How Hollywood Views Christians

I've had a blog idea percolating for a long time on how Hollywood writers/producers, etc. view Christians. I may still get around to it, but for right now just take a look at this posting from Deadline Hollywood, specifically the comment section. Christianity is reviled unless it is a watered down, I'm okay-You're okay version. This is truly insightful.

Childhood Poetry

Though it’s been perilously close to 40 years ago, a poem I had to memorize in 6th grade came dancing through my memory this morning. It is itself a sweet and almost melancholy memory that captured my heart as a child and, for some reason, still has it today:

In School Days

Still sits the schoolhouse by the road,
A ragged beggar sleeping;
Around it still the sumacs grow,
And blackberry-vines are creeping.
Within, the master's desk is seen,
Deep-scarred by raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jackknife's carved initial;
The charcoal frescoes on its wall;
Its door's worn sill, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!

Long years ago a winter sun
Shone over it at setting;
Lit up its western window-panes,
And low eaves' icy fretting.
It touched the tangled golden curls,
And brown eyes full of grieving,
Of one who still her steps delayed
When all the school were leaving.
For near it stood the little boy
Her childish favor singled;
His cap pulled low upon a face
Where pride and shame were mingled.

Pushing with restless feet the snow
To right and left, he lingered;---
As restlessly her tiny hands
The blue-checked apron fingered.
He saw her lift her eyes; he felt
The soft hand's light caressing,
And heard the tremble of her voice,
As if a fault confessing.
"I'm sorry that I spelt the word:
I hate to go above you,
Because,"---the brown eyes lower fell,---
"Because, you see, I love you!"

Still memory to a gray-haired man
That sweet child-face is showing.
Dear girl! the grasses on her grave
Have forty years been growing!
He lives to learn, in life's hard school,
How few who pass above him
Lament their triumph and his loss,
Like her, because they love him.

~ John Greenleaf Whittier

A Favorite Cleaning Gadget

I am a HUGE fan of the Mr. Clean Eraser blocks. They work like magic on a large variety of stains, spills and messes. In fact, here's a whole list. Here's another site praising this product. I'd add they are great at getting hair dye stains off sinks (not that I have personal experience in hair dying...) and wine splashes on walls or floors. I love it when a product actually lives up to its advertising!

Call the Tune, Pay the Fiddler?

As government entitlement programs grow (universal healthcare being just the latest), the tax burden gets larger and larger. At least for some. This report states only 47% of households pay income tax. With only half the people paying all the bills, a day of reckoning approaches.

With the "wealthy" class being defined down (the qualifying income bracket is getting lower and lower) while the corresponding tax rate keeps going up, the incentive to be a productive member of society is rapidly diminishing. What happens when the remaining 53% decide to stop paying everyone else's bills?