Quote of the Day - Abraham Lincoln

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.

Abraham Lincoln

Last In Their Class

Congratulations to my former coworker James S. Robbins who just released his book Last in their Class about the graduates of Westpoint who were famous for great exploits yet infamously performed near the bottom of their class academically. Click here for Jim's online interview.

Quote of the Day - Abraham Lincoln

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day - William Temple

Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of the imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose; and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy of that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.

William Temple 1881-1944

Coach Ben Howland Gets It

Adam Morrison

There is a reason why I do not watch NBA basketball anymore. Gonzaga player Adam Morrison who is a great player and did all he could for his team, was crushed after leading the entire game and losing it in the last 10 seconds. He collapsed in tears with disbelief afterwards. Then, two Bruin players did something that is missing in professional sports.

Hollins and Afflalo went to help up Morrison, who was spread on the floor at midcourt. Few then came to hug the crying Morrison.

“That’s just a sign of a great program and great people,” Morrison said. “They had enough guts as a man in their moment of victory to pick another man up off the floor. That’s more than basketball and I would thank them if I could.”

UCLA Ben Howland has understood what all his predecessors since the legendary John Wooden could not. As a coach, you are in the business of not only coaching good basketball players, you are raising boys to be men.

Go Bruins!

Did you watch UCLA vs. Gonzaga??? My Bruins were trailing the entire game by as much as 17 points. They stole the ball with 10 seconds left and took the lead while perhaps ending Adam Morrisson's college career. The next game is against Memphis which at the start of the tournament looked like the weakest of the No. 1 seeds. Kudos to coach Ben Howland who has emphasized what Steve Lavin and Jim Harrick never did, defense, hustle, and fundamentals. The year is not over yet but I am ready to say that next year is going to be even better for the Bruins.

Quote of the Day

Theodore Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Quote of the Day

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Winston Churchill

Video of the week - Busted!!!

The authors of Game of Shadows were on the Today Show (Internet Explorer required) to discuss allegations that Barry Bonds did steroids. This reminds me a lot of the Pete Rose scandal as there were many fervant defenders of his innocence up until his admission that he bet on baseball. How can anybody deny that Barry Bonds used steroids? The American tradition is that he is innocent until proven guilty. However, he is now surrounded by a cloud of suspicion that has tainted the game. This cloud will not leave until he is forthright with us.

Ghostly alien terrorists call for cease fire

We love earthlings!

Little did we know that the ETA Basque separatists were not only terrorizing Spain all these years, they are also extra terrestrials.

Tozer Rocks!

One of my favorite devotionals is by A.W. Tozer. I have him listed under my links. Here is the devotional from today.

March 22

Pastoral Ministry: We Languish for Men

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." --Acts 21:13

The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men....

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within--or from above.

This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation. Of God and Men, 11-13.

Quote of the Day

Erwin Raphael McManus

Anyone who can picture Jesus as the great Advocate of tradition is doing some serious doctoring of biblical history. Jesus was anything but the poster child for the status quo.

The Circus is in Town!

I looked out my front window yesterday and saw photographers and people on chairs gathering on the street. Since I live in the historic district of the Capitol, I assumed that some studio was shooting a movie and people were gathering to see their favorite movie star. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the circus was in town and that they were promoting it by walking elephants and horses through the city. If you step outside my house and look to the right, you have a perfect view of the
Capitol building. The light blue house in the background is the Jonathan House where I live. Fortunately I do not live at the end of the block where the elephants left quite a few presents for people to remember them. I will spare you the photography. It was surreal.

Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife

Has anybody read Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife? The new book on counterinsurgency by Lt. Col. John Nagle is making its way around strategic studies circles. I am interested to hear any comments.

Georgetown

Rome has the Spanish Steps by Francesco De Sanctis . We have the Exorcist steps. A few friends and I went to Georgetown on St. Patrick's Day. At the end of the night we decided to stroll over to the location of the stairs made famous by the movie, "The Exorcist."

Quote of the Day

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Winston Churchill

St. Patrick's Day

Did you know that St. Patrick was English? That's right, he was born in England but was kidnapped and lived as a slave in Ireland. After six years, he was able to escape back to England. But later he felt the call to return to Ireland, the country of his captivity. Enjoy a pint of Guinness today!

Hiking at Great Falls

I went hiking with 10 other friends in Great Falls yesterday. Here are some pictures.

Rick and Stephanie

Smile Rob!

Tom's e-harmony picture

Deep thoughts with Carolyn

You talkin' to me?

Lessons From Another Insurgency

One of my good friends from Johns Hopkins SAIS was Anit Mukherjee. He is currently working on his PhD. in South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS. His op-ed about his experience fighting insurgents in Kashmir was published in the New York Times.

Video of the week

This is must see video. Greece Athena High School basketball team manager Jason McElwain, who has autism, is the center of a dream come true and hope for perhaps thousands of others.