy of the New Testament, in Vietnamese. The words of Jesus in John 14:6 struck her deeply: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
That led her down a new path and one that led to peace and forgiveness. Today she is 45 years old and travels around the world speaking about love and peace and Jesus Christ.
Quite a story. You can read more on her website.
I'll have a story about her this Saturday.
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Next up, I interviewed Darren Wilson. He is a professor in Chicago who wrote and produced a documentary called Finger of God. It started when his aunt and uncle told him that some of their teeth had turned to solid gold at a church service.
He was skeptical and probably would have dismissed as sheer looniness except that he knew these people well, and trusted them.
Wilson started to look into miracles God was performing today and that led him to travel literally around the world. In Africa, he spoke to someone who had been resurrected from death after people prayed for him, and in Cour d'Alene, Idaho, people testified that gemstones just appeared on their lawns.
Lots of amazing, mind-boggling stories.
Wilson started as a skeptic but ultimate began to believe these miracle stories were true.
Here's a link to his website.
My article will be running sometime in the next few weeks.
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In the evening, I went to see travel writer Rick Steves give a talk in the Authors! Authors! series. He spoke for 90 minutes, with some great slides, speaking mostly about his European travels, with some sharp political jabs included that you don't see on his PBS show.
About his trip to Iran, he said, "I think it's good to get to know someone before you bomb them." He went on to explain that it's easy to demonize people and to bomb stereotypes, but it's a lot different when you get to know the people. If you still need to go to war, then so be it. But don't make it too easy by looking at the enemy as a bunch of sinister maniacs.
He also spoke of the benefits Europeans enjoy by legalizing marijuana and prostitution, compared to the crime and costs involved in the U.S. system.
Steves "took a break" to sign books for 15 minutes in the lobby, then returned to the stage and gave a 75-minute encore presentation about the recent two-week trip to Iran. An hour-long special is due to air in January.
I like Steves' style and thought his travelogue was extremely entertaining.
The place was packed -- probably 1,100 people -- and I came by myself, which I'm not used to doing. I spotted a seat at the end of an aisle near the front and asked the man sitting next to it if the seat was open. He said with a smile, "Yes, for you it is. We've been waiting for you."
He introduced himself and his wife. What a wonderful gesture. We chatted the whole night and I greatly appreciated their friendliness.
A little effort to be kind to strangers can make such a difference in this world.
Steves has a terrific website jammed with information. Check it out here.
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Sylvania, Ohio
November 13, 2008

Mark Foley, who resigned from Congress in 2006 after he was caught sending sexually explicit computer mesages to male teens working as Capitol Hill pages, gave his first post-scandal interview last week to the Associated Press.
The former Florida Republican didn't accept complete responsibility for his actions, saying the boys were 17 and not "prepubescent." He also said they never told him to stop or complained that it was "inappropriate."
Foley is deluding himself by (a) justifying his sexual conversations with a minor because the teen is "almost 18" and (b) thinking a 17-year-old boy is going to confront a powerful congressman on sucn a personal scenario. Few boys would have the inner strength to do such a thing and the congressman is wrong to put the burden on the boys, saying they should have told him to stop.
But Foley also talked about being sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was a boy.
"I loved my early life, and then along comes a priest ... who forces me into a sexual relationship at the age of 12. And right shortly thereafter, I fail eighth grade. I start drugs. I start drinking. I start smoking. My entire life ... implodes."
The clerical sexual abuse was revealed shortly after Foley resigned from Congress, when his attorney announced that Foley was gay and an alcoholic and had been abused as a boy by a priest.
This is a case that illustrates the severity of trauma and the life-changing negative impact of clerical sexual abuse.
As many victims have told me, tearfully, they and their parents trusted their priest implicitly.
When this authority figure, both spiritually and culturally, sexually molested them, it was more than physical abuse. It affected the victims' spiritual lives as well. The painful term that people often use to describe it is "soul rape."
Many victims turn to drugs or alcohol or other self-destructive behavior that can last the rest of their lives.
Studies have also shown repeatedly that people who are abused as children often grow up to become abusers.
I feel sorry former Congressman Mark Foley and truly hope he gets the proper help.
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I had two stories published today that I think were very interesting.
The first is about a post-election poll looking into the religious vote and concluding that Obama's election signals the end of the religious right. Click here to read the article and here to read the poll.
The second was my interview with Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese girl burned in a napalm attack in 1972 and after years of bitterness and suffering found peace when she became a Christian in 1982.

* * *
Odd accident: A local woman was arrested for drunk driving after she jumped out of a car that she abandoned on railroad tracks and which was hit by an Amtrak train.
How do you get your car stuck on railroad tracks? It was raining, maybe her tires were spinning. I can't imagine. It must have been quite a scene.
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I watched American Gangster last night. It was a long movie (nearly 3 hours) but very well done, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, based on the real-life story of heroin kingpin Frank Lucas.
I don't usually like mob stories, they're often too bloody and brutal. This one had its moments but overall was not too gory. There is a scene near the end when they confront one another in a jail holding area -- Denzel the criminal, Crowe the straight cop -- that showed why these two stars are among today's finest actors.
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Toledo, Ohio
November 15, 2008

I have been working on a redesign of my website and blog and have been lax as far as new entries.

I’ll be brief tonight: I have started the Food Stamp Challenge, trying to live on a $23 grocery budget for the week, the amount the average Food Stamp recipient receives. It’s not easy, that’s for sure.

I went grocery shopping and every penny counted. I bought off-brand cereal rather than the name brand, to save 28 cents. I bought bananas instead of apples because they are so much cheaper.

I skipped my grocery vices such as cheez-its and substituted as a snack the old-fashioned kind of pop corn, the kernels that don't come wrapped in individual packages and which you cook on the stove.

I'm drinking cherry kool-aid instead of diet coke.

A colleague at work who also volunteered for this challenge asked me today if I wanted to split a tea bag, which sell for 10 cents in the company's coffee room. She figured we could get two cups of tea out of one bag, so that cuts the cost to 5 cents each.

It’s only been one day so far, but living on $3.28 a day for food is an eye opener, and a strong note to the stomach that hunger is real. The purpose of this challenge is to empathize with people whose only source of food is what they can buy with Food Stamps. The program is supposed to be a grocery supplement but officials say there are many recipients who don't have anything except the Food Stamps (which by the way is now a misnomer because the old stamp system has been repleaced with an electronic card similar to debit and credit cards).

Lors more to talk about next time... nice to be back in the swing of things.
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Sylvania, Ohio
November 17, 20008

It's been a rough time for Michigan fans. Sure it's a rebuilding year but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be humiliated! Losing to Toledo was bad enough, but to get blown out by Ohio State yesterday just added insult to injury.
Real fans stick through their team through thick and thin, but this "thin" stuff has been going on for too long.
I can't wait for the basketball season to start. At least my precious Dukies always give us a good show, and most of the time a great show.
I couldn't believe Rich Rodriguez, Michigan's new head coach, said the Ohio State game was just another game.
It's just a game in the way the Super Bowl is just a game, or the World Series is just a game. All sports are just a game but some are more important than others, Richie my friend. Wake up and learn how to coach!
It just shows how out of touch Rodriguez is with the history and drama and intensity of this unparalleled rivalry.
I missed this but my daughter Dana said when Rodriguez was interviewed by ESPN shortly before the game he compared it to the Lion King movie. What a joke.
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Nov. 23, 2008
Sylvania, Ohio

I re-read a 2004 interview with Barack Obama discussing his faith with Cathleen Falsani, the Chicago Sun-Times religion columnist.

The future president, who had just won election to the U.S. Senate, said flatly that he is a Christian, but when he was asked to expand on his belief system, the strings started to unravel.
If Obama is a Christian then you have to wonder about the semantics. I am not one to judge a person's spirituality but there are certain non-negotiables in religions and it looks to me, based on this interview, that President-elect Obama is trying to negotiate his own brand of Christianity.
I'll give you a few examples and then give you a link so you can read the entire interview.

Q.: What is sin?
A.: Being out of alignment with my values.
Q. What happens if you have sin in your life?
A: I think it's the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I'm true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I'm not true to it, it's its own punishment.

On heaven:
What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don't presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die.

On hell:
I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.

Miscellaneous excerpts:
I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.

My mother, who I think had as much influence on my values as anybody, was not someone who wore her religion on her sleeve. We'd go to church for Easter. She wasn't a church lady.

I'm not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I've got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others. I'm a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at its best comes with a big dose of doubt.

On Trinity United Church Church of Christ and it's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
Q. Do you still attend Trinity?
A. Yep. Every week. 11 o'clock service. Ever been there? Good service.

Q. Do you pray often?
A. Uh, yeah. I guess I do.

Fascinating, don't you think? Here is a link to the entire interview.
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In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume