Eulogy

Mandy Patinkin as Che

Patti LuPone as Evita

My favorite work by Webber and Rice is Evita, the musical story based on the lives of Che Guevara and Eva Peron.  In the song “Oh What a Circus”, Che’s character comments about the grieving masses once Eva has passed on into immortality:  

“We’ve all gone crazy, Mourning all day and mourning all night, Falling over ourselves to get all Of the misery right”

and later in the same song:

“Why all this howling hysterical sorrow?“

He asks who this goddess was who lived among us.  Those who write a musical about Michael Jackson’s life one day might well take a lesson from these lyrics.  Indeed, who was this “god” who lived among us?  Why all the hysterical sorrow?  Have we fallen over ourselves enough already?

I used to think I’d love to be famous so that people would miss me when I died.  Having a monument in my honor or appearing on currency, stamps, and other items would be a crowning achievement!  Imagine the world lamenting the death of D Robert Dunn!!!

So now I know how empty that all is.  Even the great pharaohs with their monuments are gone—nothing now except for dust in many cases.  Others were fortunate enough to be well preserved and to centuries later have their bodies exhumed and paraded in front of gawking crowds!

No, that’s not how I want to go.  When my time comes, if I were able to be aware of what goes on, I think I’d be content if someone says “He was my friend”.  I’d be happier still if my remains were not around to be dug up and studied or bothered in any way.  When I’m gone, let me rest in peace.  Celebrate my life if you must, but let my death be a note in the family tree, not a pageant!

 

MORE:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5967/lyrics.html

Steve McNair

While I think I’ve heard just about enough on Michael Jackson, hearing the news about Steve McNair was not the

Steve McNair

change I would’ve hoped for.  With the latest information, it sounds as if a girlfriend who found out her lover was not getting a divorce and would not be taking care of her as his new wife got just a little bent out of shape, killed her lover, and then killed herself.  What a senseless waste of life.

A man in a convenience store in Pennsylvania commented that Steve had no business messing with this girl—that he was married.  I didn’t know that at the time and apparently, his wife knew nothing of the relationship either.  Still, regardless of your view on infidelity, I don’t think anyone deserved what happened here.

On the other hand, if you look back a few centuries, they would both have been subject to stoning for this sin.  I can’t be the first one to cast a stone here, but I have to admit I feel a bit foolish to say he didn’t deserve this.  When we sin, and because of our sin, we all deserve death.  As harsh as that sounds, it’s a spiritual truth and one for which a reprieve is available.  Jesus took on our death penalty for us—one time—for all—so that we could live.  He would expect us to “go and sin no more” and live out our lives in a way that honors and respects that sacrifice he made for us.

MORE:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/05/mcnair.shooting/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/04/mcnair.shooting/index.html

Smear Campaign

Frosted Pop Tarts?

It’s entirely possible that Kellogg’s is counting on the strength of nostalgia to keep customers.  Back in the mid-60’s when Pop-Tarts were first introduced, my siblings and I gobbled them up as quickly as our parents could buy them.  The frosted varieties were always my favorite and to this day, I love frosted cherry Pop-Tarts.

Times change!  Nowadays, the Pop-Tart itself is smaller.  More recently and over the past few years, I’ve noticed that the filling has become thinner and thinner.  Not being able to skimp any more on the filling, it appears that Kellogg’s has now decided to skimp on the frosting as well.  What used to be a nice, fattening layer of frosting is now just a smear across one end and part of the top of the pastry.  Today’s Pop-Tarts look similar to the product I grew to know and love as a youngster but pale in true comparison based on size, filling, and frosting.  Of course, I’m sure that Kellogg’s position is that their product today is 25% less fattening than what I grew up eating.  But then, 25% less Pop-Tart should be 25% less fattening, right?

Ecritage

This was due out in January.  Unfortunately, there were some challenges to overcome and it’s late.

There are some blog aggregator services out there that do a nice job of driving traffic to a blog and I am happy they’re available.  I’ve gotten more exposure through them than I can begin to count.  But I felt that the services were too complicated for easy use, or asked for money from users to be kept in the rotation, or worse still, sold subscriptions!

I want to bring a free service to bloggers that had a clean and simple look and feel.  That’s what Ecritage is.

Ecritage is built to support eight languages:  English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and Japanese.  It also utilizes Google translation so that any page can be read in one of these languages.

Ecritage is also broken into ten areas of interest under each language:  Life, Sports, Political, Entertainment, General, Financial, Leisure, Faith, News, and Travel.

Using Ecritage is fast and simple.  To submit your blog, choose a language page for it to appear on, type or paste the URL for your blog and then choose the area of interest.  Hit submit and you’re done!

One of the nice things about Ecritage is that you can submit your entire blog or just a particular post.  For instance, my blog is about anything and everything.  I might want to submit it under “General”.  However, if I write a post about President Obama, I may want to submit the URL for just that post under “Politics”.  You get the idea.

Please!  Go give it a try and check out other bloggers’ content while you’re there.

Keep in mind that this is a new service and there may be only a few blogs per language or channel until it gets going.

Have comments?  Use the “Contact” option on the site to provide feedback.

Thanks!

MORE:

www.ecritage.com

www.condron.us

Bahia (Baya) Bakari

The month of June had more than its fair share of deaths—from notables to the unknown.  While the world laments the loss of a pop icon, we should remember that hundreds of others are feeling the pain of loss over those killed in the Air France flight from Brazil and more recently, the flight from Yemen that crashed into the Indian Ocean.  Despite the tragedy of the lives lost, we should probably celebrate the survival of Baya Bakari, the 14-year-old plucked from the waves by search and rescue crews.

Bahia (Baya) Bakari

How or why Baya survived when so many others perished is something that will have people speculating over for days and weeks to come.  Where was she sitting in the plane?  Did others survive and help her to make it through only to lose their own lives?  What can she tell investigators about events leading to the crash?  And perhaps the most persistent question:  Who is this young lady and what does she mean to the world that she should survive? 

One hundred and fifty-two others didn’t make it—but Baya Bakari did!  Ten hours in the water, clinging to debris, unable to swim and without a life jacket—and in shark-infested water.

Baya’s mother is presumed to have perished.  Her father, Kassim Basari, was not on the flight and is said to be ecstatic that his daughter survived.

 

MORE: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8128690.stm

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2510027/152-die-as-jet-hits-sea-girl-14-lives.html

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090701/twl-dad-ocean-air-crash-survivor-could-n-3fd0ae9.html

NOTE:  According to some reports, she is either 12, 13, or 14 and the spelling of her first name varies.

Life is Short

Janet and Michael Jackson in the "Real" Days

The passing of Michael Jackson is certain to give some of us reason to pause and evaluate our own lives.  After all, if a superstar such as Michael can die at 50…

OK, reality check.  The sad fact of life is that we are all going to die at some point .  It’s been noted that we begin dying the moment we’re born.  Hardly true if you consider those who die before they can be born.  And no, that’s not necessarily a reference to abortion alone—still births and miscarriages are part of what I’m referring to as well.

As my wife and I were headed to the store a few nights ago, we talked about Michael and Farrah.  We’re both at the right age to have grown up with both of these figures playing into our lives.  My thoughts went from reation to philosophical and then spiritual.

The initial reaction was a little bit of shock over the news.  I also had a sense of tragic and potentially senseless loss.  It reminds me of how I felt at the news of David Carradine’s death or even longer ago at the news of the deaths of Karen Carpenter and Freddie Mercury.  Tragic, all-too-soon, and sometimes senseless and ultimately, unnecessary.

Philosophically, part of me agrees.  It’s not the part that says “we will all die one day” although that part of me has the majority vote in this issue.  Tragic in a sense but as time passes, no-one will really care.  For example, as the years passed, the tragedy of Lincoln’s assassination had less and  less impact.  Had he not been shot and killed at that time, surely he would be long gone by now and his death would just be another part of the casual history of life and death among humans.  Philosophically, the tragedy is often based on the age at which a person dies or refers to the circumstances around that death.  But the certainty of that person’s death at some point by whatever means is something we cannot escape. 

Perhaps we like to think of celebrities as being somehow superior—immortal.  But they are born in the same manner as all humans and they will live and die as surely as the rest of us more common folk do.  The circumstances of the death may be more intriguing, less intriguing, cloaked in mystery, even scandalous but it will come.

For Michael, I see a troubled young man finally able to rest.

Since beginning this post a few days ago, another few notables have died.  For some reason, I am more saddened by the death of Billy Mays, also 50 years old–a traditional family man who appeared in our homes on a near-daily basis.  By comparison, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett lived in and basked in the glory of days gone by.  From a contributory sense, I’m not so sure that they didn’t die several years ago.  Not to take away from the tremendous talent that Michael Jackson was—indeed, even I tried to emulate him in voice when I was 10 or 11 years old—but I do have to ask, in the words of his sister, “what have you done for me lately?“

MORE:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8121209.stm

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/08/29/michael-jackson-at-50-his-three-decade-career-in-photos/

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson/biography

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/25/fawcett.reax/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/29/mays.death/index.html

If It Goes Without Saying…

To be honest with you, there are some expressions we use which really annoy me.  For instance, “to be honest with you” implies that this time it’s the truth, but if I don’t preface what I say with this phrase, listener beware.  I can understand someone opening with “let me be frank with you” because it’s really a request and puts the listener on alert that what they hear next might be troubling.  The listener has time to brace for it or can actually request the speaker to not continue.  I think the honest speakers have confused the point as if they need to seek permission to be honest.

Have you ever gone to listen to a notable person speak?  How many times do we have to hear “Here’s a man (or woman) who needs no introduction” followed by five minutes of the person’s credentials and accolades?  Really!  I long for the day when the MC says “Here’s a man (or woman) who needs no intoduction” and then sits down.  I doubt anyone else will ever do it but I would.  I think it would be refreshingly funny and to be honest with you…

Needless to say, there are other stupid expressions.  The redudancy of this one makes the speaker appear to be more intent on hearing himself talk than on anything else.  If it’s really needless to say it, then do us a favor and skip to the next comment.

Of course, it goes without saying that people probably never will change the way they use these phrases.  Honestly!

Dog Ownership Guidelines (D.O.G.)

My wife and I—yes Steph, finally, a blog about you!!!

Anyway, my wife and I have had an at-times heated debated over the years about spaying and neutering animals.  She’s in favor, I’m opposed.  But then she’s from California and “those people” tend to be legislation happy!  I keep telling her that one of these days, if that state doesn’t fall off into the Pacific Ocean first, there will probably be legislation enacted to control how much carbon dioxide a human is allowed to exhale.  Imagine having to buy carbon offset credits because your lung capacity is too high and you emit too much CO2!!!

I continue to work on her but if you know the power of a wife, she wins even though she thinks she doesn’t win often enough.  For instance, we had another debate years ago.  We called it our “Great” Debate.  It wasn’t great because of the length or the strength of the debate, but rather because of the topic.  We were going to get a dog.  (I wanted a child, she wanted a dog—more on THAT later.)  I wanted a GREAT Pyrenees, she wanted a GREAT Dane.  Hence, the “Great” Debate.  If you know us or have seen the post “First Day of School“, you’ll know who won.  Bitch!  No, I mean the dog… female Great Dane!  (I would NEVER call my wife such a thing!!!)

Next dog is a Pyr!

On to Gracie, our female Dane.  BTW, in England, where I did live for a time, a male canine is a “dog” and the female is a “bitch”.  Used to be that way here too so get over it!

Back to Gracie.  Since I’d never had a female dog before, I had no idea what happened every month.  You’d think I’d realize that they’re menstruating mammals too but oh no, I had to find out the hard way.  While I don’t generally support spaying, in this case I saw the light.

So let’s clarify.  What exactly do I object to?  The government mandate to spay and neuter dogs and cats.  I believe it’s overstepping the bounds of government and may even be a conspiracy backed by professional animal breeders.  Like with music, you can buy it, but you can’t “make or download illegal copies”.  And so if all personally owned dogs and cats are incapable of being used for breeding, the industry survives intact.  Apparently, back in sunny California, the governments there feel such requirements are OK and that they reduce unwanted litters and related issues.

I can see that.  So my response—the response of any self-respecting Republican—is responsible ownership.  This differs greatly from the liberal position of having a welfare state government that tells you what to do in every aspect of your life.

Responsible ownership includes fences, leashes, controlled access to other animals, and even confinement of the pet.  It means not letting your cat roam the backyards and alleys.  It means using a fence to keep your animal in and other animals out.  You get the idea.

Well, yesterday, lamenting the fact that not a single one of my posts features her, Steph called to tell me about Guangzhou, China.  It’s her type of town.  Aside from the Chinese cuisine which I’m sure she’d love, the leadership of Guangzhou has passed a policy that goes into effect July 1 and restricts ownership of a dog to one per family.  This policy is an attempt to curb the uncontrolled reproduction that has the city’s streets crawling with stray and abandoned pups.  It has pet owners upset and rightfully so.  Some cities in China have killed tens of thousands of dogs already.

In their defense, I should point out that these unfettered dogs have also contributed to thousands of citizens dying from rabies each year.  Then too, China is a socialist country so rules are made to be adhered to, not to please the people.

Here’s how I look at it:  If it works for China, good for them.  I don’t plan on going there any time soon.  If it works in California, good for them too.  For a time, gay marriage worked for them too, but that’s not saying much about California!

But I live in Indiana, in a subdivision in Indianapolis where largely, people are responsible owners.  We get the occasional stray through our yard though.  Just last night, I saw a cat bounding through the back.  Still, we tolerate them—right along with the deer, squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, moles, mice, rabbits, ducks, and who knows what else.

If you happen to travel to Guangzhou, China, after July 1st, a word to the wise:  Don’t order the “Beef” Stir Fry!!!

Final Note:  So in 2000 we got a dog… and in 2002, we got a son.  So we both won, it just took a little longer for me to win!

MORE:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3zvLkFXwrO0Tx6gIkkHS1UFt5FgD98SJC5G1

http://story.chinanationalnews.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/9366300fc9319e9b/id/509660/cs/1/

And We’re NOT an Agricultural Nation?

Khapra beetle

Supporters of a monetary tithe almost invariably point to how the US is no longer an agrarian society.  They contend that we as a society no longer produce from the ground and therefore are to tithe on our income.  Some take it further and say it should be on our “increase”, whether that be income, found money, or money won in gambling ventures (even if the denomination itself is against gambling).

Back to farming.  Imagine my pleasure on reading an article about an invasive beetle species called the Khapra beetle that was recently found in a shipment from China!  (http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19768048/detail.html)    The article quotes a customs expert as saying “One-third of our gross domestic product is from agriculture…” and so of course I had to go find out what that works out to.  According to Wikipedia, our 2008 GDP was $14,264,600 million, which would make one third of that $4,754,866 million.  That’s a pretty penny for a non-agrarian society! (Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) 

So what’s the point?

1. A Biblical or Spiritual truth is not to be interpreted or applied based on the temporal nature of a society.  (One cannot arbitrarily take what God said to a people thousands of years ago and say “We don’t do that, but let’s apply it here instead“—especially when there ARE Christians living in other countries who subsist on agriculture.  There is no industrial dispensation for Western society!)
2. The US is more agrarian than many people realize.  A whole 1/3 of our GDP!!!
3. You cannot say that the tithe law applies to money simply because you deny #2 above.
4. You cannot say that the tithe law applies to money simply because you say people don’t farm.  But even if you they did farm, they are no longer under the Law as Believers anyway.

All this from a tiny beetle.

The High Cost of Healthcare

President Barack Obama

Mr Obama is right!

Yes, this is really me and no-one has hacked my blog.

In his address to the AMA in Chicago yesterday, the President cautioned that the cost of health care in this country could take us into financial ruin.  After getting the account statement for Benjamin’s recent hospital visit, I can see what he means.

The first hospital visit—the ER trip to Clarian West—came in a little over $3,000!  His time at Riley Hospital—Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon—over $13,000!  Combined, the cost of diagnosis and treatment of a non-life threatening allergic reaction to something we’ll never know will be somewhere just over $17,000!

I’m not sure how much insurance will cover and how much we’ll actually be billed for—and to some degree, it almost doesn’t matter.  The cost of health care in this country is too high for those who can least afford it and may need it the most.  For the well-insured, there’s little to be concerned about.  For the under-insured, the out-of-pocket costs are still too high.  And for the uninsured—well, it’s just out of reach.

Health care costs today are cost-prohibitive and result in the sick and injured foregoing preventative and maintenance care.  The results are a sicker and more costly patient to treat if and when treatment is obtained.  Alternatively, the result may be a shortened lifespan for those who simply fall out of the system.

I heard a story on NPR yesterday in which a doctor complained of having to see patients’ financial papers in order to help them process claims for financial assistance.  The doctor was concerned that he should be practicing medicine, not accounting.  He would be right to say “Damn it Mr Obama, I’m a doctor, not an accountant!” but I doubt he would get the famed Star Trek physician’s inflection down quite as well as Karl Urban did in the recent film.

Mr Obama is right to say that the cost of healthcare could break this nation.  Something needs to be done and for lack of any better plans or recommendations, this Republican is in line behind the White House on healthcare reform.

MORE:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/obama.ama/index.html

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-health-care/526652