Bring It....

Atheist author Sam Harris and Christian blogger/pundit Andrew Sullivan are debating the merits of faith in a blogologue forum.

In Sam's first post he defines "faith":

Where I think we disagree is on the nature of faith itself. I think that faith is, in principle, in conflict with reason (and, therefore, that religion is necessarily in conflict with science), while you do not. Perhaps I should acknowledge at the outset that people use the term "faith" in a variety of ways. My use of the word is meant to capture belief in specific religious propositions without sufficient evidence—prayer can heal the sick, there is a supreme Being listening to our thoughts, we will be reunited with our loved ones after death, etc

and he states that they both have an issue with fundamentalism. Andrew counters with an explanation of why he finds fundamentalism so troubling:

It is its inability to integrate doubt into faith, its resistance to human reason, its tendency to pride and exclusion, and its inability to accept mystery as the core reality of any religious life. You find it troubling, I think, purely because it upholds truths that cannot be proved empirically or even, in some respects, logically.

One of the reasons that I read Andrew every day is because of his faith and his willingness to call Christianists (a term he coined last year and a term that bugs the heck out of many religious conservatives) on the carpet for their hypocrisy and deceit.

This should be very interesting.

Coldest Day in the Last Two Years

It's official. Today is the coldest day we've had in the past two years. It was cold enough for sea smoke. Sea smoke on the ocean, on the York River and on the Piscataqua. Sea smoke is lovely--harsh and wonderful.

Big News (for York Anyway)

The manager of a popular gift shop and restaurant in York Beach was shot last night.

Patrick Simpson manages both Shelton's Gift Shop and Gabby Sullivan's Restaurant. He was found in front of the York Police Station with a gunshot wound to the stomach.

After speaking with Simpson's family, the York Police went to Shelton's and found a small, suspicious fire burning in the gift shop.

The police and the Maine Fire Marshall are investigating.

For the Rev. Martin Luther King: Sing!

St. George's Episcopal Church will celebrate its next U2charist on Saturday January 20 at 5 pm.
This Saturday's service will honor the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr and is open to all including (at least this time), the BBC.

The Reverend Dr. Paige Blair, wasn't the first pastor to use U2's music or Christian message in a church service, but St. George's did originate the U2charist. St. George's holds a U2charist every three or four months (the last coincided with the "Stand Up to End Poverty" Day organized by the One Campaign) and changes the service each time in accordance to the liturgical season.

The U2charist movement is now international with services in places like New Zealand, South Africa, Atlanta, and Hong Kong.

The BBC will be filming this service as part of a documentary that they're making, but also so that it can be used as a model for a U2charist performance at St. Swithin's Church in London. That performance will bre broadcast nationally in the UK on Good Friday.

Dr. Blair will start this U2charist with "Pride (in the Name of Love)" and end the service with "MLK".

More background on U2's message can be found here and here. The Official U2charist page is here.
For a lot of background on the spritual journey of U2, I recommend the book Walk On by Steve Stockman.

"One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss
In the name of love.
What more in the name of love?"

UPDATE: Correction. As a commenter so kindly pointed out, the first U2charist was not held at St. George's but rather at St. Mary's Outreach Center (SMOC) in Baltimore, Maryland in April of 2004. Sorry about the misinformation.

NOW it's Winter

The toilet is frozen. The windows are frosted over.

Chrissie, We Hardly Know Ya

I don't know how I missed this little item, but I did.

Anyway, Chris Evert and Greg Norman have both left their spouses and are now an item....this is big news and worth blogging about here because:

1) Chris Evert is my childhood hero. I started playing tennis at the age of six, but got very serious about it after I watched her Grand Slam debut at the US Open in '71. She made it ok to be a girl and to be an athlete.
2) Sadly,I have two and only two celebrity autographs: His and Hers.

His I got at the Memorial Golf Tournament in Dublin, OH at the height of his career, right before he had the stigma of never being able to to win the big one (I guess this changes that). I was at the rope between green and next tee and he was signing everything handed to him. So I handed him the only thing I had....my white golf hat. He signed it, winked and said, "Here ya go, luv." I have no idea where that hat got to.

Hers I got a few years later, when we physically crashed into each other in the Aspen Airport. I was walking in the door behind her (although I didn't know who it was at the time), when she turned suddenly and ran right into me. She apologized. I stammered something completely inane and then thrust my paper ticket at her and said something along the lines of, "You are my favorite athlete on the planet. You made it ok to be competitive and feminine and that was such a huge help to me. Thank you. Will you give me an autograph?" She sighed, said thanks and yes, signed it and went on about her way. I had to negotiate long and hard with United to keep that ticket, but I still have it. I've never asked for, nor wanted, another autograph.

You Like Him. You Really, Really Like Him

Mac the Dog thanks you all for making him the most popular dog in America for the 16th straight year.

Must See TV--For Our House Anyway

Friends of God: a Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi, January 25th @ 8 pm on HBO.
It will re-air on HBO2 on January 28th.

Yes, Alexandra is Nancy's daughter. You might remember her from her first documentary "Journey's With George", which was an inside look at W's 2000 campaign.

It features Ted Haggard, who according to Pelosi, was instrumental in making this film a valuable documentary (and I write this without any irony, whatsoever). He took her into his family, he introduced her to Jerry Falwell, and showed her Christian subcultures like Christian Wrestling (again, no irony. Not a drop.).

Begin Irony here--Pastor Ted has this little moment in the movie:

“You know all the surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group,” Mr. Haggard says slyly to the camera, to which the effusive Ms. Pelosi responds, “No way.”
Mr. Haggard then asks a parishioner at his 14,000-member church how often he has sex with his wife. The man says: “Every day. Twice a day.” Pastor Ted then asks, "How many times a day does she climax?"

Oh. My. Goodness.

In defense of the 80 million evangelicals Ms. Pelosi has this to say:

“I believe in the culture war,” she said. “And you know what? If I have to take a side in the culture war I’ll take their side,” meaning the Christian conservatives. “Because if you give me the choice of Paris Hilton or Jesus, I’ll take Jesus.”

She might take Jesus, but more and more I wonder if Jesus would take most of America's current Evangelical Christians (you know, like the ones who singled Ted out as their best and brightest and then conveniently denied that he was even a Christian after his little indiscretion).

The Lobster Video

I just had to post the video....afterall, the soundtrack is by Billy Belichick's favorite band (and the lobstermen are pretty cute).

Lobstering On Rough Seas

I Have A Dream

The entire speech.

NOTE: This should have posted sometime Monday morning, but it seems to have taken You Tube and Blogger about 18 hours to make it happen.

Art Garfunkel's Reading List

Just reading this list is impressive, but documenting it so almost boggles the mind. At least it boggles a mind suffering from Adult-Onset ADD (self-diagnosed, of course).

Art Garfunkel is indeed a voracious reader and judging by his favorites list, he's a high-faluting reader as well. No pulp fiction on this list, no indeedy.

Script O Shit

If you're looking for the picture, click here. (you can click the picture to get a larger version)
Thanks for dropping by. GO BUCKS.

And if anyone knows who created the original, I'd love to know.

This post will remain on top of the blog until google searches for OSU OShit stop or at least slow down. Scroll down for the new stuff.

Storm Damage

We've maintained power all day today, but over 23,000 folks in southern New Hampshire are without power and almost 18,000 customers of Central Maine Power are in the dark tonight.

We didn't fare too well with our TWC Road Runner Service or the digital phone, but I'm guessing that's not weather related, as it seems to be out more than it's on lately.

UPDATE: Maine News just reported that 145,000 customers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are without power.

Iced Holly

York Harbor, ME

All Things In Moderation....

....even water. A 28-year old Sacramento woman died of water intoxication while trying to win a Wii in a radio contest called "Hold Your Wee for a Wii".

Water intoxication causes the body's vital fluids to dilute, and the victim experiences nausea, headaches, vomiting, blurred vision, and may have brain-swelling leading to seizures, coma and as in this case, death.

Arts Watch

Author Anita Diamant is scheduled to speak this Thursday night at the Portsmouth Music Hall. (Tickets available on-line, but there are very few left).

Pulitzer Prize winning author and Maine resident Richard Ford (The Sportswriter, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, among others) will read and sign books at the Portland Library this Saturday afternoon at noon. Call 207-871-1700 for more information.

Ice Storm

We've got a doozy of a mess here--about 1/8 of an inch of ice on all surfaces, now being coated with sleet and the freezing rain/wintery mix isn't supposed to stop until late afternoon.

Our power goes out on a calm, sunny day so we're getting ready for a long term power outage:
candles gathered; new batteries in the flashlights; extra firewood stacked in the garage and in the basement; iPods charging; camera batteries charging....the essentials, you understand.

Senator Dodd to Visit Dover, NH

Senator Christopher Dodd, who announced he's running for President earlier this week will hold a Townhall meeting in Dover, NH on Saturday, January 20. Details will follow.

Wintery Mix

It' s not a real winter storm, but it does qualify for a Winter Weather Advisory....
We'll take it.