Proof in the power of intercessory prayer.

Yo, with all due respect to Richard Dawkins and Chris Hitchens, youse guys can eat my officially licensed Phillie Phanatic boxer shorts.  Dig in.
Phillies 6, Washington 1.  Marlins 8, Mets 1.  The Fightin’ Phils win the National League East pennant outright.  No ifs, ands, or one-game playoffs needed.
Somewhere, my mom and her dad – my Grandpop [...]

Thinking bloggers.

      Yesterday was a bit of a downer.  So much trouble in the world.  And the Phillies and the Rutgers football team both lost.  As I’ll be puttering in the yard today, trying to make something out of nothing, I’ll leave y’all with some of my newer blogging discoveries: the latest list of bloggers who make [...]

“The Quaker Testimonies.”

Another in a series from Watford Quaker Meeting in the UK.  Enjoy.

What’s missing from this picture?

Look closely.  That’s right.
A pitcher.
Phils lost today, 4-2, as I kind of expected would happen, what with the most over-paid starter in baseball, the soon-to-be-released-or-traded Adam Eaton, on the hill.  Add poor defense and sleepy bats, and youse get the one that got away.  Back into a tie with the Mets.  Who won big time.  [...]

“We do not have this phenomenon,” apparently.

     Subtitled “Fear of a Transgendered Planet”?    Good grief.
WASHINGTON (San Francisco Chronicle) Sept. 28 – Even as the Senate passed a hate crimes bill sought for a decade by gays and lesbians, House Democratic leaders decided Thursday to strip transgender people from another long-languishing civil rights bill, generating dismay in the gay community and [...]

3800.

That’s the latest total number of deaths of U.S. military personnel in Iraq, as of today.  Just so you know.
Enjoy your weekend. 

The dying of the light?

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Sept. 29 – Soldiers and police took control of the streets yesterday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as the military junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access.
On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were [...]

Rush Limbaugh betrays the troops.

From Media Matters:
During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers.” He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, “Mike from Chicago,” who said he “used to be military,” and “believe[s] [...]

First!!! Sort of.

They’re ALMOST the Team to Beat.
With a 6-4 win over the eliminated Braves [boo, hiss!] and ace John Smoltz last night the Phillies won for the 11th time in 14 games, their best run of the season.
Meanwhile, some 120 miles north, the Mets audibly imploded, losing for the 10th time in 14 games, 3-0 to [...]

The whole world is…

… doing what exactly?
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) Sept. 28 – As soldiers in Myanmar intensified their crackdown on pro-democracy protesters Friday, authorities also went after the Internet and mobile phones that have proven so vital and powerful in documenting the dramatic confrontations.
The Internet has played a crucial role in the flow of information out of [...]

Left Behind.

NEW YORK (New York Times) Sept. 26 – As a candidate, George W. Bush once asked, “Is our children learning?”
Now he has an answer.
“Childrens do learn,” he said Wednesday.
The setting was, yes, an education event where the president was taking credit for rising test scores and promoting congressional renewal of his signature education law. To create [...]

Working for the clampdown.

The killing has begun.   Predictably.  While the world talks tough and then twiddles its collective thumbs.  Again, how oh so predictable.
And so pathetic.  And deeply sad. 
(An excellent piece on what’s happening in Burma here.  Worth your time.)

Open letter to the people I voted for last year.

Dear Congressional Democrats:
Are you still there?
Sorry to bother you.  I know you’ve all been really busy, and probably a little tired, too, after all that running away from those naughty kids over at MoveOn.org that you’ve been doing.  Don’t worry: I won’t take much of your time.  As I am not a wealthy contributor, and as I will [...]

Among the thugs.

The beatings have begun.  The shooting will not doubt soon commence.
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Sept. 26 – Security forces in Myanmar opened fire on demonstrators Wednesday, and witnesses said police beat and dragged away dozens of Buddhist monks. The government said at least one person was killed, while dissident groups and media reported up to eight [...]

The whole world is watching.

But will the world act when the soldiers come?
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Sept. 25 – The military government banned assemblies of more than five people and imposed curfews in Myanmar’s two largest cities on Tuesday, after thousands of Buddhist monks and sympathizers defied orders to stay out of politics and protested once again.
On a day [...]

No, thanks: I’ll think for myself.

I would appreciate it very much if all the well-meaning folks (and the not-so well-meaning ones, too) out there who don’t want me to hear what people like Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have to say would do me the favor of letting my double-major college-educated, Master’s degree-earning, two teaching certificate- using coconut think for itself. 
Thanks muchly [...]

There is power in the union.

The United Auto Workers have struck General Motors.  I wish you good luck.
Solidarity, sisters and brothers.  Support your local local.
(That’s Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine: “Union Song.”)

Semper fi.

(One of my former students showed up to visit today.  I have mentioned him in posts and comments elsewhere before, and nothing I’ll say here would be a surprise to him if he heard me say it or if he happens upon this site.  Just so you know.)
“J” was a student of mine four years [...]

He “improved the silence.”

Marcel Marceau has died.  He was 84.  I actually saw him perform once, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.  My wife and I sat in the front row.  His sweat actually landed on me, that’s how close we were.  It was a transcendental experience (the performance, not the perspiration).  He was a true artist [...]

“An Introduction to Quakers,” pt. 2.

From Watford Quaker Meeting in the UK.  Enjoy.