Safe Haven

This blog crossed over the 3000 page view mark on December 19, 2009. As of today, (surely aided somewhat by my reading of old posts) the number stands at 4112. But not bad for a blog that has spent most of its existence dormant!

Star Trek: The Next Generation has been everywhere; Sy Fy Channel has been showing it, as has BBC America and WGN America. (And Local 46.) During its 7ish year run from 1987-94, it set the stage for a revival of a franchise, gaining the grudging respect--and then undying loyalty--of the Trek faithful. I am a Trekkie, through and through. I could just be a nerd, but I rather think that a good story (and uniquely a science-fiction story) can help us to see things we didn't understand or can't talk about. I've recently seen a couple of episodes of the show that really got me thinking. "The Wounded"--A former captain of the USS Rutledge, ("Ben Maxwell", played by Bob Gunton, Jr. of "The Shawshank Redemption" fame) has been forcibly attacking and destroying Cardassian ships, in contravention of the Federation's nearly-minted peace treaty with Cardassia. The USS Enterprise has been sent to stop Maxwell and his new ship, the USS Phoenix, from des...

An absolutely brutal day, week, and year for President Obama. As a side note, I renew my objection to First Things, a Christian magazine, embedding a partisan blog within without explanation. Interacting with politics is important for Christians. But what we ought to do is set up the framework--whether biblical, philosophical, moral, etc.--by which Christians consider how they participate and vote. We ought to be wise enough not to simply slap a Scripture verse on our pet cause or causes, arrogantly note how one party or another fails to address our supposedly more enlightened understanding, and then cheerlead for one side. Politics is 1000 times more acrimonious when people "sanctify" their political participation with a rugged certitude only matched by their ignorance. There's too little a discussion of theory behind policy choices, and quite a rush to define particular policies and people as the more "Christian" of the two choices. (And we assume there are o...

I Want To Be My Father's Son I have a mentor/friend/father-figure type of person in my life now who recently wrote about losing his mother very young. Those memories and feelings are very deep and personal; I tread very lightly here. And surely losing your mother is different. Still, I lost my dad when I was young. I remember watching a TV show called "Home Improvement" where the dad, "Tim Taylor", discusses losing his father young. (Actually, this show sticks out to me because it was often funny, and because he talks about this a lot.) I remember him saying that he idolized him while he was there, and did so when he was gone. They didn't live together long enough for the son to see the flaws in his father, to be his own man, to even fight with him. I probably have an idealized image of him; then again, if he was anything like his brothers, he was a good man, so far as that is possible for man. Heck, my mother, his ex-wife, has nary a poor word to say about...