Safe Haven

The GOP Nominee in 2012 Ought To Be... Let me preface this with the note that I am considering geography and battlegrounds only; that is, not necessarily the record of the person in question. With that said, the only logical choice for the 2012 GOP nomination for president is...Tim Pawlenty. The GOP must do everything in its power to avoid classification as a regional, Southern, party. In addition, to defeat Obama, they need someone with no real ties to former President G. W. Bush. It'd be moronic for the president to blame 12 years on 'W,' but he'll try if you let him. They need to put the Midwest in play while holding the South. They need someone who doesn't have a history of angering the base. A person who is relatively young will take away perhaps Obama's biggest unacknowledged advantage from 2008, age. Pawlenty is the governor of Minnesota, and this executive experience will likely contrast favorably with Obama, who is already vulnerable on this point and

5 Ways To Tell You Are A Vainglorious Extrovert 5. You have a burning urge to be a Wikipedia editor. 4. Does the word 'karaoke' mean anything to you? 3. Trivial Pursuit. Full volume. No mercy. 2. You would totally pull a 'Commodores'--start a band and write songs to impress girls. 1. You own a blog.

5 Thoughts When Realizing One Has an E-mail From Dr. Bill Frist, MD 5. "Are you gonna watch the 'Grey's Anatomy' premiere tonight?" 4. "I'm not really prepared to go to Africa right now, sir." 3. "No 'nuclear option'? No votes for you, come back, 4 years!" 2. "How did you get this e-mail? What does the GOP know, and when did they know it?" 1. "Do you listen to 'Please Come To Boston' like a thousand times a day?"

5 Random, Perhaps Disconnected Thoughts for Today 5. There are a lot of good teams in the National League this year, most of whom (grammar error?) will be playing golf in about a week and a half. 4. The creators of "Grey's Anatomy" must have thought, "Hey, let's do a serious version of 'Scrubs'!" And it works. 3. So glad to find out that small, yet significant piece of information. Will I do anything about it? 2. I doubt catching the garter means anything, but if it does, I'm not complaining. 1. Someone should make a movie of John 13-17. It makes me cry like a baby.

A Political Rant I see far too many Christians over-simplifying the moral imperatives of the gospel of Jesus as they attempt to apply it to the political process. They are still operating as though the stereotypes presented by political actors (especially by opponents of those various actors) are valid. Frankly, to be specific, I see too many Christians defaulting to a kind of socialism, (or at least a statism) because A) some 'progressives' make a big fuss about caring for the poor (and their myriad opponents don't, for various reasons), B) they ignore, or fail to see that state-directed 'compassion' involves coercion which, by its very nature, denies individuals their God-given status as free moral agents, or C) they are just plain ignorant. Under (C), a certain sanctified stupidity prevails, whereby intent is the only measure of a policy's desirability. Most forms of Protestant soteriology actually encourage this. Because of "the finished work of Christ,