Yard Signs: We've Got 'Em, and You Need One.

The Re-Elect Judge Dennise Garcia campaign continues to roll along through September. The big push this month for the Judge is to attend a lot of campaign events. The big push for her many volunteers and friends has been to get out the yard signs.

Several of you have told me that you have seen Judge Garcia's large 4x4 signs around town. And, in fact, there are a lot of them around town. In fact, we've sorta lost count, because so many folks are taking them and putting them up themselves. We estimate that there are probably 70-80 throughout Dallas County.

The campaign website is getting requests for regular sized yardsigns almost every single day. In fact, even with all our volunteers, it's getting hard to keep up with the demand.

And so, we've arranged for friends around the city to help out by keeping some on their porch. In fact, you can now pick up a yard sign at one of fifteen convenient locations scattered throughout Dallas County. To find a location near you, click here.

If you can't get a distribution site, or if you need a bunch of signs, just drop us an email. Also, our 4x4 signs may run out sometime next week, but if you know of a good location, let us know.

And, as always, thanks for all your support of Judge Garcia's campaign.

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Judge Garcia Gets the Dallas Morning News Endorsement

The buttons are popping off my shirt today, and not because I haven't been exercising.

This morning, the Dallas Morning News has come out with it's editorial endorsements for the Family District Courts in Dallas County. My favorite Judge, Dennise Garcia, gets the nod for her court, the 303rd State District Court.

Every now and then, I brag about her on this blog. But, being married to her, you'd expect that, right?

So, why not take the word of Dallas' leading newspaper instead?

Here's what they said about her:

"Judge Dennise Garcia seems a rising star, having caught her stride during her first term on a bench that has seen a fair amount of turnover in recent years and could use stability. Judge Garcia, 38, a Dallas Democrat, is respected by her peers and is developing a solid courtroom demeanor. The fact that she brings ethnic diversity to the family courts, where she is the only Hispanic judge, is an added plus...
We recommend another term for Judge Garcia."

For more info about this "rising star," visit her campaign site. Early voting starts in late October. There's still plenty of time for you to get a yard sign, and to tell your friends. I hope you will.

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Eagles/Chicago Tribute Show Update

Well, I broke my promise to you. I promised that I'd keep you updated on the Eagles/Chicago Tribute Show. The show is just two days away, and so I obviously have done a poor job.

Here's the scoop on the show:

Tribute to the Music of The Eagles and Chicago
7 pm, September 16th
Wesley Hall
Spring Valley UMC
7700 Spring Valley Road
(Get a map)

Admission to the show is free. But a love offering will be taken for www.umcor.org

A member of SVUMC has connections with the band Chicago, and they have donated several very nice pieces of memorabilia which will be auctioned off during the show, all proceeds to go to UMCOR. In fact, all of the fifteen or so musicians in this show are donating their time to this effort. Last time, when we did a Dan Fogelberg Tribute Show earlier this year, we raised over $2,500.


As it stands now, here is the set list for the show:

Eagles Set:
Hotel California
Best of My Love
New Kid in Town
Take it Easy
Lyin Eyes
Seven Bridges Road
Tequila Sunrise
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado
Witchy Woman
Heartache Tonight

Intermission for the Silent Auction

Chicago Set:
Make Me Smile
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
25 or 6 to 4
Wishing You Were Here
Colour My World
Just You and Me
Old Days
Call on Me
Feeling Stronger Every Day
Searching for So Long
You're the Inspiration
Hard to Say I'm Sorry
If You Leave Me Now
Beginnings
Saturday in the Park
Dialogue I and II

I'm getting to sing lead on several of my favorites:

Eagles:
Best of My Love
Lyin' Eyes
Desperado

Chicago:
Make Me Smile
Color My World
Wishing You Were Here
Saturday in the Park
Dialogue
Hard to Say I'm Sorry (If we do it...)

I'll be playing guitar and singing background on a lot more.

If I am completely truthful, I feel less confident about this show than I did the Fogelberg show. However, that show came together marvelously at the last minute, and our last rehearsal this evening was really quite good. I think it will be a VERY good show. The Eagles stuff sounds fantastic, and the whole band sounded pretty tight on the Chicago stuff too. (We've got a six piece horn section to cover the Chicago stuff...)

If you're free Saturday, I hope to see you there!

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Five Years Later: Remembering the hole in my heart, and the question on my mind

Last night, Dennise and I watched a 911 documentary on CBS. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's from two French film-makers who, in the summer of 2001 shadowed a FDNY unit in an attempt to tell the story of a "rookie's coming of age." But late that summer, on the morning of September 11th, they just happened to be out filming a routine call --a report of a gas leak-- when a plane flew overhead, slammed into the World Trade Center, and they found themselves as ground-zero videographers for the worst day in our nation's history.

The rest of the film chronicles their short two-minute ride to the site, the heroism of the FDNY, and the way they cheated death when the first tower fell, encasing them all in toxic white powder.

It's riveting footage. And, to my way of thinking, an incredibly appropriate way to honor the heroism of those incredible men and women...and to remember that terrible day.

As I watched the show, I bawled like a baby. I mean bawled. You see, it's been several years since I saw some of those visual images:
the burning buildings...
the people looking up in disbelief...
the horror of the buildings crumbling to the ground, and people run for their lives in terror...

And, like you probably did today, I remembered back to where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news, and it suddenly all came back. The weekend before 911 had been a good one. I had actually been down in Kerrville at the SWERFA Conference. What a great time that was...hanging out with friends, playing music till early in the morning...

I arrived home and had intended to write some thank you notes to folks, telling them how great it had been to see them. In fact, I was probably going to do that on Tuesday morning. But then, early that morning, Dennise called back home on her way to work. She told me a plane had hit the WTC, and she told me to turn on our TV. Like most of America, I then turned on our TV to see the smoking buildings in a scene that seemed completely surreal.

The idea of planes hitting the buildings was surreal.
The idea that they could collapse to the ground just an hour later was surreal.
The idea that a small group of terrorists could have pulled it off was surreal.

There was just nothing about that day that seemed real.

But it was. It was all-too horribly real. And, like me, you probably cried off and on for weeks. Someone has put up Jon Stewart's first post-911 monologue. Somewhere between 911 and now, I became a huge Jon Stewart fan. Until today, I'd never seen this monologue before. And somehow, seeing a guy who excels at comedy having a hard time making jokes and speaking from his heart, reminded me how broken-open my heart was during that time:



Doesn't that bring it all back for you too?

Of course, no matter where you were in America those next few days, surreality followed you. Those of us who live in big cities walked outside to empty skies for almost a week. Almost nobody got any work done for days. We were all glued to cable TV networks, searching for some sense of something that made ...well, sense...

...maybe a survivor would be found
...maybe we would find who had done this
...maybe we would find an answer to the question why.

But as the months passed and the "pile" of debris was removed, a just-as-gaping "hole" was created in our souls. No matter how deeply those first-responders dug, they only turned up dust. And now, five years later, we continue to sift through the dust of that day, and we continue to find nothing but emptiness.

And the mastermind behind it all is still walking around a free man today. And as I remember 911, I cannot help but remember this too. So, while I remember five-years-ago, I also have one question. It's a question I ask on this blog a lot because, to me, it's the hanging chad of the entire 911-experience:

Where is Osama Bin Laden?

So-called experts say he's no longer a threat.
The President told us a few years back that he really didn't think about him much anymore.
The CIA unit, put together to hunt him down, has been dismantled.
Pakistan has cut a deal with the tribal warlords who are believed to be sheltering him to keep their troops out....effectively creating a buffer zone where he can operate with impunity.
And WE? We apparently haven't even blinked an eye about any of this.

I just don't get it. I really don't.

Look, I don't care if Bin Laden never launches another attack again. I don't care if he is so isolated that he can't harm a field mouse. I don't care if he's living in a cave, eating cockroaches, and drinking his own urine.

The point is, he's the greatest mass murderer of our time. The point is, he's directly responsible for the greatest terrorist attack in our country's history. The point is that, if justice has any meaning at all, he deserves to be brought to it.

From what I've heard, ABC chose to mark the five years since 911 with a docu-drama that blames it on President Clinton. Allegedly based on the 911 Commission Report, the show has been panned by several of the 911 Commission members for its unfair portrayal of events during that time.

Unbelievable.

Clinton actually launched missile attacks to try and TAKE OUT Bin Laden, and got blamed for "wagging the dog." (Remember who stood up on the House Floor to denounce him for this? Hint: Think recently-resigned Congressman from South Texas, who goes by the nickname, "Hot Tub") But somehow, Clinton didn't do enough and somehow, in some people's twisted minds, it's all his fault.

OK. I'll cede that he could have done more; and I'll be happy to do this, so long as I get to ask MY question:

Why, five years later, has Bin Laden not be captured?!!!

See, eventually this cannot be Clinton's fault. Eventually, it has to be the fault of those who have put all our resources into Iraq, and taken their eyes off the ball.
---------------------------

As I do every night, I watched Keith Olbermann's show tonight. At the end, he delivered a stinging and strident commentary. Using that still-empty hole at ground zero as a backdrop, he spoke with an anger that many of my friends have carried in their hearts for five years. Using the same metaphor of an empty, ground-zero hole, he also talked about the hole in our nation. But he's a lot angrier than I am. (At least tonight...)

Crooks and Liars already has the video. Those of you who are frustrated by the war, frustrated by the administration, and pained by the memory of 911, will probably like it. Those of you who still support the President probably won't. But here's the link.

I can't agree with everything he says or seems to advocate. But I understand the anger. I really do. And I hear that anger from a lot of people these days. And, love him or hate him, Olbermann's critics do well to realize that he doesn't so much make this stuff up, as he channels things that many people in the country --maybe even the majority-- are feel and believe right now.


So, I watched Olbermann tonight.
I watched CBS last night.
But I did not watch ABC's trash.

And in my way, five years later, I remembered.

I remembered 911.

I can promise the loved ones of those who gave their lives that day, that I remembered and I always WILL remember. I may not remember each and every day of my life. But the experience of this fifth anniversary reminds me that, when I open myself up just a little, those tears come rushing back, as if it happened just yesterday.

What I will choose to remember is the incredible heroism of the FDNY.

I will choose to remember how, for one brief and shining period after 911, our country was more unified than it's ever been in my lifetime

And tonight, I will remember how our nation's heart broke that day, in ways that will likely never heal. I will allow myself to remember the hole in the ground, and the hole in our hearts, that we all carry still.

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Oh Yezz....Oh Yezz....Oh Yezzz...Time for some College Football!!

I LOVE college football. Next to pro-baseball, it's probably my favorite sport. And, given my disdain for the Rangers these days, I could easily argue that I even love it more than baseball these days.

There is just something about the pageantry, the emotion, the excess of it. Pro football feels too, well, professional for me. It's like the difference between a passionate street performer, juggling knives down in the West End, and clown with the Ringling Brothers Circus....the performers of the latter are all really talented people, but it always feels a little too...dare I say....scripted?

I mean, be honest, in most years the day the pro season starts, you can name the five to ten teams that will compete at the end of the year. And, sure enough, you'll be right on three to seven of your picks by years end. But in college ball? Most years anything can happen. Most years, anything does. Most years there's a big game way before the playoffs start.

In fact, Dale Hansen argues (and I can't believe I'm quoting Hansen here...) that in college ball every week is a playoff week. That's really true. Every week, for the true fan, there's a make-or-break game on somewhere. Every week, there's a bitter rival playing a bitter rival. Every week, a team everyone thinks is incredibly and should go all the way may get knocked off and have it all come crashing down around them.

It doesn't hurt that I've always been a UT fan, and it doesn't hurt that they are one of the marque programs in the country and defending national champions. Yes, my usual yearly excitement is a little higher than usual. But, even if they weren't contending this year, there's just something about college ball and how emotional, passionate, and unpredictable it is. It feels more honest and real than pro ball.

Having said that, I am looking forward to tonight's game between Ohio State and Texas. As I just mentioned, every week there's a big game. And this week, there's no game bigger than this. Tragically, one of these two great teams will find its run for the national championship seriously wounded at the end of the night. That's really a shame this early in the year.

On the other hand, it's often easier to get back in hunt later in the year, if you lose early...so, we'll see.

Lot's of folks are picking Ohio State for this one. They're pointing to the fact that last year, time after time, it was Vince Young who bailed out the Longhorns. Can't argue with that. I've waxed about Young so often that you all know I believed that was true last year. I think the reason a UT National Championship surprised so many folks was that they underestimated the incredible talent of Vince Young.

But, we should realize that Texas is an incredibly talented team even without him. I think Colt McCoy should do OK this year. We'll know a lot more after tonight on that. But the rest of the team is so quick, so strong, and so talented. And Vince's superhero talents sometimes overshadowed that fact.

So, with trepidation, here are my keys to the game:

Home Field: Advantage UT...and in college ball, this is a huge advantage...

Quarterback: Advantage OSU...and one of the things folks are predicting about this game is that Troy Smith shows us what a big star he is...we'll see.

Offense: Tie: they are both explosive.

Defense: Advantage UT....look at last week...a weak opponent didn't score much against OSU, but they ran up lots of yards. UT's defense crushed North Texas. People keep talking about how Young's loss hurts Texas, but they fail to admit how many losses OSU has had on defense. They could step up tonight, so I don't want to overstate this...but it would not surprise me for them to be weaker than folks think.

Overall depth: Advantage UT...do not underestimate this...

Secret Weapons: Advantage UT....OSU has one great reciever in Ginn. UT has four outstanding ones. But, I'm going to keep saying this name, as I did just after the last national championship game: watch out for Jamaal Charles. The dude slices through defenders just like VY did. If he has a break out game tonight, folks may forget all about VY. (assuming he has a break out game and doesn't drop the ball...)

The point of all this is that I can't say for certain Texas will win. But I don't expect Texas to get crushed, and will not be as surprised as others if we pull of the win, for all the reasons I've listed above.

One thing's for certain: I am still so pumped about last year that I really don't think I'll be crushed if UT loses. If we lose to OU...well, that's another story. But nobody can take last year away from us. And writers are still talking about how great it was.

Even if we lose tonight, we're still the national champs...

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Labor Day 2006

Labor Day 2006

A reflection by Dr. Joerg Rieger, Professor of Systematic Theology, Perkins School of Theology

When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus replied: “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” … and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (The Gospel of Mark 12:30-31).

September 4 is Labor Day in the United States. Labor day reminds us of the love for our neighbors. God does not merely call us to love ourselves and our immediate families and friends. God calls us to love all of our neighbors. This love for neighbors includes the love for the millions of workers in our own country and in the world.

We owe much to the workers in the global economy. Without the labor of these workers our lives would be very different. Our clothes would be homemade, the food on our tables would be monotonous and scarce, we would not be driving in cars, and our houses would be much smaller. Workers improve the lives of us all.

As people of faith, we understand that our love for our neighbors is somehow related to our love for God. Jesus mentions the love of God and the love of neighbor in the same breath. The two cannot be separated.

The first letter of John reminds us of this connection: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20). Labor Day helps us to give an account: how have we demonstrated our love for the workers in our global economy? How can we do a better job demonstrating our love for workers?

There is a big task ahead of us: While workers contribute to making all of our lives better, we have not always contributed to making their lives better. The minimum wage has not been raised in a number of years; it has not even been adjusted for the normal rate of inflation. In fact, the salaries of most workers today are under constant pressure. Benefits are frozen or even slashed. Common economic principles state that the interests of the workers are less important than the interests of the stockholders. How are we showing our love for our brothers and sisters? What does this say about our love for God?

The good news is still that love of God and love of neighbor are related. By showing greater love for our neighbors, we might learn to show greater love for God as well. This Labor Day, as we renew our love for the workers of the global economy, we know that we are renewing our love for God, too.

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