Ive been debating with myself for almost two months whether to write this blog. When Scott commented on my first post about Baggage, I knew that the only way to fully explain what I meant would be to tell a story not every person in my life knows. In fact, I can count on my fingers and toes the number of people who know this. The only person in my family who knows is my mother, so my family, here it is
Scott asked me what I meant by choosing transformation rather than the recognition that we are utterly dependent on Gods wisdom and power to redeem our ragged brokenness? I agree, many times in life we believe in our own personal power to will-away our past. We have the mistaken idea that our own poor choices can be managed and hidden. After all, we got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves out of it. Its this attitude that drives our past further from the present possibility of embracing our ragged brokenness and the redemptive and reconciling power of Christ. But this blog isnt about the kind of baggage that we inflict on ourselves or others. This blog is about the baggage that has been inflicted on us.
Forgiveness. In Christian circles, Ive found the issue of forgiveness is often treated with such cliche driven drivel. Rarely do we talk about the kind of forgiveness necessary in those circumstances where part of ourselves has been ripped from us. For me this took the form of a neighbor, a camper, and the stealing away of my innocence at seven years old. Im sure you can put the pieces together. As a boy I would have nightmares, reliving this event, so afraid, so ashamed. I thought something was wrong with me.
Fast forward to my sophomore year of college. My RD (Resident Director) at a small Christian liberal arts college in Ohio and I had become friends. All year I wanted to talk to him about it but I was ashamed, not about what happened to me but about my response. What I wanted to do to the person who did this to me. A speaker talked about forgiveness in chapel and I got up and walked out. I cried all the way to my dorm room. I knew that my severe hatred had overtaken me. I knew that my continued embrace of hatred would paralyze me.
At 3AM I walked down to my RDs office and, by some miracle, he was there. I sat down, in silence, for what seemed like days. I just sat there, unable to get the words out of my mouth. Unable to verbalize, for the first time, what had been driving me toward a life of self-preservation, not allowing anyone close enough to me to really know me. In fact, that was my life. I kept people at a distance, but close enough that nobody asked any questions.
As I sat there, trying to get the words H-E R-A-P-E-D M-E out of the tightly sealed bottle that had been wedged into the deepest recesses of my soul, I fought one of the most intense battles of my life that would define who I would choose to become. I had to make a choice to begin the long road of forgiveness or continue to live a life of self-preservation. I dont know how long I sat there. But finally,  I slowly formed the words. My RD didnt say anything. He just sat there as I stared at the commercial carpeting in his office. I said it again. I said it again and, finally, those words didnt come so hard.
Complete forgiveness is a process, not the instantaneous thing I had always thought it would be. I met with my RD every week. We talked and read a book, but mainly we just talked. My process took a few years. I began by praying, out loud, God, please help me not want to kill him. Hey, thats extreme but Im just being honest. It took me months to get to the point of not wanting to take his life. Then I began praying, God, help me not to hate him. Again, months went by and I finally reached the point where I prayed, God, help to forgive him. This last part took over a year. I prayed this several times a day. And, finally, when I prayed, the words didnt come so hard.
Its only by the grace of God that I could forgive him, but I had to choose the kind of transformation I told myself I wanted. Its one thing to think you want it. Its an entirely different matter to choose the long, difficult process of asking God to help you forgive when you arent sure you want to be helped. In our ragged brokenness, we choose to allow Christ a space in which he can begin transforming our life, from hate to forgiveness. And out of this crevasse, my life was slowly transformed.
The past eleven years, since I finally uttered those impossible words, Ive had the opportunity to talk to many people in my situation. I dont know how but I can tell when people have had a similar experience. In these conversations, I had to suppress my tendency for self-preservation, the desire not to allow Christ to use all of me regardless of peoples response. I had to embrace my life, all of it.
Embracing all of my life, for me, looks like a very different kind of life. A life where I do what I can for those around me, whether I know them or not. The desire to put myself out there, open and wounded, for people to accept or reject. The desire to not give a rats ass whether or not I would get screwed in the process. Self-preservation doesnt allow us to make the first move, to let others in so deep that they, in turn, feel comfortable uttering those same words to us. Thats shalom. Thats one small way Ive been able to participate in the message of reconciliation and redemption that converges in the cross. To release life in others, I must release it in myself. And, for me, releasing life in myself required me to do the most difficult thing Ive ever done utter those words.

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I've always loved the scene in The Wire where Cutty walks into Avon's office and nervously asks Avon for money for his boxing gym, and Avon and Slim Charles just crack up when they learn the amount he is asking for.

Cutty: I know I can go around, collect a dollar here, a dollar there...
Avon: How much money you talkin' bout?
Cutty: (big pause)... Ten thousand.
Avon (laughing): Slim, go get him fifteen thousand, cash.

Now, can't you just imagine a similar sequence with Robert Willumstad, CEO of AIG, walking into the federal reserve offices and nervously asking Ben Bernanke for the 40 billion AIG needed to escape the credit downgrade, and Bernanke and Hank Paulson just start laughing and give him 85 billion instead?

Never thought I'd see the day when Wall Street reminds me of a downtown Baltimore drug cartel in a tv series.

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I took a couple days off from my meditation practice, due to my dog being sick and keeping my wife and I up at night, so I ended up opting for more sleep. I realize this wasn't the best choice, but its done, so I will try to make a stronger effort next time. In any case I got right back to it this morning. Unfortunately it was the worst session yet. My wife was up and about getting ready to go to work. Even though I was up in the loft, I could still hear her making noise and talking to the dog. I found this to be a very large distraction and couldn't focus at all. I struggled with it for about 6 min, and then just gave up for a while, until she had left for work, then I sat down and tried again. I was able to focus much more clearly and had a fairly successful second go at it.

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You can easily find the cafe when you walked in, its just infront of pepperlunch, fishco., aries, and behind coffeeclub.

Which is "STREETS' CAFE" .

Its cost $6.90++ for a bowl of shrimp wanton mee, [sorry there is no photos of it, as i am too excited to eat it], you can choose if you want the noodle to be dry or soup, but i think the soup want is nicely as the soup is extremely nice. While the dry wan is not really nice becoz the chili not spicy and not tasty enough.

Its very worth it lor, inside the bowl of shrimp wanton mee, there is about 5 wanton, veg, and noodle, the noodle is very Q. Eat the shrimp wanton with some soup on your spoon and some green chili and once you put into your mouth, the soup taste will spread all your mouth.

Normally you eat the shrimp wanton, the auntie all very stingy right, they will onli wrap half of the shrimp inside the wanton, but this is different lor, there wrap about 3 to 4 shrimp inside ONE wanton. VERY WORTH IT RIGHT!
This CAFE atmosphere is very nice and you can also enjoy your high-tea there too, they served dim-sim with a affortable price! Do go down with your family/friends to enjoy their great food there.
Average waiting time : 10 mins and 20 mins when peak hours.
Their seats is very limited, do go down earlier or you can phone them up to reserve tables when there is more than 10 ppl.

Its not becoz i worked there before so i highly recommend this cafe, its becoz its really nice and worth it!

PLUS! They had good customers' service! Try their ICE-MILK TEA too!

NOTE: Do only go to IMM Bulding's "Streets CAFE" instead of the others franchise' as its not really nice at other outlet.

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Another take on addiction
Zen Master Yasutani, in his Eight Beliefs in Buddhism, said that a person commits suicide because he cannot live in the way in which he would like. At first glance, this seems a little cold-blooded; such a selfish explanation for a devastating act which can hurt so many people.
But when we think about it, we realize that it is true.
When someone is in such suffering, despair, pain or anger that they decide not to continue living, they are not accepting their life just as it is is at this moment.
They want something other than what they ended up with. They also are not accepting the possibility of change, either in their circumstances or in their own responses.
I think Yasutani could have extended his observations to addiction.

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PAX 2008, we got some hands on time with their newest creation, Demigod. The first thing we noticed while watching it running on glowing, envy-inducing PCs was how deliberate much of it looked. Everything from the unit/map design to the ease-of-use control scheme oozed hours of careful consideration on developer GPG's part. While the concept of Demigod tends to bewilder many who hear it -- ourselves included -- understanding the idea only took us a few minutes of playing the atypical strategy game.

Players only control their Demigod and its set of abilities. Our time was spent with the RPG-style Torchbearer, a Norse flavored character that can switch between ice and fire modes. We were digging his armored-burn-victim look, which just so happened to feature more armor and less burn. The Torchbearer is all about freezing everything before switching to fire and watching the screen light up as your enemies burn. Our magical offensive certainly got us some kills, but it wasn't moving the battlefront at all. Once we began to work more attentively with our AI-controlled troops of the non-Skynet variety, the battle quickly shifted to our favor.

Our actions in-game where peppered by murmurs of, "Oh, whoa." and "I want this game, now" from various onlookers behind us. We were starting to agree with this sentiment. It surprised us to find out that the game is actually running on a version of the Supreme Commander engine, as we saw more visual variety in 30 minutes with Demigod than we ever did playing hours of SupCom. GPG assured us that the system requirements are designed to include low-end machines, which is very much due to the fact that Demigod doesn't try to do a thousand things at once on-screen while you play it. (our wallets say thanks) Looking at the game, it was fairly hard to imagine that the harpy-like creatures and wiggling death-plant-things were living in the same engine that featured angular robot-spiders and hover tanks that bogged down our computers just a year and half ago. All in all, Demigod looks like it's going to steal away our precious personal time when it eventually ships on Stardock's Impulse service next year.

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During my time at the Magic Convention yesterday I had the pleasure of checking out Mos Def, Asher Roth and Sean Price do their thing on stage for a little bit (amongst other things, which are coming soon). Here goes Mos rocking over Lil Waynes A Millie. MySpace shot the quality to death, but it was my only choice as both imeem and vimeo were giving me shit. I was also gonna upload an a capella version of Ashers Cannon Freestyle but my man Dara (SCThreads.

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Bobby asked me a really good question - Why do I think that the Trinity is such a big issue?

It was never my intention that this blog should be a forum for discussing such a topic but, given the fact that Unitarians have had an historic link with universalism, I guess it was inevitable.

To start, I think that it is important to point out that all the Christian thinkers who thrashed out the doctrine of the Trinity from 2nd to 5th centuries did not think that they were 'inventing' new truths or adding to revelation. They were simply seeking to find ways of doing justice to the divine self-revelation testified to in Scripture. They wanted to preserve the fine balances required to appreciate the God revealed in Christ. Indeed, for them the debate was never about abstract and irrelevant theological talk - though it may look that way to us at first glance - it was always about the God of the gospel.

I personally take the Christian tradition very seriously and in my view the fact that the ecumenical creeds have governed Christian belief in all three major streams of the Church for centuries gives them prima facie authority. As Christians we'd need very strong reasons to reject them. So I am not starting from a neutral place in this discussion.

Is the idea biblical? Some people never tire of pointing out that the word "Trinity" does not occur in the Bible. But that is simply irrelevant. If the concept is the best way of doing justice to biblical revelation then the Trinity is biblical even if the word is a later label used for convenience.

Where to start? I simply intend to make a few, simple and provisional remarks as the topic is VAST!

All the early Christians were good monotheistic Jews. For them there was one God and to worship any other deity was to commit the primal sin of idolatry. But here's the funny thing: As far as we can tell from the extant evidence the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus offered to their Messiah the worship due to God alone and they did not think that in so doing they were compromising their monotheism. (Richard Bauckham's book God Crucified and Larry Hurtado's book Lord Jesus Christ explore this issue at length).

Worship of Christ goes back to the earliest levels of the tradition that we can access. Given the robust monotheism of those who worshipped Jesus this is an extraordinary fact that needs accounting for. How could solid monotheistic Jews worship Jesus in good conscience?

In early Christian worship and theology Jesus was approached as the one though whom God made all created things (e.g., Jn 1:3; Col 1:16); the one who sits upon the very same throne as God (e.g. Rev 22:3); the one who receives the worship of God (e.g., Phil 2:10-11, note the allusion to Isa 45:23); as one who bears God's own name (Phil 2:9); as one who is even called "God"on occasion (e.g., Jn 20:28; Heb 1:8). Old Testament texts about YHWH are applied to Jesus (e.g., Isa 45:23 in Phil 2:10-11 or Ps 45:6-7 in Heb 1:8). Jesus' human body is the divine temple in which the very glory of God dwells (Jn 1:14). And so on and so forth. If Jesus did not participate in the identity of the one God of Israel then all this was idolatry.

And yet the early Christians were very clear that Jesus' identification with YHWH was not such that Jesus was identical with his Father in heaven. God (the Father) created all things through his Word (1 Cor 8:6 - which, incidentally, is a Christian expansion of the Jewish shema from Deut 6:4); the throne in heaven is "the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev 22:3); and when Jesus prayed to his Father in heaven he was not talking to himself.

So in the very earliest Christian responses to God in the light of the Christ-event we find a tension. Jesus shares in the identity of Israel's one God and yet is not identical with the Father. Trinitarian theology is the attempt to clarify this tension and to guard it again those who would deny the deity of Christ (Arianism) and those who would say that Jesus and the Father are the same 'Person' in different disguises (Modalism). It also guards against a whole range of other unbalancing theologies. The aim is not to explain God or to put God in a box and understand him. God is mysterious - and this assertion is not an attempt to dodge hard philosophical issues but a simple admission that God's bigger than our little brains. The aim of the systematic formulations of Trinitarian theology is to protect certain fundamental Christian claims about God and the gospel from being lost. It is to preserve the delecate balances of the divine self-revelation.

A similar process took place with the Holy Spirit after the controversies over the person of Christ had died down. Perhaps people might like to pick that up in conversations (this blog does not wish to outstay its welcome).

But it is not just a matter about how to interpret certain texts. Issues surrounding the deity of Christ had theological import.

All of the Father's interaction with the universe - from creation through to new creation - is mediated through the Son and in the Spirit. If Son and Spirit are creatures (even highly exalted creatures) then God has no direct contact with his universe at all. God disappears off into the distance leaving us to engage with super-beings (the Son and the Spirit) instead. But Trinitarian theology, by insisting that Son and Spirit participate in the identity of the one God, puts God right at the heart of all creative and redemptive action. When Christ is saving us from sin God is saving us from sin. When Christ is with us God is with us. When the Spirit draws us through Christ to the Father God is drawing us through God to God. It's God all the way down.

Of course, please do not think I underplay the humanity of Christ - it is simply that this post is not on that issue. Christ is able to fully save us because he is divine but he is able to save us because he is fully human and can represent humanity.

Universalism does not require Trinitarian theology (it does not even require theistic theology). Christian universalism, I think, does. I know that in saying this I will anger a whole load of blog readers. Oh well. I'm getting used to upsetting people.

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There is no second chances in life. Every decision that I make is final and there is nothing I can do to revise it. What college I choose to go to, what girl I choose to make my own, all those decisions are set in stone. As much as I woud like to in the future, I can never relive the college experience at another college, I will never be able to feel like a freshmen at Andover again.
For the past year, I have been able to finally experience what is. I have laughed at the joys of it, and relentlessly endured the pains of it. As foolish as I might have been, I had thought that I had found the girl in my life, and we had slowly began to plan our future. How we are gonna stay in college, how she wanted to be proposed to, when we will engage, where we will live All those promises first were out of jest, but over time I had slowly began to believe them. I had waged everything on this relationship,and now I find it hard to retract my love.
Right now I am in the stage of my love. I had helplessly watched my girlfriend grow more and more distant with me with every day despite my best efforts. I could do nothing but stand aside as she broke all the promises we made for the summer one by one. All of this aggitated me and deeply bothered me. I provoked a fight with her so she could know how much strain she was putting on me, but I instead found that she didnt care anymore. She didnt about me or our relationship anymore. Love,once lost, is almost impossible to regain. I know that. But what am I to do? While she was spending her summer forgetting me, I was trying everything I can to keep her and our relationship fresh on my mind, so my love wouldnt dull.
Right now I am at a dilemna. My relationship is deteriorating fast, and I think my chances of reviving it are slim at best. Should I fight it out to the end  and keep true to my promises at the risk of being severely scarred and hurt? Should I give up and end it? I know that there are always other girls out there, but it will never be this girl again. She was my first girl for many things. The first girl I truely loved, the first girl who I confided my family troubles in, the first girl that understood, the first girl that I felt like I could do anything for,and the first girl that I cared about more than myself She was able to melt away my deepest worries and she was always able to cheer me up. If I end it now, I will never be given another chance, my life will never be with her; the future that we had dreamed up, the future that I had looked forward to so much, will be become nothing than a dream, vanish from reality, but coming back to haunt me with what could have been. I am scared of my future without her, the uncertainties. Would I ever be as happy as I was with her? Can I ever be happy knowing that shes with another guy? Will I ever be able to let go?
My last relationship, which was 2 years ago and lasted only 2 months, took me well over 6 months to completely forget. This relationship, which is 10 months now, will quite possibly drive me to insanity for a few weeks if we were to break up.
What am I to do now.

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You can easily and quickly create an online interactive avatar with Google Lively as well as a virtual 3d room and then embed it into your web page or blog. It is easy to create your own avatar and customize things like eyebrows, clothing, look, and more. Options are added to the online catalog every day so there should be even more customization in the future.

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I am now beavering away down in sunny Cornwall re-writing my first ever book Slim-4-Life, freedom from the food trap and of course surfing! The weather has been amazing and the beach here is one of the best in Europe. All the time I lived in London I had no idea of the beauty of Cornwall if you have never been, you are missing out.

I wrote Slim 4 Life eight years ago, well before I had a publishing deal, I just felt it was my duty to get down on paper all that I had discovered and share my message with people. For the first time in my life I had genuinely gained freedom from the food trap and I just wanted the world to know how to stop letting food control them. During those months of writing the original 'Slim 4 Life' I was continually told I would never get the book published and I was bombarded by people with statistics of how few books ever made it to the shelf. I wasnt perturbed by the negativity as I had an inner knowing that what I had to say could change the way people look at food forever.

The day I posted my original manuscript back in 2001 to Harper Collins, I said to my mother I have either just posted a load of paper with ink on or something that could change hundreds of thousands of lives (including my own)

In less than 24 hours I received a phone call from Wonda Whitley of Harper Collins, saying she had received the manuscript and that it was The best thing she had read on the subject in 25 years! she said the manuscript was Like a cold glass of water on a hot summers day This was a remarkable event, as I now know that less than 1% of all manuscripts written ever get read by a publisher and to be contacted in less than 24 hours was unprecedented. I vividly remember that life changing moment as I rollerbladed through Dulwich Park saying "Great day" to random strangers and beaming from ear to ear - If I could bottle that feeling and sell it I would be a millionaire many times over. As they say in Hollywood, the rest is history and I got the publishing deal that set me off on the journey to become The Juice Master became very successful and changed thousands of people lives, however eight years on it is time for a re-vamp as so much has happened in the industry since then and there is so much more I want to share with people. It is amazing to look back and wonder how so many things can change in such a short space of time with the same subject. The publishers are looking for a January 2009 launch which means they need the new manuscript by 31st July! On that note, Ive got to get back to it

Have a great week folks and keep juiced.

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saw stars last nite. kind of moody but over le (:
things abt today. i pass my common test. LOL !! next is onli maths. i am having my retest next wed. boohoo. still not prepared. sch is still sucks to me !! go for e sake of goin. SIANZ.
Xj go sign up for her btt le. congrats. after i take my btt 2 days after tat is urs. muz jia you k?? today after sch meet up with her. wait for her to sign up for her student in ssdc. by den its already near to 6. went buddy hoagies to have our dinner. YUM YUM !! juz love e food there. XJ ! i wanna slim down but according to e way i eat kind of impossible eh. LOL ! ppl pls jio me out for badminton, basketball, cycling or jogging. i won mind coz i really need to slim down. LOL !!
soon its gonna be sat sun meaning i have to work again. i wanna save. redang ?? thailand?? hongkong?? so so so so so many place i wanna go. i will forgo mummy de australia. if go there i will be so broke man. thinking of getting gucci bag and wallet coz seems like everyone in sony has already gotten one. when is my turn?? LOL !! seems it still far (: having spare cash will be better. feel more secured. LOL. its a want not a need. someone told me tis. i think is barbie right??? LOL (:
tis part onwards gonna be serious. really donno wat i wan in life. will i regret when i make e choice?? is it true tat ppl will onli cherish when tat person leaves u??? contradicting is e word. HAIS.
BEN veri sorry eh. ppl use ur name to tag on my board. veri sorry. lastly, stupid XJ. i delete my tagboard liao still happily tag my board. u really is GG. LOL!!! lucky no tagboard can di siao u. tml i noe i will be meeting u pls don kill me LOL !! hope i will take some pic den i can upload (:
drink more water ppl. weather don seems gd. take care. cheerios.

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saw stars last nite. kind of moody but over le (:
things abt today. i pass my common test. LOL !! next is onli maths. i am having my retest next wed. boohoo. still not prepared. sch is still sucks to me !! go for e sake of goin. SIANZ.
Xj go sign up for her btt le. congrats. after i take my btt 2 days after tat is urs. muz jia you k?? today after sch meet up with her. wait for her to sign up for her student in ssdc. by den its already near to 6. went buddy hoagies to have our dinner. YUM YUM !! juz love e food there. XJ ! i wanna slim down but according to e way i eat kind of impossible eh. LOL ! ppl pls jio me out for badminton, basketball, cycling or jogging. i won mind coz i really need to slim down. LOL !!
soon its gonna be sat sun meaning i have to work again. i wanna save. redang ?? thailand?? hongkong?? so so so so so many place i wanna go. i will forgo mummy de australia. if go there i will be so broke man. thinking of getting gucci bag and wallet coz seems like everyone in sony has already gotten one. when is my turn?? LOL !! seems it still far (: having spare cash will be better. feel more secured. LOL. its a want not a need. someone told me tis. i think is barbie right??? LOL (:
tis part onwards gonna be serious. really donno wat i wan in life. will i regret when i make e choice?? is it true tat ppl will onli cherish when tat person leaves u??? contradicting is e word. HAIS.
BEN veri sorry eh. ppl use ur name to tag on my board. veri sorry. lastly, stupid XJ. i delete my tagboard liao still happily tag my board. u really is GG. LOL!!! lucky no tagboard can di siao u. tml i noe i will be meeting u pls don kill me LOL !! hope i will take some pic den i can upload (:
drink more water ppl. weather don seems gd. take care. cheerios.

Read more...

post I wrote about Master and Commander in January 2007, I pointed out that Stephen and Jack were perfect antidotes to each other, and that their friendship was built upon the melancholy intelligence of one being balanced against the bumptiousness wit of the other. But I find myself having to revise my thoughts, or expand on them at least. Jack and Stephen's friendship has already been thoroughly tested by the time events bring us around to HMS Surprise; in the second novel, Post-Captain (which I didn't write about; bad me!) they almost killed each other over Diana Villiers. Theirs is no longer the sweet, charming attraction of opposites that it was in the first book. It is something spikier, almost antagonistic, and much more dangerous. As events unfold in India, and Stephen continues to lust for Diana, the pair are once again ranged in opposition to one another. Of course, Jack pursues the course that is most appropriate to the Service (and, in his own bumbling way, to his friend's mental and physical health), while Stephen is reckless and, at times, openly dishonest. Both men end by telling lies, and hiding their true motives. Which is not to say that the affection of the earlier books has disappeared, but it has become fierce, a sort of grappling love that transcends mere liking. Clearly it will survive anything - women, war, injury - but it is not above harm or foul.
There is also the growing sense that Stephen's love for Jack is slightly condescending - as he points out Jack is 'a romantic creature', an extroadinary seaman who loves to see action but hates to kill; a bumbler on land and a less than sharp wit. Stephen is often amused at his expense, just as he is at the antics of the animals that he collects in his capacity as a naturalist; at times he is actively making fun. At the same time we come to understand that Jack's loyalty is in spite of the doctor's shadow self - his Mr Hyde, if you like - and that, more often than not, he is striving to protect Stephen from himself. There is a part of him that makes a wonderful spy, being deceptive, stubborn, ruthless. It is an aspect that has always been partially obscured by his childish quirks and scientific enthusiasms but which is, nevertheless, relentlessly dark. In HMS Surprise it emerges much more frequently than before. It is actually quite disturbing, almost to the point of being upsetting - it is difficult to admit that a favourite character is less than a saint and more like a human being.
Stephen's greatest weakness, and his desperate flaw, is his attraction to Diana. Perhaps he sees something of himself in her? It is easy to imagine that he would be like her if placed in a similar situation. If he didn't have his science, his medical training and his espionage to exercise his mind (and remove the taint of being Irish and illegitimate), might he also become unscrupulous and scheming? Diana's mind is as sharp as his, and as resourceful. Might he also take every chance at power and influence, even to the harm of his friends, if rendered as powerless as she is.

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I demolished yesterday. Right now, Obama can comfortably count on over 3/4 of all 527 moneys to be spent in his support. If a 3-1 ratio isn't good enough for those groups, then do we really WANT them to prevail and gain control of the federal budget? Wouldn't you rather entrust our money to those who operated with one-third of the money of their opponents, and still won?
His original pledge, to be fair, was not to take public money and eschew private donations. He merely said that he would "meet with" and "aggressively pursue" an agreement with the eventual Republican nominee that both of them would do so for the general election.
Well, that ain't gonna happen. Obama has decided that since John McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee, pulled a "Howard Dean" and started to pursue public financing during the Republican primary, then backed out, then that's good enough. Obama's pledge is off the table. (I'm tempted to say "under the bus," but Obama's really made that phrase seriously hackneyed.)
And then there's the Supreme Court's ruling on the DC gun ban. Obama has consistently been a champion of "gun control" -- that's a polite way of opposing the private ownership of guns. In Illinois, he backed a measure that would have banned gun shops from within five miles of schools, churches, and parks -- a de facto ban of gun shops entirely. He served on the board of the Joyce Foundation -- one of the staunchest anti-gun groups around -- for eight years. And he agreed that the government ought to ban handguns entirely, as well as saying that he supported the DC gun ban.
Right up until the Supreme Court ruled that ban unconstitutional.
That's when he said he agreed with the Supreme Court's decision.
So we are left with the inescapable conclusion that he agrees with laws that violate the Constitution.
In each and every case, Obama's position has "evolved" to more closely align with my own beliefs (or, as I like to think, closer to reasonable and sane). So there's a part of me that welcomes these moves.
But there's a louder part of me that doesn't buy it.
There are several reasons why Obama is changing his positions.
The first theory is that Obama had a "come to Jesus" moment. That he suddenly realized "holy crap, I could really win this thing" and started thinking not as a candidate, but as a potential president. As such, he's realized that the positions that he espoused during the primaries were not workable, and indeed potentially disastrous for the nation. As such, he's maturing and growing and outlining how he will reconcile his (wrong-headed) idealism and the harsh realities of the world.
The second theory is that he "ran left" during the primaries to win the support of the hard left of his party, and now we're seeing the "real Obama" as he orients himself towards the general election.
The third theory is that we saw the "real Obama" during the primaries, and now he's "running right" to win over -- or at least placate -- enough of the general electorate to win the election.
The fourth theory is the most troubling -- and the one that I think is the most strongly supported by the evidence. It combines the worst of numbers two and three -- that he "ran left" during the primaries and is now "running right" for the general election. In both cases, he didn't reveal his own beliefs, but instead provided enough of a tabula rasa that people could project on to him their own beliefs and ideals that they could convince themselves that he was "their guy."
Carried to its logical conclusion, one is left to wonder if Barack Obama has any true core beliefs, any solid principles, any substantial opinions of his own apart from winning the presidency.
Looking at his record of accomplishments, I'd have to say that a pretty good case can be made for that one. At every crossroads of his career, he's taken the "safe" choice and affiliated himself with those who can best serve his political ambitions. He's never taken a bold stand on anything, never put himself at any kind of risk for any kind of principle.
I'd be delighted if the first theory was true. I could happily vote for a candidate who reconsiders his opinion as the facts change or evolve, and proudly proclaims that he is not so rigid, so locked into any particular ideology, that he can and will adapt to changing circumstances.
I could live with the second two theories. Lord knows that's pretty much how things have been in the past, to the point of "running to the left" or "running to the right" during the primaries, to shore up the base, then "running to the middle" to pick up enough support from the middle is an axiom of campaign wisdom. It'd be the same old same old, and we've survived it so far.
It's that last one that troubles me the most, though. It's the perfect formula for winning the presidency -- but a guaranteed disaster for governing. Once the election is won, who will show up to take the oath of office?
I'm reminded of the lyrics from "Where Do We Go From Here," the final song in "Once More With Feeling," the musical episode from Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
"Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
The battle's won, and we kind of won,
So we sound our vict'ry cheer.
Where do we go from here?
Why is the path unclear,
When we know home is near.
Understand we'll go hand in hand,
But we'll walk alone in fear. (Tell me)
Tell me where do we go from here?
When does 'THE END' appear,
When do the trumpets cheer.
The curtain's close, on a kiss god knows,
We can tell the end is near...
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here.

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Omega-3 fatty acid intake has been associated with a reduced risk for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Supportive, but not conclusive research has led the FDA to approve a health claim on food labels that contain these two types of omega-3 fatty acid: eiscosapentanioc acid (EPA) and docosanexaenoic acid (DHA).

Typical foods are oily fish (salmon, lake trout, tuna and herring). The American Heart Association recommends at least 2 servings per week of oily fish and the use of omega-3 supplements for patients with CHD (1 gram per day). People with high blood triglycerides (hypertriglyceridemia) may use 2 to 4 grams per day. Increased bleeding time and decreased platelet count has been shown with use of 4 grams per day. Talk with your primary healthcare provider if you are on medications that interfere with blood clotting.

Some plant foods contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) which the body can convert to EPA. These are: flaxseed (most abundant), canola, soybean, English walnuts and wheat germ.

Benefits associated with omega-3 intake include:
Improves rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, asthma
Reduces severity of symptoms in ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease
Lowers triglycerides
Raises HDL (good/healthy cholesterol)
Reduces clotting
Improves circulation
Lowers blood pressure
Reduces severity of Alzheimers disease, depression, and bipolar disorder

For more on heart health: http://www.realhelpforweightloss.

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I had quite an experience this past weekend that really made me sit up and start taking more notice of crime and safety.
My Fiancé was at the hairdresser on Saturday morning while I was playing a few rounds of golf on my Wii when I received an SMS from her that said the following: I am in an emergency. Please help me.. I started to panic thinking the worst - hijacking, kidnapping, etc. and immediately grabbed my car keys and sped out. Just before that I tried to call the cops - who were more than useless. The guy didnt understand that my Fiancé was in an emergency and that could he get someone to go to the hairdresser in Gordons Bay immediately. I hung up the phone after the guy kept on repeating Ehh, what must I do? What emergency?.
I then jumped in my car and called her phone - which immediately answered. I could hear her in the car, with the radio on, but couldnt hear anything else. I assumed she had sent the SMS somehow and was answering the phone in her pocket. This made me panic even more as I had no idea where she was heading - kidnapped and all. I was in a total panic as I was driving to get to the last place she was in Gordons Bay. Her sisters also got the SMS and were calling me, but I had no more information than they did.
3 minutes later I spotted her car at the robot, and there she was, looking all beautiful after being at the hairdresser. I stopped in the middle of the traffic and asked her where her phone was - and she opened her bag and showed it to me. It was a false alarm. I was totally relieved to see her safe and totally oblivious to what I had just gone through in the last 5 minutes.

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"BiosLife 2 can help you control Cholestrol in everyone, and blood sugar in diabetics. In order to send you a free one day sample of BiosLife 2, or a CD with information about the products, please provide the following. We will send you an email requesting verification of your address to reduce the impact of returned samples due to postal errors.

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Moving forward with her reality show obligations, Paris Hilton, along with sister Nicky, enjoyed a day of shopping in Hollywood with the winners of a competition from My New BFF.

The heiress sisters headed over to Robertson Boulevard after dining at The Ivy in Los Angeles - visiting Paige Denim before leaving with several bags of goodies as Paris exclaimed, I love this! to her handbag designer sister.

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