Ann Coulter has been un-invited as an ASI speaker at Harding. Greg said it well:

For all those who were waiting on the edge of their seats, or with bated breath, or were sitting on the edge of their seats WITH bated breath, you may now exhale.

According to sources at our beloved, oft-maligned institution in Searcy, the decision to invite Ann Coulter to participate in the ASI Distinguished Lecture Series has been “reconsidered.”

For those not well-versed in admin-speak, that means she ain’t comin’. In her place they have invited Jose Maria Aznar, whose reign used to be in Spain, including but not limited to, the plains.

This blog would like to thank the roughly 8,000 visitors (many of them repeats, of course) who weighed in on the discussion, but more importantly expressed their views to the administration. This blog will not boast of any sort of triumph, but it will admit to feeling good at having done its small part to help.

This blog would also like the thank the administration of Harding, the directors of the ASI, and everyone involved in reversing this decision. Thank you for hearing our concerns and for not dismissing them out of hand. As much as I relish the imagery of a David vs. Goliath type struggle, I choose, instead, to think of this as a mutually beneficial outcome. Harding will benefit by not being associated with this woman, and we bloggers and writers of emails and makers of telephone calls have learned the powerful lesson about speaking out when necessary.

On this day I can truly say, “Alma mater, Hail!” link

Amen. I’m proud of HU for disassociating itself with Coulter’s harsh rhetoric.

I must start by admitting that the show and website at least look good. The TV show is fairly decent by reality TV standards.

But it’s a reality show about evangelizing. Seriously. Produced by TBN and everything.

The premise is some instruction on how to do 1970s-style confrontational evangelism with total strangers (or friends or family that are still speaking to you, for now), combined with actual footage of Kirk and his partner in evangelism, Ray Comfort. Good-hearted guys, I’m sure. Nothing personal here. But evangelism tracts and personal questions to total strangers? Come on.

Start here (warning: noisy Flash - turn speakers down first). Kirk Cameron welcomes you to the site and asks whether you’re a Christian. If you are, you get to access the site’s numerous you-are-evil-so-pray-this-prayer-with-me evangelism training resources.

If you click no, you get the world’s slowest “Are you saved?” quiz, read aloud by Kirk while you read the text onscreen (there’s no fast-forward button if you, like 99% of people, read faster than Kirk talks). If you answer all the sin questions in the negative, you’re hit with “The bible says ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Yeah, so there. Take that, Mr. Perfect Non-Christian.

When you’re tired of that, check out this video (.asx - opens in Windows Media Player on my computer), and skip ahead to 8:00 or so, and watch as long as you can stand (but make sure you see some of the interviews). The whole thing is about half an hour, so I will admit to not watching it in its entirety.

I again want to commend the people involved with this for their mostly well-implemented work (though the Flash website is way too slow and noisy - over the top, but still pretty). It’s cheesy and sometimes badly written, but at least it’s filmed well.

But this is the most horrible kind of evangelism I can imagine. I’ll paraphrase, but I’m not exaggerating.

Kirk: You’re evil, right?

Victim: Well, not really.

Kirk: Have you ever committed adultery? That’s a sin.

Victim: No, that’s like, sleeping with someone else’s spouse, right?

Kirk: Bwahaha. Foolish pagan. Jesus said even looking at a person of the opposite sex is as bad as having sex with them.

Victim: But I’m not doing anything.

Kirk: Shut up! Jesus said it, in one context or another. Maybe. Anyway, this obviously proves you’re going to hell. Wanna get saved?
(cuts to next victim)

I admire Kirk and Ray’s sense of urgency and commitment to doing what they perceive to be right. But I think they are sorely mistaken if they think non-Christians are benefiting.

Ray’s rationale is “the gospel is taken to those with a humble heart,” so the logical thing to do is humiliate people by asking them entrapping questions. Hmm. Methinks these guys would unleash less harm on the world if they dedicated themselves to writing computer viruses.

Via LiquidThinking.

The latest gag from Lark News:

Joel Kilpatrick is a genius.

In case you haven’t noticed, the gas prices have been a bit higher than usual. In fact, just yesterday crude oil prices hit another record high ($70.80/barrel) after Hurricane Katrina but a halt to all oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. And now that gas prices are quickly approaching $3 per gallon, most Americans either fuming or sulking at the pump. So much so, in fact, that the President is considering tapping into our strategic oil reserves to help alleviate prices.

Sheesh. What a bunch of cry babies. I say gas prices are still too low.

Ah, I see you are completely shocked and appalled. Allow me to explain. You see, in this lovely land we call America money is the single most influential factor in creating change. For example, low interest rates create more demand for housing and raise prices. At the other end of the spectrum, gas prices, if they get high enough, force people and businesses to adopt practices that conserve on fuel consumption rather than abuse it. And while gas prices are high enough to affect small changes, the significant changes that America needs will not come until gas prices increase to at least that of Europe.

What changes you ask? Well, look at the numbers. The United States is currently estimated to have a population of 295,734,134 people, which is approximately 4.58% of the world population. By contrast, the United States is by far the number one consumer of oil in the world at over 19.5 billion barrels per year. This over 25% of the world’s oil being used by less than 5% of its population and five times the consumption of any other single country in the world. And that’s not even per capita. All of this consumption, you can imagine, also leads to unbelievable emissions of greenhouse gases and other lung-collapsing nastiness.

Additionally, our addiction to oil has also put us at the mercy of some not-so-friendly counties around the world (ie. the Middle East). This, in turn, has also contributed to (do not read singularly caused) our own not-so-friendliness in the form of invasion and bloodshed.

All of this has got to stop. Oil consumption in America must be reduced, but the oil companies have so much influence in the government that change isn’t going to come easily. That’s why gas prices need to continue to rise.

The best idea I’ve heard so far I read in an article I found in The Washington Post circa “the 2004 ‘oil crisis’ that has pushed gas prices well over $2″. Pfff. Anyway, energy economist Philip Verleger proposes…

…what he calls a “prospective gasoline tax,” which would allow the country four years to get ready to do the right thing. Congress would enact a stiff tax of $2 per gallon, to take effect in January 2009, with further increases of another dollar in each of the following three years. To cushion the blow, the Treasury would borrow against the expected tax revenue to buy back the public’s gas guzzlers (defined as vehicles getting fewer than 25 miles a gallon) at their 2004 value.

Verleger estimates that this program could reduce U.S. oil consumption by almost 2 million barrels per day in the program’s first year and as much as 10 million barrels per day by 2020. At a stroke, that would reduce the power of the OPEC cartel and America’s vulnerability to turmoil in the Middle East. As a bonus, it would also reduce emissions that contribute to global warming and increase employment in the auto industry as all those gas guzzlers are replaced.

There’s one big problem with Verleger’s idea. It’s too sane. America likes roaring down Thunder Road, playing chicken with the oil cartel.

This is brilliant! The government will take in mega-bucks which can be used to pay of our insane amount of debt and bring additional stimulation to the economy while simultaneously reducing oil consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and our dependence on OPEC and the like. What’s not to love?

So, GW, keep our strategic oil reserves in tact and let the price at the pump rise. We’ll all be better for it in the end. In the meantime, go get a TerraPass.

Call it the “guilt sticker” if you want. TerraPass is a for-profit company that invests in clean energy and CO2-reduction projects. Their website lets you calculate how much carbon dioxide your car emits in a year, then charges you the amount of money it costs to get rid of that much carbon dioxide.

When you purchase a TerraPass, we pool your funds with other TerraPass members and invest them in clean energy projects that are guaranteed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in an amount proportional to those put out by your car.

Here’s a neat little series of graphics from their main page to explain how it works:

Your car emits 10,000 lbs (three times its weight!) in carbon dioxide each year.

You enroll in TerraPass.

TerraPass members finance projects that reduce greenhouse gases.

Your TerraPass purchase is certified to eliminate the equivalent of your car’s CO2 emissions.

I just bought the Standard Level sticker, to offset the 15,000 or so miles we drive in our Saturn each year.

What do you think of this? Check out their site (especially the FAQ) and let me know. I learned about the TerraPass via this Wired article.

While on our recent roadtrip, we stopped for dinner at the most awesome restaurant ever: A combination Long John Silver’s / Taco Bell. By this point in our trip, Amy was getting quite tired of my tendency to always stop at Taco Bell whenever we needed to eat. Understandable. So we were happy to find this combination.

A lot of effort went into designing this building. Taco Bell definitely held more sway in the design decisions, probably since no new Long John Silver restaurants have been opened sinced 1879, or whenever.

But this isn’t just a place to get tacos and fish. It’s the most elite restaurant in all of fastfooddom, for reasons that I can’t explain if you don’t get it immediately from this photo. Check out the address:

Hackers, eat up. Hushpuppies and nachos never tasted so good. You can see the rest of the photos here.

When Justin and I went camping back in May we decided that there weren’t any denominations we really wanted to be a part of. So, as all good Christians do, we decided start our own! It’s called the COCOC (Children Of the Church Of Christ). We even have an official denominational song (in like kind to 728B). Sing it to the tune of The B-I-B-L-E.

The COCOC!
Yes, that’s the church for me!
We stand alone on the word of God
But not in the fundamentalist sense!

Wow, that’s even funnier in print.

I’ve heard the word “unbiblical” thrown around so many times (sometimes at me) that I’m not sure I even know what it means anymore. Here are some definitions that I’ve heard expressed or implied:

• In violation of scripture (in general)
• In violation of the teachings of scripture
• In violation of teachings of Jesus in scripture (the red letters)
• In violation of direct commands of scripture
• In violation of the apostolic examples of scripture
• In violation of the necessary inferences of scripture
• Not addressed in scripture
• A perversion of scripture
• An enemy of scripture
• Incomplete understanding of scripture
• Going to hell.

So which is it? Any of them? Any others you’ve heard?

I think since so many flavors of Christianity (evangelicalism especially) have such a disdain for all things unbiblical that is it important to have a fair understanding its definition and implications. For example, if unbiblical means that one is an enemy of scripture, then anyone who differs from my “correct” understanding of scripture is someone to be defeated. See what I mean? I have no answers here, just thinking out loud. Thoughts?