Rick Perry, Governor by Default

The 2006 election came and went with a bang, not a literal one, that would have been loud and pointless...more of the silent metaphorical type of bang.

It is a sad thing that there is no runoff in the Texas Governors race. The voters of Texas made it clear that the majority of Texans are opposed to Rick Perry...so much so that 60% of Texans were willing to vote for a slogan wielding grandma, a singing Jewish cowboy, or...*gasp*...a democrat instead. However, untimately those voices meant nothing because not enough people could settle on a candidate that they liked best...and this is a shame.

In many elections, a runoff election is held between the top two vote getters when no candidate recieves more than 50% of the vote. Perry got 39%...Democrat Chris Bell got a suprising 30% statewide. It is clear that the voters were asking for the chance to choose between the two without Kinky Friedman or Carol Keeton Strayhorn complicating the menu of candidates. In a democratically correct election, the unpopular Perry would have to face the increasingly notable Bell in a head to head contest...a contest that more than likely would prove tough to win for Perry even a heavily republican leaning state. It's easy to assume that many of those that voted for Kinky or Strayhorn were repulsed by the job that Perry has done during the six long years of his governorship. How he has managed to do so many awful things with so little power is mind boggling. The latest...an attempt to fast track the approval for construction of 17 not-very needed and heavily polluting coal power plants across Central Texas. This in addition to his incredibly irresponsible planning for a Trans Texas Corridor highway system that is really several new corridor highways...many of which are parallel to interstates without much traffic in the first place (a.k.a...ones that aren't labeled with the number 35). These are just two examples of the many reasons why our Republican governor is so unpopular, even among a heavily republican voting base.

The End of All Things Will Be Televised

I'm not a big proponent of the idea that current world events are exactly what was spelled out in Revelation as ushering the end of the World. I think that God would have designed Revelation as a way to keep people on their toes because practially every generation since the apostle John has been able to rationally compare his visions to events in their present day. This means, of course, that I don't think that The Antichrist is alive yet. That said...there are a lot of people out there, including...and especially...within the mainstream American church...that are teaching some very anti-christian (when compared with the words of Christ which to me should be the standard of Christian thought but increasingly are not so in America today) ideas and messages. The most henious (as Bill and Ted would say) among these I believe is the focusing on gaining wealth and the idea that God's plan for the lives of his little christian children is to gain wealth and be prosperous and comfortable. It doesn't take more than a couple minutes of reading the words of Christ to see how increadibly and basslessly wrong this is but this post is not about that in particular.

With this preface in mind. If you were to in some way threaten my life (the cliche 'gun to the head' is acceptbale) and ask me that if the Antichrist were alive today, who would he be...I would have a pretty clear answer. And it would be completely serious.

And the answer is:



Joel Osteen, pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church (one of the world's largest "mega-churches") and author of New York Times bestseller "Your Best Life Now".

Now this theory may sound harsh and judgemental...and it is. But, he really does fit the profile. Charming and persuasive...he appeals to both believers and "unbelievers" while preaching a gospel of his own that many will confuse with the true gospel. He has literally millions of followers around the world who speak of him as if he could do no wrong. Also interesting is that many of his followers speak of him as highly, or even more so, than they would God himself...because really, as Dan pointed out...he never even really gives God any credit.

Of course he's not the anti-christ...but I believe if the eternal cosmic stuff were to go down next year, he would be a good candidate.

With Friends Like You Who Needs Friends

I cannot imagine life without my best friends. That's all I can say. So geographically dispersed yet so close. Some I have lived with, others gone to college with, and others I've met on road trips. Some I haven't gotten to see in over a year.

Not much to say because if I start talking about how much I appreciate my friends I won't be able to stop, nor will I mentioned everyone that I need to.