One Christian\u2019s perspective on the day\u2019s news:<\/p>\n
0.\u00a0 Laura Ling and Euna Lee tell their own story<\/a>.\u00a0 They tell it well.\u00a0 I\u2019m reserving comment for later.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 The Roman Catholic Church (as explained here<\/a>) has issued a Prayerbook for Couples<\/em> that looks quite nice, and that features a prayer to say together before sex.\u00a0 I like it.\u00a0 A nice counterweight to the animalization of sex in the broader culture, the focus on performance and self-satisfaction and gymnastic variety.<\/p>\n The prayer asks God \u2018to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes\u2026Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will\u2026Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.\u2019<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 At Patheos I began a series of videos I call YEV? \u2014 or Why are you an Evangelical?\u00a0 I find that many friends and acquaintances, even Christian friends and acquaintances, don\u2019t understand why a person would be Evangelical when there seems to be so much baggage with the term and even with the tradition.\u00a0 The series has led to some interesting videos, for sure.\u00a0 Yesterday I came across this blog entry from Parchment and Pen, where C. Michael Patton (whose material has appeared thrice at Patheos) explains<\/a> why he believes evangelicalism is still the best option.\u00a0 Although his answer is slightly different from mine, it\u2019s an excellent answer.\u00a0 For those who are willing to read a longer answer, the \u201cEvangelical Manifesto<\/a>\u201d is probably the best place to go.\u00a0 But Michael Patton does a fine job of giving a more distilled response.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Next Tuesday the President will give an address directly to school children.\u00a0 Given the proper preparation and discussion (as laid out here<\/a>), it\u2019s an excellent educational opportunity.\u00a0 But I\u2019m eager to see what the speech actually addresses.\u00a0 Hopefully his advisers are wise enough to steer him away from anything that could prove contentious.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 Moving to hard news, it appears that the President is finally willing<\/a> to abandon the public option.\u00a0 There are several questions: (1) Will Congress also abandon the public option?\u00a0 Many Congresspeople are saying no.\u00a0 (2) Is it possible that the Senate would drop the public option in order to get past a filibuster threat, and the House would pass a bill with a public option, and the public option would be included in the reconciliation process?\u00a0 (3) Many conservatives, since they believe that single-payer is the goal for the liberals who lead the Democratic party, will suspect that co-ops are merely a prelude to a public option \u2014 in effect, adding one more step on the stairway to single-payer.<\/p>\n David Axelrod previews the shape of their argument when he says that Obama\u2019s \u201cgoal is to create the best possible situation for consumers, create competition and choice.\u00a0 We want to bring a measure of security to people who have health insurance today. We want to help those who don\u2019t have coverage today, because they can\u2019t afford it, get insurance they can afford. And we want to do it in a way that reduces the overall cost of the system as a whole.\u201d\u00a0 The administration will emphasize \u201ccompetition and choice,\u201d \u201csecurity,\u201d broader coverage, and \u201creduc[ing] the overall cost.\u201d\u00a0 To my mind, it strains credulity to the breaking point to claim that all of these things can be accomplished together.\u00a0 The tension is between \u201cchoice\u201d and \u201creducing\u201d cost on the one hand, and security (which means all sorts of mandates on who and what must be covered, meaning more expenses for insurers) and expanded coverage on the other.<\/p>\n In any case, it will be interesting to see how the hard left responds.\u00a0 This could be explosive.\u00a0 As Politico notes, the battle might benefit Obama politically, at least with independents, as he shows he is not entirely beholden to his base.\u00a0 The question is: will he gain more points form independents than he will lose from liberals?\u00a0 Obama is less concerned with losing liberals in the long term, since he can win them back before the election (though probably with less fanatical devotion).\u00a0 But he is rapidly losing the trust of independents, and that is a far more troubling development for him politically.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 Good news<\/a> for the millions of women who struggle with fertility.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 BP made a \u201chuge<\/a>\u201d oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 What might we discover if we were allowed to drill for exploration?\u00a0 We often hear that the United States might as well not drill for our own oil because we have only 4% of \u201cthe world\u2019s proven oil reserves.\u201d\u00a0 The key word there is \u201cproven.\u201d\u00a0 That means that we only know about enough oil to account for 4% of the world\u2019s total.\u00a0 But the kicker: American law has prevented us from exploring for new oil for the past 25 years or so\u2013and the technology of oil exploration has grown substantially since we were last allowed to explore.\u00a0 It\u2019s verbal sleight of hand.\u00a0 Why, in the midst of a severe recession, we do not allow American companies, which would employ American workers, to explore American territory for a precious natural resource that Americans could use\u2013especially when current technologies allow us to do so in an environmentally friendly way\u2013is beyond me.\u00a0 Yes, ultimately we need to devise other energy technologies, but we will continue to use oil at a high or a low rate for the rest of our lifetimes, and it will always be valuable.<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0 Amazing how \u201cBig Brother\u201d conspiracy theories<\/a> arise among the opposition, no matter which party is in power.\u00a0 The fact that Bush did not in fact seize perpetual power and establish a theocracy (I actually saw this foretold on lefty sites) will not prevent Democrats from having conspiracy theories the next time a Republican is President.\u00a0 And conservatives tend to do the same.\u00a0 Some of them, at least.\u00a0 Then there are conservatives such as Michelle Bachman (who likes to compare herself to Sarah Palin, but she has nowhere near the charisma of Palin), who say that Obamacare would equal slavery<\/a>.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get a grip, folks.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0 Concerns rise<\/a> over the H1N1 flu.\u00a0 And I understand; my baby daughter is allergic to egg, so she cannot have the flu vaccine.\u00a0 It worries me.\u00a0 But the CDC says that they find it quite likely that H1N1 is less dangerous <\/em>than the regular flu.<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0 Finally, Today\u2019s Two Sides.\u00a0 Not exactly opposing opinions here, but David Ignatius<\/a> and David Harsanyi<\/a> have two very strong arguments that are worth reading on the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One Christian\u2019s perspective on the day\u2019s news: 0.\u00a0 Laura Ling and Euna Lee tell their own story.\u00a0 They tell it well.\u00a0 I\u2019m reserving comment for later. 1.\u00a0 The Roman Catholic Church (as explained here) has issued a Prayerbook for Couples that looks quite nice, and that features a prayer to say together before sex.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[493,560,566,176,583,591,592,640,310,679,701,1362],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-afghanistan","tag-droption","tag-euna-lee","tag-evangelical","tag-h1n1","tag-health-care","tag-health-care-reform","tag-laura-ling","tag-obama","tag-oil","tag-public-option","tag-sex"],"yoast_head":"\n