Whoever their marching band director is needs a raise. This is greatness!
Category: Current Events
Word snobs are out of touch with reality.
I don’t like to use big words that sound intelligent. I understand a lot of them, but they are out of place with my everyday life. Most people today don’t walk around using a graduate-level vocabulary. Just look at your most recent text message. You’re more likely to see things like “cya,” “whatsup,” and “how r u?”. We’re a generation that likes to get to the point.
A news story about new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary reminded me of my dislike for fancy words and my appreciation for new combinations of words. MW will be adding “ginormous” to its newest dictionary this year (and I have to add it to my Firefox dictionary, too). If you’ve been hiding inside a cave for the past few years, you might not have noticed, but ginormous has become ginormous. I’ve heard it used in everyday conversations, tv shows, movies and more. It makes sense to add it to the dictionary.
Word snobs, like Allan Metcalf, a professor of English at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and the executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, don’t get it. Here is what Mr. Metcalf had to say about ginormous being added: “A new word that stands out and is ostentatious is going to sink like a lead balloon. It might enjoy a fringe existence.” There are two things about his statement that irritate me. First off, he’s implying that a word like ginormous won’t last because of its novelty. That might be true, but it might not. All of our language is basically an evolution from previously existing words, so why wouldn’t a new word stick.
The other thing that bugs me is the fact that he used the word “ostentatious” to talk about a word that would fade away. When was the last time you heard anyone use that word? I had no idea what it meant, so I had to look it up at webster.com. Its definition is “marked by or fond of conspicuous or vainglorious and sometimes pretentious display.” Mr. Metcalf is being pretentious with his vocabulary to degrade a word that he considers to be pretentious.
The fact of the matter is that in order to communicate effectively you have to use language and terminology that your audience is familiar with and is relevant to them. I applaud Merriam-Webster for not living up in ivory towers, but trying to stay in touch with the average English speaking person. This should pay off for them in the long run.
Marketing gone wrong, or are they getting their money’s worth?
In case you missed it, the city of Boston was in a frenzy last week over a bomb scare. People reported electronic devices spotted throughout the area, including on overpasses and bridges. The city thought that these were bombs that were planted as part of a terrorist plot. It turns out, however, that is an advertising campaign for the cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force which airs on the Cartoon Network. I’ve never watched the show, but I know it has a pretty devoted audience and is, in general, irreverent.
The AP is reporting today that Turner Broadcasting, the parent company of Cartoon Network, and the marketing agency that came up with the idea have agreed to pay $2 million to the city of Boston and Homeland Security. In my estimation, they are getting their money’s worth. Companies pay more than $2 million to get thirty seconds of airtime on the Super Bowl. Many of these commercials are quickly forgotten, but most of the time I don’t think it’s worth the money they spend. Cartoon Network, however, has had people talking about this campaign, and I know that they will getter higher ratings for the show as a result.
I’m not suggesting that creating a bomb scare is a good advertising technique. If that was the intention from the beginning, than I cannot support it. However, I don’t believe that the marketing agency, nor Cartoon Network had any malicious intent. They were just looking for a creative way to get attention for their show, and they found it. I think the city of Boston over-reacted. There were about nine other cities where they had the same devices located throughout the city, but none of these cities had any sort of bomb scare. You can see from the pictures below that they were crude looking devices, but not really scary looking.
My main point is that it is really difficult to find your voice in the media today. With cable and satellite providers offering 400+ channels, being able to stand out and get attention can be really difficult. Cartoon Network has succeeded in a HUGE way with this campaign. I don’t think they will mind shelling out the cash.
My final question is, how can churches learn from this? What are some inexpensive ways we can creatively get attention in our communities . . . hopefully without creating a bomb scare?
John Kerry–An Anti-American Leading America
Senator John Kerry said some of the stupidest, most insulting comments on Monday and then repeated them again today. He told a group of students in California that those who are not able to navigate through the education system “get stuck in Iraq.” Today at a press conference he said, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” Sen. Kerry tried to claim that he wasn’t meaning to degrade the troops, but he was making reference of President Bush’s leadership.
These comments are some of the most offensive words I’ve heard directed toward the U.S. Military from anyone. It makes it worse that they came from a veteran, and a supposed war hero. I’ve never served in the military, but I’ve known quite a few in my life. I would never call any of them even remotely dumb. Most of them are some of the most upstanding, quality people I know.
I can’t imagine the reaction that people would have if President Bush had made these comments. People would be calling for an impeachment. Senator Kerry needs to retract his statements and apologize. They were anti-American. I’m ashamed that our country is led by people like him.
Read the Yahoo News story.
Disney Boycott Lifted in Summer 2005–Interesting Timing
Back in 1997, the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) decision to boycott Disney was in the headlines everywhere. One of the biggest denominations was taking on one of the biggest names in the entertainment world. It was set to be a clash of titans, an epic battle. That battle officially ended in June 2005. My question is, who won?
Let’s flash back a bit. The SBC warned Disney in 1996 to return to their family-friendly roots or else a boycott was inevitable. They cited five reasons why they had concerns. They were: “(1) Establishing of an employee policy which accepts and embraces homosexual relationships for the purpose of insurance benefits; (2) Hosting of homosexual and lesbian theme nights at its parks; (3) Choosing of a convicted child molester to direct the Disney movie Powder through its subsidiary Miramax Productions; (4) Publishing of a book aimed at teenage homosexuals entitled Growing Up Gay: From Left Out to Coming Out through its subsidiary Hyperion, connecting Disney to the promotion of the homosexual agenda; (5) Producing, through its subsidiary corporations, of objectionable material such as the film Priest which disparages Christian values and depicts Christian leaders as morally defective.”
Disney didn’t take the warning seriously, so in 1997 the boycott officially began. The official wording of the boycott read: “BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, That the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Dallas, Texas, June 17-19, 1997, urge every Southern Baptist to take the stewardship of their time, money, and resources so seriously that they refrain from patronizing The Disney Company and any of its related entities, understanding that this is not an attempt to bring The Disney Company down, but to bring Southern Baptists up to the moral standard of God.”
So, how much did the boycott affect Disney? A boycott is an attempt to persuade a company to make certain changes by impacting it financially. How much money did Disney lose from the boycott? Take a look at the following table of Disney’s finances during an 11 year period:
| Disney’s Finances Before & During the SBC Boycott | ||
| Year | Revenue | Operating Income |
| 1994 | $10,055 mil | $1,965 mil |
| 1995 | $12,151 mil | $2,466 mil |
| 1996 | $18,739 mil | $3,333 mil |
| 1997 | $22,473 mil | $4,312 mil |
| 1998 | $22,976 mil | $4,079 mil |
| 1999 | $23,402 mil | $3,231 mil |
| 2000 | $25,325 mil | $4,112 mil |
| 2001 | $25,172 mil | $4,005 mil |
| 2002 | $25,329 mil | $2,822 mil |
| 2003 | $27,061 mil | $ 3,174 mil |
| 2004 | $30,752 mil | $4,488 mil |
As you can see, there was only one year in which Disney had less revenue than the previous year. That year happened to also be 2001, which my point more to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 than the boycott. However, there was a fairly significant drop in their income from 1997-1999. That downward spiral quickly turned around, and, for the most part, they have been stable in their income.
The SBC wasn’t primarily concerned, however, with “bringing down Disney.” They wanted to make a statement so that they would turn back to making family-friendly films. Did that happen??? Well . . . in a word, no. In 1996, the SBC specifically mentioned Miramax as being one of their concerns. What has Miramax done since the boycott? Here’s a brief list of some of the films they have released from 1997-2005:
– 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
– Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
– Chasing Amy (1997) Which happens to be about a man falling in love with a lesbian
– Chicago (2002)
– Dirty Pretty Things (2003)
– Kill Bill (2003)
Not really a list of movies you’d want your 5-year old to watch. So, why the sudden change? Why did the SBC all of the sudden decide it was time for the boycott to end? I don’t buy the line they tried to push: “For a boycott to be effective, it must be specifically targeted and of limited duration.” If they really wanted to have a limited boycott, why didn’t they say that in their original resolution??? And nothing really changed at Disney. According to Metro Weekly, a Washington DC gay & lesbian magazine, “the boycott had no effect on its business and the company never altered its policies in response.”
In case you forgot, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was released December 9, 2005 by Disney. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The Disney boycott was ended in June 2005 only 6 months before the DISNEY movie Narnia? Was that a coincidence? I think not. I guarantee that the upcoming release of Narnia was discussed behind closed doors in the SBC leadership when they talked about ending the boycott of Disney. Think about it. If the boycott wasn’t ended, how many Baptist preachers would have to ignore the great sermon material that they would have at their disposal by not being able to endorse a Disney film.
I’m not really throwing stones at the SBC. I just think they pulled a very well executed move by ending the boycott early enough in the year that the national media wouldn’t put the pieces together. It also let them gracefully end it without having to admit defeat.
The best result of the ending of the boycott had to be that the grey-haired good baptist grandmothers can take their grandchildren to see one of the best allegories of the story of Christianity without a guilty conscience. So, with that in mind, I’d like to say good move SBC.
ExxonMobil Has Record Proftits 3rd Quarter
This came as no shocker to me. ExxonMobil had its best EVER quarter in terms of both profits and sales. This past quarter their PROFITS were $9.92 BILLION!!! Let me write that out: $9,920,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros. In the 3rd quarter of 2004 their profits were $6.23 billion.
Hmm . . . where did they make all the money??? This year, gas prices averaged between $2.50 – $3.00 for most of the 3rd quarter compared to $1.80 – $2.00 last year. That’s 50-75% higher than last year’s prices. Pretty simple math in my head.
My point is this. I really believe that ExxonMobil profited by using the Hurricanes as an excuse to raise prices. They said that production costs would be higher, so they had to raise the price. If they were simply trying to maintain profits, that would be one thing. But when the post RECORD PROFITS & SALES, that’s a whole ‘nother story. They used a national tragedy to pad their wallets and they should pay.
I propose that we all write a letter to express our disgust with the company and our intention to NEVER buy gas from any of their gas stations again unless they do something MAJOR to apologize for what they did. To me, this is a textbook example of price gouging at its worst.
Here is their contact info:
Exxon Mobil Corp.
5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, TX 75039-2298
Phone: 972-444-1000
Fax: 972-444-1348
Web Site: http://www.exxonmobil.com
Once I’ve sent my letter, I’ll post a copy of it as well as any replies that I receive from them.
Personal Response to L.A. Times Article
I’ve sat on this for a couple of days, but I have to write something about all the attention that Valley View Christian Church has gotten in the past week. In case you haven’t heard, Harriet Miers was a member of the church for over 20 years. Since she’s unknown to the national media, they’re looking for anything they can find to write about her. One of the things they’ve discovered is her longtime involvement in church.
There have been numerous articles written about Ms. Miers, and at least 300 have made some mention Valley View. Mostly the articles have just mentioned that she was very involved and that it’s a conservative Evangelical church. There has been one article, however, that focused almost all of its attention on the split that the church has recently gone through. The L.A. Times published an article entitled Church Changes Led Miers to Join a Splinter Group . In it, there are a number of claims made that I would like to address.
The following statements are personal opinions and are in no way official views of the church or its elders.
The first statement that I took offense to was this:
The dispute is one over style, but it has political undertones too. Some of the more traditional members of the church fear that its effort to be more contemporary could dampen its emphasis on social issues, including its teachings against abortion and homosexuality.
While I have no idea how any logically thinking person could make this jump in logic, my biggest issue is that VVCC has always, and will always hold biblical truth as authoritative truth. One of the values in our Mission, Values, Strategies, and Measures that was officially adopted by the church’s elders in April 2005 states this well. It reads, “We value biblical preaching and teaching because the Bible, and the Bible alone, is God’s infallible, inerrant Word in written form and the supreme source of truth in all things.” This is one of the ten values that will shape us in the future as a group of believers. We will not bow down to cultural pressure to ignore parts of the Bible just because they’re difficult or not culturally acceptable. We are a Bible-believing church and we will continue to be no matter what style of worship we have in our weekly worship gatherings.
Another statement that is not correct reads: “Much of the money that had been spent on foreign missionary work, the elders decided, was to be routed back into the church itself.” Let me just give you some statistics. In the annual budget for 2003, missions was alloted 23.4%. In 2004, the percentage was 23.2%. In 2005, missions has been budgeted 25.1%. I’ll let you come up will a conclusion, based on the objective statistics, as to whether or not we’ve turned our backs on missions.
Here is a statement in the article that contained a completely false fact:
[The elders] brought on Barry McCarty, a charismatic and influential minister. This summer, they wanted to make McCarty the church’s senior minister. But according to the church’s bylaws, such a move required a full vote of the congregation. The elders sidestepped the bylaws by creating a new title, naming McCarty “lead” minister. [italics mine]
Not true at all. Barry’s title has been “Preaching Minister” since he was hired and that title has not changed. The elders have asked him to lead the staff for now. This is not unusual. The previous Senior Minister served as Interim Senior Minister for about one and a half years before he was voted on by the congregation. There has to be someone serving as the point person during transitions until a permanent leader is decided on by the elders and then taken to the congregation. They have not violated the by-laws in any way.
There are other statements that upset me, but I’m not going to comment on them. My hope is that level-headed people will be able to see through the rumors and gossip that has now become national news and see that the elders of Valley View are indeed godly, trustworthy people.
It’s been sad to me to see the group of people leave. I will miss many of them dearly. I hope that God can use them to reach people that have never had a relationship with Jesus that would not have come to Valley View otherwise. My prayer for Valley View is that we will be strengthened through these tough times in order to accomplish a great work that I believe he has for us to do.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Supreme Court Justice Nominee Harriet Miers
It’s really weird when someone you know is now a nationally known public figure. My family has known Harriet Miers for many years now. While I don’t know her very well, I do have a great deal of respect for her. Knowing that you’ve had more than one conversation with someone who could be shaping our country for years to come in a very awe-inspiring thing.
This is a photo of my brother when he recently went to DC and Ms. Miers gave them a personal tour of the White House.
Hurricane Rita and Public Insanity
I was watching the news earlier today here in Dallas and I can’t help but be amused by how much people freak out. I don’t want to minimize the hurricane. It’s a serious threat on a lot of levels to a lot of people. The news story channel 8 was running was people getting gas here in Dallas and the long lines that people have had. I don’t blame people for wanting to get gas now, with reports of the price jumping to $4/gallon if Rita takes down the refineries. But the reporter said that bottled water was flying off the shelves too.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good idea to prepare. But come on people. We’re freakin’ in Dallas!!! When the storm hits us, it won’t be a hurricane anymore. At worst, it might be a tropical storm. Even at that, there would only be sporadic flash flooding. Not widespread destruction.
New Orleans was a unique situation. It was surrounded by levies and sat below sea level. I don’t know if it’s possible, or at least likely, for flooding like that to happen at any other major city in the country.
Let’s all just take a deep breath, say a prayer for those who are left at the Gulf Coast, and don’t panic. This is another storm that may or may not cause a lot of damage. Either way, bottled water will be readily available at Costco stores all over Dallas. And that should make us all smile.
Update on Ohio Parents
The parents that I mentioned before may not be the worst parents after all. I still don’t think putting your kids in “enclosures” or cages is a good idea. But their intention was to protect the kids from themselves and each other.
Their attorney had this to say:
“The children have been out of control and have caused serious harm to themselves and each other,” said attorney David Sherman, adding that Michael Gravelle built the enclosures to provide the children with a secure space while their parents slept at night.
“The Gravelles love and miss their children and are devastated and brokenhearted with worry, since their children have been ripped away from them,” Sherman said.
“Their motives and intentions were good. They would never harm a child.”
Read the full story.